Author: Steven R. Bruck

Parashah Va-Ethchanan 2018 (I pleaded) Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11)

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Moses is telling the people that they must remember the commandments that God has given them. He warns them against adding to or taking away from any of these commandments, as well as worshiping anything else, in any form, other than God. He also prophesies about their future, telling them that when they forget God they will be scattered throughout the earth, but when they later remember God he will gather them back into the land of their fathers.

Moses reminds them that he is not allowed to enter the land because of the incident at Meribah, and again warns them against becoming ensnared by the surrounding peoples when they enter Canaan and that those who God tells them to destroy must be destroyed completely to prevent pollution of the Holy people by pagan ways. They are not to marry or enter into covenant with any of the people living in the land now.

This parashah ends with Moses telling the people- actually, chiding them- that they need remember they aren’t in this beautiful land flowing with milk and honey because of anything they did or because they deserve it. In truth, they get to be all comfy-cozy in houses they didn’t build, with cisterns they didn’t dig out, and vineyards they didn’t plant only because God loves them.

Within this parashah are some of the most important Judaic teachings and prayers (for both Jews and Christians) found anywhere else in scripture. Specifically, I am talking about the 10 Commandments, the Shema, and the V’Ahavtah. This book is all about remembering, all about warnings to do as God commanded, and all about obedience to God in order to remain in the land. Deuteronomy can be considered the heart of all that is in the Torah, with regards to obedience and worship. It is a recap of all that happened and a prophetic warning of all that will happen once the people have settled in the land.

Of all that there is in here to talk about, what struck me today is right at the beginning, verse 3:26, which says (Chumash translation):

But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the Lord said unto me: “Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.”

This was God’s answer to Moses when he, again, pleaded with God to allow him to go over into the land. There were a few times that Moses tried to get God to change his mind regarding his judgment against Moses that he will not enter the land because of the faithlessness he showed at Meribah (Numbers 20:10-13) in front of all the people.

This reminds me of the prayer of another one of God’s people, many centuries later, who also pleaded with God for something and was told, “My Grace is sufficient for thee.”  That’s right- I am talking about 2 Corinthians 12:8 where Shaul (Paul) asked God 3 times to remove a “thorn from his side” (whatever that was) and this is what happened:

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.”

Moses showed what would be considered to be his own strength when he struck the rock, even to the point of saying “Must we bring you water out of this rock?”  Clearly, the people would have thought that it was through Moses and Aaron that the water came forth, not from God. Shaul was in a similar position, explaining that the “thorn” was placed there by God to keep him humble.

This thought, about remaining humble in the light of receiving God’s Grace and blessings, is exactly what Moses was saying to the people throughout this parashah, and continues to repeat throughout the entire book of D’Varim (Deuteronomy.) We will be blessed when we do as God commands (which he tells us later in Chapter 28) and those blessings can easily be turned into pridefulness if we forget that God is behind them.

God may give you a talent for music that makes you a big star, but with all the worldly accolades you receive will you remember that without the gift from God you wouldn’t be there?

God may give you a gift for teaching and you might have a large gathering of followers on your online ministry (I wish!), but when you are “Liked” all over FaceBook and have thousands of subscribers, will you remember that without God giving you that insight and directing people to your website, you couldn’t accomplish anything?

When we have tsouris (troubles) in our lives we are fast to go to God for help. Sometimes we may even find ourselves blaming him for letting us suffer and ask, “Why me?” when we should already know the answer. But what about when we are in the midst of blessings? When the job is good, family life is joyful, finances are secure and the car doesn’t even make funny noises anymore, do we thank God? Do we give him the credit and the glory for the wonderful life we have?

The answer to that question is one for each of us to fathom on our own. At this moment, are you thanking God for whatever is in your life now? If you are in the middle of a difficult time, can you still recognize the blessings that God has given to you? I start every prayer with a “Thank You” to God, no matter what the situation. Even if I am praying from a broken heart and in the midst of a terrible situation, I thank God for all he has already done for me and for the way he will save me from my current problems. That is the sort of faith we are supposed to have, isn’t it?

I am not saying this to puff myself up- Lord knows, as should all of you, that I confess my weaknesses often in this blog and screw things up (royally!) often enough that I am not a great example of a godly person. But this one thing I am happy to say I remember- to thank God no matter what the situation. If for no other reason, the fact that I am in that situation means I am not dead. That, alone, is something to be thankful for, although at times it doesn’t feel like it.

Let’s go forth from this moment on taking Moses’ advice to remain humble and thankful, in all situations and at all times in our life. If you can do that you will find it much easier to do as God has commanded you to do, which will result in even more blessings.

What Jews and Christians Agree on That is Wrong for Both

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How many of you have heard someone say “Jews have the Torah and Christians have the Blood of Christ” when talking about the commandments in the Torah and who is supposed to obey them? I know I have, and the general understanding is that Jews and Christians are separated by this idea that Jews need to obey the Torah but Christians don’t because Jesus died for their sins.

Both sides seem to agree to this: Jews say the New Covenant is only for Christians and Christians say the Old Covenant is only for Jews.

Jews use only the Tanakh and Christians reference the Tanakh, sometimes, but generally stay only within the New Covenant. In fact, I believe the vast majority of Christians who have been taught from the Gospels and the Epistles don’t even realize that the writers of those books and letters are all quoting from the Tanakh.

So if both Jews and Christians feel “their” Bible is only for them, why is this wrong?

Well, I’ll tell you why- because the Torah is for everyone and Yeshua died for everyone. Yeshua taught the Torah and the Apostles taught the Torah: that was the only “Bible” around. The New Covenant letters and Gospels were being written as early as the middle of the First Century but didn’t come together until around 367 C.E., nearly three centuries later.

What has happened is that the “grafted in” are trying to take over the tree, and the tree is letting them!

The Old and New Covenants are one Bible, one story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It starts with the creation of everything, then God chooses a man (Abraham) to be the father of a nation dedicated to serving God; later, God tells that nation they are to be a nation of priests to the world (Exodus 19:6) and he gives them the Torah, his User Manual (if you will) on how they should live their lives. As priests, of course, they are not only to live their lives in accordance with the Torah but they are to teach the rest of the world how to do that, as well. The story continues as we read how the people of God fail to perform their priestly duties, and after the nation suffers a civil war leaving two nations, Shomron in the North and Judah in the South, their constant sinning forces God to disperse them throughout the world. However, that isn’t the end of the story.

There has, from the beginning, been the promise of a Messiah to come and reconcile the chosen people to God, and then all the world will worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in accordance to God’s commandments (Torah) when God regathers his people into their land, Israel. The promise of a Messiah comes to fruition in the New Covenant, which is the continuation of the Old Covenant. It starts some 400 years or so after the last entries in the Tanakh and it is Yeshua who is the Messiah. As prophesied, he is not accepted by the masses although he was supernaturally born and portrayed God’s power throughout his ministry. The prophecy that all people will come to worship God begins (properly) with the Messianic Jews (early followers of Yeshua) adding to their numbers from the Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. Despite what has been taught, first century Jews that followed Yeshua never converted to Christianity because Yeshua was, is and always will be a Jew teaching the Torah. As his ministry grew in strength and numbers more and more Gentiles were added as fewer and fewer Jews came to accept him as their Messiah. I suppose at some point there had to be a limit, since there were so many more Gentiles than Jews in the world then, just as it is today.

Starting around the end of the first century, the separation of Yeshua’s followers from Judaic worship to what is today Christianity begins to really “take off” and with the Council of Nicene, Christianity is a totally different religion, persecuting the Jews and re-branding Yeshua as Jesus Christ, the blue-eyed, blond-haired Teutonic image that is what people think of today.

The story ends with the regathering of the Jewish people to their homeland and the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) that we read about in Revelation. And, when all is said and done, all people will recognize and proclaim Yeshua as the Messiah and worship God on his Holy Mountain in Jerusalem (the new Jerusalem) as God told us we should, which is found (you guessed it!) in the Torah.

So, nu? What’s my point? My point is this: we need to bridge that gap that people created which God never intended to exist. We need to overcome the bigotry and hatred between Jews and Christians and realize that there is one God who does not have any religion, just laws, commandments, rules, ordinances, and regulations that tell us how we are to worship him and how we are to treat each other.

One God, one set of laws, one people under God and one Messiah for all. The separation between Jews and Christians serves only to help the enemy of God to be able to take over the world. Anyone, therefore, who promulgates that Jews and Christians should remain separated and that following the Torah is no longer valid or needed is an agent of Satan, whether or not that person realizes it.

If you are Christian, read the whole Bible and you will see there is nothing “new” in the New Covenant. If you are Jewish, rebuke the bigotry and fear that Jews have of the New Covenant. Read a Messianic version of the New Covenant (NOT the King James version, please!) and see that what Yeshua said was not in any way different from what Moses said. Yeshua taught the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Mosaic law by using a Drash to teach the Remes (look up the exegesis system called PaRDes to see what I am talking about) but never, ever taught against the Torah. He couldn’t! He was and still is, the Living Torah.

For Jews that are waiting for Messiah, you must be open to the idea that maybe, just maybe, he already came and he will be coming back. You can still wait, and I pray you accept him when he returns, or you can open your heart and mind and just simply study about Yeshua now. Remember, the Talmud talks about the Messiah as the Son of Joseph and also as the Son of David, indicating two separate Messianic occurrences.

For Christians, you must be open to hearing that the Torah is what Yeshua taught and the Canon of Modern Christianity is not what Yeshua taught but what Constantine created. You need to read the Old Covenant to really be able to understand what Yeshua was teaching and accept that following the Torah isn’t just for Jews.

Yeshua is Messiah to the world: Jews, Gentiles, Buddhist, Muslims ….everyone! God has no religion and when all is said and done, we who will survive through faith will worship God in the way he instructed his chosen nation of priests to teach us.

Should We Forgive Abusers?

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As I have often said, I read Dear Abby every day because it provides great fodder for spiritual understanding and teaching.

Recently someone wrote to her who had been abused as a child by her family, and now as an adult and parent is asking how she should react to those who constantly tell her that she should try to reconcile with her family.  Abby answered that when one has been abused they do “NOT” have to forgive the abusers.

Those who are God-fearing should know better than to follow that advice. True, it is hard to forgive someone who has damaged you, whether it be physically and/or emotionally. The pain and anger, unresolved anger, is very hard to live with and even more difficult to get over. In truth, I don’t think we ever really get “over” it, we just learn to get past it.

Yet God tells us that forgiveness is what we must do. We are told to be holy as God is holy, and part of what God does is forgive. He forgives because he is a compassionate and loving God, yet if we do not ask for forgiveness, it will not be given automatically. The reason for that is simple: if we do not ask to be forgiven, that means we aren’t repentant for the sin we committed, and God will not forgive an unrepentant sinner.

Here’s is the thing about forgiveness that (I believe) many people do not understand: forgiving someone else for a sin they committed against you does not make them right with God but it does make you right with God. Each and every one of us must ask God to forgive us for the sin(s) we commit. I can ask God to forgive others, but if they are unrepentant it doesn’t seem likely that God will forgive them. We can ask him to be merciful, but God will judge fairly and mercifully, anyway, whether or not we ask him to do so. What is good about us asking God to forgive or be merciful is that we can show God we are forgiving of others.

Yeshua tells us in Matthew 6:14 that if we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven. OUCH!! That means that we must forgive if we are to maintain our salvation.

That’s right- it sounds bad and is a hard word to hear, but it’s right there in the Bible. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. We are also told that the rod we use to measure out others will be used to measure us (Matthew 7:2), which is another way of saying the same thing. If we judge others unfairly and refuse to forgive them, that is how we will be judged and how we will receive forgiveness (or not.)

There is another aspect of forgiveness that (I believe) many people do not know: the only way to make the pain go away is to forgive! Without forgiveness, the pain will never go away. Even when you do forgive, it will take time. I try to remember that I need to pray for those that have sinned against me (per Yeshua’s command in Matthew 5:44), and when I pray for them I find that it is easier to forgive them.

The old adage, “To err is human; to forgive, divine” is absolutely correct, and totally biblical.

Usually, Dear Abby’s advice is on the mark, and I understand that her column is not a religious one, but it sure would be nice if she was less PC and more GC (God Correct) for then her advice would be truly good advice.

Reporting That I Have Nothing to Report

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Sometimes you just don’t have anything to say. That is a rarity in my case, but still and all I haven’t had any real inspiration for today’s message.

Maybe that is a message in itself- when you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Often we have to comfort those in pain and don’t really know what to say, so to break that uncomfortable silence we say something. And how many times have you done that and wished you could take back whatever it was you said, the moment the words came out of your mouth? I know that has happened to me.

I once joked around with one of my sister-in-law’s and she was upset with the joking around. I apologized but she was too angry to even care- that was about 6 years ago and she is still angry and won’t talk to me. Not only that, but her sister (my wife, Donna) once slapped her arm forgetting that it had just been operated on. It wasn’t a hard slap, but S-I-L took it as an attack and still isn’t really talking to her- and it’s been nearly 10 years now!  It is so sad that some people are just so unforgiving that they destroy the relationships in their life. She may be mad at us and it does hurt, but not because of what she is doing to us as much as what she is doing to herself.  Donna and I feel, unfortunately, that we aren’t missing anything if that’s the way she wants to be. The only one my S-I-L really hurts by being so hateful and unforgiving is herself.

You can’t fence someone out without fencing yourself in at the same time.

So, nu?  Just now I found a message for us all: Be forgiving and work on strengthening relationships instead of destroying them. Most importantly, remember that God tells us the measuring stick we use on others is the one he will use on us (Matthew 7:2: “ For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”)

That passage should scare the heck out of anyone who believes in God.

Parashot Mattot / Massai 2018 (Tribes / Stages) Numbers 30:2 – 36

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These parashot (the Hebrew plural for parashah) cover a number of different issues. We start with the making of vows by women, and how those vows are either allowed to stand or are nullified by the dominant male in the family, be that the father of a single woman or girl living under his roof or a husband.

Moshe is commanded to have Israel attack Midian before he dies, and 12,000 Israelites attack and kill thousands upon thousands of Midianite men, the 5 kings, and Balaam. Afterward, it is found that not one Israelite died in the battle from which hundreds of thousands of animals and people were captured. The booty was then shared among all the people, with a tithing made to the Levites and to God.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh ask Moses if they can remain on the east side of the Jordan River because the land is perfect for cattle, and they are cattlemen. Moses is at first upset that they refuse to enter the land, but after they agree to help the other tribes settle the land before they settle down on the east side, Moses acquiesces and allows them to stay in that land.

The second parashah contains God’s commands for the distribution of the land among the 12 tribes. The leaders of each tribe, the boundaries for each tribe, the commandment to give land to the Levites and the rules regarding the Cities of Refuge are specified here.

Finally, the daughters of Zelophehad are brought before Moses with the concern that if they marry outside their tribe the tribal property they inherit will be forfeited. It is commanded that they marry inside their tribe and that no tribe should marry outside so that the lands inherited by a tribe remain always with that tribe.

As I was reading through these Torah portions one word kept coming to mind: accountability.

The father and the husband are responsible to either let the woman’s vow stand or be nullified. Their responsibility is not without accountability: if they do not nullify the vow the moment they hear it, but decide later to nullify it, then the sin of breaking a vow is on their head, not the one who made it. They are responsible to allow or deny the vow, and with that responsibility comes accountability for failing to act correctly.

When the Israelites returned from the war against Midian, they had captured women that were not virgins. Moses was very upset that these women who led the people into sin at Pe’or were not killed. But he was upset with the leaders, the captains of hundreds and thousands, and not with the soldiers. It was the leadership which was held accountable for the actions of those whom they were responsible for.

When Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh asked to stay on the east side of the Jordan River, Moses held them accountable to ensure that the other tribes received their inheritance first.

Finally, when the land was divided among the 12 Tribes, each tribe was accountable to provide a portion of their land to the Levites, some of which would be assigned as a City of Refuge.

We are given many wonderful things by God: physically, financially and (most important) spiritually. And for all that we receive, we are also held accountable to use it properly and in accordance with God’s commandments. Too many churches have preached a “Once Saved, Always Saved” program of salvation, which creates a lack of accountability. If I can ask forgiveness one time, then never have to ask forgiveness again because once I am saved I will automatically be saved, then how can I feel accountable for the sins I commit later? And if I don’t have accountability, then how can I feel repentance? What I am saying is this: if I am automatically forgiven for any sin I commit for the rest of my life, then I stop asking for forgiveness. That leads to my not feeling concerned or upset when I sin, and that has to prevent me from feeling repentance in my heart. Does anyone who is reading this really believe that an unrepentant sinner will be allowed into God’s presence?

Of course not! We are saved when we ask for forgiveness in Yeshua’s name, but we are not automatically forgiven every sin we commit from that point on. When we are forgiven our sins (which are the ones we have collected to that point), they are what is “nailed to the Cross” that Shaul refers to in Colossians 2:13-14:

When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Messiah. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the execution stake! 

This passage is very often misunderstood to mean that the requirement to obey Torah was done away with when Yeshua was crucified. That is a lie from the very pit of Sheol. God wants us to act in a godly way- how many times throughout the Tanakh does God tell us that we should “Be thou holy as I am holy?” If we do not act in a holy way, how can we be holy? And if we do not have rules, ordinances, and mitzvot (laws)  to follow, then how can we know what is holy and what is not? That is why Shaul tells us (in Romans, Chapter 7) that the Torah created sin: the Torah tells us what is right and what is wrong.

Salvation is the gift of God which we can now only receive through the sacrificial death of Yeshua the Messiah. When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, because the Torah commanded the sin sacrifice must be done at that temple, we had no path to salvation. Yeshua replaced the step in the sacrificial system that required bringing a sacrifice to the Temple, and that is why through him we can receive forgiveness.

BUT– that doesn’t mean we aren’t still held accountable for what we say and do every day for the rest of our life. We must still be holy as God is holy, and the only way to do that is to obey the Torah. God gave the Torah to the Jews to bring to the world because it is the ultimate User Manual for attaining holiness.

As you life your life, remember that we are always held accountable: our bosses hold us accountable to produce our work as they want it to be done; our spouses hold us accountable to our vows to love, cherish, honor and remain loyal to each other; and God holds us accountable to obey his commandments and repent of our sins every single time we sin. Salvation saves us from the eternal consequences of our sins, but it doesn’t relieve us of accountability for what we do and say.

With these last two parashot we come to the end of the Book of Numbers, and at the end of each book of the Torah tradition says we repeat the following:

Hazak! Hazak! v’nit’chazek! 

(Be strong! Be strong! And let us be strengthened!)

 

Be Careful What You Ask For

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I love golf. I have been playing since I was a teenager. For about 30 years I didn’t swing a club and now that I am retired, I am able to get back into the game.

My game hasn’t been as good as it was: no surprise there. However, I should be capable of playing what we call “Bogie Golf” and I am getting closer to that goal.

What’s this got to do with anything? I’m getting to that.

When I pray, I constantly ask God for better self-control so that I can pray as David prayed: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to Thee, oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer”  “(Psalm 19:14.)  I have often written how God always answers prayer, and sometimes (in my life) he has told me that when I ask him to change me that he will, but I have to work at it, too. I have to learn to call on his Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit) to help me achieve that change. This is what happened to me earlier this week while playing a round of golf- God answered my prayer by giving me the opportunity to practice self-control. Here’s what happened…

I was playing a pretty good game for our 9-hole round (league play) but starting at the 6th hole I screwed up a number of shots and ended up with a really bad score for that hole. I got a little teed-off at myself, and from that point on the game went downhill at an alarming speed until I ended up with a score that was nearly 10 strokes higher than I usually get. For 9 holes, no less!

I was angry, using language I shouldn’t, and smacking my club into the ground (at least I wasn’t throwing it like I did when I was a teenager.) I was also embarrassed because later, after cooling down a bit, I realized that I failed to do what God had been giving me a chance to do- be acceptable before him, and also honor him by acting in a way that others would see my self-control, which is one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23.)

Needless to say, I apologized to my golf partner for my actions next time we got together, which was two days later to play on a different course.

I am patient with others when I teach but I confess I have little patience with myself, never accepting less than what I think I should be able to do. So, on my way to this next game, I was praying and asking forgiveness for my lack of self-control. I also asked God to continue to help me, and that’s when I knew, yes I just knew, that I was going to have another bad game.  Not that I wanted another bad game but I knew that even though he is God of all the universe, he would give me another chance to show that I could pass the test. Which meant that, no matter how hard I tried, I was going to hit into the water, duff shots that I shouldn’t duff, find nearly every sand trap on the course and probably end up with another really lousy score.

But this time I was ready for it!

(I did have a lousy score, again, but not as bad as the other day and this time I maintained my self-control throughout it all.)

This story is the reason today’s message is about being careful what you ask for. God always answers prayer: sometimes it is “OK”; sometimes it is “OK, but not now”; and other times it is just plain “NO!” The tricky part is that when God is willing to answer our prayers, his answer isn’t always what we expect or when we expect it, but it is always just what we need, just when we need it. God answered my prayer to have better self-control by giving me the opportunity to work on it through my golf game. At first, I didn’t realize this, and that is why I failed so miserably at it. Through more prayer and the leading of the Ruach, I was able to discern what really happened that day I did so poorly: God was answering my prayer. I asked, he answered and I messed it all up. I wanted God to just intervene, to just re-wire my brain-housing group so that I would automatically have better self-control so I could be more like he wants me to be.

I forgot how a long time ago when I asked God to change the way I think about something, he gave me this answer: “It doesn’t work that way.” He gave me the insight to see that the way it’s done is we each have to work at those things we ask God to change in ourselves. It is up to us to work with God to make that change happen. And God will provide the opportunity, which is why we need to remember that through the experience of having tsouris in our life, even something as insignificant as a golf game, we can learn how to channel his Spirit to overcome our troubles.

I am somewhat proud to say that I was able to figure this one out fairly quickly and hope that going forward I will remember when I ask God for something to remain always on the alert for his answer.

I recommend that you do the same.