Raw Art - Portrait of Reality?

I was working on something this morning and took a short break to go out and have a smoke. (I had quit and recently picked it back up so now I have to start all over. grrrrr) As I was apparently mindlessly sitting there, I suddenly realized I was singing a tune in my head. It took singing it out loud about three times before I caught on to what I was actually singing and to what tune. I was trying to remember the real phrase that went with the tune in my head from the song "Enjoy Yourself". (I  had to look it up first. Turns out the only thing I remembered accurately was the tune. The song actually is about suicide.) Instead of the correct wording 'Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think," I was singing: destroy yourself, destroy yourself, destroy yourself with me".

I was somewhat aghast at what I heard coming so nonchalantly and unthinkingly out of my mouth. Nothing happens by accident, so I started asking myself 'why'? I'm struggling with the whole smoking thing, totally disgusted with myself. I believe that was what was behind the little ditty I was singing. With recognition of that, the ideas for some pieces of art came streaming through my mind. I had to run inside to the computer and get to work. I wanted to make something to stick up on my wall to remind me why I want to quit smoking. I eventually came up with at least three decent designs out of it that I thought were also appropriate for this time of year. The content is pretty raw but that happens to be how I've been feeling. Raw art is almost always what I'm drawn to and what I hang on my walls to constantly look at. My artwork is usually an expression of some inner battle I'm fighting, a commentary I need to listen to and remember, and, therefore, I 'label' myself as an expressionist.

Art is great therapy. In fact I can look over the artwork I have done over the past three to four years especially, and see where I was then, where I am now, how much I've changed, how I changed, and where I'm heading.  That's a lot to get from somewhat haphazardly throwing stuff on to a page I think. While I can draw fairly well, I find it takes too long, so I tend to go for things like collage and mixed media which I can throw together more quickly. Once the piece is 'done', or at least acceptably balanced to me, I can go back and disect what I'm saying or trying to say to myself. So far that process has been working well for me.

The amazing thing is that I can look back on different pieces years later and get something entirely new out of it that my subconscious apparently knew at the time, but my conscious self certainly didn't. As I grow in knowledge, experience and understanding in various areas of my life, my interpretations of previous works seem to take on greater depth. I love this about art. And its why I often encourage others to start an art journal. It's not about making 'perfect' art. It's about putting down your feelings on paper as a record of your life at that time. You can learn amazing things about yourself through this kind of process. It's works for journal writing, too. And you don't have to show any of it to anyone you don't want to.

It taught me to trust myself in ways beyond my understanding at that time. This is extremely important in a culture that runs mostly in the shallows of life, doing everything it can to help us avoid thinking too much, or feeling too much. Humanity as a whole seems to prefer running and hiding from anything painful or distasteful to them by running after the impossible dreams dangled in front of our faces by media/advertising, etc. I believe that accounts for a large portion of the 'need' for psychiatrists/psychologists/life coaches, etc., and for medication for a host of psychological issues that never used to even exist but now have labels. I digress. I'll save that for another post.

I think that these digital memes will be the base for a poster size mixed media collage for my wall.

I hope that you find this art thought provoking and worthy as a conversation starter. Thoughtful and kindly written constructive criticism or differing opinions are always welcome in the comments below. Until next time....

Redemption: A Short Story

Early morning light peeks past the window blind.  Silence fills the room like a blanket except for the furious scratch of the pen across the page of her journal. Tears run down her face. She reaches for a tissue, wipes her face and blows her nose, throwing it onto the growing pile in the waste basket. Her anguish is a palpable thing, spreading out from her in waves as she pours her heart out onto the page. She writes:

O, Father, help me to see myself and others through Your eyes. Who am I? What am I? Why am I here? I 'think' I know the broad answers to those questions, but that doesn't go deep enough for me, Abba. Is all of this 'stuff' I feel I need to do really useful? Or am I just wasting my time and trying to move ahead of You in my eagerness, or maybe my ignorance?

My brain is running at high speed most of the time. Others note it. Some think I'm just 'weird' or 'crazy'. Is that true, Father? Am I just stuck in an emotional speed trap, only occasionally being able to momentarily drop out of it?

Help me, please! Is all of this just an offshoot of my 'fleshly nature' that needs to be changed up? Is my life just made up of 'busy work' that I give myself to do? Am I really that useless and odd? I know I am often that self-centered and have been most of my life. I've always felt the odd duck out. Am I just a hampster spinning happily along on my little wheel? God forbid!

Maybe, it's not so happily. Is all of this making me 'dangerous' and/or toxic in what few relationships I do have? Is all this self-examination stuff not really useful to myself or others? There are those who would say it is in fact unhealthy. Really? Am I on the right or wrong path in all of this?

I don't have answers to those questions. Or maybe, I'm merely unable, or unwilling, to see the truth? Is all of my busyness just an attempt to deal with my lack of social interaction; a trying to avoid the pain of that lack?

I certainly don't lack for questions, but are they the 'right' questions?

Am I going through a pruning process? ......That feels like the 'right' question. Pruning is always a painful process, and the further back one is being pruned, the greater the pain and the confusion. As every good gardner knows, the process of pruning on a regular basis is necessary,  enabling the plant to grow and produce greater fruit in its season. Pruning equates with discipline.

Suddenly, the atmosphere of the room changes. Peace settles in. Assurance of the Father's love flows gently in like salve being applied to a wound. Pruning and discipline both flow out of the Father's love.

Thank You, Father. 

She weeps, but this time in gratitude at Father's loving mercy and grace. She is comforted. All is well.

Why write? Penmanship for the 21st Century | Jake Weidmann | TEDxMileHigh

Presenting Pretty Poison

Lessons can come from strange places. I attended a going away party recently for someone moving out of town. There was a lesson in all of that, one I have come to call Pretty Poison.

There was a beautiful cake at the party. It was so big, everyone was invited to take some home. Even though I am a diabetic and my husband and I have both decided to forego the sweets, I took some cake home. I proceeded to dish it up on a pretty plate for breakfast this morning and WHAM! I had to take a picture of it. I saw something in my mind's eye that became the graphic for today's blogpost.

And, yes, I ate some of the cake minus the frosting which I threw away, feeling convicted the whole time. This is obviously one of those areas I am struggling to bring into total submission to the Holy Spirit. Some days are better than others...grrrrr. In spite of that little struggle on my part, I did get the lesson combined with an intense punch-in-the-gut feeling, from which I am still smarting a bit.

I usually start my day doing a bible study using Bill Bullock, Sr.'s Torah portion studies. I was about half way through that when I decided to get myself some breakfast and the above incident happened. I've included an excerpt from that teaching below. It all just seemed to combine together with my little mini vision of pretty poison. Hopefully, you will see the connection as well.

And I quote:

"...As a people, at Sinai and beyond, the Creator of Heaven and Earth has drawn near to us. We are conceived and born into that nearness. As Moshe taught us in Deuteronomy 4, the nations are to marvel at this, saying:  What great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Holy One our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?  Deuteronomy 4:7.  The nearness of the Creator is a wonderful thing, of course – if, as, and to the extent we respond accordingly and appropriately. If, as, when, and to the extent we respond to the Bridegroom-King’s nearness by responding to Him in childlike wonder, with humility, gratitude, and graciousness, and lean into Him, sh’ma His Words of Life, and sh’mar His covenant, we get blessed marvelously by reason of His nearness.  He actually wraps cords of lovingkindness around us - and those cords warm and comfort us. They give us shalom rav [i.e. great peace and security].

 Ah Dear Reader, but when we willfully rebel against Him . . . .  When we  trample His Betrothal covenant [i.e. His wonderful Torah] under our feet . . . . When we choose to clothe ourselves in layer after layer of willful sin . . . . And when we refuse loving call after loving call to make t’shuvah . . .  .  Well, when we do things like that the very same nearness of the Holy One which blessed us so wonderfully before actually becomes a threat to us. The same cords of lovingkindness by which we were once so comforted suddenly – by reason of our straining against them - start to burn . . . and chaff . . . and bind. 

Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger?

I am by no means a country music aficionado. Occasionally on my many automobile trips in connection with my business, however, I will flip through the radio stations trying to find something to listen to in an attempt to keep myself awake.  In the rural areas of Arkansas and Texas one normally finds only stations playing country music.  On one such occasion, as I was driving in a late-night daze through the backwoods of Arkansas, the ‘seek’ button on my radio kept returning me to a tune in which a country singer poignantly was asking his wife, in his song, why she did not wear her wedding ring when she went out [to nightclubs?]. I do not remember the melody or any of the words.  I only heard part of the song.  All I really remember is the title. It was “Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger”.  That title pretty much describes, in my mind, what the Divine Bridegroom would ask us as we squirm and struggle against His cords of love – i.e. the Shabbat, the mo’edim, and the mitzvot and mishpatim of Torah.

 As we seek to increase the distance between our hearts and His, the cords of lovingkindness with which He bound us to Him in a lover’s embrace begin to chaff against our flesh.  The harder we pull against those cords, the more it hurts.  The longer we strain against those cords, the more likely we are to sustain permanent injury.  If one of us does not ‘give in’, we will die. And so, if we continually refuse to make t’shuvah [repent and return], in order to keep us from fatally injuring ourselves, the Holy One eventually looses the cords of lovingkindness - and lets us go.  It is tough love at its ultimate level.

Willful rebellion against and refusal to hear the voice of the Lord God Almighty carries with it results that we prefer to ignore because our flesh wants something different. In the case of the 'pretty poison' of 'cake love', I wanted, in fact craved, some sugar, which I know is not good for me, yet, the urge to eat it anyway was overwhelming. I saw in that the analogy, a parallel of Israel's (and our) urge to follow after the ways of the worldly, ungodly cultures and religions in which we live by moving away from the Holy One who truly loves us. All these ungodly attractions are just pretty poison. It is no different today than it was back in the days of the Old Testament times.

The only real difference nowadays is man's ability to get the false message out to the masses with an ease that is astonishing. The wrapping on the message appears to be different, but the contents haven't changed a bit. The question still remains:  what wrappings and trappings in today's world lures us into agreeing and joining with the ungodly in our time? What 'god' are we actually closer to? Where and in what ways are we being deceived? What lies have we swallowed so willingly? What lies do we now call truths and what truths do we now call lies? What happened to discernment? Where should we be looking for that discernment?

The answer to all of this hasn't seemed to have changed much either: right where our Bridegroom-King desires us to be, "nearer my YHVH to thee...".

The Greatest Threat to Mankind

Excerpt from the Rabbi's Son   Friday's Study for Week 52

READINGS:   Torah Vayalech:   Deuteronomy 31:24-30 

Haftarah: Isaiah 56:6-8 B’rit Chadasha: Romans 7:13-14

Ra [i.e. what feels like drama, trauma, and/or calamity to your flesh] 

will befall you in coming days – because 

you will bring forth/make ra 

[i.e. what feels like trauma, drama, and/or calamity to your flesh].

 [Deuteronomy 31:29]

The greatest threat to mankind and Creation is Torahlessness. Torah is the Holy One’s antidote for the ingestion by human beings of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Any time you take away the Torah from the world; or stop its dissemination and implementation; or misappropriate it to use it as a tool of judgment - the world is thrown back into the pre-Flood cataclysm in which every intent of the heart of man is only evil continually. Genesis 6:5.  

...All of mankind is thoroughly infected by the rebellion/stiff-neck virus. That is why the Holy One has given us the Torah – to enable us to overcome, and model for the world how they too can overcome, the toxic effects of that virus. This is not designed to be a one-time miracle cure; it is a day by day, year by year...We are no worse than any other ethnic group – but without embracing and walking in the Torah we are certainly no better than any other ethnic group...Even with the Torah, we are imperfect healers. But despite all that, we are the vessels the Holy One has chosen to use. 

What is it in us that we still need to let the Holy One work on?  Moshe describes the fallen state of man as consisting of five primary symptoms:  1. ‘rebellion’, 2. a ‘stiff neck’, 3. ‘corruption’, 4. ‘doing evil’, and 5.‘provoking’ the Holy One.

1. REBELLION In the Hebrew that Moshe wrote the term used is meri – mem, resh, yod. This is the same word that Moshe used in Numbers 20:10 right before he lo sh’ma-ed [disobeyed] the Holy One’s instructions and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. Interestingly, meri is a form of the ancient verb root marah, meaning to strike or to smite in anger or other selfish motive.

...The fallen human condition is to over-react, to lash out, and to smite. Some do it with icy stares. Others do it with harsh words. Some do it with bare hands; some with the power of the pen or computer keyboard.  Others do it with sticks, stones, knives, or guns. But at the root of it all is marah. Flowing from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, meri is the natural reaction of man’s flesh to anything that does not please it.  It over-reacts. It lashes out.

Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for me and for thee!  We are not to judge the meri in others; we are to recognize and deal with it in us. We are to know the enemy within, and anticipate his strategies. We are to learn to recognize the ‘tells’ of the meri in us. And we are to stay in humble submission to the Holy One and His Words in order to keep the meri in us in check. ... If we are to overcome the meri that thrives in our flesh, we absolutely must cling to the Holy One and walk humbly in the instructions of Torah.

2. STIFF-NECKED The second symptom universal among fallen men pointed out by Moshe is the tendency to exhibit a stiff neck.  The Hebrew phrase we translate as ‘stiff neck’ is oref qasheh. Oref means neck. Qasheh is an adjective meaning hardened, firm, and difficult to work with.  Picture a sheep that will not turn its head toward – or turns away from – its shepherd.  Not only will it not sh’ma [listen to] the shepherd’s voice, it resists closeness and subordination.  It is unresponsive and independent – even when it would be in its best interest to respond and cooperate. It is a state of self-obsession and self-will, and of loyalty to one’s personal agenda rather than the Kingdom’s agenda.  That is the default state of the human race since the Fall.   Jew, Gentile; man, woman; white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Arab, it does not matter.  

How flexible is your neck, Dear One?  When the Holy One speaks, do you turn your head and incline your ear?  Or is your neck too stiff?

3. CORRUPTION  The third universal symptom of fallen man is that he is ‘utterly corrupt’. In the Hebrew text the operative phrase used by Moshe to describe this condition is sh’chet tash’chitun.   It is a doubled form of the Hebrew verb shachat. The first usage of this word in Torah is found in Genesis 6:11-12, when the Holy One describes the state of men of earth prior to the Flood.  It means infected with and spreading a highly contagious and extremely toxic form of tumah [i.e. uncleanness].  

With what are men infected? ...whatever form it takes, the causative agent is always what Torah calls tumah, and our English Bibles translate as ‘uncleanness’. We all encounter tumah every day. Such is life on planet earth. Something is always growing, and looking for nurture; something is always deteriorating; and our yetzer ha-ra is always looking for something that it can take, consume, manipulate for its own ends, kill, or destroy. Tumah is found in all the ‘biodegrading/garbage eating agents’ of Creation – i.e. bacterium, viruses, snakes, crawling insects, predatory animals and birds, scavengers, bottom-feeders, dogs, cats, pigs, catfish, shellfish etc. – and is found as well in all the ‘natural’ processes that result in death and decay among humans. These prominently include:

1. bad diet [e.g. eating things or consuming quantities of ‘food’, or eating at times, that the Holy One never intended; seeking comfort or pleasure from ‘food’, and]; 
2. substance misuse, abuse, and/or dependence;
3. hyper-sensitivity, sensuality, sentimentality, and sexuality;
4. obsession over appearance;
5. hyper-materialism [e.g. hyper-territoriality, competitiveness, jealousy, envy, and covetousness; deceit, manipulation, occult arts, and witchcraft];
6. racial, national, ethnic, regional, social, or economic pride/prejudice;
7. isolationism/hiding from social interaction;
8. selfishness in relationships:
9. voyeuristic levels of curiosity;
10. pursuit of abstract ideas [i.e. ‘knowledge’, ‘truth’, ‘information’, ‘education’, ‘happiness’, ‘justice’, ‘morality’, ‘fairness’, ‘salvation’, ‘religion’, ‘power’, etc.]
11. slothfulness and leisure-seeking;
12. thrill-seeking and wanderlust;
13. seeking from men respect, honor, fame, glory, tribute, or homage;
14. indulgence of dark energy-fueled feelings and emotions/emotional reactions [e.g. boredom, stress, anxiety, worry, fear, pride, disappointment, discontent, depression, anger, offense, unforgiveness, outrage, etc.];
15. wastefulness/profligacy; 
16. ingratitude;
17. irreverence [lack of fear of the Holy One, and respect of that which He calls ‘holy’];
18. over-valuation of human beings and/or their deeds & ideas [e.g. idolatry, hero worship; and all other forms of humanism]; 
19. closed-handedness toward the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner; and
20. lawlessness.

Because we are human, and because we live in a world that is constantly biodegrading, we all have seed beds of tumah all around us. They are in our fleshly appetites, urges, drives, attitudes, moods, opinions, philosophies, ideologies, information sources, and sentiments.  If we do not use the tools the Holy One has given us, in the Torah, to keep it in check, it will invariably [a] adversely affect our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies; [b] attract ‘unclean spirits’; and ultimately [c] turn us into agents of tumah ourselves, who infect people around us with our unique strain of the disease.

4. DOING EVIL [Hebrew: ra], The fourth universal symptom that Moshe identifies with fallen man is that he ‘does evil’. In the Hebrew text the operative phrase used by Moshe to describe this condition is asu et-ha-ra.  It means to build/make/construct a state of calamity. It means to lay the groundwork for epic failure, disaster, and ruin.  In Hebrew thought, you see, ra – which English speakers call ‘evil’ – is not a matter of morality at all. It is just a matter of attitude, thought, speech, or behavior that degrades/acts negatively on whatever it touches, and therefore inevitably lead to what to our flesh feels like trauma or calamity.  If left unchecked, ra will corrupt and destroy whatever – and whoever - it touches. The natural state of man – in the flesh – is to mess up everything. It is the opposite of the ‘Midas touch’ or the ‘healing touch’; it is the ‘Serpent’s touch’ – a kind of bull-in-the-china-shop touch that puts everything and everyone with whom the person comes in contact on a road that – if not course-corrected by Torah – will careen toward destruction, calamity, disaster, and ruin, and

 (Interesting to note: Ra, ie, evil, is the name of the sun god of Egypt, another name for Nimrod, leader of the religion Mystery Babylon, although under a seemingly different name (he has several), which has corrupted Christianity with a mixture of pagan idolatry and harlotry, i.e. christmas which is actually Nimrod's birthday; easter, the goddess Ashtoreth, wife of Ba'al; harvest festival--halloween trick or treating; "Sun"day worship=worship of Ra, the sun god.)

5. PROVOKING THE HOLY ONE  The fifth universal symptom that Moshe identifies with fallen man is that he ‘provokes’ the Holy One. The Hebrew word our English Bibles translate as ‘provoke’ is ka’as – kaf, ayin, samech.  Our English Bibles add the phrase ‘to anger’, but no word for ‘anger’ is present in the Hebrew text. The Hebrew text does not present the Holy One – Who is Eternal, Omniscient and totally confident in His ability to bring good out of every situation – as being ‘angry’. What He does get is ka’as.  That just means displeased.  The Holy One looks at human lives – which He created and cares about – two ways. On the humble and contrite, He looks with FAVOR.  On the rebellious, stiff-necked, calamity-making ones filling the beautiful world He created with corruption He looks with KA’AS - displeasure.  On which of the two groups – those He looks upon with favor, or those He looks upon with ka’as – do you think He will pour out His blessings? On which of those groups do you think He will pour out wisdom and revelation?  On which group, on the other hand, do you think He will He release a series of disciplinary actions designed to bring them to teshuvah (repentance), and give them a chance at redemption?

THESE THINGS ARE WHY WE NEED TORAH!   Torah is our antivirus, the antidote for the plague we are infested with. We can rejoice because we have Y'shua, i.e. Jesus,  Who IS the Torah, the Word of YHVH, the Holy One. He is our way to healing, redemption, and restoration. He FULFILLED the law/Word of YHVH, He didn't get rid of it. The commandments of the Lord reveal His Character which never changes, giving us the proper boundaries for expressing His character through our individual and corporate lives. Torah is the standard of Almighty God throughout all eternity. Without Y'shua and Torah, we have no way to combat the infection resulting from ingesting fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have no way to combat death, disease, and all types of calamity, nor any way to fulfill the calling and hope for the destiny Adonai has in mind for every one of us. Nor have we any access to redemption and salvation EXCEPT THROUGH HIM. We need Y'SHUA, our Redeemer, and we need TORAH because they are one and the same thing.

May the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, open our eyes to His Word and His Ways.

Also the foreigners...

Following is an excerpt from the Friday study of Bill Bullock Sr., aka the rabbi's son, for Torah portion Vayalech . You can find that study under the Rabbi's Son Torah Studies Archives - Book V- Devarim - Wk 52 Vayalech. This kind of puts a foundational understanding of Bill Bullock Sr.'s teachings and his website RegionsChristianCenter.org from which I will be sharing a lot. Hope these excerpts touch you as they have touched me,

In today’s Haftarah [Isaiah 55:6 - 56:8] the Holy One speaks through Ha-navi Yeshayahu [the prophet Isaiah] the mystery of His end-days plan for the restoration of His People - and the inclusion of “foreigners” in His covenant.  According to this prophecy in the last days a call will go out to all mankind – to every ‘son of man’ - to “Maintain justice, and do what is right”. This, of course, simply means to return to the Torah lifestyle.  This end-times call will be heeded not only by Jews but by “foreigners” and “eunuchs” as well.  Isaiah 56:1-8 therefore says:

Thus says the Holy One, Keep [sh’mar] justice, and do [asah] righteousness; 

for my yeshu`ah is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.

Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; 

who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Neither let the foreigner who has joined himself to the Holy One,

 speak, saying, the Holy One will surely separate me from his people;

* * *

Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Holy One, to minister to him, 

and to love the name of the Holy One, to be his servants, 

everyone who keeps the Shabbat from profaning it,

 and holds fast my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, 

and make them joyful in my house of prayer: 

their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; 

for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Holy One GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Yisra'el, says,

‘Yet will I gather [others] to him, besides his own who are gathered.’

These persons, though classified by Yeshayahu as ‘foreigners’, would:

1. “bind themselves” unto the Holy One, the God of Israel; 
2. “serve” Him out of passionate love for His Name, His revealed character, and His personality; 
3. bow and prostrate themselves before His throne, in sincere adoration of Him;
4. keep with joy and delight, as a peculiar treasure, His glorious Sabbath [the 7th day]; and would
5. “hold fast to His covenant” – namely, the covenant at Sinai – TORAH.

I was stunned. Passionate, Sabbath-observant, Torah-Covenant submissive non-Hebrews?  Blessed by the Holy One in wonderful ways?  In the end-times?  It absolutely boggled my mind. I had no grid for it.  I racked my brain. I had heard of “Jews for Jesus’, of course.   But I had never heard of any group of  “Gentiles for Torah’, or ‘Heathens for Sabbath-honoring’, or anything of the kind. All my friends from the Christian world were all 100% convinced the Torah was a ‘superseded covenant’ and that the Sabbath was of symbolic, typographic relevance only – some kind of ‘picture’ of spiritual ‘rest’, or of heaven, or something.  If there was anything they were fanatic about, it was that.  That, to them, had become the substance of their ‘good news’. They were all convinced that a relationship with God revolved around signing a decision card, attending and supporting whatever ‘local church’ had the most charismatic preacher, played their favorite kind of music, offered the most entertaining programs, especially for children, youth, singles, and young marrieds, etc., and then going to see Peter, Paul, and Mary in Heaven when you die. So Isaiah 56 really rattled my cage.

Was it possible, in light of what I was reading that very important day, that these ‘good people’ . . . were, well . . . er . . . wrong?  Was it possible that they and those like them had for centuries been completely misreading the writings of the man they called ‘Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles’, and had, in so doing, completely missed the Divine Bridegroom’s Redemptive and Restorative ‘end-game’ plan for the latter days?

You have to understand. This was 1995. In all the churches and church conferences I had attended I had never seen – or even heard any gossip about - any gentiles becoming Torah-submissive or Sabbath-honoring.  But on that very special April morning, in that Oklahoma City Hotel Lobby, as I read Isaiah 56 with my spiritual eyes wide open, I became convinced that such a people would in fact exist – and soon – if they did not already.   And that day, right there in the shadow of the smoldering debris of the Murrah Federal Building, I made a commitment to Creator and to myself that I would locate and bless their company – no matter how much ‘Church-ianity’ – and how many pastor-friends - I had to shed to do so.  I desperately wanted, you see, to help these foreigners about whom Yeshayahu was prophesying learn the way to the Holy One’s holy mountain.  I desperately wanted to help these foreigners find delight in the Creator of the Universe’s house of prayer.  I hungered to have these foreigners grasp what it means to have their ‘burnt offerings’ and ‘sacrifices’ accepted on His Altar – the real one in Heaven, the one after which the one on earth, in the Mish’kan and Temple, had been modeled.  

It was largely out of the revelation I received on that April day in Oklahoma City that the Rabbi’s son studies was born. I resigned all my wood, hay, and stubble activities I had theretofore considered ‘ministries’. I began to explore with passion the instructions of the Creator regarding the commemoration of the 7th day Sabbath.  I began to pour more and more of my time and spiritual energy into the study – and teaching of my family - of the ancient pathways of Torah.  And somewhere along those ancient pathways I began the gradual process of finally becoming who I was created to be.  And so I say to you Beloved - if you have been hearing the shofar blowing in this season, and it is piercing your soul - arise!  Shake off the dust of religion, and return to the God of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov, and the ancient pathways of His Torah. Delight in the Sabbath of the Great King.  Hold fast to His covenant.  And make His Holy Mountain your first priority destination. There is plenty of room on that Mountain. Yes, even for foreigners!

So, what are your thoughts on this?