Taking Some Time Off

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

I am doing something very different today.

 

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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?

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

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

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

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.

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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.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, buy my books, and share these messages with others.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

The Rose in the Manure

There is so much going on in the world today that stinks.

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There is a contagious disease that has been hyped into a world-wide panic by the media.

There is a political polarization within the United States that has been exacerbated by the media and one of the political parties to the extent that this country is as divided as it was during the mid-1800s when the argument about slavery tore us apart.

There is continual racial animosity that has (again) been so exacerbated by the media that it has caused nation-wide rioting, looting, and deaths.

Antisemitism is on the rise (again) and we have three Congresswomen who no one can understand how they got elected: two hate America and democracy and the third has demonstrated such a fierce lack of understanding about the economy, government or history that she has become an embarrassment to her own party.

And our economy is in the toilet as a result of the over-reaction to the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

Folks, if ever this country was in the middle of a pile of you-know-what, it certainly is now!

Yet, in the midst of all this tsouris, we see there are still people coming together in peaceful protest; we see people freely giving food and other supplies to those who are economically in trouble; we see churches and synagogues that have been told by the government to close their doors using the Internet to stay in touch with their congregations and to continue to spread God’s message.

In the midst of the manure in which this country is immersed, there is a rose growing. Because of what it is surrounded by, we can’t smell it right now, but we know that it smells nice and we can trust that as soon as the manure dries up and dissipates, we will be able to smell that sweet scent of the rose.

Often our lives seem to be completely out of control, and we are suffering from troubles that overwhelm our senses. It becomes hard to maintain faith and remember that God is still in charge, and sometimes we even wonder if God is punishing us. We can become unsure of ourselves and doubt that things will ever get better.

But, somehow, they always do get better, and that is because God IS in charge, and even if he is punishing you, he will also help you to get back on your feet so long as you maintain your faith and believe that he is doing all this for your good.

In this life, there are animals that defecate on the roses, but that doesn’t stop the rose. No, in fact, when a rose is defecated on, it uses that manure to grow. It ignores the stink and finds the nutrients that will make it even stronger so that when the manure is gone, the rose will continue even more beautiful and aromatic than before.

That is what we must do, now and anytime our lives are drowning in drek. The gold won’t be purified until it goes through the fire, and when God allows the fire to consume us, it is up to us to accept the heat, remember that it won’t last too long, and patiently continue to faithfully trust in God to make it all right at the end. And, when we come through it, we will be stronger and able to handle even more stress than before.

Now here is the part no one wants to hear: after you go through the fire, there will be a next one and that one will be even hotter!

But don’t let that cause you worry or concern because you have history to look back on and to give you confidence.  Hey! You have been through this before; it was hotter last time than the time before that and you are even better now, so the hotter the fire, the better you will be.

So c’mon, world: bring it on!! I’m ready to take whatever the world throws at me; I know I can get through it because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). 

Let me finish today with this: I hate watching commercials that insult my intelligence; it drives me crazy to see people driving alone in their cars with the windows closed and wearing a face mask; I am really upset that so many small businesses are closing and people suffering because of the media hype over a disease that kills less than 2% of the total population; and it kills me, especially as a former active duty Marine, to watch this country being torn apart at the seams because our leaders are so obsessed with destroying each other that they are taking the country down with them.

And on top of all this, there is brutality in the streets with people looting, rioting, and killing others all in the name of fair treatment. What a lie!!

I can’t begin to tell you how frustrated I am that I can’t do anything about it.

So, nu? What are we to do?

We should wait patiently on the Lord and maintain our faithful trust that he will see us through this, or (if you ask me, better still) he will continue to allow it as part of the final days when the world will be judged and the Messiah will return to bring lasting peace.

That’s how I deal with all this tsouris in the world: I wait on the Lord and look for the rose in the middle of all this manure, knowing that soon I will be able to enjoy its wonderful scent again.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages to help this ministry grow, and don’t forget to check out my website and my books.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

I Just Don’t Know What to Say

Here’s the problem: I usually take a long bike ride two to three times a week, and while riding I pray. During these prayers, I often get inspiration for a topic to discuss. However, it has been raining for almost two weeks straight and in Florida, if there is even a chance of a thunderstorm, you do NOT want to be caught out in the rain, especially on a conductor like a metal bike.

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Consequently, I have been missing a lot of prayer time, because (good or bad) I am somewhat conditioned after many years of a long commute in my car and now long rides on my bike, of praying when I am doing those things, and not sitting quietly and praying when I am not.

So, here I am, trying to think of what to talk about with you today, and I got nuthin’!

If you follow my ministry, you might recall that this is a situation that has occurred more than once, and I always seem to come up with something once I get started, but today I don’t feel much like starting anything. Maybe that’s because I am so disgusted with what is happening in the world.

I have recently talked about the signs of the coming judgment, and won’t go into that again. If you missed those posts, they are available on the website. And I don’t think political statements are appropriate in this forum, although there are sometimes exceptions.

You wanna know what really pisses me off? It’s when people say they want to be treated like everyone else is treated, but claim that they are deserving of special treatment. They don’t seem to see how hypocritical that is. If I want to be like everyone else, and treated like everyone else, then I need to be willing to do and act and live like everyone else. When I insist that I should have my own subculture, or dress differently, or redefine my gender, or whatever and that is not the way people within that society normally act or think, then I am not assimilating with the people, I am actually estranging myself from them.

And if I choose to be estranged, then how can I justify asking to be treated as a member of that society which I am estranging myself from?

We who call ourselves God-fearing people, are called to be estranged. We are to be holy, which means to be separate, but then again, Yeshua said that a lamp is useless if it is placed under a cover or hidden, so we are also called to be among the people who are not holy. This is a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it? Be separate from yet amongst the people: hmmm…. how do we do that?

We do it by living our lives with society but as an example of righteousness, hoping that this will lead others to do what is righteous, eventually resulting in what was first the estranged behavior becoming the norm.

You may ask, “How is that any different from having a different culture or gender identification or religious belief? We can also be an example to the people to lead them to OUR definition of righteousness.”

And you wanna know something? Your question is valid.

The difference is what we consider to be righteous.

God told us how to be righteous in his Torah, which he gave to Moses to separate the Jewish people from the rest of the people living in that part of the world; the Torah was to transform the Israelites into a lamp, making them light in the darkness. The darkness was itself also a social and religious system. When we read the Bible, it shows us that the darkness more often than not, blocked out the light.

Let’s face it, Folks…sin is often much more fun than righteousness. The problem with sin is that it only feels good for a short time, then the truth sets in, which is that righteousness is necessary for eternal joy. Too many people choose to reject their opportunity for eternal joy by choosing the temporary pleasure of sin.

When we see what is happening in the world today, we see unrighteousness abounding. And it will only get worse, which is what God has been warning us about for millennia. Every social or religious system believes it is the standard to be followed, and in that, we all have the right to choose which system we will assimilate into. Don’t fool yourself into saying you shouldn’t have to choose how to behave, because you do. Within every society there are rules and if you don’t obey those rules, you are out of that society and will be treated with disdain, prejudice, and persecution.

Don’t you dare cry about it- it’s by your own choice! If you aren’t one of us, you are against us- that saying goes back a long way, and it is true.

Each of us has to choose which society we will be a member of; righteousness as defined by God or righteousness as defined by those who reject God. As Yeshua said, no one can be a slave to two masters, and I suggest that when you choose your master, you don’t think about immediate gain or pleasure but consider, instead, the eternal consequences of your choice.

It’s your choice: always has been and always will be, and when you face God, he won’t accept your excuse that someone else told you you were acting righteously because it is what HE said is righteous that counts.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with others, as well as subscribe to the YouTube channel and this website.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What Should We Do Now?

I just saw a video taken by a man driving down 5th Avenue in New York City.

If you aren’t familiar with 5th Avenue, it is where many of the high-priced retail stores are located, such as Tiffany and Co. The video showed block after block, on both sides of the street, with plywood over all the windows.

It looked like the houses I would see when driving through slums.

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I read about the Antifa movement, which professes to hate racism while practicing anarchy, and I believe that we all know those who cry out for justice do not practice injustice. But, still, it is happening and there are so many who are so blinded by their political beliefs that they can’t see what is happening. The world is coming to an end and these politically blinded idiots applaud those destroying the most wonderful things about this country.

So, what can we do? My answer is this: nothing.

That’s right, there is nothing we can do about it except protect ourselves and make an effort to tell everyone we care about that if they aren’t right with God and Messiah, to get their tuchas in gear because the fecal matter is about to hit the air circulation unit. And all this tsouris we are seeing, this political and social mishigas, is just the beginning.

It won’t get better until after it gets worse.

Don’t believe me? Think I am one of those nutcases who screams, “REPENT!! The end is near!!”  Well, you’re right, because that is exactly what I am doing (sans waving a sign in one hand and a Bible in the other.)

I read the Bible, I read what the Prophets tell us God told them would happen, I read what Yeshua warned us would be the starting signs, and I read Revelation.

(I still have no idea what most of Revelation is about, but I know enough of it to recognize what is happening.)

I see so many people posting about how we should pray for peace, but I think it would be better to accept that this is God’s plan for the world and pray instead for a quick resolution to these days, and also for a speedy return of the Messiah.

I hate what I see happening to my country, to our system of government, to people of all races, and to the world, in general. People are being led to their own destruction, and on the way, they are cheering about it. Political opposition has reached the point where those who are responsible for making the laws are paying people to break the laws for their own agenda, which is (in and of itself) treasonous.

Anarchists are spreading violence, civil injustice, and social unrest across our nation, and it is spreading out of the cities and into the suburbs.  Soon we will be living in the apocalyptic world that we have only seen in movies and TV shows. There won’t be brain-eating zombies coming after us, but considering how brainlessly people have been acting, those zombies would starve, anyway.

Hmmm….since a zombie is already dead, can it actually starve to death?

Anyway, the thing that I am doing, and what I recommend others to do, is to protect myself. Not from germs or political opponents, but from physical harm and most of all, from the pandemic of stupidity and fear that is the real danger in the world, today.

Maintain your faith and know that this is not really social upheaval, racially motivated riots, or germ warfare (which, for the record, it is all of these things), but that this really is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption. It is the judgment of the nations God said would happen before the return of Messiah Yeshua.  We all need to realize this is not a religious rant but is a fact, and by accepting that be emotionally prepared for the rest of the tribulation that is yet to come.

The end IS near, much closer and more tangible than it has ever been before, and we need to get right with God and Messiah before it is too late. Pray not for peace, but for your family and friends who have not accepted Messiah and God’s instructions in the Torah, because they are the ones who will suffer the most.

The suffering of the righteous will be temporary, but the suffering of the unrighteous will be eternal, so let’s pray for them while they still have time.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe and check out my books, which can be found on the website.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!