BEING TOO CRITICAL

Iyyar 14,5769 Sixth Day Yom Ha'shee'shee

Father I ask forgiveness from You and from all who know me and who read this, I have not been in Your Word studying as I should and have not lifted worship and praise to You as I should. I see myself, as becoming as those around me, who call themselves Yours, who say a prayer to You and then go about their day.

NO, that isn't me, not really. But, what is it? What makes me feel as though I am not in full favor? I pray to You all the time. You are always on my mind. There is nothing I do that I am not thinking about you. My day begins and You are on my mind. I watch something on TV and You are on my mind. As I get Arrin ready for school school, You are on my mind. I sit outside and praise You. I lift Your Name up. Before I go to sleep, you are on my mind. You are woven into my dreams.....So what is my problem?

Maybe I have a critical heart towards others. I desire for those who do not know the truth to 'see' as You showed me. I desire for each of my children to walk this Way with me. I desire for them to 'See' that the Old Path is the true Way.

The more I study, I 'see' the lies that have been told for so long and how almost every 'Christian' believes those lies. I remember that I, too, followed the way of the world church. No, Not the Great Pretender Church of Constantine...the Great whore church..the Catholic church...but I was a Protestant and my beliefs were intertwined into the maze of the teachings of this usurper church. I believed that I was to go to church on the sun day. Why? Because we had been led astray. I believed your Commands..Your instruction to us, was not for the New testement church. Why? Because we had been led astray. I followed all the 'holidays' of the 'church' and in it participated in all that is pagan...why? Because I was led astray. I, in turn, led my family astray. Allowed my children to believe in a satanic magical man who would come once a year and bestow gifts upon them if they were good because he could see and hear all and knew all, I allowed them to believe in a magical bunny who layed magical eggs and treated them to candy and sometimes presents. We were led to believe this whore church was the 'mother church' because it had been the beginning of the Christian faith.

But You...You have brought truth to my eyes and I now see that all was lies. That this whore church took all that was good and wonderful, Your Feasts and Festivals..Your Holy Days, Your Sabbath and shrouded it...as though all saw with veiled eyes and it performed magic and incantations to bewitch the people and kept its followers bound to its doctrines and sacraments. It stole your people and gave the world a 'new' belief, telling all that it had the power of god on earth and salvation only comes through it.

Of course, I knew salvation only comes through You, because You were able to reach through the dark void of the minds and speak and You were heard. But as with so many things, man did not stop and hear the rest. So we have been bound to a church system, clothed in paganism and have worshipped the devil himself. He is very clever. But, now we see the truth.

If I had not listened to You. If I had not stepped out in faith with You. If I had stayed mired in the religios attitude of the 'church', would I have been ok? I would have still been reaching out to You. Always working towards more. I am still desireing more but I now know where to get it, through Your Torah and from Your Holy Days and Times.

I can't make people change. I can't make them 'see' through their darkened mirrors. Only You can change them but there has to be a desire in them and if they are content that all that is being fed to them is truth than they are left to their own religious attitudes. They are much set in their ways and this will be the way it is until something awakens them to the truth.

This is a burden upon me but You have called me to worship and praise so I must be an example. I heard the old expression, just the other day....If you talk the talk you should walk the walk...this is where I am at. I have allowed comprimises to abound in my life. I cannot expect those who are still bound by the devil in the world church to want to be free if my life is not an example of Your Ways.

I do not want to be critical of others who are still bound. I will be more loving and kind, as Torah teaches, because we are called to be light to the world and only through this light will they see You. I praise You and thank You for You are so good, Your love and mercy endures forever!

But I will still speak and write the truth and stand on Your word as to what is holy and what is unholy

DAILY LIFT
Rabbi Zelig Pinkin
#585 Thinking Good About Others

I heard many times from Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, the late Head of Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. "The commandment to refrain from speaking negatively against others does not start with what we say when we speak. Rather, it starts with what we think about when we think about another person."

The Torah obligation starts with our thoughts. When you master the ability to see what is good about other people, their virtues and positive attributes, their strengths and accomplishments, then you will speak positively about them. Knowing that they have many positive qualities and have done much good, you will find it easier to refrain from violating the Torah prohibition against negative speech.

(Growth Through Tehillim: Exploring Psalms for Life Transforming?Thoughts, p. 86)

A Word thru Bev Robinson
You have some blind spot in your thoughts and words. I hear coming from your heart and mouth judgments directed toward specific people. These ones are not measuring up according to your standards. You are even thinking this action is what I want you to do. Absolutely not. What if I treated you this way? You are not seeing this sin you are committing, but I see this. Open your eyes. Wake up and see the way you are treating these precious ones. What if I acted toward you that way? If you continue in this vein there will be consequences…remember you reap what you sow. Pour on blessings instead of curses.
Matthew 7:1-4 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt?” Bev Robinson