Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Could Yeshua Have Sinned?

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In the book of Leviticus, the first 7 chapters are the regulations for the sacrificial system, through which we can have our sins forgiven.

And the instructions are quite clear that before the Cohen Hagadol (High Priest) can perform his duties for the people, he must first be cleansed, himself.

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More than that, in Chapter 4 it states that if the anointed Cohen sins, he not only brings guilt on himself, but on the people, too! And the same holds true for when any of the leaders sin.

Whoa!! Hold your horses! Wait a minute! Take a breath! Why should I be guilty if the person in charge sins?

Frankly, I don’t know, and it seems really unfair, doesn’t it? But that’s the way God says it has to happen, so if our leader is in sin, then the people (even the entire country) are also in sin.

That explains why when the kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom in Shomron) continually sinned, the people were eventually scattered all over the Diaspora.

And when the Judean kings followed suit, the remaining children of Israel were expelled from the land God promised them.

So, before Yeshua was able to submit himself as a sacrifice, being that he is our Cohen HaGadol, he first had to make sure that he was cleansed of sin.

The fact that Yeshua was resurrected, we know his sacrifice was accepted, which proved he was sinless when he died.

I have an interesting question for you, but first we have to review some things:

1. The temple and the sacrificial system existed at the time of Yeshua’s ministry.

2. The Torah guarantees when we repent, bring a sacrifice to the temple and ask for forgiveness, we will be forgiven of our sins.

3. The Bible confirms that when God forgives our sins, it is as if they never existed (read Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 31:34; Psalm 103:11, just to name a few places).

So, considering the above, here’s my hypothetical question…could Yeshua have sinned at some point during his lifetime?

If he had committed a sin, but then went to the temple and offered his sacrifice, after that wouldn’t he be sinless? And if he didn’t sin between that time and his crucifixion, then he would still be the sinless Lamb of God, right?

Interesting thought, isn’t it?

The idea that Yeshua did commit a sin or two during his life but, after being cleansed through the sacrificial system, became acceptable as a sacrifice for your life goes against all the rhetoric we have always been told about how Yeshua lived a sinless life.

I’m sorry, but to me, the idea that he never once sinned comes under question when we consider he was just like us (Isaiah 53 says he wasn’t anything special, and well acquainted with pain and illness), so he could have succumbed to temptation at one or more times in his life, yet through the sacrificial system still have presented himself as the sinless Lamb of God prior to his arrest and death.

I believe that Yeshua did offer some sacrifices during his life because he was a human man and well acquainted with illness, so he must have had, at one point or another, at least some sort of emission that he needed to be cleansed of, which required a sacrifice. I can’t see any human being not having done something, at least once in his life, whether on purpose or accidentally, that required a sacrifice in order to be clean, let alone forgiven of a sin.

Yes, even one who is totally filled with the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit).

I can only speak for myself, but even with the Ruach indwelling, which I often hear guide me, I still screw up way too often because I am human. And if Isaiah was correct, and the Messiah is well acquainted with illness and pain, I can see him making mistakes, too.

In any event, whether he lived a totally sinless life, or did sin but had been cleansed of his sin through the same sacrificial system that made it possible for him to be our sacrifice for sin, all that really matters is that his resurrection proved his sacrifice was accepted, and through that sacrifice we can have our sins forgiven and receive salvation.

One last thing: if you are in a position of leadership, either in government, corporately, religiously, or just within your family, you need to remember that those who trust you for guidance will suffer the consequences of whatever sins you commit. James 3:1 warns us that those who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

In the first Spiderman movie, Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker (Spiderman) that with great strength comes great responsibility. This warning was to teach Peter the future of others depend on his usage of that gift.

Uncle Ben knew his Bible!

Thank you for being here and please share these messages to help this ministry grow. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, join my Facebook discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and accept the rules), buy my books, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

I’m done for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Why is John’s Gospel So Different?

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If you look on the Internet for an answer to this question, you will find many different viewpoints. I have often read that the other three gospels are synoptic, while John’s is spiritual; this seems to be the main explanation for the significant differences between John and the other three gospels. .

But is that really an explanation?

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One person said that we need to look at the audience, and I think that is somewhat on the right track, in that John is written so differently, with a subtle anti-Semitic tone to it, that I do not believe it was written by the Apostle John, at all. And neither do I believe it was written to Jews.

In fact, I don’t even think it was written by a Jew!

“WHOA!! Hold your horses, Steve! How can you even think that?”

I’ll tell you why.

Here are some of the differences I noted in John that do not appear in the other gospels, are exactly the opposite of the other three, or appear (to me, being a Jew) to not have been written by a Jewish person at that time:

  • When talking to the Pharisees, Yeshua often uses the term “your Torah”. Now, for a Jewish person living then, which is no different than for a Jewish person living now, we do not say “your Torah” when discussing the Torah. We say “the Torah” or just, “Torah”. By emphasizing that the Torah is “theirs”, Yeshua implies that it is not his. Now, if John starts out by saying the Word became flesh, and we have to assume the Word is the Torah (since there was no other “Word” then), how can the living Torah separate himself from the written Torah? The sense one gets from this dichotomy is that Yeshua is teaching something different than the Torah, which is wrong. By using the term “your Torah”, the writer is separating Yeshua from the Torah. No Jewish disciple of Yeshua would ever state or even imply that Yeshua taught anything other than what is in the Torah.
  • The writer often refers to the people who were against Yeshua as “the Judeans”. Sometimes we read the writer differentiate the Judeans from the Jerusalemites, but overall the implication is that all Jews were against Yeshua. Of course, this is not true, and not implied in the other gospels, which indicate that it was the Pharisees and Scribes (also called Torah teachers) who were the main impetus behind having Yeshua arrested. They were also the ones who threatened the people with excommunication if they followed him. This subtle anti-Semitic tone leads one to believe that all the Jews rejected Yeshua, when the truth is that thousands accepted him.
  • One of my major complaints about the gospel of John is that of all the New Covenant writings, this gospel is the only one with any indication that Yeshua is God. Whether you are a Unitarian or a Trinitarian, the fact remains that nowhere else in the entire New Covenant does Yeshua even imply he is God; yet, in just this gospel, his language is so overly spiritual, way too metaphorical, and containing confusing double-talk that leads one to think Yeshua says he is God. For example, there are many instances where Yeshua says something to the effect of he knows the Father and the Father knows him, and if they knew the Father they would know him, but they don’t know the Father, so they don’t know him, but he and the Father are one, so when they reject him they reject the Father, who will reject them because…yadda…yadda…yadda! Too much metaphorical mishigas! Throughout history, these types of statements (which we find only in John) have been used to justify that God and Yeshua are one and the same entity. This is one of the major reasons that Jews cannot accept Yeshua as their Messiah– we Jews have one God, and just one God, and he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised to send a Messiah to bring us back into communion with God, gather us back to our homeland, Israel, and re-establish the Temple service. The Messiah, for Jews, is a man with supernatural powers that come from God, but he is not God, himself. The gospel of John is written in such a way as to make it impossible for any Jew to accept Yeshua, and no Jewish disciple of Yeshua would ever write anything like that.
  • Thomas says “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28) when he sees Yeshua after being resurrected. This is not stated in any of the other three gospels.
  • Yeshua gives his disciples the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh by breathing it on them (John 20:22). This happens when he is with them after his resurrection. According to the other three gospels, not only does this not happen, but the complete opposite thing- Yeshua tells them to wait for the Holy Spirit, which will come from God. And in Acts Chapter 2, we are told that the Ruach didn’t come upon the disciples until they were celebrating Shavuot, which was some 50 days after Pesach (Passover).
  • In the other three gospels, Yeshua never clearly states he is the Messiah or the son of God, referring to himself instead as the “Son of Man”. But in John’s gospel, he claims to be the son of God and the Messiah a number of times (John 4:25; 10:36; 18:36).
  • In the other three gospels, Yeshua refuses to help anyone other than the lost tribes of Israel, but in John 4:25 he not only tells the Samaritan woman at the well that he is the Messiah, but stays for two days teaching the people in Samaria!
  • The only gospel that mentions the Apostles going to the grave is Luke, and he says only Kefa (Peter) went. In John’s gospel, it says John and Peter went, and that he got there before Peter (when the writer of John refers to the “talmid that Yeshua loved”, this is a clear reference to John).
  • Finally, we have to remember one of the most important and necessary tools to use in biblical exegesis, which is hermeneutics, and when we review the gospel of John hermeneutically to the other three gospels, the many differences between John’s gospel and the other three MUST indicate that the gospel of John is – at the very least- questionable with regards to its accuracy and trustworthiness.

In fact, the Complete Jewish Bible even points out that many biblical scholars believe one part of this gospel, John 7:53 – 8:11, wasn’t even written by John but possibly by a talmid (student) of his. I say, if the scholars believe that part of this gospel was written by someone else, why stop there?

I think the gospel of John wasn’t written by John, or even by a Jew, because everything about it screams traditional Christian anti-Torah teaching to me!

I don’t think it should even be in the New Covenant.

If it is so wrong, why is it there? I believe it is there because by the time the New Covenant was being canonized, the Christian religion had mutated into a totally anti-Torah religion and the Gentiles putting this “Bible” together needed something to really support their doctrines. The gospel of John does this very well, what with the many references to Yeshua saying that he and God are the same, to “your Torah”, to “the Judeans”, filled with overly spiritual and metaphorically intense sentences designed to confuse the masses, and with a writing style that is so very different from the other Jewish writings that it would appeal to those who are easily fooled into thinking that something sounding spiritual must be true.

I realize that many Christians swear by the gospel of John, and consider it to be the best of the four gospels. When I was first learning about Yeshua, a very spiritually mature Christian I worked with helped me to come to salvation through Messiah Yeshua. However, of all he did to help me, the one thing he did that was not helpful, at all, was to tell me that I should begin my introduction to the New Covenant by reading John’s gospel.

Today, if I wanted to help a Jewish brother or sister know their Messiah, I would direct them to Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, James, and Revelation. I would tell them not to even look at any other writings until they were sure they knew what Yeshua was teaching and only after I was able to prepare them for the true meaning of the Epistles.

And I would tell them to ignore the gospel of John, altogether.

What I am about to say might stun and possibly offend or upset many Christians, but I fully believe the gospel of John was written by someone who was not Jewish, and whose aim in writing it was to support Christian separation from Judaism.

Christianity seems to just brush off the significant differences between John’s gospel and the other gospels, and ignores the fact that these differences are not just “off” a little, but are totally in opposition to what we read in the other gospels and in the book of Acts.

I’m sorry, but I can’t ignore this! John’s gospel is not trustworthy and I believe it should be ignored, completely, because it is not the true representation of Yeshua’s ministry, but rather a propaganda gospel designed to direct Gentiles away from the Torah, and Jews away from their Messiah.

If any of you now want to leave my ministry or block me, that is your decision, and I am sorry to see you go, but I calls ’em as I sees ’em, and this one is so very clear to me I cannot hold back, any more.

The truth is what sets us free, and more often than not, gaining that freedom can be so uncomfortable as to be painful.

Thank you for being here, and especially now if you’ve decided to stay. Please share these messages, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Mark 2:22- New Vs. Old

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If you aren’t familiar with this particular passage in the B’rit Chadashah, it is where Yeshua (Jesus) is telling people that new wine cannot go into old wineskins, and a new patch (unshrunk cloth) should not be sewn onto old clothes. Instead, new wine must go into new wineskins.

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In some cases, this passage is used to justify that there is no longer need for Gentile Believers to obey the laws of Moses, in that the Torah is the “old wine” and the “old clothes”. Yeshua’s teachings are the new wine that must go into new wineskins, indicating that any Jew (those are the only people Yeshua was talking to in those days) who still abided with the traditions and commandments as taught by the Pharisees would not be able to accept this new understanding.

But this passage has nothing to do with the law itself because Yeshua wasn’t talking about the performance of the commandments: he was talking about having an open mind to the deeper meaning of the commandments.

There is a Jewish form of exegesis called PaRDeS. The “P stands for P’shat, which is the literal meaning of the laws (i.e., plain language- what you hear is what it is); the “R” is for Remes, a deeper, more spiritual meaning. The “D” is for Drash, a story (or parable, if you will) that has a moral meaning, and the “S” is for Sud, an almost mystical understanding of the law.

Yeshua taught the Remes, which is not what the Pharisees had been teaching. That is why people said that no one ever taught as he did. We see this especially in the Sermon on the Mount when Yeshua said we have been told do not murder (P’shat), but he says do not even hate in your heart (Remes). He also said we have been told do not commit adultery (P’shat), but we should not even lust with our eyes (Remes).

And he taught the people using parables (Drash).

So, when Yeshua talked about not using an unshrunk patch (someone who doesn’t know the existing traditions) on an old cloth (someone who has been indoctrinated into the old ways of understanding) he meant that a new Believer who tried to work within the old traditions would become confused and not be able to maintain his new faith.

I believe this statement was not meant for that time but was a prophecy regarding newly Believing Gentiles who would one day be confused by Jewish Believers who wanted these neophyte Gentile Believers to make a total conversion to both the Torah and the traditions of Judaism overnight (the letter Shaul wrote to the Galatians confirms this problem existed).

The reason you don’t place new wine in old wineskins is that the new wine will continue to ferment, releasing gases that will expand the wineskin. If an old wineskin (one that has been stretched out already) is used for new wine, the expanding gases will burst it and the wine will be lost.

The Jews who knew the Torah only as a set of rules to be followed to the letter (P’shat) are the old wineskins, and what Yeshua was teaching was new wine (the Remes). He never taught anything against the laws of Moses, only the deeper meaning of them- that is the new wine.

What Yeshua was teaching would eventually expand a person’s understanding of the Torah, so if someone was not open to learning this newer, deeper meaning of the law (being a new wineskin), then what will happen is that being an old wineskin (their minds incapable of accepting this newer meaning) they will “burst”, i.e. reject Yeshua and what he taught and revert to their comfort zone of just doing what the Pharisees taught, what is today the Rabbinic rules in the Talmud called Halacha.

If you are wondering why it is so important to know the Remes, read Jeremiah 31:31, which is the New Covenant God promised to make with us: we are to have the Torah written on our hearts, meaning that it isn’t just doing what the Torah says that matters (P’shat), it is wanting to do it (Remes)!

I think we can all agree that when you really want to do something, it is much easier to do, even if it is difficult or requires sacrifice.

When God gave the Torah to Moses to teach to the children of Israel, he knew this would be hard for them. That is why he allowed us to deal only with the P’shat- we were only able to drink milk.

After a few thousand years with the P’shat, God sent Yeshua to teach us the Remes, the real meat of the law, giving us the opportunity to come closer to God and better understand what he meant. This was necessary for us to complete God’s plan of salvation, which is to be his nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) by bringing the full understanding of the Torah to the Gentiles.

The next time Yeshua comes will be to bring to final completion God’s plan of salvation for the world. That is when those who were able to be new wineskins, Jew and Gentile, will be united with God forever.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, Believer or not, in order to help this ministry grow. Subscribe (if you haven’t already) to both my website and my YouTube channel, and don’t forget to set notifications so you know when I post.

I have written 4 books, and if you like what you get here you will like my books, as well. They are available on Amazon Books or use the link on my website.

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

Matthew 5:17 and The Beatitudes

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I suppose we are all familiar with the Beatitudes, or as they are also known, the “Be-Attitudes”.

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Many are also familiar with Matthew 5:17, which is where Yeshua says he did not come to change the law, but fulfill it.

The problem with most traditional teaching is they end the verse here, but that is not the end of the verse- Yeshua went on to say nothing in the law will change, not a single stroke or yud until all things have come to pass. This part they like to leave out because it defeats the improper interpretation that Christianity has imposed on their members, that being that to fulfill the law meant it was completed, and thereby, done away with.

So let’s look at that verse in Matthew and identify the true meaning.

First off, whenever we interpret something from the Bible we need to use three tools of exegesis: Hermeneutics, Circles of Context, and the proper historical and cultural usage of the words and terms used.

Hermeneutics is, simply stated, the idea that whatever it says in the Bible here, it also says the same thing there, and everywhere. For example, we are told that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the one and only true God, which is confirmed, hermeneutically, because this is stated again and again throughout not just the Tanakh, but the entire Bible.

If, at some point, someone quoted a verse from the Bible and interpreted that as proving there was another God (not a man-made statue, but an honest-to-goodness real God different from Adonai) then, hermeneutically, we could argue against the validity of that interpretation.

The tool called Circles of Context means that when we interpret a verse or passage, it must be done so within the context of the sentence, the context of the paragraph, and of the entire passage.

With regard to the Epistles in the New Covenant, we also have to include the context of who is writing the letter, to whom, and why.

The third tool, proper cultural usage of the words and terms, brings us back to Matthew 5:17 and the word, “fulfill“.

During the First Century, when the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes talked about “fulfilling the law” it had nothing, whatsoever, to do with performance. It meant interpreting the law correctly.

Just as the use of the word “trespassing” with regard to the law had nothing to do with actually walking on someone’s property, but to misinterpret the law.

In the worst-case scenario, to trespass the law meant to sin.

In this message, I am saying my interpretation of Matthew 5:17 is that Yeshua said he came to properly interpret the law. And, that proper interpretation has nothing to do with performance but to give the people a deeper, spiritual understanding of the law.

Now, I have to justify that interpretation culturally, contextually, and hermeneutically.

Culturally, as I explained above, the word “fulfill” in this usage meant to interpret the law by teaching its spiritual meaning, and had nothing to do with the performance of the law.

Next, let’s look at the context of what Yeshua was saying. Matthew 5 begins with the Beatitudes, where he is telling the people that the meek and the humble will be blessed. Also, those who make peace and who suffer as a result of their pursuit of righteousness.

One very important (contextually, that is) statement Yeshua makes is Matthew 5:6, which says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will also be blessed. This is important because the use of “fulfill” as a spiritual understanding of the law would, by its very nature, make the desire to obey part of one’s inner being. It would be more than just performance, it would be a deep, spiritual desire: it would feel like a thirst and hunger to obey.

Lastly, a hermeneutic justification can be found in Jeremiah 31:33, where we are told that the Torah will be written on our hearts. As such, the desire to obey would be integral to our being, like our heart pumping blood or breathing.

Not only that, but in Matthew Yeshua goes on to teach about adultery and murder, stating that we heard it said not to do these things, but he went on to say we shouldn’t even WANT to do these things.

Yeshua also talks about how uncleanliness comes from the heart, not what we eat (Mark 7:18), again teaching the law from a spiritual understanding and not just some physical activity.

Can you see how the meaning of “fulfill” in Matthew 5:17 makes sense when we consider it to be the spiritual understanding of the law? Yeshua’s statement about fulfilling the law as meaning he will teach us the proper, spiritual understanding is demonstrated throughout his teaching during the Beatitudes and is confirmed by the prophecies in the Tanakh (Jeremiah 31:31 and Ezekiel 36:26), as well as Mark 7:18 and other places throughout the Gospels.

Hopefully, going forward when you hear people say that Yeshua completed and did away with the law in Matthew 5:17, you will be able to help them see the truth. Culturally, hermeneutically, and contextually it is obvious that Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning and understanding of the Torah. That is why so many people said no one ever talked as he did, and that he talked like someone with authority.

There are three types of authority: legal, technical, and assumed.

Yeshua was the son of God and the Messiah- that covers the legal authority.

He knew the Torah, inside and out, and not just what it says but why it says it- that’s as technical as you can get.

And finally, he had an assumed authority because he did miracles that only someone empowered by God could do.

As you continue to study the Bible, no matter how long you have already been at it, if you aren’t already very familiar with the tools I have talked about today (and I would also include learning the Jewish system of exegesis called PaRDeS), then please go to my website and look under the Blogs tab called Series Teachings for a lesson I posted a while ago about how to properly interpret the Bible.

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

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

Is Your Need to Know Something Really Something You Need to Know?

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I’m back from a week’s vacation on the Royal Caribbean ship Symphony of the Seas: Donna and I are refreshed and looking forward to going out again in May on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.

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As some of you already know, I was a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, and one of the duties I had while on a 6-month Mediterranean exercise was as the Classified Materials Custodian. That meant all of the classified materials, codes, papers, etc. were my responsibility (if any of you have ever read the book or seen the movie called “The Falcon and the Snowman,”, the classified materials that were stolen and sold to the Russians were the things for which I was in charge of protecting.)

So, why so much about me? It’s just to let you know that one of the things I learned when being trained for that job was the three parts of what having a Top Secret Clearance authorization is all about.

First, you need to have a clearance level, then you need to have access to the information, and finally (here is the thing we will talk about today), you must have a need to know.

By now you should be either falling asleep or asking yourself, “What does any of this have to do with God or the Messiah, or anything biblical?”

That’s a fair question, and here’s my answer: too many people are trying to learn things that God doesn’t want you to know, and even if you have the clearance (meaning biblical knowledge) and the access (meaning given understanding by the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit), you do NOT always have the need to know.

“Need to know what, Steve? What are you talking about?”

What I am talking about is how to pronounce the name of God

What I am talking about is when the Apocalypse will actually begin.

What I am talking about is whether or not Yeshua (Jesus) is also God or a separate entity, altogether.

What I am talking about is any topic or event in the Bible whose details are not given to us.

Will knowing the details of any of the things mentioned above make you any more “saved”?

Will you have a seat of honor at God’s table if you can pronounce the Tetragrammaton the way God pronounced it to Moses?

Whether you know if Yeshua is God or not, will you get extra credit points on your salvation report card?

Can you see why I am so adamant about not needing to know? No? Have you ever heard of Gnosticism? I found many different definitions of it, but my understanding of it (if I am really off-target, someone please correct me) is that Gnostic belief states there is special knowledge that we must have in order to be saved. This is a simplistic understanding, and there is a lot more to it, but generally, they believe that we are ignorant of information, hidden in the Bible, that we must know in order to be saved.

Gnosticism is considered heretical by mainstream Christianity, and as far as Jews are concerned, I’m not sure we care about it at all because, well, it’s a Christian thing. We Jews have enough confusion with HaLacha to also worry about secret knowledge, but I am sure there is some sect or offshoot within Judaism that also believes it is necessary to know about things that aren’t mentioned in the Tanakh. In fact, now that I think about it, the Talmud adds a lot of drek to some biblical events to explain them.

In any case, my suggestion is that when you feel you HAVE to know every little detail regarding a certain event, or when things will happen or how to pronounce a name or the relationship between God and Yeshua or between people… just let it go.

Concentrate on the things that are important, such as what God wants you to do, how God wants you to worship him and treat each other, and what Yeshua said regarding God’s word. Forget about what people say is important or (even worse) no longer important; just concentrate on what God tells you, which you will find ONLY in the Torah!

God had told us all that we need to know, and Moses confirmed this in Deuteronomy 29:29 when he said (CJB):

Things which are hidden belong to Adonai our God. But the things that have
been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe
all the words of this Torah.

One last thing: I am not saying do not study the Bible or try to understand God better. That is not what I mean, at all. What I am asking you to do is concentrate on that which affects your salvation and not be turned aside by the pseudo-intellectual pursuit of becoming a biblical scholar. It doesn’t really matter if you can quote a verse exactly from the Bible or where that verse is located; what is important is that you know what that verse is about.

When writing these messages I spend half my time searching for the verse I need to show what I already know the Bible says. It isn’t important to me to know where any verse is located because I can always find it.

Where God says something is not as important as knowing what he says.

All I need to know is what God tells me he wants me to do. I don’t need to know why he says it, I don’t need to know where he says it, and I certainly don’t need to know what some human being says he means by it.

All I need to know is that I should come to God as an innocent, trusting child who doesn’t question but simply believes what God tells me he wants me to do in the Torah, and try my best to do that.

I hope you feel the same way.

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 discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure to read and accept the rules).

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

A Different Type of Trinity

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A trinity is a threesome. It could be any three things, such as three golfers (although we usually call that a threesome), or three musical notes played together (although we usually call that a chord), or three spiritual beings that are connected in some way (that one we always call a trinity.)

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The trinity most people are familiar with is the Father (God), the Son (Messiah Yeshua), and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh).

But I want to talk about a different type of trinity, and bring in the spiritual aspects of this combination, which is different not only in that they are connected, but that their connection is one of disparity.

In other words, these three things are found together but they represent totally different viewpoints.

Curious what the heck I am talking about? I am talking about Optimism, Pessimism, and Realism.

When we look at these in a worldly view, the optimist says the glass is half-full, the pessimist says it is half-empty, and the realist says there is still room left.

From a spiritual viewpoint, the optimist says God is all about love and compassion and not about performance (saved by faith, alone), effectively ignoring God’s instructions and believing they are doing what is right.

The pessimist says when things go badly they are being punished and must be sinning in some way, so they become legalistic in their worship, putting faith behind works. Pessimists are easy to spot- they are always afraid.

The realist says that both are right in some ways and wrong in others, and gives biblical examples of why. But, and this is the important thing to note, the realist doesn’t take things out of context as many people do just to make it seem that the Bible is saying what they want it to say. No! The realist uses hermeneutically validated arguments and quotes the contextually correct meaning of the passage to make their point.

That is the main problem with religion: the creators of their specific religion (God has no religion and never wanted any) decide how they want to worship God and live their lives, then take bits and pieces from the Bible to form the justification for their belief system.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

  1. The optimist (usually blinded by rose-colored glasses from wrongful teachings) will quote Matthew 5:17 as Yeshua saying the law is not longer needed because he fulfilled it (misinterpreting that as meaning completed, therefor no longer necessary), ignoring that Yeshua added nothing will change in the law until all things have come to pass.
  2. The pessimist will say Matthew 5:17 says completely obeying the law, as Yeshua did, doesn’t change the law and we still have to do everything we are required or we can’t be saved.
  3. The realist says that “fulfill”, in its proper usage at that time, meant to interpret, and hermeneutically justifies that by showing how in the Sermon on the Mount Yeshua showed us the deeper, spiritual meaning (called the Remes) of the law.

Now, you may be saying that I am taking quite a lot of liberty in these examples, and maybe I am, but the point is that when we are learning about God, we need to be realistic, not optimistic or pessimistic. Some religions teach Predetermination, which to me is the most pessimistic view anyone can take. I mean, really? I am already chosen to go to heaven or hell, no matter what I do? I have no freedom of choice?

Not very comforting, is it?

On the other hand, some religions teach that God will do everything for you, and all you have to do is believe in Jesus (whatever that’s supposed to mean) and be a good person. No need to obey or even know the “Jewish Bible”, oh, maybe except for some of the psalms which we sing or bits and pieces of the prophets, but generally they teach little from the Gospels and nearly everything from the Epistles (don’t even get me started about how many misleading doctrines come from men misinterpreting those letters!)

I started and run this ministry to be a realistic view, to show you what the Bible says, to show you where it says that, and to give you what you need to make an informed decision about where you will spend eternity.

And that is really what we are all doing, every day of our lives- deciding where we will spend eternity.

Some will decide to do what is easy and be disappointed when they are told, at Judgement Day, they should have been more attentive to how God said they should live instead of what some men told them.

Others may be disappointed because they did what God said to do as best as they could, but could not be forgiven of their sins (which we all commit) because they rejected Yeshua as the Messiah.

Many, I believe, will be disappointed because they did as men told them to do instead of God, but had enough faith and obeyed enough of God’s instructions to make it in, but are considered least in the kingdom.

However, as a realist, I have to confess I may be wrong- I can’t speak for God, but I do trust that he will do as he said he will do, so the faithfully obedient will be saved and the guilty will be punished.

It is, ultimately, up to God to decide who is truly faithful, who is unsavable, and who falls into the least in heaven or greatest in heaven category.

I can’t tell you which of the three trinity elements you should be: and, as with everything else, it is your choice. Personally, I believe realism is the best choice because it allows you to see all sides and make an informed decision, but it is also the hardest position to take because you have to be well-studied, have an open mind, and trust no one to tell you what is right or wrong but be willing and disciplined enough to verify it for yourself.

Being a realist also means being willing to reject what is comfortable to believe.

One last thing: whenever we are dealing with God, Messiah, or the Bible, we must always remember to ask the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) for guidance in our understanding.

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

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

Ignorance Comes in Two Forms

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If you ask me, there are two types of ignorance: passive and active.

Neither type has anything to do with intellect, but both have to do with experience.

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

Passive ignorance is the state in which a person has not been exposed to the topic. For instance, I am totally ignorant of Quantum Mathematics. However, I would be willing to learn. Passive ignorance is simply not knowing something but being open to learning about it.

Active ignorance is when someone has been exposed to the topic but refuses to learn anything else about it. For example, someone raised in a bigoted household who, upon reaching the age when they are able to make their own decisions, refuses to want to know anything different than what they were taught as a child. Active ignorance is knowing something about something but refusing to learn more about it.

When it comes to God, Yeshua (Jesus), or the Bible, both Christians and Jews fit into one or the other category of ignorance.

However, in some cases, they change from active to passive, at which time they learn enough to make an informed decision that can save them from their ignorance, save them from eternity outside of God’s presence, and help them become spiritually matured.

Here’s what I mean.

Let’s define Christians as all non-Jewish religions that worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and in one way or another, recognize Jesus as the Messiah. There are many Christians who pray to graven images, or who believe Jews have been rejected by God, or who worship according to man-made (i.e., Constantinian) dogma and celebrate man-made rituals refusing, absolutely, to listen to anything that indicates in any way they should be observant of the Torah. This is active ignorance.

We also see active ignorance within mainstream Judaism (meaning all sects of Judaism except Messianic Judaism), where Jews adamantly refuse to hear anything about Yeshua and insist that any Jew who believes Yeshua is the Messiah is no longer a Jew but a Christian, despite their lifestyle or form of worship.

There are also passively ignorant Jews and Christians who were raised to believe whatever their religion or sect taught them, but are open to hearing other ideas and beliefs about Jesus or different interpretations of the Bible but haven’t changed their initial beliefs or form of worship.

And then there are those like me, someone who went from actively ignorant to passively ignorant to informed, and because of that changed what I believe and how I live.

I am a Jew who was raised in a Reform Jewish home and was actively ignorant about God, the Bible, and Jesus for the first 40 years or so of my life. But God directed me to spiritually mature Christians who understood where I was coming from, as well as introducing me to a Messianic Jewish Bible, and I changed from actively ignorant to being passively ignorant, at which point I began to seek more information about God, Jesus, and the Bible, which ultimately means learning more about where I will spend eternity.

Of course, that change in attitude led me to find and know my Messiah, which has changed my Jewishness (if that’s actually a word) from being an incomplete Jew, incomplete because I was still waiting for my Messiah, to a competed Jew knowing my Messiah.

The ultimate closure for Jews is to have the Messiah come to us and re-establish our relationship with God. Because I refused to remain actively ignorant, I have come full circle from rejecting my Messiah to accepting my Messiah, and through that acceptance becoming spiritually knowledgable, living the way God said I should (to the best of my limited ability), and being written in the Book of Life.

If you are Christian and have been taught that the Torah is only for Jews, think about this: why would the son of God teach those he came to reunite with the father to reject the father’s commandments? Would the Messiah rebel against God and teach people to worship him, instead?

I don’t think so, do you?

And if you are Jewish and have rejected Yeshua (Jesus) as your Messiah, is it because you have biblical evidence he isn’t the Messiah or just because you have been taught he isn’t? If someone is Jewish by blood, lives a Jewish lifestyle by observing the Torah commandments, celebrates the Friday to Saturday Shabbat and observes the Holy Days God declared we should in Leviticus 23, do you really think they aren’t “Jewish” just because they believe Yeshua is the Messiah? Don’t you know Jews who reject God or live without any concern for the Torah, but are still considered Jews? If you don’t, then you must be in a select group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews with no contact outside your sect.

Well, believe me- there are plenty of Jews who aren’t the least bit Jewish, according to how God told us we should live. But no one calls them Christians. Now that I live more like a Jew than I ever did growing up, just because I believe Yeshua is the Messiah I am rejected by Jews and called a Christian.

I am not a Christian; I mean no offense to those who consider themselves a Christian. The reason I say I am not a Christian is that modern Christianity has been perverted and mutated from what Yeshua taught; in truth, any person who professes to worship God and who wants to live as Jesus did, but refuses to obey the Torah or celebrate the Holy Days God gave us actually is NOT worshiping God the way he said we must and NOT living as Yeshua did.

If you are Christian, look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are really living your life the same way Jesus did, which was to obey his father’s commandments. If your answer is you don’t, then ask yourself if you do, what can it hurt? After all, Jesus never said to ignore his father, but Christianity has taught others to do just that-to reject God’s instructions through their misinterpretations of the Epistles! So, do you want to remain actively ignorant, ignoring God in order to follow man-made traditions and rituals?

If you are Jewish but not Messianic, look in the mirror and ask yourself why you reject Yeshua as the Messiah. If the answer is because you were told he isn’t the Messiah and you have never researched it for yourself, ask yourself if you want to remain actively ignorant all your life? If he isn’t the Messiah, researching it will give you the confidence to know you are right; and if he is the Messiah, then you can be written in the Book of Life, which is ultimately what every Jew wants. In the long run, if you check it out, what could it hoit?

We are all raised by those who teach us what they think is right, but they are usually just repeating what they were taught. Your parents, your religious leaders, friends, and teachers all teach what they were taught, and very few of them research to verify whether or not what they were told is actually correct. Most people are passively ignorant from the start, then choose to remain actively ignorant.

My purpose in having this ministry is not to tell you what to believe, but to give you the chance to make an informed decision about where you will spend eternity. We all start out believing something, and those beliefs change as we are exposed to more and more information. Please do not stop listening because the choice to remain actively ignorant is the choice to travel the road to perdition.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, like my Facebook page and join my Facebook discussion group called Just God’s Word (please make sure you read and accept the rules). And while you are on the website, buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well.

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

When Do We Stop Trying?

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At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, as Yeshua was lifted up to heaven, he told his disciples to go and make disciples of everyone.

This is known to many as “The Great Commission”, and Yeshua was, essentially, telling his talmudim (students, or in this case, disciples) that they should begin missionary work in order to grow the ministry that Yeshua started.

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

It is a shame that the ministry of Yeshua eventually became perverted and has mutated into modern Christianity, which has nothing at all to do with what Yeshua taught, but that’s a different message.

The issue I want to talk with you about today is when we are trying to spread the Good News of the Messiah to people (especially to Jews) and unquestionably run into those who refuse to accept what we say as true, when do we stop trying to convince them?

When people refuse to listen to you, that’s OK- if everyone became a Believer, who would Yeshua have to fight against in the End Days, right?

Many times people who are trying to spread the gospel will find it hard to convince some who argue, often vehemently, against Yeshua being the Messiah or that there even is a God.

So what do we do when we run into a brick wall? How do we convince someone they are wrong and we are right? How do we get the truth out to those who refuse to listen?

The answer is: we don’t, we can’t, and we need to know when to stop.

While he was still alive Yeshua sent his disciples out into the world to preach and told them to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16).

But even before that bit of advice, he told them when they need to stop. He said (in Matthew 10:14) when any town they are in refuses to accept what they say, to leave that place and shake the dust off their sandals as a warning to those people.

We learn from Yeshua that we cannot force people to accept Yeshua; as for me, when someone doesn’t want to hear what I have to say about Yeshua, God or the Bible, I am more than happy to leave them alone.

God gave us all Free Will to make our own decisions about how we will live, which includes what we do, what we say, and what we believe. Faith is not something we come to because of proving, scientifically, that God exists and that Yeshua is the Messiah. Truth be told, proof is the antithesis of faith because faith MUST be a choice based on belief and not on irrefutable evidence!

People who chose not to have faith in either God or Yeshua as the Messiah have the right to make that choice, and we are not to force or coerce them into changing their minds.

You may ask if we cannot provide irrefutable evidence, which for Believers is the Bible, then how do we fulfill the challenge of making disciples?

We do it by being examples of what God wants us to be, and as we obey God’s commandments we will be blessed (Deuteronomy 28), which will be evident to others.

We read how the people that lived around Abraham recognized God was with him by the number of blessings he received. We also see this with Isaac, when Abimelech made a treaty with him (Genesis 26:28). And when we read of Joseph, we are told that he prospered, even though he was a slave and (later) a prisoner because people recognized that God was with him.

When we are obedient we are “with” God, God will be with us, and that will be evident to people. That is, for me, the greatest missionary work we can perform- to be an example.

Now, back to what to do when we run into a brick wall.

When someone argues against you, the first thing to do is to ask them questions that they cannot answer, which are specifically designed to use what they say to show them their statements make no sense. Doing this takes more than just a good knowledge of the Bible: you need to know the objections people generally give you (most objections are the same) and already have questions prepared that show them the “holes” in their logic.

You need to ask questions and not give answers because in a discussion the one who is asking questions is the one controlling the discussion.

The questions must be in a logical order to make them realize, on their own, that what they are saying doesn’t make sense, and the way to do that is to have them hear themselves not know the answers- which they should know- if what they are saying is correct.

I know what I just said sounds like a bunch of double-talk, and I could give you many examples of what I mean, but I won’t because whatever ministry you have, it has to be your ministry. I am sorry, but the way I minister to people cannot be the way you do, and vice-versa.

Remember that Yeshua told his talmudim, which goes for us, too, that when they need to say something to trust the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) to give them what they need to say. I recommend that as the best way to go, but there’s nothing wrong with having prepared questions and answers, either.

We should trust in God, but that doesn’t mean leaving it entirely up to him.

Here is how you know when to stop: if you find yourself getting frustrated, that is pride trying to take over, and your signal that it is time for you to stop.

Or, when the person you are talking to begins to get frustrated and starts to attack you, verbally (hopefully, that’s as far as the attack goes), that is another signal it is time for you to stop.

We should do whatever we can to help people know the truth, but we need to know when it is time to shake the dust off our sandals, and that time is when either side of the discussion goes from passionate to frustrated.

Leaving someone in a state of frustrated anger because you tried to ram the truth down their throat not only damages your attempt to teach them but makes it exponentially harder for the next person God sends to them.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. If you haven’t already subscribed, please do so on both my website and YouTube channel (they are different lists), and while on my website check out my books.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Does Yeshua Hear Prayers?

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I have often written about how Christianity has idolized Jesus.

In many of the different sects within Christianity, he is considered not just the son of God, but God, himself, and as such, he is prayed to; he is asked for healing, and he is considered to be the one and only Savior.

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

However, Yeshua never even implied any of this. In fact, throughout the Gospels, for every healing and miraculous act he performed, he gave the credit to either the faith of the person or to God the Father. Yeshua never took credit for any of the miraculous acts he did, and always gave all glory to God.

So, if Yeshua himself never took credit for what he did, and always gave glory to God, this is why I am wondering whether or not Yeshua actually hears our prayers.

If he is God, then he (obviously) hears them and answers them.

TIME OUT: Please do not respond arguing whether or not Yeshua and God
are one and the same because that is NOT the issue in this message.

If he is only the Messiah, sitting at the right hand of God (which is where Stephen said he saw him), and he takes our prayers to God, does he hear them before God does?

Is it possible Yeshua hears our prayers but God doesn’t? Wouldn’t that mean God only hears the prayers of those who do not accept Yeshua as the Messiah?

How about this? If we are to pray in Yeshua’s name, doesn’t that imply someone else is hearing the prayer? Isn’t that why we have to invoke the name of Yeshua, because the prayer is not going to Yeshua but someone else?

And who else could that be? Obviously, it is God, the Father.

Unless, of course, you are a member of one of the Christian religions that prays to saints. Now, instead of praying to the one who can answer our prayer, we are going to a retailer (saint), to bring it to the wholesaler (Yeshua), to bring it to the manufacturer (God).

This is why Jews could never be good Christians- we will never do retail when we have a direct line to the manufacturer.

In each of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, Yeshua tells his disciples, in one way or another, that when they pray in his name, whatever they ask for they will receive. This seems to imply that Yeshua does hear prayers; after all, how can he assure their prayers will be answered if he doesn’t even hear them, right?

But he also says that the prayers will be answered so that the son can glorify the father, which means even if he does hear them, he doesn’t answer them; instead, he intercedes for us so that God will answer them.

Maybe we need to understand what Yeshua meant when he said to pray in his name?

In my quarter-century (plus) experience as a Believer and student of the Bible, I have found that the use of the word “name” throughout the Bible has been misunderstood by so many people. There are many, many times that God talks about his “name”, and the only time I can recall where he actually used the word “name” to mean his actual name, which for us would be what we are called by our friends and family, is when he talked to Moses at the burning bush. In Exodus 6:3, God told Moses that he appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but not as יהוה (the Tetragrammaton.)

Almost every other time the “name of the Lord” is used is not to reference the Tetragrammaton but in the cultural meaning of the term “my name”, which was not the word we use to identify a specific person but a reference to that person’s reputation and renown.

When God talks about his “name” or about others knowing his “name”, he doesn’t mean how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton, but who God is in relation to humanity: knowing his “name” is to know he is the God of Israel, he is all-powerful, and he is supreme. Knowing his “name” means knowing the wonders he performed and giving him the respect he deserves.

Now, when Yeshua says to pray in his name, is it possible he means the same thing that God meant? Is it possible that Yeshua never really meant for us to physically speak the words “In the name of Yeshua”, but rather because we are a believer in Yeshua that we are praying under his authority as the Messiah? Maybe we don’t have to actually pronounce his name? Maybe because we are one of his sheep, we are automatically praying “in his name”, i.e. under his renown and authority as the Messiah?

I don’t know. The more I try to understand this, the more complicated it becomes.

What I do believe, and (as always) this is what I believe from my understanding of the Bible and I am not telling you you have to agree, is that Yeshua is not the one we pray to or the one who hears our prayers: Yeshua is the Intercessor for our prayers, not the Interceptor of them.

And even though he is our Intercessor, that doesn’t mean he is in the loop- it means that as his, when we pray, we are praying in his name, i.e., under his authority as the Messiah.

Yeshua doesn’t have to handle our prayers as they go from our hearts to God.

I believe God is the only one who hears our prayers and the only one who answers them; when we pray in Yeshua’s name, it is telling God that we are one of Yeshua’s sheep, and as such God will give us, oh- how do I say this? – extra credit? Maybe our prayers get to go to the front of the line?

For whatever reason, when we pray in Yeshua’s name, God will do as we ask (so long as it is within his will) because it is what his son promised would happen. And by honoring his son’s promise, God glorifies himself, just the same way Yeshua glorified him every time he answered Yeshua’s prayers.

Praying in Yeshua’s name doesn’t mean he hears our prayers, and I also believe that whether or not we pronounce his name, God knows who we are and he knows what is in our heart, and he also knows we are Yeshua’s sheep.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt anything to say “In Yeshua’s name, I pray” because that is literally what he told us to do.

But if you ask me, I don’t think it is necessary to get God’s attention.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. I would also ask that you subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, and while you are on the website please consider buying my books.

If you like what you get in these messages, you will like my books, as well.

Das ist alles for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

The Bible is Just a Book

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I once talked about how the Bible is just a book when I was giving a message at the place I used to worship, and not only did I get some pretty passionate disagreements, but one person actually walked out on me.

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

Many people argued that the Bible is THE word of God, but it isn’t, really- it contains the words God told to Moses and the Prophets, and it contains what many people wrote. It contains the writings (Ketuvim), such as Esther, Judges, Psalms, and the Proverbs.

It contains the teachings of Yeshua, and the letters that were written to the (mostly) Gentile congregations of new Believers to help them stay on track, spiritually, with what they were learning about Yeshua and God and how God wants us all to live.

But when it comes down to it, the Bible can’t be the exact words from God simply because the words in the Bible have been interpreted from the original Hebrew and Greek so many times, in so many different versions of the Bible, that there is no way each interpreter interpreted the words exactly the same.

In fact, did you know that under Copyright law, each version of the Bible must have (literally) hundreds of words different from any other version, otherwise it is a copyright infringement?

I asked the most trustworthy source of information that exists today- Wikipedia- how many different versions of the Bible exist, and this is what I got:

“As of September 2020 the full Bible has been translated into 704
languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,551
languages and Bible portions or stories into 1,160 other languages. Thus at
least some portions of the Bible have been translated into 3,415 languages.”

And when I specifically asked how many English versions there are, I was told there are more than 100 complete translations in English.

So, nu? How can anyone think that the Bible they are reading is an exact and verifiable rendering of what God told Moses, or what Shaul wrote to his congregations, or what Yeshua said when he gave his Sermon on the Mount?

The closest thing anyone will come to the exact words God used when he talked to us, which he only did in the Torah, is to read the Hebrew Torah. And, to tell the truth (which is all I ever try to do), even though the Torah written today will have exactly the same words as the Torah written a hundred years ago (because of the strict standards used when copying the Torah), the way we interpret that Hebrew will be different from one person to another.

And here’s the real kicker! Even when we read the same version, different people may be given, through the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), a different understanding of those very same words!

And both understandings may be valid.

If you don’t believe me, or maybe you don’t want to believe me, then let me give you the gospel truth, from the Gospel of Luke, itself (Luke 1:1-4):

Dear Theophilos:
Concerning the matters that have taken place among us, many people have undertaken to draw up accounts based on what was handed down to us by those who from the start were eyewitnesses and proclaimers of the message.  Therefore, Your Excellency, since I have carefully investigated all these things from the beginning, it seemed good to me that I too should write you an accurate and ordered narrative, so that you might know how well-founded are the things about which you have been taught.

Here we have the writer of the gospel usually thought to be the most accurate and trustworthy account, and he is saying that he has composed this based on what he heard from others who witnessed the events.

Have you ever told a joke in a group of people and then heard that same joke come back to you, later on? I’ll bet it wasn’t even close to the way you told it, was it? It may have had a similar lead-in and the punch line may have gotten the same point across, but it wasn’t the same, exact joke, right?

Or have you ever had to witness something that other people saw? The same event, seen by 5 people, will have 5 different versions. They may be similar, generally, but many of the specific details (height of the person, hair color, clothes worn, etc.) will be different.

This is why no two people understand the same thing the same way: we all filter the stimulus we receive through our senses in accordance with our own experience and knowledge. Therefore, it is impossible for any two people to understand and interpret what is heard, seen, or written the same exact way, and even more so when trying to interpret it from one language to another.

That is why I say the Bible is just a book.

“Okay, okay, so the Bible is a book. What’s your point, Steve?”

My point to all this is simple: when we read the Bible, we need to know that what we are reading is somewhat accurate, but not exact. It is someone’s understanding of the language that the narrative was written in, whether in the original Hebrew or Greek, and which will always be affected by that individual’s personal understanding and experience.

Now, given that my Bible, no matter which version or which language I have, is not an accurate accounting of what God or anyone else said, why should I believe any of it?

Because it is close enough to the truth to be trusted when we ask God to show us HIS truth! (read that again)

Every time you read your Bible, pray to God to lead you through his Holy Spirit to understand his truth. That way you can read any version you want to and trust that you will glean from it what God wants you to know.

And that works because we can ALWAYS trust God to teach us what he wants us to know about him.

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 after reading them share them with others, and remember this: I always welcome your comments.

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