Isn’t it sad how so many of those who profess to be Believers in Messiah and to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob treat each other like non-Believers do?

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We all see it, all the time: if someone disagrees with someone else, they first try to change the person’s mind, then they devolve into accusations, insults, and eventually berate the person, judging them as faithless or sinful or state that they aren’t really saved.

If you ask me, that is one of the greatest sins we commit against God- that’s right, against G-O-D! When we sin, any sin, it is not only against each other but, as David knew and said in Psalm 51, every single sin is first and foremost a sin against God!

And so often, actually almost all the time, the person sinning against another is doing so over a topic that isn’t even a salvation issue.

When I use the term “salvation issue”, I mean a topic that is a foundation stone of our forgiveness and salvation through Messiah Yeshua. For example, accepting that Yeshua (Jesus) IS the Messiah God promised to send is a salvation issue, but how to pronounce his name is not. Another example: faith that God does exist and that he is the one and only true God is a salvation issue, but whether or not we should celebrate traditional holidays that honor him or just the ones he told us to do (in Leviticus 23) is not a “make or break” salvation decision.

Praying to God using a name for him that you have always known to mean the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not wrong. But, when you tell someone else when praying to the “Lord” is calling on the pagan god Ba’al, that IS wrong! God knows who we mean- he sees and knows the heart! And to tell someone praying to God that they are really calling on a pagan god is, well, I believe it is a sin against God. Why? Because you are telling someone else what God thinks. And, if you think you are right in doing that, I suggest you read the Book of Job; at the end of the book you will find out what God says about people who speak for him.

Spoiler Alert: God wasn’t very happy about it!

We need to treat everyone, Believer or not, in the way God says we should. That is one of the two main reasons he gave us his commandments: one is to know how he wants us to worship him, and the other is to know how he wants us to treat each other. Yeshua said the whole of the Torah is based on two commandments: to love God and to love each other, so when we have discussions, and yes – even heated discussions- we must NOT be like the pagans are and accuse each other of stupidity, lack of faith, or ignorance.

Even if someone is ignorant, it is not for us to tell them that.

For myself, if this helps at all, I try to always listen to what the other person says and verify their source. I learned as a Salesman (and I was successful at it because of this) that people will always tell you how to close them if you ask the right questions and listen to what they are saying. The same goes for discussions about God, the Messiah, or interpreting the Bible. When there are different opinions, you should listen and analyze what the other is saying, then approach each part of their argument, agreeing where there may be agreement, and when disagreeing, not telling them that they are wrong, but simply saying why you believe differently.

I can guarantee that you will rarely (if ever) win an argument by telling the other person they are wrong. The way to change someone’s mind is to first make them doubt what they believe, and that is done not by attacking them but by asking them why they believe what they do. Then, for each reason they give you, if it is based on incorrect information or is just plain wrong, don’t tell them that. Instead, tell them why you believe what you do, and make an excellent argument with proof of why you believe this way.

Then leave it up to them.

After having explained to them what you “know” to be right, it is better for all if you leave them believing something that is wrong and allow God to work on their heart. God gave everyone the right to make up their own mind, we call it Free Will, and when we try to take away that right we are acting against what God has done.

As the expression goes, don’t burn your bridges behind you, and when we have many different people in discussion groups discussing and debating about many different spiritual and theological issues, you don’t want to burn bridges for anyone else, either. I have seen too many people leave a group or ignore any further discussion about a topic because of the way someone has treated them.

We can’t afford to treat each other in a way that weakens the bond of brethren within the body of Messiah. It is enough to have the outside world attack and persecute us- do we really need to add to that by destroying each other? Didn’t Yeshua tell us that a house divided against itself cannot stand?

So, please, going forward be aware of how you deal with others in these inevitable debates about the Bible, God, and religious rites. We will always have people who disagree, but we can’t let that cause strife and division within the body of Believers.

Let me finish with this: when one person in a discussion begins to attack the other person on a personal basis, then all is lost. It is no longer a discussion, it is now a battle of pride. DO NOT return fire; shake the dust off your sandals and move on.

If you do this, you will be avoiding sin and that is always pleasing to God.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages to help this ministry grow, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, as well, and I always welcome your comments.

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

I know what you are going to say, “But God DOES have a name- he told it to Moses!”

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Yes, he told Moses his name, but let’s look more closely at that verse, which is Exodus 3:14-15… (The terms in parenthesis were added by the editor)

God said to Moshe, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh [I am/will be what I am/will be],” and added, “Here is what to say to the people of Isra’el: ‘Ehyeh [I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.’”  God said further to Moshe, “Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation.

What was that last command to Moses? Wasn’t it that God said this is my name and how I am to be remembered, forever? And what was that? Was it by a word? Was it a specific title or name? No, it wasn’t: it was by a description of who he is.

The Internet Dictionary defines a “name” as a word or words by which something is known, addressed, or referred to. So, in this respect, a name might not be like Steven, or John, or Henrietta, but as a description of who and what something is. That is the way God commanded us to know and refer to him- not with a single name but by the description of who he is.

Yes, we call him Lord, Adonai, Yahweh, Jehovah, God, and many other names, all of which are used to refer to him whether in writing or speech. But that is not how God, himself, said we are to remember him, is it?

A name, as we humans use it, is to identify someone who is like everyone else, i.e. a living creature, as separate and distinct from other similar living creatures. In a society of people, the women have different first and last names and the men, as well. Given the multitude of people, there will always be some duplication, but for the most part, the names we have are what identifies us from everyone else who is the same as we are.

But God has no equal- there is no thing that is like him, so a name is irrelevant, really, because he is the epitome of unique. That is why, I suppose, he uses terms of reference to explain who and what he is when he uses the word “name” to describe himself.

A good example of this is in Deuteronomy 16:11, which is where God states we are not to sacrifice anywhere except the place where his name lives. Again, he doesn’t say the place named after him, or the place with the same name he has, but the place where his name LIVES!

God is telling us that the reference to him is not a static and unique set of letters, but it represents who and what he is. God’s name is a living thing because it is God- he is The Father, The Creator, The King, The Judge, The Savior! He is too much to be restricted to something as confining as a name.

When he changed the name of Abram to Abraham (Genesis 17), it wasn’t like someone getting a legal name change, but it was to represent who Abram had become- from a father to the father of many. He did the same when he said Sarai would now be called Sarah (from mockery to princess.) And in Genesis 35:10, he changed the name of Jacob to Israel, again representing not so much a change in what to call him, but a change from who he was to who he is now.

Throughout the Tanakh, we can see the usage of the term “the name of the Lord” or “call upon his name” not meaning to use a specific title or word, but more so to reference who and what God is. It represents the reputation and power, the renown, and the authority of God.

Again, a name is just inappropriate for God because he is so much more than what we can contain in a simple identifier.

So, what does this all boil down to? It boils down to this: there is no one, right name for God because God is more than just one thing. Any name or title or reference which we might use to identify him is incomplete. Therefore, if you call him Jehovah, Yahweh, Adonai, Lord, God, Master, Father, Creator, Judge, Savior, Shield, Provider, or any other word that represents who and what he is, you are not doing anything wrong.

There is a group of people known as the “Holy Namers” who insist that there is only one true name for God, and if you use anything else you are praying to a false idol or a pagan god. These people, in their zealousness to know and respect God, are, in fact, insulting him by implying that God doesn’t know who you are praying to; and, even worse than that, they are actually sinning by rejecting what God has told us to do, i.e., remember him as he told Moses we should.

God never says he has only one name but tells us many different ways to refer to him; he even tells Moses, at one point, that his name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14), so should we be praying to “Jealous”?

Of course not!

God is beyond anything we humans can comprehend; he is a multifaceted spiritual entity that is not any single thing at any one time. God can’t even be referred to as an “is” because he isn’t just an “is”- he is, he was, and he will be, all at the same moment in time. To us, things happen in the past, present, and future along a linear, chronologically defined line, but to God, it is all happening now.

To conclude: Please don’t listen to the “Holy Namers” because God can’t really have a name, so call upon him using whatever name(s) you know him by, none of which will ever be adequate but all of which he knows we use. Trust me, he will hear you.

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So, that’s it for today: L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

I know, I know- love conquers all. Yeshua and God are love, and nothing is stronger than they are, so the obvious answer is that love is stronger than hate.

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We are told in the Bible that even sinners do good things for the ones they love (Luke 6:32) and that we should love each other as ourselves. So, since sinners love, and righteous people love, then love must be stronger, right?

Fine. But, if that is true, then how come there is so much hatred in the world?

And if we are to love others as we love ourselves, what about those people who actually hate themselves? You know who I mean- people who do things that are harmful to their health and refuse to stop doing it; people who purposefully say and do things that ostracize them from the general population (but not by being holy); people who reject friends and family in order to hoard animals until their homes are a health hazard. These people don’t love themselves, so how can they really love others?

There are many people who often prefer to hate and keep hatred in their hearts by refusing to forgive others. And, as much as I hate to say it (no pun intended), I count myself as one of that crowd.

I know the importance of forgiving, and I am much better at it than I ever was, thanks be to God and Yeshua, but I am still angry and sometimes feel the need for vengeance on some who have been unfair and very hurtful to me in the past.

We all know there is a very thin line between love and hate: these have got to be the strongest emotions humans have. If you want to see how thin that line is, go ahead and watch a couple of episodes of the old TV show “Love Boat”: no matter how much the couple hates each other when the cruise starts, in the end, they are all lovey-dovey and the world is wonderful.

Seriously, hatred can stem from love, but I don’t think it works the other way around. That old adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt” is based in truth. Sometimes, what we love about someone is not enough, and that love can turn into hatred: maybe not the “I need to kill you!” kind of hatred, but the kind where one no longer loves the other and must get away from the other person because the relationship has become poisonous.

Maybe the issue is not whether hate is stronger than love, or love is stronger than hate, but that they can be equally strong, and one needs something extra to overcome the other?

The quickest way to generate hatred in someone is to do them harm, either physically, emotionally, or socially. And, I believe (maybe you’ll agree) when we hate we leave less room in our heart for love. It’s as James says in James 3:11, where he says a well cannot give forth both fresh and salty water. The more we hate, the less we are able to love, and the more we love, the less we will hate, but in the long run, I believe that hatred will fill a heart faster than love will.

Why do I say this? Because I observe the world, I see people, I study history, I read the Bible, and I am not so naïve as to wish for something that is obviously not true.

But let’s go back to what I just was thinking, about that something “extra” that might give the edge to one or the other. I think I know what that is…it’s forgiveness!

I have seen how forgiveness can overcome hatred. In fact, in those “Love Boat” episodes, it was often enough forgiveness that changed their hearts towards each other.

Actually, now that I think about it, forgiveness is an expression of love, isn’t it?

Hatred is pretty much a simple thing, but love is complex. I don’t think we can love something about someone we hate, but I know, for a fact, that we can hate something about someone we love. And how is it possible to hate something about someone without it turning into hating them?

Because of forgiveness!

So, I have come to the conclusion that forgiveness is the thing that makes love stronger than hatred. Hatred is a part of who we are and must continuously be fought against. It is, like sin, crouching at our door always there, waiting to take us over, and when the Enemy comes (as he has done in the past) he will not take over through love but through hatred. He did it with the Crusades, the Inquisition, in Nazi Germany, and today he is doing it right here in America!

Throughout history, when people were strongly bonded together, it has been hatred that is the glue the Enemy used to form that bond.

God hates sin but loves the sinner, and he is not just willing to forgive, but he desires to do so (Ezekiel 18:23), so to overcome hatred, which only reduces our ability to love, we need to exercise forgiveness.

Hatred is the weapon of the Enemy and love is the defense; but, without forgiveness, love isn’t enough. Maybe that’s why we are commanded to forgive because God knows that without forgiveness, love cannot conquer hate.

Thank you for being here and please don’t forget to subscribe (click the button in the right margin) and also use the link above to go to my YouTube channel and subscribe there, too (click the Messianic Moment icon) because these are different lists. Subscribing only means you will be contacted when I post- no selling of names or anything like that.

And I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

When you pray, do you add “In Jesus’s name” or “In the name of Jesus, I pray”, or something similar? Maybe you like the Jewish version, “B’shem Yeshua!”?

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In the Gospels, there is a place where Yeshua says that whatever we ask for, in his name, we shall receive, so long as we faithfully believe that we will receive it.

Over the years I have heard and prayed with others, and so often I hear people praying and invoking the name of the Messiah, in whichever form they know it, over and over. I have heard people pray to God to give thanks for food, and after thanking God they say “In Jesus’s name”. My question is this: Why do you have to invoke the name of the Messiah if all you are doing is thanking God? I mean, if I am giving thanks, why do I have to do it in Yeshua’s name? He never said to use his name every time we pray, only when we are asking for something.

Praying to God should be heartfelt and honest, and to invoke the name of the Messiah with every prayer, whether asking or thanking and to do so over and over again, isn’t really what (I believe) Yeshua meant when he said to pray in his name.

Do you recall the childhood game “Simon Says”? You needed to be very careful to do what the leader did, so long as he said “Simon says to …”, and if you did it without him saying “Simon says”, then you lost and were out of the game.

I think sometimes people pray like they were playing Simon Says. They use the name of Yeshua over and over, for each and every single request, like if they didn’t then God would refuse them.

Oh, Lord, in Yeshua’s name, help me do better at work (God thinks to himself, “OK, I will”), and Oh Lord, in Yeshua’s name, help me to be a better husband (God thinks, “That’s a good one, sure I will”), and Lord, God, please help me to be a better father to my children (God thinks, “Hah! You didn’t say ‘In Yeshua’s name’, so NO!…you’re on your own!”)

Of course, this is a comical example of what I am talking about, and I doubt that God would refuse a legitimate, heartfelt prayer whether or not we asked in Yeshua’s name. I also think that God would not have a problem with us waiting until the end of the prayer, at which time we would say something like, “All that I have asked, I ask for in the name of Yeshua, the Messiah.”

Now, to be honest, I often find myself doing this exact thing- asking and invoking Yeshua’s name more than once in the same prayer. I feel there are some things that are just so important to me, I need that little, extra oomph to my request, maybe just so that I can convince myself that I really emphasize the importance of this, particular request. And, when I do that, I realize how silly I am thinking that God doesn’t know how important it is to me.

Prayer is something we do that we don’t really need to do because God knows our heart, and he knows what we need, and he knows the best time to give it to us. But, then again, he wants us to pray to him because when we do, at least for myself, it strengthens my bond with him. It lets me feel that connection, and when he answers my prayers, I know that he listened. And when he touches me I know he is there, and that we are bonded.

There is NOTHING in the world as wonderful, as emotionally fulfilling, or as loving as feeling the touch of God during prayer. And if we didn’t pray, we wouldn’t ever have that.

Asking in the name of Yeshua is not meant as some qualifier for acceptance, but as a means to give glory to God, through the glory he gave to his son, the Messiah. I know that sounds like circular logic, but here is how it works: first of all, we should always give all the glory to God. When Yeshua told us that when we ask for something in his name, and if we faithfully believe we will receive it (indicating our faith in Yeshua) then it will be done, that glorifies him (because his name was powerful), but at the same time, it glorifies God because God honored the word of his son.

So, by praying in the name of Yeshua, we give glory to both Messiah and God, but the main glory goes to God because, ultimately, he is the one answering the prayer.

It’s all a little confusing, I know, but the point is that God knows what we want and what we mean and what we really need, and when we pray and invoke Yeshua’s name, it doesn’t have to be for every single request, done over and over, and it certainly doesn’t have to be done when we are giving thanks to the Lord. In fact, invoking Yeshua’s name when praying thanks to God is almost a waste! Yeshua’s name is powerful, and it is influential, so why use it when we aren’t asking for anything?

The biggest mistake I have seen when Believers pray is that they go beyond what Yeshua said, and instead of praying to God invoking Yeshua’s name, they pray to Yeshua. Or when giving thanks, they give thanks to Yeshua instead of to God. He never said to pray to him, he never accepted people giving him the glory or the honor (he always gave that to God), and he certainly wouldn’t want us to pray to anyone else like so many do when they pray to a saint. When Yeshua said “When you pray…” he meant praying to God; praying to anyone or anything else is idolatry.

There is one last thing we need to remember: praying for riches, material rewards, or sinful things will not be honored. When Yeshua talked about praying, he was talking about asking for spiritual growth, real needs (such as health and forgiveness, not toys and fun-to-have junk), or when acting as an intercessor for others. The things we are to ask from God are to be those things that are godly, spiritually rewarding, edifying, and in accordance with the way God tells us we should live, which is found in the Torah. Those are the sorts of things we can faithfully expect to receive.

If you find yourself praying and asking in Messiah’s name often during the prayer, you don’t really need to do that- this isn’t Simon Says. God is understanding and knows your heart- just ask, with a contrite spirit and humility, for what you need, and when you are done, ask that God do this not because of your righteousness or worthiness, but because you are asking in Yehsua’s name so that by his righteousness and worthiness you may receive.

Praying in the name of Messiah Yeshua is sort of like knocking on the Speakeasy door, and when the little slot is opened, saying “Yeshua sent me.” so that you can gain entrance not because of who you are, but because of who he is.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, and don’t forget to subscribe here and on my YouTube channel, as well (you can use the link above to go there, then click on the Messianic Moment icon in the corner.)

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

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Let me start off by saying that anyone who says what my title says, i.e. “What (something) means” is telling you what they think it means. That doesn’t make it true, but it isn’t automatically wrong, either. It is incumbent on you, the one receiving the message, to verify that what is being said is true and valid. And if that is too much work for you, then you are a fool and will probably end up being one of the first ones on the line to take the mark.

That’s a pretty rough start to my message, isn’t it? Well, sometimes people need to be reminded that it isn’t what they hear that matters as much as what they accept, and acceptance should only be based on good information, taken from the Bible and verified by yourself, asking God to show you what it means, for you.

So, now we can talk about Romans 14. This chapter is about judging based on what people eat or which days they celebrate. Shaul (Paul) says, and this is a very condensed version of his explanation, that so long as what people do is to honor the Lord, then no one should judge them. This is stated most clearly in Romans 14: 6-8, so let’s take a look at that (this is from the Complete Jewish Bible):

He who observes a day as special does so to honor the Lord. Also he who eats anything, eats to honor the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; likewise the abstainer abstains to honor the Lord, and he too gives thanks to God. For none of us lives only in relation to himself, and none of us dies only in relation to himself; for if we live, we live in relation to the Lord; and if we die, we die in relation to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord —

The rest of the chapter goes into a little more detail, further teaching us that when we judge someone based on what they believe they are doing to honor the Lord, God, but is different from what we believe honors God, then we are placing a stumbling block in their path to becoming holier.

He says the kingdom of God is not of food but of righteousness (Romans 14:17) so we shouldn’t be telling someone, regarding food or worship days, that what they do is bad when they believe it to be good, meaning that in their minds and hearts they are doing it to honor the Lord.

The real-life examples of people judging others wrongly are too often seen in postings on these discussion groups regarding what I consider to be the Big Three Issues:

1. Which calendar is correct?;
2. What is God’s name and how to use it?; and
3. What days are to be celebrated?

I have seen people accuse others, others who are truly trying to worship God correctly, to be praying to the devil or celebrating a pagan holiday, or that when calling upon Jesus they are praying to a horse (yes, that has been there a few times.) They say doing these things dishonors God.

I have seen so many different people declare that only their calendar is correct, insinuating that if someone else uses a different calendar then they are sinning because they aren’t celebrating a Holy Day or the Shabbat correctly.

Really? How can anyone believe that God will reject someone celebrating, oh, let’s say, Yom Kippur, on the evening their Jewish calendar says it starts, because it may be a day or two off from the absolutely correct date measured from the very first Yom Kippur?

Is God really that anal-retentive? Is he more worried about us doing something on the absolutely correct date, or using the one and only absolutely correct pronunciation of his name? Or he is more concerned with the attitude of our heart? If I eat ham but try to love others, forgive and treat people the way that the Torah says I should, will God tell me to go to hell when I come before him because even though I tried my whole life to be as he says I should be, I ate ham?

I don’t think so. Maybe I will not be as honored in heaven as someone who did everything I did and never ate ham, but I will still be there.

How do I know this? Because Yeshua said so: in Matthew 5:17 Yeshua says that he did not come to abolish the Torah but to fulfill it (which means to interpret it correctly), and after saying that he adds in Matthew 5:19:

So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, nu! There you have it! Yeshua, himself, indicates that we may sin, and even teach others to do so, but we can still end up in the Kingdom of Heaven. Maybe, just maybe, do you think this is what Shaul is talking about here in Romans?

Here’s a hypothetical: if I eat ham because I have been taught (as many, many Christians have been for thousands of years) that the laws of Kashrut (Kosher) are not necessary for Gentile Believers to obey, I am in violation of the Torah. But, it is not my intention to sin: I am, in my heart and mind, a grateful believer in God and Messiah and in many other ways I try to be as God wants me to be. But I was taught Kosher isn’t required for Gentiles. And that was most likely taught to me by someone who also thought they were not doing anything against God.

Here we have people sinning and teaching others to sin, but not on purpose and not in their minds or hearts. These are the ones who will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

What Shaul is saying in Romans is that when someone does what they do to honor the Lord, then neither you nor I nor anyone should tell them they are wrong or try to stop them. If someone uses the title “God” or “Adonai”, but you believe people should always use the Holy Name for God and pronounce it as “Yahweh”, that’s fine for you and you have no right- in fact, you would be wrong- to correct them.

If you are biblically Kosher (as I am) and see someone pray before eating their dinner, which has an appetizer of Bang Bang Shrimp and the main course is lobster, instead of chiding them in your mind for violating God’s commandments, just eat your food and mind your own business.

We will all come before the Lord (this is also something Shaul points out) and have to give an account of ourselves, and it is up to the Lord, God Almighty to judge us.

Here’s a news flash, people: you ain’t HIM! So don’t judge ’cause you yourself will be judged the way you judge (Matthew 7:2); in other words, we should only worry about ourselves because that is more than enough for any of us to have to do.

Don’t miss the important difference between those who sin because they reject God or who say they worship God and sin just because they want to, from those who worship God but sin from ignorance or misguided teaching. The former will certainly be in hot water when they come before God, and the latter will be in heaven, but not as esteemed as those who have obeyed more faithfully to do as God told us to do in the Torah.

One last thing: you may be thinking that this isn’t fair! Maybe you would say to God, “I really tried hard to be a “good” Christian but I was taught that Kosher isn’t important and Christmas and Easter are fine. They said I didn’t have to celebrate any of those “Jewish” holidays, so why am I being treated as less than others in heaven? After all, it isn’t my fault- I did what my religious leaders told me to do.”

Well, sorry to say, it is your fault because you did what you were told without checking if it was right or wrong. God gave us the Torah, and that is the only place in the Bible where God tells us how to worship him and how to treat others- the rest of the Bible, from Joshua through Revelations, is essentially not much more than commentary. Even what Yeshua taught was what God had already said, but Yeshua taught the deeper, spiritual meaning of those commandments. The Letter to the Romans Shaul wrote, as well as his other letters, are designed to help Gentiles that didn’t know God, the Bible or the Jewish lifestyle to adapt to it.

So if you want to obey Shaul then treat others as you would want them to treat you (Leviticus 19:18) and stop judging others who are trying to honor God in the way they know or have been taught. Of course, it is OK to try to steer them in the right direction: after all, that is what this ministry is all about, but you will never hear me tell someone they must worship or pronounce or celebrate the way I believe they should. I will tell them what God says in the Torah and leave it up to them to decide whether they will listen to God or religion.

I’ll end with this: as I said, as Shaul said, as God has said, we will all have to come before his throne of judgment, and when we do if you try saying something like, “But that’s what they told me I should do.” I believe God will answer with something like this:

“I understand, my child, that is what they told you to do, but it’s what I say that counts!”

Thank you for being here and please subscribe here and on my YouTube channel, share these messages with everyone you know, and if you like what you hear consider buying my books because you will like them, too.

And remember- I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

I had planned on talking about something totally different, but given the events of yesterday in the United States, I cannot ignore speaking to it. This is not a political ministry, it is a teaching ministry, so let’s analyze what happened from a historical and spiritual viewpoint.

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For those who might not be aware, there was a large gathering of Americans at our nation’s Capitol building yesterday, which was called to support President Trump and require a decision regarding allegations of election fraud. At some point, violence broke out and a handful of people broke windows and stormed into the Capitol building. The police were called in, they shot and killed at least one woman, and other deaths have been reported; eventually, the crowds were told to disperse and they did. There were tens of thousands of people there. No other damages to buildings or looting were done except for the broken windows to the Capitol building.

This country began as a refuge for those who wanted to worship God as they chose. When we felt unfairly controlled by the Crown in England, we rebelled, but at first, it wasn’t to be independent- we only wanted things to go back to how they were. The Boston Tea Party and the rebellion against the Stamp Act- all the people wanted was for those laws to be repealed. It wasn’t until the Declaration of Independence was drafted did anyone really think about breaking from England, altogether.

And after the new country of America had been under the Articles of Confederation for 11 years and was dying, economically as well as socially, the Continental Congress was called to revise the Articles. They closed and locked the doors and in secret, illegally revised the Articles of Confederation by deep-sixing them and creating the one thing the first Continental Congress did NOT want: a strong, central government.

And thank God they did! And because this country and its leaders at that time were God-fearing men, they were able to come up with the U.S. Constitution.

And because our government, courts, and society were faithfully adherent to the way God said we should live and treat each other, he blessed this nation with financial and societal strength, making it a place where everyone else in the world wanted to go to live for the opportunities it provided.

In the last couple of decades, we have decided that God has no place in our system of government, or in our courts, schools, or even society. And the leaders of this country, who at the beginning made sure that everything they did was based on what God said, have done a complete “180”: God says there are two genders, today the government says people can be any gender they want to be, even going as far as to support the idea that children who haven’t even gone through puberty yet can decide which gender they want to be.

The murder of children, which is no different than child sacrifice to the pagan gods of the Semitic tribes of ancient days, is now financially supported and guaranteed by the government. It’s called abortion.

Our government leaders, especially the ones who are now coming into nearly complete power, have decided that Israel is not to be allowed to exist. They support verbally and financially the Palestinian people (who never really existed until Yasser Arafat created them as a propaganda campaign), a people who only want to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews they can. They teach their children, as early as kindergarten, that it is a good thing to kill Jews and the more Jews they kill the more reward they will receive in heaven!

Who would have ever thought that America would not just condone, but support both verbally and financially, any country that teaches its children it is a good thing to kill other people?

The Democrats have denounced the violence at the Capital but didn’t say one word about all the BLM and ANTIFA rioting and destruction of property (not to mention the murder of police) in the past except for the fact that these were, in truth, peaceful protests. C’mon, people…really? Yet, there are many people who believed that… and why? Because their hatred is stronger than their love, stronger than their common sense, and stronger than their judgment.

In Matthew 7:2 Yeshua teaches us all about judging others:

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

So all who hate will be treated the same way they treat the ones they hate. And when you ask people why they hate, so often all I hear is “because he or she is (a certain type of person).”

Is this a country or a high school? Are our elected officials, especially the President, qualified by how nice a person they are, or by what plans they have for improving the country and their ability to accomplish those plans? Is the President supposed to be friendly to everyone and smiling all the time, never offending anyone (which means the same as not having any moral compass) or is he supposed to a leader with a specific set of standards?

People, this country is not the America I was willing to fight and die for when I was in the Marine Corps. It is most certainly not the America my father fought for in WWII or my uncle, who was a MASH doctor, risked his life for during the Korean War.

And it is no longer blessed by God because we have rejected him. We have replaced him with sexual perversity, sports figures, fast cars, technology, and financial gain. We don’t have time to pray because we are too busy on Facebook or Twitter, reading and spreading gossip, believing what we are told on the Internet or from the corrupted media.

And when we reject God, God will give us time to repent and come back to him, despite how sinful we may have become. But eventually, even God will have to accept that repentance is not coming, and as such, the only thing left is judgment.

God told Jeremiah not to pray for Judea (Jeremiah 7:16) because the time for judgment had come- it was too late to turn away the fierce anger and just punishment that God now had to deal out on them. And, my brothers and sisters, I am telling you here and now that we in America are in the same spot.

God used the Assyrians to punish Shomron, and he used the Babylonians to punish Judea. Now, he is using our own leaders to destroy us from inside.

Pray if you want to, but don’t pray for these people or this country because our time for repentance has come and gone. Pray for quick relief, pray that you will be able to financially survive the punishment, and pray that God will lift up, in the midst of this tsouris we will be undergoing, a leader who will bring God back into our society and courts, and that this country will rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the destroying fire we have brought down on ourselves, and return to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Our God, Father, Lord, Creator, and King, please be merciful in this, your righteous indignation with our country and leaders, and speed an end to the punishment we and our fathers deserve. We have sinned against thee, and have committed grievous abominations, all the while ignoring your good instructions. Forgive our stupidity, pride, and selfishness; remove the stain of our sexual perversity and spiritual misguidance of the people, and bring us back into communion with you through your Messiah, Yeshua.

We await your just punishment and ask, in Yeshua’s name, that you mercifully protect those who still honor and worship you, and when the sword strikes, please get it over with quickly.

Amen.