Tag: Bible

Stuff happens

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One of my coworkers has to deal with his wife passing away, suddenly. They are barely 40, and he has two young, low-functioning autistic children.

When such tsouris happens, we have to think about why. Is this a judgment from God? Is it an attack from the enemy? Is it just plain lousy luck?

I choose to believe that it is all of those things. God judged Adam and Eve, so yes- living in a fallen and cursed world where stuff happens is a judgment from God. And since the enemy attacks those who do God’s work on the earth, yes- it may have been that (although neither of them are Believers.) And does it just happen to people because these things just happen to people? Yes, of course.

Stuff happens.

God is in control of everything, but that doesn’t mean He does control everything. He is not a micro-manager.  We live in a fallen and cursed world, and we sin. Many times, I would like to think most of the times, we sin because of our nature and not because we want to. I have said this many times:

I used to be a sinner that rationalized my sins; now I am a sinner who regrets my sins. Bottom line: I am still a sinner.

But that’s not everyone, and where sin is concerned, I believe there is always, always, always…collateral damage. The sinner isn’t the only one who suffers. In this physical plane of existence, we all suffer the sins of those around us.

Jews suffered the sins of Hitler (along with a lot of other religions); Jim Jones was a mass murderer, and the masses he killed (his own followers) suffered because of his sin; thousands suffered from the sins of the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center. I could go on and on and on- just read the newspaper. Every single day, hundreds (if not thousands) of people who are innocent suffer because of the sins of others.

If you walk through a cow field, don’t expect to reach the other side with clean shoes. No matter how carefully you watch your step, you will step into something, sooner or later. And probably more than once.

That’s how life is in a cursed and fallen world. It sucks to be here, but there’s no where else to go right now. Of course, we could be with the Lord, but if you want to serve the Lord you can’t really do it when you are with Him- His work isn’t finished here on the earth so we who serve Him must remain here. That was the problem Shaul had (Philippians 1:21), and it’s the same one we all have, too- we want to be with the Lord but the Lord needs us serving Him here.

The good news is this: we who are Believers will be with the Lord, and when we are it will be for all eternity. The lousy lot we are stuck with here on earth is temporary. Yakov (James) says it is like a mist; this life that we suffer through. It seems to take forever, but it will be such a short memory throughout eternity we will barely even notice it. It will be as nothing once we are with the Lord, so suffer through it and be patient. As Shaul advises: keep your eyes on the prize.

Be compassionate, be loving, expect to have problems. You will. But don’ let them get you down. There will be people who harm you, physically and emotionally. Don’t let them hurt your spirit.

There will be people who hurt themselves, people you care about, and it will make you suffer to see them hurting themselves. Try to help them by showing them how much you care, and by treating them with understanding, but still maintaining a firm resolution to let them know that what they are doing to themselves is unacceptable, and that it hurts you. Ultimately, it is their choice to change or remain as they are, just as it is our choice to suffer with them or leave them to their own devices. Even Shaul, who said without love he is nothing, gave up on some people at times and had nothing further to do with them.

We all make choices, whether we want to or not; for instance, abstaining is not making a decision one way or the other, but it is, in and of itself, a decision. We always have a choice, and we always make a choice.

And we will be accountable for the choices we make. Like it or not, that’s the way it is. Get with the program.

I feel for my co-worker, I can’t begin to understand the stresses he is feeling. I am glad we work for a compassionate and family-oriented company who will work with him during this devastating time in his life. I also wonder how I will deal with the loss of Donna, if she should go first. I don’t think anyone who knows of someone suffering the loss of a loved one doesn’t immediately reflect on their losses, too. Life and death are natural to us; in fact, it’s to be expected, and even though we all know everyone will die sooner or later (hopefully later), it still feels like a punch in the stomach when it happens to someone we care about.

The worst thing there is, to me, is losing a loved one who has refused to accept Messiah Yeshua- that is the real loss. It’s bad enough losing the person’s company, but to know what that person is going to have to deal with when the Acharit haYamim (End Days) are done and the final judgment comes to us all, well- that is the most painful part of all.

The best thing to remember when someone close to you suffers a loss is that you need to let them know you are there for them, especially since everyone else is probably shoving their own losses down the poor persons throat. That’s what we do: we share our grief with people who are grieving, in the hope that we make them feel less alone. Trust me- they don’t feel as alone in their grief anywhere near as much as they feel like telling you to shut up!

Pray for people who are suffering, hold their hand, comfort them with silence, and when you talk with them tell them how much you loved and will also miss the one they lost. Honor the life of the lost person, and don’t share your losses. This person has enough loss- they don’t need yours, too. Talk with them normally because what they need is normality.

The loss of a loved one is hard, it is different, and it tears you out of reality. We need to comfort people suffering a loss by bringing reality back, just enough to make them feel comfortable, just by being a friend who is there.

Stuff happens; however, knowing that doesn’t make it feel any better when it does. All I can say is thank God I have God to help me though it.

 

Does God change His mind?

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Yes, He does. How can anyone say He doesn’t?

He changed His mind when Abraham asked Him to spare Sodom and Gemorrah if He found just 10 honest men there. He changed His mind when He allowed the enemy to harass Job (first it was don’t touch Job, then He allowed Job to be touched.) He changed His mind when He sent Jonah to Ninevah (after they repented). He changed His mind about destroying the Israelites after their sin with the Golden Calf.

And that’s just off the top of my head. I’ll wager I could find a few more times He changed His mind.

But then how are we to trust in salvation? If God changes His mind about those things then He can change His mind about His gift of salvation, too, right?

Of course He can…but He won’t. How can I be so sure? Not because of the fact that God changes His mind about things, but because of which things He changes His mind about.

God never has gone back on His word regarding the good things He has done for us: He has honored His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; to Moses,; to David; to Solomon, etc. and so on and so on.

As the Psalm says, His love endures forever. Fortunately, His anger doesn’t.

God changes His mind (sometimes) about destruction and punishment. Even when he continues through with His righteous and just punishment/judgment, He does so with mercy and compassion. It is always (and only) with regard to judgment and punishment that God has changed His mind. Everything else He says He will do, He does. Everything else He said He would provide, He has provided. Everything else He says He will make happen, He has made happen.

We can trust God totally to do whatever good He has said He will do for us, and also hope eternally that He will be merciful and flexible regarding His judgments upon us, all of which we always deserve.

There is nothing wrong about changing our minds, and (in truth) the people who don’t change their minds are the ones not to trust. I once read that good managers are the ones that can make decisions quickly and change them slowly, and bad managers take a long time to make a decision, and then change their minds quickly.

God is certainly a good manager. He has changed His mind only for certain times when He said He would punish the sinners, but never about the promises He has made regarding our land, salvation or His protection and love. And absolutely NEVER about anything in the Torah. The followers of Replacement Theology should remember that next time they profess that God has abandoned the Jewish people. Hasn’t happened, ain’t happening now, and ain’t evah gonna happen.

Those who are repentant, have accepted Messiah Yeshua as their Messiah and who have done T’shuvah in their heart will receive all those good promises about salvation; so long as they maintain their proper attitude and continue to worship God as He said we should, continue to move forward spiritually in maturity, constantly working towards the goal.

Don’t be concerned that God has changed His mind about judgement- He will judge the unrighteous and unrepentant as they deserve, and even they might still receive mercy. Not absolution, not getting off free, but merciful judgment. And those who are faithfully obedient and continue to work towards the goal will be rewarded with every good promise God has made about salvation.

You can bank on it because that’s how God rolls.

 

Leaders need to lead

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Isaiah says that we are all like sheep, easily led astray to do evil. We are also just plain, easily led stray.

People want to be led, not to lead. Oh, they want to be in charge, all right- everyone wants to be able to talk and have everyone else listen. But that sort of authority comes at a price- you have to be responsible for what they all do and for what happens when they do it. It’s all on your head when you are in charge.

I think that’s why people want to be led- no responsibility, no blame, no worries.

Also no hope, no control and nowhere to go but were you’re told to go.

There can not be a lot of leaders- we all know that old expression, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”, and we certainly don’t want our broth to spoil. But, we do need leadership in our lives, and in our churches and synagogues. Leadership is what moves us, what keeps us motivated, and what causes change.

Oy! Wait a minute! I am all for leaders moving and motivating us, but change? That’s a dirty word- I just want things to stay the same. I’m comfortable, I am happy, I know what to expect.

Do you know what the word is for something that doesn’t change? Stagnation.

Will Rogers once said that even if you are on the right track, if you just sit there you’re bound to get run over. Change is how we survive, and if the leadership isn’t willing to create change, then that church or synagogue is already an endangered species. And if there isn’t an inflow of new ideas and actions, it will become extinct.

Change is the main responsibility of leadership. Management and leadership are two sides of the same coin- but they are drastically different in their purpose. Leadership is moving, dynamic, and flexible whereas management is supposed to keep everything stable while the leadership is shaking everything up. It is a very special sort of dance, and when the partners are working together as a team, it is beautiful.

Is your church or synagogue changing? Is it growing? Is it offering you something exciting and new, while maintaining those things that shouldn’t change, such as worship, teaching the word and being responsive to the congregation? Not to forget missionary ministry. You can’t grow if you aren’t finding new members.

If not, then either offer yourself to help or find some place that does these things. If your leadership isn’t really leading, then it’s following. And since those who follow don’t ask questions, you might be being led into a hole. Remember that Yeshua told us when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into a hole.

Keep your eyes open, be compassionate and understanding, but also be aware that if your leadership isn’t leading, then you need to get them on the ball or you need to go somewhere where there is leadership.

There is nothing wrong with questioning leadership. It is not disrespectful, it is not impudent; in fact, it is the responsibility of every member of an organization to keep their leadership in line and accountable.

Join in and help your leadership- there are plenty of sheep, so be a ram. At least, be a sheep that will question where you are being led.

When it comes down to it, we will all be held accountable for ourselves, and our decisions. If your decision is to let someone else make your decision, well, that’s still your decision. If that person makes the wrong decision, it’s your tuchas on the line, too!

Stagnation feels comfortable, but it is a slow death.

 

Parashah Pekudey (Accounts) Exodus 38:21 – 40

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This last chapter and a half (or so) of the Book of Exodus tells us all the things that God instructed Moses to have the people make, with regards to the Tabernacle, were made exactly as God had commanded.

All I can say is, “About time they did something right!” Yes?

Actually, when you read 39:43 it reads less like an account of what they did and more like an exclamation that they did it right.

Traditionally, when we finish a book of the Torah we cry out:

Chazak! Chazak! V’nit’Chazek! (Be strong! Be strong! And let us be strengthened!)

If this is what we cry out, then it begs the question, “What are we strengthening?”

For me, when we read the word of God, what we strengthen is our faith. Faith is believing, and when we read the Torah we see God in all His majesty, in all His awesomeness, and in all His glory. We see that His judgment is inescapable, as the Egyptians were powerless to stop Him from judging and punishing them for their cruel treatment of His people; we see His compassion and forgiveness when Moshe steps in to save the people from the destruction they earned by worshiping the Golden Calf at the very foot of God’s Holy mountain. And we see God’s faithfulness to us by continuing to keep His promise to the Patriarchs, leading the people through the desert, providing food and water for them and their animals, and protecting them from their enemies.

And we see God’s selfless love as he continues to forgive and provide for a stiff-necked, rebellious child who doesn’t really even appreciate Him.

And, as our faith is strengthened, so, too, is our appreciation, respect, trust, and love for God. But is it the right kind of love? Is it selfless, as He loves? Or, do we love God only when he is doing good things for us?

When people give us good things, should we love them? If we love for what we get, what happens when someone gives us more?

When the final days arrive, the Enemy will attack the people of God. However, for those who love the Lord only because of what God has given them, I don’t think the enemy will attack them with Tsouris. No- he will attack them with wonderful gifts, pleasures of the mind and body, power, riches; he will attack them by giving them every worldly pleasure they have ever wanted. In Matthew 4:9 and Luke 4:7, that is the temptation the enemy held before Yeshua when he tested Him in the desert. Yeshua refused, but when the world is falling apart and you are losing everything, and the enemy promises you everything you lost, and more, will you be strong enough (will you have been strengthened in the Lord enough?) to refuse?

In the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) God will not be blessing the world but cursing it. So everyone will be loosing things, and the enemy’s strategy, I believe, will be to give back the blessings of health, power, riches, etc., all the things of the flesh that are being destroyed, to those whose love is based selfishly, who love someone (or the Lord) only for what they get from them.

We need to strengthen our love by developing the same love that God has- selfless love. If someone slaps you in the face, turn to them the other cheek, as well. If they force you to carry their pack for a mile, carry it for two. If they ask to borrow something, give it to them without asking for it to be returned. Love not for what you get from others but love to give to others, without expectation of any return or reward.

Yeshua told us that when we do Tzedakah (charity)  we should do it in secret, so that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing (Matthew 6:1-4). That is the kind of selfless love that God has for us, and the kind we should return to Him by doing it unto others (Matthew 25:40), so that we strengthen our faith and our love.

When we have the kind of faith that comes from knowing God, and when we show the kind of love that God has for us to others, then the attacks of the enemy will fall off of us like nerf balls hitting a brick wall. And because we are strengthened by His word, we can protect and strengthen others by demonstrating our faith.

Faithfulness and love for God, His kind of love, will also lead to more fulfilling obedience. Obedience that comes from only respect or, worse, only from fear will not create love, or trust, or even any real joy. It often leads to resentment, animosity, anger and rebellion. But obedience that comes from love, from doing for someone what they want because we know it pleases them, well, that kind of obedience brings joy and satisfaction. Don’t you know that a “labor of love”, as we call it, creates feelings of immense satisfaction and joy when we see the one we labored for happily enjoying what we did for them? God wants us to obey Him because when we obey, we are blessed. He enjoys blessing us, and the way we can make God happy is to obey Him. It’s a Win-Win situation.

We hear often that God owns everything, and that He can create anything He needs or desires with only a thought, but there is one thing God cannot have unless we give it to Him- our love.

Do you love the Lord? Do you love Him for the right reasons? These are hard questions to ask, and they require a really long look in the mirror. So take a gander at yourself, at your intentions, at your true feelings. And don’t be afraid or ashamed if you are not happy with what you see- that’s OK. Remember, we’re not Messiah Yeshua, we know we have faults, and God knows it, too. That’s why He sent Yeshua…DUH!!

Again, when you see what you don’t like, don’t be upset or downtrodden- that’s what the enemy wants. When you see what you don’t like, do what God wants- strive to improve. Exercise your faith, exercise your godly love and exercise your obedience and you will be strengthened!

Chazak! Chazak! V’nit’Chazek!

How deep is your love?

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Great song. The Bee Gees wrote this song in 1998 and when you read the words, it could easily be someone talking to God.

Except their lyrics say that the one they are singing to needs to show how deep her love is, whereas we need to show God how deep our love is, so maybe this is more like God singing to us?

How deep is your love? Do you love God? Why? Is it because of all the wonderful things He has done in your life? Do you love God for the promise of salvation? Do you love Yeshua (Jesus) for the way to salvation He provided for you?

If you said, “Yes” to any of the above, then I think your love is not very deep. Sorry, but if you love the Lord and love Messiah Yeshua only because of the things they have done for you, then your love is selfish and weakly rooted. Not very deep, at all.

If you have a disease and the doctor saves your life, do you love him or her?

If your spouse makes you feel happy, loved and appreciated, then someone you meet gives even more love, joy and appreciation to you, what do you do? Leave your spouse for that one? If your love is based only on what you receive from someone, then by definition you should leave. Then, if (and when) you meet someone who “ups the ante”, now you’re on your third marriage.

I love my wife for who she is: I believe that is because God is teaching me how to love as He loves. I love my family (immediate and cousins) for who they are, for our common experiences, and the same with my friends. I certainly don’t love them for the way they treat me, because in many ways they don’t treat me as I would like. Some of my lifelong friends don’t call me- I have to call them. Same with some family. But I love them despite what they do (or don’t do) because that is how God is teaching me to love.

But I still have a lot to learn. I am not holding myself up as an example to follow, just as an example. I am still very “fleshly”, and the word “love” brings up thoughts of romantic, human love. Do I love God? For me, loving God is- has to be- above what I can feel. Clearly, God is way above the realm of human love. Human love for God is so far below His love for us, it’s more than just “not in the same ballpark”, it’s not even the same sport!

I think I love God, I want to love God, and I am gratified that despite my human feelings (and lack of ability to love as completely as He does) He loves me, anyway.

God loves us despite what we do for, and to, Him. Look at history- after hearing God’s voice and seeing His awesome presence on Mt. Sinai, it took only 40 days for us to reject Him and build a Golden Calf (don’t you dare think, “Oh, well, that was the Jews that did that!  I wouldn’t have done that. You sure would have-so would I. We would have, and in our lives we all probably already have, in one way or another, built and danced before our own Golden Calf. If you can’t admit to that you better stop reading this now- it only gets harder to take.) After that sin, which was forgiven, we rejected His leadership (Moses and Aaron) more than once, we rejected the salvation He gave us (moaning and groaning all the time that they wanted to go back to Egypt), we then refused to enter the Land, then we sinned against Him by asking for a King, then that kingdom was split and the Northern Kingdom sinned from then on, the Southern Kingdom did OK for a while but also sinned itself into destruction, then the Greeks, the Romans, then the split of the Church, then….well, you get the picture.

And all during those times, no matter how many times we sinned against God, when we asked for forgiveness, He forgave us and welcomed us back to Him. Even though He knew we would backslide again, He still loved us despite how we treated Him. And He still loves us, today.

Didn’t Yeshua tell us to love our enemies? Didn’t Yeshua tell us to forgive our brothers who sin against us, pretty much as many times as they ask.  Aren’t we told to love as God loves, to forgive as God forgives (check out Matthew 6:14). That old adage, “To err is human: to forgive, divine” hits the nail right on the head! Forgiveness is absolutely tied to love- if you can’t forgive, you can’t love. If you can’t love for any reason other than how someone makes you feel, you cannot love as God loves.

Let’s say that again: If you can’t love for any reason other than how someone makes you feel, you cannot love as God loves.

That’s a hard word to hear. I think it is a word directly from God because (as the references above indicate) it is how God has loved us from the start.

To love as God loves is simply to love not for our needs, but for theirs. We should love others for who they are, for what they believe in, for how they treat all people. In 1 Corinthians, Shaul tells us that love is not selfish, but if we love only for selfish reasons than we aren’t loving, not really: what we are doing is just enjoying. We are feeling attracted to a person for what they do for us, not for who they are. At one point or another, what they do changes. If the relationship is a physical one, that’s gonna change, believe me. Age isn’t friendly to physical things. If the relationship is based on what “niceties” you get, such as little notes, little gifts, pretty cars or big, expensive stones, that’s gonna change, too. Eventually, the relationships we humans form will break down to their most basic components: you and me. So, do I really, really enjoy just being with you? Do you really, really enjoy just being with me?

Examine your love for those in your life, and remember that Yeshua tells us whatever we do to others is what we are doing to God (Matthew 25:40), so make sure your love is love going out and not love taking in.

Examine your love: is it selfish or selfless?

Parashah Vayyakhel (and he assembled) Exodus 35 – 38:20

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Moses calls all the people to him and asks that they offer up, each according to his or her own desire, the materials needed to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. Everything from wood to precious metals, base metals and gemstones were required, as well as cloth and people to do the work. God names Bezalel and Oholiab, from the tribes of Judah and Dan (respectively) to oversee the work because of their skills, and to teach others how to do the work needed. They were to be both the skilled craftsmen and skilled instructors.

The rest of this parashah, in fact, most of the rest of the book of Exodus,  is a very detailed and exacting narration about the construction of the Tabernacle and the Ark, and of the other items associated with the Tabernacle.

There is always a message, even in what seems to be a simple description of constructing the Tabernacle. The contributions came from the old, from the young, from men, from women, from the common people and from the nobles. In chapter 35 we read about how every man who had wood brought it, every woman who could spin spun the linen, and the rulers brought the stones needed for the ephod.  Both common and ruler, men and women, any and all who had what was needed brought their possessions (much of which they received when they left Egypt) and didn’t just hand them over, but gave them to the workers, gladly and eagerly. Shaul tells us in 2 Corinthians, 9:7 (which he is quoting from the Septuagint) that God loves a cheerful giver, and all the people gave cheerfully. So much so, in fact, that in 36:5 the workers ask Moshe to tell the people to stop bringing stuff- they already have way too much!

Yet, what? Only a month or so before this these same people who are happily and faithfully obeying the Lord, were dancing and reveling before a Golden Calf! Can they really be as faithful as they appear, given their proclivity to change faith and belief with the changing of the wind?

Yes, they can. Yes, they do, and yes, they did. I am not a “people person”- I have been in customer service in one form or another most of my career, and I have been (and am, now) in a position of leadership at the place where I worship, yet I am not really all that interested in “people.” A friend once told me that humanity is a wonderful thing: it’s the people that screw it all up! I couldn’t agree more.

And after having confessed my lack of compassion for and trust in people, I am still happy to say that I believe the message (at least, for me) in this parashah is not so much about the building of the Tabernacle as it is about the people giving so cheerfully and selflessly so soon after such a terrible sin. The difference between then and now is only one thing: they repented. They repented and God forgave them, and now they are cleansed.

Ever get so dirty that you can’t remember what clean felt like? I have, many times. Not just working around the house for a day, but when I was in the Marine Corps and we did training in the field. I was in woods, in desert, covered with dirt, sweat, and camouflage paint. You get used to it, and when you get back home you spend a good amount of time in the shower, cleaning everything two or three times. Then, when you come out all squeaky clean and neat, you feel GREAT!!

I imagine that is how the people felt, after they did T’Shuvah (turning from sin) and Moshe told them that God had forgiven them and would maintain His presence among them.

Sin is like a crust of foul smelling and filthy dirt that covers us, and when we are in it long enough we don’t smell it anymore. It’s only after being cleansed that we remember how good it feels to be clean. So, even after a terrible sin such as the one with the Golden Calf, being cleansed can make us more joyful and faithful than we thought possible.

The more we live in dirt the less we remember what it feels like to be clean. The more we allow sin to rule our lives, the dirtier we get, and the further from the joy and peacefulness we can feel only when in God’s presence. We may not smell the sin, but God does. He will not associate with sin and will not allow sinfulness in His presence, so when we stink from sin we can’t get close to God.

The Grace He provided through Yeshua is what cleans us so that we can come into His presence, and allows us to experience the joy and peace His “touch” brings.

We all sin, we are sinners from our birth, but we can also be cleansed. Yes, this is a job for Clorox- spiritual Clorox, that is. And that Clorox of the spirit is called Grace, and it is delivered by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). This Clorox isn’t bleach- it is the blood of the Messiah, Yeshua. And whereas bleach cleans your clothes, the blood of Yeshua cleans your soul. Whiter than Clorox could ever get it, too!

We will sin, we will fall, but we can also get up. That is what happened at Mt. Sinai. They learned the temporary nice feeling we get from sinning is nothing compared to the complete and overflowing joy we get from obeying the Lord.

Sin feels nice for a little while, but the joy of the Lord feels great all the time. Which would you prefer?

Zombies and Vampires

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I was thinking about zombies and vampires the other day, but not the kind that eat brains (no threat to me) or suck your blood.

I was thinking of the “emotional” kind. The emotional zombies that have no real feelings for anyone or anything, and the emotional vampires that suck the very joy and love of life right out of you.

I was, in a previous life, married to an emotional vampire. I pray for her, even though (I am sorry to say) thankfully I have not had to have any contact with her for years. She is the mother of my children, whom she has emotionally damaged, through spitefulness and drugs (she has fed them ADHD drugs since they were tots, even though there has never been any medical diagnosis of it.) Now the poor kids (who are adults) are emotional zombies- they have never had the chance to feel anything that they haven’t been conditioned to feel.

I am sure you have met people like them. The emotional vampire who is so needy for attention and love that he or she demands from you whatever goodness you have, they take all the compassion and understanding you can give, and suck it out of you until you don’t even feel anything, anymore. Then you become an emotional zombie, wandering around apathetic and drained. Getting involved in relationships that damage and destroy you even more, all the while looking for someone to give you what you have lost. Or, like in the vampire stories, you now have such a need to fill yourself up again with love and compassion that you become an emotional vampire, yourself.

The only way to kill these vampires is with a stake in the heart: not a wooden stake with a point at the end, but with the execution stake of Yeshua, the Messiah. Through prayer and with the love of God these pitiful “demons” can be saved.

I pray for the salvation of my “ex” not because she deserves it- after all, which of us does? I pray for her because she needs it- more than anyone I have ever met, she needs to know the love and compassion of Messiah Yeshua and of God, our Father, which she has rejected (not surprisingly- vampires hate the light.) I also pray for her so that if she turns to God, maybe she will be able to help my children turn. I pray for them too because, well, they’re my kids. Duh! Despite the hatefulness and Tsouris they have given me (most of it because that is what they were conditioned to do), they are old enough to make up their own minds. However, in their defense, they haven’t ever been given a real chance to do that, so I pray for them to reconcile to me and Donna, and to God. It’s more important they reconcile to God, of course.

We don’t want vampires or zombies in our life. After all, they are destructive, evil and a bad influence. However, it is our responsibility as followers of Yeshua to go into the darkness. He ate and drank with sinners because, as He told us in Mark 2:17, He came to heal the sick- the healthy do not need a doctor. Emotional vampires and zombies are very sick, inside, and they need our help.

The thing to remember is that the doctor wears a mask and gloves not just to protect the patient from being infected, but so that the patient doesn’t infect the doctor. We need to be aware of the power of the vampire- they have a strong will and can often seem to be doing good to us, all the while they are sucking us dry. Be careful, be aware, be loving and be understanding, But also be safe.

No greater love is there than that one should give his life for a friend- that is true, but giving our life for a friend is different than throwing it away carelessly.

If, and when, you come across these emotional vampires and zombies, the way to destroy them is to save them. Let them see in you the joy and peace that the Ruach HaKodesh brings, and direct them to God. Keep your distance enough to protect your blood and brains. They are devastatingly hungry for love, for understanding and for peace of spirit, but don’t know how to get it. They take and take and take. but never can satisfy their hunger. That’s because humans don’t have enough in us to fill them, but God does. He never runs out; God never has a lack of love or a famine of affection, and He is always willing to listen.

Vampires ans zombies are out there, and when we find them (or more likely when they find us) we must direct them to God because He is the only one who can save them.

 

 

 

The 3 Biggest Lies about Jesus

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Third Biggest Lie: If you are Jewish and you believe Jesus is the Messiah then you can’t be Jewish anymore.

That’s what I have been told, and not just by Jews but the Christian world teaches that, also. They don’t come right out and say it, but the teachings are based on misunderstanding of the letters from Paul (Shaul) to the Romans and Galatians, which have been used as a polemic against following the Torah when they are really an apologetic explaining why it is still absolutely necessary to follow the Torah. There are also many subtle anti-Semitic terms in the New Covenant writings, no matter whether it is King James, NIV, or whatever. Unless you have a Messianic New Covenant, the First Century Jews and Pagans who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah God promised are called the “Church”- that is just not right. There was no “church”, at least not as we know the word to be used today. There were Jews and pagans becoming Jews. They met in groups and homes, and if we need to label them in any way, the best term would be Kahillot, the plural of the Hebrew word Kahal, which means congregation. The first century Jews who accepted Yeshua to be the true Messiah remained (and worshiped as) Jews. The pagans who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah of the Jews began to become Jewish, since there were no other religions. You were either a pagan of one sort or another, or a Jew. When you stopped being a pagan, you had no choice but to be a Jew. Duh! So, where did we go wrong? When did accepting the Jewish Messiah require converting to Christianity?  Sometime around the time when the second biggest lie started.

Second Biggest Lie: Jesus founded Christianity.

Jesus never founded Christianity. He preached only to Jews and used Torah as His only source. After the resurrection and the inclusion of the Gentiles into salvation (Acts 10) , as more and more Gentiles joined the movement it became (I believe) less and less attractive to the “everyday” Jewish person. After the suppression by Emperor Hadrian of the Bar Kochba revolt (132-136 AD) being Jewish meant being subject to persecution. If you were a Jew who accepted Yeshua or a Gentile who did the same thing, it was less “dangerous” to be Christian than Jewish.  Frankly speaking, the more Gentiles that accepted Yeshua the less appealing it became to Jews (my opinion) and the further from Torah they traveled (historical fact.) By the Third Century when Emperor Constantine had “legitimatized” Christianity (as it was being called then) and began to form doctrine and canon at the Council of Nicene, the schism was complete and Christianity was totally different from Judaism. The apple had fallen far from the tree.

Biggest Lie about Jesus: If you are a Christian the Torah is not applicable to you.

Acts, Galatians, and Romans are the three Epistles that (I believe) have damaged the truth about being a follower of Yeshua with regard to being responsible to follow the commandments and regulations found in the Torah. As we saw in the lie above, as more and more Gentiles entered the group of Jewish Believers, the Mosaic law became not a means of worshiping but a stumbling block. I mean, really- I want to be saved by this Yeshua you have told me about, but I have to let you cut what off my what? I would certainly have to think twice about that one. Especially because no one had invented Novocaine yet! Also, I have been eating anything I wanted to eat, and now I can’t eat any shellfish or pork?

I separate biblical Kosher from Rabbinical- biblical Kosher, as I call it, means essentially no pork or shellfish, but Rabbinical Kosher is keeping in alignment with what the Rabbi’s say: different dishes, no meat and dairy at all, and an entire host of rules and regulations that are hard and complicated to follow, even back then.

Even to be biblically Kosher was a big move and (again, this is just what I believe) these requirements were, for many, a deal-breaker. Clearly, strict and immediate adherence to Torah was a significant barrier, which is why in Acts 15 they reduced the requirements to be a new Believer to just the 4 rules about food and fornication. What people miss, though, is that they say these are just the initial requirements, and the next sentence states that they will be seeing the laws of Moses every day in the Temple. The clear meaning of that is that Torah will be taught to them, eventually. The “Christian world” has conveniently failed to mention that part.  Yeshua said, in Matthew 5:17, he did not come to change the laws. And when He said He came to fulfill them that meant, in the language of the day, that He was interpreting them correctly. Fulfilling a law doesn’t mean doing away with it: if that was true, when you next come to a stop sign or a red light and the car ahead of you comes to a full stop, you don’t need to. That car fulfilled the law so it is no longer valid.

Yeah, right- try that one on the cop when he is writing the ticket.

The truth is simple: Jesus, Yeshua, was Jewish and lived a Jewish lifestyle. In fact, His “claim to fame” is that He lived Torah exactly, perfectly, and as the sinless Lamb of God was acceptable as the sacrifice for sin for all mankind. If Yeshua did not live Torah perfectly, He was not sinless and was not an acceptable sacrifice. Simple. However, since He was raised, then He did live Torah perfectly.

The Christian world asks that the followers of Jesus live as Jesus lived and do as Jesus did. Then they tell you that Torah is only for Jews because Christians have Grace. Grace came from Torah, so without Torah there can be no Grace- that is the message Shaul was trying to get across in Romans.

What Jesus taught was to worship God not just in action but in mind and heart. Jesus was the living Word, and the only word was Torah- reject the Torah and you reject Jesus.

Stop living a lie and get with the program.

Parashah Ki Thissa (When you take) Exodus 30:11 – 34

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Big stuff in here: the sin of the Golden Calf and the 13 Divine Attributes of God (announced when He passes by Moshe), which make up the major restrains of almost every Jewish prayer of repentance. Also we are told what spices to use for anointing oil and incense before the Lord, and it ends with Moses coming down (the second time) from the mountain with the Ten Words, his face beaming so much that from then on he wears a veil, except when he goes in the Tabernacle to talk to the Lord.

I asked myself why this time?  Why didn’t his face beam after being 40 days on the mountain the first time? My answer to myself was that there was one major difference between the first meeting with God and the second one: the second time Moses saw the Glory of God. In Exodus 34:5-7 God walks by Moses, covering Moses’ face as He passes so Moses can only see His back. God actually, physically was there, close enough to cover the face of Moses. I believe that Moses’ face shone from that day on because he was so close to the Glory of the Lord that the Shekinah glory infused his body. That’s why his face shone, and from what I read it sounds like his face shone for the rest of his life.

What I find of interest is not the great story of the Golden Calf- there is so much for us to learn there. What I want to talk about today is much simpler, much “smaller”, but no less important.

The parashah starts out with God telling Moses that everyone who is called up to fight in a war must pay a ransom for their soul of a 1/2 Shekel. Now the word of God is very clear that there shall be no ransom for a murderer, that is, someone who has committed murder purposefully. But this ransom is for those who have murdered during a war. Even though the wars the people of Israel performed were not just sanctioned  by God, but actually commanded by Him in many cases, they were still guilty of murder.

This shows us that God is true to His word, that His laws are always laws, that forgiveness is possible but only with real repentance. Those who go to a “holy” war for God and kill those God says should die (effectively being the executioner of the Lord) are still murderers. They have killed, and God said we shall not kill, but unlike the murderer who kills for passion or gain, and does so on purpose, this “murder” is different, so a ransom is acceptable. Again, even though this form of murder is commanded by God, we must ransom our soul to the Lord. The monies were to be used exclusively for the maintenance of the Tabernacle, so that this ransom did go, wholly, to the Lord.

God is always willing to forgive a repentant sinner, but He is also more than willing, and frighteningly able, to punish those who are unrepentant. And God must punish the wrongdoer. If God doesn’t punish those who do wrong and do not repent, then His promise of salvation is empty. God said that the guilty will be punished- He says it over and over throughout the Tanakh; He has the Prophets tell us over and over that we shall suffer if we do not obey the Lord (and we did, too!), and Yeshua also tells us this. At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:14, Yeshua tells us that if we do not forgive on Earth, then we will not be forgiven by God in heaven.

Torah is valid: it was valid when God gave it to us, it was valid when David was king, it was valid when Herod ruled, it was valid during and after Yeshua’s ministry, and it is valid, today. Not just to Jews, but to everyone.  Just because we can be forgiven doesn’t mean we can ignore God’s word: God told us to ransom our soul even though we were doing what He commanded, so even when we obey Him we can still be guilty! His laws are absolute.

Christianity has been teaching for centuries that the Jews have Torah and Christians have the blood of Christ. That is totally wrong- everyone has Torah, and everyone has the blood of Christ! The Torah was given to the Jewish people so they could live it as an example for everyone else to learn from, and follow. The blood of Messiah was shed so that everyone could have salvation because no one can live perfectly in accordance to Torah. How absolutely inane to say that Christians have the blood of Christ, as if they were the only ones He died for! He died for Jews, He died for Buddhists, He died for Muslims, He died for Devil worshipers, He died for E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E!!!   

And Torah was given to the Jews, but Torah is also for everyone. Torah tells us how God wants us to worship Him and treat each other, Yeshua told us the deeper meanings of the Torah and that we shouldn’t try to just follow it legalistically (i.e., just obey the letter of the law), but that we need to follow it spiritually. Jeremiah 31:31 tells us that the New Covenant will be that God will write His Torah on our hearts, which is exactly what Yeshua was telling us to do! It will be more than words to follow, it will be the very thing we are!

The Torah was given to guide us, Yeshua died for us because we can’t follow Torah perfectly (but NOT in place of the Torah) and the blood of Christ is for everyone to be able to have their sins washed away and be reconciled to God. God isn’t stupid- if you call upon His name and hold up the blood of Christ as your means of forgiveness, but you are unrepentant, you will not be accepted. And the proof that you are repentant, or that you are not repentant, will be by your fruits, by how you act towards others and towards God.

The Torah tells us how to show our repentance, so to refuse to follow Torah is to refuse to be repentant.

Look…no one can obey Torah completely, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t supposed to try.

I don’t deserve this

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The parashah this coming Shabbat tells of the sin of the Golden Calf at Mt. Sinai. We see in this one of the less spoken about aspects of Moshe (Moses), which is his courage. We haven’t really seen that too much; I mean, when he first met the Lord at the burning bush all he wanted to do was get out of the calling. He did something along the way to Egypt that got God so mad He almost killed Moses (the Chumash suggests that Moses pretended to be sick to delay going), and even though he appeared before Pharaoh, it was Aaron that did most of the talking and doing. It took Moshe a while before he really stood up and took charge.

At the mountain after the people sin, God tells Moses to stand back so God can destroy these rebellious and stiff-necked people, then make a nation out of Moses. So, what does Moses do? He doesn’t stand out of the way, he stands in the breach! He places himself between a rebellious and sinful people deserving of death and the Lord, God Almighty, who is all powerful and, I should add, pretty pissed off at the moment.

Pretty gutsy, says I.

You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with the title? What doesn’t he deserve?”

The same thing that you don’t deserve- salvation.

The people deserved death, and they weren’t worthy to have God’s presence with them, but thanks to Moses they not only got to survive their sin, but also had God’s presence travel with them for the next 40 years.

Moses stood between God and the sin of the people to save them, and what they got they got because of Moses.

Yeshua stood between God and all the people in the world, and every sin that ever happened and ever will. Because of Yeshua we all have the hope of salvation- what we have we have because of Yeshua.

Shaul tells the Gentile Roman Believers in Romans 11 that they aren’t to be proud or haughty when thinking about how they have salvation that the Jewish people don’t because if it weren’t for the Jews (not accepting Yeshua fully), they wouldn’t have anything. They have what they have because of the Jewish people.

In Deuteronomy 9: 5-6 Moses tells the people that they are going to enter a wonderful land of milk and honey, which they don’t deserve to enter. The only reason they are entering is because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I don’t deserve what I have: salvation from my sinful nature, peace of spirit from the Comforter Yeshua sent to me (The Ruach HaKodesh, or Holy Spirit) and hope for my loved ones that comes only from the promise Yeshua made that whatever we ask for in His name we shall receive. Even though I know it comes down to these people choosing to accept God and Yeshua, and that because God gave us all free will they may never be saved, I have no hope for what I can do and every hope that God can do what I can’t. I trust that He is answering my prayers, and that if anyone can get my children to accept God and reconcile to me, it is God. And if  (and when ) they do, I won’t deserve it- it will be because of what God does.

We don’t deserve what we have, and we don’t have what we deserve. Thank God for that! We all should remember to remember this: we don’t deserve what we have with God. This is not something we should beat ourselves down with, it is something which we can use to continually raise ourselves up! When we understand and appreciate all that others have done for us it should encourage us to do better, ourselves.

We owe it to God, to Yeshua, to Moses, to Abraham, to the Prophets, to everyone and anyone who has stood in the breach between us and God to make our salvation possible. And because they have risked and (more often than not) lost their lives for us, we need to do everything we can to honor their sacrifice, every moment of every day.

I am saved by the Grace of God, by the sacrificial death of Yeshua, by the courage of Moses, with the guidance of friends and strangers who knew the Lord, by my Rabbi, who helped me to see how to maintain and strengthen my faith, by so many people. I owe it to them to continue, faithfully, to be a better me and to help others as they have helped me.

I don’t deserve what I have been given, and neither do you. Let’s show our gratitude by running the good race, keeping our eyes on the prize, and doing for others what others have done for us.