Mixing Old and New
By
Gary Primo
July 24, 2022
Matt. 9:16 - “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
This was very useful information years ago when people largely made and mended their own clothes. It is also very useful information spiritually speaking. The inspiration for this article came from Jonathan Caln, in his monthly booklet, “Sapphires”, and was one paragraph in length. I found it such an interesting concept, that I decided to do a more expanded version and see what else I could dig up.
I will post Jonathon’s blurb here.
A Change of Clothes
Have you ever gone to bed with your clothes on? You wake up in the morning wearing yesterday’s clothes. You don’t feel new or fresh and something just doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t seem quite legal; it’s like breaking a clothing law. It’s not cool to wear yesterday’s clothes. It’s also not cool in the spiritual realm to mix the old with the new. The New Testament talks about putting away the old self and putting on the new. To wear the old self in the new birth is to wear yesterday’s clothes. If you’re born again, you’re not the old person anymore. If you still believe you are, it’s just a case of wearing yesterday’s clothes. If you still think you are messed up, fearful or gloomy, you are wrong. The Bible says you are now a beloved child. You have just forgotten to take off yesterday’s clothes. By faith and in the spirit, start taking off those old clothes, and greet the new day in the new you, because it is never cool to go around in yesterday’s clothes.
Well, I have to admit that I am guilty of wearing my old clothes as the next fella. I sometimes get together old friends (of course, all my friends are old) or family and we always reminisce about the good old days. And we have great fun doing it.
Spiritually, I like to think I am progressively moving forward; however, I have no idea if I am merely fooling myself or if I am actually making progress. Sometimes it is like one step forward and two steps back.
This is why we must keep Yahushua in the forefront at all times. Humans need a measuring stick; Yahushua is the best example to follow in all things.
1 Corinthians 5:8 - Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Now we know that there is nothing really malicious or wicked in the bread itself. It is really all about the attitude of the person eating the bread. Are they eating in obedience to Yahuwah or disobedience? The leavened bread represents the unbaptized and the wicked ways that they practice. The unleavened bread represents the baptized members of the body of HaMashiyack. And we must eat it in sincerity and truth if our actions are going to be acceptable to Yahuwah. Eating it demonstrates respect for the Messiah’s body and His sacrifice.
Hebrews 8:13 - By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Does this statement actually say that the Law has been done away with? That is not what I am reading. I see the law the same as I see a marriage vow. Keeping the law/marriage vow is what binds us to Yahuwah. When we divorce and re-marry, only the partners change, not the marriage vows. It is the same with the Old and New Testaments. The testaments themselves only slightly changes. The most important change was the players.
So, what is the difference between the two covenants? Let see what a Christian website has to say.
Difference between the Old Testament and New Testament - Difference Betweenz
What is Old Testament?
The Old Testament is the first section of the Christian Bible. It is also called the Hebrew Bible by Jews. The Old Testament contains 39 books that were written in ancient Israel between about 1200 BC and 100 AD. These books were later collected into a single volume. The Old Testament tells the story of God’s relationship with his people, from the creation of the world to the return from exile in Babylon. It includes many famous stories, such as the stories of Noah and the Exodus. The Old Testament also contains a number of important religious texts, such as the Ten Commandments and the Book of Psalms. Christians believe that the Old Testament is essential for understanding the story of salvation.
What is New Testament?
The New Testament is a collection of 27 documents, all of which were written in the later years of the first century CE. The majority of these documents are letters (or “epistles”) that were written by various early Christian leaders, such as Paul and James. In addition, the New Testament contains four narrative accounts of the life of Jesus Christ (the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). These documents were written by anonymous authors and were later collected into a single volume. Although there is some variation in how these documents are arranged, they all focus on the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ and his followers. As such, they provide an essential record of early Christianity and its central figure.
Difference between the Old Testament and New Testament
Christians believe that the Bible is the word of God, and it is divided into two main sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament includes all of the books that were written before Jesus was born, while the New Testament contains the books that were written after his death and resurrection. While both parts of the Bible are essential for understanding Christian belief, there are some key differences between them. First, the Old Testament focuses primarily on God’s dealings with the Jewish people, while the New Testament tells the story of how Jesus came to save all people from sin. Second, the Old Testament laws are still binding on Christians, but they are now interpreted in light of Jesus’ teachings.
“Interpreted in light of Jesus’ teachings”? That’s a good one, especially when they have no idea what Yahushua actually taught. You see, Christians actually believe and teach the opposite of what Yahushua taught. It is like speaking in tongues, only it is not Yahuwah voice they are hearing, and it is not His words they are speaking.
This all sounds good on the surface but why then do Christians pick and choose which Laws they will obey and which they will disobey? And at the same time, they claim that Yahushua did away with the law. They contend that we need only to keep the law spiritually, in one’s heart, not physically. What they don’t realize is that it is the law that helps us develop into the image of Yahushua. Yahushua was the Elohim of the OT just as He is the Elohim of the NT. It was Yahushua who delivered the Law to the world through Israel. If one studies the policies of any great Emperor, one will find that they all thought themselves gods and any decree they made was considered the word of Elohim (just like with the Pope today). Making any changes would have seemed weak on his part – something no king wants.
Let’s go through the list and see which ones Christians obey and ignore. I will mark the one they do not keep with a red Asterix.
Ex. 20:1 - And Elohim spoke all these words:
2 - “I am Yahuwah your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
· 3 - You shall have no other elohim before Me. *
Christianity does not worship the Elohim of Israel. They never did and never will. They have (since the advent of Emperor Constantine) worshipped a host of Roman gods and would never concede that a Jewish elohim is greater than theirs.
· 4 - You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. *
Such items decorate mostly all Christian Churches.
· 5 - You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, Yahuwah your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
How many do we see (including their spiritual leaders) bowing or taking the knee before a cross or a supposed statue of Yahushua. It is not Yahushua at all but the Roman Messiah, Tammuz.
6 - but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Here we read that obeying the commandments equals loving Yahuwah. If true, the opposite must also be true – despising the Law equals despising Yahuwah. I wonder what goes through a Christian’s mind when he reads these words?
7 - You shall not take the name of Yahuwah your Elohim in vain, for Yahuwah will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain. *
We hear people using the names “God’ and “Jesus” all the time to curse others and sometimes even Elohim. We are not to take the name of any other elohim on our lips, because none other ever existed. No Jewish person at the time would have named their child “Jesus”, a name that honors Zeus. This is one of the things we must “come out of” following baptism. And, how can being baptized in the name of a Roman Messiah, bring salvation to anyone.
I recently had a debate with someone on this subject. The other person’s contention was that we must all be unified in our beliefs and understandings. NO, WE DON’T! Think about it – ALL of the prophets of Yahuwah have ALWAYS stood alone. They were honored by Elohim but were murdered by the Jewish people. This includes the Messiah, whom they speak abominable things about to this very day. If Yahushua had been in agreement with the priests of His day, He could have never been our Messiah and they never would have crucified Him.
The apostles continued in the same tradition basically preaching alone to the multitudes. They were individually imprisoned and beaten – feeling as if they were indeed alone at times.
Every religion in the world is man-made. Even the Hebrew religion has been grossly manipulated and taken over by the corrupted writings of the Rabbis. The only true “religion” we have is the personal relationship we have with the Creator. If we do not have that, going to church does not add up to a hill of beans. It is like a whitewashed fence only hides the rot beneath. Dressing up and looking all righteous, does not equal being righteous. Being clean on the outside only and filthy on the inside, will only earn us a date with eternal death. We must be clean inside and out.
8 - Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. *
9 - Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 - but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahuwah your Elohim, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.
11 - For in six days Yahuwah made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore, Yahuwah blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
What day do most Christian’s keep – most keep Sunday, the day of pagan sun worship. Everyone has been brainwashed from birth into believing the lie, and some simply cannot overcome it.
12 - Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that Yahuwah your Elohim is giving you. *
What is the general attitude today? Shove mom and dad in a home and forget about them. I know of some “good” Christian folk who are sitting in a home every day wishing one of their children would come to visit, but in many cases do not receive a single visit. Well, their day is coming much faster than they think.
13 - You shall not murder.
As we know, there are practicing Christians and non-practicing ones. I do not know why the non-practicing ones even bother identifying as Christian. I suppose merely out of habit. However, even amongst practicing Christians, there is occasional murders committed. Usually, they are spawned out of anger. Anger is a natural emotion that occurs during times of stress. Most can control it without murdering anyone, but some cannot. They are simply too immature.
14 - You shall not commit adultery. *
Wow, this is a biggie. How many churches have we been to where a case of adultery was discovered? How many TV evangelists have been caught with their pants down? Adultery is much more common than Murder. However, a sin is a sin is a sin. All sin is treated the same, because all represent disobedience to Yahuwah.
15 - You shall not steal. *
If you cheat on your taxes, or are deceptive in business dealings for monetary gain, that is stealing. Sometimes we do it without even realizing it.
16 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. *
Bearing false witness is lying. Of course, all thieves are liars, as are all adulterers and murders are liars, also. To cover up their crimes, they are forced to lie. That only magnifies their sin.
17 - You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” *
Covet means “to yearn to possess or have (something)”. Coveting itself is only the beginning. When coveting turns to action, that is where someone gets in trouble. Once some people covet something, they will frequently exhaust all means to get it – including stealing it or being deceptive, somehow.
Lev. 26:10 - You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.
I believe this is generally talking about making room for the new crop. However, some people (like myself) hate waste and go to great lengths to make sure nothing gets wasted. Apparently, grain stays good as long as it is stored in a dry place. Therefore, I really don’t see any need to get rid of it other than to make room for the new crop. So, why not give it to the poor?
Psalm 71:17 - O Elohim, You have taught me from my youth,
and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
18 - Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O Elohim,
until I proclaim Your power to the next generation,
Your might to all who are to come.
The problem with each new generation is that they have to learn everything that took us a lifetime to learn and hopefully more. How would they know about Yahuwah if no one taught them? Knowledge is power.
1 Sam 12:2 - Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day.
This was when Samuel appointed a king (Saul) over the people, as per their request. This was a formal rejection of Yahuwah as their leader. They wanted a king over them, like all the other nations. Samuels’s sons would remain as high priests; however, they would soon prove to be dishonorable and had to be put to death.
Acts 15:1 - Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
2 - And after engaging these men in sharp debate, Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.
I believe that Shaul {Paul} had already made up his mind concerning this question. The question was concerning the law about circumcision. A curious thing that happened to me was that I was born in an 7th Day Adventist hospital where they practiced circumcision which I used to feel very happy about. But now I know that it wasn’t really necessary. From what I can discern, the law of circumcision was only intended to be temporary – until Yahushua became the sacrifice for sin. Circumcision of the flesh was a sign that someone had come under the Old Covenant. Under the New covenant, that sign is repentance and baptism. Circumcision of the flesh was replaced with circumcision of the heart, which was an ultimately greater sign. However, the old school Believers here had a problem understanding the new rules. What they failed to understand was that circumcision of the flesh did not pertain to salvation but was merely proof of obedience. It did not in any way pertain directly to salvation, whereas circumcision of the heart did.
5 - But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and declared, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
6 - So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter.
First notice that it mentions that some Believers were from the party of the Pharisees. They; like Shaul, were fully trained and ordained Pharisees. They were more like lawyers today, making sure all of the laws of Moses were kept. At some point, they, like Shaul, became believers, but they could not shake the old man loose. The law of circumcision only pertained to the Gentiles who were already living in Judea and wished to become an Israelite via circumcision. It is circumcision of the heart that is required to become one of the Firstborn.
7 - After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days Elohim made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.
8 - And Elohim, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.
9 - He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith.
What most fail to realize is that most of these who were being called into the faith were likely descendants of the Lost Tribes of the nation of Israel. Yahushua was primarily interested in the 12 tribes of Israel, who in return, were to convert the rest of the world.
Circumcision of the flesh ultimately did not prevent the ancients from sinning. True circumcision of the heart does. It puts the conscience of Yahuwah in us, which springs into action the moment we think of sinning.
10 - Now then, why do you test Elohim by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
11 - On the contrary, we believe it is through the grace of Yahushua that we are saved, just as they are.”
Saved by grace, not circumcision. That is what it all boils down to.
Matt. 13:47 - Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and caught all kinds of fish.
48 - When it was full, the men pulled it ashore. Then they sat down and sorted the good fish into containers but threw the bad away.
49 - So will it be at the end of the age: The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous,
50 - and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 - Have you understood all these things?”
“Yes,” they answered.
52 - Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
There are some old treasures that we need not throw away. Not all of the OT has been tossed. In fact, most is relevant today. Mostly it was just circumcision and the sacrificial laws that are irrelevant today.
Matt. 22:14 - “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
That is basically what the first couple verses are talking about. How many have we known that fell away from continuing the journey? I often wonder what happened to all the members of the WCG who left. Did they join another group, or simply leave the faith altogether? I can certainly understand their disappointment with that church but that should not have affected their relationship with Yahuwah.
Most seem to think their salvation is dependent on finding the “right” church. And that is what I thought when I began to seek out Yahuwah. I didn’t really know where to start. So, I began watching the various TV ministries on Sunday. However, they left me lacking. I had already read the Scriptures and knew that they we not teaching what I had read.
Then I found the WCG program, and I finally thought I had found the “right” church. Ten years later, I was completely disillusioned with churches of any kind. I then joined a small “living room” congregation of former WCG members, but soon everyone was going off in different directions – not all good. It was then that I struck out on my own, doing what I loved best, keeping it between Yahuwah, Yahushua, and me. It has definitely been a struggle, but well worth it.
Conclusion
I suppose I would be considered “old fashioned” by today’s standards. That is not necessarily a bad thing as I tend to think of the old days as better. For example, I still think homosexuality is a mental/spiritual disorder and abortion is murder. It is much easier to go with the flow, but I have no desire to follow the flow into the Lake of Fire.
We have the opportunity of a lifetime before us. It is entirely up to us to take advantage of it or not. Before being called, the Lake of Fire is all we had to look forward to. But now we have the opportunity to be born into the Kingdom and serve Yahuwah as full elohim. Is that not worth all that we are and will be going through?
The Old Testament brought only death (because of sin). But when we sign on to the New Covenant, we have the promise of eternal life (for obedience). However, it is still possible to lose out on salvation if we waiver or fall away.
The line the Christians push is that we are “once saved, always saved”. That would be nice if it were true, but it is not. “You don’t have to change a thing, just come as you are” is another lie they preach. Don’t buy into any of it.
But essential to everything is putting off the old person and putting on the new person. What would we want with that old person anyway? The old person was under the sentence of death. The new person has been freed and is headed for eternal life. Following that Last Great Day, we will have no further use for the old physical world. We will be new creatures with a glorious new future. WE WILL BE ELOHIM!
No matter how we shuffle the cards, we were scheduled for eternal death. We are of the fortunate few who are being called at this time. It is not on account of anything we did. Therefore, we have no right to boast or claim we got here by our own strength. We do not DESERVE any of it. It was a free gift. All we had to do was believe and be baptized. However, that was the easy part. After that, we have to GROW into the FULL STATURE of Yahushua HaMashiyack. As Yahushua is the mirror image of the Father, we are to be the mirror image of the Son. It’s not easy but is possible.
Yahuwah Bless
G.P.