Prayer for Middle East Crisis

Be sure to keep your prayers focused in the Middle East over the next few days.  With the rising turmoil in Egypt there is now a new problem becoming a greater concern, famine.  That's right, another sign of the Last Days is coming to pass with a major economic force in the Middle East crying out for food.  We should keep our prayers not only centered on Egypt, but upon Israel, for it is in these times that those who are without shall look upon those who have.  This will be a perfect tool for Satan to use as fuel for covetousness.

May Adonai (the Lord) rain His blessings upon us during this tumulus time and may we find our true shalom (peace) that only comes through the salvation in Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Christ).

The Danger of Pride

I am sure you will agree that there are some wild programs on television these days.  Reality and game shows have gone absolutely nuts on prime time.  Personally, I love watching Iron Chef America, although it is difficult to endure when I am hungry or when the special ingredient is my favorite food, scallops.  Yum!  But seriously, we can see a house being constructed for a needy family on one channel while a marriage is being destroyed for money on another channel.  In fact, a few months or so back my family and I were sitting back and watching this family game show called, “My Dad is Better Then Your Dad.”  This is a family television show where the kids have their dads play various physically active games to see who can get the highest score, and then of course the highest score becomes the best dad.  As I was watching this show, I could not help but come up with two very quick and decisive thoughts.  First, was that my daughter should never sign me up for this show if she knows what’s good for her; and second, was what an arrogant, prideful title the game show name was.  Think about it… as children how many times did we walk around saying I am better at this, or I am better at that; or he likes me better, or I have more or mine is better?  Where we not always told to rise above that type of attitude, and yet here we have a family game show, which is now rewarding families for maintaining and proving, that exact behavior!

You see all of these ideas and thoughts have one common factor.  These are all based upon the sin of pride.  And pride can be manifested in so many ways, through coveteosneous, through arrogance, through lies and deception, through emotional distress even through violent acts.  What’s worse pride can reach each of us subtly over a period of time without our ever realizing that it has sunk its claws into our hearts.  We may be living our lives, believing we are working strong for the Lord, not realizing that pride has been influencing our decisions.

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Prov 8:13 (KJV)

I know it’s pretty audacious to call pride one of the worst forms of evil, but I truly believe it is.  I know you may be thinking to yourself, how can I possibly be comparing pride with violent evils such as murder or adultery, rape, stealing and so on… but in truth I do.  To be honest I often see pride as the root sin to many of those violent sins.

I have always remembered a sermon my mentor, Pastor Tom Miller of First General Baptist Church of Waterford, Michigan did on covetousness.  If I remember it correctly, he talked about how coveting can lead to various subcategories of sins within the Ten Commandments such as stealing, adultery, and murder.  I agree with his thoughts exactly, yet I also believe pride truly expands to such a higher level, beyond the Ten Commandments, perhaps beyond the 613 Laws given in the Mosaic Covenant of Torah.  Perhaps these subcategories of sins can reach into the first and foremost commandment,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Matt 22:37-38 (KJV)

You see pride can replace the first commandment by placing yourself before God.  By becoming concerned first and foremost with yourself or with your own flesh you have now altered Matthew 22:37 to read “thou shall love thyself with all thy heart and all thy soul and with all thy mind.”  And when you do that you need to be clear with yourself what it is that you have done… for when you have changed that commandment, you have stepped outside the boundaries of Judeo-Christian beliefs into the arms of apostasy.  Satan himself will become overjoyed at this thought.  The idea that you are in control, the narcissistic idea that you are the center of the universe; that is opposing everything to what Christ taught.  If you allow this idea of becoming a central figure of focus to continue you are literally becoming an idol, an idol god replacing the true Living God and you are now worshiping yourself.  Thus you are becoming an apostate to God.  And this is when any one of us needs to be careful, for in the Epistle to the Hebrews there are five very stern warnings against apostasy.  One of the greatest reads…

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.  Heb 6:4-6 (KJV)

Those types of warnings cannot be ignored.

So what does this mean?

Simply that…

Jesus wanted us to be humble…

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Matt 23:12 (KJV)

 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.   James 4:6 (KJV)

By humbling ourselves we can then open ourselves to continued growth and sanctification in the Lord.  If we become full of pride, arrogant, believing that we are the center of creation, we will literally close ourselves to the possibilities that the Creator will offer to us and withhold any hope of planting that seed of salvation that we hope to bring to the Lost.

Just think how pride could have changed the course of biblical history.  In the Book of Genesis, the Patriarch Joseph went from the bottom of a pit to become a slave to become the second most powerful man in Egypt.  Yet, he did not allow pride to consume him as his brothers, who were the cause of his original downfall, came before him to plead for food.  Now if pride had taken over Joseph and he locked his brothers away in prison and thrown away the key, or had them executed or even exiled; then Jacob never would have come to Egypt, the Jews would not have been put into bondage 400 years later, there would have been no Passover, thus no Exodus, no Mosaic Law, everything as we know it would have changed.

In the Book of Esther, Esther entered King Xerses presence unannounced, a capital offence.  She took a great chance that the king would hold out his golden scepter, which he did, allowing her to enter his presence and speak.  But what if pride had taken over the King and Xerses had not held out his scepter.  The Jewish people would then have seen an act of genocide as great as in the future attempted Jewish genocides during the Crusades, the Russian Pogroms and the Holocaust.

In the Book of Revelation, we are shown the future blessing and the work that will come forth with the 144,000 Jewish evangelists during the Great Tribulation.  Scripture tells us that there shall be 12,000 Jews from each of the 12 Tribes of Israel (with the exception of Dan and Ephraim) within the 144,000.  Yet, what do you think will happen if pride captures their hearts and these individuals only choose to evangelize to specific demographic of persons?  How many Lost will remain unsaved during the Great Tribulation?

For was it not Satan’s sin of pride that said he was greater then God Himself?  Did not Satan convince 1/3 of the angel’s that he was greater then God and did not he convince those angels that they could rise above the stations that God placed for them?  Remember it was not a violent crime that was the downfall of Satan; anymore then it was the downfall of Adam from the Garden of Eden.  How did Adam think he could get away with betraying the Lord?  Did he think the Lord would not know?  Adam’s flaw was, pride.  The story of Cain and Abel… pride.  The Tower of Babel… pride.  Job… Satan attempted to convince God that Job was worshipping and remaining faithful to the Lord for the wrong reasons.  Satan was attempting to convince God that Job was full of… pride.

Our we not setting ourselves us up for failure when we raise our own expectations of whom we are…

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  Prov 16:18 (KJV)

By letting Satan fill our minds with arrogance are we not preparing our souls for future destruction?  Think of all the countries and all of the useless wars that have taken place over the past two thousand years… in fact, let us just consider the Crusades, all that death, destruction and bloodshed all committed for the sake of pride.  Truly that bible verse speaks volumes as it encompasses the human capacity to commit violent acts against another human being.

Now on the opposing side of that, let us look at look what can happen with the aid of Jesus when we overcome that pride.  Remember what happened to the once proud Pharisee tough man who was soon destined to become a member of the Sanhedrin council…

And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.  Acts 9:18-20 (KJV)

When Saul’s, Paul's, eyes were opened to the truth, when the pride was released, he saw what was real and what was false.  For those of you who have read Paul’s epistles, which I hope are all of you, you know that Paul regretted and felt guilt for his actions against the Christian community for the remainder of his life.  Yet, I believe it aided Paul in becoming a strong Apostle, a stronger evangalist, a better man, and a better Christian.

So why is pride so much worse of a sin then those violent crimes, truly because it is so easy to fall into the trappings of pride without our ever realizing it is happening!  Let me give you a personal illustration from my life…  it was either in the fall of 2007 or the early winter of this year that I received a very upsetting e-mail from a Messianic Jewish mentor of mine who informed me that we had to cut-off all future communications.  He gave me no reason for the break in communications and as I respected this man so much and considered him a friend I was shattered.  Now a few weeks latter a large Messianic Jewish organization out of New York sought me out to do some evangelistic and other work for them.  Although I had disagreed with some of their doctrine in the past, which had now changed, I was eager to overlook everything because this organization was now boosting my injured pride that was hurt from the break in my mentors’ communication.  Satan had found the perfect weapon to utilize against me and he knew how to get to me.  Yet, this time I was prepared… not necessarily with myself, if I was alone, I would have been in trouble.  But I wasn’t alone, Christ was with me and he provided me aid through my loved ones and my church.  I was given the opportunity to speak with others and get outside views; I was given time of reelection and time of prayer.  Let me repeat that one… time of reflection and prayer.

Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.  Prov 13:10 (KJV)

Talk with your loved ones, your Pastor, your friends; for myself I have found that impulse decisions are not usually the best ones made, for myself they are usually wrong.

I know that I do not want to fall into the snare traps of pride that Satan has set for me and I know that no one has to.  By placing safeguards and knowing your triggers you will always be protected.  I have come to believe that most sins, including pride all have temptation triggers the same as many physical ailments do.  Just as too much motion may give me a migraine headache or spicy foods may make my rosacea flare up and turn my nose beet red; I also believe that too much Messianic praise after a Messianic bashing may put me in a prideful frame of mind.  So by learning our triggers we can better avoid these dangerous sinful situations.  But always remember, Christ is there to aid us; he will never let us fall…

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.   1 Cor 10:13 (KJV)

Christ will forever prepare a solution for us.  If one cannot be provided through ourselves then the Redeemer will provide one through others, but as 10.13 says, He will provide us a way to escape the temptations Satan throws in our paths to fall into pride.

You cannot live a successful life on a false ideal of pride.  You may have an outcome of short-term rewards, but in the long run you will not win.  There is only one Lord and he is the provider of life and all it’s riches!

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 1 Cor 8:6 (KJV)

 True happiness can only be found in the shelter and peace of Jesus the Messiah.  

So I would like to provide you with five easy steps to combating pride:

5.  No impulse decisions:  be cautious think things through, do not let pride become your decision maker.  Solomon called that folly and foolish and the way to destruction were as he called those who thought there was through decisions wise.

4.  Think low vs. high:  do not give yourself airs, regardless of the situation… always remember from where your gifts and disciples have come from, Christ.  And don’t be upset if someone gives a slap on the bottom to wake you up from a prideful or proud moment, I know sometimes I need one.

3.  Talk with you spouse, talk with your Pastor, talk with your friends, have Christian fellowship… and be OPEN-MINDED, you cannot allow yourself to throw fits when you here something you do not like.  Anger must be held in check.  If you feel a statement is inappropriate, just say, I feel that statement was inappropriate.

2.  Be a servant

 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Matt 20:27 (KJV)

1.   Read your Bible and pray!!!!!

Combating pride is as simple as that… and shouldn’t the best answers always come back to prayer and reading the Word of God?

God Bless you all

Studying What's Important

I often have discussions with my brothers in Messiah over what is essential to study within Scripture and what is simply "fun discussion."  One of my sisters in Christ, Kasey, who runs an incredible blog called "Lessons From Ivy" (see the link to the right) recently wrote a wonderful article of how she was not an expert of the Bible simply because she was in a specific teaching position.  I too, feel that I should not be considered an expert in Scripture or Jewish Christian affairs simply for being a saved Jewish minister.


Yet, as 23-year Bible student, a Jewish believer in Messiah, an orthodox Scripture translator and the 11 year president of The Road to God Ministry I feel I can say with some conviction that there are some truths that Adonai (the Lord) expects us to study whereas there are others which are simply not important for our sanctification in Christ.  

Mt. Ararat from Genesis 8

This is not to say that there is not a purpose for every word in Scripture, this is what the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16,  "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."  Yet, often times throughout the Bible people, whether they are students, historians, etc., have become fixated upon various particular items or verses of interest.  Fir example, we will find the last verse of the story of Noah's Ark and it's final landing on Mount Ararat, in Genesis 8:4, "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.".  Yet, for, countless eons people have spent all their time and energy searching for Noah's Ark.  This same time and energy could have been spent on studying the relevant and important sections of Scripture that would have lead to further salvations and their own sanctifications.  There are so many other items within Scripture that people have been led astray by.  Items like:  the Ark of the Covenant, the Shroud of Turin, the location of Mount Sinai, false gospels and epistles, even the seach for the Patriarch tombs have lead some from true Scripture.


Thus when I am asked, "if nobody has found these items, where can they be?"  I always give the same and honest and true answer, "I have no idea, and it really does not matter."  If Adonai wanted us to know where any one of these items where, He would show us where they were, not hide them for millenia.  No, I believe these are "red herrings", specifically placed to hinder individuals, to filter out the faithfully weak, those looking for quick and interesting items instead of the one true God.


Our God is not about items of interest.  Our God is above the sculpture placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant.  Our God is above Mount Sinai.  Our God is above all names, places and items and we must be looking past these items to find the truth that lies at the core of what He is.  When we read Scripture we must take it in equally, as a whole.  We must never, never, never believe that one verse, chapter or book is more important then another.  We must never think one author or Apostle is above another.  All are equal in the Bible.  All are saved under Jesus the Christ.  

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  Mark 12:28-30 (KJV)

The Issue of Same-Sex Marriages

Here in America we are being barraged with the question of same-sex marriages.  As a Bible literalist there in truth can only be one view of this issue.  The following is a short point-of-view of this current theological question:

From the earliest sections of the Bible, Moses penned the importance of the one man to one woman pattern in any healthy relationship.  This is what God intended through the Creation of Man.  “And the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (KJV Gen 2:18).  Thus, it is through marriage that we, as humans, can find the true spiritual human bond, “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (KJV Gen 2:21-25).

By following Adam and Eve’s example we can also see the truth that falls behind the idea that God never intended man to take more than one wife.  For whenever more than one wife was taken in Scripture, some form of strife ensued.  Such is the case with the Prophet Samuel’s mother Hannah who was continually provoked by her adversary, Penniah (1 Samuel 1:6-10).  Another such case comes from King Solomon, a man of great wisdom and stature in the Bible.  Yet, with over a 700 wives not including loving many strange woman (1 Kings 11:1) is it any wonder that his mental functions began to deteriorate? 

Thus it only makes perfect sense that when the Apostle Paul writes to his protégé Timothy regarding relationships and the duties of those future church leaders that he speaks frankly on the subject of the man/woman relationship.  Paul is clear that those serving as Deacons must either be in a one man to a one woman relationship (1 Timothy 3:12) or in some cases in no relationship at all.

My friends, biblically it is clear that there is a clear definition in marriage for there to be one man and one woman.  When we as human beings choose to deter from that truth then we are mistranslating Scripture…it is that simple.  

A Slow News Day At CNN

Somebody please explain to me why CNN feels the need to explain the need to relay the history of people who burn themselves to death as a sign of their faith...CNN's Story on Self-Immolation Through History

Psalm 51

David prays for remission of sins, which he confesses fully

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. 9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

Psalms 51:1-19 (KJV)

Our First Ministry

I have been praying lately of the  first ministry the God gave man (see Genesis chapter 1), which is his family.  As such I have written the following:

             
 As a preacher I am often asked what a true family is.  As a speaking minister, I am not one to keep my fundamentalist opinions to myself.  My daughter, Sarahfay, a seven-year-old in the first grade at a local public school is taught almost daily about the “standard American family”.  The idea of what a basic nuclear family should equate to; that a father should be working a full-time job each day, the mother should be at home, taking care of the house and raising the children and the kids should be dutifully going to school and being raised to follow their parents will.  Yet, is this truly the Biblical home and family or are there possible variants to this family unit vision?  I believe that as the spiritual head of the household, the father must hold dominion over the home , “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord”, (KJV Eph 5:22), yet that does not mean he must hold the financial strength as well.  I propose that there can be a great strength within the women of the family unit with the mothers becoming the “breadwinners” where the men reverse their roles to become the child raisers and spiritual teachers. 

There is no question as to which ministry God intended to be the most important, for the Apostle Paul clearly wrote that it is the family,  “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel”  (KJV 1 Timothy 5:8).  Thus the question within the family is who is it, the mother or the father, who should be providing the spiritual and Biblical instruction for the children?  The Book of Proverbs reads, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck” (KJV Proverbs 1:8-9).  Thus Solomon wrote that wisdom would be achieved from obeying both ones father and mother.  Yet, as we study Scripture with a literal look at the Word of God we can see that it is the duty of the father to teach the children the spiritual lessons of the Bible and God.  In Proverbs we read, “Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding” (KJV Proverbs 4:1), and also, “He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live” (KJV Proverbs 4:4).  This is not to say a mother cannot aid in the spiritual teaching of her children, in fact I believe she should, but it is the responsibility of the father to be the spiritual teacher of all those who live in his house and this includes his wife.  It is in the end the responsibility of the father that the spiritual material that is being taught is scripturally sound.

As stated earlier the spiritual teaching does not necessarily always mean that the father will become the financial head of any given household.  For example, in my household, my wife is the “breadwinner” whereas I am the “homemaker”, preacher, and student, pastor-in-training and without any doubt the spiritual head of this household all due to my poor health.  Though we do not have the ideal “American” nuclear family that my daughter is taught in the public school system she has a family she is proud of.  Each day our family reads Scripture together, we pray together and we discuss Jesus and the Father through Scripture and because of this the verses from Luke have new meaning for us all, “And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.  And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man, (KJV Luke 2:51-52).

It is the father who is the spiritual head of the family unit.  He is the one member of the family that is not only in charge of teaching Scripture, but holds the responsibility of making sure that all family members hold to proper doctrine.  Though the fathers are in charge of all things spiritually, they are not necessarily in charge of all areas of the home.  A marriage must equate to a balance and thus by equate duties, which may include financial responsibilities; the marriage may ease many burdens.  The greatest lessons may come when the father teaches his family to look at the Bible from a literal perspective, and never from a metaphorical sense.  When done so, any family will see each and every command in the true and factual sense that God originally intended for us all.