Tag: truth

Pet Peeves

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Sometimes you just have to wonder how we ever got this far as a species.

I love the word puzzles in the morning- they get my brain started. Today a word puzzle had the answer , “Good mothers have sticky floors, dirty ovens and (happy kids).” Really? I thought the main thing a parent was to do was to prepare their children for independence, teach them to be able to care for themselves as well as their family. Good mothers don’t have to sacrifice cleanliness and respect for property just to have happy children, do they?

In a previous life I owned a 2-bedroom condo, and I asked who I was married to at that time to please clean it once a week (she stayed at home with our daughter, who was only 2 at the time) because the dog hairs would get all over my clothes (I was a Bank Officer, so dog hairs covering my legs was not acceptable.) That was it- please vacuum the 895 sq ft or so once a week. I was told (and I quote), “What do you want? A clean house or a wife that loves you?” I was amazed, because I never realized that these things were self-exclusionary! I can be loved or I can have a clean house, but not both.

We need to raise our children to be loving, competent, respectful, compassionate AND able to clean up after themselves! Cleanliness doesn’t have to be sacrificed to be a good parent or spouse. Proverbs says that if we raise a child in the way he should go he will return to it. And the bible does NOT say if we spare the rod we spoil the child: what Proverbs says is that if we do not discipline our children we condemn them to death! Good parents do not condemn their children to death.

Another thing- I saw an article the other day about alcoholism, but they don’t call it that anymore. Now it’s AUD – Alcohol Use Disorder. It’s not so much a disease (having a disease is bad), it’s really just a disorder. By softening the name of a thing it seems to make the thing less our fault. It’s all part of that “Not really my fault” attitude that makes our kids irresponsible and our lives less meaningful. When you think everything that happens to you is someone else’s fault, you are really telling yourself you have no control over your actions and that means you have no hope to be happy. Your problems are from someone else and so your happiness must, as well, come from someone else. You can’t be happy on your own. Hopeless, useless, just a leaf blowing in the wind. Not a good way to live, is it?

What’s next? Serial killers will say they have RMD (Random Murder Disorder)? Transsexuals will have NGSD (Native Gender Specific Disorder)?  Career criminals can say they suffer LPOD (Legal Property Ownership Disorder)? Those who are infected with the pandemic of not being politically correct, bigoted and ignorant can fall under the banner of suffering from SABD (Socially Acceptable Behavior Disorder)?

Let’s just call it what it is and face the music about what we do and say. Yeshua told us that our ‘yes’ should be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ should be ‘no’, because anything else is from the evil one. That’s a strong statement- if we don’t face the music and be honest with ourselves and others, we are essentially doing Satan’s work.

Does your company have quarterly “Kudos”? We do- every quarter the managers make up kudos about their people, and we also have attitude awards where you say I did something really special this time and next time I will say you did something really special. Forced recognition of others, just to say,  “Look at how wonderfully we treat our employees.”

I won’t say what that is called, but you can plant flowers in it.

I have been in management most of my life and understand the value of recognizing good work. I also understand how forcing people to say good things about others undervalues recognition. People today generally have this attitude of, “I show up every day, usually on time, I usually don’t leave early, and I do the minimum I am supposed to do, usually without problems. I deserve a merit raise!” Huh? It’s called a merit raise because it is supposed to be earned by doing meritorious work- that doesn’t mean just doing what you are supposed to do. That means regularly, and effectively, doing more than what is expected from you. Here’s what Yeshua says about meritorious raises for just doing what you are supposed to do (Luke 17:7-10):

Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’

If you want a raise then earn it- just like John Houseman said in the old Smith Barney commercials about how they make money: “We earn it!” If you want a raise or a promotion, then do more than anyone else does so you can earn it! It shouldn’t, and most of the time isn’t, just given out.  I am pretty sure everyone reading this (both of you) know people who have received a promotion by simply being around long enough to get it – do you really think they were qualified for it?

The only thing you can get without earning it (in fact, you can’t earn it) is salvation. And even salvation, free as it is, requires you to work for it to keep it (search this site for ‘losing salvation’ to see why I say that.)

There are so many social and political ills in the world, and America isn’t the only country with them. Every country, everywhere, has the same problems because we all have one thing in common that we cannot escape- we are all human. If we did what God wants from us things would be so much better, and even though we will fail at times, by trying and keeping at it we can be better. God has given us all the answers we need for anything and everything that we have to deal with in the world, and He also provided for us the means to have eternal joy after we leave this lousy place. But we need to take stock of ourselves, be honest with ourselves and others, let our ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ be ‘no’, and even more important than that, we need to know when to say yes and when to say no. To do that correctly, constantly, requires more insight and understanding than most humans have, inherently. That’s where the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) helps- it is our comforter because it guides us and helps us find the correct decisions to those hard questions. And, not only does it give us the strength to make them, but also the strength and perseverance to abide by them.

I am ranting here, and my rants may be a little under-researched, I may not understand completely the reasons for some of these things, and I may be way off the mark on others but I know, absolutely, that the bible has all the answers we need, and that faith in God will provide us the wisdom to accept what the proper answers are, and strengthen us to do what is right.

The world thinks it has all the answers, and it does- only it’s answers are wrong.

Messianics 101: Approaching Jews about Jesus

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First rule: don’t use the name “Jesus”- use “Yeshua.” The name “Jesus” brings up too many unwelcome memories to Jews, such as “Christ killer”. I grew up being called that by all the Catholic school kids. In the past decade or so Catholicism has “lightened up” on us Jews, but there is too much history to make a Jew comfortable with the name Jesus. And there are still many modern-day Christians who push Replacement Theology, which is an insult to God as much as it is to Jews. Even after understanding the truth of who Jesus is, knowing the Jewish Messiah Yeshua for nearly 20 years now, I am still uncomfortable with “Jesus.” And don’t even start me on the word “Christ!”

Second Rule: don’t quote from the New Covenant writings. Jews don’t believe it is Scripture, they have been told that Jesus created a new religion (that hates Jews) and the New Covenant is what He wrote (not true, of course, but that doesn’t really even matter.) You need to be totally familiar with the Messianic passages in the Tanakh. You also need to know more about the Tanakh than the Jewish person you are talking to, or at least enough to impress them that you have some knowledge of, and respect for, Judaism. The fact is, if you don’t know the Old Covenant and the Messianic scriptures that define who Yeshua is and what He will do, then you shouldn’t minister to anyone because you aren’t fully prepared. Counting on the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is fine and useful and biblically sound, but you still need to know enough to talk to a Jew like a Jew if you want to get through to a Jew. Nu?

Third Rule: Don’t tell, ask. Believe me, when you start to talk to a Jew about Yeshua, and you talk about Isaiah 53, and Jeremiah 31:31 and Joel, and Zachariah, and all the other 144 or so Messianic passages in the Tanakh (and you should know what “Tanakh” means) you can tell a Jewish person all there is and when you think you’ve sold them, they’ll simply say they don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah, “Because He isn’t, that’s all!”  That’s what they have been taught for centuries; in fact, for more than two 2 millenniums. The best way (take it from an old “sales” pro) to make someone accept what you say against what they have been told is not to tell them why something is so. You start out by making them doubt what they think is the truth as maybe not really being all that true. “And how”, you may ask, “do I do that?” The answer is: you don’t tell, you ask.  Instead of telling them all the reasons you know why Yeshua (remember: we don’t use the “j-word”) is the Messiah, ask them why they think Yeshua is not the Messiah. I can almost guarantee that 99.9% of the time, the answer will be, “Because He’s not, that’s why.” And they answer that way because that is what they have been told is the truth by parents, by their Zayda and Bubbe, by their Rabbi, by everyone they know who is Jewish. He just isn’t, that’s all there is to it. Once you get to that point, you can then ask these questions, in this order:

  1. Do you think that recognizing the Messiah when He comes, no matter who he is, is important? (if they say no, don’t waste any more time on this one)

  2. When you have to make an important decision, do you feel better doing it with good information or by just blindly guessing? (again, if they say guessing is fine, move on)

  3. (If you make it to this question, here’s what you say next) Well, then I’m confused: You say you want good information yet you have nothing but, “Just because.” You are choosing your eternal future on no information instead of listening to good information. (Don’t pause to let them speak but go right into the kicker)…If I told you there are hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah and are still 100% Jewish, practicing Judaism exactly as you do, holy days, Shabbat, Torah, everything exactly as you have been brought up doing, would you be interested in hearing  just a little more about Messianic Judaism?

These are the essential three steps to ministering to Jews. If the answer to that last question is, “Yes”, then you have planted a seed. Now you have to let it grow, at it’s own pace. Now you can tell them more about the Tanakh passages and, since they doubt what they knew to be true (which is, essentially, you can’t believe in Jesus and still be Jewish) and are open to the real truth, you can take the Tanakh passage and relate it directly to the New Covenant passage. And remember, also (this is VERY important) to point out that the New Covenant is NOT a new religion, Yeshua never taught against the Torah or Judaism, and that the New Covenant is the eye-witness account about a Jew, written by Jews, of what happened to Jews. That is also the description of the Old Covenant, isn’t it? Eye-witness account written by Jews of what happened to Jews.

If you can master these questions, and deliver them with the compassionate understanding that for thousands of years Jewish people have been told believing in Jesus is being a traitor to your family and to God, then you have a good chance of helping Jews to find and know their own Messiah.

If you “bible-pound” Jewish people with threats of hell and eternal damnation and quote from the New Covenant, you might as well “kick against the goads” and not even waste your breath. Being a Jew I can tell you this: Jews will not be able to accept the truth about who and what Yeshua is until they can get past all that they have been told He isn’t.

Here is an absolute truth: people believe only half of what you tell them, but 100% of what they say. You need to get them to doubt what they believe before you have a chance of them listening to what you have to tell them.

Parashah Mishpatim (Ordinances) Exodus 21 – 24

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This parashah gives us many of the civil laws we are to follow, starting with laws regarding slaves/bondsmen. It is interesting to note that there is only one Hebrew word for both slave and bondsman, indicating that the system of slavery we think of (that within the Roman, Greek and American/European cultures) is not what slavery was to God, or for the Children of Israel. The system of slavery we know is based on the premise that the slave is property and can be treated (or mistreated) in any manner to which the owner wants to act. A Hebrew slave was a human being with rights, and the Hebrew who was purchased as a slave by another Hebrew was to be treated with respect and compassion. As with the other rules regarding the Shemitah year (the 7th year), a Hebrew who had been purchased as a slave was to be set free.

The other ordinances in this parashah create the basic penal system for the Israelites: it deals with restitution for theft, mistreatment of other’s property, marriage and dowry regulations, punishment for murder and punishment for manslaughter, restitution for accidental injury, kidnapping, matricide/patricide, witchcraft and moral offences.

We also hear from God how we are to act in accordance with testimony in court, the dispensing of  justice, and finally, as is done throughout the Tanakh, an exhortation to remember and obey these laws. If we remember to do as God tells us, and we do so in accordance with His commandments, God will bless us and protect us. If we fail to obey, well….not so good for us.

This parashah ends with Moses going up the mountain to meet with God and receive the Ten Commandments from God.

What can we say about the laws and regulations of the Torah that hasn’t been said already? How many times do we need to reflect on how the Torah established a system of laws and commandments that honored God and people, with truth, justice and (no, not the American Way)… reverence?

Yet, despite how we are told we must treat each other with respect and honor, we fail to do so. I guess that is because what looks good on paper doesn’t always translate as well into reality. The sinful nature of people, the lure of the worldly pleasures, and the influence of the enemy of God surround us: they are in the advertisements we see in all the media, the lies we are told by those we trust in positions of authority, and even in the relationships we form with family and friends.

I heard someone once say that humanity is a wonderful thing- it’s the people that screw it up.  How true.

Yeshua said that the most important commandments of all are to love the Lord your God and to love each other. On these two laws pivot the Prophets and all the other writings in the Torah.  This parashah is part of “all the other writings” that Yeshua referred to. When we think about it, the “Golden Rule” is all we really need to obey in order to follow the ordinances found in this parashah (for your edification, the Golden Rule is not from the New Covenant writings but is only referred to there- it is found in Leviticus 19:18.) If we love God we will want to do as He says out of love, not out of fear. We should treat others out of love, also: if we can’t do so because of our love for people then we should do so because of our love for God.

Personally, I really don’t like people. I do ministry, I teach others the Word of God, I am a member of the leadership where I worship, but I really don’t like people.

That doesn’t stop me from doing my very best to treat all people with respect and compassion because I want to honor and worship God (another item on my list of “To Be’s” – compassionate. Having compassion for others is hard for me to do.) My love of God forces me to love people. Begrudgingly, I confess, but God sees the heart and values what is in our heart as much, or more, than what we do. My heart needs work, and I think we all could confess to that one. So, I do what God wants me to do because God wants me to do it. One day, perhaps, the Ruach (Spirit) will so fill me that I will truly want to be loving to all people, as God wants us all to be. Maybe.

Until then, I will do as God says to the best of my abilities, and constantly try to make my “best” better. These laws and commandments are all part of the Torah that establishes a nation. The Torah is more than a book of history and commandments: it is a national constitution, a penal system, a Ketubah (marriage certificate) between God and His people. And the people God marries are not just the Jews- it is anyone who chooses to worship Him.

If you choose to worship God, and you accept His Messiah as your Messiah, then these laws are for you. The Torah is your constitution, it is your User Manual for how to worship God, directly and indirectly.

Remember what Yeshua told us in Mattitayu 25:40-45: whatever we do to others, we do to Him. David said in Psalm 51 that when he sinned against others he sinned first and foremost against God- in fact, his sin was against God, and God alone. If there is any message that we need to learn from this parashah, it might be this:

What we do unto others, we do unto God.

That one needs to sink in because it is really important to remember.

 

Religion and Roofing

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You’re probably thinking to yourself, “OK. Where is he going with this one?”

I was a Combat Engineer in the Marine Corps, and one of the many things we did was construction. I have also worked in the home remodeling field. When you are building a roof, you carefully measure the length and angle of the rafters, which are the supporting beams for the sheathing the shingles go over. Every single rafter has to be cut at the exact same angle and the exact same length of the roof section it is being used for. The way you do that is to cut and test a rafter, then you use that as the standard model for the other rafters. Every other rafter is measured against that one “master” for accuracy.

If you cut the master, then cut a second rafter from that one, then cut the third from the second, cut the fourth from the third, the fifth from the fourth, and so on, by the time you get to the other end of the roof your rafter will be off by inches. Once you stop using the one “known-good” rafter, your correctness will constantly degrade until what you have isn’t even close to the original.

Are you starting to see where I am going, now? God gave us the Torah- that is the “Master” for how He wants us to worship Him and treat each other. He says it is all we need: it is not too hard to do (Deuteronomy 30:11) , and we shouldn’t add to it or take anything away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2.)

Religion has been born from people trying to do exactly that- add to or detract from the Word of God. God gave us the Master measurement for building His house on earth; the second rafter was cut when Yeshua taught us that it isn’t just the words we need to live by, but the spirit of the Law. Yeshua never changed anything, He simply explained it in more detail. He cut a second rafter that was exactly the same as the first. Then, within Judaism, over the years we cut rafters from the first, ignoring the one Yeshua cut, and the second was different, the third was different, and today we have Hasidim, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Messianic Jews.

Christianity also failed to cut their rafters from the Master. And what has developed, as it is today, is not from the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) but by the rules instituted by Constantine. He cut the “gentile” master in the Third Century (give or take) at the First Council of Nicaea. Then that rafter was cut up into Eastern, Western, Catholic, Protestant, Episcopalian, Baptist, AME, Amish, Lutherans, and so on and so on.

If we tried to build a House of God today using these “religious rafters” there wouldn’t be any two that matched.  They are all supposed to be cut from the Word of God, but they have been cut from each other, and that is why religion has prevented the worship of God as He said He should be worshiped.

Shaul (Paul) tells us in Galatians 3:28:

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

He is telling us that through the Messiah we are all one, we are all the same in God’s eyes and we are all equal heirs of the Kingdom. We should all be rafters that are exactly the same. Even if you are Jewish and don’t believe Yeshua to be the Messiah, the meaning of this statement is still true- just substitute ‘Mashiach’ for ‘Jesus Christ’ and the message is in perfect alignment with Torah and the Prophets.

That’s why I wrote my book (see side panel to order it) and that’s what this blog is about- it is a ministry of simplicity and solidarity. We are all one in Messiah, and whether you agree and accept that that Messiah is Yeshua (Jesus) or not, it is still in total accordance with Tanakh that the Messiah will bring us back to God, that the Messiah will overcome our sin and that without the Messiah we have no chance of reconciliation.

It is also true that Jew or Gentile, we are commanded by God to worship Him as He says we should, and those rules and regulations are found in the Torah.

The prayers said before and after we read from the Torah thank God for giving us the Torah, setting truth and life in our midst and choosing us to receive it. The Torah, however, wasn’t meant only for the Jews: it was given to the Jews for them to bring to the world (“…you are to be a nation of priests”: Exodus 19:6. Remember?)  Priests bring the word of God to the people and lead the people in the worship of God.

The saddest oxymoron of today is that religions say they worship the one and only God but no two religions worship Him the same way. They have different rules for conduct, different liturgy, and even though we all use the same book, Jews ignore everything after Micah (Chronicles, if you want to be accurate) and many Christian religions ignore much of everything before Matthew. It’s one book, it’s one set of rules directly from God, and it’s one God. It’s also one Messiah, the only one through whom we all can find salvation.

My message to the world is simple: God has no religion, so do what God says, not what people say.

 

 

A modern day Christmas Message from the past: Isaiah 29:13

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I am going to skip the Parashah teaching today because , it being Christmas Day, I feel there is a more important message the Lord would have me deliver.

Isaiah was a Prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and tried to help the people realize the hypocrisy of their worship. He lived during the reign of 4 kings of Judah and within 100 years or so of his ministry, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was destroyed.

Isaiah was telling the people that their worship was useless because they were only paying lip service to God. The above-referenced passage says it all:

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.

This message was about how sacrifice had become corrupted and polluted into a meaningless rote activity that had no real love or worship of God attached to it.

Sounds exactly like what Christmas is today, doesn’t it?

Look at what Christmas is today: there is nothing “godly” about it anymore, except the occasional bumper sticker that says, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” Even that has become passe and meaningless to most- it’s something akin to the beauty pageant answer, “What I would like most is to have world peace.”

Most of us know that Christmas is not a Holy Day, nor is it a biblically commanded festival to God; it is a celebratory event created by Constantine in the Third Century (or thereabouts) to help rebrand the pagan celebration of the Solstice to a more “Christian” event.

That doesn’t mean it can’t be a wonderful thing. The music of Christmas is some of the most beautiful and heartfelt devotion to God I have heard from any religion, and the spirit of goodwill that comes on people during this season is unique, and refreshing. There is a magic to Christmas.

Unfortunately, even that is more from social conditioning than a desire to be closer to God, and how many of us really feel the impact of what Christmas means? Heck, if we really thought about what Christmas is supposed to stand for, celebration and thankfulness for the birth of the Messiah, we should all feel sad and dejected that someone was born into this world to suffer for us, to accept the blame and physical abuse that our sins deserved, and that this miraculous birth, this proof of prophecy, this wonderful and merciful living gift of salvation would have to die a horribly painful and lingering death because of what we have done.  That’s really what Christmas is about: thankfulness for the Messiah coming into the world, but tempered with the sadness of knowing what this tender, innocent baby would have to endure. Christmas should make me feel remorse and repentance that this baby had to live the life He lived because of what I have done.

Personally, I don’t think Christmas s such a happy time when you think about what will happen to Yeshua. Yes, I am thankful for His birth, and I am disgusted with myself for causing His death. It’s true: I killed Yeshua. In fact, you killed Yeshua. Each and every one of us killed Yeshua because if there had been but one sinner in all the world, Yeshua would have done what He did for the sake of that one person. His parables about finding the one lost sheep, the woman who found the missing coin, the statement that there is no greater love than that one will give his life for a friend (note that He didn’t say for many, or for friends, but for a friend- even saving one life is worth dying for); all the teachings Yeshua gave us, all of which are directly from the Torah, teach us that it is what we do and what we feel that add up to who we truly are.

I hope that you all have a merry and joyful Christmas- the birth of the Messiah is truly a wonderful event, the fulfilment of God’s promise of salvation for the world, and the proof that biblical prophecy is valid and trustworthy. The fact that it is not a biblical Holy Day, that Yeshua was probably born during Sukkot, that Constantine created it as a theo-political event, and that it has become totally corrupted in modern society is something we can get past. If we worship God from our hearts, if we ignore the retail sales events, the presents to each other and all the schmaltz, and instead concentrate on thanking God for His Son, and thanking His Son for all He suffered for us, then…just maybe then…Christmas can be the joyful and penitent celebration it should be.

Yeshua said that we should give to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar, and to God that which belongs to God. Thankfulness and worship from the heart belongs to God, sacrifice belongs to God, honor and glory belong to God. Give each other niceties, sure, but first give to God that which He is entitled to. Celebrate Christmas with heartfelt thankfulness to God and conscious recognition of how far short we come to measuring up to what God expects of us.

If you really want to show God that you are thankful for the birth of the Messiah, than go visit the sick, help the needy, dress the naked, feed the hungry. Instead of spending thousands of dollars at Kohl’s and Walmart and Macy’s, spend a few hundred at the soup kitchens and food pantries, give your time to bring food to the hungry, give to charities you know are doing good for people.

Today Christmas is all about what I get from you; let’s make Christmas all about what I can give to those who are in need.

That would be a Christmas present to God and Yeshua that I just know they would love to receive. Remember that Yeshua told us in Mattitayu 25:40:

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Why we don’t start a new tradition of giving Christmas presents to God instead of each other?

 

God Would be a lousy psychiatrist

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Have you ever been to therapy? Not physical therapy, but emotional/mental therapy? I did when I was a kid, for about 6 months, and also when going through my divorce, for almost a year.

It did some good, but I have found that a loving partner, or even a good friend, can be just as helpful.

I respect the science of how the brain works, but I am not very happy with my experiences.

God is loving and compassionate, and he understands us better than any human could, right? I wouldn’t really expect anyone to disagree with that statement, and yet God doesn’t ask, “Why do feel that way?” He asks, “Why should you feel that way?” He doesn’t ask you to explain your feelings, He asks you to justify them.

Here are some questions that God has asked:

Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? What is this you have done? (Genesis 3)

Where is your brother Abel? What have you done? (Genesis 4)

Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? (2 Samuel 12)

Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? (Luke 22)

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9)

These are questions that are straightforward and don’t ask about how the person feels about what they have done, but asks the person to justify what they have done. God doesn’t want us to “work it out”, He wants us to do what is right. There is no, “I’m OK, you’re OK” ideology, there is no concern for how we feel about ourselves or what our parents did to us, or how society has changed us. It’s not about us, it’s about Him. When God is asking the questions we need to give Him answers, not excuses (Job 38:3), and we need to stand forth and “suck it up” when we do.

We are a world of victims, and it’s always the other one’s fault that I am the way I am or do the things I do. The system of political correctness and worrying about everyone’s feelings has destroyed truth. Really, it has- we can’t simply tell someone they have done a lousy job. If we do, we are accused of being discompassionate. Does God worry about that? Doesn’t God come right out and challenge us, in Ezekiel 18:25 , to face up to the fact that it is our way, the way of people, that is really unfair, and not God’s way which is unfair?  God has rules, He doesn’t want to hear our lame excuses. He knows we are weak and unable to do all that He commands of us, at least, not all at once and always. I think that we are all capable of doing everything that God wants of us, but not all the time and not all at once. We do right, we fall, we get up and do more right, we stumble, etc.

Because God is loving, compassionate and forgiving we continue to receive His help, His guidance and His patience. But we are still doing wrong, we are still responsible, and God will not accept excuses.  If we do not want to really stop sinning, God will know, and whether or not we “call on the name of the Lord”, if we don’t really care about doing T’Shuvah, we will not be accepted into His kingdom.

God is not a good psychiatrist because He doesn’t really care about how we feel, He just wants us to do what is right in His eyes. That is not to make Him feel better, it is so that we will live eternally. God has our best interests at His heart, and that is why He will not accept our excuses or care whether or not we feel a certain way about it. He will not guide us roundabout the truth or allow us to compromise His rules for our emotional satisfaction. God will simply say, “Not gonna happen your way. Here is the way it is done, here is how you are to act, don’t moan to me about it. Go tell yo mamma about your hurt feelings, and in the meantime- get with the program!”

I don’t mean to be disrespectful to anyone who is a therapist or counsellor or psychiatric professional- I am not really satisfied with what I have experienced and seen, but I am sure many, many people have been helped to lead a better life through proper therapy. This really isn’t about “dissing” the science or the practice- it is that when we come before God we must tell the truth about why we do what we do. We can’t blame anyone else, we can’t expect that having a “reason” for not doing what God says we should do will hold any water with Him, and we certainly shouldn’t accuse Him of having commandments and regulations  that aren’t valid anymore. And whatever you do, please don’t try to use that old, worn-out lie from the pit of Sheol that the Torah is only for Jews and you don’t have to obey it because you are saved by the blood of Jesus. News flash! Jesus didn’t die so you could keep sinning!

We need to stand up, be bold, not be afraid, and accept the consequences of what we do and say (or don’t do and don’t say.) God will ask questions and judge us, and He won’t care about our feelings.

We need to be as God tells us to be, in the Torah, through the Prophets, and through the teachings of Yeshua and His disciples (which are, for the record, completely in line with and do not in any way overrule the Torah.)  There are no excuses- yes, it is true we are incapable of being all God tells us to be all the time, but we can become better. We can be less of what we shouldn’t be and more of what we should be, and we can do that without excuses.

Stand up for the truth, and if you are concerned that the system of the world will not allow you to speak God’s truth, then speak God’s truth, anyway. Screw the world system- it’s done for, already. The world system is in a downward spiral, and it will not last; God’s system will last forever: it is all that there is, all there will be and all that matters, forever and ever, Amen!

Be (totally) truthful with yourself, be (compassionately) truthful with people, and be (absolutely) truthful with God. Yeshua told us that “The truth will set you free.” He was talking about the truth regarding God’s kingdom, but the truth of the matter is that truth, wherever and whenever it is told, will always set you free.

Judgement isn’t Coming- It’s Here

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Paris, Paris, Paris- that’s all the rage now. People change their FaceBook page to reflect the Parisian flag, they post requests to pray for Paris, it’s the top story in all the papers.

I remember Paris back in the day when it was the safe house for all terrorists. The Parisian government allowed known terrorists to go there and would not extradite them. Now the ones who were protected are biting the hand that fed them, because these terrorists have no honor, no concern for anyone, and no morals.

Sounds like the ancient Babylonians, or the Assyrians, doesn’t it? And didn’t God use those people, as horrible as they were, to exact His judgement?

I am not against sympathizing with those who lost loved ones in Paris. I am fed up with the superficial sympathy we feel. We are all so “damaged” today, but by Tuesday the top story will be about some dog found stuck in a ditch, or some cutesy kid who is collecting for the homeless. And those people in France who are attending funerals and recovering in hospitals will be totally forgotten.

In one day hundreds were killed or hurt in Paris, that’s true. On the other hand, in 2013 the number of American deaths, PER DAY, was almost 90 people. From automobile accidents. You can’t really stop someone from setting off a bomb, but you can drive more carefully, you can drive without texting, you can drive only when you’re sober. We can prevent more automobile accidents, but you can’t really prevent someone who is determined to hurt other people. Oh, maybe now and then, with good intel and a very liberal attitude about privacy, you might. Still, over a hundred died  that one day in Paris, in an attack that is totally unique in current Parisian history. The Paris deaths were from one day of terror, and only the one day- it started, it’s over.

Ninety Americans die every-single-day!  From something that is preventable.

We need to keep things in perspective- murder is murder, whether terrorists do it to us in public places or we do it to each other in cars. The difference, to me, is that there is so much violence of humans against humans that we can’t always see when it is human based or if it is an act of God.

Yes, I am saying that I believe these terrorist groups, groups like ISIS, Al-Queda, or whoever they are, are being used by God as His weapon of judgement. He has done this throughout the past, using powerful enemies that are ruthless, destructive, immoral and unrighteous to render His totally righteous judgement on those that have earned His wrath. America has rejected God, France and God, well, what’s to say about that? And the other countries of the world being attacked are just as worthy of judgement as the ones who have been attacked.

“Yeah, well, then why is Israel being attacked, huh?  If Israel is being regathered and they have already been judged, which you have said before, Steve, then why is Israel being attacked? Huh? Why? Yeah, Answer that one. Huh?”

Good question, here’s the answer- because they are God’s’ people. They are being attacked by the forces of the enemy: they are not being judged by God. That’s the difference- Israel is being attacked, as they always have been, by the forces of the enemy, especially now as they draw closer to God and are starting to acknowledge the truth about His Messiah. Israel is under demonic attack, whereas (I believe) the nations of the world are now coming under judgement.

Remember that the Prophets told us eventually the entire world will come against Israel- that is part of the plan, and it has not happened yet. It is still in the future (and, I believe, not the distant future.)  The judgement against the Goyim (the nations) is already happening.

We should prepare ourselves for the real battle, which isn’t of governments or nations, but of the spiritual world. The way to defeat terrorism is not to be terrorized. That can’t happen without God, without accepting His Grace and knowing that whatever a person does against you, you are secure in the future because you have been saved from the second death- that is the one to be afraid of. The first death comes to all, it is natural, it is transitory. It is the second death, the eternal death that results with either being in God’s presence or in the Lake of Fire, which is what we should be terrorized of!

Terrorists are nothing- they are a bunch of murderers who use their god as an excuse to kill others so they feel better about themselves. Their judgement will come, too- just as it has happened in the past. If they read the bible that counts, they would think twice about what they are doing because no one who has come against Israel has survived. No one. They are doing God’s work against the Nations now, but their time will come, and their judgement will be terrible. Just ask the Assyrians (oh, wait- they’re totally destroyed); well, then, ask any Babylonian about….oh, no, you can’t . They’re gone, too.  The Romans? Nah- all their military are Swiss. Maybe the Egyptians? They’re still here, but not much of a military power anymore.

Mark my words, it won’t be God who will stop these terrorists- the enemy will be the one to overpower these terrorists! They are nothing more than the warm-up act for the big show, when the enemy of God creates the one-world rule. He will do so by eliminating these groups to secure his position as a man of peace. He will seem to save the world, to bring peace and order, and to be the one we should worship since he did what God could not. This will be his demonstration of power, and it will fool many, even many of the righteous will turn to the enemy, because they expect God to stop the terror so when the enemy does this they will mistake him for Messiah.

I believe this is what will happen in the very near future, maybe even in our lifetimes. I did not gain this “knowledge” from a dream, or a vision. In fact, I think it is just common sense . It’s the logical conclusion that one should come to when one reads the word of God, looks at what He has done in the past, and understands He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. Think about that- if God is the same, always and forever, then doesn’t it just make sense that what he has done in the past he will do in the present, and continue to do in the future, in the same way?

Terrorism is terrible- duh! That’s why they call it, “Terrorism”. And it is not new- it may have a new name but it is the same as it has always been; at it’s roots it is bad people doing bad things to innocent people. It started with Cain and hasn’t changed since then.

We can’t stop terrorism- it is a part of civilization, it is the way humans are, and it can be the rod of judgement that God uses. It will never go away, it will only change it’s shape, it’s name and it’s targets. But what we sow, we shall reap, and God will judge those He is using to bring judgement upon the Nations. Be assured, be comforted in the midst of the terror, that vengeance will be taken and judgement will be done to those who are performing these terrible acts of murder.

In the meantime, don’t get confused by those pushing for less gun control or those blaming President Obama, or any other policy reform stemming from these events. This isn’t about any of them, and it’s certainly not about Paris. This is about the truth of God’s word, the prophecies of the bible, the arrival of the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth.

The time to think spiritual is upon you- get your head out of the Earth and into the Clouds.

Parashah Vayyera (And He Appeared) Genesis 18 – 22

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Not much here- only the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, not to mention the Akedah, the binding of Isaac (traditionally read at Rosh HaShannah.)

There is also the second time Abraham “pimped” Sarah, when Abimelech took her to wife because Abraham (with Sarah’s agreement) said she was his sister, not his wife. Abimelech was the king of the Philistine city and his entire household was cursed with not bearing children because he took Sarah as wife.

There is so much written about the Akedah I am not even going to try to comment on it, but I do feel that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah has a lesson for us, something more personal than the story we read.

The people living in these two towns were wholly and unashamedly depraved. The bible makes sure we know that both young and old, meaning everyone, was depraved and sinful. I am not surprised, though; after all, doesn’t the society create it’s own morals? If you were alone in the desert, wouldn’t you form your own ideas about right and wrong? Look at modern cultures: some drink coffee, some drink tea, some nap in the afternoon and some don’t nap at all. Some believe that salad should be after the main course and others eat it first. There are many, many different cultural mores and values, not just about food and work, but about childbirth, capital punishment, education of the young, just to name a few. Lot offered his virgin daughters to the mob of men so they can gang rape the girls instead raping the guests in his house, the cultural ideal at that time being that to protect and care for a traveler was of the utmost importance. The care of a stranger was more important than protecting your own daughters from sexual abuse. We see this cultural standard also in Judges, 19.

Our society today, right here in the good old U S of A, is becoming more and more like Sodom. In the days of Sodom, people learned about social mores by observing their neighbors. There was no Face Book, Twitter or NetFlix to see what was happening all over. But today? We can see depravity as acceptable everywhere, in the newspapers, on TV, on our phones, and even inside the house of worship! How many of you have heard of “churches” that are pro-abortion? Churches that are specifically for homosexual and trans-sexual people? Churches that are abusing children, both physically and sexually? Churches? Places of worship? That’s what they call themselves.

Have you ever watched the History or Discovery channel specials on anything biblical? They debunk God, almost making it seem that He is a myth. I have more often than not heard references to biblical stories and lessons as being nothing more than passed down myths. The narrator refers to the “writer of these stories” as having made them up from existing legends. They show many biblical “scholars” who talk about the truths that God gave us in His word with cynical, disrespectful terms, as if they were referring to some fictional novel. And when they have someone who speaks of the bible with reverence for God, they make him or her look like some idiot, whose opinion is childish and uneducated; essentially they make faith-based obedience look like some uneducated, sect-like conditioned thinking.

Halloween is tomorrow- we give the kids candy because if you give no treat your house gets tricked. We know that the small children don’t understand anything about what their costumes and that day really represent, so we (myself included) condone, as it is, the demonic foundation of this day because we don’t want to hurt the feelings of the small children.

And what effect does that have? It plants a new seed of Sodom. This is how societies become depraved: little by little, one small concession to the mob mentality after another, until you have God thrown out of the courtroom, out of the schools, and even out of the places of worship.

Anyone who says they worship God cannot also acknowledge as acceptable those things God says are not.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, too- not the towns of millennia ago, but the sinfulness and depravity that exists in our own hearts. Yeshua said that which goes into the body doesn’t defile us, but that which comes out of the mouth is what defiles us (Matthew 15:11), so exorcise that which defiles you. The words we speak, especially in anger, are straight from our hearts. We later apologize, and say, “I didn’t really mean it”, but isn’t that a lie? If we didn’t mean it, we wouldn’t have said it! THAT is the truth- what we say in anger or under stress is what is in our hearts. When we lie to the one we said it to we are really lying to ourselves because no one wants to face the truth of what is in his or her defiling, evil heart.

The towns and people of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God, but we need to destroy the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah in ourselves. When we call on the Holy Spirit we can get the spiritual strength to overpower our evil hearts. Eventually, the Torah will be written on our hearts, these hearts of stone will be replaced with hearts of flesh and we will be living Torahs, just as Yeshua is the living Torah.

Until that day, we need to work at destroying Sodom in us.

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.

Truth is Simple

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Walter Scott wrote a poem called Marmion and it was in that poem that he wrote, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive!”  It shows the fruitlessness of lying, but more than that: it shows how convoluted things become when we leave the truth.

One of the country’s greatest writers and humorists, Mark Twain, said, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

Let’s not forget what Yeshua said about the truth: the truth will set you free.

Truth is simple, and that’s the truth. Truth has no image to maintain, no “spin” is needed, but as with most things that are simple, the truth is often hard to take.

“Yes, those pants make your butt look bigger.” That’s the truth, but if you speak it, the truth is that you will be sleeping on the couch.

In fact, humans (at least in our society, it seems) are so averse to hearing the truth that if you say something that is truthful, such as telling someone who is doing a poor job at something (even if you are their supervisor and it is your responsibility to do so), if you just come out and tell them they are doing a lousy job, you are in trouble with HR. Not them; you! Because you told the truth, but you didn’t think about their feelings. How can we think about someone’s feelings, in a society where we are all victims, and still tell the truth?

If we “sugarcoat” the truth so much that it tastes good, then how much “good” can it really do?

The bottom line about truth, which it seems no one wants to hear, is that we are not really in total control or complete charge of ourselves. We never have been and we never will be. We are all interrelated, we cannot be without each other, and we cannot survive totally on our own.

As Yeshua said, we are all a slave to something: either a slave to God or a slave to sin. The only real freedom we have is to choose what we will be a slave to.

People want to hear what they want to hear. The truth is not something they want to hear, so the world tells us lies and teaches us to be liars. If someone looks silly in the clothes they have on, don’t say they look silly, tell them they look fine. If someone doesn’t do the job the way they are supposed to, don’t tell them, don’t fire them or pay them less. And don’t “upset” the poor workers- give them a raise just like the good workers get. And when someone says God doesn’t exist, or that His laws are done away with, don’t disagree with them and don’t tell them you believe He does exist and that His laws are still valid because you shouldn’t upset them.

I am not saying that we should talk to each other in a totally callous and unfeeling way, but we need to be truthful. We need to be able to tell the truth compassionately. If someone looks silly we should say that we don’t think the clothes they are wearing look right, and they would look better if they wore something that matched better. We don’t have to say they look silly, but we should say they would look better because what they are wearing doesn’t do them justice. That’s telling the truth in a compassionate way, don’t you think?

If someone is not doing their job correctly, we need to tell them, and we can do that simply by telling the truth: there is an accepted way of doing this job and you haven’t been following that process. Here is the way this is to be done and you need to do it this way. If you think you have a better way, great- talk to me about it and we will see if it can work, but in the meantime, you need to do it this way.

The ultimate truth is that God is in charge, that we can’t understand His ways, and that we need to trust Him to do what is best. That same truth continues: we don’t have control over what we don’t have control over. People are, for the most part, cruel, self-centered and sinful. Sorry, that’s the truth- the Bible is pretty clear on that, as is our own life experience. We have our occasional good ones, and I hope you are one of those, but we are sinful and our nature is to sin: we are sinful sinners, and the more readily we accept that truth, the easier it is to see how much we need Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) to help us to overcome ourselves. That’s the only chance we have for being in God’s presence when all is done, and the best way to improve ourselves. You can’t change what you don’t know is wrong.

The ancient Greek aphorism, “Know thyself” is a call to truth. Know who you are, what you are capable of, and why you do what you do. I don’t think we need to go through years of psychoanalysis to do this, we just need to accept the truth unabashedly and with courage. Cowards hate the truth, hero’s seek it out. Which are you?

The truth is that the truth often sucks. That’s the way it is, and the truth is you can’t change that. To accept it is the first step on the path to peace, really. I am not saying to be apathetic, to be a fatalist and say that you can’t make any changes or do anything, or that everything happens because God is in charge and, thereby, blame the Lord for your own failures to act. I am asking you to remember that old adage about accepting what you can’t change, changing what you can, and knowing the difference.

Trying to do what we can’t do is frustrating and leads to anger and disappointment- those are the kinds of things that lead to the Dark Side. Anger, unforgiveness, frustration of wanting someone else to do what you think they should do and living with the fact that they won’t is the kind of mindset that will prevent you from doing what God wants, which is to forgive them and love them, anyway. When we learn to focus on what we can do and not obsess over what we can’t change we will be much happier, and set a better example of what God wants us to be.

The truth will set you free from frustration and disappointment, and when you are truthful in a compassionate way you can not only be free, but help others to be free, too.

And that, my friends, is the truth.