Of course, there is always wisdom from all the proverbs in the Bible, but when you take these two, together, and think about the political battles in America, as well as the Middle East situation, you can see how they really describe current events.

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

Let’s take a look at these two proverbs, in reverse order.

Proverbs 18:17 says this:

The first to state his case seems right,
    till the other one comes and cross-examines.

And Proverbs 18:2 says:

A fool takes no pleasure in trying to understand;
    he only wants to express his own opinion.

With regard to politics in the USA, there is one party that constantly blames the current president for almost everything from bad weather to acne. The country has become so polarized, which has been both encouraged and proliferated by the media, that even when someone tries (as I have tried to do, constantly) to find a middle ground, something that we can agree on, it is impossible.

So, people are acting like those referenced in 18:2, not because they are a fool, per se’, but because they refuse to listen to anyone else’s opinion or facts. They just want to express their feelings, which (I believe) are more a reiteration of what they have heard and not what they have researched. In that respect, they also demonstrate the type of people in 18:17, who only want to hear the one side.

We also see this sort of refusal to hear both sides or even consider another side in the Middle East situation, which has been brewing since, oh, what? Maybe around the time when Abraham allowed Sarah to kick Hagar and Ishmael out of their camp?

Yeah, I’d say that’s probably when it all started.

There are so many people who represent both of the above-stated proverbs, going around supporting Hamas and wearing shirts or carrying signs that say, “Free Palestine.”

Now, when we try to explain to them that there is no “Palestine” to free, and that “Palestinian people” don’t really exist, but were created as part of a propaganda campaign by Yasser Arafat back in the 1950’s or so, they refuse to even listen to these historically validated facts.

These so-called “Palestinians” are living in Israel illegally. You can tell which houses are theirs because they all have large, black plastic rain barrels on the roof, since the houses were built without permits or licenses so are not connected to the state-supplied water system.

And as for the terrible living conditions that the media (especially the Arab media) displays to create pity for these innocent people living in poverty, well…that’s because they are there illegally, and their own country doesn’t even want them back.

In the Shechem Valley, there are bleak cinderblock buildings with many, many Syrians living there who aren’t allowed in Israel, but cannot go back to their own country, either because their own country won’t let them in or they don’t want to go there because of the violence and how dangerous it is to live there now.

The truth is this: almost every Arab living outside of Israel wants to live IN Israel!

Israel is the only free country in the entire Middle East, and the gentiles (meaning non-Jews) legally living there receive all the same rights and protections that a free country offers. They are given the same job opportunities, the same pay, and the same healthcare as the Israelis receive.

The land was given to us in 1948 by those who “owned” it, and even if you choose to reject our biblical rights, the fact is that there have constantly been Jews living there since the 5th century B.C.

Those non-Jewish people there have no claim to the land, at all. We have been there for nearly 7,000 years, and anyone who is there now who is not Jewish has no claim to the land. Even when the Jewish population was very small, and the Arabs surrounding Israel could settle there, they never did anything to improve the land or create permanent settlements.

These supposedly mistreated people don’t want the land- they just want the Jews gone, preferably through genocide. History has proven that no Arab nation wants to have the land of Israel, except for the area with the Dome of the Rock and Eastern Jerusalem.

So, the point of this message is that if you come across someone who represents either of these two proverbs, remember this proverb before you throw your pearls before swine (not a proverb, but it makes sense):

Proverbs 26:4-5:

Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. But answer a fool according to his folly, so that he won’t think he is wise.

And the way I suggest to answer those who refuse to listen is to say this (smiling all the time you say it):

I know we don’t agree on this, and we each have a right to our opinion: yours is based on what you have heard and mine is based on facts, and I guess we’ll just have to leave it at that.

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 today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

You know how people say they get their best ideas in the shower? Well, I get my best ideas when riding my bicycle.

The problem today is that because of home remodeling projects and a lot of rain, I haven’t ridden my bike for over a week, and so I don’t have anything scheduled to say today.

So, instead of a message, I just wanna say “Todah Rabah” (thank you very much) for just being here, and especially to those who have subscribed, and especially especially to those who have subscribed to both my YouTube and Messianic Moment Facebook page, and a really big THANK YOU to anyone who has also bought any or my books.

And especially, especially, ESPECIALLY to anyone out there who has done all three!

Besides thanking you, I would also like to take a moment to ask anyone who likes the messages on this ministry, but hasn’t yet subscribed, to please consider hitting that little red button on both the website and YouTube. Also, please “Like” my Facebook page.

It doesn’t cost you anything, and if you do not configure your phone or computer to notify you when I have posted something, the subscription is, essentially, invisible to you. But that subscription is very visible to Facebook and YouTube, being noticed by their algorithms and allowing this ministry to be more visible to others.

Also, as I say all the time, if you like what you get here, you will love my books, and I am not just saying that because I have had all good responses from those who have read any one of my books. Well, almost everyone…there was this one Messianic Rabbi who told me I was no Michener.

I agree, and after listening to a few of his sermons, I would have to say he was no Oral Roberts.

Again, thank you for being here and please share the news of this ministry 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 now, so L’hitraot and let me wish you an early Shabbat Shalom!

I have often said that pride is the mother of all sins, and that still stands.

But pride often leads to pridefulness, and that leads to being disappointed when others don’t do what you think they should. And that is almost always the case.

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

As I have said in the past, there is nothing wrong with being proud of something you have accomplished, so long as you always remember that whatever skill you used to accomplish that something, whatever it is, you did not create that skill- God gave it to you. So, be proud of how you used that skill, but remember to give credit to the one who really made it possible- the Lord, God.

One of my favorite expressions when I am congratulated on doing something well is this:

Whatever I do that is good, it is God working through me; when I totally screw something up, then I can take full credit.

The problem starts when we begin to think that because of our past accomplishments (or perceived accomplishments) we know better than someone else. This is a form of pridefulness, and the other side of that coin is judgementalism. Both are bad.

The reason we feel frustrated, leading (almost all the time) to anger is when someone doesn’t listen to us, i.e., they don’t do what we think they should do. That doesn’t mean they are wrong, because often we are wrong, but becoming frustrated or feeling insulted because someone doesn’t follow our suggestion is not going to accomplish anything other than arguing with each other.

When we find ourselves in an argument over how a task or policy is to be performed, I can almost guarantee that pridefulness is the root cause.

And when we are arguing or not getting our way, joy is destroyed. I mean, really? How often have you been happy when someone doesn’t do what you want them to do?

And today’s message is this simple: whether you are right, or wrong, if someone refuses to do what you suggest, leave it be.

Now, if you have administrative authority over a person (for example, you are their manager), and they refuse to do as you say, that is easy- you write the person up, then get someone else to do the job. No problem. And if they continue to refuse to do as you say, you fire them: no reason to get angry.

Allowing pridefulness to get in the way destroys any chance of joy. You can’t be happy when you are constantly feeling that people are ignoring you, and even if they are, so what? If what you suggest is good, and they don’t accept it, then the fault is on their head.

It’s like what the Bible says: In Ezekiel 3, God states that if the guard sounds a warning, and the people refuse to acknowledge it, then the guard is free of blame. But, if the guard fails to sound the warning, and the people are hurt, then their blood is on the head of the guard.

You can’t make people do what you want them to do- that is a hard word to hear, but it is true. You may provide the environment and means for them to do something, but as the old saying goes…you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

So, going forward, if you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry because someone isn’t doing what you suggest, take a deep breath, and remember that whether you are right or wrong, God gave everyone free will to determine their own future, and not you, and not I, and not anyone has the right to interfere with that God-given gift.

In other words, hand someone the rope and let them decide to either pull themself up, or hang themself; either way, don’t let it upset you and destroy your joy.

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 today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

We have been told that God’s promise of salvation is a free gift, which it is, and as such we can depend on it.

But can we depend on ourselves?

If you prefer to watch a video, that won’t be possible today because we are having work done on the house and my office is unavailable to me, so I cannot use my video app. You’ll just have to read this one.

God’s promises are as dependable as the sun rising in the morning, but that doesn’t mean that they come freely; even salvation, which is a free gift, requires that we do our part.

When we read Deuteronomy 28, the “Blessings and Curses” chapter, God starts off by promising us a plethora of wonderful blessings, BUT they are only available if we obey his Torah. If we choose to reject his instructions (and it is ALWAYS a choice), then his promises of blessings turn into promises of curses.

For the record: I do not believe that God actively curses anyone, but since the world is already a pretty cursed place, when he says he will curse us all he really does is take away his divine protection from the world. God doesn’t do evil things, but does allow evil things to happen to those who reject him.

As I said, even salvation- a free gift from God, provided to us by the sacrificial death of Yeshua the Messiah- doesn’t come unconditionally. We have to repent of our sins, accept Yeshua as our Messiah and, by means of his sacrifice, ask forgiveness of our sins. And then (yeah, there’s still more) we have to do t’shuvah (turning from our sins) and live our lives in obedience to God’s instructions in the Torah (not what some religion says) as best as we can.

If we refuse to do that, or if we apostatize, we will not have that promise of salvation anymore. That isn’t God reneging on his promise, oh no! We are the ones who will have reneged on God!

Now, there are some promises God makes that are unconditional, but they are few and far between. His promise to Abraham, his promise to David that the Messiah would come from his descendants (even though that promise was predicated on David’s children continuing to do as God said to do), and to Noah that God would never destroy the world by flood, ever again.

(But that doesn’t stop him from destroying us by other means!)

So, we have a clear and simple message for today: God’s promises are absolutely, 1000% dependable… but they come with a proviso! We get what he promsies so long as we do what he says we should do, and what God said we should do is found only in one place in the entire Bible- the Torah.

Judaism knows that pleasing God is not a cakewalk, whereas Christianity makes salvation sound like a Come-As-You-Are Party.

Trust me…it ain’t!

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know. 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!

I don’t like being lied to, do you? I suspect that you don’t, yet it is really difficult to know when someone is lying to us, especially when they are good at it.

Do you know the most difficult type lie to recognize? It’s the one that comes from someone who honestly thinks they are telling you the truth!

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

One of the most destructive lies that has been told to both Jews and Christians for nearly two millennia is this: Jesus created Christianity.

This lie has kept Jews from wanting to even hear anything about Jesus, and has kept Christians from knowing the truth about who Jesus is and what he really taught.

The reason this lie has been able to be so successful over all these years is because it has been passed down from one trusted source to another: we hear it from our religious leaders, from our parents, friends, relatives, and “biblical scholars”, who learned it from those who learned it from those who…well, you get the idea.

If you are wondering what these tremendous lies are, I don’t have the time to do that completely here- I suggest you invest in your eternal future (and a few bucks) to get my book (it’s available through the website or on Amazon):

But, since I did bring up the topic, let me give you a few of the major ones.

First off, Yeshua (that’s Jesus’s real name) never created Christianity. He was the sinless lamb of God, meaning that in order to be sinless he had to be 100% Torah observant, 100% of the time. Christians are told they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus, but taught that Jesus did away with the very laws he obeyed. So, how can a Christian be like Jesus when they reject the way he lived? The lie is that Jesus did away with the law- if he had, that means his “followers” would, by definition, be lawless and can never be saved.

Another lie is the idea of the Trinity being biblical: the truth is that it was fostered by a man named Tertullian, sometime in the middle of the 2nd Century. This lie has been one of the main issues with Jews and Christianity: if you have three divine entities- the Father (God), the son (Messiah), and the Holy Spirit- all being the same thing but in separate identities, well, whether you like it or not, you have three. Three-in-one or one-in-three, the operative word here is “three”. And three divine entities is not monotheism, it is polytheism. As such, no self-respecting, God-fearing, Torah-observing Jew would want anything to do with it.

And that is concurrent with the way Christianity was formed- not by God, or by Yeshua, but by men.

There are 6 main sects within Judaism, and they are all founded on the Torah (given by God) and the rules of Halacha (the Way to Walk), many of which are outlined in the Talmud (a rabbinical commentary on the Torah). Despite different ways to obey the Torah, we are all Jews obeying the Torah.

But since Christianity is not a biblical or God-created religion, the number of differences in how to worship are vast. Remarkably, when I asked Google how many different Christian religions there are, this is what I got:

There are  more than 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide. These denominations represent a wide range of beliefs and practices within the Christian faith. While there are three main branches – Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy – the vast number of denominations reflects the diverse interpretations and expressions of Christian faith throughout history and across different cultures.

Wow! Talk about confusion. The one thing that we all know is that God never changes- he is the same today as he was yesterday, and he will be the same tomorrow. So, if he never changes, then the way he wants us to live, worship, and treat each other never changes either, right? Well, then, how can there be so many different ways?

You may say we Jews also have different ways to worship, but that isn’t the same because we all have the same foundation for our beliefs- the Torah.

But Christianity rejects the Torah (well, OK- they kept the 10 Commandments, but even with that they changed the first commandment, editing out the part about God saving us from Egypt), so what foundation do they have?

It ended up being the letters written from Paul, which often quote from the Tanakh (that is the “Jewish Bible”) but are so convoluted and misinterpreted that it has, as we see, led to such confusion and disagreement that there are literally thousands of ways that Christians have been told God says how to worship him.

Sorry, but that isn’t the unchanging God I know.

Look, as I said, there are too many lies and too long a dissertation to cover this topic completely here, so please consider buying my book. I am not trying to get on the NY Times Bestseller List (although that would be fine with me!), but my entire reason for this ministry is to give people what they need to know in order to make an informed decision about where they will spend eternity.

That book is going to help you decide wisely, and what do you have to lose except living a lie?

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 today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

The word “lord” is used so often in the Bible I’d need a calculator to count the number of times, but there is a difference between “lord” and “The Lord”.

The problem is so many people don’t know what that difference is.

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

In John 13:13, Yeshua says to his Talmudim (disciples) (CJB):

“You call me `Rabbi’ and `Lord,’ and you are right, because I am.”

But is he saying he is THE Lord, God, or just that he is their lord, as in a person with legal authority over others?

The Greek word for “lord” used in the Septuagint is “Kyrios“, and there it is used to refer to God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? The Septuagint was written sometime between the 3rd and 1st Century B.C., so the only “Lord” Jews knew at that time was God; Yeshua wasn’t even born yet!

Coming forward in time, some of the earlier gospels were written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, but by the time we get to John’s gospel (which, I have often said, is not a “real” gospel) which (according to the Internet) was written between 90-110 A.D., it was most likely originally written in Greek, the Lingua Franca of that time. And as such, since by then Christians were already starting to separate themselves from their Jewish roots, the use of Kyrios was assigned, so to speak, to Yeshua instead of the proper word for him, which in Greek was Christos (the Hebrew word being “Mashiach“).

The difference between “lord” (small case ‘l’) and “The Lord” (capital ‘L’) is that the former is a title representing some level of legal authority or birthright, and the other is a reference to the one and only God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Of course, “Lord” is also the translation of the name Ba’al, and (I am sure) of other gods, as well, but that doesn’t mean Ba’al is THE Lord. For so many “Holy Namers” who refuse to use the word “lord” because they say when you pray to the lord, you are praying to Ba’al, well…really? I mean, what can you say to someone that far off the mark?

This may be another reason why so many people get confused- someone can be a lord but there is only one Lord.

When Yeshua said it was correct to call him Rabbi and Lord, he wasn’t claiming to be God- he was claiming his authority given to him by God, as he was born to be the Messiah. And as we read further, the context in which he used those titles was to demonstrate that he was washing their feet, humbly, and so they (when they have their own level of authority) should also maintain their humility.

Yeshua was the Messiah, and in traditional Judaism the Messiah is also the king. That is one of the reasons the power elite in Jerusalem wanted Yeshua dead, because as king he would have deposed them all from the Sanhedrin and taken his place as the ultimate authority over the people, which at that time was held by the Pharisees. So, when we see the word “lord” referring to Yeshua, it is the political, legal, and authoritative meaning of that word, and NOT to identify him as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Going forward, please be sure when, reading the Bible and you come to the word ‘lord’, that you are understanding it in its proper context.

Here’s a final thought: If the word ‘lord’ always means God, then we should never be disrespectful to England because they have an entire house full of lords!

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!