The Fast Of G-d

While reading in the book of Isaiah I ran across a passage that really got my attention. It's not that I haven't read it before it's just that , for some reason ,it spoke loudly to me.

Isa. 58:6 -7 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen:To loose the bonds of wickedness,To undo the heavy burdens,To let the oppressed go free,And that you break every yoke?Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;When you see the naked, that you cover him,And not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Lately I have read plenty of stories of many of the “sanctuary cities” and their homeless populations. I have read of tent cities in tourist areas, used needles everywhere, as well as public defecation. I have also read where local “authorities” have forcibly removed the homeless, and have destroyed what little they have. I am not saying that these conditions are something that should be tolerated but I do think there has to be a better way to handle it rather then just trying to hide away the problem.

I have also read where good people have tried to help. Everything from free shampoos and shaves, to food and shelters. Churches and Synagogues and their members, literally out on the streets giving out blankets and personal items. Children and older folks giving out sandwiches or lemonade. Honest and good people trying to do what's right.

Many of those same people, all over the country, by the local governments, have been stopped. Many fined ridiculous amounts and some even arrested, and their equipment taken, and sent to jail for simply wanting to help.

Back before the “great society” was pushed by the politicians, this so called “war on poverty,” Americans took care of each other. Even during the depression many people sacrificed to help out their neighbors as best as they could. They didn't need the government telling them to do it, or forcing taxes out of them to pay for it, they did it because it was the right thing to do. Now individuals and groups are told they cannot help, so where does that leave the homeless and the helpless? Stuck.

If we as a people went back to the “old school” way of thinking as is spoken of in the verses above(5-7) we would be so much better off. Might even solve most of our major problems. This is a promise of G-d.

Isa.58 8-11 Then your light shall break forth like the morning,Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’“If you take away the yoke from your midst,The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul,Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

How we treat the poor and needy in this country says a lot about our future ,or lack thereof.

Peace out.

Have I mentioned Fairies?

Do you know what's in your bible? What I mean is do you know what is actually in the scriptures?

I grew up in a very religious world. I went to a Christian school where we learned all our various “proof texts” to be able to prove, to everyone else, those not in our denomination, just how “wrong” their doctrines were.

After leaving that denomination, oddly enough over doctrinal issues, I became a pastor in a different denomination and made an astounding discovery, most of the people in the congregation never read their bibles. They would talk about having to work and not enough time, and I understand those things, but if you don't read it, the scriptures, I could tell you anything and you'd never know the difference.

Let me show you what I mean.

If I told you that the bible talks about unicorns would you believe me? The gut reaction is to say no. You'd be wrong.

The original KJV of the Christian bible has at least three references to the unicorn.

Deut. 33:17

“His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.” See Psalms 22:21 and Isa. 34:7

These are just three verses. Today's modern translations usually translates it as “wild oxen” but originally they were unicorns.

What about giants?

You don't have to go far and there are numerous references to them.

Genesis 6:4

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. See also Deut. 2:11, 3:11, Numbers 13:33, there are more but these are a start.

What if I told you the bible speaks of ghosts? I brought this one up in a sermon once, and a elderly gentleman in the congregation spoke up and said “you mean the holy ghost” and I surprised him because I said” yes the holy ghost is certainly mentioned many times”, but I was speaking of he spirits of the dead. Crickets....again people really need to read it to know what's there.

Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, Deuteronomy 18:11 all warn the children of Israel not to have anything to do with “wizards” who have “familiar spirits” that “chirp and moan.”

1Samuel 28 is the story of Saul facing the Philistines and because G-d isn't speaking to him he is afraid and seeks out a woman who has a “familiar spirit” (she is actually called a wizard rather then the modern versions calling her a witch) once she is found he has her call up Samuel from the dead and he appears. The woman freaks out when she realizes that it is indeed Samuel and she claimed that she saw others though she called them “gods”.

Even in the Christian NT. The disciples of Jesus thought they were seeing a ghost when they were on the water. It's there you just have to look.

The next one you have to figure it out on your own because it doesn't explicitly say this but I believe that the description of what was seen is describing a UFO.

2 Kings 2:11 speaks of Elijah being taken into heaven on a “fiery chariot” with “horses of fire” and a whirlwind. Sounds to me like someone trying to describe something that they can't explain but the best example is found in Ezekiel chapter 1.

This book and chapter was considered so controversial that it almost didn't make it into the Christian bible. Even today you can get into quite a lengthy debate on exactly what Ezekiel was trying to describe but for me it sounds remarkably like aliens and a UFO. Go read it for yourself and then you decide.

The real point of all the above is that if you don't read, you will never know the truth of what's in the scripture and you could be easily mislead.

Have I mentioned fairy's?

Peace out.

Another dream.

Last night I had a dream. I do not claim to be a prophet, this must be clearly understood, but I do believe that G-d sends warnings to those who love and serve him.

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;

and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth— blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

Joel 2:28-30

“Your old men shall dream dreams.” I am technically not old unless you compare my age to the life expectancy of those in the day that verse was written, none the less, I have had a dream that I am going to share with you, do with it as you will, but take it seriously.

In this dream my wife and I are in the city of Jerusalem, more specifically the “old city” where we were living in a house and we were rejoicing in the fact that we were there in Jerusalem.

I heard a voice that said to me one third of the people of the city are gone as well as a third of the worlds population. I went outside after I heard this voice and realized just how quiet and dark it was. I sat down on a bench and started shinning a light on the empty windows and was horrified when I understood what exactly 1/3 actually meant. It was also then that I realized that the darkness that I was seeing on the street was the kind of dark that is so thick that you can't see anything through it.

The rest of the dream was personal to me, but I woke up with much fear as to whats to come.

I believe that it means exactly as it says, that 1/3 of the worlds population, is going to be destroyed, why and how was not revealed to me, but when I consider all the massive saber rattling going on, all the destructive, man made diseases out there, it doesn't take a lot of guessing.

One hope I take from the dream is that we might actually get to be in Jerusalem. This is a text I read this morning , it was not planned that way it was simply there.

Therefore say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will even gather you from the people and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’

And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh,

that they may walk in My statutes and keep Mine ordinances, and do them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 11:17-20

Shalom.

The Pope

Why is everyone going gaga over the pope? Have nothing against him personally, I don't know the man, but I do know the church that he represents and it's history. Seems that we,as a nation, have forgotten.

Four hundred years ago the Puritans escaped Europe, that was essentially controlled by the Roman Catholic church, to come to “the new world” They wanted the freedom to worship God as they chose, not as dictated to them by Rome or the king, who was little more than a puppet of Rome.

They went through hell trying to establish a toehold in this land and while they were not perfect, they had issues of religious freedom themselves as well as issues with the natives, but it was worth it to them because they wanted to escape from the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church. Prior to that time the Catholic church had spent hundreds of years persecuting and killing those who disagreed with them,especially among the Jews, but many others were tortured and burned at the stake for no other reason than they disagreed with the church or they had a scientific point of view that flew in the face of the churches dogma. Someone once said that if it hadn't been for that kind of oppression we could have landed on the moon 500 years earlier then we did.

Back in the colonial days of America most people were against anything that even looked like “Popery”They didn't celebrate Christmas or Easter or any other day that looked even remotely catholic. The reason the Irish were treated so badly when they first came to the US was because they were not only Irish but they were practicing Catholics.

Most of the protestant churches used to believe that the Roman Catholic Church was the “beast” spoken of in the book of Revelations and Daniel, yet now the Pope is considered to be the head, at least according to the media, of the worlds 2.1 billion Christians, how did that happen? How can it be that a nation that was essentially founded on religious freedom, fleeing from the church ,has now come to embrace it? Has the the Pope or the Catholic Church apologized for the murder of hundreds of thousands, if not more, over the years? Have they apologized or made amends for the countless civilizations that they destroyed because the people were heathens to them? Have they made any kind of restitution or reform that would convince you that they have changed?

The church says that the Pope is infallible and that he represents God on earth. Really? I don't think so. He is no more than a mere mortal man , just like the rest of us. We don't need him or anyone else to advocate for us before God ,that's what Christians used to believe,and that's what both Jews and Muslims still believe. I know that the Roman Church has put a new friendly face on their church but the bottom line is that they crave power and world domination as they once had and they will use any means to do it.

You don't have to believe me, go read the history, go see how they adopted customs (think Christmas) that was originally pagan in origin, read how that changed a few things about those holidays and created a new religion out of. Look how they adopted various idols and changed the Sabbath,even though the bible speaks against it, and then read how they treated everyone who has disagreed with them.

Even now,as he visits the US he is using the pulpit to press forward popular opinion and political views all the while speaking of religious freedom. He knows that if he can get the praises of the people,especially those here in the US, then he will be well on his way to the real agenda of the church and that's religious and political domination. They have done it before , they will do it again, if we allow it.

Open Your Hand To The Poor

It has been said that this country was founded on Judeao/Christian principals. I tend to agree, though I don't think that all of the men involved were necessarily religious, as we think of religious, yet they knew that the best laws to be found were found in the Hebrew scriptures and ,as a result, many of our original laws and rights, as found in the constitution,were based on those laws. Yet somewhere along the way, especially in the last 50 years or so, we have lost our way and have forgotten those laws. In particular the laws of G-d that pertain to how we treat each other.

I realize that for many of you, when you think of the laws of G-D, think of the 10 big ones, known as the 10 commandments, not realizing perhaps that there are another 603 laws that follow. Many of those laws, in all fairness, have to do with the sacrifices and the duties of the priests in the temple or are to be only done in the land of Israel, but there are a whole set of laws that deal with domestic issues such as slavery, idol worship and how to treat the poor , orphans and widows.

As an example, farmers were told to leave the edges of their fields for the poor “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God. Lev.19:9. Elsewhere( in Exodus 23 )he tells them to leave the fields to rest during the 7^th year sabbatical year and to let the poor harvest whats there. The point of it was that the needy were to be taken care of by those that were better off. It did come with a blessing as well that if they did this they would prosper even more.

This is especially emphasized in Deut.15 when Israel is receiving the laws concerning debts. G-d is essentially telling them to not be stingy with their resources. Even if the 7^th year ( when all debts were forgiven ) was almost upon them, that they should still freely give to those in need. Verse 10 “Give to him readily and have no regrets when you do so, for in return the Lord your God will bless you in all your efforts and in all your undertakings.

They were not to hold back or even question the timing, just simply give and again there would be a blessing.

These laws were not just given to individuals but to the nation of Israel as a whole. See Deut 4.

They collectively heard these words that G-d gave to Moses and the collectively agreed to follow them. To this day, if you visit Israel you will find that they take care of all their people and services aren't based on ability to pay.

So what has happened here in the United States? We are supposed to be a nation that was based on these very same laws as the ancient Hebrews yet we tend to treat the poor with scorn rather then compassion, we worship at the altar of the wealthy while mocking and shaming the old and the poor, condemning them for being so.

We could feed the world and bring it healing but instead we worship profit even when it destroys people. We could easily fee the poorest of nations in the world but there is no money to be made so we don't.

Do you know why G-d actually destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and ancient Israel? It wasn't their sexual practices, as some try to suggest, it was their refusal to worship G-d and their lack of hospitality and caring for the poor. See Isa 3:8-9, Jeremiah 23:13-14 and especially Ezekiel 16:49-50.

Does any of this sound familiar?

We claim to be a nation that follows the book, yet our actions,(collectively not necessarily individually) would seem to suggest otherwise.

I have read and have seen clips showings cities and communities destroying tents that housed otherwise homeless people because it didn't look good or wasn't in some approved place, you know out of sight and mind, or read of church groups no longer being allowed to feed the homeless because suddenly they needed expensive paperwork to get approval to do the very things that G-d has commanded them to.. Time and again cities seem to be going out of their way to suppress the homeless rather then help them, so that they might attract more tourists. Time and again politicians seem to be bent on ripping the carpet out from under the neediest in our society while they are living high on the hog and giving massive breaks to big corporations. This is wrong and goes against the very laws of G-d that we are claiming to be based upon

Our sins are no different than those of ancient Israel or Sodom. We have tossed G-d under the bus as well as Israel. We have turned a blind eye to the poor and needy, not just here but around the world, and have, collectively, turned to worshiping at the altar of money, greed and power.

We need to get back to the real biblical principals. Love G-d with all your heart, keep His commands and take care of the poor and needy. If we do these things, just as Israel, we will be blessed again.

Deut. 15:11 “For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open you hand to the poor and needy kinsman in your land.”

Can you feel it?

Something is wrong in this world. I know you can feel it. Even the most optimistic of people seem to be scratching their heads and asking what is going on? It seems that evil, on a massive scale, is gaining more and more control over the events in this world and I am truly saddened. Worse is I am saddened by people who could do something about it sitting silently by or are using it as some sort of political tool to point fingers at their collective opponents to earn brownie points with their constituents.

Politics and power have become the driving force behind our government and really all the governments of the world, corporations are the ones writing the laws and our so called representatives reap the benefits.

I watched a news clip out of Georgia, that a friend has posted on FB, where this kind of thing was going on. They had Sheriff dept. deputies there to keep the news crew out but the bottom line was that they essentially caught the politicians voting on legislation that the corporations wanted and then money was given to the politicians through a different agency that's supposed to be some sort of “education fund” for the politicians. I am sure that none of this surprises you, what does surprise me is that more news organizations haven't picked up on this, this is the kind of stuff they live for and you know that if it's happening in one state it's likely happening in all of them not to mention the Federal government.

If this is not enough, Five service members gunned down by a radical Jihadist all because of his perverted view of his religion. Whats the governments answer? No ,not to defend themselves ,but to not wear their uniforms to work. Worse yet is that the president says almost nothing about it in his weekly Saturday address. I guess I know where service members really stand with this bunch. Then again what should you expect from them when veterans are treated like crap at the VA.

Next we have, Nine people killed by a radical white supremacist ,while they were in church at a bible study, all because they were black. Do we blame the shooter? No, of course not, we instead blame a flag. I personally have never witnessed a flag killing anyone, never mind with a gun, but according to our learned friends on the left and some on the right, it's the confederate battle flags fault. At least they aren't blaming the gun this time.

All over the world; Thousands of Christian, Jews and Muslim as well as other minorities have been raped ,pillaged, sold into slavery ,and brutally murdered by radical Islam and it seems we, as in those of us here in the US, would rather argue as to who can marry who, or sue each other because our feeling have been hurt by folks who don't agree with us. Do you honestly think that in the end of days God is going to care one iota about that? Or is He going to care more about what we did or didn't do to relieve the suffering? Sadly we don't have enough stomach in this country to fight the things that really need fighting over.

I don't have a solution. I wish I did. Seems that anything I can say falls on deaf ears or on to people, who, just like me, have no real power or clout.

The only thing I can do is pray. That's what I intend to do,and leave the politics to someone else, I simply can't stomach it any more.

Perhaps when a day comes that we either have real leadership or Messiah comes to usher in a new era I will write of politics but for now all of it totally sickens me.

I will pass on a bit of warning though if we continue on this path that we are on, and I am speaking world wide ,as the nations rattle their swords at each other and prepare for a massive war ,the bible makes it quite clear whats going to happen;

Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him.

3 The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly despoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.

4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away; the world languisheth and fadeth away; the haughty people of the earth do languish.

5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. Isa 24:1-6

Shalom,

A Warning of Judgement.

The other night I awoke after having a rather vivid dream. I am sharing it with you because I believe that I have been commanded by God to do so. You may believe what you wish and as always I don't claim to be any kind of prophet.

I found my self in this place that was extremely dark. There was a smoke cloud swirling slowly about 10 feet above my head and filling this area as far as I could see. I also saw what appeared to be something like a volcano, erupting with fire, going down the side of this mountain in the middle of this smoke, and I heard a voice speaking and the sound was very much like thunder. It was clearly a voice though I couldn't understand the words. Then a man in some kind of uniform came over to me with a piece of paper that clearly had my name written on the top of it and I was told that I was going to share this dream with you. I woke up very confused. I have puzzled on it for a few days, read the book of Joel which talks of smoke and of “old men having visions and dreams” but it wasn't until my wife pointed out to me that the night I had this dream was on Shavout (this is the day that the Jews celebrate the giving of the commandments at Mt. Sinai) that it made sense to me. What I was seeing was the commandments being given to the children of Israel, and the voice was that of God warning them to keep His commandments.

I believe that this dream is meant for all people of God or at least those who claim to be His people. It is a warning. We have not obeyed Him. We have disregarded His Torah as being irrelevant and have thrown God out of our society steadily for the last 50 years. Christians claim that the law was done away with and yet that never came from the mouth of God. His Torah, His commandments, are to be observed through out eternity and it's not for us to try to change them or throw them out because they are politically incorrect or because some so called religious leader tells us so.

It's not that the laws of G-d can't be followed, God Himself tells the children of Israel straight out that they can be: Deut.30 11-14 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

It's more that, just like ancient Israel, we have chosen to serve other, more popular “gods” that have no real value they just make us feel good and don't require any kind of real commitment on our parts.

Do you really believe that it's nothing but a coincidence that we have some of the worst weather happening right now as our enemies are gathering strength and are posturing against us all over the world? Do you really believe it's just some sort of cosmic oops that our former allies no longer trust us?

We have claimed the blessings of God but we have ignored the word of God and His Torah and if He was willing to punish His children,His chosen, what makes you believe that He will not punish us as well?

Make of this what you will, laugh if you must but make no mistake, His judgment is coming.