J,
After I read your disparaging comments regarding Leviticus, and thus of Yahowah’s Towrah, I immediately realized that I had wasted the five hours I had spent reading and then responding to your initial email – at least with regard to you. My assessment of your attitude, which was derived from the slanderous manner in which you framed your questions, was affirmed by your most recent reply. With the exception of the cheap shots which have no bearing on this discussion, you manifest every criticism you have sought to project on me.
Thankfully, emailers like you are rare, less than one in a hundred. And even though I cannot help you, your letters and my replies will be posted on number of sites in anticipation that many of those who read our exchange will find the God you likely will never know.
Time on this planet is a limited resource for those of us in the Covenant. And since it is foolish to squander it, I’m going to present my response to your statements and questions within the context of what you initially wrote. The resulting correspondence has the greatest likelihood of enlightening others when presented in that fashion.
You wrote…
J wrote:Hi Yada,
I'm 45. Grew up a pk [preacher’s kid], graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 1993 with a "Bible Theology" degree. Spent four years as a youth pastor. That "tour of duty" ended on a sour note with the typical elder uprising against the pastor which happened to also be my dad. I thought about going back, but never made it. I felt like I wasn't cut out for that kind of thing. It was always a struggle for me in many ways. I didn't "fall away" immediately, but I certainly had a different perspective on many things. I began the process of reprogramming...first it was just looking for a church that didn't have elder or deacon control, which meant the willow creek clone was the place to be. Eventually though it was too much to stomach the use of even their version of scripture exegesis. I was "educated" in hermeneutics after all. The out of context, the proof texting, you know what I'm talking about. Then the thing that really got me started down an alternate path was Greg Boyd's book "God of the Possible". The only way we have free will is if the future isn't determined...and anyway, I'm assuming you're familiar with his attempt at reconciling free will and God's foreknowledge.
To which I replied…
J,
You have been deeper into the lie that is Christianity than most of us, but other than that, some aspects of your path away from Christianity are similar to many of us who have chosen the Covenant. I was your former foe, an ordained ruling elder.
Church politics is a nasty thing, swirling in hypocrisy. Affirming this, it was Christians acting like Christians that initially caused you to be concerned about the way you had been programmed. The same was true for me.
Yes, Christians almost always seek to justify the unjustifiable by citing mistranslated and truncated statements out of context. Their attempts to prove their positions actually refute them when the statements are accurately translated and considered in context. They get this from Paul, who built his entire case against the Towrah in this fraudulent and misleading manner. If you haven’t yet read
www.QuestioningPaul.com I would encourage you to do so, even though you are already inclined to reject him.
I’ve never agreed with Calvin regarding predestination, so this was never an issue for me. Just because Yahowah knows the future does not mean that we are being controlled. He has simply reported in our past the result of our future choices. And as I’ve studied Yah’s prophecies, I’ve come to appreciate the nature of time, especially as it relates to light. This is the best perspective to appreciate prophecy, because as light the past, present, and future can be seen simultaneously.
Freewill is a gift of God. He will never compromise on it because it is essential to the Covenant.
You wrote…
J wrote:Then I'm proud to claim that I figured out on my own that we should be using God's proper name (although at the time there were a few options). It's so clear when you read even the crappy English that many things He does are for the sake of His name. The idiots who have erased that for millions I agree should be held responsible.
To which I replied…
Yahowah is serious about His name. And as you noted, it is obvious even in the crappy English bible translations. His name is the basis of the 3rd statement He etched in stone. Negating it is unforgivable. Those who have removed it from His Word will be held accountable. And nothing could be more irritating to Him than replacing His name 7000 times with Satan’s title, Lord.
You wrote…
J wrote:The trinity was the next domino to fall for me. Doing a little research led me to realize how lousy that concept was.
To which I replied…
The Trinity is Babylonian. It is pagan. It is false. Yahowah is one. Yahowsha’ and the Ruwach Qodesh are set apart from Yahowah and thus are not separate individuals.
You wrote…
J wrote:What followed was a few years of just hands off religion while feeling guilty that I wasn't bringing up my kids with the same foundation that I had, and feeling the heat from dad for sure. I figured I knew enough that if the shit started hitting the fan, I'd know which side to choose when the time came.
To which I replied…
I too avoided raising my children to be religious. There were too many conflicts, contradictions, fallacies, and unanswerable questions to push them toward where I had been. And I had experienced way too many Christians justifying lying and stealing. I now see Christians as ignorant, irrational, hypocrites. There are no exceptions.
You wrote…
Yada wrote:And to be honest, I was pissed at God for not making it easier to find the truth. But I knew there had to be real truth out there. I never stopped believing there was a creator. I still think that those who have struggled to find Yah in their own way should be considered for the next life in His family because I don't think we've been given enough to get it right.
To which I replied…
A decade ago I was briefly frustrated with God for making the truth somewhat difficult to find. Now I’m in complete accord with Him, realizing that He could not have been any more forthright. Had God provided a summary, a simple answer, few if any would go beyond that and therefore never grow. To cease growing is to die. Even God must grow to live. It is the very basis of what it means to be infinite.
Yahowah is a clear and consistent communicator. His Towrah is His teaching and guidance. It’s our religious indoctrination which has confused humankind, and hidden His truth, not His testimony. The fact is, according to Yahowah, we have been given all we need to be right. Most either ignore, reject, or despise what He conveyed.
Dowd / David wrote the following…
“Yahowah’s (efei) Towrah (Towrah – Teaching, Guidance, Instruction, and Direction) is complete and entirely perfect (tamym – without defect, lacking nothing, correct, sound, genuine, right, helpful, beneficial, and true), returning, restoring, and transforming (suwb – turning around, bringing back, and renewing) the soul (nepesh – consciousness). Yahowah’s (efei) everlasting testimony (‘eduwth – restoring witness) is trustworthy and reliable (‘aman – verifiable, confirming, supportive, and establishing), making understanding (hakam – educating and enlightening to the point of comprehension) simple for the open-minded (pethy).” (Mizmowr / Psalm 19:7)
Yahowah seems to think that His Towrah is complete, lacking nothing. He says that it is sufficient. I concur.
You wrote…
J wrote:So my dad decided he wanted to take me and my kids to Israel before my oldest leaves for college next fall. And it was while I was researching some places for the trip that I stumbled on one of your sites. I think yadayah. So it's only been about six weeks of reading and listening and I'm intrigued for sure, and concerned about some for sure. I'm inclined to believe that Paul is bogus, but I don't know if I can use all the evidence you do as proof. Maybe it's the translations I'm trying to use still.
To which I replied…
I’m glad that I went to Israel. It was an awakening for me. But I won’t go back before Yahowah removes all of the religious rubbish.
Most have come to Yada Yah after reading Prophet of Doom, my book on Islam. Others have heard me discuss these things on one of the 3000 radio interviews I’ve done, and have sought to validate what they heard. Few have come this way due to a search on Israel.
About half of those reading YY, QP, or ITG, and now Observations as well, begin by questioning my translations, something I strongly encourage. The other half find Yahowah’s message so consistent with their perception of God and so credible, they read and read, never seeming to get enough of Yah. Most begin as either agnostics searching for the truth with an open mind or as former Christians who have left the religion based upon its many lies.
If you are concerned that I’ve played too strong a case against Paul, I’d encourage you as I’ve already mentioned, to read Questioning Paul and then Observations (which is available free at
www.BlessYahowah.com,
www.YahowahBeryth.com, or I can send it to you for free via Word attachments). You can also buy YY, ITG, or QP at
http://claitors.com/yada.htm). I’ve barely scratched the surface on Paul. Turns out Yahowah had more to say about Paul and his religion than anyone else in human history. He hates him and calls him the plague of death.
You wrote…
J wrote:You say some other alarming things that you don't readily back up. I've had to start making notes so that I can try to look things up later. Today on a Shattering Myths archive you made a comment that seemed a lot like you were putting words in Yah's mouth...speaking for Him as you might say.
To which I replied…
Addressing your initial criticism, I very seldom write something that I don’t back up, and very seldom write anything that isn’t derived from Yahowah’s Word. However, the radio programs are different. Most who listen have read or are reading YY, ITG, QP, O, and PoD, so they are aware of the basis for these statements.
You wrote…
J wrote:You said that none of this would be easy concerning the study of what YHWH wants from us, but that he wants it that way. You continued that He wouldn't want anyone around who hadn't put in a substantial effort to get to know Him. Is this pure speculation on your part? It seems like it.
To which I replied…
And yet you, yourself, acknowledge that getting to know Yahowah takes a considerable amount of time, in your case a lifetime still without success (I have sought YHWH my entire aldult life and even some before that.). Therefore, by your own admission, it is not easy when compared to other endeavors. In fact, you stated that you are angry at God for making it difficult (And to be honest, I was pissed at God for not making it easier to find the truth.). So let’s begin there, now that you have affirmed my premise and confirmed that my premise isn’t a matter of speculation.
That brings us to my conclusion: it’s not easy by design. Recognizing that it isn’t easy and that there are no short cuts, we must ask ourselves: did God make it difficult on purpose or is the fact that it appears to be difficult a failure on God’s part to make it easier? Also possible, has man altered and occluded what Yahowah actually communicated, thereby making something that was straightforward difficult to see and comprehend? Is God’s Word inadequate and ineffective, did religious institutions edit God’s Word so that it now appears inadequate and ineffective, or is God’s Word adequate and effective, but also challenging (and if so, is that by design).
If we acknowledge that Yahowah created the universe and then conceived life, then we should give Him credit for being capable of doing whatever He wants. Further, He proved though prophecy (accurate depictions of history from creation to recreation) that He authored the Towrah, Naby’ (Prophets), and Mizmowr (Writings/Psalms). He then claimed that His Towrah was complete, lacking nothing, fully capable of restoring souls. It is therefore His Word and as He intended it to be.
And yet there isn’t any fast way to come to know Yahowah or understanding what He is offering. He did not provide a summation, a way of figuring it out with very little effort. That is a fact. Is it on purpose? If so, what is that purpose?
Making matters more challenging still, by reading an English translation, there simply isn’t any way to quickly assess how we can go about availing ourselves of His Covenant – as they are too errantly and inadequately translated. But this isn’t God’s fault. It is man’s fault – the deliberate attempt by religious leaders to make it difficult to know Yahowah. And God had to allow it because of freewill. So if you want to blame someone for making it especially difficult to know God and understand what He is offering, blame the goddamn religions of Christianity and Judaism.
Equally problematic, those who have been corrupted by religion, when confronted by the truth, typically reject what Yahowah inspired because they like what Paul wrote better. They trust their church or country more than God.
Since Yahowah is a brilliant communicator and has the ability to do most anything, we should be asking ourselves why He made it difficult for a religious person to know Him. He obviously wrote it this way for a reason – telling us not to add or subtract anything from His Towrah. And He was fully aware that religious and political institutions would remove His name and deliberately and reckless edit His testimony. That is simple logic based upon the facts as they are presented to us.
When we seek to understand why this is so in the context of everything Yahowah has shared with us, the reason is obvious. Yahowah routinely states that hates religion and He does not want anyone who is religious to be part of His family, to live in His home, or to ruin eternity for the rest of us.
Religion is so stupid, so obviously false, those who accept it without thinking would hate eternity with Yahowah anyway. The only way Yah can keep it entertaining for His Covenant children, is to create an environment where we grow by exploring, learning, and sharing. So He created a filter to keep the faithful away from the rational, the irritating away from the respectful.
But more than this, why would any rational being want to spend eternity with individuals who never invested the time to know Him, who prefer the testimony of liars, who trust religious, political, economic, and military institutions over Him, whose attitude toward Him is inappropriate?
You seem to believe that God should grade on the curve, and accept those who are wrong, but have at least tried. (I still think that those who have struggled to find Yah in their own way should be considered for the next life in His family because I don't think we've been given enough to get it right.) I suspect that is self-serving. But it isn’t in Yah’s nature.
Yah is forgiving of bad but not wrong. For example, Dowd / David was bad and yet because he was right about Yahowah, Yahowah declared that he was perfect. Dowd is presented in a relationship with God, knowing Yahowah and understanding His Towrah, from the beginning. Whatever time was invested during his childhood seeking to know Yahowah is seldom mentioned – and thus isn’t considered valuable. His Psalms sing of his understanding – not seeking. Rather than citing the Towrah, Dowd explains it, celebrates its benefits, and reveals the nature of the God who wrote it. His every assessment, conclusion, and statement is correct.
Yahowah gave us our mortal life (a nepesh / soul) and freewill. But He also gave humankind a neshamah / conscience – the ability to reason. It is what gives us the ability to be like God, to know Him, to engage in a relationship with Him. But like any computer, garbage in – garbage out. You have to consume and digest His Word and then process it rationally, making connections, to understand. We were designed to find Him, to know Him, to understand what He is offering and what He wants in return. Most however, no longer think rationally. They are no longer judgmental and able to discern between fact and fiction. They operate on faith. They have thereby excluded themselves. Yahowah stated, “My people are destroyed by their ignorance.” They don’t even know where to look. Which is why Yahowah continued by telling Howsha’, “Because you have forgotten My Towrah, I will forget your children.”
Based upon these statements and countless others, to be spared, one must know. To know one must observe Yah’s Word. Then by using or neshamah / conscience we must think about what we have come to know which in turn leads to understanding. When we understand, we are empowered to make reasonable, rational, and beneficial choices regarding Yah. We have the opportunity to be right. This is the path which leads to Yahowah and to His Beryth. It is the way of the Miqra’ey. And both are found in only one place: His Towrah.
Had God made Himself or His plan any more obvious, He would have negated the value of our conscience and freewill. And He would have devalued us. He gave us the ability to process His testimony and come to rational conclusions, and He trusts us to do so. Further, nothing is more rewarding, more enjoyable, or more beneficial than taking the time to listen to Him and think about what He has conveyed.
In hindsight, and now that I’ve rid my mind of Pauline deceptions, I no longer see the path to Yahowah as difficult. I’ve studied His words in Hebrew and I’ve come to understand what He is offering. It all makes sense. It is all accurate. There are no contradictions. There are no invalid statements. Yahowah is straightforward and unchanging. He is an entertaining, effective, and brilliant communicator. Everything He says conveys insights on multiple levels.
It was my prior religion and politics that led me astray – that obscured my vision. The only real challenge was clearing my mind of the religious lies so that I could embrace the truth. That is what Yahowah intended. That is the reason knowing Him is challenging. That is the reason as few as one in a million come to know Him.
You wrote…
J wrote:Now if you don't mind I would like to ask a few questions. I'm not looking for a short cut. Other than the brief hiatus I mentioned earlier, I have sought YHWH my entire aldult life and even some before that. You can relate possibly to searching for this needle in a haystack, only to realize the needle is somewhere else. You might just simply respond with a comment like, keep listening, or keep reading, and all these will be answered. However, if you would throw out a few key nuggets, it would be appreciated.
To which I replied…
You are only a fraction of the way home. You’ve begun to question your religion but you have not yet studied Yahowah’s Towrah as He conveyed it in Hebrew. I don’t know if you ever will. Four years at the Moody Bible Institute was a step in the wrong direction. So were your four years of being a youth pastor. These experiences may be the reason that the attitude conveyed along with your questions suggests that your mind is not open – that it is still corrupted by the Christian myth.
Yahowah has stated that thousands will shamar – observe, closely examining and carefully considering, the terms and conditions of His Covenant relationship and thereby receive His mercy. That is one in a million. He is not interested in saving billions of souls. He is content with a family comprised of those who have come to know, love, respect, accept, and trust Him. All of those things require a considerable investment of time, the proper approach, focus, and especially attitude.
Let’s be honest. Based upon your letter, you sought the god of Christianity, not Yahowah most of your adult life. Paul’s god and the real God bear nothing in common, including their names, their plan, their nature, or their purpose.
This isn’t a needle in a haystack, as you have stated, again displaying the improper attitude to approach God. It is instead, Yahowah, the creator of the universe in the midst of His Word – His Towrah. Your perspective on this is so flawed you are not ready to begin an honest search. Until this attitude changes, your “needle in a haystack” approach, you are wasting your time. It is demeaning to God and to His Word. It devalues what He is offering. It is offensive.
While you are equating Yahowah to a “needle” in your analogy, if it wasn’t for what follows, a reader might otherwise assume that you were inferring that the wrong “haystack” was the Christian New Testament. This would suggest that you now realize that “the needle is somewhere else.” And if that were true, I’d owe you an apology for overreacting. Unfortunately, however, since you disparage the Towrah later in your email, my initial assessment remains valid.
You wrote…
J wrote:YHWH can't hear or respond to someone he doesn't know. Where do you get that from?
To which I responded…
Yahowah said that He does not hear the prayers of the Towrahless. He can and does reach out to those He wants to know. He did so with Abraham and Moseh – and even me.
You wrote…
J wrote:He is not omniscient or omnipresent. Where do get that?
To which I responded…
Yahowah tells us that He does not know the sins of His children because they are cleansed and forgotten. And often He asks for information, indicating that He does not possess it. It is only in religion that god is seen as the micromanager who is involved in the minutia of life, favoring some and opposing others. Yahowah exists in the spiritual realm of the heavens. He has no interest in snooping on what is said in churches or mosques, in military briefings or political speeches. To believe otherwise, demeans Him. He knows what is important to Him. He knows His children. He knows what He has said to us and what He has committed to do for us.
The notion of God being omnipresent is so absurd, so rationally impossible, I’m surprised you asked. Think about what it would mean for Yahowah to be present everywhere. Do think that God is in the middle of the sun, in all stars, in empty space, in the core of our planet, in a rock, in every plant, animal, and person? Is He in a mosque, in a church, in every temple and shrine, in every national capitol, in every business, in all military weapons? Is God in the air you breathe, in the light you see, in the food you eat? Do you envision your god where you want him to be but not where you don’t? Most important of all: how would one chose not to associate with God if God were everywhere including in them?
This errant, albeit popular, religious notion is so irrational it is only acceptable to those who have no understanding whatsoever as to why Yahowah insists that He, His name, His Towrah, His Spirit, His Son, His Covenant, His Land, His Shabat, and His Invitations are qodesh - SET APART. Set apart from what? Until you come to understand that set-apart defines His relationship with His creation, you will remain lost in the realm of false gods. There is no “holy” in Yahowah’s vernacular. There are few things more important than “qodesh – set apart.” It is among the most important insights needed to view everything associated from the proper perspective. Mankind and God are set apart from one another. There is only one way to bring us together. And that way requires us to set ourselves apart from the ways of man, from religion especially. By being set apart, Yahowah cannot be omnipresent.
Beyond this, it is impossible for all of God to enter or exist anywhere in 3D. He has to exist in a dimension beyond what He spoke into existence via His words. This is simple physics. Communicating with us in 3D is the purpose of His Towrah, His mal’ak, the ruwach qodesh, and at times the most set apart, the most diminished manifestation of Yahowah, Yahowsha’.
You wrote…
J wrote:Three destinations of souls based in Noah's ark? How?
To which I responded…
Three destinations for human souls is so obvious in Yahowah’s Word, so repeated, I’m amazed that so few have come to understand it. If God said, “Choose me or I will torture you forever in hell,” He would be a monster. But that is the essence of the Christian and Islamic doctrines of just Heaven or Hell. And yet Yahowah speaks of the death and destruction of souls 100 times for every mention of eternal separation or eternity in His home. So by asking such a question, I’m afraid that you are still looking at things from a religious mindset – one that is rationally impossible. For God to be fair, for God to be loving, there must be a third option – the death and destruction of the soul.
Understanding requires two things: knowledge and making rational connections. The third destination for souls, that of their death and destruction (and thus neither heaven nor hell) is presented many hundreds of times throughout Yahowah’s Word – sometimes bluntly and at other times symbolically. The Ark with its three doors is one of many affirming references to this. In fact, every aspect of the story of Noach and the Ark is symbolic of the Covenant – not only of its nature and purpose, but of how we go about participating in it. But you’ll have to read the Towah in Hebrew, or baring that, the first 3 volumes of Yada Yah, to know enough about things like the Ark’s construction, to make these same connections and thus conclusions.
You wrote…
J wrote:The Ruach is some kind of maternal manifestation? Being? Portion? Huh? Aren't genders in language just invented by man? We could have just as easily created another part of speech like verb, noun, etc. Or take English. Other than calling a boat a she and things like that, there is no gender in our language and it serves quite well to communicate.
To which I responded…
Yahowah’s language is Hebrew. He invented it. He conceived it with masculine and feminine nouns. Ruwach is His term. It is feminine. Beyond this, God presents hundreds of other insights to reveal that the Ruwach Qodesh – Set-Apart Spirit is the Maternal manifestation of His nature. Family, after all, is Father, Mother, and child. The Covenant is a Family.
Hebrew is interesting in that all verbs are unconstrained by time. Most verbs are relational and establish a relationship between the subject and object. And many verbs are volitional, and thus convey freewill. The language was perfectly conceived to convey His nature, purpose, plan, and message: a relationship subject to freewill which makes us eternal – like God, akin to light.
I don’t care what sailors call a boat in English. I care what Yahowah called the Set-Apart Spirit. Yah could have used a masculine noun, but that is not what God chose. Details matter when it comes to Yah’s Word. That is why Yahowsha’ spoke of the eternally enduring nature of the Towrah’s Yad (smallest letter) and defining strokes (speaking of the composition of Hebrew letters). You may believe that English would have served to communicate God’s message quite well, but the fact remains, Yahowah chose Hebrew because it is better.
You wrote…
J wrote:Why do you point out the term gospel as so egregious? It seems that you are correct that it came from God Spell, but most christians associate the word with what seems to be the original intent, good news.
To which I responded…
I’m beginning to lose interest now in your questions because of the attitude that surrounds them. You aren’t simply asking questions, but are now accompanying them with disparaging comments regarding Yahowah. There is nothing more debilitating.
For example, you state that Gospel is from God’s Spell when it is actually from Gott’s Spell. Yahowah is not Gott and He does not inflict spells. It is neither a translation or a transliteration of the Greek, and like church, Gospel represents a completely invalid alteration. Moreover, neither Yahowah nor Yahowsha’ spoke Greek. Yahowsha’ affirmed the correct term: Towrah. Gospel is therefore unacceptable. Why do you prefer man’s religious replacement? Do you prefer man’s terms to God’s. If so, you’ll never come to know Yahowah.
The Greek eugellion means “beneficial message,” which can be interpreted as “good news,” but not Gospel. It is just like ekklesia, which does not mean “church.” Both are deliberate corruptions. They are not godly. They are wrong. By seeking to justify them you are displaying favoritism of man’s terms over God’s terms.
You wrote…
J wrote:Just doesn't seem to be a strong case for condemning Christianity. Although, I will agree with you that without Paul, there is no Christianity.
To which I responded…
Half of the Christian NT was written by the Plague of Death, a false prophet, and demon-possessed egomaniac who contradicted everything Yahowah said. Therefore, if you don’t question the rest of it you are not being rational. And if you question it and conduct a comprehensive study of the history of the text, especially the Greek text, what you will find is that most of it isn’t reliable and is not accurate.