Author: Steven R. Bruck

The Difference Between Legalism and Obedience

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If someone was to ask me which New Covenant epistle talks about ignoring the Torah, I would have to say the letter to the Galatians.

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

The reason I say this is because in that letter, more than any other letter, the main topic is obedience for the sake of obeying, specifically dealing with circumcision. The Believing Jews were trying to get the Believing Gentiles to undergo b’rit milah (ritual circumcision) in order to be considered “righteous” in God’s eyes.

Shaul (Paul) is adamant that undergoing b’rit milah is useless to anyone, and makes it even harder to be righteous, because if you try to do just one thing the Torah requires, you are then expected to do everything the Torah requires, and no one can do everything.

Now, if that doesn’t sound like Shaul saying it is better to ignore the Torah than try to obey it, I don’t know what else it could possibly mean.

BUT…that is not what he meant.

Shaul, in his usual roundabout fashion, was telling the Gentiles that doing what is in the Torah only in order to earn righteousness was impossible.

He said that if anyone gets circumcised just to be obedient to the Torah, by wanting to obey one mitzvot (law) they are required to obey every mitzvot. James confirms this in his letter: James 2:10 says that a person who obeys every law in the Torah, but at some point breaks just one law, becomes guilty of breaking them all.

They are both saying the same thing, but coming at it from different sides. What they are sayin is that the Torah is an All or Nothing thing.

So, what Shaul is saying is that when someone tries to obey every law in the Torah TO EARN SALVATION, they will fail, so it is best for them to not even try.

Does that mean we can ignore the Torah? No way! What it means is that we must be obedient but not in order to earn salvation.

Obedience to the Torah because we faithfully believe God gave us the Torah to help us is different from just going through the motions so we aren’t in trouble.

Legalism is a works-based salvation, and that will never work. Why? Because no one can be totally obedient to the Torah.

But…obeying the Torah as a child obeys- trustingly doing what will please God just as a child wants to please its parents- is the kind of obedience that God wants.

God gave the world the Torah so that his children could save themselves from self-destruction, and even when we continually fail to do what God wants, if we repent from our failure and try again, I believe God is pleased.

God tells us in Ezekiel 18:23 that he wants everyone to be saved, and gets no pleasure from seeing the sinful punished.

Legalism is a perversion of the Torah, teaching that we must perform the actions the Torah requires in order to gain God’s acceptance.

Obedience to the Torah comes from wanting to please God and faithfully trusting that when we do as God says, we will be blessed as he promised (Deuteronomy 28).

The Torah is the ultimate User Manual for salvation. It is what God wants from us with regards to worshiping him and treating each other. Yes, “love thy neighbor as thyself” is the foundation which the Torah is built on, but it doesn’t replace “love the Lord, thy God with all thy strength, heart, and soul.” Yeshua said these two commandments are the most important.

Doing what the Torah requires in order to gain acceptance is legalism; doing what the Torah requires to please God is faithful obedience.

God is clear throughout the Tanakh that going through the motions is not what he wants, and even though he made the rules that say not doing what the Torah says is a sin, he provided us the ultimate “Get Out of Jail” card, which is the Messiah, Yeshua.

Not that we can ignore the Torah because we have Yeshua- that is not why God sent him.

The bottom line is God expects everyone who worships him to obey the Torah- he gave it to the Jews to learn, then as God’s nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) to teach it to the Goyim (nations), so they could learn it.

God knows that as hard as we may try, no one will ever be totally obedient to the Torah, which is why he created the sacrificial system (which he explains in the first 7 chapters of Leviticus) so we could avoid the eternal consequences of our sins.

When Solomon completed building the Temple in Jerusalem, that was the only place we could bring our sacrifices. After the destruction of the Temple, Yeshua became the only means for receiving forgiveness of sin.

That is why he says the only way to the father is through him (John 14:6).

Do you now understand the difference between legalism and obedience?

Legalism is just going through the motions, whereas obedience is the result of faithfully trusting that God gave us these laws for our benefit, and we try to do them as best as we can in order to please God.

God, Yeshua, James, and every original Apostle never ever said that we can disobey the Torah, and even though Shaul seems to say that, he never meant it that way.

I believe if Shaul was alive today, and could see how people have so misinterpreted and misused his letters, he would be furious.

Here’s today’s message in a nutshell: if you know the difference between doing something just to stay out of trouble, and doing something as a labor of love, then you know the difference between legalism and obedience.

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

I welcome your comments, and when you are on the website, please check out and buy the books I have written- if you like what you get in these messages, you will like what is written in my books.

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

Paul, The Patron Saint of Guilt Trips

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How many Jewish mothers does it take to change a lightbulb?

“That’s OK, you go and have fun, I’ll be fine sitting here in the dark, all alone with no one around to help me. I don’t mind, so long as you are happy.”

Did you like that joke? It is representative of what we call a Guilt Trip.

Those of you who read my messages know that I have a lot of issues with the Epistles from Shaul (Paul); not so much with what he says, but how what he says has been so badly – I will even go as far as to say sinfully!- misinterpreted and misused in order to turn Gentile Believers away from the Torah.

And this is the first time I will point out another issue I have with Shaul’s letters, but one that helps me to prove, once and for all, that he was Jewish, to a fault.

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

Shaul was an expert with regards to laying a guilt trip on his congregations.

Let’s start with Corinthians Chapter 9. He tells about how it is biblically correct for those spreading the good news to receive payment, but not him! He has never received payment and won’t because he wants to do it for free, as the Messiah has told him he should.

Bragging? Not really, it’s more like

Look at me! I am not taking what is owed to me, even though I know you
want to give it to me.

which could easily make the people feel guilty if they don’t do something for him. Subtle, but effective in getting them to perform tzedakah (charity) for others, not so much because they want to, but in order to feel better about themselves because it will make Shaul feel better.

He follows up this guilt trip in his second letter, in Chapter 8, where he tells them about how Macedonia was so poor yet they gave generously, and he is sure that the Corinthians will do even better.

And if that wasn’t enough, he really pours it on in Chapter 9, when he says he hopes that, after telling everyone how wonderful the Corinthians are, that he won’t be embarrassed by them if they don’t give more than the Macedonians did.

Do what you want to do, and don’t worry if you make me look like a liar.

But those Corinthians aren’t the only ones he lays a guilt trip on.

In his letter to the Philippians, the second chapter is about the problems they are having working together in the congregation. So, he tells them how he will feel so much better, and it will bring him such joy, by knowing that what he has taught them will be demonstrated by their getting along with each other.

In other words, if you guys don’t start working together, you’ll make me feel like I failed, and then I’ll feel terrible!

In Chapter 4 of this letter he tells them how wonderful it was that in the past they wanted to help, but poor them- they couldn’t. However, if they could help now (by sending what he needs) that would be a real blessing to him, but it’s OK if they don’t- he can get along alright. He has learned to be happy without food or clothing, or even when in jail…

It’s OK, I’ll just sit here in this cold, damp cell with no clothes or food; I know
you would help if you could.

The really big guilt trip I see in all his letters is the one to Philemon! He tells Philemon how well Phil’s escaped slave, Onesimus, has been to him and that he is now sending him back (which is what the law required), and that he is asking Phil to be nice to Onesimus and accept him back without punishment.

THEN, after asking this “favor” he says that he won’t mention, of course, that Philemon owes him his very life.

You don’t have to do anything I ask of you, but you do owe me your life,
which I won’t mention because I know you will do more than what I ask.

GUILT! GUILT! GUILT!

And in general, throughout his letters, he constantly asks the people to do as he says in order not to embarrass him in front of the other congregations, because he has boasted about them so much.

And he constantly talks of his trials and tribulations, all on their account, which is fine because he does it voluntarily; but, the underlying guilt trip is that he is suffering for them, so they should do as he asks.

He does tell them about the rewards of living righteous lives, but there is always that subtle guilt trip that they should do this also for his sake because of all he has done for them.

Look, there is a lot of good stuff in the Epistles Shaul wrote, but that good stuff has to be filtered out from the guilt trips he lays on them.

So, if there is any meaningful value to my message today, it is this: when reading the Bible, you need to remember that it is written by people, and except for the Torah parts where Moses is writing exactly what God told him to write, or the Prophets prophesizing what God told them to say, everything else was written by human beings who had their own way of saying things and their own personalities which could never be removed completely from their writings.

Just reading the Bible isn’t good enough. Oh, sure, you can always count on the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, to guide your understanding, but you still need to take some level of control.

Read the Bible with an open mind, learn the cultural and historical usage of the words and phrases in there so you understand what you are reading the same way that the ones who wrote it meant it. Never take any one or two verses by themselves, but always work within Circles of Context: the sentence within the paragraph, the paragraph within the letter, and who wrote the letter, to whom, and why.

Always be critical of what you read: there is no conflict between faithfully believing what is in the Bible is true and testing it. The truth can stand up to critical analysis, and the truth in the Bible will be clear enough, even when you test it.

Being critical and fairly testing what is in the Bible isn’t a bad thing, but always maintain steadfast and unwavering faith that God is God, that Yeshua is the Messiah who was raised from the dead for our sakes, and that the promises of God are absolutely trustworthy.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to both this website ministry and my YouTube channel. Share these messages to help this ministry continue to grow, and buy my books to read and then share with others.

On second thought, just tell others how much you like the books and let them buy their own.

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 today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

How Do We Reconcile All Who Call Won’t Be Forgiven?

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Oy vey! What a terrible way to start a motivational and edifying message. How can I possibly say that all who call on the name of the Lord won’t be saved when the prophet Joel tells us we will be saved (Joel 2:32)?

And if what Joel said isn’t enough, Shaul (Paul) said it, too in Romans 10:13!

Oh, wait a minute… actually, all Shaul was doing was quoting Joel.

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

In fact, just about everything Shaul said to his Gentile congregants was not originated by him; he was teaching them what God said through the Prophets and what God commanded in the Torah.

In order to know why I am saying that all who call on God’s name will not be saved, despite what Joel said, we first need to make sure we all understand what was assumed when Joel said that.

That assumption is that the ones calling on God’s name would also be obedient to his Torah.

Joel was speaking to Jews who had turned away from Torah observance, and as such, his message was to return to obedience, and then they would be saved when they called on his name.

(God’s name, of course, not Joel’s.)

The truth is the one thing that separates people from God more than anything else is… religion.

That’s right, I said religion separates us from God. How? By violating one of the most important commandments God gave us in the Torah! In Deuteronomy 4:2, he has Moses tell the people (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.

Show me a religion, any religion (and that includes Judaism) which hasn’t added to or taken away from the Torah.

So, nu? What have you got for me? Nothing? No religion, anywhere, is exclusively Torah-only? Not even the Chasidic Jews, the most Orthodox of all?

No- they are more observant to the Talmud than the Torah!

What about the Jehovah’s Witnesses? They certainly understand not all who call on his name will be saved because they believe there are only 144,000 who are already chosen? But, they also do so many things that are not in the Torah, and don’t do so many things that are in the Torah.

Hozabout the Born-Again Christians? Oh, wait- their religious holidays were created by Constantine and they observe Pauline doctrine (which is based on misunderstanding almost everything he taught), but they don’t celebrate the Holy Days God gave us in the Torah and they don’t observe the rules for eating and worship that God demanded of us.

And some Christians, the Replacement Theologists, believe they are now God’s Chosen people, claiming that he has rejected all the Jews because they rejected Yeshua as their Messiah. They say this, despite God’s constant forgiveness of the Jewish people throughout the Bible and his constant confirmation that the Jewish people will ALWAYS be his chosen people.

Judaism is, undoubtedly, the one religion that is closest to what God has told us to do because our religion is founded in the Torah, but (as I said earlier) within Judaism we have added much to what God told us to do, which is called Halacha (the Walk). Halacha is based on the Torah, but the rules are rabbinic interpretations of how to obey the Torah.

For example, there are the stringent kosher rules, such as different plates for meat and dairy, or rules for observing the Sabbath, such as how far you are allowed to walk on Saturday.

Christianity has, for the most part, done whatever the Pope, or Martin Luther, or the World Council of Churches, or John Knox (Presbyterian), or John Wesley (Methodism), or Richard Allen (African Methodist Episcopal Church), or any other founder of a Christian denomination (of which there are many) has told them to do, all of which have different ways of NOT doing what God said to do in the Torah.

That is why so many people who call on the name of the Lord will not be saved because they aren’t doing what God told them to do.

And Yeshua, himself, confirms what I am saying in Matthew 7:21-23 when he says (CJB):

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants.  On that Day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’  Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness! ‘”

Notice, please, that he says only those who “….do what my Father in heaven wants…” will enter the kingdom of heaven, i.e., be saved.

What Yeshua is saying, quite plainly, is that only those who call on God’s name and obey the Torah will be saved.

Sorry, Christians and Jews who obey people instead of God, but this isn’t my idea- it’s what the Messiah says, and he is just saying what his father, Adonai, already said.

There is one other thing to remember- when you call on the name, it isn’t Yeshua you should be calling to for forgiveness, it is God, the father you need to dial up. Yeshua made forgiveness possible by his sacrificial death, but he isn’t the one forgiving you- he is our Intercessor. An intercessor is not the final decision maker, he is our representative to the final decision maker.

Yeshua sits at the right hand of God, not in place of him.

There you have it! Calling on the name of the Lord is not enough- you need to also be obedient to God. Not to Constantine, not to Paul or John Wesley, or the Pope, or Menachem Schneerson (Chabad), but to G-O-D!

And the only place throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, where God tells you what he wants you to do, is in the Torah.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to both my website and YouTube channel. Like my Facebook page, join my Facebook group “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules) and buy my books, as well.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot- share these messages with everyone you know, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

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


Parashah Tazria 2022 (When she conceives) Leviticus 12 – 13

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We now begin to move from the laws of kashrut to the laws of cleanliness. These two chapters cover the topic of cleanliness for a woman after giving birth, and for tzara’at, or leprosy (actually, it could also mean some other form of skin disease or mold).

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

Without going into the details, women become unclean, ceremonially, after giving birth by means of the bodily secretions that occur as a result of the birth. There were two different times periods she had to wait before she was to make a sacrifice to be cleansed, depending on whether she gave birth to a boy or to a girl.

The rules for tzara’at are also very detailed: first the person goes to the Cohen for an inspection, cleans himself, is then separated from the camp for a week, and after the 7 days goes back for inspection. These rules also apply to any clothing that has tzara’at (except the clothing is locked away).

If the boils or sores do not go away, that person is unclean and remains separated, outside the main camp until such time, if any, the sores disappear. If the clothing doesn’t appear to be cleaned of the disease, it is burned.

If the sores do disappear, the process of inspection, waiting period, and re-inspection happen all over again. This time, if the Cohen determines the disease is gone, the person cleans him/herself, performs the sacrifice, and then is allowed back into the society.

There are two main arguments for these regulations: the hygienic and the levitical.

The hygienic argument is that these rules were given by God in order to maintain the general health of the population, keeping people from becoming infectious and possibly creating a plague.

I can understand God wanting to prevent someone causing a plague; reading the Tanakh, it seems to me that plagues are one of God’s favorite punishments, and I don’t blame him for not wanting to share that with some mere human.

The levitical argument is that the rules and regulations about cleanliness are religious in nature, dealing more with spiritual defilement than physical sickness. Those who were unclean were forbidden from entering the Sanctuary because their physical uncleanliness would also represent their spiritual uncleanliness, which would defile the Sanctuary.

God is very clear throughout the Torah that only those who were clean could come into his presence.

Now, these two apparently opposing arguments are, in fact, not exclusive but inclusive. Being infected with a contagious disease is a really good reason to be separated from the population, and as such, not allowed into the Sanctuary where people are gathered in prayer. And even when cleansed of the physical disease, the sacrifice is required to bring that person back into spiritual communion with God after having been physically separated from God’s presence (in the Sanctuary).

So what does it come down to? If I am muddy, I am dirty, but does that make me unclean according to the Torah?

No, it doesn’t, but you should clean up before going to Shul, that’s for sure!

The clean and unclean regulations did not apply so much to everyday living, but to being allowed into the Sanctuary. They were designed not just to help maintain a healthy population, but to also prevent any defilement of the holy things.

Holiness means to be separated: the holy is separated from the common, and in the same manner, the (spiritually) unclean is separated from the (spiritually) clean.

God tells us what he considers to be clean and unclean, and if we do not want to be separated from God, then we need to understand the difference and how to be cleansed when we become unclean.

Through Yeshua, the need to bring an animal to the Sanctuary to present as a sacrifice is no longer necessary, but we still need to obey the laws. So, if you have a bodily secretion, wash yourself and change your clothes, then in the evening (which for Jews is the next day) you will be clean and can go to the Temple. However, if you are a woman and in your time of Nidah (menstrual cycle), technically, you should not go to your house of worship until after the cycle is completed and you bathe, in accordance with the rules in this parashah.

NOTE: The bath that men and women take in order to become ceremonially clean is called the Mikvah. The baptism, which is not a ceremonial cleansing but a physical representation of a spiritual change, is called a T’villa. Yochanon the Immerser (John the Baptist) had people undergo a T’villa, not a Mikvah.

Do you know why Orthodox men will not shake hands with a woman or take something from her hand? It’s because they do not know if she is in her time of Nidah. It is not a form of abasement or disrespect, it is simply self-protection because if she is “unclean”, then touching her or taking something from her will transmit her uncleanliness to them.

Whether or not you obey these rules is up to you, just as it is with anything God says we should do in the Torah. But if you decide to ignore them, remember this: God didn’t give us the Torah so we could ignore it, or pick-and-choose what we wanted to do, and Yeshua never told anyone to ignore anything his father said to do.

God gave us commandments to live by. In Deuteronomy 28, he promises to bless us when we obey, and that we will be cursed when we disobey: just a little something to think about next time someone tells you that you don’t have to do any of that “Jewish” stuff.

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

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

The Free Gift of Salvation Isn’t Really Free

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Most of the time when I am talking about Yeshua or God or what is in the Bible, I always give you the reference so you can see, for yourself, that it really is in the Bible.

I’m not gonna do that, today; if you don’t believe what I say, or if it sounds familiar but you’re not sure, I challenge you to find it.

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

Churches, Messianic Synagogues, and Hebraic Roots houses of worship tell people that the salvation we receive through the sacrificial death of Messiah Yeshua is not able to be purchased and we can never earn it, yet it is priceless beyond compare… and do you know what the best part of it is?

It is FREE!

But is it, really?

Yeshua told his talmudim (Hebrew for students, or in this case, disciples) that they would be tortured and killed for following him. So, in their case, their free gift of salvation will cost them something- their health, their livelihood, even their life!

And it did.

Yeshua also told the man that wanted to follow him that the fox has its hole and the birds have their nest, but the Son of Man doesn’t have a rock on which to lay his head.

Yeshua told the rich man to give away all that he owned, then to come and follow Yeshua.

Hey, I don’t know about you, but this free salvation is starting to sound awfully costly! You may end up losing not just financial assets, but suffering abuse of your body and maybe even the loss of your life.

I know of many people who have paid a very terrible price for receiving this “free” gift, in that they have been ostracized by their family and friends.

Salvation being free doesn’t mean it won’t cost us something, it simply means we cannot buy or earn it.

If you wanted to buy it, does anyone really think God has a bank account somewhere so he can cash the check?

And you cannot earn it; well, wait a minute…that’s not really true.

If anyone, anywhere, could ever live their life completely in accordance with the Torah by never sinning, and die in that condition of perfect obedience to God’s instructions, then they would, literally, earn their salvation because the Torah is what God tells us we need to do in order to be righteous in his eyes. And to obey the Torah completely, you need to have both faith and actions that demonstrate that faith (faith and works, remember?)

God gave the Torah to the Jews to learn and obey, the reason being that once they knew it they would be his nation of priests (yes, there is a Bible verse where God tells Moses that is what we Jews are to be), and as such be an example of righteousness so that they could then teach the rest of the world to follow their example.

That would then fulfill the promise God made to Abraham that his descendants will be a blessing to the Gentiles.

But here’s the catch…no one can live a sinless life.

If someone could, then there would be three people in heaven: God, Yeshua, and that one idiot who ruined it for the rest of us.

And because no one can be totally obedient to the Torah, God sent Yeshua, the Messiah, to make it possible for us to receive the salvation that we could never earn.

So asking for salvation costs nothing, and receiving salvation costs nothing, but living “saved” by obeying God’s word (in the Torah) is very costly.

So why would I accept so much tsouris during my life?

The answer is there are two lives we all have: the first one is here on earth in the flesh, and the second one is a spiritual existence either in God’s presence, joyful and serene throughout eternity, or out of God’s presence, in the dark and cold where people moan and gnash their teeth.

The reason we are in this plane of existence is to choose where we will spend eternity; for me, I choose to accept Yeshua as my Messiah now, with all the suffering that might go with it, in order to have eternal peace and joy in God’s presence later.

You know what? Instead of asking people “What’s in your wallet?”, they should be asking “Where do you want to spend eternity?”

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to all my sites (website, YouTube, and Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”), and buy my books. Honest: if you like what you get here, you will like my books.

Oh, yes, one more thing: I always welcome your comments.

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