Greece Rising

What does the Winter Olympics have to do with the return of Jesus?

This week the XXII Winter Olympics come to a close.  The Winter Olympics were first played in 1924.  Before that figure skating and ice hockey had been part of the 1920 Summer Olympics.  These events proved popular so the need for a separate Winter Olympics was created for sports that were impossible to play in the summer like Nordic Skiing.  That is why there have been eight more Summer Olympics than Winter Olympics.

 The Summer Olympics have been going since 1896 under the auspices of the IOC (International Olympic Committee).   Before that there were various games titled as Olympics that were internal to a single country or region of a country until Evangelos Zappas, a Greek multi-millionaire, hosted the first multinational Olympics in Athens, Greece in 1859.  There were competitors from Greece and the Ottoman Empire at those games.  He then built the first modern Olympic stadium in Athens, the Panatheniac Stadium, where the multinational Olympics were again hosted in 1870 and 1875.  The first international Olympics were then held in the same stadium in 1896 after being refurbished by another Greek multi-millionaire named George Averoff.  The stadium was refurbished according to the plan of a Greek architect named Anastasios Metaxas.   The first president of the IOC was another Greek named Demetrius Vikelas.  It was changes to the format of the Olympics that the Greeks made during the intercalary (out of normal sequence) Olympics at Athens in 1912 that saved the Olympics from extinction.  This format is still used today.  Athens again hosted the 2004 Olympics in the Panatheniac Stadium after handily beating out all other competitors.  After all, the Olympics are a Greek thing.

It should be no surprise that the Greeks were so prominent in bringing the Olympics to the world. They had previous hosted the Olympics for more than a thousand years (775 BC to 394 AD) before the Olympics were outlawed by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I.  The Olympic format was imitated across the Roman Empire and even as far east outside of the Roman Empire as northern India which had been part of the former Greek Empire.  Olympic style games were even held in Caesarea in modern Israel where Herod the Great began the Olympic traditions of recognizing the top three finishers in each competition and giving out bronze, silver and gold medals to them.  The return of the Olympics is just one sign of Greece rising.

Still after being gone for a thousand years, the Olympics rose back to life.  They are not the only Greek thing that has done so.

Greek architecture has been revived in government facilities and schools across the world. Greek foods like Greek yogurt, baklava, feta cheese and gyros are now in cities everywhere today while until about twenty years ago they were mostly confined to Greece as they had been for more than a thousand years.  Greek ideas like athletic competitions and theater productions have taken center stage over the last few centuries after being banned in Europe for over a thousand years.  The studies of mathematics, science and history that the Greeks developed so rapidly have once again came into rapid development over the last few centuries after more than a thousand years of stagnation.  It seems that suddenly Greece culture is back in style.  This is more evidence of Greece rising.

Greece itself has returned as independent country. Greece had not been its own country from when the Romans finished conquering it in 27 BC until it gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832 AD.  Now, it is a pivotal member of the European Union and what happens there is at the center of world attention.  Greece simply has much more prestige and influence than its population of less than 11 million would seem to warrant.  Greek political systems like democracy have become the norm in much of the world. On the political stage we are seeing the beginnings of Greece rising.

Myths from the religion of the ancient Greeks are taught public schools in America and the world.  Heroes from ancient Greek religious myths like Hercules and Atlantis have been made into children movies.  Amazons, Titans and other ancient Greek religious figures have been the focus of everything from graphic novels (comic books) to adult movies that are marketed towards college age adults.  Greek organizations like fraternities and sororities are now found on about every college (also a Greek idea) campus in the world after being banned for more than a thousand years. All of this has contributed to a Greek world view where things like homosexuality, that the Romans and others called Greek love, and pornography are normal.  Gay marriage and the like is evidence of Greece rising.

In many churches and denominations the Jewish Man of Truth (Yah'shua aka Yeshua aka Jesus aka Mashiach aka Messiah aka Christ) has been replaced with a Greek counterfeit.  The Man of Truth that is found in the pages of the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka the New Testament) is nothing like this Greek counterfeit in character or morality.  The de facto major religion of many places in the United States is a religion that is based on Greek philosophies instead of the sound doctrine written in the Book of Truth (the Bible).  This shift in religion comes from Greece rising.

Greece is the only country besides Israel to ever returned into existence after disappearing into history.  Greece was lost to antiquity like Israel except a much smaller percentage of Greeks were scattered among the nations than the Jews and Greek never became a dead language like Hebrew.  Yet Greece along with its ancient ideas have returned and they just seem to get greater every year.  After Greece and it ideas were gone for over a thousand years who could have predicted Greece rising?

Actually the Father of Truth (Yahoveh aka Yahweh aka God aka The Lord) wrote about Greece rising to prominence a second time in the Book of Truth before Greece ever rose to prominence the first time.

To understand this we have to start with the beginnings of Greece that are recorded in the Book of Truth and go from there.

The best place to start is in the very beginning with who the Greeks came from.  The Greeks came from Javan, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:1-2).  The ethnic groups that the four sons of Javan started settled the isles and coastal areas of the ancient world near the other sons of Japheth - basically the islands and coasts of most of the Mediterranean Sea and the entire coast of the Black Sea (Genesis 10:3).  (In fact in modern Greece you are never more than 50 miles from the Mediterranean Sea.) Javan had four sons who started four ethnic groups that are closely related by both genetics and history - Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim (aka Chittim) and Dodanim (aka Rodanim) (1 Chronicles 1:7).

Javan is recognized universally as the originator of the Greeks.  Ionia, the coastal region in modern west central Turkey, as well as the Ionian islands to west of the mainland of modern Greece, and the Ionian Sea that sits between Greece and southern Italy are named after Javan whom the Greeks called Ion. (In transliterated Hebrew letters, Javan is "YVN". There is no Y or V in  Greek.  The Y in Hebrew can indicate an I sound just like in English.  The V can indicate an O sound.  There are no true vowels in ancient Hebrew.  So "YVN" transliterated into Greek became "Ion".)  Ion (Javan) and his nation originally settled in Ionia (literally "land of Javan") and then spread out from there. Zeus, the chief god of the ancient Greeks, was originally called Ion (Javan).  Ion and other similar language appropriate variations of Javan like Yavan are the names of the Greeks in all ancient records and even as far from away as India and China.  This is because the Greeks are often composed of the ethnic groups that came from Javan and his four sons.

The most prominent one was the oldest son named Elishah.  It is the fields of Elishah (the Elysian fields) that ancient Greeks believed that righteous would go to when they died.  The oldest rites of the ancient Greek religion are the mysteries of Elishah (the Elysian mysteries).  Elishah has many rivers and other features named for him thoughout the coastal areas of Greece stretching from the Peloponnese to Athens that were first settled by his descendants.  They then spread out from there to the rest of Greece and beyond.  In fact, the Greek word for Greece is "Ellas" - which means Elishah.

The ethnic group started by Elishah originally settled along the coast of modern northwest Turkey. They were originally refered to the Aeolis (another transliteration of Elishah) and founded the Aegeans as an offshoot.  They spread from the entire coast around the Aegean Sea, down to the Peloponnese, and up into much of the coast of the Black Sea by sailing and starting colonies.  They eventually started colonies all along the coast of southern half of Italy, the Mediterranean coast of France, Spain and northern Africa in an area that was called Magna Graecia  (Greater Greece) by the Romans.

The ethnic group started by Tarshish originally settled along the coast of modern southern central Turkey and is whom Tarsus is named after where Paul (Shaul aka Saul) was born (Acts 21:39).  (Although Cilicia is named after the Celts who came from Gomer who later took over the area.)  The people of Tarshish then sailed and colonized along the coast eventually starting another nation also called Tarshish in modern southern Spain and one called Iberia along the eastern end of the Black Sea.  The Iberians were also eventually largely displaced and relocated to Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean coast of France causing the peninsula that contains Spain, Portugal and France to be known as the Iberian Peninsula.

The ethnic group started by Kittim (Chittim) originally settled in Cyprus off the coast of modern southern Turkey.  They too took to sea and started colonies in the eastern most region of modern Greece known as Macedonia and the coast of northwest Italy. They migrated inland more than the other descendants of Javan to eventually occupy most of non-coastal Italy, the modern country of Macedonia (which means "land of the mountain Greeks" in ancient Greek), Romania and the like.  In fact, Kittim is the name for both Cyprus and Italy in many ancient documents.

The ethnic group started by Dodanim (Rodanim) originally settled along the coast of modern southwest Turkey.  They were also known as the Doris or Dorians.  Dodanim means leaders and that is what they are.  They soon began colonizing Rhodes, the Dodanese (named after Dodanim) Islands and the other islands of the Aegean, including those south of the mainland of Greece.  They eventually settled the island of Crete where writing was first invented.  It was people that went from Pheonice, on the western tip of Crete, to the coast of modern Lebanon who were known as the Phoenicians (literally "people from Pheonice") who brought to the world the first alphabet.  They also formed the Minoan civilization which was the first link in the chain of European and Western Civilization.  They created the first style of Greek architecture known as the Doric style.  They spread from Crete to the northern Peloponnese, and modern northwest Greece.  They then spread like other sons of Javan by sailing and creating colonies to be the first people to occupy the entire coast of the Adriatic Sea.  At the same time they also were the first people to settle along the coast of southern France.  In all of these places they created towns and named rivers after Dodanim (Rodanim).

The people of Javan have had great influence upon the people of his brothers who are generally referred to as white people (1 Chronicles 1:5).  Most of the people of his brothers originally settled near his people in modern Turkey between Mount Ararat and the Mediterranean coast except for the people of Madai who went east instead.

The people of Magog, Meshech (for who Moscow is named), and Tubal (Tobolsk the ancient capital of Siberia (modern Russia east of the Ural Mountains) and the Tobol River that it sits on are both named for Tubal) later moved north and settled Russia along with many of the countries of the former Soviet Union and most of the countries that border Russia on the west. They have remained in close contact with the Greeks to this day and have always been influenced greatly by the Greeks.  Even their alphabet that was featured prominently in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics were created for them based on the Greek alphabet by a Greek missionary named Cyril for whom it is named after.

The people of Tiras were originally called Thiras by the Greeks and later Thrace by others.  They were noted as having golden to reddish hair and fair skin in ancient times.  They spread out to the area of Thrace (the part of modern Turkey that in the continent of Europe), then north to the area near the Baltic sea (modern Denmark) then across the Baltic Sea to modern Norway and Sweden.  This is why Denmark is considered part of Scandinavia even though it is not on the Scandinavian Peninsula.  They lost close contact with the Greeks until modern times so they were less influenced by them.

The people of Gomer spread out to the rest of Europe that was left including northern France, Britain, Ireland and Germany.  The people of Gomer were called Galatians by the ancient Greeks which literally means "milk white skin".  The Greeks have had more influence on them than any of the other people groups.  Iona, the sacred isle of the Celts in the middle of the Irish Sea, is named after Javan.

Their alphabets are based on the Latin alphabet, which was itself based on the Greek alphabet.  Their civilizations, often referred to collectively as Western Civilization, is based on Greek ideas like the arts and sciences, athletic competitions, recording history for the sake of history, and the like.  They trace the start of their civilization to the Minoan civilization.  They were the ones that were the first to begin reviving ancient Greek ideas like democracy.  They were the ones that made it possible for the modern Olympics to become a truly international event.  They were the ones that have been been the greatest assistance in Greece rising.

The people of Madai originally settled east of Mount Ararat instead of west like their brothers and included the Aryans for whom modern Iran is named after.  They settled the interior of Asia as the name of Madai (literally "middle lands") suggests.  They include the ancient Yuezhi (whose red haired, white skinned mummies have been found in China) that originally settled in north central China until they were pushed to the west by the Han Chinese. After that they formed the Kushan Empire that went from modern Kazakhstan to modern northern India.

Before the Greeks rose up the Persians rose up.  The Persian Empire was ruled by the kings of two people groups - the Persians (who came from Elam) and the Media (literally "land of Madai") (Daniel 8:20).

Greece rising first began to be revealed to Nebuchadnezzar before the Persian Empire came into existence.  The great empire that would conquer the civilized world that was represented by the brass in the statue was the bronze (similar to brass) clad warriors that came when Greece was rising the first time (Daniel 2:39).

Greece rising the first time was told to Daniel the Prophet of Truth before Greece ever overran the Persian Empire.   Greece was first as seen a leopard with four wings and four heads indicating both incredible speed and four simultaneous rulers (Daniel 7:6).  This came to pass with Alexander the Great and his four generals.

Greece is next seen as a male goat with a single large horn between his eyes that moved exceedingly fast and destroyed a two horned ram (Daniel 8:5-7).  This goat was Greece and the single large horn was Alexander the Great who overthrew the Persian Empire in just three years time (Daniel 8:21).  Alexander the Great was the mighty king of Greece that suddenly stood up against the attacking Persian Empire and took it over (Daniel 11:2-3).  This was the beginning of Greece rising the first time.

The single large horn that represented Alexander the Great was then suddenly broken and replaced by four horns that went different directions (Daniel 8:9).  When he died suddenly his empire was split into four smaller empires by his four generals, one to west that was centered in modern Greece, one to the north that was centered in modern Turkey, one to the east that was centered in modern Syria and stretched to northern modern India, and one in the south that was centered in modern Egypt (Daniel 8:22).  By the time that the 40 year long war over who was going to rule ended with this division into four smaller empires the son of Alexander the Great and all other possible heirs were all dead so that his empire did not pass to any of them (Daniel 11:4).  This was the aftermath of Greece rising the first time.

Two of those kingdoms, the one centered in Syria to the north of Jerusalem and the one centered in Egypt to the south of Jerusalem then continued to fight with each other over Israel until the Romans (Kittim aka Chittim) came (Daniel 11:5-35).  This was the end of Greece rising the first time.

The story of Greece rising the first time before the Man of Truth came to Earth the first time was told in the Book of Truth at the beginning of the Persian Empire more than one hundred years before it ever began to play out in history.  However, the story of Greece in the Book of Truth does not end there.  It tells of Greece rising a second time shortly before the Man of Truth returns to Earth the second time.

In the same statue that showed Greece rising the first time there is a foreshadowing of Greece rising a second time.  The feet of iron and clay are ten tyrants (another Greek idea) who try to work together in a democratic fashion but cannot because they are tyrants just as happened with the four generals of Alexander the Great (Daniel 2:41-43).  Greece rising a second time is shown in the vision of the he goat as well.  In the end of days a king like Alexander the Great, the Man of Lies (Antichrist aka The Beast) who is powered by the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil), shall arise to revive the Greek Empire (Daniel 8:23-24). This revived Greek Empire will mirror the Greek Empire that Daniel saw.  At the time of the end the Man of Lies will go forth and conquer the same area as the Greek Empire but again the country of modern Jordan will mostly escape his grasp (Daniel 11:36-44).  Just as Daniel saw a leopard that represented Greece rising the first time so also John (Yochanon) saw a beast with the body of leopard that represents Greece rising a second time in the form of another Empire that covers the same territory as the Greek Empire (Revelation 13:1-3).  The Man of Lies will issue his commands from his capital in Babylon (where Alexander the Great died) as represented by the mouth of a lion (which symbolized the Babylonian Empire in the dream with the four winged leopard).  The Man of Lies will move people into action with an absolute law based on a religion system like the Persian Empire did as represented by the feet of the bear (which symbolized the Persian Empire in the dream with the four winged leopard).  Currently, Islamic law is used to moved the people of Iran into action and it could very well be the same law that will be used to do so in the revived Greek Empire.  It will be the aftermath of Greece rising a second time.

Greece rising the second time will end with the return of the Man of Truth.  His Kingdom will be sent from Heaven by the Father of Truth to destroy this revived Greek Empire (Daniel 2:44-45).  The Man of Truth will destroy the Man of Lies without even raising his hand to do so just as Alexander the Great died from a sudden illness (Daniel 8:25).  Though the Man of Lies will set up a place for people to worship him on the Temple Mount like Antiochus Epiphanes (the ruler of the Greek mini-empire north of Jerusalem) had done no one will be able to save him from the Man of Truth (Daniel 11:45).  The people of Israel will rise up to defeat the revived Greek Empire when the Man of Truth returns (Zechariah 9:12-16)!  The Children of Truth (those who obey the Father of Truth because they love Him) will come with the Man of Truth from Heaven to bring an end to the revived Greek Empire (Revelation 19:11-21)!  It will be the final end of Greece rising a second time.

When the Man of Truth comes he will not destroy everyone who is of the people of the Empires that have came before the revived Greek Empire but only take away their ability to rule other nations by force (Daniel 7:9-14).  The Greeks and all people shall be taught how to live in peace with each other and how to worship the Father of Truth by the children of Israel (Isaiah 66:18-21).

Before the Man of Truth can return to Earth from Heaven with the Children of Truth to deliver Israel from the revived Greek Empire the Children of Truth must first be gathered to him in Heaven.  The Man of Truth will soon meet with the Children of Truth in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).  The Man of Lies who will revive the Greek Empire cannot be revealed until they are removed from the Earth (2 Thessalonians 2:6-10).

The Olympics are one of the many signs of Greece rising in preparation for the revival of the Greek Empire.  So the Winter Olympics are a sign of Greece rising which announces that the Man of Truth will soon return to meet the Children of Truth in the air.

Of course, it does not help you to know this unless you have come into the House of Truth.  Anyone can come into the House of Truth by submitting to the Man of Truth in total surrender because they believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10).  The Man of Truth loves the Greeks as much as the Jews because He will save all that come into the House of Truth (Romans 10:11-13).

Come into the House of Truth.

The Path Of True Love

What holiday celebrates true love better than Valentine's day?

Every year on February 14th in the US and many other places people celebrate Valentine's day.  Have you ever wonder exactly where all of these customs for Valentine's day came from and why it is associated with the path of true love?

While there are many sources for the customs of Valentine's day and how it came to be celebrated as a day of romance none of them are the sufficient by themselves to explain all of the customs.  A good place to start untangling the mess is by recognizing that Valentine's day is a religious holiday for commemorating Saint Valentine.

This is not as easy as one might hope. 

In fact, there were people named Valentine who lived at different times and places that are commemorated on different days on different religious calendars.  They were all martyred in various places during a three hundred year span of time that went from 197 AD to 496 AD.  They were given various days of commemoration on different religious calendars.  Saint Valentine of Rome was given February 14th on the Catholic calendar because that was the day that this Roman Catholic priest was martyred in 496 AD.  (This is not the Valentine that was martyred during the reign of Claudius II (268 AD - 270 AD) for supposedly performing marriage ceremonies.) 

All of these people known as Saint Valentine, some who are commemorated on different days on different calendars, has added to the confusion. This has lead people to confuse which Valentine's Day is being referred to in various historical records that contain various customs that were associated with Valentine's Day long ago.

For example, it is known that the customs associated with the Saint Valentine that is mention in one ancient text is the Saint Valentine whose day is May 3rd even though people have assumed that it was the Saint Valentine whose day is February 14th.  The various Saint Valentine day festivals originally marked various agricultural events like the first day of planting and the first day of working in the vineyards for about a thousand years.  Valentine's Day originally had nothing to do with the path of true love.

Valentine's day was not associated with romance until Chaucer associated it with birds mating in a poem he wrote in 1382 AD. (It is unclear which Valentine's day he was referring to but the one associated with February 14 became the popular assumption.)  After that various customs of Pagan origin associated with sexual love began to be associated with February 14.  These practices had been carried out on different dates and in different locations until they all began to be rolled into the celebration Valentine's day on February 14th.

Many of these customs were also tamed in some regards.  For example, one custom in the middle ages was for young men to draw out the names of young women written on cards from a box and then the two were to have sex with each other (and perhaps be married although that is uncertain).  This was the origin of the Valentine's box.

A Roman holiday that may have been the source of the various Medieval customs that became modern day customs associated with Valentine's day was Lupercalia. During this holiday young men in ancient Rome would participate in the sacrifice of two male goats and a dog to Pan (the god of sex and wild parties).  They would then smear the blood of the goats on their foreheads and laugh.  They would then take two thongs made from the shaggy skin of the goats (often with blood all over them) and run a course through the streets of Rome naked.  The young women of Rome who wanted to either have an easy pregnancy or to get pregnant would get in the way of with their hands facing palm up to receive a slap on the wrist from the naked runners.  This festival was celebrated every year from February 13th through February 15th.  The only definite connection between the two is that a Catholic priest named Saint Valentine was martyred in the middle of the last observation of Lupercalia (February 14th) before it was outlawed by Pope Gelasius I in that same year.  The red associated with Valentine's day might have its origin in the blood that smeared on the foreheads of the runners, or the red marks that the bloody thongs left on the wrists of the women or the blood of Saint Valentine that was shed when he was martyred on that day.

An even older Roman custom than any of these was the heart shape.  The heart shape came from the heart shaped seeds of a plant called Silphium.  These seeds would both raise the desire for sex in women while also inhibiting their ability to get pregnant.  The Silphium plant was harvested into extinction by the Romans but the heart shape of its seeds has remained as a symbol of sexual love.  So people would give each other heart shaped objects instead of Silphium seeds in the hopes that they could somehow get the same results as eating the Silphium seeds.

The small naked children with wings known as cupids also came from Roman pagan beliefs.  The Romans believe that these spirits would cause people to fall in love with each other.  People would decorate cards with pictures of cupids to show that they had been smitten by a cupid and were now in love with the recipient.

All of these absurd practices were carried out because people wanted to find the path of true love.

It was not until the 1700s that English merchants began inducing people to celebrate Valentine's day (February 14th) with chocolates, flowers and cards.  This caught on because many people thought that this was the path of true love.

Today, many couples in America still follow these same English traditions along with some American traditions.  They have added, dressing up in formal clothing, going out to fancy restaurants to eat dinners by candle light, drinking champagne, and dancing to the list.  Often there are other gestures of romance as well because they think that this is the path of true love.

However, the Book of Truth (The Bible) tells of another holiday that really celebrates the path of true love.  During this holiday the story of Esther is read who understood and showed how to really walk in the path of true love.

The first thing to know about Esther was that her parents did not name her Esther and that she was Jewish.  Her birth name was Hadassah but her parents died so she was raised by her cousin Mordecai (Esther 2:5-7).

Like most Jewish girls she probably dreamed of one day marrying a fine Jewish man.  Since she was Godly she undoubtedly wanted to marry a Godly man as well.  Perhaps she hoped to marry someone who was like her cousin Mordecai.  However, she soon found herself in circumstances beyond her control that would shatter those dreams.

The queen of Persia, Vashti, had refused to show herself off to the drunken guests of Ahasuerus as he had commanded (Esther 1:10-12).  So after consulting with his advisers, Ahasuerus vanished Vashti from the royal city of Shushan and began to look for someone better to serve as queen that would not disrespect him by not obeying his commands - no matter how humiliating the command was (Esther 1:13-21).  So people were sent throughout the Persian Empire, that stretched from India to Ethiopia, to round up all of the most beautiful virgins from each of the 127 provinces to be brought to the royal harem so Ahasuerus could select one of them to be his new queen (Esther 2:2-4).  Hadassah was among those that were selected (Esther 2:8).  However, Mordecai had commanded her to not let anyone know that she was Jewish (Esther 2:10).

Now Ahasuerus was the furthest thing from what Hadassah had wanted in a husband.  Ahasuerus was full of pride (Esther 1:1-4). Ahasuerus was given to getting drunk and overeating (Esther 1:5-10).  Ahasuerus had already showed that he expected his spouse to do whatever he said and that he had a temper (Esther 1:12).  Ahasuerus and the princes of Persia believed that he was a god in the flesh so he could not alter any commandment once he gave it because that would be admitting that he had made a mistake - what an ego! (Esther 1:19).  Ahasuerus was involved with many other women (Esther 2:12-14).  Worst of all, Ahasuerus was not Jewish, did not know about the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) and thus was not circumcised (Esther 3:8).

The Law of Truth said that Hadassah was not supposed to marry anyone that worshiped idols (Deuteronomy 7:3-4). Yet she was forced to marry Ahasuerus with absolutely no say in the matter.  How could Hadassah hope to find the path of true love in these circumstances?

Well, she could have tried to get out of the marriage before she lost her virginity to Ahasuerus.  If she had refused to go to him then she might have been vanished from Shushan like Vashti and still had her virginity intact.  She could then look for a Godly husband that was more to her liking.

Another option was for her to go ahead and lose her virginity to him but to only do the bare minimum required.  A frigid performance would make her forgettable to man with many wives.  She would then continue to be pampered in the palace while never having to give herself over to Ahasuerus again (Esther 2:13-14).

However, Hadassah chose the path of true love.  She understood that this had happened to her because her people had not showed love to the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) by obeying the Law of Truth (Deuteronomy 28:32).

She had already been on the path of true love because she had not given husband benefits to anyone before she was married (Esther 2:2).  She changed her name to Esther (which means "sex goddess") before she was introduced to her husband (Esther 2:7).  Then she formed a relationship with someone who knew what her husband liked (Esther 2:8-9). She found out what clothing pleased her husband and wore it when she went to meet him in the wedding chamber (Esther 2:15).  Esther did everything that pleased her husband in their wedding bed (Esther 2:16-17).

Ahasuerus had been more with more than 100 other women in that same marriage bed on different nights competing to become queen.  However her performance made Esther unforgettable because she had chosen the path of true love.  Since Esther had chosen the path of true love she became his queen (Esther 2:17-18).

Now Esther still had another chance to get out being married to someone that many of her people believed to be the wrong person.  When she was told by Mordecai that people had intended to kill Ahasuerus she could have simply not warned him.  Instead of looking for a way out of a less than ideal marriage, she continued to walk on the path of true love.  So she told her husband that Mordecai had sent a warning to her and saved her husband from the plot (Esther 2:21-23). 

However, there was soon trouble in paradise.  Ahasuerus, her husband, promoted a man named Haman to second in command (Esther 3:1).  Mordecai refused to bow down to him as Ahasuerus had commanded (Esther 3:2-4).  Haman hated all Jews because Mordecai refused to bow down to him (Esther 3:5-7).  So Haman sought to convince Ahasuerus to issue a decree that all of the Jews across the Persian empire were to be killed (Esther 3:8-9).  Ahasuerus did not look into the matter himself but rather issued a decree that all Jews, including Esther, should be killed based on the word of Haman (Esther 3:10-14).  Soon Esther learned that her husband had signed a decree to have her, her family and her people exterminated (Esther 4:5-9).  Worse yet, she was afraid to go to plead with her husband because he had been ignoring her for the last month and might kill her if she showed up uninvited (Esther 4:10-12).  However if she did nothing then she would be killed by the decree of her husband even though the Father of Truth would deliver the Jews in some other manner (Esther 4:13-14).

Needless to say this was an obstacle in the path of true love.  Esther may have been tempted to work with the enemies of her husband that were in the palace to kill him and Haman to bring an end to decree.  Instead she decided to continue to walk in the path of true love.

She first prepared herself by seeking the Father of Truth for three days in prayer and fasting before ever saying a word to her husband (Esther 4:15-17).  Then she showed up in his inner court uninvited and her husband was glad to see her (Esther 5:1-3)  Still she did not tell him what she wanted but instead invited him and Haman to a feast of his favorites foods (Esther 5:4). At the feast of food and wine she invited him and Haman to another feast before she would tell her husband what she wanted (Esther 5:5-8).  (Perhaps her husband saw fit to spend the night between feasts with Esther so she could take care of his other great appetite as well but it is not certain.)  It was only after the second feast when she had appeased his other great appetites, besides the one for sex, that she told her husband what she wanted (Esther 7:1-4).  She had continued to walk in the path of true love.

Her efforts to please her husband paid off.  His heart was now bound to hers.  Ahasuerus, who had a quick temper, was ready to kill Haman for tricking him into issuing a decree to have his wife killed (Esther 7:5-7).  When he thought Haman was trying to rape his wife then he had Haman killed (Esther 7:8-10).  He made Mordecai second in command because of his love for Esther (Esther 8:1-2).  His heart was now willing to give his attention to the concerns of his wife (Esther 8:3-6).  He issued a new decree that Jews could defend themselves and kill everyone in the Persian Empire that sought to harm any one that was part of the people of his wife (Esther 8:7-13).  Her husband would stop at nothing to defend Esther because he was now on the path of true love. 

So then the Feast of Purim was created to commemorate the deliverance that came from a woman who chose to walk in the path of true love even when her husband did not (Esther 9:20-22).  Purim is the holiday that really shows people the path of true love (Esther 9:29-32).

So you see that the path of true love is not determined by meeting or marrying the right person.  It is not determined by being in the ideal circumstances or by getting what you think is important.  It is not even based upon being treated right by your spouse.  The path of true love is the result of doing the right things regardless of everything else.

The path of true love can be walked by anyone that is willing to do so.  The Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka the New Testament) gives many commands that will keep those that obey them on the path of true love.  These commands were all carried out by Esther before the Renewed Covenant was written because the same Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) that wrote the Renewed Covenant wrote the Original Covenant (Tanak'h aka the Old Testament) and guided Esther on the path of true love.

The path of true love begins before marriage like it did with Esther.

Fornicators (those that have sex outside of marriage) will not live forever with the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) in the kingdom of His Father (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).  All fornicators will suffer forever with the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8).

The Children of Truth (those who show their love for the Father of Truth by obeying Him) who are unmarried and cannot keep their hands off each other are to get married because that is better than burning in Hell with fornicators (1 Corinthians 7:8-9).  They just need to know that there will be hard times in any marriage (1 Corinthians 7:28).  Still they are to get married if they are determined to have sex with each other (1 Corinthians 7:35-36). 

Like Esther, the Children of Truth are to be careful about who they marry.

The Children of Truth are told to not marry anyone that has been divorce for any reason except fornication (Matthew 5:32).  Those who do so are committing adultery against the spouse of the one they married because only adultery can break the bond of marriage (Matthew 19:9).  They are free from the bond of marriage however if their unbelieving spouse leaves them despite doing all that they could to please their unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians 7:15). They are also free to remarry if their spouse dies (1 Corinthians 7:39-40).

The Children of Truth are told to not marry anyone that does not follow the Man of Truth (2 Corinthians 6:14).  The Children of Truth are told to only marry others that follow the Man of Truth (1 Corinthians 7:39).

Like Esther, the Children of Truth are to walk the path of true love no matter what their spouse is like.

The Children of Truth are to do all they can to completely fulfill the sexual appetite of their spouses so their spouses never need to look elsewhere (1 Corinthians 7:2-5).   The Children of Truth must to be willing to do all they can to please their spouses in every way that they can (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). 

The Children of Truth are commanded to not try to escape their marriage when things are not going well (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).  The Children of Truth are warned to not try to escape their marriage when their spouse is not one of the Children of Truth (1 Corinthians 7:12-14).  The Children of Truth are to show the same faithful to their unbelieving spouses that the Man of Truth has shown to them so that their unbelieving spouses might come into the House of Truth (1 Corinthians 7:15-16).  The Children of Truth are never to seek a divorce to escape a difficult marriage (1 Corinthians 7:27).

Instead wives are to submit to their husbands in everything to show how the Children of Truth are subject to the Man of Truth in everything (Ephesians 5:22-24).  Husbands are to love their wives and protect them with their lives (Ephesians 5:25).  Husbands are to love their wives even as the Man of Truth loves the Children of Truth (Ephesians 5:28-30).  Husbands are to love their wives as their own selves and wives are to show reverence to their husbands so the world can see the relationship between the Man of Truth and the Children of Truth (Ephesians 5:31-33).  Wives are to submit to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives instead of being bitter against them to show that they are the Children of Truth (Colossians 3:17-19).

Like Esther, they can win over their spouse by remaining on the path of true love.

The wife that walks the path of true love can get her husband to come into the House of Truth by her actions without ever saying a word to him about how he is living (1 Peter 3:1-2).  Like Esther understood, it is not the efforts to make one outwardly beautiful that will cause the heart of a husband to be bound to the heart of his wife but rather her showing him reverence by doing whatever he asks without arguing (1 Peter 3:3-6).

Sometimes husbands are like Ahasuerus and simply do not know how to really love their wives.
 
The husband needs to learn to how to live in understanding with his wife by showing her honor and protecting her as Ahasuerus finally learned to do with Esther (1 Peter 3:7)  It is having compassion on each other and doing everything to bless each other on a daily basis that is the path of true love (1 Peter 3:8-9).

The Father of Truth demonstrated true love when He gave His Son to die for us so we could come into the House of Truth while we were still not treating Him right (Romans 5:7-9).  You will walk the path of true love when you come into the House of Truth by submitting to the Man of Truth in everything because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10).  The Man of Truth demonstrated true love when he gave his life so people could come into the House of Truth (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Come into the House of Truth.

City Of Champions

What does it take to turn a town into a city of champions?

In the 2014 Super Bowl, the starting tight end for the Seattle Seahawks was Alvin Bailey.  I had no dog in this fight, except for Alvin Bailey.  You see Alvin Bailey is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where I have lived longer than any other place, and where my kids all went to school for K-12.  We still live in Broken Arrow today.   So since the hometown player played for the Seattle Seahawks, we were instantly fans of the Seattle Seahawks for this Super Bowl.  The Seattle Seahawks won, as we expected.  You see, Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

Alvin Baily was far from the first champion to come from Broken Arrow.  Brad Penny, the starting pitcher for the Florida Marlins, when they won the 2003 World Series, is also from Broken Arrow.  Kristen Chenoweth, the Emmy and Tony award winning actress, is also from Broken Arrow.  In fact, a very disproportional number of award winning athletes and entertainers have came from this small town.  Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

The champions born or raised in Broken Arrow, are not just limited to the arenas of sports and entertainment, nor are they a recent phenomenon.  This town has produced a Medal of Honor winner in WWII.  This town was home of the first automobile that had a light weight body and high gas mileage - it was the prototype for all such cars that followed.  Out of the the approximately 1,000 national merit scholarship winners across the entire United States each year, on average six have been from Broken Arrow.  The high school has had the highest standardized test score of any high school, public or private, in the US more than one time.  The Pride of Broken Arrow has won more national championships than any other band in the US, including a thirteen year streak of first place finishes.  This town has won numerous awards for its beauty, and received national attention for its exceptionally low crime rate.  Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

So how does a town become a city of champions?

It certainly has nothing to do with demographics. It has produced champions of every skin color and ethnicity.  There have been male and female champions.  Both Jews and Gentiles from Broken Arrow have been champions.  There is nothing exceptional about the ethnicity or geography, to explain why Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

Broken Arrow is not a large place.  Most of its history it was rather small.  It is only now on the verge of breaking the 100,000 mark in its population.  When it does it will become the city with the lowest crime rate of any city in the world with at least a 100,000 residents.  This phenomenally low crime rate is part of the answer and also reveals more of the answer.  When the Chief of Police of Broken Arrow was interviewed on 20/20, about what he had done to prevent a single murder from occurring in over a decade, he looked at the interviewer and told her, that it was nothing special, that he did.  He said, it was probably because the town had 153 churches and only one bar.  This is at the root of why Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

Broken Arrow has a long history of being occupied largely by the Children of Truth (those who obey the Father of Truth because they love Him).  This started with the original Creek (Muskogee) tribe of Native Americans, who started the town, and named it after the town in Alabama, that they had been evicted from, when they were forced to walk the Trail of Tears.  These Creek Children of Truth would frequently spend from sunset Friday to Sunday night congregating as a community, where they would eat together, spend time with each other, sing together and learn how to follow the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ).  Those people knew how to worship His Father in spirit and truth!  They laid the foundation, that made Broken Arrow into a city of champions.

This pattern of living has continued until present times.  Today, one of the most famous schools of ministry in the world, is located within half a mile of my house.  People from all over the world come here to learn about the Man of Truth, and people go from here to all over the world, to tell others about the Man of Truth.  Only The Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) knows, how many people have experienced miracles from Him in this town.  He alone knows the impact of the ministers, who have gone out of Broken Arrow, have had on the world.  When I got access to the God channel, I was a little disappointed, to see that almost half of the most famous ministers on Earth, were operating within five miles of my house. I knew all of these local ministers, and had eaten dinner with several of these champions of the Father of Truth, that live in this city of champions. 

The Father of Truth has blessed this town, because it has strived to put Him first.  This town has long been associated with the Maker of Champions.  This is the real reason, why Broken Arrow is a city of champions.

However, there is another city of champions, that has produced greater champions than Broken Arrow, or any other city on Earth.  That city is Bethlehem.  The Book of Truth (The Bible) tells us about this city of champions.

It was originally settled by the Canaanites as a city named "Bet Lak'hama" meaning the "house of the goddess of fertility".  It was already a city that would later be named Ephrath (and even later Bethlehem) that Jacob (Ya'aqob aka Israel aka Yishrael) was traveling to when Rachel (Rak'hel) died (Genesis 35:18-20).   Bet Lak'hama was so small and insignificant when the Canaanites dwelt there that it was not even listed in the long list of cities that belonged to the tribe of Judah (Yahuda) when the land was divided among the tribes of Israel (Joshua 15).  Yet when the Children of Truth began to occupy this city then it soon became a city of champions.

Like Broken Arrow, the greatness of Bethlehem began with a small group of the Children of Truth.  Judah was the son of Israel for whom the tribe of Judah is named (1 Chronicles 2:1).  Hezron was the grandson of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:3-5).  Caleb, the son of Hezron, married Ephrathah, and unto them was born Hur (1 Chronicles 2:18-19).  The great grandson of Hur was Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 2:50-51).  He is the champion that gave his name to the city of champions.

Ephrathah was the farming village that was originally built on the site of the old Canaanite city of Bet Lak'hama.  It was named after the wife of Hezron.  This is why Bethlehem is sometimes referred to Ephrathah in the Book of Truth (Psalm 132:5-7).  This is a feminine name and is sometimes changed to the masculine form of the name as Ephrath.  Ephrath ("Epfrath)" or Ephrathah ("Epfrathah") means "fruitful place" indicating it had became a place of plenty.  It was later expanded to be a city by Bethlehem and renamed after him.  Bethlehem (Beth Lek'hem) literally means "house of bread" indicating that it the fruitful place had been expanded to be more through the work of people.  These are the champions that turned the ruins of an obscure ancient Canaanite city into a city of champions.

The next champion was one of the 12 judges of Israel.  The judges were champions that the Father of Truth raised up to deliver the children of Israel from their enemies and to turn them back to following Him (Judges 2:16-18).  One of these elite judges was Ibzan from Bethlehem (Judges 12:8-10).  This is when Bethlehem first became a city of champions.

The arose another champion in Bethlehem.  A man of Bethlehem named Elimelech fled to Moab when a famine arose in Israel and died there (Ruth 1:1-3).  His sons had also died there but his wife Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess - a Gentile (Ruth 1:19-22).  Then Boaz, a champion businessman in Bethlehem, rose up to protect this Gentile that had given up everything to follow the Father of Truth and to protect her mother-in-law (Ruth 2:1-12).  Again Boaz rose up to bring the Gentile champion that had saved Naomi to a place of great honor in Bethlehem (Ruth 4:5-12).  Bethlehem again proved itself to be a city of champions.

These two champions in Bethlehem were the beginning of a family of champions that would arrive in Bethlehem.  They were the great grandparents of next champion from Bethlehem - King David (Ruth 4:13-17).  Bethlehem continued to be a city of champions.

David was a champion shepherd.  He would allow nothing to harm the flock of his father because he had confidence in the Father of Truth (1 Samuel 17:35-37).

David was a champion musician (1 Samuel 16:17-19).  David played his instrument in the presence of the king (1 Samuel 16:23).  David was even the worship leader for all of Israel (2 Samuel 6:5).   David was the rock star from Bethlehem!

David was a champion songwriter. He wrote 75 of the 150 psalms in the book of Psalms.  He continued to write songs to praise the Father of Truth until the end of his life  (Psalm 72:18-20).

David was a champion warrior.  He was known his fighting abilities before all of Israel ever saw him fight (1 Samuel 16:18).  He was the only hope against an evil supernatural oppressor that no one in Israel could fight against (1 Samuel 17:23-26).  He delivered Israel from the hand of this oppressor because he fought to bring about the will of the Father of Truth (1 Samuel 17:45-50).  He was the one chosen by the Father of Truth to lead the armies of Israel to save Israel from all of her enemies (2 Samuel 3:18).

David was a champion king.  He was chosen to be king before he ever appeared to Israel (1 Samuel 16:1).  He was anointed to be king while he was still unknown to Israel (1 Samuel 16:11-13).  When he came of age he was only accepted by part of the Jews as their king (2 Samuel 2:8-10).  It was only after the rest of the Jews had suffered greatly that that all of Israel accepted David as their king (2 Samuel 5:1-3).   Then the Law of Truth became the law of the Israel during the reign of David (1 Kings 3:14). The time will come when he will rule over all of Israel forever (Ezekiel 37:24-25).

David was a champion prophet.  The Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) was upon David so that he could prophesy from the moment that he was anointed by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13). The Spirit of Truth spoke the Word of Truth through David until the very end of his days (2 Samuel 23:1-3).

Still yet more champions arose from Bethlehem.  Two more champions from Bethlehem slew the brothers of the giant that David had killed (2 Samuel 21:19-21).  Bethlehem had not ceased to be a city of champions.

The people of Bethlehem were among those champions that returned from captivity to rebuild Judah (Ezra 2:1-21). Bethlehem continued to be a city of champions.

Yet, there was still one more champion that would come from Bethlehem that made all of the previous champions seem insignificant by comparison.  This champion was foretold as coming from Bethlehem by the Prophet of Truth called Micah (Micah 5:2). The Man of Truth was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:4-6).  The Champion of Champion was born in the city of champions.

The Man of Truth is the champion shepherd. He will allow nothing to harm the flock of his Father because he has confidence in the Father of Truth (John 10:11-15).

The Man of Truth is the champion warrior.  He was known his fighting abilities before anyone has saw him fight (Joshua 5:13-15).  He is the only hope against an evil supernatural oppressor that no one on Earth will be able to fight against (Revelation 13:4).  He  will deliver Israel from the hand of this oppressor because he will fight to bring about the will of the Father of Truth (Revelation 19:11-13).  He was the one chosen by the Father of Truth to lead the armies of Heaven to save Israel from all of her enemies (Revelation 19:14-15).

The Man of Truth is the champion king.  He was chose to be king before he ever appeared to Israel (Micah 5:2-4).  He was anointed to be king while he was still unknown to Israel (Matthew 3:16-17).  When he came of age he was only accepted by part of the Jews as their king (John 12:12-15).  It will be only after the rest of the Jews have suffered greatly that that all of Israel will accept him as their king (Luke 13:34-35).  Then the Law of Truth will become the law of the whole Earth during his reign (Micah 4:1-3). The time will come when he will rule over all of the Earth forever (Revelation 19:15-16).

The Man of Truth is the champion prophet.  He was recognized as a prophet by many in Israel (Matthew 21:11). He proved that he was a prophet by the miracles he did (John 6:14).  He is the Prophet that Israel was told that they must listen to by Moses and was spoken of by all of the Prophets of Truth (Acts 3:22-24).

The Man of Truth is the champion savior.  He died to save others from the wrath that their sins deserved (Romans 5:6-9).  He died to save Israel (Romans 11:25-27).  He also died to save the Gentiles (Romans 15:8-12).  He was raised from the dead so that all could be saved (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  He will save from death everyone that surrenders to him (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).  He is the champion of champions because no one else has ever conquered the grave!

Why was Bethlehem a city of champions?  It is because these men loved and obeyed the Father of Truth - the Champion Maker.  David was made into a champion because he showed his love for the Father of Truth by obeying what was written in the Law of Truth and all of the Word of Truth that he knew (1 Kings 11:34).  The Man of Truth in like manner only did the will of His Father that is written in the Law of Truth and all of the Original Covenant (Tanach aka The Old Testament) (Hebrews 10:7).

The Champion Maker will make anyone into a champion that will show their love for Him in the same manner (1 Kings 11:38).  He will make Jews and Gentiles that will do this into champions (Acts 10:34-35).

Those that seek to do the will of the Father of Truth become champions like the Man of Truth (Mark 3:35).  They will overcome every obstacle set out by the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) to doing His will by the telling others about all that the Champion of Champions did when he shed his blood for them (Revelation 12:9-11).

All of these champions will live forever in New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12). They will live there with the Champion Maker (Revelation 21:1-3).  Only these champions shall live with the Champion of Champions in this city while his enemies will live with the Father of Lies in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:6-8).  This city will be inhabited by those that became champions when they showed their love for the Father of Truth by obeying what was written in the Book of Truth (Revelation 22:14-15).  New Jerusalem is the City of Champions.

The Champion of Champions is preparing a place in the City of Champions for anyone that will come into the House of Truth (John 14:2-4).  You can come into the House of Truth and start learning how to be champion by submitting to the training of the Champion of Champions because you believe that the Champion Maker gave him victory over death (Romans 10:9-11).  The Man of Truth and the Spirit of Truth are inviting you to come into the House of Truth so that you can live in the City of Champions (Revelation 22:16-17).

Come into the House of Truth.

Food For Thought

What does the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament) say about what people should and should not eat?

Among the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) there has been much debate about this question.  Some will say that the Renewed Covenant says that it does not matter what you eat since the diet proscribed in the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) were only temporary regulations to illustrate certain principles until the Law of Truth was replaced by the Renewed Covenant.  Others say that the Law of Truth was never done away with by the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) and that the Children of Truth should still eat according to the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) gave to Moses.  So still the question remains.

The answer to this question requires diligently looking to see what the Book of Truth (the Bible), particularly the Renewed Covenant, says about what people eat. If you have never spent the time to do this, then you might have to take some time to get your head around the answer.  It is definitely food for thought.

It is appropriate to start with a brief overview of what the Original Covenant (Tanach aka Old Testament) says about what people should and should not eat to provided an understanding of the background of the Renewed Covenant when we examine it to see what it says about the subject.

When it comes to what people can eat the foundational truth in the Law of Truth is that not everything that people can eat is actually called food.  Just because people can manage to eat something does not mean that it was meant to be eaten.  For example, hemlock can be eaten but it is usually fatal to do so.  So hemlock should not be treated as food even though it can be eaten.  It should be treated as poison because that is what it is.

In the same way some things that people can and do eat should not be called food. Those things the Father of Truth calls abominable and told people in the Law of Truth to not eat them (Deuteronomy 14:3).  Abominable means "filthy or disgusting" so anything that is abominable should be called filth.  So those things that people can eat but should not eat are referred to as filth because that is what they are.

For the most part the definition of what is filth and what is food concerns the meat of animals. 

The meat of land animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer, antelopes and the like are called food (Deuteronomy 14:4-5).  The meat of all land animals that have split hooves and rechew their food is called food (Deuteronomy 14:6).  The meat of fish that have easily removed scales is also called food (Deuteronomy 14:9).  The meat of most birds is also called food (Deuteronomy 14:11).  The meat of grasshoppers (the word translated as "beetle" is the akrida or sword-tailed grasshopper) is also called food (Leviticus 11:21-22).

The meat of everything else is called filth. Just to be clear we will look some examples of animals whose meat is filth. Land animals such as camels, coneys, rabbits that rechew their food but lack split hooves cannot be be cleaned from the pollution that is in their bodies so their meat is called filth (Deuteronomy 14:7).  Land animals such as pigs that have split hooves but do not rechew their food (because they lack a multi-chambered stomach) cannot be be cleaned from the pollution that is in their bodies so their meat is called filth (Deuteronomy 14:8).  Anything that lives in the water that is not a fish (such as shrimp, clams, oysters, or lobster) or is a fish without easily removed scales (such as catfish or sharks) cannot be be cleaned from the pollution that is in their bodies so their meat is called filth (Deuteronomy 14:10).  Birds that are scavengers (such as eagles, hawks, owls, crows and vultures) or wade around in the filth at the bottom of bodies of water (such as herons or gulls (mistranslated as "cuckow") or flamingos/ibises (mistranslated as "swan") ) or scoop up the filth at the bottom of bodies of water to find their food (such as pelicans) cannot be be cleaned from the pollution that is in their bodies so their meat is called filth (Deuteronomy 14:12-17).

Even animals whose meat is food still have some parts that are filth that must be separated from the parts that are food.  Everything in the gut cavity including the fat that lines the gut cavity and all organs such as the kidneys are called filth that must be removed instead of being eaten (Leviticus 3:3-4).  In fact, all fat of the animals whose meat is called food is not be eaten (Leviticus 7:23).  In the same way blood is not to be eaten (Leviticus 7:26).  Blood is so filthy that it is to be poured out and buried as soon after the animal is killed as possible (Leviticus 17:13).  Blood is to be treated the same as the filth that comes out of the human body when people use the restroom (Deuteronomy 23:13).

The bodies of some animals can be cleaned by separating the parts of the their bodies that are filth from the rest of their bodies that are food.  These animals are referred to as being clean (although "cleanable" would be a more accurate translation).  The bodies of other animals cannot be cleaned of filth by separating those parts because their entire bodies are filth. These animals are referred to as being unclean (although "uncleanable" would be a more accurate translation).  So in the Law of Truth that the Father of Truth gave to Moses people were told which animals are cleanable because the parts of their bodies that are food that can be separated from the parts of their bodies that are filth and which animals are uncleanable because every part of their bodies is filth (Leviticus 11:46-47).  It is food for thought.

You can learn more about the definition of food in the Law of Truth by reading What's For Dinner.

It is worth noting that animals were already defined as clean or unclean before Noah ever entered the Ark (Genesis 7:1-3). When Noah made sacrifices after leaving the Ark to thank the Father of Truth for preserving the human race he only sacrificed the animals that the Law of Truth would call clean more than 500 years later (Genesis 8:19-21).  So animals were already either clean or unclean before people even began to eat animals (Genesis 9:1-3).  It is worth noting that every thing moves was not meant to be food any more than ever thing that grows, like hemlock, was meant to be food.  Noah had already demonstrated that he understood this when he choose to only sacrifice those animals that the Law of Truth would spell out as being food (clean) more than five hundred years later.  Just as sin had already existed before the Law of Truth was given to Moses so also animals were already either clean or unclean before the Law of Truth was given to Moses (Romans 5:13).  The Law of Truth only spelled out what as already filth in the same way that it spelled out what was already sin (Romans 7:7).  It is food for thought.

Now that we briefly examined what the Original Covenant says about food we are ready to compare that to what the Renewed Covenant says about food.  Many people have raise various objections against the rules regarding food that are laid out in the Original Covenant based on various passages in the Renewed Covenant.  We shall examine these passages one by one in order to get a clear picture of what the Renewed Covenant says about food.

People have often observed that the Renewed Covenant has two parts.  The first part is the Gospel accounts of the life of the Man of Truth while he lived on this Earth.  The second part is an account of the work of the Apostles of Truth after he left this Earth.  Some people believe that the Law of Truth was completely done away with sometime during the lifetime of the Man of Truth while others believe that this occurred sometime after he was resurrected.  Their thought is that the definition of food changed at that time to include things that the Law of Truth called filth.  It is important to understanding the passages on food in the Renewed Covenant if the Man of Truth and the Apostles of Truth were using a different definition of food in those passages than the one given in the Law of Truth.

We shall start by examining what the Man of Truth, who is the central figure of the Renewed Covenant, said about the Law of Truth.  This will give us a firm foundation for understanding his definition of food.

The Father of Truth said that His will was that people did what was in the Law of Truth and that no one could change it (Deuteronomy 12:32).  The Man of Truth did not come to destroy the Law of Truth but to fulfill it by do everything it required (Matthew 5:17).  He said that the Law of Truth would still be in effect as long the Earth and the universe exist (Matthew 5:18).  He said that those who taught others to do anything contrary to the Law of Truth would be the least in his kingdom so you can be sure that he was not teaching that people should eat the things that the Law of Truth said were not to be eaten (Matthew 5:19).  He only did the will of His Father which was expressed in the Law of Truth (John 6:38).  He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  He never did anything contrary to the Law of Truth because sin is transgression of the Law of Truth (1 John 3:4).  That being the case anytime he talked about food in the Gospels he was using the same definition as the Law of Truth.  It is food for thought.

Now that we have established that only those things that can be eaten according the Law of Truth are called food by the Man of Truth we are ready to examine what he had to say about food while he was living on the Earth.

The first place to start is Mark 7:19.  If you read this verse in the NIV (New International Version) or any number of other translations based off of the same scholarship as the NIV then you will find that Mark 7:18-19 says something like: Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.").  

However, there are many problems with this translation.  First and foremost is the fact that the entire sentence  "(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")" does not actually appear in any of the Greek manuscripts used to translate the Renewed Covenant.  That is why when you read the KJV (King James Version) and translations that are based off of its scholarship then you will find that Mark 7:18-19 says something like: 18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?.
  
Also the passage in Mark 7 is about eating with unwashed hands - not eating what the Law of Truth called filth (Mark 7:1-2).  The point of the parable was that it is what is in the heart that makes a man unclean (Mark 7:20-23).  As pointed out the parallel passage of Matthew 5 eating with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean (Matthew 5:19).  So the Man of Truth was not breaking the Law of Truth that His Father gave in this passage by calling things food that His Father had called filth.

You can read about this passage in greater detail by reading I Did Not Mean That. 

The only other place where the Man of Truth says anything else about food in the Gospels is Luke 11.  He says that all things are clean (Luke 11:41).  What things was he referring to?  

He was eating with a Pharisee and you can be sure that the Pharisee was not serving him anything that the Law of Truth called filth (Luke 11:37).  Once again he was eating with unwashed hands and this is what the Pharisee was wondering about (Luke 11:38).  Again it was the inside of people that was unclean and needed cleaning - not the food that was being served (Luke 11:39-40).  He was telling the Pharisee that he would be clean on the inside if he would give alms to take care of the poor to show the love of the Father of Truth in addition to obeying what the Law of Truth said about outward things like tithing (Luke 11:41-42).  So the Man of Truth was not breaking the Law of Truth that His Father gave in this passage by calling things food that His Father had called filth.  It is food for thought.

Now that we have seen that the Man of Truth never called food what the Law of Truth called filth while he lived on the Earth we will examine what the writers of the Renewed Covenant did and said about the Law of Truth.  This will give us a firm foundation for understanding their definition of food.

We will start with Peter (Cephas aka Simon aka Simeon) the Jew.  He was the first Apostle to invite the Gentiles to come into the House of Truth (Acts 10:45-48).  He was the first Apostle to defend the right of the Gentiles to come into the House of Truth (Acts 11:1-18).  He was the first Apostle to defended the right of the Gentiles to come into the House of Truth without first becoming Jews through circumcision 14 years later (Acts 15:5-11).  Peter the Jew was without a doubt a champion of the Gentiles coming into the House of Truth without being brought under the Law of Truth.

Does that mean that Peter the Jew changed his mind about the things that the Law of Truth called filth now being food?

Peter the Jew never ate anything that the Law of Truth called filth before the Gentiles came into the House of Truth (Acts 10:14).   Even after championing the right of the Gentiles to come into the House of Truth for 14 years, Peter the Jew lead the other Jewish Children of Truth in ceasing to eat with the Gentile Children of Truth  in Antioch when the Jewish believers of Jerusalem sent by James the Jew arrived (Galatians 2:11-13).  Even when Paul (Shaul aka Saul) the Jew rebuke him it was for his treatment of the Gentiles - not for refusing to eat what the Law of Truth called filth (Galatians 2:11-13).   Peter the Jew did not want other Jews thinking that he was eating anything that could in anyway be perceived as filth under the Law of Truth.  Peter the Jew said with his actions that the definition of food had not been changed in the Renewed Covenant.

This might surprise you and you might be wondering about the vision of uncleanable animals that had been given to Peter the Jew by the Father of Truth (Acts 10:9-16).  Peter the Jew did not know what this vision was about (Acts 10:17).  The Father of Truth told Peter the Jew that this vision was about not calling the Gentiles uncleanable from sin (Acts 10:9-16).  So this vision had nothing to do with things that had been called filth in the Law of Truth becoming food in the Renewed Covenant.

You can read about this passage in greater detail by reading I Did Not Mean That. 

Now we can see that nothing that Peter the Jew experienced or did even suggests that the definition of food changed in the Renewed Covenant.  It is food for thought.

You might be thinking this definition of food was only meant for Jewish Children of Truth.  After all, Peter the Jew was primarily sent to Jewish believers while Paul (Shual aka Saul) the Jew was primarily sent to Gentile believers (Galatians 2:7-9).  Paul the Jew was the Apostle sent to the Gentiles (2 Timothy 1:11).  So we shall examine what Paul the Jew had to say about food.

The best place to begin is the fact that Paul the Jew remained a Jew after he became an Apostle to the Gentiles.  There were many Pharisees that were also Children of Truth (Acts 15:5).  He still identified himself as a Pharisee after he had completed his third mission to the Gentiles (Acts 23:6).  He was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin - the only tribe that stayed loyal to the tribe of Judah and to worshiping the Father of Truth (Romans 11:1).  He was still a Jew among Jews (Philippians 3:3-6).

Next we need to examine what Paul the Jew said about the Law of Truth.  He said that faith in the Man of Truth did not make the Law of Truth void (Romans 3:31).  He said that just because the Children of Truth were not under the Law of Truth it did not give them a right to sin (Romans 6:14-16).  He says that the Law of Truth was given so we could clearly know what defined sin (Romans 7:7).  He said that the Law of Truth is holy and every commandment in it is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12).  He said that these commandments let us know how terrible sin really is (Romans 7:13).  Paul the Jew said that the Law of Truth was spiritual (Romans 7:14).  He said that his spirit delighted in the Law of Truth (Romans 7:22).  He said that he served the Law of Truth with his mind (Romans 7:25).  Paul the Jew said that the Renewed Covenant is nothing more than the Law of Truth being written on our hearts instead of on tablets of stone (Hebrews 8:8-10).

Now let us consider what Paul the Jew did about the Law of Truth.  He continued to observe the Feasts commanded in the Law of Truth (Acts 18:18-21).  Paul the Jew even kept the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread with the mostly Gentile congregation at Philippi (Acts 20:6).  He then went up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of the Father of Truth (Acts 21:17-19).  When he arrived he was accused of teaching Jews to no longer keep the Law of Truth (Acts 21:20-21).  He then received instructions about how to show that this accusation was not true and that he did still keep the Law of Truth (Acts 21:22-24).  He then proceeded to follow these instructions because he was not teaching Jews to disregard the Law of Truth nor was he breaking it himself (Acts 21:26).

So Paul the Jew never taught Jews to disregard a single commandment in the Law of Truth either in person nor in his epistles.  Paul the Jew was using the same definition of food in every epistle that he wrote where there even one single Jewish Child of Truth in the congregation.  It is food for thought.

Now that we understand the definition of food that Paul the Jew was using we are ready to look at what he wrote about food.

First we need to recognize that in all of the passages written by Paul the Jew which we will examine that the Greek root word translated as "meat" in these passages is "broma" and is literally "food".  The word "meat" meant "food" long ago but now "meat" has a more narrow definition of the parts of animals that are eaten so it should have been updated to say "food" in all these passages.

Next we need to recognize that each epistle with one of these passages is written to a congregation that contains some Jewish Children of Truth.  They were among the readers in Rome (Romans 2:17-20).  They were among the readers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:13). They were among the readers in Colosse (Colossians 3:9-11).  Timothy was a Jew that was circumcised by Paul the Jew (Acts 16:1-3).  So he was obligated to follow the entirety of the Law of Truth (Galatians 5:3).  They were the primary audience that Paul the Jew addressed in his epistle to the Hebrews to show them that the Law of Truth could not make them perfect (Hebrews 7:19).  So in each of these passages the definition of food that Paul the Jew is using is the same definition as the Law of Truth because he never taught the Jews to do anything contrary to the Law of Truth.  It is food for thought.

We will begin with where Paul the Jew wrote that he was persuaded by the Man of Truth that nothing was unclean of itself but that it is only unclean when someone regards it as unclean (Romans 14:14).  He wrote in the same passage that all things were pure but it was sinful for a man to eat anything that he believed was wrong to eat (Romans 14:20).

This passage was about whether people should only eat vegetables or if they should also eat meat (Romans 14:2).  The meat was literally the flesh of animals that could be sacrificed (Romans 14:21).  [The Greek word is "kreas" translated as "flesh" is literally "the flesh of a sacrificed animal".]  Since Paul the Jew never taught Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth then the food that was not unclean in itself but pure was meat from animals that the Law of Truth called clean and could be offered as sacrifices.

The Man of Truth had not convinced Paul the Jew that Jews were to call food what the Law of Truth called filth when he met with him after his resurrection while he had taught that people were to obey the Law of Truth before his death because he never changes (Hebrews 13:8).

You can read about this passage in greater detail by reading I Did Not Mean That. 

Then there is where Paul the Jew said that our relationship with the Father of Truth is not defined by food (1 Corinthians 8:8).

The food that he was discussing in this passage was food offered to idols - not things that the Law of Truth called filth (1 Corinthians 8:1).  This is food offered to idols is also the flesh of a sacrificed animal that Paul the Jew would no longer eat if necessary to keep others from going against their conscience (1 Corinthians 8:12-13).  Since Paul the Jew never taught Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth then the food that he would no longer eat if necessary was the meat of animals that the Law of Truth called clean.

Later in the same letter Paul the Jew says to ask no questions about meat that you buy in the butcher shop (1 Corinthians 10:25-26). He even says to eat what is set before you when you eat with someone else (1 Corinthians 10:27).

Now if we only look at this only on the surface, then Paul the Jew would be saying that if you went to an area where cannibals lived then you were to not ask them about the meat that they were selling and to eat whatever the cannibals set before you.  In fact, he would be saying if someone sets a bowl of hemlock before you then you should go ahead and eat that.  Is that what he was saying?  No, once again he was talking about meat that might have been offered to an idol (1 Corinthians 10:28).  His point was for us to be more concerned with bringing people into the House of Truth than demanding our own rights about what we can eat (1 Corinthians 10:31-33).  Once again Paul the Jew never taught Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth so the meat that we might have to avoid eating for sake of other people is the meat of animals that the Law of Truth called clean.  It is food for thought.

Next there is where Paul the Jew says that we are to let no man judge us over food that was commanded in the Law of Truth because they are only shadows of the Man of Truth (Colossians 2:16-17).

The first thing to notice is that it is eating what the Law of Truth defines as food that Paul the Jew says that we are not allow any man to judge us over.  Is this passage about ignoring what the Law of Truth calls food and filth? No, this passage is about ignoring the traditions of men (Colossians 2:8).  It is the commandments and doctrines created by men that we are not to be subject to (Colossians 2:20-22).

The Law of Truth was given to Moses by the Father of Truth (Exodus 24:12).  It came from Him like everything else in the Book of Truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  It was written by the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) like everything else in the Book of Truth (2 Peter 1:19-21).  The Law of Truth is not the traditions of men, it is not the commandments of men, and it does not contain the doctrine of men.

Then what are these traditions of men?  Who created the commandments and doctrines that we are to not be subject to?  They are the traditions of religious professionals like the Rabbis.  The Rabbis had their own traditions about eating food (Matthew 15:1-2).  They had commandments that were contrary to the commandments found in the Law of Truth (Matthew 15:3-6).  These were the commandments and doctrines of men concerning food (Matthew 15:7-9).

Again we see that Paul the Jew is not teaching Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth but only that the Children of Truth are not to allow themselves to be judged for eating what the Law of Truth called food when they are doing so in a manner that is not in accordance with the traditions, commandments and doctrines of religious professionals like the Rabbis.  It is food for thought.

In like manner Paul the Jew warned that people will leave the House of Truth in the latter days and command people to not eat certain foods (1 Timothy 4:1-3).  He even said that everything created by the Father of Truth is good and not be refused since it is sanctified by the Word of Truth and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4-5). [The Greek word translated as "creature" is "ktisma" means "a created thing" - not just an animal.]

Again, on the surface Paul the Jew would seem to be saying that people can eat anything that the Father of Truth created including hemlock. This is still a wrong answer because plainly people should not eat anything that grows or moves.  So what is he talking about?

The first thing to notice is that those that leave the House of Truth will do so because they listened to the Spirits of Lies (devils aka demons aka unclean spirits aka gods) and their doctrine (1 Timothy 4:1).  The Law of Truth was given to Moses by the Father of Truth so this is not the doctrine that they will listen to.  Next notice that the food that they command people to abstain from is food that the Father of Truth has created to be eaten by those that believe and know the truth (1 Timothy 4:3). 

What truth is Paul the Jew referring to?  The truth that is found in the Law of Truth (Psalm 119:142).  This is part of the truth that is found in the Word of Truth (John 17:17).  It is the very opposite of the doctrine of the Spirits of Lies for the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan aka The Devil) is the source of their doctrine (John 8:44).

So no one can forbid anyone to eat are the things that are called good to eat in the Law of Truth (1 Timothy 4:4).  Those things have been defined as food by the part of Word of Truth that is given in the Law of Truth (1 Timothy 4:5).

Once again we see that Paul the Jew is not teaching Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth but only that the Children of Truth are not to allow anyone to forbid them from eating what the Law of Truth called food because that is the doctrine of the Spirit of Lies.  It is food for thought.

Then there is where Paul the Jew wrote to Jews (Hebrews) that it could not make the performer of the services perfect since it was only concerned with food and the like until the Man of Truth would come (Hebrews 9:9-10).

What is the "it" that he is referring to?  It is the commandments in the Law of Truth concerning the service at the Temple and particularly the Day of Atonement when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies offer the blood of animals for the sins of Israel (Hebrews 9:7-8).  His point was that the blood of the Man of Truth was what could actually make people perfect by removing their sin (Hebrews 9:11-14).

Once again we see that Paul the Jew is not teaching Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth because this passage has nothing to do with the definition of food.  It is food for thought.

Finally there is where Paul the Jew wrote that the heart of the Children of Truth is established by the grace of the Father of Truth and not the food they have eaten (Hebrews 13:9).

What food is he referring to?  The food that is served on the Alter in the Temple from the animals sacrificed there in accordance with commandments the Law of Truth concerning the Temple service (Hebrews 13:10-11).

The grace of the Father of Truth that establishes the heart is total surrender to the Man of Truth who was sacrificed for our sins (Hebrews 13:10-11).

Since the Man of Truth never changes it would a strange and diverse doctrine to use this verse that has nothing to do with the definition of food to teach that he is now calling food what he called filth while he walked the Earth (Hebrews 13:8-9).

For the final time we see that Paul the Jew is not teaching Jews anything contrary to the Law of Truth because this passage has nothing to the definition of food but rather to avoid any strange and diverse doctrine that teaches that the Man of Truth has ever changed his mind about anything.  It is food for thought.

So the truth is that there is nothing in the Renewed Covenant that has changed what the Law of Truth called filth to now be food.  The definition of food has not changed because the Father of Truth never changes (James 1:17).

On the other hand, there is nothing in the Renewed Covenant that says that you must stop eating filth if you are a Gentile (Acts 15:23-27).  Just know that you are eating filth and not food.  However there are some things that the Renewed Covenant says are so filthy that you must not eat even if you are a Gentile -  food offered to idols, blood, and strangled animals (Acts 15:28-29).

Even if you decide to stop eating filth it will not justify you because the Law of Truth cannot justify you (Romans 3:20).  The Law of Truth demands that you keep it perfectly to live (Romans 10:5).  If you have transgressed even one commandment just one time in your life then you are guilty of breaking the Law of Truth (James 2:10).  You have sinned by transgressing the Law of Truth (Romans 3:9-12).

You can only be justified by faith in the Man of Truth (Romans 3:21-24).  Only the blood of the Man of Truth can make you clean from sin (Romans 3:25-26).  Faith in the Man of Truth will justify you even if you continue to eat filth (Romans 3:27-28).

You are cleaned from sin when you come into the House of Truth (1 John 1:7).  You come into the House of Truth when you submit your life in total surrender to the Man of Truth because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:8-10).

Come into the House of Truth.