Two friends and I were enjoying a mini-pot-luck dinner together this weekend. One of us was telling of a car mechanic who was rude, and had a bad attitude, not to mention not repairing her car as he should have. How as Believers should we respond to such situations?

To be equally honest with you, I don’t follow that religion either, nor would I be able to put my trust in a God like that. Only one thing really matters: Is there a place called hell, and is there a judgment after death?

It’s true. Our much used and loved term “church” isn’t in the New Testament. But could it be that name for “church” that we’ve become so accustomed to conveys something that leaves out or presents an alternative picture to what God had in mind for the Body of Messiah?

Of the multiplied thousands of followers of Jesus that I know around the world — both Jews and Gentiles — I can not think of one who continues to follow Jesus primarily because of the fear of hell, let alone only because of the fear of hell. We follow him because we love him and we recognize him to be our Messiah.

When God sent Ezra, then Nehemiah back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, he sent specific men to do it with them. OK, true they may have volunteered, but it was God who was behind their choice to go, as you will see. Today God is rebuilding His temple to be the holy place of His indwelling in Spirit and in truth.

In recent days, a rift has been caused between the Israeli and Swedish governments over false reporting in a Swedish newspaper which accused Israel of blood libel. The popular Swedish daily, Aftonbladet, with a reported mass circulation of just under 1.5 million copies daily, claims that Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) kidnapped and murdered Palestinian Arabs in order to harvest their organs for transplanting.

If we are to truly represent Yeshua to the world, should we not be holy as He is holy “because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy'” (Peter 1:16). Just as mankind was originally created in God’s image, for those of us who are born again, we are to represent Yeshua’s “image” to the world.

Could it be that what you call ‘unnatural emotions and feelings’ are actually lower, more base human attitudes, while the ethical behavior that Jesus requires from his followers actually reflects higher, more lofty, spiritual attitudes? Maybe not everything that is ‘natural’ is good and not everything that is ‘unnatural’ is bad!

Things were going really well in Yeshua’s ministry, and the miracles were increasing and it seemed like almost all in Israel were following Him, or at least talking about Him. The air of expectation was electric with assurance that the redemption of Israel was finally “at hand.”

This is an exaggerated and inaccurate statement. Traditional Jews see this world as the corridor to the world to come but stresses the importance of life in this world. As for Christians, while stressing the importance of the world to come, they have been responsible for the building of more hospitals, the feeding of more hungry people, and the establishment of more educational institutions than all other religions of the world combined.