Category Archives: Justice / Judgment

Fear / Reverence for God, Humility, Immutable (unchanging), Interceding for Others, Justice / Judgment, Purposeful / Intentional, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Seeking God, Study the Word, Teachable, Thankfulness

We Choose Our Path, But We Do Not Get To Choose The Consequences

YHWH is no more pleased with us today when we take His blessings for granted and accept false gods among us than He was when the events in Deuteronomy 29 unfolded. He has provided us a great nation, founded in Christian principles, focused on Christian morals in both government and schools. Yet over the past 50-100 years we as a people have rejected Him more and more. We have embraced atheism (which requires more faith than accepting YHWH)… we have embraced false religions from around the world such as Islam and changed our culture and our schools and our government to accommodate their false beliefs. We have embraced paganism, celebrating Christmas and Easter and other occasions which have more roots in paganism than Christianity… no matter how much lipstick people try to put on those pigs by inventing Christian meaning to apply over pagan origins. Why not instead celebrate the appointed times that YHWH revealed in Leviticus 23?

We accept and normalize sin such as abortion and homosexuality. Rather than try to help the people who genuinely need it, we tell them they are fine and persecute the Christians who live out God’s word. As a culture, those who call themselves Christian embrace the world’s values and make excuses for ignoring or rejecting God’s word.  We see in our lifetimes Sabbath disappear from our culture, but somehow accept it and convince ourselves it is fine. We no longer even recognize the failing of our forefathers in walking away from God’s instructions over the past thousand years. One example is redefining the calendar from the Biblical calendar to the Gregorian. Man changed even how to count the days. Biblically they counted from sundown to sundown. Sabbath as Yeshua celebrated it was on Saturday, not Sunday.

We are not allowed to “hurt people’s feelings” by telling them about their sin, whether it is homosexuality, killing unborn children, gluttony, coveting, sloth… etc. All of that is unacceptable to be rebuked and all is provided many excuses. But should a Christian speak God’s word to rebuke someone or refuse to pretend their sin is ok and speak out against it… that must be punished with public shame and lawsuits.

There are many more examples. Man has continually separated himself from YHWH by adopting his own instructions rather than obeying those of YHWH.

YHWH is no more pleased about this than He was as the events of Deuteronomy 29 unfolded. After all He has done to bless His people and prepare them, a time still comes where they depart from His ways. His blessing is removed and as a nation we walk into a curse.

Deuteronomy 29

The Covenant in Moab

      1These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

      2And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; 3the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4“Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5“I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6“You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORDyour God. 7“When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them;8and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9“So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

      10“You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you today, 13in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

      14“Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, 15but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORDour God and with those who are not with us here today 16(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); 18so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19“It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’20“The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. 21“Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law.

      22“Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say, 23‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24“All the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25“Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26‘They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. 27‘Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’

      29“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

As a nation we need to return to YHWH and His ways. As His people we must humble ourselves and pray for our nation. Let us give thanks for the blessings and ask forgiveness for our nation. Let us intercede on behalf of our nation and ask Him to awaken people to the truth and to lead them by His Spirit to a powerful revival not just to the American roots of Christianity, though that is a good start. Let us pray He would take us back to a thriving Biblical view of obedience and faith in YHWH through Yeshua.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Heaven and Hell, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Justice / Judgment, Salvation, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

We Will All Face Judgment Before Him

All of us will die, unless the Lord returns before we do. All of us will face judgment before Him. Our deeds will reflect our heart and obedience toward God, or against Him. Our deeds will reflect whether or not we have submitted to Christ and asked forgiveness, turning our lives over to Him.

John 5:25-32

Two Resurrections

      25“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

      30“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

      31“If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true. 32“There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

We know not when our time will be to face Him. We should make ourselves prepared to face Him now and remain ready any time thereafter. If we live in the light we will find joy in this world and the next. If we live darkness we may chase contentment and joy in this world and may even catch it from time to time, but we will face judgment and punishment which Yeshua warns us not to take lightly.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Consequences of Sin, Healer, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Justice / Judgment, Obeying God, Protector / Deliverer, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Study the Word, Wickedness / Evil

Don’t Completely Dismiss The Law Because It Seems Strange

Some of the details of the law as documented in Deuteronomy 25 seem strange and foreign, because they are from a long ago time and a very different culture. While we could debate some of the specifics and if/how they apply today, let us not miss the bigger picture. Don’t completely dismiss the law because it seems strange in our eyes. Seek to understand what YHWH intended and what may still apply.

YHWH established laws to govern the people. The law is established to direct behavior away from wickedness and to protect the weak. It is a way of showing love to YHWH and to one another.  Note, however, that even the guilty are protected in some cases from excessive punishment (e.g. beat him no more than 40 times). There are other times, however where there is no such protection for the wicked (e.g. blot out the memory of Amelek). It depends on the severity of the wrong behavior.

If there are some punishments that seem outrageous in our eyes (e.g. cut off woman’s hand if she grabs man’s genitals to defend her husband), then simply take that as strong guidance not to do those thing. I will clearly state that I do not claim to fully understand the context or why a law like that one was established, but it is clear that YHWH does not want that action to be normalized or accepted. I presume it made more sense in the context of the culture at the time, or perhaps would still make more sense if I studied and better understood the context. Maybe it is in regards to the struggle is not life threatening and thus to crush a man’s genitals is overkill as it stops his ability to procreate? Maybe YHWH just does not want a woman to touch another man there, but would be ok if she kicked him or hit him in self defense. Honestly, I don’t know, but the failing is in my ignorance and lack of understanding and not with YHWH who established the law.

Deuteronomy 25

Sundry Laws

     1“If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt. 3“He may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not degraded in your eyes.

      4“You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.

      5“When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6“It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. 7“But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8“Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ 9then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10“In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’

      11“If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, 12then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

      13“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. 14“You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15“You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 16“For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the LORD your God.

      17“Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, 18how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19“Therefore it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Consequences of Sin, Discipline / Guidance From God, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Drunkenness, Gluttony, Grace / Patience, Justice / Judgment, Kindness / Gentleness, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Study the Word, Wickedness / Evil, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

When Scripture Is Difficult To Understand, Start By Assuming YHWH Is Right

I certainly have to admit that the laws on domestic relations seem as if from a faraway time and place… because they are. They are not only far away in location but also in time.  The culture was very different. It is easy for us to jump to the conclusion that they are somehow wrong and barbaric. I think that is so easy or simple a view and is not correct. To truly understand we need to study to understand the cultural norms and lifestyle of the time. We must think about it in context. We do well to start with the faith that YHWH is correct and His instruction is righteous and then seek to understand how it applied then and how it may apply still today. In this way we gain wisdom and understanding.

Deuteronomy 21:10-23

Domestic Relations

       10“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive, 11and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, 12then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails. 13“She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14“It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because you have humbled her.

      15“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, 16then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. 17“But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength; to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

      18“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, 19then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown. 20“They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21“Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

      22“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

We can certainly have a robust and interesting discussion regarding taking a captive as a wife. I am not sure how to practically apply this to be frank. However, one can easily understand that other cultures of the time would not be so gracious to a captive as to give them time to grieve and treat them well. There is explicit instruction to avoid abusing them. There is protection for those who are vulnerable.

We can ponder again about the instruction regarding two wives, one loved and one unloved. I do not believe YHWH wants a man to have two wives. He intended one man to one woman as with Adam and Eve. We could have an interesting discussion on why He did not outright ban it. Perhaps like divorce, He allowed it because of the hardness of their hearts. Similarly, I don’t believe He intends for any wife to be unloved by her husband. However, we can see that He provides protection for those who may be unloved and may be vulnerable to abuse or neglect.

In the third example, we can see that YHWH expects even perhaps adult children to still respect their parents. How many of us assume the scripture is calling young children gluttons and drunkards? It sounds like older children who are being rebellious. In this case it refers to rebellion to both YHWH and parents. YHWH is not tolerant of evil and rebellion. He instructs that there should be accountability and a stop should be put to the sin before it spreads to others.

The last example probably seems to most of us abhorrent. Why would we hang those who were executed in public. This was likely not a pretty site. Again, though we could have a very interesting discussion on this case, ultimately I think we could agree YHWH wants to discourage sin and rebellion. He wants to discourage  seriously bad behavior from becoming accepted and normalized. We can perhaps prefer not to take this approach, but in reality looking at the sin rampant in our culture today, perhaps we would benefit from a bit more punishment and accountability a few generations ago and we would not have normalized so much sin in our culture which is now praised as acceptable or good.

I would simply encourage you to not disregard any scripture and not assume that YHWH was wrong because we live differently than He instructed His people to live. Pray, study and reflect on what we can learn about Him from His word. Then seek to apply it to your life.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Church / Body of Christ, Forgive Others / Seek Forgiveness, Grace / Forgiveness, Humility, Interceding for Others, Justice / Judgment, Repenting from Sin, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Sin In A Community or a Nation Is Serious Business

Many reject the law as obsolete or meaningless. Some are even less kind. However, Paul reminds us that all of the scripture is good. When he wrote 2 Timothy, the only scripture was the Old Testament. The New Testament had not yet been written.

2 Timothy 3:16

 16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

I openly admit that sometimes I am more challenged than others to find the value in some of the scriptures as it would still apply today. That said, just because I don’t understand it does not change the fact that it is meaningful. My lack of understanding should lead me further in study and prayer rather than simply dismissing it.

Deuteronomy 21 documents expiation of a crime. Expiation is the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing. I am not sure how to process the specific activity that is done for expiation in this case and apply it for life today. However, I am struck by the seriousness with which they were instructed to confront sin. Even if they did not know who committed the crime, they still considered it a serious matter. It was not just a serious matter for the “police” to investigate, but for the community to seek forgiveness from before YHWH. I believe we have lost this in our culture today for the most part. The people no longer come together in prayer before YHWH to confront sin and ask forgiveness.

2 Chronicles 7:13-14

13“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

I believe we would do well to routinely humble ourselves and pray for our nation. This is not just something for “those guilty people” to do. This is a call for YHWH’s people to humble themselves and pray. As His people, we can do this even for a nation with many who reject YHWH. We are all sinners. We are a common people… one nation. Let those of us who serve YHWH humble ourselves and pray and seek Him and turn from our wicked ways. Let us try to lead others to turn from their wicked ways as well. We must not simply be “silent Christians”. That is an oxymoron, a contradiction. The disciples and prophets and Yeshua all took bold positions to share truth even when others opposed them and rejected the message. So should we.

Deuteronomy 21: 1-9

Expiation of a Crime

      1“If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, 2then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. 3“It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5“Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. 6“All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. 9“So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Sin in a community or nation is serious business and we should address it before YHWH on His terms.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Consequences of Sin, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Fear / Reverence for God, Guide, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Holy / Set Apart, Justice / Judgment, Obeying God, Purposeful / Intentional, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Wickedness / Evil, Worldliness

YHWH Does Not Want Us To Blend With The Detestable Practices Of Others

Parts of scripture are hard for us to get our minds around. We think they are too harsh. We should always take care not to start with an assumption that we or our current culture have things right and YHWH has things wrong. If we read something difficult, we should start with the assumption that YHWH is right and we don’t understand why or how to apply it today. Then we can pray and study and seek His guidance.

When YHWH was giving His people the promised land, He was also punishing other nations for their wickedness. These were not righteous God honoring peoples that were displaced. In some cases, they were doing such detestable things for their false gods that YHWH wanted to ensure that His people would not learn these behaviors.

While it may seem harsh to “utterly destroy” someone, we should consider how passionately that shows us that YHWH wants us to remain holy and set apart for Him and not blend with the detestable practices of others who worship false gods. He does not want us to accept detestable practices and make them part of our lives as it will lead generations into sin and away from Him.

Deuteronomy 20:10-18

      10“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. 11“If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. 12“However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13“When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.14“Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. 15“Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby. 16“Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17“But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORDyour God has commanded you, 18so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.

We can see this even today. If we accept detestable practices it becomes normalized into a culture and separates many generations of people from YHWH as they embrace more and more sin. Divorce and premarital sex used to be reasons for shame. Now they are plentiful. Abortion and homosexuality used to be properly identified as wrong behaviors in need of help. Now they are defended as righteous. Generations continue to push appropriate dress codes further and further from a model of humility to showing as much nakedness as they can get away with. Now instead of being shamed for such bad choices, people decry “do not shame me” as if that is a wrong thing to do. Many would do well to feel shamed for their behaviors and choices, and let that shame drive them to YHWH and repentance. Instead we see more and more people who identify as Christian accepting more and more of the detestable practices of the ungodly and without rebuke in many churches.

Let us humble ourselves and pray for our nation to return to YHWH and reject the wickedness we have embraced and normalized. Pray for righteous people to rise up and vote and vote with a clear focus and understanding of who will bring us back as a nation closer to you. Rise up pastors and elders who will lead churches in your word with authority. Reject the wicked and the false teachers who only teach part of your gospel or teach false gospel all together. Let people see through the deception and seek righteousness.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Intgegrity / Honesty, Justice / Judgment, Lying / Deceiving

You Shall Not Bear False Witness

We would do well to consider the Biblical roots of our system of justice. In today’s society we have gone off the rails. Somehow, some people are presumed guilty rather than presumed innocent. People can make horrible accusations with no proof and no credible witnesses and face no real consequences. YHWH calls us not to bear false witness. It is one of the ten commandments. This is a big deal. It is wrong when people make false accusations against others without facing consequences if they are judged to be bearing false witness.

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

      15“A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16“If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18“The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20“The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. 21“Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

If the witness is a false witness, the word says there should be consequences. He or she should be held accountable. To do so is not only just, but it helps discourage the wrong behavior and leads to a more just society.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Envy / Jealousy / Coveting, Justice / Judgment, Repenting from Sin, Self Control, Stealing / Theft

Do Not Steal. It Is A Simple Concept.

It seems this should be no surprise. It is in keeping with the ten commandments and the principles of YHWH’s instruction throughout the Bible. Do not covet what others have. Do not steal. Do not even do small, nuanced things that are deceitful and cheat your neighbors. Do not cheat businesses or steal things just because “they are insured” or “they don’t need it as much as I do”. It really does not need to be complicated, but surprisingly, many people find excuses to rationalize why it is ok to cheat or steal from others It usually starts with coveting and selfishness.

Deuteronomy 19:14

      14“You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary mark, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess.

If you struggle in this area or know someone who does, start with prayer and a clear recognition of the truth of YHWH’s word. Call it out as wrong. Ask YHWH to help you change your behavior and obey you. If you have done wrong to someone, make it right and repay them. Do not cheat even over small matters, as that tends to reinforce the habit or behavior and normalizes it. Those who steal in small matters, will typically steal in larger matters later.

Stealing is wrong. Don’t make excuses to complicate what is simple. When you steal something, you hurt someone else.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Compassionate, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Justice / Judgment, Loving / Kind, Merciful

Cities of Refuge

Many people believe YHWH’s law to be harsh. They find examples where it is different from what we are used to today and use our cultural norms to somehow explain and justify why His law is wrong. This is backwards. We should start with His instructions and then compare those to our cultural norms and test our cultural norms to see if they are wicked or righteous.

What many fail to see is that YHWH’s law also has great examples of the mercy and grace for mistakes, such as in Deuteronomy 19. He distinguishes between one who accidentally kills someone and one who intentionally murders someone. One is to be forgiven and one is to be executed. It does sound harsh to us today, but the word even says not to pity the one who was evil and intentionally killed another. This clearly influenced the laws we still live by today. We have different punishment for those who killed accidentally compared to those who murder.

The cities of refuge represent to me a fascinating solution to address a real problem of the time. Our Father is both just and merciful.

Deuteronomy 19:1-13

Cities of Refuge

      1“When the LORD your God cuts off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses, 2you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess. 3“You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God will give you as a possession, so that any manslayer may flee there.

      4“Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously— 5as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live; 6otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.7“Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

      8“If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers— 9if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three. 10“So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

      11“But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.13“You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Guide, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Holy, Just, Justice / Judgment, Obeying God, Prayer, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Righteous

Resisting Evil People And Evil Deeds Is Crucial For A Righteous Society To Survive

There is right and wrong and it applies to everyone. YHWH sets the standard, not people who change their opinions over time and with the turn of generations. YHWH is eternal and He is just and holy as much as He is loving. Refusing to accept evil and those who commit it can help prevent generations of people from moving farther and farther away from YHWH and how He tells us to live. The more we accept sin and the more we normalize behavior that is wrong in the Lord’s eyes… the farther we get from living as He intended. It is obvious in watching our culture deteriorate over the generations… more and more schools and government and media try to ignore or reject YHWH and His ways and embrace worldly sin not only as acceptable, but honorable or preferable.  His people must humble themselves and pray and mourn for our nation and call our nation to repent and turn back to YHWH.  We must try to influence our culture to stop accepting or praising what is evil in the Lord’s sight. Do not be passive in accepting evil. Vote, encourage others, pray. Let the voice of YHWH’s people be heard.

Deuteronomy 17

Administration of Justice

      1“You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the LORD your God.

      2“If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by transgressing His covenant, 3and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, which I have not commanded, 4and if it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. Behold, if it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. 6“On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7“The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

      8“If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 9“So you shall come to the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. 10“You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the LORD chooses; and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they teach you. 11“According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12“The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13“Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

      14“When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16“Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17“He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

      18“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19“It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

I encourage each of you to read through today’s scripture again. The specific examples which are highlighted have significance. Dwell on each one. Do not think, “we have no kings, so that is irrelevant”, for we have many who make a living and career out of political office and ruling over the people without ever living amongst them. They do so for their own wealth and power, not for some charitable act of service.  These examples are meaningful and they challenge us to ask… “Do I accept what the world says is right or what YHWH says is right?”

Resisting evil people and evil deeds is crucial for a righteous society to survive.

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Do you know for sure if you will go to heaven or hell when you die? Are you experiencing in your life the peace and joy of a personal relationship with our Creator and Father? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.