2021 Simchat Torah Message

Here we are, again, at the end of a Torah cycle.

Time to march the Torah around the neighborhood, with singing and shofar blowing. Then, after returning to the synagogue, we read the last lines of Deuteronomy and while the congregation sings and dances we roll back the Torah to the beginning and read the first lines of Genesis.

(Rolling the Torah back gives you forearms that look like Popeye’s!)

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“Simchat Torah” means the Joy of Torah: the joyful part being the fact that we get to read it, all over again. The Torah is split into 54 separate readings, each reading is called a “parashah” and the weekly parashah is read at the Saturday morning Shabbat service. This is what we have done every Shabbat for millennia, even from before the time Yeshua walked the earth. These parashot (plural) are designed for an annual cycle, although in some synagogues they use a three-year cycle instead of the one-year cycle.

After the parashah is read, we read the Haftorah portion, which is from the other parts of the Tanakh and is relatable to the Torah portion. This is how it works: we read the Torah, which is the direct word of God telling us how we should live, worship, and treat each other, and then we read the Haftorah to see the practical application (or failure, thereof) of the Torah portion we just read which occurred during our history.

For example, Parashah Naso (Numbers 4:21 to the end of Chapter 7) includes the laws regarding the vow of the Nazirite. The Haftorah portion is from the Book of Judges 8:2-25, which is the story of the birth of Shimshon (Samson), who was to be a Nazirite from birth.

In some cases, there is a double parashot reading which is done to make sure the final reading comes out on the 8th day of Sukkot.

Yes, I know Sukkot is only 7 days, but the story goes that God so loved to be with his children that he extended it an extra day, which is called Shemini Atzeret (this is also Simchat Torah.)

It is very sad that so many Christians pretty much ignore the Torah. Not only is this sad because they can never really understand who Yeshua (Jesus) is if they don’t know his people’s history (he is, after all, Jewish) and they also can’t really fathom the depth of the lessons in Shaul’s (Paul) letters if they don’t know where he is “coming from”, meaning the mindset and beliefs of the Jewish people, which is given in the writings of the Torah.

They miss learning the wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs, and let’s not forget experiencing the beauty of the poetry in the Psalms; even though many churches do take from the Psalms, now and then. However, the full impact cannot be felt without knowing the history that motivated those songs.

And the worst part of all when Christians ignore reading the Torah is that they do not know what God said we should do, and no matter what their Priest, Minister, Pastor or whatever tells them Paul said, or John said, or even James said- it is what God said that counts!

Yeshua never taught anything different than what is in the Torah. Why people said he talked as no man has talked before is because he taught the spiritual understanding of God’s commandments. The Pharisees only taught the literal meaning, what we call the P’shat, but Yeshua went deeper than that and taught the Remes, the underlying spiritual meaning.

Here’s proof, which we get directly from Matthew 5 when we read the Sermon on the Mount: the Pharisees taught “Do not kill” but Yeshua said not to even so much as hate in our hearts; the Pharisees said “Do not commit adultery” but Yeshua said that wasn’t enough- you must not even lust with your eyes. Yeshua taught what God wanted us to know, which is not just the letter of the law but the very spirit of it.

If you aren’t that familiar with the Torah, please take it out and read it. Make it part of your daily reading. I keep my Bible in the bathroom because I know that every day I will have (at least) enough time alone and undisturbed to read a chapter or two. You will be surprised how quickly you get through the entire Bible that way. I start at Genesis and go all the way through to Revelation, then start all over again.

Of course, since I am reading much more than the Torah, alone, it takes me more than a year to go through the entire Bible, but doing it this way I have read the whole Bible many times over the past 25 or so years, and each time I get to start it over I am excited to do so.

Reading only the New Covenant is like building a house starting with the second floor. You may end up with something, but it will never be complete.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. The more people who hear these lessons, the more people who will know what God really says. The whole purpose of this ministry is to grow and teach people what they need to know so they can make an informed decision about where they want to spend eternity.

Also please subscribe here and only my YouTube channel as well (use the link above), and remember that I always welcome your comments; you can make them here or on my Facebook discussion group called Just God’s Word.

PS: I have finished the draft of my latest book, which is debunking the different lies that have been traditionally handed down, in both Christianity and Judaism, about Messiah Yeshua. I hope to have it self-published and available for purchase within the next month or so and will announce it on my website when it is ready.

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

Ezekiel 36 Today

Ezekiel was a prophet who certainly had a rough time of it. He was tied with ropes and forced to lie on his side, being fed just bread and water for years, some years on his left side and some on his right side. He was made mute, God had Ezekiel’s wife die suddenly, and Ezekiel was made to do other things that were uncomfortable and even torturous, all to be a demonstration to the people of Israel what would happen to them if they continued disobeying the Lord.

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

God also told him to prophecy to the Israeli people, and to their mountains, animals, and also to the foreign nations surrounding Israel. In Chapter 36, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy that the land which has been taken over by the nations surrounding Israel, naming Edom as one, will be returned to them. He tells how after God dispersed his people, the surrounding nations all came in and took possession of the land, angering God because they bragged about their ownership.

Isn’t this what has happened in modern times? During the 18th and 19th Centuries, Israel was barren land, untilled, unformed, and essentially uninhabited except for nomadic peoples, mostly Jordanians and Syrians, using the land for grazing their herds. They would come in, graze the land until it was denuded, and then move back to their own country.

That is how it was until Israel was declared a state and the Jewish people were being regathered, as God promised, back into their land. Now, all of a sudden, these nomads who were never interested in true ownership, are crying that they have been ejected from their land!

Yasser Arafat was a very influential and wise leader, creating one of the most enduring propaganda lies ever formed, which he called the Palestinian People. The only real Palestinian people were the Jews living there when Israel was renamed Palestina by the Romans, after their defeat of the Bar Kokhba rebellion in 132-135 AD. This was not just to eradicate any relation of the land to the Jews, since the Romans now wanted to make it a Roman city, but it was also an insult to the Jewish people because Palestina was the Roman form of the name of their ancient enemies, the Philistines.

Just look at any pictures of the land of Israel, or to be historically accurate, Palestine during the 19th and early 20th Centuries; all you will see is desert. No olive trees (millions have been planted on the West Bank by the so-called Palestinian people as a way to lay claim to the land), no buildings, no cities, no development, no agriculture…nothing!

But look at the pictures of Israel in the 21st Century and you will see a garden where there was a desert; you will see cities, communities with homes, houses of worship, and recreational buildings. Israel developed a strong economy, science and agricultural advancements, and a growing population composed of both Jews and Arabs, who (for the most part) get along fine in Israel.

The truth of the matter is not that Israel is apartheid (as the United Nations accuses them of being) or that they are evicting people and destroying their homes (as the Media would make you think), but they are developing the land and sharing it with whoever wishes to live there in peace. Arabs have the same rights as Israelis, and the fact remains that the Palestinian people are nothing more than terrorists who want the destruction of Israel, while the peace-loving Arabs living in Syria and Jordan wish they could live in Israel because it is better than where they live.

The ones that are the real threat to the lives and families of the surrounding Arab peoples are not the Israelis, but the Arabs! Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt are all economically devastated by their own poor leadership. Their people are tortured, taken prisoner, and their homes destroyed more by Jihad, ISIS, and the other terrorist groups than the Israelis have ever done. Israel has given land rightfully belonging to them to the Palestinians in order to make peace, but that has never worked out: not because of anything Israel did, but because the Palestinians aren’t really interested in peace.

God said that the surrounding nations who took over the land after he dispersed the Israelis would be shamed, and we see that happening in our times. Despite the overwhelming odds against Israel, being surrounded by nations that outnumber them and only want their total destruction, Israel has kicked their butts every time they tried to attack. That’s because what the Arabs don’t understand is that God is still protecting his people, as he has done for millennia, and he will keep his word that once he has regathered his people, which is still being done, he will never again allow them to be dispersed.

Assyria destroyed the Northern Kingdom and dispersed them; Babylon destroyed the Southern Kingdom and dispersed them; Alexander, through his program of Hellenism, almost totally obliterated the Jewish religion; Rome destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, killed tens of thousands of Jews and routed almost all the rest from their homeland; England killed thousands of Jews during the Crusades; Spain killed thousands upon thousands of Jews during the Inquisition; Nazi Germany killed millions of Jews… but we’re still here and stronger than ever!

No other civilization has been so decimated, so often, and not just survived but is flourishing. Today, Israel is a world leader in science, technology, and agriculture. How is this possible? It’s possible because as Yeshua said in Matthew 19:26:

“Humanly, this is impossible; but with God everything is possible.”

We are living in prophetic times, my friends, and we are seeing prophesy come to fruition. It is at once wonderful and terrible because as Israel grows stronger and more Jews return to their homeland (this is called “making Aliya”), we come closer to the Acharit HaYamim, the End Days when all the nations of the world will turn against Jerusalem.

We are seeing this already: the United Nations has taken a position against Israel, the Arab nations are (as always) attacking innocent Israeli civilians while accusing Israel of attacking them, and now even the one most trustworthy friend of Israel, the United States, is turning against them with the Democratic Party accusing Israel of human-rights infractions, sending billions of dollars to the enemies of Israel (this happened under Obama), and recently leaving billions of dollars of American top-secret arms and weapons to Afghanistan terrorists while simultaneously cutting billions of dollars of funding for the Iron Dome program.

As bad as things are, they will get worse, but what we know- and history has proven- is that God will no longer abandon his people. We may be in for rough times ahead, but in the end, Israel will emerge triumphantly with Messiah Yeshua ruling the world and God’s promises of eternal peace and joy finally being fulfilled.

Thank you for being here. Please share this message with everyone you know, and subscribe here and on my website, as well.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

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

2021 Sukkot Message

Here we are at Sukkot, again, which this year happens exactly on the first day of Fall.

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Sukkot is, traditionally, believed to be the time when Messiah Yeshua was born, and this is verified by the timeline in the Gospel of Luke, with regards to when Zachariah (Yochanon the Immerser’s father) served in the temple, saw the angel, Miryam visited Elizabeth, etc.

The Torah commands us to live in Sukkot, which are tabernacles, or tents, with an open-top. The Sukkot are decorated with fruits and branches, which would be consistent with what materials would have been available to the Jews living in the desert. The commandment is also to live in the Sukkah (singular form) for 7 days, as a memorial to how the Israelites lived for 40 years.

In modern days, we build a Sukkah but for most people, it is in the backyard (if they have the space) and maybe the kids sleep in it, but for the most part, they will have dinner in it but sleep in the house.

When I was attending a Messianic synagogue back in Northeast Philadelphia, I built a Sukkah using PVC pipes so that it could be used, then reused, over and over again. It lasted for many years. We performed the shaking of the Lulav with the 4 Species in it, and it was fun to erect, decorate and then tear it all down when the week of Sukkot was over.

The message I have for us today is this tabernacle represents how God cared for his people, and whether or not you build a physical Sukkah, the tabernacle I believe God desires to share with us, more than anything else, is the tabernacle of our hearts.

When we read about God and his relationship with his people, we are told that he knows the mind. We read in the Gospels that Yeshua (through the power of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit) knew men’s minds. But we do not read about God seeking our mind: what we do read is that God seeks our heart.

When I like to check traditional Jewish thoughts, I go to one of two sources, neither of which has ever let me down: one is the book called “The Jewish Book of Why” (there are two volumes) and the other is the Chabad website. In this case, to share with you the Judaic belief about the relationship between the mind and the heart, I am paraphrasing what I saw on the Chabad website.

According to Chabad, there are two hearts and one mind. There is an outer and an inner heart; the outer heart reacts to the world, what we would call the “flesh” and the inner heart is purer and what we would call our spiritual side. The mind is the pathway to the inner heart, being able to overcome the fleshly desires of the outer heart and direct us to what is good and holy.

When I read this I thought immediately of Freudian analysis, the Id, Ego, and Super-ego.

Monsters from the Id! Monsters from the Id! Morbius didn’t think about the monsters from the Id!
(If you don’t recognize this reference, watch “Forbidden Planet”)

Freudian psychoanalysis identifies the Id as the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego. I am sure you can now see the clear relationship of the Id (outer heart), the Super-ego (the inner heart), and the Ego (the mind). I wouldn’t be surprised if Freud, being Jewish, knew about the two hearts and the mind and used that as the basis for his system.

In any event, God seeks the heart, which is clearly the inner heart, and through prayer, we can have a sort of Sukkot every day of the year.

And unlike this week, the weather has no influence on our ability to tabernacle with God through prayer.

So enjoy this most festive Holy Day, which is really a Holy Week, and look forward to Shemini Atzeret, also called Simchat Torah (the Joy of Torah) which starts next Monday night The traditional thought is that even though the Torah says Sukkot is 7 days, God so enjoyed being with us in the tabernacles that he extended it for an extra day. On Simchat Torah, we turn the Torah back to the very beginning to start the annual reading cycle all over again, which is the joyful part.

(If I may, I will take this time to plug my book, "Parashot Drashim" which is a commentary/Bible study of each of the 54 Torah readings (called Parashah).  I believe you will find it very useful to see Yeshua in the Torah, as well as better understanding the Jewish mindset. It is available in paperback and Kindle; there are links to it on my website and it is available directly on Amazon.)

Sukkot is a time of celebration that, unlike most Holy Days, allows us to get closer to God not just spiritually, but physically, and I will finish today’s message with this one thought: God is never any further away than the length of our arms, yet no matter how close we get to him we can always get closer.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with everyone you know, and I always welcome your comments.

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

2021 Yom Kippur Message

First off, I want to say to everyone the traditional Jewish greeting we pass to each other on Yom Kippur, which is:
May you have an easy fast.

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

So often over the years, I have heard Christians tell me that because we are saved by faith in Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), we do not have to fast on Yom Kippur, or even obey any of the Moedim (Holy Days) that God gave to the Jews, all of which are specified in Leviticus 23.

My response is to ask if they understand what Yom Kippur is about. They say it is the Day of Atonement when we ask forgiveness of all our sins. For those who really know Judaism, they add that we do this by afflicting ourselves (the traditional method is fasting) and pray that God will move from his Throne of Judgment to his Throne of Forgiveness, and inscribe us in his Book of Life.

So, I ask you: if Yom Kippur is how God said to ask him to forgive you of your sins, who doesn’t have sin?

If you are sinless, then you don’t need to ask forgiveness, right? But, then again, refusing to afflict yourself on Yom Kippur, in whichever way you feel afflicted, is rejecting a commandment from God, which is a sin. Yeshua never said to reject any of God’s Holy Days, and even Shaul (Paul) never said to reject any of God’s Holy Days. So, by saying we have forgiveness through Yeshua so we don’t have to fast or observe Yom Kippur is, by definition, a sin.

And that means you need to ask forgiveness on Yom Kippur.

Here are my two reasons for Christians to observe Yom Kippur:

  1. It is a commandment from God; and
  2. No one is without sin, so why not ask for forgiveness?

Christianity has been professing that Yeshua did away with the law, but if he did, then that means there is no law. If there is no law, then we have no need for a Messiah, right? I mean, the law is what defines sin, so if there is no law there is no sin, and if there is no sin, there is no need for forgiveness, so we don’t need to practice any religion.

The conundrum Christianity has created is that believing Yeshua, who obeyed every law in the Torah, is the Messiah God sent to bring us into communion with him makes you a Christian, and Christians don’t have to obey God’s laws in the Torah, which means they obey man-made laws that reject God, which is the opposite of what Yeshua came to do!

God gave us laws, credos, doctrines, Holy Days, etc., but if Yeshua set us free from the Torah, then shouldn’t we also be free from the man-made traditions, holidays, and commandments that are in Christianity? Doesn’t it make sense that if we can reject what God said we must do, then whatever men say is even less important? Isn’t God more powerful than humans? So, if what God said doesn’t count, then certainly a human-originated commandment or law has no power or value, at all.

I am Jewish: I was born Jewish from Jewish parents of Jewish parents, and I even have the Levitical DNA marker in my genes. When I accepted Yeshua as the Messiah God promised, I was reborn- not as a Christian but as a renewed Jew. My faith was stronger than it had ever been, my life became more in alignment with the Jewish lifestyle that Yeshua lived, and I have been blessed beyond belief since doing this.

Yeshua celebrated every single Holy Day that God commanded us to obey, and even though he was given the authority to forgive sins on earth, he still fasted on Yom Kippur.

Hold it a minute! There is not one mention in the New Covenant Gospels about Yeshua observing any Jewish Holy Day or holiday (the former being God-ordained, the latter being man-made) other than Hanukkah and Passover. So how do I know he celebrated Yom Kippur? Because he was resurrected, which proved his sacrifice was accepted by God. And if his sacrifice was accepted, that means he died sinless, a spiritual condition which could only have existed if he observed every commandment God gave in the Torah.

The only difference between the sacrificial system for the forgiveness of sin God created in the Torah and the current means of forgiveness of sin through Yeshua is that Yeshua replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem, the only place where God said we could make a sacrifice. Other than that, we still need to confess our sins (a part of the Yom Kippur service called the Ashamnoo prayer), repent of them and ask for forgiveness from God, which we do during the Yom Kippur service when reciting the Al Het (All sins) prayer.

Yom Kippur is not just something that we can throw behind us because we can receive forgiveness through Yeshua anytime we ask for it. The Sabbath, Passover, Shavuot, Yom Teruah (now called Rosh HaShanah), Yom Kippur, and Sukkot are Holy Days that God commanded us to observe as part of the way we worship him. Throwing them behind our back is a direct rejection of God. Period.

Unless you can find someplace where Yeshua said once we accept him as the Messiah it was OK to reject everything that his father said, then you had better reconsider rejecting the observance of God’s Holy Days. And I am not talking about what Shaul said, or more accurately, what people over the millennia have misinterpreted what Shaul said because God is more important than people. Yes, even more important than that nice Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus.

Too many Christians I have met don’t realize that they are not obeying God but instead a bunch of ex-Pagans who made up a religion of their own, with their own rules and holidays to replace the ones God gave, justifying this new, man-made religion by misinterpreting what Shaul said in his letters to ex-pagans learning how to be Jewish.

Think about it: God gave instructions on how to worship him and treat each other, as well as many other regulations regarding civil and criminal law, business ethics, and appropriate interpersonal relationships in order to teach us how to live righteous and holy lives. He did this in the Torah, so nu? Does that sound like something you should ignore?

Look…if you still aren’t sure if Yom Kippur is something you should celebrate as God commanded, I will leave you with one last question: do you really think that the Messiah, sent to bring us back into communion with God, would do so by telling us to reject everything God said?

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with everyone you know, and check out my books, as well. Please remember that I always welcome your comments, so don’t be shy about letting me know what you think, even if you disagree. Hey, I’m not always right and I do respectfully listen to what people tell me they believe. All I ask is that you be respectful of me, as well.

That’s it for today, and remember that it is easier on you if you do NOT eat a big meal tomorrow night before sunset.

L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Only One Sin But Two Ways to Commit It

In my last message, I talked about how despite all the different ways we can sin which God tells us in the Torah, there is really only one sin, and that is always the sin against God. No matter what we do, or don’t do, sin is always just the one type: against God.

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

However, there are two distinct ways in which we can commit that sin: purposefully or accidentally.

The sin we commit on purpose is easy enough to know because you do or don’t do something that you know, unquestionably, is a sin because God said it is. And knowing this, you decide to ignore God and do it, anyway.

Now, since we all sin and many times we do it knowingly but are incapable (at least, for the moment) to overcome it, we can repent of that sin and ask forgiveness through Yeshua ha Maschiach (Jesus Christ). If we repent and ask forgiveness through Yeshua, we will be forgiven.

Yes, even though we did sin on purpose, we can still be saved and in God’s presence when we are resurrected IF we repent, try not to sin, and (even when we fail) ask forgiveness for our sin through Yeshua. How can I be sure of this? I am sure because in Matthew 5:19 Yeshua says that even those who sin and teach others to sin will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So, here is clear evidence that sinners will be allowed into heaven, even if they teach others to sin.

How can that be? Well, the answer (as I see it) falls under the other way we sin, which is doing so accidentally. Or, in many cases, ignorantly.

There are many, many people I have come across in the past quarter-century since I came to accept Yeshua as my Messiah who sin, violating God’s commandments about the Holy Days, about Kashrut (Kosher), the Shabbat (Sabbath), and many other “lesser’ commandments found in the Torah, yet they believe that they are worshiping God as they should. They have been taught to commit these sins by their religious leaders, family, and friends, who they, themselves, have been taught this by their religious leaders, family, and friends, and this goes all the way back to the end of the First Century.

These people are sinning against God, but they think they are worshiping him as he desires. It’s the epitome of the situation where the blind are leading the blind.

Because they are totally ignorant of this sin, they do not repent of it and that is a problem, but I believe that this falls under the category Yeshua was talking about in Matthew.

True, they are sinning, and true, they do not repent, but it is also true that this is accidental on their part, and although they are guilty, if they ask forgiveness of their sins, the ones they know and the ones they don’t know, then they can be forgiven.

God tells us in Leviticus 5:17:

“If someone sins by doing something against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, he is guilty, even if he is unaware of it; and he bears the consequences of his wrongdoing.

This is also confirmed in John 9:41, where Yeshua tells the Pharisees that if they were ignorant of the law, they would not be guilty, but since they know it, they are guilty. And in James 4:17 we are told that anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it is committing a sin.

There seems to be a fine line between purposeful and accidental/ignorant commission of a sin, and I think what separates one from the other is repenting of it when you find out.

For instance: if someone is raised Christian and told they are not obligated to celebrate a Saturday sabbath, that they can eat pork and shellfish, and do not have to celebrate those “Jewish” holy days, they are sinning but they are, for the most part, ignorant of those sins because they have been mistaught what the Gospels and Epistles in the New Covenant really mean. As such, they will be forgiven if they repent and ask forgiveness, once they actually are made aware of these sins. And, in my opinion, they must also try to overcome what they have been taught. If they cannot overcome their sins, but repent, feel sorrowful at their weakness, and constantly ask God to forgive them and help them to overcome these weaknesses, I believe from what I have read in the Bible and personal experience that God is not just willing to forgive but will forgive because he desires to forgive them, understanding our human weaknesses.

On the other hand, if someone knows they are sinning and just doesn’t care, or (as many people do) rationalize their sinfulness by saying health codes make food safe, or they were born this way so it means God is OK with them like this, or any other kind of rationalization (I have even heard people say that God is wrong!), well that isn’t going to be of any use to them at Judgement Day.

The way I handle this situation is to ask for forgiveness of my sins, those I know I committed and especially those I don’t know I committed, and through his Ruach HaKadosh (Holy Spirit) to recognize sin before I do it and strengthen me to be able to overcome it. This is part of my daily prayer, and I recommend it.

Remember this: most everyone you will ever meet who tells you what God means is telling you what someone else told them God means, so you can choose to trust people, or read for yourself what God really said and ask him to show you what he wants from you.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my ministry here on my website (messianicmoment.com) and on my YouTube channel, and check out my books. Buy a hundred or so and distribute them where you worship.

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

Rosh HaShanah 2021 Message

I bet some of you are expecting me to talk about the Akidah, Genesis 22 (the Binding of Isaac) because that is the traditional reading for Rosh HaShanah. Other traditions are the eating of sweets, such as apples with honey and carrot tzimmes. We stay away from nuts because the value of the letters used for the Hebrew word for nuts, אגוז (egotz) adds up to the same number that you get from the Hebrew word for sin (חטה), so we don’t want to begin the new year with any association, even a numerological one, to sin.

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

As for me, we had neighbors over for a Labor Day celebration, which was also a Rosh HaShannah celebration, so we did the traditional Labor Day barbecue of burgers and hot dogs (Hebrew National, of course), and for dessert, I made a Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting. כל טעים מאוד!! (everything was very tasty). The reason for the carrot cake was to incorporate carrots into the menu; actually, I really wanted to try that recipe and this was the perfect opportunity because there is a tradition that comes from Ashkenazi Jews. They dubbed carrots “mehren” which sounds much like “merin”, the word for prosperity. So having a carrot dish of some sort at Rosh HaShannah symbolizes prosperity for the coming year.

So, having shared a little of my personal life with you, let’s get to the spiritual stuff.

Because this is the beginning of the Jewish civil new year (the spiritual one begins on the first of Aviv), and the last thing we want to start this new year with is sin, I thought we’d go against the grain and talk a little about sin.

Here’s the low-down on sin: there is only one sin. There are many different kinds of sin, but when it comes down to it there is only one sin, and that is the sin we commit against God.

King David knew this. After he committed a few really bad sins, some of which were on the Top Ten List, when he was forced to be faced with these sins by Nathan the prophet, he confessed and asked God for forgiveness.

Now, in case you haven’t counted them, let’s see what old Davie did (2 Samuel 11):

  1. He coveted his neighbors wife, Bat-Sheba;
  2. He committed adultery with her;
  3. He lied about it (by not telling Uriyah, who was her husband and a trusted friend);
  4. He tried to cover it up by getting Uriyah drunk, hoping he would sleep with his wife;
  5. When that failed, he committed murder by having Joab place Uriyah where he was sure to be killed;
  6. He implicated Joab to commit murder, forcing him to also have the man’s blood on his hands.

And after doing all these sins, not to mention being the reason for the death of all those other men who didn’t have to die in order to make sure Uriyah was killed, after all this when David confessed his sin to God in Psalm 51:4, what did he say to God? He said:

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.

Whoa! Wait a minute here…what about Bat Sheba, Uriyah, Joab, and the men that died with Uriyah. Didn’t he sin against them too?

Of course, he did, but sin is first and foremost against God. When we do what God says we should not do or do not do what God says we should (that’s the one most Christians are guilty of), that is a sin against God.

If anyone else is involved, well, it’s certainly a sin against them, too, but in reality? – they’re not the ones we need to be forgiven by. They can’t condemn us to hell, but God can, so when you sin, you sin against God, and your first and most important confession and apology must be to God.

You also should apologize to the ones that you sinned against, ask their forgiveness, but that forgiveness is only between you and them. Whether or not they choose to forgive you, that is between them and God.

It is ALWAYS first between us and God, then between us and them. And, for the record, we are not told we must be forgiven by other people, but we are told that we must forgive other people.

And bringing this back to Rosh HaShannah, for a moment, one of the traditional actions we take is called tashlik. This is when we go to a stream or river, some moving water, and throw bread or rocks into it, asking that our sins be taken as far away from us as these items are, to sink and never return. This is also accompanied by going to anyone we think we may have sinned against or upset in any way, and ask for their forgiveness. Sort of like starting the new year with a clean slate. You may recognize this from Matthew 5:23-24; after all, where do you think Yeshua got this from?

The Bible defines all the different types of sin that exist, but no matter which one of the many types of sin you commit, it is always just the one sin: the sin against God. Confess it, repent of it, and then ask forgiveness through Yeshua the Messiah.

That covers you with God, then go and do the same with any and all the people that are affected by this sin.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my YouTube channel and this website, like my Facebook page and share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry keep growing. You might like to check out my books, as well.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and לשנה טובה!! (For a good year!)

How Do the 3 Punishments God Used Against Sinful Israel Relate to Us, Today?

I am still in the book of Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) and reading about the prophecies God told Jeremiah to relate to the people. There is a constant theme in these prophecies, which we see throughout the Tanakh, regarding God’s threat to punish Israel (Northern and Southern kingdoms) if they fail to repent, and it is composed of three horrors:

  • sword
  • famine
  • plague

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

These were the most horrible things that could happen to the people in those days, and I believe that these punishments will still be coming to us, but not necessarily in the same way they did back then.

As I have been posting since November of 2020, I believe the current administration is part of the punishment America is going to suffer for the sinfulness of our nation over the past (nearly) 70 years.

During this time period, we have constantly rejected God: first by kicking him out of our schools, then our courts, condoning abortion (which is tantamount to child sacrifice), and condoning homosexuality not just as a normal part of our society, but as a good thing, encouraging children who haven’t even developed hormones to mutilate themselves with sex-change operations! Drag Queens reading to little children, the church hiding sexual molestation by the priesthood, and evangelists being found guilty of extortion, sexual misdeeds, etc.

When God punished the ancient Israelites, he sent the sword, which was in the form of the Philistines, Assyrians, and Babylonians, not to mention Pharaoh, now and then. He also withheld the rains and caused a famine. The sieges that the “sword” brought, along with the famine, led to death, and with no place to bury the bodies that eventually caused pestilence, disease, and that led to plague.

“So, nu? That’s how God punished sinful nations way back then, so what does this have to do with us now?”

Plenty!

Haven’t we been suffering from a worldwide pandemic? People have been suffering and dying from a virus that has been barely contained, even though it has been around for over 18 months. Wouldn’t you call that a plague?

“Well, OK, there’s a plague, but what about famine? There’s no famine here.”

Isn’t there? What is a famine? Isn’t it a severe lack of something, usually something necessary? In the ancient days, they were an agrarian society, so the famine they suffered was the loss of their crops, which represented more than just a lack of food- it meant financial ruin. Well, right now don’t we have a business famine? Hasn’t the financial strength of America been devastated by this pandemic? Don’t we have a famine of workers?

In the past 7 months, Donna and I have traveled to a few different places just here in Florida, and everywhere we have been, there are Help Wanted signs all over. And where are the workers? They are at home enjoying government handouts that will, sooner or later, need to be financed. And where will that financing come from? Heck, the government can print as much money as it wants to, but anyone with even a basic understanding of economics will realize that the more money in circulation, the less value it has. That is called a recession.

Trillions of dollars have been given to people who aren’t working, which means employers aren’t collecting taxes to support the new cash outlay. And with lockdowns and reduced capacity requirements, as well as the fear the media and government have created, no one is going out to buy anything, which means reduced tax income for the government.

Sooner or later, taxes will be required to pay for this deficit, and that’s when the fecal matter will hit the air circulation unit for all Americans!

“OK, OK, so I get it- famine and plague, but there’s no sword. America is still the most powerful country in the world.

Are we?

According to the report titled State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2020 (https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/u-s-and-global-education#k-12-mathematics-and-science), the US standing (measured against 8th-grade students worldwide) in science and math is 7th in the world.

For Science and Engineering degrees issued between 2000 and 2016, the US barely made any progress, whereas the number of S&E degrees issued in China has nearly doubled over the past 10 years.

As far as technology, cybersecurity, agrarian science, and medical advancements, Israel is a recognized world leader, leaving America in its dust!

The “sword” today is not some warring country, it is education and technology! Cyberattacks, such as hacking into banks, the stealing of military secrets, and even interfering with a country’s elections- THAT’S the sword being brought against us today!

You don’t have to tie torches to foxes’ tails and release them into the fields anymore (that’s from Samson, in case you forgot): No! All you have to do today is start a rumor about a computer virus and the world comes to a halt.

We shouldn’t worry about a military attack because we can be destroyed from the inside-out through the “Cloud”.

And it is happening, right now.

So, do you see what I mean? God hasn’t changed his tactics, just his methods. America, as well as other countries, is being punished for our rejection of God and refusal to adhere to his codes of ethics and social interactions. We have become as sexually perverse, as selfish, as godless, and as sinful as the worst societies we read about in the Bible.

And the other shoe hasn’t even dropped yet.

So, what can we do? Well, I for one don’t see things changing for a while, so my recommendation is to make sure that YOU are right with God. You will get dirty, just as the righteous in the ancient days suffered along with the unrighteous, but God promised those who remained faithful that they will survive.

And we can always look forward to being in God’s presence, forever, when this is all over.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to this ministry on this website and my YouTube channel, as well (the link is above), like my Facebook page, and check out the books I have written.

That’s it for today and hopefully, I will be able to give a more “upbeat” message next time. But, when it comes down to it, I calls ’em as I sees ’em.

L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

We Have More Political Power Than the Israelites Did

Did you ever think how unfair it seems that the entire nation of Israel was punished for the sins of its leadership?

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In the Northern Kingdom of Shomron, the evil kings were certainly bringing the nation into a sinful lifestyle, but we know there were at least 7,000 who didn’t follow that religious debauchery (1 Kings 19:18), and when the punishment came, although God ensured that they would survive it, they still had to go through it.

Those kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom after the split under Rehoboam) took it upon themselves to choose their king. Well, not really choose one, but the kings that they had were the ones who took power. The exceptions were Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:29) and Jehu (1 Kings 9), both of whom were chosen by God to be king. The other kings were either a son of the existing king or usurpers.

In Judea, however, those kings were always the son of the previous king, although once or twice a queen took charge, but that never lasted too long. The son of the original king eventually was anointed and placed in his proper position.

So, when God ran the show, the leadership of the people was not their choice, but his. And even so, there were poor leaders who brought the nation into sin.

And because of that, the nation and everyone in it suffered, both the unrighteous and the righteous.

So, nu? What’s my point?

My point is that we have the power to choose our own leaders, but what kind of choices have we made? The leaders we have chosen over the past 4 or 5 decades have resulted in God being kicked out of the schools, the courts, and child sacrifice is not just condoned, but funded by the government (http://www.messianicmoment.com/abortion-is-more-than-just-murder/). The rejection of God and his ways have brought this nation into sin and I believe we are past the time when repentance will do any good.

Despite the merciful and forgiving nature of God, he is still just and holy, and even though he is always willing to forgive, at some point he is no longer able to forgive. What I am saying is this: God will abide by his rules, always, so when we are unrepentantly sinful, and stay that way long enough, even though God is willing to forgive us he MUST punish us for those sins we have committed. He cannot just allow evil to go unpunished, and he tells us that throughout the Tanakh.

Remember that forgiveness of sin is a spiritual event, not a physical one, which means that even though we can be forgiven of our sins, there are always consequences of sin in the real world. We may be able to spend eternity in God’s presence because we have Yeshua, but while we are alive, in this plane of existence, there will always be unpleasant consequences we will suffer, as well as others, as the result of our sins.

America may one day be back in God’s good graces, but right now that ain’t the case. I feel like Jeremiah, telling the people that there is no way to escape punishment, and all the vaccines and face masks in the world won’t stop the pandemic because this is part of God’s punishment. Look at what has happened: our economy has tanked, our morale has tanked, children are not receiving the educational benefits that this country has provided, people paying taxes for schools that sit empty, the cost of living increases, people don’t have jobs and businesses are suffering because they can’t find people, or can’t allow enough people in their stores to break even.

There has been rioting in the streets, racial tensions are at an all-time high, and the current administration, who we chose, is supporting and helping the enemies of America.

We have the power to change our leadership, to repent of the ones we have elected to lead us, but do we? I see so many postings about impeach, and set term limits, etc., all of which seem valid and necessary, but that is all I see- words!

We are past words, and it seems that wanting doesn’t get anything, and the ones who want change aren’t making it happen. Am I suggesting that we rise up in rebellion? Yes, but legally. We need to have leaders rise up from the populace and organize petitions that will force our representatives in the Congress and Senate to enact these measures.

I am not the one to do it- but there are people qualified and able to do it, and we need them. So pray that God will raise them up: encourage, protect, and fortify them to do what needs to be done.

Or, better yet, pray for the return of Messiah Yeshua ASAP / STAT/ PDQ … NOW! We need God-provided leadership to bring this nation back into alliance with God, instead of alliance with the enemies of God.

We are in bad shape here in America, and we deserve to be punished; our nation has rejected God and done things that are horrible in his eyes. And trust me, punishment is not just coming, but here. This pandemic is the start. Think of the ways God has said he will punish those who reject him, then look at what our nation has become, socially, financially, and healthwise. We currently have a breakdown within the nuclear family (ask your kids if they agree, that is, if you can get them to put their phones down), we are suffering financial difficulties, we are in the midst of a pandemic that has lasted more than 18 months! How can this be? With all our modern technology, how can a virus devastate a country for so long?

Maybe it’s because the leadership of this country isn’t handling it correctly? Or, worse yet, maybe they are handling it just the way they planned to?

Enough rambling, there is not much we can do without proper leadership, and I am just as guilty as everyone else I mentioned who spouts off about how bad it is but doesn’t do anything about it. I really don’t think we can fix this until it runs its course, and God has finished doling out the punishment we deserve. That may sound fatalistic, but there is a thin line between fatalism and accepting what we deserve.

Thank you for being here and please, if you think this message has merit, share it with others. I always welcome your comments.

I’ll get off the soapbox now: l’hitraot and Baruch Hashem!

“As Me” Doesn’t Have to Mean Exactly As Me

How many times do we read in the Bible that God says we are to be holy, as he is holy? Too many times to count, right?

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But we are human beings; mortal, finite, and born with iniquity in our very DNA! God is perfect, holy, eternal, and unchanging; he knows we are weak, sinful, and as stable as a leaf in a hurricane, so why would he even think to task us with such an enormous burden, to be as he is?

How can God, being fair and just, expect us to be the same way he is?

The answer is: he doesn’t. C’mon, people, get real! God absolutely knows that we could never be the exact same way he is, so what does he mean when he says, “Be holy, as I am holy”?

I believe he means to emulate the way he is.

“What way is that?” you may ask, and the answer is given by God, himself: he tells us the way he is throughout the Torah.

God is forgiving; God loves everyone, even those who hate and reject him; God is fair and just, not giving special treatment to anyone.

God wants to forgive but because he is holy and just he will punish those who do evil in his sight, so we, too, must be fair and just, willing to forgive but not allowing evil to go unpunished.

God is trustworthy- he says what he means and he does what he says, unfailingly. His “Yes” means yes, and his “No” means no! Therefore, we must be trustworthy and do as we promise.

That’s all there is to it! God is forgiving, loving, just, fair, and merciful but will not allow evil to go unpunished. He treats all people the same and will not be turned to the left or the right, maintaining his course along a moral and holy path.

This is hard for us to do, but it is possible. We can never be exactly as God is, but we can be holy, as he is holy by dealing with people the same way he deals with us.

And if you aren’t really sure how to do that, then read the Torah. That is where God tells us how to worship him, and how to treat each other in all the different relationships we have. God tells us how to act with our spouses, our family, our friends, and in our business relationships. He even tells us how we should deal with evil by giving us a Penal Code.

God tells us how he expects us to interact with him and each other, and that is possible for us to do.

So, yes, Virginia- there is a way we can be holy, as God is holy, and the way to do that is to deal with people the same way God deals with us.

We can never be exactly as God is, but we can emulate God in the way we deal with others.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages (to help this ministry grow), and check out my books. And remember: I always welcome your comments.

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

Can’t Always Keep Politics Out

Well, did you miss me? Did anyone even notice that I was gone for 10 days? There is something that Donna and I love to do when we need to get away, but we haven’t been able to do it for over 18 months. And what that is is to go on a cruise.

We were on the Norwegian cruise lines ship Gem, and all last week we were in Central America, relaxing, enjoying unlimited good food and drink, and catching up on doing nothing.

I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

So, that being said, now let’s to work!

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

While reading Jeremiah last week (I may vacation from everything else, but never from the Bible) I came to Chapter 7, verses 28-29:

Therefore, say to them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of ADONAI their
God. They won’t take correction; faithfulness has perished; it has vanished from their
mouths.  Cut off your hair, and throw it away, take up a lament on the bare hills, for
ADONAI has rejected and abandoned the generation that rouses his anger.

Immediately I thought of America. We have rejected God from the courts, we have refused to allow prayer to him by our children when they are gathered together in school. And I am not talking about forcing it on anyone, but rather simply allowing it by those who wish to. If someone doesn’t want to pray, then they don’t have to, but despite what the SCOTUS has stated, they have no right to keep others from doing it!

We have professional athletes, representing America in foreign lands, who show disrespect to our national anthem, and what do we do about it? We make them spokespeople for products we sell!

We have professional athletes here at home who show the same disrespect for our country. And what do we do about it? We sit back and watch it, then cheer them to victory.

And now, the President of the United States has allowed the Taliban to take possession of billions of dollars of American cash and military equipment, which includes secret technology, and he wants us to congratulate him! Did he save American lives…really? I have no doubt that the Taliban will the equipment they now have, thanks to President Biden, against Americans anywhere they can. And more than that: I will bet you dollars to donuts that there will be thousands of Afghanistan, Middle Eastern, and especially Israeli people who will suffer and die in the future by this American technology.

I am thinking of the first Iron Man movie when Tony Stark realizes that the weapons he designed to save American lives are being used to kill Americans, as well as the innocent townspeople. Now, thanks to our President, in the real world American technology, which we have always wanted to keep out of the hands of terrorists, has been freely given to them.

I am a military man, a former First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, and I can tell you that if I was ordered to leave equipment behind, I would have destroyed it before allowing the enemy to have it.

President Biden’s previous Boss, President Obama, gave millions of dollars to Iran before he left office and now his protégé is doing the same sort of thing, financing and equipping terrorists that want nothing more than to destroy Israel.

The Democratic Party, which has always had a lot of Jews as members, mow seems to hate Jews. The Democratic Presidents that have come after Jimmy Carter have done nothing to help Israel, despite lip-service to the contrary. They say they are friends of Israel, but they don’t do anything for Israel. And now, between Obama and Biden, they have not only financed those people whose one purpose in life is to totally destroy Israel and all Jews, everywhere, but they have given them the equipment to do it! Why is the Democratic Party helping the enemies of Israel?

Maybe we should rename it the Demoncratic Party?

Messianic Moment is a ministry and not a political forum, but at some point, I must speak out against the ungodly and anti-Semitic actions that are taking place. And I am embarrassed at our government, at our professional sports affiliates, and at our youth, who want to ignore and remove evidence of events in our history that they don’t like.

The most dangerous, because it is the most effective, weapon that the Enemy of God, haSatan, has at his total disposal is the Media, both news AND social. Through social media “fact-checkers”, who (in truth) are fact-deniers and the liberal news media, people are being fed lies and misinformation, which they soak up like a sponge.

As I have written on the bottom of my Home Page, Hosea 4:6 states that we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. It isn’t just a lack of knowledge about God, but also about what is happening in the world, and that is a fatal combination of ignorance.

I was talking with a friend yesterday who actually bragged about his atheism, and that he knows this is all there is ever going to be, and all I could say was that he will be saddened when he finds out that he is wrong. I feel so sorry for those people, people who ignore God, and I also feel sorry for President Biden, VP Harris, Ms. Pelosi, et.al., who have been given the trust and responsibility to protect American lives and interests but have for decades misused that trust for their own desires. I doubt they will ever have to face up to what they have done in this life, but they WILL have to face God, and as terrible as the things they have done or will do in the future, it won’t be anywhere near as terrible as what they will have to endure for all eternity.

One last thing from Jeremiah to talk about, and this is now with regards to the traditional Christian teachings that deny the Torah. It is from Jeremiah 8:8-9 where God says:

How can you say, “We are wise; Adonai’s Torah is with us,” when in fact the lying pen of the
scribes has turned it into falsehood? The wise are put to shame, alarmed, entrapped. They
have rejected the word of Adonai, so what wisdom do they have?

The Christian doctrines, tenets, holidays, valuing what Shaul says over what God said, as well as the Jewish people giving the Talmudic Halacha (Way to Walk) precedence over the Torah by adding many unnecessary rituals and restrictions, are all (to me) the lying pen of the scribes. People have taken what God said and turned it inside-out and upside-down to meet their own desires.

And everything we have talked about today is why America has lost the blessings of God. We are past the time for repentance, we are past the ability to act on God’s warnings because we have come to the time for punishment.

The government we have now is part of God’s punishment of this country, and God will not relent from his righteous anger. Jeremiah and I have one thing in common: we both know that the land we love and the people in it are destined to suffer.

But there is always hope: we can look forward to peace after this time of punishment. That is when God will regather all his children, Jewish and Gentile alike, all those who have listened to his word and lived in accordance with what HE said, and not what some person said, and bring us into his presence, forever.

But that won’t happen until the punishment has been given, so hold on to your faith because the fecal matter is about to hit the air circulation unit.

Sorry for such a downer message, but that’s what I feel is needed to be said at this time. If you agree, then please share this message with everyone you know, and also (if you haven’t done so yet) please subscribe to this ministry on the webpage and my YouTube channel (link above) so you will be able to get notified when I post (don’t forget to set notifications).

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