I’ve been on a three day high school reunion- our 50^th, but now I am back and ready to preach!

We all know the Bible…well, actually, we all THINK we know the Bible.

We think we know what God wants, but in reality most people only know what they have been told God wants.

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

I am not going to discuss what God wants, but rather what happens when people start to talk to each other about what God wants.

My experience, after some 25 plus years of being a Believer, is that people start out easily talking about God, and soon they find there are some things in which they have a slightly different understanding.

This then becomes a discussion that turns into a bit of a debate, in that each side wants to explain their side and challenge the other side to disprove them.

And this is the place where one of two things happen: the two people respectfully agree to disagree, or the conversation takes a nosedive from nice to nasty, and I have identified this change from edifying each other to demeaning each other happening in four, distinct stages.

Stage 1: we start by talking about God and begin to discuss a specific topic about God, or what God wants.

Stage 2: as we continue with the discussion, a different understanding of that topic emerges, and now we debate what God really said or what he really meant.

Stage 3: we realize that we actually disagree.

Stage 4: one or both stop attacking the argument and begin to attack the person.

This is not the result of a godly call to help someone know God better: it is nothing more than pridefulness rearing itself up and changing the dynamic from trying to determine God’s truth to working for the Enemy of God to cause dissension.

If the people involved are spiritually and/or emotionally mature, they can respect each other’s right to their opinion and agree to disagree.

However, way too often, one or more of those involved begin demeaning the other because they will not change their mind.

There is no reason or justification, EVER, for demeaning or insulting anyone just because they disagree with you.

When you find yourself in a discussion that has turned the corner from mature argumentation to personal insult, you have only one option: get out of it.

No matter how passionate you may be about helping someone to know God better, when the talk has gone from explaining to insulting, it is time to go home.

They say the three topics you should never bring up in a conversation are family, politics, and religion. I think there is a lot of truth to that, but it should not stop you from trying.

The trick is knowing when to stop; it is as simple as that, and that is all I wanted to talk about today.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and my YouTube channel as well. By the way, when you are on the website, please buy my books- if you like what you get here, you will like my books.

And join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”- please make sure you read and agree to the rules.

So, until next time, l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

What do I mean by “overly spiritual”?

I am talking about those people who cannot make conversation without speaking in spiritual terms which the average person cannot relate to.

I am talking about those people who cannot talk to you without pronouncing that they love you, even though they have no idea who you are.

I am talking about those people who tell you that Jesus is the way and the truth and the light, when all you did was ask them for directions to someplace.

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

Now, I am not trying to insult these people, or deny that they are wonderful examples of how joyful one can be when you have the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit), but…if people are so spiritually oriented that they cannot have a “normal” conversation, then they will not be able to do what we are supposed to do, which is effectively spread the word of God.

“But wait a minute, Steve! People who are constantly talking about God are spreading the word, aren’t they? “

Maybe, but there is a difference between spreading the word of God and throwing pearls before swine. And what determines that is how effectively you can get your point across to your audience.

The double-edged sword of spirituality is that on one side, you are able to understand God’s word better; but, the other side is that without the Holy Spirit, people can’t understand God’s word as well, if at all!

Overly spiritual people can speak all they want, but their problem is that they are speaking the way they want to, in a way they are able to understand, and that is NOT how to reach people who are still in the dark.

Let me put it to you this way: if I cannot communicate with my audience in a way that they can understand what I am saying, then I might as well be speaking in a foreign language.

That is why overly spiritual people are useless to God, in that they are not able to help those in the dark to understand what they are talking about.

Shaul (Paul) is a perfect example of “working your audience”, and he tells us that in 1 Corinthians 9:19, where he says he will be all things to all people. He is spreading the word of God in an effective way because he relates to his audience, and makes sure they can relate to him.

Yeshua was the most spiritually filled person that ever existed, yet he was able to get people to understand what he was saying.

Yes, he often talked in parables (which fulfilled the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 6:9), which did confuse many people, but those who had ears to hear, heard; and those who had eyes to see, saw.

That is what we need to do when we are trying to spread the word of God- we need to speak in a way that the person we are talking to can understand.

You don’t need to learn different languages, you need to simply observe the type of person you are talking to and speak in a way they can understand, i.e., using terms and references that they are comfortable with.

When I was a salesman, going to people’s homes and selling them siding, windows, and kitchen replacements, I learned very quickly that I needed to ask them about themselves (people will always be willing to talk about themselves or their children) in order to determine the best way to communicate with them. I found that by using terms and mental images they are comfortable with, that allowed me to bond with them quickly, resulting in both gaining their trust and, even more important, getting them to not just listen but understand me.

When we talk about God to people, those who cannot get their heads out of the clouds make no headway- they are speaking God’s truth to a wall.

That is why no matter how “into” the Lord you are, you need to step it down when speaking to people who are not that way so they can understand and relate to what you are saying.

And NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! tell anyone what they must do or what they must believe- the best way to get people to listen to you is first to ask them what they feel they are missing in their life. Then you can tell them why YOU don’t have those problems because you accepted Yeshua, and then let them decide for themself if they want to be better off, too.

I confess I am somewhat envious of people who are continually happy and spirit-filled, but when it comes down to helping those who are not believers, if they can’t come down out of the clouds and walk the same earth those people do, speak their language and relate to them, then whatever they say or do or teach will be useless to spreading God’s word.

And, in the long run, they are more likely to turn people away from God than turn them to God, and that would be a sin.

Thank you for being here, and please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books and after reading them, leave them in your church or synagogue for others to read, and next time you’re on Facebook, join my group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you read and agree to the rules, first).

And remember this: I always welcome your comments.

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

One of the topics that preachers in all religions seem to bypass more often than any other biblical topic is the requirement to tithe.

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

What is really interesting is that many Christian religions believe that because Yeshua referred to the tithe regarding the Pharisees and Mosaic Law, now under the “law of Christ” Christians do not have to tithe.

I always wondered what Christ’s law was: after all, isn’t he supposed to be the son of God? Wasn’t he supposed to live a sinless life? And wasn’t the only law when he lived the Mosaic Law?

So, if all those statements are true, then the law of Christ had to be the same Law of Moses, right? I mean, if Christ had done or taught or even implied people should not do what his father said they should, which is the same as teaching to reject God’s commandments, then wouldn’t that mean he sinned? Wouldn’t having those who followed him do differently than what God said to do be rebellion against God?

Well, that’s not really relevant to today’s topic, so let’s get back to tithing.

The Torah has many more forms of tithing than just the 10%, which (for the record) existing long before Moses wrote it down in the Torah. If you recall, Abraham gave a tenth of all he recovered when he saved Lot to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20), and Jacob promised God 10% of all he would give him on his way to Laban’s house (Gen 28:22).

There are, in fact, taxes, redemption fees, and a three-year collection of tithes for the Levite, foreigner, widow, and orphan (Deuteronomy 26:12-13).

In fact, the Torah has many different forms of taxes, tithes, and mandatory contributions, all of which really amount to the same thing- a required return of one’s income to God.

There is a tithe levied to the Levites which can be a 40th, 50th or sixtieth of one’s income, depending on your personal generosity; there is an annual 10% tithe on the produce; there is the requirement to leave gleanings for the poor; and there was a half-shekel tax to the temple for upkeep.

Not to mention there was a 5 shekel tax on the first born male, whether of human or animal, which God required as redemption for all the first-born he killed in Egypt.

In all, the Torah required about 25% of ones total income to be given back to God in any number of ways, such as tithes, temple tax, leaving produce in the fields (not harvesting the outer 10% of the crops and not going back to reap the harvest twice), first fruits, and voluntary offerings.

But Christians are told that because there is no specific requirement in the New Covenant to pay tithes, then Christians don’t have to tithe.

Some of the justifications they give for not having to tithe are as follows:

• Believers are not under the Mosaic Covenant (the old lie that Jesus did away with the law)
• What Abraham and Jacob did was not the norm
• Tithes were for the Levites and priests and there are none of those in the New Covenant (I guess that since Yeshua is our High Priest, he doesn’t need any other priests to help him?)
• The New Covenant doesn’t mention tithing when talking about giving generously

For the record, the Gospels and the Epistles and all the other stuff in the New Covenant are eye witness accounts written by human beings, not dictation from God. God doesn’t say anything in the New Covenant, except at the transformation on the mountain when he told the three disciples that Yeshua is his son and to listen to him.

The only place where God, himself, tells us what he wants us to do is in the Torah.

There are other excuses for not tithing, but they are just as unfounded as the ones I have listed here.

Why do I say they are unfounded? Simple: Yeshua lived the way God said to live, and so if we are to live as Yeshua lived, then we should also live the way God said to live, and that is in the Torah, and the Torah tells us to tithe.

As I explained above, there is no way that Yeshua could have ever, in any way, told people not to obey the Torah; otherwise, he would have been rejecting God, thereby a sinner, teaching others to sin, and his sacrifice could not be accepted.

Once people agree that some form of a tithe is required by God, then we start to argue is the 10% off the gross, net after taxes (to the government), or from disposable income?

The Torah says every 10th animal under the hook, but it also says to leave the outskirts of your field unharvested and do not gather the gleanings (Leviticus 23:22). So, if I do not gather those amounts, are they my tithe?

But, if I never gather them, then I never gathered that produce, then it was never income I received, so then should I tithe 10% from what I actually harvested and took for myself?

If I do that, then is what I took considered my gross or my net? After all, gross is everything produced, whether I end up with it or not, and net is what I end up with, so which is the one I tithe from: everything in my field, which is my gross, or only what I harvest, which is my net?

Confusing, isn’t it?

And now for the kicker: In Malachi 3:6-10, God says that when we do not bring the tithe to the temple we are stealing from him. And then he says if we do bring it in, he will open the floodgates of heaven and pour more blessings on us than we can imagine.

So, if I am a Christian and I happen to open that Jewish part of the Bible- you know, the part my pastor says I don’t have to worry about, and see that by tithing God will hand out a ton of blessings, since Christians are not subject to that Jewish stuff, does that mean only Jews can be blessed if they tithe?

Look, I won’t tell you what to do. After all, if someone refuses to do as God says they should, why would they listen to me?

Then again, maybe they would, if I told them what they wanted to hear. Isn’t that why so many religions are popular?

So choose the way you will serve God: as God says you should, or as some religion says you should.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel; buy my books and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

From what I have researched, Yeshua called himself “Son of Man” some 78 times throughout the Gospels. It is supposedly a term reserved for the Messiah from the Book of Daniel, in that the son of man would inherit God’s everlasting kingdom.

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

But wasn’t Ezekiel also called “Son of Man”? Didn’t God, himself, call Ezekiel the son of man?

So, was Ezekiel the Messiah?

I don’t think so.

In Judaism, the term “son of Man” generally refers to mankind, to the mortal state of humanity as compared to the immortal and spiritual condition of the deity.

In some circles, it is believed that Yeshua used this term for himself to represent that he was the Messiah. However, most likely only those who were biblically knowledgeable would have known this usage, certainly not his Disciples, who were Am haAretz (literally, “people of the land”, i.e., commoners, generally considered to be uneducated).

It is also thought that he used this term to identify himself as human and suffering all human weaknesses (Isaiah 53 does say that the Messiah will be no stranger to illness and suffering).

But I think there might be one more reason for Yeshua referring to himself in this way.

What is the one, most obvious, blaring, and definitive difference between mankind and God?

It’s sin, isn’t it?

Throw out the spiritual vs. physical, throw out the created vs. eternal, and throw out the earthly vs. heavenly, and what do we have left?

People sin but God never does, never has, and never will.

We may be made in the image of God (whatever that really means), but it is sin that definitively separates us from God.

And guess what is the one thing which is the inheritance of all human beings?

It’s sin! Duh!

Original sin the one thing that we have to overcome, first and foremost, in order to be one with God.

And if you think Original Sin is a uniquely Christian thing, think again.

In Judaism, the Talmud tells us of the Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) and the Yetzer Tov (good inclination), and of these two, guess which one we are born with?

That’s right- we are born with the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, which (of course) translates to being sinful from birth. Just like King David said in Psalm 51.

Let’s also recall that Shaul (in Romans 5:12) said that sin was introduced into the world through one man (Adam, of course), and that through the Messiah we would be able to overcome that.

Adam, representing mankind, introduced sin into the world (we’re letting Eve off the hook, for the moment), so what mankind inherits from Adam, the father of all people, is sin.

But Yeshua wasn’t born from Adam, so the title he gave to himself- Son of Man- doesn’t really make sense, does it?

Yet, I think it does for this reason- he came to take on all our sins, and as such, he then would become a son of man.

I believe Yeshua called himself the son of Man because he would inherit, not by lineage but by choice, the sins of mankind. He wasn’t a natural son of man, as we all are, but – in a way- an adopted son of man, in that he voluntarily took on our sins to allow himself to be our scapegoat.

So, even though Yeshua was not born a son of Adam, he accepted the position as a son of Adam.

And by doing that, by rejecting his spiritual birthright to accept a physical inheritance, he made it possible for all of us to be saved from our sins.

Thank you, Yeshua, for what you did for us, and thank you, God, for sending him.

And thank you for being here. Please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Too often I hear people using these terms interchangeably, but that is not the proper use of them.

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

If you don’t mind, I am not going to give Webster’s definitions or go through dozens of biblical verses to justify the statements I am about to make.

Instead, I am going to share with you my personal understanding of these terms, gleaned from some 25 years of studying the Bible, earning a Certificate of Messianic Studies from the Messianic Bible Institute, talking with hundreds of Believers, and (what I hope to be) a spirit-generated wisdom.

That being said, even though forgiveness, mercy, and grace are not the same thing, they are definitely intertwined.

Forgiveness is letting go of the need to retaliate or get revenge on someone for having hurt you, in any way.

We all know not to seek revenge because vengeance belongs to the Lord, but if we’re lucky, sometimes we get to see it happen.

Forgiveness does NOT mean allowing someone back into your life, or trusting them (unless they earn it back), but we should keep an open mind. Forgiveness NEVER means that who we forgive gets away with whatever they did- forgiveness is not absolution, and even when God forgives sins, that is on an eternal and spiritual level.

When you sin, you WILL pay for it on earth, one way or another.

Mercy, like forgiveness, is not allowing someone to get off scot-free when they sin. No; mercy is not escape from punishment, it is the rendering of compassionate punishment.

In the Bible we are told “eye for eye, tooth for tooth”, but that was never meant to be taken literally. God meant that the punishment should be proportionate to the crime.

That means if someone steals, they must return or pay for what they stole (often with an additional fifth), and if someone maims another, they must make a payment equal to the lifelong financial loss of that appendage.

If someone murders someone else, depending on whether it was accidental or premeditated, their punishment will be appropriate.

Mercy is, to some degree, a part of forgiveness- in fact, I would say that forgiveness starts with a merciful attitude.

Now, let’s talk about grace.

Grace is not an action, it is a desire. God tells us in Ezekiel 18:23 (OK, so I’ll use one Bible reference) that he desires all people to live. That is his Grace- the desire to forgive, the desire to punish mercifully, and the desire that everyone, sinner and righteous alike, by able to be in his presence throughout eternity.

So, to bring them all together, here is how I see it working:

Because of God’s Grace, he gave us the Torah so we would know how to live forever with him. But, knowing that we would never be totally Torah observant, because of his Grace, he provided a way we could be forgiven of our sins, which is the sacrificial system. He also decreed a penal system in the Torah, which (by his Grace) defines the types of merciful punishment to be meted out.

His Grace is the reason why he sent the Messiah, knowing that the temple would be destroyed and that we needed another way to be forgiven of our sins.

That’s it- Grace is behind forgiveness and mercy, but forgiveness is not mercy, and mercy is not a “Get Out of Jail for Free” card.

When you sin, by God’s Grace you have a means to be forgiven on a spiritual level, but you will still face punishment for your actions, although that punishment will be tempered with mercy.

That’s how I see it all fitting together. However, if you see it differently, please let me know and share your ideas with all of us.

Thank you for being here- please share these messages, buy my books from my website or Amazon, subscribe to the website and my YouTube channel, and on Facebook “Like” my page and join my discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please ensure you read and agree to the rules).

And I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today (WOW! Two short messages in the same week!) so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

I know this sounds like a really silly question- everyone knows that you only pray to God, right?

Praying to anyone or anything other than God is idolatry, right?

Then tell me why so many people pray to their sin sacrifice instead of to God?

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

OK, so you already are thinking this is going to be a message about trinity verse unity, but it isn’t.

It is a message about the roles each one of us plays in God’s plan of salvation.

God is the creator and ultimate savior because, even though Yeshua did say he was given authority on the earth to forgive sins, that was ONLY while he was on the earth. As the resurrected Messiah, his role in God’s plan of salvation is to be the substitution for the animal sacrifice, whose innocent blood was shed so that we can be forgiven of our sins.

The role of the Messiah is to be a sacrifice for humanity, and thereafter as the Intercessor for those who accept his role for themselves.

That’s why I asked if you should pray to the sacrifice, which, of course, you shouldn’t do.

The role of God is no different than it has been since he created us- God is our savior who forgives our sins, only now it is through the sacrifice of Yeshua and not an animal killed in front of the altar at the temple.

Our role is to accept that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, and by doing so we can then ask God for forgiveness and the indwelling of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, which (before the Messiah) was only lent to people- the Spirit came upon them, but was always lifted off later. Through the Messiah, we can have the Spirit indwell for the rest of our natural lives.

Unless, of course, we screw it up. This is always something we have to be careful of: no one can take away God’s gift of salvation, but we can reject it.

So, nu! Let’s review the roles to be played: God saves us by forgiving our sins; Messiah Yeshua sacrificed himself so we have the means to attain God’s forgiveness; and the role we have play is to accept that Yeshua is the Messiah, repent of our sins, and ask God, by means of the shed blood of the Messiah Yeshua, for forgiveness and to receive the gift of the Ruach.

That’s how it works, so whether or not you believe Yeshua is God doesn’t matter- if you pray to Yeshua you are praying to the wrong person under God’s plan of salvation.

We are NOT to pray to the sacrifice, we are to pray to the one being sacrificed to!

So, let me be frank (even though I am really Steve): with regard to salvation, it doesn’t matter if Yeshua is God or not because the way God set up the plan of salvation (since the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem) is that we must accept Yeshua as the sacrifice we would have brought to the temple, and thereby pray to God for forgiveness by means of the shed blood of the Messiah.

So, I suggest you pray in the way God set things up.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website, YouTube channel, and when on Facebook like my Messianic Moment page and join my discussion group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember: I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today (this was a short one, wasn’t it?), so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

In a world where we try to be better at everything, where you can go to almost any media and find someone who will tell you how to be a better person, how to communicate better with others, how to be in better shape, how to…well, how to be better at just about anything.

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

Of all the things we are trying to do to better ourselves, having both a healthy mind and a healthy heart is among the most desired conditions.

In Judaism, we believe that the heart and mind are actually one and the same thing.

The Hebrew word for heart is “leb” (לב), but although it is a separate organ from the mind, it is not separate spiritually.

In the prayer called the V’ahavta (You are to love) found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, we are told:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 

Some versions of the Bible say with all thy heart and all thy mind, and in Judaic thought, these are one and the same. We are being told to love God with both our emotions and intellect.

In today’s world, you hear people advising others to make decisions with their mind and not their heart, because the gentile world sees the heart as emotion, and the mind as intellect.

In Jewish thought, the heart is the center of the intellect, directing us to make decisions based on our feelings as well as our sensibility.

In the Book of Proverbs, we read often of the mind and the heart as being the same thing. For instance:

The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.” (Prov. 16:23)

That indicates that our heart is able to make wise decisions which enable us to better communicate our feelings and thoughts to others.

At the prelude to Proverbs, in Proverbs 2:10-11, the writer states that when Adonai gives wisdom, the wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be enjoyable to you.

The Chasidic Jews believe (at least, those of Chabad) that there is one mind, but two hearts. The outer heart is one that chases the worldly things, and the inner heart is the fire of the soul. The mind is the key to the inner heart, which is the more spiritually guided aspect of our personality.

If this sounds Freudian to you, it certainly does to me, too. The inner heart would be the Ego, the outer heart would be the Id, and the mind would be the Superego.

You know, Freud was Jewish- maybe what we now call modern psychoanalysis is really just what Jews have known about for centuries?

I believe we need to be led by our hearts and guided by our minds. The heart and mind need to work together, the heart allowing us to have an emotional connection to others, feeling compassion and empathy, with the mind reining us in from foolishly allowing others to take advantage of our kindness, or rushing into things that appeal to our desire for worldly things.

Mind and heart, heart and mind, both are necessary to gain spiritual understanding and wisdom. And if you ask me, I will agree with that Jewish tent maker from Tarsus when, in his first letter to the Kehillah in Corinth, he told them that he might have many gifts, but without love, he is nothing.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure to read and agree to the rules).

And remember: I always welcome your comments.

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

If you were to ask most any American, “What is a pilgrim festival?” I’ll bet their answer will be “Why, that would be Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November.”

But that isn’t really a pilgrim festival, is it?

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

For us religious types, a pilgrim festival is one where we are required to congregate at our respective house of worship, be that a synagogue, a church, or a mosque.

You know, I have been reading the Bible for over 25 years, nearly every, single day, and have gone through it at least 2 dozen times, and what is wonderful about this book is that even when you have read it as often as I have, not to mention all the studies I have been involved with requiring me to research throughout the Bible, you can still read something you have read over and over, and see a new truth in it.

So, nu? What am I leading to? It’s this: I have always known that there are three pilgrim festivals in Judaism: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

If you do an Internet search for “Jewish pilgrimage festivals” on Google, you will get any number of “hits”, from Britannica’s site to the one called My Jewish Learning to Wikipedia, and so on, and they will all tell you that the Jewish pilgrim festivals are Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

Now here’s the thing that hit me just the other day as my daily reading had me in Leviticus, Chapter 23…there are actually 6 pilgrim festivals in Judaism!

That’s right! Not 3 or 4 or even 5, but there are 6 times that God says we are to have a holy convocation, which translates to being physically at the Temple.

That means from the time after we entered the land, which was when the first Shavuot began, people were required to go to the Tent of Meeting (first at Gilgal, then Shiloh, then Jerusalem) until we had Solomon’s Temple. But, after 73 AD, when Roman soldiers destroyed the temple, we had nowhere to go to fulfill the commandments regarding pilgrim festivals.

Here’s an interesting side note: although Pesach (Passover) was celebrated before we entered the Land, Shavuot and Sukkot were not to be celebrated, and Habikurim (First Fruits) also had to wait until we were established in Canaan. God stated, specifically, that these were to be celebrated AFTER we entered the Land (see Leviticus 23:9).

So, this was quite a revelation to me- all these years I was teaching that there are three pilgrim festivals because that is what I was taught, but I was wrong.

Let’s go to the Book of Leviticus (CJB) and see what God says is to be a holy convocation:

Pesach is a pilgrim festival for two reasons: one, because all sacrifices had to be made at the place where God put his name (Deuteronomy 16:6), and secondly because we are to have a holy convocation on the first day of Hag HaMatzot.

It certainly looks to me that God wants us to congregate together on the first day of Hag HaMatzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread), then again on Shavuot, then again on Rosh Hashanah (originally called Yom Teruah, Day of Trumpets), then again on Yom Kippur, and finally on the first day and the eighth day of Sukkot, which is called Yom Atzeret, also known as Simchat Torah.

Now, some may say that some of these holy convocations were included with the required presence at the temple, so they don’t really count as a separate pilgrimage. Maybe there’s some truth to that, but God specifies 6 holy convocations, and for me, that means there are 6 separate and unique times we are to be at the temple.

So, this certainly begs the question: How could I have read and studied the Torah for so many years, and never seen, which has always been right in front of my face, that there are really 6 pilgrim festivals, not just three?

My answer is that I have been doing what so many people do, which is reading the Bible but only seeing what I have been told is there.

Most people, if you ask me, are at the height of spiritual ignorance because they don’t read the Bible at all. The next level down is those who hear others tell them what is in the Bible, but don’t bother to verify what they are told.

The level I was on all this time when reading Leviticus 23 and never noticing the true number of holy convocations was the level where I am reading the Bible but only seeing what I already know it says.

This is probably why so many people who do read the Bible miss so much of what is in there- we have blinders, blinders that were placed on our eyes by religion, which told us what the Bible says, So, even though we are looking right at it, we only see what we have been told is there.

This is why it is so important to pray to God and ask for Holy Spirit guidance each and every time we read the Bible, so that we can be freed of the blinders religion has placed on our eyes.

The scary thing is that now I have to wonder: How many other things in God’s word have I read and not understood properly?

The comforting thing, though, is that now that I know this has happened, I will be doubly careful and much more aware of what I am reading.

The bottom line for all of us is to recognize the potential that no matter how many times we have gone through the Bible, we may still be reading something but not seeing it.

Let me finish with telling you what I will be doing, and suggest you do the same: from this moment on, I am reading with both eyes open, and accept the fact that as well as I know the Bible, I may not know it all correctly.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

This weekend we celebrate Shavuot, which is one of the three pilgrimage Festivals (Pesach/Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot), so I thought we should have a lesson about this Holy Day.

Shavuot is closely associated with Pesach because we are commanded to Count the Omer starting with the first Shabbat after Pesach, that counting (50 days) ends at Shavuot.

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

Shavuot is known by a few different names. It is called The Feast of Weeks (Chag Shavuot), the festival of First Fruits (Chag Habikurim), and the Harvest festival (Chag Hakatzir).

It is even referred to as Atzeret, which means “assembly” and refers to the fact that this is a day when we assemble at the temple in Jerusalem.

(Avengers…Atzeret! Nah, that won’t work.)

Many feel Shavuot is the conclusion of the Passover celebration, which consists of Pesach (evening to midnight of the 14th of Nisan), Chag HaMatzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread, which lasts 7 days), and then Shavuot which occurs 50 days later, when we finish the Counting of the Omer.

The day Jews celebrate Shavuot is also called Pentecost (Greek for “50 days”), which is considered a Christian holiday.

The New Covenant tells us in Acts 2 about how at the Pentecost celebration (unless you are reading a Jewish version of the B’rit Chadasha, in which it will correctly call it during the Festival of Shavuot) the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, occurred.

One of the things the Jewish leaders have done over the years is to change the meaning of a Holy Day. For instance, Rosh Hashanah is considered today to be the Jewish New Year, but in the Torah God calls it a Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets), and it is not at all associated with a new year. In fact, in Exodus 12 God tells us that our year begins on the first day of Aviv (now called Nisan).

The rabbis have changed Shavuot, as well, redesignating it from its Torah definition as a harvest festival (an Omer is a measure of wheat) to associating it with the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

They came up with this idea by calculating that after the first Pesach, by the time the Omer counting was over, the Israelites were at the base of Horeb (Sinai), and that is when God gave us the Torah (give or take a month while Moses was on the mountain).

I have done the calculations myself, and it can work either way, with some saying they came to the mountain 90 days later, and others being able to show it was about 50 days.

This significant difference, being calculated from the same source (the Torah) reminds me of something I learned when I worked on Wall Street: figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.

In any event, I have come to accept that there is a good lesson for Messianic Jews in seeing both Pentecost and Shavuot as a “giving” event: for one, God gave us the Torah, which Shaul (Paul) says defined sin so that we could know-absolutely- the difference between what pleases God and what doesn’t. And, on this same day, God gave us the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) to be the fulfillment of the New Covenant God made with us in Jeremiah 31:31, which is to write his Torah on our hearts (by means of the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit).

You see, when we read in the Tanakh about the giving of the spirit, God would place his spirit on people, but then that spirit was taken back. The Holy Spirit was a temporary gift that God gave, sparingly, and once the purpose for giving it was accomplished, the spirit was removed.

Not so after Yeshua’s resurrection. Those who accept that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, and who faithfully obey the instructions God gave in the Torah (not what Paul or James or a Pope or a Minister or any human being tells you what to do), we can receive the Holy Spirit and it will not just fall on us to be taken back later, but will remain.

The Torah is a written set of instructions that tells us how God wants us to worship him and treat each other, which has many deep, spiritual lessons for us that one cannot fathom without having spiritual insight. The Ruach HaKodesh, which we receive from God when we ask for it (after having accepting Yeshua as his Messiah) provides that spiritual insight, which allows us to understand God’s word at a level people without the Ruach will never have.

So when we look at these two events: the giving of the written law and the giving of the means to understand the spiritual meaning of that written law, we can see how Shavuot and Pentecost are really two sides of the same coin.

I feel that even though the rabbis changed what God said Shavuot is to be, and Christian leaders have removed the “Jewishness” of what happened at Pentecost, when we look at this from a Messianic Jewish perspective, it all works to the good.

There are many other Jewish traditions associated with Shavuot, such as the reading of the Book of Ruth, staying up the entire night before Shavuot studying the Talmud, Torah, and even the Zohar (this tradition was introduced by the Kabbalists), and there are some other things, none of which I will go into today.

If you are interested in these traditions, as well as many other items of interest regarding Jewish tradition and Jews, in general, I suggest you get both volumes of “The Jewish Book of Why”.

Shavuot 2022 will begin on the evening of June 4th; it is a very joyous day and so you should drink, eat, and be merry.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website, to my YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules).

That’s it for this week, so I wish you both Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!