Ever noticed how some people will like you – until you say “No?”

Ever noticed how some people will like you – until you say “No?”

Well, it happened to me recently, when I refused to agree to post a guy’s “Go Fund Me” page on my Facebook wall and in my groups. Even after a lengthy explanation as to why I don’t post ANY prayer requests, “Go Fund Me” pages or anything of that nature (as I know from experience that, once I do it for one person, I’ll end up receiving hundreds more …) the man became so abusive that my husband stepped in to put a stop to his harassment.

The bottom line to this whole, sordid story was that instead of just dropping the subject and hitting up other ministries with his request (which I doubt he did!) he sent me a long, sarcastic diatribe outlining all my shortcomings. Here are a few, select snippets:

“I was asking for you to post a gofundme page. If you have a problem with people asking you to help, especially when you are not under any financial burden to do so, that is unfortunate. You could easily throw up a second page for endorsements, not a big deal. You have power to help through influence but you choose to dismiss people outright and do nothing. Wow!...”

So – this stranger I’ve never met and never will meet, who has never taken my 12 week yeshiva course, nor ever bought any of my books, nor bothered to comment on any of my Facebook teachings, or join the hard-working people in my Weekly Torah Study group, “Awakening to Torah”; nor has ever commented on any of the approximately 600 articles on my Messianic Apologetics website that my husband and I have spent 20 years building, nor knows ANYTHING that goes on “in the background” of my ministry … that man had the gall to suggest that I am NOT DOING ENOUGH for the Kingdom, and should create a special “page” just for his and other “endorsements”…

He went on to say:

“Yeshua said, Mat 11:30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” If it’s that stressful, maybe you should reconsider what it is you’re doing, just a thought…

Well, to that I say, Yeshua’s burden IS light, which is why I’ve spent all my waking hours for more than two decades, working HARD to reveal the Truth of YHWH/Yeshua/Torah to the whole world! 

The “burden” comes from sarcastic people like this guy who obviously thinks I’m not doing enough for God …. never mind that HIS OWN Facebook page rarely, if ever, mentions God or His Word, because he’s too busy posting photos of himself constantly kissing his wife and smooching, and having fun hiking and generally goofing off….

Anyway, to drive home his point about how “worthless” I am, he closed with the following scriptures, apparently designed to educate me on “my place as a woman”…

“Luke 6:30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what is yours, do not demand it back…

This guy has no clue WHAT all I’ve “given” over the years – both monetarily and of my time, which included five years of hard teaching and counseling in a women’s prison ministry!

“Mat 23:8 But do not be called Rabbi (Teacher); for One is your Teacher, and you are all [equally] brothers…”

Hmmm. Perhaps this guy should have read one of the myriad footnotes I helped to write as editor of the Aramaic English New Testament, which explained that the focus of Yeshua's instruction had to do with desiring praise of man for self-exultation, rather than being a true servant who keeps in mind that YHWH is God, Yeshua is His Messiah, and we are simply passing along what Yeshua our REAL RABBI taught!

Yeshua ALSO told his disciples not to call anyone "father.”  Was this to be taken literally? Is it really wrong to call someone "father"? After all, it is written, "Honor your father and mother.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the patriarchs of our faith and often referred to as "fathers" in the Scripture.  Paul referred to Abraham as "our father" in Romans 4:1. He even went so far as to call the Corinthians his sons and his own role as father in 1 Corinthians 4:14-17.

Was Paul contradicting Yeshua's teachings? No, because this is what the prophets were called by their students! 2 Kings 2:12 shows that Elisha called Elijah "My father." The king of Israel also called Elisha "My father" in 2 Kings 6:21.

There are other examples but hopefully this illustrates the point. Is it NOT wrong to call someone "father" or "rabbi" in a spiritual sense if they "fathered" you in set-apart instruction.

In fact, YHWH gives, "some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." Is it wrong to be called "teacher" since Yeshua is our Teacher?  No!

What we are doing is merely paying respect to a learned person's office to honor his devoted years of training and dedication. One needs to read the Bible in context and not pick and choose certain scriptures as "proof" to support their own ideas, philosophies or phobias concerning titles.

As “icing on the cake,” this illustrious, arrogant and extremely sarcastic “man of God” who saw fit to berate me because of my refusal to post his “Go Fund Me” page, then added this final scripture designed to intimidate me to the very core of my being:

“1 Tim 2:12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. “

Well, to that I say:

I am not exercising authority over ANYONE by teaching Scripture! People have the CHOICE to read my teachings and view my videos, or not. And let’s not forget that, unlike every other Messianic teacher, I don’t charge a DIME for ANY of my work!

And, oh, by the way, if there were more good MEN around who would actually TEACH the Word instead of concentrating on their own exalted opinions, then YHWH wouldn’t have to commission WOMEN to do the job!