Blog Posts

PAUL/SAUL/SHAUL

1/29/2015

Many read Paul’s words without regarding the circumstances (remove them from their context). If you look at all his writings this way, he comes across as schizophrenic. If you just take bits and pieces, he may seem scattered, disjointed and even misogynistic. In case of the last, he is hung out to dry as a religious nut promoting some not so nice things about women. I would like to look at these bits and pieces and hopefully bring some understanding out of the context from which they were written.

What is context? The Oxford dictionary says: The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed. Also: The parts of something written or spoken that immediately precede and follow a word or passage and clarify its meaning.

The Lesson of Selma

12/23/2014

Due to being related by marriage, I was privileged to have a private viewing of the new movie, Selma. After my mom died almost 40 years ago, my dad married a lovely woman, Marie Reeb. She was widowed 10 years before when her husband, James Reeb, a Boston minister went to support Dr. Martin Luther King in the civil rights marches at Selma, Alabama in 1965. While he was there, he was bludgeoned to death by white racists as he and a fellow minister were leaving a restaurant.

I was in my early teens when this was happening and I understood the severity of the problem, but was not in the problem. I have an acquaintance who is a little older who was actively involved with what was happening during this time. She accompanied me to the viewing and said it was very accurate. If you get a chance to go to the movie, do. There is much to take in and much to learn. Sometimes I wonder if we ever learn...

I wrote a blog a while back that compared the church’s theology of women, subjection, and domination by men to how blacks were treated in this country for years. Both of these scenarios allow for a particular people group to be subjugated, demeaned, devalued, and seen as less than human. God created humankind in His image. We are all descended from the original “parents”. The DNA of human beings is always the DNA of human beings. It matters not that DNA comes from a black skinned person, a white skinned person, or a yellow skinned person, a male or a female. They are ALL people, human beings made in the image of YHVH. (If you are not familiar with what Scripture actually says about the function of the woman, then read some previous posts for clarity. If you disagree, check for yourself the original languages and contexts.)

RESPONSE

11/23/2014

The following is a response to a friend who has been subjected to what borders on dismissal of her very real issues and ensuing problems. This is being done in "church" settings. It would seem that the world has more compassion and desire to "listen" and help than the Body of Messiah in some cases. After my healing and subsequent calling to minister to such people, I have been privileged to work with this woman, who is also a dear friend. It has taken years, but we serve a faithful God and she has been set free and is walking in power and strength as never before! Still, somehow those around her continue box her in and refuse to acknowledge the evidence of Ruach haKodesh manifesting in her life.

My dear friend, this response is out of a raw-ness of where I am today. It is somewhat emotional, but not unwarranted, I think.

Thanks for this.(she included a blog entry) I have been praying about this meeting, about your purpose, about “mind-sets” that Mr. Blogger speaks of. Just because something makes a pastor uncomfortable doesn’t make it wrong. Nowhere in Scripture are we called to accept injustice in order to placate the uncomfortable. Upholding the standard of YHVH using vocal cords does not make you a gossiper or defiler. Sometimes the reality of evil must be laid out in full technicolor detail in order for it to be absorbed and felt and ultimately stopped. (see picture below) Scripture defines evil so that we can recognize it. What is “good”? Is it good to ignore the fact that hundreds of people a day are trafficked in the sex trade? How do you combat that without making known the details? Without sharing the horror and vileness of it? Without becoming the voice of the voiceless? Isn’t that what Yeshua did? He confronted the lies and the liars. Of course, with mercy, but we know that mercy without justice is not mercy at all. That only compounds the problem.
If those who have been victimized cannot ultimately speak to their perpetrators by way of standing up to the injustice and saying, “No more! Not to me and not to anyone else as long as I am able to share Yah’s power to heal and restore and rise above it to become all He has created!”, then what is there? Once the disciples were empowered by the Ruach, they each one in turn, declared the injustices done to themselves and others and demonstrated God’s power through them to make sure a line was drawn in the sand. I believe they even named names. Was this gossip? Let’s define the terms - Scripturally.

Your story needs to be heard along with the testimony of Yah’s power to heal and restore. My question is this? Unless the story is told, how does the ministry for healing come about? Initially, the graphic details must come out to those who have been called to “hear”. Later, it can be relayed in ways that tell the story less graphically, but still tell the story! You know as well as I do, that the years of stuffing did as much or more damage than the actual abuse. There are some who simply are not equipped to deal with such issues in the body and that is ok, but to establish protocol that says it has no place at all ever, is not ok. This is what I mean, when I say the body needs to recognize its own parts and be able to direct these issues to the part that has been put in place by Abba, Himself, for this purpose. Why is this not being done? Are we so involved in our own little kingdoms that we won't recognize the extent and diversity of the body of Messiah by recommending or directing hurting people to the ones who are able to help? Outside our little domain?

As we move through the prophesied times of the end, we are going to encounter evil on an exponential level. We are told that unless we face injustice and unrighteousness head on and declare the Word of Yah against it, the only place for us in the world to come is outside the Kingdom of YHVH. I guess we need to understand what this looks like. Father, instruct us to become Your voice, Your hands and feet, Your heart and Spirit in a wicked and perverse world!

Only the power of Yah is effective against such evil. We are called to stand, to post the pictures, to describe the wickedness, and to find out what YHVH is calling us to do. I do not believe shutting the doors of the synagogue and pretending it did not happen because it is uncomfortable to view or know is the answer. It is a reality that is incomprehensible to some, but it is still reality.

KAVOD

11/21/2014

This is one of those amazing Hebrew words! This word in it's root form - kaf,vet,dalet - or derivative forms appears 376 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. It's basic meaning is to be heavy or weighty, not in the sense of pounds and ounces, but abstractly as in intensity, influence, power, or honor. It is usually translated into English as glory.

It is used as an adjective 200 times to describe YHVH. Although, the idea of weight or heaviness is not overt in these cases, it certainly helps us understand a bit more of Yah's glory!

Shaking is occurring. It is occurring in my world, privately and corporately in community. The Father is cleaning house, so to speak. He is true to His word to shake all that can be shaken and we are only seeing the beginning. How we/I respond to the shaking will determine how much of Yah's glory manifests.

After a particularly trying week, something was bearing down on me. In former times, I would have automatically assumed or presumed what it was and proceeded according to traditional familiar teaching. Actually, there were a few minutes of considering the possibilities - depression, sadness, fear, demonic interference, disappointment with myself, etc. But when I asked my heavenly Father to show me, He revealed that it was "heaviness". The sensation was exactly that, as if I was being pressed on, not like being crushed, this was coming from inside and outside at the same time. Then I heard: kavod.

I was experiencing Yah's glory. It was manifesting in this physical sensation. It felt at the same time, like I couldn't breathe, but also didn't need to. It was accompanied by a tremendous calm - shalom - another amazing Hebrew word meaning overall well-being in body, mind, and spirit.

What does it all mean? All human beings have kvod - honor - because we are created in the image of Elohim, and He is the essence of kavod. To dishonor another human being is to dishonor Elohim. Sometimes honoring another human being means doing the hard thing. For instance: not ignoring a disrespect to another, or not letting a child get by with lying, not excusing sin to accommodate your comfort level. This has been a hard week. Not only dealing with my own issues but also confronting others (of course, with love and respect). And I have felt His kavod.

Am I special? If that means better than you - absolutely NOT! If it means Yah pays attention to what is going on with me, then YES! The heaviness/weightiness manifesting in/around me is the realization that He is there and I am His and He approves. This is more humbling than you can imagine. There is a certain assurance about the god I serve that empowers me to operate out of His kavod - and to be immersed in His. Let the weight of Your Glory fall...

Prophet Pearls

10/30/2014

A few years ago, the quintessential "odd couple" produced a series of programs called Torah Pearls. The two men are Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon. Keith, a black Methodist minister and former chaplain for the Minnesota Vikings, has had more than a decade of being led by the Holy Spirit into the Hebraic mindset of first century believers. His journey has been facilitated by a young Karaite priest named Nehemia Gordon.

Jew and Gentile together.

Since first recording the Torah Pearls programs, much has happened and the plan to continue the haftorah portions of the prophets was put on hold. Timing is everything and Prophet Pearls is now being produced. I share this because I was blessed to be able to sponsor one of the programs and was invited to share insight on the portion of my choice. I picked Toldot and haftorah Malachi 1:1-2:7. See below:

Prophecy is interesting in that it can relate consequences that will take place due to obedience or disobedience. Although, it is usually specific to a given circumstance, the words are timeless and so cross time barriers and can have many fulfillments because it is Truth spoken. These short few verses are loaded with a ton of application for today.

I listened to Torah Pearls on the Torah portion. I was intrigued by the current ‘Jewish’ understanding of Edomite that Nehemia shared. He said that when this term is used, it is a euphemism for ‘christians’. Taken with what else is known, it seems this is not so much a specific nationality as it is a mindset toward YHVH - one that despises Him or disregards Him.

I was particularly struck by verse 4:
4Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins” . . .”

This is also quoted in Isaiah 9:9-11. Immediately after and during the years following 9/11, American politicians arrogantly spoke these words, not realizing these words were the cause of judgement because they were rising up against what God was doing to curb the rebellion and disobedience of the people.

The last half of the verse echos other passages that let us know it is YHVH who is in charge and He will do what He will do: thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

Ecclestiastes 3 says there is a time to every purpose (Hebrew: desire, pleasure) under heaven. Ecclesiastes goes on to define these “desirable” things: dying, uprooting, killing, tearing down, weeping, mourning, giving up, throwing away, tearing apart, hating, war.

Mercy always precedes judgement. HE will do these things when necessary to bring us back, to humble us, to restore right relationship with Him. How many opportunities did Pharaoh have to repent? Esau/Edom took no thought of the spiritual blessing and “did it my way” choosing instead to satisfy the physical/flesh. He had the same opportunities Jacob had to serve The God of Abraham and Isaac, but made selfish and arrogant decisions. Later he sought repentance with tears, but it wasn’t there.

The physical hardening of the heart is a slow process that many don’t even know is happening until it stops you in your tracks. Spiritual hardening of the heart is like that. To disregard the merciful intervention of YHVH by stating in pride and arrogance that I will rebuild the tower of Babel bigger and better and with even stronger material is to spit in the face of the Almighty and we had better watch out because there may come a time when repentance may not be found!

National repentance begins with individual repentance. How can the people be led correctly when the priests are in error?

For many months, I have heard the Father say: all that can be shaken will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken will remain. What needs shaken out of my life that is not in line with Torah? What is Abba tearing down that has no business being rebuilt? Can I ‘see’ His hand and trust He knows best?

Hear Prophet Pearls and Torah Pearls at the following links:

http://bfainternational.com/
http://www.nehemiaswall.com/prophet-pearls-noach-isaiah-541-555

Waiting

10/27/2014

The last few weeks have been action packed, exhilarating, trying, exhausting, incredible. The fall feasts were wonderful as always, but in a new way. Isn’t that how it is? Each step we take brings new revelation and experience to light. The Father has been very busy facilitating deliverance and restoration via the ministry He does through Healing Wings. Prayers of long standing are beginning to be answered - His timing.

I want to share something about prayers and timing. One of my sons left home for a time before he graduated high school. It was his desire to not have contact with us - his parents. During this time, I would spend hours on my face in my walk-in closet (this was also my prayer closet :)) praying for him very specifically, crying out for his return. Weeks went by and then months went by and seemingly nothing. They say divorce is worse than death because usually it is a choice to leave vs. being taken away. This felt like that. My own child chose to leave and he was old enough to go, but it wasn’t time yet and my heart was broken.

One day the phone rang and it was my son saying he wanted to come home. One prayer answered. After he returned, we spent many nights talking into the wee hours. He shared many things that God had showed him or that he had learned while away and I just sat in awe of our God and how my specific prayers had been answered so specifically.

Often after that, when I would get discouraged about not seeing results, Abba would bring to my mind how He worked and answered behind the scene, so to speak, in this instance with my son.

Impatience is not a virtue.

The word most often translated “wait” in the sense of waiting on the Lord is the Hebrew qavah. Qavah means (1) “to bind together” (like the twisting of strands together in a rope), (2) “look patiently,” (3) “tarry or wait,” and (4) “hope, expect, look eagerly.”

The second most frequently used word translated “wait” is yachal. Yachal means “to wait,” or “hope, wait expectantly,” and is so translated in our English Bibles. The KJV sometimes translates yachal as “trust” as in Isaiah 51:5, but the NASB has “wait expectantly” and the NIV “wait in hope.”

A third word sometimes translated “wait” is damam. Damam means “to be dumb, grow silent, be still,” but it is sometimes translated “wait, tarry, rest” as in Psa. 62:5 KJV.

A fourth word for waiting is chakah, “to wait, tarry,” or “long for” (see: Ps. 33:20; 106:13; Isa. 30:18).

Generally, the word means allowing time to pass for benefit. We, as a society, are not inclined to wait. Waiting makes us grumpy and irritable. The flesh wants instant gratification. How often have you looked for the shortest line at the grocery store only to find the person at the end of the really long line you avoided is now checking out while you are still waiting?

My sister told the story of a time she took a dirt road to avoid a crowded main road. She had to stop at a sign and wait for farm equipment to s l o w l y move across the intersection. She was fuming by the time it had all passed. Farther down the road, she came upon an accident that had just happened at another intersection. She was struck by the fact that this could have been her had she not had to wait five minutes. Was this providence, or YHVH’s intervention, or just coincidence?

All things work together for good . . . But the Scripture doesn’t stop there.

All things work together for good to those who love YHVH and are called according to His purpose. Can we purpose to exercise the spiritual fruit of patience and wait, tarry, hope, expect, look eagerly, rest, long for, and trust that which is His perfect will in His perfect timing? There is the alternative . . . which most of us know all to well.

Father, I purpose to come into alignment with Your will, Your, plan, Your timing.

Kill The Girls And Make Them Die

9/16/2014

First, I will summarize an article published yesterday (9.15.14) by Debra Saunders for Jewish World Review. It seems five of San Francisco’s mayoral supervisors have co-authored a bill to make San Francisco the first city to oppose bans on sex selective abortions. Mayor Ed Lee is expected to sign the measure.

In a phone interview with Supervisor David Chiu, he told Saunders: "There is no evidence that sex-selective abortions are happening in the United States. The legislative bans are based on racial stereotypes. We shouldn't be passing laws that could potentially cause doctors to not provide care or consider turning women into authorities for these laws."

Saunders states: No evidence? In 2011, Sunita Puri — then a University of California, San Francisco medical resident — published a study on sex-selective abortion; 65 Indian immigrant women participated in the study, and 24 said they had sought abortions because they were carrying girls. Common sense tells you it is happening among native and immigrant families — and among all ethnicities.

Puri talked to immigrant women who had aborted girls because their husband or mother-in-law wanted a male heir. Some feared a daughter eventually would grow up to bring shame on the families. Women who delivered girls were subject to verbal and physical abuse.

Journalist Mara Hvistendahl, author of "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men," estimates that sex-selective abortions have "claimed over 160 million potential women and girls — in Asia alone."

My questions:

Why is it that even women believe having a female child is somehow degrading?

Why does one of the most liberal cities in America, with four of the co authors of this bill opposing sex based abortions, being women, support a law that devalues, dehumanizes, and literally destroys other women?

How is it that you can support the right to abort a child, but become morally incensed over the thought of killing it because its sex doesn’t suit you?

Do you see the problem here? Do you see the inconsistencies? Do you see the double heart?

It is beyond me that this same mentality permeates the hearts and minds of some who claim to believe in the Elohim of the Scriptures, using Him and His word to enforce injustices toward women. The idea that women are somehow less human, less valuable, less important than men breeds the very same poison toward women that Saunders writes about. Shame on us!

PERSPECTIVE

9/15/2014

I spent some time this weekend with my eldest son. Both my boys are pretty amazing, but then I am their mom and absolutely biased! My marriage to their father did not make it. What does Scripture say? Hardness of heart . . . on both our parts. Working through my part has been irritating, frustrating, and absolutely humbling for many years. Would that a level of maturity could have been attained earlier, but sadly, no.

The difficulties of our relationship affected the boys. This weekend, I sat and listened for the first time to some of those issues from my oldest son's perspective. He was in a place to share and I was in a place to receive. Interesting how something looks through another's eyes, emotions, and maturity. I am reminded of the tale of the blind men who are each led to a different part of an elephant and told to describe the part they are able to feel. Each perspective is correct as far as it goes - one says of the tail that an elephant is like a rope or cable, another of the leg that it is like a strong tree trunk, etc.

Part of what the Father is doing with me right now is opening up perspectives. As I continue to 'see' my spiritual roots from YHVH's perspective as opposed to say, mine or tradition's or bad teaching, I pray that my eyes are being opened, my heart being broken, my ears hearing what HE has to say to me about me in order to become truly HIS. Am I able to let go of my limited perspective(s) and make more whole evaluations based on allowing different perspectives to be brought together to create the big picture?

How I behave in any given situation has as many perspectives as people it affects. That is sobering! I have behaved badly. I have also behaved well. Sometimes the good behavior is seen as inappropriate because of perspective and vice versa. The only perspective that matters really, is YHVH's. Humbling myself before Him and others if necessary, by confessing my bad, apologizing and asking forgiveness is His perspective. May I be able to see it more and more, do it more and more, become mature in His ways and leave behind my limited perspective.

METAPHOR

8/22/2014

Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with a friend. She has a unique way of seeing things which often blows me away. She commented that she sees the building of the woman almost literally as YHVH removed the rib from the Adam and made it stand before him. Then she asked, “Why a rib? Why not another bone? What is the function of ribs?”

Think about it. The function of the rib cage, as the main upper part of the torso in the human body, is to protect the vital organs that lie within. These include the majority of the torso organs such as the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and partially the intestines. Without this protection, fatal damage to these organs could easily occur. They also anchor the muscles that work the lungs and literally keep us breathing by lifting and lowering the rib cage. This is the primary function of ribs, however, they do so much more.

The human rib cage consists of three types of bone. The large flat bone or sternum, in the front center, twelve thoracic vertebrae of the spine, and twelve pairs of ribs. Without the rib cage, the skeletal system would collapse. Individual ribs are composed of inflexible hard bone tissue and flexible cartilage to allow for both protection and breathing.

Interestingly, given the important job of protecting the vital organs, the ribs are actually fairly easily broken. Taking a direct hit during sports or horsing around, a fall, and even a violent sneeze can break a rib. The pain of a broken rib is excruciating and care must be taken that the sharp edges of a broken rib do not puncture a vital organ causing serious, possibly mortal consequences.

WoW! I wonder if it is even necessary to go into the parallels with the role of ezer k’negdo. Protection, aiding in life processes, support, complexity, strength as well as delicateness. What a stunning choice of body parts!

I am intrigued by the information about how easily a rib can be broken. When something is not allowed to perform its function, is abused, fractured, seen as insignificant, not properly respected, can it fulfill its purpose? The answer is: It can try, but with such obstacles, how long will it last? And more to the point, how long can the body that rejects the purpose of the rib(s) continue to be productive?

Ishshah is not like a rib (simile). She IS a rib (metaphor).

Definitely Different

8/13/2014

Ok. So paul is going to have to wait. A while, as a matter of fact. There is too much that needs to be said before we go there. Lest you think that I am about de-gendering or uni-sexing, I think I need to clarify some things.

I was born a woman. I want to be what I was created to be. A woman. The reason I am blogging on this subject is because I have studied for a very long time just what that entails.

I have two sons. The first one was 6 months old when we moved to New Orleans. We lived in an apartment complex next door to another young couple with a little girl exactly 1 day older than our son. I had determined that I would not stereotype my son and included dolls and age appropriate play dishes in his toy box. He did not play with these toys, but the little neighbor girl liked them when she came over.

I was particularly struck one day when they each had a doll. Little Kimberly was cradling hers as she toddled along. My son had his by the foot dragging its head on the ground. I thought about that for days. Boys and girls were definitely different even at the tender age of 12 months. There was an instinctual psychological nurturing reflex in this little girl that was simply not evident in my son.

He loved balls. Any kind of ball. By the time he was 18 months old, he could identify balls. Footballs, golf balls, basket balls, baseballs. His first word was ‘ball’, much to his mother’s chagrin. You wait and coax and long to hear ‘mama’. What I got was “baa’ as he held one of his balls up and then promptly threw it across the room.

Somehow, I feel the need to reassure that I am not going for unisex or transgender. That is not the point of this at all. There are both physiological and psychological differences between men and women and they are good because YHVH designed it that way.

It is said that if you take the actual genetic makeup of men and women, the difference of the one pair of chromosomes that determine sex constitutes only a 4% difference in the entire genetic code. But, what this sets in motion as human beings mature into either male or female, becomes the fodder for books with titles like Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars, clearly delineating the vast differences.

What we do with these differences is the key. Do we try to see how we fit together and make each other better by incorporating the differences? Or do we tear down the opposite sex because they are not like us, implying that there is something bad or wrong with them just because they are the opposite sex?

The Body of Messiah has failed to remain faithful to YHVH’s original design by introducing extra biblical ideas and beliefs into the gender issue, thereby setting the stage for dehumanization, inequality, and injustice.

There are no two identical human beings on the planet, be they two men, two women, or a man and a woman. We were all created for a purpose with a plan for living that purpose out. We must be able to work together, to try to understand the blessing of other than ourselves, and respect the beauty of maleness or femaleness as it is the original building block of relationship between humans.