Life is a Pilgrimage

We journey through each phase of our earthly life, choosing pathways we think will lead us to our destination . . . only to face that fork on the road that gives us pause. Those who don’t wish to stray from ‘the familiar’ continue on the same convenient and comfortable pathway; after all, they have been convinced that the map they’ve depended on has been reliable. Few dare to stray into the unknown, unbeaten path.

Thankfully, many of us did and have been blessed for doing so, for in checking what was on the “other pathway” that diverged from the road widely travelled—the beaten path—we learned, we matured, we became progressively more discerning; best of all, we got biblically educated!

Some of us have spent almost a lifetime journeying toward that “Sacred Place” where we expect to meet the ONE TRUE GOD. On that journey, we made a thoughtful decision every time we faced a fork on the road. That fork showed up not once, not twice, but thrice on this pilgrimage.

Some of us started out as children inheriting the religious choices of our parents, baptized in the Roman Catholic Church; then, discontented with mere tradition, ritual and unquestioned dogma, we turned to seeking God in what we were told contained His complete revelation—The Christian Bible.

So we ended up in one of the “protestant” sects or turned to one of the many evangelical fellowships where we listened to preachings from “The Word of God”, except much of that preaching/teaching focused only on the newer testament. Many of us organized into weekly bible study groups and got involved in churches/fellowships.

While comfortable and content in following that map provided by The Christian Bible, later in the journey, we faced yet another fork on the road. This time, the alternative led us to a closer look into the neglected part of the Christian Bible —the so-called “Old” Testament. Messianic Theology introduced us to the Hebraic roots of our Christian Faith.

Well and good, most of us felt we had finally arrived. . .only to encounter one more fork on the road . . . one that challenged us not only to venture more deeply into the foundational Hebrew Scriptures on which the supposedly newer testament was based, but also to question the very foundations of our Christian heritage.

It is this latter investigation that shook up the very core of our God-search, for we discovered that what we had unquestioningly accepted as God-given Truth turned out to be man-made doctrine hatched in mere councils of men within the first three centuries of millennium 4 in the Biblical reckoning of time, though in the Gregorian calendar, it would be the first thousand years after the supposed birth of Christianity’s Savior — Jesus Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth, Yeshua–like any Jew in his time —was raised and educated in the Hebrew Scriptures, lived Torah, worshipped the God of Israel. Other than that, there isn’t much written in historical records about this man; much of what we know about him comes from “New” Testament books.

We who have awakened to the consistent message of the Hebrew Scriptures about the self-revelation of the God on Sinai have followed Jesus out of Christianity into his faith in Israel’s God, whose self-revealed Name is YHWH. The faith of Jesus is not the same as faith in Jesus. With all due respect, this is where we now depart from our former Christ-centered colleagues, friends, teachers and pastors. Contrary to misunderstandings about our faith, we are not joining Judaism; we are gentiles drawn to the God of Abraham, Moses, Israel, and Jesus of history.

Our former co-travellers on this journey [committed and dedicated Christ-worshippers] who are befuddled at our turnabout from a whole belief system we had embraced all our lives, have understandably reacted in various ways—ranging from pity that we’ve lost our salvation, to active resistance by warning others and labelling us “apostates”, “bastards” and “anti-christs”. Such negative reactions hardly threaten our resolve to continue on this last and final lap of our pilgrimage.

This pathway has led us back to the place of Divine Revelation:

• geographically, that place is a mount in the Desert of  Sinai;
• biblically/historically, that time is recorded in Exodus . .
• literarily, that “place” is the repository of the True Revelation—the Hebrew Scriptures, the TNK, but specifically the TORAH.

The journey’s length depends on the God-seeker . . . for the True Revelator had given His directions as early as that historical point in time to Moses and the mixed multitude. That Revelation has been accessible to all mankind for 6 millennia now, but it has taken each one of us almost a lifetime to get to it. 

Why?

That is a question each one must answer for himself.

There is nothing to lose in pursuing this path. We all have already known the other side; all our lives have been spent on studying its theological/scriptural/doctrinal implications and conclusions.

All we can say at this point is — none of us regret ever returning to the original Way. We wish we had discovered this Way so much earlier, so that we could have worshipped, served, and made known the One True God in the spring instead of the autumn of our lives. It is not too late for the youth among us; we trust they will carry on our legacy.

Blessed be the God

we have come to know,

love and serve—

His Name is YHWH.

Sinai 6000 Core Community