The Truth Shall Set You Free (continued)

The truth shall set you free….(John 8:31-32) Yes, we all have heard this paraphrase of a tremendous self-disclosure by Yahshua. We all may have used it at some time to enjoin someone we were reaching out to. We may have heard our own self, in prayer or meditation, said it to our self at least once. Either I am over sensitive or I am missing the message.

For me to use Yahshua’s words and say that the truth will set you free does not mean a hill of beans unless I can also include that Yahshua was self-disclosing and therefore being set free with His own words. At verse 31 He said “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine….” Yahshua was speaking to “those Jews who had believed Him”. Yet, when we get to verse 42 of John 8, Yahshua is telling them “If YHVH were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from YHVH, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.” Yahshua proceeds to tell them that they are not hearing His word and therefore they do not understand. It is like He is pleading with them and at the same time chastising them for putting more faith in their earthly origins. He says they are of their father the devil and guilty of wanting the desires of their earthly father. If someone told me my Daddy was the devil, I would have instant disgust and anger. (I know me at least that much). However, when I put myself in the group of those believers who were told should they continue to believe in His words, then and only then will we, the believers, be set free by the truth. Yahshua is the truth, the light and the way. Having a small degree of understanding of the written word, I see Yahshua self-disclosing that He is not acting on His own. He is not speaking on His own. He says so and I believe Him. He knows that the truth will set Him free. At the moment while He is speaking to us believers, He is not free. He has exercised his right of freedom of choice, just as we exercise our right of choice. He chooses to continue to do that which His Father told Him to do, rather than end the stress and agony by distorting the Word. The Word was placed into Him at or even before His birth.

This week I have been privileged to be asked to join in prayer for many people. Among the people are three ‘infants’. One has a few years since his birth date; one has a few hours since her birth date; and another is yet to be born. I have “seen” the Father’s generosity and love bestowed upon all three of these babies. These babies represent, for me, the believers. They are the believers that we all should be. A child does not know a lie. A child does not know a falsehood. All a child knows is what we present to them. Then life begins. Then the lies begin. I won’t even go into the massive destructive epistles that false prophets expound upon. Within a very short period of time, the ‘believer’ becomes the distrusting. This child of YHVH begins to doubt. How can this happen? It only takes a little chametz to spoil the whole loaf. A little chametz is when the Papa comes home from work and tells the entire family, “if anyone calls for me tell them I’m not home yet.” Or how about, telling your child to not tell someone else the truth..”just this once, it won’t hurt”. See, we ’believers’ get all worked up over the lies of the pagans and their festivals, ie. Christmas and Easter, we work hard to teach the children this is wrong, then we stop at the store on the way home from shul to pick up a few groceries and a beer or two. Chametz is waking up on Shabbat and feeling a little wheezy and declaring that we are too ill to go to Worship. Then we spend the day watching T.V. or doing activities not of Scriptural origin, etc. Are you getting my point?

When a person stands up on Shabbat and preaches the gospel to the congregation and makes statements that are absolute chametz, and no one takes measures to get the chametz out of the service, then the whole loaf is spoiled. The children are witnessing all of this. The children know the truth. 

 

I thank you Abba for permitting me to join in the prayer for the children this week. Please grant me the courage to be honest, with love and tact, to keep the chametz out all year long, not just during the rehearsal month. Your children deserve to know the truth, and they will not believe the truth if they cannot believe or trust the messenger. This is what Yahshua is saying in John 8.

If the believers in John 8 are having difficulty in fully accepting the Word of Yahshua, and they are adults who gathered around Him, and followed Him and witnessed the things He did, then how can we expect our children who started out knowing nothing but the truth to accept what we say to them? We SHOWED them what chametz is; first by our words, then by our deeds. And when they challenged us, we assured them if they didn’t worry about it they would get over it. They don’t. I know I didn’t but I learned to accept it. It is learning how to trust that is difficult. We really do not know anything about anyone except what we see. A thousand words can’t erase a ten minute indiscretion. The image is printed forever.

John 8: 58-59 Yahshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born , I am. Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Yahshua hid himself and went out of the temple.

Let us not be spiritual stoners. Let us encourage others to believe in the Word of Truth so that it is not hidden from them. We are all Children of YHVH.

Shalom, Shalom.

Love,

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly Speaking all the time

The Truth Shall Set You Free

 

In the beginning, I was going to reflect on some notes I picked up from Jesse Bering. You can find him on line and twitter and all over the place. He did a bit of research about liars and he came up with some great conclusions. Jesse is a research psychologist who enjoys human behavior. With us being in the heat of the political season, I found Jesse’s writings very interesting. However, I also found that he is so thorough that he is easy to plagiarize and that means difficult to place my own thought provoking content without mentioning everything is attributed back to Mr. Bering. You might want to use Goodsearch and look up Bering in Mind.

So, since I am not going to throw my thoughts on paper about politicians and their ability to tell us what we want to hear, and how we know they are lying but we like the sounds of it, then I’ll move on to other thoughts. (Did that perk your curiosity to go search for Jesse? If so, find “18 Attributes of Highly Effective Liars”).

There has been a bit of heightened interest in Purim this year and much written on the topic. We are loaded with parodies for celebration songs and it seems everyone has a viewpoint on why so many of us are so taken up in the thoughts of Esther and Mordecai. Instead of preaching to the choir about the story of Esther, which if you haven’t read it by now, shame on you! Why not mark your place on this post and read it. It is much more historic and meaningful than anything I can pen to paper. (Trying not to sound like a highly effective liar…hard to tell some of them, they are so practiced)

Instead of the lessons of Esther, lets put Esther with us in the room today. In front of you is a beautiful (judgmental) young lady (I was judgmental, not Esther) who used the gifts YHVH gave her to behave as Torah directs. Someone says, “Esther, you most certainly love your neighbor as yourself.” And she nods with an affirmative nod. She liked and must have agreed with what was said. I don’t think she took it to be lying.

[Very difficult to write and justify everything we say.  I am going to stop the explanations and justification and I will just take for granted that you researched Jesse’ writings and are smiling to yourself…we don’t know who is telling the truth..we only know what we know and if what we hear does not disagree with our internal data, then they are all honest. But what if someone lied to us from birth?]

This week the world sat and watched Esther and Mordecai. We did not see Haman but he was the topic of discussion. A fascinating event took place during their visit. Mordecai gave Esther a book to read. The name of the book is: Book of Esther. (See: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/07/netanyhus-book-of-esther-gift-for-obama-a-pointed-reminder-of-iran-threat/ )  So this tells me that during this meeting, Mordecai was educating the fair one, the one who could charm the steel nuts off a rusted bridge. Lessons had to be learned. The life of the world as we know it is at stake. Should Esther not grasp the gravity of the situation, then Mordecai and Esther may end up being killed along with thousands upon thousands others. 

 

In my mental travels this week, Mordecai promised Esther that if she was unable, or not willing, to denounce Haman, then he would stray from the original text, and he would do what he could for his people to survive. Folks, we are living in a very tempestuous world. We are able to see the Word uncovered before our very eyes. I have heard from some who want to run to the woods and hide. I have heard from some who want to stand strong and stand up straight for what is right. Along the way I even read with great intense that a Jew doesn’t bow. We may not consider ourselves Jews, but let us not break the bond of returning to His Covenant. We are, should we choose, Israelites. We have, if we choose, been permitted to grab hold of the hem of the garment. We bow only to one God. YHVH, T’zvaot. The Great Compassionate Elohim. We are His, He is our El Shaddai. Abraham called on the Name of YHVH before our Creator proclaimed Himself in front of Moses in Exodus 33:19 and 34:5. 

 

When we call on the Name of YHVH, we are worshiping Him. He takes joy in our recognizing who He is and Why He is in our life. Through this joy we gain strength to stand strong. He asks us to be Priests of Israel. To do so, we must minister in His Name. (Deut. 18;5 and 21:5) As believers, we gather in His Name. Our prayers are made in His Name. Salvation only comes through Him. To make it even easier for us to understand His Greatness, He sent us His Son to be a mediator for us. He permits us to Worship Him through Yahshua, the Messiah. Yahshua reminds us that He came only for the lost sheep of Israel. Yahshua reminds us He only says and does what His Father instructed. He wants us to do the same. Yahshua’s Father is our Father. One and the same. And so every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Yahshua is our Master and King; the manifest Glory of YHVH Elohim.

In the beginning the intent of this blog was to expose the attributes of a skillful liar. Big deal. What about the attributes of YHVH? YHVH Yireh: YHVH will provide; YHVH Nissi: YHVH is my banner. He is the rallying point and the one who ensures victory. YHVH Shalom: YHVH is Peace; YHVH T’zvaot: YHVH of Hosts. The Commander in Chief; YHVH M'kaddeshim: YHVH the Sanctifier, setting believers apart for His purposes; YHVH Ro’i; YHVH our Shepherd; YHVH Tzidkenu: YHVH our Righteousness; YHVH Shammah: YHVH is there, present in the millennial kingdom; YHVH Elohim Israel: YHVH, the Lord, the God of Israel. The God of all gods. El Shaddai: God Almighty, no one and nothing is mightier; El Elyon; the Most High God; His strength, sovereignty, and supremacy is greater than all; El Olam: The Everlasting God; He does not change, The same yesterday, today and tomorrow. From the beginning until the end. He will be there.

Let us then not focus on the liars and imposters around us. Let us focus on Him and Him alone. He is our King…we bow only to Him.

Shalom with Love

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly Speaking All the Time

The Matthew 5 Man -vs- the Luke 6 Man

I strive to stay positive and to exhibit a positive presence. While, all the while, around me I see persons being consumed by unidentifiable enemies. There comes a time in a man’s life when he stops and asks himself: What am I doing? What is the whole purpose to it all? 

The Serenity Prayer has me asking YHVH to “Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can; and the Wisdom to know the difference.” Having skinned my knees many times before, I came to understand that the simplicity of it all is laughable. But, not in a funny way. Had I understood what these few words meant and how they pertain to me, I wouldn’t have taken so long to grab hold of the tzitzit! Let's look at it for a moment. …accept the things I cannot change. That means accepting that I didn’t create this world and I certainly have no power to change it. Since YHVH created the world and continues to work out His plan for it, I can only change my role in this world, that is, I can be “in” the world or I can be “of” the world. He gives us the choice. …. Then there’s the courage to change the things I can. Well, if I can’t change the world that I did not create, what is left to change? Me! So I need courage to change me while I am in this world. That change takes guts! So, to not have to take the circuitous route on the road to maturation, I need wisdom to know the difference between what I am responsible for and what is not mine. Before I can even begin to make a positive difference, I need wisdom! Where does wisdom come from? (This is not a multiple choice question). Answer coming soon. 

 

As I researched and journeyed on this path, I learned that WISDOM IS THE FEAR OF YHVH. Now, I have to learn what  “fear of YHVH” means.  I Love YHVH; why would I fear him?  Well, duh! Fear means respect! Like, I have a certain respect for electricity. I am not afraid of it; but I fear it will knock me down if I touch it and I can’t even see it coming. 

Okay, we’ve sorted this out. I want serenity and that translates to shalom. So, I pray to my Father to give me the serenity, the peace that surpasses all understanding, so I can learn to accept the things AROUND me that are not mine and I have no control over.  Better yet, to have enough courage to change the things about ME that do not permit me to live a serene and peaceful life.

When I think about all this and its simplicity, I am steered to Matthew 5 and Luke 6. Matthew 5 presents Yahshua talking to the people. This section is referred to as the “Beatitudes.” Beatitude is a little Greek word indicating Blessed or Blessing. And when we're blessed, we're happy, right?   In Matthew 5, Yahshua says the poor in spirit, those who are mourning, the meek and those who hunger for righteousness are blessed. He also calls blessed those who are merciful, pure in heart, are peacemakers and the ones who are persecuted for standing up for righteousness. And all those who speak the truth of the Word and stand up for Yahshua, He calls them because they have been reviled and persecuted and spoken of falsely. 

As Matthew 5 was about being blessed, Luke 6 refers to some sorrows. This is one reason I should know what about me that I can change and what I can’t. The blessings tell me about the rewards that are presented for those who suffer internal, spiritual and/or moral conflicts. The meek, the merciful, pure of heart and peacemakers do not appear in Luke. However, the four that do are the Poor, the hungry for the Word, those who are weeping and all who are hated and cast out as evil for following Yahshua. The four in Luke are often referred to as the four Woes. These are the people sitting on the fence and not fully accepting Yahshua because the things of THIS world are too distracting. 

So, when I ask “What am I doing? What is the whole purpose to it all?” I am brought back to reality and accept me in this world with the goal of being prepared for the journey of a lifetime. 

Homework: (Matthew 5:3-12, Luke 6:20-26)

Answer(s) to quiz:

the first and foremost point of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh; all those living by it gain good common sense. His praise stands forever. Psalm 111: 10

The beginning of wisdom is; get wisdom! And along with all your getting, get insight! Prov. 4:7

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3: 5-6

Love you all, Shalom and shalom

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly Speaking all the time.