Author: Steven R. Bruck

What’s Worse Than Losing a Loved One?

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Many people would say there is nothing worse than losing a loved one, and they can make a pretty good argument for that.

But I believe there is something worse, and even though today’s message isn’t so much a biblical lesson, or a spiritual message, there is something of God in it.

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I have lost loved ones; and, at my age, I will be losing more of them, and it will happen more often. So when I say I know something even worse than the loss, I am talking from personal experience.

Many times when someone loses a loved one, I hear them say that the one who died has gone to a better place. Among Believers, I hear (almost all the time) that the one who has died is now with the Lord.

Personally, I don’t think any human is qualified to make that determination.

We only see the outer person, whereas God sees the heart and knows that person much better than we ever will, no matter how well we think we do.

Think of all the religious leaders of our day who seemed to be righteous and godly, but later we found out they were hanging around with prostitutes or embezzling from their congregation or raping young children.

The truth is we can only hope that the ones we love who die will be with God and have Yeshua the Messiah as their Intercessor.

So, enough lead-in, now it’s time for me to get to the reason I am writing this.

What I believe to be worse than losing a loved one is to not have been as close to that person as we could have been when they were still alive.

I am not talking about “closure”, although that is certainly part of the problem.
I am talking about the everyday, simple things that we can do with those we care about while they are alive.

Such as sharing more of our time, talking candidly regarding our feelings about people, God, life, etc., and hearing what they think about those things.

Even between spouses who love each other and enjoy their marriage, there can be many lost opportunities to be even closer emotionally and physically.

Let’s not be shy here- physical intimacy can create one of the strongest bonds between people in love, and when marriage is allowed to become so mundane that even everyday touching and kissing becomes stagnant, there is a severe loss of opportunity that will never come again after one of you dies.

Doing things that are new and different is essential, in my opinion, to keeping any relationship “fresh”, and those memories will be absolutely necessary after your loved one dies.

How many vacations have you not gone on because they were too far away, or too expensive (even though you could have spent the money without sacrificing your lifestyle), or you just felt too tired to go?

How many times have you not done something you both were thinking of, just because it was too much trouble to set up?

How many friendships have you allowed to fall by the wayside because it was too difficult to maintain that connection?

Ask yourself this: when that person is gone, forever, do you think you will reflect back and say “I’m glad we never did that”?

Or is it more likely you will be thinking “I wish we had done that”? or “I wish I had called more often”?

Here’s today’s “take-away”: make time for each other, share your deepest feelings with those you care about, mend relationships that have gone bad, and never be afraid to make new friends. Do things, even small things like walking around the block together each night, or (as Donna and I do) have one night a week dedicated as a “Date Night”. It doesn’t have to be fancy-schmancy; just going to the drive-thru at Mickie-Dee’s and sharing a meal in the car will be a memory that you can look back on fondly when you won’t be able to do that anymore.

Enhance your time together now, while you have it, because you know you will be sad and miss this person when they are dead. That’s why I say the only thing worse than their death will be the realization that you could have spent more time together, you could have talked more often, you could have been more affectionate, but now you will never be able to do that.

Having those memories will be an emotional support system to help you get through your sadness, so please invest in your relationships now, and build up that joyful memory portfolio for the rainy days to come.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to both my website ministry and YouTube channel. When on my website, please buy my books- if you like what you get here, you will like my books.

I have a discussion group on Facebook called “Just God’s Word” and I invite you to join us, but please make sure you read and agree to the rules.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Why Celebrate Yom Kippur If We Are Already Saved?

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That’s a good question- why should we celebrate Yom Kippur when we have already been saved by the blood of Yeshua the Messiah?

Well, the obvious answer is…because God said we should. Duh!

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Christianity has taught that salvation is something akin to a “Come as you are” party- all you have to do is believe in Jesus (whatever that is supposed to mean), love your neighbor (again- what’s that mean?) and be a good person (even Yeshua refused to be called “good”, so how can we be good?).

Do all that and you get to go to heaven.

However, the Bible doesn’t even confirm we go to heaven, since Revelation tells us we will be on the new Earth.

So, with all that Christianity has told us that we need to do, which the Bible doesn’t really confirm, if you want to do what pleases God then it makes sense the best thing to do is go back to the beginning and start all over again, correctly, by learning what God said he wants us to do, and then doing that.

And when you get to Leviticus Chapter 23, you will see that God demands we afflict our souls (generally believed to mean fasting) on the 10th of Tishri, which is from sundown to sundown.

Yes, it’s true, because of Yeshua’s sacrifice we can have our sins forgiven, which is (after all) what being “saved” means- we are saved from the eternal consequences of the sins we commit. Otherwise, come Judgement Day, we will be told we cannot be in God’s presence throughout eternity.

Whatever hell is, whether it is a hot place with little demons stabbing you in the tuchas with pitchforks, or a cold and dark place where people gnash their teeth, or having to sit in the US Senate during a filibuster, the bottom line is that hell is not the place you want to spend eternity.

Of course, Christianity has gone out of the way to reject every single one of God’s Holy Days, and replace them with man-made holidays that are pagan rituals rebranded to celebrate Yeshua instead of the pagan gods they originally were about.

And you now what? That’s OK, as far as I am concerned, because when something is recreated in a way that honors God or his Messiah, I figure that is acceptable. After all, weren’t we all sinners deserving of death?

Yet, when we accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as our Messiah, confessed and repented of our sins asking forgiveness by means of Yeshua’s sacrifice, weren’t we recreated as new beings?

Even though we are essentially the same person, physically, we are spiritually a new creation, right?

And, as a new creation, what we were before is no longer held against us. So, why not apply that same forgiveness and acceptance to holidays that used to be sinful, but are now recreated to be honoring God and Messiah?

But, then again, that’s a different message, so let’s get back to Yom Kippur.

I fast during this Holy Day (I define a Holy Day as one commanded by God, whereas a holiday is a man-made ceremony) and I read my machzor (special prayer book for the High Holy Day celebrations), I pray and I reflect.

I am not associated with any synagogue right now, so I do this on my own.

In case you didn’t know, Yom Kippur is not a pilgrimage celebration, so no one has to be in synagogue. Only Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot require us to be in a holy convocation at the place where God put his name. Of course, no one can go there now because the temple Solomon built is no longer there, and that is the last place God put his name.

To be honest, I do watch TV during the day while I am afflicting my soul. And let me tell you this, here and now- there is no greater affliction than watching TV while fasting because every other stinkin’ commercial is about food!

So, as always, I won’t tell you what you should do, and I can’t speak for God (Job’s friends learned how much God doesn’t like that), but I believe it is safe to say that God would much rather you do what he says than what some Pope or Rabbi or Minister tells you to do.

Fast, or don’t fast- it’s up to you. But if you decide not to fast, remember that one day you will have to explain to God why you rejected his commandment.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Oh, yes, I almost forgot to wish you the traditional Yom Kippur greeting…may you have an easy fast.

Why I Do This

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There are times when I really do not feel like doing anything. Yet, I find myself feeling guilty when I do not post to this ministry.

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I started this over 7 years ago, and then I posted every day. Eventually, I found that I was burning myself out, and that the posts were forced, in a way, so I decided to post only two days of the week whatever message I felt was given to me, and on Friday to do a message on that Shabbat’s Torah reading.

After all, I am Jewish and this ministry is as much for Jews, if not more so, than for Christians.

Lately, I have stopped the Friday messages because I have given at least 4 messages on each of the 54 Torah readings (called a Parashah) and also have published my book, “Parashot Drashim” (available on Amazon and through my website), which is a commentary/Bible study/sermon on each of the parashot in the Torah. So, I figure, enough is enough; at least, for the time being. Maybe later I will start to do that again, but for now, I’m just plain tired.

But I feel called to continue.

So, today having nothing on my schedule to preach about, I thought I would explain why I do this.

So, is this ministry for Jews? Absolutely. Why? Because Jews have been taught nothing but lies about Jesus and have been refused the opportunity (mostly by Jews) to learn the truth about him, starting with his real name, Yeshua, and that he did not create the religion we know as Christianity.

Jews need to know that the Jesus we hear about through Christian friends is NOT the Messiah God sent to his people back in the First Century.

So, if this ministry is for Jews, what about Gentiles? Is there something here for them, too?

The answer is: Absolutely!

And why? Well, for the very same reason that it is here for Jews-Gentiles/Christians don’t know the real Messiah, Yeshua, any more than Jews do because the lies Jews have heard about him were developed by, and taught to, Christians throughout the centuries.

So, what makes me think I know the truth? Simple: I read the Bible. I do not accept what I have been told, but rather read the Bible and ask God for guidance in understanding it.

I compare what the Bible says to what I have heard from people, most of whom are totally ignorant of the Bible, from some extra-biblical readings, from historical documents, and after comparing and examining all of that I form my conclusions.

What I have concluded is that Christianity became polluted at the end of the First Century, and by the time Constantine got involved (circa 325 AD), it morphed into a totally different religion, based not on the Torah that Yeshua lived by and taught from, but rather from the misinterpretations and misuse of the letters Shaul (Paul) wrote to Pagan Gentiles learning how to become proper worshipers of God.

The truth is, as I see it, Christianity today should be called Paulism.

Therefore, I feel called to do this in order to teach people the truth, the proper interpretations, and the proper cultural understanding of what is in the Bible- the whole Bible, from Genesis through Revelation- so that they can make an informed decision about where they want to spend eternity.

Because that is why God put us here; yes, I have the answer to the age-old question of “Why are we here?” and that answer is this:

We are here in order to decide where we will spend eternity.

The good news is that you have your entire lifetime, right up to the last breath, to accept Yeshua as your Messiah and to ask (and receive) forgiveness through his sacrifice; the bad news is that you’ll never know when your time is up.

For Jews to do that, they first need to know who Yeshua really is, and for Gentiles to do that, they also need to know who Yeshua really is.

And knowing that, they will then know what God wants from them and know how different it is from what people have told them God wants from them.

One last thought, and this is another reason I am doing this, is that people need to understand this: God has no religion, he only has instructions for how to worship him and treat each other. Men (and in some cases, women) have created their own religions in order to have power over other people.

This is the reason that so many people follow human instructions instead of God’s instructions.

I believe many, many people who think they have been obeying God will have to go through the following scenario:

Standing before the Lord, God, Almighty, sitting on his throne of Judgement, and saying to him, “But I did what they told me I was supposed to do!” then hearing God say, “I understand that you did what they told you told you to do, but it is what I say that counts!”

I do this so that you can avoid that.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. Subscribe to both my ministry (there is a Subscribe button in the right-hand margin on the website) and my YouTube channel. Also, buy my books, and after reading them, share them.

I also invite you to join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, only I must insist that you read and agree to the rules.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

I Am Not Religious

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It may seem silly, my saying that I am not religious, when I read the Bible every day, pray constantly, and especially since I have this ministry.

But, yet, I tell you, here and now and with conviction, that I am not religious.

So, nu, if I’m not religious, then what am I?

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The way I prefer to identify myself is as a God-fearing man.

I don’t want to say “a worshipful man” because that could be misunderstood, since there are so many wrong things in the world that people worship.

But religious? Nah- not a chance!

Why do I not want to be called religious, when so many people identify “religious” as a person who worships God?

It’s because most every Judeo-Christian religion I have ever encountered worships the religion more than it worships the one that religion was created to worship.

And, as I have said over and over, a million times: God has no religion!

Yeshua chided the Pharisees for creating man-made traditions that took precedence over what God commanded. Now, as I have said many times, this is not a condemnation of all traditions- no! It is condemning only those traditions which are treated as more important than what God said to do.

Religion, whether one of the plethora of Christian religions or one of the six different sects within Judaism, all pay more attention to their traditions, man-made rituals, man-made holidays, etc., than they do to what God said we should do.

Yes, even in Judaism, which is based on God’s Torah, we have many Talmudic traditions and regulations that far exceed what God, himself, said we should do and are considered as important as if God told it to Moses.

(Actually, the Talmud is considered to be the Oral Law, meaning commandments that God gave Moses but he did not write down, instead passing them down throughout the generations orally.)

For example, there is only a certain distance you can walk on the Shabbat.

There are two different sets of dishes, one for dairy and one for meat. And in some houses, there is a third set used solely for Pesach (Passover).

In some of the Orthodoxy, the husband and wife are separated in their bed by a sheet when performing intimate activities.

In Chasidic and Orthodox synagogues, the women sit in an upper chamber and the men in the lower chamber where the Torah is kept, or on different sides of the building, separated by a curtain.

And there are many other traditional requirements and even superstitions that are too many to list here.

Now, as for Christianity, I could on and on about their man-made holidays being celebrated while God-commanded Holy Days are totally ignored, or how the Torah is taught to be outdated, or many other things that are man-made commandments which totally ignore almost all of God’s commandments.

Not to mention there are dozens of Christian religions, all professing to worship the same God, but all with different ways to worship him.

So, am I “religious”, meaning to almost everyone that I follow the regulations and credos of a religion?

NO! I am NOT!

I worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and obey his instructions in the Torah to the best of my abilities. I am a God-fearing Jewish man, who if I have to identify my belief system, would call myself a Messianic Jew, but even within the Messianic Jewish community, there are some 5 different organizations, each with different ideas:

Chosen People Ministries; Messianic Jewish Alliance of America; Jews for Jesus; Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations; and Messianic Jewish Fellowship International.

Personally, I would not include Jews for Jesus because that is not a religious group, so to speak; it is actually a corporation with a corporate mission to introduce Yeshua to Jews.

So, if you believe that religion is more about itself than it is about God, then do as I do and stop saying you are “religious”.

When someone asks you what religion you are, say this:

I am a God-fearing person who worships and obeys the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and believes that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah he promised to send.

Yeah, I know, it’s more of a mouthful than just saying “I’m religious”, but it is accurate and properly identifies who is most important to you.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books and share these messages with everyone you know. Next time you are on Facebook, join my group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules), and remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Some Rosh Hashanah Factoids

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With the High Holy Days upon us, I thought I would go over some of the Jewish traditions regarding Rosh Hashanah.

Remember, even though Yeshua chided the Pharisees about man-made traditions, he wasn’t against all traditions- only those specific ones that were given precedence over what God said we should do. Not every tradition is bad, only those that men have created which are given more importance than the instructions God gave us.

There won’t be any video today, and I hope that you find this lesson interesting.

(I am getting most of todays information from a great 2-volume set that I recommend for anyone who wants to really get to know what being Jewish is all about, called “The Jewish Book of Why”, written by Alfred J. Kolatch.)

You may notice that I always specify “Holy Day” from “holiday”. This is because I differentiate between celebrations that God commanded from celebrations that are man-made.

The first thing I want to say, which is not from the book I referenced but from the Book of Leviticus, Chapter 23:23-25, is that the Holy Day we now call Rosh Hashanah is actually called Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets) and is commanded to be observed by God in this manner (from the CJB):

Adonai said to Moshe,  “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar.  Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to Adonai.’”

This 10-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called the Ten Days of Awe, in which we look, introspectively, at ourselves to confess how short we have fallen from the way God wants us to live. It is a time to remember the past year, and prepare ourselves, emotionally ands spiritually, for Yom Kippur.

One of the things we do is to go to everyone who we think we may have transgressed against over the past year, and ask them for forgiveness. This may sound familiar, as Yeshua told us if a brother has anything against us, we should leave our offering at the altar and first go make things right with that person (Matthew 5:23-4).

Another tradition is a ceremony called Tashlich (casting off). This is performed when standing by fresh, running water; we throw a rock, or sometimes people throw bread crumbs, into the water praying that just as the rock sinks or the crumbs are carried away, so should our sins be taken away from us for this new year.

Even though this is considered the new year (Rosh Hashannah means “head of the year”), there are actually other new year days.

The “civil” new year is the first of Nissan, which back then was called Aviv. This is the day that God commanded should be the first day of the calendar (Exodus 12:2). Rosh Hashanah, the first day of Tishri, is considered the “religious” new year. Each of these two celebrations coincide with a harvest.

The Talmud refers to other new years, one for royalty (the first of Nissan); one for agriculture (the first of Tishri); one for the tithing of cattle (the first of Elul); and the fourth as a new year for trees (the first of Shevat).

The Bible calls for just one day of celebrating this Holy Day, but we now celebrate it or two days. The reason is because this is the only Holy Day that falls on a New Moon. The announcement of the new moon was based on three witnesses in Jerusalem seeing the moon, then messengers were sent to light signal fires to let the outer cities in Israel know the new moon has arrived. Sometimes these messengers were late, so it was decided that we would celebrate this day over a 2-day period, but consider it as one, long day.

The Rabbis did this a lot in the Talmud- they kinda made up their own rules.

The shofar is blown some 100 times on Rosh Hashannah. The Talmud gives a rather mystical reason, that by doing so we scare off Satan, so he won’t be able to bring any charges against the Jewish people before God on the Day of Atonement.

The traditional reading on this day is called the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac. This is Genesis, Chapter 22, and is considered to be one of the many messianic passages in the Torah.

Here is something I’m sure you will find interesting: Rosh Hashanah never falls on a Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday. The reason for this is that when the Jewish calendar was issued by Hillel II in 359 C.E., it was arranged so that the Holy Days would not interfere with the Shabbat observance, or vice-versa.

The reason we use a rams horn instead of a cow horn is to honor the ram that Abraham sacrificed on Mount Moriah after the angel stopped him from killing Isaac.

The shofar blasts are composed of three different notes called Tekia, Terua, and Shevarim. The Tekia is a single blast, the Terua is 9 staccato blasts, and the Shevarim (introduced in the Talmud in Rosh Hashanah 33b) is three undulating blasts. There is an additional blast, the Tekia Gedolah, which is a long, suspended note. There is a traditional sequence for sounding them, the entre sequence is done three times after a prayer is recited, and the prayer is recited three times during the service (which can last from a few hours to 7 hours, depending on the sect of Judaism).

The notes are sounded in this order:

tekia-shevarim-terua-tekia;

tekia-shevarim-tekia; and

tekia-terua-tekia.

With the final sequence, in some synagogues, they also sound the tekia gedolah.

The total number of shofar blasts is to be 100.

A white garment called a kittle is worn to represent humility and purity. We also wear this on Yom Kippur.

Some food is also specific to this day. The Challah bread, usually braided, is round to represent eternity, which has no beginning and no end. I t also represents the cyclic nature of life.

We serve carrot tzimmes, a sweet carrot and honey dish to represent the hopes for a sweet new year.

Another food to represent hopes for a sweet new year are apples dipped in honey and the serving of honey cake ( I LOVE honey cake!).

Finally, let’s do one more tradition: many Jews avoid eating nuts on this day. Why? Because of Jewish superstition (yes, there are many superstitions in Judaism). Hebrew letters also have a numerical value, so a Hebrew word can be given a number value, which is similar to Numerology. The Hebrew word for nut is “egoz“, which has the same numerical value as the Hebrew word chet, which is sin. Therefore, we do not want the new year to have any association with sin.

Nutty, isn’t it?

So there you have it! There are even more traditions regarding this Holy Day, but this is enough for now. You can get the book I told you about above and learn all about Jewish thought, superstition, traditions, and beliefs.

The Shabbat begins tonight, so Shabbat Shalom, and come Sunday night I wish you all:

Leshanah tovah tikatevu!

(May you be inscribed for a good year)

God Doesn’t Change His Mind

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We are told that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that he never changes his mind.

Yet, we are also told that God wanted to destroy the Israelites for the sin of the Golden Calf but Moses made him change his mind (we’ll explain what really happened later), and what about the destruction God said (through Jonah) he would bring on Nineveh, but didn’t?

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In fact, there are a number of times in the Bible when we are told God changed his mind (Jeremiah 26:19, Amos 7:3, and 2 Samuel 24:16), but we are also told that God does not change his mind (Isaiah 31:2; and 1 Samuel 15:29).

So, which is it? How can we trust the Bible if there are places where it negates itself?

The answer is this: God does NOT change his mind, but when there is a change to the conditions for which he stated he would do something, then he adjusts his plan to fit the conditions.

For instance, God decreed the coming destruction to Nineveh because of all the evil they performed, which they did willingly and, most likely, enjoyed doing. He sent Jonah to give them a chance to repent, in other words, to change their condition.

And what happened was that they did repent, so God did not change his mind but adjusted his plan to fit the new conditions. God’s decree was that because of the evil they would be destroyed, but the evil stopped, so the decision to destroy them for their evil- which never changed- did not occur because there was no more evil.

Of course, later on, when they returned to their evil ways they were destroyed. So, you see, God never changed his mind about destroying them for their evil deeds: when they stopped doing evil, the reason for God’s destruction was no longer there, and when they returned to their evil ways, God’s original decision still stood against them, and what God said he would do, he did.

Let’s look at 1 Kings, Chapter 13.

God sent a prophet (he doesn’t even get to have his name mentioned) to Shomron to tell Yarov’am that his altar to Ba’al would be destroyed. God also told the prophet that he was to leave by a different route, not stop for anyone or drink or eat in Shomron.

When Yarov’am ordered to seize the prophet, God shriveled his hand. The king asked the prophet to pray for him, and God restored his hand.

That wasn’t God changing his mind, it was God forgiving the sin after the sinner repented and the condition for which he was punished also changed (although that didn’t last long).

Later the prophet was resting and another prophet lied to him and coerced him to go to his house to eat and drink with him. Because the prophet from the south disobeyed God, God had the northern prophet tell the man that he would be killed by a lion, which did happen.

So, even though the prophet was fooled, God did not change his mind about his warning not to eat or drink anything in Shomron.

And what about Moses after the sin of the Golden Calf?

In Exodus 32:9-10, after God tells Moses about the calf, he says this:

 “Adonai continued speaking to Moshe: ‘I have been watching these people; and you can see how stiffnecked they are.  Now leave me alone, so that my anger can blaze against them, and I can put an end to them! I will make a great nation out of you instead.‘”

But Moses pleads with God not to do that, and in Exodus 32:14 we read:

Adonai then changed his mind about the disaster he had planned for his people.

So, here the Bible is clearly saying that God changed his mind, but I disagree.

Why? Who, after all, do I think I am to disagree with the Torah?

I’m glad you asked.

First of all, for the record, I am nothing. I just try to teach God’s word so that people can make an informed decision about where they will spend eternity.

As for why I disagree, my reasoning is that God never really changed his mind because he never said that he was going to destroy the people; he asked Moses to “leave me alone”- in other words, do not interfere with me.

I believe what God really meant was this is what I would like to do and I need you, Moses, to not try to stop me. I believe this because God did not say he was going to do that but for Moses to leave him alone so his anger CAN blaze against the people, and he CAN put an end to them.

What I can do (if you don’t stop me) is not what I am going to do.

God is saying this is what he has in mind, but not what he is going to do.

Moses then came through and stopped God. In a way, he was being tested as God tested Abraham, and (like Abraham) Moses passed the test by standing in the breech, so to speak, between God and the people, interceding for them so that the thing God was thinking of doing, he did not do.

The standard translation we read in most Bibles at Exodus 32:14 says that God changed his mind, but in the Chumash it says that God “repented of the evil he said he would do”, and in my copy of the Tikkun, it says that God “reconsidered regarding the evil that he declared he would do.”

So, you see, it isn’t that God changes his mind (even if some translations use that terminology), but rather that God intends to do something based on the current situation, but is willing to delay or change his plan- which, unlike the 10 Commandments, is NOT written in stone at that time- if the conditions change.

And what changes the condition under which God plans his punishment?

Repentance.

And, even in some cases, repentance will not change God’s mind about punishment, but it may delay his action. On example the case of Manasseh causing God to think “לא עוד!” (“No more!”) and decide to punish Judea (2 Kings 21:10-15). Yet, even with the repentance of the people when, two kings later, Yoshiyahu was king, God did not change his mind about the punishment Judea would suffer, but he delayed it so that Yoshiyahu would not have to deal with it.

And why does God take so long to deal out his punishment? Because he is merciful and desires to forgive, so he waits as long as he deems possible in order for us to change the conditions of his decisions.

The good news is that we can save ourselves; the bad news is we never know when God will say “Times up!”

God does not change his mind, so if we sin and continue to sin, he will not allow us in his presence for all eternity. BUT- if we change the conditions under which that decision was made, repenting and asking forgiveness through Messiah Yeshua, we are creating a different set of conditions, and under that set of conditions we can be forgiven, and the punishment we would have received (had we remained under the previous conditions) would absolutely have been carried out against us.

God’s decisions are based on the condition of one’s life at any given time, therefore, make sure that you are always in the right condition.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my ministry on my website and on my YouTube channel, as well. Join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure to read and agree to the rules), and buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books- guaranteed!

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

So, that’s it for this week: l’hitraot, and may I wish you all an early

שנה טובה שמח! (Happy New Year).