Are You Really FOLLOWING Messiah?

By Brother Michel Lankford

You cannot follow two leaders who travel in two opposite directions. If you follow YHWH and Messiah, you will by necessity distance yourself from the sinful world. If you follow after the sinful world and its ideologies, you will by necessity be distancing yourself from YHWH and from Messiah. You must deliberately choose WHICH you will follow, in which you will serve.

Michel Lankford

After Messiah’s death and Resurrection, and before He returned to YHWH ALMIGHTY His Heavenly Father, Messiah clearly commanded us to make disciples by teaching people how to OBEY EVERYTHING that He commanded, (Matthew 28:19-20). Messiah’s 2nd public Commandment is “FOLLOW ME,”(Matthew 4:19).

• Messiah did NOT SAY follow the Roman Emperors.
• Messiah did NOT SAY follow Roman Catholic Popes.
• Messiah did NOT SAY follow your Denominations or your church’s traditions.
• Messiah did NOT SAY follow your own personal preferences, your favorite verses, or doctrines.
• Messiah DID NOT say make the sinful world more comfortable in their sin, so that they would be willing to hear the gospel and would come to me.

• Messiah did not say go and create churches that look and behave like corporations, so that the sinful world will be impressed.

Messiah SAID, **“FOLLOW ME.”**

Now, according to the original biblical languages, to FOLLOW, literally means to, “Come along after, and to walk in the SAME steps.” Picture little children following after their father in a deep snow. They are instructed to put their little feet where the father first put his big feet, so that they can more easily make their way safely back to the house. That is what it means to FOLLOW Messiah. Now, If for whatever reason we choose to walk a DIFFERENT path than Messiah walked; if we choose to live an OPPOSITE way then what Messiah lived when He was here, then according to the biblical definition, we cannot correctly be said to be FOLLOWING the Messiah. We would then in reality be following something other than Messiah.

So then, if we are going to truly FOLLOW after Messiah, it becomes CRITICAL to understand HOW Messiah walked with the Almighty Father when He lived here; Because to walk any other way means that we are NOT truly FOLLOWING Messiah at all. To walk in a way contrary to the way that Messiah walked would mean that we are following something else other than Messiah, by definition.

Did Messiah LOVE the Heavenly Father, by KEEPING, or by BREAKING His Father’s Commandments? (Deuteronomy 7:9; John 14:31; John 15:10)? Messiah demonstrated His love to the Father by OBEYING the Father’s Commandments. We should follow Messiah by doing the SAME as Messiah did.

Messiah lived to do the Father’s Will, and NOT His own Will, (Matthew 26:42; John 4:34; John 5:19; John 5:30; John 12:49-50). Now clearly, YHWH Almighty is NOT double minded. The Almighty Father CANNOT deny or contradict Himself, (2 Timothy 2:13). Even Paul the apostle of grace understood as much. Therefore, it can NEVER be the Father’s Will, for us to do the OPPOSITE of what the Father’s Commandments and Instructions tells us to do. The Father’s Will and the Father’s Own Commandments can NEVER be the OPPOSITE of each other. Messiah lived to do the Father’s Will, and those of us who claim to follow Messiah should do the SAME.

Messiah clearly taught people to KEEP the Commandments, (Matthew 5:17-20; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 10:25-28; Matthew 19:17; Matthew 28:19-20). The fact is that there is NOT a single prophet of YHWH, (and that includes Messiah), that EVER prophesied that upon Messiah’s death and the atonement for sins, doing YHWH’s Commandments would be suspended or abolished. The fact is that Messiah NEVER preached the abolition doctrine, either during His ministry or after His death and resurrection. If the abolition doctrine is true, then SHOW ME THE PROPHET, who prophesied this before the fact, (Amos 3:7). No, Messiah clearly taught that people should KEEP the Father’s Commandments, and we who follow Messiah should likewise also teach the SAME thing.

Messiah openly CONDEMNED Lawlessness/Anomia, (Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 24:12-13). Messiah NEVER took the concepts defined to be lawlessness, and He NEVER taught that lawlessness was Grace, as so many, “Christians,” do today. Since Messiah clearly CONDEMNED Lawlessness, then we who FOLLOW Messiah must likewise Condemn Lawlessness, just as Messiah did.

Messiah openly OPPOSED following traditions of men, when ever those man-made traditions Violated a Commandment given by YHWH, (Matthew 15:1-9; Mark 7:1-13). Even Paul taught in agreement with Messiah here, (Colossians 2:8). The vast majority of “Christians,” do the exact OPPOSITE of what Messiah did, and they routinely do the opposite of what Scripture teaches in this case. They routinely put their own Religious traditions ABOVE obeying what YHWH and Messiah have Commanded us to do.

As it is written: The one who claims to abide in Messiah, should likewise walk in the SAME manner as Messiah walked, (1 John 2:6) –

So, when we don’t do this, we are VIOLATING even the “New Testament.”

So how about you? Are you truly FOLLOWING Messiah? Are you striving to walk in the SAME steps that Messiah walked when He was here? Or, are you actually following something else in the Messiah’s Name?

Are you coming along behind and walking in the SAME steps that Messiah did? If not, then You are NOT actually FOLLOWING the Messiah. You are then following after something OTHER than Messiah. That’s just how it is.

Brother Michel Lankford