376Observations
Growing
8
A Warning
The Vexing Counsel of Schemers…
The fourth refrain of Yasha’yah’s / Isaiah’s song drives yet another stake into the rotting carcass of Sha’uwl, the leader of the boisterous religious procession known as Christianity. The wannabe apostle twisted and distorted Yahowah’s message in his fourteen letters, replacing the truth with the futility of faith in pagan gods and idolatrous images.
Billions of souls are being pulled away from God, having followed him without thinking, many out of fear, making this particularly indicting toward those from whom we have had to separate ourselves, disassociating from their charade. This is equally damning of Judaism, in addition to Christianity. It is why Yahowah reveals…
“Woe, this is a warning (howy – alas, this disastrous and destructive situation can ruin a person, so this is a cautionary tale) to those who take the lead in promoting (mashak – who draw up and carry out, advancing) error by twisting and distorting (ha ‘awon – wrongdoing and wickedness through perversity and depravity, iniquity and corruption by warping the message) in a boisterous and agonizing religious parade (ba chebel – with the binding force of religion, with destructive and ruinous cords; from chabal – to bind and to pledge, to corrupt and destroy) of error, futility, and vanity (ha shawa’ – of worthless lies, pagan gods, idolatrous images, false and empty promises; from show’ – to ravage, devastate, destroy, and ruin).
377As with (wa ka) the ties that bind on the harness (‘aboth – the chains and fetters which fasten, control, and imprison, the twisted ropes which constrain) of a cart (ha ‘agalah – on the wheels of progress which revolve, going round and round, of a wheeled utility and transport vehicle, or the oxen on a threshing device) of corruption (chata’ah – comprised of punishable offenses and ceremonial sacrifices which lead the wrong way; from chata’ – to mislead, to miss the way, to incur guilt, and to forfeit the opportunity), (5:18) the one among them says (ha ‘amar – the individual boasts) without thinking and out of anxiety over the future, ‘He should want to hurry (mahar – impetuously, without wisdom or sense, showing an unfounded concern over anticipated events, ‘He should want to respond quickly and pay the price for His bride, hurriedly completing the social arrangements of the marriage (piel imperfect jussive – the speaker is imposing his influence over the object on a consistent and continual basis while trying to make it seem as if this were the object’s will)).
I want Him to swoop down and accelerate (chuwsh – I want Him to immediately and enthusiastically yield, acquiescing even if He is greatly disturbed by this, and take pleasure in the sensory nature of expediting (hifil imperfect jussive paragogic cohortative – the subject is not only trying to force the object to act, but is also trying to continually make Him like him, stated as the will of the speaker who is seeking the willful capitulation of the object)) His work (ma’aseh huw’ – His fate, His deed, and what He wants to accomplish, even perhaps showing that He is the Messiah; from ‘asah – to act and engage) so that (ma’an – for the purpose and reason that; from ‘anah – to answer and to respond) we may see it (ra’ah – we can view it, looking upon Him ourselves and make judgments based on our perceptions of what is revealed (qal imperfect)).
378So then (wa), let the vexing counsel, painful advice, and scheming plan (‘etsah – the mischievous scheme and malicious purpose, even the defiant revolt of idolatrous worship in association with graven wooden images (a.k.a., the Christian cross and crucifix); from ‘ets and ‘etsah – wooden image or idol constructed to encourage the worship of a god) of the ‘Holy One’ (qadowsh – of the Set-Apart One [since this is in the voice of the misleading founder of the Christian religion, we should read it as he would say it]) of Israel (Yisra’el – Individuals who Strive and Wrestle with God) approach and present itself (qarab – let it come, happen, arrive, and appear, including, pursuing, and bringing in the harvest as summoned (qal imperfect jussive)) because (wa) we want to be made aware and know (yada’ – our desire is to have it revealed and shown to us so that we might recognize it and choose to acknowledge it (qal cohortative imperfect – an actual and ongoing expression of first-person volition)).’” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:19)
Let’s examine this declaration piece by piece. To begin, Yahowah is explicitly warning those “mashak – who take the lead in promoting” “ha ‘awon – error by twisting and distorting” His message. And that is expressly what Paul, Akiba, and Muhammad have done. Unable to create a unique religious dogma on their own, these religious leaders twisted and distorted God’s testimony. But that was not enough for them. They craved the prestige a large number of followers would provide.
They blended their warped and perverted renditions of Yahowah’s message with the most popular pagan myths, knowing that, if their gods were similar to previously accepted deities, their parade would pick up converts more readily. Soon, entire communities and then regions and nations would be following their leaders, walking down life’s thoroughfares in the futile errors associated with idolatrous images and pagan gods. Like the proverbial 379lemmings, they would fall to their death following those who had gone before them.
It bears repeating, religion is from the Latin religio, which means “to rebind.” It not only came to be associated with Christianity via the Vulgate and Roman Catholicism, and with Judaism with Halakhah and rabbinic authority, it is analogous to “‘aboth – the ties that bind on a harness, the chains or fetters which are used to control, and the twisted ropes which constrain.” In this case, the victims of the religious leader’s perverted message are tied to a cart filled with perverted notions, rolling along in a parade of error. They are deliberately being misled and pulled away from God, forfeiting their opportunity to know Him as a direct result of these religious counterfeits.
While most people are born into their religion, adopting the faith of their fathers, initially all of Paul’s, Akiba’s, and Muhammad’s followers were impulsive and unthinking. They may have chosen to go along because not doing so would cost them their lives. They may have done so because the charlatan promised that the next life would be better than their current plight. They may have been misled by any one of the alarming conspiracies that permeate Paul’s letters or Muhammad’s Quran.
The third aspect of this prophetic statement conveys an idea that may seem at cross purposes with that which comes before it. But such is the duplicity of religion – especially Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The reason that we hear one of those tethered to the cart of corruption calling out during this dubious procession that he wants a quick response by his god is that he not only needs validation, he wants the others to believe that their god is committed to saving them and punishing their enemies.
While it is unquestionably true that Christians are fixated on the swift return of “Jesus,” and Jews on the advent of their warrior Messiah, believing that he will 380validate their faith and make them victorious over unbelievers, they don’t know that they will be sorely disappointed. And that is the point. No matter how many times and ways their religion is refuted, their fallback position is always the same: “You just wait and when the Messiah comes you’ll be sorry.”
Christians and Jews alike want their Messiah to accelerate his return, to swoop down and save them while refuting their critics. The rabbis have known for a score of centuries that the Messianic Age closes within 6,000 years of ‘Eden. Time is ticking down. Moreover, the fact that Christians crave a “Second Coming” is proven by a simple stroll into a Christian bookstore to see how many shelves are devoted to eschatology.
While we know that the Christian “Jesus” never existed and is not tied to Israel, don’t forget that they have claimed the promises made to Israel for themselves. They want everyone to accept their revisionist history and Replacement Theology. Although, as I’ve long suspected, deep down even those dragging the cart of misguided notions away from God know that such notions are “‘etsah – vexing schemes with a malicious purpose.”
‘Etsah can simply convey “advice and counsel” without inferring whether that guidance is good or bad. Similarly, ‘etsah can speak of a “plan or purpose,” regardless if the intent is beneficial or counterproductive. However, since this is in the voice of those responsible for the inception of religious lies we should be aware that ‘etsah also conveys things which are extraordinarily adverse and telling. ‘Etsah depicts a “revolting and disobedient scheme to resist and defy the authority” of God through the use of “wooden idols and images constructed to worship the deity.” God could, therefore, be denouncing the central plank of Pauline Christianity – which purports that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God.
381While you may not concur at this point, I will prove in Coming Home and in Questioning Paul that the overwhelming preponderance of the “Gospel of Matthew” is a forgery – including the “You are the Christ” profession upon which the religion is based. Nearly ninety percent of its commentary was plagiarized from the hearsay accounts in Mark and Luke, and the remainder was either written by an imposter in the late 1st century, stolen from the Ebonites, or added by Eusebius in the 4th century. That said, should any portion of the previous citation be accurate, both statements could be important, albeit completely misunderstood.
The moral of the story is threefold. First, since Dowd is the Messiah and Son of God, and as the Passover Lamb suffered the tortuous abuse of Rome, not at the hands of Jews, we know that much of this part of the Christian story was composed by the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century to promote themselves over God’s Chosen. They wanted to advance the mythos of Replacement Theology, which required “Jesus” to be persecuted by Jews, not Romans.
Second, we can accept or reject Yahowah’s plan, but we cannot change it. Dowd came to fulfill Pesach, Matsah, Bikuwrym, and Shabuw’ah on behalf of the Covenant. Any other agenda is fraught with peril.
In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Sha’uwl took the opposite approach, and in so doing, confirmed that he was the subject of the Yasha’yah 5 prophecy. He wanted to expedite his “Lord’s” return so that it occurred while he was still alive. In the process he demonstrated that he was a false prophet. He said and then wrote,
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not be anxious and fearful, grieving, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Iesou died and rose again, even so God 382will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Iesoun. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord, Himself, will descend from heaven with a shout, with the command of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christo shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together (violently raptured) with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
This obviously did not occur during Paul’s life. It will never occur as he stated. Yahowah’s schedule is not going to change. He will return for Yisra’el and Yahuwdah on the Day of Reconciliations in year 6000 Yah sunset in Yaruwshalaim, 6:22 PM, Sunday, October 2nd, 2033. He is not coming for Paul or the Christian Church. And God is returning with His Son, Dowd, not a myth.
It is interesting that Thomas Jefferson, perhaps the most brilliant American, saw through Paul’s contradictions. From Monticello, on April 13, 1820, he wrote the following in a letter to William Short, the man he viewed as his adopted son.
“My granddaughter, Ellen, has undertaken to copy the Syllabus, which will therefore be enclosed. It was originally written to Dr. Rush. On his death, fearing that the inquisition of the public might get hold of it, I asked for the return of it from the family, which they kindly complied with. At the request of another friend, I had given him a copy. He lent it to his friend to read, who copied it, and in a few months it appeared in the theological magazine of London. Happily, that repository is scarcely known in this country; and the Syllabus therefore is still a secret, and in your hands I am sure it will continue so.
383But while this Syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus [his mistake, and one he should have been able to correct as we have done] in its true and high light, as no imposter himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion [he understood that there was code of conduct written in Hebrew which he mistook as religion], it is not to be understood that I am with him in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist [today called a Secular Humanist]; he takes the side of spiritualism: he preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it Etc. Etc. It is the innocence of his character, the purity & sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his inculcations, the beauty of the apologues in which he conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes indeed needing indulgence to Eastern hyperbolism.
My eulogies too may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready to grant. Among the sayings & discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence: and others again of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth; charlatanism, and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate therefore the gold from the dross; restore to him the former, & leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of his doctrines led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that his part composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man. The Syllabus is therefore of his doctrines, not all of mine. I read them as I do those of other antient and modern moralists, with a mixture of approbation and dissent.”
384In Athenian drama, Coryphaeus was the leader of the chorus. His name was invoked to describe the leader of a cause or movement. Cicero called Zeno “the coryphaeus of the Stoics.” Eustathius of Antioch was called “the coryphaeus of the Council of Nicaea.” The reasons are interesting. Eustathius was the principal opponent of Arians (who claimed “Jesus” was begotten and thus not god).
On behalf of Emperor Constantine in 325 CE, Eustathius led the parade to create a new god for the new religion of Roman Catholicism. Similarly, Jefferson was in accord with Yahowah’s statement in Yasha’yah 6 with his Coryphaeus comparison. I wonder what Jefferson would have written, however, had he been given the same access to the Hebrew text of the Towrah, Naby’, wa Mizmowr that we have been afforded?
Lacking access to the Hebrew text of Yahowah’s witness, there are numerous errors in nomenclature throughout the citations that follow, but I wanted to share them with you because their conclusions are universally valid. I was not the first to recognize that Paul’s letters were irrational.
Speaking of Jefferson’s Syllabus, the noted cosmologist, Carl Sagan, wrote the following in his letter to Ken Schei, the author of Christianity Betrayed: “My long-time view about Christianity is that it represents an amalgam of two seemingly immiscible parts – the religion of Jesus and the religion of Paul. Thomas Jefferson attempted to excise the Pauline parts of the New Testament. There wasn’t much left when he was done, but it was an inspiring document.”
My favorite historian, Will Durant, in his volume, Caesar and Christ, wrote: “Paul created a theology of which none but the vaguest warrants can be found in the words of Christ…. Through these interpretations, Paul 385could neglect the actual life and sayings of Jesus, which he had not directly known…. Paul replaced conduct with creed as the test of virtue. It was a tragic change.” “Jesus got lost in the metaphysical fog of Paul’s brain.” And: “Fundamentalism is the Triumph of Paul of Tarsus over Jesus of Nazareth.”
George Bernard Shaw, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925; in his Androcles and the Lion, said: “There is not one word of Pauline Christianity in the characteristic utterances of Jesus…. There has really never been a more monstrous imposition perpetrated than the imposition of Paul’s soul upon the soul of Jesus…. It is now easy to understand how…Jesus...was suppressed by the police and the Church, while Paulinism overran the whole western civilized world, which was at that time the Roman Empire, and was adopted by it as its official faith.” He is also quoted saying: “No sooner had Jesus knocked over the dragon of superstition than Paul boldly set it on its legs again in the name of Jesus.”
The Episcopal scholar and cleric, Bishop John Spong, wrote in Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: “Paul’s words are not the Words of God. They are the words of Paul – a vast difference.”
Mahatma Gandhi, who won India’s freedom from England through nonviolent protest, in his Discussion on Fellowship, wrote: “I draw a great distinction between the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus and the Letters of Paul. Paul’s Letters are a graft on Christ’s teachings, Paul’s own gloss apart from Christ’s own experience.”
Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist, in his essay, A Psychological Approach to the Dogma of the Trinity, claimed: “Saul’s fanatical resistance to Christ...was never entirely overcome. It is frankly disappointing to see how Paul hardly ever allows the real Jesus of Nazareth to get a word in.”
386In Christ or Paul?, the reverend, V. A. Holmes-Gore, opined: “Let the reader contrast the true Christian standard with that of Paul and he will see the terrible betrayal of all that the Master taught…. For the surest way to betray a great Teacher is to misrepresent his message…. That is what Paul and his followers did, and because the Church has followed Paul in his error it has failed lamentably to redeem the world…. The teachings given by the blessed Master Christ, which the disciples John and Peter and James, the brother of the Master, tried in vain to defend and preserve intact were as utterly opposed to the Pauline Gospel as the light is opposed to the darkness.”
Theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, in The Journals, offered: “In the teachings of Christ…Jesus is the prototype and our task is to imitate him, become a disciple. But then through Paul came a basic alteration. Paul draws attention away from imitating Christ and fixes attention on the death of Christ The Atoner. What Martin Luther, in his reformation, failed to realize is that even before Catholicism, Christianity had become degenerate at the hands of Paul. Paul made Christianity the religion of Paul, not of Christ. Paul threw the Christianity of Christ away, completely turning it upside down, making it just the opposite of the original proclamation of Christ.” As a theologian, Kierkegaard, like Renan, the next man in our list of citations, wrongly believed that “Christ created Christianity.”
Ernest Renan wrote in his book, Saint Paul: “True Christianity, which will last forever, comes from the gospel words of Christ not from the epistles of Paul. The writings of Paul have been a danger and a hidden rock, the causes of the principal defects of Christian theology.”
Robert Frost, four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in A Masque of Mercy, recognized: “Paul, he’s in the Bible too. He is the fellow who theologized Christ almost out of Christianity. Look out for him.”
387James Baldwin, an acclaimed African American author, in his book The Fire Next Time, offered: “The real architect of the Christian church was not the disreputable, sunbaked Hebrew who gave it its name but rather the mercilessly fanatical and self-righteous Paul.”
Martin Buber, the acclaimed philosopher, in Two Types of Faith, correctly realized: “The Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount is completely opposed to Paul.”
The poet and author, Kahlil Gibran, in Jesus the Son of Man, published: “This Paul is indeed a strange man. His soul is not the soul of a free man. He speaks not of Jesus nor does he repeat His Words. He would strike with his own hammer upon the anvil in the Name of One whom he does not know.”
Theologian Helmut Koester, in The Theological Aspects of Primitive Christian Heresy, claimed: “Paul himself stands in the twilight zone of heresy. In reading Paul, one immediately encounters a major difficulty. Whatever Jesus had preached did not become the content of the missionary proclamation of Paul…. Sayings of Jesus do not play a role in Paul’s understanding of the event of salvation…. Paul did not care at all what Jesus had said…. Had Paul been completely successful very little of the sayings of Jesus would have survived.”
English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, in Not Paul But Jesus, posed this question: “It rests with every professor of the religion of Jesus to settle within himself to which of the two religions, that of Jesus or that of Paul, he will adhere.” Unknown to Bentham, there was no Jesus.
Jewish scholar, Hyam Maccoby, in his book, The Mythmaker, calls Paul “the ultimate mythmaker because much of what Paul wrote doesn’t stand up to close and careful scrutiny.” Indeed. Further, “As we have seen, the purposes of the book of Acts is to minimize the conflict between Paul and the leaders of the Jerusalem Church, 388James and Peter. Peter and Paul, in later Christian tradition, became twin saints, brothers in faith, and the idea that they were historically bitter opponents standing for irreconcilable religious standpoints would have been repudiated with horror.”
The work of the author of Acts was well done; he rescued Christianity from the imputation of being the individual creation of Paul, and instead gave it a respectable pedigree, as a doctrine with the authority of the so-called Jerusalem Church, conceived as continuous in spirit with the Pauline Gentile Church of Rome. Yet, for all his efforts, the truth of the matter is not hard to recover, if we examine the New Testament evidence with an eye to tell-tale inconsistencies and confusions, rather than with the determination to gloss over and harmonize all difficulties in the interests of an orthodox interpretation.” That was insightful, especially for a Talmudic scholar.
Historian and theologian, Ferdinand Christian Baur, in Church History of the First Three Centuries, questioned: “What kind of authority can there be for an ‘apostle’ who, unlike the other apostles, had never been prepared for the apostolic office in Jesus’ own school but had only later dared to claim the apostolic office on the basis on his own authority? The only question comes to be how the apostle Paul appears in his Epistles to be so indifferent to the historical facts of the life of Jesus…. He bears himself but little like a disciple who has received the doctrines and the principles which he preaches from the Master whose name he bears.”
Albert Schweitzer, the renowned physician and missionary, and winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, in The Quest for the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede, concluded correctly regarding the leader of the Christian parade: “Paul…did not desire to know Christ…. Paul shows us with what complete indifference the earthly life of Jesus was 389regarded…. What is the significance for our faith, the fact that the Gospel of Paul is different from the Gospel of Jesus?... The attitude which Paul himself takes up towards the Gospel of Jesus is that he does not repeat it in the words of Jesus, and does not appeal to its authority…. The fateful thing is that the Greek, the Catholic, and the Protestant theologies all contain the Gospel of Paul in a form which does not continue the Gospel of Jesus, but displaces it.” Other than the errant use of “Gospel of Jesus,” and the fact that the entire New Testament is a fraudulent, Schweitzer was correct.
Shortly thereafter, Schweitzer would write in The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, that Paul’s mysticism was “a union with the divinity brought about by efficacious ceremonies which were found even in quite primitive religions.” He compared Pauline mysticism to the Greek mystery-cults of the 1st century CE, including those attributed to Osiris and Mithras. He concluded, “Where possible, Paul avoids quoting the teaching of Jesus, in fact even mentioning it. If we had to rely on Paul, we should not know that Jesus taught in parables, had delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and had taught His Disciples about our Father. Even where they are especially relevant, Paul passes over the words of Jesus.”
Just prior to setting off for Africa, Schweitzer became convinced that the search for a historical “Jesus” was futile. He would write: “The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as the Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed. He is a figure designed by rationalism, endowed with life by liberalism, and clothed by modern theology in a historical garb. This image has not been destroyed from outside; it has fallen to pieces.”
While it has nothing to do with Paul, Schweitzer’s views on Colonialism are worth considering. He said as he 390was headed off to Africa: “Who can describe the injustice and cruelties that in the course of centuries the coloured peoples have suffered at the hands of Europeans?... If a record could be compiled of all that has happened between the white and the coloured races, it would make a book containing numbers of pages which the reader would have to turn over unread because their contents would be too horrible.”
Then in a sermon he preached on January 6, 1905, he said: “Our culture divides people into two classes: civilized men, a title bestowed on the persons who do the classifying; and others, who have only the human form, who may perish or go to the dogs for all the ‘civilized men’ care. Oh, this ‘noble’ culture of ours! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot, only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different color or because they cannot help themselves. This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk it is, how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there, and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights.
I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the pretext of justice. People robbed native inhabitants of their land, made slaves of them, let loose the scum of mankind upon them. Think of the atrocities that were perpetrated upon people made subservient to us, how systematically we have ruined them with our alcoholic 'gifts', and everything else we have done... We decimate them, and then, by the stroke of a pen, we take their land so they have nothing left at all.
If all this oppression and all this sin and shame are perpetrated under the eye of the German God, or the American God, or the British God, and if our states do not feel obliged first to lay aside their claim to be ‘Christian’ – 391then the name of Jesus is blasphemed and made a mockery. And the Christianity of our states is blasphemed and made a mockery before those poor people.
The name of Jesus has become a curse, and our Christianity — yours and mine – has become a falsehood and a disgrace, if the crimes are not atoned for in the very place where they were instigated. For every person who committed an atrocity in Jesus’ name, someone must step in to help in Jesus’ name; for every person who robbed, someone must bring a replacement; for everyone who cursed, someone must bless.
So now, when you speak about missions, let this be your message: We must make atonement for all the terrible crimes we read of in the newspapers. We must make atonement for the still worse ones, which we do not read about in the papers, crimes that are shrouded in the silence of the jungle night.”
The aforementioned 17th-century German theologian and professor, William Wrede, argued that “without Paul, Christianity would have become just another backwater Jewish sect that would have had little influence in later religious development.” He concluded: “Paul was the second [actually only] founder of Christianity.” He noted that “Paul was definitely influenced by certain Hellenistic concepts [Gnosticism], and as a result, his understanding of the flesh/spirit dualism, parallels that of many others who professed that matter itself was inherently corrupted.”
In his book simply named, Paulus, Wrede wrote: “The oblivious contradictions in the three accounts given by Paul in regard to his conversion are enough to arouse distrust…. The moral majesty of Jesus, his purity and piety, his ministry among his people, his manner as a prophet, the whole concrete ethical-religious content of his earthly life, signifies for Paul’s Christology nothing whatever…. The name ‘disciple of Jesus’ has little applicability to Paul…. 392Jesus or Paul: this alternative characterizes, at least in part, the religious and theological warfare of the present day.”
More recently, Marcello Craveri, in Life of Jesus, which he claimed was based on the Dead Sea Scrolls, argued that “the emphasis on the redeeming power of Christ’s death on the Cross could be seen as reworkings by Paul, who was probably influenced strongly by the Graeco-Roman traditions.” I do not suspect that two wrongs make a right.
Rudolf Bultman, yet another theologian, in Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul, published: “It is most obvious that Paul does not appeal to the words of the Lord in support of his…views. When the essentially Pauline conceptions are considered, it is clear that Paul is not dependent on Jesus. Jesus’ teaching is – to all intents and purposes – irrelevant for Paul.”
Walter Bauer, another noted scholar, in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, wrote: “If one may be allowed to speak rather pointedly, the Apostle Paul was the only Arch-Heretic known to the apostolic age.”
The English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, in Not Paul, but Jesus, surmised that if Christianity needed an Anti-Christ, they needed look no farther than Paul. In An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, Section VII, he published: “the two persons in question, as represented in the two sources of information – the Gospels (of Jesus) and Paul’s Epistles – two quite different, if not opposite, religions are inculcated. In Jesus may be found all the good that has ever been, but in the religion of Paul, all the mischief, which, in such disastrous abundance, has so indisputably flowed from it.”
H. L. Mencken, whom some consider among the most influential American writers of the first half of the 20th century, wrote in Notes on Democracy: “Is it argued by any 393rational man that the debased Christianity cherished by the mob in all the Christian countries of today, has any colorable likeness to the body of ideas preached by Christ? The plain fact is that this bogus Christianity has no more relation to the system of Christ than it has to Aristotle. It is the invention of Paul and his attendant rabble-rousers – a body of men exactly comparable to the corps of evangelical pastors of today, which is to say, a body devoid of sense and lamentably indifferent to common honesty. The mob, having heard Christ, turned against Him. His theological ideas were too logical and plausible for it, and His ethical ideas were enormously too austere. What it yearned for was the old comfortable balderdash under a new and gaudy name, and that is precisely what Paul offered it. He borrowed from all the wandering dervishes and body-snatchers of Asia Minor, and flavored the stew with remnants of Greek demonology. The result was a code of doctrines so discordant and so nonsensical that no two men since, examining it at length, have ever agreed upon its precise meaning. Paul remains the arch theologian of the mob. His turgid and witless metaphysics make Christianity bearable to men who would otherwise be repelled by Christ’s simple and magnificent reduction of the duties of man.”
You get the point. A person must be either ignorant or irrational to believe Paul. And that is why religion is synonymous with faith, not reason.
It is telling that, while these well-spoken individuals understood that it was absurd to conclude that Paul spoke for “Jesus Christ,” not one of them was sufficiently informed and rational to deduce the realization that no one by the name of “Jesus” lived in the 1st century. Further, had there been such a fellow, he could not have been the Christ or the Son of God since both titles were obviously and undeniably afforded to Dowd | David. Moreover, when one studies what Paul wrote, it becomes obvious that Luke was 394his propagandist and that they recruited Mark to create Gospels to serve Paul’s unGodly agenda. And lastly, since none of these men compared Paul’s citations to Yahowah’s testimony, they missed the most obvious and compelling means to obliterate Paul’s credibility.
Said another way, the four volumes of Questioning Paul are unparalleled in their effectiveness. The same is true with Prophet of Doom and Babel. But then again, I had an advantage over all of the others and all who have lived during the past 2,000 years – I know Yahowah and am supported by Him.
Returning to Yahowah’s indictment of this man and those who would advance his lies, Yasha’yah reveals:
“Woe, this is a warning (howy – alas, this disastrous and destructive situation can ruin a person, so this is a cautionary tale) to the one among those who call (ha ‘amar – the one who says, ascribes, presents, praises, and declares (qal active participle – a verbal adjective in which the subject is the actor who influences the object)) that which is evil (la ha ra’ – that which is wrong, contemptible, malicious, noxious, worthless, miserable, and injurious) good (towb – correct, beneficial, generous, beautiful, enjoyable, and pleasing) and (wa) that which is good (la ha towb – that which is correct, beneficial, generous, valuable, beautiful, and pleasing) evil (ra’ – wrong, contemptible, malicious, noxious, worthless, harmful, miserable, and injurious, even hindering and bad), who replaces (sym – moves to set in place, appointing in a new location (qal participle active)) darkness (choshek – blackness, the total absence of light, obscurity and the cause of ignorance and confusion, the condition under which evil thrives and death prevails) for (la) light (‘owr – energy and enlightenment, the essence of time and source of guidance, prosperity, good judgment, and life) and (wa) light (‘owr – energy and enlightenment, the essence of time and source of guidance, prosperity, good judgment, and 395life) for (la) darkness (choshek – blackness, the total absence of light, obscurity and the cause of ignorance and confusion, the condition under which evil thrives and death prevails), who replaces (sym – moves to set in place, appointing in a new location (qal participle active)) that which is bitter and anguishing (mar – the poison of disagreeable despair of obstinate rebellion and defiance of a wicked whore) for (la) that which is sweet and pleasant (mathowq – that which is nourishing and acceptable, even enjoyable) and (wa) that which makes one pleasing (mathowq – that which is nourishing and pleasant, acceptable and enjoyable, sweet) for (la) poison which embitters and anguishes (mar – the toxic mix of disagreeable despair and obstinate rebellion akin to the defiance of a wicked whore).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:20)
This is the very definition of babel, of the Christian Bible’s propensity to intermix truth and lies, good and bad, light and darkness, that which nourishes with that which poisons. The purpose, of course, is to confuse by corrupting God’s message, inverting His witness. Of this, Paul was a maestro.
There is nothing worse than a half-truth. An outright lie is so clearly false that very few are fooled by it. But by blending truth and lies together, the lies appear credible. It is what made Christianity so dangerous, so contagious. Those who prioritize faith over reason, and Paul’s letters over the Towrah, have no defense against it.
And while ignorance is deadly, there is something far more contemptible. Those who mislead under false pretenses are vastly more dangerous and deplorable.
“Woe, this is a warning (howy – alas, this disastrous and destructive situation can ruin a person, so this is a cautionary tale) to the learned and scholarly, the crafty and cunning (chakam – the wise, the subtle, and shrewd 396who piously impart their wisdom) in their own eyes (ba ‘ayn hem – in their own sight and from their perspective, giving the impression and outward appearance of understanding) and (wa) to those making connections (byn – separating and associating things (nifal participle passive – here the subject carries out and is influenced by the action of the verb which serves to depict his nature)) as a contrarian (neged – as one who is the opposite who implies a public position that is a counterpart to the light) through their appearance and public persona (paneh hem – their presence and personal existence).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:21)
Yahowah encourages us to understand by “byn – making appropriate connections.” This is not an indictment against the proper approach to comprehension. It is instead a warning to those who make inappropriate connections as a contrarian. It is an indictment against Christian apologists.
Presidents and kings, popes and generals, are powerful and influential. This puts them in conflict with God. In fact, the reason Christians celebrate Easter and Christmas today is because Rome’s Legions worshiped Mithras – and the sun god’s most important celebrations occurred during the Vernal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. To appease them and retain their loyalty, Roman Emperors amalgamated Mithraism into Christianity.
“Woe, this is a warning (howy – alas, this disastrous and destructive situation can ruin a person, so this is a cautionary tale) to the powerful and influential, to politicians and military heroes (gibowr – to the strong and mighty, to the valiant soldiers and warriors, to the most prominent individuals in positions of leadership within a society, to those who fight for power and prevail, acting proudly, demonstrating an uncommon determination and ability to fight) as a result of (la) becoming drunk by consuming (shatah – drinking and experiencing the 397intoxicating influence of) wine (yayn – becoming inebriated; from an unused root meaning to effervesce) and (wa) to individuals (‘ysh – men) of nobility and wealth (chayl – who are physically strong, politically enabled, militarily powerful, and religiously and socially effective) with regard to (la) mingling and mixing together (masak – combining and pouring out, producing a blend) intoxicants which impair judgment (shekar – inebriating libations which intoxicate and debilitate), (5:22) who justify and acquit (tsadaq – who validate and declare righteous) those who are wicked and evil (rasha’ – those who are guilty of being in opposition, who are invalid and incorrect) as a quid pro quo to gain influence (sochad – for a bribe or tribute, to gain favor), thereby (wa) turning away and removing (suwr – turning aside and forsaking, rejecting and vanquishing, depriving and abandoning (hifil imperfect active)) those who are upright and righteous, correct and vindicated (tsadaqah tsadyqym – those who are right, innocent, and just, honest and truthful, and in accord with the Towrah) from (min – away from) Him (huw’).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:23)
Wine is often used as a metaphor, just as drunkenness is typically symbolic of having one’s judgment impaired, especially under Satanic influences. While America has a serious problem with intoxicants, from alcohol to illicit drugs, from marijuana to prescription medicines, this is likely addressing an inability to process information in a timely fashion and respond properly. Just as an intoxicated woman cannot provide consent, we are incapacitated by our inability to think, effectively nullifying the advantages of having a conscience and freewill.
I think what God is saying here is that if you want to be a Christian, He does not care. You are free to squander your soul by believing Paul. But you are not free to publicly justify your greed or your religion, and thereby negatively 398influence God’s people. Yahowah realizes that we must think our way to Him, and so anyone who impairs that ability will suffer the consequence.
Bringing this all together, in the fourth refrain, God revealed…
“Woe, this is a warning regarding a disastrous and destructive situation which can ruin a person, so this is a cautionary tale to those who take the lead in promoting error by twisting and distorting in a boisterous and agonizing religious parade of error, futility, and vanity, of worthless lies, pagan gods, idolatrous images, and false and empty promises.
As with the ties that bind on the harness of a cart of sin, (5:18) the one among them says without thinking and out of anxiety over the future, ‘He should want to hurry.
I want Him to swoop down and accelerate His work so that we may see it. So then, let the counsel of the cross and painful advice of the ‘Holy One’ of Israel approach and present itself because we want to have it revealed and shown to us. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:19)
Woe, this is a warning to the one among those who call that which is evil, that which is wrong, contemptible, malicious, noxious, worthless, miserable, and injurious, good, correct, beneficial, generous, enjoyable, and pleasing, and that which is good wrong, who replaces darkness, obscurity and the cause of ignorance and confusion for light and enlightenment, the essence of time and source of guidance, and light for darkness, who replaces that which is bitter and anguishing, disagreeable in obstinate rebellion and defiance for that which is sweet and pleasant, nourishing and acceptable, even enjoyable, and that which makes one pleasing and acceptable for poison 399which embitters through a toxic mix of obstinate rebellion. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 20)
Woe, this is a warning to the learned and scholarly, the crafty and cunning in their own eyes and from their perspective, giving the impression and outward appearance of understanding and to those making connections as a contrarian through their appearance and public persona. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:21)
Woe, this is a warning to the powerful and influential, to politicians and military heroes as a result of becoming drunk by consuming wine, becoming inebriated, and to individuals of nobility and wealth with regard to mingling and mixing together intoxicants which impair judgment, (5:22) who justify and acquit those who are wicked and evil as a quid pro quo to gain influence, thereby turning away and rejecting those who are upright and righteous, correct and vindicated from Him.” (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:23)
What is the advantage to a man who accumulates a fortune on earth, and who lords over many, if he forfeits his soul in the process?
The fifth stanza of Yahowah’s song to His beloved contains yet another warning. It is spoken against everyone who is religious or political. Christians, especially, having come to cherish Paul’s letters, have rejected and despised Yahowah’s Towrah. But they are not alone. Muslims believe that their Quran has replaced the Towrah. Religious Jews deliberately substituted their Talmud for the Towrah. And Socialist Secular Humanists are at war with it, creating a social order that is the antithesis of what God intended.
400The consequence of rejecting the Towrah is to wither and rot away. Life is but a short affair from dust to dust.
So why would anyone do so? Why avoid the Word of God? Why would anyone treat His promises with contempt? Why belittle the Almighty? Or may I pose the question this way: why do those who claim to be preaching God’s Word despise what He had to say?
“Therefore then (la ken – likewise thereafter, thus as a result in the sequence of events), just as (ka) a tongue (lashown – the message (used as a metaphor for language)) of fire (‘esh – of flames of radiant energy and light) devours (‘akal – which consumes) the chaff (qash – the dry husks of grain which are discarded and blown away by the wind) and (wa) the scorching blaze (lehabah – the white-hot and gleaming flames) withers (raphah – incapacitates so as to hang limp and feeble, collapsing) the dry and combustible foliage (chashash – dry grass and brittle and dead leaves of fruit trees which are of little value and burn readily), their roots (soresh hem – the base of the plant which anchors it in the soil and nourishes it) accordingly (ka – likewise) become (hayah – coming to be) rotten with the stench of decay (maq – decomposed, producing an offensive odor).
And their (wa hem) blossoms (perach – buds, the beginning stage of fruit, young shoots, and flowers; related to perachach – brood and young) are like (ka) the dust (ha ‘abaq – the ashes; from ‘abaq – that which pulverized like powder and thus blows and floats away because it is so small and insignificant) which is carried away (‘alah – which is sacrificed, stirred up and then disparaged and ridiculed in a way that is not right, similar to a burnt offering in a holocaust), because (ky – for the express reason that indeed) they have rejected and come to despise (ma’as – they have come to loathe and have avoided any association with, holding in contempt, refusing to accept (qal perfect)) the Towrah (‘eth Towrah 401– an association with the Source from which Teaching, Guidance, Direction, and Instruction Flow) of Yahowah (Yahowah – an accurate transliteration of the name YaHoWaH, our ‘elowah – God as guided by His towrah – instructions regarding His hayah – existence and our shalowm – reconciliation) of the vast array of spiritual messengers (tsaba’ – of the host of heavenly envoys, energy-based implements mustered to serve as conscripts appointed and predisposed under the command of the Almighty to go forth, carrying out and interpreting His will, engaging to fight on God’s behalf).
The instructive word and promise (‘eth ‘imrah – an association with that which has been communicated to teach and to show the intent) of the Set-Apart One (qadowsh – the One who is separated from the mundane, prepared and dedicated) of Yisra’el (Yisra’el – Individuals who Engage and Endure with God) they spurn, have discarded, and treat with contempt (na’ats – they dislike and hate, they belittle, show no regard for, and do not value, they revile and blaspheme, dishonoring and slandering (piel perfect)).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:24)
Yahowah has returned to using metaphors. A tongue of fire is indicative of His Word, spoken boldly. It devours religious rhetoric. Man’s schemes are scorched in its presence. And those who would challenge the Almighty are incapacitated by His testimony. Their foundation rots and their brood is blown away.
The fiery light is the Towrah, the very Word of God. It can consume or nourish, burn or enlighten, destroy or empower, depending upon one’s attitude toward Yahowah’s Guidance.
Animosity toward Yahowah’s Towrah is mankind’s biggest problem, our most egregious error. And I was once counted among them. Four decades ago, I was a Christian, 402an ordained elder and trained evangelist who led public prayers and Bible studies. It was not until I discovered that the text of Christian Bibles cannot be trusted that I began to reject the religion that had sought to mislead me. I began to study the Towrah and Prophets and translate what God had to say.
What I found was astounding. Yahowah proves His existence and authorship through prophecy. He isn’t religious and does not want to be worshiped. He wants to serve as our Father. Moreover, His Towrah was written to immortalize and perfect us, to adopt and enrich us. His one and only Covenant is everlasting.
There are five conditions that must be accepted for us to participate in God’s Family and five benefits, each of which is facilitated through His Invitations to Meet. Everything we need to know about God to engage in a relationship with Him is provided in the Towrah and Prophets.
To reject the Towrah, therefore, is to reject Yahowah and to forfeit one’s soul. To reject God’s Guidance is to reject the instruction and promises of God and thus to remain ignorant about the things that matter most.
Considering our relative position, where He is the Creator and we are His creations, it’s not surprising that this rejection offends Yahowah. When one realizes what God is offering and what He has done on our behalf, man’s contempt for Him must be unimaginably irritating and frustrating.
Imagine holding your hand out to a drowning man, only to have him slap it away and curse you. God did what a loving Father must do when He realized that His child’s behavior had become deadly. It takes hard love to get the attention of someone exhibiting self-destructive and suicidal behavior.
403“Accordingly, therefore (‘al ken – as a result it follows as a consequence, one thing flowing out of the other), the anger (‘aph – the resentment, animosity, and displeasure, the result of being annoyed, antagonized, and provoked to show a contrasting consequence) of Yahowah (Yahowah – the proper pronunciation of the name of YaHoWaH, our ‘elowah – God as directed in His towrah – teaching regarding His hayah existence and our shalowm – restoration) was aroused (charah – was kindled out of deep concern, out of a strong feeling of displeasure and a zealous desire) with (ba) His people (‘am huw’ – His family).
And (wa) He stretched out and turned (natah – He extended and turned aside (qal imperfect)) His hand (yad huw’ – His power and influence) upon them (‘al huw’ – over them) and (wa) struck them, hoping that they would regret what they had done (nakah / nakeh huw’ – lowered their status, chastising them, accosting them physically to disable them with the intent of them becoming contrite, remorseful, regretful, and apologetic). And the mountains (wa ha har – so the highest hills and elevated terrain) were shaken (ragaz – quaked and trembled) so that there were (wa hayah – and there came to be) the likenesses (ka) of their corpses (nabelah hem – of their carcasses and dead bodies) which were unwanted and poised to be swept away (suwchah – which were worthless rubbish to be thrown out) in the midst (ba qereb – in the middle) of their streets and public places (chuwts – of the places outside where people congregate and travel).
In all of this (ba kol zo’th – with all of these things), His animosity and displeasure (‘aph huw’ – His resentment and anger, His annoyance at having been antagonized, grieved, and provoked) did not return (lo’ shuwb – did not change) and so His hand (wa yad huw’) is still (‘owd – remains subsequently and repeatedly, even 404now and continuously to sustain and admonish, to bear witness and as a warning, to return and to restore) outstretched (natah – He extended (qal passive participle – indicating that God is genuinely affected by how we respond to His outreach)).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:25)
I feel sorry for God, especially after all He has done for His people. Any other response would show that He did not love them, that He no longer cared, and that He had given up on them.
And yet, through it all, His helping hand remains outstretched. He remains willing and able to lift His children up. Revealing His desire to do this very thing while sharing the plan He has articulated to accomplish it, has become my life’s mission. It is the reason these books exist.
As a result, I’m wondering if the following standard may refer to what we have been doing. The surrounding context appears to be a perfect fit. Yahowah began by declaring that He was singing this song on behalf of Dowd, the man we have focused upon far more than any other. He then named Sha’uwl as the individual most responsible for destroying Dowd’s work, something I’ve been saying for more than a decade.
Yahowah’s purpose and plan are best understood when God’s relationship with these two men is compared. Further, I am the first, and from what I can tell, the only, person to systematically denounce Paul by comparing his letters to Yahowah’s testimony. No one has heretofore considered the irreconcilable conflicts between Paul’s denunciations of the Towrah and its Author’s affirmation of it, much less how he could be credible contradicting the God he claimed inspired him.
Ignorance of the Towrah by some and animosity toward it by others were cited as the reasons Yisra’el was 405suffering. I not only concur, more than anything we are devoted to espousing the virtues of Yahowah’s Towrah while explaining how to apply God’s guidance to our lives.
So, could it be true, could the banner which is lifted up by Yahowah in a faraway place on behalf of those living in Gentile nations, at this time, be Yada Yahowah, An Introduction to God, Coming Home, Babel, Questioning Paul, and Observations? And if not, what?
“Then (wa) He will lift up (nasa’ – He will bring forth and raise up, accept and make prominent, bear and support (qal perfect – literally and totally for a period of time)) a standard serving as a banner and signal (nes – sign, banner; from neses meaning to lift up; nes is masculine singular) for the Gentile nations (la ha gowym – to approach and on behalf of a confluence of many different people living outside of Yisra’el) from far away (min rachowq – from afar, a great distance away in the distant future) and (wa) He will attract attention non-verbally (sharaq – He will reveal the signal by drawing attention (used to describe the piping (that which pierces the air and penetrates the ears) of a shepherd calling for his sheep)) to it (la huw’ – to Him and it (masculine singular and thus addressing the standard which God has lifted up)) from (min) the ends (qatsah – the far extremity at the end of time and distant limits) of the earth (ha ‘erets – of the land and material realm).
And behold (wa hineh – pay attention at this time, especially to the details, be observant, reach up and look up), in a very brief period of time (maherah – quickly and rapidly), voiced at the speed of light (qal – swiftly and speedily, nimbly and agilely moving from one place to another while lightly esteemed by many; from qowl – the sound of one’s voice calling out aloud), it and he will come (bow’ – it/he will arrive and he will be pursued and then he will return (in the context of someone serving as an implement to facilitate Yah’s voice returning to the world) 406(qal imperfect third-person masculine singular active)).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:26)
As we consider whether there is someone else living outside of Israel at this time who is engaged in exposing and condemning each of the three religions that have commingled truth and lies in their attempt to usurp the credibility derived from their incredulous association with Yahowah’s Towrah and Prophets, who is at the same time devoted to sharing Yahowah’s message as it is presented in His Towrah as accurately and completely as is possible, who is unwavering in disseminating that message, is anyone else even considering the intent of Yasha’yah 5 as we are now doing?
When pondering whether or not a “standard serving as a banner or signal” is an appropriate depiction of these books, the multitude of interviews, and a considerable number of Towrah programs, let’s examine the etymology of Nes | Banner. It is “a prominent insignia hoisted high upon an upright pole for all to see serving as an ensign and signal to convey important information which should be followed to bring people into the proper encampment.”
In other words, it is not the entire message, but instead something that serves to direct those who notice it in the right direction. Nes is from neses, meaning “to lift up.”
It is a really big, some might say verbose, banner, but yet, it is infinitesimally small when compared to the source from which it was derived. All we are doing is waving what we have discovered up in the air hoping that those who are interested will go to the source and learn about Yahowah.
The twenty-two years that we have been engaged in this mission when compared to the 6,000 years that have transpired since ‘Adam and Chawah were expelled from the Garden, and especially 14 billion years since Yahowah began creating the universe, is short by any measure. And our task is finite. It will serve no purpose after Yahowah’s 407return. At that time, He will inscribe His Towrah inside of us, rendering my feeble efforts of translating it, obsolete.
You may recall based on what I shared in the chapter devoted to the 91st Mizmowr, I negotiated with God, requesting considerations which are reflected in this prophecy. I was willing to do the research, compile the findings, and be available to share what I had learned so long as Yahowah took responsibility for distributing the message. I would inscribe His words on the banner, and He would lift it up for the world to see it. Even the means of broadcasting the message to the world is consistent with what has been made available to us – the internet. Without it, relatively few would have heard my voice or would have had access to these books.
As for the speed at which these words are shared, they are indeed transmitted at the speed of light. From the moment a chapter or show is complete, it is made available for everyone the world over to see and hear.
Moving on to Yahowah’s next prophetic statement, there is an important, albeit subtle, difference between the Great Isaiah Scroll and the Masoretic Text. The reference to “not growing weary” is masculine singular in 1QIsa and stands alone. Further, “‘ayeph – growing tired” is a verb, rather than an adjective. But the biggest difference is that the Masoretic Text reads “no one among them,” suggesting that there are many banners being lifted up instead of one.
Based on what follows, the banner that is lifted up for the world to see and the person assisting with it are shown as indistinguishable and inseparable, indicating that Yahowah is going to do as He has always done: convey His message through the most flawed of implements – man.
Each of the following references depicts an individual who tirelessly engages without wavering and whose approach is so stimulating it cannot be ignored. He is prepared for action and girded for battle, so much so that 408he is never susceptible to attack. Nothing prevents him from going where he intends.
And while that assessment is obviously overly hyping this individual’s preparation and performance, keep in mind that the individual isn’t acting alone. Yahowah is engaged, and thus so are His tsaba’ of mal’ak, to ensure that the implement is used in the most far-reaching, appropriate, and productive manner. In other words, this person is simply a willing, passionate, wholly committed, steadfast, and energetic tool.
“Without becoming weary (‘ayn ‘ayeph – devoid of a debilitating weakness and not prone to exhaustion, not requiring much rest and seldom growing tired (qal participle active masculine singular – serving as a descriptive verbal adjective of a single masculine entity or individual to reveal something which is actually true whereby the subject acts to influence the object)) and also (wa) without stumbling or wavering (‘ayn kashal – never being brought down or failing as a result of a contradiction, backtracking, or losing control, and therefore, steadfast (qal participle active masculine singular – serving as a descriptive verbal adjective of a single masculine entity or individual to reveal something which is actually true whereby the subject acts to influence the object)), with him and it (ba huw’ – around it (the banner) and near him (third-person masculine singular)), no one becomes drowsy (lo’ nuwm – no one slumbers (qal imperfect third-person masculine singular active)) or (wa) falls asleep (lo’ yashen – no one is put to sleep or remains inactive (third-person masculine singular)).
Additionally (wa), the belt demonstrating that he is prepared and ready for action (‘ezowr – the waistband used to secure his clothing and gird him for battle (masculine singular)) will not be loosened or undone (lo’ pathach – will not be opened, indicating that he will never be susceptible to attack [that which is preventing him from 409attack is feminine in 1QIsa (and thus spiritual) and masculine in the MT] (nifal perfect passive third-person masculine singular – during this finite period of time his preparation delivers these results)) around his waist (chaltsym huw’ – his loins (most vulnerable area) between his ribs and hips, the center of his being, the source of his passion; from chalats – demonstrating that he is empowered, properly equipped, prepared, and supported, even delivered and saved (dual third-person masculine singular)).
And (wa) the connecting strap (sarowk – the thong or means of attachment) of his sandals (na’al huw’ – protective foot ware comprised of a sole fastened in place by a thong, loop, or strap) shall not be torn nor snapped (lo’ nathaq – will not be pulled off, broken, nor cease to function (nifal perfect passive third-person masculine singular)).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:27)
This may be one of the many times that Yahowah predicted that we would translate His Word as accurately and completely as possible and share the insights provided therein. He dearly loves working with flawed implements and with those lacking impressive credentials.
But there is no missing the fact we have done this very thing together, exposing Pauline Christianity while espousing the Towrah from a distant place relative to Yisra’el and in a future time on behalf of people from many races and places. There is no refuting that we have been tireless and steadfast, never giving up and never wavering, always prepared and ready to engage. I have been called many names, but never boring. Even the details fit, as you will almost always find me in sandals.
The banner and the individual responsible for it are masculine singular, but nothing is preventing other men and women from participating – and indeed, many have. 410This is a collective effort. And in this way, Yasha’yah 5 is akin to Mizmowr 91. Just because both prophetic declarations were about an individual’s willingness to engage and do as Yahowah desires, and receiving His support and protection in the process, that does not preclude others from participating. Yahowah would be thrilled to find and support a thousand Covenant members doing as much and more.
But if for the moment there is only one, the prophecy is being fulfilled. The arguments we have presented against Pauline Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are compelling, as are those chronicled against Islam, taking direct aim at the heart of these religions, piercing them to their core. No one has been able to refute anything written in any of them. And as this suggests, along with the arguments against religion, readers are exposed to Yahowah’s instruction and teaching, even His guidance on the merits of light and life in the Covenant.
What follows deploys symbolic language, just as was the case with the vineyard. Piercing arrows are indicative of properly directed and penetrating arguments that hit the mark and are forceful and compelling. Along these lines and recognizing this was written two thousand seven hundred years ago when the fastest form of locomotion was a horse-drawn vehicle, there were words to describe the benefits of having access to a horse with sharp hooves and a chariot with whirling wheels. But that is not what I have, nor is it what I think these words are inferring. The tool I have at my disposal to facilitate my ability to deliver Yahowah’s message is an airplane, in particular, a sleek, fast, turboprop. And that is what these words strive to depict using the nomenclature of the day.
“To show the way to the benefits of the relationship (‘asher – fortuitously as a blessing by taking a stand on how to walk along the correct path which gives meaning to life) his (huw’ – third-person masculine singular) arrows 411(chets – shots and missiles (used to depict directed and penetrating arguments); from chatsab – that which he digs out, separates, and engraves in writing) are piercing (shanan – sharp and cutting and thus forceful and compelling (qal passive participle)) and (wa) all of his bows (kol qesheth huw’ – every system he uses to deliver his piercing and instructive shots is powerful and potent, akin to a rainbow demonstrating every facet of light’s seven-color spectrum as a sign of the Covenant) shoot effectively to show the way (darak – are prepared to propel his shots down the proper path, guiding and directing people to the proper course of life; from derek – providing direction for a journey along a path (qal passive participle)).
His (huw’) swift flying transport’s (sus – enjoyable swallow (a.k.a. a sleek and fast airplane) or horses’) landing gear (parsah – curved feet of a large bird or winged creature (a.k.a. aircraft) or hooves) is ingeniously crafted (chashab – is skillfully invented and planned, is machined, technically designed, devised, and produced, is considered, imputed, and thought to be) as straightforward and refined (ka ha tsar – as small and narrow, as akin to knives which spark like flint, as hard on foes and hostile toward opponents; from tsarar –vexing, testing, purging, and refining, tending to shut people up, treating foes with enmity, frustrating them).
And (wa) his (huw’) propeller, serving as the round whirling device which makes his vehicle move (galgal – round, turning implement for transportation akin to a paddle wheel, rotating and swirling wind-producing structure), is like a whirlwind (ka ha suwphah – blows a strong and straight column of wind in a circular fashion; from suwph – serving to complete and fulfill a promise in the end).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:28)
412This is clearly poetic language, but not without a purpose. And while it could well be describing his horse with sharp hooves being skillfully invented with wheels turning like the wind or his swift flying transport, replete with ingeniously crafted landing gear which is straightforward and refined along with a propeller blowing a column of air behind it, neither represent the intent of these words. The man engaged with Yahowah who assisted with the banner moves around and travels quickly and yet never loses his footing. The tools at his disposal were skillfully invented and technical in nature. And by deploying them, he stirs up a whirlwind of commotion, all designed to fulfill Yahowah’s promise in the end.
This is not only a fitting depiction of my TBM850, a sleek and fast turboprop with a composite propeller and replete with narrow retractable gear, but it may also be hinting at the fact that I’ve traveled by air to over 150 countries around the world. Without that exposure, without the lessons and perspective garnered by having flown throughout the world, I would not have been equipped or prepared to participate in this mission.
There are 550,000 pilots in the United States, and only a quarter of them hold an Arline Transport Pilot Certificate. While this represents five one-hundredths of one percent of Americans, less than half of these ATPs own their own airplane. And just a tenth of those fly a turboprop or turbojet. As such, I am a rare bird.
The young lion is the symbol of Yahuwdah, the family of Dowd, the home of Yaruwshalaim, Mowryah, Tsyown, and the Covenant. And while I am an old lion to be sure, my roar belies my age. And to the degree that my proclivities may matter, my prowess is in reconciling those willing to listen with Yah.
Equipped with Yah’s Word, I have never lost a debate. And no matter the threat, I have never been harmed. As for 413those whose message I challenge, those engaged in promoting the indefensible are always too far gone to be saved. They are challenged and tested, not for their benefit, but instead on behalf of others not nearly so lost in the delusions of man.
“His (huw’) roaring (sha’agah – loud and blaring guttural tone) approaches (la) like (ka) a great old lion (ha laby’ – a mighty and mature lion serving as the symbol of Yahuwdah). And so (wa) his thunderous roar (sha’ag – his loud shouts and mighty cry) is like (ka) the prowess of a young reconciling lion (ha kaphyr – an aggressive youthful lion making atonement; from kaphar – to reconcile, reunite, and resolve (serving as the basis for Kipurym)).
He grasps hold of (‘achaz – he seizes, taking hold of) the beast being pursued (tereph – tearing up and devouring prey) and he survives unharmed (wa palat – and he is spared any hardship, delivered from danger, escaping without trouble).
And (wa) no one (‘ayn – nothing) can defend or save it (natsal – can deliver it (speaking of the one being pursued by him (Muhammad, Paul, and Akiba))).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:29)
To the best of my knowledge, I am a mutt, part Sioux and part Irish – mostly Celtic and Roman if we delve into a time long past. If I am a descendant of Yahuwdah, I am unaware of it. And yet, this seems to suggest that I may either embody or represent some of the young and reconciling lion’s attributes. Most assuredly, I Relate to Yah and thanks to the Beryth and Miqra’ey, I am Related to Yah. And even if my DNA excludes me from being one of Ya’aqob’s children, I am proud to be part of the same family by way of his grandfather’s Covenant.
I do not hunt, at least in the sense of targeting animals with guns or arrows. I do not much enjoy killing. But I have 414never backed down from a war of words, from pursuing those who corrupt Yahowah’s message.
This is true as it relates to us. In our time we have become a relentless Gentile voice growling about what is happening in the Land of Yisra’el. We see the darkness of religion, politics, and militants suffocating the life out of it. We are deeply concerned about the restrictions being imposed on Yahowah’s people and place. We see His light being obscured.
“He will growl (naham – he will roar like a lion (speak like Yahuwdah)) over it (‘al huw’ – before the Mighty One, addressing his relationship to the standard and banner raised by the Almighty) in that day (ba ha yowm ha huw’ – in his time) like (ka) the relentless sound of the sea (nahamah yam – surging surf of the ocean (suggesting that he will be a Gentile)).
And when (wa) he looks toward (nabat la – he observes and perceives, shows concern for and considers, pays attention to as a result of his regard for the direction of (piel perfect)) the Land (ha ‘erets – the material realm and especially, Yahuwdah and Yisra’el), then behold (wa hineh – paying attention and looking at what is occurring there now): darkness (choshek – ignorance and confusion without enlightenment), anguish and adversity due to the imposed restrictions (tsar – hostile enemies and pent-up strife, unfavorable circumstances and open opposition, dire straits and affliction due to a narrowing of the nation, making it particularly small). And (wa) light (‘owr – illumination) is obscured (chashak – grows dim, becomes deficient, is shadowed and darkened) by (ba – with) thick clouds (‘aryph – vapor in the atmosphere).” (Yasha’yah / Salvation is from Yahowah / Isaiah 5:30)
The storm is coming. It is going to get very dark before the Light returns.
415The fifth and concluding refrain of Yahowah’s love song strikes a note close to home.
“Therefore then and as a result in the sequence of events, just as a tongue of fire using the radiant energy of light devours the chaff, the dry and ultimately lifeless husks of grain which are discarded and blown away by the wind and the scorching blaze withers and incapacitates the dry and combustible foliage which is of little value and burns readily, their roots accordingly and likewise become rotten with the stench of decay, and their blossoms, speaking of their brood and young, are like the dust and akin to ashes, pulverized like powder that blows away because it is so small and insignificant, which is carried away, having been disparaged and ridiculed, because they have rejected and come to despise any association with, refusing to accept the Towrah of Yahowah of the vast array of spiritual messengers.
The instructive word and promise of the Set-Apart One of Yisra’el they spurn, have discarded, and treat with contempt. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:24)
Accordingly, therefore, and as a consequence, the anger, resentment, animosity, and displeasure of Yahowah was aroused out of deep concern, strong feelings, and a zealous desire for His people and family.
He stretched out and turned His hand upon them and struck them, hoping that they would regret what they had done. So, the mountains were shaken so that there were the likenesses of their corpses which were unwanted and poised to be swept away in the midst of their streets and public places.
In all of this, His animosity and displeasure did not return nor change and so His hand is still outstretched and extended. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:25)
416And so then He will lift, bring forth, and raise up and support a standard serving as a banner and signal, a prominent sign hoisted high upon an upright pole for all to see serving to convey important information which should be followed to bring people into the proper encampment, which will be anointed, set apart, prepared, designated, and authorized to serve by pouring out proof which can be tested for the Gentile nations, from far away, remote in distance and time. He will attract attention non-verbally to it, as a shepherd calling for His sheep, from the ends of the earth.
And behold, pay attention at this time, especially to the details, be observant, reach up and look up, in a very brief period of time, voiced at the speed of light, it and he will come. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:26)
Without becoming weary and also without stumbling or wavering, backtracking or losing control, with him and it, no one slumbers or falls asleep, remaining inactive.
Additionally, the belt demonstrating that he is prepared and ready for action will not be loosened or undone around his waist, demonstrating that he is empowered, properly equipped, prepared, and supported, even kept safe, and the connecting strap of his sandals shall not be torn nor snapped. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:27)
To show the way to the benefits of the relationship his arrows (used to depict directed and penetrating arguments) are piercing, forceful, and compelling and all of his bows (every system he uses to deliver his piercing and instructive shots is powerful and potent) shoot effectively to show the way.
His swift flying transport’s landing gear is ingeniously crafted as straightforward and refined, tending to shut people up, and his propeller, serving as 417the round spinning device which makes his vehicle move is like a whirlwind, blowing a strong and straight column of air while serving to complete and fulfill the promise in the end. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:28)
His roaring guttural tone approaches like a great old lion, serving as the symbol of Yahuwdah. And so his thunderous roar is like the prowess of a young reconciling lion calling Yahuwdah to Kipurym.
He grasps hold of the beast being pursued (Muhammad, Paul, Akiba, Imperial Rome, and the Roman Catholic Church) and he survives unharmed. And no one and nothing can defend or save itself. (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:29)
He will growl, speaking like Yahuwdah before the Mighty One, and over the standard and banner the Almighty has raised in that day like the relentless sound of the sea (indicating that he will be a Gentile).
And when he looks toward, showing concern for and considering the Land, then behold, paying attention and looking at what is occurring there now: darkness, ignorance, and confusion without enlightenment, anguish and adversity due to the imposed restrictions and open opposition. And light is obscured by thick clouds.” (Yasha’yah / Isaiah 5:30)
We have covered a lot of ground, and made many new discoveries, since we began Observations with Mashal | Proverbs 6 and 7. Our journey through the first five chapters of Yasha’yah | Isaiah has been riveting, with Yahowah systematically condemning religion and those who promote it.
Our willingness to consider Dowd’s example and advice has paid dividends. But apart from the possible exception of Mizmowr | Psalm 91, nothing we’ve encountered thus far has been as personal – directly 418encompassing and acknowledging all that we have sought to convey. We should all be a bit humbled that our Creator would recognize us in His Word and be energized knowing that we are a beloved implement making a real difference around the world.
