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Sermons Series 3:37, 22 April 2006
Our Messianic Vision
No to Judaism, Yes to Evangelical Torah
Main Themes:
Minor Themes:
Shabbat shalom and welcome back after what has been a very memorable and exciting Chag haMatazah. We have enjoyed our time so much that I know we are eagerly counting the 50 days to Shavu'ot as we anticipate the blessings of the Ruach haRevee on that blessed day. And though it is tempting to start talking about that now, as our hearts are so swollen with all that the first three Ruachs have done for us, there are other items of business that we must attend to in the meantime.
I think it is true to say that we are still trying to nail out identity squarely to the mast of our mission. There has been so much new revelation, so much change within and so much more data on matters we were only barely acquainted with before that we must - as we do occasionally - pause to take stock before pressing ahead again. We do empathise with the apostle John's hyperbole when he declared:
"Yah'shua did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25, NIV).
We feel a bit like that currently. There is so much happening that our chroniclers and commentators on theology are barely able to record a fraction of what is happening amongst us, forcing us to leave our principal witness to oral testimony to be given as and when the Ruach haQodesh moves us. The attempts by out critics to 'evaluate' us would be comical were it not for that fact that it's a completely traversty and misrepresentation. Fortunately those who know us - and those who can be bothered - can find out for themselves.
In 1999, around seven years ago, NCCG became Torah-observant and so it was quite natural that we turn to other Torah-observant coommunities and congregations for guidance while we found our feet and got to grips with the much neglected scriptures of the Pentateuch. Our initial hopes at finding common fellowship with other Messiancs, including Mesianic Jews and Messianic Israelites, were at first dampened and then shattered as we discovered not only more and more false doctrine but an abundance of idolatry - self-love and self-worship.
A couple of days ago I was sitting in my armchair in my study and my eye glanced to a collection of magazines from the 1980's produced by one of the non-Messianic Sabbath- and Festival-observaing denominations. As I started reading some of the articles a flood of thoughts and feelings came over me, principle of which was, 'How much simpler this is!' Here the basic facts of Yahweh's Torah were being laid out without all the Talmudic junk and attempts to impress and overwhelm its readers by a plethora of bewildering Hebrew words. There was no attempt - consciously or unconsciously - to make us feel a never-ending debt of gratitude and subservience to a group of people as second-class citizens and their claimed 'superior culture' who had supposedly brought us out of darkness and into light when the truth was they had been amongst the most virulently antichrist and racist people the world has ever known with practically zero tolerance of anything outside their own historically-defined and imposed cultural parameters. Normally a very quiet and mild person, I have to confess that I was momentarily roused to anger and indignation at the thought at the way that not only we, but many others of the House of Joseph, were the objects of a cultic spirit that reflexly labels its critics as 'anti-semitic'.
It is no secret that we are neither politically or religiously 'correct'. We don't follow the crowd and we always check everything carefully against the Word in the original languages. But because we are humans, made in the image of the Elohim, we do quite naturally seek people to look up to as spiritual guides in the days of our ignorance, just as sons and daughters look up to the fathers and mothers to be raised. But once we have 'come of age' in a particular area and have metaophorically 'left home', then we unapologetically scrutinise the teachings of our mentors to see whether they were fully on the right track or not.
Many have been our tutors and many debts of gratitude are owed them, from individuals like Mike and Cathy Styer who graciously sent us some eye-opening books, to the Seventh-Day Adventists and people of the Worldwide Church of God, and finally to the Messianic Jews like David Stern to Two-House Messianic Israelites like Moshe Koniuchowsky. To all of these we say a thank-you. Because of them we are honouring our Heavenly Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit with Their true Names. Because of them we are able now to fulfil the soul's deep need to honour the Elohim by obeying the correct commandments at the correct times and in the correct ways. Thanks to them we have spent even more time in the Old Testament and got to know it as thoroughly as we got to know the New. Thanks to them we have become better Bereans (Ac.17:11). Thanks to them we have come to love the Hebrew language which has brought us even deeper into contact with the original thought pictures of Yahweh's prophets, seers and revelators. Thanks to them we have been pointed in the right directions in certain areas of the Gospel. But when it comes to the nitty-gritty - when it comes to our roots and the foundations of our belief - when it comes to these things we find that we are, and always have been, and always will be, evangelical Christians. We are not - I repeat - NOT - Messianic Jews, we are NOT Zionists, we do NOT see the modern state of Israel as Yahweh's land or people, and neither do we ascribe to those Jews who call themselves believers any kind of primacy. We love them as fellow believers in Yah'shua and as fellow humam beings but no more for beyond that is a cultic, idolatrous spirit. We totally and utterly reject their cult of superiority and leadership in the House of Israel. We are, and remain, for want of a better term, an evangelical Hebraic-roots Josephite Echad-hearted Menorah-based New Covenant Christian Israelite Mishpachah. I know it's a clumsy string of words that at first sight might seem a little comical but until we can find a simpler term to denote who we are, that is what we are stuck with. Perhaps with a little juggling someone can come up with a suitable acronym.
Over Chag haMatzah we have had numerous discussions as to who we are, and we have agreed that finding an adequate label of identity to do justice to our true beliefs and understandings is probably not going to be possible all at once. But we live in hope. Friends in our online Cyber Community have suggested some names which we are also juggling with. Throughout our 20 year history we have only ever belonged to one association, the Messianic Israelite Alliance or MIA, and whilst we were accepted and certified by them because of our acceptance of their basic tenets, they quietly pushed us out (without ever contacting to us) because of our hostile stand on the Republic of Israel and Jewish primacy. Though we are still 'officially' members we are not to be found on their membership lists anymore. The fact of the matter is we're not wanted and they prefer to have a closet Messianic Mormon on the Board of Directors who is a secret Joseph Smith admirer with many heretical beliefs. So I think it is not only true to say, but time to publically declare, that we are no longer subscribers to MIA. We are grateful to what we learned from MIA's founders, the Wootens, but we cannot in all conscience claim to have any meaningful fellowship with their organisation any longer which the new website will reflect when it is made. Let it be stated for the record that we did not reject them but that they secretly and cowardly rejected us. This means we return to our former position as existed before 1999 of not having any formal associations with other groups, and though such is far from what we would desire, reality is reality. We're on the road Yahweh has mapped for us and will pursue it as vigorousoly as we have always done and without distraction, I hope.
Have we, then, as no doubt our critics would like the world to believe, suddenly become a 'one and only true church' and the 'sole dispensers of salvation'? Of course not. I stated as recently as Chag haMatzah that the Ruach haRishon (and possibly the Ruach haShanee and Ruach haShleshi) works through all evangelical Bible-based churches in bringing souls to the first and possibly even to the second and third stages of salvation and full deliverance in some cases. And I am prepared to conceed that some, which have accepted Torah, have taken believers to the fourth stage through the Ruach haRevee. Only Yahweh truly knows what He is doing and with who - we know, and affirm, that He is working everywhere, and giving believers authority to act in His Name under the particular Ruach they have listened to and obey. It is also our belief that out there, there may be up to eleven more Mishpachah's like this one, operating in the same kind of authority and anointing as we are, who will one day unite with us. Or it may be that they are just individual apostles who are called but who have not yet gathered. We don't know yet. Whatever the situation may be, we are not alone, just as the Prophet Elijah was not alone after his encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Do I believe that by the Tribulation that we will be the 'one and only'? It is more than likely but I cannot say for sure. We operate with the attitude that there are other individuals and groups whom Yahweh is working mightily in and bringing them to the fullness as He is with us, and we believe we shall in due course unite with them. We pray for them as we hope they pray for us.
My point is there is no such thing as a 'one and only true church' and never can be until the fullness has come. And there is certainly no 'legalistic' one outwardly such as Catholics and Mormons teach, and cannot be until Yah'shua returns and establishes the true worldwide Zion (as opposed to the Illuminist, counterfeit, antichrist one that is in the world today).
This means that at certain times and in certain ways we can loosely (though not formally) associate, and identity, with evangelicals and Messianics, depending on the Ruach operating in them. But we are neither. Yahweh told me in a vision, which I have already shared, that we are walking a path midway between the two. That vision is very clear and we will not deviate from it. It means we can have no part with either Evangelical (Baptist, Pentecostal, or whatever) or Messianic Alliances (like MJA or YATI) though we can be on friendly terms with those who love the Lord Yah'shua with all their hearts and are striving to be obedient to Him.
In case you might be tempted to believe that we are 'anti-Jewish' because we are 'anti-Judaism' I ought to point out that we have many Messianic Jewish friends. One of them recently wrote to me and said that she agreed with everything we had written about Judaism. So let this be stated - we are pro-Jewish, pro-Arab, pro-Russian, pro-everyone who is descended from father Adam and mother Eve - every human being. We love them all. But that does not mean we support Zionism, Pan-Arab Nationalism, or Soviet Russian Communism. We do not necessarily support the dominant religious or secular philosophies of different groups of people, and the fact that we don't doesn't make us anti-semitic, anti-Arab, anti-Russian or anti-anyone else. To Jew, Arab, Russian, and everyone we say: Come to Messianic Israel and to this Mishpachah, and welcome; but if Yahweh calls you somewhere else, then we bless you too.
The problem with the Messianic movement, which in reality is a hodgepodge of all kinds of theologies (many blatanly heretical and anti-messiah), is that it is as mixed and confused as orthodox Christianity. It's one common unifying thread is Jewish culture.
This Mishpachah does not believe in 'culture' because a culture is "the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge , which constitute the shared bases of social action" and "the total range of activities and ideas of a people" (The New Collins Concise English Dictionary: 1987, p.272). In other words, culture equals society. Now is there one single society that we can, as New Covenant Christians, with hands on our hearts, say that we can either truthfully totally identity with and/or represents the Zionic ideal that Yahweh has revealed in Scripture? Is there a single contemporary civilization that we can honestly call godly, or that even approaches godliness? Even if we elect for a more narrow definition of 'culture', such as "the enlightenment or refinement resulting from artistic and social pursuits, expression, and tastes valued by a society or a class", we cannot in all honesty find one today with which we can identify. In order to meet the Biblical standards you have to find very small groups of dedicated people who, by virtue of their size alone, are looked upon with suspicion and frowned upon as 'sects' or 'cults' simply because they are small or because other small groups have earned stigmatic labels because of their clearly unbiblical behaviour. 'Normality' in the world in measured in liberal, secular terms in terms of the 'majority' - when it suits it (i.e. when liberals are in charge) and the suggestion that 'normality' might reside with a small group of people is regarded as both highly unlikely if not downright impossible because of the humanistic belief in the inherant goodness of self-governing man. The fact that history has disproved this outrageous claim is conveniently forgotten in the pursuit of liberal and communistic agendas.
What shall we then make of the claims of 'Jewish culture' vs. 'Gentile culture'? Is it not self evident, Judaists maintain, that the Jewish one is superior if not simply because it is based in Torah? The problem is not everyone's 'Torah' or 'teaching' is the same. And whether you like it ot not, a culture is more than simply following Torah or even the Messiah but is the sum total of all activities including music, sport, entertainment, archiecture, dress habits and so on, each of which has its own influences from one or other spiritual source. There still remains the need for someone to interpret or discern what these sources are.
What 'of' Jewish culture, then? This is a big subject because, like Gentile 'culture' (in truth, many cultures) it is constantly changing and evolving, and there are today, in the post-ghetto period, many different types of Jewish 'culture', some influenced by Gentile culture and some not.
To the Talmudic Jew, and not a few Messianic Jews, everything gentile is 'unkosher' and must be rejected. In other words, the evolved Talmudic, Orthodox ghetto culture is the standard or norm by which everything else is to be measured. Now in the common gentile view, Greece and Rome evolved enduring values on which the civilization of Europe was built. Out of Greece came beauty and Greek foundations lie beneath all poetry and art; out of Rome came law, and Roman ones lie beneath Magna Charta, Habeas Corpus and the right of a man to fair and public trial, which was arguably the greatest achievement of the West. But to the Talmudic Zionist, Greece and Rome were just repellant, transient heathen manifestations, so that Jewish scholar Dr. Kastain could write: "from the very beginning Judea quite rightly saw merely the representative of intellectual and stupid brute force" in the works of the Greeks and Romans. He conveniently forgets, however, the "intellectual and stupid brute force" which not only lead to the conquest and forced circumcision of the Edotmites under the Hasmoneans (whose Illuminist descendants set up and rule the modern Israeli Republic) but to the traversty of justice which was Yah'shua's trial, the murder of Yahweh's own Son, and the idiotic curse the people called down upon themselves when they chose Barabbas instead of Yah'shua. I could, if I had time, detail all the conspiracies, duplicity and criminal activities of the Zionists and Talmudists over the centuries but I will spare you most of that now.
Suffice to mention one example, the fate of the Sephardic Jew Moses Ben Maimonides, born in Spain in 1135 who drew up a code of the principles of Judaism in which he admirably wrote: "It is forbidden to defraud or deceive any person in business, Judaist and non-Judaist are to be treated alike ... What some people imagine, that it is permissable to cheat a Gentile, is an error and based in ignorance ... Deception, duplicity, cheating and circumvention towards a Gentile are despicable to the Almighty, as 'all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto Yahweh your Elohim' (Dt.26:15)".
Here was a worthy son of Judah, a good Sephardic Jew, but he was out of step with Talmudists who denounced him and his followers to the Catholic Inquisition to whom they wrote: "Behold, there are amongst us heretics and infidels, for they were seduced by Moses Ben Maimonides ... You who clear your community of heretics, clear ours too." And they did, with relish, no doubt, for we know the brutal spirit of the Inquisators.
The fierceness of Talmudic rule within the ghettoes over the centuries often produced a weeping, groaning and rattling of chains. By isolating their people totally from Gentile society, apartheid-style, they were able to rule with a fascist-like iron fist, and did. Really not until the 1930's did the grip start to loosen. Much of that Ashkenazi cultural legacy has survived in Rabbinic Judaism today and though modern Judaism has many cultural 'streams', the Talmudic ones remain uncomfortably present in various mutated forms in every sector of Jewish society. What ever it is, it is not Yahweh's culture because the values are a pot pourri of Torah and satanic doctrines with its violent hostility to Christ and to Christians, little different from the murderous spirit of those Catholic Inquistors with whom they both at first cooperated and later suffered from. We cannot in any way go to that for our spiritual nourishment even under the umbrella of Messianism.
Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon is not interested in taking the cultural package of any one nation or society and adapting the Gospel to it. We are unapologetically shaping a new one. It would be true to say that we are not even shaping it in exactly the same form as the New Testament Church, for that would in any case be impossible, but are looking forwards to the king of world will be the Millennium whose culture will be based on the Heavenly one. In that respect we take our cues from the Garden - from Paradise itself - and are learning just what the substance of divine societal living actually is. Yes, we do absorb and adapt the good in the societies around us which our international community of believers exposes us to, and in that respect we are neither Scandinavian, British, American, Indian, South African or anything else, but we absorb the best of all of them. That which does not contradict Torah or the system that Yahweh has given us, which is appoved by Yah'shua, we adopt. So, yes, we love the beauty of the Greeks - and as it happens, so do the Ruachs. So, yes, we love the justice of some aspects of the Roman system, and so we adopt that in the absence of a theocratic government which can only come into existence during the Tribulation in the end-time colonies and in the Millennium when Yah'shua returns.
Are we Hebraic-roots? Absolutely! Does that mean we reject everything the Greeks and Romans brought forth as heathen? By no means. For we say with Paul: "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Messiah is all, and is in all" (Col 3:10-11, NIV). And again we say with him:
"You are all sons of Elohim through faith in Messiah Yah'shua, for all of you who were baptised into Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew (nor Aramean)* nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Messiah Yah'shua. If you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal.3:26-29, NIV - *see RSTNE - HRV drops "nor Greek").
And oh how the racists and misogenists hate that! We are defined not by culture or by feminism or by male chauvanism but by MESSIAH because He is what we are clothed with. This means, quite simply, that there is no such thing as either a 'Messianic Jew' or a 'Gentile believer' and anyone who claims that there are two types of believer are liars. There are no 'types' based on culture or anything else - there are only Israelites, and Israelites are anyone - Jews or Gentile - who accept Yah'shua as Messiah and obey Torah - their racial pedigree is irrelevent as also their cultural legacy. Yahweh couldn't care a fig about them. He doesn't care if you are a Jew, Greek or Pakistani - He couldn't care less whether you are black, white, yellow or brown - He couldn't care less whether you're short, fat, tall or thin - whether you're a ravishing beauty or plain and unattractive in the world's eyes. He couldn't give a fig that your ancestors lived the Gospel, Torah or anything else when it comes to your salvation and your identity because whoever you are when you come to Yah'shua, you start at ground level and at the beginning like everyone else because Yahweh "is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him" (Acts 10:34-35, KJV). You go like Jacob the deceiver to the River Jabbok and you wrestle with Yahweh until you have overcome. And if you overcome, you become an Israelite, and if you don't, you remain a non-Israelite and an orphan.
Now this is what Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon stands for, always has and always will, and we are neither going to become a sect of Messianism nor of evangelical Protestantism, because we're neither and we're both. There are Messianic Jews and Two-House Messianic Israelites. We're neither of those either - we're One House Messianic Isaelites, just like Paul said. And he also further said:
"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Messiah crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom Elohim has called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah the power of Elohim and the wisdom of Elohim. For the foolishness of Elohim is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of Elohim is stronger than man's strength" (1 Cor.1:22-25, NIV).
May this always be our central message is my prayer in Yah'shua's Name, 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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