Tag: yeshua

Two Taboos Too Many

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What are the two taboos? Never discuss religion and politics, right? That’s what we are told, and it’s good advice.

The reason I say they are two too many is because when God created everything, His original plan was that there would be only one, non-taboo discussion: Him. The governmental system in the garden was God, the religion was God. That was it. A perfectly run, perfect example of Theocracy.

The de-evolution of this perfect government started with the invention of other gods (man-made, of course) which is what religion has become.

God has no religion. Gee…where have I heard that before?

Then the gods were not enough, so the system split into gods (religion) and human rulership, aka kings (politics), which further devolved the governmental system into the two taboos of today.

We will eventually get back to the perfect Theocracy that God intended, but that will have to wait until Yeshua returns and the Apocalypse is completed.

As the world falls deeper and deeper into revolution, disruption and civil disorder, helped by human intervention with the destruction of our ecosystem and habitats, I can only smile. Not that I enjoy the tsouris, but that I look forward to His return. And I know that won’t happen until things look their worst.

I hope anyone reading this, who is not absolutely sure where you will be after God drops the other shoe, will read some of the older entries in this ministry blog. Go to Category and (especially if you are Jewish) read some of the Jews and Jesus posts, then the Messianic 101 posts. I think that should give you some level of comfort when thinking about who Yeshua, the real Messiah of Israel is (vice that Aryan-looking guy with the blond hair, blue eyes and whose kingdom has been hell-bent on killing the Jews), and help you to understand how things got so separated.

I recommend that we stick to the two taboos, for the time being, and wait until they are one again. Then we won’t need to talk about politics and religion because, well…they won’t exist anymore. It will be just God.

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait.

Parashah Bo (Go) Exodus 10:1-13:16

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Here we see the final culmination of the plagues against Egypt. So far the plagues have destroyed much of their cattle and most of their crops, but the locusts are coming to finish off everything that wasn’t already destroyed. Next, three days of darkness: the ultimate defeat of Ra, the sun god and their major diety.

Finally, the coup de grasse: the death of all the firstborn. And with this horrible plague comes both the end of Hebrew slavery, and the beginning of the Nation of Israel. It is the first day of the first month of their existence as a free nation. You know that expression, “This is the first day of the rest of your life?” I think this is where it started.

The sacrifice of the Passover lamb, however, is somewhat misunderstood, especially when we refer to the sacrificial death of Yeshua/Jesus during that fateful 1st Century Pesach celebration.

Yeshua is often referred to as the Lamb of God, or the Paschal Lamb. But the passover lamb sacrifice was not a sin sacrifice. The sin sacrifice was to be presented and killed at the tabernacle. There would be a portion given to the Priest and the rest was to be burned on the alter. The remainder portion for the Priest was to be eaten in a holy place, and only by the male priests. The blood was to be sprinkled against the altar and poured onto the ground.

That is not the regulation for the passover lamb.

The peace offering is treated differently. With a peace offering the person presenting the offering is allowed to eat the flesh, and can share it with others. The Passover Seder is exactly that- a peace offering that is shared with others. It is not a sin offering.

Yeshua may be called the Paschal lamb, but His death was a sin sacrifice. The paschal lamb is a peace offering.

It was Pharaoh who should have been making a sin offering. Although he didn’t have any intention of doing so, the Lord made that choice for him. The choicest of Pharaoh’s possessions were being sacrificed to the Lord to atone for the sins he had committed against God’s people. And even though Pharaoh had no intention of doing so, he did make a sin sacrifice: he lost his first born, and the firstborn of all his people. And from then on, the first born of both people and animals from the nation of Israel belonged to the Lord.

At the same time the people of Israel were making a peace sacrifice to the Lord, the people of Egypt were making a sin sacrifice to the Lord. There was a peace offering, and a sin offering; there was communion and there was punishment. Two sides of the same coin.

Fifteen hundred years after the first Passover, as the people were making their peace offering, Yeshua was offering up His own body as a sin offering for the people. It was history repeating itself, anew. The Passover in Egypt was the beginning of the physical freedom from slavery, and the Passover in Jerusalem 1,500 years later was the beginning of the spiritual freedom from sin. We normally associate these two freedoms on Shavuot, 50 days (give or take) after the Passover Seder, but it really happened after dusk on the night of that Seder.

God commanded that on Yom Kippur we perform the sin sacrifice for all the people, yet Yeshua was a sin sacrifice for all the people on Passover? What’s with that?

Yeshua is both sides of the coin- He is both the sin sacrifice and the ultimate peace offering. His sacrifice was first for the sin of the people while they enjoyed a peace sacrifice. When He returns, he will be bringing peace and communion to the people of God while the rest of the world will be suffering for their sin. Passover and Yom Kippur are the two sides of the coin of salvation. The first Passover saw the sin offering of the Egyptians (their firstborn) and the peace offering of Israel. The Passover of salvation saw the sin offering of God’s firstborn and the peace offering of Israel. The final Passover (which may not be on Passover, but more likely will be around Yom Kippur) will see the sin offering of the world and the final and eternal peace for those who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah.

Peace and suffering, two sides of the same coin and both working together to make salvation possible.

If you aren’t sure which side you are on, ask God for forgiveness, accept Yeshua as your Messiah and ask Him to send to you the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit.) Then start to read the Bible through the eyes of God’s Spirit so you can truly see what He has in there for you.

Be Intolerant To Tolerance

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I have often said (and most likely will continue to do so) that whatever the “world” sees as correct and justified is most likely not so in God’s eyes.

Every day we see evil and wrong-doing, and most of the time we just look the other way. Is that wrong? From what I read in the Bible, it is. Does’t God tell us that if we see an enemy’s donkey under a load that is too much for it, we should help? Doesn’t Proverbs tell us to give our enemy food and water? Doesn’t Yeshua tell us to forgive someone not 7 times, but 70 times 7 times? Doesn’t the Bible command us to love our neighbor as ourself?

We also, way too often, are too afraid to speak out against what God says is wrong. We don’t want to appear “intolerant” or racist/homophobic/bigoted, or whatever other label someone wants to place on a person who simply disagrees with them.

If I say that a person who is homosexual is doing what the Bible says is wrong, I am accused of being homophobic and an intolerant bigot. If I say that a homosexual person is perfectly normal, acceptable, and that he or she is not sinning or doing anything wrong, I am looked upon by the world as  a tolerant and wonderful person. But in God’s eyes I am wrong.

For the record- I am not saying the KKK, the Aryan Nation, or any other violent and hate-crime related organization or member is acceptable or that hating someone for their color, religion, lifestyle choice or any other reason is OK. It is not. Don’t go off of the deep end here- I am talking about “socially acceptable” levels of disagreement and not violent or bigoted feelings and actions that are not biblically defined.

God is clear about homosexuality. It is a sin, but it is no more or less a sin than lying, since every sin is a sin. If I say I just don’t believe homosexuality is a correct way of life I am called all sorts of nasty names; however, if I say I am against lying I am perfectly alright. Why? Because the difference between whether I am a bigot or OK is what the world says I should accept. In God’s eyes, though, wrong is wrong.  God doesn’t really put sin in different categories: this one is a major sin, this is a minor sin, you need three of these to even count…violation of a single stroke in the Torah is a sin. Yes, there are sins that require death and sins that do not, but my point is that any sin separates us from God, and we should speak out against any and all sin. And do so remembering that we, also, are sinners.

I believe everyone has a right to choose what they will be and what they will do, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the rights of others. Be whatever you want to be, but don’t force it on me or demand I agree with you. Have you noticed how some people, no matter what their belief or position, will raise a holy stink about how they aren’t allowed to just be themselves, but when you disagree with their position they call you a bigot or some other nasty name? What hypocrites! They cry for their right to be what or who they are, and demand to be accepted when they make their own choice, but if you choose to disagree with them you are wrong! Being tolerant in the world means not just accepting a different lifestyle or belief, or religion, or color…it means you have to change your mind about it. The world says that tolerance means you not only have to live with it, but also accept it as correct and normal behavior, and you have to like it, too!

If I say I don’t believe that something is right, and won’t change my mind, I am wrong! I am intolerant, I am a bigot, I am not a good person.Well, then I guess, as far as the world is concerned, I am just that. Yes, I do not believe many of the things we see in our society are acceptable behavior, I do not believe they are healthy for the society, and I believe they are wrong. In God’s eyes, using the Bible as my guideline, they are wrongful acts and doing those things is committing a sin against God.

There! I said it. I am against the world.

Apathy is no better than intolerance, but at least when you don’t give a darn about anything, you are more likely to be accepted. Not caring is one step less annoying than having an opinion. However, as far as God is concerned (disagree if you want but you will be wrong…just joking) not doing the right thing in God’s eyes is the same as doing the wrong thing.

I guess this little rampage I am on is a pet peeve of mine, so please excuse me if I am talking more about what Steven feels today than (maybe) what God says. I do believe my minor rampage is still biblically accurate and appropriate, and if I am too much about my own opinion and getting away from what God teaches us, someone please let me know.

We who are professing to love the Lord, who say we believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and have accepted God’s Grace, and who have the Ruach HaKodesh living within us: we are the ones that are supposed to be separate from the world. And, as such, we need to have the strength and faith in God to voice our opinion when we see something that is against what God says. And we should do it when appropriate, and with loving compassion. Not agreeing with someone is no reason to accuse them of being anything but wrong in God’s eyes. Hate the sin, but love the sinner.

The Torah was given to Israel to separate them from the world. Within Torah the Levites are separated from the other tribes. The closer we get to God, the more separated we become from the world around us.

If the world says following God and proclaiming God’s Word is intolerant and bigoted, you can hang that sign on me. It may be just another type of big yellow Star of David that separates me from the rest of society, but if I must wear the Star, I will do it, proudly.

Yes, I am intolerant of sin. Yes, I will speak out to those who ask me what I believe exactly what the Bible says and what God demands, which is what I believe. Yes, I will call something that is defined in the Bible as a sin, a sin. Yes, I will not let someone, no matter who, that is doing wrong not be given the chance to know what God says so they might do T’Shuvah, and be saved.

No, I will not hate the sinner. I will hate only the sin. No, I will not attack or suggest harm should come to anyone who sins because that is God’s purview. Do not return evil for evil, but wait upon the Lord.  No, I will not walk by or look away when someone is doing wrong to another.

Shaul said that we live in the world but we are not part of the world. Not anymore. It is not easy; Yeshua said those that follow Him must pick up and carry their own execution stake every day. We must be dying to self, which means becoming more and more separated from the world. That means separated from what is comfortable, what has been pleasurable, from friends, from family, even from those closest to us, if it comes to that.

Tolerance and apathy are two sides of the same coin, and as a Believer we don’t want that coin in our pocket. As Yeshua said, give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and give unto God that which is God’s. Let what the world calls “tolerance” belong to the world, and let those who follow God be separated from it.

It’s Not Where It Is That Matters: It’s What It Says

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How many people do you know that can quote chapter and verse from the Bible? In fact, can’t we all? Isn’t one of the basic training exercises for Bible study to remember a favorite quote or story, and where to find it?

If you read this blog regularly (and thank you, if you do!) you know that I rarely tell you where something is. That’s not because I don’t know, its because I believe two things:

1. Everyone needs to read the Bible, but the way it is taught is to tell you where the quote is from. Now why bother reading it, right? Telling you where to find it almost prevents you from looking for it, which keeps you away from the Bible. Making you look for it brings you closer to the Bible, and what God has for you in there won’t be found by someone else telling you what it says; and

2. It doesn’t matter where it says something in the Bible- what matters is that you know what God wants you to know.

Have you ever had a conversation with a Jehovah’s Witness? If you want to talk to someone who knows where nearly every word of the Bible can be found, that’s the person you want to go to. Unfortunately, the ones I have talked to (even before I knew God) have little or no understanding of what they are quoting. If you ask them about it, they will tell you another quote. If you question them, they will tell you another quote. But they don’t understand the meaning.

I don’t want to insult any JW’s out there, but this is my experience, as well as the experience of other people, knowledgeable of the Bible, who I have talked to about this.

The blood of bulls and sheep is not what God wants. He doesn’t want the circumcision of the flesh without the circumcision of the heart. Yeshua did not teach anything new; in fact, as you have read and heard me say many times, there is nothing new in the New Covenant writings. Yeshua interpreted the Word correctly, which is why it was so powerful. He didn’t tell us where God’s messages and commandments were found, He told us what they really mean. He went beyond just repeating what God says, and transformed our understanding.

Yeshua showed us that performance of God’s commandments is necessary, but living them is what we should be doing. In other words, don’t just repeat what is in the Bible but live it.

That’s all I want to say. I know I usually ramble on a little more, but what else is there, really, to say?

Live the Word of God. The Word became flesh so we can know God better, and so we can be with God in the Olam Haba (World to Come.) God has something in His Word just for you, but if you don’t look for it you will never find it. Seek, and you shall find, and what you find will change your life and the life of others.

You can make a change in people’s lives, as well as your own, but not by sitting still and listening- you need to get off your tuchas and DO something! Reading the Bible is an easy way to start, and the best way.

So go read something now!

To Do Things Right, It Must Be From God

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Real simple: nothing of this world is righteous. The world is a cursed place, and therefor all that is of the world is born cursed.

We are a cursed species, and therefor what we create, perform and desire is from a cursed and sinful mentality.

Ouch! Have some more coffee, Steve, or maybe have less! What a way to start the morning.

Well, it is a rather stark and unhappy realization, but it is true. The Bible tells us the world was cursed, the Enemy was not thrown into Sheol but thrown down to the Earth, and we are told he is the Prince of the Air.

If the world is cursed, we are cursed, and the Enemy rules on Earth, what hope is there for us to do anything right?

My hope is in the Lord, He is my light and my salvation. David knew that some 2,800 years ago. And he was right, of course.

If we want to do something that is holy and righteous, we need it to stem not from us but from God. That comes from the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, that indwells us when we accept Yeshua as our Messiah and ask for God’s forgiveness through Yeshua.

I believe that God will forgive anyone who asks with a broken spirit and contrite heart, even if they are not a confirmed “Believer”. Why? Because that’s how God rolls- He loves all His children, and we are all His children, so He is willing to forgive. He tells us so in so many ways throughout the Tanakh.

But to receive the Holy Spirit we need to do more than be repentant- we need to do T’Shuvah (turn from sin) and accept the gift of Grace that is Yeshua Ha Mashiach. Then we can receive the Ruach and with the spirit of God inside us, we are able to overcome the cursed world, and our own sinful nature. It isn’t easy, but it is possible. Greater is that which is in me that that which is in the world.

I offer this simple thought this morning, which I also believe to be a simple truth: nothing that is from the world (flesh) is of God, and anything of God overcomes everything that is of the world.

The downside is when you do what is right in God’s eyes, the world rejects and hates you. Here’s the $64,000 question: who are you going to please? The world, which offers some immediate pleasures that result in separation from God and eternal suffering, or God, who offers peace, forgiveness and eternity in Paradise?

Ooh, that’s a tough one…how much time to I get to decide? You get until your last breath; do you know when that will be?

As you go forth today think of what I am saying, and see the world for what it is. It is God’s creation, it is beautiful and wondrous, and it is our home. It was created perfectly for us to live in, and we were given dominion over it.

And that’s where it got screwed up. When mankind was made manager the whole business went down the toilet.

Luckily, God is as good a plumber as anything else, and he provided the ultimate Rotor Rooter man- Yeshua. Yeshua went into the toilet, lived in it, overcame it, and emerged smelling like a rose. And He is standing there, plunger in hand, waiting for everyone else to grab hold and get pulled out.

After I die I will be pulled out of the toilet, not flushed down with what is all around me. And I will spend eternity with God and Yeshua.

You have a choice- get flushed down the toilet or call Rooter Rooter.

How Did The Kingdom of God Split?

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The Kingdom of God was preached to us by Yeshua. Even if you don’t believe He was/is the Messiah God promised, He did preach about God’s kingdom. He never created a new religion.

So if Yeshua was Jewish, preached about Jewish law and customs, stuck totally to what the Torah tells us (there wasn’t any other scripture then: Duh!!) and never created or spawned a new religion, why is it that we have Judaism and Christianity today?

Shouldn’t we just have Jews that don’t believe He was Messiah and Jews that do? We have Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Messianic Jews; if you look close, you would think the difference between the Orthodox and Reform Jews is enough to be two totally different religions.

Within Christianity you have Catholics (Eastern and Western), Protestants, Methodists, AME, Amish, Episcopalians, Baptists (Southern and others), Lutherans, et.al. ad infinitum.

But if the Jews all follow the Torah, and the Christians all follow Jesus, how can there be so many different types? With such divergent beliefs?

The answer is because these religions, all of them, are not from God. They are from mankind. They are the improper and sinful (yes, sinful and blasphemous, actually) creations of people who think they know more than God.

God has no religion. He told us how to worship Him and how to get along with each other. His laws, rulings, regulations and commandments are for everyone who chooses Him as their God. He separates the Levite only, to behave differently in some respects, because they were chosen by God to minister to Him so they have to be a little bit more “holy” in their lifestyles. Other than the Levites, everyone lives the same rules all the time, and they live them the same way.

When Yeshua taught, He taught what was in the Torah. Nothing more, nothing less. Why His teachings were so influential is because He taught not traditions and rules above what God wanted, but he interpreted and explained the existing rules with a depth of understanding that no one else could have. He is the living Torah, and He was there when the laws were given to Moshe. He was there from the beginning, and He could not possibly teach anything different than what is in Torah because He IS Torah!  Yochanan (John) tells us in the very first line of his Gospel that the Word became flesh. If Yeshua taught anything other than what is in the Torah, or even implied that we should do something different, he was teaching against Himself. He said that a house divided against itself cannot stand- how much more so if someone teaches that what He is saying and stands for is wrong?

What happened is this: in Yeshua’s time there were two types of people: Jews and pagans.  Next, we had Jews who rejected Yeshua as their Messiah (more for political reasons than any other), Jews who accepted Him as their Messiah (news flash!: they both lived and worshipped the same way), Gentiles and pagans (if you will allow, I will use the term Gentile here to identify a person who is not born Jewish but is in the process of converting to a Jewish lifestyle.) It stayed that way for the next 200 years or so, with more and more pagans accepting Yeshua and, thereby, becoming Gentiles (as I am using the term.)

Here’s a revelation: at the beginning of what we (today) call “Christianity”, if you were a pagan and accepted Yeshua as your Messiah, you were converting to Judaism. Paul did NOT convert to Christianity, the “Elders of the Church” were not Christians (haven’t you ever wondered why the Bible calls that chapter in Acts, “Paul’s Conversion” but it never relates the term “conversion” to any of the other disciples?), and the fact is there never was a “church” in Jerusalem at that time. There was no “church”- there were only temples. Some were pagan and some were Jewish. It’s only in recent times that the word “Temple” is understood to be a Jewish place of worship. The same is true for the word “Synagogue”. The definition of that Greek word is not a Jewish place of worship, but a gathering, or grouping. Again, only the modern cultural meaning of “Synagogue” is a Jewish place of worship.

Back to the lesson. So, we have the “mainstream” Jews, the Messianic Jews (which includes the converting Gentiles) and the pagans. That’s it. Since there were so many more pagans than Jews, it is obvious the number of Gentiles would grow faster than the number of Jews as Messianic Judaism grew.

Now we come to Rome during the time of Constantine. Please allow me to simplify the whole Council of Nicene thing to this: Constantine made being a Believer in Yeshua acceptable and popular. However, the “mainstream” Jews had ostracized themselves from Rome (a couple of rebellions will tend to do that) so the followers of the Christ (as He was just starting to be referred to at that time)  were on the A list and the non-followers of the Christ were lower than whale poop, so far as the Roman government was concerned. It is only natural (not acceptable, but natural) that the Gentiles would shy away from the more obvious “Jewish” religious practices to stay below the radar, so to speak. The Elders of the Messianic movement did not require these Gentiles to do a full and complete conversion to the Judaic practices, so there was a growing difference in the worship practices between the Messianic Gentiles, the Messianic Jews and the Jews that did not accept Yeshua. This continued to grow until the difference became a span, then a chasm, then (ultimately) a spiritual and religious schism that has only grown over the past two millennia. And the driving force behind this were the traditions and rules that people created.

Thanks be to God that His will will be done, and we can see this today as the “Church” is beginning to recognize their roots in Judaism, that they do not need to convert to Judaism to be saved, and that they need to support and help the Jewish people to know and accept their own Messiah so that He will return (read Matthew and you will see why I say this.) The influx of Jews returning to the Land is being supported today by many Christian groups, and the Messianic Jewish movement is, from my experience, still composed more of Gentiles returning to the ways God said we should live than Jews who already live that way.

The “Church” is also just beginning to realize that Jews who accept Yeshua do not have to convert to Christianity in order to be saved. There is still Replacement Theology, there is still an ungodly amount of anti-Semitic teaching in the Christian world, and there is still an ungodly amount of anti-Messianic teaching in the Jewish world. But we are making tremendous progress towards overcoming that.

When all is said and done, the Tribulation is over, the Enemy is in the Lake of Fire, the new world and the new Jerusalem have settled, all the Christians that will be there will be amazed when they are expected to live as Jews. Not as Jews live today, because the Torah is so often ignored in lieu of Talmudic Halakha (how to walk; regulations), but live as God said we should live- in His Torah. The Torah will be the only guide, the only law, the only way. That which the Christian world (for the most part) has been teaching is done away with will be the only thing there is. Read Jeremiah 31:31 if you want to know why I say this.

What does this all boil down to? It boils down to this: if you expect to be in the Olam Haba (the world to come), you’d better get comfortable living as the Torah says you should. It’ll make things much easier on you.

The Ultimate Anger Management Tool: Prayer

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There are a number of things that just can’t be done in this life:

1. You can’t scratch your ear with your elbow;

2. You can’t make a leopard change its spots;

3. You can’t make the person ahead of you in line go faster; and

4. You can’t stay angry with someone when you pray for them.

I have a few people in my life that have not only worked hard to earn my anger, but no matter how many times I have tried to overcome their nastiness and bad manners, they always prove their extraordinary talent for obstinacy and spitefulness is more powerful than my meager attempts to ignore them.

That’s when I pray for them. Not always, mind you- I ain’t no saint; not by a long shot. But there are times when I remember the title of this blog and pray for them.

When you pray for someone you need to “get in their shoes” so that your prayer is appropriately aimed at helping them overcome the very thing that gets you so mad at them.

I have a previous life, with two children and an “ex” that has constantly, and consistently, overcome all my attempts to ignore and diffuse her spite, anger and hatred, which she has instilled in my children against me and my family members. I pray for the kids every day, waiting patiently and prayerfully for their reconciliation with me and their turning to God, in whichever order He thinks is best. And sometimes, I am happy to say, I remember to pray for her. Since the day we separated she refused to let us buy things for them and do things for them, insisting she get the money instead of the children getting the clothes , furniture, or whatever we wanted them to have. Over the years she had proven that giving her money is the same as throwing it away, so in the end, the kids have lost out. The worst part is that the kids think everything she has told them is true, and they actually are just as brainwashed as if they had been growing up in a cult. Someone that mean, that hateful, and so hurt that she will eat her own children in order to hurt me is so desperately in need of the love of God that I cannot possibly refuse to pray for her.

And during those 20 plus years of trying to overcome her, the courts were useless (the mother always wins unless she is a drug addict or something like that.) Now the kids are long past majority, and I am helpless. All I have left is prayer. I haven’t even talked to them for a few years now.

All of this kvetching is not to vent or ask for pity, but to give you an idea of the background, so that when I say I have plenty of ammunition for hating and being angry with someone, you can understand just how powerful prayer is, because when I pray for her and for them all I can feel is pity. The anger is gone, and a genuine desire for them to find forgiveness and peace, as I have, is paramount in my heart and spirit.

When I have one of those conversations (you know, the kind where you tell the person what you have always wanted to say and they listen attentively, because it’s all in your mind) and feel myself getting a little worked up, I can now (thanks to the Ruach inside me) stop because I realize what I should be doing is not “getting it off my chest” (which, by the way, never works- you don’t put out a fire by pouring gasoline on it) but placing it before God and asking His intervention. Not for retribution, or even the justice that is deserved, but for help. And not for me, but for her.

For this to work you have to really mean the prayer, and the way I do that is to recall what I have that she doesn’t. I have the Lord; I have Yeshua as my intercessor, and I have salvation with a guaranteed seat at the table. I have everything that is important in death (that’s not a typo- what is important in life is to make sure you know where you go when life is over. Life is short, death is forever, so I want what is important in death more than what is important in life. Don’t you?) and all she has is her hatred and anger. And that is useless to her; it brings no warmth, no love, and no satisfaction since she can’t hurt me anymore. She has used up all her cards, laid them out on the table, and the other players are already gone.

She has nothing. Even though she has the children, what she has taught them is to be self-centered and unappreciative of anything and everyone. She has not shown them how to be useful members of a relationship, how to love properly, how to be independant and self-assured. She has only taught them the way to grow old and alone, with no friends and no God. If they should ever come to their senses, she may lose them, leaving her absolutely nothing. I have already lost them, and I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anyone. Not even her.

How can anyone be angry with someone so pitiful? And when I pray for her, and for my kids, I can feel the pain she feels. I can realize how hurt she is. I even feel (sometimes) useless and ashamed that I didn’t make more attempts than I did (and believe me, I made a lot of them) to apologize and help more. All I did is not relevant here, so please understand that I did a lot, travelled a lot, spent extra time and money trying to help them and be as close as one can be when two states away.

It is prayer that has helped me, too, to be less angry and vengeful. I know that God is a loving Father and a merciful Judge, but He is, when all is said and done, God. He will judge mercifully but fairly, and those that have come up short and rejected Him will get the short end of the stick and be, themselves, rejected by Him. Without a significant change in their lives, my ex and my children, blind leading the blind, will all fall into the pit and spend eternity in Sheol. I am not happy with that thought…not happy at all.

So I pray. I pray everyday for my children, and I pray now and then for her. As I said, I’m not a saint and do not pray for her as earnestly as I pray for my children. After all, it is anger management, not anger removal. I think it takes more than just prayer to remove the anger totally; prayer is just one of the tools God gives us to do that. There are still things, even from decades ago, that get under my skin, to to speak, and I try to release it all to the Lord, but I seem to have sticky fingers.

Maybe one day I will be cleansed enough by the Living Water, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, so that my fingers will no longer be sticky.

Are you still angry about something? Are you still feeling a need for justice and yes, wanting revenge? Or maybe just to see someone get their “comeuppance?” If you want to get over it, pray for them. Pray earnestly, pray as you know Yeshua would pray for them (“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”), and if you are having a hard time with that, think about this: you get to be in Paradise forever, and they will be in eternal suffering with no chance for parole. Think about how close you came to their fate, how much better your position than theirs, and much more love you have in your life because you have the Lord, Yeshua and the Ruach HaKodesh. Think about all that you have and all that they don’t, and if you don’t feel pity and remorse for them, well, you should question your own salvation!

I don’t want to believe that anyone who knows the love of God, the suffering of Messiah and the forgiveness we have received could possibly want to deny that to anyone. No matter what they did.

Anger is not a sin, and Shaul tells us that we should not sin in our anger. Be angry if you are mistreated, misjudged, hurt and humiliated. It’s natural to be angry, just don’t sin in your anger. If you want to get rid of it, pray for the person who did it to you. Anger and vengeance are a wormwood that will eat you up from the inside out, so let God have it.

Proverbs says to not return evil for evil, but wait upon the Lord. It’s good advice. Pray for those that have hurt you and made you angry and you will see that it really is the ultimate anger management tool.

 

Parashah Shmot (These are the names) Exodus 1 – 6:1

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Who doesn’t know the story of the first chapters of this book? The Hebrews multiplied under the kindness of Pharaoh, but after Joseph died and another Pharaoh took over , the people were enslaved. They suffered 400 years until God sent a Saviour, Moshe (Moses) who, himself, had become an outcast and pariah in the eyes of Pharaoh. Moses sees God’s presence at the burning bush and, despite trying to get out of it, he is sent to Egypt to bring the people out of bondage and lead them to the Promised Land.

Here is the Messiah that the Judeans of the First Century were expecting. Here is the Messiah that the Jewish people of today, I believe, still expect.

Not a spiritual saviour, but a political one.

Isn’t that why so many people did not accept Yeshua when He was ministering to them during the three years or so that He wandered about Judea and the surrounding areas, preaching the Good News of salvation? They wanted someone like Barabbas, or Bar-Kochba, or even Ronald Reagan. They wanted someone who would get rid of the Romans and reestablish the Jewish State as a separate and independent country. They wanted Arnold Schwarzenegger to tell the Romans, “Go avay, and don’t be bach!”

But that’s not what they got. They got a quiet, unassuming man who had no social standing, wealth, or political power. No wide circle of Facebook friends, no You Tube video that went viral, pretty much nothing of any worth to anyone of the world. Just as Isaiah said, a man “…of no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.”

What kind of Messiah are you looking for? It’s easy, thanks to 20-20 hindsight, to recognize Yeshua’s messianic authority and now, after some 2,000 years, to know He is the Messiah God promised. Still, what kind of Messiah are you looking for? Should he be loving and forgiving? Should he be accepting of you as you are, giving you whatever you ask for just because you are a “good” person? Should he save you from your sins and guarantee you a place in heaven, no matter what, so long as you just ask for it?

That’s not who Yeshua is, and it’s not what He does. Yes, He is the Messiah who died for your sins, but that doesn’t mean salvation is a “come as you are” party. You need to do T’Shuvah, to turn, to repent, and to mean it! And you need to show that repentance in real, tangible terms. That means you have to change how you live.

He is loving and compassionate, as well as understanding. He is also the Son of God and He will stand by your side at Judgement Day, so long as you are truly repentant and have shown the fruits of your repentance. In the Torah, in Leviticus, when God is outlining the laws about bringing the different types of sacrifices, one of the regulations is that no matter what, we should never come before the Lord empty handed. And every sacrifice, whether it be animal, grain or oil, must have salt.  The covenant between man and God is called a “covenant of salt”; we should never come before the Lord empty handed or without salt.

When we come before Him at Judgement, the salt we bring is our repentance, and what we present before Him are the first fruits of our salvation: the good works we have done after accepting Yeshua as our Messiah.

Read the parables about the fruit tree in the garden, the servants who were given talents, the wedding lamp holders who had no oil, and the wedding guest who did not have the proper clothing…all these represent the fact that we are invited but we need to do more than just show up. We need to have both salt and something to present to the Lord.

God has done all He needs to do with regards to a political Messiah. That card has been played. And the spiritual Messiah is also face-up on the table. Now we need to show our hold card, we need to show the fruit of salvation and the salt of our covenant so when we are “called” we will have a strong hand. The world deals us a lousy hand, but God is able to turn the cards to our advantage. We need to work at it, we need to look to God for salvation, to Yeshua (Jesus) for intercession, and to the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) for constant guidance.

All that we need to save us from our sin is here. God’s work is done, Yeshua’s work is done, and the Rauch’s’ work is being done in each of us. Now it’s our turn. Salvation is free, but you need to work at it. You don’t need to work for it, but you do need to work at it. It can’t be taken away, but we can throw it away. Read those parables I told you about, and understand- God has done His part, it’s up to each of us now to complete His work in the world by completing His work in ourselves.

Some people want a Messiah who is enabling and forgiving, even if you don’t change your ways; who will do what you want just because you ask him; and who promises you total salvation no matter what you do for the rest of your life. Some people want a Messiah that will intercede for them; who will become their advocate at Judgement Day; who will guide them and provide salvation for them; and who will be honest and fair in telling them what they need to do in order to be saved and remain saved.

These are two kinds of Messiahs people are being told about: the one who doesn’t care what you do and the one who requires you to change.

The question is: What kind of Messiah are you looking for?

Do You Always Do As You’re Told?

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I was a 1st Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps. During the 3 1/2 years (and 1 year in the reserves) I was on duty I led a platoon of Combat Engineers, had a Truck Platoon, and was the Company XO (Executive Officer: for you civilian types, that’s the person who is 2nd in command of a company, which is made up of 3 platoons. My company was the Headquarters and Support Company for the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion and was very large, with about 365 men.) Believe me, I know all about following orders and doing as I am told.

So did the Nazi’s. So did those people who killed for Charles Manson. So do the ISIS terrorists. And on, and on, and on…

We need to obey those orders and instructions that are valid and correct, and we need to know when they aren’t. Sounds easy enough, but it isn’t. There is mob mentality, there is fear of retribution, there is fear of rejection (peer pressure), and there is the legitimate concern about being put in jail or held accountable for breaking the rules.

So how do we know the difference between doing what we are told to do or (as I am leading into) believing what we are told to believe, and rejecting what they say?

Good question…I wish I had an answer for it. The best I can come up with is to follow your instincts. Oh, yes, there is something else you should do: read the Bible regularly so you know what God says is the right thing to do, how God says to treat each other, and ask the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to lead you and help you understand.

The Torah is more than just a bunch of religious rules, or a history lesson. It also defines how we should treat each other. It gives us a penal code so that when we mistreat each other there is a fair and reasonable system of retribution. It treats slavery, which was the way of the world then, with dignity for the slave and accepted slaves as human beings, even though they were, legally, property. It teaches us how to get along (Can’t we all just get along?), and not just how to treat other people, but how to act when mistreated by other people.

The Rabbi, Priest, Minister, Pastor (whatever you call the religious leader of your particular religious organization) should be respected and given a modicum of trust for, if no other reason, the level of education and commitment they have demonstrated to be where, and what, they are. But these things also have to be earned. These people are, after all, still human and subject to human frailties. Listen to what they say, but also accept everything with a grain of salt and verify it for yourself by reading God’s word and asking Him to show you what He wants for you.

The Bible tells us to respect our elders, to honor and obey those put in authority over us, but overall to do as God says. If the “legal” authority is telling you to do something that God says is wrong, you must choose who you will follow. Likewise, if you are being told how you are to worship but you do not verify it for yourself , as I recommend above, you may be one of the blind being led by the blind. Yeshua tells us when the blind lead the blind, they both fall into a hole.

I can’t speak for God, but from all my study and reading and in my spirit, I feel confident saying this to you: when you meet the Almighty at His Throne of Judgement, and you say you were just doing what the (enter title of religious leader) told you, God is going to say something along the lines of, “I understand, but I don’t care what they tell you: it’s what I tell you that counts!”

Chew on that for awhile. It may not taste good, but what the world wants you to do is almost always against what God wants us to do. Like some of the scrolls that the prophets ate, the world tastes good going down but will really give you an upset stomach in the long run.

As for me, I choose God. I have been fortunate and blessed that this choice has not gotten me in trouble yet, but I know it will. I believe we are in prophetic times, and the world is quickly speeding towards destruction. When the Son of Perdition comes to power, I will NOT take the mark. That is going to make life difficult, if I live through it, at all. But I am ready; I am a Marine and I am Jewish; I have the blood and spirit of two of the most fearsome warrior tribes ever known to humankind. Bring it on!

But not just yet, OK?

When I was in sales and people used to meet me at their door and say, “No matter what you say I am not buying anything today!” I would ask them, “Do you make your decisions based on information?” When they told me they do, I would say, “Then why are you saying no to something you don’t even know about? Look- it’s your money, do what you want with it. All I am asking is that you let me tell you about the product so that whatever decision you make, it is an informed decision.”

That’s all I am asking you to do- make an informed decision regarding what you choose to believe. You can’t do that unless you know all about the product, so read the Manual.

Don’t be foolish or lazy about this: where you spend Eternity depends on it.

Believing Isn’t Accepting

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Do you recall where, in the Bible, we are told that just believing in Yeshua as the Messiah and Son of God isn’t enough? It is followed by the fact that even the demons believe He is the Son of God (I’ll give you a hint- look for it in the Book of Yakov.)

When I talk to people about salvation, even though I call myself a “Believer”, what I really should start to do is call myself an “Acceptor” because I don’t just believe that God exists, and I just don’t believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Messiah God promised us, but I accept this. That means I adopt it, I embrace it, I am committed to living my life differently because of it.

When I accepted that Yeshua is the Messiah, I realized that my life would have to change. When you stop denying your car needs to go to the shop, when you know that you’re overweight and a glucose count of 3,000 is something you cannot live with…whenever you have a “truth” you don’t want to acknowledge, but have to, that is what it is like when you accept the truth (if you will) about Yeshua.

It’s something that, once accepted, can no longer be ignored. You have to make a choice- be a slave to sin or a slave to God.

I think that’s why so many people will believe, but not accept. They live in a sort of partial acceptance and partial denial: they believe Yeshua is the Messiah and Son of God, and that God is real, but they deny to themselves that there are consequences for ignoring God’s rules and laws. They go with, “I believe in Jesus- He died for my sins. And besides that, I’m a good person; I don’t commit murder and I don’t steal, so I will go to heaven.”

WRONG!!! No one is good, everyone sins, and there are 613 commandments in the Old Covenant: take away the 1/3 (thereabouts) of them that deal with the sacrificial system and you still have a lot more commandments, rules and regulations than just not murdering or lying. According to God, and to Yeshua, and to Shaul (St. Paul), if you have violated so much as one stroke of the pen of the Torah you have violated the entire Torah.

God is bi-nomial: it is or it isn’t, right or wrong, black or white, day or night…there is no “middle ground” with God. If there was, we probably wouldn’t need Yeshua.

The truth is we are all sinners, inside and out, and without Yeshua/ Jesus/ the Messiah we wouldn’t have a chance of surviving the second death. That is what people hear, many believe it but so many still don’t accept it as really real.

When you feel a cold coming on, don’t you tell yourself it’s just a sore throat from talking and that you will feel better tomorrow?  We know it’s a cold, but we tell ourselves it isn’t. And we keep saying that until we are sick as a dog and now have to face the truth. And by the time we accept the truth, it is too late to avoid the consequences.  When I am coughing, nose running and throat sore for two days, it is too late to take the Cold Eeze to avoid the sickness. Now I will have to suffer through instead of either having it much easier or maybe having been able to avoid it, altogether.

If you believe Yeshua is the Son of God and the Messiah God promised, well, big deal. That won’t do it. You need to accept His Messiahship, you need to change how you see sin, you need to do T’Shuvah (turning from sin) and you need to do it now. Who knows when it will be too late?

I used to sell Revocable Living Trusts, which protect an estate from most of the expenses of Probate, and when people would tell me they believe it is a good idea, but they aren’t ready to accept it (i.e., commit to getting it done) just yet, I would say, “That’s right- why spend the money until you absolutely need to? So, since this takes about 3 months to complete (as I pull out my calendar) tell me when you are going to die and I will make an appointment three months before then.”

Unless you know, absolutely, when you are going to die, you need to accept Yeshua now! Don’t just “believe”- that’s not enough. You need to accept, to commit, to do T’Shuvah.

When I was an active duty Marine, I learned that “close” only counts in two games: horseshoes and handgrenades. Believing is close, but won’t get you there. Only accepting will save you.