That’s the question we all ask ourselves, eventually, when we feel there is something acting as a wedge between ourselves and God.

At my place of worship we have some people who are unhappy with the changes we are making; we are fine-tuning our mission statement, reevaluating what we are about, and trying to grow. Lately some of the more “spiritual” people feel there is something preventing us from experiencing the fullness of God’s spirit during our worship.

Someone suggested it may be unrepentance, and that could be true- I don’t doubt that sin in someone’s life from which they do not repent would definitely be a barrier in their relationship with God. Because we are all parts of the body of Messiah, sin within our ranks could prevent the congregation from experiencing the fullness of God’s spirit in our corporate worship.

But if there is sin that has occurred, I don’t think unrepentance is as damaging as unforgiveness. After all, God designed an entire process for repentance- wholly burned sacrifice, thanksgiving sacrifice, sin, guilt, communal and individual sacrifices- all designed to allow us to demonstrate our repentance and, thereby, receive forgiveness.

But when it comes down to it, do you recall anywhere in the bible where God commands us to be repentant?  It seems to me repentance is more of an assumed attitude- God has told us how to repent, in which manner for which particular type of sin, and what we must do to receive the forgiveness it is assumed we want.

But, again I ask, do you recall anywhere God commands us to be repentant? He tells us how to repent, but does He ever say, “You are commanded to repent!”

The Prophets do tell us we need to repent, very often, and they do speak God’s word, but (again) I say this is not a commandment, it is a warning. It is a request, albeit a really stern one, to change our ways to prevent the inevitable consequences of our actions. God is asking us to repent, He is telling us, through His prophets, that we need to repent to avoid His righteous punishment. We must repent to be forgiven, but it is not a command.

Forgiveness, on the other hand, is something we are commanded to do. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-16) we are told that the way to pray includes that we must request to be forgiven as we forgive others, which means if we don’t forgive, we will not be forgiven.  In fact, in verse 15 of that prayer Yeshua tells us that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. That sounds to me more like a commandment than a warning.

The Tanakh tells us to love our neighbors, to treat foreigners well, and Yeshua further defines that to say we should not judge our brothers (and sisters) unless we have judged ourselves first. He also said that when we hate in our hearts we have committed murder, and in Matthew 18:21 when Kefa (Peter) asks how many times must he forgive someone who asks for forgiveness, Yeshua says (essentially) every time the person asks.

Notice that Kefa doesn’t ask how many times should he seek forgiveness, but how many times should he forgive? The emphasis, the action, is not repentance but forgiveness! Kefa knew that Yeshua wanted what the Father wants, which is forgiveness first. Yes, we should be repentant- David tells us (in Psalm 51) that God will not reject a broken spirit and a contrite heart, i.e. a repentant person, yet Yeshua tells us God will reject an unforgiving person!

Repentance is absolutely necessary to attain forgiveness because, if for no other reason, as willing as God is to forgive our sins and as easy as it is to receive forgiveness (thanks to Yeshua), we will not have it until we ask for it. And, since God isn’t stupid or able to be fooled, we will receive forgiveness when we ask for it, for real.

Repentance is necessary for forgiveness, and forgiveness is necessary for salvation.

Salvation starts with repentance, no doubt, but it is achieved with forgiveness- God will forgive us when we are repentant and ask for it, but if we are unwilling to forgive others we can throw away the salvation God has given to us.

Read Matthew 18:23-35, which is the parable about the man who owed much and was forgiven his debt, then refused to forgive the much smaller debt someone else owed to him. What happened when the Master heard about the unforgiveness of the servant? He remanded his forgiveness and had the servant thrown in jail until all his debt was paid. The man who had been forgiven, but refused to forgive, caused his forgiveness to be reversed. His sin of unforgiveness destroyed his salvation.

Salvation is something God will not take back, but it is something that we can throw away by purposefully continuing to lead a sinful life, and when it comes to sin, unforgiveness is a BIG one!

The Senior Pastor, myself (I am also on the Board) and those who we met with last week to discuss these changes will all be fasting and praying from Tuesday night until Wednesday night, when we will meet at the house of one of these people to break fast together. I pray that God will lead us to the answer why people feel spiritually “stymied”, and I am hoping that it is not unforgiveness in the hearts of some of the people, but something simpler to overcome.

Yeshua said that before we tell our brother about the splinter in his eye we should first remove the log in our own eye (Luke 6:42), so I ask that you look deeply into your own heart, pray that God will open your eyes and remove whatever plank there may be in it, and determine whether or not your forgiveness of others is equal to the forgiveness you have received.

Repentance is the first step to attaining salvation, but it’s your forgiveness of others that will secure it.

I have said often that the only thing I do with newspapers is read the comics and work the Word puzzles. Yet, even though I know the news is always the same- bad- I can’t help but see the headlines.

Recently there have been random murders, from some nut-case opening up on gay club patrons to another kook walking into a hospital to shoot two people that just happened to be there. Cops shooting people without just cause (allegedly) and people executing cops randomly as revenge. And the cops that were killed had nothing at all to do with the shooting that (apparently) motivated it.

The bible tells us that lawlessness is sin, and that in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) there will be lawlessness, godlessness and other atrocities. If we read the papers, listen to the news, or just talk to people, it seems to be getting worse.

The End Days are not coming- they have begun.

I see a pattern forming; I have talked about it in this blog before. I have warned about the video games that teach murder, stealing and other godless activities are how you gain points; I have talked about the way TV and movies make satanic beings more acceptable, even desirable (because of their power); I now add that these random acts of violence are also a part, the next step (so to speak), in the enemy’s plan to prepare his way to overthrow the world.

Here’s how it works: when people are taught that shooting, stabbing and other forms of hurting people are how you gain power and importance, the next thing that happens is that this form of lawlessness leads to anarchy. Anarchy comes about when people refuse to accept or abide by the basic rules of society. Anarchy creates an environment of distrust and unrest, which cries out for leadership. Not just leadership, but strong leadership, as during the days after World War I in Germany (we all know what that led to.)

A nation in turmoil, with murders, crime, economic woes and other societal ills, needs a strong, passionate and powerful leader to put an end to the suffering of the people. That environment is rolling out the Red Carpet for the Antichrist.

The lawlessness described above will have to result in despotism; the establishment of strong leadership that will resort to using martial law to combat the rampant lawlessness.  To make the lawlessness come under control the people will be more than willing to put up with the restrictions on their freedom. And what’s worse is that once people feel safe again, even though they are under the despotic rule of the Antichrist, they will not only accept it, they will be grateful for it.

During the Tribulation there will be a single world government (United Nations), a single world economy (European Common Market) and a single world religion (which religion currently is growing larger than all others?) And there will be only one man (or woman, who knows?) at the top. We all know who I mean. At the start there will be legal justification for the rise to power because of the rampant lawlessness, and because of the needs of the people for a leader that is all-powerful and (seemingly) compassionate as well, the Antichrist will slowly take over the world.

When you study Eschatology, you learn that the Son of Perdition will have great power, do miracles, and have minions that perform wonders in his name. There will be those who stand against him, but they will have limited success and, eventually, be overcome and killed by the Antichrist and his legions. It will seem that Satan wins, until Yeshua will be told by God to handle it.

That won’t happen until nearly 2/3 of the earth is destroyed and all the people who can choose between accepting the mark of the beast or remaining faithful to God have made their choice.

I don’t want to sound like the unshaven, hair-in-a-mess, bedraggled man waving the bible and shouting at the top of his lungs, “THE END IS HERE! THE END IS HERE!”

But that is, pretty much, what I am doing (although I am better dressed.)

We need to keep our eyes open to trickery, to false Messiahs and (especially) to family and friends who are being seduced by the Dark Side, right in front of our eyes. We need to keep attuned to that little voice in our head we call the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) telling us that something is a little meshugah here. We need to be as gentle as doves but as wise as serpents.

We need to accept that it is really happening! The way evil survives, and thrives, is when righteous people stand by and do nothing.

Do you know what happens when you throw a frog in boiling water? He jumps right out. But put him in cool water, then raise the heat slowly, bit by bit, and he will stay in there until he is cooked.

Brothers and Sisters- it’s getting awfully hot out here.

This parashah has enough in it to for an entire summer-long bible study.

The Red Heifer for removal of uncleanliness (this is interesting because what has to be done to make you clean makes you unclean while doing it), Miriam dies, the sin of Moses at Meribah when he struck the rock to give water to the people (which prevented him from entering the Land), Aaron dies, the destruction of the king of Arad, the sending of snakes against the people for their complaints (and the creation of the brass snake which later became an idol), ending with the conquering and total destruction of Og, king of Bashan and Sichon, king of the Amorites.

So much to talk about, so little time to do it. However, since this week I have been talking about Yeshua (Christian name-Jesus) and of His existence as a man, I will work with the snake because, as you will see, what happened to the snake also happened to Yeshua.

And Yeshua told us it would be that way.

The story of the snake is in B’Midbar (Numbers) 21:4-9. The people complained about the route they were on, there being no water, and they are telling Moses (actually, kvetching to God) that they can’t stand any more manna. God sends fiery serpents among them to bite them and many die. They repent and ask Moses for help, and after Moses prays for them God says to make a serpent out of brass and place it high on a pole, where all the people can see it no matter where they are in the camp. If they are bitten, they need only to look to the brass serpent and they will not die. They still get bitten, and it must have really, really hurt, but at least by looking to the brass serpent, representing their repentance and reliance on God for salvation, they get to live.

In John 3:14-15 Yeshua says:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

Many have taught that this is a prophecy regarding the way Yeshua was going to die, lifted up on an execution tree where all could see Him. Other teachings I have seen relate this to the snake in that sin is in us, as the venom was, and looking to God and Yeshua for salvation is what saves us. Both are good teachings.

What I see is an immediate prophecy regarding His death, and a future prophecy regarding Yeshua being looked to not as God’s means of salvation but as God, Himself, in that Yeshua replaces God. And anything that comes between mankind and God is an idol.

In 2nd Kings, 18:4 we read how this very snake, a symbol of God’s salvation, was regarded as a god, called Nehushtan, and the people offered sacrifices to it. King Hezekiah destroyed it.

The relationship I see is that Yeshua came to earth to be the means of our salvation, our Messiah. He was to give His life so that we could have eternal life. His function, if you will, was to be the representation of God’s power, of God’s forgiveness, and of God’s salvation. He was, and still is, the instrument of God. However, in many churches He is no longer seen as the instrument but as the musician. He is worshiped as God: people pray to Jesus instead of praying to God and He is considered to be all there is and all that we need.

Just as the serpent was changed from a symbol to a god, they have changed Yeshua’s role and function from Messiah, the servant of God, to God, Himself.

Read everything that Yeshua said, and try to find one word, one phrase, just one single syllable that Yeshua utters that even remotely infers He thinks we should worship Him, or pray to Him, or even think about Him over his Father. On the contrary, every single thing Yeshua did, every miracle, every action, every word, was to give glory and honor to God. If Yeshua lived His entire life as a representative from God, then how can we treat Him as God? Let’s look to John 14:9-14 :

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Here Yeshua tells us, absolutely, that He and the Father are separate beings, not the same being. Yeshua says, essentially, that He is nothing except that which the Father tells Him to be. Yeshua is God’s marionette on earth, doing, saying and acting whatever His Father wants Him to do.

Religion has turned this on it’s head, and instead of recognizing and honoring Yeshua as being filled with the Spirit of God, many now teach that He IS God. I think how disappointed and upset Yeshua must be to see this happen; He spent His entire ministry telling us of the wonder, glory and honor that God deserves. Now He is seeing us turn that around and by worshiping Yeshua and praying to Yeshua instead of God, we dishonor God, instead. To turn a faithful, loving and subordinate son into a Absalom, a son that rebels against and usurps his father’s position and authority, is the great sin that many churches are teaching.

Yeshua is the son of God, which is not so much a parental relationship as a spiritual one; He was born supernaturally, He did supernatural things through the power of God (just as the prophets did) and He died as a human, so that He could accept the sin of the world. And today He sits at the right hand of God. That is where He said He would be when facing the Sanhedrin. Not on the throne of God, but at God’s right hand.

If Yeshua told us that He is not God, and told us that He serves God, and told everyone He healed that it was their faith that healed them, where do we come off praying to Him instead of in His name? Where do we come off teaching that He is God when He denied it in everything He said? Where do we come off worshiping Yeshua instead of worshiping God?

Good questions. What do you think? Do you pray to God or to Yeshua? If you pray to Yeshua, then there is no need to pray in His name, right? I mean, you’re praying to Him, why invoke His name, again? If so, you are refusing to do as Yeshua said- He said that when we pray in His name we will receive what we ask for, so if we pray to Him, which means we shouldn’t use His name, we won’t receive. Unless, of course, He lied to us and we don’t need to pray in His name to receive. Of course, if He lied He isn’t sinless, His sacrifice won’t count, and we have no salvation..

Can you see where this goes? Anytime, anyway you try to show Yeshua is God, you lose salvation in the end.

God is all there is, and it is all about God. Yeshua is worthy to be God’s messenger, He is worthy to break the seals on the scroll, and He is the Messiah God promised to send to us so that we all can be reconciled to God and saved from our sinfulness. He is all those things, and more.

But He ain’t God.

This blog is all about God; we see God in everything there is, when we take the time to look hard enough.

Lately, it seems God is missing because all we see is too much violence: Orlando shooting, cops shooting people and (now) people shooting cops.

Like it wasn’t bad enough with all the domestic violence, gang violence and wars throughout the world bordering on genocide. Now it is getting closer to home, in our own backyards.

And it’s going to get worse.

Read Revelations, read the signs, know what is coming so you can be prepared for it. Not just emotionally prepared, but spiritually prepared, as well. These acts of violence, human against human, are not the issue; it is a Red Herring, designed to throw us off the real problem.

What is the “real problem”? It’s not a physical battle- it is a spiritual battle.

The enemy is preparing the world for him (or maybe, her?) to walk in and take over. He is setting the stage, designing his battle plan and laying the landmines and barricades to freedom.

Look at our media services…what do they show us? Only bad things, only terrible events, and when something is horrible they report it until the horse is not just dead, but the bones are dust. Then they remind us of it, later. Ever notice when an important person is caught in a scandal or there is a horrific event how there is no news, anywhere else in the world, while that event is still “selling”?

Do you see the video games your children are playing? Indiscriminately killing zombies and vampires, stealing cars and murdering innocents along the way to gain points, battling in war where the more people they kill the more powerful they become. Did you ever consider that believing it is good and just to kill zombies is conditioning them to believe killing any ‘enemy’ without care or concern is good and just?

The only difference between zombies and God-fearing people who refuse to take the mark of the Antichrist is how they are perceived.

And what about the movies? Oh, we still have nice stuff like Finding Dory and love stories out there, but look closer. There is so much more Marvel in the movies than anything else, and (although I do like superheroes) they are now fighting themselves. “Captain America: Civil War” is about people wanting to help that are being criticized by the ones they save (sound like Moses and Korach?)  and fighting among each other. Today, even the good guys are at each other’s throats.

And the “church” is not doing enough. I know there are many Christian leaders who are teaching that Torah is only for Jews, and teaching that God has rejected them, and that Jesus is God, Himself, and that we should be “all about Jesus” and the church should worship Jesus.

Telling people Torah is not for them and the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people is called Replacement Theology, which is blasphemy because it is calling God a liar.

The name for worshiping Jesus alone because He is God is also called blasphemy because it is idolatry. Jesus is the son of God, as far as we mortals can understand it, and never, ever even once suggested or implied that He wanted us to worship Him. In fact, He told us this would happen when he said He would be raised up like the snake in the desert, which (in 2 Kings, 18:4) King Hezekiah destroyed because it had become an idol. Originally it represented God’s salvation from death when a snake bit the Israelites (Numbers 21:6) and later was turned into a god, in and of itself, that the people worshiped. This is what Jesus meant when He said He would be lifted up like the snake in the desert (John 3:14)- it wasn’t just an immediate prophecy about His death on a tree, but a future prophecy about His being made into an idol, to be worshiped in lieu of His Father in heaven.

The enemy will present himself as Jesus, as the world’s savior, and he will insist that he be worshiped instead of God. If there is anyone out there today saying that it is all about Jesus, that Jesus is God and should be worshiped as God, they are helping the enemy to take over.

We need to steel ourselves against the horrors that are coming, and to watch, carefully, for the hidden signs of the enemy’s approach. Satanic beings are not so bad, zombies will be everywhere and it is OK to kill them, war is fun when you have the right weapons, death is nothing, stealing is OK if everyone else is doing it…all of this is what our children are being taught to accept as normal activity.

“Repent: The End is Coming” has always been what we see when TV or movies want to show someone who has given up, and they are always portrayed as some nut-case. Well, the nut-case is the one who doesn’t listen. I am not saying to sit down in a corner and give up: just the opposite! I am saying to prepare to fight, prepare to be persecuted, and prepare (spiritually) to be at war. Not just with people, but with demons and demonic powers.

We have armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) and we who have accepted Yeshua as our Messiah are on the winning side, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t in for a really tough battle.

All I’m saying is get ready because the world is being set up for the enemy of God to take over, and God is allowing that to happen. Not forever, just for a while, and it is just around the corner; for those of us who will be here when it comes there will be such horror, strife and destruction, blasphemy and Godlessness that we will feel overwhelmed. And, for the most part, we will be overwhelmed. It is going to be through our continued faith and perseverance that we have any hope of surviving this Tsouris.

Our hope is not in mankind, but in God. Mankind will fail to win, the enemy will overcome it, but those who are faithful to God and stay the course will survive, eternally, and win the final battle.