BearTrax Fellowship
Does God Change?
Does YHVH (God) create anything imperfect? This is a question that troubles me quite often these days. From a child I was taught that Yahweh is Holy, therefore He cannot sin. I learned that Yahweh's word is infallible and eternal; it never changes. Yahweh's word is infallible. Yet modern religion and the institutional church seem to believe otherwise. For example:
The fourth Commandment says YHVH's Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week…Saturday. Did He change His mind and make it Sunday?
Yahweh gave us His "instruction manual for life" (called the Torah) through Moses at Mount Sinai so we would prosper, be healthy and live a long life; yet in most of today's churches we hear that we are not under the law. Did He change His mind again?
Yahweh told us to observe His Holy days - His feasts - as a permanent regulation through all your generations, no matter where you live. (Leviticus 23) Most churches today do not observe any of God's moadim (The designated time of the Lord) such as Passover, Yom Kippur, or any of His other feasts. Most churches don't even know what the feasts are all about. Did He change His mind yet again?
Something is very wrong here! Either we must believe that Yahweh's word is infallible because He is Holy, He cannot lie, and He never changes-or-we might as well throw the Bible away! What can we believe? If we do accept the scriptures as YHVH's truth, then how do we justify man's assumed authority to change or alter Yahweh's word? What do we do? We can't have it both ways, can we?
If Yahweh's word is true, then man is in big-time trouble for Yahweh said through Moses in Deuteronomy 4:2 CJB,
"In order to obey the mitzvot (commandments) of the Lord your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it".
In the New Testament, Mathew 5:17 CJB, Yahshua (Jesus) said:
"I did not come to abolish the Law (Torah) or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes Indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Law [Torah] - not until everything that must happen has happened."
The last I checked, heaven and earth were still here!
I am not a Biblical scholar nor a theologian but I do read fairly well…words like "forever", and a phrase like "permanent regulation" is not difficult to understand. It appears to me that Yahweh is quite serious about His word…we are not to add to or are we to take away from it. So, the question still is unanswered…does Yahweh change His mind?
WhateverYahweh says is a reflection on His holy character. For Yahweh to go back on His word even once would undermine His perfection. If He could change His mind once, why not twice, or three times-or any number of times? If He only once broke His Word, we could never again rely upon what He says. The possibility would always remain that He might change His mind again-and again. But this is impossible: "I am the Lord, I change not….For ever, O Lord thy word is settled in heaven" (Mal 3:6, Ps 119:89).
"Yahshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb 13:8 CJB).
History and archeology records that nothing in the Bible is yet to be found in error! In fact, archeology continues to validate the Bible through new discoveries throughout Israel. Remember the blind man that Yeshua healed by putting mud on his eyes? He told the man to go and wash in The Pool of Siloam (Siloach - Hebrew). Guess what? While digging to replace a sewer pipe in Jerusalem four years ago…it was discovered. The pool still exists, in the neighborhood of East Jerusalem called Silwan. It marks the end of Hezekiah's tunnel constructed in 700 B.C.E.
Well, that settles it for me...especially when through the Apostle John, Yahweh says,
"The way we can be sure we know Him is if we are obeying His commands. Anyone who says, I know Him, but isn't obeying His commands is a liar-and the truth is not in Him." (1st John 2:3-4 CJB)
Do you find it puzzling that in most of todays churches the same situation exists that Yahshua preached against to the Pharisees on the steps of the temple?
"Yahshua answered them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites-as it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is useless, because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines. You depart from God's command and hold onto human tradition." (Mark 7:6-8 CJB emphasis mine)
His words do not leave much for interpretation, do they? I have been given a choice by YHVH; obey His word and receive life, or obey the traditions of men that result in death. The truth is very clear! YHVH does not lie, He is Holy. He does not change His mind.
Remember, Deuteronomy 4:12; 12:32; and Proverbs 30:6, as well as Revelation 22:18-19, tell us that one must not add to or delete from the original Word of God. (It should not be forgotten that tampering with the Word of YHVH was one ploy of Satan to bring about the fall [Genesis 3:1-7].) (13) Revelation 22:18-19 are especially strong:
Don't forget the last admonition of YHVH in the book of Revelation: For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
I think YHVH has adequately answered my questions.
It does however, create another serious question…why do pastors and bible teachers teach as doctrine all these man-made rules that were added to or changed from Yahweh's word?
THINK ABOUT IT!
