Hidden Treasure

Here is a tough question.  If the Torah (The Law of Moses) is still fully applicable to all Christians, wouldn’t YHVH (God) make that truth much more obvious?  Seriously, why do only a relative handful of believers embrace the “Old Testament” commandments, if it is really His will that all of His people are to do so?  Furthermore, why would our heavenly Father allow for His true and pure Torah to be distorted and twisted to the degree that it has?  Especially after sending His Son to live out and teach the Torah flawlessly, and even appointing him to die to allow "the nations" access to His Kingdom--what would be the point of letting the path get so foggy and dangerous?

These are all good questions that we have to be brave enough to ask.  There are many great books and websites that detail exactly when, who, and how each erroneous step was taken from the narrow path of truth onto the broad way of destruction.  The details about Jeroboam, Constantine, and Martin Luther are not the purpose of this writing.  My goal is to reveal the motive of the one true overarching source of all of this seemly misleading and distracting information.

I have to admit that early on in my walk, I decided that the mastermind behind every massive deception could only be Satan himself, mostly choosing to work subtly through sinful humans.  He is the “father of lies” (John 8:44), right?  Humankinds sinful nature provides the motive and the means, and Satan provides the opportunity and the inspiration.  Lately, however, I have been marveling at the way YHVH Himself has always used the corrupting power and tactics of the adversary to further His own agenda and plan.  After all, are we to believe that Satan can somehow “get one over” on The Creator, or that our Sovereign King has lost control?  It’s Satan, the created being, that is limited in his understanding and vision, not YHVH.  The Father of Lies, has a father himself, doesn't he? (Ezekiel 28:12-14)  In fact, it’s YHVH that tells us that He is the one who sends false prophets in order to test us. “…you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For YHVH your Elohim is testing you, to know whether you love YHVH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 13:3)

We often paraphrase “God works all things together for good” (Rom 8:28), often implying that YHVH is simply good at damage control.  I submit to you, however, that we have to admit that YHVH is and always has been in full control of this apparently chaotic world, including what appears to be the very frustrating destruction and dilution of His laws and principles in most Churches and Synagogues throughout history. Ironically, all of the deceptions that we “Messianic Torah Keepers” rightly despise, seem to have a designed purpose.

It is clear that YHVH deeply desires intimacy with us, but as He is so perfectly Holy, He must keep Himself and His ways hidden from us for our own safety and for the sake of His Name. In the wilderness tabernacle, He hid His Holiness above the ark, and protected the ark with one veil after another. Just like we humans may keep our most precious heirlooms in a safe-deposit box, the Father has done this with His very Heart; His heart is expressed through His commandments, and also through the true nature of His Son.  All of mankind has been invited into relationship with YHVH but He chooses not to force Himself upon us. Therefore, He has blatantly displayed His true self and His very nature in the Torah for all to embrace, but paradoxically, at the same time, He has used mankind’s sinful nature to protect his Holiness from the ‘unclean’. "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matt 7:6)  However, in the end times, these ‘secrets’ will suddenly become apparent and the world will long for them. ”O YHVH, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.”” (Jer 16:19) “In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'" (Zec 8:23)

This is His pattern.  He hardened The Pharaoh’s heart to postpone the Exodus of His firstborn son (Israel) from Egypt until His timing was just right.  He used King Saul’s corrupt kingdom to prepare His people for a righteous King, when His timing was just right.  He used Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilot as unwitting tools to sacrifice His only begotten Son when His timing was just right.  Likewise, He has used Constantine, Marcion, and even Charles Darwin to protect his precious and powerful Torah from unworthy and unholy hands…until His timing was just right.  Rather than shake our fists at Satan, these corrupt men, and the damage their lies have caused the world, we might be better off putting our energy into praising our awesome and sovereign creator.  We should be thanking Him for not just saving our very souls, but for allowing us to see a far clearer picture of who He is, and revealing the path to become more like His Son.

Just think of the brilliance!  YHVH has managed to put His precious and powerful commandments into almost every Western home, printed clearly in hundreds of diverse languages, and has even labeled The Book: THE HOLY BIBLE…yet at the same time He has managed to keep the value of the Torah hidden-- with most Christians casually skipping over it entire chapters and books.  Clearly, and in writing, He has detailed seven glorious feasts that all of His people are invited to, which He Himself attends.  He has described the perfect diet for those of us hand-made by YHVH himself.  He has clearly shared how best to handle money, marriage, childrearing, time, and He has given us clear rules as to how to avoid false teachers—especially those who come teaching in His name, and preforming miracles.  Most especially, He has disclosed the nature of His Messiah, so that no one who honestly shared YHVH’s heart, as revealed through the Torah, could possibly miss Him when He came.  Yet, most followers of “Jesus” who actually read these words in Scripture are somehow convinced that most of these commandments have been “done away with”, despite the fact that The Messiah Himself clearly says otherwise (Matt 5:17).  Most Christians don’t even acknowledge that Yeshua embraced every one of these commandments for His entire lifetime.

Think about what would have happened if the depth of The Father’s Holiness was revealed clearly to everyone in the world, without the divine “filter” of the aforementioned distractions.  How special and Holy would His Sabbath be if every “casual Christian” treated it as simply “one day in seven” or in the irreverent way that Sunday has been treated for decades now?  Isn’t it better that The Sabbath be ignored rather than “defiled”?  How set-apart and sanctified would Passover or His other Feasts be if billions of people around the world commercialized them and distorted them?  History proves that if the pronunciation of His very Name had not been “lost”, people would undoubtedly be using it as a curse word, instead of calling upon it in praise and worship.  The Father, in His omnipotence, has purposely hidden the most precious treasures of His Kingdom, IN PLAIN SIGHT, until these last days.  He has built an ‘ark of light’ for the coming flood of darkness, has kept it sealed and stocked with provisions for millennia, and has just begun to open the doors for all who love Him and are wise enough to see the approaching storm.  Within this ark are the “secrets of the Kingdom”-- the pure Torah, as delivered by Moses and taught by Yeshua.  Like Noah’s ark and the tiny version that saved baby Moses, the exterior of this ark is covered in nasty, stinky, ugly pitch and tar---in this case, the false traditions of men.

As much as we want to think of the Father and Yeshua as “light”, let us remember that it is His pattern to meet us in the dark.  In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit is hovering above the waters-- while at the same time, darkness was on the face of the deep.  In Genesis 15:12, Abraham meets YHVH in a vision and the setting is only described as “extremely dark”.  In Exodus 14:20, YHVH descends upon the mountain, and it is covered with darkness…not light.  Darkness surrounded Moses during his meetings with YHVH in Deut 5:22 and Ex 20:21, as well.  Even the Hebrew day begins with darkness…not light.  Paul met with the risen Yeshua personally, and was temporarily blinded as a result—now that’s dark.  Later, even while filled with The Spirit, Paul still wrote, “now we see through a glass darkly…”.  As believers in Yeshua, still in darkness to some degree or another, we are strongly encouraged to start heading for the light:

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:12)

“For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14)

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor 4:4)

"For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.’” (Mark 4:22)

It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a matter, and the glory of Kings to search it out. (Prov 25:2)

The harsh truth is, YHVH’s pattern is to reveal His brightest lights and deepest truths only to the select few who are not afraid to press into Him—to those who are not afraid of the dark nor confuse the darkness with light.  For example, why did Yeshua teach in parables when he could have spoken far more clearly and directly?  I am not the first to ask this question:

“The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:”

'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:10-16)

All this Yeshua said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:34-35)

Wow.  Even during the time that the Messiah walked on earth in person, He still insisted on hiding the truth from all, except for a select chosen few.  Sometimes when people came to the Messiah publicly declaring their desire to follow Him, He even turned them away! (Matt 19:22)  He wants us to dig for the truth…He always has.  Even after being saved, He still insists that we press into the Scriptures in order to continue to wash off the slime of darkness and walk in the brighter light…how is this done?

 “…For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues." (Acts 15:21). As suggested in the book of Acts, we are to study Moses (the Torah) in a methodical way (every Sabbath). That’s where the truth is…that is always where the light is.

Throughout history, The Father has allowed Constantine and his various councils to criminalize Torah observance in order to preserve what Yeshua called the “secrets of the Kingdom.”  He has allowed Marcion, a since discredited “early church father”, to invent and popularize the inaccurate terms ‘OLD’ and ‘NEW’ Testaments.  He has allowed Charles Darwin’s flawed theory to take root around the world, thus schools teach than mankind’s origin was just random chance, and that our true father’s were monkeys, our grandfathers were fish, and our great-grandfathers were ooze.  He has allowed the pagan celebration of Mithra’s Birthday (Christmas) and the pagan fertility festival (Easter) to almost completely overshadow the True celebrations of The Messiah.  Why did YHVH allow this?…to preserve the “secrets of the Kingdom”.  Great lengths have been taken to secure the Truths of the Torah, so rather than hate the ones who were simply part of the disguise, we need to understand that these lost and hardhearted souls, just may be part of His wonderful design.

Rejoice!  Throughout history, it has been a rare human being that has been invited to understand the secrets of BOTH the Torah and The Messiah (and therefore the secret that The Messiah IS the Torah). He calls us His ‘special treasure’ (Exo 19:5) for a reason. He calls us His ‘peculiar people’ (1 Pet 2:9), for a reason.  He calls us His ‘Kingdom of Priests’ (Ex 19:6), because He has revealed His Holy secrets to us and we have chosen to allow them to transform our lives.  We are “not of this world” (Romans 12:2) because we have been chosen for a time such as this, and He has revealed to us what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.

Ben

Preaching to the Choir

Last Sunday I was invited to teach a small sunday school class at a local baptist church.   My doctor is a deacon there, and although I'm sure we don't see eye-to-eye on all aspects of our understanding of scripture, he does understand that the roots of our faith are Hebraic.  From time to time he allows me to teach his youth group pretty much whatever I feel led to discuss.  This week, the Father showed me a new approach to discussing the true Sabbath, so I prayed and studied and prepared, only to arrive on Sunday morning to a complete NO SHOW from the youth under his authority.  They didn't know I was coming, so I didn't take it personally, but it was ironic to have most of his 18-24 year old's WORKING on sunday morning instead of going to church.

Well, instead of going home loaded for bear and not firing a shot, he rounded up another group and invited me in to talk to them instead.   I walked in to a full room of ladies, elder's wives I suspect, ranging from 40 to 70 years old.   Nice.   Would I have the courage to share the same lesson with these mature christian women, that I had prepared for the young men?   Turns out I did.

The way I think about the abuse of Sabbath and the Torah in general goes back to a very important verse in 1 Kings.   If you didn't know (THANK YOU www.TorahClass.com !!!!) the books of 1 and 2 Kings originally were one scroll, preceded with 1 and 2 Samuel.  That's a combined 102 "chapters" of one huge scroll called the Scroll of the Kingdoms.   Due to it's size, it was broken into the 4 sections we now have in our Bibles.  If it were left in it's original form it would be the largest book in the entire Bible, and draw much more attention.   At the beginning of the Scroll, Israel would be 12 distinct tribes with no earthly king.   By mid-scroll, we'd see King David ruling over 12 tribes united.   Shortly afterward, we'd read about Israel and Judah becoming separate Kingdoms (hence the name of the scroll) and by the end of the Scroll, both Kingdoms are banished from the Holy Land as punishment for ignoring the instructions in the Torah, especially His instructions regarding worship.  Very powerful.   I admit that in my former, far more boring, life as a mainstream Christian, I would be hard-pressed to give you even the gist of one of the four books, let alone see how they connect as a complete work.

That said, the verse that hits home for me is in 1 Kings Chapter 12.   The context is that Solomon's 700 wives had led him from YHVH, and as punishment the united Kingdom is torn from his hands.   His son, Rehoboam, is allowed to remain as King of Judah (to satisfy YHVH's promise to David's descendants and the House of Judah), while a new Ephraimite King, Jeroboam, is given control over the rest of Israel.  The first thing that Jeroboam does as King is detailed in 1 Kings 12:26-33.  

"And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."  So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold.  And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough.  Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."  And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.  Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.  He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.  And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.  He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings."

To paraphrase, Jeroboam took council because he was afraid of losing his power and his people to Judah.   Judah had Jerusalem, the Temple, and a functioning Levitical priesthood.  The Torah commanded at least three trips to Jerusalem annually, plus all the tithes that were due to the priests.    Jeroboam's remedy was to create his own holy cities, his own feast day (like Sukkot, but 30 days later, closer to modern-day Halloween), and his own non-levitical priesthood.   And following in the pattern of the "golden calf incident" of Exodus 32, he kept the Name of YHVH connected to this unauthorized and unholy religion.   This was not the same as converting to Baal worship, for example.  This was leading his people, 10 tribes of Israelites, into a deadly mixture of man-made religion and true worship.   They were led to believe, being mostly uninformed of Torah Law, that YHVH fully endorsed these improvements to the House of Israel.

At this point, it seemed like I had the attention of my sunday school class.   Nobody seemed to think that  Jeroboam's idea was a very good one.   To underscore how YHVH reacted to this sin, nearly 20 times throughout the rest of the House of Israel's brief history as detailed in 1 and 2 Kings, this "Sin of Jeroboam" is specifically detailed as the reason for Judgement on Israel.   To drive the point home, I reference the story of Jehu, the warrior called by Elisha to "clean house" in Israel (2 Kings 9 and 10).   On a divine mission from YHVH, he kills the King of Israel and the King of Judah (who were related by marriage to Jezebel and her wicked daughter).   He then kills Jezebel herself (she was the daughter of the high priest of Baal in neighboring Sidon).   So far so good.   Then he tricks every single Baal worshiper in Israel to come to a huge Baal party, and kills every single one of them.   Baal worship is now NON-EXISTANT in Israel.   How cool is that?   

Here is how the history of Jehu is wrapped up in 2 Kings 10-29-31:

"But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin--that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan.  And the LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart,your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."  But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin.  In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel.  Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel."

Even though Jehu was faithful in wiping out the glaring and obvious evil in Israel, he was still misled by Jeroboam's false religious idea's and therefore he and the entire nation were still facing judgement.   This again underscores the danger of forsaking the law of YHVH, especially by changing his Holy Days and methods of worship.   It also should give pause to those of us simply blindly following our religious leaders without reading the instructions for ourselves.

To wrap up my history lesson, I read 2 Kings 17:6-18:

"In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.  And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.  And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.  They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, "You shall not do this."  Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."  But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them.  And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.  And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.  Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only."

My sunday school class was still with me here, with the exception of one lady who had mostly dozed off. Been there.   Sunday mornings used to be rough.

"So, what does this have to do with us today?", I asked.   I told them that despite the fact that Jesus (yes, I used "Jesus") kept and honored the biblical Sabbath, despite the fact that he specifically taught that nothing would ever change in YHVH's simple instructions (Matt 5:17), despite the fact that Paul says multiple times that he never once taught contrary to the Law of Moses (Acts 25:8), somebody somewhere tricked us into thinking that the 1st day of the week was a "new" holy day for Christians.   Turns out that it's not a mystery, I told them.   I pulled out several quotes from the always sickening but still very obscure Council of Nicea in 32 1 AD, including:

"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on the Sabbath, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's Day (Sunday) they shall especially honor, and as being Christian, shall, if possible, do no work that day.   If however they are found Judaizing they shall be excommunicated."

and

"On the Venerable Day of the Sun (the sacred day of the Sun-god, Sunday) let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all the workshops be closed.   In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue in their pursuits' because it always happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost..."

then I quoted from a 100 year old letter from the Catholic Press:

"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles...from beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week (Saturday) to the first "Sunday".

At this point, I literally heard the worship music starting right outside the door (the worship pastor is Jewish by the way), and most of these ladies had been patiently sitting through my diatribe when they were supposed to have been up on stage with the worship team.   I begged them for one last quote before we ended:

Cut and pasted from the Southern Baptist Convention's 8th statement of faith:

"The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ."  

Furthermore, they list Exodus 20:8-11 as their source for this doctrine.   They had been tricked by a sun-worshiping Pope of Rome, into exchanging YHVH's holy day for a false one.  "The Southern Baptists, your very denomination", I said, "has been sinning the same sin as Jeroboam.  The very same sin that caused your ancestors to be banished from the promised land, and removed from the sight of YHVH."

I guess I should have been less surprised at the speed at which they left the room.   The leader of the group, my Doctor's mother, stayed behind to clarify a few points.   She asked me if I thought that worshiping on Sunday was a sin.   I told her that it was the breaking of the true Sabbath that was the sin.   She asked me if breaking that sin fell into the category of Paul's "if you break one you've broken them all" statement.   I told her if you were trying to earn your way to heaven, then yes it would.   In this case, I borrowed a quote from 119 ministries.   "Faith is the root, obedience is the fruit".   She asked how we could expect a man who has to work to pay for food and shelter for his family to take off Saturdays--isn't not providing for his family a sin as well.   I asked her if she would give that same excuse to someone who said they couldn't afford to tithe.   Doesn't holding back that act of obedience actual cause the person to suffer?   Who is this poor guy worshiping and putting his trust in, his employer or YHVH?   Aren't there endless promises of blessing for those who obey?   No wonder he's broke and in this position!

In the end it was hard to tell what sunk in, what was deemed too offensive to hear, and what if any  conversations this encounter may have spawned since then.   I was invited back, and I certain will take them up on their offer.   I thought of two more points that may have shocked them into deeper prayer.

This one at first seems like a non sequitur:  The word for "rainbow" does not exist in the Hebrew language.   The word is simply the same word for BOW, the weapon.   In Genesis, YHVH says he will set his bow down in the clouds as a reminder that he will not destroy man again in a flood.   The "rainbow" then, is YHVH's weapon (imagine rain-drops as arrows), that he will no longer use against us due to our sin.   Hopefully you'll get that vision of a giant bow next time it rains.   It's suddenly much more humbling than it is pretty.   Doesn't that make the international gay rights symbol of a "rainbow flag" especially dangerous and offensive?   Isn't that like pridefully waiving a banner in YHVH's face, using His own symbol of His graceful covenant, and daring him to break his promise to not destroy mankind due to our sinfulness?   Isn't that like trying to poke him in the eye with the flagpole to see how angry you can make him?

Why is that any different than using naming the false Sabbath "The LORD's Day".   Look at the verses that talk about a day already named "The Day of the Lord":

• Joel 1:15 "Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes."
• Joel 2:1  "Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,"
• Joel 2:11 "The LORD utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?"
• Joel 3:14 "Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision."

How is using His existing ancient title for His day of Judgement as a name for a catholic false Sabbath, a man-made replacement for a Holy sign of His Covenant, any different than the gay rights folks using the rainbow as for their symbol?

Is that any way to show the fear of YHVH?

I'll keep you posted.   I pray we'll get some of these folks to visit us during Sukkot this year.   Baby steps.

Ben