Natzarim Yahshua Family Fellowship

Over the course of the last couple years there has been a disturbing trend in the Torah Observant / Hebrew community, the breaking of fellowship. Almost always, it occurs without warning, just as a lighting strike, it appears and disappears in an instant. It is very sad and heart breaking, especially when bonds and relationships are built over time then broken in an instant. Some people are willing to simply walk away without explanation or a simple goodbye.

Have you noticed this? People are a part of a fellowship or group and seem to be thriving, interactive and involved. One Sabbath or feast they are here, the next they are gone without explanation. This leaves the entire fellowship or group questioning what happened with few people knowing what happened.

As brothers and sisters, there are bound to be differences in understanding and reckoning of the Scriptures and how we are applying them to our own lives. We will never agree 100% on any Scriptural matter, our levels of understanding simply are not the same. We are not all in the same place at the same time in our journey, so that should be expected, unfortunately it’s not. That simple fact, many can’t or don’t understand. We should consider looking at our journey/walk as a staircase. Few of us are on the same steps of the stair case, some are ahead and the path while others are just starting to walk the path. Some are still drinking milk and coming out of the worldly system while others are feasting on the main course of keeping all of the appointed times. This trend I’ve been witness to reminds me of something, and it’s something that many of us claim to have come out of, but we are bringing that baggage with us… the church, in particular churchianity.

In churchianity, if we were offended by the message being presented, the pastor or certain people within the congregation, it was really simple, just walk out and change churches, without a trace, warning or notice; just leave and don’t say a word. One week we were there and the next week we were gone and had moved on to another church where our ears were being tickled and our ego’s fed and nurtured. Unfortunately, that is what I feel is going on right now in the Torah community. Like a thief in the night and without a word being said, people just up and leave. Maybe people have grown so accustomed to this they don’t even realize what they are doing, they have brought this baggage, along with a lot of other church baggage (Trinitarian, pre-tribulation rapture, dispensationalism, etc.) into the Torah Observant/Hebrew community, and it’s not necessarily a good thing, nor is it Scriptural, per se.

Let’s examine why this type of behavior is not Scriptural. For context, please read Leviticus 6, Numbers 5, Matthew 5, and Matthew 18. If we have an offense against a brother or sister, we are supposed to leave our offerings at the altar of Yah, go and reconcile with our brother or sister, then come back and complete our offerings. This is a Torah based principle that Yahshua fully supported and even expounded upon in the Matthew 18 protocol. He gave us step by step instructions for us to just this. Yet, so many people in this walk are refusing to apply this simple and effective principle. They would rather walk away from fellowship rather than deal with “conflict” and do as we are commanded to do.

Now, you may be thinking, we did not sin against anyone when we left without explanation. You may or may not be correct. The thing about Leviticus 6 and Numbers 5, it was those who committed the sin who were convicted by the Ruach, not by another man, of their guilt. They were not caught by man in the act of the sin (such as one could catch others in the act of adultery) and they likely could have gotten away with it, without anyone ever knowing, had it not been for the Ruach. When the Ruach convicts us within our beings, there is no denying it. The part that people do have, at least somewhat correct, is the confessing of the offense/sin/trespass. What do I mean by that?

What I have found is that people are people and they like to talk. And as people, we also like to listen, especially intently if we think something is rather juicy. Then, without even thinking about it, it will get brought up in another conversation with another person. Eventually, the information get’s back around to the offended party. Rarely is it the person that was offended coming to the offender. This is so backwards of what we are instructed to do. 

How many of us have entertained conversation with others that has been gossip/lashon hara? How long did the conversation go before it was shut down, if at all? Did we correct the person gossiping or did we just entertain and feed into the conversation, possibly unknowingly justifying the other person’s feelings. The question that should be asked is this, is lashon hara (gossip/evil speaking) a sin?  

If someone has offended you, what are you supposed to do? Hint, its located in the Matthew 18…within this section of Scripture I do not find the part where it says to go to another brother and sister and discuss the matter with them and that be the end of it. Who is the person that you are supposed to go to? That would be the person who offended/trespassed/sinned against you, NOT somebody else, regardless if they are your best friend and you tell them everything. It is your obligation (you are commanded to do so, it’s not a suggestion nor is it optional) to go and rectify the matter (if possible) with the offensive person. I REPEAT – You are NOT to go to your neighbor(s) and share this offense with them. By doing so, it becomes lashon hara, regardless if any of information shared is factual or not. This could also fall into the category of bearing false witness against someone, which is yet another sin, because you have not been called as a witness to a matter. Slander, bearing false witness, tale bearing; however it’s phrased within your translation of Scripture, it is a sin, PERIOD! Now we have a second or third trespass/sin/offense to deal with, instead of just the original. In actuality, what is being done can be looked at as hate, which is the opposite of love, which is an even deeper problem and an even greater sin. Yahshua put it on the level of murdering your brother when you hate them.

Please see the presentation titled Lashon Hara, located here at the Natzarim Yahshua website; https://natzarimyahshua.org/lashon-hara/  for a more complete understanding of the premise of this writing.

Sadly, far too many members of the body are doing just this; speaking to their neighbors while being offended instead of directly to the person who offended them. This usually results in the manifestation of an unclean spirit and this type of spirit causes division in the body of Messiah, it fractures relationships and destroys our trust in one another, especially people we called “brother and/or sister”. Over, and over and over and again, this vicious cycle keeps on repeating itself.

What’s even more disturbing and sad, the “offender” is probably COMPLETELY unaware that they even offended you. More often than not, when we are offended, the offending party does not have malice in their heart or ill will intended toward anyone. YET, this is EXACTLY how we take it personally, telling ourselves it was malicious and intentional, so we pick up our toys and go home, without solving the problem. We then willfully turn our backs to one another, and for what reason? Let me ask you this, is this how we are raising our children and teaching them how to be? Do we not correct them when they exhibit this type of behavior, especially when they don’t get their way?

Look, I get there are some issues that we would be justified in breaking fellowship with certain groups or people. People actively living in the following lifestyles: adulterous, drunkards, thieves, extortionist and fornicators; those we break fellowship with for because they will not be inheriting the kingdom of Yahweh. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Ultimately, do you even realize what this is leading to? I bet you don’t even think about it but here it is – this is causing the love of many to wax cold. Does that sound familiar? It should, read Matthew 24 and it what happens in the last days. People often think and point to the church and the world looking for this to happen, without even realizing; its occurring within those who once stated they loved us in this walk, but have turned their backs toward us. To me, it brings another level of understanding when Yahshua stated in Matthew 10 that brother will rise up against brother when He was speaking in regards to the persecution.  

Responsibility – it is up to you to rectify the situation, at the very least make your brother or sister whole again, restore them as the Scripture commands us to. If you don’t want to fellowship with them anymore that is ok. YOU, at the very least, have an obligation to let them know how you were offended so that they at least have an opportunity to correct themselves, if necessary, and grow. This keeps you from sinning, and in an even greater that what you even realize as described above. Without it, you are robbing (stealing) them of the ability to grow, which is yet another sin. Do you see how the list of sins/trespasses/offenses is continually growing.

People often forget the Egypt and exile they once were in, coming into this walk. When we first started our journey on the staircase, most of us felt lost and alone, often for an extended period of time. Once we found others who were living out their faith as we were, the excitement of having brothers and sisters was palpable. We had so longed for fellowship with others, we felt more complete. We started to see glimpses of the Kingdom. To have that ripped away, without warning, none of us seen that coming. With Pesach (Passover) rapidly approaching, maybe it’s time we be reminded of our Egypt, our own exile. Maybe it’s time to remove that leaven that’s been puffing us up.

If this writing has found you and stirred up something within you, possibly even the Ruach to speak to your heart, and you are feeling guilty of this; I highly encourage you to go to your brother and/or sister and rectify the situation, get rid of that leaven and guilt.

That brother that offended you during a midrash/Sabbath/feast and you didn’t go to him because you were on his land/in his house, you are obligated (commanded by Yahshua) to resolve that matter. That brother that has a different view point than you on  the “new moon” whether it’s sliver/conjunction/dark and stated his opinion; he did not directly attack you personally or in a personal way yet you were offended by his understanding. You, as the offended party, are obligated (commanded by Yahshua) to resolve that matter. That person that has zeal and excitement for the Word of Yah and can get noticeably more excitable as they converse (their voice gets louder and starts to crackle and appears to some as yelling) are not meaning to be offensive toward you. If you are offended by that, you are obligated (commanded by Yahshua) to resolve that matter.

As Pesach approaches, we need to prepare our hearts, inward beings, our mind and our spirit for it. It is Yahweh’s Pesach, not ours, and His guidelines for keeping it are not optional. We need to remove the leaven (representation of sin) from our homes (from within our gates/borders/dwellings (inward beings)). As described above, there is some leaven hiding in the crevices of our inward being and its been there, puffing up as leaven does, and it needs to be removed before we partake of the Pesach. If you have an offense against a brother or sister, I encourage you to get this matter rectified before Pesach. 

May Yahweh bless you and keep you as you mediate on this and prepare for His Pesach. Shalom and ahava b’shem Yahshua Messiah.