WHAT IS THE GREATEST THREAT, IN THE LAST DAYS?
- Nuclear War – WWIII?
- Economic Doom – the loss of financial security/job?
- Persecution / Martyrdom?
Perspective:
· Yahweh says, “don’t fear him that killeth the body… rather fear Him that kills both body and soul…” – the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The single most important reason we breathe is to LIVE… Our life here isn’t living… this is probation… living is what comes next.
Deception is the single biggest threat!
· To be protected from darkness, we must love the Light (Word of Yahweh)
· John 3:19-20 - And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
o To Love Light = Loving Truth found in the Word of Yahweh
o To love darkness = Choosing sin and rejecting reproof, being unwilling to change to align one’s life with the Word of Yahweh.
· John 12:35 – “Then Yahshua said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 – “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
· Deceivableness of unrighteousness = eternal Death
· Deceivableness of unrighteousness is causes by not loving Truth
· Loving Truth = eternal Life / Salvation
· The Path to Life is walked by living in every ray of Light that we are given (it’s a blessing) – and continuing to seek more Light.
o Seek Light (Truth) and never reject an opportunity for Light
A love of Truth is Heaven’s only Shield! When we love Truth (Light), Yahweh promises we will be protected from Deception. When we fail to love the Truth, we will surely be deceived – because we cannot outsmart “strong delusions”.
How to Love the Truth - 8 Actions:
1. SHEMA ISRAEL... Truth is more than a teaching or an idea. Truth is a Person—the Person of Yahshua, which is why two of our Saviour’s many titles include “LIGHT of the World” and “the WORD which became Flesh”.
- John 14:6 - “Yahshua saith unto him, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”
- John 8:12 - “Then spake Yahshua again unto them, saying, I Am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.”
The first way to love Truth is to love the Source, Author and Revealer of It. Loving Yahweh, and all that this involves is detailed in the heart of the Torah, in the part of the Bible called the Shema.
To do this, the Shema should be in our thoughts and kept central in our homes. The Shema (Hebrew for “hear, understand,” and “obey”) is the heart of the Torah, which our Saviour called “the First and Greatest Commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).
It is the epicenter from which radiates all the Light and loveliness of every other Torah Truth. The Shema, in Hebrew, is written from right to left, as is shown in the image above.
The full Shema is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
“Hear, O Israel: YAHWEH our God is one YAH. And thou shalt love YAHWEH thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children...”
What does this have to do with our love of Light? The Torah (of which the Shema is the heart) is the Scriptural Source of all Light. It is the Light-test for all doctrine and it is the radiant point, through which the Light of Truth illumines every other Scriptural Passage:
- Proverbs 6:23 - “For the Commandment is a Lamp; and the Law (Torah) is Light; and reproofs of instruction are the Way of Life.”
- Isaiah 8:20 - “To the Law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them.”
- 1 John 1:5 “...God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
- Psalm 18:28 - “For Thou wilt light my candle: Yahweh my God will enlighten my darkness.”
- Psalm 119:105 - “...Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
When God shines the Light of Truth upon us, we have two choices. We can either shrink from the Light and seek the shadows once again; or we can turn from the darkness unto the Light. If we would be protected from deception by the Shield of Light, the first necessary step is to turn from darkness unto Light, as Scripture says in Acts 26:18:
(God comes to each person, through the presentation of Light/ Truth) “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to Light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
3. SEEK TO EXPOSE AREAS OF HIDDEN DARKNESS IN YOUR HEART...
But turning towards the Light is just the first step in becoming a Truth-seeking, Light-loving person, who is not deceivable. The next step goes a pace further. Not only do we need to turn away from darkness unto Light, but we must not content ourselves with our current level of enlightenment.
Multiple times in Scripture, we are instructed to “seek” further wisdom and deeper spiritual enlightenment. So precious is such a courageous, Truth-seeking soul in the Eyes of Yahweh, that He actually told Jeremiah that if one such person was found in Israel, Yahweh would spare it all from Judgment for the sake of that one!
- Jeremiah 5:1 - “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the Truth; and I will pardon it.”
Why does seeking more revelations of the Truth involve courage? It takes courage to ask Yahweh to Shine the Light of Truth on the areas of hidden darkness in our hearts because we often fear what we will discover, when He does. Perhaps, when the Light of Torah Truth is shined upon it, a favorite hobby, movie, or activity will be revealed as a sinful practice.
And now, in the Light of that revelation, we must choose whether we will love Yahweh or that sinful pastime more. For us, seeking for more Light resulted in us learning that Yahweh had ordained annual holy Days as well as the Seventh-day Sabbath. Once new Light is revealed, those who love Truth will align their lives with it—and walk in it, no matter the cost.
Keeping the Feasts, was difficult for us in our early days as Feast-keepers. We first began keeping Yahweh’s annual Holy Days back in the late 1990’s, when both Mark and Shauna had full-time jobs. We knew that the choice to walk with the new Light revelation might threaten our financial security.
It also cost us some close relationships. In fact, one close friend (which we ultimately lost over our choice to keep Yahweh’s newly found Feasts) asked why we felt so compelled to keep the Feasts.
Our incredulous friend wondered, “You guys have been Christians your whole lives, without keeping the Feasts! That was good enough for you for all this time! You’re loved and appreciated in your (denominational) church. Why mess up a good thing by becoming Feast-keepers now?”
But, simply having a Christian lifestyle that looks good enough to others is not going far enough. When we love Truth, we will seek every ray of Light that the Father wishes to show us. Our attitude will be that, if Yahweh wishes us to see it, then we also wish to see it—and, of course, align our lives to it.
Thus, if we love Light, we will pray for the Father to continue to shine more and more Light upon our life-path. We will give Him permission to even expose the most hidden areas of darkness in our hearts. This is especially true because our natural hearts are “deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).
This means that it is possible to feel pretty good about our own level of spiritual enlightenment, while actually still remaining in the deceived-deceivable zone of darkness! Being a genuine lover of Truth involves whole-heartedly asking Yahweh to reveal every area of darkness within us.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 - “...until (Yahweh) come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts...”
As the hidden darkness in us is spotlighted by Yahweh’s Spirit, we need to see, repent and make adjustments—willingly paying even painful costs in order to align our lives with the new revelation of Light. Having prayerfully implemented the newest layer of Light into our lives, we then, courageously arise to seek Yahweh for the next revelation (Psalm 139:23-24).
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