Reflections on Shabat 27 Oct. 2023

Our Savior praying in garden Gethsemane for strength to endure all to the end.

Why to study the original Holy Names?

  In the Bible, we find several teachings in the Tanakh and NT about how important it is for us to know the original names of our Heavenly Father and our Savior. Knowing those names is firmly connected to salvation! In addition to the attached picture, I bring up the following passages from the Bible:

1) Ps. 91:14
>>Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name.<<

2) Prov. 18:10
>>The name of the Yehowah is a strong tower: the righteous runs into it, and is safe.<<

3) Joel 2:32 
>>And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Yehowah shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Yehowah has said, and in the remnant whom the Yehowah shall call.<<

4) Matt. 1:25 (I use the proper name given by the angel of YHWH for our Savior)
>>And she (Miryam) shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name YESHUA: for he shall save his people from their sins.<<

5) Acts 2:38-39 (I use the original names that Pietari also used in this context)

>>38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and take baptism by immersing in water every one of you in the name of Yeshua HaMashiach for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Yehowah our Elohim shall call.<<

6) Acts 4:10-12 (I use the original names that Pietari also used in this context)
>>10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua HaMashiach HaNotzri, whom you crucified, whom Elohim raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.<<

Why are these Holy Names so hard to adopt?

There are several reasons for this:

A) Indifference of Bible translators and Bible teachers.

   Almost all Bible translators have replaced the original Hebrew proper names with proper names they invented and applied themselves. Most Bible teachers who know the original proper names do not see the need to teach or use them.

B) Almost complete ignorance and partial indifference on the part of believers.

   Many believers in Adonai Yeshua think that it does not matter by what name we address them in prayers, praise them, thank them and worship them. That's not the case at all! I think it is disrespectful to use the names that people (the Bible translators) have given them, because they (the Father and the Son) themselves have revealed their proper proper names to the chosen Israelites and through them to other people.

C) Father and Son deliberately hide their names from most people.

   They do understand very well that not most Christians and not even all Israelis know their original proper names. They (the Father and the Son) do not want to reveal their real proper names to people who do not respect them, lest they misuse those holy names and receive a severe punishment for that, as warned in the Law of the 10th commandment of Moses.

  That's why I prayed in advance that this Bible study would not be opened to a reader who is not fully aware before Them, or is not yet mature and worthy to know their holy Names, so that they would not receive a severe punishment for misusing those Holy Names. Amen.

D) The devil always try to keep those holy and saving original names hidden.

   He knows, having read the Bible carefully, that in those names there are such spiritual weapons for the chosen ones of the Most High for battle and salvation that he will not succeed in the war against them.

What about Tetragrammaton YHWH ?

  Because the ancient Israelites were afraid to break even accidentally the third commandment of the Law of Moses, they eventually forgot how to pronounce the Name, because the ancient Hebrew lacks vowels: Deuteronomy 5:11
>>You shalt not take the name of the Yehowah your Elohim in vain: for the Yehowah will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.<<

  Linguistically, it is completely impossible for us today to know how to pronounce that special Name of our Creator, because there are no audio recordings of it from about 3400 years ago, when Moses was given the Law and a little before that Yehowah revealed his special Name to Moses. Nowadays, even the ancient pronunciation of consonants is not known with certainty.

  We know even less about the ancient use of vowels in words and their pronunciation, because they were not written in ancient texts at all!

  As a result of the Fall, all the current 7,139 different spoken languages have gradually decayed and are still decaying. That's why no one, even native speakers of modern Hebrew, knows how to pronounce ancient Hebrew words correctly. They are faced with the same problem as those linguists who do not speak Hebrew as their mother tongue, but study Hebrew and ancient Hebrew based on the Holy Scriptures.

  Knowing that, I have prayed for help with this from the Most High and I believe that I have been guided to trust the pronunciation and writing method taught by a Karaite Jew*) in his video. Here is the link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2uaZ4NgLk0

  An important thing quote from the attached video: It is important to know that the Semitic languages, neither modern nor ancient, when pronounced do not contain the letter v found in English, but instead the letter w.

  *) Karaite Jews: Karaism, also spelled Karaitism or Qaraism, (from Hebrew qara, “to read”), a Jewish religious movement that repudiated oral tradition as a source of divine law and defended the Hebrew Bible as the sole authentic font of religious doctrine and practice. In dismissing the Talmud as man-made law substituted for the God-given Torah, Karaism set itself in direct opposition to Rabbinic Judaism.
  The word Karaite comes from the Hebrew word קְרָאִים (keraim, "readers").
(That's exactly why I value them so much in that name-case, because oral tradition has sometimes been as a reason to heresies.) Most of text above is from:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Karaism

P.S. 1.  I don't demand, and I don't force anyone to adopt these my opinions, but let everyone prayerfully research before their Creator what is the correct way of writing and pronouncing that Name! Those who consider other names, such as Yahweh or Yehovah, to be more correct, are free to believe so.

  P.S. 2. Our Heavenly Father has also several other names, but this particular name was the most special and meaningful of them to the elect of the Most High who lived in the Old Covenant era. That's why I started to think about it so extensively here.

The Names of our Saviour that bring salvation 

  Fortunately, we now live in the era of the New Covenant, when the only Name that brings salvation to all who rely on it, regardless of their ethnic background, can be found e.g. in the verses:

Acts 4:10-12 (I use the original names that Peter also used in this context)

>>10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua HaMashiach HaNotzri, whom you crucified, whom Elohim raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.<<

  How should the Name Yeshua HaMashiach be pronounced correctly? For that, there is a video online about the history of Messianic Jews:
(the interview is in English. Listen between interval 10:20-12:50 min)
https://www.tv7.fi/arkki/israel-puhuu/messiaanisten-juutalaisten-historia_p6497/

  Diligent study of the Bible from as many correct sources as possible is a prerequisite for knowing the Way of Truth and walking along it, and the Holy Spirit is our indispensable Helper, because only He is able to open our understanding to know the Truth: >>The entrance of thy words gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple.<< Psa. 119:130

  Since in new generations people's ability to understand the text of the Bible, even just 100 years ago, has weakened, so the constant need for new Bible translations at regular intervals is necessary. For example, several Bible translations have been made in Finland since 1900. If knowledge of the Bible was taught in schools, there would be no need for so many translations so often.

- - -

  P.S. If some readers find this Bible study far too difficult to absorb, then calmly trust only in our Saviour, as you have done until now, and continue to grow in knowing grace and truth, because in time all problems will be resolved for those who diligently seek the Truth! I wish for all of you the following:
>>The grace of the Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach, and the love of Elohim, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.<<  2 Cor. 13:14

Songs suitable for the topic

He is Yehowah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDwMLe3TGf4

I will Celebrate; Yehowah Jireh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiMMyZzl5vA

Yeshua HaMashiach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp2rCAcI57I

Reflections on Shabat 20 Oct. 2023

Finnish autumn landscape.

   My intention was to focus today on the meaning of the seasons from the point of view of a believer in Adonai Yeshua, and I will focus on that at first, but I got another topic related to the end times to my heart after listening to a Bible lesson on Patmos radio today.

What do the different seasons remind us of?

  With the arrival of autumn and after the harvest, the days start to cool down and it starts to get cold at night. When a suitable north wind blows, tens of thousands of cranes, geese and other migratory birds take a long flight to warm southern countries. Some of them spend the winter as far as South Africa, several thousand kilometers away from Finland.

   Especially then I also get homesick, because my real and eternal homeland is not here, but in the glory of heaven with my beloved Savior and my heavenly Father. The earth is  from the point of view of science and according to the revelation of the Bible, only a temporary place of residence for us living beings, trees and plants.

  The seasons speak their own quiet and clear language and remind us that we should not attach our hearts to this corrupt and perishable world, which will be destroyed by fire because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.

   We must always direct our thoughts and attention upward, toward our eternal Kingdom and its King, Yeshua HaMashiach. Let it be our living hope, which inspire us daily to be diligent in spreading the Good News of Salvation to whole humanity!

The biblical end time has already begun!

  The gathering of Israel to the land of their fathers ushered in the biblical end times. According to Bible prophecies, Israel will be exposed to the wrath of all the Gentile nations. Signs of that are already visible. The Muslim nations will join forces with all the other pagan nations and attack Israel and Jerusalem!

   Numerous signs of the times tell us that the moment of departure for those of us who put our hope in Adonai Yeshua is also approaching! It is not for nothing that the Bible has told several times at what time our Savior will arrive in the clouds of heaven to collect his chosen ones and then only the faithful and pure in heart will be taken up into the clouds to meet him.

   The rest of the people will be left here for a terrible age of judgments, plagues, wars and persecutions! Then the number of martyrs will be fulfilled. But even in that time, YHWH Elohim will protect his chosen people Israel. He will defend his people like the apple of his eye and destroy all the armies that attack Israel and Jerusalem!

Three supernatural events

A) I heard one of them today, October 19, 2023, at Patmos radio's Bible lesson. I'll tell it from memory:

- The preacher, named Korhonen, told (around the 1980s) that he had heard that a pastor in Sweden had been driving car home with his wife. Along the way, some hippy-looking young man with long hair hitchhiked to get a ride. The pastor took the man into car.

- After driving for a while, he heard a man from the backseat say: "Get ready, because the return of Jesus is very close!" The pastor was startled and looked in the mirror while driving to see the man, but the man was gone like ashes in the wind!

- The pastor and his wife drove to the gas station shocked and told the operator what had happened. The man at the gas station said: "It's a really strange case! You are already the seventh motorist who has reported a similar miracle in the last few days!"

B) I heard another similar miracle from my father in 1975:

- At that time, my father worked as a branch manager for Osuuspankki (a bank in Finland) in a small church village, Siuntio, located in southern Finland. He had several rich Finnos-Swedes as clients. One summer afternoon, a couple my father knew and respected well were clearly lingering, waiting for other customers to leave the bank.

- After finally staying only with my father, after the bank's opening hours ended, the man's wife politely asked my father if she could tell my father about the remarkable event? Of course, my father agreed and heard the following:

- Last week, my husband and I were driving to Kirkkonummi (a large church village next to Siuntio) to our villa late at night. At one of the forest trails, a woman dressed in all black hitched a ride to get on. We took her in the car. She was a petite and graceful woman dressed in an ankle-length skirt with a black scarf on her head.

- After we had driven some distance, the woman asked: "Do you believe in God?" We replied that we don't think so. Then the woman asked, "Do you believe in the Son of God, Jesus?" We replied that we don't think so. The woman said next: "Get ready, for the return of Jesus is near!" Finally, the woman asked, "Let me out of the car at the next stop, please." When they got to the stop, they discovered that the woman had disappeared from the car without a trace!

- The man and his wife panicked! They drove to the nearest gas station and asked the attendant to check if anyone was in their car. The attendant was surprised and checked the car and found no one. They told him what had happened.

- My father was no longer a believer at that time. He had been a Christian even when my mother had given birth to us three boys, but after my mother divorced him because of my father's drunkenness, my father had gradually abandoned the faith. That strange incident was a reminder to him too that departure for eternity may be near!

- That's why he asked me when the Christians belonging to his denomination would have meetings in the neighboring municipality of Lohja (a town near Siuntio). I found out and told him the meeting place and meeting times. As far as I remember, he forgot about it over time. He said then that he had read about the following, similar miracle in the local newspaper:

C) A local paper called Länsi-Uusimaa, which was and still is a local and completely secular news paper, published the following article at the same time, in the summer of 1975:

An inexplicable incident happened in the middle of a bright summer day!

- A bus of Lohja Liikenne Oy was on its way from Siuntio to Kirkkonummi. Along the way, a graceful and petite woman dressed in black step in the bus from the stop. She was dressed in an ankle-length black skirt and had a black scarf on her head. She paid for a ticket. Then she sat down next to a passenger and asked the same questions (as in point B above) The passenger said he didn't believe it. She said to him, "Get ready, for Jesus' return is near!"

- The woman sat also down next to several other passengers and asked the same questions (as in point B above), getting the same answers from everyone that they don't believe. Finally, she said to each of them in a clear voice that the others could hear: "Get ready, for Jesus' return is near!"

- Then the woman pressed the stop button. The bus stopped and the driver waited a moment for someone to get out of the bus. Finally, he asked the passengers, "Isn't anyone getting out of the bus?" The passengers shouted, "That woman dressed in black suddenly disappeared from the bus corridor like a fog without a trace!"

What can we learn from those cases?

   At least the fact that our Savior's return to pick up his chosen ones in the upper air is now much closer than in 1975 and that is why we should be vigilant at all times!

   The mentioned people were almost all completely devoid of faith and many of them have already passed on to eternity, like my father and his two bank customers. They are now fully aware that they were not guided to know their Creator in vain!

   We learn also that our Heavenly Father loves us all very much and calls many of us through his angels in human form to seek communion with him, turn from all sinful ways and follow his Son, HaMashiach Yeshua, in teaching and righteous deeds!

   We learned that all of us people are being watched from above and are trying to guide us on the narrow path of life, through faith in HaMashiach Yeshua.

Let us rejoice in Adonai Yeshua and be thankful!

Songs suitable for the topic

Gadol Adonai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chG6xRsX7ns

I Will Wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Nf7JCiEaY

Because He Lives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWcR_ocNlks

Reflections on Shabat 13 Oct. 2023

Harvest abundance at Turku's old market square in autumn.

   When I look at the abundance of fruits and the autumn harvest in the market, it often occurs to me that there are many poor people who cannot afford to buy even the most necessary food items for themselves! But we, who can afford more than our own needs, are obliged to help them, because the love of our HaMashiach requires us to do so!


Have we really done our best?

  Many defend themselves by saying that our salvation is only by grace and not by deeds. Even though our salvation is only by grace and a gift from Elohim, it should lead to gratitude to him and a desire to help our suffering neighbors. At least it was clear to me since I was a child that I have not been saved to live selfishly for myself, but to help my neighbors in need as much as I can!

  Of course, I could have helped a lot more people around me when I was younger than I did, but now that I'm older, I try to be more helpful than before, and there are huge numbers of people in need of help in the world today. There are more of them than ever before. Many wars, earthquakes, heavy rains, mudslides, etc. increase the number of people in need of help. A loving heart simply cannot pass by its fellow sufferers. Even if I can't help everyone, I can at least help a few and for everyone you can pray to Him who can help everyone.

   Some wonder, why doesn't Elohim help everyone if he could? I will consider it next.

Why doesn't Elohim help everyone?

I see the following reasons for this:

- If Elohim helped everyone right away, it wouldn't show which of us love their neighbor. Only real situations and opportunities to help reveal what we are like.

- There is no shortage of food in the world, because the world's food production could feed even 100 billion people! The world lacks acts of love for one's neighbor!

- All the people of the world are in a fallen state and as a result we are already hostile to our Creator from birth.

- We are here on our way to eternity and we are always being watched from above, how we live here and from that it becomes clear whether we are worthy to be led to eternal heaven or not.

- How people react to the message of Salvation reveals our faith or unbelief. Only faith in Elohim makes it possible to raise a person step by step for heaven.

- The world is a testing ground and a laboratory where everyone is tested. The test for all of us is the double commandment of love given by Adonai Yeshua in the era of the New Covenant:

"Love Yehowah your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself!"

Luke 10:27

- If we are selfless and with a sincere heart we help others, it follows that we ourselves will be led to know the message of Salvation in the right time.

The core of the Salvation message

- The essence of the salvation message is that YHWH Elohim loves all people and has sacrificed his beloved only begotten Son as a sin offering for us on the cross of Calvary almost 2000 years ago. He decreed then that anyone who believes in his Son HaMashiach Yeshua and acknowledges him as Adonai before men will receive eternal life as a gift!

- Adonai Yeshua said this in the high priestly prayer to his Father: (John 17:3)

>>But this is eternal life, that they know you (my heavenly Father), who alone are the true Elohim, and him whom you have sent, Yeshua HaMashiach.<<

Why are acts of love necessary?

  They testify to us, to other people, and especially to our Heavenly Father, that we have obeyed our Savior's command to love our neighbors as ourselves. So we show our faith through them, because without acts of love, our faith would only be words and not always even that. James 2:26

>>As a body without a spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.<<

   Let us rush to help our neighbors in need, because we will find many of them as our eternal friends in the resurrection, in the Holy City of heaven!

Our greatest act of love

   Although giving food and drink to the hungry and thirsty is very important, the absolute greatest act of love is, guided by the Holy Spirit, to tell for the ignorant of faith about the Good Shepherd, HaMashiach Yeshua, who loves them and wants to save them from finally falling under the wrath of Yehowah Elohim into eternal perdition!

Songs suitable for the topic

My Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls01XGV7oA0

Redemption Draweth Nigh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uopZhkzV1-0

Let's Forget About Ourselves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moDeHc2t_zs

Reflections on Shabat 6 Oct. 2023

 

Children and young people often rush forward, and the direction is not always the right one. As our age and understanding increase, the direction often begins to be right, if they have been guided in time to the Path of Eternal Life, whose name is Yeshua HaMashiach HaNotzri.

Our theme today is selective forgetting

  It is a great grace to be able, with Elohim's permission and request, to forget our past adversities, our falls and our mistakes, which each of us has on our conscience. If we have brought them all with humble hearts to our Savior Adonai Yeshua, repenting of all our sins and transgressions, then his forgiveness is complete!

  Since the creation of mankind, our Heavenly Father has known us humans to be lost and fallible, like sheep in need of a Good Shepherd. That is why he has made our Savior perfect through his great pains and sufferings. Hebrew 2:10

>>For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.<<


What else should we forget?

  It is useful to forget all kinds of injustice that we have suffered at the hands of people, because our Creator has allowed it to happen to us in order to see how we react to it. He tested the people of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years in ancient times to find out how the people behave in trials. He did that only to learn the true thoughts of their hearts and ultimately to do them good, as written in Deut. 8:16.

  As required in the Lord's Prayer, we must forgive all those who have transgressed against us in some way. It is even a requirement and condition for our heavenly Father to forgive us too, because we have transgressed against him with our sins and bad deeds. This is evident from verses Matt. 6:14-15.

  Many who were in the chains of paganism and in the grips of various heresies need to unlearn and be freed from such things. It can be a long process depending on the case. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures of the Bible, it will succeed perfectly if that person humbly agrees to learn what Adonai Yeshua teaches him. The person who has received the Salvation message is a new creation in Hamashiach Yeshua. What was old is gone and the new has come in its place. 2 Cor. 5:17.

  It is also useful for us to forget all kinds of party political and other human-oriented ideologies, as well as such dreams, wishes, plans and delusions, which are not acceptable from our Savior's point of view. Everyone has them and forgetting them gives an inner peace that we haven't experienced before! 1 John 2:15-17.

  Some say, "We have forgiven people who have done us harm, but we will never forget them!" Complete forgiveness also requires forgetting, and besides, remembering unpleasant things is energy-consuming.

   It is quite clear that the Devil does not want us to forget the things mentioned above, because then we will become much more acceptable and noble vessels for our Savior's use to win human souls to the Kingdom of Heaven!

  Therefore, it is also necessary that we need the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to forget the things listed above, and it happens in such a way that we purposefully fight at the level of our thoughts against all the evil thoughts that the Devil feeds us from the heavenly spaces! For that we need the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of Elohim!

  P.S. Fittingly, I had a dream last night where I was walking in an area where Vikings had lived in ancient times. Surprisingly, I found a big double-edged sword on the ground! When I picked it up, I was very surprised at how heavy it was! It was all metal. I struggled to lift it up with one hand. When I woke up in the morning, I remembered the verse in Heb. 4:12.

>>For the word of Elohim is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.<<

What all must we not forget?

   The most important thing is to remember all the valuable lessons that the Holy Spirit has taught us from the Bible, and especially those that he has underlined just for us, so that we never forget them while walking on earth! This reminded me of an incident from 1977. I was then volunteering at Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim. The following happened unexpectedly:

  One afternoon I traveled by bus to Jerusalem and just before sunset I went to the so-called The Garden Tomb next to Gordon's Calvary, carved into the rock, as to say goodbye to Israel. That was because I had to return to Finland soon and thought that I might never return to that tomb again. I felt in my heart that this was the real tomb of our Savior.

  I was the only visitor and the only person in the burial chamber. I prayed, "My dear Savior, give me a Bible verse to remember when I leave here. Thank you!" I felt a call in my heart to open the Bible and he will speak to me. I opened the Bible at random and it opened at Deut. 4:9 and its words hit my consciousness like a flowing and peaceful love!
>>Again, however, pay very careful attention, lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren!<<

  Adonai Yeshua could hardly have given me a more appropriate Bible verse than that, for I was sitting right in his grave opposite the stone slab on which his dead body had once been laid. So I saw the tomb empty. HalleluYah!

   It is also good to remember the people through whom the Most High has helped us, guided us and supported us in different phases of our lives. I've noticed that certain objects that my loved ones have given me always remind me of the givers, for example when I'm cleaning the bookshelf and looking at those gifts. Then I always bless them with gratitude!

  Since each of us faces many kinds of difficulties in this Evil world and end times, it is comforting to remember the thousands of Promises of Grace that our Creator and Redeemer has given us in the Bible as support and confirmation of our faith, that we'll not loose hope in tribulations.

YHWH shall erase all the former from our minds

  When we finally get to the heavenly home after the trial of faith, the Most High will not only wipe away all our tears there, but he will also wipe away all the causes of our tears and all our former anxieties from our minds so that they will never be remembered again. HalleluYah! Isaiah 65:17, Jer. 3:16 and Rev. 7:17.

Isaiah 65:17 >>For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore.<<

Jer. 3:16 >> In those days, your population will greatly increase in the land. At that time," says YHWH, "people will no longer talk about having the ark that contains YHWH's covenant with us. They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more.<<

Rev. 7:17 >>"...because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and Elohim will wipe away every tear from their eyes."<<


Songs suitable for the topic

When God Has Another Plan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg2a5-XtqHE

He Knows My Name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKuEwf9W1cQ

Empty me Lord 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERXjtOjcrbk