Sometimes it is a good idea to take a Shabbat rest, even if it isn’t Shabbat.

Many times I get my inspiration for these messages by either reading the Bible or when I am working out with a bicycle ride, which is usually for 20-22 miles. I do this, on average, three times a week. Since the rides take an hour or more, I have plenty of time for prayer, and more often than not, in the middle of praying my thoughts and conversation with God go off on a tangent, which is how many of my messages come to me.

But I haven’t been riding lately due to weather so don’t really have anything today, other than this:

Take a break from the ordinary every now and then just to do something different.

After all, what could it hoit?

I will be getting on my bike later today, so let’s hope I get something for Thursday.

L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Before I even start to talk about what God can’t do, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Steve is wrong- there is nothing that God cannot do!”

But there is something God cannot do- he cannot sin. And to refuse to act as he said he would regarding someone rejecting his commandments would be a sin.

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I am reading in Numbers and have just this morning read Chapter 18, which is where God tells Aaron that he and his sons are responsible to make sure that the Levites do their job, and all the Levites are to make sure no one who is not authorized to come to the Sanctuary approaches it. God says this is to ensure that no one dies.

After the death of Aaron’s sons, God told Moses that the Levites are not to drink intoxicating liquids before serving him, so that they don’t die.

God told Moses to place barriers around the base of the mountain (Mt. Horeb) when he went up to receive the commandments from God to make sure no one approaches the mountain so that they don’t die.

After the man was stoned to death for collecting wood on the Shabbat, God said to make and wear tzitzit on their clothing to remind them of God’s laws, so that they don’t die.

Can you see what God is doing? He knows that despite the outcome of disobeying his commandments, we will do just that. And because he doesn’t really want to punish us but MUST punish us if we violate his rules, because he cannot sin, he goes out of his way to help protect us from ourselves!

In Ezekiel 18 God tells us he is not happy with anyone’s death and prefers that we all live, but the only way that can happen is to obey him. He will stick like glue to his covenants, so much so that even after we break the covenant, which we have done too many times to count, he will still keep his side of it.

But we won’t go unpunished. We have to be punished- God MUST punish the unrepentant sinner, and that is because God cannot sin. He cannot go against his own rules.

Of course, he could if he really wanted to. I mean, who can hold God accountable? You? Me? No one can make God do what he doesn’t want to do, or not do anything he wants to. No one, that is, except God, and he DOES hold himself accountable.

When we read the parts of the Bible where God is telling Moses how the people are to act and what they should do, it is always with the idea that when they are punished for violation of God’s rules, it is not God doing it to them so much as them doing it to themselves.

You see, God sets the rules: he tells us how we are to worship him and how we are to treat each other. He also tells us the blessings we receive for obedience and the curses we suffer for disobedience. God sends the blessings, but we call the curses on ourselves! God doesn’t really do anything bad to us: the truth is, the bad is already here, and when we reject God’s good all that is left for us is the world’s bad.

Because God cannot sin, he cannot allow any unrepentant sinner to go unpunished; God must punish the unrepentant sinner who rejects him and his Messiah because he said that is what will happen and not doing as he said he would do is a sin.

If we cannot trust God to punish the sinful, we cannot trust him to reward the righteous.

Before we end this today, I am going to change one thing I said earlier: I said we cannot hold God accountable, i.e. we cannot tell God what he must do, but I am now going to say there is one thing we can force God to do… we can force him to punish us. All we need to do is violate any of his laws, and because he must do as he said he would do, we can force God to do what we want.

Although for the life of me, I can’t think of a good reason anyone would want to do that.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, check out my books (available in both paperback and digital), and share these messages with everyone you know.

Until next time, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

When Yeshua sent his Talmudim (Disciples) out into the world to preach the Good News, he told them to be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16). He also told them that if people in any town rejected their message, to shake the dust off their sandals as a warning to them (Luke 9:5).

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It seems to me that Yeshua was telling them they have the best and most important thing in the world to say to people, but still, they shouldn’t ram it down their throats (gentle as doves), and if they are rejected they should make sure the people know that their fate is now on their own heads (shake the dust).

But what about the part where he says be wise as serpents?

Aren’t serpents sneaky? I mean, they slide along on their belly in the deep grass hidden from view as they stalk their prey, or they camouflage themselves and stay perfectly still, for days or even weeks, until some innocent animal comes along and then they STRIKE!!!

That doesn’t sound very “holy”, if you ask me. It doesn’t even sound fair. But that isn’t what Yeshua was talking about.

Did you know that some venomous snakes can deliver a dry bite? That’s a bite where they do not inject their venom. Venom takes time to replace and energy to make, and reptiles do not have an abundance of energy, so to waste venom on a bite to a creature that isn’t food is not a wise thing for a snake to do.

When we are talking to someone about God, Yeshua, and salvation, we are injecting them; not with poisonous venom, but with a vaccine against death and destruction of their soul. We are giving them life eternal in our words, and they have the option to accept what we say or reject it.

Now, this is where we need to be wise as serpents, in that when we are in a discussion about the Bible, God, or Yeshua, and a confrontation begins to rear its ugly head, we need to step back and decide if we will continue to talk or shake the dust from our sandals. In other words, did we just deliver a dry bite?

We need to pick our fights: are we really just wasting our time or is the person still open to hearing the truth? If we find ourselves getting frustrated with someone, that is the signal we are no longer gentle or wise because frustration is the result of pridefulness.

Yes, when you are so fed up with this idiot who has no idea what he or she is talking about, spewing out traditional rhetoric that is just SO wrong that you want to wring their neck, well, this is the time to step back. You’ve delivered a dry bite, you have been rejected, and now it is time to shake off the dust.

You do NOT, and should NOT, tell that person anything else. Don’t tell them they aren’t really saved; don’t tell them they do not know God or Yeshua; do not tell them they are going to burn forever in hellfire. Even if all that is true, it is not for you or me or anyone to say.

Yeshua never told his Talmudim that they should verbally chop those who reject them into little pieces and insult their beliefs or tell them what will happen to them. He said to be gentle as doves, and only to shake the dust off their sandals. Truth be told, if someone won’t listen to the Good News of Messiah, then shaking off the dust won’t make them feel any different, but it isn’t really for their sakes as much as it demonstrates those bringing salvation, who have been rejected, have done their jobs.

You’re like the Lone Ranger saying, “Well, Tonto, we’ve done what we came here to do and it’s time to move on.”

I want to make one more point, and this is the one that I believe is most important: when you are in a discussion with other Believers, you need to be twice as diligent. How important this topic is to non-Believers is generally much less than it is to those who have accepted Yeshua because we are, in general, more certain (actually, I should say passionate) about our beliefs. So when we are discussing something with another Believer, we need to remember that they can reject us just as anyone else can, and we might be rejecting them, as well. No one knows everything, and another part of being wise is to be open to the fact that YOU might be the one with the wrong understanding.

Here’s a real-life example: I was adamant that I would never take one of the COVID vaccines that use mRNA. I was proud to announce that no one is going to screw around with my genome. I thought I was right, and I had many friends who agreed with me until one friend told me geneticists she knew debunked this rumor, and after doing the research I should have done from the start, I had to recognize and admit that I was wrong. In fact, mRNA vaccines have been used and researched for decades and after the mRNA teaches cells how to recognize and fight the COVID virus, it is destroyed; our DNA is protected inside the nucleus which the mRNA never enters.

Getting back to today’s message, we want to help those who don’t understand the truth about Yeshua’s teachings, who have been misled by the traditional misinterpretation of the letters Shaul (Paul) wrote, and especially those who think that the Torah is no longer valid because Yeshua did away with the need to follow God’s laws. We also want to lead the Jewish people to understand that Yeshua is NOT the Jesus Christ they have been told about, that he did not create a new religion, and that he never taught anything but to obey the Torah not just by doing as it says, but by spiritually letting it be written on one’s heart, which is the true New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31.)

So practice your delivery in order to be wise as serpents, and when you are feeling frustrated and rejected, pick your fight. If you have to ram it down their throats, stop! Now is the time to be as gentle as doves and shake the dust. Do NOT get into an argument, because once the discussion become an argument you have lost, and when you lose, they lose, too.

Salvation is available to everyone, but everyone won’t take it. In truth, most will reject it but what is even worse, if you ask me, is that many will accept Yeshua but because of wrong teachings, at the end they will find they never really had it right.

Thank you for being here and please press the SUBSCRIBE button in the right-hand margin, as well as going back to my YouTube channel and subscribe there (you can use the link above) because these are two separate lists.

And share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. I never ask for money, just that people be given the information they need to make an intelligent decision about where they want to spend eternity.

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

I just finished reading Leviticus. When I was in Chapter 19, though, something caught my interest, and this is it (from the Complete Jewish Bible):

Leviticus 19:5-8…When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to ADONAI, offer it in a way that will make you accepted.  It is to be eaten the same day you offer it and the following day; but if any of it remains until the third day, it is to be burned up completely.  If any of it is eaten on the third day, it will have become a disgusting thing and will not be accepted; moreover, everyone who eats it will bear the consequences of profaning something holy meant for ADONAI -that person will be cut off from his people.

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The Peace Offering, also called the Thanksgiving Offering, is the only sacrifice where the one bringing the sacrifice also shares in eating of it. They are to eat it there, at the Sanctuary where it was offered.

The sin and guilt sacrifices are followed by the peace offering, which is the last offering made and brings us back into communion with God. The ultimate role of the Messiah is to bring us back into communion with God, and Yeshua’s sacrifice is both a sin sacrifice and a peace offering because it removes our sins and brings us back into communion with God.

So, when I was reading this I thought that it was interesting that if the peace offering, which has been offered correctly and accepted, is misused later (by not burning up whatever remains on the third day), then that offering is rejected! And not only that, but the one who offered it and was accepted, but now has violated the regulation, is not just having that acceptance removed but is being cut off from the people!

There can be a number of meanings to being cut off from your people, called karet, but the one that I believe makes the most sense is that it means to be deprived of the afterlife. Someone who has their name written in the Book of Life will have it scratched out if they commit a sin that has karet as its punishment.

This is a direct and absolutely conclusive denial of the ridiculous traditional Christian teaching of “Once Saved, Always Saved.” Despite what some religious leader once taught, which has been retaught over and over, here is God, the ruler and king of everything and everyone, saying that even if you do what is right and are accepted, if afterward, you do wrong and do not repent you will be rejected!

Maybe this is one of the reasons why Christianity has often taught that Yeshua did away with the law: not only does that wrongful teaching open the door to eating pork rinds while watching the game, but it allows one to sin after accepting Yeshua as your Messiah and not have to repent of it.

OSAS is nothing more than a pathway to eternal destruction, and this passage in Leviticus proves that!

We may do what is right in God’s eyes, but later we can still screw it up by sinning without concern for our spiritual health. It is more than believing that we will always be forgiven without even asking: it is the idea that because we have been saved that we can never lose that salvation.

Too often I hear people say that no one can take away what God has given, which, by itself, is a truism. However, we can throw away that which we received, and the fastest way to throw off our salvation is to continue sinning without regard or regret or even asking for forgiveness.

It doesn’t matter what some religious leader says to you, or what your friends or family tell you, the Torah is very clear that, as far as God is concerned, no matter how righteous you may have been at one time, if you turn from that righteousness and sin, your last actions are what you will be judged on.

To put it in accounting terms, our salvation is not FIFO, but LIFO.

FIFO means First In, First Out and LIFO means Last In, First Out. These are terms used to value inventory when calculating the Cost of Goods Sold. FIFO uses the cost of the inventory based on the oldest items and LIFO from the cost of producing the newest items; depending on how much it cost to produce the item, at that time, your profit margin will change.

The fact that what we did last is what we will be judged on is confirmed in Ezekiel 18, where God tells us that the sinner is the one who will suffer, not the children; but, more than that, it also says that one who was righteous but sins will die for their sins, but the sinner who turns from his sins will live.

So, if your peace offering (your acceptance of Yeshua as your Messiah) has been accepted and even if you received the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), but you continue to sin you WILL be cut off from your people. To be saved doesn’t mean that you can’t be punished, and your salvation will be removed if you sin without repentance or asking for forgiveness; not that God will take it away, but that by your actions you will have thrown it away.

So remember that Yeshua did not change or do away with the Torah, but confirmed it by teaching us the Remes, the spiritual meaning of the commandments (this is clearly seen when you read Matthew 5), and by the way in which he lived his life.

None of us can be sinless, but we can always sin less, and that is my personal goal: not to be perfect, but to be better than I was. And the way to do that is to follow the instructions in the manual, which we call the Torah.

Salvation is a rope that God has lowered from the heavens for us to grab hold of and climb up. It is a difficult climb, and each sin we commit is like placing grease on the rope, making it harder to hold on. And each time we ask for forgiveness, it cleans off the grease.

So hold on tight, keep climbing and try not to grease the rope too much.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe here and also on My YouTube channel (use the link above) and share these messages with everyone you know, saved or not. Check out my entire website and if you like what you see and hear on these messages, you will like my books, as well.

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

Does it really matter?

You’re probably asking yourself, “Does WHAT really matter?”

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And I guess that’s the best way to start answering the question because until we know what matters, we can’t say what does or doesn’t matter, can we?

So let’s start with this: what really matters? Of course, what is important to one may be unimportant to another, so we have to deal with somewhat universal topics.

May I offer what I consider to be the most important topic there is: salvation. I doubt that to anyone who believes in God there can’t be anything more important than where they will spend eternity, which is either in God’s presence or out of it.

That being said, we can now say that what does matter is whatever affects our salvation, right? I have often said that the Acid Test question I use for any discussion is: “How does this affect my salvation? ”

The only thing left for us now is to determine what affects our salvation.

How about the proper pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, the four-lettered name of God? I see so many people talking about this, and I have seen no less than 5 different ways people pronounce this name, except for us Jews, who never even try to pronounce it. If I am using the wrong pronunciation, will that prevent me from being in the presence of the Lord forever? Do any of you out there think that God is so petty and so prideful that if we mispronounce a name that no one has really used for millennia, that God will condemn you to hell? Even though the name you are using is the one you have always known to be the one and only, true God? Does God not know who he is, or who you mean?

I don’t think so. I think that whichever name you use to represent the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is acceptable to him when you pray from your heart. After all, we are saved by faith, not pronunciation, right?

If you agree, the next time someone argues about what the correct name for God is, remind yourself that this doesn’t really matter, and I recommend you don’t even get involved.

The more we try to convince someone else of what we believe, the more our own pridefulness takes over. And before we recognize what is happening, we are no longer trying to edify them or to honor God; now, all that matters is to hear them admit we are right and they are wrong. What do you think God would say about that?

What about the idea of the Trinity? (Boy, talk about your hot potato, right?) How many “passionate” discussions have you been part of or seen regarding this topic? But when we discuss the “what if”, we can determine if this really matters.

Here’s what I mean: what if God is singular and Yeshua is a totally separate entity? If Yeshua is not God, himself, isn’t he still the Messiah? Doesn’t his sacrificial death and resurrection still provide the means for us to be forgiven of our sins?

And what if Yeshua is God? Does that change anything he did as Yeshua the Messiah? Ultimately, does Yeshua’s divinity, or lack of divinity, change the status of his Messiahship? (Is that a word?) Does our salvation depend on whether or not Yeshua is God or just a divinely-created person?

I don’t think so, do you? I mean, salvation comes from his actions as the Messiah, right? What he used to be before he was Yeshua has no bearing on our salvation, so whether or not he is or isn’t God doesn’t really matter.

How am I doing so far? Is this starting to make sense? Are you beginning to see how ridiculous so many of the arguments (which often become nasty) you have seen regarding these topics really are?

And we could use the same line of reasoning for the proper calendar and for which holidays are important and which are just plain wrong.

Let’s look at the holidays: another hot potato is Easter and Christmas. No one argues that these dates were once used for pagan celebrations and that Constantine rebranded the pagan holidays to be Christian holidays, no longer celebrating pagan gods and goddesses but celebrating the birth and, respectively, the resurrection of the Messiah. The never-ending argument is whether or not celebrating these holidays honors or dishonors God.

So, without trying to convince anyone one way or the other, the real question is: will God condemn us to hell for celebrating what we consider to be the birth of the Messiah, or because we celebrate his resurrection? Do you think God cannot determine that in our hearts and minds whether or not we are worshiping Asherah or giving thanks for Messiah’s sacrifice?

I think he can tell the difference, don’t you? If you celebrate Messiah’s birth and resurrection, despite the dates you do it on, will that change the status of your salvation?

I don’t think so, do you? So, it doesn’t really matter.

When we talk about anything regarding God and the Bible, we need to determine, using spiritual maturity and discretion, if whatever conclusion to the discussion we are having really matters. It’s fine to have an exchange of ideas and interpretations, but when the discussion turns south and devolves into an argument of who’s right and who’s wrong, is it a topic that really matters?

If you say there is no God, that is a topic that really matters.

If you argue that Yeshua is not the Messiah, that is a topic that really matters.

If you say Grace trumps obedience, that really matters. No, really- it does!

But, if you say I began my Passover Seder a day too early or that Hanukkah isn’t in the Bible and shouldn’t be celebrated, does that really matter?

Can you see what I mean?

Next time you are witnessing or participating in a spiritual discussion, please turn down the need to show someone what you believe to be the correct thing, and ask yourself if it really matters? I mean, on an eternal basis, does it really matter? Will the results of this discussion be the difference between spending eternity in hell or in God’s presence?

For me, this is all that really matters: where will I spend eternity? If the results of a discussion will not change that, then it doesn’t really matter.

Thank you for being here, and as far as I am concerned, your subscribing to this ministry, here and on my YouTube channel, does matter to me. And remember, I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Let’s say you’re driving along the highway, there is very little traffic and you are relaxing with your favorite tunes on the CD player when you hear the sound every driver hates to hear: a siren!

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You look in your rear-view mirror and yes- the Trooper is there for you.

After pulling over, the Trooper says, “Did you know that you were doing 90? The speed limit on this road is 65.”

You respond with, “I am sorry, officer, I didn’t realize I was going that fast.”

Well, if you’re very lucky and have a clean record, you might get off with a warning or a ticket for a lower violation, but one way or the other, the cop won’t accept, “I didn’t know I was doing that.” as an excuse.

My continual reading of the Bible currently has me in Leviticus, and when I was reading through Chapter 5 the other day, I came upon this verse, Leviticus 5:17 (CJB):

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.

I was immediately reminded of the previous chapters I had read in Leviticus, where often God talks about what to do when someone inadvertently or accidentally sins. In some cases, it says when they are made aware of their sin, they are to do the following, and in other cases, it says if they are made aware of their sin, they are to do the following, but in any and all cases, as the verse above states, whether you know you sinned or not, you ARE guilty!

So, how scary is that, right? I mean, what if I am doing what my Rabbi or my Priest or Minister, or whatever has been telling me is the correct way to worship God, but they are wrong?

In some cases, people have been praying to saints or celebrating the Sabbath on Sunday. Many God-fearing people enjoy their lobster bisque and shrimp tempura and chow down on pork rinds when watching the football game. And when asked why they don’t study the Old Covenant or obey the rules in the Torah, they say, “I don’t do any of those Old Covenant things because I have been told Jesus did away with that.”

That is like telling the cop “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was going that fast”; the answer you will get is “Your speedometer is right there in front of your face.”

The Bible is right there, in front of your face, and no one is stopping you from reading it.

We will all meet the Lord at his Throne of Judgment, and when God asks you why you have rejected his instructions, mitzvot, rules, regulations, and commandments, will you say “Sorry- I didn’t know I was supposed to do all that stuff. They told me I didn’t have to.”?

And if you say that, what do you think God will say?

Will he say, “Oh, well then, that’s OK. After all, if your Rabbi or Priest or Minister told you you didn’t have to obey me, who am I to go against them?”

No, it is more likely he will say something like “I had Moses write these down so there would be no confusion as to what I say is acceptable and what is not, and all you had to do was read them for yourself to know.”

Then you say, “But I said the Sinners Prayer and accepted Yeshua in my life, so I am saved. The Bible says all who call on his name will be saved! So, then…it’s all fine, right? Yeshua- tell him I’m one of yours.”

If you have rejected the Father, you have rejected the son, no matter what you once prayed. Here’s the hard truth, my friend: speaking isn’t doing!

Don’t be surprised if Yeshua says “I never knew you” if you spent your life rejecting God’s commandments.

Now, am I saying that you are not saved? Am I telling you that you HAVE to obey the Torah completely or no matter what you prayed or what you do, you are going to hell?

No, I am not saying that at all: I am not in the place of God, I do not know your heart, and I do not know what the future holds. I only know what God tells us in the Bible, and that in the Old Covenant he tells us how HE wants us to worship him, which Holy Days we are to celebrate, and how we are to treat each other.

I also know that in the New Covenant there is nothing new. Yeshua says, over and over…and over, that he does and says only what his father in heaven tells him to do and say, and that he had to have lived his life in perfect accordance with the Torah or he would not have been a spotless lamb and his sacrificial death would not be acceptable. In that case, we would have no means of salvation.

No…what I am saying is that you should read the entire Bible, especially the Old Covenant, and most definitely the Torah (the first 5 books) because that is the ONLY place where God, himself, directly tells us what he wants us to do.

The Gospels demonstrate that Yeshua lived and did what any Torah-observant Jewish person would have done, and if you really, I mean R-E-A-L-L-Y want to be worthy of that plastic bracelet with the WWJD on it, then you need to know how Yeshua lived, which is the way God said to in the Torah.

That is what Jesus, Yeshua, did. And that is what God says he wants from each of us.

So get a Bible, a complete Bible (Genesis through Revelation) and read it from start to finish so you know what it says, then make up your mind who you will obey: God, or some person who is pretty much repeating whatever he or she was taught in Seminary school.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this and my YouTube channel, as well, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

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