Hebrew Voices #8 – Prophets, Priests, and Preachers

A white dove at the traditional Christian site of the baptism.

Nehemia continues a conversation with Anthony Garcia on the bank of the Jordan River. Garcia reads verses from the New Testament about the baptism of Yeshua, which is believed to have taken place a few feet away from where this episode was recorded. Verses in the Tanakh possibly related to Yeshua's baptism are discussed and we learn about Adoptionists—early followers of Yeshua who considered his baptism a turning point in his life and ministry. Gordon discusses the forbidden altar built along the Jordan by two and half tribes, and how an echo of the nine and half tribes’ displeasure (“What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?”) can still be heard today.  In closing, Gordon declares the words of Scripture to be a testimony that those joined to the God of Israel do have a portion with his people and with his Torah.

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Hebrew Voices #8 – Prophets, Priests, and Preachers

You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.


Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon back at the site where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, for another episode of Hebrew Voices with my guest, Anthony Garcia. We are going to continue talking about the Prophets, Priests and Preachers who immersed themselves in the waters of the Jordan River, only a few inches from where we're sitting right now.

A warm thank you to the Sunset Beach Torah fans of South Africa who sponsored this week's episode of Hebrew Voices.

Nehemia: I just want to describe to the people listening that we've got a group of people here, and they're all the way into their waists in the Jordan River. Oh, the woman went all the way to her neck. Is she going to immerse 100 percent like Naaman? Will she go in with her nose? Oh, she did. She went all the way, a full immersion. She did a Naaman immersion, not an Anthony priestly immersion. Very impressive.

Anthony: Speaking about immersion, I'm going to read about the most important baptism in history, for me.

Nehemia: Which one’s that? Is that the one with Naaman? I'm excited about this.

Anthony: No, that would be in Matthew 3:16 and 17, where it reads, “Yeshua, when he was immersed, went up directly from the water. And behold, the heavens were opened up to him. He saw the spirit of God…”

Nehemia: Wait, I gotta stop you. That happened right here on the Jordan river where we're sitting, like 20 feet from here. Is that what you're trying to tell me?

Anthony: I believe so.

Nehemia: Based on your faith, that happened right here. And if you were sitting where we're sitting right now, you would look up into the heavens and you would see... Would you see a dove? What would you see?

Anthony: Well, that's what it describes here.

Nehemia: Well, it says "Like a dove," right? It might not actually be a dove. It's interesting, because around here, there's actually a flock of doves that I'm pretty sure were brought in by the Israel Parks Authority, because there aren't too many doves in Israel. There are a lot of pigeons. There's actually a whole flock of doves here. Maybe it wasn't the Israel Parks Authority. Maybe it's a sign. Go on, Anthony, read us that verse.

Anthony: Yes, “…and coming on him.” In 17 it says, “Behold, a voice out of heaven said, ‘This is My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.’”

Nehemia: Wow, okay. Look, I'm coming at this not as a Christian, not as a messianic, as a textual scholar. And the question I ask is, what is the source of that text? And if you look in most reference Bibles, it'll tell you that it's a combination of two verses. When He says, “This is My son with whom I am well pleased,” it's actually a combination of Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1. Can you read us those verses, Anthony?

Anthony: Yes, and I believe that Matthew is describing the fulfillment of these two prophecies. Psalms 2:7, “I will tell of my decree. Yehovah said to me, ‘You are My son. Today, I have become your father.’”

Nehemia: Okay, and that's Psalm 2:7. And Psalm 2 is an amazing passage, which I wish we could do an entire session on; it's really fascinating. You know, in Jewish-Christian debates, the Jewish side will usually say that that's referring to Israel collectively, when it speaks about the Messiah. I actually looked this up in Rashi, who was a 12th century Bible commentator, and Ibn Ezra, who lived shortly after him. And both of them say that Psalm 2 is literally speaking about David, but they say it also refers to the Messiah, which is pretty interesting.

Anthony: So, in Isaiah 42:1 it says, “Behold My servant, whom I uphold. My chosen one in whom My soul delights, I have put My spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Nehemia: Wow, so basically what Matthew did... And by the way, that appears in the other Gospels. What are the other passages that you have there?

Anthony: I have Mark and Luke 3:11 has them.

Nehemia: Luke 3:11, and I think it's Mark something or another. Guys, look that up, that's your homework. It's in Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22, Hebrews 1:5, Hebrews 5:5. And then, you also need to look up some other cross-references, 2 Samuel 7:14, 1 Chronicles 17:13. Guys, this is your homework. Don't just listen to this while you're at the gym on the treadmill. Do that, too, but then go home and look up these verses. Also Acts 13:33.

All right, so we've got the combination of these two verses, and I'm looking at it from a literary perspective. And you're saying that's actually a fulfillment of two different prophecies; that's the way you look at it. That's pretty cool, and I could see why you say that's the most important baptism in history.

You were telling me before that baptism’s actually kind of important to you in your own walk in ministry, not just as someone who believes in Yeshua, and not just someone who has been baptized like seven or eight times. But somehow, that whole thing brought you to where you are today. Can you share about that?

Anthony: Correct. At one point in time I was minister in the Arizona prison, and the individuals wanted me to perform a baptism.

Nehemia: Wait, when you were ministering in the prisons, you were part of a church or a denomination, or something…

Anthony: Yes, I was going in as a volunteer for a chaplain’s assistant.

Nehemia: And were you were ordained by...

Anthony: No, I was not ordained.

Nehemia: You weren't ordained, and they wanted you to baptize? So, you're not part of any church or denomination.

Anthony: No.

Nehemia: You're just going in because you've got what you feel is like a personal calling.

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: And you're just doing it, and somehow, they let you in. Like, what?

Anthony: Yeah, and so, I was with a group of various people, and they had me try to get all the equipment and everything I needed to perform the baptism, the names, and everybody…

Nehemia: So, you brought them in there. Like, you brought them the Jordan River? What did you do?

Anthony: No, no, no, we got a portable baptism tub. And so, you assemble it, and then you fill it up with water.

Nehemia: And there's really such a thing.

Anthony: Yes, there is.

Nehemia: You're serious.

Anthony: It's a portable baptism, yeah. And you can find them online.

Nehemia: Really?

Anthony: Yeah.

Nehemia: And I think you were telling me, it's from the military or something?

Anthony: Well, the one we used was like one of the military ones they use out in the field.

Nehemia: Wow, okay, go on.

Anthony: Anyway, so the question to all these men was, “If you don't baptize me in the name of Jesus, then it's not official.”

Nehemia: And so you're saying, some prisoner, a convicted felon…

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: …is saying to you, “Anthony, you have to use these exact words, or I'm not really baptized.” Is that right?

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: Wow.

Anthony: Right. And so, as I started to do the studies and started discovering all the names, that's when I started really referring to the Hebrew and the Greek, and all the names that could possibly be used in that reference in time, because there's no real name, or there's no real way, there's no real set parameters on how to baptize.

Nehemia: There isn't set exact wording that has to be… According to your faith, obviously. I mean, people out there who have different faiths, maybe they see it differently, and they're saying, “Oh, man, that Garcia doesn't know what he's talking about.” And that's fine, go search it for yourselves. But what you're saying is, you were challenged by these prisoners, saying, “Look, Anthony, you gotta do it this exact way.” And then, that challenged you to go back and look in the sources and say, “How was it done in Acts, or wherever?”

Anthony: Where was it done? How was it done? And what significance did it have?

Nehemia: And you were telling me something about what John the Baptist said, how that was really critical for your walk. Tell me about that, the different types of baptism that John refers to.

Anthony: Right. And so, what I was doing when I was doing my research was the sprinkling, the full immersion, and also as we did today, the dipping of the feet.

Nehemia: And do other denominations do that? Or is that just something that we came up with reading Joshua 2?

Anthony: I think there are various denominations that believe just the sprinkling, as well, would work.

Nehemia: And in fact, what we saw not too long ago, I think it was those Italian guys. They had a bottle of water, and I'm pretty sure it was tap water. And they were sprinkling it all over the Priests that were there singing. We played that earlier in the program. They were actually sprinkling from the bottle of water, and I was standing there watching these guys. And they're reading from this hymnal, some kind of printed little book, a pamphlet. And it's covered in bottled water that's been sprinkled on them and the book. But you're saying you wanted to know, okay, these guys are saying it has to be done in this exact way. You weren't trained in a seminary. You didn't go and jump through hoops of ordination.

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: You're not sure how it's supposed to be, so you're researching it. And what do you come up with? You were telling me, that's what brought you into the whole research about the name of the Father, is that right?

Anthony: Correct, yes.

Nehemia: And I noticed that you've been sitting here with this hat. What does your hat say? Can you tell the people?

Anthony: Well, the people that know me, they know the hat says, “Yehovah.”

Nehemia: In English, right? That's pretty cool.

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: Back then, this was over 10 years ago, you were telling the people what you had discovered at the time, which was “Yahweh.”

Anthony: Yahweh.

Nehemia: Okay, but the main thing, I think, is that you were saying, “Okay, they're saying it has to be this exact wording. Let's go start looking at the details of the wording.” And you realized it should have been Hebrew, and that was pretty cool. So, baptism isn't just important to you as this event in history, it's something that you've dealt with in your life.

Anthony: Firsthand experience.

Nehemia: Wow, that's pretty cool. See, that's what I like, authentic experiences. That's your Hebrew Voice.

I gotta talk about this issue. I love texts and dealing with manuscripts, that that's my shtick. I love manuscripts. I'm the manuscript guy. My natural habitat is not sitting here by the Jordan River. My natural habitat is sitting in a closed library with no windows, poring over books, and manuscripts, and scrolls. And one of the things I remembered from my studies is that this passage in Matthew, and Luke, and Mark, it's in all three Gospels… but actually, what's interesting is, if you look in the Greek of Luke and Mark, it's word for word, letter for letter the same in the Greek. In Matthew, it's the same in the English translation, but the Greek is slightly different, which is really interesting. It shows you Matthew wasn't copying his Greek from Mark and Luke like many scholars claim. He actually was translating independently from Hebrew and came up with different grammatical forms. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, so one of the things I remember reading about this was that in some of the earliest manuscripts of both the Greek and the Aramaic, instead of, “This is My son with whom I'm well pleased,” which is a combination of two different verses, Psalm 2:7 and Isaiah 42:1, it actually just simply had Psalm 2:7, which was, “This is My son who I've begotten today.”

And Bart Ehrman actually talks about that. You know, he's a really controversial figure, Bart Ehrman. But what I love about him is, he'll bring you the sources from the manuscripts and then he'll make these conclusions. What I say is listen to his evidence, not his conclusions. Sometimes, his conclusions, you can agree or disagree with, but the evidence you can't disagree with. One of the things he shows there is that some of these early manuscripts, it's just Psalm 2:7, straight out, “This is My son who I've begotten today.” And apparently, 2,000 years ago, or 1,900 years ago, 1,800 years ago there were these Christians who were called “Adoptionists.”

The Adoptionists believe that Yeshua became the son of God on that very day, at that very moment, on this spot, 20 feet from here, where according to the Gospels, the spirit came down in the form of a dove and says, “This is my son, I have begotten you today.” And at that moment, he became the son of God, according to the Adoptionists. And apparently, the early Catholics were so offended by that, because they said, “No, he was always the son of God back from…” I don't know the exact doctrine. There are different variations of the doctrine, since before creation. And so, they actually may have changed the Gospel according to Ehrman, to say, “This is My son, in whom I'm well pleased.” And whether they did or not, I can't say. I can just present you with the evidence.

It's really interesting to me, though, that the Ebionites, they were some Jewish followers of Yeshua, who according to some of the sources, they had a Hebrew version of the Gospels. It's called today the “Gospel of the Ebionites.” They just called it the “Hebrew Gospel,” and it was probably a Hebrew version of Matthew, and it began in Matthew 3. It didn't have chapters 1 and 2, which is the birth narrative. And according to some historians, these Ebionites were Adoptionists, and they believed that he became the son of God on that day, at that event, 20 feet from here…

Anthony: That’s right.

Nehemia: …when the dove came down. And look, this is a matter of faith and doctrine. I don't want to get into doctrine and theology. To me, it's interesting that there's these different thoughts and ideas there in history. And Ehrman, by the way, called his book “The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture,” because what he claims is the Orthodox, what became the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, they were concerned about some of the wording of some verses and so they changed it. And here's the really cool thing to me. Whether you think they changed it or not, Psalm 2:7 is quoted and presented just as you say, as a fulfillment of prophecy. In Hebrews 1:5, in Hebrews 5:5. In Acts, is it 13, or maybe not? Yeah, I think I quoted that before.

And then, this whole event happens a second time at what is called the Transfiguration, where there's this statement again, about “this is My son.” To me, that's fascinating stuff. I love this stuff, of looking at different textual traditions and different textual versions and then what may be some of the ideas or maybe even agendas that are behind the different texts. Of course, if you are a Catholic, you're gonna say, “No, the Adoptionists corrupted it, and this was the original version written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.” And that's your perspective, I'm not I'm not arguing one way or the other. I just think it's fascinating to know that there are those ideas out there.

Anthony: Yeah. And Hebrews 1:5 also, explains that as well.

Nehemia: You were telling me something about Hebrews 1. Just tell me what you got there in Hebrews 1.

Anthony: Yeah, briefly. I'm gonna go Hebrews 1:5.

Nehemia: Can you start in 1:1?

Anthony: Yes, let's first start in 1:1. “God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the Prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days, spoke to us by His son, whom He appointed heir of all things through whom, also, He made the world. His son, in the radiance of His glory, the very image of the substance, and upholding all things as a word of His power. When he had, by himself, made purification of our sins, sat down on the right-hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has inherited a more excellent name than they have. For to which of the angels did He say at any time…” and here we go… “You are My son. Today, have I become your Father.’”

Nehemia: And that's a quote from Psalm 2:7. In my English Bible, the NRSV, it's actually in quotation marks, and there's a little note. Go on.

Anthony: “And again, I will be to him a Father, and he will be to Me a son.”

Nehemia: And that's actually something God said about Solomon. And what Hebrews is saying, this also applies to Yeshua, that God is his Father. And I think here's the crux of the debate. I'm not telling people what to believe. To me, I'm looking at this as an ancient text, and there's these different Hebrew voices out there from 2,000 years, what’s even called the “Book of Hebrews,” right? And I guess the crux of the debate between the Adoptionists and the Orthodox was when it says… I'm reading the NRSV verse 2 of Hebrews 1, “But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His son whom he appointed heir of all things.” And in verse 4, “having become as much superior to the angels.”

So, the debate was, when did he become that? And when was he appointed that? Was that at some point before the creation of the physical universe? Or was that on that very day, 20 feet from here, when the spirit came down in the form of the dove? And going back to the issue of Isaiah 42:1, again, the reason that that's brought into the discussion, I guess rightfully so, is He says, “Here's My servant who I uphold, My chosen in whom My soul delights. I have put My spirit upon him.” And then it goes on, “He will bring forth justice to the nations.” And for me, of course, I come at this, and I say, “I can't wait for us to encounter... I can't wait for me to encounter God's son, the one who He has appointed as His Messiah, the one in whom He puts his spirit on him.”

And for me, I'm looking forward to this. He will bring forth justice to the nations. I'm looking for that Messiah who is gonna bring peace to the world. They're all going to be beating their swords into plowshares. There’s going to be world peace, ingathering of the exiles, defeating of the enemies of Israel. And Anthony, if that turns out to be Yeshua who comes back to the world and fulfills these things, we will both come before him, and we will accept him as our Messiah. And I believe whoever it is, when he accomplishes these things, we will come before him. We will kneel before him, and we will say, “Your majesty, is this the first time you're visiting us or the second time?” And we will accept him as the Messiah, because it'll be a fact that he will fulfill every single word of this prophecy. Can I get an Amen?

Anthony: Amen.

Nehemia: Hallelujah. All right, we got it. Can we please talk about Joshua chapter 1? We spent all this time talking about the New Testament connection to this spot, and my thing is the Tanakh. I love the Tanakh. I love every word and every letter in the Tanakh. So, Joshua chapter 1. You’ve got here my JPS.

Anthony: I do have your JPS.

Nehemia: Can you start reading the JPS?

Anthony: “After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord Yehovah, Yehovah said to Joshua son of Nun, Moshe’s attendant, ‘My servant, Moses, is dead. Prepare to cross the Jordan together with all this people into the land that I am giving to the Israelites. Every spot on which your foot treads, I give to you…’”

Nehemia: Amen.

Anthony: “‘As I promised Moses.’”

Nehemia: Wait, in your Bible it doesn't say, “Every spot in which your foot treads, I give to the United Nations to parcel out as they choose?”

Anthony: Absolutely not.

Nehemia: Amen.

Anthony: “Your territory, and for all your territory shall extend from the wilderness of the Lebanon.”

Nehemia: Can I stop there? What we're really saying is the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, not as a privilege, because privileges could be granted and taken away by human governments. The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel as a God-given right. Can I get an Amen?

Anthony: Amen, it's true.

Nehemia: It's a God-given right, and no man can take away a God-given right. He can deny it, but that makes him a denier of the Creator of the Universe.

Anthony: “The Lebanon to the great river, the river Euphrates. The whole Hittite country and up to the Mediterranean Sea on the west.”

Nehemia: Did we say “the whole ISIS country?”

Anthony: No, none of that.

Nehemia: Go on.

Anthony: “No one shall be able to resist you as long as you live. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and resolute for you shall...”

Nehemia: Oh, stop. “Strong and resolute.” What’s that in English? I don’t know what that is, in plain English. In Hebrew, it's “khazak ve'ematz,” “be strong and courageous.” Strong and courageous, that's the word for courage.

Anthony: Absolutely. “For you shall apportion to this people the land that I swore to the fathers to assign to them. But you must be very strong and resolute, or courageous, to observe faithfully all the teachings that My servant Moshe enjoined upon you. Do not deviate from it to the right or to the left, and you may be successful wherever you go.”

Nehemia: So, here we gotta stop for a minute. I think I talked about this in the last episode of Torah Pearls. The last episode of Torah Pearls is the Deuteronomy 33 and 34, and this is the Haftarah, the Prophets portion for it. And it's the only Prophets portion which is a direct continuation of the Torah portion. In other words, Deuteronomy 34:12 ends and Joshua 1:1 begins, and that's how it's read in the synagogue. I think I mentioned it in that context. That's actually probably the best episode of Torah Pearls that was done, the last episode, a very moving episode on Vezot Habrakha, which is the last one of Deuteronomy. And this phrase, “Be strong and courageous,” has two different meanings in verses 6 and 7. In 6 it means strong and courageous in military terms. You're going to conquer the land and divide it among the people. Don't let the foreigners intimidate you and say, “Oh no, you've stolen this from the Canaanites. You've stolen it from the Hittites. You've stolen it from the Amorites. It's not your land.” Don't let them intimidate you, because God has given this to you. That's the meaning in verse 6, it's a military geopolitical usage.

And in verse 7, it's something completely different. It's being strong and courageous, literally, it says, “Rak khazak ve'ematz me'od,” “Be very strong and courageous to keep, to do, according to all the Torah which Moses, My servant, has commanded you.” So, just as there are those who will come against you and say, “Oh no, this isn't your land, this belongs to somebody else. You shouldn't be living there.” There will also be people who say, “You can't keep this Torah, it's too difficult. You can't keep this Torah. It's up in heaven, it's across the sea, it's been done away with. It's been obliterated, abolished. It's been replaced, you guys have lost it.” Be strong and courageous, don't let anybody do that. And in the time of Joshua - because I'm kind of speaking in modern terms – in the time of Joshua, one of the things that he would have faced was, you can't keep the Torah according to those words. That's not the tradition that we have.

And that's actually something I talked about in a teaching I recently did for the support team. I had a support team study called “King Josiah and the Oral Law.” And I talked about how King Josiah was dealing with the tradition of his day. And he was bringing the Torah and he was thumping his Bible scroll and people were saying, “What are you talking about reading to us from some book? That's not what it says in our tradition. My ancestors have been doing this since the time of Moses.”

And I just want to give a little plug about my ministry, a minute. My ministry is Makor Hebrew Foundation. You can go to nehemiaswall.com and support my ministry. It allows me to come here to the Jordan River and sit with people like Anthony, and share this kind of thing. Most of what we do we put out for everybody. There are some studies that I put out for my support team, for the people who have stepped out in faith with me to spread this message. For example, the King Josiah message was there. One of the best ones I've done is called “The Fundamental Flaw in Judaism,” you guys have gotta listen to that. But for those who aren't interested in that, there's over 100 hours of teaching on nehemiaswall.com for free. There are actually 20 hours of video there, 18 hours of the “Open Door” series, two hours of the Hebrew Yeshua, and a bunch of other stuff.

Now, Anthony, what is your ministry? I don't know if you're willing to talk about the ministry that you had in the past, standing on one leg, as the Jews say.

Anthony: I've ministered to the homeless. I’ve ministered to the county jails of San Francisco and also the state prison in Arizona.

Nehemia: And you were on death row, weren't you? Not that you were convicted to death row, but you ministered on death row.

Anthony: Yeah, I did minister on death row. They actually let me out once I'd ministered in there, but I went to two prisons in the state of Arizona. And so, it was very interesting where the Creator had placed me in different ministries, and stuff like that. And also, here in Jerusalem, I've ministered to people in the streets from different countries. Even Jews from Tel Aviv were amazed to hear some of my testimonies.

Nehemia: Wow.

Anthony: To bring them back also, to the Torah.

Nehemia: Now, I just want to say this for my Jewish friends who are listening, you are not trying to convert Jews to Christianity, right?

Anthony: No.

Nehemia: Hallelujah.

Anthony: I'm basically giving my testimony, and telling them that I'm trying to follow their guided instructions that were handed down to them.

Nehemia: Wow. And isn't that what Yeshua did? Wasn't he calling to the Jewish people to repent and return to the Torah?

Anthony: Yes, all of Israel, and the Gentile.

Nehemia: Can we talk about that for a minute, the Gentile?

Anthony: Let's talk about that.

Nehemia: You're a Gentile. What is your connection to the covenant? I mean, what I love about this spot is, here is where they became full-fledged Israelites. It says, “When you come into the land,” and here's where it happened.

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: How does that tie into you?

Anthony: Well, I think I have a purpose, as far as spreading this good news, or the news that was presented to me as repentance, and I believe this is a portion of it. You know, this is history. And when I come here, I believe that I've enjoined myself to Israel...

Nehemia: What's "enjoined" in plain English?

Anthony: In plain English?

Nehemia: Yeah, like attached?

Anthony: Following the Torah. Attached, yeah, like two brothers, like you and I sitting together right now, talking about His mercy, and His grace, and His forgiveness.

Nehemia: Amen.

Anthony: Salvation.

Nehemia: Now, what I love about the connection with the Priests sticking their feet... Let's tie that back up now. The Priests, they stick their feet here in the water. They baptize their feet and the Jordan splits, and then the people cross over into the land. Okay, we're gonna pause this because I am inundated with thousands of ants. Oh my gosh. Oh, my God, we're gonna move. Oh my God, help. I think I need to dip my feet in the Jordan.

Anthony: I don't think they'll come off over there.

Nehemia: Oh my God. This is really scary.

Anthony: There are ants all over you. They're not all over me, but they’re all over you.

Nehemia: The scary thing is, you dipped in the water of the Jordan and it’s poisonous. It killed the ants. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it’s probably no big deal. Don’t chew gum, please. What are you in, high school? They didn’t tell you not to chew gum?

All right. Shev, shev, sit. We're gonna continue now. We just had to move from the place we were sitting right next to the Jordan River, because I was sitting directly on an ant hive, or what do you call those?

Anthony: Hill.

Nehemia: Ant hill, ant mound. A bunch of ants, and they were all over my legs. I'm convinced they weren't on Anthony's legs because he dipped his feet in the Jordan River, and the water is poisonous. Another way of looking at it is, his feet are now holy.

Anthony: Anointed.

Nehemia: They're anointed with water? I thought anointing was with oil.

Anthony: It is, you're right.

Nehemia: Anyway, that’s in biblical Hebrew. Anyway, go on. What were we talking about?

Anthony: Well, we were talking about Joshua. It says, “Let not this book of the teaching cease from your lips. But recite it day and night, so that you may observe faithfully all that is written in it. Only then will you prosper in your undertakings, and only then will you be successful.”

Nehemia: Wow. And that phrase about meditating upon it day and night, that's something that also appears in the first chapter of Psalms, and it's really interesting. The Tanakh, The Old Testament in Hebrew is divided into Torah, the Instruction, Nevi'im, the Prophets, and Ketuvim, the Holy Writings, and that's where we get the acronym Tanakh. T, N, Kh is Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim. The Prophets begins with chapter 1 of Joshua, which has a statement, “Meditate upon it, day and night.” And the interesting thing is the Writings begin with chapter 1 of the Psalms, which also says, “Meditate upon it, day and night.” Isn't that cool?

Anthony: I think it’s great.

Nehemia: And they're both referring back to the Torah. That's pretty cool.

Anthony: It’s in both the Old and New Testament.

Nehemia: Both the Prophets and the Writings are saying, it's not about what we're about to say. Meditate on the Torah, day and night. That's the opening salvo, and you say that that's the message in the New Testament, too?

Anthony: Yeah, you'll hear that in a lot of congregations.

Nehemia: So, that would be a big difference between you and the Pope Francis. You know, if you were trying to explain to my mother you might say, “Well, Pope Francis says that there's some reference…” And if I'm getting this wrong, Catholics, I want you to go and post this on my nehemiaswall.com website. But my understanding is Pope Francis would say, “Meditate upon the New Testament, day and night, and that is the new Torah that replaces the old Torah. And yes, there are references in the old book, but that's not what you spend your time on anymore.” And what the Prophets and the Writings and according to you, the New Testament as well, are saying, it's all about what's in the Torah. Can I get an Amen?

Anthony: Amen.

Nehemia: All right, what else we got?

Anthony: “I charge you, be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or dismayed, for Yehovah, your Elohekha, is…”

Nehemia: You'll confuse people, what's “Yehovah, your Elohekha?”

Anthony: The Lord your God.

Nehemia: Yehovah, your God. Elohekha is your Elohim, your God.

Anthony: …”is with you wherever you go.”

Nehemia: Can I go back to 8? I want to dwell on something in 8. It says, “Lo yamush sefer haTorah hazeh,” “This book of the Torah will not be removed, or will not remove,” “mipikha,” “from your mouth.” “Vehagita bo yomam valayla,” “And you will meditate upon it, day and night.” And I get the impression that a lot of people reading this, they stop there. And I actually have the feeling from what I've read in the Prophets and the Writings, many of the ancient Israelites stopped there. They meditated upon the Torah day and night, and they knew the Torah backwards and forwards, every verse, every word. But they didn't do the very next words which are, “in order that,” “lema'an...” what do you have there? Do you have "in order that?”

Anthony: “Only. Only then you will.”

Nehemia: “Only then you will,” and literally, in Hebrew, “in order that you will diligently keep,” or literally, “You will guard to keep, diligently keep, diligently do all that is written in it.” Don't memorize it just for the sake of memorizing it. Don't read it just for the sake of reading it. Don't know it just for the sake of knowing it. Know it, read it, let it be in your mouth and in your heart, in order that you will diligently do it. Say, "diligently do it.”

Anthony: Diligently do it.

Nehemia: That's what it says, “tishmor la'asot,” “you will guard to do, diligently do.”

Anthony: It says “faithfully.”

Nehemia: Ki az taztliakh et derakhekha ve'az taskil,” “For then your ways, literally, will overcome and you will succeed, or act wisely,” literally. So, there's a purpose in meditating upon the Torah day and night. And sometimes, in our zeal for meditating upon the Torah day and night, in my tradition, I don't know about your tradition, in my tradition, sometimes we forget the second half of this, which is, there's a purpose to this meditation. Sometimes, they just do it without the meditation, and they end up doing their own Torah, not God's Torah. So, you need both halves.

Anthony: Well, in this translation as well, the end of 8 it says...

Nehemia: That's the JPS, yeah.

Anthony: “Prosper and successful.” And I think...

Nehemia: Prosperity Gospel.

Anthony: Exactly.

Nehemia: So, the word is “taskil,” which literally means that “you will act wisely.”

Anthony: Correct.

Nehemia: Literally, “for then your way will overcome.”

Anthony: With wisdom.

Nehemia: And it's interesting, that word to “overcome” is a word that describes the river overflowing its banks, or the spirit of God coming over a person. It's the same word as “tzalakh,” to “pass over and overcome somebody.” “Then you will overcome, your way will overcome, the way that you walk in will overcome. And then, you will act successfully, or literally, you will act wisely,” “taskil.” You know, in modern Hebrew or Yiddish we say “sekhel.” You’ll act with sekhel, they translate it as “common sense,” but it really means wisdom in biblical Hebrew. Go on, verse 9.

Anthony: “I charge you, be strong and resolute. Do not be terrified of...”

Nehemia:Halo tzivitikha khazak ve'ematz.” “Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. Do not fear and do not be afraid, for Yehovah, your God, is with you in all that you walk.” And that's an important concept. I'm sure we talked about this in Torah Pearls and Prophet Pearls, and other places, the idea of the name “Yehovah” is He that was, He that is, and He that will be. And He that was, is and will be what? So, we see repeatedly in the Tanakh where He says, “Eheyeh ee’makh,” “I will be with you.” Or “Yi'hiyeh eemakh,” “He will be with you.” He's not just is and exists. People want to translate Yehovah as the self-existent one, that ain't it. He's the one who was, is and will be with us, if we walk in His Torah. That's powerful. That's a key thing. You lose that when you translate it, but in Hebrew it's right there. “Ki imkha Yehovah,” “For Yehovah is with you.” It's a phrase that appears over and over. All right, verse 10.

Anthony: “Joshua thereupon gave orders of the officials of the people. Go through the camp and charge the people thus. Get provisions ready, for in three days’ time you are to cross the Jordan.”

Nehemia: I gotta stop you there, because there's so much to talk about here, we're not going to get to it all. One of the homework I want to assign people is to read the rest of this chapter to the end of Joshua 1. And can we talk for two minutes about Joshua 22? I don't even think we can. I think I have to do another program on Joshua 22.

Anthony: It’s a long chapter.

Nehemia: It is. Can you just read real quick, Joshua 22:22? Why is this important? The rest of chapter 1 of Joshua is talking about the two-and-a-half tribes who are going to cross over at the head of everybody else. And the reason is that they were already given their land, conquered by the entire nation. So, they had to reciprocate and help the rest of the nation conquer their land. And Joshua 22 is actually the fulfillment of this, where they actually get the land. They finish conquering the land west of the Jordan, and they go back east of the Jordan where they decide to live, the two-and-a-half tribes. Go read it. It's a Numbers 32, Numbers 34, Deuteronomy 3:16, Deuteronomy 29:7. This is homework, guys. Joshua 22, read me in verse 10.

Anthony: Deuteronomy 22?

Nehemia: No, no, Joshua.

Anthony: Joshua 22, verse 10?

Nehemia: Yeah.

Anthony: “When they came to the region of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great, conspicuous altar.”

Nehemia: So, where did that happen?

Anthony: It would have to be across.

Nehemia: Probably right across the Jordan River. They build this altar, and then the entire nation is up in arms, literally. They say, “Wait a minute. Two-and-a half tribes built a second altar? There's only one altar in all of Israel, and that's at the Tabernacle. How is it that the two-and-a-half tribes built another altar?” And they actually mobilize their armies to go to war. And they send representatives... Go read it, it's in Joshua 22, we're not gonna read the whole thing. They explained the purpose of this... I love this, this is so powerful. Oh, my gosh. And when we're done with this, remind me to go back to the Yeshua thing, because we missed it. We forgot to give them the moneyball.

Anthony: Oh, yes.

Nehemia: The punchline of how it ties into the Priests immersing their feet. And maybe we won't have time to do it, but if we have time, remind me. It's pretty cool. If not, I'll have to do another program on it.

So, Joshua 22. This is the scene. They've built this altar. It's an altar that's forbidden. There's only allowed to be one altar, according to Leviticus 17 and Deuteronomy 12 and other passages, and that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting, which at this time is... it's kind of confusing, but it's probably at Shiloh. Unclear, it could be at Shekhem, it could be mobile and in different places at different times. Anyway, it certainly isn't in Transjordan. And the other tribes, they get together and say, “We gotta wipe out this… You know, they've gone astray. They've rebelled against God.”

And at the end of verse 15 it says they send a messenger, and they say, “Don't rebel against Yehovah...” and they go on, “…by building for yourselves the altar, which is other than the altar of Yehovah our God. We have one altar of Yehovah our God, there is only one altar that's allowed.” I mean, I guess two, because there's an altar of incense and the altar of offerings. But both of those altars are at the Tabernacle, the Mishkan, they're not over here in Transjordan, across the Jordan River.

And verse 21, “And the sons of Reuben, and then Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered. And they spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, the heads of the families of Israel.” Verse 22, “El Elohim Yehovah.” It's so amazing. You could literally translate it as, “God, God is Yehovah,” or “Yehovah is a mighty God,” that's how I would translate that, because “El” also means “power.”

Anthony: God of Israel.

Nehemia: “Yehovah is a powerful God,” or a “mighty God.” And then they say, “El Elohim Yehovah hu yode'a,” “The Mighty God, Yehovah, He knows and Israel will know.” “Eem bemered ve'eem bema'al ba Yehovah,” “Whether in rebellion and transgression against Yehovah, and if that's the case,” “al toshi'enu hayom hazeh,” “do not save us this day.” We will not have salvation if we're rebelling against God. That's amazing, that's what they say. Is that what you have, “salvation?” It's “toshi'enu,” it’s the same word as “Yeshu'a” which is, you know, Yehoshua. Your guy is Yehovah Yoshia. And it's the same root. You don't have “salvation” there, at the end of verse 22?

Anthony: It says, “Do not vindicate us this day if we built another. Turn away from you, Lord, if it was to offer burnt offerings and meal offerings upon it, or sacrifice will be upon it, the Lord Himself demanded.”

Nehemia: That's verse 23, we’ve got verse 22. Read verse 22 in the JPS. “Reuven, Gad, and half the tribe of Menashe replied,” now read the rest.

Anthony: Yeah. “They said, ‘God, God the Lord God…’”

Nehemia: “God, the Lord God, which is El Elohim Yehovah, He knows...”

Anthony: “And Israel, too, shall know if we acted in rebellion or treachery against the Lord, do not vindicate us.”

Nehemia: Vindicate us, that's what it says?

Anthony: Vindicate, yeah.

Nehemia: So, in the Hebrew it's “toshi'enu,” addressing Yehovah, saying, “Yehovah, don't save us. We will not have salvation if we’ve rebelled against you today.” So, why did they build this altar and renounce their own salvation, or put their own salvation in jeopardy? I mean, they made a vow here, and in Hebrew you can see with the “eem” that this is actually the language of a vow. They've made an oath saying that we renounce our salvation if we're rebelling against God. So, what was the reason of building this altar? And we'll do this really quickly. Guys, read it yourselves in different translations. If you can, read it in the Hebrew, verse 24.

Anthony: Okay, 24. It says, “We did this thing only out of our concern that in the time to come, your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?’”

Nehemia: And I gotta read you, it says, “What have you to do with Yehovah, Elohey Yisrael, the God of Israel?” And here's what I love about this story. I am sitting here with you, and you're not Jewish. Maybe you're from one of the lost tribes, you believe, right?

Anthony: I could be Jewish, yeah.

Nehemia: You could be Jewish, you could be from one of the lost tribes, but you don't know that, right…

Anthony: I don’t.

Nehemia: …the way that I was brought up knowing I'm Jewish. There are people from my camp who will come to you and say, “Anthony, you ain't got nuttin’ to do with the God of Israel.” And imagine, back then, they had the same fear. And it's interesting, the word there is “de'aga,” it was from worry. That's literally what it says. It was because of worry from the matter that we did this, saying, “Tomorrow, your sons will say to our sons, saying, ‘Ma lakhem laYehovah Elohey Yisrael?’” “What do you have to do with the Yehovah, the God of Israel?” And that's happening today, that there are Jews going to Gentiles and saying, “You guys have nothing to do with our God. Get outta here, go worship your gods. You have nothing to do with the God of Israel.”

And back then, that was a problem within the people of Israel, between nine-and-a-half tribes and two and-a-half tribes, that the two-and-a-half tribes across the Jordan River were geographically separated. They're going to say that we've got nothing to do with the God of Israel, and we need some symbol to remind people, and that was the purpose of the altar. They put up that altar not to offer sacrifices on, heaven forbid. The sacrifices could only be brought to the Tabernacle, whether it was in Shiloh or some other location. They could not be brought at any other place except for the one chosen place.

The purpose of this symbolic altar on the Jordan River was to remind people, “Hey, we've got a stake here, too. We're also part of the God of Israel. He's our God, too, He's not just your God. Don't come to our children in generations to come, and tell us we have nothing to do with this God. Remember, this is a spot we all crossed. Imagine, this is the spot. This is the spot we all crossed. It wasn't just you, nine and-a-half tribes. We crossed with you.” And that's why they built the altar somewhere nearby here, to remind the people, “This is the place. Yeah, on the other side you’ve got those stones at Gilgal. Here, we've got this altar to remind everybody that we are part of the people of Israel, part of the God of Israel. Don't deny us that.”

Anthony: And don't forget.

Nehemia: Well, it's not just forgetting. They would remember the two-and-a-half tribes but be told by the other nine-and-a half tribes, “Get outta here, you’ve got nothing to do with us. You can't come to the Tabernacle and offer offerings. You're not part of our people. You're Gentiles.” And what this reminds me of is Isaiah 56.

In the time of Isaiah there were people saying, “Those Gentiles who joined themselves to Yehovah, they don't have a place here in our Temple.” And Isaiah promises them they will have a place in Yehovah's sanctuary. It'll be a house of prayer for all people; this ties into that. We gotta read verse 25, because that's key for me. Can you read verse 25? Joshua 22:25. I don't know if people can hear that in the recording, there's a hammer banging. That hammer is banging in the Kingdom of Jordan across the river.

Anthony: 25, “The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between you and us.”

Nehemia: Stop. Look at the border, it's right there. The boundary is right there.

Anthony: I could actually throw a rock over there. “Oh, Reubenites and Gadites, you have...”

Nehemia: It's interesting, why doesn't it mention the second half of Menashe? Because the first half was in the western tribe of the Jordan, and nobody was gonna say to them, “You're not Israelites.” But to Reuben and Gad they'd be like, “Hey, what do you guys have to do with us?”

Anthony: “You have no share in Yehovah. Thus, your children might prevent our children from worshipping Yehovah.”

Nehemia: I love what it says in Hebrew. It doesn't say prevent, it says, “vehishbitu benekhem et banenu,” “and your sons will Shabbat our sons. They'll cause to cease or rest from worshipping Yehovah.” Your sons are gonna come to our sons and say, “You guys have nothing to do with the God of Israel. You're over there in Transjordan, there's a border between us. You're not really Jews, you're not really Israelites. You're part of some other foreign nation. You're over with the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Arabs. You got nothing to do with us. You're Goyim, you're Gentiles,” “Nokhrim” in Hebrew.

And what it's saying here is, “We've set this up so your sons don't come to our sons and Shabbat us from keeping the Torah, prevent us, cause us to cease and rest from keeping it. We're gonna be back to keeping the Torah. The Shabbat will be over one day, but we don't want that Shabbat to come. We want to keep keeping the Torah. We wanna serve Yehovah, just as we work in our field six days a week, we want to serve Yehovah. That should be our relationship with Him. Don't Shabbat us from keeping the Torah.”

And it says, “vehishbitu benekhem et banenu,” “lest your sons cause our sons to Shabbat,” “lebilti hera'ot Yehovah,” “to not fear Yehovah.” That is such a powerful statement. I gotta apply this to today, ‘cause I see this happening today, where Jews will go to Gentiles and say, “You guys have nuttin’ to do with us. Get away from the God of Israel.” And if you think about it, what they could do is they could say to the two tribes, “Hey, you can't come to the Tabernacle at Shiloh and offer sacrifices. You've got no place here.” How could they prevent them from fearing Yehovah? How could they do that? And the answer is, by discouraging them. They're saying, “Look, you're gonna come and discourage our kids, and tell them they have no portion with the people of Israel, the God of Israel. And they'll be so discouraged, they'll walk away and they won't even worship Yehovah. Forget the sacrifices that you won't let them keep. The real issue here is, you're gonna prevent them, stop them, discourage them from fearing Yehovah, the Creator of the Universe, and we can't let that happen.” And that was the purpose of the altar that was set up about 30 or 40 feet from here.

That's amazing. I mean, to me, this ties in to Isaiah 56, and verse 27 says, “Ki eid hu benenu,” “for it is a testimony, a witness between us and between you, and between our generations after us to serve,” “la'avod et avodat Yehovah, “to serve the worship of Yehovah in His presence with our burnt offerings and our sacrifices, our peace offerings, so that your sons do not say tomorrow to our sons, ‘You have no portion with Yehovah.’” What a powerful thing. To me, these Scriptures that were given to the Jewish people, the people of Israel, the oracles of God, as a light to the nations, to me, that's the testimony for mankind. We don't have the altar anymore; that's a testimony between the nine-and-a-half tribes and two-and-a-half tribes on the Jordan River. But we can see the Jordan River, and we can sit here reading this book, the word of God, the Scriptures. And Anthony, may this book be a testimony between you and me that you do have a portion with the God of Israel. You do have a portion with His Torah. You do have a portion and inheritance with Yehovah and the people of Israel.

Anthony: Yeah, and I'll accept that.

Nehemia: Can I get an Amen?

Anthony: Amen.

Nehemia: I'm gonna end with prayer. And, you know, we didn't get to the main thing we wanted to talk to. Can we talk about that? I'm just gonna say this in like 60 seconds. Yeah, right.

Anthony: We can expand on it later.

Nehemia: And we could do another program. This is something that came to us this morning as we were preparing for this. We've been preparing for what, for 72 hours for this? I've been preparing longer, but you knew about it for 72 hours. I was planning to do this for the last six months. I didn't know I'd do it with you. I wanted to come here to the Jordan River to do the last episode of Prophet Pearls. And then 72 hours ago, I said, “Let's also make it the inaugural episode of Hebrew Voices.” And so, I've been praying this for a long time, but as we were reading it and discussing it on the way down here on the road to Jericho in the little rental car, it occurred to me, and we were talking about how the Priests, as they entered into the land, they baptized their feet in the Jordan River.

It says that in Hebrew, we're not making that up. It says “nitbelu,” their feet were nitbelu, they were tovaled, they were “mikveh'd,” some people call it. But in Hebrew it's “nitbelu,” they were tovaled, they were immersed, they were dipped like the pita in the hummus in the Jordan River. And then, a man named Yeshua of Nazareth was dipped in the Jordan River in the same exact spot. And what caught my attention was that the place Christian tradition says it happened isn't where we're sitting. It's 20 or 30 feet from here on the Jordanian side. And it goes back long before there was a Kingdom of Jordan. According to some Christian traditions, that monastery was built there in the 5th century, maybe it goes back to the 1st century when John did it. I don't know.

But if that really is an authentic tradition preserving real history - which I don't know if it is - but if it is, it's fascinating, because what John the Baptist did is, he brought Yeshua into the Jordan River, just like the Priests came into the Jordan River and both of them have that taval, that baptism, that immersion. And what did the Priests do immediately after that? They then were full-fledged Israelites and prepared to enter into the land. And it's only 20 or 30 feet. They then crossed over into the land. And I wonder if that's what happened in Matthew 3, and in Mark. It's something that's been kind of lost in transmission and translation, is that not just Yeshua, thousands of Jews who came from all over, they stood on the Jordanian side, got their feet and maybe their whole bodies in the Jordan River, and then came out on this side in the land of Israel as renewed Israelites, just like the original Israelites entered into the land. That's pretty cool. I've never heard anybody teach that. I don't know if that's really what it's trying to say in the Gospels.

Anthony: I think that man that we were talking to is another confirmation, because he said they were talking about it, which side was it on, and where was he led to?

Nehemia: I don't know. For me, it's, you know, here we are sitting at it. And until you're sitting here or on your way here and you're thinking about, “Wait a minute. That's the same place where this happened and that happened.”

Anthony: It’s possible, Yehoshua…

Nehemia: And it's the same word, and it’s the same direction; they're entering into the land from Transjordan. You can't figure this stuff out sitting in a library on Mount Scopus, or in North Carolina, or Texas…

Anthony: … or Rome.

Nehemia: … you gotta be here and be surrounded by it. And maybe it's the spirit of Yehovah that's revealing some of these things. I want to end with a prayer, Anthony, if you'll allow me.

Anthony: Yes, please.

Nehemia: Yehovah Elohenu. Yehovah, El Elohim, Yehovah. Yehovah, the mighty God. Yehovah who is the God both of Nehemia and of Anthony. Yehovah, who is the Creator of the Universe, Yehovah who is the God of all mankind. The one who was, is, and who will be. Not just an existence, but with us. Yehovah, today is a day of the greatest sandstorm in the history of recorded weather in Israel. And as we look out over the horizon, we are blinded by this sandstorm, we can't see. I can normally see from here from miles, and I just can't see.

Yehovah, as I'm sitting here and reading your word, I wonder if in some aspects of my life and my walk with you, I'm also blinded by the spiritual sandstorm. And Yehovah, in this coming week we have the... this is pre-recorded, this coming week is gonna be the new moon sighting for Yom Tru'a, as you know. And that's my prayer, Yehovah. I don't know if this will happen, but it's my prayer, that the sand will disappear, that it be blown away by Your Holy Spirit, so that we can see that new moon and know when Your appointed time is.

And it is my same prayer, Yehovah, that the spiritual sandstorm that's blinding so many of God's people be blown away from their eyes so that they can see that symbol in heaven. It says in Scripture that the moon in heaven is a symbol of your people, Israel, and your Messiah, the descendant of David. My prayer is that the people's eyes be allowed to see and the sand dissipate. Even my eyes, Yehovah. There are many things I know… I don't know. I don't know what they are, but I have enough humility to come before you and say, the way that David prayed, “Gal eynay ve'abita niflaot mitoratekha.” Yehovah, uncover my eyes that I may see the wonderful hidden things of your Torah.

In your Holy and precious name, Yehovah. Amen.

Anthony: Amen.

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Show notes:

Nehemia Gordon with Anthony Garcia at the traditional Christian site of the Baptism, where the Israelites also crossed the Jordan River in the time of Joshua.
Nehemia Gordon with Anthony Garcia at the traditional Christian site of the Baptism, where the Israelites also crossed the Jordan River in the time of Joshua.
According to Luke 3:22, as preserved in Codex Bezae, the voice from heaven proclaimed at Yeshua's baptism: Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε· "Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee", a direct quote from Psalms 2:7. The photo comes from Codex Bezae, folio195v. http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00002-00041/371
According to Luke 3:22, as preserved in Codex Bezae, the voice from heaven proclaimed at Yeshua's baptism: Υἱός μου εἶ σύ, ἐγὼ σήμερον γεγέννηκά σε· "Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee", a direct quote from Psalms 2:7. The photo comes from Codex Bezae, folio 195v.

Biography of Anthony Garcia:
Between 2002 and 2004, Anthony Garcia worked with the Church of the Highlands Prison Ministry that entered into the two San Francisco County Jails, one located in San Bruno, and the other in central San Francisco. In 2011, Anthony began to seeking more knowledge of the bible, rooted in the ancient text of the Hebrew writing. In 2015, Anthony began supporting an outreach, located in Nogales Mexico, built by the men he rescued from the living conditions of a city dump. On occasions, Anthony will visit shelters, outreaches, and churches as a traveling speaker to share his experiences.
Verses Mentioned:

  • Dawn Marie McAlister says:

    Nehemia, thank you so much for your heart. All you want to do is share the truth and help those of us who want to see it for ourselves do so. Your goal in ministry has not been to convince people that their belief is wrong, but to give them the tools they need to “check it for themselves.”

    That’s what I heard here, taking us back to the sources, the manuscripts that leave their trail of breadcrumbs for those who are willing to follow. And as always, I find my faith in Yehovah strengthened by the mental exercise of searching for his words in their original language, history, and context.

  • Janet says:

    Really good program. I do miss hearing Keith though. Thank you for all your teachings.

  • Thank you it was excellent spending this in prayer and thought…

  • A Christian is not Greek for Messianic. The Hebrew Mashiach never preached Christianity and He is also not the founder of Christianity. Christianity is a apostate version of the True Philosophy of Mashiach. ” The Lord Jesus Christ” was secretively carried into the Knessets or Assemblies to replace the Hebrew Mashiach, Ye- Hoshuwah. Therefore Shaul speaks of another Ye-Hoshuwah, another Set-apart Spirit and another Good News Message of Ha Mashiach, in 2 Corinthians 11:4. They have replaced the Hebrew Mashiach with the Greek Iesous, now known as Jesus in the Delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:11. Lord means Baal, a pagan god, Jesus means Ie Zeus, a pagan god and Christ means Krishna, a pagan god. Nehemiah Gordon helps us to distinguished between the True and False Mashiach. Shalom!

  • Isai Marines says:

    Hey brother Nehemia.. Hi my name is Isai Marines, and I want to tell you that I am a messianic or in Greek, a christian, for that matter, but I am inclined to the Hebrew roots of Yeshua the messiah and I try to learn the most that I can, the torah, from a hebraic perspective. I got to tell you that you have helped me a lot. You are an awesome teacher and I pray that you please don’t give up on us. Please pay no attention to to those that feel threatened of being snared away from “Jesus”. If there is anything that you have done is gotten me closer to my Meshiac because you have helped me understand him in his Jewish apparel and I thank you for that. I pray and ask one more time to please don’t feel put down by the wanna be know it alls! You have been a blessing and I will always thank you for that. Who cares if you believe in Yeshua or not, that is your business and that is final, if there is something Christians should be doing is thanking you for shedding light of torah to us that are disabled in the hebrew language and culture.. Again I thank you brother