November 3, 2006
Well, we finally have a computer that works. If any of you have Skype and want to contact us, our new Skype name is: ephraimitereturn. We have lost all the addresses from our previous Skype connections, so if you don’t mind, please send your address again. Thanks.
This past week a number thoughts, about our restored identity as Ephraimites/
Israelites have occurred to me. In last week’s letter I wrote about teaching children. One of the things that YHVH meant by the injunction “to teach” children, I believe, was to share with them about their ancestry. The great magnitude of this topic is clear, as it is tied to the history of YHVH’s chosen people.
In today’s Hellenistic world of humanism, we tend to focus on our individual entity, choosing that which is right in our own eyes. This Greek philosophy of life has led this generation to the ultimate state of no values and no true identity. It ignores any absolutes regarding divine law and order. It perpetuates the selfish, self-centered life style to the point of complete blindness to the operation of the principle of cause-and-effect, or reaping and sowing, and hence exempts the individual from any accountability.
The apostle Paul, writing to the Believers in Rome, makes note of the following: “For this reason Elohim gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain Elohim in their knowledge, Elohim gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality…” (Romans 1:26-29).
As most of you know, Jerusalem is faced with one of its most challenging decisions in modern history, and that is whether to allow or forbid a homosexual display in a form of a procession to make its way down its streets. In face of this possibility, the ultra-orthodox community has already taken matters into its own hands, and for a whole week now has been demonstrating its preview responses should the parade dare to march in “their” city. Already policemen have been injured in riots, which have taken place in religious neighborhoods. Why is all this taking place?
When a person does not have a clear idea of his identity, where he has come from, nor what is his destiny, he is lost and prone to search in all the wrong places. This becomes extremely dangerous for children, as they are presented with a life style of breached boundaries, no guidelines, sexual promiscuity, violence, low moral standards, and thus when they reach puberty they think it is the norm. Is this connected to the loss of identity or roots? What about us, as the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Through the Prophet Jeremiah YHVH says: "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, for You are YHVH my Elohim. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.'” (Jeremiah 31:18-19).
If Ephraim is still lost to his ancestral identity, how will this recognition of guilt for the sin of youth, his repentance and return to his Elohim, ever come to pass? There are hundreds of prophecies in scriptures that pertain to Ephraim/Israel, the lost tribes, and their restoration, but if they do not know who they are, some of those prophecies will never be fulfilled. However, has the Word of YHVH ever failed? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
“Not a word failed of any good thing which YHVH had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45), and I might add all still will come to pass.
YHVH has sent His Spirit to blow from the four corners of the earth to bring the whole House of Israel out from their graves and cause them to stand up a mighty army in these days. Judah is to be the bow and Ephraim the arrow, and together they are to be a weapon in the hand of the Almighty (ref. Zech 9:13-14). Those sons of Zion are to come against the sons of Greece. But if the sons of Zion are still acting and behaving like the sons of Greece, whether by ignorance or willfully, how can they become a weapon against the Hellenistic influences of our day? Let us pray that the sons of Zion will again return to their identity as YHVH’s firstborn, and: “ Set up signposts, make landmarks; set [their] heart toward the highway, the way in which [they] went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities. How long will you go about, O you backsliding daughter?” (Jeremiah 31: 21-22) (Jeremiah 31: 3-4).
If we, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, do not know who we are as their seed in this generation, none of the above scriptures, or for that matter no prophecy that pertains to all Israel, will be of any consequence. To all of you who have the faith of your father Abraham (ref Rom 4:16), let no one take your identity away from you, it is your birthmark and your future hope!
Ephraim
Well, we finally have a computer that works. If any of you have Skype and want to contact us, our new Skype name is: ephraimitereturn. We have lost all the addresses from our previous Skype connections, so if you don’t mind, please send your address again. Thanks.
This past week a number thoughts, about our restored identity as Ephraimites/
Israelites have occurred to me. In last week’s letter I wrote about teaching children. One of the things that YHVH meant by the injunction “to teach” children, I believe, was to share with them about their ancestry. The great magnitude of this topic is clear, as it is tied to the history of YHVH’s chosen people.
In today’s Hellenistic world of humanism, we tend to focus on our individual entity, choosing that which is right in our own eyes. This Greek philosophy of life has led this generation to the ultimate state of no values and no true identity. It ignores any absolutes regarding divine law and order. It perpetuates the selfish, self-centered life style to the point of complete blindness to the operation of the principle of cause-and-effect, or reaping and sowing, and hence exempts the individual from any accountability.
The apostle Paul, writing to the Believers in Rome, makes note of the following: “For this reason Elohim gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain Elohim in their knowledge, Elohim gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality…” (Romans 1:26-29).
As most of you know, Jerusalem is faced with one of its most challenging decisions in modern history, and that is whether to allow or forbid a homosexual display in a form of a procession to make its way down its streets. In face of this possibility, the ultra-orthodox community has already taken matters into its own hands, and for a whole week now has been demonstrating its preview responses should the parade dare to march in “their” city. Already policemen have been injured in riots, which have taken place in religious neighborhoods. Why is all this taking place?
When a person does not have a clear idea of his identity, where he has come from, nor what is his destiny, he is lost and prone to search in all the wrong places. This becomes extremely dangerous for children, as they are presented with a life style of breached boundaries, no guidelines, sexual promiscuity, violence, low moral standards, and thus when they reach puberty they think it is the norm. Is this connected to the loss of identity or roots? What about us, as the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Through the Prophet Jeremiah YHVH says: "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, for You are YHVH my Elohim. Surely, after my turning, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, because I bore the reproach of my youth.'” (Jeremiah 31:18-19).
If Ephraim is still lost to his ancestral identity, how will this recognition of guilt for the sin of youth, his repentance and return to his Elohim, ever come to pass? There are hundreds of prophecies in scriptures that pertain to Ephraim/Israel, the lost tribes, and their restoration, but if they do not know who they are, some of those prophecies will never be fulfilled. However, has the Word of YHVH ever failed? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
“Not a word failed of any good thing which YHVH had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45), and I might add all still will come to pass.
YHVH has sent His Spirit to blow from the four corners of the earth to bring the whole House of Israel out from their graves and cause them to stand up a mighty army in these days. Judah is to be the bow and Ephraim the arrow, and together they are to be a weapon in the hand of the Almighty (ref. Zech 9:13-14). Those sons of Zion are to come against the sons of Greece. But if the sons of Zion are still acting and behaving like the sons of Greece, whether by ignorance or willfully, how can they become a weapon against the Hellenistic influences of our day? Let us pray that the sons of Zion will again return to their identity as YHVH’s firstborn, and: “ Set up signposts, make landmarks; set [their] heart toward the highway, the way in which [they] went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, turn back to these your cities. How long will you go about, O you backsliding daughter?” (Jeremiah 31: 21-22) (Jeremiah 31: 3-4).
If we, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, do not know who we are as their seed in this generation, none of the above scriptures, or for that matter no prophecy that pertains to all Israel, will be of any consequence. To all of you who have the faith of your father Abraham (ref Rom 4:16), let no one take your identity away from you, it is your birthmark and your future hope!
Ephraim
