Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Again, Be Careful What You Ask For

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How often do you pray? Me? I pray daily, usually (from a habit of doing so when I was still working) every time I get in my car or ride my bike. And when I pray, as I suspect you all do, I ask God to do things for me.

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I ask to be forgiven of the sins I have committed and to strengthen me to avoid them in the future. I lift up those I love and care about, and then I get into the other things.  You know, things like protection or help in remembering the Hebrew I am teaching myself.

On Monday and Wednesday, as I am driving to meet my friends for our golf game, I also pray for God to help me maintain my composure and not get so angry when I duff a shot.

You see, as I have mentioned before, the one thing that gets my goat faster than anything else is when I screw up a golf shot. I know the Pro’s do it, and often, and that it is only a game, and that most of the reason I get angry is because of my own pride. But, still and all, knowing why something happens doesn’t always help to control what we do when it happens.

Besides, I don’t like doing anything half-donkey and that is not a bad trait; but, when it gets out of control, that is not a good thing.

So, yesterday I prayed for better control and to have the peace that the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) gives if and when I mess up some golf shots.

I prayed, and that was that. I know God hears our prayers, and that he will answer. Sometimes it’s “Yes”, sometimes its “No”, sometimes it’s “OK, but not yet”, and most of the time it is not what we expect or when, but it is always exactly what we need.

Now I start to play. The first hole starts off OK, a nice drive, a good second shot, and then the game goes down the tubes. Instead of getting bogies or pars, as I usually do (I tend to score in the high 80s or low to mid-90s), I was getting double and triple bogies. I couldn’t sink a putt if I was aiming for the Grand Canyon, and my wedge, which is usually my best iron, was on strike.

It took me, and I say this to my credit, only until the 4th hole when I realized that God was answering my prayer from that morning: he was teaching me how to not get mad by giving me every opportunity to practice not getting mad.

As I said, the answer to prayer is not often what you expect it to be. I was hoping for a supernatural calmness that was from the indwelling Spirit, but instead, I was thrown into a lousy game and told, “Sink or swim”; or, in this case, smile or scream.

Through these lessons, I am learning how God works. For me, and maybe this is what happens to you, too, God will answer my request to be better by creating the environment where I need to be better, then throwing me head-first into it! He will not miraculously change my attitude or my personality, or even my thinking: no, he will create the opportunity for me to learn to do what I want to, and sit back and watch how well I do. It is up to me to become better, and he always has my back, meaning that if I fail he will take me out of the test.

At one point yesterday after my drive sliced into the next fairway, I dubbed the next shot into a strand of trees, then hit a tree, I screamed, “Alright already- I am failing the test!” (It wasn’t loud enough for anyone else to hear.)

Then I asked God to forget what I said, and confessed I am still in need of help. I gave in to the fact that this was going to be a bad day, and I should just play and enjoy the company of my friends. After all, no one can be good all the time.

I guess that confession was a passing grade because then I calmed down and my game improved.

I was also thankful to God for answering my prayer. I didn’t necessarily like the way he did it, but I was thankful.

In case you’re interested, I shot a 51 on the front nine, but a 42 on the back nine, so I ended up playing my usual game. However, more important than learning a lesson about self-control, I received an answer to prayer, which is always a blessing and more important than any score could ever be.

Today’s message is this: remember my experience and review, in your own life, how many times you have been answered by God but maybe didn’t realize it at the time. And, as I said in my message from the other day (Always Be Listening), when you pray, remember that you will receive an answer, so stay alert.

God will not change you but he will give you the opportunity and the tools to change yourself. He will place you in the fire, which is the only way the dross can be burned away, and when the fire gets too hot, he will pull you back out again. The best part is that the more often you are placed in the fire, the more heat you will be able to take, and the more purified you will become.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe and share this ministry with others. If you have had a similar experience, I would love to have you share it with me and my subscribers.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Always Be Paying Attention

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I was going to do a message this morning about the truth and how we can’t always trust what is truth and what is not, and I didn’t really feel happy with it. I thought the title was worthwhile but as I wrote, it just didn’t “feel” right.

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After spending a few hours on it, writing and editing it a few times, I recorded it for my video. When I went to review the video, there was a place in it where the video slowed down for no reason and the voice track and visual tracking were separated. The voice slowed down and the visual sped up.

I tried to repair it and re-record a section but that didn’t work out, either. And after getting that done somewhat, all of a sudden another part messed up.

I tried to record all over and kept messing up, and suddenly I thought that maybe this message isn’t a good message.

You see, I often pray to Adonai that everything I write and post is good in his eyes and that he shows me when something is wrong. It occurred to me, finally (just as it took Eli three times to realize God was calling to Samuel) that maybe this message is wrong.

I threw the fleece out and told God I would try it one more time, and if it didn’t work again I would not do it, at all. I went through the entire recording of the message which went smoothly, but when I went to review the message, which should have been about 8 minutes long, after only three minutes the recording suddenly stopped!

OK…I hear ya! This is NOT a message that God approves of.

The message that I now think God wants me to share is that we must always remain alert to be aware when God is telling us something and once we hear what he is saying, to do it.

God clearly did not like the message that I created, and frankly, I wasn’t too happy with it, either, but because of my stubbornness, I was going to make it, anyway.  Fortunately, God decided that I wasn’t going to deliver that message, and I am so grateful to him for preventing it from happening.

I am also grateful that he answered my prayer about this ministry, keeping me in line with what he sees as good and not accidentally doing anything that doesn’t give him the glory and the honor he deserves.

So what was wrong is now right: always be alert for God’s intervention in your life. Always ask him to show you what is right in his eyes, and he will help you, guide you, and as he did for me today, prevent you from sticking your foot in your mouth.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share this ministry with others. I welcome your comments and until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

When is Being Angry OK?

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When Shaul (that nice Jewish tentmaker from Tarsus) wrote his letter to the congregation of Believers in Ephesus, he told them that they should never sin in their anger (Ephesians 4:26), which means it is not a sin to be angry, but when we are angry we must not sin.

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That sounds a little convoluted, and the way I interpret it is that we are allowed to be angry if the reasons are justifiable. And even though we may be justifiably angry, that doesn’t allow us to do or say something sinful while in the heat of our emotional stress.

For example, Yeshua was unquestionably pissed-off at the people in the Temple who were charging exorbitant fees for money exchange and selling sacrificial animals that were not eligible to be sacrificed. His anger was intense and totally justified, although I would question if what he did was as justified. Overturning their tables and using a whip may fall into that grey area known as a “maybe-but-maybe-not-sinful” thing.

Today’s discussion, however, isn’t about what Yeshua did then, but about what we do when we get angry.

In my personal case, the one thing that gets under my skin faster than almost anything else is when I hit a bad golf shot. Especially if I am having a good game. I have tried to remember that it is, after all, only a game but I can’t stand doing less than I know I am capable of doing.

And I often fail to observe Shaul’s warning, finding myself hitting the ground, stomping my feet, and occasionally trying to outdistance the ball with my club. Oh, yes, while I am confessing, I should also mention that too often at that time I channel my past military language, using words that could melt the backing off of a mirror.

I think that is a good example of sinning in one’s anger, and I do apologize to my golf buddies who are very quick to accept my apology.

For an example of my being really angry but not sinning, I recently had a lot of trouble with a national carpeting company (who shall remain nameless but you might recognize them if you watched the second Star Wars movie, Episode 5) who promised delivery and installation but failed to do so three times in a row. We had to empty both my wife’s office and mine, so there were books, computers, desk drawers, pretty much everything in the rooms spewed all over the dining room floor and half the living room in preparation for their coming, which didn’t get completed until after 6 days. After the first failure to install when they said they would, they upgraded us to a better carpet (which was in stock) but when that came they didn’t deliver enough for both rooms. I had to keep calling their dispatcher and when I talked with him I was very vocal (that means loud and angry) but I didn’t curse and I didn’t say anything to insult him or his company. I did say I didn’t like the way they did business and insisted on more discounts or I would cancel. In fact, I threatened to cancel numerous times (and meant it) but we were really stuck since the biggest problem was not being able to use our offices and no other carpet company would be able to do an install for at least 2-3 weeks. Finally, after 6 days they managed to get enough carpet to do both rooms.

In case you’re interested, the installation crews were very friendly and professional, and the new carpet looks great.

These two examples show the difference between sinning in my anger, and not sinning. Golf gets me to backslide in a heartbeat (but I am getting better) and incompetence makes me angry, but not where I end up sinning over it. The question remains about which of these examples, if either, justified my becoming angry?

I would say (and I should know because I picked these two examples, myself) that getting angry over a bad golf shot is unjustifiable. Why? Because it is the result of my pridefulness, and there is no other reason to be angry. And what is worse is that I usually end up making up for a bad shot or a bad hole later on in the game, so 99% of the time I am still shooting my normal score. The anger is totally unjustified and sinful because it is initiated by sin -the sin of pridefulness.

Now, with the carpet incident, my anger was justified because I was misled, the people I am paying to do a job were being incompetent and inattentive, and they were causing both myself and my wife a lot of inconveniences. I believe that because that anger was not caused by my sin but was justified, I was able to express my anger without sinning.

You know, maybe that is the answer to the question: it is OK to be angry when the cause of your anger is not generated by your own sin.

If something makes you angry, the first thing to do is ask yourself why you are angry. If you are angry because someone has sinned against you (or God), then your anger is justified; that doesn’t mean you can sin back, but because the sin is not yours, you should be able to express your anger without sinning.

On the other hand, if you are angry because someone did something that you didn’t want them to do, and your pride is hurt, then the anger comes from your sin and automatically you have sinned in your anger. Even if what they did was wrong, if you’re angry because of your pride (which I believe is the mother of all sins), then even if you withhold your tongue and act calmly, you still have sinned in your anger.

I think that is the key: when Shaul said to not sin in our anger, maybe he meant that when we are angry we must be angry for reasons that are not sinful. In other words, it isn’t the anger itself that is the issue, but why we are angry. If we are angry for sinful reasons, then we have sinned in our anger, but if we are angry for a reason that is not based on our sinfulness, then that anger is OK.

As we close this discussion, let me repeat -just for the record- that even if your anger is justified you still aren’t allowed to do anything that is sinful when you express your anger.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe. Share these messages out with friends and family, and please check out my entire website, as well as consider that if you like what you read here you will also enjoy my books.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Those With Faith Have No Fear and Those With Fear Have No Faith

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Do you think that fear is the lack of courage or is courage the lack of fear? I have always heard, and agree, that courage is when we overcome our fear.

Fear is an instinct, it is designed to help us survive, but when we let our fear rule us that is when we have lost ourselves to the enemy.

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The enemy of God uses fear: fear of loss is the strongest of all fears, but there is also fear of pain, fear of death, fear of loneliness, fear of success, and there is even fear of being afraid. When your fears are controlling you, they are called phobias.

Courage is how we overcome the basic and instinctive fears that we have. There are different ways that people can find courage, and I believe the best way is through faith in God.

Humans want to be in control of themselves and what happens in their life, and I think when people don’t believe in God or believe he exists but they don’t think it is important to follow his instructions, they believe that way because they don’t want to cede control to him. They fear losing control and that fear is why they have no faith.

I also know people who say they believe in God and are faithful but go through life afraid of everything. They won’t drive on the highway, they won’t take a plane ride, and they won’t try to improve their condition or even try to do something different. These people are afraid of living.

And yet, they believe they are in control. Oy!

The Bible is rife with verses that should encourage us, meaning to literally put courage into us. Verses such as these:

Psalm 32:8…I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Romans 8:31…What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Joshua 1:9…Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Psalm 23:4…Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 27:1…The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

And this is just a small sampling.

To place our faith in God means, more than anything else, to accept his sovereignty and to trust him to always take care of us. That doesn’t mean we will never have tsouris in our lives: we need to have trials and tribulations because gold is only made pure after going through the fire. We can be anxious and even afraid of the suffering, but we must not be ruled by that fear. Again, fear is normal and we cannot help but feel it. That doesn’t mean we should be afraid of the fear or allow it to rule us: we gain the courage to overcome and control our fear through our through faith in God, knowing that even as we suffer he is working towards reducing or relieving that suffering.

Suffering, loss, and emotional trauma can, and often does, overwhelm people; we can find the strength to survive from our steadfast knowledge and faith in God, believing absolutely that he is always there to prevent our destruction.

Faith is not something that God will give us, and the kind of faith that comes from some miraculous event is fleeting, and (I believe) dangerous because a faith that is the result of a miracle is a faith that could be turned to Satan, who is capable of performing miracles. In fact, aren’t we told in Revelation that the prophets of Satan will perform many miracles and that many will be turned from the true faith?

Faith is a choice; it is a conscious decision to believe. It isn’t something we can see or feel (Hebrews 11:1), and our faith is strengthened when we follow the instructions God gave us in the Torah (James 2:14.)

When we choose to cede control of our lives to God and faithfully trust God to always take care of us, no matter what, we can be confident and encouraged because, well… who can beat up God?

(I just thought about something: when I said to “faithfully trust”, that’s actually redundant, isn’t it?)

Too many people today put their faith in technology or in someone in politics, or even in a sports figure or a newspaper. They trust quickly in what they hear and what they see, not thinking for a moment how easily those senses can be fooled.

Trust in God, choose to believe in what you will (probably) never see in this lifetime, and stick to that faith no matter what anyone else tells you. When you trust in God and demonstrate that trust through following his instructions, you will be given confirmation that your faith is well-founded.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages with others. Check out the books I have written (available on Amazon or through my website) as well as some of the videos in my Picture Album of my vacations and other events in my life.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Don’t Camouflage the Truth

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When I was in the Marine Corps one of the important lessons we learned was how to apply camouflage correctly. Camouflage is designed to allow you to be in view of the enemy but not be seen because, when applied correctly, it lets you blend into the background colors and also breaks up the recognizable contours and shapes of your face and body.

So, what does this have to do with truth?

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How many times have you read or heard someone talking about the Bible or a biblical truth to someone else in a derogatory or judgmental way? And when they were told they didn’t need to be nasty, they played that old, “I am just telling you the truth” card?

When someone does that, they may be telling the truth, but they have camouflaged the truth with their pridefulness.  And the result is that no good will come of it because the one who needs to see the truth will not be able to see it: it’s been camouflaged by pride and arrogance.

NOTE: When I say people camouflage the truth with their own pride, what I mean is that they are more interested in showing off what they know instead of using what they know to help someone else.

Shaul said he may have many gifts but if he doesn’t have love, he is nothing (1 Corinthians 13), and the same is true regarding telling the truth to someone about God’s word or Yeshua’s teachings. If you can’t show someone the truth without being nasty, sounding judgmental, or insulting them, then whatever truth you may actually have will not be seen because it has been camouflaged by your attitude. In other words, no matter how correct you may be, you might as well be talking to a wall.

The moment you start to insult or demean someone in any way their response will be “Shields up, Scotty!!” And whether or not you think you are being nasty doesn’t matter: another thing I learned in the Marine Corp is that if they think you are being nasty, then you are being nasty. When people camouflage the truth with their pride and arrogance, they have not only failed to help that person but have actually helped the enemy of God because they will turn that person off from any of God’s truth, even from hearing it from another person who knows how to communicate without letting their ego get in the way.

So here is the truth about speaking the truth: if you can’t say it nicely, then please don’t say it at all because your camouflage will prevent them from seeing it from you, and maybe even from someone else.

The bottom line is that if we cannot tell someone the truth about God or Yeshua without making them feel attacked, then we are wasting our time, failing to be effective, hurting the person’s chances of being saved, and dishonoring God and Yeshua, as well.

The next time you want to share the truth with someone, don’t camouflage it with pride but present it humbly and with compassion for the other person’s feelings. That way the truth will be obvious not just in your words, but in your attitude, as well.

Thank you for being here; please subscribe and share these messages out with friends and family. I am always open to comments and often can even see past the camouflage when they are submitted.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Which Books Make up the Torah, Really?

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I mentioned in my last message to you that I would be talking about which books really make up the Torah, and what I mean is the Torah that Moses knew to be the Torah.

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Yes, we all know that the Torah is the first five books of the Bible, but when I did a search using the Complete Jewish Bible (because many other bibles – most, in fact- do not use the word “Torah” at all) I found that it was used only a few times outside of the book of Deuteronomy.

So let’s take a look at Deuteronomy, where Moses uses this word the most times.

But before we do that, let’s review the other books: Genesis talks about creation through Joseph, Exodus tells us of how God brought his people out of slavery up to the establishment of the Priesthood and construction of the Tabernacle. Leviticus gives the laws regarding food, worship, the sacrificial system, and moral standards. Numbers is the narrative of the travels through the desert and ends with the preparations for dividing the land when the people enter it.

Each of these books is a separate narrative, each dealing only with one aspect of the history of God and his chosen people.

Now we come to the last book of the Pentateuch (Greek for “5 books”), Deuteronomy. The Hebrew name for this book is D’Varim, which means “the words”, and these are all the words Moses spoke to the people of Israel just before they entered the land God promised them.

Remember, this isn’t the generation that left Egypt, all of whom died in the desert; this generation, the ones entering the land God promised to their fathers, are the children that were babes when Moses led them from Egypt or who had been born and grew up in the desert.  Moses takes this time, before he dies, to make sure that God’s rules and instructions are clear to them.

Within this book, we have Moses retelling how the people assigned Moses to be their intercessor with God. Moses reminds them of the sinfulness their fathers demonstrated throughout their travels, and how God punished them for it, yet here they are proving that God kept his promise to bring them, this new generation, to the land he promised their fathers.

In Chapter 5 he reviews the 10 Commandments; in Chapters 12 and 13 Moses instructs them about proper worship, warning against idolatry of any kind. Chapter 14 reviews the laws of Kashrut (Kosher), Chapter 15 is about societal rules, Chapter 16 instructs the proper celebration of the festivals of the Lord, and Chapter 17 instructs how to establish the government.

The remaining chapters deal with the penal system, torts, criminal and sexual crimes, and marital regulations.

At the end of this book, Moses tells the people that they are to confirm this covenant, and when they enter the land to write in on the mountains and declare it publicly to the peoples living there.

Throughout this book, Moses also promises that if they follow these instructions he is giving them that God will keep his promise to protect and bless them. If they choose life (i.e., to follow God’s instructions) then they will live long and happy lives; but, if they rebel and reject his instructions and live as the people that live there now do, then God will punish them and eventually the land will vomit them out, as it is doing to the ones there now. This is in Chapter 28, known as the Blessings and the Curses chapter.

This is important to Note: the instructions Moses constantly talks about throughout this book are the ones he is giving to the people then and there- these are found in all of the other books, but he is condensing them all in this one book and giving them to the people right at that moment!

Now we come to my original question: Which books make up the Torah, really?

My answer is that the Torah Moses speaks about is the book of Deuteronomy, alone. When he says to obey all the laws and regulations he is giving them that are in the book, he means Deuteronomy, alone. That one book has all the important aspects of worship and interpersonal relationships that God wants us to obey.

In the days when Moses first put all this down on parchment, although I couldn’t find any historical confirmation, I think it makes sense that we would not expect Moses to have written the entire Torah scroll we have today as a single scroll. Because of the diversity of the first 4 books, I believe that each was, at first, a separate scroll and only when they were put together did they become the one Sefer Torah (Book of the Torah) we use today. I believe that when we read in 2 Chronicles 34 how Hilkiyahu found the scroll of the Torah and it was read to the king, it seems to me that even though he had no plans to binge-watch Vikings on Netflix that night, to read the entire 5 books would have been too much at one time. However, to read through one book, Deuteronomy, would take only a few hours, if that much. And later, when they sought the advice of the prophetess Huldah, who said that Adonai will bring upon them all the curses written in this book, she must be referring to Deuteronomy, where curses are stipulated in Chapter 28, as well as in Chapter 11.

I believe the “Torah” Moses talks about throughout the book of Deuteronomy is just that one book, and the references to Torah in the other parts of the Bible were assumed scribal translations added later. The separate scrolls comprising the 5 books of the Torah we know, were probably put together sometime after the people entered the land, maybe in the time of Joshua or the Judges. The oldest known Torah dates back only to 1250 CE. The oldest Jewish manuscripts we know of, I suppose, are the Dead Sea Scrolls and they are all separate scrolls. According to Wikipedia:

Of the scrolls found, about a quarter (220 in all) are books of the Hebrew Bible, or what Christians call the Old Testament: all the books, in fact, except Esther and Nehemiah. The most common books found are Psalms and Deuteronomy.

So…Deuteronomy was, at one point, a separate scroll, which would seem to confirm my assumption that the scroll Moses refers to as the “Torah” is just the one book we know as Deuteronomy, which is the scroll found in the Temple by Hilkiyahu and read to King Yoshiyahu.

Does this message have anything to do with your salvation? Of course not, it is just something that I believe might help us better understand what Moses was saying to the generation of Israelites just before they entered the land, and also to help us better realize what Moses meant when he said that these laws were not so hard to know, or so far away from us. There are 613 separate commandments in the Torah we know today, the 5 books Moses wrote during the 40 years in the desert; however, all that Moses said we really need to know is found in the one book we call Deuteronomy.

Thank you for being here and I hope you found today’s message interesting, if not educational. Perhaps it will help someone, someone who doesn’t feel like reading the entire Bible but is interested in what it says. By reading Deuteronomy, they will get all they need to know.

Please subscribe, share this ministry with others, and check out my entire webpage, including where you can buy my books. They are available in both paperback and electronic format.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

 

Why Did God Give Us the Torah?

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That seems to be an easy question to answer, doesn’t it? I would think we are all thinking the same thing: God gave the Torah to the Jews so they could know the difference between sin and righteous living.

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That’s true; in fact, according to Shaul, the Torah created sin (Romans 7) and without it, we wouldn’t know what was right or wrong.

Now, as true as the above statement is, I would call it a Christian view because many Christians believe the Torah is just for the Jews. Which is, of course, absolutely wrong.

A more Jewish view, if you will, is that God gave the Torah to the Jews, who he chose to teach it to the rest of the world. That is why God tells Moses in Exodus 19:6 that he is choosing the Jewish people to be his nation of priests to the world. That statement can only mean that the Torah is for everyone, not just for Jews.

It is the same thing as when someone learns all they can about mathematics and after becoming an expert in performing mathematical calculations and finding solutions, becomes a teacher of mathematics so that others can learn how to do it.

God chose the Jewish people, descendants of Abraham, to be trained in the way God wants us to worship him and treat each other so that we could then teach the world through example and education.

What went wrong was when men invented religion.

The Torah has always been referred to as the first 5 books of the Bible, and most often misinterpreted to mean “laws.” In truth, the word “Torah” means teaching. It is more than laws, it is a constitution, a marriage certificate (in Hebrew, called a Ketubah) and it is also a penal code establishing the rights, and legal remedies for the abrogation of those rights, of each citizen of the Torah-observant community.

The real answer to the question “Why did God give us the Torah” is so that we could live long, happy lives in the land we possess. This is told to us more than 4 times in the book of Deuteronomy, alone. When we follow the instructions God gave in the Torah, then we will live secure, happy, bountiful, blessed, long and protected lives in the land we possess. For modern people, that means where you live, now.

The next question is “What books make up the Torah, really?”, and that will be for my next message.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share this out with others, and check out my books on my website and at Amazon (just put my full name in the search window), because if you like what you read or see in my video’s, I can tell you that you will like what you read in my books.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch Ha Shem!

The All-American Religion

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I like to listen to the Oldies station, and the one here in Melbourne, Florida has a weekday session at 1400 (that’s 2 PM to you non-military types) they call “The Impossible Question”, where they ask a question that has an answer which is hard to know, and when someone guesses the correct answer they get a $25 gift certificate to one of the restaurant sponsors of the show.

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The other day I was in the car listening to the station and the question was something along the lines of “18% of all relationships break up for this reason.”

I thought the answer would be money, how to raise the kids, abusiveness, cultural or religious differences, or something along those lines.

Would you like to know what the answer is?

(I hope so because this entire message is based on it.)

The answer is the relationship fails because one of the partners cheers for a different NFL team.

That’s right- not something as significant as money, children, addiction, mental illness or abusive treatment, but simply that I like the New York Giants and you cheer for the Greenbay Packers. Hey – pack your trash and go!

Even if we have a relationship based on mutual trust, love, and common interests, we cannot have a lasting relationship unless you are a fan of my favorite football team.

I guess that also means if I am going to start dating someone, I better do it at the end of football season so that I might have a chance at getting 7 or 8 months with this person before we have to break up.

When I thought about it, I realized that the relationships fail because of religious differences: those people follow that All-American religion called:  Professional Sports.

It is a pantheistic religion because there is not a singular deity but multiple deities we call Athletes. There are demigods called Coaches and the Priest is called an Announcer, and the temple where they worship is called ESPN.

They read their Bible every day, which is found in the newspapers under the title “Sports Section”, and they tithe monthly through their cable channel. Every February there is a pilgrimage to whichever place their god says the Super Bowl will play, and some pay thousands of dollars for choice seating at the altar, which we call a Stadium.

How many people do you know that are devotees of this religion?

I’ll bet those who pay thousands for season seating at their favorite team’s stadium, and monthly fees for sports channels, don’t spend anywhere near as much money for tithing to their church or synagogue (if they even go to one.)

Idolatry is allowing anything to come between you and the one, true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you have more devotion to something or someone than you do to God, that is idolatry.

I know you feel physical and emotional love for your spouse more than what you feel for God, but you know what I mean. Of course, your spouse may not be all that important to you if he or she cheers for the wrong NFL team.

I am not saying that anyone should cancel ESPN and forego any sports events from now on; I would ask that they think about their level of devotion to a bunch of guys who probably don’t even know they exist. People don’t just honor their skills, which are God-given, to begin with, but many people literally worship their favorite sports star. They hang pictures of them, want their autograph, follow their life and read everything they can about them. And when they die, they are devastated.

But do they read their Bible every day? Do they pray to God for peace or salvation for their friends? I know that if they pray at all, it is probably that God will let their team win, which, I think it is safe to say, isn’t really all that important to God.

I don’t want you to stop watching your favorite sports teams or participating in your favorite sports but think about this situation for a second: one out of every four relationships in America is ruined because of something that has nothing at all to do with the other person’s personality or compatibility. One out of every four relationships is ruined because of a difference between which sports team they prefer.

Would they break up if I like steak and she likes fish? Would we break up if I loved purple and she loved Yellow? What about if she drove slowly and I drove like the New York driver I am? Probably not, but if I am a NY fan and she is a California fan? Then our chance of having a meaningful, rewarding and lasting relationship has an 18% chance of failing, right from the get-go.

If that statistic doesn’t shake you down to the soles of your feet, then if you’ll excuse my saying so, I believe you need to sort out your priorities.

The Enemy wants us to worship him, but if he can’t get someone to worship him he is satisfied to get them to stop worshiping God through seducing them (as Balaam did) to worship something or someone else.

Think about that the next time you watch a football game.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share this ministry with others. I welcome your comments and look forward to the next time we get together.

Until then, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

To Judge or Not to Judge: There Ain’t No Question

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Because I am a member of a number of different Facebook discussion groups, some Christian, one or two that are Messianic or Hebrew Roots, and others somewhere in between, I get to see a lot of different opinions about the same topics. And more often than not, someone will “correct” someone else’s understanding. Sometimes it is done respectfully, and sometimes the other person is just, plain nasty and insulting.

However, no matter how the correction is stated, there will always be someone else who says, “We are not to judge others!”

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

Let’s get something straight: God NEVER said we should not judge others. What he does say about judging is not that we shouldn’t, but that when we do it must be righteous and fair.  Let’s see an example or two of what God tells us about judging:

Deuteronomy 16:18-20 (CJB):

You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities] ADONAI your God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the people with righteous judgment.  You are not to distort justice or show favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of even the upright.  Justice, only justice, you must pursue; so that you will live and inherit the land ADONAI your God is giving you.
In the very next chapter, this command is further defined.

Deuteronomy 17:8-9 (CJB):

If a case comes before you at your city gate which is too difficult for you to judge, concerning bloodshed, civil suit, personal injury or any other controversial issue; you are to get up, go to the place which Adonai your God will choose, and appear before the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, and the judge in office at the time. Seek their opinion, and they will render a verdict for you.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 6:2 that those who follow Messiah are to be the ones who judge the world, and if any of you have ever had to judge someone, such as writing a work evaluation, then you know (assuming you are fair and just in your evaluation) how hard it is to judge someone. You need to have copious notes that you have made during the evaluation period because memory can’t be trusted when talking about someone’s career, and you need to be able to overcome personal feelings and concern for what others might think of you.

Judging the way God wants us to judge is hard.

I can tell you from personal experience, writing fitness reports on the men under my command when I was an XO in the Marine Corps, and as a manager for many years writing evaluations of the people who worked for me, that when you realize what you are doing is literally shaping their future, well, it’s very humbling and quite a burden to judge others correctly.

As far as what we read posted in discussion groups or may hear in person, there is a fine line between what is a judgment and what is being judgmental. Let’s see if I can give a good example…

If someone says something that is clearly wrong according to the Bible, I will tell them they are wrong, then give my reasons why I have judged them to be wrong using biblical references to support my position. This is a proper form of judging someone else.

However, if I tell them they don’t know what they are talking about and obviously have no understanding of the Bible or God because this is what he says (quoting the same verses I used in the other example), that is being judgmental, and is not a righteous form of judging someone.

To judge correctly we must make our judgment based on the facts and not the person.

This is evident in the way God tells us to judge because he says judge the poor and the rich the same way, and accept no bribe. That bribe doesn’t have to be a monetary bribe, either: I could be bribed by making a judgment that benefits someone else who might one day help me, or I could be bribed by myself, in that I might make a judgment I know to be wrong but would be a popular one with the public, ensuring my next election. A bribe can be anything that unfairly influences a decision.

To render fair and equitable judgments, the kind that is righteously originated and factually justified takes practice. You can’t go through this life never making a judgment about someone and then be expected to suddenly make good ones when we are resurrected in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days), so you need to practice. Now, I am not saying you should go around correcting everyone you see- that won’t really help you, but may end up speeding you towards the first step of your resurrection, which is the one where you die.

No, do not go around judging everyone you see, but when you are in a position where you will need to make a judgment, remember God’s rules for how we are to judge others and make it a fair, factually-based and righteous judgment.

The best “Acid Test” question you can pose to yourself when judging someone is to remember this: you will be judged by God, in the same manner, you judge others.

Thank you for being here and please don’t forget to subscribe. I welcome comments and proper judgments.

Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!