What do we Sacrifice for Adonai (The Lord God Most High)? 1

Over the years as a member of a United Methodist Church this is the time of the year when they begin their Stewardship campaign in order to set up their budget for the New Year, based on what has been pledged. I am sure in most Christian Churches not only do they take a weekly offering, but try to obtain pledges from there members to gain a better understand of the funds they will have available to help themselves increase how they can better get there message out to not only their members but to bring entice new people to join.

There is one interesting thing to note here for some reason Churches pay their Pastors large sums of money to either entice them to be part of their Church or to keep them there. It is all very confusing to us as to why some Churches pay their Senior Pastor up wards of $150,000.00 plus a year while others may only receive $30,000.00 a year. Let us not forget that not only do they receive such large amounts of money the church also pays for their housing, utilities for their home, travel expenses and many more perks.

So what is the big deal, whom are they doing this for? Are they in the business for God it sure doesn’t seem like it to us, it sure looks like the Levites and the Priests in the Temple? The ones who benefited financially from the requirements to bring an offering for their sins, those who would go out and collect animal that were free and brought them to the temple said a blessing over them and sold them as something that was pleasing to the Lord, like God could care less where the offering came form.

I for one would love to just have my housing, utilities and transportation costs paid with enough to just be able to take my wife out or go on a vacation once in a while. I had a discussion with a former Pastor of mine who believed he could understand what I was going though with our financial circumstances, Then I preceded to ask him how, he received a good salary, had a home he wasn’t getting evicted from or had to worry if the electric or gas would be cut off. No I think not like some Pastors they try to help you walk in your faith, yet refuse to practice what they preach. I for one feel if you are going to be preaching to me then you better be walking the walk so to speak.

Not to be one way in just condemning Christians for there actions I also contacted several Jewish friends to see what the Synagogues are asking of their members in order to help provide for there continued service to the local community. What the responses where varied on the community most required a fee for seating during the High Holy Days as well as membership dues. Some just require dues, which cover everything.

Those we would like to commend for there actions are the ones who ask for nothing. Those who rely on the Lord to provide for there needs, every so often I listen to Pastor Richard Ellis, of the Reunion Church in Dallas TX. One message that really stuck in my mind was when he is asked about building a permit building to house his Church he refuses to. See Richards Church is held at the Dallas Convention Center Theater they have no permit building. According to Pastor Ellis this enables them to provide for the needs of the community by not having any overhead costs associated with a church building. I often wonder how many people could be helped if more churches would take up Richards view.

For the Jewish community I would say that there view for a need for a Building is to House the Ark, which houses the Torah scrolls. To them it is important to have a permanent building for this purpose.

What upsets us the most is much like many of our Christian and Jewish Communities today for some unknown reason they keep building these large and wonderfully expensive Buildings. The people who are directing these measures are those that are trying to bring in the people and there money, by offering there members such amenities as a Starbucks or a McDonalds right in there buildings.

So where are we going with all of this? How did we go from a big tent (Tabernacle) in the desert and in Israel to these big Million Dollar places of Worship? Who are the buildings for?


The Lord Bless you and Protect you!
The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you!
The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace!

The Articles presented here are copy written by The Light In Christ Ministry in Sherman, TX.

What do we Sacrifice for Adonai (The Lord God Most High)?

During our preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur, we spent time having discussions about the place of the Tribe of Levi during these holidays.

So what is the connection in all off this you might ask? In order to see the connection we first take a look into the book of Genesis 34 &49:5-7. In this we see Shimon and Levi go after the man who raped their sister. After the young man his Father and their followers became circumcised thus complying with the agreement with Jacob. They did this in order to share their women. Shimon and Levi then go into the city and killed every man took all their possessions, the women, children and all of there animals. Jacob becoming enraged with them sought the will of the Lord and was given directions to pack everything he owned and move to the place where he fought with the Lord. As we look into Genesis 49:5-7 we see on Jacobs death bed that he promised Shimon and Levi that there children shall be scattered throughout the people of Israel.

Ok moving forward several generations we see Adonai pulling out one of the Son’s of Levi and choosing him to lead his people out of bondage and at that time create the people of Israel. At this point God requires Moses to count all the people by family, after this count is complete God tells him that instead of taking the first born from each family he will take the Levites in their place. Thus fulfilling Jacob’s words, that the Son’s of Levi will be scattered through out the land of Israel.

This past week a good friend reminded me of the Story about the little girl who sees a string of costume Pearls in the store and she does extra chores in order to make enough money to buy those fake Pearls. Every night when she would say her prayers with her Father he would ask her if he could have those Pearls. They were the thing she most wanted to hold on to in this world. Then one night while she was praying with her Father again he asked for those Pearls. This time she gave in and handed those fake Pearls up, and to her Father, who then returned to her a real set of Pearls.

The point in using this story is this, the Son’s of Levi were never given a chance to turn over there Pearls to Adonai, he had chosen them to replace all the first born of Israel to serve Adonai, by not only caring for his Temple, but all of the People of Israel. The Levites were to be in servitude to Adonai and all the people of Israel from the age of 25-50 then sever as teachers without physical labors. So where does that leave the people of Israel? Well let us address that for a minute. According to the Torah, the Levites were not allowed to possess any Land or holdings of their own. How this worked and this is our understanding that the Levites were given land to live on and care for. These lands in each of the Tribal communities were strictly for the use of the Levities. This was in a sense payment for their servitude to that community. If a Levite went from one community to another he took only his personal possessions, at the new community he would then be given a share of the Levities possessions of that community. This was Adonai’s way of providing for this servitude for which they had been chosen, not asked or given the choice, but required.

Today Christians Theologians based on the teachings of Paul try to explain and teach that it is every persons responsibility to share to good news and to minister to those in need. Why do they continue to use the Torah and Cultural Jewish Teachings, but refuse to speak up that these are the teachings of Jewish culture and of Jesus himself? His teaching’s strictly comes from the Torah and not the New Testament. What Jesus teaches of in the New Testament is directly from the Laws as given by Moses although in some cases he makes greater restrictions on certain Laws.

The fake Pearls in this story represent the things of this physical world in which we choose to hold on to our fear, anxieties anything we refuse to turn over to Adonai. To us they also represent the way today’s Christian Theologians teach their flocks. So maybe it is time for you to give up the fake pearls and open your eyes to the true teaching of Jesus the Jewish Messiah, realizing that every single time Jesus used the term “it is written or the scriptures’ say”, he was referring strictly to the Torah.


The Lord Bless you and Protect you!
The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you!
The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace!
The Articles presented here are copy written by The Light In Christ Ministry in Sherman, TX