This Election’s Only Hope

There is a great deal at stake in this year’s presidential and down-ballot elections. Illegal immigration, government spending, and national debt are totally unsustainable. Our justice system and laws are being politically weaponized and unequally applied. We have no unbiased press to keep the people truthfully informed and our leaders honest. The future of free speech and parental rights hangs in the balance. And yet, many of us who claim Yeshua as Messiah just can’t seem to keep ourselves from thinking that elections can fix all this. Many of us still hold onto old, antiquated ideas about voting in America, and believe that elections can still save our country—can save us—and set things right. Read more

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He Cleans by Pruning

Believers in Messiah today are increasingly declining in their stand for biblical truth. Collectively, we are less likely to believe in and live by the absolute standard of Scripture, and more likely to compromise on, tolerate, and embrace unbiblical beliefs and sinful behaviors. We have lost ground and influence in the society outside us, while we have been slowly losing our future generations from within. According to nearly every metric, we are a Body that is atrophying, splintered, malnourished, and weak. Read more

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Last of the Biblical Believers

In his 2020 American Worldview Inventory, Christian researcher George Barna concluded that biblical belief in the United States was an at all-time low. Three short years later in 2023, his repeat of the same survey revealed the reality that things have only gotten shockingly worse. Here is what the research shows, and what we as the last of the biblical believers can do about it. Read more

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The Narrow Path

As those created in God’s very own image, it is our duty and pleasure to serve and obey our Master—to voluntarily enslave our minds (see Ro. 7:25) and bend our wills to His Word. To be true, no amount of the sincerest admiration, respect, veneration, passion or even self-denial is acceptable to God unless it proceeds from our unconditional conformity and unrivaled obedience. In the words of Samuel, “to obey is better than sacrifice.” Indeed, our commitment to the Creator must far exceed all adoration and devotion we have for Him. Instead, as the Master Yeshua demonstrated by laying down His life in place of ours, the only adequate expression of love and submission must be displayed through action. Whatever the price—no matter the cost—we must heed the admonition of obedience: “When God speaks, man must bow.” Read more

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The Hostile Influences That Keep You From Following God

The fundamental attack on God’s authority is the belief that we need more than His word to guide us through life. Such an assertion utterly degrades the Scriptures. When we look to and lift up standards that originate outside the Bible, we are saying that the word of God is insufficient to teach us what we need to know. This is why followers of God often fall prey to what may be considered hostile influences—forces that draw our focus away from Scripture. There are three such influences that not only compromise our submission to God’s Word, but also weaken our ability to bear the standard of Scripture. Read more

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No Other Standard

With barely six months remaining in their desert exile, the people of Israel could still speak the unthinkable, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in a wilderness?” (Numbers 21:5). God was invisible and unreal to Israel. After forty long years, they simply did not believe.

With Israel blinded to their ever-present salvation, God then unleashed upon the people a danger of the desert—reminding them just Who had the power to hold it back. In answer to the defining, forty-year-old lesson which Israel had failed to learn, God gave His condemning response. Read more

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Going Astray From the Truth

(Exploring the Book of Ya’aqov, Pt. 28)

My brothers, if any among you goes astray from the truth, and anyone turns him back, let him know that the one turning back a sinner from the straying of his way will save his soul from death—and will cover a great number of sins. (יַעֲקֹב Ya’aqov 5:19-20, mjlt)

For as much as we look inwardly to appraise our progress as followers of Messiah, there yet remains a far greater purpose for us. Yes, all the self-assessment and challenging and strengthening we undergo is designed to make us better—though ultimately not just for the sake of ourselves. Our purpose is not to stay locked inside, merely seeking to perfect our personal holiness, but rather to be equipped to see, and then to act, as Yeshua’s eyes and hands—as bearers of the truth that saves lost souls. Read more

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That You May Be Healed

(Exploring the Book of Ya’aqov, Pt. 27)

[If the distressed one] has committed sins, they will be forgiven to him. So be confessing your sins to one another, and be praying for one another, so that you may be healed; for of great power is a prayer from a righteous man—working effectively. (יַעֲקֹב Ya’aqov 5:15b-16, mjlt)

Whenever we are faced with hardship and distress, we know that “the prayer of the faith will save” us (5:15a)—that in our suffering and sicknesses, “the Master will raise [us] up” (5:15a), especially if we call to others for prayer (5:14). And because God patiently waits for us to reach out to Him for help, we are only alone for as long as we choose to be. But what if our need is more than just physical or circumstantial? Suppose that there is something deeper within us—something intangible and hard to get a hold of—that remains unresolved even after the help comes? What if we are sometimes the cause of our own continued difficulty and pain? What if that cause is our sin? Read more

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You Are Not Alone

(Exploring the Book of Ya’aqov, Pt. 26)

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Does anyone suffer hardship among you? Let him pray. Is anyone of you cheerful? Let him sing melodies of praise. Is anyone infirmed among you? Let him call for the z’qeniym of the Called-Forth, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil, in the Name of the Master. And the prayer of the faith will save the distressed one from his affliction, and the Mas­ter will raise him up… (יַעֲקֹב Ya’aqov 5:13-15a, mjlt)

For all our connectivity through the wondrous advancements of technology, we are more separated now than we have ever been. Though we can travel half-way around the world in less than a day, or instantly see and speak to one another screen-to-screen from opposite sides of the planet, in the ways that really count, we too often find ourselves alone. These modern conveniences ironically keep us quarantined—unmotivated to even drive across town for anything mildly inconvenient. We also use technology to keep us segregated in our politics and religion, and to shelter us from the prying eyes of judgment and accountability. And the loneliness this creates, though generally not the intended result, is often deliberate and self-imposed. We grow accustomed to thinking and being by ourselves, and the distance carries over into the way we relate to God. Read more

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Let Your Yes Be Yes

(Exploring the Book of Ya’aqov, Pt. 25)

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But before all things, my brothers, do not swear—neither “by the heaven,” nor “by the earth,” nor by any other oath—but let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and the “No” be “No,” so that under judgment you may not fall. (יַעֲקֹב Ya’aqov 5:12, mjlt)

Is it ever okay to swear? Not “swear” as in using profanity or foul language (Ephesians 4:29), but as in taking an oath, vow or pledge. Scrip­turally speaking, to swear is to make a kind of promise. But here, the Scriptures say, “do not swear,” and, immediately, the matter becomes confusing. Are we never to make promises? Should we reject all oaths and pledges—like the Pledge of Allegiance? Are we permitted even to speak the promises of our wedding vows? When someone asks for or expects our commitment, are we to simply smile angelically and assure them noncommittally, “If the Lord wills”? Is that really what is at issue here? “Do not swear” seems to be a relatively straightforward command, but there’s definitely more to the story. And if we can’t understand what it takes to make a commitment, then we can’t understand what it means to follow Messiah. Read more

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