Subject: Celebrating the Festivals
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 23:42:02 +0000
From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Reply-To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

From:          Dee Crabb
To:            heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       Re: Does Keeping the Festivals Save you?

Eddie and James,

Just a few notes as to what you both say on the subject of maturity and
keeping the festivals; being in sin or not being in sin.

I agree that keeping the festivals is not a subject of salvation, spiritual
salvation.

However I disagree with the comment that when you willfully do not keep the
festivals or the Sabbath that is not considered sin. When you keep the ways
of God you are in obedience. When you do not there are consequences. You see it
everywhere in the Tanakh. God says that disobedience is sin. He comes down
hard on the ones in the book of Jeremiah [and other places in the Tanakh]
about those who have forsaken [forgotten, not practicing] His ways. They are
considered as spiritually saved, but not physically saved from hard times
and trouble, for they have to go through the birth pains or tribulation. If you
are not observing the festivals, the Sabbath, etc., then you are in the way
of the world, which is something that God said we should not do. Being in the
way of the world, and not walking in the path that God has provided is
considered as being in sin.

I disagree with the comment that keeping the festivals has nothing to do
with maturity. The Sabbath and the Festivals have a very major role in teaching
us, causing us to learn. What is learning? It is gaining wisdom and knowledge.
These are things that God says we should seek. When we gain these things we
become more confident, and our faith grows immensely. And by the keeping of
these things in the Torah we are established in the Word/Yeshua. These
things teach us all about God and what His plans for mankind are. Without knowing
these things we cannot know God. The desire to know God is the highest
commandment given. When we desire, we will seek, and when we seek we will
find. So keeping the feasts and the Sabbath are most certainly a necessity
for maturity.

There are many people who lead others to the Lord. But it does not stop
there.
For after they have been led they must be taught. First comes our belief
(faith) and then comes learning the ways of God, which, by the way, Yeshua
walked perfectly in those ways. Yeshua comes first, and He tells us that we
have to go through Him [The Word - Torah - Tanakh - Bible] for His name is
The Word, and then we will be able to see [or come to] the Father. You cannot
just stop after you have accepted the "grace" salvation provided by Yeshua, you
must go on and learn The Way of God. You must follow in Yeshua's path, His
footsteps. Yeshua tells us to keep the things He has spoken, His Word, which
is the Word that God put in His mouth to speak to us. "When you see Me, you
see the Father." "The Father and I are One." We must never take our minds
off the fact that Yeshua was called the Word, and that Word came from God. The
Word was sent, Messiah was sent. To see Yeshua is to see the Word of G-d,
and seeing (understanding) that Word is seeing both Father and Son.

Apostasy is not as simple to define as some have said. Aspostasy is
abandoning something [principals] or some one that you once believed in, 
and totally going in the opposite direction. How can someone say they are 
not in apostasy just because they believe in Yeshua and yet, deny the very 
word of God and the instruction that He gives in the way we should walk? 
He is the The Word of God!  To get to the Father we have to go through that 
Word.

What does being enlightened mean? Does it mean just believing in Yeshua and
then not believing [falling away from] the Word of God? To be enlightened
means to be knowledgable, and believing in that knowledge that you have
learned. To "fall away" from that knowledge, or to stop believing in it, is
apostasy. "For those being once enlightened [knowledgable in the Word], and
becoming partakers of the Holy Spirit [who teaches us this knowledge], and
having tasted the good word of God [tasting is what we do when we rehearse
these events that are to be and shown in the festivals and Sabbath], [and
having seen in the Word] the works of the power of a coming age [all the
mighty things God will do in the very near future, Athid Lavo, the Olam
Haba, the World to Come], and [then] falling away, it is impossible for them 
to again renew to repentance, for they will be crucifying themselves the Son 
of God, and putting Him to shame."

What does that last sentence mean? Why did Yeshua come? What did He do when
He came? What did He speak? What did He restore? What did He preach? He
preached the Word! He restored the "truth" of the Word!  He enlightened those 
around Him to the Way of God, which they had mostly forgotten. They were doing 
a lot of their own things, they had added to the Word, the commandments!  They 
had taken away the real meaning of the Word. Many were in igonorance of the
Word. So to crucify Him again would be to not believe in the Word that He spoke,
that He was sent to speak, the Commandments, the Truth of God's Word, and
which He was the representative of, and by which He was called!  That is the
Gospel that Yeshua preached, the Word of God, all of it! He did not preach a
new Gospel. He preached from the Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi'im [Prophets],
and the Ketuvim [the Writings]. To not believe in these three which comprise
the Tanakh, is making His mission of being sent of no affect, which indeed
would put "Him to shame." If only some of us would "wake up" and "see" that
is what that phrase means! To not believe in the Word which He personifies is
indeed putting Him to shame!  It would be as if we were the ones persecuting
Him at His trial all over again, crucifying Him all over again. His words
were not believed by those who wanted Him out of the way. If we have no faith 
in the Word of God as being The Way to walk, if we continue to be totally
disobedient to that Word, then that is the same as not believing all the
things that He spoke. Its a hard thing for those of us who are still tied to
the things of the world or Christianity to swallow. They refuse to see it!
This is nothing new! It will experienced in greatness during the tribulation.
People do not want to hear the ways of God, they want to stay in their own
little world and still profess a belief in God or in Messiah. Some
incorporate God's things into their life now, but then they hang on to 
many of the old worldly traditions, and refuse to see that G-d wants you 
to change now, and quit flitting back and forth like birds, from the perch 
of God to the perch of the world, etc. It is time to be totally blunt and 
honest. It is time to quite babying the congregation. The truth should be 
spoken truthfully and very directly and to the point. God does not hesitate 
to speak to mankind, nor did Yeshua. He was very direct and blunt, and He was 
hated for it, and He was killed for it.

James, you are seeing the 'walking of miracles in Yeshua's time' as being a
picture of the power of the age to come.' And that is most definitely true,
but only in part, and that that is not all truth. In the age to come the
miracles will be totally awesome. And the power will be mighty! The power is
not all miracles as we think miracles, raising the dead, healing, etc. The
power is bringing about the resurrection, the catching away, and also the
destruction of the nations, the fire, and hailstones, the desolation, etc.,
and the winning of wars, The War against the evil one [who is the author of
disobedience], and I could go on and on. Everything that is going to happen
in the 'age to come' is guided by God's hand. While Yeshua is at the wedding
consummation in heaven, God's other hand will be down on the earth, and His
Spirit will be down on the earth performing mighty and terrible things!
G-d's right hand, the good inclination, Yeshua,  is in heaven. His left hand, 
the evil inclination [He created both] is down on the earth destroying the
wicked.

Why did Messiah Yeshua stay on earth for forty days after the resurrection?
It was to teach His disciples more about Him and the truth of the Scriptures
concerning Him. When He was walking with them [before resurrection] the
impact of His words didn't soak in. But now, after the resurrection they had 
to have further training before they could go out. So He opened the Scriptures 
up for their understanding, like with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They
were then sent to Jerusalem to "wait". They were further instructed by the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost [Shavuot]. We all know that story.

James, when you wrapped up with a series of five comments, number four caught
my eye. What do you think being in mature in Yeshua is?  If it is not being
knowledgable or wise in the Word of God, then what is it? The disciples were
looking to Yeshua in His physcial presence more than they were looking at the
Word. That is why they did not get the full understanding until after His
death, they were devastated at His death, and that final instruction in the
Word was accomplished during  the forty days of teaching that Yeshua gave them 
before He asceneded. Observing does teach, observing does give you maturity.
And most wonderful of all, your learning, your growth never stops. And in
that special path of growth we become very firmly established in the Word.

And Eddie, you say on #3 of your comments that keeping the feasts by itself
does not make you spiritually mature.

You are right, but it all has to do with the intent of the heart.  If your
heart isn't right you will learn nothing. However keeping the feasts with
understanding will most definitely give you a level of maturity. You have 
to have eyes to see the meaning of the festivals as you keep them. And every 
year you learn, or you see more. Therefore your knowledge increases, which 
brings maturity. That is why they should be kept, over and over and over
each and every year. If a "carnal" believer believes in Messiah and keeps
the festivals, yet does not learn anything, then woe to that believer. They 
are living in darkness, without knowledge. Their heart isn't in it, and they 
are like dead or stunted souls that do not grow, they are seen as being
withered, not only in their spiritual capabilities, but in their very 
physical strength. Paul tells us this is why so many are sick, and so many 
are dying and falling away; they are not walking in the Word, in the observance 
of Sabbath and festivals.

Eddie, I agree with your eight points. The Holy Spirit guides you to Messiah
and to understanding. Messiah Yeshua is the Door to the Torah [Tanakh], we
accept Him first, and He then opens the Door for us to enter. We will not
really know Him nor the Father unless we enter that door. And that takes work! 
That takes time, a lot of time, studying, being taught, learning, accepting
that Word. To not accept the Word [commandments, the Way of God] right along
with Messiah Yeshua is indeed apostasy, or a state of unbelief, and akin to
blasphemey, which in turn will guarantee you many trials and tribulation.

First figure out what your status is, whether Jew or non-Jew. Then do as we
have been commanded to do.

Shalom and love to all,

Dee.

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