Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for a look at parsha “Kedoshim” (Leviticus chapters 19 through 20) which may be one of the best descriptions, and warnings, about post-Constitutional, “AmeriKa-with-a-K” in the Bible.
In the Erev Shabbat review, the study picks up with “this is, no SHALL BE, the <em>torah</em> of the ‘metzorah’,” or person who has ‘<em>tzaraat</em>’. What is to be done about it, and, yes, it can even infect a house.
In the Sabbath day teaching, Mark connects a WHOLE lot of related dots this week, from prophetic warnings that are now flashing red sirens, to ‘twistings’ of some of the usual paganized doctrines that got the “ten lost tribes” exiled in the first place.
It’s not merely that “evil” is being called ‘good’, and vice-versa, or even that things which Yahuah described as “abomination” and prescribed a death penalty for are now mandated by a society which has elevated being “vomited out” to a source of twisted ‘pride’.
This is yet another portion that thus touches the heart of so very much that is wrong today, and why. But, in this case, it is the problem and solution that are outlined in the very title and bookend admonitions of the parsha! “Be set-apart,” and it’s increasingly undeniable WHY.
In a world that has become “unclean, unclean!” — those who speak His Truth are being shamed and shunned, and of course banned from Two-Facebook. But worse still, Mark asks a pertinent question, given that we have already been exiled – for cause – and literally, as foretold so many centuries ago – “vomited out of the land”.
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for a look at parsha “Metzorah” (Leviticus chapters 14 and 15) — which to some extent is almost “Part 2” of the story of a ‘plague’ not seen for over a thousand years, although perhaps “more’s the pity.”
And for reasons that will continue that related theme from last week (Tazria, and the plague of “tzaraat” which is most certainly NOT what is called ‘leprosy,’ or Hansen’s Disease, this parsha is one of those that you “may have heard” is now irrelevant, “done-away-with”, and basically not worth studying — but for EXACTLY those reasons is probably more important now than ever, even if not for the reasons we’ve been lied to about.
This week, Mark looks at it from the opposite perspective, the ‘other half of the cycle’, if you will.
In the Erev Shabbat review, the study picks up with “this is, no SHALL BE, the <em>torah</em> of the ‘metzorah’,” or person who has ‘<em>tzaraat</em>’. What is to be done about it, and, yes, it can even infect a house.
In the Sabbath day teaching, Mark takes a look at something else the world has “turned upside down.”
It’s not merely that “evil” is being called ‘good’, and vice-versa; he suggests that what we are seeing run rampant in the world today is literally a ‘satanic (adversarial) imitation’ of a malady once intended by our Creator for our correction into an instrument of Evil:
not only to censor and suppress speech associated with Scripture and Truth, but to literally, turn His people into ‘social[ist] media outcasts’…and worse.
This is yet another portion that thus touches the heart of so very much that is wrong today, and why. How very much like our Creator to show via His Word that the very things we’ve been lied to told are “done away with” by way of the “opposites” and devilish imitations that have replaced them.
In a world that has become “unclean, unclean!” — those who speak His Truth are being shamed and shunned:
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for a look at parsha “Pekudei” (Exodus 38:21 through the end of the Book) and more of the value, and vital importance, of ‘redundancy’.
This parsha begins with an ‘accounting’ of the elements, materials, and even workmanship that makes up the ‘mishkan’, or tabernacle.
In the Erev Shabbat review of what that means, Mark points out again just how often we might think that “we’ve heard all of this before” there’s more to it — with an emphasis on obedience:
Pekudei begins with an “accounting” (which even Mark, while inclined often to the ‘nerdy’ admits is not the most exciting subject in his opinion) but that’s where the real questions begin. Like “Why do we still study this?” (especially if as I Corinthians 3 suggests, “WE are the ‘temple of God'”).
More disturbingly (since we are also told to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling”) we see quite a few things in Scripture which again make the point that there really still IS a reason why the pattern or ‘template’ of the mishkan matters. More than we’ve probably been told. Especially now.
Join Mark Call for a look at the final parsha in the Book of Bereshiet, or Genesis, “Vayechi,” (Genesis 47:27 – end), which completes the telling of the lives of the patriarchs, with the death of Yakov, aka Israel, his adoption of the two sons of Yosef, Ephraim and Manasseh into the ‘twelve tribes,’ and finally their prophetic blessing as well, setting the stage for the descent into slavery and the ultimate Exodus.
First, the Erev Shabbat review of the whole story:
The Sabbath Day teaching begins with what Mark suggests is the central theme of Israel’s “grafting in” of the two in-part foreign-born sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, in the reverse order of their birth.
Join Mark Call for a look at parsha, “Vayetze,” Genesis 28:10 through 32:3, which beings the story of Yakov’s (Jacob) journey (“and he went out”) via his famous vision, his wives, his sons, and his strengthening faith, in truth.
During the Erev Shabbat teaching, we hear the story in sequence, and Mark takes a look at aspects that are not only too often ‘overlooked’ by much of the ‘mainstream’, but even some things that just don’t translate well from the original Hebrew:
The Sabbath Day teaching is more about “Yakov’s journey,” but in a way that is intended to show just how important the lessons he learned, and is teaching us, are in a world where our threats may seem much greater, but the solution remains the same.
Join Mark Call for a look at parsha, “Toldot,” Genesis 25:19 through 28:9, which is most of the rest of the story of Yitzak (or Isaac) and introduces his two sons, and perhaps a problematic twist to the story of the “sons of promise”.
During the Erev Shabbat teaching, Mark Call again looks at the entire parsha, and what it is about Isaac that sets up ‘the rest of the story’.
It also sets up that much-contested deception that results in the “swap” of the birthright between the elder, and the younger of the two twins from Raquel’s womb, Esau and Yakov (or Jacob).
Did Yakov “steal” the birthright, and then the blessing, from his older brother? Or did Esau simply “despise” his birthright, and not consider it worth bothering about?
(And yes, as you might suspect by now, Mark is about to suggest that people who despise their birthright, and all the responsibility that might go along with it, are hardly unique to that “olde” testament. In fact, whether they’re called “snowflakes,” or “progressives,” or just haters-of-Yah, this is a story that still very much OUGHT to resonate today with those who have “eyes to see!!!”)
The Sabbath Day teaching, is thus all about that enduring question, WHY was Yakov the son of promise, and not Esau? (And, likewise, Isaac before him, as opposed to Ishmael?)
This week, Mark Call takes a look at Bereshiet, “In the Beginning,” FROM the Beginning (Genesis 1:1 through 6:8) in what is probably a different way than you’ve ever heard before.
Yes, this is one of the “meatiest” and most truly information-packed portions in the whole of Scripture, and more than enough to occupy (and it has!) literally volumes of study.
But have you considered that the act of Creation, and the creation of mankind, “HaAdam,” in the image of YHVH Himself, has elements that are still in process?
First, the overview from Erev Shabbat, and a look at the many elements that make up the story, from the “Time Domain;” what happened first, and then next. Or is it?
During the ‘meat-filled’ Sabbath Day teaching, Mark-the-Engineer again “waxes nerdy,” and hopefully manages to make what “as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be…” (and how we’ll be able to tell) take on a whole new aspect. Don’t let the title scare you off, and don’t miss this one:
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for the message in the Torah portion for this week (“Ha’azinu”, Deuteronomy chapter 32) as well as a look at some of the special readings associated with the most set-apart day of Yom Kippur.
Deuteronomy 32 is an elegant, and concise, summary of what Moshe sang to those who were about to enter the Promised Land. It’s also an elegant, concise warning that is every bit as vital to understand today, in such as time as this, as it was thousands of years ago.
The Erev Shabbat overview teaching of the entire parsha includes not only the second, and final “Song of Moses,” but also a look at Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14, and the final few verses of the Book of the prophet Micah.
This final “Song of Moses” has been correctly described as a concise capsule summary of the consistent theme of the entire Scripture. Perhaps more so, suggests Mark, it’s a mini ‘guided tour’ of Amerika 2018, if not the whole fallen world.
But it’s also apropos in this season to take another look at the story of Jonah. There’s more to it than just a whale, and perhaps it’s the contrast with Ninevah then and the DC Swamp NOW that will really clarify what Moses was warning about!
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for this week’s teaching of “Shoftim,” (Deuteronomy 16:18 through 21:9), which seems to literally encapsulate most of what is ABSOLUTELY WRONG with the western world today!
The Erev Shabbat overview of course begins with the commandment to select righteous (in other words, Torah-obedient) judges, or ‘shoftim’, to the end that “justice, JUSTICE!” you shall pursue.
Those who have been following what passes for “just-us” nowadays will recognize just how far we have fallen. And the rest of the parsha truly brings that home.
The Sabbath Day teaching is perhaps even more NOT ‘politically-correct’ than last week, to the extent that Mark demonstrates how the command in the last verse in the parsha, literally the one-line summary, is to “<em>do what is RIGHT in the eyes of YHVH</em>.”
Not only has ‘the world’ now gone beyond merely what the Book of Shoftim (Joshua) suggests is a Big Problem, “every man did that which was right in HIS OWN EYES,” but the opposite extreme now has become an overt attempt to “do that which is downright EVIL in the eyes of Him they so clearly hate!”
Join Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship for this week’s teaching of “Vaetchanon,” (Deuteronomy 3:23 through 7:11), arguably one of THE most “central” and fundamental teachings in the entire Torah.
The Erev Shabbat overview begins at “and I besought”, the opening words, “V’etchanan” through the warnings about idolatry, and not “adding to,” or “subtracting from” (still VERY popular with both exiled houses!) to the Ten Debarim (commandments, or sayings) and what is described by the Torah Made Flesh as THE most important commandment in Scripture. The main theme, however, is not just “hear,” but “obey,” and “DO!”: