Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Stress Management 101

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The world is quite stressed-out right now.

(There won’t be any video today. )

Whether you believe Covid-19 is a deadly disease and we all should be in isolation wearing a mask, or you believe we should all live like always because the Covid-19 isn’t any worse than any other flu, maybe just more contagious, everyone is stressed-out by this pandemic.

Whether orchestrated by China, encouraged by politics, both or neither, the economy is suffering, people are scared, the media is doing their usual fear-mongering, and the numbers we depend on have proven, to any reasonable person, that they are totally undependable.

So, nu? What to do?

My suggestion is that we all take a ride in Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine.

Go back to the last time we had a serious scare from a disease, such as H1N1, or the Asian Flu, but don’t go back so far that medical technology was non-existent, or (at least) much less developed than it is today. Let’s go back as far as, say, Legionnaires Disease. We survived all those diseases, and there were thousands upon thousands who died. And we did it without shutting the country down.

We survived the ridiculous gas prices in the 70s that caused so much stress; we survived the Cuban Missle Crisis, although to be fair, most of us didn’t know what was happening until it was nearly over. We survived the credit crunch of the early 80s.

And we will survive this.

The riots and lootings are, in my opinion, less a result of racism (although it is a catalyst) than it is of the stress that the country is under. When stressed out and frustrated, we get angry, and when we cannot contain our anger, we lash out. Unfortunately, racism is a very real and sinful part of America, and when you take that constant burning ember and throw the fuel of frightened people, misleading reports, lost jobs, lost income, forced isolation, and loss of personal rights, well…you get what is happening today.

So here’s the reason we went back in time: we need to remember that this is all the same stuff, different day, and we WILL get through it so long as we don’t give in to it.

For those who believe in God: keep the faith, Baby! God is in control, even when everything else is out of control, and what we are going through may be nothing more than God sitting back and saying to himself, “OK. Let’s see what they have learned.”

Look to God for the strength to maintain your faith and be faithfully patient for this to all blow over. Sooner or later the people will be tired of being lied to and controlled- Americans today may be weak and gullible, much more so than when I was a kid, but we are still full of attitude. Sooner or later, Americans- yes, even the ones that are easily fooled- will open their eyes, and then they will be really mad, but this time at the right people.

It IS frustrating to have vacations and family events canceled because of a political agenda, but think about what it was like for the first century Judeans under Roman rule, or even further back- the exiles living in Babylon. Think of the Jews in Sushan when Haman declared they are all to be killed. They were scared and frustrated, but they maintained their faith and God brought them through it.

He will do the same for those who believe in him. It may be the Acharit HaYamim, the End Days, are upon us. If that is the case, then all this mishigas is just the start, and it will get much worse. If that’s the way it is, then that’s the way it is, and so long as we maintain faith, we will be OK. Maybe not in this plane of existence, but this life isn’t what’s important- the next life is what we need to plan for.

Keep your eyes on the prize, don’t be turned from the pathway to salvation, and gird yourself for trouble. You will be going through hell, but you won’t be stopping there, and the other side is where God is waiting for you.

Thank you for being here and please remember to subscribe and share these messages. I also always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Literal or Figurative?

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When you read the Bible, do you believe that every, single reference to every single thing is meant to be taken literally?

When God said he created the entire universe in 6 days, is that literal?

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When we are told that the original 10 Commandments were written with the finger of God, did he really use his finger? Does a spiritual being even have fingers?

When Yeshua told Kefa (Peter) to feed his flock, did he really mean that Kefa was to give food to every, single Believer following Yeshua?

And what about Revelation? Is everything in there going to happen exactly the way John saw it?

The Bible is, first and foremost, subject to the personal knowledge and biases of the interpreter, and no matter how hard they try to make their interpretation as accurate and honest as they can, it is always subject to their abilities and knowledge.

Try this experiment next time you are at a party or gathering (assuming after this Coronavirus mishigas, we will be able to have parties again): tell a joke, a simple one, and let it circulate through the guests. Later, ask someone who didn’t hear you tell the joke to tell it to you, and I’ll bet you will be amazed at how much it has changed.

And let’s not forget that there are dozens of different versions of the Bible, each one must, by copyright law, be significantly different from all other versions.

Many things in the Bible are, obviously, to be taken literally, such as “Do not lie” or “Do not murder.” And then there are the obvious metaphors, although whereas they seem obvious to many, to others they aren’t. Such as the “lights in the sky” God created, as stated in Genesis.

Believe it or not, I have read postings from intelligent people who, in their desire to accept every word of the Bible as the absolute truth, state that the moon creates its own light and is, in fact, transparent. They also say the earth is flat. Their reasons for this? Well, that’s the way they interpret what the Bible says. And when shown scientific proof against that belief, they say that the proof is fabricated.

There is the story in Acts 10 about the sheet lowered three times onto the roof, and Kefa is told to eat unclean foods. He refuses each time, and each time God says not to call unclean that which he makes clean. This has historically been misinterpreted to mean the laws of Kashrut (Kosher) are no longer valid, but, in fact, it was never meant to be taken literally because it was a metaphor. God wasn’t talking about food, he was talking about the three Roman visitors (who Jews considered to be unclean) who came to bring Kefa to the house of Cornelius. It was all about giving the Holy Spirit (a spiritual cleaning) to the unclean Gentiles, and nothing to do with food or Kashrut.

Here is another example in Jeremiah 1:11-12:

And the word of the Lord came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree”, I replied. “You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over my word to accomplish it.”…

In the Hebrew,  Jeremiah replies using the word “shaked”, meaning almond tree, but when God answers him, he uses “shoked”, meaning watching. So, although Jeremiah sees an almond tree branch, God’s meaning is that he is watching his word to make sure it is accomplished and had nothing to do with trees or branches.

We see this also in Amos, Chapter 8 where Amos sees a basket with summer fruit (in Hebrew, kayitz) but God says the end (ketz) has come for his people.

Just as with Jeremiah, God is using a play on words, shaked vs. shoked and kayitz vs. ketz, which proves that not everything we read in the Bible is to be taken literally.

Visions are almost always a form of metaphor or figurative and are not to be taken literally.

The hard question for all of us is: “When it is literal and when is it figurative?”  

The only answer I can give is that we have to consider a few different things when trying to answer that question.  One thing to consider is does it make sense, both within the physical world and hermeneutically?  We next ask whether or not this is a vision or dream, or is it happening in the “real” world?

And finally, we should ask God to guide our understanding through his Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, to show us what he wants us to know.

The Bible is the word of God, at least, that is what I have heard it called all my life. Probably because that is what people have called it since it was first given to us by God. And it IS his word, but for the most part, it is his word translated or interpreted by people with personal bias, limited understanding, and (all too often) a personal agenda.

And let me add, as for the Talmud, also known as The Oral Law, well…if you did the experiment I suggested above, imagine that not just being done by a handful of people at a party, but by many people over thousands of years.

Read the Bible and trust in what God says, but also realize that what you are reading is not always exactly what God said. You must not just accept anything and everything in the Bible literally: you need to use ein bisschen seykhl (a little common sense) when you study the Bible, as well as becoming familiar and comfortable using Bible study tools, such as hermeneutics, Circles of Context, a concordance, the Interlinear  Bible, a Hebrew version of the Tanakh, and a good Hebrew-English dictionary (unless you happen to be fluent in Hebrew).

Don’t take anything at face value, even within the Bible, and always question everything.

Let me finish with this last piece of advice: asking God to give you the understanding he wants you to have is the best way to make sure that when you read God’s word, you will understand what God meant.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages with others, and if you aren’t familiar with the Bible study tools I mentioned, please comment to let me know and I will tell you what and where to get them.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Are Christians Better than Jews?

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I know you’re thinking, “What a silly question! What Christian would consider themselves better than a Jewish person?”

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

And you would be right in thinking that, but as a Jewish man who is also a Messianic Jew, I have been exposed to both Jews and Christians my entire life, and have experienced from both sides subtle, and not so subtle, prejudice.

To a “mainstream” Jew, I have to be a Christian because I “believe in Jesus Christ” and to many Christians, because I never rejected Judaism, I am not really “saved” because I still do all that Jewish stuff that Jesus did away with; they say because I try to obey the Torah, I am under the law and not under Grace.

The truth is that Jews have no idea who the real Messiah is because they only know the Constantinian form of Christianity which was supposedly created by that blonde-haired, blue-eyed European called Jesus. And the Christians? Most of them have no idea who Yeshua is or how their “Savior” really lived and worshiped, knowing (just as the Jews) nothing more than the Constantinian form of Christianity.

And what is one of the foundational teachings of Constantinian Christianity? It is that the Jews rejected Jesus and so those Gentiles who accepted him are not just saved, but because they recognized and accepted Yeshua as the Messiah, they are better than the Jews. Some take that to an extreme, which is called Replacement Theology. Replacement Theology states that the Jews, having rejected Jesus, are now rejected by God and that Christians are now God’s chosen people.  Yeah, right. There will be a big surprise (and it won’t be pleasant) when they come before God and try to tell him they are his chosen people.

If you were brought up in one of those rare, yes rare, Christian churches that understand who Yeshua was and is, and do not accept that the Torah and all that “Jewish stuff” was done away with, then you probably will find what I am saying either hard to believe or maybe even a little insulting. If you are one of these (please believe me when I say) rare Christians, this next statement and the object of this message is not about you.

For the rest of the Christians, those who have been taught and believe that the Torah doesn’t apply to you and that Jesus did away with the law, let me remind you of what Shaul (Paul) said to the newly “saved” Gentiles in Romans 11:17-21 (CJB):

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.  So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”  True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!  For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you!

Too often Christians have been taught that they are better than the Jews because they accepted Jesus. Maybe not in those words, but in their attitude towards the Torah and Jews, in general. That is why, I believe, they have no problem rejecting God’s word in the Torah- it’s because that “better than thou” attitude has been conditioned through the subtle prejudice and anti-semitic teachings that have infiltrated Christianity since the first century.  How else could one justify the historic hatred Christianity has shown towards the Jews?

What hatred, you ask? Ever hear of the Crusades? What about the Inquisition? Heck, even the Nazi’s had “Gott mit uns” (God is with us) imprinted on their belt buckles. And if you want to excuse them as not really Christians, to a Jew any non-Jew is a Gentile (the Hebrew word Goyim means “nations”, i.e. everyone else) and Gentiles have always killed Jews.

The sad truth is that Christians feel, whether they recognize it or not, that they are better than Jews, and even those that I deal with daily through discussion groups have demonstrated this by insisting on rejecting, and even decrying, traditional Judaic thought and actions, even when they are not in any way in opposition to God’s word. Things such as rejecting the standard Jewish calendar, or insisting on constantly using God’s Holy Name, even though Jews don’t use it simply out of respect. Too many Christians, mostly the “Holy Namers”, not only insist on pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, but insult and deride anyone who doesn’t. They say substituting “Adonai” (Lord) or “HaShem” (the name) for the Holy name (Y-H-V-H) is tantamount to praying to Ba’al! Ridiculous!

There is only one word that describes that attitude: disrespect. And disrespect is a form of boasting because you don’t disrespect those who you don’t feel superior to.

The really silly thing is that not only is this feeling within Christianity that they are better than the Jews, but within Christianity, they feel superior to each other, as well! Imagine: I am a grafted in branch, and I am better than those other grafted in branches who are newer to the tree than I am. Not only that, but now that I am grafted onto the tree, the tree now lives off of me.

Traditional Christianity teaches that the branch has replaced the root.

No one is any better than anyone else in God’s eyes, except maybe those who live their lives trying to please God by doing what he said we should. I am not proclaiming that strict adherence to the Torah is the only way to be saved, but I am saying that trying to do as God said is what God expects of us, and those who do more of what God says will receive more of God’s blessings. He told us that’s how it works in Deuteronomy 28.

Yeshua said a house built on sand will fall and one built on a rock will stand. The foundational tenets of Judaism are what our rock, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Y-H-V-H, gave us through Moses. That is the foundation God said to build upon. Modern Christianity has rejected, for the most part, what God said and instead built their house on sand, the sand that Constantine gave them in the third century, and the sand that the early Christian fathers taught by misinterpreting what Shaul wrote.

How can anyone obey what men say over what God says and think they are right?

Most Jews did reject Yeshua, and they still do, for the same stupid reason that so many Christians think they are better than Jews: ignorance. Both Judaism and Christianity have, for centuries, been based on the idea they are superior because that is what religion is: a system designed to give some people power over other people.  God’s instructions are not a religion, they are a way of life designed not to make anyone superior to anyone else, but simply to please God and, thereby, receive blessings and eternal life.

Religion teaches us that some are superior to others, and God teaches us that the proud will fall and the humble will be raised up, so you need to decide which you would rather be: superior in your own mind or raised up by God?

Thank you for being here. Please subscribe to this ministry and share these messages with others. And remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Taking Some Time Off

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I want to take this moment to thank all of you who have subscribed, and by continually viewing and commenting on my messages help support this teaching ministry.

I didn’t post anything Tuesday and although I do have something for today, I am taking some time off. I won’t be doing my usual parashah message tomorrow, either.

Everyone needs to take some time to rest from what they do, even when they enjoy doing it, if for no other reason than to keep it from becoming stale.

Have a wonderful and restful Shabbat this weekend and I will be back online with you next week.

God willing!

Until then, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Request for an Independence Day from Bad Social Media

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I am doing something very different today.

 

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

Here is a copy of a post I placed on my Facebook timeline the other day:

I did this as a rhetorical post, but one of my friends said that he liked the idea and that he was in and for me to just name a day.

I added a comment that I will name a day, and the day I am naming is the Fourth of July.  This day represents to Americans our independence from being controlled by a monarchy that didn’t respect our right to be independent and to practice whatever religion we wanted to. In fact, this country was founded on the idea that people have the right to do what they want to do, think, and speak as they want to, so long as those rights do not infringe on the rights of others.

What is happening today, though, is somewhat like what it was like under English rule, only much worse because the anarchists using smokescreens such as BLM and Antifa are not trying to control us from a foreign land, but from within. These anarchists, as well as Facebook censorship, government control of how people dress, and media fear-mongering, are the true virus attacking America today. They may be funded from different sources, but overall their boss is the same snake who has always used lies and false accusations to stir up trouble in God’s kingdom by convincing people to do evil in the name of goodness.

So, I am asking everyone who uses social media to join us on this coming July 4th to NOT post or copy or share anything that is political or dealing with the Covid-19 rhetoric, or that shows rioting or potentially disturbing videos, or anything that might be considered upsetting in any way.

Instead, let’s share our hopes and dreams; let’s encourage one another and post only what is joyful, uplifting, and positive.

This coming July 4th, let’s declare our independence from social media drek, from political intrigue, from violence in the streets, and from the evil in our land by sending light into the darkness.

God bless you all, and may he protect and help us all through these troubling times.

Please subscribe and spread this message on YouTube and social media so that on this coming Independence Day there will be something on social media other than the usual garbage we have to deal with.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What Does Created in God’s Image Mean?

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We are told in the very beginning, Genesis 1:27, that we are created in the image of God. But what does that mean?

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Does it mean that we look like God? I know there are many places in the Bible where God appears to people, and his appearance was too much to behold. Most of the descriptions we have, such as from Moses and Daniel, present God as an overwhelming presence.

On the other hand, God told Moses that he could see the back but not the face of God, for anyone who sees the face of God’s will die. That implies that God has a physical body like ours.

By the way, when God said that anyone who sees his face will die, does that mean the sight of God’s face is so emotionally overwhelming that it shocks us to the point of death, or simply that it is forbidden to see his face and if we see it, we must be executed?

After all, he told Adam and Eve if they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they would die, but when they ate they didn’t die. At least, not immediately; eventually they did, a few hundred years later. So, if they hadn’t eaten, would they have lived forever?

Who knows? However interesting that answer might be, I am going off on a tangent so let’s get back to today’s message.

I don’t think that we are created looking like God, if for no other reason than this: God is not a physical being. He is spirit, and as such can appear in any form he wishes. So, no, I don’t think God looks like we do or that we look like him, and that whatever form he has taken in the past to appear to people, whether in real life or in visions, is for our benefit.

One thing that might give us a hint to what “in the image of God” means might be found in that fact that of all the millions of different creatures God created, only human beings are created in his image. By identifying what is it that humans have which no other creature has, that might point to the image we are looking for.

So, nu? What’s so different about us?

I think it’s that we have a soul.

Animals have intelligence, they have emotions, they have skills (Jane Goodall turned the anthropological world upside down when she discovered chimpanzee’s had developed tool usage), and they also can learn new skills and pass them down to their progeny. All of these things are exactly the same things that humans have, except that the Bible specifically omits any reference to animals being reborn.

Now, one of the first lessons I learned about proper biblical exegesis is that “You can’t make an argument from nothing”, and just because something is not mentioned in the Bible, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. However, since we are specifically separated from every other living thing by the fact that we alone are created in God’s image, and that we, alone, will be resurrected in the End Days, then I think it makes sense that we have something which is the same thing God has but is not found in any other creature on earth.

And what is that? It’s our soul. I have always heard that the soul is eternal, and if that is true, then it is the one thing that only a human being has in common with God, thereby making us the only creatures in the world that are made in the image, or we could also say similar, to God.

That’s my take on what being made in the image of God means. It means that we have a soul that part of us which is eternal, just as God is eternal, and only human beings can lay claim to this similarity.

The only thing left now is to decide where our souls will go after we die. The answer to how we do that, my friends, is to follow the roadmap to salvation that you find in the Torah.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages with others. And remember: I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

God is More Than Just Love

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I have heard, oh so often, that God is love.

I have heard that the God of the Old Covenant is all about destruction and violence and rules, but the God of the New Covenant is all about love.

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I have also heard that there are false teachers and that those who sin and teach others to sin will be in big trouble when they have to explain what they did to God.

And the reason they will be in big trouble is that although God is a loving God, he is MUCH more than that.

He is the Creator of everything, which includes right from wrong. He is also the Judge of the Universe which (for the record) includes Earth and all that live on the Earth. In fact, he is not just the judge, but the jury and the executioner, as well.

God is holy; he is so holy that he is the holiest of all that is holy, and as such he is also faithful to his word. When God tells us that disobedience will be met with punishment, because he is holy, he must dish out that punishment to the disobedient.

Where his love comes into play is that even when he punishes, his love for all of his creation will result in a punishment that is actually merciful, meaning it will still be terrible, but not as terrible as we actually deserve.

For example, his love for Israel (the Northern Kingdom) was the only reason that he waited so long before punishing them: he was giving them time to repent. But once God reached the end of his patience, his punishment was, indeed, terrible; but, he did not totally destroy his people, as they deserved. In fact, he sustained them even after they were spread throughout the Diaspora, and he promised to return them to their homeland one day.

For the past 75 years, we have seen this regathering happening and it is wonderful.

People are so happy to hear about God’s love for them just as they are, which is misleading people to believe that because they are loved God will allow them to continue to do just what they have always done. This is the message that traditional Christianity sends, which ignores all the laws and regulations necessary to receive blessings.

You’re right, God will bless those who do not do everything in the Torah because he is a loving God, and sometimes in order to bless the righteous, the sinful get blessed too- it’s like collateral blessings. On the other hand, when the sinful are punished (sad to say) the righteous are sometimes collateral damage (Everyone Gets Rained On) and suffer along with the sinful.

The bottom line is that God makes the rules and because he is holy, faithful, trustworthy, and never-changing we can depend, absolutely, on his also judging according to HIS rules (not what any religion says), punishing those who have rejected his instructions exactly as he said he would in the Torah.

God does love each and every one of us, and it is because of that wonderful and infinite love that he will punish those who do wrong. Not as a means of enforcing his will, or out of the kind of prideful anger that humans feel when they are ignored or rejected, but because the only way a sinner will turn to God is when that sinner realizes the consequences of the sin he or she is doing. And the consequence of sin, as Shaul (Paul) tells us in Romans, is death.

God punishes the guilty out of love so that they will have every possible chance to turn from their sin (do t’shuva) and by turning from those sins, be able to remain alive and live eternally in peace and joy.

The big lie from Christianity is that we are all okay because God is love; the truth is that because God is love us he will punish the guilty.

Thank you for being here; please share these messages with others and subscribe.

I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Religion is the True Parochet

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The parochet, for those who aren’t familiar with the Hebrew word, is the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Tent of Meeting Moses had built in the desert, in accordance with the instructions God gave him.

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According to the Talmud, it is a sign of respect for the Torah scrolls kept inside the aron kodesh, the holy ark.

In the Tanakh (Exodus 40) we are told that after placing the tablets God gave Moses into the Ark, the curtain was placed between the Ark and the rest of the area.

In essence, the parochet is a type of barrier between God and the people.

When Yeshua gave up his spirit, which was the means for us to receive forgiveness of sins and, thereby, come closer to God, the parochet in Solomon’s temple was torn, from top to bottom, representing that now there was no barrier between us and God.

When the parochet was torn after Yeshua’s death, the Cohanim replaced it, but not too long after that a new parochet was created. This wasn’t one with blue and purple yarn, and it wasn’t one we could see or feel or smell, but it became a barrier between the people and God that is more difficult to pass through than any cloth curtain ever was.

This newer parochet, this invisible and impassable parochet, this impenetrable barrier between God and people is called…religion.

As I have said over and over, God has no religion. God gave instructions to Moses that were to be passed along and taught to the world. These instructions teach us how to worship God as he wants us to worship Him, and also how to treat each other as God wants us to treat each other. They are found in the Torah and we were specifically told that they are to be valid throughout our generations.

That means forever.

Religion, on the other hand, is the creation of mankind and its sole purpose is for people to have power over other people.

Every Judeo-Christian religious sect or denomination professes to worship the one, true God, whose name is spelled Y-H-V-H. And all these different religions agree that he is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, never changing.

Yet, they all have different ways to worship him and different ways of following his instructions.

The one thing that all religions have in common is that they have developed their own rules, doctrines, laws, traditions, and rituals, most of which have no basis or requirement by God in his Torah, and many of which actually ignore God’s instructions in the Torah.

And what justification do they give for ignoring what God said to do? They blame it all on his son, the Messiah, who they claim told them they don’t have to obey God anymore.

This same son whose testimony throughout his ministry on earth was that he does only what his father in heaven tells him to do!

The Cohanim replaced the torn cloth parochet, but later men like Ignatius and Constantine, followed in turn by the Popes and organizers of new religions like Luther, Young, et.al. , created their own religions, which acts as a parochet separating those who followed them from God by replacing God’s instructions with their own.

So, what are we to do?

My suggestion is that you find out what God said you should do and compare it with what your religion tells you to do, then choose who you want to obey: God or men?

I might add one last thing: before you choose who to follow, you might want to consider that at the final judgment it won’t be the originator of your religion who will be sitting on the Throne of Judgment, it will be God, and he might be a little perturbed with anyone who chose to ignore his instructions.

Just a little something to think about while you still have the time.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages out with others, and remember that I always welcome your comments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Why the Good Die and the Evil Live

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One of the questions regarding the existence of God I often hear is “Why would God allow evil people to live long and thrive while so many good people die young?”

The answer I give isn’t hard to understand, but it’s a tough one to accept for a person who doesn’t have faith in God.

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

Before I give you my answer, I should say that I don’t have a lot of scripture to back this up and that it is based on my understanding of the nature of God.

I believe God has a purpose for everyone and a plan for their life. We are, each of us, allowed to do whatever we want to do so we can follow God’s plan for us or reject his plan and make our own. And even if we reject God’s plan for us, there is always an opportunity for us to change course, as I did when I was in my early 40s, which has led me to this ministry and writing the books I have written, and (best of all) by accepting God’s plan for me I was able to receive salvation and his Holy Spirit.

That is how I changed course, but most people do not accept God’s plan for them and do evil instead of good. So why does God allow that? It is because they still serve a purpose; what that purpose is we may not know or realize during our lifetime, but I believe, faithfully, that when someone refuses to do as God says, he will find a way to use their rejection of him to bring someone else closer to him.  We can see evidence of this in the Bible, many times when God used Pharaoh, the Philistines, and the kings of Assyria and Babylon to do evil things that brought the Israelites back to him.

So, if that explains why evil people are allowed to prosper, why do the good die so young, so often?

Again, I believe because God had a specific purpose and plan for them and once they have fulfilled that purpose, he calls them to their reward.

Remember, dying is only a sad thing for those of us left behind- for the ones who are saved by God’s grace and their belief in Messiah, they leave a fallen and cursed world to come into the eternal joy of God’s presence! Instead of being sad, we should rejoice in their victory.

But we are sad because we will miss them, and that is OK.

We all have a purpose and a part to play in God’s plan for humanity; often the ones who are godly suffer and die too soon while the ones who reject God, do evil, and abuse others are allowed to thrive and succeed in life.

This is where it becomes hard for those without faith or understanding of God to make sense of it all: the reason we are here, the reason for this existence, is to choose where we will spend eternity. Eternity is what matters, and God gives us enough time to choose where we will go after we die. That is why we often see good people die early- they’ve done what God wanted them to do.

The evil people get to live longer not as a reward, but because God is giving them extra time to change their decision.  That is part of what Grace is about- he will patiently allow evil people to continue in order to give them time to repent. God doesn’t want the evil to die in their sin (Ezekiel 18:23) so when we see evil thriving and think it unfair, in reality, they are doomed and running out of time to save themselves.

The answer to why evil people thrive and good people die young is that the evil ones need more time to repent, and the good ones have fulfilled their purpose and are receiving their reward of eternal joy.

When you think about it, the ones who die early have it better than the rest of us who have to stay behind and keep working.

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Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!