Messianic Teaching Number 1: Set Apart

What does scripture teach us about being set apart?  How should we think about our faith and how we relate to this world as being "in the world but not of the world"?  

If we begin at the beginning we read about the set apart place in creation a garden called Eden, also referred to as Paradise. There lived a set apart man and woman.  Of course we know the story of how they were banned from paradise to toil and pain and suffering.  As their generations became more and more destructive to themselves and the earth, we come to a man who was found righteous enough to be set apart with his family to survive the doomsday destruction of all life on the earth through the oceanic upheavals and release of atmospheric moisture on the earth for a period of 40 days.  Pairs and multiple pairs of animal species were set apart to be spared to repopulate the earth.  Some version of this account has been found in almost every tribe and people living on the earth since the time of recorded oral and written history.  

The generations of Noah, the set apart man who survived these floods, were later to populate the earth as the founders of  all the people now living.  From the Semetic people a man was set apart who was found righteous as he passed the tests of faith put before him by the invisible G-D of his ancestors.  As he followed communication to his mind and spirit, he became set apart from his community to form a new "family" which became set apart as a people.  Through a famine they became captives since they were now living in a special set apart place in Egypt.  ( The story of Joseph).  Delivered from this captivity, they were set apart to wander in the desert, where they were formed into a set apart nation.  G-D set apart a man whose name means pulled from the water, as he was saved from death in a tiny ark.  (The story of Moses).  The set apart people were to inhabit the set apart land (Israel), a crossroads for all trade routes of that time.  There they were to tell all people about the set apart invisible G-D, whose name they knew as YHVH, the set apart name which means "I AM". In the desert wandering the people learned about a set apart place, (Jerusalem) to worship, in the set apart ways, recorded in HIS set apart teachings to all people on how to live set apart lives of blessing and peace for one another and the land.  HASHEM (a name for the set-apart name) set apart a covenant for all people who accepted it to become set apart in faith.  Knowing his teachings, and doing them display the set apart ways of blessing and peace to all people.  Honoring the set apart day (Shabbot) and the set apart celebrations (feast days) are a way to show people how to be blessed and to meet in a special way with Hashem.  Because man continually failed to set apart himself and his family in the ways Hashem taught him to, man continued to walk on the corrupted earth in confusion and called evil good and good evil.  Mankind can so easily be captured by the enticing spirits of evil, by knowingly playing with them and entertaining them, or by being ignorant of the ways of  HASHEM.  Because of this eternal life, the life of the spirit, could not be at home with HASHEM in the vast "heavens" which cannot be seen with  mortal eyes. These heavens go far beyond our limited space, yet exist in an order and fashion outside of our ability to comprehend.  Mankind's knowing as men created in HIS image tells him this is so.  To free all creation, HASHEM set apart a woman, entered her as the seed of the FATHER who became the SON of the FATHER setting Himself apart to destroy evil.  By allowing it to capture HIM, through entering the very den of evil, the headquarters of the spirits of evil and rebellion that captured creation, HE declared HIMSELF the HEAD of EVERYTHING that exists.  To agree and accept the invisible G-d,and the lasting Covenant with THE set apart man who is called Jesus in English or Yeshua (His set apart Hebrew name) who entered the earth in the image of the SON is to become set apart with Him in eternity. It is to be set apart to display a life of blessing and peace because there is freedom from the confusion and ignorance of evil.  The Spirit of Life leads, cares, protects and loves His set apart people into that Set Apart place he has prepare those people who have made a renewed covenant forever with Him.

“Everything’s All Right”

Did you ever notice that the philosophy of America is changing? For our grandparents (parents if you’re my age) it was “We can do it”. The whole country made the sacrifices to get through the depression and WWII. They had to rationed gas, sugar, rubber, and silk stockings. That’s when they invented tan in a can. For us (or our parents), it was Anything Goes, cause we were the flower children. We rejected the pressures to perform and just dropped out, that is until the Charles Manson pics showed kids just like us going through the garbage. So then most of us grew up and became a greedier less disciplined version of our parents. We evolved into a society of people Livin the Good Life, thus following in our great grandparents era of the “Roaring Twenties” jazz, bathtub gin and all that stuff. Of course they bombed and created the depression, and we created the housing market slide of our generation. We also set the tone for the changing philosophy of coping with the results of continually trying to live the Good Life. I call it Everything’s All Right.
Recently I watched a cable movie titled “Everybody’s Fine. The movie’s conclusion was that everyone in the featured family was all right because they finally managed to come together at Thanksgiving and have a good time. This happened after years of neglecting their widower father and the youngest son’s suicide. Yes, I thought, this has become a new way of coping with the absurd way some of us live and think these days. It’s like seeing teens walking around in shorts and little tee’s when it’s freezing out and Ugg’s (fur lined boots) and jackets when it’s summer. Oh it’s fine. We like it that way. It’s like not ordering any food at the restaurant for little Joey because he’d rather eat his boogers. It’s fine. They’re salty and he likes them.
Everything’s just fine.
It’s so fine that we have accepted that on election- day we are content to vote for whoever is the best liar. We accept the fact that to fix an economy steeped in debt our government can just hand out money. We forget that when FG (Federal Government) hands out $1 it has to take out for its expenses to do so. Tear off a big piece of the dollar. It hands it to SG ( State Government ) to distribute, tear off another piece. Then SG hands if off to CG (yep County Government) then maybe there may be a little piece left, if the city doesn’t use it up for something else, a little piece may be left to create a job. Oh Oh. Jobs are still not growing. Duh. But everything’s fine.
We do the same thing with immigration, moral issues, and so on. We are so concerned with tolerance for all that we forget that we will loose all if we tolerate all. I just read the other day that the new policy in the war in Afghanistan is to kill insurgents. Oh somehow I thought that’s what armies did at war. The insurgents seem to be killing people. Oh well, everything’s fine.
So, my hope is that the new generation of adults will somehow be able to sort through the moronic dribble of the higher education doled out by the former flower children of my generation, and the “tolerate all” of the good lifers, put on their Jesus sandals and walk us out the mess we’ve made of things. With their conscious in tact, and the use of some good common sense they can be the roaring, can do, go for the good life through good living people we want them to become. I’m for change. I’m for changing the self-centered anything goes, tolerate all, everything’s all right confusion to the to kind of good common sense thinking that leads us out of this maze of one size fits all, we can meet everyone’s needs fairy tales kind of public thinking. Is there anyone out there who even kind of listened to the basics of what really works in their history classes? I sure hope so. I am ready to listen to the voices of reason even if they come from unemployed plumbers. So bring it on you newbies on the block we are ready to let you have a turn. Sorry there’s no money to buy things with, nothing much left but our neediness that we are waiting for your tax dollars to fulfill. Our obese, welfare dependent, lawless, disaster ridden nation needs you. Step up and don’t let anything or anyone but good common sense guide you, and heaven help us if you don’t.