Pastor Oz Tin man's Page

"But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13

"Thus you are nullifying and making void and of no effect the authority of the Word of God (John 1:14) through your tradition, which you, in turn, pass on. And many things of this kind you are doing." Mark 7:13

The Seventh Day of Passover, beginning the evening of April 14th), is the anniversary of the crossing of the Sea of Reeds by the children of Israel as they fled before Pharaoh and his army.

And God said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward." Exodus 14:15

There is a midrash from the Jewish Talmud (the oral legend) that tells of the time when this people of God, newly redeemed from the bondage's of Egypt, were confronted with the need to make a choice. With the Egyptians bearing down on them from behind and nothing but the sea before them, Nachshon ben Aminadav, an ardent believer in this One True Living God of Abraham, after hearing Gods instruction to Moses, simply walked into the sea up to his nostrils - not hesitating for a moment. Facing east to the distant land promised by Elohim to the children of Israel, Nachshon knew exactly what he was doing. To the others watching from the shoreline, his actions may have appeared suicidal, but GOD immediately took action and the sea split before him. Nachshon did what no one else had dared to do: He took his belief in the Father and put it to the ultimate test for, if the Father had not shown up in that moment, he and the other Hebrews would have become food for the fishes.

There is a time for praying and there is a time for moving forward - first hearing, then moving. For most of us, we want to wait on the shore and pray that the sea parts before we move across it or, out of fear, we pick up a sword and attempt to fight an enemy we have been given no power or authority to defeat - all in the prayerful Name of GOD, of course. This is not moving in Faith over what He has spoken, it is 'crying' to Him to further our own interests - it becomes a vain prayer (remember that vanity means to 'appropriate for selfish purposes'.
By praying vainly, we can actually find ourselves praying in opposition to His Plans and Purposes - at which point we will not be held guiltless, meaning that we place ourselves in a position to become subject to a spirit of deception.

Believe - from the Greek word 'pisteuo' meaning: to be persuaded of, to place confidence in, to adhere to, trust in

Notice that in the passage from the first chapter of John above, it is possible to 'believe' and not become a 'son of God.The Greek word for 'power' used here is exousia, the same word which is used for 'authority' in Luke 9:1 and means - power of choice. It is only those who exercise their 'power of choice' (meaning the choice given them to exercise their belief in the trustworthiness of God) that become sons of God. The authority of choice we are given is the power to choose to exhibit our faith, our belief, in the face of obstacles that are, seemingly, overwhelming.

Saving Grace Before making a choice to exhibit faith, however, we need to wait to hear what the Father is saying - otherwise, we find ourselves in a place of 'making up' choices. Faith is not straining to believe something into existence we desperately want to see happen. Faith is not giving lip-service to a dogma or tenant we feel will be useful to us. Faith is first hearing the Voice of the Father (John 12:50, see "Hearing His Voice"), then, subsequently, moving in the direction He illumines - regardless of what we see, what we hear, what we feel or what we think. Faith is exhibiting confidence by our actions that He will do everything we have heard Him say He will do (Hebrews 11:1).

To say "I believe in God, therefore I am saved" is to be ignorant of scripture. Most reading this article would give no credence to the statement, "I believe in evolution, therefore, it exists." There has to be proof of its existence before belief can be validated. "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble!" James 2:19. To simply 'believe' is not sufficient to warrant validation, there must be an evidentiary exhibition of that belief in order for it to be valid.

'Believe' is found in Genesis 15:6 in the Hebrew to be 'aman' and means to stand firm in, to be found reliable in, to be faithful in doing. As the father of our faith, Abraham exhibited his belief in what the Father was saying to him by causing his actions to adhere to the words GOD had spoken the very day he heard them (Genesis 17:23). Romans 4:12 says Abraham is the father of all who 'walk in the steps of that faith' he exhibited in haEl haNaAman (Hebrew for 'the Faithful One'). To 'believe' requires an alignment of our life to the Words of Our Lord. It is in the dual action of sealing our confession before men with our lips and then a follow-through of the evidentiary embrace of the Life of Christ Jesus He exampled before us in scripture. To those who exhibit this belief, to them are given the power to BECOME the sons of GOD (John 1:12-13).

To be 'saved' or 'to save' in the Greek is 'sozo' and means to save one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health. This word 'sozo' is used in Matthew 9:21 as 'whole' and in Romans 10:8-9 as 'saved'. There is an action associated with salvation - it is not a verbal undertaking. Even in Genesis 47:25 the Hebrew word for 'saved', chayah, means: to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health.

Is it any wonder, fifty days after this glorious fulfillment of scripture with His Resurrection at the feast of Passover, on the day of the festival of Pentecost', meaning 'fiftieth day', why 3000 abandoned their lives immediately and were added to the church and a few days later, another 5000? It wasn't because of Peter's preaching. Before their eyes, they witnessed an extraordinary manifestation of restoration in the physical lives of those 120 who had waited on Him as He had instructed. As these few were being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Presence of GOD, so extraordinary was this occurrence in the physical that it created a desire in those watching to want some of that. (Romans 8:11, John 17:3).

Pentecost So, then, why do we not see that same powerful restoration fall upon people today as they, too, give their lives over to the Holy One of Israel? Christ said in the passage from Mark above, that it is due to the 'tradition of men' that has been handed down to us that nullifies the power of GOD and that, because of our embrace of those traditions, we pass them on - "and many things of this kind" we do.

Tradition - from the Greek word 'paradosis' meaning: 1) giving up, giving over a) the act of giving up.

When we 'believe' in the tradition of men, we relinquish our authority in the Spirit. It is in our 'giving up' of the authority, the 'power of choice', He has given us to embrace the virtue in His Life found resident within us BY our adherence to the 'tradition of men' that "brings to none effect' the power of His Word in our life (John 1:14). Instead of living a life of Faith displayed by an action of hearing His direction and then walking into tumultuous events 'up to our nostrils' with an expectancy of seeing Him show up, we settle for an illusion of security along the shoreline where the multitude are gathered, hoping and praying for a miracle - not comprehending that the miracle is already within us (John 4:48).

"I have been having discussions with a 'young Pastor who believes that, just as in the Old Testament, a man can have more than one wife in today's time - that, like the rapture, there is nothing definitive in the New Testament that declares it to be wrong. He says that with such an important concept of having multiple wives, without doubt, Jesus would have said it was wrong if it truly was. He has a mentor who is also a Pastor whom has elected to marry two women under God (only one is his "legal" wife with a government wedding license) and my Pastor friend believes this to be OK.

While all things are lawful, not all things are expedient to show forth what is the good and acceptable Way of Christ (1Corinthians 6:12). Slavery was also 'permissible' under the Old Testament and is not declared to be 'wrong' anywhere in scripture either (as it was a common custom among all civilizations of the time - Leviticus 25:45-46). Does that make it acceptable under today's heightened awareness of the cruelty of slavery? Paul says whatever state you find yourself in when you come to Christ, therein seek to remain (1Corinthians 7:20) and we should only seek to be married to Him (Romans 7:4). In the Kingdom there is neither male nor female (Galatians 3:28), so, if our hearts and minds are set upon the things of the Spirit rather than the things of this world, then we are to BE the Kingdom here in this earthly realm - today (Matthew 6:10, 1John 4:17). There are far too many of us who are wanting to 'use' scripture to justify what we want in order to satisfy our carnal desires rather than learning of Him and, consequently, embodying the essence of Who He Is so that our lives become an enticement for others to reach to His Standard (John 12:32),

Revelation 19:10b us that the Spirit of Prophecy IS the testimony of the Life of Christ. His Life is the benchmark by which all things are measured - even other scripture. If it is not found in His Life as chronicled in scripture, regardless of the importance men have assigned to it - it is probably borne of 'tradition'. Not what we 'think' it says - just what is recorded and revealed by 'the Holy Spirit'.

' John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.' Revelation 21:2 Christ said if we are to come after Him, we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He also said that if we DO NOT become selfless in following Him, we are not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:38). To 'follow' in this passage comes from the Greek word 'akoloutheo' which has as a part of its definition to cleave steadfastly to one by conforming wholly to his example in living and, if need be, in dying also. This word 'cleave' is also found in the Hebrew as 'dabaq' in Genesis 2:24), meaning to cling, stick, or to join to and is illustrated as two 'sticky mudballs' smushed together to form one inseparable mudball. This is also the illustration given to us in Ephesians concerning the marriage relationship and our relation to Him as His Bride (Ephesians 5:31-32).

When we seek anything other than to follow Him the Way He followed the Father, we are praying selfishly - what WE would like to see happen as opposed to what HE wants. What He wants has been made very clear in the Book, from cover to cover - He wants a bride arrayed in fine linen (1Samuel 15:22, Revelation 19:7-9). That linen is the righteousness of the Life Christ Jesus exampled that the saints have 'chosen' to be clothed in. He is coming for a Bride fashioned as He Is - without spot or wrinkle or 'any such thing' (Ephesians 5:27).


"Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Messiah, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1Peter 1:17-19

May we understand and seek to be pure as HE is pure and to Put on the full Armour of God daily. So that we walk accordingly to the will of Christ Jesus who has called to us apart from the world to become the sons of GOD.

I pray this helps all who read it and that when Christ speaks to your heart you will listen and put aside the traditions of man and follow Christ in Faith allowing Him who started the work in you to finish His work with in...GBU