Yah'shua (Jesus) once said in response to the scepticism of His day:

"If they do not listen to Moses and the Nevi'im (Prophets), they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead" (Luke 16:31, NIV).

If you do not fully believe in the foundational, milky principles of the Besorah (Gospel), then you will never accept the meatier onces, even if they are accompanied by incredible signs and wonders.

"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Messiah. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able" (1 Cor.3:1-2, KJV).

Every single facet of the Besorah (Gospel) is connected to every other one. The New Testament is inseparably connected to the Old. You can't divide them up and accept one and not the other, or demote one and elevate the other. The Bible is an organic whole. And the reason that the vast majority of believers will not accept the Sukkot revelation and anointing of the Remnant is because they refuse to accept the revelation and anointing of at least one of the six annual festivals that preceeds it, and usually more. It's really that simple. Emunah (faith) is a seven-step journey and though we are not usually conscious of our movements between one to the other, they are nonetheless distinct. Thus so many believers fall down after declaring for Yah'shua (Jesus) at the Pesach (Passover) stage because they do not take seriously the meaning of the second annual feast, Chag haMatzah (Feast of Unleavened Bread), which is a mitzvah (commandment) to get all the leaven of sin out of our lives by pursuing holiness. Typically believers pick and choose with mitzvot (commandments) they will obey, believing all sorts of lies about which remain valid in the New Covenant and which do not. Then there are those who do not see the need to enter into a baptismal covenant to follow Messiah always represented by Yom haBikkurim (Day of Firstfruits), which is celebrated on the second day of Chag haMatzah in the middle of that divine moed (appointment). And almost no believers take a Shavu'ot (Weeks, 'Pentecost') or Betrothal Covenant to be fully Torah-obedient or receive that anointing that accompanies it, the Baptism of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), even if millions receive all manner of lawless counterfeits with numerous false signs such as what they purposrt to be tongues.

The first three of the festivals represent the 'milk' part of the Christian or Messianic lifestyle. Few ever get to the meat or to the middle festival of Shavu'ot which is the gate between the milk and meat Besorah (Gospel). Some Messianics try to skip the milk and start at the 'Torah-end' and end up as legalists - salvation always comes before Torah-obedience. There are good reasons why we must always serve milk before meat. It really ought to be common sense but you'd be surprised by just how many people think they can 'skip steps'. I have a fantastic collection of advanced university-level physics books on subjects that fascinate me about cosmology and astronomy but I will never be able to enjoy them properly or get the most out of them [1]. Why? Because my level of mathematics just isn't up to scratch. When I was at college studying Biochemistry I had a terrible time with Physical Chemistry precisely because my Mathematics left so much to be desired. I ended up memorising reims of calculus in order to pass my exams even though I didn't fully understand it. I did well in my exams but I could never be a Physical Chemist - I would first have to go back and get my Mathematics sorted out.

We must have emunah (faith) in the simple or elementary principles of the Besorah (Gospel) and live them out before we stand a chance of developping the kind of emunah (faith) required - let alone living them out - of the higher or more difficult principles of the Besorah (Gospel). I don't have a problem with the many people who come to us and can't make sense of some of the deeper things we teach. Some, for example, struggle with the dietary code, some with the Creation Calendar, and some with the validity of plural marriage for some of those of the Remnant who are called as the patriarchs of old were. Some of it frankly frightens them and they run off because it disturbs their comfort zones and cultural biases - they don't want a radical restructuring of their lifestyle, something, in fact, you can't avoid if you are to become a true talmid (disciple). (See Lev's Hot Potatoes: Hard Truths for the Remnant). I fully get it because we all go through the same process. That is why we have to meet people where they are and not try to force-feed them hard things. People have to mature spiritually in the same way they must mature physically and emotionally, and where necessary do so at their own pace. And unfortunately, as we know only too well, there are far too many emotionally handicapped people in our dysfunctional day and age. (See Advice For Seekers After Truth).

Peter said Paul was tough enough to understand (2 Pet.3:16) and I can understand why (and also why he is grossly misrepresented). Paul was a scholar, and academic people can be a bit overpowering and hard to follow sometimes. When I first came to Scandinavia I gave my translators hell because I used so much Oxford academese. I had to simplify my English both so I could be translated (before I learned Norwegian for myself) and also so I could be understood by ordinary folk. Some people still say I am hard to follow and I admit that I sometimes wander in and out of different styles of speaking and writing - pastoral, evangelistic, academic...I apologise if I cause some of you difficulty, though to be fair the Bible does employ many different styles too! But it's something I have to watch. Paul was somewhat of a genius and I still struggle with his gargantuan sentences and complex, lofty ideas that require so much knowledge of the language and culture of his time to be fully understood. I have to rely on linguists and historians like N.T.Wright and James S.Stewart to help me fathom him. So there are difficulties. Bible translations are another problem area both because of denominational biases and because our English language is changing so fast (for the worse, unfortunately, as it gets more and more diluted of sharp meaning).

Solomon said some hard things too though the Queen of Sheba was apparently able to match him, asking him "hard questions" (1 Ki.10:1, NIV). All of Yahweh's leaders have said hard things to understand. As for Yah'shua (Jesus), well there are enough revolutionary sayings in His repertoire of teachings to scare off anyone anyone not made of sterner stuff. The good news is that 'all you need is emunah (faith)', taking His message one step at a time. Gentile believers, with no background knowledge or experience in Torah, were likewise to take it piecemeal...which is why the Council of Jerusalem only gave them a few Torah principles to implement as part of their first practical steps in discipleship (Ac.21:25). Discipleship must have system but it must be sufficiently flexible to allow everyone to develop and grow at their own pace.

Satan has corrupted every level of Besorah Emet (Gospel Truth), making the 'real thing' look frighteningly different from the man-made traditions we grew up with, so it takes time to adjust one principle at a time until it is fine-tuned to the Davar (Word). Take the Elohimhead or Godhead, for instance. One Roman Creed, that goes far beyond anything the Bible teaches, has millions of Christians in thraldom, preventing them from getting to know Elohim (God) as He really is. The classical Trinity doctrine has a strong fear element linked to it and those who deny it face the stigma of 'cultist' attached to them, so many are cowered into never seriously examining it. At the same time there are others who go in another wrong direction, the worst heresy being to deny the deity of Messiah, which is essential emet (truth) for salvation. Many of these likewise deny that the Ruach (Spirit) is a Person. (See, for example, Messianic Heresies Exposed for orientation on diverse beliefs). So Satan most certainly has numerous scare-tactics, knowing as he does how much comfort we derive from the familiar, especially when it's adhered to by lots and lots of people - he knows our carnal abhorrence of change.

Those of you who have studied our website in any depth will know how every emet (truth) dovetails into every other one. Erroneous beliefs obscure and obfuscate many beautiful truths that are important for the end-time Remnant. The socialistic doctrine of Zionism has muddled millions of Christian believers into misreading prophecy and placing their hope in the wrong things, people and places. And the loathing of plural marriage blinds as many as to the true nature of the Elohimhead (Godhead) and how the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) and the Festivals of Messianic Israel bear testimony of one another and reveal deep truths about the difference between the Old and New Covenants. It blinds people's understanding of the qualitative difference between the two Testaments, Yah'shua (Jesus) bringing the message of mother-love to complete the message of the father-love of Moses and the Nevi'im (Prophets), helping us understand why single-parent families lack proper balance. And the same defect may be found in families with both a mother and father if one or both of them are dysfunctinal.

A child from a balanced family receives two kinds of ahavah (love). Mother-love tends to be unconditional, accepting the child no matter what, regardless of behaviour...just like the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). Father-love tends to be more provisional, bestowing approval as the child meets certain standards of behaviour...just like Yahweh our Heavenly Father. Ideally, a child should receive and internalise both kinds of love in order to be whole. When Yah'shua (Jesus) said that He had come not to abolish the Torah but to complete or fill it up, what He in part meant was that a full revelation of Mother-Love, which comes from the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) being given to believers, was needed to complete or fill up Father-Love. Not only that, but this Mother-Love is so important that it consists of seven types, like the rainbow, as represented by the Seven Annual Festivals. We are, with this understanding, better able to make sense of Isaiah 4 which describes the Remnant and its anointing and the things that will characterise it, like plural marriage, for example:

By dismissing the Tanakh (Old Testament) and Torah, as so many lawless Christians do, they are, without always realising it, dismissing Father-Love in rejecting patriarchy and pursuing, in many cases, the matriarchal, feminist agenda. In contrast, many Messianics can get so absorbed with the Tanakh and Father-Love that they minimise the New Testament and Mother-Love. Both lack the balance. All-male Trinitarianism and the neutered Ruach (Spirit) of so much Messianic Binitarianism both create imbalance, denying the Divine Female. Catholicism has 'compensated' by practically deifying the Virgin Mary as 'Co-Redemptrix' (a camoflaged form of pagan Goddess worship) and the older Protestant denominations (with not a few charismatics, interestingly, like Ulf Ekman and Kenneth Copeland) by, first, embracing feminism (older Protestants like the Lutherans, American Episcopalians, etc.) and more recently by scrambling to reunite with the Catholic Church. Understanding Divine Gender therefore becomes all the more important for the Remnant in understanding our own, a work this ministry has been heavily engaged in the last 30 years that is only now beginning to be recognised.

As the Remnant arises, so will the truths is has been called to restore gain more acceptance as the Western way of thinking is replaced by a Hebraic one - not the Hebraicism of the Pharisees but that of the first patriarchs and now the final ones. This includes dismissing many either/or Western paradigms and accepting some vital both/and Hebraic ones. Core evangelical Christianity (and especially its Christology) is not incompatible Messianic Torah-observance any more than the Old Testament somehow doesn't 'gel' with the New. They're both true and necessary but reveal different aspects of the Ahavah (Love) of Elohim (God). The Old is still foundational, and Patriarchy remains the heavenly tavnith (pattern) but the Old has now been filled up and completed by the New just as Father-Love must find its completion in Mother-Love. This is the Revolution of Divine Grace, not one member of the Elohimhead (Godhead) being replaced by the other (the Father by the Son and thereafter the Ruach/Spirit). ALL authority is returned to the Father at the end, make no mistake about that, for He is the Head over All, in perpetuity. Satanism and its religious offshoots is all about neutralising gender, like our occult-steered political establishment, but the Besorah (Gospel) is all about enhancing and complimenting it with its two aspects, not in some Yin-Yang way (which is also neutralisation à la 'Nirvana') but in the Heavenly Way of the 7-to-1 principle. That's how biblical notions of Elohim (God) differ from all the rest.

Endnotes

[1] Fortunately there are some mathematically-minded members of my family who can!