Wally World And The Messiah

I was in Wally world the other day and, as my habit is, I was people watching. After my time in Iraq I have found that being around large numbers of people tend to make me nervous, so my eyes are always moving and my head is always in motion as I try to keep an eye on everything that is going on around me. On this particular day though, for some reason, I found myself really looking at the people that were there. It was busy and there was every type of person that you could imagine there. Young couples carrying babies, older folks shuffling along, rather rotund farmers, biker types and old hippies. It’s not that this is an unusual experience to see such a variety of people; it was that for once I found myself making judgment calls based on appearances. Usually I see people as just being people, but for some reason, I was actually basing my opinion of total strangers on nothing more than their appearance. This is so wrong and it’s not like I am some sort of stud monkey. I’m toothless, tattooed and  bald, not to mention somewhat rotund, as some of those that I was judging.

I wonder what would happen if we started treating others, not based on appearance, but as if they were the embodiment of the Messiah. Instead of looking at the dirt and grime, clothing ,tattoos, all things external, we actually started treating people  the way the actually deserve , rather than what we judge that they deserve, I wonder how different things might be.

Maybe that thought is a bit too utopian for the reality of the world we live in today, yet it seems to me that the goal, of both Jews and Christians, is to help usher in the Messianic age, to bring about a time of universal worship of G-D and an end to all suffering. Jesus told his followers that they were to Love G-D with all their heart, mind soul and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. Jewish teaching says that it is not enough to just wait for the Messianic age or the Messiah, but that we must act to make this world a better place, to bring about the age of the Messiah and of universal peace.

How do we do that? Treat everyone as if they were the Messiah.  If you believed that the person sitting next to you on the bus, passed out from too much booze, or the tattooed bald headed guy smelling of grease and dirt was the potential Messiah or that the Messiah lived in them, how would you treat them? With disdain and hatred?  No you would treat them with love and compassion and never even consider the outward appearance. So if you treat all people that way , no matter who they are, with love and compassion, you are, by default, making the world, even just your part of it, better and you are helping to usher in the Messianic age.

Hummingbird Warriors

There are warriors living in the trees behind my house. At least two tribes, though there may be more, and they are in a state of war. One of those tribes, and more specifically their leader, is clearly the more dominate of the two but the fighting, none the less, has been fierce. We have watched their leader use tactics of stealth and camouflage that would make any Marine smile. My wife and I have literally watched pitched battle after pitched battle between these combatants right in front of our faces. In fact some of the fighting has been so close to us that we could have reached out and touched them. Despite this there have been no casualties that I am aware of, and our house remains undamaged.  Did I mention that these warriors are only about 2 inches long?

These fearsome warriors are in fact Hummingbirds. I had never realized just how tough and tenacious these birds can get over food and territory or how little fear they have of humans. In the course of dive bombing each other they have literally been inches away from us and have shown no fear. I remember the day we put up the feeder and flowers for them because even before we had the rod secure in place they were landing six inches from my head and calmly drinking the mix.

The dominant males’ tactics seems to have come straight out of a military handbook. He hides in the trees, remember he is small and green, and he waits for the “enemy” to be fully engaged in the drink before he dive bombs them. Doesn’t matter if it’s a male or a female, he charges them and you can hear them make contact at high speed. It hurts me just to watch it, but it doesn’t seem to slow them down much. There is one female that he is sweet on though, you can tell because he only drives her away a couple of times before he sits back and watches her drink, she generally doesn’t go far when he tries to scare her off and she has been the one who has come so close to us that we could have touched her. Yesterday, as I was watching them, three females ganged up on him and drove him away! It was funny because I could see where he was hiding, and every time he tried to approach they would chase him off.

What is really amazing though is that they don’t kill or even seriously hurt each other over it. I would imagine that there must be some pain involved as they smash into each other at Mach one, but the facts remain that they don’t kill each other on purpose over territory or food and in the end they all still manage to survive.

The thing I really like about them though is their tenacity. They keep coming back determined to get some of the food regardless of how many times they get batted away by the alpha male. They know that there is food there and they are going to have some regardless of the cost.

There is a lesson to be learned.  There are many issues going on in this country right now and while I hear many say that we need to change things, there seems to be a lack of people who are willing to actually do something to change things. The excuse I always hear is that the problem is too big and we are just too small to accomplish anything. What were the founding fathers of this nation if not small in the eyes of the biggest and most powerful nation on the planet at that time? They knew things had to change, they also knew that there were a whole lot of people that weren’t terribly excited about their plans, but despite all those huge obstacles they went ahead with Declaration of Independence and prevailed after many dangers and trials.

My hummingbirds seem to know that if you are going to eat you are going to have to take a chance at getting slapped around and dive bombed in order to do so, yet they don’t cower in fear and they don’t make excuses as to why they can’t get to the feeder they just simply keep at it until they succeed.

Be a Hummingbird.

Confessions of Nehemiah

What would happen if all of us who believe and fear G-D were to come together every day for prayer and confession before G-D? I’m not talking just confessions of our own sins before G-D, but the sins of our ancestors as well? What do you think would happen? What if we took it even further than that and not only confessed their sins, but took them upon ourselves, as if we had participated in those sins of our ancestors and confessed them as if we were the ones guilty of those sins? What would happen?

The book of Nehemiah gives us an idea.

Nehemiah was one of the exiles of Israel living in Babylon, there is not much said about him personally except that he was the kings’ cupbearer, but in the beginning of the book you get an idea of the kind of man that he is. He hears a report of a badly destroyed Jerusalem and is upset to the point of mourning, fasting and prayer before G-D. Starting with verse 4 of chapter one you read his first prayer but its verse 6 that I want you to pay attention to “….. I am praying to you now, day and night, on behalf of the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins that WE Israelites have committed against you, sins that I and my father’s house have committed.” Verse 7 starts off with the word WE, again confessing that they had not been faithful to G-D. He was so visibly upset and so full of grief that even the king noticed and asked him what was wrong, He told the king about the condition of Jerusalem, after saying a quick prayer to G-D, and in the end the king granted that he be able to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls and the temple. There were those that tried to stop them and those that tried to intimidate and threaten them but through his persistence and much prayer he was able to complete the building in 52 days and even their enemies realized that G-D was with them.

In Chapter 9, after the people celebrated the feast of tabernacles, they came together again fasting and in sack cloth, with dirt upon them, and they confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers just as Nehemiah had. Verse 2: “Those of the stock of Israel separated themselves from all the foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Verse three says they did this for a quarter of the day! Can you imagine praying and confession on such a large scale for 6 hours?

The bottom line for them is that the city was rebuilt, as well as the walls and the temple, and all because one man prayed for forgiveness of not only his sins but the sins of his nation and his ancestors. G-D honored his prayer and later all of the people followed his example and did the same and they, once again, were blessed by G-D.

So what would happen if we did that here? What if all of us, who are followers of G-D, no matter the denomination or religion, took time every day to do the same as Nehemiah did? I am not talking about some halfhearted confession of our own sins or pointing out, what we believe to be, the sins of our brothers and sisters. No I am talking about true confession were we pour our hearts out to G-D for forgiveness of our sins and the sins of our ancestors and plead with G-D to bless this nation once again as He has done in the past. We, as a nation, have much to seek forgiveness for, but especially for ignoring and disregarding Him. What makes us think that we are any more special than Israel?  Israel is G-Ds chosen, make no mistake about that, but we are also G-Ds children so doesn’t it stand to reason that just as he punished Israel, that he would punish us as well, when our sins are just as bad?

Some of you will disagree with this, that’s OK, in my world you have that right, but I humbly submit to you that unless we confess our sins, and the sins of our ancestors, the same way that Nehemiah and the people of Israel did, we will never be blessed again. We might have some shining moments, but nothing like we could have with the blessings of G-D.

Shalom

The Mongrel People

Today, once again, I have been reminded of the amazing things that G-D is doing in the world, fulfilling bible prophecy, despite a concerted effort by all that is evil in the world to stop it.

All through the prophets you read about the return of G-Ds children to the land of Israel, the number of times it is mentioned would take me to long to write, but it always starts with the tribe of Judah being the first to return and then it moves on to the rest of the tribes. Today we have over 6 million of the tribe of Judah now living in Israel and more are going there every day. If every Jewish person in the world, who knew for a fact that they were Jewish, were to go to Israel it would be somewhere around 13 million or more, however that is not likely to happen. Too many of the Jewish people who live here in the exile are comfortable here and many more don’t believe in the idea that they are G-Ds chosen so they scoff at the idea of returning to Israel.

I don’t claim to speak for G-D, but I do think I may have an idea of what He is doing to make up for those people who refuse to go home from the exile.

An orthodox Jewish tradition says that only a certain percentage of the Hebrews left the land of Egypt after an amazing deliverance by G-D. They had become so used to their bondage and slavery that the thought of taking a chance in the wilderness looked scarier than the idea of remaining slaves and so they stayed behind to fade away into history. G-D, however, had a plan. He brought out a mixed multitude of Egyptians along with the Hebrew slaves. Exodus 12 :38 JPS” Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them..” the words “mixed multitude” literally means a “mongrel race” suggesting that many of those who went with them were a mix of peoples, perhaps even a mix of Hebrews and Egyptians, and I think that this may be a precursor as to what is going to happen soon.

One of the things that I have learned about G-D is that He has lots of patience. He warned the Israelites what was going to happen to them if they didn’t change their ways but He also gave them a lot of time to do so. They didn’t change and eventually the things He said would happen did. This, I believe, is going to happen again in the near future. G-D has been calling the Jewish people out of their exile for the past 60 years or more and while many have listened many more have not. G-d isn’t going to wait forever and this is where I think I may have an idea of some of what He has planned.

You see I have witnessed this very unusual phenomenon of Jews and Gentiles getting together in relationships and leaning towards Judaism as the way to raise their families. I am not saying all of them mind you, but it has proven to be true at least amongst those that I know. I had another example of that shared with me today.  On top of all that you have many people, who are of the nations, entire families of people, as well as individuals, who are, in mass, turning to the G-D of Israel and rejecting the religions of their fathers. Even amongst many Christian groups they are now turning toward the G-D of Israel and the Torah looking for the answers. In short the nations of mixed people, all us mongrels, are looking to the G-D of Israel for the answers, and as a result we have come to love the G-D of Israel and His Torah.

Here are two verses, out of many, that I want to share with you. That give an idea of what I think is about to happen.  The first is Isa.11:11-13

It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth. Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

Hosea 2:23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

So what I think is going to happen is simple. G-D is going to wait only so long for all of the tribe of Judah to leave the exile and return to Israel and then He is going to open the way for those who have a heart for Israel and a love for Him and the Torah. Israel’s borders will expand with the numbers of those who will come and Jacob will have to expand his tent.

Can I prove that this is the way it will happen? No. But if history is any example and if you believe, as I do, that the prophecies will happen,  then I will say that is all the proof I need.

Read the prophets, decide for yourself.

Shalom.

All The Nations Will Come

I love where I live. In case you don’t know my family and I live up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. These are not the tallest or grandest mountains this world knows but they are the most beautiful, in my humble opinion anyhow, and its home. In the short period of time that we have been here we have seen deer and turkeys and a bear. We have a Yellow bellied sap sucker that is very comfortable with us as well as a Scarlet Tanager that likes to visit and we have quiet.

But what is it that makes a mountain beautiful? Is it the trees, the birds and the animals? Is it the quiet that we have or the sounds of the wind as it blows through the trees? I don’t think so. It certainly is a part of it and, I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but truly what makes this so beautiful?  I believe it is all the things that I mentioned but also it’s the presence of G-d in our home and in our hearts that really make this a beautiful place.

According to Isaiah though there is going to be a mountain that is far better than anything we have ever experienced before. It is going to be a mountain that calls to our very souls and will bring all of us to us to worship G-d the way He was meant to be worshipped.

Isa.2:2-3 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

It doesn’t say that it’s going to be the most beautiful mountain, though I think that if G-D is there its likely to be wonderful, but it is going to be a mountain that all of us are going to want to go to. The passage says that the nations are going to flow to it and that the peoples of the world are going to say let’s go to the mountain of G-D and to the house of the G-D of Jacob to learn His ways.

Right now Israel is under attack from enemies both in and out of their own country. They get some of the nastiest press worldwide from those that want to see them destroyed and yet here is a promise for both Israel, and those of us  who love Israel, that a day is coming when all of us are going to want to go to Israel to the Mountain of G-D in Jerusalem and from there peace is going to overflow throughout the world.

So what makes a Mountain beautiful?  The presence of G-D.

Shalom

Ephraim Is My First Born

Saturday morning my wife and I were having our coffee, out back on the deck, and were talking about just where it is that we fit in the grand scheme of things. We don’t belong to any clubs or social groups and, because we are non-Christians in a Christian dominated society, we don’t even have any church affiliation. We are literally alone. Yes, I have a blog or two that I can write, and hopefully my wife can find a local homeschool group for her and the kids, but the reality is that there just isn’t any group out there that really matches what we need. I have never heard of any churches or homeschool groups that have non-Christian, yet G-D fearing agenda, most of the time they are either Christian or Jewish or just secular in nature. I can’t just run around the corner and find a local congregation or group that quite fits what we are looking for. So the question of where we fit has been a constant question for the both of us.

Then yesterday a friend of mine, who is Jewish and lives in Israel, posted something on FB that reminded me that I do belong somewhere and that G-D does have a plan for my future and that it will be better than anything I have ever known.

Jeremiah 31:9 JPS “They shall come with weeping, and with compassion will I guide them. I will lead them to streams of water, by a level road where they will not stumble. For I am ever a Father to Israel, Ephraim is My first born.”

This brought me to tears and at the same time brought me much comfort.

The reason that this means so much to me actually starts at the end of the verse with the phrase “Ephraim is My first born.” It is my belief, based on research found on a website called Brit Am and my own study, that many of us here and in Europe, particularly the coastal countries, are descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. You may disagree with that notion if you wish, but ask yourself this question; if my ancestors came from (pick your country) where did their ancestors come from? Historical records, biblical accounts, as well as many cultural traditions, would suggest that many of us are actually descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.

So keeping that thought in mind, when G-D speaks of Ephraim or Manasseh or just straight out calls Israel by name, He is speaking of us. Therefore the promises of bringing Ephraim home and restoring him to his land and birthright as children of Israel belong to us.

So the verse was a reminder to me, and I hope to you as well, that while we may not see everything at this moment, while we might feel very alone, G-D has a plan for our future and He has promised to return us back to our heritage.

Shalom

Miracle of Moving

What a difference a week makes. Last week at this time my family and I were finishing up packing so we could move out of the town we were in, up into the mountains ,where we are now. What total insanity and chaos it was, but oh what peace and quiet we have now. We went from constant noise, from early in the morning to late at night , continuous traffic, sirens and such, to the sounds of the wind, birds and rain. What a difference.

I should point out to you that, financially speaking, we were not quite prepared to move. At the beginning of May we hadn't even been really looking , so we had started off the month paying the rent and our bills and getting the things that we usually do with out a inkling of a thought that we were going to move soon. The house we were living in had issues, mold and mildew, due to a leaky roof and a lack of insulation but after looking hard and long during February and March ,as our lease was about to end, we hadn't been successful in finding anything, so we decided, in April, that we would stay put until we could afford to buy again.
Having made that decision, once again, I learned that G-D has plans that generally do not involve our timing or even our efforts filled with hidden miracles.

On the second day of May, my wife was on line just glancing at adds for places to rent, not a hard search mind you, just kind of glancing as she was looking for something else, when she ran across an add for this place. She told me about it and showed me the pictures ( she found them on a real estate page later that day) and asked me if I thought it was worth a call. We were somewhat reluctant, because of all the fruitless searching that we had endured, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to make a call so I told her to go ahead. My wife called and talked to the owner for quite awhile, and he seemed interested in meeting us, but he told us that he had others that were ahead of us that he had to talk to and that he would call us in the next week.

We basically figured that was the last we were going to hear from him. Eight days later he called us back and wanted to know if we were still interested in looking at the house. We made the arrangements to look at in the afternoon and, to make a longish story short, shortly after we got home he called to offer us the place. This was the 10th of May. We made the arrangements to move in on the 29Th.

So we now had three less then three weeks to make arrangements to move,pick up some things that we needed, and pack. Just to add a little more fun to it, I had what was left of my bottom teeth removed right in the middle of all the packing.

 The house we found is the kind of place that we have been looking for our entire lives together. It is way out on a dirt road up on a mountain. We are surrounded by trees and usually the loudest thing we hear now is birds or the wind. It seems to us that finding this was a miracle, however the financial part was the real surprise miracle.

We had very little money to work with,especially after putting a deposit on this house, yet we needed to get a refrigerator, a propane tank, and rent a truck, not to mention paying for the gas of that truck, and still eat and live while packing. Neither one of us thought that we would make it to moving day with any money left.
Obviously we did manage to get here, but when we sat down to balance the check book,we found that we had spent more money then we actually had prior to being paid. We were trying hard to be careful with what we spent but somehow we went over and yet nothing bounced, nothing was rejected, we never noticed and here we are.

Next morning as I was pondering this I ran across a proverb that I thought I might share because it seems to answer my question as to how or even why we were able to do this with literally nothing to spare.

Proverbs 1:33 " But he who listens to me will dwell in safety, Untroubled by the terror of misfortune."

I don't suppose any of us really listen to G-D the way we should, though I'd like to think that we try, but when it became obvious to us that we weren't getting anywhere in our search we took the hint that G-D was telling us to wait and stopped and when the time was right, when we weren't really looking we found this house. The misfortune would have come on the day we moved because, technically speaking, we were flat out broke, but we weren't aware of that fact and, as I said earlier, it wasn't until we balanced the check book that we found we had some how gone over what we had.

You may come to your own conclusions. I can only tell you that we listened to G-D and here we are.
Shalom