This is Worth Repeating

October 27, 2020 Leave a comment

There is no video today and I am not even writing a new post.

The link below will bring you to a post I did a while ago, which in light of the upcoming election and the different party positions regarding abortion, I thought it worthwhile to repost this so anyone still considering which party to align themselves with would have a chance to be informed before they make their choice.

And when I said that your vote is aligning yourself with that party, don’t hand me that lame excuse, “I’m not really voting for this one, I just don’t want to vote for that one” because your vote is always FOR someone, never against someone, and those who are not for us are against us, which means who you vote for is who you ARE for!

Click on this link to go to today’s (repeated) message, and please vote with discernment:

https://www.messianicmoment.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=14248&action=edit

Why Does Sin Just Feel Better?

October 22, 2020 Leave a comment

(I am at the dealership this morning getting work done on my car so there will be no video for today’s message. )

I am going to be talking to you, but about me.

I have this problem with food: I don’t eat “bad”, really, and I don’t have a weight problem, but I do like to eat and I am heavier than I should be. The real problem is that when I overeat, I enjoy that feeling more than when I eat the correct portion and do what I know to be right.

So what, right? I mean, there are a lot worse sins to commit than a little food indulgence. And you’re right, but the question I want to drash about for today’s message is why, at any level, does it seem to be that when we do what is wrong it “feels” better than the sense of accomplishment we get when we do what is right?

Now, maybe I am making an improper assumption because I believe that everyone reading this has had a similar experience. Maybe I am not the case, but the exception, when I confess that more times than not, when I do what is not right (to some degree) I get more emotional and/or physical satisfaction than when I do the right thing.

This isn’t always the case. I carry MRE’s (ready to eat meals, the ones used by the military) in my car so when I am at a stop light and there is a (supposedly) homeless person there, I offer them a meal. I feel really good when I do that, both emotionally and spiritually.

On the other hand, when I overeat I know I have done something wrong because I haven’t shown the proper self-control, which we will all need to have when the End Days come. I need to be able to control my emotional desires, and when I eat to a point past full, well into satiety, I know I really shouldn’t have.

But, Oy! That feeling of a full stomach is, well, pardon the expression…heavenly.

There are also times I get angry and channel my Marine Corps vocabulary, and even though I know I shouldn’t do that, it just feels so good to let it out.

Do you also have similar experiences? Do you also do things that make you feel good but you know are wrong?

I suppose that’s why throughout the Tanakh we are told that no one is good and all sin. Iniquity was found even in the most beautiful of angels (yes, I am talking about the Father of all Lies, that old devil, himself, HaSatan.) And, for the record, iniquity isn’t sin- it is the desire to sin.

God told Cain that sin crouches at his door and he must master it, so is there an extra large portion of french fries in the kitchen with my name on them? If I eat the giant hoagie instead of the medium sized one, is that sinful? Not necessarily, but lack of self-control is the foundation upon which sin is built.

So what is the answer? It is simple: when we realize and accept that feeling good when you do wrong is the natural order of things, that understanding of why we do it will help us to develop the level of self-control which will eventually allow us to overcome sin. Never all of it, but a little more, each day.

We are sinners from the moment we exit the womb, and only with the help of God through his Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) can we overcome sin. If you are going to say that sin was overcome with the sacrifice of the Messiah, Yeshua, you are wrong. His sacrifice did not overcome sin- it gave us the opportunity to be forgiven of the sin we commit. The only one who can overcome sin is you. We are totally responsible for what we do and say, and therefor we are the ones who must develop the self-control to keep ourselves from doing that which we know to be wrong.

Any thing that is not right in the eyes of the Lord is something that will, probably, feel good in our flesh.

The good news is that even if it feels good in your flesh, when it feels bad in your spirit, you are on the right track. You need to work on that spiritual feeling, and remind yourself (as I do, constantly) that it is better to feel spiritually good than it is to feel physically satisfied. The physical is only for the here and now, which is nothing more than a mist, and is over faster than the blink of an eye, but that spiritual feel-good feeling will last throughout eternity.

So, as we are told in the Bible (Hebrews 12:2), we must keep our eyes on Yeshua, meaning to maintain an attitude of righteousness and run the good race. That means, in plain language, even if it feels better to do wrong, it is still wrong and we must call upon the Holy Spirit to strengthen us to overcome the innate desire to do what feels good but is not good to do.

I pray for forgiveness every day, in Yeshua’s name (of course!), and also for the strength to see and conquer sin before I do it. I confess it doesn’t always work out that way, but as I said, so long as we feel, in our spirit, that we need to do better, then we are walking the proper path, and we ARE keeping our eyes on Yeshua. Do not let the Enemy fool you into thinking that it is a waste, and what feels good must be good- that is the lie that leads to death.

The truth is that what feels good in the body is more likely bad for the spirit, and when we realize this and take it to heart, we will improve.

As I often say, and will end with today:

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, check out my books, and I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Is God Still With the United States?

October 20, 2020 Leave a comment

In the last couple of decades, our government has declared that it supports child sacrifice, which we call abortion, something that God not only says he hates but something that never even entered his mind (Lev. 18:21; Deut. 18:10; Jer. 7:31, just to name a few places where God said that.)

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

In the last couple of decades, our government declared that the 10 Commandments have no place in our judicial system.

In the last couple of decades, our government has made it legal and supports the growing homosexual movement, which includes transgender operations. What is worse is that now there are members of the government, including a candidate for the Presidency, who openly state they will support a pre-pubescent child’s desire to have a transgender operation performed!

In the last couple of decades, our government has declared that God has no place in our school system.

Today, some of our state governors are supporting rioting, looting and murder within their cities, even releasing from jail those who have committed these crimes but imprisoning people who are trying to make a living by giving haircuts. And all the while trying to reduce their police force, which can only result in less protection for their citizens, the very people who elected them, trusting that their leaders would protect them.

Currently, using a virus scare as an excuse, we aren’t even allowed to go to our house of worship to honor God.

Homosexuality, child sacrifice, sexual deviancy, and anarchy are not just being condoned, but supported and funded by the government.

We, the United States of America, have removed God from our country.

So the question is: how much longer will God allow this?

We know from reading the Bible that God is a patient and compassionate God, understanding our weaknesses and he is not just willing to forgive, but God desires to do so (Ezekiel 18.) Because of his great compassion, when evil controls his people (as it is doing today) he doesn’t allow it because he can’t do anything about it, he allows it to continue so we have a chance to repent before he does something about it.

He allowed the Northern kingdom (Shomron, also called Israel) to be sinful from the moment it was formed under Yarovam, the son of N’vat, for many generations until he finally had to act.

He allowed the Southern Kingdom, called Judea, to sin until the sins of King Manasseh were too great to ignore anymore, his rulership being so evil and sinful that God could no longer hold back his punishment (2 Kings 21:1-18.)

So, again, I ask (in light of all that America has done in the past 60 years or so): is God still with us? I believe this upcoming election will provide the answer.

I do not like having politics in my messages, as those of you who are followers will attest, but right now it isn’t really politics anymore: for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear, we are in the battle between godly and satanic.

We have on one hand a president who has been a friend to Israel, tried to keep God in his speeches, tried to protect his people from foreign influences and attacks, and tried to help his people have a better life by giving them the opportunity to become self-reliant.

On the other hand, we have a political party that has done nothing but tried to stop the president from doing these things; a party that endorses child sacrifice, homosexuality, transgenderism, has removed God from our courts and schools, denies us to right to worship together, and is offering as our leaders, those who represent America, a man who has been in office for 47 years and done nothing, and a woman who has slept her way to power and openly declared that anyone who doesn’t vote for her, when she wins will be punished.

If this ain’t God verse Satan, I don’t know what is.

That is why I believe this election is going to be a watermark in American history. Not just because of the polarization we have within our country, but because it will place in power either a godly agenda, or a satanic agenda.

If the Democrats win, that will be the sign (for me) that this country is in the same place that Judea was after the kingship of Manasseh: there will be no more time for repentance.

You may say “But God never runs out of patience!”, and you’re right, he has unlimited patience, but his patience doesn’t overrule his holiness and his holiness demands that he make good on his promises. And God has promised, first to Abraham, then the other Patriarchs, to David, Solomon, and the rest of the kings he appointed over his people, that if they reject him, he will reject them.

And God always keeps his promises.

The US of A has rejected God for a while now, and this election will show us whether or not we have finally crossed the line and passed the point of no return, which is when repentence is no longer available and all that is left is judgment.

I am voting for what I believe is right in God’s eyes, as I always have. In past elections, where I didn’t see either side as godly, I abstained, which is a vote in and of itself: it is a vote for neither. If you don’t like Trump or Biden, then I would ask you to please abstain. I believe it is better to not vote than to vote for evil, for if you do then you have sinned on two levels: you have supported evil, which is a rejection of God, and if you vote for Biden just to not vote for Trump, you have hated in your heart, which is murder.

It’s also childishly spiteful and an insult to those who have fought and died so you can choose who to vote for.

I am anxious, in every meaning of that word, to see what happens in the next few weeks, because this election will tell us if we still have a chance for survival, or if we are in the same boat with Manasseh.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with everyone you know, check out my books, and when you vote, please don’t vote for or against a person but vote for an agenda; hopefully, one that is right in God’s eyes.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

How to Argue with an Idiot

October 15, 2020 1 Comment

First off, the best way to start is to realize that this idiot probably isn’t really an idiot, just someone who has been misinformed or is afraid of hearing the truth.

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

How many people have you met in your lifetime who, when you try to inform them of something, scream, “Shields Up, Scotty!!”?

People want to believe what they want to believe, and often that means they have selective hearing or selective memory. No matter what you say, or how you say it (which is a very important part of today’s discussion), they will only remember the bits and pieces they want to, which (most often) allows them to totally twist your meaning to what they want it to be.

What an idiot, right? Not right.

People who don’t agree with you are more than likely misinformed, but then again, there is always the chance we are misinformed and we all must always be open to that possibility.

The best way to argue is to not argue: don’t even try to make them understand your position, but instead, get them to explain to you their position.

That’s right- the best way to get someone to listen to you is to first listen to them.

Let them tell you why they believe what they believe, then ask questions that will force them to re-think their position.

Step 1– The person asking the questions is the person controlling the discussion.

For example, someone says they do not believe in God. Your response is not to explain why you do, but to say something along the lines of, “OK, why is that? ” and then let them tell you their reasons for not believing. After they speak, then you can take each of those reasons and ask deeper questions. Such as if they respond with, “I have never seen any evidence that God exists.” you can respond with, “I understand. If you saw absolute evidence that God existed, would that change your mind?” Of course, the only answer they can give you now is “Yes.”

Step 2– Always ask questions which you already know the answer to.

After they answer yes, then you can say there is plenty of evidence of God’s existence, but people only recognize it as science. Just because we can understand how something works in the natural world, doesn’t mean there isn’t a supernatural explanation for how it started. Even evolution (Ahh!! He used the “E” word!) had to start somewhere, and if we accept that the idea of intelligent design is a possible way of explaining things, then God certainly has demonstrated his existence.

This is just a single example, and when you gain experience at asking questions you know will elicit a specific response, and a response for which you have an answer, you will find it easier to make people doubt what they have always thought was the truth.

People will not believe what you say is true until they begin to doubt that what they say is true, and the only way they will doubt their own beliefs is when you force them to justify those beliefs. When they begin to hear themselves say things like, “Because that’s how it is” or “That’s what I was taught”, they will realize they really don’t have an answer.

Truism: People believe only 50% of what you say, but 100% of what they say.

And here is the final and probably most important step:

Step 3- Practice explaining your beliefs in a simple manner which anyone can understand.

And that is it. When you have a discussion with someone, no matter what the topic, you must take these steps in this order:

Ask them questions so you know why they think that way;
Using their reasons to believe what they do, ask questions which they can’t answer without causing them to doubt their beliefs;
Only now can you tell them why you believe what you do, and they might be open to accepting what you say.

This takes us back to what I said earlier, how what you say is not as important as how you say it. I learned that lesson myself many years ago, when I couldn’t figure out why at meetings I attended someone else made the same suggestion I did, usually 10 or 15 minutes after I made it, but everyone thought it was the other person’s idea. I was always ahead of the curve, and because I was explaining it in the way I understood it, no one else was catching on, but someone would always figure it out later and rephrase it, and that person made the point better than I did.

You need to know your stuff before you go out there, and you need to discipline yourself to keep quiet when someone else is answering you. People only want to hear themselves talk, and when you find someone is waiting for you to take a breath so they can tell you what they want to, realize that they aren’t listening to what you say, they’re only waiting for a chance to jump in, and when that happens you have lost control.

And if you are trying to teach someone the truth about God, if you lose control you are not the one who loses, they are because you failed to help them come to God. They may win the argument, but they lose the battle that really matters, so please realize your responsibility when talking to people, whether they are non-Believers or Believers, and discipline yourself to do what needs to be done to save their soul. Do NOT allow pridefulness to cause you to forget these important rules of engagement.

Last thing to cover today: as much as I would like to think everyone can be taught, there are idiots out there, and when someone stops discussing and turns to personal attacks, the discussion is over. When that happens, despite how much you want to cut them a new one (as I often want to do), you need to be the “better person” and an example of godliness, and simply say something to the effect of:

“I have learned that when within a discussion, one side resorts to attacking the person instead of their beliefs, it is because they cannot deny the truth of the other person’s beliefs so resort to personal insults. Since that is the point we are at now, there’s no sense to continuing.”

Proverbs tells us not to argue with a fool in the same manner as the fool, and after years in the Sales profession, I have found these simple steps help people to be open to the information I wanted to give them. I never tell anyone what they must or even should believe because I believe God gave us all free will and the right to choose. What most people don’t realize is that whatever they believe, they choose to do so, and they WILL be held accountable for that choice. That is why I have this ministry: it is not to proselytize anyone or convince them to convert or even to get them to accept Yeshua, although it would be great if anything I did led them to that. My purpose is to teach what God says, so that whatever decision someone makes, it is an informed decision.

And if the information I present helps save only one soul during my lifetime, I will have accomplished much more than anything else I have ever done.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe, check out my books, and I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What Does it Mean, Really, to “Call on the Name of the Lord”?

October 13, 2020 Leave a comment

The Bible is rife with passages that state we are to “call on the name of the Lord”, or that we are to “call upon his name.” There are many Believers who understand these terms to mean that we are commanded to use the actual name of God, which is called the Tetragrammaton when we are to call upon his name.

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

There is a term for this belief, which includes the many different opinions about how the name is pronounced, a term which is not such a nice term, and we call these people “Holy Namers.” These are the people who insist that we should write, speak, and in every way, whatsoever, use the holy name of the Lord whenever we can. And, I know this sounds wrong to say, but in my experience, nearly every one of these people was raised as a Gentile.

Now, I can understand this, to a degree, because Gentiles are brought up praising and worshiping Jesus, and calling out his name over and over. After all, he did say to pray in his name, didn’t he?

Of course he did, BUT…what does that mean?

So, here we are, back to the original question: what does it mean, really, to call on the name of the Lord?

It means to pray to him and not to some other god. It has nothing to do with his name, and everything to do with who he is.

When we first see this term, it is in Genesis 4, where we are told that after Enoch was born men began to call on the name of the Lord.

Does that mean the people all called him by his holy name? According to the Jewish commentary in my Chumash, it meant that people began to call God by Adonai. The Tetragrammaton was used in the Tanakh before we see it used in Exodus when God told Moses his name, so maybe people not only knew but used the holy name from the very beginning. When Moses asked God what name he should use to tell the Israelites who sent him, God uses the holy name, which (at least, to me) implies that someone must have known that name so when Moses used it, they recognized it.

I believe the holy name, the Y-H-V-H was not only known, but the actual pronunciation was known (which we really don’t know today), so you might ask why not use it?

The reason is simple (at least, if you’re Jewish it is): we don’t use God’s actual, holy name in order to show our respect for him.

And, when the Bible tells us to call upon his name, the cultural use of that terminology was (and still is) to pray to him. Not to call out his name like you were screaming out the front door to your children (“Steven! If you don’t get in this door right now, you will be grounded for a week!”)

No, we shouldn’t use God’s holy name like we were calling a friend on the phone or shouting hello to someone.

The other cultural use of calling on God’s name means to represent God’s renown, reputation, and refer to his holiness and power.

For instance, in 1 Chronicles 22:8-10 God tells David that David’s son, Solomon, will build the temple David wanted to build, so let’s see what God says (I added the bold print):

But a message from ADONAI came to me, ‘You have shed much blood and fought great wars. You are not to build a house for my name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies that surround him; for his name is to be Shlomo, and during his reign I will give peace [Hebrew: shalom] and quiet to Isra’el. It is he who will build a house for my name.

God stated what Solomon’s name is to be, indicating the actual name. But, when using the term “for my name” he clearly doesn’t mean his actual name but is referring to his reputation and his renown. That is the proper way any term referring to “the name of the Lord” is to be used.

I wanted to list the many times in the Bible this term is used, but there were just too many times, And picking one or two examples isn’t going to make any more difference to those who will reject what I am saying here than if I found one or two hundred examples.

The holy name of the Lord, יהוה, is, for simplicity, the first name of God. When you meet someone who you respect, such as a leader of the country, or an important person in your company, a Minister or a Rabbi, do you just automatically call him or her by their first name? I hope not! That is disrespectful, and if we pay that modicum of respect to a human being, doesn’t the creator of the universe, the Lord God, Almighty, deserve at least that much respect?

If none of this makes sense to you, then I guess you will continue to use the Tetragrammaton whenever you feel like it, and I don’t think that it is a sin to do that. I do think, probably because I am Jewish, that you are being somewhat too friendly with God. Yes, we can march boldly to God’s throne (Hebrews 4:16) but that doesn’t mean we can walk up to God, slap him on the back, and say, “Yo, Y-H-V-H, how’s it hanging?”

Would you do that to a king or queen, or a president? If not, then what makes you think it is OK to do that with God?

Here’s it is, in simple English: to call upon the name of the Lord has always meant to pray to him. It never meant to use his holy name, and when we read a reference to or statement about “the name of the Lord”, it doesn’t mean the Tetragrammaton, it means God’s renown and reputation.

Yes, there are some rare exceptions, but they aren’t the rule.

God used these terms throughout the Tanakh to refer to his renown and reputation and holiness, and that is how Yeshua and every single one of his Talmudim (Disciples) understood and used them.

As I said earlier, if you want to use God’s holy name with no more respect for him than if he was one of your drinking buddies, I don’t think it is a sin, I believe it is disrespectful but, then again, I also believe God will understand this is what you were taught to do.

That doesn’t mean you can’t change.

As for me, I would much rather pray to God in a respectful and grateful way than to assume it is OK for me to use his holy name, even though he did tell us what it is.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share, and comment if you feel you have something to add. I am not afraid of a drash, so long as we are respectful and courteous to each other.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Sukkot 2020 Message

October 2, 2020 Leave a comment

Tonight begins Sukkot, the third pilgrimage festival and the last High Holy Day for this year.

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

The traditional reading on the first day of Sukkot is Zachariah 14:1-21. This passage talks of a terrible future, when the whole world comes against Jerusalem. Even Judah will fight against the Holy City! At that time there won’t be night or day, and there will be a terrible plague sent by God against all those who come against Jerusalem. At the end of it all, whoever survives will go to Jerusalem for the festival of Sukkot, and anyone refusing to come will not receive rain.

Wow! Talk about your scary End Times prophecy!

We could say that much of what is supposed to happen is already happening. The whole world, pretty much, is against Israel, even within the United States, despite the current administration’s support. And what about that prophecy of Judah coming against Jerusalem? How could anyone think that a tribe of Israel would fight against their own Holy City?

Yet that is happening, today. There are many Jewish members of the Democratic Party who support their party, which has constantly come out against Jerusalem and Israel. There are Congress members, such as Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and even Bernie Sanders (a JEW!) who have been very vocal about their hatred of Israel and Jews.

These people also support abortion up to the 9th month, which should be, in anyone’s book, murder. Remember what God said about child sacrifice? Think about it!

Sukkot is a joyous festival, memorializing how God took care of his people while they traveled in the desert for some 40 years, which is why we build and (should) live in a Sukkah for the entire week. Most people today who do build a Sukkah will eat one or more meals in it and often allow the children to sleep in it.

On the 8th day, the day after Sukkot is over, we celebrate Simchat Torah (Joy of Torah), also called Shemini Atzeret (the 8th Day) which is the end of the annual reading cycle of the Torah. During the service, we read the last few lines of Deuteronomy, then as the people dance and sing, the Torah is (carefully) rolled back to the very beginning, and we read the first line or two of Genesis. This is also a joyful celebration because we get to read the Torah, all over again.

And let me tell you, if you want to get forearms that look like Popeye’s, you can by rolling back a Torah scroll!

God has always taken care of those who fear (meaning worship) him. Even when we fail to do as God wants, which the Israelites did SO many times, he is not just willing to forgive us, but actually desires to do so. God wants so much to do good for us that he is just waiting for us to ask for forgiveness so he can be in communion with us, and we with him. And he wants us all to have eternal life, which he tells us in Ezekiel 18:23.

But there is still this prophecy from Zachariah. We are in for some pretty terrible times ahead. Maybe we are already in it, maybe we are just starting to get into it, or maybe what is happening today is just more of the same and we are nowhere near it. It doesn’t really matter because you need to be ready for it, NOW. I mean you need to know God and his Messiah, Yeshua. I mean you need to get your spiritual life in order and make sure that in the physical world you do, and support those who do, godly things and not those who work against God’s commandments.

I almost never talk politics in my messages, but this upcoming election is more than just politics. In my opinion, as a life-long student of history, it is as important as the 1864 election, and America is just as polarized as the people were back then. We aren’t just voting for a person, we are voting for a set of morals, an agenda of protecting Americans against invaders, or protecting the invaders. We are choosing an administration that wants to help Americans pull themselves up, even though it means taking away certain government support, or an administration that wants to give Americans everything they need and, thereby, subjugate them to a form of financial slavery by enabling them to stay on welfare instead of becoming financially self-supporting. It means choosing an administration that is supporting Israel or one that hates Israel.

It means the difference between an administration that wants to protect children or one that supports sacrificing children to Molech.

You must decide for yourselves, and I only ask that whichever decision you make, whether it be about a President or about God, please don’t make your decision based solely on your emotions. Research both sides of the story, listen to people, and read the Bible to see what is right and what is wrong, then you can make a decision based on information, not on emotion.

Please decide as if your life will depend on it, because in both this world and the world to come, it will!

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, check out my books and share these messages with everyone you know, even people you don’t like.

Until next time, Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!

Do You Need Facts for Faith?

October 1, 2020 Leave a comment

I have faith in God and that Yeshua is the Messiah- that is a fact. But facts have nothing to do with my faith.

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

In Hebrews 11:1 we are told that faith, or trusting, is being confident in what we hope for and convinced about things that we do not see. So, by definition, faith and facts are almost the antitheses of each other.

If we can see, touch, smell, hear or taste something, we know it is real because our senses tell us it is. However, our senses can be fooled, quite easily, so facts aren’t really the best reason for having faith.

Here’s an example: experiments have been done where a person is told they will have a hot poker or lit match placed against their skin. They are blindfolded, then allowed to smell the match or feel the heat of the hot item. Then they are touched with a piece of ice and the person’s reaction, including sometimes the physical reaction of their skin, is the same as if they were being burned. Their belief made ice feel like fire, which to me means that faith is stronger than fact.

Faith in God and faith that Yeshua is the Messiah is what God wants from us, and the strength of our faith is proven in how we act with each other and how we worship God. God gave us the instructions for how to live, and if we faithfully believe in his existence, in his authority, and in his promises to reward (and punish), then we would be stupid to do anything BUT what God says we should do.

The kind of faith God wants from us is based on nothing more than our decision to believe. Facts should have nothing to do with it.

It is similar when believing that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send. Although we have eye-witnessed attestations to the miracles Yeshua performed, there is no scientific or archaeological evidence of his miracles. In fact (pardon the expression), the only evidence of his existence is in the writings of Josephus, who mentions him briefly as the brother of James who was killed.

People who choose to believe based on what they are told can easily be swayed from one belief to another. Think of all the people you know who started off as a Catholic or a Jew, then became something else, went from Western to Eastern religious theology, then back again, and now (at least, for the moment) believe in something totally different. Again. They are making a choice, but their faith is weak because they see-saw from one system to another, most likely because (from my experience) they are looking for something they want instead of recognizing what is there.

I have known people who went from doctor to doctor looking for a doctor to tell them what they wanted to hear.

Faith cannot be based on what happens. If you are faithful because of a miraculous event in your life, the event may have been wonderful but your resultant faith is weak. Why? Because if a miracle can convince you, your choice to believe is based on a factual event, not on what we are told it should be, i.e., on what you can’t see. And the really dangerous aspect to having faith as a result of a miracle is that the Devil can make miracles happen just as easily as God can and if one miracle can turn you from sin to faith, then another miracle can turn you back to sin. Easily!

So don’t believe in God because of the testimony of others, although that testimony isn’t useless. Put it in the back of your head for later. And don’t believe in God because of some Evangelist healing someone on TV. And don’t accept that Yeshua is the Messiah because you were brought up being told that by your Priest or Minister, or that he isn’t the Messiah because your Rabbi said so: many of them, if not most, believe because they were brought up to believe that way. And what they teach isn’t always from the Bible, it’s from their Seminary classes. Why do you think that so much of Christianity has nothing to do, really, with the instructions God gave to the world in the Torah?

And as for my own people, we aren’t any better: so much of Halacha (the Way to Walk) is from the Talmud and not the Tanakh.

Let your faith be based on your choice to be faithful, and don’t let that choice be influenced by others. But, and here’s the caveat- make sure you are totally comfortable with your choice and that is based on what you read in the Bible, and I mean the WHOLE Bible, which is from Genesis through Revelation. This is especially important when you make your choice about Yeshua (Jesus) because everything you are to know about recognizing the Messiah is in the Tanakh (the Old Covenant.)

I can’t stress enough how important it is that your choice be your own and based on the bible because at the final Judgment you will be held accountable for whatever choice you make, no matter why you made it.

I chose to believe over 20 years ago that God really does exist, and that Yeshua is the Messiah he sent. I made that choice, without realizing (at the time) my choice was actually a Leap of Faith. And since I made that choice I have received confirmation through being given the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), which didn’t happen until about 3 months after I made my choice, and from many blessings in my life which have shown me that God is watching after me.

These blessings didn’t motivate my choice, but having made the choice and not swerving from it (despite attacks I received from other Jews and some family members) I know that these blessings confirm I made the correct choice.

And I also believe that because my faith motivated me to be more obedient to God’s instructions in the Torah, the blessings I received, and still do receive, is confirmation that my choice to be faithful was correct.

If you have already chosen to believe in God and Yeshua, that is great, but if your daily life doesn’t demonstrate your faith through good works (James 2:14) then may I suggest you re-evaluate the foundation of your faith.

Faith is also a form of trust, and between humans, as a rule, trust is given only after it has been earned. But with God, it works the other way around. Our trust in God must be first, and when we demonstrate that trusting faithfulness through our actions, he will then earn our trust through the many blessings we will receive from him, just as he promises to do in the Torah.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow, and consider checking out the books I have written, as well. If you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

The Old Folks Ruined It For The Young Ones

September 29, 2020 Leave a comment

I was having a discussion with a 20-something-year-old man the other day and we were discussing the attitude of the members of the Gen-Z, or Centennials, generation, specifically their sense of entitlement.

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He said something that made me realize there is an attitude that has been passed on, generation to generation, that is, sadly enough, true. That attitude is that the older generation has ruined the world that the younger generation is inheriting.

I thought first of air and water pollution, oil spills, the obesity epidemic in America, and other things that my generation, and those before me, caused. As far as the ecological destruction of our country’s natural resources, well heck! You can go all the way back to the Pilgrims to see where that started.

But are the older generations really to blame? To some degree, isn’t it unfair to blame the prior generation for the problems the younger generation has to deal with because the older generation, without the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, really had no idea of the long-term effects of what they were doing?

Oy, that’s a tough one, isn’t it?

Then I thought about the spiritual aspect of what he said.

In the Bible, how many times did the younger generation suffer for the sins of the older generation? It seems to me that it happened way too often. The Prophets often prayed for God to forgive the people for what they and their fathers did. But we know that the sins of the father are not to be held against the sins of the children: God, himself, said that in Ezekiel 18. Yet, the children of Jacob suffered slavery in Egypt for 400 years. Do any of us think Jacob went to Egypt, knowing that would happen?

Well, actually he should have, since in Genesis 15:13 God told his grandfather, Abraham, that his descendants would be foreigners in a foreign land for 400 years.

When we read the history of the Northern and Southern kingdoms in the two books of Kings and Chronicles, as well as the books of the Prophets, we see how the actions of the older generations did, indeed, cause the younger generations tremendous tsouris.

So maybe, just maybe, the feeling of entitlement we see in many of the Gen-Z/Centennial generation is the fault of their parents. Truth? It IS the fault of their parents, who they, themselves, are the Gen-Xers and Millennials who were brought up with participation trophies and parents who were brought up with Dr. Spock, TM, and who wanted to be their child’s friend instead of their parent.

And the spiritual abandonment we see in the youth of today is also the fault of the prior generations. It is found not just in the destruction of the nuclear family, thanks a lot to technology, but in the schools and courtrooms where God has been taken out of the picture. It’s also the fault of the entertainment world, where video games are making children totally inured to violence and crime. And TV, movies, and the media, in general, influencing everyone, of all generations, to not only accept sin and satanic events as normal but to adopt them.

The only way to stop this snowball effect of sin within the family and, consequently, within the society is to nip it in the bud, so to speak, and start with training up a new generation, one that is being taught the correct way to act and think. We must, essentially, take the children from their parents at the age when they can know right from wrong and place them in an environment that will teach them what they need to learn in order to defeat the racist attitude, sense of entitlement, and spiritual pollution and misguidance that is corrupting our society.

If you are thinking, “What are you saying, Steve? Are you nuts? You’re talking like a Communist, or like the Middle East terrorists who do that to their kids!”

And you know what? You’re absolutely correct! No way will what I just proposed ever happen in America, and thank God for that. We can’t do that, although it really is the best and only solution I can see. Maybe we can organize what they do in Israel and create Kibbutzim (plural for Kibbutz) here is America? That could work, but then we have the problem of who’s going to decide what is “proper”? The university professors who are teaching alternative history think they are right; the parents who are spoiling their children think they aren’t doing anything wrong; and the media that is creating their own version of the facts don’t think they are doing anything wrong (or, even if they do, they don’t care so long as they sell newspapers and get ratings.)

I don’t really have an answer, only a prayer that the Messiah returns soon because that, to me, seems to be the only way out of this mess. We have created our own “Frankenstein Monster”, and just like what happens in the Mary Shelly book, the monster we created from our own selfishness, pride and lack of foresight will eventually be our downfall.

The newer generations have always had to deal with the stupidity and ignorant actions of the older generation. There are many people today, of all ages, who are trying to consider the future results of our current actions, but there are too few of them, and (I fear) they are too late.

The events in the world today have been prophesied for millennia, and I believe that we are closer than ever to the return of the Messiah, maybe even within my lifetime. I don’t know, but it sure seems like we are past the point of no return: today we see the degradation of the American spirit, a society whose moral compass points wherever they want it to, and a world infested with a rising level of anti-Semitism and racial hatred.

Our leaders are not working together to make the world a better place, but instead are confirming the wicked and enabling the godless.

All of these events are just as described in the Bible as the signs of the Acharit haYamim, the End Days, so what do we have to look forward to?

Not much, except to provide whatever example we can of what is right, according to God, and to hope that either the example of a few good, godly people within the society will help or that the Tribulation will come and just get it over with.

Sorry to sound so dismal, but the light I see at the end of the tunnel is the Tribulation Express, coming right at us!

Thank you for being here, and please subscribe- most of my messages are much cheerier, really. And remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Yom Kippur 2020 Message

September 25, 2020 Leave a comment

There is an undeniable relationship between Yom Kippur and Passover, and together they provide total atonement which allows us to have life everlasting.

Yeshua is the Lamb of God, the Pesach Lamb. His death was the atonement for our sins, but it wasn’t just as the Passover lamb that he accomplished this.

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If we read Exodus, Chapter 12 we see that the Passover lamb’s blood was not a sin atonement- it was the identification of and covering (a “Kippur”) to identify us as God’s people and protect us from the Angel of Death.

The blood of the Passover Lamb provided life for the people of God.

Yeshua’s sacrificial death as the atonement for our sins may have occurred at Passover but it was the fulfillment of what the Yom Kippur goats do for us. The Yom Kippur goats (the one killed and the one released) are the blood sacrifices that provide for our atonement (Lev. 16:9-10). The scapegoat had the sins of all the people transferred to it before being released into the desert, or as the Bible tells us, to Azazel.

The Talmud interpreted this word to mean a steep mountain, and for many years the scapegoat was thrown off of a steep mountain in order to fulfill this requirement.
Another interpretation (from the Book of Enoch) is that Azazel is a fallen angel. Of course, it is unthinkable that we would be told by God to sacrifice a goat to a god-like satyr in the desert.
According to Rabbi Hertz, the Late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, in his 1965 edition of the Chumash, Azazel is a rare Hebrew noun that means “dismissal”, or “entire removal”. The transference of the sins of Israel by the Cohen HaGadol onto the goat released into the desert symbolized the total removal of sin from us.

Have you ever wondered why we needed two goats? If all the sins were removed by the scapegoat why kill another one? We know sin can only be forgiven by the shedding of blood and that God is the only one who can forgive and remove sin, so if the killed goat is for sin forgiveness, what does the scapegoat represent?

It represents our Teshuvah. It represents our willingness to let go of our sinful desires and remove them totally from our lives. That is why all the people were present when the goat was released. It represented all of us giving up our sinful ways and desires.

Atonement comes from three things:

Recognizing and taking responsibility for our sins;
Our desire and willingness to do Teshuvah and remove sin from our lives; and
The asking of forgiveness from God once we have done the first two things.

When we accept Yeshua as our Messiah, the blood he shed as the Passover Lamb is the thanksgiving sacrifice, bringing us into communion with God. Yeshua’s death also served as the sin sacrifice which, through his shed blood, we can receive atonement for our sins, just as with the Yom Kippur goat which was killed. And, as the Yom Kippur scapegoat, Yeshua took upon himself all our sins carrying them forever to a place we would never see them again- not just into the desert but beyond the grave.

His death shows us that Passover and Yom Kippur, although two separate events in the real world, are spiritually one and the same thing. Redemption saves us from sin and allows us to be with the Lord forever. The Passover blood represents protection from death and the Yom Kippur blood is our forgiveness from sin. Together these two things provide our salvation, both being accomplished by Yeshua.

In the Acharit HaYamim (the End Days), when Yeshua returns and we are all gathered up into the clouds with him, then will the ultimate fulfillment of both of these festivals be realized. Yeshua is the Lamb of God and the Yom Kippur scapegoat for the world. When he said he was the beginning and the end it represents more than just a timeline; he is the beginning of our eternal life and the end of our sin.

Praise God and praise His son, Yeshua Ha Meshiach, for His goodness, mercy, and ability to save.

Thank you for being here and please share these message, subscribe, and I welcome any comments you may want to add to this message.

Until next time, L’hitraot and may you have an easy fast.

Why Faith is so Hard

September 24, 2020 Leave a comment

Faith is, as we are told in Hebrews 11:1, something that is unseen and unproven.

Faith is a choice; it is a conscious decision to believe in something.

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Many people can prove that their belief is valid by simply showing it to be true with a scientific proof; for example, we all believe in gravity, and we can validate our belief by dropping something.

But what about belief in God? What about believing that Yeshua (Jesus) not only was a real person who really existed, but that he is the Messiah?

We can prove his existence because it is verified in the works of Josephus, but that doesn’t prove he is the Messiah.

We can say his miracles, which were verified by eyewitnesses and documented in (at least) four different books of the Bible, prove he was the Messiah. But that really doesn’t prove anything, because (for starters) we can’t prove the Bible is completely accurate. Oh, yes, there is plenty of archaeological evidence to show that the stories and references to many biblical characters is accurate, but that doesn’t mean Yeshua did what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John say he did. And with regard to the messianic prophecies, well, the Apostles did the same miracles that Yeshua did, so that kind of kills the argument that Yeshua’s miracles prove he was the one and only Messiah.

When it comes to faith in God, the Messiah, and what is written in the Bible, we need to choose to believe. In truth, if we could scientifically prove the existence of God that would be the antithesis of faith, because absolute proof of something does away with the need to choose to believe in it.

It is because we have to choose to have faith that it becomes very difficult to share that faith with the “real” world, which always wants to be told why something is and to be shown that it really is what they were just told it is. The world is just like people from Missouri, which is known as the “Show me” state.

The world says, “If I can’t touch, hear, see or smell it, it ain’t there!” But those of us with faith say, “I believe, anyway.”

Abraham knew that he and Sarah were way too old to have any children, but when God said he would have a son, he chose to believe him. When Jonah was told to go to Nineveh, he believed that God would forgive them if they repented, which he didn’t want to happen so he ran away.

On the other hand, there were some heroes of the Bible that did not believe; at least, not right away.

As Jacob was going to Laban, God promised to bring him back to his home and give his descendants the land, but Jacob didn’t believe him completely, so he made a pact, saying that if God did provide for him and keep him safe, then Jacob would worship God (Genesis 28:20.) And Gideon was so doubtful that he asked God to prove it was really him (Judges 6:33-40), from which we get the phrase, “Throwing the fleece before the Lord.”

Having faith is hard because it is basic human nature to want to believe only that which we can prove, and what is harder than having faith is keeping it in light of everyone else calling you ignorant or foolish for believing.

I am absolutely convinced that God exists and that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send. Why? At first, it was because I chose to believe it, but over the past 20-plus years, there have been events in my life that have been so wonderful and unexpected that I cannot put it down to coincidence. I have had prayers answered, with exactly what I prayed for, which in the “provable” world couldn’t have happened. But what is important to note is that I do not believe because the miracles happened- the miracles happened because I believed!

If someone has a miraculous event in their life which causes them to believe in God, for me, that is a concern. Why? Because Satan can create miracles, too, and if I believe simply because of a miraculous event, then my faith is founded in something other than my choice. It is founded upon a physical event, which can be created by Satan, and in many cases easily faked by a human.

Miracles can help to reinforce our belief, but I feel absolutely certain that our belief in God, the faith we hold in him and his Messiah, must be founded on our decision to believe and not on some physical event in our life.

Once we have chosen to believe in something, we must acknowledge that there is a fine line between faithfully believing and just being stubborn and unwilling to listen. I can’t tell you how to know the difference, so case-by-case, time-by-time we all need to hold true to our faith, yet be open to hearing other people’s beliefs.

That’s another reason why faith is so hard- because it is a choice, we are always able to change our minds, or be influenced to do so. I suppose the best advice I can give is to make a thorough knowledge of the Bible the foundation for your belief, and constantly pray that God will validate your trust. Not in the way Gideon did, by testing the Lord (which the Bible says we shouldn’t) but as a, well…let’s call it a confirmation of choosing to be on the right side.

Faith is a choice, a decision that each of us will make whether we know it or not. No decision is still a decision, and it is a double-edged sword because we can choose to believe or reject, but no matter why we choose, or who led us to that choice, we are, each and every one of us, ultimately going to be accountable to God for that choice.

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

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!