The following is taken from an exchange of emails. The first part is from a good Christian brother of mine and the last part is my addition to his original email entitled Urban Legends vs. The Truth!

"Terry P." wrote:

Recently via e-mail I've gotten some pretty interesting stuff. I've received an e-mail about how Vice President Gore meaning to say John 3:16 was his favorite Bible verse stated John 16:3 was. "And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.". The e-mail continued to poke fun at our Vice President and declare that the verse only points to the "truth" about him. I also received an e-mail with a web link to a company called ID Chip. It was a site proclaiming a computerized chip that could monitor health and be used like a credit card was ready to market and the first to sign up for it would receive a gift of two hundred and fifty dollars. I wondered why a company that wanted to "give" you money wanted to know your credit card number? Obviously it didn't raise any eyebrows with the Christians who were shocked to realize "the end was near"!

Today I got an e-mail from one of the saints in our congregation that links up to a web site proving the Al Gore statement was an Urban Legend or in other words: A LIE! I researched the ID chip company sending numerous e-mails to them and found out that there was no ID chip! It was a fabricated site to generate publicity and to see how quickly paranoia can create interest. As Christians I think it's sad that we are more interested in OUR TRUTH rather than THE TRUTH! We love little demeaning tidbits that have no validity or integrity! Remember how Janet Reno basically called all Christians cult members? Bunk! How about the hole they drilled in the earth that they could hear the sounds of hell in? Bunk! The world doesn't do half the damage to Christians as we do to ourselves! We talk about "truth" but when it comes to rumors and gossip we have no shred of integrity! Let's spread this around and make Janet Reno, Al Gore, or whoever we don't care for look stupid.

As followers of Christ our best representation is our testimony. We should spend more time praying for people who don't have our values or beliefs and less time mis-representing them. If we believe the Bible to be the standard of absolute truth let us attempt to promote the content that it has within it! Let us avoid all this Godless chatter for those who participate in it become more and more ungodly! (2 Timothy 2:14-16)

Let us lift up Christ and encourage one another to good works. The end of the world and the wickedness of man will be revealed in God's time, but not by our vain words!

Terry

Subject:

Re: Urban Legends vs. The Truth! (A few more that have been overlooked)

Date:

Tue, 24 Aug 1999 12:04:46 -0700

From:

Ernie L. Hoch <erniesilvr@gmail.com>

Organization:

Covenants Of Promise Ministries

To:

"Terry P. [Last Name Omitted]" <email address omitted>

Hi Terry:

Thank you for this email. You are so right about us putting aside the myths and getting to the truth and heart of the matters before we "accept" and pass on the things we have heard others tell us that we haven't sought the truth for ourselves.

Let's pray for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit before we enter this study.

"Father in Heaven, we ask that you open our blinded eyes, that we might see what we have read with our eyes and have not understood with our hearts, for it is only through Your Holy Spirit that we can enter into the realm of TRUTH for you have stated through your Son, our Messiah, that He ..."is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life...". Father, we thank you for what you are about to reveal to us, in your precious Son's Name, Yahshua, we pray. Amen.

I would like to share some of the URBAN LEGENDS or LIES as they should be called that I grew up accepting and now have found out were deceptions planted by Satan, the deceiver, many years ago and which were inherited by our fathers. Jeremiah 16:19.

First, let's look at Acts Chapter 10 and Peter's vision of what was "unclean". It is so easy to draw a conclusion from verses 10-15 that suit our rationale of justification for our lawless behavior. Just as the 7 lean cows in Pharoah's day did not eat up the 7 fat cows literally, neither was Peter's vision LITERALLY about eating unclean four footed beasts and creeping creatures that were stated in Lev. 11 as abominable before our Heavenly Father. In fact, Peter was greatly perplexed over this vision and wondered if it was to be taken literally according to Acts 10:17, and 19 where he was "doubting within himself" and "thinking about the vision". The matter with him did not get settled until yet later on in the chapter. The Spirit told Peter to go with 3 men whom he would never have gone with, had he not had the vision, because they were "unclean" Gentiles and Peter says so in Acts 10: 28, 34-35 "But Elohim has shown ME that I should not call any MAN common or unclean" and "Truly I see that Elohim shows no partiality, but in every nation, he ("man" again) who FEARS Him and works righteousness IS ACCEPTED BY HIM".

See Peter's vision of supposedly being "instructed" to eat abominable flesh was YHWH's way of getting Peter's attention just like the 7 fat and 7 leans cows definitely got Pharoah's attention. This was done so that Peter would understand that he must go, as instructed, TO THE UNCLEAN GENTILES. Hallelu-Yah for the TRUTH. Hallelu-Yah that Peter understood that he was NOT to call any MAN unclean and, thus, he came to bring the good news for us Gentiles. Had Peter misinterpreted the VISION to mean he should eat a poisonous tarantula or other abominable meats like charred stuffed pork chops, he might have been dead before he UNDERSTOOD the instructions of the SPIRIT. Hallelu-Yah for Peter's discernment. Peter knew the Law of the Torah in Leviticus 11 and had always OBEYED His Father's Teaching and Law and Peter was much relieved that He was not instructed to take the Vision literally but that he was not to call "any MAN unclean" for YHWH's health laws have not changed even to this very day. Oh that we would desire to know and love the Torah/Law/Good Teachings like to Disciples and Appostles and Saints of the Scriptures who grew up with these as their foundation for life. They were not looking for a way out of these teachings. They embraced them. Many of us look upon them as "bondage" but they are the rules that our "life" is played by. These rules are good, and righteous and protect us from evil and harm. They should be a much desired thing.

I Timothy 4:3-6 also seems to be a stumblingblock to true understanding of "clean" vs. "unclean" in our Christian denominations. Let's truly examine this scriptures with Spiritual "EYES" that only the Holy Spirit can give. This is taken right directly from the KJV so you can see what has been overlooked.

"3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained."

Now let's look closely at what Paul is saying here. "Meats" or "foods" as some translations have it, which "God" or "Elohim" CREATED TO BE RECEIVED. OK. Stop right there. Paul and the Jews of that day knew the Torah, the Law, and Lev. 11 and Deut. 14. They knew full well what was "created to be received" and what was NOT "created to be received" or "set-apart" according to Lev. 11 and Deuteronomy 14, their two witnesses. Nowhere does the scripture state that everything that walked the face of the earth was CREATED TO BE RECEIVED for human consumption!

"For every creature OF GOD (ELOHIM) good". The word "is" was added but it should read "For every good [or clean] creature created by Elohim is not to be rejected" for the argument Paul was having here was over a sect of people that were VEGETARIANS and were teaching to abstain from meats altogether very much like some religious sects of our day teach also. What Paul was trying to convey here was that "what meats YHWH called CLEAN in Lev. 11 and Deut. 14, were still clean in their day and what Elohim called clean and good, no man should reject as long as it was "sanctified" meaning SET-APART by the word (Torah/Law) of God (Elohim) and with "prayer" of Thanksgiving.

Now what did it mean in verse 3 again "of them which believe and know the truth." Well, in Paul's day, they Believed in the Torah, the Law of YHWH and that was all TRUTH. They were taught the TORAH from an early age and it was INSTILLED in their minds and their hearts. They all lived the law, but there were some who were saying the Law/Torah didn't matter and that they were straying and going into vegetarianism. Think about it, my friend. The TRUTH has always been there in front of our eyes. Now the TRUTH is revealed and we can either REJECT it or EMBRACE it. The choice is still ours.

I love verse 6 of I Timothy Chapter 4. It says in the ISR version "If you present these matters to the brothers, you shall be a good servant of Yahshua Messiah, being nourished in the words of belief and of the good teachings [the TORAH/Law] which you have followed closely." It doesn't say the presenter would be well liked or well received of his brethren for presenting the TRUTH of these matters, but that the presenter would be a good servant of the One who really counts, Yahshua Messiah. The "words of belief" and "of the good teachings" refers to their upbringing in the instructions of the TORAH, the LAW of YHWH. Nowhere in the Torah/Law does our Heavenly Father say to put abominable foods into our bodies. It has never changed. If our bodies are the temples of the Ruach ha Quodesh (Hebrew for "the Spirit that is set apart" commonly referred to in Christianity as the "Holy Spirit"), why would we offer abominable detestable offerings in there? We wouldn't or we shouldn't if we are currently doing so.

Are the foods/meats we eat today sanctified by the "word" of Elohim in the Torah? Or do we make the rules up as we go along and decide what is good for us and what is not according to our own taste buds "wresting" Scripture to fit into the desires of our own heart.

We often use the excuse, "But He knows our hearts!". Yes, He does. He said what he thinks our our "hearts" in Jeremiah 17:9-10.

"The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I, YHWH, search the heart, [I] try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, [and] according to the fruit of his doings."

Yes, He knows our wicked and deceitful hearts. He knows how we twist the Scriptures in a couple of places so we can say that "God has changed and we can eat those delectables that God once called abominable for He has made all things clean". Yea, RIGHT! When 99% of Scriptures and Prophecy speaks out against these abominations and we take a couple of passages of Scripture out of context and say "all things are now clean"?

My Heavenly Father, I pray, I beg you to have mercy on me for my blindness all these years. I know there are still many areas in my life that I am still blinded but I pray you reveal these areas to me so that I may repent and turn from that blindness and walk it your set-apart ways. You desire me to be set apart for you are set apart. Leviticus 11:43-47.

Hallelu-Yah.

Hallelu-Yah for the restoration of absolute truth!

Only our pagan Gentile minds have been given over to these abominable delights. Isaiah 66:3c-5 says:

"Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose [that] in which I delighted not."

Do we honestly believe our Heavenly Father doesn't mind what we put into our bodies? Do we really think He changed His mind and now overlooks our ways when we "...which eat swine's flesh, and broth of abominable [things is in] their vessels;"? Our Father says "These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burneth all the day.". Isaiah 64:4-5.Do we really think he doesn't care which day we keep holy or set-apart to Him as long as we at least set-apart one day of the week or say that everyday is our Sabbath to Him? When we say these things, we really don't "seek Him" or "obey Him" or "love Him", DO WE? Honestly, don't OUR WAYS fall in the category above of "but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose [that] in which I delighted not."?

Do we not wonder why we have a hard time understanding the Scriptures? He has chosen "delusions" for us because we have delighted in "chosing our own ways and our souls delight in our abominable practices of indulging on the abomination of charred swine's flesh, pork fat gravy and clam chowder. Terry, that is why for 33 years, I had a meaningless "christian" walk. It wasn't until I took steps towards the Master and turned away from my evil and wicked abominations of eating unclean things that He softened His heart towards me and began to pour out His TRUTH upon my Scripture studies. That doesn't make me better than anyone in my eyes. I just have to be obedient to My Father as I understand His word that He has now shown me. My walk with my Messiah and His Father is like walking on clouds every waking moment of the day. I can't get enought of His Teachings, His Law, His Truth, His Way, and His Life, NOT MINE. I can't express this change in me any clearer. I love Him so much and I love others so much more than ever before. The burdens I have are for my family and friends and brothers and sisters who still live in the same rebellion I lived in until about 18 months ago when I began to turn from my wicked abominable ways of eating unclean foods and then 14 months ago when I understood how important His Set-Apart day to "cease and desist" from labors, the One and Only weekly Sabbath on the 7^th Day.

In Genesis 2:2 and Genesis 2:3 and other places as well, the word "RESTED" is:

Bible Study Tools: Hebrew Lexicon

Strongs' No. <07673> shabath {shaw-bath'} t;b'v

Word Origin a primitive root TWOT - 2323, 2323c verb

Word Usage in KJV

Word Count

cease 47

rest 11

away 3

fail 2

celebrate 1

misc 7

Total: 71

Definition(s)

1) to cease, desist, rest 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to cease 1a2) to rest, desist (from labour) 1b) (Niphal) to cease 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to cease, put an end to 1c2) to exterminate, destroy 1c3) to cause to desist from 1c4) to remove 1c5) to cause to fail 2) (Qal) to keep or observe the sabbath

Yes, the word "RESTED" means "to keep or observe the sabbath" to "cease and desist" from all our labors of the previous 6 days. The Sabbath is a SIGN "throughout your generations" "forever". See Exodus 31:13 & 17 and Ezekiel 20:12, & 20. I only ask you, my brother, when did FOREVER end? It hasn't ended and neither has His sign of His people whether by blood or being grafted in. When we want to honor Him, we keep His Commandments and thus avoid the penalties for breaking His Law. Hallelu-Yah!

I found the above to be extremely important. Have you every received a "Cease and Desist Order" from a State or Federal Agency? Probably not but I know people who have. When a person receives a Cease and Desist Order in a civil matter and violates that Order, it becomes a CRIMINAL matter and they will be arrested. Think about it for one brief minute. To break YHWH's Cease and Desist Order issued on the weekly Sabbath carries severe consequences. I need not explain further but you might want to pursue how well grace covers deliberate disobedience and lawlessness. See Hebrews 10:26-31. Very important passage. See also Hebrews 6:6 for a second witness. Enough said.

Terry, remember, I grew up being taught to hang on to every word of ENGLISH that came from my King James Bible. I did so for many years. In fact, it wasn't until the last few months and even more so in the last few days that I have been jarred out of my delusion that the King James or any other English version is infallible as "translated" into English. I have been taught that the KJV translators were Godfearing men and would not have let error creap in yet the true Name of our Heavenly Father (YHWH) was removed 6823 times and substituted with the words "the LORD". The reason the word "LORD" is in all capitals, is because it was their way of "indicating" what they had done and where. Also, it was brought to my attention during this last week that Luke 24:1 and Acts 20:7 (the first phrase of each verse) was deliberately mistranslated so as not to come into direct conflict with the Holy Roman Catholic Church's doctrine changing the Sabbath to Sunday (the venerable day of the Sun) as Emperor Constantine was a known sunworshipper and since Ba'al was a sun god and in Hebrew Ba'al means "lord", Sunday was called "The Lord's Day". Why would we want to ever call our Messiah or His Father "The Lord" since in Hebrew it means "Ba'al"?

But back to the point of proof of Luke 24:1 and Acts 20:7. The first phrase of each of the following verses is another "LEGEND"; another LIE that has been perpetrated for over 500 years and can be easily dispelled as follows:

In any Greek/English Interlinear, you will see the proof of what the Greek text says and the error of the KJV translators and most other translations followed suit so as not to upset the "doctrines of the traditions of men" that had been carried down for nearly 1300 before KJV from the Council of Nicea in 324 C.E..

In Luke 24:1 in the Internet Greek Interlinear says:

Luke 24:1

The same passage reads in the Greek:

Luke 24:1

When I click on the word "sabbavtwn" I get the following:

Bible Study Tools: Greek Lexicon

Strongs' No. <4521> sabbaton {sab'-bat-on}savbbaton

Word Origin of Hebrew origin <07676> TDNT - 7:1,989 noun neuter

Word Usage in KJV

Word Count

sabbath day 37

sabbath 22

week 9

Total: 68

Definition(s)

1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work 1a) the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week 1b) a single sabbath, sabbath day

2) seven days, a week [can only be translated as such when used as a 7 day period of time - thus a "week" of days]

[Comments in the brackets above are mine]

Check out the website or take what I have copied and pasted in here as fact, for it is. The Greek word sabbavtwn means SABBATH or SABBATH DAY but was translated "week". The word "first" means "one" most of the time but rarely "first". And the clincher is that the word "DAY" was never in the Greek text but was ADDED to the English translations to support a Sunday (sungodday) pagan day of worship. The correct way this phrase should read, "Now on one of the Sabbaths...".

Likewise, we can examine Acts 20:7 in the Internet Interlinear Bible:

Interlinear Bible: Search Results

Acts 20:7

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."

So don't you think it is about time that we dispel these URBAN LEGENDS, too, and these "INHERITED LIES... WHEREIN THERE IS NO PROFIT"? Jeremiah 16:19. As good "Christians" aren't we obligated also to perpetuate the TRUTH when the truth is made known before our very eyes? Absolutely.

Jeremiah 16:19 says:

"19 O YHWH, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and [things] wherein [there is] no profit."

Continued