Between a Rock and a hard place.

Weve all heard the saying. "I feel like I am between a Rock and a Hard Place."
This Shabbat we were talking about attitude.
It is said that it is the only thing in life that you 'can' control.
I put 'can' in parenthesis because it seems that we can't. However we can and should control our attitudes. It is also said that between Mt. Gerazim and Mt. Ebal is the sity of Shechem. That city is the city of refuge. A shelter for those accused of a crime but found not guilty by the high priest. That city is to be a refuge for the sojorner, the traveler who seeks shelter.
That city is to be us.
The Mount of Gerazim is the mountain of 'cursing' and the Mount of Ebal is the mount of blessing. We all sit in between blessings and curses. But the attitude we choose is ours and ours alone.
Let's look at blessings and cursings. To receive the father's blessings is to insure success in our children. To receive the Father's blessing is to insure the success of mankind.
Contrary to receiving the blessing is to NOT receive the blessing. Now, to be without a blessing is to be cursed. The absense of the blessing is a curse. It is not to reconed the same as a voodoo curse. After all, the MaTovu reminds us that no one man or spirit can curse the Israelite. Baalam was a false prophet who sought to curse the Israelites in exchange for monetary gain. Sure at first he refused, but the end result is that he compromised and agreed to go out, travel 400 miles just to see and curse the Israelites. He met his end; an early death most likely because of his alliance with the wicked. Although The LORD our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Ya'akov caused only good word to come from his mouth, his life was directed erroneously.
We too, can direct our lives erroneously and meet with an early death. That death we meet up with can be a physical death and or it could and most certainly end in a spiritual death. Your relationship with the Almighty One of Israel is all that gives life. Anything other than YHWH/Yeshua yeilds death.
How you see your life is exactly all you will receive.
In the Torah, God is listening to the grumblers and complainers in the wilderness. They began their nagging the minute they were outside the gates of Egypt. Adonai says to them, "You saw the mighty miracles I performed in Egypt. you saw the Red Sea split and you crossed on dry ground. You saw the manna on the ground that fell from Heaven and it sustained you. You saw the quail, knee deep and you ate. You saw water spring forth from a desert and split the rock. You drank and your thirst was quenched. And yet you grumble, saying, "We are all going to die in the desert."
"Very well" the LORD says, "It shall be as you say."

Did you hear that?
It shall be as you say!
In Genesis/Bereshiet, we see that at the building of the Tower of Babyl, God says, "If one people speaking one language can accomplish this (great feat), than nothing is impossible for them. Let us go and confuse their language."
Take that instance and turn it around. Instead of trying to reach the Heavens on our own merit or accomplishment. If we could speak one language; that of the Torah; adhering to the ways of Adonai our LORD, There would be no reason that He/ God would not allow our endeavors to succeed. The folly is that we have not done this for some time now.
The World is caught up into religion. Yeshua/Jesus didn't come to start a new religion or to prove that one was the real one and the others were wrong. He came to overthrow religion (the law) but not to do away with the (LAW)of the Torah.
The Law of the Torah and the laws of man are two totally different things.
If we adhere to God's teaching and instructions we will see the kingdom of Heaven here on earth just as it is in Heaven. That it the goal.
True we may never see the perfection here on earth but rather that we shoudl try to accomplish this/His order here on earth shows the beasts of the field and all the universe that we are the children of God/Elohim. We are not microcosims of the world but rather we are created to have dominion over the earth and to rule it in a way like the creator would.
Speaking the same language; that of Adonai and of the Covenant/ our Torah is the fastest way to build a tower to the Heavens. It doesnt require a physical tower, but rather we are the physical strong tower of refuge.
So how you see your life and how you see this day is entirely up to you. No human can manipulate your emotions unless you allow them into your chambers to defile you.
Who's been defiling your thoughts?
You need to speak out against your own actions and not believe that you are helpless to the attacks.
No one is big enough to take what is God's and snatch it out of His hand.
you are the one who keeps letting the dragon out of the abyss. You keep entertaining spirits that are not of God. You and only you can make that choice.
You are created to be a Priest and King in the kingdom for your God. You have the power to call down the angels to do your warfare. Don't get caught up in trying to battle demons, you're not even supposed to be talking to them. That's called entertaining spirits; divination.
You are the bride of Yeshua your LORD and salvation, No man or spirit has the right or the ability to speak to the Bride of Yeshua unless she is out of order. Man or woman we are all the Bride.
We have all gone astray. However we have all been forgiven; Jeremiah 31:34 and Hebrew 8:12, both state I will remember your sins no more.
You are blessed of God, You are the apple of His eye. No weapon formed or raised against you can prosper. All the diseases we saw in Egypt will not fall upon me or my children's children. They will ask, "Why does this son not bear the weight of the sins of his fathers?" and I shall answer because I live in the righteous deliverances, deeds, statutes and judgements of the KING of kings and the LORD of lords, He is my Salvation, He is my Yeshuit Elohim. Isaiah 12:1-3
If you have questions about our Messiah Yeshua, call us and we would be glad to try to answer questions you may have.
Will you choose the Rock of our salvation or the hard place?
The choice has always been ours.
Have you talked to your Creator, Greatest Lover and Salvation?
This would be a great time to do just that.
Use your own words. He likes it that way.



Shalom Mishpacha
Peace my family,
Rabbi Donald Maher Jr.

Pentecost/Shavuot... Tomatoe/ tomahto

Don't call the whole thing off!
Chag Shavuot Sameach! Happy Shavuot/Pentecost Holy-day!
Check this out. Shavuot is celebrated as the day that the Israelites recieved the Torah on Mt. Sinai. The significance is that if you love God, Wish to walk with Him and sometimes wrestle or contend with Him, then you're one of His! Yeah.
Because you are stiff necked and stubborn you must be an Israelite, and that's cause for celebration.
To borrow from the great Joe Peschi the actor, "ok, ok, ok, now check this out"
So we read that we are to set up the lampstand constructed of 7 branches.
the same seven branches, ribs, sticks or bones that make up the body of Christ/Yeshua. Seven is a complete number also alluding to the introspective nature of an Israelite who "chews his cud". Remember an animal that doesn't chew its cud is not Kosher/fit. We as Humans created by Elohim are called to inspect ourselves and look at our own behavior, compare it to the ways of God; the Torah and make adjustments in our lifestyle to reflect our belonging to the God of order.
Others have no compass and therefore they end up in the same hole of despair over and over again. That was never Hashem's plan for His chosen children.
But I digress.
Shavuot; the giving of our marriage covenant by God's Spirit; the Ruach Elohim to Moses the Deliverer to give to the people of Israel.
So lets break it down.
In the "upper room" of Mt. Sinai the Ruach Ha Chodesh meets with Moishe and gives Him the Torah; the Covenant of Promises to give to the Israelites all who had recently been set free from bondage and captivity in Egypt. Hey, wait that's us. Right??
In the book of Acts chapter 2 we read that the Talmudim/disciples were in the "upper room" when a mighty rushing wind was heard and the Holy Spirit descended upon them. There were tongues of fire over their heads. The mighty rushing wind could be like the thunder and lightning seen and heard on the mountain while Moishe was up there with God. Moishe's face was radient when he came down, like tongues of fire which also represent the dove over Yeshua after the Mikveh by Yohannan.
Now check this out! While in the "upper room" a place that wasn't necessarily a room so much as it was on the roof where the waters of rain were collected in a bathing pool would be located. This was the place for doing a mikveh which is a ceremonial washing. Like the baptism in modern Christianity it sybolizes the cleansing of the Holy Spirit and the changing of status from common to holy.
Back to the story. We recieved the Spirit of God on Pentecost which is a feastday or an appointed time. Obviously if we celebrated the appointed times; the Moedim HaElohim we would know that Pentecost was prophecied on Mt. Sinai and the talmudim/disciples were fulfilling their commitment to God by taking part in the Shavuot, in the Upper Room and Praying washing feet perhaps to signify that they had indeed been set apart. As You and I are also set apart, so shall we cleanse our brethren's feet.

So could it be that like the disciples and like the Israelites we too should be prepared for the Shavuot and rejoice in its remembrances. After all though we were once enslaved in our own vices and reasonings, the Lord Yeshua saw us as His bride. Even from afar He sought us before we sought Him.
Has the Spirit of Elohim come to this earth or not?
After Moishe's visitation and the gift of the Ha Torah we fell into murmuring and back biting. But yet the Ruach Ha Elohim had come down and surrounded the Mountain of the Lord. Later in Acts we see that on the holy-day of Shavuot we recieved again the Holy Spirit of God, the same Spirit of God that gave the Torah to Moishe. The same! Not different. God doesn't change. Yeshua said, "I will send the comforter; the Holy Spirit"...
Do we believe that He is holding out? we have to wait for some special time other than the Moedim of Elohim to receive the gifts of the Ruach?
Never! We are in the midst of His Presence and we lack vision.
We are the Lampstand, we are to shed light forward. Forward not back at your past or back at your brother's past. but Forward!
Shed light not darkness. The lampstand doesn't shed darkness such as the end of the world theories and the rapture and the tribulation. Are we not in various tribulations now? Have we not brought these things upon ourselves in many ways?
The word rapture isn't in the Hebrew mindset but rather the word ingathering is. Such as in Deuteronomy 30:1-6 we see the re-gathering of the children of Israel back to the Torah, teaching and instructions of God so that we can and will possess the land given to our forefathers, the land flowing with milk and honey. The same land that was given to our ancestors before us when Hashem/Yeshua brought them out of Egypt with a mighty right hand and an outstretched arm. Hence the Cross at Calvary.
Get it?
in Chapter 8 of the bookNumbers we read that after the Levites had been purified, they were to be presented as a wave offering, they are to come to do the work at the Tent of Meeting. It's talking about you and me to come forward, since you have indeed been made clean and purified by the High Priest and the cleansing waters of the Ruach HaChodesh. We are the Israelites (Romans 11) who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn. You now receive levitical priveledges and you receive the firstborn blessings as one who receives Yeshua/Jesus as Moshiach/Messiah. See no one can take away your blessing. However likened to Essav you can sell you birthright for the satifaction of the flesh which is corrupt and sure to die.
We have repeatedly sold out our birthright for foolishness. It is time to return to "the hearts of our fathers" and receive the blessing of the land. but wait! I am not proposing that you can somehow take what belongs to someone else. It has always been Israel's and will always be Israel's. However we must be adopted into the inheritance through the Moshiach who is Yeshua. Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah. He is not gentile/unfit but rather has come outside the camp to meet with us and offer us the priveledge of coming into the camp and He makes us clean. We cannot presume to replace Israel but rather likened to Ruth... Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God. If anything less than death should separate us, let God deal harshly with me.
I love My Jewish brothers and sisters and want nothing more than for the Christian Church to realize that you can't recieve the blessing of Hashem while rejecting the lifestyle of the Messiah. Being Jewish is so much more than genetic bloodlilne. It is more a lifestyle than genes. All genes were created by the same Creator. YHWH.
I want to learn the Feasts and the Appointed Times out of my love and adoration for The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who is the God of our Fathers.
Ezekiel 37 alludes to the two sticks becoming one in His hand and having one Prince or King over them both. That is the fulfillment of prophecy that in these last days of the great apostacy we will return to the Truth of Elohim; the Torah of God and the Whole House of Jacob will be reunited as it was in Egypt under Yosef.
You are a priest, you are the lampstand. with out the Shamash/Yeshua we cannot be annointed as priests let alone be light to shed any light. we are a lamp without flame/aish.

Chapter 9 verse 13
But if a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not present the Lord's offering at the appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.
What do we do with that? Could it be that because of the ignorance fo the Body of Christ we fail to keep the feasts and the appointed times? And as a result we suffer consequences such as lack of involvement in the church by men, there are no priests or Rabbis, there are things like rape, incest, molestation, divorce, murder, abuse of all kinds in the people who call themselves Christians and in the nation that was founded on Judeo-Christian values. Either God fell asleep or we are outside the camp...
What do you think?
Are we so righteous that God is allowing Satan to torment us? Or could it be that we lack knowledge? I'll take the latter one. Thank you.
So where can we find this knowledge? It is in the Torah. Yes, that Ol' Torah that we call the Law. The same thing that we think Jesus came all this way to free us from is the key to the Kingdom that sets us free from the pain of sin.
When you feel that you can't go on, stay put. Stay faithful and be steady.
Allow yourself to be one of the two silver trumpets that blows and calls the assembly of the people of God. When the two are together (house of Judah/House of Ephrayim) then we can conquer the enemies of God's people.
Its not a physical war as much as it is a spiritual war on the hearts of man.
You Count!
You have a new position of elevation so that you can elevate your King!
Light the lamp via the only way through the Shamash Melechienu/Servant King who is the Light of the World. his name is Yeshua Ha Moshiach.
If you have a desire to know your God and Savior more, join us at Beit Tikveh U'Nesim; the House of Hope and Miracles Center for Torah Studies. We are in Lockhart, Texas,
Come just like that!

Rejection of His Own

Recently with the growth that the Lord has provoked in our lives we have seen certain folks that we would normally think of as dear friends act like we were leppers.
This is troubling to say the least, however it is not fatal... for us anyway.
Rejection comes in many flavors but most painfully from the ones you love.
Since answering the calling of the Lord Jesus: Yeshua Ha Moshiach and listening to the Spirit that Adonai placed with in me, I have seen my "family and friends" reject the move of G-d as though it were a plague.
Ezekiel the Prophet states that the Kol Voice of Hashem came to him and spoke this;
that Hashem would place His Spirit with in us and that He would move us to desire to know His spirit. Yeshua/Jesus said that a man cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven lest he be "born again".
What direction would the Spirit of Adonai move us? Toward or away from the Hebrew roots of our faith. Would the Spirit of G-d desire us to move away from the Jewish People or to move toward them with love and admiration. To move toward our brethren and to unite the family of Elohim throught the Spirit of Christ Jesus/ Yeshua Ha Moshiach.
To be "born again" means to be made new and to allow yourself to be taught. For what child is born with attitude that prevents them from learning. On the contrary, the innocent and pure heart is an easel for us to paint upon. We defile the innocent mind through de-sensitization and blatant assaults on the virtue of our young.
But what about us?
Can we trust again?
can we be born again so that we not only trust but are willing to learn the attributes and the character of Jesus Christ/ Yeshua the Messiah?
The other day my wife and friend were walking down the street in our little town when they were passed by an old friend. This was someone we spend much time around a long time ago. They too are "Christians" but i guess they must think that we are different "Christians" and not the same caliber as they are. Subsequently the driver ignore the two ladies and drove on past as though they never saw. Very well.
Later the same day, the driver and her husband were driving through town and it was made quite plain that they both saw my wife and children in the car we have had for some time and chose to look forward as though they were tremedously busy.
Does the Church of Jesus Christ see others that don't attent their congregation as less than whole, as less saved? WWJD?
Ask yourself what would the early church in Corinth or Galatia do?
Did Peter and Paul only go to the Synagogue or did they go and love on the ones who weren't in the temple?
The answer is they reached out and met the people where they were.
This last weeks Parsha states in the Chumash that Yitro/Jethro has 7 different names.
No he didn't have split personalities but it should be noted that under certain circumstances or in different territories he may have been know by different names.
Likewise Yeshua/Jesus may be referred to by different pronunciations yet the scriptures state that you will know them by their fruit and by their walk.
WWJD?
How did he teach? Was it with arrogance?
Of course not!
So why does the body of so called "Christians" beat each other up so often?
Isn't this the same reason that Yeshua took the blessing of the
Torah and gave it to the Multitudes? Ie: the lost 10 tribes?
The Religious Jews would not share the blessings of the Torah with those whom they saw as dirty ritualisticly unclean. This was the old addage, "don't cast your pearls amongst the swine."
With that attitude they held tightly to the greatest gift that had been given to them freely.
Freely I give it unto you, freely you shall give it away.
So now we see the same false piety in the church of today looking down on others because they don't belong to our congregation or den0mination. how are we different?
If indeed we are saved by the blood of Christ through faith then aren't the Jews who held tighlty to the Torah just as saved as the christians who are now holding firmly and tightly to the deliverence that was given them?
We are to walk out the lifestyle and characteristics of Yeshua so that the love of the Spirit is seen and witnessed in us.
What message are we sending in our daily walk?

If you love me, you would keep my commands and do them.
You don't have to do a thing, however if the HOLY Spirit really dwelled in us would'nt it be leading us toward yearning to do Torah out of our freedoms?
Pray about it and ask the LORD what He would have you to do.
I love you and pray that you see that legalism will do nothing for you. Legalism also comes in many different forms such as the form that tells you, "you can't study the Torah because that's legalism".
Matthew 5:17 on says Jesus told the disciples, "Do not think that I came to do away with the Torah and the prophets, but rather I came to fulfill (make fuller, completely clear and understandable) it. truly i say unto you that not the least letter or stroke of the pen will be abollished from the Torah till all heaven and earth pass away.
Shalom, and Rejoice!
He Came to Deliver not Condemn.

Look what I got the honor of doing.
This Torah scroll was found somewhere along the railroad tracks near Auschwitz.
It is estimated to be 200 years old or maybe more. The family that it belonged to most likely knew their fate but rather than to see the Word of God wind up in the hands of the Germans only to be defiled and destroyed they opted to throw it out of the train.
This scroll went from Germany to France and later came to America. It wound up in San Antonio by way of Oklahoma.


I have been invited to partake in the service again this Friday (erev Shabbat; Shabbat Evening).
Baruch Hashem has a great Cantor and Worship team, not to mention a fantastic Rabbi/Pastor/Teacher Roi Garcia, who is very Good.
We have been attending there for the last Year!
What a tremendous blessing.
As many of you may know already know, that we have begun a Messianic congregation in Lockhart where we live with the hope and vision of restoring the love of God’s Teaching and Instruction. Our Congregation is called Beit Tikveh U'Nesim (House of Hope and Miracles) and is located at 401 N. Commerce in Historic Lockhart, Texas.
We meet on Shabbat at 3pm.
We have been under the tutaledge of Rabbi Ralph Messer of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash (The Joy of Torah, House of Study) for over 4 years. Rabbi Ralph and Mrs. Messer have been a great inspiration for Annette; my wife and I.
The LORD has surrounded us with great teachers of His Word.
Matthew 5:17 tells us that anyone who abolishes the Law; breaking one of the least of the commandments and teaches other to do the same will be called "least in the kingdom", however, great in the kingdom will be the one who practices the commands of and teaches the Word/Torah. I believe that as the prophets prophecy, (paraphrase) “in the last days He would send the Spirit of Ellijah, and return the hearts of the children back to their fathers and the hearts of the Fathers back to their children.” Malachi 4: 4-6
WE are soooo there. Without the return of the love of the Torah/Word we will never see the return of the Messiah.
It is time to seek the face of Adonai Elohim our God; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. There is but One/Echad God.
As John Chapter 1 states that the Word/Torah was with God, and the Word/Torah was God and that the Word/Torah became flesh and dwelt amongst us.
He has indeed planted His eternal life with our midst.

I am so blessed! Whood’a thunk?

Those that believe in the coming of the Messiah are permitted to reach out and touch the Word/ representative of Yeshua/Jesus as a sign of their belief in the Salvation of the Messiah.
The Torah is made up of Lamb skins hence the term “Lamb’s Book of Life”
The Torah is written in Hebrew as it has been since the beginning of history and the Hebrew letters look like Chromosomes.
There are 22 Chromosomes in the human body and 22 letters in the Hebrew alefbet. It is also fitting that the letters and the chromosomes look strikingly similar.




In Psalms 22 the prophet prophecies of the Jesus’ crucifixion.
How great is our God?



So is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life/ The Etz Chaim? Yes!
Maybe We just don’t know it or we behave like we don’t know it.
Yeshua is the author of life, the author of creation and the author of the Torah.
I love Yeshua/Jesus and I love what He has written.
It guides us all on how to behave as human beings verses the beasts of the field.
Jeremiah and Hebrews but state that the LORD wrote His Law upon our hearts and upon our minds.
That He shall be our God and we shall be His people.
The prophet Ezekiel states that the LORD our God will put His spirit in us and move us to desire to know His ways.

Shalom, and may that Ruach HaChodesh/Holy Spirit move in you today and forever.

Pastor Donald J. Maher
Beit Tikveh U'Nesim
House of Hope and Miracles
401 N. Commerce Street
Lockahrt, Texas 78644