Reprint of the KPC News Article from last Sunday

This article was published in the Kendallville Publishing Company's Sunday edition in the Life Section on the Religious page. Their publications include The News-Sun, The Evening Star, and The Herald-Republican. I thank you KPC, and Religion page editor, Bob Braley for publishing my articles. I thank my Father for the opportunity. May HE be blessed and may those who have ears, hear.

Is there more than one way to GOD?
By Banner Kidd
June 13, 2010

Calling one’s self a Christian isn’t necessarily predicated upon belief in the Bible that defines Christianity. A case in point is the Claremont School of Theology’s University Project. It was said, in a recent article, that “they’ll try an unorthodox approach, cross-training the nation’s future Muslim, Christian, and Jewish leaders.” Claremont is supposed to be a Christian College. Is this new approach founded in the Word that defines Christianity?

Jesus, whose real name is Yeshua, is the Messiah called the Christ by traditional Christianity. Those who profess to be “Christians” name themselves after “Christ” thus identifying with HIM. But what did Yeshua do? Would HE set up a “University Project” that would water down HIS clear message? Professing Christians are quick to don the WWJD bracelets, but are they as quick to do as Jesus did?

John said, in 1st John, that we are to walk as Jesus walked. HE walked in perfect obedience to the Torah of GOD. HE only spoke the Words of HIS Father. HE was an obedient Son. Would Yeshua teach doctrine that opposes HIS Father’s doctrine?

In John 14:6 Yeshua said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through me.” Is this compatible with a universal theology that says you may get to the Father through Allah, or Judaism that rejects the purpose of Christianity, the Messiah? By the way, Judaism is not synonymous with Torah.

I am unashamedly a follower of the Bible by faith in Yeshua the Messiah. I believe HIM when HE says that there is only one Way to the Father. I believe that Way is by grace through faith in the Written Torah who is the Living Torah, Yeshua. I believe this because HIS Word has established it. But how can one say they are a follower of Christ and not believe and practice what HE said? HE asked this very important question in Luke 6:46; “And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” In Matthew 7 Yeshua tells us clearly that the gate into HIS kingdom is narrow and difficult and few find it. HE also said in Matthew 7 that the gate is wide and the way to destruction is broad and many go in by it. Who do you believe? Do you believe men who want to teach a feel good, politically correct, universal approach to the kingdom of heaven, or will you believe the One you profess to follow who said there is only One Way, One Truth, and One Life?

Why is this important? This is a life and death issue. What you choose has consequences. The choice dictates the result. Even in our secular society if one determines to be a lawbreaker he or she will eventually get caught and will pay the penalty. If you murder someone you forfeit your life, either through physical death or imprisonment that confines you to a cage and takes away your right to choose how to live your life. This action and consequential result is a key component of the very Instruction of GOD. Even if the law of the land didn’t exist, that forbids murder, then the result would be that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Vengeance will come from one place or another. But the Bible tells us that those who reject Yeshua, and the grace offered in HIS Torah, will face the Living GOD. Hebrews 10 tells us clearly; “Vengeance is Mine,” says the LORD.

According to Revelation 22 he end result of believing the lie and rejecting the Truth is that you will not have the right to the Tree of Life. The reason so many are in delusion is that they have not received a love for the Truth; therefore the LORD has sent strong delusion that they might believe the lie. The result is death and eternal separation from HIM and HIS kingdom. The Apostle Paul tells us this in 2nd Thessalonians.

The Claremont School of Theology University Project, with its stated purpose that “religion can be a powerful force for unity” has its foundation in the garden with the original liar who asked, “Did GOD really say?” and suggested that one will not die by following a different Way than that set forth by the Creator. They died! Read the Bible! This lawless unified religion, that rejects the Truth of GOD’S Word, will readily accept the man of lawlessness when he arrives on the scene. Lawlessness is founded in the lie! It is sin and the wages of sin is death!

We are told by Paul to expose the unfruitful deeds of darkness. Scripture asks us what does dark and light have in common; a believer with an unbeliever? What is a believer according to the Scripture? It means we believe the Scripture! This is Biblical faith; believing what God said and doing it, while rejecting and exposing every thing that is not according to HIS Word. There is no room for a “multi-faith” approach in God’s Word. Paul said, in 2nd Corinthians 10:5, “We are destroying speculation and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” It is as Paul said in Romans 3:3-4, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written, ‘That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and mightest prevail when thou art judged.” HE is faithful to judge based on what HE said, not based on what man says. We are only justified in our words when we say and do what HE said and did. Whose voice will you hear?

Do We Still Need The Ministry of The Holy Spirit?

My brother and pastor, Ron Hyre, has been writing some very insightful, thought provoking, and, I believe, Spirit led blog posts that are very important to those who profess to follow the God of The Bible, according to what ALL of  The Bible says. The role and ministry of the Holy Ruach (Spirit) seems to have taken a back seat in today's Christian religious system and has been replaced by seminaries, tradition, and man's own resources. What does The Bible say about the Holy Ruach? A good start for your own study and consideration is this new article by Pastor Ron; We Need To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit, Continuously. Take some time to read and consider this on the LORD'S Sabbath today. And ask yourself the question, "How can I please the Father on HIS commanded Sabbath Day apart from submission to the work of HIS indwelling Ruach (Spirit)?

Shabbat Shalom, and Praise Yeshua who has delivered us from the bondage of lawlessness into HIS glorious kingdom by HIS Spirit's work of grace in and through us.
-Banner

Liberty - The Constitution and The Law; By Ron Hyre

Check out this very challenging article from Pastor Ron. He would be blessed to hear from you. Even more so he would be blessed if you take it to heart, hear from Yahweh, and press on. -Banner

Claremont College begins ecumenical teaching at its seminary

Kendallville Publishing Company has printed another of my articles challenging traditional and liberal Christianity. You can find the article on their website and in the printed versions of their paper's Sunday edition, in the Religion section. It will be in the July 11th editions of the Evening Star, The News-Sun, and The Herald Republican.

The Pagan God Baal Rises Again

Brother Richard Rives has a new video that is a must see for those who want to remain in the pagan traditions of Christianity brought over into the traditional church from Roman Catholicism. See the short video on WorldNetDaily.

Kosher, Judaism, Church Father Doctrine, Traditons - or Torah by Grace Through Faith

There are many discussions going on around the world today, as people began to question the traditions of Christianity and begin to understand that they need to remove themselves from it. I see them on blogs, on Facebook, in e-mail exchanges, and in personal conversation. That can be a good thing. But we must be careful that we don't make a sideways move. This is my concern, and I believe it is the heart of the LIVING GOD. What I mean is this; as we come out of traditional Christianity, with all its lawless doctrine handed down from the so-called church fathers who have gone before (and the new ones in our more contemporary expression of Christianity) that we don't settle for lawless traditions of Judaism, either Orthodox of Messianic. Truth is Truth alone without the commentary of any man. For more on this read this article from Pastor Ron Hyre's blog. I don't want to duplicate his excellent article, but in light of recent conversations I feel that the Father would have me to address this as well. Brothers and sisters, this is where the trap is laid and we will fall into it and die there if we're not careful to sort out the lie from the Truth, as we submit to the Spirit of Truth.

A lot of discussions center around what is kosher, or what is traditionally accepted in Judaism as people search for how they are to apply Torah in our lives today. The result has been a lot of confusion in many cases. What are we to do? Our desire should be that we don't practice lawlessness. Lawlessness is what separates us from the Tree of Life and from the gate into the kingdom of God. See Matthew 7 along with Revelation 22, and Genesis at the very foundation of the world for witness and context. Torah is the Word of God given that if we practice it we will live. And it can only be accomplished by grace through faith. Grace is the work of God that we access by faith - believing what HE said. Torah practice apart from the indwelling Spirit of Yeshua is IMPOSSIBLE! Paul says that the flesh CANNOT submit to the Torah. So why do we turn to flesh to learn how to obey Torah? Did not Yeshua say we have only one Rabbi and HE is that Rabbi? Is this not what the New Covenant is all about? Isn't it that we have HIS work in us, teaching us, revealing HIS Torah Truth to us, and empowering us, as we submit, to obey HIM - to walk as HE walked (1st John 1)? So why do we turn to lawless men for our resource for how we are to live for our HOLY GOD?

We have questions about the temple and how our walk today relates to the temple. Will there be a return to temple sacrifice with a revived Levitical priesthood? Ron address this, but most important is what does Scripture really say. Does our walk in Yeshua lie in rabbinic traditon tied to the temple worship of Judaism? Did the sages of Judaism really know more that what the Word of Yahweh can reveal to us about how we are to live a life of faith? What part does tradtion really play in our lives as followers of Yeshua. As Pastor Ron has said many times, "It's like peeling back the layers of an onion." I suggest we have many layers to go. We haven't arrived yet. What layers of tradition from Traditional Christianity still exist in our life and practice? AND what layers of the traditions of Judaism have we added?  These layers keep us from the pure Word of Torah that we can only know by the Spirit of Elohim who gives us understanding.

In a recent conversation a writer was citing the lawless perspective that we don't have to obey the dietary Commandments of Torah because it was rooted in the temple worship of Judaism. I suppose one has to ignore that the precept and concept of clean and unclean animals predate Sinai. Rabbinic traditions, Pharisaical thought, all centered in Judaism, emphasize regulations beyond the Torah, not beyond the temple. The temple is man's invention. It was David's idea and God said I don't live in houses made by hands. Stephen says the same thing in Acts. So applying anything in relationship to the temple is skewed at best.

Torah, apart from the temple and man's tradition, declared certain animals as unclean and not food. The concept of clean and unclean animals predates Moses speaking these commandments to the people. Moses only spoke what the Ancient of Days spoke to HIM. The fact is that the knowledge of Yahweh had been lost, confused, and mixed with pagan practices.

From the garden it was confused with the influence of the liar who asked, "Did Yahweh really say?" And suggesting that man will not die by HIS rejection of the Word of Yahweh and adding his own spin on it. This was further confused as man was scattered over the face of the planet and did not want to retain knowledge of Yahweh (Rom 1).

After The Flood we see the rise of Nimrod - that is the Babylonian influence. But it didn't originate with Nimrod, just as it didn't in the Catholic church. It is a suggestion of the liar that finds root in the heart of rebellious man. Do we need to question why Yeshua says, in the Book of The Revelation, "Come out of her, MY people?"

Abram was Babylonian and was called out of that lawless place. He was a Hebrew - one who crossed over. He was called to separate from the Babylonian paganism and follow Yahweh. But his offspring continued to fall back into it. They spent 400 years in Egypt and became further syncretized with the inclusion of Egyptian paganism (all of it stems from the same lawless source - the liar in the garden, that's why the similarities).
The people cried out in their bondage and Yahweh delivered them from Egypt, setting them free from the bondage to that lawlessness that they might choose to serve HIM as HE prescribes.

After they were set free from the bondage of Egypt, given the ability to choose to hear HIS Voice or the voice of the enemy, they refused to come near and hear HIM and immediately began to practice the paganism that HE delivered them from. Moses was teaching the people the character and nature of Yahweh that they might turn to HIM and allow HIM to be their God. HE wanted them to come to HIM and allow HIS Spirit (Yeshua) to teach them HIS Word. Yeshua is the Living Word - Torah. In HIM dwells the fullness of Elohim (Godhead) bodily, said Paul. The problem is that man would rather come to man to be told what to do instead of coming to the Almighty. Therefore the Levitical priesthood was put in place.

The Levitical priesthood continued to perversion of the Truth of Torah and the result was kings, when they already had a KING - a temple when HE gave them the tabernacle patterned after the True Tabernacle which was always supposed to be HIS dwelling place. The true Temple of Yahweh has always been HIS people who come into covenant with HIM through Yeshua. That is believing HIS Torah, both living and written, and submitting to HIS work of grace in the New Covenant to write HIS Torah upon our hearts, put it in our minds and cause us to walk in HIS Statutes and keep HIS Commandments. This leaves a man out of the picture between us and HIM. Read the Prophets and see that HE judged them over and over again for not representing HIM accurately and not teaching them the pure Truth of Torah.

The continued struggle today lies in the arguments over man centered doctrine. What does your pastor say? What does your rabbi say? What does your fellowship practice? How do you obey Torah? What did the sages say? Don't the traditional sages of Judaism know more about how to keep Torah than we do? Don't the church fathers know more than we do? Shouldn't we follow all those men who went before us? The answer is a resounding "NO!" We must return to Torah and Elohim. We must worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth. HIS Word is Truth. David agrees with Yeshua in this matter. Paul agrees with David and Yeshua in that Torah is delightful, pure, Spiritual, and able to convert a person. It is the only doctrine that equips us for every good work, making us a complete/mature disciple of Yeshua, pleasing HIM by grace through faith. Faith is simply believing the Word of Elohim over the word of man and proving our belief by obey Yahweh rather than man.  The disciples asked the rhetorical question when they were hauled before the authorities, "Should we obey God or man?" They obviously chose to obey Yahweh. The entirety of the Apostolic Scriptures (what we call the New Testament) is an exhortation to repent to Torah by grace through faith in Yeshua, the Living Torah.

The priests, rabbis, sages, Sanhedrin of Judaism missed the Living Torah because they did not believe the Word of Yahweh given by Yeshua the Lawgiver to Moses. Yeshua spoke to them in John Chapter 5, clearly telling them, "For if you believed Moses, you  would believe ME. But if you do not believe his writings how will you believe MY Words?" You cannot separate the writings of Moses - The Torah of Yahweh, from the Living Torah - Yeshua, who gave it to him. Peter tells us in 1st Peter 1 that it was the Spirit of Yeshua who spoke to the prophets. These sages of Judaism proved they didn't believe Moses by their actions. They held to the traditions of the elders over the Torah of Yahweh, just as Yeshua told them in Matthew 15. The argument in Matthew 15 was whether the disciples should follow the extra-biblical commandments contained in the tradition of the elders (ritual handwashing) and ignore the Torah of Yahweh. Yeshua told them that their traditions made HIS Commandments of no effect!

We spend countless hours, and waste much effort in sectarian arguments based on the traditions of man when all we have to do is return to thus says Yahweh. It's not easy because we have to sort man's doctrine out of it continually. The devil has suggested lies and man in his rebellion has readily accepted them and added them to Torah. This leaven (sin) has leavened the whole lump. WE MUST REMOVE ALL THE LEAVEN! The tiniest bit of leaven leavens the whole lump.Do you see what the Feast of Unleavened Bread means here? We've been set free through Passover that we might be able to remove the leaven and follow HIM as truly unleavened. See Torah and read the words of Paul in 1st Corinthians 5. No wonder the traditiona church does not want to observe the Feasts (Appointments) of Yahweh. These Feasts reveal our sin and we have to do something about it!


Lawlessness is lawlessness, whether it is traditional Christian lawlessness, messianic Judaism lawlessness, or orthodox Judaism lawlessness. We are commanded to come out of Babylon. Babylon has infected the whole world and every religious expression of man. We must repent if we are to hear "Well done thou good and faithful servant." For if we continue to practice lawlessness we will hear, from Yeshua, "Depart from ME, you who practice lawlessness for I never knew you!"

The Dietary Commandments of Torah - Acts 10 Peter's Vision

I've had requests to view the video that Ron and I did concerning the Dietary Commandments of Torah. You can find them on YOUTUBE in 10 minute segments or they're available in full length video on the In Search of Manna page at Messiah Fellowship Online. Look in the ISOM Video Archive section.

Blessings to you as you seek to follow HIM apart from man's doctrine and wholly in HIS Doctrine.

Here is segment 1...

A PARADOX ON OIL & BLOOD by Pastor Ron Hyre (concerning the current oil leak in the Gulf

This is a must read from Pastor Ron Hyre. It is a very timely word that I believe Yahweh would have us consider. Check out this new post at In Search of Manna.