Purim

Today is Purim. It is a holiday that was created to commemorate the acts of Esther and Haman after they allegedly happened in the period during the destruction of the Temple and the return of the nobles to the land. There are certain very important lessons to be learned from this whole story.

The first lesson is centered on Hadassah, Esther as she is called in Persian. She is the descendant of Saul, the first king of Israel, and is therefore old aristocracy. Her family was taken as captives by Nebuchadnezzar's army after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. According to the story, her parents were dead and her Uncle Mordechai raised her. She became the wife of the Persian King whom the story calls Ahasuerus, but whom history knows as Artaxerxes II. In this story, Esther represents King Saul in an age old battle to deal with the archenemies of the Jewish people, the Amalekites. Her predecessor, King Saul, who was king more than 500 years before, failed to destroy King Agag of the Amalekites. Because of his refusal to commit final genocide, Agag had relations with two women on the night between his capture and Samuel's execution of him. Haman is now going to destroy the Jews in reparation for the almost complete annihilation of his people some 500 years before. It is left to Esther to act for Saul.

According to the story, Esther succeeds. Haman and his sons are killed. But the story is not finished for some of his children must have lived and some of the Amalekites continued. History tells us that the Amalekites are the children of Esau, brother of Jabob, and that they hated the Jews from the beginning. They lived in Petra and they sought to hurt the Jews throughout history. The people who call themselves Palestinians are descendants of these people. So the Amalekites plague the Jews still after 3,000 and as they have said, they wish still to destroy their cousins and drive them into the sea.

The story of Esther is an incomplete one. Mordechai warns Esther that failure to save her people will finally cost the full destruction of the House of Saul. She saves her people that time. However, they continue even today to plague the Chosen. And the spirit of the Amalekites, with their bloodlust, their insensible desire to have the Land given to Jacob, their desire to wipe out Judah has never changed and can only end in the final destruction of one people or another.

There are those who ignore G-d in dealing with the political situations of the current day. They do it foolishly and at great cost. There will be no peace in Israel until the Amalekites are gone and that will not happen until the son of David comes to finish the deed.

Another lesson can be found in the story of the Purim or lots that were drawn to decide the day of the Jews destruction. The lot was chosen on Nisan 13. Now Scripture says that the Passover lamb is to be set aside on Nisan 10, but killed on Nisan 14. After the Nobility was removed from the land by Nebuchadnezzar, they had no way to determine the calendar and it began to drift due to the inability to determine when the year began. By the time of Yeshua ben Yotsef, the drift was significant. The Qumran Covenanters celebrated a different day from the Pharisee day. For them Nisan 14 was one day earlier in the year of Yeshua's death than the Pharisees and John leads us to believe that Yeshua celebrated the feast one day earlier. So Yeshua was killed not on Nisan 14, but on Nisan 13 in Pharisee calendar. The Lot was chosen on the day that Yeshua was killed. Yeshua then becomes the sacrificial Jew, the one to be killed by Pur and thus avoid the annihilation of his people. As Yeshua claimed to be the son of David, he acted for David in this matter for it was David who replaced Saul on the Throne and Yeshua became Priest-King of David's Kingdom, Jerusalem, after his anointed by G-d at the Jordan River during his baptism.

This story continues. How it will end is beyond are understanding. What appears to be happening as the whole world turns against Israel is an illusion. No one can know how G-d will work it out, but He will work it out and we will see his Glory.

Should Christians Keep Kosher? A Prophecy

Paul says: "If the first fruits are holy, so is the whole batch of dough; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree, ..." He argues that the Gentiles are grafted on to the Tree of the Covenant to replace those who have broken the covenant with G-d. Now it was required of those who were branches on the Tree of the Covenant that they keep the Torah. So if the grafted branch, the Gentiles, is not to be broken off from the Tree of the Covenant as were the unbelievers among the Jews then they must also keep the Torah.

Jesus, our guide, our Rabbi, has said: "I have come not to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. ... Amen, I say to you, until HEAVEN and EARTH pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the Torah, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But WHOEVER OBEYS AND TEACHES THESE COMMANDMENTS will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Thus, we can conclude that Gentiles who do not keep Kosher are not going to Heaven. If they are not going to Heaven, then where are they going? I leave it to your minds to answer that question.

There are some who claim that G-d has rejected his people. Pope Benedict in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth Part II argues persuasively that the Jews have not been rejected and are still the chosen of G-d. Paul argues that through faith Gentiles can be added to the tree of life, but James says that faith without the Works of the Torah is dead. Therefore, it is clear that Christen dom is damned and only those who follow the Nasorean Way will be saved. The Time of the Gentiles is ended. It is now again the Time of the Jews. Hurry, those of you who are descendants of the House of Israel for its says: "As the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of the house of Israel up from the land of the North -- and from all the lands to which I banished them; they shall again live on their own land." Jeremiah 23:8.

The last words in the Kiddush of the Didache says: "Let those who are not saved, Repent. The Lord Cometh." The time is short for the 2,000 years of the Gentiles is over and the Lord Cometh. Just as the Lord Yeshua was in the grave for two days and rose again on the third day, so will the children of his kingdom, the Nasoreans who faithfully followed him, be destroyed and rejected for two thousand years, but in the third millenium they will rise from the grave to occupy the land which G-d has given them and will welcome the King Messiah, Yeshua, to his throne in Jerusalem. The time is short, the Lord Cometh. Maran Atha.

Even now the Thrones of Egypt, Cyrene, Tripolis, Carthage, Sana, Amman, Bahrain, and Mecca are shaking before the feet of the Meshiach. The grapes of wrath are being released. The nations of the South are readying for war and they will turn their eyes on the rich, ripe olive on its golden hill. They will come to make war on the City of David and the House of the Meshiach. But when they come they shall find the City protected for its says: "That day his feet shall rest upon the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem to the east." He shall cause a mighty earthquake and destroy that evil Temple on the Mount and bring the Arab kings low. The time of the Gentiles is over. The Lord Cometh.

The Prophet says: "Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.... The children of your oppressors shall come, bowing low before you shall fall prostrate at your feet. "They shall call you "City of the Lord," "Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 60: 1, 14. See the Light on the Hilltop. The Lord Cometh in Splendor.