Tag: responsibility

Parashah Mikketz 2018 (At the end of) Genesis 41 – 44:17

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The Torah reading today takes up from last Shabbat when Joseph had properly interpreted the dreams of the Baker and Cupbearer. Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream, a double-feature (so to speak) and no one in all the kingdom can interpret it. The Cupbearer remembers Joseph, and he is brought to Pharaoh. Joseph says God is the one who interprets dreams, and God gives Joseph the proper interpretation of the well-known dream: the 7 sickly cows eating up the 7 healthy cows and the seven sickly ears of corn eating up the seven full and ripe ears of corn. Joseph also consults Pharaoh on how to store the surplus from the good years to provide food during the famine to come. Pharaoh appoints Joseph ruler over all of Egypt, gives him a wife and before the famine hits Joseph has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Eventually, his brothers are sent to Egypt by Jacob in order to get food due to the famine. Joseph immediately recognizes them but they don’t know him, and he treats them as spies, locking up Simeon (Rabbinic tradition says he picked Simeon because Simeon was the one who first suggested they kill him) and demanding that they bring their youngest brother before him to prove their story, while secretly restoring their money before they leave. Of course, Jacob doesn’t want to part with Benjamin, but sooner or later he has to in order for them to get more food. Reuben offers to give his children as a sacrifice if Benjamin doesn’t come back, but Jacob won’t do that. When Judah offers to take total responsibility for Benjamin, Jacob finally relents and lets them take Benjamin to Egypt.

Once back in Egypt, Joseph has the brothers taken to his house to eat, restores Simeon to them and sets a trap for them. When they leave he has his servant hide a cup in Benjamin’s pack, along with all their money and sends them away. Soon after they leave he sends after them and they find the cup in Benjamin’s pack, bringing all the brothers back to face the charge of theft. Joseph says Benjamin will become his slave and tells the other brothers to return home, and that is where this parashah stops.

If you aren’t aware of this, every parashah is followed with a Haftorah, which is a reading from other parts of the Tanakh which is related to the message found in the Torah reading. The Haftorah for Mikketz is 1 Kings 3:15- 4:1. This is the story (also well-known) of the two prostitutes who come before King Solomon to argue who is the rightful mother of a child who they both claim is their own. When Solomon says to bring him a sword and he will divide the child, the real mother gives up the child in order to save its life, after which Solomon judges she is the true mother.

What these two stories have in common is that people recognized the wisdom that Joseph and Solomon displayed could only have come from God. Pharaoh said of Joseph (Genesis 41:38):

And Pharaoh said unto his servants: “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is?”

and when Solomon revealed the true mother of the child, we are told (1 Kings 3:28):

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

God uses people, ordinary people like you and me, to intervene in human affairs in order to bring about his plans much more often than he uses angels. And when God imbues us with his wisdom or power, it is something that even the spiritually empty can recognize as coming from some supernatural source. Joseph and Solomon are just two examples of this; throughout the Bible, there are many examples of God giving people the gifts, power, and talents they need to achieve God’s plans.

There is a problem, though- how do we know that the person doing these things, making these judgments, or teaching us God’s word are really getting it from God? We are told that there will be false prophets and false Messiahs, as there have been over the millennia, even to modern days: think of Jim Jones, Father Devine, Jim Bakker, or even ‘the Rebbe’ Menachem Schneerson! They were all charismatic, had many followers and were considered to be either prophets or, in the case of Schneerson, the Messiah, himself. Yet, they have all proved to be false.

It is a hard thing to know the fake from the genuine, especially when the fake is going to be empowered supernaturally by the Enemy of God to perform miraculous feats, just as God empowers his prophets and messengers. The Bible tells us that if a prophet says something will happen, and it does then the prophet is proven to be from God, but sometimes prophecies don’t come about for a long time: I mean, look how long after Isaiah told us about Yeshua until he actually came. Hundreds of years!  And the Enemy will make sure that what his messengers prophesize will happen.

So, again we ask, how do we know who is the true messenger of God?

My answer is that the only way to really know the difference is to know God as best as we can, and the way to do that is through his Word! God tells us in the Bible who he is, what is important to him, and how he expects us to behave. He gives us a really good idea of what is godly and what is not. It is up to us to read the Bible, daily, and to know what God has said so that we can hold up anyone that says they are from God against the biblical template God has provided for us.

Finally, for those of you who are like me, a teacher of the Word, we must be subjected to the highest level of scrutiny. This is why James warned us when he said (James 3:1):

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely.

I often have said, in my posts and when I spoke to my congregation, that everything I say must be verified by God’s word. And it is the responsibility of the one hearing my speech, as much as it is mine, to make sure that what I say is proven correct by God’s word. There is a basic model of communication that has three parts: the speaker, the hearer, and noise. The “noise’ is what is between the speaker and the hearer, and it can be anything from measurable sound to bias thinking to total ignorance. The Enemy will make a lot of noise when we try to hear God, and both the one speaking and also the one hearing must work to filter out that noise.

Let me leave you with what I always say when I am complimented on a post or a sermon: if what I do or say is received as being good and just, it is not me but the Holy Spirit working through me. When I totally screw something up, then I can take full credit.

 

Who’s fault is it?

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Remember the days when, if you needed a medical specialist, you could go to your family doctor and ask for a reference? Not a referral of someone in the HMO Group, but someone who that doctor thought would be good for you.

Remember when you could call a former employer about someone who is seeking to work for you and they would tell you the truth about that person? In fact, they would talk to you and not send you to an HR robot who would tell you the dates the person worked for them and nothing more.

Remember when people used to feel responsible for what they did or said to others?

Deuteronomy  24:16– Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

Ezekiel 18:20– The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.

Galatians 6:4-5– Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else. For each one should carry his own load.

The bible tells us that when we come before God we will be held accountable for what we have done in our lives. It won’t be like an American courtroom, where we can claim that the malpractice we suffered is not just the fault of the doctor who worked on us, but can also be blamed on the doctor that told us to go to him. We won’t be able to sue someone for telling a prospective employer (who turned us down) we were fired for having stolen from the company. We won’t get a multi-million dollar payout from the manufacturer of a lightening rod for not telling us we shouldn’t install it in the middle of a thunderstorm.

We won’t be able to blame Satan for suggesting we worship him instead of God when we apostatize.

The world is all about being a victim, and it doesn’t matter who did what to whom: all that matters is that you are the first one to complain. The one who makes a stink about something and claims to have been hurt, or abused, or made to feel uncomfortable, is the one who wins. The accused is immediately considered guilty. I mean, why not? After all, when I told this person they didn’t do a good job and they need to do better in the future, I caused them great suffering and mental anguish: what if they can’t do better? What if they are fired and lose their home? They can’t sleep, they can’t eat, their ulcers are acting up and now they have a cavity in their tooth! It’s all my fault!

Uh…wait a minute. Didn’t they fail to perform their job as they were instructed? Didn’t they refuse to work at getting better?  Didn’t they have anything at all to do with their own actions?

Not in today’s world they didn’t.

Yeshua (Jesus) told His disciples that they should love each other because that is how people will know they are His disciples. The Torah was given to us (all of us) to separate us from the pagan practices of the ancient world, so that society could look at God’s people and see how wise, thoughtful and compassionate they are towards each other and from that example learn to be better, themselves.

Everything about being a person who fears the Lord has to do with becoming more holy, more separated from the world, and (thereby) a monument to the wonder and awesomeness of God. We are to be examples for others to follow.

One way to be an example is to be responsible for yourself. Take onus for what you do and say, accept responsibility for your actions and don’t throw Red Herrings and smokescreens up when you do something wrong. And when someone accuses you of wrongdoing, if you are innocent, stand up for yourself and fight for righteousness.

I once was accused of something and stood up for myself. I took a senior executive of the company to his boss and filed a complaint against him for wrongly accusing me and not following corporate procedures. I won that battle, and lost the war. When my evaluation came up, my immediate supervisor gave me a 3.5 out of 5 score, which was supported by many people writing how much they appreciated me and enjoyed working with me. His boss, the one I complained about, reduced that to a 2.0: his justification was that I usually did a good job but usually isn’t good enough.

Can you believe that? A CIO, a senior executive of a company, wrote that; and, what is worse, is that the HR Director never even reviewed it! Where I come from, when someone gets an unsat evaluation, it has to be justified with documentation and must be reviewed by HR.

The point is not that I was mistreated (which led to me getting a better job with 150% pay raise, so God always takes care of those who love Him) but that when we stand up for ourselves the world may come down on us. So what? We still must do the right thing. In this case, I did not allow myself to be a victim by standing up for what was right. When people accuse us of being wrong we need to stand up for Godly righteousness.

And when we are in the wrong, when we have done or said something that has been harmful or incorrect, we need to be just as willing to accept blame for it. That is also something that will separate us from the world, and demonstrate that one can be “holy” and still make mistakes. Being holy doesn’t mean we are any better or any more efficient, it just means we are separated, that we are different (in a good way) from everyone else.

And, in today’s world, to accept blame for what you do or say is certainly different from what everyone else does.

Parashah Shemini (on the eighth day) Leviticus 9 – 11

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This parashah starts with Aaron, who has been undergoing sanctification for the office of Cohen HaGadol for the past 8 days, beginning his duties as High Priest. Also his two oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, were to start assisting him.

The problem is that the boys had been drinking (implied by what is commanded in 4:8-11) and offered up incense and fire that was not authorized, and which they had no right to do.

It cost them their lives, as God sent fire from heaven to kill them.

Aaron was told not to mourn, and to continue his duties so that more anger from God was not brought down on him, too.

Chapter 11 is the chapter for Kashrut, the Kosher laws and regulations regarding cleanliness. It makes sense to me that the cleanliness laws would come after the laws about sacrifice- after all, once you have presented your sacrifice and been cleansed, the next thing you need to know is how to stay clean.

What we need to understand from this parashah is how important the position of leadership is within the Jewish world, and even more so, in God’s sight. The devastating punishment that Abihu and Nadab suffered for their insult to God and disregard for His laws was commensurate with their position within the community as leaders and representatives of God to the community.  In James 3:1 we are told….no, actually we are warned….that being a teacher is a position not to be taken lightly:

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

This warning from Yacov can be traced back directly to this parashah. Moses told Aaron not to show any signs of remorse or mourning because Aaron was God’s representative, and as such to even imply he was unhappy about God’s judgment in this case would be a form of denying what God did as just. And since Aaron not only represents God before the people, but also acts as a representative of the people before God, if he was upset and unhappy with God’s judgment then the people would follow suit. And, as we have seen (and will see often during their 40 years in the desert) the people suffered for their distrust and rejection of God’s commands and judgments.

Performing ministry is a form of teaching; indeed, it is teaching the most important thing there is to know: who Messiah is and how to attain salvation and eternal peace. Therefore, ministry workers must be above-board and always represent themselves well. If you talk to people about God, then you represent God. If you tell people about being a Believer, then you represent all Believers.

And the non-believers will throw that up in your face every time you so much as sneeze without covering your mouth!

We will stumble, we will misrepresent God, and we will screw things up, royally. We may represent God’s goodness and love, but we are still human and, as such, will do stupid things. That is no reason to stop trying. A good lesson to teach anyone is that when you fall, brush yourself off, get back up, and keep walking. Maybe the best lesson we can teach about God is not all the wonderful things He has done, but to show how He strengthens us in the midst of our weakness. Just like Shaul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

We are, each of us, a member of the body of Messiah and we must do what God has placed us here to do. Seek out your gift from God and when you find it, use it. Invest the talents He has given you so that when you meet Him you can give Him back more than what He gave you (read the parable about the Talents in the Gospels.)

Be careful, be aware, but don’t be frightened or put off by the extra responsibility you have as a teacher or leader in the community- it is a great way to grow and have your spirit matured within you. Being in charge is a terrible, and terrific, responsibility, yet if you perform your duties with love, compassion, respect and humility you may be surprised to find yourself being supported by those that you are to support!  When I was a Platoon Commander in the Marine Corps, I would lead the PT (Physical Training) and we would run, as a platoon of 30 men, for miles and miles. I was always in the lead, setting the pace. I had been asked more than once how I can carry all those men with me, and I would reply that I wasn’t pulling them, they were pushing me.

Leadership in God’s community and teaching others about God is a position that is held in high regard by those you teach, is a position in which you are held doubly responsible by God for what and how you teach and live, and makes you a target to be constantly attacked by those who refuse to believe. Standing on the horizon your shadow extends farther than those who are in the valley. Be aware, be careful, and be strengthened by knowing God is not just watching you more carefully, He is strengthening you more completely.

As you do more and more for God, and humbly allow Him to work through you, the responsibility of your position will become heavier and heavier, yet at the same time His strength in your weakness will make that burden easier and easier to bear.

Everything’s wonderful, but…

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I have often mentioned I read Dear Abby and Ask Amy in the morning newspapers, along with the comics and the word puzzles, because these “advice columns” give me fuel for my blogging fire.

If you also read them, have you noticed that so very often the writer starts off with how wonderful their spouse or partner is, how s/he is kind and affectionate and how wonderful everything is with that person. Then they say something like, “But when he is drunk every night , he hits me” or “She spends too much money and we are broke” or maybe even, “I sneak into his emails and he is flirting with co-workers.”

They try to convince themselves that everything is wine and roses, but they have really significant issues and they ask Abby or Amy what to do. Don’t they read their own letters? It’s obvious what to do- get your head out of the place it is in and back on your shoulders! Open your eyes! WAKE UP!!!

I also notice how I almost never see anyone write in who is a Believer. Oh, there are “religious” people who write in, all right, but they are usually the ones that give God a bad name: they are self-righteous, unloving, and stoic. It is good stuff for the column, since everyone reading their bigoted and pretentious attitudes gets a good rise from it (which is why, when we are honest with ourselves, many of us read these types of articles) but you rarely, if ever, see anyone who trusts in God and is faithful write in.

Maybe that’s because we know the best answers aren’t in the newspaper, but in the Bible.

What will happen to these people who try to convince themselves that all is wonderful while they are in the middle of tsouris? Won’t they be the ones who will run to follow the false Messiahs Yeshua warns us about? Won’t they be the ones to take the mark of the enemy because he will promise joy and riches and all those things people without faith and trust in God will want given to them?

We need to keep our eyes open and be honest with ourselves. We need to follow the example of those in the Bible who were able to accept the truth about themselves. David listened to Nathan and accepted responsibility for his sin with Bat Sheba; long before David, his ancestor Y’hudah (Judah) accepted his guilt when he realized he had not given his son to Tamar in marriage, as he promised; Shaul even took the vows of a Nazarene twice- not because he did anything wrong, but to demonstrate to others that he was not doing anything against Torah.

We need to be very, very careful. The times are here already, the shofar is in the hands of the one who is to blow it, and we need to be aware, alert, and honest with ourselves about what we are doing, who we are with, and where we are going.

It is especially important for those Believers who only want to hear about the love and acceptance that the grace of God gives to stop fooling themselves. They don’t want to even think that their salvation comes at a price; I am not talking about Yeshua’s suffering, but the price each of us must pay when we are saved. Our individual salvation is easy to receive and hard to keep. That’s why Yeshua said that those who wish to follow Him must take up their execution stake every day. We need to work at keeping our salvation, at being better, at doing more for God and dying more to self. Every day, every hour. Those who only want to hear about God’s love and acceptance and heaven are, as my Pastor says it so well, not willing to leave Goshen. They want all the happy-happy and none of the real life truth about how hard it is to be, and to stay, saved in an unsaved world.

Don’t tell yourself lies. Don’t make out that things are fine when they aren’t, and don’t go in the opposite direction, either: don’t be discouraged by the evil and hate in the world. It’s going to get worse. You need to steel yourself, you need to wear that armor Shaul told us about in Ephesians. We all need to maintain our hope in God’s promises and keep faith in Him; more than that, we also need to accept that we all have to work at it. Salvation is here but it hasn’t arrived yet; we have it but we won’t use it until Yeshua returns; when we cash in our chips is when we receive the prize.

Yeshua told parables that ended with Him saying, “Let those with eyes see and those with ears hear.” We need to have eyes that are open, ears that are unplugged, and faith that is unbending. More than just that, we need to have a humble attitude and contrite spirit, as David did, so that we can accept the truth and work within it.

Look for the truth in your life and don’t sugarcoat salvation. Remember what Yeshua told you: the truth will set you free.

How To Smell Nice When You Stink

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Have you ever heard the saying, “All things are relative?” If I am doing 40 miles per hour on the road, I am speeding by a pedestrian walking in the same direction; but the guy doing 60 in his sports car flies by me like I am standing still! Who is going fast and who is going slow? It’s all relative. The one thing that is undeniable is that I am doing 40.

There was a man who was a shepherd. Every day he walked behind the sheep, watching out where they go and making sure none got left behind or wandered off. Of course, walking behind the sheep meant that he often stepped in something he didn’t want to, but it was all part of the job, so every night he went home and smelled like, well, let’s just say he didn’t smell nice. After many years of this, he and his family got so used to the smell that he didn’t even notice it anymore. But his shoes were always dirty and always smelled bad.

One day he went into the city and was standing in an elevator with other people, all dressed nicely for work. As the elevator starting going up, the people began to seem jittery, nervously looking around, some picking up their feet and looking at the bottom of their shoes. Finally, one man came forward and said to the shepherd, “Friend, you smell very bad and you should be more considerate of the other people in the world who have to be close to you.”

At this the shepherd realized that he forgot about his shoes smelling so bad, but in his embarrassment he did not humbly ask forgiveness. Instead, he flicked his shoes at the man, sending sheep-stuff all over the man and everyone close by. Then he said, “You smell bad, too- I’m no worse than you! Who do you think you are talking to me that way?”  Then all the other people accosted the man who told the shepherd he stunk and blamed him for their foul smell. The shepherd walked out of the elevator, feeling justified, the people walked out of the elevator mad at the man who told the truth, and the man who told the truth just rode to the top, smelling bad and wondering how they could all be so blind.

This is what the world is like- those who do wrong and are inconsiderate do not take responsibility for themselves and humbly ask forgiveness, trying to do better. Instead, they throw sheep-stuff all over everyone else, pointing out that everyone stinks, everyone does wrong, everyone cheats on their taxes, nobody stops at stop signs, everyone calls in sick when they aren’t, and they walk away feeling they haven’t done anything wrong.

Well, they seem to be getting away with it, but sooner or later we all face the one judge that can’t be sent on a wild goose chase or be fooled by a red herring.

It is hard to be told when you have done wrong- I think nearly everyone, from embarrassment and shame, would prefer to hide when they have done wrong and pretend it didn’t happen than face the music and apologize. There are some who will immediately apologize, accept their wrongdoing and act responsibly. Most, I am afraid (disagree if you think I am wrong) will make excuses and try to blame others. By throwing sheep-stuff on everyone else, they seem to be, relatively, less smelly. Or, at least, everyone else smells just as bad so they are “normal” and, therefore, not in the wrong.

The difference between those that accept responsibility for their actions and those that try to avoid them, what I call the “Teflon” people (nothing sticks to Teflon), is more than just emotional maturity- it is spiritual maturity and a fear of God. Not fear of retribution, but fear in the biblical sense- awe at His holiness and respect for His commandments.

The bible teaches us much, and one of the most important lessons is that we are, and will be held, responsible for our actions. It is everywhere, from the prophets being responsible to warn the people, to Moses being responsible for striking the rock twice in anger, to Samson being delivered up to the Philistines because of the damage he caused to their crops, to the kings and people of both Shomron (Israel- the Northern Kingdom) and Judah being expelled from their land due to their continued sinfulness.

I liken Yeshua to the man who, in the parable above, is the one telling the smelly person what everyone else knew but did not take responsibility (to the smelly man) to tell him, and ultimately was the one who everyone was mad at. Yeshua did take responsibility, not for Himself but for everyone else. For you, for me, for everyone. He took the stench we have off of us and wore on Himself, all the way to the Execution Stake.

It is hard to be responsible. Not just for what we do, but to tell others when they need to know they are doing wrong. It has to be done with compassion and with the strength to accept that you may end up being the one hated for telling the truth that everyone else knows but doesn’t have the strength, spiritually or emotionally, to face.

We all sin, we all will sin, none of us can stop sinning; don’t use that fact as a reason to keep sinning. Everyone will be held accountable for their choices when they face the Holy One in the final court, and if you can’t handle being corrected on Earth, while you have time to amend your ways, in front of God you will not be able to throw sheep-stuff on anyone else because it will be just you and God, and God can’t be fooled.

We can never be sinless, but we can always sin less.

So clean your shoes, wash your body and be aware of when you start to stink. And more than anything else, accept correction humbly and gratefully- it may save your soul!

Even if the person correcting you doesn’t do it well, the bottom line is not whether they correct you nicely or angrily: the bottom line is whether or not they are right!

You Can’t Give Away What You Don’t Own

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We have a column in our local paper that is a forum where people can post short little carps about things that bother them.

I am thinking of writing to that column complaining about the childish and inane complaints that people make.

Today I read someone’s complaint about the fast food tacos and burritos they buy: the issue centered around the wrapper sticking to the food, and how because of that, when eating the food and driving the person sometimes eats the paper.

Stop eating while you are driving! DUH!!

Just like the little old lady who sued McDonalds for burning herself with their coffee. Supposedly she placed the cup between her legs to pull the cover off so she could drink the hot coffee, all the while driving her car. Of course, it spilled and she got burnt, and who paid? We all did. The truth is, as I hear it, she didn’t do as well as everyone thinks, and her lawyers got the best of the suit (no surprise there), but the point is the same.

And what is the point? The point is that today no one is responsible, as a people or as a nation, for what happens to us, even when we are the cause.

Actually, it’s not all that new. Cain was a victim, too. No, really! Didn’t he complain to God that his punishment was too much to bear? And that he might be killed by someone if God sent him all alone into the world? Uh, what about Abel? Hello? Didn’t you just murder him?

Somewhere we lost the understanding that we are responsible for what we do and say. Somewhere we lost that maturity, that sense of ownership for our actions. We want to be recognized for any good deed we do, we want to get raises for simply showing up and doing the minimum, we want medals and trophies for nothing more than being there, but when we screw up it isn’t our fault.

In the parable of the man who hired workers for a denarius, he paid all the same amount, whether they started early in the day or joined just before sundown. The workers who were there all day complained about everyone getting the same pay, no matter how long they had worked. The man said that they (the ones there all day) got what they agreed to, and what he paid others isn’t their business. This has a real lesson for people today, which is that we should not complain about what anyone else gets and be concerned only with what we have.  If we are getting what we agreed to receive, then nothing else matters.

Oh, but that’s not fair! Really? Do you remember this:

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,’ says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 18:24-30

God will forgive a life-long sinner who does T’Shuvah and turns from his sin, even on his deathbed, and a man who has been righteous all his life, but then becomes a sinner (meaning purposefully turning to the “dark side” ) will be punished, even if this change of heart comes on his deathbed. And the world says that’s not fair. That’s what the story of the man paying the same wage to everyone, no matter when they started working, is all about, isn’t it? God looks to the heart, and what you did yesterday doesn’t really matter as much as what and who you are today.

When I was in Sales, we joked that you might be the top salesperson for the year, 5 years in a row, but what did you sell yesterday? And how many appointments do you have today? History is nice, but we live day to day, and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, so we need to be in the moment, every moment. What others do or say may impact us, but it is what we do and say that we are responsible for, no matter what others have done.

We need to own up to our own actions. That means we need to “own” our sinfulness, “own” our mistakes, and willingly be accountable for them. When you own something, you have the right and the ability to give it away. If I have a mortgage, I can offer to sell my house but I can’t really sell it until the bank releases the lien. When I go to sell my car, I can’t really close the deal until the holder of the loan is paid because that is the legal entity that releases the registration to transfer the title.

The same is true with our sins- we can’t give them up to God until we own them. And if we keep thinking that we are the victims, that we aren’t accountable for what we do and say, and (ultimately) that it “isn’t our fault”, then how can we really be free of our sin?  If we don’t own it, we can’t get rid of it.

I am sure we all know someone, or some people, who pretend to be Believers, who talk the talk, but they don’t ever really admit their sinfulness, and they always seem to be a victim. I have known people that screw up their lives with foolish and immature decisions, then blame God for the Tsuris they get. I have heard people say that God is punishing them when it is clear that they are just making bad decisions. They don’t own up to their own stupidity and immaturity, so bad things happen. But it’s not their fault, oh no! They are Believers, they are godly people who pray all the time, but yet they must have done something wrong because God is against them, or they say they are under attack (presumably from the Enemy.)

The Enemy won’t attack you unless you are getting closer to God; if you don’t take responsibility for your own actions, there is no way the Enemy will be after you since you already are far from being able to get closer to God. Your sin keeps you away; the sin of irresponsibility, the sin of self-righteousness, the sin of rejecting the very essence of what God is telling us all- that He is the Judge, He is the one whose way is fair, and that He is the one who will repay.

Forget fair, forget what someone else did to you, forget why, just remember this: we are, each and every one of us, accountable to God for what we do and what we say. That’s all that will matter when we are before His Throne of Judgement. If we defend ourselves saying we cursed them out because of what they did to us, God will still hold us accountable for cursing someone out, won’t He? If we “get back” at someone, won’t God, fairly and rightfully, say that He told us not to repay for evil with evil, but wait upon Him? Didn’t He say that He will repay? Aren’t we commanded, over and over, to forgive?

And for those of us who will stand before the Throne with Yeshua at our side as our advocate, how will Yeshua be able to say that He has taken our sins when we haven’t really let go of them? We can’t give our sins to the Lord if we don’t own them. It’s true that Yeshua’s blood can cleanse away all sin, but if we don’t take off our “filthy rags” and place them in the washing machine, how will they be cleaned?

Our sins are our own;  when we are personally and completely accountable for them, only then can we truly be able to give them away.

Are you ready to own your sins? It’s the only way to be rid of them.

Teaching is a Double-Edged Sword

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I believe, and have had it confirmed by others, that God has given me a gift for teaching. My mother was a teacher, so I learned some of how it’s done while still in the womb. Her sister was also in teaching, as a Vice-Principal. My older sister is a teacher with specific skills for handling troubled children. You could say the defective gene for teaching is in my system, but I like to think that God gave me the gift, also.

Here’s the problem: when you take on the responsibility of teaching, whether it be teaching Math or the Bible, you are shaping someone’s life. If you don’t mold that person correctly you could send them to hell in a handbasket.

The Bible is pretty specific about this: check out these verses:

Proverbs 22:6       Yacov (James) 3:1-2    Luke 6:40 (this one demands we teach by example)

2 Timothy 2:15     Mattitayu (Matthew) 5:19    Nehemiah 8:8      Romans 2:21

There are other verses, but from these you can get the idea that there is great power in teaching. The power to mold and shape someone, which is the same power to turn them aside from the truth and lead them to wrongful decisions. There is the power to save, and the power to destroy.

In the world today there are many teachings, both right and wrong. There are teachings that tell us somethings are bad and there are teachings that tell us the same, exact things are not bad.  The Catholic church says priests are not to get married, but the other Christian religions and the Torah teach that the Kohanim (Priests) are allowed to marry (but there are restrictions on the type of woman they are allowed to marry.) Another teaching is that being kosher is only for Jews, but Yeshua was kosher and we are told to be like Yeshua, to “Do what Jesus would have done”, so why is it taught that we don’t have to keep kosher? If you read my book you will learn more on how this idea that kosher laws are done away with is wrong.

The world teaches you to look out only for yourself and the Bible teaches us to care for others as much as ourselves. The world teaches to live for today and the Bible teaches us to live for Eternity.

So many different things, and all seemingly opposing each other. For those of us who want to teach about God’s way and to lead others to the salvation that Yeshua made possible, we have to work against the world and all the teachings therein. Then, we have to work against all the wrongful teachings that the Christian world has proliferated: Yeshua did away with Torah, Torah is just for Jews, Jews are Christ-killers and because they rejected Jesus God has rejected them so the Christians are the new Chosen People (this is called Replacement Theology), the church leadership shouldn’t get married, or (at the other end) the church leaders can be homosexual. Eat anything you want but you can’t drink alcoholic beverages or dance, and there are hundreds of other teachings, each religion with it’s own ideas, and all claiming this is God’s way.

God has no religion, only commandments. They’re all in the Torah- there is nothing “new” in the New Covenant writings. Get with the program , people!

Then there’s the big one, which I think will send more people to hell than anything else we are being told: if you’re a good person you get to go to heaven. That is a lie from the pit of Sheol (hell) and even Yeshua says He is not good, only His father in heaven is good. So, then, who can be good if only God is good?

What we are being taught is a roadmap, a sort of spiritual GPS, and it is sending us somewhere… but to where?

Here’s is a lesson I offer that is true: we are all sinners. No one is good, no one is worthy, and no one has a snowballs’ chance in Heck of being saved without Yeshua HaMashiach. Simple, straight-forward, Biblically sound, and awesome to realize. Scary actually.

If you want to teach about God, make sure you read the verses I quoted above, and don’t forget this: Yeshua said those who sin and teach others to sin will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. The good news is that you may be teaching wrong things and still be saved, as this verse implies, and the bad news is I don’t think you will hear Yeshua say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not if you teach others to sin. Here’s the really bad news: how will you feel if you are in Heaven and people you taught did not make it because of your teachings? Through all eternity you will know they are suffering because of you.

To teach God’s word means you need to live God’s word, and I am the biggest failure of all in doing this. I am teaching do what I say (actually, what God says) and not what I do. Truthfully, we all do this, teach what we can’t do, since we are all sinners without hope of redemption on our own, so no one is going to live a perfect life. That was done already, and we only needed it for the one time. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, because we can sin less.

Here is another lesson you can count on as being true: we will never be able to say we don’t sin at all, but we can always sin less than we do now.

If you want to teach, think about it. You don’t know what you are getting into. If you have the gift, use it, but if you aren’t sure then ask those who are faithful and spiritually mature. Trust their judgement and, more than anything, ask God what He wants you to do. Ask Him to show you what gift(s) He has given you, and work with those. There is nothing more satisfying than doing good for the Lord, and if my gift was toilet cleaning, I would clean the toilets so well that no one would even want to use them, for fear of making them dirty again.

Of course, I am glad that’s not my gifting, but my point is this: whatever God leads you to do, do it well. Do what we are told to do in Colossians 3:23 (I am really breaking my rules about not giving exact locations today, aren’t I?) and you will always feel a sense of fulfillment from your work.

I love doing what I do…this blog, writing my book (c’mon, already- buy it!) and being able to give the message at my place of worship, now and then. And I always, always, always  hold myself up to the Word of God, making sure everything I say and teach about is able to be found in the Bible. I also tell everyone, including you, to test me and verify whatever I say is in the Bible to really be there.

I once read you shouldn’t believe everything you read, but then I didn’t know what to do!

Be careful when you teach because the ones you are teaching are depending on you to guide them to the truth and to their salvation. Don’t let them down.