The Scriptures

The Institute for Scripture Research (ISR) is an organization registered in South Africa for the purpose of spreading the truth of the Scriptures to the world through its various publications. Our vision is to faithfully proclaim YHWH and his word throughout the world by means of all our publications.

Our primary means though is through the translating, printing and publishing of a literal translation of “The Scriptures” that is as accurate as we can make it.

We have restored the name of the Father and his Messiah while also preserving the Hebraic mind-set of the original writers, to the best of our ability. In so doing we hope that it will shed further light on the understanding of the message of the Scriptures, thereby spiritually enriching the lives of its readers. Such a translation would be subject to on-going revision, as the ISR continues its quest to make it more and more accurate.

To further this end we also offer the public other publications that we believe may be excellent tools in the hands of those who seek for truth.

 

Faith for All of Life

Faith for All of Life is the bi-monthly magazine of the Chalcedon Foundation committed to “Proclaiming the Authority of God’s Word Over Every Area of Life and Thought.”

Formerly titled the Chalcedon Report, this insightful magazine has consistently put forth the message of the Kingdom of God since 1965.

An online subscription to Faith for All of Life is free. Simply create an account and you can access both the latest issue as well as the archives.

If you’d like to receive a print subscription of Faith for All of Life delivered by mail, click here. It’s a great way to support Chalcedon!

Chalcedon

Established in 1965, Chalcedon (kal-SEE-dun) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) and Christian educational organization devoted to research, publishing, and promoting Christian reconstruction in all areas of life.

Chalcedon is geared to all who understand that Jesus Christ speaks to the mind as well as to the heart.

We believe that the whole Word of God must be applied to all of life. It is not only our duty as individuals, families and churches to be Christian, but it is also the duty of the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion. We must live by His Word, not our own.

Chalcedon is premised on the belief that ideas have consequences. It takes seriously the words of Professor F. A. Hayek:

“It may well be that scholars tend to overestimate the influence which we can exercise on contemporary affairs. But I doubt whether it is possible to overestimate the influence which ideas have in the long run.”

Chalcedon’s resources are being used to remind Christians of this basic truth: What men believe makes a difference.

“Therefore men should not believe lies, for it is the truth that sets them free” (John 8:32).

Chalcedon’s activities include foundational and leadership roles in Christian reconstruction. Our emphasis on the Cultural or Dominion Mandate (Genesis 1:28) and the necessity of a return to Biblical Law has been a crucial factor in the challenge to Humanism by Christians in this country and elsewhere. Chalcedon’s involvement in and commitment to Christian education began with its inception when founder Rousas John Rushdoony pinpointed the Christian and home schools as the most important institutions in reversing the influence of secular Humanism.

Our scholars speak regularly at conferences in America and overseas for various churches, schools, and private organizations. Chalcedon also hosts its own regional conferences across America.

In an era of uncertainty and fear of doom, Chalcedon presents a message of victory and envisions our age as a great opportunity for the consistent Biblical believer. A world that is increasingly pessimistic and disillusioned with the failure of secular Humanism is now feeling the impact of Christians who are exercising dominion and reclaiming lost spheres of authority for Christ the King.

Torah Class

Torah Class is an independent, non-denominational organization of gentile Christians and Messianic Jews who meet to learn Torah and Old Testament (Tanach) from a biblical and messianic perspective, and then apply our understanding to the works of the Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach in the New Testament and ultimately to our life and personal relationship with God.

Our 7-fold mission is to:

1) worship and study the whole Word of God in spirit and truth,
2) recover the foundational patterns and principles of the Bible as exhibited in the 1st generation church,
3) revitalize Torah principles in our lives and hearts in light of the advent of Yeshua,
4) bless (and be blessed by) Israel, the land and the people,
5) break down the walls of division between Jew and gentile,
6) restore the pure spirit and basic purpose of the earliest Messianic movement that began with Jews and expanded to include gentiles  following the death and resurrection of our Savior Yeshua, and
7) to make available to others around the world, at no cost, the teachings and lessons of Torah Class and the works of outstanding Bible and Torah scholars, academics, Rabbis, Teachers, and writers.

New 2 Torah

Either we have many contradictions in God’s Word or a misunderstanding spanning generations back to Constantine and the supposed Holy Roman Empire.

Our purpose for this site is to bring simple articles and instruction teachings to those who are New 2 Torah.  We search the internet trying to find Torah teachers who think like we  do and love Yeshua  our Messiah who was the perfect unblemished Lamb.

We find these teachers and share the teachings at this site in hopes of consolidating them for people interested in them.  The result is a great site with all kinds of different links to teachings that people can use to study the Bible.

 

God In Government

God in Government was founded as an organization for the sole purpose of educating Christians in the areas of Biblical worldview, political ideology, and civic responsibility. 

The Bible commands that, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1); so it stands to reason that we need to ask: to what type of government do we want to submit?

Our objective is to help Christians to answer this question from a true biblical and historical perspective, so as to prepare us to better serve God (and His people) as responsible participants in today’s civic arena. 

Our outreach includes live presentations, the book God in Government, and other resources designed to instruct Christians as to why we should get involved politically, and how our involvement can reverse the trend of ungodliness that has taken over in our society and government. 

God admonishes, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). We feel that our nation’s cultural decay is the direct result of the Christian’s truncated view of spirituality, and a lack of knowledge due to an indifference toward history and the political realm. 

The Bible provides a positive blueprint for all-of-life, including politics, government, economics, law, education, history, science, sociology, and so on.

This is why both a proper biblical world view and a properly educated electorate are fundamental to returning America to her path of “one nation under God” that our Founding Fathers intended.

Saturday Cinema – The Little Theater with the Big Picture

Saturday Cinema is a non-profit, independent, educational movie theater in central Pennsylvania showing cutting-edge documentary films to the community for the purpose of promoting a “Biblical World View” and lauding our Judeo-Christian heritage and it’s legacy of freedom and capitalism.

Each week’s showing includes a double feature highlighting a particular theme.

Film categories include: Christ, The Bible, Apologetics, Doctrine, History&Culture, Liberty/Tyranny, The Culture War, Education, The Environment, Economics, Islam, and Creation/Evolution.

Reservations may be made for private showings and special events by church, tea party, or pro-life groups etc.

Films are selected which challenge the common presuppositions of the viewer while exposing the prevailing narratives of academia, the culture, and the media, thus earning the title “The Home of Politically Incorrect Pictures”.

We do not necessarily endorse every aspect of every film, but we believe every film contains important and relevant components to a biblical understanding of our fallen world.

Saturday Cinema provides an opportunity for the audience to understand and apply biblical principles to all areas of life, and a vision to reclaim our heritage, reform the culture, and restore the American republic.

A book and video lending library serves to reinforce themes and address questions raised within the various film presentations. Over 300 titles on DVD are available at no rental fee to members of the “Video Lending Library”.

Many of the DVD’s featured on the PPN website are included and are accessed by pastors, homeschoolers, as well as individuals.

A special thank you to our film producers and studios who have graciously granted permission for public performances so Saturday Cinema movie-goers may attend the theater for free. Saturday Cinema is maintained through the free-will donations of attendees as well as purchases of snacks and drinks from the refreshment counter.

Saturday Cinema offers continuous showings from 8:00 AM ’till 4:00 PM every Saturday. The mini-theater has an art decor flavor, seats 25 and is uniquely located inside the West Annex of Saturday’s Market near Middletown, Pa.

Open every Saturday, the year-round Flea/Farmers’ market is air-conditioned and offers over 300 vendor shopping experiences.

Directions from Harrisburg or Lancaster are easy – just take the Toll House Road exit off Rt 283 and follow the signs to Saturday’s Market. It is located on Rt 230 between Middletown and Elizabethtown at 3751 East Harrisburg Pike Middletown, Pa. 17057

For  film schedules, showtimes, reviews and a complete list of titles available through the “Video Lending Library”, visit Saturday Cinema on Facebook or email scvll@windstream.net

Lloyd Bedford – Proprietor

119 Ministries

119 Ministries is a ministry dedicated to seeking, teaching and living out the truth of the Word. Our purpose is to seek and bring the truth to all nations, unlearn false doctrines and traditions of men, and to equip the body to live and practice the Word as God originally intended.

We find that continuously examining the Scriptures (in the same Hebraic first century context and perspective in which they were written and understood) reveals to His people much more understanding, as opposed to the more common Greek mindset that is a couple thousand years removed.

We firmly believe in testing all doctrine to His Word and only holding on to what is good. Any belief that may fail such a test (regardless of that particular doctrine’s origin or even its popularity) is systematically rejected.

We seek to search the scriptures daily, in the same way Paul commended the Bereans in determining what was true. Through the leading and teaching of the Spirit we aim to bring 100% pure truth to all nations, teaching them to obey everything He commanded.

We recognize that this is not always easily done, and we welcome friendly and truth seeking engagement from fellow believers in His perfect Word , as we also believe iron sharpens iron.

We expect to challenge you, and also desire to be challenged, all under our unified desire to seek, understand, and apply His one and only Truth as revealed in His Word.

Patriot Bible University

Patriot Bible University offers 30 courses of study which provide a well-rounded and balanced approach to help patriot/Christians get into the Bible for the development of successful Christian living in America.

 

The Economic Lessons of Bethlehem

By Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

At the heart of the “Christmas” story rests some important lessons concerning free enterprise, government, and the role of wealth in society.

Let’s begin with one of the most famous phrases: “There’s no room at the inn.” This phrase is often invoked as if it were a cruel and heartless dismissal of the tired travelers Joseph and Mary. Many renditions of the story conjure up images of the couple going from inn to inn only to have the owner barking at them to go away and slamming the door.

In fact, the inns were full to overflowing in the entire Holy Land because of the Roman emperor’s decree that everyone be counted and taxed. Inns are private businesses, and customers are their lifeblood. There would have been no reason to turn away this man of royal lineage and his beautiful, expecting bride.

In any case, the second chapter of St. Luke doesn’t say that they were continually rejected at place after place. It tells of the charity of a single inn owner, perhaps the first person they encountered, who, after all, was a businessman. His inn was full, but he offered them what he had: the stable. There is no mention that the innkeeper charged the couple even one copper coin, though given his rights as a property owner, he certainly could have.

It’s remarkable, then, to think that when the Word was made flesh with the birth of Jesus, it was through the intercessory work of a private businessman. Without his assistance, the story would have been very different indeed. People complain about the “commercialization” of Christmas, but clearly commerce was there from the beginning, playing an essential and laudable role.

And yet we don’t even know the innkeeper’s name. In two thousand years of celebrating Christmas, tributes today to the owner of the inn are absent. Such is the fate of the merchant throughout all history: doing well, doing good, and forgotten for his service to humanity.

Clearly, if there was a room shortage, it was an unusual event and brought about through some sort of market distortion. After all, if there had been frequent shortages of rooms in Bethlehem, entrepreneurs would have noticed that there were profits to be made by addressing this systematic problem, and built more inns.

It was because of a government decree that Mary and Joseph, and so many others like them, were traveling in the first place. They had to be uprooted for fear of the emperor’s census workers and tax collectors. And consider the costs of slogging all the way “from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David,” not to speak of the opportunity costs Joseph endured having to leave his own business. Thus we have another lesson: government’s use of coercive dictates distort the market.

Moving on in the story, we come to Three Kings, also called Wise Men. Talk about a historical anomaly for both to go together! Most Kings behaved like the Roman Emperor’s local enforcer, Herod. Not only did he order people to leave their homes and foot the bill for travel so that they could be taxed. Herod was also a liar: he told the Wise Men that he wanted to find Jesus so that he could “come and adore Him.” In fact, Herod wanted to kill Him. Hence, another lesson: you can’t trust a political hack to tell the truth.

Once having found the Holy Family, what gifts did the Wise Men bring? Not soup and sandwiches, but “gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” These were the most rare items obtainable in that world in those times, and they must have commanded a very high market price.

Far from rejecting them as extravagant, the Holy Family accepted them as gifts worthy of the Divine Messiah. Neither is there a record that suggests that the Holy Family paid any capital gains tax on them, though such gifts vastly increased their net wealth. Hence, another lesson: there is nothing immoral about wealth; wealth is something to be valued, owned privately, given and exchanged.

When the Wise Men and the Holy Family got word of Herod’s plans to kill the newborn Son of God, did they submit? Not at all. The Wise Men, being wise, snubbed Herod and “went back another way” – taking their lives in their hands (Herod conducted a furious search for them later). As for Mary and Joseph, an angel advised Joseph to “take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt.” In short, they resisted. Lesson number four: the angels are on the side of those who resist government.

In the Gospel narratives, the role of private enterprise, and the evil of government power, only begin there. Jesus used commercial examples in his parables (e.g., laborers in the vineyard, the parable of the talents) and made it clear that he had come to save even such reviled sinners as tax collectors.

And just as His birth was facilitated by the owner of an “inn,” the same Greek word “kataluma” is employed to describe the location of the Last Supper before Jesus was crucified by the government. Thus, private enterprise was there from birth, through life, and to death, providing a refuge of safety and productivity, just as it has in ours.