Tag: Bible

Without Faith There is Only Fear

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Scientists who claim that all life was formed by an accident, some coincidence of a random mixing of elements and environment, believe they are right. And, as we have accidentally became more physiologically advanced, we have also been told there is no guidance to the Universe, only the random interactions of different events. Now, as a result of believing that our entire existence is random and accidental, despite being at our highest level of intellectual power, we treat the theory of evolution as a fact, we worship not the God who created us but the science He created, and we wonder why there is so much fear ,discomfort, depression, anxiety, feelings of uselessness and lack of hope in the world.

How can we be so smart, and so stupid, at the same time?

There is a simple, obvious and understandable reason for the fear so many people feel, along with the insatiable need to be in control: it’s because we, as a species, need to know there is someone in charge who can manage this thing we call “life” better than we can, and we are told that He doesn’t exist.

Growing up as children, we tested the limits of our acceptable behavior and the limits of our bodies. We intrinsically trusted our parents to watch over us and keep us from going too far. As a baby we would fall right off our father’s shoulders, and never think for a second about harming ourselves because there was no doubt he would catch us. That’s what is missing in the world today- no one trusts God to catch them. In fact, too many people don’t even think God is in charge, or even that He exists.

And way too many people just don’t care.

It comes down to this: if there is no control in the Universe, if God is not the designer, creator, ultimately in control and able to save us whatever happens, then all we have left is ourselves to fight the world. Alone, empty-handed, and incompetent. No wonder people all so scared they soil themselves. Or smoke, or drink to excess, or do drugs, and practice any and all forms of hedonism.

If you don’t know the Lord and you want to, He is waiting for you. God wants to forgive you but you have to want it, too. You have to be willing to stop trying to control the world around you and let God take control of you. Fight the world from inside out, not the other way around, and that means you need armor and guidance. Our perfect coach is the Comforter, the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) that you will receive when you truly ask for it and are willing to accept it. And once you have this, you will be able to use the armor against the world that God provides for you (the inventory list is in Ephesians 6:10.)

President Roosevelt (Franklin, not Teddy) said that only thing we need to fear is fear, itself. That is one way of looking at it, and it makes sense in a world without God. But in my world, God is the one I look to for protection and guidance and salvation, and He is more powerful than anything, so I am not afraid of “fear” because He gives me a spirit of victory.

We all know someone (probably a lot of someones) who are ruled by fear- fear of loss, fear of the world, fear of  terrorism, fear of the weather, fear of the stock market, fear of change…they run their lives not by going forth boldly in trust and faithfulness, but by tip-toeing around every little thing that happens. And running scared whenever they hear a noise.

Fear of harming ourselves is instinctive, and it can be a healthy constraint that shows respect for the one who made us and gave us life, which is too precious to throw away foolishly.  However, fear should be used constructively, it should help us maintain a healthy lifestyle and we must control it. We should not let it control us.

God is in charge: He will make sure that you don’t have to deal with anything that you cannot handle, and even if you fall, He is there to catch you and help you get back on track. I always believed that failing is necessary to succeed, and if someone has never failed or never fallen on their face, then they have never tried to be better.

When we have accepted God’s grace, know His Messiah, and am empowered by the Ruach living inside of us, we can face the world confidently knowing that the one who formed it is on our side.

Hey, it’s easy to win when you are on the side of the one who makes the rules.

Parashah Ki Thetze (Go Forth) Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25

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In this parashah there are many seemingly miscellaneous laws, dealing with everything from marrying a captured slave woman to how to divorce her, rights of the criminal, OSHA regulations (must have a parapet on the roof), mixing of different things (animals that are yoked, seeds in the field, cloths), what to wear, what not to wear, sparing the mother bird, adultery, tzitzis, holiness of the camp, kindness to animals, excessive punishment, providing for the poor and needy, accountability for sin, kidnapping, pledges, charging of interest, business dealings, and others.

Most of these laws are easy to understand, and some don’t seem to make sense. This parashah seems to have a little of all three types of laws: Miztvot (commandments), Mishpatim (regulations) and Chukkim (laws we don’t understand the reason or meaning of.)

The message I would like to get across today is this: let the Holy Spirit guide your interpretation.  We may not be able to understand all that we read in the Bible; in fact, we can’t understand all that we read in the Bible! That’s one of the things that is so great about reading it every day! No matter how many times I read it, I always find something new in there, something I have seen a hundred times but never understood before that reading.

And that is not of my doing- it comes from the understanding I receive through the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit.

When I want to know what message God has for me, I “un-focus” my brain and leave it open to the Holy Spirit. It’s like when you find yourself staring directly at something but you don’t really see it because you haven’t focused your stare. I do that with my brain (most people who know me will tell you I do that a lot) and sort of open it up to the Holy Spirit to place what it wants in there. I am sure there are people who hear God talking to them, audibly, but I don’t. I get this little, still voice in the back of my head that just sort of “pops” something in there. And when it goes against what I was thinking I should do or say, or against what I thought I wanted, I can be certain that it is God. Especially because when I get that thought, it’s different from what I thought it should be and yet I know in my spirit that it is right, well…that’s gotta be the Big Guy leading me.

Today what I have for you is a short and simple lesson: let God’s spirit lead your interpretation and understanding when you read His word.

After all, who is better to explain what He means than the author, Himself?

Being Correct Doesn’t Make You Right

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One of the nicest slaps in the face I ever received was from Jim McGovern, one of the better bosses I have been blessed to work for. He told me that what I say to people is usually right, but I say it the wrong way.

That’s an important lesson for all of us.

I read this morning in Dear Abby about a woman whose uncle is (apparently) a person who believes in the Bible and what it says. However, at a gay marriage he was invited to (and he went?) he screamed out while the men were walking down the aisle that his bible says Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. He has also been very vocal (and impolite) at other occasions. She went on to say he was divorced three times already and on his 4th marriage, and by now I understood this person, and the way he was expressing biblical truths, was not using God’s word to honor God; in fact, he was dishonoring God by his actions.

Being a God-fearing, Bible-loving Believer is great! But ramming it down someone else’s throat doesn’t bring any glory or honor to God. Just the opposite- it dishonors Him, and will drive people away from the Lord instead of bringing them to Him. We need to show the word of God in the proper light- by being a living example of the love, compassion and forgiveness that God showed to us, and that Yeshua showed, as well.

I don’t believe that homosexuality is a correct way to be- it is a sin. So is lying, so is adultery, so is stealing, so is murder, so is gossip. To God, sin = sin. There is no sin>sin or sin<sin: sin=sin=sin. It is all the same to God, any one sin is just as bad as many sins, and it only takes one sin to separate us from the Lord.

By God’s grace and love, every sin is forgivable. Through Yeshua’s sacrifice, every one of us can be forgiven, and saved eternally from ourselves.

I have dear family members, on my side and Donna’s, that are gay. I love them, I visit them and love it when they visit me. I don’t ram down their throats what I think because I am just as much as sinner as they are- we are all in the same boat, we are all sinners, we are all in need of the salvation of God available through Yeshua ha Mashiach.

We should be allowed to voice our opinions but we need to respect the rights of others to make their own choices in life. We will all be before the Lord, sooner or later, and He is the final judge. God, and God alone, is the ultimate, final and only fair and just judge that is, was, or ever will be. And that is because He can see the heart, whereas we humans can barely see the nose on our face.

Hate the sin and love the sinner- we say it, we hear it, but do you live it? If you are the one who says what is right but says it the wrong way, the bottom line is that you are wrong. I am one who knows- I am the rightest wrong person you will ever meet. I am an old pro at being right the wrong way, and when you drive people away or hurt their feelings saying the right things, you are wrong.

Why? Because when you plant a seed you need to sow it gently. By shoving the truth down someone’s throat you are sowing seed then stomping on it, then kicking it, then stomping on it again.

Ain’t gonna get no harvest that way!

People don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do– the man described above may say he believes in the bible, but what he does says he is just a self-righteous, judgmental person who is using God’s word as his excuse to berate others and voice his own opinion. He isn’t giving honor or glory to God, he is only proving he is a “holier-than-thou” you-know-what.

If we are really God-fearing, and we really believe in the bible, and we really want to show others the truth and love of God, and we really want to bring others to salvation, we really won’t do it by preaching how wrong they are and insulting them. That won’t win people over to God because when you insult people all you do is force them to become defensive. Besides that, another truism I have learned from being in sales is that people only believe half of what you say, but 100% of what they say, so no matter what you say or how correctly you say it, they still won’t really believe you. They will, however, notice how you live, how you act towards them, and how you treat others.

If you want to win people over to God, don’t tell then how they should act: show them.

No One Turns to God When They’re Happy

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I may be wrong with today’s title. I am certain there are people out there who haven’t accepted God’s Grace and are enjoying fulfilling, useful and happy lives. Maybe there are people who have comfort and joy in their lives, but haven’t accepted God or His Messiah, then suddenly realize that it is not because of their own worthiness or power that they are so well off but because God is giving them blessings out of nothing more than His love for His children.

Maybe there are people who can appreciate Him and say to themselves, “Hey, know what? This is too good to be true, and I don’t deserve any of it because I am a sinner. So, while I am enjoying my life, let me stop and thank God for it, and take this time to accept His Grace, the salvation He made possible through Messiah Yeshua, and ask for forgiveness for the sins He is not punishing me for. ”

Maybe this is happening, maybe there are people who come to the Lord this way, maybe… but I really, REALLY doubt it.

Humans are self-centered, self-absorbed, self-important and hedonistic. And those are our good qualities!

I do not ever recall, in the 18 years I have been saved and even before, talking to anyone or hearing of anyone who came to the Lord in the midst of their joy. It is almost a foregone conclusion that when we are happy all we care about is staying happy. We don’t want to know or think of anything else.

In D’Varim (Deuteronomy) 8:10-20 Moshe warns the children of Israel against falling prey to their nature, in that once they have been secure and happy in the land they will forget it was God who did all that for them and that it was God who made it all possible, driving out the nations before them, and that it was because of God’s love for them that they have that security and abundance. He tells them to remember the Lord in the midst of their joy and not to think that they earned any of the peace they will have. In other places in the Torah he tells them to never think they are worthy of the land God is giving to them: in fact, Moses reminds them throughout the Torah about their stubbornness, their stiff-necked attitude and continual refusal to follow God’s laws wholeheartedly.

I think you have to agree with me- we don’t appreciate what we have until we lose it. We want, we pray, we get, and when we are happy we think it was by our power we now have it and we ignore God. When it all goes away, we cry and kvetch and, finally, when we are beaten into a sobbing hulk of self-pity, those who are still smart enough to remember where it all came from look up to God, repent and ask forgiveness.

And He forgives. Over and over, He forgives. Not because we deserve it, because we don’t. I mean, maybe the first, or second, or even third time we screw it all up I can see His forgiveness being given. But after 40 years in the desert and still not paying attention? After thousands of years of distorting His word, making our own rules from His simple commandments? And what about the religions with rules that are against His commandments? How can He still be able, let alone willing- actually, wanting!-  to forgive us time and time again?

The answer is as simple as the commandments He gave us- He can, He does and He wants to because He is God.

If you are reading this and don’t consider yourself saved, thinking that your life is your own, please take this test:

  1. Can you add even 1 hour to the day?;
  2. Can you change one hair on your head from black to gray (without medical intervention)?;
  3. Do you know when you will die?;
  4. Do you know when Yeshua will return?

If you cannot answer any of those questions with an absolute “Yes”, I suggest you reconsider your position about God. And soon, because the prophecies about judgement are all pointing to the unavoidable conclusion that it will be here soon….very, very soon.

If your life is joyful and serene, please thank God for it. It’s because of Him. And if your life sucks, you are unhappy, depressed, needy and feel rejected, then look to God for help. He is there to bring you out of the pit and into the light.

And know this- those of you who are joyful and at peace today may be in tribulation tomorrow, so enjoy it and thank God for it.

Never lose sight of the fact that whatever you have that feels like a gift from above is just that- a gift from above. Yacov (James) reminds us in James 1:17 that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

God doesn’t change, and we can. I think that is one of the greatest gifts that God provided for us, the fact that we have not just the opportunity to change, but the ability. They say the leopard cannot change it’s spots nor the tiger it’s stripes, but we can change; no matter how old we are, no matter how bad we’ve been (or good, for that matter- it can go both ways) and no matter how long we’ve been that way.

God will accept you whenever you ask His forgiveness and request His grace, so don’t wait for the bad times to do so and never forget to thank Him during the good times.

He is worthy and deserving of thanks, all the time.

Intolerance is Not Bigotry

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Once again, thank you Ask Amy for ideas and inspiration.

She was answering a letter from a man who was shocked that a recent friend , who is a Christian, was against homosexuality. Amy answered that his friend is intolerant and Christians are taught to be that way (she didn’t say that outright, but she strongly implied it), yet she was tolerant by stating that the writer of the letter could learn to allow other people their opinion.

So the “Christian” with a politically incorrect belief is intolerant (i.e., hateful) and this man can be honorable by accepting that from him. The man who allows the Christian to be intolerant is correct, and the Christian is just pain wrong.

Intolerance is not hatred or bigotry. The difference (for me, at least- you may agree or not) is that bigots and racists hate people for what they are, whereas a true Believer will hate the things the person does but loves the person.

An intolerant person is someone who, according to Mr. Webster, is “not willing to allow or accept something“; there is also a second definition that says an intolerant person is one who is “unwilling to grant equal freedom of expression especially in religious matters.“

Let’s take a look at some of the intolerant people throughout history: God, Moses, the Prophets, Yeshua (Jesus), many of the kings of old (they’re examples of the bad type of intolerance because they would just kill people who had different opinions), people who never prostituted their ideals or accepted less than what they knew to be right (Edison, Ford, Gates, Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, to name a few.)

Intolerance isn’t the problem: it’s what we are intolerant of that is the true indicator of whether we are upholding ideals or being bigoted.

I do not agree with many of the ‘socially acceptable’ things people do.  I base this not on my personal feelings as much as on what I believe God tells us we should do, and what He says we should not do. In fact, I am intolerant of myself at times because (if I may paraphrase what that nice Jewish boy from Tarsus said when he wrote the letter to the Messianic Jews in Rome) I often do what I don’t want to do and do not do that which I would rather be doing

I am not a good example of doing what is right, but I am a good example of someone trying to do what is right.

Am I intolerant? You bet I am! I am intolerant: not of people, but of sin, and I am intolerant of those that define sin by what they want it to be and not by what God says it is.

The enemy wants us to be tolerant and to accept what everyone wants to do. When we do that, we have no scruples, no measurable level of right verse wrong. When we allow that everyone has the right to do what they want, we don’t have individual freedom- we have total anarchy. And, whether it is a legal anarchy, political anarchy, or spiritual anarchy, it is the perfect environment for the enemy to just step in and take over. Today when someone is “tolerant” they are not just expected to allow others the right to their opinion, but they are expected, indeed required, to give up their own right to their opinion.

If I believe <fill in the blank> is wrong, then I am intolerant. It doesn’t hold true so much if I fill that blank in with, oh, say….murder, or rape, or arson, or a legally defined criminal act. If I fill it in with something religious or godly, say adultery, or idolatry, or homosexuality, or lying, or even blasphemy, then I am probably going to be “called onto the carpet” for it.

That’s OK with me- I will stand for what God says and if He says don’t stand for sin, then I won’t stand for sin. I won’t allow sin to go unchallenged, and I won’t accept the evil I see just so that I can be considered “tolerant” by others.

Hate the sin but love the sinner. That’s a hard thing to do, but isn’t it the only thing that separates Believers from bigots?

However, don’t expect the world to see that very important difference because it doesn’t want to, so be true to God and to yourself, and don’t worry about the others.

After all, if they tell you you are wrong for believing what you do, doesn’t that makes them just as intolerant as you are?

Parashah Re’eh (Behold) Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17

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With this parashah we leave the First Discourse of Moses, the historical discourse,  and come into the Second Discourse of this book, which is the Rehearsal of the Code. Essentially, Moses reviews (as is pretty much what D’varim is- a review of all that has happened since leaving Egypt) the laws that God has given to the Israelites. These laws deal with religious institution and worship (although God doesn’t have any religion), criminal law, domestic life and concludes with tithing, first fruits and accompanying prayers.

The very first thing that God tells the people in this Parashah is that they have a choice, the freedom to choose for themselves, individually and corporately, whether or not they will obey the laws given to them. Obedience will bring blessings, and disobedience will bring curses. Seems easy enough, doesn’t it?

BTW…God doesn’t do bad things to people, but He does allow bad things to happen to those who reject His kippah (covering) of protection. God’s curses are not evil intentions designed to hurt us; those curses are actually self-inflicted. They are the direct result of “walking away” from God, which means leaving the protection He offers us from the world.

The world is a cursed place, full of evil and godlessness. When we obey God, it is like walking under an umbrella during a thunderstorm: we are protected from that which is all around us. Sure, our feet get wet, maybe from the knees down our pants are soaked, but overall we are not drenched by the rains. However, when we reject God’s laws, we are stepping away from the umbrella and showing that (to coin a phrase) we don’t have enough sense to get out of the rain.

The blessings are active actions, things God does on purpose to help and protect us. The curses are passive actions, things that happen to us when God is not protecting us. And it isn’t His choice to not protect us- we are the ones who choose to reject His protection.

Some may say, “Oh, yeah? Well, we aren’t really free, we don’t really have a choice because if we want the protection we have to do as God says.” That’s right- you do have to obey God to be protected. But the world has rules, too. Their rules are ones where you must conform, you must “take the mark” to be able to fit in with everyone else, and the world is not compassionate or understanding. If you screw up in the world, you’re dead meat.

God, however, is not like the world. If we should stumble and fall, He will move to cover us when we reach out to Him. He will bring the umbrella to where we are, lift us up, and let us come back under His protection. He will clean off the mud and the dirt and we will be able to keep walking with Him. Even when we totally walk away, we are always welcomed back when we realize our mistake and ask for His forgiveness and for His protection.

That ain’t happening in the real world.

So, yes- we do have a choice. As Yeshua said, we are all slaves to something, either to God or to sin. We choose, we decide, and we need to remember that to choose God is to choose a way that will  have us walking separately from the rest of the world, but under His kippah. If we choose the world, we will be uncovered in the storm. The problem is that once you get soaking wet, you don’t feel the rain anymore so you think you are OK. That’s how sin stays in our lives, and multiplies, until we get so soaked in disgusting things that the stench is no longer noticeable.

We do have a choice, we do have free will, and we do have the exact same options that the Israelites had some 3,500 years ago: we can choose blessings or curses, we can choose to obey or reject, we can choose life or death. And when we choose God, we choose His laws as He gave them- that means living within the rules of the Torah. The whole Torah, not just the parts we like.

The world will make you live with your choice, and God will always let you change your mind, either for the good or for the bad. His gift of blessings and salvation is irrevocable. That means it will not be taken back, but that doesn’t mean we can’t throw it away.

The choice is yours, so choose well and remember this: whichever choice you make, the longer you stay with it, the easier it becomes to stay with it.

Those that have ears, let them hear.

See Today Through Tomorrow’s Eyes

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This morning’s Drash falls somewhere between spiritual maturity and anger management.

The other day I was praying and began to wonder why I, a person who knows Messiah, who knows God’s plan, and who knows the wonderful future I have to look forward to basking in the glory and love of the Lord, get mad at anything. Especially the stupid, little things that get under my skin, like, oh, let’s say, USERS!!!!

Sorry. If anyone reading this is one of the people my company supports, it’s not you I’m talking about.  🙂

So, as I was thinking about the future, I also started to think about how it always seems to take forever when looking forward to something, but when you look back it seems that life happened at supersonic speed.

That’s when it hit me- stop looking forward and only look backwards.

I don’t mean we should ignore the future, or never plan for anything- that’s silly. We all need to have something to look forward to because without a future there’s no hope. What I mean is that we need to look at what is happening to us today with tomorrow’s eyes, as if we were remembering this current event instead of living through it. That way the immediacy of the emotional impact is lessened to a large degree.

It does take practice, it takes retraining your own reactions, and it ain’t easy. I have not mastered it…not by a long shot!

But I am certain that if I can just stop for a second, remove myself from this moment’s feelings just long enough to force myself to believe it is days or years later, and I am looking back on what is happening at this very instant, what memory of this event would I want?

I truly believe that if I can do that, I will not react but will act; I will be able to do what I would have wanted to do, that so many times I wish, looking back, I had done.

This simple, but not so simple, thing is what can make a difference in one’s life. It can help us to be more like what God wants us to be, and less like what the world has trained us to be.

God’s time is not like ours- I think that is often why He can be so wonderfully compassionate and understanding, and also so angry at us when we don’t think we are doing anything that bad. It’s because God sees what is happening and what will happen, whereas we can barely look beyond the end of the nose on our own face!

That is what looking with tomorrow’s eyes allows us to do- see past our noses. It takes work, and as I’ve said, it isn’t easy. That’s where the spiritual maturity part comes in. With a powerful prayer life, and constantly dying to self to allow more room for the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to fill us, we can call on God’s Comforter to help us overcome our emotional, fleshly reactions so that we can look at what is happening this very second as if it were a memory.

And when you learn to see now as if it were long ago, your emotions will slow down, your anger will abate, and you will be able to make what you do now the memory you want it to be later.

Try it! After all, what have you got to lose except unpleasant memories and people being angry at you?

No Deals for Forgiveness

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Remember those old movies, the ones from the 40’s and 50’s? The tough kid whose brother is in the hospital, or the troublemaker who finally comes to terms with his own anger when the only girl he ever loved is dying, and they go through this kind of a speech:

“Lord, you know I ain’t no praying person, and I always kinda thought you were there, and if you are now, and you’re listening, please save (place name here.) S/he’s better than I am , I ain’t never been any good, so take my life and give it to him/her.”

I’m almost crying now, just thinking of those heart-wrenching prayers.

Poppycock!

Get real, people! God doesn’t make deals, you can’t swap your life for another. Each person who sins must deal with their sins; first, by accepting them (you can’t give away what you don’t own) and then by wanting to be rid of them. When we realize our own sinfulness and realize, at the same time, our inability to overcome it, that’s when people come to God and ask forgiveness for themselves. Praying for others is fine, interceding is godly, and asking God to forgive others is good to do. However, when it comes down to it, each person must have their moment with God. Each of us must form that relationship, that personal relationship, with God, and that has to start by asking forgiveness for ourselves.

This is clear throughout the Bible:

  • Jeremiah 31:30 (Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes–their own teeth will be set on edge.);
  • Deuteronomy 24:16 (Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.);
  • Ezekiel 18:20 (The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.)

These are some examples I found in the Tanakh, and even if it isn’t stated specifically in the B’rit Chadashah (Good News / New Covenant) Yeshua didn’t say or teach anything differently that what is in the Tanakh.

I am not saying that to pray for someone else’s forgiveness is not valuable or good to do- far be it for me to deny the power and goodness of interceding. If Moses hadn’t interceded for the Israelites, and more than once, we would all be remembering father Moses instead of father Abraham.

What I am saying is that God is not going to swap out your righteousness for someone else’s sinfulness. You can pray for them, I often pray for my kids (like every day often), and lift them up to the Lord. Ask His forgiveness of them, which He will do by sending others to show them the path to Him. They still need to come to Him on their own, and He can (and will) send angels of mercy to direct them, and (as in most cases) human beings who know the Lord to help those you pray for see the truth. I know that if not for the people who were mature of spirit and could approach me without telling me I had to convert, I would not be saved today.

Isn’t it best when we follow the rules? The Bible tells us what to do:

  1. Ask forgiveness for yourself, so that through the cleansing that comes from Yeshua’s sacrifice you can approach the Lord:
  2. Ask the Lord to save these people from themselves by forgiving them, not because they deserve it but because He is God, and ask that He do so for His names’ sake;
  3. Ask that God send angels of mercy to lead these people away from sin; and finally
  4. Pray that you are a better example to them of the peace and joy that is found only in God’s salvation, brought to us through the Comforter (the Ruach HaKodesh, Holy Spirit), so that they will become jealous of your peace and how you find comfort even in the midst of troubles.

Of course, you may have a better prayer, or something you are more comfortable with. The above is my prayer, it’s how I try to intercede for my loved ones who don’t know the Lord.

Don’t try to make deals or swap out your salvation for someone else. It makes for good fodder in the movies, but not in real life. In real life we all have to deal with our relationship to God and others, and what we do is what we will be held accountable for.

As I have said before, and will (no doubt) say again: people don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do. God will hold us accountable for what we do, so pray for others, and pray that they come to know the Lord so they can turn from their sin. God will always answer prayer, I believe that He will send angels and people to help those we pray for, but always understand and accept that each of us must come to the Lord, on our own.

Trust in God to answer your prayer but remember that He will not force anyone to worship Him, so as much as God works to lead others to Him, most will reject Him. Get comfortable with that truth, that Biblical truth, because you will see many you love turn against you and against God when the Tribulation comes.

We need to pray for others, accept that God is listening and working on their behalf, but it is, ultimately, up to them to come to God.

Parashah Ekev (follow) Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25

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Most of D’Varim (Deuteronomy) is a discourse from Moses reminding the children of Israel all that has happened to them over the past forty years, reminding them of God’s commandments and encouraging them to obey God after they have gone into the land and conquered it.

This parashah starts with Moses continuing his discourse on the history of their journey. He reminds them of the wonderful ways God has protected and fed them, and also of the horrible ways they have rejected God and tested Him. Moses goes back and forth from what God has done, what He will do to help, and how He has kept His part of the covenant, then about how they have, for their part, broken the covenant because they refused to obey and what will happen to them if they continue to refuse.

He tells them they are to go in and take over the land, destroying all the pagan items and peoples, and that even though the people there are stronger and mightier than they are, God will go before them and battle for them.

Moses warns the people that they shouldn’t become complacent when God has done all these wonderful things, and begin to think that they deserved any of it. He is quite adamant that they don’t, and they better not forget that. They are getting the best not because they deserve it, but because God loved their ancestors, who did deserve it. They don’t. He wants them to continually be humble before the Lord- as should we all.

I  like how Moses tells them in chapter 10, verses 12-13 that all God requires is for the people to fear God, walk in His ways, love and serve Him. Sound familiar? Read Micah 6:8.

The message here for all of us is that we need to remember that God will do for us all that we could ever want, and when we walk in trusting faithfulness, He will be there, in front of us, protecting us and forging a path for us so we can complete the trip. He will smooth the path, place hedges on the right and the left to keep us straight, and destroy the enemies blocking our way. And if we fall, He will pick us up. If needs be, He may even carry us for a way. However, He won’t carry us all the way; there may be a smooth path but there will be hills to overcome and valleys to pass through. It won’t be easy, it won’t always be fun, but we must keep going.

That’s really the whole story, isn’t it? From beginning to end, the basic A-B-C’s of salvation are:

A– Accept your own sinfulness and need for God, Accept the rule of God, and Accept His Messiah;

B– Be obedient, Be dedicated, Be an example of God’s wonder and goodness;

C- Continue to work at being more of what God wants you to be so you can Complete the journey.

That’s all there is to Salvation: it’s easy to attain, it’s hard to keep, but it’s well worth having.

What’s in a Name?

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According to Shakespeare, nothing. He asked that question, and justified the answer by having Juliet tell herself that a rose would still smell as sweet even if it was called something else.

That’s all good for Juliet, but we should be a little more careful with the names we use in worship, and we should be more aware that, based on what we read in the Bible, names do have meaning to God.

For instance, didn’t God tell Hosea what to name his children? There was meaning in their names. And in Revelations 2, 3 and 22 we are told about new names, and the “name of my God” (3:12): what is God’s name? The Tetragrammaton is made of the 4 Hebrew letters, yud, heh, vav, heh ( YHVH) but no one knows the real pronunciation. Supposedly, Moses was told what God’s true name is when he was sent by God to Pharaoh, so that he could prove he was sent by God to the Hebrew slaves. Knowing God’s true name is something that no one today knows.

Don’t think Jehovah or Yahweh is God’s name, absolutely, because we really don’t know. Jehovah most likely isn’t because it is a name composed of the letters of the Tetragrammaton with the vowels from the word Adonai, which in Hebrew means Lord (when used for God’s name, it is always spelled with a capital ‘A’.) The Masorites took the letters Y-H-V-H and placed the vowel points for the word Adonai under the letters, and Voila! You have Jehovah!

Jesus Christ is a name with no meaning. The etymology is that the Greek’s had no cultural, religious or (even) social identification with an “anointed one.” The name given to the son of Miryam and Yosef when he was born was (and it still is) ‘Yeshua’, which means ‘God’s salvation’; the Greeks didn’t have this name in any of their naming books, so they used a transliteration, a word that sounds like Yeshua. For them, that word/name was Jesu. When the Romans took over the writing of the scriptures, they latinized ‘Jesu’ to ‘Jesus.’ Christ came from Cristos, and I have seen a number of different histories of this word. Anything from the Greek word Chrestos, for ‘good’ to Cristo,  a method of rubbing oil on the leather shields to keep them supple. That meaning was used to identify the anointing by placing oil on the head of the Messiah.

Jesus Christ is not His name. His name is Yeshua ben Yosef, but we know that He is really Yeshua ben Adonai. The Talmud says the Messiah will first come as Yeshua ben Yosef (the suffering servant Isaiah talked about, where Yosef is the son of Yacov/Jacob) and then also as Yeshua ben David. That will be when He comes as the mighty king.

There is definitely substance and importance in the names we give and the names we are given, so far as God is concerned. That is pretty obvious in the Bible, especially in the writings of the Prophets. Every tribe of Israel was given a name (Genesis 29:31 and afterwards) based on how their mother (whether Leah or Rachel) felt about their relation at that time to God or Jacob, and even each other (since they were jealous of each other), and it ended with Benjamin, whom Rachel named before she died, Ben-oni (son of my sorrow) but Yacov changed to Ben-yamin, or son of my right hand, indicating a favored position.

I am not saying that everyone should stop using the name Jesus Christ and instead must use Yeshua ha Maschiach. That would be fine with me, but I think God and Yeshua are big enough to handle this centuries-old misnomer. Whether you call upon the name of Jesus, or Yeshua, you are calling out to the right guy and He will answer. However, I would ask that you be careful about calling on the name of the Lord if you happen to be around during the tribulation. Revelations also tells us about a few new names being given out, and one or two of them refer to someone you certainly do not want to be calling out to.

I am Jewish and feel much more comfortable with ‘Yeshua” than I ever will with ‘Jesus’, and that’s OK. It’s also perfectly acceptable if you use ‘Jesus’. We all know it’s the same guy, and I don’t think He minds too much which name we use (then again, who am I to talk for Him?) What is important is that you realize names do have meaning, and import, and I would ask that you make sure exactly what the name means for the person you call out to in your trouble and need.

The names we give our children used to serve a two-fold purpose: first to identify them as a member of a family, and their name was also a reminder of what they meant to their parents at the time of their birth; it could also be an indicator of who they may grow up to be. Today we name our children not based on our relationship to God but after people who have influenced our lives in one way or another. Nothing wrong with naming someone as a memorial or to honor a parent or ancestor, but some of the names we have today for kids? Really? And the names these movie stars use? Oy! Didn’t they ever hear Johnny Cash sing, “A Boy Named Sue?”

What’s in a name? It could be a lot, or nothing, depending on what you are trying to do when naming someone. Names are important, and there will be a couple of new names floating around during the End Days, so make sure you know which names are the ones to call out to when you call for help.