Category: A Drash to Start the Day

Having a ticket doesn’t guarantee entry

Leave a comment

One of the most comforting quotes from the bible is Joel 2:32, where Joel tells us that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. In the New Covenant this is repeated in Acts 2:21 and, again, in Romans 10:13.

And it is true, of course, but that assumes the one calling is repentant, and remains repentant. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved, but that is only your ticket to come in. You still have to arrive, you have to be dressed properly and you need to bring your ID.

We first need to understand that “calling on the name of the Lord” means asking for forgiveness of your sins through the Messiah’s sacrificial death. It means doing T’shuvah, turning from your sinful life, and working towards sinning less for the rest of your life.  If you ask for forgiveness, and mean it, you will be forgiven, but that isn’t the beginning and the end of it- it is just the start. You need to demonstrate your repentance through changes in your actions. You will still be thinking sinful things, but so long as you fight to overcome the sinful nature we all have, and you make progress, you will continue to be saved. Your works, the fruits of your salvation that you demonstrate in your everyday words, actions and thoughts will be the clothing you wear to the “wedding” and the gift you present to the King.

There are quite a few parables about those who have been invited (i.e., those who have called on the name of the Lord and received forgiveness), but because they did not fully repent or because they backslid they did not get to make it to the party.

There is the parable of the wedding guests who were invited but allowed their cares for the world to prevent them from going, so they did not get to attend the wedding. There is the another wedding parable about bridesmaids who didn’t buy oil for their lamps and when the groom came they were too busy trying to find oil, with the result that when they finally had what they were supposed to have already had, they were locked out of the wedding.

There is another wedding parable, this one about one person at the reception without the proper clothing (in those days the wedding host gave clothing to the guests as they arrived) so he was thrown out of the reception.

That’s not all!

There is the parable about the fruit tree in the garden (in the garden= already saved) but didn’t bear any fruit and ended up being thrown out of the garden.

The parable about the three servants given talents and the one returned only what he had been given; for not using what he had been given he was called a wicked servant and was thrown into the darkness.

In 1 Timothy 4:1 we read how, in the Acharit HaYamim (The End Days), even some of the chosen will fall away from the faith; this warning is first given to us in Matthew, repeated in the other Gospels and given as a final warning in Revelations. False Messiahs will come and perform wondrous signs that will fool even some of the Chosen, those who have been saved and given their ticket to Eternal joy and peace. They will turn that ticket in to the wrong place, and just like some stores will honor the coupons of their competitors, the enemy of God will certainly accept you into his realm. He will honor you and shower you with gifts of earthly power and wealth so that you will eagerly trade in your salvation.

Many teach that salvation is irrevocable, and they are right- it is irrevocable, but what does “irrevocable” mean? It means it won’t be taken back. That doesn’t mean we can’t throw it away! That doesn’t mean we can’t disqualify ourselves by accepting the grace of God then misusing or abusing it. Grace from sin is not license to sin, and too many people think that all they have to do is ask God for forgiveness and their position in heaven is set in stone.

It isn’t.

We all can receive the forgiveness God has provided through Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) if we are repentant and if we change. We can’t be repentant without showing a change in our deeds and ways. As Yacov (James) says in the book bearing his name, a well cannot give both fresh and salt water. If you have done T’shuvah, and accepted the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) then you have to change. You can’t help it. It is slow, and there is always that fight between the little guy wearing the halo on one shoulder and the little devil on the other shoulder. That fight will never go away, but the more you read the bible, the more you allow the Ruach to rule your life, the more you “die to self” so that the Holy Spirit can live more fully in you, well, soon the little angel looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the devil looks like Steve Urkel.

No one likes to hear that when you call on God for forgiveness that you get it, but you don’t have it. Yet, that’s really what it comes down to- remember, God doesn’t work in the same time zone we do. He is, He was, and He will be- all in the same moment. There is no lineal timeline where God is concerned, so you can have something and not have it, all at the same time.

The guarantee of our salvation is not dependent on God- once He gives you that forgiveness, you have it, but now you have to keep it. The way you do that is to show the world the change that the Holy Spirit has made in you by doing more and more of what God wants. You’ll find those instructions in the Torah. That’s what God told Moses to write down so we would all have the same instructions; that’s what Jesus taught His disciples to preach and what He lived completely as an example to us, and the Torah has the rules for how everyone who worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is supposed to live.

In a nutshell, calling on the name of the Lord will get you that ticket to salvation, and there is a seat reserved for you, but you need to hold tight to that ticket, not let anyone else fool you into giving it to them, and to show up at the theater properly dressed, wearing the fruits of your salvation. Don’t wait until the first call to find fruit, because this show doesn’t adhere to any schedule. You may be called to appear at any time, and once the curtain goes up the doors are locked to everyone.

Salvation: if you ask for it, you get it. That’s the easy part- the hard part is working at it, keeping it and being able to show up properly dressed when the doors open.

WHAT ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF?

Leave a comment

What is the greatest fear of all? It’s not really death, or pain, or suffering. The greatest fear of all is the fear of loss.

Everything someone is afraid of comes down to the loss of something: loss of life, loss of financial security, loss of friendship, loss of companionship, loss of job, loss, loss, loss. When I was in sales, I learned you don’t close the deal because someone wants what you offer as much as because they don’t want to lose the opportunity to get it at a good price, or to get it before it’s not available. Building urgency to buy is what we call it, but what it comes down to is fear of loss, the fear of losing the “deal.”

Being afraid isn’t, in and of itself, a bad thing- fear of pain is what makes us cautious and helps to avoid hurting ourselves. Fear of financial loss is what directs our decisions in investing to use discretion. Fear of death is what keeps us from doing those stupid things you see on TV and YouTube.

And fear of the Lord is what makes us courageous enough to overcome the human, fleshly fears that plague us. Fear of the Lord is trusting in God, it is honoring Him by obeying His word, it is the confidence that we receive knowing that He is always faithful to those who are faithful to Him, and that, unlike human promises, God’s promises are so trustworthy and dependable that what He says He will do is already historic fact.

If you tell people you are Born Again but still allow fear to control your life, stop being afraid, already!

Cowardice is something to be ashamed of; fear is natural, and courage is the ability to overcome fear. We are all afraid of something, of losing something, and that is not the problem: that is being human. What we need to do is overcome that fear by trusting in God.

If you are afraid of dying, remember what Shaul (Paul) said in Philippians 1:21:

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

He knew that death only meant coming into the Kingdom and attaining eternal joy and peace. Heck- he was more willing to die than to live.

By listening to the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) we can show bravery and confidence, not so much in ourselves as our confidence in God. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

That “sound mind” is what reminds us to listen to the spirit of victory we have . We can feel confident, also, in what we are guaranteed in 1 John 5:4:

…for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

Therefore, if you are ruled by your fears, your faith is weak and you do not honor God, or demonstrate the power and the strength God gives us. Shaul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

The bible is rife with expressions of bravery in the face of our human fears, and it all depends on our faith in God.

If you are afraid of what people will think of you (fear of loss of stature) then think about what God will think of you if you do things that are meant to please people and not to please Him. Now that is something to be afraid of! To upset and dishonor the Holy One of Israel; to dishonor the name of God by telling everyone you are Born Again, then showing them the fear and cowardice that they, the unsaved and faithless, have. To allow those who reject God to say, “What difference does it make if I believe or not- you’re no different than I am! I don’t see anything special in you.”

God is special; God is wonderful; God is great, powerful and those who have God in them are able to overcome the world. That which is in me is greater than that which is in the world (look that one up on your own) and when we demonstrate that to the world through our faithful courage and perseverance, we glorify God, Messiah Yeshua and His kingdom.

So, nu? Are you glorifying God or disgracing His name? Yeshua said when we see Him we see the Father- that is because He said what the Father told Him to say, He did what the Father wanted Him to do, and He did it fearlessly. Everything Yeshua did glorified His Father in heaven.

We can’t be the same way Yeshua was, but we can certainly be more like Him than like ourselves. And that is the testimony we show to the world about God.

God told Joshua to be brave and be bold because God was with him- that’s good advice for all of us.

 

Let it go, already!

Leave a comment

Is there something in your past that you wish hadn’t happened? Something you did? Something you said? Something someone did to you? And no matter what, it keeps popping up in your head, with no warning? And doesn’t it always seem to come back to you just after something upsetting happens?

Well, don’t you think it’s about time you let it go and got on with your life?

Ever try to drive your car looking in the rear-view mirror? You’re bound to crash, aren’t you? The same is true of walking with God (or even walking alone, for that matter, although walking with God is much, much better.) We need to learn from God how to forgive, which carries with it the obligation to forget, too. Not to be stupid about it- if someone has hurt you and is unrepentant, you don’t give them a chance to do that again. You forgive them, yes- that is what we are commanded to do, but you don’t let them have the opportunity to hurt you again. That is just foolish. So you forget it, but don’t forget about it.

Huh? Forget it but don’t forget about it? What the heck does that mean?

It means you first let go of the pain by forgiving, which is the only way the pain ever goes away. Once you forgive, you will be able to remember the event, only it won’t be painful. You will see it as a life lesson. And, if the person is repentant and shows that through his or her actions, once they have regained your trust, then you can totally forget the entire incident.

It sounds hard, but in truth, it is harder to do than it sounds. Much harder. Pride gets in the way, the desire to be avenged, to have the other person experience the pain and worry and strife and emotional upheaval that he put you through. The need to know that witch got a taste of her own medicine! Yeah- that’s what I want to see!

That’s pridefulness, not Godliness. That’s the enemy talking to you, not the Holy Spirit. Vengeance may come, because what goes around, does come around.  And sometimes God, in His mercy, allows us to see the person reap what they have sown. And I don’t mean God’s mercy as to allowing you to see this to enjoy it, but in His mercy allowing you to see it so that you can feel the regret at someone else having to endure what you did, someone who may not have the forgiveness that God gave you, someone who may not be able to fall down knowing that a loving and forgiving God is there to pick them up, over and over.

If you can see someone who has hurt you suffering as you did, and not feel pity for that person, then you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are really trying to obey God.

Forgiveness is self-centered. Really. I believe most people, especially people who don’t know the Lord, think when you forgive someone you are making what they did acceptable. They think if they forgive someone then that person is “off the hook”, so to speak.

Not true. Everyone one of us, e–v–e–r–y–o–n–e, will be held accountable to God on the Day of Judgement. Those who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah will be cleansed by His righteousness, not their own, but by His! Everyone else will be all alone standing at the Throne of the Lord. And let me tell you something- the carpet they stand on will be soiled by those that stood there before them, and when they have to face their sins with no reconciliation available to them, as God judges them they will add to the stains.

If you know even a little of the forgiveness God has granted you through Messiah, how can you feel anything but pity for that poor soul. Yes, he’s a rat; yes, she’s a wicked person, but still and all, they will spend an eternity in suffering and you will spend eternity in joy. When you think about that, doesn’t the harm they did to you, which only reflects their pain and suffering, seem relatively unimportant now?

It is hard to forgive, but not as hard as it is to forget. I am here to tell this to you because I am an expert- at failing. I have learned a lot about forgiveness through reading the bible and observing what God has forgiven, and how He has forgiven. But knowing how to do something is not being able to do it.

So I am practicing. I remember the hurt people have done to me so that I can practice letting go of it. When you first learn how to play an instrument and read music, after enough practice you stop reading the notes and consciously remembering the fingering for that note, and you just do it. When you learn a second language, after speaking it enough and conversing with it, you stop interpreting it in your head and you just know what the words mean.

Forgiveness can be like that- it stops being something you need to think about doing and you just do it. But that takes a lot, I mean , A LOT, of practice. I am still working at it.

My system is to first remember that I have hurt people because I was hurting. I believe people who are hurtful and nasty are suffering with tremendous pain in their heart and soul. They are so full of pain that it seeps out of them, oozes out in their words and actions; they just can’t control themselves. They are poisoned by the wormwood of unforgiveness and controlled by pridefulness, which is never satisfied. It is a hunger that gnaws at your soul and constantly causes you pain and discomfort- nothing tastes good, nothing feels good. It is torture, and they do not have the peace that the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, can give them.

They are in great pain and have rejected the only cure that works- Messiah. Instead of accepting the healing of the Holy Spirit, they dispense pain and suffering to others so that they do not suffer alone. They reek of sin, but instead of cleaning themselves off, they throw it on everyone else around them so that they don’t notice their own stench.

Those who have accepted Messiah have a poncho over them that doesn’t let the stink penetrate, and that poncho is called “forgiveness.” When we forgive, we cleanse ourselves before the Lord. The bad guy still stinks, but not us- we can be clean before God because we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.

And when we forgive them, the pain of the sin goes away; we can remember the act done against us, but the associated pain is gone. This way, if there is repentance, we can let the person know he or she is already forgiven (which demonstrates to them God’s power and love) and now we can totally forget the incident.

Forgiveness is how you get past the pain and how you get on with your life. Unforgiveness is like dragging your anchor; you may be going forward, but there is always something holding you back, slowing down your spiritual growth and maturity. One day it will catch on a rock and you will never go anywhere.

None of us will ever reach full spiritual joy until we learn to forgive others as God has forgiven us.

If there is unforgiveness still lingering in your heart, remember what Yeshua told the man that wanted to follow Him but said he first needed to go back and say goodbye to his family? Yeshua told him that anyone who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62.) So if there is someone you have not forgiven, do as Yeshua told you- leave your sacrifice at the altar and go make it right. And if the other person refuses to repent, that’s their problem now, not yours. You have done what you could do, what you should do, and you can move on with your life knowing that you have done the Lord’s will.

If you haven’t done so yet, please- reel in your anchor; and if it is stuck on a rock, cut the line.

You can’t go anywhere when you won’t leave where you are.

What is a Jew?

2 Comments

That is an age-old question.

A Jew is someone who was born of a Jewish mother. However, there are different views on that because according to the Orthodox, once born a Jew, always a Jew, but the Reform Jews believe if a Jew converts, he or she is no longer Jewish.

A Jew is someone who is a descendant of Judah, the 4th son of Jacob.

A Jew is someone who is from Y’hudah, or Judah (Judea).

A Jew is someone who speaks Hebrew.

I once read that some Rabbi had said anyone who worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a Jew.

A Jew is one of the Chosen people of God.

The Replacement Theologists will tell you that they, the Right-Wing Christians, are now the only “real” Jews (their justification for saying this is that since the “old” Jews rejected Jesus, God has rejected them. That’s just plain silly.)

So, nu? What is a Jew, or more correctly phrased, who is a Jew?

If you ask me (and by reading this blog, you are pretty much asking), there are two kinds of Jews:

  1. Someone who is a descendant of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through one of the 12 sons of Jacob; or
  2. A Jew is someone who worships God the way God wants to be worshiped, which means worshiping God in accordance with the Torah.

Now, does that imply if someone who was born of Jewish parents but converts, or simply doesn’t worship God according to the Torah, is not a Jew? Or, if someone is a Gentile but worships God in accordance with the Torah, is now a Jew without any formal conversion classes, circumcision, etc?

My answer is: Yes. To both.

Again, for me, the term “Jew” or “Jewish” is not confined to the practice of Judaism- after all, there are 6 sects within Judaism: Chasidic, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Messianic. They are so very different in their daily practice that they could almost be considered separate religions.

And as I have always said and will always say: God has no religion.

Someone who is born from Jewish parents is a Jew, but if they do not practice Judaism (any one of the above forms) then how can they be identified as a Jew? If you’re born into a Quaker family but have a cell phone, watch TV, and own a car, how can you call yourself a Quaker? You are not living as a Quaker lives, so you can’t be a Quaker.

God separated the Jewish people from everyone else in the world. To help keep them that way, He gave them the Torah, His set of instructions on how to worship Him and how to treat each other. In other words, how to live a “Jewish” life.

People don’t mean what they say, they mean what they do- I have said that often, and will continue to say it because it is a simple and absolute truth about human nature. Therefore, if I say I am a Jew but I do not live (or, at least, try to live) and worship God in accordance with the Torah He gave us, then how can I call myself a “Jew”? I can’t, because what I do is not ‘Jewish.’

This all started with Abraham, who had no justification to call himself a Jew- he didn’t come from Judea, he didn’t have Jewish parents, and he didn’t worship in accordance with Torah because there wasn’t any Torah. And yet, pretty much everyone considers him the Father of the Jewish people. I would call him a Jew for one reason, and one reason only- he worshiped God as God said he should. That is why I believe a Jew is anyone, no matter which religion they were born into, who worships God as God said we should.

In the letter to the newly Messianic congregation in Ephesus, Shaul (Paul) tells them that the difference between the way people worship will be all gone because through Messiah there will be one, new man- a person who, spiritually, will be separate and distinct, and who will find total peace in his (or her) worship of God by following what Yeshua (Jesus) taught. And, for the record, Yeshua did not teach anything different from what the Torah says. He did not, as we have been lied to for millennia, create a new religion or teach that Torah is no longer valid- the truth is that Yeshua taught us not just the word of Torah but the deeper meaning, the “drash” of God’s word, so that we would not just live it, but be living examples of it, as He was.

And God tells us that anyone who sojourns with the Jewish people is to be treated as one of them, as an adopted son or daughter of Abraham. God, Himself, tells us throughout the Tanakh that anyone, no matter who they were born from, is an adopted son or daughter of Abraham if they worship God in accordance with His Torah.

Therefore: if anyone asks me what a Jew is, I will say someone who worships the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the way God said to worship Him, which is in accordance with the Torah. That’s it: it’s that simple, it’s that easy to understand, it’s that basic.

It doesn’t matter what religion you were born into, how you were raised or where you are from, if you believe in God and worship Him as the Torah says to, you are a Jew.

And if you do all that, and also accept that Yeshua is the Messiah God promised us, then you are a Jew who has found fullness and completion of Torah in that you have found and are one with the Messiah.

It don’t get no better than that!

What’s the problem?

Leave a comment

That’s the question we all ask ourselves, eventually, when we feel there is something acting as a wedge between ourselves and God.

At my place of worship we have some people who are unhappy with the changes we are making; we are fine-tuning our mission statement, reevaluating what we are about, and trying to grow. Lately some of the more “spiritual” people feel there is something preventing us from experiencing the fullness of God’s spirit during our worship.

Someone suggested it may be unrepentance, and that could be true- I don’t doubt that sin in someone’s life from which they do not repent would definitely be a barrier in their relationship with God. Because we are all parts of the body of Messiah, sin within our ranks could prevent the congregation from experiencing the fullness of God’s spirit in our corporate worship.

But if there is sin that has occurred, I don’t think unrepentance is as damaging as unforgiveness. After all, God designed an entire process for repentance- wholly burned sacrifice, thanksgiving sacrifice, sin, guilt, communal and individual sacrifices- all designed to allow us to demonstrate our repentance and, thereby, receive forgiveness.

But when it comes down to it, do you recall anywhere in the bible where God commands us to be repentant?  It seems to me repentance is more of an assumed attitude- God has told us how to repent, in which manner for which particular type of sin, and what we must do to receive the forgiveness it is assumed we want.

But, again I ask, do you recall anywhere God commands us to be repentant? He tells us how to repent, but does He ever say, “You are commanded to repent!”

The Prophets do tell us we need to repent, very often, and they do speak God’s word, but (again) I say this is not a commandment, it is a warning. It is a request, albeit a really stern one, to change our ways to prevent the inevitable consequences of our actions. God is asking us to repent, He is telling us, through His prophets, that we need to repent to avoid His righteous punishment. We must repent to be forgiven, but it is not a command.

Forgiveness, on the other hand, is something we are commanded to do. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-16) we are told that the way to pray includes that we must request to be forgiven as we forgive others, which means if we don’t forgive, we will not be forgiven.  In fact, in verse 15 of that prayer Yeshua tells us that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. That sounds to me more like a commandment than a warning.

The Tanakh tells us to love our neighbors, to treat foreigners well, and Yeshua further defines that to say we should not judge our brothers (and sisters) unless we have judged ourselves first. He also said that when we hate in our hearts we have committed murder, and in Matthew 18:21 when Kefa (Peter) asks how many times must he forgive someone who asks for forgiveness, Yeshua says (essentially) every time the person asks.

Notice that Kefa doesn’t ask how many times should he seek forgiveness, but how many times should he forgive? The emphasis, the action, is not repentance but forgiveness! Kefa knew that Yeshua wanted what the Father wants, which is forgiveness first. Yes, we should be repentant- David tells us (in Psalm 51) that God will not reject a broken spirit and a contrite heart, i.e. a repentant person, yet Yeshua tells us God will reject an unforgiving person!

Repentance is absolutely necessary to attain forgiveness because, if for no other reason, as willing as God is to forgive our sins and as easy as it is to receive forgiveness (thanks to Yeshua), we will not have it until we ask for it. And, since God isn’t stupid or able to be fooled, we will receive forgiveness when we ask for it, for real.

Repentance is necessary for forgiveness, and forgiveness is necessary for salvation.

Salvation starts with repentance, no doubt, but it is achieved with forgiveness- God will forgive us when we are repentant and ask for it, but if we are unwilling to forgive others we can throw away the salvation God has given to us.

Read Matthew 18:23-35, which is the parable about the man who owed much and was forgiven his debt, then refused to forgive the much smaller debt someone else owed to him. What happened when the Master heard about the unforgiveness of the servant? He remanded his forgiveness and had the servant thrown in jail until all his debt was paid. The man who had been forgiven, but refused to forgive, caused his forgiveness to be reversed. His sin of unforgiveness destroyed his salvation.

Salvation is something God will not take back, but it is something that we can throw away by purposefully continuing to lead a sinful life, and when it comes to sin, unforgiveness is a BIG one!

The Senior Pastor, myself (I am also on the Board) and those who we met with last week to discuss these changes will all be fasting and praying from Tuesday night until Wednesday night, when we will meet at the house of one of these people to break fast together. I pray that God will lead us to the answer why people feel spiritually “stymied”, and I am hoping that it is not unforgiveness in the hearts of some of the people, but something simpler to overcome.

Yeshua said that before we tell our brother about the splinter in his eye we should first remove the log in our own eye (Luke 6:42), so I ask that you look deeply into your own heart, pray that God will open your eyes and remove whatever plank there may be in it, and determine whether or not your forgiveness of others is equal to the forgiveness you have received.

Repentance is the first step to attaining salvation, but it’s your forgiveness of others that will secure it.

Parashah Balak, Numbers 22:2 – 25:9

Leave a comment

If it wasn’t for the continuity I want to keep for the Parashah posts every Friday, I would have titled this Shabbat’s Parashah, “It’s Always Up to You.”

This Parashah is also called the Book of Balaam, according to Jewish tradition, and it tells us the famous story of the talking ass, the beast of burden that Balaam is riding that avoids the Angel of the Lord sent to kill Balaam on his way to curse the nation of Israel in the Moabite desert.

Balaam is one of those people in the bible that is a conundrum: he clearly is worshipful and understands the one, true God, yet he also is a Diviner and “wizard-for-hire”, which is clearly against what God allows. He knows enough to ask for God’s guidance, can be convinced to do so, yet is later found disobeying what God says he should do, anyway.

Despite being enticed by rich rewards, and in the face of having three powerful kings really pissed off at him, Balaam (who has been called to curse the Jews) blesses them; not just once, but three times. The three blessings are because the kings of Moab asked him to curse them three times, despite Balaam saying that he could only do and say what God told him to. After the third blessing, Balaam is sent away with no pay, but before he goes he is led by God to give these kings a prophecy revealing their final defeat.

In the end, he does manage to help Balak, the Moabite king, to infiltrate and damage Israel by having the women of Moab seduce the men of Israel into worshiping the Semitic gods of the Moabites. The parashah ends with the zealousness of Pincus, the grandson of Aaron, killing an Israeli tribal prince who is flaunting his romantic relationship with a Moabite woman, right there in front of Moses and all the people.

What I see here is what happened to the world after Yeshua rose from the dead and through that resurrection, defeated the enemy of God, providing the salvation we all need. And more than that, I also see the ultimate truth about salvation- it’s up to us, always, to choose or reject it.

With Yeshua’s (Jesus) death the complete forgiveness of sin was made possible for all, and He defeated the enemy with His resurrection. But there is still sin and there are billions of unsaved people, despite the fact that the words, deeds and knowledge of Yeshua are known throughout the world. Why is that?

Because the enemy followed Balaam’s lead.

Balaam wasn’t able to curse the young nation of Israel, camped just outside of their final destination. As he was going to curse them, even though God said not to, he would have been killed if his donkey hadn’t bypassed the Angel of the Lord sent to smite him. Then as Balaam was beating this animal who has saved his life three times, it miraculously talked to Balaam and opened his eyes to see the angel standing in the road with sword drawn. From that point on, Balaam still had the choice to curse the Jews, but choose to save his life, instead.

Good thinking.

However, once that scary episode was over, Balaam still managed to get around God by suggesting to the kings that they have their women go to the men of Israel, seduce them romantically, then use that relationship to influence them to worship the Moabite gods. And we read, in Chapter 25, that his plan was very effective. Without unsheathing a single sword, Balaam’s suggestion resulted, ultimately, in the death of some 24,000 Israelites.

Yeshua’s death didn’t save us, His resurrection did, but the enemy counter-attacked (just as Balaam did) with extreme effectiveness: he used Constantine to cause such a schism between the Jews who did not accept Yeshua as Messiah and the (now called) Christians who were not fully living Torah, that “religion” separated the God-fearing people so much that today we are two totally separate religions, with Jews rejecting anything Christian (including their own Jewish Messiah) and Christians rejecting the Torah, saying it was replaced by Jesus (who preached the validity and necessity of following the Torah.)

Balaam was going to do the wrong thing, he did the right thing, but then did the wrong thing. God led Balaam onto the path of righteousness, but Balaam still chose to go the path of deceit and rejection of God’s direction. And, as we read in Numbers 31:8,  that decision led to his death.

We are all given the choice to chose life, through Messiah Yeshua, or to do as we please and choose death. We can change our mind, at any time, either one way or the other. Salvation is available to us, but we can choose to deny it, and even after we accept it, we can still choose to reject it. The bible is very clear about that. We need to realize that the enemy will not give up the fight- he will go into the pit of sulfur kicking and screaming, grabbing anything and anyone close enough to him to take in there with him. This means that we are never fully free of him, and won’t be until after the final Tribulation, the last fight, Yeshua standing on the Mount of Olives saying, “ENOUGH!” and the new Jerusalem being lowered from heaven.

Until then we need to be aware of our own frailties, and the power of the enemy to seduce us into sin. As Yogi Berra is known to have said, “It ain’t over ’till it’s over.”

Keep running the good race, keep your eyes on the prize, and don’t be swayed by others. Choose life, so that you may live, accept Yeshua (if you haven’t already) and never turn away from that, no matter what anyone says.

Look at it this way: God wants to be worshiped, He gave us the Torah to tell us how to worship Him, and He promised a Messiah to reconcile us back to Him. If Yeshua is the Messiah, then you need to accept Him and worship God and obey the Torah, just as Yeshua taught us to do.

If, however, Yeshua is not the Messiah, and you still worship God and obey the Torah, then by thinking and acting like Yeshua is the Messiah, do you really think God is going to have a problem with that? You are worshiping God, you are obeying the Torah- that is the foundation, that is the important thing, that is what is necessary.

But…you do need to accept Yeshua to be able to tear away the Parochet, to achieve fulfillment in your relationship with God, and to be saved from your sin once and for all. And, if you accept Yeshua and He isn’t really the Messiah, you are worshiping God and obeying the Torah, so you’re gonna be OK.

Get it? Accept Yeshua and do as God wants, you’re OK even if He isn’t the Messiah (but, He is); worship God, obey the Torah but reject Yeshua, then you better obey Torah exactly and completely, every second of your life, or you are in trouble.

The bottom line is accepting Yeshua as your Messiah is a win-win because Messiah or not, you will still be doing what God wants. Reject Yeshua and you take a big chance that billions of people (including millions of Jews) have been wrong for centuries.

Think about it.

lawlessness to anarchy to despotism: the stage is being set

Leave a comment

I have said often that the only thing I do with newspapers is read the comics and work the Word puzzles. Yet, even though I know the news is always the same- bad- I can’t help but see the headlines.

Recently there have been random murders, from some nut-case opening up on gay club patrons to another kook walking into a hospital to shoot two people that just happened to be there. Cops shooting people without just cause (allegedly) and people executing cops randomly as revenge. And the cops that were killed had nothing at all to do with the shooting that (apparently) motivated it.

The bible tells us that lawlessness is sin, and that in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days) there will be lawlessness, godlessness and other atrocities. If we read the papers, listen to the news, or just talk to people, it seems to be getting worse.

The End Days are not coming- they have begun.

I see a pattern forming; I have talked about it in this blog before. I have warned about the video games that teach murder, stealing and other godless activities are how you gain points; I have talked about the way TV and movies make satanic beings more acceptable, even desirable (because of their power); I now add that these random acts of violence are also a part, the next step (so to speak), in the enemy’s plan to prepare his way to overthrow the world.

Here’s how it works: when people are taught that shooting, stabbing and other forms of hurting people are how you gain power and importance, the next thing that happens is that this form of lawlessness leads to anarchy. Anarchy comes about when people refuse to accept or abide by the basic rules of society. Anarchy creates an environment of distrust and unrest, which cries out for leadership. Not just leadership, but strong leadership, as during the days after World War I in Germany (we all know what that led to.)

A nation in turmoil, with murders, crime, economic woes and other societal ills, needs a strong, passionate and powerful leader to put an end to the suffering of the people. That environment is rolling out the Red Carpet for the Antichrist.

The lawlessness described above will have to result in despotism; the establishment of strong leadership that will resort to using martial law to combat the rampant lawlessness.  To make the lawlessness come under control the people will be more than willing to put up with the restrictions on their freedom. And what’s worse is that once people feel safe again, even though they are under the despotic rule of the Antichrist, they will not only accept it, they will be grateful for it.

During the Tribulation there will be a single world government (United Nations), a single world economy (European Common Market) and a single world religion (which religion currently is growing larger than all others?) And there will be only one man (or woman, who knows?) at the top. We all know who I mean. At the start there will be legal justification for the rise to power because of the rampant lawlessness, and because of the needs of the people for a leader that is all-powerful and (seemingly) compassionate as well, the Antichrist will slowly take over the world.

When you study Eschatology, you learn that the Son of Perdition will have great power, do miracles, and have minions that perform wonders in his name. There will be those who stand against him, but they will have limited success and, eventually, be overcome and killed by the Antichrist and his legions. It will seem that Satan wins, until Yeshua will be told by God to handle it.

That won’t happen until nearly 2/3 of the earth is destroyed and all the people who can choose between accepting the mark of the beast or remaining faithful to God have made their choice.

I don’t want to sound like the unshaven, hair-in-a-mess, bedraggled man waving the bible and shouting at the top of his lungs, “THE END IS HERE! THE END IS HERE!”

But that is, pretty much, what I am doing (although I am better dressed.)

We need to keep our eyes open to trickery, to false Messiahs and (especially) to family and friends who are being seduced by the Dark Side, right in front of our eyes. We need to keep attuned to that little voice in our head we call the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) telling us that something is a little meshugah here. We need to be as gentle as doves but as wise as serpents.

We need to accept that it is really happening! The way evil survives, and thrives, is when righteous people stand by and do nothing.

Do you know what happens when you throw a frog in boiling water? He jumps right out. But put him in cool water, then raise the heat slowly, bit by bit, and he will stay in there until he is cooked.

Brothers and Sisters- it’s getting awfully hot out here.

Freedom through forgiveness

Leave a comment

We all struggle to be free of things that bother us, don’t we? We want to be free of our debts, free from the drudgery of a meaningless job with no future, free of our bad habits, and more than anything, I think, free of our pain. Especially emotional pain.

We can be free of debt through careful financial management, we can be free of a go-nowhere job by educating ourselves and making ourselves more valuable in the job market, and we can free ourselves of bad habits through group rehab.

Many people seek therapy, but to be rid of emotional pain therapy isn’t always the best answer. I believe the best way to gain freedom from your emotional pain is to forgive the causer of that pain.

In my experience people just don’t understand how forgiveness works. They think that forgiving someone makes that person right with God, and by forgiving them it justifies what they did.

Not so.

Forgiveness actually has nothing to do, whatsoever, with what they did or their relationship with God, and has everything to do with your relationship with God.

Yeshua (Jesus) tells us we are commanded to forgive; in fact, in Matthew 6:15 He tells us if we do not forgive on earth then we won’t be forgiven in heaven. That’s a pretty powerful statement; it comes right after He teaches us the way we should pray, which tells us to ask that we be forgiven as we forgive others. That is a statement of cause and effect: forgive me for my sins against Thee using the same level of forgiveness that I extend to those who have sinned against me.

In other words, when it comes to forgiveness, I am asking God to do unto me as I do unto others.

The sinner who has hurt you will have to face God in the Acharit HaYamim (End Days), and your forgiveness of that person will have no bearing on that case. It will, however, be considered when you are standing “on the carpet.”

One of the the fruits of your salvation can be shown through your willingness and ability to forgive others. The end result, the reward (if you will) for doing as God says is the release from the pain. When you forgive, you are released from the pain of that event. Not right away, and not always completely, but it will happen (eventually) and you will feel better.

One “trick” I have learned is to pray for the one who has hurt you. Pray for their salvation because, as in my personal life, someone who has hurt me terribly is also someone that I know is in great pain herself, and needs the love of the Lord more than anyone I have ever met. I feel pity for this person, who will have to face God; and when she does, He will strip the Teflon off her body and all that she has done will come back upon her and stick to her skin like shingles. When you think of that pain and suffering, the emotional futility of having lived a lifetime of being unaccountable, then suddenly and completely, without any means of escaping the truth, have all the things you have ignored and shuffled off as everyone else’s fault come down on your head like a ton of bricks…I can’t imagine the horror and pain that will cause. And to top it off, you get a one-way ticket to Hell.

When you think of it, if you know the love and compassion and forgiveness that God has had for you, how can you feel anything but remorse and pity for this poor soul? The imagery just makes you want to forgive them, doesn’t it? If not, you’ve better do some serious talking with God.

It’s simple- forgiveness is God’s aspirin for the emotional pain of being sinned against.

Take two, and call me in the afterlife.

Parashah Chukkas (Regulations) Numbers 19 – 22:1

Leave a comment

This parashah has enough in it to for an entire summer-long bible study.

The Red Heifer for removal of uncleanliness (this is interesting because what has to be done to make you clean makes you unclean while doing it), Miriam dies, the sin of Moses at Meribah when he struck the rock to give water to the people (which prevented him from entering the Land), Aaron dies, the destruction of the king of Arad, the sending of snakes against the people for their complaints (and the creation of the brass snake which later became an idol), ending with the conquering and total destruction of Og, king of Bashan and Sichon, king of the Amorites.

So much to talk about, so little time to do it. However, since this week I have been talking about Yeshua (Christian name-Jesus) and of His existence as a man, I will work with the snake because, as you will see, what happened to the snake also happened to Yeshua.

And Yeshua told us it would be that way.

The story of the snake is in B’Midbar (Numbers) 21:4-9. The people complained about the route they were on, there being no water, and they are telling Moses (actually, kvetching to God) that they can’t stand any more manna. God sends fiery serpents among them to bite them and many die. They repent and ask Moses for help, and after Moses prays for them God says to make a serpent out of brass and place it high on a pole, where all the people can see it no matter where they are in the camp. If they are bitten, they need only to look to the brass serpent and they will not die. They still get bitten, and it must have really, really hurt, but at least by looking to the brass serpent, representing their repentance and reliance on God for salvation, they get to live.

In John 3:14-15 Yeshua says:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

Many have taught that this is a prophecy regarding the way Yeshua was going to die, lifted up on an execution tree where all could see Him. Other teachings I have seen relate this to the snake in that sin is in us, as the venom was, and looking to God and Yeshua for salvation is what saves us. Both are good teachings.

What I see is an immediate prophecy regarding His death, and a future prophecy regarding Yeshua being looked to not as God’s means of salvation but as God, Himself, in that Yeshua replaces God. And anything that comes between mankind and God is an idol.

In 2nd Kings, 18:4 we read how this very snake, a symbol of God’s salvation, was regarded as a god, called Nehushtan, and the people offered sacrifices to it. King Hezekiah destroyed it.

The relationship I see is that Yeshua came to earth to be the means of our salvation, our Messiah. He was to give His life so that we could have eternal life. His function, if you will, was to be the representation of God’s power, of God’s forgiveness, and of God’s salvation. He was, and still is, the instrument of God. However, in many churches He is no longer seen as the instrument but as the musician. He is worshiped as God: people pray to Jesus instead of praying to God and He is considered to be all there is and all that we need.

Just as the serpent was changed from a symbol to a god, they have changed Yeshua’s role and function from Messiah, the servant of God, to God, Himself.

Read everything that Yeshua said, and try to find one word, one phrase, just one single syllable that Yeshua utters that even remotely infers He thinks we should worship Him, or pray to Him, or even think about Him over his Father. On the contrary, every single thing Yeshua did, every miracle, every action, every word, was to give glory and honor to God. If Yeshua lived His entire life as a representative from God, then how can we treat Him as God? Let’s look to John 14:9-14 :

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Here Yeshua tells us, absolutely, that He and the Father are separate beings, not the same being. Yeshua says, essentially, that He is nothing except that which the Father tells Him to be. Yeshua is God’s marionette on earth, doing, saying and acting whatever His Father wants Him to do.

Religion has turned this on it’s head, and instead of recognizing and honoring Yeshua as being filled with the Spirit of God, many now teach that He IS God. I think how disappointed and upset Yeshua must be to see this happen; He spent His entire ministry telling us of the wonder, glory and honor that God deserves. Now He is seeing us turn that around and by worshiping Yeshua and praying to Yeshua instead of God, we dishonor God, instead. To turn a faithful, loving and subordinate son into a Absalom, a son that rebels against and usurps his father’s position and authority, is the great sin that many churches are teaching.

Yeshua is the son of God, which is not so much a parental relationship as a spiritual one; He was born supernaturally, He did supernatural things through the power of God (just as the prophets did) and He died as a human, so that He could accept the sin of the world. And today He sits at the right hand of God. That is where He said He would be when facing the Sanhedrin. Not on the throne of God, but at God’s right hand.

If Yeshua told us that He is not God, and told us that He serves God, and told everyone He healed that it was their faith that healed them, where do we come off praying to Him instead of in His name? Where do we come off teaching that He is God when He denied it in everything He said? Where do we come off worshiping Yeshua instead of worshiping God?

Good questions. What do you think? Do you pray to God or to Yeshua? If you pray to Yeshua, then there is no need to pray in His name, right? I mean, you’re praying to Him, why invoke His name, again? If so, you are refusing to do as Yeshua said- He said that when we pray in His name we will receive what we ask for, so if we pray to Him, which means we shouldn’t use His name, we won’t receive. Unless, of course, He lied to us and we don’t need to pray in His name to receive. Of course, if He lied He isn’t sinless, His sacrifice won’t count, and we have no salvation..

Can you see where this goes? Anytime, anyway you try to show Yeshua is God, you lose salvation in the end.

God is all there is, and it is all about God. Yeshua is worthy to be God’s messenger, He is worthy to break the seals on the scroll, and He is the Messiah God promised to send to us so that we all can be reconciled to God and saved from our sinfulness. He is all those things, and more.

But He ain’t God.

 

from bad to worse

2 Comments

This blog is all about God; we see God in everything there is, when we take the time to look hard enough.

Lately, it seems God is missing because all we see is too much violence: Orlando shooting, cops shooting people and (now) people shooting cops.

Like it wasn’t bad enough with all the domestic violence, gang violence and wars throughout the world bordering on genocide. Now it is getting closer to home, in our own backyards.

And it’s going to get worse.

Read Revelations, read the signs, know what is coming so you can be prepared for it. Not just emotionally prepared, but spiritually prepared, as well. These acts of violence, human against human, are not the issue; it is a Red Herring, designed to throw us off the real problem.

What is the “real problem”? It’s not a physical battle- it is a spiritual battle.

The enemy is preparing the world for him (or maybe, her?) to walk in and take over. He is setting the stage, designing his battle plan and laying the landmines and barricades to freedom.

Look at our media services…what do they show us? Only bad things, only terrible events, and when something is horrible they report it until the horse is not just dead, but the bones are dust. Then they remind us of it, later. Ever notice when an important person is caught in a scandal or there is a horrific event how there is no news, anywhere else in the world, while that event is still “selling”?

Do you see the video games your children are playing? Indiscriminately killing zombies and vampires, stealing cars and murdering innocents along the way to gain points, battling in war where the more people they kill the more powerful they become. Did you ever consider that believing it is good and just to kill zombies is conditioning them to believe killing any ‘enemy’ without care or concern is good and just?

The only difference between zombies and God-fearing people who refuse to take the mark of the Antichrist is how they are perceived.

And what about the movies? Oh, we still have nice stuff like Finding Dory and love stories out there, but look closer. There is so much more Marvel in the movies than anything else, and (although I do like superheroes) they are now fighting themselves. “Captain America: Civil War” is about people wanting to help that are being criticized by the ones they save (sound like Moses and Korach?)  and fighting among each other. Today, even the good guys are at each other’s throats.

And the “church” is not doing enough. I know there are many Christian leaders who are teaching that Torah is only for Jews, and teaching that God has rejected them, and that Jesus is God, Himself, and that we should be “all about Jesus” and the church should worship Jesus.

Telling people Torah is not for them and the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people is called Replacement Theology, which is blasphemy because it is calling God a liar.

The name for worshiping Jesus alone because He is God is also called blasphemy because it is idolatry. Jesus is the son of God, as far as we mortals can understand it, and never, ever even once suggested or implied that He wanted us to worship Him. In fact, He told us this would happen when he said He would be raised up like the snake in the desert, which (in 2 Kings, 18:4) King Hezekiah destroyed because it had become an idol. Originally it represented God’s salvation from death when a snake bit the Israelites (Numbers 21:6) and later was turned into a god, in and of itself, that the people worshiped. This is what Jesus meant when He said He would be lifted up like the snake in the desert (John 3:14)- it wasn’t just an immediate prophecy about His death on a tree, but a future prophecy about His being made into an idol, to be worshiped in lieu of His Father in heaven.

The enemy will present himself as Jesus, as the world’s savior, and he will insist that he be worshiped instead of God. If there is anyone out there today saying that it is all about Jesus, that Jesus is God and should be worshiped as God, they are helping the enemy to take over.

We need to steel ourselves against the horrors that are coming, and to watch, carefully, for the hidden signs of the enemy’s approach. Satanic beings are not so bad, zombies will be everywhere and it is OK to kill them, war is fun when you have the right weapons, death is nothing, stealing is OK if everyone else is doing it…all of this is what our children are being taught to accept as normal activity.

“Repent: The End is Coming” has always been what we see when TV or movies want to show someone who has given up, and they are always portrayed as some nut-case. Well, the nut-case is the one who doesn’t listen. I am not saying to sit down in a corner and give up: just the opposite! I am saying to prepare to fight, prepare to be persecuted, and prepare (spiritually) to be at war. Not just with people, but with demons and demonic powers.

We have armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) and we who have accepted Yeshua as our Messiah are on the winning side, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t in for a really tough battle.

All I’m saying is get ready because the world is being set up for the enemy of God to take over, and God is allowing that to happen. Not forever, just for a while, and it is just around the corner; for those of us who will be here when it comes there will be such horror, strife and destruction, blasphemy and Godlessness that we will feel overwhelmed. And, for the most part, we will be overwhelmed. It is going to be through our continued faith and perseverance that we have any hope of surviving this Tsouris.

Our hope is not in mankind, but in God. Mankind will fail to win, the enemy will overcome it, but those who are faithful to God and stay the course will survive, eternally, and win the final battle.