Author: FCC Admin

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (Rom 12:18)

Shalom brothers and sisters,

When I say shalom today, I mean it as I wish peace for us all because peace is not what we have today.

The result of the fall in the Garden of Eden is that our society undergoes cycles of violence and instability. The first cycle culminated in the first destruction of earth because all men’s thoughts were evil continually. This pattern has played out over and over. Just in the last hundred years, almost exactly, we’ve had two world wars and a Cold War where governments attained the power to exterminate life on earth. We seem to be on the upswing of another cycle, with Israel being told to stop and make peace with demons, Russia invading Ukraine, mass shootings happening at an alarming pace, and now our former president’s attempted assassination. These events are meant to wear us down, coarsen our hearts, and elicit negative reactions thus continuing the cycle. But this is not the path of believers.

We have just lived through another startling historic event that we will remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news. Somebody tried to assassinate a former president at a campaign rally. Three people behind the president were shot, one fatally. We learned this information through the same news that continually ramps up the very rhetoric which leads to these events. It appears we are on a hamster wheel, huh?

The old adage of “you are what you eat” is true. Violence begets violence and it doesn’t start with a violent act. Our Messiah taught us, or reminded us, that it starts with evil thoughts. It starts with envy, jealousy, or in many cases, poor souls believing the click-bait “if it bleeds it leads” media and internet personalities telling them repeatedly that the world is going to end. Our news diet is incredibly rich in Vitamin Fear to the point that we likely don’t notice it anymore, and certainly not on the level we did with earlier tragedies.

The cycle will try to complete again with those in the world. We’ll learn who the shooter was, some will blame guns, others will blame rhetoric, people will try to classify the crime so it can be put on the shelf. Rinse, repeat as necessary. But we will not. We know better. We know the cycle. We know we’ve been commanded to be peaceful stewards of the knowledge of God and His Christ.

We know that Yahweh cares for all His creation and does not want any to perish. We know He sent His Son to suffer violence so we can have the opportunity for salvation. We know, through Torah and the Messiah, how to attain peace in this life. Believe in Yeshua, follow the Torah, and be positive influences, trying to draw people to our common faith. We know this world is violent and corrupt so we choose not to participate in that evil. We choose to surround ourselves with loving brothers and sisters, related by blood, by marriage, and by the adoption we receive through the shed blood of Yeshua.

My friends, stay strong in the faith in these trying times. Pray for our leaders. Pray for people to soften their hearts. And pray for the return of Yeshua.

Heresy Police. If you think you have the authority to call someone a heretic you need to repent and look to Yeshua and Paul as our example.

When we leave mainstream Christianity we are often called heretics and cultists. This language does not invite anyone to want to see your point of view at all. The history of this language is one of murder, so please take stock of your words and thoughts. But to be blunt, you do not have the power to call someone a heretic. All judgment has been given to Yeshua the Messiah, not you. While we have to make judgments about doctrines to believe and where to worship, when you start condemning people, you have gone way too far. God has a purpose for all His children and we must trust He is in control. The word “cult” has been so overused that it lacks meaning. Using this word for people who keep the Torah while simultaneously using it properly for people who have set up literal cult compounds is not helpful.

Independence Day – the competing denominations had to get along to defeat the British and then make a county. These are people who’s not so distant ancestors were either persecuted or were the persecutors back in the old world not that long prior. If they were able to get over their doctrinal differences and see the bigger picture, we can, too.  

Brief history lesson: The Geneva Bible was the bible of the reformation. It was made in 1560 and it’s footnotes and such are very antagonistic of the Catholic Church. The KJV was made as an answer to that so the Church of England would have their own “middle of the road” bible. England went from Catholic to COE and they wanted a compromise bible that wasn’t so hard on Catholicism. So, in 1611 the Authorized Version of the Church of England came to be. The period of time between 1517 and the early 1700s was quite volatile for religious liberty in Europe. I speak in general terms, of course. That drove many people wanting to worship freely to come to this continent. They were tired of the heresy police and were not going to have any more state religions. The sins of the king of England piled up so that the people on this continent had to band together to liberate themselves from that treachery. Not only was this continent a place of religious liberty, people of different religious persuasions had to come together and take up arms against their oppressor. That solidarity led to the birth of the most powerful and free country yet to exist on this planet.

Today, we have common enemies that are spiritual. Our nation, once so united that we freed Europe and the far east from totalitarian dictators simultaneously, had become so fragmented that we are falling apart from the inside out. The carnality of our nation has made Christianity an afterthought. Brothers and sisters, we can’t fight back against the principalities if we are hollering epithets at each other. And who would want to be part of that? Does anyone think it appealing to attend church with the Heresy Police?

Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, was crucified for challenging the doctrines of the intelligentsia of His day. They spent years trying to find something wrong with Him or His doctrine so they could pigeon hole Him and diminish His ministry. Yet He went to his death as a lamb, silent.

We have an even bigger example of this with the Apostle Paul. Paul was trained at the feet of Gamaliel. That means Paul was on track to become the chief Pharisee Rabbi of Judea. He had the highest education of his day and was a savant. In this capacity, he became the heresy police and persecuted the Church of God. For those of you who feel comfortable calling others heretics, do you think the converted Paul would approve of your actions? Do you think the risen Messiah would, either? Do you really think the New Testament outlines a faith that was meant to be enforced with our swords or is it an invitation to join the family of God and learn? Because calling people heretics meant you could kill them. We know that murder starts with evil thoughts, brothers and sisters. So we must take our thoughts captive to obedience to Christ, who surely does not want us condemning each other while our nation rots in plain sight.

The incredible insecurity to need to define your faith by condemning others. This is a fundamental difference. My path has been one that’s heavy on doctrines. But the mission is to spread the truth and contrast doctrines, not to condemn people. Granted, my sarcastic delivery probably sounds like that at times, but that’s not the heart of it. I have no desire to force anyone to believe like me. If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, you should realize that understanding takes a long time and you will change your mind about stuff as you mature. We really need to love our neighbors as ourselves in this regard. Disagree on the doctrine for sure, but condemning the people? That’s not authority we possess.

Friends, it takes years and years to get a handle on this stuff. If your doctrine is true, then why are you so dead set on forcing people to believe it on your terms and timeline? Do you understand what is meant to come to the faith as a child?

If was for freedom that Christ set us free. He and Yahweh allowed this country to be birthed over centuries. Each person coming over here having a purpose. Our ancestries are not accidents and neither are our present day lives. God used that violence in Europe to motivate the people he wanted to be over here to come here. God is in complete control of this world and judgment day will come. Using language against each other that is associated with the murder of Christians is simply not helpful. Our freedom is at the biggest risk it has ever been right now. Satan and his minions have been chipping away at this country for a very long time. Sins that used to cause people immense shame are more than commonplace now. Believers showing public vitriol for each other is not going to invite people into the family of God. Our military might cannot fight us out of the decay were are in right now. Actually loving our neighbors while extoling the virtues of Christianity might.  Being the heresy police is not doing that.

The Lord’s Day: The real meaning of the phrase “Lord’s day” has nothing to do with Sunday and will unlock prophecy like you never thought possible!

The Lord’s Day

Slide 1 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” (Rev 1:10-11)

A misnomer in Christian parlance is that this is referring to Sunday, aka the first day of the week with the reference to the Lord’s day. There actually isn’t anything tying this phrase to Sunday except the traditions of men. In fact, I think this is the only place in the bible where the phrase “Lord’s day” appears. Sunday is not what is meant by the term Lord’s day. In fact, it’s referring to a day an annual day, not a weekly one. Those of us who have returned to original, first century Christianity know exactly what day this is speaking of and it’s an annual observance.

The phrase “sound of the trumpet” is the key to understanding the verse. John was in the Spirit on the Day of Trumpets, Yom Teruah in Hebrew. He was still keeping the festival days and it was, and is, widely understood that the “great and terrible day of the Lord” is the first day of the 7^th month on the Hebrew calendar.

Slide 2 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ‘You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.'” (Lev 23:23-25)

Here’s the commandment and you can make the association rather easily. This is also called the “day no man knows” because it’s the only holy day we don’t see coming in the Torah. Passover, Atonement, and Sukkot start in the middle of  months and Pentecost gets counted out. Yom Teruah, or the Feast of Trumpets, or the Day of the Lord, is the one you have to prepare for and then wait for the sound of the trumpet from the kohen to tell you it has arrived. Think about how Jericho fell. It’s actually a prophecy about the end of this age. They march 7 times, the 6 doing nothing. Then on the 7^th, they go 7 times and blow trumpets and shout at the end, which destroys the pagan temple. The Messiah is coming back and will usher in the Messianic kingdom, the last 1000 years of this overall age. At the end of that 1000 years, all will be judged, those who’s names are written in the book of life will enter eternity. The Lord’s Day signifies all this and is observed annually, on the first day of the 7^th month. John continued to keep Torah his whole life while accepting Yeshua as the Messiah. It only makes sense he would get the vision of the end on the day that represents it.

Slide 5 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1Th 4:15-18)

Paul gives us great insight about the return of Yeshua here. The Day of Trumpets is the holy day that foreshadows the return of the Messiah. Many of Yeshua’s parables reference this. “if the owner had known when the thief was coming”, “if the virgins had prepared their oil”, and “those who the master finds doing His will” all come to mind.

For those of us who have learned the Holy Days of Leviticus 23 and observe them, it’s not even in doubt that the Lord’s day in Revelation is Yom Teruah. The sound of the trumpet is our key. John meant to tell us he was in the Spirit on the Day of Trumpets which is also called the great and terrible day of the Lord. And it makes perfect sense that he would be given the most comprehensive vision of the return of the Messiah on the annual holy day that prophesies that very event. The Lord’s Day this year (2024) from sundown October 2 to sundown October 3. We’d love for you to observe it with us!

A New Religion: I don’t think the present paradigm that is replacing historical religion with a new one is anything to be proud of.

Up front, this isn’t about discrimination. We work and live alongside people we disagree with all the time. This nation is about individual liberty mated with duty to community. Many of us are very OK with the idea of tolerance and competition in the marketplace of ideas. However, for it to be about tolerance, we all get to exist and express ourselves. If one group thinks their way of life is better but only that group gets to speak freely, then we have a totalitarian society, not a pluralistic one. The people in the seats of power worldwide now should have had to read books from Ray Bradbury, George Orwell, and Ayn Rand in high school or in college telling us explicitly not to live the way we are living today. Those books were not road maps to utopia, they were alarms about entertaining the very ideas that permeate society today. Disclaimer over.

The inability to cry for help. Everything is normalized. Acting out is even encouraged and sanctified. Having unholy behavior become pseudo-holy is also part of a religion.

Mankind wants religion. It’s in our DNA.

Define religion – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion

: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

: the service and worship of God or the supernatural

: commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

: scrupulous conformity

They get holy ground? Seriously, they took the most common ground possible, an intersection, and made it holy. Off limits. By order of law. Same with idolatry. The guys in the book of Daniel. Making us genuflect before the accepted doctrine is literally a religion.

Made us male and female, they want to undo that, too! Foundational shifts.

Alternative creation story – Accident with a capital A. All religions have a creation story, gods or God. Take your pick.

Alternative apocalypse – telling us it’s hotter and hotter when we can remember it’s the same. Prophets – wrong prophets. Climate change, get real. Pollsters always wrong, still using them.

Stuff that’s off limits – each day waking up to find out what words are ok. Makes those who get to determine this to be our gods. They decide what language is acceptable, they rule the world.

“One’s god is that which is one’s ultimate reality. Therefore, it cannot be questioned. So there arose new movements, causes, ideologies, and systems of thought that could not be challenged or questioned no matter how irrational they were – because they were now gods.” Jonathan Cahn, Return of the Gods.

You’ll excuse me if I don’t think the current reality is anything to be proud of. Under the guise of “you can’t make me do anything”, we’ve allowed ourselves to be overrun. The only way we can respond, brothers and sisters, is to continue worshiping the true God in the Name of His Son, Yeshua.

D-Day Plus 80: Israel’s Example of Military Service compared and contrasted with the history of the United States.

There are many remarkable parallels between ancient Israel and the United States. Some of these are purposeful, such as the president having to be a natural born citizen. Some of these parallels are not coincidental at all. Those which are not coincidental show us the hand of God in the formation and use of our nation.

Israel had a basic founding on the commandments. Chief among those was the prohibition on going after other gods or learning the ways of the nations. They had a cycle of faithfulness and sinning that continued until the first century AD. Their fame and power was established at the Exodus, when Yahweh made know His power. They rode that established reputation until they were dispersed in AD70.

In the message D-Day Plus 80, I chronicle the peak of the power of the United States and how our present situation began with the same sin committed by Israel. After the conquering of Canaan, Israel apportioned the land and became a nation. Then “all the men did what was right in their own eyes” which began the slide to sin. They lacked unity and shunned their mission of representing God on earth as a faithful, lawful nation.

The United States, with our allies, landed in France on June 6, 1941 and fought our way to Berlin. We dispatched the evil Nazi government with enormous effort and focus. We also defeated Tojo’s Japan, fighting tooth and nail in the Pacific. To defeat Japan, it took two nuclear weapons. They were an incredibly fierce nation. Then our men came home and started the same slide as Israel. We have since adopted a “do what’s right in your own eyes” mentality. We have exchanged what made us great, unity and a common morality, with division and focusing on self.

This is just a sample of the message, where I chronicle some great parallels between ancient Israel and the United States. 80 years away from D-Day, we are a very different nation. But we do retain some of the virtues and values of our forefathers.

The Sabbath, Order, and Peace. From Creation through to the New Jerusalem, observing God’s Sabbath brings peace by establishing order in the home and in society.

By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Gen 2:2-3)

Does anybody think God needed to rest? This is similar to Yeshua being baptized. The Messiah had no sin, so He had no reason to get baptized other than for our example. This is the same thing. Yahweh had no need to rest. In fact, He doesn’t even reside within the constraints of time and space. He is resting here to demonstrate what mankind is supposed to do. After making man, YHVH takes a break. The first thing Adam experienced as a living being was Shabbat. Have you ever thought of that? YHVH made the heavens and the earth and all that are in them. Then, on the 6^th day, He makes man. On the seventh, He rests while in fellowship with man and His creation. The beginning of that age began with peace and that peace was established upon order.

Order is required for peace. Order is established at Creation. Order creates peace. Knowing what to expect. Six days of labor and then one where God appreciates all He had made.

Satisfying to have a clean house every Friday. Satisfying to have a family routine. Same as creation week. Gas tank is full. House is clean. Shopping done. Laundry done and put away. Yard mowed. Take out for dinner to keep the mess to a minimum. Time to relax with God, family, and then our family in Messiah. Get together in person with people that we can trust. People who will support each other and share things we can’t with the world. We share a message, some songs, a meal. After having done this for over 20 years, it’s impossible to imagine not doing it. It’s a lifestyle and a very pleasant one nonetheless.