By Deacon John Dupus

 Shalom to the fellow believers in Mashiach Yahshua: This letter is being sent to address the topic of Yom Kippur, the Day of Covering/Atonement. What I would like to discuss is the need for not only personal repentance but a collective or corporate repentance as a clan, tribe, people and or nation.

(All scriptures are quoted from 'The Scriptures' published by the Institute for Scripture Research [www.messianic.co.za/isr] unless stated otherwise. I have retained the English spelling of the books for the sake of those who may get confused if I were to put them into their original usage.)

            Let us address:

1)      Who we are.

2)      Why we are where we are.

3)      How to repent as a people.

4)      What are some examples of our forefathers or others doing this?

1)      Who are we? By addressing this first we can come into better light as to how Yahweh expects us to act.

Some say we are Yisra'el by birth, others say we are Yisra'el only spiritually and are not culpable to the commands and covenants of the physical house. Some say that we are gentiles and that we only have to follow a vague outline of the commands that we have no set standard of what is absolute for us to observe. Others add to this the idea that the "church" and or "assembly" has somehow replaced Yisra'el or is the new Yisra'el. This is also known as replacement theology.

Some propose we are the house of Yisra'el made up of those who have come out of all backgrounds, these being both physical Yisra'el and gentile lineages of the flesh to become the house of Yisra'el by the blood of Yahshua HaMashiach and have been brought back to the covenants and commands. This is the line of reasoning I will promote here.

As for the skeptic that does not think he is Yisra'el because of his unsure-ness of lineage, remember who it was that was brought out of Mitsrayim, Exodus 12:38 "And a mixed multitude went up with them too, also flocks and herds, very much livestock." And verse 49 through 51 "There is one Torah for the native-born and for the stranger who sojourns among you. And all the children of Yisra'el did as Yahweh commanded Mosheh and Aharon, so they did. And it came to be that on that same day that Yahweh brought the children of Yisra'el out of the land of Mitsrayim according to their divisions." Those who came out with Yisra'el were absorbed into Yisra'el just as Yahweh tells them to be in Ezekiel 47:21-23 Also just as Ruth, Asenath-wife of Yoseph, Tsipporah wife of Mosheh and those who turned to the Elohim of the Yahudim in Esther 8:17 as did others when they turned away from their pagan elohim and accepted Yahweh and His Torah and lived as one with Yisra'el and no longer lived as they did in the land of their nativity.

There is no record of the mixed multitude receiving any inheritance in the land at the end of the Exodus. It would appear they were assimilated into Yisra'el just as they will be in the second Exodus. See Ezekiel 47:21-23 "And you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Yisra'el. And it shall be that you divide it by lot as an inheritance for yourselves, and for the strangers who sojourn in your midst and who bear children among you. And they shall be to you as native-born among the children of Yisra'el - with you they have an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Yisra'el. And it shall be that in whatever tribe the stranger sojourns, there you give him his inheritance," declares the Master Yahweh."

Unlike the native born, the "stranger" gets to choose which tribal banner he gathers to. 

If that doesn't have you convinced then proceed to Ephesians 2. Please read the whole chapter, we will focus on several key points. Notice the past tense is used when speaking of us "being dead in sin, once walked according to the course of this world, we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, and were by nature children of wrath. 4) But Elohim, who is rich in compassion even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah- by favor(grace) you have been saved." Now skip to verse 11 " Therefore remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh, who are called 'the uncircumcision' by what is called 'the circumcision' made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Messiah, excluded from citizenship of Yisra'el and strangers from the covenants of promise, having  no expectation and without Elohim in the world. BUT now in Messiah Yahshua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah."  "For He is our peace, who has made both one, and having broken down the partition of the barrier, having abolished in His flesh the enmity - the Torah of the commands in dogma - so as to create in Himself one renewed man from the two, thus making peace, and to completely restore to favour(grace) both of them unto Elohim in one body through the stake, having destroyed the enmity by it. And having come, He brought as Good News peace to you who were far off, and peace to those near."

 Before we continue, let us confirm what is being said here. In our sinful, unrepentant state we are dead gentiles by flesh and nature, upon repentance and accepting the blood of Yahshua, we no longer are dead nor are we gentile. The partition that was broken down is the unlawful barrier that was put up in the courts of the temple to keep the converts from the gentiles separated from the rest of Yisra'el. Nowhere in all of the Torah or even in Ezekiel's temple vision is there instruction to build a partition for the gentiles.

 They (the ruling elite), in their dogma - man made doctrine- espoused that the converts were not 100% Yisra'el and that they could worship from afar but don't get too close. Remember, Shaul got onto Kepha for this in Galatians2:11-14. We still have this enmity going on today. The Yahudim think the Torah is just for them and the gentiles agree because they see it as a burden to be set free from their sins by obedience.

 Faith without obedience is dead according to James 2:26. Yahweh never intended for us to look at Torah as "LAW," an overbearing burden waiting to consume someone when they stepped the least bit out of bounds, man did that. Yahweh gave us Torah, literally, Instruction, to live by. Also we are called unto good works according to Eph 2:10 but it isn't by any works that we are saved, salvation is truly a gift that cannot be earned. We obey out of love and not because we are compelled to or for an ulterior motive.

 Back to Ephesians 2:18 Because through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the set-apart ones and members of the household of Elohim."

 We should not consider ourselves any longer as "gentiles." The blood of the Lamb has made us into citizens of Yisra'el. Is not the power of His blood awesome? With it, the Spirit can take the flesh and circumcise it into obedience and make it into a "new man," one that is now heir to the promises and covenants that only belong to children of those men from Genesis, namely Abraham, Yitshaq, and Ya'aqob. (Please compare the parallels of Ezekiel 37 and Ephesians 2.The two made into one stick in the hand of Yahweh compares with the execution stake of Yahshua, " BUT now in Messiah Yahshua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah."  "For He is our peace, who has made both one," Please study all of both chapters because the parallels run through out.)

My cousins just adopted a newborn child of Asian heritage. Is this child any less theirs because he was adopted? No! Is he not their son? He is their son! They have the covenant and documents that say he is their son.  By the way, he won't be known by any other name but the one he has received from his dad, the one that adopted him. If the power of a man made covenant is binding should we not think that the one made in heaven isn't that strong, or stronger?

 What my cousin does and has done will be upon this son of his for the boy's life and the lives of the children which he will have. This is an example of why we need to go before Yahweh and confess our sins and the sins of our fathers. Even if we are not Yisra'elites by birth we inherit the good with the bad when we are adopted in.

 Shaul spoke of those who were traditionally thought of as being outside as being brought near and changed into Yisra'el in Romans11:25,26 "For I do not wish you to be ignorant of this secret, brothers, lest you should be wise in your own estimation, that the hardening in part has come over Yisra'el, until the completeness of the gentiles has come in.(see Gen 48:19) And so all Yisra'el shall be saved, as it has been written, "The Deliverer shall come out of Tsiyon, and He shall turn away wickedness from Ya'aqob." What is Shaul saying? It appears that he is saying that Yisrael is incomplete until these people join or rejoin their ranks. He doesn't say "And all Yisra'el and the gentiles shall be saved." They are included with Yisra'el. Not only as a spiritual people as some would propose but just as physical as those labeled as the mixed multitude who came up from Mitsrayim.

Too often we want to cherry pick who we are and what we do, leaving all the stuff we don't like or want to the "physical house." Was the mixed multitude exempt from the covenants and commands? No. Their bodies were left in the wilderness for disobedience too. Just like Shabbat is a physical cessation of work and it teaches us a spiritual lesson. So does the physical obedience to Torah teach a spiritual lesson.

Are we not told that the Torah was put in place to lead us to Mashiach? Shaul says that the Torah is spiritual in Romans 7:14 and this goes hand in hand with John 4:23-24 "Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him need to worship Him in spirit and truth." We get spiritual understanding from physical acts. Or at least we should, that was Yahweh's intention.

Further more, who is the New or Renewed Covenant for? Hebrews 8:8 for finding fault with them, He says, "See, the days are coming," says Yahweh, "when I shall conclude with the house of Yisra'el and with the house of Yahudah a renewed covenant." This covenant that we all believe in is for the houses of Yisra'el and Yahudah.

If anyone else wants it they must submit and come into this family of people through Yahshua's blood. We cannot go over the wall, under the wall or any other way but through the Door. At the end of the age the gentiles who come to Yerushalyim will have to enter through one of the gates of the tribes. Rev21:10-27.   Ezekiel 44:All, but in particular verse 9) Thus said Master Yahweh, "No son of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, comes into My set-apart place, even any son of a foreigner who is among the children of Yisra'el"

This is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. Is it not for the end of the age when the book of Revelation is speaking of in chapter 21? Sounds like those "gentile believers" will have to obey spiritually and physically. Let us not be as Esau and deny our birthright. When we go from mortal to immortality we will be able to obey completely all the things we have stumbled at since our birth.

 Our being flawed by sin does not negate the need to be obedient as much as we can. It has been Satan that has been whispering in our ears through the ages that the Torah of Yahweh or as some would like to say "the law of Moses," as if they are different somehow, is something we cannot comply with. Yahweh says we can. I think I will believe the Creator and Sustainer of all things instead of the one who is a murderer of the children of Elohim.  If one thinks Yahweh's Word is too hard then one needs to read His Word in Deuteronomy 30:11-20 and examine oneself to see where they are being mislead. "For this command which I am commanding you today, it is not too hard for you, nor is it far off."

 Do not allow the argument in Acts 15 to be confused with this verse. The argument in Acts 15 is whether or not we should base our salvation on our works, i.e. putting our faith in being circumcised. The argument is not against our faith in and obedience to the word of Yahweh. The Adversary has done great damage to us by getting us to think that obedience to Yahweh's Torah is impossible and a sin if we try. Satan is the one that has man read Yahshua's own words in Matt 5:17-20 about the Torah not being done away with and immediately the reader says "the Torah is done away with."   

2) Why we are where we are.

  Leviticus 26:38-46 "And you shall perish among the gentiles, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up, and those of you who are left rot away in their crookedness in your enemies lands, and also in their father's crookednesses rot away with them."

 Yahweh tried hard and very patiently to turn the hearts of the people in the previous verses. He is long suffering but He does have an absolute line that we cannot cross.

1 Kings 8:40-53  46) "When they sin against You, and You become enraged with them and give them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near;"

 Sin has separated us from the covenants and from Yahweh. By examining Torah we find ourselves lacking and in need of a cleansing. We find that we need Yahshua's blood as described in Ephesians 2. If we truly believe Yahshua's own words in Matthew 5:17-20 then we will agree that NOTHING was or is done away with in the Torah. He is HaTorah, The Torah of Yahweh. He lived out the perfect example for us to follow according to 1 John 2:5-6.

3)      How to repent as a people.

 This is a tough one coming from a western mindset that has it's pride in independence. We like to act as individual islands but we are not. We are not our own head, that position is already filled by someone much greater than any of us. 1 Corinthians 11 says that Yahshua is the head of man. Chapter 12 speaks of the many parts of His body. Too often we tend to forget that we are not the only part or organ of this body. We wouldn't want Yahweh to receive a report card notice about us stating "Doesn't play well with others" would we? Again if we examine Yahweh's Instruction, or Torah, we will find how we must come together as a people and repent.

Leviticus 26:38-46 "But if they confess their crookedness and the crookedness of their fathers, with their trespass in which they trespassed against Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies - if their uncircumcised heart is then humbled, and they accept the punishment of their crookedness, then I shall remember My covenant with Ya'aqob, and also remember My covenant with Yitshaq, and also remember My covenant with Abraham, and remember the land.

  For the land was abandoned by them, and enjoying its Sabbaths while lying waste without them, and they were paying for their crookedness, because they rejected My right-rulings and because their being loathed My laws.

 And yet for all this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I shall not reject them, nor shall I loathe them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them. For I am Yahweh their Elohim.  Then I shall remember for their sake the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim before the eyes of the nations to be their Elohim. I am Yahweh. These are the laws and the right-rulings and the Torot (plural of Torah- teaching or instruction) which Yahweh made between Himself and the children of Yisra'el on Sinai by the hand of Mosheh."

   Let us compare this to what king Shelomoh prayed in 1 Kings 8:40-53  46) "When they sin against You, and You become enraged with them and give them to the enemy, and they take them captive to the land of the enemy, far or near; and they shall turn back unto their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and shall turn , and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, 'we have sinned and acted crookedly, we have committed wrong,' (notice that it is plural "we" and not singular "I") and they shall turn back to You with all their heart and with all their being in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and shall pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the House which I have built for Your Name, then shall You hear in the heavens your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You. And give them compassion before those who took them captive, and they shall have compassion on them. For they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out of Mitsrayim, out of the iron furnace. Let Your eyes be opened to the supplication of Your people Yisra'el, to listen to them whenever they call to You. For You have separated them unto Yourself for an inheritance, out of all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke by the hand of Mosheh, when You brought our fathers out of Mitsrayim, O Master Yahweh." 

   Several things we need to look at in these passages. We have been scattered to the four winds because of our sins against Yahweh. We abandoned the land. This was the result of our father's sins. Today the people of Yahudah only dwell in a small portion of the land promised to our forefathers Abraham, Yitshaq and Ya'aqob. They are not the totality of Yisra'el. Without the rest of the tribes they are only part of Yahudah with even smaller portions of Lewi and Benyamin in their midst. Just as the land of Yahudah was a waste before being taken from the heathen again and now it blooms in the midst of the desert.

The rest of the land of promise is still laid waste and is still a desert. It is waiting for the exiles to come home. How do we come to that point? It is made very clear in the passages above. We must confess both our sins and the sins of our fathers. We must acknowledge and accept the punishment that has been dealt us for this sin. We must petition Yahweh in regard to this. Is it that His Arm is too short or His memory? No, it is so that we, as the people of Yahweh, remember collectively who we are, what we are and what we have done and what has been done for us by Him for us to come back. 

Does Yahweh still require us to recognize Him as "Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of slavery?" As we read in Exodus 20:2 we have the beginning of the Ten Words or Commandments. Whoever these Ten Words are for, are to recognize Yahweh in this fashion until the re-gathering of all Yisra'el.  

Also look at Jer16:14-15 "Therefore see, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when it is no longer said, Yahweh lives who brought up the children of Yisra'el from the land of Mitsrayim, but, Yahweh lives who brought up the children of Yisra'el from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them. For I shall bring them back into their land I gave their fathers." This is something to still be fulfilled. Notice that until that time He is still referred to as Yahweh who led the children of Yisra'el up from Mitsrayim.

Today He still requires us to remember what He did so many years ago. Not so that He remembers but that we will. The point is that although Yahweh knows even our innermost beings, we must recognize and confess our sins so that we can truly become repentant. When was the last time any of us confessed the sins of our fathers? Some of us may. We must be about our Father's business and He says this is how we come back to Him. It is commanded to be done by each of us so that not only ourselves will be set free but the collective of Yisra'el too. Even more, we must acknowledge the punishment that has been given. Some may say that Yahweh is only dealing with individuals today and not the nation. Again by examining Ephesians we find that this is not the case. Yes, the individual must be reached but it doesn't end there.  

            4) What are some examples of our forefathers or others doing this?

   In the parable of the prodigal son it seems that in the larger view of this scripture we are seeing Ephraim and Yahudah. Ephraim is the prodigal son. Luke 15:11-32 A parallel to this is in Jer31:15-21 Is Ephrayim a  precious son to Me, a child of delights? For though I spoke against him, I still remembered him. That is why My affections were deeply moved for him. I have great compassion for him," declares Yahweh. "Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O maiden of Yisra'el, turn back to these cities of yours!" This is none other than the prodigal son coming home. In Genesis, Ya'aqob went to Yoseph, in the end of the age Yoseph comes back to Ya'aqob. 

Yahudah is not pleased with his return. Yahudah has put in place teachings of how "righteous gentiles" should live, they call them the Noahide laws. Which in their basic form are good but it is a lie to say that they are the commands for the gentiles by Yahweh. Yahweh reiterates throughout the Torah that there is one Torah for the native born and for the alien. Exodus12:49, Leviticus24:22. Let us look back at the parable and how the prodigal son comes to his father. He says, "Father I have sinned against the heaven, and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son." This is how we should be before Yahweh. This is a paraphrase of Lev 26:40. 

Historically, Yahudah thought the followers of the Way/Nazarenes/Assemblies to be deserters for not standing up with them in Bar Kochba's rebellion after they declared another messiah other than Yahshua. This is when the early believers were being stopped from coming into the synagogues by the curse of the minim that they would be forced to say before they could worship. With the twisting of the truth by "the church" and the removal of the Torah from the lives of their followers and the subsequent annihilation of the followers of the Way for the most part, for the last 1800 years or so Yahudah has only heard an apostate version of Who Yahshua is and what His work was here on earth.

Likewise we haven't heard Who He truly was either. He was removed from Torah and the Torah removed from Him by the apostates. If we, like the prodigal son repent, Abba Yahweh will restore us. Now we know, that according to the above scriptures, we are Yisra'el one way or the other. And since we are Yisra'el the following verse in Nehemiah applies to us.

Nehemiah 1:3-11 5) and I said, "I pray, Yahweh Elohim of the heavens, O great and awesome El, guarding the covenant and kindness with those who love You, and with those guarding Your commands, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, for the children of Yisra'el Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Yisra'el which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not guarded the commands, nor the laws, nor the right-rulings which You commanded your servant Mosheh. Please remember the word that You commanded Your servant Mosheh, saying, 'If you trespass, I shall scatter you among the peoples, but if you turn back to Me, and guard My commands and do them, though you were cast out to the ends of the heavens, I shall gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen, to make My Name dwell there. And they are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand."

We cannot deny that Yahshua is Yahweh's strong hand and His great power. Nor can we legitimately deny that this verse is speaking of us. Yahweh has made arrangements for us to come before him in this said manner. I want to remind us that we are all of one body under Yahshua's headship. We are supposed to be in unity and we are supposed to be known as His talmidim or disciples by our love. 

1Corinthians 10:9,10 "neither let us try Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were destroyed by serpents, neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer."  Mosheh knew Yahshua according to Hebrews 11:26, the people leaving Mitsrayim were lead by Him through the wilderness. They were part of His body too if they were obedient.

We, as the people of Yahweh who are Yisra'el through the blood of Yahshua, have been devouring one another because we have too little unity within the body. Whose body do we belong to? Do we belong to only our local congregation? Do we only belong to those who hold ideologies in common with our selves? Think about that one long and hard. Do two people in the same congregation believe everything exactly the same? NO! I say not. We do not belong to ourselves, we belong to Yahshua's body. In it are many parts just as the scripture says. We are cutting toes off of our feet so fast that we cannot stand. We are acting like the gentiles (note, once we have taken the blood of Yahshua, we are no longer to consider ourselves gentiles thus denying the power of the blood. Ephesians 2.)

Is Yahweh the author of confusion? Then why do we profess that He is by our actions? There must come a time when we stop back biting one another. We too often are overly eager to work Satan's evil work because we are all too eager to run with a lie, half truth or malicious talk about our brothers who have taken the blood of Yahshua upon themselves, yet may do something somewhat different than our dogma, or in plain English, our own doctrine. Man made commands.

Or there are those that bash those who obey the Torah more than themselves or less than. Lashon Harah/ the evil tongue, routinely called gossip, is more than just making someone know the juicy morsels on another, it can be the truth stated in a way to destroy, demean or mislead. Yahshua has called us to edify not tear down. Yahweh's people are too valuable to be thrown away for petty differences. May I remind us all that in 1Cor. 11:16 it states that, "If however, anyone seems to be contentious, we do not have such a habit, nor do the Assemblies of Elohim." Some may think I took this out of context, but in the deepest understanding of it all, we are not to be contentious. If we are contentious I would re-evaluate then if we belong to the Assemblies of Elohim. Snarling and growling should not be tolerated by the lay people or the leaders. When Yisra'el grumbled in the wilderness they died! Again 1Cor. 10:9-10.

 Satan is routing the sheep and singling out the weak for destruction while too often the shepherds sleep or sick the wolves on the sheep. A warning comes to us in Ezekiel 9 about the elders in Yahweh's house who do not uphold His purpose. They are marked for death! It is time for revival in the house of Yahweh. We must come before Yahshua's feet and seek direction as His talmidim or disciples just as our predecessors did for 3 ½ years.

This year we are in even more disunity due to the way we believe the word of Yahweh and His calendar. Instead of each of us using Lashon Hara (the evil tongue) against our brother because he or she does not agree with our DOGMA, let us in humility call a fast. Yahweh has ordained a fast that we all will be obeying, some in the heathen calendar's reckoning of September and some in the heathen's reckoning of October. The seventh month of Yahweh's calendar as we each see it. I call us to each fast on both of the days that the brethren reckon to be Yom Kippur, more plainly said, when those of us are fasting and observing the seventh month in September the others should humble themselves and fast as we all are confessing as Leviticus 26:40 says and then when those of us that are fasting and observing the seventh month in October the others should humble themselves and fast as we all are confessing Leviticus 26:40.  We must all come before Yahweh prostrated and recognizing our sin individually and the sins of our fathers and the sins of Yisra'el corporately wherever we are and however we got to be in Yisra'el, either born into it or washed and adopted.

Yahweh will be obedient to His own word! When we obey and do the prescribed things in the Word, He will do as He has promised! Do we believe Him? Let's come together for this and show our faith by our deeds. If we can do this one thing I am sure He will take us farther than our own minds can imagine in getting Yisra'el to act more like we should towards one another and those out side looking for salvation.

And if we can live more at one should we not pursue the gifts as described in 1 Corinthians 12? The body needs these gifts and we don't see them manifested as they should or could be today because, how I see it, we do not have the unity and faith in the body of Yahshua as we are supposed to. Would it be too much to ask for us to give up a day's worth of nourishment for our brothers and sisters in Yahshua? Would it be too much to ask for us to be obedient to Yahweh's Torah and admit our collective sins as well as our individual ones? I propose that we declare this fast, and that we prostrate ourselves literally and declare Yahweh as He has commanded us to. I also propose that we act like our brethren who will come forth out of the tribulation wearing garments of white and don white garments signifying Yahshua's cleansing power of His blood on us. To make us remember that this day is not about our wants or pleasures but to remember that we are cleansed and maybe even more importantly, so are our brothers.  

As to wearing white garments, in Rev 7:9-14 we find that the people who come out of the tribulation are going to be clothed in white garments washed in the blood of the Lamb.  What would it hurt for us to don white garments to symbolize being cleansed on the day of Covering? One could wear a white shirt, pants, tallit, tallit katan, or a kittel. While we may not be commanded to wear it now it will be "in style" at the end of the age.

  We will be ostracized for being committed to repentance to the point that we put off our discomforts, namely by choosing to become more obedient and humbling ourselves. Some will invariably say we are trying to be "more holy" or "better than others." I am not trying to be more holy or better than anyone but my current self. You or the next person is not my measuring stick Yahshua is and I lack just as everyone else does. Let us remember, we are called to be set apart as Yahweh is set apart. He made the mark that we all need to live up to.

Romans 2:13-16 "For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous in the sight of Elohim, but the doers of the law shall be declared right."

Consider Mosheh as he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter in Hebrews 11:26 "Deeming the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures in Mitsrayim, for he was looking to the reward."

When we do not die unto ourselves, we are serving the idol of our flesh. When we get concerned how others may perceive us when we step out in faith and do something new or different that has legitimate biblical backing we are in danger of serving the idol. Let us remember what Shaul wrote in 2Corintians 6:16-7:1 " And what union has the Dwelling Place of Elohim with idols? For you are a Dwelling Place of the living Elohim, as Elohim has said, "I shall dwell in them and walk among them, and I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be my people."  Therefore, "Come out from among them and be separate, says Yahweh, and do not touch what is unclean, and I shall receive you. And I shall be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says Yahweh the Almighty. Having, then, these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting set-apartness in the fear of Elohim."

 Let us keep the Day of Covering this year in unity and contemplate Isaiah 58:11and 12 "Then Yahweh would guide you continually, and satisfy your being in drought, and strengthen your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you would be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In." ~jd~