Upon What Foundation Will You Build?

 

After publishing The Love of Money, this writer continued to be challenged about this matter of holding all things in common, particularly regarding the certainty as to whether this was in fact the command of Yahshua for us today. Likewise, there were other issues that continued to surface that needed to be addressed. This writing seeks to take a very analytical and hard look at this matter of what Yahshua taught about entering into the kingdom, even seeking to judge ourselves as to whether the message of The Love of Money is in fact true and correct.

When this man wrote The Love of Money, there was never any effort to analyze and examine all that was said by Yahshua regarding how one was to obtain the kingdom of heaven, but rather only addressed those things that came to this writer's attention. But, was this truly the emphasis of Yahshua in this matter of the kingdom, or were there other different messages as well? Also, did we miss anything in that writing that should have been noted? The best way to determine the answer to these questions was to go to the concordance and examine every single place in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, where the word "kingdom" was used. And this is exactly what was done. And once again the findings were most interesting and revealing.

The best way to address this portion of this study is to quote these subject verses and provide a few brief comments where needed. But we will point out here at the beginning, that that which we discovered in The Love of Money was entirely verified in this following exhaustive study. Clearly, Yahshua taught one message about how one must enter into the kingdom of God. There were times when others were healed that He said the kingdom of God had drawn near or that these healings were an expression of the kingdom; but, when it came to the requirement for entering into the kingdom, the message solus was - one must give up all of one's worldly possessions, divesting oneself of one's wealth, and follow Him. Clear and simple, this was what Yahshua taught over and over and over again, and is verified and supported throughout the Bible.

But before we look at these, there needs to be a purpose in our looking at them that goes beyond just being analytical, testing these things to see if they are so; and here is that purpose. We will present this purpose by taking what should be a sober look at the words of the Master, the One whom we await the return thereof. These are not just the words of one of the apostles, not just the words of even Paul, but these are the words of the Son of God Himself, the creator of all that was created and all that will be created in the new heavens and new earth. These are the words and teachings of Yahshua, who said:

"And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and does them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great" (Luke 6:46-49).

And from Matthew we read the same and yet even expanded account:

"Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' Therefore every one who hears these words of Mine, and does them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it did not fall; for it had been founded upon the rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall" (Matthew 7:21-27).

And again from Matthew, Yahshua said:

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

How deep does one have to dig in order to lay a foundation that will stand, so that all of those who are falsely saying "Lord, Lord" (the sand) do not affect it? One has to dig back 2,000 years to the words of Yahshua Himself in order to lay that sure foundation.

Without any question, Christianity, which for almost 2,000 years has been prophesying in His name, and in His name casting out demons, and in His name performing many miracles, is in fact "lawless" and has not acted upon the words of Yahshua regarding what must be done in order to enter the kingdom of God. As a testimony of Christianity's "lawlessness," it is most revealing that the word "law" is completely absent in Christianity Mark, while it is used numerous times in all three other gospels. Instead of acting upon Yahshua's words, even His laws and His ways, Christianity has formulated its own plan and, in fact, taken the kingdom by force (Matthew 11:12). Thus we see that when Yahshua said, "Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and does them," is not at all followed by Christianity when it comes to His words regarding how to enter the kingdom, thus evoking us to ask the essential question - Upon what foundation will you build? Will you build on the words of men, or will you build on the words of Yahshua?

Herein is the purpose of this writing: To instruct, invite, and encourage you to build upon the rock by doing what Yahshua said. You have the choice and opportunity today like no other time before. Only the first Remnant had the effectual choice you now have; but this time, the outcome will be the fulfillment and completion of that which they began! The breach is over, and today you will either be one who has built your house on the sands of Christianity that calls Yahshua "Lord, Lord," or you will dig deep and build your house on Yahshua and His clear command concerning what is required to be His disciple - give up all of your possessions. This is your choice.

After publishing The Love of Money, it was suggested by someone that possibly those teachings of Yahshua regarding the kingdom were only relative to then and have no bearing on today. But if this is true, then why were they even recorded for us, and what does it mean when we read - "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away"? To dismiss His words is to build upon something other than Yahshua, which we see by His own warning is to build upon sand. To dismiss His words is to trust in this world and the flesh, to trust in unrighteous mammon, to trust in the seen and not the unseen; but even as it is written, we are to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). To reject what Yahshua said concerning how to receive the kingdom of heaven, is to build upon worldly Christianity, even upon the sand, and not upon the words of the Savior; it is to make oneself out to be wiser than Yahshua and formulate one's own plan, to strike one's own fire (Isaiah 50:10-11).

Yahshua also said regarding receipt of the kingdom - "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it" (Luke 18:16-17). In my family, one of my delights is in my youngest children. Why? Because they reveal precisely that which Yahshua was saying here. My youngest daughter, Grace, trusts and accepts all that I say. She has that childlike trust that whatever father says is accepted and followed, and continues to show her undeterred warm love and affection to me. Oh how sweet! She does not try to reason out an alternative or press her own independent conclusions, but simply wants to obey. All of this, of course, evokes my desire to bless her and show my grateful affection to her.

On the other hand, to my great pain, my two older daughters entered a place where they are controlled by their own yearnings for independence, characteristic of those coming out of childhood. Instead of having the simple trust and love for me that Grace has, they want to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions, to form their own opinions and lives. While others may look at that and think it good and necessary, to the contrary, Yahshua said that the kingdom of God does not belong to those who want to think and act independently. He said that the only ones who will receive the kingdom of God will be those who are like a little child, accepting His words for precisely what they say and not evaluating them so as to arrive at their own altered opinion.

This is now, and always has been, the problem with Yahweh giving His word to flesh men - they want to modify it to their own palate, their own tastes, their own thinking, their own likings, their own understanding. Yahshua is the true bread, the true manna from heaven, and that which He declared to man is pictured or foretold in the manna that was given to the sons of Israel in the wilderness. So what did the sons of Israel do with the manna? Did they, like little children, accept it for what it was, receive it and take it in with gratitude as Yahweh had provided it? In testimony of what has been done for 2,000 years with the true Manna from heaven, from the outset they did not accept it, but set out to manipulate, alter, and refashion it. "There is nothing at all to look at except this manna," they objected. "The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil" (Numbers 11:4-9). This is that which adolescent-minded Christians of all ages do with the words of Yahshua. Instead of accepting them for what they say, with their own intellect they grind them and beat them and bake them until His words become something more palatable and agreeable to them. (E.g., how many women cover their heads today?) For one to accept the pure words of Yahshua concerning how one must enter into the kingdom of heaven, they must receive them like a little child, accepting His words for precisely what He said, even the pure unaltered Manna. Thus Yahshua warns - "Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all."

Furthermore, the sons of Israel were not even satisfied with altering the manna, but they grumbled and wanted "flesh." "And the mixed multitude who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, 'Who will give us flesh to eat?'" (Numbers 11:4). So Yahweh gave them bird's flesh, and cursed them for taking it in, even while it was just between their teeth. Therefore they named that place, Kibroth-hattaavah, or "the graves of greediness" (Numbers 11:33-34). Equally so, kingdom men have not been satisfied with the pure Manna from heaven. So what do they want? They want flesh teachings, the flesh teachings and ideas of men and birds, or demon spirits that fly in the heavenlies and make their nests in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:31-32). And what has Yahweh done because of kingdom man's greed for flesh teachings? He has given him Satan and cursed him with death. And when the writing on the love of money went out, what did most people do? Preferring the flesh of men and altering the Manna to their own taste, they too continued to be deceived by their own greed and flesh and the demon spirits that are in man and in the church and do their own will.

May I add a personal testimony here that is encouraging to me and helps me to continue in the decision set before me regarding selling all, something that I hope will help and strengthen you? It is regarding this matter of the importance of childlike obedience, even when one does not understand everything about what Yahweh is asking us to do. But what I will share with you is not the only time Yahweh has tested me in my obedience to Him, as you will see.

In the latter part of the 1980's, I was challenged with the opening verses in 1 Corinthians 11 regarding the woman covering her head. Others around us were not following this, but the Bible explicitly says that the woman is to cover her head when she prays or prophesies. So what was I to do? That choice was quite simple for me at that time. My response was - I do not understand it; but if God's word says it, I am to do it. I was not to be a judge of God's word, but to simply obey it. One does not have to understand, in order to obey. God said it, and that settled it for me; I am called simply to obey.

And obey we did. And because of our obedience, afterwards Yahweh added some incredible and vital insight and truth as to what coverings in general mean and how they apply to His kingdom government. That information is shared in the book, Coverings. Because of my obedience on that one point (though this was not the first time), it became a wonderful beginning that opened the way for understanding the marvelous truths of the Remnant Bride. But it all began by simple obedience. (Later in this writing, I will share another testimony regarding my disobedience which has prepared me to obey.)

And in further like testimony, even now this man is receiving from Yahweh incredible truth regarding selling all and holding all things in common. Why? Because once again this man had already told Yahweh that, despite my apprehension, I would obey on this point. Therefore, even as with coverings, Yahweh is now adding wonderful and much needed truth to my obedience. Thus we find that obedience is the doorway to knowledge. If you have to have complete knowledge before you obey, then you are not walking in faith. Faith obeys, with the fruit of knowledge coming after.

There have been other times when Yahweh has told me to do certain things, and He did not tell me why. Once He told me to not eat any sweets or desserts. I agreed, but later thought - "If I'm going to do this, I ought to assign something to it so that it can be effectual towards some purpose." But Yahweh immediately spoke to me - "I did not tell you to assign something to it." Oh, I thought, then I'll just obey. Fifteen years later, while standing on my back porch here in Washington, He spoke to me that the intercession involving no desserts was complete and that I could now eat them again. And it was not until a year or so later that He even showed me what this was all about - that it was an intercession for the breach of Christianity, wherein I ate deserts, then there was the long breach of not having them, then I ate desserts again. This was something that Yahweh commanded in order to give me authority through intercession. BUT, it required on my part a childlike obedience.

I seek to train my children this way as well. I train them to obey just because I say something. As with Yahweh, I want my children to trust me and obey based on my words. For little children, this could make the difference between life or death in a fatal situation; and for older children, it can mean the absence of a lot of heartache. I want them to learn to obey me, because it trains them to trust in Yahweh with the same obedience.

Most importantly, this kind of testing and training by Yahweh has its rewards in my life; for here we are, now facing the challenge of Yahshua's crystal clear message that if one wants to receive the kingdom of heaven, he must sell all; and what will I do? What will be my response? And most importantly, what should be your response? Clear and simple, it has been and will be, and hopefully will be for you - Behold Your servant, Father. As was my response to the issue of the woman covering her head, even when I did not understand it all, so my response to holding all things in common will continue to be - I will simply obey.

Let me ask you - How can I go wrong, or how can anyone go wrong, by obeying Yahshua's words in childlike obedience? He said it, it is time for His return, He is preparing to bring forth the kingdom of God or "the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne," and this is the day of all days that a people must now obey His words, if they want to receive His kingdom.

 

Continue to page 2 of Upon What Foundation ... for IT IS WRITTEN

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