As the host of Abrahams Academy, I’ll tell you about myself later.
But first, the Academy is a multi-sourced website. The articles, books, and videos you find here come from a wide range of sources. Many are from academics and scholars with impressive credentials. Others are from independent, non-professionals, but still highly gifted and insightful. Not all, but certainly most, have believed in Yahusha as the Messiah and are his witnesses. Secular sources are included for the wisdom they have in their fields of study.
Here are examples of authors I follow that you may find in Abrahams Academy: Nathaniel Jeanson, John Sanford, Douglas Petrovich, James Tour, Joseph Boot, Wolfgang Smith, J.C Sanford, Doug Wilson, and Gary DeMar. These men are highly accomplished and powerful instructors of scripturally based truth. Another author I hold in the highest regard no longer writing books is Steven M. Collins. He has been very influential in my life and countless others. Lately I have been reading Dean T. Larson.
Please note that Abrahams Academy is a work in progress. It will take many months, perhaps years, to embed all the written and videoed teaching I’d like to pass on to you. My goal is to make you an informed and knowledgeable believer in Yahusha HaMashiach or see you separated from traditional Christianity for the same purpose. Your support and contributions are coveted. See the Contact Us page for comments and submissions.
Abrahams Academy is also a place where you can post your written work, video, or testimonial of your faith in YAHUAH Alohim and His son, Yahusha HaMashiach. Your support is vital to the success of the Academy. Abrahams Academy is a multi-source website in which you can be involved.
Now about me. It’s only fair you know my background and influences. I’m a Canadian, born in 1945, and retired. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies from Brock University and spent one academic year in a Lutheran seminary. My wife, Barbara, and I have two grown children whom we dearly love, as they do us. My religious upbringing is Mennonite Brethren, or more broadly, Anabaptist – a “radical offshoot of the Protestant Reformation and spiritual ancestor of modern Baptists.” My parents were born in Russia, and my truly devout mother once told me I had been “given to missions.” I cherish the faith and devotion they showed in raising their seven children. I was their firstborn.
I became separated from the Mennonite Brethren because of my private Bible study, a vocation I have pursued diligently from my early twenty’s. Much later, I spent nine years in the Worldwide Church of God, founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. Following that, I was much involved with the Messianic Movement, and knew many of its founders personally such as Angus and Batya Wootten. The Christian or non-Jewish division of the Messianic Movement began, surely not by coincidence, immediately following the collapse of the Worldwide Church of God in 1996. I’m grateful for all those associations and their influence in my spiritual walk.
Friends, let’s acknowledged our isolation. I have been isolated for much of my life and so have many others like myself. We are a scattered people, one here and another there, all over the world. Being part of a congregation or mega-church may be a privilege for some, but for many others it’s a hindrance. Recall our Master’s words from Matthew 7:13-14:
Enter in through the narrow gate! Because the gate is wide – and the way is broad – that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter in through it. Because the gate is narrow and the way is hard pressed (afflicted) which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
And from Jeremiah 3:14-15:
Return, O backsliding children,” declares YaHUah, “for I shall rule over you, and shall take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and shall bring you to Tsiyon. And I shall give you shepherds according to My heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
I trust this promise will be fulfilled at least in part through Abrahams Academy as you enter the narrow gate on the way to becoming a true shepherd yourself. “Study to show yourself approved to Elohim,” says 2nd Timothy 2:15.
MISSION
Abrahams Academy is learning centre for newcomers to the teaching of Yahusha HaMashiac, the countless many scattered abroad, and those coming out of traditional Christianity.
It is our Almighty Father’s immense pleasure to give you of His spirit abundantly. Receive it joyfully and ask for more of it every day. Having YAHUAH’S spirit makes you a new person, restores your identity, separates you from the world, guides you in your walk, enables you to overcome and be victorious, heals your diseases, brings you unlimited peace of mind and wellbeing, and fills you with gratitude. Thanks be to YAHUAH for His immeasurable gift.
No amount of Almighty’s spirit, however, can substitute for the power of your intellect. (Sha’ul said he would rather speak five intelligible words of instruction than ten thousand words in a tongue.) At the same time, having the Almighty’s spirit is inseparable from reading, obeying, and knowing His word – the written word called scriptures. Do not be dismayed by the study ahead of you. Abrahams Academy will help you grow in intellectual knowledge and spiritual wisdom. Before you is an open door to the pleasure of learning, the power of knowledge, and the confirmation of your faith in Yahusha HaMashiach.
“Study to show yourself approved to Elohim/Alahim,” says 2nd Timothy 2:15. The word “study” means be diligent, make a serious effort, work hard, be eager, and do your very best. You will need to apply yourself in becoming the faith-warrior you are called to be, and not be moved in every direction by the world around you and religious tradition.
You shall love the YAHUAH your Alohim out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment (Mark 12:30 AMPC edited).
Be assured, the Almighty Father’s spirit is leading you into the knowledge of the truth.