Category Archives: Sin, Wickedness, Evil, Judgment

Are you a Baal worshiper? Think twice before you answer.

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In this brief study, we will examine the characteristics of a society that is spiritually backslidden. Jeremiah the biblical prophet more than 2500 years ago talked about such society (Jer 2:19) that had forsaken YHVH Elohim, the God of the Bible (Jer 1:16; 2:3, 19), and turned, from one degree or another, to Baal worship (Jer 1:16; 2:8, 23, 28; 5:19; 7:8, 17; 9:14; 11:13, 17; 12:16; 23:13). What does this have to with those living in the twenty-first century and what can we learn from this?

Though the prophet Jeremiah is specifically addressing societal conditions of ancient Israel who had turned away from fully following YHVH Elohim, the main issues still apply to any society, ancient or modern, that forsakes biblical spiritual values for secular and materialistic ones. Down through the ages humans are still driven by the same fleshly passions. Although the theater, costumes and actors may have changed, it is still the same play. Human nature has never changed! When a society fails to learn the lessons of history, it will repeat the same mistakes of the past again and again.

While the name Baal — one of the gods of the ancient biblical Canaanites — may mean nothing to modern people, the Hebrew word baal simply means “lord” or “master.” In modern terms, whatever mores, principles or ideals a society has given itself over to and therefore dominates that society become de facto the lord, master (or Baal) or god of that society.

Human history tends to repeat itself over and over again. What has happened before will happen again, because human nature remains the same. We can learn many valuable lessons from mistakes of those who have preceded us. If we don’t, we will make the same mistakes and suffer the same consequences (judgments) as our forefathers.

YHVH Elohim is every-loving and gracious and he constantly warned his people in biblical times to repent of their sins and turn back to him. He is doing the same thing in our day if we will admit our stubborn pride, humble ourselves, and turn back to obeying his ways that bring healing, peace and eternal life.

In the past, the ancients worshiped concrete images that represented the depraved and dark side of man where physical idols represented the ideas behind Baal worship. Today’s Baal worshipers are more sophisticated. They don’t need the physical idols. They have simply bypassed the idols representing the ideas, and worship the ideas themselves. Just because the concrete images (or literal idols) may have gone by the wayside doesn’t mean the concepts don’t still exist.

Baal worship simply represents the dark and depraved side of human nature. For example, Baal Peor was the god of sexual license, and represented the sexually depraved inclinations of man’s nature. Molech was the Baal of child sacrifice. There’s a Baal for every depravity of man. In America, the sexualization of everything, including the premature sexualization of children, which leads to the act of child sacrifice called abortion is an aspect of Baal Peor, which is perhaps the grossest aspect of society’s bent toward the dark side and depraved side of human nature.

Following Baal is very tempting and seductive, since it appeals to the baser inclinations of men’s depraved nature. Men are naturally attracted to Baal worship. This is why the Bible warns us against it.

What is the appeal of Baal worship? Simply this, it takes a lot of energy to move upward, against the force of gravity. Conversely, it takes no effort to slide downward, since gravity naturally pulls us downward. Baal is like a spiritual gravity that pulls us downward effortlessly. Baal is like descending into the dark and dingy basement of a high-rise apartment building, while the penthouse in the same building is like following the path of God, which leads men upwards. It takes more effort to ascend upward than to descend. In fact, descending requires no effort. One doesn’t have to do anything to descend into the darker abysses of man’s baser nature. It takes a lot of energy, however, to move upward to a place of light and hope. In the Bible, Elohim is leading men upward against his base nature. The worship of Baal is everything that leads men downward against his better nature to fulfill his bodily appetites.

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Korah the Malcontent, a Rebel and a Secular Humanist—A LEFTIST!

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As we watch the rise of violent rebellion and civil disobedience in western—formerly Christian—nations (and elsewhere), it would behoove us to determine what is at the root and core of this movement, so that we can determine its source and what our response should be.

Human nature has never changed from the beginning of human history to the present. What is happening today has happened before. Only the actors, costumes and theater venues have changed, but the story’s plot is the same from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden until now. 

This ever-repeating and sad never-ending story goes like this: Elohim the Creator laid down certain rules and guidelines for humans to follow for their own blessing and well-being. Along came a snake in a tree to dissuade humans to rebel against Elohim’s rule of law, and rebellious and malcontented humans egged on by the same God-hating snake (that is, Satan the arch-rebel) have been marching to the same drum beat ever since.

We see the modern manifestations of this same satanic rebellion in the various current leftist movements that like the many-headed Hydra of ancient Greek mythology have many faces: leftism, atheism, secular humanism, moral relativism, socialism, the rise of the nanny-state, the rise in democratic mob rule, race wars, the attack on Judea-Christians values, the rise of false and Antichrist religious systems, evolution, rebellion against western culture and history and so on.

This is not to say that western culture is perfect and that there aren’t systemic problems that need fixing and that some of the issues of the leftist malcontents aren’t legitimate. There are problems that need fixing, but left’s solution of destroying the biblical foundations of the west is not the answer to the problem. The problem is that the left generally wants to kill, steal and destroy in its effort to supposedly correct the problems in western societies that despite their weaknesses have generally done more good than harm in improving the human condition when held up against the backdrop of human history. And the left has no solutions to the problems of western civilization. Their only solutions is societal upheaval—to kill, steal and destroy. They can’t point to one example past or present where their ideologies have worked. In the wake of leftist ideals there as always been mass bloodshed, anarchy, mayhem, repression, loss of freedom, enslavement and loss of social liberties. Always!

To understand the evil spirit that is behind modern leftism, let’s go back to the Bible to one of the earliest leftists—Korah the malcontent. When we study his character, life and methods of operation, we will see many parallels between him and and the modern rabble rousers who are trying to turn society on its head and usurp authority for themselves.

The Spirit of Korah

The spirit of Korah is currently alive and well on planet earth. The righteous must discern, identify and then oppose this evil spirit. Everywhere in every way, this demonic spirit of rebellion is attempting to destroy the work of YHVH Elohim on earth.

The spirit of Korah is the spirit of rebellion against YHVH and his divine authority and biblical truth. In our society, it is manifested in the philosophies of secular humanism, atheism, the New Age Movement, radical environmentalism, earth worship, progressivism, socialism, Marxism, evolution, which are all aspects of the Babylon the Great, New World Order political-religious system that will oppose the saints of Yeshua and Yeshua himself at this second coming. We also see this spirit at work, supported and encouraged in international politics, in our own government, in our educational systems, in the media, in the false religions of the world, and in the apostate church where foundational Judeo-Christian biblical values are being rejected and even demonized.

The spirit Korah, the rebel, has even worked its way into the modern church system where it is attempting to subvert and pervert the truth of Elohim as revealed in the Bible, and to undermine legitimate, YHVH-ordained authority. Every man becomes his own spiritual leader, refuses the accountability afforded by authentic godly spiritual leadership, and basically chooses to do what is right in his own eyes. Many modern churches are going so far as to water down or reject core biblical truths and values and instead emphasize ecumenism, New Age thought, one-world spirituality and a social activist paradigm. Ultimately, this is a rejection of the divine truth of YHVH Elohim as revealed in the Scriptures.

The rebellion of Korah and his comrades against Moses and Aaron and Elohim’s resulting judgment against them is a prophetic picture of what will happen in the end times against all modern Korah-like rebels. In fact, it is a picture of the judgment of Elohim that will happen to ALL sinners who choose to rebel against YHVH, his will, his Word and truth, his plans and purposes and those on this earth who are carrying out his will.

The spirit of Korah continues to manifest itself in uprisings against godly authority both within the church, and globally as the New World Order, which the Book of Revelation calls Babylon the Great, takes a more strident and virulent stand against Elohim, the Bible and the saints.

The fate of Korah and his band of rebellious malcontents is a prophetic picture of YHVH’s end time judgments against all those who dare to stand against him. The second chapter of Psalm speaks about this:

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against YHVH, and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: Adonai shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.… Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

The Spirit of Korah Under a Microscope

The spirit of Korah IS NOT a pretty picture when looked at closely.

Although Korah was a Levite, the grandson of Levi, and therefore a cousin to Moses and Aaron, he was not a priest, but he coveted the priesthood given to Aaron and his sons.

Dathan, Abiram and On were sons Reuben who was the disinherited firstborn son of Jacob and coveted the leadership role over Israel that YHVH had given to Moses and Aaron.

In their minds, this group of men had legitimate and legally based grounds for being discontent. Korah was a Levite and Dathan and his friends were leaders of the firstborn tribe of Israel.

In their minds, they had legitimate gripes against Moses and Aaron. On that basis, they

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Can you trust your feelings? If not then what can you trust?

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When confronted with some facts based information, how many times do you hear people say, “…but I feel” this or that, as if their feelings were the basis for everything they do, say or think? Should we make major life decisions based on our feelings? Is it wise to come a conclusion about a matter based on our feelings about it? Should we make moral choices that determine what is right and wrong based on our feelings? To what degree can we trust our feelings? How reliable are they? If we cannot trust our feelings, then what can we trust? These are the questions we will answer below.

In our modern culture, it is becoming more common for people to act or speak based largely, if not totally, on their feelings. Facts and truth are becoming more and more irrelevant. After all, what is truth and who can know it? 

For many people, whether they know it or not, feelings have become their “moral compass” determining what is right and wrong and thus their actions. Is this a reliable standard to follow? If everyone is following their feelings, does this promote and insure peace and stability in a society over the long haul? Whose feelings are right and whose are wrong? What happens when what you feel is right conflicts with what I feel is wrong? Who resolves the conflict? Other people making decisions based on their feelings? If feelings are the yardstick by which we measure things, then whose yardstick to we use? These all may seem like difficult questions to answer, but truth is that there is a bottom line to this issue, and it is really quite simple. Let us now discover what that bottom line is and how we can know what is right or wrong, and when and when not to trust our feelings or those of others.

First, what are feelings? The dictionary defines feelings as “an emotional state or reaction; the emotional side of someone’s character; emotional responses or tendencies to respond; a belief, especially a vague or irrational one.” In short, feelings are our emotions as opposed to our rational mind or intellect.

Here are some important questions we need to ask ourselves about feelings:

  • Aren’t feelings nothing more than subjective emotions? Emotions may be influenced by a person’s biases and prejudices, their base passions, their environment, the culture around them, the environment in which they were raised (family, friends, school, church) or genetics. Are all these things trustworthy and reliable factors for determining the validity of one’s feelings or emotions? If feelings are to be the determiner of what is right or wrong, then who determines whose and which feelings are valid or not? 
  • Can you trust your feelings? Will they always lead you to do the right thing? What is “the right thing” and who determines what is right or wrong and on what basis is such a determination made?
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Why Does a Good God Allow Evil to Exist & “Good” People to Suffer?

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“I’m a good person…just ask me!”

Why Does God Allow Evil to Exist on the Earth?

The following is a step-by-step logical answer to this questions.

YHVH Elohim (the LORD God, the God of the Bible) is pure love and he is holy (sinlessness), which is the opposite of evil and sin. He can have no communion or intimate relationship with that which is contrary to his character.

The Bible reveals that YHVH Elohim is love, and love cannot be self-focused (that is egotism, self worship, selfishness and pride, which is sin and the opposite of love and holiness), and it must be outward flowing. This is why YHVH made man in his own image as a recipient of his love. It was his intent to build a family to be comprised of those who will be like Elohim who is loving and holy (sinless).

Elohim could produce robots or automatons to fawn before and worship him, but true love can’t be generated mechanically. It has to proceed from the heart out of free will choice. Love that is mechanistic or mandated legalistically isn’t love. 

So instead of creating Adam and Eve as robots to “love” YHVH mechanistically or robotically and artificially, YHVH gave the first humans a heart and mind and the free will to exercise choice—whether to love him or not.

Since Elohim is love, all that proceeds from him is love. He is the definition of love, and all that he does is love. He gave man the definition of love in written form. It is called the Torah-word of Elohim and is found in the Bible. The Torah shows man how to love Elohim with all his heart, soul and might, and his neighbor as himself.

YHVH gave the first man and woman a couple of simple Torah-instructions to follow (see the Book of Genesis chapter two). All Adam and Eve had to do was to love Elohim by obeying these instructions or commandments, which would have put them not only on the path to having a loving and intimate relationship with Elohim, but between humans as well. 

YHVH put man to the test to see if they would choose to love him by obeying him, or to hate him by disobeying him. When Adam and Eve listened to the rebellious lies of the serpent (see Genesis chapter three), and chose to disobey the word of Elohim, they chose the path of sin, rebellion and disobedience.

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“Come Out of Her My People!”—Leaving Behind Baalism, Babylonianism and Spiritual Syncretism

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The Call Is Going Forth

A spiritual call is going forth across the planet to the people of Elohim—to those who look to the God of the Bible (YHVH Elohim) as their source of spiritual enlightenment and guidance. Our loving Father in heaven is urging his people to come out of spiritual Babylon. This plea and warning message is found in Revelation 18.

1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.

 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!

 3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”

 4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

 5 “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

 6 “Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.

 7 “In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’

 8 “Therefore her plagues will come in one day–death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. (Rev 18:1–8)

Babylon the Great is a worldwide economic, political and religious system whose tentacles literal reach into every aspect of every human endeavor going back for thousands of years. It’s a demonic system at whose heart is the spirit of rebellion against the laws of Elohim as revealed in the Bible. It seeks to draw humans into its sticky net through appealing to man’s base nature involving his lust for power, fame, possessions, wealth, antichrist spirituality and head knowledge. All this is in opposition to the truth of the Bible and to Yeshua the Messiah, who is the central figure of the Bible. It is a cosmic struggle between Elohim the Creator, the source of all good, versus Satan, a created being who is in total opposition to Elohim and who is the  epitome of all evil. Man who is in the middle between the two has to choose who he will serve and follow. To not choose is by default to follow Satan. Babylon the Great is a poetic name for that end times worldwide system that stands in opposition to Elohim.

At this time, Elohim is calling his people out of the religious system of Babylon the Great in which they have unwittingly become entangled. We must first identify the problem and learn how it has ensnared us so that we will know what to come out of. It all starts when well-intentioned religious men start down a slippery slope called spiritual syncretism. This is what we want to discuss below.

Syncretism Defined

Syncretism is defined as “the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought.”  In a biblical context, it has to do with YHVH’s people mixing or combining the religious truths as given them by YHVH, the God of the Bible, with those of the surrounding pagan cultures to form a religious admixture. Scripture reveals this act as mixing the holy (set-apart) with profane (that which is polluted or defiled)—something which YHVH detests. When YHVH’s people do this, the Scriptures liken this to spiritual adultery or fornication. Unless YHVH’s people repent of adopting pagan customs and belief systems, YHVH promises judgement upon them.

Down through the ages from the birth of the nation of Israel in Egypt until the present time, YHVH’s people have had to fight hard to not be swept along by the currents of the cultures in which they find themselves. The history of the people of Elohim is a sad and repetitive story of YHVH revealing his truth to them, and their eventually abandoning it to one degree or another to curry the favor of the world. This process started long ago with ancient Israel.

Ancient Israel and Syncretism

The biblical record chronicles many examples of ancient Israel turning away (or apostatizing) from the truth of YHVH and adopting or syncretizing YHVH’s truth with the heathen practices of the nations around them. Here are a few of them.

  • The golden calf incident in Exodus 32. While worshiping the golden calf, the Israelites proclaimed a feast to YHVH (verses 3–4).
  • The incident where the Israelite men fornicated with the Moabite and Midianite women in Numbers 25:1–18 and 31:16 brought a curse upon Israel.
  • Jeroboam when he led the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to turn from YHVH and to worship false gods (2 Kgs 17:7–23). The Babylonian church system continues to walk in the religious spirit of Jeroboam.
  • Isa 1:13–14—Elohim says, your feasts, sabbaths and new moons he hates because their yours, not his.
  • Mal 2:11—Not only Ephraim (the church) has mixed itself with the paganism of the world, but so has Judah. Judah has profaned YHVH’s holy institution, which YHVH loves, and Judah (rabbinic Judaism) has married the daughter of a foreign  god.

Resisting Baal worship—the religion of the pagans of Canaan where the Israelites lived—was one perhaps the greatest challenge the Israelites faced.

Baal Worship in the Bible

Baal was a Caananite god whose worship was characterized by nature worship and forbidden sorcery, divination, lewd sexual practices and other abominable practices that YHVH detested. Baal, whose consort (his sister-wife) was Ashteroth, had divine similar counterparts in Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman pagan religious systems. 

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Is the Torah “the Law of Sin and Death”?

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Life or death? The choice is YOURS.

Roman 8: 2, The law of sin and death. 

Some Christians who take a dim view YHVH’s Torah-law, often referred to in Scripture as “the law of Moses” or simply “the law,” refer to the Torah as “the law of sin and death”—a term Paul uses in Romans 8:2. Is YHVH’s Torah “the law of sin and death” or is there another law to which Paul is referring in this verse?

In Romans 7:23, Paul talks about “another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” This other law is what the Jewish sages refer to as the evil inclination or ha-yetzer rah with which every human is born. This is because due to the fall of man each person is born spiritually cut off from Elohim and is thus subject to the powerful influences of the world, flesh and the devil. 

Yielding to our innate yetzer rah or carnal (or fleshly), rebellious, sinful nature brings a person under the death penalty that automatically comes on each human for violating Elohim’s Torah. The law of sin and death is simply a matter of the “law” of cause and effect, that is, one reaps what one sows, or for every action there is a reaction. To wit, Paul states that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Ezekiel states that the soul that sins will die (Ezek 18:4). John goes on to say that “sin is the violation of Torah-law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, the law of sin and death is yielding to our carnal nature that is prone to sin the results of which brings the consequences of sinful actions as prescribed by the Torah the end result of which is death or extinguishment of life and eternal separation from Elohim. 

Just because YHVH’s Torah-law prescribes the death penalty for sin does not make the Torah evil any more than violating the law of gravity by jumping off a cliff makes that law evil, or violating a traffic law makes that law evil. Righteous laws exist for our good—to protect us from harm, and are thus not evil. Both the Torah-law, the law of gravity and other laws (e.g. traffic laws) are for our protection. But if we violate them, we not only jeopardize our well-being and safety and that of other people, but there may be a penalty to pay for breaking them as well.

In Genesis 2:17 Elohim laid down a law: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He pronounced upon man the curse of death if he violated this law. Man broke the law and ate from the forbidden tree. To go against the law of Elohim is sin (1 John 3:4). As previously noted, the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and the soul that sins shall die (Ezek 18:4). This then is the law of sin and death that Paul talks about in Romans 8:2. When a person obeys the Torah-laws Elohim, he will neither be sinning nor will he bring upon himself the wages of that sin which is death. 

YHVH Elohim, man’s Creator, declares that every person has a choice to make: choose life of death.

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil… I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love YHVH your Elohim, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” (Deut 30:15, 19–20)

Before he died, Moses admonished the people of Elohim to choose to serve and obey YHVH. He referred to the YHVH’s Torah-law as “your life,” and he declared that bodying it was not a futile thing, but would bring blessings and long life.

“Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this Torah-law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.” (Deut 32:46–47, emphasis added)

Therefore, YHVH Torah, that is, his instructions in righteousness, is not­ the law of sin and death. However, if we choose to follow our carnal, sinful human natures, and to choose to disregard our Creator’s words, then this will bring us under the law of sin and death, which is the negative consequences of our actions.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of Elohim is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord. (Rom 6:23)

 

Leviticus 26:1–46 on Blessings and Curses and YOU

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Divine Blessings and Curses Are Based on Obedience to YHVH’s Torah-Word 

As divine blessings come upon people for Torah obedience, so do curses come upon a people who have forgotten their Elohim because they have been blessed materially and in their self-sufficiency have forgotten who is the source of their blessings as this chapter shows. These are immutable laws that are written in the universe and no human-devised philosophical or religious ideologies regardless of their cleverness can circumvent them. To go against these laws is like attempting to push a giant boulder up a steep mountainside. Eventually the boulder will role backwards crushing the pusher. What wisdom can be learned from this passage on blessings and curses?

 YHVH’s Torah instructions continually stresses that blessings are contingent upon obedience to YHVH. Similarly, Yeshua reveals that rewards in his everlasting kingdom are also contingent on obedience to his Torah-laws. The greater the obedience, the greater the reward (Matt 5:17).These principles are universal, yet how prone humans are to forget the cycles of history that repeat themselves over and over again like the unstoppable turning of giant millstone grinding into powder those who refuse to learn the lessons from the past. Each generation proudly asserts its exceptionalism and that, somehow, it is immune to YHVH’s inexorable and immutable principles of divine judgment. Only in the perfect hindsight of history can we see the fallacy of this assumption. Ancient Israel failed to learn these lessons as have subsequent people who are both ignorant of Scripture as well as many who claim to follow the Bible.

In the case of America, and Great Britain before her (and other formerly European Christian nations as well), there was in times past a national consciousness of core biblical values and, to one degree or another, a general public acknowledgement, acceptance of and respect for the Elohim of the Bible. However, as the historical record reveals, as a nation becomes blessed, it reaches an apogee of prominence, power and wealth where it becomes rich and increased with goods and no longer needs Elohim—or so it thinks. It then becomes materially fat and forgets the source of its wealth and falls into a state of self-sufficiency leading to spiritual blindness in that it fails to recognize its true spiritual state (recall YHVH’s warning to a lukewarm church in Rev 3:14–22). This can happen to individuals, churches and to whole societies.

Because YHVH loves his people and wants to walk among them, to be their Elohim and to bless them (Lev 26:12), when they disobey him and walk in ways that are harmful to their well-being, like any loving parent, he is forced to discipline them. Again and again he sends them his prophets and watchmen to warn them that they are on a path of self-destruction. But because of pride, most people refuse to humble themselves and repent (Lev 26:40–41). It is the same old story over and over again. Human pride insists that “judgments cannot happen to us because we are so special, ”  and “All things will continue as they have from the beginning and no evil shall befall us.” Such a self-assured individual and society retorts in mocking and scoffing tones in response to all those who would hold them accountable for their errant ways (2 Pet 3:3–7). If only the great people, nations and empires that have already trodden this well-worn path and are now in the dust bin of history could speak from their graves and this generation had heart ears to hear!

As a loving Father, YHVH does not lower the gavel of his full disciplinary judgments immediately upon his wayward children. He increases the dosage of his spiritual medicine incrementally in hopes that each successive ratcheting down of his judgments will bring healing to his spiritually apostate children such that they will humble themselves, confess their iniquity (or Torahlessness, Lev 26:40) and repent of their sin and submit to his laws, so that he can bless them. 

In this chapter, YHVH reveals four sets of judgments with each one becoming seven times more severe than the previous one (Lev 26:18, 21, 24, 28). This reminds us of YHVH’s end-times judgments upon a rebellious world that has given itself over to devil worship just prior to the return of Yeshua as prophesied in the book of Revelation. In that book, there are seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders and, finally, seven bowl judgments. 

What can you do? You may not be able to change society, but a societal change begins one step and one life at a time; it starts with your life! That is the only thing for certain that you can change. No one person can turn the whole earth into a beautiful garden, but you can start by eradicating the weeds from your own garden. You know what needs to be done. Just listen to your conscience—to YHVH’s Spirit knocking at the door of your heart (Rev 3:20), and then repent and obey YHVH and his commandments. It is that simple.

The corollary to this passage on blessings and curses with regard to Torah obedience is Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Some More Thoughts on Divine Judgment

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