Author: Steven R. Bruck

Kefa Warns Against Misusing Shaul’s Letters

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In his second letter written to believers, Kefa (Peter) warned against something that I believe the early Gentile leaders (of what was becoming Christianity) failed to listen to.   

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.   

So, nu?  What was this warning? It was given near the very end of the letter, in Chapter 3, verse 16.

Kefa was talking about how what may seem like God not taking any action to bring about the Day of Judgment, really was God being patient and giving those who are sinning the chance to repent, but he reminds them that the day will come swiftly and without any warning. Therefore, they should be ready by always acting faithfully and leading godly lives, as Kefa’s good friend, Shaul (Paul) has written to them.

Now, here we come to the warning, and verse 16 goes like this (CJB):

Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Christianity has pretty much done exactly what Kefa said they shouldn’t do, using Shaul’s letters as a foundation for teaching to ignore the Torah, which was never his intention.
What they have done is exactly the wrong thing- they have ignored most of the Torah and justified that by misusing Shaul’s letters (especially Romans) to teach the Torah is not necessary for Gentiles.

More than that, Christianity teaches that Yeshua lived the Torah perfectly as an example to all of us, then did away with it.

I know, I know…when you think about it, how can anyone believe that makes any sense, at all? I mean, if Yeshua was showing us all how to live Torah correctly, why bother if he was going to do away with it?  

That’s like going to school to learn how to repair something that no longer exists or is in use anywhere.

But, I digress… 

If you are fair-minded and open to hearing something different than what you have been taught, I think as you review the tenets and foundations of Christianity you will realize that it isn’t based on anything other than what Shaul wrote, with some occasional reference to the 10 Commandments.

Basically, they say Christians do not have to follow the law of Moses but the Law of Christ (for the record, the Laws of Moses aren’t really his laws but the laws of God, Almighty: Moses only wrote them down).  

Okay, well, then… what is Christ’s law?

The only time Yeshua proclaimed the importance of following a law is when he said the two most important laws are to love the Lord and to love each other (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Well, those aren’t really his laws because God said to love each other in Leviticus 19:18, and the Torah says to love the Lord in Deuteronomy 6:5. So, really, the only “Law of Christ” is not his law, but God’s law.

This is one example of the many ways that Christianity misused Shaul’s letters, ignoring Kefa’s warning, in that the so-called “Law of Christ” is actually the Torah- the very thing they say to ignore!

My experience with most Christians, whether born-again or of the more standard variety (traditional Catholics, Protestants, Episcopalians, etc.) is that almost to a fault, when we talk about the Trinity, or holidays, or what God wants from us, or names for God, they all quote either from John’s Gospel (which I have often shown to be a false gospel) or the letters Shaul wrote.  

Now, Shaul did use many quotes from the Tanakh, which is the only real scripture in any of his letters, but he never came right out and said, “God told me to tell you… (whatever)”.

The only place in the entire Bible where we read that God dictates, directly, how the people must live or worship is in the Torah.

So, Shaul never did get any direct instructions from God, or Yeshua for that matter, except maybe that Yeshua told him to go to Damascus and find a man named Ananias.

The letters Shaul wrote are not God-breathed scripture.

When you read them, without already knowing what they are supposed to mean, you can see that they are merely managerial directives to congregations of Gentile believers who were having issues of faith and inter-personal relationship problems. And, in almost every letter, he had to address the pressure they were put under by the Jewish believers to make total conversion (specifically B’rit Milah/Circumcision) instead of learning how to live a Torah observant life step-by-step, which is what Saul was doing with them.

He knew that if these hedonistic pagans had to give it all up at once, the paradigm shift in lifestyle would be so great as to cause many to fall away before they had a chance to be saved.

So, what Christianity has done is to misuse Shaul’s letters, even though Kefa warned them, to eventually create a new religion that is anti-Torah.

And if something is anti-Torah, it is anti-God.  

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

If People Can Change, Can Other Things Also Change?

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The Bible tells us that everyone sins, yet we are also told that those who faithfully accept Yeshua can be saved from sin.

In other words, those who were doomed by their sin have been changed to those who are saved from their sin.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

That makes me wonder about other things, not humans, but, oh, let’s say…holidays. Can what was a pagan holiday celebrated on a specific day be changed to a God-honoring holiday being celebrated on that same day?

For example: Saturnalia was celebrated to pagan gods on December 25th, but in 338 AD (give or take) a new holiday called Christmas was created within the Christian Church to celebrate the birth of Yeshua. Today, many claim it was “originally” a pagan event, even though now it is a God-fearing event, which just happens to be on the same day as the pagan one.

So, is Saturnalia changed to Christmas, or is Christmas a totally new and unique holiday?

It seems either way, Christmas is spiritually as changed from Saturnalia as we are when we accepted Yeshua from who we were, originally.

If you ask me, the use of the term “originally” isn’t even valid, since when the original is changed it doesn’t exist as the original anymore- you can’t have something that is changed to something else concurrently existing as what it was. DUH!

But Saturnalia never changed! It was still celebrated by many people for many years until that pagan religion faded away.

I have been talking about Christmas a lot lately because I feel as strongly about it being a totally legitimate way to honor God and his Messiah as those who are anti-Christmas.

I will even go into a psychological explanation:
(this in no way is meant to analyze anyone, but simply my opinion about a possible reason for the zealousness against what is a traditional way to give thanks to God for sending the Messiah)
people who had been indoctrinated into “church” lessons about the Torah being done away with but have come to realize that their prior church teachings have turned them away from proper worship, leading them to destruction instead of truly leading them to salvation feel betrayed.

Naturally, they feel a little peeved about that, and have gone from absolutely believing what they were told by the church, to now absolutely not believing anything the church ever told them. They heard how someone, sometime ago, decided to declare Christmas (and Easter, while we’re at it) as pagan, justifying that claim by the holidays occur on the same day as pagan holidays did, and by totally misinterpreting Jeremiah 10 and Isaiah 44, using that misunderstanding as justification for saying the Christmas tree is pagan.

I would agree IF a Christmas tree was completely denuded of branches and bark, then carved into the shape of some god or goddess, or animal, covered completely in gold or silver gilding, then placed somewhere where the people would bow and pray to it.

So far, every Christmas tree I have ever seen, anywhere, has branches, bark, and is not covered in any precious metal. No one ever bows and prays to it, and the ornaments that they hang on it are usually family heirlooms or mementos of past places they have been.

Sorry, not very pagan, and of course, there are no pagan gods anywhere. There is an old saying that you can’t make chicken salad without the chicken, and I believe you can’t have a pagan celebration without a pagan god.

So, I believe any holiday, whether God commanded or man-made, that celebrates God or Messiah cannot be labeled pagan just because somethings are similar to what was once a pagan event.

And I can say, absolutely, that God agrees with me because he said so through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 18:21-24, where he tells us what we were isn’t important, only what we are now.

So, go ahead and call those Christian holidays to celebrate Messiah pagan if you really want to, but please consider that God accepts them as righteous because what they are NOW is all about Yeshua, and God only cares about what it is now, why go against him?

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Is the Torah the Maximum We Are Allowed to Do, or the Least We Should Do?

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I recently posted about Christmas (this lesson is NOT about Christmas, so don’t even start on that) and a response I received from many people made me realize that there seems to be confusion about something in the Book of Deuteronomy.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

The verse that I was referred to by many people when I was talking about that holiday whose name shall not be spoken is Deuteronomy 4:2, which states (CJB):

In order to obey the mitzvot of Adonai your God which I am giving you, do not add to what I am saying, and do not subtract from it.
(For those who may not be familiar with Hebrew, “mitzvot“, as used here, means “commandments”)

I also checked no less than 5 other versions of the Bible, and in all cases, what was not to be added to or taken away from were God’s “commandments“.

I interpret that as saying what are not to be changed are the commandments, such as the Kosher laws in Leviticus 11, or the Holy Days in Leviticus 23, or any of the commandments that are throughout the Torah.

In other words, what is in the Torah is what we must do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do more.

For instance, what about the holidays (meaning man-made celebrations) that have become part and parcel of worship over the centuries?

I’m talking about Simchat Torah (Joy of Torah) celebrated after Sukkot on the eighth day , or Purim (this holiday was never commanded by God to be celebrated), or Hanukkah (this one’s not even in the Bible, except for the Apocrypha, and only the Catholics use that), or even that holiday whose name shall not be spoken.

This brought me to the question of today’s message: is the Torah the only form of worship we are allowed, essentially restricting our opportunity to thank God, or is the Torah just the foundation, the starting point, the least we must do when we wish to worship God?

According to those who refuse to worship that holiday, validating their position by quoting Deut. 4:2, what they are saying is that any holiday not specifically mentioned in the Torah is a sin.

Besides that, they are also saying that nearly every Orthodox and Chasidic Jew, not to mention any other sects who follow Halacha, are also sinning because if you want to know what adding to a commandment is like, then research all the rules and restrictions that Halacha has! Oy!

Look, people, I can’t see God restricting our ability to demonstrate our love and appreciation for all he is and all he has done, and IS doing, by saying the only way we can celebrate him is by those 7 specific days, and only in those specific ways.

I mean, really? Does that make any sense to you?

I think that commandment in Deuteronomy was meant specifically to identify the least we should do with regard to worshiping God. It is a foundation for us to build on, not the entire structure within which we cannot go outside of.

How can honoring God ever be wrong? How can wanting to celebrate the wonderful things he has done for us be sinful?

How could anyone think that if we created a new holiday to celebrate God or to honor his Messiah that God would reject that as sinful? And if we think we are doing right by celebrating what God has done (which includes sending us his Messiah), how many millions of faithful believers in God and Messiah Yeshua will be punished at Judgement Day?

I don’t know about you, but to me it is a really frightening thought that creating celebrations to thank God for all he has done will send us to hell!

Sorry, but that just can not be!

I believe from all that I have read about God in the Bible that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not reject ANY form of worship or ANY celebration that is created by people with the intention to be thankful and/or give worship to him for what he does.

And that includes ANYTHING he does, has done, or even plans to do. If a man-made holiday has been created as a form of worship, thanks, or dedication to God, I can’t see God rejecting that just because it isn’t specified in the Torah.

No, people, I am confident in saying that the Torah is only the foundation for proper worship, and any celebration we create designed to give thanks to God that doesn’t change an existing commandment is not only acceptable to God, but appreciated.

Thank you for being here and please remember to “like” and comment on these messages so that they get more Internet exposure, and share them with everyone you know, even non-believers, Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Walking in Faith Requires Action Before Answers.

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We all know we are saved by faith, and we also all (should) know that faith without works is dead, so how do we actually walk in faith?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

First off, let’s all understand one very important thing: “works“, in the biblical sense, means to obey the instructions God gave us in the Torah.

Yeshua never taught against his father’s instruction for how to live and worship. Think about it: if he had taught against the Torah, he would have been a rebellious son trying to steal his father’s kingdom (like Absalom), and that would have been a sin. As such, he would not have been the sinless lamb, his sacrifice could not have been accepted, and there goes salvation out the window.

And as for Shaul (Paul), his letters never said to ignore or reject the Torah, only not to obey it as a means of earning salvation (legalism). His letters were to Gentiles who really didn’t understand God’s ways, and he was trying to teach them just a little at a time. The Elders in Jerusalem understood that, and when James suggested to start them off with just four requirements (Acts 15), he stipulated that this was just a beginning because these neophyte believers would eventually learn the entire Torah, since it is read at every Shabbat.

Okay, so now that we are all on the same page, whether you want to agree or not, this brings us back to how to walk in faith.

The answer is… to walk.

A leap of faith is to leap, and to walk in faith means to walk BEFORE you know where you are going, or BEFORE you get that definitive answer to prayer.

Abraham walked into the desert with everything he owned, leaving behind everyone and everything he ever knew, and he had no idea where he was going, or how long it would take to get there.

THAT is walking in faith.

Yeshua confirms this in Mark 11:24 when he said (CJB):

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

Faith is trusting God to know what you need and to provide it, and waling in faith is to act as if you already got the email receipt.

And you know what? That’s all there is to it. Walking in faith is taking that step forward, not really knowing where you are going or what will happen, but trusting in God that so long as you try to do as he wants, you will be okay.

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment or “like” these messages so that this ministry will continue to grow, and share them with everyone you know, even non-believers., Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem! .

Does God Triage Prayers?

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When we pray to God we expect that he hears our prayers, and in doing so will answer us.

But with so many people praying so often, and with so many prayer requests for so many different things, does God have to review and assign priority to the prayers he receives before acting on any of them?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

I know this: God is capable of doing so many things that no mortal, human mind can ever even come close to understanding. And, as such, when receiving what must be millions of prayers, all coming in at the same time, in hundreds of different languages, God can determine which he answers now, which he puts in his “In Box” for later, and which he just tosses into the holy trash bin.

And yes, God does deny some prayer requests, and no one should be surprised at that because so many people request things that are not really needed or even godly.

And please don’t throw John 14:13-14 in my face: do you really think if someone prayed in Yeshua’s name for a bigger car, or money for a cosmetic surgery that is only a reflection of their pridefulness, or anything born from selfish desires or hateful attitudes that Yeshua will present it to his father and ask that it be done?

I don’t think so.

I think I may know how, but can’t be really sure of the way God treats prayers he receives. I mean, how could I? I am not God and I know better than to even try to understand what he does.

That being said, I do believe God hears every prayer and that he knows which are holy and heartfelt, and which are selfish or spiteful. And I do believe I can say that he does answer every prayer, usually with one of these answers:
1. Yes, and right now.
2. Yes, but not yet.
3. Yes, but what you really need and not exactly what you asked for.
4. Yes, but not what you expect or when you expect it.
5. No, not a chance.

(Hey, like it or not, that is an answer.)

God lives on an eternal plane, where time is not lineal, so what we see as either now, then, or later is all the same to God.

So, nu! I guess the answer is that he doesn’t need to triage or assign priority because in his plane of existence, there is no timeline. Then, now, and later are all simultaneously being experienced, so triage isn’t necessary.

And you know what? I am grateful for that because it means my prayers are just as important to God as anyone else’s.

Thank you for being here and please remember to make some sort of a comment or give me a “like” to help this ministry reach more people. And also please share these messages, even with non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Does Becoming an Adult Mean Rejecting All That Your Parents Taught You?

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When we read the letter Shaul wrote to the Galatian Believers, in Chapter 4 he mentions how the Torah acted as a guardian over children, but now that we are one with Yeshua we are no longer children under a guardian, but heirs to God’s kingdom.

My question is this: once you leave your guardian, does that mean you can reject all that they taught you?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Christianity has always used this letter to the Galatians as a polemic against following the Torah, when in actuality it is an apologetic for the Torah.

What Shaul is saying is that following the Torah as a means of earning salvation (which is what Legalism is) is useless because once you try to do everything in the Torah, you will fail. The reason you will fail is because no one can be 100% obedient to the Torah 100% of the time.

That is why God gave us the sacrificial system- so when we fail, we can recover.

But he doesn’t say the Torah is obsolete or done away with: his message is not anti-Torah, it is anti-legalistic approach to obedience to the Torah.

Yeah, I know that is somewhat hard to follow, but it is really simple: the Torah is the way God wants us to worship him (Leviticus 23) and how to treat each other (pretty much the entire Torah), and he also gives us the sacrificial system (Leviticus 1-7) because he knew that we would not be able to be 100% obedient.

Think of it as a contract with an escape clause.

As I have said, in Chapter 4 Shaul relates the Torah to being a guardian, and once we were joined to Yeshua, that guardian was no longer controlling us (or, at least, that is the way he makes it seem).

Okay, so let’s go along with that. Before Yeshua, the Torah was in charge, teaching us the way God wants us to live. Now Yeshua comes along, teaches us the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah (his Sermon on the Mount is a great example of that) and we follow his teachings.

Wait a minute! Christianity says Christians should obey the “Law of Christ” because we are no longer under the Torah, but Christ taught the Torah!

Uh… what?

That’s right! Yeshua taught us the Torah, even though Shaul made it seem that as our guardian the Torah wasn’t necessary after we joined with Yeshua.

Now, the question I am raising is this: a true guardian will teach you the proper way to live, to worship, and to treat others, but when you reach maturity and the guardian is no longer in control of you, should you reject everything the guardian taught you?

If you are no longer legally required to obey a guardian, does that mean once “free” you can reject all that you were taught and live any old way you want to?

Well, the answer is…Yes, you can. You can be taught all that is righteous and proper, and once you no longer have to obey that guardian, you can be as sinful and perverse as you want to be.

However, if we are talking about spiritual life, and God’s Torah being the guardian, sure you can apostatize and live as you want to, but you will suffer for it when you come to Judgement (as we all will).

And what I have never been able to “get” is that Christianity teaches you can pretty much do that.

Not to be perverse and sinful, but it teaches when you “believe in Jesus” (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean), you are no longer under a guardian (i.e., Torah) so you can pretty much live anyway you want to, so long as you are a good person and love your neighbor.

Funny, isn’t it though, how Yeshua himself refused to be called good, saying only his father in heaven is good (Mark 10:18), yet Christianity teaches that you should be good.

That’s a pretty tough standard to reach, considering according to Yeshua you would have to be God.

So, nu? …where does all this mean?

Do you love someone? If you do, don’t you want to make them happy? Don’t you want to do what pleases them? Isn’t doing a “labor of love” not as difficult as doing it because you had to?

If these statements make sense to you, then you know what Yeshua meant when he said the most important commandments are to love the Lord and to love each other, because all of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.” (Matthew 22:40)

Those two requirements do not reject or do away with the rest of the Torah, they simply make it possible for you to follow the entire Torah without having to try very hard.

Thank you for being here and please remember to comment and share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What Science and Religion Have in Common

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I have often said, and will continue to do so, that scientific proof is the antithesis of faith.

And that’s because it is, but that doesn’t mean science and religion do not have one very important thing in common.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Let’s kick this off with what a scientific proof is all about. You start with an hypothesis, which is a fancy word for guess, questioning why something in nature occurs. You then test that hypothesis with experimentation, using both a control and a variable group. If your hypothesis is correct, the scientific proof is that you are able to recreate- at will- that event which you first asked, “How does this happen?”

Religion is quite different. Religion requires faith, which we are told is believing in things not proven or seen (Hebrews 11:1). In fact, Yeshua himself identified the importance of faith over proof when he told Thomas (John 20:29) that he believes because he has seen, but blessed are those who believe without seeing.

So, nu? If science and religion are so very different at their very basic level, what can they possibly have in common?

The answer, as I see it, is that they both are based on asking a question.

Science questions what it sees in order to understand what makes something in nature “tick”, and religion questions who is saved, is Yeshua God, is there a hell, which calendar is correct, should we eat this or not, do we follow Torah or not, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

And what is important to remember is that truth- whether about nature or God- is strong enough to stand up to being questioned.

When I am having a discussion with someone about God or Yeshua or the meaning of something in the Bible, if we disagree the first thing I will do is ask, “Why do you believe that?”

Now I know I have stated that faith is believing in what can’t be proven, but generally speaking everyone does have some reason for believing what they do. In my experience, it is rare when someone can use biblical knowledge or life experience to prove that what they accept on faith is actually based on a reasonable explanation for that belief.

I chose, long ago, to believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but I can also back that up, to a degree, with biblical verification and even non-religious verification (the writings of Josephus, for example). I do not need proof, and if questioned I can stand up to the “doubting Thomas’s” simply by providing enough documentation to show there is some justification for my belief.

Science is based on asking questions, and religion is based on faith, but both are correct when asking questions in order to dig down deep enough to come to the truth.

Science does that through experimentation, and religion does it through study of the Bible, study of extra-biblical documentation, and (believe it or not)…logical thinking.

Many scientists over the years, after becoming more familiar and learned about the world, have come to the “scientific” conclusion that there is some higher intelligence that has formed the universe, and that conclusion is based on observation and knowledge of how the world and nature works.

They have actually proven, scientifically, that order does not come out of chaos, but quite the opposite- order eventually devolves into chaos. So, knowing (again, scientifically proven) that there was a Big Bang billions of years ago, that was certainly chaos, but it has evolved (for lack of a better word) into order. And not just order, but a perfectly designed order of life.

That doesn’t just happen.

So, if anyone questions your faith, be prepared to justify it with more than just “Because”, because because ain’t good enough for those who need to question.

And understand this… people question in order to seek an answer, and by accepting their questions with calm, confident answers, you have an opportunity save someone’s soul.

Thank you for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

If Yeshua is God, Since We Are Told We Are One With Yeshua, Does That Mean We Are God?

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In Galatians 3:28, we are told that we are all one with Yeshua. Now, since many believe that Yeshua is God, if we are one with Yeshua then are we also God?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Before you try to cause the nearest body of water to split into two, let me say that we are certainly NOT God, or even close. And when we say we are one with Yeshua that doesn’t mean we are the same as him.

It was meant to indicate a spiritual joining and not a physical resemblance.

The Bible has many terms and statements that are meant to imply a similarity, a sense of symmetry in action and thought, but not to be taken literally.

For example, in John’s gospel (which I have often said I believe to be a false gospel) it starts by stating that Yeshua was with God from the beginning. Christianity has traditionally taken that statement to be literally true, in that Yeshua existed before his birth by Miryam, but I believe it means the idea of a Messiah, one who will allow all people, Jew and Gentile, to find forgiveness of sin was part of God’s plan from the start.

So, yeah, okay, the Messiah was with God from the start but not in form or spirit; he was always part of the overall plan, and didn’t actually appear until God chose Miryam to bring his idea to life as a physical man.

We are told that through faithfully accepting Yeshua as our Messiah, we will be one with him (meaning in spirit), but if we aren’t living the way he lived, which was in accordance to God’s instructions in the Torah, then can we truthfully say we are one with Yeshua?

What I mean is this: you have a dear friend who is a cop, but you chose to commit crimes because that is what you want to do. Now, can you truly say you are one with your law-abiding friend? You can believe he is right in obeying the law, and you are friends with him (or her), but if you live a different lifestyle you can’t say you are one with that person, either in spirit or in behavior.

So, what’s the bottom line today? (I’m glad you asked)

If you truly want to be one with Yeshua, you must live as he lived, and that means being Torah observant. You cannot say you are a follower of Yeshua if you don’t follow the way he lived, and you can’t say you are one with him if you do not live and worship as he did.

And you know what else, people? Like it or not, what I just said is not really an opinion, but a fact! You can’t say you are one with anybody if you do not live, act, worship, and believe as that person did: Yeshua lived and worshipped according to the Torah, and taught others to do the same.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch Ha Shem!

You Don’t Get to Come Back as a Snake

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There are many who believe in reincarnation, which is different from resurrection: with the former, you get to come back and try to do it better, but with the latter you only get one chance to make it.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Of course, we who worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, including those who accept that Yeshua (also called Jesus) is the Messiah God promised to send, know that there is no reincarnation.

I know that you are probably saying to yourself, “He knows we don’t believe in that, so what’s his point?”

Good question.

First, let’s review what reincarnation is about: as I recall from my studies, religions that believe in reincarnation also believe that if you led a bad life, you come back as a snake, or some other lower form of life, and have to live an entire lifetime that way. If you do it well, then you get to come back as some higher form of life.

(Yeah, I am also wondering how do you live a good life as a snake?)

Ultimately, you hope to come back as a Brahman (Priest), and if you do that well, you finally get to go to Nirvana (heaven).

My point is that too many people think they can get away with something now, and then ask for forgiveness of it later. Thinking that you can do something now and be forgiven later is similar, isn’t it, to believing in resurrection? Doesn’t Shaul (Paul) tell us that we are born a new creation every day (2 Corinthians 5:17)? Isn’t that very much like reincarnation?

It sounds the same, but it isn’t, because (as I said) reincarnation is a second chance, then a third chance, then a fourth, ad infinitum… until you reach Nirvana.

But for believers in God and Yeshua, we may be born anew every day, but that is a spiritual thing and not a physical thing, so you still have this one, and only one, chance to make it in God’s presence for all eternity.

Remember always that you never know what day will be your last, and since this is the only chance you have to make the grade, make sure you try your very best every minute of every day.

When it comes to salvation, there are no mulligans.

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Sin and Visceral Fat

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Alright, I know you must be thinking that this title is totally off, but believe it or not I see a relationship between these two things.

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For those who may not be familiar, visceral fat is the fat that forms around the liver, heart, and intestines, underneath the subcutaneous fat (the fat directly under the skin). The danger of visceral fat is that it isn’t as obvious, yet it increases the risk of chronic diseases, inflammation, insulin resistance, hormonal imbalances, and can cause premature death. 

(Of course, if you believe in Predestination, then there isn’t any such thing as premature death, right?)

So, visceral fat isn’t just fat, it is a silent and invisible killer.

Starting to see where I am going with this?

Sin is not always so obvious as we would like it to be, but it is a killer, none the less.

Oh, yeah, sure, you know when you have killed someone, or committed adultery, or cursed out a parent, or any other of the many sins outlined in the Torah. Those are easy to spot.

But what about when your religion tells you it is OK to eat pork, or to observe Sunday as the Sabbath Day, then after church go out to a restaurant for a nice brunch?

Or what about when you reject God’s Holy Days to celebrate man-made, non-biblical holidays because you have been told that is worshipping God?

Or maybe you don’t know you have sinned simply because we have a sinful nature, and doing what feels right is probably not right in God’s eyes; and, not being intimately familiar with the Bible, you aren’t aware of what you are doing.

In the end, though, just like when you tell the cop who stopped you for an illegal turn that you weren’t aware it was not allowed, God will give you the same reply when you say you didn’t know it was a sin:

Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

The way to get rid of visceral fat is to eat the right foods, get regular exercise, and reduce stress (stress causes the release of a hormone called Cortisol, which promotes fat storage, especially visceral fat).

Remarkably enough, that is also the way to reduce sin (using a spiritual equivalent):

Eat the right foods means to take into yourself only that which is healthy, meaning reject false doctrine and any tenets or ceremonies that are not biblical;

Get regular exercise means to read the Bible every day, strengthening your spiritual muscle and maturity; and

Reduce stress by increasing your faithful trusting in God to keep you safe, even when you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

You may be wondering how to increase faith, and the answer (at least, for me) is to recall all the times you were nearly hit by another car, or when you really needed to get somewhere and all the lights were green, or when you lost something valuable and a stranger returned it to you intact. Every time something in your life happened that you thought would end up terribly, but you came out okay, that was God protecting you. When you think about how many times that has happened, even (as with me) way before you became a Believer, that is how you strengthen your faith- by remembering and believing that all those times, it was God interceding on your behalf.

And one other thing- because visceral fat is nearly invisible, you have to know it is there by measuring yourself. The rule for visceral fat is your waist should be half the number of inches of your height, so if you are 5’10’, that is 70 inches, your waist (above your bellybutton) should measure 35 inches. Any more than that, you’ve got visceral fat!

As for your spiritual visceral fat, read the Torah; that is the only place where God, himself, tells us directly how he wants us to live, and see how close you come to God’s definition of what the ideal measurement should be.

For the record- Yeshua was skinny as a rail!

I know this message feels more like an infomercial than a spiritual encouragement, but I have been working on my visceral fat (the physical kind) recently, and it occurred to me how invisible fat and unrecognized sin are the same: both are dangerous to your health.

We all need to work at being healthier than we are, both physically and spiritually, and it has to be a lifetime commitment.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

PS: Hey, can I ask you to do me a favor? Will you please make any sort of comment on this and all of my messages in the future? Even just a Thumbs Up emoji helps these messages get more exposure on the Internet. Todah Rabah!