He would over-hear someone discussing a topic one meeting, and then the next meeting he'd be there to hand that someone a study paper he had written - on that same topic. It was his kind way of sharing with you what he believed.

Voy Wilks has fallen asleep in death now, but in the last 17 years I have acquired many of his study papers, most of which cannot be found online. So, I'm setting out to slowly but surely post many of his studies online; studies that have helped me.

Many of these studies concern the person of Christ, or answer the question "Who is Yeshua?" Since this has been a topic of utmost interest and concern for me in my journey, Voy's papers have helped tremendously. They bring a complex subject down to the level of simplicity, without being un-intellectual. I like that.

No, I don't agree with Voy on everything, but I've yet to meet two people who agree on everything. I hope you enjoy reading "The Wilks Papers."

~ Matthew

Have you ever wondered how you could really be obedient to the instruction of Yeshua the Messiah in Matthew 5:48? In case your wondering, Yeshua says here, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." This seems like a task that is impossible, especially if you truly realize the awesome holiness of the Creator. When the prophet Isaiah was in the presence of Yahweh he said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips... (Isaiah 6:5)" Isaiah recognized that compared to Yahweh he was ruined, he was a creature in need of divine help from his Creator.

So how can we be perfect as our Father in heaven? Well, if you believe Yeshua's statement means that we are supposed to be exactly like our Father in heaven (completely holy, sinless, immortal, all knowing, etc.) then it truly is an impossible task for a human such as you and I. However, when we understand Yeshua's statement in the context He said it, the meaning of the instruction becomes quite clear. It is always important to read Bible verses in context, else we will make the mistake of interpreting them to have a meaning which was foreign to the original author and the original audience.

Yeshua, previous to Matthew 5:48, spoke of the need for us to not only love our neighbor but to also love our enemy. He said to pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43-44). This is not what we see going on in many Christian communities today. People who profess Christ are constantly trying to "get back at" others and gossip about those who are enemies of them. Even something as simple as someone else blowing the horn at us often causes us to "fly off the handle" and we want to do the exact same thing to them or even worse. In cases like this we are to instead act kindly to those who wrong us. Yeshua here echoes His Father Yahweh. Notice these Scriptures from the book of Exodus.

Exodus 23:4-5 "If you come across your enemy's stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it."

Here, Yahweh teaches us to do good to our enemies. It's not as though Yahweh is only speaking about this specific situation that may arise in the Israelite community. It's not like an Israelite could see his enemies "cow" and think, "Oh! But it's not his donkey so I don't have to help him!" Yahweh is teaching Israel a principle. The principle is that they are to be kind and seek to help those who would not desire to help them; those who may be downright hateful towards them. This law applies still applies to us today.

In this vein Yeshua tells us (Matthew 5:45) that in loving our enemy we are being like our Father in heaven for even Yahweh makes His sun to rise on those that not only do good, but also upon those that do evil. Yahweh's rain pours out on the righteous and the unrighteous. He is explaining that Yahweh shows common grace to all people in the world, giving them sunlight for their health, warmth, etc. as well as rain; both are necessities of life. If we want to be children of our Father in heaven, then we need to do our best to imitate what He does here.

This is what Yeshua means when He says to be perfect even as Yahweh is perfect. The word perfect often carries the meaning of "complete." Being perfect or complete here means not just loving the ones who love us, but loving the ones who do not love us. If we love only those who love us we are imperfect or incomplete. If we love those who we consider to be our enemy we are exhibiting a complete love.

Matthew Janzen

In Matthew 5:17 Yeshua the Messiah made this statement, "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets." In light of this very plain statement by our Master, why is that so many people think He came to destroy the law?

I've gotten into many discussions about the law of Yahweh as found in books such as Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, etc. and the first thing that usually comes out of people's mouths is, "Well, that's Old Testament" or "We are not under the law," or "That's been done away with." They then explain that Christ died and we aren't obligated to keep the law any more. If all this is true, then wouldn't it mean that Yeshua did come to destroy the law? Wouldn't this mean that a part of His mission was to come and take away the law and not require us to keep the law?

Well of course it would and that is why the teaching that we do not have to keep God's law is so dangerous. It makes Yeshua out to be a liar. He told people to not even think this, yet preachers not only think it they proclaim it to the people week in and week out. If ever a person comes to their pastor and asks them about this or that commandment, the common reply: don't worry about that, we aren't under the law. What a way to deal with a question. No explanation, no exegesis, and you can forget dealing with the passage expositorily. Just say we are not under the law and it seems everything else does not matter.

I say that we should respect our Lord and that means respecting His words. He told us not to think it. Do you love Him enough to obey this command? Don't even let it enter into your mind that part of His mission was to destroy the law; that wasn't why He was commisioned by the Father. He rather came to deal with sin which is the breaking of the law. He came to pay the penalty for sin which is death; not to do away with God's standard of righteousness.

Do you believe in Yeshua? Do you believe His words in Matthew 5:17?

Matthew Janzen