Stop listening to all the various voices telling you whether or not to take the vaccine!

Take the vaccine, my friend! Wear a mask and practice plenty of “social distancing.”  It’s simple common sense, given to us by the Creator who expected us to USE that common sense!  (Chances are, we could have probably already rid ourselves of this dreaded virus IF we had stopped being selfish and belligerent and following those with ear-tickling conspiracy theories!  But no, people just HAD to whine about their rights being taken away because they were expected to stop gathering in groups for a while….)

There is no doubt that, like every other natural disaster, pandemic or disease, etc., COVID was sent by God Himself as a warning to reconcile us back to himself through Teshuvah (Repentance).

Instead of recognizing that fact and trying to keep ourselves protected via common-sense precautionary measures (including masking, sanitizing, hand-washing, social distancing, and yes – taking vaccines designed to help us survive against a deadly VIRUS that basically came out of the blue without any warning, so that we CAN LIVE to have a chance to repent and turn back to Him), we are listening to, and even following the myriad smart-alecks, “armchair experts” and “holier-than-thous” who insist we’re “not trusting God” by doing these things.

If you wish to believe every word that spews forth from the mouths of those self-proclaimed “experts” or conspiracy weirdos, then don’t ever seek out professional medical help or take any pills or shots EVER AGAIN!  If you do, then let everyone on social media KNOW, so they can see what a hypocrite you are…

Be that as it may, I personally am convinced COVID and its ever-evolving variants will NEVER go away BECAUSE of the endless rebellion against “the vaccine and mask wearing” by those who believe COVID is a hoax (or at least nothing to worry about)!  Matter of fact, I’m thinking that perhaps COVID is one of the things that will help to cause 1/3 of the earth’s population to die off (Ezekiel 5:11-13; Zechariah 13; Revelation 6:8; 8:7-12; 9:15-18).

What people don’t get is that they are TESTING God; not “trusting” Him…

YHWH has warned His people since the beginning of mankind about the consequences of ignoring His Divine Instructions (Torah) – and people, since the very beginning, have WITNESSED those consequences -  yet we keep doing the same thing over and over and over ad nauseam. We HAVE access to His Word which tells us exactly how to life healthy, wholesome and safe lives; yet we simply never learn!

Most don’t even realize that we keep reaping what we have been sowing for millennia, and that YHWH is finally unleashing His wrath because we are now in the proverbial “Twelfth Hour” and smack, dab in the middle of the End Times as outlined in the Books of Daniel and Revelation. In other words, HE IS GATHERING HIS PEOPLE, and separating the sheep from the goats!  He is laying low the arrogant, loud-mouthed and rebellious!

People - “the government” isn’t trying to kill you, as so many are claiming! ((f anybody is trying to “kill you” it’s Satan – and boy, is he doing a great job!) 

God authored this pandemic, and the authorities have shown us ways of protecting ourselves from it – yet most refuse. In other words, they are following the advice of godless humans, instead of recognizing that ELOHIM is DONE allowing mankind to continue ruining themselves and the rest of HIS Creation by ignoring His Divine Instructions.

My suggestion – for what it’s worth, is to do everything in your power to prevent being killed by COVID because you can’t be of any use to God if you’re dead. Nobody is guaranteed the next day, but at least, if you manage to stay ALIVE, you can continue to do something you CAN’T if you’re dead – and that is, to help spread the Word of YHWH/Yeshua/Torah … which, after all, is ALL that really matters. (Please read the powerful words of Zechariah 13.)

In Deuteronomy 31:29 we see this dire warning from a dying Moshe:

“… because I know that after my death you will become very corrupt and turn aside from the way that I have ordered you, and that disaster will come upon you in the acharit-hayamim, (end of days) because you will do what ADONAI sees as evil and provoke him by your deeds.”

We have been doing that, in spades!

Humanity (which has been made in YHWH’s Image – Genesis 1:27) has been given lots of freedom, choices and "rights"; but we seem to have forgotten the “personal responsibility” aspect that underpins those things. WE have the RESPONSIBILITY to help stem the tide of the thing that is literally killing us! WE have the RESPONSIBILITY to STOP rebelling against our God-given ability to reason and use common sense during a crisis.

Instead of LISTENING to, and taking advice from actual experts (doctors, virologists, epidemiologists, etc., and trying our best to weed out the kooks among them), most seem to be attracted to, and even seeking out the nonsense spewed forth by the world’s outcasts and rebels who are suggesting that any attempts by authorities to try to contain the pandemic is “mind-control” or an effort to annihilate the human race - or even a way to implant us with a microchip, which they insist is “the mark of the beast”…

SNAP OUT OF IT!  YHWH doesn’t need a man-made thing to be a “mark!”

The bottom line is, people DON'T WANT to obey ANYTHING. Most prefer to be in charge, and to shove their personal opinions down the throats of the entire world!

They keep ignoring the very thing they LOVE to point out, which is, "GOD IS IN CONTROL!"  Yes, He sure is – and He never said He's going to save a godless, Torah-less society from a pandemic that HE SENT to teach us a lesson and to open our eyes to the fact that WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL…

What He DOES want (according to the myriad passages we see throughout the Torah) is for HIS people to use their God-given brains by living according to HIS Divine Instructions which were designed to keep us HOLY so that we AND the land would NOT become defiled through SIN! (Our Torah-less ways continue to RUIN His Creation! We've ruined not only the earth and its atmosphere, but now we're busy sending junk into Outer Space!  Mankind has been VERY destructive!)

Suffice it to say, NOBODY has a "right" to be irresponsible during a worldwide pandemic sent by God, that is designed to awaken us from our slumber. Refusing to cooperate with the common-sense safety precautions is "testing God" … and guess who wins whenever we do that....

On asking Congress to spend the money to “fight diseases”

Today, I watched a short TV interview with basketball great, Magic Johnson, discussing his life after his AIDS/HIV diagnosis. I'm glad to know he's still around, but was very disappointed to hear him say (not surprisingly) that he had implored Congress to "spend money to fight the disease."

What a typical, human response! It seems that whenever we face life-threatening adversity of any kind, we’re always demanding that doctors, epidemiologists, virologists, scientists, and/or the government “DO something to help me beat this thing!”

It never dawns on them to say, “Gosh, this is my own fault, and now I have to live with the consequences; let me see what I can do to remedy this, in order to take care of myself and protect others from having to experience the same fate.”

WHEN is it going to dawn on people that, if they were to get INTO Scripture and live according to Torah (refraining from sexual promiscuity, eating only “clean” foods, and generally taking proper care of our “temples” by refraining from all manner of sin), we wouldn't even have any sexually transmitted diseases ... nor other diseases caused by our respective lifestyles - such as lung cancer caused by smoking, or cirrhosis of the liver caused by an over-abundance of alcohol!

But noooo! It's always, “Somebody, FIND A CURE, quick, so I can continue doing whatever I want ….”

Bottom line: As long as we continue to ignore Torah, we will continue to be plagued by diverse issues. The Bible says so. (Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:23; 1 Cor 15:42-44; 2 Cor 5:1-4 and 9:6; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 22:4)

Deuteronomy 27: 26: "'A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice.' All the people are to say, 'Amen!' (CJB)

(“All the people” includes ANYONE who has accepted YHWH as their God and Yeshua as His Divine Messiah. (See Exodus 12:49, Numbers 15:13-16, Isaiah 56:6, Galatians 3:28 and Romans 10:12-13.)

Proverbs 4:2 "I give you good instruction: Do not forsake my Torah!"

And Yeshua said:

Matthew 5: 17 Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. 18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah – not until everything that must happen has happened.

(Has "everything happened that must happen," yet?)

Matthew 5:21. It will not be that just anyone who says to me “My master, my master.” Will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, “My master, my master. By your name, have we not prophesied? And by you name have we cast out demons? And by your name have we done many miracles?” 23. And then I will profess to them that from everlasting, I have not known you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity!* (AENT)

NOTE: Psalm 6:8, 9 “workers of iniquity” is a common phrase in the Tanakh. Iniquity is lawlessness (without Torah). “Horror has taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Your Torah.” Psalm 119:53. Each and every teaching of Y’shua is based on Torah.

Torah means instruction in righteousness. To be anti-Torah is to be anti-Mashiyach; therefore every “authority” will be judged according to whether they uphold Torah or not. According to Y’shua, Torah is “the will of My Father.” Matthew 7:21;12:50.

Got a “toxic person” in your life? Dump them and regain your shalom!

Do you have a toxic person in your life, constantly stirring up stress and strife and making your life miserable?  If so, just know that you don’t have to put up with it.  There comes a point when enough is enough!

Sometimes we all need a little reminder of the fact that YHWH never intended our lives to be in constant chaos  - especially those of us who tend to be "too forgiving" of every little thing. Not even Yeshua did that!  He was patient, but he had his limits! 

I mean, how "forgiving" was he of the money-changers who were committing "work" in the Temple on a Shabbat?  (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:17; Luke 14:23; Mark.11:11). The Temple was his own possession and he had a personal interest in what was taking place. (See Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.)  Consequently, the “toxic” folks were dealt with in a timely manner.

There have to be limits to "forgiving" so that, if nothing else, the perps can finally learn to take some responsibility for their actions! All actions have consequences….

Honestly, it’s insane to allow someone to keep us in constant chaos!  YHWH didn't allow Lucifer to continue causing problems in "heaven"; He kicked him completely OUT ... and even turned the tables on him by fixing things so that Lucifer wouldn't simply have a short time of dreading his awful fate for daring to take on THE CREATOR; rather, ol’ Lucifer has had to wait for several MILLENNIA, dreading the horrible end that is lying in wait for him!

Ol' Ratface only has a thousand more years left before he finally meets his fate - and that's why the world is in such an uproar, as he is working overtime to take away as many as he possibly can before that awful day when he will be permanently cast into the Lake of Fire!

Revelation 20:1. And I saw a Messenger that descended from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2. And he seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the Deceiver and Satan, who seduced the whole habitable world: and he bound him a thousand years. 3. And he cast him into the abyss and closed and sealed upon him; so that he might deceive the nations no more until these thousand years will be completed: but after that, he will be released for but a short time. (AENT)

Revelation 20:7. And when these thousand years will be completed, Satan will be released from his prison; 8. and will go forth to seduce the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog; and to assemble them for battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and encompassed the camp of the Set Apart believers and the beloved city. And fire came down from Elohim out of heaven and consumed them. 10. And the Accuser who seduced them, was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where also were the beast of prey and the false prophet: and they will be tormented, day and night, forever and ever. (AENT)

Pleasing God includes “hearing AND doing.” What is the “doing” part: Obedience to His Divine Instructions (Torah)!

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER DURING THESE “END TIMES” WHICH WE ARE NOW EXPERIENCING:

Pleasing God includes “hearing AND doing.” What is the “doing” part: Obedience to His Divine Instructions (Torah).

For those who believe “all those old rules were just for the Jews” – do you honestly believe that He expected “only the Jews” to be holy? Do you honestly believe He sent His Messiah to shed his Divine Blood, so people could “be saved” by simply “believing in Jesus” while continuing their sinful lifestyles and being under the erroneous impression that their “belief in Jesus” forgives everything? (HINT! His blood forgave your PAST sins, not continued, ongoing, deliberate ones…)

Do you see any passages in the New Testament (that last one-fourth of the Bible that constantly refers back to the “OLD Testament”!) that suggest that your “belief in Jesus” allows you to eat “unclean foods”; abuse your body in any way; have idols of any kind; or concoct your own “holy days” while ignoring His commanded Seventh Day Sabbath or the seven Feasts – ALL of which foreshadow Yeshua (Jesus), who has so far fulfilled FOUR of the seven?

Truth is, there are NO passages like that. Paul (who has been very much misunderstood in his attempts to translate deep, Hebrew concepts into other languages) said the following:

Romans 3:29. For, is he the Elohim of the Jews only and not of the Gentiles? No, but of the Gentiles also. Because there is one Elohim who makes righteous the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision by 30. the same faith. 31. Do, we then nullify Torah by faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish Torah. (AENT)

"We ESTABLISH Torah!"

So, the only thing Yeshua’s blood changed was your need to kill innocent animals to atone for your sins. He didn’t come to abolish Torah; he came to give you a chance to start all over again by living according to HIS Divine Instructions!

1 John 2:6 tells us: “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Yeshua did.” And how did he walk? In Torah!!! His death didn’t abolish those instructions, without which we would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living!

OUR BODIES are living temples for HIM! (Leviticus 19;28; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20; etc.) We are commanded to take care of those temples by eating only “clean” foods as outlined in Leviticus; keeping ourselves “clean” in body, mind and spirit; and “living right” – according to the Torah instructions.

WE ARE PRIESTS, thanks to the shed blood of Messiah Yeshua!

In light of that, take a look at the passage below to see what YHWH expected of his Cohanim (priests) … and then ponder that passage because, while he was referring to the Levite Priests back then, guess what: WE are now “priests” as well; which means ALL Believers, holy and set apart for Him, must walk according to Torah!

Malachi 2: 1 "Now, cohanim (priests), this command is for you. 2 If you won't listen, if you won't pay attention to honoring my name," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention. 3 I will reject your seed; I will throw dung in your faces, the dung from your festival offerings; and you will be carted off with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this command to affirm my covenant with Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him these things. It was also one of fear, and he feared me; he was in awe of my name.

6 The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin. 7 A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 8 But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 9 "Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah." (CJB)

Since our bodies are now our "temple" and we are priests in His eyes, shouldn't WE take YHWH and His commands seriously? According to the Apostle Peter, we should!

1 Peter 2: 3 For you have tasted that Adonai is good. 4 As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. (CJB)

1 Peter 2: 9. But you are an elect race, officiating as priests of the Kingdom; a Set Apart people, a redeemed congregation; that you should proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness to his precious light: 10. who formerly were not counted as a people but now are the people of Elohim; and also, there were (once) no mercies on you but now mercies are poured out upon you. 11. My beloved, I entreat you as strangers and pilgrims, separate yourselves from all lusts of the body, for they war against the soul.

12. And let your behavior be honorable before all men; so that they who utter evil speeches against you, may see your good actions and may praise Elohim in the day of trial. 13. And be submissive to all the sons of men, for Elohim's sake; to kings, on account of their authority; 14. and to judges because they are sent by him for the punishment of offenders, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of Elohim, that by your good deeds you may stop the mouth of the foolish who do not know Elohim: 16. As free men, you are not like men who make their freedom a cloak for their wickedness, but as the servants of Elohim. (CJB)

Revelation 1:5 To him, the one who loves us, who has freed us from our sins at the cost of his blood, 6 who has caused us to be a kingdom, that is, cohanim for God, his Father — to him be the glory and the rulership forever and ever. Amen. (CJB)

Please don’t close your ears to this important message, for it determines where you will spend Eternity….

SORRY, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE SAID....

By now you’ve all heard of the deadly tornadoes that recently ripped through Midwest, leaving in their wake nearly 100 dead, along with historic levels of damage.

In the meantime ... Russia is preparing for war against its neighbors, and US/China relations are beyond tense. The Middle East is overrun by all flavors of terrorists, humanity is out of control on many levels and global warming (or perhaps "global WARNING?") is changing the face of our planet.

And all this, amid a world-wide COVID pandemic that is never going to go away because most people can’t be bothered to change their precious lifestyles long enough to force the virus into extinction.

These are just a few of the signs of the end times, folks! Scripture warns us these things would happen. Those with their heads in the sand won’t understand, but I’m here to say, the ONLY thing we can really do is to get ourselves “right” with YHWH now, because we ARE dangerously close to the 12th hour, and nobody is guaranteed the next day….

In my humble opinion, the human race has "tested" God once too often, pushing Him to the limits of His patience. He's surely tired of all the nonsense, the bickering and arguing and rampant selfishness and arrogance. (Just like in the days of Noah....)

Zephaniah 1:18 - Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the Lord's wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth."

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.

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.

Matthew 24: 3. And while Y'shua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples drew near and were saying among themselves and to him, "Tell us when these things will be and what is the sign of your coming and the end of the world." 4. Y'shua answered and said to them, Beware, let no man deceive you. 5. For many will come in my name and will say that "I am the Mashiyach." And many they will deceive.

6. For you are bound to hear of revolutions and rumor of wars. Watch out and do not be disturbed, for it is necessary that all these things happen, but it is not yet the end. 7. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in different places. 8. But all these things are only the beginning of sorrows. 9. Then they will deliver to afflictions and they will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

10. Then many will stumble and will hate one another and will betray one another. 11. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. 12. And because of the growth of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold. 13. But whoever has patience until the end, he will have life. 14. And this Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.... (AENT)

Were any of God’s commands consolidated after the Hebrews entered the Land?

READER QUESTION:

Reading the books of Lev and Deut, I note that in Exodus and Levit there are very many instruction given to the Hebrews  and their hangers on regarding their worship, and their movable Temple. All of this was whilst they were a nomadic group, however, once they prepared to enter the land promised to them and were to commence a settled existence the instructions were coalesced into those in Deut.

To me this means that the instructions in the second teaching (Deut) are the ones Jesus ( Yeshua) was talking about when he said "not one jot or the old law will be changed". Accepting this cuts the 600+ Jewish Laws down to a number that are not burdensome  (1 John 5;3 et seq)

Am I on a correct track?

MY RESPONSE:

Thank you for that great question. You're clearly thinking, and you're almost on the right track, but there is more to it.

Truth is, every command YHWH ever handed to His people was for good reason, but He never revoked any. It's just as my article stated: Most of those "613 commands in the wilderness times were for the Levite priests; some were only for men while others only for women; some were only for a certain point in time; some for Nazirite vows, and 200+ related to the Temple which is not standing to this day (but will be in the future, and the sacrifices will resume – please see my articles: (https://therefinersfire.org/original_commandments1.htm) and https://therefinersfire.org/third_temple.htm).

People also don't realize that the “numbering” of the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments) were more of a man-made tradition rather than an actual "number of commandments" sent down by YHWH. The idea originated in the Talmud which says there are both "positive" and "negative" mitzvot (do's and don'ts) which can be divided into 365 Negative Mitzvot (to remind us not to do bad things every day of the year) plus 248 Positive Mitzvot - for a total of 613).

Similarly, the tzit-tzit (knotted fringes) of the tallit (prayer shawl) are also connected to the 613 commandments. Torah commentator Rashi declared that the number of knots on a tzit-tzit (in its Mishnaic spelling) has the value of 600. When doubled over, each tassel has eight threads and five sets of knots, which totals 13 - for a grand total of 613. This concept reminds tallit wearers of all Torah commandments. (That particular way of tying tzitzit is done by the Ashkenazi Jews.)

IF traditional Jews thought those commands were irrelevant after the Hebrews were sent into the Land, why would they still tie the knots the way they do?

And take a look at this passage:

Matthew 22:36. "Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?" 37. And Y'shua said to him, that "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind." 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." (AENT)

UNFORTUNATELY, many people stop right there, TOTALLY IGNORING verse 49, which says: “On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets.”

The Torah and the Prophets HANG/ARE DEPENDENT ON those two commands!

So you see, there's more to it than just "loving God and loving your neighbor,” or trying to figure out ways to circumvent YHWH’s original Divine Instructions. SIN is still sin and God still expects His people to adhere to His Divine Standards for moral, holy living! So, it is important to note that neither YHWH nor His Divine Messiah ever said that the original Torah commands were to be replaced, abolished or somehow consolidated!

I’ve “done my research!” Riiiiiiiight….

It always makes me cringe to see people insisting they’ve “done their research.” More often than not, their “research” consists of some article or video made by someone with an OPINION after supposedly doing THEIR “research”, and gleaning ideas from someone else with an opinion….

I’m reminded of this passage whenever someone arrogantly insists they have “done their research”….

2 Timothy 3: 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)

Always learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth. WOW! That describes MYRIADS, doesn’t it? While the above speaks about gullible women, it certainly applies to men, as well.

The thing is, everyone has the ability to influence others - who then go out and influence others who influence others, and so on. That’s how rumors and wars get started!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not just talking about the ordinary “Joe off the street” doing the influencing; as there are plenty of people with actual credentials in their respective fields, voicing and sharing their personal OPINIONS. (Truth is, just because someone has a diploma or a degree in their chosen field, doesn’t mean they automatically have “common sense” - which is pretty much a requirement to make it through life properly…).

Be that as it may, OPINIONS are different from actual, scientific proof and knowledge.

For instance, you’ve all seen the push by many self-proclaimed “experts” to get people to stop using what they refer to as “big pharma” (man-made medicines) and start taking only “natural” products to help control or cure whatever ails them.

That’s all fine and dandy. I’m all for “natural” myself. However, the truth is, MYRIADS have been hospitalized or even died BECAUSE they followed someone’s OPINION on social media, concerning natural remedies! (I'm not lying; you can Google it yourself.)

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have to count MYSELF among the gullible, too! With all my knowledge, college education AND common sense, I am guilty of participating in the “natural” kick, too. I always “do my research” AND normally follow instructions because I know that, while “natural” is good – it CAN just as much damage as "big pharma" IF NOT TAKEN PROPERLY!

Notice I said I “normally” follow instructions….

You see, I recently caused myself to land in a local Emergency Room with severe HEART AND BLOOD PRESSURE PROBLEMS (verified via an “abnormal” electrocardiogram) BECAUSE I, in my “great wisdom,” thought I could cure myself of a couple of health issues if I were to increase my daily Zinc and Magnesium dosages.

Problem was, I didn’t bother reading the side effects of an over-abundance of these chemical elements – both of which have a long list of side-effects that include stomach pain, vomiting, an irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, breathing difficulties and … cardiac arrest. (In other words, I could have DIED from these "natural" products!)

Well, on my way home – thanking YHWH for keeping me alive that day - I tried to figure out what was going on. I do have heart problems (after all, that’s why I have a pacemaker). But then it hit me … perhaps I had been over-dosing on Zinc and Magnesium?

A quick Google search on the side-effects confirmed it. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I hope you all will get the gist of what I am trying to get across - which is that, along with hard work and diligence, one must use plenty of common sense AND discernment (the kind that only the Ruach haKodesh [Holy Spirit] can provide), when doing one’s “research” on ANYTHING!

We must think PAST our own biases and stop seeking “like-minded people” with opinions that match ours - because reading an article or watching someone’s video does NOT make us “experts” on any given subject!

NO ONE is an expert in the fields of virology, epidemiology, nutrition, biology, or anything else UNLESS they’ve actually taken plenty of college-level courses on a particular subject, where they were forced to STUDY that subject in order to gain an intimate knowledge of it!

(Compare this to the Bible: I mean - does anybody really have a right to discuss (much less TEACH) the Bible if they’ve (1) never read it; or (2) spent their life just reading certain passages or skipping around between the chapters, never actually having bothered to read it FROM COVER TO COVER? Well, the same goes for anything else that we think we have the right to influence others on!)

The bottom line is this:

The Bible gives us plenty of insight about human nature – and what we can know from that insight is that we live in a FALLEN WORLD where bad things happen; AND that many people CATER TO THE ADVERSARY (knowingly or unknowingly – as is hugely evidenced on social media platorms!). And they do it by following whatever “sounds good” or “feels right” to them - erroneously mistaking as "knowledge" whatever they may have read or heard; thus, becoming an instant "expert"...

So, here's my suggestion to keep YOU from following the Adversary:

Don’t ever blindly believe some “cool-sounding” self-proclaimed teacher/preacher; or some fame-and-glory-seeking glutton. Educate yourself and BECOME KNOWLEDGEABLE by first studying the Bible, from cover to cover, so you can TRULY come to KNOW our amazing CREATOR and what HE has been trying to teach humanity since the day life was breathed into the first human being.

That “knowledge” – plainly stated – consists of: Don’t be an opinionated fool. Study the Word and obey/live by Abba’s Divine Instructions (Torah). Think, use common sense, and view EVERYTHING through lens of the Ruach BEFORE opening your mouth!

Proverbs 14:6 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge comes easily to someone with discernment. (CJB)

Proverbs 14:33 Wisdom is at rest in a person with discernment, but in fools it has to call attention to itself. (CJB)

Proverbs 17:16 Why would a fool wish to pay for wisdom when he has no desire to learn? (CJB)

A mini-teaching on "righteousness"....

Romans 10:1. My Brothers, The desire of my heart, and my intercession with Elohim for them is that they might have life. 2. For I bear them witness that there is in them a zeal for Elohim; but it is not according to knowledge. 3. For they do not know the righteousness of Elohim, but seek to establish their own righteousness: and, therefore, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of Elohim.

4. For Mashiyach is the goal of Torah for righteousness to everyone that believes in him. 5. For Moshe describes the righteousness which is by Torah, this way: Whoever will do these things will live by them. 6. But the righteousness which is by faith, says thus: You will not say in your heart, Who ascends to heaven and brings Mashiyach down? 7. Or, Who descends to the abyss of Sheol and brings up Mashiyach from the house of the dead?

8. But what says it? The thing is near to your mouth and to your heart: that is, the Word of Faith which we declare. 9. And if you will confess with your mouth our Master Y’shua, and will believe with your heart that Elohim has raised him from the dead, you will live. 10. For the heart that believes in him is made righteous; and the mouth that confess him is restored to life.

11. For the Scripture says: Everyone that believes in him will not be ashamed. 12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH,[1] over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. 13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH,[2] will have life. 14. How then will they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or, how will they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? Or, how will they hear without a preacher? (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The first time in this Epistle where YHWH (MarYah) is used instead of Elohim/Eloah. This verse indicates the ONENESS of the Kingdom of Elohim. ONE YHWH, One Kingship and One People. This is a continuum; NOT a drastic change in Covenant, but a renewal of YHWH’s people unto Himself.

[2] MarYah, as opposed to the Greek kurios, can only refer to YHWH, giving Aramaic a huge interpretive advantage. It is a critical fact, as is pointed out here, that Rav Shaul specifically tells believers to call on the name of YHWH, which is certainly not at all represented by the name “Jesus.”

John 17:11 tells us that the name of Y’shua is of the name YHWH. Before Rav Shaul came to believe, Y’shua had already ascended to the Right Hand of YHWH (Revelation 19:13). Prayer was being offered unto YHWH in the name of Y’shua. Y’shua stated that his mission was to bring glory to His Father YHWH. Y’shua’s name (YHWH is salvation) is accomplishing the salvation of YHWH.

It was also prophetic that the Gentiles would come to know the Name of YHWH, according to Jeremiah 16:19-21: “O YHWH, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto you from the ends of the earth and shall say,

Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is YHWH.”

And, of course, this is to be done according to the Perfect work of Mashiyach!

Tired of being harassed by anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers!

OKAY, I JUST HAVE TO VENT because I'm tired of being berated by unmasked people, for wearing a mask whenever I enter a public facility. Normally, people in shopping centers simply ignore each other, but occasionally there is someone who feels a need to let you know that they think you're moron for wearing a mask - usually by staying silent and tossing you disgusted glance while you're standing in line, waiting at the checkout.

Well, this morning I got a double-whammy, and it just "hit me wrong" and I have to let it out, or I'll rupture something...

To avoid large crowds, I usually do my grocery shopping early in the morning. and this morning at Walmart, there just happened to be a small "traffic jam" by the shopping cart section.

Some guy standing next to me grabbed a cart and started to push it in front of mine, just as I was trying to cross through the small gaggle of people, to get the alcohol wipes dispenser. Clearly irritated, the stopped and impatiently waved me on to allow me to get in front of him, because he thought I was heading for the automatic doors to get into Walmart.

Smiling behind my mask, I thanked him, and told him to go ahead because I was trying to get to the alcohol wipes dispenser to clean my shopping cart.

Instead of simply moving on - before hastily pushing his cart past me and heading through the automatic doors - this mask-less wonder made a show of screwing up his face and rolling his eyes, and saying, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Oh, great ... another one afraid of COVID!"

While I don't normally respond to rude people, this time, I really, REALLY wanted to, because I've had ENOUGH of this nonsense of being berated for MY CHOICE to use common sense during a world-wide pandemic!

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, because my carnal was ready, willing and able to show its ugly face!), I needed to get to that alcohol dispenser, because I didn't want to push an unsanitary shopping cart around.

Here is what I would have LOVED to have said to that guy had I simply gone for it and left my shopping cart to follow him into the store to LOUDLY give him a piece of my mind:

"No, you jackass - I'm not 'afraid of COVID.' Unlike YOU, I'm just doing MY part to try to stem the tide of this pandemic! People like YOU are THE reason COVID is never going away, and why hospitals are filled to capacity with COVID patients! And people like YOU are THE REASON, we've now got a new "variant" that's worse than the Delta Variant!

"So, go ahead and make fun of people like me, and be a selfish jerk, who refuses to wear a mask to protect yourself and others; and keep on pretending this pandemic doesn't concern you. But DON'T YOU DARE put me down for MY CHOICE!

"...Oh, and by the way, I also sanitize all my groceries before I take them into my home. And then I wash my hands thoroughly before touching anything. MY CHOICE, buddy - and it's NONE of YOUR business!"

People, COVID has truly brought out the worst in humanity (including me, because I'm becoming evermore angry toward those who refuse to, at the very least, put on a mask). Like most everything else today, this pandemic has turned into an "us against them" situation - even among Believers.

I can't tell you how many times I've had people on Facebook tell me (usually via private messages) that, because I am vaccinated and wear a mask, I "don't trust God." (Yeah, right - LOL!) To them, I say, "I trust God; I'm also smart enough to NOT TEST HIM!"

Not even Yeshua "tested" Him!

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.’”

Deuteronomy 6:16 Do not put Adonai your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing].

Luke 4:12 Yeshua answered him, “It also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’”

It seems to me that most of the world is TESTING ADONAI....

Something important to think about

Look at the passage below to see what YHWH expected of his Cohanim (priests) … and then ponder that passage because, while he was referring to the Levite Priests back then, guess what: WE are now “priests” as well; which means ALL Believers, holy and set apart for Him, must walk according to Torah !

Malachi 2: 1 "Now, cohanim (priests), this command is for you. 2 If you won't listen, if you won't pay attention to honoring my name," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot, "then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention. 3 I will reject your seed; I will throw dung in your faces, the dung from your festival offerings; and you will be carted off with it. 4 Then you will know that I sent you this command to affirm my covenant with Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 5 "My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave him these things. It was also one of fear, and he feared me; he was in awe of my name.

6 The true Torah was in his mouth, and no dishonesty was found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from sin. 7 A cohen's lips should safeguard knowledge, and people should seek Torah from his mouth, because he is the messenger of ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 8 But you turned away from the path, you caused many to fail in the Torah, you corrupted the covenant of Levi," says ADONAI-Tzva'ot. 9 "Therefore I have in turn made you contemptible and vile before all the people, because you did not keep my ways but were partial in applying the Torah." (CJB)

Since our bodies are now our "temple" and we are priests in His eyes, shouldn't WE take YHWH and His commands seriously? According to the Apostle Peter, we should!

1 Peter 2: ³ For you have tasted that Adonai is good. ⁴ As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, ⁵ you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. (CJB)

1 Peter 2: 9. But you are an elect race, officiating as priests of the Kingdom; a Set Apart people, a redeemed congregation; that you should proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness to his precious light: 10. who formerly were not counted as a people but now are the people of Elohim; and also, there were (once) no mercies on you but now mercies are poured out upon you. 11. My beloved, I entreat you as strangers and pilgrims, separate yourselves from all lusts of the body, for they war against the soul.

12. And let your behavior be honorable before all men; so that they who utter evil speeches against you, may see your good actions and may praise Elohim in the day of trial. 13. And be submissive to all the sons of men, for Elohim's sake; to kings, on account of their authority; 14. and to judges because they are sent by him for the punishment of offenders, and for the praise of them that do well. 15 For so is the will of Elohim, that by your good deeds you may stop the mouth of the foolish who do not know Elohim: 16. As free men, you are not like men who make their freedom a cloak for their wickedness, but as the servants of Elohim. (CJB)

Revelation 1:5 To him, the one who loves us, who has freed us from our sins at the cost of his blood, ⁶ who has caused us to be a kingdom, that is, cohanim for God, his Father — to him be the glory and the rulership forever and ever. Amen. (CJB)

Why CONTEXT is so important….

Atheists and Jewish counter-missionaries who have rejected Messiah Yeshua - and teach others to do the same - LOVE to point out that he was “mean-spirited” as evidenced by the fact that he said he didn't come bring peace to the world; but rather, a sword…

Let’s take a look at the CONTEXT of Matthew 10 which, to an immature eye, WOULD make it seem as if Messiah Yeshua had a mean streak. 

Matthew 10: 32. Whoever, therefore, that confesses me before the sons of men, he also I (will confess) before my Father who is in heaven. 33. But whoever denies me before the sons of men, he will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven. 34. Do not think that I have come to bring calm on earth. I have not come to bring calm, rather a sword.

35. For I have come to divide a man from his father, and a girl from her mother. And a daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law. 36. And the adversaries of a man will be his household.[1] 37. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.[2] 38. And anyone that does not take up his staff [3] and come and follow me is not worthy of me. 39. Whoever finds his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.

40. Whoever accepts you, accepts me, and whoever that accepts me, whom I send accepts him. 41. Whoever accepts a prophet in the name of a prophet a reward of a prophet will he receive. And whoever accepts a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, a reward of a righteous man will receive. 42. And anyone who gives only a cup of cold water to drink to one of these little ones, in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you that he will not lose his reward. (AENT)

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Refers to Micah 7.

[2] Compare the phraseology in verse 37 to Luke 14:26 "he who comes to me and does not hate his father or mother is not worthy of me". Matthew's version is literal while Luke's version is idiomatic. To enter into the Kingdom of Heaven we must love Mashiyach Y'shua more than anything or anyone else. This does NOT mean that we fail to love and honor our parents. Rather, it means that however much love is lavished upon one's parents; more should be given to Y'shua.

Our love for the Kingdom of Heaven brings eternal life to both ourselves and potentially to our family members. By comparison, earthly love "looks" like hatred. YHWH is the Author of love, as we devote our love to Him, and give Him our time to worship Him and study Him and His Word, only then are we better able to love ourselves and those around us.

[3] Take up your staff and follow means to exercise your personal authority. A staff is a symbol of authority that is used for mobility and protection (see B'midbar/Numbers 17:16-25. Christian versions insert "cross" here which does not appear in either Aramaic or Greek texts.

…So yes, at first glance it would seem Yeshua wanted to bring war onto the earth, but upon closer examination we can see that he was merely referring to the Prophet Micah who wrote:

Micah 7: 1 Woe to me! for I have become like the leavings of summer fruit, like the gleanings when the vintage is finished - there isn't a cluster worth eating, no early-ripened fig that appeals to me. 2 The godly have been destroyed from the land, there is no one upright among humankind. They all lie in wait for blood, each hunts his brother with a net. 3 Their hands do evil well. The prince makes his request, the judge grants it for a price, and the great man expresses his evil desires - thus they weave it together. 4 The best of them is a briar, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The time of your watchmen - of your punishment - has come; now they will be confused.

5 Don't trust in your neighbor; don't put confidence in a close friend; shut the gates of your mouth even from [your wife], lying there with you in bed. 6 For a son insults his father, a daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law - a person's enemies are the members of his own household. 7 But as for me, I will look to ADONAI, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8 Enemies of mine, don't gloat over me! Although I have fallen, I will rise; though I live in the dark, ADONAI is my light. 9 I will endure ADONAI's rage, because I sinned against him; until he pleads my cause and judges in my favor. Then he will bring me out to the light, and I will see his justice. 10 My enemies will see it too, and shame will cover those who said to me, "Where is ADONAI your God?" I will gloat over them, as they are trampled underfoot like mud in the streets….

…15 "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them wonders." 16 The nations will see and be put to shame, in spite of all their power. They will cover their mouths with their hands, and their ears will be deafened. 17 They will lick the dust like snakes; they will emerge from their fortresses trembling like reptiles that crawl about on the earth; they will come with fear to ADONAI our God, afraid because of you. 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in grace. 19 He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities. You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show truth to Ya'akov and grace to Avraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors since days of long ago. (CJB)

Both Micah and Yeshua were simply stating facts: Belief in YHWH would cause all kinds of problems for mankind because humans, in general, have a hard time with obedience! The earth's inhabitants would ultimately be viewed as demonic in the "end times" with people turning against each other even in closely-knit families. This is happening today in a world where "tolerance" for all things evil reigns and where satan has been allowed to run amok!

The first time we saw people turning against each other in the Bible was when Adam accused Eve of causing him to stumble (Genesis 3:12). Then we see things being pushed even further when Cain killed Abel, and later when Cain's offspring, Lemech, also killed someone (Genesis 4). By the time of Noah in Genesis 7-9 the earth's inhabitants were so evil, YHWH destroyed everyone except for Noah and his family! And by the time we get to Genesis 19, we see mankind had already begun another "downhill slide" that caused YHWH to send the righteous Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gemorrah just before He destroyed those cities....

Throughout the Tanach we see one king trying to steer his people to Torah (YHWH's Divine Instructions in Righteousness) while the next one sends them back into "the world." Mankind has been through various ups and downs, and today, we are as bad as back in the days of Lot and Noah!

It is obvious today that YHWH has removed His Mighty Hand from the world, as is evidenced by the fact that we are beginning to experience natural disasters of "biblical proportions."

The BEST and ONLY thing we can do is to "get ourselves right with God" so that if we don't make it through these terrible tribulations, at least we can know that we have eternal life!

A DIRE WARNING FROM ADONAI ELOHIM….

Deuteronomy 18:9 "When you enter the land ADONAI your God is giving you, you are not to learn how to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There must not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through fire, a diviner, a soothsayer, an enchanter, a sorcerer, 11 a spell-caster, a consulter of ghosts or spirits, or a necromancer.

12 For whoever does these things is detestable to ADONAI, and because of these abominations ADONAI your God is driving them out ahead of you.* 13 You must be wholehearted with ADONAI your God. 14 For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to soothsayers and diviners; but you, ADONAI your God does not allow you to do this. (CJB)

NOTE: We all live in a fallen world that practices these things (as evidenced with "holidays" such as Halloween. YHWH is no longer driving evil and evil people out of our way ....He gave us His Torah long ago, and has, ever since, been giving us the CHOICE to FOLLOW or AVOID the things He hates...

What is YOUR choice?

Question about 1 Corinthians 8:6

Someone recently sent a great question to my website, The Refiner’s Fire. They wrote:

“1 Corinthians 8:6 has the Aramaic term Marya, which is what I understood used as a reference to YHVH. If so the verse should read something like: ‘To us there is one (God) Elohim, the Father, from whom comes every thing and by whom we live; and one YHVH Mashiach Yeshua, by whom are all things, and we by him’ So there is one God, the Father, which according to the Bible is YHVH right? And there is one YHVH who is Mashiach Yeshua? How should this verse be read and understood? I'm getting confused.”

RESPONSE:

Here is how it is written in the Aramaic English New Testament.

1 Cor 8: 6. Yet to us, on our part, there is one Elohim, the Father from whom are all things, and we in him; and one Master YHWH,[1] Y’shua the Mashiyach, by whom are all things, and we also by him. (AENT)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] This is not to be construed that “one Elohim the Father” and “one YHWH, Y’shua the Mashiyach” are separate divine “persons.” Instead, Aramaic references two divine occurrences from the singular divine nature, or qnomeh.* (Singular: qnoma) This concept is directly stated fifteen times, and alluded to at least as much in figurative language (e.g. living water in John 4, leading to a direct reference in John 5:26).

*It is important to recognize that Qnoma can mean “core substance” or “occurrence.” Although Greek reads “self” Aramaic does not; “self” leads to assumptions of “personhood” which breeds idolatry. Put another way, a "nature" is like a body hidden behind a curtain. For those in the audience, nothing of that nature can be seen. Then, all of a sudden, a hand and part of an arm appears through the veil.

While we know there is a body attached to that limb, the limb is all we see. Furthermore, that arm moves with full force, will and agreement of the mind that controls the body. For the viewers, the arm appearing out of the curtain is the qnoma (occurrence) and the hidden mind behind that limb's movement is its kyanna (nature). (Source: Aramaic English New Testament, footnote to 1 Thess. 4:9)

Here's further explanation on this issue:

Ephesians 3: 14. He is himself our peace, who has made the two (become) one, and has demolished the wall[2] which stood in the midst, and the enmity, by his flesh; 15. And in his flesh (the) enmity and regulations of commands (contained) in his commandments are abolished[3] (so) that in himself (an occurrence of the divine nature, or qnoma), [4] he might make the two into one, establishing peace. 16. And has reconciled both with Elohim in one body and has slain the enmity by his stake (of execution). (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Aramaic for wall is syaga. Ironically, this exact term was picked up by the Talmudic rabbis in Pirkei Avot (Sayings of the Fathers) 1:1 that commanded, “make a fence around the Torah.” Y’shua specifically warned against this activity in Matthew 15, rebuking the Pharisees in the process.

Later on, Y’shua said he was the “door/gate” using a synonym for syaga, known as taarea, which is a homonym “torah” and “teachers,” meaning the Pharisees. So while the Pharisees are busy erecting their fence, Y’shua is pulling it down, allowing everyone access!

[3] The grammatical structure here fully guarantees that namusa is referring to “customs” as in the traditions of the Pharisees, not Torah itself. Mashiyach abolishes the “enmity” (hatred or animosity) that has been brought against YHWH by religious tradition and false interpretations of Torah, which was a heavy burden that people could not bear.

Christian theologians, however, twist this verse and teach that it was YHWH’s Torah that brought the hatred and that Mashiyach did away with Torah, which is a very reckless and evil theology. Mashiyach sent the Ruach haKodesh to write YHWH’s Torah upon the hearts of his people, not abolish it.

[4] Qnoma can mean “core substance” or “occurrence.” Although Greek reads “self” Aramaic does not; “self” leads to assumptions of “personhood” which breeds idolatry.

A mini-lesson on "spiritual fence straddling

My dearly-departed husband, Bill, and I used to have a sweet little Miniature Schnauzer named Dallas, that left this world a few years ago at the ripe ol’ age of 14.

Dallas was afraid of many things, and so, it wasn’t hard to contain him in his little postage stamp, fenced-in back yard consisting of just a few wires Bill had fastened to some rebar posts.

He could have easily jumped over the short fence, but luckily for us, he was somewhat of a coward. (He also wouldn’t go near the heat vents in the house, because they were apparently too scary and weird…)

We've moved since then, but what I’m getting at is that the little fence served as a kind “Torah” for our little fur person. As long as he stayed within its boundaries, he was safe. In that yard, he was forced to remain close to the house where we could keep an eye on him through the French door.

But - had he ever escaped and run up the hill into the woods, he would have run the risk of becoming a meal for any number of predators, including a bear, lynx, or coyote.

If he had decided to run down the hill and across the properties of two of our neighbors, he would have ended up on a fairly busy highway. He would have faced possible danger even if he had simply trotted down our driveway toward road, because many in that particular neighborhood never bothered to follow the 25 mph speed limit....

And I shudder to think what would have happened if Dallas had tried to make it all the way to the freeway which was only a half mile away!

What I’m trying to illustrate is that YHWH gave us HIS Torah (Divine Instructions in Righteousness) to keep US safe in a fallen world. Unfortunately, in a world where most don't want ANY rules, MOST "believers" don't bother to follow those Instructions - because they mistakenly believe that "those Old Testament rules applied only to the Jews. (So, God expects only "the Jews" to be holy?)

Think about it: Adam and Eve were safe in the Garden until they decided to break just one little rule ... and suddenly, they found themselves outside of their safe haven, in a “fallen world” where hard work, pain, sorrow, sickness and death ruled … where jealousy, greed, drunkenness, lewdness, arrogance, fornication and adultery and all manner of vileness lay in wait as the world’s population began to grow ... where most (even many believers) don't seem to know "right from wrong; nor do they care to learn...

In our “fallen world,” we aren’t guaranteed health, wealth, riches or anything else our carnal selves desire. But when we belong to YHWH/Yeshua, we have the guarantee of eternal life, along with true shalom (peace) in knowing that, no matter what else happens, HE is with us, guiding and teaching and allowing us to grow in knowledge of Him so that we CAN PREPARE for that eternal life!

The Divine Instructions serve to not only please ADONAI and place us in a closer relationship with Him; but they also make our entire earthbound existence run more smoothly, because HIS Ways are perfect! The bottom line is, if we choose to IGNORE those rules, we will be considered "lukewarm" - and you know what THAT means! Revelation 3: 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

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.

How did Yeshua walk? By Torah! He didn't make up new rules. He kept Torah and expected US to do the same. It's what sets us APART from the rest of the world! Revelation reveals this:

Revelation 12: 17 "The dragon was infuriated over the woman and went off to fight the rest of her children, those who obey God's commands AND bear witness to Yeshua."

Revelation 14: 12 "This is when perseverance is needed on the part of God's people, those who observe his commands AND exercise Yeshua's faithfulness."

The moral of the story?

If our little Dallas doggie had dared to jump over his “Torah” fence that kept him safe, he most likely would have ended up dead - or at least, seriously hurt.

Same thing applies to YHWH’s people: If they jump their Torah “fence” the world will close in and cause them to lose not only their “way” but very possibly, their eternal life. There will be NO "lukewarm" in Heaven!

(See Romans 1:18-32; Numbers 15: 30; Hebrews 6:4-8 and 10:26-27; 2 Peter 2: 19-21; 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10; Deuteronomy 7: 9-10, Revelation 3:16, etc.)

Just some personal observations about the plight of humanity

Just some personal observations:

Remember when the AIDS/HIV epidemic began back in the late Seventies/early Eighties? It was a known fact that this terrible disease was caused by irresponsible sexual behavior; yet, instead of telling people to CHANGE their behavior so that the virus could die out on its own, the “reason for the disease and its spread” was largely overlooked and ignored, and scientists and the medical community catered to “the world” and got to work on a vaccine, because the people demanded it.

Well – here it is, 40 YEARS later, and we STILL don’t have a vaccine for AIDS/HIV! There are medication "cocktails" and various treatments, but there is no vaccine and no end in sight – in large part, because people WON’T change their lascivious sexual behavior! (Casual sex with whomever one pleases has been the norm since the Sixties - and it’s only gotten worse over the years because today, sexuality is “fluid”….)

Today, there are more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S. and there are more than 35,000 new infections each year. More than 700,000 people in the U.S., have died from HIV-related illness.

I see the same thing happening with COVID-19 and the Delta Variant … the difference being, we actually HAVE a vaccine - but yet many refuse to take it for whatever reason. What’s more, many on both sides of the fence (both the vaccinated and unvaccinated) won’t even bother to take any kind of precautions, such as following some simple rules (mask wearing, social distancing, avoiding large indoor crowds, regular hand-washing, etc.). I guess, erring on the side of caution simply causes too much “inconvenience”….

So, as usual, Americans as a whole, INSIST on pretending everything is normal and they aren’t about to cooperate with ANYTHING that might get in the way of their lifestyles. They gather in large crowds on beaches, in bars and restaurants and at concerts and ballgames, etc. – most not even bothering to wear a mask, let alone stay “socially distanced.” (They even have the audacity to label this irresponsible behavior as their “right”….)

The bottom line of our world’s problems today is that MOST have been, and still are, ignoring YHWH’s Torah - the Word of ELOHIM; His Divine Instructions! If the world were Torah observant, we wouldn’t have any of these problems, because Torah commands that we DO NOT tolerate bad behavior. God’s people are commanded to “rid evil from among you! (See Deuteronomy 17:6-7 and 22:21; Leviticus 24:14; etc. - which is reiterated in the New Testament in places like 1 Corinthians 5:13.)

Not only is the world, in general, disobeying GOD, but most refuse ANY instructions from ANYONE - such as simple common-sense rules designed to keep everyone safe. (Example: speed limits mean NOTHING to do those who want to speed; and those who want to commit adultery, simply DO it without giving it a second thought; and the same goes for those with a grudge who are bent on exterminating a room full of people, just because they’re angry or depressed….)

The sad truth is – “the world” has been slowly indoctrinated to become disobedient and unruly (thanks, in large part, to liberal Hollywood which promotes all manner of decadence and weirdness). People have been steadily becoming ever-more desensitized. Everything YHWH considers BAD is now considered GOOD by the world – and everything He considers GOOD, is considered BAD by the world.

Simply put, the world, as a whole, is out completely of control. ONLY Yeshua will be able to put and end to the nonsense.

In the meantime – my prediction is, COVID-19 and all its variants are here to stay…

HERE ARE SOME PERTINENT SCRIPTURE PASSAGES to show that NOTHING has changed since the “fall from grace” in Genesis – and that we are NOW “as in the days of Noah”:

Isaiah 24:5: The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.

Isaiah 28:15: For you said, "We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."
Isaiah 30:1: "Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin

Isaiah 39:8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever. 9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.Even the following passage pertains to ALL humanity today:

Titus 1: 10 For there are many, especially from the Circumcision faction, who are rebellious, who delude people’s minds with their worthless and misleading talk. 11 They must be silenced; because they are upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching, and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. 12 Even one of the Cretans’ own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons” — 13 and it’s true! For this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust 14 and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or to the commands of people who reject the truth.

15 To all who are themselves pure, everything is pure. But to those who are defiled and without trust, nothing is pure — even their minds and consciences have been defiled. 16 They claim to know God, but with their actions they deny him. They are detestable and disobedient; they have proved themselves unfit to do anything good.

I urge you to read all of the great instructions in Romans 13, which ends with these words:

11 Besides all this, you know at what point of history we stand; so it is high time for you to rouse yourselves from sleep; for the final deliverance is nearer than when we first came to trust. 12 The night is almost over, the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and arm ourselves with the weapons of light. 13 Let us live properly, as people do in the daytime — not partying and getting drunk, not engaging in sexual immorality and other excesses, not quarrelling and being jealous. 14 Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah; and don’t waste your time thinking about how to provide for the sinful desires of your old nature. (CJB)

“But me you don’t remember….”

These particular readings really touch my heart, because we can clearly hear ADONAI, through the Prophet Isaiah, demanding obedience - practically PLEADING with His people to repent and turn from their evil, selfish ways, and walk according to HIS Torah and HIS Will. But has humanity really done that? Are we any different from those in “biblical times?” I posit that we on VERY shaky ground today – “as in the days of Noah” when YHWH wiped out the entire earth except for the ONLY holy, obedient person alive…

Isaiah 57:

11 …But me you don’t remember,
you don’t give me a thought!
I have held my peace so long
that you no longer fear me.
¹² I will expose your [so-called] ‘righteousness’;
and what you have done won’t help you.
¹³ When you cry, will those [idols] you gathered rescue you?
The wind will carry them all away,
a puff of air will take them off.
But whoever takes refuge in me will possess
the land and inherit my holy mountain.”

14 Then he will say,

“Keep building! Keep building! Clear the way!
Remove everything blocking my people’s path!”
¹⁵ For thus says the High, Exalted One
who lives forever, whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy place
but also with the broken and humble,
in order to revive the spirit of the humble
and revive the hearts of the broken ones.
¹⁶ For I will not fight them forever
or always nurse my anger;
otherwise their spirits would faint before me,
the creatures I myself have made.
¹⁷ It was because of their flagrant greed
that I was angry and struck them;
I hid myself and was angry,
but they continued on their own rebellious way.
¹⁸ I have seen their ways, and I will heal them;
I will lead them and give comfort
to them and to those who mourn for them —
¹⁹ I will create the right words:
‘Shalom shalom to those far off
and to those nearby!’ says Adonai;
‘I will heal them!’”

²⁰ But the wicked are like the restless sea —
unable to be still,
its waters toss up mud and dirt.
²¹ There is no shalom, says my God,
for the wicked.

Isaiah 58:

1 Shout out loud! Don’t hold back!
Raise your voice like a shofar!
Proclaim to my people what rebels they are,
to the house of Ya‘akov their sins.

² “Oh yes, they seek me day after day
and [claim to] delight in knowing my ways.
As if they were an upright nation
that had not abandoned the rulings of their God,
they ask me for just rulings
and [claim] to take pleasure in closeness to God,
³ [asking,] ‘Why should we fast, if you don’t see?
Why mortify ourselves, if you don’t notice?’

“Here is my answer: when you fast,
you go about doing whatever you like,
while keeping your laborers hard at work.
⁴ Your fasts lead to quarreling and fighting,
to lashing out with violent blows.
On a day like today, fasting like yours
will not make your voice heard on high.

⁵ “Is this the sort of fast I want,
a day when a person mortifies himself?
Is the object to hang your head like a reed
and spread sackcloth and ashes under yourself?
Is this what you call a fast,
a day that pleases Adonai?

⁶ “Here is the sort of fast I want —
releasing those unjustly bound,
untying the thongs of the yoke,
letting the oppressed go free,
breaking every yoke,
⁷ sharing your food with the hungry,
taking the homeless poor into your house,
clothing the naked when you see them,
fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen!”

⁸ Then your light will burst forth like the morning,
your new skin will quickly grow over your wound;
your righteousness will precede you,
and Adonai’s glory will follow you.
⁹ Then you will call, and Adonai will answer;
you will cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you will remove the yoke from among you,
stop false accusation and slander,
¹⁰ generously offer food to the hungry
and meet the needs of the person in trouble;
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your gloom become like noon.
¹¹ Adonai will always guide you;
he will satisfy your needs in the desert,
he will renew the strength in your limbs;
so that you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
¹² You will rebuild the ancient ruins,
raise foundations from ages past,
and be called “Repairer of broken walls,
Restorer of streets to live in.”

¹³ “If you hold back your foot on Shabbat
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call Shabbat a delight,
Adonai’s holy day, worth honoring;
then honor it by not doing your usual things
or pursuing your interests or speaking about them.
¹⁴ If you do, you will find delight in Adonai —
I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya‘akov,
for the mouth of Adonai has spoken.” – (CJB)

Stop comparing COVID to the Holocaust!

SOMETHING VERY SERIOUS TO PONDER:

I keep seeing people trying to compare the COVID pandemic with the Holocaust. Here's why that comparison is downright wrong:

First of all, the Holocaust HAD to happen! Know why? Because there's a difference between YHWH allowing evil humans to kill 6 million of His Chosen people just because they were Jews, so that TWO prophecies could be fulfilled ... and doctors and epidemiologists and even government leaders trying to figure out how to SAVE us from dying from a killer virus that came virtually out of nowhere....

Isaiah prophesied that Israel would become a nation again and that it would happen in one day! (Isaiah 66:7-8) That happened on May 14, 1948 - when "the world" briefly felt sorry for the Jews and returned Israel to them, enabling them to declare independence for Israel as a united and sovereign nation for the first time in 2,900 years.

During that same day, the United States issued a statement recognizing Israel's sovereignty. And, only hours beforehand, a United Nations mandate expired, ending British control of the land. During a 24-hour span of time, foreign control of the land of Israel had formally ceased, and Israel had declared its independence, and its independence was acknowledged by other nations. Modern Israel was literally was born in a single day.

Before you grab your pitchforks to verbally execute me, please read this scenario and THEN decide if you still believe you have a "right" to make this ridiculous comparison (which Americans apparently LOVE to use, anytime they feel their "rights" being threatened):

JUST FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES, I want you all to imagine you are a mother sitting in your living room watching TV with your husband and two young children (a boy and a girl), right after you ordered your pizza from the comfort of your own couch during this quarantine. Life has been a little disrupted, but it's still pretty good. Everybody's okay and things will get back to normal soon.

Suddenly, and without warning, a group of armed soldiers break down your front door and, before you have a chance to figure out what's happening, you're being forcefully jerked out of your happy home by armed soldiers, who load you all into the back of a deuce-and-a-half military truck with hundreds of others stacked in tightly.

They take you to the local railroad station, and shove you into a stinking cattle car full of cow manure, where you're again wedged in so tightly between other citizens, that you can hardly breathe.

Eight hours later, both of your small children (as well as many others) are screaming their heads off because they're tired, hungry and have wet their pants because they couldn't hold it anymore....And oh, by the way, YOU also wet your pants, as did most others in that cattle car.

Let's say, after a 12 hour ride, more armed soldiers FINALLY unload you - thousands of you! - which takes HOURS because as you disembark, armed soldiers take your names and personal info, and then you notice that the men are herded to one side of the camp and the women and children, to the other. (YES, you WILL be separated from your husband!)

To your horror, one of the armed guards - a big burly guy with evil eyes - stops you and asks WHICH CHILD you want to keep. "CHOOSE!"

You're too dumbfounded to speak! Choose which child you want to keep? Are you kidding me???

Of course, you can't, and you tell him so in no uncertain terms - UNTIL he takes out his pistol and threatens to shoot both of them right then and there.

So, crying hysterically, you choose the little girl - causing such guilt that it may lead you to suicide in the years to come ... that is, IF you get live ... which is something that just crossed your mind as you realize, standing there in the chilly night without a coat, that the smoke billowing from the chimney in the distance smells eerily like burning flesh ... Surely, it couldn't be human ... could it?

Suddenly, someone comes to take your little boy away and you never see him again. And you and your little girl are marched into a small, cramped barracks where you are told you must share the bottom bunk of a wooden bunk bed that has neither mattress, nor blankets....

The fear in the place is so great you can literally SMELL it - because you don't know WHY any of this is happening! All you (and the thousands of others in those barracks) know is that life as you knew it has come to a screeching halt, and you have NO CLUE what lies ahead. The one thing you DO know is that YOU ARE NOT IN CONTROL.

As the months turn into a year, you little son crosses your mind again (as he frequently does, even in your dreams at night) while you quietly toil away in the camp laundry room with your little emaciated daughter (they only give you one bowl of THIN soup per day) by your side (because you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't "look Jewish" and they allowed you to work instead of leading you and the child into the crematorium, as they've done to most of your new "friends"), you look down at your child playing quietly in the corner (for she is not allowed to talk) and you wonder for the millionth time whether you made the "right" choice about "which child" to keep...

Then, early one morning at the break of dawn, the armed soldiers come for your little girl. You cling to her, screaming ... to no avail. They said they needed her for some kind of medical experiment....

"WHY" you demand! And because you couldn't be quiet or or to stop screaming and begging for mercy, one of the soldiers grabs you by the arm and drags you off behind the crematorium to rape you to "teach you a lesson!" When he's done, he jerks you up out of the weeds and forces you INTO the building, where you're forced to strip naked in front of him and dozens of others, before being shoved into a room with other naked people cowering in terror against the four walls.

The last thing you remember before the "Zyklon B" gas renders you unconscious, is that it caused you and everyone else to lose control of their bowels....

PEOPLE, while this kind of thing will NEVER happen in America (as so many conspiracy theorists posit), I am trying to get you to put yourself into JUST ONE POSSIBLE SCENARIO OUT OF THE SIX MILLION STORIES that happened in Germany during WWII - and that doesn't even include all the rest of the innocent civilians whose lives were disrupted and traumatized via starvation, carnage during bombings, and endless terror for SIX STRAIGHT YEARS!

Now - pray tell - as a human being with a conscience, can you honestly still sit in your easy chair and try to tell me that comparing the Holocaust to ANYTHING else in modern history is RIGHT OR FAIR?...

It is truly IGNORANT and even EVIL to attempt to FORCE the comparison of apples and oranges when it comes to COVID and the Holocaust! Except for the soldiers who have experienced actual wartime scenarios, modern-day Americans don't know what a "Holocaust" is....

A word to those who are using abortion as a means of birth control – check out what GOD says!

 

Texas women are in an uproar because a new law in that state bans abortions after six weeks, when a fetus develops a heartbeat.  One of the many memes and signs they are using to protest this law says, "Keep your hands off my body."

Well, truth is, the reason they became pregnant, in the first place, is because they ALLOWED someone's hands on their bodies.  Sex CAUSES pregnancy.  God created "those parts" of our body for procreation....

Another truth is:  Once something has a heartbeat, and is busy growing into a human being, it is NOT "your body!"  It belongs to that little person YOUR actions created that caused THAT body to start growing inside of you!

I'm not trying to be mean or insensitive here, but I'm preaching YHWH's Word, which commands us not to murder.  (Sixth Commandment: Exodus 20:13, "You shall not murder." )

People can make all the excuses they wish about abortion, but the bottom line is that ADONAI is the Creator and HE designed human wombs to grow little human beings. (See Genesis 1:27, Exodus 20:13, Numbers 5:27-28, Psalm 127:3-5.)

He did NOT give anyone the right to END a life in the womb!  (See Genesis 1:27, Exodus 20:13, Numbers 5:27-28, Psalm 127:3-5.)

Even an ANIMAL that is guilty of shedding human blood MUST die!

Genesis 9:5 I will certainly demand an accounting for the blood of your lives: I will demand it from every animal and from every human being. I will demand from every human being an accounting for the life of his fellow human being. 6 Whoever sheds human blood, by a human being will his own blood be shed; for God made human beings in his image."

ADONAI created everything and everyone for a purpose - and NOBODY has "a right" to KILL "His image!"

For those who believe "it's not a baby until it's born," please check this out: Researchers at Yale University in a published study (July 22, 21006) revealed that they had discovered the very first neurons in a 'thinkin' brain!  

"Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes humans human. The findings published in Nature Neuroscience show that the first neurons, or "predecessors," as the researchers called them, are in place 31 days after fertilization. This is much earlier than previously thought and well before development of arms, legs or eyes."   

PSALM 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Job 31:15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

The bottom line is, ADONAI is our Creator; it is HE and ONLY He who has the "right" and ability to create life or take it away!  NOTHING happens without His approval (including people's "right" to CHOOSE to sin)! 

Throughout the Bible we can see how adamant he is about murder and, consequently, in the grand scheme of "HIS WILL BE DONE," women cannot "choose abortion."

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

An amazing High Holy Day is on the Horizon - Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashana (Feast of Trumpets/New Year)!!! Keep reading to find out what is so special about this day….

Leviticus 23:23-25 says: And יהוה 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)

Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashana this year (2021) begins at sunset on September 8 (Sept 7th on the rabbinical calendar). This Appointed Time 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.  It is also believed that this is when Y’shua will return to earth as the “Lion of Judah!” Here’s why:

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.

Judging by the fact that Yeshua has so far fulfilled the first four feasts 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 and His Divine Messiah, will be gathered/resurrected (I Thessalonians 4:13-18, I Cor. 15:50-54).

Halleluyah!

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.