Stand strong in these “end times” in which we’re living!

WITH ALL THE HORRORS HAPPENING THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, and all the various voices yelling at us and telling us what to do and how to do it, and insisting that "the truth of the Bible can be found" in THEIR respective circles ...we must remember that Scripture read in context (through the lens of the Ruach haKodesh/Holy Spirit) should be our ONLY guide to proper, holy, righteous living. Here are some very important passages to keep in mind:

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 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. 6. For of them are they who creep into this and that house and captivate the women who are plunged in sins and led away by divers lusts, 7. who are always learning, and can never come to the knowledge of the truth. (AENT)

2 Timothy 4:1. I charge you before Elohim and our Master Y’shua the Mashiyach who is to judge the living and the dead at the manifestation of his Kingdom 2. Proclaim the Word and persist (in it) with diligence, in time and out of time; admonish and rebuke with all patience and instructiveness. 3. For the time will come when they will not give ear to sound teaching; but, according to their lusts, will multiply to themselves teachers in the itching of their hearing; 4. and will turn away their ears from the truth, and incline after fables. 5. But be vigilant in all things; and endure evils and do the work of a proclaimer of the Good News, and fulfill your ministry. (AENT)

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)

Matthew 5: 10 “How blessed are those who are persecuted because they pursue righteousness! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! 12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great – they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way. (CJB)

And here is one that is so simple that a child can understand it - yet, most adults seem to have a problem with it ...

Proverbs 28:9 If a person will not listen to Torah, even his prayer is an abomination. (CJB)

Being “whole-hearted”…..

Fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, pandemics - all of "biblical proportions” are hitting us, seemingly "all at once." Since America's recent decision to pull its military troops out of the Middle East, we've begun to see the same terrorist groups we were sent to put an end to 20 years ago, resurrecting themselves! Incredibly, they are continuing exactly where they left off in their desire to take over the world - beheading, maiming and viciously killing anyone and everything in their path. So, basically, ALL we managed to do was prolong the inevitable....

What is the "inevitable"? Well, for those of us who truly KNOW Scripture, we recognize exactly what is happening: ADONAI is showing us WHO is in charge, and that He is NOT kidding around! Certain Books of the Bible - such as Daniel, Matthew and Revelation – reveal that all these things would happen in the end times. (And make no mistake: we ARE in the end times!)

YHWH has allowed mankind six millennia to straighten up and fly right" - and we've continued to fail. Humanity, with its "free will" started failing in the Garden of Eden, and by the time we got to Genesis 6, He'd already had enough and sent a flood to wipe out all the earth, except for the only righteous man and his family at the time, who was allowed to begin the process of repopulating the world!

Genesis 6:5 Adonai saw that the people on earth were very wicked, that all the imaginings of their hearts were always of evil only. 6 Adonai regretted that he had made humankind on the earth; it grieved his heart. 7 Adonai said, “I will wipe out humankind, whom I have created, from the whole earth; and not only human beings, but animals, creeping things and birds in the air; for I regret that I ever made them.” 8 But Noach found grace in the sight of Adonai. (CJB)

Although YHWH has given us chance after chance, we are STILL failing, and failing badly. Surely, we are now as we were "in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37), if not worse....

And it's all because we haven't been "whole-hearted" towards Him. Read your way through the Torah (the first five Books of the Bible) and count the number of times God insists we be "whole-hearted" - paying special attention to the verses citing all the "curses" upon those who refuse.

How can we be whole-hearted? Well, His Torah outlines exactly what He expects of His people. (And I know this will be a shock to many, but He expects more of us than just to "believe in Jesus!" We are expected to obey His Divine Instructions - which includes observing the commanded Seventh Day Sabbath and all seven Feasts, and refraining from eating anything "unclean.")

Contrary to popular belief, the death of Jesus did NOT remove those responsibilities, and he never said they would. Yeshua (Messiah's given, Hebrew Name which means, "YHWH is Salvation") was a Torah observant, tallit-wearing, Seventh Day Sabbath and Feast - keeping Divine Rabbi who even SAID he came to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and do everything his Father commanded him to do:

Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua/Jesus) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."

Luke 8: 1. And it happened after these things that Y'shua was going around in the cities and in the villages and was preaching and declaring the Kingdom of Elohim.

And, yes, Paul taught the same:

Acts 28: 23 "From morning till evening the Apostle Paul explained and declared the Kingdom of God and tried to convince people about Yeshua from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets."

Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I (Paul) acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets.

So, referring to the beginning of this article, humanity is in the shape it's in BECAUSE the world has been ignoring YHWH's Torah! The bottom line is, those who refuse the concept of YHWH/Yeshua/Torah are not considered to be "wholehearted"; they are "lukewarm" at best; and will be "vomited from Messiah Yeshua's mouth" on the day he returns to kick off his Millennium reign (Revelation 3:16).

Folks, this is not Carmen's own interpretation; it's what the BIBLE says! I pray those who didn't know these things would begin reading - really READING - their Bibles from cover to cover so they can finally see who God is, who His Messiah was and is, and what is expected of us humans....

If you'll do that, I'm sure many of you will find out that you haven't exactly been "wholehearted" toward our awesome Creator, and I beg you to start today - because, as Scripture amply reveals, and as I mentioned above - YHWH is NOT kidding around. There will be NO "lukewarm" in Eternity with Him.

Always learning, but misunderstanding the Truth…

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to be "always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of truth"? (2 Timothy 3:7)

That particular referenced passage reminds me of this one:

Ecclesiastes 12:12  In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books - there's no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh. (CJB)

I know people who exemplify both verses.  Some are "always learning but never coming to the knowledge of truth," while others read and study until their eyes fall out – and they wear themselves out on a daily basis, and come away still NOT knowing much of anything!  Why?  Because they're not really STUDYING the BIBLE!

They are busy “cherry-picking” Scripture, and absorbing the "cool stuff" they find in extra-biblical books and commentaries; or picking up some "great ideas" by watching some pontificating YouTube "expert....

I've  seen so many led down the wrong paths because of their refusal to simply STAY in Scripture!   

I mean – I personally know people who have decided to chuck Torah and return whatever flavor of Christian denomination they came out of, because they didn't like the idea of having to do all the feasts or give up pork and shellfish.  Still others I know have decided to "leave Messiah and the New Testament" altogether because some shmo on Facebook convinced them that "Jesus and the NT are myths."  I've even seen those who have "read and studied" their way right out of belief in YHWH/Y’shua/Torah to ultimately become atheists!

Matter of fact, I have a former Facebook "friend" who allowed herself to be turned on to Islam and, last I heard, she was talking about moving to Afghanistan to marry some Muslim.  (Boy, is SHE ever in for a rude awakening!  Hope she’s enjoying life inside her Burkha where she’s  no longer allowed to read books, drive, or open her mouth to voice an opinion for fear of being beheaded.)

What I'm getting at is this:  Many love to talk ABOUT God and the Bible, but they never take the time to READ, much less STUDY it.  It's easier to cherry-pick and post their favorite verses in order to impress others, or to follow some self-proclaimed Facebook pastor/rabbi/teacher with ear-tickling messages for others to regurgitate…

The Bible warns us this would happen!

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.  6. For of them are they who creep into this and that house and captivate the women who are plunged in sins and led away by divers lusts,  7. who are always learning, and can never come to the knowledge of the truth. (AENT)

I guess I may be simply venting here, but so many people fit into at least one of the categories mentioned in the passage above. They have themselves convinced they are "godly" and "knowledgeable" and many even believe they are qualified to teach others; yet their fruits show their thinking to be immature and skewed.  They are completely without discernment because they really DON’T know Scripture because they’ve always let their human mindsets get in the way of studying Scripture via the filter of the Ruach haKodesh (Holy Spirit).

And so, the result is that they've wearied their flesh by "always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of truth"…

ANOTHER NOTE TO THE ANTI-VAXXERS AND THE ENDLESS CACOPHONY OF "VOICES" TRYING TO TELL US WHAT TO DO DURING THESE TIMES OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS….

First - stop listening to all the contradicting voices and start using your head. You KNOW it's way past time to DO something to try to stem the tide of this pandemic, so start taking every precaution against something that is clearly out to kill you!

Taking precautions doesn't mean you "don't trust God." You must remember that trust in God comes with responsibility to do YOUR part during a worldwide pandemic that HE sent! (In case you haven't noticed, He is shaking the foundations of the earth right now, trying to get people to see WHO is in charge and giving them a chance to turn to Him before it's too late!)

YHWH gave us a brain - and anyone who has one and knows how to use it can see that 'something' IS going on, as millions have become sick and died from COVID over the last year and a half!

If you ignorantly believe it's all a hoax, or that taking the vaccine, wearing a mask and taking every necessary precaution to keep from getting COVID means your don't 'trust God' then why don't find a freeway and simply start crossing it without bothering to look both ways first, to see if there are cars coming? Why don't you simply throw yourself into a poisonous snake pit, or swim in shark-infested waters?

Do you honestly believe God will save those who are actively TESTING HIM to prove to the world that He allows "the faithful" to do whatever they please?

Did Yeshua jump off the cliff when Adversary began enticing him? (See Luke 3:21-23 and Luke 4.) Satan even offered Yeshua all the kingdoms in the world, in hopes of confusing YHWH's Messiah while he was in a vulnerable human state!

THAT was a pretty impressive bribe ... much like all the "voices" telling us NOT to mask or take the vaccine because of ... (insert your personal opinions, favorite conspiracy theories, or one of the thousands of internet articles written by "armchair experts," etc.)

Anyway, instead of giving in to the "evil voice" trying to steer him off the path (much like all the worldly voices being shoved down our collective throat today!), Yeshua simply remembered "who" he was, and what YHWH sent him to accomplish; and so he did nothing but quote Torah; which was his weapon against the enemy!

Like Yeshua, WE must always remember "who" we are in HIM - which includes taking care of the "temple" wherein the Ruach haKodesh dwells. In these times of peril where a virus is trying to kill us all, our armor is the inseparable Truth of "YHWH/Yeshua/Torah."

So, yes - trust in HIM, but remember that you live in a fallen world where bad things happen - and LIVE according to Torah and the whole of Scripture, which all fits together like perfect pieces of a puzzle. Use common sense to do everything in your power to survive this raging pandemic! This means wearing masks in closed, public spaces and taking a vaccine designed to HELP. (Contrary to popular belief, no one is trying to "kill you" by asking you to "mask up" and take a vaccine that has already proven to HELP you survive...)

THE BOTTOM LINE IS: What have you got to lose by being careful, doing plenty of social distancing, refraining from attending "super spreader" events, and taking common-sense precautions until we can finally get this pandemic under control?

It's tough enough to survive in a world that's clearly gone crazy over recent decades. Things AREN'T like they used to be, and we need to accept that and learn to deal with it as best we can. How we react to these unfolding end times events reveals "who" we truly are; so, let's do what we can to STAY ALIVE so we can continue to be REAL witnesses!

Do you know the difference between “testing” and “trusting” God?

One definition or meaning of “testing” is “a critical examination, observation, or evaluation”; while “trusting” is the “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.”

Many seem to confuse those two definitions and are under the erroneous impression that they are “trusting” God when, in fact, they are “testing” Him – something He clearly forbid us to do! (See Exodus 17:2 and 17:7; Deuteronomy 6:15 – 17 and 33:8; Psalm 78:18 and 95:8; Matthew 4:7; and Luke 4:7-12).

Let’s look at just one example of Messiah Yeshua, who trusted YHWH, his Father, for EVERYTHING – even in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was literally sweating blood because he knew of the horrific terror, pain and torture that lay ahead. Amidst the horror and grief at the mere thought of being physically tortured and then ultimately nailed to a stake, Yeshua – rather than to beg his Father to spare or release him from his fate – TRUSTED YHWH help him through the coming ordeal – because he knew this is why he was sent.

Luke 22: 41. And he departed from them about a throw of a stone, and he knelt and was praying. 42. And he said, Father if you desire you let this cup pass over me, but not my will, rather let yours be done. 43. Then a Messenger appeared to him from Heaven to strengthen him. 44. And while being in fear, he was praying earnestly and his sweat became like drops of blood. And he fell upon the ground. (AENT)

Had Yeshua allowed his “flesh” to take over, he would might have decided to “test” his Father’s love, and said something like, “Father, know why I was sent, but if you truly love me, you’ll put a stop to those who wish to kill me so I can continue to live”….

Here is another example of “trust”:

Matthew 4:5 Then the Adversary took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the Temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says, ‘He will order his angels to be responsible for you...They will support you with their hands, so that you will not hurt your feet on the stones.’” 7 Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’” (CJB)

COULD YHWH have kept Yeshua safe, had he decided to jump? Certainly! But WOULD He? That’s no different from you or me deciding to cross a busy highway without bothering to look both ways, first. Sure, we can TRUST that God would keep us safe, but WILL He?

How many members of weird religious cults have died over the years when they thought they were “proving their faith” by reaching into a cage of poisonous vipers because they misinterpreted passages such as  Mark 16:17–18? YHWH gave us brains to THINK with, and the first thought when our lives are in danger should be to protect our temples/bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)! “Proving” one’s faith (or proving God’s protection) by purposely putting our lives in danger, is a violation of His command NOT to put Him to the test!

Do you get it? TRUSTING is when we accept our circumstances and simply ask ELOHIM to help us to safely reach the other side while learning and hopefully growing from the ordeal. TESTING consists of us trying to impose OUR will onto Him via whatever means possible, in hopes of achieving our own, personal desires.

For instance, when my husband was suddenly taken from me recently, I never once said, “WHY, God?” (I’ve known many who have done that; and even witnessed one woman who became an instant atheist because she refused to believe that a “good God” would allow her husband to die…)

Instead of becoming angry or belligerent, I thanked YHWH for allowing Bill and me to have 21 beautiful years together; and asked Him to make my path smooth and straight while I was learning how to live a widow.

YES, I was unhappy and experiencing the kind of grief that can only be understood by those who have lost loves ones. But I also knew that our time on earth is through when YHWH says it’s through, and – like Aharon, who never said a word when YHWH slew his sons for “offering strange fire before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1-7), I had enough maturity and common sense in the middle of my worst grief, to respect ADONAI’s will in this matter.

Not MY will, Father, but YOURS be done! THAT is one of the major difference between “trusting” and “testing”…