If Adonai Knows the Future, How Can He Regret Doing Anything?

Have you ever asked yourself how Adonai could regret something he did? I mean, if he knows everything, including the future, then shouldn’t he have known what would happen, to begin with?

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One example of Adonai regretting doing something is right at the start, when he says in Genesis 6:6, that he regretted making mankind. And later, in 1 Samuel 15:11, he tells Sh’mu’el that he now regretted making Shaul the king.

This would seem to be a major issue; I mean, if God regrets doing something, doesn’t that mean he didn’t know how it would turn out? And if so, that means he doesn’t know the future!

Oy gevalt! Is the Bible wrong?

I considered this for a while, and finally I came to what I think is a viable answer.

Even though there are many verses in the Bible that indicate God knows the future, I think God knows what will happen because God has two things going for him:

  1. He knows our hearts and minds, and as such, he can accurately predict what we will do; and
  2. Because he is God, whatever he wants to happen will happen, one way or another.

There are several references in the Bible that tell us that he has plans for us, that he knows the beginning from the end, etc., all indicating that the future is known to God.

But isn’t it possible God knows what will happen simply because he can make it happen?

God gave each and every one of us Free Will, so we can decide what we are going to do, or not do. Take Jonah, for example: when God first told him to go to Nineveh, isn’t it possible that God expected him to go? Maybe God was a little surprised that he went in the opposite direction, or maybe God wasn’t the least bit surprised because he knew his heart! God knew that Jonah’s hatred for the Ninevites would cause him to refuse, and that is why God called him, in the first place- to give him the chance to show his obedience.

And when Jonah disobeyed, God sent the storm to give Jonah another chance to repent, which he did (good for him!). Maybe, just maybe, if Jonah had not repented, he would have died with all the men on board that vessel, and God would have sent someone else.

But let’s not go there- it is never a good idea to postulate.

I believe God is able to regret doing something because of Free Will, which adds a certain amount of uncertainty, and God will not override our decision. If he did, then we wouldn’t really have Free Will, would we?

However, God can influence our decisions, such as sending a terrific storm to prevent us from doing what we intended.

Maybe there has been an event in your life where you realized the conditions you were in were so terrible that you needed to change your decisions or lifestyle? Perhaps you realized, or maybe now are first realizing, that this was God regretting what you were doing and influencing your decisions for the better?

Now, the other side of that coin is how the Devil can do the same thing by causing events in your life that might influence you to turn away from God.

This is why it is so important to know the Bible, so we know what God wants us to do. We need to always weigh our decisions against the way God says to live, which is not found in a religion but in the Torah, and constantly ask God for discernment and insight so we are always doing what God would want us to do.

It sounds simple, but it isn’t- there are so many ungodly influences (and influencers!) in our life, many of whom are found in social media, as well as the news media, and especially in WOKE Hollywood!

My advice? If the world loves it, God probably hates it, so stay with God. You may lose friends, family, jobs, and in some places in the world, maybe your life! But you will gain eternity.

And when it comes down to it, this life lasts for a moment, and eternity is forever. I truly believe that when we are resurrected, if we do remember anything of this life, if won’t matter to us at all.

After all, when we are in God’s presence, fully joyful and forever at peace, who cares about this life?

Thank you, as always, for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

Street Preaching and Ecclesiastes

I recently saw a video of someone complaining that as they were preaching the word in a crowded subway car, no one was paying any attention. That made me think how Ecclesiastes has a lesson for us regarding street preaching.

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

Let me start out by stating that despite my expertise in Marketing and Sales, I am not suited well, at all, to missionary work, such as preaching on the street or in subway cars.

The reason is simple: the first person to spit on me would wake up in the hospital.

Now, that being established, you may be wondering how street preaching and Ecclesiastes (the Hebrew name for that book is Kohelet) are related, and the answer is that in Kohelet (I’m using that name because it is easier to type) we are told there is a time for everything. I think we can extrapolate on that idea and state there is also a place for everything, and that things work best when you are in the right place, at the right time.

Preaching in a subway car is certainly a right place, mainly because you have a trapped audience. But I believe doing so during rush hour is not the best time.

You may be thinking it is the absolute best time because the subway is at its most crowded, but I think, having been a commuter for a very, VERY long time, it is not a good time because people are concentrating on what they are going to do when they get to work, or (on the return trip) what they are going to do when they get home.

And that equates to this: they are not at all interested in hearing anything, from anyone.

Now, you may come back to me and say that any time we plant a seed we are doing good for the Kingdom, and I would not disagree. Yet… if I am throwing good seed on sandy desert ground or in a rocky crevasse, am I really doing any good?

And I can tell you from experience, which you may be able to relate to (especially if you’ve been a long-time commuter), when going to work I am concentrating on work; I am thinking exclusively on what I have to do when I get there, and I do not want to be bothered with anything else to think about.

And when going home, all I want to do is get home.

I think the best time to preach on a subway car is between rush hours, when the people are not concentrating so much on what they have to do when they get to wherever they are going.

As for preaching on the street, I think any time of the day is good because there are many people on the street who are not in a rush to get somewhere, and may be more open to spending some time to listen, and maybe even interact with you (hopefully, in a respectful and non-violent way).

I have no end of respect for you missionary types- like I said from the start, I could never do it. This ministry of mine is a strictly teaching ministry- my purpose is to let you know what you need to know in order to make an informed decision about where you will spend eternity. I say what I believe, and why, but never tell anyone else what they have to believe.

So, that all being said, if you do missionary work, God bless you! And please consider what I have said, in regard to choosing the best time and place to spread the seeds of salvation, because, if you ask me, they are too valuable to throw away, like pearls before swine.

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even if they aren’t a Believer. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

(And, no, I am not contradicting today’s message by saying this- I am specifying to plant the seed in soil, not rocks or desert or sand.)

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

Is Our Sinful Nature to Help Us Survive?

The Christians have Original Sin, and we Jews have the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination), both pretty much saying that we are all born as sinners.

But could what we consider to be a sinful nature simply be a survival instinct?

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How do children show their “sinful” side? Isn’t it when they won’t share things they desire, such as food or toys? Later, when they grow older, they are cruel to each other, especially to those who are different from themselves by rejecting them from their circle of friends.

These character traits we usually identify as “sinful”; however, if we look at it from a survival viewpoint, it kinda makes sense.

The most basic instinct in all living creatures is to survive; Yeshua said so when he said the greatest act of love is to give one’s life for another. So, when we see something that we consider to be necessary for our survival, isn’t it normal that we would desire and protect that thing?

As we get older and more mature, we protect things that aren’t really lifesaving, such as our possessions, our finances, our jobs, and other important and necessary things for survival (like those box seat tickets). As adults, that survival instinct presents itself as selfishness, discompassionate nature, and being just plain nasty.

What happens is that as we age, our basic survival instinct mutates into sinfulness.

Coveting what someone else has, such as a new car, a beautiful spouse, or a better job is not much different, really, than living in the wild, being hungry, and seeing someone else with a fresh kill. Instinct will drive us to try to steal that kill, won’t it?

The hyena is considered to be a repugnant creature, whereas the American Bald Eagle is considered to be a noble creature, yet they are both scavengers! Both would rather steal the food from another than to hunt and catch their own food- that’s their survival instinct at work

Now, don’t get me wrong- I am not saying that you can be selfish and hedonistic and miserly without consequence or responsibility just because it is instinct.

Nope! It don’t work that way.

What I am suggesting, and I could be way off on this entire idea, is that when we are sinful, it isn’t because (as the comedian Flip Wilson used to say)…“The Devil made me do it!” It is part of our very psyche, from the very beginning of creation, and is (again) the basic instinct of all living beings- we want to survive.

Now comes the clincher: even though it is instinct, it is not acceptable.

God has made us in his image, meaning (at least, to me) that we have the ability to overcome our instincts, to take control of our emotions, and to be able to do what is right instead of what is wrong.

What is considered to be right and wrong can be different in different cultures; at times, they might be in exact opposition to each other. But with the society we live in, we all have the obligation to behave in accordance with what that society sees as right.

Those of us who are faithfully obedient to God, and try to live as best as we can to the instructions he gave us in the Torah, sometimes find that we are in opposition to the society we live in. Today, sadly, we also find that living in accordance to the Torah is too often in opposition to what many Christian religions say. And when that happens, we must make a decision. Instinctively, we may feel that we want to go along with society (or our religion) because being like everyone else, we will be accepted (there’s that survival instinct thing, again), but sometimes that means rejecting God’s ways.

That’s a tough call for most, but for the truly faithful, there’s no real option- it has got to be God’s way. That is sort of an advanced survival instinct, in that we aren’t concerned with our survival in this life, but with our survival in the afterlife.

So, I guess what I am saying is that evil may be nothing more, in some cases, than an extension of our basic instinct to survive, but that doesn’t mean we can allow it to control us. We must control our instincts, and do what is right- not just according to our societal rules, but overall, to what God says is right.

And when they clash, well…then the decision we must make is this: do we do what we have to do to survive in this life, or do we do what God says we should do in order to survive in the afterlife?

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even those who are not believers. Hey, after all- you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

Cease Fires are Useless

I do not want to make this ministry a hub for political arguments or agendas, but when it comes to Israel, how can any Jewish person, such as I, not say something? There won’t be any video today, and please excuse me for not doing my usual type of message.

First off, I read this morning there is another cease fire being proposed between Israel and Hamas. How many successful cease fires have there been between Israel and her enemies over the past decades?

Well, there have been 7 major battles fought between various Arab forces and Israel: 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, and 2023–present, and everyone of them had a cease fire agreement, at one time or another, so I would have to say the answer to the question of how many successful cease fires have there ever been between Israel and her enemies is: NONE!

Each one of those battles had a cease fire agreement, and some even had a peace treaty, and yet we are still at war today. What does this prove?

It proves what the ignorant world (including some of the politicians in Israel) refuse to acknowledge: the enemies of Israel do not want the land! They do not want the technology, they do not care one iota about anything other than the complete annihilation of Israel as a state, and the Jews as a people.

During the many centuries since 172 AD, when Rome completely decimated the Judeans in the third (and final) Judean-Roman Revolt, and dispersed the Jews throughout the Diaspora, the land laid fallow. The Arab nations surrounding that land only used it to feed their herds, and once the grasses were desiccated, they went back into their own country.

It is obvious to anyone with the ability to see facts and make valid deductions that the land of Israel has no value, whatsoever, to the surrounding countries. And even now, when God has blessed his people making Israel a world leader in technology, agriculture, and many other necessary sciences, the enemies of Israel do not want those valuable assets- all they want is the land to be cleansed of Jews.

I guarantee that if this happened (of course, God won’t let it, but speaking hypothetically) all that has been accomplished will be allowed to erode back into a desert, as it was all those centuries when the Arab nations all around Israel had the opportunity to make something out of the land, and didn’t.

Did you know that Jews represent 0.2% of the world population? That’s roughly 2 in every 1,000 people! Yet, they have been granted nearly 22% of all Nobel prizes ever awarded, across nearly every category?

But of all the Nobel prizes awarded over the decades, less than 1% have been given to Arabs.

What’s that tell you?

But the world wants the Jews destroyed, not the Arabs! Oy! Talk about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

OK, we agree that cease fires are useless because they never remain ceased, so what is the answer?

The answer is to do what God told Joshua to do, all those many millennia ago:

completely destroy our enemies!

We don’t need another cease fire, we need a cease Hamas! We need a cease Isis! We need a cease Hezbollah!

We need to ignore what the world says and forget trying to make peace with nations that have proven that all they want from us is to be dead. What we do need is to do what God said to do!

The world is on the brink of the Apocalypse- the signs are there stronger than ever before, and if the whole world is going to come against Israel (as we are told will happen in Revelation), then let’s get it over with quickly. The sooner this happens, the sooner Messiah will return and then things will be done the right way- God’s way!

I hope you all agree with my ranting, because if you want peace with our enemies, you will never see it happen…but you will always be disappointed.

That’s it for me this week, and I will ask you to please share these messages with everyone you know. Hey, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

L’hitraot, and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!

The Worst Place to Be

Many of us have memories of places we have been, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but I believe that as bad as some of these places were, pretty much everyone has one place that they feel is the worst place they have ever been.

But I’m telling you that no matter what your experience has been, there is one place that is ultimately the worst place anyone can be…

But first! A word from our sponsor…
(If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.)

The worst place anyone can be, especially if we are talking about your spiritual condition, is…

Locked into your comfort zone.

Now, I am not saying you should go out and ride rollercoasters, or bungee jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, or even just tell your wife that those pants make her look fat.

No. Neither should you give up being comfortable nor forego those things that make you feel safe and secure.

When I say the worst place to be is locked into your comfort zone, what I mean is when you are so comfortable that you no longer want to learn anything new, or do anything different, or even order something other than Chicken Parmigiana every single time you go to an Italian restaurant.

And this is especially true of being so comfortable with what you have been taught regarding God or Yeshua (Jesus) or salvation that you will not even be open to hearing anything that someone has to say which is different than what you already think you know.

I am very secure in my beliefs, but I confess that I have had to change my mind at times. And when I say you should be open to listening, that means to investigate and verify anything you are told about anything, especially if it is different from what you already believe.

One more thing: if you haven’t/don’t read the Bible regularly, from front (that is, Genesis) all the way through to the end of Revelation, then you are already in trouble because whatever you think you know, you are probably wrong.

And if you are stubbornly comfortable with your golf game, or your favorite chair, or with whatever books you have already read, and no matter what anyone says, you don’t want to order something different at your favorite restaurant, the only thing that mindset will effect is how interesting you are and how exciting your life will be.

BUT…if you stay locked into your comfort zone regarding your spiritual condition, meaning that you don’t want to hear or know anything other than what you have been told, then you are risking your eternal soul!

What things am I talking about? How about once you’re saved, you are always saved (that’s a lie!); or all you have to do is call on the name of the Lord and you are saved (that won’t be enough!); or howzabout the one where they say if you love each other you get to go to heaven (again, that’s not enough, and for the record? -no one goes to heaven).

When it comes to God, Yeshua, and the truth about obedience to God, which can only be done by being obedient to God’s instructions for righteousness in the Torah, these are things that we should NEVER be comfortable with. You must always verify whatever you hear, whenever you hear something different from what you have (hopefully) already verified to be true, and do so with an open mind. Make sure people aren’t making up what they want the Bible to say, then taking verses and passages out of context to create the illusion that what they are saying is truly in the Bible.

Yeah, all the parts of what they say are in the Bible, but they have taken bits and pieces, here and there, to make it seem that is what the Bible means. But that isn’t always true.

I have written a teaching series on how to properly interpret the Bible, and here is a link to it: Bible interpretation.

So, my friends, please always stretch yourself beyond what is comfortable, and the way to know that you need to stretch is when you are so comfy-cozy that you do not ever want to change. Read a new book, talk to people who disagree with you (nicely, of course) to get an idea why they feel that way, and then spend some quality time verifying their opinion, or being able to (nicely, of course) rebut it.

But do something different, now and then! Your life may be comfortable, but your life is temporary, and eternity is….well, it’s eternal!

If you aren’t willing to spend the time to expand your understanding of God, Messiah, the Bible and salvation, then you are risking your eternal soul.

Are you really that lazy?

Thank you for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, especially non-believers. Hey! You never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

Salvation Only Comes from Forgiveness

Have often have your heard people say that Jesus died for our sins?

And he did, but it isn’t his death that saves us.

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The sacrificial system has 5 steps:

  1. You have to sin (no sin, no need for forgiveness, right?)
  2. You have to recognize and confess that you sinned
  3. You have to repent of that sin (turning from sin is called T’shuvah)
  4. You have to shed innocent blood for that sin to be forgiven: blood that should be yours
  5. You have to ask to be forgiven.

When Yeshua sacrificed himself, he did not to do away with any of these steps, or the sacrificial system, itself. He replaced step 4, the need to sacrifice an animal (shed innocent blood) at the temple in Jerusalem, which was the only place that any sacrifice to Adonai would be accepted (Deut. 4). Through Yeshua’s sacrifice, we can now ask for forgiveness any time, any where, whenever we need to.

Which, in my case, is too darn often!

Yet, it isn’t by reason of his death that we can be saved; there is more to it than just that.

First, he lived a life that was in 100% accordance with the Torah, 100% of the time. That is something that no human before him, or since, has been able to do, so when he died, he was truly the innocent lamb that the sacrificial system required. And because he was supernaturally born to be the Messiah, his human life and death had a much greater effect on humanity.

Second, his resurrection proved that his sacrifice was accepted, which is the second most important step in being saved. But, as I said, it isn’t how we are saved.

We are saved not by his life, or by his death, or even by his resurrection, although they are all part of the process….

We are saved by being forgiven.

Only God can forgive sins, and even though Yeshua said that he had the authority to forgive sins ( Matthew 9:6; Luke 5:24), he was very specific to say that he had that authority “on earth”, meaning (as I understand it) only while he was ministering to people, and only to prove that he is the Messiah God promised to send.

What we are told about him after he was raised into heaven is that he now sits at the right hand of God, where he intercedes for us.

From the very beginning of creation, and throughout time even to this very moment, it is only God who can forgive sins. Not a priest, not a Minister, not a Rabbi- only God. And the only way we can be forgiven is through confession, repentance, and accepting that Yeshua is the Messiah, whose sacrificial death was accepted as the sin sacrifice we must make according to the Torah.

Oh, yes, and one more thing…you must ask to be forgiven.

That’s right! Even with all that Yeshua did, if you do not ask to be forgiven, you will not be forgiven. There is no such thing as OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved); that is a lie from the pit of Sheol, originated by Satan in order to fool people into remaining stained with their sins, even while they believe they are forgiven.

I hate to burst bubbles, but if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

It is not Yeshua’s life, or death, or even resurrection through which we are saved; his part in all this was to provide the means of forgiveness (especially after the temple was destroyed) so that we can ask for God to forgive us.

When we are forgiven, THEN we are saved. That is, up until the next time we sin, which (again, for me) doesn’t usually take too long until I have to ask.

Especially when I am driving in traffic.

So, that is the real way we are saved- not by Yeshua’s death (although that is part of it), or by calling on God’s name (which is also part of it), or by the fact of Yeshua’s Torah observant life (which made it all possible)…no!

The only way we are saved is by asking God to forgive us.

In the end, after all that Yeshua did, after faithfully accepting him as Messiah, heartfelt confession, repentance, t’shuvah (demonstrated through Torah observance), it still comes down to this- the only way we are saved is to ask to be forgiven of our sins, and only God can do that.

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even those who do not believe. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

Is It Really In The Bible, Or Is It What Someone Wants To Be In The Bible?

There are hundreds of versions of the Bible, over 450 in English, alone, not to mention that today it has been translated into some 756 different languages!

There’s gotta be a whole lotta different interpretations of the same verse(s), what with all those different interpreters, differences that happen when one language is translated into another, and even copyright laws, which state there have to be (literally) hundreds of words different from someone else’s version of the Bible.

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

To properly interpret the Bible, we need to be historians, linguists, and also have a spiritual maturity that allows us to be guided by God’s Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) in order to realize what he meant when he told Moses what to write, when he told the prophets what to say (which, for all we know, may have been different from what they heard, but being essentially the same message), and what the Apostles wrote, especially Shaul (Paul), which is not God-breathed scripture, such as what we have from Moses, or the Prophets, or from David’s psalms.

No, what is included in the New Covenant are the Gospels, which are a historical narrative of the life and teachings of Yeshua (which were all based on the Torah), and the letters that were written by the apostles designed to keep the Jews and Gentiles, who accepted Yeshua as the Messiah, to reverting from the faith-based obedience they were taught to obedience as a means of attaining salvation (which we call “Legalism”).

Reading the Bible with an open mind is very hard to do if you have been raised already knowing what it means. I have often heard people defend the meaning of a biblical verse, but instead of demonstrating a knowledge of the Bible, they simply go on parroting what they have been told in religious school or from what they have heard.

(“Parroting” means repeating what you hear without understanding what it means,
like a parrot.)

So, let’s get to the point of today’s lesson: do not automatically accept what anyone says the Bible means (yes, including me), until you have thoroughly investigated it for yourself. And, what is even more important, when you think you understand what the Bible means, do not trust your own interpretation, but investigate it as you would if you were hearing it from a stranger.

In the event that you are not sure how to investigate, I have written an entire teaching series on how to properly interpret the Bible, which I believe can help. Here is a link to it: Interpreting the Bible.

And don’t think that just because someone has a couple of letters after their name that they really know what they’re talking about; remember that religious schools (like a Seminary or a Yeshivah) are only teaching what their religion has been saying for centuries.

For example, there is in Jewish history two greatly respected rabbis of old, Hillel and Shammai. They both lived during the transitionary period from BCE to CE, right around the same time Yeshua was teaching. Their interpretations of the Torah were very different, and there was a competition- we could even call it a war- between these two houses of wisdom. So, if two great scholars could have such different interpretations from the same Bible, which was in the same language (Hebrew), then how can we trust what we hear today, with all these different versions?

That is why when you read the Bible, whichever version you prefer, always remember that you must first pray to God for guidance to properly understand what the Bible says, and if you suddenly have a revelation of the “true” meaning of something you have read and reread, hundreds of times, check it out against the rest of the Bible, using the interpretive tools I teach in that teaching series I mention above.

Studying the language, using the proper references resources, and having access to different versions of the Bible (in order to get a rounded understanding), not to mention learning the historical usage of the terminology, is a great advantage in being able to really understand what God is saying to us.

At the very least, you must read the Bible every day, which is essential to becoming familiar enough with it to recognize false teachings, and be able to (respectfully) correct the one teaching because- to be fair- the teacher may not realize they are wrong!

Too often people just repeat whatever sounds good to them, and that is how misunderstandings and wrongful teachings occur. And when it comes to the Bible, you have to realize that you may not just misdirect someone… you may send them straight to hell!

Thank you for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

If Yeshua Did Away With the Law, Then Why Do We Need Him?

We know that sin is a violation of the law, but if there is no law then there can be no sin, and if there is no sin, there is no need for forgiveness, so…we don’t need Yeshua anymore.

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

The statement above is just so silly and wrong it is almost comical, but that’s the problem: there are millions who can’t understand why it is so silly and wrong.

The Torah is for everyone who professes to worship God. Yeshua never taught against the Torah, but only from it. Why his teachings were thought to be so different was because he didn’t teach the way the Pharisees taught, dealing only with the letter of the law, called the P’shat. Yeshua taught the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning of the law.

The law said do not murder, Yeshua taught do not even hate in your heart; the law said do not commit adultery, Yeshua taught do not even lust with your eyes. Can’t you see? He taught us the “heart” of the law, and was very clear he wasn’t here to change anything (Matthew 5:17). , And when that verse is interpreted as “I came to fulfill the law”, the thing he “fulfilled” was the new covenant stated in Jeremiah 31:31, when God said he would write his Torah on our hearts.

Yeshua taught the heart of the law so that we could have it written on our hearts.

But Christianity hasn’t allowed that correct understanding to be taught- no! Christianity has spent it’s time and effort to separate itself from its Jewish roots, and to pretend that after being grafted onto a tree, that tree now is fed by the branch, and the roots are no longer necessary.

I used to teach how silly this idea is by referring to the old Bugs Bunny cartoon, the one where Elmer Fudd chases Bugs out onto the end of a branch of a tree. Then Elmer, sitting on that branch holding onto the trunk, starts to saw the branch off.

I’ve got you now, you silly wabbit!

When the branch is sawn off, instead of Bugs falling to the ground, the tree (with Elmer on it) falls, while the branch miraculously remains suspended in mid air.

Yeshua did accomplish his role as the Messiah when he lived a perfectly innocent life, which was only because he was 100% obedient to the Torah. The Torah is not some set of random rules, it is God’s User Manual for righteousness! If we could, as human beings, actually be obedient to the Torah, all the time (as Yeshua was), then we wouldn’t need Yeshua’s sacrifice because we would already be sinless.

The problem is that no human being can be totally obedient- that is why God created the sacrificial system. DUH!

People! Being stained with sin is what separates us from God’s presence- we can’t enter into his presence if we have the stench of sin on us. Only after we have been cleansed of sin, which can only be done by the shedding of innocent blood (Leviticus 17:11), can we then be able to enter into God’s presence. That is how we are saved: not by faith, and not by works, but by being forgiven.

Of course, that forgiveness can only come through faithfully believing Yeshua is the Messiah God promised to send, and that faith being demonstrated through obedience to the way God said we should live, and not what some religion says. When we have faith in Yeshua, and are as obedient to the Torah (as we can be), then we can ask God to forgive us, which is the final step bringing us to salvation.

When Shaul (Paul) said, in Colossians 2:14, that Yeshua nailed our sins to the cross, the traditional Christian teaching has been that he also did away with the need for the Torah. Now, I cannot understand how anyone, if they actually thought about it for a moment, would agree that a sin sacrifice meant there was no more sin. The idea that we are automatically forgiven simply because we “believe in Jesus” (whatever the heck that is supposed to mean) is just plain ignorant.

If Yeshua did away with the law, then there is no law! That cannot be argued against- either there is law, or there isn’t law, there is no in-between. And if there is no law, then there is lawlessness. And if we want to see what Yeshua, himself, says about lawlessness, we can go to Matthew 7:23, where we read that many will say how they exorcised demons, prophesied and performed miracles in his name (all things which the “church” has done), but he will reply:

Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!

And if you want to say there are still some laws, the “moral” ones we all have to obey, I will remind you: either there is law or there is no law. And, for the record, there is not one, single law that is given by God anywhere in the entire New Covenant- everything Yeshua says in the Gospels, everything Shaul says in his letters, and everything the other writers of the other letters say is all based on the Torah. There is nothing “new” in the New Covenant- it is founded solely on the Torah!

There is just so much wrong with this ridiculous teaching that Yeshua did away with the law: how could the obedient son of God reject his father’s laws?

How could the obedient son of God teach that his father’s Holy Days are not to be celebrated?

How could the obedient son of God tell people that he is God and to worship him instead of his father?

How could the obedient son of God …well, you get the idea, right?

Everything the Christian church has taught over the past two millennia has been to represent Yeshua as replacing his father: they teach that he is God, that his followers are to reject the laws his father gave them, and that they should ignore those God-honoring Holy Days in the Torah and instead celebrate man-made holidays that completely ignore God and celebrate Yeshua, instead.

They have turned Yeshua from an Isaac, the son obedient to his father even unto death, to an Absalom, the rebellious son who wanted to steal his father’s kingdom.

So, nu! The next time someone tells you that Yeshua did away with the law, you tell them if that is so, then we are all doomed.

Thank you for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, believer or not. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

You Don’t Need to Read the Entire Torah to Know the Torah

Just to let you know, I am not going to post anything else until next year.

The Torah is more than a book of laws and regulations, it is a historical narrative of the Jewish people (not to mention how the Universe was created). Inside the Torah there is a set of business ethics as well as a penal code, it acts as both a Ketuba (marriage certificate) between God and people and as a national Constitution, and it is the ultimate spiritual guide to attaining righteousness in God’s eyes, leading to being able to spend eternity in the presence of God, forever joyful.

In other words, it is God’s User Manual for attaining salvation.

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

Yeshua was the only human being ever to live in perfect accord with the Torah, and he also is the only one who ever will. His resurrection proves that if we can live in perfect accord with the Torah, we will be saved, so yes- as hard as it is for Christians to accept (because of the training they have been given), the Torah IS the path to salvation; Yeshua proved that, but (again) he is the only one who can do it.

That is why God gave us the sacrificial system, of which Yeshua’s resurrection is now part, replacing the need to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem, which was the only place any sacrifice could be accepted, according to the Torah.

The Torah is composed of the first five books of the Bible, but you really don’t need to read all five to be observant. In fact, if you read and study Deuteronomy, that is all you really have to know.

Deuteronomy 1:3 says (CJB),

“On the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year,
Moshe spoke to the people of Isra’el, reviewing everything Adonai had ordered him to tell them.”

Moses is talking to the children of the rebellious parents who refused to enter the land the first time they came to it (Numbers 13 and 14). The people Moses is speaking to now are between the ages of 38 and 58 (except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb).

If you are wondering how I came to those ages, during the 40 years in the desert, the first two were spent getting to the land of Cana’an. When they rebelled and refused to enter, God’s punishment was that they would be in the desert for as many years as they had been in the land: their recon mission lasted 40 days, so they would spend 40 years in the desert. They had already been in the desert for two years getting there, so they would be in the desert for another 38. And in Numbers 14:29-30, Moses explains that the ones who will die are those who were in the census of everyone over the age of 20. So, that is why the ages of the people would be between 38 (for those born at that moment) to 58, those who were 20 or younger at the first revolt.

Wow, it seems I have gotten a little sidetracked, so let’s get back to the main point…

In Deuteronomy, as we are told, Moses reviews pretty much everything that happened over the past 40 years, giving a “Reader’s Digest” version of the events, which includes the Big 10, the rules for worship and sacrifice, and the laws regarding interpersonal relationships. If you were to read only the Book of Deuteronomy, you would have enough understanding of what God wants from you in order to live a righteous life, which leads to salvation.

Yeshua’s ministry was not to change or deny the Torah (Matthew 5:17), but rather to teach us the Remes, which is the deeper, spiritual understanding of the Torah. The traditional Christian teaching that Yeshua did away with the Torah is just plain wrong, and goes against what Yeshua said.

The truth is what God said, and what Yeshua confirmed: the Torah is the only word of God, which means it is the only word from God: the only place in the entire Bible where God, himself, tells us exactly what to do in order to be righteous is in the Torah- nowhere else!

That means all the drek you have been taught regarding how the letters Shaul (Paul) wrote indicating faith in Jesus is all you need to be saved, well… that won’t do it. You need faith, sure, but your faith is demonstrated by your obedience.

Obedience to what, you ask? Obedience to Yeshua’s teachings? Yeah, that’s OK, that will work- but remember that he taught exclusively from the Torah!

I am sorry, all you Gentiles who have been told the Torah is just for Jews so you don’t need to know it, that’s not right. You need to get real! Faith and obedience to God, which means following the Torah, are two sides of the same coin; faith motivates obedience, and obedience demonstrates the strength and genuineness of your faith.

And you can’t have just one side of a coin.

So, if this makes sense to you, and you feel that you really should get better aquatinted with the Torah, but you don’t have a lot of time to read all 5 books, just read Deuteronomy.

Or, better yet, get to know the entire Bible easily and quickly by reading my latest book, “Not the Holy Bible” (just click the link on the website, or go to Amazon).

Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, believer or not. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

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

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Just Tell Me the Chapter and Verse, OK?

I am going to kvetch here about what so many people do when they are posting something biblical.

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

What drives me crazy (and that isn’t a long ride, to begin with) is when someone is posting about something in the Bible, and they copy and paste half the book in their post.

Look, if I am interested in what you have to say, and want to check it out for myself, I can look it up- just tell me where in the Bible you got it from. Heck, I may already know what the Bible says.

And if you are posting the actual passages because you think I don’t have a Bible, so you want me to see your sources, if I don’t have a Bible to refer to, it is probable that I don’t have one because I don’t care to have one, so I probably won’t read your post, anyway.

Another thing to consider is this: people only believe 50% of what you tell them, and 100% of what they say, themselves, and that also counts when posting 75 verses from the Bible. If they are interested, they will want to verify what you say, and if they are so lazy as to just accept whatever someone says, you don’t need to post the verses, anyway.

I am not that type- if someone tells me the Bible says such-and-such, I am going to verify that for myself, in my own Bible.

I also find reading verse after verse that someone posts annoying- what is the lesson? There are many different ways to interpret biblical references and passages, so please don’t waste my time with verse after verse, 50 lines long. Keep me interested in your interpretation by staying on that, and if I agree, you’re golden; if I disagree, everything you post won’t make a difference. If I am interested, and think maybe you have something different than what I think, but it makes sense, then I will check my Bible.

And yes, there will be plenty of people who will just accept what you say, and those types don’t need to read the verses, anyway- they are sheep who will be led to destruction if they are too lazy to verify what they are being told. I believe anyone who is truly trying to help people know God and do as God wants, will not be satisfied with people just following, blindly.

So, as I said from the start, this is a personal peeve of mine and I just wanted to share it with members of this ministry because I want you to know me, as a person, and not just as a teacher. And also to (hopefully) get copy-and-paste fanatics to stop wasting digital space and just tell us what you believe, then reference the book, chapter, and verse(s) where you got it from.

Thank you for being here, and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, believer or not. After all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.

That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and Chag Sameach Hanukkah!