Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Shaul Used Two Drashim from Yeshua as the Basis for his Ministry.

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I am just back from 3 days in the hospital for back surgery, and am not allowed to shower until this afternoon, so I am not doing a video today because I look really scrubby.

If you ask me, one of the most misunderstood things in the New Covenant are the Epistles Shaul (Paul) wrote to the congregations he had formed throughout Asia.

The early Gentile leaders of Believers in Yeshua, after all the Apostles had died, so misused and misinterpreted these letters that they formed a totally different form of worship than the one Yeshua lived.

I want to share my understanding of Shaul’s ministry and how he used two of the drashim (parables) from Yeshua’s teachings to be able to bring pagans into a righteous lifestyle.

First off, we need to remember that the Gentiles were practicing the Roman religion, which was a hedonistic, drunkard, and sexually perverse lifestyle. In other words, it was a lot of fun, and to ask someone to give that up, all at once, would only result in most of those who were initially interested apostatizing.

This is what the parable of the Sower of the Seed tells us- some will hear the word and accept it, but the weeds will grow around the young growth and choke it. Shaul knew this and that is why he never forced a total conversion to Judaism (which was the religion they would be learning as they followed Yeshua’s teachings). In fact, that is why he was so angry with the Believing Jews in Galatia, who were undermining his work there by forcing the neophyte, Gentile Believers to undergo B’rit Milah (circumcision) in order to be saved.

Shaul also knew the parable of the enemy who sewed tares in the field of wheat. The tares were not recognizable as tares until they had grown so much that they were now interlaced with the wheat, and the owner of the field said to let them grow because tearing them out would also tear out the wheat. He said they would be separated at the harvest.

Shaul was following that idea, but instead of bad seed in a good field, he was planting good seed in a bad field, and hoped that by not making it so obvious (by requiring total conversion to Torah obedience), the good seed would grow in the tares and when the harvest came (Judgement Day), the good seed would be separated and survive.

The Elders in Jerusalem confirmed and supported this program of ministry in their letter (Acts 15) to these new Gentile Believers because they said all the new Believers had to do, NOW, was obey those 4 commands (three about not eating unclean food, and no more fornicating). What most Christians never were taught (and people never read the Bible to verify what they are told) was that James also said these new Believers will eventually learn what the Torah says at Shabbat services.

In other words, let them start slowly and adjust at their own pace to this paradigm shift in lifestyle, or we will lose them to the “weeds” of their past life.

So, Shaul went throughout Asia, telling both Jews and Gentiles about Messiah Yeshua, but he did not require the Gentiles to convert to Judaism. He required the basics- love God and love each other, which Yeshua said were the two most important commandments in the Torah.

For the record: modern Christian teaching says these are the only commandments Christians have to obey, which is wrong. Yeshua never said these were the only commandments, just that they are the most important.

Can you see now how Shaul, using the parables of seeds being sewn in the field, designed a program for missionary work that used the wisdom of those drashim to create a gradual integration from a pagan lifestyle to a righteous one?

And this is why Christianity has gone so far off course from what Yeshua taught- they just didn’t get it, and decided since they don’t have to become Jews overnight, they can change what they want to. They started with the 4th Commandment, changing the Shabbat, then rejected the Holy Days in Leviticus 23, ignored the requirements for food in Leviticus 11, and by the Third Century had created a totally man-made religion that has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s word or Yeshua’s teachings, other than to love one another.

And I can tell you this, for certain: loving one another isn’t enough.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel, buy my books (if you like what you get here, you will like my books), and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or you can’t come in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for now, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Repetition Isn’t Respect

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I haven’t been very dutiful in my posting the last couple of weeks, and I probably won’t post again for another week or two. I am getting surgery on my back to fuse my L5 vertebrae to L4 since the L5 is shifting. I have been dealing (painfully) with sciatica for two years now, and this is the third time I go “under the knife”. God willing, this will be the fix. I know I can count on your prayers for me, and I thank you for them.

OK- now down to business…

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

How often have you heard people say “Father God” or “Lord” about a thousand times while praying?

Do you know someone who, when just talking with you, has to acknowledge God in some way, in nearly every other sentence? They talk like this:

“As I was walking home the other day, praise the Lord, I saw my friend who by God’s Grace I have known for a long time. And she has been in good health, thanks to God, my savior, for a while now, and praise the Lord that she yadda, yadda, yadda….”

Look- I am not trying to insult or berate anyone, but really? Can’t you finish a complete thought without having to praise or recognize God in some way?

Here’s why I am writing about what could be just a pet peeve of mine: I believe that automatic and repetitive reference to God becomes empty praise.

What I am saying is that when we say the same thing, over and over, it becomes standard practice, essentially rote repetition, and after a very short time it will become the way we talk, but it will have no essence.

When people continually refer to God in their speech or prayer and do it so often that it becomes a pattern, the heartfelt desire to honor God is no longer why they do it- it now just habit.

When we do or say things so often that we don’t even think about it, it means nothing anymore.

I rarely refer to God in my everyday speech or when I pray after I have already addressed him at the start. I don’t continually interject “Father God” or “Lord” or any direct reference to God- I really think he knows who I’m talking to. And, despite his age, I don’t think he has a problem with short-term memory, so I don’t feel the need to constantly remind him who I am talking to.

My concern, again, is that people who constantly refer to God in one way or another as part of their prayer or speech patterns become inured to why we refer to God in the first place, which is to honor him in all we say and do.

So, if you are feeling that I am picking on you, it is probably because you are one of those who constantly refer to God in your speech and prayer. If so, I am sorry if you feel insulted, but I really think you should consider that by referring to God in every other sentence you have reduced consciously honoring him to nothing more than mindless conditioning.

And I can be fairly certain that the people you are talking to, especially people who aren’t as “spiritually invested” as you are, believe it is fake spirituality and not a real love for God.

You know? Sometimes I think the Lord is sitting on his throne, hearing people refer to him over and over again, and is saying to himself:


“Just talk to me- I already know who I am.”

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to my website and YouTube channel, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in), and buy my books. If you like what you get here, you will like my books, as well.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

That’s it for now, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

How to be Satisfied.

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This is going to be a real easy lesson today, but as with many things that seem easy, to actually be able to utilize this in your life is not easy.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

So, the secret to happiness, how to be satisfied in all that you do (as Shaul said he was in Philippians 4:12) and have peace throughout your life is this:

Satisfaction doesn’t come from getting what you want; it comes from being content with what you have.

That’s it. Simple, right?

The difficulty is actually being content with what we have.

I am not saying that one should not have ambition- to me, a life without ambition is a boring life. We should try to better our situation, be a better provider to our family, continue to study and learn about everything that interests us, and never, ever stop trying to better ourselves.

And always try to be more of what God wants us to be- not what some religion says you should be, but what God says to be (and you find that ONLY in the first 5 books of the Bible. If you want to say Yeshua / Jesus taught us how to be, he taught from those 5 books).

For me, I really have learned pretty much to be satisfied. For example, I can log onto Amazon and buy only what I really need to get. (Oy! The Acid Test of satisfaction!)

Do I want more? Honestly? No, not really. I have a wonderful marriage to a wonderful woman, I have a house that is paid for, I am (for the most part) healthy, I have friends I have known from childhood that I am still constantly in touch with, my ministry (this ministry) is growing, and even though I would prefer more people buy the books I have written, I have come to accept that what I spout here is never going to be popular.

Why not? Am I being pessimistic? No, I am being realistic- the megachurches and large synagogues and popular online ministries are popular because they tell people all the wonderful things that God will do for them.

Not me- I tell people all the things God wants us to do for him BEFORE he will give us all that nice stuff.

People don’t want to hear about what they have to do to get something: they love to hear about what they will get for doing nothing.

Well…das ist alles! Short, sweet, to the point: it’s OK to try to get more, but not to the point where wanting more takes away from being satisfied with what you have.

If you can teach yourself to appreciate what you have, and especially to thank God for all he has done for you, then you will always be satisfied.

That’s it for this week, so please remember to subscribe, share these messages, buy my books, join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (you need to accept the rules to get in), and please don’t hesitate to give me feedback.

Until next time, l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

Oh, I almost forgot- this Monday is Purim…Chag Sameach!

How To Fix Our Society

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If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Have any of you noticed I haven’t been around for a while? Donna and I spent the beginning of February celebrating our 25th anniversary with friends who live outside of London, and when we came back, we had many things to do, so I haven’t been posting regularly most of this month. I hope to get back into my usual routine soon but have a back operation to undergo in a few weeks, which will probably put me out of commission for 6 months or more. I am sharing this with you because I get most of my inspiration when I am riding my bicycle, which I won’t be able to do for anywhere from 4-6 months. So, since I believe that many of the messages I receive are from God, I am sure that if he has something he wants me to write about, he will get that message to me, somehow.

I am still able to ride my bicycle, and today’s message came to me the other day during my ride.

So many socio-political problems today are based on race and religion. It seems that if anyone says anything about a person, it becomes a racial issue, especially if the people involved are of different races.

The world is racist because we have been conditioned to identify by race: for example, here in the USA people say they are a Russian-American (my grandparents came over from Russia), or a Chinese-American, or an African-American, or an Italian -American, or a whatever-American.

By identifying this way, they are (by definition) being a racist.

There is nothing wrong, at all, with being proud of one’s cultural background, but we need to stop identifying by where our ancestors lived. They lived there, we didn’t.

My grandparents, as I mentioned, were from Russia- both sides- but I am not really Russian. I was born in America, and so I am an American. If I want to be proud of my cultural ancestry, then I can say I am an American with Russian ancestry.

But I am, first and foremost, an American.

From a spiritual viewpoint, if someone asked me if I was saved or not, why would I tell them I am an unsaved person who is now saved? Doesn’t it make sense to ignore what I was and be concerned only with what I am? What does it matter that I was once unsaved- we all were! What is important is what I am, now.

As someone who speaks about God, I could be taken as a racist, since the Bible can be seen as a racist document. Really- we aren’t supposed to mix different cloths, to associate with certain people, to marry outside of our own religion: all of these are certainly identifiable as a bigoted (racist) attitude.

So, nu? What am I trying to say?

Simply this: we need to stop identifying by race or religion or political affiliation, and simply see each other as God sees us- not for what we are, but for who we are.

Race, ancestry, political idealisms, religion- these are things that identify what we are, and as such do not always define who we are.

If we can teach our children to identify with everyone else by their similarities instead of their differences, we will create a society that is closer to what God wants than what we have now.

Try to see people for who they are; ignore their skin color, their ancestry, even their religion, and make whatever judgement about them you need to based on their personality and the way they treat others.

I believe if we can do this, we will be living a lot closer to the way God wants us to live.

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, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Who’s Your Daddy?

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We refer to God as our Father in heaven, right? So, today when I ask who your Daddy is, I am referring to the one in heaven.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the father of Yeshua the Messiah, and the creator of the Universe and everything (and everyone) in it, told us in the Bible how he wants us to worship him and to treat each other. The only place in the entire Bible where you find these instructions is in the first 5 books, called the Torah- there is no other place where God gives us different laws and commandments.

I ask you, then, if God has told you what he wants you to do, and even confirms these things by promising to bless you when you do as HE says (Deuteronomy 28), where did all these other religions come from?

I mean, if you follow a religion that is not what God said to do, but rather what some human being says to do, then isn’t that human being now your “Daddy”?

If you practice any of these religions, then this is your daddy:

Protestantism/Lutheranism– Martin Luthor is your daddy.

Calvinism– John Calvin is your daddy.

Mormonism– Joseph Smith is your daddy.

Mennonite– Menno Simons is your daddy.

Baptist– you have two Daddy’s- John Smyth and Thomas Helwys

Seventh-Day Adventists– you have no daddy, but you do have a mommy named Ellen G. White

Jehovah’s Witnesses– your daddy is Charles Taze Russell

Roman Catholicism– Supposedly Jesus is your daddy, but when we read the Gospels, he never said to do any of the things that Catholic churches say to do! So, then, if you are a Roman Catholic, or any denomination of Catholicism, who is your daddy, really?

The answer is that Catholics have had many daddy’s- none of whom was Jesus.

Paul was one of the first ones, since many of the letters he wrote to congregations have been used, or should I say mis-used, to create Christian doctrine. The rest of your paternal lineage comes from the different Popes and Christian councils created by men.

For the record, none of Paul’s letters are ever mentioned by Paul, whose real name is Shaul, to be something he heard directly from God. The truth is, when you read those letters with an open mind, i.e., without already knowing what they are supposed to mean, you will see that they are simply managerial directives to the congregations that were having both spiritual and interpersonal relationship problems.

There you have it! I haven’t annotated every different denomination of every different Christian religion because, well- I don’t have enough server space to store all that.

And, just in case anyone is asking why I haven’t included Judaism, I believe that Jews, especially the Orthodox and Chasidic, have any number of daddy’s, all of which are found in the Talmud. What a shame! Even the “purest” religion, the one that is supposed to be based exclusively on what God said in the Torah, has added so many man-made tenets and traditions and ceremonies that we are no better than everyone else.

I hope that I have made my point- if you follow any religion, and I mean ANY religion- then your daddy is not the one in heaven, it is some human daddy who is probably leading you down the wrong path.

God has no religion; men have created religion in order to have power over other men.

So, nu? What are you supposed to do now?

I suggest you start, if you haven’t already done so, by reading the Torah.

Reject the idea (if your religion has told you) that the Torah is only for Jews and try to live within its regulations and commands as best as you can. Remember that when you fail (because we all do) you have Yeshua ha Mashiach as your means of receiving forgiveness.

If you prefer to stay with what you have been used to, that is (of course) your right to choose. I am not telling you what to do, only what to do if you want to obey God.

I have said this often, and I will continue to say it: when you come to the Throne of Judgement (which we will all do) and say to God, “But I was just doing what they told me to do!”, I can’t speak for the Big Guy in the heavens above, but I think he might reply with something to this effect:

“I know you were doing what they told you to do, my child, but it’s what I say that counts.”

In life we can’t choose our Daddy, but when it comes to how we worship God we can, so… choose wisely!

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. Subscribe to this ministry on my website and my YouTube channel, buy my books, and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word” (but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I cannot let you in).

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

What Does It Matter?

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How do we pronounce the Tetragrammaton, the 4- letters (יהוה) which signify who God told Moses to tell the people sent him to them?

Are God the Father and Yeshua the Messiah really one entity in two distinct persons?

Was Job a real person?

How many other questions have you come across that seem to be difficult, if not impossible, to answer?

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Here’s my question to you:

What does it matter?

Will knowing how the four letters are pronounced make you any more saved than you are now?

The Bible tells us what the relationship between God and Yeshua is: God is the Father of Yeshua and Yeshua is the Messiah he promised to send. So, what else do you need to know to be saved? Will knowing if their relationship is more than that get you a better seat at the table?

And what if Job is just a story? Does that make the message it sends, which is we cannot always understand why God does what he does, any less important?

I have seen, all too often, so many arguments about the topics I just mentioned, as well as many other things which haven’t edified anyone or given anyone a better understanding of God and that’s because the only thing that most of these arguments has done is to cause confusion and dissension within the body of believers.

Remember how pissed Shaul (Paul) was at the Jewish believers in Galatia? They were trying to make the neophyte Gentile believers convert completely to Judaism all at once. Shaul knew that this would turn away more people than it would help, which is why Shaul had the Gentiles he was bringing to Messiah learn about the Torah slowly, teaching them the spiritual meaning of the commandments (which is what Yeshua did) instead of having them go through the motions of converting.

He knew what was important for them to know, when it was important for them to know, and what they didn’t need to know in order to stay on the right track to salvation.

I feel the same way he did- frustrated and angry- with those people who argue about topics that have no value at all when it comes to being saved.

How are we saved, really? It is very simple: we need to accept that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, and that his sacrifice replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple in order for us to be forgiven of our sins.

The sacrificial system never went away- what did go away was the ability to perform the sacrifice as God commanded after the temple was destroyed in 73 A.D., which was the only place the Torah said we were allowed to perform a sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:11).

That is why in John 14:6 Yeshua said the only way to The Father is through him. When Yeshua was resurrected, that proved his sacrifice was accepted as a substitute for bringing an animal to the temple.

Sin prevents us from being in God’s presence, and salvation is the result of being cleansed of our sins. The sacrifice of an innocent animal used to provide for that, and now that is provided through the sacrifice of Yeshua.

Leviticus explains that after a sin sacrifice there would be a friendship sacrifice. This was the only sacrifice where the one bringing the animal also got a share of the animal to eat there, in a holy place. This was sort of like having dinner with God. Yeshua’s sacrifice served as the Yom Kippur sin sacrifice and since it was done on the Passover, which is a friendship sacrifice, it also served that role: Yeshua’s one-time sacrifice was for both sin and friendship. That is why through Yeshua we can be saved and thereby commune with God.

So, my point to all this is that questions that lead to a better understanding of God and his Torah are not unimportant, per se’, but most are not needed for salvation. I’ll go along with discussing these things as a way to get to know God better or gain a deeper understanding of his Torah, but when they become just a way for someone to show off how much more they know than you do, well…that serves no one but the Enemy of God.

So, learn all you can- that’s okay- but I suggest you do not get involved in arguments about topics that do not affect your salvation; because, unless it is in an atmosphere of mutual respect where everyone understands it is just for knowledge and not a salvation issue, you may find yourself getting more and more confused, being led down a path of Gnostic irrelevance instead of being edified and receiving spiritual guidance to a better knowledge and relationship with God and Messiah Yeshua.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know. If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to this ministry on both my website and YouTube channel. If you like what you get here, you will like my books, which you can get through the link on the website.

I also invite you to join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please ensure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

PS: I won’t be posting all next week as I will be celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary to Donna while visiting with friends in the UK.

Megachurches- What Do They Have that I Don’t Have?

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I don’t mean to sound envious of these gigantic churches that have maybe a thousand or more congregants, whereas I have only a couple of hundred subscribers, even though I am on the Internet, which gives me exposure to the entire globe!

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

Over the years, and even before I became a Believer, I have watched some of the great speakers that run these congregations, such as Oral Roberts- that man was an inspirational and charismatic speaker, which you really need to be if you are going to keep the interest of hundreds and hundreds of people for an hour or more.

But what is the message they give that keeps so many people wanting to hear more?

Is it how God wants them to live their lives?

Is it about tithing and doing for others?

Does it cover the entire Bible, teaching that we all should live according to how God said to in the Torah, that the Torah is what Yeshua taught from, and not to do what some man-made religion misinterpreting Paul’s letters says?

I can’t recall ever hearing any of that from any of them.

No. In fact, not just the megachurches, but most churches I have been exposed to tell only of all the wonderful things that God will do for you.

Faith healing churches (many of which have been exposed as frauds) don’t ask for a regular tithe but for contributions. I remember when I was in the Marine Corps (late 1970’s) and living in North Carolina, a certain televangelist faith healer used to say if they called and made a pledge, they could then touch the television screen and he would heal them.

Imagine that! Digital faith healing- wow! God enters the age of technology. Maybe instead of calling them “prophets” we should call them human modems?

Alexa….say a prayer for me.

My ministry will never be big because I don’t tell people what God will do for them; I tell them what they are to do for God.

God’s promises of blessings (Deuteronomy 28) are not from God to us, but first and foremost, from us to God. The order of things is that God tells us what he wants us to do (in the Torah), then we do it, then God sends us blessings.

That’s the way it works, people.

Do you want to know if God will do wonderful things for you? The answer is ” Yes- absolutely!”

But you have to do your part first- blessings do not precede faithful obedience; no, blessings are the reward for faithful obedience.

And when I say faithful obedience, I don’t mean going through the motions, or that we receive salvation through works. Faithful obedience means doing as God says because you trust in God, because you want to please God, and because you know that whatever God says to do is in your best interests.

And, for the record, what religions have misinterpreted Shaul’s (Paul) letters to mean is NOT from God- it is from Shaul to the people in those congregations he wrote to who were having interpersonal and spiritual problems. The letters to the churches are not God-breathed scripture; what Shaul said in 2 Timothy 3:16 refers to the Tanakh, which was the only scripture that existed then.

The letters Shaul wrote are managerial directives to get the neophyte Gentile Believers back on track, teaching them how to be Torah observant (albeit a little at a time).

Remember that in Acts 15:21 James said,

“For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

which demonstrates- unquestionably- that the Elders in Jerusalem expected these new Gentile Believers to eventually learn how to be Torah observant.

So, if you enjoy watching those paragons of religion on TV, please ask yourself what you find so enjoyable and uplifting about them. Is it because you feel “Oh! So good!” when they tell you how God loves you and will do all these wonderful things for you?

If your answer is, “Well, yeah- what’s wrong with that?” I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it- it is misleading you. While telling you all about what God will do for you, they are leading you into rejecting all God said he wants you to do for him.

God has more blessings in store for you than you will ever be able to count, but they ain’t free! You’ve got to be obedient to what God says, not to what some guy running a church tells you.

If you can’t tell the difference between what a religion tells you is God’s word, and what God’s word is from the Bible, then you will be misled.

Thank you for being here and please subscribe and share these messages with everyone you know to help this small ministry be just a little bit bigger. Buy my books and join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or you’re not allowed in.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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

Time to Plug My Books

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I received an email the other day from someone who wanted to help me sell my books. They “invited” me to do an interview that would be run on YouTube, as well as multiple ads in different media outlets. It wasn’t much of an invitation because they wanted me to pay then about $2500! When I said that was too much, suddenly they are offering me less than half of that, supposedly for the same exposure, but when I checked out their website, the interviews on YouTube had only a handful of views. So, I said “Thanks, but no thanks.”

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

However, it did make me realize that a short “Please buy my books” at the end of my messages didn’t really give these books the respect and indicate the importance I feel they can have in someone’s spiritual growth.

So, today I am going to plug my books the way they should be plugged!

My first book, “Back to Basics: God’s Word vs. Religion” was written over 14 years ago, and it identifies a number of differences between what God says in the Bible and what different religions teach. The book deals with such topics as “Is Celibacy a Commandment?”, “Kosher is Not Just for Jews”, “Holy Day vs. Holiday”, and “Hidden Idolatry”, to name a few. I highly recommend it to those who are questioning what they have been taught all their life.

The next book I wrote is called “Prayer…What It Is and How It Works”. This is a compilation of many of the messages I have written about prayer over the 10 or more years I have had this ministry. Some of the topics discussed deal with “Am I Praying Correctly?”, “Power of Prayer or Power of God?”, “Spiritual Aspirin”, and “Be Careful What You Pray for Because You Might Just Get It.”. This book is designed to help us understand not just how to pray, but what happens when we pray and what to expect from it.

The third book I wrote is called “Parashot Drashim”, which translates roughly to “Discussions about the Torah readings”. This book, like my book about prayer, was sourced from the many times over the many years I have written messages regarding the Torah reading for that week. It is useful in many ways: you can use this as fodder for a sermon, as a commentary, as a source for a Bible study, or just as a way to get to know the Torah better. It is the thickest book I have written, to date, but as with all my books, I believe you will find it to be an “easy read”.

My most recent book is called “The Good News About the Messiah for Jews: Debunking the Traditional Lies About the Jewish Messiah“. I must say, although I am proud of what I have written, this is the book that- for me- ties it all together. The title may say this is for Jews, but it is for Gentiles, as well. I wanted the title to make Jews curious, since my people are immediately turned off by anything having to do with Jesus, which is why I feel they are more in need of understanding the lies that we Jews have been told, by Jews, about Jesus (most Jews don’t even know his real name, “Yeshua”). However, these lies have also misled Christians about what God wants from them. Some of the topics include the lie that Jesus created Christianity, that all sins are automatically forgiven, that believing in Jesus means you have converted to Christianity, and that Jews have the Torah while Gentiles have Grace, as well as other lies that have served to do nothing but mislead both Jews and Christians about who Yeshua is and what he taught.
I do have a professional video ad for this book, and if you want to watch it, click here.

Currently I am working on a fifth book, which I am writing for people who are curious about what the Bible says, but don’t want to have to read the whole thing. I hope to have a working title and publish this book by the end of 2023.

You won’t find a bibliography or footnotes in any of my books. There is no Bibliography because the Bible is my only source document: it contains all I need in order to truthfully and accurately discuss what God says and what Yeshua taught. When referring to something the Bible says, I place the reference right there in the text- I don’t use footnotes because I think it makes reading the book easier.

I have tried my best to write these books in a conversational style, meaning that when you read them you feel like we are sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee or tea, just relaxing and talking. I try to use a little humor, now and then, just to make it more fun. The one thing I can promise you, absolutely, is that these books do NOT read like a textbook.

The pricing is very reasonable, and all my books are available on Amazon (and other sites) in either paperback or Kindle format. The Kindle pricing is just a few bucks, so how bad can that be?

And everyone- all three of them- who have read my books loved them.

I encourage you, if you like anything you read or hear in my messages, to buy my books and share them. I did not write them to become a millionaire and get on the NYT Best Seller List (although that would be OK with me), but rather as a means of sharing what I feel God has shown me through his Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) about him and his Messiah.

As that nice Jewish tent maker from Tarsus told the congregation he formed in Corinth: “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31). I am boasting about these books because I believe when I wrote them, I was being led by God’s Spirit to give you what you need to know in order to make an informed decision about where you will spend eternity.

I ‘d like to know whether or not you agree with me about that, so please read these books and let me know if you do.

Thank you for your continued support by subscribing to my website and YouTube channel, as well as sharing these messages with everyone you know to help this ministry continue to grow. I invite you (at no cost) to join my Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please make sure you click that you agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and let me wish you an early Shabbat Shalom!

No Need to Know

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When I was a Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, I had a Top-Secret Clearance. And when you go to classes regarding clearance levels, you learn there are three essential factors in order to see any classified documents:

  1. You must have the proper clearance level.
  2. You must have access to the material.
  3. You must have a Need to Know.

When it comes to what God does in our lives and why, we have to meet those same conditions.

If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.

When we read the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), we see he is a frustrated and disappointed man, who feels that everything we do is just “chasing the wind”. Why does he feel that way? Well, if you ask me (and even if you don’t, I’m gonna tell you) it’s because he wanted to understand why God does what he does. And, since no human can ever fathom the mind of God, he came to the conclusion to just do what you do, eat, drink, and enjoy whatever God gives you while you are alive.

Let’s take a look at the Book of Iyob (Job): he goes through some terrible tsouris (curse, trouble) and he doesn’t understand why. Meanwhile, his friends are telling him it is happening because this is what God does to sinners, essentially speaking as if they knew why God does things. They find out later, when God tells them they are in big trouble speaking as if they knew God’s mind, that they were wrong.

I would love to know why things happen: I have always wanted to know what makes something “tick”, how it works, and why it works that way. I’m a nerd…I really need to know.

But when it comes to God, I don’t have a need to know- I have a need to TRUST!

And pardon me for saying this, but so…do…you!

We human beings will never understand God’s plan, or why he does what he does, if for no other reason than this: God works on an eternal plane, and we are stuck here in this finite existence without the capability to think eternally. Therefore, whatever God does now is part of what he knows will end up having eternal consequences, consequences that we cannot possibly see or even imagine.

Think of it this way: you are on the Long Island Expressway (known as the longest parking lot in the world), driving a compact car. You are next to a tractor trailer, who’s driver is about 10 feet over your car’s roof. Way up there, he can see a long way down the road whereas you can barely see past the car in front of you.

Sitting there going nowhere- slowly- you wonder what the heck is the problem. You want to know why you are going through this tsouris but cannot see the reason because your physical position in the traffic doesn’t allow you to know the answer, which is way down the road. But the tractor trailer driver can see way down the line, and he sees there is an accident holding up the traffic. He has the ability to see father than you can, and this is the same way it is with us and God.

We can barely see past our own noses (now, now- no jokes about Jewish noses), but God sees all the way to the end of time.

Now, through the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) that indwells, we may have the “clearance level” to know what God may know about a specific event, and through the Ruach we can have access to know, but it is up to God whether or not we have the need to know.

As far as I am concerned, we NEVER have a need to know but (as I said before) we have a need to trust.

Believe me, if God wanted any of us to know why he is doing what he is doing, he will make sure we do, so unless you get some divine revelation, just trust that whatever it is you are going through, good or bad, God has a reason and don’t ask why- just ask for help to get through it.

For me, trusting God is much more important, and much more comforting, than needing to know why God does what he does.

Trust and faith are two sides of the same coin, and they have a synergistic relationship: the more you trust, the stronger your faith becomes, and the stronger your faith, the easier it is to trust.

Thank you for being here and please share these messages with everyone you know and invite them to join this ministry. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so now on both my website and YouTube channel. I also have a Facebook group called “Just God’s Word”, but please ensure you click to agree to the rules, or I can’t let you in.

If you like what you get here, then please buy my books because you will like them, too.

And remember that I always welcome your comments.

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