Dear Ones,
As our FMM family grows and spreads across the world, we’ve realized there may be a need to offer some ‘helps’ or explanations for certain phrases or terms that would be unfamiliar to some of our brothers and sisters in other countries. With that in mind, we began this as a “Wiki” type resource page. We started with a few terms that came to mind and then added new definitions as we received questions or inquiries from the FMM family. Most of these won’t be in depth teachings, they will simply be hints, tips, helps, or brief explanations to understand some of the more unfamiliar terminology you may come across in the teachings that are posted. Please feel free to email questions and we’ll continue to build our glossary in that way. Please note that throughout our teachings, since Father God chose to send His beloved Son to earth in and through Israel, we refer to the One most people know as Jesus by His Hebrew name, Yeshua.
With love, Mum Nancy
P.S. As we add terminology in this section, there will be times that what will be posted here is a small ‘snapshot’ of a much bigger concept. When that happens, look for ** notations. It will serve you well to read the “see also” additional material in order to more fully flesh out the important concepts that we’re trying to convey. We’ll use this method in order to make it possible to give a clear and comprehensive teaching while maintaining the Glossary section as more of a ‘quick hit’ reference resource.
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ADAM – FIRST ADAM & LAST ADAM – Refers to the human Adam created in Genesis 1 and the uncreated God-made-flesh Adam accomplished in and through Yeshua’s incarnation. Because God always works from within a covenantal matrix, He operates with all humans through their Covenant Representatives/Covenant Substitutes. All humans are all born under the coverage of the First Adam who violated his covenant with God. That brought him and everyone he represented (us!) under the automatic covenantal death penalty. We are born again when we truly switch our allegiance from the First Adam to the Second Adam, Yeshua. Yeshua becomes our Head when we come under His Authority. Then we are under the blood covenant atonement covering of the perfect sacrifice He offered to God in our name and on our behalf.
ADAT or AHTZ -A shortened version of the full name “Adat HaTikvat Tzion” which in English means The Hope of Zion Congregation, our home for worship and fellowship. It’s comprised of “Jewtiles” (Jews and gentiles) who love and exalt Yeshua while loving and choosing to live in submission to God’s Torah as well. At the right of our FMM Teachings home page, you’ll find a link to the Adat website where you can learn more about your ancestors in faith. Adat is what we call ourselves here at home; AHTZ is how we’ve often seen ourselves referenced in the family emails we receive.
ARENA OF TESTIMONY – picture a football or soccer stadium. The players (Disciples) are suited up and on the field, either actively playing or waiting to be called in from the bench. Their focus is on what’s happening there on the field; they’re not paying attention to what happens in the stands. On the other hand, the spectators are in the bleachers. They’re watching or chatting or wandering to the concession stands or restrooms. The spectators can come and go, pay attention to the game or not. It’s only the players who are committed and involved. That’s a picture of the difference between a Disciple and what we’ve often referred to as ‘bleacher dwellers.’ [Side note: Pastor Kyle Idleman in his book, Not a Fan, uses a similar analogy. He contrasts Fans (enthusiastic admirers) and Followers (disciples).]
BOOT CAMP – think military. Anyone who’s been through boot camp knows that it’s grueling but it accomplishes exactly what it needs to do. People begin as self-centered, me-first individuals, ‘sloppy civilians,’ and end up as one thoroughly prepared, battle ready and well- oiled company (one body, many members). Disciples must also be changed in this same way as we learn to live crucified in order to let the Spirit of God unite us under His Head. Once we’ve said, “Yes!” to the Lord, we are His and no longer our own. Our civilian days are over. We’re under new management and now serving in the Army of the Lord. He alone calls the shots, and we become one in Him.
COVENANT EYES – As our eyes become more focused in and around the reality of God’s Blood Covenant Pattern, our sight becomes more clearly focused on that Covenant and all that it means in terms of our oneness with God, and with each other, for God’s sake. For example, if “A” is in covenant with “B” and “B” is in covenant with “C” – then A is also in covenant with C… for B’s sake.
DECAPITATED & TWO HUMAN RACES – back to Genesis when God warned our first parents they would surely die if they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They ate. And they died. Thereafter, sin was in all human spiritual DNA; and we as a race were cut off from our Head, hence decapitated. At that point, Death entered our human nature. Yes, our minds and bodies appear to be ‘alive’, but in Truth, as soon as we’re conceived, we’re already in the process of dying. And everything we try to do or aspire to impact has Death in it. This is why God doesn’t accept anything we initiate. In this life, we must first receive from God, whatever we will offer back to Him. And only what first came from Him will be accepted.
GARDENING, GARDENER EYES – This concept is a simple one – we recognize the power of seeds and use that understanding to our advantage. Seeds always reproduce after their own kind; they reproduce WHAT was planted, WHERE it was planted, LATER than it was planted, and always, MORE than what was planted. And every one of our thoughts, words, choices and actions is a seed. This principle is true when we sow seeds into our lives and into the lives of others. (**See also Raw Material and Q&A Renewing our Minds series)
HELLENISM – the type of character of the ancient Greeks, who considered culture and the principles and ideals of classical Greek civilization to be the chief elements in human well-being and perfection. Humanism (the belief centered on man at the center rather than God) began with this philosophy.
MENTAL CONCRETE – If you can picture the difference between a paved parking lot and a prepared farm field, you will get the idea we’re trying to get across. Mental concrete keeps the seed of God’s Word from penetrating the soil of our hearts and bearing His fruit. Therefore, whenever we recognize we have outdated and unhealthy thought patterns or belief systems that stand in the way of our Blood-bought freedom, mature growth and fruitfulness, it’s time to begin to ruthlessly jackhammer that concrete with the powerful Truths in the Word of God until our false idea filled ‘parking lots’ are demolished and cleared away from the ‘fields’ in our brains and souls. Then we can prepare our fields to deeply receive the seed of God’s Word. It is our job to cooperate with Holy Spirit and continually seed our minds, hearts, wills and lives with God’s perfect Seed – the indwelling Life of Yeshua, our Head and Lord and Master.
MENTAL EYEGLASSES – think filters. Just like the corrective lenses in normal eyeglasses change how we see, so mental eyeglasses change how we see in our heart of hearts. If those eyeglasses are not Covenant-centered and focused on the Truth of God’s Word, they will skew how we see and perceive life and relationships. And because we begin in a fallen, decapitated state, we must ‘change lenses’ when we choose to walk in Truth because the first lenses will be incompatible to provide Yeshua-centered vision.
MENTAL PIPELINE – a look at the inner workings of our minds and brains… 1) You choose to focus your mind on something; 2) Your mind fills itself up with whatever that is; 3) Your mind injects that into your brain and nervous system; 4) Your brain and nervous system cause your body to mirror or act out the object of your focus; 5) The world around you gets the brunt or the blessing of what you are feeding into your mind, and reacts to it. So we see how incredibly important it is to decide what focus we will choose to entertain. (**See also Renewing Our Minds – The Awesome Mental Pipeline article)
PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE – think physics… energy and water always follow the pathway that offers the minimum difficulty against their forward movement. And this same natural law is at work in the minds and habits of humans who are desiring to replace old patterns that are outdated and unhealthy, those that have become our path of least resistance. Thus we must create resistance to, and aggressively talk ourselves OUT of, the old pattern and begin to create and install new God-given patterns. Then we talk ourselves INTO the new healthy and desired “Path of Most Acceptance replacement patterns with massive repetition until they ‘grab hold’ and become automatic.
POLARITY – think Cain and Abel. This concept has to do with direction. Which direction does it come from, and to which direction is it headed? Common forms of religious teaching have a man-to-God polarity; we are encouraged to seek Him, praise Him, bring offerings to Him. But they always originate from us – from fallen, Death-ridden humanity, which taints it. When we see the reality of God’s Eternal Blood Covenant and the Perfect Life-filled Finished work of His only begotten Son, however, our polarity reverses and becomes God-to-us. We know that He alone is the source, the only Source, of all that is good, godly and eternal. He initiates, He provides, He completes; our role is as grateful recipients and sharers. (**See also The Polarity of God’s Perfect Blessing, Genesis Biblical Meditation #7)
RAW MATERIAL – Think in terms of factories… how do things look when the manufacturing process first begins? Do they not enter as ‘raw material?’ At that stage, they do not at all look as they will when they become the ‘finished product.’, So is it with us and our lives and circumstances and the challenges we encounter. When things first appear on our mental ‘radar’ we need to recognize them for what they are: ‘raw material’… is not the finished product. Nothing is finished until God… and we, who are to serve as His image and likeness, add our responses to the ‘raw material.’ And that is why it is vital that we learn to be master gardeners of ourselves, each other, all circumstances and situations, and the rest of God’s beautiful Creation (**See also Gardening, Gardener Eyes).
SERPENT’S LIE – think fishing. We know from Scripture that he is the father of lies (plural). But the Lie (singular), is the foundational lie of all lies. It’s the one from which all others begin and is like a three-pronged hook. It’s the one that caught Eve and Adam and it tells gullible humans that 1) you’re not good enough, 2) but you could be good enough, because 3) you could be as God. It casts doubt about the goodness and character of God. If one of the prongs doesn’t get us the others can. Any or all of these prongs cause great heartache and dysfunction in our lives and relationships. The Answer, of course, is the One who is Truth Himself, Yeshua! (**See also in the Genesis Biblical Meditations #10 “The Serpent’s Lie and the Fall of Man)
TANACH – an acronym for the books of the Bible found in what Christians know as the Old Testament and Jews know as ‘the Scriptures.’ It comes from the Hebrew letters Tav (ת), Nun (ן), and Chet (כ). Those letters represent these words: Torah (The first five books of Moses), Neviim (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings). The Tanach and the Old Testament contain the same 39 books; but they are arranged differently. The text in a Tanach will also show the full Hebrew text on the right page opposite the English translation on the left.
TITANIC – using the word picture of the ill-fated ocean liner sunk after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, we use the name to help us see the hopelessness of human life apart from Yeshua, our Head, Lord and Master, Savior and Redeemer. The survivors from the actual 1912 ocean liner only made it by getting off the ship, and we disciples will also only make our escape from Death to Life by abandoning the ‘ship’ of self-life and lies. Yeshua Himself is our way of escape and trusting in His Perfect Finished Work on our behalf is where we find rest and safety.
TOXIC SHAME – A habitual corrosive viewpoint and corresponding set of thought and reaction patterns that come from our fallen flesh, our homes of origin, our personal history and our cultures. If these viewpoints are not corrected and aligned with God’s revealed Truth, they cause massive spiritual blindness, destructive relational interactions and life-aborting addictions.
ULTIMATE JOURNEY – This refers to the first ministry Holy Spirit began with and through Dad John. Based on God’s Biblical pattern of the Exodus, in its early years it was referred to as The Christ-Life Solution. It focused mainly on outgrowing our past, or, ‘leaving Egypt’. But FMM teachings are focused on entering into the destination of our Exodus, entering into and becoming one with the Israel part of it. FMM is meant to take us further. It focuses upon the ‘terminus’ of the spiritual journey in which we all participate. At the right of the FMM Teachings page, there is a link to The Ultimate Journey website.
WALL OF PARTITION – In the second temple of Israel built by King Cyrus and later more extensively by King Herod, there was an inner portion that was called ‘The Sanctuary’ and there was an outer portion called ‘The Court of the Gentiles.’ Within the Sanctuary there was the holiest place, a small square enclosure that was called ‘the Holy of holies.’ Only the high priest of Israel was allowed to enter it. He did that once a year, when he performed his prescribed ritual service on the Feast of Atonement. Outside the Holy of holies was the Court of the Priests. There the Levitical priests performed their various duties connected with Israel’s worship of the Lord. And next to the Court of the Priests was the Men’s Court. And beyond that was the Court of the Women. These courts were within the massive temple walls and only Jewish people were allowed to enter their respective courts for temple service and worship.
Beyond the walls of the temple proper, there were steps descending to an enormous lower outer court which was called ‘The Court of the Gentiles.’ This outer area was open to all Jews and also to any Gentiles who observed the proper decorum and who wished to pray or offer gifts to the God of Israel.
About halfway down the stairs that descended from the wall to the Court of the Women and led down to the surrounding Court of the Gentiles, there was a marble screen, a wall about four and a half feet high that served as a partition that separated the Jewish and Gentile sections of the temple. Placed at intervals along that partition were signs in Latin and Greek warning Gentiles that they were not to pass beyond that point, under pain of death.
So this physical wall became symbolic of the strict spiritual, mental and emotional separation that Jews and Gentiles have always observed in relation to each other. And this is what became such a sensitive and volatile source of trouble for all of the first century Messianic Jews who began to proclaim that Yeshua of Nazareth was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel, and that, even though He had been crucified and executed… Almighty God had raised Him from the dead! This was incredibly offensive to unbelieving Jews, not to mention the rest of the world. Yet, Yeshua’s apostles and disciples continued to teach that Yeshua was the Living Word of God who became flesh! And they said He represented mankind in the New Covenant that God had made with Israel. And they claimed that whoever believed in Him and obeyed His words, whether they were Jewish or Gentile, would be spiritually regenerated, cleansed of all Sin, freed from the clutches of the powers of Darkness, and grafted into the New Covenant spiritual Commonwealth of Israel! This is what the apostle Paul articulated with these words:
“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the Covenants of Promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” (Ephesians 2:11-16, Emphasis added)
So the apostolic teaching claimed that there should be no longer be any separation between Messianic Jewish disciples, and non-Jewish disciples. They taught that being baptized into their Messiah’s Death and being regenerated by the Holy Spirit made them all brand new spiritual creations and they were, therefore, all sons of God and members of His New Covenant Family.
“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:24-29, Emphasis added)
And in his letter to the Roman congregation, Paul was warning all New Covenant non-Jewish disciples against rebuilding that wall that our Messiah’s death destroyed, by entertaining attitudes and lifestyles that would perpetuate the ancient animosity and separatism and sense of opposition, such as is seen in what is called, ‘Replacement Theology’. If this term is unfamiliar, it is a belief system that replaces the nation of Israel with the Church in God’s plan, purpose and promises. Some even go so far as to teach that the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people and that God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. Knowing God’s Eternal Blood Covenant Truth and Ways, FMM teachings will never include or promote this. And these are the issues to which we are referring in our meditations, when we use the term, ‘The Wall of Partition’ or ‘The Wall of Separation.’