I bet some of you are expecting me to talk about the Akidah, Genesis 22 (the Binding of Isaac) because that is the traditional reading for Rosh HaShanah. Other traditions are the eating of sweets, such as apples with honey and carrot tzimmes. We stay away from nuts because the value of the letters used for the Hebrew word for nuts, אגוז (egotz) adds up to the same number that you get from the Hebrew word for sin (חטה), so we don’t want to begin the new year with any association, even a numerological one, to sin.

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As for me, we had neighbors over for a Labor Day celebration, which was also a Rosh HaShannah celebration, so we did the traditional Labor Day barbecue of burgers and hot dogs (Hebrew National, of course), and for dessert, I made a Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting. כל טעים מאוד!! (everything was very tasty). The reason for the carrot cake was to incorporate carrots into the menu; actually, I really wanted to try that recipe and this was the perfect opportunity because there is a tradition that comes from Ashkenazi Jews. They dubbed carrots “mehren” which sounds much like “merin”, the word for prosperity. So having a carrot dish of some sort at Rosh HaShannah symbolizes prosperity for the coming year.

So, having shared a little of my personal life with you, let’s get to the spiritual stuff.

Because this is the beginning of the Jewish civil new year (the spiritual one begins on the first of Aviv), and the last thing we want to start this new year with is sin, I thought we’d go against the grain and talk a little about sin.

Here’s the low-down on sin: there is only one sin. There are many different kinds of sin, but when it comes down to it there is only one sin, and that is the sin we commit against God.

King David knew this. After he committed a few really bad sins, some of which were on the Top Ten List, when he was forced to be faced with these sins by Nathan the prophet, he confessed and asked God for forgiveness.

Now, in case you haven’t counted them, let’s see what old Davie did (2 Samuel 11):

1. He coveted his neighbors wife, Bat-Sheba;
2. He committed adultery with her;
3. He lied about it (by not telling Uriyah, who was her husband and a trusted friend);
4. He tried to cover it up by getting Uriyah drunk, hoping he would sleep with his wife;
5. When that failed, he committed murder by having Joab place Uriyah where he was sure to be killed;
6. He implicated Joab to commit murder, forcing him to also have the man’s blood on his hands.

And after doing all these sins, not to mention being the reason for the death of all those other men who didn’t have to die in order to make sure Uriyah was killed, after all this when David confessed his sin to God in Psalm 51:4, what did he say to God? He said:

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil from your perspective; so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.

Whoa! Wait a minute here…what about Bat Sheba, Uriyah, Joab, and the men that died with Uriyah. Didn’t he sin against them too?

Of course, he did, but sin is first and foremost against God. When we do what God says we should not do or do not do what God says we should (that’s the one most Christians are guilty of), that is a sin against God.

If anyone else is involved, well, it’s certainly a sin against them, too, but in reality? – they’re not the ones we need to be forgiven by. They can’t condemn us to hell, but God can, so when you sin, you sin against God, and your first and most important confession and apology must be to God.

You also should apologize to the ones that you sinned against, ask their forgiveness, but that forgiveness is only between you and them. Whether or not they choose to forgive you, that is between them and God.

It is ALWAYS first between us and God, then between us and them. And, for the record, we are not told we must be forgiven by other people, but we are told that we must forgive other people.

And bringing this back to Rosh HaShannah, for a moment, one of the traditional actions we take is called tashlik. This is when we go to a stream or river, some moving water, and throw bread or rocks into it, asking that our sins be taken as far away from us as these items are, to sink and never return. This is also accompanied by going to anyone we think we may have sinned against or upset in any way, and ask for their forgiveness. Sort of like starting the new year with a clean slate. You may recognize this from Matthew 5:23-24; after all, where do you think Yeshua got this from?

The Bible defines all the different types of sin that exist, but no matter which one of the many types of sin you commit, it is always just the one sin: the sin against God. Confess it, repent of it, and then ask forgiveness through Yeshua the Messiah.

That covers you with God, then go and do the same with any and all the people that are affected by this sin.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe to my YouTube channel and this website, like my Facebook page and share these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry keep growing. You might like to check out my books, as well.

That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and לשנה טובה!! (For a good year!)

I am still in the book of Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) and reading about the prophecies God told Jeremiah to relate to the people. There is a constant theme in these prophecies, which we see throughout the Tanakh, regarding God’s threat to punish Israel (Northern and Southern kingdoms) if they fail to repent, and it is composed of three horrors:

• sword
• famine
• plague

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These were the most horrible things that could happen to the people in those days, and I believe that these punishments will still be coming to us, but not necessarily in the same way they did back then.

As I have been posting since November of 2020, I believe the current administration is part of the punishment America is going to suffer for the sinfulness of our nation over the past (nearly) 70 years.

During this time period, we have constantly rejected God: first by kicking him out of our schools, then our courts, condoning abortion (which is tantamount to child sacrifice), and condoning homosexuality not just as a normal part of our society, but as a good thing, encouraging children who haven’t even developed hormones to mutilate themselves with sex-change operations! Drag Queens reading to little children, the church hiding sexual molestation by the priesthood, and evangelists being found guilty of extortion, sexual misdeeds, etc.

When God punished the ancient Israelites, he sent the sword, which was in the form of the Philistines, Assyrians, and Babylonians, not to mention Pharaoh, now and then. He also withheld the rains and caused a famine. The sieges that the “sword” brought, along with the famine, led to death, and with no place to bury the bodies that eventually caused pestilence, disease, and that led to plague.

“So, nu? That’s how God punished sinful nations way back then, so what does this have to do with us now?”

Plenty!

Haven’t we been suffering from a worldwide pandemic? People have been suffering and dying from a virus that has been barely contained, even though it has been around for over 18 months. Wouldn’t you call that a plague?

“Well, OK, there’s a plague, but what about famine? There’s no famine here.”

Isn’t there? What is a famine? Isn’t it a severe lack of something, usually something necessary? In the ancient days, they were an agrarian society, so the famine they suffered was the loss of their crops, which represented more than just a lack of food- it meant financial ruin. Well, right now don’t we have a business famine? Hasn’t the financial strength of America been devastated by this pandemic? Don’t we have a famine of workers?

In the past 7 months, Donna and I have traveled to a few different places just here in Florida, and everywhere we have been, there are Help Wanted signs all over. And where are the workers? They are at home enjoying government handouts that will, sooner or later, need to be financed. And where will that financing come from? Heck, the government can print as much money as it wants to, but anyone with even a basic understanding of economics will realize that the more money in circulation, the less value it has. That is called a recession.

Trillions of dollars have been given to people who aren’t working, which means employers aren’t collecting taxes to support the new cash outlay. And with lockdowns and reduced capacity requirements, as well as the fear the media and government have created, no one is going out to buy anything, which means reduced tax income for the government.

Sooner or later, taxes will be required to pay for this deficit, and that’s when the fecal matter will hit the air circulation unit for all Americans!

“OK, OK, so I get it- famine and plague, but there’s no sword. America is still the most powerful country in the world.”

Are we?

According to the report titled State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2020 (https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/u-s-and-global-education#k-12-mathematics-and-science), the US standing (measured against 8th-grade students worldwide) in science and math is 7th in the world.

For Science and Engineering degrees issued between 2000 and 2016, the US barely made any progress, whereas the number of S&E degrees issued in China has nearly doubled over the past 10 years.

As far as technology, cybersecurity, agrarian science, and medical advancements, Israel is a recognized world leader, leaving America in its dust!

The “sword” today is not some warring country, it is education and technology! Cyberattacks, such as hacking into banks, the stealing of military secrets, and even interfering with a country’s elections- THAT’S the sword being brought against us today!

You don’t have to tie torches to foxes’ tails and release them into the fields anymore (that’s from Samson, in case you forgot): No! All you have to do today is start a rumor about a computer virus and the world comes to a halt.

We shouldn’t worry about a military attack because we can be destroyed from the inside-out through the “Cloud”.

And it is happening, right now.

So, do you see what I mean? God hasn’t changed his tactics, just his methods. America, as well as other countries, is being punished for our rejection of God and refusal to adhere to his codes of ethics and social interactions. We have become as sexually perverse, as selfish, as godless, and as sinful as the worst societies we read about in the Bible.

And the other shoe hasn’t even dropped yet.

So, what can we do? Well, I for one don’t see things changing for a while, so my recommendation is to make sure that YOU are right with God. You will get dirty, just as the righteous in the ancient days suffered along with the unrighteous, but God promised those who remained faithful that they will survive.

And we can always look forward to being in God’s presence, forever, when this is all over.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages, subscribe to this ministry on this website and my YouTube channel, as well (the link is above), like my Facebook page, and check out the books I have written.

That’s it for today and hopefully, I will be able to give a more “upbeat” message next time. But, when it comes down to it, I calls ’em as I sees ’em.

L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!

Did you ever think how unfair it seems that the entire nation of Israel was punished for the sins of its leadership?

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In the Northern Kingdom of Shomron, the evil kings were certainly bringing the nation into a sinful lifestyle, but we know there were at least 7,000 who didn’t follow that religious debauchery (1 Kings 19:18), and when the punishment came, although God ensured that they would survive it, they still had to go through it.

Those kings of Israel (the Northern Kingdom after the split under Rehoboam) took it upon themselves to choose their king. Well, not really choose one, but the kings that they had were the ones who took power. The exceptions were Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:29) and Jehu (1 Kings 9), both of whom were chosen by God to be king. The other kings were either a son of the existing king or usurpers.

In Judea, however, those kings were always the son of the previous king, although once or twice a queen took charge, but that never lasted too long. The son of the original king eventually was anointed and placed in his proper position.

So, when God ran the show, the leadership of the people was not their choice, but his. And even so, there were poor leaders who brought the nation into sin.

And because of that, the nation and everyone in it suffered, both the unrighteous and the righteous.

So, nu? What’s my point?

My point is that we have the power to choose our own leaders, but what kind of choices have we made? The leaders we have chosen over the past 4 or 5 decades have resulted in God being kicked out of the schools, the courts, and child sacrifice is not just condoned, but funded by the government (http://www.messianicmoment.com/abortion-is-more-than-just-murder/). The rejection of God and his ways have brought this nation into sin and I believe we are past the time when repentance will do any good.

Despite the merciful and forgiving nature of God, he is still just and holy, and even though he is always willing to forgive, at some point he is no longer able to forgive. What I am saying is this: God will abide by his rules, always, so when we are unrepentantly sinful, and stay that way long enough, even though God is willing to forgive us he MUST punish us for those sins we have committed. He cannot just allow evil to go unpunished, and he tells us that throughout the Tanakh.

Remember that forgiveness of sin is a spiritual event, not a physical one, which means that even though we can be forgiven of our sins, there are always consequences of sin in the real world. We may be able to spend eternity in God’s presence because we have Yeshua, but while we are alive, in this plane of existence, there will always be unpleasant consequences we will suffer, as well as others, as the result of our sins.

America may one day be back in God’s good graces, but right now that ain’t the case. I feel like Jeremiah, telling the people that there is no way to escape punishment, and all the vaccines and face masks in the world won’t stop the pandemic because this is part of God’s punishment. Look at what has happened: our economy has tanked, our morale has tanked, children are not receiving the educational benefits that this country has provided, people paying taxes for schools that sit empty, the cost of living increases, people don’t have jobs and businesses are suffering because they can’t find people, or can’t allow enough people in their stores to break even.

There has been rioting in the streets, racial tensions are at an all-time high, and the current administration, who we chose, is supporting and helping the enemies of America.

We have the power to change our leadership, to repent of the ones we have elected to lead us, but do we? I see so many postings about impeach, and set term limits, etc., all of which seem valid and necessary, but that is all I see- words!

We are past words, and it seems that wanting doesn’t get anything, and the ones who want change aren’t making it happen. Am I suggesting that we rise up in rebellion? Yes, but legally. We need to have leaders rise up from the populace and organize petitions that will force our representatives in the Congress and Senate to enact these measures.

I am not the one to do it- but there are people qualified and able to do it, and we need them. So pray that God will raise them up: encourage, protect, and fortify them to do what needs to be done.

Or, better yet, pray for the return of Messiah Yeshua ASAP / STAT/ PDQ … NOW! We need God-provided leadership to bring this nation back into alliance with God, instead of alliance with the enemies of God.

We are in bad shape here in America, and we deserve to be punished; our nation has rejected God and done things that are horrible in his eyes. And trust me, punishment is not just coming, but here. This pandemic is the start. Think of the ways God has said he will punish those who reject him, then look at what our nation has become, socially, financially, and healthwise. We currently have a breakdown within the nuclear family (ask your kids if they agree, that is, if you can get them to put their phones down), we are suffering financial difficulties, we are in the midst of a pandemic that has lasted more than 18 months! How can this be? With all our modern technology, how can a virus devastate a country for so long?

Maybe it’s because the leadership of this country isn’t handling it correctly? Or, worse yet, maybe they are handling it just the way they planned to?

Enough rambling, there is not much we can do without proper leadership, and I am just as guilty as everyone else I mentioned who spouts off about how bad it is but doesn’t do anything about it. I really don’t think we can fix this until it runs its course, and God has finished doling out the punishment we deserve. That may sound fatalistic, but there is a thin line between fatalism and accepting what we deserve.

Thank you for being here and please, if you think this message has merit, share it with others. I always welcome your comments.

I’ll get off the soapbox now: l’hitraot and Baruch Hashem!