Reader question: Should I destroy my diary?

Someone recently wrote to ask whether or not she should destroy her diary because it “keeps her mired in the past” – a past fraught with sexual and emotional abuse.

YES, I told her – destroy this thing immediately! The past is gone; it is dead – unless you CHOOSE to keep fanning the embers. But, why do that, when you don’t live there anymore? By reading and re-reading those memories, you are keeping the past alive and fresh, and allowing those who hurt you to continue controlling you and your every decision today.

Let go! Give it all to YHWH/Yeshua, and just let go! He doesn’t want people clinging to their past as if it’s some life preserver - because, what you perceive as “important” to hang on to, is nothing but a boulder around your neck that will ultimately cause you to drown. See Philippians 3 and the following scriptures:

Luke 9:62 Y’shua said to him, No man places his hand upon the handle of a plough and looks backwards and is useful to the Kingdom of Elohim. (AENT)

Isaiah 43: 18 "Stop dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by; 19 I am doing something new; it's springing up - can't you see it? I am making a road in the desert, rivers in the wasteland. (CJB)

Proverbs 4: 25 Let your eyes look forward, And your eyelids look straight before you. 26 Consider the path of your feet, And all your ways are established. 27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Turn your foot away from evil. (ISR)

Colossians 3: 2 Mind the matters above, not those on the earth. 3 For you have died, and your life has been hidden with Messiah in Elohim. :4 When the Messiah, who is our life, is manifested, then you also shall be manifested with Him in esteem. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: whoring, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and greed of gain, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these the wrath of Elohim is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you also once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now, also put off all these: displeasure, wrath, evil, blasphemy, filthy talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have put off the old man with his practices 10 and have put on the new one who is renewed in knowledge according to the likeness of Him who created him, 11 where there is not Greek and Yehuḏite, circumcised and uncircumcised, foreigner, Scythian, slave, free, but Messiah is all, and in all.

12 Therefore, as chosen ones of Elohim, set-apart and beloved, put on compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, patience, 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other if anyone has a complaint against another, indeed, as Messiah forgave you so also should you. (ISR)

Since Yeshua fulfills all the Feasts, then we won't be doing them in the Millennium. Right?

Question for The Refiner’s Fire: 

It seems to me that, since Yeshua fulfills all the Feasts, we won’t be doing them or the sacrifices in the Millennium.  Am I right or wrong:

Response:

Well, that is a great question!  The thing is, it seems the Feasts/Appointed Times (Mo’edim) and sacrifices will be more of a memorial, a reminder for those who made it through “the Tribulation” of the history of how YHWH’s Word unfolded – while at the same time, teaching that same history to those born during the Millennium. In other words, the Feasts will be a reminder of what all has taken place since the beginning of time.

You see, there will be many unbelievers born during the Millennium, and they will be sinners who will need to understand the FINAL sacrifice of Messiah who only died ONCE to remove our past sins!  His sacrifice cannot be repeated, and so the Feasts he fulfilled will serve to illustrate his accomplishments.

The new moon festivals, the feast of tabernacles, and the Sabbaths, were YHWH’s set times for His people (who include ALL who accepted Him as their God); and in the Millennium these will be used as the reminders for all nations, who will send representatives to journey to Jerusalem for the mo’edim.

We are told that, in Ezekiel's temple there will be a Levitical priesthood making both the chatat (sin) and asham (guilt) offerings.  This will be as a memorial of what was accomplished. In the same fashion as we take communion now - as a memorial of what was accomplished by Yeshua's sacrifice.

   

As an aside, the Mosaic Law forbade Gentiles to enter in the Temple (Deut.23:4-8), but it will be permitted in the Millennium (Ezek.46:1-5) because – as you all know by now – once we are “one in Messiah” (Gal. 3:28; Rom. 12:5 and 1 Cor. 12:12) there is no division.  Once a Gentile has accepted YHWH as his/her God and Yeshua as his/her divine Messiah, they are no longer Gentiles; rather they are Hebrews (which, in Hebrew means “to cross over”).

Supporting scriptures include Zechariah 14; Isaiah 56:7; Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 40:38-39 and 45:13–46:15.

The truth about gossip

Gossip.  What an ugly word.  In Hebrew, there's something similar called “lashon hara” which means “evil tongue.”

The thing is, we're ALL guilty of gossip or lashon hara sometimes. It's our human nature. It's what Paul meant when he in several ways said, "I do those things I do not want to do." (Romans 7:14-15). We constantly fight our carnal natures. Constantly.

Gossip is rampant, especially in places like Facebook where people graze around looking for “cool” stuff to repost.  And what’s sad is that many (if not most) haven't figured out that gossip of ANY type isn't pleasing to YHWH…. 

The way to prevent "reposting gossip" is to first put aside our "carnal nature" that tends to go, "WOW - COOL!" at first glance, and to always ask ourselves: How do I know what I just read is true? Was it from a reliable source or news source?  (And honestly, not even "reliable news sources" are always reliable because these days, the reporters are allowed to insert their personal opinions!) 

Ask yourself:  How did THEY find out? Were they THERE to see it with their own eyes? Did they get it from a witness who saw it with their own eyes? Was that witness reliable, or some crazy kook who "saw what he wanted to see" or skewed the facts? We can't really always know for sure - unless WE were actually there. Trust NO ONE except yourself when it comes to Facebook posts and memes! Memes always have an agenda.... 

Case in point: It's one thing to know something - because you can see and hear it on TV, and then to comment on it. For instance, we know Trump keeps "putting his foot in mouth" with his behavior and the things he says. What he says and does is all over the news, here and now (as opposed to something that happened 200 years ago and the reporter is clearly just speculating). And even with that, we have to make sure that the whole story was reported, instead of just snippets taken out of context.

Regardless, we cannot take as gospel what someone today says about, for instance, George Washington ... that he "had some nasty habits, like picking his nose and smearing it on people." All we know about him is what was written in history books. We can't add or subtract anything. If someone wishes to do that, they HAVE to admit that this is THEIR PERSONAL OPINION. But most people don't! They will simply say, "George Washington was a nasty nose picker" - and many people will run with it, without giving it a second thought, to post it as TRUTH! 

THAT is what constitutes both gossip and "lashon hara" … (Lashon hara is a very serious offense because it is derogatory speech about another person.  It differs from defamation in that its focus is on the use of true speech for a wrongful purpose, rather than falsehood and harm arising. Speech is considered to be lashon hara if it says something negative about a person or party, is not previously known to the public, is not seriously intended to correct or improve a negative situation, and is true. Statements that fit this description are considered to be lashon hara, regardless of the method of communication that is used, whether it is through face-to-face conversation, a letter, telephone, or email, or even body language.) (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashon_hara) 

I always hate to, for instance, see memes that suggest Michelle Obama is "really a guy who had a sex change."  My goodness!  I'm NO fan of the Obamas, but whoever started perpetuating that nonsense had BETTER know that for a FACT ...They need to have obtained their “juicy tidbit” from Michelle, herself, or at least know the doctor who performed that sex change, or seen it with their own eyes - because YHWH is NOT happy with lies like that! What kind of a mind would even WANT to perpetuate something like that?  Michelle Obama is a beautiful lady who doesn’t deserve vicious and stupid gossip perpetuated about her!  Unfortunately, gossip crosses all borders and doesn't have a conscience.

The other memes and posts I hate to see are those where people blindly post garbage about "the government" did such and such, and they did it on purpose to hurt us/kill us/dumb us down/keep us from getting jobs, etc. Unless we are sitting in on sessions of Congress, or we were at the table where a law was passed that said “the government is going to start systematically killing its citizens” (or some other derogatory thing concocted by some carnal mind prone to forcing fantasy to become reality), then we need to be VERY careful about passing this info on!  We MUST learn to separate truth from fantasy; and we can do this by verifying facts and making sure the info came from a RELIABLE source that has PROOF.  If we cannot do that, then we need to ignore the "juicy tidbit."  It’s NOT “proof” when one simply espouses, "The government did blah, blah, blah….”   If that source doesn’t provide the actual website, video, article, newspaper clipping with date and source, etc., then IGNORE it.

There’s a small example in Scripture about the seriousness of gossip.  It’s the story about how  Noah cursed his grandson because of what Ham, his own son had done to him (see Genesis 9:20-27 in Parasha 2).

You see, Noah had become inebriated and lay naked in his tent where he was discovered by his youngest son, Ham (the father of Kena'an). Rather than to simply cover his father's nakedness, Ham apparently "made a big deal of it" and told his brothers, Shem and Yefet, who then promptly covered their father. When Noah awoke and found out what Ham had done to him, he cursed Ham's son, Kena'an.  (Why did he curse his grandson rather than his son? Well, it seems in part because, since Ham hurt Noah, Noah wanted to cause Ham similar pain....After all, curses are generational  - see Exodus 34:7; Lamentations 5:7.)

We're NOT told exactly how things transpired, but Ham probably went outside laughing and joking and generally making fun of his father, thus breaking the Fifth Commandment. (We can only surmise that Ham felt he had a "juicy tidbit" to share with his brothers, which built up his carnal nature and made him "feel good" about himself. In Biblical times people weren't as "loose" as in our decadent society where nakedness is "cool" and "in" and something to be flaunted. Back then (as it actually SHOULD be now) it was disgusting and shameful for anyone but a spouse to see you naked. God tells us to honor our mother and father - and Ham was definitely guilty of disrespecting his father on that particular day….)

As you can see, gossip/lashon hara is VERY dangerous as it not only hurts the person being degraded, but it also can reflect the tale bearer’s less-than-stellar character and cause him/her to lose their own reputation.  Not to mention, YHWH considers it to be a grave sin.  Please take a look at all these scriptures about gossip. 

Countering the Jewish "counter-missionary crash course" designed to debunk Yeshua

COUNTER-MISSIONARY COMMENT:  Watch the six-minute  counter-missionary crash course and educate yourself!

RESPONSE:   Read this article which debunks every one of the allegations posed in the six-minute  counter-missionary crash course and educate YOURSELF!  

A word about the Presidential campaign and its pathetic nominees

Watching the news this morning was once again thoroughly depressing.  We sat there, speechless, wondering how on earth both Clinton and Trump ended up being the Presidential nominees!  We had some perfectly QUALIFIED Republicans running for President, and yet somehow, Trump (a loudmouthed bully who behaves like a grade schooler and makes fun of women and disabled people),  and Hillary Clinton (a smug liar who should have been jailed for putting our country at risk by pretending it was okay to send classified emails with the classifications conveniently removed to her insecure server) became the nominees. 

Day by day we get to see Trump putting his foot in his mouth, over and over and over – so much so, that he seems to be ensuring that Hillary will win the Presidency.  GOD FORBID!  If she wins, it will be at least four more years of Obama…who was somehow voted in TWICE and who has done absolutely NOTHING for our country … and whom we have to thank for turning “gay marriage” and “abortion” into GOOD things!  THANK GOD that man cannot run for a third term because surely, Americans would vote him in again (and that’s all I’m going to say about that, or I’ll lose many friends here).

Honestly, I cannot imagine calling Bill Clinton “the First Gentleman” – not after what he did under his desk in the oval office; not after he was guilty of the sin of ADULTERY and then sat there and tried to LIE his way out of it (another sin); and not after he disgraced America and was IMPEACHED!  Both he and his wife have PROVEN ungodly character flaws.  Yet, Americans made her one of the nominees….

As for Trump – wow!  The lashon hara he commits on a daily basis is overwhelming.  What kind of a person could stand there in front of millions and make fun of Hillary’s recent illness and consequent stumble as if it were a BAD thing?  And then to suggest she’s not faithful to her husband … my goodness!  Unless Trump actually KNOWS this to be a fact, and he’s seen it with his own eyes, he has NO business saying something like that!  Whatever happened to discussing the actual issues and telling us how they are going to run our country?  This entire campaign has been nothing but one slander-fest after another.  SHAME ON BOTH OF THEM!

How on earth did the United States of America – once the greatest nation on earth – stoop so low as to keep voting in less and less qualified people?

The truth is, no matter who gets into the White House, WE ARE HOSED!  American voters have amply proven they, themselves, are UNQUALIFIED to decide, and I think it’s time to institute a qualification TEST for all voters to have to pass before they can vote … a test designed to probe their knowledge on government, politics, current issues and the qualifications of each government office.  Just listening to some of those interviewed on TV on why they’re voting for a certain candidate makes you shake your head, because they can’t even coherently explain why they are for or against a certain candidate….

My goodness.  How low we have come over the last 50 years!  Can we possibly go any lower than we are now?  Common sense and decency and INTELLIGENCE are clearly a thing of the past.