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AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's

AllFaith Community Worship:
Sundays at 2 PM Eastern.

Welcome to AllFaith.com and Beit Emunah's AllFaith Community Worship! This is a community service for all people of the Light. We invite your participation and contributions.

Unity, by the O'Jays

This coming Thursday at 8 PM Eastern, we're planning to begin a new series. As several of you have requested, we're going to do a deep dive into the Book of Enoch. Its important to understand that this book can be viewed as a confirmation of negativity. But this is not how I hope we will view it. Yes, most of the prophets speak of tribulation coming upon the earth. Yeshua described it in Matthew 24 as a time of tribulation beyond any ever experienced. Enoch highlights this coming tribulation as well. But, but, within this tribulation there is Light! The Light of Divine Love. Those who love will endure, whether through death or life. Understand that this coming Great Tribulation is but the portal to a life of love and joy beyond all conception. It is nothing more. As we learn from the Book of Enoch we will focus on the positives.

In my soon to be released book Above We Stand we read:

Emmanuel nodded. "If you are familiar with the Book of Enoch, it is in there, and this is also discussed in Yeshua’s parable about separating the goats from the sheep. Such a separation must occur. Those cast out into outer darkness, as described by Enoch, Yeshua and John the Revelator, will be cast out because of their own choices. Those who love will inherit the earth... That should be our focus, not those who have rejected their humanity. They have made their choices.” Emmanuel lifted his right hand and pointed towards the heavens as he said this, emphasizing his words. Suddenly, the room was filled with a glorious pinkish-white light, and the Song of Redemption began as if the Creator were attesting to Emmanuel’s words.

Let us choose love and light and be among those who enter the Promised Land. To that end, we begin today's service with Enoch's Song on page 49 of our Beit Emunah Songbook.

When I was a practicing rabbi, I was hesitant to teach on the Book of Enoch when the idea first came up, especially after the negative feedback I received from rabbis and even some of our members about doing our Revelation study. I've always believed that knowledge is power, yet many people fear looking beyond their current belief system. If they do not hear, how will they prepare themselves for what is coming? Knowlege is power and now I am free to teach without such limitations. Do not fear the Reaper, for he too serves the Highest Good.

Last Thursday, we completed our reading of the Tao Te Ching. I had considered doing a discussion of Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters next. However, a member brought up the Book of Enoch again, which seemed a good choice. So, beginning this Thursday, the 29th, at 8 PM Eastern, we will start this spiritual masterpiece, live in our Zoom room, Rumble, Facebook, MeWe, and our other connected servers. You are all encouraged to join us.

Is the Book of Enoch Scripure?

    It depends on your definition of Scripture and who you ask.

The Book of Enoch as we have it was written during the second century BCE, between the Tanach's conclusion with Malachi and the New Testament's compilation. It is one of the most important non-canonical apocryphal (some say pseudopigraphal) works. It is directly quoted from Jude 14-15:

Moreover, Hanokh (Enoch), in the seventh generation, starting with Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, "Look! Adonai came with his myriads of holy ones to execute judgment against everyone, to convict all the godless for their godless deeds which they have done in such a godless way, and for all the harsh words these godless sinners have spoken against him.

The Ethiopic Coptic Church (believed to have been founded by the Apostle John) preserved it and accepts the text as scripture. The author of the Book of Hebrews states, at 11:5, "By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: 'He could not be found, because God had taken him away.' Before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God."

Paul's fellow disciple Barnabus wrote:

Barnabas 4:2 Let us give no relaxation to our soul that it should have liberty to consort with sinners and wicked men, lest haply we be made like unto them.
4:3 The last offence is at hand, concerning which the scripture speaks, as Enoch saith. For to this end, the Master has cut the seasons and the days short, that His beloved might hasten and come to His inheritance.
4:4 And the prophet also speaks in this way: Ten reigns shall reign upon the earth, and after them shall arise another king, who shall bring low three of the kings under one.
4:5 Likewise, Daniel speaks concerning the same; And I saw the forth beast to be wicked and strong and more intractable than all the beasts of the earth, and how there arose from him ten horns, and from these a little horn and excrescence, and how that it abased under one three of the great horns.

Many in the early Way Sect and Christian Church Fathers, such as Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, who wrote, circa 200, that the Jews had rejected the Book of Enoch because it purportedly contained prophecies about Jesus, accepted it as scripture.

The Books of Prophet Enoch had a profound influence on the Way Jewish sect of Yeshua ben Miriam and his followers, as well as on Gnosticism and early Christianity, and on many Jews. The only Jewish community that accepts the Book of Enoch as canonical is the Ethiopian Jewish community known as Beta Israel. This community, who are Haymanot Jews rather than Rabbinic Jews, preserves the book in its liturgical language, Ge'ez, and it plays a central role in their worship.

It is filled with visions of the heavens and hells od deseert dwellers, of faithful and fallen angels, devils, and of the Nephilim. Enoch's prophecy speaks of the appearance of the final Messiah, the resurrection of the dead, and most powerfully, of a final judgement, the Olam Haba or theocratic global Kingdom, and how these things will occur. The author(s) of Enoch claim divine instruction on calendrical systems, geography, cosmology, astronomy, and meteorology. The book provides sufficient information for forming a stand-alone religion rooted deeply in early biblical faith. While such a community is not known to have been created, some claim it was, as a mystery cult, and that it continues to exist as a secret order actively opposing the mysterious Nephilim. Some who follow the book say Paul knew of it, always carried a copy with him, and refers to this secret cabal as 'that which hinders' the rise of the Son of Perdition's Globalism in II Thessalonians 2:6, although no objective evidence supports these claims.

Officially, modern Judaism and Christianity consider the book heretical (i.e., one that teaches unapproved doctrines). The Rabbinate lists the Book of Enoch as a pseudobiographical work, i.e., a work whose author is uncertain ("pseudonymous"). It is not included within the Jewish or Christian canon. Note that the label "apocryphal" does not mean it is spurious. The term "apocrypha" itself means "hidden" or "secret" in Greek. While the books listed as such are sometimes viewed as less authoritative than the canonical books of the Bible, the term can also denote that their content is considered too mystical or powerful for general consumption.

Most scholars agree that the biblical Enoch (the seventh from Adam) did not write the book. They point out that during the second century BCE, the oldest copies, authors often used pseudonyms to protect themselves from accusations of heresy and as acts of piety, not claiming credit. This, however, should be admitted to be an assumption only. It could be as a mystical text, the scrolls were kept hidden until a time deemed appropriate for their release. This would make some sense considering that, based on Daniel’s calculations, many thought the time for liberation was fast approaching between the first centuries BCE and CE. This is also conjecture, to be clear. The truth is, there is no sure evidence of when it was written or by whom. Also, scholars usually assume there were a few different authors of I and II Enoch, but this also is uncertain.

The Book of Enoch is not included in the Christian Bible or Jewish Tanakh for a few given reasons: it was not written by the Enoch mentioned in Genesis as it claims (according to most scholars), it was not widely accepted as inspired scripture by the Jewish Rabbinate or the Catholic See who created the New Testament canon. While much of its content supports and is based on the biblical accounts, its glorification and remuneration of angels (something not done before the Book of Daniel and not to this degree) and treatment of the Nephilim are non-traditional within the religious hierarchies of the two faiths. On the other hand, God warns Enoch that those in authority will reject his work.

My teachings have always included discussions of the Nephilim as present players in the spiritual and material realms and John the Revelator's references to Babylon the Great and the Watchers, plus its being cited by Jewish New Testament authors, lends at least as much credence to its claims as evidence proffered by its detractors. Personally, I accept the book as a legitimate and inspired book of prophecy. The role of the celestial entities, as presented within the Book of Enoch, supports this understanding and is not only one of the earliest sources of these teachings but likely inspired Daniel and many other canonical works in both the Tanach and the Brit Hadasha or New Testament. I have therefore always found this book fascinating and informative. It should be considered that, like other ancient works, it is also a product of its time and culture and needs to be understood with circumspection rather than with a literalist acceptance.

I hope you will join us for this exciting series beginning this Thursday at 8 PM Eastern in our Zoom room, Rumble, and social media sites. As always, we welcome your respectful thoughts and insights. Space will be provided for those wishing to share their perspectives.

We turn now in our song books and ask God to Open My Eyes, Lord, on page 50.

May we be like Enoch. May we walk with God. May the Holy One open our eyes and grant us true Sight.

Enoch Walked With God

Join us for the Book of Enoch

We turn in our Song Book to page 47. Our desire and our prayer is for all hatred and needless division to cease. Truly We Are One In The Spirit of One God. May we find unity and peace.

Despite our divisions:

Never Forget: God is Everywhere!

Praises and Prayers to God.

We invite you to share your prayers with us and with God now. Hold those you would pray for in your heart and release them to GOD for healing and blessing as we sing, The Lord Bless you.

May One God hear our prayers and respond favorably to us.

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