My Story

Central Oregon can be a cold place even in the summer. I remember making a run for the kitchen where the wood stove was already blazing hot. I was bundled in a chair with blankets barely awake. At the time, I was not a “morning person”. My husband and I had made a commitment to read through the Bible in a year. He was reading Shemoth (Exodus) 31:12-18 this particular morning. Most mornings, I would have to go back and reread the passage because I was just not awake enough to truly absorb what was being read. However, this passage hit me like lightning right between the eyes!

This triggered a whole slew of questions. What happened? Why was it changed? Who changed it? What else is not in alignment with the Ways of our Father? There were not a lot of people that were awakening at the time that could guide me. I had so many questions. The only Source I had was Yahuah and Yahusha. Even the Internet was limited in those days. However, I did find out that it was Emperor Constantine who changed Shabbat to the first day of the week. There simply was not enough scriptural support to validate a change. It was at this time, we made the transition from Sunday to Saturday, the seventh day of the week.

It was challenging because we would mow our lawn on Saturday and do all kinds of chores on that day. We had to shift habits and it took a while to make this change. But we were successful after diligent effort.

When I would discover something that was contrary to anything being taught even by the leaders in this awakening. I would write emails to them asking questions and got no response. I tried talking to our pastor at the Foursquare Church we were attending. It was a dead end. I was really struggling. What is the truth? How can I find truth? Then, I read Debarim (Deuteronomy) 19:15.

I said to myself, “If I have two to three different witnesses telling me the same thing in the Word, that is the truth”. So, this is where I began. In my studies, I have typically found way more than two to three witnesses to establish truth. I don’t listen to other leaders. I don’t study commentaries. I simply study the Word and define the underlying Hebrew words.

Overtime, I have learned to add other ground-rules to my study habits. For example, our Father operates in patterns. The number seven is very significant to Him. Because of this pattern observed throughout His Word, I know that He would never change Shabbat from the seventh day to the first day. This violates His pattern so I know this is not truth.

Yahuah follows many patterns. If one knows His patterns, interpretation of His original intended messages becomes easier to grasp. He will not violate an established pattern. We dive deeper into study habits with our study on, Ground-rules for Interpretation. I use these Ground-rules all of the time. For this reason, I feel secure in my faith. I am standing on a Rock that is immoveable.

I am not standing on the opinion of a man and defending a man’s position, only to find out five years later that he was teaching against the Word of our Father. When I realized the manmade doctrines in Christianity, I felt betrayed by my leaders who I thought were looking out for my best interest. I defended their doctrines as if they were truth. I did not want to go through this again with another man or woman and their doctrines. I wanted to stand on the truth even if it meant that I would stand alone. Evidence trumps doctrine. Evidence trumps scholarship. Evidence trumps opinions. ALL of my beliefs are based on reliable, credible evidence using two to three witnesses. If I don’t have evidence for a belief or it is only based on one witness, I toss it immediately. I have written a blog article titled, 72-1 Evidence Trumps Scholarship, that explains my rationale in much greater detail.

Once I discovered the commandment on Shabbat and researched the issue, I made a decision to hear and obey the Laws of our Father written in the Torah based on evidence that I discovered. I remember the day I realized that it was important to align our lives with His Ways.

• I had heard so many things like, “You are cursed if you obey the Law!”
• Others would say, “His Laws are such a burden. You don’t have to obey them”.
• Some others would say, “You can’t possibly keep all the Laws. We don’t have a Temple and we don’t do sacrifices anymore”.
• Some would say, “You are trampling on the blood of Jesus if you follow the Law”.

All of these things were floating around in my mind and I was literally afraid to obey them. I thought to myself, “What if they are right?” But I could not argue against the evidence and these people were not addressing the evidence itself. When I would press them to address the evidence, they became silent or accused me of sedition. However, the words of Messiah Yahusha burned in my heart. He said the following:

In Dani’El, I wanted to turn many to righteousness and shine like the stars forever and ever. Now, I wanted to strive to be great in the Kingdom of Yahuah. Messiah Yahusha said that if we want to be great in the Kingdom of Yahuah, then we need to do ALL of the commandments written in the Torah and teach others to do the same. Well, I am an overachiever and decided to follow the instructions of our Messiah who is the greatest of all in the Kingdom of Yahuah.

I opened up my Bible and started reading the Law of Moshe (Moses).

• I would come to a commandment and say to myself, “this seems reasonable.”
• I would come to another one and say, “this one is good!”
• I would read another one and say, “this is good too!”

I read through the entire Law and did not see one commandment that was bad or would cause harm to another individual. They were ALL good. Of course, I didn’t understand the sacrificial system at the time but we didn’t have a Temple anyway so I didn’t worry about those. When I read the Law, I found out that people are cursed if they don’t obey His Laws. This is what this passage says.

When I read this, I was wondering if that is why we have so much sickness and disease. If people would just start obeying His Laws, maybe they would be healed. But there were so many people who were resistant to His Laws. They were and are bombarded by those same comments that were being told to me. I did not understand why people looked at His Laws with such disdain. They are very good Laws. I want to live in a society based on these Laws. No more lying to one another! No more oppressing one another! No more cruelty! I was on board… even it meant I was alone.

The Laws of Jubilee were amazing! Can you imagine being forgiven for all your financial debts every 50 years! It is an opportunity to start over. His Laws are so good and they are not hard to do at all. It is actually harder to lie than it is to be honest. If you lie, you have to remember the story you told. You feel the guilt of lying to someone and it makes your stomach hurt. You worry if they are going to find out. If you are honest, you don’t have to remember the details of the story you told. You just retell the truth over and over. It’s so much easier! There are no feelings of guilt or worry.

It is also so much harder to steal something from your neighbor than it is to NOT steal from him. You have to watch out for witnesses. You have to do it in the dark. Then, you have to figure out how to sell the stuff without suspicion. You have to hide, lie and possibly hurt people if they happen to be home. It takes way more effort to steal! It is this way with ALL of His Laws. This is one reason why I started this blog. I want to show people how easy it is to obey His Laws and why it is so good to do so! I encourage everyone to subscribe to the blog and just be a person on the outside looking through a window into my life and the lives of others who choose to share their stories here. Don’t believe the rhetoric people tell you about the Laws of our Father. They simply are not true. In fact, most people with a moral compass obey a large percentage of them anyway.

For many years, I stood alone. It was scary. I wasn’t a scholar, an expert and theologian. In fact, I was standing on evidence that even opposed them. It took time for me to feel confident in the things I was seeing because for so many years, I trusted leaders, scholars and experts. I had to learn to trust my own judgement and the things I was seeing and hearing with my own eyes and ears. Evidence validates truth and is a Rock that cannot be moved. My house is built upon a Rock that will weather the storms and prevail.