Strong Drink

Strong drinks lead to drunkeness:

“And he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast covered with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns

And the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup filled with abominations and the filthiness of her whoring, and upon her forehead a name written, a secret: BAḆEL THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE WHORES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the set-apart ones, and with the blood of the witnesses of יהושע. And having seen her, I marveled – greatly marveled!

And the messenger said to me, “Why did you marvel? Let me explain to you the secret of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.” (Revelation 17:3-7, ISR).

The whore is drunk with the blood of the saints, and later we find that the saints have been going into her and drinking her intoxicating beverage. If you’ve never been drunk before, you’ve probably at least been around someone who has drunk too much and is stumbling into things. Many times, the drunk person laughs and is high on life at that moment. They also forget at times that they have a wife or a husband and become led to bed with strangers. Sometimes they throw all their money on a crap die roll until they don’t have the rent money. They fall into gutters and are left to sleep off their drunken state. Sadly, the “Church” has been drinking from this cup for a long spell—pun intended. They have been deceived by their Shepherds/leaders and intoxicated by their potions. Sadly, it’s not just the Catholics or the protestants, but many of those falling under the Hebrew Roots umbrellas as well. Think we have escaped power and control and brainwashing? Think again.

This ancient book we read called the Bible was written long ago in a land most of us are not familiar with. We open the Bible and read a passage, and we forget what year it was written in and what year it is now. We forget who was in control of the government, the Sanhedrin, and the temple. We quote sound bites and make doctrines out of them. Here are a couple of trendy ones.

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. (What was lacking?)
“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests;
Because you have ignored the law/ Torah of your God” (Hosea 4:6 NASB).

Another popular one:

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB).

We read verse eleven, but what does verse ten say?

“For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have. . .” He was sending them to Babylon. They were being punished for not keeping His Sabbaths, but many say God changed that day, although Sunday is always called the 1st day of the week, and Sabbath is always called Sabbath–even until the end of the book.

There is unquestionably a different Jesus (Yeshua) being taught today, and Paul writes about this with tears. By the time we get to Revelations, John sees a picture of a harlot riding a beast and drunk and intoxicated by its false wonder. He is shocked.

This harlot system has its headship, rules, food, entertainment, months, days, clothing, and medicine. It has Greek schools of learning, Greek gymnasiums, lust, and ease. The people lay on ivory couches and gorge themselves on food and wine. They are full, drowsy, and intoxicated, not by literal wine but by this harlot’s spirit. Not by literal food, although many are obese, I’m talking about itching ear words and sweet treats of prosperity or burdens that are too heavy for anyone to keep–man-made doctrines. The harlot promises signs and wonders and miracles and a Holy Ghost that’s loud and vulgar instead of the Ruach Breath of the Holy One.  The harlot lulls us to sleep with entertainment, pride, and fatty foods while causing us to slave away working for the harlot system–storing up wealth, electing the best politicians to save us, the best ministers, the best physicians and so on.

Straight is the gate -and narrow is the way, and The Messiah said few find it. How are we in tune with this ancient book and His Seasons? His people became intoxicated with this harlot, and he reproved them in Jeremiah.

“Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of the LORD” (Jeremiah 8:7 KJV).

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wrote Israel a certificate of divorce and sent her away, but Yeshua/ Jesus was coming for those lost sheep of the house of Israel.

“But Jesus answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24).

I started this blog with a verse about knowledge. How can we get this knowledge? What is it? What does it look like? The book of Proverbs describes the Harlot and the Bride and goes into great detail. While reading these passages, many have only seen them as a description for sleeping around with women who are not modest and drinking too much wine. They read about drunkards and forget that the harlot church system had made the saints drunk. The book of Hosea also discusses this.

“Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the LORD” (Hosea 5:4).

Let’s get back to Revelations and the shock on John’s face when he sees this whore and cries for God’s people to come out of her. How could they be so blind and drunk, not even to be aware they were a part of Babylon?

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” Revelations 18:1-5 NASB.

Jeremiah Chapter 51 talks about this. “Come forth from her midst, My people, And each of you save yourselves From the fierce anger of the LORD.”

By the time we get to Proverbs Chapter two, we see this harlot, and she is described as someone who threw away the Torah/ the covenant she made in her youth–The commandments. This covenant is the very one Yeshua said he did not come to do away with (Matthew 5:17). He said the Feasts Days were rehearsals—shadows of things to come. A shadow comes around a corner before the person is seen.
In Proverbs 2:11, the bride has discretion and understanding:

“To deliver you from the strange woman,
From the adulteress who flatters with her words;
That leaves the companion of her youth
And forgets the covenant of her God;
For her house sinks down to death
And her tracks lead to the dead;
None who go to her return again,
Nor do they reach the paths of life.
So you will walk in the way of good men
And keep to the paths of the righteous.” Proverbs 2:16-20 NASB.

The harlot leads to death, but the wise woman (Bride), she leads to life and the tree of life.

“My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you” (3:1-3).

“Long life is in her right hand;
In her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways
And all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who hold her fast” (Proverbs 3:16-18).

By the time you get to Proverbs 4, it’s very apparent that this harlot is alive and well today, and so is the Bride who has made herself ready by keeping His Feasts and being set apart from the world.

“Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father,
And give attention that you may gain understanding,
For I give you sound teaching;
Do not abandon my instruction” (4:1-2).
“Do not forsake her, and she will guard you;
Love her, and she will watch over you.
“The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
And with all your acquiring, get understanding.
“Prize her, and she will exalt you;
She will honor you if you embrace her.
“She will place on your head a garland of grace;
She will present you with a crown of beauty” (Proverbs 4:6-9).

As we continue in Proverbs, we learn that not only is the Word of Yah sharper than a two-edged sword, but the Harlot’s word is too.

“For the lips of an adulteress drip honey
And smoother than oil is her speech;
But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword” (Proverbs 5:3-4 NASB).

We think we could never be deceived. We have the truth. We have fought and read and studied until our eyes turned blue. It’s the others who don’t know the truth and it’s our job to show them the truth. But what if even in all our seeing, we still lack humility and white garments?

The harlot system has grown into a multibillion-dollar business of men selling another Jesus. They build their own kingdoms. They sell snake oil. It looks shiny. It has the appeal of the tree Chavah/Eve ate from.

“And you say, “How I have hated instruction!
And my heart spurned reproof!
“I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors! (Proverbs 5:12-13).

The Bride has made herself ready. How? She is dressed and watching. She has oil in her lamp and extra. She knows His appointed days so that she is not unaware.

“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1st Thessalonians 5:4-5).

There is a Feast day that is referred to as “a thief in the night.” There is a Feast day that a shofar will sound on, and the dead in Messiah Yeshua will rise. Do you know about these days? Get wisdom. Get knowledge. Get understanding. Do not be led astray any longer by the harlot that comes to you as an angel of light. Come out of her, my people. Can you hear the Father’s voice crying out?