What Does It Mean to Be Separated and Holy?

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“Come out and be separate…” “Be holy unto the Lord…” What do these commandments really mean for us today? Is holiness even attainable? Be sure and join Dr. Brown to discuss this issue today on the Line of Fire!

Hour 1:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Our standard is very high; it is as high as God Himself. He is the One who says, “Be holy as I am holy,” and that we must become like Him. In the natural, we can never attain this, but by His Spirit we can change and be holy. That is the power of the blood of Jesus.

Hour 2:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Holiness means becoming like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. It is beautiful, not binding; it is pure love, and our highest calling in God. Holiness to the Lord is the foundation of our Jesus revolution, the message that changes us, and we bring that can change the world. It is our counter-culture message.

Featured Resources:

Go and Sin No More [mp3 series] and How To Be Led By The Spirit [mp3 series]

Other Resources:

Revolution: The Call to Holy War by Dr. Brown: This book is not a call for the violent overthrow of the government, nor is it a call to take up arms, nor is it a call to political activism in and of itself. It is a call to something far more extreme, a call to live out the gospel…

_

How Saved Are We? by Dr. Brown: This unsettling book challenges us to ask ourselves what kind of born-again experience we have had if it calls for almost no personal sacrifice, produces virtually no separation from the world, and breeds practically no hatred of sin.

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37 Comments
  1. It means to be set apart. To live for the Lord and to be sanctified.

    Not to live as the world lives. Not denying the power of God in our lives.

    The Spirit of the Living God was speaking through the prophet Joel. This prophecy was meant for the church not the world.

    Acts 2:17-21
    17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
    18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
    19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
    20 The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
    21 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.

    Pure heart and clean hands.

  2. What does it mean to be holy to the Lord?

    “You shall be holy people to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs. You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute. If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it. You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed. And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.
    Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of spring, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labours which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labours from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until morning. The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. Behold, I send a messenger before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.” (Exodus 22:31-23)

    “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the instruction of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.” (Leviticus 11:44-47)

    “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:2-4)

    “Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” (Leviticus 20:7-20)

    Those chapters contain a lot more too. Holiness means that sin must be stamped out as much as is possible with the justice system. No sexual deviants allowed to go on turning more of the population to their twisted way of seeing things. No culture of adultery to be tolerated. I can’t wait for Yeshua to establish the father’s kingdom on earth.

  3. I always have and continue to have great respect for Dr. Brown, but I respectfully disagree with him on the issue of a Lordship Salvation Gospel.

    Salvation = New Birth (just like natural birth – ALIVE)
    Discipleship is not equal to New Birth but is subsequent to New Birth, a natural progression of growth (but some grow fast, some grow slow, some have stunted growth, and yet the person is still ALIVE!)

    I disagree with a Theology that makes Discipleship a test of Salvation. A Saved person is exhorted to “…be ye holy for I [GOD] AM Holy…” (1 Pe. 1:16)

    Lordship Salvation proposes a sliding scale of holiness, in which Salvation itself is made dependent upon the absence of some MAJOR sins (adultery, fornication, etc.) and yet, it claims that it is not looking for sinless perfection. So how much sin is OK? Who decides? How do we come up with an arbitrary standard of holiness to even say we are SAVED (Alive)?

    I am sorry, but I feel we are making an IMPORTANT issue such as LIFE – to be based on somebody’s arbitrary standards of holiness. This is not in the Scripture. Woman at the well was asked to drink the water of life freely – only ONCE, not sin and drink multiple times.

    I am all for holiness in a believer. I am all for repentance in a believer. But that is a matter for discipleship not LIFE. I believe that distinction is very important, and Lordship Salvation confuses this issue.

    Again, this is an intramural discussion, it is in no way trying to belittle my very esteemed brother, a dear saint in the Lord. My 2 cents.

  4. Dr. Brown,

    I like it, I love it, I want more of it. Holiness that is, and messages on it. You already know where I am going to go with this, I’m sure.

    You ended the show with, “My bottom line: Holiness means becoming like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Holiness is beautiful, not binding. Holiness is pure love. Holiness is our highest calling in God. Holiness to the Lord is the foundation of our Jesus revolution…the message that changes us…the message that we bring that can change the world. It is our counter culture message. Holiness to the lord.”

    And, “Holiness to the Lord is our battle cry.”

    And, “Some people look at it completely wrongly and they think it’s bondage it’s negative…[they look at it like] your just trying to put a bunch of laws on me. No! We are being called upward to become like him…”

    And that is how most Christians see YHWH’s instructions in the Hebrew Scriptures…at least some of them. Are they really bondage? Or are they about being holy to YHWH?

    You said, “Holiness is required. You can’t reject holiness and follow the Lord at the same time. You can reject human standards of interpretation You can reject a particular churches teaching on holiness and follow the lord but you cannot reject what God says about holiness and the call to holiness and follow him at the same time.”

    You also said, “Holiness is beautiful. Holiness is not binding. What is binding is human interpretations of holiness that put people into bondage.”

    And you indicated that…legalism is human standards. Earthly standards. It is being policed by other people that add to what the word of God says.

    I do not think that you have not taken your beliefs to their logical conclusions. Legalism is us setting up a standard for everyone else, but does YHWH setting a standard amount to legalism? It does amount to a law or a commandment or an instruction in righteousness and/or holiness, but how can YHWH, who is the ultimate authority, be a legalist? When He makes a rule it is about being holy to Him. If we obey Him, we are set apart to Him. If we do not, we are set apart to some other person, idea, culture, church or Elohim…and we are sons of disobedience. YHWH’s perfect law tells us ways that He wants us to be holy (set apart) to and for Him.

    (Sunday church and Christmas are man adding his rules…legalism. Sabbath and YHWH’s feast days are holy commandments.)

    You said that you do not understand how someone can have a wonderful worship experience and maybe sing “Holiness is what I long for” and then not be repelled by a worldly movie. I do not understand how the same thing can happen at the church pot luck. How do we sing “O how I love Thy law” or “The law of the Lord is perfect” and then partake in a pulled pork or ham sandwich? YHWH does say that His dietary rules are holiness issues.

    Peter gave no indication that he meant anything different than Moses when he quoted him. If anything he summarized every instance of YHWH saying be ye holy for I am holy when he said, “in all manner of conversation (lifestyle).” And those things even include what we eat and on which days we celebrate.

    1 Peter 1
    14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
    15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
    16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
    17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

    YHWH judges without respect to persons. He does not take it into account if you are Jew or Gentile. There really is one law for both. Do you really think that the desire to eat unclean things is not “a former lust in our ignorance”? Even medical science has determined over and over that swine flesh is detrimental to our health. What is real freedom?

    To be continued below.

  5. Continued from above.

    You say we need to “Develop an appetite for holiness.”

    But you only mean in the moral sense. Well, holiness goes beyond morality and righteousness. True love for YHWH and His word will cause us to keep the Sabbath that proclaims that YHWH created everything in six days and rested the seventh. It will cause us to wear tassels that declare our desire to live by His ideas instead of our own. It will cause us to despise to eat what He calls abominations. It will cause us to want to meet with Him on the appointed times that He has set up. (It will even cause women to wear head coverings and remain in silence in the assemblies and it will cause us to stay out of debt too.) When we fail at these things and make up our own holidays and sabbaths and use tattoos and WWJD bracelets to replace His holiness commandments, we are rejecting holiness to YHWH and accepting holiness to our culture or church or peers.

    And you did say that YHWH did not say, “Be relevant for I am relevant.”

    You said, “Put the emphasis on striving to be like Jesus. In other words, don’t put the emphasis on can I do this or can’t I do that. Now we do that when we are brand new believers and when we don’t know better or when we encounter a new situation we’ve never been involved with before. However, however, the goal for life is not to always live in can I do this is that ok is that not ok. The goal is to become like Jesus. The goal is lets become more and more people who love god and who love what he loves and hate what he hates. People who are conformed to his image. People who are pure in heart, in deed, in mind, in attitude, in motivation, in conduct, in speech. Let that be our goal.”46:53-47:39

    Well, Y’shua obeyed YHWH’s every commandment and it wasn’t new to Him. It is a “new situation” to us now that YHWH is gathering the outcasts of Israel. (I am not talking of Judah.) We need to ask, “ is this OK and is that not OK.” We need to ask it because we want to please our Savior and King. We need to ask it because we are new to loving what He loves and hating what He hates. He calls eating unclean animals and abomination. That sounds like hate to me. It is not about the living by the letter to become pleasing to Him. It is about reading His instructions to us and subjecting our minds to His ideas…because He has accepted us and we love Him. This is part of holiness.

    You said, “Holiness is based on the Lord’s nature and character.”

    There is something in YHWH’s nature that does not like for us to eat certain things. He did not create them to be eaten. Why can we not resolve ourselves to this? There is something about YHWH wanting to set apart (make holy) certain days to meet with us in a special way. Who are we to judge differently? If it is in His character to remember certain things on certain days as a sort of anniversary celebration, who are we change the dates? He is the one that asked us out on those dates. Is it right for His bride to decline and try to convince Him to wait till Sunday and Christmas?

    You spoke of holiness that comes out of our relationship to Messiah. Holiness because of relationship goes by the rules and beyond the rules. It does not eliminate the rules. It does not change the anniversary dates. It does not change His food dislikes. If we love Him, we keep His commandments. Mature love acts right even if there is no feeling involved. We need to fix our love…by doing the first works…the works that were before ordained that we should walk in them…His Torah.

    There is the righteous and/or moral side of holiness, but there is also the belonging side? Because we are in His family, we keep the family feasts…we eat the family meals…we wear the family insignia…we uphold the family traditions…and we know which ones that Y’shua kept…and we are to walk in His steps…for this is holiness.

    You said, “Holiness is being set apart from sin and set apart to God.” and “Little foxes spoil the vines.”

    I am speaking of the little foxes. They still spoil the vines. Those little commandments about food and holy days and clothing and seed sowing and muzzling oxen are all about holiness too. Faithfulness in the little things show that we are worthy to be put in charge of bigger things.

    Matthew 5
    19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

    You said, “Those that are truly saved will want to do the will of God.”

    Will they want to live by every word that proceeds from YHWH’s mouth, or just the things that seem to be moral issues to them? Will they sell their birthrights for a ham sandwich? Will they rather be relevant celebrating Christmas than set apart (holy) keeping YHWH’s feasts?

    You asked, “How holy is too holy? How holy is holy enough?”

    I ask…How holy is not holy enough?

    Shalom

  6. @Debbie Fraser

    That is precious. Abiding in Him will make one holy just as HE is HOLY. Thanks.

    One of the best and most elegantly simple teaching I have read on the “abiding in Him” process is Bruce Wilkinson’s “Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance” – I personally recommend it highly.

  7. Dr. Brown,

    Great show. I like it, I love it, I want more of it. Holiness that is, and messages on it. You already know where I am going to go with this, I’m sure.

    You ended the show with, “My bottom line: Holiness means becoming like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Holiness is beautiful, not binding. Holiness is pure love. Holiness is our highest calling in God. Holiness to the Lord is the foundation of our Jesus revolution…the message that changes us…the message that we bring that can change the world. It is our counter culture message. Holiness to the lord.”

    And, “Holiness to the Lord is our battle cry.”

    And, “Some people look at it completely wrongly and they think it’s bondage it’s negative…[they look at it like] your just trying to put a bunch of laws on me. No! We are being called upward to become like him…”

    And that is how most Christians see YHWH’s instructions in the Hebrew Scriptures…at least some of them. Are they really bondage? Or are they about being holy to YHWH?

    You said, “Holiness is required. You can’t reject holiness and follow the Lord at the same time. You can reject human standards of interpretation You can reject a particular churches teaching on holiness and follow the lord but you cannot reject what God says about holiness and the call to holiness and follow him at the same time.”

    You also said, “Holiness is beautiful. Holiness is not binding. What is binding is human interpretations of holiness that put people into bondage.”

    And you indicated that…legalism is human standards. Earthly standards. It is being policed by other people that add to what the word of God says.

    I do not think that you have not taken your beliefs to their logical conclusions. Legalism is us setting up a standard for everyone else, but does YHWH setting a standard amount to legalism? It does amount to a law or a commandment or an instruction in righteousness and/or holiness, but how can YHWH, who is the ultimate authority, be a legalist? When He makes a rule it is about being holy to Him. If we obey Him, we are set apart to Him. If we do not, we are set apart to some other person, idea, culture, church or Elohim…and we are sons of disobedience. YHWH’s perfect law tells us ways that He wants us to be holy (set apart) to and for Him.

    (Sunday church and Christmas are man adding his rules…legalism. Sabbath and YHWH’s feast days are holy commandments.)

    You said that you do not understand how someone can have a wonderful worship experience and maybe sing “Holiness is what I long for” and then not be repelled by a worldly movie. I do not understand how the same thing can happen at the church pot luck. How do we sing “O how I love Thy law” or “The law of the Lord is perfect” and then partake in a pulled pork or ham sandwich? YHWH does say that His dietary rules are holiness issues.

    Peter gave no indication that he meant anything different than Moses when he quoted him. If anything he summarized every instance of YHWH saying be ye holy for I am holy when he said, “in all manner of conversation (lifestyle).” And those things even include what we eat and on which days we celebrate.

    1 Peter 1
    14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
    15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
    16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
    17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

    YHWH judges without respect to persons. He does not take it into account if you are Jew or Gentile. There really is one law for both. Do you really think that the desire to eat unclean things is not “a former lust in our ignorance”? Even medical science has determined over and over that swine flesh is detrimental to our health. What is real freedom?

    To be continued below.

  8. Howdy y’all,

    There are things that have to do with holiness that are not about righteousness or morality. For instance:

    1) Honoring parents, keeping Sabbaths(includes feast days), and no idolatry- Leviticus 19:2-4—2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
    3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
    4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

    2) Eating clean- Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
    Leviticus 20:25-26—25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
    26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

    3) We are to sanctify ourselves by obeying Yahweh’s statutes-Leviticus20:7-8—7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
    8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.

    4) Fringes-Numbers 15:38-40—38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:
    39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:
    40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.

    5) No making baldness or cuttings in our flesh-Deuteronomy 14:1-2—1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
    2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

    6) Keep all the commandments-Deuteronomy 28:9-10—9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
    10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

    There are things in the New Testament also that are commanded that are not about morality or righteous living that are about holiness.

  9. Continued from above.

    This should be the second of 3 parts. The first of three parts is post #11.

    You said, “Let’s be as practical as we can be. In the abstract we agree we should be holy.”

    And, “Jesus makes us Free from sin, not to sin.”

    And, “Grace does not change god’s standards. Grace is not a cheap excuse for sin. Grace wipes the slate clean gives us a brnd new start in jesus and then empowers us to live for god. Shall I read this from the word? Titus 2:11…

    11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
    12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
    13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
    14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

    That is the gospel” 30:30-31:44

    And, “The gospel exposes what is wrong and empowers us to do what is right”.

    And, “Is the problem legalism or license…compromise, carnality and worldliness in the body of Christ?”.

    When you say that Y’shua “makes us Free from sin, not to sin”, do you not remember 1 John 3?

    1 John 3
    2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
    3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
    4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
    5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
    6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
    7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

    Are you going to redefine the meanings of words to go along with your doctrine, or accept what is said in a very straightforward way?

    You said, “The main thing he liberates us from is sin itself.”

    And, “Sin is always destructive always poison.”

    But do you agree with John that sin is the transgression or YHWH’s law? You give a call for “no nebulous or abstract holiness”, but you seem to reject the foundational and concrete holiness that is contained in YHWH’s instructions to us inTorah.

    I agree with you when you say, “the letter of the law is external commands set up in such a way that they tell us what is wrong but they do not give us the power to do what is right” and “Out of love that we are holy.” I wonder why you have not put two and two together in this regard.

    1 John 5
    1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
    2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
    3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

    Real love keeps YHWH’s commandments and they are not grievous…not bondage. We long to obey when we truly love. Then it is not about the letter though we want to keep the letter…and even go beyond the letter.

    You recognize:

    “Lets remember that we develop habits, you know. We can develop habits that are so deep and thick that we don’t really hear the voice of the lord anymore. We become so used to the flesh or our way of doing things, so absolutely, we have to bathe our hearts and minds in the word of god…” 59:05-59:21

    But you still seem to be blind to the fact that Churchianity has done much to deaden our senses to the holiness commands in YHWH’s law. The habits of 1900 years have been ingrained to such a degree that we sing songs of dedication to YHWH’s law/word and have a different definition than the Bible does of those ideas. We give emotional lip service and fail in deed and truth to obey.

    To be continued below.

  10. Continued from above.

    This is part 3 of 3.

    You say we need to “Develop an appetite for holiness.”

    But you only mean in the moral sense. Well, holiness goes beyond morality and righteousness. True love for YHWH and His word will cause us to keep the Sabbath that proclaims that YHWH created everything in six days and rested the seventh. It will cause us to wear tassels that declare our desire to live by His ideas instead of our own. It will cause us to despise to eat what He calls abominations. It will cause us to want to meet with Him on the appointed times that He has set up. (It will even cause women to wear head coverings and remain in silence in the assemblies and it will cause us to stay out of debt too.) When we fail at these things and make up our own holidays and sabbaths and use tattoos and WWJD bracelets to replace His holiness commandments, we are rejecting holiness to YHWH and accepting holiness to our culture or church or peers.

    And you did say that YHWH did not say, “Be relevant for I am relevant.”

    You said, “Put the emphasis on striving to be like Jesus. In other words, don’t put the emphasis on can I do this or can’t I do that. Now we do that when we are brand new believers and when we don’t know better or when we encounter a new situation we’ve never been involved with before. However, however, the goal for life is not to always live in can I do this is that ok is that not ok. The goal is to become like Jesus. The goal is lets become more and more people who love god and who love what he loves and hate what he hates. People who are conformed to his image. People who are pure in heart, in deed, in mind, in attitude, in motivation, in conduct, in speech. Let that be our goal.”46:53-47:39

    Well, Y’shua obeyed YHWH’s every commandment and it wasn’t new to Him. It is a “new situation” to us now that YHWH is gathering the outcasts of Israel. (I am not talking of Judah.) We need to ask, “ is this OK and is that not OK.” We need to ask it because we want to please our Savior and King. We need to ask it because we are new to loving what He loves and hating what He hates. He calls eating unclean animals and abomination. That sounds like hate to me. It is not about the living by the letter to become pleasing to Him. It is about reading His instructions to us and subjecting our minds to His ideas…because He has accepted us and we love Him. This is part of holiness.

    You said, “Holiness is based on the Lord’s nature and character.”

    There is something in YHWH’s nature that does not like for us to eat certain things. He did not create them to be eaten. Why can we not resolve ourselves to this? There is something about YHWH wanting to set apart (make holy) certain days to meet with us in a special way. Who are we to judge differently? If it is in His character to remember certain things on certain days as a sort of anniversary celebration, who are we change the dates? He is the one that asked us out on those dates. Is it right for His bride to decline and try to convince Him to wait till Sunday and Christmas?

    You spoke of holiness that comes out of our relationship to Messiah. Holiness because of relationship goes by the rules and beyond the rules. It does not eliminate the rules. It does not change the anniversary dates. It does not change His food dislikes. If we love Him, we keep His commandments. Mature love acts right even if there is no feeling involved. We need to fix our love…by doing the first works…the works that were before ordained that we should walk in them…His Torah.

    There is the righteous and/or moral side of holiness, but there is also the belonging side? Because we are in His family, we keep the family feasts…we eat the family meals…we wear the family insignia…we uphold the family traditions…and we know which ones that Y’shua kept…and we are to walk in His steps…for this is holiness.

    You said, “Holiness is being set apart from sin and set apart to God.” and “Little foxes spoil the vines.”

    I am speaking of the little foxes. They still spoil the vines. Those little commandments about food and holy days and clothing and seed sowing and muzzling oxen are all about holiness too. Faithfulness in the little things show that we are worthy to be put in charge of bigger things.

    Matthew 5
    19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

    You said, “Those that are truly saved will want to do the will of God.”

    Will they want to live by every word that proceeds from YHWH’s mouth, or just the things that seem to be moral issues to them? Will they sell their birthrights for a ham sandwich? Will they rather be relevant celebrating Christmas than set apart (holy) keeping YHWH’s feasts?

    You asked, “How holy is too holy? How holy is holy enough?”

    I ask…How holy is not holy enough?

    Shalom

  11. “It will cause us to wear tassels that declare our desire to live by His ideas instead of our own.” – Bo

    I’m not fully convinced that tassels are His idea. Did He put tassels on the animal skin garments He fashioned for Adam?

    Anyway, I was just wondering why you emphasize these small things so much when there are plenty of significant moral failings to discuss? I think there are areas in your practical/moral life that could use improvement, and you could encourage others in that regard as well.

    Just by weeding out simple oversights people could be well ahead of where they are morally, productively, etc. And I mean productive in terms of God’s will, not profit, although profit is often a byproduct. I see people make lots of money, work really hard, spend a lot of time, but they don’t do much with it or have much to show for it, nor does society. Most of them seem to just work so they can play – seperate from God’s will, seperate from family, seperate from society.
    For example: They work hard so they can have a ridiculous residence like everybody else. Have they stopped to think if that is even remotely necessary? You could build a concrete cave and live in that for a tiny fraction of the cost and you wouldn’t even need air-conditioning if you did it right. Then take all your extra money and invest it in ways that will promote what God would promote – and all that extra time.

    I think more people should start growing food locally in a healthy way – as a good steward of the planet would, and stop paying the farmers that use techniques that are inhumane and destructive to nature as soon as you can.

    People work so hard and spend so much time doing things that don’t make any sense. People could be much better off if they quit living like everybody else and started thinking about how nature works and about how God wants us to live.

    Why would a person put a black roof on a house and then try to air-condition it out in the desert or any place with sun exposure?

    It is quite strange. Jesus told us to do practical things like feed the poor and cloth the naked, but the Church pays no attention to the practical inefficiences and absurdities of its flock. If people cut out as much waste as they could and reinvested it reasonably then feeding the hungry would be easy.

  12. Juan G.,

    Of course I could talk about the same things as everybody else, but I choose to illuminate the things that are being left in the dark. Dr Brown and others cover most of the bases. I guess it is my job to play way out in left field…or at least others may think that that is where I am. The small things are important.

    I wear a wedding ring, not because it is my marriage or my wife, but because it is a symbol of my being set apart to my wife. I remember her birthday and anniversary and celebrate them because of our relationship and out of my love for her. Those little things mean a lot to her even though they are just a few small days a year and a small symbol of takeness…set apartness.

    Y’shua is our bridegroom. He has certain days that he thinks are special…holy. He has certain things that he asks us to do as symbols of our takeness…holiness to Him. Life is not all about expediency, efficiency, and practicality. Did you ever read the story of the prodigal son? Did you ever wonder why there are so many beautiful things in creation? So many things that could have served a greater purpose with much less flash and waste? To everything there is a season. War is very wasteful, but there are even times for war.

    The love between a woman and a man is much more than just reproduction efficiency. The same goes for the love between man and his savior. Dr. Brown says, “holiness is beautiful.” He is right.

    Holiness is the expression of a bride in love with her Bridegroom…keeping herself pure for Him…and learning to love what He loves…practicing the dance that He has choreographed…celebrating the days of His special encounters with her…keeping the appointments/dates on which He has asked her to meet with him…making herself ready for the wedding feast in every way possible…doing all that He has instructed out of love and devotion.

    Shalom

  13. Blessings James,
    Yes, Abiding in Jesus is the way to go. It is the wisest thing to do.

    You got these folks like Warren Jeff who believe HE is Holy, who believes he is a Holy Prophet. Another mixed up soul who misuses the word of God and uses the Lord’s Holy Word to be abusive to others.
    Folks need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They need their hearts to be born again. Be Holy for I am Holy saith the Lord.

  14. I’d like to take the analogy of marriage a little further in regards to holiness.

    It is extremely important to be moral, honest, and faithful in a marriage. No marriage will survive without them. In some sense it is simply expected and goes without saying. Everybody knows, or at least used to know, this. But ask the marriage counselors if this will be enough for the marriage to have life and they will tell you that it is not enough. There is this thing called romance. It is not very practical. There is this thing called sentimentality. It is not very logical.

    The things in YHWH’s word, that He gives instructions about, that are not about morality may have something to do with sentimentality and romance…spiritually speaking. The special dates that He has set up to meet with us (Sabbath, new moons, and holy days) just may be sentimental to Him. He has done many wonderful things for us on those days. He has plans to do more wonderful things for us on those days in the future. If He wants us to join Him in celebration on those days, we ought to do so…out of love and gratefulness. It just may be that He sees us as set apart to Him if we pay attention to the days that He paid our bride price, gave us precious gifts, entered into the marriage covenant with us, and will come back to get us, and marry us on.

    Married people, at least the happily married ones, do not do things that gross their spouses out or embarrass them. YHWH says that there are certain animals that gross Him out when we eat them. He just may, because He says so, think that it is an issue of holiness to Him for us to abstain from the few things that He says make us abominable/gross. Maybe it embarrasses Him when we eat things that have died of themselves. Does He not take good enough care of us? Do we have to dig in dumpsters and eat road kill?

    Maybe when He gives us a gift so that we will remember Him and His ways, He thinks that it is romantic when we wear it. Maybe He smiles when we wear tassels with a blue thread. Maybe blue is His favorite color. Maybe he sees our devotion/holiness to Him when we tie on those stings that remind us of our commitment to Him. It might be like an engagement ring to Him.

    Now obviously, all these and other physical things are mostly meaningless without the deeper things that they represent being present. Obviously, they will mean nothing without morality, faithfulness, and honesty being the foundation of the relationship. We ought to do the weightier matters and not leave the less weighty undone.

    Shalom

  15. “Maybe He smiles when we wear tassels with a blue thread.” – Bo

    You didn’t answer my question about Adam and tassels.

    Here it is again:
    “I’m not fully convinced that tassels are His idea. Did He put tassels on the animal skin garments He fashioned for Adam?”

    “Of course I could talk about the same things as everybody else, but I choose to illuminate the things that are being left in the dark.” – Bo

    Of course I didn’t suggest you talk like everyone else. You choose to illuminate tassels, pork, and feast days. I just hoped you would be open to talking about more things, particularly really weighty things. And again, that is not to say you should repeat what everyone else is saying, nor even that you should cease talking about the small things.

    “Maybe when He gives us a gift so that we will remember Him and His ways, He thinks that it is romantic when we wear it. Maybe He smiles when we wear tassels with a blue thread.” – Bo

    It would seem absurd if I strictly required my wife to do a bunch of apparently frivolous things for me. I guess my yoke is easier than that. Honestly what you espouse makes God seem a little vain. Does that mean you have similar types of requirements of your wife?
    I don’t know, seems suspect.

  16. Juan G.,

    You will have to take that up with YHWH. He is the one that specified tassels for a reminder. I’d go with His ideas before WWJD bracelets. And we are not talking of a bunch of frivolous things. We are talking about a few things that might not make sense to our carnal minds. If you want to judge YHWH as vain, because you think that you are smarter or kinder than He, that is your prerogative. It hasn’t worked out well in the past though. You would do well to accept the whole Bible as YHWH’s word.

    I do not think that YHWH put tassels on Adam’s coat of skin, but just because it doesn’t say that He did doesn’t mean that He didn’t. All I know is that the command is in my Bible and it is in direct relation to holiness. If you are not convinced that tassels are YHWH’s idea, how do yo know what other things in scripture are or are not His ideas? Are you sure that your mind is not your “God”?

    Shalom

  17. “You would do well to accept the whole Bible as YHWH’s word.”

    “If you are not convinced that tassels are YHWH’s idea, how do yo know what other things in scripture are or are not His ideas? Are you sure that your mind is not your “God”?” – Bo

    How do you decide to accept the whole Bible as perfect? You don’t believe everything you read. Do you not rely on a work of your mind?

    I’m pretty sure my mind is not my “God”. I spend more time looking at the products of other people’s minds than I do my own. Of course I compare those things with what is in my mind already to see if they ‘make sense’ or show signs of making sense. I’m looking for the best ways of living. I don’t want to do things ‘my way’, I want to do things God’s way, the best way. If my mind was my God surely I wouldn’t take the hard road in search of God’s ways – I would just do what was pleasurable and convenient for myself.

    Of course, if I had a miraculous revelation about these things I would have a new idea of what made sense. I’ve recieved no bulletin about accepting every word of the Bible as we know it – therefore I will continue using what resources I have to seek God.

    “Are you sure that your mind is not your “God”?” – Bo

    I hope you’re not discouraging the use of the mind because I’ve disagreed with you. Doing so would be a good way to prolong mistakes through the generations.

  18. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” –Paul in Galations. If this is the work ethic for those separated unto serving God in Christ, and it is, then it is not a romantic basis for such engagement at all, but a reality based engagement. I concur with Bo that the stuff of authentic marriage applies to the new standard, but disagree that this is a romantically based concept.

    The New and Living Way standard then, as established by Jesus Christ, is paramount to understanding the Call to be in and serve the Kingdom of God.

  19. Juan G.,

    Why don’t you ask YHWH for that revelation. Without knowing that the whole Bible is true, you will go in circles. I do think that we should use our minds, but not to judge the scripture or YHWH’s dealings with us. We should use our minds to meditate in YHWH’s word and to cast down every idea that is contrary to what His word declares. It is one thing for you to disagree with my view of what the scripture says or means, but it is quite another for you to stand as a judge of the scripture itself.

    The Messiah that is described in the gospels believed every word of what we call the Old Testament. There is ample proof that the text has not been corrupted in any significant way since His declaration that He did not come to change the Law and Prophets. If you believe in the Messiah of the gospels, you must believe in the scripture that He called scripture. There is your bulletin on the Old Testament.

    As far as the New Testament…we have it on good authority that it is pretty much intact. The books of the NT were penned by the hand selected disciples of Y’shua or His brothers. There is noting in its pages that show any true discrepancy with the OT or that contradicts itself. If you do not accept this collection of writings, what can you point to that is a better version of the truth of what Y’shua and His hand picked disciples taught? If you can not trust these writings, you are stuck with guessing and inventing your own Elohim.

    Do you see the illogic in not trusting all of the Bible. If you only trust some of it, you just as well invent your own religion…picking and choosing from any and every “holy” book out there…because you are really only trusting your mind/ideas. Man becomes the measure of all things. You will be on a life quest of making Elohim in your own image if you do not come to see all of the Bible as inspired and true…good for instruction in righteousness, good works, and doctrine.

    Shalom

  20. @Bo,
    what you said reminded me of the Samaritans and how they rejected the testimony of the prophets and only accepted the Torah, but they rewrote some of it! And created a religion, their own personal one, worshipping on the wrong mountain.

  21. I believe in holiness and that grace has given us the ability not to sin. My goal as a witness is to show the “Love” of Christ in living a standard of life that sets us apart from this world “age”. Love that will suppress the worlds’ anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, greed and perversion. I believe “religiosity and legalism” comes in is when someone “boasts” about how they do not do this or that and elect themselves as the “Sin-O-Meter “of the church. The Holy Spirit convicts not man. I believe my job is to be God’s light through my way of living and introduce the Lord through His word. I find discussion of “I can drink or cannot drink” or other do’s and don’ts are fruitless. I know from my own experience, only when they truly believe in what Jesus has done for them will change happen. As a person begins to hunger for God’s word with a pure heart, the Holy Spirit will do a mighty work as He prunes the areas in one’s life to bring him to perfection for he has been forever faithful to continually works in mine. When man decides he is going to tell people what they should do and not do it breeds rebellion. Until a person is changing in the inside the outside is just hypocrisy. One can change on the outside and never be changed on the inside, but if they are changed on the inside the outside cannot help but change. I strive to introduce people to my best friend “Jesus” and know through faith he will change them from the inside. Where I think the church fails today is they do not show the believer how to incline the ear so the Holy Spirit’s “still small voice” can be heard and learning to submit as they are strengthened and changed when the heart of stone is made to flesh of His nature. I find people who are so quick to cast judgment on others are usually the most prideful and unloving. Nothing is worse and more damaging to the body of Christ than hypocrisy, the cup being clean on the outside and filthy on the inside. The person carrying the bible to work with conservative dress etc. but pitches a fit when things do not go their way or thinks nothing of speaking evil against a brother makes a sheer mockery of the very power Jesus give to us to change. Until we are separate from the world’s emotions and character, the outer shell will never achieve His Holiness as He commands. I believe the church does not acknowledge these issues; they either do not address holiness at all or try to change people on the outside without addressing the heart issues that are rampant in this world age. When we can love as Christ’s commands us to love everything else will fall into place because we will do nothing that would hurt or cause our brother to stumble and nothing that would cause our Father to grieve.

  22. Debbie Fraser,

    How do we make every effort to be Holy(Heb. 12:14) if “Jesus” is our holiness? What effort is there to put forth? How do we perfect holiness?

    2 Corinthians 6:17-7:1
    17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
    18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
    1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

    Romans 6
    19 I speak in human terms on account of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness, and to lawlessness resulting in more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification(Holiness).

    I think that we are to turn from uncleanness and lawlessness and turn to righteousness and holiness. We know from the Torah what things make us unclean and we know that transgression of the law is sin. If we persist in transgression of the law we are lawless. When we use the law lawfully to understand YHWH’s definitions of these things, we can then present our members as obedient servants to YHWH and stop sinning(transgressing the law) and thus become holy people.

    Now, obviously the start of this process is being cleansed by the blood of Y’shua, and if we sin(transgress the law) YHWH will forgive us when we confess and forsake our transgressions…this process will facilitate us being cleansed from all unrighteousness…and thus we will be holy in all manner of conversation(lifestyle).

    1 John 3
    4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

    1 John 1
    9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

    1 Peter 1
    14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
    15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
    16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

    Ignorance is our problem. This problem arises when we fail to recognize that breaking YHWH’s law is still sin, and thus ignore our transgressions of it. Then we do not think that we are sinning and do not confess it as sin. Then our uncleanness and lawlessness remains. He is unable to cleanse us from unrighteousness, since we are convinced that the things that we are doing are not wrong. This is why we need to know YHWH’s law. It renews our minds so that we can present our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable. If we continue to present ourselves in our uncleanness and lawlessness, it is if someone long ago would present a blemished animal for a sacrifice at the temple.

    Romans 12
    1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
    2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

    Renewing our minds in YHWH’s perfect law will keep us from presumptuous sin…if we allow His Spirit and His grace to empower us to obey.

    Psalm 19
    7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
    8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
    9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
    10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
    11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
    12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
    13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
    14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

    Let’s make the last three verses of the above passage our prayer. Let’s take the first three verses as a exhortation to renew our minds in YWHH’s Torah. Then the middle 2 verses will flow from our lips in gratitude to YHWH. I think that James understood Psalm 19.

    James 1
    21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
    22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
    23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
    24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
    25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

    We deceive ourselves when we think that we are holy, but our lives do not match up to YHWH’s perfect law…when we go away from reading YHWH’s law and forget that we were created in Messiah unto the good works that were before ordained in Torah that we should walk in them. We will be blessed in our deed when we are putting everything we know into practice and repenting of our transgressions of YHWH’s law every time we find out that we have broken it. Then being in a process of constant cleansing from unrighteousness, we will have our fruit unto holiness and we will see YHWH.

    Romans 6
    22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

    Shalom

  23. Paul the Apostle wrote, to the Galations, ‘the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love”. This standard for faithful works is in itself indicative of Jesus as the fulfillment of the law of Moses in effect and by his solitary life. Achieved in the midst of pressing crowds, accusation of religious opposition, and by direct assignment as becoming the King of Kings: here in succint focus is the holiness standard set
    by our Master teacher and central role model for the Christian life.

    The New and Living Way is achieved by abiding in Him alone, not by completion of this detailed romantic notion of obedience, or that one. Reality and Kingdom of Heaven centrality is needed for the soul and heart of believers in Jesus as the Christ, sent into our world, as the Message and Messenger of the Kingdom. Holiness is then defined in reference to He who equips and makes possible a relationship with Him as our teacher, Lord, and kinsman-redeemer–all separating one’s heart, body, and mind for His service.

  24. “I do not think that YHWH put tassels on Adam’s coat of skin, but just because it doesn’t say that He did doesn’t mean that He didn’t.” – Bo

    Well since you say the Torah existed for all time and is for everyone then you should surely hope God put tassels on Adam’s coat of skin, shouldn’t you? Additionally, if you are indeed right, then I’m not sure why God wouldn’t have put tassels on Adam when his own skin was his only garment.

    “Why don’t you ask YHWH for that revelation.” – Bo

    I do, that goes without saying.

    “Without knowing that the whole Bible is true, you will go in circles.” – Bo

    Circles how?

    “I do think that we should use our minds, but not to judge the scripture or YHWH’s dealings with us.” – Bo

    “There is ample proof that the text has not been corrupted in any significant way since His declaration that He did not come to change the Law and Prophets.” – Bo

    I’m not sure how you’ve decided that scripture or any book or work of man should go untested. I think there were chances for corruption and I believe this pertains to the most important thing in life. ANY room for error is grounds for more testing. If you want to live in error then by all means swallow what is fed to you without first considering what it is. I think that’s a dangerous way to live.

    “It is one thing for you to disagree with my view of what the scripture says or means, but it is quite another for you to stand as a judge of the scripture itself.” – Bo

    It’s all the same. You judge scripture your way, other people judge it differently. The result is that people live by different standards.

    “…because you are really only trusting your mind/ideas.” – Bo

    The vast majority of ideas I trust aren’t my own, they aren’t from me, but they do make sense to me and they work.

    “If you believe in the Messiah of the gospels, you must believe in the scripture that He called scripture. There is your bulletin on the Old Testament.” – Bo

    I don’t know if the Messiah had any problems with the Old Testament or not. There is room for error in the New Testament and its testimony of the Messiah as well, so I plan on taking this one step at a time.

    “If you only trust some of it, you just as well invent your own religion” – Bo

    Pursuing God in my own way is my responsibility and my duty and not something to be ashamed of…

    “You will be on a life quest of making Elohim in your own image…” – Bo

    My ‘image’ is changing as I seek God. If I was the most important thing to me, then I would have no reason to change – the world would have to change for me (that’s the type of behavior you see in brats).

    “what you said reminded me of the Samaritans…created a religion, their own personal one…” – David Roberts

    But the Samaritans are portrayed positively by Jesus? The Jews from which Jesus came probably thought he was creating his own personal religion too.

  25. Jabez H.,

    Strange that you ignore so many passages of Paul and other NT scripture that would tell us to do something about being holy. It is not by osmosis that we are set apart to YHWH. It is about refraining from uncleanness/filthiness and doing those things that YHWH says make us holy. That he has called us to be part of His kingdom does not mean that we will be chosen to be members of His government when His earthy kingdom is established. Many are called, but few are chosen. The chosen ones will be those that were proactive in perfecting and pursuing holiness. This is not speaking of some kind of nebulous, positional holiness. Only the proactive will be the ones that will hear, “Well done good an faithful servant.” There is not a reward for being a GOOD AND FAITHFUL FREELOADER.

    Any positional holiness or righteousness that is buried in the ground will testify against the holder of such on the day of judgment. Only those that show an increase from positionally holy to practically holy will be rewarded. If we haven’t been pursuing, practicing, and perfecting holiness, we will not see YHWH. That holiness is explained in the Bible. The TNK is still part of the Bible. Paul definitely expected us to use it as a practical guide in real tangible holiness.

    Revelation 22
    11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
    12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
    13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
    14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

    YHWH’w commandments are about holiness to Him. When we neglect them we are choosing to stay filthy and unrighteous. We are deceiving ourselves.

    James 1
    21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
    22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
    23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
    24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
    25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

    When we do not humbly receive what YHWH’s perfect law says and act upon it we are choosing to not be holy as He is holy. We are choosing to not let Him make us holy and clean by His word. Messiah returns for a spotless bride. The bride makes herself ready by obeying the word of YHWH.

    Those who are not participating in the pursuing, practicing, and perfecting of holiness are presuming that the performance of the practical precepts of the personal application of preordained principles have passed away. This prevailing prejudice was precisely prophesied to be the pandemic precursor to the pathetic practice of participating in the presumptuous violation of the perfect law, predictably providing a panacea of pernicious principles to poison the population and produce preoccupied proponents of prepaid eternal prosperity who are purveyors of the perversion of the perfect principles of Paul’s proclamation of the prominence and preeminence of the previous prophetic pronouncements preserved in the Pentateuch.

    I hope that was provocative to love and good works.

    Shalom

  26. Wow Kathy,
    Your post was so awesome and so filled with such truth and spiritual insight.

    I like when you stated this…
    “The Holy Spirit convicts not man”

    Amen to that. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to clean me out and show me and correct me in any area in my life that is not pleasing to the Lord.

    Kathy please continue to post on here, I truly believed the Lord spoke through you.

    🙂

  27. Kathy, Debbie Fraser and Dan1el,

    Kathy wrote:
    I believe in holiness and that grace has given us the ability not to sin.

    Do you also believe that sin is transgression of YHWH’s law? (1 John 3:4-7) Do you believe that it would be against Paul’s teaching to transgress the law(sin) now that we are under grace? (Rom. 6:15-20) Can we claim holiness if we are ignoring the scripture that Paul told Timothy to get true doctrine from and to put its righteous requirements into practice? (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

    Kathy wrote:
    The Holy Spirit convicts not man.

    Does the Holy Spirit use men to tell us the truth or bring things up that we have overlooked? (Rom. 10:14)

    Kathy wrote:
    As a person begins to hunger for God’s word with a pure heart, the Holy Spirit will do a mighty work as He prunes the areas in one’s life to bring him to perfection…

    Does this hunger that you speak of somehow not apply to YHWH’s perfect law? (James 1:21-25) Does YHWH ever use men to point us to the very scripture that Paul used for doctrine and instruction in righteous living and good works?

    Kathy wrote:
    One can change on the outside and never be changed on the inside, but if they are changed on the inside the outside cannot help but change.

    So, do you mean that if we read the word, or someone points out something in the word, and we are unable to change and put it into practice, that we are carnal minded and need to have YHWH change our hearts? (Rom. 8:6-8) What if the ones that you judge to only be changed on the outside are only able to do so because of the change on the inside? What if those that you judge to be holy on the inside reject the straight forward statements of scripture on the subject of holiness? What if holiness must be of flesh and spirit and not just spirit? Maybe even cleansing ourselves from fleshly defilements like unclean animal eating? (2 Cor. 7:1)

    Are we going to be accused of burying our talent in the earth? Are we going to remain babes, when we should be teachers by now? How slow can we go in this process of holiness and not be stagnant? The “saints” are the ones that live according to YWHW’s instructions on holiness. If we do not have what it takes on the inside to live holiness on the outside, should we continue to assume that we have the power of YHWH’s spirit of grace? The law is holy. If we reject YHWH’s instructions on holiness and do not even attempt to put them into practice and excuse ourselves with the notion that the law does not apply to us, are we not carnal instead of holy?

    Romans 7
    12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
    13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid…
    14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

    Romans 3
    31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

    Romans 8
    7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

    Shalom

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