Tag: God

How to Identify the Anti-Christ

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When  we read the bible we are given the promise of a Messiah from the very beginning, in Genesis , when God promises Abraham that his seed will be a blessing to the whole world. And at the end of the bible we are told of the tribulations we will suffer when the Anti-Messiah takes rulership of the world and tries to destroy God’s people, who will be the ones remaining faithful to Him and trusting in Yeshua as their Messiah.

There are many warnings about these End Times, in Hebrew called the Acharit Hayamin. Yeshua describes the things to look for in Matthew 24:4-15:

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,  and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The A-C (it gets tiresome typing Anti-Christ all the time) is talked about in Revelation 13:5 as having 42 months of total rulership over the entire earth. I am not going to do a detailed exegesis of Revelation because, frankly, I don’t understand it well enough to teach about it. What I do know is that the A-C will appear to be an all-powerful, divine creature who survives some fatal attack, then rises to take control of the earth. The power that he will have will amaze and astonish people, but what this power is might be anything.

OK, so we know that there will be political turmoil, ecological upheavals and other bad things happening all over the world before the A-C takes charge. There will also be a false prophet, a beast and a dragon, all associates of the A-C, that will amaze people and cause them to accept the A-C as their Messiah. This means we are not really looking for a single A-C, but (at least) three separate entities, all working in unison to promote the A-C.

Now to tell you how I think we will be able to identify the A-C. The A-C will be the one who brings order and peace to the world; as such, we won’t know who that is until we can identify the greatest threat to order and peace in the world. So I ask you: what is the most chaotic thing that is happening nearly everywhere in the civilized world?  Isn’t it the international terrorism of the Islamic extremists?

We have plenty of ecological events happening: the Tsunami’s, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. going on all over the world, with the consequent famines and disease and poverty and starvation. End Times eschatology tells us these things will happen in unison with political trauma, and Man-oh-Manischevitz, don’t we have that in abundance now?

The A-C will be the one who puts an end to all these terrible events. 

Here’s how I see it happening: I believe we will see, originating in the United Nations, an international police organization come into being which will be empowered with authority throughout the membership of the UN to attack and defeat all forms of terrorism in the world. There will, of course, have to be management of this police force, and that will be through a triune leadership. One will be in charge of  policing actions (the Beast), one will be in charge of the administration of the program (the Dragon), and one will be in charge of reporting all that the police force accomplishes to the UN and the world (the False Prophet.) These three will lead this international police force in establishing the peace and prosperity of the world by defeating terrorism in a totally cruel and efficient manner.

For security purposes they will request (and receive) authority to establish world-wide martial law, and through this mandate they will control the world. Again, as a means of protecting the people, to simplify control there will be a single form of money, and the leaders of the world will report to this police force, essentially creating a de facto  one-world government. This won’t just be acceptable to the people, but they will actually be thankful for it.  In order to make it impossible for a terrorist to buy supplies or weapons without being known, all those who are “law-abiding citizens of the world” will be required to take the “Mark”, which will be the only acceptable form of ID to allow people to buy anything. Henceforth, anyone without the “Mark” will be considered a terrorist and an enemy of the world. This will be the beginning of the persecution and murder of God’s people, who will not be turned and refuse to take the “Mark.”

In this scenario, can you see how people will not only be giving their permission to the A-C to rule them, but will actually be thankful for his control and power? People will eagerly accept his “Mark” so that they can live peacefully. To those without the knowledge of the word of God and the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to open their eyes and ears to what is happening, it will seem that Messiah has returned. And if you think it was bad for a Jew in Nazi Germany, that will be a cake-walk for anyone in the world without the “Mark” when these events come to be.

Then things will really get bad; not so much for those that have the “Mark”, but for those that are remaining faithful to God and the real Messiah, Yeshua. We will have Tribulation like nothing ever before, and for 3 years or so we will be in great turmoil. This is what Yeshua warned us about; many will be turned from the faith and only those that hold on will be saved. Many, many thousands will be put to death in the name of Yeshua, but those that do survive will be able to see what everyone who believes in Messiah Yeshua wants to see: Yeshua riding on the clouds in power and majesty, taking power back from the A-C and chaining him up for a thousand years.

This is what I believe will happen. Although I can’t really call this a “vision”, the entire scenario came to me in a second as I was reading this morning’s paper about how England says it will tighten it’s security after yesterday’s (6/4/17) terrorist attack.  I guess we won’t know how correct I am until it happens, so please accept this as a viable scenario, Then, if I am right about this, at least you have been alerted as to what you can expect.

 

Parashah Naso (Take) Numbers 4:21 – 7

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We continue with the census of the tribe of Levi, which is where we left off from the previous parashah.

Next, God gives the commandments regarding how to tell if a woman has been unfaithful when there is nothing to go on other than the suspicion of the husband, and laws regarding restitution of property, which (I believe) would be equivalent to a “Tort” in today’s penal system.

The last part of this parashah records the gifts that the leaders of the twelve tribes gave to the Sanctuary for the service, therein. Each tribe gave the exact same number and weight of the exact same items to show complete unity, in that no one tribe was over any of the other tribes. The Midrash accounts for the sum of all the gifts in this way:

the 12 chargers given correspond to the 12 constellations;

the 12 bowls to the 12 months;

the 12 spoons to the 12 guides to men (heart, kidneys, mouth, palate, windpipe, esophagus, lungs (2), liver, spleen, crop and stomach);

all the silver weighed 2,400 shekels, which corresponded to the number of years since the creation of the world to Moses’ 40th year,

all the gold of the spoons weighed 120 shekels, the length of Moses’ life.

The part of today’s Torah portion that I want to talk about is Number 6:23-27, which is known as the Aaronic Benediction (also called the Priestly Blessing.) This is the blessing that God specifically told Aaron and Moses to use when blessing His people. You are probably familiar with it, as I have heard it used not just in Jewish places of worship, but in Christian churches, as well:

The Lord bless thee and keep thee;

The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

The final part of God’s command regarding this blessing is that this is the way we shall put His name upon the people, and thereby God will bless them.

The simplicity of this prayer is what impresses me: God is telling us that all we need is His blessing, His countenance and His peace. His blessing will result in health, life and prosperity. In the bible light represents happiness, purity, and friendship, so to cause His face to shine upon us is saying that we would have His divine love and salvation. It can also represent, as the Rabbis have said, the spiritual gifts of knowledge and moral insight.

Peace, the final blessing, is considered a pillar of the world, and there cannot be any level of social order without it. We are not only to receive the peace of God, but we are to employ it and make peace with others. Most every synagogue ends their prayers with, “May He who makes peace in His high places, make peace upon us and upon all Israel.”

It is the the burden of the people of God to make peace in their hearts, and then extend that peace to others, in order to help them find the same peace we have. Peace starts internally, and that comes from being able to commune with God, which comes from the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit); this is the same spirit that Yeshua (Jesus) said He would send to His followers and which He called “The Comforter”, because that is what it does.

If anyone reading this has ever felt a sensation of complete rest, total peace of spirit, and a tingling feeling throughout your body that makes you cry for joy, then you know the peace of the Lord that His Ruach can bring. I have felt that, more than once, yet due to the hardness of my heart I haven’t felt it as much in the last couple of years. I know it is my fault, and I constantly pray for the Spirit to come upon me again. Sometimes it does, often it doesn’t, and (again) it is because I am not opening my heart. Still and all, every now and then, when I am in the proper condition of worship… BAM!! His presence is felt mightily. What a great feeling!

I want to see this wonderful, overwhelming peacefulness come on my wife, on my children, on friends and family and even acquaintances. I want this to come over my enemies (I don’t have any enemies, but suspect that some consider me their enemy) and everyone who doesn’t know the Lord. Even if they could feel it for just a second, it could change their life.

God has so much for every single person on earth, and He is just waiting for us to ask Him for it. That is the saddest thing I have come to realize as I become more and more familiar with God’s ways: He is so anxious for each one of us to come to Him for wonderful blessings and for total peace of mind and spirit, but so few of us do. And some of those that do often abuse it, thinking that they can continue to act as they want because God is forgiving, so as long as they say they are sorry they will  be OK. We all stubbornly want to have things our way, and the history of mankind proves, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we do not know what is best for us.

God knows what is best for us, and has constantly told us, but have we listened? Are you listening right now?

If you haven’t known the peace that God’s spirit can bring through His blessings, you still have hope for it. If you really, really want to know the Lord, He is just dying to get to know you (pun intended), and all you need to do is admit you need Him, choose to change from ignoring Him to following His commands, and confess you believe Yeshua is the Messiah God promised who died for you- yes, just for you- and you want to be forgiven by means of that sacrifice.  That’s all you need to do- perform T’shuvah (turning) from sin in your heart, confess Yeshua is Messiah (this is very hard for Jews but should be easy for Gentiles), and ask God to send His Ruach to indwell and lead you for the rest of your life. This will bring you peace of heart, spirit and mind, and you will then be able to share that peace with all whom you love and care about.

You won’t be free of trouble and strife, for that is inescapable when living in a cursed and fallen world, but the Ruach (Spirit) is like a nice, cleansing hot shower after a long, dirty and sweaty day of hard work.

 

Have a Happy Shavuot

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We began the holiday of Shavuot last night (5/30/17), which is also called Pentecost (50 days) and is celebrated by both Jews and Christians. I think this is the only holiday that Jews and Christians celebrate together, although for different reasons.

You know…even within Judaism Shavuot is celebrated for a different reason than it was originally created. In Leviticus 23:15-21 God decreed we celebrate this day:

 “‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.  Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord.  From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.  Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.  Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering[c] and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering.  The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest.  On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.”

We have been counting the Omer ( a unit of weight) until the 50th day after the first Shabbat after Passover. In other words, we have the Passover Seder, then the Festival of Firstfruits (Habikurim), and then we start to count the 50 days until Shavuot (which is the Hebrew word for “weeks”) when we perform both a sin and a fellowship sacrifice.

The Holy Day (meaning God decreed) of Shavuot was an agricultural celebration, but this has been replaced by a spiritual celebration. The Rabbinical holiday (meaning man-made) celebrates the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Torah, itself, doesn’t mention this as part of the festival; neither is it mentioned as the reason for this festival in the writings of either of the accepted historians of this time period, Josephus and Philo.  From what I could find, it is believed that Maimonides (also called the RaMBaM, an acronym for Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon), who lived in the twelfth century, is the Rabbi that associated Shavuot with the giving of the Law.  This means that the Holy Day of Shavuot was celebrated as God told us to do so for about 2600 years after Moses, then it became a holiday created by Maimonides. In fact, the Torah could not have been given on Shavuot. Here’s why: we read in Exodus 19:1 the following statement:

In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

They left Egypt on the 15th of Aviv, and we are told in Exodus that this day (the very day they left Egypt) is to be the first day of their year. It took 90 days for them to get to Sinai, which is already more than 50 days after Habikurim. Even if we try to fit the time line in by using some convoluted counting based on which Shabbat is really the first Shabbat after Passover, we still have to add that God decreed all the men should prepare themselves for 3 days before approaching the mountain (Exodus 19:10):

 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

So, it was no less than 93 days after the Israelites left Egypt that they even came to the mountain. Then, we have Moses up there for 40 days and nights, so the law was being given to Moses, but hadn’t been received by all of Israel yet. As you probably already know, the law took even longer than that, since Moses destroyed those first tablets and it was about 1 1/2 to 2 months later that he came down with the tablets that (finally) were saved in the Ark of the Covenant.

Likewise, even though the Christian celebration of Pentecost is to commemorate the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “50 Days”, so the Christian celebration of Pentecost is celebrating a holiday whose name represents a totally different event.  Yeshua (Jesus) never mentioned that He would send the Comforter on any specific day, just that they were to wait until it arrived. I contend that because Yeshua made no direct reference to receiving the Spirit on Pentecost, that Pentecost is a uniquely Jewish Holy Day and Christianity should have given their celebration a different name. I am guessing that because the early Believers were still mostly Jewish, and this spiritual indwelling occurred on a Jewish Holy Day (at that time Shavuot was celebrated as God said it should be), that is how the name Pentecost was forever associated with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

So what we have is this: Shavuot (weeks) and Pentecost (50 days- this name came from the Septuagint) are the same Holy Day, which has been turned into a holiday by both Jews and Christians, who each celebrate it for a different reason than what God created it to be.

If you have read my book (Back to Basics: God’s Word vs. Religion) you would know that I do not appreciate Holy Days being turned into holidays. However, I do make an exception for Shavuot because the relationship between the giving of the Torah, which set us apart as holy and represented freedom from slavery to men, and the giving of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), which set us apart as holy and helped to free us from slavery to sin, is a really good thing. It helps to bring together Jews and Christians, even if not for the same reason. It is (at least) some form of common celebration from which we can come closer together in our worship of God.

What we have today is this: The Holy Day God decreed is still being celebrated by both Jews and Christians. From the Jewish side, we have changed the reason for the celebration to one that (by all means) does deserve celebration: the giving of the Torah to Moses. On the Christian side, they celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, which is the Comforter and giver of Truth to help us stay on the road of righteousness.

Torah tells us what God expects of us and defines sin so that we can avoid it; the Ruach HaKodesh helps us to recognize sin, and when we surrender to it, will also direct us to stay on the path of righteousness. Both Jews and Christians have this in common with their celebration of this day: we are thankful to God for His direction and for the gifts He gives us in order to help us have eternal life.

Shavuot is a very joyous celebration, and whether you celebrate the gift of the Torah, or the gift of the Ruach, or (as Messianic and Hebraic Roots congregations do) celebrate them both, have a very happy and blessed Shavuot.

 

Is “Science” the False Prophet?

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According to Revelations, the False Prophet is one of the deadly trio of demonic creatures that will rise up and rule in the end days. The false prophet will start off being rather lowly and unassuming, then will show great power and do miraculous things, leading people to worship the Beast. Essentially, it will perform miracles that had been associated with God and assign them to the power of the Anti-Christ.

We assume that the false prophet is a man, or some creature, but why can’t it be science?

For instance, take the Theory of Evolution: it is still only a theory. Yet, when we listen to the Discovery channel or read anything about animals in scientific publications, it talks about how they have evolved to adapt to their environment. Not that there have been changes to the species, but that it has evolved– using evolutionary terminology as if it is a fact and not a theory.

If you were to ask someone today, just an ordinary person you meet on the street, if evolution is a fact, I’ll bet they would say, “Yes.” And if you ask why they think that, their answer will be something long the lines of, “Because everyone knows it is.”

With humans, if you tell them something often enough, they will believe it. Even if they have never read about it, or studied about it, if they are told it is true often enough, they will accept it.

I am not here to discuss global warming, or evolution, or cloning, or stem-cell research: that is not the issue here. The issue is whether or not science is becoming a new religion.

I think the answer is an undeniable….YES!!

Because we have advanced our understanding of how the natural world works to the point where we can explain how and why some events in the world (and space) happen, we think that they are no longer miraculous. Because we have cloned animals we think we now can create test-tube life, but we fail to remember that cloning is impossible without an egg. So, where does the egg come from?

It’s like the story of scientists who told God mankind doesn’t need Him anymore because we completely understand the human genome and can fix any deformation or sickness. God asked if the scientists could create a man from a lump of clay, and they said they could. God said, “Show me.” The scientists went out and found a lump of clay with the molecular consistency they needed, and when they brought it into the laboratory, God said, “That’s my clay- you have to make your own.”

Technology is also a form of science, so think about this: Yeshua tells us in Matthew 7:24 about how the man who built his house on sand suffered a great destruction when the house was subjected to wind and rain. Today, the world is run by computers; computers are run by their CPU; the CPU is a chip made of silicon. And what is silicon? Silicon is sand.

Science has created a false sense of comfort and control, which is leading people to accept teachings that undermine the bible and in many ways reject the existence of God.  It is, as the false prophet is going to do, forcing us to worship something other than God. How this turn from God will result in turning to the Anti-Christ, I do not know. But because I know what is happening, I can keep an eye out for where it is taking me.

Being able to do miraculous things is NOT the true sign of God or Messiah, or (for that matter) the False Prophet or even the Beast. Doing miraculous things may entail nothing more than good sleight of hand. We need to be aware and alert to distinguish what is truth that brings us closer to God, and what is truth that is misleading. And please don’t ever forget this one absolute truth- the most convincing lie is one that has a foundation of truth to it.  Truth can be the start of a lie. The false prophet will start off without a lot of power or even seem to be a threat. Science started off that way, didn’t it? At first it was the most educated men trying to explain the natural world with simple things, such as gravity, heat, electricity and diseases. Today we are talking about wormholes that twist time and space, quarks and mesons that are smaller than atoms, strong and weak forces, and the study of physics has (pardon the term) evolved to the point where we have proven things that we can’t even see using mathematical and gravitational calculations as evidence of their existence.

Yacov (James) tells us what faith is in Hebrews 11:1:

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

When we talk about faith in God or Messiah (although we haven’t seen either of them) we confidently hope for the resurrection, made possible through Messiah’s sacrifice. Honestly, we have no real proof of Yeshua’s resurrection, although we have plenty of evidence for it. The evidence of this is from the eyewitness accounts of His Disciples in the B’rit Chadasha (New Covenant writings), in our sensing of the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) when we pray and worship, and the events in our life that, if we wish to accept it, have been and are being controlled by God. Science also faithfully hopes that the evidence they see, such as celestial bodies being affected by some force causing them to change elliptical pathways, or small points on a piece of treated paper to indicate mesons and quarks are hitting it when atoms are smashed, is proof that these things exist. It is a form of faith: not in God, but in science.

Science does work with facts, and can prove events in the natural world exist. Here’s where the problem starts, because once it has established itself as viable and trustworthy with these small facts, it can then grow in power from that beginning. It starts with something small and believable, then it takes a foothold and gets a finger-grip on humanity’s trust, and from there it takes humanity for a ride.

As I said at the start, the biggest lie has some element of the truth: start with enough truth to build a level of credibility, then upon that you can build the lie.

Look at how far afield from Judaism Christianity has gone, even though it professes to worship the same God that Jews worship. We all agree God is the same today as yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow. If our God it is the same God, and He is unchanging, then how can there be so many different ways to worship Him? If our God never changes, when He told us how to worship Him in the Torah, then that would never change, either.  Yet, look at all the different ways He is being worshiped.  Someone, somewhere, isn’t telling the truth, because all Abrahamic religions start at the same exact place. So how can we be so different?

Religion was created by man so that man could have power over other men. Science was created by man, also. It is a study of the natural world, but it was created by man. If mankind had not started to wonder about and investigate why things are the way they are, science would not exist. The lack of faith and trust in God to control things is how science came to be, and just as different religions question the validity of what God has said in order to fulfill their own desires, science has rejected God in order to fulfill our need to be in control of the world. Isn’t that really what science is all about today? It is more than just the desire to know how the world works- it is, ultimately, the desire to know how it works so we can exercise control over it!  

I love knowing how things work, but I trust God to make it happen. And even if I can explain how something happens, that doesn’t make it any less of a miracle. If I knew that the Red Sea split open because of a natural event upstream that blocked the waters, so what? That doesn’t mean God didn’t split the Red Sea, it means God caused the event that split the Red Sea. It’s still a miracle of God.

Science is trying to take the place of God- don’t let it.

Parashah B’midbar (In the Wilderness) Numbers 1 – 4:20

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In last week’s Parashah ( for 5/20/17, which was a double) we finished the book of Leviticus. That book was mostly legislative in nature, and now we start the book of Numbers, which is more historical. Throughout this book we will learn of the events that occurred while the Children of Israel spent 38 years wandering in the desert.

Numbers takes up where Exodus left off, which is the first day of the second month of the second year after leaving Egypt, when the Tabernacle of the Lord has been completed and is now in service. This parashah starts with a census God orders Moses to take, which identifies the numbers from each tribe of those over 20 and fit for military service. We see this type of census taken, with God’s approval (unlike the one David took in  1 Chronicles, 21) whenever the people needed to be prepared for war. The census did not include the Levites, who were counted separately, as their duties were not for war but service to God by being in charge of the Tabernacle. God also tells Moses which of the Levitical clans will be responsible for which parts of the Tabernacle, as well as the formation of the camp.

Here is a picture of how the encampment was configured:

 

This parashah doesn’t appear to have any really deep and spiritual messages, does it? I mean, all we are told is how many of each tribe there are, where they camp and how they are to march. We are also told which clan of Levi is responsible for which parts of the Tabernacle when on the march. There just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of “meat” to this parashah.

Then, again, let’s look a little deeper and cheat a bit, by knowing what is to happen later.

Did you notice that the Kohathites were encamped next to, and marched alongside of, the Reubenites? Do you remember how Reuben had not received the rights of the Firstborn due to his sleeping with one of Israel’s concubines (Genesis 39:3-4), and that Korah also felt slighted because the Kohathites were not to perform the duties of the High Priest. So although we don’t see anything of particular importance in this parashah, by looking back to it later on we can see that the seeds of collusion and rebellion were planted when the tribes of Kohath and Reuben were made neighbors. Perhaps if they had been at opposite ends of the camp, they would not have come together in rebellion?

Certainly God would have known that this placement, which He decreed, would have resulted in the collusion between these men. And, that being a given, we would have to ask, “Why would God have done that?”

Good question. I think I have an answer, which is the same answer God gave to Job: we won’t always understand God’s plans or why He does what He does.

In the case of Job, God allowed all that suffering to show Satan that Job’s faith is greater than Satan’s attacks. Now, from Job’s viewpoint (as well as his friends) there could be no reason why these terrible things were happening, but in the end we learn that the real issue was between God and Satan, not between God and Job. God used Job to show Satan that strong faith in God is more powerful than anything Satan could do.

Perhaps the positioning of Korah and Dathan so close to each other was to test their faith, and if they failed that test (which they did), then to allow Moses and Aaron to be glorified and honored in the sight of all Israel, which is what happened. God used the evil these men intended against His servants to glorify Himself and show Moses and Aaron to be His chosen leaders (Numbers 17:5):

 The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”

The bible is one complete book, and even though we might not see what message there is for us in one part of it, when we look at it in its entirety, study it well enough to know what will happen and what has happened, then we can see that there is something for us to learn in every part of the book. Such as in this parashah, which on the surface seems to be a collection of names and numbers, but when looked at knowing the events that will later occur, we can see how God is setting the stage now to glorify Himself later.

This understanding of how God works should fortify our faith in God, and give us comfort during times of trials. Just because we may not see, here and now, what God has planned we can always know that He does have something planned. It just may not be time for whatever he has planned to happen, that’s all.

Take comfort in knowing that everything God does, He does with a plan to glorify His name and to establish His rule. When we accept that and work within it, we will be blessed and supported by God, just as Moses and Aaron were; when we work against what God decrees, we will suffer as Korah and his followers did.

We all follow someone, so take the lesson from today’s parashah when you choose whom to follow, that lesson being: look passed the obvious and ask the Ruach Ha Kodesh for insight so you can see not only what seeds are being sown, but what will grow from them.

Is It Faith or Apathy?

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Some people think I am apathetic, but I don’t care what they think.

I don’t like to read posts about what Obama, Clinton or Trump have done or are doing; I don’t get involved in sports (a religion to many); I am very interested in animals, was a Docent at the Philadelphia Zoo for some 18 years,  volunteer here in Florida with the Sea Turtle Emergency Recovery Program and will soon be training to help the Florida Wildlife Hospital (where my wife, Donna, has volunteered for years) wild animal capture team recover animals in need. Yet, with all that, when I read about extinctions and watch specials about how animals are becoming more and more endangered, I don’t get all “riled up” about it.

I am not, really, an apathetic person- I do care what we are doing to the wildlife, the planet, and to each other. It is a hurt and a frustration I feel, but I get through it all by remembering what the bible says, and what is in store for us all.

My faith is what keeps me centered, and not just my faith in God and my salvation, but faithfully believing that when God judges this world, what we read about in Revelations will happen. That means that no matter what we do, nearly 2/3 of the earth will be totally destroyed: humans, animals, environment…nearly everything will be gone, and then whatever is left will be replaced. So, no matter what we do now, it is all doomed: we are all just waiting for destruction.

That means even if we recover the endangered species, fix the environment, correct Global Warming, reverse El Nino, and treat each other with mutual respect and care, it will all come to destruction, anyway. I believe the time for putting on sackcloth and sitting on the ground in ashes has passed. Just as God told Jeremiah that he shouldn’t pray for the people, I believe we are in that same place, today. Except it isn’t just  the people in Jerusalem, but the entire world population.

Truth be told…I do care. Still and all, I believe with all my heart that it is too late to make a difference. God created the world and every single life form on it, put us in charge of it all, and look what we have done to it! Not only that, look at what we have done (and are still doing) to ourselves. We are passed repentance, we have done too much, and are increasing our sin against the world and it’s creatures.

Europe is under terrorist attack from the enemy, as well as America. Soon Asia will feel the heat from North Korea and immigrants, as the rest of the world is feeling. It is not starting- it is happening! We are quickly coming to that fateful day, which will be upon us before we know it.

I know, I know- Steve is sounding like one of those nutcases holding up the bible on top of a mount of destroyed building during the Apocalypse and screaming, “REPENT! REPENT! THE END IS HERE.”

You know what? That is exactly what I am doing.

I care, but my faith in God, in that He will do as He has shown us, is paramount and overcomes my grief and sorrow at seeing what is happening in the world. I know this is all part of His plan, and that it must happen. Just as Yeshua prayed in Matthew 26:39:

 “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

It is clear (to me) that those bowls of God’s fury that we read about in Revelations are filled, and ready to be poured down upon us. We will see more destruction, more political upheaval, and more and more of our leadership being exposed as corrupted and unjust. This all has to happen to make the path straight for the enemy. Just as Yochanan (John) cried to make straight paths for the Lord, the false prophets will make a pathway straight for the Son of Perdition to come. Think about it: won’t we all desire, even cry and pray for, a deliverer to come and save us when there is no one left we can turn to? Even the elect, we are told, will be so desperate for Yeshua’s return that they will not allow themselves to be led by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) but will be fooled by these false prophets and made to take the mark of the beast.

I am not really apathetic, and faith is not a cause of apathy: faith is what overcomes apathy and gives us the strength to deal with the world as it is, and with what will come. Faith is the foundation for survival during the Tribulation, so practice your faith now. When you see tsouris in the world, pray to God that His Will be done quickly. When you hear of wars and see natural disasters occurring, pray to God that your friends and loved ones are saved before it is too late. Shout from the rooftops, talk to people in the streets, show you’re ability to handle the terrible things that happen as a sign of faith, and demonstrate the peacefulness and confidence you have in God to others, especially those who are not saved.

It is OK to be upset about what is happening in the world, and it is good to try to help, but that is a temporary bandage: don’t you think it is more important to help people make the right decision before their time to decide is over?

 

 

 

Which Generation Will See the Kingdom of God?

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Yeshua tells His Talmudim (Disciples, or students), and also mentions throughout the Gospels, that some of this generation will see the kingdom of God come:

Matthew 16:28- I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

Mark 9:1- And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.

Luke 9:27- I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God

If we took these statements literally, it would mean that at least some of the people He talked with would see what we expect from Revelations, i.e. the new heaven and the new earth, with the Temple coming down from the sky. But none of that happened then, and in fact, hasn’t happened even to this day.

Clearly, there must be a deeper meaning.

Judaism and Christianity both believe the number 7 has special significance, in that it represents completion; this comes from the 7th day being Shabbat (the world was completed in 6 days and on the 7th day God rested.) God told us to rest on the 7th day, after which we start to count the days until the next Shabbat, so we can draw from this that even though the world was created in just 6 days, God sees the 7th day as the completion of that cycle.

Further along on this thought, there is a belief in Judaism that the world is going to last for 6,000 years (Talmud-Sanhedrin 97a), and at that time (if the Messiah hasn’t come before then) the Age of Messiah will begin with the 7,000 year. The reason we wait 6,000 years is based on the 7th day Shabbat and this verse from the Psalms:

Psalms 90:4– For one thousand years in Your [God’s] eyes are but a day that has passed.

Let’s look at the biblical history of mankind: God created people through Adam and Eve, and all but 8 of them died out in the Flood. Then an entirely new race of people came from Noah and his sons. Can’t we call this a new generation of human beings? The next destruction of human beings, namely this current post-Flood generation, will occur with the Tribulation when all living and dead human beings will be judged, with the righteous (saved by Messiah) being resurrected with a new body, and the doomed going to the Lake of Fire and eternal damnation.   Therefore, we are a generation of people with finite lifetimes, which will be completely different after the final Judgment, when we will be beings of eternal life. A new, third generation.

Therefore, I believe what Yeshua meant when He said some of this generation will not pass away until they see the Kingdom of God come will be of those people who have lived between the Flood and the Tribulation. In the bible we have people who existed before the Flood (the first generation), then the people that repopulated the earth after the flood (the second generation, which is the current one), and there will be the third generation, composed of those who survive the Tribulation and are resurrected by means of their faith in Yeshua.

The number 7 represents completion, but so does the number 3. This is why I see God’s plan for His creation completed in the  7th  Millennia with the 3rd generation.

A completed creation, earth and people, that will last for eternity.

 

No One is Replaceable

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We have heard the old adage, “No one is irreplaceable” many times in work, in sports, at church or synagogue, but it is not correct because the focus of this saying is on the person, not the position.

You see, the position a person holds in the world can always be taken over by someone else. Maybe not as well, maybe better, but one way or another, if I hold a position of authority or importance, someone else out there can do that job, too.

But me, you, whomever is the person holding that position, well…that person is irreplaceable. We are all individuals, each one of us blessed with different gifts so that the entire human race has all it needs to survive.

Unfortunately, we aren’t doing the best job we can with the gifts we have.

We need to learn to appreciate people for their uniqueness, whether that is a good thing about them or a bad thing. Even the most evil of all God’s creations, people like Hitler, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Xerxes, Caligula, Nero, Herod (and the list goes on) all were in positions that other people took over for them, although they, themselves, were irreplaceable (thank goodness for that! One of each of them was more than enough.)

All the political upheaval with Clinton, Obama, Trump, e-mails, Russian hacking, etc. is all a lot of fluff that means nothing. It has gone on before, and will continue to be a part of our culture. Yes, it is in our very culture- I believe any student of History will confirm that political unrest and underhanded activities are part and parcel of the American culture. These sneaky, illegal and nasty things that politicians (and many business executives) do are still a gift, although a misused gift, that these people have for getting things they want done, done.

Now, for those of us who follow God’s word, we need to demonstrate the gifts God gives us in ways that please the LORD, not in ways that please the world. The evil use of God’s gifts is a satanic activity, not because Satan is totally behind it, but that whatever isn’t for God is against Him, so anything we do that doesn’t honor and glorify God, honors and glorifies the enemy of God (scary thought when you really think on it), so we need to be aware of everything we do and also how we react to what others do. We need to show distaste for evil, and compassion for those subjected to evil, but not to get overly maudlin about it. After all, as bad as things are, we are to be in the world but not of it, and if we let the world get to us, then we are reacting in a worldly way.

The point is this: don’t get all caught-up in politics and the bad things that are happening in the world. The reason I say this is because getting all riled up because of what happens in the world is like working in a fish market- the more exposure to the fish, the more you will smell like one. We need to keep a distance, emotionally, from the evil in the world so that we can shine forth and demonstrate that with God, we are above and out of reach of the enemy’s activities. Even if we are tortured and put to death, it is only our bodies that are being affected, not our souls. That is what Yeshua told us to be prepared for, and I believe (hopefully you agree) that if we allow ourselves to have our kishka’s  (intestines, or guts) churned up over the things happening in the world, we will become too involved with it to remain out of it. In other words, the more we allow ourselves to be lured into the problems of the world, the more we are like everyone else and less like God.

That’s not where we want to be.

I don’t read the news, except once in a while, and I don’t get myself involved in political discussions (all right, maybe once in a while, but rarely) because I know that things will get worse before they get resolved. Yeshua is the resolution to the world, the end of the problems, and the beginning of an eternity of peace, so I will stay as far away from the drek of the world as I can, and remain focused on what is really important- glorifying God and honoring Yeshua with the way I talk, I work, I live and how I treat others.

How about you?

 

What Makes a Jew a Jew?

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This is the eternal question: is a Jew someone who was born of Jewish parents? Is a Jew someone who follows the traditions and practices of the Jewish religion? Is a Jew anyone from Israel? Is a Jew….well, you get the idea.

One of the websites I use for information I can depend on regarding Judaism is the (Orthodox) Judaism 101 website, and this is their definition of a Jew:

A Jew is any person whose mother was a Jew or any person who has gone through the formal process of conversion to Judaism. It is important to note that being a Jew has nothing to do with what you believe or what you do. A person born to non-Jewish parents who has not undergone the formal process of conversion but who believes everything that Orthodox Jews believe and observes every law and custom of Judaism is still a non-Jew, even in the eyes of the most liberal movements of Judaism, and a person born to a Jewish mother who is an atheist and never practices the Jewish religion is still a Jew, even in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox. In this sense, Judaism is more like a nationality than like other religions, and being Jewish is like a citizenship

So, a Jew would be anyone born of Jewish parents, without any regard to what they believe. Supposedly.

Now for my real-life experience: I have been told, more than once, by Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox Jews, that because I believe Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah, I am a Christian and no longer a Jew. Period!

My mother and father were Jewish, our family history is that my mothers Zaydeh (Grandfather) was a Cantor at some synagogue in Kiev (her father came over here just before the Pogroms made it to their town.) So, according to the Jewish 101 site (and most of what I have heard growing up Jewish, in my Reform synagogue) I am a Jew, and no matter what I believe or how I worship, my Jewish heritage cannot be taken away from me.

The really ironic part is that since I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah (disqualifying me as a Jew), I have been more “Jewish” than I ever was growing up! I worship the festivals of the Lord (Leviticus 23) and I celebrate Shabbat every Friday night and Saturday (although I am not as strict about the Talmudic regulations regarding travel and spending money); I also have been very active in my place of worship, whether it was a messianic synagogue or my current place, which is a Hebraic Roots church. I was on the Council at Temple Beth Emanuel in Philadelphia, acting as Rabbi for about 18 months while we were looking for a new Rabbi, and I am currently an officer on the Council for my church, the Zionist Revival Center (that is the name of our website: it is a dot ORG.) I have only worshiped in two places for the past 20 years- when I find a place that I feel is correct, I stay. I don’t play the field, as many Christians do.

I also have taken correspondence classes and have a Certificate of Messianic Studies (equivalent to an Associate degree); have written and published two books on God’s word and Prayer, and I teach, help lead liturgy and give the message when the Senior Pastor is unavailable.

I am not telling you all this to brag, but simply as a resume, so to speak, to demonstrate that I have been living a very, very Jewish lifestyle. In fact, for over 15 years Donna and I have hosted a Passover Seder for people who have never been to one, to introduce them to the Last Supper as it really happened.

Yet, despite all this, when I was talking with a woman who is an Israeli, an Orthodox Jew and a Director with a Christian based organization that supports Jews living in the heartland of Israel, when I asked if Israel might ever open it’s doors to Messianic Jews (we are not welcomed there), her answer was not what I was hoping for. I expected a compassionate, “I don’t think they are ready for that yet”, or a simple, “Probably not for a while”, or even a “I doubt it.” What I got was an immediate and definitive, “NO!”  Not only that, but she went on to tell me that I was a Christian, not a Jew. I told her she cannot say that, but she asked if I believed Jesus is the son of God (an immediate disqualification for any Jew, because Judaism totally rejects the Trinity) and that if I believe in Jesus (another term for which Jews really have no idea what it means) then I am a Christian! Period!! End of job; bye-bye; don’t let the door hit your tuchas on the way out.

You see, for a Messianic Jew, it is like being between a rock and a hard place: Christians tell us we can’t be saved if we are still obedient to Torah (because that means we are legalistic), and Jews tell us we aren’t Jewish if we believe in Jesus (no matter what our birthright or how we worship.)

Why is this? The answer is simple: bigotry fostered through ignorance.

Christians are taught the Torah is for Jews, and to justify not having to obey Torah they have decided that obedience is legalism, which disqualifies someone from really having “the Spirit” and being Born Again- to most Christians, being Born Again means not having to worry about rules, and if you have decided that the Torah is God’s commandments for everyone, you aren’t really “saved.”

On the Jewish side of the fence, Jesus is a traitor to Judaism and anyone who follows Him is a traitor, also. The Gentiles worship Jesus as God and they worship the Holy Spirit, so they are not obedient to the Shema (one God). That is immediate disqualification for being Jewish. Another is bowing to idols (check out any Catholic church), and ignoring Torah (as stated above), so they don’t care who your parents were and what lifestyle you live: to Jews, believing in Jesus is the definitive definition of a Non-Jew.

I wonder if that means that everyone who rejects Jesus is a Jew? I mean, if accepting Jesus means I am not a Jew, no matter what, then rejecting Jesus should, at least, allow me to be considered a non-Gentile, which is pretty much not-every other religion, so I would then be, by default, a Jew, right?

Wrong. Jews are Jews by birthright. The way one worships God, if at all, is an indicator of how “good” a Jew that person is, but if you are born from Jewish parents, you are a Jew: now and always.

It will be a very unpleasant surprise when these bigoted people (on both sides) learn the truth at Judgment Day. Actually, having believed as they do for 2/3 of my life, I feel bad for them. They’ve been poisoned since the moment they were a child. We see the horrible way the Palestinians, ISIS and other Mideast terrorist organizations indoctrinate their children with hatred, and not only authorize, but encourage, murdering Jews, and they start this as early as when they are still in kindergarten. It’s disgusting to us.

Yet, we do the same thing between Christianity and Judaism: Jews teach their young that Christians worship Jesus (and they have good reason to say that, too) and hate Jews, and that Jesus was a Jew but that He created and converted to Christianity. Totally wrong, but what does a 5 year old know about it? And their parents, grandparents, friends, and Rabbi all tell them the same thing. And from the Gentile religions, it is the same thing for their kids; they teach Jews killed their Lord, Jews have Torah as their salvation and not Christ, and in some cases they teach God has rejected Jews and they aren’t the Chosen people anymore, but they Christians are.

Both of these teachings are lies from the pit of Sheol.

So what do we do about this? The only thing we can do: suffer through, persevere, try to preach and show the truth in how we live that all are one in Messiah, that the “Jesus” most Jews think they know is not the real Yeshua, and that the Torah is valid and necessary for all people, Jew and Gentile, because God has no religion and the commandments He gave the Jews are really for everyone.

The last thing to add is: good luck to us! We will need it.

Parashah Emor (Speak) Leviticus 21-24

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This parashah continues to teach the relationship between the Priests and the holy things, as well as rules regarding cleanliness when approaching, and appropriate condition of sacrificial animals for, the Altar.

Chapter 23 is the chapter that defines the Festivals of the Lord. These are the only Holy Days, as I define them, in all of Judaism or (frankly) any religion that professes to worship the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. All other days of celebration are holidays- meaning they are man-made, not God declared. That is my personal way of identifying the difference between, say, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah: the former is a Holy Day, the latter is a holiday.

What I want to talk about today is not the obvious “juicy” topic- Chapter 23-but one of the last lines in this parashah. The final verses recount a non-Israelite cursing God and being stoned to death for it, and God giving us the following commandment regarding how we are to administer justice in Leviticus 24:22:

“Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for the home-born; for I am the Lord your God” 

If you were to ask me what is the one, defining difference between Christianity and Judaism, with respect to the bible, I would answer with this verse. That’s because, as a general rule, Christianity has rejected their need to obey the Torah, citing the forgiveness given by Yeshua (Jesus) as over-riding the Torah.

There is a truthfulness to the statement that Yeshua is the means of our salvation; it is by forgiveness of our sins, which His sacrifice made possible.

But that doesn’t mean Torah is not important, valid or necessary anymore. Yeshua, Himself, confirmed Torah observance throughout His ministry and after every healing, and His Talmudim (Apostles and Disciples) that followed Him also confirmed Torah in their teachings. It has been the misinterpretations and wrongful teachings over the past 20 centuries that have caused such a rift between Christianity and Judaism with regard to the ways in which we are to worship God.

One rule for everyone, one law administered justly to everyone, whether a natural Jew, or a convert, or a non-Believer, or an agnostic, or a Satanist: all people are God’s children, and under God’s authority, and as such are to be treated the same with regards to the administration of God’s justice, which He defined and outlined in the Torah. And why should everyone be treated the same way?  Because “I am the Lord, your God“, meaning that there is one God, and what He says is right for someone, is right for everyone.

Obey the Torah, or not obey the Torah?: that is the question. The answer is: both. Huh? Both? מה עשה אתה אומר? (What did you say?)

Both, because we are all commanded to obey the Torah, but none of us can (completely) obey the Torah. As hard as we may try, still, we fail. That is when we sin (when we fail to obey, whether by attempting and failing, or by simply not even trying), and that is when the forgiveness for sinning (assuming you are repentant) is made available. It is available because God loves us all enough to want to forgive us, and Yeshua’s sacrifice made it possible to be forgiven without having to obey one part of the Torah; specifically speaking, the laws involving bringing our sacrifice to the Temple, which doesn’t exist anymore.

Yeshua told us that those who sin and teach others to sin would be better off if they threw a millstone around their necks and jumped in the river. I am sorry to say that teaching others to sin is exactly what “The Church” (meaning most of Christianity) has been doing since Constantine’s day. The prominent teaching that “Torah is for Jews and Christians have the Blood of Christ” is, essentially, teaching people to ignore the Torah. And the next step is to be unrepentant about ignoring the Torah.

Now, it’s bad enough to ignore God’s commandments, which is a sin, but to go as far as to teach to sin and not concern yourself about it?;  that it is OK to ignore God’s commands?; that you are going to heaven no matter what the Torah says? Well…woe be to you, Church Fathers, for you have sinned and caused others to sin. And when we sin and don’t care that we sinned, isn’t that is being unrepentant? And if you are unrepentant, do you really think you will be forgiven?

This is a scary thought for me, and I try to obey Torah. If you are reading this and have been taught to ignore Torah, then this thought should give you reason to change your underwear!

I am not saying everyone has to get circumcised, or start to eat according to Kashrut (Kosher) laws, or wear Tzit-tzit (although none of that would hurt anyone), but I am saying that we should realize God has told us how we all are supposed to live and worship Him, and that even if we do not follow all His commandments, we should try to. Eating ham will not send you to hell and refusing to eat ham will not guarantee heaven, whether you have accepted Yeshua or not. As I have said many times, Yeshua’s sacrifice has made forgiveness possible, but we have to be repentant, we have to perform T’shuvah, and for our repentance to mean anything we have to demonstrate it’s legitimacy through our good works. Obeying Torah as best we can is as good a “good work” as you can perform.

It boils down to this: one God with one set of laws for everyone; one Messiah providing the only means of salvation for everyone; and what you will do is your choice.

Just don’t forget that God will hold you, alone, responsible for your choices- “just following orders” will not count for anything come Judgment Day.