Assemblies of Yahweh Ministries Newsletter

Issue No. 05                                               India                                                           April 2003

Festival of Unleavened Bread 2003

All of good will are invited to attend the Festival of Unleavened Bread that will be kept in Vishakhapatnam April 17-24 with Yahshua's Memorial Supper being served at the end of April 16.  The Feast site will be at the Zion School premises in Pithapuram colony.  Sleeping and bathing arrangements and meals will be available at the school premises.  Those planning to attend and take meals, should notify in advance by contacting the address at the end of this newsletter. 

The Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread is a memorial to the life and death of Yahshua Messiah, who came to ransom man from the penalty of sin.  The seven days of Unleavened bread are a time to focus on becoming spiritually unleavened from sin and false doctrine, as we study the law of Yahweh that was lived out in the life of Yahshua our Savior. 

"Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Messiah our Passover is sacrificed for us:  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."  1Cor. 5:7,8

Telugu Sacred Name Bible Translation Project

The Telugu Bible Translation Project is going forward peacefully in Eluru, W.G. Dt. A.P.  Brother M. Mosheh from Secunderabad has joined the present translation team.  Bro. Mosheh was a Christian of Lutheran background studying for his Master of Phil. degree in Political Science at the University of Hyderabad in Gachi-bowli.  He became interested in the nation of Israel so he decided to do his final thesis paper on, "Zionism and Israeli foreign policy during the years of 1967-73".  He was taking a pro-Israeli view, but his teacher wanted him to take a Palestinian view.  As it turned out he could not complete his degree, as his teacher would not accept his sources in his paper, nor the view he was presenting, so his official schooling was stopped.  But he continued his own private study, which has lead him away from the Lutheran church and into a Torah observant lifestyle. 

Mosheh and Bro. Mattithyah met through the international fellowship webpage of eliyah.com , and Mosheh finally joined with Brothers G.B. Benoni and Mattithyah in the Translation Project in Eluru.  At present the books of Gen.-Lev. and Daniel have been completed.

The process of the translation of the Old Testament is as follows.  The translation process will start with the comparing of the Bible Society of India's Telugu translation with that of the English "The Scriptures" version from S. Africa.  If any difference in the wording is seen then the Jay Green Interlinear Bible along with looking into the Strongs Hebrew Dictionary will be consulted to get a good understanding of what the original Hebrew is saying.  Several other English translations as well as the Catholic Telugu version, the Briggs, Driver and Brown Hebrew Lexicon, etc... are consulted when necessary.  After the text is written on paper it is then typed into the computer and printed out and then proofread for errors and reading style.  The original Names of Yahweh and Yahshua are being used for the Father and Son and all names of places and people are being taken back to the original Hebrew pronunciation.  Hebrew titles will be used for the Father and Son also.

We solicite the prayers of all for wisdom and guidance in this most important project.

Fundamental Belief #4 – The Messiah

Throughout the Tanak (Old Testament) the promise of a coming Messiah that would be a Savior to Israel is continually presented in various prophecies.  In Lev. 17:11 Yahweh told Mosheh that, "the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."  So blood is what makes "atonement" for our souls.

The Hebrew word for Atonement in the above verse is "kaphar" and according to the Strong's Expanded Hebrew Dictionary, kaphar means, "to cover over, propitiate, ransom, atone, expiate."  Ransom is defined in the Collins Concise Dictionary as, "the release of captured prisoners, property, etc., on payment of a stipulated price."  So, according to Lev. 17:11 we were considered captured prisoners of sin and the payment of eternal death was required for the sins we had committed in order for us to be released.  In the very beginning, Yahweh had told Adam and Chawah(Eve) that if they knowingly disobeyed His divine will, that they would die, Gen. 2:16,17.  Mankind became a prisoner to sin and death because of his willful transgression of the commandment of his Creator.

The sacrificial death of a particular animal was required in the Torah for the forgiveness of a man's sin.  In Lev. 16, on the great Day of Atonement, it tells how all of man's transgressions against the Law of Yahweh were to be paid for by the sacrificial death of a goat, see verses 15,16,20-22.  Verses 33,34 say, "And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, ... and for all the people of the congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year."  Every year there was a continual reminder of the sins of the people by the offerings of the goats on the Day of Atonement.  But King David said, in Ps. 40:6,7, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my Elohim: yea, thy law is within my heart.".  Who is this person that all the Torah spoke of, that would come and fulfill all the sacrifices and offerings of the Law?  Isa. 53 says, speaking of a certain man,

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of Elohim, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.   All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Yahweh hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth... Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

Here we see that a "righteous servant" was to come into the world and He was to make His soul an offering for the sins of many.  Did a righteous teacher of the Law of Yahweh ever come into the world that was later put to death even though He had done no sin? 

Approximately 2000 years ago, the man Yahoshua was born into the world, Yahoshua claimed that He had always kept the Law of Yahweh and that He had done no sin, see Jn.8:29,46; 14:30.  Yahoshua's mother was a young virgin named Miriam but His Father was Yahweh El Shaddai, Lk.1:35.  Yahoshua foretold that He would be put to death and that His blood would be shed for the remission of the sins of many, see Mt. 26:1,2,27,28. 

The Assemblies of Yahweh accept that Yahoshua was the prophesied Messiah of the Tanak, that willingly gave His life as a freewill offering for the sins of all repenting mankind, and that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish eternally, but will have everlasting life, Jn. 3:16. 

The ransom price of eternal death has been paid for the souls of all mankind;  eternal life is within the reach of all.

A story illustrating the Atonement

There were two brothers, one devout and sincere, but the other was evil, keeping bad companions.  The older would tell the younger he should change his bad ways, but the younger would not listen.  One evening, the older was quietly reading the Bible in his house and the younger came and started banging on the door.  When the older opened the door he saw his younger brother in bloodstained clothes.  The younger explained that he had just killed a man and asked the older to help him somehow.  The older said, "quick, let us exchange our clothes."  So the older put on the younger brother's bloodstained clothes and the younger put on the older's clean white clothes, and the younger fled away.  Soon the police came and started knocking on the door.  The older brother opened the door and said, "I take full responsibility for the crime."  Faced with the evidence of the bloodstained clothes, the police arrested the older brother and charged him with the crime. 

The older brother went to the judge and was sentenced to be hung to death the next morning.  The older brother asked the judge to let him write one letter to his younger brother.  The judge agreed.  The letter was delivered the next morning to the younger brother, it said, "My dear younger brother, I am dying today in your bloodstained clothes for the crime that you committed, I only ask one thing of you, that is that you turn from your evil ways and live righteously, as symbolized by the white clothes I have given you." 

After reading the letter, the younger immediately ran to the judge, showed him the letter, and confessed that he was the guilty one.  But the older had already been put to death.  The judge read the letter, and said, "A crime was committed and the justice of the law has been satisfied, what was between you and your brother is of no concern to me."  From that point on, the younger brother lived an honest upright life as he could not do evil when he remembered his older brother's white clothes.

As in this story, Yahshua Messiah is mankind's elder brother that has taken our sins upon Himself, and died the eternal death that was ours.  Mankind shows that he accepts and appreciates the great Sacrifice that was made for him by believing in his heart that Yahshua is his Savior and Redeemer and by living a righteous life of obedience to the law of Yahweh.

Contact Information:                                           

Those planning to attend the feast of Unleavened Bread should contact the address below and inform of the dates they hope to attend.  Feast of Unleavened Bread dates, April 17-24, 2003.

Assemblies of Yahweh Ministries                          W.G. Dt., A.P. 534001

G. B. Benoni                                                            8812-250404

Navabpet, Eluru                            > >                      yahweh@vsnl.com  (bro. Mattithyah)

The Vishakhapatnam Assembly of Yahweh

0891-2575569 (Zion School phone #)

9849147243 cell phone

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in Yahweh for ever: for in Yah Yahweh is everlasting strength:"  Isa. 26:3,4