Fruit

Fruit. Mathew 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Okay. But what is the fruit? What exactly is the fruit?  I have always understood it as someone is blessed and because of the blessing on their life, that person(s) have a good job, nice house, healthy, etc. It couldn't be by how we behave because all Christians do things and say things they shouldn't.  But as usual I have been taught wrong. When I looked this word up in Greek it says a literal fruit. But men don't grow literal apples or oranges so let's take the word fruit back to the Hebrew.
 פְּרִי

pĕriy

fruit (of actions) (fig.)

So here we have that fruit is by our actions.  But I also have to believe that fruit is what we say, our words.  And I say that because what comes out of our mouth comes from the heart, Mathew 15:18.  If Torah is written on our hearts.  The Word seed grows in good ground and grows good fruit then they will also know us by our words and actions because we are saying and doing Torah.  It is like the word remember as in He will remember His covenant or remember the Sabbath day.  In Hebrew it means to mark (so as to be recognized), to make mention.  When we keep His Torah we are marked because we are producing fruit and that is seen by our words and our actions.  I know the scriptures that I am referencing were talking about the false prophets in sheep's clothing but it goes both ways.  If they are known by their actions and words and we can tell they aren't really who they say they are then the same is for us.

Blessings!

No Knowledge of Good and Evil

I like to read the articles on Aish.com, Chabad.org, and Myjewishlearning.com.  The Jewish people have a lot to teach us Gentiles.  I have learned so much from theses websites.  So as usual I was reading an article(http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Weekly_Torah_Portion/dvarim_summary.shtml) on how Moses was recounting the forty years in the wilderness and encouraging the Israelites in the upcoming conquest in the land of Canaan.  Well, I say I was reading but really just scanning.  Then I got down to the bottom of the page and the author had written some questions for discussion.  And this is what caught my eye.  1) Why would God want children "who have no knowledge of good and evil" to inherit the promised land? Is ignorance better than knowledge? Is knowledge of good and evil necessary to make good choices? Why or why not?

So of course now I go back up to the top of the article and actually read it.  Then half way down this is what it says.
"So God became angry with you and swore that no man among this evil generation would see the good land that God promised to your fathers. Only Caleb, son of Yefunneh and Joshua, son of Nun, shall see it because they have acted faithfully towards God. God said it would be your children, whom have no knowledge of good and evil, who shall inherit this land. But you, you shall wander in the wilderness. Now lately a lot of has crossed my path about the Tree of Life and the The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.  So I emailed the author Nancy Reuben.  I explained that I understand that the tree of knowledge of good and evil bears no fruit but would like to hear her understanding.  And she emailed me back her perspective:

The knowledge of good and evil is from the tree that bears no fruit.

"Bearing no fruit" meaning -

best to know what is good in God's eyes and practice that only.

When you know good AND EVIL you constantly have to make a choice

so knowing good, doing good and for sure you will get good fruit.

So, what is good in His eyes?  Torah. Eat of the Tree of Life and produce good fruit. 

Blessings!

Two Trees in the Garden

There are two trees in the Garden of Eden.  The tree of Life and the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Our Father only planted the Tree of Life.  He said he planted trees that was pleasant to the sight and good for food.  Yahweh told them that they shall not eat of it or you shall surely die.  So we have to understand it was not good for food.  In Genesis we see two trees but in Revelation we see only one.  That is why Yahushua says,

"But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. "

That is why every tare and the tree of knowledge of good and evil will be rooted up.  I looked up the word planted and the meaning is to instill doctrine.  As I have said before His doctrine is Torah.  The doctrine of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is a mixing of good and bad, doing your own thing.   That is why people don't see a problem with christmas, easter, etc.  Such good happens at the same time they say.  But what they don't realize is, it is a mixing.  Our Father hates mixing.  He says do not worhsip me the way pagans worship their gods.  Do not mix what I tell you with the world's way.  If you mix or don't keep Torah, you are eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil which produces bad fruit and you will be considered a tare.
You either eat from one or the other.  The tree of Life is keeping His commandments, His Wisdom given to us.  The tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is deciding to do what is right in your own eyes.  Proverbs 14:12 says

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Way, derek, a course of life or mode of action.

 Many people say but what is wrong with dying eggs, handing out candy on halloween or having a christmas tree,  etc.  But you have to look at the root of where all these things started.  The goodwill tree is placed all around the world and by many who aren't even christians.  Shouldn't that sound an alarm. 

But, if you remember (zakar: properly to mark, to be recognized) and keep Torah, and let the good seed, the Word, grow on good ground (your heart) by walking in His ways you will live a life that when you speak or do things (your actions) that is your good fruit.  He will recognize you and on that day He will welcome you in to the wedding. 

In Revelation after the new heaven and earth you have one tree.  It is the Tree of Life.  Rev. 22:2

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

One Tree!

Blessings!

Scattered Seeds

Sometimes when I hear of the arguments, conflicts and contention betweens us Torah believers I now understand why we were so scattered and why we have had such a hard time finding like believers to fellowship with in our neck of the woods.  Seeds have to be scattered because if you plop all of them down in one place some seeds choke out the other seeds and they can't grow.   So let's all understand that everyone is at a different place and what is important to you may not be as important to the next believer.  Our Father will bring His children into all Truth to those who are seeking Him.  We are all on the same road to Jerusalem but some are just a little further down the road and some have just left Rome. 
Let's walk in love with our brethren. 

Blessings!

The Wedding Rehearsal

When I was little girl, like all little girls, we dream of the day we will marry.  It was so exciting to go to a wedding and see the bride come down the aisle and meet up with her groom.  It was so beautiful to look around at the bridal party and everyone dressed for the occasion.  The whole picture was breathtaking.
One thing I learned about weddings was if you were going to be in the wedding you had to be at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  You had to be there.

What does this have to do with us? Well, Yahushua is coming back for His Bride. But we have to prepare.  We have to be at the rehearsals.  The Fall Feasts are coming upon us.  Feast of Trumpets is the 29th of September.  This is when the shofar is blown and when no man knows the hour or day.  In traditional Hebrew custom, the father tells the son when he can retrieve his bride. The son doesn't just "go" get her, he waits on his father to tell him. That's why it says "only my father in heaven knows." We all wait for the shofar.  It is also when Yahushua will return, like a thief in the night for His bride.  Just like Jacob left with Leah and Rachel and all their belongings.  Laban, the girl's father, didn't know they left. We are to remember and keep His Feasts.  They are rehearsals.  When you look up the word Feasts in Hebrew the word is Moedim.  And when you take that to the root word it says betrothed. Also, the word convocations when taken back to the Hebrew is rehearsal.  His Sabbaths and Feasts are rehearsals.   Remember in the Brit Hadashah (New Testatment) Yahushua tells a parable about a wedding feasts and someone came in not prepared. He was not wearing the proper attire.  He was bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness.  We have to be prepared.  For this day is coming, and soon.  But we have to be at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. No ifs, ands or buts. 

Blessings!

Restitution and Reconciliation

All my life in church all I heard was forgiveness of sins.  Just confess and go on with your life.  No biggie.  That is all it takes.  Well, that is not what our Father says.  I was listening to the Bible on my ipod while doing the dishes one day.  And as usual something said catches my ear.  I was listening to Numbers 5.  The narrator is reading from vs. 5 and goes on to say.

"Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.

But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest;"

Repentance of sins (teshuva) includes restitution and reconciliation. So if someone has stolen something that person not only confesses but has to give back the principal but has to add to it 1/5 value. I found this explanation from Aish.com. Teshuva is a four part process:   1) We must recognize what we have done wrong and regret it.  2) We must stop doing the transgression and correct whatever damage that we can, including asking forgiveness from those whom we have hurt -- and making restitution, if due.  3) We must accept upon ourselves not to do it again.  4) We must verbally ask the Almighty to forgive us. Wow. Never heard that before.  It just makes me think what else don't we understand.  We have to search the scriptures and remember to understand the New Testament we have to use the dictionary, the Old Testament. 

Blessings!

Lashon Ha-Ra The Destroying Tongue

One man spread a rumor about another. He later felt regret, and went to the rabbi to ask how to make amends. "Go to the store and buy a bag of seeds," said the rabbi, "then go to a big open field and scatter the seeds into the wind. Do so and report back to me in a week."
The man did as he was told, and came back the next week to find out what to do next. "Now," said the rabbi, "go back to the field and pick up all the seeds."
"But," protested the man, "those seeds have scattered far and wide! I'll never find them all. Many have even already taken root!"
"Exactly," explained the rabbi. "Now you understand. When we speak badly about another person, the effect is far and wide. And it is damage that can never be fully undone."

The first time I read this I was completely taken back by "pick up all the seeds" and "many have taken root". Wow.  That is how speech works, whether good or bad. It is said that when you speak badly about someone it hurts you, the person you are talking about and the person listening.  I understand how the first two but how does it hurt the person listening.  Because the person listening has the ability to stop the person and/or walk away.  But if the person engages then they have taken part of the destroying. 


I found this off of JewsandJoes.com that explains a little more clearer from a Hebrew mentality. Many have likely heard the phrase "Lashon Ha-Ra" in connection with "Gossip", vaguely defined as "Evil tongue" or "Evil speech". Lashon is generally the Hebrew word for "tongue" or "language", while "Ha-Ra" means "the-evil", but with the deeper Hebraic understanding of what "Ra" means, we would more accurately translate "Lashon Ha-Ra" to mean "the-destroying Tongue". So when a person gossips about another person, they are in a very real sense destroying that person or destroying that person's name and/or character. Frequently gossip wrongly destroys a person's character when the said person isn't present and unable to correct or refute the destructive attack on his/her character.  

That is why if you can't say something about someone with them right there in the crowd then it shouldn't be said. 

Blessings!

To Learn Or Not To Learn

This may be old news to some of you, but for me it is a true revalation. It has occurred to me that when our Father in Heaven gave us his word, he intended us all to discuss it, learn it, and walk in it every day. So while his word is many times referred to as an instruction manual, which it is, it is much more. That's why there are so many stories using visualization and imagery to get His point across, because with imagery there comes dicussion about what is going on and the true meaning of the story. Yes, there are many places where things like the 'do's and don'ts' are listed out, which seem obvious enough, but sometimes even within them you have to read around what was happening in that time, what the culture was like, and what the neighboring nations were and weren't doing.

To go a step further, there is much more than only listening to the word being taught in a one-to-many atmosphere as in typical church settings, rather, it is meant to be discussed, and yes, even argued, among His people. If you can't get passionate about the word, what can you get passionate about! In Biblical times this would have been done with men going into a synagogue to read and interpret scriptures, hopefully with divine intervention. Thanks to our Father's Son, Yahushua, individuals such as myself, can have just as much a relationship with YAHWEH as the hierarchial church system, Jewish or Christian.  This was much of the rub when Yahushua came, it was showcasing the flaws in man made 'systems' instead of doing what Torah instructed.  Instead of listening to it from the pulpit, we all should be researching to see if what is being taught is accurate. That's why the word says in Proverbs 27:17 "Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend". If there is no interaction between teacher and student, how is the iron to get sharp?

In this, learning and teaching, happens among His people in the same forum. We are all held accountable by the Torah and we are also held accountable to discuss and review with our family, friends, and co-workers. For me, the bigger message in this type of thinking is that our Father wants us to continually be thinking and discussing His word and message, not thinking about ourselves. Be honest, how many of us have had our minds wander astray during a message? I have, and its because we're not engaged, that is unless you're in the front row and spit comes a fly'in your way! By discussing together, and learning to interpret and discern the word, a greater meaning of the message of Yahushua comes forth then simply listening and nodding our heads. We are put to the test to use our cognitive thinking skills and apply what is learned, and yes while its scary, we even have to look at ourselves through our Father's eyes to see what he sees.

Seed Defined by World Book Encyclopedia

The roots, the leaves, the flowers, the fruit, all exist so there can be seed. If the seeds fell straight to the ground beneath the plant that bore them, they would be too crowded to thrive. The seeds must be scattered, or dispersed.….most seeds are scattered by the wind”

The Seed is revealed in the fruit.