Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

Joseph F. Dumond

Isa 6:9-12 And He said, Go, and tell this people, You hear indeed, but do not understand; and seeing you see, but do not know. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great.
Published: Apr 13, 2016

News Letter 5852-009
The Shemitah Year
The 7th day of the 2nd month 5852 years after the creation of Adam
The 2nd Month in the Seventh year of the Third Sabbatical Cycle
The 3rd Sabbatical Cycle after the 119th Jubilee Cycle
The Sabbatical Cycle of Earthquakes, Famines and Pestilence

The Year of letting the land rest
The Sabbatical year that begins at Aviv 2016 to Aviv 2017
The 21st Day of Counting the Omer

April 16, 2016

 

Shalom to The Royal Family of Yehovah,

 

The New Moon was not seen on Friday night April 8, 2016 as expected due to the extensive cloud cover. It was seen at the end of the 30th day after Shabbat. This then makes Saturday night and Sunday day the first day of the second month. I went back and changed last weeks date to match this sighting.

 


“Laws of the Shemitah Year”

Again I am going to share with you the commandments for the Sabbatical year, maybe each week until you have it memorized. The Sabbatical year began with the sighting of the moon on the evening of March 10, 2016.

1)  Do not plant

2) Do not harvest

Lev 25:3  You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in the fruit of it. 4  But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest to the land, a sabbath for Jehovah. You shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard. 5  You shall not reap that which grows of its own accord of your harvest, neither gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It is a year of rest to the land.

3) You can eat what grows on it’s own.

Lev 25:6  And the sabbath of the land shall be food for you, for you and for your servant, and for your slave woman and for your hired servant, and for your stranger who stays with you, 7  and for your cattle, and for the beast that is in your land, shall all the increase of it be for food.

4) Stock up on food in the 6th year.

Lev 25:20  And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase! 21  Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.

5) Forgive any debts people owed to you by Sukkot.

Deu 15:1  At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. 2  And this is the manner of the release. Every man who has a loan to his neighbor shall release it. He shall not exact it from his neighbor, or from his brother, because it is called Jehovah’s release. 3  You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand shall release that which is yours with your brother,

6) Read the Torah out loud at Sukkot so all can hear it being read.

Deu 31:10  And Moses commanded them, saying: At the end of seven years, at the set time of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles, 11  when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah your God in the place which He shall choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. 12  Gather the people, men and women and the little ones, and your stranger who is within your gates, so that they may hear and that they may learn and fear Jehovah your God, and be careful to do all the words of this Law, 13 andthat their sons who have not known may hear and learn to fear Jehovah your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over Jordan to possess it.

And by now you should also have completed all your obligations to the widows, orphan, and Levites from your tithes for the 6th year that is now past.

Deu 14:28  At the end of three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year, and shall lay it up inside your gates. 29  And the Levite, because he has no part nor inheritance with you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are inside your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Ask Yehovah to bless you for having completed this task and then ask Him to bless your efforts as you keep the Sabbatical year and keep your food safe from decay or flood or hydro black outs and from scavengers like rodents. Ask Him to protect it and to bless you for keeping His commandments.

Deu 26:12  When you have made an end of tithing all the tithes of your increase the third year, the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow (that they may eat inside your gates and be filled), 13  then you shall say before Jehovah your God, I have brought away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me. I have not broken Your commandments, neither have I forgotten. 14  I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I putany of it away for unclean use, nor have I given of it for the dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. 15  Look down from Your holy dwelling, from Heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, as You swore to our fathers, a land that flows with milk and honey. 16  Today Jehovah your God has commanded you to do these statutes and judgments. You therefore shall keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17  You have today said that Jehovah is your God, and that you would walk in His ways, and keep His statutes and His commandments and His judgments, and listen to His voice. 18  And Jehovah has taken you today to be His peculiar people, as He has promised you, and to keep all His commandments, 19  and to make you high above all nations which He has made, in praise and in name and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to Jehovah your God, even as He has spoken.

May Yehovah bless each and every one of you for keeping the Sabbatical year commandment and breaking the curses that are upon our nations because we have not kept them in the past.

Here are some rulings about the food that grows of itself during the Sabbatical year.

Hevi’it

In halakha (Jewish law), produce of the seventh year that is subject to the laws of Shmita is called sheviit, (sheviis in Ashkenazic Hebrew). Shevi’it produce has sanctity requiring special rules for its use:

  • It can only be consumed or used (in its ordinary use) for personal enjoyment
  • It cannot be bought, sold, or thrown out.
  • It must be used in its “best” manner so as to ensure fullest enjoyment (For example, fruits that are normally eaten whole cannot be juiced).
  • It can only be stored so long as naturally-growing plants of the given species can be eaten by animals in the fields. Once a particular species is no longer available in the field, one must rid ones house of it through a process known as biur.

By Biblical law, those who own land are required to make their land available during the Shmita to anyone who wishes to come in and harvest. If the land is fenced etc., gates must be left open to enable entrance. These rules apply to all outdoor agriculture, including private gardens and even outdoor potted plants. Plants inside a building are exempt. However, the Rabbis of the Mishna and Jerusalem Talmud imposed rabbinic ordinances on harvesters to ensure an orderly and equitable process and to prevent a few individuals from taking everything. Harvesters on others’ land are permitted to take only enough to feed themselves and their families.

Biur

Under the rules of the Shmita, produce with Sabbatical sanctity (shevi’it) can only be stored as long as plants of the same species (e.g. plants sprouting by themselves) are available to animals in the fields. Once a species is no longer available in the land, halakha requires that it be removed, made ownerless, and made available to anyone who wishes to take it through a procedure called biur.

The Orthodox Union describes the contemporary application of the rules of biur as follows:

On the appointed day, one must remove all the relevant produce, and all products containing such produce, from his home and take it to a public area such as a sidewalk. Once there, the individual declares the produce in front of three people who do not live with him. He then waits to give the witnesses a chance to claim the produce. Once they have taken what they want, he is permitted to reclaim whatever remains. It is permissible to choose three people whom one knows will not claim the produce for themselves, even though they are legally entitled to.

Thus, while the obligation of making one’s produce available to the public and permitted to all takers can be performed in such a way as to minimize the risk that this availability will actually be utilized, this risk cannot be entirely eliminated. The community at large, including members of the poor, must be afforded some opportunity to take the produce.

Biur only applies to produce that has shevi’it sanctity.

On another note, are you aware that Amos 8 is speaking of the Sabbatical year?

Amo 8:1  The Lord Jehovah made me see this: And behold, a basket of summer fruit! 2  And He said, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then Jehovah said to me, The end has come to My people Israel: I will never pass by them any more. 3  And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, says the Lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many. In every place one shall throw them out, saying, Hush! 4  Hear this, you who trample the poor, even to make the humble of the land to fail, 5  saying, When will the new moon be gone so that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and the shekel great, and perverting the balances by deceit; 6  that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals; and sell the chaff of the wheat? 7  Jehovah has sworn by the Glory of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works8  Shall not the land tremble for this, and all who dwell in it mourn? And all of it shall rise up like the light. And it shall overflow and sink like the Nile of Egypt. 9  And it shall be in that day, says the Lord Jehovah, I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the light of day. 10  And I will turn your feast into mourning, and all your songs into weeping; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. 11  Behold, the days come, says the Lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of Jehovah. 12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and shall not find it13  In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. 14  They who swear by the sin of Samaria and say, As your god lives, O Dan; and, As the way of Beer-sheba lives; even they shall fall and never rise up again.

Who is Yehovah speaking about? It was the 12 tribes of Israel, the apple of His eye.

He is listening to our conversations and not forgetting them. Do not complain if you have not prepared. Do not complain that this Sabbatical year is not over and we could even have an adar bet in 2017. Do not wish for this Sabbath, nor the Sabbatical year, the one that also represents the Millennial rest to be over. Yehovah is listening to how you are treating His Set Apart times.

Who are the poor and the humble He is speaking about in verse 4 that are being trampled?

Isa 32:6  For the fool will speak folly, and his heart work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy and to speak error against Jehovah, to make the soul of the hungry empty, and he will take away the drink of the thirsty. 7  Also the weapons of the fool are evil; he thinks of wicked ways to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. 8  But the noble thinks noble things; and by noble things he shall stand.

Again who are the poor being spoken of?

Mat 5:1  And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain. And when He had sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2  And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, 3  Blessed are the poor in spirit! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. 4  Blessed are they that mourn! For they shall be comforted. 5  Blessed are the meek! For they shall inherit the earth. 6  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled. 7  Blessed are the merciful! For they shall obtain mercy. 8  Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God. 9  Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God. 10  Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. 11  Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. 12  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for your reward in Heaven is great. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Luk 6:20  And lifting up His eyes to His disciples, He said, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. 22  Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall cut you off, and when they shall reproach you and shall cast out your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. 23  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in Heaven. For so their fathers did according to these things to the prophets.

Who are the poor in spirit? Not sure yet?

Num 12:1  And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had taken. For he had taken a Cushite woman. 2  And they said, Has Jehovah indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not also spoken by us? And Jehovah heard. 3  (Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the men on the face of the earth.) 4  And Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, You three come out to the tabernacle of the congregation. And the three came out. 5  And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forth. 6  And He said, Hear now My words. If there is a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make Myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream. 7  Not so, My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house. 8  I will speak with him mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark speeches. And he shall behold the likeness of Jehovah. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? 9  And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against them, and He moved. 10  And the cloud moved from the tabernacle. And behold! Miriam became leprous, as snow. And Aaron looked on Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11  And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not lay upon us the sin in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. 12  Let her not be like one dead, of whom the flesh is half gone when he comes out of his mother’s womb. 13  And Moses cried to Jehovah saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech You. 14  And Jehovah said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received. 15  And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days. And the people did not pull up stakes until Miriam was brought in.

Moses was poor in spirit and the meekest of all men. His authority was challenged by these two and Yehovah reacted. Moses was later challenged by Korah and the earth opened and swallowed him and those following him. In both these cases the perpetrators were from the tribes of Israel. Think about this as you go forward in this weeks News Letter.

 


“The 21st Day of Counting the Omer What does it Mean?”

Each year we are commanded to count the omer. Many do not realize this is commanded for us to do this and so they ignore it.

Lev 23:15  And you shall count to you from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete. 16  To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to Jehovah.

Deu 16:9  You shall count seven weeks to yourselves. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time you began to put the sickle to the grain. 10  And you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to Jehovah your God with a measure of a free-will offering of your hand, which you shall give according as Jehovah your God has blessed you.

You shall count, you shall count seven weeks and you shall start that counting from the time you put the sickle to the barley grain. That Barley Grain was not harvested until the wave sheaf was made and it was not harvested until after the end of the Sabbath and the sun had set and it was then waved the next morning, on the 1st day of the week at 9 AM. We have covered this many times in other articles.

This Sabbath April 16, 2016 is the 21st day of counting the Omer.  It is a very special day, this 21st day of counting the Omer.

When we count to the Omer, we are counting down to the time Yehovah gave the ten commandments and made the covenant with Israel, us. Our Marriage katuba or marriage contract. As well on the day of Shavuot the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles. Two huge events took place on that day. Now consider what they mean.

You have 7 Sabbaths and then another Holy Day right after the 7th Sabbath. That 7th Sabbath is the 49th day and the next day is the 50th day and Shavuot. That is 8 Holy Days. What do these represent? Each 7 day count represents one Millennium. Remember our teaching a couple weeks ago. Yehshua was killed from the foundation of the world?

After the 7th Millennium ends then 8th Millennium starts right away. There is no more 1,000 year period, but as soon as the 7th one is finished the 8th one begins. Why?

The 8th Millennium represents when Yehovah Himself will come and dwell with us here on this earth. All mankind will be raised up and judged at this time. The great white throne judgment of Revelation.

So the 8th millennium is related to the Feast of Shavuot. It is related to the giving of the Holy Spirit and of the Law and both of these are related to Yehovah dwelling with us.

Now all of this is also related to the Jubilee year. They are all connected. That Jubilee year at the end of the 7th millennium will be the first year of the 8th millennium.

The Feast of Shavuot, the Jubilee year and the 8th millennium are all connected to the 8th day of the Feast of Sukkot. All of Yehovah Feasts show you His plan for salvation of mankind. The 8th Day Feast is the consummation of the marriage which is what Sukkot represents. The party for the 7 days before the wedding or the 7 millennium before the 8th millennium.

We are commanded to COUNT so that we will not be caught unaware.

1Th 5:1  But of the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you. 2  For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. 3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety! Then sudden destruction comes on them, as travail upon a woman with child. And they shall not escape. 4  But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief. 5  You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night, or of darkness. 6  Therefore let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us watch and be calm.

Rev 16:15  Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is the one who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Counting the Omer is the same as counting the Jubilee Cycles. You are commanded to count.

This current Jubilee cycle began at Aviv in 1996. It was both the Jubilee year and it was also the 1st year in this the 120th Jubilee Cycle since the creation of Adam.

Shavuot is known in Christianity as “Pentecost Sunday.” It represents the 50th year of the Jubilee cycle and the 8th day of Sukkot.

Lev 23:15  And you shall count to you from the next day after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete. 16  To the next day after the seventh sabbath you shall number fifty days. And you shall offer a new food offering to Jehovah.

When we read the description of the Jubilee years, it is very similar to that of Pentecost:

Lev 25:8  And you shall number seven Sabbaths of years to you, seven times seven years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be forty-nine years to you. 9  Then you shall cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth of the seventh month; in the day of atonement, the trumpet shall sound throughout all your land. 10  And you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you, and you shall return each man to his possession, and you shall return each man to his family. 11  That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of your undressed vine. 12  For itis the jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat the increase of it out of the field.

I am teaching you that the counting of the Omer is an annual reminder of where we are in the Jubilee Cycles of Yehovah.

Each year we are reminded, as we count the Omer to Shavuot, of the exact year we are in the count towards the next Jubilee year. The count to Pentecost is the same as counting to the next Jubilee year. And by doing this we are then shown where we are in relation to the end of this 7th Millennium.

This Friday evening, at sunset April 15, 2016 until the end of Shabbat in the evening at sunset April 16, 2016, the 2nd month of the Shemitah year is the 21st day of counting the Omer. It is also the day that corresponds with the current year which is the 21st year as we count towards the next Jubilee year.

This current year, the 21st year in this Jubilee Cycle, is the Shemitah year in this the third Sabbatical cycle. This year is 5852 years after the creation of Adam based on the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. We have now had the first 3 curses of Lev 26 and the 4th curse of Lev 26, which is the curse of war, is to begin after the Shemitah year ends at Aviv 1 2017. This is not a Jubilee year in 2017 as some have falsely taught in the Daniel timeline lie. But still many assume it will be based on the Balfour Declaration and no other facts.

In 2 Kings 19:29 we are told of the 49th year which fell at 701 BC, and the 50th year was in 700 BC. When we put this information, along with all the other known Sabbatical years recorded in history, we are able to know that 1996 was both the last Jubilee year and the first year of this count. The same as the 50th day of Pentecost is also the first day of the week. It also means 2045 is the next Jubilee and Aviv 2045 is also the start of the 7th Millennium.

We have added another video showing you the tombstones of Zoar which also confirm the 13 dates we already had giving us a total of 22 know Sabbatical year proof’s from history and your bible. Our youtube hits are approaching 900,000. I urge you all to subscribe to our youtube account as we will soon be coming out with edited versions of all the teachings we did in the Philippines and new teachings we are working on. I have had to do all the editing myself and now that I know how, I am going to go ahead with other teachings I had put aside for my fear of technology. That fear is now gone.

 

The traditional reading of the psalms on this 21st day are the following. In past years I have felt I heard Yehovah talking directly to us through these verses for this year.

Day Twenty-One | Dedication To the Law of Yehovah | Psalm 119:161-168

Today is the seventh day of the third week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-first day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is Sabbath, the third Sabbath of seven Sabbaths. Today completes the third week of seven weeks.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 119:161  SHIN: Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stands in fear of Your Word. 162  I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great spoil. 163  I hate and despise lying; but I love Your Law. 164  I praise You seven times a day because of Your righteous judgments. 165  Great peace is to those who love Your Law, and there is no stumbling block for them. 166  Jehovah, I have hoped for Your salvation, and have done Your Commandments. 167  My soul has kept Your testimonies; and I love them very much. 168  I have kept Your Commandments and Your testimonies; for all my ways are before You.

 


 

“Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit”

 

Have you ever considered this verse and what it means?

Let’s read the verse.

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

How does one grieve the spirit?

When we look up the word it is;

G3076 lupeo?   loo-peh’-o

From G3077; to distress; reflexively or passively to be sad: – cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, (be) sorrow (-ful), be (make) sorry.

G3077     lupe?     loo’-pay

Apparently a primary word; sadness: – grief, grievous, + grudgingly, heaviness, sorrow.

Paul is quoting;

Isa 63:10 But they rebelled, and troubled His Holy Spirit; therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.

The word troubled in Isaiah 63 is the word grieve.

H6087   ?a?tsab     aw-tsab’

A primitive root; properly to carve, that is, fabricate or fashion; hence (in a bad sense) to worry, pain or anger: – displease, grieve, hurt, make, be sorry, vex, worship, wrest.

Read carefully what Isaiah is telling us. Those who rebel or those who trouble Yehovah or grieve His spirit, Yehovah will become their enemy and Yehovah will fight against them. And He will fight against you, those of us who are going to grieve His spirit. Those who grieve Yehovah’s spirit are rebellious children.

Isaiah is speaking of the time that Israel came out of Egypt and how they grieved Yehovah who then caused them all to die over the next 40 years.

The way we have treated each other this past month over our understandings of the barley is grievous to the spirit of Yehovah. Think about it.

In the lead up to the destruction of the temple one of the first cities to be destroyed was Gamla. It was a zealous city and one of the cities of refuge. This was the city Yehshua was raised in. Why would Yehovah allow it to be destroyed in 66 C.E. by the Romans, with so many zealous people all seeking to obey Him?

Many of the zealots from Gamla fled to Jerusalem and there they ended up in three different groups of zealots all fighting each other. Each group sought to burn the others food supply in that sabbatical year of 70 C.E. and thus to starve the other group out. When they finally did burn the food supplies the people resorted to cannibalism and the eating of their own children just as Lev 26 warns us would happen. Josephus writes of it and as a first hand witness is mortified.

When Jerusalem fell in 70 C.E. some of these same zealots escaped to Masada. And here again when Rome defeated them in 73 C.E. they committed suicide as many did in Gamla.

Why? Why did Yehovah not rescue them? Why did Yehovah allow them all to die? Why did their zealousness not preserve them, their righteouness?

Why did Yehovah allow the zealots of Gamla and the zealots of Jerusalem and then again the zealots of Masada to all die?

They were keeping the Sabbath. They were keeping the Holy Days. They were doing the Barley searches and they were keeping the Feasts based on the sighting of the crescent moon. They were even keeping the Sabbatical years. This was all before the Hillel calendar 300 years later. So why did Yehovah not save them from Rome? Why did he not intervene and rescue them? Why was their righteousness not good enough? WHY WHY WHY? Does God even exist?

They knew the Messiah had come or was about to come, the same as we also know He is about to come again at the end of this age.

We read in Genesis;

Gen 6:3  And Jehovah said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, in his erring; he is flesh. Yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

This word strive is;

H1777   d??yn  du?n  deen,doon

A primitive root (compare H113); to rule; by implication to judge (as umpire); also to strive (as at law): – contend, execute (judgment), judge, minister judgment, plead (the cause), at strife, strive.

Yehovah is grieved because He always has to minister judgment, or plead with us to obey. He has set the limits on how long He would put up with it and as we have shown you we are near the end of that time. He is not going to strive with us nor plead with us nor have to judge us and be grieved because we did not listen in the 7th millennium.

Gen 6:6  And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was angry to His heart.

The word repented is;

H5162     na?cham     naw-kham’

A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): – comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

And the word translated as angry is;

H6087   ?a?tsab     aw-tsab’

A primitive root; properly to carve, that is, fabricate or fashion; hence (in a bad sense) to worry, pain or anger: – displease, grieve, hurt, make, be sorry, vex, worship, wrest.

The same word used by Isaiah 63. When you grieve the Holy Spirit you anger Yehovah; you make Him your enemy and He will fight against you. Think about all the things Yehovah is saying in the following psalm.

Psa 78:40  How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! 41  Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel. 42  They did not remember His hand, the day when He delivered them from the enemy; 43  how He had set His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. 44  He turned their rivers into blood, and their floods, so that they could not drink. 45  He sent different kinds of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46  He also gave their crops to the stripping locust, and their labor to the locust. 47  He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with sleet. 48  He gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to bolts of fire. 49  He sent on them the heat of His anger, wrath and fury and trouble, by sending evil angels. 50  He made a way to His anger; He did not save their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, 51  and struck all the first-born in Egypt, the first of the strong in the tents of Ham; 52  and led His people forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 53  And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea flooded over their enemies. 54  And He brought them within His own holy border, this mountain, which His right hand had bought. 55  He also cast out the nations before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56  Yet they tempted and provoked the Most High God, and kept not His testimonies; 57  but they turned back, and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceiving bow. 58  For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. 59  When God heard, He was angry, and turned away from Israel; 60  so that He left the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men, 61  and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hands. 62  He also gave His people over to the sword, and was angry with His inheritance. 63  The fire burned up their young men; and their maidens were not given in marriage. 64  Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows were not able to weep. 65  Then the Lord awakened like one out of sleep, like a mighty man rejoicing with wine.

You who are of the house of Joseph and who write and promote anti-semitic remarks about Judah and the Karaites, consider what is said next in this psalm.

Psa 78:66  And He drove His enemies backward; He put them to a never-ending shame. 67  And He refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; 68  but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which He loved. 69  And He built His holy place like high palaces, like the earth which He has founded forever. 70  He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; 71  from following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 72  And he fed them according to the pureness of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Do not say I am talking about those in the wilderness – no, I am writing this to you who are alive today and think you are more than what you are. I am writing this to myself, also.

Psa 95:7  For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice, 8  harden not your heart, as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness; 9  when your fathers tempted Me, tested Me, and saw My work. 10  For forty years I was grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways; 11  to whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.

Over and over Yehovah is telling us ‘it is our heart’ that is the problem. We have a heart condition and we need to fix it now or we end up fighting against Yehovah and if we do, then we will die and we will not BE IN THE 7TH MILLENNIUM. You just read about these people who will not enter into His rest.

Psa 95:11  to whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.

That rest

H4496     menu?cha?h  menu?cha?h

men-oo-khaw’,men-oo-khaw’

Feminine of H4495; repose or (adverbially) peacefully; figuratively consolation (specifically matrimony); hence (concretely) an abode: – comfortable, ease, quiet, rest (-ing place), still.

H4494    ma?no?ach    maw-no’-akh

From H5117; quiet, that is, (concretely) a settled spot, or (figuratively) a home: – (place of) rest.

H5117     nu?ach    noo’-akh

A primitive root; to rest, that is, settle down; used in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, intransitively, transitively and causatively (to dwell, stay, letfall, place, let alone, withdraw, give comfort, etc.): – cease, be confederate, lay, let down, (be) quiet, remain, (cause to, be at, give, have, make to) rest, set down. Compare H3241.

We must now look at some more scriptures on this point.

Num 14:22  Because all those men who have seen My glory and My miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not listened to My voice, 23  surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it. 24  But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed Me fully, I will bring him into the land into which he went. And his seed shall possess it.

Num 14:28  Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. 29  Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, 30  you shall certainly not come into the land which I swore to make you live in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

Yehovah hears your words. He know your emails and the things you say to those who are suppose to be your brethren. The hurtful things you say to your brethren and no one repents and no one apologizes. No, no one says they are sorry for the things they said about you.

Deu 1:34  And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was angry and swore, saying, 35  Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, 36  except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him I will give the land that he has trodden upon, and to his sons, because he has fully followed Jehovah.

Heb 4:1  Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. 2  For also we have had the gospel preached, as well as them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it3  For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, “I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4  For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested the seventh day from all His works.” 5  And in this place again, “They shall not enter into My rest.” 6  Since then it remains that some must enter into it, and since they to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief, 7  He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” (after so long a time). Even as it is said, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” 8  For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9  So then there remains a rest to the people of God. 10  For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His. 11  Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief. 12  For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hos 4:1  Hear the Word of Jehovah, sons of Israel. For Jehovah has a quarrel with the people of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. 2  There is lying, and swearing, and killing, and stealing, and the committing of adultery; and blood touches blood. 3  Therefore the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall droop, with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the heavens. Yes, the fish of the sea shall also be taken away. 4  Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another. For your people are as those who strive with the priest. 5  And you shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night, and I will cut off your mother. 6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest to Me. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I will also forget your sons, even I.

Our striving with each other, our lack of love we show with each other, are the same as striving with the Priest. We become Yehovah’s enemies even though we think we are being zealous for Him, and we will not enter into that millennial rest if we do not repent, and repent soon. We are constantly judging each other and everyone wants to condemn the others to hell with fire and brimstone and none, none wants to help them understand and grow.

Mat 5:21  You have heard that it was said to the ancients, “You shall not kill” –and, “Whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment.” 22  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the judgment. And whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the sanhedrin; but whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable to be thrown into the fire of hell. 23  Therefore if you offer your gift on the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 24  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25  Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are in the way with him; that the opponent not deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26  Truly I say to you, You shall by no means come out from there until you have paid the last kodrantes.

We, those of us Yehovah has called out in these last days, those of us who are understanding the Feasts and appointed times and have repented and begun to keep them, those of us who are studying His word and trying to apply them to our lives are suppose to be His ambassadors on this earth to the rest of the world. And what does the rest of the world see us doing? Fighting, backbiting, condemning people in the faith to hell, praying for them to die, speaking evil of them to others and not talking to them ever again. Exactly the same things those zealots did to each other leading up to the destruction of the temple.

What was wrong with them? Why were they like this? Why are you like this?

Mar 3:3  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise! Come into the middle. 4  And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they were silent. 5  And looking around on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole, like the other. 6  The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

The exact same thing that was wrong with Pharaoh, his heart had become hard-hearted. Yehshua was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts. Again, they kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the Sabbatical years at the right time, so doing all of these things is not what would save them and it will not save you either. He is just as grieved with your hard-heartedness that you show to your brethren.

Stephen also addressed this issue with the people before they killed him.

Act 7:51  O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so you do. 52  Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers; 53  who received the Law through disposition of angels, and did not keep it.

Yehovah is our redeemer, and He has has paid the redemption price for us. Who do you think you are, who do I think I am to condemn a brother or sister who does not understand as much as I do, or to condemn them because I do not understand as much as they do or because we failed to get all the facts before we opened our mouths or before we pressed send? Yehovah redeemed all of us for His purpose. Why do you fight with those He is redeeming?

What is it that causes us to grieve the spirit of Yehovah? Let’s read the verse again. Yes, each of you, each one of us is grieving the Holy Spirit. Just stop and ponder that for a while.

Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

Bitterness is the acrid poisonous words you use against anyone, all in an effort to prove your position right. Many times when someone does not have enough facts to support them, they degenerate to name calling and the conversation turns poisonous and acrid.

G4088     pikria     pik-ree’-ah

From G4089; acridity (especially poison), literally or figuratively: – bitterness.

Wrath is to actually slay the other person much like a sacrifice. You slaughter it but in this case it is done with passion that is out of control. Once you look at the secondary meaning of this word you see it is of the heart, mind and soul, only the from the opposite point that you are to love Yehovah with all your heart, mind and soul. Here you are using the same passion to kill, slaughter and maie and not to love.

G2372     thumos     thoo-mos’

From G2380; passion (as if breathing hard): – fierceness, indignation, wrath. Compare G5590.

G5590  psuche?     psoo-khay’

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: – heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

Anger; this word is interesting. In the same way some entertain sexual orgies those in anger are also stimulated or excited by their anger and enjoy it.

G3709     orge?     or-gay’

From G3713; properly desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), that is, (by analogy) violent passion (ire, or [justifiable] abhorrence); by implication punishment: – anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath.

Tumult-Outcry how interesting. Making oneself heard when really they should be silent and listening.

G2906     krauge?     krow-gay’

From G2896; an outcry (in notification, tumult or grief): – clamour, cry (-ing).

Evil speaking- How many times have I written on this one subject alone.  Lashon Harah, the speaking evil of others. To Yehovah this is blasphemy. Railing on your brethren is Blasphemy. How many of you tell those that are doing this that they are Blaspheming the Holy Spirit? Maybe we all should be warning others of this.

G988    blasphe?mia      blas-fay-me’-ah

From G989; vilification (especially against God): – blasphemy, evil speaking, railing.

Malice

G2549    kakia     kak-ee’-ah

From G2556; badness, that is, (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or (passively) trouble: – evil, malice (-iousness), naughtiness, wickedness.

Eph 4:20  But you have not so learned Christ, 21  if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. 22  For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23  and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. 24  And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness. 25  Therefore putting away lying, let each man speak truth with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. 26  Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath, 27  neither give place to the Devil.

Is this not what we have just done by putting the leaven out our homes? The reason we do that physically each year is to learn a spiritual lesson. To put out of our lives evil and not to bring it back into our lives.

Paul back in Ephesians tells us what to do instead of these evil things.

Eph 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

These words do not need to be explained. They are very plain.

Mat 18:21  Then Peter came to Him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? 22  Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. 23  Therefore the kingdom of Heaven has been compared to a certain king who desired to make an accounting with his servants. 24  And when he had begun to count, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25  But as he had nothing to pay, his lord commanded that he, and his wife and children, and all that he had, be sold, and payment be made. 26  Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you all. 27  Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28  But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe. 29  And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all. 30  And he would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay the debt. 31  So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry. And they came and told their lord all that was done. 32  Then his lord, after he had called him, said to him, O wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33  Should you not also have pitied your fellow servant, even as I had pity on you? 34  And his lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to him. 35  So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also to you, unless each one of you from your hearts forgive his brother their trespasses.

Imagine if you can, all of us survive the coming horrors and we enter the 7th millennium. We are living in one area, we have survived the end of this age and are now at rest, but none of us are talking to each other and we for the most part hate each other. We all keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days at the same time and the Sabbatical year, but we can’t stand each other because of the way we made our point about some torah portion. Or you felt embarrassed by that person when they made their point. How do you think Yehovah is going to feel to have us all there and to have saved us all just to watch us all be embittered with each other?

Once again we will have grieved the Holy Spirit.

Do you have love for those who are keeping the Torah with you? Have any of you apologized to for anything you have said that offended someone else, ever? I am not able to recall ever getting an apology from someone. I must have, but I do not remember it, it is that rare an event. When was the last time you wrote to apologize to someone?

Are you not talking to brethren because they kept Passover in March? Or are you not talking to people because they are keeping Passover in April this year?

Ladies and Gentlemen, my brethren, my family, I know I argue my positions with all that I can to show and teach you. Many times I offend you with the scriptures. I make no apology for that, but if I have ever called you names or cursed you or insulted you as a person and fellow student of the Torah, then I beg your forgiveness and I repent of doing that ever again. I may call you a big dumb ass, but I do so in love.

Mat 22:35  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked, tempting Him and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the Law? 37  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Deu 6:4  Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. 5  And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6  And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart.

Deu 10:12  And now, Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13  to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?

We are to love Yehovah with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind and to keep the commandments. This is how we show Him we love Him. We are to do the exact same thing for our fellow man and especially those of us that are brethren. We are to love each other with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.

Mat 7:15  Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16  You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17  Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19  Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20  Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. 21  Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. 22  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? 23  And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!

Joh 13:34  I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another. 35  By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another.

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 2  And though I have prophecies, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and do not have charity, I am nothing. 3  And though I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am profited nothing. 4  Charity has patience, is kind; charity is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up; 5  does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil. 6  Charity does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth, 7  quietly covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8  Charity never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be abolished; if tongues, they shall cease; if knowledge, it will be abolished. 9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10  But when the perfect thing comes, then that which is in part will be caused to cease. 11  When I was an infant, I spoke as an infant, I thought as an infant, I reasoned as an infant. But when I became a man, I did away with the things of an infant. 12  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall fully know even as I also am fully known. 13  And now faith, hope, charity, these three remain; but the greatest of these is charity.

This year is the Shemitah year. How sad it has begun with confusion. But worse than anything else has been the exposure of our lack of love towards one another. And for this reason, I am thrilled that we have so much confusion. I pray you will show love towards each other. Towards those who do not see things as you do, towards those who use the name of Jesus or God, towards those Yehovah is calling and who have just begun this walk the same as you did just a few years ago. Show mercy and stop grieving the Holy Spirit this Shemitah year and from now until eternity.

 


“Can You Forgive?”

I would like to close this week with this final thought.


Corrie Ten Boom Story on Forgiving

“It was in a church in Munich that I saw him—a balding, heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. People were filing out of the basement room where I had just spoken, moving along the rows of wooden chairs to the door at the rear. It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives.

“It was the truth they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown. ‘When we confess our sins,’ I said, ‘God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. …’

“The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. There were never questions after a talk in Germany in 1947. People stood up in silence, in silence collected their wraps, in silence left the room.

“And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were!

[Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.]

“Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: ‘A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!’

“And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course—how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?

“But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.

“ ‘You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,’ he was saying, ‘I was a guard there.’ No, he did not remember me.

“ ‘But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein,’ again the hand came out—’will you forgive me?’

“And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place—could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?

“It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

“For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. ‘If you do not forgive men their trespasses,’ Jesus says, ‘neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’

“I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.

“And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ‘… Help!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’

“And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“ ‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’

“For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then”

 


 

“Counting the Omer”

WEEK FOUR

Day Twenty-Two | A Prayer For Help | Psalm 119:169-176

Today is the first day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-second day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 119:169  TAU: Let my cry come near to You, O Jehovah; give me wisdom according to Your Word.

Psa 119:170  Let my prayer come before You; deliver me according to Your Word.

Psa 119:171  My lips shall utter praise, when You have taught me Your Precepts. 172  My tongue shall speak Your Word, for all Your Commandments are righteousness. 173  Let Your hand help me; for I have chosen Your Precepts. 174  I have longed for Your salvation, O Jehovah; and Your Law is my delight. 175  Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; and let Your judgments help me. 176  I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant; for I do not forget Your Commandments.

 

Day Twenty-Three | True Happiness | Psalm 1:1-6

Today is the second day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-third day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful. 2  But his delight is only in the Law of Jehovah; and in His Law he meditates day and night. 3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed. 4  The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away. 5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6  For Jehovah knows the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

Day Twenty-Four | Confidence In Yehovah | Psalm 11:1-7

Today is the third day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-fourth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 11:1  To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I put my trust in Jehovah; how can you say to me, Flee like a bird to the mountains; 2  for lo, the wicked bend their bow; they make ready their arrow on the string, so that they may secretly shoot at the upright in heart. 3  If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4  Jehovah is in His holy temple; Jehovah’s throne is in Heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids examine the children of men. 5  Jehovah tries the righteous; but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence, 6  On the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and a horrible tempest shall be the portion of their cup. 7  For the righteous Jehovah loves righteousness; His face looks on the upright.

 

Day Twenty-Five | What Yehovah Requires | Psalm 15:1-5

Today is the fourth day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-fifth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 15:1  A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell on Your holy hill? 2  He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; 3  he does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor; 4  in whose eyes the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Jehovah; he has sworn to his hurt, and does not change it; 5  he has not put out his money at interest, nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall not be moved forever.

 

Day Twenty-Six | The Creation of Yehovah | Psalm 19:1-7

Today is the fifth day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-sixth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 19:1  To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the expanse proclaims His handiwork. 2  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3  There is no speech nor are there words; their voice is not heard. 4  Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5  and he comes forth as a bridegroom from his canopy; he rejoices as a strong man to run a race, 6  going forth from the end of the heavens, and its course is to their ends. And there is nothing hid from its heat. 7  The Law of Jehovah is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of Jehovah is sure, making the simple wise.

 

Day Twenty-Seven | A Prayer For Guidance | Psalm 25:4-10

Today is the sixth day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-seventh day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 25:4  Make me know Your ways, O Jehovah; teach me Your paths. 5  Lead me in Your truth, and teach me; for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day long. 6  Remember, O Jehovah, Your tender mercies and Your loving-kindnesses; for they are from eternity. 7  Do not remember the sins of my youth, or my rebellings; according to Your mercy remember me for Your goodness’ sake, O Jehovah. 8  Good and upright is Jehovah; therefore He will teach sinners in the way. 9  The meek He will guide in judgment; and the meek He will teach His way. 10  All the paths of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

 

Day Twenty-Eight | Longing For Yehovah | Psalm 63:1-8

Today is the seventh day of the fourth week of seven weeks. Today is the twenty-eighth day of the counting of fifty days from the day of the waving of the Omer on the morrow after the Sabbath. Today is Sabbath, the fourth Sabbath of seven Sabbaths. Today completes the fourth week of seven weeks.

Psa 67:1 To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. May God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us. Selah. 2 So that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples thank You. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You shall judge the peoples righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. 6 The earth shall yield its increase; and God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psa 63:1  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I will seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2  so I have seen You in the holy place, seeing Your power and Your glory. 3  Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. 4  So I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5  My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips, 6  when I remember You on my bed and think of You in the night watches. 7  Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. 8  My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand upholds me.

 

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