Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Was Kashrut Different in Noah’s Days?

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The laws concerning Kashrut are what we call the Kosher laws. We know that God defined what is kosher and what is not (for the most part) in Leviticus 11, but there is something about what he told Noah that doesn’t jive with what he told Moses.

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In B’resheet 6:19 (Genesis), we read that God tells Noah to take two of every kind of animal into the ark, one male and one female. There are no exceptions to what Noah is to take.

Then, in Chapter 7, Noah is commanded to take seven pairs of clean animals and only one pair of unclean; but he is to take seven pairs of all birds.

Now wait a minute!

In Leviticus 11, we are told that there are many birds that are not clean, such as the eagle, vulture, osprey, owls, hawks, some waterfowl, and bats (yeah, I know these aren’t really birds, but God wasn’t giving a class on taxonomic classification).

So why the difference? God tells Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals, and the same seven pairs of birds of the air, yet later he tells Moses that there are many birds of the air that are not clean.

So …which is it?

I wish I had an answer.

That being said, I wonder if the reason God had Noah take all seven pairs of the birds of the air is because he knew that so many of the baby birds do not survive (that’s the way he designed them) and so he wanted to make sure there were enough of the unclean ones to survive because they are so important to the world.

For instance, many of the unclean birds serve a valuable service in cleaning up the dead and diseased animals in the wild. The vultures eat carrion, and many of the raptors are scavengers, helping to recycle the dead and renourish the land. Despite the millions upon millions of birds, there are still so many more billions of insects and other species of animals that God knew he had to have enough birds to do what he designed them to do.

“But Steve- God made a nation of millions from one man, why not do the same with the birds? He can do anything!”

We have been told that God can do anything, but he really can’t- he can’t sin, he can’t lie, he can’t break his own rules, and he can’t act in anger. Now, don’t get me wrong here- he certainly does get angry, and that does result in him punishing the guilty, but he always punishes in a fair and just way, tempering his angry response with mercy. He does not lash out in anger as we humans do to each other.

Of course, he could have made as many birds as possible of whichever species he wanted to after the flood, but this is where I think he ran into the rules he made when he created them.

You may not know this, but the unclean birds that do most of the “cleaning up” duties do not have a large clutch of eggs, and often the youngest hatchling doesn’t survive. The number of newborns surviving in raptors and scavengers is relatively low compared to, say, chickens and waterfowl. So, since God can’t break his own rules, I think – maybe – he had Noah take seven pairs of all the birds in the air, clean and unclean, to ensure that there would be enough in the world to do what they are needed for.

You know, when reviewing this message, I feel like I am “stretching” things here and am not sure if this is really a good message or not, but it’s something I was thinking about and wonder if it makes sense to anyone else.

Do you have any idea why God would tell Noah to take seven pairs of all the birds of the air, even after saying to take seven pairs of just clean animals, yet there are so many birds that are unclean according to what God later told Moses?

I would be interested in hearing what your thoughts are on this.

Please make sure if you haven’t subscribed to this ministry to do so on my website and YouTube channel. Also, buy my books and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but make sure you agree to the rules, or you can’t come in).

I always welcome your comments and look forward to (hopefully) some interesting discussion on this topic.

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

Do You Pray Correctly?

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Did you know that I wrote an entire book on Prayer?

(here’s a link to it: Prayer)

And yet, I still wonder if I am doing it in a way that honors God, is respectful to him, and appreciative that he listens. I think I pray correctly, but just in case, I always pray that God will help me to do so in a way that pleases him.

I developed a bad habit of praying every morning in my car when I would drive to work. Now, praying in the car each morning is not the bad thing: what was bad is that when I retired, and no longer began every day driving to work, I neglected to perform that daily prayer session. I still find the moment I get in my car, no matter where I am going, I pray, but at home when I am not going anywhere, well…like I said, it became a bad habit.

I believe the best way to pray is, of course, directly from the heart. I never, even way before I knew the Lord or accepted Yeshua as my Messiah, felt that praying to God using someone else’s words was right.

The prayer Yeshua gives us (Mattthew 6:5-15) is not just a prayer, but more of a template for all prayer, although it is a pretty good prayer, on its own. And, as a template, I use it to make sure my prayers are always in the same manner.

I start by acknowledging who God is, thanking him for all he has already done for me, and then asking for forgiveness of whatever sins I have committed against him (by the blood of the Messiah), as well as lifting up my wife and my children and their mother (from a previous life of mine). Even though they have made me their enemy, they are not mine, so I pray for them.

It also makes forgiving them easier, for they definitely sinned against me for many years, but that’s another story.

I ask not for anything other than to advance God’s word correctly, to always honor him in all I do and say (wow- do I ever fail at that!), and to be a better example to people of what it means to know and trust in God.

That’s it- if you do that, I am pretty sure you are praying correctly. Remember that Yeshua told of the tax collector and the Pharisee, the Pharisee praying thanks that he wasn’t like the sinners and the tax collector beating his chest, begging for forgiveness that he is such a sinner. Yeshua told us that the prayers of the sinner were more pleasing to God than those of the Pharisee.

When you pray, always do so humbly, ask only for that which you need, and trust God to answer your prayers with what he knows is best for you (which is usually not what we ask for, but definitely what we need).

And be patient, look for the answer (it isn’t always obvious), and remember our timing stinks, but God’s timing is perfect.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel, as well. Buy my books and share them with others. And join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in).

And remember I love to hear back from you regarding what you think about these messages- please do so to help me stay on the right track.

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


Give Credit Where Credit is Due

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I think we all understand what this title means, so why am I talking about it in a message regarding our relationship with God?

Maybe it’s because so many people misplace the credit they give?

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I have been to many different houses of worship, both Jewish and Christian, as well as the “in-betweens”, i.e., Messianic Jewish synagogues and Hebraic Roots churches. And what I have found in too many of them is that they continually praise Yeshua (Jesus) for the wonderful blessings they have received.

Now, there’s no question that Yeshua deserves consideration when it comes to salvation; after all, if it wasn’t for his sacrifice, we would all be in deep trouble. With the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, which is the only place God says we can bring our sacrifices, without Yeshua’s sacrifice (which replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple) we would have no way to receive forgiveness. So, clearly, Yeshua is deserving and worthy of our thanks and yes, I suppose, praise, too.

But who did Yeshua say we should praise? And to whom did those who actually were there and saw the miracles Yeshua performed give praise to?

I can tell you that the Gospels tell us who that was, and (get ready for it) …it wasn’t Yeshua.

Let’s look at Matthew 5:16 (CJB), which is just after Yeshua was talking about people being a light to the world:

In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

And later, in Matthew 9:8 (CJB), when he was healing people left and right, and the crowds were amazed, this is what happened:

When the crowds saw this, they were awestruck and said a b’rakhah to God the Giver of such authority to human beings.

And these are not just one or two lines taken out of context, but verified by the other Gospels as showing that the people knew who to give the proper credit to- God, the Father, who empowered Yeshua.

Yes, thanks to Yeshua we can receive salvation, but it doesn’t come from Yeshua- he is the means to salvation, not the source. God, and God, alone, is our salvation. God is the one who forgives, God is the one who saves, and Yeshua is merely the instrument of God’s salvation.

And if you don’t want to believe me when I say this, then believe Yeshua, who never once took credit for any of the miracles he performed.

OK, maybe once, in Mark 1:41, when he said he was willing to make the man clean. He did, in a way, make it seem that he was the one doing the cleansing, but still he told the man to go to the Cohen as the Torah required.

Other than that one exception, Yeshua always gave credit to their trust and faith, and often thanked God for what he (Yeshua) was able to do (like when he praised God for allowing the people to see him raise Lazarus so they would know that was God behind it).

God is the one who dispenses blessings, God is the one who forgives sins; read Matthew 9:6, where Yeshua said he was given authority on earth to forgive sins: meaning only during his ministry.

And remember how Yeshua also said (Matthew 7:21) that many people who worship him and call him “Lord” will not be allowed into the Kingdom of Heaven, unless they do what his Father in heaven wants, meaning obeying the Torah.

Yeshua always gave credit for what he did to his father in heaven, and I am pretty sure that is what he tells us to do, as well.

So, the next time you give thanks for a blessing, or for your salvation, or for your health, or any, and every, thing you are thankful for, give the credit to the one who the credit is due- God, the Father.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy and share 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!

Yeshua Is More of a Goat Than a Lamb

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Do you know that there is not one place, anywhere, in the entire Tanakh where the Messiah is referred to as either “The Lamb of God” or “The Passover Lamb”?

Do you know that the Passover lamb is not a sin sacrifice?

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

Do you know that according to the Torah, a goat is required as sin sacrifice?

We are told that Yeshua is the “Lamb of God” and that his sacrifice is what takes away our sin, but those statements are contradictory! Only a goat was acceptable as a sin sacrifice, and Yeshua’s sacrifice was a sin sacrifice, so how can he be a lamb?

And to make it even more confusing, I don’t think you will find the Messiah referred to as a goat, anywhere in the Bible, so… is Yeshua a lamb or a goat?

The answer is: he is both.

The Torah, in Leviticus 1-7, stipulates there are 5 different forms of sacrifices: burnt, grain, peace, sin, and trespass (different Bible versions may have different names).

According to Leviticus 4, where the sin sacrifice rules are given, sins of the high priest require the offering of a young, unblemished bull; sins of the leaders require the offering of an unblemished male goat, and the sins of members of the Israelite community required a female goat as an offering.

Now, there is an exception, where an individual can bring a lamb as their sacrifice for sin, but that is only in the case of an individual- sins of the leaders and sins of the community must be a bull or a goat.

Yeshua’s sacrifice was not for himself, but for all people, so according to God’s rules, he could not be the “Lamb of God”.

The answer to this conundrum is that his sacrifice was not just for sin, but actually is both the sin sacrifice and the Thanksgiving sacrifice.

The way the sacrificial system worked is that you start with a sin sacrifice, which cleanses you of the stain of sin and makes it possible for you to come into God’s presence, then you offer a wholly burnt sacrifice, which represents your commitment to wholly following God, and finally you offer the Thanksgiving sacrifice which reestablishes your communion with God, and in his presence you eat part of that sacrifice (which is how we know that the Passover sacrifice is a Thanksgiving sacrifice- it is the only one where the one bringing the animal gets to share of the meat of that animal).

When Yeshua died, he was the goat (sin sacrifice) and the lamb (thanksgiving sacrifice) because it allowed us to receive forgiveness of sin, and once forgiven we could come into communion with God.

We won’t see the complete fulfillment of this dual sacrifice until the End Days arrive.

In the meantime, Yeshua never referred to himself as God’s lamb, did he? And no messianic prophecy in the Tanakh referred to the Messiah as a lamb.

TIME OUT: If you are thinking of Isaiah 53, where he prophesied that the Messiah would be led like a lamb to slaughter, that is not saying the Messiah is the “Lamb of God”. It is a merely a reference to how he remained silent: it was John who misused it to identify Yeshua as the “Lamb of God”.

In fact, my research shows that the only person in the entire Bible to refer to Yeshua as the “Lamb of God” is the Apostle John.

Now, as far as I am concerned, if all the prophets and all the other Apostles, and every other reference to God’s Messiah never call him the “Lamb of God”, but just this one guy does, well…then that’s just his thing, and certainly not hermeneutically, historically, reasonably, or in any other way validated by the Bible.

If Yeshua’s sacrifice was ONLY for sin, he would then have to be called “The Yom Kippur Goat”, or maybe the “Goat of God”, but not the Passover Lamb. However, because his sacrifice takes away our sins, we are able to come into the presence of the Lord and commune with him, which was done through the Thanksgiving sacrifice- the same one that we do on Passover- so Yeshua certainly is similar to a lamb.

The blood of the Passover sacrifice saved us from death by marking us as God’s people, and the blood of the sin sacrifice saves us from death by taking away our sin. The sacrificial system had our sin taken away (goat sacrifice) so that we could then come back into communion with God (thanksgiving sacrifice).

What Yeshua did was to accomplish both of these sacrifices at the same time, but in the opposite order.

Why this way? I don’t know! But I can say this- I am grateful for what he did, no matter in which order he decided to do it.

He may be referred to as the Lamb of God, but if you ask me, he is the G.O.A.T.

(If you’re not familiar with that acronym, it means Greatest Of All Time).

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my ministry on 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).

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Chag Pesach Sameach!

God Has No Name

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What is your name? Mine is Steven. The reason I have this name is to identify myself as a unique individual within the society. And, since there are many other “Stevens”, I also have a middle and last name to help further separate me from all the other human males.

But what about God? Does he really need an identifier to separate him from all the other gods?

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I know this will sound totally off, some may even call it blasphemous, but God doesn’t have a name.
Oh, yes- there are many titles we know him by, even the one he gave to Moses, but that isn’t really a name.
The Tetragrammaton, those 4 Hebrew letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (יהוה) have been generally accepted to mean “I am that I am”, or “I will be that which I will be”.

God told Moses to tell the people that “I am” sent him. But “I am” is not a name- it is a description, isn’t it?

The letters do not represent a unique label by which we can know this God from all other gods, although it certainly can be used for that, but it is more of a description of who and what God is: it tells us that he is infinite.

All the terms we use for him: God, Adonai, Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, HaShem…all of these identify him by a title, but that is not the same as a name that is to make him unique from all the others like him.

There is no other like him.

For instance, Ba’al means Lord, and despite those very foolish people who say using the name “Lord” is praying to a pagan god, there are many other Stevens in the world, but when someone is talking to me, they aren’t talking to every other Steven in the world. It’s the same with God, which is further proof that since every religion uses the title “god” or “lord”, this is obviously not a unique identifying of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

In fact, there shouldn’t even be debate about this because God tells us how he wants to be known. Check out Exodus 3:15:

God said to Moses, “Say this to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

So, that pretty much settles it, wouldn’t you say?

Again, not so much a name as a description.

So, to all those “Holy Namers” out there- sorry to bust your bubble, but how we pronounce God’s name is not the important thing; God, himself, says to refer to him by what he is, not by a name.

Besides, we are saved by faith, not pronunciation.

And to all those out there who insist we should use his name all the time, well- go ahead. But make sure it’s the one He said to use., which means instead of God or Jehovah, or Yahweh, or whatever you prefer, God says to know him as the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

That’s a mouthful. I don’t know about you, but I’ll just stick with God or Adonai or Lord, and know that I am not praying to a pagan or Semitic, Roman, Greek, Hindu, or Buddhist supernatural entity, but to the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of…well, you know the rest.

I am not saying to stop using whatever term or title or “name” for the one who created everything and who sent Yeshua, the Messiah to us you are used to using is wrong. It’s fine, and if you are confused about pronunciation, remember that throughout the Bible we are told, over and over, that God knows your heart and mind, so as long as you are praying to the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, etc., then you are fine.

Believe me- God knows who you mean, and he isn’t so prideful as to reject your prayer because of what title you use when referring to him.

Even Shakespear knew this: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Romeo and Juliet)

God is the epitome of unique- there is nothing else like him anywhere: there never has been, there isn’t now, and there never will be. He is, he was, he always shall be HIM.

What it comes down to is this- God doesn’t have a name because God doesn’t need a name.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, and buy my books. I also invite you to join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but please make sure you agree to the rules, or you can’t come in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

After Someone Dies, You Have No Second Chance

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You might be thinking I worded the title incorrectly, and that it should read “After Someone Dies, They Have No Second Chance”.

And if you do, then you are going to be surprised, because the title is accurate!

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

You see, I am not talking about the person who has died no longer being able to ask for forgiveness or save themselves; rather, I am aiming this message to the surviving friends and family, who now have no second chance to make amends with, forgive, or help the dead person.

How many people have you met who have regrets that they never revived a friendship, or made up for mistakes, or reunited with someone because that person has died?

How many people carry the emotional baggage of missed opportunities to make right something that was wrong between themself and someone else?

Yes, this is all about you, and about me, and about anyone who is still alive and has some issue with someone else. We have only as long as we are both alive to resolve the issue, and even if that other person has no desire, whatsoever, to resolve anything with you, you still need to make the attempt.

Remember: we are not told we must ask for forgiveness; we are told we must forgive (Matthew 6:14-15), and if you haven’t forgiven someone, and told them that you forgive them, then you have missed a chance to please God.

Oh, yeah, so long as you forgive them in your heart, that is what God wants, but why not go one step further and tell the person? Maybe you will revive a friendship, or make a new one? At the very least, you will provide them with an example of how to live a godly life.

I know people who had issues with their parents, friends, or siblings who never reconciled, or even tried, and now the other person is dead. They might never be rid of the feeling of guilt and loss, having now to live the rest of their lives asking themselves,

“How hard would it have been, really, to call?”

So, if you have an unresolved issue with anyone, try to resolve it. It is more important that you try than that you succeed, and if you do get shut down, what have you lost?

Nothing.

But…what if you resolve that issue and can now reconnect with someone, maybe reestablish or create a new friendship? Isn’t that worth the effort?

Please make the attempt to tie up whatever loose ends of your relationships that may exist and do it now.

You never know when that window of opportunity will suddenly, and eternally, slam shut on you.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel, as well. 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).

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

Shaul Used Two Drashim from Yeshua as the Basis for his Ministry.

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I am just back from 3 days in the hospital for back surgery, and am not allowed to shower until this afternoon, so I am not doing a video today because I look really scrubby.

If you ask me, one of the most misunderstood things in the New Covenant are the Epistles Shaul (Paul) wrote to the congregations he had formed throughout Asia.

The early Gentile leaders of Believers in Yeshua, after all the Apostles had died, so misused and misinterpreted these letters that they formed a totally different form of worship than the one Yeshua lived.

I want to share my understanding of Shaul’s ministry and how he used two of the drashim (parables) from Yeshua’s teachings to be able to bring pagans into a righteous lifestyle.

First off, we need to remember that the Gentiles were practicing the Roman religion, which was a hedonistic, drunkard, and sexually perverse lifestyle. In other words, it was a lot of fun, and to ask someone to give that up, all at once, would only result in most of those who were initially interested apostatizing.

This is what the parable of the Sower of the Seed tells us- some will hear the word and accept it, but the weeds will grow around the young growth and choke it. Shaul knew this and that is why he never forced a total conversion to Judaism (which was the religion they would be learning as they followed Yeshua’s teachings). In fact, that is why he was so angry with the Believing Jews in Galatia, who were undermining his work there by forcing the neophyte, Gentile Believers to undergo B’rit Milah (circumcision) in order to be saved.

Shaul also knew the parable of the enemy who sewed tares in the field of wheat. The tares were not recognizable as tares until they had grown so much that they were now interlaced with the wheat, and the owner of the field said to let them grow because tearing them out would also tear out the wheat. He said they would be separated at the harvest.

Shaul was following that idea, but instead of bad seed in a good field, he was planting good seed in a bad field, and hoped that by not making it so obvious (by requiring total conversion to Torah obedience), the good seed would grow in the tares and when the harvest came (Judgement Day), the good seed would be separated and survive.

The Elders in Jerusalem confirmed and supported this program of ministry in their letter (Acts 15) to these new Gentile Believers because they said all the new Believers had to do, NOW, was obey those 4 commands (three about not eating unclean food, and no more fornicating). What most Christians never were taught (and people never read the Bible to verify what they are told) was that James also said these new Believers will eventually learn what the Torah says at Shabbat services.

In other words, let them start slowly and adjust at their own pace to this paradigm shift in lifestyle, or we will lose them to the “weeds” of their past life.

So, Shaul went throughout Asia, telling both Jews and Gentiles about Messiah Yeshua, but he did not require the Gentiles to convert to Judaism. He required the basics- love God and love each other, which Yeshua said were the two most important commandments in the Torah.

For the record: modern Christian teaching says these are the only commandments Christians have to obey, which is wrong. Yeshua never said these were the only commandments, just that they are the most important.

Can you see now how Shaul, using the parables of seeds being sewn in the field, designed a program for missionary work that used the wisdom of those drashim to create a gradual integration from a pagan lifestyle to a righteous one?

And this is why Christianity has gone so far off course from what Yeshua taught- they just didn’t get it, and decided since they don’t have to become Jews overnight, they can change what they want to. They started with the 4th Commandment, changing the Shabbat, then rejected the Holy Days in Leviticus 23, ignored the requirements for food in Leviticus 11, and by the Third Century had created a totally man-made religion that has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s word or Yeshua’s teachings, other than to love one another.

And I can tell you this, for certain: loving one another isn’t enough.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel, buy my books (if you like what you get here, you will like 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 can’t come in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Repetition Isn’t Respect

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I haven’t been very dutiful in my posting the last couple of weeks, and I probably won’t post again for another week or two. I am getting surgery on my back to fuse my L5 vertebrae to L4 since the L5 is shifting. I have been dealing (painfully) with sciatica for two years now, and this is the third time I go “under the knife”. God willing, this will be the fix. I know I can count on your prayers for me, and I thank you for them.

OK- now down to business…

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

How often have you heard people say “Father God” or “Lord” about a thousand times while praying?

Do you know someone who, when just talking with you, has to acknowledge God in some way, in nearly every other sentence? They talk like this:

“As I was walking home the other day, praise the Lord, I saw my friend who by God’s Grace I have known for a long time. And she has been in good health, thanks to God, my savior, for a while now, and praise the Lord that she yadda, yadda, yadda….”

Look- I am not trying to insult or berate anyone, but really? Can’t you finish a complete thought without having to praise or recognize God in some way?

Here’s why I am writing about what could be just a pet peeve of mine: I believe that automatic and repetitive reference to God becomes empty praise.

What I am saying is that when we say the same thing, over and over, it becomes standard practice, essentially rote repetition, and after a very short time it will become the way we talk, but it will have no essence.

When people continually refer to God in their speech or prayer and do it so often that it becomes a pattern, the heartfelt desire to honor God is no longer why they do it- it now just habit.

When we do or say things so often that we don’t even think about it, it means nothing anymore.

I rarely refer to God in my everyday speech or when I pray after I have already addressed him at the start. I don’t continually interject “Father God” or “Lord” or any direct reference to God- I really think he knows who I’m talking to. And, despite his age, I don’t think he has a problem with short-term memory, so I don’t feel the need to constantly remind him who I am talking to.

My concern, again, is that people who constantly refer to God in one way or another as part of their prayer or speech patterns become inured to why we refer to God in the first place, which is to honor him in all we say and do.

So, if you are feeling that I am picking on you, it is probably because you are one of those who constantly refer to God in your speech and prayer. If so, I am sorry if you feel insulted, but I really think you should consider that by referring to God in every other sentence you have reduced consciously honoring him to nothing more than mindless conditioning.

And I can be fairly certain that the people you are talking to, especially people who aren’t as “spiritually invested” as you are, believe it is fake spirituality and not a real love for God.

You know? Sometimes I think the Lord is sitting on his throne, hearing people refer to him over and over again, and is saying to himself:


“Just talk to me- I already know who I am.”

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in), and buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

How to be Satisfied.

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This is going to be a real easy lesson today, but as with many things that seem easy, to actually be able to utilize this in your life is not easy.

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

So, the secret to happiness, how to be satisfied in all that you do (as Shaul said he was in Philippians 4:12) and have peace throughout your life is this:

Satisfaction doesn’t come from getting what you want; it comes from being content with what you have.

That’s it. Simple, right?

The difficulty is actually being content with what we have.

I am not saying that one should not have ambition- to me, a life without ambition is a boring life. We should try to better our situation, be a better provider to our family, continue to study and learn about everything that interests us, and never, ever stop trying to better ourselves.

And always try to be more of what God wants us to be- not what some religion says you should be, but what God says to be (and you find that ONLY in the first 5 books of the Bible. If you want to say Yeshua / Jesus taught us how to be, he taught from those 5 books).

For me, I really have learned pretty much to be satisfied. For example, I can log onto Amazon and buy only what I really need to get. (Oy! The Acid Test of satisfaction!)

Do I want more? Honestly? No, not really. I have a wonderful marriage to a wonderful woman, I have a house that is paid for, I am (for the most part) healthy, I have friends I have known from childhood that I am still constantly in touch with, my ministry (this ministry) is growing, and even though I would prefer more people buy the books I have written, I have come to accept that what I spout here is never going to be popular.

Why not? Am I being pessimistic? No, I am being realistic- the megachurches and large synagogues and popular online ministries are popular because they tell people all the wonderful things that God will do for them.

Not me- I tell people all the things God wants us to do for him BEFORE he will give us all that nice stuff.

People don’t want to hear about what they have to do to get something: they love to hear about what they will get for doing nothing.

Well…das ist alles! Short, sweet, to the point: it’s OK to try to get more, but not to the point where wanting more takes away from being satisfied with what you have.

If you can teach yourself to appreciate what you have, and especially to thank God for all he has done for you, then you will always be satisfied.

That’s it for this week, so please remember to subscribe, share these messages, buy my books, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (you need to accept the rules to get in), and please don’t hesitate to give me feedback.

Until next time, l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Oh, I almost forgot- this Monday is Purim…Chag Sameach!