Is It Ever Too Late For Closure?

What is “closure”, anyway?

To many people, it means resolving differences; to others, it means getting retribution. For still others, it never comes.

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I looked up the word and here is one definition I think makes sense:

Closure means finality; a letting go of what once was. Finding closure
implies a complete acceptance of what has happened and an honoring of
the transition away from what’s finished to something new.

In the real world, where people are looking for closure because they have been mistreated, either verbally, physically, or professionally, it seems more often than not that closure is impossible because the people involved are unavailable.

In my life, I have been mistreated by people I worked for, and it affected my career choices in a bad way, although all things work to the good for those who love the Lord and are called in accordance to his purpose (Romans 8:28), even though most of the times I was mistreated I didn’t have anything to do with God, at all.

Yet, he still took care of me: it doesn’t make sense to humans, but that’s how God rolls.

So, what is the answer to the question? It’s actually quite simple: you don’t need anyone but yourself to find closure. In fact, closure can most confidently be assured if you restrict it to just you.

You see, closure is letting go, it is resolving that it is resolved, and if you have issues with someone you know, a parent, a friend, a professional colleague, whomever…no matter how badly they treated (or mistreated) you, the only way to overcome the pain and to have closure is to make it happen within yourself.

If that person is really as bad as your think they are, then even if you had the chance to talk with them to clear the air, so to speak, what would you do if they stayed true to form? If they were unreasonable and mean when you knew them, what makes you think they will be any different now as you try to attain the closure you need to get on with your life? In truth, going to the ones you need to have closure from might just widen the gap even more!

Do you really need anyone else to find closure? No. Trying to get closure by dealing with the ones you need closure from is not the way to go.

In my book, closure is just another word for forgiveness. The only way to stop the pain of having been mistreated is to forgive the one that did it to you. And the first step in being able to do that is to remember that when you forgive someone, it doesn’t affect in any way their relationship with God- for what they did to you, God will repay (Proverbs 20:22).

The second thing to remember is that forgiveness of others affects your relationship with God because God wants us to forgive on earth as he forgives in heaven (Matthew 6:14).

The only way to be certain that you can find closure to the pain you have suffered from being mistreated is to forgive the one who mistreated you.

Here is the third thing to remember, which has really helped me in getting closure through forgiveness: to make it easier to forgive that waste of flesh who hurt you, pray for them.

I know, because I have been guilty of this, that people who cruelly lash out and hurt others do it because they are hurting even more. So much so that they cannot contain it so it is directed at others, for no other reason than the person doing the hating hates themself so much they have no control over what they do or say.

When you accept that as truth, which I know it is, then you can’t help but feel sorry for them. Yes, what they did was wrong, and (as I said) they will have to deal with God for that, but as for you, your closure can only come when you forgive that person.

It isn’t easy, it goes against the flesh (as does almost everything that is pleasing to God), but when you constantly work at it, it will get easier and easier until one day you realize the pain is gone. You can talk about the event without hurting and without getting angry.

To recap, the way to achieve closure is to forgive and the way to forgive is to take it step by step:

  1. Remember that forgiving them will make you right wth God, not them;
  2. Recognize the pain the other person must be feeling;
  3. Pray for them to make forgiving easier for you.

Remember how Yeshua prayed for those who were crucifying him and said that they didn’t know what they were doing? Well, even if you are absolutely positive that the one who hurt you did know what they were doing, so what? They will have to deal with an eternity of suffering, so whatever suffering they caused to you is really nothing compared to what they will have to go through, is it?

Closure from the evil people have done to you comes more easily when you accept that your forgiveness of them will make you right with God and you will have eternal joy, whereas (unless they change) they will suffer forever.

And if you really love the Lord, God, and are thankful for his forgiveness of your sins, then knowing that someone, anyone- even that horrible person who hurt you so badly- will have to eternally suffer hell’s fire, well…if that doesn’t make you feel sorry for them and want to pray for their repentance, then I feel sorry for you.

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

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

Does Jesus Forgive Sins?

Back from a week off, driving up to visit Donna’s family in Philadelphia. The drive was full of problems with traffic, taking us nearly 40% longer than it should have, but the trip, overall, was good and we enjoyed being with family.

Now back to work.

As far as the question, “Does Yeshua forgive sins?” goes, the answer seems obvious, doesn’t it?

In Matthew 9, Yeshua tells the Pharisees and Torah teachers that he has the authority to forgive sins on earth.

(Keep this in mind: he specifically said he was able to forgive sins on earth. )

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John writes in his first letter (1 John 2:2) that when we sin, Yeshua “pleads our case with the Father”, and that he (Yeshua) is the Kappurah (covering) for our sins.

How do these two opposite statements, Yeshua says he can forgive sins but John says he pleads our case with God, be reconciled? How does Yeshua go from forgiver to intercessor? C’mon, you guys- does Yeshua forgive our sins or not?

I believe the answer is that he was able to forgive sins when he was walking the earth and spreading the Good News to prove he was (and still is, of course) the Messiah.

We need to remember that in those days, a physical impairment such as deafness or blindness, paralysis, etc. was considered often to be the result of one’s sinfulness. So, healing that infirmity demonstrated not just God-given power to perform miracles, but also the authority to forgive sins.

The healing that the Messiah did was proof of his authority ON THE EARTH to forgive sins.

Let’s look at another side of this: In John 20:23, Yeshua breathes the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) on his disciples and tells them that whomever they forgive the sins of, those sins will be forgiven, and whomever they do not forgive, will not be forgiven.

This is not just giving his disciples the authority to forgive sins, but the authority to prevent forgiveness!

Now, wait a minute here! Is it really what it seems to be? Did Yeshua tell mere mortals that not only can they forgive the sins of people, but they can override God by preventing those sins from being forgiven?

Is God unable to forgive a sinner because some human being didn’t?

I really don’t have an explanation for this, but it doesn’t make sense when comparing this one statement to the entirety of the Bible (this is an exegesis system called Hermeneutics) because no one outranks God. Period! So, even though Yeshua told his disciples they could forgive sins, I believe this had to be a one-time event and to be understood as Yeshua granting them this authority specifically in order to continue the spreading of the Good News, in his place.

Even if by some chance Yeshua did grant that authority to them, it was to them- not to their descendants or people who took over their job, but just to them.

In fact, in John 20:21, just before he breathed the Ruach HaKodesh on them, he told them that just as God sent him, he is now sending them. This seems to justify my interpretation, in that it was meant for those specific people in order to continue proving that they, just as Yeshua, had God-granted authority through the Holy Spirit, and to prove the validity of the ministry.

Catholicism has stated that from the Pope down to the “greenest” Priest fresh out of Seminary school, these anointed leaders of the faith are allowed to forgive sins. I suppose their justification for that is based on the statement Yeshua makes here, in the Gospel of John. Too bad it doesn’t hold water, because it is clear from the rest of the Bible that no mere mortal is allowed to override God when it comes to forgiveness.

We have a similar issue with Yeshua’s statement that Kefa (Peter) holds the keys to the kingdom and whatever he does, the same will be done in heaven (Matthew 16:19). Again, it just doesn’t hold true to the rest of the Bible that a mere mortal can tell God what he will or will not do.

My interpretation is that the things Yeshua told Kefa he would do were not binding on God, but on people and that whatever he decided was a proper form of worship would be honored in heaven.

In other words, Yeshua told Kefa that he would be establishing the Halakah (Way to Walk) for the Believers, which we see happening later. It happened when Kefa went to the house of Cornelius and opened up the Kingdom of God to the Gentiles, as well as through his authority (with the other Elders in Jerusalem) he authorized the letter to the new Gentile Believers in Acts 15.

That delegation was specifically to Kefa and was not transferable to anyone else.

My answer to the original question of whether or not Yeshua forgives sins is that he did have that authority when he was on the earth, which was specifically given to prove he was the Messiah.

But now? No!

At that time Yeshua forgave sins but now he is the means by which our sins are forgiven. His sacrificial death replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem (which no longer existed after 73 AD) and his position as Messiah is to plead our case before God, who is now the only one who can forgive sins.

As I have said many, many times: Yeshua is the Intercessor of prayer, not the Interceptor of it.

The same goes for the forgiveness of sins: Yeshua’s death is the means by which we are able to be forgiven, but he is not the one to pray to for forgiveness: that comes only from God, the Father.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Also, please subscribe to my website, my YouTube channel, and join my Facebook discussion group called “Just God’s Word”.

I have written 4 books which I believe you will also find edifying and educational, as well as even a little bit entertaining. Check them out on my website.

And lastly, remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Religion Has It Backwards

Listen to the popular missionaries and attend one of the “mega-church” masses and what do you hear?

All the wonderful things that God wants to do for you.

So, nu? What’s wrong with that? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with that- it is backward.

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Backward? What’s backward about the Lord doing wonderful things for us? Doesn’t he protect us? Didn’t he send the Messiah to save us? Doesn’t he heal? Doesn’t he work wonders? Doesn’t he do everything for us that we need?

Yes, he does, but despite what religion wants you to believe, when it comes down to who does what first, the Lord expects us to do our part before he does his part.

God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham, and when God told Isaac, that he is making the same promise that he made to his father, God said that it was because Abraham also did everything that God told him to do (Genesis 26:5).

In other words, even though the covenant was unconditional, Abraham was still obedient to God.

The covenant God made with the children of Israel through Moses is conditional: the laws and rules we are given in the Torah are required of us, and only after we do them will God do as he promises.

The truth is that although God will often do wonderful things just because he loves us, we are his children and must be obedient. God didn’t give us the Torah so that he could prove he was more important than we are, or because he likes to tell people what to do- he gave us the Torah so that we could know how to attain eternal life.

The lifestyle that God defines is the one that brings us into communion with him. The fact that no human being can live it perfectly is why he sent the Messiah, but salvation through the Messiah is NOT a “Get Out of Jail For Free” card.

In order to be blessed, we must do as God says, and he tells us so in Deuteronomy 28.

God never created a religion: he outlined a lifestyle. Religion is a man-made thing that has only one purpose, and that purpose is to give people power over other people. That is why there are so many different religions, all supposedly worshiping the same God! Once someone establishes his or her own rules for a religion, someone who wants that power for themself has to create a new set of rules, so if I am Catholic but decide I want to do things differently, I start my own sect and create a new religion.

And if I want this religion to be popular, I make it easier to follow and provide better promises of what God will do for those who do what I say he wants you to do.

It is amazing how people reject what God says so quickly, and just as quickly accept what some person tells them to do. And why is this?

If you ask me, it’s because God requires us to do something that is difficult but religion doesn’t really require anything difficult: instead, religion tells us all that God will do for us if we simply “believe”.

Be a good person, love everyone, and you will be saved forever. Your sins are forgiven if you believe in Jesus (whatever that is supposed to mean) and then you will never have to worry about damnation. Once you are saved no one can take it away and you will be forgiven automatically.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? It isn’t that hard to be a good person, especially if you get to be the one who defines what “good” means.

Yeshua said that no one is good except his father in heaven (Mark 10:18), but religion doesn’t want you to listen to him.

Yeshua observed the way to worship and live that we are instructed to do in the Torah, but religion says that after he died as the sacrifice required by the Torah, the Torah was no longer valid!

So religion says that doing what the Torah requires means you don’t have to do what the Torah requires.

Huh?

How can anyone who has a functional brain resolve that? I mean, if Yeshua did everything that is required in the Torah, and we are supposed to do as Yeshua did, then how can anyone accept rejecting what Yeshua did is doing what Yeshua did?

How many times does your religious leader, whether Christian or Jewish, preach about how you must tithe?

How many times does your religious leader, whether Christian or Jewish, tell you that God requires your obedience in order for you to be blessed?

And, how many times does your religious leader, whether Christian or Jewish, tell you all the wonderful things God will do for you without ever mentioning obedience other than being a good person and loving others?

Yes, God is love, but that’s not all he is. He is also our creator, our supreme ruler, our judge, and our executioner. His holiness demands that he punish the guilty and not disobey his own rules.

Like it or not, God may love you, may want to forgive you, and may bless you even when you sin, but when it comes down to it, if we do not do as God wants us to do, which he tells us in the Torah, then we will be punished.

God HAS to punish those who are unrepentant, and if you think simply saying “I believe in Jesus” is repentance, you will be sorely disappointed.

Following God and Yeshua is not easy- we are warned by Yeshua that to be his disciple we have to give up everything and carry our own cross (Matthew 16:24), which means salvation may be a free gift, but it isn’t easy to keep.

Religion says once saved, always saved, but the Bible doesn’t agree. What God gives us no one can take away, but we can let it go.

I have read often that religion will tell you if someone who has been “saved” becomes apostate, then they were never really saved, to begin with. That’s a load of fertilizer: religion wants you to remain loyal to the religion, not to God or the Messiah, so they tell you what you love to hear- you are OK, you are loved, God will bless you, salvation is forever, once saved always saved, yadda…yadda…yadda.

Of course, you still have to do what the religion tells you to do, which is more often than not to ignore God’s laws and do as the religion’s leadership tells you to do.

God tells you what he wants from you in the Torah, and he also tells you what he will do for you when you obey him.

Religion tells you what it says God wants you to do, and they feed you wonderful tidbits of how God will always do everything for you when you do as the religion says.

The problem is that religion says to ignore God, even within Judaism! Did you know there are sects within Judaism that regard the Talmud as scripture and obey the Rabbi before they will obey the Torah?

Being “saved” isn’t easy, it isn’t a lifetime guarantee that you will never apostatize, or that you will always be blessed no matter what you do. Salvation is free to get, hard to keep, and easy to throw away because we are sinners by nature, and being obedient to God is not what our nature wants.

If you accept what I just said, then I think you will be OK as time goes on because you understand that righteousness is not easy. I feel sorry for those who reject the idea that salvation is really very hard to keep because they will be suckered into losing it by believing they can’t.

We have the manual on how to be righteous, it’s called the Torah, and we have Yeshua and the help of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to lead us and save us from ourselves.

It is hard work to be righteous, and you will never make it unless you try to be obedient to God- not men, but God. If you can do that, you are on the right track.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and check out my books.

I will be taking a week off for a break; everyone needs a rest, and I will see you all again next week.

Until then, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Why Did God Enslave the Israelites in Egypt?

The Torah readings this month are the story of Joseph, and as I am reading them, I am wondering why God decided, all the way back when he first spoke to Abraham, that he would enslave Abraham’s descendants for some 20 generations.

Has this question ever crossed your mind, as well?

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I can’t answer this question, definitively, because God doesn’t tell us why. But, I can tell you why I think he doesn’t.

Anyone with any government (especially military) background should be familiar with the three different requirements you need to have to know confidential things:

  1. You have to have that level of clearance (such as Confidential or Top Secret);
  2. You have to have access to that information; and
  3. You have to have a need to know.

With regard to why God does things, when we have the indwelling Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit), we have a Top Secret Clearance. God gave us his word in the Bible, which gives us access to the information.

But as far as the need to know, well…God gives that out as he sees fit, on a case-by-case basis. That is why some people have such great insight into the word of God, and can interpret what is written in the Bible in a way that few others are able to do.

But, as far as why God enslaved the Jews, well…that’s seems to be a need to know thing, and we ain’t got the need to know.

However, I do have my own idea why, so let me share it with you and see what you think.

First off, we are talking about some 70 people at the time Jacob moved his household to Goshen. Not exactly as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, so God knew he needed time to let them do the first thing he told all humans to do- be fruitful and multiply.

Next, because of the number of pagan and polytheistic religions surrounding the children of Israel when they were in Canaan, their influence would be a significant detriment to these young and impressionable Israelites. Just think about Solomon: here was the wisest king ever, truly a God-fearing man, but when he married women of other religions, for political reasons, the women he married influenced him so much that even he backslid and worshipped their gods.

So, I believe God sent the Israelites into Goshen to isolate them from the influences of the surrounding religions in order that they may grow into a spiritually strong nation. Goshen was not close to where the Pharaoh and the majority of the Egyptian people were, and as shepards, the Egyptians wouldn’t have wanted to interact with the Israelites, anyway. That is evident when we read about how Joseph told his brothers to tell Pharaoh that sheparding was their occupation (Genesis 46:34).

Another thing that God planned perfectly, as usual, was to have them move there when the time was right, what with Joey being the Numero Dos man in the country. This would ensure that, at least during the Pharaoh’s lifetime, they would be treated kindly.

Of course, all that changed in a relatively short time.

Up to now, God did not enslave his people, but with the new Pharaoh, God had the people enslaved so that as things got worse, God was ensuring they not only remained isolated from the Egyptians and their religion, but because they were now slaves they did not have the opportunity to leave Egypt and return to Canaan, where they would, again, be surrounded by pagans who might turn them aside from God.

Remember, there was no Torah then, no defined set of rules for worship, so these Israelites needed to remain true to what their fathers would be teaching them. The best way to do that was to keep them exactly where they were until they grew strong enough to remain unaffected by their neighbors.

When they had become a strong nation, numbering well over a million men, women, and children (not to mention their animals), God knew it was time for them to go back to the land he promised them.

Unfortunately, we learn later on that despite all God did to protect them from being spiritually polluted, it wasn’t completely effective.

But that, my friends, is another story.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. Also subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, and join my Facebook group, “Just God’s Word.”

It wouldn’t hurt if you bought some or all of my books, as well.

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

How Exodus 19:6 is Confirmed by Acts 10

Before we discuss these two passages, let’s make sure we all know what I am talking about.

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First, in Exodus God is talking to Moses just before giving him the 10 Commandments, and he states that if the Israelites will obey all God’s laws they will his treasure from among all the peoples, and more than that (Exodus 19:6 CJB):

“…and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.’ These
are the words you are to speak to the people of Isra’el.”

What we have here is God telling Moses that even though the Levites are the only tribe to be cohanim to the Israelites, all of Israel is to be God’s priests to the rest of the world.

This is why the Jews are God’s Chosen people- they are chosen to be his priests to the world.

How do I know they are to be priests to the world? Simple: what does a priest do? The priest leads the people in the proper worship of God and teaches them about God, which (of course) includes God’s instructions for worshiping him and treating each other. The priest serves as an example to the congregation of how God wants us to live.

Because the Levites are priests to the Jews, and all the Jews are God’s priests, the only ones the Jews can be priests to are the Goyim, the Nations…in other words, the rest of the world.

Now we come to Acts 10, which is the narrative about how Kefa (Peter) has a vision on the roof; in that vision, God has unclean animals dropped from the sky and tells Kefa to eat. Kefa refuses to eat, and God says to not call unclean that which he makes clean. This happens 3 times. After the third time, Kefa awakes and the Bible tells us he was wondering what that dream was all about.

Just at that moment, three visitors come to the door and ask to see Kefa. The men are Romans who work for Cornelius, a commander of the Roman army who is also (and most likely, secretly) a convert to Judaism. Cornelius also had a dream, a vision where he is told to seek out Kefa, and the three visitors tell Kefa about that vision. Kefa realizes that his vision is associated with the vision Cornelius had and thereby agrees to go with them.

Let’s stop for a moment to make sure we all understand one very important issue: a Roman was an unclean person, and their houses were not to be entered because they also were unclean, being furnished with many idols of the Roman gods. For Kefa to enter one of these homes was to become unclean, himself.

Where were we? Oh, yeah- Kefa is going to see Cornelius.

So, Kefa enters the home and tells them about Yeshua. The entire household believes, and they are all baptized then and there, and as they are baptized they receive the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.

Kefa is amazed! He is seeing unclean people receive God’s spirit in the name of Yeshua, thereby making them clean in God’s eyes. Now Kefa understands what his vision was about: it had nothing to do with animals or the laws of Kashrut (Kosher), which is the traditional Christian teaching, i.e. that this vision means the kosher laws are no longer valid.

Absolutely not! It all has to do with God’s promise to Abraham way back in Genesis 22:18.

God promised Abraham that his descendants will be a blessing to the world, and through the descendants of Abraham, we received the Messiah, Yeshua, whose sacrifice became the only way for Jews to be forgiven of their sins, especially after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

God’s spirit had always been given exclusively to Jews, but now Kefa sees that the unclean Romans can also be forgiven through acceptance of Yeshua as their Messiah, cleansing them of their sins and allowing them to also receive the Holy Spirit!

What is happening here is the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for the entire world! As Shaul (Paul) said in Romans 1:16, salvation is to the Jews first, then to the Gentiles.

God promised Abraham his descendants would be a blessing to the world, and after God made those descendants priests to the world, through their High Priest, the Cohen HaGadol of the Jews, Yeshua, the greatest blessing anyone could ever receive was made possible: the blessing of being forgiven of sin and to live in God’s presence for all eternity.

And that’s the 1-2-3 of Salvation:

  1. Abraham’s descendants (the Jewish people) will be a blessing to the world;
  2. The Jewish people will be God’s Chosen people, chosen to be his nation of priests to the world, bringing the Torah to them; and
  3. The High Priest of the Jewish people, Yeshua ha Maschiach, is the means for the Goyim to receive the ultimate blessing that had previously only been available to the Jews, which is forgiveness, receipt of the Holy Spirit, and to be in God’s presence throughout eternity!

That’s how it all fits together.

So, if you are Jewish but haven’t accepted that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised, then unless the third Temple is built before you die you are in trouble.

If you are Christian and believe Yeshua (or as you probably know him, Jesus) is the Messiah, but you go along with the traditional Christian teaching that Jesus did away with the laws God gave in the Torah, then you are rejecting what Yeshua taught, and I believe you will be in as much hot water as the Jewish person who rejects Yeshua.

The plan is simple, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the way it all fits together, so unless you accept Yeshua as the Messiah God promised to send AND obey God’s instructions in the Torah (as Yeshua taught us to do), you may think you are on the path to salvation, but I think you will be sorely disappointed when you come to the end of that road.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, as well as “Like” my Facebook page and join my discussion group, Just God’s Word. I would greatly appreciate it if you would also share these messages with everyone you know, and please buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will love my books.

One last thing which I need to start mentioning more often: make sure that what I am telling you is biblically verified. If you just read what people write, or listen to what you are told without making the effort to check it out for yourself in the Bible, you are being very foolish.

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

Faith in God Can Lead to Faith in Yourself

We all know we are to have faith in God.

Believers who have been “Born Again” know that we are to faithfully believe Yeshua is the Messiah sent by God.

The Bible tells us that through faith in God (and Yeshua) we can be found righteous in God’s eyes, as Abraham was.

But what about faith in ourselves?

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Personally, I have much more faith in God than I do in people, and for good reason- God is God, proven over millennia to be 1000% trustworthy and dependable, and never changing.

People, on the other hand, are well…they’re people, born with iniquity, self-centered, and desiring only to do what is pleasing to the body.

And I am one of them, so how can I have any faith in myself, other than faith to know that I will probably screw up, sooner or later.

And much sooner than later, to be sure.

Yet, I do have faith in myself to do what is right, and that faith developed only because I have faith in God.

My faith and trust in God instill in me the unshakable and concrete knowledge that God will see to my needs, help me to be better (even when I backslide), and always be there for me. I also know that whatever talents I have, God gave me. Yes, I have developed them and I can use them wisely and efficiently (usually), and that helps me feel confident in my abilities. When I say this I am not bragging or being egocentric because whatever I do well, I know that it is not really me but instead, God working through me.

I screw up plenty of times, and when I do, that’s when I can take full credit.

My faith in God is what allows me to have faith in myself.

I know people who are shy, have no confidence in themselves and are self-deprecating. They constantly refuse to speak up, even when they know they are in the right, and won’t defend either themselves or even those they love when being wronged.

And their first reaction to trying anything new is to say they can’t do it, which is not the truth but ends up being the case.

Henry Ford is credited with saying “Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you can’t- you are right!”

I believe one reason for people to avoid speaking up for themselves or others is not that they are meek (meekness takes strength!) and not because they think they are wrong, but because they lack faith in themselves, which means that they don’t have enough faith in God!

The saddest part of this, at least, with the people I know who are like this, is that their lack of faith in themselves becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because they are afraid if they speak out that someone might shame them. Their lack of confidence is what keeps them from developing confidence, so naturally, they have little or no faith in themselves.

And because they are so lacking in faith in themselves, even if it comes down to speaking the truth about God, they will not speak out.

Yeshua said if we are ashamed of him, then he will be ashamed of us when we come before God (Luke 9:26). I interpret that as meaning if we don’t speak about God or Messiah Yeshua with confidence, then we are showing ourselves ashamed of him.

If lack of faith in yourself is what causes you to not speak to other people confidently and with conviction about God, that also represents a lack of faith in God. And, if you don’t have enough faith in God to trust him to help you by putting the proper words in your mouth, then you will never have any faith in yourself!

It’s a self-defeating cycle born from fear and distrust.

Didn’t Yeshua tell his Disciples in Mark 13:11 that they shouldn’t worry when they are arrested about what to say because the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) will inspire them and give them the words they need?

God is always here; he always knows what we need, and if we trust in him, faithfully believing he will take care of us, then we have nothing to fear. We can speak boldly and with confidence to anyone.

And that also means you can do things with confidence. Instead of immediately denying your ability to do anything, even if you have tried before and failed, you should never shirk from a challenge. Trust in God to be able to do anything will motivate you to try new things, to step out into the world confidently and unafraid because you know that no matter what you face, God is there, besides you.

And when speaking out to defend yourself or God’s truth against judgmental and cruel people, there will be no need for you to be that way; the Ruach can provide you with the kindest words possible for telling someone they are being a real jerk, and in such a way they might actually begin to see the light.

All you need to do is have faith that God will always be able to help you to walk boldly, or talk boldly, or act boldly when dealing with life’s adversities and challenges.

Remember that Yeshua also told us in Matthew 10:28 not to be afraid of what human beings can do to us because they can only affect our bodies. We are to be concerned, instead, with the one who can destroy our soul.

Strengthen your faith in God by stepping out into the world with confidence- not so much in yourself as being able to do anything, but in God being able to help you do anything. Speak with confidence, act with certainty, and do not teeter-totter your way through life.

Our God is not a God of sitting back and being worried about what you can or can’t do- he is a God of stepping out and doing as you think God wants you to do.

God will always guide your footsteps, but you have to get off your tuchas and start walking.

So get going, and your faith in God to guide you in both words and actions will give you confidence in yourself, and through that confidence, you will be giving glory to God.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, share these messages with everyone you know, and if you like what you get here, you will love my books, which are available on Amazon or through my website.

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

Another Name for Comfort Zone is Stagnation

Today I am going to present perhaps the most difficult to accept message I think I have ever preached.

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

The title pretty much says it all: too many people, mostly Christians but Jews, as well, are taking the easy path to salvation, which is the wrong way to go.

The traditional Christian teaching is that so long as you “believe in Jesus” (whatever that is supposed to mean) and are a good person, you will go to heaven.

In Judaism, we are taught from the moment we start to interact with Gentiles that Jesus was a traitor to Judaism and created a new religion that kills Jews. Our path to salvation is to be Torah observant and, especially in the Orthodox and Chasidic sects, to accept the Talmud (called the Oral law) as scripture and do what the Rabbi says, whether or not it is in the Torah.

Practicing Judaism is a much more difficult road to salvation than the one that Christianity has mapped out, but neither can get you there if you do not accept that Yeshua is the Messiah (that is for Jews) and that Jesus never said you don’t have to follow the Torah (that is for Christians.)

The fact that Yeshua said he did and said only what God told him to do and say, which is what God has always told us to do (in the Torah) shows that modern Christianity has nothing to do, whatsoever, with the things Yeshua taught.

Our comfort zone is where we love to be-it is easy to do since we have always done it, there is nothing we have to change or relearn, and when all is said and done, it is quite…. comfortable.

Who wants to be uncomfortable when you can be comfortable, right?

Or, we could say who wants to learn something new when everyone you trust and love has always told you you don’t need to?

Or, bottom line? Who wants to know the truth when the truth means everything you think you know is wrong?

And that’s what this ministry of mine is all about- trying to get you to realize that what you have been taught all your life may not be right!

I won’t tell you what to believe, but if you listen to me AND (now this is the important part) are willing to re-examine and verify your comfort zone, then I have done what I set out to do.

Look- staying where you are with regards to your knowledge of the Bible is fine if you have spent years reading the Bible and are very familiar with it. But if you haven’t read the Bible at least 5 or 6 times, all the way through- even the really boring parts- then you are in a comfort zone that might just give you a comfortable ride all the way to Sheol (that’s Hell, for those of you who are comfortable not knowing the Bible.)

And for anyone who thinks that just going to services and hearing the Rabbi or Priest, Minister, Pastor…whatever…tell you what you need to know to be saved, you are in a comfort zone that will ruin your eternity. Believe me!

Being comfortable when it comes to knowing God and what he wants from you is dangerous, and can only lead you to a very dissatisfying tour of eternity. So don’t hurt yourself by remaining blissfully ignorant of what God wants from you.

Here are two adages that everyone knows and no one argues against:

1. Anything worth having is worth working for; and
2. When you get something for free, you get only what you paid for.

These are especially important to remember when we are talking about salvation. Yes, it is a free gift from God but it is not easy to keep; it is going to take work, and although no one can take it away from you, you can certainly throw it away.

How? By remaining in your comfort zone, which never takes you where you need to be.

PLEASE!! Listen to me, hear what I am saying- if you are comfortable in your spiritual life, you need to get off your tuchas and do more. Read the Bible more, especially the first 5 books and start to do what God wants you to do.

Christianity teaches to ignore God’s instructions in the Torah, and that is way more comfortable than obeying God, but think about this: since God never said to change how to worship him, and Yeshua never said to ignore his father’s commandments, then the teaching that you can reject the Torah must be from a human source. And when you meet God at Judgment Day and say you followed what a human being told you to do instead of what God told you to do, how do you think he will react to that?

And, for any Jewish readers who still want to reject hearing anything about Yeshua, I ask you to please consider that people who told you to reject Yeshua are just repeating what they have been told. Being raised Jewish, myself, I know that even listening to someone talk about Yeshua being the Messiah feels like betraying Judaism, but it isn’t. It requires you to leave a comfort zone that has prevented you from knowing the truth. Hey, look- if this guy Yeshua (Jesus) isn’t the Messiah, then what harm can it do to learn about him? And if he is, then you might just realize you have been missing the boat to salvation. And the best part is…you do NOT have to become a Christian to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. I am more “Jewish” since I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah than I ever was growing up rejecting him.

Everyone– read my latest book, “The Good News About the Messiah for Jews:
Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah” to learn how you
have been forced into a comfort zone that is killing you!

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less. That is the constant challenge, and if you do so whole-heartedly, every day trying to be better than you were the previous day, you will never have to worry about being stuck in a comfort zone.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, as well. And I always welcome your comments.

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

Why There Has To Be Evil In The World

How many times have you heard someone ask, “How can a good God allow so much evil in the world?”

Maybe you have even asked this question, yourself?

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

Well, the answer is actually so simple it is hard to accept: there has to be evil in the world to allow us to be good.

Think about it…if there were no rules of moral conduct, which define the difference between evil and good, then everything is either evil or everything is good. You can’t have a one-sided coin; at least, not in this plane of existence.

Shaul, that nice Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus, said it well when he wrote to the Roman Believers telling them that without the Torah there could be no sin. In fact, he went as far as to say the Torah created sin! (Romans 5)

Shaul explained that sin existed long before God gave us the Torah, and what the Torah did was to define sin, so that now we had a baseline, so to speak, regarding what was proper and what wasn’t.

The world has a problem with evil and good, though, because the different societies in the world each define what is right and wrong. There is no standard set of rules for everyone (such as within the Torah), but instead, evil and good are defined by whatever that specific society determines is evil or good.

We all have been given the gift of Free Will, the right to decide what we will do or won’t do. But in order for that opportunity to be exercised, we need to have options. The options God gave us are to do as he said to do or to reject what he said to do.

Doing what God says is good, and rejecting what God says is evil: pretty simple decision, right?

Wrong!

Why wrong? Because too many human beings have taught others to do what they believe you should do as being what God said you should do.

Example: God said to observe the Shabbat on the 7th day, which is Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, but the early Christian leaders (who, by the end of the 1st Century were mostly Gentiles) decided that they would celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, which is the first day of the week.

Another example: God told us the Holy Days he requires us to observe and how to observe them in Leviticus 23 (note: Holy Days are not holidays, the former being God-ordained and the latter being man-made), but Christianity has rejected every single Holy Day God demands us to celebrate (they didn’t fully reject the Sabbath, but they did reject the day God said to celebrate it) and instead created their own holidays.

Now, it is OK to have a holiday to celebrate God and his Messiah, but it is NOT OK to reject the Holy Days God said we must observe.

I believe God allows evil because it is necessary to have evil if we want good to exist; that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is a fact of life in the physical world.

Perhaps, when Judgement Day is over, the new temple, new Jerusalem, and new earth are given to those who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah and been faithfully obedient- obedient to God, not to men– there will be only righteous people and righteous acts.

Perhaps, in the eternal presence of God, we will be able to have that one-sided coin, the one where no evil exists.

To my flesh, that sounds a little dull, as in what fun is there in that? But, to my spirit, it sounds like eternal rest and joy.

I suppose when it happens, I will get used to it.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. Subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, and join my Facebook discussion group, Just God’s Word.

And please remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

If It Isn’t in the Torah, Is It Forbidden?

Let me start off by saying that when Gentiles who have been raised with traditional Christian teachings which turned them away from the Torah, later in life come to realize the truth of what Yeshua taught and turn their hearts to God’s commandments, there is nothing that can be wrong about that.

Well, almost nothing.

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

Over the years I have met and talked with many Gentiles who have rejected the traditional, anti-Torah teachings they were raised with and have come to know that the instructions God gave to everyone, in the Torah, are still valid for those who profess to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

However, there are those who go from “the Torah is just for Jews” to “the Torah is the absolute, total and definitive way to worship God, and if it ain’t in there, then I ain’t doin’ it!!”

Life teaches us that the far end of the pendulum swing is the wrong place to be.

The Torah is missing many vital things, and just because God doesn’t say “Do this, this way” does NOT mean that you can’t do something another way.

One example is that the Torah tells us which animals are acceptable as a sacrifice, and we are also told to treat animals humanely, but there is nothing anywhere in the Torah that tells us how to kill the sacrificial animal in a humane way.

Another example is the showbread, the 12 loaves that are baked and placed on the table in front of the altar and left there for a week. Even the Ramban didn’t have an explanation for that, other than he thought God decreed it just so that David and his men would have something to eat when they were running from Shaul in Samuel 21:6 (I am pretty sure it was the Ramban who came up with this- if anyone can correct or confirm this, I would appreciate it.)

The Torah was written by Moses and completed, most likely, by Joshua after Moses’ death. So, how could it include everything that God had planned for his people?

The Torah doesn’t include Purim, it doesn’t include Hanukkah, the Fast of the 9th Day of Av, Simchat Torah, Lag b’Omer, TuB’Shevat, Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and there are still other holidays we celebrate, all as either a memorial or to honor what God has done for his people. These are man-made holidays, but they all are designed to honor God.

There are so many holidays that are not in the Torah, but who can honestly say that celebrating them is wrong just because God didn’t tell us we have to?

Is God so self-centered and neurotic that he will punish us for celebrating him if he didn’t specifically tell us we must? Is God’s idea of worship more like a game of Simon Says?

“God says celebrate Shavuot”;
“God says celebrate Passover”;
“Celebrate Hanukkah…AHA!!! God didn’t say so: you’re out of the game and you have to go to hell.”

I don’t think so.

Let’s leave the Jewish holidays for a moment and open a new can of worms: you guessed it- we’re gonna talk about Christmas and Easter, the most famous, or should I say infamous, holidays. These are the ones that some Gentiles say are bad not only because they are not in the Torah, but because they were once pagan holidays. There are people who not only refuse to celebrate these holidays but call them pagan and sinful, despite the fact that they have been rebranded, so to speak, so that now they are a celebration of Yeshua (Jesus) instead of pagan gods.

I won’t say it is right or wrong to celebrate these two major Christian holidays. I can say there is no way they could have been in the Torah because the one they celebrate now (Yeshua) didn’t arrive for some 1500 years after Moses was given the Torah.

But I will say this: as far as I am concerned (and you can disagree), any celebration that gives glory to God can’t be wrong.

If it is one of the Torah commanded Holy Days, which we find in Leviticus 23, those we celebrate in order to be faithfully obedient. If it is a man-made celebration of God, such as the salvation of the Jewish people during the time of Mordecai and Esther, or the salvation of the Jewish people during the time of the Maccabee’s, or the salvation of not just the Jewish people, but the whole world that was made possible by God sending his Messiah, Yeshua, well…how can that be frowned upon by God?

Do you really think that God is upset by us deciding to honor him in a way that we created?

When it comes down to it, I would humbly suggest that if you are unsure of what is right and wrong in God’s eyes, run it by these three rules:

  1. If the Torah says do it, then do it;
  2. If the Torah says don’t do it, then don’t do it;
  3. If it isn’t in the Torah but it was created in order to honor God or Messiah Yeshua, and you celebrate it that way, then go for it!

One of the defining characteristics of God is his willingness to forgive the past and give us a clean slate when we do T’shuvah (repent and turn from sin) and worship him as he says to do. So, despite a holiday being man-made or having pagan origins if it NOW is celebrated in order to honor God and give glory to him and/or his Messiah, then I would say it is acceptable to God.

In Ezekiel 18, God says that the sinful man who turns from sin will be saved, and even a righteous man who turns to sin will be guilty; in either case, their past will not be held against them. So, doesn’t it make sense that God might see holidays the same way? Sure, what we call Christmas and Easter used to be pagan holidays, but just as the sinner did T’shuvah and became acceptable to God, so, too, these holidays are being celebrated now as a way to honor God and Messiah must also be acceptable.

Look- if God can forgive you for the sins you have committed, then he certainly can accept when you celebrate a man-made holiday, no matter what its origins if you celebrate it to honor him.

Give God a break- he isn’t stupid and although I cannot speak for God, based on my understanding of him from what he tells us about himself, I believe that he isn’t so stuck-up that he will reject anyone who is celebrating his wonders, his works, and his salvation just because he didn’t specifically say we should in the Torah.

And certainly not because a holiday is man-made or created to replace a pagan holiday that was on the same day.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. “Like” my Facebook page, subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel, buy my books and share them with people who want to know the difference between what God says and what religions teach, and join my Facebook discussion group, Just God’s Word.

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

Is James 2:17 Damage Control for Acts 15:20-28?

Right off the bat, let me wish everyone living in the United States a Happy Thanksgiving Day. Of course, given today is a national holiday to give thanks, you might expect a message about that.

Well, it ain’t gonna happen because everyone is already giving thanks, and I would be preaching to the choir, so we are going to have a really interesting discussion, instead.

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

You might be wondering what the heck the title of today’s message is all about? Let’s do a quick review: Acts 15:20-28 is the recommendation that James gives to the Council of Elders in Jerusalem that the Gentile Believers be required, at that time, to only follow four commands. Those requirements are: (1) not to eat anything sacrificed to idols, (2) not to eat things strangled; (3) not to eat the blood; and (4) to abstain from fornication.

James follows this up by stating that the laws of Moses (meaning the Torah commandments from God) would be heard by these neophyte Believers every Shabbat, implying that they would learn to obey the other Torah commandments as they matured in their knowledge and their spirit.

Later, James wrote his letter to the Believing Jews in the Diaspora.

If you are thinking, “No, it was to the Christian churches” you are wrong-
there were no Christian churches then, just Gentiles and Jews who accepted
Yeshua as the Messiah. If anything, these congregations would have
identified themselves not as a church, but as Kehillot (communities).

In that letter, written much later than the letter in Acts, James explains that when people say they have faith they must demonstrate it through their actions. James 2:17 plainly states that faith, without works, is dead.

Now, if you are wondering why am I thinking that the letter to these Believing Jews and Gentiles is damage control for what James suggested in Acts, I will explain.

The letter in Acts, which was written to new Gentile Believers, has traditionally been used to justify ignoring the Torah and that Christians need only follow JUST THOSE 4 REQUIREMENTS in order to be saved. This is absolutely NOT what the letter was meant to do: that letter was intended to help the formerly pagan people adjust slowly to this new religion.

In the book of Galatians, we learned that many Jewish Believers were forcing the Gentiles accepting Yeshua to convert to Judaism overnight. This was a paradigm shift in lifestyle, going from a hedonistic, sexually perverse polytheistic religion and way of life to one of righteousness, purity, and self-control.

Not to mention the requirement to be circumcised. Ouch!

I mean, really? Going from perversion to purity “cold turkey” (no, that is not a Thanksgiving Day reference) is just too much for most people, and if this was required of all newly Believing Gentiles, the Elders realized that they would lose too many, too quickly.

Remember the parable Yeshua told of the seed thrown on the ground, and how the weeds (worldly desires) choked much of the new growth?

So, to prevent too many Gentiles who were, for the most part, converting to a Jewish lifestyle and form of worship, the Elders said, “Take it one step at a time.”

But that letter, which was to become a stepping stone to righteousness, became a stumbling block, instead, when it was used to justify ignoring God’s commandments.

I believe (and you can agree or not- it is simply my belief) that many years after that letter, when James saw what was happening to the movement, he decided to get these people back on track by writing his letter to remind them that they must still obey the entire Torah. He decided to show them that they were being taught incorrectly when they were told that faith is all you need, and performance (ie., doing good works) is not necessary.

Faith demands good works, and when we say we have faith we need to show it by how we act. If we are faithful, truly faithful, then we will want to do as God said to do and not listen to men telling us we don’t need to.

Men do not have more authority than God, and God never said to stop obeying him. James knew this, and (again, it is my opinion) realized that what he wrote then to help people was now hurting people.

It was the right idea at that time, but it had been perverted from a slow learning process of how to obey God into a justification for totally rejecting God’s instructions.

So, that’s my thought. Do you think that James realized what he did had been turned against him? Or are you of the school that Christians do not have to do anything in the Torah, which are the direct commands from God, but instead can do what men who have run the “church” say you should do?

James suggested the letter in Acts 15, and many believe it was the same James who wrote that letter to the Believers in the Diaspora, so if it was (and even if it wasn’t), I really believe that James 2:17 was written as “damage control” to get those people back on track who had been misled by the Gentile church leaders who perverted the Acts 15 letter.

What do you think?

That’s it for now, so please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, Facebook group (Just God’s Word), and check out my books. If you like what you get here, you will also like my books.

Enjoy your turkey and do give thanks, every day.

Baruch HaShem!