Tag: salvation

The Best Counter-Attack Ever Made

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It’s almost here!! My newest book, Parashot Drashim A Commentary of the Weekly Torah Reading for Both Jews and Gentiles is almost ready for publication.  Watch for it. 

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

As a (former active duty) Company Executive Officer in the Marine Corps, I can tell you that the very first thing you do after having won a battle is to prepare for the counter-attack.  Whether you have successfully “taken the hill” or cleared the building, freed the town or whatever the objective was that you have completed, the time when you are most vulnerable is as soon as you have won. Before you attend to the wounded or do anything else, you set up your perimeter defenses and make sure that everyone on the line has their ammunition and selected zones of fire. Only after the area is secured do you then take care of the other things.

Yeshua died on the execution stake, was buried and rose three days later. That was the objective achieved- the sting of death was taken away and the pathway to salvation for the entire world was cleared. But the Enemy wasn’t done away with- he was still here, and planning his counter-attack.  That counter-attack was to split the factions between believing and unbelieving Jews to the point where those who were able to avoid the sting of death would be considered traitors and outcasts from “mainstream” Judaism. In essence, the Enemy wanted to turn salvation made possible to salvation lost to all the unbelieving Jews in the world. 

Yeshua warned us about this in Matthew 10:34–

Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’…

Although Yeshua was quoting from Micah 7:6 regarding the punishment God was inflicting on a sinful Israel, I see this also as a prophetic warning as to how the Enemy will try to inflict ruin on the efforts of the believers in Yeshua to gather all people to the Messiah.

And, to a large degree, it worked. The Enemy used people to discredit the resurrection, and when Gentiles were brought to salvation he used the leaders among them, as well as the confusion that came from some of the Epistles written by Shaul, to not only cause a chasm between Believing Jews and the Gentiles converting to Judaism but to create an entirely new religion which was not what Yeshua taught. This was accomplished by the Council of Nicene, and since then the schism has grown wider, having been fueled with persecution, hatred, distrust, and bigotry…from both sides.

The objective of the Messiah was to bring people back to God; to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. This was done, but the success of that objective was damaged by the counter-attack of the Enemy. It is similar to the Battle of Iwo Jima: the Marines were successful in capturing the island, but for months afterward they were still being attacked by Japanese hidden in underground caves and it took a long time and more deaths before the island was completely safe. 

The difference in the way people worshiped between the Jews that rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua and the Jews that didn’t was small at first. There were Jews that accepted Yeshua and Jews that didn’t, but they were all Jews worshipping as Jews. However, as more and more Gentiles were added it grew to the point where the Messianic community was composed mostly of Gentiles.  At that time the Jews were being politically persecuted (because they were in revolt) so due to the political environment, the Gentile Believers were encouraged to part from their Jewish roots.  This resulted in moving the Sabbath to Sunday, the creation of “Christian” holidays to compete with the Jewish festivals and men like Ignatius of Antioch and other “church fathers” forming canon and traditions that were against the Judaic ones. At that point, the Enemy’s counter-attack had some level of success. 

But he hasn’t won. He lost the war when Yeshua rose, and the strength of his position is now starting to weaken. The Hebraic Roots movement is bringing Christians closer to their proper place within the plan of salvation, and the growth of the Messianic Jewish movement is bringing Jews back to their Messiah. The regathering of Jews to their Homeland is also part of God’s counter-counter-attack. The final battle is soon to come, and we all know who the winner is going to be. 

It is up to us, those who accept Yeshua as their Messiah, to faithfully continue the attack against the Enemy. There are many strong points that he holds, which we need to attack. One of those is the image of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus Christ that the world believes started Christianity.  Approach Jews with the truth about their Messiah using only the name “Yeshua” and quoting only from the Tanakh regarding what the Messiah was supposed to do. You can’t convince a Jewish person about Yeshua if you call him “Jesus” and use the New Covenant writings for your proof – to a Jew, those are both false. Jesus is a false Messiah who created a religion that hates Jews and the New Covenant isn’t scripture. In fact, to a Jewish person, the New Covenant is a bunch of hooey that Christians wrote about their god.

The Enemy made an excellent counter-attack that has postponed the final accomplishment of the Messiah’s objective. The Enemy managed to postpone the End Days but did not defeat God’s plan; he just made us wait a little while longer.  The Enemy’s success in turning Gentiles converting to Judaism into a new religion that ended up persecuting Jews will be turned around by God. In fact, we are seeing that happen this very day, and eventually what the Enemy did will come down on his own head.

All we have to do is wait until God has had enough. At that time he will send Messiah Yeshua back to Earth to perform the final “mop-up operations.” 

Should We Forgive Abusers?

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As I have often said, I read Dear Abby every day because it provides great fodder for spiritual understanding and teaching.

Recently someone wrote to her who had been abused as a child by her family, and now as an adult and parent is asking how she should react to those who constantly tell her that she should try to reconcile with her family.  Abby answered that when one has been abused they do “NOT” have to forgive the abusers.

Those who are God-fearing should know better than to follow that advice. True, it is hard to forgive someone who has damaged you, whether it be physically and/or emotionally. The pain and anger, unresolved anger, is very hard to live with and even more difficult to get over. In truth, I don’t think we ever really get “over” it, we just learn to get past it.

Yet God tells us that forgiveness is what we must do. We are told to be holy as God is holy, and part of what God does is forgive. He forgives because he is a compassionate and loving God, yet if we do not ask for forgiveness, it will not be given automatically. The reason for that is simple: if we do not ask to be forgiven, that means we aren’t repentant for the sin we committed, and God will not forgive an unrepentant sinner.

Here’s is the thing about forgiveness that (I believe) many people do not understand: forgiving someone else for a sin they committed against you does not make them right with God but it does make you right with God. Each and every one of us must ask God to forgive us for the sin(s) we commit. I can ask God to forgive others, but if they are unrepentant it doesn’t seem likely that God will forgive them. We can ask him to be merciful, but God will judge fairly and mercifully, anyway, whether or not we ask him to do so. What is good about us asking God to forgive or be merciful is that we can show God we are forgiving of others.

Yeshua tells us in Matthew 6:14 that if we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven. OUCH!! That means that we must forgive if we are to maintain our salvation.

That’s right- it sounds bad and is a hard word to hear, but it’s right there in the Bible. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. We are also told that the rod we use to measure out others will be used to measure us (Matthew 7:2), which is another way of saying the same thing. If we judge others unfairly and refuse to forgive them, that is how we will be judged and how we will receive forgiveness (or not.)

There is another aspect of forgiveness that (I believe) many people do not know: the only way to make the pain go away is to forgive! Without forgiveness, the pain will never go away. Even when you do forgive, it will take time. I try to remember that I need to pray for those that have sinned against me (per Yeshua’s command in Matthew 5:44), and when I pray for them I find that it is easier to forgive them.

The old adage, “To err is human; to forgive, divine” is absolutely correct, and totally biblical.

Usually, Dear Abby’s advice is on the mark, and I understand that her column is not a religious one, but it sure would be nice if she was less PC and more GC (God Correct) for then her advice would be truly good advice.

If Something Is Available To Us Is That The Same As We Deserve It?

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How many times do we hear on the TV or radio that the product being advertised is one that “you deserve to have?”  For instance, Lasik (the laser eye treatment) is now better than ever so you can have the eyesight you deserve.

Here are some other examples I found in an article on a Google search (italics added):

“”You deserve Virgin Mobile.”

“You deserve NEW, NOW!” shouts a billboard for a housing development in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“The most original people deserve the most original vodka,” reads the tagline on a series of ads for Stoli.

Weight-loss products from motivational speaker Tony Robbins claim to give you “the body you deserve” (thin and healthy).

A 2012 book from the popular financial writer Suze Orman promises “the future you deserve” (rich and happy).”

Skipping the Internet and going “old school” I used a thing called a Dictionary to look up what “deserve” means. It says, “to be worthy of or entitled to” and the word “deserved” means “merited; earned.”

So what is my “beef” about this morning? It’s about the UN-deserved attitude of entitlement that people have today which is promulgated and enforced by advertising. The air waves bring us the news (fake and designed to disturb) as well as the TV shows we watch, whether you have cable, satellite or stream them. And who is in charge of the air waves? If you’re asking me (and I assume you are) it is not ABC, or CBS or CNN- it is the one who the Bible tells us is in charge of the air, the Prince of the Air…Satan! (Ephesians 2:2)

I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and my attitude toward people is highly influenced by what I was conditioned to think watching TV as a child. Yes, I used the word “conditioned” because that is what advertising does to us. Nearly 1/3 of every hour of TV is advertising and we watch hours of TV every day. That equates to hundreds of hours of advertising every year. I was in Sales for about 15 years and learned that the career most closely related to sales is psychology. One of the most important lessons I ever learned as a sales professional is that people don’t buy what they need, they buy what they want, and sales is a means of making people think what you have is what they want. The advertising focus when I grew up was that a product was needed and helpful, but now it is focused not on needing the product but deserving it. When we deserve something we think “I want what I deserve; I want what I have earned; I want what I am entitled to have- give me what is mine!”

This pseudo entitlement goes beyond just products and services- it can even influence our spiritual position. People think that they are entitled to be saved, that they have earned their salvation because they go to church every Sunday or keep a Kosher house (although they don’t stay Kosher outside the home.)  People think that they deserve to have what they want because that is what they are told (over and over) every 20 minutes while watching TV. The message that sticks in our self-absorbed and hedonistic brains is this: if I want it I deserve it! The result is that people believe because God made salvation free to have that I deserve it, I am entitled to it and I don’t have to do anything to keep it.

No, you aren’t and yes, you do! None of us automatically deserves anything. Even though salvation is free to all who ask, we don’t deserve it and we aren’t entitled to it. And we have to work hard to keep it. Salvation is here for us to have ONLY because God is gracious and loving. And very, VERY merciful.

Moses tells the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 9:6 they aren’t in the land because they deserve it but because the other nations have so terribly sinned that God is ejecting them.  He further tell them that they are stiff-necked and if (and when) they also reject God they will also be thrown out of the land.

This message isn’t just for the children of Israel going into the land- it is for every single one of us today.  Salvation comes through faith, and faith must be based on a humble and repentant attitude. We need to ask for forgiveness and we need to ask for salvation- we are not deserving or entitled to it. But because of the conditioning from advertising which we are constantly and inescapably exposed to, we begin to think that we are entitled to everything.

I am not saying that we should get rid of all advertising- we can’t. Advertising is an essential thing to have so that we can know what products and services are available to us. What I am suggesting is that we use discretion and common sense when we are exposed to advertising. And we definitely need to point out to our children how wrong are many of the things advertisers try to tell us. We need to remember that what we are told by people selling things is focused on our sinful nature- there is not one moment of advertising I can think of which appeals to our better nature, other than animal rescue commercials. Maybe those commercials that ask for funding of charitable organizations, too, but other than that it is all about me me me and what I deserve to have.

Today’s message is that you must stay humble in the light of your remarkable amount of entitlement; remain steadfast and frugal despite the fact that you deserve to have so many of these wonderful products. Remember that you really don’t deserve anything other than that which you have worked for. Salvation is something we ask for and receive freely, but it takes a lot of work to keep it. We have to live our lives for God and not for self in a world that is all about self. That, my friends, is hard work. And if you stay the course, keep your eyes focused on your eternal reward and not just something that you can get from E-Bay then you will do well.

You don’t deserve salvation and you aren’t entitled to happiness or peace of spirit, but you can have it for free because God is gracious and loving. And once we accept it we then need to work hard to keep it. Just like the land God promised to Abraham’s descendants, they received it as God’s gift but once there they had to deserve to stay in it by obeying God.

Things are no different today.

 

What Did Jesus Really Nail to the Cross?

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

One of the things I have heard often is the statement that when Jesus was nailed to the cross, the law was nailed to it with him.

This is similar to the statement that because Jesus fulfilled the law, it has been done away with.

These statements are both based on what Shaul (Paul) said in Colossians and what Yeshua said in Matthew, respectively. Both of these statements are also uniformly and completely incorrect.

Today I am only dealing with the statement Shaul made, so let’s actually see what Shaul said was nailed to the cross in Colossians 2:13-14 (from The Complete Jewish Bible):

You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,’ your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. 

Before we discuss what was nailed, we need to first understand the context in which this letter was written. It was written to reinforce the message of the Good News that was first brought to the Colossians by Epaphras. This letter is written by Shaul to Gentile Believers in order to remind them how their faith in Yeshua has saved them from their previous sinful lifestyle, which condemned them to death. Throughout the letter he reminds them of the Good News message that salvation comes through continued faith in Yeshua and continued worship of God. Shaul was, essentially, giving them a pep talk to help them stay the course of faithfully following Torah, believing in God and Yeshua. I believe that all his letters have, in one way or another, a reminder that a legalistic observance of Torah as the means of earning salvation will never work, but faith in Yeshua (while still obeying Torah) is how we are able to overcome our sinful nature and be saved.

Now that we know what the context of this letter is about, we can see that when Shaul was talking about the “bill of charges against us” he meant the sins they had committed. When he says “Because of the regulations” he meant to identify the Torah and God’s commandments; this is also seen in the letter Shaul wrote to the Roman Believers where he stated that the Torah created sin, he meant that because the Torah tells us right from wrong it identifies what is sinful. And in this letter when Shaul refers to the “regulations” that create the bill of charges (or sometimes called “trespasses” in other bibles) against us he is talking about the Torah.

Now for the really important part- what was (and is) being nailed to the execution-stake? It is only the bill of charges; it is our trespasses; it is those specific sins we each have against us. It was (and is) NOT the Torah; it was (and is) not the Law; it was (and is) not anything other than the list of existing sins that stand between those people and God. When we confess our sins, repent and ask forgiveness in Yeshua’s name, those sins- and ONLY those specific, already committed sins- are what get “nailed to the tree.”

In other words, the sins we have already committed are the only things “nailed to the cross.” Nothing else is nailed, especially not sins we commit after those sins were wiped clean.

When we first confirmed our belief in Yeshua, confessed and repented of our sins asking forgiveness in his name, we received that forgiveness. Those existing sins that were listed against us, and only those sins, were nailed to a tree.  Everything that happens after that is still valid and against us until we again confess, repent and ask forgiveness in Yeshua’s name. Then that list is “nailed to a tree.”

There are a lot of trees out there with a lot of paper nailed to them.

Yeshua was nailed to an execution-stake once, and that was all that was needed. His death doesn’t save us- it is because of his resurrection that we can find forgiveness through his sacrifice. His resurrection proved that his sacrifice was accepted. As such, each time we sin we need to ask forgiveness because the sins we commit from one forgiveness to another are going to be held against us unless and until we repent.

The only thing that was “nailed to the cross” was the existing list of sins. There has never been a person who didn’t sin after being forgiven; we all are sinners who always will sin. As I often say, we can never be sinless but we can always sin less.  And when we sin, we must repent of that sin and ask forgiveness through Yeshua’s sacrifice.

The Torah is still valid and the regulations, mitzvot (laws) and instructions regarding the festivals are all still required for any and all people who confess that they worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

What we really need to nail to the cross are the wrongful teachings.

Parashah B’Midbar 2018 (In the Wilderness) Numbers 1:1 – 4:20

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I am still not ready to do a video due to my cough left over from a bad cold. Hopefully next time I will be able to get through without hacking.

As we begin this parashah, which also begins the 4th book of the Torah, God commands that a census be taken. All the tribes, except the tribe of Levi, are counted (only the men) and based on this, to some degree, the arrangement of the camp was given which outlined where each tribe will pitch their tents and the marching order. The tabernacle is placed in the middle of the camp, surrounded by the Levites .

A separate census is taken of the Levites and God (again) states that the Levites are the tribe chosen to be his representatives performing the duties of the Tabernacle. God assigns the different Levitical families their tasks with regards to moving of the Tabernacle and worship. God also chooses the Levites to be substitution for the first-born of all the other Israelites, as God had previously told Moses that all the first-born of Israel belong to him as a ransom for the first-born of Egypt that God had put to death (Exodus 13:15.) 

The relationship of the Levites to the other tribes is so important for us to understand, as it represents the relationship between Man and God, Yeshua and Man and Yeshua and God.

God is always the ultimate and only spirit we worship. He is, he was and he always shall be God, the Father, the Judge, the Executioner, the Savior and the Creator. He is also the Destroyer. He is everything to everyone at every moment; he is the Holiest of all Holies.

The Levites were God’s representatives on earth to the Israelites. They were to help the individuals find atonement through the sacrificial system that God provided so that the people could be saved from their iniquity and sins. The Levites were to be a living example of Torah and were to teach the Torah to the Israelites.

The Jewish people were God’s representatives to the Gentiles: a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6) living in accordance with the Torah in order to show the rest of the world how to worship God, how to treat each other and how to atone for their iniquity and sins to become holy.

Yeshua is God’s ultimate and final representative to all humanity, acting for our benefit by providing through his work on earth the opportunity for every single human being to be saved from their own iniquity and sins.

Can you see how this progression of salvation works? It is like a pyramid, which is the most stable of all shapes: the Jewish people are the base of this pyramid, the Gentiles are built upon the Jewish people and Yeshua is the capstone.

The Torah is the foundation upon which this pyramid of salvation is supported. Because Christianity has separated itself from the Torah (for the most part) they are trying to be a separate level that has no foundation. As such, it cannot support any type of roof- Christianity has made itself into a tree with no roots and no canopy.

Didn’t Shaul (Paul) tell the Gentiles converting to Judaism (because that is what was happening in the First Century when a Pagan chose to worship Yeshua) in Romans 11:11 that they are being grafted onto a tree? How can a branch survive if it is grafted onto a tree but refuses to accept the nourishment from the roots of that tree?  When you graft a wild olive branch onto a cultured tree, does the whole tree become wild? Of course not- the wild branch becomes cultured.

God has established his plan of salvation and told us all about it in the Tanakh. He has set the rules and the parameters for atonement on an eternal basis. The New Covenant (B’rit Chadashah) is built upon the Tanakh and gives us the final “steps” of God’s plan. The Torah tells us how to live, the rest of the Tanakh shows us when we fail to keep God’s commands we are punished, and when we repent we are forgiven. It provides for us the hope in a Messiah, which we read about and finally see coming in the B’rit Chadashah.

God to the Jews; Jews to the Gentiles; Yeshua to the Jews and the Gentiles; and ultimately Jews and Gentiles through Yeshua back to God.

That is the Circle of Life- eternal life- that God has provided for us and we see it beginning right here in this parashah.

 

God’s Plan is Being Accomplished and We Are Complaining!

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I am still a little under the weather so there will not be a video for this message.

 

I have been using Face Book as a means to advance this ministry, and I have many friends who I know personally outside the FB domain. I follow them and see all too often postings about how the media is attacking Israel, about how the UN is attacking Israel, or about how the Democrats here in the US are either attacking Israel or supporting Hamas and the enemies of Israel.

I also see this in discussion groups (Christian, Messianic and Hebraic Roots), all kvetching about how everyone is coming against Israel with lies and how the media and the world are accepting it as truth.

To all this I say….DUH!!  What did you expect? Isn’t this God’s plan? Isn’t this what the Prophets and Yeshua and John’s vision all tell us is going to happen?

In Matthew 16:21-23, when Yeshua was telling his Talmudim (Disciples) that he had to suffer and die, Kefa (Peter) said this should never happen. And what did Yeshua reply to him? He said:

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

Kefa was only seeing the worldly events that were to happen and did not recognize or accept that what was going to happen would result in the salvation of the world! He was all about the flesh and nothing about the spirit.

Earlier, Yeshua was telling a parable and when his Talmudim later asked him to explain it he said (Matthew 13:15-16):

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.…

He was, in a way, chiding them for not understanding or appreciating what was happening. Their eyes and ears were blessed because Yeshua was going to explain to them the meaning of his parables, but they were still as “thick” as everyone else.  They had the Messiah right there, in the very midst of them, and they couldn’t appreciate it.

Of course, they did later.

What I am complaining about is those people who are constantly complaining about the treatment Israel is getting from the world and want the world to change it’s attitude. This won’t happen, it shouldn’t happen, and in fact, we should not be kvetching about it! What we should be doing instead is praising God for his wonderful plan of salvation that we are blessed to see happening in our own lifetime!

Look…I hate seeing Israel under such pressure, and I look forward to the peace that God will bring, but it won’t come until after the Tribulation. That is God’s plan, we are aware of it and we are seeing it happen. Stop complaining about God’s plan coming to fruition and instead shout, “Halleluyah!! Come, Lord Yeshua!”

I am not happy seeing Israel and Believers all over the world being persecuted, but I am overjoyed that the plan of God is being realized and brought to it’s completion.

Aren’t you?

 

Are We Asking the Right Questions?

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

 

The bible is often incorrectly defined as being made up of two separate books: the Jewish, or Hebrew bible, and the New Testament. For myself, and others like me who believe that all of God’s word is for everyone, the Bible is one book- it starts in Genesis and ends with Revelation.
The study of God’s word is the most important thing that anyone can do, and unlike getting a degree in History or Finance, it is something that never ends and always results in a new and deeper understanding of what God is telling us about who he is, who we are and how we should be.

The usual result of studying something is that we ask questions, and questions are good. Yes, I believe there are “stupid” questions, but we can learn even from those.

My question for all of us today is this: Are we asking the right questions?

During the years I have been “blogging” this ministry, I have seen so many people ask questions that, in my opinion, are not seeking to know God better, or to understand what God wants from us, but are along the lines of Gnostic thinking.

NOTE: Gnostic thinking is when we believe that our spiritual understanding, maybe even our salvation is strengthened through “special” knowledge.

What I mean by “right” questions is this:  are these questions leading us to becoming better people or just better trained in identifying details in God’s word?  Are we learning more about what God wants us to become or are we becoming more interested in finding out hidden things, being smarter and having more knowledge than someone else?

The kinds of questions I see cropping up all the time deal with details about what I believe to be unrelated to salvation. For instance, the biggest argument I see is how to pronounce God’s holy name, the Tetragrammaton. This devolves into the same argument with Yeshua’s name. I also see people arguing over whether or not the “day” begins at night or at dawn? When does the lunar Sabbath start? Did Yeshua really have a Seder or did he celebrate the day before the “real” Seder? Is Satan a man? Is the earth really flat? How long did Yeshua walk the earth?

These, and many other questions, are interesting- no doubt about that. They can serve as fodder for debate and discussion, but are they important? How does knowing when the Shabbat starts save our souls?

The answer I will get from those types who absolutely love to nit-pick details from the bible (straining gnats) is that it is very important to know these things. One argument I have heard is that we are to call on the name of the Lord, but how can we if we don’t know how to pronounce it? If we don’t know his “real” name then we may be calling on the enemy of God!

Really? How many times are we told throughout the bible that God knows the heart? If God knows my heart, and I am calling out to him with a contrite spirit, repentant and asking for forgiveness do you really think that God is so petty and self-centered he will reject me just because I don’t pronounce his name exactly as Moses heard it?  In the bible there are many different names used to identify God, and if we believe that the bible is what God told people to write down, then these different names are all given to us from God. That means God is OK with us using any one of them, and since the original Hebrew didn’t have vowel points, we can’t really know exactly how to pronounce them. As such, it seems to me that any way we pronounce it will be fine with God so long as we are calling out from our heart.

I believe that knowing exactly when a Holy Day starts is not as important as celebrating it.

I believe that calling on God and praying to him using any name we have always used to identify God is fine with God. He is concerned with our attitude not our pronunciation.

I believe that God wants us to know and worship him better and isn’t concerned with the details of when the day begins or whether or not the calendar we use is accurate. If someone celebrates Pesach on the wrong day because the calendar they have misled them, I do not believe God will reject their worship.

The bible constantly tells us that God is not interested in the ‘blood of bulls and sheep’ but in the attitude of worship we bring before him. He was very specific in his instructions regarding the sacrificial system, the building of the Tabernacle, the measurements of the Temple that Ezekiel saw in his vision, and I believe all those details mean something. Yet, knowing what that “something” is will NOT save your soul. Knowing what God wants from you and acting in that way WILL save your soul.

When I am interested in learning some detail of the bible I always ask myself my own Acid Test question: “How will this affect my salvation?”  If it isn’t knowledge that will direct me closer to acting the way God says I should act, then it is not that important.

For example, knowing what importance the number “40” has in the bible will not save my soul, but knowing Abraham was credited righteousness because of his faith will save my soul.

Knowing exactly when the Shabbat begins and the absolutely correct date on the calendar will not bring me any closer to being the type of person God wants me to be, but faithfully observing the Shabbat, no matter when I observe it, will bring me closer to the proper worship of God and demonstrate my faithfulness, which will affect my salvation.

I know that there are many at this very moment who are yelling at me in their heads, telling me that everything in the bible affects salvation. I respectfully disagree, but understand why they feel that way- it is the only justification they can have for continuing to be Gnostic. If you ask me, the legalism that Shaul identified as misleading those Gentiles who accepted Yeshua as their Messiah has taken a new form today within the Christian world.  Judaism has long suffered with this problem which is from following the Talmud as though it was God-given scripture, despite the fact that Halacha is rabbinic regulation. This is what Yeshua was against and did not want us to be encumbered with. Many Christians who are trying to live their lives and worship God more in accordance with the Torah are in a way disrespecting the Torah by becoming too interested in the details and missing out on the meanings. They are learning facts and figures and ignoring spiritual guidance and growth.

Spiritual growth doesn’t come from knowing facts, it comes from having faith. Faith doesn’t need justification or confirmation- that is how faith works. And faith absolutely affects our salvation.

Let’s close with this… I absolutely do NOT have any problem with wanting to know everything there is to be found in the bible. What I do have a problem with is thinking that knowing everything in the bible is essential. I also have a problem with people arguing over how much they know more than someone else, especially when it leads to those people accusing others of being faithless or ignorant or- worst of all- not really saved just because they disagree with what the other person believes.

When it comes down to it, all God wants is what we are told he wants in Micah 6:8:

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

If you know nothing more than that and live your life that way, you will be OK.

A Drash on The Ant and The Grasshopper

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For those that may not be familiar with the fable, here it is:

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.

“What!” cried the Ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?”

“I didn’t have time to store up any food,” whined the Grasshopper; “I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.”

The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.

“Making music, were you?” they cried. “Very well; now dance!” And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.

                                                                        There’s a time for work and a time for play.

The grasshopper was only concerned with what was fun and easy to do than with the hard work of preparing for his future. He was more interested in enjoying the warmth, ease of life and pleasant weather of the season without any concern for the changes to come. The ants, being more industrious, self-disciplined and aware of what was coming were working hard to meet the needs for the winter. In other words, they took a more mature view of their existence and knew that after the pleasures of the summertime winter was coming, and it would be a hard time to survive through.

I see this as the same sort of attitude that we see with Christians who only want to hear about the joy of salvation, about how much Yeshua (Jesus) loves them and how wonderful it will be when Messiah returns and they are raptured into the clouds to be with God forever. Nice stuff, really, but what about all the other things that God tells us will happen in those End Days?  How are they preparing to live through the Tribulations promised to occur in Revelation? How are they going to be able to maintain their faith is it is only based on the wonderful things about God?

God is going to destroy nearly 2/3 of the earth, including what is up in the sky, here on the land and down in the sea. Even the stars and heavenly bodies will be affected. And there is no guarantee that you and I won’t be here when it happens. There will also be persecution of those that worship God and reject the Antichrist. If someone is all about love and joy and acceptance, then how will they maintain their faith in God when the enemy of God offers them even more? Those who’s faith is based on the “nice” stuff will have that offered to them right now! They will be told, “You don’t have to wait, you can be powerful, happy, and have whatever you want right now if you simply accept my rule and bow down to me.”

Truth be told, God promises eternal joy, peace and comfort if we bow down to Him, too, so how can we know who we should bow down to? Maybe, just maybe, by reading the bible and being open to all that it says, the good and the bad, the joy and the tribulations to come, so that we will be able to recognize the lies of the enemy when we hear them. We need to be like the ants working hard (at our salvation) to prepare for winter. Those who only want to hear about joy and love are like the grasshopper, making pleasant music but not preparing for the hard times ahead.

The grasshopper will bow down to the enemy because he is all about the good times, and when things get hard he will be starving (spiritually) and will look for comfort from anyone who offers it.  But the ant, who knows what to expect, will reject the enemy because he knows what is coming and is preparing for it.  When things are hard, he will be (spiritually) prepared to last through the winter.

We need to be like the ant and not have blinders to the reality of the terrible things that will come before and when Messiah returns. He is not coming back as the Lamb of God- He is coming back as the Son of David, the conquering King of the world and it will be a real mishigas!

I also like to hear about the joy and peace we will have for all eternity when the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) have run their course. It’s great news!  And not only do I look forward to that day, faithfully expecting it to happen, but I also know of the terrible things we will have to get through BEFORE all that good stuff is here, with just as much faithful expectation.

And because I do know what is coming, I am prepared to get through it.

Many people I have known over the years since I accepted Messiah wear rose-colored blinders. They only want to hear about God’s love for them, and every discussion ends up, one way or another, with something along the lines of God loves us and He protects us and He is wonderful, yadda-yadda-yadda. Yes, God is all those things, and He is also judge, jury and executioner of the nations. As much as we can count on His promises of joy we can count on His promises of judgement. And that judgement is not going to be fun.

The grasshopper had fun while the sun shone, but his end was not a happy one, whereas the ants survived the tribulations of winter by working hard to prepare.

Judgement Day will be the worse type of winter you could ever imagine, so let me leave you today with this one question: are you a grasshopper or an ant?

What “Under the Law” Really Means

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This is not going to be a scholarly treatise on the differences in the Greek words used for “law”, or that Torah means “teaching”, or anything that involves anything more than just some common sense and a basic understanding of God’s plan of salvation.

So let’s start with how God’s plan of salvation works. It’s really quite simple: God gave the Torah through the Jewish people to all people so that we would know two things, and just two things. They are:

  1. How to worship God; and
  2. How to treat each other.

When we do as God tells us we should be doing, we are living in accordance to His will and thereby not sinning. When we do that which God says we should not do, then we are rejecting God’s commandments, which is called “sinning.” When we sin, that sin separates us from God and if we die in our sin we cannot be with Him throughout eternity. Salvation is available to those that ask for it and do not die in their sin.

Salvation starts with the Torah, which tells us how to not die in our sin by staying within God’s will. The problem we run into is that no one is able to live in accordance with Torah, so we all will die in our sin, unless we happen to die as we are exiting the Temple in Jerusalem right after performing a sin sacrifice.

Oh, wait a minute! The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed! That’s OK because God has us covered for that one; again, all part of the plan.

Right from the start, even before God gave us Torah, He knew this would all happen so He had a back-up plan. That plan is called Messiah. The Messiah would present Himself as a sin sacrifice for all people, and through His sacrifice we would be able to atone for our sin, even though the Temple is no longer available to us. Messiah’s sacrificed “trumped” the animal sacrificial system that was what we needed before Messiah came.

Today we try to live our lives as God told us we should (Torah) and when we fail to do that we ask for forgiveness, which we can receive as a result of our T’shuvah (repentance) and by means of the substitutionary sacrifice of Yeshua haMashiach.

That’s it! God gave the world the Torah (through the Jewish people) and because we couldn’t obey the Torah as we should, He sent Messiah Yeshua (again, through the Jewish people) to suffer the penalty we all (Jew and Gentile) deserve so that we can overcome sin and be in God’s presence for all eternity.

Now that we have a basic understanding of how salvation works, the next step is to understand the difference between being under the law and obedience to the law.

Under the law is a term used in the New Covenant writings to describe a system that understands salvation to be a result exclusively from obedience to rules and regulations. It doesn’t account for a desire to obey as a result of love for God. Faith is not needed in this system because salvation is only possible through performance.

Obedience to the law means that we choose to obey the rules and regulations that God gave us as a means of proving our T’shuvah (repentance) and comes from a desire to please God. It is not a means to gain salvation. Salvation is only possible through faith; we obey because we love God and show that by obedience to His word.

The Torah is the User Manual for staying in God’s will. We obey the Torah because we want to show God that we fear Him (as in honor and respect) and to show others how God wants them to act. We should obey Torah as a love response to God’s kindness, His sovereignty and His authority.

When we are obedient to Torah we are not doing so to “get into heaven”, but because we want to do as God says and because we respect and honor Him.

Obedience to Torah is not a means to be saved, it is a way to show God how much you love Him. In John 14:15 Yeshua told His Talmudim (disciples) that if they loved Him, they would obey Him: everything He taught was directly from the Torah, so to love Yeshua means to obey the Torah.

Can you see the difference now? Obedience to the law is all about faith and desire to please God, whereas under the law is nothing more than a means to an end.

And since no one can be perfectly under the law, those means lead to only one end- damnation.

Many people say they love Jesus, they love the Lord, they love, love, love…but do they ever even try to love God the way He asks them to? No- they excuse and rationalize disobedience to the Torah.

Do you love God? Do you love Yeshua? If so, do you prove it by living the way God says you should, or are you living the way you want to?

Which one do you think God will accept?

More Gloom and Doom to Report

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I feel a little like Jeremiah; he never had anything really good to talk about, either.

I was reading the paper this morning and decided that I should add a new viewpoint to my messages- showing where God is NOT in the news. I believe by seeing where we leave God out of our society we can get a better idea of where we need to add Him back in.

So, in this light, today I was reading about the aftermath of the mass shooting on this past Valentine’s Day here in Florida. Governor Scott has called a roundtable committee to discuss different actions that we should take to help prevent this sort of atrocity from happening. Here’s one thing that really scared me about the report: a psychologist from Florida State University College of Medicine has stated that by looking at the family history we may be able to predict the mental illness of the child and proactively act upon that. The paper reported she said that we can “predict pretty well which families will have this forward trajectory even before the child is born.”

I don’t know about you, but that scares the HE(double-hockey-sticks) out of me. Someone will be evaluating pregnant women and determine that the child will be mentally ill?  Who can do that? And if they do, then what? Should the child be placed in a program for the mentally ill and/or have his (or her) rights restricted? Does that sound good to you?

I also read today that yesterday in a Florida middle school some students were making jokes about shooting up the school. It was heard, reported and those two boys were taken into custody by the police. Now, what they did was totally stupid (if I was “PC” I would have said “inappropriate”, but it was STUPID), yet these are middle school aged boys- stupid is what we are at that age. I believe they should have been chewed out by the Principal and their parents should have been called in to take them home for that day. Do you think the school overreacted?  And if you don’t, do you think that in an atmosphere of fear that eventually people will tend to overreact? Isn’t that what history shows us does happen?

What I see happening here is that the government of the United States, at all levels, is advocating that everyone report about anyone who they think is a threat.

Sound familiar?

In major transportation hubs there are signs and announcements telling the people to report anything that they see as suspicious; schools are telling the students to report on anything they see or hear that they think is suspicious; and when we add the recent flurry of sexual harassment charges and the current (pardon the expression) exposure of this problem, more and more people are being sensitized to be afraid of almost anything anyone may say.

Here’s the doom and gloom- it will get worse. This is all a set-up for the enemy to take complete charge of our lives. We cannot overtake this, we cannot resolve it, and we cannot avoid it.

See why I feel like Jeremiah?

The enemy will rule by fear and intimidation, and this will not come from him (or maybe her) directly, but from each one of us. Just like in Nazi Germany, where children reported their parents and neighbors couldn’t were afraid that someone might say something that will get them in trouble, the atmosphere of fear and distrust is exactly what will help the enemy take charge.

This is also the kind of environment where people can “rat out” anyone that they have a personal grudge against.

I am not a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and neither am I a Libertarian, but I am someone who believes what I read in the Bible, and all this makes sense to me as a sign of the events yet to come that we are told about in God’s word. I am not saying there is no hope- what I am saying is that the only hope we have is in God. We must strengthen our faith and help lead others to God and Messiah as things worsen. We need to stop wasting energy, time and money trying to fix what God has decreed will happen, and get to work trying to save as many as we can, while we still have the time.

I am no Jeremiah and I do not profess to be a Prophet, but I do think I am on the right track when I say we need to prepare for what is coming because we cannot get out of the way.

I see the writing on the wall- do you?