All offerings that go through God cannot be hindered from reaching the one on whose behalf they were given, and they definitely would have a positive impact on the one on whose behalf they were given! This is a heavenly cultural practice through which we remember the dead!
1.Shabbat Shalom to the saints. The topic for this sermon is: “Heavenly and earthly cultural practices.”
2.The Book of Leviticus 18:29-30: “For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
3. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.” – King James Version
4.Initially, the nation of Yisra’el, just like the rest of the nations, had deities that it worshipped.
5.But when Yahuah brought His faith system upon Mount Sinai, this nation had to abandon all pagan customs that they had been following in Egypt and live according to Yahuah’s statutes!
6.After Moshe’s tenure, all the prophets of Yisra’el would revive Yahuah’s statutes as imparted by Moshe to the people!
7.Even Yeshua, on his arrival, fulfilled the Mosaic Law, according to Matthew 5:17-19.
8.The preaching of the kingdom in Judah lasted until Yeshua and his apostles, but after him, in 70 A.D., when the Judeans were finally conquered, the Romans destroyed the faith system of the Hebrews, Yahuah’s faith system!
9.Among the progeny of Yaakov, a prophet who revived Moshe’s faith system after Yeshua was Isaiah Shembe (peace be upon him); that was indeed his name.
10.Shembe wrote that the foundation of the Nazarite Church is the Law of Yahuah which He brought down to us through His Servant Moshe!
11.In verse 3 of the Shabbat Liturgical Prayer, Shembe says: “Fear Yahuah, O generations after generations, and keep His statutes that He wrote for you through His Servant Moshe, so that your worship may be acceptable to the God of Hosts.”
12.We are engaging on the heavenly culture and earthly culture. In Matthew 15:2-3, it says: “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?…
13.But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”
14.Yeshua is still fulfilling what Yahuah said, through Moshe’s mouth, that His Law is superior to the customs of men!
15.Shembe, in verse 21 of the Shabbat Liturgical Prayer, says: “Remember that you have made a covenant with Yahuah, your God, that you shall dwell in the house of Yahuah until the end of your days!”
16.Shembe’s teaching about the vow of piety confirms that when one has dedicated their life to Yahuah, they commit to being governed by God’s Law in whatever they do for the rest of their life!
17.God’s Law is divided into two categories. There are laws that Yahuah has reserved for His sole glorification, and then there are laws that were made for mutual respect among the people.
18.In Matthew 22:37-40, we read: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
19.The second one that is similar to it says: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
21.God’s Law that is in the first category commands you to love Yahuah your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
22.The Law in the second category commands us to love our neighbours just as we love ourselves.
23.In this sermon we will not focus on the Law in the second category because society compels one to observe it.
24.But we will focus on commandments of the first category because only your pious conscience compels one to observe it.
25.The law whose violation may disturb only God, without adversely affecting society, points to how one could glorify or worship God whose name is Yahuah just by observing it.
26.Just an example to illustrate the above point: when God says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” if one has other gods, that would be an act of apostasy against Yahuah!
27. By observing this commandment we demonstrate that we love God with all our heart and with all our soul!
28. As black people we have our nation’s cultural customs, but, as per Yeshua’s teaching, God’s Law, which is a heavenly culture order, is superior to earthly cultures for every Nazarite!
29.One chooses between being governed either by God’s Law, which is a heavenly culture, or by their nation’s cultural customs.
30.Scarificing to the spirits of the dead is our cultural practice, but it is contrary to the Law of God.
31.In Prophet Shembe’s sermon of 1931, he uttered these words: “I know that the dead are a snare unto many people due to being overwhelmed by love for them. It is good to love one’s parent and relative; that is not bad in Yahuah’s sight.
32.But do not fall into the trap of loving them much more than you do God, lest you may go astray and do what is contrary to the command I gave unto you and the one in Matthew 10:37.
33.You heard in yesterday’s command that you may no longer venerate ancestral spirits, as well as the command you no longer mingle with your brethren that engage in such practices, for those who engage in such practices are abominable in the sight of Yahuah.
34.It would be proper for you to remember them at the great altar, in Yahuah’s city of eKuphakameni rather than acting like the ungodly.”
35.In the above sermon Shembe is insinuating that we, the Nazarites, according to the heavenly culture, remember our departed relatives only by giving offerings on their behalf, asking God to remember them wherever they are and forgive them their sins which they committed whilst living on earth!
36.In the context of piety, communicating with the spirits of the dead is forbidden. God regards such an act as a sign that one no longer worships Him alone but has other beacons of hope beside Him!
37.The pious communicate with the dead only through God! Shembe says only God knows where the dead are.
37.In the funeral manual, Shembe wrote: “Today this soul is departing to where we cannot understand anything about them!”
38.Since we know nothing about where and how the dead are kept, but only God knows every aspect of a spiritual person!
39.Therefore, we, the pious, should direct every affair concerning the dead to God who knows everything!
40.Shembe says we can remain connected with the dead by making offerings on their behalf during church service; offerings are to be submitted on the altar in Yahuah’s city, eKuphakameni.
41.Since not all of us are at eKuphakameni per se, wherever there is a holy altar where offerings are submitted, such offerings reach God!
42.All offerings that go through God cannot be hindered from reaching the one on whose behalf they were given, and they definitely would have a positive impact on the one on whose behalf they were given! This is a heavenly cultural practice through which we remember the dead!
43.People often ask questions around cultural prctices such as celebrating the coming of age, asking how one should conduct them when they may no longer communicate with the dead.
44.Heavenly cultural ways of doing anything are very easy. Firstly, one has one father who exists whether he is alive or deceased, and even the dead one is still their father!
45.What is very profound is that God is Omnipotent One; whatever one has reported to Him can no longer be opposed by any creature, and nothing goes wrong after it has been communicated to God!
46. As Nazarites of God, we were advised by the angel not to throw any feast even if it is supposed to be a cultural event which may, at any rate, not be known in heaven!
47.We do not throw birthday parties because this is a cultural practice that we copy from other nations! You and your children are nurtured and protected by Yahuah; therefore, we should always thank Him!
48.The angel says: “If one wants to express gratitude for a child’s annual coming of age, they should do so by taking an offering to God with a view to thanking Him because He, alone, has been protecting them throughout the year!”
49.The angel told us that a birthday is an event through which Yahuah is being ridiculed; therefore, since we have been taught how to worship Yahuah, we should not celebrate it!
50. By the way, birthday party celebrations have never been a component of Nazarite faith practices; the same applies to Christmas and similar pagan festivals. Shembe prohibited their celebrations!
51.The angel said the only time when one should give a gift or a prize for their child is when an astounding achievement has been made!
52.According to heavenly cultural practices, how does one alter their surname when or if there is a need to do so? The angel said both one’s paternal and maternal family names equally belong to all individuals; therefore, there is no need for one to go through the trouble of altering these surnames.
53.But if there is a need to change one’s surname, as a pious person one should not report that at the altar of the spirits of the dead. What one should do is to take an offering and approach their heavenly Father who is the Father also of the dead!
54.Tell Him your reason for changing the surname and then ask for protection from anything that may befall you after changing your surname; let nothing evil befall you! Then, alter your identity document details at Home Affairs Department!
55.Nothing evil can befall you as a result of changing the surname! Through it all, trust in God!
56.There are cultural feasts that are often thrown as a token of celebrating children’s coming of age, especially if they are females. According to the heavenly cultural practice, all such feasts do not exist, because parents give offerings on behalf of the child, thanking Yahuah for bringing her up.
57. As per our cultural norms, we build or purchase a new residential home and subsequently leave an old one. We do this by reporting to the spirits of the dead!
58.But in the context of piety, after buying a residential home or a vehicle, one should open it by just inviting the fellow pious if that is desirable to the owner.
59.But the angel said even that is potentially dangerous because there are witches and wizards within the community of the pious too. But what one should do is to report a purchased house, a vehicle or anything to God by giving an offering.
60.Seek blessed water or bless it yourself. When blessing it, you ask that God and your departed holy next of kin dwell within the residence so that they may ward off material and spiritual enemies.
61.Ask that the residence be presided upon and protected by angels, that Yahuah should always be worshipped within it and that not a single ailment should befall it!
62. Do not start driving your newly purchased vehicle before reporting its existence to God, asking Him to exorcise all evil spirits that dwell in it, make it remain in a good mechanical condition and also protect you from accidents that may befall you!
63.Killing a human being, deliberately or erroneously, is a commonplace occurrence. One cannot get forgiveness for such an act from any other person, including God Himself, but only the murder victim can grant it!
64.Even if the act was erroneous, only the murdered soul can grant a word of forgiveness! The divine being said nothing is much better than admitting a departed soul into heaven because every dead person wants to enter heaven.
65.If one makes an offering, asking for forgiveness, on behalf of a departed soul, that offering removes all their trespasses against their murder victim!
65.The angel further said that the sin of murdering a human being has a negative impact that affects even one’s future generations! Therefore, one should ask for forgiveness from their murder victim by making an offering on their behalf! That is a heavenly cultural practice!
66.There is something that we call a negative, persistent pattern of an evil incident, the repetition of an undesirable event that once befell one’s family. Just ask God, by making an offering, to stamp out such a pattern and liberate those who died in that situation.
67.Then ask that one that is in the situation should also be freed so that the pattern may no longer come back to haunt them. By following this process, the pattern will then subside!
68.Many people would like to have their dreams interpreted. The angel says that we should never interpret dreams.
69.If one experiences a dream that they cannot understand, they should take an offering and report the same to God. ‘With this offering I am asking that You drive away this dream if it is evil, but please make it come true if it is good!’
70.If it is an evil dream, the evil one will run away and never look back, but if it had been sent from heaven, it will materialise!
71.But what one should know is that God is the Father to those that worship Him; He cannot be bribed only with offerings, but He is worshipped by glorifying Him with deeds!
May the Lord bless what you have heard.
This sermon is available on YouTube channel: Rev Mpanza NCG.