Avoiding Friendly Fire
Letters from the MIA Shepherd's Council


By John Conrad

          Nothing stirs the heart like stepping on to the soil of Israel, the land YHWH calls his own possession. The heart trembles as it touches our shared history. A beauty, sometimes serene other times savage, pierces the senses. One sensation, however, is inescapable - this land is under attack. This is contested territory.
We are fellow travelers on this holy path leading to the restoration of all things. Even as God's physical land is under attack, so also is the place of our spiritual call. Satan and his minions resist every step we take to seize our inheritance as Israelites. The apostle Paul describes it this way Eph. 6:11, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (NASU)

        To be effective in this battle, we must be aware of the identity of our enemy or our efforts will be wasted and possibly even counterproductive. In recent history, the story of Pat Tillman serves as a stark reminder of this fact. Pat was a talented football player. After the devastation of 9-11, he turned down a professional football contract with the Arizona Cardinals and signed on to serve in the U.S. military. In 2004 Pat died a hero's death-cut down in a hail of bullets in Afghanistan. After his death, the military was not forthcoming with details about his gallantry. Later, the truth came to light. The hail of bullets that killed Pat Tillman sprayed from the guns of his comrades--not the enemy.

       We will not win the war we are fighting if we are confused as to whom we are fighting. We cannot afford to reproduce the Pat Tillman story within the ranks of Israel. In many places in scripture, our bodies are likened to the Body of Messiah. The body fights infectious disease with a marvelous immune system that recognizes the enemy (bacteria, viruses, foreign substances) and makes antibodies and mobilizes killer cells to destroy the enemy. It takes some time for this entire mechanism to come into full production. This is why recovery from a common cold takes around 2 weeks. That is how long it takes to recognize the attacking virus, mobilize the phagocytic (killer) cells and produce antibodies against the invaders, and then allow the cells of the body to be healed and return to normal function. The destruction or crippling of this system renders the body extraordinarily susceptible to attack and renders us vulnerable to otherwise innocuous invaders.

       This awesome system so perfectly orchestrated by our creator becomes frightening if it loses its specificity-the ability to discern what is good and what is bad. This is the origin of juvenile diabetes. The immune system attacks the Islets of Langerhans (the part of the pancreas responsible for insulin production) and destroys the cells. Over time the function of the pancreas becomes compromised to the point that little or no insulin is produced. This wreaks havoc on the body as glucose (the energy unit of metabolism) cannot enter cells and the entire metabolic system is ambushed. Without intervention death is the result. When a person becomes diabetic, they are much more susceptible to serious infection. When the body attacks itself, weakness results and weakness in the body renders it vulnerable to fatal attack.

        Another facet of medicine today speaks to the body of Messiah. This is the area of organ transplantation. My brother-in-law was diagnosed with leukemia over 10 years ago. Leukemia is a derangement of the production of white blood cells. The treatment given him was to irradiate his bone marrow and kill the stem cells that were producing the malignant white cells. Then he received a bone marrow transplant from his brother. Fortunately, the transplant was successful and his new bone marrow began to produce healthy leukocytes (white blood cells). Suddenly, he became very ill. The new blood cells recognized his body as foreign. They formed antibodies and killer cells against his own tissues, particularly his liver. He only survived because of YHWH's miraculous intervention through continuous and sustained prayer.
There are important lessons here. We must recognize the cells of the Body and clearly distinguish them from the enemy. Otherwise we fire our ammunition and destroy the fellow soldiers who are our allies in the fight to gain our inheritance. We must also lose our immunological memory or we end up recognizing the body as foreign because it is not familiar to us. As Paul tells us in Romans 11, the "wild branches" are grafted into the trunk of the olive tree. We are all transplants. Our call is to put on the Messiah and transform our thinking to the "mind of the Messiah" so we no longer further the schemes of the devil. My brother-in-law's transplanted bone marrow could not "lose" its memory, so it declared his liver as the enemy. Sadly many of us, because of our experiences and lifetime hurts, are out there spraying potential allies with venom and destructive fusillades. For some the "church" is the enemy, others "Rome" is the enemy, others "tradition" is the enemy, and on and on. It gets so silly that if someone associates a wholesome practice with any of these "enemies," we immediately turn our full cannon fire on the practice and anyone even close to it.

      The author of disease is the author of division. A divided body is easy to attack and conquer. The apostle Paul recognized this when he stood before the Sadducees and Pharisees and proclaimed in Acts 23:6-7, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!" As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided." (NASU) The conflict was so great between the two groups that it undermined their purpose to convict Paul. This was wonderful for Paul, but devastating to the purpose of the council (which, of course, God sought to frustrate). The lesson for us is this: don't get so busy fighting over your differences with other believers that Satan and his demons escape the line of our fire.

       The apostle Paul hammers this point home in 1 Corinthians 11:28-30, "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." (NKJV) Here Paul states that the failure to recognize or discern the Lord's body brings sickness and death to us when we partake of the Yeshua's life in communion. We need to pray for a gift of discernment to differentiate between friend and foe. The call is to heal, to restore, to lift up. We are in a fight. Fight the good fight. Today let Satan experience the sting of our warfare. No more casualties in our cause due to friendly fire. Let us join with Yeshua who says in John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."


© 2006 Messianic Israel Alliance 

WEIGHTIER MATTERS
by Dr. John Conrad


A single woman went to a pet store and bought a parrot for companionship. She looked forward to having the parrot talk to her and simply spice up her day. At first, the parrot seemed bored. It perched listlessly in the corner of the cage so she bought a different cage in a brighter color. This didn’t stimulate the parrot so she purchased glittering, colorful toys and creatively arranged them in the cage. Still the parrot moped and stared lifelessly into the distance. Repeatedly, the woman went back to the pet store, buying colored perches, toys to play on, and anything she could think of to tickle her parrot’s fancy. Sadly, the parrot grew more and more quiet. Finally, one day the woman went in to check on the parrot. It lay on its side breathing its last. With one final effort it croaked, “Lady, don’t they sell bird feed at that pet store?”

This silly story reminds us of an old adage. People with enough to eat have lots of problems. People who don’t have enough to eat have only one problem. The story of the parrot is a parable of the Messianic Train. Many of us are enamored with the Train, but we forget where it is going. We spend more time fluffing the seat cushions and decorating the windows than we do making sure the train has fuel, is functioning properly and, most importantly, headed in the right direction. Because of misplaced priorities we often find ourselves ending up at the wrong destination. Like the woman with the parrot we major on minors and minor on majors.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting theothers. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24)  

In this passage the Greek word translated “weightier” is barus Strongs 926. It means heavy, of great moment. In other words, important or most important. So Yeshua’s comment informs us of the most important of God’s instructions to His people.

A quick review of Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 23:23 reveals it to be a restatement of Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does Yahweh require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Another way to understand Yeshua’s pronouncement would be to constantly view our keeping of the small matters of Torah through the lens of justice, mercy and faithfulness. When our method of obeying Torah sabotages justice, mercy or faithfulness it needs to be discarded.

Our ability to discern the weightier matters is directly related to our ability to see the goal. The end or goal of the Torah is the Messiah. Romans 10:4: “For the Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” “The end” here is the Greek word telos which means goal. It is like saying at the end of this road is Salt Lake City. At the end of Torah is Yeshua. If our Torah observance does not lead to Yeshua we have jumped the tracks. Since God is love, Paul makes the obvious statement in Romans 13:8 that “love is the fulfillment of the Torah.” We make a huge mistake when we argue about minor details of Torah when the need in the person’s life is to know Yeshua. Like the parrot, they may be surrounded with the apparatus of Torah observance, but they die because they are not connected to the vine and its life-giving nurture.
A simple way to evaluate our actions is to ask several questions:
1. What is the goal of my behavior?
2. Who will be helped or hurt?
3. Will the Messiah be lifted up by my actions?
4. Does this action reveal or display God’s love?

People are drawn to genuine justice, mercy and faithfulness. I often wondered why my Swiss grandparents converted to Mormonism in the late 1800s. When I read their testimonies some of the reasons became abundantly clear. When my great grandmother read her Bible it stirred up many questions in her mind. When she took these questions to her priest he rebuffed her angrily. She was told it was not her place to read the Bible and she was to accept what the church and its officers told her. Conversely, when the Mormon missionaries came to Switzerland they patiently listened to her questions and did their best to answer them. They prayed with the families and told them that each of them could approach God through Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) on their own because of His sacrifice. The idea that an individual could pray and reach out to God on his own was revolutionary and life-changing. It was only a short time before the families converted and were baptized. This story does not testify to the correctness of Mormon doctrine, but to the correctness of showing love and mercy.

I’ve been told many times that we (Ephraim) must provoke Judah to jealousy with our observance of Torah. This is a recipe for a contest--someone wins and someone loses -- it is a competition. It is like a game of tag.”You trimmed your beard -- you’re out! Your tzitzits are the wrong blue, the incorrect length, you’re out! You pronounced Yeshua (Yehoshua, Yahshua) wrong -- you’re out! You followed the rabbinical calendar for the observance of the feasts -- you’re out! Or you didn’t follow the rabbinical calendar for the observance of the feasts -- you’re out!”

On the other hand, it would be helpful to refrain from saying that the church doesn’t keep Torah. Sadly, many churchgoers eschew Torah in their speech, but while they disdain many provisions of Torah, they try their utmost to be just, merciful and faithful. Our wearing tzitzit, celebration of new moons, Feasts, Sabbaths, observance of clean and unclean foods springs from our commitment to be faithful. Our obedience should not be a hammer to smash the church. A loving example of Torah obedience will ultimately be much more effective.

A couple of years ago, we held a Seder for a group of people in Missouri. Several families didn’t come because they were horrified by the “un-Biblical” Jewish traditions they had identified as part of the Seder. A teacher had been in the area warning people about all evil traditions -- both those perpetrated by the church and those from rabbinical Judaism. Anyone keeping these traditions would be hopelessly compromised by them. However, nothing in the Seder could be construed as thwarting justice, mercy or faithfulness. While straining out a gnat they had swallowed a camel. An opportunity to develop friendships and fellowship with other Israelites had been thwarted by silly, unfounded fears. When they had a chance to gather with the Messiah, they had opted for scattering with the enemy. Unintentionally, they had made their understanding of Torah the goal, instead of Yeshua and His love.

Another clear obstacle to true Torah observance is the human tendency to judge what we see or sense with our five senses. Isaiah 11 makes it clear that the Messiah will not judge by what he sees or what he hears. He will judge by righteousness.  Samuel would have picked several incorrect candidates from Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel. Yahweh had to remind him that He did not look at the outside of a man, but at his heart.

This means sharing Torah requires a deep spiritual connection with Yeshua. Our goal is to bring people into a relationship with their Messiah. This relationship is lived out in a life that follows the precepts of Torah. It is important not to fall prey to the idea that Torah consists of the externals; tzitzit, Sabbaths, Feasts, and diet. It is our connection and love of our Messiah that motivates us to keep His commandments. We don’t wear tzitzit to let people know that we are Messianic. We wear them to remind us to love Yahweh with all of our heart, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

I’ve never forgotten a young man who had come into a strong Messianic understanding. He considered himself very magnanimous because he accepted to some degree any who kept the 7th day Sabbath. Now there is no question that the 7th day Sabbath is an eternal Biblical principle. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered he was hiding his chewing tobacco habit (disgusting) from me and the fact he was sleeping with his unmarried girl friend. I know of another Messianic with a long, untrimmed beard, side curls and tzitzit down to his knees. He enjoys internet pornography rationalizing that “men will be men.”

I will briefly touch on another sensitive area. In Messianic circles we often honor speakers with exciting teaching abilities or those given to sensational prophetic statements. We display a total lack of discernment when we do not hold our leaders to the weightier matters of Torah--justice, mercy and faithfulness. We need discernment to listen to that which is true. When statements are made based upon faulty research, or bent to fit a particular point of view, we become politicians espousing a partisan line and not teachers of Torah.
Another point comes from Rabbi Shalom Arush, who counsels many troubled marriages. One of the precepts he stresses is that if one of the partners is led to become Torah obedient this must become a very good thing for the other partner. Otherwise, the partner will view Torah as destructive. We must ask ourselves--has the Torah in my life made me a better spouse, a better son or daughter, a better parent, a better employer, a better employee, a better member of the Messianic fellowship? Have those living around you sensed your humility, your desire to serve and your fervent love for Yeshua? Or did they turn away because you reeked of religious arrogance and self-righteous certainty?

Torah is the DNA of our Messiah -- it is His genetic material that He has planted in our hearts. It is the seed of the Kingdom. When it is nurtured and grown in the proper environment it yields love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As Paul reminds us, none of these qualities are against Torah; none violate it. I would go further and say that when these attributes do not characterize Torah-keeping folks, the seed has been corrupted. Yahweh makes an astonishing pronouncement in Isaiah 1:12-14 “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.”

Why does He reject all these activities that He commanded Israel to do for Him? Because they had neglected the weightier matters of Torah. He pleads with Israel, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.” (Isaiah 1:16-17)

We have been so blessed to be a part of this restoration in this day. Torah is not bondage, but rather life. This revelation transforms us. Let’s make certain that in our holy pursuit of Torah that the foundation of Yeshua is built in well. That the important things have truly been given the credit they deserve. For many their introduction to Torah will be the lives we live before them. May the Messiah and His love be revealed in us, I pray.




Printed in the MIA Herald, Sept 2011.

Where There is No Vision The People Perish
Letters from the MIA Shepherd's Council

By John Conrad

Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18 KJV) Pastors often hurl this verse at their congregations to stimulate people to identify goals and faithfully pursue them. The proclamation of this verse galvanizes congregants to build new buildings, send missionaries to Africa, feed the poor, and expand the choir. While setting goals and implementing plans to accomplish them can be beneficial, this is not the primary meaning of the verse.

Let’s look at the entire verse. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law (Torah), happy is he. What does Torah have to do with goals and objectives? The word translated “vision” in this verse is chazown. It more properly speaks of revelation or vision in the sense of a dream. It is the word translated vision in 1 Samuel 3:1 (NASB) Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. Here the passage associates vision with a word from the Lord or a message from YHWH.

A classic Hebrew language technique to create emphasis is repetition or doubling--saying the same thing twice. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3 NASB) The Ruach speaking through Isaiah emphasizes the power of the word of YHWH in the last days by stating it twice and equating the terms “Torah” (instruction or teaching) and “dabar” (word) and also Zion and Jerusalem.  Similarly in Proverbs 29:18 the same idea is expressed twice. Thus the foremost meaning of the passage in Proverbs revolves around receiving the instruction of Torah and keeping its dictates. Without Torah the people perish—when the Torah is kept and obeyed the people are happy or blessed.

Let’s examine the word perish. In this text it is parah. It means to expose, make bare or naked, perish, set at naught, to loosen. In the story of the golden calf it is the word used in Exodus 32:25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) (KJV) The same verse in the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control — for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies -- provides new insight into the word. Note the translators translated parah as out of control—to be exposed or made bare is to be “out of control” or to break through the boundaries. A quick check of other translations reveals that many render parah in this way. It is termed “unrestrained,” “out of control,” “out of hand,” etc.

Biblically, Torah prescribes the limits of our practice or halacha. Inside the boundaries of Torah we are safe and experience YHWH’s blessing. When we force our way out of His defined boundaries we expose ourselves or become naked before him and become vulnerable to judgment and cursing. In Lamentations 2:8-9 Israel falls into this trap. The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line, He has not restrained His hand from destroying; and He has caused rampart and wall to lament; they have languished together.  Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations; the law(Torah)  is no more; also, her prophets find no vision (chazown) from the LORD. (NASB)

Our example in Exodus 32 forcefully reminds us we must obey His words. YHWH had come to his people and spoken audibly his ten words or Ten Commandments. Approximately 40 days later the people threw off the yoke of Torah and became unrestrained and out of control. It is necessary to combine the word of Torah with faith—i.e. belief will always evidence as obedience. In the New Covenant Yeshua gives us new hearts and new spirits. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27 NASB) The purpose of the new heart and new spirit is to produce obedience to His Word. As so many instances in scripture attest, the old nature cannot please God. “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God;  All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one." (Romans 3:10-12 NASB)

In Israel we have the freedom to live and prosper. Yeshua has saved us from the penalty of Torah through his death and resurrection. But we do not have the freedom to abandon Torah. Rejecting YHWH’s instruction would be similar to a group of astronauts hurtling through space on their way to the moon deciding that their space ship is too confining and limiting. In their yearning for liberty they escape their “prison” and are free in space. They are also dead—they have perished because they were out of control. There is a parallel between the Torah and the oxygen delivery system. They are both necessary to deliver spirit or oxygen to the traveler. In a similar way Israel threw off the bonds of Torah. For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said, "I will not serve!" On every high hill and under every green tree you sprawled and played the whore. (Jeremiah 2:20 NASB)

Nature furnishes many examples of the devastation produced when something good breaks out of boundaries or channels. A flood results when a river escapes its banks and randomly destroys homes, cars and other property. A forest fire can consume millions of acres and rob thousands of animals of life and habitat. Yet we cannot live without water, it is the single most important nutrient necessary to sustain life. And fire under control runs our automobiles and heats our homes.

Our Father has blessed us with his Holy Spirit, the Ruach Ha Kodesh, and a physical body full of life and energy to serve Him. When our behavior escapes the banks of Torah, and breaks out of the hedge of His instruction, our unrestrained actions lead to annihilation. We become naked and exposed to judgment. In this day of restoration the full meaning of Proverbs 29:18 is becoming evident. Truly, Where there is no revelation of Torah from YHWH, the people run amok, they are unrestrained. But happy and blessed are those people who obey and keep Torah. Together we can join our voices with King David and proclaim: The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. (Psalm 16:6 NASB)