Is it all just a test?
If so, how many people are passing?
How many are failing?

Early in the bible, the Creator of all things presented mankind with His instructions.
He says that His instructions bring life and blessing, and that not following His instructions brings death and curses.
Is it because He is hateful, and gives us a bunch of craziness to follow?
No, not at all.
It is because He is the Creator of all things.
He knows what will work and what will not work.
He is the designer, the engineer, and the manufacturer.
He has the authority, the understanding, and the knowledge to create our “owner’s manual”.

Most educated religious leaders teach that His instruction manual is no longer applicable.
But in His instructions to us, Yehova states over and over again that His instructions are forever, for all generations, a perpetual covenant, and never-ending.

Most educated religious leaders teach that His instruction manual is only for those ancient people and for the Jews today.
In His instructions to us, Yehova states that His instructions are for both the native born Hebrew and for the sojourners among them.  They are for everyone who wants to be Set Apart from the world and be His people.

Most educated religious leaders teach that the law was an imperfect system that did not work, and had to change. We are told in the scriptures that the Torah, His law and instructions, are truth and are perfect, and never change.

Today’s typical church doctrine sides with the idea that His instructions were temporary, only for the Jews, and have changed since the coming of Yeshua Messiah.
When asked about this doctrine, the leaders always go to the writings of Paul to define their thoughts and beliefs.
Call me crazy (lot’s do, no worries!!) but I will establish my beliefs and doctrine based on the very words of Yehova [God] and Yeshua [Jesus].

If the bible begins a statement with:
“And God said…”
“Yeshua said…”
“Thus saith the Lord…”
Or other such ideas, these words will get top billing.  I will pay particular attention to these words and believe them and incorporate them into my life, thoughts, words, and actions.
Next in the pecking order is someone who speaks for Yehova.
For example, look at verse Jeremiah 1:9
Then Adonai stretched out His hand and touched my mouth and Adonai said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.”

In this instance, I know that Jeremiah is speaking directly for Yehova.
Those who are speaking for Yehova, and we are told so (like in Isaiah 6), these words will get particular attention as absolute truth.

After that, we have many words, verses, and chapters of information in the bible that give us historical information. We get insight to conversations that were had throughout time, and descriptions of events and happenings.
We get explanations and commentary from people who lived during various times.
Do I think these scriptures are incorrect or untrustworthy?
No, I do not.
But I do realize that some of these scriptures depict portions of conversations (or letters) and we do not have all of the transcripts.
So to put it plainly, I absolutely believe the scriptures are true and accurate.
I do not trust that our understanding of them is always true and accurate, sometimes because we don’t have all the information, just as Peter warns us in 2Peter 3:14-17.

Is there a way we can be absolutely sure of our understanding?
Yes, there is. We are given some foundational criteria in the Torah, in the form of a test.
Actually, multiple tests.
Let’s look at one test given in Deuteronomy 13.
Here is the entire text of the thirteenth chapter, and we’ll break it down later into sections:

“Whatever I command you, you must take care to do—you are not to add to it or take away from it.
2 “Suppose a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises up among you and gives you a sign or wonder, 3 and the sign or wonder he spoke to you comes true, while saying, ‘Let’s follow other gods’—that you have not known, and—‘Let’s serve them!’  4 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams—for Adonai your God is testing you, to find out whether you love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 Adonai your God you will follow and Him you will fear. His commands you will keep, to His voice you will listen, Him you will serve and to Him you will cling. 6 That prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death! For he has spoken falsehood against Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to entice you from the way Adonai your God commanded you to walk. So you will purge the evil from your midst.

7 “Suppose your brother—your mother’s son—or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your best friend of your own soul misleads you secretly, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’—that you and your fathers have not known, 8 from among the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other. 9 You are not to give in or listen to him, your eye is not to pity him, and you are not to spare or conceal him. 10 Instead, you will surely put him to death. Your hand should be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 11 You are to stone him with stones to death because he tried to entice you away from Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 12 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and never again will they do such an evil thing as this in your midst.

13 “Suppose you hear it said in one of your cities, which Adonai your God is giving you to dwell in, 14 that worthless fellows have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’—that you have not known. 15 Then you are to investigate, search out and inquire thoroughly. If indeed it is true and the matter certain that this abomination has been done in your midst, 16 you will surely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its livestock with the sword. 17 You are to gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and you are to burn with fire the city and all its plunder—all of it to Adonai your God. It will be a ruin forever—it shall never be built again. 18 Nothing from the ban should cling to your hand, so that Adonai may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, and have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers— 19 when you listen to the voice of Adonai your God, keeping all His commands that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the eyes of Adonai your God.

Some people are not familiar with this at all.
Many who are familiar recognize this chapter as a test for a false prophet, and they are correct.
But what many people miss is that Deuteronomy 13 gives us, each and every one of us, an important test.
And here is my question:
Are we passing or failing this test?
Let’s start taking a closer look at this chapter, bit by bit.

Verse 1
“Whatever I command you, you must take care to do—you are not to add to it or take away from it.”

This single verse is an enormous test for everyone.
Simply put, Yehova is telling us to follow His instructions.
We are not to ever remove any of His instructions, and we are not to ever add to His instructions.
Sadly, religion is ALL ABOUT taking away and adding to His instructions.
Most people in the world align themselves to a particular religion, denomination, or church.
Should we be doing this?
Or should we be aligning ourselves to the Creator of all things?
How many people in the world today and throughout time have passed this simple test in verse 1?
…you are not to add to it or take away from it.
Maybe the answer lies in this direct quote of Yeshua Messiah:
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

And this one as well:
Luke 13:22-30
22 And He continued on His journey through the towns and villages, teaching and making His way to Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to Him, “Master, are only a few being saved?”
Then Yeshua said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the Master of the household gets up and shuts the door, and you’re standing outside and begin knocking on the door, saying, ‘Master, open up for us,’ then He will say to you, ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will start to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your company, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Get away from Me, all of you evildoers!’”
28 “There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 And they will come from the east and west and from the north and south, and they will recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And indeed, some are last who shall be first, and some are first who shall be last.”

Please consider Deuteronomy 13:1 very seriously.
Examine your life.
Pray about it.
Are you passing this test?

Let’s take a look at verses 2-6
2 “Suppose a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises up among you and gives you a sign or wonder, 3 and the sign or wonder he spoke to you comes true, while saying, ‘Let’s follow other gods’—that you have not known, and—‘Let’s serve them!’  4 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams—for Adonai your God is testing you, to find out whether you love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 Adonai your God you will follow and Him you will fear. His mitzvot you will keep, to His voice you will listen, Him you will serve and to Him you will cling. 6 That prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death! For he has spoken falsehood against Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to entice you from the way Adonai your God commanded you to walk. So you will purge the evil from your midst.

Let’s summarize:
1 – A prophet gives a sign
2 – That sign comes true
3 – But the prophet says, “Let’s follow a different god”
4 – We must not listen to this prophet!!!
5 – Blah
6 – Blah, blah
7 – Blah, blah, blah
8 – That prophet must be put to death
9 – He has taught falsely
10 – and enticed you away from Yehova and His commands
11 – so purge the evil from among you (kill the false prophet)

You’ll notice steps 5 thru 7 are not very accurate.
This is the portion of Deuteronomy 13 that people miss.
The other parts should be quite simple:
If a prophet is teaching us to not follow Yehova’s commands, then they are teaching us to follow a false god and we are not to listen, and we are to kill that prophet, so they are unable to contaminate the people/nation of Yehova.

But let’s look closely at steps 5-7, comprised by verses 4 and 5.
4 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams—for Adonai your God is testing you, to find out whether you love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 Adonai your God you will follow and Him you will fear. His mitzvot you will keep, to His voice you will listen, Him you will serve and to Him you will cling. 

Each and every person alive today and who has ever lived is being tested by Yehova.
False prophets are not just an anomaly in life.
Yehova uses them for His purpose, to test each and everyone of us.
Will we listen to Yehova?
Or will we listen to men who teach against Yehova?
What are the standards given in verses 4 and 5?
1 – Yehova is testing us
2 – to find out???
3 – if we love Yehova
4 – how much? With all our heart and soul (that is His standard)
5 – Will we follow Yehova?
6 – Will we fear Yehova?
7 – Will we keep His commands?
8 – Will we listen to His voice?
9 – Will we serve Him?
10 – Will we cling to Him?

As you can see, there is much going on in these two short verses.
And here is the gist of it:
If we follow the teachings of men, churches, denominations, and religions — and their teachings are not exactly the same as the instructions given to us by our Creator, then we are failing this crucial test. We have followed the words of a false prophet, teaching us a new god that we did not know before.  This false prophet may get some things right, but it is not the things he gets right that defines him as false.
It is the things he gets wrong that makes him a false prophet.
So a teacher who says Yehova’s instructions, any of them, are done away with is teaching falsely, trying to change in our minds who Yehova is.
We cannot add to or take away from Yehova’s instructions and still say we are following Him.  His character and His renown is wrapped up in His words to us.  If we change them, then we have changed Him, and it is a new god of our own imagination that we are following.
Jeremiah warns us about this:
Jeremiah 16:19-20
¹⁹ O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
²⁰ Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?

Let that sink in for just a moment…
If we follow man’s traditions and teachings instead of Yehova’s instructions and commands, then we are failing the test.
How serious is this to Yehova?
Very serious, to the point of death.
Those who speak against His Word are to be put to death.
Not to punish the offender, but to keep them from corrupting Yehova’s people.

Are we sure Yehova is serious about this?
Let’s look at verses 7 thru 12:

7 “Suppose your brother—your mother’s son—or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your best friend of your own soul misleads you secretly, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’—that you and your fathers have not known, 8 from among the gods of the peoples around you, near you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other. 9 You are not to give in or listen to him, your eye is not to pity him, and you are not to spare or conceal him. 10 Instead, you will surely put him to death. Your hand should be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 11 You are to stone him with stones to death because he tried to entice you away from Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 12 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and never again will they do such an evil thing as this in your midst.

If someone, even our own family members, try to get us to follow another god (by not following Yehova’s instructions and commands), what are we to do?

1 – recognize that a false prophet could even be our brother, our wife, a close family member
2 – if they encourage us to stray from Yehova’s words and His ways
3 – Do not give in
4 – Do not listen to them
5 – Do not pity them (this is hard, since they are family!!)
6 – Do not spare them
7 – Do not conceal them (aiding and abetting)
8 – We are to put them to death! (this is even harder!!)
9 – Our hand shall be the first against them
10 – And the rest of the community shall take part as well
11 – They are to be stoned to death
12 – Why?  Because they tried to lure us away from Yehova and His ways
13 – This will protect the nation of Israel
14 – How?  They will hear and be afraid
15 – To oppose Yehova and His ways
16 – And they will not try to lure people away from Yehova from among the people.

As you can see, this is a big deal!!
This is a huge deal!!
Yehova says not to add to or take away from His word.
He then tells us to kill anyone who does so, even if it is our own family, because they are a false prophet.
He tells us that this is a test for us, to find out if we love Him.
Are we passing or failing this test?
I spent over 30 years in mainstream Christianity, failing this test.
But when I began studying the scriptures and believing what they say, I began passing the test.
Let’s pause for a moment and evaluate this a bit, and make sure we do not stray from the good news:
We are told in the scriptures that not a single person except Yeshua Messiah has lived without sin.  All have fallen short of the glory of Yehova.
Because of this, we all need a Savior.  Yeshua Messiah is our Savior.
We are forgiven of our sins if we repent and turn to Him.
We are saved by grace through faith.
Please do not misunderstand my message here, that obeying the instructions of Yehova is all there is to the truth of scripture.
Following the ways of Yehova is very important, but even more important is knowing that we have failed and Yeshua is our solution, our Savior.
But His sacrifice and the hope we have in it does not mean we are to not follow Yehova’s instructions and commands.

Now, back to the idea of killing people if they stray from Yehova’s instructions while enticing others to do the same.
In our minds, this sounds harshly unbearable.
People will dislike this blog post at the mere mention of it.
But keep in mind, these are the instructions given by the Creator of all things.
It is not about having a society of people killing their loved ones left and right.
It is about maintaining integrity of their nation, to prevent the entire nation from going astray.
We all know how this turned out.
Not good.
Right now, the ten tribes of the House of Israel are scattered among all the nations of the earth.
Why?
Because they did not pass the tests presented in Deuteronomy 13.
They allowed people to entice them away from Yehova.
They let this evil happen in their midst.
After much patience, Yehova finally divorced them from the covenant and scattered them among all the nations.

Yehova does not want us killing family members left and right. That is not His desire.
He wants a nation of people that love Him, hear His voice, and cling to Him.
Right now in 2019, we are not able to obey this instruction, to kill false prophets.
We are not a covenant nation, living under the governance of Yah’s instructions.
We are scattered among the nations of the earth, subject to the authorities of those nations.
If we killed neighbors or our own family members for straying from Yah’s ways and enticing others to do so, we would quickly find ourselves scorned from society and placed in prison, possibly on death row.
But, make no mistake.
There will come a time when Yehova will end this exile.
We will be gathered from the nations, and we will again form a covenant nation that is governed by the Torah.
Jeremiah 16:14
14 “Therefore, the days are quickly coming,” declares Adonai, “when it will no longer be said. ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.’ 15 Rather, ‘As Adonai lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.’ So I will bring them back into their land that I gave to their fathers.”
When this occurs, I fully expect that all of His instructions will be implemented and obeyed. And I fully suspect there will be some who rebel and test the waters, and pay severe consequences for it, just as happened to Korah in Numbers 16.

Now, let’s continue by looking at the end of Deuteronomy 13.
Yehova gives us additional instructions concerning the failing of these tests, once the nation has been established, with cities.
Deuteronomy 13:13-19
13 “Suppose you hear it said in one of your cities, which Adonai your God is giving you to dwell in, 14 that worthless fellows have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’—that you have not known. 15 Then you are to investigate, search out and inquire thoroughly. If indeed it is true and the matter certain that this abomination has been done in your midst, 16 you will surely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its livestock with the sword. 17 You are to gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and you are to burn with fire the city and all its plunder—all of it to Adonai your God. It will be a ruin forever—it shall never be built again. 18 Nothing from the ban should cling to your hand, so that Adonai may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, and have compassion on you and multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers— 19 when you listen to the voice of Adonai your God, keeping all His mitzvot that I am commanding you today, doing what is right in the eyes of Adonai your God.

We get clarification here that Yehova is completely serious about these matters.
In verse 7, we learn that we are to make these harsh corrections in our communities, even if the false prophet is our brother, our own children, our own wife, or our best friend. Yehova makes this test and these instructions VERY PERSONAL.
But now we see these instructions, not on a personal level, but as a nation of people.

What do we see here?
Let’s break it down.
1 – If in one of our cities (in a covenant nation following Yehova)
2 – worthless people
3 – entice others to stray from Yehova
4 – Investigate and verify to be sure (because the consequences are severe)
5 – strike down the inhabitants of this city
6 – with the edge of the sword
7 – utterly destroying all
8 – both people and livestock
9 – gather their belongings and burn them
10 – and burn the city as well
11 – so that nothing remains, not even memories
12 – nothing is to remain, not people, not livestock, not plunder
13 – and Yehova will have mercy and grant blessing to you
14 – when we listen to Yehova’s voice
15 – keeping His commandments
16 – doing what is right in His eyes

The last phrase is very important.
What is right in His eyes is more important than what is right in our own eyes.
Is this punishment horrific and tragic?
Yes, it is.
Some people will hate what Deuteronomy 13 says.
Some people will hate what this article says about Deuteronomy 13.
Some people will say, “I will not worship a God who is capable of such things.”

Why is this?
Because they do what is right in their own eyes, and do not see the big picture.
Yehova designed a perfect Creation, with a perfect plan.
If people stray from Him and His ways, it creates a huge mess [which is what we have world wide today].
Just look around.
People strayed from Yehova’s ways, and because of it, we have a global mess.
Even our educated religious leaders teach us that Yehova’s instructions are old, done away with, didn’t work out, or were only for ancient people.
Where has that gotten us?
We now have a world full of lawless people, doing what is right in their own eyes.

Deuteronomy is a very difficult lesson.
Yehova instructs us to do some very difficult things.
But He gives us a pleasant and perfect option.
Simply pass His test.
Do not stray from Him.
Love Him with our whole heart and our whole soul.
Hear His voice.
Cling to Him.
If we do these things, if we pass His test, then none of these horrific and tragic consequences will plague our lives. As we know, people have not passed His test for many generations and many centuries.
But Yehova has promised to restore His people.
It will happen just as Jeremiah 16 and many other scriptures tell us.

I encourage anyone reading this to do your best to pass the test.
And if you still think this test is old and obsolete and not for us, I share these verses from the New Testament with you:

1John 2:3-6
The Test of Knowing Him
³ Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵ But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. ⁶ He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Do you see?
The test is still in effect!!
This says we don’t even know our God if we do not pass this test.

1John 5:2-3
² We know that we love God’s children by this—when we love God and obey His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God—that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 

And just to finish…
Yeshua Messiah is our Savior.
Our salvation will come from Him and Him only.
He is the solution for when we fail these tests.
But it is still our goal to pass the test.
We should not give up on passing the test, thus placing more weight on the sacrifice of Yeshua.

All of Romans 6 is about this very idea!!!
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Most Christians today have absolutely no clue what Deuteronomy 13 says if asked.
For those who have studied it, many will reply that it is about the test of a false prophet.
While partially true, this is missing the most important lesson of Deuteronomy 13.
Deuteronomy 13 is completely about whether or not we add to or take away from His instructions, and about whether or not we love Him.
He then gives us tragic details to show us how serious He is about this.

Please pray on these things.
Study it for yourself.
Especially if you hate what Deuteronomy 13 says, or if you hate this blog post.