This is an official notification that this blog site has been shut down. Thank you for your kind support in the past with any comments. They were appreciated. I have felt it more advantages to concentrate on healing from my current health problems, so I will not be writing any more blogs. Thank you, God bless and Shalom.

After Shock

The aftermath of a heart attack is rather like the after shocks of an earthquake. When Mexico was hit with that large quake not long ago, and before I had my heart attack, we felt the aftershocks all the way here in Phoenix. I was sitting on my couch with my legs up, reading; my wife was at the computer. I was suddenly getting a back massage and then I remembered we don’t have a vibrating chair. My wife said, “Do you feel that?” And we both looked at the swag lamp above our dining table doing a trapeze routine.

That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling since the cardiologist placed a stent (balloon) in my coronary artery a couple of weeks ago. I’m sitting in my chair and my chest is hurting from the wire they put up there above my heart and I’m wondering if it’s my heart and should I take the nitro they prescribed me. I had heart palpitations for a complete day and I wonder if something has gone terribly wrong. Did the cardiologist leave his wristwatch or his car in my chest?

Then that balloon in my artery. Somehow that just doesn’t sound right. I’ve always had problems with balloons. Either I can’t get them blown up, or tie them properly, or they pop and spin and twirl all over the room, and I wonder if it’s possible for the balloon in my artery to pop. Will I spin and twirl all over the room?

I know who knows I had a heart attack. The ones that know don’t want to be around me. They’re possibly afraid I might have another heart attack in front of them. They either look down or the other way, or if they are caught walking by me they look at my chest, probably anticipating my heart sort of leaping out of my chest like that thing did in the movie “Alien.”

For two weeks I have been walking every day. It started with around the apartment complex one time, a quarter of a mile, a half a mile and mile and now one and a half miles. I used to walk two miles a day in less than an hour—okay maybe 58 minutes. It has taken me that long to walk one mile and when I walk up the thirteen steps—I don’t know how many steps there are, I’m just supposing there has to be thirteen the way my luck’s been going—my legs feel like I’m wearing ten pound lead weights.

The other day I walked one and a half miles in forty minutes. I was going so fast I passed a beetle like it was standing still, then an old lady with white hair passed me like I was standing still and I got all deflated. Okay,she was walking from the other direction, but still...

This might sound morbid, but I’m actually grateful I had a heart attack, even though I say to myself once in a while, “You’re fifty-nine years old and you had a heart attack.” But I’m grateful I’m alive. I’m eating better now, counting cholesterol, keeping it under eighty milligrams a day. I’ve lost almost ten pounds and the lead weights on my legs are gone. It could’ve been a lot worse. God is so good. Shalom.

Heart Attack (follow up)

It’s now been eleven days since my heart attack. I’ve been walking upwards to a mile a day now, but had to cut back, as when I returned from these walks I would have to sleep for three hours, and now, yesterday, I had palpitations all day. I feel as though I’ve run a marathon.

I was meditating and praying as I read a chapter in the book of psalms, and the name Linus Pauling came into my mind. I hadn’t heard that name for a long time, and I knew he’d done groundbreaking work in the effects of vitamin C fighting cancer. So I googled his name and found that he’d also done groundbreaking work in fighting against clogged arteries. It seems he endorsed taking high doses of vit. C and Lysine. So I ordered some. Maybe? Who knows? I have two more clogged arteries and eventually I’ll have to get stents in them as well.

I woke up the other morning and for some reason I asked God why He loved me? His response before I could sit up in bed was, “Because I hate sin.” I didn’t understand right away what His point was, He can be so cryptic sometimes. Then I realized what He was saying. Adam had brought sin into the world and death. God didn’t hate Adam; He loved him, having created him after his own image. So He devised the plan to destroy two enemies before the foundation of the world—actually three. At the cross, where He shed His blood through Yeshua, the Son of God, he destroyed the first enemy—sin. By this act he was able to reconcile Adam, and all who put their faith in Him, back to Himself.

On the day of the resurrection He will have destroyed the second enemy—death. Then we will be restored back to the same state Adam and Eve were in before they fell. When He finally destroys Satan, then sin and death will no more reign and all of God’s enemies will have been destroyed.

God was telling me, not just that he loved me, but how much, and to what length He has gone through to prove it. I know for some of you, if not most of you, this is not new information. But someone like me, who as a child, never was hugged or told he was loved by his parents, this revelation from God was an epiphany. We are always told that God loves us, and that He died on the cross for us, but I had never quite understood why. He truly loves mankind and wants to restore us to full reconciliation, to be able to walk with us in the cool of the evening in the garden of our soul, He loves intimacy with His creation, and He loves his creation, so much that the pain and death of Yeshua would free us, who believe, from the law of sin and death. Shalom.

Heart Attack

I am thankful for Passover in so many ways. The first and foremost is that Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach became my Passover two thousand years ago, redeeming me from the bondage of sin, and promising me a new life in which He would never leave nor forsake me.

I feel most unworthy of all of that and sometimes wonder how God could even love me that much. When I had a heart attack I again in my formidable fashion blamed myself and counted myself a failure and unworthy. But then as everything unfolded I saw the wonderful hand of God at work.

I had a burning sensation across my chest for about a month and I ignored it. I took pain pills and acid reducers, but when the pain persisted I went to the doctor. Again, God was gracious in my denial and saved me out of my negligence. God is so good. So many people are in denial about the state of their soul, and don’t go to the Great Physician for help. I can see why now. Man no more wants to admit they are in mortal danger of dying in their sin without repenting and accepting the Lord, than I wanted to admit I was having a heart attack.

The initial shock of learning that I had had a heart attack was one of unbelief. When the initial shock wore off and I was scheduled for an angio gram I didn’t panic nor was I afraid. I found myself in a place that I could die and I had accepted that fate. I actually was giddy with delight when the nurses prepared me for the procedure. I hadn’t any drugs yet either.

Recently, I had made a commitment to the death for God and wondered to what extent that would bring me. Was I ready? I have the answer now. Yes. It’s not because I count myself worthy. I know I’m not. I don’t fear death because I love everlasting life so much. The concept of living with the Lord for eternity out weighs my desire to live on this earth--I’m not trying to be brave or heroic here. I am still a failure, an idiot and unworthy. The point is and will be forever on my lips: God is worthy of all praise. He gets the glory for all the good that has recently happened to me because only He could have done all the good that happened. God gave me a great Cardiologist, great nurses, great care, even though they vehemently refused to give me a full body bath and massage. Just kidding. We are told to give God thanks in everything. I believe that is because He is in everything.

So I had one clogged artery and two that are 60 % clogged. The other two had actually made up the difference for the one that wasn’t working. That part of my heart didn’t get any damage because of how the other two compensated for the loss from the one. Do you see how God works? I count myself the most blessed man. That’s because no matter how much I mess up, God is always there compensating for my short comings, and bringing His life giving blood to that area of my spirit that will never die.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Shalom

Passover

This Passover has been especially meaningful to me this year. On Monday, April 5th 2010 I was admitted to the hospital after having had a heart attack. I had been experiencing intermittent chest pain for a month. When it worsened I went to the doctor. An angio gram-- a catheter into the heart—showed one coronary artery completely clogged, while the others had compensated for blood loss to that portion of my heart. Thus, I had no heart damage. The cardiologist placed a stent in the blocked artery.

I was back home three days later. So I literally observed God’s Passover during this time. He saved my life. This is what God did for all of Israelites before he brought them out of Egypt.

On the day that I went into the hospital God had showed me something special about the Passover that I had not seen before. There are many people who insist that Good works lead one to salvation. Of course, good works, called Mitzvah, had been instituted by the rabbis to be a substitute for Temple sacrifices after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E.

But there can be no substitution for redemption of mankind by the blood of the lamb. The protocol for this had been established with Adam and Eve when God gave them clothes made from animal skin. Passover made this blood atonement official and the Temple sacrifices were but an extension of that moment when the angel of death passed over those who were inside their homes with the door post covered with the blood of an innocent lamb.

It was only after God brought the Israelites out of Egypt by the Passover that he then instituted the Torah. God did not give the Torah to Moshe until after He had redeemed them from bondage. This is what God had showed me. If God had instituted Mitzvah in order for redemption then He would have given Moshe the Torah in Egypt, brought them out of bondage and then instituted the Passover in the wilderness.

Blood and not good works is the means of redemption and salvation is predicated upon God’s shedding His blood for mankind when He became the Lamb of God in Yeshua HaMashiach. There is nothing we can do to earn or replace the greatest gift ever extended to man by God. The Passover is by far the greatest Feast Day of the seven. I am very thankful during this Passover season. Shalom.

Too wonderous a God

“There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand: The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a virgin.” (Proverbs 30:18,19)

These enigmatic verses are sandwiched between passages that refer to children that disrespect their parents and adultery. They speak of a relationship between God and Solomon, who has been taken by surprise and intrigue by a God who relates to him from different aspects and directions. Solomon is flabbergasted. God has rocked his world. He sits in amazement at the ways that God chooses to touch his life.

This is how God works in the life of someone who has been spiritually bankrupted. His spirit is broken; he is exhausted with his own efforts, and lays his heart out before God. Like Adam, he first runs away and covers his shame with the closest thing he can find. In Adams case, it was fig leaves. Adam is lost and destitute, having his relationship with God severed. No more evening walks with God.

Adam does not search for God. God comes looking for Adam. And so the relationship has been restored, Adam and Eve removed from the Garden of Eden so they can’t eat of the tree of life and live forever in their mortal condition. By God’s grace he leads them out into a world that will one day bring death and then immortality and incorruptibility at the day of resurrection. He has extended to them His mercy and not His judgment.

And so this is how we must restore our relationship with God. We must abandon ourselves, and by this I mean all of our resources we use to understand God from our perspective. God must come to us and relate to us from His perspective. How He does this is both awesome and wondrous.

God doesn’t shove theology into our faces. He approaches this relationship with supreme knowledge of our most inner selves. He knows everything that makes us tick, what moves us, what hinders us, and what is right and wrong about us. He doesn’t judge us; have unrealistic expectations, or an agenda other than healing what is broken. And in this way we begin to know Him—which is the true intent of theology.

His character is complex. We will never know Him completely, but He wants us to try. Knowing our weakness and our strengths, He comes to us as an Eagle, spreading His protective wings over us. He comes as a wise serpent provoking our attention. He comes as a ship in the sea, tacking in different directions, getting us off course, confusing us with the wind direction, but always calming the sea when we have called upon Him for help. He approaches us with the tenderness of a lover.

He’s the Spirit that comforts. He is the Father who protects and corrects. He is the husband that relates to us intimately. He is in Solomon’s own words, wonderful and mysterious. We know we are in a relationship with Him when we feel off balance and dizzy. We cannot initiate this relationship. All we can do is respond to it.

Dr. Michael Brown

I have not posted anything for the last couple of weeks because I have been reading and writing--things I felt not compelled to blog. But in my eternal quest for messianic believers I have found someone that I feel very much compelled to share with you. The web sit is below. I believe you will find it very interesting if you are seeking messianic relevance in your walk with the Lord, or if you are seeking truth from a messianic perspective. Dr. Michael Brown is a Messianic Jew who has been a follower of Yeshua for thirty-eight years. He has written many books and has debated with rabbinic Jews. Shalom.

http://www.realmessiah.com/

Choices We Make

When I was employed at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, I had to take courses on "Control Theory." It had been a "Twelve step" program when I was hired, having been run by the Salvation Army, until it came under new management of an existentialist elitist. The bottom line was transforming lives and destinies without any adaptation of spirituality. For him God was off somewhere playing golf and had no time for the world He created. Therefore it was his god-like responsibility to take control of his and everyone else's life around him. All it produced however was chaos (which he enjoyed quite thoroughly). He had become his own higher power.

In the right perspective, taking control of life's situations is not totally wrong. However, independent control may not lean toward moral and ethical behavior that can adversely affect other people's lives. If a person desires that kind of control then he should live alone on a mountain top. But manipulating people is like water and air to them.

We have to have some control in our life, God made us that way. It's what we do with that control that is going to make the difference between being human or humane. Ultimately, God is in control no matter what decision we make about our life. So it's really important we make the right choice. I'm sure Pharaoh didn't wake up one morning and say, "Hmm, this might be a good day to have a blood river, flies in my lentil soup and locusts eating up all my corn." Pharaoh had made his choice before God brought all of those plagues into his life, and He would have brought it no matter what Pharaoh was thinking of doing because God had a plan to bring His people out of Egypt and nothing was going to deter His efforts.

If we don't get on the same page with God, He just may remove us totally from His book. People just don't believe that God is sovereign anymore--not since hyper grace was introduced to the masses a few decades ago by evangelists spreading a half gospel. Since then the premise has been "I can do all things" instead of "I can do all things through Messiah who gives me strength." What people don't understand is that grace is not a license for selfishness, but it's contingent upon obedience to God through faith. Instead, they have been content to worship a golden calf of prosperity, eat well and dance the night away--indifferent to God. Let us eat and be merry for tomorrow we die!

When the Apostle Paul died daily to himself he didn't stop controlling his life, he simply gave his life new meaning by allowing God to use Him for His purpose. Paul had a choice, as we all do, and with that God-given ability he chose to put himself in God's hand. If we go through life thinking we don't have any control then we set ourselves up for someone else other than God to control us.

God is very active in His creation. He's not napping on Neptune, meandering on Mars, snoozing on Satu--well you get the point. He loves us more than we can ever imagine and He only desires the best for us. This implementation for His plan for us may differ than the concept we have for ourselves. This is why so many are unhappy and accuse God of indifference toward them and mankind as a whole.

The breath of God can be felt in our daily lives. Yeshua told Nicodemus that no one knows which the way the wind blows, where it comes from or where it is going. I'm sure He was illustrating the Spirit of God, who in the beginning was hovering over the waters, and remains hovering over creation as a faithful and caring Creator. We have only two major choices in life that affect all of our decisions. We either choose to serve God and others, or serve the world and ourselves. Shalom.
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The Change We Really Need

"Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man." (Proverbs 30:2) His wife Shirley probably agreed with him. Okay, so I can relate to this passage more than I care to admit. When ever I make a mistake I invoke the word, "Idiot!" Now I really don't think that I'm an idiot, though I'm certainly not a genius--a word I infrequently use for my brilliant moments. One of my teachers used to say, "Mistakes are wonderful." I concluded that I must be a wonderful person then. The point she was making was that we have a wonderful opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Stupidity is making the same mistake over and over again but expecting a different result. I can assure you this plan doesn't work!

In the past I have taken the road of least resistance too often in order to avoid over taxing my brain, and have done it so well that if stupidity was a legitimate career I would be a millionaire. Learning new ideas and concepts isn't the problem; applying them has been a demanding process involving concentration and consistency, two qualities I'm unfamiliar with. I actually had to look them up in the dictionary. Then I had to look them up again two minutes later.

Suffering from ADD all of my life, (Attention Deficit Disorder) has caused me little in the way of "add-ing" much. They should have come up with an acronym for SUBTRACT, like, "Slow Useless Brainless Too Random And Can't Think." I really don't know how I was able to graduate from school without being held back or smothered to death by the Nuns in my Catholic school. The only thing that saved me was my ability to outrun them. I acted out so much I should have received an Oscar for my performances.

Though I believed in God it wasn't until I was twenty-eight years old that I decided to put my trust in God. I began doing things I never thought I could or was capable of doing. I was able to end a fifteen year relationship with cigarettes and drunkeness. I entered Theological College, read more books, and earned a degree. I was still not a genius, nor would I ever become one.

With the Christianity that I came in contact with it seemed to me that their agenda was to form pews of robots, politically bent to the right, willing to die for God and country at the bequest of any republican president, push morals and ethics with a twist of Jesus, and throw anyone out who threatened their vision. This is the reason I ultimately walked away from Christianity. I knew that it was God who gave life meaning and therefore my purpose in life was to serve Him. I learned the hard way the churches that I attended were work-oriented and not Spirit led. The church was organized by puppet masters who manipulated the strings from a basis of fear, guilt and ridicule. There was no room for spiritual growth in that environment.

We are not called to give our life meaning by pursuing life with passion and sincerity, though that may sound noble. We are called to pursue God passionately and sincerely, allowing Him to work in and through us according to His will. We are to emulate His character and not the world whose desire is to hold us captive it their will. That is accomplished by humility and through death of our own interests. This calls for constant change in our life, for this is a growing experience. It means we don't salute the flag and send our children off to fight wars in the name of God. We pledge our allegiance to God only for He is our banner and strength. The Emperor Constantine, and not God, set the course for Christians to fight bloody battles in this physical world. The believers world is fought in the spiritual realm, with spiritual weapons of mass destruction against Satan, for our citizenship is in the heavenly places; whereupon we patiently await for our redemption to materialize. Shalom.

"The Human Jesus" (Part 3)

The extremely dangerous concepts that Unitarians possess are their indifference to Hebraic history and contextual interpretation of Scripture, their refusal to understand the act of creation and redemption, and to accept the power that God possesses in relationship to His creation and the universe as a whole. That the Spirit of God could create the world and man and thus be referred to as Father, but not make concessions for redemption and thus be referred to as Redeemer is entirely lost on the mind of those who refuse to accept spiritual truth and replace it with worthless religion.

To do this, passages of Scripture must be taken out of context, interpretations qualified by men of their own ilk, and presented with an air of intelligence so that all who do not believe their conceptual principles are lazy and uninformed. But in closely listening to their rhetoric, it is easy to see they are more comfortable waxing philosophical then they are in exegesis of Scripture.

Though Unitarians refer to God as both Spirit and Father they condemn those who adhere to the pluralistic nature of God as Spirit, Father and Son. They can’t even comprehend their own adherence to the plural nature of God. Their main contention of course is with the man Jesus, who they cannot, will not or do not want to accept as their Redeemer. They are content to believe in the Spirit and Father as one but will not see that the Redeemer, the Holy One, is the Son of God and the third aspect of the Spirit and Father. I must ask this of the Unitarians: How can the Spirit of God be God and not the Son of God? That is of course is their choice to ignore and not accept and it will cost them their spirit and soul. Yeshua not only expressed His deity, but He also never denied it in the face of pharisaical accusations. Jesus said before Abraham was I am. That is He existed before Abraham. Thomas said, when he saw Jesus’ wounds after His resurrection, Adoni V’Eli. (My lord and my God) The Unitarians cry fowl, fowl. Thomas didn’t mean that! Right, of course, he meant something entirely different, because that would interfere with your agenda. Though Moses was called God and Judges were identified as gods, they were never identified as “lord and my God.” This personal address by Thomas designated that Yeshua was both adoni (lord) and Adonai (God).

I do agree with them that the “Church” has caused much in the way of pain, suffering and death for those who disagreed with their theology. Of course, Yeshua never followed this train of thought and it was those who did that eventually put Him to death. This is not the way of the Lord and there are many in Church history I’m sure, having followed this evil course of action that will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Unitarians were not the only ones martyred. Jews, Catholics, Protestants were martyred as well.

In summation I would like to challenge you to read and study Scripture, asking the Holy Spirit for insight, and not follow the vain philosophy of man, be they Unitarian, Jewish, Gentile Church Fathers or even myself. If you intend to watch the video “The Human Jesus” do so with a grain of salt, and do not take everything that is said as truth. It is riddled with lies and deception. Only God’s truth will make us free. May God bless you in your endeavor to find Emet (truth) and Shalom (peace).

Yeshua Ben Yosef HaMashiakh

The Tanakh, specifically the Prophets, inform us that God would reveal Himself on earth as man in the form of "Suffering Messiah" and then would come as "Reigning Messiah." They will look on Him whom they pierced is a prophetic statement from Zechariah of the Lord when He returns to Israel and restores the Kingdom to them. The piercing alludes to death and that can only be accomplished by someone who was once alive and then died. Zechariah continues with they shall mourn for Him as an only son. One doesn't mourn for a living only son, unless of course he is a complete imbecile. Isaiah 53 is not Israel, but refers to a suffering man, and that is plainly seen. Ironically, the first century Sages correlated the pierced one in Zechariah with Isaiah 53.

The exact time of His suffering and death was given to us in the book of Daniel. Thousands of Jews, including the wise men--possibly Jews from Babylon--who came from the East were anticipating the Messiah's arrival around the year 4 B.C. E. (Before Common Era). Only the religious hypocrites (Pharisees and Scribes) had denied and not accepted these prophecies, for they were more interested in the kingdom of earth and maintaining it for their own superficial purposes, as all religious people tend to do.

Daniel 9:24-27 gives us the exact time line for the appearance of the Messiah. The time frame is from the decree to rebuild the walls. This was done around 457 B.C.E. The Temple had all ready been rebuilt.516 B.C. So the clock starts at the decree to rebuild the walls, not at the beginning of the captivity, nor at the rebuilding of the Temple. The time is referred to as 70 weeks, 70 times 7 or 490 years. So in 457 B.C.E. the decree went forth to rebuild the walls in troublesome times. When we add the 49 years to the 434 years we have a sum of 483 years. "After 62 weeks Messiah will be cut off." (Daniel 9:26) This 434 years after the first section of 49 years for a total of 483 years. Cut off is the Hebrew word Karat. It means to die. So at the end of 483 years, from the decree to rebuild the walls, the messiah will die. From 457 B.C.E., 483 years later, we come to a very significant date in history. In this year that the Messiah is cut off. Who is he? Some would contend it was Cyrus. But he was not Jewish and the prophecy of Daniel clearly states it concerns his people (Jews). It cannot be Titus either for the same reason. In the year 31 A.D. a Jewish man named Yeshua (Jesus) ben Yosef is crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem. He is literally killed (Karat). No other person during this time qualifies as Messiah. It is a secular historical fact, as having been attested by the Jew, Josephus, who describes His crucifixion.

The Essenes, who lived in Qumran by the Dead Sea, understood the Messiah to be God made flesh for the purpose of suffering and dying for atonement of sins. Understanding the significance of the sacrifices pertaining to the suffering "Lamb" of God, they refused to participate in the Temple sacrifices because they had been corrupted. The first century sages knew this messiah as Mashiakh Ben Yosef, (Messiah son of Joseph) even though they didn't, as far as we know, accept that Yeshua was this person. Nevertheless, about one million Jews at the turn of the first century had accepted Yeshua as the Messiah. One million Jews who knew their Scriptures, believed and trusted God and who accepted Yeshua Ben Yosef as their Messiah!

God is one! He is not three Gods in one. He is not a person and should not be referred to as such. He is Spirit, who created the universe and redeemed man by His sacrifice. Yeshua is the way, the truth and the life. He is the Word (God) made flesh. He did this so His flesh could tempted and die, for God in Spirit cannot die or be tempted, but in the flesh of man it was possible, for He was made like us, under the law to redeem us from the law. Our salvation is dependent upon this personal admission and commitment to the one God of Israel. Shalom and God bless.

Critique of "The Human Jesus" (Part 2)

This section is a long one so don't hold your breath while you reading you could die before you get to end. The British sounding dude says that the "Word" in the beginning was a "Thought." That God had a thought and then created Jesus. But the Bible says that Yeshua was the only begotten of God. Nowhere does it say that the Son was created. When we think created we think of Adam created from the dust of the earth and Eve from one of his ribs. Since then man is begotten because we come out of Adam and Eve. Yeshua was begotten because He came out of God and was not created from the dust of the earth or the stardust of heaven.

The word "Word" in the Hebrew is Davar. In the Greek it is Logos. In both instances it means speech or an utterance. It is a spoken or a written thought. The Hebrew words for a thought that are not spoken are: Zamam, Chashab and Palal. Though the passage doesn't say, as they point out, "In the beginning was Yeshua," it also doesn't say, "In the beginning was the thought." (Zamam, Chashab or Palal).

Did God have a thought? Of course and thank Him very much. But when He uttered the thought it became Davar, or Logos. When God spoke the world into existence He did so by His Davar or logos, His word and not His thought. God said, "Let there be light." His thought then became His word. So John says that the Word, not thought, was in the beginning. The word was with God, and the word was God. Note that last statement: The word was God. It doesn't say a thought was God. Now in verse fourteen John makes it so abundantly clear that Balaam's Donkey could understand. "And the word (God) became flesh (Yeshua) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) Yeshua then says this of Himself, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was." (John 17:5)

Now we come to Psalm 110:1. They hold claim that David is speaking of Adoni and not Adonai. This is true. David uses the word lord in lower case as apposed to Lord God. Let's here what Yeshua says about this verse. "While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, 'What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?' They said to Him, 'The Son of David." (Matthew 22:41) There were two schools of thought in the days prior to and including Yeshua's day. One school of thought was that the Messiah was a human being only, and the other thought was that He was God in the flesh. The Pharisees adhered to the former, while Yeshua's disciples, the Essenes, and anyone else who followed Yeshua believed that Messiah was God in the flesh. Yeshua is clearing up the problem and He uses this Psalm of David as proof that the Messiah is God in the flesh. He uses Hebraic culture and reasoning for this purpose. "He said to them, 'How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: The Lord said to my lord, Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool? If David then calls Him 'lord,' how is He his son?" (Matthew 22:43-45) In Hebraic culture the word lord is used to denote authority or eldership. A father, in the role of both eldership and authority, would never call his son lord. Therefore David would never call a descendant of himself lord. He would call someone who had more authority or was older than himself lord. So the Son of God had to come before David and not after him. Yeshua made his point that the Son of God doesn't come from David but from God. "And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore." (Matthew 22:46) Yeshua, using Psalm 110:1, made it so clear to the Pharisees that the Messiah was the Son of God and indeed God in the flesh that they could not come up with anything more to say about Yeshua's authority. Again this idea is seen when John the Baptist, upon seeing his cousin Yeshua approaching said this of Him. "This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" (John 1:30) Though John was born six months prior to his cousin, Yehsua, John says that Yeshua was before him. John understood that Yeshua was the Lamb of God, the Son of God, and God the Son. They also claim that nobody has seen God. This isn't entirely true. Nobody has seen God in His pure form. Abraham seen God as an "Angel of the Lord." Genesis 18:1 says that Yaweh talked to Abraham. It is quite clear that the Angel of the Lord was God who was clothing himself in a body so Abraham could see Him without dying. Even Moshe saw the back side of God. Jacob also wrestled with the "Angel of the Lord."

In this video, the Unitarians make claim that the Spirit and the Father are God, for they say the Father created the son. This is amazing! How can they then claim to be strictly Unitarian, having said that the Spirit and the Father are God? Yet they criticize Christians and those who adhere to the triune nature of God as pantheist. Are they not "Dualist?" We too believe that the Spirit is God, and the Father is God, but we also claim that Yeshua is God as well. We don't believe God is three Gods, and neither do Unitarians believe that God is two Gods, yet their rhetoric would lean to that belief in establishing the Spirit and the Father as God. Yet they do not see the irony in this! How they cannot see that God can be three and yet not be three Gods is amazing. Do they not posses the ability to see more of one. Rabbinical Jews can see seventy interpretations from one verse but cannot fathom three aspects of God.

They claim that there is no Scriptural evidence supporting the necessity for sacrifice to take away sins and therefore bring salvation. Again, they show their ignorance of Hebraic culture and the Bible. "For when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8) "And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission." (Hebrews 9:22) "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." (Hebrews 10:4) "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:10) "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." (Hebrews 10:12-14)

Again, while condemning Christianity for taking things out of context, they seem to have no problem doing so themselves. They claim that the sole purpose of Jesus' life was to be a model for humanity. Where does it say that in the Bible? Nowhere of course. Though Yeshua was a model of how we should live, the Bible doesn't say that was His sole purpose. They say that Jesus is not God because God cannot be tempted. The man Yeshua was tempted as we are tempted, yet the Bible says, He was without sin. The deity side of Yeshua could not sin because He was God. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If Yeshua was just a man and not God He then could and would sin. He couldn't sin because he was the glory of God on earth in the flesh as man. I will conclude my three parts next week. Shalom.

One God (Part 3)

If we deny the triune nature of God we then deny creation and redemption. Because God chose to create the world and redeem man it doesn't mean there are three Gods in one. But because these are important aspects of creation, God wants and commands us to refer to Him in these three aspects of Himself. The first three words in the Hebrew Bible of Genesis states, "Bereshit bara Elohim." Please note that God uses "three" words denoting creation and the third word describes God in a plural nature. Get it? Three! Bereshit (In the beginning) bara (created) Elohim (God). "In the beginning God created." Three words, three aspects of God, and Elo-heem, the name of God in plural form. We understand God as Spirit. We even understand God as Father. Yet mankind seems to be very ignorant of God as Redeemer. If God is Spirit, and Father, does that make Him two Gods? If we understand God as Redeemer as well does that make Him three Gods? No! Try and understand God as one Spirit, who is Father to His creation and Redeemer to those who will trust in Him.

The following is a quote from the Zohar, which is a rabbinical writing of the first century, and acknowledged by modern rabbinical Judaism as authentic. "The Ancient Holy One is revealed (found) with three Heads, which are united in One, and that Head is threefold exalted. The Ancient Holy One is described as being Three; it is because the other Lights (i.e., two Lights) emanating from Him are included in the Three. Yet the Ancient one is described as being two (Daniel 7:13). The Ancient One includes these two (i.e. the two are found in Him). He is the Crown of all that is exalted; the Chief of the chief, so exalted, that He cannot be known to perfection. Thus the other Lights (Shining Ones) are two complete ones yet is the Ancient Holy One described and complete as One, and He is One, positively One; thus are the other Lights united and glorified in One; because they are One."

Is Yeshua the Redeemer? Is He the Son of God and God the Son? What does God say? Note God is speaking in this passage. It refers to the time when He returns to set up His Kingdom, and He forgives Israel their sins forever like He promised He would. "And I (note personal pronoun) will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they (Israel) will look on Me (note personal pronoun) whom they (Israel) pierced (Killed on the cross) Yes, they will mourn for Him (referring to Yeshua or Son of God) as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10) So God says that one day all of Israel will look on Himself as the one who was pierced. God is identifying this person who was pierced as Himself. Please note again: "They will look on Me." This was spoken of by a prophet who lived more than 400 years before Yeshua was pierced.

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given..." His name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) Please note that the Son who comes to us in the form of a Child has five significant titles, and among the five names two identify the Son as Everlasting Father and Mighty God. So God is declaring that the Son is God.

"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry...Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him." (Psalm 2:12) To put our trust in anyone other than God is idolatry. Therefore the Son is God.

"Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit have sent Me. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go." (YeshaYahu) Isaiah 48:16,17 This is God speaking to His people in the nature of Redeemer who is in agreement with the other two natures of Himself: Lord God and Spirit.
Now how is this possible? Can God have three aspects of Himself and remain one? Of course. I can be three, and I am. I am not three persons, separate from each other however. I do possess the ability to be a son, a parent and a husband. So how can we say that God cannot be three? If you refuse to believe in the triune nature of God then you refuse to accept creation, which is an obvious fact, and redemption of mankind. Without those two aspects of God then we just have the Holy Spirit hovering above the waters. It is what the Holy Spirit did afterwards that makes up the triune nature of God. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This means if you deny and refuse to accept the work of the Holy Spirit in creation and redemption you will have no salvation. I strongly urge you to look into Scripture and let God speak to you on this very important matter. Shalom.

"A Critique of the video, "the Human Jesus."

In keeping with my theme of the triune nature of God, I will critique the "Human Jesus" in three parts. In the first 4 parts of the 12 part series on you tube called "The human Jesus" the British speaking dude called Scripture as "suspect" when dealing with the deity of Yeshua in the Gospel of John. It was quite obvious that what made it suspect to him was that it interfered with his Unitarian philosophy. When religious people don't like what they read in the Bible they just take it out of context or take it out completely.

There was the young guy in a library, trying to at least look intelligent, attempting to infer that Yeshua never referred to Himself as God. Yeshua would like to answer that accusation. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." (John 10:27-30) "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as we are." (John 17:11) Thank you Yeshua for clearing that up.

Then there was the rabbi who was intent on destroying the Hebrew language at the expense of maintaining that God is Yachid (singular one) and not Echad (compound one). The word Echad is used to denote plurality, but Yachid is always used to denote only one. Example: God used one (Echad) of Adam's ribs it denoted that Adam had more than one rib. If Adam only had one rib then God would have used the word Yachid. But when God told Abraham to take his only (yachid) son, Isaac, it denoted he had only one son by Sarah. Echad is used many times in the Bible that is involving more than one, but when dealing with only (Yachid) one then God is very specific. In English we say one egg or one dozen. In Hebrew the distinction is used with Yachid (only one) or Echad (compound one). Rabbinical Jews are quite aware of the implication of the word Echad having a pluralisitic nature. So to resolve the dilemma they simply change the word Echad in the Shema to Yachid.

The librarian looking youth didn't seem quite convinced himself when he attempted to explain the plural word usage for God in Genesis--Eloheem. Something about new and news and news sounding better than saying new. So I guess God thought Eloheem sounded better than Elo. Doesn't news imply more than one story? By the way, when the Hebrew letter "mem" is put on the end of the word it denotes plurality! Those are Hebraic grammatical rules. When rabbinical Jews write about the oneness of God, they simply replace Echad with Yachid. They wouldn't do that if they didn't understand the plural connotations attached to the word Echad. Fortunately, God does refer to Himself using self descriptive words like, "Us" and "Our." Again, Rabbinical Jews and the human Jesus crowd attempt to discredit God by saying these words refer to His Majesty, like when the British Crown uses Us and Our. I didn't know the British Crown was in existence at the creation of the world. I sure wouldn't want to be in their sandals on the day of judgment. I can hear them now. "But God, that is not what You meant!"

The only thing they had right was the damage that the Church Fathers did to Judaism by inferring all of their pagan doctrines and separating from the Jewishness of the faith. Everything they said about them was spot on. The Church Fathers had one bad doctrine after another and it has wrongly influenced Christianity ever since. The fact that Christians adhere to Church Fathers doctrine more than the Bible is a crying shame. The trinity is just a bad doctrine. It is paganism at its finest hour. They took monotheism and turned it into pantheism and labeled it monotheism. Nice trick but it just doesn't fly.

This has opened the door for the "Human Jesus" crowd. They, along with rabbinical Judaism, take the doctrine of the trinity and rip it apart. But in doing so, they also dismantle the Word of God and disrespect Him the process. Until Christians redefine the "Trinity" into proper contextual truth, this attack against the triune nature of the one God is going to continue.

The "Human Jesus" is just a sad attempt at religious people with personal agendas. That is, they use the Bible to promote themselves and not God, kind of like a tick uses a body to suck the blood for nourishment. They are like clouds without any rain, quite full of themselves, very wise, but only in their own eyes. Personal agendas blind people's eyes to the truth. Until next time, Shalom.

One God (part 2)

God, (The Word) according to John became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14) He became son of man when He humbled Himself and was born of a virgin. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: (ot) Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.(God with us). (Isaiah 7:14) This passage pertains to a time period when both Israel and Judah wouldn't have kings ruling over them.

Yeshua said that If you see the Son, you have seen the Father. To have an intimate relationship the Father you must go through the Son. This doesn't, as some believe, mean that Yeshua is standing in front of the Father checking passports. The Father and Son are the same. The Son of God wasn't created or born, He is the only begotten. Yeshua was born the Son of man, as Son of God in the flesh. Son of God signifies His authority in heaven and Son of Man signifies His physical presence on earth. Yeshua said, "Before Abraham was I am." He said the same thing to them that He had said to Moses from the burning bush. "I am who I am." Before He spoke those words to Moses, He conversed with Abraham. And before that He created the world through His voice. John established in his gospel that nothing was made without the word, that the word was God, and the word was with God and the word became Yeshua.

Tertullian, a "Church Father" brought into the body of believers a heretical doctrine based on paganism and pantheism. (That God is more than one) The Bible doesn't teach us that there are three Gods. Hear O Israel, the Lord, the Lord your God, He is One.

The 1st century sages understood this pluralistic nature of God in the Shema. "Hear, O, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4) The triune nature of God is seen with, Lord (Adonai) Our God (Eloheynu) and Lord (Adonai). We also see a triune nature of man seen in the followup passage. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5) "Let US create man in OUR image."

When we pray to God the Father we are addressing one God in the nature of creator. When we pray to Yeshua (Jesus) we are addressing God as the Redeemer. We are not praying to separate Gods. They (the three natures of God) are one, never separating from themselves from one another. That is why Yeshua could say that the Son of God was in heaven and on earth at the same time. (John 3:13) Even the Zohar, (kabbalah) states that there is a triune nature of God, but doesn't say that there are three Gods agreeing with each other.

What did Stephen mean when he said he saw Yeshua sitting down at the right hand of the Father? Did Stephen say he saw two Gods, one an old, bearded man and a young Son sitting next to Him? Absolutely not! God's right arm signifies His power and position. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt by a strong hand. What Stephen saw that day was Yeshua sitting on the throne in power and glory. This is how God is ruling from heaven and one day on earth. He has given all authority to the nature of His Son. That is, He has chosen to rule in the nature of Yeshua our Redeemer. God has done this because the plan of redemption two thousand years ago was, and is, the most significant act God has ever devised and implemented. God (One) has chosen for mankind to see Himself one day and it will be in the form of Yeshua, the name above all other names, because of His redemptive plan, something that no person or religion could ever accomplish.

For those who have put their trust in a messiah that they claim is only a man and not God, though it be Jesus, or a future messiah, I must conclude you certainly don't ascribe to monotheism. There is only one God, who is our Creator and Redeemer, and who we must only worship. Messiah is our Redeemer, who brought His Temple (body) to earth. This is why it was so important for God to have had a Temple (House) built for Him to dwell, though He stated that there was no building that could contain Him. It was to show mankind His intention of coming to earth in a fleshly Temple for the purpose of sacrificing it for the redemption of mankind. That is why every furnishing in the Temple symbolizes God and His purpose to perfection. The House of God was a constant reminder of God's plan to dwell with Israel in the flesh. Until next week, Shalom.

One God

In keeping with the theme, I shall present this subject in three parts. God is one. No one has come before Him and no one will come after Him. In the beginning God created the heaven and earth. Genesis describes God, as Spirit, hovering above a void and formless earth. In the English translation the name "God" is used. But in the Hebrew the plural name of Eloheem is used. (A Hebrew word ending in the letter Mem signifies plural) God contemplated a plan that would involve creation and redemption of man. The Spirit of God saw in advance how man would be separated from Him by sin. (disobedience) So He created everything and by that act of creation He became Father to His creation. In His redemptive plan to save mankind, He implemented a sacrifice of Himself. This is witnessed in the Temple sacrifices established by God and every sacrifice that has ever been offered to God by our patriarchs. God therefore became the Redeemer, the Holy One, who is also called Son of God. Yet He remained only one. He did not break off into three sections that day. He remained one, only with three very distinctive natures about Himself. He forever remains, Spirit, Father to creation and Son for redemption of mankind, yet He is and always will be one. Because God's plan for creation involved three aspects of His nature, He identified Himself with a pluralistic name.

This concept of the Father and Son being One may be fully comprehended in the following passage. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) When we break this passage down we see that God indeed devised a plan upon which He would be miraculously born into the world. This Son which is born is also described as God and Father. This dismisses the idea that the Son is not God. Now we don't have more than one God. How can we?

Throughout the first part of creation the book of Genesis refers to God with plural grammar. With the creation of man He says, "Let us make man in our image, according to our image." "So God created man in His own image." This negates any commentary that would infer that God used the image of angels or the earth in the creation of man. In referring to the Tower of Babel He says, "Let us go down and confuse their speech." When God says He is one He uses the word Echad, which is a plural word, like an Echad of grapes or a dozen eggs is an Echad of eggs. The singular word for one is Yachad. So how can God be one and refer to Himself in the plural? God didn't create three persons of Himself, separate yet agreeing with Himself. He remains one, yet He has chosen that three very distinct natures of His oneness would be involved in creation.

We may infer a distinct nature in man's creation that can help us understand this complex paradigm. God is not man, nor a person, nor three persons, nor three Gods. Adam was created as one. When he married Eve he became a husband. And when Eve gave birth to their first child he became a father. Now Adam had three distinct natures about himself but that didn't make him three persons. He was a son to his Creator, a husband to his wife and a father to his child, yet he was only one. Though God is not a person, man has been created in God's image. In this same principle, God, always existing but never having parents, created man and became a father, redeemed mankind and became a Son, or redeemer, or even a Husband. But He didn't become three Gods, but remained One with a pluralistic nature.

Rabbinical commentators, such as Rashi and Rabam, have dismissed the pluralistic nature of the one God by suggesting God is referring to creation or the angels when He makes statements like "Our Image. They also contend God is speaking of Himself in the plural sense of royalty. This idea is nonsense, as the speech of the English royalty didn't exist at creation. However, they were not able to explain away references to the Holy One, Redeemer and Son as easily.

"Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him." (Psalms 2:12) Two things we must look at here in this passage. First God acknowledges that we must have an intimate relationship with the Son in order to live. Second, God requires that we put our trust in the Son. Now we know that God is one, and to put our trust in anyone other than God is idolatry. God would never tell us to commit idolatry, for He has established to His people that we are to only love God as one. We must therefore conclude that the Son is God, and that He has established Himself as redeemer, or Holy One, for the plan of redemption. This complex nature of God was appreciated by those who wrote the Scriptures. (Old Testament) They were always looking into and wondering about God's character as it pertained to the Son. "Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, if you know?" (Proverbs 30:4b) Until next time, Shalom.

Got God?

Apostate religion, like the gods they worship, have more than one definitive purpose for their existence. Mainly, however, what distinguishes their "doctrines of death" from life-giving-grace is their insistence upon another source other than the Bible as established truth, and the big one--that man is not saved by faith alone.


Well, this preposterous second conceptual idea can have no basis without having established the first one. Therefore they must, in order to reform God's plan of redemption, eradicate the source of their contention. A new constitution takes the place of God's forever covenants without so much as batting an eye.

It's always the same old, boring story. I can do better than God. He is not sufficient for me, and could not possibly have the power to put all of His thoughts together in one book. I mean, okay, create the world in six days, but come on, create one source of truth for all mankind to rely upon for salvation. Do you think I'm an idiot? Yes!

Religion is created in order to manifest one's self as a god. Sorry, there is no other explanation. It's been going on since and before the tower of Babel was constructed. I think Lucifer had the idea first, then whispered it into the ears of anyone who would listen. The little snake-in-the-grass started with Eve, who whispered it to Adam; then the whole idea caught on rather rapidly.


Man cannot possibly be saved by faith alone. That is what all religion tries to sell the general public. There are of course a lot of buyers. How? They establish that the word of God is not the sole source of knowledge. They say that there is not one scripture reference to support salvation by faith alone. Yes, they are right. There is not one, but about twelve and all predicated upon truth from the Old Testament--the book they hate the most--Abraham being the example of salvation based on faith alone. Even this concept is lost on Protestants who think Old Testament saints were saved by the works of the law, and all New Testament saints by grace. The main thrust of Paul's gospel message is faith without works for salvation. The book of Romans and Galatians take up most of the passages, with Ephesians 2:8,9 being the coup de gras. Funny isn't it, that the city that perpetuated the concept of faith on works has a complete book devoted to them that states the opposite? Oh well, I guess reading isn't one of the favorite past times for citizens of Rome.

The truth is found in Scripture. Where else would it be found? Can man apart from God create truth? According to apostate religions it can because salvation apart from faith alone is necessary for their system to function. Religion is all centered around the individual. That is how you can tell if they are apostate. God is not sufficient for them. Listen to their rhetoric. It is a process of lifting one's self up, like Lucifer, putting themselves in control, elevating their own works above God's redemptive work on the cross, always adding and subtracting from the Bible. Their religion is the true and only way to salvation. Where God fits into their scheme of salvation is not fully understood, because all they talk about is everything but Him. Anytime someone says their religion is the only way, my advice is to get out of their way.

Yeshua is the way, the truth and the life. We can do nothing apart from Him. Those who try to justify themselves by works for salvation have not received the grace of God necessary for salvation. Any religion that elevates themselves above the truth of God by dismissing the word of God will fall like Lucifer, forever condemned, and put in a place where they won't have to be around the God they seem to hate so much. Want salvation? Get God! Want death? Get religion! Shalom.

Ephesus (part two)

"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent." (Rev. 2:5) Though the engine that drives the religious body--the church or synagogue you attend--would strongly disagree, I contend that maintaining individuality while remaining God dependent is the pathway to wisdom and knowledge of God. There is no such thing as corporate salvation, only fellowship with believers of the same mind. The body of believers is not a building that collects bodies and money once a week for the express purpose of giving one person a platform for generating his ideology. The body is one person gathered together with another person. Where two or more are gathered together there will God be with them.

God should be sufficient. However, religion of today supports a paradigm quite in opposition to the doctrines of Yeshua, who emphasized a quality relationship with God found outside of the synagogue. Works are generated in these environments because the payoff is self gratification. But works apart from God is not equal to faith apart from works. So called leaders in these environments get together behind closed doors to figure out what will work, what will grow their organization. Instead it should be how can we inspire people to love God? There are too many ideas and concepts, too many denominations; all of it inspired by pride and prejudice. Loving God is as natural as breathing and eating, not as complex as religion makes it out to be.

God will never leave us nor forsake us. We are betrothed to Him. That is a binding contract that can only be broken by the Groom. Are works the basis of our marriage, or is love the impetus for our relationships. I would hope you believe the latter. Why does our relationship with God differ then? It shouldn't! "For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one's garments with violence." (Malachi 2:16) That only can mean that it is within our power and choice to leave God, and that is exactly what we do when we act independently from God by imposing works over a relationship of love. A true and effective marriage is two becoming one, with the wife in submission to the husband, and the husband loving the wife the way God loves the body of believers as His Bride. Like any relationship, we become estranged from that person when we make works equivalent to love.

No matter if we try and work for salvation or work because we love God, it is no good if it isn't God, our Husband, who is directing our steps. If we choose to leave the marriage because we want to be in charge, then God has no alternative but to remove the source of our light. When this happens we fall from God's grace and separate ourselves from His presence. This needs correcting and God is telling the Ephesians they are dangerously close to losing their source of light if they continue placing works over love.

There is no room for compromise in our relationship with God. He is the Husband and we, as the Bride, are to be in submission to Him. He is a Jealous Husband who won't put up with spiritual adultery--serving ourselves or any god before Him. "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:3) This is predicated upon our delight in God's instruction (Torah). God only leads those in the way they should go who obey Him. God compared John the Baptizer to a tree planted by the water when He said, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" (Matt.11:7) A reed will not be uprooted, it compromises with the wind and lives. A tree stands firm, rooted and fed by the source, but falls against a greater force placed upon it. John was firmly planted in God's word, never compromised, and eventually was felled by Herod. Spiritual strength trumps physical strength in the economy of God. Our "work outs" should be implemented by internal love that promotes a large heart, and not external iron pumping that promotes a large head. Shalom.

Ephesus

To the messianic congregation at Ephesus: "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil... Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love." (Rev. 2:2,4) Obviously the congregation of believers were on fire for the Lord during the writing of this letter. They had been evangelized and led by both Sha'ul (Paul) and the apostle John, who was a leader in the assembly prior to being taken to Patmos. They started well, but then veered off course. So what first love did they leave and why were they being rebuked for all of their good works? Shouldn't God be pleased with results like this? Evidently something was amiss and needed correcting or else God would remove the lampstand that provided illumination for them.

The key words that will help us unravel who or what the first love was--and is today--can be found in the opening sentence. "I know YOUR works." Work-oriented people must be constantly reminded that we are not saved by, nor are we maintained by OUR works. Paul made it very adamantly clear to the Ephesians in his letter to them when he defined salvation and what proceeds from it. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it (faith) is a gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast. FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Ephesus was a den of iniquity, comprised of paganism, idolatry and wickedness. The body of believers were well established by strong apostolic teaching. We who have experienced the "New Birth" know that it was not of our works but of God's that saved us. Eventually, we may--as I did--have placed too much emphasis on works than on walking with the Lord in faith. It happens to the best of us. Before long we place so much emphasis on the works that we forget that it is God who is supposed to be working through us as we surrender to Him completely as servant to His will. It is not that we loose love for God, but that we loose sight of God working through us. We begin producing works from our own strength, independent from the God we love.

The works are not being criticized here in this letter; the people who forgot that they were God's workmanship are being chastised. God is strongly urging them to repent from doing the works themselves and get back to walking with Him in faith so He can produce the works through them. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.' (John 15:4)

Today we are living in our own Ephesus. Our first love is walking with God in faith apart from any works we produce by ourselves. We are like branches that are deeply rooted in God and watered by His Word. When the branches are no longer nourished by the root they die and don't produce fruit. The Ephesian believers had become disconnected branches from the root which had given them supernatural life. They pursued righteousness with a passion but lacked the source of life from which they had been illuminated with truth. Their works only produced sweat, but no fruit. God, who is no respecter of persons, promises to remove that which doesn't produce fruit from His root.

The Lampstand represents the source of light, which is God Himself. The Ephesians were working independently of the source and God wasn't going to stay where He wasn't welcomed. "Remember therefore from where you were fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent." (Rev. 2:5) Shalom.