Guest Articles
Teachings by respected friends of Bro. Lynn

October 2008

On August 29, 1995 I had a dream that changed my view of the Church and what God will do with His Church in the future.  Since that time, I have read and heard other Christian leaders who are saying the same things that were revealed to me back in 1995.

 Based on the dream that was given me, I believe there will come a time in the future when much of organized Christianity will be done away with, during or prior to a time of great trouble or persecution against the true Church, which is the bride of Christ (Messiah).

 Millions of believers all over the world are already meeting secretly to avoid arrest by the authorities.  Yet this persecuted Church is growing by thousands every day.  Signs and miracles are taking place in this persecuted Church.  There are testimonies of hundreds being raised from the dead.

 I believe as the time approaches for the coming again of Christ (Messiah), many denominational barriers will be broken down as a result of persecution of the Church on a worldwide basis.

 t was also revealed to me in the same dream that during this time of purifying and unifying of the Church, that many of the Jewish people will believe in and accept Jesus (Yeshua).  In the final end, the land of Israel will be the joy and hope of both Jew and Gentile alike who have placed their trust in the Cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16 and

I Peter 2: 6-8).  As the end of all things draw near, the Church and the people of Israel will begin to merge together.

Gene Ridings

INFORMATION TO LISTEN TO GENE RIDING ON

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Contact World-Wide Christian Radio at 615-255-1300

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Broadcast time:  Every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. on shortwave and on-line

Rosh Chodesh
by Batyah
June 6, 2009

THE GIFT OF THE NEW MOON

The first commandment the Hebrews were given as a people is the mitzvah of (Roe-sh  Kho-desh) Rosh Chodesh, the New Month:

"And HaShem said to Moses...  in the land of Egypt...  This month is for you, the head of the months.  First it is for you among the months of the year." (Exodus 12:1-2)

The Hebrew nation was told while still in Egypt that the month of Nissan, the month in which they would be leaving Egypt, should be for their first month, and that from then on, they, as a nation, have a responsibility to count the months and create a uniquely Hebrew calendar based on the lunar year.

Isn't this a strange first commandment? You'd think the development of the calendar would only come after the establishment of the basic fundamentals like the Ten Declarations.  Why does the Torah consider the process of establishing the new month as a major breakthrough in creating a nation? And what was wrong with the solar calendar that everyone else had been using? What is the significance of basing the Hebrew calendar on the moon?

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

The mitzvah of sanctifying the new month was a rather involved process.  As soon as someone saw the tiniest sliver of a new moon, they would run to the Jerusalem High Court, who needed two witnesses to testify that the moon was actually seen.  They would then convene the court, declare the new month and send messengers across the land to tell everyone that the new month had begun on this certain day.  They, in turn, would pass on the news and place torches on mountains and high spots to spread the news faster.  Sometimes it took two weeks for people to receive confirmation of the day the court had declared as the beginning of the month.  (This, by the way, is the root reason why the Hebrews of the Diaspora keep two days of the holidays, just in case they were wrong about which day was Rosh Chodesh if the information didn't arrive on time.)

The Hebrew or Biblical calendar determines on which day each Hebrew/Biblical holiday will occur.  Each particular holiday brings with it a spiritual reality that is available for us to tap into on that specific day.  Pesach/Passover, for instance, contains the opportunity to attain spiritual freedom; Rosh Hashanah/New Year is the time for judgment. 

The determination of this calendar is placed squarely in human hands.  If the moon was to appear, in fact, on a Monday, but no one actually saw it until Tuesday, "seeing is believing" and the court would decide that the first of the month was on a Tuesday.  As a result, HaShem, as it were, follows the decision of the court and acts accordingly, so that in the case of Rosh Hashanah, He would put off His judgment of the entire world by one day!  HaShem is giving the Hebrew people an empowering message with this first commandment.  Up until now, the Hebrews have been slaves to the Egyptians.  Their time was not their own.  Now, HaShem says, you are becoming masters of your time.  And not only of your own time, but of My time as well!  By being given our own system of measuring time and creating our own calendar, we are taking charge and shaping reality.  We are given a certain area of control over nature.  Whereas time is steadily moving ahead, never-stopping, marching on in a cyclical, repetitive spiral, we are given the power to stop or start time at will, allowing us to "share" with HaShem that special creativity of determining reality.

THE MOON

As part of this empowering message, it is essential for the moon to be the determining factor in setting up our calendar, not the sun.  The unique feature of the moon is that it appears to wax and wane, to disappear and reappear, to grow, diminish and grow again.  It is also the smaller of the two luminaries.

The sun is the symbol of unchanging nature, rising in the East, setting in the West, day in and day out, every day of the year.  The moon, however, changes and seems to be telling us something: You can be small and you can diminish until you almost disappear, but then, when things look their darkest, hope springs eternal.  You can start looking up again.  You can change a situation and yourself for the better, no matter how bad it seems.  Nothing is static or set in stone.  Human beings have a free will and therein is the power of renewal – an ever-present struggle against the steady, cyclical, repetitive and predictable march of time and nature.

The solar system determines the year, in Hebrew shana, which comes from the same root as to repeat, to go over, whereas the moon sets the months, Chodesh from the Hebrew root chadash, – new, change, different.

The Hebrew people are compared to the moon.  Though they are small, and suffering has been an integral part of their history among the nations, they know to never give up.  As an individual and as a nation, they will rise up again and light up the night.

Hebrews live with the belief of the power of miracles and HaShem supervises over the world.  He is not dependent on predictable laws of nature.  The Hebrew nation has a special relationship with HaShem; even when on the lowest spiritual rung and about to assimilate and disappear, HaShem maintains His constant love, as a father loves his son.

HaShem relates to Moses a message to give to Pharaoh and to the Hebrew people before the 10 Plagues begin “My firstborn son is Israel” (Exodus 4:22).  The Israelites had reached their lowest point at this time and were undeserving of any miracles in their own right.  Yet that is exactly when HaShem sweeps us up, taking us out of the darkness of Egypt and initiates the upward-moving process until 50 days later when we are deserving of receiving the Torah and of becoming a nation.

What a perfect time and place to give the Hebrew people the encouraging message in the commandment to sanctify the new moon every month and to determine our calendar this way:

"And HaShem said to Moses ...  in the land of Egypt, say to the Hebrew people: This month is for you the beginning of the months ..." (Exodus 12:1-2)

HaShem has given us the power of renewal and change, the gift of expanding, brightening and growing big again after we have been diminished.

WOMEN AND ROSH CHODESH

For women, Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the new month, is considered a mini-holiday as a reward for not having been willing to participate in the sin of the Golden Calf.

After the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, Moses went up the mountain for 40 days to receive the 10 Declarations.  As a result of a minor miscalculation, the Hebrew men believed that Moses had died and beseeched Aaron to make them a "HaShem" to go with them in the desert. 

"And Aaron said: Take the earrings from your wives, sons and daughters, and bring them to me" (Exodus 32:2).  The women heard and refused to give their jewelry to their husbands, but said: "You want to make a calf with no power to save? We will not listen to you." HaShem gave them reward in this world that they keep Rosh Chodesh more than men, and in the next world they merit to renew themselves like Rosh Chodesh.”  (Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, 45) 

Why should this be our reward? What is the link between our not being willing to give up our precious jewelry for the ill-fated Golden Calf project and the concept of celebrating the reappearance of the moon every month?

Women had the ability to see beyond the very frightening situation the Hebrew people experienced after Moses went up to receive the Torah and tarried on his way back.  As far as the Hebrew men were concerned, all hope was lost.  There was no leader, no shepherd, no one to guide them through the desert to Israel.  How could Moses be late? He must have died! And in fact the Midrash tells us that Satan showed the Hebrew people a vision of their beloved leader lying lifeless on a cot in heaven, to scare them.

But the women could not be convinced to sink into such utter despair.  When things seemed dark and hopeless, they knew light was just around the corner.  Patience and trust in HaShem would be all that would be needed to get through the "bad" times and into the good ones.  Like the moon, becoming brighter and bigger only after it disappears completely into darkness, they knew that better times were on the way.  It was impossible to them that HaShem would leave them stranded after having just received the Torah 40 days earlier.  They were willing to believe in the power of renewal and trust HaShem no matter how difficult things seemed.

Let us hope that the Hebrew nation, especially in Israel, can take encouragement from this special gift of the lunar cycle by which we count our months.  As the organized onslaught of Arab terror continues and solutions seem remote, it's all too easy to lose hope and despair of ever living a normal, safe life in HaAretz.   Rosh Chodesh teaches us that everything can change.  It is when a situation reaches its bleakest point that the light appears again.

HAPPY ROSH CHODESH!