Here are some hard questions to ponder: do we serve God because He is worthy to be served, or because we expect to get something for ourselves? Do we really have faith in God, or do we have faith in our idea of God? These are some of the questions Barry Phillips and David Jones address in this conversation about the life our Messiah calls us to live.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229....2194/episodes/182547
Here are some hard questions to ponder: do we serve God because He is worthy to be served, or because we expect to get something for ourselves? Do we really have faith in God, or do we have faith in our idea of God? These are some of the questions Barry Phillips and David Jones address in this conversation about the life our Messiah calls us to live.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/229....2194/episodes/182547
No it’s not commanded, and yes it’s a man-made tradition. But it’s not pagan. Don’t confuse “man-made” with pagan. Celebrate or don’t. It’s your call. But Would You Kindly refrain from telling people it’s pagan like Christmas & Easter. It’s not. Be grateful or be quiet.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Second Guess First Assumptions
Question Everything
Get Biblical
templecrier.com/paganism
This is why we cannot have nice things. You guys aren't going to like Facebook better than here...
It’s with great sadness that I need to share some difficult news. Due to diminishing funding and a steadily declining number of active members, we’ve reached a point where it’s no longer possible to keep the TTN platforms running.
Another challenge has been TTN’s open-platform nature. Because all subjects are allowed—such as polygamy and other sensitive topics—some people prefer not to be associated with the site. The only way to overcome this would be to rewrite the T&Cs and restrict who can join or what can be discussed… but doing so goes completely against the original vision of TTN as an open, community-led space.
In other words, I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.
The only real way forward would be to re-focus and rebuild the platform, but that requires time, energy, and funding that I no longer have. So unless someone steps forward to take over TTN, the site will unfortunately be shut down. It’s a real shame, but I’m personally out of steam and simply cannot carry it on alone.
TTN will close on Friday, 13 December 2025 at 12:00pm BST (7:00am EST on 12 December 2025) if no takeover occurs.
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported TTN over the past 4.5 years. People like Nick have published a post every day since he first joined in 2021 except when he was taken up in the hospital. Thanks Nick Liebenberg I really appreciate your posts and financial support to date.❤️
Please take time over the coming weeks to connect with those you've met here and arrange alternative ways to stay in touch.
If anything changes or someone steps forward, I will update everyone immediately.
If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.
Proverbs 25:16 ESV
Although literally true, this Proverb isn't about honey. It's about company and speech and there are two sides. First, if you have a friend that you really like, don't spend all your time with that one person. Nobody is perfect, and everybody sours with enough knowledge and attention. Second, don't make yourself a nuisance. No matter how charming you are, eventually people will get tired of you.
112625 / 4th day of the 9th month 5786
WORD FOR TODAY “are you consecrated”: Jos 3:5 Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you."
WISDOM FOR TODAY: Pro 19:22 What is desirable in a man is his kindness, And it is better to be a poor man than a liar.
Ask the LORD is HE going to allow you to live in HIS house in heaven
www.BGMCTV.org
BIBLE STUDY --- THE GOOD SHEPHERD
OUTSIDE THE LAND
From Matthew 15:21-28
After this, Yeshua went into the countryside near Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman who lived there came to see Yeshua and begged Him for help. [Show mercy to me, King David’s son,] she pleaded. [My daughter has a demon in her and it is making her life miserable.] But Yeshua was silent. [Send this woman away,] His disciples said. [She keeps following us and making such a fuss.] At last Yeshua spoke. [I have been sent only to the lost people of Israel,] He said. But the woman fell down before Yeshua and begged Him some more. [Adonai, help me,] she pleaded. [It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to dogs,] He said. Then the woman answered. [You are right, Adonai,] she said. [But you also know that the dogs are glad to eat the few crumbs that fall from the table.] [You have great faith,] Yeshua told the woman. [So that for which you ask is now yours.] At the very moment He said that, the woman’s daughter became well.
A TIME FOR MIRACLES
From Mark 7:31-37
Leaving the countryside near Tyre, Yeshua went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, passing through the Decapolis or region of the Ten Towns. There some people brought a man who was deaf and almost without speech, begging Yeshua to put His hand on him. Yeshua took the man apart from the crowd and placed His fingers in the man’s ears. Then He spat and touched the man’s tongue. Looking up into heaven, Yeshua gave a sigh. [Open up!] Yeshua said. Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was freed so that he began to talk clearly. Yeshua ordered the people not to tell others about this, but it was too wonderful to be kept secret. The more He told them to keep it a secret, the more they told others about it. Of course, people were amazed when they heard about this miracle. [He certainly does everything well,] they said. [He even helps people hear and speak again!]
WHEN FOUR THOUSAND WERE FED
From Mark 8:1-9
One day a large crowd gathered around Yeshua. They stayed with Him for three days. Eventually they had no food left to eat, so Yeshua called the disciples to Him. [I’m concerned about these people, for they’ve been with Me three days and now they have no food,] He said. [If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way, for some have come a long distance.] [But where will we ever find enough food for them out here in the wilderness?] the disciples wondered. [How much bread do you have?] Yeshua asked. [Seven loaves,] the disciples answered. Yeshua told the crowd to sit on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks to YHVH, broke them into pieces, and asked His disciples to give the bread to the people. After the disciples had distributed the bread, they brought a few small fish to Yeshua. He gave thanks to YHVH for these also and told the disciples to distribute them to the crowd. When everyone had eaten until he was full, there were enough leftovers to fill seven baskets. Then Yeshua dismissed the crowd, which numbered more than four thousand people.
COMMENTARY
GENTILE NEIGHBOURS
In Bible times, the Roman army had conquered many of the smaller nations and made them a part of Caesar’s empire. The original boundaries that marked a country were no longer important, because most of the lands that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea now served the Roman emperor. Roads were built throughout the empire and people travelled freely from place to place. As they travelled, they came in contact with the cultures -- the ideas and customs -- of their neighbours. If something in another country was admired, the idea was often {borrowed} and made a part of their own culture. Even the Romans borrowed ideas from the countries they had conquered. They admired the art and architecture of the Greeks, and soon Roman art and architecture began to look very much like it. It became fashionable to speak Greek instead of Latin, and soon the Greek language was spoken all over the Roman empire. But the Jews in Palestine did not want to {borrow} from the Roman world. The Jews scorned their Gentile neighbours because they worshiped false gods represented by idols. They considered the Greeks and Romans unclean because of this and tried to avoid any contact with them. Since they were far too small in number and weak to fight for their independence, they separated themselves from the Roman culture in other ways instead. They kept to themselves as much as possible. A Jew even avoided brushing against a Gentile on the street. If he were defiled by contact with a Gentile, a Jew would not be able to go into the temple to offer his sacrifice. He wanted to keep away from anything that would make him unclean in the eyes of YHVH.
BIBLE STUDY --- THE GOOD SHEPHERD
OPEN CONFLICT
From Mark 7:1-23
Once some Pharisees came to Yeshua, along with a delegation of other religious leaders from Jerusalem. They had watched Yeshua’ disciples eating their food without the usual ceremonial washing which these leaders required. These Pharisees had a tradition that they had received from their ancestors which they passed on to all the Jews. No Jew was to eat without first washing his hands in a certain way, nor was he to eat anything bought at the market without first purifying it by sprinkling. This was only one of the many customs which they practiced, such as washing cups, pots, pans, and other pottery in the required way. [Why don’t Your disciples follow the customs of our people, instead of eating with unclean hands?] the Pharisees and religious leaders asked Yeshua. [Isaiah said the right words about you,] Yeshua answered. [Here is what he said: ‘These people can say nice words about the Adonai, but they don’t honour Him with their hearts. Their worship is empty, for they teach their own rules as though they were YHVH’s Laws.’ Don’t you realize that you have given up YHVH’s Laws, just so you can teach man-made traditions?] Yeshua told them, [You have cleverly substituted your own customs for YHVH’s Commandments. For example, Moses gave you a Commandment from YHVH that you should honour your father and mother and that anyone who says evil against his parents must die. But you twist this around by saying that you can’t help your needy parents because you have given all that you have to YHVH. In this way, you ignore YHVH’s Laws so that you can hold on to man-made customs. There are many other examples that I could give, too!] Then Yeshua called to the crowd to listen to Him. [Pay attention to Me, now!] He said. [Nothing that goes into a person from the outside will make him unclean. No, it is what comes out of a person that makes him unclean. If you have ears, you should listen!] When Yeshua left the people, He went into a house. There the disciples asked Him what He meant by the things He had just said. [Don’t you understand this anymore than the crowd?] Yeshua asked. [Isn’t it clear that the food you eat will not defile you? Food goes into your stomach, not your heart, and then passes on through the body. No food will make you unclean. It is not what a man puts into his body, but what he takes out of his heart, that makes him unclean. From the heart come the evil thoughts that cause men to lust, kill, steal, desire what others have, do wicked deeds, deceive, slander, or to become proud or foolish. All of these evil things come from within a man and defile him.]
COMMENTARY
THE PHARISEES AND THEIR RULES
The very word {Pharisees} makes people think of the men Yeshua called hypocrites. He compared them to whitewashed tombs that seem clean on the outside but are filled with rotten bones within. Yeshua’ words made the Pharisees very angry, because during New Testament times they were much respected for their obedience to the law. Their anger at Yeshua’ criticism drove them to plot ways to get rid of Him. They wanted to trap Him so that He would be put to death. But not everyone who was a Pharisee was involved in the plot to kill Yeshua. There were some men among them who were honestly trying to lead pious, devout lives. The name {Pharisee} meant {One Who is Separate,} and they wanted to live up to the name by being more strictly observant of the Law -- as they understood it -- than anyone else around them. Nicodemus was one such honest Pharisee. He truly wanted to obey YHVH, and he went to Yeshua because he believed that Yeshua was sent by YHVH. But Nicodemus had to make his visit at night, because he was afraid of his fellow Pharisees and their plot against Yeshua. The Pharisees recognized two kinds of religious Law. The first was the {written Law,} those Commandments YHVH gave to the Israelites through Moses. The second was the {oral law,} This had been handed on by word of mouth through many generations of rabbis. To the Pharisees, it was important and necessary to observe the oral Law. The oral Law was made up of many rules and regulations that covered almost all the activities of the people. They were much more detailed than YHVH’s Commandments. Religious men had created them because they wanted to build a kind of {hedge} or shield around the written Law. If a person followed all the hundreds of little rules, he would be shielded from accidentally breaking YHVH’s written Law. That is one reason why Pharisees wanted to follow them so carefully. For instance, YHVH Commanded that the seventh day was the Shabbat, and that men should rest from their work on that day. The Pharisees were so afraid of accidentally disobeying YHVH that they made up rules that explained what actions were considered {work.} They would not light a fire on the Shabbat. Their children were not permitted to comb their hair. Flies could not be swatted. As time passed, the Pharisees made the mistake of thinking their man-made rules were just as important as YHVH’s Laws, and perhaps even more so. They put their regulations before anything else, even the health of their families. A child with a sore throat could not gargle on the Shabbat. A sick man could be prevented from getting worse, but to heal him was work. The Pharisees also prohibited their members from doing simple, enjoyable things on the Shabbat. They could not go for a walk or visit a friend if they had to travel more than two thousand cubits from their households. That distance -- almost one and a half miles -- was known as the Shabbat day’s journey. But the Pharisees had yet another rule that helped them get around their own Shabbat-travel restrictions. A man’s household was declared to be anywhere that he owned property. To stretch the borders of his household, a Pharisee who planned a long Shabbat-day journey sent his servant ahead the day before. At distances of two thousand cubits, the servant left behind some possession from his master’s household. That allowed the Pharisee to travel the whole distance -- without ever being more than {a Shabbat day’s journey} of two thousand cubits from some portion of his household. The Pharisees also used their Laws to condemn Yeshua as a Lawbreaker. They denounced Him for healing people on the Shabbat. They condemned His disciples for eating grain from the fields on the day of rest. The disciples who picked the kernels of wheat from their stalks, said the Pharisees, were actually harvesting on the Shabbat day. The Pharisees believed that if they lived in perfect obedience to YHVH, it would bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth. They thought that if they were devout and pious enough, if they followed all the Laws they knew, YHVH would send them His Moshiach. Yet when the Moshiach came, the very man-made laws they had come to love prevented them from understanding Him. Yeshua called them {blind guides leading the blind} because they continued to look for YHVH’s Saviour when He was already among them.
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