The Teaching of Balaam / April/May 2004

In Yeshua’s letter to the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three, various warnings are given to us that require correction in preparation for the Lord’s return. He does not give a lot of commentary on why they need to be corrected; instead, He just runs through the list of needed corrections and gets quickly to the point. We need to address one of those correction items.

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.

Revelation 2:14

If you have any Bible background at all, you know that Balaam is a story out of Numbers and is part of the history of Moses and the children of Israel. It’s the story of Balaam, the prophet, who was hired by Balak to curse the children of Israel before they entered the promised land. Most of the story in Numbers centers on the peculiar experience of Balaam and his donkey and the curses being transformed into blessings. Let’s review the story quickly so that we can address Yeshua’s warning about the teaching of Balaam.

Balak, king of the Moabites, lived east of the Jordan River. He was concerned as he saw the children of Israel led by Moses, making their way north (in what is modern Jordan today) in preparation to cross the Jordan north of the Dead Sea. Given Israel’s reputation leaving Egypt and recent military successes with others in the region, Balak was concerned about their approach. Maybe he thought they would take his land from him, or maybe he was just a begrudging fellow. It is very clear that he was not hospitable, refusing to even sell water or food to the Israelites. Whatever the reason, Balak was looking for every advantage to defeat and discourage the children of Israel. Balak even went so far as to hire a prophet of God. He hired a prophet named Balaam to prophesy curses upon the children of Israel.

The Scripture clearly infers that Balaam was a real prophet of God. Some teachers dispute this, but Balak certainly believed it. Balak offered Balaam a great amount of wealth for his services. At first, Balaam deferred the offer saying that he could only prophesy what the Lord said to him. Some say this was part of Balaam’s shrewdness to jack up the price, others say he was trying to do the right thing. Regardless of either position, Balaam decided to just go and speak directly with Balak. I say just go and talk because everyone agrees that the allure of wealth is what drew Balaam into the event.

So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab.

Numbers 22:21

Along the way, Balaam and his donkey had an interesting experience. Balaam’s donkey repeatedly turned away on the path and finally balked completely. Balaam struck his donkey in anger. The donkey spoke to Balaam complaining of his beating!!! The animal talked to the man. The fascinating part of this story is that Balaam talked back and we have the actual dialogue of Balaam and Balaam’s donkey talking to each other. What the donkey revealed to Balaam was stunning. An angel of God was about to destroy Balaam and the donkey had saved his life. It was then that the angel instructed Balaam that since he had decided to go, he must only speak what the Lord says and not what Balak was hiring him for. Only then could he pass.

But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I shall tell you." So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.

Numbers 22:35

Balak couldn’t understand Balaam’s delay and hesitancy in coming to him. He was prepared to pay whatever it took. Balaam knew that he could only speak what the Lord said when he prophesied, but it seems that he was also trying to find a way to get around the Lord and get paid some of Balak’s money.

Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up to the high places of Baal; and he saw from there a portion of the people.

Numbers 22:41

What followed was as bizarre as Balaam’s donkey having a conversation with him. Balak built altars and put up sacrifices. Balaam positioned himself to speak but instead of a curse, God caused Balaam to actually bless Israel. Balak didn’t like that at all.

Then Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!"

Numbers 23:11

This is a classic example of spending your money on the wrong things. Balak was very frustrated. But, he desperately wanted Israel cursed so he did it all over again in another location. More altars and sacrifices were put forth. Balaam did his thing again and God caused Balaam to bless Israel again.

Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!"

Numbers 23:25

I think at this point Balak was a pretty frustrated guy. He had done all this work to get Balaam, built these altars and provided the sacrifices and the opposite had been achieved. Truly, it would have been better to not bless or curse anything at this point. He seems to be taking one step forward and falling back two each time. But Balak insisted on doing it again. The high places of Baal didn’t work; the alternate site didn’t work, so he took Balaam to the final place (the highest place he could go). Balak must have thought the third time was a charm.

So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland.

Numbers 23:28

At this point, we have to question more than just the judgment of Balak. Doing exactly the same thing over and over again, thinking that he would get different results, brings into question Balak’s sanity. Balaam went up again and the Scripture records the resulting blessing.

And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, and the oracle of the man whose eye is opened; the oracle of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered, how fair are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel! Like valleys that stretch out, like gardens beside the river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be by many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He shall devour the nations who are his adversaries, and shall crush their bones in pieces, and shatter them with his arrows. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you."

Numbers 24:2-9

Balaam’s blessing of Israel is one of the most profound in all of Scripture. In fact, it is so stunning that it is the basic liturgy in synagogues today for weekly and festival services. A friend’s blessing is always good, but a blessing from your enemy has much more substance. This was the case of Balak and Balaam. Needless to say, Balak was very disturbed.

Then Balak's anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times!"

Numbers 24:10

So, what is so bad about the teaching of Balaam? What is it about the teaching of Balaam that we are warned about by Yeshua?

There is some additional information about Balaam that we didn’t hear in this initial story. According to the sages of Israel and the commentary elsewhere in the Bible, Balaam offered something to Balak other than a blessing to help him against Israel, something far more harmful than a simple curse. "You don’t have to curse them; get their God to judge them." He instructed Balak and the Moabites to send their daughters over to marry the sons of Israel to draw Israel into the Moabite customs. His counsel was to move them away from the instruction and counsel of Moses and the God of Israel. This would prove to be devastating to Israel. This would result in God’s judgment upon Israel.

Balak did exactly as Balaam taught. The daughters of Moab were sent to Israel and the sons of Israel intermingled and began to enter into their customs and the worship of Baal. It caused great difficulty for Israel and brought about a judgment of God’s plague on them.

Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.

Numbers 31:16

Later the plague was averted due to Phineas, a son of Aaron, slaying a Simeonite prince named Zimri copulating with the Moabite woman named Cozbi, a daughter of Balak. Balaam was later killed by Israel in battles with the Midianite kings, but the damage had been done. That is the continuing story. I want to draw your attention to what is referred to frequently as the teaching of Balaam. Simply said, Balaam’s counsel and teaching was to mix the teaching of Moses with other teachings (to mix the customs of Moses with other customs) and to ignore what Moses taught concerning worship of God and His ways. Balaam’s approach to serving God was also motivated out of gain and profit, not the service of personal sacrifice as Moses did. This lesson is addressed by Peter in his letter and in Jude.

… forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

II Peter 2:15

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Jude 1:11

The teaching of Balaam is classically defined today as: We do not need the instruction of Moses and the Torah. We do not need to keep the customs of Moses. It is acceptable to mix the worship of God with other customs and expressions of worship with other gods.

Brethren, I have some shocking news for you. Not only has the church been advocating the teaching of Balaam for years, but we have some Messianic Jewish leaders teaching the same thing in Messianic congregations today to Gentile believers.

The vast majority of churchmen do not teach nor follow the teaching of Moses (Torah). Their theology, called replacement theology, says that the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant. They advocate in varying degrees that Israel is no longer the economy of God’s great plan – Israel is replaced by the church. With that, the commandments of God, the teaching of Moses is essentially null and void. Only the "moral law" (portions of the ten commandments) is deemed acceptable by churchmen, but customs and methods of worship are held in disregard, particularly God’s definitions of what is clean and unclean.

Some evangelical Christians have a modified version of this concept admitting that there are many prophecies still to be fulfilled with Israel in the last days, including the modern state of Israel. They are even willing to accept some teaching on festivals that show prophecies of the Messiah. However, evangelical Christians do not believe that the Torah is God’s instructions for life and is applicable today. They have been told that the Law was nailed to the cross and that it was fulfilled (done away with). Even worse, most Christians believe that "keeping" the commandments from Torah is denying the grace of God and trying to be saved by works.

Therefore, new Messianic brethren run right into a huge theological wall with their families and former church brethren with the first mention of Torah instructions such as Sabbath, kosher, and obeying the commandments of God. Grace and church service has been taught to Christians as a complete replacement system for commandments, obedience, righteousness, holiness, temple worship, and the altar service. Twisting the words of Paul, they pick and choose from their own traditions and vain deceit to make another set of instructions in church custom. Instead of Sabbath, they replace it with Sunday worship as the church fathers instructed. Instead of feasts to the Lord like Passover, they prefer Easter and have developed the church communion service. Instead of Pentecost, which was the giving of the Torah and the Holy Spirit, they ignore it all together. Pentecost is not one of their traditions. Even Pentecostal Christians don’t observe it. Instead, they keep Christ’s Mass, a Catholic tradition, even though they are protesting the Catholics. Others protesting Catholics bear the names of Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc. Even those who are independents from main stream denominations still keep the traditions of men and follow the early Church fathers. They all claim the authority of Scripture but none do what it actually says. They keep the teachings and customs of the church fathers who clearly did not want anything to do with Jews or Israel. Therefore, they claim the Jewish Messiah, read a Jewish book called the Bible, claim to believe the exact same God, but say they have nothing to do the customs of the people of the book. The have replaced Israel with their system called "church."

It is clear that Christmas, Easter, Sunday church service, and a whole host of worship practices are borrowed from other pagan religions, integrated and mixed with the Biblical story to form the customs of modern Christianity. Church history itself says this. There is no difference today between what happened with Israel and the daughters of Moab than what happened when the New Covenant believers mixed their customs with the Messiah. It is the same spiritual lesson taught over again; it is the teaching and counsel of Balaam. It’s just that our mess is now world wide, instead of on the east bank of the Jordan river.

Fundamentally, the core dispute of this matter is whether or not we are to follow the commandments and teaching recounted to us by Moses written in the first five books of the Bible called the Torah. Christians generally say we are not to follow the instruction of Moses any longer. They offer a multitude of reasons. The New Testament translation of the Hebrew word "Torah", which means "teaching", into the Greek word "nomos" which means "Law" is part of the problem. Doesn’t the word "Law" infer "legalism?" And we all know that "legalism" is a bad thing for our faith, right? The reason why "Law" was chosen in the translation was to convey a very important thought about the Torah. The translators wanted to convey in the strongest sense how the Torah "the teaching" was ordained of God. The strongest English word to do that was the word "Law." It’s the Law!!!

Christian leaders are no different from religious leaders of the past. They want to make the rules for themselves. From generation to generation, church leaders have been doing just that – changing the rules along the way. The Pharisees didn’t want to do what Moses said, so they made new commandments. However, the church went further. They mixed other religions and other gods in as well. Thus, the teaching of Balaam made its way into the New Covenant thinking and has been followed in every generation. To accomplish, this Church leaders had to get rid of Israel’s past destiny and promises. They had to get rid of Israel’s covenant with God. They had to get rid of God’s commandments and the customs of Moses. Guess what?!? (They did it and they are still trying to do it today.) It is really true there is nothing new under the sun.

However, we also have something else happening in this last generation. It is called the Messianic movement. Believers, Jewish and Gentile, are emerging out of the church system and turning again to the original instructions in Torah, including the customs of Moses. Many believers are no longer satisfied with the traditions of the church to satisfy their hunger for truth and righteousness. The want the real Messiah not the corporate structure of church, the vain deceit, and the traditions of men. Jew and Gentiles are coming together to renew the heritage of Abraham, the teaching of Moses, and to find the God of Israel. They want nothing more to do with the pagan things of the church. This is clearly the work of the Holy Spirit.

However, we do have problems in the modern Messianic movement. Those problems are the same one addressed in Yeshua’s letter to the churches. The Messianic movement today has all of the diversity of any past new movement. I have shared in the past that the messianic movement looks like a bunch of slaves leaving Egypt with heavy emphasis on the "messy" part. It is clear that the Messianic movement continues to grow because of the work of God’s Spirit despite our best efforts to disrupt it. The chaos of everyone’s baggage bumping into everyone else’s baggage is something to behold.

Let me share with you a historical word picture that depicts the growth of new movements and how they form traditions and cultural expressions. It comes from a of piece American history that originates from my personal hometown – Abilene, Kansas. It is how the culture of cowboys came to be. I can speak with some authority on this subject since my great grandfather was a "cowboy" and lived near Abilene. The very first cattle drives to the railroad were from the North Texas area where the Red River separates the states of Texas and Oklahoma. Oklahoma in the 1870's was Indian territory. Young men, actually boys, were hired to herd longhorn cattle from Texas through Oklahoma, to Wichita and then to Abilene, Kansas to put them on the railroad. From there they were shipped east to Kansas City as food for growing eastern cities. The first cattle trail was the Chishom Trail, named after the man who did it first. Along the way, boot makers would make special boots for these "cowboys." They were designed to fit into and out of stirrups. Getting hung up in the stirrups was dangerous if you fell off your horse. Being able to stand in the stirrups was necessary and a relief sometimes. Chaps were made to cover their pants when riding through the brush. Hats were made to keep the sun and rain off of their heads. A sidearm was helpful protection from anyone or anything trying to harm the cattle.

When the herd was delivered to the stockyards in Abilene, the cowboys were paid the incredible sum of a hundred dollars for their very dangerous and arduous work of the previous months. Abilene, Kansas also became the very first place that these well paid cowboys wanted to celebrate and spend some of their money. Let’s see… what would young men, with money, like to do and spend their money on?

The first Saloon was a fine establishment. It had double doors, was downtown with a big long bar and a big brass rail. You could get sarsparilla (tasted a little like root beer) but was pronounced "sassparella." There was Julip (an early version of grape juice). Upstairs were fine rooms for sleeping in a real bed. There were barbers. You could get a bath. I believe the first big Saloon was called the Alamo Saloon honoring the Texans. It had dancing ladies with frilly dresses showing their bloomers. But with all this initial success and fun, others began to move in to get some of the action and be part of the great success of this venture.

The next thing you know, Sassparella and Julip aren’t good enough. It wasn’t very long before there were 28 saloons serving hard stuff on either side of "A" street. Suddenly, the town needed a marshal. They had a serious problem with lawlessness. There were fights and gambling and a lot of outlaws looking to steal some of that hard earned money. You may have heard of "Wild Bill Hickok." He was the famous marshal of Abilene with his pearl handled pistols. He could out draw and out shoot them. The first cowboys were actually called "drovers." They drove the cattle. Those drovers soon afterwards became known as "cowboys" because the trouble caused by them "boys."

The cattle drives were a business success for everyone. Texas ranchers sold their cattle. Cowboys made more money in months than they could in ten years. The railroads grew and people in the eastern cities ate steak. It wasn’t too long before the railroad made its way to Dodge City and then all the way to Texas to get the cattle. It is from the small community of Abilene, Kansas and the events of the 1870's that the entire romantic culture of western America was born. Cowboy hats, boots, and gun belts were all transformed out of this geography and the need to get cattle to the railroad. Writers from the eastern cities got involved because of the great success. They began to tell tall tales about these cowboys and romanticized the outlaws. They sold newspapers, magazines and books. Actual history, far-fetched stories and the regalia of the cowboy were all mixed together to produce what is called today the American western culture. It is amazing how some small things can be developed into a whole culture.

The modern Messianic movement reminds me a lot of the history of my hometown and the advent of "cowboys." The thought first came to me a few years ago when I met one particular Messianic believer. I am not making this up. This is a true story.

He was a Messianic believer who dressed in black, wore a cowboy hat with silver decor and had a leather "gun belt" specially made that carried his Bible instead of a hand gun. The bottom of his holster was tied to his leg just like in western movies. I am not kidding. Not only was his outfit colorful and invoked stares, but he was a real "quick draw" and would "slap leather" to get into any Bible discussion. Not only was he a believer, he was a colorful character to boot. Did I mention that he wore "cowboy" boots too?

I don’t want to complicate this too much but I want to make this point. The modern Messianic movement is new in that it has emerged in this generation. It’s real roots are born out of the remnant Israel prophecies throughout the Bible. What began with a few families, congregations and organizations has grown into multiples in every major city and many countries of the world. In fact, messianic teachers and ministries seem to be popping up as fast as those saloons did in Old Abilene Town. There is great interest in what God is doing in these last days, particularly how the Spirit is raising up the scattered of Israel in all of the nations. Our movement, like the adventurous past of the first cowboys gathering cattle and leading them to the railroad, has a variety of people joining in and trying to be a part of the process. The rapid influx of people and tremendous growth in every community has produced its own set of problems. It has also set the stage for those who wish to misbehave or to take advantage of others.

Lion and Lamb Ministries receives many phone calls and e-mails each week from new brethren coming into the movement who are desperately looking for fellowships and congregations of liked-minded believers. There are many new brethren and new groups popping up every day. They need to know where to fellowship. They need to find other brethren who understand what they are experiencing and help them with encouragement. We encourage most of them to go to www.MessainicDirectory.com. It lists all congregations regardless of affiliation.

We can not in all honesty vouch for everyone listed. Presently, some of those congregations are questionable. At the heart of the question is who is the remnant of Israel? Who can be part of Abraham’s family, the house of Jacob, and the commonwealth of Israel? Adding to all of the identity issues, virtually all new Messianic groups are wrestling with some of the oldest issues around, issues that come right off the pages of the Bible. Those include idolatry and pagan practices and the definition of clean and unclean. Newcomers go through the initial shock of understanding where Christmas and Easter really came from, to addressing the issues of kosher (Biblical vs. Rabbinic). They begin to embrace the Torah. As the pendulum swings past the balanced mark, some go the extreme with new moon calendars, how to pronounce God’s YHVH name including the Messiah’s name in their American accented Hebraic pronunciation. Some even go so far as to challenge the deity of the Messiah and dabble in Kabbalistic teachings. My goodness! It is like taking a stroll down "A" street in Old Abilene Town on Saturday night after them cowboys just got paid!?! If you don’t believe me, just punch in the word "messianic" into any one of the search engines on the internet. You’ll see a rather long line of establishments vying for those new messianic "cowboys" looking for fun and fellowship.

Before I go any further, let me say that there is such a thing as the new moon and it does have a part in our faith and observance of the feasts of the Lord. God does have a Holy and Sacred Name that should not be taken in vain or made common. The Lord our God knows full well how to define Himself without the aid of any man, and there are many wonderful mysteries in our faith without resorting to nonsensical mysticism. God gave us two feet to be balanced and upright before Him. My concerns have to do with a balanced walk that embraces and includes the youngest of brethren to the very wise being in the same flock and body of Messiah. That balance should include and gather brethren while pressing on toward the high calling we have in God.

When brethren separate themselves, disputing when Sabbath and the festivals are, when teachers suggest directly or indirectly that you must honor God with your lips with "their" version of Hebrew, or use the leadership tactics of title authority and the power of their personality resulting in the scattering and harm to the Messiah’s flock, I disagree. I think the sheep (the brethren) belong to the Lord and not to self anointed shepherds (saloon owners). The Messiah had a lot to say about shepherds that act more like goats, but we need to focus on the specific issue of the teaching of Balaam for the moment.

The teaching of Balaam has always been in the movement from the very beginning. It was part of the baggage dragged in from the church. In recent years it has now come out of its trunk and has begun to be espoused from the mouths of some prominent Messianic Jewish leaders. I am specifically referring to the teaching of Balaam that Yeshua warned would occur in the last days – the idea that believers should not be taught Moses and it is okay to mix pagan customs with our faith in the God of Israel. I am referring to the stumbling block for the sons of Israel that brings about God’s judgment upon us.

Lets address why some Messianic leaders of congregations and organizations today are actually advocating that Torah should not be taught to all believers. Why is that they are actually defending the pagan past of the church? First, there is a credential issue. Let’s be honest about this. With very few exceptions, Messianic leaders (rabbis) today are not former rabbis in Judaism who became Messianic rabbis. The majority of Messianic rabbis in most congregations were made rabbis by self appointment and/or weekend certificates after attending a Messianic conference and joining some national Messianic organization. Many brought their Christian credentials with them.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in congregational leadership. My Bible is very specific about the criteria for congregational leadership and their ordination to the task. However, we have a number of brethren in congregational leadership with very little training or experience as a teacher, pastor, or rabbi. We have some national organizational leaders who have never even been congregational leaders. Some organizations have developed Yeshiva’s and attempted to develop educational credentials to authenticate themselves. However, the very teachers of these efforts are credentialed from church seminaries. Doctorates of Divinity, Masters of Theology do say that the person did go to school and complete a course of prescribed instruction but none of those schools taught the Torah or how to build and grow a Messianic congregation. So, what good does any of these credentials have to do with teaching Torah or discipling our Messianic brethren in the faith? The truth is that graduate and doctorate level instruction in theology does not prepare a leader to teach Torah, disciple Messianic brethren or establish Messianic congregations. The fact is that neither Christian or Jewish credentials really meets the need in the Messianic movement.

Another reason that some Messianic Jewish Rabbis do not advocate teaching Torah to Gentiles believers is the repetition of Rabbinical Judaism. Rabbinical Judaism does not teach what Moses said on this issue. Moses said that Torah was for the native, the alien, and the sojourner among you. Moses said there would be one Torah for God’s people. Judaism has a different teaching from Moses called the Noahide laws. But, that is another article I wrote earlier entitled, "The Leaven of the Pharisees." Yeshua, Himself, took issue on this specific subject.

If Messianic Rabbis were just repeating what Judaism says, then this would be easily corrected. That is what the teaching of Messiah Yeshua is all about. However, when you mix that with Church theology (replacement theology) then you have something very different. That is the teaching of Balaam. Even Judaism knows better.

The idea that Torah should not be taught to Gentiles believers in the Messianic movement is right out of the story of Balaam. In fact, this is the real issue in the dispute of the two house teaching – the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Many non-Jewish believers in the Messianic movement are very possibly the house of Israel; they are the sons of Israel. They desperately need to be taught the Torah. This is why the teaching of Balaam is a stumbling block to the sons of Israel as the Messiah said.

Let me say that again, the very heart of the controversy of the two house teaching with many Messianic Jews is based in part on the idea of not teaching Torah to non-Jews. They fear that these brethren will identify with the heritage of Israel and this will somehow diminish their Jewishness. They don’t understand how Torah was given to the children of Israel and to the alien and sojourner that is grafted in. They don’t understand how those who come from among the Gentiles are adopted into Israel and become part of the same olive tree. Without God’s definition of who is the remnant of Israel, they distort the definition into two groups – Messianic Jews (them) and the Gentile Christian Church (others). They are actually denying the House of Israel and promoting the church’s replacement theology definition.

They want there to be a clear, unmistakable middle wall of partition separating themselves from others. They believe that their "distinctiveness" called for by God means that Jewish believers should be separate and different. I believe that their "distinctiveness" is really religious bigotry. I believe God’s version of distinctiveness is called "sanctification and holiness." God has called for His people (all of them including the alien and sojourner among us) to be separate from all other gods or people who follow them.

Church theology with its pagan past mixed with Judaism’s precepts of the Noahide laws is not the proper formula for the Messianic movement today. The Messianic movement is a move of God’s Spirit in accordance with Torah and the Messiah. He is the Great Shepherd spoken of by the prophets of Israel who will bring us out of the nations we have been scattered to, and bring us to the promised land – the Messianic kingdom. We are to leave Egypt, Babylon and all the unclean things behind. This is a movement of freedom from that which captivates us, especially the traditions of men. This is a movement with all of the lessons of the past.

Whatever happened to Yeshua of Nazareth being promoted as the Messiah of all peoples? Whatever happened to the "good news" that the Messiah is gathering His people from all nations to restore the whole House of Jacob? Whatever happened to teaching all men and our children that God made promises to our Fathers, which is our heritage and inheritance in the kingdom? Whatever happened to teaching that we should turn from idols to worship the One true God? What is wrong with the Lord’s commandments? Didn’t Yeshua say, "If you love Me, keep My commandments?" How can you keep them if you don’t even know what they are? Whatever happened to the teaching of the New Covenant as God’s commandments, the same ones given at Mt. Sinai, written on our hearts? Why can’t these discussions and lessons be the agenda for all Messianic organizations and congregations?

I know how the church fathers answer these questions. I’m now asking what Messianic Rabbis are doing with these questions. Balaam was out for gain. Balaam taught Balak how to hurt the sons of Israel. Are Messianic leaders out for gain? Are Messianic leaders now taking the counsel of Balaam?

It is very disturbing to me, but we actually have some Messianic leaders trying to defend the pagan customs of the church and telling new Messianic brethren they should keep the pagan things.

Let’s step back for a moment. Maybe I have misunderstood them. Maybe, I have it all wrong. It is true that "those coming from the Gentiles" are not to be compelled to be circumcised, and no one is saved by circumcision. Acts chapter 15 clearly addressed that issue. It is also true that the Law doesn’t save anyone, and the Torah is not to be above our faith in the Messiah. Galatians covers that subject. However, the Messiah Himself said that those who annul the smallest commandment and teach others will be least in the kingdom, while those who teach and keep them will be great in the kingdom. Telling others not to obey the commandments clearly qualifies as an attempt of annulment.

Those Messianic leaders who come from a strong synagogue background (the teaching of Moses), definitely teach the Torah each Sabbath. This is completely consistent with Acts chapter 15.

For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

Acts 15:21

This verse alone clearly states that the proper way to teach Gentiles coming to faith in the New Covenant is to teach them the Torah. This is the very subject of Acts chapter 15. This is also the real reason why so many people are leaving churches today and trying to be part of Messianic congregations. They want to hear the basic teaching that promotes their faith in Yeshua the Messiah. It is just as Messiah Yeshua Himself said.

For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?

John 5:46-47

Yeshua has said that the proper way to believe in Him is to believe in the words of Moses. It is the words of Moses that lay the foundation for who the Messiah is and the work of redemption that He has done. Advocating that you can teach Yeshua as Messiah using only the New Testament is like the man who claimed He was a good driver because he had a driver’s license, but had no car. He is definitely not a good driver on the basis of having a driver’s license alone. Claiming that you are a mature believer in the Lord devoid of the Torah is no different. Yeshua went further. He said that you can not believe (understand) His words without believing the writings (Torah) of Moses.

Those leaders advocating that Gentile believers should not be taught Torah are themselves in need of the instruction of Torah. The Messianic movement is desperately in need of clear and specific goals to build unity for the growing number of people coming. We need to give the original base instruction that comes from Torah. That instruction establishes faith, it defines the truth, it leads us to salvation and the Messiah. It is the only acceptable agenda for all Messianic leaders and teachers. Denying this instruction and denying the Torah instruction to any Messianic believer is no different from Balaam’s counsel and teaching to Balak. The teaching of Balaam is a stumbling block to the sons of Israel. The Torah is a light unto our path that keeps us from stumbling.

All Scripture [Torah] is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

II Timothy 3:16-17

Let’s not listen to the teaching of Balaam any more.

I have just read my article as I come to the conclusion. I am certain that some brethren will be offended by this. I’m sorry if you were. My intention is not to offend, but to give pause to some. I would hope that the brethren in this movement would find unity. The measure of our fellowship is in Messiah Yeshua. We need to think about what gathers His flock instead of promoting what scatters them.

YAVOH, He is Coming is a monthly newsletter published as an outreach ministry of Lion and Lamb Ministries
The ministry is a non-profit organization with an end time prophetic message in a Messianic Jewish context.
Subscription to YAVOH, He is Coming is without cost and supported only by donation.

Permission is granted to reprint any article in YAVOH, He is Coming with attribution given to YAVOH, He is Coming.

Editor - Monte Judah
Electronic Editor - Ephraim Judah

Lion and Lamb Ministries
PO Box 720968
Norman, OK 73070
Phone: (405) 447 4429
Fax: (405) 447 3775
E-mail: info@lionlamb.net
Web: lionlamb.net