Category: A Drash to Start the Day

What Paul Really Meant When He Called the Torah a Guardian

Leave a comment

Depending on the version you read, Shaul refers to the Torah (Galatians 3:24) as either a guardian, custodian, or even as a schoolmaster (KJV).

But whatever which way that Greek word was interpreted, it shows that the Torah was all we had at that time to teach us how to be righteous in God’s eyes.

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

To understand this passage, as well as anything we read in the Bible, we need to ensure we are looking at the entire context of what was being written, to include what comes before and after the passage, and to interpret it within the context of the entire paragraph, letter or book, who wrote it and to whom, and why.

Briefly, Shaul is writing to the Galatians who are under pressure from the Jewish population to make total conversion to Judaism in order to be saved. This strict adherence to the letter of the law, in lieu of faith, is what we know as “Legalism”. Shaul was trying to convince the Gentile Believers that they needed to be faithful, first and foremost, because following the Torah (which is too often incorrectly thought of as being “under the law”) was only to be the way until the Messiah came.

In other words, to put it without all the “Jewish logic” that Shaul uses (Jewish logic is my term for how we Jews argue- we will tell you everything something is NOT before we tell you what it is), the Torah was given to us to teach us (as a guardian or schoolmaster) how we are to act in order to be righteous in God’s eyes, and thereby to be given eternal life. i.e., to be “saved”.

The point Shaul was making is not that the Torah was not needed anymore because through Yeshua we can be saved, which is the traditional Christian use of this passage, but rather that through the faithful trusting in Yeshua as the Messiah, we can be saved not just from death, but from our failure to obey the Torah completely.

You see, the bottom line (unspoken in so many ways) is that the Torah IS life eternal, and that was proven when Yeshua was raised from the dead, which was the result of his having lived in 100% obedience to the Torah for 100% of his life.

Yeshua was the epitome of Torah obedience, which is why he never saw decay and was resurrected to eternal life in God’s presence. The truth is, people, if any one of us could do that, then we would also be resurrected to eternal life.

The problem us is that no one can do that, which is the very reason God sent us the Messiah. Through our faithful acceptance that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised, we can find forgiveness of sin.

Look- being righteous in God’s eyes can never happen if we are stained with sin, and the way we are saved is not really just through faith in Yeshua, but through being forgiven of sin. The faith in Yeshua is the means by which we are forgiven, and being forgiven is the path to eternal life.

Yeshua is not salvation: he is the means by which we can be forgiven of our sins, and when we are no longer stained with sin, we can live in God’s presence.

Now, as for the guardian no longer being necessary, let’s think about what a guardian does: he or she guards us (DUH!), but from what? The guardian guards us from making mistakes, from being hurt or hurting others, and prepares us (as a schoolmaster) to know what we need to know in order to survive in the world when we are on our own.

When you were in school (under a guardian), you learned about the world, you learned about science, social studies, history, art, etc. When you graduated, you were no longer under that guardian, but let me ask you- when you were no longer under the guardian, did you reject and ignore everything that guardian taught you?

This is what Shaul meant when he said that through faith in Yeshua, the guardianship under the Torah was not needed anymore because through Yeshua we could find the one thing that the Torah, alone, offered us to be saved: forgiveness through the sacrificial system.

That system didn’t exist after (approx.) 70 AD, when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, and from that moment on, the only path to God (meaning being able to be cleansed of sin) was through the forgiveness we receive by means of Yeshua’s sacrifice.

When we leave school, or reach legal majority at which time we no longer require a guardian, what we learned from our experience under that guardian is (hopefully) going to be the foundation for a successful and meaningful life. Proverbs 22:6 says,

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it“.

The same is true for the Torah as our guardian- it is to teach us the way to go, specifically the path to salvation, and so under the Torah we learned how to live, how to worship God, and how to treat each other. Certainly, Shaul would never have meant that all of that was to be rejected in lieu of faith in Yeshua!

The Torah teaches us all that we need to know to be faithful to God, and to live a righteous life. Yeshua taught us the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah, fulfilling not so much the law as the new covenant God made through Jeremiah (Jer. 31:31), which said that he would write his Torah on our hearts. Yeshua taught us how to have the very “heart” of the Torah on our hearts, but never to ignore it; neither did any of the disciples or apostles teach to ignore the Torah.

The Torah was our guardian, teaching us what we need to know to be righteous, and it is still a valid and necessary to anyone who professes to believe and worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as it was when God first gave it to us through Moses. The only thing that as changed is how we receive forgiveness: because we cannot do so under the Torah (no temple to bring our sacrifice), we now find that forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice Yeshua made, and that means of forgiveness (which is, again, how we are saved) is only available to those who accept Yeshua as their Messiah, the one God promised to send.

That’s how it works- the Torah as our guardian taught us how God wants us to worship him and treat each other, and just like you do not reject or ignore all that you were taught in school, the Torah is as valid today for everyone worshipping God as it has always been.

Yeshua is the means by which we can be forgiven when we sin, replacing the need to bring an animal to the temple, but he did not replace the Torah, or the need to be obedient to God’s commandments.

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

Are You Confident or Are You Just Comfortable?

Leave a comment

Do you believe what you believe? In other words, are you totally confident that what you believe is true? If so, are you willing to question that belief, to the point of trying to prove to yourself that you are wrong?

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

I have spoken to many people over the years who have a strong faith, or, at least, that is what they say, but when I question what they believe by bringing up examples from the Bible to show what they have been taught is not correct, they refuse to listen. They say their faith is strong, but apparently it isn’t strong enough to stand up to questioning.

If you believe something is true and biblically validated, then you should be able to argue for that belief, and not be afraid to have it challenged. In fact, you should challenge it, yourself, if for no other reason than to confirm that you are correct.

In a case where someone is not willing to challenge or stand up for what they believe, with anything other than the typical “party line”, then I believe that they are more comfortable than confident.

If you have been brought up with a certain truth, told to you by those who you have loved and respected your whole life, and you have been indoctrinated into the ceremonies and tenets of that belief system, then it becomes very comfortable. So much so, that the idea of learning something totally different, or worse yet- that what you have been told is wrong (oy gevalt!)- you will reject the idea completely, without even wanting to hear any arguments.

So, when you run into someone who strongly believes something is true that you strongly believe is not true, first challenge yourself to make sure what you think it is, is what it is. Then, if they are willing to challenge their belief, you can help them along with the reasons why you believe. For myself, and I recommend this approach, I never tell anyone what to believe, only what I believe and why. If it makes sense to them, then we are in agreement and maybe, just maybe, I have helped someone to get closer to God and his Messiah.

And you know what? There have been times in the past when it has helped me realize where I was wrong.

Always be willing to challenge what you believe because if you aren’t willing to do that, then I think you don’t really believe, as much as you are just comfortable with what you know, and God forbid you should do something or hear something that takes you out of that comfort zone.

Being in your comfort zone will always feel good, but the real definition of a comfort zone is stagnation; people who are in a spiritually static condition will never be closer to God or better, in God’s eyes. So, unless you are certain that you are perfect in God’s eyes, you might want to consider getting out of that easy chair called “religion” and making sure that what you believe is biblically correct.

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

It Was Never Either Faith or Works

Leave a comment

Too often I have heard people say that all they need to be saved is faith in Christ, but then James said that faith without works is dead.
They say Jesus did away with the law, but if that is true, doesn’t that lead to the conclusion that through Jesus, there is only lawlessness?

So what IS the relationship between faith and works?

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

Faith is believing, simple as that. So, when someone says that they believe in Yeshua what do they mean?

My experience is that nearly everyone who says that has no idea what they mean, and can’t come up with any better explanation than that they believe he is the Messiah.

So what? Every demon in hell, and the guy in the red suit with the pitchfork also believe he is the messiah, so are they saved? Do they go to heaven?

I don’t think so!

Faith is believing without proof (Hebrews 11:1), but true faith cannot be invisible. As James said, true faithfulness in the belief Yeshua is the Messiah means you must also faithfully believe in God, and that means also faithfully believing that God is in charge, the ultimate authority in the Universe.

With me so far?

So, if God is the ultimate authority, and we believe that, then why does Christianity base all its tenets and laws on what Shaul (Paul), a human being, says?

The only answer is that they never really had faith in God, but rather placed their faith in a human being because (this is what I believe!) what he said was easier to do than what God said.

And people are still that lazy, today, which is proven by how many people come against my messages of Torah obedience being for everyone who professes to believe in God, as being wrong.

If you truly believe that God is in charge, and the ultimate authority, and that he loves his children, then you have to accept that he gave us the Torah (first to the Jews to learn, then as his nation of priests- see Ex. 19:6– to bring to the Goyim/Nations) for our own good.

The Torah is where God, himself, directly instructs us how he wants us to worship him and how he wants us to treat each other. Have you ever considered how Christianity can say it is God-fearing and God-ordained, when it has, for millennia, taught to ignore the Torah, God’s own instructions?

It’s really very simple, but very hard for Gentiles to accept- faith and works cannot be exclusive but must be inclusive. Works without faith is legalism; it is a performance-based salvation and, as such, will never be successful.

On the other hand, faith without any demonstration of that faith, is just so many words, and I learned this truth long ago: people don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do.

Jimmy had it right all along: if you are truly faithful to God, and truly faithfully believe Yeshua is the Messiah and that he taught us the true, spiritual meaning of the Torah, then you MUST be obedient to the Torah as the demonstration of your professed faith.

You can make up all the excuses that Christianity has taught its followers for millennia, but I tell you- absolutely- that when you come to face God at Judgement Day (which we will ALL have to do), and tell him that you did everything those men at your church told you to do, I won’t speak for God, but I am sure he will reply with something to this effect:

“I understand, my child, that you did what they told you to do, but it is what I say that counts!”

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

You Can Control Which Way the Coin Flips

Leave a comment

Have you ever heard the statement that no matter how many times you flip a coin, and no matter how many times it comes up heads or tails, the odds of which side comes up is always 50%?

Well, that may be true in a scientific environment, but in the real world, the odds can be different.

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

If someone has the same coin, and practices always starting with the same side facing up, then they can learn to flip it in such a manner that it will almost always come up the way they want it to.

So what? What does this have to do with God or Messiah, or anything spiritual?

I’m glad you asked.

We all have to make decisions in life, and more often than we probably want to admit, these decisions will have a spiritual side to them. It is like the image of someone trying to decide which to do, with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, fighting it out.

In the Bible, we read how so many important decisions were made using the Urim and Thummim, or by throwing lots, and allowing God to decide. But we don’t have those things here today, so we might just flip a coin and allow for that to be the modern form of God making our decision for us.

And there’s the problem: we can have a lot of control over how it lands on our hand. This allows us to fool ourselves into thinking it is God’s choice, when it was really what we wanted, all along.

And it can fool others, too!

So, my point is that we shouldn’t depend on flipping a coin, but rather on what God says in the Torah. More often than not, the answer will probably be what we know, in our hearts, we should do, but are hoping we can find some viable excuse for not having to do it.

I often point out in my messages that whatever feels wrong to our nature is probably right with God, and vice-versa. We are exposed to the world; and yes, Shaul (Paul) said that we are in the world but not of it (Colossians 3), but that is not as easy to live as it is to say.

If you work in a fish market all day, you might hate to eat fish, but you will smell like fish when you come home. If you are a shepherd, you may be careful when walking among the sheep, but no matter how careful you are, your shoes will not be clean by the end of the day.

The same is true with obedience: wanting to faithfully do as we know we should according to righteousness is easy, but very hard to actually accomplish. And if we need to flip a coin, the odds are very strong that we might just add a little “English” to that flip to make it come out the way our flesh wants it to, without even realizing what we are doing.

Therefore, read the Bible, and I mean the ENTIRE Bible- Genesis through Revelation- and get to know what God says he wants us to do (meaning not what some religion says), which boils down to how to worship him and how to treat each other. That way, when a coin flip situation comes up, you won’t have to flip it because you will already know the answer.

But here is the hard part… knowing the answer is actually pretty easy, but doing what you know you should do is often very hard. This is where faith and spiritual (as well as emotional) maturity are needed to strengthen you to do what goes against your human nature.

Call on the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide and strengthen you during those tough times, because what is impossibly hard for a human to do, is remarkably easy for God to do.

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

Why I Reject the Gospel of John

Leave a comment

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?

Leave a comment

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.

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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?

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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!