WAKE-UP CALL: Part 4 – Come out of Babylon! Overcome the worries of the world, the love of money & the pleasures of life; WHAT WILL KEEP US FROM ENTERING THE KINGDOM?

5 November 2025

We are proceeding today with studying the third reason Yeshua our Messiah provides us with of why we can find ourselves being STUCK in Babylon, namely:  HEARING the MESSAGE, but it gets choked (blocked, stopped) by the WORRIES of the WORLD and the DECEITFUL GLAMOR of WEALTH and the PLEASURES of LIFE.

In the PARABLE of the SOWER told by Yeshua in Matthew 13:7 some SEEDS SOWED, fell among THORNS, which grew up and CHOCKED the plants.  He then explained in verse 22 this means: “The SEED SOWN among THORNS stands for SOMEONE who HEARS the MESSAGE, but it is CHOCKED (blocked, stopped) by the WORRIES (doubts, uncertainties, fears, concerns) of the WORLD and the DECEITFUL (deceiving, untrustworthy) GLAMOUR (allure, charm, appeal, attraction, excitement, desirability) of WEALTH (prosperity, riches, mammon/ money), so that it produces nothing.  The Luke 8 version includes the GRATIFICATIONS (satisfactions, pleasures, delights) of LIFE.

Last week we explored the WORD on WHO WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and today we are looking at WHO WILL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM.

Today’s message comes with a WARNING – it was not an easy message for me to compile and, it is indeed not an easy and comfortable MESSAGE to hear or read. It made me realize the WEIGHT of HOLINESS and where I still need to clean-up in my own life, and I am thankful that I still have time as long as it is TODAY. It is one of those messages in line with Hebrews 4:12 telling us the WORD of YHVH is sharper than a two-edged SWORD – it cuts right through to where soul (heart and mind and free will) meets spirit and joints meet marrow (the body), and it is quick to JUDGE the INNER REFLECTIONS (thoughts) and attitudes of the HEART (emotions).

Most people do not want to go through this painful process, similar to no one ever looking forward to an operation BUT understanding that it is required to get rid of something hurting your body or making it sick, knowing that in the long term it is the best for you. We also read in Ephesians 6:17 the HOLY SPIRIT is the SWORD of GOD the FATHER, the WORD, He is therefore the SURGEON of the BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT, cutting right through to the thoughts and emotions of a person that is still aligned to the WORLD, the FLESH and DEMONIC INFESTATIONS, with the INTENTION of CONVICTING (making us aware of these harmful things in our lives) in order to allow us to CHOOSE and DECIDE with our own free WILL if we want to REMOVE it and RECEIVE FREEDOM and HEALING from our SLAVERY to sin making us FILTHY, BROKEN and SICK.

When THIS PAINFUL OPERATION is COMPLETE, THE HOLY SPIRIT will be right there to assist us to TRANSFORM our MINDS (thoughts) and HEART (emotions) by RENEWING it with Abba Father’s HEALING WORD, bringing us to a place of PEACE, BLESSING and an ABUNDANT LIFE and enabling us to RECEIVE and DEVELOP our SPIRITUAL GIFTS and achieve the PURPOSE Abba Father created us for.

PLEASE REMEMBER, this message is NOT INTENDED to PUT ANYONE DOWN or to make you MISERABLE or FEEL GUILTY or UNWORTHY.  To the contrary, the PURPOSE is to serve as a WAKE-UP CALL to RETURN TO GOD THE FATHER’s WAYS, WHILE WE STILL HAVE THE TIME. The ONLY thing standing between us and the KINGDOM is really our OWN CHOICES and DECISIONS. To enable us to make a CHOICE we need to be FULLY INFORMED and that is what today’s message in all about. To HEAR the TRUTH and then to DECIDE, to CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO WE WANT TO SERVE as it is written in Deuteronomy 30:19 and Joshua 24:15.

And DO REMEMBER, ABBA FATHER loves people with and endless LOVE. We read in Ezekiel 33:11 “As I live, swears YHVH Elohim (God the Father), I take NO pleasure in having the wicked person die, but in having the wicked person TURN from his way and LIVE. So REPENT! TURN from your evil ways! For why should you die, house of ISRAEL (the Ten Tribes under Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom, including all believers grafted in to the Olive Tree/ ISRAEL, read Romans 11:17-24).

We then further read in Ezekiel 33:12-16 Abba Father saying: “…the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the RIGHTEOUS person will NOT SAVE him, once he starts committing crimes (wrongdoing, misconduct, law-breaking); and likewise, the WICKEDNESS of the WICKED person will NOT cause him to fall, once he TURNS from his wickedness. No, the RIGHTEOUS person CANNOT LIVE by virtue (advantage) of (his former righteousness), once he STARTS SINNING. So if, after I tell the RIGHTEOUS person that he will SURELY LIVE, he begins trusting (believing, having faith and hope) in his (former) RIGHTEOUSS and starts committing crimes (wrongdoing, misconduct, law-breaking); then NONE of his (former) righteous actions will be remembered; on the contrary, he WILL DIE FOR THE EVIL DEEDS HE HAS COMITTED. Likewise, if, after I tell the WICKED person, ‘You must die’, he TURNS FROM his sin and DOES what is LAWFUL and RIGHT; he will SURELY LIVE.”

He then mentions in verse 17-18 that the people regarded this as UNFAIR, but then He confirms in verse 20b: “…House of ISRAEL, I will JUDGE each of you ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS.” And please note this is CONFIRMED right through the NEW TESTAMENT up to the last chapter in Revelation 22:12 where Yeshua the Messiah Himself says: “Pay attention! I am coming soon, and My rewards are with Me to GIVE TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO WHAT HE HAS DONE. Paul knew this, and warned believers in Romans 14:10b-12 “…For ALL of us will stand before the God’s JUDGEMENT SEAT; since it is written in the Tanakh (the Old Testament, referring to Isaiah 45:23) ‘As I live, says YHVH, every knee will bend before Me and every tongue will publicly acknowledge God.” REMEMBER He is the CREATOR of EVERY human being. So then EVERY ONE of us WILL have to give an account of himself to God.

And we also read about this in Revelation 20:11-15 saying: “Next, I (John) saw a GREAT WHITE THRONE and the (capital letter) ONE sitting on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw THE DEAD, both great and small, standing in front of the throne. BOOKS were opened; and another BOOK was opened, THE BOOK OF LIFE; and THE DEAD were JUDGED from what was written in the BOOKS, according to WHAT THEY HAD DONE. The sea gave up the dead in it; and DEATH and SHEOL (also called hell or the place of the unsaved dead) gave up the DEAD; and they were JUDGED, each according to WHAT he had DONE. (Remember at this stage the FIRST RESURECTION of BELIEVERS will have taken place, read Revelation 20:4-10 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Then DEATH and SHEOL (hell) were hurled into the LAKE of FIRE. This is the SECOND DEATH – the LAKE of FIRE. Anyone whose name was NOT found written in the BOOK of LIFE was hurled into the LAKE of FIRE.”

So, let’s delve into the WORD on this matter.

Psalm 5:4-6 tells us: “For You (YHVH) are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness (evil, sin, iniquity); evil cannot remain with You. Those who brag (boast) cannot stand before Your eyes, You hate all who DO evil, You destroy those who tell lies (dishonesty, falsehood), YHVH detest men of blood (violence and murder) and deceivers.”

Matthew 5:20 Yeshua says: “For I tell you that unless your RIGHTEOUSNESS (virtue, morality, uprightness, blamelessness/ innocence/ purity) is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers (also referred to as scribes) and Pharisees, you will certainly (surely, definitely) not enter the KINGDOM of HEAVEN!” The Pharisees were one of the groups of the religious establishment in Yeshua’s time, the other group being the Sadducees.

RIGHTOUSNESS is defined by the Nelsons’ Foundational Bible Dictionary as: conforming to the ethical and moral standards of God (the Father). Since God is holy, He cannot allow sinners into His presence. (God is described as LIGHT and as a CONSUMING FIRE in Deuteronomy 4:24, Isaiah 33:14 and Hebrews 12:29, therefore He is actually dangerous to sinners, His holy fire burns up sin). And when we trust (have faith, belief) in Yeshua the Messiah, who paid the full price for our sins, God recon us as righteous.

In Matthew 7:22-23 Yeshua says “Not everyone who says to Me, Master, Master! Will enter the KINGDOM of HEAVEN…On that Day many will say to Me, Master, Master! Didn’t we prophecy in Your Name? Didn’t we expel demons in Your Name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in Your Name? Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from Me, you workers of LAWLESSNESS! (People who did not OBEY the Torah, summed up in the Ten Commandments of YHVH the Father). This means, irrespective of our WORK in the KINGDOM, our OBEDIENCE to the WORD of YHVH, the Father, will determine our entry into the KINGDOM. Remember the reason why, the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, contains the Ten Commandments is because this is the LAW GOVERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Placed on the side of the Ark was the full Torah called the Book of the Law that served as a WITNESS against the people (Read Exodus 15:16-22, Deuteronomy 31:26 and Hebrews 9:4). This is the STIPULATIONS of the COVENANT (comparable to a KETUBAH in Hebrew, a MARRIAGE CONTRACT, the legal regulations governing the relationship) a believer enters into with the Father. It is of such importance, that He tells us in Jeremiah 31: 31-33 confirmed in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16 that in terms of the NEW COVENANT, He will make with the House of ISRAEL, He will put HIS LAW (Torah) within them and write it on their HEARTS. So if we reject His TORAH summed up in His Ten Commandments, we are NOT in covenant agreement with Him and therefore not in a relationship with Him, hence Yeshua’s words, I never knew you.  One cannot enjoy the benefits of marriage if you are not married. The same goes for our covenant with YHVH, if we reject His covenant, we cannot enjoy the benefit of His covenant of ENTRY into the KINGDOM of HEAVEN.

Also note, the MERCY SEAT is inseparably part of the ARK of the COVENANT. Those who are therefore IN COVENANT with YHVH, accepting His TORAH, and living by it through a live of REPENTANCE for accidental sins, will receive His MERCY through the FORGIVENESS obtained ALREADY through having ACCEPTED YESHUA the MESSIAH as Savior and having FAITH in Him.

In Matthew 19:16-24 Yeshua talked to a young rich man who wanted to have ETERNAL LIFE. Yeshua then told him to keep the COMMANDMENTS not to murder, not commit adultery, not to steal, not to give false testimony, honoring your father and mother and loving your neighbor as yourself on which the man responded that he has kept all of them and wanted to know where he still falls short. Yeshua then told him to sell all his possessions and give it to the poor which will ensure him having riches in heaven and then to come and follow Him. But upon hearing this the young man went away sad because he was very wealthy. And Yeshua then told His disciples in verses 23-24: “Yes, I tell you that it will be very hard for a rich man to enter the KINGDOM of HEAVEN. Furthermore, I tell you that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the KINGDOM of GOD.” (Also read Mark 10:23-25).

The reason is not being blessed with wealth, many Biblical characters had great wealth like Abraham and David, but both had a close relationship with YHVH and depended on Him and not on their wealth. The problem come in when we are so dependent on our WEALTH, that we choose to pursue money, instead of recognizing our dependence on God the Father and following Yeshua our Messiah.

In Matthew 21:28-32 Yeshua tells the Pharisees a story about a man’s two sons, asking them their opinion. The man went to the first son asking him to work that day in the vineyard. He answered his father: “I don’t want to, but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to his other son and said the same thing. This one answered: “I will, sir; but he didn’t go. Which one of the two DID what the father wanted? The first they replied. “That’s right! Yeshua said to them. I tell you that the tax-collectors (it were men working for the Roman government to collect taxes and the Jews working in this capacity were despised and had a reputation for cheating their brothers) and the prostitutes are going into the KINGDOM of GOD ahead of you. For John (the Baptist) came to you showing the PATH to RIGHTEOUNESS, and you wouldn’t TRUST (believe) him. The tax-collectors and prostitutes TRUSTED (believed) him; but you, even after you saw this, didn’t change your minds later and TRUST (believe) him.” Remember John the Baptist prepared the way for Yeshua the Messiah’s first coming. In Matthew 3:2 he told the people (including the Pharisees): “Turn from your sins to God, for the KINGDOM of HEAVEN is near! And in verse 8 he said: “If you have really turned from your sins to God, PRODUCE FRUIT that will PROVE it!

In Matthew 23:1-39 Yeshua the Messiah calls out the Torah-teachers and the Pharisees who were controlled by a “religious spirit”, therefore a demonic spirit leading to falseness where they TALKED about the WORD but did not IMPLEMENT the WORD. So even though they had head knowledge of the Word of God it could unfortunately not be planted in their STONE HEARTS and therefore it YIELDED NO FRUIT. And Yeshua pronounced the following woes (anguish, grief misery) awaiting them calling them:  hypocritical (insincere, two faced, false) shutting the KINGDOM of HEAVEN in people’s faces, neither entering themselves nor allowing those who wish to enter to DO so, making proselytes (people converting to Judaism) over land and sea (in their homeland and abroad) and when they succeed, they make them twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom (a metaphor for hell) as they are.

Being BLIND GUIDES who tell people that they are not bound to their oaths when they swear in the Temple of God or at the altar, but they are bound when they swear by the GOLD in the Temple or the OFFERING on the altar. So clearly showing a materialistic focus, forgetting the importance of the HOLY GOD on His throne in heaven. Further Yeshua called them hypocritical for paying their tithes, but neglecting the weightier matters of the Torah namely JUSTICE, MERCY and TRUST (faith). They clean the outside of the cup and dish, but INSIDE they are FULL of ROBERY and SELF-INDULGENCE (pleasure-seeking and extravagance). And He calls them BLIND and encourage them to FIRST clean the INSIDE of the cup, so that the outside may be clean too. He further called them WHITEWASHED TOMBS, looking fine on the outside but INSIDE are full of DEAD people’s bones and all kinds of rottenness (decay, badness, evilness, wickedness). They APPEAR to people from the outside to be good and honest, but INWARDLY they are full of hypocrisy (insincere, two faced, false) and FAR FROM TORAH (not DOING what is required in Genesis to Deuteronomy, summed up in the Ten Commandments). And then Yeshua also call them the SNAKES and SONS of SNAKES (people serving the devil as their father as we saw in John 8:44) that kill the PROPHETS and the TZADDIKKIM (the RIGHEOUSS, people). But the GUILT for their BLOOD, the BLOOD of the INNOCENT will fall on them.

And likewise, Paul tells us about another SNAKE, namely the false messiah (the antichrist) in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 saying “When this man who avoids (evades, eludes) Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy, summed up in the Ten Commandments, the NIV calls him the “lawless one”) comes, the Adversary (Satan) will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders. He will enable him to deceive (two-time/ cheat, mislead), in all kinds of wicked (morally wrong, evil) ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the LOVE of the TRUTH that could have SAVED them. This is why God is causing them to GO ASTRAY, so that they will BELIEVE the LIE. The result will be that all who have not BELIEVED the TRUTH, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned.”

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul WARNS of the DANGER when we KEEP ON SUPRESSING THE TRUTH (of the WORD of GOD) and proceed living in godlessness (unholy) and wickedness. We read from verse 20: “For ever since the creation of the earth, His invisible qualities – both HIS ETERNAL POWER (SUPREMACY, SOVEREIGNTY) and HIS DIVINE (GODLY) NATURE (inherent qualities and characteristics) – have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what HE HAS MADE. Therefore, they have NO excuse; because although they KNOW WHO GOD IS, they do not GLORIFY HIM as GOD or THANK HIM. On the contrary, they have become futile in their THINKING (their minds are unable to thing wisely); and their UNDECERNING HEART (lacking insight and understanding) have become DAKENED (therefore the LIGHT/ THE FIRE of the HOLY SPIRIT has been quenched in their SOULS and they are spiritually dead). Claiming to be wise (intelligent, sensible, clever), they have become fools! In fact, they have exchanged the GLORY of the IMMORTAL GOD, for mere images, like a mortal human being, or like birds, animals or reptiles! THIS IS WHYGOD HAS GIVEN THEM UP to the vileness (evil, depravity/ immorality) of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful (disgraceful, dishonorable) misuse (abuse) of each other’s bodies. They have exchanged the TRUTH of GOD for falsehood, by WORSHIPING (adoring, loving) and SERVING created things, rather than the CREATOR – praised be He forever. Amen.

This is WHY GOD HAS GIVEN THEM UP to degrading (humiliating) passions, so that their women exchange natural sexual relations for unnatural; and likewise the men, giving up natural relations with the opposite sex, burn with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with other men and receiving in their own persons the penalty (consequence) appropriate to their perversion. In other words, since they did not consider GOD WORTH KNOWING, GOD HAS GIVEN THEM UP TO WORTHLESS (useless, inadequate) WAYS OF THINKING; so that they DO improper things. They are FILLED with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, vice (badness); stuffed with jealousy, murder, quarrelling, dishonesty and ill-willed (keeping grudges and having the desire to see other people experiencing pain, injury or distress); they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, they are insolent (rude, disrespectful), arrogant (proud) and boastful (big-headed); they plan evil schemes; they disobey their parents; they are brainless (mindless, foolish, unwise), faithless (disloyal, untrustworthy), heartless (unfeeling, pitiless/ merciless, unkind, cold-hearted), ruthless (cruel, brutal, heartless). They know well enough GOD’s RIGHTEOUS DECREE that people who DO such things deserve to die; yet not only do they KEEP DOING them, but they applaud others who Do the same.

Paul warns believers in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 asking them the following: “Don’t you know that UNRIGHTEOUS (sinful, wicked, evil, unholy, impure) people will have no share in the KINGDOM of GOD? Don’t delude yourselves – people who engage in sex before marriage, who worship idols, who engage in sex after marriage with someone other than their spouse, who engage in active or passive homosexuality, who steal, who are greedy, who get drunk, who assail (attack) people with contemptuous (disrespectful) language, who rob – none of them will share in the KINGDOM of GOD.” And then Paul encourages the believers with the following words in verse 11: “Some of you used to do these things. But you have cleansed (purified) yourselves, you have been set apart for God (the Father, been made holy, sanctified), you have come to be counted RIGHTEOUS through the POWER (the authority) of YESHUA the MESSIAH and the SPIRIT of our GOD.” This is a picture of the NARROW WAY to God the Father through Yeshua the Messiah’s death for our sins, baptism, dying to the old nature, being raised as a new person, doing daily repentance for accidental sins, studying and obeying the Word with the help of the Holy Spirit, being baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit (your lamp, has been lit, becoming spiritually alive) and becoming a fearless witness proclaiming the Good News of salvation, doing spiritual warfare against Satan and his evil forces, worshipping God and praying, and obeying His commandments while knowing that we are protected by Yeshua our Messiah serving as our High Priest and interceding for us.

Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 12:19-21 “Perhaps you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves before you. No, we have been speaking in the sight of God (the Father), as those UNITED with the MESSIAH should; and my dear friends, it is al for your UPBUILDING. For I am afraid of coming and finding you not the way I want you to be, and also of not being found the way you want me to be. I am afraid of finding quarrelling and jealousy, anger and rivalry (competition, conflict), slander and gossip, arrogance and disorder (chaos, confusion, turmoil). I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have NOT REPENTED of the impurity, fornication (sexual intercourse between people not married to each other) and debauchery (excessive indulgence in sex, alcohol or drugs) that they have engaged in.

Paul also said this to the believers in Ephesians 5:3-6 “Among you there should not even be mentioned sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or greed (gluttony, greediness, self-indulgence); these are utterly inappropriate for God’s holy (set-apart,) people. Also out of place are obscenity and stupid/ foolish talk (nonsense, unwise/ reckless/ hasty, irrational) or coarse (rough, abrasive, rude, crude) language; instead you should be giving thanks. For of this you can be SURE: every sexually immoral, impure or greedy person – that is (with other words that means), EVERY IDOL WORSHIPPER (a person worshipping sex, money, food, pleasure, loving it MORE by giving more attention and time to it than they LOVE GOD the FATHER and HIS WAYS and OBEYING HIM) – has NO share in the KINGDOM of the MESSIAH and of GOD the FATHER. Let no one deceive you with empty talk; for it is because of these things that God’s JUDGEMENT (verdict, sentence) is coming on those who DISOBEY Him.”

Paul also warned the believers about this in Galatians 5:19-21 explaining: “…it is perfectly evident what the OLD NATURE (the flesh) DOES. It expresses (shows, demonstrates) itself in sexual immorality, impurity (adulteration, dirtiness, filthiness) and indecency (offensiveness, vulgarity, lewdness, licentiousness/ shamelessness), involvement with the occult and with drugs (drugs can be a substance used as medicine or in the preparation of medicine or an illegal substance causing addiction, other Bible versions mention here witchcraft or sorcery. The Hebrew word for sorcery is “kashaph”, and the Greek word is “pharmakeia”, referring to manipulating human life through spells and potions/ liquids/ medicines/ tonics, drugs/ medications/ treatments/ pills/ tablets and magic that invoke supernatural influences apart from God), in feuding (arguing, quarrelling, disputing/ debating/ disagreeing), fighting (aggression, hostility, rebelliousness) , becoming jealous (envious, resentful, bitter) and getting angry (annoyed, irritating, fuming, furious, steaming, mad, wrathful); in selfish (self-centered, self-seeking, egocentric) ambition (drive, desire, goal/ initiative), factionalism (group forming through division/ separation), intrigue (plotting, conspiracy, secrecy), and envy (greed, resentment, desire/ wanting what belong to other people); in drunkenness (a state of intoxication), orgies (saturnalia/ wild partying without self-control), and things like these. I warn you now, as I have warned you before: those who DO such things will have NO share in the KINGDOM of GOD!  

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:50 “…flesh and blood cannot share in the KINGDOM OF GOD, nor can something that DECAYS share in what does not decay. And in Revelation 21:27 it is confirmed: “Nothing impure may enter it, not anyone who DOES shameful (disgraceful, dishonorable) things or lies; the ONLY ONES who may ENTER is those WHOSE NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAMB’s BOOK of LIFE (meaning those accepting the blood of Yeshua the Messiah as full payment for their sins, with the LAW of God written on their MINDS and HEARTS and following Yeshua the Messiah in obedience to the Father with the help, guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit).

In Paul’s letter to Timothy he says in 1 Tim 6:3-10 “If anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts (principles, teachings, guidelines) of our Master Yeshua the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness (holiness, sacredness, purity), he is swollen (puffed-up) with conceit (self-importance, pride) and understands nothing. Instead, he has a morbid (dark, obscure) desire for controversies (disagreements, disputes) and word-battles, out of which comes jealousy, dissension (opposition, rebellion), insults (verbal abuse), evil suspicions (doubts, uncertainties), and constant (endless) wrangling (backbiting, infighting, bad-mouthing) among people whose minds no longer functions properly and who have been deprived of THE TRUTH, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches. Now TRUE RELIGION (faith, belief, conviction) DOES BRING GREAT RICHES, but ONLY to those who are CONTENT (satisfied, pleased) with what they have. For we have brought nothing into the world; and we can take nothing out of it; so if we have FOOD and CLOTHING, we will be SATISFIED with these. Furthermore, those whose GOAL it is to be RICH fall into TEMPTATION; they get trapped into many foolish (unwise) and hurtful ambitions, which plunge them into ruin (devastation) and destruction. For the LOVE of MONEY is a ROOT (source) of ALL EVILS (troubles, difficulties, worries, problems); because of this craving, some people have wandered away from THE FAITH and pierced themselves to the HEART with many pains (cares, troubles, worries, distresses, anxieties, discomforts).

James further warned in chapter 5:1-6 “Next, a word to the RICH: weep and wail over the hardships coming upon you! Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver have eroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat up your flesh like fire! This is the acharit-hayamim (the end of days), and you have been storing up wealth! Listen! The wages you have fraudulently withheld from the workers who moved your fields are calling against you, and the outcries of those who harvested have reached the ears of YHVH-Tzva’ot (the God of the Angel Armies). You have led a life of luxury and self-indulgence here on earth – in a time of slaughter, you have gone on eating to your heart’s content. You have condemned, you have murdered the innocent; they have not withstood you.” Meaning God will not tolerate injustice toward workers and the innocent.

And in 2 Timothy 4:10 we see a sad example of a believer who has fallen away, Paul says here: “For Demas, since he has fallen in LOVE with the present WORLD, has deserted me and gone off to Thessalonica…” John also warns about this in 1 John 2:15-17a saying: “Do not LOVE the WORLD or the things of the world. If someone love the world, then LOVE FOR THE FATHER in not in him; because of all the things of the world – the desires of the OLD NATURE, the desires of the EYES, and the pretensions (self-importance, pride, egotism/ vanity) of LIFE – are NOT of the FATHER but from the world. And the world is passing away, along with its desires.” And we read in James 3:13-16 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him demonstrate it by his GOOOD WAY OF LIFE, by ACTIONS DONE IN HUMILITY THAT GROWS OUT OF WISDOM. But if you harbor in your HERTS bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, don’t boast and attack THE TRUTH with lies! This wisdom (understanding, knowledge) is not the kind that comes down from above (from God the Father); on the contrary, it is worldly, unspiritual, demonic (coming from evil spirits). For where there are jealousy and selfish ambition, there will be DISHARMONY (conflict, tension, unrest, turbulence/ commotion) and every foul (vulgar, obscene/ indecent, lewd/ lustful, filthy/ dirty) practice. ”

And in James 4:1-5 we read: “What is causing all the quarrels (arguments, disagreements, clashes) and fights among you? Isn’t it your desires battling inside you? You desire THINGS and don’t have them. You kill and you are jealous, and you still can’t get them. So you fight and quarrel. The REASON you don’t have is that you don’t PRAY! Or you PRAY and don’t RECEIVE, because you PRAY with the wrong motive, that of wanting to indulge (spoil, treat) your own desires (selfish prayers not focusing on needs but one own gain/ prosperity/ wealth). You unfaithful wives (meaning idolaters, believers who are unfaithful to God). Don’t you know that LOVING the WORLD is HATING GOD? Whoever CHOOSES to be the WORLD’s FRIEND, makes himself GOD’s ENEMY! Or do you suppose the Scripture speaks in vain when it says that there is a (small letter evil) spirit in us which longs to envy (a feeling of discontent or a resentful desire aroused for things that belong to other people)?”

James also warns believers about these things, saying in James 1:19-22 “Therefore, my dear brothers, let every person be quick to listen but slow to speak, slow to get angry; for a person’s anger does not accomplish (achieve) God’s righteousness (what is right according to God’s standards)! So rid yourselves of ALL vulgarity and obvious evil, and receive meekly the WORD implanted in you that can SAVE your lives. Don’t deceive yourselves by ONLY hearing what the WORD says, but DO it! And in verses 26-27 James says: “Anyone who thinks that he is religiously observant but does not control his tongue is deceiving himself, and his observance counts for nothing. The religious observance that God the Father considers PURE and FAULTESS is this: to care for orphans and widows (people not able to care for themselves) in their distress (suffering, pain, sorrow) and to keep oneself from being contaminated (polluted) by the world.

In Hebrews 6:4-7 we read: “For when people have once been enlightened (have been freed from ignorance or misinformation/ deception and), tasted the heavenly gift, became SHARERERS in the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), and tasted the GOODNESS of GOD’s WORD and the POWERS of the olam haba (the world or the age to come) and then have fallen away (becomes unfaithful to God, disloyal/ faithless) – it is impossible to RENEW them so that they TURN from their sins, as long as for themselves they KEEP executing the Son of God on the cross (please see an important note on the cross at the end of this message) all over again and keep holding Him to public contempt. For the land that soaks up frequent rains and then brings forth a crop useful to its owners receives a BLESSING from GOD; but if it keeps producing thorns and thistles, it fails the TEST and is CLOSE to being CURSED; in the end it will be burned.

In Hebrews 10:26-31 it is explained again, saying: “For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of THE TRUTH, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but only the terrifying prospect of JUDGEMENT, of raging fire that will consume the enemies (read Isaiah 26:11). Someone who disregard the TORAH of Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy summed up in the Ten Commandments) is put to death without mercy on the word of two to three witnesses (read Deuteronomy 17:6 & 19:15). Think how much worse will be the PUNISHMENT deserved by someone who has TRAMPLED UNDERFOOT the SON of GOD; who has treated as something common the BLOOD OF THE COVENANT (the Blood of Yeshua the Messiah, sprinkled on the MERCY SEAT to protect believers against the death penalty as punishment for transgression of the LAW of GOD the Father, read Deuteronomy 4:14, Leviticus 16:14-15, 17:11, Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 9:12-15, 10:22 & 12:24, Romans 5:9 and 8:1-2) which made him holy (set-apart, consecrated, sanctified); and who has insulted (offended, insulted, disrespected, hurt) the (capital letter) Spirit, giver of God’s grace! For the (capital letter) One we know is the One who said, ‘Vengeance (revenge and punishment) is My responsibility; I will repay and then said YHVH will judge His people.” (Read Deuteronomy 32:35-36).

Peter also explained it in 2 Peter 2 warning against false preachers and teachers and saying in verses 13-22: “…they will be paid back harm as wages for the harm they are doing. Their idea of pleasure is carousing (partying) in broad daylight; they are spots and defects reveling in (enjoying) their deceptions as they share meals with you – for they have EYES always on the lookout for woman who WILL commit adultery, EYES that NEVER STOP SINNING; and they have a HEART that has exercised itself in GREED; so that they SEDUCE (entice/ tempt) unstable (insecure) people. What a cursed brood (offspring)! These people have LEFT the STRAIGHT WAY and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who LOVED the wages of doing harm (we read about Balaam in Number chapters 22-25 and Revelation 2:14). Waterless springs they are, mists driven by a gust of wind; for them has been reserved the blackest darkness. Mouthing grandiosities of nothingness, they play on the desires (cravings, yearnings) of the OLD NATURE (the flesh), in order to SEDUCE with debaucheries (sine, depravities, iniquities) people who have just began to escape from those whose way of LIFE is WRONG. They PROMISE them FREEDOM, but they themselves are slaves of corruption (dishonesty, fraud, vice/evil); for a person is a SLAVE to whatever has DEFEATED him. Indeed, I they have once ECAPED the POLLUTIONS (contamination/ impurity, trash/ garbage/ junk) of the WORLD through KNOWING our MASTER and DELIVERER, YEHSUA the MESSIAH, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them (by the pollutions of the world), their latter condition has become WORSE than their former. It would have been better for them not to have known the (capital letter) WAY of RIGHTEOUSNESSS than, fully knowing, to TURN from the HOLY COMMAND delivered to them. (I believe the “HOLY COMMAND” is God the Father’s LAW of LOVE, the Ten Commandments summed up in the TWO GREATEST COMMANDMENTS, the FIRST being to LOVE GOD with ALL your heart and mind being your soul and with all your strength being your body and to LOVE your neighbor as yourself, read Matthew 22:36-40 in the words of Yeshua the Messiah) delivered to them. What has happened to them accords with the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to it own vomit (referring to Proverbs 26:11). Yes, the pig washed itself, only to wallow in the mud! ” Yeshua our Messiah also explained this in Matthew 12:43-45 in terms of an unclean spirit coming out of a person and then returning to the person, finding the “house” empty, swept clean and put in order and then invites seven other spirits more evil than itself to live in the person so that in the end the person is worse off than before. The reason being that the person, serving as a “house” was cleaned up (one can maybe say, was saved) but was not filled with the HOLY SPIRIT of God (with other words, rebirth into the KINGDOM of GOD through the sanctification process did not take place).

This is a dire warning to believers: If we KEEP on sinning DELIBERATELY (intentionally, with premeditation/ panning/ contemplating sin) after we have been saved, we are crucifying Yeshua the Messiah over and over again because He died for our sins to save us out of our sins, to FREE us from the SLAVERY to sin, not to keep living in it and keep being a SLAVE to it. Therefore we have to learn to walk in sanctification in the Holy Spirit after being saved day-by-day as we grow stronger and stronger in the WORD of God and in SPIRITUAL WARFARE against the enemy who will certainly try to ENSLAVE us to sin again!

In Revelation 21 John sees a vision of the NEW HEAEN and NEW EARTH and the holy city, the NEW JERUSALEM, coming down from heaven form God the Father. God will live with His people and the tears will be wiped away from their eyes. There will no longer be any death, mourning, crying or pain because the old order has passed away. And then we read in verses 7-8: “He who wins the VICTORY will receive these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But as for the cowardly (gutless, spineless, weak-willed), the untrustworthy (unreliable, undependable, dishonest, disloyal), the vile (dreadful/terrible/shocking, despicable/ wicked, disgraceful), the murderers, the sexually immoral, those involved with the occult and with drugs (also referred to as witchcraft/ sorcery/ pharmakeia), idol-worshippers, and all liars – their destiny is the lake burning with fire and sulfur, the second death.”

And even in the last chapter of the Word, Revelation 22:15 we read outside the city gates of the New Jerusalem: “…are the homosexuals, those involved with the occult and with drugs (also referred to as witchcraft/ sorcery/ pharmakeia), the sexually immoral, murderers, idol-worshippers, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”

So BELIEVERS are CALLED by God the Father to come out of WORDLY SYSTEM – the LOVE of MONEY and PLEASURE above the LOVE for HIM. Those things that are worshipped by the world and are sold to us as desirable but have in reality the ability and the power to DESTROY us.

Yeshua our Messiah first explained in John 14:8-14 to His disciples and therefore also to us today: “Whoever has seen Me, has seen the Father;…I am UNITED with the Father, and the Father UNITED with Me. What I am telling you, I am not saying on My own initiative; the Father LIVING IN ME is doing His own works. Trust (have faith, believe, hope in) Me, that I am UNITED with the Father, and the Father UNITED with Me.” Yeshua the Messiah is therefore the BODY of God the Father. Paul again explains it in Colossians 2:9 saying: “.For in Him (Yeshua the Messiah), bodily, lives the FULLNESS of ALL that GOD (the Father) is.” Therefore the TORAH (Genesis to Deuteronomy summed up in the Ten Commandments) given by YHVH the Father to Moses on Mount Sinai is the SAME commandments Yeshua is referring to when He says in John 14:15:  “If you LOVE Me, you will KEEP MY COMMANDS;” And in verses 23-24 He further says: “If someone LOVES ME, he WILL KEEP MY WORD; and MY FATHER WILL LOVE him, and WE WILL COME TO him and MAKE OUR HOME with him. Someone who doesn’t LOVE Me doesn’t keep My WORDS – and THE WORD you are hearing in NOT My own, but THAT OF THE FATHER who sent Me.” An in verse 28 Yeshua confirms that the FATHER is GREATER than He is. We can perhaps understand this because our own soul and spirit are also more important than our bodies. And even more so, the Holy Spirit living inside us as believers are way greater than us!

We must therefore understand in both the Tanakh (the Old Testament) and the New Testament, FAITH in YHVH our God is based on both LOVE and OBEDIENCE, both MERCY and JUSTICE.

Yeshua then further promised them (and us) in verses 25-26 that the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), whom the Father will send in His Name, will TEACH us EVERYTHING, meaning He will REMIND us of EVERYTHING Yeshua our Messiah said. And we then read in verses 27-28 “What I am leaving with you is SHALOM (peace) – I am giving you MY SHALOM. I don’t give the way the world gives. Don’t let yourselves be upset or frightened.

And in John 15:1-12 Yeshua further explains: “I am the real VINE, and My Father is the GARDENER. EVERY BRANCH which is PART of ME but fails to BEAR FRUIT, HE (the Father) cuts off and EVERY BRANCH that does BEAR FRUIT, HE (the Father) prunes, so that it may BEAR MORE FRUIT. Right now, because of the WORD I have spoken to you, you are pruned (remember the WORD of GOD is a SWORD as already discussed and indicated in  Hebrews 4:12 and Ephesians 6:17). Stay UNITED with Me, as I WILL with you – for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear FRUIT apart from Me. I AM the VINE and you ARE the BRANCHES. Those who STAY UNITED WITH ME, and I WITH THEM, are the ones who BEAR MUCH FRUIT; because APART FROM ME you can’t do a thing. Unless a person remains UNITED with ME, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the FIRE, where they are burned up. IF you REMAIN UNITED with ME, and MY WORDS with you, then ask whatever you want and it will happen for you. THIS IS HOW MY FATHER IS GLORIFIED – in your BEARING MUCH FRUIT; this is how you WILL PROOF to be MY talmidim (disciples). Just as My Father has LOVED Me, I too have LOVED you; so STAY IN MY LOVE.”  And then He tells us HOW in verse 10: ”If you KEEP MY COMMANDS, you WILL STAY IN MY LOVE – JUST AS I HAVE KEPT MY FATHER’s COMMANDS AND STAY IN HIS LOVE. I have said this to you so that My JOY may be IN you, and your JOY be complete. This is My COMMAND: that you KEEP ON LOVING EACH OTHER just as I HAVE LOVED you.  So here again we can clearly hear the LOVE COMMANDMENTS given by God the Father from the beginning – LOVE for HIM above ALL ELSE and LOVE for each other as we LOVE ourselves!

IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE CROSS: 

The Complete Jewish Study Bible – Insight for Jews & Christians says the following about the cross on page 1552 giving the REASON why they refer to the TERM “STAKE” and not “the CROSS”. In their text. They explain that crucifixion was not the normal Jewish means of execution in the Second Temple period, four methods of execution followed in accordance to their TRADITION were: stoning, burning, beheading or strangling, although they mostly made use of stoning. Hanging from a cross was never the norm during that period (although we do read in Deuteronomy 21:22-23 about hanging on a tree as punishment during the Old Testament Period). In Roman-occupied ISRAEL however, PUBLIC CRUCIFIXTIONS were common. The condemned man carried the crossbar of the stake on which he was to be executed.  And was NAILED to it by his WRISTS and ANKLES. Then, the stake, with him on it, was pounded into the ground, where he was left hanging in excruciating torment until he died, usually many hours later. Throughout the Jewish Study Bible the terms “execution stake, stake or tree” are often used instead of CROSS. THE REASON BEING: For many Christians the SYMBOL of THE CROSS is sacred, but through JEWISH EYES, THE CROSS is seen as a SYMBOL of PERSECUTION because of the DAMAGE WREAKED on the JEWISH PEOPLE by so many who claimed to be followers of the Messiah (but were actually ALL false organizations misusing and abusing the symbol of the cross for their own sinister purposes), whether they were CRUSADERS, INQUISITORS or MEMBERS of the KU KLUX KLAN. Thus, because of its association with the evil people who PERSECUTED them, the “term” CROSS became anathema to the Jewish people, even though what took place on it was the GREATEST STATEMENT OF GOD THE FATHER’s LOVE TO PEOPLE IN HISTORY for ALL PEOPLE, including the JEWISH PEOPLE. Weighty archeological evidence CONFIRMS that the KIND of CROSS used in ISRAEL during the first century had a CROSSBEAM and that it WAS THIS which the condemned, and thus also YEHSUA THE MESSIAH, was forced to carry to His place of execution.

So please note for this reason, I use the correct word, namely: CROSS, everywhere they indicate: “stake.”