A word for those who didn’t have a “rosy” childhood….

Well, with Mothers Day now starting to grind to a halt shortly, I would like to post something for those who become sad or angry about "Mothers" or "Fathers" Day, for whatever reason. I want you to know there are some of us who understand that many do NOT have happy childhood memories, and that these special days honoring our parents are extremely PAINFUL. I'm actually one of those people....

For those who don't know my story, I'm among those who has never had children BECAUSE of my rotten childhood. You see, I was a sexually abused baby, child and teenager. I hated my mother (a prostitute in Germany) who gave me away at birth and then had to get me back when I was almost 9, because she couldn't leave Germany with her new American husband, unless all the kids she had given away, were adopted. (There were 3 of us.)

I was living with welfare parents who couldn't adopt me, and so I ended up being yanked out of my loving (albeit, poor) foster home and taken away to America and dumped into a third-grade classroom, not speaking a word of English. There never was any explanation as to why she gave me away; just an uncaring "deal with it" attitude.

Her new American soldier husband (the second of 8!) was a raving pedophile who sexually abused me from age 9 until she divorced him when I was 14. My life was an absolute living hell.

It was no secret that my mother hated me; she treated me like her little slave, "chief cook and bottle washer" and baby sitter for her other kids. She never had any praise for me; only negativity and put-downs that have kept me feeling worthless and ugly to this very day!

I truly HATED her until her untimely death at age 45. Once she was gone, however, I realized that, if nothing else, she was my mother and it was because of her that I was here ... even though she had tried to abort me with a knitting needled. (I still have the scar on my nose as proof...)

As soon as I graduated from High School, I joined the Army, in hopes of leaving my horrific life behind...but satan has a way of keeping you on that "merry-go-round rut" from which there is no escape....

I finally DID escape after my Army retirement at the ripe ol' age of 44, ONLY because, unbeknownst to me, YHWH had kept me on a narrow path that led straight to Him. Suddenly, my life was turned upside-down (in a good way!) and I ultimately found that elusive PEACE I had so desperately been searching for all my life - a peace that allowed me FINALLY unhook myself from the memories of my unloving, self-centered mother and all her husbands, and my entire horrible mess of a past!

That peace came when I realized how utterly LOST my mother had been - and that she was lost BECAUSE of all the curses in her bloodline and sins that had been passed down through the generations. I wept not only for her, but for myself for having been smart enough to NOT have my own children, who would surely have been touched by those same curses! (Three of my four half-brothers on my mother's side, had children who have, in one way or another, been affected by those curses....) In other words, that proverbial curses "buck" in my life, stopped with ME! Halleluyah!

And so I stopped hating mother and prayed that she "got saved" before her death in 1977. As for my supposedly "Christian" pedophile adoptive father - I let go of my hatred for him, as well, because I know he WILL stand before YHWH on Judgment Day to explain himself....He's simply not my problem anymore. My focus is on YHWH and how HE caused me to remain "sane" enough to be able to find my way to Him! Everything else is really irrelevant, in the grand scheme of things.

Today, I always tell people, no matter what your relationship with your parents is, LET GO, and just HONOR them because they're the reason you're here. You don't have to love them or even like them, but you do have "honor them." according to Scripture. Concentrate your efforts on YHWH/Yeshua/Torah and don't give in to satan's attempts to keep you in the past. The past is gone and the future is in the Kingdom. What you do TODAY will impact that future, so be very careful to immerse and surround yourself with YHWH's life-giving Torah.

Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, (ESV)

Genesis 19:26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (ESV)

Isaiah 43:18-19: Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (ESV)

Possessions are just temporary things….

Hey, guess what, everybody! I recently discovered that I have a “Jessica Simpson” purse – wooohoo! I don’t know who the heck Jessica Simpson is (and don’t really care – I just happened to like this purse I saw at a half-off sale a few weeks ago).

But one of the assistants at my dentist’s office immediately recognized it for what it was, and excitedly informed me that I was the proud owner of a “Jessica Simpson” purse. Until then, I had never even checked the label on the back, because – honestly – I’m not impressed by “name brands.” (I don't impress easily.)

And so, while the dental assistant was going on and on about my beautiful purse, I found myself saying a silent prayer that YHWH would open her eyes to Himself and the blessings HE had in store for those who were willing to drop the temporary “stuff” of this world, and follow the example of His Divine Messiah.

Rom 12:1 I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim. (ISR)

This world and all that’s in it, is just a temporary dwelling place; a “classroom” for YHWH’s people to learn about Him and His Word; a place designed to prepare us for the Kingdom. It was never meant to become a breeding ground for men to pound their chests about their accomplishments. It was always all about giving glory to our Creator who gave us the intelligence to accomplish whatever we set our minds to....

My “Jessica Simpson” purse will wear out one day and end up – like ALL our possessions – in a pile of rubble. Sure, it’s nice to have while it lasts, and I’m thankful for the means to have it and for the hands that made it. But, in the grand scheme of things, it's just a nice thing to own for awhile, as I keep in perspective that, without YHWH's grace, love and mercy, I wouldn't have ANYTHING!

Ever since I "got saved," my mind has been totally focused on the Kingdom and how many I can reach for YHWH between now and the time I finally get to stand in His Presence. Nothing else matters to me ... least of all, some "name brand" something or other.

I pray that the dental assistant who was gushing over my purse will soon come to the same revelation.

Luke 12: 15 Then to the people he said, "Be careful to guard against all forms of greed, because even if someone is rich, his life does not consist in what he owns." …. 33 Sell what you own and do tzedakah -- make for yourselves purses that don't wear out, riches in heaven that never fail, where no burglar comes near, where no moth destroys. 34 For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also. (CJB)

1 John 2: 15 Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; 16 because all the things of the world - the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life - are not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God's will remains forever. (CJB)

Proverbs 23:17 Don't envy sinners, but follow the example of those who always fear God; 18 for then you will have a future; what you hope for will not be cut off. (CJB)

1 Corinthians 10:7 Don't be idolaters, as some of them were… (CJB)

Matthew 6:19-33 19 "Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. (CJB – Please read verses 21-33 for some eye-opening truth!)

Many seem to have comprehension issues….

Part of the reason some are "rejecting Jesus" and the entire New Testament is because they never understood/comprehended the NT, in the first place. (Some have admitted they've never even READ the Bible, except for a few snippets; yet they're in counter-missionary Facebook groups, mouthing off about how they now "have finally found the truth.")

Facebook (actually, the entire Internet) reeks with people who believe themselves to be teachers when, in fact, they have all sorts of misunderstandings about Scripture. Take this comment, for instance:

"Why believe Paul when he's clearly teaching contrary to Yeshua's pro-Torah message?"

GARBAGE! That statement is completely false! Paul, NEVER taught against Torah! Please read these two articles to get an inkling as to why that statement is totally ludicrous.  Paul’s writings have been misinterpreted and What does Galatians really say?

Internet (especially Facebook) "teachers" are leading each other astray. So, instead of clinging to what others tell you, why not read the ENTIRE BIBLE yourself, so that you can at least be knowledgeable enough to be able to discern good from bad teachings?

A word about Obama’s latest award

So, Obama got another award. This time it was the Kennedy "Profiles in Courage" award. I'll be honest with you: The ONLY "courage" I ever saw that man display was his "courage" to take on YHWH by promoting "gay marriage" and abortion!

Make no mistake:  Obama WILL stand before YHWH one day, to receive his eternal reward, right after YHWH has gone over his list of deeds … arrogant and carnal deeds that went straight into the face of God!

Take on God, and guess who wins.....

Email exchange with a pastor who is upset over the “woman teacher” here at The Refiner’s Fire

Every once in awhile I receive an email from some man who is offended that I am a woman teacher, and attempts to prove using misapplied scriptures, that I'm sinning. Well, this latest was from a former Baptist pastor (Torah observant "since 2012). Rather than to post the whole exchange, I'll just post for you my response to him. It gets really tiring to have to constantly deal with narrow-minded men who find their way to Torah, yet continue to hang onto their former "denomination's" theology and misinterpretation of Scripture....

Here's my email:

Okay, well, that's just as I thought, Daryl: You're new to Torah, having been mired in "religion" for most of your life, and "whole Truth" didn't occur to you until recently. Yet, in your heart, you're still a Baptist, feeling the need to correct me - when, what you are in essence doing, is not so much "correcting" me, but attempting to thwart YHWH's will for me. After all, Scripture tells us we are "one in Messiah" (Ephesians 2:11-13, Galatians 3:27-29, Romans 12:5), where there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free….

I sent you one of my articles on this subject, but you clearly haven't read it, or else you wouldn't keep trying to shove 1 Corinthians 14:33-37 down my throat. This is evidence that, no matter what biblical proof I can present, and no matter what I say, you will continue to remain in your present belief. Therefore, I'm going to put my FINAL explanation in simpler terms:

First - I truly appreciate your concern, but honestly, you can send me Bible verses from now until Doomsday, and it won't change the fact that I KNOW I was chosen by YHWH to teach the TRUTH of YHWH/Yeshua/Torah. NOBODY will ever take that away from me, including you. My husband, my covering, the love of my life (right beneath my ELOHIM) is fine with me teaching - and that's all that matters.

You see, I don't have a congregation and people are free to take my teachings or leave them. That doesn't change the fact that my spiritual gifts are 100 percent "discernment" and "teaching." Your attempt to douse those gifts - simply because you have a hang-up about women teaching - is an absolute kick in YHWH's Face.

Let's be honest here: MEN, haven’t exactly been doing a great a job at teaching and promoting YHWH's TRUTH, and that's why the world consists of many religions and denominations, and why it is in the horrific shape it's in right now. Like I said before, even Adam - who obviously had some kind of "personal relationship" with God - wasn't "man enough" to adhere to YHWH's divine Instructions, by keeping Eve from messing with the "fruit"…..

In response to this, you wrote: "As far as Adam and Eve goes, considering that Eve was the only woman on earth, so then it's true that Yahweh was speaking to her alone. However, is the mother of all living, so Yahweh was speaking to all women. If she had been faithful, like Sarah was to Abraham, then a faithful woman would be called the daughter of Eve rather than the daughter of Sarah. (1 Peter 3:5-6)"

Well, Daryl, the "if she had been faithful" thing goes both ways, and when you read the rest of the Bible and look around you today at what MAN has done, you will surely see that YHWH hasn't been happy with MAN since the very beginning!

I challenge you to re-read Genesis 2 to see exactly whom YHWH gave His instructions to, and then, compare it with Genesis 3:17, which says: "To Adam he said, "Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, 'You are not to eat from it,' the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live."

Men AND women have been disobedient since the very beginning, and because MEN (the heads of our households and congregations) keep failing and floundering, they have continuously managed to lead the entire world AWAY from YHWH's Divine Instructions, into ruin! This may be why YHWH uses some women in these end times we're in. Please re-read Judges 4 which tells us why YHWH made a WOMAN judge over ALL Israel, which included men….

Not that I have to justify myself to you, but since you felt the need to let me know, in no uncertain terms that I'm supposedly sinning, I'm going to tell you why I feel I was chosen by YHWH to teach:

I was born Jewish through my mother, near the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp right after WWII - but due to circumstances, I was not raised in the faith, nor any other faith, for that matter, and it took me 44 years to finally "come to Christ." Once I did, I finally began to realize that He had been with me all along, and done all sorts of things throughout my life to get my attention, including putting me in a three-week coma at age 21, where I "saw Jesus," who caused me to come out of the coma WITH the knowledge that I had "something to do" for God.

In 1991, He kept the enemy from killing me in a high-speed auto accident on the freeway (how ANYONE in both cars involved remained totally unhurt is beyond me!), and He had His hand on me during all 27 surgeries I've had to endure in my lifetime. He gave me a vision once (just before I "got saved" in January 1995), wherein I felt "held in His arms" while He told me that He had allowed me to go through all the horrific experiences in my life, because He planned on using them for His Glory. (I had NO clue at the time what that meant, but I certainly do now! I did, however, recognize that this vision was a continuation of the coma experience….)

Since then, as a survivor of sexual abuse that started in babyhood, He has used me to help victims of sexual abuse to heal, all while giving Him ALL the Glory because EVERYTHING in life is ALL ABOUT HIM! Halleluyah!

And yet, YOU wish to take all this away from me, simply because I'm a woman….

Well, Daryl, I'm here to say, unlike you and most others mired in religion and religiosity, the Ruach caused me (a "mere woman") to immediately recognize "something was wrong with church teachings." And, unlike you, within 3 ½ years after I "got saved," I was Torah observant - and knew I HAD to share HIS Truth with the world! THAT is just a small part as to how I know I am definitely on YHWH's Path.

You see, I noticed that my Baptist pastor (obviously a MAN) would - whenever I had a question (such as, "Since we're all ONE in Christ, how come WE aren't keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts?") - ALWAYS send me to the writings of Paul, which were confusing to my "babe in Christ" mind at the time.

After a few months, I began to wonder why my very learned and well-meaning Baptist pastor - who seemed to lean more on the misunderstood teachings of Paul, than on the commands of YHWH and the teachings of His Divine Son - had never realized (1) PAUL wasn't God, nor did he have a divine nature as did Yeshua; and (2) that the Apostle Paul actually NEVER, EVER taught against Torah! Back then, I didn't know how to respond or refute what the pastor was trying to tell me - but I certainly do now!

All I knew for sure at the time, was that "the church" seemed to be based on what PAUL said. And, somehow, they missed that Paul ALSO said: Romans 3:31 - Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law....

The "law" of course, was a reference to Torah - YHWH's original Divine Teachings without which we would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living!

A year after I "got saved," the Holy Spirit caused me to sell everything I owned, including my house, and to move to Colorado where I eventually found my way into a Messianic Torah study - where I suddenly found the truth of the WHOLE Bible. It was like "getting saved" all over again! But even there, I quickly discovered that whatever MEN taught ALWAYS ended up being diluted in their respective interpretation, fueled by whichever Christian denomination they hailed from….

So, here's the thing, Daryl: Before writing to tell someone else to douse their SPIRITUAL GIFT, you really ought to ask yourself whether or not YOU are chosen to preach and teach because, from the one and only teaching of yours I've seen online (specifically your "rapture 2015" article), you've got some serious false philosophies that don't line up with Scripture….

I do wish you well, and this will be my final correspondence because I have a ministry to run.

Never abandon Torah….

Deuteronomy 29:29 "Things which are hidden belong to ADONAI our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah. (CJB)

Do you get it? WE are responsible for everything ADONAI taught and revealed to us through His Word!

Please take a closer look at that second sentence: “….the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.”

This train of thought (about observing all the words of YHWH’s Torah) is repeated over and over again, throughout the Torah, and drawn like a taut bow string throughout the rest of Scripture, all the way into the Gospels where we see Paul saying: “Do we then nullify Torah by faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish Torah.” (Romans 3:31)

Many attempt to use the excuse that those “original 613 commands” don’t pertain them because they were “just for the Jews.” While it might be true to an extent that all “613” weren’t meant for everyone (most were for the priests of the day; some were only for men, some only for women, and some only for a certain time frame), there were some that meant for ALL and “forever”. Please see our article.

It is ludicrous to think that Torah was meant only for the Jews because, without YHWH’s Torah, the world would have NO blueprint for moral, holy living! YHWH is THE CREATOR!

YHWH repeated four times in a row in Numbers 15:13-16 that ALL who accept Him as their ELOHIM are to do exactly as HIS people do, and that He does NOT differentiate between His “natural and adopted children.”

Numbers 15:13 "'Every citizen is to do these things in this way when presenting an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI. 14 If a foreigner stays with you - or whoever may be with you, through all your generations - and he wants to bring an offering made by fire as a fragrant aroma for ADONAI, he is to do the same as you.

15 For this community there will be the same law for you as for the foreigner living with you; this is a permanent regulation through all your generations; the foreigner is to be treated the same way before ADONAI as yourselves. 16 The same Torah and standard of judgment will apply to both you and the foreigner living with you.'" (CJB)

Furthermore, since we are “one in Messiah” (Galatians 3:28, Romans 12:5) WHY would He have different rules for different people – especially since "Yeshua the Mashiyach is the same yesterday, today and forever”? (Hebrews 13:8)

NOTE: When Paul wrote those words, he knew Yeshua as Mashiyach/Messiah and “the Word of YHWH” who is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that all things were created by the Word of YHWH from the beginning of time.

Yeshua, as the "arm of YHWH" (Isaiah 53:1) is inseparable from his Father. He was made flesh, in part, so that he could be "born and die" (YHWH cannot die!) and because of this, he was able to martyr himself as our Final SIN Sacrifice. (John 1:1, 14).

BOTTOM LINE: To ignore Torah is a huge mistake because, if you’re not obeying YHWH’s Rules, whose rules are you obeying?

Reader requests info on Messianic siddur/prayer book

READER COMMENT:

Looking for prayer/blessings (Siddur) book for weekday use. I have a nice Messianic Shabbat one and I was checking and found a Reformed Jewish one but that is not concerning Yeshua, however it does have nice daily prayers and blessings, along with more. Would you happen to know of a Messianic siddur containing prayers for weekday use?

OUR RESPONSE:

Thank you for your email. It just so happens, we have a siddur, including Shabbat, though not for every day.  Just click this link and scroll down until you see the words " Free calendars, Siddurs & Pesach Seder" and then click on "Siddur/Prayer" book.  Choose from either link “continuous pages” or the one that's “printable as a booklet.”