Often I see someone posting something to the effect of enjoy the journey, take time to smell the roses, or whatever other saying that indicates we should not just go from A to B, but check out all that we pass along the way.

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

And you know what? I don’t necessarily disagree.

However, when it comes to a spiritual journey, specifically one going from worldly desires to a godlier lifestyle, you might find that when you stop to smell the roses you end up getting pricked by its thorns.

Life in the world is one which we must travel. Shaul, that nice Jewish tent maker from Tarsus, once wrote to the people in his kehillah in Corinth, telling them that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize, so they should run in such a way that they may obtain it (1 Corinthians 9:24).

In other words, know where you are going and make sure that is the goal you seek. Do not be turned away by worldly desires and attractions.

The rose is a beautiful flower, with a lovely aroma, but grabbing it will result in pain if you aren’t very careful.

Seeking God takes discipline- not just to reject worldly and hedonistic temptations, but to study God’s word, to reject sin and seek righteousness, and to follow what God says and not what some human being tells you God says, which is what religions do.

Remember: God has no religion!

God gave instructions telling us how to worship him and how to treat each other: he gave them to the Israelites through Moses, and told Moses that the Jewish people are to be God’s own nation of priests (Exodus 19:5-6), meaning they must learn God’s instructions and then teach them to the world.

That’s what priests do- they teach the people how to live in accordance with the way God wants us to live.

Way before God gave us the Torah, he told Abraham that his descendants would be a blessing to the world (Genesis 22:18) and in Deuteronomy 28, God promises that when we do as he says, we will receive blessings.

Nu? Can you now see how it all fits together?

The descendants of Abraham (the Jewish people) are God’s priests who received the Torah to teach everyone how to worship and live so that God can bless them.

So smell the roses, since we can’t help but live in a world that has roses, but always remember that the roses are not the destination, and grabbing hold of them will result in pain.

When it comes down to it, the destination, which is eternal joy in God’s presence, is so much better than any old rose.

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

Next time you are on Facebook, join my discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules.)

And I always welcome your comments.

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

Eight years ago, on July 14, 2014 (to be precise) I posted my first message on this website, and began my on-line ministry.

It occurred to me the other day that I should share with you how this ministry has been doing over these 8 years.

Before I created this on-line ministry (with help, of course from a website provider), I had already written my first book, “Back to Basics: God’s Word vs. Religion” and was living in Melbourne, Florida working as a Systems Support person (i.e., Help Desk) for an IT services provider.

Back then, I would post a couple of times a month. After I retired and had more time, I began posting my messages every Tuesday and Thursday, and on Friday I posted a message for that Shabbat’s Torah reading.

As for my books, well…it’s a niche market, for sure. They have been available on Amazon Books and through my website for years, and yet I have barely sold more than 20 or so in all these years, and that is combining sales for all 4 books.

And that is a shame, because they are really quite good, which isn’t just my opinion but the feedback I have gotten from everyone who has read them.

Everyone, that is, but one Messianic Rabbi, whose sole comment after I gave him a copy of “Back to Basics” was “You’re no James Mitchener.”

So, here are the stats for this Messianic Ministry, as of this morning:

• My website (messianicmoment.com) has a total of 78 subscribers.

• My YouTube channel has an audience of 174 Subscribers (and there are 608 videos I have available for viewing)

• My Facebook discussion group, “Just God’s Word“, has 87 members and my Facebook page for Messianic Moment has 160 “Likes”.

Overall, when you consider that these sites and videos are available throughout the world, the numbers seem small.

I should mention that I have subscribers all over the world, from Japan to India to Africa, as well as the UK and (of course) America.

On the other hand, the Messianic synagogue I attended in Northeast Philadelphia never had more than 100 or so people show up for services, and the Hebraic Roots Church I attended here in Melbourne, Florida never had much more than 45 or so people at services, so when you consider those numbers, I am not doing too badly.

But it isn’t really the numbers that matter as much as what is being produced, and that can’t be measured with statistics.

I do not know, and probably never will know, what effect I have had on anyone’s life, especially their eternal life. And that’s OK with me, so long as I always put out the truth, according to God and not what some religion says.

I am not a missionary, and this ministry will never be a “mega-church”. It is simply a learning ministry. As such, I will never tell anyone what they have to believe, only what I believe and why.

God gave us all Free Will to decide how we will live our lives. He certainly desires that we live it according to the way he told us to live it, which is not in the Gospels, or any of the Epistles, but exclusively in the Torah.

That is the ONLY place in the entire Bible where God dictates his rules for worshiping him, and his rules for how we are to treat each other.

The O-N-L-Y place!

So, I continue to do what I hope and pray to be a godly work, honoring both God and Yeshua, designed to free people from the constricting blinders that religion places on them, and to see clearly what God says he wants from us.

And that is why this ministry will never be very large- people don’t want to know what God wants from them, only what God will give to them. That is why large churches and synagogues always preach how wonderful God’s love is, how Jesus saves them from sin, and everything else that makes salvation seem like a “come as you are” party.

But as the song goes…”It ain’t necessarily so!”

Thank you for being here and, if you aren’t a subscriber, please do so. There is a SUBSCRIBE button in the right-hand margin on this website, and also go to my YouTube channel and subscribe there, as well.

On Facebook, “Like” my Messianic Moment page and join the group “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

Finally, buy my books and share them with everyone you care about.

Please help this ministry continue to grow and share the truth about who God is, who Yeshua is, and what God wants from each of us.

God promised that when we do as HE says, we will be blessed, so let’s receive and spread God’s blessings to everyone.

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

Of course he does- he changed it for Moses more than once, right?
When the people sinned with the Golden Calf and God said he would destroy them, didn’t he tell Moses that he wouldn’t do that, after all, since Moses pleaded with him for the sake of the people? (Exodus 32:10-14; Deuteronomy 9:13-14)

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

Even before that, when God sent angels to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, didn’t Abraham negotiate a deal with God, making him change his mind and promise not to destroy it if there were as few as 10 righteous men there?

(Of course, God kind of cheated on that one, since he already knew there were no righteous men there, to begin with. But I think he did it so that Abraham could feel helpful.)

And what about Nineveh? God decided he would destroy them, but he sent Jonah as a last-ditch effort to save them. Lucky for Nineveh, they listened, although in the long run it only delayed the inevitable.

So it certainly seems that God will change his mind. But that brings up a problem: if God will change his mind about things, does that mean he might change his mind about salvation?

Yeah, yeah, I know…we are told that salvation cannot be taken away by anyone (John 6:37-40, for one), but God isn’t just anyone- he is God.

Job tells us that the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. In other words, that which God gives, he also can take away- it is up to him. After all, who can hold God accountable? Who can tell God “You can’t do that!”?

We are told that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Ecclesiastes 3:14; Malachi 3:6), but then we are also told about how he gives and takes away, how he changes his mind, so if he is the same, then how can he change his mind?

And, as I said earlier, if he can change his mind, then how can we trust in the promise of salvation? Or, for that matter, any of the promises he’s made?

I’ll tell you what I believe is the answer- God doesn’t change his mind, and his promises are so trustworthy, that whatever God says will be, has already been.

But, but, but…what about Abraham? What about Moses? What about the other times (you can find more examples in the Bible if you look for them) God said he wouldn’t do what he said he wanted to do.

Aha! As Shakespeare would say- “There’s the rub!”

The operative word in what I just said is that God said he wanted to do- not that he would do.

When God told Moses to go down from the mountain because the people had sinned (with the Golden Calf), he didn’t tell Moses he decided to destroy them. He asked Moses to leave him alone so that he could destroy them: in other words, he was asking Moses to allow him to destroy them and make a nation from Moses, but he didn’t tell Moses that he will destroy them.

A subtle difference but a significant one.

The same with Abraham. God’s angels said they were sent to destroy the cities, and all Abraham accomplished was to negotiate a cease fire, so to speak, based on something that (as I already pointed out) God knew wasn’t the case.

We need to remember something that I learned long ago when I was in Sales:

People don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do.

God, on the other hand, means what he says and does what he says he will do. He is 1,000% trustworthy and reliable to do what he says, which includes the promise of salvation. We may be confused by the wording in the Bible, which makes it appear that he will change his mind once he decided what to do.

But that is our misunderstanding, and not a case of God changing his mind.

The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh, recognized as one of the best interpretations of the Tanakh, tells us that God asks Moses to “let me be” so that his anger may blaze against the people and that he may destroy them. Later in that passage, it says God “renounced the punishment he had planned to bring upon the people.”

Planned to bring is not decided to do.

After all, plans are flexible, and when we decide to go another way because the original plan won’t do what we need, is that changing our mind?

Well, OK, yes- we can say we changed our mind, or we can say we changed the plan, never having really made up our mind, absolutely.

So, the final decision, which is a decision which I will not change my mind about, is that there is a difference between planning to do something and deciding to do it, and the only thing that determines the final decision is what is done.

God had decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and he did; God planned to destroy the people and make a nation from Moses, but that plan changed and the people were not destroyed.

God also planned to destroy them after they refused to enter the land (Numbers 14), but Moses explained why that would be a bad idea and God changed his plan. Instead of destroying all the people, he only destroyed the generation that came out of Egypt. He didn’t change his mind, he simply changed the plan.

So, you can see that where I may have introduced a reason to doubt God’s word, in the end it is our understanding (both linguistically and culturally) of what he said that might lead us to think he has changed his mind.

What God has said and what he has done over the millennia proves, beyond a doubt, that we can depend on him, always.

God may change his plans for you, based on what you do, but you can absolutely trust that every promise God has made, or ever will make, is a guaranteed done deal.

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 read and agree to the rules).

And remember- I always welcome your comments.

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

There was this man I knew when I was attending a Messianic Synagogue in Northeast Philadelphia. He had a gentle disposition, a real heart for God, and one other thing, which we talked about now and then: he felt that everything that happened to him, good or bad, was from God.

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

Now, we all know that God is in charge- no question about that.

I, myself, have been in charge of people most of my career, either through given authority as a Marine Corp Officer, or by assumed authority, meaning I was always the “Duty Expert”. And in that position, I learned long ago that being in charge doesn’t always mean taking charge.

(Off the topic: tomorrow is my 68th birthday, and now when I say “long ago”, it is much more literal than I care to think about.)

Back to the main point- what I am saying is that very often, when you have people under your authority who are expected to perform their duties, even though the “buck stops here” means in your lap, there are a lot of other people handling that particular buck before it gets to you, and it is just a part of life that sometimes the buck gets mishandled.

As a retired IT professional, one who started as a programmer and ended up on the hardware side of the house, I can tell you absolutely that in any system, the weakest point of that system will always be where there is human intervention.

Bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people- that is not necessarily God, or the Devil- it is (I believe) more often than not just… what… happens.

Look at all the people who do not really know or worship God (even some who think they do) as they go through life. We know that God will allow us to walk away from him, and that he hopes we will repent and return, but in the meantime, when we do not do as God has instructed us, we are on our own.

God will allow you to remain unprotected by him if you chose to ignore his commandments. Yes, he will still bless those who reject him, and sometimes hold blessings from those who accept him- after all, he is God and knows what he is doing.

Job and his friends learned that, the hard way.

We are told that God will bless those who bless the Jewish people and who obey his commandments (Genesis 12:3 and Deuteronomy 28, resp.), yet we are also told that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy (Exodus 33:19), so when good or bad happens, you need to ask yourself “Is this God, or just life?”

If you ask me, I’d say it’s probably just life.

My friend, the one I told you about at the beginning, once had his car break down. His explanation? He went shopping on a Saturday because he was out of food, and so as punishment God killed the clutch on his car.

Maybe God did, but I have to say I really doubt that the creator of the universe, the Lord, God, Almighty, savior and forgiver, and Judge of the world, went out of his way to destroy that guy’s clutch because he had no food and went shopping on a Saturday.

That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it? I mean, God could have just made him wait for a long time in line (that is almost a form of purgatory, in and of itself, right?), or had him run out of gas, or something not quite so expensive.

Or maybe, and I think much more likely, the clutch was going to break, anyway, and it just happened, as so often does in life, that it just happened to break right after this guy went shopping on the Shabbat.

Just like yesterday, the hottest day of the year so far for us here in Melbourne, Florida, that the motor of our outside AC unit decided to rust out and stop working. Not God, not the Devil, just life. “Murphy’s Law” in action.

Didn’t Yeshua ask who wouldn’t lift their donkey out of a hole on Shabbat? (Luke 14:5)

Does anyone here (and please comment on this, if you don’t mind) think that God will punish every single infraction of the Torah, every single time we have one?

I don’t.

If my job has me constantly on the road (as my friend’s job did), and come one Saturday morning I find there is nothing to eat in the house so I go to get some food, I believe that God is compassionate enough to give me a break and not punish me for traveling and spending money on the Sabbath just so that I can eat.

And for the Devil, well- why would he attack me if I was being sinful? That just doesn’t make sense, as Yeshua pointed out when he talked about a house divided against itself in Matthew 12:25.

No, the Enemy of God will not bother you when you are sinning. In fact, he will help you! The only time you can expect Satan to come after you is when you are doing something wonderful for God’s kingdom and encouraging others to seek God.

And even then, whatever happens may just be life. I’ll go on record saying that, as far as I am concerned, things that happen to you or others is more likely the result of just being alive than it is some form of divine, or devilish, interference.

When something bad or good happens to you, don’t sweat it. If it is a good thing, thank God anyway. If it is a bad thing, don’t automatically think the Devil is out to get you or that God is punishing you. But…if it is bad and it continues to happen, well, then maybe you should practice a little self-reflection; you know, just to be sure.

As for me, when either good or bad things happen to me, more often than not, I believe it’s just life.

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 read and agree to the rules).

And I always welcome your comments.

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

We all know the story: God sends his 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, but not until the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, does Pharaoh give in to God and allow the Israelites to leave.

But then, what does Pharaoh do? He gives chase after them.

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

And when the Israelites see the 600 chariots coming after them, what was their first reaction?

“And they said to Moses, ‘Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?’” (Exodus 14:11 JPS Tanakh)

I have always wondered why they would even think that?

I mean, c’mon- what was the only reason why Pharaoh wouldn’t let them leave in the first place? Wasn’t it because he needed them to be slaves?

Weren’t they the only labor force he had to build his own tomb, and to create the great edifices of Egypt?

Why in the world would he want to now slaughter them?

In the Torah (JPS Tanakh version), we read why Pharaoh went after the Israelites in Exodus 14: 5:

“And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned towards the people, and they said: ‘What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?‘”

Nu! Pharaoh never intended to kill them, just recapture them. But the people Moses led into the desert immediately assumed the worst possible situation.

Why? Later on, we read how they continually kvetched about everything- no water, no meat, no vegetables… yadda-yadda-yadda. Even when Korach rebelled, they didn’t want some other leader to take them to the land of milk and honey, but to take them back to Egypt!

Talk about wanting to stay in one’s comfort zone! Even when there was no comfort to be found in it.

Oy gevalt!

If you ask me, I think the reason they were so afraid is because of their lack of faith. And I am not talking about their lack of faith in God to save them, but their lack of faith in anything. Especially themselves.

I see this in people all the time, this general fear that they carry around with them like an albatross around their necks, but one that they refuse to let go of.

I read a book long ago, in a previous life when I was in a very bad marriage, that was called “The Dance of Anger.” In that book, the author pointed out how in an abusive relationship (either physically and/or verbally), when one of the partners tries to change it into something better, the other partner will refuse to cooperate, even going out of their way to resume the abusive relationship.

The reason the author says this happens is that the other partner is comfortable with the old relationship, even though it really isn’t comfortable, at all; it’s just what they are used to. The more one tries to “change the dance”, the more the other one tries to pull him or her back into the old relationship.

I lived that dance and no matter how hard I tried to change it, it was impossible for me to do that.

But that’s an entirely different story.

The Israelites had been slaves for 400 years, some 20 or more generations, and that was the only dance those people knew. Their mindset was one of conditioned slavery, and the idea that they would be free- even though they had been crying to be free- was so uncomfortable to them that when they were free, they would rather have gone back to slavery.

And we can still see this in so many Christian religions today.

Those who have been brought up with Christianity’s traditional teachings about which holidays are the ones to celebrate (consequently teaching which ones to ignore), what you are allowed to eat, when to rest, who to pray to, etc. all are attractive to the previously sinful lifestyle that the people lived.

I am sorry, but if you are thinking that Yeshua (Jesus) did away with the Law of Moses, let me fill you in on what being in your current comfort zone really is about:

1. The Law of Moses isn’t the law of Moses- it is God’s law! The instructions he gave to Moses, so that Moses could teach those who worship God, are the way God wants us to act. Nowhere, ever, did God’s son, Messiah Yeshua, say we should ever act differently.
2. The Christian religions we have today, which originally came out of Judaism, generally do not follow what God said to do. They have created their own holidays, their own Sabbath day, their own rituals, ceremonies, and tenets. And they are all man-made; and as I said, almost none of them are in accordance with God’s instructions.
3. Yeshua preached to love God and each other- in that order. And the way he said to show that love is to be obedient (John 14:15; 1 John 5).
4. Christians are told they should follow in Jesus’s footsteps, i.e., live and act as Jesus did. But Christianity has, over the centuries, rejected everything that Jesus did with regards to his worship of God and the lifestyle he led!
   

Sorry to burst your comfort zone bubble, but that’s the way it is, and if you don’t believe me, read the Gospels and show me where either God or Yeshua said to do any of the things that modern Christianity teaches people to do.

Show me where God said burying bones under the altar is a good thing to do.

Show me where Yeshua said to pray to him instead of to God.

Show me where God said he wants churches to be jam packed with statues of people and pictures of him and Yeshua, and that people should bow before them and pray to them.

Show me where God said to ignore the Holy Days he commanded us to celebrate.

Show me where Yeshua said people should celebrate holidays devoted to him, and not to God.

Show me where…well, you get the idea.

We are all born with original Sin, or as we say in Judaism, the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), and until we are old enough to know right from wrong, or good from evil, we do whatever our evil inclination tells us to do.

That’s why sinning is so much more comfortable and easy to do than living a righteous life.

And when we learn of something different, such as how God really wants you to live, that is so far outside of our comfort zone that we rebel; God wants us to learn how to dance a waltz with him, but we prefer to dance alone.

Can you believe it? We feel better dancing alone than dancing with God.

The Israelites who left slavery in Egypt decided they felt better under Pharaoh’s harsh and abusive rule than living free under God’s compassionate and loving rule.

And, for the most part, people are no different today.

Yeshua said we are all slaves to something (Matthew 6:24), either to God or to money (meaning earthly things), so it is up to you which master you will serve. I can tell you, absolutely, that it is much, MUCH easier to serve earthly things than to serve God.

But, if you care about where you spend eternity, then you need to break out of your comfort zone and get a new dance partner.

When you’re dancing with God and let him lead, you will be led to eternal peace; but, when you dance with the Devil, he will let you think you are leading but in the end, he will lead you to hell.

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 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!