The Open Scroll Blog |
| Posted: 08 Sep 2013 10:59 AM PDT Another Yom Teruah has arrived. I would like to celebrate with a light heart but can not. Judgment is manifest. This marks the anniversary of my Lord's birth, 2014 years ago. Yom Teruah aka Rosh Hashanah can be loosely described as what both Christmas and New Years Day pretend to be, in my culture. When the day of shouting or blowing (as trumpets) was initiated as a holy day it was looking forward as prophetic. I believe there's still a prophetic aspect, in that it has not yet been entirely fulfilled, but much of it is now a memorial, fulfilled in Y'shua's birth. What is today, right now today, September 8th, and what is coming over the next few years has a root in what happened at His birth, when judgment was incurred and executed shortly afterward. That aspect of judgment is an essential truth that has been very effectively hidden from most, and I'll explain more about that at the end of this message. Today marks the turning of the first into the second year of this Shemittah in what is a very special season. Judgment is evident. What I am seeing unfold right now is very disturbing. There's all the stuff going on out in the world, of course, with the beating of war drums and the rising of nations (ethnos) against nations (ethnos), but what I'm talking about is seeing the saints losing their struggles. I see failures of the past catching up with folks. We all need mercy but the limits appointed for this are quite real. What has been overlooked or winked at in the past is no longer being tolerated. The forfeit of reward is a reality where there is no "grace period" or recovery opportunity extended. This time has come, and I believe these Days of Awe for Teshuva or repentance leading up to Yom Kippur (that are attended to by some who practice according to familiar forms of Judaism) should be considered seriously by some of us as a personal model. Repent. Pray for each other in the fear of God. Submit to each other in a right way, according to the biblical direction as received through and directed by the holy spirit. Pray that your faith will not fail in time of testing. Many of us have been schooled in varieties of traditional or more modern church doctrines like conventional messianism, or other religious traditions, like the Sephardic or Ashkenazi branches of Judaism. There's plenty of conflicting doctrine about what this day is or isn't, to be sure. There's even conflict about when to observe this day. If you're personally content with what you've got and see such differences as unimportant, well, carry on. There's probably nothing compelling for you here. What I've seen in organized form is what I've come to identify as Mystery Babylon. I'm not trying to offend anyone but my focus is on honestly on not offending my Lord so I will try my best to say what must be said. I interact with some folks who are ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. (Read 2 Timothy 3.) This blog and ministry of the open scroll has some popularity, but it's not at all a popular work at the core. I understand it as a Bride prep work, part of a work that is specifically to a very small number. While many more may receive some benefit, most will only get the best benefit through what is going to be accomplished by the Bride, who is being prepared for sacrifice on their behalf. This is as it must be. I see how many saints even among this blog's readers are still running to and fro, struggling to try to figure out where the "good stuff" really is, merging a little of this with a little of that, and for some this is a good and necessary process, but what needs to be called to the attention of some others is that there remains an ignoring and dismissing of what I've routinely described as the core of this ministry work. Failure to attend to matters of gender propriety and the matter of coming to know the times and what they really mean will disqualify many of us. I'm convinced time has just about run out on this season of preparation and various "training ops." You will not be able to say you were not warned in advance. About the practice of discernment, the seeing eye and hearing ear, I've been preaching how character is key, how obedience is the important factor. I've described the "hear-do cycle," a boiled down description of the keys to developing a hearing ear. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be taken away from him." ~ Luke 8:17-18 When you hear the word of the Lord, do it, and more will be given, more hearing, an increased ability to hear or discern the Lord's voice. This is "how you listen." If you hear and do not, neglecting the proper response, there's the converse and the result is a subtraction of the ability to hear. When you get hold of this truth and the Lord illustrates this by making you privy to His working with others what becomes pretty obvious is a corollary dynamic. When you "hear-do-get," you perceive it. Conversely, in the rounds of "hear-do not-taken away" there will be no perception of it. If you've dulled the ear, you are willing to be deceived because you don't love the truth. Obedience and love are entangled, so to speak, and this life is aptly described as a love test that qualifies us for reward. I'll not weary you with many words on this. I note how what the Lord has been doing with the symbol decoding work of the past few years is in no small part to demonstrate a working of the spirit. Some see that for what it is, and I'm really grateful for the encouraging witness to that, coming in due seasons. Following along with the practical decoding of the symbols is an important exercise for many, and the attending benefit is everything else I claim in frequent descriptions of the posts. Either I'm just a good guesser or I get inside infomation. Either it is as I claim or I'm deceived and yet another clever deceiver. I'm not perfect and don't claim to be, but I do not hesitate to claim the favor of the One who is. He has been at work here and what shall come if it, we shall see. Whoever wants to dismiss me as a religious nut and an arrogant whatever will find themselves in the majority and easily justified, no doubt. I have enemies in high places, but also, a Friend. Now, about the judgment incurred on Yom Teruah, 2 BC: What I wrote about The Story of Christmas that Should be Told is very applicable today, and I'm not being general in saying that. When Mary gave birth in Bethlehem, shepherds gave testimony about it, reporting about the birth as they had also heard from the angels while tending their flocks. The response to that witness was pathetic. It was an instance of the hear-do cycle's "hear-do not-taken away" response and a dramatic exhibit of just accountability. In that particular season, it was a special day of fulfilling prophecy, and with that there came a very special opportunity to a small neighborhood. The accountability for receiving the shepard's testimony was commensurate to the magnitude of that gift. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. ~ Luke 12:48(b) When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." ~ Matthew 2:16-18 Connect the dots. Have you received such a gift? I have! What are we doing with it? We are beginning to bear accountability.  |
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