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!

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!

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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!

Every morning when I take my daily meds, which is always proceeded by my thanking God for these meds and that they work for me and Donna, a thought came to mind…if God knows what I am thinking and he knows the gratitude in my heart, why am I thanking him? I mean, he already knows this so why be redundant?

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I thought also of when Yeshua told us to invoke his name when we ask for something so that he will make sure we get it, but that is the same thing. We are told in the Gospels that Yeshua knew (by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh) what the people were thinking, so to ask in his name is also somewhat unnecessary, right? God knows our minds and what we are thinking, so why even ask in Yeshua’s name when God knows that’s what we mean?

Then it hit me: the reason we need to pray is that relationships are strengthened by communication, and the more we talk with someone the stronger our relationship becomes. With God, it is mostly one-way communication, but we can still, now and then, receive a response, either verbally or that still, small voice we hear in the back of our head.

Personally, I never trust myself to know the difference between hearing from God or just telling myself what I want to hear, and so, for me, when that little voice tells me something that I really find difficult, or that is not really what I was hoping to hear, then I can be pretty certain it is from God.

For example, I once asked God (and still do) to excise any lustful or sexually questionable thoughts from my head when I see an attractive woman. That being my prayer, I waited for it to happen. After all, I asked in Yeshua’s name so when will it be?

Don’t get the wrong idea- I am not a pervert or a lustful man, really; it’s just that I have been raised in this country
where everything we see growing up on TV or hear on the radio is aimed at sexuality. This is terrible conditioning
that we all grew up with that makes us see nearly everything as some sort of sexual object.

Over time, even with constant prayer, there was no change; then, suddenly one day as I asked, again, for the umpteenth time, I heard this little voice in the back of my head saying, “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Huh? Whaddaya mean, it doesn’t work that way?!? I asked and I even asked in Yeshua’s name, so what’s the problem?”

The problem was, at least for me, that even though I trusted that God can rewire my brain, if he did that I would never be able to strengthen my spiritual muscles and withstand the temptations that the Enemy will throw my way, In other words, the answer to my prayer was not just doing it for me, but showing me that I had to practice self-control. And asking God to do it all for me isn’t going to help me, at all. I need to use the Holy Spirit to guide me to control my own desires and thoughts, as best as I can.

This doesn’t mean that God will not, or hasn’t in the past, done exactly what I asked for myself: to totally rewire someone’s head. But that doesn’t help anyone, really, in the long run. Although he did do for Charlton Heston in the movie “Exodus”, and I know if he wanted to, he could do it to me, too.

But as he told me, it doesn’t work that way.

So I continue to pray, which confirms our relationship and strengthens my trust and devotion to God. Praying is how God and I keep in touch, it is how we share our emotions in a way that I can hear and feel and know that God is listening. And I know he is because he so often lets me know.

Have you ever been praying and felt a chill go throughout your body? You’re not in a draft, and it may even be hot outside but you feel this shiver, this touch all over, and you begin to tear up because you know it is God letting you know he is there with you.

I have felt that many times, but not so much lately. I know it’s not because of anything of God’s doing, but my own, and I need to pray more earnestly and openly. I also know that one day, without warning, God will touch me through his spirit again, and I constantly look forward to when that will happen.

I know he guides me by the Ruach because there are so many times I realize how stupid I am acting, or (more constructively) by knowing that what I want to say is not to be said, and (believe it or not!) most of the time now, I actually don’t say it.

When I do or say something that is right, I know it is God working through me; when I totally screw up, then I can take full credit.

So pray constantly, earnestly, honestly, and ask for whatever you believe you need. Know, also, that God already knows what you want, he knows (better than you) what you need, and he WILL answer your prayer, one way or another, sooner or later, and always with exactly what you really need and just when you need it.

Prayer is our way of maintaining and strengthening our relationship with God, so as Shaul recommended, pray constantly.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and check out my books (I have written one about prayer.)

And remember that I always welcome your comments, here and on my Facebook discussion group called “Just God’s Word”.

I will be taking a vacation for the next 10 days, and will not be back with you again until later this month.

Until the next time, then, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

That’s right- I got nuttin’ today.

However, as a man of the cloth, so to speak, if I just start jabbering away, something will come to me.

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So should we talk about the current condition of the world?

The moral compass of our government seems to be pointing in the wrong direction, society is in such a severe case of division that we are almost in a de facto Civil War, and we are all being led down the path of fear.

I am not in any way reducing the impact of COVID or the importance of being careful, but for the love of Pete! Enough already, right?

As far as I am concerned, we should get back to normal, and let this thing run its course. I mean, are we even still in a “pandemic” situation? There are percentages that identify a pandemic, and with almost half the population inoculated, is it still a pandemic? Or has it been downgraded to an epidemic?

Maybe it’s now just a contagious disease that is hanging around? Like the “regular” flu or when we say there is a “bad bug” going around?

In any case, Donna and I have finally been able to get passage on a cruise ship and we leave from Miami this Sunday for a week. We are on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship, the Gem. It is a 7 day Caribbean cruise; that is where we normally go every February to celebrate our anniversary. Of course, we haven’t been able to cruise anywhere since February 2019!

NCL requires vaccination proof (which I got ONLY so I could take the cruise) but now, with this sudden revamping of the fear, they changed their policy to have to wear masks (which they didn’t require a week ago!) in some enclosed places.

We are living in an environment of fear.

Anyway, this is a ministry and not a forum for political debate or comment, so let’s bring this down a bit, and get God back in here.

Fear is what the Enemy uses to control us and to lure us away from God. When we trust in God, we know that tsouris will happen and we will be in a bad place regularly- that is how it is when you live in the world. But that doesn’t mean we have to be afraid- we can be cautious, we can be careful, and we certainly should watch our steps all the time, but being afraid is wrong.

Being afraid is showing a lack of trust in God. Look at it this way: even if something happens that is terrible- even if you are killed- if you know the Lord then what is so bad? You will no longer be suffering the idiots in the world, the stupid TV commercials, the weather, the political situation, or even a headache. You will be resting until the final judgment, and then you will be experiencing the total joy and peace of being in the presence of the Lord, forever.

In Philippians 1:21, Shaul said that to live is for Messiah and to die is gain. Living in this fallen and cursed world is not really a lot of fun, but it is necessary. However, no matter what happens, so long as we continue to trust in God, it will turn out for the good. C’mon, remember this…the worst thing anyone on this planet can do to you is to kill you, and that means being in the presence of the Lord, so what’s the problem, right?

I really wish I could go to some island, somewhere, and be away from all the mishigas, but I can’t. So what is left? Dealing with it by remaining faithful to God, doing what I know to be right, putting up with all the stupidity and waiting, (again) faithfully until we are past it all.

My friends, nothing mortal lasts forever, and even if this current state of affairs goes on for years, it will be over and done with, eventually. Trust in God, be patient, stick to what you know to be right, and still respect the right of others to do what they think is right for them, and it will all turn out OK.

And if you don’t believe me, believe history- nothing of this world, good or bad, has ever lasted very long. But God has always been there, is there now, and always will be there for you and me.

Thank you for being here and thank everyone who has subscribed to my YouTube channel recently. Please continue to share these messages (or ramblings, as I’ve done today) to help this ministry grow. Comments are welcomed, but please, even though I did open the topic, don’t make this a political forum.

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

Are you familiar with the Disney movies about the Pirates of the Caribbean? In these movies, if you haven’t seen them, the main character played by Johnny Depp is Captain Jack Sparrow, who owns a very special compass. Instead of pointing to the north, his compass points the way to whatever his heart desires.

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

We all have our own compass; it’s not the kind that you carry in your pocket, but the kind that you have in your heart. It is your Moral Compass, also called your conscience, and for those who have confessed their sins and accepted Yeshua as their Messiah, it is called the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit.)

Everyone has this compass, but not everyone’s compass always points “north”, meaning dependably leading us in a godly and righteous way.

By the way, did you know that the compass points to the magnetic north and not to the North Pole? Depending on where you are in the world, magnetic north and true north may be quite a few degrees apart. That is why maps have a Declination Diagram on them, which gives you the difference, in degrees, between true and magnetic north, so that you can adjust your compass to point you in the right direction.

The Declination Diagram we have for our moral compass is called the Bible. In that book, especially in the first 5 books (called the Torah), God tells us exactly how to adjust our moral compass to bring us to his true north, i.e. righteous living.

Unfortunately, both Judaism and Christianity have demagnetized many moral compasses, pointing them away from the Messiah or the Torah. In Judaism, we have been told that Jesus was a traitor to Judaism and created a new religion that hates and kills Jews and that any Jew who believes in Jesus can no longer be a Jew but is a Christian.

The traditional Christian teachings are that Jesus did away with the law, the Jews are no longer the chosen people (this is called Replacement Theology), the Holy Days God said we should observe aren’t for Christians, and many other lies which are designed to separate Christianity from its Jewish roots.

These teachings have made people’s moral compasses point in the wrong direction, effectively blinding them to the proper path to travel.

And when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into a hole (Matthew 15:14).

When your compass isn’t registering correctly, the further you have to go, the farther away from your goal you will be when the trip is over. And considering today most people live into their late 70s and early 80s, if your moral compass isn’t pointing to God correctly you will find yourself totally out of his presence when you die.

So make sure your compass is pointing correctly; if you have had it demagnetized by Christianity pointing you away from the Torah or Judaism pointing you away from Messiah Yeshua, make sure you adjust according to the Declination Diagram, which is the Bible.

And I mean the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation.

Read it daily and constantly so that your compass will adjust itself to God’s true north, and you will find yourself in his presence when it is time to turn the equipment in.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my YouTube channel and website, check out my books (I am working on a 4th book which is going to debunk many of the traditional lies about the Jewish Messiah), and share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. I never ask for money, just the opportunity to give people the proper “dope” about the Lord and the Messiah so that when they decide what to believe, they can make an informed decision.

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

We all know that God is in control of everything, but that doesn’t mean God is controlling everything.

There is a word I am thinking of that relates directly to this message, and if anyone has ever been in a position of authority over others, you might be thinking of the same word. And that word is… delegation.

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

We read often throughout the Tanakh, especially in Kings and Chronicles, how God used the Semitic kings of the Middle East to be his means of punishing both the Israelites (Northern Kingdom) and the Judeans (Southern Kingdom) when they rejected God and sinned. He was not always controlling what those pagan kings did to his chosen people, but he allowed them the freedom to do as they wanted.

Yet, even though it may seem somewhat unfair since God gave them a free hand, he also held them accountable for what they did when they exceeded what he had intended. We know this by reading about it in the Tanakh. Two examples are Isaiah 10:5-34 and Nahum 1-3, both about Assyria and how even though God used them to punish the people, they went beyond what God had wanted them to do and boasted about their own strength, not giving glory to God who made their victory possible.

I have held many positions of authority in my life: I was in charge of a department in Marine Midland Bank that processed over $60 Billion dollars of securities daily; I was the Operations Manager of the Fidelity Discount Brokerage Services office on Wall Street; just 3 years out of college I was a First Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and the Executive Officer of a company of United Stated Marines that numbered over 350 men.

I am not saying this to brag, so please don’t think that, but I am telling you this so you can understand that when I talk about being in charge and delegating, I know what I am talking about.

I was in charge, it was all me, I ran it all, but I did not control everything because in order to develop my people I had to let them make their own mistakes and learn by doing. I trained, I instructed, but I also had to let them go off on their own.

Delegating one’s authority is not being relieved of the responsibility, it is just giving some of what you have to others for them to do the work. No different than when God told Moses he would take some of the spirit on Moses and give it to the ones Moses chose to be judges under him (Numbers 11:16.) Even though there were judges under him, Moses was still the ultimate authority and in control.

If you are wondering what my point is, it is this: don’t automatically blame God for whatever happens in your life, whether good or bad. Even though he is in control, more often than not he might be allowing you to go out on your own. He is watching and allowing, which means he hasn’t ceded control to anyone, such as the Enemy, but he has just delegated authority for the moment to you so you can grow.

Think about this: if God wanted us all to be perfectly sinless, because he is in total control of everything that happens we would all be sinless. Easy! But where’s the fun in that, right?

No, God can control everything in the universe, but he doesn’t because he knows that for us to grow in spiritual maturity and in spiritual power, we must be making the decisions. We must be the ones in control of what we do so that we learn by both suffering the consequences and reaping the blessings for what we decide.

So be comforted in knowing that no matter how much you screw up, God can always make it right, or at least get you back on track, but that doesn’t mean every time something goes wrong, God is behind it. He may be, but to be safe and fair, you should always do a self-check when things are constantly going wrong. Don’t ever automatically assume that God is doing anything, or for that matter, that the Enemy is attacking you.

This may be what is happening, but in my experience, it is just that when you live in a cursed and fallen world, stuff happens. Too often I hear people blame God because they say since he is in charge of everything, he must be doing it. That is wrong; God may punish, and he may reward, and he may just do neither and let you run the show, yourself.

I think the best way to go through life is to be comforted that God is in charge and can do whatever needs to be done; yet, for the most part, he allows us the authority over our life to make our own decisions and just like a good parent, he allows us to screw up so that we learn.

It is as I often say: If I should happen to do something really good, it is only because God is working through me; when I screw up royally, that’s when I can take full credit.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to both my YouTube channel and my website, like my Facebook page, and join my Facebook discussion group, Just God’s Word.

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