Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Megachurches- What Do They Have that I Don’t Have?

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I don’t mean to sound envious of these gigantic churches that have maybe a thousand or more congregants, whereas I have only a couple of hundred subscribers, even though I am on the Internet, which gives me exposure to the entire globe!

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

Over the years, and even before I became a Believer, I have watched some of the great speakers that run these congregations, such as Oral Roberts- that man was an inspirational and charismatic speaker, which you really need to be if you are going to keep the interest of hundreds and hundreds of people for an hour or more.

But what is the message they give that keeps so many people wanting to hear more?

Is it how God wants them to live their lives?

Is it about tithing and doing for others?

Does it cover the entire Bible, teaching that we all should live according to how God said to in the Torah, that the Torah is what Yeshua taught from, and not to do what some man-made religion misinterpreting Paul’s letters says?

I can’t recall ever hearing any of that from any of them.

No. In fact, not just the megachurches, but most churches I have been exposed to tell only of all the wonderful things that God will do for you.

Faith healing churches (many of which have been exposed as frauds) don’t ask for a regular tithe but for contributions. I remember when I was in the Marine Corps (late 1970’s) and living in North Carolina, a certain televangelist faith healer used to say if they called and made a pledge, they could then touch the television screen and he would heal them.

Imagine that! Digital faith healing- wow! God enters the age of technology. Maybe instead of calling them “prophets” we should call them human modems?

Alexa….say a prayer for me.

My ministry will never be big because I don’t tell people what God will do for them; I tell them what they are to do for God.

God’s promises of blessings (Deuteronomy 28) are not from God to us, but first and foremost, from us to God. The order of things is that God tells us what he wants us to do (in the Torah), then we do it, then God sends us blessings.

That’s the way it works, people.

Do you want to know if God will do wonderful things for you? The answer is ” Yes- absolutely!”

But you have to do your part first- blessings do not precede faithful obedience; no, blessings are the reward for faithful obedience.

And when I say faithful obedience, I don’t mean going through the motions, or that we receive salvation through works. Faithful obedience means doing as God says because you trust in God, because you want to please God, and because you know that whatever God says to do is in your best interests.

And, for the record, what religions have misinterpreted Shaul’s (Paul) letters to mean is NOT from God- it is from Shaul to the people in those congregations he wrote to who were having interpersonal and spiritual problems. The letters to the churches are not God-breathed scripture; what Shaul said in 2 Timothy 3:16 refers to the Tanakh, which was the only scripture that existed then.

The letters Shaul wrote are managerial directives to get the neophyte Gentile Believers back on track, teaching them how to be Torah observant (albeit a little at a time).

Remember that in Acts 15:21 James said,

“For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

which demonstrates- unquestionably- that the Elders in Jerusalem expected these new Gentile Believers to eventually learn how to be Torah observant.

So, if you enjoy watching those paragons of religion on TV, please ask yourself what you find so enjoyable and uplifting about them. Is it because you feel “Oh! So good!” when they tell you how God loves you and will do all these wonderful things for you?

If your answer is, “Well, yeah- what’s wrong with that?” I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it- it is misleading you. While telling you all about what God will do for you, they are leading you into rejecting all God said he wants you to do for him.

God has more blessings in store for you than you will ever be able to count, but they ain’t free! You’ve got to be obedient to what God says, not to what some guy running a church tells you.

If you can’t tell the difference between what a religion tells you is God’s word, and what God’s word is from the Bible, then you will be misled.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages with everyone you know to help this small ministry be just a little bit bigger. Buy my books and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or you’re not allowed in.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Time to Plug My Books

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I received an email the other day from someone who wanted to help me sell my books. They “invited” me to do an interview that would be run on YouTube, as well as multiple ads in different media outlets. It wasn’t much of an invitation because they wanted me to pay then about $2500! When I said that was too much, suddenly they are offering me less than half of that, supposedly for the same exposure, but when I checked out their website, the interviews on YouTube had only a handful of views. So, I said “Thanks, but no thanks.”

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

However, it did make me realize that a short “Please buy my books” at the end of my messages didn’t really give these books the respect and indicate the importance I feel they can have in someone’s spiritual growth.

So, today I am going to plug my books the way they should be plugged!

My first book, “Back to Basics: God’s Word vs. Religion” was written over 14 years ago, and it identifies a number of differences between what God says in the Bible and what different religions teach. The book deals with such topics as “Is Celibacy a Commandment?”, “Kosher is Not Just for Jews”, “Holy Day vs. Holiday”, and “Hidden Idolatry”, to name a few. I highly recommend it to those who are questioning what they have been taught all their life.

The next book I wrote is called “Prayer…What It Is and How It Works”. This is a compilation of many of the messages I have written about prayer over the 10 or more years I have had this ministry. Some of the topics discussed deal with “Am I Praying Correctly?”, “Power of Prayer or Power of God?”, “Spiritual Aspirin”, and “Be Careful What You Pray for Because You Might Just Get It.”. This book is designed to help us understand not just how to pray, but what happens when we pray and what to expect from it.

The third book I wrote is called “Parashot Drashim”, which translates roughly to “Discussions about the Torah readings”. This book, like my book about prayer, was sourced from the many times over the many years I have written messages regarding the Torah reading for that week. It is useful in many ways: you can use this as fodder for a sermon, as a commentary, as a source for a Bible study, or just as a way to get to know the Torah better. It is the thickest book I have written, to date, but as with all my books, I believe you will find it to be an “easy read”.

My most recent book is called “The Good News About the Messiah for Jews: Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah“. I must say, although I am proud of what I have written, this is the book that- for me- ties it all together. The title may say this is for Jews, but it is for Gentiles, as well. I wanted the title to make Jews curious, since my people are immediately turned off by anything having to do with Jesus, which is why I feel they are more in need of understanding the lies that we Jews have been told, by Jews, about Jesus (most Jews don’t even know his real name, “Yeshua”). However, these lies have also misled Christians about what God wants from them. Some of the topics include the lie that Jesus created Christianity, that all sins are automatically forgiven, that believing in Jesus means you have converted to Christianity, and that Jews have the Torah while Gentiles have Grace, as well as other lies that have served to do nothing but mislead both Jews and Christians about who Yeshua is and what he taught.
I do have a professional video ad for this book, and if you want to watch it, click here.

Currently I am working on a fifth book, which I am writing for people who are curious about what the Bible says, but don’t want to have to read the whole thing. I hope to have a working title and publish this book by the end of 2023.

You won’t find a bibliography or footnotes in any of my books. There is no Bibliography because the Bible is my only source document: it contains all I need in order to truthfully and accurately discuss what God says and what Yeshua taught. When referring to something the Bible says, I place the reference right there in the text- I don’t use footnotes because I think it makes reading the book easier.

I have tried my best to write these books in a conversational style, meaning that when you read them you feel like we are sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee or tea, just relaxing and talking. I try to use a little humor, now and then, just to make it more fun. The one thing I can promise you, absolutely, is that these books do NOT read like a textbook.

The pricing is very reasonable, and all my books are available on Amazon (and other sites) in either paperback or Kindle format. The Kindle pricing is just a few bucks, so how bad can that be?

And everyone- all three of them- who have read my books loved them.

I encourage you, if you like anything you read or hear in my messages, to buy my books and share them. I did not write them to become a millionaire and get on the NYT Best Seller List (although that would be OK with me), but rather as a means of sharing what I feel God has shown me through his Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) about him and his Messiah.

As that nice Jewish tent maker from Tarsus told the congregation he formed in Corinth: “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31). I am boasting about these books because I believe when I wrote them, I was being led by God’s Spirit to give you what you need to know in order to make an informed decision about where you will spend eternity.

I ‘d like to know whether or not you agree with me about that, so please read these books and let me know if you do.

Thank you for your continued support by subscribing to my website and YouTube channel, as well as sharing these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. I invite you (at no cost) to join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and let me wish you an early Shabbat Shalom!

No Need to Know

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When I was a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, I had a Top-Secret Clearance. And when you go to classes regarding clearance levels, you learn there are three essential factors in order to see any classified documents:

  1. You must have the proper clearance level.
  2. You must have access to the material.
  3. You must have a Need to Know.

When it comes to what God does in our lives and why, we have to meet those same conditions.

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

When we read the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), we see he is a frustrated and disappointed man, who feels that everything we do is just “chasing the wind”. Why does he feel that way? Well, if you ask me (and even if you don’t, I’m gonna tell you) it’s because he wanted to understand why God does what he does. And, since no human can ever fathom the mind of God, he came to the conclusion to just do what you do, eat, drink, and enjoy whatever God gives you while you are alive.

Let’s take a look at the Book of Iyob (Job): he goes through some terrible tsouris (curse, trouble) and he doesn’t understand why. Meanwhile, his friends are telling him it is happening because this is what God does to sinners, essentially speaking as if they knew why God does things. They find out later, when God tells them they are in big trouble speaking as if they knew God’s mind, that they were wrong.

I would love to know why things happen: I have always wanted to know what makes something “tick”, how it works, and why it works that way. I’m a nerd…I really need to know.

But when it comes to God, I don’t have a need to know- I have a need to TRUST!

And pardon me for saying this, but so…do…you!

We human beings will never understand God’s plan, or why he does what he does, if for no other reason than this: God works on an eternal plane, and we are stuck here in this finite existence without the capability to think eternally. Therefore, whatever God does now is part of what he knows will end up having eternal consequences, consequences that we cannot possibly see or even imagine.

Think of it this way: you are on the Long Island Expressway (known as the longest parking lot in the world), driving a compact car. You are next to a tractor trailer, who’s driver is about 10 feet over your car’s roof. Way up there, he can see a long way down the road whereas you can barely see past the car in front of you.

Sitting there going nowhere- slowly- you wonder what the heck is the problem. You want to know why you are going through this tsouris but cannot see the reason because your physical position in the traffic doesn’t allow you to know the answer, which is way down the road. But the tractor trailer driver can see way down the line, and he sees there is an accident holding up the traffic. He has the ability to see father than you can, and this is the same way it is with us and God.

We can barely see past our own noses (now, now- no jokes about Jewish noses), but God sees all the way to the end of time.

Now, through the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) that indwells, we may have the “clearance level” to know what God may know about a specific event, and through the Ruach we can have access to know, but it is up to God whether or not we have the need to know.

As far as I am concerned, we NEVER have a need to know but (as I said before) we have a need to trust.

Believe me, if God wanted any of us to know why he is doing what he is doing, he will make sure we do, so unless you get some divine revelation, just trust that whatever it is you are going through, good or bad, God has a reason and don’t ask why- just ask for help to get through it.

For me, trusting God is much more important, and much more comforting, than needing to know why God does what he does.

Trust and faith are two sides of the same coin, and they have a synergistic relationship: the more you trust, the stronger your faith becomes, and the stronger your faith, the easier it is to trust.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know and invite them to join this ministry. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so now on both my website and YouTube channel. I also have a Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please ensure you click to agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

If you like what you get here, then please buy my books because you will like them, too.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Unity vs. Trinity Is Not a Salvation Issue

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Let’s talk about that age-old, never-to-be-settled argument about God and Yeshua being one and the same entity. Even if it starts as a discussion, this always becomes an argument and all it does is to cause consternation and division between Believers.

And when that happens, it doesn’t serve God, but it does work wonders for the Enemy.

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

The bottom line, or at least what should be the bottom line, for any Believer is to be saved- to receive salvation, right?

Well, what the heck is salvation, anyway?

It is having our sins removed from us so that we can be resurrected and enjoy eternity peacefully and joyously in the presence of God and Messiah, Yeshua.

For the record: having your sins removed doesn’t mean you are getting away with anything. In the physical world, you and those you love will ALWAYS suffer the consequences of the sins you commit. Salvation through forgiveness of sins (by means of the sin sacrifice the Messiah made on our behalf) is only available on an eternal plane.

And how to we “rate” this salvation?

The answer to that depends on whether you were raised Jewish or Christian. For Jews, we have always expected the Messiah to come, to bring us back to The Land (Israel), to subdue our enemies, rebuild the temple and reinstitute temple worship, which then makes forgiveness of sins available to us, ruling as our king for all time. The relationship between the people, Messiah, and God is on a national basis.

Now, if you were raised Christian, your salvation will depend on “believing in Jesus” (whatever that is supposed to mean), being a good person (forget any of that Jewish stuff dealing with the Torah), and loving others as yourself. The relationship is on a personal level between you and Messiah.

My answer to how we rate salvation is that we must be “born again”, whether Jewish or Gentile, which is the result of faithfully believing that the person Yeshua (also called Jesus) who we read about in the New Covenant Gospels is the Messiah God promised to send throughout the Tanakh.

We must faithfully accept that he died as a sin sacrifice for us, and that through the blood he shed on the execution stake we can be forgiven of our sins, just the same way the blood of the innocent animal sacrificed on the altar at the temple in Jerusalem was the way we received forgiveness for sin under the sacrificial system God created in the Torah (Leviticus 1-7).

That is all there is to it. There is absolutely no salvation requirement to believe Yeshua and God are the same entity.

We need to believe that God exists (Duh!) and we need to believe that Yeshua is the messiah God promised to send, and we need to believe that after Yeshua was crucified and died, he was resurrected and now sits at God’s right hand, interceding for us.

I don’t know where or when this drek about God and Yeshua having to be the same personage began. I am sure it was part of the early attempts to separate the man-made religion called Christianity from its Jewish roots because it is an anathema to a Jew to believe God is anything but a single and totally unique entity.

The arguments that are constantly made for the unity of God and Yeshua come exclusively from the Gospel of John, which is hermeneutically and, in every other way, totally different from the other Gospels. Considering there are some 66 books in the entire Bible, but the argument for unity can only be justified (with misinterpretation) from just one book should make people wonder about the validity of the argument.

But this message is not a discussion about the validity of unity or trinity: it is about why it shouldn’t be discussed, at all, because it has nothing to do with salvation.

And if you don’t think that attaining, and even more important- maintaining- salvation is the end-all, ultimate, and only really important thing we need to always work for, then I don’t know what to tell you.

So, the next time you find yourself in the middle of a unity or trinity argument, get the heck out of Dodge! What is important is faithfully accepting Yeshua as the Messiah God promised to send, repenting of the sins you have (and will) commit, asking forgiveness by means of the shed blood of Yeshua, and trying to live your life the way God said to live it, not the way some religion tells you to live it.

One last thing I would like to point out about unity vs. trinity: whether or not God and Yeshua are the same entity, the Bible tells us they are separate entities: for any human to change that relationship and make Yeshua God is, essentially, idolatry.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think God or Yeshua would appreciate that.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, buy my books, share these messages and invite others to subscribe, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (But PLEASE! make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

What Yeshua Changed

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If you ask almost any Jewish person what Jesus changed, they will tell you he changed the laws of Moses. The reason they will say that is because Jews are taught Jesus was Jewish but rebelled against Judaism and created Christianity.

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

If you are wondering why I didn’t use the name Yeshua, it’s because Jews don’t know that name any more than most Christians do.

So, what did Yeshua change?

He changed our understanding of the Torah, and that is all.

(To better understand the terms I am about to use, please “Google” this word: PaRDeS)

Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual understanding of God’s words and laws. There is no better example of this than his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), where he tells us we have heard the P’shat (plain language understanding), then teaches the Remes.

Here’s two examples: he said we have been told to not murder, but then teaches us that we shouldn’t even hate in our hearts. He also said we have been told not to commit adultery, but then teaches we shouldn’t even lust with our eyes.

You see, the Pharisees had been teaching only the “physical” application of the mitzvot (laws), but Yeshua taught us the underlying meaning of the physical application.

The Pharisees taught the people what not to do, but Yeshua changed that by teaching the people what not to feel.

If you don’t feel hatred, you won’t want to murder; if you don’t feel lust, you won’t commit adultery.

There was never even a hint of Yeshua teaching anything other than what his Father had already told us we should do.

Christianity, as we know it today, has rules for worship, holidays, and the lifestyle people should follow which are the creations of men; men who misinterpreted the letters from Shaul (Paul).

These men misdirected the Gentiles who were being converted to a godly, Torah-observant lifestyle to a man-made, Torah-rejecting religion.

Yeshua lived 100% Torah observant-if he hadn’t, he would not have been an acceptable sacrifice. DUH!

And if he had taught to reject any part of the Torah, he would have been in rebellion against God and, as such, definitely not an acceptable sacrifice.

Do you get it? If Yeshua had done or taught anything other than to live a Torah-observant life, we would have no means of salvation because Yeshua would have been in rebellion against God and as such, could not be the real messiah.

Here’s the way I see it- anyone who teaches to live and worship other than the way God said we should, in the Torah, is working for the Enemy and is an Anti-Christ. Maybe not THE Anti-Christ, but certainly a type of one.

That’s all there is to it, people- Yeshua never taught or said anything against following the Torah, so it’s up to you to decide what you will do: choose to obey God’s mitzvot regarding lifestyle and worship or choose to obey a religion created by men which rejects almost everything God said.

And while you’re thinking it over, you might want to remember that God has said to reject his laws is to reject him, then glance through 1 and 2 Kings to see what God has done to those who have rejected him.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but PLEASE- make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in).

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

God-Fearing Haters

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How can a God-fearing person be a hater? It’s an oxymoron, right?

Unfortunately, it is far from unusual, and in truth, God-fearing people have been teaching their children to hate for hundreds of generations.

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

Here’s a question: is hating always bad? I don’t think so. After all, we are to hate the sin (but love the sinner), and we should hate evil, hate wrongdoing, and other things that are against the way God wants us to live, shouldn’t we?

So long as we recall what Shaul said in Ephesians 4:26, about not sinning in your anger.

When I say there are God-fearing people who hate and teach others to do so, I am talking about Jews and Christians.

Growing up Jewish (and, for the record, I never converted when I accepted Yeshua as my messiah- I am still Jewish) I can tell you, absolutely, that Jews hate Jesus. We grow up being taught not to even listen to anything having to do with Jesus because he was a traitor to Judaism. He created Christianity, which has for millennia hated, persecuted, tortured, and killed Jews in his name. Just ask any Jew and they will tell you that none of their Jewish friends or family want to hear anything about Jesus.

If you ask a Jew about another Jew who “believes in Jesus”, they will tell you that person isn’t Jewish anymore because anyone who believes in Jesus is a Christian. Period.

Well, what about God-fearing Christians? Being taught that Jesus is all about love and to be a good person and love others is how they get to go to heaven, certainly a Christian will accept a Jew for who they are, right?

Ever hear of the Crusades? Howzabout the Spanish Inquisition? Did you know the Nazi’s had “Gott mit uns” (God is with us) on the belt buckles of their uniforms?

Do you know about Replacement Theology? That teaches because the Jews rejected Jesus, God has rejected the Jews as his chosen people, and the Born-Again Christians are now God’s true Chosen people.

If you ask me, that theology is nothing but an insult to God because it is calling him a liar! Throughout the Tanakh God constantly states the Jews will never be destroyed or rejected by him.

They also seem to forget that the thousands fed by Yeshua, and the thousands that were “converted” at Pentecost were all Jews! Truth is, there were probably tens of thousands of Jews who accepted that Yeshua is the messiah God promised to send, long before any Gentiles even got the chance to convert to Judaism.

That’s right! The first Gentiles who accepted Yeshua were really converting to Judaism.

When Kefa and Shaul (Peter and Paul) went around trying to save the souls of pagan Gentles, if the pagans accepted Yeshua as their messiah and began to worship God, they were becoming Jews. Christianity, as a separate religion from Judaism, didn’t even get its start until the end of the First Century.

Ask a Christian Missionary what they will do when talking to a Jewish person, and they will say they are trying to get the Jewish person to convert to Christianity. I can’t tell you how many Christians I have talked to who have never even heard of Messianic Judaism or the Hebraic Roots movement- all they have even been taught is to convert people to worshipping Jesus.

And I mean exactly that- to worship Jesus: not to worship God and accept Yeshua as his messiah, but to worship Jesus Christ, and more often than not, to also recognize that Jesus is God

The greatest insult to Judaism and Jewish thought is the idea of a trinity- God being three beings instead of the one, and only one, true God who we have always worshipped. To a Jew, God is the only savior and his messiah is God’s representative to serve as our King and Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) who will reestablish the temple and bring us all back into communion with God.

When you tell a Jew that Jesus is God and the only savior well, to us, that is blasphemy.

If you ask me, I believe this whole Trinity thing was started in order to further separate Christians from Jews, making Christianity an anathema to Judaism.

I hate to say it, but Christians are taught to hate everything Jewish, which includes the Torah, and that what they are supposed to do- a divine calling- is to make everyone a Christian by ignoring anything about Jesus that was Jewish.

When I was in college, just a little after the earth cooled, I was dating an Italian girl whose family was fresh from Italy. One night while having dinner there, I saw their silkscreen picture of the Last Supper hanging on their wall (I was not a Believer then) and mentioned that it was a Jewish celebration called the Passover Seder, and that Jesus and all his disciples were Jews. Their response was “No! No, Tu batso!” (you’re crazy) I asked the youngest daughter, who was attending school at the local Catholic school to ask the nuns about it. The next time I was there, I asked her what the nuns said, and she replied “They said that Jesus was born Jewish, but it isn’t important”.

So, can you now see what I mean about God-fearing people being haters?

“Okay, Steve, I see your point. What can I do about it?”

The answer is stop the hatred, beginning with yourself.

Correct people about God and Yeshua; talk to Jews using the name Yeshua (never use Jesus) and let them know that accepting Yeshua to be the messiah God promised to send does NOT make one a Christian because Jews can believe Yeshua is the messiah and still be Jewish.

In fact, I am more “Jewish” now than I ever was as a Reformed Jew not knowing about Yeshua.

Teach Jews that Yeshua never changed or rejected the Torah, and teach Christians the same darn thing!

I am going to plug my latest book, “The Good News About the Messiah For Jews: Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah” as a basic primer for approaching both Jews and Christians with the truth about who Yeshua is, what he taught, and the hateful lies that both Jews and Christians have, throughout the centuries, passed down to their children regarding who he is and what he taught.

The only way to overcome hatred is with understanding that comes from knowledge, especially when hatred is based in ignorance. When Jews and Christians know the truth about Yeshua, then we will be reunited as God-fearing lovers of God, and not God-fearing haters of each other.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. Subscribe on my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you click that you agree to the rules or I cannot let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

What Anger and Joy Have in Common

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You might be thinking I got my title a little mixed up. After all, aren’t anger and joy opposites? What could they possibly have in common?

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

Before I explain, I need to talk about fire.

When there is a fire, doesn’t it feed on and effect everything around it? And when a fire runs out of fuel, it will begin to feed on itself, right? And when it does that, it dies out.

Anger is an emotional fire, but this type of fire is unique: when it feeds on itself, it grows stronger!

The longer someone stays angry, the harder it is to release the anger, and the more one dwells on what made them angry in the first place, the angrier they become.

So how can this be like joy?

It can because joy has the same characteristic: when we are happy, the more we think about why we are happy, the happier we become. And the longer we stay happy, the easier it is to stay that way.

One other thing anger and joy have in common is that they are both highly contagious.

When someone is angry, they usually take it out on those around them, making them feel (at the very least) uncomfortable, and more often than not angry with the angry person who is now making them angry.

And when we are joyful, we spread joy to others who can’t help but feeling happy seeing how happy we are.

So, nu? What happens when a joyful person runs into an angry person? Do they neutralize each other? Does the angry person become less angry, and the joyful person more sedate?

It all depends on the person.

You see, another thing anger and joy have in common is that, while they are both easily influenced by external factors, we decide how we will feel.

You choose to be angry, and you choose to be joyful- even though (as I have already pointed out) they are both highly contagious, when in the presence of someone who is happy or mad, we can create an immunity to their feelings, if we choose to.

That’s why some people aren’t influenced by other people’s emotional state and some are- it is entirely up to us to decide how we feel.

Of course, it isn’t as easy as I make it sound, and I can tell you from my own experience it takes a lot to overcome anger, and sometimes it takes a lot to be joyful. But when you come down to it, it is our choice, and though external factors can influence us, the uncomfortable truth is there is no one to blame for how we feel except ourselves.

This is where God comes into play- trusting that God is in charge of our life, and by accepting Yeshua (Jesus) as our messiah and being able to receive forgiveness by means of his sacrifice, we can comfort ourselves knowing that this life is short but eternity is, well…it’s eternal, and nothing that happens in this life will matter all that much.

I once wrote a message called SWISH, which stands for So What, I‘m Saved, Hallelujah!

The next time you hear that hoof-footed guy with horns wearing the red jumper suit sitting on your shoulder and telling you to get back at, be mad, or hate someone, SWISH him away!

Believe me, you will feel much better when you do.

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” (but please make sure you agree to the rules or I can’t let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

God the Referee

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We know that God is the Creator, the King, the Judge, the Shield, the Father, the Savior, and there are still a few other titles we could give him.

But have you ever thought of him as a referee?

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

I looked up what a referee does, and according to Wikipedia, a referee:

Enforces applicable activities rules and assess penalties when necessary

Therefore, God as a referee means he knows the rule book, inside and out, which makes sense: after all, he wrote the darn thing! We call it the Torah. And when someone violates those rules, God will make the “call”, throw the red flag, and assess what penalty is to be given.

We see this in action throughout the Bible: 5 yards for offside (Do Not Commit Adultery); 10 yards for illegal receiver (Do Not Have Any Other Gods Before Me); 15 yards for clipping (Do Not Steal); and ejection from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct (Thou Shalt Not Kill).

What is interesting is that when we read of God telling the prophets to review the rules with the people, he always states the punishment as something that the people bring on themselves. Even though God, himself, is causing the punishment, it isn’t really his doing, it is their doing- in other words, these rules which are immutable and eternal, and when you break a rule- whether or not you agree with it- whatever results from that infraction is solely your fault.

Just like when the referee throws the flag and imposes the penalty- he is just following the rules. He doesn’t have the option to decide if he will enforce the rules or not, and he also doesn’t have the option to decide the penalty for that infraction because the rules tell him what he can, and cannot, impose.

And the one who violated the rules is the only one to blame for the penalty.

You are the only one responsible for what happens when you do (or say) something that is in violation of the rules: there is no one else to blame.

Too many people blame society, or their parents, and some even blame God when they suffer for something they did. The old excuse “I couldn’t help it- they made me do it!” doesn’t hold water with anyone.

When the comedian Flip Wilson dressed up as Geraldine and cried, “The Devil made me do it!”, that was funny; but, the truth is that the Devil doesn’t make us do anything. Oh, yes, he certainly creates an environment where we are enticed to sin, but what you do and say is because you do it., and because you say it!

Do you recall what God told Cain? Wasn’t it something about sin crouching at the door, but it was up to Cain, alone, to conquer it?

So, when you screw something up (and we all do, sooner or later), stop looking for someone or something to blame, and bite the bullet. Confess your mistake and (hopefully) you are also sorry you did it (they call that “repentance”, or in Hebrew, T’shuvah).

After confession, repentance, and asking God for forgiveness by means of the shed blood of the Messiah Yeshua, you can start again, clean.

Here’s the hard part: after you square it away with God, go to the one who you sinned against and ask their forgiveness, too.

It doesn’t really matter, on an eternal level, whether or not they forgive you because this is how that works: you have already made yourself right with God so you don’t really need their forgiveness, but they need to forgive you in order for them to be right with God.

Asking forgiveness from someone is hard because we are baring our heart to them, but it is so important for them to have that opportunity to forgive you which makes them right with God.

You might ask, “Why do I need to do that? Shouldn’t they do that themselves?” and you are right- they should forgive you whether or not you ask for it, but when you do ask, it gives them that chance.

Isn’t giving someone the chance to get right with God a way to show love for another as yourself?

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 agree to the rules so I can let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Christian Legalism

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Gee, I just realized I haven’t posted anything since 2022! Maybe that’s because today is January 3, 2023?

The letter Shaul (Paul) wrote to the Galatian Believers has brought forth the idea of “Legalism”, which is generally understood by almost every Christian I have met as being “under the law”, meaning that people try to earn salvation through strict adherence to the commandments in the Torah.

However, they never consider that not following the commandments is called lawlessness.

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

The right mix between strict adherence to the Torah and not trying to earn salvation is when we do the best we can to obey God’s instructions in order to please God and as a direct result of our faithful belief that everything God tells us to do is for our benefit.

Recently, there are many Christians who are beginning to recognize and accept their Jewish roots, and rejecting the anti-Torah teachings that Christianity has been proliferating for millennia. This is a good thing, no doubt, but it is also generating a new type of legalism- not like in Galatians, where the believing Jews were forcing the converting Gentiles to become Jewish overnight, but by Christians who are trying so hard to be obedient to the Torah that they are becoming overly zealous to the point of obsessive with minutia.

They are over-reacting to issues that have nothing to do with salvation, such as the new moon phases, Christian holidays, and the “proper” pronunciation of God’s name; so much so that they have created their own form of legalism.

The pendulum has swung to the opposite side of the spiritual lifestyle, so to speak, and instead of accepting Christian traditional teachings against the Torah, they have become obsessive about obeying the Torah.

Okay, that’s not bad- I mean, wanting to do as God said to do is fine, but so many have become so zealous that they are now doing things just so that they can say they are doing them. They need to remember what Shaul said in Galatians 4:18, which is that zealousness is good, so long as you are zealous for the right thing.

Sorry to burst anyone’s bubble, but the fact is doing so that you can say you are doing, is “legalism” in its purest form.

I am not saying that Christians who want to be Torah observant shouldn’t be that way: what I am saying, or trying to say, is that the Torah is our guide, our “How To Be Righteous” manual, but to get so obsessives as to argue about pronunciation, when the new moon really occurs, or which holidays should be celebrated and which are pagan is not edifying- it only causes disruption and dissention within the body of the Messiah.

I also have seen Christians who are “Buffet Believers”- they pick and choose which commandments and observances they like, then make up excuses why it is right to reject the others. This, too, is a form of legalism, and is just not right.

Look- living in complete accordance with the Torah is the epitome of righteousness, and (so far) the only human who was capable of doing that was Yeshua. Truth be told, despite what anyone has told you, if you live in exact and complete accordance with the Torah, it WILL save your soul. That is why God gave it to us, so we would know everything we have to do, and also why Yeshua was accepted as a sacrifice and “saved”- he was righteous in God’s eyes because he was 100% Torah observant.

The problem is, as I said, Yeshua was the only human to ever have done that, and is the only human who ever will. It’s because no human can be 100% Torah observant that God had to send us the Messiah- DUH!

So, if you are a person who was raised Christian, with all the traditional Christian drek about the Torah is only for Jews and all you need to do is believe in Jesus, be a good person, and love others and you will be saved, but have come to realize that it is wrong- good for you! Welcome to Club Torah. But PLEASE! Do not go crazy about calendars or holidays or pronunciation etc., because that will only lead you away from the path to righteousness.

If you do your best to obey what God said to do in the Torah, and make sure that whatever you do- whether it be rooted in Judaism or Christianity, that in your heart and soul and mind you are doing it for the glory of God and his Messiah, then I believe you are going to be fine.

You are doing what should be done, and when you screw it up, as you will (as we all do), be grateful that we have Yeshua.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. Also, please subscribe to both my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just Gods’ Word” (please make sure you agree to the rules or I can’t let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Did Yeshua Ever Give a Command?

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How many times have you heard that a Believer should follow the commands of Yeshua (Jesus)?

My question is this: when did he ever command anyone to do anything?

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

The fact is that Yeshua NEVER commanded anyone to do anything that wasn’t already a commandment from his father, God.

If you search Google for commandments Yeshua made, it will tell you that he made two- to love the Lord and to love each other. Or, you will get a “hit” for when he told his disciples to love one another.

But those were already given by God in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, respect.).

This is just one example of how Christianity has replaced God with Jesus, making him into an idol who is interfering in our relationship with God instead of interceding for us.

They don’t even refer to him as a messiah but as a savior- just one more way they implicitly identify him as God, which is done in order to separate Jesus from anything Jewish, which only serves to keep Jews from wanting to hear anything about him.

What am I talking about? Don’t Jews view the messiah as a savior?

Not really. We refer to the messiah (as you can see in the Gospel of Matthew more than any other gospel) as king more than as a savior. When you ask a Jew about who his savior is, he (or she) will most likely say God.

Throughout the Tanakh, God is referred to as our savior. Even when Mary prayed (Luke 1:46-49), she referred to God as her savior.

This will help you to understand why we view the messiah as our king and not as our savior: the traditional Jewish expectation of the messiah is that he will rebuild the temple and reinstitute the Levitical service, being both king and Cohen HaGadol (High Priest), and with the temple and Levitical service back in force we will thereby be able to receive forgiveness through the sacrificial system. I have written an entire teaching series about this, and if you want to study it, click here.

Christianity has done everything it can over the millennia to totally separate itself from its Jewish roots, and by referring to Jesus (never using his real name, Yeshua) as their savior instead of God, praying to saints, making graven images all over their churches, saying human beings can forgive sin, and the worst of all is the idea of the Trinity, which makes Jesus equal with God, the very idea of which is an anathema to Jews.

So, nu? No wonder Jews don’t want to hear anything about Jesus: to Jews, he is more of a Gentile idol than as the messiah God promised to send to us.

I am Jewish by blood on both sides for generations- I never converted to Christianity when I accepted Yeshua as my messiah- and to tell you the truth, I am more “Jewish” now than before. Because of this, I can easily see the anti-Jewish messages that Christianity has created in their tenets, dogma, ceremonies, and history (ever hear of the Inquisition? the Crusades?) which most Christians cannot.

And saying to follow the commands of Jesus is just one more example of Christianity trying to keep Jews away from their own messiah.

I usually keep my plugs for my books to the end of these messages, but I really want to tell you that the book I am most proud of is my recent one, and if you want to know more about how Christianity has proliferated lies about the Jewish messiah, click here to get this book.

So, let’s end today’s message with this: next time someone mentions the commands of Jesus, set them straight (nicely, of course) by saying that he never gave a command, he only repeated the ones that God gave in the Torah.

Therefore, if you really, really want to obey Jesus and follow in his footsteps, take a walk through the Torah.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. Subscribe, click for notifications, buy my books (I know I already said that, but it never hurts to say it again) and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please agree to the rules or I can’t let you join).

And I always welcome your comments.

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