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Author Archives: YRM
What is the status of believers who have died not knowing our Father and Savior’s proper names? Are they not saved?
What is the status of believers who have died not knowing our Father and Savior’s proper names? Are they not saved?
Yahweh does not condemn those who are ignorant of His truth. This includes Yahweh and Yahshua’s name. There are two passages that verify this conclusion:
“Yahshua said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth,” John 9:41.
“And the times of this ignorance Elohim winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”
Yahshua in John 9:41 confirms that when we are blind to the truth, sin or perhaps more correctly, the condemnation of sin, does not exist. Yahweh does not condemn a person when they are blind or ignorant to His Word. However, as Acts 17:30 verifies, once we know the truth, we must repent.
For those who never had the opportunity to accept the names of Yahweh and Yahshua, assuming they lived a righteous life based on what they understood, they will be given an opportunity in the Second Resurrection, which will occur after the millennial Kingdom. At this time, all those, except for the elect who were resurrected to eternal life at Yahshua’s Second Coming, will be judged based on their works, Revelation 20:12. For those who never had the chance to hear the truth, but who lived a moral and pleasing life, they will be given a chance to accept and receive eternal life at at this time.
What does it mean to be called by the Name of Yahweh as seen in 2 Chronicles 7:14?
Kindly help me understand what it means to be called by the Name of Yahweh as seen in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that says “if my people who are called by my name…”
Yahweh is more than a name. In addition to identifying the name of the Creator, it also identifies His people. This is similar to other religions. If you hear a person call upon Allah, you know he or she is a Muslim. If you hear someone call upon Vishnu, you know they are Hindu. If you hear them call upon Yahweh, you know they are a believer in the Mighty One of the Bible. The obvious difference between these examples is that Yahweh identifies as the one true Elohim, while Allah, Vishnu, and all other gods are imaginary.
While some say this does not include the actual calling or using of Yahweh’s name, the Bible disagrees. Scripture contains many examples showing that we are to call on His name. We are told to bless His name (Ps. 145:21), to call on His name (Ps. 80:18), to confess His name (2Chron. 6:24-25), to declare His name (Exodus 9:16), to exalt His name (Ps. 34:3), to glorify His name (Ps. 86:9, 12), to honor His name (Ps. 66:2), to magnify His name (2Sam. 7:26), to remember His name (Ex. 3:15), to sing to His name (Ps. 68:4), and to trust in His name (Isa. 50:10). With so many references to His name, there should be no question as to its importance to proper worship and identification of His people.
For more info on Yahweh’s Name please check out our free booklet: Your Father’s Name
How do you use the barley and new moon to determine the biblical year?
How do you actually measure when the barley is starting to be ready signifying the beginning of the year? Do you need to harvest your own barley? Does this have to be done in Jerusalem? Also, I have been looking at the idea of full moon as ‘New Moon’ and not the first sliver as new moon. Someone who believes new moon means full moon, would point to the difficulty with sighting the first sliver. How do you deal with issues of not being able to see the very first sliver of a crescent? Also, what are your thoughts on the lunar calendar?
As a ministry we’ve been observing the biblical calendar for 19 years. Here is a concise explanation as to why we use the barley to begin the biblical year and new moon crescent to begin the month.
Evidence for the barley can be found in the meaning of the word Abib, the name of the first biblical month, and in biblical scholarship.
We find a reference to the first biblical month in Deuteronomy 16:1. It states, “Observe the month of Abib….” The word “Abib” literally refers to young ears of grain.
“…from an unused root (meaning to be tender); green, i.e. a young ear of grain; hence, the name of the month Abib or Nisan,” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.
“Month of ear-forming, of greening of crop, of growing green Abib, the month of the Exodus and the Passover (March or April),” Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon.
“…barley that is already ripe, but still soft, the grains of which are eaten either rubbed or roasted,” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.
“The name of the month, so called because corn [grain] was then forming in the ear, a few weeks before harvest; falling somewhere about March or April; afterwards called Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year,” Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies.
Since Abib refers to young grain, i.e., barley, this is what we use to mark the first biblical month. Strictly speaking, Abib describes the stage of barley that is within the dough stage or later. The minimum allowance for Abib was a sheaf used in bundling or about two dry quarts. Also, since the Bible confirms that the barley precedes the new moon crescent (Exodus 9:31 and 12:2), you must have barley that meets the minimum stage of Abib by the new moon crescent. We reject the idea of projecting the barley in anticipation of the wave sheaf offering.
Since Israel observed the barley from the Holy Land and there is a need for one unified year throughout the globe, we observe the barley from Israel. While we do not personally look for the barley, we rely on several independent witnesses who travel and document the barley from Israel.
Scholarship also confirms the use of barley to commence the first biblical month of the biblical year:
“…Abib is not properly a name of a month, but part of a descriptive phrase, ‘the month of young ears of grain.’ This may indicate the Israelitish way of determining the new year (Ex 12:2), the year beginning with the new moon nearest or next preceding this stage of the growth of the barley,” International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia
“The months began with the new moon, but the first month was fixed (after the Exodus and by the necessities of the Passover) by the ripening of the earliest grain, namely, barley,” New Unger’s Bible Dictionary.
Regarding the new moon crescent and full moon, we believe that Scripture and scholarship confirms the new moon.
The word month, as seen in Exodus 12:2 and Deuteronomy 16:1, comes from the Hebrew chodesh and is defined, “…from OT:2318; the new moon; by implication, a month: -month (-ly), new moon.” OT:2318, chadash, is “a primitive root; to be new; causatively, to rebuild.” Strong’s used for both definitions.
In addition to Scripture, evidence for the new moon crescent is also found in antiquity. Philo of Alexandria, c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, before and during the time of the Messiah, states, “…at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders,” The Works of Philo, p. 283.
Clearly, Philo is describing the first appearance of the new moon crescent and not the full moon.
Scholarship also confirms the new moon crescent:
“The Hebrew or Jewish calendar had three stages of development: the preexilic, or Biblical; the postexilic, or Talmudic; and the post-Talmudic. The first rested on observation merely, the second on observation coupled with calculation, and the third on calculation only. In the first period the priests determined the beginning of each month by the appearance of the new moon,” International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia.
“As the festivals, according to the Mosaic law, were always to be celebrated on the same day of the month, it was necessary to fix the commencement of the month. This was determined by the appearance of the new moon; for the new moon was reckoned not by astronomical calculation, but by actual personal observation. On the thirtieth day of the month watchmen were placed on commanding heights around Jerusalem to watch the sky. As soon as each of them detected the moon he hastened to a house in the city kept for this purpose and was there examined by the president of the Sanhedrin.
“When the evidence of the appearance was deemed satisfactory, the president stood up and formally announced it, uttering the words, ‘It is consecrated.’ The information was immediately sent throughout the land from the Mount of Olives by beacon fires on the tops of the hills. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time,” New Unger’s Bible Dictionary.
“Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical calculation, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance of the crescent of the moon… By the middle of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12, p. 1039.
Based on the meaning of the Hebrew chodesh, evidence from early antiquity, and the preponderance of proof from scholarship, Israel clearly used the new moon crescent and not the full moon. As a side note, this would also include the conjunction or dark moon, as this was adopted with Hillel’s changes to the Jewish calendar in the 4th century CE.
Regarding the issue of not seeing the crescent new moon, this has never been a problem for us in the United States. This is mainly due to the size of the nation and ample opportunity to see the crescent. However, if there was an issue, we would likely adopt the method used by the Jews during the time of Messiah. Since the lunar cycle is approximately 29.5 days, they would automatically mark the 30th day in the event that the new moon crescent was not seen by the 30th evening.
As for the lunar Sabbath, this is not scriptural and contradicts the Bible in several points. For instance, the moon was not in place until the fourth day. Also, how does this work with a lunar cycle with a duration of 29.5 days? Every month you have remaining days that you must either observe as additional Sabbaths or ignore. In either instance, how does this fit with the command of working six days and resting the seventh? Also, we’re told to count seven complete Sabbaths from the wavesheaf to Pentecost. This is impossible with the lunar Sabbath doctrine. For additional information, please see our booklet: The Lunar Sabbath Illusion.
For more info on the New Moon please check out our free booklet: What Is a Biblical New Moon
For more info on the Biblical Calendar please check out or free booklet: ABC’s of the Biblical Calendar
What does the Bible say about free will and predestination?
What does the Bible say about free will and predestination? Does it support one or the other?
We believe that the Bible confirms free will. Deuteronomy 30 makes this abundantly clear: “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love Yahweh thy Elohim, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and Yahweh thy Elohim shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other mighty ones, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live,” verses 15-18.
Therefore, we reject this notion of predestination. While the Bible seems to indicate that Yahweh may predestine or call certain people to the truth, our selection is based on what we do with that calling. We also tend to believe that Yahweh knows the beginning to the end. However, He will not act or change the course of our lives based on His foreknowledge of what will occur. This would invalidate free will.
Lesson 11 – The Bible’s Calendar
[wp_quiz id=”8959″]
Will there be people living after the Millennium and White Throne Judgment of Messiah?
Will there be common people (flesh and blood) living after the Millennium and White Throne Judgment of Messiah?
Based on the scriptural evidence, we believe that those found worthy of the second resurrection will likely be raised as flesh and blood beings. This is different from those in the first resurrection, who will receive heavenly bodies, 1Corinthians 15:42-49.
There are two passages that imply this conclusion. The first is Ezekiel 37, which describes a fleshly resurrection: “Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh. Thus saith my Sovereign Yahweh unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Yahweh,” verses 4-6.
In addition, Revelation 22:2 speaks about a tree that will be used for the healing of nations: “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
This passage describes the time after the second resurrection and during New Jerusalem. Knowing that angelic beings are not affected with human illnesses, the only reason for a tree for healing would be that flesh and blood beings remain. Since we know that this is not describing those from the first resurrection, it must be describing those from the second. It should be remembered that if not for Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit they would have lived forever as flesh and blood human beings.
For more Q&A’s please visit our main Q&A Page!
For more info on the Great White Throne Judgment and the 2nd resurrection please check out this Article!
Should I be observing pagan holidays with my family or friends?
Should I be observing pagan holidays with my family or friends? For example, is it okay to attend the family Christmas dinner if I am not participating in the actual holiday?
We discourage attending holiday events adopted from paganism with family or friends. Yahweh warns against observing such Pagan Holidays. Consider the following verses:
“After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances,” Leviticus 18:3.
“And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them,” Leviticus 20:23.
“Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their mighty ones, saying, How did these nations serve their mighty ones? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto Yahweh thy Elohim: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hateth, have they done unto their mighty ones; for even their sons and their daughters, they have burnt in the fire to their mighty ones,” Deuteronomy 12:30-31.
“Thus saith Yahweh, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good,” Jeremiah 10:2-5.
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Messiah with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of Elohim with idols? for ye are the temple of the living Elohim; as Elohim hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people,” 2Corinthians 6:14-16.
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” Revelation 18:4.
When we observe these pagan holidays with our families or friends, even something as harmless as a Christmas dinner, we are approving of the observance. As well, we are not making a separation. The Bible is very clear that Yahweh abhors pagan worship and as believers, we are not to participate in these days. While attending a Christmas dinner may not make you a pagan, it is acknowledging and approving of the pagan practice. Making a separation with family over pagan holidays is difficult, but is scripturally required.
Yahweh is not going to accept someone who both dapples in His truth and the traditions of man. We must choose which one we are going to follow. He told the Laodicean assembly to be either hot or cold, but not lukewarm. For those lukewarm, He stated that He would vomit them from His mouth, Revelation 3:15-16.
For more info on the origins of Christmas, Please check out our free booklet: December 25th Birthday of the Sun
Is there a difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
Is there a difference between the soul and the spirit of man?
The word “soul” comes from the Hebrew nephesh and Greek psuche. Both words essentially carry the same meaning. Strong’s defines nephesh as, “…a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental).” The Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon provides a similar definition: “a soul, self, life, a creature, a person, an appetite, a mind, a living being, a desire, an emotion, a passion.”
As confirmed by Strong’s and BDB, the word soul or nephesh generally refers to a breathing creature. Therefore, both human beings and animals would contain a soul. This is not true for plant life. In some cases, soul can also refer to emotions.
Based on the meaning of nephesh, it’s important to also note the soul does not refer to an immortal soul that leaves the body at death. The concept of an immortal soul originated with ancient Egypt and is not scriptural. The Bible confirms that when a person dies, their soul or body also dies.
Regarding “spirit,” this word comes from the Hebrew ruach and Greek pneuma. As with soul, both the Hebrew and Greek words share similar meanings. Strong’s defines ruach as, “wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions).” Incidentally, the word “pneumatic” comes from the Greek pneuma.
While ruach primarily refers to wind, as it pertains to man, it denotes the breath of life that Yahweh provides at conception. Ecclesiastes 12:7 states that when a person dies their spirit or ruach returns to Yahweh, where He preserves it in anticipation of the resurrection.
It should be noted that ruach can also refer to the Holy Spirit, the power that emanates from our Father Yahweh, and to spirit or angelic beings.
In summary, soul or nephesh refers to a person or living creature, while spirit or ruach refers to the breath of life that Yahweh implants within every nephesh.
What is YRM’s position on the wearing of tassels or tzitzit?
What is YRM’s position on the wearing of tassels or tzitzit?
We do not teach for or against tassels or tzitzit; we leave this to personal conviction. The reason for this is that there is a reasonable debate on both sides.
Some who favor tassels will point out that’s it’s mentioned in the Torah and that they were worn by Yahshua the Messiah. Both of these points are scripturally valid, Numbers 15:38-39; Deuteronomy 22:12; Matthew 23:5.
Others who are not convicted will point out the origin of the command was in response to the Israelites deliberately breaking the Sabbath, which Scripture may support, Numbers 15:32-38. They also state that as the tassels were a reminder for the Israelites in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit serves as a reminder for believers in the New Testament, Luke 12:12; Romans 9:1; 1Corinthians 12:3; Hebrews 2:4.
For these reasons, we leave this command to the personal conviction of individual believers. We do not condemn or criticize those who choose to wear them or those who choose not to wear them.