Author: Steven R. Bruck

Can’t let This One Go (Amended)

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The original post had a mistake- I did not mention that Cruz had already been expelled before he went on his shooting spree. I have corrected the parts of this blog that were incorrect.

I don’t want to be political on this blog but I can’t let this one go.

The Florida Today paper has an article about the man (he is over 18) who killed the 17 people at the high school earlier this month (Feb/18) which says the school he attended wanted to have him transferred to another school that specializes in mental health issues since 2017.

Ever since 2013 Cruz (the confessed killer) had been a problem and well-known in his school for having severe mental health issues, such as swallowing gasoline and cutting himself. A mobile crisis team from a state funded organization, called Henderson Behavioral Services, in 2016 advised that Cruz was not a danger to himself or others because he was on a treatment plan for ADHD, depression, OCD and autism.

Not a danger? This kid was a walking parade of paranoia!! How could they say he wasn’t a danger to anyone simply because he was on a treatment plan? How many patients don’t follow their plan? What if someone had TB, a highly contagious disease and was taking medication: wouldn’t they still be dangerous to others? Until the TB was totally cured, they would still be contagious, right? But with mental illness, which isn’t contagious but still is dangerous, if you’re on a treatment plan then what? You’re suddenly OK? If he hadn’t been on a plan, would they have then restrained him for his own and other’s safety, or would they put him on a plan?

Either way it sounds like sweeping something under the rug.

But wait! It get’s worse…from 2014 through 2015 Cruz attended the other school and had no recorded incidents, but in 2013 at another school he had some 29 incidents, from unruly behavior to fighting.

In 2016 Henderson Behavioral received some $22 Million dollars on grants from the state to prevent people from being incorrectly hospitalized. To me that says that if they want to keep getting money, they need to keep recommending people do NOT  get hospitalized. 

They did that in Cruz’s case, and 17 people are now dead.

The defense wants to state that because Cruz wasn’t given the proper treatment by social workers and school counselors he should be spared the death sentence. In other words, they are saying that the “system” (my quotes) failed to help this boy (who committed the crimes when he was a man, legally) so the courts should take pity on him.

I say that if we hold the system responsible, in any way, then the system should also be held accountable in the same way.

Those people at Henderson who said Cruz wasn’t a danger to anyone should be charged with malpractice, and maybe even accomplice to murder, after the fact. If a medical doctor performs surgery or gives a misdiagnosis to someone, they are held accountable, legally, so why not the people at Henderson? Psychiatry is a science, is it not? As such, just like with the medical sciences, those that practice this science should be a held accountable when they make significant mistakes that result in harm or death.

Everyone is screaming about gun control, but the real cause of this heinous crime has nothing to do at all with guns- it is a combination of the lack of accountability for certain professional services and (I am sure somewhere in this debacle) it is also about money.

What if Henderson was given $22 Million dollars to properly treat mental illness instead of keeping the mentally ill “on the streets?”  Would there be 17 less graves in Florida today?

I say bring the people who misdiagnosed Cruz to justice, too. If people are not held accountable for what they do and say, then society will always be the victim of that irresponsible attitude.

Let’s bring God into this picture. The bible is clear that we ARE responsible for what we do and say: the watchmen in the the towers were held responsible for failing to warn the people of impending attack; the Prophets were held accountable if they didn’t warn the people what would happen if they fail to turn back to God; the Cohanim (Priests) were held accountable for failing to teach the people proper worship; and the King, himself, was held accountable for leading the people into sin. When the king, cohanim, prophets and watchmen (as in Shomron, the Northern Kingdom of Israel) all worked together to protect themselves and take advantage of their position (money, again) the innocent people of that society were the ultimate victims.

I am not saying Cruz is a victim of society’s failure, I am saying that the professionals who are paid to protect society from people like Cruz failed society- this isn’t society failing Cruz, it is society failing itself because we are more concerned with the rights of those that are anti-social then the rights of those that are law-abiding.

And that is totally against the bible, which is very, VERY clear we are to serve righteousness and remove sin from our presence. Cruz needed to be removed from the mainstream: that should have been (and I personally believe WAS) evident to everyone involved in this miscarriage of justice since 2013. But nobody did the right thing, and now 17 lives are lost and others traumatized because of the failure to act justly – not justly to one, but justly to everyone!

Here’s the last thing I want to point out: the paper reports that the county superintendent stated Cruz couldn’t be transferred to a school he didn’t want to go to because once he had turned 18 they are not legally able to force an adult to receive services. His history proved that he was not just a threat to himself and to others, but represented an escalating threat, yet no one made sure he was where he really needed to be- under the care of a professional mental health organization and safely away from society.  Yes, they kicked him out of school but that didn’t prevent him from shooting people. If the proper people had properly attended to him before he reached majority and made sure he was placed in a secured location receiving the help he needed, there would be 17 more students at the school today.

We have become a nation of people who see everyone as a victim and as such we feel they aren’t responsible, or at least should be given some level of mercy for society’s lack of help. HORSE APPLES!  I am sure that once we start to hold people legally accountable for their words and actions we will see fewer problems occurring. The bible teaches us to watch what we say and what we do, and that those who are a danger to society should be kept “outside of the camp.” In modern terms, that would mean some place where their mental issues could be properly treated. The ACLU will fight against that one, I am sure, and that is OK because that’s their claim to fame.

My position is that gun control is not an issue here- what really is the issue is that we need to get our society to concern itself with protecting the general populace and not to protect the individuals who have shown themselves to be a threat to society.

And I admit I don’t have the answer to this next question: how do we properly and fairly identifying the problem? That is going to be a problem.

The Other Side of the Doom and Gloom

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OK, OK…yes, I have been a little on the “It’s the end of the world” tirade lately. I have been told by my older sister, who one always has to listen to, that I need to “lighten up”, so let’s see what the balance scales have against the doom and gloom of God’s judgement on the nations.

Hey, guess what? It’s pretty good stuff on the other side! Those who have accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah; who worship God as He has commanded (that means obeying the Torah); who live their lives always repentant of their sins; who are trying to follow the leading of the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) which they accepted when they asked God for it as part of their forgiveness prayer…all those people are going to be spending eternity in total joy and peace, basking in the presence of the Almighty.

Now they will have to go through tribulations- not everyone will be lucky enough to escape this. God promises He will judge the nations in the Acharit haYamim (End Dyas) and I DO believe we are in them, now. The astrological signs (4 blood moons in a single year in 2017), the significant climatic changes we are seeing and the world-wide social unrest are all signs that we have been warned about from the Prophets in the Tanakh all the way through the Bible, including the letters from Shaul (Paul) and John’s recording of his vision in the book of Revelation.

It is happening now, it’s going to get worse and it is not going to be fun for anyone.

The good news is that for those of us who are God-fearing and working through our salvation, we will live past this event. We will not suffer the second death or be left in the cold and dark where people gnash their teeth. We will be presented before the Judge of All Things, the Lord, God and have at our side Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) to represent us. God will not see our unworthiness but rather Messiah’s righteousness in us. We will be absolved, forgiven and welcomed into the presence of the Lord. Forever.

No more tears, no more sickness, no more disparity, no more suffering. Now that’s what I call a good word!

Going forward let’s recall what every Prophet in the Tanakh did when they spoke God’s warning to repent: they started off relating God’s promises of punishment for those who choose to reject His commandments, specifying the horrors that will befall them (that’s the doom and gloom), then they ended with a word of comfort for those who will choose repentance (REAL repentance), confirming for them that God promises they will have joy and eternal peace.

God tells us in Ezekiel 18:32 what He wants:

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

God’s judgement on those that have rejected Him will be terrible, and His blessings for those that worship Him will be wonderful.

Like the bank commercial that asks, “What’s in your wallet?” I am asking you now: “What’s in your heart?”

More Gloom and Doom to Report

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I feel a little like Jeremiah; he never had anything really good to talk about, either.

I was reading the paper this morning and decided that I should add a new viewpoint to my messages- showing where God is NOT in the news. I believe by seeing where we leave God out of our society we can get a better idea of where we need to add Him back in.

So, in this light, today I was reading about the aftermath of the mass shooting on this past Valentine’s Day here in Florida. Governor Scott has called a roundtable committee to discuss different actions that we should take to help prevent this sort of atrocity from happening. Here’s one thing that really scared me about the report: a psychologist from Florida State University College of Medicine has stated that by looking at the family history we may be able to predict the mental illness of the child and proactively act upon that. The paper reported she said that we can “predict pretty well which families will have this forward trajectory even before the child is born.”

I don’t know about you, but that scares the HE(double-hockey-sticks) out of me. Someone will be evaluating pregnant women and determine that the child will be mentally ill?  Who can do that? And if they do, then what? Should the child be placed in a program for the mentally ill and/or have his (or her) rights restricted? Does that sound good to you?

I also read today that yesterday in a Florida middle school some students were making jokes about shooting up the school. It was heard, reported and those two boys were taken into custody by the police. Now, what they did was totally stupid (if I was “PC” I would have said “inappropriate”, but it was STUPID), yet these are middle school aged boys- stupid is what we are at that age. I believe they should have been chewed out by the Principal and their parents should have been called in to take them home for that day. Do you think the school overreacted?  And if you don’t, do you think that in an atmosphere of fear that eventually people will tend to overreact? Isn’t that what history shows us does happen?

What I see happening here is that the government of the United States, at all levels, is advocating that everyone report about anyone who they think is a threat.

Sound familiar?

In major transportation hubs there are signs and announcements telling the people to report anything that they see as suspicious; schools are telling the students to report on anything they see or hear that they think is suspicious; and when we add the recent flurry of sexual harassment charges and the current (pardon the expression) exposure of this problem, more and more people are being sensitized to be afraid of almost anything anyone may say.

Here’s the doom and gloom- it will get worse. This is all a set-up for the enemy to take complete charge of our lives. We cannot overtake this, we cannot resolve it, and we cannot avoid it.

See why I feel like Jeremiah?

The enemy will rule by fear and intimidation, and this will not come from him (or maybe her) directly, but from each one of us. Just like in Nazi Germany, where children reported their parents and neighbors couldn’t were afraid that someone might say something that will get them in trouble, the atmosphere of fear and distrust is exactly what will help the enemy take charge.

This is also the kind of environment where people can “rat out” anyone that they have a personal grudge against.

I am not a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and neither am I a Libertarian, but I am someone who believes what I read in the Bible, and all this makes sense to me as a sign of the events yet to come that we are told about in God’s word. I am not saying there is no hope- what I am saying is that the only hope we have is in God. We must strengthen our faith and help lead others to God and Messiah as things worsen. We need to stop wasting energy, time and money trying to fix what God has decreed will happen, and get to work trying to save as many as we can, while we still have the time.

I am no Jeremiah and I do not profess to be a Prophet, but I do think I am on the right track when I say we need to prepare for what is coming because we cannot get out of the way.

I see the writing on the wall- do you?

Sheep Without a Shepherd

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Do any of you read Dear Abby? Or maybe Ask Ann Landers? I read these every morning, but not because I like to get some voyeuristic pleasure from sharing other’s problems with their lives. I see it as a thermometer, measuring the degree to which people in our society have no guidance, mostly regarding interpersonal relationships.

Often I get inspiration from the multitude of personal issues people present publically to a total stranger. I am always thinking of one of my favorite verses from the Tanakh, Hosea 4:6:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

The knowledge they lack is the knowledge of God, the knowledge that comes from reading His Word every day, the understanding of the human condition that we see exemplified through the stories in the Bible. This is important stuff!

I feel saddened and frustrated when I read the almost inane situations people get themselves into; and then, as if they haven’t hurt themselves enough already, they go to Ann or Abby for help. For the record? I’ve got nothing against Ann or Abby. I think, overall, they do a wonderful job. And even though I wish they had more spiritual answers, they are usually spot on with their advice.

However, I can’t help thinking that if the people who write these letters stopped asking humans and went to God for help, they would find that God has the best answers.  All the time.

So, nu?  What can we do? We can make ourselves available to our own family and friends, to let them know that we have the same problems in our life but we also have the best answers, Then show them where the answers to their problems are found in the Bible.  When we relate our own story, not forcing it on anyone but just using it as an example of what worked for us, we can lead them to a better answer, a greener pasture.

And we should be prepared to be rejected and (maybe even) laughed at. That goes along with the territory and is part of the job when you live your life to help others.

Life is tough; there are many times we get ourselves into a situation we don’t want to be in. And when we are there, we cannot fathom how to get out of it.

That’s when we need to go to God. As we read in Matthew 19:26:

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Be a good shepherd to your family and friends and lead them to the answers they really need, which are always found in the Bible.

Parashah Terumah (offering) Exodus 25:1 – 27:19

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Shabbat shalom! Donna and I are back from our trip to England, where we celebrated our 20th anniversary together with friends. I didn’t post anything during  that week, and now am getting back into the swing of things. I posted a little montage of our trip on the Picture Album page and hope you have the time to check it out.

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We are in the part of Exodus where the rest of this book is a description of the making of the Sanctuary. It is somewhat tedious to go through, as the details are very specific, but this is something that as we read through we need to look past what is written. In other words, read the P’shat but ask the Ruach ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit) to show you the Remes, the underlying meaning (if there is one- not everything has to have a deeper meaning) of what spiritual message there might be for us.

Parashah Terumah starts with God instructing Moses on the making of the Sanctuary and the items for the Sanctuary. This includes the ark of the covenant, the menorah, altar, tables, items necessary for the sacrifice, and the tent itself, including the support bars and their sockets. If we look at the instructions for items that are going to be in the section called the Holy of Holies, then work our way outwards to the outer court, we see the materials to be used are different based on where they are located. Those closest to the Holy of Holies are to be overlaid and made of pure gold, and the materials for the tent are to be the finest woven linen.  As we move outward, the sockets and rings for the tent supports are made of silver, and the tent itself from goat hairs and rams skins. As we reach the outermost court, the sockets are brass and the tent is from tanned skins.

So what does this mean to us? For me, it means that to come closer to God we need to be made more pure. We all start out at the farthest edge from God, being born into original sin with the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) the Talmud describes. When we are of the age to decide, we decide how much closer we want to come to God. When we choose to be closer to God, we begin a lifelong trek that goes from the outer court to the inner court to the Holy of Holies. This is a spiritual trip, which as we travel we change from brass to silver to gold.

This sounds nice, but there is a catch: purification is a process that involves heat and stress.  You don’t go from brass to gold without suffering through a lot of T’souris first.

The choice to get closer to God is not an easy one to make, right from the start, because most everyone you know will think you are in a cult or just crazy, and they will try to dissuade you from it. I used to wonder why someone would do that. Then, as I grew more spiritually aware it became very clear to me why: someone who is God-fearing reminds those who aren’t how wrong they are.

Shaul (Paul) tells us this in 2 Corinthians, 15-16:  For we are to God the sweet aroma of Messiah among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are an odor of death and demise; to the other, a fragrance that brings life. 

I believe that we all are born into original sin, but because we are made in the image of God we also have an innate knowledge of the existence of God. It is deep in our DNA, and we sense it when we ignore God. Oh, yes, we excuse it away, we rationalize disobedience, and we tell ourselves it is just religious rhetoric. We do that because we hate to think we aren’t in charge of ourselves.

In truth, in the most important way there is, we are in charge of ourselves: we have Free Will. And we are allowed to use that Free Will to choose whether we will be a slave to God or a slave to the world (sin.) The truth that no one wants to hear is that we are slaves, and the only real choice we have is to accept the lie of freedom that the enemy offers (which is slavery to sin and eternal damnation), or the truth that we must submit to God, who is a benevolent master and who wants us to have eternal peace and joy.

God wants everyone to be closer to Him. Both those that love and worship Him, and those that hate and reject Him. God wants all His children to have eternal life. But- He is still God, and holy, and to get closer to Him we need to become holier.

Yeshua made getting closer to God much easier: He blazed a pathway for us that wasn’t possible before. When you accept Yeshua as your Messiah, by His sacrifice receive God’s Grace and decide to obey Torah as God commanded you, you start a lifelong passage from brass to silver to gold.

And as you get closer to God, you will be more blessed and joyful and secure than you could ever have imagined.

As we say today, you’ll be “golden!”

 

Signs of the Times

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There was a mass shooting at a Florida school yesterday, February 14, 2018.

It is reported there were 17 injured, some who have died, and the shooter is a kid who had been expelled from the school.

This is a terrible thing, and we see these horrible events happening more and more often; and not just across America, but throughout the world.

It is also the sign of the times. Yeshua told us we can tell the weather but cannot see the signs of the times.

As we suffer more and more of these types of anarchy, what people will call for will be a beneficial despot, one with the power to fight anarchy with total control.

Just what the enemy is waiting for.