Magic

Was listening to a radio program this morning called "The Times of Israel" where the host of the show was talking about the Blood Moon craze and he very flatly said there was no Biblical basis for it, while seeming to give examples of scripture indicating that there WAS basis for it. Okay, now, I've decided I'm not going to give scriptural examples here, because, believe it or not...I don't wish to start a theological debate. That's not the purpose of this entry.

The theme of this blog, is of course me discovering Hebreic roots...the Hebreic roots of Yeshua, which believers in Him should have as common ground, whether they are Hebrew by their biological blood, or they've been grafted into the olive tree by Yeshua's shed blood. I've come to believe that while we cannot know the day or the hour that Yeshua will come to take his bride home, we CAN know the season in which this particular event will occur...as foreshadowed by all sorts of other events leading up to it...for example, wars and rumors of wars. Two pastors come to mind, relating to Blood moons; one was mentioned this morning, and the other I was led to find online. Pastor John Hagee, and Pastor Mark Biltz.

It is my personal belief that when someone reads the scriptures for all they're worth, they are often led to investigate certain things that are between the lines in Scripture, but maybe not specifically stated. For example, in the Jewish culture, the new day actually begins at sundown and is half way through at sun up (or so I've heard). To my knowledge, there is not a specific Bible verse that says this...it's a part of Hebrew culture that is either learned through practice or known about from some other source. In the Bible, "feast days" are divine appointments with God. I am sure there always was eating involved as well, but more importantly, they were..."stop and reflect" times with God. Remember Me. Celebrate Me. Spend the day in Self examination. In biblical days the times of the year were determined by the seasons, which were determined by the sun and the moon. The calendar, was simply not divided into weeks and months, and years, with Sunday being the first day of the week. Now, today, the widely accepted view is that Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is the last...at least, this is what I thought as a kid :) (This is why those two days are called a week (end), right?

Anyway, my point is, our calendar is much different today than it was in Jesus's time. Holidays, or "holy" days, were also quite different in Jesus's day, in the Hebrew culture. These occasions were not celebrated on the same day each year (as they usually are in our culture) because the cycle of the moon marked their timing each year. This "revolving" change signified when to plant and harvest and plant again. I'm going to exclude the men here for a moment, because, another example is a woman's menstrual cycle...every 28 days, yes? But because not all of our months have the same number of days anyway, the time of the cycle is never exactly the same. I suppose this is a bit ironic because now I'm going back to the idea of blood moons. Just how long IS a year on a Jewish calendar? I don't know, but in any case, it does not equal 365 days, as our years of 52 weeks.

So, being that God created the sun and moon to signify seasons, somehow, I doubt that he has ever followed the same calendar that we do. That being said, why could there (or should there) NOT be blood moons that have "signified" or "marked" certain events in history...as pertaining to God's people? For example, the radio host pointed out John Hagee's observation that there was a blood moon very very near the time Israel became a state in 1948. I say "very very near" because the radio host felt it necessary to point out that the supposed blood moon did not occur right in 1948 when Israel actually became a state. My response would be, "And?...your point is what?". The Father is not obligated to align his time table directly with ours. The fact that there was a blood moon at all is an incredible thing, don't ya think??

I've heard rabbi Mark Biltz teach a lot on blood moons, and when he does, he's able to go backwards, through history and point out approximately when blood moons have occurred (according to the Hebrew calendar), show how these have correlated with certain events. He goes back through the past, comes up to the present and then puts the past and present together to show a "completed circle" of events and the blood moons that seemed to "mark" or signify their coming. A person seeing a blood moon once in life, let's say, probably would be a memorable thing, I don't know. But to try to get a bigger picture, documenting when many have happened, and looking at events surrounding them...just might not be a coincidence.

We are in a love relationship with our creator, and he is making it no mystery that he wants to "woo" us to himself. The scripture tells the beautiful story of the lost coin. A bride, preparing for her wedding loses one of the coins that are sewn into, or attached to her veil. These coins that adorn her are quite valuable, so she shines a light, and sweeps the house searching for it...till she finds it. In the same way, I think Yeshua "sweeps" the earth, searching for the missing "treasures" that are that remnant of the bride he is soon coming to collect. Perhaps blood moons simply represent the "cycles" of preparation leading up to the "coming" of our bridegroom and the wedding feast. We are in a continual "dance" with our Heavenly Father, a divine romance that is cultivated through a love relationship while our savior "keeps time" until the day he can come and get us to be with him. Perhaps blood moons are just one "light" the savior shines to let us know that he's "looking" for us. This is beautiful, and romantic and wonderful, is it not?.

I truly believe that God (Elohim) wants us to continually pursue him with wonderment. He wants us to be "tickled pink" by him as he is by us. The Biblical tales of the Old Covenant, paint a rich picture of the redemption Yeshua made possible with the new covenant. It is amazing to be able to embrace tradition with a childlike faith and let it open our eyes to the fact that God has made us participants in his plans. We are the apple of his eye, we are holy spirit sealed. This takes simple belief that comes from exploring who God is through his word. So, even if there have never been "blood moons" that have shone in a charcoal sky signifying certain events, this idea can sorta...make us believe in magic again, and help us return (Teshuvah) to our creator, if we may have become estranged from him. This, to me, is worth far more than arguing that the dates of the blood moons through history do not add up, or wondering why there apparently, was not one during the Holocaust, for example, or dismissing the phenomenon completely because the moons that shone, did not appear directly WHEN these milestones took place...translation: It took a while. Perhaps this is because God was creating a little "suspense" so we'd keep watching. "Remember me," he says. "Celebrate me."

All of this, helps me to embrace my savior, and rest in his love, rather than forcing myself to understand that I am a mindless speck, who is not allowed to. Am I just one who is waiting to have her "ears tickled"? In this case, if it works, why not? I'd rather hear a story about God sending "signs" to say that something important is happening...than argumentative reasons as to why it just isn't possible. We are being numbed to death with what we should NOT believe or think...and we have it shoved down our throats that there is absolutely NOTHING we can do for God because he paid all. So, where does this leave me? This leaves me in the "desert" of the world, sifting through sand in search of water while I keep telling people "Jesus saves.". Once again...Hebrew roots to the rescue! The stories and traditions and celebrations and feast days provide the evidence of a faith worth dying for, when a Christian cannot take their heart out and put it on the table so others can tell that it's a "saved" heart. By themselves, these things do not provide salvation to anyone... and this seems to be the preverbal "Chokehold" we keep Jewish folks in, feeling that we must show them their "error"... while THEY have all the evidence.

What I'm finding out is that most Christians have no "roots" planted showing where our faith originated from. We literally think they are not necessary. Christ paid it all on the cross, and this is all we believe to be important. We believe that ultimately our deeds do not affect us, because our eternal security only rests on one thing. We have no knowledge of the brutal treatment Jews have faced throughout history, in the name of people who said they were Christians. Were these people telling the truth? I want to say: of course not!! But we need to consider that the contemporary Evangelical "Christian" message of salvation takes thousands of years of history and seems to say that it's nothing but legalism. We seem to "throw out" over half a Bible that we say we live by, and believe...while we expect others to believe in Jesus. How is anyone supposed to do that, when we've discredited all the evidence? Not only that... this Old covenant "legalism"... and belief that no Jewish tradition or feast day is necessary to Christianity, creates an insulting sort of anti-Semitism, that we believe Jewish folks need to accept, because it is simply the "correct view.". Isn't this basically a "repeat" of what the Jewish people have endured all through history?

No thank you. Not interested. I will never deny Jesus...but in order to make this true, I must not deny his story either. Anyway...isn't that what "history" is?...the stories of those who've come before us? So many seem to love to talk about what Jesus (Yeshua) died for...but they treat the way he lived, as though it were irrelevant. For the time being, I've not witnessed to anyone in a while. This is because I know I need the witness of others more experienced than I am. I think it's better for me to ask the Father's forgiveness, because, I've known not what I've been doing. I then want to sit and listen to the tradition of lifting a bride's veil to confirm her identity...because of the story of Jacob, who worked seven years for Rachael only to find out he'd been tricked into marrying her older sister instead. I'd like to listen to the story of what blood moons are...because the sun and moon were the original clocks people lived by. This is magic (or at least if feels like it) because the reasons this is real are bigger than I am. Maybe magic is not for unreal things...maybe it's for real things that seem to have surreal causes or origins. When we trust, when we believe...when we become as little children so we can grow up...maybe this is when reality begins to happen.

Just your Average Joe?

I follow a lot of Israel pages on Facebook, so I see a lot of posts and news stories about celebrities going to Israel and all the fanfare they receive. Just yesterday, I saw a story about Michael Douglass and his family arriving there. Apparently, Jon Bon Jovi now has a concert scheduled there for October. I remember when Madonna said that she "considers" herself Jewish...that was also newsworthy, apparently. When Kim Kardashian and Kanye got there, of course, it was the same scenario. Even the latest Duggar baby...wonderfully named Israel, was EVERYWHERE. Every Israel page I follow seemed to post about that little guy continuously for a week (at least) :)

Congratulations to them on a healthy baby boy, and love to Israel!! Hey, why not? I get that. But lets get back to Michael Douglass for a minute. From what I understand, his family is now in Israel for his son's Bar Mitzvah. This is WONDERFUL!! Amazing! Mazel Tov! Now, if I recall correctly, an article came out about a month ago in which Michael Douglass said that he is Jewish, but he had never really celebrated his Jewish roots or heritage. Douglass said that he now wanted to change this...and he wanted his children to also know their Jewish roots. So, very soon after that, another story came out, saying that Douglass's son was given a bad time (bullied) for wearing a star of David. This story also went all over social media and, understandably, gleaned a lot of support. Now, the Douglass family is celebrating his son's Bar Mitzvah in Israel, and apparently, Michael Douglass has sustained an injury (at the Bar Mitzvah). So this...is also newsworthy...I guess.

Okay, it's not hard, I would think, for famous individuals who can afford what they like to do things like visit Israel. I would imagine that this gives them A LOT of exposure that sometimes, even THEY would rather not have Like MJ said in the song..."Just leave me alone." Right? Anyway, this is ISRAEL. This is The Holy Land; this is the Promised Land, this is THE place where so many Biblical things happened. This is where Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach walked and talked and performed his miracles. (!!!). People all over the globe...myself included, dream about making it someday to this tiny country. In my case, my desire to go, has flourished pretty recently. But many people have wished and hoped and dreamt and prayed about getting to Israel for decades. I'm sure, the reasons for this vary greatly... but no doubt, many times it's a financial issue. Many of us simply can't afford it. So is the case with me, and many others. My own mom used to describe Israel tours, and how much they cost to people everyday because that was her job. But she was behind a desk everyday, with a headset on. Anyway, she never actually WENT..and so I've not been either.

To anyone fortunate enough to have gone on one or many Israel tours, congratulations to you...how amazing! To anyone who wants to get to Israel so bad they can (almost) taste it...I so empathize with you. My mom used to describe to me that the water in the Dead Sea is so dense, people can just sit on top. She used to tell me how sometimes she would get calls from people asking if she had been to Israel herself, and what could she tell them about it? (??). How different it must be when you've been to a place and seen it firsthand...especially Israel!! :) But whatever the particular reason for wanting to go, I'm sure many of us have our heartstrings tugged, if we read or hear of a story where another celebrity has arrived there, and they receive all the notoriety that comes with it. Anyway, because my mom's job was telling folks how wonderful and amazing Israel is, I learned quickly not to soak up all of the negative news reports that are EVERYWHERE surrounding this tiny little paradise. Mom would often get calls from people concerned about whether it was safe to visit. The only special instruction given was that everyone just stay with the tour...which of course is just par for the course, no matter where one travels.

I think if I had one wish (one wish of many) but one wish, I would set up a fund for everyday people (more specifically, low income people) who would like to go to Israel, but can't afford it. Not a college scholarship, and not a Kickstarter Campaign. I have no idea right now what the criteria would be: Would there be special incentives for someone who was born in Israel and want's to go visit, for example? What about a college student? No idea, so I should think about this more. I'm just thinking about all the average folks out there who love Israel, and want to go see it...no fanfare, no publicity, no celebrity welcome. Just someone who gets to stare at the Sea Of Galilee and feel as though they hear angels singing... (HALLLL-lelujah). Wow!! I would love to this myself...but would also love to help someone else find their dream. PS...an absolute must, would be spending money, because things are expensive in Israel, so this would be included in the total amount. Yes...I think that would be great! I would also encourage each person granted the fund to keep a travel blog while there...and if you see any famous faces while visiting the Holy Land...let me know! :))