A guide for those who are worried about the End Time generation
credit: Arthur Szyk’s “Bar Kochba revolt”
For those who looked at this title and thought it was one of those “duh” statements, I agree with you. That’s why I paired it with the sub-title which gives a clue as to what I am writing about in this treatise. Very few people who know their Bible don’t need to be convinced that when northern Israel (“Yoseif” or “Efrayim”) went into exile or the house of Judah went into exile, this was NOT a blessing nor was it the second time (for Judah). In fact, we shall look at the second Jewish Diaspora to glean some principles.
Today’s Diaspora Culture
This treatise, to clarify, is not about the Jewish Diaspora but rather the Messianic- Hebrew Roots Diaspora.
“How so?”, some may ask. “We weren’t sent into exile. Only the Jews were”
That is precisely the problem with non-Jewish Messianic and other Sabbath-keeping Believers: because we were born “in the world”, whether it be the U.S., Canada, Mexico, etc., we don’t think of ourselves as being “in exile” – but yet we are! We don’t have our own country; we can’t make and pass our own laws – we ARE in exile!
And some may think, “Ok, but so what??”
The point I am trying to make is that no one thinks of themselves as being in Exile because being in exile is pretty cool!
Think about it: we have freedoms that abound (still!) as far as our economy abounds, which is to say that it is virtually limitless: we have freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to choose our careers, freedom to live wherever we want, to name but a few. We could list many more but just those listed above will suffice.
If that is “Exile life”, let us get more of it, some may say! Especially those who are European or African American Believers. Everybody wants to immigrate here to the U.S.; how nice! But living in exile is not a blessing for those who are in Messiah – it is a Curse from YHVH!
Judah’s Second Diaspora
Again, one may ask “how so” therefore we will review some of the highlights of the second Jewish Diaspora which was from 135-1947 AD. And mind you, I am not talking about getting kicked out of a land but rather the effects of living in Exile.
The first effect to note is that living in Exile is a forcible and deliberate scattering of the people of Elohim. After the Jews lost the war of the Bar Kochba Revolt, the Romans, like the Babylonian and Assyrian Victors before them, forced the surviving Yehudim to be spread across the Roman empire, which was quite extensive (at their height of power in that generation). Furthermore, they passed a law after 135 that forbade any Jew from settling in their land!
Today, there is no doubt that we are settled and spread across not only N America but the western world (since Messianism hasn’t reached Asia yet)! And while it may be true that we aren’t forbidden to settle anywhere in N America, some of us aren’t allowed to settle in some parts of the world lest the Believer dies or can’t live their faith and live.
A third effect from the loss of the war was that the Romans changed the name of Eretz Yisrael to “Palestine” which has caused us problems to this very day!
Living in the Exile not only caused a confusion of whose land belongs to the saints, it causes the nations (or sometimes purposefully) to misname us or label us incorrectly that either brings shame or further confusion over the true Faith. We see this from the very 1st century, before the 2nd exile, when the Romans first called the true Believers “Christian” (Ma’asim/Acts 11:26). The Apostles and Believers of the first century onward didn’t call themselves Christians but rather “Netzarim/Nazarenes” or “ha-Derekh/The Way”[1] (Ma’asim 9:2 latter term only). Throughout the centuries that ensued, true Believers were misnamed or spitefully named Albigensians, Walldensians, Anabaptists (the latter two who became sunday-keeping sects because of – yes, living in exile) only to come to our time and be called “Christians”again just because we believe in Messiah Yeshua and salvation by faith. Misappelation is the devil’s way of preventing people from coming to the Kingdom! It always has but living in Exile has the same effect.
Another effect of the second Exile was the way the Jewish people were literally, herded like defenseless animals, from land to land throughout the Middle Ages. I could recount here the history of the Jewish people from Europe being expelled from one country and territory after another in 18 centuries but you would fall into confusion after a while because it became so common! And if that wasn’t enough, the Jews were prevented from engaging in certain professions because they lived in catholic and protestant countries which would normally keep people impoverished but because YHVH still had a covenant with them, HE turned their prejudicial treatment into wealth for them as they were only allowed to take up professions that were associated with upper class people such as bankers, lenders, university professors, philosophers, statesmen, etc.
WE may not have been driven from country to country because we are only 3 generations old (the Messianic faith) but that does not mean WE don’t experience prejudice in the job market. We have 1st amendment protections but that hasn’t kept the Haters from keeping us from jobs or professions. This author was highly motivated to be a pilot (first military and then commercial) from high school but Sabbath-keeping kept me not only from those initially but countless other professions. I have no doubt where the Prejudice comes from: it is not just from Christianity or Secularist America but rather the result of being in Exile period! When we don’t have our own country or sovereignty, we can’t practice or worship as we wish or rather, as Adonai expects!
ALL of these things are Evil. Therefore, being in Exile is not a Blessing but a Cursing.
The Coming Tribulation
The End time tribulation that we are so familiar with is also not a blessing but most certainly a Cursing. The beginning of that period is called elsewhere as “Ya’akov’s trouble” (Yer.31) At this juncture, I must inform the audience that I do not usually engage in End time speculation because it is foolish, futile and a waste of time by every organization who has engaged in it but because of the subject herein, being in exile, I think talking about the Tribulation is perfectly apropos.
Because perilous times have come to the Western world, many are thinking upon end of the world scenarios. Has the time come?? And if so, many fearful Believers live in the shadow of whether they are going to be the ones who are so maliciously executed like our Messiah. You know the passages:
“it [the Beast] was allowed to make war on God’s holy people and to defeat them; and it was given authority over every tribe, people,language and nation.” Rev.13:7 CJB
Does this mean we are ALL pre-destined to die a grizzly death?? If the above verse is the entire Bible, then yes, that is the fate of us all and we can plan out our graves right now…
I speak sarcastically of course but since we are on the subject of exile, I will say that if we do nothing as a People, we ALL will most certainly die and I can say this with 100 percent certainty because a people who live in Exile, that is, scattered among the nations and living in the world, has never overcome the ones who have rule over them or hold them in Bondage!
The Good News about the End days (Acharit ha-yamim)
That would be the end of this subject if Revelation 13: 7 was the only verse in the Bible but unfortunately, many Messianic teachers have taken their cues from the wrong sources, (the biggest one being Christianity) and have dragged their false doctrines into the End time Faith.
It seems like people do not like being studious, that is, being critical readers and critical hearers. The same chapters and surrounding ones sometimes, give more clues as to the meaning or picture of a single verse. This is no less true for the above verse because in verse 10 of chapter 13, it says:
“ ‘if anyone is meant for captivity, into captivity he goes! If anyone is be killed with the sword, with the sword he is to be killed.’ This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!”
O how many people I encountered over the years who have become Preppers because of the ominous predictions of that end time devil, even among Unbelievers. In my first decade as a new Messianic believer, there were countless speakers who came through warning us of the impending doom, all of them selling their favourite verses on why it was so and do you know what was never said??
Rather than giving the simple answer that would have to be drawn out for many more pages, let me answer using a couple of modern movies that gives a picture of the eventual conclusion of this treatise:
If anyone has seen the older 2 season tv series Jericho or the 2024 box movie Homestead, try to keep these in mind from herein on out. They were both about End-of-America scenarios; both were set in a small community or commune/compound (latter); one was about major prepping (latter) and the other about zero prepping; both showed fantastical details of life after a national meltdown and both dealt with the problem of Mass deprivation.[2]
To go back to what I stated above: what is never said by a Prepper evangelist is that if you prepare for just your family, none of you will survive. And what is never said by the Doomsdayer evangelist is that there is a way to survive. Even Revelation 13:10 gives a reference to Yirmeyahu 15 in the CJB. Yirmeyahu was all about prophesying to ancient Yehudah before their first exile. Not ALL of Yehudah were killed or went into exile; some survived and got to stay in their homeland!
If this is confusing (some will survive; no one will survive), allow me to bring together what I am positing is the good news about the End days: You, individual Believer, can survive if you prepare BUT ONLY if you band together with other Messianic-Hebrew Roots Believers.
The one common thread among ALL end time scenarios is that only communities of people will survive. And since nearly ALL Messianic-Hebrew Roots believers are so dogmatically independent and resist coming together in one place and accord, that is, love living in exile, THAT is why we may all be wiped out in the End! It isn’t because we are the worst of Sinners but because there is absolutely NO, zero, nada cohesion among the Messianic gentiles or Hebrew Roots believers! We like to say it is just another sect among Religions but even that I have to disagree! People of Religion usually are a “Religion” because of some collective obligation to do something for their god. Not so among Messianic gentiles; there is NO concept of “We” among Messianic non-Jews, if there ever was!!
The Goal is not Heaven
Yes, yes, we can point to a few congregational successes here and there but even THOSE successful Messianic organizations have zero obligation or accountability to one another. They are all built around cult-of-personalities (not necessarily a pejorative but is for purposes of this paper). You know who they are: Bill Cloud of Tents of Yaacov/Jabob; Monte Judah of Lion and Lambs Ministries; Steve Berkowitz of Messianic Torah Observant Israel. ALL of these leaders and organizations offer something valuable. Heck, I listen to two of the above regularly but these and I am tempted to say “All”, are living in exile also. No matter what size these kehillot/congregations are, they are not communities whatsoever. They could be mega-churches of 1,000 or 5,000 or 10,000 and they still would not be communities to Yah in heaven!
The foremost problem as I see it is because “Hebrew Roots” believers are almost entirely from Christianity, we have built a new religious system almost ENTIRELY bogus, felonious Christian doctrines, the first and foremost being: “it doesn’t matter what everyone else does so long as I get saved and go to heaven”
I CANNOT stress enough that we need to distance ourselves from that false religion; the entire Messianic faith, both Jews and gentiles, are hampering the Kingdom of Elohim by not seeing and practicing the most fundamental concepts because they haven’t cast away the false idols of their past yet!
The goal is NOT individual salvation and the destiny is NOT heaven;
YHVH wants a PEOPLE (group) and the destiny is RIGHT HERE on earth!
Conclusion: WE, not Me, Myself and I
Another problem is not just Christianity but being embedded in a steeply secular culture. I was the first of the “Me generation” which is what we X’ers were called in the 80’s. From there, the next two generations have only deepened and perfected this paradigm until the point of not being a nation in the very near future. Mark my words…
That matters not because the Ruach ha-Kadosh called us to something else. We all know this in essence but we have yet to make it a reality. All Messiancs know the following verse but no one has yet to expound the full extent of what it means:
“But you are a chosen people, the King’s cohanim, a holy nation, a people for God to possess” – 1 Kefa 2:9
Just as the hermeneutical principle of when Yah commands something more than 2x in the Bible, it is really important to Him (such as the One Torah for the Israelite and gentile command given 3x), so it is with the reading of a passage. Kefa/Peter did not make up the above verse. Each clause was inspired in the Tanakh already but in so doing, Kefa emphasized a key word in Adonai’s overall plan that no one has ever expounded upon:
“A People”. In the above verse, this word is used more than any other word (except “a” which doesn’t stand on it’s own)
This is one of the most important verses given to us Messianics by Kefa because it is for all practical purposes, the End goal for YHVH not only this side of heaven but the next! It is a very loaded statement that will have to be developed into a book but the first concept is that of “a People”. Religion may define some people but the “people” of Yah aren’t defined by a “religion”. A Religion is something that people do but it isn’t an End in itself. You should recognize this because Torah or Gospel is not an END but merely a MEANS to an END. A “People”is a group of humans which sociology calls an “Ethnicity”. Ethnic groups (a.k.a. People groups) create cities and states and States form Nations. The basic building block of a “Nation” is a community.
And we aren’t it, not by a long shot!
You may think that living in exile is cool which is just another way of saying we’re living in the world but if you could ask one of our spiritual ancestors, any Sabbath-keeping Believer of the past 20 centuries whether they would rather live in exile or in some community, state or nation with other Sabbatarian/Messianic Believers, I know what they would say:
“Living in exile is not a blessing”
[1] Both references: a.) Ray Pritz’ book “Nazarene Jewish Christianity” and b.)B.L.B.’s Strong’s reference of “Christian” under G5546 says, “The name was first given to the worshipers of Jesus by the gentiles,”… both attest to this fact.
[2] If you wondered why cars couldn’t be used in the tv series but were all functional in the movie, I think it is because a dirty bomb was set off in sounternCal and not a nuclear bomb. Homestead does not use EMP technology as I understand it and the movie producers did not think it was important to detail.
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