Faithful Writers

In Genesis 3:15 we come to our first messianic prophecy. God is speaking to the serpent in the garden after he successfully tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree. ChatGPT This is what He said: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman , and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise my head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” A quick word about Bible prophecy. First, prophecy is rarely recognized as prophecy when it is first pronounced. It is only AFTER the fact that people realize that a given prophecy has just been fulfilled right before their eyes. Let’s face it, the above prophecy is actually pretty vague. I once heard a preacher point out that if that is all he had to go on during Moses’ or King David’s time, he probably never would have even remotely seen Genesis 3:15 as a Messianic prophecy of deliverance. And I would have to agree with him. The above statement is vague as all hell. It is only because the Messiah has come and gone that we can now recognize the prophetic nature of these and other verses in Scripture. We tend to look down on the early Hebrews for being ignorant and not recognizing or paying heed to God’s prophetic statements. However, I tell you the modern church has done the same thing and I think in a very real way have overlooked one of the greatest Bible prophecies of them all concerning the rebirth of Israel as a nation. The Scriptures tell us that when Israel is reborn as a nation and when Jerusalem is retaken from the Gentiles ( events that have recently occurred ), this is the one sign assuring us that we are living in the last days. We have been forewarned that the Land of Israel will become a “cup of trembling” for the whole world. When else in history has Israel been in a position where the events that occurred in their land could destabilize global peace? Sure the Jews had their skirmishes with the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Romans and the Greeks. But never before in history did they occupy such a pivotal position in world history. What I find amazing is that in spite of our generation having had the opportunity to witness these events unfold before our very eyes, many have turned a blind eye to the amazing times we are living in today. Our disinterest is just like those ancient Israelites who God forewarned disaster was on the way if they didn’t wake up and heed his Word. Unfortunately, they decided to go about their lives as usual and the results were devastating for millions of them. Genesis 3:15 refers to the fact that in the future there will be two races of people who will war against each other. The children of God and the children of Satan. Later on in Scripture, we will see this division expressed as Gentiles ( or in Hebrew “goyim” ) and the nation of Israel. In fact, as far as the Bible is concerned, there are only two races of people, the Jews and the Gentiles. © Richoka

In yesterday’s post, I pointed out that there are only two religions in the world. One religion teaches that man is god or can become a god… And the other teaches that there is an impenetrable line of demarcation drawn between man and god and never shall the twain meet. Well, in Genesis chapter 3, we can see a fleshing out of this concept. After Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the tree, they both realize they are naked. So to cover up their nakedness, they made themselves a covering made out of fig leaves. Note that this is the equivalent of man attempting to cover up his sin through his efforts independent from God. However, this wasn’t good enough for God. So God took it upon Himself to clothe Adam and Eve with animal skin clothing. God had to kill an animal to provide Adam and Eve with a suitable covering for their nakedness. Two very important principles are established here. First, man of his own devisings cannot save himself. Second, the only suitable payment for sin is the shedding of innocent blood. God had to kill one of His own created and innocent creatures to pay for Adam and Eve’s rebellion. Finally, note that Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden. Because of their sin, they were now separated from God, physically and spiritually. Another powerful principle is established here. God cannot permit uncleanness and sin anywhere near His perfect holiness. © Richoka

In yesterday’s post, I pointed out how the traditional teaching that Adam and Eve became infected with sin AFTER partaking of the fruit of the tree just doesn’t make any darn sense. The reason is that if Adam and Eve hadn’t been infected with sin, they wouldn’t have had the capability to sin in the first place. Just like a computer can’t implement a command it hasn’t been programmed to do. Are you getting this, homies? So I believe the Hebrew sages offer the best explanation: When God created humankind, from the very beginning, He programmed them with the capacity to choose to do BOTH good and evil . And here’s something else a lot of folks overlook. Before Eve ever took her first bite from the fruit of the forbidden tree, she had already committed one sin! Have any idea what it might be? Take a look at God’s original command. “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”- Genesis 2:16–17 Now take a close look at Eve’s response to Satan in relating God’s command. “But the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you TOUCH IT, lest you die.”- Come again? God never said they couldn’t touch the tree. They just couldn’t eat from it. So where did Eve get the idea to add to God’s command? Unfortunately, we aren’t given much detail. When Adam related to his wife, Eve, what God had said, maybe he decided it best to embellish upon God’s original command, thinking it would serve as an extra measure of protection. Or maybe Eve, feeling threatened by the serpent, just let loose a few too many words that she shouldn’t have. Who the heck knows? However, what we do know for sure is that it wasn’t a good thing to add to God’s Words. Proverbs 30:6 says, “ Do not add to His words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. ” Possibly after that, Eve may have touched the tree and, when nothing happened, assumed that moving to the next step and eating from the tree would NOT result in the disastrous consequences that followed. This is one reason why I’m not sure if the Rabbinical principle of putting a fence around God’s Word as an extra measure of protection is a good thing or not. There is a real danger in tampering with God’s word, even just a little bit. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “I warn everyone hearing the words of the prophecy in this book that if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues written in this book. And if anyone takes anything away from the words in the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the Tree of Life and the holy city, as described in this book.”-Revelations 22:18–19 © Richoka

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasing appearance and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. -Genesis 3:6–7 Christians commonly refer to this event as The Fall. They claim that Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit was what caused sin to somehow enter into their natures. However, is this logical? Seriously, think about this for a sec. If before eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was no sin in the world and Adam and Eve did not have sin natures, how did Eve have the potential to sin in the first place by eating from the tree ? Ya feel me? Well, here’s the thing. The Hebrews have a different notion of how man received what Christians call the sin nature. They believe that when God created Adam and Eve, He created them in the very beginning with both a “ good inclination ” and an “ evil inclination ." In Hebrew, the “ good inclination ” is called the Yetser Tov, and the “ evil inclination ” is called the Yetser Harah . So from the outset, humankind already had the capacity to both sin and do good and was given a free will to choose which inclination to go with when confronted with a moral decision. We will explore this in much more depth in a later lesson. However, just know for now that there is a huge difference between how Jews and Christians perceive this event. For the modern church, this event resulted in humankind’s relationship with God being severed and man’s very being becoming infected with what Christians call a “ sin nature ”. Thus, the conclusion reached is that we need a Savior who will restore us to mankind’s “pre-fall” condition. The Jewish people on the other hand view the fall in a somewhat positive light. What happened when Adam and Eve ate from the fruit of the tree is that they became liberated in a sense. They now had the capacity (and responsibility) to make choices. However, before the rebellion, they were like robots because there was no other choice . Before God’s command that forbade them from eating from the tree, there was only a single pathway laid out by God with no alternative. Kind of like voting in an election where there is only one candidate to choose from. However, through their act of rebellion, Adam and Eve acquired a kind of freedom and could now choose for themselves whether to love and obey God. Of course, God had to give them this choice because forced love is not love at all. I know this might be a little difficult to comprehend, but understand that because of this fundamental difference in perspectives, for the Jewish people, a savior has not been about having a person’s relationship restored with God. Rather, it has always been about making the Hebrews the dominant culture all over the world. Salvation was always seen as national issue. The “Savior” or in Hebrew speak “The Messiah” would be the mightiest warrior-king Israel ever had born from the offspring of King David. From this perspective, it is easy to see why many Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah when he first came to earth. He just didn’t match their expectations that the messiah would be a great “warrior-king,” and He did not establish global peace. Although believers understand that when Jesus returns, He will come back as a warrior-king, this is important information to have to understand the mindset of your Jewish neighbor. © Richoka

Today, we begin Genesis Chapter 3. For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here . If you’re a King James diehard, click here . “Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made.”-Genesis 3:1 The ancient rabbis have pointed out something interesting. When most people read this verse, we tend to read it like this: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any OTHER beast in the field.” In the English language with our Western mindset, we have a tendency to mentally insert the word “other” into the text. But it’s actually not there in the original text. Do you see the difference? The serpent was NOT another animal of the many animals in the garden. The serpent was not even classified as an animal. It was a totally different and distinct being altogether. First, of all this being could talk and apparently unlike the serpents we know today, this being could walk. What’s going on here? Did the spirit of satan take over some random snake slithering around ( actually at this stage still walking ) in the garden. The ancient sages have something to say about this as well. Satan is the great counterfeiter. In order to keep the world in darkness and fool mankind, Satan will imitate the miracles of God. So the rabbis suggest that the serpent in the garden was actually satan’s attempt to mimic God by creating counterfeit life. Notice also, that this serpent was INSIDE THE GARDEN but that he would later be thrown out. Now, do you remember the “AS-IN-HEAVEN-SO-ON-EARTH Principle” I discussed? Here’s a quick recap. The “AS-IN-HEAVEN-SO-ON-EARTH-PRINCIPLE” is the idea that events and physical objects depicted in the Scriptures mirror spiritual truths or events that occur or have already occurred in the heavens. So we have this serpent who was the embodiment of the devil inside God’s sacred garden but was later thrown out. This is an exact physical mirror of the story of how satan, who dwelled with God in the heavens, was kicked out due to his rebellion. © Richoka

“So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable help-meet was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” -Genesis 2:20–22 I think this is a post that wives, actually all women, whether married or not, are going to enjoy. In Genesis verses 20–22, we have the famous story of how God took a rib from Adam and formed Eve. The word for man in Hebrew is “Ish” and the word for woman is “Ish-ah." The “ah” part of “Ish-ah” means literally “from” or “out of." So God created the first woman from a man because God decided that man needed a “help-meet” . Now to be honest with you, “help-meet” is a crappy translation from the original Hebrew. The Hebrew word for help-meet is EZER KENEGDO. KENEGDO means “opposite him” , “alongside him” or “a counterpart to him." However, using the word “help” for EZER gives off the idea that the woman is essentially subservient to the man. What should be noted is that when this word is used in other parts of Scripture, it is usually used in a strong military context and refers to a situation of strong intervention on behalf of someone. So you can throw out this idea of a Godly woman being some servile person meekly responding to every beck and call of her husband. © Richoka

“Adonai, God, planted a garden toward the east, in ‘Eden, and there he put the person whom he had formed. ”-Genesis 2:8 Here is something you probably haven’t heard your pastor ever talk about. However, it is a pattern that is repeated throughout the Scriptures. The direction East has great spiritual significance and is always associated with holiness. Note that the Garden of Eden was planted in the eastern part of Eden. This should also tell you that the Garden of Eden is NOT the same thing as the Land of Eden. The Garden of Eden was a separate piece of landscape with defined boundaries located inside the Land of Eden. So whenever you encounter the direction East in the Scriptures your antennas should go on high alert because the direction East is almost always connected with holiness. Here are some interesting examples. As I just pointed out, the garden was planted in the east of Eden Cherubim (celestial beings) were stationed on the east side of the Garden of Eden ( this happened after Adam and Eve were kicked out ) Parts of the burnt offering were to be thrown to the east side of the altar ( you probably don’t know what I’m talking about here but you will once we get into the Book of Leviticus ) The tabernacles' entrance faces east Here’s another super interesting point. Look at the below statements and see if you can decipher a logical pattern. -In Ezekiel’s vision God’s glory comes from the east and enters the temple from the east -The same temple faces east with a river flowing east from it -The Messiah is prophesied to come from the east -Cain was exiled to the east after murdering Abel. -People traveled to the east to build the Tower of Babel. -When Abraham and Lot separated from each other, Lot traveled east to the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah -The Tribe of Judah was exiled to Babylon in the east . Did you notice the pattern? The Scriptural pattern is this: Positive, Godly things come FROM the East. But traveling to the East is a bad thing. Or another way to put it is, “Going west is positive while going east is negative. ” CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”-Matthew 24:27 NOTE: What’s odd is that lightning doesn’t usually flash from the east to the west anywhere in the world. This has got to be a prophetic statement of supernatural purport. © Richoka

So after God finished all His work on the seventh day, we are told His creation was perfect. He did not have to keep on creating again and again week after week. Once created, all living things, plants, animals, and human beings were self-producing at that point. Right here in the second chapter of Genesis is a powerful formula for wealth acquisition. There is one fundamental difference between those who get rich and those who stay poor. The poor usually trade their time for money. They sell themselves out to an employer and get paid x amount of dollars per hour, month or year. On the other hand, the wealthy person will use his or her imagination and work incredibly hard to create an asset, a money tree if you will, that once up and running will continue to generate money automatically. If you think about it, this is exactly what a good investment does. If you want to be rich, you need to become a CREATOR! God created us in His image. He gave each of us creative talents in certain areas and powers of imagination that should not be wasted. Here are some examples of those who used their creativity to generate massive value that was rewarded handsomely. “the guy who created an energy drink to help him stay hydrated during hard exercise and then sold the company for $530 million.” “the guy who built a cell phone application and sold it 50,000 times.” “the woman who invented a mop and sold 500,000 of them on QVC.” “the author who wrote a book about a teenage wizard and went on to become a billionaire.” (arguments about whether this book was inspired by the devil aside) “the teenager who built a website that profited $70,000 a month and later sold it for millions.” The people of the Book, the Jewish people have always understood the importance of effectively leveraging one’s God-given creative powers to achieve remarkable results in many different fields. The facts speak for themselves. -The percentage of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of non-Jews. -Forty percent of the top 40 of the Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jewish. -Twenty percent of professors at leading universities are Jewish. -Forty percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington are Jewish. -Thirty percent of American Nobel Prize winners in science and 25 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish. -American Jews have nearly twice the self-employment rate of other ethnic groups in the U.S. Here is small sampling of some incredible Jewish innovators. -Levi Strauss-invented blue jeans -Paul Fireman-developed Reebok athletic shoes for aerobics -Reuben Mattus-created Haagen Dazs ice cream -Howard Shultz-Starbucks Coffee Chain -Salomon Brothers-created Goldman Sachs-investment banking firms -Sergey Brin-Creator of Google, the most popular internet search engine in the universe Lest I be misunderstood, I would like to point out that I am NOT worshipping wealth or the acquisition of wealth. My point is to urge you NOT to waste your God-given talents. Use them to create massive value and contribute to society. Although this may be hard to believe, the aforementioned inventors and entrepreneurs weren’t focused on attaining wealth for wealth’s sake. They were focused on solving a problem. The money that came was a byproduct of their efforts to deliver massive value. CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground . Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘ You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’-Matthew 25:14–30 DON’T WASTE YOUR GOD-GIVEN TALENTS!!! © Richoka

Here’s another one of the those verses the church likes to pull completely out of its Hebrew context to substantiate that the Sabbath has been transferred from Saturday to Sunday. 2 On the first day of every week , each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem .-1 Corinthians 16:2–3 First, the wording here in the Greek is very similar to that in Acts 20. κατὰ μίαν σαββάτου=kata mian sabbatou kata = according to, every, upon, towards main = one Sabbatou = Sabbaths In other words, instead of saying “ on the first day of every week ”, literally it should say something along the lines like “towards one of the Sabbaths ." Interestingly, the Complete Jewish Bible translates 1 Corinthians 16:2 as follows. Every week, on Motza’ei-Shabbat , each of you should set some money aside, according to his resources, and save it up; so that when I come I won’t have to do fundraising. -1 Corinthians 16:2 The term Motzei Shabbat (literally, the going out of the Sabbath ) in Judaism refers to the time in the evening immediately following Shabbat that is Saturday night. It is a time when, following one’s declaration of the intention to end Shabbat, it is permissible to resume weekday activities that are prohibited on Shabbat. This makes sense because one is not supposed to handle money on Shabbat. However, this is incidental. Let’s move on. The next point I want to make is that 1 Corinthians 16 parallels taking up an offering to be taken up to Jerusalem on Pentecost. How do I know this? Compare with this verse from the Torah. "16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:-Deuteronomy 16:16 Since the Lord’s presence was seen as residing above the Ark of the Covenant, then to appear before the Lord meant that one must come to the location of the Ark, which of course was the Tabernacle and later the Temple, which was in Jerusalem. Notice the instruction in 2 Corinthians 16:3: “ Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem .” CONCLUSION: Paul was instructing them based on a command given in the Old Testament regarding a Biblical feast offering. DISCLAIMER: I am well aware that many, many Greek scholars overwhelmingly affirm that the words “Sabbaton” and “Sabbatou” used in these texts should be translated as “week”. This is obvious if one notes that practically every English translation of the New Testament in existence translates this phrase as “the first day of the week”. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly reject their affirmations. I believe we must eliminate those Greek scholars from the field who learned to translate μια των σαββατων from others who told them that σαββατον meant “week” based on Church tradition. That’s nearly all of them. Then we have to bring in those scholars of secular Greek and the few honest believing Greek scholars left that have set aside Church tradition to objectively study the matter from its linguistic basis and have correctly concluded that the phrase simply means “one day of the sabbaths." I believe that Christians need to know that most dictionaries and Lexicons are propaganda pieces based on church doctrine and steeped in anti-Semitic attitudes. If this charge seems harsh, just go ahead and read the writings of the Gentile church fathers to know that what I am saying is true. © Richoka

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and BREATHED into his nostrils the BREATH OF LIFE , and man became a LIVING SOUL .” -Genesis 2:7 Let’s take a look at the words I bolded in the above verse. breathed=naphach Breath of Life=Neshemash chayyim Living soul(being)=Chaya nephesh Remember that the Hebrew language is based on root words. From one root word, there are many offshoots with related meanings. Notice the similarity between naphach, neshemah, and nephesh. They all refer to God’s life spirit being supernaturally placed into man. The point here is that life itself comes from outside of our four-dimensional universe and can only originate from God. In this day and age, we have evolutionists and other scientists trying to prove we can take things that are not living, and given enough time (billions and billions of years they say) and the right set of circumstances life can somehow spontaneously erupt minus any divine intervention. However, no scientist has yet had any luck proving their theories of spontaneous generation and never will. Because life comes from God. Let’s take a look at the term “Breath of Life." In Hebrew, it is Neshemah chayyim. Do you recall that whenever you want to make a Hebrew word plural, you add -im to the noun? So technically speaking, this could be translated as the “breath of lives." This indicates more than one life was inserted into Adam. However, what kind of “lives?" Well, this is something theologians have struggled to understand for centuries. One kind of life could be the basic life force common to all living things and another could be the spirit that allows us to commune with God. The Hebrews called this invisible essence that allows man to commune with God the Ruach Hakodesh. Ruach Hakodesh means the “Holy Spirit." Another interesting question Hebrews have struggled with is “ Is the soul the same as the spirit? ” When we look at the original Hebrew, we can see that both animals and humans are nephesh (living beings) . However, only humans can receive the Ruach Hakodesh. So we can conclude from this that only humans can commune with God. © Richoka