Welcome back to the beginning of the word of God. With Shemini Atzeret past us, we are now starting the annual cycle of readings from the Torah, all over again, and that puts us here, at the beginning where the Torah tells us all about the beginning.

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I don’t really need to go through what happens in this parashah, do I? Even the atheists know that God created the earth, separated the sea and the land, created the stars and the sun and the moon, the fish, the plants, the animals, and finally people. Later, when the earth was populated with sinful people, God decided that he needed to start this over again, and that the only one worth saving was Noah.

Hmm…looks like I went over it even though I said I didn’t need to go over it.

This parashah will undoubtedly bring up the age-old argument of Creationism vs. Evolution. But wait a minute! That argument isn’t really age-old, is it? Judaism has been around for nearly 6 Millennia, and this discussion has been around for barely 160 years, so it isn’t really age-old! In truth, it is very recent. So, why is it so new? Maybe, because before science became so important to people, they were very satisfied accepting that God was in charge and that what happens in the world is all his doing.

I love science and believe it is necessary for our existence, and to understand how things work is a good thing. But, science has the unfortunate side-effect with many people of displacing God.

Recently, though, many scientists are coming to the conclusion that because of the complexity and balance within the Universe that it couldn’t have been accidental- there is definitely an intelligence behind it.

Personally, I do not argue Creationism vs. Evolution, but make the argument for Intelligent Design. That seems, to me, to be the best compromise because it accepts that God created everything, but did so in a step-by-step process, allowing inferior species to become extinct while creating a more adaptable species to replace it.

The creation of the universe has been scientifically proven to be the result of a gigantic explosion. This was proven by the sensing of radio waves coming to earth from outer space, radio waves that would be the remains of a tremendous release of radiation from a super-explosion that occurred billions of years ago. The Bible tells us God created the universe with a thought or sometimes we read with a word. The thing that matters is that God made it happen, and so why not with a gigantic explosion? Why couldn’t God have reversed a Black Hole, releasing all the matter that had been condensed within its unmeasurable gravity?

As for the earth, the logical sequence in which things appeared couldn’t have been by accident. After all, evolution says the fish came on the land, but if the creation of life was accidental, why didn’t land creatures evolve before the fish? Or why couldn’t they have evolved together? Or why couldn’t have we have been formed from the start as we are now?

The invertebrate to fish to reptile to marsupial to mammal sequence clearly shows a continual improvement in adaptability. But if this was accidental, how come some species within the same genus died and others didn’t? And if this is how evolution works, then there will be a next level; will that result in homo sapiens who might still be around being enslaved by a superior form of humans? Will they still be human anymore, at least what we know a human is?

And if that is to happen, then it is still feasible to consider that God is behind it. In fact, from a strictly logical viewpoint, it makes more sense that there is some intelligence, far superior to ours, designing and improving the workmanship of life than to suppose these things are happening by accident, or more accurately, by some beneficial genetic mutation.

There have been many different mutations over the centuries, and how many of these have ever been recorded as beneficial to the species? Have any birth defects, which are a mutation of the genes, ever made those with them more adaptable to the environment?

Not from what I have ever seen or heard.

No. Even if I was an atheist, I would find it hard to justify accidental mutation as the reason there are so many viable living entities in the world. The odds of a bunch of rocks forming a planet just the exact right distance from the sun, with just the right atmosphere, just the right temperature, etc., to form life and sustain itself so well are astronomical. Our environment is so fragile in one respect and so adaptable in another that it has, for billions of years, not just survived but thrived.

The only threat to the world is mankind, and if mankind does become extinct, it won’t be by God’s doing- it will be our own fault.

Genesis says the universe and all life on earth was created in 6 days. Science says that happened over billions of years; because I believe in Intelligent Design, and also that God is beyond our understanding (which includes science) that when God told Moses to write 6 days, as far as God is concerned, those billions of years could easily have seemed like 6 days to him.

Frankly, none of this matters to me at all because my salvation is not based on creation or evolution but faith that God is God and Yeshua is the Messiah. If someone wants to believe all this happened by accident, I don’t argue with them.

However, I do feel a sense of pity for them because if everything happens by accident, what hope can they have? None.

I believe God created everything in the universe and that the evolution of the earth’s species over the millennia has been by his design. I also believe that he is going to stop at our current state of development.

Why now? Because he has told us that when he sends the Messiah for the last time (which is the next time since Yeshua has already been here once), that he will create a new earth for those who are to be saved and we will live in God’s presence for all eternity.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty final to me.

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That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

This is the first parashah message I have given in nearly three weeks, due to vacations and such, so it is nice to be back.

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Moses has just finished giving the people his discourse on what will happen when they obey the Lord, which will be blessings upon blessings in the land. And he also told them what will happen when they reject God and disobey: they will suffer curses upon curses, leading to death, destruction, and ultimately ejection from their land.

Now he holds them, as well as their offspring there with them that day and those that haven’t even been born yet, to cleave onto God and his Torah; otherwise, the destruction he told them God will send upon them will happen. Then, prophetically, Moses tells them that after they reject God, and after all these terrors and curses come on them, and after they have been dispersed among all the nations, they will finally turn their hearts back to God who will then bring them back into their land.

Let’s talk about one of the things Moses tells the people, which is that those who know the Torah and what God wants, but secretly say to themselves (as if we could keep any secrets from God!) that they will still do whatever their sinful heart’s desire is to do, well, they will be found out and separated from the people.

He says that if anyone thinks that because he or she is among the righteous that God will not destroy them because the righteous provide a sort of protection, like fish swimming in a school, well…that ain’t gonna work! God will seek out and find the ones who purposefully defy him and they will suffer.

I wondered why anyone thought God would ignore their sins just because they are among righteous people. Perhaps they got this idea from the story of Abraham negotiating with God for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33)? After all, Abraham sort of called God out, asking why the judge of the earth would destroy the righteous with the unrighteous, and God went along with him, promising not to destroy the entire city if he found as few as 10 righteous men in it.

We all know what happened with that

But this is not the case, anymore. These people aren’t the pagans living in Sodom, no- these are God’s chosen, the ones he brought out of Egypt, and they are seen by God as one people, a single unit. If one should sin, they are all guilty, especially if they do not do something about it.

What about us, today? Do we see sin and do nothing about it? The answer is a resounding, “You bet!”, but to some degree, there isn’t a whole lot we can do. We can’t stone sinners we know, we cannot remove people from public office without going through the proper channels, which could take years. We cannot just move to another town or country as they could back then because our society is so much more complex and interwoven.

No, we see sin and we want to do something about it, but in many ways we are helpless, and that is really sad because God will punish the sinful country, and the good and the bad alike will suffer.

What we can do is maintain our faith and be an example to the sinners of how they should live. Throughout the Tanakh, God has stated that even though the good people will have to drink from the same cup of his fury that the evil will drink from, those who remain faithful and obedient will survive. Even if our lives are the only thing we retain, that will be more than what the sinful will have.

By the way, for the record, you really can’t be faithful without obedience.

So as things continue to spiral downward in the world, as is happening in America this very day, steel yourself for more because the worst is yet to come. Maintain faith, read the Torah so you can know for yourself what God says you should do. Too many people have been brought up believing what humans have told them to do, instead of knowing and doing what God says to do.

And I think you already know this: God will not give up his authority to a Pope, a Rabbi, a Minister, or a Priest. I don’t care what traditional Christian drek you have been told about the Torah, which is usually that Yeshua (Jesus) made obedience to the Torah obsolete for Christians because that is NOT what he taught. The fact is most modern Christian doctrine was created by Constantine and the Council of Nicene, nearly three hundred years after Yeshua!

So many times I hear Christians decry man-made traditions while living their entire spiritual and physical life obeying nothing BUT man-made traditions! Yeshua obeyed God, and if you have been told you should “Do as Jesus does”, well, that is a good thing. The problem is too few Christians have any idea what Jesus did, and go by what they have been told by men they should do, based on misunderstanding and misconstruing the letters that a man, Shaul (Paul) wrote to his different congregations, all of which were having inter-personal and faith-related problems.

It’s real easy: read the Bible, the whole Bible, and just look for what God says you should do, then do your best to do it. You will know what God says because it will come directly from him or through his prophets, and you will find it only in the Tanakh because God didn’t give any new or different instructions in the New Covenant.

And Yeshua never said to disobey or ignore his Father.

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That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

The Lord commands the people that when they have entered the land they are to go to Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and with the people split into two groups, some on the one mountain and the rest on the other mountain, they are to announce to the land the blessings and curses that God will give them.

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Moses further relates that God also commands the people, once they are in the land, to utterly destroy all of the pagan altars, standing stones, and every remnant of the religious articles of the people they conquered.

God tells the people they are not to sacrifice anywhere they want to, but only where God will choose to place his name.

The other warnings that Moses gives deal with false prophets, and that a religious seducer (someone trying to get the people to follow pagan practices) must be killed as an example, even if members of one’s own family.

The laws regarding Kashrut (Kosher) and holiness are repeated, as are the rules for tithing and the Year of Release, treatment of slaves, and the Pilgrimage Festivals.

What I would like to talk about is the passage where God says we must not sacrifice unless it is where he says we should. Initially, this was at the Tent of Meeting which, during the time of the Judges, was located in Shiloh. Later, King David moved it to Jerusalem, and when King Solomon completed the Temple God then said that is where his name shall reside.

So why was it so terrible to sacrifice elsewhere? Isn’t God everywhere? If I sacrifice to him in my backyard, why is that different than in Jerusalem?

I’ll tell you why: because when we do whatever we want to do, we screw it all up.

The pagans would sacrifice under large trees and on the high places and God didn’t want us to do what they did, in any shape or form. In the Book of Judges, we read no less than three times that there was no king, and the people did as they wanted to. We know by reading that book, that every time the Israelites did what they wanted to, they ended up doing the wrong thing and were punished.

God gives us instructions for worship and treatment of others, and these are not just so that he can demonstrate his authority over us: he gives these to us so we can be protected. He is trying to keep us from harming ourselves, and I don’t mean falling off a ladder or burning our hands, but condemning ourselves to hell for all eternity. When we ignore what God says we should do, we ignore God.

This is a lesson that, unfortunately, Christianity hasn’t learned. They ignore most of the instructions God gave and justify it by referencing what men said, men like Paul, Peter, and James. And even though there are many good things that these men said, none of them is God, and not one of the Apostles or anyone after them has professed himself to be a prophet, hearing directly from God.

When King Solomon dedicated the temple in Jerusalem, the Jewish people had a place where they could go to be forgiven of their sins. That was the only place, and when the Romans destroyed it in 73 AD, the Jewish people were devastated because now there was no means of receiving forgiveness.

This is why they have to accept Yeshua as their Messiah because the resurrection of Yeshua was, in a way, a replacement of God’s name.

God said we could only sacrifice at the temple, and that has never changed, but when God raised Yeshua as a sign of his sacrifice being accepted, Yeshua then replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple. The commandment that we cannot sacrifice anywhere except where God places his name still exists and is valid; the only thing that has changed is where God put his name, which is now “on” Yeshua.

By accepting Yeshua as our Messiah, we have a new place where the sacrifice for sin is acceptable to God; through Yeshua, we can ask forgiveness without having to make a sacrifice at the temple.

All the other instructions in the Torah still stand- there is no “Get Out of Jail Free” card just because someone accepts Yeshua as their Messiah. We are ALL still expected to obey what God said we should do in the Torah.

Through Yeshua God has made forgiveness available to everyone, and he did it without ever changing his Torah.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages and check out my Facebook discussion group called Just God’s Word.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Moses continues to advise the Israelites that when they obey the Lord’s instructions they will be blessed. God will go ahead of them into the land and slowly weaken the people there so that they will be more easily defeated.

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Moses reminds the people how God has tested them, afflicting them when they ignored him and yet, keeping them alive and protected for 40 years while they were in the desert.

Moses again warns the people that when they have settled in the land and are happy and safe, that they should not abandon God or think that they have all they do because of anything they did. He tells them that when they do that, the Lord will drive them out of the land, just as he did the ones that were there before them.

This discourse continues, reminding the people of the sin of the Golden Calf, God separating the Levites for service to him, and how he, Moses, suffered for them to have God spare them and give him the 10 Words, again.

Over and over Moses tells the people to remember all that God did for them and what happens, or will happen, when they reject God. He relates the story of the rebellion under Dathan and Abiram and pleads with the people to maintain their faithful obedience to God so that it will go well with them when they are in the land.

When I read this book, I sometimes think the name should be the Book of Redundancy. Over and over, and over, and over Moses tells the people the same darn thing: when they obey God’s commandments they will be blessed; when they reject God, they will be cursed and driven out of the land. He says this so many times, that you’d think the people would reply, “All right already! I get it!”

But history shows that they really didn’t get it.

Despite the many miraculous demonstrations of God’s power and ability to save, the people were no different then than they are now: if it is right here in front of me, I see and know, but once I am on my own, I don’t care and will do what I want to.

Even with strong and righteous leaders, such as Moses, Joshua, and many of the Judges, later on, people need to be strictly controlled in order to remain righteous. We desire to do evil, which is called iniquity, and it is part of our DNA! What we really need is to be strictly controlled by strong and righteous leadership in order to keep us in line.

So what can we do? If you’re asking me, and even if you’re not, I believe the only thing to do is for each individual to determine what they want from eternity. This life is temporary, and quite short, even insignificant compared to forever, but it is all the time we have been given to decide where we want to spend eternity.

And what is worse is that we never know when our time is up!

So do as Moses wanted his people to do, and faithfully accept that God is the one to listen to: not Moses, or your Rabbi, or the Talmud, or the Pope, or your Pastor, Minister, or Saint Paul, or non-Believing family or friends, but G-O-D.

And God tells you exactly what he expects from you here, in this Torah. Nowhere else in the entire Bible does God say what he wants us to do, how we are to worship him (Leviticus 23) or what we are to eat (Leviticus 11) or what kind of intimate relationships are righteous (Leviticus 18), and other ordinances and regulations found throughout the Torah that outline the kind of society and lifestyle we should have.

People think that religion is the way we are to worship God, but it isn’t. God has no religion, but people created religion in order to have power over other people, and the best way to disobey God is to obey a religion.

If you want God’s blessings, all you have to do is live your life the way God said you should. It’s really that simple: the reason there are so many different ways to do that is that religion has confused everything.

And for those who refuse to believe in God, or accept that Yeshua really IS the Messiah God promised to send, well…you’re on your own.

Good luck with that.

If I may, I suggest you check your history books because every civilization that rejected the God of Israel or came against Israel has been so decimated that it has never recovered its full strength, or is no longer in existence. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Spain, and more currently the Nazis- all gone. And no matter how many times Syria or Jordan or Iran or Iraq or anyone else surrounding Israel tries to defeat and destroy them, they fail.

Not because of how great Israel is, but because of how great God is, and as long as Israel tries to do as God has commanded them, they will continue to survive and flourish.

God isn’t just for Israel, though- the good news for everyone else is that this is possible for them, too; all they have to do is reject their religion and worship God as he said to do.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe, share these messages, and check out my books on my website. I have a Facebook page and discussion group called Just God’s Word which everyone is invited to join, so long as you agree to the rules.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

Moses continues his first discourse, pleading with God (again) to allow him to cross over the Jordan, to which God refuses but tells Moses to climb Mount Pisgah and look at the land. God tells Moses to charge Joshua to take the people into it.

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Moses reminds the people of all God did to bring them to the land, how his glory was seen at Mount Horeb but not in any physical form so do not make statues or any representation of God. He tells them, in a prophetic way, of what will happen when they abandon God and serve other gods.

Moses tells the Israelites they are representatives of the living God, and how as such when the nations see them live in accordance with God’s commandments they will remark how wonderful our God is because of the wonders and splendor of Israel. On the other hand, when Israel abandons God and they are destroyed and scattered among all the nations, how the people will see Israel as the representation of what happens when they abandon the God of their fathers.

In other words, Israel is to represent to all people how God wants all people to live.

Moses then begins his second discourse of the foundations of the covenant, reviewing the Ten Commandments and other laws that God has decreed. In Chapter 4, verses 4-9 Moses recites the Shema, the very watchword of our faith, the essence of monotheism, the declaration of the oneness and uniqueness of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Shema is then followed by the V’Ahavtah, the prayer that tells us to love the Lord, which my Chumash noted is the first time in human history when a religion required love of God.

This parashah ends with Moses warning the people to remain separate from the nations around them, who God will remove, or they will fall into sin with them and be expelled from the land.

What I am going to say today may sound very prejudicial, and even like bragging, but it is based on what Moses says.

Moses tells us throughout the Torah that one thing the Israelites are to be is an example to the world: not of how great, or how strong, or how intelligent we are, but how all these blessings demonstrate how wonderful our God is.

Recall that God told Moses way back when they received the commandments that God chose Israel to be his nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) and as such we are to be an example to the entire world how to live in accordance with the way God wants us to live.

The greatness of Israel is not its’ people but its’ God!

In John 14:9, Yeshua said that when we see him, we see his father, meaning that as the image of God he demonstrates God’s wonder, power, and holiness. In this same way, the Israelites are also to be an image of God. When we see the wonders of this nation of priests, how they work together, how they worship, how they are blessed, their strength, and their wealth, it demonstrates the greatness of the God who chose them as his own.

Every person who professes to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and especially those who have accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah, are obligated –no, we are commanded!– to demonstrate the goodness and holiness of God in everything we do and say.

This is why the V’Ahavtah prayer not only tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart (representing the mind), all our soul (spirit), and all our might (how we act in the physical world) but to also teach this to our children. We are to have God’s instructions before our eyes and on our hands (which is the tefillin), on our doorposts and gates (which is the mezuzah), and to speak of them when rising and going to bed, which are the daily prayers.

   * The three daily prayers Jews recite are the Shacharit (morning), Mincha (afternoon), 
      and Maariv (evening). Each prayer is only 10-15 minutes long, as defined and
      instructed by Halacha, which is found in the Talmud. 

It is the responsibility of the Jewish people to show the world how God wants everyone to live, and as that example to remain steadfast in their worship and lifestyle. Unfortunately, we have rarely lived up to that standard, but still, we have demonstrated the power of God, as well as his unwavering desire and ability to forgive those who repent.

I have occasionally posted how the Jews have truly been a blessing to the world, just by looking at all the Nobel prizes won by Jews compared to the other religions. Jews represent about 4/10 of one percent of the total population, but since the Nobel Prize has been awarded, they have accounted for nearly 28% of all Nobel prizes given out. Besides that, today Israel is a world leader in cyber technology, agriculture, and medicine, all of which help everyone.

Did you know that Israel developed a facemask that is guaranteed to kill the Covid-19 virus? It can be washed up to 55 times and is still guaranteed to protect you for 1 year.

God has placed on the Jewish people an enormous responsibility to represent him, just the same way that within any religion the religious leader is required to act and live to a higher standard of righteousness. Overall, Jews have done this, but we have been as unstable as the ocean, shifting from righteous to sinful, then back again. In today’s world, where sin is becoming more prominent than ever, as God’s chosen representatives of his power and glory, the Jewish people are being accused of crimes and human rights violations by the ones who are the REAL violators.

And the world hates to hear the truth but loves to accept the lies, promulgated by the media, the United Nations, and even by members of our own government!

But, in the end, God will win and the Jewish people will continue to fulfill their calling to be priests to the world, with the High Priest (Cohen Gadol) being the greatest Jew who ever lived, Yeshua the Messiah!

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my YouTube channel and my website, and check out my Facebook page, as well.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

We reach the final book of the Torah, which is a review of the past 40 years.

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Moses reviews the travels, and travails, of the Israelites from when they refused to enter the land until that moment. He wrote this book in three separate discourses: the first being a review of their journey and events during that journey. The Second Discourse reviews the covenant God made with us and the 10 Commandments, as well as other aspects of the Mosaic Laws. Moses recites the Shema and reviews all the laws that God gave us during the 40 year travels in the desert, such as Kashrut (Kosher), the penal code, the Moedim (Holy Days), and miscellaneous laws such as marriage, removing landmarks, laws for warfare, cutting down of trees, etc.

The Third (and final) Discourse from Moses regards the enforcement of the law. He reviews how the laws are to be enforced throughout the tribes, and in this last discourse is one of my favorite chapters, Chapter 28, which we refer to as the “Blessings and Curses Chapter.” This is where God gives us his promise of the many blessings we receive for obedience to his Torah, as well as the warning and specification of all the curses that will befall us if we reject his instructions, which is tantamount to rejecting God.

The Torah is the ONLY place in the entire Bible where we can read that God tells Moses exactly what he is to tell the people; we aren’t talking about Moses’ interpretation of a vision, but dictation directly from the Almighty, himself!

Yet, despite the fact that the Torah is the direct word of God, the Torah is one of the first things that Christianity rejected in lieu of its own holidays, dogma, rituals, and laws. They kept the 10 Commandments as part of their religion, but that was about it.

Even though I know the history behind the separation of the “mainstream” Jews and the followers of Yeshua in the First Century, and how that schism developed into totally different religions composed almost exclusively of Gentiles with totally different laws, I still can’t understand how anyone could have so easily rejected God’s instructions. Especially when he warns us so vividly in Deuteronomy 28!

And looking back through history, we can see that God didn’t mislead us about what will happen when we ignore him.

If you want the “Reader’s Digest” version of the Torah, then this is the book for you. Everything that is essential to know about the first 4 books is in this one book, and to demonstrate how complete it is, Moses tells us that we shouldn’t add or subtract anything from this book. In fact, it is such an important thing that Moses gives this instruction twice: once at the beginning (Deut. 4:2) and again in the middle (Deut. 12:32).

The final act of leadership from Moses is to teach Israel what we call “The Song of Moses”, which is really the song of God since God told Moses to teach it to the people as a testimony against them when they turn away from the Torah in the future (Deut. 31:19); and finally, before ascending Mt. Nebo to die, Moses blesses the people.

As we go through this book over the next few months, until we come to Simchat Torah at the end of Sukkot when we turn the Torah back to Genesis to start reading it all over again, we will be able to relearn the most important of all the instructions God gave to us through Moses, which are the only ways (according to God, himself) by which we can earn as many blessings as God can give us.

And let me tell you something: God will never run out of blessings!

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, as well as share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow.

My latest book, Parashot Drashim, is a commentary and bible study of each of the parashot in the Torah, so if you are interested you can get it through my website, or order it directly through Amazon books.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

In the last parashah, Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, had just run through with a spear a prince of the tribe of Simeon named Zimri and the Midianite woman he was using to mock Moses and his warning against being involved with the Midianites.

God says that thanks to Pinchas’ zeal for God, the plague God sent had been stopped, and he promises his peace on Pinchas and the position of the priesthood to Pinchas and his descendants, forever.

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God commands Moses to take another census, which shows that the generation doomed to die in the desert have all died.

The daughters of Zelophehad came to Moses because their father died and left no sons and they didn’t want their inheritance to be forfeited. God told Moses that women could inherit if there were no sons, but they must marry within their tribe to maintain the proper distribution of the land.

Moses, now coming to the end of his journey, asks God to appoint a leader to bring the people into the land. God appoints Joshua, who Moses charges before all the people.

The parashah ends with God reminding Moses about the daily sacrifices to be made, as well as those for the High Holy Days, so that the people, this new generation, will know what they are to do when they enter the land.

As I was reading this, it struck me that the action of one man, Pinchas, was enough to make a change in the lives of every single Israelite that was present when the man, Zimri, mocked Moses and God in front of everyone, even in the midst of the plague that God sent to punish the sin of the people.

Initially, God had Moses and the Chieftains hang those who had aligned themselves with Ba’al, but when Pinchas showed his righteous anger from his zeal for God, God stopped the plague. It seems that hanging those who had sinned wasn’t enough to stop the plague, but Pinchas’ actions were inspired by such an overwhelming love for God that it, alone, was enough to turn God’s anger from the people.

My question is this: can one person’s actions be so significant as to change God’s plan? It seems that God was willing to have the plague continue, even after the sinners were hung, but Pinchas changed all that with his one deed of righteousness.

Shaul, in his letter to the Romans, said that through the actions of one man sin entered the world, and by the actions of one man salvation became attainable. In the case of the Israelites, there were many who sinned but it was the actions of just one man who turned God’s anger away from everyone.

Can I do that? Can you do that? Can anyone of us do something so wonderful in God’s sight that it will change how God treats all people?

I believe the answer is yes; anyone can affect what God does. Now, do I think I can? Well, that’s a different issue, as I don’t believe I am anywhere near “holy” or “zealous” enough to initiate such actions; but, then again, who am I to tell God what he can or cannot do through me?

The lesson I see in today’s parashah is that when we have a heart for God and do not allow what others think to influence our showing that love and devotion to God, we can initiate actions on God’s part that can affect many people. Within a congregation, within a discussion group, and maybe even within a simple, small ministry such as mine.

So do something BIG for God today, and see what happens. If you don’t notice anything, then do something BIG for God tomorrow and every day after that. You may just do something, one day, which will cause God to bless others.

Hey, even if you don’t see how this influences God’s actions in other people’s lives, I guarantee it will have a positive influence on your life.

That’s it for this week. Please remember to share these messages and subscribe to the website and my YouTube channel, as well.

L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

In this parashah, we read of the great rebellion, which Korach led along with Abiram and Dathan. Korach was a Levite and Abiram and Dathan were of the tribe of Reuben.

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We all know what happened: the 250 leading men of Israel whom Korach convinced to follow him, along with Korach were all destroyed when they took their censors to the Tent of Meeting, and Abiram and Dathan, with their family and possessions, were swallowed alive by the earth.

Then the people accused Moses and Aaron of killing God’s people, so God ordered that the 12 tribal leaders should put their staffs into the Tent of Meeting, and the one that has buds the next morning will be proof of who God wants to lead. Aaron’s staff not only had buds but flowered and also had ripened almonds.

One last thing that God ordered was that the Levites were to surround the Tent of Meeting so that no one may come close to it without proper authority.

There is so much to talk about here, but what I want to do is deal with is with one verse, one verse that represents the way Israel treats all people fairly and respects all life, even the lives of those that hate us.

In Numbers 16:21, God tells Moses that he will destroy the entire congregation, but Moses prays that God will only deal with the ones who are sinning. God relents and tells Moses to tell the people who are close to the tents of Abiram, Dathan, and Korach to move far away from them, for their own safety so that they will not be destroyed along with those sinners.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

In 1 Samuel 15:6, after God has Samuel tell Shaul that he must completely destroy the Amaleki for the evil they did against Israel, Shaul warns the Keni living with the Amaleki to go away from them or they will be destroyed along with the Amaleki.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

Just recently, Israel defended itself from further rocket attacks by bombing the tunnels that Hamas and PIJ used to launch rocket attacks at Israeli civilians. The Hamas / PIJ tunnels and military headquarters were placed in civilian areas, so Israel dropped millions of pamphlets and made millions of text messages and cell phone calls to the people living there, warning them of the coming attack and telling them to flee before Israel takes out these military targets.

In other words, get away from where the battle is coming so you aren’t collateral damage.

For the record, hundreds of Gaza Strip resident deaths were not caused by Israel but by the rockets that Hamas and PIJ launched falling short of their target; instead of killing Israeli civilians, Hamas and PIJ rockets fell right on the heads of their own people.

From the time of Moses, some 3500 years ago to this very day, God’s people have respected the lives of all people, treating them fairly and with compassion. Even our enemies have been given way more leeway to attack us before we take defensive actions. And all the attacks Israel has ever made against their neighbors, who refuse to just leave Israel alone because they say they won’t settle for anything but the total destruction of Israel, have been defensive.

The media wants to show Israel as an apartheid and invasive country, and the world seems to want to go along with that lie. The truth is that Israel takes up such a small percentage of the land that is Arab controlled and occupied that it is almost insignificant. Historically, before the state of Israel existed, the land Israel now occupies was wasteland-undeveloped, uncultured, uninhabited except by nomadic people who came and left as the fodder for their herds was used up.

The Jews, even though we are (still and forever) God’s people, have constantly done wrong throughout our long history, yet we have also constantly done right. God has punished us for our sins, and forgiven and saved us from our enemies when we do right. One thing the Bible shows we have always done right, and still do to this very day, is to respect the lives of others in accordance with God’s commandment in Leviticus 19:18.

In Israel, Arabs and Jews live and work together without animosity, each receiving equal pay, equal opportunity for advancement, and mutual respect for each other.

Can we, in the United States of America, make that claim? Does our history show racial equality and mutual respect between religions? Do women have the same opportunity as men? Do different races co-exist well together?

Korach and his followers were jealous of the authority God gave to Moses and Aaron, and I believe that the Arab people are no different. The Media and the United Nations, just like the 250 men who went along with Korach, because of their own sense of self-importance accept these lies and want, instead, to destroy the country that has shown itself superior in every way, especially in the arena of human rights.

The sad fact is that Israel, being accused by the world of being a violator of human rights, is the only country in the world today that truly treats all people in the country with the same rights and privileges, just as God said they should way back when he first gave us the Torah (Exodus 12:49.)

The next time you hear some idiot say that Israel is unfair to the Palestinian people (who aren’t really a people, but a propaganda creation of Yasser Arafat), please correct them with the truth. There are no “Palestinian people”; Hamas and PIJ have hidden behind women and children to attack Israel’s women and children; Israel has always tried to defend only against military targets (which the Arabs hide among schools, hospitals, and civilian homes), and that when Israel takes action, before doing so they do something NO ONE does or ever did- they warn the innocents to get out of the way!

God’s people have made many mistakes, but we have always come back to God and done many of the things God wants us to do, and that is why we are still here; for nearly 6, 000 years everyone in the world has tried to destroy us, but they can’t because God protects us, and through Israel the world is blessed.

One day Yeshua will rule from Jerusalem, the truth will come out, and the world will be ashamed.

Thank you for being here: please like my Messianic Moment Facebook page and subscribe to both my website and YouTube channel. And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!

This parashah begins with the anointing of the tribe of Levi to perform the service of the Sanctuary. They are washed and all Israel lays their hands on them, then the Levites laid their hands on and sacrificed a bull and a burnt offering. God reminds Moses to tell the people that the firstborn of everything belongs to the Lord, but that he has substituted the Levites for those who are firstborn.

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When some who were unclean to celebrate the Pesach asked Moses why they shouldn’t get to participate, he asks God for help. God says that those unable to celebrate in the month of Aviv (now called Nissan) can celebrate it on the 14th day of the following month (Iyar.)

We are told how the people traveled based on the cloud over the Sanctuary: when it moved, they moved. We are also given the rules for the silver trumpets. Moses’ father-in-law is asked to join the people and it sounds like he refuses to go with them. But in Judges 1:16, we are told that the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law went from the City of Date Palms (Jericho) with the tribe of Judah into the desert of Yehuda, so it seems that he did travel with the people.

The people kvetch, which may have been initiated by the Gentiles with them (Numbers 11:4), about not having meat and Moses cries to God asking that he kill him instead of having to make him endure these constant complaints. God places some of the spirit he had given to Moses on 70 of the Elders to help out, and then sent quails to appease the hunger of the people. But, no sooner had they started to eat, then a plague God sent killed many of them, as punishment for their complaining and faithlessness.

In Chapter 12, we read how Aaron and Miriam spoke out against Moses for taking an Ethiopian woman as his wife, and God punished Miriam by giving her leprosy. Moses begs God to heal her, and God makes her stay outside of the camp (after healing her) for 7 days. Aaron, on the other hand, isn’t stricken with the disease. Most likely this is because as Cohen HaGadol (High Priest) he couldn’t become unclean for that long a time. But it seems that he was scared to death when he saw what happened to Miriam.

This chapter has special meaning to me because this was the parashah reading I did for my Bar Mitzvah.

I mentioned above that in Numbers 11:4 we are told the people complained how they missed eating meat, and also craved the vegetables and spices that they had in Egypt. To me, this is an example of the difficulty of being set apart, as well as having to be set apart while still living in a dark and faithless world.

The lesson for today is simple: salvation is free and easy to get, but costly and difficult to keep.

To be forgiven of our sin and set up for life eternal, all we have to do is confess our sins, repent of them and accept Yeshua (Jesus) as our Messiah, asking for forgiveness by means of his sacrifice. If we do that and mean it (yes- you DO have to mean it! God isn’t stupid, you know) then we will be forgiven.

That’s the easy part, now for the hard part.

Once you accept Yeshua as your Messiah, you are grafted into the chosen people of God and an adopted child of Abraham (Romans 11); as such, you are to be treated just like all the other chosen people (Exodus 12:49), which means not only do you receive the same rights as they do under the law but you are expected to obey that law, just as they do.

In other words, to be a child of Abraham and grafted onto the Tree of Life, you must draw from the root of that tree, which is the Torah.

You can’t have salvation without the obligation to obey God’s instructions.

And, to make things even harder, just as the Israelites in the desert had Gentiles with them who complained, influencing them to complain as well, in the world we have faithless and evil people who will try to influence us to join them in their sin.

As I often say, it is very hard to work in a fish market all day and not come home smelling of fish. Likewise, living in the world and trying to remain free of its stench is what makes being set apart so difficult to maintain.

And it is costly, in that many Believers have lost friends and been ostracized by family for their beliefs.

But you must maintain your separation! That doesn’t mean going from home to shul or church, and nowhere else, or never talk to anyone but other Believers; no, it means going into the darkness to be the light we are but not allowing the darkness to overcome you.

How can that be done? Through constantly recharging your spiritual battery by communing with other Believers, by choosing to stay faithful to what you have learned from reading God’s word, which you should do every day, and by constantly looking for God’s blessings in your life, which confirm you are on the right track.

That’s right- sometimes we have to look really hard to see the blessings, often disguised as bad things happening to us because God always blesses those who obey him (this is his promise in Deuteronomy 28) and he always answers prayer, although very often it isn’t what you expect or when you expect it.

If you would like to know more about prayer, please get my book, “Prayer: What It Is and How It Works”. It is available on Amazon and there is a link to it on my website.

We are to be holy as God is holy, which means set apart from the world, even though we still have to live in the world. That is the hard part- working with fish but not smelling like one, and the only way to do that is to keep washing with the blood of the Messiah and cleaning your hands with God’s word, which will also keep your spirits up and your mind cleansed.

Salvation cannot be taken away, but we can throw it away. To avoid doing that, even by mistake, we must obey God’s instructions in the Torah and not what some Rabbi says in the Talmud or what some Apostle says in a letter.

It is what God says that counts.

Thank you for being here and please like my Facebook page, subscribe to my website and to my YouTube channel, and share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. And remember: I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!