Category: A Drash to Start the Day

What Did Jesus Really Nail to the Cross?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did Yeshua (Jesus) Ever Sin?

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(Too dressed-down to do a video today. )

I present this drash today only as something interesting to think about.

Did Yeshua ever sin? The answer has to be a very loud, “NO!! He was the sinless lamb of God; he was in perfect obedience to the Torah his whole life; he couldn’t have sinned. Ever. NO! NO! NO!”

But, still and all, if he had once or twice committed a sin couldn’t he still have died a sinless lamb of God?

Let’s look at what God says about his forgiveness of sin:

“…on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.” – Leviticus 16:30

“…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:8-12

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. – Isaiah 1:18

“In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.” – Isaiah 38:17

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”   – Jeremiah 31:34

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. – Micah 7:18-19

These passages show us that once God forgives a sin it is as if that sin never happened. There are many other bible passages that prove this; I didn’t quote any New Covenant passages because everything in the New Covenant is just quoting or paraphrasing what is already said in the Old Covenant.

Now let’s go back to my original question: Did Yeshua ever sin? The bible doesn’t give us any information on this but it does tell us that he underwent B’rit Milah (Circumcision) and that he was in Jerusalem for the festivals, as required by the Torah. We know that he observed all the laws and commandments in the Torah, so if he did sin we can be certain that he would have obeyed the Torah and presented a sin sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem. So if this ever did happen, what then?

According to what God says, if Yeshua had sinned and went through the process of sacrificing an animal to have his sin forgiven then he would be as clean as if he had never sinned. He would be a sinless lamb of God.

Otherwise God would have lied when he told us that when he forgives a sin it is as if it never happened. We could never be “as white as snow” and our sins would never be “put behind” his back. All that we were told about forgiveness would be a lie.

Personally, I don’t believe God lied about his forgiveness and I don’t believe Yeshua ever committed a sin. But I am open to the idea that he might have. After all, doesn’t Isaiah 53 tell us:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

With all that going on in his life, who is to say he didn’t have a lapse of righteousness now and then and maybe did something wrong?  If he had sacrificed then wouldn’t that sin be gone? Wouldn’t he again be sinless and clean before the Lord? An acceptable sacrifice?

My contention is that he would still have been the sinless lamb of God even if he had sinned, so long as he made the proper sacrifice at the Temple before he was crucified. I say this based on God’s promise that when he forgives a sin it is as if it never happened. And I will go one step further: if Yeshua had sinned and had been forgiven under the sacrificial system, he was (and is) the only human who could have continued to be sinless after that. We can be forgiven our sin, but we will sin again. Thank God (and Yeshua) that when Yeshua replaced the sacrifice at the Temple with his personal sacrifice, we can be forgiven every sin we commit and repent of for the rest of our life.

I feel so sad for those who do not accept Yeshua and, because the Temple no longer exists cannot be forgiven of their sins.

 

Is God’s Name Really a Name?

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

I will unquestionably be opening a can of worms with this post, so to all reading this (or watching the video) I ask that you please do not shout back at the monitor or bang your fist on the table shouting “NO! NO! NO!” until the end.

I think this will blow a lot of people’s minds. I know it did mine.

Let’s start with the simple question: What is a “name?”  When I searched on line for an answer, it said, “a word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to.”

In the ancient days, many names were more than just a means of identifying someone. Some of the names were almost prophetic in that they described who the person was. Jedidiah is someone beloved by God; Joshua is God’s salvation; Abraham is father of multitudes; Emmanuel means God is with us.  These names didn’t just identify the person but also indicated what we should expect from them during their lifetime.

What about God’s name? There are many names that are used to identify God: God (of course), El, Yah, Shadai, and the Holy Name that is called the Tetragrammaton (I will use the term ‘Tetra” in this discussion just to make it easier to type) which is Y-H-V-H, or also shown as Y-H-W-H.

Most people believe this is God’s Holy Name, the very one he told Moses to use when Moses asked to know what name to tell the people in Exodus 3:13-15. But they are wrong! This is what God told Moses:

Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.…  (Berean Study Bible) 

So God didn’t give a specific name, he gave a description of who he is when he told Moses to say “I am has sent me to you.”

I have looked in the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh (one of the most respected interpretations of the Tanakh today), my Chumash (The Pentateuch and Haftorahs) edited by Dr. Hertz (Soncino Edition) and also my Tikkun.

NOTE: For those who may not be familiar with the Tikkun, it is a book of the Torah scroll with the Torah Hebrew (a very different font of Hebrew), the modern Hebrew with vowel points and the English translation with commentary of the scriptures. It is used for preparation of chanting the Torah when reading the weekly parashah.

In every one of these highly authentic Jewish volumes, the word used for God in this passage is Elohim (generally meaning is “God is judge”) and he doesn’t use the Y-H-V-H anywhere in this passage. What is used is: אה’ה אשר אה’ה, which means “I am who I am.”

So, nu?  What’s this mean? It means that the Tetra is not the name God gave to Moses to identify who he is to the children of Israel. So now we have to ask, “Where did the Tetra come from?”

It was first used in Genesis 2:4. The very first appearance of the Tetra in the Torah is right after God finished making the earth, in the second half of verse 2:4. The Hebrew says: ב’ומ עשות ‘הוה אלה’מ which in English is translated as ‘When the Lord God..”, which tells us the Tetra is translated from the Torah as “Lord.” The word we use for the Tetra in Judaism is “Adonai”, which means “Lord.”

The Tikkun explains what the Tetra means: it is really an acronym. Each of the letters represent a word, and those words are (I will transliterate): Hah-yah  Ho-veh  veh-yee-yeh, which means “He was, he is and he will be.”

So after all the hullabaloo about the correct spelling of God’s name and how it should be pronounced, we find out that what we have always thought to be God’s Holy Name isn’t really a name! It is an acronym for words that describe the eternal nature of God.

And that fits with God’s command to Moses in front of the burning bush that the name he gave to Moses is how he should be remembered in every generation.  God was not giving Moses a name we should use to call him but how we should remember and refer to him. Remember at the beginning the definition of a name can also mean how we refer to someone? God doesn’t want us to have a specific name for him, he wants us to refer to him for who and what he is. He is our eternal Lord. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that is what he told Moses he wants us to call him.

People are given a name we can call them during their lifetime, but because God has no lifetime he is known only by his eternal nature.

He is and he was and he shall be: that is what the Tetra means. It is not a name as we define what a name is, it is a memorial to remind us that God is eternal.

And from the very first time we see the Tetra in the Torah it is interpreted as “Lord”, who are we to change it?

So where do we go from here? I suspect that those who absolutely must use the Tetra and pronounce it as they believe it should be pronounced will continue to do so. I hope at least some will reconsider their understanding and verify what I have said here. And there may be some who will start to use “Lord” or “Adonai” as we Jews have been doing forever.

Others may just wander around the house muttering to themselves, “What should I believe? What is right? Who can I trust?”

I can answer that last one: trust God and trust his word. Trust that the interpretation Jews have been using for thousands of years is more dependable (and probably more accurate) than the one many Gentile’s just now learning about God and Yeshua are using.

And always, always, ALWAYS go to the Jewish versions of the Torah and Tanakh (Old Covenant) to see what the Hebrew says. The Torah is absolutely dependable to be the exact same way it is today as it was when it was first written. If you knew all the different ways the Torah is verified when a new one is written you would be able to trust that it is absolutely dependable. The Hebrew, that is- the interpretations are subject to individual bios and predetermined understanding.

I have been reading and studying the bible for over 20 years and after all this time I just now learned that what I have always known to be the Holy Name of God isn’t a name at all. OY! I just love the exciting and new things we learn from God’s word when we really look at it.

Do You Really Want to Risk His Wrath?

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No video today.

I am a member of a number of Christian, Messianic or Hebraic Roots discussion groups. They all have value for learning and sharing ideas, yet it is a shame so many people within these groups undervalue themselves and others with their obnoxious and prideful statements. You can recognize them because when they are faced with opposite opinions they spit out a bunch of bible passages (taken out of context) and eventually end up calling the one(s) disputing with them pagans, Satanists or worse.

When people are discussing a topic and one of them ends up resorting to personal attacks and accusations, that indicates they are not able to adequately defend their position; it also demonstrates both emotional and spiritual immaturity.  Ask them to leave it at “You have your belief and I have mine, so let’s agree to disagree?” and they ignore you, continuing to force their ideas down your throat.

The real issue is pridefulness- those people are too prideful to accept that they may not be the only correct answer. As such they do not have the humility or respect for others to simple allow someone else to have their own belief. Worse than that, they use biblical passages to justify their accusatory and judgmental attitude. It’s always the same thing: God wants us to tell the truth, or God told me this is so, or God says we are to judge others.

They forget God said that we will be judged as we judge others. Oops- that could be a problem!

Whenever I see someone writing these sorts of things, even when they aren’t nasty but just stubbornly refusing to accept that anyone else may have another belief or idea that could also be correct, I think of Job and his friends. I assume we all know the book of Job well enough to recall that after his friends misjudged him because they thought they knew what God was all about, God was not too happy with them. This is what he told them (Job 42:7-9):

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Job’s friends had been telling Job all about how God works, what he wants, what he believes, what he knows…basically they were talking for God as if they knew him and what he thought. That is what got God so mad.

People who tell others absolutely that we need to use God’s holy name, how it is pronounced, what God wants us to do, what God told us isn’t important, why God made the rules he made, etc. all are doing exactly what Jobs friends did. I suspect, although I can’t say for certain, that God still isn’t too happy with people who do that. Since God tells us he doesn’t change it only seems logical that if Jobs’ friends ticked of the Lord with their assumptions about what he feels and thinks, people who tell others today what God feels and thinks would be in the same spot Job’s friends put themselves.

For the record, let me say there are many, many places in the bible where God tells us, absolutely, what he likes and dislikes, what he says is wrong and what he says is right, and these things we can state clearly are how God feels. He told us so.

My complaint (and concern) is for those people who assume they know what God wants and tell others what they should believe or do. I believe when they do that they are risking his wrath.

I would like to ask people to be polite and respectful of others. We can speak the truth with love and if we believe something absolutely but someone else doesn’t, then let’s justify our opinion without attacking their opinion. And never attack a person for what they believe. When I think someone is relating a misinterpretation of a biblical passage, I will say I believe what they have been taught is wrong and then I will interpret the passage the way I believe it should be done. I will also ask them to re-read it praying for holy spirit guidance. I won’t say they are wrong, but that they were taught incorrectly. This way they (hopefully) won’t take it as a personal attack. You can’t change someone’s mind, but you can punch holes in their argument with facts. Again, you can attack their position but do not attack them. And if they are adamant not to change their mind and start to get upset or hostile, then end it. Wipe the dust from your sandals and move on.

There is an old joke: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to really want to change.

We can’t change someone’s beliefs or mind unless they are open to listening. If it becomes obvious that they aren’t going to change their mind, you’ve done all you can. Move on to the next subject. I have often just told people I won’t change my mind and I see they won’t change theirs, so let’s move on to something else. It’s sad that most of the time my respectful attempt to end the discussion reaches deaf ears.

Let’s end today’s message with a quote from Proverbs 12:15:

The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.

 

Does Praying to God to Forgive Someone Else Do Any Good?

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No video for this message- it’s a short one.

Just about everyone knows that when he was being nailed to the execution stake Yeshua asked God to “forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”

When we pray for others it is called Intercession. Intercession is a good thing, and I believe it has shown itself to be a powerful means to bring corporate prayer to God’s throne, and that God will act upon it.

But what about interceding with God by asking that he forgive someone else’s sins? Doesn’t the bible tells us that we must each, individually, ask for forgiveness of our sins?

Wasn’t one of the arguments used against Yeshua during his ministry that he was forgiving the sins of others, which only God can do?  Of course, Yeshua answered them by showing that he was authorized to forgive sin by healing the paraplegic man (Luke 5:17-26) and through other healings. But that was Yeshua…I am not him, and neither is anyone else reading this (well, maybe he is reading it but you know what I mean) so when we pray for others to have their sins forgiven, will God do that?

I don’t know for sure- after all, God can (and will) do whatever he wants to. On the other hand, he is restricted by his own rules and regulations. Therefore, I believe when we pray to God for him to forgive someone else’s sin(s), it may make God more willing to be merciful in his punishment of that person but I do not believe God will forgive anyone of their sins unless that person is repentant and asks for forgiveness.

As such, we should pray for God to open the eyes of the sinner, to send angels of mercy to the sinner to help him or her see the error of their ways, but I believe that praying to God to forgive someone’s sins when the person themself doesn’t care is useless.

Each of us will be held accountable for our actions and words when we come before the Lord on the Day of Judgement, and without Yeshua standing at our side we really have no chance. When we “eat sour grapes” it is our own teeth that will be “set on edge” (Ezekiel 18:2) so we need to go to God, individually, to ask for forgiveness. And we must be truly repentant (do T’Shuvah) when we ask God to forgive us.

I believe intercession is a wonderful thing, and I confess I am not compassionate or caring enough to intercede for others, but many are. It is a gift from God, and as such should be used carefully and with discernment.

When you want to ask God to come to the aid of a sinner, do so by asking for the sinner to be made aware of their sin and to be shown the pathway to forgiveness. That is what we can pray for, and then we must trust in God to take whatever actions are necessary to do that. Ultimately, though, we are each and every one of us personally accountable to God for our actions and words and, as such, must ask for forgiveness individually.

I believe by praying for someone who is a sinner to be shown the way to be forgiven is how we help that person find their salvation.

There is No Gray in God’s Color Wheel

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

Lately I have been partaking in different discussions regarding God and suffering. Today’s message came to me a few weeks ago but I couldn’t get to it until today. God has been giving me some really good stuff to discuss lately.

Before we start today’s drash, let’s first set some ground rules:

  1. God is absolutely binomial. He knows what is good and he knows what is bad, and there isn’t anything in between from his perspective;
  2. God is not just willing to, but actually desires to forgive our sins (Ezekiel 18:23);
  3. God is understanding, patient and compassionate. Even when he punishes he does so with mercy (up to a point);
  4. God has made rules and he sticks by them. If he says “Don’t do that or else this will happen” you can be sure when you do that, what he said would happen will happen, sooner or later.

When we talk about God’s loving kindness we are talking about his desire for us to be better and to stop sinning so we can have eternal life. We are also talking about his willingness to be patient before he really lowers the boom. And despite how much he loves us, we must remember the fact that the one thing God will not do is act as we would expect another human being to act.

Humans make excuses for everything: we excuse ourselves when we mess up, we excuse others when they mess up (if it doesn’t make us look bad) and we excuse our children for their impolite actions and irresponsibility. We know there is good and bad, but to help remove our own accountability and responsibility for what we do and say we allow for a lot of “gray” in between the black and white of right and wrong.

“I didn’t lie, I fibbed.”

“I didn’t steal, I found that.”

“It wasn’t my fault- someone else didn’t do what they were supposed to do (even though I was in charge.)”

All lame and childish excuses; people will too often say whatever they need to say in order to land somewhere in that “gray” area of not right but not really that wrong.

Not so with God. God knows the heart and in your heart you cannot be gray: you are either repentant or you’re not. You are either willing to take responsibility for your sins or you’re not. You are either desiring to be righteous or you’re not.

And for those that are desiring the righteous path but are having trouble, God is merciful, patient and willing to forgive. So long as you are really trying. If you are saying you want to be righteous, but continually mess up and make excuses, God isn’t going to fall for it. He isn’t stupid, you know- he knows what you really mean, even if you don’t.

I have said it before and will say it again… people don’t mean what they say: they mean what they do.

So make sure that your heart is in the right place and that you take accountability for your words and actions. I like to pray as King David did in Psalm 19:14:

 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

If we do wrong and continue to do wrong on purpose, all the curses God promised will come upon us (Deut. 28) will come upon us. God must keep his word regarding punishment for wrongdoing because if we cannot trust in God to punish the wicked as he said he will, we cannot trust in God to provide salvation as he said he will.

I am thankful for God’s binomial attitude- yes or no, good or bad, right or wrong, black or white- nothing in between, no gray areas to fall within. I am also grateful for God’s wisdom and patience, so that when I am on the wrong side of righteousness, he is willing to give me time to get my head back on straight and will forgive me when I come to him repentant and humbled.

That’s the ticket, Folks! Repentant, humble and asking forgiveness with the proper heart-attitude of wanting to do better.

As I often say, we can never be sinless but we can always sin less. Having that as your goal and living with the words of David in Psalm 19 is the attitude that will always be OK in God’s sight.

Having Control Doesn’t Always Mean Being in Control

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Sorry- no video today.

I have spent the majority of my working life in charge of people. Sometimes it was only a handful of people, like when I had 7 people working for me processing securities for a major New York City bank. We were responsible for making sure some $60 Billion every day went where it was supposed to go.  When I was in the Marine Corps I was a Company Executive Officer, and at that time I was responsible for 365 men and millions of dollars of equipment.  And over the years, I have had management positions in and out of sales and banking. I finished my last 10 years or so in IT and I was happily not in charge of anyone.

What does this have to do with today’s message? It is the important lesson I learned while managing others: even when you are in charge and in control of what happens, sometimes you have to give up control so that others can learn how to be in control.

I once asked God to remove any lustful thoughts from my mind. Now wait a minute! I wasn’t some sleazeball leering at every girl that walked by; really, I wasn’t. I was trying to not look at all- you know, do what Job said he did (Job 31:1.) And after praying for God to excise this part of my brain, the answer came to me as a small voice in the back of my head.

The answer was, “It doesn’t work that way.”

Huh? I am praying for something that is a righteous prayer, something that will help to make me holier and I am praying in the name of Yeshua ha Maschiach- I have filled in all the blanks, answered all the questions and even should get extra credit for using the Hebrew name! Why won’t you just do it?

Again, an answer came: “Because if I do it for you,  you won’t learn how to accomplish the hard things you need to do.”

God is in control of everything, but in this case, as with my own work experience, he ceded control to me. He left control up to me so that I could learn a valuable lesson- how to exercise and strengthen my self-control by listening to and obeying the Ruach Ha Kodesh.

There have been many people who reject God because of some trauma in their lives. They cannot reconcile that a loving, compassionate God would allow such bad things to happen to them. They do not understand that God’s love is not like human love. Most of the time human love is more destructive than helpful. We dote upon each other, we overly protect our children from emotional and physical pain. When parents do not teach their children the hard lessons of life they are not preparing them to survive in a fallen and cursed world. This is why there is such a feeling of victimization in the younger generations: “It’s not my fault”, “Society caused this”, or “My parents made me this way.” No accountability, no responsibility. And why is this? Because they were not given control of themselves and , more importantly, they were not held accountable for what they did or said.

God will cede control of events and action to humans so that we can learn for ourselves how to be in control. You cannot teach someone how to lead if you never put them in a position of leadership. And the hardest part of this is allowing them to screw it up. Even when you know what they are about to do will not work, you still have to let them make the mistake because that is really the only way humans learn. It is exceptionally rare when someone is wise enough and has enough emotional maturity to learn from someone else’s mistakes.

Suffering and emotional hurt is something we all will experience during our lifetime. I don’t believe we ever get over really painful events, but we can get past them. To do that we need to have inner strength, and that only comes from regularly being exposed to life. It’s like when you want to have bigger muscles so you lift weights and do so to the point where you actually destroy (traumatize) the muscle. As it recovers, it adds more of itself so that it is able to handle more stress in the future. That is why people who constantly use their muscles have big ones.

God is absolutely in charge of and capable of controlling everything that happens…but he allows us to be in control of things so we can grow, spiritually and emotionally, into strong leaders and self-controlled saints of the Most High.

Don’t immediately blame God for bad things that happen in your life; if what happens is a wonderful blessing, then you can give credit to God and you should thank him. The world will not bless you so when the bad stuff happens, well….just look at it as a learning experience and grow from it. Look to and call upon the Ruach ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) to give you strength and guidance to get by.

One last point: a good manager will allow his or her people to get themselves into trouble as a learning experience, but not so much trouble that they cannot be pulled out of it. Trust in God to know best how much control he will cede to you; he will test you through fire so that the dross will be burned away, and even though you may think the fire is too hot you can always call on God for help.

Just like in Matthew 14:28-31, when Yeshua was walking on the water:

Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”  “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

God will show us what we are to do, let us try it and if (and when) we start to sink, he will rescue us. He will give control over to us so we can learn to be stronger and holier.

That’s what good parenting is all about.

 

 

Sticks and Stones…

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I try to keep these posts related to the word of God and to steer away from political or social issues. Yet, politics and society are also something that is very closely related to what is happening on a spiritual level. With that in mind, I really need to get this off my chest.

Let’s talk about Rosanne Barr and what happened with her.

For those that may not be aware, Rosanne is a comedienne who had a hit show in the 1980’s as the wife in a blue-collar family with politically incorrect ideals. She was outspoken and a strong feminist. Recently ABC television has re-booted her show to demonstrate that they are willing to put on more conservative shows, being labelled as a liberal network. Rosanne recently “tweeted” about a past government official that had undertones of a possibly racist comment. She was immediately fired and her show cancelled.

The liberal front applauds this action, and the conservatives ask why ABC states that those racist and improper comments are not part of their corporate culture, yet have failed to apologize for the stingers and insults they have hurled at the Conservative politicians and the President.

Before I talk about this I want to say something clearly and unequivocally: racism is wrong. Hatred is wrong. Bigotry is wrong. I do not believe that anyone should use racist language or hateful accusations against another.

I also believe that when someone accuses another person of something, until that accusation is proven to be true the person accused is innocent. When two or more people have an issue both sides should be given an equal chance to give their side of the story and mediation should be the first choice. Neither of these things happen anymore in this country.

I have seen and also been the victim of unfair and unjustified accusations in the workplace and also where I have volunteered. I once corrected someone I was mentoring as a Docent at the Philadelphia Zoo who was giving bad information during a training session.  I was NOT nasty or mean- I simply told her she needed to study up more.  She went off and cried about it and another woman heard her and asked what was wrong. I don’t know what was said between them, but the one who interfered was not present at the training and did not hear what I said to the trainee, yet she complained about me and next thing I knew I was told I couldn’t be a mentor anymore, or even teach classes to the trainees. Another time I was accused of sexual harassment at the place I worked and told I would have to take a sexual harassment test and sign a letter acknowledging the claim. I asked who accused me and what did I do and was told they wouldn’t tell me. I refused to do what they said without knowing why, and filed my own complaint. When the facts came out it was discovered that the investigation was totally one-sided and that the person who accused me was not even an employee. The person was in the public cafeteria and overheard someone else talking about a joke they THINK I may have told someone else. The eavesdropper thought that the joke MIGHT be upsetting to someone and complained to HR. HR ran with this and immediately created a sexual harassment case out of nothing more than hearsay from someone who wasn’t an employee and was invading someone else’s private conversation! I was totally innocent, never found out who said what or if I even was really the person they were talking about. Yet, my reputation was damaged.

More recently in the public and corporate world Starbucks had two Black men arrested for loitering and ended up shutting down all their stores to hold anti-bias training.  Dove, H&M and Old Navy corporations have all apologized for what employees have (or may have) done to upset people of different races. Netflix fired Kevin Spacey on allegations of sexual improprieties. Again- not after he was found guilty in a court of law, but just because someone accused him. Maybe he is guilty, maybe not, but this country is based upon the idea that someone is innocent until proven guilty.

At least, it used to be that way.

Looking at this from a spiritual view, I see the enemy at work in these actions. What I see happening is that we are becoming an overly sensitive nation of victims where free speech is becoming illegal. If I say something that even has a hint of being politically incorrect it is immediately flagged as bigoted, sexist or racist and I am wrong. It doesn’t matter if it was purposefully nasty or an accidental slip of the tongue. In today’s world whoever complains first, wins. Investigations don’t mean getting both sides of the story anymore. Today investigations mean asking the accuser what happened and seeing if anyone else will confirm it, then telling the accused they are wrong. And because of this immediate finding of guilt, even if later it’s discovered to have been a mistake it won’t matter to the accused because that person’s reputation is now permanently stained.

The way to take charge of a nation is to remove its freedoms; one of the most important freedoms is that of free thought and free speech. Now, don’t go off on a tangent and think I am saying anyone can say anything about anybody. I am not saying that. What I am saying is that when people are being treated unfairly and there is immediate and sever reaction (not action but RE-action) to statements they make, it gets to the point where everyone will be afraid to say anything against anyone else for fear of being persecuted.

Yes, I said persecuted and I meant it. Rosanne Barr is not a favorite of mine, but to be treated the way she was is (to me) a form of persecution- guilty without opportunity to repent. And when she did repent, she was not forgiven. Even though the person who she sinned against has said it was something she is not going to be upset about, those who weren’t even subject to the “slammer” are still unforgiving. As if they were the ones who were hurt.

They weren’t hurt but they are afraid.  Afraid of social media coming against them. The REAL reason they are afraid is this: they don’t want to lose money! They are willing to lose the show’s income in the short run to avoid losing sponsors in the long run. And the sponsors are afraid of losing customers (money) if they are associated with a show that had a star say something wrong. Even though what that person said was not part of the show or had anything to do with the network or its sponsors.

Can you see where this leads? By having a nation of self-centered and emotionally weak people, the enemy will be able to manipulate the national lack of confidence and victim-mindset to create an environment of fear. It is wrong to say bad things about people based on their sex, race or religion, but I see this over-sensitivity and over-reaction becoming something that the enemy will use to expand upon to the point where people will be afraid to speak out at all. Then when the enemy speaks against Messiah, no one will argue. When he speaks against the Lord, no one will dare stand up to him for fear of being called racist or possibly losing their job. And when the enemy proclaims himself as the one we should be worshiping, no one will stand against him for fear that they will be ostracized and persecuted.

This is what I see happening and I hope that some of you out there reading this can also see what I am seeing. These events may seem like nothing more than social and political mishaps, but it is really the spiritual battle we have been warned about.

When I was a child we used to say, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

Today we say: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words are now a Felony.” 

The time is now when the enemy of God will try to take over the world and the best way to make people do what you want is to take away their courage to stand against you. If you can make people afraid to speak out against someone for fear of being labelled in a non-socially acceptable way, you are half-way to total control.

Yeshua says in Matthew 17:15-20 that we can tell who someone is by their fruits. For me, if someone says something that demonstrates they are racist or sexist, their own words convict them and we should just ignore them. Again, I am not saying to be racist or bigoted is acceptable and if someone is doing something that is harmful, physically, to another they should be punished. But if someone’s speech and opinion just shows how stupid they are, ignore them.  Let them have their opinion and allow them to show themselves to be what they are. When David was cursed at by Shimei the Benjamite as he fled from Absalom (2 Samuel 6:13) David ignored him. Proverbs says that a soft word can turn fierce anger and we are told not to return evil for evil but to wait upon the Lord. These are all biblical examples of being strong enough, emotionally and spiritually to ignore what isn’t important.

I do not like people being nasty to each other, but we are humans and that is part of what we are. I see it constantly even in discussion groups composed of Believers.  It isn’t good but it is what it is and it isn’t going away until the Olam Haba (world to come), so let’s stop being so sensitive and just get on with the important stuff.

The day that we can’t voice an opinion without being persecuted for it is the day we are no longer free.

Who’s Faith Saved Daniel From the Lions?

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In the Ketuvim of the Tanakh (writings in the Old Covenant) we read of Daniel. In that book Chapter 6 is the story of Daniel and the lion’s den.

Most everyone knows that story, how the other chiefs assigned to rule the kingdom of King Daryavesh tried to find some wrong with Daniel, who the king had appointed above all of them, but no matter how hard they looked couldn’t find a single thing wrong with him. So they fooled the king into issuing a decree that they knew Daniel would not follow, which was to not ask anything of any God other than the king or the king’s gods. Knowing that Daniel prayed to his God every day, after the order was signed they found Daniel praying to God while facing Jerusalem and brought him before the king. The king was forced to throw him into the lion pit. We are told how Daniel’s faith in God protected him from the lions, and the next morning when the king went to check on him Daniel was unharmed. The the king threw the other chiefs who conspired against Daniel into the pit, and they didn’t fare so well.

The bible states it was his faith in God that saved Daniel. No doubt about that. But…was it just Daniel’s faith? We are taught that, but let’s look closer at what it says in that chapter.

Starting with verse 16 in the NIV version, this is what is written:

So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”  A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed.  Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.  At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den.  When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”  Daniel answered, “May the king live forever!  My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.” The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

There is no argument that Daniel’s faith was a contributing factor, but I think we need to also consider the faith of King Daryavesh. Look at what he did after being forced to send Daniel to his death:

  1.  When he sent Daniel to the pit he acknowledged God as someone able to save;
  2.  He fasts and afflicts himself all night, which culturally was a means of sacrificing to obtain the favor of one’s god; in this case the God of Daniel;
  3.  When he goes to check on Daniel the next morning he asks if the Living God- another acknowledgement of God as unique- has been able to save Daniel;
  4.  The letter King Daryavesh sends throughout his kingdom after this further acknowledges and recognizes the God of Daniel as a powerful and living God whose kingdom will never be destroyed.

I do not think that what Daryavesh did indicates he converted, but it does show that he had faith in Daniel’s God and recognized God as an all-powerful and “true” God. I believe the humility, faith and respect Daryavesh showed for God also contributed to Daniel’s rescue.

In the Book of Daniel we see similar actions by King N’vukhadnetzer (Nebuchadnezzar), such as when he lost his sanity for 7 years and when Daniel’s friends were saved from being thrown into the fire.

This is one of the many wonderful things about our God: not only is he willing and able to save but he is also willing to accept the prayers of anyone, even those that do not worship him exclusively, so long as they come before him humbly and repentant.

God will use even those who do not worship him for good as long as they come before him respectful and humble. Daryavesh had many gods but he showed great faith in the God of Israel, which I believe contributed to the saving of Daniel from the lions.

Old Covenant for Jews; New Covenant for Christians- True or False?

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The basic understanding between Jews and Christians is that the OC (Old Covenant, or Tanakh) is for Jews and the NC (New Covenant/Testament) is for Christians. One is the Jewish Bible and the other is the Christian Bible.

I do not believe this to be true, but from a certain viewpoint the NC was written for Christians.

Before I explain why I say this, let me first identify the four different types of writings that are found in the bible:

  1. Divinely Dictated: these are writings of what God said written exactly as he said it. The best example is the 10 Commandments, written “with the finger of God.” (Exodus 31:13);
  2. Divinely Inspired: these are writings by people of what God told them to write down or repeat. Examples are the Torah and the writings of the Prophets;
  3. Divinely Based: these are writings by people to people explaining the meaning of the divinely dictated or inspired writings. The letters of the Apostles are examples of this type of writing; and
  4. Narratives: these are writings that give us a historical accounting. Examples would be the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles and the Book of Acts.

The Tanakh (OC) was written by Jews to Jews but it is for everyone in the world. God has no religion: he has his rules for how to worship him and how to treat each other. He choose Abraham’s’ descendant’s as his chosen people because of the faith of Abraham; later that faith was tested when God told Moses the children of Israel would be a nation of priests to the world (Exodus 19:6.) It is generally said God gave the Torah to the Jews, but I prefer to say God entrusted it to the Jews. It was entrusted to Jews not for their use only, but for them to learn it and live it, then teach the rest of the world how to do the same. The fact that the Torah is for everyone is undeniable because God said the Jews were to be a nation of priests: a Rabbi doesn’t teach his congregation how to be Catholic and a Priest doesn’t teach his congregation how to be Buddhists. If the Jews are God’s chosen priests to the world, and he gave them the Torah to live by, then it is clear that God wants the world to live by the Torah, too.

This is further confirmed when we read that God said those who sojourn with the Jewish people (meaning choose to live with them and adopt their lifestyle) would have the same rights as a natural born Jewish person (Lev. 24:22; Lev. 19:33), meaning not only were they legally the same but spiritually the same. As the New Covenant puts it, “adopted sons and daughters of Abraham” (Gal 3:29.) Again, if they are adopted children they are subject to the same rules of the household that the natural born children are.

The NC is different. As in the Tanakh there are some writings by Jews to Jews, and these include the books of James, Hebrews, Peter, John and Jude.  However, most of the NC (about 2/3) is composed of the letters written by Shaul, and although these were written by a Jew, they were not written to Jews- they were written to Gentiles who were learning how to be Jewish. So, as I said above, from a certain viewpoint we could make an argument that the NC is a “Christian” bible because the majority of it was written to Christians.

Both the OC and NC were written by Jews. Originally each was written to a specific group but they both are for the entire world. What went wrong was that the NC writings were difficult for the Gentiles to understand because they were written by Jews very well versed in Torah and who had a Jewish “mindset.” There were many more Gentiles that came to accept Messiah than Jews, and as the Jews that wrote these letters died off, Gentiles who did not know the Torah and had never lived a Jewish lifestyle didn’t recognize implied meanings (which Jews would understand) in these letters. Consequently, they began to interpret them incorrectly. This pollution of the original meanings culminated with Constantine and the Christian Canon he devised, which completed the separation into two religions: one that worshiped God and obeyed Torah waiting for their Messiah and one that worshiped God and accepted his Messiah but ignored the Torah.

For the record, the letters from Shaul (Paul) were instructions to Gentiles becoming Jewish advising them of the difference between legalistic Torah observance and faithful Torah obedience. The former is a Pharisaical teaching based on complete legal performance of Torah laws as the path to salvation; the latter is based on understanding that we are saved by faith and the Torah should be obeyed because it is God’s instructions to help us live a better and holier life.

There is a big difference between obeying God just to obey and obeying God as a result of faithful trust in him.

For me the Tanakh and the NC are one book: it starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation. It is the story of God and his relationship with the world, how he honored Abraham’s faith by choosing his descendants to be entrusted with the Torah so they could teach the world God’s laws and rulings that lead to eternal life (Deut. 30:15-19; Ezekiel 18:23.) The first part of the bible brings us from creation to the dispersion of the Jewish people and their hope in Messiah. The rest of the book tells us of the coming of Messiah and the spreading of God’s salvation to all people, finishing with a vision of the Olam Haba (world to come.)

One day people will recognize the OC and NC are one book for everyone. Until then each one of us must practice good exegesis; that means to read the bible remembering the four types of writings and considering what was written to whom and why. We need to maintain proper context, using hermeneutics and the culturally correct definition of words and phrases for that time. And we must read the entire bible- Genesis through Revelation. It is only when you have an understanding and knowledge of the Old Covenant that you will realize there is nothing “new” in the New Covenant.