Newsletter: 2008-08 The Holy Day of Pentecost

Holy Day Greetings from HomeWorship 101™

“Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath;
then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord.
You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves…”
- Leviticus 23:16-17
.
The Biblically Holy Day of Pentecost, called in Hebrew, Shavuot, is this Sunday, June 15, 2008 (Lev.23:15-22). It is a festive atmosphere because it is the day of new revelations from YHWH!
Log on http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_spring.htm

Generally I get a lot of criticism from the Christian world for going, as they say, backwards and following the Biblical Holy Days. So I ask them, “…don’t Christians observe Pentecost?” That is a Holy Day listed in Leviticus ch.23, why are some Holy Days important and some are not?” All the Holy Days are for the Hebrews and gentiles, and they are all important, if there is any more doubt then look to the Jerusalem Temple ceremony for this day and learn. Here, on this Holy Day, lies the simple answer waved in front of you, but many do not see.

The Temple ceremony required the high priest to wave two loaves of bread over the altar as an offering to YHWH. The offering of two loaves of bread is a product of craftsmanship (different from a harvest or blood offering). Unlike the previous Holy Days with symbols of unleavened bread, these two loaves of bread are made with yeast - the symbol for sin. With a skilled hand each loaf begins with the best ingredients, it is then mixed, stirred, kneaded, raised, flattened, raised again, and carefully baked to perfection. Think about it, it sounds a lot like the spiritual evolution of the Hebrews and gentiles, being guided by the hand of our CREATOR. Here on this Holy Day the Hebrews and the gentiles are spiritually represented as two loaves of bread offered to YHWH.

“A wise man [or women] will hear
and increase learning,” Proverbs 1:5

With the start of the – Biblical – New Year and Passover season, YHWH began HIS great spiritual opera with a stunning display of HIS almighty power (Exo.ch.7-11). It got the Hebrews attention and they were watching. But many miss the subtle meaning of the Passover season, which is that the faithful are sanctified, and justified. Now they have to learn how to stay that way, and on this Holy Day comes the day of new revelations on how to live righteously. To those walking YHWH’s Ancient Path this Holy Day shows us the guardrails to keep us on HIS Path – lest we go off the road and lose our way, or worse yet, have a horrible accident. Sadly, today this day generally goes unnoticed by the religious world, because living righteously is generally inconvenient to their faith.

For those who can see, and have ears to hear, this next act in YHWH’s Spiritual Opera opens with more stunning miracles. This Holy Day celebrates YHWH Commandments because on this day in ancient times Moses brought the Torah and the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai beginning YHWH'S mystical union with the Hebrew church (Exo.ch.19). About 1500 years later, in the time of the Apostles, this day was known as the day that the Holy Spirit, (Hebrew: the Ruach HaKodesh) of YHWH, was sent by Yahshua-Jesus to the true Believers, beginning His mystical union with the Hebrew-Gentile Messianic Church (Act.ch.2).

The Giving of YHWH’S Guiding Holy Spirit.

The Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) is a prophesied gift to the faithful, made available by the success of the suffering Messiah over evil. The Holy Spirit lives within the bodies of the believers of both men and women. It is our helper, our guiding intuition, and our strength. The day the Ruach HaKodesh was originally given was a wonderful early-summer morning. It was around 9 am. The faithful were bright and cheerful, and of one accord. They had just heard the scriptural lesson from the Prophet Ezekiel 1:4, "Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire."

And then, just a short while later, as they were talking among themselves, a miracle happened! "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them,…" Act.2:2-3. Wow! Our FATHER has impeccable timing! Read through Acts ch 2, it was a wonderful stunning miracle, and it got their attention!

There are some more subtle spiritual events that also began on this day. With the giving of the Holy Spirit, this Holy Day also marks the beginning of the Age of Grace. Grace is the advanced trait of mercy. In the Old Testament times the penalty for sin is death. Now this is an age of forgiveness, and for learning to become a better person, and a better community. Log on for more info: http://www.homeworship101.com/age_of_grace.htm

Also on this day, communication with the Heavenly Powers just became easier. YHWH, via the Holy Spirit, now empowers the Believer with HIS Spiritual Powers-Tools. In Daniel ch.10, the Archangel Gabriel wanted to visit Daniel to relay a message from YHWH, but he prevented from that task by Satan’s dark angels. He had to fight the dark forces for 21 days, and only succeeded when the Archangel Michael came to help. Here we get a hint, that at times, it wasn’t always easy for the righteous powers to communicate to the faithful on earth, but now that has all changed. Prayer, baptism, blessing, anointing, laying on of hands, are all ways for the Believer to communicate with the Heavenly Powers. The Spiritual Power-Tools are important defensive tools because the faithful are in the middle of a raging spiritual war, unfortunately most churches do not teach the laity how to use them. Satan knows, “to lead an untrained people to war is to throw them away,” and he has been busy corrupting YHWH’s Knowledge.

A Covenant relationship based on YHWH’s Laws.

“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear Him,
and His righteousness to children’s children,
to such as keep His Covenant,
and to those who remember His commandments to do them
the Lord has established His throne in heaven,
and His kingdom rules over all.” - Psalm 103:17-19

Humanity has a Covenant relationship with YHWH, which means two parties coming together to enter into a Covenant; both parties have responsibilities (stipulations) to fulfill the promises made. YHWH promises us eternal life in HIS Kingdom, and we must learn to live by HIS rules. We have heard that our Holy Spirit is our strength and helper, but help us in doing what? The answer is they help us to live GODLY life. If you listen to your guiding intuition and learn to live a righteous life your Holy Sprit will grow. If you ignore it and live by being hardhearted, malicious, and take advantage of your fellow man, then your Holy Spirit will wither and die – then when you arrive at Judgment Day you will have no sprit left to revive for eternal life and then you will only have eternal death.

We have one CREATOR with one vision! Some will argue that YHWH’S Law has been suspended in this Age of Grace, but it's a no-brainer, our FATHER'S Kingdom is based on law and order. Even the angels live by the Law. It’s the rabbinic laws (man designed laws) that Yahshua criticized, but regarding His FATHER’s Laws He clearly stated, He didn't come to break the Law (Mat.5:17). If anything, He raised the stakes - evil thoughts now constitute sin. The Gospel message is: Don't even think about it! (Mat.5:8). A letter from the second century puts living under YHWH’S Law beautifully, log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/wp_early_christians.htm

Since ancient times, this was the Holy Day that celebrates the giving of YHWH’S Laws. Unfortunately, many of today’s believers, get a little nervous feeling when talking about YHWH’S Laws. But YHWH'S Kingdom is based on Law and order, and our CREATOR'S Laws were first introduced to humanity through the universal Covenants given to Adam and then again to Noah. Log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/bb-c5_sacred_covenants.htm

~The Commandments~

“Blessed are those who do His commandments,
that they may have the right to the tree of life,
and may enter through the gates into the city.
But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral
and murderers and idolaters,
and whoever loves and practices a lie.” - Revelation 22:14-15

In the time of Noah, before there was any religion there was the Rainbow Covenant, and from it Noah preached to a-l-l the generations after the flood what is today called the 7 Noahic Laws or commandments. The Orientals, the blacks, the whites, everyone with a belly button, all learned the same 7 Commands which formed the successful building blocks for the new world communities. Later in time, YHWH chose Moses to give the 10 commands to his Hebrew church, and Yahshua endorsed them for his Messianic church. Sometimes Christians forget not everyone applies themselves to the narrower path of the higher Covenants, one must remember that most of the world lives under the Rainbow Covenant and the Noahic Laws. Log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/wp_10_commands.htm

Some people call me legalistic, but they don’t get it. The Ten Commandments are still in effect, and they give us freedom. This is not a modern concept, in ancient China, Confucius sought to transmit the wisdom of the ancient sages. Opposite of the Roman ways, Confucius and his disciples distrusted written laws. He felt that a dusty statute book was too inflexible to handle the infinite variety of human experience. He chose to trust people, not laws, and taught a philosophy of personal virtue, devotion to family, and social justice, and to rely on innate human goodness as the best guarantee of a civil society. He was probably closer to the Biblical mark of the Noadic Covenant teachings, than most give him credit for. The reasoning for a moral personal and community philosophy is simple, the more moral the society, the less community laws are needed to govern or control them. In others words, our FATHER'S few simple Laws give us freedom from the millions of laws in mankind's dusty statue books. America’s founding fathers were wise men who knew their history and Bibles, and they also knew this Divine truth of promoting a moral community.

GOD allows U-Turns! In ancient times, the Law was written in hard stone. Now, the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, writes it on our warm hearts. And the Gospel lesson of Grace is: Don't judge and condemn too quickly. If some have a change of heart, and wants to change their ways, we should learn to forgive and show mercy.

Unfortunately, many of today’s world’s leaders - priests, politicians, corporate leaders, etc. - live with the Hellenist/Roman attitude: There is one law for the rulers, and another law for the ruled. This is not our FATHER’S idea of an everlasting society. The faithful accept the Kingdom Laws because YHWH, and all HIS interstellar societies, also lives by them.

The Greatest Commandment – the Golden Rule!

“Teach your children the Golden Rule
and the world will thank you.”

At the very least, this Holy Day should be know as “the Golden Rule Day!” Much has been written regarding the Law, but I specialize in the short version. The bottom-line Law governing all interstellar relations with angels, humans, or otherwise, is the Golden Rule (Mat.7:12). It is universal, and it is the height of spiritual maturity. Satan has engineered many walls and divisions among the faithful, but a-l-l humanity has our CREATOR and the Golden Rule in common - even those who do not believe. I have listed them all on my website, with a short history, and some notable quotes. Log on: http://www.homeworship101.com/golden_rule.htm

~Holy Living~

"Be an example to all believers in what you
teach, in the way you live, in your love, your
faith, and your purity."
- 1 Timothy 4:12

Scriptures call the faithful to YHWH priests and we should live Holy lives (Rom.12:1; Eph.1:4; Tit.1:8; 1Pet.2:9; Rev.1:6, 20:6, and many more), but what does that mean? What we generally call a holy man, paying someone, opps I mean, donating money to someone, to stay in a sanctuary separate from the community so that that person may remain holy, and then seek that person out for ones spiritual needs, is mostly a pagan custom – it is not YHWH’s idea of HIS priesthood. YHWH wants HIS faithful to live Holy lives on a day-to-day basis while interacting with the community in our work, and play - to live honestly, to work honestly, etc. The Apostle Peter tells “…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy,” 1Peter1:16. It is easy enough to understand, and easy enough to read it in Scriptures – but there is still much debate on the topic. Oy vey, the mishegoss of religion. See link: Concept of Holiness, http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=219

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy;
meditate on these things.” - Phil 4:8

It will be a long journey, stay on the Path, it will be a long summer growing season under this Age of Grace. The faithful are always longing for the coming of the Messiah to usher in the Kingdom of peace, but this Age remains open to collect as many Believers as possible. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance," 2Pet.3:9.

Enjoy the journey of learning…
> http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_spring.htm
> http://www.homeworship101.com/holy_days_spring_observance.htm
> http://www.homeworship101.com/bb-c8_age_of_grace.htm
> http://www.homeworship101.com/bb-c6_hellenism_romanism.htm
.
We wish you peace and safety during your summer travels.
REMEMBER: No matter where you are traveling in the galaxy, the Golden Rule rules!
Take care. Have a blessed Holy Day, Errol.
**********************************************
Errol Mueller, chronicler extraordinaire
e-mail: errol@homeworship101.com
website: www.homeworship101.com
**********************************************
WSC Newsletter 2008-08, posted 06/14/08.

Copyright © 2008 Errol Mueller. All rights reserved. Short quotations, page copying, or redistribution for personal or non-commercial group study is permitted and encouraged, provided they are copied in total with no alterations or deletions. Author’s name, website address, and copyright notice must be included. If any other use is desired, written permission is required.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Back to index. Previous newsletter