To Fast or not to Fast on Yom Kippur!

I have felt the need to post what is found below as we approach Yom Kippur. This post I initially prepared and posted on  24/03/22 in response to a Facebook post on the Biblical requirement to fast on Yom Kippur. There are additional additions to this post and such are dated as they are placed within the body of the op-ed:

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To begin with I agree with what the writer says regarding the need for and Biblical Validation of a fast-day to celebrate Yom Kippur; I believe it to be Biblically sound, I also agree with the writer that if your case with Yeshua is not right then don't waste your time and effort because works without the contrite and repentant heart is pointless - Isa_64:6  as we all have become as one unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as soiled rags. And all of us fade like a leaf, and our crookednesses, like the wind, have taken us away thus Isa_64:7  And there is no one who calls on HIS Name, who stirs himself up to be strengthened (a - Commonly understood as “Take hold of.” ) in HIM; for HE has hidden HIS face from us, and HE has consumed us because of our crookednesses.

That being said Isa_58:3-6 does tie fasting (H6684 tsum - to cover ones' mouth - to fast) and affliction (H6031 anah - afflict, depress, to hurt, to exercise force against) together, so it does seem to be a practice that was practiced and seeming one that YHWH accepted as He never told them to stop the fasting  (one sees a similar principkle applied by Yeshua when HE speaks to the leadership of the day in Mat_23:23-25) - thus tying a day of fasting and afflicting to a national daily acts of benevolence towards the weak & oppressed are seemingly what YHWH is seeking (a repantant and humbled heart - again I agree with the writer). Our Elohim plainly does not want just hypocritical fasting and shallow, hollow prayer on Yom Kippur whilst the national culture of strife, social abuse and class privilege still continues unabated.

(05/10/24 - an additional later thought - "The Fast, when carried out correctly with a repentant heart, as a corban [laying down of our lives as led by The Ruach as Yeshua did] leads to and shows humilty of all those partaking - both great and small, rich & poor, Priest and Prince, King and pauper thus enabling the one fasting in such a manner, regardless of status, to Humble themselves in the Eyes of Yeshua - Jas_4:6-12 read also with Isa_58:6-14 NB vs 9 - making one's life a Sacrifice of PRAISE [perpetual thanksgiving] - Psa_116:17 Heb_13:15 through Rom_12:1 - theferfore It is not what you do, BUT the heart with which you do it! This is a Covenant Life style NOT JUST A ONE DAY OF THE YEAR ACTION = thus making the actual day of Yom Kippur in and of itself a set-apart day of rememberance of KIPPUR [H3725 > H3722 - covering, purging, reconcilliation, cleansing by the Atonement (BLOOD of YESHUA) see Gen_6:14 for the use of H3722 Kaphar - pitch] sealed by the KAPHER - thus one day of the year - 7th month [Tisheri] 10 - we commemorate ie: recall and show respect for (someone or something) with a mark or celebration (of that event or person) by doing or producing something - through / in our marking by the afflicting of our flesh our being Atoned and reconciled with YHWH our Elohim in and through Yeshua and His works on the Stake, works completed before the foundations of the earth were laid, through the eternal solemnization this day as commanded in Lev_23:27-32)

Continuation with original post of 24/03/22

If we read with Isa_58:13 - Yom Kippur, when read with Lev_23:32 is the Shabbat of Shabbats [Highest Shabbat, Moed Shabbat Shabbaton] - and it is taught by the Sages that should Yom Kippur fall on a normal Shabbat (as it does for some this year 2024) then one must fast as Yom Kippur is the more Holy Moed (if I may opine that); thus it is my opinion that the normal Shabbat should always be celebrated with with a heart of affliction anyway because is that not what dying to self and carrying our cross is all about, doing it YHWH's way and not our way? Are we not also called in Lev_23:28-32 to ensure that we, our house, our servants even our animals do absolutely no servile work at all on Yom Kippur? - See Exo_20:8-11 for the weekly Shabbat - the restrictions and wording are similar to those of Yom Kippur.

If this is the case I must then ask - What separates the normal Shabbat from Yom Kippur?

My answer ...

Lev_23:29-32 seems to me to make the distinction between affliction and work and then continues, as stated by the writer, of the actions of normal daily tasks for employment / income or other masters (ie: servile / work) will cause one to be cut you off / destroyed by YHWH our Elohim (please note the severity of this action on this set-apart day - not a day to play with!) -

This then begs the question - is it possible to read this to mean you can still afflict yourself (ie by fasting) and still continue to do normal work? I believe that this summation could be reasonably made.


Now turning briefly to The Brit Chadasah and Act_27:9 one see's Sha'ul and Luke (who wrote The Book of Acts) speaking of Yom Kippur as the "fast had already past" a Jewish idiom for Yom Kippur - the storms they were weathering were the cold winter storms which would relate to the end of the summer and beginning of winter - strengthening assumption that these occured in the Yom Kippur seasons.

When reading Lev 16 and the required sacrifices and protocols this seems to be an entire day's work and ceremony for the High Priest and his helpers - "no lunch breaks".

This is the day that the H/P pleads for the house of Yisrael and all her tribes and families - I can only imagine what real and pious believers in the coming of The Lamb in those days prior to The Messiah and His Crucifixion must have prayed as they, being heads, and wives and mothers etc of such heads, of their tribes and homes, prayed for the mercy of Elohim over their Nation, Tribes and maybe more specifically their families AND THOSE OF THEIR FAMILIES NOT YET REDEEMED THROUGH BELIEF AND REDEMPTION THROUGH THE PROMISED COMING OF THE WORD, MEMRA OF YHWH ELOHIM, MESSIAH YESHUA!

Now we all know what Yeshua had to go through to qualify as our High Priest who may now legally enter THE Holy of Holies not made by Human Hands - [Php_2:6-11] Heb_9:11 and Heb_9:24 - and may thus intercede on behalf of Yisrael, our Tribes, families - especially those not yet redeemed by FAITH through GRACE (Eph_2:8-9): I wonder how Yeshua, before the Father day and night, cries out for His Bride / Body / Kingdom? How then should we, only as emphasis of this opinion CRY OUT AND THANK THE FATHER FOR YESHUA FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US AND BEG ON BEHALF OF OUR LOVED ONES ESPECIALLY THE UNSAVED FOR HIS MERCY AND GRACE (Mercy and Grace are two seperate issues)?

If the Levitical H/P, who is carrying the weight of Yisrael and HIS OWN HOUSE on his shoulders before YHWH Elohim (and  in Yeshua case for all Israel until the very end) - and not that we can ever be Yeshua or the Levitical H/P - but should we not be crying out with as much passion as they did and Yeshua still does? Then let us ask of ourselves - In such a National day and situation would there really be time to prepare food and eat? - if we are, as the writer correctly states, in a position of true spiritual affliction - would we (men being as Yeshua in their homes - Eph_5:23 ff and especially women being as Rachael crying out for her lost children - see Jer_31:15 - but please read the entire Jer 31 - this is all about the Greater Exodus and the ingathering of all the tribes, completion of The Re-newed Covenant (Brit Chadasah) and as read with Mat_2:18 - describing the death of the baby boys under the hand of Herod - a foreshadowing of the Anti-Messiah? - Is this not something to be pleading for ladies, is this not a time and day to really be begging that Yeshua will come and save His Children?)

So in my opinion I do not believe that to Fast on Yom Kippur is incorrect and additionally I do believe it was practiced and thus at this time I am of the opinion that should we really be moved by The Ruach of our Father and Yeshua, as ..... stated;

We (I) cannot, but out of heart-felt thanks-giving for what Yeshua did for me, and for His continual intercession come before His Throne of Grace, for 

• Yisrael,

• my Tribe

• AND MY FAMILY through / by / in an act of praise, worship and homage as His vassel servant set this day apart from a normal day or a weekly Shabbat through the affliction of my soul by not eating or drinking for 24 hours! -

This day (Yom Kippur) is after all the day of preparation for reconciliation of the people of Yisrael; the preperation for Sukkot (Marriage Feast and final ingathering); preperation for another year of grace to enable us to practice set ting ourselves right with YHWH Elohim; preperation the Jubilee, Shmita and so much more - THIS IS THE SHABBAT SHABBATON - The Shabbat of Shabbats'. Praise YHWH through Yeshua that He has by Faith through Grace brought us back to this appointment - an appointment, moed, that in and of itself is not just a day, BUT rather a set-apart Divine and ordained meeting, occasion to bare our hearts and afflict our corrupted flesh, enemy (Rom_8:1-11) presenting for the truly redeemed House of Israel another opportunity to prepare for a continual life style of Yom Kippur and thus so much more to be thankful for.

This, for what it is worth, is my considered opinion on the choice we need to make on whether to fast or not on Yom Kippur. 

Boaz - 06/10/24

Beware the tools of destruction.

Having just read this article I have been led to pen the following addressing the dangers as I perceive them of AI generated VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) and AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) especially with our younger and more vulnerable generations of today.

It has been my contention for quite a few years now that we will find the mark of Rev 13 in the Internet Matrix (Highway to hell - 2018), so now to further build on that belief I need to address the dangers of Virtual and Augmented AI stimulated learning and experiences which I believe are extremely damaging to the person (mind, emotions, human functioning and learning process going forward into Wisdom and Life application).

Now that being said, and the fact that so many so called experts differ on everything and that the web is already so untrustworthy I do not believe we need or are called to all be 'experts' in these various fields of the social sciences and human resources: I believe we are able to arrive at sensible conclusions often without the experts - take for example the fact that we did not need to understand the biology, science, legal implications to know that the whole CVDI9 jab was not of YHWH our Elohim - we just had to know what The WORD stated on mixing, kosher, us being the Living Temple and so forth to arrive at the conclusion that this procedure was indeed not of our Elohim and thus must not be accepted and THAT WE SIMPLY CANNOT TAKE THE FORCED PROCEDURE, an action now being proved to have been correct!

The same is, in my opinion, applicable in this matter of Artificial Learning / Instruction, both VR and it's destructive cousin AR. They are not real - THEY ARE VIRTUAL / MATRIX REALITIES based on the thoughts, plans and desire of fallen man!

THESE LEARNING / ASSISTANCE ARTIFICIAL METHODS ARE IMPOSED ON THE BRAIN THROUGH ARTIFICIAL STIMULI (a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue : A thing that arouses activity or energy in someone or something; a spur or incentive - and in the case of AR & VR the thing that arouses the activity - stimuli - is, as already stated humanly created and artificially applied (even forcibly?) to the mind - this action is NOT DIVINE, NOT THE RUACH HAKODESH INSPIRED through relationship and Divine Covenant - Rom_8:1-9)

One can, if you so desired, simply do a cursory search on the sciences of learning: BUT obviously one can and must also draw from ones' own experiences primarily, experiences which we all have had. Such an investigation will enable us to discover that to learn, as we all in times past used learnt, need to have all our 5 senses stimulated and operating through said life evoking stimuli.

Perceptual learning is experience-dependent enhancement of our ability to make sense of what we see, hear, feel, taste or smell. These changes are permanent or semi-permanent, as distinct from shorter-term mechanisms like sensory adaptation or habituation. (Link)

In this (Extract) the question - Why is learning through senses important?

and then goes on to provide the following answer to it's question:

Sensory play encourages learning through exploration, curiosity, problem solving and creativity. It helps to build nerve connections in the brain and encourages the development of language and motor skills.

To this I add that again we see that problem solving is crucial and beneficial for us as created humans to learn and thus develop as humans NOT AS CYBORGS - A term blending the words cybernetic and organism, originally proposed in 1960 to describe a human being whose physiological functions are aided or enhanced by artificial means such as biochemical or electronic modifications to the body  Britannica ...... Thus to just provide an answer without causing a person to actively seek, investigate, explore is NOT acceptable and beneficially uplifting and true problem solving and it is precisely this sort of damaging short-cut to daily problem solving that AR provides: Again it gives and answer without allowing us to follow our own investigations / route of discovery - in other words we do not have to think a matter through, thus we never really need or have cause to consider our actions and their consequences in life, on others, on situations at hand and so forth - see Isa_55:6-7; Jer_29:11-14; Mat_7:7-8 and more.

The above being said is it any surprise that I, from my own observations, and as is being maintained that the Gen Z generation are losing their ability to critically think ..... however it is not just the critical thinking aspect - there is a knock-on effect at play here as well through the loss of the ability (more so in so called developing countries) to relate with others in society, and the work environment on social, confrontational, inter-personal levels; and possibly even more importantly with themselves on intrapersonal levels of normal human societal norms of behaviour.

So briefly and in a nutshell - Society is lost, confused often having no hope of escape from this dystopian world we now live and function in!

Now with the simple and cursory introduction above I am impelled to ask a few questions -

How do we apply the process of Rom_12:1-2 through VR & AR our addled brains and non-functioning societies?

Or

How do we obey Deu_10:12, Deu_30:6? Noting that Deu_30:6 is directly linked to coming back to physical Torah observance in the last days - see Deu_30:1-5 - a prophecy playing out in our time now.

Or what of

Mar_12:29-31 (Also Mat_22:37-40) which is directly associated with Mat_6:6-8, a relationship with YHWH our Elohim (our Supreme and only Authority - NB: AI also presents itself as an authority an el governing our very life and thought process): Reading from Mat_6:9-13 we are requesting through our Relationship with YHWH Elohim (Our Kingdom Ruler and Authority) that HIS KINGDOM (with all It pertains to) COMES TO EARTH AS IT IS ESTABLISHED IN HEAVEN (Mat_6:10) through the Divine instructions and requests provided in Mat_6:7-9 and Mat_6:11-13.

We were created to learn through actual YHWH led life induced stimuli NOT SOMETHING ARTIFICIALLY STIMULATED by man.

We need to remember that the Hebrew mindset is verb / action orientated putting YHWH at the centre of our lives with us serving HIM as HE instructs, leads and allows experiences to happen to us so that we are shaped to HIS Image. This is true Corban, a life of true worship grounded in The Death, Burial, Resurrection of Messiah Yeshua and thereby our aligning ourselves with a pattern of His Death, Burial, Resurrection being played out in our lives as led through these life experiences (Picking up our Crosses and dying to self).

On the other side of the coin we have the Greek mindset based on our understanding of Biblical and life concepts as perceived by us making these concepts of ideas the orientating drive-forced behind our fallen style of living / functioning and thus putting us at the centre our lives with HIM more serving us as we instruct HIM. The resulting Sacrifice in this case is not one of Covenant relationship commitment and Shepherded (Corban) by Yeshua (Ps23) but rather one of contract; a Quid pro quo - an agreement between two or more parties in which there is a reciprocal exchange of goods or services. Basically meaning I do this you do that sort of arrangement, and if you do not do what I think you should do I cancel my side of the contract or simply change the contract conditions (aka Replacement theology).

So to conclude: When going back to the original article describing the intended use of AI to de-program any narrative that in any way does not comply with the "official narrative" of the powers that be (and the WORD, both written and Revealed certainly are not in line with their narrative of the perceived truth of these powers that be),these powers that be, by classifying such information as conspiracy theories and 'binning them' hide the Truth. Si I ask then: Where do our younger generations, they who have been brought up on a diet of Google, YouTube, VR, AR, LGBT+++, Safe Zones, Conflict Free areas', liberally tainted and perverted Truth find themselves today?

These younger generations, and I believe in particular the Millennial Generation (circa 1981 to 1996); Generation Z (circa 1997 to 2012) and now The Gen Alpha (2013-2025) will be under extreme pressure to adopt to the NWO systems of education, society and human behaviour because firstly this perverted and perceived truth is their normal; and secondly because I believe that these are the generations that will be playing a massive role in this period of the Return of Messiah & The Second Greater Exodus they have been deliberately targeted as !

The answer to this dilemma I believe lies with us, the parents and grand-parents. We need to return to Yeshua, we need to seek HIM with all our hearts, then, and only then, will we as parents, grand-parents, guardians of these young people be qualified to play active and Biblically defined roles in there lives to prepare them for what is coming.

They need a RELATIONSHIP WITH MESSIAH - NOT RELIGION because denominational religion will be based on The Word as manipulated by AI through the many demonic tentacles that have been already woven into their lives, social structures and norms. They, hopefully through us, will be led to a true and life saving relationship with The Word, the One Who Created them and us for a time such as this (Eph 2:8-10).

Without being critical we need to acknowledge that these mentioned generations by-en-large do not have normal human social skills based on real life, skill largely free of influence of THE MATRIX OF THE AI as we older generations do, we grew up with post offices, snail mail and land-lines - some of us even before TV was invented.

Please do not think that I am dumping on them and building us up .... not at all, WE HAVE ALL LOST THE PLOT, however we older generations (aka Baby Boomers etc) do have a history that is more based on human relations and less on AI than they do, AND we do remain their parents and grand-parents and therefore do carry Divine responsibility and accountability for them - BUT WE LEAD ONLY AS LED BY THE RUACH THROUGH THE FINISHED WORKS OF MESSIAH AND WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE WRITTEN WORD!

These younger people are sick and tired of dead Religion - They, more than we may realise, want the Truth - most that I speak with know they are in trouble, they know the times are critical BUT THEY KEEP WANTING TO KNOW WHERE THEY CAN TURN TO FOR HELP! We older generation need, no should make ourselves available for them. It is our responsibility! Let us rise to the occasion - WE WERE ALL BORN FOR A TIME SUCH AS THIS - LET US ALL WORK OUT OUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING!

Do not take or discard out of hand what I have said - please, if you have read this far, test all I have said against the Word in Prayer.

Shalom

Boaz (15 Sept 2024)