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The Ten Commandments

And a God spoke all these words, saying,

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am f a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For m in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet u your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Now when all the people saw w the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to z test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the a thick darkness where God was.
Laws About Altars

And the Lord said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have b talked with you from heaven. You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and e bless you. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.'

Exodus 20 - English Standard Version (ESV)

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‘Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets.’ (Numbers 29:1)

“But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.” (Mark 13:32-33)

At first glance these two verses have nothing in common – one speaks of a festival of Adonai, while the other speaks of the end of the world – yet they are tied together by one very special day – Yom Teruah.

Although most people speak of Rosh HaShannah when this festival is referenced, the two words are not exactly interchangeable. Rosh HaShannah literally means the head (rosh) of the year (shannah) and is a secularization of God’s day of blowing trumpets (the literal meaning of Yom Teruah.)

Of the seven festivals ordained by Adonai, Yom Teruah is the only one that occurs on the sighting of the new moon. Because the month can only have so many days (no more than 30) and there are only two when the first sliver might be sighted, the Levites would send out priests to certain locations considered favorable to search for that sliver of moon. As soon as there were two witnesses (for a truth is established by the witness of two or three) to the new moon, the trumpets would sound and all of Israel would know that the new month has begun.

On the sighting of the seventh moon, however, these trumpets also sounded the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah. Although the trumpet was sounded at the beginning of each month, the seventh month’s blast signals the beginning of the fall festivals. Yom Teruah is followed ten days later by the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) a foreshadowing of the day the books would be closed and judgment would begin. One might even say that Yom Teruah announces the beginning of the end.

Since this holy day comes only with the sighting of the new moon, and no one is exactly sure when that might occur, it has become known as “the day and hour no one knows.” Yeshua (Jesus) referenced this appointed time in His answer to Peter, James, John and Andrew’s private questions regarding the end. These men were all Jews, so they understood to what He was alluding. The average Christian, unfortunately, misses this very important clue because they have not been schooled in the statutes of Adonai.

We understand that we are to be holy as He is holy, set-apart from the average man for His service; however, we are not taught just how this is done.

‘You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.’ (Leviticus 20:7-8)

In order to become holy we are instructed to “keep My statutes and practice them;” the King James says, “Observe to do.” But what exactly are His statutes? Are they the just the Ten Commandments, or is there something more? A closer look at the Hebrew always helps.

The word translated as statute is chuqqah, which is basically defined as: something prescribed, an enactment, an appointment. These are the holy days that Adonai gave His people Israel. They are not “Jewish holidays,” as so many claim; they are the holy days of Adonai – the Lord’s calendar of events. If we want to be men of understanding, then we must understand God’s appointed times, or we’ll never be prepared for what is coming.

Of the Seven Festivals of the Messiah, Yom Teruah is the fifth festival, but the first one of the fall season. When the Messiah came and died on the cross, He fulfilled (filled up full of meaning) the spring festivals. From Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread through the Feast of First Fruits and Pentecost (Shavuot), Yeshua’s life, death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father gave new meaning to each and every one of these festivals. When He returns again in glory to judge the living and the dead, He will bring the full meaning of the fall festivals as well.

The ancient Israelites understood that there would be a future Yom Teruah – no one was sure when this might happen – when The Shofar blast would arouse them from their slumber (as when He gave the Law from the mountain top) and they would know that the end was near – indeed, right at the door! This future Day of Trumpets would signal the beginning of the end, which the prophet Daniel revealed would be seven years.

In those days when the trumpet would blast, it would signal that generation to fall upon its knees, confessing their sins, and preparing for their coming Messiah, for judgment was at hand. This is why each year the practicing Jew will contact friends and family, apologizing for wrongs committed and seeking forgiveness – it’s their way of enacting this statute, and it should be ours as well.

For Yom Teruah is coming very soon – indeed this very week! We must be prepared for the appointment He made with our fathers so long ago, for this year brings us closer than ever before to That Day, the future Yom Teruah when we will all hear the shofar’s blast, announcing the end has begun.

Are we ready to hear the blast of His Trumpet?

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. (Exodus 19:16-19)

The trumpet blast is coming – maybe sooner than we think. What if this is the year? What if the sixth seal is opened and the poles shift and we experience the beginning of the end… are we ready to rely upon Him to lead and guide us into His kingdom, or will we be like so many others, shaking our fists at God because the tribulation has begun and He is causing us to go through it all, just like the rest of the world.

‘Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved from it. It shall come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the LORD, ‘and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and no one will make him afraid. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD, ‘to save you; for I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you, only I will not destroy you completely. But I will chasten you justly and will by no means leave you unpunished.’ (Jeremiah 30:7-11)

Chasten is a word foreign to many of us due to its lack of usage. According to Webster it means: To correct by punishment. Adonai our God loves His people very much, so much so that He will allow us to go though some very troubling times, trials and tribulations, in order to perfect us. The refiner’s fire is very hot; it must be in order to remove the filth we’ve accumulated. In the troubling times ahead, only those who are well-acquainted with the sound of His voice will have the strength to stand firm in their faith, for the deception will be great.

Yom Teruah is just around the corner – it’s time for His people to prepare themselves for the appointed time by enacting them now. Learn about the Festivals of the Messiah, and how they reveal His plan for His people in the troubling times ahead.

For it is only when we walk in His teachings, enacting them and making them a part of our lives, that we can begin to understand what His plan is for His people, and act accordingly. For we will all see the judgment, but for those who are walking in His statutes there is protection available. Let us learn to observe to do according to all that He taught Moses, so He can prepare us for what is to come.

Is that the sound of a trumpet I hear?
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Earlier this summer, we saw the first “smart pill” from Proteus Digital Health receive U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance, a huge step in connecting drug delivery with mobile technologies. So what comes next?

It would be years before we see it on the market, but the next generation of smart medicine just may lie in an even smarter method of drug delivery — a tiny chip that’s implanted inside the body and programmed wirelessly to release doses of drugs at the right time — being developed and tested by an MIT spinout.

Initially, MicroCHIPS sees its technology treating conditions that require consistent, long-term regimens of injected drugs. One of the most critical needs the technology addresses, according to President and CEO Robert Farra, is compliance. People generally don’t enjoy getting injections, and when left to do it themselves, will find ways to avoid it. Plus, sometimes injectable medications need to be refrigerated, which isn’t convenient for people on the go.

That’s the case with the drug teriparatide, a parathyroid hormone marketed as Forteo by Eli Lilly & Co. that relies on daily injections to increase bone mass for treatment of osteoporosis. Because it must be refrigerated and injected every day to be effective, and because osteoporosis is a “silent disease” that doesn’t cause symptoms with missed doses, the drug has a poor compliance rate, Farra said. That made it a great candidate for the first application of MicroCHIPS’ technology.
First developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by professors Robert Langer and Michael Cima, the technology starts with a microchip that measures three-quarters of an inch by three-quarters of an inch. On that microchip are 200 microreservoirs, tiny dips that house concentrated dosages of drugs and are hermetically sealed using metallic bonds so the drug can’t leak out and no moisture or air can get into the reservoirs. The chip is also designed with a path for an electrical current to pass through in order to melt the bonds when it’s time for a dose of the drug to be released.

It’s implanted under the skin, usually below the waistline or in the arm, in an outpatient procedure using local anesthesia, a small incision and a few sutures.

Using a small device about the size of a calculator that’s hooked up to a computer and connects wirelessly to the chip, a physician can program the chip to release doses on a regular schedule, or to release a dose on demand. The chip can be reprogrammed at any time, as long as the patient is in the same room as the physician with the device.

When it’s time for the drug to be released, a current is delivered to the chip to melt the bonds of one of the reservoirs (the sealing material resolidifies on the edges of the reservoir). The patient, meanwhile, doesn’t feel a thing, Farra said.

In its first-in-human study published earlier this year in Science in Translation, the company demonstrated that its chip could dose reliably and achieve the same pharmacokinetic profile as an injection of the drug. According to Farra, patients interviewed after the trial commented that they couldn’t feel the device and were willing to have another one implanted.

Currently there are two versions of the chip: the one that holds 200 doses and another that holds 400. For once-daily drugs, that means the chip would need to be replaced in the patient every 200 or 400 days. With other drugs that aren’t dosed daily, it could last up to several months or even years.

Similar technologies for delivery of insulin, pain medication and likely other applications are being developed, but the added wireless capabilities of MicroCHIPS’ system make it unique.

As you can imagine, making something durable and reliable enough to be stored in the body for months isn’t something that happens quickly. The Waltham, Massachusetts company was formed in 1999 and has spent years developing and testing the chips under all imaginable conditions. “We pressurized them to determine at what point they rupture,” Farra said. (The answer is 600 PSI). “We’ve taken them in vacuum environments and applied temperature profiles, taken them through ultrasound diagnostics, electrocauterization, exposed them to X-rays. Patients can undergo other procedures with them. The only exception right now that we need to do additional work on is MRI imaging.”

From the electronics standpoint, the technology operates on an open circuit, so if there’s any failure in the hardware, it basically stops functioning, he added.

All of that developing and testing has required some serious capital, delivered over the years by investors including Polaris Venture Partners, Medtronic, Intersouth Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, InterWest Partners, Novartis Venture Fund, CSK Ventures, Saints Capital, Care Capital and Boston University.

And it’s nowhere near over yet: It will take about two more years to complete the development of the 200- and 400-dose systems, and several more years to continue clinical trials. Since it’s both a drug delivery system and a medical device, Farra said the company hasn’t even yet fleshed out the FDA pathway it needs to take.

In the meantime, it’s also working on a second-generation implant that’s one-fifth the size of the device used in the clinical trial and has 10 times the doses. It’s also looking for partners to continue developing its glucose sensor, which uses similar technology.

The technology, Farra said, has the potential to increase compliance and decrease healthcare costs. Although the price of the drug to be delivered by the implant is about the same as Forteo injections, according to The New York Times, it could potentially decrease long-term costs for patients who don’t take their medicine and improve outcomes.
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