Author: Steven R. Bruck

God Doesn’t Change His Mind

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We are told that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that he never changes his mind.

Yet, we are also told that God wanted to destroy the Israelites for the sin of the Golden Calf but Moses made him change his mind (we’ll explain what really happened later), and what about the destruction God said (through Jonah) he would bring on Nineveh, but didn’t?

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In fact, there are a number of times in the Bible when we are told God changed his mind (Jeremiah 26:19, Amos 7:3, and 2 Samuel 24:16), but we are also told that God does not change his mind (Isaiah 31:2; and 1 Samuel 15:29).

So, which is it? How can we trust the Bible if there are places where it negates itself?

The answer is this: God does NOT change his mind, but when there is a change to the conditions for which he stated he would do something, then he adjusts his plan to fit the conditions.

For instance, God decreed the coming destruction to Nineveh because of all the evil they performed, which they did willingly and, most likely, enjoyed doing. He sent Jonah to give them a chance to repent, in other words, to change their condition.

And what happened was that they did repent, so God did not change his mind but adjusted his plan to fit the new conditions. God’s decree was that because of the evil they would be destroyed, but the evil stopped, so the decision to destroy them for their evil- which never changed- did not occur because there was no more evil.

Of course, later on, when they returned to their evil ways they were destroyed. So, you see, God never changed his mind about destroying them for their evil deeds: when they stopped doing evil, the reason for God’s destruction was no longer there, and when they returned to their evil ways, God’s original decision still stood against them, and what God said he would do, he did.

Let’s look at 1 Kings, Chapter 13.

God sent a prophet (he doesn’t even get to have his name mentioned) to Shomron to tell Yarov’am that his altar to Ba’al would be destroyed. God also told the prophet that he was to leave by a different route, not stop for anyone or drink or eat in Shomron.

When Yarov’am ordered to seize the prophet, God shriveled his hand. The king asked the prophet to pray for him, and God restored his hand.

That wasn’t God changing his mind, it was God forgiving the sin after the sinner repented and the condition for which he was punished also changed (although that didn’t last long).

Later the prophet was resting and another prophet lied to him and coerced him to go to his house to eat and drink with him. Because the prophet from the south disobeyed God, God had the northern prophet tell the man that he would be killed by a lion, which did happen.

So, even though the prophet was fooled, God did not change his mind about his warning not to eat or drink anything in Shomron.

And what about Moses after the sin of the Golden Calf?

In Exodus 32:9-10, after God tells Moses about the calf, he says this:

 “Adonai continued speaking to Moshe: ‘I have been watching these people; and you can see how stiffnecked they are.  Now leave me alone, so that my anger can blaze against them, and I can put an end to them! I will make a great nation out of you instead.‘”

But Moses pleads with God not to do that, and in Exodus 32:14 we read:

Adonai then changed his mind about the disaster he had planned for his people.

So, here the Bible is clearly saying that God changed his mind, but I disagree.

Why? Who, after all, do I think I am to disagree with the Torah?

I’m glad you asked.

First of all, for the record, I am nothing. I just try to teach God’s word so that people can make an informed decision about where they will spend eternity.

As for why I disagree, my reasoning is that God never really changed his mind because he never said that he was going to destroy the people; he asked Moses to “leave me alone”- in other words, do not interfere with me.

I believe what God really meant was this is what I would like to do and I need you, Moses, to not try to stop me. I believe this because God did not say he was going to do that but for Moses to leave him alone so his anger CAN blaze against the people, and he CAN put an end to them.

What I can do (if you don’t stop me) is not what I am going to do.

God is saying this is what he has in mind, but not what he is going to do.

Moses then came through and stopped God. In a way, he was being tested as God tested Abraham, and (like Abraham) Moses passed the test by standing in the breech, so to speak, between God and the people, interceding for them so that the thing God was thinking of doing, he did not do.

The standard translation we read in most Bibles at Exodus 32:14 says that God changed his mind, but in the Chumash it says that God “repented of the evil he said he would do”, and in my copy of the Tikkun, it says that God “reconsidered regarding the evil that he declared he would do.”

So, you see, it isn’t that God changes his mind (even if some translations use that terminology), but rather that God intends to do something based on the current situation, but is willing to delay or change his plan- which, unlike the 10 Commandments, is NOT written in stone at that time- if the conditions change.

And what changes the condition under which God plans his punishment?

Repentance.

And, even in some cases, repentance will not change God’s mind about punishment, but it may delay his action. On example the case of Manasseh causing God to think “לא עוד!” (“No more!”) and decide to punish Judea (2 Kings 21:10-15). Yet, even with the repentance of the people when, two kings later, Yoshiyahu was king, God did not change his mind about the punishment Judea would suffer, but he delayed it so that Yoshiyahu would not have to deal with it.

And why does God take so long to deal out his punishment? Because he is merciful and desires to forgive, so he waits as long as he deems possible in order for us to change the conditions of his decisions.

The good news is that we can save ourselves; the bad news is we never know when God will say “Times up!”

God does not change his mind, so if we sin and continue to sin, he will not allow us in his presence for all eternity. BUT- if we change the conditions under which that decision was made, repenting and asking forgiveness through Messiah Yeshua, we are creating a different set of conditions, and under that set of conditions we can be forgiven, and the punishment we would have received (had we remained under the previous conditions) would absolutely have been carried out against us.

God’s decisions are based on the condition of one’s life at any given time, therefore, make sure that you are always in the right condition.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my ministry on my website and on my YouTube channel, as well. Join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure to read and agree to the rules), and buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books- guaranteed!

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

So, that’s it for this week: l’hitraot, and may I wish you all an early

שנה טובה שמח! (Happy New Year).

Let’s Talk About the Name of the Lord

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We’ve been over this, again and again, so let’s go over it one more time.

The Tetragrammaton, the four-letter word that God told Moses, is God’s Holy Name, and how it is used in speech and prayer should honor God.

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Yet, there are some who use his Holy Name as if it was just any ordinary name, like Tom or Dick or even Steve. They also condemn anyone who doesn’t use it.

They are called (and it probably isn’t the nicest appellation) “Holy Namers”, and that is because they constantly use the Hebrew name of God, those 4 Hebrew letters called the Tetragrammaton. That name is composed of the letters Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh (יהוה), and has been pronounced in any number of different ways.

And their justification for this is when the Bible uses the term “Call on the Name” or “The name of the Lord”, they take that out of context, both written and cultural, to mean using the Tetragrammaton.

Now, as a Jewish man I never even try to pronounce that name because it is God’s Holy Name, and Jews don’t pronounce it out of respect for God.

Many Christians, especially the Holy Namers, must think that they are on a first-name basis with the Lord, God, Almighty; addressing him as if he was one of their human friends.

If you met a world leader, would you call that person by their first name?

If you met the CEO of the company you work for, would you call him or her by their first name?

If you met a teacher that you highly respected from your past, would you call that person by their first name?

I hope not- that would be disrespectful, wouldn’t it?

So what makes anyone think they are on such a high, spiritual level that they can address God by his first name?

This is the very reason why Jews do not pronounce God’s name, but instead substitute Adonai (which means “Lord”), or HaShem (which means “the name), or Elohim or Shaddai (both different names for God, but not his actual name) whenever we come across the Tetragrammaton in the Tanakh.

We also feel that using God’s Holy Name is a violation of the 3rd Commandment.

Yet, despite these highly logical and respectful reasons for not pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, Holy Namers accuse us of being wrong by not pronouncing the name of God!

I think, and this is my own idea, that because Christians are brought up saying Jesus’s name all the time that they think it is also OK to use God’s Holy Name just as easily.

But, as for the term “the name of the Lord”, when used in the Bible almost always has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the Tetragrammaton.

The phrase “name of the Lord” refers to God’s reputation and his greatness. It represents his power, his goodness, his mercy, and everything else about God- everything, that is, but his actual name.

There are times when we do see his actual name being used, such as when Moses needed to use it to convince the people in Egypt that he was sent by God, but the need to pronounce the Tetragrammaton is rarely found in the Tanakh.

In the New Covenant it is almost completely missing, and the name that is referred to mostly is “Yeshua”. But even in the case where Yeshua says “in my name”, that doesn’t mean that we are to say “Yeshua”, or “Jesus” (which isn’t his name, to begin with) but to refer to his role as the Messiah.

So, look- if you want to call out the Holy Name of God, I won’t tell you it is wrong, and I never tell anyone what they should think, but I would ask you to consider what I have said about respecting God.

It isn’t a sin to respect God by referring to him as Lord or Sir (another usage of Adonai) or Elohim or Shaddai; but, it just may be disrespectful to address God as you would your drinking buddies.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you read and agree to the rules).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Do We Really Have to Pray Everything in Yeshua’s Name?

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In the Gospel of John, specifically John 14:13, Yeshua tells his disciples that whatever they ask for, when they ask it in his name, he will do. He said this is the way he will glorify his Father.

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But does that mean every time we pray, no matter what the prayer, we have to do it in “the name of Yeshua”?

What about when we give thanks to God? Praying a thanksgiving prayer isn’t asking for anything, so I don’t reference Yeshua at all when I thank God for whatever I am being thankful for.

And that is usually everything- my marriage with Donna, my salvation through Messiah, the good health that Donna and I still have, financial comfort, a home, etc., ad infinitum.

And when I do ask for something important, such as forgiveness (which I do every day, whether I know I sinned or not, because I know I probably did sin, sometime), I ask by the blood of the Messiah, which is the means by which we receive forgiveness.

And if I am just talking with God (99.9% of the time I talk and he listens, but every now and then, I do get a message or an answer from him, which is always a quiet, still voice in the back of my head) I find no need to end it by referencing Yeshua.

And I do not pray to Yeshua. Even for those who believe he is also God, he is at this time sitting at God’s right hand and his role, in God’s own plan of salvation, is that of our Messiah. To pray to him is to ignore God, sitting to his left, and is, in truth, a form of idolatry.

Our salvation is not through Yeshua, but by means of the sacrifice he made: he is our Intercessor of prayer, not the Interceptor of it.

If you believe Yeshua, God, and the Holy Spirit are one-and-the-same entity, that doesn’t change the fact that Yeshua came to earth to be the Messiah- a separate being, and as such, to ignore his choice to be separate at this time is to ignore his sacrifice and, essentially, reject what he suffered through for you as Yeshua, the Messiah.

Think about that.

So, when you pray for something- and I don’t mean for nice weather or a new car, which is generally OK to pray for- and you want to pray “in Yeshua’s name” (which doesn’t mean to him, but to reference his sacrifice which made your salvation through forgiveness possible), then do so.

But if you are just thanking God, or talking with God, or having a drash with God over some biblical passage you can’t understand, don’t waste the power that Yeshua’s name has by using it when you don’t need to.

Use the power that Yeshua’s name gives you in prayer sparingly, respectfully, and effectively.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry grow. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books (available on my website and Amazon Books), and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you read and agree to the rules).

And one last thing: remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Is the Akedah About Abrahams Faith or Isaac’s Obedience

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We all know the story in Genesis 22, which we call the Akedah (binding), where Abraham obeys God’s demand that he sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah.

We also all know that this is all about testing Abraham’s faith.

Or, is it?

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I had recently posted a message regarding the way Christianity has misrepresented Yeshua (Jesus) as more of an Absalom, a son who defied his father’s authority and rebelled to have people follow him, than an Isaac who obeyed his father’s wishes, even unto death.

That is when it “hit” me: yes, the Akedah is certainly a story about the faith of Abraham, but isn’t it also a story about the obedience of Isaac?

It is considered a messianic passage by almost everyone, and as such, it isn’t just about the father willing to sacrifice his only son, but it is about the son, willing to be obedient to his father at all costs.

Just as Yeshua, the Messiah, was so obedient to his father, God, as to allow himself to be sacrificed.

It was, to me, a realization of a different aspect of the Akedah that, to my knowledge and from my experience, has not been addressed.

So, what do you think? I think there are two very important lessons from the Akedah:

  1. The standard lesson that Abraham’s faith was strong enough to let him sacrifice his son, just as God’s love for us was strong enough for him to sacrifice his son; and
  2. That Isaac’s obedience to his father was strong enough to allow him to let himself be sacrificed, and although he wasn’t, in Yeshua’s case he was.

That’s all I wanted to say (I know- who woddah ‘tought I could write such a short message?)

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know, subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, buy my books, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please read and agree to the rules), and remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Salvation Can Be Earned

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I know, I know…you have always been taught that salvation is a free gift from God and cannot be bought or earned.

Now, the part about salvation being a free gift from God and impossible to be purchased is true; however, according to what God tells us, salvation can be earned!

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How can I say salvation can be earned when all our religious leaders tell us it can’t? And even more than that, what justification do I have to claim that God, himself, tells us we can earn salvation?

I’m glad you asked.

God gave us the Torah, which tells us, in simple to understand language, what he wants us to do. And, if we do what he wants us to do, then we are righteous in his eyes. And, if we are righteous in his eyes, then we will be saved, i.e., we will not face the second death but instead be in God’s presence for all eternity.

I believe that is what we refer to as “salvation”, is it not?

And, if you need more proof, then I present to you the Messiah, Yeshua.

Here is a man, 100% human, who lived his entire life in perfect accordance with the Torah. And, after he died, he was resurrected and allowed into the presence of the Lord. In fact, more than just allowed to be there- he sits at God’s right hand!

For those of you who are members of this ministry, you will no doubt recall that when I refer to the Torah I rarely refer to it as commandments or law, but more often than not as God’s instructions.

The Torah was given to us by God (and I do not mean just us Jews, but to US: everyone throughout the world) so that we would know exactly how to worship him, how to treat each other, how to conduct business, how to punish those who do wrong, and how to conduct our interpersonal (intimate) relationships.

And in Deuteronomy 28, he tells us that when we do what he says, he will bless us; but, if we refuse to do as he says, we will suffer curses galore.

God also tells us, more than once, that we must not add to or take away from any of the instructions he gave us.

It is obvious that God gave us the Torah so we could know what he wants us to do in order to receive salvation.

So, nu? If this is true, then why have religious leaders told us for generations on end that no one can earn salvation?

I’m glad you asked.

The answer is simple: except for Yeshua, no one has been able to follow every instruction in the Torah because (as the Bible tells us, many, many times) we are all born sinners: we have, we do, and we always will sin.

It is this inability of humans to not sin that keeps us from being in accordance with the Torah, and as such, makes it impossible for us to earn the salvation that the Torah provides.

Maybe what they should be teaching is that salvation is possible if we live every day, for our entire lives, in perfect accord with the instructions God gave in the Torah, but so far (except for one, and we know who he is) no one has ever been able to do that because of our inescapable iniquity (the desire to sin).

God gave us his instructions on how we can earn salvation through sinless living, but he also knew that we wouldn’t be able to do that, so he took a lesson from school teachers…when a teacher has a course that is a very difficult subject to learn, but there has to be a test on it, the teacher will grade the test on a “curve”, which is sort of like a handicap in golf.

God gave us a difficult task, which is to obey his instructions, and he knew that it would be nearly impossible, so he grades us on a curve- that curve is the Messiah. By accepting Yeshua as your Messiah, STILL trying to live as God said to live, when you fail, the Messiah is your handicap, bringing you back to “par” with God.

BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO TRY TO LIVE AS GOD SAID YOU SHOULD!

Following standard Christian teaching that Yeshua did away with God’s instructions will not help at all, and the test paper you turn in will come back with a big, fat “F” on it!

And for us Jews, when we follow Talmudic Halacha as more important than God’s instructions (which is one of the things Yeshua chided the Pharisees about), we are adding to what he said, which is (by definition) a sin.

Accept Yeshua (Jesus) as your Messiah, then read what God says you should do- not what some human created religion tells you to do!

And you know what? You don’t even have to read the entire Torah: just read Leviticus and Deuteronomy and you will know all you need to know to take that salvation test and pass.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to this ministry on both my website and YouTube channels. Also join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please make sure you read and agree to the rules.

And if you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well, which are available in both paperback and digital formats: you can buy them through my website or go to Amazon books.

Well, that’s it for today so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!