Two young brothers were given a ball to play with by their parents. They absolutely loved their ball, and they played with it often. Their parents told them it was a blue ball. The children grew up, loving their blue ball.
As years passed by, the young boys became teens, and their blue ball remained one of their favorite possessions. They still played catch once in awhile, but not as often as when they were younger.
More time passed, and the boys became young men. They still had their blue ball, as it was a special toy they had owned nearly their whole life. It sat on a shelf in one of their homes.
One day, one of the brothers found an old book. While looking through the book, he saw pages that taught what the color names were. He was shocked and surprised to see a ball just like the one he and his brother owned and had played with growing up. It was the same color as their ball, but the words on the page said the ball was red, not blue as they had been taught.
This seemed very odd, so the young man did more research. The more references that he checked, the more it was confirmed that the ball they treasured was actually red and not blue, as their parents had described it. How is it possible that their parents had the colors wrong??? How could this be?
He went to his brother and told him what he had learned. His brother thought he was crazy. He said, “Our parents gave us a blue ball, and we have known our whole lives that it is blue.”
The first brother replied and said, “Yes, I know and understand that is what we were told. But I’ve learned that what we think is blue is actually red!!”
His brother continued to reject this idea, holding tight to his belief that the ball is blue. He believed what his parents had taught him, regardless of what any resources had to say about it.
The first brother, though, embraced his new knowledge. If the ball is really red, then he loved his red ball, and he was happy to know truth.
Yes, this is a goofy little story that I made up. But this relates to the mainstream church vs. those who are waking up to scriptural truth. We have been taught religious ideas from the time we were young. But we are being called to God’s wisdom and knowledge. James 1:5-8 tells us this:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Micah 4:2 tells us this:
“For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
And we see the exact same words in Isaiah 2:3
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The restoration of Israel, as promised in scripture, is a whole study by itself.
But we are experiencing the beginning of the restoration.
Many people are seeing the truth of scripture. Many people are turning back to Torah instruction, honoring the Sabbath, keeping the Feasts, and following the commandments, while still having faith in the testimony of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah).
Deuteronomy 30:1-4 tells us this:
“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you,2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
YHVH (God) Himself gave us this prophecy through Moses, way back in Deuteronomy. He knew at the time of entering the promise land that Israel would stray from His word, and they would be scattered.
As sad as that is, the good news is we are living in the time of the gathering. We are being restored. People are turning to Torah and seeing the truth of scripture for the first time. Some will reject it and some will embrace it.
This restoration was prophesied by YHVH (God) Himself from the beginning.
Do not be afraid to know that your ball is red, and that it is not blue. Do not be afraid to let go of what you think you know, that what you have been taught your whole life is not accurate. Does scripture advise us of this coming shift in knowledge, when Torah flows from Zion?
1 Corinthians 3:18-20
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Yes!!! We are told that ‘what we think we know’ is foolishness to God. We must become fools (giving up what we think we know) in order to become wise (embrace Torah flowing from Zion).
Don’t take my word for it (not that many do). But pray about this, and especially pray the way James 1:5-8 tells us to pray. YHVH (God) will give you His understanding.
We are accountable to the word of God, not to the thoughts of educated men. Seminary graduates lead the majority of our churches today. We are taught to NOT follow YHVH’s (God’s) commandments. We are told the law is done away with, because Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled it.
Do these men have it right just because they are educated?
Check out what Yeshua (Jesus) had to say to the educated religious leaders of his time:
Matthew 23
Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees
23 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore whatever they tell you to observe,[a] that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. 6 They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, 7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 8 But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ,[b] and you are all brethren. 9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. 14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.[c]
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ 17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies[d] the gold? 18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ 19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? 20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. 21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells[e] in it. 22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. 24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.[f] 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”[g]
Wow, our Messiah was not pleased with the educated religious leaders of His day. That is a whole lot of woes. But what about today??
Ecclesiastes 1:9-10
That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
And we have this…
2 Timothy 4:3-5
For the time will come when they will not put up with sound instruction, but they will pile up for themselves teachers in keeping with their own desires, to have their ears tickled. 4 And they will turn away from hearing the truth and wander off to myths. 5 You, however, keep a clear mind in all things, withstand hardship, do the work of proclaiming the Good News, and fulfill your service.
