Come Out of Her My People!

May 7, 2012 by New2Torah    7 Comments    Posted under: Uncategorized

I get awesome emails and responses to the blog posts on the site as well as comments and messages from Facebook, Twitter and the Youtube Channel. Every once in a while, these are worthy of being posted in their own blog post and shared with all of you. The following comment that was left on the blog kind of mirrors my family’s own experience with Discovering the Truths of the Torah. I hope you will enjoy!

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It is amazing how much we have been indoctrinated with “church traditions”, instead of Torah Truth. We do not even see it a lot of the time. My husband and I started attending the church down the street when we were married 33 years ago because we wanted to do what was right for us and our children and that meant being a “good christian”. We did the church thing, in our case it was the Baptist thing. I don’t have to list them all, many know what I am talking about. We saw a lot of things that didn’t line up to being “good” in either, deeds, beliefs or actions. For years we did this, not knowing there was anything else.

In our hearts there was a yearning for “something more”, that there had to be “something more” to this “christian/church” thing, than endless committee meetings, structured ‘worship’ attendance that was more about what “I” (me focus) like, than what YHWH loves, such as covered dish free for alls, socials but no real desire to talk about the Lord or study and obey His Word.

After attending a women’s Bible study, a seed that had been planted a couple of years earlier in a presentation about the gates of the Tabernacle, we began to see and understand what that “something missing” was. We voraciously studied about the Feasts of the Lord, including the Sabbath, the Tabernacle/Temple. It was our introduction to His Ways. We wanted to take structured classes to learn more and found classes teaching what was called the Roots of our Hebraic Heritage. I now do not like the “roots” aspect of that title because it is misleading in a way as “roots” can be seen as something that is no longer applicable (like learning about a dead ancestor who has no bearing upon our lives today). Those “roots” are what we draw life from TODAY and our foundation that we are planted in and LIVE, but it wasn’t being taught clearly that way.

While sitting in that first 6 week class, I was looking over the material handed out for the class that night and I felt like a wall of bricks had fallen on me. First, I was reading about the church history and read something that I had read and heard a million times. It was the Roman Catholic Church and I could now see it sitting there right then. The Lord showed me it was the ROMAN church. Not the church that was in Rome, but the church OF ROME. Not the church that YHWH created, formed, and made to work in His Ways, but one that was based on man, man’s ways, with the focus on ROMAN WAYS. I had been so indoctrinated by the normalcy of hearing it all my life that I didn’t see it, I had never been taught that there was anything different. That different being YHWH’s Way!

I also came to see the Sabbath as not going to “church”, and that it wasn’t about that. It was as the Word says a day to rest and seek the Lord. Since I was already questioning the whole church “worship” practice, this was an eye opener. We started observing the Sabbath alone with our family. It felt strange but good. We didn’t know what to do, so we started with the “traditions” that many Messianic Jewish families use. We kept studying, praying asking the Lord to show us the Way. We started to celebrate and keep His Feasts the same way. We were finding Him in His Ways as we had never done in “church”.

We left the Baptist church for a Messianic congregation to be among others who wanted to grown in His Ways also. We continued to grown in our understanding and practice of His Ways. We also saw that what is called Messianic Judaism is not what it appears. It is also filled with it’s own “church” traditions dressed up as Jewish. A lot of window dressing but little to no substance as to living as YHWH has commanded us to live – Be holy for I am Holy! While the congregation that we attended for many years preaches that there is no difference between a believing Jew and a “Gentile” believer, we began to see that there was a big difference in the minds of the leadership! They would take our money, and time setting up and cleaning up, but not to lead Torah studies (the congregation might find out the Truth from YHWH and they didn’t want that), and didn’t want for the people to actually DO what He says, to actually go and minister to the Body, the Lost.

They wanted total control, and were afraid of what echad meant among the Believers (The elite group, didn’t want those “Gentiles” to be playing with any of “their” stuff, and yes, I had a Jewish believer tell me that!), as they were afraid of obedience and what that meant to the daily dying of flesh. We came to understand through study and prayer that we are FORMER Gentiles (former pagans – pagan = those who do not call upon the name of YHWH). There are only two groups – His People, those who hold to the testimony of Yeshua and obey the commandments as is quoted in Rev. AND those that do not and are not His People. You are either in one or the other group, sheep or goats. There isn’t sub categories for either group.

People are the same. They like to segregate, clique, deny you what is “theirs” (in perception or reality). Yeshua prayed that YHWH would make us ONE – ECHAD as He was with the Father. In Messianic JUDAISM (see the Roman eye opener above, and here again) it promotes division of the Body by bloodline (that can never ever be proven to be 100% pure, so how much do you need to be “Jewish”? Is one drop too much make you a Gentile?) YHWH’s plan is to redeem HIS creation to Himself, in His Way.

We no longer go to any Messianic congregations to “worship” now. We do so with our family in our home on Shabbat, or when we study Torah (any day), or when we love our Brothers/Sisters in Yeshua, or when we help the widows and the orphan, when we “go and make disciples” as we are commanded. Worship isn’t meeting in a building singing ‘me, me’ ‘worship’ songs (what is commonly know as the “worship” part of the service, the only part of what is regarded as “worship”). Worship is so much more, Shabbat is so much more.

Now I am not saying that those that participate in these things are not believers. Only YHWH knows who are. We have in the past have done so also, but YHWH led us out into His Way. He will do so for others who are His, in His Way also, and in His Time. I pray for all who are His to have soft and willing hearts for His teachings and leadings.

Man has perverted that plan and tells parts of the Body that they are less, do not need to obey His Word, or celebrate His Feasts. Shabbat is a large part of that in that there is a group that is to be served, yet not serve themselves. Read Is 54 and 56 and see what it says about it.

Celebrating the Sabbath brings us together as His Body, He is the Lord of the Sabbath!! Obedience is our visible proof of our covenant commitment. His Spirit within us allows us to do so.

Sorry for the “book”, you can tell I feel strongly about this. We no longer call ourselves “Christian” or “MessianicJudaism” because of the division – we are Covenant Torah Observant Believers in Yashua, followers of the Way, His Way. Doesn’t fall off the tongue as easy but it does give the correct answer. It grieves me to see the division in His Body today. There are so many divided groups instead of seeing we are called to be ONE in HIM! He tells us to “Come out, my people!” I’m Praying for my brothers and sisters, and us, to COME OUT!

-Sonya
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Thanks Sonya for the comment. I can relate to a lot of your thoughts on the matter as more and more I see many people running out of the church so fast because of they have seen the faults of Christian leadership and doctrine when compared to scripture, but then run into a whole other set of doctrines and church traditions. It’s sad really and its easy to get caught up in.

It’s important to constantly keep our noses in the Word and test everything we are taught according to that Word.