STATEMENT OF FAITH
Table of Contents
God, Our Father
I was passing through ad considering the objects of your worship; I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it […] (Book of the Acts of the Apostles 17.22-24)
Just as Paulos espoused, we believe there is only one true God. Infinite and sovereign in every conceivable way, He resides outside of creation – the heavens or the earth – and created all things therein. He is our God. He alone. There is much that can be said of Him, but too much to record. Through Yeshua’s obediance to Our Father and love for us, He reveals the truth and faithfulness of Our God.
The Name of God
Here, at The Wilderness Ministries, we believe that God’s name should not be hidden by the word “LORD”. Even in the time of the prophets, His name and glory were obscured and confused for “Ba’al” (a name of a pagan deity; meaning Lord). We also don’t prescribe to the common assumed pronunciations of the tetragrammaton, YHWH: Yahweh, Yahuwah, Yehovah, Jehovah, etc. Each have their own problems and come from particularly dubious sources. Instead, we choose to use titles and names that have clear biblical support: Father, Yah, El’Elyon, Eloheim, Yah Saba’oth, and the like. His name, of course, should never be uttered vainly.
Yeshua, the Son of God
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Yeshua (Timotheos (Timothy) 5.17-20)
In order to fully understand and appreciate our Lord and King, Yeshua, it is important to recognize the role that He alone plays in our salvation. Inserting a duality to His nature – statements that cause confusion, such as “eternally begotten”, “100% man and 100% God”, or “God in flesh” – diminishes who He was and is and what He did and is doing now. The Wilderness Ministries affirms the titles attributed to Yeshua our Messiah, that can be demonstrated explicitly by the Scriptures.
The Firstborn of All Creation
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation… and He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the preeminent firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. (Colossians 1.15, 18)
Yeshua is the firstborn, or the one who inherits the Kingdom, and the chief first of those who would be raised from the dead, first of creation raised unto incorruptibility.
The Son of God
Whoever believes the Son of God has testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son. (1 Yochanon (John) 5.10)
Yeshua has been attributed the title, “The Son of God”, the one who was appointed as Yah’s Annointed King of the New World for eternity, who was raised from the dead on account of His perfect obediance to our Father.
The Word
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being. (The Gospel According to Yochanon (John) 1.1-3)
In the Gospel According to Yochanon, Yeshua was called the Word of God. By doing so, Yochanon recalls the creation narrative, Genesis, alluding to Yeshua being present through some aspect of His being. Through His Spirit, Yah influences His creation by mere decrees. Therefore by His Word, all things in the universe came into being and was given its order. In the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters and, as prophesied by Yesha’Yahu, His Spirit hovers and rests within the Messiah. Prior to His resurrection, even Yeshua identifies Himself as Yah’s temple.
Yeshua answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Yehudim said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of His body. (The Gospel According to Yochanon (John) 2.19-21)
In the Aramaic Targums (translations), a prevalent tradition of Scripture that precedes even the time of the Apostles, the Word (Memra or Debar) was described as Yah’s physically-manifested representative. The Word was to be identified with God, but not to be understood as the totality of His being. Yochanon thus teaches us that the Word, Yah’s express manifestation of His power, will, and wisdom, dwelt among humanity by taking on flesh and blood, becoming something new and independent of Himself. It became the human-being, Yeshua, His divinely-exalted Messiah.
Our High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (The Epistle to the Hebrews 4.15)
The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches us about what Yeshua is doing at this very moment. Yeshua, having ascended throught the heavens, took His place next to Our Father as His eternally appointed High Priest. Having been placed at this position, He has become our mediator to God and the promised New Covenant. He ratifies and offers up our spiritual sacrifices to the Father and enables us to do every kind of good work by bestowing upon us the Spirit that, without limit, dwells within Him.
The Lamb of God
Yochanon saw Yeshua coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (The Gospel According to Yochanon (John) 1.29)
Yeshua has been likened to various temple sacrifices. Yochanon haMatvil (John the Immerser) announced Yeshua as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Indeed, Yeshua works even now to intercede as the perfect mediator between Yah and man, preparing the saint to inherit the New World alongside Him.
We should understand that this metaphor encapsulates His divinely-enabled initiative. Yeshua is not a literal sacrifice for sin. We instruct learners to always consult the Torah on matters such as sacrifices. Our Father never instructs us on how to make a “perfect human sacrifice”. He condemns the very idea! Therefore, Yeshua blood does not literally apply to us like the blood of goats, bulls, lambs, and cows once did. Instead, the “life/soul is in the blood.” (Vayikra (Leviticus) 17.11)
What this means is that Yeshua’ life – His perfect obediance to the Father, even unto death – enables Him to be in a position to atone for our sins on our behalf (one of the main priestly duties) and reconcile us with Our Father unto the New World.
The Scriptures
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (Timotheos (Timothy) 5.17-20)
The Wilderness Ministries believes that the Scriptures, the canon of which we regard as: the TaNaKh (The Torah, the Prophets, and Writings), the Apostalic Scriptures (also called the New Testament), and what we dub as the “the Other Writings” (some books others would call Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical).
We firmly believe that all Scripture is inspired by God, through His spirit, and are without error in their original giving. We will assert that they are the only absolute and final authority for all matters of belief and implementation into our lives – our halachah or “walk” of faith.
Traditions and Translations.
For an in-depth study on this topic, please visit our study on the matter: Translations or Traditions
The Wilderness Ministries considers extant biblical text to have at least two qualities to consider: Tradition & Translation. Not all biblical texts are translations. For example, the most common tradition our Bibles derive from are the Masoretic Text. This is the tradition, not a translation. It derives directly from the closest known approximation to the Old-Hebrew language. Likewise, we would classify the KJV as an English Translation of the Masoretic Tradition.
With these things in view, we do not limit our Scriptural studies to only one tradition or translation. We consider the following:
The Masoretic Text: Almost exclusively from the Leningrad Codex.
The Septuagint or LXX: The Greek Translation of the Hebrew-Alexandrian Tradition. We prefer to use the Lexham LXX.
The Aramaic Targums: The various liturgical texts of the Targumic Traditions.
The Samaritan Torah: The Torah, namely Genesis through Deuteronomy, according to the Samaritan tradition.
- Qumran / Dead Sea Writings: Also called the Qumranic Tradition, written by the Yahad, or the “Community” of Zadokite priests of antiquity. While not all things found at Qumran and the other sites are authoritative, all information therein is insightful and useful. We read the material as a second witness of sorts. Most of which speaks to an older tradition than the Masoretic, and also supports or refutes the LXX and Samaritan Torah in certain areas.
Levels of Understanding Scripture.
We believe that the Scriptures can be understood in 4-levels; a technique passed by ancient scribes and teachers:
- Pashat: simple and straight-forward reading of the text. No passage should lose its pashat when moving to other stages of understanding.
- Remez: Hinted or implied meaning of the text.
- Drash: Allegorical interpretations of the text.
- Sod: Hidden, sometimes prophetic, meaning of the text.
Writings We Read as Authoritative.
B’Resheet (Genesis)
Shemot (Exodus)
Vayikra (Leviticus)
B’Midbar (Numbers)
Devariym (Deuteronomy)
Yehoshua (Joshua)
Shofetiym (Judges)
Rut (Ruth)
Shmu’El א (1 Samuel)
Shmu ‘El ב (2 Samuel)
Melakhiym א (1 Kings)
Melakhiym ב (2 Kings)
Divrei haYamim א (1 Chronicles)
Divrei HaYamim ב (2 Chronicles)
Ezra / β Esdras
Nechem’Yah (Nehemiah)
Esther
Job
Tehilot (Psalms) | Mizmor (Individual Psalm)
Mishlei (Proverbs)
Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)
Shir-Hashirim (Song of Songs)
Yesha’Yahu (Isaiah)
Yerme’Yahu (Jeremiah)
Eykhah (Lamentations)
Yechezeq’El (Ezekiel)
daniy’El (Daniel)
Hoshea (Hosea)
Yo’El (Joel)
Amos
Oved’Yah (Obadiah)
Yonah (Jonah)
Miykah (Micah)
nachum (Nahum)
Habakkuk
Tzefan’Yah (Zephaniah)
Chaggah (Haggai)
Zekar’Yah (Zechariah)
Melakiy (Malachi)
the gospel according to Mattityah (Matthew)
The Gospel According To Markos (Mark)
The Gospel According To Loukas (Luke)
The Gospel According To Yochannon (John)
Book of the Acts of the Apostles
the epistle to the Romans
1 epistle to the Corinthians
2 epistle to the Corinthians
3 epistle to the Corinthians (1 Clement)
the Epistle to the Galatians
the Epistle to the Ephesians
the Epistle to the Philippians
the Epistle to the Colossians
1 epistle to the Thessalonians
2 epistle to the Thessalonians
1 epistle to Timotheos
2 epistle to Timotheos
Epistle to Titus
Epistle to Philemon
The Epistle to the ivrim (Hebrews)
Epistle from Ya’akov (James)
1 epistle from Kefa (1 Peter)
2 epistle from Kefa (2 Peter)
1 epistle from Yochanon (1 John)
2 epistle from Yochanon (2 John)
3 epistle from Yochanon (3 John)
epistle from yehuda, brother of Yehsuah (Jude)
Hitgalut (Revelation)
Wisdom of Solomon
Testament of the Twelve Tribes
Baruch / Epistle Of Jeremiah
Ben Sirach
Tobit
α Esdras
γ Esdras
Jubilees
α Maccabees
β Maccabees
Judith
Assumption of Moses
Ascension of Isaiah
Prayer of Manasseh
Prayer of Azariah
Bel and the Dragon
The Didache
Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit)
Ruach HaKodesh?
Despite there being no specific title given to God’s spirit called “Ruach HaKodesh” (Literally meaning the “The Set-Apart / Sacred Spirit”) in the TaNaKh, the Ruach is dubbed as such in the Apostalic Scriptures.
God & His Spirit.
The Spirit is, instead, best understood as His power, presence, and activity. Extend this thought by saying, the Spirit is God in action, God in communication; His power and His very personality, as He influences creation.
But if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is upon you. (The Gospel According to Mattityah (Matthew) 12.28)
But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God is upon you. (The Gospel According to Loukas (Luke) 11.20)
The natural reading of these side-by-side displays that the “finger” and “spirit” are equally descriptive. The Spirit is Yah’s will and it is the means by which He acts.
What the Spirit Is & What It Does.
- Agent of His power, personality, and presence.
- Herald of His wrath or shalom.
- To impart spirtual gifts (spirituals), including those of Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, and Prophecy.
- A means of communication.
- Dwell among and within the righteous.
- Annoint the righteous.
- Living Water that cleanses and heals.
- Empowers believers to sanctify themselves and produce spiritual fruit.
- Gathers and guides believers through the Wilderness
Torah
For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. (1 Yochanon (John) 5.3)
Not One Yod or Stroke
Our Master, Yeshua, made it clear that not a yod or stroke would pass away until the Time of Consummation. Yeshua himself followed the Torah perfectly. We affirm that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that we shall abide in Him. In Yochanon’s epistle, the sage says, “He who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk just as He walked.” (1 Yochanon 2.6)
Yeshua’s Disciples
Why do you call me Lord and do not do the things which I say? (The Gospel According to Loukas (Luke) 6.46)
By our estimation, there are two types of people within Yah’s camp: those who disobey Him, yet do so in Yeshua’s name and those who obey Him, and do so in Yeshua’s name. We believe the latter to be His disciples. Here, at The Wilderness Ministries, we teach that Yah’s Torah is applicable for believers and their journey of sanctification.