| "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14;
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This is a transcription of UHC's introductionary forum on 7/28/98
between the moderator Lawrence Williams and Charles Voss.
L: Greetings and welcome to our first United Hebrew Congregation Forum. In the coming weeks we will cover many topics that we hope you will find interesting. We hope that they will prove more than just interesting. We hope that through this forum ETERNAL, the Holy One of Israel, will provide you with a deeper understanding of His inspired Scriptures. Our purpose for today is to lay a basic foundation which we will build upon in the coming weeks. The topic of discussion today will be our basic beliefs and organizational structure. To help us walk through this subject is a close friend of mine, Mr. Charles Voss.
To start with can you explain why the name United Hebrew Congregation?
C: Our answer to that question is the same answer that Jonah gave when asked the very same question. In Jonah 1 the story flow is that our CREATOR, The Holy One of Israel, had given Jonah the task of giving a warning to city of Nineveh of Assyria. They were an up and coming world power at the time and they were intent upon conquering all of the known world. This meant that if Assyria heeded Jonah's warning and chose to repent, that Jonah's country, Israel, would be one of the nations Assyria would want to conquer. In order to try to avoid being the person to warn the enemy, Jonah tried to hide from CREATOR by sailing to a foreign country. CREATOR caused a huge storm which frightened the ship's crew.
"...the sailors, said to Jonah, 'Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?' So he [Jonah] said to them, 'I am a Hebrew; and I fear ETERNAL CREATOR of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.'" (Jonah 1:8-9)
The English word "Hebrew" is #H5680 in Strong's Concordance is "Ibriy, (ib-ree')," meaning a descendant of Heber, whom Abraham sprang from. The interesting point here is that Jonah referred back to the faith of the patriarch Abraham. He did not say that he was an Israelite or a Jew, but he referred back to the religious faith of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their worship of the Ancient of Days.
L: But if you claim to be of the Hebrew faith, why don't you just attend a Jewish Synagogue?
C: To start with, we do not claim to be of the faith of Judaism, just as Jonah did not claim to be a disciple of Judaism.
L: I would think that they would be the same, what's the difference?
C: Let's do a little background on the Scriptures with the Chronology of the Bible, written by Frank R. Klassen. It states that Lamech, Noah's father, lived during the last sixty-five years of Adam's life. In addition, Noah lived to within two years of the birth of Abram, who later became Abraham. Noah's son Shem, who became known as the King of Peace, lived until Abraham was 150 years old, and Abraham's grandson, Jacob was ten years old. I find these numbers very interesting, the point being that there was a continuation of the religion of the Ancient of Days from Noah right down unto the time of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph.
In modern terminology we would say that there was a support group among the patriarchs for the worship of the Ancient of Days. However, once Jacob and Joseph died, the line of patriarchs ended and there was no one to stand in the gap to support the worship of ETERNAL.
L: So, in the Post-Flood Era, beginning with Adam, Seth, and Enoch on into the time of Abraham (even, for some years, after Abraham was alive) there existed this continual knowledge of ETERNAL CREATOR, being carried over from the Pre-Flood Era.
C: Exactly. It actually goes back to the time starting with Adam, who lived into the birth of Noah's father. So, up until the time that Jacob was ten years old there was a continuity of patriarchs to uphold the worship of the one true CREATOR. Joseph accepted all the word's of Jacob, his father, concerning ETERNAL and how to worship and obey Him.
L: So what happened after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph died?
C: Once the patriarchs died, the children of Israel, in Egypt, drifted into the pagan worship of the Egyptians. If they had retained their worship of the Holy One of Israel , they would have remained free: the Egyptians could not have taken them captive and made them slaves.
L: But, didn't Israel return back to the worship of the one true CREATOR under Moses?
C: Well, they had the opportunity. Let us turn in The Holy Scriptures, if you would, to Exodus 19. Here we will see that ETERNAL CREATOR offered them the chance to become a kingdom of priests, a complete, full kingdom of priests. To see that in scripture:
"And Moses went up to CREATOR, and ETERNAL called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of IsraeL: Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.'" (Exodus 19:3-6)
CREATOR gave them the opportunity to return to the faith of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and everything was going very well until the incident of the Golden Calf, and their drunken orgy around the Calf. They simply refused to become ETERNAL CREATOR's Holy Nation of Priests, and they reverted back to the pagan ways they had known in Egypt. Soon after that, CREATOR then established the Levitical priesthood and they lost their chance to become priests.
L: The moral of that story would seem to be that when the Holy One of Israel offers someone a position of knowledge to worship Him that they should take it immediately.
C: Absolutely. However, Israel lost the knowledge, and through the period of the judges and the various kings they would get close, yet never fully returning, to the faith of their fathers. It was a kind of yo-yo, they would go up and down, they would come closer and then slide back into paganism. 1
L: In summary then, you are saying that if ETERNAL offers someone the chance to return to the faith of the Fathers and the worship of the one true CREATOR he had b better take it immediately! Other wise he could be like the children of Israel at the Golden Calf. They lost their opportunity to become a nation of Priests.
C: Absolutely, because CREATOR is adamant about humans serving Him and Him alone - no one but Him. Humans must not serve a mixture of religions or a triplicate or duplicate godhead, they should not believe in a "trinity" or a " twinity".
Things got so bad in Israel that ETERNAL sent the northern countries or tribes, into captivity of the pagan Assyrians. All of Israel is still immersed in complete paganism until today. The southern kingdom of Judah, and the Benjamites who were there with them as well went into captivity also, again, after returning to paganism. Now let's look at Ezra to see what Ezra observed after the time Israel was in captivity:
"Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty. And for our inequities we, our kings, our priests, have been delivered unto the hands of the kings of the lands, to the swords, to the captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation as it is today." (Ezra 9:7)
That was not the full answer to the question of acting quickly,if CREATOR has given a person the opportunity to know who He is and to draw close to Him. Then if the person chooses to remain in paganism then he will suffer the consequences of that choice. Because, it is mandatory that people, after gaining an understanding of who the only ETERNAL CREATOR is, must refuse to fall back into paganism and continue doing the same things they were doing prior to the enlightenment of the Ancient of Days. He does not waste His knowledge on anyone; so if you know that and still continue with your pagan ways, then you are held directly responsible to ETERNAL CREATOR, and that is a very serious situation to be in.
L: But don't the Jews of today worship the one true CREATOR?
C: No, not really: they have preserved the notion of monotheism, which is the knowledge of the one and only true ETERNAL CREATOR, but their religion is a mixture of the Torah, the Talmud, and the oral traditions with the emphasis on the word traditions. The ETERNAL refuses to accept anyone who obeys traditions and men such as rabbis rather than His word.
L: I think I understand what the oral traditions are, but what do you mean whenyou say the Torah and the Talmud?
C: Beginning with the old Hebrew texts, as compiled and edited by Ezra the high priest after coming out of captivity in Babylon, they are known as the Masoretic texts, which are divided into three parts: the Torah, which is the five books of the law, the Nevi'im, which is the prophets, and Kethuvim, which are the writings. The Talmud, however, is a different story, as it wasn't completed until the second or third century of this common era. It is based primarily on Jewish tradition, the oral law, and argumentation between men (sages or rabbis).. Therefore, the religion of Judaism is not the pure religion of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
L: It would seem that the name United Hebrew Congregation is scriptural in tying back into Jonah, but I would like to ask you how UHC is organized.
C: First of all, though, I would like to make the statement that UHC is incorporated as a nonprofit organization. Now, as an organization, UHC is different from most churches (I use the word church in the same context as the congregation of the children of Israel). Because UHC depends upon grass-roots participation, it is definitely not a top-down type of organization. We do not have one man who feels like he has a mandate to speak for ETERNAL and to put out video programs on television stations and do a worldwide work in which he will be the main star and main attraction. As I see it, UHC is really a bottoms-up organization. Even though we are incorporated as nonprofit and operate on donations and offerings, UHC is a belief system. For instance, if you understand that the one true CREATOR is who He is and you believe, then you are automatically a member. The important part is that you understand who the true CREATOR is.
UHC is also a support group for the believers of the one true CREATOR. The believers are brothers and sisters in the Hebrew faith of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The UHC support group is a national, nay an international, brotherhood. Local brethren are encouraged to gather together on the Sabbaths for prayer, Bible study, and singing. Notice I said Sabbaths, not Sabbath, that includes not only the weekly Sabbaths but the annual Sabbaths as well, described and proclaimed in Leviticus 23, which also says that all Sabbaths are Holy Convocations, which means they are commanded assemblies. Therefore, we really do encourage all our brethren to meet together on the Sabbaths.
UHC will have a very active site on the Internet to help all people understand their CREATOR and His ways. UHC is an open society of believers of all nations, all bloods, and all tongues. UHC is a group of servants of the one true CREATOR, striving to understand His ways, and His written word, as He understands it, and not as any man understands it. UHC is a group of servants to the one true CREATOR, trying to understand our Father's written word in every aspect of our lives and beings.
Yes, we are human, and we all have sinned. David was a man after our CREATOR's own heart, but this was not because he was perfect and sinless, this was because he repented deeply when shown his error. Moreover, when he repented he did not knowingly err anymore. UHC is a group of like-minded brothers and sisters joined arm in arm and shoulder to shoulder and spirit to spirit, united in the task of serving and worshipping the one true CREATOR. And, in doing so, UHC will provide comfort to a sick and dying world, and provide hope for the coming of the Messianic Age and the coming of peace, brought about by the advent of our ETERNAL CREATOR , the Messiah, and the Prophet.
L: What would you say the primary purpose of our organization is?
C: To state it briefly, let us turn to Malachi 4:4-6:
"Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all of Israel with the statues and the judgments. Behold, I will send you a line to the prophets, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of ETERNAL, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, unless I come and smite the earth with a curse."(Malachi 4:4-6)
Now, when It says "return the hearts to the fathers," we are again referring to the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the religion that the fathers held, we are not referring to Judaism.
L: You must realize that after quoting Malachi earlier, the obvious question for anyone to ask is if anyone in our organization claims to be of the line of the prophet.
C: No, absolutely not. To restate the answer again, we do not claim to be a prophet or allied to a prophet, but we do expect the prophet to return in the latter days. As we look at the world scene today, we do not see anyone else revealing the present-day location of all twelve tribes of the nation of Israel combined with telling present-day Israel to return to the faith of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is the worship of the one true CREATOR. We feel that someone has to do the job, or, as stated in verse 6, "...lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." We are concerned for all our brother Israelites, regardless of where they reside on the globe.
In addition, I would like to share with you the Mission Statement for the UHC :
NOTE: UHC IS NOT critical of any government, race, gender, religion, or creed. UHC DOES NOT advocate any type of civil disobedience, whether it be violent or nonviolent, for any cause or purpose whether the cause or purpose be religious, political, racial, or some other cause. We are not politically oriented, we are dedicated to the worship of the one true CREATOR and that is our total and sole motivation.
| NOTE: There may be some disagreements over the way the commandments are understood and the application of the Commandments in our daily lives. If asked UHC will provide an explanation of any such understanding or application as it is understood by UHC. UHC realizes that the full understanding of some of the Commandments and their correct application may not be totally known until the advent of the Messiah. It may require patience and waiting until the Holy One reveals the matter in His own good time. However, each person must faithfully act on the knowledge he has. |
L: Would you tell the audience about our newsletter The Hope of Israel?
C: Certainly, the UHC's newsletter, The Hope of Israel, is sent to our brethren who have the same belief that there is but one true CREATOR and that He is CREATOR, Ruler, The Holy One of Israel, and our Savior, that He is one, and He stands alone, that there is no other, and He gives His glory to no one. Keep in mind that one of the major goals of the UHC deals with the restoration of Israel and the restoration of the house of Judah, which is part of our logo on our The Hope of Israel newsletter. Rather than explain it I will just read it from our new masthead, Masthead of Hope of Israel:
"The advent of the Messiah, who will build the third Temple in Jerusalem and reunite the whole House of Israel, including the House of Judah. This is the Hope of Israel. In fact this is the ONLY hope that the people in the nations of Israel have.
"In the coronation of the kings of ancient Israel, Ireland, Scotland, and England a special stone played an important part. The Coronation Chair contains the stone known as Jacob's Pillar Stone, of which it is said he anointed with oil and declared it to be the House of The Almighty (Beth-El; Gen. 28:10-22).
"This Coronation Chair of Ephraim resting upon four Lions representing Judah is symbolic of the Throne that the Messiah known as the Branch of David may rule from. The Hope of Israel is the reunification of the House of Israel and the House of Judah in the latter days at the advent of the Messiah."
That brings us to another question that is sort of in the background and not often asked, and that would be when will this reunion of the house of Israel and the house of Judah occur? Well, that would be after or during the great and terrible day of Jacob's trouble spoken of in The Holy Scriptures. It will be at the advent of our ETERNAL CREATOR, who will resurrect the Messiah and prophet Elijah 2 . They will call out from captivity those of the House of Israel and the House of Judah and bring them back to Jerusalem as two states united in one. The reason I want to point that out is because I see as one of our long-time goals in working towards the restoration of the House of Israel and the House of Jacob is that sometime we will have to blow a Shophar and warn our friends, our families, our neighbors, our towns, our communities, our nations, and our world of the coming time of Jacob's trouble. This will be when the houses of Israel and Judah go into captivity, so there will be a time when the Shophar will be blown.
L: Here is the Shophar, and Significance of the Shophar:
"According to Jewish tradition, the Shophar, a simple trumpet usually fashioned from a ram's horn, was blown on the feast of trumpets in addition to the silver horn. The silver trumpets could produce a variety of notes, but the Shophar could produce only a piercing blast. In times of national crisis, the sound filled those who heard it with fear, because they knew it signified that war was imminent. It is this warning of war that gives the joyous feast of trumpets this contrasting note of salinity. We feel it is our job is to help sound the warning to Israel, to blow the Shophar."
Why do you feel that now is the time to blow the Shophar?
C: This is a subject that I could discuss for many hours. But, to keep it within twenty-five words or so, as we look around and see society around us spiraling down into nothing. All around us, morals are going down and regardless of what our nations say, our morals are in free fall. They are no longer just spiraling downward, they have now hit complete free fall. We see all these global problems; and we're worried, and we're concerned for all of Israel.
L: I totally agree with your assessment of world conditions. With crime being totally out of control, famine in some parts of the world, global decline, economic problems, the proposed legalization of drugs and of homosexuality all of these combine to escalate the advent of the Messiah and the end of this present era.
L: This will conclude the United Hebrew Congregation Forum for today, this is Lawrence Williams and Charles Voss closing with the scripture in Numbers:
"Speak to Berth and his sons, saying this is the way you should bless the children of Israel, say to them, 'may ETERNAL bless you and keep you, ETERNAL make His face shine upon you. And be gracious to you; ETERNAL lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.' 'So they shall put My name [ETERNAL] on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.'" (Num. 6:23 - 27)
[ "The Hope of Israel" index page ]
1.
The word paganism simply means any religion other the worship of
2.
See our article "New Proof of the Messiah"