Author: Steven R. Bruck
The Rose in the Manure
There is so much going on in the world today that stinks.
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There is a contagious disease that has been hyped into a world-wide panic by the media.
There is a political polarization within the United States that has been exacerbated by the media and one of the political parties to the extent that this country is as divided as it was during the mid-1800s when the argument about slavery tore us apart.
There is continual racial animosity that has (again) been so exacerbated by the media that it has caused nation-wide rioting, looting, and deaths.
Antisemitism is on the rise (again) and we have three Congresswomen who no one can understand how they got elected: two hate America and democracy and the third has demonstrated such a fierce lack of understanding about the economy, government or history that she has become an embarrassment to her own party.
And our economy is in the toilet as a result of the over-reaction to the Covid-19 virus outbreak.
Folks, if ever this country was in the middle of a pile of you-know-what, it certainly is now!
Yet, in the midst of all this tsouris, we see there are still people coming together in peaceful protest; we see people freely giving food and other supplies to those who are economically in trouble; we see churches and synagogues that have been told by the government to close their doors using the Internet to stay in touch with their congregations and to continue to spread God’s message.
In the midst of the manure in which this country is immersed, there is a rose growing. Because of what it is surrounded by, we can’t smell it right now, but we know that it smells nice and we can trust that as soon as the manure dries up and dissipates, we will be able to smell that sweet scent of the rose.
Often our lives seem to be completely out of control, and we are suffering from troubles that overwhelm our senses. It becomes hard to maintain faith and remember that God is still in charge, and sometimes we even wonder if God is punishing us. We can become unsure of ourselves and doubt that things will ever get better.
But, somehow, they always do get better, and that is because God IS in charge, and even if he is punishing you, he will also help you to get back on your feet so long as you maintain your faith and believe that he is doing all this for your good.
In this life, there are animals that defecate on the roses, but that doesn’t stop the rose. No, in fact, when a rose is defecated on, it uses that manure to grow. It ignores the stink and finds the nutrients that will make it even stronger so that when the manure is gone, the rose will continue even more beautiful and aromatic than before.
That is what we must do, now and anytime our lives are drowning in drek. The gold won’t be purified until it goes through the fire, and when God allows the fire to consume us, it is up to us to accept the heat, remember that it won’t last too long, and patiently continue to faithfully trust in God to make it all right at the end. And, when we come through it, we will be stronger and able to handle even more stress than before.
Now here is the part no one wants to hear: after you go through the fire, there will be a next one and that one will be even hotter!
But don’t let that cause you worry or concern because you have history to look back on and to give you confidence. Hey! You have been through this before; it was hotter last time than the time before that and you are even better now, so the hotter the fire, the better you will be.
So c’mon, world: bring it on!! I’m ready to take whatever the world throws at me; I know I can get through it because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
Let me finish today with this: I hate watching commercials that insult my intelligence; it drives me crazy to see people driving alone in their cars with the windows closed and wearing a face mask; I am really upset that so many small businesses are closing and people suffering because of the media hype over a disease that kills less than 2% of the total population; and it kills me, especially as a former active duty Marine, to watch this country being torn apart at the seams because our leaders are so obsessed with destroying each other that they are taking the country down with them.
And on top of all this, there is brutality in the streets with people looting, rioting, and killing others all in the name of fair treatment. What a lie!!
I can’t begin to tell you how frustrated I am that I can’t do anything about it.
So, nu? What are we to do?
We should wait patiently on the Lord and maintain our faithful trust that he will see us through this, or (if you ask me, better still) he will continue to allow it as part of the final days when the world will be judged and the Messiah will return to bring lasting peace.
That’s how I deal with all this tsouris in the world: I wait on the Lord and look for the rose in the middle of all this manure, knowing that soon I will be able to enjoy its wonderful scent again.
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Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
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Steve Playing Tarzan
Parashah B’ha’alotecha 2020 (When you set up) Numbers 8 – 12
The people have been in the desert for a year and have completed building the Tabernacle. Now God tells Moses to have Aaron set up the lampstand, or menorah so that the light will shine in front of it. Next, the Levites are cleansed and dedicated to the Lord for service unto him, and they are to be the substitution for all the firstborn among the people of Israel; all the firstborn of the people are ransomed to God since he took all the firstborn of Egypt as a ransom for the people.
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The Levites are to serve from the ages of 25 through 50; afterward, they are to help with the service but not to perform any of the actual work.
As Passover begins this second year, some men were made unclean and God said that those who could not celebrate Passover in the first month could do so the exact same way on the same days in the second month.
The cloud over the Sanctuary would be the signal for moving or remaining, and when it was taken away from the Tabernacle the people followed it. On the 20th day of the second month of the second year of freedom, the cloud moved to the desert of Paran. I believe this happened on the 20th day as there were those who were still celebrating the Passover because they were unclean in the first month.
As they are getting ready to move, Moses asks his father-in-law to come along and act as a guide, but he refuses. Moses asks a second time, but we aren’t told what answer he was given; however, in Judges 1:16 and 4:11 we read about the descendants of Moses’s father-in-law, so it appears that he did stay with the Israelites.
The final chapters of this parashah deal with the people complaining about not having any meat to eat, which leads Moses to ask God for help because their whining and rebellion is too much for him to bear. God gives some of the spirit he gave to Moses to 70 of the Elders, to help Moses lead the people, and then sent quails to feed them. However, as punishment for their complaining, the people were also cursed with a terrible plague.
In Chapter 12, Aaron and Miriam complain against Moses because of the wife he took, and God calls them to the Tent of Meeting where he chides Aaron and Miriam for speaking out against Moses, who God speaks to as a friend. Miriam is struck with leprosy, although Aaron is not punished. Aaron begs forgiveness from Moses, and Moses begs God to heal Miriam, which he does but requires her to be shut outside the camp for a week.
There certainly is a lot happening in this Shabbat reading, which has special meaning for me because the last section of Chapter 12 was the portion I read for my own Bar Mitzvah, oh so many years ago.
What struck me when I read this week’s parashah is at the beginning, and actually has very little to do with the happenings in this parashah. It was during the instructions for the Levite’s cleansing (Numbers 8:12) where God tells them they must sacrifice a sin offering and then a burnt offering.
The sin offering is, of course, to be able to receive forgiveness of sin, and the burnt offering (also called a wholly burnt offering) is to signify total rededication to the covenant between God and the descendants of Abraham, i.e. renewing one’s promise to obey God’s instructions.
There is a teaching within Christianity that is called OSAS, which stands for Once Saved, Always Saved and it is part of the other (wrongful) teaching that the “law” was nailed to the Cross. This is, of course, not justified by anything in the Bible, anywhere, and teaches people that they don’t have to repent or even ask forgiveness because when Jesus died for their sins, he covered all their sins: past, present, and future.
The truth is Yeshua did die for our sins, past, present, and future, but that forgiveness is NOT automatic.
God will not forgive someone who is not repentant, and also only when he is asked for forgiveness. It is clear that the sacrificial system, which states once we have offered up our sin sacrifice we must follow it immediately with a burnt sacrifice, shows that God requires more than just repentance and asking for forgiveness: God also requires our rededication to obedience. The teaching of “Once saved, always saved” is not how God told us it works.
When we sin, we must first repent; if you don’t really care about having sinned, then you don’t really care about being forgiven, and you certainly wouldn’t consider rededicating yourself to obedience since obedience isn’t all that important to you, anyway. Right?
Sin is pervasive, and it is also very hard to overcome. Our very nature is sinful, and it is only through the leading of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) that we can overcome our sinful desires and sinful thoughts, which (as Yeshua taught us) are just as bad as having actually sinned.
So, the lesson I would like us to learn from this parashah is that repentance is the beginning of forgiveness, sacrifice makes forgiveness possible (thank you, Yeshua), but without your heartfelt rededication to obedience, it will all be unacceptable to God.
Sin will happen, we can’t avoid that, and without the temple in Jerusalem the only way forgiveness is possible is through Yeshua. Yeshua made forgiveness available to us, but without your heartfelt and honest rededication to obedience to God’s instructions, Yeshua’s sacrifice will be rendered impotent.
Yeshua died a mortal death so that you can have eternal life, but if you have an unrepentant heart, do not ask for forgiveness for each and every sin, and refuse to rededicate yourself to obedience after asking for forgiveness, the only future you have is one of eternal punishment.
Hey, don’t blame me! Look, these are God’s rules and if anyone chooses to accept man-made rules over God’s rules, well, then they have no one to blame but themselves! Amen!
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Until next time, L’hitraot and Shabbat Shalom!
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I Just Don’t Know What to Say
Here’s the problem: I usually take a long bike ride two to three times a week, and while riding I pray. During these prayers, I often get inspiration for a topic to discuss. However, it has been raining for almost two weeks straight and in Florida, if there is even a chance of a thunderstorm, you do NOT want to be caught out in the rain, especially on a conductor like a metal bike.
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Consequently, I have been missing a lot of prayer time, because (good or bad) I am somewhat conditioned after many years of a long commute in my car and now long rides on my bike, of praying when I am doing those things, and not sitting quietly and praying when I am not.
So, here I am, trying to think of what to talk about with you today, and I got nuthin’!
If you follow my ministry, you might recall that this is a situation that has occurred more than once, and I always seem to come up with something once I get started, but today I don’t feel much like starting anything. Maybe that’s because I am so disgusted with what is happening in the world.
I have recently talked about the signs of the coming judgment, and won’t go into that again. If you missed those posts, they are available on the website. And I don’t think political statements are appropriate in this forum, although there are sometimes exceptions.
You wanna know what really pisses me off? It’s when people say they want to be treated like everyone else is treated, but claim that they are deserving of special treatment. They don’t seem to see how hypocritical that is. If I want to be like everyone else, and treated like everyone else, then I need to be willing to do and act and live like everyone else. When I insist that I should have my own subculture, or dress differently, or redefine my gender, or whatever and that is not the way people within that society normally act or think, then I am not assimilating with the people, I am actually estranging myself from them.
And if I choose to be estranged, then how can I justify asking to be treated as a member of that society which I am estranging myself from?
We who call ourselves God-fearing people, are called to be estranged. We are to be holy, which means to be separate, but then again, Yeshua said that a lamp is useless if it is placed under a cover or hidden, so we are also called to be among the people who are not holy. This is a bit of a conundrum, isn’t it? Be separate from yet amongst the people: hmmm…. how do we do that?
We do it by living our lives with society but as an example of righteousness, hoping that this will lead others to do what is righteous, eventually resulting in what was first the estranged behavior becoming the norm.
You may ask, “How is that any different from having a different culture or gender identification or religious belief? We can also be an example to the people to lead them to OUR definition of righteousness.”
And you wanna know something? Your question is valid.
The difference is what we consider to be righteous.
God told us how to be righteous in his Torah, which he gave to Moses to separate the Jewish people from the rest of the people living in that part of the world; the Torah was to transform the Israelites into a lamp, making them light in the darkness. The darkness was itself also a social and religious system. When we read the Bible, it shows us that the darkness more often than not, blocked out the light.
Let’s face it, Folks…sin is often much more fun than righteousness. The problem with sin is that it only feels good for a short time, then the truth sets in, which is that righteousness is necessary for eternal joy. Too many people choose to reject their opportunity for eternal joy by choosing the temporary pleasure of sin.
When we see what is happening in the world today, we see unrighteousness abounding. And it will only get worse, which is what God has been warning us about for millennia. Every social or religious system believes it is the standard to be followed, and in that, we all have the right to choose which system we will assimilate into. Don’t fool yourself into saying you shouldn’t have to choose how to behave, because you do. Within every society there are rules and if you don’t obey those rules, you are out of that society and will be treated with disdain, prejudice, and persecution.
Don’t you dare cry about it- it’s by your own choice! If you aren’t one of us, you are against us- that saying goes back a long way, and it is true.
Each of us has to choose which society we will be a member of; righteousness as defined by God or righteousness as defined by those who reject God. As Yeshua said, no one can be a slave to two masters, and I suggest that when you choose your master, you don’t think about immediate gain or pleasure but consider, instead, the eternal consequences of your choice.
It’s your choice: always has been and always will be, and when you face God, he won’t accept your excuse that someone else told you you were acting righteously because it is what HE said is righteous that counts.
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Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
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What Should We Do Now?
I just saw a video taken by a man driving down 5th Avenue in New York City.
If you aren’t familiar with 5th Avenue, it is where many of the high-priced retail stores are located, such as Tiffany and Co. The video showed block after block, on both sides of the street, with plywood over all the windows.
It looked like the houses I would see when driving through slums.
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I read about the Antifa movement, which professes to hate racism while practicing anarchy, and I believe that we all know those who cry out for justice do not practice injustice. But, still, it is happening and there are so many who are so blinded by their political beliefs that they can’t see what is happening. The world is coming to an end and these politically blinded idiots applaud those destroying the most wonderful things about this country.
So, what can we do? My answer is this: nothing.
That’s right, there is nothing we can do about it except protect ourselves and make an effort to tell everyone we care about that if they aren’t right with God and Messiah, to get their tuchas in gear because the fecal matter is about to hit the air circulation unit. And all this tsouris we are seeing, this political and social mishigas, is just the beginning.
It won’t get better until after it gets worse.
Don’t believe me? Think I am one of those nutcases who screams, “REPENT!! The end is near!!” Well, you’re right, because that is exactly what I am doing (sans waving a sign in one hand and a Bible in the other.)
I read the Bible, I read what the Prophets tell us God told them would happen, I read what Yeshua warned us would be the starting signs, and I read Revelation.
(I still have no idea what most of Revelation is about, but I know enough of it to recognize what is happening.)
I see so many people posting about how we should pray for peace, but I think it would be better to accept that this is God’s plan for the world and pray instead for a quick resolution to these days, and also for a speedy return of the Messiah.
I hate what I see happening to my country, to our system of government, to people of all races, and to the world, in general. People are being led to their own destruction, and on the way, they are cheering about it. Political opposition has reached the point where those who are responsible for making the laws are paying people to break the laws for their own agenda, which is (in and of itself) treasonous.
Anarchists are spreading violence, civil injustice, and social unrest across our nation, and it is spreading out of the cities and into the suburbs. Soon we will be living in the apocalyptic world that we have only seen in movies and TV shows. There won’t be brain-eating zombies coming after us, but considering how brainlessly people have been acting, those zombies would starve, anyway.
Hmmm….since a zombie is already dead, can it actually starve to death?
Anyway, the thing that I am doing, and what I recommend others to do, is to protect myself. Not from germs or political opponents, but from physical harm and most of all, from the pandemic of stupidity and fear that is the real danger in the world, today.
Maintain your faith and know that this is not really social upheaval, racially motivated riots, or germ warfare (which, for the record, it is all of these things), but that this really is the beginning of God’s plan of redemption. It is the judgment of the nations God said would happen before the return of Messiah Yeshua. We all need to realize this is not a religious rant but is a fact, and by accepting that be emotionally prepared for the rest of the tribulation that is yet to come.
The end IS near, much closer and more tangible than it has ever been before, and we need to get right with God and Messiah before it is too late. Pray not for peace, but for your family and friends who have not accepted Messiah and God’s instructions in the Torah, because they are the ones who will suffer the most.
The suffering of the righteous will be temporary, but the suffering of the unrighteous will be eternal, so let’s pray for them while they still have time.
Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe and check out my books, which can be found on the website.
Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!