Tag: Bible

The Day of Jubilee is on Yom Kippur for a Good Reason

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This Shabbat (29 September, 2017) is also Kol Nidre, the first evening of Yom Kippur. As such, the traditional Torah reading is Leviticus 16:1-34 which are the rulings regarding this day.

However, I am going to talk about Leviticus 25: 8-10, which goes as follows:

You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.  Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.  And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.

The Jubilee Year is designed to allow every Israelite to return to take possession of his ancestral land, and to be freed of any and all debts that he has incurred. It allows him  and his family to restart their life in their own home and without any debt. The economy of this action is remarkable: it prevents land grabbing, it maintains a working class, it establishes a moral economy, and it prevents people from being sold into slavery forever. It maintains a family standard of wealth, in that their property will always revert to them, at some point in the future, if they should ever fall on bad times.

It is not unlike the biblical prophecies regarding the Children of Israel that state no matter how many times they are conquered, or how far from home they are dispersed, their homeland and their own, personal property will always be there and one day God will bring them back to it.

Yom Kippur also allows us to restart our life debt free; not free from owing money to someone, but free from the debt we owe to God for our sins.

When we sin we owe God restitution- whether it be blood of the innocent, grain, 1/5th additional to what we took, or any combination of those things. What we owe Him is more, though, than just things- we owe Him our life. When we sin we separate ourselves from God, and our eternal life is then forfeit. The only way we can be reunited and gain back our eternity is to pay the debt. Yom Kippur provides us a single point in time where we can know that our debt will be paid off and we will start anew.

The Jubilee Year and Yom Kippur have this in common- both free us from debt; the former from worldly debt, and the latter from spiritual debt. The year when Yom Kippur and Jubilee fall together is certainly a joyous occasion, even though Yom Kippur is a solemn event.

In case you were not aware, 2017 is a Jubilee Year, and starting on Saturday evening, 9/30/2017 all Jews are to receive back their ancestral lands. I live in Florida, in the United States, and don’t even know what tribe I belong to, but I do know this: I will be forgiven of my sins and somewhere in Israel is a plot of land that belongs to me.

As a Messianic Jew who has accepted Yeshua ha Maschiach (Jesus Christ) as my Savior, you may ask why I need to fast or worship on Yom Kippur. After all, didn’t Yeshua die for our sins? Yes, He did, but He didn’t change the commandments. Yom Kippur, including the fast, is still a commandment of God and all who worship God should obey it. Not because I believe, as my fellow  “mainstream” Jews do, it is the only means of forgiveness, but simply because it is commanded. I think we should also fast and worship as a sign of solidarity with the Jewish people, most of whom have not accepted Yeshua, to show them that believing in Yeshua doesn’t mean one is no longer an observant Jew. Most any Jew will tell you, if you are Jewish and believe in Yeshua as your Messiah, you aren’t a Jew anymore because you have to be a Christian if you believe in Jesus. It’s really sad- they don’t even know what the term “believe in Jesus” means!

Today is a very, very special day- the Yom Kippur of Jubilee Year! We are freed from debt to Man and to sin, and we can start our lives afresh, clean and unencumbered.

Of course, this is a spiritual statement; I don’t suggest going to the local bank branch and insisting that because this is the Yom Kippur Jubilee Year you would like the deed to your house. I think you will find yourself on the sidewalk.

One last note: since Yom Kippur is all about forgiveness, I also suggest there be one other type of debt you relieve yourself of. That is the onerous debt of unforgiveness for others. Starting at sundown tonight we will be praying and fasting, asking God to move from the Throne of Judgement to the Throne of Mercy and to forgive us the debt of our sins, which we owe Him. We must, therefore, also forgive those that owe us a debt of sin, whether they ask for it or not.

Remember Matthew 6:14-15:

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Remember also the parable in Matthew 18:23-35 about the man that was forgiven a large debt and refused to forgive one who owed him only a little. It didn’t go well for the one who refused to forgive. It will be the same for you and me if we refuse to forgive, so on this day, more than on any other day, as you pray to God for forgiveness, think also of those that have sinned against you, and forgive them!

Believe me, please, when I say that the heaviness of spirit we feel when we have monetary debts is nothing compared to the emotional emptiness you feel when you are unforgiving.  Debts can be paid, after which they are just a memory, but unforgiveness is a poison that eats away your heart, little by little, until you can’t even love anymore.  It destroys all your relationships, and it hurts everyone you care about and who cares about you.

So celebrate the forgiveness you receive from God by forgiving others, especially those you have refused to forgive because they “don’t deserve it.” It doesn’t matter what they deserve because your unforgiveness separates you from God, and when you forgive them you will be reunited with the Lord in joy, the pain of being hurt will be gone, and a great weight will be lifted.

Forgiveness brings us closer to God, both when He forgives us and when we forgive others.

Without God There Cannot Be Free Will

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Free Will and Predestination are two of the topics that we hear about a lot in “religious” discussions. They are considered polar opposites, since one states we can make up our own minds and the other says we have no choices since everything that will happen throughout our life is already set in stone.

These discussions are usually between people who have one very important thing in common- they believe in God.

What about those that are unsure, or reject the existence of God? Many of the Atheists and Agnostics I have talked with seem to have the belief that they are in charge of their lives- no one makes them do anything, no superior entity or power rules their life. They are in charge of their destiny!

Let’s work with that idea for a moment: if there is no God, no all-powerful, all-knowing eternal presence in the Universe that created and formed everything, then where did it come from? It must have been created randomly, by trillions upon trillions of chaotic collisions between sub-atomic particles that, every now and then, resulted in some newly formed atom, which banged into another atom that was electrically compatible, which banged into another, until eventually there were enough compatible atoms to form something. A planet, a rock, flesh, whatever- eventually, out of total chaos, you get enough random collisions between enough things (let’s throw in some climatic events, just for fun) and Viola! We have the Universe as we know it today.

If this is how we were created, the universe and everything in it, all the life-forms, the stars, etc., then everything that is, or will happen, also has to result from the same process, right? That means there is no control at all, from the sub-atomic level all the way up to making personal choices. Everything that happens is from randomness, which excludes any means of control. Therefore, if someone rejects God, that person rejects (at the same time and for the same reason) the idea that they have Free Will, that they can control their life, or that they can form their own destiny. They can’t because everything that happens is based on a random event.

However, if we accept that there is a God, an all-powerful, all-knowing spiritual entity that created everything and is in total control, we can have Free Will. That’s because God makes the choices about what happen, and all He has to do is decide to allow us to have the right to decide what we will do. The good news for those that want to be in total control of their lives is this: God does give us Free Will. More than that, when we need or want something, and we ask God to help us, if what we want is keeping in His will for us then we have the most powerful ally anyone could ever want to help us get what we ask for. Isn’t that the epitome of self-control? To have the ability to get what you want? There isn’t anything that is or might ever be that God cannot give to you.

And because God grants you Free Will if you choose to reject Him, He will let you, although that means you will be left with no means of control over anything because God will not interfere with your life. Well, maybe that’s not exactly accurate…God will interfere, in a subtle way, to help you find Him and come to Him- but only of your own free will. He will send angels of mercy (human and spiritual) to help you when you are in need, or He will allow terrible things to occur when you go off in the wrong direction, to humble you to the point where your prideful desire to be in total control is weakened enough to seek out His help. He might block you to prevent you from doing harm to yourself, or He may allow it, but He will always intercede with opportunities for you to change your mind. It is sort of like He might give you a little nudge in the right direction, but He won’t grab you by the ear and pull you where you don’t really want to go.

So, there you have it. For those that want to be in charge of their own life and reject the belief in God or a supernatural power that controls everything, what I say to you is: “Good luck! Let me know how that works out for you.”

Actually, don’t bother letting me know because I know already how it will end up.

Hopefully, those that think they are in control and reject God will feel that nudge and accept the leadership of the Lord so that they can, through God’s total control, finally have real control of their life.

Is Jesus God? I Have the Definitive Answer!

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I have heard people argue in person, in congregations, and on Face Book in different discussion groups whether or not Jesus (Yeshua) is God (the Father) or just the Messiah. Is He God? Is He just a human being? What does “God in the Flesh” really mean, anyway?

Before we get to what I consider the definitive answer to this unanswerable question, let’s review Bruck’s Acid Test Question for discussion topics:

“How does this affect my salvation?”

If I believe Yeshua is God, does that make me any more “saved” than someone who believes Yeshua is just the Messiah and a separate entity from God? Is believing in God the Father and Yeshua the Messiah as separate entities something that is dishonoring God? Will I not be saved if I only accept Yeshua as God’s son and the Messiah God promised?

If I believe Yeshua is not God the Father, am I rejecting God? If I believe Yeshua is God, why do I need to have faith in a messiah? If the Messiah is God, why do I need to identify Him as a Messiah? God is all I will need, right?  But if Yeshua is not God and I put my faith in Him as the means of my forgiveness, does that mean I am not saved?

If I have faith that Yeshua is the Messiah who provides forgiveness of sin, will it make any difference to my being forgiven whether Yeshua is God or not?

Do you see where I am going with this?

The definitive answer to the question, “Is Jesus God?” is this: It doesn’t matter!

No one can argue against the biblical fact that Yeshua lived a life and died. Even those who don’t accept Him as Messiah cannot really argue against the biblical and extra-biblical historical evidence of His life. And anyone who accepts Yeshua as their Messiah cannot argue that His sacrifice is what now provides for us the means to be forgiven of our sins (because with the Temple destroyed we have no place to offer sacrifice for sin, in accordance with Torah.)

So, whether or not Yeshua is God, He is (at least) Messiah, and it is our faith that through Yeshua we are saved. The faith in Yeshua that He is the Messiah and His sacrifice was for us, and also our faith in God that He will keep His promise to forgive those who ask for it, in Yeshua’s name. This is how we are saved: proclaiming faith that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised, that when we do T’shuvah (turn from sin) and ask God for forgiveness invoking the name of Yeshua, we will be forgiven. That is how salvation works.

So can you see that whether or not Yeshua is God doesn’t affect our salvation- we are covered one way or the other. That’s why it doesn’t really matter.

But let’s not stop now!

Ask yourself this: What value is the argument about Yeshua being God, or not being God, have to anyone? Who really benefits from this discussion? I’ll tell you who benefits from it- The enemy does!

What I have heard and seen when this topic comes up is, invariably, dissension, argumentation, dissonance, hatred, pridefulness and anger. All these emotions, especially when brothers and sisters in the Lord direct them at each other, serve only the enemy of God.  Yeshua said people will know we are His Disciples by how we love each other, but when this discussion comes up, love goes right out the window! Because any answer makes no difference to our salvation, this is a useless discussion that only causes strife every time it comes up, and as such serves no useful purpose in God’s kingdom or to a gathering of God’s people.

Whether or not Jesus is God doesn’t really matter, but what does matter is how we treat each other, how we maintain our focus on what is important and how we learn more about what God wants us to do for His kingdom and His glory. Now, I can’t talk for God, but I am willing to go out on a limb and say I really, really doubt God wants us to argue with each other about something that has nothing to do with salvation, spreading the word, making disciples or showing the peace and love that God has for everyone. Aren’t those things more important than a theological discussion about deity that doesn’t edify or help anyone?

Think about it.

Do You Think God is Your Drinking Buddy?

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Having been raised Jewish, even though we were not at all “religious” when I was young, the one thing that I have found universally true with all my Jewish friends and family is a respect for God and for His Holy name.

What I have found prevalent with Messianic and Hebraic Roots Christians (maybe as a left-over from being raised Christian) is a nearly universal disregard for the holiness of God’s name, in that it is used as often as any other person’s name.  People constantly use the Holy Name of God, the Tetregrammaton, in postings and banners and as often as we would use the words “Lord”, “God” or “Adonai.” I don’t get it- if they want to be more “Jewish” why do they do what Jews would never do?

You know what? Maybe that’s the difference- maybe that’s what I have been missing all along! I have been thinking that Hebraic Roots and Messianic Christians want to be more “Jewish”, in their worship and their obedience to Torah, but that may not be what they want. I may be the one who’s missing the point here- maybe they want to worship more like Yeshua did, but they don’t want to be Jewish. They want to be comfortable with what they are used to and ignore what they don’t want to do. Christians grow up using “Jesus” all the time, and much of Christianity teaches He is God. Now that they have this zeal to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I suppose they think they can use His name as often as they used “Jesus”, although Jews almost never use the Holy Name of God.

And more than that- some change how it is spelled! Many substitute a “W” for the “V” in the third letter, citing that this is how it was pronounced in Paleo-Hebrew. There isn’t a Jew anywhere that does that, but these new “scholars of Judaism” think they should change thousands of years of respect for God’s name because they are, what? Better than the Jews? More knowledgeable than the Jews? Closer to God than His own people?

I’ll tell you why they do this: it’s to make Judaism more comfortable, to make certain parts of it more like the Christian ways of worship they were brought up with. Just like the “Church” fathers of old that separated themselves from their Jewish roots, these new “converts” to Jewish worship want to keep what they are comfortable with, even if it goes against (and insults) the Jewish worship that they want to partake in.

Why do Jews distrust Christians? One of the main reasons is that Christianity has persecuted Jews, and why? If you ask me, it’s because Christians feel that Jews are “wrong.” They feel that because Jews haven’t universally accepted Yeshua that they are wrong, that they have rejected God, and (some believe) are no longer considered by God to be His people. And as such, Christianity has felt fully justified in changing all the Jewish laws and festivals to what they think they should be. No wonder Jews feel like second class citizens in a Christian world. And , at least to me, when I see someone using the Holy Name and/or changing it, or hear someone use Yahweh or Jehovah, over and over, I get a sick feeling in my stomach and feel like saying, “Excuse me, but God chose us and we have known Him a LOT longer than you have, so what makes you think you can just come in and change how we should address God?”  The misinterpretation of Micah and other scripture to try to justify that God, Himself, says we should constantly use His Holy name (which He has kept hidden all this time) is just a way to “Christianize” Judaic worship, and is an insult to Jewish tradition.

It is one of the most important Jewish traditions that we never use the Holy Name of God. The Orthodox won’t even use the word “God”, and will substitute HaShem (The Name) or Adonai (which translates to “Lord”) instead. They would never, ever think of using Jehovah or Yahweh (which is not His name) in speech, or write the four letters in normal usage.

Traditions are important: they bind us culturally and religiously, and give a sense of comfort to those who see these traditions pass from generation to generation. I have introduced a few traditional Jewish prayers into the Hebraic Roots congregation I worship with, and some of those who had been raised Jewish felt a sense of “home” and belonging when they heard the prayers they were brought up with being used again.

The problem Yeshua had with traditions was not anything to do with traditions, per se- His issue was with those specific man-made traditions that were over-ruling the commandments from God. There is nothing wrong with tradition, so long as it doesn’t replace or change the commandment from God that it is based upon. For instance, Kosher laws are very difficult to work with, and the Rabbinical Halacha (“Way to Walk”, defined in the Talmud) adds many stringent regulations over the simple laws of Kashrut God gave us in Leviticus 11. But that’s not a bad thing because it doesn’t detract from or over-rule anything God said. As such, I keep Kashrut according to bible only, but if I wanted to have separate dishes, pots and pans, and if I turned lights on Friday before sunset so that they were on during Saturday, and if I didn’t walk any further than the distance I am allowed for a “Shabbat walk”, etc., I would not be doing anything “wrong.”  If, however, I celebrated Shabbat on Sunday, that would present a problem, since God said Saturday is Shabbat and the traditional (i.e., man-made) tradition (of Christianity) is to celebrate it on Sunday. In that case, the tradition is wrong and I should not be a part of it.

For the record: traditions performed from love and respect for God and/or the Jewish people as their motivation is not “legalism”.

Using the Holy name is like calling God by His first name., and just because Hebrews 4:16 says:

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. 

that doesn’t mean we can slap God on the back and ask, “Yo! Big Guy- WASSUP?”

Using God’s Holy Name is disrespectful- that is all there is to it. When you go to a restaurant, and the waiter says, “Hi guys– I’m Steve and I will be your server tonight.” don’t you feel a little put-off by the uninvited intimacy of addressing you as “guys”? Maybe I’m just an old fogey, but I do. I also feel insulted for my wife, who is not a “guy”. I am sorry, but I expect to be addressed as “Sir” and my wife as “Ma’am” until such time as I offer my name. We are not college pals or go bowling together, and  as such this person should address us respectfully. If we are to address each other with respect, how much more so should we do it to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings?

We are told that God spoke to Moses face-to-face, as with a friend, but do you really think Moses talked to God using God’s Holy name? Moses was the humblest of all men, so it doesn’t seem likely he would have taken it upon himself to address God as he would have to Aaron or any of the other Israelites.

David was a man after God’s own heart, but do you really think he addressed God using the Holy Name? Everything we read about David showed he had the utmost respect for God and admiration. It doesn’t seem likely that he would have taken it upon himself, as with Moses, to use God’s Holy Name often, if ever.

I have gotten to the point of ignoring people that use the Tetregrammaton and change it’s spelling because as often as I have tried to get it through to them they are being disrespectful to God and to Judaism, they ignore me. I am tired of “kicking against the goads” and will leave it up to God to decide how He feels about it. As for me, I am not ever using God’s Holy name- not ever. If God tells me it’s OK, if He comes from heaven and stands in front of me and says, “Steve- you are allowed to address me as you would your drinking buddies because you and me, we’re mates!” , THEN I might use it. But probably not.

The name of God is spelled with a Yud, a Heh, a Vav, and another Heh, and no matter what anyone says, we really do not know exactly how it was pronounced by Moses, or the Hebrews up to the destruction of the Temple by Babylon. Or afterwards, for that matter. There are many different ways to pronounce it, and as many arguments that we shouldn’t use it as there are that we should. For me it all comes down to this: my people have respected God and not used His Holy name for millennia, so who am I to change that?

I will do what Jews have done since before the Exodus: I will show respect for God by not using His Holy name.

God is so far above us, He is the holiest of everything that is holy, and He is our Lord and King, so what makes someone think they can address God like He is their drinking buddy?

God Likes Being a Partner

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God is awesome. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and doesn’t need any help from anyone. Whatever God needs to have or wants to do He can make happen with a thought.

Still and all, throughout the bible we see that God wants companionship with His creation. He wants us to be holy, as He is, so that we can be in His presence. He wants us to obey His commandments so that we can live; not so much in this plane of physical and mortal existence, but more importantly in His plane of existence, which is spiritual and eternal.

That is why He formed covenants with us. A covenant needs (at least) two sides to it. A covenant is, by its very definition, a partnership.

There are some things He has just out-and-out given us: He gave the land of Israel to the Jews, He gave Solomon wisdom, He gave the world His only begotten son, and He gave us all the Torah. These things God gave us, unconditionally, and so that we can partner with Him. Other things God gave us are from His covenants, which are conditional aspects of our partnership: there are the commandments in Torah, which when we obey we receive blessings as a result. God also partners with us through prayer, through family relationships that are centered around God, through community work that helps the poor and widowed, and through fellowship with others which helps to honor and glorify God.

The most important partnership is, of course, the one we form with God through Messiah Yeshua, which grants us forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

It’s true that God wants us to worship Him, and that is evident throughout the bible. But God doesn’t want us just to worship Him from afar or for fear of reprisal- He wants us to worship Him so that we can be with Him.  He wants us to walk in His presence, to talk with Him, and to fellowship with Him through friendship and thanksgiving offerings. These offerings aren’t for His benefit or use- as we said earlier, He doesn’t need anything because He can create whatever He wants. The offerings are for our benefit: they help us to exercise and grow our faithful love for God. Think about it in human terms- when you love someone you want to do things that please them, right? When you perform a “Labor of Love” it mutually strengthens the bonds of affection. The same is true regarding our relationship with God, so when we do what He has told us pleases Him (check it out in Micah 6:8) we are strengthening our partnership with the Almighty.

This is a very easy message to understand: God loves us and wants us to love Him back, of our own free will. He offers us the chance to partner with Him so that we can live eternal lives of joy and peace and does so through His Torah and His son, Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus Christ). It is up to each and every one of us to choose life, because the only other choice is death.

I am blessed in that I have the three best partners anyone in the universe could ever want: God, Yeshua and my wife, Donna. I love them all, I want to please them all, and I will continually do my very best to carry my weight in this partnership so that we can all be together, forever.

My partnership with God was formed when I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah, and since then I have done my best to do what pleases God, and in return He “has my back.”  Who’s got your back?

Parashot Nitzavim (standing) and V’yellach (and he spoke) Deuteronomy 29:9 through 31

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This Shabbat we have a double-parashah. This happens during non-leap years so that the reading cycle will conform to the Gregorian calendar.

In these parashot (plural of parashah) Moshe finishes the third of his three discourses: the first is the review of their journey (1:6 to 4:40), the second deals with the religious foundations of the covenant and rehearsal of the Code (4:44 – Chapter 11), and this third discourse (Chapter 12 to here) as been all about obedience and punishment.

In these two relatively short chapters, we are given teachings that are so very, very valuable and important. In Chapter 29:28 Moses tells us that the secret things belong to the Lord, and that which has been revealed belongs to us AND our children. Prior to this Moshe reminds the people that the covenant is made between God and all the people- the ones there, the ones that were before, and the ones that are to come. In other words, God is eternal, and His covenants are eternal: although the people He made this covenant with (Israelites) are, individually, mortal, His covenant is with not just them, but their seed. Israel is, to God, an eternal son and so the covenant made with Israel, the nation, is as eternal as God.

The other important teaching, which comes on the heels of the fact that our relationship with God is eternal, is that this code, this covenant, is not too hard for us. We are told this in the very next Chapter, verses 30:11-14:

For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

After telling the people that God’s commandments are not too hard for them to do, he calls to heaven and earth to witness that day that Moshe is presenting life and death, and they should choose life. Here, again, a very important lesson for us, maybe the most important lesson in the entire bible: we are all, each and every one of us, responsible for the choices we make. God has given us Free Will to accept or reject Him, and it doesn’t matter who tells us what we should do, if we listen to anyone other than God we will be held accountable for that. The line the Nazi’s used in Nuremberg during the war crime trials was, “I was only following orders.”  In the human courts that excuse didn’t hold water, and it certainly won’t hold water in the Court of the Almighty!

The last reading this Shabbat is God telling Moshe his time is up, and to anoint Joshua, but first God let’s Moshe in on a secret: He tells Moshe what is to happen in the future. God shows Moshe the history of the nations of Israel and Judah, and has Moshe write down a song that God, Himself, has created which will be taught to the leaders to teach to everyone, so that when all this tsouris comes to be, they will remember the song and know that it is because of their rejection of God and violation of His covenant that these calamities have come upon them.

So what shall we talk about today? Which lesson that brings life eternal to us, which knowledge and understanding of God’s plan can we discuss?

I think it is simple, just as Moshe told the people- what God wants from us is for us to choose life. He has told us what we must do, and that when we don’t do it we will not be blessed or protected from our enemies. But, when we do as He says, He will protect us, He will bless us beyond our imagination, and He will provide all we need, forever.

Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? In truth, it IS a no-brainer, and we qualify- we have no brains! We choose death, we choose fleshly desires and rewards, all which are fleeting and momentary. I just don’t get it- I suppose that is the iniquity we all inherited from Adam and Eve. Desire to sin is in our very DNA, and the only hope we have is that the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is an expert in recombinant DNA. God can rewire our brains to accept His laws and teachings, but it means we have to work at it. It is not something He will just do- it is a team effort. When people have brain surgery done, very often they are fully awake to help guide the neurosurgeon. I believe that this is also how God helps rewire our brain- we work together, with God doing the repair while we give Him feedback, which is through our actions and words.

We are nearing the end of the Torah, and in a few weeks we will turn it back to the beginning and start to read it all over again. I think it is wonderful that these last chapters deal with the future of the Children of Israel, which eventually affects the world, just before we start all over again learning about God’s intervention in the world.  It is a vicious cycle that we create for ourselves- God blesses, we get used to His blessings and forget about Him and screw it all up, God punishes us to bring us back to Him, we do T’shuvah, God forgives and again blesses us, then we (again) become enured to God’s blessings, our iniquity wins out, we forget about God and sin, so God (again) punishes us, we (again) do T’shuvah, God (again) forgives us and blesses us, we screw it up…ad infinitum. This will not end until God completes His plan of salvation.

Albert Einstein is reputed to have given this definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I think, based on this definition and the cycle of sin that mankind has demonstrated for millennia, there can be no doubt that we are insane!

It’s like the old joke: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?  Only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change.

We are the light bulb and God can change us, but only when we let Him.

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

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In light of Hurricane Irma, with Hurricane (or should I say, Him-icane) Jose building up power just off the Eastern Seaboard, people are again asking that age-old question:

“If God is a loving, compassionate and protective Father, why does He let these terrible things happen to people?”

The answer is, actually, very simple…just because God is in control of everything, that doesn’t mean He will control everything.

There are multiple references in the bible to the fact that the enemy of God, Ha Satan (that devil!) is in control of the Earth. He was thrown down to it (Luke 10:18), when he offered rule of it to Yeshua (Matthew 4:9) and Yeshua didn’t say anything about Satan not having the authority to offer rule over the world, it implies Yeshua recognized Satan did have rule over the world , and Satan is called the Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2.) There are other references, as well, all indicating that when Satan was ousted from heaven, along with 1/3 of the heavenly hosts (which are now fallen angels, or what we call “demons”), he was given authority over the Earth. Even if we skip the biblical references and just use our common sense, it is obvious that God is allowing Satan to rule. That is why there are so many terrible things happening to good people, and bad people as well. Not just destructive acts of nature, but people hurting people. I saw an an article in the paper just this past week about an 11-year old that stabbed a 9-year old to death! Clearly that can not be, in any way, something from God- it has to be of the Devil.

There have been times, no doubt, that God Himself has caused destruction: Babel, the Flood, Sodom, Pharaoh’s army, Jericho, as well as many of the battles of the Israelites against their enemies. All these terrible calamities were caused by God for a reason- to show His power, His authority and His ability to protect His chosen people when they call upon His name.

Those things God did are just “a drop in the bucket” compared to the destruction, death and devastation the enemy has caused over the millennia. God allows it because, well…I don’t know! He just does, that’s all. He has a plan, and we know what it is because He has told us all about it in the bible. However, He doesn’t always tell us why He allows these things to happen and when, exactly, He will stop them for good.

That’s where faith comes in. Our faith in God, which we demonstrate by trusting Him to make all things right in the end. And what if we have to suffer during the time between Eden and the new Jerusalem? What do we do? We suffer. We go through the fire, we get melted down so that the dross can be removed, so that through this suffering- especially the suffering caused by the enemy- we can come out more purified than before.

The enemy makes us suffer to destroy our faith, and God allows us to suffer to strengthen our faith- and when we remain faithful we come out of it stronger. That’s the big joke God is playing on the enemy: God knows that the more the enemy attacks a faithful person, the stronger the faith of that person will become. And when we remain faithful through our suffering, sooner or later the enemy will have to take a break, and that’s when God will come in with blessings to revive and refresh our spirit.

I prayed that Irma would pass by my house but when I saw it wouldn’t, I had to leave Donna in New York halfway through our road trip (which we had been planning for months), miss the friend and family gatherings we had planned, miss a niece’s wedding, and rush home to board up the house. My prayers for Irma passing were answered with, “Sorry-ain’t gonna happen.”  My next prayer was for protection from the small lake behind my house, which had risen so much it was about to flood the house (it was only about 10 feet from flooding the house just as the worst part of the hurricane started.) That prayer was given the “OK- you’re covered” (thank the Lord!) and we didn’t get flooded, although a friend in another part of town had 1 -2 feet of water throughout his house.

A little extra protection God gave, also, was that even though the winds were blowing directly from the lake to the house, all the tree branches in the backyard fell into the wind, missing my porch and house (which are only 10 feet from the tree) completely. To give you an idea of how remarkable that is, here is a shot of how much debris there was (that pile goes back a good 6 feet onto the grass):

 

So when terrible things happen on the earth, I think we shouldn’t automatically blame God because He isn’t really running the day-to-day stuff on the earth. Oh yes- He listens to us, He sees us, He protects us (when it fits into His plan) and He allows bad things to happen to us (which also fits into His plan); it is all designed to strengthen our faith and our spirit so that we can be ready for the REALLY bad stuff that is yet to come. The Book of Revelation tells us what to expect when the fecal matter hits the air circulation unit, and compared to those days, hurricane Irma, Tsunami’s, earthquakes, and all the other terrible things that have ever happened in the world’s history will seem like a walk in the park.

From now on, when someone asks you why a good God can let bad things happen, don’t let them use that as an excuse for apostasy or faithlessness- no, you tell them straight out that it isn’t God’s fault because the enemy rules the earth and God is only biding His time. Just because we don’t understand God’s ways doesn’t mean that He doesn’t exist, doesn’t care, doesn’t love us, or isn’t in control (which He is). It just means we don’t understand.

Children don’t always understand why they are punished, but their parents know that what they are doing is designed (ultimately) to teach the child how to survive. If we can acknowledge that a human parent knows how to teach it’s children how to survive, then how much more so should we trust that God knows how to teach us to survive?

 

A Friend in Need….

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I am certainly blessed to have friends that I have been close with for many years. Some date back to my childhood, as far back as elementary school.

One of these friends is a quiet, private person who takes on many things without sharing or even thinking of calling, just to blow off some steam or have a friendly ear to listen to his problems. He is solitary and sometimes a little self-absorbed: not in an egotistical or narcissistic way, but in that he will force himself to take on responsibilities and do too much for caring for family, and he does this at the expense of his time for friends.

The reason I am sharing this with you is because as Believers, we will often have people in our lives that ignore us because of what we believe, and will change conversations with us because they are uncomfortable with talking about God and salvation. Even if we are just blowing off steam, kvetching about the world from our viewpoint, and only want them to lend an ear. And when they do that, or when (like with my friend) they do not tell us things that are going on in their life, we feel sort of insulted. Not really insulted …how do I put it? I guess we feel unimportant in their life. Yes, that is how I feel when he doesn’t even call me to let me know that a close family member passed away.  In this specific case, more than one.

So, although he says it isn’t anything personal, and I believe absolutely in his mind he never thought to purposefully leave me out of his life, I still felt left out. Did it bother me? Yes. Will it affect my friendship? No.

Why? Because a friend in need is a friend indeed, even when that friend doesn’t want to recognize that he (or she) is in need. My friend needs me to be there in case anything happens where he does need to reach out to someone. I need to be there for him whether he wants me to be or not because that is how I show my love for him. And whether or not he loves me as much as I love him (I am taking brotherly) doesn’t matter, and (frankly) shouldn’t matter. Loving and friendship is great when it is reciprocal, but it is godly when it is not reciprocal. I am not talking about unrequited love, but about the difference in a relationship where two people are friends but one seems to be the giver and one is the taker. I have friendships like that, and they aren’t completely one-sided, but it feels often like I am the one” chasing them down” to stay in touch.

I have asked one or two if they still want to be friends, and they have said they do, so I still do most of the  work to stay in touch. And that is why these friendships are so dear to me- they help me to see God’s side of relationships. Many, in fact most, people reject God, His word, His commandments and even those that are “religious” have turned their back on God and Messiah simply because they go through the motions without the emotions. Yet God loves every one of them. He is the ultimate example of unrequited love, which we learn when we read the bible.  God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to die so we have a chance to live, and He did that not because we were sinless, but because we can’t stop sinning! Think of that…would you die for someone who acts as though he or she doesn’t care if you are alive or not?

The best way to show the love of God is to love like God- without requiring that the other person love you back, or pay for the next meal, or even return your calls. I am not talking about the ones that take advantage of you or the ones that do not want you to be part of their life and have said so. I am talking about those people you know, friends and family, who are still interested in having a relationship with you but make it really hard to get together. They are the ones who are always busy doing something (I often think they are so busy doing things so that they don’t have to face up to things), or rarely return calls or emails, or just “disappear” sometimes.

These are the ones who need us the most, even though they don’t know it. Because one day they will find themselves with nowhere to go, and no one else will still be putting up with the “I’ve got too much I am dealing with right now” excuse to be there for them anymore. That’s why we need to always be there, just as God is always there for them, too.

If you truly know the love and forgiveness of God, then you have to show it to others. That’s how it works.

Repentance Without Change is Nothing

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How often do we hear preachers tell us that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved? How many times have you heard missionaries tell you that Jesus died for your sins and once you accept Him, your sins are forever forgiven? How many people believe that by asking for forgiveness they are now set to go to heaven?

How many of you out there believe that anything I said above is true? If you do, please sit back, open your heart to the Holy Spirit and read on….WARNING: your comfort zone is about to be attacked.

Calling on the name of the Lord, accepting Yeshua (Jesus) and asking forgiveness from your sins in His name, repenting of sin (which is what this is all based on) is totally useless if you, yourself, do not change how you act from that moment onwards. You cannot be forgiven for sinning if you do not repent of sinning, and repentance means that you stop doing what you have been doing. That means changing how you act, changing what you think, and changing how you live your life.

Think about it: What if I stole from you, and then said I was sorry and won’t do it again? Later, I steal from you. Do you think that I really meant what I said when I promised not to steal anymore? If I continue to steal from you, then what you finally realize is that I am NOT repentant, that I am NOT sorry I stole, and that I am playing you for a sap.

God is not a sap. God is forgiving and compassionate and patient, but He is not stupid or easily (actually, I should say ever) fooled. He knows our heart, He knows out very essence, and when we ask for forgiveness, if we really don’t mean it, if we are just trying to get away with something, then He will know and He will not forgive.

Read the writings of the Prophets and see how God continually challenged the Children of Israel, in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, to truly repent, to change their ways. Read the book of Jonah- Nineveh did a real T’shuvah (turning from sin) and God recognized that, so they were not destroyed. Later, they went back to their sinful ways and eventually were used by God to punish the Northern Kingdom (who never even tried to repent), then they were also destroyed.

The way many missionaries and preachers gain congregants, and how they keep them, is to tell them what sounds good: “God will forgive you and God loves you just as you are.” Although these statements are true, they aren’t complete.

God does love you just as you are, but that doesn’t mean that He wants you to stay that way.

James tells us faith without works is dead, and that goes hand-in-hand with what I learned when I was a salesman, which is: people don’t mean what they say; they mean what they do. When we ask God to forgive us our sins, He is willing and desiring to do so, but He requires T’shuvah, which is demonstrated only through a change in our actions. Yes, God can see our heart, but that isn’t enough.

Forgiveness of sin is something that says more about God than it does about us, namely that He is wonderful, compassionate and forgiving, and when we talk about how Yeshua died so we can have a chance to live eternally in God’s presence, we are glorifying both Yeshua and God. And that is why we need to change what we do- repentance of our sins has to be shown by a change in our actions which glorifies the Lord.

We naturally will do and act the way we want to, so to change how we act we need to change who we are. People can’t do that, which is why we need the Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, to indwell in us. Through the leading of the Holy Spirit we can change our words, thoughts and actions. That is what we mean when we say “die to self.”

I once read a self-help book that made a lot of sense to me: the basic premise is that we cannot change how we react to things, but we can change how we act. I was not a Believer then and was thinking simply in humanistic ways, but now that I understand better I see that this is how the Ruach can help. I am sinful from birth, and iniquity (tendency to sin) is something that is part of me- I cannot just make it go away. BUT- I can control it, and I can act in a way that will allow me to overrule my desire to sin. The Ruach is how I do that, and that is what you need to do, as well.

What I mean is this: I can never be sinless, but I can always sin less. I can sin less tomorrow than I did today, and I can do that through repentance (true repentance) by asking the Ruach to help me. And by surrendering to it. When I put my pride and stubborn heart in subjection to the Holy Spirit, then I will have a change of heart, and I will act differently. And my change will demonstrate not to God, but to the world, the truth of my repentance. Our repentance must be obvious to the world in order to glorify the Lord.

That is the essence of today’s message. When we repent and mean it, we will have to change how we act and what we say because the repentance must be obvious to the world- what we do and say as Believers is not to reflect on us, it is to reflect on God and glorify Him.

When we change our words and thoughts, we show the world that our repentance is genuine and that glorifies God. If we tell people we are saved but they see us acting the same way we always have, what are they going to think? I’ll tell what they are going to think- they are going to think that whole “God thing” is a bunch of hooey! We will not only have lied to God but will have defamed Him, trampled the blood of Messiah into the dirt, and possibly prevented someone from being saved from their sin.

That is not a good thing to do.

So, remember what David said in Psalm 51: “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit in me.”

And while we’re at it, my personal prayer is from Psalm 19: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

Repentance must be real, it must be demonstrated through a change in your words and your actions.

Repentance that doesn’t change you is not repentance, and without repentance of sin there will not be forgiveness of sin.

Parashah Shoftim (Judges) Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9

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There are some very important practices outlined in this parashah.

First off, judges must not allow a person’s social status to influence their decision. Any crime deserving of capital punishment must be substantiated by no less than 2 or 3 witnesses, and to ensure those witnesses realize the seriousness of their accusations, they are to be the first ones to lay hands on and stone the guilty.  For criminal cases that are too hard for the local judge to adjudicate, those cases are to be brought to the Levites in the location where where God places His name; God just created the first Supreme Court.

It talks about when the people want a king that the king must read and obey the Torah daily, and that he must not bring the people out of the land or have too many horses or wives; too many horses represents faithlessness in God as their protector, and too many wives will be a lure to idolatry (as Solomon proved true.)

What is interesting is that after establishing the rules for having a king, Moses tells the people that God will send a prophet to let them know what He wants of them. The reason I find this interesting is that the prophet was supposed to be in place of the king, yet the rulings for how the king is to act came before Moses talked about the prophet.  Perhaps this is to emphasize that the king is also required to listen to the prophet God sends, which (for the good kings) did happen. As for the bad kings who rejected the prophets warnings, well… we know where they ended up.

The other regulations in this parashah deal with which men shall be free of military obligation, establishing cities of refuge and what I want to talk about today- offering peace with slavery or total destruction to the cities the people would encounter when conquering the land.

Deuteronomy 20: 10-18 states that when coming to a city which is not one within the land that God is giving as an inheritance, they are to approach it and offer a peaceful takeover. The city that accepts will be required to pay tribute but will remain unmolested. If the city refuses, then all the men are to be killed and the woman, children and possessions are to be taken. However, for those people living in the land that God is giving as the inheritance (the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites), the people, all the animals and their possessions are to be completely destroyed. Nothing is to be kept by the Israelites.

Wow! Our loving, compassionate and merciful God wants total annihilation of people- men, women and children, as well as the animals!  Is this the same God who chided Jonah for wanting Nineveh destroyed? Is this the same God who gave us commandments regarding proper treatment of all people and animals? Is this the same God who gave us Messiah so that we can have eternal life? Is this the same God who has Ezekiel tell us (Chapter 18) that He doesn’t like to see anyone die, but would rather that the sinner turn from his sin, and live?

If God is willing to let the other pagan peoples remain alive as slaves, why not these that live in the land already?

The answer is simple, yet hard for humans to accept- the people living in the land that God is giving to the Israelites have sinned so terribly that their time for forgiveness has passed and the time for judgment has come. Remember how Moses told the people that they are not being given the land because they deserve it, but because of the promise God made to their fathers (Deuteronomy 9:5)?  Moses also told the people the reason the existing peoples are being ejected from the land is because they have so polluted it that the land, itself, is vomiting them out of it (Leviticus 18:28), and if the Israelites do not destroy them completely then they will become a snare for them and cause them to fall into the same sin, resulting in Israel being vomited out of the land, as well. Which, of course, eventually happened just as Moses warned them it would happen.

God is loving and compassionate and caring, but he is also God, which means that He judges fairly. He sets the rules, and He holds Himself accountable to them. I think this is why people can’t figure God out- it’s because we are weak and easily influenced by our emotions, and God isn’t. We have rules and regulations but we do not always hold ourselves up to our own standards.

God is not like that- God makes the rules for us, but He also follows those rules Himself. One of the reasons God is able to judge fairly is because He not only can see the heart, but because He will not allow Himself to break His own rules. Since He is God, if He wanted to break His own rules, who could stop Him? Who can hold God accountable? No one, of course, except God, and He does exactly that- God holds Himself accountable to follow His own rules.

We do not know if God sent prophets to these people, or if He made Himself known to them as He did to the Israelites, but we do know that the people in the land were aware of who God was. The story of what God did to Egypt was known throughout that area. God also said He would put the fear of the Israelites into the peoples, which was evident. Once Joshua was in the land, Rahab (Joshua 2) knew about them, and there is the story of the city of Gibeon (Joshua 9) that fooled Joshua by sending envoys pretending they came from a far distance in order to make peace with him. So there was no excuse for these people to have not done T’shuvah and save themselves.

Purging of sin and sinful people from the world is a cruel thing, because sin is a cruel thing. You cannot put out a fire with gasoline or by throwing wood on it- you have to kill the fire by taking it’s life. You do that by suffocating it with water or chemicals. Sin is like fire- it destroys anything and everything in it’s path, and someone who has come into close contact with it will wear the scars of that experience forever. Through Messiah we are saved from the fire, and when we receive our resurrected bodies the scars of that fire will be gone. In the meantime, we go on and let those scars remind us of how terrible sin is. Yeshua is the balm, the covering and the relief from the sin we have scarred ourselves with by playing with fire.

What we learn from this parashah is that God is fair, just and will hold Himself accountable to His own commandments and regulations. He wants everyone to live, but when people reject Him (and He gives them plenty of chances to change their mind) eventually the deadline for T’shuvah (repentance) runs out, and the judgment follows. America is coming into judgment, as is the rest of the world. In fact, we can see it has already started. Terrorism is a cruel, heartless and destructive thing that cares not for men,women, children ,animals, or possessions; I believe it is the sword of Adonai. God used His people, Israel, to mete out His righteous judgment against the Canaanites and other peoples that had polluted the land God allowed them to live in, and today judgment is coming on the nations just as it did then. God is using terrorism as His sword of justice. Why do I say this? Because what the terrorists are doing is no similar to what the Israelites did- destruction of the social, financial and political systems of the people they were sent to destroy.  The only difference is in the procedure: in Joshua’s day the destruction was through direct warfare, whereas today it is through terrorism; terrorism is slower and less direct, but it is just as destructive and cruel, with the same final results. The people are destroyed without pity, without recourse and without warning. Just look at how terrorism is spreading throughout Europe and America. Even those Arab countries that are attacking Israel to this day are tearing themselves apart, internally.

Judgement is here, God is working His will throughout the world, and it will only get worse. We need to steel ourselves against turning from the faith in order to avoid the terror- it won’t work, anyway, The terror is coming, and no one can do anything about it. We just need to make sure we are on the wining side.