Category: A Drash to Start the Day

The World Says We Are All Victims!

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I sometimes get my inspiration from something in the morning paper. This morning it was one of those advice columnists.

A mother writes in that her teenage son had been molested by a cousin years ago and the mother is frantic. Should she sue? How does she get her son into therapy? Can she have the molester arrested?

Look, molestation of children is a horrible thing and I have no pity or patience with someone molesting a child, or an adult, for that matter. Taking advantage of someone else, whether it be physically, emotionally, or financially, is a sin. God tells us, over and over, to watch out for and protect the widow and the orphan. I believe this is more than just telling us to provide for women who have lost a husband or children without parents: the widow and orphan represent the weak and helpless people in the world, those with no one to provide for them and no one to turn to.

That being said (if you didn’t catch it, that was my disclaimer- here comes the reason for it), what is molestation? If I am 12 or 13 and I “cop a feel” from someone around my age, during a quiet moment together, is that really molestation? Or is it the normal experimentation that pre-pubescent children experience as they learn about their bodies? If I am 32 and I do the same to a niece or nephew who is only 12 or 13, that’s a totally different thing. That’s not what I am talking about.

I remember being in a friends closet in his suburban house with another friend’s younger sister. I was about 15 and she was about 13, built like she was 22. We groped and kissed; we were both experimenting. Is that molestation? Did I destroy her ability to have proper social relationships? Did she ruin my appreciation for women? I am still friends with her brother and a few years ago, nearly half a century later, she and I met when we were at a reunion. This subject came up, and we laughed about how we were so unsure of what we were doing, and she thanked me for teaching her how to “French” kiss.

Today, if something like this happened, I can see the mother and father of the girl trying to get her into therapy, accusing me of rape, and all sorts of nasty accusations going back and forth that will detrimentally affect both of us for the rest of our lives.

We are too sensitive. Dr. Spock turned parents into best friends, Sesame Street taught kids how to concentrate for 5 minutes at a time, and no longer, and today’s cartoon characters are disrespectful to parents, schools, and other authority figures. The result? Today we have a generation totally self-absorbed, with no work ethic, no ambition, no sense of fair play and no communication skills.

We are just so fast to feel wounded and abused. When I grew up I was taught, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Today it’s more like, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words are a felony.” We immediately scream, “I’m a victim!” If you tell a joke with a bad word you are a sexaul abuser. If someone hears from someone else that you told a joke with a bad word, or was racist, or was “inappropriate” in any way, you are in trouble. It’s not gossip or hearsay anymore- it’s acceptable fact. If you so much as compliment a fellow worker, doesn’t matter which gender, you could be in the HR Director’s office being condemned, without ever even knowing who complained, what the complaint was (so you can’t figure out who the abused person is), and you are guilty without even so much as being given a chance to explain. And Lord forbid if anyone should put the two of you together with a mediator to work it out!

The Bible says when someone feels that they have been sinned against, in any form (the Bible says that even having uneven weights is a sin against the Lord), the person who is sinned against should go to the sinner and tell them. This way the sinner has a chance to apologize, ask forgiveness, and make themselves right before the Lord. If they refuse to repent, go back with witnesses (give them a second chance.) Biblically speaking, to be sinned against doesn’t focus on your rights alone. You are to give the sinner his/her right to the opportunity to make atonement to you and to the Lord. As David said, all sins are first and foremost against the Lord, so if someone sins against us our first obligation is to the Lord, to try to let that sinner atone and be right before the Lord. It’s really less about us and more about making all of it right before the Lord.

The world, however, doesn’t want to “work it out”. The world wants to expose the sin and the sinner (leaving the sinned-against totally in secret), and the corporate world is the worst offender of this. In the corporate world, if you want to “get back” at someone, all you have to do is spread a rumor that the person did something sexually inappropriate. You don’t need facts, or proof- just a story. In many cases you don’t even need to make a statement, and you will never have to face the person. If you tell someone in HR that so-and-so keeps telling dirty jokes, or bumps into you now and then in a way that you feel is sexually improper, that is all you need to do to ruin their reputation, and maybe get them fired.

If the world did as the Bible says we should do when someone wrongs another person, in any way, there would be less strife and “disturbed” people in the world. Anger management would be reduced because people would be able to work things out. Personally, if I wrong someone, I am totally willing to apologize. That’s not the world in me, that is the Ruach HaKodesh in me. And if I can apologize, if I can appease the wronged person, explain that I didn’t mean to upset or hurt them, and if that person is one who is willing to forgive and wants to have normal relationships, whether personal or corporate, then we can actually take a sinful episode and turn it around to one where we can build a new friendship.

When people want to work out their differences, they will; when people want to have enmity and strife, they will.

The Bible tells us to work it out, to forgive and to ask for forgiveness, and to try to get along with each other. The world (especially the corporate world- do you sense my indignation at it?) does everything it can to create anxiety, strife and to separate people instead of bringing them together. This is the kind of work that honors and glorifies the Enemy because God is all about truth, and the Enemy is all about lies. The world wants to lie- it wants to say that I am a victim, that you are a victim, that we should get together and accuse someone or some corporation of wrong-doing. And why? So that we feel better about ourselves! So that we can get “justice” for the terrible and outrageous thing done against us. HaSatan means The Accuser. The Enemy accuses God of lying. He told Eve that she wouldn’t die (God lied when He said she would), he accused Job of being worshipful and righteous only because he had worldly goods, and he accused God of failing to protect Yeshua if he would only step off the roof of the Temple.

The Enemy is a liar, and when we lie we honor the Enemy. When people try to make us feel like we are victims, even if we have been taken advantage of, the way that God says to handle it is to go to the sinner, tell them what they did, and give them a chance to repent. God’s focus is on helping the sinner to repent, not helping ourselves to revenge against the person. That’s what it comes down to- the world says you are a victim and entitled to get justice. Sounds good, doesn’t it? What it translates to, in spiritual form, is taking revenge and preventing the sinner from having the chance to repent. Think about it: does the corporate policy where you work give you the opportunity to save the sinner’s soul? No, it doesn’t. However, it allows you to send that sinner to hell in a handbasket; all you need do is accuse them and stand back to watch that person suffer and possibly even get fired. That way not only does this horrible person suffer, but his or her family gets to suffer, also.

Does that really make you feel right with God? You have not only accused someone without giving them a chance to repent, but you have returned evil for evil (Proverbs says that is wrong) and you have taken the place of God by being vengeful (again, a wrongful thing according to Proverbs.) More than just that, you also have refused to give yourself a chance to forgive, as God has commanded us we should. So we sin against God, against the other person, and even against ourselves by exercising our worldly “rights” as a victim.

Let me repeat myself: forcibly touching someone else is wrong, sexually explicit actions or jokes, racist comments or jokes, and anything having to do with private and personal matters are inappropriate in a social or business environment. In fact, anything said or done that someone says they are uncomfortable with should be stopped. You should apologize and ask forgiveness. And they should accept your apology and forgive, completely. If you are unaware of your sinning against someone, they should (according to God) tell you about it. Nicely, maturely, and without anger. They should allow you the chance to save yourself from further sin, separating yourself from God, by telling you so you can make it right with God, and with them.

God wants everyone who sins to atone for that sin so they can be one with Him. The Enemy wants everyone to sin so they will be separated from God.

When we are too afraid or too shy or just too “uncomfortable” to speak up and let someone know they have sinned against us, we are working for the Enemy. That’s why the world wants you to be a victim, so you will want to  seek “justice” (which, from a Biblical perspective, is really vengeance) and to make that sinner suffer for the wrongs done to you. And therapy, oh, yes;! How can we forget therapy? You need therapy to be better. You need someone who worships the Psychology Holy Trinity (Freud, Jung, and Maslow) to tell you how to feel, how to cope, and how to get over this great emotional trauma. Oy! What ever happened to prayer? What ever happened to forgiveness, which is the only way to get over the pain! 

The Enemy wants us to die in our sin, and to make sure the other people do, also. God wants us to repent and to be one with Him, forever. That’s why God tells us how to handle being a “victim”:

1. you bring the wrong done to the attention of the one who did so;

2. you give that person the chance to repent so that they can save their life.

3. If they repent, you forgive them and move on. If they don’t repent, you forgive them and move on. Either way, you are to forgive them whether they ask for it or not, and move on.

That’s God’s way.  Which way are you going to go?

Remember to Forget

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Have you heard the one where two guys are talking about their ex-wives. The first one says, “My Ex isn’t too bad to me. She is still mad at me but she is getting over it.” The other guys says, “My Ex is the kind to forgive and forget- only she never lets me forget what she forgave!”

God forgives and forgets, and He tells us we should forgive, also. In fact, it is a commandment. Check out Mattitayu 6. After Yeshua gives us a template for prayer, He warns us that we are to forgive otherwise we won’t be forgiven.

Do as you would have others do means not just be a nice guy, but treat and consider the other people in your life, all the other people, as you would want them to do to you. That means don’t remember their sins that you have “forgiven” and move on with your life. And I am not talking about reminding them of what you’ve forgiven, as in the story above; what I am saying is that we all must really forget. We have to put it totally out of our mind.

I think God gave us scabs over our wounds to help us remember to forget. Ever peel off a scab too soon? It hurts, and then the wound starts to bleed, all over again. It’s the same way with sin and forgiveness- the sin hurts, we forgive (which forms a scab over the painful part) but if we keep picking at the scab, eventually it starts to bleed again and we have to try to heal all over. And if the wound is deep enough, and we keep working at it, we can not only take much longer to heal (if we ever do) but we may end up scaring ourselves in the process.

Sounds really stupid when you sit back and think about it, doesn’t it?

Forgiveness takes work; it doesn’t come naturally or easily. It requires humility, strength, and compassion. It is the Godly thing to do. Don’t you recall the old saying: To Err is Human; to Forgive, Divine? Methinks there’s a lot more truth in that old Saw then we realize. God forgives our sins when we ask for forgiveness, Yeshua took on our sins to provide forgiveness that is now an everlasting forgiveness, and after all they did for us, the Father and Son simply ask that we do what they did, also.

There’s the parable about the man who owed a fortune and was forgiven the fortune, but then he didn’t forgive a measly sum he was owed. Do you remember what happened to him?

Leave the scab alone. Make an effort to forgive. I say this not because I am better at it than you are, but because I am no better at it! I still have some level of anger about things that happened to me from many, many years ago. The people who sinned against me are probably dead now, and when I think about what their final fate may be, it does make it easier to forgive them for what they did to me because what they will be going through for eternity is so much less than what they did to me, and so much worse than anything imaginable. How can I still have any animosity against them? I can only feel pity for them. Even if it is a deserved torture, it is torture and I don’t think anyone who professes to love God and follow Yeshua can see another living creature suffer and not feel compassion for it.

I don’t believe I can have the Ruach HaKodesh inside me but not feel pity and remorse at knowing about the suffering of another. It just doesn’t seem possible. I know that we will always have the poor, and that suffering is natural in a cursed world. I also probably won’t do a whole lot about most of it. But I still should feel that remorse and pity, otherwise I need to ask myself if I really have accepted Yeshua, if I really have the Ruach HaKodesh inside me, and if I really have done T’Shuvah.

In the criminal justice system, to prove a person is guilty of a crime you need three things: a motive, a means (to commit the crime), and the opportunity.

Salvation is our motive, Yeshua is the means by which we can receive salvation, and God will constantly provide us the opportunity to show we have done T’Shuvah. We live in a sinful and corrupted world, so there will always be someone more than willing to sin against us. There’s the opportunity for you- that’s where you can do what is Godly and right, that’s where you can please the Lord, and that’s where you can show your holiness by forgiving. That’s where you can obey the commandment.

All we need to remember is to forget.

Where is God?

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I saw an advertisement in the newspaper this morning that was titled, “Find Your Happy Place. It’s not that far away.” The ad was for locating activities in the area using the newspaper, but I thought about it in a spiritual way.

Where is our “happy place” in this world? Is there really is a happy place for Believers in this world? Shaul says that although we live in the world, we are not of the world. We are of God, so then shouldn’t our happy place be where God is?

Well, DUH!! Imagine- heaven is a happy place! Who wuddah thunk it?

For me, my happy place is where God is, and isn’t God everywhere? We know He’s omniscient, we understand that He is omnipotent, but I think we often forget that He’s omnipresent, too. His works and wonders are everywhere: in the sunset, in the fact that there is a sunrise, when we breathe, when we eat and get nourishment, when we pray and feel His spirit within us- you know, that “tingly” feeling that feels like a chill, but you aren’t cold? I know when I feel His presence because I cry. Not the loud, bawling type of cry. It’s the type of cry you get when there is a happy ending, when you feel a rush of endorphins, when the good guy gets the girl ( or vice-versa).

I feel like I have been washed clean, inside, and I am emotionally and spiritually relaxed like no hot tub or massage can ever make me feel.

Our happy place should be anywhere we are because God is everywhere.  In Biblical times people thought that the gods of the nations were geographically restricted. The gods of the Arabs were in their temples and their territories, the gods of the Babylonians were in Babylon, the god of the Israelites was in Israel, and so forth. Na’aman, the general we read about whose tzaraat was cured when he washed in the Jordan River, took dirt from Israel back to his country so he could worship the God of the Jews. Ezra and Nehemiah were allowed to rebuild Yerushalayim to appease their God by repairing His house. The people saw their gods as their property, assigned and restricted to the local areas.

The true God, Adonai, whose name is Y-H-V-H, is everywhere. He is not just everywhere physically, but everywhere in time, too. He was before the beginning of time, and will be after time is done.

It used to be we thought time was eternal and infinite, but with Einstein we now know time is relative. If time is not absolute, then we really can say, actually and not metaphorically, that God was before time, and that He will be after time is done. We will be there when time is no longer a factor of our existence. After all, when we are living in eternity, in infiniteness, without a beginnig and an end, time cannot be measured, ergo: there is no time.

But there will be God.

Peter Pan had to find his happy thought to fly; many people who meditate find a happy place, in their mind, to relax; we who worship God don’t have to look for a happy place or a happy time because it is here, it is now, and it is all around us. Our happy everything is God, and when we live, think, and breathe God we will always be in our happy place.

Oy! If only it were that easy, right? I think everyone reading this will agree with me up to this point, and we all (yes, me too)  have just one question: why don’t I feel the “happy” I should be feeling if God is all around me? Why am I sad, why do I get angry and frustrated, why can’t I be happy like that other person who always seems to have a joyful and happy disposition? What am I doing wrong?

Want the answer? ….so do I!

I don’t know why I allow my worldly feelings to control me. I ask God to show me how to call on His Ruach so I am happy all the time, so I always talk and act in a Godly manner, so that (as David asked) the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will always be acceptable to God. I should be like Ebenezer Scrooge when he wakes up on Christmas Day and can’t contain his joy. We should all be like that, everyday of our lives, every minute. All we need to do when the darkness starts to enfold us is remember the light, remember that throughout Eternity we will be basking in God’s glory, His presence shining all around us, His Shekinah warming the very cockles of our heart, always, forever, never ending. Oy!! What a wonderful picture I just painted.

Then reality steps in.

You know, I am pretty much sick and tired of reality. I want “God-ality” instead of “real-ality” and I am going to start to live in God-ality more and more, until I am done with this world, altogether. Maybe you can join me?  Truthfully, it will be nearly impossible for me to do this- I hope and pray you have an easier time of it. I know that there are two things to remember: with God all things are possible, and when I am weak, that is when I am strongest. I will lean more and more on the Ruach, and call out to God for help and strength more and more often. I will try to be aware of my feelings, and those of others, to keep an eye out for the warning signs of real-ality creeping in. These are all things I will start to do right now.

I’m scared of this revelation and my determination to make it a part of my life: it will be hard. It means I can never let my guard down, never just “let it all hang out.” I will have more troubles and strife because when I ask God to strengthen my spiritual muscles, He does- He works them to death! I suddenly have all these problems and things go wrong. God pushes my buttons so that I learn to let go of what my nature wants to do and lean on His spirit within me for strength and to tell me what to do. Asking God to strengthen your spirit is asking for trouble, literally. That’s the only way to strengthen your spirit- you need to use it. It’s like a muscle that has to be developed. A muscle has to be strained past the breaking point, actually destroyed a little, so that it rebuilds itself stronger. That’s how body-builders get such big muscles: the muscle is worked so hard some of it actually dies. The body then rebuilds that muscle, and adds more to it. Result: small, weak muscles become bigger, stronger muscles.

So, to get to my happy place and stay there all the time means I will have more problems and strife in my life. The problems and strife will increase as my ability to remain in my happy place increases, until, eventually, no amount of tsouris will be able to overwhelm me. I will be in my happy place all the time, even when things aren’t going well.

Hmmmm….what the heck am I getting myself into here? I don’t know, but I think I am heading in the right direction. What do you think? I guess the only thing to do from now on is try, pray for help, and do as the Patriarchs did- go forth in faith. I don’t where I will end up with this, and I don’t know what I will have to pass through or undergo, but I am on my way. Pray for me, and pray for my wife, too. Sweetheart- I am afraid you will be dragged along on this trip, so get ready. Being with you is my favorite happy place in this world, and we will both be happier together with God.

A final word about “happy place” that comes from one of my favorite shows, “Harvey”. Jimmy Stewart is Elwood P. Dowd, a man who is friendly and happy and totally unfazed by the world. Humble and gracious, he hates no one and invites total strangers to dinner. Oh, yes- his best friend is a 6-foot tall, invisible rabbit named Harvey.  The part I like best is when he is talking to a young woman and tells her that when he was young, his mother said that in this world you have to be either very, very smart or very, very nice. He said for a long time he was very smart, and he recommends nice.

With God’s help I am on my way to a constantly happy place here on Earth. C’mon along.

When the Hot Tub Stops Working

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We got back from a long weekend in Washington, DC attending an annual holiday party the company I work for throws. It’ s a good company, good people, and they give a good party.

All during a long day of travelling we looked forward to getting home and relaxing in our hot tub. In fact, one of the reasons we bought this house was because there was a hot tub.

So, need I ask you to guess what happened last night? You’ve got it- the water jets didn’t work. I wasn’t even in the tub, and when I pushed the button to turn on the jets, nothing happened. I reset the breakers, and still nothing happened. The water is hot, but that’s it. From relaxing spa to outside bathtub.

We enjoyed the tub just last week, and now it’s broken. More money we didn’t expect to spend, and worse than that, there’s the disappointment and frustration that comes along with it.

There was no warning. No jets haphazardly going on and off, no bad sounds, no nothin’!  It worked one day, then the next day it didn’t.

Isn’t that how life is? Often there are no warnings, no advanced notice. You are doing something you enjoy one day, and then BAM!! It’s gone! The hot tub doesn’t work, the tire is flat, you spouse is dead. All the same, in one respect- you suffer the loss of something you didn’t expect to lose.

Of course, losing a loved one is much worse than having to fix the hot tub, but emotionally it hits the same spot. What we liked, what we were used to having whenever we wanted, what we expected to be able to do…gone in a second. Just like that!

We do have some warning: Yeshua tells us the parable about a man who was so proud of all the things he was going to do and Yeshua called him foolish because his soul was going to be required of him that very night. I like to tell a funny, and yet very true, saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

That’s how life is, whether you are a God-fearing person or not. I think a big difference between those of us who worship the Lord and those who worship the world is that the world can only promise you what you can have when you are alive. God can promise you things that are eternal. Finite vs. infinite.

It’s no wonder that people can get so worked up over missing something worldly if they don’t have an eternal perspective on their life. After all, when all you have is what you have and you lose it, that’s all there is. You had it, now you don’t, and you will probably never have it again. There’s nothing you can do to fix it and there’s nothing else to replace it.

However, if you worship God and accept the grace He offers through Messiah Yeshua, you will spend eternity in total joy and peace. It still stinks that my lousy hot tub isn’t working, but in light of the eternal picture, I can get by.

That’s one of the reasons why I began to search for God when I was in my 40’s and fed up with this life and all the tsouris it brings. I saw people who were Believers and had the same problems I did, some much worse, but they endured with dignity and grace (I am still working to achieve that level. Believe me, I am not even close) and suffered through whatever they were experiencing well. I wanted the inner peace that they had.

I don’t do a good job of handling frustration and disappointment, but I am getting better. The important thing is that I understand the difference between now and forever, and although I appreciate what I have in this world, I do not count on it. Not that I am pessimistic, I am just focused more on things that are eternal and less on those that are physical. The here and now is not something we should ignore, and we should always be thankful for what we have, but the down the road and forever is what God promises us and that is better.

We should be aware of the present, mindful of the past, and focused on the future. It’s OK to make plans; in fact, I believe that a sign of faithfulness is not just to make plans, but to go forward with them even if you aren’t fully assured they will work. That is a real sign of faith, just like Abraham left all he knew to go somewhere he didn’t know, just like Moses followed the cloud, not knowing where it would lead, just like David faced Goliath counting not on his power but on God’s, just like Gideon left behind the vast majority of the men following him to do battle with only a handful, just like Yochanan, Kefa, Shimon, Mattitayu and the other Talmudim (Students, Apostles)  left work and family to follow Yeshua. They knew and enjoyed what they had, but they left it in a heartbeat to have the greater, infinite prize: salvation, and eternity with God.

Being saved doesn’t mean you will have to give up the hot tub’s in your life, but you should be prepared to lose things that are of the world because to be of God is to be outside and separate from the world. The world is today and God is tomorrow. The world is now and God is forever.  The world promises a lifetime in a cursed and difficult place full of loss and sadness and God promises eternity in paradise.

Not a very hard choice when you put them side-by-side, is it?  So deal with the hardships and losses, no matter how significant or insignificant, with your focus not on what was lost but on what is to come. Shaul said that he learned how to be satisfied in any situation; perhaps his secret was that he kept focused on the “yet-to-be” instead of the “not-any-more.”

Hollywood and the Bible

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Have you seen the trailers for the new movie, “Exodus: Gods and Kings?”  Christian Bale is Moses:  

Not bad for an 80 year old guy, right?

Do you remember the Cecil B. DeMille classic, “”The Ten Commandments” with Charlton Heston as Moses? Another 80 year old man who didn’t look a day over 38.

Oh, yes- who can forget that classic with F. Murray Abraham and Jon Voight about Noah? It was so bad the only thing worse, and less biblical, was the remake recently with Russell Crowe, another virile and young-looking Noah, who was actually about 500 years old when he went into the Ark.

There have been scores of biblical stories, all “Hollywood-ed” down to the basic elements of any story that sells tickets- love triangle, action, and happy ending. Did you know that the Queen of Sheba was white? And that she prayed to God to help Solomon, and that after she was stoned God miraculously healed her wounds? You didn’t know that? Didn’t you see the movie with Yul Brenner and Gina Lollobrigida? Yeah- Sheba was Italian; what? You didn’t know that? You didn’t know that she loved Solomon and she was the one that turned him to foreign gods?

C’mon, get with it…ya gotta believe the movies! They wouldn’t lie, right?

OK…enough fun. Let’s get serious now. The Devil is called the Prince of the Air by Shaul, and the Bible tells us he wasn’t sent to hell but was thrown down to the Earth. And what is the Devil’s primary means of turning souls away from God? He accuses God of being a liar. When God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of Knowledge or they would die, HaSatan (the Accuser) said that wasn’t true- he called God a liar. But God didn’t lie: after eating from that tree Adam and Eve were sent out of Paradise, and that meant that they would now have limited lifetimes. In other words, because they ate from that tree they will die. God never said they would die immediately, just that they would die.

When God told Satan about the righteousness of Job, Satan said, effectively, he didn’t believe God; in other words, he said God was lying.

So, where does the Prince of the Air and always accusing God of lying fit together? They fit together in that today’s world is digital and downloadable. The information from the Internet, TV, and movies (we still have the theaters and DVD’s, but streaming movies is becoming more and more popular) is transmitted through the air directly into our homes, and to our children.

Hollywood is the penultimate example of supply and demand: what society demands, Hollywood (and the media) supplies.

TV shows are disgusting demonstrations of how decrepit people are today. Look at these “reality” shows that are so popular- Hoarders, Bridezilla, Kendra on Top, 90 day Fiance, Naked and Afraid, and let’s not forget that cop shows, showing us the dregs of society, have been top rated since Jack Webb first said, “Just the facts, Ma’am…just the facts.”

We need to realize that TV, Hollywood, the media in general, are all telling us what we want to hear, and what we want to hear is garbage, gossip, murder, rape, adultery, sin, sin ,sin, sin, and more sin. That’s what we are ingesting, mentally, when we watch TV or go to the movies, or even when we read a newspaper. God forbid we should believe anything on any Internet site.

Cynical, ain’t I? Maybe it’s not as bad as I say, but it can’t be that far from it.

I might see the movie Gods and Kings just to see the special effects, but my wife is thinking twice about going with me because she is afraid (and rightly so) that I will start to get really annoyed at the ridiculous way they twist and add to the story to make it more “Hollywood” and less Godly. I understand, I understand…if you really want to know God and honor Him, the movies are not the place to do it. I get that, so I shouldn’t get upset or angry when they screw up the Torah so badly that you can’t even recognize the main characters anymore.

But, I do.

Let me tell you a short story to give an example of why I am so concerned about this: there was a gentle, humble and uneducated man I knew where I used to worship, many years ago. He was a man who did love the Lord, and he was curious to know God better. One day at Bible study he asked me if I knew that Yeshua’s mother used to call him “Shuie” as a nickname? After picking myself up off the floor, I asked where he learned that. He told me it was in a book he read. Here was just some book someone wrote, something that was obviously biblical-fiction, but this poor man thought it was accurate and valid. His ignorance of the true word of God and conditioned response to the written word (meaning he thought that if it is a published book it must be true) was turning him away from the truth about God, which eventually will turn anyone away from salvation.

It’s that serious. We need to keep our understanding of God and His ways as pure as possible, and that will only come from reading His word. Nothing else matters.

Don’t get the wrong idea- I am not against extra-biblical references or books about the bible. I mean, really- I wrote a book that is about the Bible and want everyone to read it (the links are on this site), but it, along with everything else, needs to be taken with a grain of salt and tested against the true Torah, the true B’rit Chadashah, and the Ruach Ha Kodesh.

What I really hate about the way the media treats God is that they treat Him with disrespect, and just like the guy who runs their delivery system, they constantly try to show that what God says is not the truth. Moses wasn’t an old man, Noah was a jerk,  the Queen of Sheba was Italian…you get it. They use the wonderful workings of God throughout history, then prostitute it to appeal to the lowest common denominator of human depravity.

I am really ranting on, and I hope you will forgive me for doing more of a “this is how I feel” than a “this is what God says” kind of blog today. I believe that somewhere in here is a true message that honors God, but it might be hidden between the rants and raves.

I hope you find it.

The Flood was a short-term solution

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We all know the story of Noah and the Ark. Because the Earth was full of sin and treachery God regretted that He had made people. He decided to destroy all the evil there was, except for Noah, who was the only righteous one and who God allowed to be saved.

Have you ever wondered whether this meant that only Noah was righteous, but not those in his family? Could it be that they were saved for Noah’s sake?

I don’t mean to question God’s actions, and especially not to cast doubt on God’s ability to do whatever He wants to do, but I have to ask myself this one question: did God really think that the next generation would be any different? Let’s get real, people…the world was still a cursed place. With the flood the Earth did undergo a kind of T’vilah (baptism, or cleansing), but the new generation of people were still under the curse that Adam caused us to suffer, weren’t they? Noah was born with original sin, so were his sons and all the wives, and their children would be, too. No change there.

So, nu? What was the reason for the flood? If it was to destroy, once and for all, the sins of mankind, well, sorry- didn’t happen. Sin was evident as soon as Noah got fall-down drunk. That was a sin. Then Ham, of course, not doing anything respectful, such as covering up Dad’s exposed equipment when he saw him dead-to-the-world on the ground, also sinned. We haven’t even gotten past the generation that was saved and already we have sin.

As I have said, and will repeat often, when interpreting the Bible we cannot make an argument from nothing, but if I was to read between the lines (in Judaism we call that giving a midrash) is it possible that Ham didn’t just tell his brothers about his father? Is it possible that Ham went to them and, like a child, was laughing about it and left his father that way so he could bring them over to see, then they could all have a good laugh? Maybe? It seems that Noah’s curse on Ham is a little over the edge if all Ham did was let his brothers know that Dad was passed out. What do you think?

So, the flood has come and gone, all the baddies are dead, and Mr. and Mrs. Noah (already hundreds of years old) are going to repopulate the Earth, with his children’s help, of course. Big job, and I can just imagine how the women felt about this (“Oy…I’m gonna be pregnant for the next couple of centuries!”) Maybe they were happy that human mortality was about to see a significant change with regards to one’s expected lifetime.

Going back to my question, was it God’s plan to remove all sin? If it was, it didn’t work. If it wasn’t, then why would He do what He did? Why destroy so many people, and all those innocent animals (there’s a good discussion- can an animal be innocent? After all, to be innocent, don’t you need to have the potential to be evil, and animals act on instinct, so they can’t really be evil, so they can’t be innocent, but they are the ones to sacrifice because the shedding of innocent blood is the only way to absolve sin, but if they aren’t evil and they can’t be innocent can their blood really work?)

Maybe the animals had to be destroyed because they are innocent, if we define “innocent” as meaning devoid of evil intentions and desires. And by destroying the animals, i.e. shedding their blood (figuratively, since they drowned), each animal that died was a sacrifice to atone for the sins of each and every one of the people destroyed? Maybe not so much to cleanse the person, but to cleanse the land? I don’t know!

There were some significant changes after the flood; for instance, up until the flood there was no rain. The Earth was watered by a mist every morning and everyone, animals and humans alike, were herbivores (read the beginning of Genesis.) After the flood the animals and humans feared each other because now they were food to us, and we were food to some of them.  And the animals also would eat each other. Carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, and all the other -vores now inhabited the Earth.  There were going to be seasonal rains, which were absolutely necessary for the agricultural economy that existed.  We would have droughts and famines. What might have happened if there were no famines in the land? Would Abraham have gone to Egypt? Would Yitzchak have moved? Would Pharoah have had the dream that Joseph interpreted, fulfilling the prophecy God told Abraham about his descendants being slaves? If there hadn’t been a famine to cause Israel to send his sons to Egypt for grain, would we have had Moses? The Torah? If there had not been a drought, how would God have shown His glory and power to the Northern Kingdom inhabitants when Elijah called fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel?

Ya know? Maybe the flood was necessary not just to get rid of sin, which it didn’t, but to get a fresh start. To kick it up to the next level, allowing for this new generation of humans to take the next step in God’s plan of salvation.  Maybe, just maybe, the story we hear has more to it than just a flood to ged rid of the drek of society.

That is one of the many things I love about reading the Manual every day- you read something you have read many, many times before, and suddenly….WHAM!!! You get this revelation, this new view, on what you have been reading for years. You see something in there you never saw before and have ask yourself, “How could I not have seen this?”  It’s like the Bible is one of those optical illusions, except this is, maybe, more like a spiritual illusion, where you’ve seen one thing for years and then you see something different, in the same place. Like the picture below: is it two faces or is it a lamp?

The point to this whole thing is that we will never know, for certain, what God is up to all the time. Sometimes He makes it clear, sometimes He doesn’t. As He tells us in His Word, that which He wishes us to know we will know, and that which He wishes to remain secret will remain secret. God is no respecter of persons- He tells us that Himself. He will do what He wants to do, and when He wants to do it. He will tell us, or He won’t- it’s His game, His rules.

The best we can do is make sure that whatever He has told us, we study and learn. We will need to know it when the real spiritual battle begins. And what He wants to reveal to any one of us at any time, He will do through the Ruach.

In the meantime, keep reading, keep asking the Ruach to guide you, and stay faithful that just because we don’t know what’s happening or what’s going to happen, God does.

And faithfully believe that God is in control.

Why they hate us

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Why does who hate us? There is so much hatred in the world, who are you talking about, Steve?

I am talking about the Jewish people, and anyone else who believes in God and is faithful. The world is the one hating, and Jews and Believers are the ones it hates.

Why? The explanation is simple: They are shooting the messenger.

The Jewish people were chosen by God to be His representatives to the world; a nation of Priests. They were the first custodians of God’s Word, and through the Jewish people we receive the Messiah. Through the Messiah we receive forgiveness of sins and salvation. The “Christian” (usually interpreted as Born Again) people are in a similar role because they also bring the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the world (note I say similar- they did not, do not, and never will replace the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. Replacement Theology is a lie from the pit of hell.)

The problem is that the world doesn’t want to hear about it. The world is cursed, self-absorbed and hedonistic. It is wretched and perverse. The world prefers sin to salvation.

When we talk about our beliefs and demonstrate our faithfulness, to the world it is like poking them in the eye with a sharp stick. It brings to their attention, and to their dismay, the truth about who and what they are. It reminds them of the eventual payment they will have to make at the final judgement.

To restate what a nice Jewish boy from Tarsus once said: to those who do not believe, we who do believe have the smell of death upon us. It is not the smell of our death, it is the smell of their death!

That’s why the Jewish people are hated and persecuted. That is why Believers, whether Messianic Jews, Christian, Catholic, Episcopalian, Protestant, whatever, who are not ashamed of the Gospel, who try to save the souls of the unfortunate non-Believers, are hated, despised, persecuted and ostracized. No one wants to hear the truth when it comes to them having to suffer eternal damnation. I really can’t blame them for that- who wants to hear that your life choices will lead you to eternal suffering in hell’s fire and you will be tormented forever?

So, nu? What do they do? Do they change for the better? Do they worship the God of their Fathers and do T’Shuvah, so they can be saved? Nooooooo!!!  They kill the messenger. They exercise Ostrich Management by sticking their head in the sand and pretending that the truth doesn’t exist.

{By the way, since Donna and I have been Zoo Docents for over 15 years, I have to tell you that ostriches don’t really stick their head in the sand when they are threatened.}

It’s probably not a big surprise to anyone that the world hates those who love God, especially if you have tried to save someone from their fate. It is almost so obvious that it doesn’t need to be mentioned, yet I mention it because, all too often, those things that are right in front of our face are the ones we get so used to seeing we fail to notice them anymore.

If you are reading this and you are not one of the “messengers” I am talking about, please consider the message. You can ignore the truth about God and the Messiah all you want, but it doesn’t change what the truth is. You will never get scientific, definitive proof that God exists. This is how faith works- you become faithful, then you receive confirmation.

Actually, confirmation is all around you- the trees, the wonderful beauty of a sunset, the fact that you can eat something and get nutrition from it, the respiratory system, the wondrous mysteries of the Universe, reproduction of living things, the tremendous diversity of life… everything around and about you demonstrates God exists. The lie that the Enemy has been very successful at spreading is that just because we can explain how something works means it is just science, and not God.

I can explain how an internal combustion engine works, but I don’t know how to create it. I can’t think it into existence, and just because I can fix a broken one doesn’t mean I can make one from nothing.

There is a cute story I heard once: the leading geneticists of the world came together and decided that since they could map out the human genome, and knew about recombinant DNA, they figured they could cure any disease and form humans as they wanted to. They told God they didn’t really need Him anymore. God replied, asking if they thought they could create a human being using just a handful of clay. They thought it over and answered that they could, so God say, “Go ahead- show me!” They picked up a handful of clay and God said, “Oh no! That clay is mine- you have to make your own.”

The truth is all around us. The oldest truth is that God chose the Jewish people to be His messengers. The truth is that they will never be replaced as such, and will eventually accept their own Messiah, Yeshua. Not all, but those who do will be part of the remnant that has always been faithful. Of the billions of people that have been born, have died, and those that haven’t even yet been conceived, only a remnant, a small percentage, have or will accept the truth about God. And even from them, only a remnant will survive faithfully to receive the ultimate prize- eternity with God. It isn’t joyful news, it isn’t comfortable, it isn’t all rosy-wonderful-Pollyanna-happy news. Yeshua never said that following Him would be fun. In fact, He said we would need to pick up our execution stake to follow Him. That’s not a very pretty picture, and if I were a hedonistic, self-absorbed person who was enjoying the fruits of my sin, I would not find that a desirable alternative.

In fact, it sucks. Those who believe and are faithful will endure a lifetime on Earth of being persecuted, ostracized, hated, and many of us will lose our lives because of our belief in God. Those we try to save will kill us. When all is said and done, the world works this way: if you don’t like the message, kill the messenger.

Then, again, what can the world do to us? If we save a life, we will both be blessed, and if we lose our life doing so, we will be with God.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

One for the Road?

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Some mornings I am just blank. Nothing has happened in the past day or so to give me an inspiration, nothing in my prayers comes up that I feel is a message worth sharing, and worse than all that: this morning the comics section (with the crossword) was missing and I have to wait an hour before I can even call them and complain.

When these “brain-fart” days occur, I go into my “God Stuff” folder and look for things that I have done over the years to see if I can find a message in there God wants me to share. Please don’t think I mean God talks to me all the time, but I do believe He is guiding me when I write, and I usually find something in there I sense I should share. That’s how it is this morning.

I reviewed one of the chapters in my book (my blog’s Home page has links to the book- it’s not expensive and comes in digital form) and want to share something I believe is timely, and also a little controversial (Lord forbid I shouldn’t stir up the hornets nest now and then.)  🙂

With the holiday season full upon us, turkey still be used for leftovers and Christmas light season officially started,  one of the things that happens so much during this season is…no, I am not going to say good will abounds and people start to act like they should (although sometimes we see that)…people drink alcohol more than they usually do.

Here is an excerpt from my book, from the chapter about drinking:

Before we even get started I need you to know that I agree with anyone who says that drunkenness is a sin, and the Manual tells us this is so. It represents laziness, lack of self-control (two Fruits of the Spirit already missing), and under the influence we all do the wrong things. We act foolishly, we sometimes become mean and cruel to others, we sometimes act in sexually inappropriate ways, and many other activities that are a sin against God and others.

   It’s also just as important to remember that a sin against someone else is always and foremost a sin against God. David knew this when he wrote Psalm 51. In it he said (to God) that it was against Him that he sinned, Him and no one else. He wasn’t ignoring what he did to Uriah and Bathsheba. He was emphasizing the importance of knowing that sinning is always against God, no matter who it is directed at. Yeshua confirms this when He tells us that what we do to the least of His brothers we do to Him.

   There are some Christian sects that will not allow drinking at all. This is not a biblical commandment; at least I have not found anywhere in the Manual where it tells us to drink intoxicating liquids is a sin. It does tell us in more than one place about the sinfulness of drinking to excess; however, I haven’t found any commandment against having a martini.

As you can see, I do not believe that drinking, in and of itself, is a sin. I also did not find anything in the Bible that says drinking is a sin. There are, however, more than one or two places where we see drinking to excess is a sin. So where is the line drawn?

I don’t want to give away everything, or you won’t ever buy the book, but I will say this: in my opinion it comes down to your intentions when you take the first drink, and your self-control with regards to the next one.

In AA they say one drink is too many, and two drinks aren’t enough (or something to that effect), which is a strict mantra for people who have a serious problem with stopping when they start. I have not had any problems stopping, although I have (more than once) drank enough to get myself in trouble.  Not legal issues, or anything substantial, but socially damaging.

I don’t believe drinking is a sin. After all, if it was sinful to drink alcohol, why did Yeshua turn water into wine? Oh, yes, there are those that argue the “wine” was grape juice and there are those that can interpret the original Greek and say sometimes “wine” is a fermented drink and other time “wine” can be interpreted as a juice drink without fermentation. I do not doubt they are correct, as they are scholars, they can speak Greek and Hebrew, and they are trying to interpret in a way that glorifies God.

I don’t think it really matters, because my belief is that what we do when we sin is the lesser part of that sin because to God it is our intentions that matter.  I justify this belief by pointing to the Beatitudes (Matityahu 5), where Yeshua told us that what we do or don’t do isn’t all there is to it; it is also what we think and feel that matters. We should not commit adultery but if we lust, we have; we should not commit murder but if we hate in our heart, we have. These are clear statements that God is looking at our intentions, at our heart, to see the origin of the sin we commit. I don’t think anyone will argue that the Bible is rife with references to how God doesn’t see us as we see each other, but that He “sees the heart” and knows what we are thinking and feeling.

Therefore, it isn’t having a drink that is a sin, but what you want to happen when you take that drink. If you drink with control and responsibility, you are not committing any sin against God. If you drink with the intention of getting so totally wasted that you won’t be able to lie on the floor without help, you are sinning because a Believer that is that far out of control is not glorifying God in any way, whatsoever. If you want to have a social drink and it hits you before you know it, and you act a fool, your intentions were OK but you still sinned because of what you did. Not wanting to sin is good, but if you sin anyway, it’s still a sin. Remember that the sacrificial system includes a sacrifice for the sin we didn’t even know we committed. Clearly God doesn’t like sin, whether by volition or accident. A sin is a sin, period.

Intending to sin is a sin, even if you don’t end up doing the sin. King David asked God to create a clean heart in him, and renew a right spirit within him.  He also asked that God make the words of his mouth and the meditations of his heart acceptable at all times. Yeshua verified this as a proper attitude when He told us that it is what comes out of the mouth, which comes from the heart, that makes us clean or unclean.

Look to your heart and call upon the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) to guide not just your actions, but your intentions. We need to fill ourselves with the Ruach, constantly becoming more like Yeshua and less like ourselves. When we are spirit led, we don’t lose who we are. I haven’t lost who I am- all that nastiness and sinful desire is still there. I have learned to repress it, and to get rid of some of it. All this through the Spirit. Not by me, but by us- God and me.

Letting God and the Ruach rule over your thoughts (and thereby, your actions) doesn’t mean you have to lose who you are; you’re still you, just a better you.

So, as the TV commercials say, drink responsibly. Actually, as Believers, let’s take it a step further- if you drink, do so with the proper intentions, and maintain the proper control. Don’t drink to get drunk, and when you start to hear the beehive in your head, put the glass down and grab a coffee. Use Godly discernment, don’t drink on an empty stomach, and for the love of God, make sure there is a designated driver. Enjoy this season, enjoy the company parties and the get-togethers. Be appropriate, be of good cheer, and have good intentions followed up with self-control. That way you will not only have a good time, but will be a good example to others.

The greatest joy we can feel doesn’t come from a holiday, or a sale, or a bottle- it comes from Yeshua ha Mashiach, it comes from the Ruach HaKodesh, and it comes from God.

 

giving thanks and asking forgiveness

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I read an article somewhere yesterday (I can’t remember where- getting old stinks, although I have to say I have waited my whole life to be this age) that made me think about how God charged us all with stewardship of the world. Starting with  Adam and Eve, God put us in charge of the animals and greenery of the world.

I don’t think we’ve done a very good job, do you?

On this day, when we give thanks to God for all He has provided, let us also just diminish our joy a touch ( a very Jewish thing to do) by also asking His forgiveness for our poor stewardship of His wonderful creation.

Have you ever asked yourself why there are so many diseases? Yes, we live in a cursed world, yadda-yadda-yadda, but God has provided for us. Ask anyone in the medical field, or disease research, whether or not they believe the Amazon Rain Forest is the world’s cornucopia of (still to be discovered) beneficial drugs. They’ll tell you that there are probably natural cures to almost any disease we have somewhere in there.

Unfortunately, we are destroying the rain forest by hundreds of acres, every day! As you watch football today, imagine that entire football field as a dense forest being cut down or burned. Then multiply that by 365, because that’s (at least) how much rain forest is destroyed annually. Now, think of how many trees and bugs there are in that football field forest, and you can begin to feel the enormity of the destruction we are causing.

The cure for cancer, for aids, for sars, for e-bola, and who knows how many other diseases that devastate the world may be in that forest. Now, think of all the animals that God created, for whom He made those trees and bugs, that are dying from starvation or being killed during the deforestation; all of which we are supposed to be protecting and shepherding!

Revelations tells us that the tree of life will bring forth fruit and leaves that cure any disease. Maybe that tree is already there, or any number of trees, bushes or bugs that produce the cure for our current diseases. We may never know.

The good news is that we are getting better. Up to the last 70 or 80 years we pretty much just destroyed everything without any consideration for the future. Now we understand what we are doing to ourselves when we do this to the world. I guess the next step will be to stop this craziness, and I believe we are getting there; we used to run to destroy, but even though many still do that, more and more today we are trying to preserve. Progress is slow, but we are going in the right direction.

Enjoy your day, thank God for all He has provided, and for His ultimate provision- Yeshua Ha Mashiach. And ask forgiveness for not being a good steward, even if you are one of those doing your best. The prophets prayed for the people, and they also took on the responsibility for the failures of the people. All of us are responsible for the world, and if you haven’t done something to protect it, to be a good steward of God’s creation, then get off your butt and get on the ball. Do something to show God your appreciation for all He has done.

It’s one thing to say thank you, it’s another thing to show it! Let’s start to show our appreciation by taking care of the world God gave us.

Enjoy- setz und essen!!

Thank God for what you have by giving it away

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That’s right- thank God for what you have by giving it away. Not all of it, but share the blessings you have received with others. That is what God wants us to do, not just as a means of doing Tzedakah (charity) but because He commands us to care for the widows and the orphans. I take this not just literally, but more metaphorically to mean all people in need. If a family has father, mother and children but they are homeless and poor, they are no less important than a widow or orphan with regards to us sharing what we have with them.

I found this answer to a question on a  test I took when attaining my Messianic Minister Certification. I don’t have the exact question, but you can glean from the answer what the question must have been:

    It was expected that anyone living in a town would accommodate strangers (as long as they were Jews) in their own homes. A curtain would be hung from the main doorway as a  “Vacancy” sign would be turned-on in a modern hotel. Sometimes a table would be placed outside to show food was available within that house. The host would attend to the traveler himself, making sure every need was looked to. The host was always to be pleasant, have a happy disposition and be generous with a willing attitude as if he was receiving the Shekinah glory itself. He was to promise little but give much. The traveler was expected to thank the host graciously, ask about his family and stay in the place he was first welcomed into. He should eat whatever was served him gladly, and when leaving to give a blessing to the host and the household.

There is the story of Lot trying to protect the angels coming to Sodom, the story of the man who took in the travelling Levite (the last chapter in Judges), and other references throughout the Tanakh about the generosity and willingness to share with others. God also commanded not to reap the edges of your fields so the gleaners would have something to eat, not to go back and re-reap the trees or vines so that what you missed would be available for the poor, and Yeshua told us we would always have the poor with us: perhaps they are here as a means for us to faithfully follow God’s commandments. If God says to share the blessings He has given us with those in need, doesn’t it make sense that we would always have to have someone in need? If no one is in need, then God gave a commandment we can’t follow- that doesn’t sound right, does it?

As we are (almost) forced to be thankful tomorrow, let’s share what we have with those that have less. Invite someone you know who can’t afford a real dinner to your dinner (and give them a big “doggie bag” when they leave), contribute to your favorite charity, donate to a shelter food or items of clothing (nice stuff!) that you can part with (we can always part with things; really, we can) and think of ways to continue to do Tzedakah after tomorrow.

President Washington declared this a holiday as a means of giving thanks for the Constitution being ratified, and (thank God) it has grown into more. It does force some people to be thankful, even if it is just for a paid day off from work. I guess that’s a start.

God is generous, and not because He expects something back from us, as humans usually do. I mean, really…God owns everything, He can create whatever He wants with a thought, so what can we possibly give Him back He doesn’t already have? That’s how we know, absolutely, that God is not altruistic in giving out blessings, but totally loving and generous. We need to be that way. Giving thanks should be a daily occurrence, and we should not just give thanks but show our thankfulness by sharing that which He has given to us with those that don’t have.

I believe this is a test: God has allowed some to go without so that we, those who have, can demonstrate God in us by sharing, willingly and gladly, with others; the Manual says God loves a cheerful giver, that’s why we need to give to the needy. We need to give to those who can’t pay us back, so there can’t be any thoughts of reciprocity. That’s how God gives- without any thoughts or expectations of receiving anything back but thanks.

If you have never done anything totally out of generosity, you are missing something exceptionally rewarding. You want something back? OK- try this: give what you want to keep to someone who needs it and has nothing to give you back. Then, after you’ve seen their look of appreciation, and how unbelievably happy they became to have what you gave them, tell me that you didn’t cry at the joy your soul felt at that moment.

King David tells us, in the Psalms, to “taste of the Lord and see that He is good.” When you give without any thought of receiving, and you give what is important to you, something you know God has provided to you, that is true Tzedakah. I guarantee when you do this you will feel a joy that will fill your soul and elevate you to a height of spiritual pleasure you won’t ever forget: that’s how giving the way that God gives makes us feel.