These festivals are also "dress rehearsals" for the one and only festival that is to be held at a time in the future when we will hold them with the heavenly host and the Messiah!!!! Each year, as they are being celebrated, you might consider them practice runs for the "real" thing! If this is true, then why aren't Christians everywhere celebrating these festivals? Jesus celebrated them while on earth and His disciples celebrated them after His resurrection so why do we not celebrate them may I ask?
The 10 day period between Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur is known as the Ten Days of Repentance. On Rosh Hashanna the shofar is blown 100 times to call the people to repentance and then again on Yom Kippur a single blast of the shofar is blown to signal the end of the days of repentance while a cry is shouted, "Next year in Jerusalem!"
During these ten days the people take a serious inventory of their lives, ridding themselves of any dross they find within themselves. A beautiful ceremony on Rosh Hashanna is to go to a body of "living water" (one in which the water is moving, i.e. a river or lake where there is fresh water) and to cast whatever is in your pockets into it. When you do this you contemplate how these objects thrown into the water represent the things in your life that weigh you down from a relationship with God. These are your "sins" and as they float away you are to imagine God taking them away. (Think of the scripture about casting your bread upon the water. Understand it now?)
I want to camp here for a moment, because my Rabbi said something this past week that needs to be repeated. When Jesus was teaching the sermon on the mount he was talking about these days. In Matthew 5:21-26 Jesus is talking about what you should do about sin in your life. Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement - your court appearance date. It is suggested you "settle out of court" before your court date. You know, that is always a good idea, isn't it? If we can just settle out of court we save a whole lot of trouble for ourselves.
Well, I don't have to settle out of court, because there isn't anything to settle! Oh really? Nothing at all? Nope! I'm saved by grace and that settles it!!! Okay, well, I guess you are the first person in history to be zapped into perfection then, well other than Jesus that is. If you have settled salvation, GREAT!, but what about everything else? I was only kidding about the perfection part. I know you aren't perfect, regardless of what you might believe, so what is it about your life that needs to be forgiven and cleaned up?
Perhaps you are searching for God. Maybe you have never known a relationship with Him. Well, from this point on whether you know Him or you don't, I am going to just pretend that none of you do. No matter where any of us are in a relationship there are always things that need to change. Let's look at the two people who will possibly be in this relationship.
God is perfect and sovereign. He loves you more than you could ever understand. He has nothing but great and mighty things in mind and in store for your life. It may seem to you that He wants to rain on your parade, but you, in your finite mind, cannot see things from His perspective; the bigger picture of how your life would be if you let Him have control. He DOES NOT want to harm you, but rather wants to give you HOPE and a FUTURE! WOW!
Now to you. You are probably a fantastic person. You are well liked, but there are things you would love to change about yourself (or ahem, things others would love to change about you! lol). Not necessarily physical attributes here, but things about your past or decisions you've made. I think for sanity's sake I'll just make a multiple choice list for you to choose from.
Are any of the following a problem for you? We'll start with the 10 big ones.
*1. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart? How do you use His name? (if not see#14, this is a good place to start!)
*2. Do you keep the Sabbath Day Holy? (see #14)
*3. Does anything come before God and the things of God? (see #14)
*4. Do you honor your parents? (No matter how they treat or treated you? See #14)
*5. Do you murder people with your words? (I know that most likely none of you are actual murderers, see #14)
*6. Sexual issues????????????? I'll just leave this one tween you and the Lord. (see #14)
*7. Do you steal? (Why absolutely not! Well, do you take longer breaks than you are allotted at work?) (see #14)
*8. Do you lie? (Ooh boy! Glad it's not tax time, oh but wait....what about that......oh it's not that big of a deal. It was only a little thing. Oh and that little purchase you made on the credit card that you covered up without telling your spouse or maybe your boss. No big deal.) (see #14)
*9. HERE COMES A BIG ONE---COVETING: are you always dissatisfied and looking to get something newer and better? (Never thought of covet in those terms? Think again!) (see #14)
*10. Anger issues (see #14) Why are you always so angry?
*11. Money (either spending too much or not spending when you should) (see #14)
*12. Attitude (are you a negative person about many things?) (see #14)
*13. Sarcasm (Uh oh.....do you use sarcasm as humor??????) (see #14)
*14. Self-Centeredness (hmmmm, is everything about me, me, me?) (see #14 oh this is #14!)
*15. Over Achiever (well, I guess I never thought of this one as being a sin, but from God's perspective if we are not seeking Him above all then this one puts ourselves above God. When we seek to go above and beyond, unless it is in a spiritual sense and even then we should tread carefully to ensure it is feeding a spiritual hunger and not our own ego.) (see #14)
*16. Under Achiever (well we have to have the flip side! Do you think, "Well, why should I even try? I can't do anything right anyway.") (see #14)
*17. FOR MEN ONLY HERE: Do you pray over your children and teach them daily in the morning and evening about God? (OOOOH you thought it was only the Mother's responsibility huh? NOPE! Have you read the Word lately? Think again!) (see #14)
*18. Have you lost your sense of embarrassment? (Whew!) (see #14)
*19. Is there someone you need to forgive? OR is there someone you need to ask forgiveness of? (see #14)
*20. The victim or martyr (do you think this is your role in life) (see #14)
In the Christian world we study ONLY the Bible, but in the Jewish world they have many sacred works that support and entwine each other. I want to show you something that is actually part of the New Testament, but we have never known this. This is a quote from the Talmud, end of tractate Sotah, and see whether or not you think they describe our world today:
Insolence and self-centeredness will increase; there will be oppressing inflation; people will be addicted to the good life, and the costs will be high; moral standards will dissolve, and morality and wisdom will be denigrated; there will be unbridled irresponsibility on the part of authorities; centers of learning will turn into centers of immorality; poverty will increase; the young will denigrate the old; families will disintegrate; leadership will be impudent. The world will see a succession of troubles, epidemics of terrible diseases and international confrontations. The face of the generation will be “like the face of a dog.” Just as dogs are not embarrassed by anything they do, so too, people will lose their sense of embarrassment.
Wow! Sounds like it was printed in yesterday's newspaper, doesn't it!!! Also sounds a lot like a Bible verse I learned along the way. What was that verse now? Oh yeah 2 Timothy 3:1-5
"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power"
Sounds like it came from the same place, doesn't it? Well maybe it did! What do you think? Could Paul have been quoting from the Talmud? WOW did you catch how almost everything in our problem list can be linked back to self centeredness and the Bible AND Talmud both say that is the main problem, yet we don't seem to think of it that way.
Let me give you an example of what is happening to us using the Talmud's quote. Have you ever eaten something that was a little bit "bad" and it made you nauseated or perhaps you have had the lovely opportunity of having the 24 hour stomach flu? If so, you know how it starts. At first we feel this little burning sensation or a slight queasiness. A few belches and it goes away and we go on with life. NO PROBLEM, but eventually the symptoms return. Another belch and a little something comes up in our throat, EWWW, but we swallow it down and begin our positive thinking approach. "I am not going to be sick!"
We keep pushing it down and disassociating our self from it until another symptom arises. We swallow it down again. We are in agony, but if we keep swallowing and keep our mind preoccupied we won't have to (dare I say it), throw up. As long as we don't let our mind go there, we won't have to deal with the fact that we are actually sick. We even chant the mantra, "I am not going to be sick, I am not going to be sick!" All the while swallowing down the acidic gunk burning our esophagus and stomach until the inevitable happens......we can't hold it back any longer. What then? RELIEF!!!! Why were we holding back the inevitable in the first place? If we know we will find relief after getting the junk out, why do we fight the purging?
God wants to purge us from all the gunk inside, but we want to hold onto all the acidic, churning, corrosive mess which is eating away at us. It rears it's head in symptoms from time to time, but we push it down and say, "I'm not sick! There is not one thing wrong with me. If I don't admit it, then I don't have to deal with it." We push it down and down and down and, as the Psychiatrist's put it, shove some things to the back of our minds to the point that we have even forgotten they are there. The problem is, when we least expect it, uh oh, a belch, then a little acid and before you know it that gunk is eating away at our esophagus like a cancer. We try a little pepto and think all is well, but I guarantee the problem will be back. You see, all we do is cover the symptoms and think we are taking care of the problem. We are only providing temporary relief when we could be receiving complete relief!
Dealing with sin is a job tooooooooo big for us alone. That is a job for superman and there is only one true Superman - God! He provides complete and total relief from sin whether it is the sin of our own making or the degradation marked by the sin of someone else on our own lives. Dealing with it takes a little at a time. Just like a stomach virus, we get rid of the worst first then as the day goes on we get rid of less and less until we are left weak, but with a virus free stomach. After that it is up to us to replace our bodies with vitamins and nourishment in order to strengthen ourselves for work! Sometimes though, if the virus has been extremely hard on us, we need a little intervention. We have to go to the hospital or doctor for a little intravenous fluids.
God does not work any differently. He will start with the thing in your life causing the biggest problem and deal with it first. Come on get it up and out of there. If that virus is so horrible or deadly then intervention maybe required up front. God has plenty of specialists on His team. Yes, prayer can and does work, but God also has people chosen to help. IT IS NOT A SIN TO USE COUNSELORS OR PSYCHOLOGISTS! (Do you think twice about going to a physician if you are having a heart attack? If you really read God's Word you will find there are times He even used a donkey, so He can use worldly Psychologists also! Most of their foundational wisdom came from Jews who were very knowledgeable in Torah!) Just make sure the person you are using is a qualified professional. DO NOT use a person who has a photocopied certificate in a drawer somewhere or no certificate and qualifies themselves by saying they received their knowledge from the school of hard knocks. If you need intervention, use a professional, especially if you have suffered a deep trauma in your life.
Friends, I am finding there are many, many of you who have suffered deeply at the hands of someone else at an earlier point in your life. DO NOT DELAY in getting professional help to deal with this issue. For those of you who think I harp way too much on this subject let me reiterate something for you right now. Nothing comes into our lives without reason and God has been bringing woman after woman after woman into my life to re-tell their story to me for A REASON and here is the reason:
http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm
It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today.
Source: Forward, 1993.
Can you understand my insistence on this subject? There are many, many of you who have never told ANYONE about it nor have you received help for it: (also from the same website)
In the adult retrospective study, victimization was reported by 27 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men. The median age for the occurrence of reported abuse was 9.9 for boys and 9.6 for girls. Victimization occurred before age eight for 22 percent of boys and for 23 percent of girls. Most of the abuse of both boys and girls was by offenders 10 or more years older than their victims. Girls were more likely than boys to not disclose the abuse. Forty-two percent of the women and thirty-three percent of the men reported never having disclosed the experience to anyone.
Source: Finkelhor et al., 1990.
42% of the women who are abused and 33% of the the men will NEVER tell ANYONE!!!! You will go on to become a tortured mess while the abuser goes scott free to live a life of abusing others. You will choose to keep yourself full of acid and bile that churns and boils until it explodes one day like a volcano into either a meltdown or suicide.
All of the things I listed in the 20 above can also cause this churning and boiling until they explode, not just abuse, and those 20 are things are things we do to ourselves. Abuse is something someone else does to us, but keeping the abuse to ourselves, in fact only keeps the lid on an explosive situation. Here is the result of keeping the lid on these things from this same website:
Dr. William C. Holmes of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine." [snip] "The earlier studies found that one-third of juvenile delinquents, 40 percent of sexual offenders and 76 percent of serial rapists report they were sexually abused as youngsters." [snip] "The suicide rate among sexually abused boys was 1½ to 14 times higher, and reports of multiple substance abuse among sixth-grade boys who were molested was 12 to 40 times greater." [snip] "Holmes said a review of the studies leads him to believe 10 percent to 20 percent of all boys are sexually abused in some way. But widely varying definitions of sexual abuse in the studies and differences in who was being studied make it difficult to accurately gauge the prevalence of sexual abuse, he said."
Full Story at MSNBC News, Dec 1998 (Note: may be archived).
Young girls who are sexually abused are more likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents. The findings also add to a growing body of research suggesting that trauma in childhood increases the risk of developing an eating disorder. Abused girls were more dissatisfied with their weight and more likely to diet and purge their food by vomiting or using laxatives and diuretics. Abused girls were also more likely to restrict their eating when they were bored or emotionally upset. Wonderlich suggests that abused girls might experience higher levels of emotional distress, possibly linked to their abuse, and have trouble coping. Food restriction and perhaps other eating disorder behaviors may (reflect) efforts to cope with such experiences. The report also indicates that while girls who were abused were less likely to exhibit perfectionist tendencies (such as making extreme efforts to avoid disappointing others and a need to be 'the best'), they tended to want thinner bodies than girls who had not been abused.
Source: Stephen A. Wonderlich, M.D., et al, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Fargo, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2000;391277-1283.
AND ONE MORE!
| Sexual and Other Abuse May Alter a Brain Region |
| "Many women and men who have been subjected to severe physical or sexual abuse during childhood suffer from long-term disturbances of the psyche. They may be invaded by nightmares and flashbacks -- much like survivors of war -- or, conversely, may freeze into benumbed calm in situations of extreme stress. Two recent studies find that survivors of child abuse may also have a smaller hippocampus relative to control subjects. If substantiated, the discovery could fill out the profile of an abuse survivor and help define what constitutes abuse." "Changes in the hippocampus--the part of the brain that deals with short-term memory and possibly the encoding and retrieval of long-term memory--could, researchers suggest, be wrought by hormones flooding the brain during and after a stressful episode." "Dissociation and PTSD are not sharply separated and often alternate in the same individual. Dissociation, often employed by children who cannot escape from the threat of abuse, is a means of mentally withdrawing from a horrific situation by separating it from conscious awareness. The skill allows the victim to feel detached from the body or self, as if what is happening is not happening to her or him." "David W. Foy of Pepperdine University notes that within days or weeks of a traumatic experience, therapy seems beneficial in dispelling PTSD. This period, Bremner speculates, could reflect the timescale over which the hippocampus organizes experiences into a person's worldview. Although some functions of the hippocampus are known, its mechanics are poorly understood." "Psychiatrists contend that if repeatedly invoked in childhood, dissociation prevents memories from being integrated into consciousness and can lead to an altered sense of self. Many normal children play with imaginary companions; abused children can use such creative resources to a pathological extent, in extreme cases falling prey to multiple personality disorder (MPD). Adults may continue to use dissociation as a coping mechanism. Once dissociation or PTSD develops, the majority of psychological symptoms and the hormonal profile are very resistant to treatment." Reference: Scientific American, N.Y., (273: 4) 10/95, page 14. This is NOT how God wants us to live our lives as adults. He designed this as a coping mechanism for small children who are too young to do anything about the situation, including reporting it. This is not for those old enough to report the abuse and get help dealing with it. It is the enemy's way and the enemy is the abuser. His way says: "Don't tell anyone. After all who are they going to believe anyway? They aren't going to believe you! Besides, you are worthless now. No one will want you, because no one cares." But God's way is much different: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 "Are not two birds sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the the ground apart from your heavenly Father. And as for you, even the hairs on your head are all numbered, So do not fear; you are more precious than many birds." Matthew 10:29-31 WOW!!! Quite a different outlook than the quotes from the website I have been posting, correct? So why are you holding back the vomit? Do you enjoy the taste of it? Whose report do you believe? The enemy or God? Every time I either hear the word vomit or have to actually go through with the actual act of it, I always think of these verses: "As a dog returns to it's vomit, so fools repeat their folly." Proverbs 26:11 Now I am not calling you a fool, what I am doing is showing you how the New Testament writers used scripture. Look with me at I Peter 2:22 "What has happened to them accords with the true proverb, 'A dog returns to its own vomit.' Yes, 'The pig washed itself, only to wallow in the mud!'" What is Peter talking about? People who lead you astray is the context of this verse, but it is my Jewish commentary that made me really want to print this verse. The part about the pig is a Jewish expression which means, "to enter the mikveh (baptistry) while [still] holding onto the corpse." You see one reason for a mikveh is for spiritual cleansing after touching a corpse. Are we trying to ask God to cleanse us while we are still holding onto the very things He is trying to cleanse us from? Keep shoving down that acid while smiling and chanting that "I am not sick" mantra and we are like a volcano. They are the most beautiful mountains in the world, but also the most volatile and potentially deadly of situations in the world. We have only recently become able to predict with even slight accuracy when and if they will explode. Ignoring the signs of an eruption will not negate a said eruption, (just ask the people of Pompeii, well if you could, but they are dead now aren't they? I think they were killed from a volcanic eruption, because they didn't heed the warning signs!) Sin, is described in Genesis 4:7 as crouching at our door, desiring us and we must master it. Even to do nothing is a sin. Doing nothing won't make it go away, but rather allows it to set up residence and what happens when it sets up residence? You become it's slave, either out of fear or the two of you just become old pals. "Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Romans 6:16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? Numbers 32:23 "But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. NOW, back to your New Years Resolution: Judgement Day has come and the day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, will be here on Friday the 13th (ha! hadn't realized that until I actually printed it) around 6 p.m. through Saturday the 14th around 8 p.m. A day of hard fasting where there is neither food nor drink taken by an observant Jew. The days from now until then are days of repentance. It is the time to settle out of court. A time when we come before God to plead our case and spill our guts to cleanse ourselves of the rotgut inside. Yom Kippur will be ended by one blast of the Shofar! At that blast, our verdict will be sealed for the coming year. (Remember what I said about the festivals being a dress rehearsal for the real thing to come!!!) I know my Western thinkers are screaming at me right now saying, "Don't go there with me, Jesus has already paid the price and I don't have to worry about my verdict! My penalty has been paid in full! I'm not perfect just forgiven." In one respect you are correct. The penalty of the curse has been paid, BUT as I said earlier, we MUST keep on in the repentance process. At salvation God does not magically purge us from all the impurities or we couldn't stand it. We would need to be on IV fluids for years! No, He begins little by little teaching us and showing us the things we need to rid ourselves of so we can "learn" from our past and our mistakes and "know" to stay away from those in the future. Neither does salvation remove from us any obligation to live our lives under His control rather than our own. Salvation does not give us freedom to "sin" as we please since all sin is forgiven past, present and future. (I could take issue with that statement, but now is not the time or place.) We must continually be pulling ourselves loose from ourselves and grasping onto the hand of God while He draws us to Himself. It is a lifelong process, thus a yearly cycle of Rosh Hashanna and Yom Kippur until that Final Shofar blows to bring in the Kingdom of Heaven. Are the words of John the Baptizer becoming a little clearer now? Do the words of The Word, Himself, make a little more sense? Please don't delay. We do not know which Yom Kippur may be the final practice and the verdict will be sealed with no chance for another Rosh Hashanna and another time of repentance. Oh, and those of you who don't believe that a God exists? Well, he still loves you whether you believe in Him or not. Are you willing to take that chance? What will your verdict be? Another year of turmoil or would you love to find peace within? Your choice, your verdict. Oh, the other verse I was speaking of? Well, the Church undergoes a day of judgement also.
Message to Laodicea
14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16So because you are lukewarm,and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (vomit) 17Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clotheyourself, and [that] the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'" Did you catch the part where they had become self-centered? "I have become wealthy and don't need anything from you God!" Whoops, there is that #14 again! Oh dear Creator of the Universe, never let me be such an acidic, corrosive being to you that I would make your stomach churn and you would wish to "vomit" me out of your mouth! Show me the wicked ways in me that I may turn from them and create within me a renewed heart, one that searches only for the things of You! Amen! |
