Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Why I Reject the Gospel of John

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Is anyone still there? I figured the title alone would get many, if not most, Christians to skip this.

I am a Jewish man who also believes that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, but despite what my Jewish brothers and sisters would say, and most Christians, as well, I am NOT a Christian!

I was raised in a reform Jewish household, and never really cared much for the traditions, especially when praying from a Siddur (prayer book) because I could never accept that if I was to pray to God that I had to use someone else’s words. When I was in my early 40’s, I came to realize the truth about Yeshua- not the Jesus I was raised to reject- and since then (which has been over a quarter of a century) I have read the entire Bible (Genesis through Revelation) many, many times.

Being raised Jewish, I have a unique view of the Gospels and the Epistles, since I was never indoctrinated to already “know” what they mean. I can read them with a totally fresh, unobstructed (by traditional teachings I was raised to believe) view, and as such see them in a way most Christians don’t, and sometimes refuse to.

When I was first seeking the truth about this guy Jesus, the one place most Christians told me to start with was the Gospel of John; now, after having read it so often, in different versions of the Bible, that is the one book I would tell new believers, especially Jews seeking the truth about their Messiah, to avoid at all costs!

Still with me? Good- now I will tell you why I reject John’s gospel.

But first, a little history: it is considered to have been written between 80-95 A.D., although some say it might have been earlier. Although traditional Christian teaching is that it was written by John the disciple and eyewitness to the life of Yeshua (Jesus), many scholars over the centuries have doubted this, and disagreed about who the real author is. The main reason for this is the significant difference between John’s gospel and the other three, as well as the difference in the writing style between John’s Gospel and Revelation, supposedly written by the same man.

Some of these differences are that nearly 90% of what occurs in John cannot be found in the other gospels, what the other gospels call “miracles” John describes as “signs”, and John is less concerned with Yeshua’s teachings and parables, concentrating instead on his relationship with God.

Now, let me tell you what I find to be so “wrong” with this gospel.

It fails the test for hermeneutics. That means that what Yeshua does and says in John is different from the other gospels. For example, in the other three he tells his disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah (Matthew 16:20) and prevents the exorcised demons from telling people who he is. Yet, in John, he openly and often claims to be the Messiah, such as when he talks to the woman at the well.

In the other three gospels, he refers to himself as the Son of Man, but in John he constantly refers to himself as the Son of God.

What really gets me is how he separates himself from the Jewish people and from the Torah!

How? By constantly referring to the people as “the Jews” or “the Judeans” and to the Torah as “their” Torah (or law, in many versions). If you are Jewish, as I am, when talking about other Jews, you would never call them “the Jews”- you’d refer to them as “the people”. And the Torah is never “their” Torah, it is “the” Torah, or “our” Torah. In John 8:7, 10:34, and 15:25, just as a few examples, Yeshua uses “The Jews” or “their Torah”, which indicates he considers himself separate from Jews and Torah.

Now let’s put these things in perspective.

The end of the First Century was a turning point for the new believers in Yeshua; there was constant battle between Rome and Jerusalem, and this contributed to the gentile believers thinking it wasn’t such a good idea to be associated with the Jewish population. My research shows that it was at the end of the First Century, right around the time this gospel was written, that the (now mostly) gentile leadership of this Jewish sect was changing things around to avoid the Roman authorities, because even though there was opposition (strong opposition) from the Jewish “power elite”, by the latter part of the First Century the Jews had their hands full fighting off Roman rule (The Jewish-Roman Wars lasted from 66 AD to 135 AD).

At that time, with most (if not all) of the original disciples dead or martyred, and most of the Jews who accepted Yeshua that we read about in the other three gospels also dead or dying, what was originally a Jewish movement to accept Yeshua as the Messiah was now being morphed into a totally new religion, which rejected the Jewish roots that it came from.

Around 98 A.D., the Sabbath was changed to Sunday by Ignatius of Antioch; also, there was less concern for learning the Torah as the gentile leaders of this new religion were interpreting Shaul’s (Paul) letters in a way that led them away from Torah, despite the fact that the Elders in Jerusalem expected these neophyte believers to be learning the Torah (Acts 15:19-21).

I believe that the Gospel of John was not written by a Jewish person! I believe it was written by a gentile believer in Jesus (no longer being called Yeshua) who wrote exclusively to the gentile believers to show them how Jesus considered himself separate from the Jewish population and from the Torah, in order to more easily assimilate them into the new religion this sect was becoming.

Also, John’s long-winded and convoluted speeches by Jesus about his relationship with God is nothing but confusing (when you see me you see him, but you don’t see him because you don’t see me, but I know him and if you knew me you would know him, but because you don’t accept me you don’t accept him, yadda, yadda, yadda….), and allows for the introduction of the Trinity.

In my opinion, John’s gospel is anything but “gospel”; rather, it is propaganda designed to help indoctrinate gentile believers into what was being formed as a new religion, and to keep Jews from wanting to join.

One sure way to keep more Jews from joining was the subtle intimation that Jesus is God, himself, which is (even today) a major turn-off to Jews, who believe that God is a singular and totally unique entity. And the way Shaul’s letters, which were trying to get these new gentile believers to become Torah observant a little at a time, were misinterpreted and twisted to be polemics against the Torah, when they were actually apologetics for the Torah.

Let’s put it all together…the Gospel of John was written right at the time the Jewish sect of believers in Yeshua was growing with many more gentiles than Jews, and those gentile leaders wanted to get away from the “Jewishness” of this movement to avoid trouble with Rome (which later proved not to be such a good idea.) Add to this the misuse of the Epistles written by Shaul, and we can see clearly that this gospel was designed to distance Jesus from the Jews, from the Torah, and remove any lingering semblance of Judaism from this emerging religion called Christianity.

If it was up to me, the New Covenant would have the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the books of Acts, James, and Hebrews, and Revelation. All the rest just misdirects people from who Yeshua really is, and what he really taught.

Anyone still here? If you are, then maybe I made some sense to some of you. I doubt many, if any, are in total agreement with me, but if even some of this made sense, then I hope you will continue to study and keep an open mind. I never tell anyone what to believe, only what I believe, and why I believe it, and if that leads someone to a new understanding or even just to question what they have been told, then I feel I have succeeded.

The truth will always stand up to questioning, and if after reading this you think you might question what you have already believed about John’s gospel, then please continue to question it. You never know what you may find out, and when you pray to God to lead your search for the truth, I know he won’t ever mislead you.

What Does Being Saved Really Mean?

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There are many statements about salvation, one of the best-known being “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32)

And in the New Covenant, we are told that all who believe in Jesus will be saved (Romans 10:9)

But what is being “saved”?

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

Before I tell you what I believe being “saved” means, let’s go over what is doesn’t mean:

1. It doesn’t mean all your sins from now on are automatically forgiven (this is called OSAS- Once Saved, Always Saved). If you do not repent of a sin, honestly repent, and ask for forgiveness, it won’t be forgiven.
2. It doesn’t mean that you (and those you love, too!) will not suffer the consequences of your sins committed on earth; being saved is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.
3. It doesn’t mean that you can never lose your salvation. True, no one can take it away from you, but we all have to realize we can backslide, and even reject the free gift of salvation through continuing to sin without repentance.

So, now, what I believe being saved means is simply this: when you accept that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah God promised to send, and that he taught to obey the Torah as a result of faithfully trusting in God and wanting to do as God says out of love for him and not as a means of legalistically obeying the Torah (which means trying to earn salvation), at Judgement Day Yeshua will be there for you, to identify you as one of his sheep, and through his righteousness you will be able to live in God’s presence for all eternity.

God’s actual “new covenant” is not in the New Covenant writings, also called the Christian Bible. No- it is found in the Tanakh (“Jewish” Bible) in Jeremiah 31:31, where God says he will make a new covenant, not like the old one, because this time he will write his Torah on our hearts.

And to have that done you need to understand more than just what the Torah says, you need to understand what it MEANS! That is what Yeshua taught us- the deeper, spiritual understanding of the Torah God gave to the world.

And this can be best found in Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount, where he tells us it isn’t enough to not kill, we must not hate in our hearts. Also, it isn’t enough to just not commit adultery, we mustn’t so much as lust with our eyes.

You see? These are not just legalistic (ooh, there’s that word, again!) actions, performed as rote acts of righteousness, but they are heart-felt emotions! We do not do what God says is wrong because we are not like that, it is no longer a part of our make-up because our hearts have his Torah written on them.

This is what Yeshua brought to us; this is the real new covenant, the real means of being saved.

So, get to know the Torah (if you don’t, already) and take it upon your heart. Make it something you don’t just know, but something you breathe with every breath, see when you close your eyes, speak of when you walk by the way, and take with you when you arise and when you lie down.

If you have the Torah on your heart, which I believe is only possible when you accept Yeshua as the Messiah, and thereby will apply them to your life, repenting when you sin and always asking God for forgiveness and strength to be better, you will be truly “saved”.

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages and subscribe to this ministry.

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

The Jews Didn’t Reject Their Messiah, the Christians Did.

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I know, I know… the Jews rejected Jesus, which is why only Christians are saved.

But did the Jews really reject him? And are the Christians really saved?

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

Let’s think about this for a minute: we read in Matthew 15:24 that Yeshua (Jesus) is telling the woman at the well that he has come only for the lost sheep of Israel, i.e., the Jews. We read in all 4 Gospels how there were five thousand fed and at another time, four thousand fed. But those weren’t Christians, they were Jews. Yeshua went to the Jews, and when you read in the Gospels about the thousands upon thousands of people who followed him, who listened to him, who were healed by him, guess what?

They were all JEWS!

Not one Gentile ever got saved by Yeshua- that all happened well after Pentecost, which (again) was where thousands of Jews were saved.

So, all this drek you have heard about how all the Jews rejected Jesus is just that- drek! (Yiddish for garbage)

But what about the Gentiles who accepted him as the Messiah and were being converted to a Jewish way of life, which is what they were undergoing! They were learning about how Yeshua lived and what he preached, which was only and totally from the Torah.

This is another misleading traditional Christian teaching: Gentiles who accepted Jesus didn’t need to follow the Torah, but only to follow Jesus. Well, that is just ridiculous considering that Jesus lived a Torah-perfect life. If he hadn’t, then he would not have been the sinless lamb of God, and as such, his sacrificial death could not be accepted. But…this topic is for a different lesson.

By the end of the First Century, less than 70 years after Yeshua’s death and resurrection, when most of the original Jewish followers had died out and this new movement within Judaism had grown full of Gentiles, things changed.

First, the Shabbat was changed- by the now Gentile leadership- to Sunday. Then, the initial four requirements for new Believers that had been suggested by James (Acts 15) were taught to be the only things Gentile Believers had to do, despite the fact that James said they would be learning the Laws of Moses as they attended Shabbat services (Acts 15:21).

Next, Kashrut (Kosher laws) were ignored, then the Holy Days commanded to be observed in Leviticus 23 were ignored, and this once-messianic Jewish movement had now been mutated into a new religion, with its own tenets, holidays, and ceremonies. In fact, some of these traditional activities, such as burying their dead under the altar, go directly against the Torah and end up contaminating the entire church!

And what about relics? Oy!

Touching a dead body rendered one ceremonially unclean- you had to wash yourself and your clothes and wait until after dark before you could enter the synagogue area. Yet, Catholicism encourages wearing a relic or having one in your house.

Yeshua lived according to the Torah; for example, he told those he healed to go to the Cohen and be confirmed as healed, according to what the Torah required. This is irrefutable evidence that Yeshua obeyed, and taught others to obey, the Torah!

But where are any Torah requirements, of which Yeshua obeyed and taught others to obey, being observed in Christianity today, other than the 10 Commandments?

The Holy Days are ignored, most of what God decreed to be sinful in Leviticus 11 is ignored, and the traditional observances (such as Hanukkah) are also ignored; and, worse than that, God’s commanded Holy Days have been replaced with man-made holidays that are little more than rebranded pagan rituals.

And speaking of the 10 Commandments, Christians have changed most of the first commandment by removing what God said about how he saved us from slavery and splitting the second commandment into both the first and second. Don’t believe me? Well, check out what Google tells you is the first commandment and then see what God gave to Moses in Exodus 20.

So, reading the Gospels we see that thousands upon thousands of Jews accepted Yeshua, and it was only the “Power Elite” in Jerusalem that wanted him out of the way because he threatened their power and position. But Christianity today has become a totally different religion and way of life from the way Yeshua lived, worshipped, and taught others to do!

The only conclusion is that Christians have rejected Yeshua completely, and replaced him with their own, man-made Savior (they don’t even call him a Messiah anymore) called Jesus Christ, who not only rejected what his father told people to do, but has killed his father’s chosen people over the past two Millennia for not rejecting what God said we should do and converting to this man-made religion.

So, if you consider yourself a God-fearing man or woman, but you have followed Christian teachings all your life, I suggest you stop listening to what they tell you and pay attention to what God says.

I warn you, although I won’t speak for God, I am pretty sure when you meet him (as we all will) at Judgement Day, he will not like it when you say you did as men told you to do, even though God told you what he wanted you to do.

Thank you for being here, and please remember to subscribe and share these messages. That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

It’s Like the Song Says

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Do you know the Billy Preston song, “Nothing from Nothing“? He talks about relationships, but his message that you can’t get something from nothing is applicable to biblical interpretation, as well.

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

In science, we observe an event then form a hypothesis in order to figure out how it was caused. Through experimentation we try to reproduce that same event to validate our hypothesis. Criminologists use a similar methodology, observing the clues left behind, deducing how the crime was committed and by whom.

In biblical exegesis (interpretation), we read what is written and using the rules regarding proper biblical interpretation, we determine if what we read is validated by other, similar statements or comments found anywhere else in the Bible.

At this point, you may ask, “OK, Steve, what’s this got to do with the song?“

I’m glad you asked.

The song indicates that you can’t get something from nothing, and when people start with what they want a Bible verse or phrase to mean, they are really starting out with nothing. All they have is a thought or a feeling, and when people like what they are thinking, they say it is “spirit led”.

But in my experience, way too often what people say they got from “the Holy Spirit” really came from their own spirit.

To properly interpret what the Bible is telling us, we need to start with something, and that something is what is there. Then, we need to verify it with what else is in every other part of the Bible, before we can really state that what we think it means is what the Bible means.

The use of Hermeneutics is one way we do this, and the other way (and just as necessary to be correct) is using Circles of Context, which means interpreting the phrase or verse within the context of the sentence, of the paragraph, and of the entire letter or book, also taking into consideration of who wrote it, to whom, and for what reason.

For example: if I read that God said not to eat pork (Lev. 11, in case you were interested) and later, in Mark 7:19 I read that Yeshua declared all food to be clean, I cannot say that the Kosher laws were done away with by Yeshua, which is a traditional Christian interpretation.

Why can’t I say that? Because it can’t be validated by hermeneutics (God already said pork wasn’t clean), and when we look at that one statement within the context of the entire event, we see that Yeshua wasn’t talking about Kashrut (Kosher) laws, but rather about a hand-washing ceremony traditionally done before eating food to prevent contamination of the food.

And when we consider (culturally) what a First Century Jew considers to be food, he or she is talking about what God said is food, not what we today consider to be food. In other words, pork was NOT food to them, so when Mark said Yeshua declared all food clean, he was talking only about food allowed by the Torah.

We should also note that declaring all food clean was Mark’s statement-Yeshua never really said that.

To properly understand what the Bible means, we have to start out, like with a science experiment, thinking we know what it means (our hypothesis), but not accepting that as true until properly validated by using the established rules of interpretation.

I am sure you have had conversations with people who tell you what verses mean, and you know that their interpretation is wrong, but you can’t convince them because they do not understand how to properly interpret the Bible.

Yes, there are many times that people are given a supernatural understanding through the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), but just as we are told to test prophets by what they say must come true (Deut. 18:22), we must also test every interpretation of the Bible against what the Bible says- literally- and within the context of where that statement is found, using hermeneutics to verify that it is consistent with what God said in the Torah.

And, like it or not, the Torah is the only place in the entire Bible where, using Moses as his stenographer, God- himself -tells us what he wants us to do.

And I think anyone who truly worships God will agree that whatever God says we should do is what we need to do, and no one, not even his son, can overrule God.

Christianity will disagree with this, but the biblical fact is that throughout the Torah God tells the Jews how he wants them to worship him and treat each other, then he chooses them (hence, the “Chosen People”) to be his nation of priests (Ex. 19:6), so that they can bring the Torah to the world.

The real New Covenant is not in the Gospels or the Epistles, but in Jeremiah 31:31, where God says he will write his Torah on our hearts. So, by God’s own words, if you do not have the Torah written on your heart, you cannot be in covenant with God. That is bad news for almost every Christian, because Christianity teaches the Torah is not for Christians.

So, by definition, Christians who do not have the Torah written on their hearts can’t be in covenant with God. And, with regard to proper biblical interpretation, this statement is hermeneutically and contextually validated by what is in the Bible.

Think about that.

I have gone into much more detail about how to properly interpret the Bible in a teaching series: here is a link to that teaching: How to Properly Interpret the Bible.

Let me leave you with this last thought: the best way to know if a biblical interpretation is valid is to know the Bible. DUH! So… READ IT!

Thank you for being here; that’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

What is the Real Good News?

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To most everyone I know, the “Good News” (in Hebrew it’s called B’rit Chadasha) is that Yeshua (Jesus) has come to die for our sins, which allows us to be saved.

But I think the Good News is something a little different.

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

If you ask nearly anyone who is either Jewish or Christian, they will probably agree on one thing: the New Covenant is for Christians and the Old Covenant is for Jews. But, then again, if you ask any Jewish or Christian person who has a messianic understanding, they will tell you that the New Covenant is the continuation of the Old, and that they are both one book, one story about one God, and the Messiah he sent to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles.

I am a Messianic Jew, which means that both sides hate me: my Jewish brothers and sisters say I am a traitor and must be a Christian if I “believe in Jesus” (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean), and Christians say I am not really saved if I do all that “Jewish” stuff because I am still “under the law” (again, whatever the heck that is supposed to mean).

However, my advantage is that I was raised as a Reform Jew, so I was never really trained in Torah or Talmud, and being Jewish I was never told about the Good News or what the New Covenant writings mean, so I have been able to approach both the Old and New Covenant innocently, i.e., without preconceptions or a conditioned understanding.

Consequently, I see things that neither most Jews and Christians don’t: not because they are ignorant or faithless, but because they have been forced to wear blinders all their life, and don’t even know they are wearing them!

So, nu! What great revelation do I have to share with you?

Well, I’m not so sure it’s a revelation, but it is what I believe is the real “Good News” and, remarkably, it sort of fits in with the traditional Christian view of the New Covenant I talked about above, which is that the Old is just for Jews, and the New is just for Christians.

You may ask, “How is the Good News only for Gentiles?”

I’m glad you asked

The Good News, as I see it, is not that Yeshua came to earth and died for our sins- which is, in and of itself, about as good news as one can ever hope for- but rather the good news is that the salvation Yeshua provided to the Jews (who absolutely needed it because the temple was about to be destroyed) was now being made available to the pagan, polytheistic, hedonistic, drunkard, sexually perverted Gentiles, as well.

And this (again, as I see it) is not a surprise, since there are many prophecies about God’s house being a house of prayer for all peoples, the light coming to the Gentiles, and most of all, Ezekiel 18:23, where God says he doesn’t want to see anyone die but turn from their sins, and live.

So, my friends, if someone asks you what the Good News of the Bible is all about, you can tell them that it is about how salvation through the Jewish Messiah God promised to send was made available to everyone on earth.

And that is my understanding of what the “Good News” is really about.

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

Mark 2:21 is About Attitude, Not Obedience

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If you are wondering where I have been for the past two weeks, Donna and I were vacationing in Ireland. We had a great time, and later I will post a video of our travels you can watch from my website. You will find it under the Picture Album tab.

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

Before we start, let’s take a look at the passage I am talking about:

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old coat; if he does, the new patch tears away from the old cloth and leaves a worse hole. And no one puts new wine in old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine is for freshly prepared wineskins.”

I have often heard the Christian interpretation of this passage to indicate that Yeshua was teaching that the Torah was no longer applicable to his disciples or followers, because he was giving them something new.

And, to a degree, they are right: Yeshua was teaching his listeners something new… but it wasn’t a new religion rejecting obedience to Torah, it was a new attitude towards how to obey the Torah!

You see, throughout the Gospels, one recurring theme that Yeshua taught was how the Pharisees only taught the P’shat, i.e., the plain language meaning of the laws in the Torah. Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning of those laws, which is truly what the “new covenant” is all about (read Jeremiah 31:31– THAT is the new covenant!)

What Yeshua was talking about was not the Torah, but the attitude we are to have regarding the Torah. We are not just to do it, rote, like some automaton just going through the motions, but we are to live it in our soul, in our heart, in our very essence: we are to BE Torah!

In order for that to happen, the people had to change their understanding of what the Torah really means, and to change their attitude towards God, towards obedience, and especially towards the teachings of the Pharisees.

If they liked what Yeshua taught but continued to live and worship as the Pharisees taught (especially regarding their demands to obey their man-made requirements), then they were like the new patch on old cloth, the new patch being Yeshua’s teachings about the spiritual meaning, but the old cloth being the Pharisaical teachings which left no room for expansion of understanding.

In simpler terms, hearing Yeshua’s deeper understanding of the Torah, but still doing as the Pharisees say will not allow them to expand (stretch) their spiritual being to be more in line with God’s new covenant. That means trying to incorporate Yeshua’s teachings (a new patch) but living the way the Pharisees say to (the old cloth, which can’t stretch), something will have to give. And, sadly, as the parable of the Sower tells us, it will likely be the new teachings.

Therefore, if you have been taught that to follow Yeshua (Jesus) you need to ignore the Torah, you have been taught incorrectly: at least, according to what Yeshua taught.

Salvation is more than just Torah obedience, and it is more than just faith in God and accepting Yeshua as the Messiah- it is loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind (does that sound familiar?); and, when you do that, the Torah will be written on your heart, and you will be a new patch on new cloth, and new wine in new wineskins.

Thank you for being here, and that’s it for this week. Until next time, l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

It’s Independence Day, But Are We Really Independent?

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To all Americans reading this I wish you a happy day celebrating the freedom we earned from a despotic government. It would be even better if we didn’t end up trading a despotic government for a corrupted one.

The truth is that no one is ever completely independent; that nice Jewish Pharisee from Tarsus, the one who made tents for a living, wrote to the Jews (and Gentiles) in Rome that we are either a slave to sin or a slave to God, and Yeshua confirmed that by telling us no one can have two masters.

The Revolutionary War wasn’t really what they wanted: they just wanted representation in Parliament. You know, if King George had been more accommodating, we might still be eating bangers and mash for dinner.

But, history lesson aside, my message is that we can be independent of some things that are of the world, but we are never truly independent unless we reject God.

Oh, wait a minute! That isn’t right, because if we reject God, then we will be under Satan’s control. You see, if we aren’t for God, we are against him, and that means we are subject to Satan, whether we realize it or not.

So, I say true independence is not freedom from something, it is freedom to choose something, but either way, we will be dependent on that something. As for me, I choose to be dependent on God.

As for the government we are living under, if we don’t like it we can go somewhere else. Or, in a free country (at least, one that is designed to be that way), we can use our vote to change what we don’t like, although that is always a lengthy process.

I choose to stay in America, despite how much it has spiraled down into a corrupted form of government- and that goes for either party! No one in American politics is completely clean, and that is because you can’t get anything done in politics without getting dirty.

The lesson we learn from both Yeshua’s teachings and Shaul’s (Paul) letters is that we must obey the government, because no matter how righteous or sinful it is, it is there by God’s allowance. And, being obedient to God, we faithfully suffer through the bad ones, and should give thanks for when we have a good one.

As for this day’s celebration of American freedom to be independent of England, despite how terrible I believe things have become, as a life-long student of American history, I know we have had bad times before and come through. If we can turn back to God, then this country will survive; if we continue on this backsliding, well… if you haven’t gotten right with God, now would be a good time.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Are Prayers Sometimes Unanswered or Really Just Unfulfilled?

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I believe that God hears every, single prayer sent to him, and that he also has the final word about how he will act regarding that prayer.

God may act immediately, giving you what you ask for, or he may wait until there is a perfect time, and then answer you in a way you never expected.

Or he may just say “No”.

The difference between prayers unanswered and prayers unfulfilled is based on how God answers the prayer. If he does something, whether it is immediate or in the future, then that prayer is answered, but what you asked for may not be what you get; in that case, you might think it was unanswered or unfulfilled.

But all prayers are answered: even the ones you believe to be unfulfilled; they were answered, but not the way you wanted them to be.

You know, there are so many prayers that are just, plain wrong: to pray to God to win the lottery because you want to quit your job and travel, or to pray to God for a victory for your favorite team. Those are not righteous prayers, they are selfish prayers, and even though Yeshua said that when we pray in his name, we will receive what we ask, I don’t think he meant that anything and everything we pray for will be received.

I am pretty sure he was referring to righteous prayer, not selfish desires.

So, pray for what you need, and also for what you want (assuming it is not a selfish, ungodly thing), and God will hear and act. How he acts will be to either fulfill your prayer, in his time and the way he sees best, or he won’t do anything because his answer is “Nope, not this time.”

What you may believe is a prayer unheard or unfulfilled may simply be an answer that you don’t want to accept, or refuse to see: when you pray, always look for an answer, and don’t just look for the one you asked for because you may get exactly what you need, but not what you asked for, or when you expected it.

But it will always be just right for you.

Thank you, as always, for being here. That’s it for today so l’hitraot, and Baruch HaShem!

What Did Yeshua Mean When He Said First Will Be Last, and Last Will Be First?

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This phase, which Yeshua gave as the lesson at the end of a parable in Matthew 20, has been confusing to many people, including myself. However, just recently I realized that I can now understand this based on combining it with the statement God made in Ezekiel 18:23.

Lets’ look at these two verses:

Matthew 20:16
Thus the last ones will be first and the first last.”

Ezekiel 18:23:
Do I take any pleasure at all in having the wicked person die?” asks Adonai Elohim.
“Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

The first verse comes after the parable about the men being hired to work in the field, and each getting paid a denarius, no matter how long they have been working. When the ones there from the morning saw the ones who were hired just an hour or so before the evening get the same pay, they complained. Yeshua said (I’m paraphrasing here) that it was his money, and he could do what he wants with it.

In Ezekiel 18, God tells us that he doesn’t care what you did in the past, whether it was righteous or sinful, but what you do now is the measure by which he will judge you.

So, why do I think these two, seemingly disparate verses, explain what “first is last and last is first” mean?

I’m glad you asked!

Both indicate that God will make his own rules, and that we don’t really have any say in them. But more than that, it means that no matter how you have lived your life, whether it has been one of righteousness or sin, at the end you will be judged on where your heart is and how you are living at that moment.

The workers who had only been there for an hour were rewarded the same as the workers who had been there all day, which shows that even if we wait until our very last breath to do t’shuvah (repent), we can still receive salvation.

This parable confirms what God said many centuries earlier, through Ezekiel, when he said if the righteous person turns to sin, he will be judged on that, but if a sinful person turns from his sin and does what is right, then he will be judged on that.

Simply stated, no matter how you sinful you may have been, if you are truly repentant and turn from your evil ways, doing what is right in God’s eyes (the instructions for that are in the Torah), you will be saved. But, if you have lived a God-fearing life yet backslide into a life of sinfulness, even if it is on the very day you die, you will die in your sin.

These two passages from the Bible tell us that, no matter how you have lived your life to this moment, everyone has the same opportunity to be saved and everyone has the same opportunity to throw that salvation away.

On that pleasant thought, let me say thank you for being here: that’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Is the Third Temple a Physical Temple or a Spiritual One?

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One of the traditional Jewish expectations of the Messiah is that upon his arrival, he will rebuild the temple, which is known as the Third Temple. Currently, the Temple Mount is under Arab control, but that will change when Messiah comes to rule.

In the New Covenant writings, we read that Shaul (you know him- that nice Jewish Pharisee from Tarsus who makes tents and is also known by another name, which is Paul) tells the Corinthians that their bodies are a temple of the spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

And the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) which God made with the Jewish people (sorry, Christians, you came in second) says that the Torah will be written on our hearts, is clearly indicative of a spiritual change.

Now, when we take these two things, which are a third temple being built by the Messiah and the new covenant being a spiritual event, and add to that how Yeshua taught the Remes of the Torah (which means the deeper, spiritual meaning of the commandments; Remes is a term from PaRDeS, an exegesis tool in Judaism), we have to think that maybe, just maybe, this third temple is to be a spiritual one, and not necessarily a physical building on Mount Moriah.

So, nu! here is my point:

1. If the third temple is a spiritual one, and
2. Yeshua taught the spiritual meaning of the law, which
3. According to Shaul makes our bodies a spiritual temple, then
4. Can we say that the fulfillment of the Jewish expectation that the Messiah will build a third temple has already been done through Yeshua’s teachings?

I don’t know. But it does come together nicely, don’t you think?

What is even better is if I can get this to make sense to just one of my Jewish brothers and sisters, then maybe we can get more of God’s chosen to accept that Yeshua is their Messiah?

What do you think?

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