Tag: corporate

Sticks and Stones…

Leave a comment

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

 

I try to keep these posts related to the word of God and to steer away from political or social issues. Yet, politics and society are also something that is very closely related to what is happening on a spiritual level. With that in mind, I really need to get this off my chest.

Let’s talk about Rosanne Barr and what happened with her.

For those that may not be aware, Rosanne is a comedienne who had a hit show in the 1980’s as the wife in a blue-collar family with politically incorrect ideals. She was outspoken and a strong feminist. Recently ABC television has re-booted her show to demonstrate that they are willing to put on more conservative shows, being labelled as a liberal network. Rosanne recently “tweeted” about a past government official that had undertones of a possibly racist comment. She was immediately fired and her show cancelled.

The liberal front applauds this action, and the conservatives ask why ABC states that those racist and improper comments are not part of their corporate culture, yet have failed to apologize for the stingers and insults they have hurled at the Conservative politicians and the President.

Before I talk about this I want to say something clearly and unequivocally: racism is wrong. Hatred is wrong. Bigotry is wrong. I do not believe that anyone should use racist language or hateful accusations against another.

I also believe that when someone accuses another person of something, until that accusation is proven to be true the person accused is innocent. When two or more people have an issue both sides should be given an equal chance to give their side of the story and mediation should be the first choice. Neither of these things happen anymore in this country.

I have seen and also been the victim of unfair and unjustified accusations in the workplace and also where I have volunteered. I once corrected someone I was mentoring as a Docent at the Philadelphia Zoo who was giving bad information during a training session.  I was NOT nasty or mean- I simply told her she needed to study up more.  She went off and cried about it and another woman heard her and asked what was wrong. I don’t know what was said between them, but the one who interfered was not present at the training and did not hear what I said to the trainee, yet she complained about me and next thing I knew I was told I couldn’t be a mentor anymore, or even teach classes to the trainees. Another time I was accused of sexual harassment at the place I worked and told I would have to take a sexual harassment test and sign a letter acknowledging the claim. I asked who accused me and what did I do and was told they wouldn’t tell me. I refused to do what they said without knowing why, and filed my own complaint. When the facts came out it was discovered that the investigation was totally one-sided and that the person who accused me was not even an employee. The person was in the public cafeteria and overheard someone else talking about a joke they THINK I may have told someone else. The eavesdropper thought that the joke MIGHT be upsetting to someone and complained to HR. HR ran with this and immediately created a sexual harassment case out of nothing more than hearsay from someone who wasn’t an employee and was invading someone else’s private conversation! I was totally innocent, never found out who said what or if I even was really the person they were talking about. Yet, my reputation was damaged.

More recently in the public and corporate world Starbucks had two Black men arrested for loitering and ended up shutting down all their stores to hold anti-bias training.  Dove, H&M and Old Navy corporations have all apologized for what employees have (or may have) done to upset people of different races. Netflix fired Kevin Spacey on allegations of sexual improprieties. Again- not after he was found guilty in a court of law, but just because someone accused him. Maybe he is guilty, maybe not, but this country is based upon the idea that someone is innocent until proven guilty.

At least, it used to be that way.

Looking at this from a spiritual view, I see the enemy at work in these actions. What I see happening is that we are becoming an overly sensitive nation of victims where free speech is becoming illegal. If I say something that even has a hint of being politically incorrect it is immediately flagged as bigoted, sexist or racist and I am wrong. It doesn’t matter if it was purposefully nasty or an accidental slip of the tongue. In today’s world whoever complains first, wins. Investigations don’t mean getting both sides of the story anymore. Today investigations mean asking the accuser what happened and seeing if anyone else will confirm it, then telling the accused they are wrong. And because of this immediate finding of guilt, even if later it’s discovered to have been a mistake it won’t matter to the accused because that person’s reputation is now permanently stained.

The way to take charge of a nation is to remove its freedoms; one of the most important freedoms is that of free thought and free speech. Now, don’t go off on a tangent and think I am saying anyone can say anything about anybody. I am not saying that. What I am saying is that when people are being treated unfairly and there is immediate and sever reaction (not action but RE-action) to statements they make, it gets to the point where everyone will be afraid to say anything against anyone else for fear of being persecuted.

Yes, I said persecuted and I meant it. Rosanne Barr is not a favorite of mine, but to be treated the way she was is (to me) a form of persecution- guilty without opportunity to repent. And when she did repent, she was not forgiven. Even though the person who she sinned against has said it was something she is not going to be upset about, those who weren’t even subject to the “slammer” are still unforgiving. As if they were the ones who were hurt.

They weren’t hurt but they are afraid.  Afraid of social media coming against them. The REAL reason they are afraid is this: they don’t want to lose money! They are willing to lose the show’s income in the short run to avoid losing sponsors in the long run. And the sponsors are afraid of losing customers (money) if they are associated with a show that had a star say something wrong. Even though what that person said was not part of the show or had anything to do with the network or its sponsors.

Can you see where this leads? By having a nation of self-centered and emotionally weak people, the enemy will be able to manipulate the national lack of confidence and victim-mindset to create an environment of fear. It is wrong to say bad things about people based on their sex, race or religion, but I see this over-sensitivity and over-reaction becoming something that the enemy will use to expand upon to the point where people will be afraid to speak out at all. Then when the enemy speaks against Messiah, no one will argue. When he speaks against the Lord, no one will dare stand up to him for fear of being called racist or possibly losing their job. And when the enemy proclaims himself as the one we should be worshiping, no one will stand against him for fear that they will be ostracized and persecuted.

This is what I see happening and I hope that some of you out there reading this can also see what I am seeing. These events may seem like nothing more than social and political mishaps, but it is really the spiritual battle we have been warned about.

When I was a child we used to say, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

Today we say: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words are now a Felony.” 

The time is now when the enemy of God will try to take over the world and the best way to make people do what you want is to take away their courage to stand against you. If you can make people afraid to speak out against someone for fear of being labelled in a non-socially acceptable way, you are half-way to total control.

Yeshua says in Matthew 17:15-20 that we can tell who someone is by their fruits. For me, if someone says something that demonstrates they are racist or sexist, their own words convict them and we should just ignore them. Again, I am not saying to be racist or bigoted is acceptable and if someone is doing something that is harmful, physically, to another they should be punished. But if someone’s speech and opinion just shows how stupid they are, ignore them.  Let them have their opinion and allow them to show themselves to be what they are. When David was cursed at by Shimei the Benjamite as he fled from Absalom (2 Samuel 6:13) David ignored him. Proverbs says that a soft word can turn fierce anger and we are told not to return evil for evil but to wait upon the Lord. These are all biblical examples of being strong enough, emotionally and spiritually to ignore what isn’t important.

I do not like people being nasty to each other, but we are humans and that is part of what we are. I see it constantly even in discussion groups composed of Believers.  It isn’t good but it is what it is and it isn’t going away until the Olam Haba (world to come), so let’s stop being so sensitive and just get on with the important stuff.

The day that we can’t voice an opinion without being persecuted for it is the day we are no longer free.

Parashah Shemot (the Names) Exodus 1 -1 6:1

Leave a comment

Wow. That’s about all there is to say when reading this parasha; in fact, when reading the next couple of parashot. Wow!

The seeds of the Nation of Israel have been planted in Goshen, seventy souls, and they begin to multiply. Joseph dies, and so, too, the generation of Joseph’s brothers. Later a new ruler, one of ancient Egyptian heritage (the Pharaoh who showed such kindness to Joseph was of the Hyksos and they were replaced by previously ousted Egyptians) is fearful of the multitude of Israelites, so he makes them slaves. As a way to maintain their numbers, he orders the death of the male children but the midwives refuse to do so and make excuses why they can’t get there in time to kill the children. The Israelites continue to prosper, despite the hard labor they are under.

One day a child is born who is kept aside, hidden for three months, then released to God’s care in a basket floating down the river Nile. His sister, Miryam, follows in the reeds (extremely dangerous when you consider that the Nile Crocodile, which can grow to 20 feet or more, likes to sunbathe in the reeds) and when a daughter of the Pharaoh finds the child and shows compassion, Miryam offers to get a Hebrew woman to nurse him. So, Moshe (Moses) is nursed by his own mother for years, and when he is returned to the daughter of Pharaoh he is old enough to have learned of his true heritage, which he remembers during his years under Egyptian study and while living in the Palace.

Moshe as an adult sees an Egyptian TaskMaster beating a Hebrew and in a fit of anger, kills the Egyptian, thinking no one will ever know. But he is discovered, and flees for his life. Living in Midian he takes a wife and becomes a shepherd. He has a son and when he is 80 years old, he sees the burning bush and receives his calling from God.

He didn’t take to it right away, but Moshe does go to Egypt and God has his older brother, Aaron, also go with him. Moshe asks Pharaoh to release the children of Israel. Pharaoh refuses, and to show even more disregard for the people and their God, he orders that they maintain their daily quota of bricks but refuses to give them the straw needed, forcing them to take what little time they have to themselves and use it to gather the straw they need.  The people, understandably, were not too happy with Moshe and Aaron, and this parashah ends with Moshe asking God why He has made things even worse than before when He said He would free the people.

There is a small part of this I want to talk about today- it is in Chapter 3, verses 21 and 22. Here is what the Chumash has:

“And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. And it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: (22) but every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. (Italics added)”

In Deuteronomy 15:12 we are told that when a faithful servant leaves the master that the servant is to be equipped liberally by the master. Therefore, God is saying that the parting from the Egyptian peoples, not the royalty, but the people, should be friendly and compassionate.

Most interpretations are that the despoiling of the Egyptians is thought to be the overdue compensation for centuries of unpaid labor, and there is certainly some validity to that interpretation. However, we are told in Deuteronomy 23:8 that we “shall not abhor an Egyptian.” The hebrew word often translated as “spoil”, נצל , is found 212 times in the Tanakh, and in 210 of those times it is translated as to snatch from danger, to save. The Chumash, therefore, says the proper translation of the end of verse 22 in this chapter is to save the Egyptians, not despoil them. The fact that the children are to be the ones wearing these ornaments and jewels demonstrates that this is an act to be remembered throughout the generations.

I was amazed when I read this, and I believe this is a hermeneutically proper usage of the word “נצל” because God is a God of forgiveness and compassion, and even though there is a very strong argument that the Israelites were due compensation for their labors, it is more important to forgive and reconcile than to revenge and repay. The Israelites were going to save the Egyptians by asking them to provide their former slaves with gifts as they leave their service. How does this “save” the Egyptians? By letting them send away the Israelites with good feelings, with a clean slate, so to speak, and by letting the Israelites have the reminders of the generosity of the Egyptian people so that they will know it was the Pharaoh, not the people, who persecuted the Hebrews.

Saying that the Hebrews despoiled Egypt is to me an anti-Egyptian (if you will) interpretation, no different than the underlying anti-Semitic interpretation of the New Covenant writings, in which it sounds like the entire Jewish nation rejected and hated Yeshua, when in truth the people loved, listened to and followed Him. There were probably tens of thousands of followers of Yeshua at the time of His death and after His resurrection, yet the interpretations of the New Covenant books and letters make it sound like the entire nation wanted Him dead. It was only the political powers that were against Yeshua, not the people, not “the Jews”. It was the leaders, not the led.

This was true of the persecution of the Jewish people under Pharaoh during the time of Moses, and it was true of the persecution of the new Believers, the Messianic Jews, in Jerusalem during the first and second centuries.

Throughout the bible we see how the people suffered as a result of the sins of their leaders, we see this in the (subliminal) anti-Semitic teachings in the Christian world where so many Christians have been taught that Torah is invalid and doesn’t apply to them. Today, thank God, many Christians are becoming more aware of the fact that their Jewish roots are still valid, that Torah is still valid, and that it is not true that Yeshua died a Jew and then was resurrected as a Christian. The Epistles of Shaul are not polemics against the Torah, but apologetics for it. Yes, things will change, but the word of God does not change. Yeshua said that the world will pass away but His words will never pass away (Mark 13:31), and all of His words were in keeping with the Torah. More recently, we have had world wars, terrorism, James Jones, Charles Manson, etc.  People suffering for the sins of their leaders.

What this passage reminds us is this: leaders don’t always speak for the people. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? I mean, if that’s true then we elect people based on what they say they stand for and what they will do, but that doesn’t mean when they are in power they will keep their word. Oh, really? Duh!!

We have to be the leaders, not them. For a government, or for that matter, a company, an organization, even a sports team, to be true to it’s standards, the leadership must be subject to the people, not the other way around.

Gee, doesn’t that sound familiar? Didn’t Yeshua say as much when He told His Talmudim:

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,…”   Mattitayu 20:26

The government in Moses’ day was hereditary; the government in Yeshua’s day was comprised of appointed leaders by a despotic ruler, and the legal leadership (Sanhedria) were mostly political “hacks” appointed by Herod and not true Levites. Today, we have elected officials.

But, when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter if the ones in charge are there by heredity, by appointment, by election or by military coup: the leaders must be subject to the led. The organization, whether political or social or laic, must be an inverted triangle.

That is what God wants, that is how the bible shows us we should be organized. If you are in a position of leadership, you should lead by being an example, not an exception. You must lead by taking care of your people, with compassionate guidance, and by taking the responsibility for what happens. Rulership sucks- you have to do what the people want, and when that happens and something goes wrong, you have to take the responsibility for it. It’s essentially a “lose-lose”or a “win-win”: there is no middle ground.

We are beginning a new year today- although I think it is silly to teach that this is the time for making resolutions to change for the better. We shouldn’t make that an annual thing, it should be a daily thing. In any event, today’s lesson from the Word of God should encourage us to be both more understanding of those in leadership positions, and more attentive to what they do. We need to make sure that our leaders do what they said they would do, and that they be held accountable. The truth is that we, the people, are the leaders and the “leaders” we place in charge of us are just there to help facilitate things. But it’s our responsibility to make sure they do as we expect, and if they don’t, it’s our responsibility to place someone there who will.

I also confess I am as much to blame for this as anyone- I don’t follow politics much at all. I need to change, too.

I guaranty that if we start to successfully impeach and/or vote out of office those government officials who don’t do as we want, the ones that are there will realize their greatest shield against losing their job, which is our apathy, is no longer effective. And the ones we vote in will know they got there because their predecessor didn’t do what he or she was supposed to do and if they don’t, they will be out on their tuchas, too!

I am not preaching anarchy, I am preaching responsibility. As I said, we see throughout history how the people suffer for their government’s actions. If that is to be the case, then we should (at least) make sure those actions are what we want them to be.

God wanted the Egyptians to have the opportunity to be absolved of the horrible things their leaders did. The people certainly suffered much before the Jewish nation was set free, and to ask for gifts upon leaving the service, and to have the Egyptian people give those gifts willingly and generously, did save the people from the wrongdoing of their leaders.

Don’t accept what your government, corporate or (especially) religious leaders tell you without carefully reviewing and justifying the validity of what they say. Too often, for too long, people have been misled by the leaders they trust, so always make sure that you are aware of what you are being told.

Ultimately, it’s your butt on the line so you better make sure the ones you expect to keep it safe are doing their job.

May You Have an Easy Fast

Leave a comment

Tomorrow night is Erev Yom Kippur- the evening that begins the Holy Day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is one of the holiest days of the Jewish year.  It is a commanded day of gathering together (although this is not one of the “Big Three” where you need to go to the Temple)  and “afflicting one’s soul”, which has been interpreted as fasting. No food, no water, nothing from sundown tomorrow until sundown Wednesday.

You may be thinking, “But Steve- you’re already saved. Your sins are forgiven. Why bother?” and the question is not unwarranted: I am saved. My sins are forgiven and will continue to be forgiven because I belong to Yeshua. So long as I am trying harder and harder to be what God wants, to obey His laws and do T’Shuvah (turn from sin), I will be forgiven whenever I call on God and ask forgiveness in the name of Yeshua Ha Mashiach.

And that is the very reason I fast and worship as all the “unsaved” Jews do- because I do belong to Yeshua, and Yeshua did not do away with Torah, and the Torah says I should fast.

How many of you out there can say you are without sin at any given time? Do you really think that once forgiven never held responsible again? If so, you’ve got a really nasty surprise coming. Sin separates us from God, and every time that we sin, we are that much more separated from God. Forgiveness is available but it isn’t shoved down our throat. God will not automatically forgive you just because in 1993 at 10 AM on a Tuesday you “found Jesus.” That’s great that you did, and once forgiven, all those prior sins are not going to be held against you. They were paid for. And the sins you commit afterwards, well, you have to ask forgiveness of them, too. You still need to confess and ask forgiveness. This isn’t revolving credit where you make a payment, run a debt, then make a payment. We sin every day and every day we need to ask forgiveness.

Yom Kippur is a day when we don’t ask just for individual forgiveness, but for corporate forgiveness. Read the prayers in the Machzor (the special prayer book for High Holy Days); read the books of the Prophets, who always asked forgiveness for the people; this is not just a day of asking for personal forgiveness. That’s why we are commanded to have a communal day of prayer, to gather together and confess to God our failure to meet our end of the Covenant He made with our Fathers. It is a communal request to forgive all of us, therefore, everyone who is saved should be even more willing to obey this commandment because we need to show the unsaved our desire for them to be forgiven and reconciled to God (through Messiah.)

Oh, by the way, did you catch that part about “we are commanded”? The best reason to do what God says is because He said to do it! How many times do you hear people say ( or maybe you’ve said it yourself), “Oh Lord, oh Yeshua, oh Jesus- I love you!”  Do you love Yeshua? Do you love Jesus? Are you one of His flock?

Then read John 14:15 (“If you love me, keep my commands.“)  And what commands did Yeshua give? The same ones that His Daddy gave to Moshe. John knew this and the Gospel he wrote began making sure that the very first truth of the Good News that he told us was this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

There is nothing “new” in the New Covenant writings- it is all the same stuff as in the Torah and the Prophets. That is what Yeshua taught from, that is what Yeshua taught about, and that is what Yeshua told us to obey. When Yeshua told us to prove our love for Him by obeying His commands, He was talking about the Torah. Yeshua/Jesus IS the living Torah!

That is why I fast and worship on Yom Kippur. For the same reason I do so on every Holy Day God has commanded us to celebrate- because He has commanded it. That is all the reason any one needs. Because I love and worship God, and because I belong to Yeshua, I do as my Master tells me to do. And I do so willingly, happily and faithfully, to the very best of my abilities, which are incompetence and failure. In truth, as much as I try, the best I can hope for and the best I can do, is better than what I have already done.

And that is good enough. Don’t try to be perfect- it ain’t gonna happen. I just want to be better than I was, I want to wake up and sin at least one less sin each day. I will walk three steps forward, but backslide two steps because it is my very nature to do so, yet as long as I net out one step closer, I am performing T’Shuvah. I am getting better, I am sinning less, I am becoming more spiritually mature and growing closer to God.

Tomorrow night I will fast. By Wednesday around, oh, let’s say 1130 or 1200, I will have a killer caffeine headache. My stomach will be grumbling and I may become a little testy. But I will be worshiping. Although the place where I worship cannot hold services because of a special needs school it runs during the day (services would be disruptive and disturbing to the children) I will worship in my home. I will read the Machzor, I will sit on my porch and enjoy the Sabbath rest that this day has for me, and I will commune with the Lord. I will recite the Ashamnu and the Al Chet, prayers listing the many sins we have committed against God and prayers asking forgiveness.

And I will demonstrate my love for Yeshua and for God by being faithfully obedient, and I will demonstrate my solidarity with my people by joining them in corporate prayer, even if I am not with them physically, as our prayers reach up to heaven and are presented to God on a golden patter held by Yeshua, Himself.

And I will do as every Jew should do on this day; actually, as everyone who says they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob should do on this day.

Because God said we should.

The World Says We Are All Victims!

Leave a comment

I sometimes get my inspiration from something in the morning paper. This morning it was one of those advice columnists.

A mother writes in that her teenage son had been molested by a cousin years ago and the mother is frantic. Should she sue? How does she get her son into therapy? Can she have the molester arrested?

Look, molestation of children is a horrible thing and I have no pity or patience with someone molesting a child, or an adult, for that matter. Taking advantage of someone else, whether it be physically, emotionally, or financially, is a sin. God tells us, over and over, to watch out for and protect the widow and the orphan. I believe this is more than just telling us to provide for women who have lost a husband or children without parents: the widow and orphan represent the weak and helpless people in the world, those with no one to provide for them and no one to turn to.

That being said (if you didn’t catch it, that was my disclaimer- here comes the reason for it), what is molestation? If I am 12 or 13 and I “cop a feel” from someone around my age, during a quiet moment together, is that really molestation? Or is it the normal experimentation that pre-pubescent children experience as they learn about their bodies? If I am 32 and I do the same to a niece or nephew who is only 12 or 13, that’s a totally different thing. That’s not what I am talking about.

I remember being in a friends closet in his suburban house with another friend’s younger sister. I was about 15 and she was about 13, built like she was 22. We groped and kissed; we were both experimenting. Is that molestation? Did I destroy her ability to have proper social relationships? Did she ruin my appreciation for women? I am still friends with her brother and a few years ago, nearly half a century later, she and I met when we were at a reunion. This subject came up, and we laughed about how we were so unsure of what we were doing, and she thanked me for teaching her how to “French” kiss.

Today, if something like this happened, I can see the mother and father of the girl trying to get her into therapy, accusing me of rape, and all sorts of nasty accusations going back and forth that will detrimentally affect both of us for the rest of our lives.

We are too sensitive. Dr. Spock turned parents into best friends, Sesame Street taught kids how to concentrate for 5 minutes at a time, and no longer, and today’s cartoon characters are disrespectful to parents, schools, and other authority figures. The result? Today we have a generation totally self-absorbed, with no work ethic, no ambition, no sense of fair play and no communication skills.

We are just so fast to feel wounded and abused. When I grew up I was taught, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Today it’s more like, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words are a felony.” We immediately scream, “I’m a victim!” If you tell a joke with a bad word you are a sexaul abuser. If someone hears from someone else that you told a joke with a bad word, or was racist, or was “inappropriate” in any way, you are in trouble. It’s not gossip or hearsay anymore- it’s acceptable fact. If you so much as compliment a fellow worker, doesn’t matter which gender, you could be in the HR Director’s office being condemned, without ever even knowing who complained, what the complaint was (so you can’t figure out who the abused person is), and you are guilty without even so much as being given a chance to explain. And Lord forbid if anyone should put the two of you together with a mediator to work it out!

The Bible says when someone feels that they have been sinned against, in any form (the Bible says that even having uneven weights is a sin against the Lord), the person who is sinned against should go to the sinner and tell them. This way the sinner has a chance to apologize, ask forgiveness, and make themselves right before the Lord. If they refuse to repent, go back with witnesses (give them a second chance.) Biblically speaking, to be sinned against doesn’t focus on your rights alone. You are to give the sinner his/her right to the opportunity to make atonement to you and to the Lord. As David said, all sins are first and foremost against the Lord, so if someone sins against us our first obligation is to the Lord, to try to let that sinner atone and be right before the Lord. It’s really less about us and more about making all of it right before the Lord.

The world, however, doesn’t want to “work it out”. The world wants to expose the sin and the sinner (leaving the sinned-against totally in secret), and the corporate world is the worst offender of this. In the corporate world, if you want to “get back” at someone, all you have to do is spread a rumor that the person did something sexually inappropriate. You don’t need facts, or proof- just a story. In many cases you don’t even need to make a statement, and you will never have to face the person. If you tell someone in HR that so-and-so keeps telling dirty jokes, or bumps into you now and then in a way that you feel is sexually improper, that is all you need to do to ruin their reputation, and maybe get them fired.

If the world did as the Bible says we should do when someone wrongs another person, in any way, there would be less strife and “disturbed” people in the world. Anger management would be reduced because people would be able to work things out. Personally, if I wrong someone, I am totally willing to apologize. That’s not the world in me, that is the Ruach HaKodesh in me. And if I can apologize, if I can appease the wronged person, explain that I didn’t mean to upset or hurt them, and if that person is one who is willing to forgive and wants to have normal relationships, whether personal or corporate, then we can actually take a sinful episode and turn it around to one where we can build a new friendship.

When people want to work out their differences, they will; when people want to have enmity and strife, they will.

The Bible tells us to work it out, to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, and to try to get along with each other. The world (especially the corporate world- do you sense my indignation at it?) does everything it can to create anxiety, strife and to separate people instead of bringing them together. This is the kind of work that honors and glorifies the Enemy because God is all about truth, and the Enemy is all about lies. The world wants to lie- it wants to say that I am a victim, that you are a victim, that we should get together and accuse someone or some corporation of wrong-doing. And why? So that we feel better about ourselves! So that we can get “justice” for the terrible and outrageous thing done against us. HaSatan means The Accuser. The Enemy accuses God of lying. He told Eve that she wouldn’t die (God lied when He said she would), he accused Job of being worshipful and righteous only because he had worldly goods, and he accused God of failing to protect Yeshua if he would only step off the roof of the Temple.

The Enemy is a liar, and when we lie we honor the Enemy. When people try to make us feel like we are victims, even if we have been taken advantage of, the way that God says to handle it is to go to the sinner, tell them what they did, and give them a chance to repent. God’s focus is on helping the sinner to repent, not helping ourselves to revenge against the person. That’s what it comes down to- the world says you are a victim and entitled to get justice. Sounds good, doesn’t it? What it translates to, in spiritual form, is taking revenge and preventing the sinner from having the chance to repent. Think about it: does the corporate policy where you work give you the opportunity to save the sinner’s soul? No, it doesn’t. However, it allows you to send that sinner to hell in a handbasket; all you need do is accuse them and stand back to watch that person suffer and possibly even get fired. That way not only does this horrible person suffer, but his or her family gets to suffer, also.

Does that really make you feel right with God? You have not only accused someone without giving them a chance to repent, but you have returned evil for evil (Proverbs says that is wrong) and you have taken the place of God by being vengeful (again, a wrongful thing according to Proverbs.) More than just that, you also have refused to give yourself a chance to forgive, as God has commanded us we should. So we sin against God, against the other person, and even against ourselves by exercising our worldly “rights” as a victim.

Let me repeat myself: forcibly touching someone else is wrong, sexually explicit actions or jokes, racist comments or jokes, and anything having to do with private and personal matters are inappropriate in a social or business environment. In fact, anything said or done that someone says they are uncomfortable with should be stopped. You should apologize and ask forgiveness. And they should accept your apology and forgive, completely. If you are unaware of your sinning against someone, they should (according to God) tell you about it. Nicely, maturely, and without anger. They should allow you the chance to save yourself from further sin, separating yourself from God, by telling you so you can make it right with God, and with them.

God wants everyone who sins to atone for that sin so they can be one with Him. The Enemy wants everyone to sin so they will be separated from God.

When we are too afraid or too shy or just too “uncomfortable” to speak up and let someone know they have sinned against us, we are working for the Enemy. That’s why the world wants you to be a victim, so you will want to  seek “justice” (which, from a Biblical perspective, is really vengeance) and to make that sinner suffer for the wrongs done to you. And therapy, oh, yes;! How can we forget therapy? You need therapy to be better. You need someone who worships the Psychology Holy Trinity (Freud, Jung, and Maslow) to tell you how to feel, how to cope, and how to get over this great emotional trauma. Oy! What ever happened to prayer? What ever happened to forgiveness, which is the only way to get over the pain! 

The Enemy wants us to die in our sin, and to make sure the other people do, also. God wants us to repent and to be one with Him, forever. That’s why God tells us how to handle being a “victim”:

1. you bring the wrong done to the attention of the one who did so;

2. you give that person the chance to repent so that they can save their life.

3. If they repent, you forgive them and move on. If they don’t repent, you forgive them and move on. Either way, you are to forgive them whether they ask for it or not, and move on.

That’s God’s way.  Which way are you going to go?