IAUA End Time Ministry
Preparing for the End of Time
The Lord is Coming! Are you ready?
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IAUA End Time Ministry |
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Preparing for the End of Time | |
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The Lord is Coming! Are you ready? | |
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in IAUA (ee-uh-oo-uh) our Father,
Greetings on this day of preparation for the weekly Sabbath. I pray that this newsletter finds you in good health and happy in the service of the Lord. This is the 22nd day of the 5th month of God's Sacred Calendar in the year 6012 Anno Mundi. It is five weeks and two days until The Fall Sabbaths begin with the evening of the 1st day of the 7th month which is Trumpets Sabbath (Sunset on Sunday, August 31 on the 2008 Gregorian calendar). It is interesting to note that Monday September 1 is Labor Day which means almost everyone (in the US) will be partially and unintentionally observing Trumpets Sabbath by not working. _____ A discussion of baptism and its relationship to tradition has been a hot topic of email exchanges in the last couple of weeks. I believe it would be beneficial to share some of them. The entire exchange would cover many pages so I will summarize some background. It has been suggested that baptism represents a Jewish tradition that was accepted by the Messiah and this is a justification for the importance of Jewish tradition as critical to righteousness. I maintain that baptism is a direct understanding from the Law of Moses. Let me emphasize that tradition is not bad. There are two specific problems to avoid. Traditional beliefs and practices are forbidden when they contradict the Word of God. Tradition must always be secondary and never distract from the Word of God. Some emails: _____ I have not done a thorough study of this yet but I am quite sure that "immersion" is what is described for the laver in the courtyard since it was far bigger than just a "basin" for washing hands/feet. This is especially true of the one described in Solomon's Temple. I also suspect that the washing described for purification in many statutes is immersion/bathing. The whole concept of unclean and purification rites looks to me like immersion/bathing. Full ritual immersion looks to me like an obvious adaptation/expansion of these statutes. _____ Thank you for your emails, I am interested in the topic here and hope I can contribute to it. Here are a few brief thoughts I have regarding Baptism. My spirit in regards to many of these matters is much like Franks. I seem to be in a constant state of re-calibrating my understanding of truth. I have accepted that have been born into a world of darkness (lies and false traditions, self delusions…etc) and have committed myself to walk into the light. I find that many of the things I have been taught from youth were false and I walked away from it. And over the years I have observed how easy it really is for humans, particularly religious ones, to have strong opinions and press these upon others. What has been refreshing to me is that it is possible to rewind the tape (so to speak) and go all the way back to the root of the faith to determine what is truth and what is error. "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he (John the Baptist) suffered him." (Matthew 3:15) Remember this is what Jesus said to John when he was about to be Baptized. It is interesting that Jesus says “fulfill righteousness”. What is righteousness? There are so many definitions for it today and within the Christian church, it is especially hard to find unity as to its meaning. But if we rewind the tape and go back to the root of the faith, which are the instructions of Moses, we find that the words written there truly were the “Faith of Jesus” (see Revelation 14:12) Can we find the definition of righteousness in the instructions of Moses? Yes we can! "And Y.H.W.H. commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Y.H.W.H. our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before Y.H.W.H. our God, as he hath commanded us." (Deuteronomy 6:24-25) I have scoured the Torah for any reference to Baptism and I cannot find any commandment regarding the ceremony as far as the “letter of the law” goes. But as I look at the spirit of the law I do. Paul makes an interesting observation regarding Mosaic baptism, "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant…all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." (1 Corinthians 10:1-2) These two experiences must have had a profound effect on the Israelites. Of course we know that the experience did not help those who were over 20 years old, but those under 20 must have been deeply moved for it was this age group who were permitted to enter into the Promised Land to “fulfill righteousness”. It is easy to understand what Paul is referring to about the baptism in the sea but what about the baptism in the cloud? Here is the other experience that cemented a rebirth for Israel; Paul is referring to the day when Y.H.W.H. spoke to Israel face to face so that Israel would not sin. Interestingly, the only time I know that the Father’s voice was heard in a group of Israelites was after the Baptism of Jesus when he came out from the water. Again this experience had a profound effect upon the 12 apostles. They all were present at the Baptism and this experience helped enable them to carry their message to the ends of the earth with great power and conviction. I have a few other thoughts I could contribute. If you are interested, I would be happy to share them. _____ Does your practice, belief, and presentation of tradition, whether Jewish or Catholic or Adventist, distract from your practice, belief, and presentation of the Word of God? I pray that we may all continue to seek love, peace, and unity in truth preparing for the soon coming of IAUShUO (ee-uh-oo-shoo-oh) Messiah, the Son of God.
Frank T. Clark
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