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Sermons Series 3:27, 25 February 2006
The Divine Theatre
Entertainment vs. Yahweh's Moedim
Main Themes:
Minor Themes:
If you are a person like myself, then you don't like to waste things. Part of my upbringing included the healthy code of not wasting anything. I was taught to take only what I could eat and then eat every last morsel of it. And whilst part of the drive behind my parents' philosophy was doubtless the lack of food that the last world war brought them - because you couldn't afford to waste anything in time of great need - I am sure that there was also this thought that of being economical and good stewards, the biblical belief that we should be responsible for what we are given. We are finite people living in a world with finite resources and it is good that we take care of our environment globally, and locally at home, so that others may also enjoy what otherwise might have been our waste.
It has always struck me how economical our Heavenly Father is too. He wastes nothing and especially not His words. He says what He means, means what He says, and expects us to take Him equally seriously. Nothing is said casually, nothing is done that does not have an ultimate redemptive purpose. It therefore came as quite a surprise to me to discover that all the Old Covenant temple ordinances, whilst appearing meaningless and primitive to the carnal mind, actually contain an incredible depth of wisdom. Errol Müller puts it this way:
"There is no wasted motion in the activities of Yahweh, and there is a picture of a higher spiritual purpose designed into every movement of the Temple observations. When all the Holy Days are seen throughout the year, they join together in a great Spiritual Opera of Yahweh's Plan of restoring His kingdom to earth. I call it a 'Spiritual Opera', but these Holy Days have been given many titles throughout the centuries such as 'God's Calendar if Redemption', 'God's Calendar of Redeeming Grace', 'The Sacred Calendar of the History of Redemption,' and so on" (The Mystic Rites of our Creator, p.154).
It does seem to me, as I read through the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) that Yahweh went to a lot of trouble preparing such a detailed scheme of worship for us. Now of course we know that a great deal of the content of this has been fulfilled and superseded in the death and resurrection of the Messiah Yah'shua because many of the ceremonial details - such as the complicated types of animal sacrifice - were but temporary sin-coverings and pointers to the atonement of Yah'shua. So whilst much has been changed, the pattern of worship - the golden thread of Yahweh's Heart that runs through it all - has not. Taken together, we are given a picture of the whole Cosmos on every level of creation, from the physical to the spiritual. To the unspiritual these may look like the rituals of some primitive, outdated culture which has since 'evolved' into something higher (the moral degradation and anarchy of modern atheistic or New Age liberalism, no doubt), but to the spiritual there is hidden within them matters of the greatest profundity.
One of the things that I have often wondered about is why there was such a great contrast between ancient Greco-Latin and Hebrew culture. The ancient Greeks and Romans, as you know, were great scientists, artisans, organisers, administrators and warriors, and produced profound literature, and created theatre and entertainment that has probably not been matched since, including the amphitheatres to house them with their amazing acoustics. Coming as I do from an élite educational background in which the Greek and Latin classical ways were emphasised and promoted as worthy of our emulation, and in spite of the fact that this education was nominally Christian, I did wonder why it was that Hebrew culture was so 'dull' and apparently uninteresting. Why, I wondered, did the Hebrews have no entertainment? Why no plays and theatres? Why was I, steeped in Western culture, so repulsed by the ancient Hebrew way of life which appeared so primitive and uninteresting? I loved the organisational and military skills of the Romans, and the sophistry and education of the ancient Greeks, their architecture, art, sagas, and the like. The ancient world captured my imagination like nothing else. The military clashes between Romans and Carthaginians, and yarns like Jason and Argonauts fitted perfectly into the mentality that was cultivated in the private school in which I was taught. And yet this 'uncomfortable layer' called Anglican Christianity, so apparently disjunctive with ancient classicism, was seemingly added into this tapestry of contradiction - or at least that is how it appeared to me. And so it was than when a school friend and brilliant mathematics and physics scholar ripped up a Bible one day in contempt, I nodded my approval, as Paul did when righteous Stephen was stoned, and arrogantly believed we were onto better things. Not until years later did I discover that my friend had become an intellectual recluse at Cambridge University, totally cut off from people and life, lost in his own egocentric and atheistic world, did I begin to wonder whether in fact whether he might have made a disastrous choice.
In my youth there were cinemas and theatres everywhere in the cities. There are fewer cinemas now but practically every household has a TV, PC and VCR. Entertainment is available to us at the flick of a switch. We are saturated with entertainment. One of the first things people do when they get back from work or have finished school is gravitate to the TV or PC screen and there they remain glued to be 'entertained'. So why was there no theatre in ancient Israel? And why were the Roman and Greek cultures so frowned upon?
The answer is quite simple: Yahweh wants us to participate in the theatre He has created for us, a theatre based on total heavenly, moral reality rather than carnal myth or illusion - a theatre based on high spiritual principles rather than violence and perversion which permeates nearly all modern entertainment - a theatre that leads to spiritual development and harmony rather than dysfunction and atrophy. Now I call it 'theatre', Errol Müller calls it 'Spiritual Opera', but we mean the same thing. The difference between the ancient Greco-Romans, modern entertainment and Yahweh's Theatre is that in Yahweh's Theatre there is no audience because everyone is participating. Thus we require no theatres, no amphitheatres, no cinemas, no TVs, no PCs. All we need is a pattern of activity, some of is pre-scripted but much of it is ex tempore or spontaneously invented, meaning that Yahweh writes some of the script in Scripture and leaves us to creatively produce the rest under the inspiration of the Ruach haQodesh.
The effect of worldly entertainment has been to make us psychologically dysfunctional. It has created a small élite of actors and actresses, most of them perverse and antichrist (even when acting Christian movies like the Passion of Christ in which a porno queen is a star), with billions of passive onlookers absorbing and swimming in a sea of psychic fifth that has no useful purpose at all but which rather causes us to fantasise and lust after things and lifestyles that we are almost certainly never going to get, and even if we do get them, have them ruin us. I mean, who here is ever likely to become a Superman? or a Batman? or a Spiderman? to give three children's entertainment heroes. Most of the stories are about abnormal things like crime-busting, giving us the good cop-bad cop rôles to keep us in the world system supposedly fighting 'evil' when in fact we are just perpetuating it. Our lives do not usually consist of hunting down and destroying villains. We are seeing a lifestyle of a small minority. So what we see has no bearing on the reality of real spiritual life.
Yahweh knows what is best for us and He has deliberately excluded entertainment that would lead us to fantasise about worlds that have no place in our lives. He wants us to train to be citizens of His Kingdom and I can pretty much guarantee there will be no Hollywood, no theatres, no cinemas, and no movies in the Millennial world to come. To be sure, in order to reach the unsaved masses we must use the Internet and TV to some extent, but it will not always be so. If in times past people could attain perfect happiness without the electronic and other trappings of our modern society, as in the days of Enoch, or brief periods in the early New Testament Messianic Community, then obviously we do not ultimately need these trappings.
Yahweh has given us a series of moedim or appointments in which we can act out a celestial drama to teach us spiritual truths and commune with Him. Everyone's involved, from small children to the aged, everyone has a purpose, and everyone can leave at the end of the appointments refreshed and happy. He has given us weekly, monthly and annual appointments which are more than enough to keep us busy. He wants us working six days a week, having a Sabbath break once a week to spend time with Him and our families, a break once a month at Rosh Chodesh or the New Moon, and seven breaks of varying lengths of time, from 1 to 8 days long each, at His seven appointed Feasts. At three of these (Chag haMatzah, Shavu'ot and Sukkot - Dt.16:16) we are to gather in large groups with fellow worshippers, and celebrate the other four at home with family and close friends. These festivals tell a story, from chaos to the New Jerusalem, in which we learn about divine patterns, Yahweh's heroes and friends, and those who went the wrong way and the lessons we should learn from them. Some gatherings, like Yom Kippur, are very solemn indeed but others like Sukkot are real spiritual partying time where we sing, dance and feast - everyone together, young and old. Every festival is different and each connects to the other as part of an unfolding drama from beginnings to final consummation. Each of these festivals has symbols which have meanings that enable us to connect more deeply to each other and to Yahweh. Indeed, they are so deep that after seven years of preaching on them I feel I have barely scratched the surface. Each year brings a hunger to know and experience more and provides a continuum throughout the ages so that not only are we able to spiritually connect with our ancestors going back thousands of years but we will be able to do so again when they return with us during the first resurrection for the Millennial Reign.
Now like many of you I was brought up on a diet of Western entertainment. And I'll be honest, there's a lot of stuff that I still enjoy. However, the deeper I have gone into the things of Yahweh, and the closer I and my brethren and sisters have been drawn to Him and to each other, the cheaper and harmful nearly all of these entertainments have been seen to become because they have no life or love in them. It is mostly fantasy and its effects are to render us passive sponges soaking whatever the moguls in Hollywood, driven by the Illuminati landlords, would have us swallow. The deeper your relationship becomes to Yahweh the more repulsed you become by these worldly things until you discard them altogether. Thus in our family we have no TV and a time is coming when we will probably dispense with almost all the videos, DVDs and computer games we have. Indeed Yahweh showed me a vision in which most of the CDs and DVDs we currently own, which I had carefully selected to remove as much worldliness from our home as possible, will be thrown into the fire and destroyed - a sharp contrast to an earlier vision in which I saw rivers of CDs and DVDs pouring our of headquarters with sermons and other instructional materials on them.
Most of the entertainment we seek occupies a space in our souls which Yahweh has reserved for His purposes which is why, when those purposes are revealed, most people react against them and choose their entertainments themselves. The problem is, believers don't actually own themselves - Yahweh does - and it is up to Him to decide what our souls are to be used for. A recent experience in the Garden illustrates a similar principle.
About a month and a half ago one of my adopted daughters decided that she did not want to go deeper into the lake of love and be what Yahweh made her to be but to keep our relationship more 'independent' like a worldly friendship. Yah'shua had given specific instructions directly to her by personal revelation in the Garden but she refused, afraid of what loving more deeply would mean to her sense of independence and self-management. The result of this was that she got demonised and her personality changed as the demonic integrated more and more with her personality. After the demonic had made her do some shocking things she suddenly woke up to reality and made the choice to obey Yah'shua. As we went through the process of deliverance she came to understand that the space in her heart that the demons had occupied was the part Yahweh had reserved for her spiritual father, and since she had denied that space to her father, and since nature abhors a vacuum, the demons had simply flooded in and taken over. Once she had given authority back to her father, the demons had no more legal grounds, were quickly expelled, and she returned to her right mind and heart.
Now we use many metaphors to describe how the 'heart' is inside. We often speak of a 'throne room' and how it is that it was designed for Yah'shua to sit there as our King. When He is enthroned there, He governs our lives. When He is not, then we occupy it ourselves, appointing ourselves as 'christ' and making ourselves Antichrist. Or worse, we can give it to Satan and become his slaves. Whether we sit on it ourselves or Satan does makes little difference since if we sit and rule, Yah'shua doesn't. Often we split into sub-personalities or alters and divide our hearts up so that Yah'shua has control of some areas of our life, we rule others, and Satan has full control of the remainder. This is what the Bible calls a 'double-minded' person. It was what my adopted daughter experienced. She was torn inside between what her true heart wanted and what the demonic wanted.
When we buy into the lie that Yahweh's ways are boring, Satan steps in and fills it with worldly entertainment. This entertainment section of our hearts then becomes the portal to a river of lies which we soak up passively and demons walk in one by one until they start piling up. In time interest in Yahweh wanes and before long we have become a heathen again. Gradual infiltration is by far Satan's most common method - if he can take the kingdom of heaven by violence he will certainly do that (Mt.11:12) but if that fails then he uses more subtle methods.
Boredom is a sign that we are disconnected from reality and from Yahweh's heart. There is absolutely no boredom on the true Ruach haQodesh. In recent months there has just been so much love pouring into our hearts and being exchanged that we really don't care for much else than the relationships we have with heaven and with each other. When you're alive you don't need substitutes, and Satan has a Pandora's Box of 'substitutes' lined up to meet all your carnal and fallen tastes.
I realise that in recommending that parents get rid of television that I run the risk of a backlash of protests and even accusations. Indeed, there was a time a couple of decades ago when someone making the same suggestion to me would have been greeted with scorn. In those days I was more liberal and thought that such anti-TV proponents were a tad fanatical. I was careful to be very selective in what I allowed in my home and thought that I had pretty good control but the effects on two of my children were far worse than I had ever dreamed. Even if you can control programs, how can you be at hand to control all the advertising which is so laced with satanic images and sounds? You can't. Why is it, then, that we feel so intimidated by those who accuse us of being 'controlling' when we seek to protect our children from harm? It is because we fear the stigmatism that society places on us when it marks us out as 'abnormal', 'antisocial' or (worse) 'politically incorrect'. We fear to be different because we would rather blend in with the crowd than stick out like a sore thumb and be regarded as 'freaks'. Social acceptance is important to us - or at least to the carnal man.
The reality is you can never please everyone and if you have radical ideas or beliefs someone is going to claim you are a 'freak'. I say, let them. We know that we are driven by love for our children - we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Once a week I take members of my family out for a simple meal in town to make a change from the usual routine of rural life. Almost without exception, there is usually a TV blaring programs from MTV. People often wonder why I take them to such an environment and the reason is, apart from the good food, because I want them to see some contrast with the lifestyle we lead. I do not want to them to live in fear of the outside world but to be fully informed of it and so be able to make intelligent choices. To the last boy or girl, they react with disgust, not because they have been programmed to look at the world in this way but because that have tasted the goodness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the lives they lead and can see with their own eyes, and hear with their own ears, the evilness and vileness of it all. They ask questions and we answer them so that they can understand what is going on. However, this weekly encounter would not be instructional to them without the education we give them in spiritual values. They have the harmony, love and happiness of home life, which most of the youngsters of this world have never even seen or experienced, to give them a sharp contrast. They themselves comment on what they see, and feel personal revulsion.
Now I mention MTV or Music TV for a very good reason. It was established in 1981 as a cable TV channel devoted to rock music 24 hours a day. It came at a time when record sales were declining and the industrial executives were ready to try out just about any new promotional gimmick to stimulate the industry. Radio was not creating a hungry class of rock consumers and concert tours were too expensive and time consuming. MTV has become a great success commercially and record companies are now signing up particular rock groups more because of their visual appearance and less because of their music. Rock lyricists, in turn, write songs based on particular visual ideas which they believe will make good rock videos. Today, as you look at these video presentations, you are immediately struck by at least four common and repeating elements: pornographic sensuality, violence, occultism and fantasy. And in the back ground is the steady satanic drone of the rock-beat which keeps the images 'moving'. I have been going into this restaurant and others like it for several years now and I cannot remember a single 'tune' that was sung. But the rock beat, which stimulates the demonic kundalini forces within the psyche, and the visual images of anarchy - these things people remember. MTV is the most popular form of entertainment there is and it is everywhere. As such, then, it has become one of the most successful brainwashing instruments of the Illuminati élite. It has no upbuilding content whatsoever. It's purpose is the destruction of the mind and the numbing of the spirit.
Next week I am going to show you something in Yahweh's Divine Theatre which is very deep and satisfying to the soul, in stark contrast to what I have been talking about today. We shall probe the mysteries of one of the most common prevalent symbols of the faith revealed by Yahweh - the Menorah - and see how it is that the soul - awake, vibrant and happy - can participate in a drama as old as the cosmos and find refreshment and real job. Amen.
Author: Lev-Tsiyon
Glossary of MLT Hebraic, Greek and English Terms For other terms and full details please see the Micropedia
A
Adon(ai) = Master, a pagan fertility god, Adonis; used by many Messianics but not MLT
(a)eon(ian) = 7 dispensation- or age-long time periods, not forever (see le-olam-va-ed)
Alef-Tav = Alpha-Omega, A-Z, first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet = Yah'shua
Amen = truly, let it be so, written Amein by some Messianics
Apocrypha = Hebraic Scriptures not a part of the Protestant canon (e.g. Baruch)
Anti-Messiah = Hebraic term for the end-time Antichrist or anyone opposed to the Messiah
antinomian = lawless Christian who disregards all or part of Torah/commandments
Ashkenazi Jew = East European Jew descended from the Turkic-Japhethite Khazars
Assembly = church, congregation, ekklesia, community, fellowship, koinonia, gathering
Azazel = the Yom Kippur scapegoat
B
Baal, Ba'al = any other master than Yahweh, usually demonic in MLT terminology
Bachor(im) = firstborn son(s)
Bar/Bat Mitzvah = Son/Daughter of Commandment, covenant to obey Torah at age 12
being = soul, the whole person (spirit and body), e.g. "my whole being"
Beit, bet, beth = house, e.g. Beit Yisrael (House of Israel), Beth Lechem (House of Bread)
Beit haMikdash = Yahweh's Temple in Yerushalayim
B'rit Chadashah = the New Covenant; B'rit Chadashah Scriptures = New Testament
B'rit Milah = circumcision - abolished in the B'rit Chadashah, replaced by Mikvah
C
canon = authoritative Scripture (Heb. qaneh, Gk. kanôn = measuring instrument)
Catechumen = a serious, covenanted investigator seeking Mikvah or Baptism in MLT
Chag haMatzah = Feast of Unleavened Bread, second of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Chavurat Bekorot = MLT's Priesthood Order, Holy Order and Assembly of the Firstborn
Cohen = priest; Cohen Gadol = High Priest (also spelled Kohen)
Council of Yah's elohim = the heavenly Assembly of the Firstborn or Chavurat Bekorot
D
demon = fallen malek or angel in rebellion against Yahweh (Heb. shad; see Êl-Shaddai)
derech = the Way, Path or Road - Yah'shua and the Gospel are the Way
Drash = moral or homiletic interpretation of Scripture - see PaRDeS
E
Echad = One, Union of two or more in one (as opposed to Yachid) - see Elohim
Echad Godhead Doctrine = Father Yahweh, Son Yah'shua and Sevenfold Ruach (Mother)
Êl, Eloah, Elah = God the Father, Yahweh
Êl-Elyon = Most High God, Yahweh
Êl-Shaddai = Master/Lord over all shads or demons
Elohim = God, the Godhead (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), lit. 'Mighty One(s)', 'Ruler(s)'
elohim = Israelite judges, rulers, angels or gods (false deities, idols, demons)
emunah = faith, actively trusting, clinging or adhering to (especially Yahweh or Yah'shua)
emet = truth, Yah'shua is the Emet
Ephraimite = descendant of the patriarch Ephraim and head of Messsianic Israel
F
Feasts of Yahweh = the 7 annual Moedim (Pesach, Chag haMatzah, Yom haBikkurim, Shavu'ot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot)
G
Gan-Eden = Garden of Eden, Paradise and state of the purified heart in Messiah
goy(im) = nation(s), Israelites or gentiles not born in or converted to the Covenant
H
hallelu-Yah = praise Yah(weh)!
Heylel = proper name of Satan or haSatan = the Adversary, the devil
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Hochmah = Wisdom, title of the 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
I
IDL = International Date Line, false man-made time division in Pacific Ocean
IDL Zone = Area between the true Divine Date Line (Lake Van/Eden) and the false one
Israeli = citizen of the modern Edomite-Khazar Republic of Israel (not Biblical Israel)
Israelite = citizen of biblical state of Israel or a modern follower of the Messiah
J
Jew = post-biblical term describing descendants of Edomite and Khazar converts to Judaism
Johannine = pertaining to the Apostle Yochanan (e.g. Gospel of John)
Josephite = descendant of the patriarch Joseph, the head of Messianic Israel
Judahite = a person in direct descent from the patriarch Judah, forefather of the Messiah
Judaism = a Talmudic-based religion rejecting Yah'shua the Messiah
Judean = a citizen of the Kingdom or Province of Judah until the 2nd Century diaspora
K
Kadosh la Yahweh = set-apart or dedicated to Yahweh, 'Holiness to the Lord', MLT motto
Karaites = Jews (from 700 AD) who reject the Talmud and accept only the Tanakh
kashrut = keeping kosher, food laws of Yahweh and correspinding lifestyle
Ketuvim = Writings or Hagiographa of the Tanakh
Khazar = a Turkic convert to Judaism ~700 AD forming the Ashkenazi Jewish community
kosher = clean foods authorised by Yahweh for human consumption
L
Lashon Hara = evil-speaking, gossip or slander
legalism = false route to salvation through works (self-salvation)
le-olam-va-ed = dispensation- or age-long, aeonian, not eternal, forever or for eternity
Lev = heart, as in Lev-Tsiyon = heart of Zion
Lev-Tsiyon = Heart of the Fortress [of Yahweh], Hebrew name of MLT's founder
M
Master = Lord, Sir, Adon(ai) - (one in authority, a ruler - a king, husband, prophet, judge)
Malak(im) = Angel(s), heavenly supernatural messenger(s)
manna = wafers of honey, bread from heaven (lit. 'what is this?')
matzah = unleavened bread, see Chag haMatzah
Menorah = 7-armed candlearbra = the 7 annual Moedim and 7-fold Ruach haQodesh
Messiah = Christ; Anti-Messiah = Antichrist
Messianic Community = Body of Christ, sum total of all true believers; all true fellowships
Messianic Israel = all who worship Yahweh, trust in Yah'shua, obey Torah and overcome
Messianic Jew = Messianic convert from Judaism still clinging to Talmudic traditions
Midrash = aggadic interpretation of scripture viâ Drash, a scriptural discussion
Mikvah = baptism by immersion of convert into Yah'shua or of wife into husband
Mishpachah = family: nuclear, congregational, tribal or the whole of Messianic Israel
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon = family of the heart of the fortress [of Yahweh]
Mishpat = right-ruling or judgement
mitzvah/mitzvot = commandment(s)
moed(im) = appointment(s) of Yahweh, 7 Annual Feasts, Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh
N
Nefilim, Nephilim = giant offspring of materialised demons and human women
Nevi'im = prophetic writings of the Old Testament or Tanakh
New Birth = spiritual conversion in the Ruach haRishon, being 'born again' with new heart
Nidah = a woman's menstruation period during which no intercourse is permitted
O
Olive Branch = collection of revelations, prophecies and visions published by MLT
P
Paraclete = Comforter, Advocate (NEB), Counsellor, Ruach haQodesh (Gk. paraklêtos)
PaRDeS = method of textual interpretation (homiletics) - see P'shat, Remez, Drash, Sod
Patriarch = a father who is head of his family, clan or tribe (lit. 'father-ruler')
Pentateuch = first five books of the Tanakh (Genesis-Deuteronomy), also called Torah
peribolaion = headcovering worn by daughters/wives in submission to fathers/husbands
Pesach = Passover, first of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Peshitta = an Aramaic version of the Bible
Prototrinitarianism = early, simplified MLT formulation of the Echad Godhead Doctrine
Prush(im) = Pharisee(s)
Pseudepigrapha = Non-canonical Hebrew writings additional to the Apocrypha
P'shat = literal, contextual, philological, exoteric, outer meaning of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Q
Qadosh Qadoshim = Holy of Holies, most sacred set-apart room of the Beit haMikdash
Qodesh, Kodesh = set-apart, holy (see Ruach haQodesh)
R
Rabbi = Teacher, term used by Messianic Jews and some Messianic Israelites = Pastor
Refuge, the 12 Cities of = divinely protected MLT fortresses during the 7-year Tribulation
Remez = hint or allegorical level of Hebraic understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Rosh Chodesh = monthly New Moon appointment of Yahweh
ruach = spirit of a person (lit.'breath')
Ruach Elohim = Spirit of God (the Spirit of the collective Godhead or Elohim)
Ruach haChamashee = 5th Ruach presides over Yom Teruah and Yom Chamashee
Ruach haQodesh = the Sevenfold Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (lit. 'Set-Apart Breath')
Ruach haRevee = 4th Ruach presides over Shavu'ot, Yom Revee and Bar Mitzvah
Ruach haRishon = 1st Ruach presides over Pesach, Yom Rishon and the New Birth
Ruach haShanee = 2nd Ruach presides over Chag haMatzah and Yom Shanee
Ruach haSheshi = 6th Ruach presides over Yom Kippur and Yom Sheshi
Ruach haShleshi = 3rd Ruach presides over Yom haBikkurim, Yom Shleshi and Mikvah
S
Sabbath = Yom Shabbat (Friday to Saturday sunset, add 1 day in IDL Zone)
Satan = rebel archangel Heylel, father of lies, devil, chief demon (lit.'Adversary')
Sephardic Jew = West European Jew of mixed blood containing many Judahites
Septuagint = Greek translation of the Tanakh, LXX
Shegal haShabbat = 7th Ruach (Sabbath Queen) presides over Sukkot and Yom Shabbat
Shekinah = Divine Presence and Glory of Yahweh-Elohim
Set-apart = holy, sanctified, consecrated, dedicated, separated (to and by Yahweh)
Shabbat-Shabbaton = High Sabbath (e.g. Yom Kippur)
Shalom = heavenly peace, standard Hebraic greeting invoking Yahweh's peace
Shamash(im) = servant(s), deacon(s), attendant(s)
Shavu'ot = Pentecost or Weeks, fourth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Sheol = grave or pit, euphamism for Hades or hell - also see Tartarus
shofar = ram's horn, blown during Yahweh's Moedim
simcha = joy, keynote of Sukkot
Sod = mystical, anagogic, inner or esoteric understanding of Scripture - see PaRDeS
Sukkot = Tabernacles or Booths, seventh of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Synagogue = Greek word used by Jews and Messianics (but not MLT) for a meeting house
T
talmid(a) = male/female disciple or student
Talmud = scriptures, teachings and commentaries belonging to non-Messianic Judaism
Tanakh = acronym for Old Testament Scriptures - Torah, Nevi'im & Ketuvim
Tartarus = place of imprisonment under the earth for rebellious angels and Nephilim
teshuvah = repentance, remorse and contrition leading back to Torah obedience
Torah = Yahweh's teachings or Law; New Covenant Torah includes Yah'shua's teachings
Tribulation, the Great = the final 7 years of the present aeon when Anti-Messiah rules
Trinity = Catholic Godhead formula - see Echad Godhead Doctrine and Prototrinitarianism
Tsiyon = Zion, a fortress, a name of Jerusalem and a prominent hill
Tzitzit/Tizitziyot = tassel(s) worn by men in remembrance of Torah
U
Universalism = salvation of all at the cosmic Yovel, with different rewards and punishments
Y
Yachid = one, single person or item, as opposed to Echad (many in one, unity)
Yah'shua the Messiah = Jesus Christ (the Son)
Yahudah = Judah - see Judahite
Yahweh, Yah, YHWH = the true Name of our Heavenly Father, also carried by Yah'shua
Yahweh-Elohim = LORD God (the Father, Yahweh as Head of the Godhead or Elohim)
Yahweh haQatan = the sent Yahweh = Yah(weh)'shua, Malak of Yahweh's Presence
Yam Suf = Sea of Reeds, the true Israelite Exodus water crossing, not the Red Sea
Yarden = Jordan River (lit. 'meanderer')
Yerushalayim = Jerusalem
Yisrael = Israel (lit. 'ruling with Êl') = true believers under the New Covenant
Yom Chamashee = 5th day of the week (Thursday, Friday in IDL Zone)
Yom Din, Yom haDin = (the) Day of Judgement
Yom haBikkurim = Feast of Firstfruits, third of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Revee = 4th day of the week (Wednesday, Thursday in IDL Zone)
Yom Rishon = 1st day of the week (Sunday, Monday in IDL Zone)
Yom Kippur = Day of Atonement, sixth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yom Shabbat = 7th day of the week and Sabbath Rest (Saturday, Sunday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shanee = 2nd day of the week (Monday, Tuesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Sheshi = 6th day of the week (Friday, Saturday in IDL Zone)
Yom Shleshi = 3rd day of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday in IDL Zone)
Yom Teruah = Day of Trumpets, fifth of the annual feasts of Yahweh
Yosef = Joseph - see Josephite
Yovel = Jubilee or Year of Jubilee
Z
Zaqen(im) = elder(s) of an assembly or congregation, or senior members of a community
Zoë Life = Greek term for spiritual life in the Messiah
Commonly Used MLT Abbreviations
For additional abbreviations and explanations, please see the Micropedia
A
Amp.V(er). = Amplified Version of the Bible
Aram. = Aramaic
AV = Authorised Version of the Bible - see KJV
B
BCAY = B'rit Chadashah Assembly of Yahweh - see NCCG
BoA = Books of Abraham (e.g. 1Abr., 2Abr., etc.)
C
cp, cf = compare with
CB(Q) = Chavurat Bekorot
CEV = Contemporary English Version of the Bible
ch. = chapter
CJB = Complete Jewish Bible
CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament
CYe = Council of Yah's elohim
E
Eng. = English
F
ff. = and onwards/forwards
fn = footnote
G
Gk. = Greek
GNB = Good News Bible - see TEV
H
Heb. = Hebrew, Hebraic
HEM = Holy Echad Marriage, eternal marriage
HO = Holy Order - see Chavurat Bekorot
HOC = Holy Order Collection of revelations - see OB
HRV = Hebraic-Roots Version of the Bible
I
ibid. = ibidem (lit. 'in the same place'), referring to a book previously cited
ICJC = Independent Church of Jesus Christ, earlier name of NCCF
ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version of the Bible
J
JB = Jerusalem Bible
JBP/Phillips = J.B.Phillips translation of the New Testament
JNT = Jewish New Testament
K
KJV = King James Version of the Bible - see AV
L
LB = Living Bible
lit. = literally or literature
LXX = Septuagint, Greek translation of the OT
M
MLT = Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon
Moff. = Moffatt translation of the Bible
MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant Version of the NT
MS(S) = Manuscript(s)
N
NASB, NASV = New American Standard Bible/Version
NC&C = New Covenants & Commandments - see OB
NCCF = New Covenant Christian Fellowship, earlier name of NCCG
NCCG = New Covenant Church of God, earlier name of MLT - see BCAY
NCP = New Covenant Press, publishing arm of MLT
NCW = New Covenant Witness, MLT magazine
NEB = New English Bible
NIV = New International Version of the Bible
NKJV = New King James Version of the Bible
Nor. = Norwegian
NT = New Testament, B'rit Chadashah
NWT = New World Translation of the Bible, unreliable Jehovah's Witness version
O
OB = Olive Branch - see NC&C
op.cit. = opere citato (lit. in the work cited)
OT = Old Testament, Tanakh
P
p(p). = page(s)
pl. = plural - see s.
PWNC = Prophetic Words of the New Covenant, revelation cataloging system - see OB
Q
QED = quod erat demonstrandum (lit. which was shown to be proved)
R
RCF = Restoration Christian Fellowship, earlier name of ICJC
RhQ = Ruach haQodesh, Holy Spirit
RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition of the Bible
RSV = Revised Standard Version of the Bible
RV = Revised Version of the Bible
S
s. = singular - see pl.
S&G = Smith & Goodspeed Version of the Bible
T
TEV = Today's English Version of the Bible - see GNB
V
Vulg. = Biblia Vulgata, Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible
W
WEB = World English Bible
Glossary Copyright ©2007 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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This page was first created on 7 March 2007
Last updated on 7 March 2007
Copyright ©2006 Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) - All Rights Reserved
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