Why I Obey, Observe and Keep The Torah/Law

My Testimony

I’m a Messianic Proselyte.

What is that? Never heard of it. Is that some kind of new denomination?

No.

I’m a gentile who converted into Judaism as a believer in YESHUA/JESUS. I follow the teachings of Messianic Judaism. Messianic Judaism isn’t much different than Orthodox Judaism.

We keep the Law/Torah.

We keep Shabbat.

We keep the Feasts.

We eat kosher.

We wear our Tzit-Tzits.

Do keeping any of these things make us Holy or save us? Of course not. Only YESHUA/JESUS saves us by G-D’s Eternal Grace. By Grace we are saved through faith. There is no denying that. It is a gift. Nothing we can earn.

So why keep the Law/Torah?

I was raised as an Independent Baptist in name. I wasn’t raised in church. I was raised by two very dysfunctional parents who nearly destroyed my life growing up. Living with them was like living inside of a dungeon at times. And it had a horrible effect on me emotionally, mentally and more importantly: Spiritually.

As a young man in the army I was a chaplain’s assistant at an army hospital. I served under many different chaplains who were part of different denominations. You would think that would have been great. No. Not one single time did any of those chaplains ever talk me to about YESHUA/JESUS. I drifted. I began drinking. I smoked. I hit many dark areas in my life that I’m ashamed of. Yet not a single chaplain cared. All they seemed to care about were their careers, how many programs they could do, and so on. It got to the point where some didn’t visit their patients and the head chaplain had to tell them to do their job.

Am I condemning those chaplains? Of course not. I’m simply pointing out that I was surrounded by men who were supposed to be ‘G-DLY’ yet I was caught in darkness because they had no light shining from their hearts that I could see. I was just another face.

Long story short, I remained lost through my twenties. Dead in sin. Condescended. Rebellious. Full of hate, anger and even rage. My soul was dead.

When I was almost thirty-one a Baptist preacher came to my residence. I got the ‘It’s okay,’ talk and ‘just come to church and it’ll be okay’. Great. So I did. I went to church every time the church doors opened. Did it do me any good? No. Why? Because the preacher wasn’t preaching on Truth. Nothing he said resonated with my spirit, convicted me, pulled me to the altar. I played ‘Church’. And then I hit rock bottom all over again.

I told my wife I could never go back to a Baptist church (and I’m not condemning the Baptists). Something wasn’t right. I wasn’t convicted by anything the preacher said yet I knew inside of my heart and soul something was wrong and that I needed G-D more than anything. Was my church attendance making me right with G-D? No.

One day my wife suggested we visit a Messianic Jewish congregation—a very small one. Twenty people at the most. Okay. Sure. Why not. So we went. I had no idea what to expect and neither did she, really. We just liked what their statement of faith was on their website.

I had no idea what the Law/Torah was. Shabbat? Passover? Eating Kosher? What were those things? All I knew was that church was on Sunday and as long as you believed in YESHUA/JESUS you were okay. Those were the basics. But nothing was changing me inside. My heart was still the same—yet I was thirsting to death for G-D.

Before I continue I want to point out that I was reading my Bible but nothing was sticking. Not a single word. Like water sliding off a pane of glass.

What happened? The service I attended at the Messianic Congregation changed my life forever. I felt like I had come home from a long, miserable, agonizing journey. I can’t explain it any better than that. G-D put me where I was meant to be by HIS Grace, Love and Mercy.

What happened? I began keeping the Torah/Law. Not because someone told me to. No one did. The HOLY SPIRIT lead me to. Not a single person told me to start keeping the Torah/Law. I began learning the Torah/Law on my own, guided by the HOLY SPIRIT. In 2011 my family and I kept our very first Hanukkah. In 2012 we kept our very first Passover. We began keeping Shabbat and not Sunday church. Every Shabbat I read from the Torah/Law and read from the Torah/Law through the week, too. I began reading the Prophets and the Writings as well as reading the New Testament. On my own. No preacher, Bible College, Seminary school. The HOLY SPIRIT was my teacher and still is and always will be.

This time G-D’s HOLY WORDS clung to my thirsty spirit like super glue and remained in my heart and mind. I began to see many false teachings in the Christian churches (replacement theology, dispensationalism, teachings against keeping G-D’s Law/Torah, Sunday church). I didn’t get out and condemn or holler from the rooftops or point an accusing finger. That wasn’t my job and still isn’t. Nothing I say or do or teach is going to change the mainstream thinking anchored deeply in the American Christian denominations. Like Paul, fish scales began to fall off my eyes.

I began to understand Paul never once taught the gentiles not to keep the Torah/Law. But I also began to understand that Paul’s writings were very complicated and hard to understand—if not somewhat contradictory. Was I right in my thinking? In a way, yes, and in a way no. I had to keep in mind the words of Peter in 2 Peter Ch 3:16 Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

But how was I supposed to understand Paul’s writings? A Messianic Pastor taught from Acts 21 once that really opened my eyes. I began to realize that unless a person reads the Book of Acts first he is going to misinterpret Paul’s writings. But it just wasn’t Paul’s writings. It was the entire New Testament that proved to me I was supposed to keep, observe and follow the Torah/Law. From Matthew to Revelation.

But what about legalism? That was a stone Christians like to throw it seemed. Am I trying to be saved by following the Torah/Law through legalistic observances? No. I obeyed the Torah/Law because I’m saved by G-D’s Grace and because the Torah/Law is now written on my mind and in my heart.

The Torah/Law came from G-D HIMSELF. Think heavily on that. If you say you love G-D with all your mind, heart soul and strength then why would you not want to obey HIS Torah/Laws? The answer is quite simple and one millions of Christians will refute and want to stone me for: satan has infiltrated the churches and taught against keeping G-D’s Torah/Law. That’s exactly what satan wants. G-D’s Torah/Law is Holy and Eternal. G-D’s Torah/Law reveals HIS Heart and Will for mankind. That’s what satan doesn’t want you to see.

Let’s pause and do a little experiment: If the American churches are correct in their teachings then America should be a Holy nation, right? When you conduct an experiment you claim success when the end result is successful. So what is the spiritual condition of America right now? There are Bibles available everywhere, churches in every city and town, Bible and seminary schools, television evangelists—America should be the Holiest nation on the planet. Is it?

The plain hard truth is that, like myself at one time, most people are playing church instead of being the Church—the Body of YESHUA/JESUS. There is a term I heard that I can agree with: Comfortable Christianity. And it is satan pulling the strings whether people will admit that or not.

Revelation Ch 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth!

17 For you keep saying, 'I am rich, I have gotten rich, I don't need a thing!' You don't know that you are the one who is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked!

What was the one thing the Baptist church didn’t teach me? Self Accountability. I’m going to be held accountable for my sins when G-D Judges me. There is a way to live for G-D that HE demands. We are to be Holy for G-D for HE Alone is Holy.

The more I studied the Scriptures through the years the more the HOLY SPIRIT began revealing hard truths and a hard realization: Nothing is going to change the mindset of the American Christian churches. They have ‘Comfortable Christianity’. Not all, but most it seems. You have churches sending missionaries across seas when America as a nation needs missionaries the most. Our own nation is spiritually lost and wicked.

I realized that being a Messianic Proselyte was going to be a very hard and lonely walk. Christians—not all but most—avoid and condemn me because I keep Torah/Law. Jews—not all but most—avoid and condemn me (and I’m hated by Jew haters for identifying with Israel and my Jewish brothers and sisters in love). There is no middle ground. So why do it? Why not just get tucked into a nice, comfortable church and say my amens when promoted and thank the pastor for another nice sermon each week?

Because it’s wrong and I know it’s wrong in my spirit. YESHUA/JESUS commands me to pick up my cross and follow HIM. Paul states we are to have the mind of the Messiah. YESHUA/JESUS kept, taught and obeyed the Torah/Law. How else could HE have been the sinless sacrifice? 1 John Ch 3:4 teaches that sin is violation of the Torah/Law. Without the Torah/Law you can’t have sin. So why would YESHUA/JESUS need to save sinners born after HIS sacrifice if people are not supposed to keep and obey G-D’s Torah/Law? We would all be sinless. Or someone can say: “Well, yes, sin is violation of the law, but we don’t have to follow the law and when we do sin we can just ask for forgiveness.” I have no idea what the logic in that claim is? The Torah/Law teaches us what sin is therefore we can learn G-D’s Holiness and avoid sinning. We will never be sinless but we can learn what sin is and fight against, expose it, it and teach others to do so.

But it goes far deeper than that.

For example: We are commanded in the sixth Commandment not to murder. Okay. But what happens if we do murder? The Ten Commandments do not say? Only the Verbal Law G-D spoke to Moshe tells us what the punishment for sin is. So without the Torah/Law you cannot obey the Ten Commandments. Well, you can, but what happens if someone murders another person? Then what will you do? Apply man’s justice or G-D’s?

I began learning these truths. Through the years countless questions were placed in my kind and heart by the HOLY SPIRIT. Gentle questions that made me think, search, discover, correct and change me. And I need tons of correcting. I began to realize, too, that the HOLY SPIRIT would reveal G-D’s Will for my understanding in HIS time, not my own. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve studied Revelation Ch 12 but through the years the HOLY SPIRIT will reveal something entirely new to me.

Today I’m a Messianic Proselyte. I keep, observe, obey and cherish the Torah/Law of my G-D. It is through the Laws G-D gives that HE reveals HIS Heart and Will for me and teaches me who I’m supposed to be and what I’m supposed to be—and what I’m supposed to do and not do. My walk with G-D is intimate, personal, close, true and eternal. No one can change that. I can’t change anyone’s else walk with G-D. Are Christians going to hell because they refuse to obey Torah/Law? No. Of course not. But I will say they are missing out on an incredible journey filled with countless treasures. Also, I would like to say that YESHUA/JESUS warned in Matthew Ch 5:19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I never once attended a Bible college or seminary school. I had to hit rock bottom, become spiritually dead, know I was completely cursed by own sins and rebellions and wickedness, before G-D in HIS great mercy began showing me HIS Truth and Light. It wasn’t that G-D was waiting for me to hit rock bottom, I put myself there but G-D was waiting. What love. Now today I’m a Bible teacher (which is a miracle in itself because I shouldn’t be here). I teach Torah/Law through Grace and Faith. Some may call that an Oxymoron. I call that G-D’s Eternal Truth and Mercy.

I’m not going to change anyone’s way or thinking nor will I try. I will teach the Truth of Torah/Law through Grace and Faith and from there it’s up to that person to make up their own minds. I will never judge because I was once dead in my sins and I was once a pew sitter in a church that I believe caused me more harm than good. I do all things in love, patience and brotherly fellowship.

Many years ago I would have done all things in hate, bitterness, judgment and rage. It wasn’t the American churches that opened my eyes to G-D’s Truth: It was HIS Torah/Law through the very heart of YESHUA/JESUS.

This is my testimony. Now I am a child of G-D, covered by the precious Blood of YESHUA/JESUS, the Lamb of G-D, sealed until the day of Redemption and a citizen of Heaven forever. And what years I have left on this earth I will livve obeying, following and cherishing the Torah/Law of my G-D.

Shalom and blessings.