Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Corinthians 13:5)

The Biblical fall holidays are here. It’s that time of the year again! ~BUT~ everyday SHOULD be that time of the year again!

As indeed dark days befall upon us, perhaps now is a good time to look inward upon ourselves. It is easy to look at the external world in chaos, a Church in apostasy, and even our own families in disorder. But how often do we examine ourselves?  Let’s face it, we still do miss the mark and fail. There were times in my life that I ran far from God, and was mired in a back-slidden state where I looked no different than the world around me. Praise the Lord that HE is the Good Shepherd and leaves the 99 to go after the one. ALL of us at one time or another were that one lost sheep.

Indeed, God is a God of LOVE. His Mercy and Grace run deep.  Nevertheless, this does not give us license to sin as we please. Run far away from and totally ignore the hyper-grace that promotes licentious living. So called Christians that accept homosexuality (or whatever sinful habit) as if it is OK with God. Just you go on in that condition, because God loves you. ******WARNING DANGER WARNING*********

God tells us differently: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21–23)

Well, I’ll be… That seems to be a different tune then what those false teachers are tickling in my ear. “Depart from me” says Jesus, the One who will Judge humanity. I’m not an Einstein, not even an Ein, or even a Stein, but, I think I would rather err on the side of what Almighty God says than foolish man. Perhaps it is wise to heed the words of Jesus rather than discard them.  

My wife Marie once asked me. “Do you fear the end times coming?” I sincerely put some thought into that and responded, No,“I fear God.  As believers, it’ll do us good to fear the LORD. After all it is deemed wise… “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Knowing this, do we ever take enough time to examine ourselves? I honestly must admit, no. There are things with me that need to change. I am by far not where I need be, but PRAISE THE LORD, I am not where I once was. Nevertheless, we all can use time to examine and correct (repent). The Bible is replete with the theme of repentance and turning back to God.

Starting tonight at sundown (9/11/2026) the season of the High Holy Days and the Ten Days of Awe. These are the Biblical feast of Rosh Hashanah (feast of Trumpets) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) A central theme of the holidays is “Teshuva” (Hebrew: תשובה‎, literally, “return”) It is akin to repentance. Whereas repent is turning away from sin and Teshuva is returning to God. Ps 51 the famous Psalm of repentance known in Judaism as Perak Teshuva, David, a man after God’s heart (as proclaimed by God Himself) fell into sin with Bathsheba, and had her husband murdered to cover it up up. When confronted by the prophet Nathan, David replied “I have sinned”:  Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. (Psalm 51:1–4)

There is no sin too deep that is beyond the forgiveness of God. But you must turn back to Him and repent. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Let us look deeply at our own faults and return to Him: Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord; (Lamentations 3:40)

As believers we must always examine ourselves. It is a practice that will do us well. Lord knows it is very easy to see the faults in the wicked world, and the faults of other believers. I do believe that we must examine ourselves firstly then out to the exterior. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:3–5)

If you are not saved and do not know the LORD, I earnestly appeal to you to seek Him now!  Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)

He is, after-all patient: The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9), but sooner or later the door of the ark will close, and the flood will consume you. for He says, “At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is “the acceptable time,” behold, now is “the day of salvation”— (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Let us all spend some time in self-examination and teshuva/ repent where needed!

Our Jewish friends this time of year say: L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem. May you and yours be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good and sweet new year.

To that, I say. May your name be found written in the Lamb’s book of Life! ‘He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5) It is MOST importance to be inscribed into this book! And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)

Shalom,

Brian

Most of us somewhere heard this Native American tale from a pulpit at one time or another: “Inside of me there are two Wolves. One is mean and evil and the other is good and they fight each other all the time. When asked which one wins, I answer, the one I feed the most.”

Recently I have spoken with MANY fellow believers, all who have been suffering anxiety, depression, anger, and fear over the current political events. The prince of the airwaves really has ramped up his onslaught of disinformation coupled with a frenzy of chaos. The enemy tosses out bad news and disinformation like chum (shark bait) attracting the masses and fueling the fire of hate, doubt, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and even to the point of questioning our faith. Too many believers are allowing the enemy to gain a dominating foothold over their lives. Why is that. Perhaps the constant drumbeat of fear provoking (by design) news is feeding that evil dog (the flesh). God’s word tells us of the works of the flesh: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19–21)

It seems to me that if we are constantly filling up on bad news that is designed by the enemy to distract us from the LORD. Therefore, we are feeding that evil dog. We are inviting despair upon our peace. We are fueling the fire of our fear and anger over constant barrages of double standards, corruption, and injustice. Far too many Born Again Believers are walking around in defeat. “Oh my, Biden will do X, Y and Z.” “The Sky is falling.” “It’s all over.” “America is Finished.” ETC…  STOP! We are the ones that have the VICTORY through Jesus our Messiah! All the noise from politics, academia, and media is irrelevant. Discard that venomous spew frothing from your media device. Turn off notifications or delete those news-feeds. I am not telling you to put your head in the sand as far as news goes. Just get off the carousel of 24-hour media craziness. Go to Christian Sites Like Worthy News that compile headlines for us without barraging us 24/7.

This is a coordinated attack not from Gates, Soros, China, Russian, and/or whoever. It’s an attack from the enemy of our souls: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

While we are looking at the straw-man we are being distracted by the true enemy. Look at a bullfighter for example. He uses the red cape to distract the bull. The bull is bigger, stronger, and faster than the bullfighter. If not for the distraction the bull would simply move a few feet right or left and the bullfighter is in real trouble. But, since the bull is distracted it gets wounded repeatedly over and over then killed. The adversary wants you distracted, it wants you not to effectively share Jesus’ salvation with the world, it wants you under the yoke of fear and misery so that you tune into the media as a drug that poisons you slowly. It is not interested in stopping there, it wants to kill you. What is the mission of The Enemy (Satan)?  The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10a) — Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) The Enemy uses divide and conquer to pit humanity against one another. The Enemy will even use my alignment as a conservative to his advantage by fueling a fire of anger within me. If it were not for the Lord Jesus and His salvation and me being a slave in Christ, I would be drowning in politically tailored noise that is by satan designed to distract you and eventually kill you, spiritually, physically, or both. Now days we have many so called Christian pundits out there fanning the flames of rebellion and oh yeah, Jew Hatred. A church that is HIGHLY compromised, and no shortage of Christ Haters surrounding the remnant. It is easy for my warrior spirit to want to operate in the flesh. But I (we all) must submint to Jesus. AND KNOW…

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17–21)

“Vengeance is Mine” says the LORD. He will repay. All those of wickedness, lawlessness, and unrighteousness will be judged by the Lord Jesus and fall under His ever-consuming wrath. Although I take personal satisfaction that the Lord will punish the guilty, I will NOT gloat. Because I too am deserving of wrath. Nevertheless, there will be reckoning and justice.

So then, why would we want to feed that bad dog within? We ought to starve this dog; yes? This evil puppy takes a steady diet of disinformation via endless news that is baiting anger, fear, and depression, and every other carnal sin we can construe. That evil dog (The Flesh) not only needs starved it needs to be put down:

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24).

knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6)

Notice the words “have” and “was” Indeed so if we are in Christ, then we ARE partakers in the VICTORY. How then is it we walk around in defeat? Indeed so, we are looking at that red cape of distraction.

So rather than filling up on the media drumbeat and its feeding frenzy of demonic noise, fill up on God. Read HIS WORD. Get HIS PEACE. Do HIS WILL. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:22–26)

 Considering all the current events I have a calm and peace over me. This peace is the peace only God can give. Turn to Him now. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psalm 18:2)

Quit looking to mortal men for answers. Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God,” (Psalm 146:3–5)

Which person would you want to be here: Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:5–8)

Brethren hear me. Get off the media circus of Satan and open your Bibles immersing yourselves in HIS Word. As a disciple (Student) you will hone your focus away from distractions and learn discernment. We will need it in the coming dark days ahead.

I encourage you to disconnect from the feeding frenzy designed to feed that evil dog in us.

The question remains. Which dog do I feed?

Shalom,

Brian

He (Jesus) said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

Jesus asked his disciples a rather simple question. “Who do you say I am”? To which Peter confessed Him as the Messiah the Son of the Living God.

As a truly In-Christ, born again of the Spirit believer, what if we turned the tables and asked God that very same question?  Lord, who do YOU say I am? I mean, it is important to know how God identifies us, isn’t it? Well, He does! Read the first two chapters of Ephesians and dig deep into your identity in Christ

Each of us should know who we are in Christ so let us each ask this: Lord God, who do You say I am?

His Answer: 

I am Blessed! 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Ephesians 1:3)

I am Chosen!

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (Ephesians 1:4)     

I am a Child of God!

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, (Ephesians 1:5)  

The context here implies male and female. So you are a Son or Daughter of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

I am Redeemed and Forgiven!

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)

I am an Heir!

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (Ephesians 1:11)

In Christ we have a wonderful inheritance (1 Peter 1:1–4), and in Christ we are an inheritance. We are valuable to Him. Think of the price God paid to purchase us and make us part of His inheritance! God the Son is the Father’s love gift to us; and we are the Father’s love gift to His Son. Read John 17 and note how many times Christ calls us “those whom Thou hast given Me.” The church is Christ’s body (Eph. 1:22–23), building (Eph. 2:19–22), and bride (Eph. 5:22–23); Christ’s future inheritance is wrapped up in His church. We are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17), which means that He cannot claim His inheritance apart from us!^[1]

I am Sealed!

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians 1:13)

 In the Greek:    σφραγίζω sphragizō, sfrag-id´-zo; from 4973; to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation (lit. or fig.); by impl. to keep secret, to attest:— (set a, set to) seal up, stop.^[2]

What is the significance of this sealing of the Holy Spirit? For one thing, it speaks of a finished transaction. Even today, when important legal documents are processed, they are stamped with the official seal to signify the completion of the transaction. This sealing also implies ownership: God has put his seal on us because He has purchased us to be His own (1 Cor. 6:19–20). It also means security and protection. The Roman seal on the tomb of Jesus carried this meaning (Matt. 27:62–66). So, the believer belongs to God, and is safe and protected because he is a part of a finished transaction. According to John 14:16–17, the Holy Spirit abides with the believer forever. It is possible for us to grieve the Spirit and thereby lose the blessings of His ministry (Eph. 4:30). But He doesn’t leave us.^[3]

I am Loved!

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (Ephesians 2:4)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

So therefore our God has identified who we are in Christ. Dear ones it is imperative that we each KNOW our true identity.

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^[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 12.

^[2] James Strong, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

^[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 12–13.

For you (Jewish people) are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2).

Not long ago I had a conversation with a young fellow about 25ish. The topic got on to Israel and Bibi, how he is a terrorist and the Jews are oppressing other peoples and murdering them. How the Jews are intentionally killing Christians and bombing churches. My head was about to explode. He then proceeded to state matter of fact that “I am not Antisemitic at all”. Since I am personally a Jewish Missionary, at times, it seems I (we) are up against a tidal-wave.

As Believers we are hated by the world because the world hates Jesus. The Jews are hated because the Adversary hates Jesus who is IN FACT a Jew, rather even, the KING of the Jews, the Heir of David. And moreover because Messiah is returning to specifically save the Jews and reign on David’s throne in the millennial kingdom. Oh then there is the 3rd group. Believer Jews (Messianic Jew’s) such as Geri, and MANY of my closest friends. They get a double portion of hate for being Jewish and also a believer in Messiah Yeshua.

My late Friend John Pisarek a retired Baptist Pastor, oh and by the way a Jew sates this well:

For many centuries and throughout the world hatred of the Jews has been a recurring tragedy. From the early wars against the Jews to the Spanish inquisition, through the holocaust and to the 21^st century, the Jewish people have been persecuted, driven from their homes, starved, hated, punished and even put to death. What are the possible reasons for this terrible smear on those who hate these people?

• It could be that numerous non-Jews resent the fact of God’s choice of these, His people. In other words, envy, which leads to hate.
• It could also be that since the Jews were the bearers of the moral Law, those who wanted to live lawlessly resented those who brought morality and sought to live it out. (Unfortunately, not all Jews are moral; neither are all Gentiles for that matter)!
• A final possible reason: Satan has always hated God and His people (Jews as well as Christians). He has thus sought to destroy them since he cannot destroy God!

We must be very careful not to hate the Jew (or anyone else, as far as that goes). As a matter of fact, on several occasions God promises to bless those who bless the Jew (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18, etc.). In other words, bless the Jew and God will bless you!

I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? (Genesis 18:18)

In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Genesis 22:18)