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Inside this Issue 4 Reflections From the Editor: Lest We Forget
5 Deleavening Our Hearts & Homes by Morah Kelly Vonner 7 The Hebraic Call to Missions by Morah Onleilove Alston
9 A Greater Exodus by Morah Kelly Vonner
RESTORATION MAGAZINE is published for FREE distribution in the public interest. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission. All Rights Reserved. RESTORATION MAGAZINE is published by Restoring the Branches Ministry.
Editor & Graphics Designer: Kelly Vonner Contributions: Onleilove Alston & Kelly Vonner Cover Image: Duminda Perera @Unsplash Email: restoringthebranches@gmail.com
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REFLECTIONS FROM THE
Editor
Lest We Forget Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today‌ Deuteronomy 8:11 When we forget God, we sin. When we forget Him, we far prey to lawlessness. The Word of God commands us to always be in remembrance of the goodness, mercy, and faithfulness of our Creator. He never forgets. He is steadfast and immovable. He is the Promise-Keeper, and His Word never returns void. We can completely trust Him and His Word based on His perfect, faithful, and just actions. Forgetting God causes a withering of the soul. Forgetting the source of life depletes the life in us. The Word of God calls us to set our hope in the Most High and not forget His Word. The Word of God calls us to keep His commandments and His instructions for our benefit (Psalm 78:7). David declares that remembering the Word of God is a delight and gives Him life (Psalm 119: 16, 93). The prophet Isaiah admonishes those who follow after righteousness to not forget the Maker of heaven and earth (Isaiah 51:13), and our Great Teacher, Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Word by revealing the truth of His divine law (Matthew 5:17). I pray we come back to remembrance of truth, justice, and love. I pray we are mindful of what matters in this life. I pray we are established as servants of God. And I pray our minds are being shaped into the mind of Christ, whose mind was focused on the high calling of the Most High (Philippians 3:15) as He humbled Himself being obedient unto death (Philippians 2:5-8).
Shalom, K. Vonner
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Deleavening Our Hearts & Homes By Morah Kelly Vonner Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). Every time this year comes around, I get mixed emotions. I’m excited because Passover is coming, but I’m also anxious because Passover is coming. Did I grow? Was I pleasing to the Father this year? Did I complete any of my heavenly assignments? Did I win more than I lost in the battle waged in the mind? How much did my personal hangups cost me in being an effective ambassador of Christ? Before I can be “passed over” I have to confess my mess. I have to acknowledge my failures and
accept His grace. When I feel all over the place, nothing gets done, but when I stop and seek the One who offers rest to my soul, I am encouraged to endure to end because the King is coming. We are called to be unleavened, to have hearts void of that which sours or embitters our walk. We are called to confess our sins, our lawlessness, and allow the light of the Most High to shine in the darkest parts of our souls. Just as the Father requires us to search and remove the leavening in our homes, He expects the same work to be done in our hearts. Deleavening requires introspection, the examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes. Sometimes we can get so caught in the physical process of cleaning that we miss the message, and other times we can be “so spiritual that we are no earthly good”. As you go through to remove the leavening from your home, have your ears open to hear what the Ruach is saying. What has bittered or soured your walk with YAH? That’s the leaven
in your life. What we confess, He will cover, but we cannot confess what we fail to acknowledge. The release from bondage comes by first acknowledging that we have entangled ourselves in and with unhealthy habits and behaviors. The brain drives behavior; we have to align our thinking with the mind of Mashiach as steadfast disciples. So, yes, clean your home and car thoroughly, but examine your heart, mind, and behavior with that same energy. Let us not be those who appear outwardly clean, but are dead within and full of uncleanness. The Father wants to smell a sweet aroma coming from temples, and how sweet are His words to our soul, like honey to our mouths (Psalm 119:103). The Father disciplines those He loves. He draws us into His order, wisdom, and understanding so that we can live. The only profit from sin is death! Oh, that we would choose life! I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. 5
Selah For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters, They shall not come near him. You [are] my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah (Psalm 32:5-7). He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes [them] will have mercy (Proverbs 28:13 NKJV). Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:16-18). Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; and deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins, for Your name’s sake (Psalm 79:9)!
In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity (Proverbs 16:6). To learn more, check out the teaching available on YouTube by clicking the image below.
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The Hebraic Call to Missions: Taking The Great News to The 4 Corners By Morah Onleilove Alston He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12 If we are told repeatedly that the children of Israel are scattered to the four corners of the earth then our focus should be on more than North America. Reaching a broken family flung to the four corners of the earth is a daunting task but one that The Messiah gave to his Apostles and all his followers in his last message on earth: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 Many call what Yahshua is recorded as saying in Matthew 28:16-20 “The Great Commission” and truly it is a great task but why do you think Yahshua a Hebrew Messiah would tell his Hebrew disciples to go into all the world when in Matthew 15:24 he is recorded as saying: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”? Well, the reason
Yahshua told the 12 and all his followers to go into ALL the world is because the Israelites were scattered into ALL the world aka “The Four Corners of the Earth”. As many awaken to their Hebrew heritage its imperative that we not forget that there are millions if not billions of unawakened genetic Hebrews who desperately need to hear what I call the “Great News”. Many call the redemption available through Yahshua The Messiah the “Good News” but as I meditate on what it means for a Lost Sheep of Israel to be redeemed and return like the prodigal son I realize we have not just good news but GREAT news! Not only can we be forgiven of our sins and born again but we can return to the covenant as bloodline Hebrews to whom the oracles of Yah were given! We are to apart of Biblical prophecy! We can be filled and empowered by The Ruach Ha’kodesh to help redeem humanity through the preaching of his word, healing and justice. This is very GREAT news that so many Hebrews desperately need to hear. The Kingdom is at hand and our awakening is a sign of this. I know Hebrews from Fiji, various African nations, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and The Bahamas who are requesting that their brothers and sisters come and teach them. Many do not know this but most of the 12 disciples went to a particular area where they thought Lost Sheep of Israel could be found to minister for instance the Apostle Thomas went to India and believe it or not there are Hebrews in India. The Apostle Mark is known as “The Apostle to Africa” because his ministry was primarily in Africa. To be an Apostle means you are a “sent one” and many of you 7
reading this may be sent to the nations. As we go to do missions remember we can’t just preach at people when they have tangible needs but we must help meet needs as well (James 2:15,16). This is a time of fast fulfilling Bible prophecy, the fields are white and ready for harvest but we must work while it is day because night will come when no man can work. John 9:4 Morah Onleilove Chika Alston, M.Div., MSW is a native of New York City where she is works as an Faith-Rooted advocate for criminal justice issues and serves as the Minister of Evangelism for BethEl The House of YHWH a 67-year old Messianic Hebrew congregation in the South Bronx. She is also the Founder or Prophetic Whirlwind: Uncovering the Black Biblical Destiny and the author of a book by the same title. With a passion for missions she has ministered among Hebrews in: Nigeria, Ghana, Israel and The Bahamas and has traveled to Togo, The US Virgin Islands, Scotland, England, Switzerland and Morocco. She has five siblings and a large family in New York and North Carolina. To learn more visit: PropheticWhirlwind.com.
Order Book On Amazon, Print and Kindle In this book, Onleilove Chika examines the Black foundations of the Biblical text, who is a Hebrew, the Torah’s call to justice and the connection between idolatry and injustice. This book reveals where many of The Lost Tribes of Israel went to escape oppression and what this means for the Black Freedom Movement of today. By profiling the Hebraic foundations of the African-American Church and over 15 African Hebrew tribes Prophetic Whirlwind reveals what the author calls The Black Biblical Destiny. 8
A Greater Exodus
by Morah Kelly Vonner “Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise and go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said” (Exodus 12: 31). “A Greater Exodus” has been resonating heavily in my spirit. YAH has promised to bring a deliverance that would be greater than when He brought the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north from all the land where He had driven then.’ For I will bring them back to their land which I gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15 NKJV). He is truly redeeming His children from the four corners of the world, and no one can come to Salvation unless the Father who
sent Salvation to us draws him; those drawn to Him are those He has promised to raise up at the last day (John 6:44). What has He redeemed our souls from? He has redeemed our souls from death, lawlessness, sin, and, unrighteousness. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of YAH is eternal life in Yahshua HaMashiach our Master” (Romans 6:23). God sent Jesus Christ to redeemed us from the death and the bondage of sin. Salvation is bringing us out so that we may cross over to life. This new life should be lived under the authority of YAH’s appointed King, Yahshua (Jesus). Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; He is the way out of spiritual bondage. He is life and every other way apart from Him leads to death. We’ve been called to rise and come out of this wicked world and serve the Most High as He has called us. We have been called to make a mass departure from a culture void of the ways of the Most High. Our unrighteous ways, speech, behaviors, and ideas are offensive and disrespectful, yet He
is longsuffering not wanting anyone to perish. We have been called to depart from evil and live (Psalm 37:27). We have been called to seek peace and pursue it (Psalm 34;14), and we have been instructed to not rely on our own wisdom (Proverbs 3:7). To depart from evil is to leave behind what God, the Source of all, has deemed as malignant, disagreeable, bad, unpleasant, and wicked. This level of understanding requires time in His Word, in worship, and in prayer. We cannot continue in the same behaviors and expect a different outcome. We must change the way we live. We must experience a greater exodus. We must leave behind the sin that so easily besets us and walk worthy of the call as priests of God and of Christ as ambassadors pleading with the nations to be reconciled to God. For the mind of Christ to be in us, we must experience a spiritual exodus that parallels or exceeds the physical one that the children of Israel experienced coming out of Egypt. Yahshua offers a greater exodus available to all nations. 9
Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which our forefathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD� (Joshua 24:14-15). In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity, and by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil (Proverbs 16:6-7). In our unbelief is where sin and lawlessness reside. That is where we put off the
kingdom work and seek our own desires. This unbelief will cause us to fall in the wilderness, which would be the opposite of our Great Teacher, Yahshua, who used the Word to fight in the wilderness and draw closer to the Father. Love strengthened Yahshua to be obedient unto death. Love lifted us out to the pit of sin and wickedness. Love parted the waters of the sea so that we could cross over. Love passed over our mess year after year. Love is still calling today. I pray we respond while we still have a chance to experience a greater exodus. Shalom.
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