Tag: yeshua

Zombies and Vampires

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I was thinking about zombies and vampires the other day, but not the kind that eat brains (no threat to me) or suck your blood.

I was thinking of the “emotional” kind. The emotional zombies that have no real feelings for anyone or anything, and the emotional vampires that suck the very joy and love of life right out of you.

I was, in a previous life, married to an emotional vampire. I pray for her, even though (I am sorry to say) thankfully I have not had to have any contact with her for years. She is the mother of my children, whom she has emotionally damaged, through spitefulness and drugs (she has fed them ADHD drugs since they were tots, even though there has never been any medical diagnosis of it.) Now the poor kids (who are adults) are emotional zombies- they have never had the chance to feel anything that they haven’t been conditioned to feel.

I am sure you have met people like them. The emotional vampire who is so needy for attention and love that he or she demands from you whatever goodness you have, they take all the compassion and understanding you can give, and suck it out of you until you don’t even feel anything, anymore. Then you become an emotional zombie, wandering around apathetic and drained. Getting involved in relationships that damage and destroy you even more, all the while looking for someone to give you what you have lost. Or, like in the vampire stories, you now have such a need to fill yourself up again with love and compassion that you become an emotional vampire, yourself.

The only way to kill these vampires is with a stake in the heart: not a wooden stake with a point at the end, but with the execution stake of Yeshua, the Messiah. Through prayer and with the love of God these pitiful “demons” can be saved.

I pray for the salvation of my “ex” not because she deserves it- after all, which of us does? I pray for her because she needs it- more than anyone I have ever met, she needs to know the love and compassion of Messiah Yeshua and of God, our Father, which she has rejected (not surprisingly- vampires hate the light.) I also pray for her so that if she turns to God, maybe she will be able to help my children turn. I pray for them too because, well, they’re my kids. Duh! Despite the hatefulness and Tsouris they have given me (most of it because that is what they were conditioned to do), they are old enough to make up their own minds. However, in their defense, they haven’t ever been given a real chance to do that, so I pray for them to reconcile to me and Donna, and to God. It’s more important they reconcile to God, of course.

We don’t want vampires or zombies in our life. After all, they are destructive, evil and a bad influence. However, it is our responsibility as followers of Yeshua to go into the darkness. He ate and drank with sinners because, as He told us in Mark 2:17, He came to heal the sick- the healthy do not need a doctor. Emotional vampires and zombies are very sick, inside, and they need our help.

The thing to remember is that the doctor wears a mask and gloves not just to protect the patient from being infected, but so that the patient doesn’t infect the doctor. We need to be aware of the power of the vampire- they have a strong will and can often seem to be doing good to us, all the while they are sucking us dry. Be careful, be aware, be loving and be understanding, But also be safe.

No greater love is there than that one should give his life for a friend- that is true, but giving our life for a friend is different than throwing it away carelessly.

If, and when, you come across these emotional vampires and zombies, the way to destroy them is to save them. Let them see in you the joy and peace that the Ruach HaKodesh brings, and direct them to God. Keep your distance enough to protect your blood and brains. They are devastatingly hungry for love, for understanding and for peace of spirit, but don’t know how to get it. They take and take and take. but never can satisfy their hunger. That’s because humans don’t have enough in us to fill them, but God does. He never runs out; God never has a lack of love or a famine of affection, and He is always willing to listen.

Vampires ans zombies are out there, and when we find them (or more likely when they find us) we must direct them to God because He is the only one who can save them.

 

 

 

The 3 Biggest Lies about Jesus

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Third Biggest Lie: If you are Jewish and you believe Jesus is the Messiah then you can’t be Jewish anymore.

That’s what I have been told, and not just by Jews but the Christian world teaches that, also. They don’t come right out and say it, but the teachings are based on misunderstanding of the letters from Paul (Shaul) to the Romans and Galatians, which have been used as a polemic against following the Torah when they are really an apologetic explaining why it is still absolutely necessary to follow the Torah. There are also many subtle anti-Semitic terms in the New Covenant writings, no matter whether it is King James, NIV, or whatever. Unless you have a Messianic New Covenant, the First Century Jews and Pagans who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah God promised are called the “Church”- that is just not right. There was no “church”, at least not as we know the word to be used today. There were Jews and pagans becoming Jews. They met in groups and homes, and if we need to label them in any way, the best term would be Kahillot, the plural of the Hebrew word Kahal, which means congregation. The first century Jews who accepted Yeshua to be the true Messiah remained (and worshiped as) Jews. The pagans who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah of the Jews began to become Jewish, since there were no other religions. You were either a pagan of one sort or another, or a Jew. When you stopped being a pagan, you had no choice but to be a Jew. Duh! So, where did we go wrong? When did accepting the Jewish Messiah require converting to Christianity?  Sometime around the time when the second biggest lie started.

Second Biggest Lie: Jesus founded Christianity.

Jesus never founded Christianity. He preached only to Jews and used Torah as His only source. After the resurrection and the inclusion of the Gentiles into salvation (Acts 10) , as more and more Gentiles joined the movement it became (I believe) less and less attractive to the “everyday” Jewish person. After the suppression by Emperor Hadrian of the Bar Kochba revolt (132-136 AD) being Jewish meant being subject to persecution. If you were a Jew who accepted Yeshua or a Gentile who did the same thing, it was less “dangerous” to be Christian than Jewish.  Frankly speaking, the more Gentiles that accepted Yeshua the less appealing it became to Jews (my opinion) and the further from Torah they traveled (historical fact.) By the Third Century when Emperor Constantine had “legitimatized” Christianity (as it was being called then) and began to form doctrine and canon at the Council of Nicene, the schism was complete and Christianity was totally different from Judaism. The apple had fallen far from the tree.

Biggest Lie about Jesus: If you are a Christian the Torah is not applicable to you.

Acts, Galatians, and Romans are the three Epistles that (I believe) have damaged the truth about being a follower of Yeshua with regard to being responsible to follow the commandments and regulations found in the Torah. As we saw in the lie above, as more and more Gentiles entered the group of Jewish Believers, the Mosaic law became not a means of worshiping but a stumbling block. I mean, really- I want to be saved by this Yeshua you have told me about, but I have to let you cut what off my what? I would certainly have to think twice about that one. Especially because no one had invented Novocaine yet! Also, I have been eating anything I wanted to eat, and now I can’t eat any shellfish or pork?

I separate biblical Kosher from Rabbinical- biblical Kosher, as I call it, means essentially no pork or shellfish, but Rabbinical Kosher is keeping in alignment with what the Rabbi’s say: different dishes, no meat and dairy at all, and an entire host of rules and regulations that are hard and complicated to follow, even back then.

Even to be biblically Kosher was a big move and (again, this is just what I believe) these requirements were, for many, a deal-breaker. Clearly, strict and immediate adherence to Torah was a significant barrier, which is why in Acts 15 they reduced the requirements to be a new Believer to just the 4 rules about food and fornication. What people miss, though, is that they say these are just the initial requirements, and the next sentence states that they will be seeing the laws of Moses every day in the Temple. The clear meaning of that is that Torah will be taught to them, eventually. The “Christian world” has conveniently failed to mention that part.  Yeshua said, in Matthew 5:17, he did not come to change the laws. And when He said He came to fulfill them that meant, in the language of the day, that He was interpreting them correctly. Fulfilling a law doesn’t mean doing away with it: if that was true, when you next come to a stop sign or a red light and the car ahead of you comes to a full stop, you don’t need to. That car fulfilled the law so it is no longer valid.

Yeah, right- try that one on the cop when he is writing the ticket.

The truth is simple: Jesus, Yeshua, was Jewish and lived a Jewish lifestyle. In fact, His “claim to fame” is that He lived Torah exactly, perfectly, and as the sinless Lamb of God was acceptable as the sacrifice for sin for all mankind. If Yeshua did not live Torah perfectly, He was not sinless and was not an acceptable sacrifice. Simple. However, since He was raised, then He did live Torah perfectly.

The Christian world asks that the followers of Jesus live as Jesus lived and do as Jesus did. Then they tell you that Torah is only for Jews because Christians have Grace. Grace came from Torah, so without Torah there can be no Grace- that is the message Shaul was trying to get across in Romans.

What Jesus taught was to worship God not just in action but in mind and heart. Jesus was the living Word, and the only word was Torah- reject the Torah and you reject Jesus.

Stop living a lie and get with the program.

Parashah Ki Thissa (When you take) Exodus 30:11 – 34

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Big stuff in here: the sin of the Golden Calf and the 13 Divine Attributes of God (announced when He passes by Moshe), which make up the major restrains of almost every Jewish prayer of repentance. Also we are told what spices to use for anointing oil and incense before the Lord, and it ends with Moses coming down (the second time) from the mountain with the Ten Words, his face beaming so much that from then on he wears a veil, except when he goes in the Tabernacle to talk to the Lord.

I asked myself why this time?  Why didn’t his face beam after being 40 days on the mountain the first time? My answer to myself was that there was one major difference between the first meeting with God and the second one: the second time Moses saw the Glory of God. In Exodus 34:5-7 God walks by Moses, covering Moses’ face as He passes so Moses can only see His back. God actually, physically was there, close enough to cover the face of Moses. I believe that Moses’ face shone from that day on because he was so close to the Glory of the Lord that the Shekinah glory infused his body. That’s why his face shone, and from what I read it sounds like his face shone for the rest of his life.

What I find of interest is not the great story of the Golden Calf- there is so much for us to learn there. What I want to talk about today is much simpler, much “smaller”, but no less important.

The parashah starts out with God telling Moses that everyone who is called up to fight in a war must pay a ransom for their soul of a 1/2 Shekel. Now the word of God is very clear that there shall be no ransom for a murderer, that is, someone who has committed murder purposefully. But this ransom is for those who have murdered during a war. Even though the wars the people of Israel performed were not just sanctioned  by God, but actually commanded by Him in many cases, they were still guilty of murder.

This shows us that God is true to His word, that His laws are always laws, that forgiveness is possible but only with real repentance. Those who go to a “holy” war for God and kill those God says should die (effectively being the executioner of the Lord) are still murderers. They have killed, and God said we shall not kill, but unlike the murderer who kills for passion or gain, and does so on purpose, this “murder” is different, so a ransom is acceptable. Again, even though this form of murder is commanded by God, we must ransom our soul to the Lord. The monies were to be used exclusively for the maintenance of the Tabernacle, so that this ransom did go, wholly, to the Lord.

God is always willing to forgive a repentant sinner, but He is also more than willing, and frighteningly able, to punish those who are unrepentant. And God must punish the wrongdoer. If God doesn’t punish those who do wrong and do not repent, then His promise of salvation is empty. God said that the guilty will be punished- He says it over and over throughout the Tanakh; He has the Prophets tell us over and over that we shall suffer if we do not obey the Lord (and we did, too!), and Yeshua also tells us this. At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:14, Yeshua tells us that if we do not forgive on Earth, then we will not be forgiven by God in heaven.

Torah is valid: it was valid when God gave it to us, it was valid when David was king, it was valid when Herod ruled, it was valid during and after Yeshua’s ministry, and it is valid, today. Not just to Jews, but to everyone.  Just because we can be forgiven doesn’t mean we can ignore God’s word: God told us to ransom our soul even though we were doing what He commanded, so even when we obey Him we can still be guilty! His laws are absolute.

Christianity has been teaching for centuries that the Jews have Torah and Christians have the blood of Christ. That is totally wrong- everyone has Torah, and everyone has the blood of Christ! The Torah was given to the Jewish people so they could live it as an example for everyone else to learn from, and follow. The blood of Messiah was shed so that everyone could have salvation because no one can live perfectly in accordance to Torah. How absolutely inane to say that Christians have the blood of Christ, as if they were the only ones He died for! He died for Jews, He died for Buddhists, He died for Muslims, He died for Devil worshipers, He died for E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E!!!   

And Torah was given to the Jews, but Torah is also for everyone. Torah tells us how God wants us to worship Him and treat each other, Yeshua told us the deeper meanings of the Torah and that we shouldn’t try to just follow it legalistically (i.e., just obey the letter of the law), but that we need to follow it spiritually. Jeremiah 31:31 tells us that the New Covenant will be that God will write His Torah on our hearts, which is exactly what Yeshua was telling us to do! It will be more than words to follow, it will be the very thing we are!

The Torah was given to guide us, Yeshua died for us because we can’t follow Torah perfectly (but NOT in place of the Torah) and the blood of Christ is for everyone to be able to have their sins washed away and be reconciled to God. God isn’t stupid- if you call upon His name and hold up the blood of Christ as your means of forgiveness, but you are unrepentant, you will not be accepted. And the proof that you are repentant, or that you are not repentant, will be by your fruits, by how you act towards others and towards God.

The Torah tells us how to show our repentance, so to refuse to follow Torah is to refuse to be repentant.

Look…no one can obey Torah completely, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t supposed to try.

I don’t deserve this

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The parashah this coming Shabbat tells of the sin of the Golden Calf at Mt. Sinai. We see in this one of the less spoken about aspects of Moshe (Moses), which is his courage. We haven’t really seen that too much; I mean, when he first met the Lord at the burning bush all he wanted to do was get out of the calling. He did something along the way to Egypt that got God so mad He almost killed Moses (the Chumash suggests that Moses pretended to be sick to delay going), and even though he appeared before Pharaoh, it was Aaron that did most of the talking and doing. It took Moshe a while before he really stood up and took charge.

At the mountain after the people sin, God tells Moses to stand back so God can destroy these rebellious and stiff-necked people, then make a nation out of Moses. So, what does Moses do? He doesn’t stand out of the way, he stands in the breach! He places himself between a rebellious and sinful people deserving of death and the Lord, God Almighty, who is all powerful and, I should add, pretty pissed off at the moment.

Pretty gutsy, says I.

You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with the title? What doesn’t he deserve?”

The same thing that you don’t deserve- salvation.

The people deserved death, and they weren’t worthy to have God’s presence with them, but thanks to Moses they not only got to survive their sin, but also had God’s presence travel with them for the next 40 years.

Moses stood between God and the sin of the people to save them, and what they got they got because of Moses.

Yeshua stood between God and all the people in the world, and every sin that ever happened and ever will. Because of Yeshua we all have the hope of salvation- what we have we have because of Yeshua.

Shaul tells the Gentile Roman Believers in Romans 11 that they aren’t to be proud or haughty when thinking about how they have salvation that the Jewish people don’t because if it weren’t for the Jews (not accepting Yeshua fully), they wouldn’t have anything. They have what they have because of the Jewish people.

In Deuteronomy 9: 5-6 Moses tells the people that they are going to enter a wonderful land of milk and honey, which they don’t deserve to enter. The only reason they are entering is because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I don’t deserve what I have: salvation from my sinful nature, peace of spirit from the Comforter Yeshua sent to me (The Ruach HaKodesh, or Holy Spirit) and hope for my loved ones that comes only from the promise Yeshua made that whatever we ask for in His name we shall receive. Even though I know it comes down to these people choosing to accept God and Yeshua, and that because God gave us all free will they may never be saved, I have no hope for what I can do and every hope that God can do what I can’t. I trust that He is answering my prayers, and that if anyone can get my children to accept God and reconcile to me, it is God. And if  (and when ) they do, I won’t deserve it- it will be because of what God does.

We don’t deserve what we have, and we don’t have what we deserve. Thank God for that! We all should remember to remember this: we don’t deserve what we have with God. This is not something we should beat ourselves down with, it is something which we can use to continually raise ourselves up! When we understand and appreciate all that others have done for us it should encourage us to do better, ourselves.

We owe it to God, to Yeshua, to Moses, to Abraham, to the Prophets, to everyone and anyone who has stood in the breach between us and God to make our salvation possible. And because they have risked and (more often than not) lost their lives for us, we need to do everything we can to honor their sacrifice, every moment of every day.

I am saved by the Grace of God, by the sacrificial death of Yeshua, by the courage of Moses, with the guidance of friends and strangers who knew the Lord, by my Rabbi, who helped me to see how to maintain and strengthen my faith, by so many people. I owe it to them to continue, faithfully, to be a better me and to help others as they have helped me.

I don’t deserve what I have been given, and neither do you. Let’s show our gratitude by running the good race, keeping our eyes on the prize, and doing for others what others have done for us.

Parashah Tetzaveh (Thou shalt command) Exodus 27:20 – 30:10

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The previous Parashah described the Tent of Meeting, or Tabernacle, and now we get to the regulations about those serving in the tent. Aaron and his sons were chosen by God to be His Cohen HaGadol, His High Priests, and only those who are direct descendants are to carry on in this office. The clothing they are to wear, the special things for the High Priest (Ephod, breastplate and mitre) and the sanctification ceremony are all outlined in great detail. The last thing mentioned is the altar and it’s manufacture.

The breastplate had  12 brilliant gems, one for each tribe of Israel with that tribe’s name engraved on it, and it was worn over the heart. In biblical psychology the heart is the seat of intellect, not feeling, so people who are “wise-hearted” are those God has given special knowledge to (Exodus 28:3).  The Urim and Thummim (light and perfection) are also to be in the breastplate and worn over the heart.

The breastplate is called the breastplate of judgement: the people and the means of judgement (Urim and Thummim) are to be close to the heart of the one who is God’s representative to the people. I believe that this demonstrates to us that God’s judgement is to be intellectually influenced. It is to be totally fair. Of course, I also have to ask myself where, if judgement is to be unemotional, does mercy fit in? Mercy is certainly not something that is a mathematical equation or something we can intellectualize. It is an emotional feeling; it stems from compassion and love.  Can these two things really exist together? I don’t know. God is fair, and He tempers His judgments with compassionate mercy, but (then, again) He has been awesome and totalitarian in many of His judgments. God has had entire nations and peoples completed destroyed. Frankly, I don’t know how this all works together, and I was thinking of just deleting this entire section, but it raises questions. I think questions before the Lord are good things, so I am leaving this here for you to think over, on your own, and to discuss with God. If you have an answer, or something to add, please comment so we can all discuss this. The topic is: how can God judge fairly and still have compassion and mercy?

One other thing I find interesting: the Urim and Thummim, which are mysterious (we don’t even know what they were) are used to determine God’s will. They may have been some kind of dice that were used for throwing lots. They are mentioned in some of the writings of the Prophets (Nevi’im) but pretty much by David’s time they are not mentioned any more in the Tanakh. These means of determining God’s will were obviously important during the time the people were in the desert, and under Joshua. As time went on, they became less important, and we also see as time went on the people got further and further away from God; eventually, we got so far away from Him that we were nearly destroyed.

With Yeshua, we have been reconciled with God and can (again) draw close to Him. So, will we again see the Urim and Thummim? I don’t think so, because what was used to determine God’s will is now not over our hearts, but inside our hearts. The Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, is how we can know God’s will for our lives. It is our Comforter, our Guardian, our own “Jiminy Cricket” keeping us on the straight and narrow. We don’t have to have a physical thing to help us understand what God wants for us anymore because we have His very Spirit living inside of us.

As we are told in Jeremiah 31:31:

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

The Urim and Thummim have been replaced by the Ruach HaKodesh as our means of understanding what God wants in our lives. For me, that underscores even more than usual the need for people to accept their Messiah, especially the Jewish people, because without accepting Yeshua as our Messiah we can’t receive the Ruach HaKodesh. Without the Ruach, we can’t know God’s will for our lives. It is all so clear: first, after Yeshua’s resurrection, the next major event is the destruction of the Temple. No longer can we bring our sin sacrifice to the Lord- Yeshua was the last and complete sacrifice for sin, and through His sacrifice we are now reconciled and cleansed before the Lord. With the destruction of the Temple we also lost forever the records of the lineage of the people to prove who is a true child of Israel, and more important than that, who can serve as Cohen Hagadol. And that’s because we don’t need that anymore: Yeshua is now the Cohen Hagadol for all eternity, and the separation between the Jew and the Gentile doesn’t exist in the body of Messiah (Galatians 3:28).

If we look at the history of the events that occurred before and after Yeshua’s appearance on Earth, we can see the logical progression of salvation, the gradual development of the plan for eternity. Today we see the regathering of the children of Israel back to the land of their fathers, and God’s judgment on the nations coming to fruition. Terrorism, El Nino, global warming, wars, diseases, and terrible earthquakes and Tsunami’s occurring all over the world. Do you think these are just coincidence? Yes, they have always been here but throughout the recorded history of these events today there are more of them, and they are becoming more fierce and regular.  Just because science says some of these are the result of man-made problems doesn’t mean that they aren’t part of God’s plan. Throughout the bible we see God had used people to accomplish His goals more often than by some miraculous divine intervention.

We are living in prophetic times, and we need to have the courage to tell people, whether they believe us or not, about Yeshua so that their blood is on their own head and not ours.

Ask God to show you what His plan is for you, listen to the Ruach HaKodesh in your heart, and take action. Don’t wait until the Groom arrives to fill your lamps with oil.

Making Time for God

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We, as a nation, a people and a society, are just too busy doing something to be able to do anything. We are so involved in getting things done that we don’t get anything done- it’s Crisis Management as a lifestyle. And how many of us force our kids into so many activities they don’t have time to just be a kid?

I enjoy the “quality time” I get to spend with Donna, like last week when we were on vacation, and also when I can take a day to just sit on the beach and catch up on my reading. Or take a leisurely bike ride for 18 or 20 miles without having to worry about getting back in time for something.

We are so busy getting things done we miss out on the most important thing we can do with our time, which is have quality time with God. Maybe we think since He is omnipresent we don’t have to schedule time with Him- after all, He’s always here, right? I often tell about how I keep my bible in the bathroom because it is the only place I can guarantee I will have 10 minutes or so of total solitude and quiet to read His word. It may seem funny, it may even be “gross” to some, but I do get that quality time every day to read His word. I also pray during my drive to work- more quality time alone.

I really feel for those with children- it’s hard enough to do what we want to do when it’s just us, but with kids, too… oy!

This blog has been quality time for me, as well. I started out writing every weekday, and then went to Monday, Wednesday and Friday because I am learning Hebrew for a trip to Israel later this year and do that on Tuesday and Thursday. I do this early in the morning, before work, so that I can have time with Donna when I get home. And I have sacrificed my morning workouts, as well, to get these things done.

I am going to try to teach myself to write less in each post to have some more time for a short workout in the mornings, so if these blogs seem to be getting shorter it’s by design. I am probably too long winded as it is. I guess that’s just the way it is when I start to talk about God- there isn’t enough time in eternity to say how wonderful He is.

Do you really believe you dedicate enough time to God? If you aren’t sure, then you don’t. Of course, it would be great if we had nothing else to do, at all, except worship and dedicate our lives to serving God as a Rabbi, Priest, Minister, whatever. But that’s not reasonable, and that isn’t what God wants. Shaul (Paul) tells us that we are all parts of the body of Messiah, and everyone should use whatever talent or gift God gave them to serve Him. An ear should be an ear, a mouth a mouth, feet for walking, etc. No one part is more important than any other part, and all must do what they are designed to do to be effective.

There are many ways we can serve God. Taking care of others is a way to serve God (Matthew 25:40); doing whatever you do in a way that glorifies God is serving God (Collosians 3:23); whatever you do for your family that directs them to act in ways that please God’s is serving the Lord.

I am going to ask you, if you like what you read in this blog, to share it with others. I constantly strive to speak God’s word to you, and for the enlightenment of those who don’t know Him. This is my ministry, and without trying to sound self-important I would ask that you buy and read the book I wrote, share this blog with everyone on your Face Book and contact list, suggest it to your religious leaders to see if they would recommend it. I know that God will make happen whatever He wants to make happen, and I pray that He is behind my efforts to bring people to know Him through this blog and my book: and I mean know Him- His word, not the word of religious leaders, not the rambling of Replacement Theologists or Ultra-Conservatives. People generally do not know what is in the bible, and even those that are Believers (from my experience) know what they have been told by others but usually don’t take the time to really read it, to take time to go to the bible and verify what they have been told; to quietly sit, open the Manual and let the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) guide them in their understanding.

They’re just too busy.

God has a plan for you: He has a message for every single one of us, and it changes as we change. The message is there, in the bible- how many times have you read the same thing, over and over, then one day it just hits you- “Oh! That’s what He means!”

You need to make the time to spend quality time reading the bible: if you don’t, how will you know the message God has for you?

 

 

Hate is Easy and Love is Hard

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That isn’t so much of a revelation, is it?

How many of us have had a “falling out” with someone? Usually it’s over something that isn’t really that important, but was at the time we had the falling out. And how much easier is it to just accept that relationship is over than it is to make contact and try to revive that friendship? Hating is easier, hating is what comes natural to sinful beings (like all of us, myself included) and hating is safer.

Yes, safer. Safer because when we try to mend a hurt, we take the chance that we will be hurt again. At Rosh HaShanah it is a tradition to go to one you may have sinned against or hurt and ask forgiveness. I did this, once, to the mother of my children about two years after we had separated. I apologized for any hurtful things I had done and asked forgiveness. What I got was an earful of hatred, spite and anger. She yelled at me, withholding her forgiveness from me as if it was necessary for my salvation. She never knew that the forgiveness she could have given to me would have made her more right with God and had nothing to do with me and God.

Forgiveness doesn’t have anything to do, really, with the person who hurt you and their relationship to God, but it has everything to do with your relationship with God. We are not commanded to ask for forgiveness- we are commanded to forgive (see Matthew 6:14-16); forgiveness of someone else makes us right with God, not them. They have to make themselves right with God.

Hatefulness comes easy to humans for all the reasons I stated above, and for one more: it just feels better. Yes, I admit that and confess it, as well. I have some family members and friends that I need to keep in touch with or they will never call me, visit me or even send me a text. If I am not on Facebook (which, by the way, I am not) then I will never know what is happening in their lives. That knowledge hurts. I love them and miss them and want to be with them, yet they don’t give a hoot about staying in touch with me. I am the one always reaching out to them, and sometimes I just feel like if I never, ever have anything else to do with them I won’t be missing anything at all. If they can’t take a few minutes out of their oh-so-very-important lives to say “Hi” or drop me a line, give me a call or even just leave me a voice mail, then screw them and the white horse they rode in on!!

That’s why love is so much harder- it takes sacrifice, it takes compassion (not one of my strong points) and it takes a high tolerance to emotional pain. Loving is giving, loving is being there when you don’t want to be, and loving is accepting the stripes that someone else deserves. And more than that! Love is doing all that and doing it willingly, without allowing yourself to feel regret you did the “right” thing or to feel animosity against the one you suffered over.

This is the kind of love Yeshua has for all of us. This is the kind of love that God has for you, right now. And it is the kind of love that they both expect you to show to others. More than expect- they require it! If you have known the loving forgiveness of God and understand the depth of the sacrifice Yeshua made so you can be forgiven, and yet you do not show (or at least try to show)  that same love to others, then you are the man Yeshua tells us about in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35).

In Matthew 16:24 Yeshua tells us how hard it is to love. He says:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

This isn’t easy, this isn’t something that comes naturally to us, and this isn’t fun. We get a sense of peace and joy from the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) when we are deep in worship, but what we get from the world is a load of crap, hatred, and persecution. Many churches teach all about God’s love, and paint a pretty picture of salvation. In the meantime, they aren’t preparing their flock for the wolves. Yeshua told His Talmudim (students) that they would be sheep among wolves, that they are to be as gentle as doves but as crafty as snakes.

There is an old saying, I am sure you have heard it, that goes, “Time heals all wounds.” I don’t think time alone heals wounds, but with proper care of the wound, putting the balm of God’s love and compassion on it daily, time will eventually overcome the pain and the wound will heal. There is another saying that is similar: it goes, “Time wounds all heels.”  Those who are not forgiving, those who hate and persecute, bully and confound, will eventually be wounded. They will feel God’s arrow of justice pierce their liver.

And if the thought that those who have sinned against you makes you feel somewhat avenged, you need top pick up that cross because you aren’t carrying it! I have been hated, and that hatred has poisoned my own children to the point where despite all the sacrifices I made to be with them and try to show them how to be self-sufficient and succeed in the world, they have rejected me and abandoned me. They hate me because they were fed the hatred and spite their mother had against me when I left the marriage (which at that time was a marriage in name only.) And when I think of the suffering they will have to go through, for all eternity, if they don’t do T’Shuvah before they die, I can’t possibly feel anything but sadness and remorse for them. It kills me that they will have to face God without Yeshua in their corner. And not just the kids, but their mother, too. Sure, I have every reason in the world to be glad that she will get what she deserves for doing what she did to me and to our children.  All the reason in the world!

But we’re not supposed to be of the world, are we?

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.

 

 

Why People Reject God

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It’s all about control. Well, that’s what I believe. If you have a different reason click the Comment button and please share with us.

But it really is all about control. The world teaches us, from Day One, that we should take care of Numero Uno (this being a Messianic blog, I should use the term מספר אכד) and that we should be allowed to make our own choices. The world teaches us to learn to be self-sufficient and rely on no one but ourselves. The world teaches us that we can’t trust anyone.

God teaches us that we need to depend on Him. God teaches us that we should be trusting in Him and all our hope is in Him. God teaches us that we do have the right to make our own choices, but whereas the world teaches us to blame others for what we do, God tells us that we will be held responsible for what we do.

God gives us more control than the world does, in truth, because He is in total control of everything, and everything He does is for your own good. God always does what is best for us, even when we don’t want Him to. So, naturally, when we allow Him to be in control we have the only One who can control everything acting on our behalf.

God does what is best for you, and the world does what is best for the world.

Yeshua said that we all are slaves to something, and that no one can be slave to two masters. That’s what I mean when I say it is all about control- people reject God because they are told (and they want) to be in control of themselves. It is clear from the Bible that to accept God, accept Yeshua (Jesus) as your Messiah and to accept the Grace He provided to us we need to let God be in control. And that goes against everything that “humanity” teaches.

Yet, giving total control to God is the most sensible thing anyone can do. One person against the world is a losing proposition before it even gets off the table. And trusting people who only trust and care about themselves is like walking into traffic with your eyes closed. God, on the other hand, loves us more than we can love anything, and He is always there. The Lord never slumbers, He never sleeps, He is everywhere, all the time, and He can make anything happen with a thought. Yeshua told us (as do the Prophets) that God is a loving God whose love endures forever. That love is not for Himself, but for you and for me. He will do whatever needs to be done (and He can do whatever needs to be done!) to protect and help you. Even if that means giving you a good slap upside your head to get you back on the right track.

When it comes down to it, the choice we all have, and the one we all have to make whether we know we are making it or not, is to choose our Master: it will be God, or it will be the enemy of God, hidden to us in worldly desires and advice.

Know this: when you choose, if it ain’t God, it’s Satan. That is the truth that people reject as quickly and as adamantly as they reject God. They reject that God is in charge and they also reject that Satan is the only other option as a Master. They miss the boat and jump off the dock at the same time.

We do have a choice but there are only two choices: God or Satan. That’s what it boils down to.

I have chosen God and I love the way Joshua puts it to the people of Israel in Joshua 24:15:

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

I think this is how we should put it to everyone we minister to: you have a choice, and you are held responsible for that choice. The world teaches us to play the blame game, and that when we do something we shouldn’t it is society’s fault, or that someone should have done something to prevent it. God doesn’t fall for that line- you do it, it’s your fault. You don’t do it, it’s your fault. It’s not because of the way your parents raised you, it’s not because of the neighborhood you grew up in, and it’s not because of the government. They all can have a part in making the decisions you make, but you have to overcome the bad, you have to overcome the problems, and you have to make the right decisions because you are going to be held responsible at the last Judgement! 

So, make you decision because it is your choice. Choose the gods of your ancestors, choose the pantheon of gods in the world today (TV, sports, drugs, work, social media), or choose the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Remember it boils down to God or Satan: Satan wants your eternal soul to suffer with his, and God wants your eternal soul to enjoy Paradise with Him.

When you look at it that way, which is how it is, it makes you wonder why anyone would reject God.

It’s all about control.