Tag: yeshua

No Pain; No Gain

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Having been very active in sports during High School, and throughout my life, I have a deep and intimate understanding of the title for today’s Drash.

It’s not wise to hurt yourself, but when you push your muscles to their limit, you will feel it over the next couple of days. It is a “good” hurt because, although having sore muscles does hurt, it represents that you have done a good job, you pushed yourself to the limits of your ability, and (so far as physical exercise is concerned) that means you will gain more muscle and endurance.

Real muscle grows when you destroy it. When you feel that “burn” and your muscle is “pumped”, the excess blood flow that causes that feeling is going there in order to help the destroyed tissue. The destroyed tissue isn’t just replaced; the body builds more tissue than there was originally. That is how body-builders get those large muscles (even without the ‘roids’). The constant destroying of muscle and careful rebuilding through proper diet and rest results in larger and stronger muscles, with greater endurance.

Faith is a spiritual muscle that we need to work with, every day. And, just like biceps, pecs and abs, we need to push it to it’s limits; indeed, we need to destroy it so that we can rebuild it to be stronger and more enduring. The way we exercise our faith is to live  in a way that pushes us to do more than we want to do. In other words, we need to force ourselves to get outside our spiritual comfort zone.

Get more involved in activities at the place where you worship, witness to friends and family, even strangers, more often. Risk their disapproval. Go on mission trips, help the homeless and needy, volunteer, just get off your butts and do something that takes faith. Pray more often (see my section on Prayer for some ideas about that), read the Bible more often, trust more often (oh, that is a hard one). And here’s the really difficult one: forgive more often, and more completely.

Exercise your faith by using it. I gave you some ideas above, but I don’t know what you need to do. I don’t know where your faith is weak…but you do. You know what makes you feel uncomfortable, you know what you don’t like to do, and you know what God is telling you to do. Finally: it’s all about you now.

Search your heart, seek those things that God tells us we should all be doing and that you know you don’t do, and do it!

That’s pushing your spiritual muscles to the limit. And just like the professionals, rest and eat properly. The proper diet is to read the Word of God (Man doesn’t live on bread alone but every word from the mouth of God) for food to nourish your spirit, and rest through intimate and private prayer time with the Lord. Prayer is refreshing to both your soul and your spirit, and even to your physical body.

So get on out there and work those spiritual muscles! Feel the burn, get pumped; Yeshua worked His spiritual muscles completely and showed us how we are to do it. Stop being a Weakling of Worship, and become a Schwarzenegger of Spirit!

Remember: Yeshua was the first one to say, “I’ll be back!”

Are You (uh, hold a sec…..got it, tnx….OK- I’m back) Distracted?

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Miss Manners agreed with a woman who was complaining that when people call others it shouldn’t be when they are distracted. She said she gets calls from people who freely admit they are just a few cars behind the drive through window or doing something else that makes her wait for them to get back on. She said she doesn’t call people back until she has the ability to be undistracted, and when she receives a call she turns off the TV, or the radio, whatever, to be fully attentive.

How many times do we pray while distracted. I say this, and confess I am probably one of the guiltiest of all for doing this. I pray most often while driving to work. I don’t know if it is more of a private time with God or a test of Him to keep me safe.

We should pray in solitude, in a peaceful environment and undistracted. I am alone in the car, and the radio is off, but I am certainly distracted. Oh, yeah, I’m a New York driver- the long pedal is supposed to be all the way down and that other pedal, well, I don’t know what that’s for. But, I still have to watch where I’m going, so I am distracted.

We are told to pray constantly. We are also told that prayer should come from the heart, and a broken and contrite spirit will not be turned away by God. Have you been there? Have you found yourself so deeply embedded in prayer that you cry? That you feel almost like you are in God’s presence, floating, those little chills going from your head to your toes, knowing that the Lord is embracing you as He embraces your prayers? I remember those feelings, and once in a blue moon I am there. But it’s rare, and that’s my fault. I can’t be fully in prayer when I am doing something else.

So, do as I say and not as I do. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted when praying. Especially in your house of worship. Shaul admonishes us in a couple of his letters about prayer. Talking in tongues, praying on and on like pagans, looking silly (my word) when praying. I have heard people just ramble in prayer: I can literally hear them searching for something to say, like they need to orate ad infinitum to gain God’s attention: “And, Father God, I…uh…um…I pray to you, Father God, for …uh….for….Father God, ..uh…” Just stop! Just say, “Thank you, Lord, for everything. In Yeshua’s name I pray, Amen.”

One of the most powerful prayers I ever heard was when Moses asked God to heal Miryam after striking her with leprosy for talking against Moses (Numbers 12). Here is his big sister, who risked her life to follow him as a baby in the basket (nile crocodiles hang around in the marshes and can be up to 20 feet long and weigh about a ton) and who has been a great help to him and supported him all his life, and now she is as white as a ghost. What does Moses say? The man who can talk to God  face-to-face, a friend of God, a fore-runner of the Messiah: does he go on and on about curing her, or how powerful God is, or why God should listen to him? No. All he says is, “Oh Lord…please heal her.”

And that was all God needed to hear. Why? I think because it was from the heart. It wasn’t King James vocabulary, it wasn’t a Dylan Thomas-like rendering of beautiful poetry, it was just a  simple, heartfelt and sincere request.

We don’t need to be in prayer for hours. I sometimes am. This habit I have of praying on the way to work started when I was in sales and a real Road Warrior, doing some 850-1,000 miles of driving a week. I sometimes was in prayer for an hour or more and never realized how long it was. I also often find myself distracted not just by traffic but by my own thoughts. I start to ask God for something, then go off on a tangent and later realize I have been rehearsing a speech to someone, or  talking to myself, or thinking of what to write in this blog, or just auto-piloting the car. You know, when you have been driving somewhere and suddenly realize you don’t remember the last 20 miles at all? And then I realize that my prayer has been distracted, and I ask God’s forgiveness.

He is God. He is the Almighty, the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, and Host of Hosts. He is the creator of all things, our Father in Heaven, our Judge, our Saviour. He deserves our undivided attention, but does He get it?

I confess, to my shame, not from me. Not as often as He should. I pray silently  to Him when at Shabbat services, often with the worship music in the background. But that is only once a week. All the rest of the time I am praying in the car, or on my bike in the mornings when I am exercising.  I am not concentrating directly and fully on God.

I would like to develop a better prayer habit. One where I am doing my devotional and prayer time silently, in solitude and undistracted. Honestly, it worries me that I may end up not having time for other things, because sometimes we can get lost in prayer. That’s not a bad thing, not at all, if it is really deeply involved in communion with God. I don’t know. I am just so happy that He is forgiving and compassionate and that He understands our weaknesses.

So there you have it. I am not a good pray-er. I can sometimes pray with the best of them, but that is not as often as it should be. I need to be better- no excuses, no more worrying about where to find the time. The time is always there, we just need to organize it.

Has any of this struck home? Do you see yourself doing the same thing with your prayers? Are you one of those that find yourself rambling too often? Searching for something else to say because you feel your prayer isn’t “good” enough?

If you pray from your heart, if you keep it simple and honest, if you only ask for what you need today and when you pray for others you really mean it, that’s all you need. God isn’t impressed by our rhetoric or language, but He can be moved by a sincere, loving and humble attitude of prayer. And, you need to do it when it is just you and Him. No more distractions.

I truly believe that when we pray to God in solitude, sincerely and openly, with a humble and worshipful respect for who He is, we will commune with Him in such a full and  spiritually rewarding way that His presence will be so real we will be able to reach out and touch it.

At least, that’s what I am going to try to do in my own life. Starting today.

What about you?

How to Feel Better

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Dontcha hate the blues? Not the music genre, the feeling.

All humans get down-in-the-dumps sometimes. It might be the effect of the moon on us, maybe it’s a biorhythm down cycle, maybe it’s too little coffee, maybe it’s too much coffee. Maybe it’s stress from work or kids, or not having a job to go to, or not having kids you wanted. Maybe it’s really bad- a death of a loved one, a sudden tsuris in your life. Maybe you just feel like *&%#.

Whatever the reason, we all feel “blue” now and then. Some people have a real hard time with it, and others get over it quickly.

It is a very individual thing, but all agree it stinks.

There is a way to get over the blues. It isn’t from some hokey television infomercial, or best-selling Self Help book. It’s simple, it’s something anyone can do, and it always works.

It’s giving praise to God and worshipping Him with thankful prayer.

Whoa!! Stop the music!! Steve- you are talking about being sad, feeling blue, hate-the-world-and-everyone-in-it! And now you say, in the midst of that deep, dark funk I am supposed to be thankful? Vas bist du? Meshuggah?

No, I’m not crazy. Well, maybe…but not about this. Praising God and giving thanks to Him requires us to think about what we have to give thanks for. That takes emotional energy and concentration. That makes us think of something different than our meager and petty issues (because compared to Eternal joy in the presence of the Almighty, our current issues are just that- petty and meager) and gets us thinking about what we do have.

Praise has power that is hidden from us until we begin to use it. Praise reminds us of who we are- the children of the Almighty! Praise brings back to our minds all He has done in our lives, and the lives of others. When we praise the Lord we can’t help but become joyful, for His spirit is awakened in us as we call on His name in thanksgiving. The best way to get out of the dumps is to count your blessings, and that is a form of praise.

Praise is powerful. How? When you are as low as you think you could ever feel, do what I suggest- give praise to God. Thank Him for your salvation, think of all that Yeshua did so you can be with God eternally. Think of what the prophets did to try to save the people, think of the things you do have, of how God has interceded in your life. I guarantee if you sincerely think of all that God has done for you, of all He has planned for you, and how little whatever you are going through now will seem when you are with the Lord, you will start to feel better.

I am not saying what you are going through is nothing- please don’t think I am maligning how you feel. What I am trying to point out is that no matter how bad you feel, and I accept that you do feel bad and what you are going through is bad, it is still true that paise will make you feel better, and isn’t that a powerful thing?

To give thanks, to worship praise-fully, takes thought and effort. Especially when you feel bad. It redirects our self-pitying thoughts to worshipful thoughts. It transfixes our concentration to think of all God has done, and brings forward  thoughts of good things and joy, pushing back and out of the way the dark, mournful thoughts of depression. It removes us from ourselves and places us before the Throne of the King: in supplication we find ourselves in the blissful light of the Almighty instead of the dark and dank throes of remorsefulness. Prayer- thankful and praising prayer- lifts us up to the very feet of the Lord of Hosts, and we cannot feel blue when we are in the presence of the King of Kings.

Next time you are sad and forlorn, don’t sulk in self-pity. As the old song says, take the hand of the hand of the man who stilled the waters. Welcome Yeshua into your pity-party, take His hand (which is always opened to you) and let Him lead you out of the darkness and back into the light. Give praise to God, thank God for all you have, and when you are bathed in praise and worship, you won’t be wallowing in self-pity and remorse.

The next time depression knocks you down, let Yeshua lift you up.

Still Crazy After All These Years

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Yes, Mr. Simon, I am also guilty of suffering from this condition.

I have been a “Believer” for nearly 18 years. My testimony is available for you to see from when I was “newly reborn” on the About Steven page of this blog. I have read the Bible dozens of times, been involved in Ministry leadership, been on a Council (twice), and acted as Rabbi-Pro-Tem for about a year and a half. I also have a Certificate of Messianic Studies.

And after all that, I am still the same jerk I was before I was saved. I am just a saved jerk.

Why this confession? Last night I had a dream (oh- how I hate dreams sometimes!) and in it I had said something that hurt another person. It wasn’t a break-down-and-cry hurt I caused, it was just the truth spoken truthfully in a way that cut to the bone. I don’t know what I said, but I remember I was justifying and apologizing at the same time, which in real life can’t be done. I have often stated that I am passionate about my beliefs and opinions.

Passionate=discompassionate. At least, in my case.

Recently I have been reading in Shaul’s letters to the Philippians and Ephesians, and realized that passionate discourse doesn’t cut it if it is cutting to someone else. I think I have good ideas, and I am usually ahead of the crowd in meetings when we are discussing how to handle a situation. What I mean is, I will make a suggestion that is straight to the point, without sugar-coating it, and usually it comes across so straight-forward that people don’t understand it because,well, people don’t want to hear truths: they want to hear roses and serenity and everyone loves everyone else, and my answer would have to be, “World Peace!” Then, after about 10 minutes, someone else will say the same thing; it will be “smoothed out” and presented in a tactful and polite manner, and everyone will say, “Ooh- what a good idea.” My wife, Donna, has been with me during some of these meetings. She will look at me and I will look at her and we just smile. Thank God I have gotten to the point where I no longer really need (although I do like) the accolades for having “the idea.”

In any event, it’s nearly two decades later and I am still talking with my New Yorker attitude (Oh yeah? What’s it to ya?) and I should know better. I should know that we are to deal with each other with loving kindness and compassion. That we should think of the other person’s feelings before we think of our own. That we should be forgiving not just in what others have done to us, but in how we treat others who don’t really deserve to be treated nicely. Proverbs says to treat your enemy nicely- to give him food and water and it will be like pouring hot coals on his head. In other words, the enemy will be so surprised that he may stop to think about wanting to be an enemy any more.

They say you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. That may be true, but who wants a bunch of flies hanging around? I would rather get a zapper and listen to them fry.

There, you see? I still think the way I used to, I still talk (less but too much like) the way I used to, and I still have those jokes in my head that got me in so much trouble when I was younger. It’s all still there.

I have prayed and prayed, and asked the Lord to excise the bad parts of my brain that make me think thoughts that aren’t proper, or look at people more like produce than images of God, and I asked Him, over and over, why he won’t just make it all go away. I told the Lord I want to give it up to Him: Please, take it!.

A few years ago he answered me. He said, “It doesn’t work that way.” And I knew what He meant. He was telling me that I need to learn to surrender to the Ruach, to learn to draw on it rather than allow my own thoughts and desires to rule what I say and think and do. And the reason why was because if God was to simply take away the parts I don’t want, how would I ever learn to rely on His Spirit for strength. And when the Day of Judgement comes, and the Tribulations are here, I will need to draw on the strength of the Spirit to survive. My life, and yours, should be Boot Camp for the End Days.

Shaul said that when he is weak, then he is strong. That’s because in our weakness God’s strength is made manifest. It’s another one of those spiritual truths that non-spiritual people think to be foolish: it is my weakness that makes me strong. Not because I am strong, but because God is all-powerful, and when I get out of His way (i.e., die to self) then through me He can do remarkable things.

When I am strong, God cannot do as much.

I am getting weaker, I see it, but like losing weight it is slow to work, and quick to fail. I can gain 3 pounds in a sitting, and it will take three weeks to lose it, only to get it back again. I just can’t seem to get it to pick up speed and keep going down.

I have the same problem with dying to self. I can do it sometimes, but I keep making these stinking lousy recoveries!

How’s your spiritual health? Are you dead to the world and alive and kicking in the Lord? If you are, Hallelujah for you! Really. There is great encouragement in seeing people who have been successful in allowing the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to fill them. It reminds me that there is still a prize to be won.

If you, like me, are not yet in that crowd, don’t despair. I really am not dissatisfied with myself, I am just impatient. I can find solace in knowing that God will not give me more than I can handle, and that His timing is perfect. And, I trust Him more than I do myself to know when the timing is right. In the meantime, I will keep running the good race and doing what I can.

I may be a jerk, but I am a saved jerk. As we read in Psalm 84, one day in the tent of the Lord is better than a thousand days elsewhere.  Even the court jester of old got to live in the castle, so I will be happy in my salvation and grateful to God for whatever improvements I make. Because, when it comes down to it, every step closer to God is worth whatever it takes to get there.

If I take three steps closer to God, then backslide for two of them, I am still one step closer. And if the rest of my life ends up as just one step closer, I will be very happy. So should you.

The Lone Ranger, the Bible and Fruit

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Remember the Lone Ranger? He stood for right and justice in a world where it was not always found. He travelled all over, and helped those who sought out what he stood for- righteousness, fair treatment, justice, and also compassion, forgiveness and tolerance (his best friend was a Native American at a time when they were not accepted in society.)

I often think of him when I think of the Gospel verse about the man who approached Yeshua and said he wanted to follow Him. Yeshua told him that the fox has it’s hole and the bird has its nest, but the Son of Man doesn’t even have a rock upon which to lay His head. In other words, there is no rest, no place of comfort, no vacation spot for Yeshua during His time on Earth- He is to wander and expose Himself and the B’rit Chadashah (Good News) to everyone He can.

Like the Lone Ranger, Yeshua travelled around, looking for those in the dark seeking light, spreading love, compassion and tolerance (not as we mean tolerance today. Today it means allowing others to sin while you say it’s OK. Yeshua’s tolerance is the kind that lets you hate the sin but love the sinner.) And all in a world and a society sadly lacking those things. He didn’t stay in any one place for long, and although He did have places He revisited He was always on the move.

There is another thing that I think of when I think of the Lone Ranger. This may seem a little far-fetched (actually, really far-fetched) but I also think of pruning a vine. Yeah, I know- Huh??  The Lone Ranger and a vine?

Yes, the Lone Ranger and a vine. And the Bible, too! When a vine is fruitful and produces a lot of good fruit, what do you do with it? That’s right- you prune it, and replant it so that it becomes a bigger vine, producing more fruit. The Lone Ranger was a fruitful vine, producing justice and compassion, and he was transplanted every time he finished cleaning up the bad guys. Yeshua was a fruitful vine, also. Probably the most fruitful vine there ever was!

I can see it now: a desert town, the bad guys taking over and misleading the residents, teaching them traditions over the word of God, using unfair weights and tithing little but taking everyone else’s tithes for themselves. In rides Yeshua, with His trusty companion, Torah. He tells the truth, He shines light on the darkness and leads some of the people back to God. He does away with the wrong teaching by teaching what God really wants, then He leaves and goes to find more darkness. Hiyo, Righteousness…away!!!

Well, maybe not.

There is a lesson here, somewhere. I believe that lesson is if you want to be a fruitful vine, which (by the way) we should all want to be, you need to be prepared to be pruned. You will never realize the fullness of your gifts from God or the fullness of your influence on others for God if you stay in one place. That may not mean moving around geographically, so much as spiritually. We can grow in spiritual maturity and, thereby, produce more fruit without having to renew our passport. On the other hand, we may need to physically relocate, or travel. Maybe go on a trip to some Third World country to do missionary work, maybe just go down the road to help in a homeless shelter. Maybe just go to your place of worship more often to intermingle and edify those there that need help.

The fruitful vine is pruned so that it will be able to do more. Pruning is not fun- you are cut away from your roots, replanted in a new place and you need to grow new roots. You need to start all over again, and all you have going for you is the strength you took with you. You are dependant on the gardener to provide you with good soil, water and protection from the elements until you have put out strong roots. Once you have, and you produce fruit again, you will be allowed to stay there and grow. At some time, not by your choosing, the gardener will prune you, again, and it starts all over.

This doesn’t sound like fun. And, in many ways, it isn’t. When you are working for God, you can never settle into a comfort zone. At least, not for long. As long as you are producing fruit, you need to understand that you will be pruned. Maybe that’s why Yeshua said  we need to pick up our own execution stake and follow Him. As long as we are with Yeshua we will be against the World, which is a cursed and unrighteous place. The good we do is the water for our soul, the light in the darkness we bring is the fruit we provide, and the word of God is the soil we are planted in, which nourishes us.

Let’s all try to be a Lone Ranger for God, a fruitful vine, a person who brings righteousness and justice to those that seek it. Also, let’s all be prepared to be pruned, and willingly go where God leads us to do His work.

It won’t be easy, but the rewards will be greater than anything you can imagine.

Where Did the Salvation GPS Go Wrong?

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How did it happen? In the First Century, if you were a Gentile (read that as Pagan, ’cause that’s all there was if you weren’t Jewish) and you accepted Yeshua as your Messiah, you were becoming Jewish. In Acts we read how the Elders decided, in regards to what the new Believers had to do, on four things (not eat food sacrificed to idols, not eat anything strangled, not eat the blood, and no fornication) that were initially forbidden. These were never meant to be the only things that were forbidden, it was just a stepping stone. When you read the rest of that section you see they justified this as being the start because the law of Moses would be read every Shabbat, indicating (clearly) that the new Believers were expected to be worshipping at Shabbat services and they would learn the other laws and requirements there. So, in essence, being a Gentile who wanted salvation during Yeshua’s time meant becoming Jewish.

Today, when a Jewish person wants to accept Yeshua as his or her Messiah, the Gentile world, which has overall rejected Torah, tells that person they must stop being Jewish and become a Christian. And what requirements are there? Do they have regulations regarding food- no. Do they have regulations regarding the Ten Commandments- not really, since Grace is supposed to cover everything. Actually, the only regulation they have is that you must reject the Torah and Judaism! I have been told, and I have heard from many others that they were also told, “You aren’t really under the blood of Christ if you still do those Jewish things.”

So sad.

When I was studying for my Certificate in Messianic Studies, I had an essay question asking how the separation between Judaism and Christianity occurred. Here is what I said:

As more and more Gentiles came to be grafted in, the Jewish representation became less and less. As persecution of the Jews grew during the 3rd and 4th centuries it actually was safer for believers to be “less Jewish”. Of course, Constantine didn’t help things, either. Eventually the Jewishness was overwritten with Gentile ideals and cultural ways, so that the church grew apart from the roots. It is like the scientific principle of phototropism. Phototropism is the tendency for a plant to grow towards the sunniest area, which explains why so many trees have trunks that are weirdly shaped. The church, which was grafted in and at first learning about the light (of the world) grew towards that light. What happened was the Enemy shone another light that detracted them from the true light and their branches grew in the wrong direction.

Did I mean to say that the “Church” is now of the Devil? As dangerous as this may be to admit, the truth is: that is exactly what I meant.

Now, now…don’t get all up in a fury. It is a hard word to hear, but before you send hate mail and stop following my ministry-blog, think about this: God gave us the Torah. He gave it to everyone who is to follow and worship Him. John says that there was the Word (Torah- it was the only word of God there was then), and the Word became flesh (he was talking about Yeshua- duh!). Now, later on Yeshua tells us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. So…if the Word/Torah became flesh, that means Yeshua is the living Word of God, or the Living Torah. If He taught that we should not obey or follow Torah, He is a house divided against Himself. In fact, it would be the same as Yeshua saying, “Don’t pay attention to what I say.” Now, no one will argue that Ha Satan is the enemy of God, right?  And does the Enemy want us to become closer to God, or does he want to drive a wedge between us and God so that we get so far from God we will worship the Enemy, instead? Okay- I am hoping we are all on the same page here, which is that the Enemy of God doesn’t want us to be close to God.

God says the way to be close to Him, and Yeshua says the way to show we love Him, is to (get ready- here it comes)… OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS!!!

And where are His commandments? (three guesses, and the first two don’t count)… IN THE TORAH!!!

Get it? Telling people that want salvation that they do not have to obey the Torah separates us from God, it rejects Messiah and demonstrates we do NOT love him. That is the work of the Devil, and anyone who teaches that Yeshua did away with even so much as single stroke of the Torah is doing the work of Ha Satan because it is drawing that person away from God.

Judaism and Christianity should not be different, they should be the same thing. The Manual warns us that in the Acharit HaYamim (the End Days) there will be one world religion and one world government. This is not a bad thing, in and of itself; what makes it work or not work will be who is the one in charge. The Enemy will initially be the one to run things but he will be put down forever and then Yeshua will be the Eternal King of the Earth. Actually, if there is going to be only one religion throughout the world, there really won’t be any religion, will there? It will be  just us and God and the way we live.

In the beginning, salvation was for the Jews. “Jews” meaning anyone and everyone who worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as He commanded us to worship Him. As early as the Exodus we see many Gentiles sojourning with the Jewish people, converting to their way of life and way of worship. When Messiah came, many Jewish people (maybe as many as a quarter of a million Jews) accepted Him and the Grace that God gave through Him. They never stopped practicing Judaism. And through Messiah, salvation now came not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, as well.  They were grafted in and thereby saved, so long as they took their spiritual nourishment from the root of the Etz Chaim (Tree of Life, i.e., the Torah.) Gentiles who were saved were becoming Jews, accepting and worshipping a single way before God, as God said they should. That is the way it was at the very beginning, and how it was supposed to be. But we lost our way.

We need to get everyone back on the path that God said to follow. We all need to be getting closer to God, not further away. We need to reset the spiritual GPS so that we follow the straightest path to God, and that leads us to the Torah trail, not the Christian crossroads.

God has no religion, only Torah. Yeshua taught nothing different from Torah. Shaul never taught anything but Torah. John tells us that Yeshua is the Torah.

Hello? Christianity? You there? You listening?  Get with the program and return to working for the right guy.

 

 

Why Me?

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Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why me?

When something bad happens to us, don’t we ask, “Why me?”  And, if something bad happens to someone else, we might ask ourselves, “Why them?” Like in war, when a buddy is killed by a random bullet right next to you and you have to ask yourself, “Why him? Why did I survive?”

Or maybe when something really good happens to us, we wonder if someone “up there” likes us and ask, “Why me? What did I do that was so wonderful I got this?”

Or the selfish side of that, when something wonderful happens to someone else and you ask,”Why them? Why not me?”

I think the answer, and probably the answer that is best most of the time, is simply, “Because.” Because you were where you were, because you weren’t where that other person was, because you did something nice, because you did something not so nice, because it just happened that way.

Faith is the way we explain the unexplainable. Shaul said that faith is believing in things unseen and unproven, although there is plenty of proof that God exists and is working in the lives of people. All people, not just Believers. Now that my eyes are open, I can see God’s hand and help in many, many areas of my life long before I knew Him as I do now.

In fact, even when I was rejecting Him, He was not rejecting me.

This is a simple Drash, an easy to grasp but hard to live by idealism- don’t think about why. Just keep going. Otherwise, you will drive yourself crazy.

Ask Kohelet, the writer of the book by the same name. Or maybe you know it as Ecclesiastes. The reason he is so upset and fed up with everything (as he says, it is all just “chasing the wind” and useless) is because he was trying to understand life from God’s perspective. He was trying to know why, he wanted to understand the “Why me?” from God’s level of understanding, which is (of course) impossible for any human to achieve. So, what was he left with? Not knowing the “why me”, and only seeing that everything done under the sun was useless because money you save gets spent by others when you die, the things you build when you are alive don’t last, the work you do and leave behind gets changed by those who are now doing it. Nothing stays the same, nothing is dependable, nothing lasts…nothing except God. God is the only thing that doesn’t change, and He provides for us. He gives us the fruits of our labor, so we should just enjoy them. He provides for us, so we should just accept what He gives and enjoy it. He is all that matters, and fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That’s the conclusion of the book, and that is what most people find to be “the” lesson. I disagree; I think the real lesson from Kohelet is that we need to stop asking “why” and just accept that God is in charge. We can’t understand, and the truth is, we don’t have the need to know. It’s not our place to question God, although He is big enough to handle it, and loving enough to let us, now and then. He may even answer you, if it is something He feels like doing.

Stop asking, “Why me?” Oh, yes…and stop asking, “Why not me?” , too. That’s right- you can’t ask, “Why them”, either. Just stop asking “why”, altogether.  Do what God put you here to do, which is to worship Him, use the gifts He has given you to bring glory to His name: make Disciples, teach, intercede, pastor, whatever talents and gifts He has given you with which you can proclaim His goodness, love, mercy and glory, use them. When things happen in your life, don’t start whining that God is punishing you, or feel guilty that you are so blessed while others aren’t (remember that Yeshua said you will always have the poor amongst you.) Just do what God says to do, and keep on doing it through all the good and all the bad times.

We live in a cursed world, and if you feel that you are really being attacked, don’t ask ,”Why me?” but ask if you have wandered away from God. God provides His kippur, His covering (blessings, if you will) to protect us from the cursed world we live in. He does this when we are walking alongside Him, when we are living in His will. God has His path to walk, and when we wander off He will not wander off with us, so we find ourselves outside the kippur of His goodness and mercy. That’s when we should be asking ourselves something, but not, “Why me?” We need to ask, “Where did I get off track?” And, “How do I get back on track?” Those are the questions we need to constantly ask; we need to always question our motives, our desires, our actions, and understand that God is always there, He is always the same, and when things happen that we feel are not what we expected, it isn’t about God changing- it’s about us changing.

Starting today, ask “What am I doing?” instead of “Why me?” If things go wrong, ask ,”What did I do that may have caused this?”  If things are going great, ask yourself, “What am I doing that must be good in God’s eyes?”

God is in charge, but we have the freedom to do what we please. That often means we will go in the wrong direction, or we will actually do something really worthy of blessing. I like to say when I have done something really well, it is God doing it through me and He deserves the glory. When I screw-up royally, then I can take full credit. But I don’t ask, “Why me?”

Frankly, I don’t care why me or why not me, or why them…I only care about staying in God’s will and doing what pleases Him. I don’t ask “why”, I ask “what”, as in,”What did I do to get off track?” and then”What must I do to get back on track?” Sometimes I can ask the best question of all, “What am I doing that is so wonderful in God’s eyes, and how do I keep on doing it?”

“What” is the question that helps; “Why me?” is self-defeating and leads to inaction, guilt, and sadness whereas”What should I do?” encourages us to take action, improve and work towards demonstrating God’s glory.

Here Come Da Judge!!!

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I have to start my day with the newspaper. Not the news, mind you- that is always the same, always bad, and useless to me. I like the Crossword, the Word Jumble and Cryptograms.  This morning the Scram-Lets (you unscramble words, pull out the specified letters and then unscramble them to complete a corny statement) had the statement,”Our days are happier when we give people a bit of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.”

It reminded me of a silly joke:

A man got a flat tire and was in front of an asylum for the insane, changing the tire. One of the inmates was standing at the fence watching as the man took off the bad tire and put the lug nuts in the hubcap. After putting on the spare tire, he reached for the hubcap and accidentally knocked it, sending all the lug nuts down a drain. He sat, dejected, not knowing what to do. That’s when the inmate said, “Hey, Pal- why not take one lug nut off each of the other three tires and use them for the spare, since you can safely drive with three lug nuts. As soon as you come to an auto store you can buy 4 lug nuts to replace the missing ones.”

The man was amazed, and said, “That’s a great idea! What are you doing in there?”  The inmate answered,”Hey, I may be crazy but I’m not stupid!”

So, nu? What do these two things have in common, and why the reference to Sammy Davis, Jr.’s well-known schtick from Laugh-In?

It’s all about judging people. The Manual tells us not to judge, lest we ourselves will be judged, but it also tells us that we will judge the nations. Seems sort of contradictory, doesn’t it? Don’t judge others but judge the nations?

In fact, it is not contradictory, but edifying. Saying we are not to judge others lest we be judged is telling us that the way we judge people is how we, ourselves, will be judged by God. That means think about what you are thinking about! By careful to observe, make sure you have facts and witnesses that are trustworthy, and alway, always, always use mercy when coming to a decision. Just the same way that God judges us.

The Scram-Lets statement shows mercy and restraint, allowing love and compassion to intercede where prideful judgement may be starting to rear it’s ugly head. And the story about the man with the flat tire shows that we can’t tell about a person simply by their environment, or what their situation may be at that time. People in jail for committing a crime may have done T’Shuvah and are now ready to be useful and good citizens. People who have had drug problems, or friends who have hurt us, may have cleaned themselves up, asked for forgiveness and turned from hurtful ways.

I am not saying forgive everyone and trust them again, Forgiveness is something we are commanded to do, but trust needs to be earned. If someone stole from me, and asked forgiveness, I may allow them back into my life, but I won’t leave them alone in my house. There is a difference between being a compassionate and forgiving person, and being an idiot. As Scotty said in Star Trek all those years ago, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”

To judge the nations we need to start small, so let’s start with ourselves. Judge how you judge. Look at yourself, try as best you can to be honest and impartial, and determine if you judge based on what you see and hear, or how you react to the situation. Make sure you remove that log from your eye, first. If someone does something that you find personally disgusting, are they already guilty? Maybe they are; however, that determination should not be from your personal feelings but from the facts. I have been at the wrong end of what I called a “Kangaroo Court”, where I was actually told I might be written up at work for sexual harassment. I asked about the facts, and was told that the HR Department had done a thorough investigation. I asked how could they say that, since no one asked me about it? I thought a thorough investigation meant asking all parties involved, especially the one accused. Seems that all they needed was someone to complain and a complete statement, and that’s all it took for the accused to be found guilty.

(For the record, the witness never even made a formal complaint or wrote a statement. In fact, what happened was someone in the cafeteria, who didn’t even work for the company, was listening to another conversation and thought they heard my name mentioned by the other people who were talking. They thought they heard them relate a joke I had supposedly told and the eavesdropper/complainer thought that someone could have thought that joke might be unacceptable. That was my terrible crime. And the entire process didn’t even meet the company’s standards and practices outlined in their own Personnel Manual. It all boiled down to nothing, other than the HR Director having so little useful work that she had to fly off the handle and over-react, hoping she had a nice, juicy sexual harassment case to process.)

The Bible tells us that we need at least two witnesses. This is in relation to capital crimes, but I think it is a good rule for any time one person is claiming a wrong against another person. Of course, there aren’t always going to be witnesses, which is why it is so important for us to learn how to judge rightly, or maybe I should say, righteously.

Practice judging now. Don’t worry about opportunities- they are everywhere. When you see a homeless person, what’s your first thought? Well, stifle it. Think about why that person may be homeless. When you see someone sick or ailing, do you think how horrible it must be to have to go through that, or are you only hoping they don’t come anywhere near you? When you hear about someone in the news or on TV doing something wrong, do you judge against the entire class of people they belong to (i.e., all athletes, all actors, all politicians, etc?)

We have plenty of opportunities to learn how to judge, to learn to restrain our initial emotional reactions and allow our thoughts and reason to take charge. We do need to go with our “gut” on occasions, but overall it is our compassion, our forgiveness, and the rules and examples set for us by God and Yeshua that we should turn to when judging others.

When Messiah returns to take charge of the world, He will set up His court and assign those who will judge the nations. Do you want to be one of those? Then practice now so that you will be ready and worthy of that title.

Here come da judges!! Here come da judges!!

 

 

Self-Absorbed Salvation

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When we become saved, are we better off? Let’s see: saved=Eternal joy; not saved=Eternal suffering.  I would say being saved is better off, wouldn’t you?

When we become saved, do we treat people better than we used to? Being saved should produce good fruit, we should be treating others as we would have them treat us, fruits of the Spirit should be growing within us …yeah, I think it’s safe to say we will be better to people when we are saved, don’t you?

But, when we are saved , does that make us better people?

There are some who treat the Jewish people as reprobate, and say they are rejected by God because they rejected His son. These are called Replacement Theologists. They think that they are the “Israel of God”, as Shaul put it at the end of Galatians (what was he thinking when he wrote that? I don’t know!) They say they are the “real” Jewish people, the true Israel.

They think they are better than real Jews because they are saved.

I don’t know what Bible they read, but it isn’t the one that God gave Moses, that has the writings of the Prophets, or the one that the Talmudim of Yeshua wrote, or the one with the  letters that Shaul sent to the Messianic Congregations he started throughout Asia. I just don’t know how they can think, for a moment, that God lied to the Jewish people when He said they are the apple of His eye, that He will never (note: N-E-V-E-R) forget or forsake them. That unless the heavens above and seas below are measured they will not stop being His people.

But, despite all that God said, these Replacement Theologists think that the Jews are rejected and that they, the Born Again Christians, are better than the Jews. And not just better on Earth, but better in God’s eyes, too.

In Romans, Shaul wrote to the Gentiles warning them against bragging about their salvation and becoming proud and arrogant. He reminded them that if God was willing to lop off a natural branch to graft them in, how much more will He be willing to lop off a branch that never belonged! And how much easier will the natural branch be able to be grafted back in, which is the plan. And when God makes a plan, He sticks to it, and it gets done.

We need to remember that we are all sinners, and no matter what particular sin you do the most, from telling lies, to murder, to adultery, to homosexuality, to stealing, to refusing to celebrate the festivals, to being unforgiving, to …well, the list goes on and on, doesn’t it? The point is that no matter whether or not you are “saved”, you are no better a person than anyone else.

Yeshua warned His Talmudim (Disciples) not to “lord it over each other, as the Gentiles do” but that whomever wants to be the greatest must be the least. If you want to know how a truly saved person should be, he or she should be humble.

Before I was saved, I was a sinner who rationalized my sins; now, I am a sinner who regrets my sins. And because I have asked God’s forgiveness, and accepted the sacrificial death of Yeshua, who I acknowledge as my/the Messiah, I am “saved” from the spiritual consequences of my sinfulness. By the way, note that I am saved from the spiritual consequences- sin still causes injury and will always have serious consequences in the natural world.

Replacement Theology is a lie from the pit of Sheol. All I can say about it is this: in the vision (revelation) given to Yochanan when he was on Patmos Yeshua warned against the Synagogue of Satan. In the Greek, synagogue doesn’t mean a Jewish place of worship. That is a modern meaning. The word refers to a gathering, or collection. You could have a synagogue of chairs, of rocks, or a synagogue of people with a common purpose. The pagan temples were synagogues. So, a “Synagogue of Satan”, in First Century terminology, meant a group of people who were of Satan. Yeshua also went on to define who these people are: they are people who say they are Jews but are not.

Gee, that sounds like the exact definition of Replacement Theologists- people claiming to be Jews who aren’t Jews.

Whether you are a Replacement Theologist or a Gentile who has been grafted in and appreciates God’s wonderful gift of Grace that He made available to you, unless your blood is Jewish blood passed down from your parents and grandparents, you are an adopted son or daughter of Abraham. You are a member of the Family of God, if you will, but an adopted one. The Jews are God’s chosen people- not chosen because they are better, but because they are no better. In fact, in some ways, they are worse. Throughout our history we have been stiff-necked, we have rejected God over and over, and the ultimate rejection is, truthfully, that congregationally (pardon the pun) we have rejected our own Messiah. And, to make it even more embarrassing, the Gentiles have welcomed Him. Doesn’t sound like anything to brag about to me.  But we are still God’s chosen- He is absolutely clear, with no chance of mistake, and repeated throughout His Word,  He reminds us that despite how stupid we have been and still are, despite how stubborn, despite how foolish, and despite how adulterous we have been over the Millennia, He will always accept us back when we do T’Shuvah and just as God always has been, is, and always will be, we (Jewish people) have been, are, and always will be God’s chosen people.

Chosen not because we are better, but chosen because of one man’s faithfulness, and the faithfulness of many others after him, and the continued faithfulness of the Messianic community within Judaism. And the faithfulness of the “mainstream” Jewish people- don’t think that not accepting Messiah Yeshua means that all Jews are faithless. Most are just ignorant of the truth because they have been taught that Yeshua is not the Messiah. They are just what Yeshua called them- lost sheep. But they have not lost their faith in God or His promise of a Messiah- they faithfully wait. They just don’t realize, yet, His true identity.

Being saved should make us better to other people, but it doesn’t make us better than other people. And it certainly doesn’t make you a “Jew” if you are saved.

Be appreciative for God’s plan of salvation, partake in it wholly and joyfully, and help others to find their way back to God through Messiah Yeshua. But never, never, never think you are better than anyone because you are saved. You, I, all of us- we are still sinners, and being saved makes us no better than anyone else in the world.

It just makes us saved.

 

Holy Day or Holiday?

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I would like to start this Drash with an excerpt from the chapter in my book (see link at bottom right of page) dealing with this topic:

“Two men talking…,”…so I came to the conclusion that I’m agnostic, but when I realized they don’t have any holidays I thought it best to just stick with my reform synagogue.”

    Why is it important to know the difference between a holiday and a Holy Day? After all, don’t they both mean the same thing? Probably so, to most people. But I think there is a difference between the two, and I also think it is important to know what that difference is. And, since it’s my book, I get to write about what I want to.

   Seriously, it is important to know the difference, and in that light I will ask you to accept (for the purposes of this book) the following definitions: a Holy Day is a celebration, or festival, which God has commanded to be observed. A holiday is a celebration, or festival, which has been created by humans and is a traditional, not biblical, observance. 

   Please understand that I have absolutely nothing against man-made celebrations. I also have nothing against traditions, EXCEPT when a tradition is given more importance than the actual word of God. Traditions are fine, but He comes first.”

We are just about at the end of the High Holy Days in Judaism. Tomorrow is Simchat Torah (that means the Joy of Torah) when we read the last part of Deuteronomy and then, while we sing and dance, roll back the scrolls to the very beginning and read the first few lines in Genesis. Often this holiday (note: holiday, not holy day) is also celebrated by parading the Torah through the streets (And the Word shall go out from Yerushalayim…) with Shofar blowing and joyous singing. It is truly a wonderful thing to start reading the Torah all over again. Ya gotta love the Bible!

But it is not a festival that God told us to celebrate. It is a holiday– a man-made event that is a traditional celebration, just like the netilat yadayim (hand washing) ceremony that we read about in Mark. Just like promising a Korban (again, see Mark) or any of the many, many other Rabbinic traditions and ceremonies that are Talmudic but not Biblical. And if you really want pomp and ceremony, check out some of the Gentile holidays and traditions. You’d think they would have learned from the Jews, but it was not to be.

Why care about the difference? Maybe it doesn’t matter. I guess you could make an argument that every religious holiday (I am not talking about anything in Leviticus 23) is meant to honor God, and how can that be wrong? I think that would be a good argument, and I wouldn’t have a problem with that, except that today most of these holidays do not honor God: they only create more retail sales. They honor the economy more than they honor God.

I mean, it’s not even Halloween (clearly, no one can think that Halloween honors the Lord!) and already I see Christmas commercials on TV, stores are putting up Christmas decorations, and I haven’t even partaken of my November tryptophan yet!  Oy! If we keep going at this rate, we will “lap” Christmas and by April of 2016 they will be running Christmas 2017 sales!

The traditions of our people (Jews and Gentiles, alike) are not bad, in and of themselves. Traditions help create solidarity, a common foundation, and can often help one to get closer to God, so long as they do not interfere or overrule what God has commanded of us. This was the point that Yeshua was making during His ministry. He didn’t have an issue with the traditions, He had an issue with the Pharisees forcing the people to perform traditions at the expense of what God said they should do. There are plenty of examples of this throughout the Good News books.

We need to be careful about this, i.e., knowing the difference between what God has told us to do and what our religious leaders tell us we should do. And we need to know the difference, especially now, as we see prophecy coming to fruition all around us.

I believe the Enemy will make Himself known slowly, and we will not know what he is doing to us until it is already done, unless we keep our spiritual eyes open and trust no one. Not the Rabbi, not the Priest, not the Minister or Chaplin…not no one, not no how, not no way.

What we need to do is trust in the Word of God. You need to read it and thereby learn the difference between what is man-made and what is God-commanded. Like I said, I believe the Enemy will take charge slowly, and the best way to do that is through what we are all comfortable with. He isn’t going to jump out of a cake and say, “Hiya!! I’m the Son of Perdition and I am here to destroy you. Line up and take the mark- be the first on your block to suffer in hell for  all Eternity. Order your very own mark now…operators are standing by.”

Uh-uh…not going to happen that way. He will appear, at first, to be somewhat powerless. A nobody that came up with a popular notion or fad. Then the fad will become a tradition, just like the other traditions we all find comfortable and easily follow (like sheep) and practice. Eventually, once we are suckered into the traditional practices, the tradition will become a regular part of our life, and he will introduce activities that are God-less and satanic, but it will be so subtle, it will fit so easily into what we are doing already, that before we know it we will be lining up for the mark and not even realize what we are doing.

OK, maybe I am getting a little too apocalyptic, thinking that celebrating Simchat Torah will lead me to satanic worship. Honestly, I don’t think that’s a concern. But human stupidity, ignorance and pride is a concern, and it is as much a part of us as breathing and eating. If we aren’t watching with spiritual eyes, and discerning using the Ruach, we are doomed. The Enemy is much more devious than we are, and he knows how to get in our brains, in our daily lives, and how easily we can be led (or misled, for that matter.) And he has no fear of God. He knows he’s lost, he just doesn’t want to admit it to himself, so he is going to take as many down with him as he can. Remember this: in Revelations it says that “most” will be apostatised. Not a few, not a lot, but most- that means a lot more than just half . That means more like 70-80% of all Believers will reject God and throw away their salvation.

Worship God as He said to worship Him- celebrate the Holy Days that God has commanded we should celebrate. And I mean everyone- these are not “Jewish” holy days, these are the festivals that God (your God and mine) said that those who worship Him are to celebrate. Everyone! Start there, and slowly, carefully review and scrutinize every non-Biblical holiday you have ever enjoyed. If it seems “correct” according to the Manual, celebrate it as it should be celebrated- in a way that honors God. Leave K-Mart, Target, Amazon, et.al. out of it.

As the old saying goes, “Keep the Christ in Christmas.” And be careful to celebrate only those celebrations, and only in those ways, that give glory to God.