Don’t associate with those who perpetrate deliberate sins!

A POWERFUL THOUGHT TO PONDER: Those who belong to ADONAI’s are NOT to associate with those who are committing deliberate sins. Take, for instance, at what Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 5:9 In my earlier letter I wrote you not to associate with people who engage in sexual immorality. 10 I didn’t mean the sexually immoral people outside your community, or the greedy, or the thieves or the idol-worshippers — for then you would have to leave the world altogether!

11 No, what I wrote you was not to associate with anyone who is supposedly a brother but who also engages in sexual immorality, is greedy, worships idols, is abusive, gets drunk or steals. With such a person you shouldn’t even eat! 12 For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Isn’t it those who are part of the community that you should be judging? 13 God will judge those who are outside. Just expel the evildoer from among yourselves. (CJB)

NOTE: Breaking of bread is a timeworn Middle Eastern custom that is done only with family and friends. If you cannot eat with someone (as Peter tried to separate himself in Galatians 2:13), then you cannot associate with them at all. If the sinner was out of the assembly, you were not permitted to persecute them.

However, you could, and in fact you must, demand that such a person put away detestable habits if they are to join the assembly and partake of the communal and havdalah meals (ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week) that Yeshua and his disciples enjoyed.

Truth is, our testimonies glorify Yahweh in the highest way possible because they show His Grace and Mercy to a fallen world where lost humanity struggles to understand Him and to "be good enough" to enter heaven - which, by the way, is an impossibility without belief in Yeshua!
It is important to remember, once we accept Yahweh Elohim as our God, and His Divine Messiah as our Redeemer, we are "spiritual Israel," expected to walk as Yeshua (Jesus) walked - in total obedience:

1 John 2:5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. 6 He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. (CJB)

Scripture tells us most will NOT enter that "narrow gate that leads to Life" (Matthew 7:13-14); therefore, sometimes our personal testimony is exactly what someone needs to hear to begin to realize the urgency of "getting themselves right with God" while there is still time, and before it's too late.

Psalm 71:1 In you, ADONAI, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness, rescue me; and help me to escape. Turn your ear toward me, and deliver me. 3 Be for me a sheltering rock, where I can always come. You have determined to save me, because you are my bedrock and stronghold. 4 My God, help me escape from the power of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless. 5 For you are my hope, Adonai ELOHIM, in whom I have trusted since I was young. 6 From birth I have relied on you; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. 7 To many, I am an amazing example; but you are strong protection for me. 8 My mouth is full of praise for you, filled with your glory all day long. 9 Don't reject me when I grow old; when my strength fails, don't abandon me. 10 For my enemies are talking about me, those seeking my life are plotting together. (CJB)

Events are happening so quickly that we can’t even recover from one before another hits…

WARS, RUMORS OF WARS, EARTHQUAKES, FIRES, FLOODS, TORNADOES, HURRICANES AND VOLANIC ERUPTIONS, along with people becoming ever more unruly, decadent and even violent. We see this stuff happening more and more every day – and, yes, it’s all foretold in the Bible! (See, for instance, Matthew 24, Timothy 3 and Revelation 6.)

The late Pastor Jack Van Impe and his wife, Rexella, used to host a half-hour weekly television series called, “Jack Van Impe Presents,” featuring eschatological commentary on the news of the week through an interpretation of the Bible. Every week he often mentioned that the end times would feature an escalating, unbroken stream of global crises, disasters, and geopolitical shifts that would overlap so rapidly that humanity could not recover from one before the next one struck.

Jack was correct. The disasters have broken out in the proverbial spades lately!

Below are just a FEW of the latest headlines of disastrous events that have taken place over the last week alone:

· Right now, today (August 16, 2026) Hawaii is being pummeled by Hurricane Lala. At the same time, Kīlauea on the Big Island of Hawaii and Great Sitkin in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska are actively erupting. Several other active volcanoes are currently erupting or showing high unrest, including Mount Etna in Italy; Fuego in Guatemala; and Popocatépetl in Mexico.

· Dozens were killed overnight in horrific back-to-back earthquakes in Indonesia after a 7.7 earthquake. There was also a powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake in a remote wilderness area along the mountainous border between Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory. On August 10, 2026, a destructive 7.4-magnitude earthquake shook parts of western and central Colombia, causing much devastation and killing at least 250. (There have been at least 169 earthquakes just over the last week in various places around the globe!)

· Storms have been battering the Midwest USA over the last week, and since yesterday, at least 6 people have died in flooding across Indiana. Typhoon Dolphin recently unleashed extreme rain inland and across China.

· In the meantime, Europe has been struggling with wildfires and drought and powerful winds that have left much devastation behind. At least 16,000 deaths were reported due to a heatwave. Spain, France, Belgium and Germany were among the hardest hit. A fresh wave of scorching temperatures, drought and powerful winds is fueling wildfires across Europe, especially in France, Britain, Spain, Germany, Croatia, Albania and Greece. Rivers are running dangerously low in various places. Extreme heat is disrupting France’s nuclear power generation, while health experts warn that hotter summers could bring more deaths and increasingly severe climate-related disasters.

· Puerto Rico is facing a severe water crisis and emergency rationing. A historic drought combined with long-standing, aging infrastructure issues has forced authorities to implement rotating 48-hour water shut-offs for hundreds of thousands of residents in San Juan and neighboring communities.

· Hate crime charges have been filed in the Manhattan synagogue attack against a man who disrupted Shabbat services in Manhattan’s Central Synagogue and struck two people while being hustled outside Friday night. (Hate Crimes against Jews have been steadily rising over the last few decades…)

· Five were shot today during summer festivities at a downtown Lexington, Kentucky park, leaving one dead. (Isn’t it sad that these “mass shootings” are basically a daily occurrence in the US today?)

· Morocco recently arrested 111 migrants headed for Spain’s Ceuta in security crackdown. Madrid has since installed a maritime barrier and ‌deployed more police from mainland Spain in a bid to avert another mass migrant crossing.

· The Russia-Ukraine war continues, seemingly without end…

· The fight over the Strait of Hormuz continues – also seemingly without end…

MY PRAYER:

Father, please have mercy on your people. We know that bad things happen because we live in a fallen world, and consequently, nobody is guaranteed another day. The Bible warns us that these days would come, and there is nothing we can do about it, because it has been foretold in Your Word.

However, those of us who belong to you, who live in obedience to Your Divine Instructions in Righteousness, and believe in the awesome atoning blood of Your Divine Messiah, Yeshua - we ARE guaranteed eternal life with you, and that is what matters most of all.

My prayer is that You would open the spiritual eyes of the myriads who do not yet know you, along with those who have been risking their eternal life because they are "lukewarm." Forgive them and let them "see" not only Your Love, but show them WHO You are so that they can begin to live according to Your glorious Rules for Holy Living ... so that they, too, can start going out into the world to preach the God News of Yahweh/Yeshua/Torah, while there is still time!

HALLELUYAH! We bless You, Father. Amen.

Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShana is on the horizon once again!

This year, the High Holy Day of Yom Teruah starts at sunset on Friday, September 11, 2026, and ends at sunset on Saturday, September 12. (The readings for Yom Teruah/Roash HaShana are: Leviticus  23:23-25, Numbers 29:1- 6, Matthew 24:30-31, 1  Thessalonians 4:16-17.)

The biblical name for this holiday is actually “Yom Teruah” ("day of shouting/blasting"). It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days known as "Days of Awe" as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, kicking off a ten-day period of penitence culminating in the holiest of High Holy Days, known as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

Why is it so important and what, exactly, makes this day so special?  Let’s begin with this passage, where God Himself commanded it to be observed:

Leviticus 23:23-25 says: And יהוה (Hebrew, the letters YHWH, possibly pronounced as “Yahweh”) spoke to Mosheh, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you have a rest, a remembrance of blowing of trumpets, a set-apart gathering. 25 ‘You do no servile work, and you shall bring an offering made by fire to יהוה.’” (ISR)

Rosh Hashana denotes the Jewish Civil New Year … the creation of the world, according to tradition; the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve and their first actions toward the realization of man's role in the world; of the first sin that was committed and resulting repentance; a day when YHWH takes stock of all of His Creation, which includes all of humanity.

It is also a rehearsal for the day when the bridegroom will come to claim us, his bride, who are betrothed to Him … when Yeshua will return to earth as the “Lion of Judah!”

1 Thessalonians 4: 16. Because our Master (Y'shua) will himself descend from heaven with the mandate and with the voice of the chief Messenger and with the Qarna (trumpet/shofar) of Elohim; and the dead who are in the Mashiyach will first arise; 17. and then we who survive and are alive will be caught up together with them to the clouds to meet our Master (Y'shua) in the air; and so will we be ever with our Master. (AENT)

Matthew 24: 27. For as the sunshine comes out from the East and is seen even in the West, thus will be the coming of the Son of man. 28. Wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles gather. 29. And immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not shine its light. And the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

30. And then will be seen the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land mourn, when they will see the Son of man who comes upon the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. 31. And he will send his Messengers with a large trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. (AENT)

According to tradition, during this time YHWH's people are to concentrate all their efforts into making amends with their brethren and apologizing for past offenses – in preparation for the next Feast, which is Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement.

It is important to note that, judging by the fact that Yeshua has so far fulfilled the first four Appointed Times in sequence, Yom Teruah/Trumpets will be the next one to be fulfilled, because when the trumpets sound, those who have accepted YHWH as their God (along with His Divine Messiah, Yeshua) will be gathered/resurrected (I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I Cor. 15:50-54).

Halleluyah!

I’ve fought the good fight, and now I’m tired…

SIGH! SOME DAYS I'M LEFT WONDERING why I've bothered spending the last 3 decades trying to get people to actually STUDY the Bible from cover to cover (Genesis to Revelation, in sequence), instead of just hawking up their ignorant opinions from their cherry-picked last FOURTH of the Bible...

I wish I had paid more attention to the warnings such as the below, instead of hoping against hope that myriads would take my advice to continuously study, learn and grow, instead of choosing to remain willfully ignorant about WHOM they proclaim to be serving...

I don't understand why so many people cannot see that, without having a good grasp of that first THREE-FOURTHS of the Bible, we cannot possibly KNOW the Holy One of Israel or His Divine Messiah!

2 Timothy 3:1. But know this: That in the latter days hard times will come: 2. and men will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, boasters, proud, revilers, unyielding towards their own people, deniers of grace, wicked, 3. unloving, addicted to irreconcilable malicious gossips, ferocious, haters of the good, 4. treacherous, rash, inflated, attached to pleasure more than to the love of Elohim, 5. having a form of respect for Elohim but wide from the power of Elohim. Them who are such, repel from you. (AENT

Matthew 24:10 At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, 11 many false prophets will appear and fool many people; 12 and many people's love will grow cold because of increased distance from Torah. 13 But whoever holds out till the end will be delivered. (CJB)

2 Thessalonians 2:9 When this man who avoids Torah comes, the Adversary will give him the power to work all kinds of false miracles, signs and wonders. 10 He will enable him to deceive, in all kinds of wicked ways, those who are headed for destruction because they would not receive the love of the truth that could have saved them. 11 This is why God is causing them to go astray, so that they will believe the Lie.* 12 The result will be that all who have not believed the truth, but have taken their pleasure in wickedness, will be condemned. (CJB)

NOTE: The price for not receiving the “love of the truth” is to become overly self-confident in false religion. The “love of the truth” is the spirit of truth which must be sanctified by thought and action. One cannot “love the truth” and, at the same time, break the Commandments.

Was Yeshua crucified on a stake or a cross?

The question we here at The Refiner’s Fire receive every once in a while is:  Did Yeshua die on a stake or a cross?

Author and teacher Jeremy C. Springfield provides the following insights:

Ultimately, I do not know the answer, and I do not believe anyone knows, for sure.

The Romans had not standardized a specific form for the cross. Some were poles, some were shaped like a capital T, and some were the more traditional appearance we are used to a lowercase t.

All we know for certain is that there was room for a sign to be affixed over the head of Yeshua on the cross.

The text of the Peshitta uses two different terms in scattered places: ZAKIFA TZELIBA. The first just refers to something that is upright, and could be interpreted as a pole. The second has been used to refer to the cross and the "sign of the cross," which is obviously not just an upright gesture. That would potentially seem to suggest the one he was crucified upon was in that general shape.

Incidentally, Jewish texts, when speaking about the cross, usually use a phrase that means "the upright and the horizontal," which points to the shape as not being just an upright pole.

In the end, I am unsure, but I do find it of interest that the Hebrew letter Tav was anciently, in PaleoHebrew script, written as an X or a t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jeremy C. Springfield is a translator of Biblical languages with work appearing in published Bible translations.  A former congregational teacher and leader, and an author whose works have appeared on Jewish and Christian websites and radio, he has authored over one hundred in-depth studies displaying the harmony of Scripture from a Jewish perspective, using in particular the ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Bible, along with traditional Jewish religious sources, to show a portrait of the New Testament that is fully compatible with the Hebrew Scriptures as understood within the boundaries of Judaism. All of this and more can be found at his website, Random Groovy Bible Facts.

A list of some Bible passages that describe our “end times” scenario…

As you read your way through the following passages, please keep in mind that all these things are foretold in the Bible, and they WILL and MUST happen because, ever since the downfall of Adam and Eve, we’ve been living in a fallen world where bad things happen. 

Through Grace and Mercy ADONAI ELOHIM has been working on redeeming us back to Himself -  the wonder and beauty of which we will only discover and know, once we re out of these “earth suits” and in our new bodies.  In the meantime, we must endure, and continue to keep learning and growing as we strive for that glorious day when we FINALLY get to see His Face!

The Bible tells us (among myriad other things), what to expect in these “end times scenarios” we’ve been experiencing. For your convenience, I have collected and capsulized some pertinent passages from an old article on my website, The Refiner’s Fire, that simply cannot be ignored. The old article (which I am slowly in the process of updating) is entitled, “Reasons why we are in the end times right now! It's not "global warming"; it's "global warning!"

Whether we choose to believe it, or not, God DOES have an ultimate purpose for us, and there WILL be an end to this life as we know it.  (This is not to scare you; rather, to wake you up to the fact that you don’t have to end up “ceasing to exist” once you pass from this world, because you CAN choose “Eternal Life” with God.  It’s all outlined in the Bible!)

It’s not a “pretty picture,” but please take a few minutes to read the following Bible passages that give us strong hints of what has already been happening and what lies ahead:

Among myriad other warnings, the Holy One of Israel said:

• Deuteronomy 32:23-25 - I will send wasting famine against them, consuming pestilence and deadly plague; I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers that glide in the dust.

This was reiterated in the “New Testament”:

• Luke 21:10-12 - There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
• Revelation 6:7-9 - I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
• Revelation 18:7-9 - Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

This world has, throughout the millennia, experienced myriad wars, terrorist activities, droughts, famines, natural disasters, and many other horrific things.  Today, we can add to those things rampant gossip and conspiracy theories via social media; “global warming of biblical proportions”;  tornadoes, fires, floods, earthquakes and dramatic weather changes of all kinds.  Just open your eyes and ears!

• Mark 13:7-9: - "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains."

Mysterious diseases, pain and death caused by "beasts of the field/earth.”  (Over just the last 50 years or so, we’ve been witnessing a plethora of deadly diseases (not the least of which were HIV and COVID; along with an upswing in shark attacks, bear, mountain lion and dog attacks, etc.):

• Revelation 6:7-9: - I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
• Luke 21: 10 Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
• Jeremiah 16:3-5: "They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth."

The world will turn against the Jews and Israel with a vengeance:

• Isaiah 60:15 - "Whereas you have been [Is 1:7-9; 6:11-13; Jer 30:17] forsaken and [Is 66:5] hated With no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting [Is 4:2; 65:18] pride, A joy from generation to generation.
• Joel 3:2 - 'I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.'
• Ezekiel 36:8-10 - "'But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
• Matthew 24:9 - "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

For centuries everybody has been fighting over this tiny country called Israel to claim it as "their" holy place. It seems that the whole world has always "had it in" for Jews in one way or another, and some (i.e. Hitler) have even tried to annihilate them completely. The bottom line is, this issue dates back to the conflict between Isaac and Ishmael, and will not be resolved until Yeshua returns....

Still not convinced?

The Book of Revelation shows hint of nuclear war (although God does NOT need our man-made weapons to make His end-time scenario happen, and only HE knows what will actually transpire):

John, the prophet on the island of Patmos, sees a vision far into the future. (Revelation) Could this be a description of a thermonuclear holocaust?

• Rev. 8:6 - And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. 7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. 8  The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.  10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. 11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. 12  The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way."

Since one third of the earth was repeatedly mentioned in the passage above in connection with the destruction of the earth, trees, grass and contamination of the waters making all of them poisonous, and darkening of one third of the atmosphere, a nuclear holocaust seems most reasonable (although God certainly does NOT need to use "man-made" devices to make His end time scenario happen!).

Wars and Rumors of Wars:

• Matthew 24:5-7 - You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Violence will increase (which has been happening in droves over the last few decades – and getting worse by the day!) and difficult times will come:

The Book of Revelation talks about children doing evil against their own parents in the end times; about widespread violence and chaos everywhere. We need only to listen to the news to hear about the latest school shooting, "road rage" incidences, unrest, protests and even riots, etc. - things we never used to hear about in days gone by.

Just take a look at what is happening with humanity, in general. For a few decades now, we’ve seen lunatics with a mental problem or a grudge, or some sick personal agenda, committing “mass murders” and/or other violence, just to “make a statement.” We’re no longer safe, no matter where we go, because crazies (usually with guns) are running amuck!  Many people today seem to think it’s their right to take the law into their own hands...

• 2 Timothy 3: 1-2 - But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy....

Conflicts, disputes, and fighting over the Temple Mount:

• Isaiah 2:1-3 - In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

The Bible also warns us of the revival of the old Babylonian spirit in the last days, described in the 17th and 18th chapters of Revelation. In Jeremiah 51:7, we find a perfect description of the very condition of the days in which we are now living:

• Jeremiah 51:7 Babel was a golden cup in the hand of YHWH, making drunk all the earth. The nations drank her wine, that is why the nations went mad! (ISR)
• Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of YHWH. And by the fire of His jealousy all the earth shall be consumed, for He makes a sudden end of all those who dwell in the earth. (ISR)
• Mark 13:7. But when you hear of wars and rumors of revolutions, do not have fear. This is bound to happen, but is yet not the end. 8. For nation will arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes in various places. And there will be famine and uprisings. These things are the beginning of sorrows. (AENT)

So, what can we do about it? Well, nobody is immune from wars and man-made or natural disasters, so the only thing we can really do is to pray and get ourselves “right” with YHWH, because Believers ARE guaranteed eternal life in the “olam haba” (world to come)! We can see examples of the promise of “eternal life” in both Torah and throughout the New Testament:

YHWH put the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:9. And in Tanach we see that people are “gathered to their people,” for instance in Gen. 25:8 (Abraham), 25:17 (Ishmael), 35:29 (Isaac), 49:33 (Jacob); Deut. 32:50 (Moses and Aaron); see also Daniel 12:2 and Nehemiah 9:5. In the New Testament we see eternal life through Y’shua, whose shed blood redeemed us, thus offering eternal life to any obedient Believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: Romans 3:23-26; 6:23; John 3:16; 11:25, 3:36, 6:47, 17:3-6 etc.

Obviously only a selection of scripture passages have been given here to make the point. There are dozens and dozens more that were not quoted, but surely, you get the drift by now…

So, is there any GOOD news?

Fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamies, volcanic eruptions, sickness and disease, mass murders, wars, rumors or wars and evil all over the world ... With all the bad news we're hearing lately, is there any GOOD news?

YES - Yeshua's Second Coming! Halleluyah!

YHWH's Messiah will put an end to wickedness and evil on this earth. He will rule and reign for a thousand years upon the Earth after he defeats the Antichrist at Armageddon. After that, on Judgment Day, every soul that has ever lived will stand before YHWH to give an account of their life. (See passages such as Psalm 2:2; Daniel 2:44; Ezekiel 39:7; Revelation 16:14-16, 19:11-16 and 20:1-15.)

The GOOD NEWS is that Messiah Yeshua died on our behalf to take away our past sins and allow us to be clean before his Father and learn His Word and how to keep His Ways, using the time left of our earthly years as a “practice run” for the Afterlife! 

Through Yeshua’s redemption get to receive eternal life – whatever that might entail or look like – and spend ETERNITY in our “new, eternal bodies” with YHWH and Yeshua…  (See John 3:16 and 5:24; Romans 6:23; Corinthians 15; Philippians 3:21; Revelation 21 and 22.)

Ultimately, it’s all GOOD because it’s all for HIS Glory and our glorious transformation!  Halleluyah!  Hang in there, guys!

Carmen Welker’s “out of body experience”

I’ve often been ridiculed by my Jewish brethren for “believing in Jesus.” Being Jewish through my mother and her mother and on down the line, I am constantly told what a fool I am to believe in that “Christian idol.”

Well, the bottom line is, I believe Yeshua is THE Messiah because I’ve seen him!  YHWH showed him to me in December 1971, just before I turned 21, while lying in a three-week coma at the Fort Leonard Wood Hospital, near St. Robert, Missouri.

Yes, some may roll their eyes and chuckle, and even attempt to ridicule me, but – as I’m about to explain - ADONAI gave me absolute proof that I was NOT hallucinating! You see, having come from a horrific background of child abuse and neglect, I wasn’t the least bit “religious”; and all I knew about God and His Messiah consisted only of what I had heard from friends.

I remember when I was approximately 5, my foster grandmother in Germany held me on her lap and told me about God, and I totally and completely believed her. But other than that, I had no clue what to do with God; much less, coming to any realization that I was supposed to live according to His Rules.

Until the day He opened my spiritual eyes when I was 44, I basically I felt that the “God and Jesus idea” was just a crutch for people who couldn’t face life on their own.

Regardless, YHWH kept trying to reach me as the years went on, and He even gave me my own personal “Damascus Road” experience while in a coma at the Fort Leonard Wood Hospital, caused by a ruptured appendix that had been misdiagnosed as flu. (I still have the medical records to prove it.)

Anyway, during those three weeks while comatose, I had two “out-of-body” experiences – both of which defy explanation, revealing events that I could NOT have known on my own. (I have included some scriptures wherever appropriate to make my point that I experienced things I couldn’t possibly have known at the time because I wasn’t a church-goer. I reiterate, these experiences happened just before I turned 21, at which time I had never even read the Bible. I didn’t start reading the Bible until I was 44 years old, when I “got saved” in a small-town Baptist church…)

This is an account of my first “out of body” experience – which ultimately served to PROVE (and is revealed at the end of this article) that  both “experiences” had been REAL:

In this first "experience" I remember my soul (or whatever you call the essence that made me, me) sitting up in my body, staring in confusion at all the tubes and machines and paraphernalia keeping me alive, and I simply decided I had had enough.

Next thing I knew, I had left my body completely, and was “flying” up, up, up through the roof of the hospital, heading down Interstate 44 to Springfield, to visit my adoptive father (with whom I had been living while my then-husband was in Vietnam). I remember wondering why I wanted to see my adoptive father, because that monster had been sexually abusing me from when I first met him at age 9, until age 14 when my mother divorced him. (She never knew he was a pedophile, and I never told her. She was too busy fighting her own demons….)

Anyway, during that "visit" I found “myself” (no body, just an invisible “essence”) hovering in the corner of the ceiling above the dining room table, looking down at my father and his girlfriend, Goldie, who – to my sense of hearing in this strange and unusual state - sounded like they were talking into a barrel. They were sitting there holding hands, and animatedly discussing my father’s plans to sell his cows and buy 300 pigs with which to start a pig farm. (Please remember this part!)

Ironically, while peering down at the couple, I was astounded to discover my lack of emotions for them. Normally, I couldn’t look at Daddy without feeling disgust; but in that moment I didn’t care about him, one way or the other; I was simply glad to know he was okay. And as for Goldie, she was like a surrogate mother with whom I had instantly bonded from the moment we met several years before. But, in my present state, I honestly didn’t feel much of anything for her, either. I didn’t feel much about anything or anyone; rather, I felt more like an observer in this world, just basically passing through.

Believing I had accomplished whatever mission I seemed to be on, I felt compelled to return to my sick body back at Fort Leonard Wood. Although I didn’t necessarily want to go back, I somehow knew I had to; and so when I arrived, I unhesitatingly sat down into myself as if taking a seat in a chair. It seemed a totally natural thing to do. I didn’t think to question this experience at all. I simply knew that I was in another realm and that questioning it would be futile because it wasn’t my place to know anything beyond what I was experiencing.

An account of my second “out of body” experience:

Sometime thereafter – several days later – I again found myself leaving my body behind. This time, I headed for outer space and floated around for what seemed like an eternity. Having no body, no arms, no legs, that “entity” again, I was simply “consciousness” floating on a bed of swiftly moving air. I had no clue why, when or where, and I had no control over anything. I was terrified.

Although I couldn’t see much, I distinctly heard sounds from somewhere below me, on another plane; they were eerie sounds, comprised of a mixture of howling winds and human wailing. In my confusion, I was certain that, whatever I was hearing, I wanted no part of it.

Suddenly, to my great relief, in the darkness, a few meters above me and off to the right, there materialized a silhouetted figure of a man dressed in white robes, standing – or so it appeared – in front of the sun. He was too bright to look at until I was fairly close – perhaps a dozen meters away, which was as close as I ever got.

Whoever he was and however he happened to be there, was totally irrelevant to me at the time. I was just glad to see another human and I tried to “will” myself even closer, but I seemed to be stuck in that dozen or so meters away from him. With pleading eyes, I watched this young, olive-skinned, dark-haired man peer down at me. He had a kind, but very sad smile. He wasn’t very good-looking (Isaiah 53:2); as a matter of fact, I remember thinking in my carnal mind, that he was nobody I ever wanted to date. (Obviously, I still had my limited, carnal mindset at that point!)

Be that as it may, I was no longer alone, and he served as company for me in this huge, strange void, and that is all that mattered to me at that point in time.

“Help me!” I called out to him, somehow communicating via thought waves.

He answered in a foreign language I couldn’t understand (presumably Hebrew or Aramaic since Yeshua was an Israeli Jew … which I didn’t know at the time because I didn’t know who this man was); and much of what he said, was ripped from his lips by the awful howling winds (Holy Spirit?) that seemed to grow in ferocity.   I remember being so disappointed in the knowledge that he had the power to pull me up and out of this strange and scary nothingness, yet he seemed unwilling to do so.

(Now, of course, I understand that he didn’t help me back then because I didn’t know him. I had no clue that he was the “gate” to the Father [John 14:6]. At that time, I had never actually confessed YHWH as ELOHIM or Yeshua as His Mashyiach! [Genesis 1; Psalm 103:8-10; see also Exodus 34:6, 7; Matthew 7:7:13–21; Matthew 18:3; John 3:16; Acts 4:12; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 5:13; Romans 3:23, 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:3–4, 54–57, etc.] I knew from my foster grandmother that there was a God – but that is ALL I knew!)

Suddenly, as he continued to talk in that foreign language, the raucous winds shifted and I was blown helplessly in an opposite direction! Horrified, I tried to will myself back, but it was no use; I was completely and utterly helpless. The man briefly reached out for me, shouting something I couldn’t make out. His face reflected a mixture of anguish and sadness as he watched me float further away – but I also got the distinct impression that he (or some power behind him) was sending me away!

My eyes desperately sought his as the chasm between us widened. Soon, there was nothing I could do except to watch him recede into the distance, a silent sentinel among the stars somewhere in the middle of the universe – a human silhouette bursting with bright lights and chained energy….

Just before he completely disappeared from view, something inside me “clicked” and I recognized him! He was Jesus, that guy I had heard about, who got nailed to the cross for going around telling everybody he was the Son of God! Yes, I had heard of him through various “Bible thumpers” I’d met over the years, and also my pedophile adoptive father who proclaimed to be a Christian; but other than that, I hadn’t one iota of a clue as to the history behind the cross.

Shortly thereafter I came out of the coma, and lay there, confused and feeling very HOLY for the next few days. It was an AMAZING experience, because I had never been “holy” before in my entire life! But I had felt SO close to “God” during that time, that I never wanted to leave that bed. I had entire conversations with Him as I lay there, waiting for all my faculties to return. I didn’t really WANT to be in this world anymore, but He refused to let me cross over because there was something He needed me to do. Something He needed me to do…

(I finally figured out what the “something” was, once God opened my “spiritual eyes” to Him and His Divine Messiah, back in January 1995, in a little Baptist church, in Seymour, Missouri. That “something” was ultimately to reach and teach the whole world about YHWH/Yeshua/Torah via a website He caused me to create in 2001, called The Refiner’s Fire …

Anyway,  once out of my coma. “the world” soon returned and - although I KNEW I had really met “Jesus”, when I finally “became myself” again (feeling heavy and quite “out of place” here on earth), I began to doubt and wonder if all this hadn’t really been just a crazy, vivid dream… (Genesis 3:1-4; John 8:44; Mark 9:24; James 1:5-8; James 1:6; Romans 10:17, etc.)

But then I received "proof positive” that my out of body experiences had been real:

It happened when Goldie, my adoptive father’s girlfriend, came to visit me in the hospital, and I asked her, when she and my father were going to start that pig farm.

At that point, you could have heard that proverbial pin drop as Goldie gawked at me for several long moments, in complete disbelief! When she finally found her voice, she said: “Honey, how did you know that?  We haven’t told anybody, yet…”

My response:  “I HEARD you guys talking about it during an out-of-body experience!”