If I sound a bit grumpy its because I just spend two hours reading mans Sabbath theology. If I have learnt anything that is to stray away from fallacy. The early church has openly taken responsibility for the changing of the Sabbath day from the seventh day to the first. Little do they know and all the millions that follow, it is one big lie. You might say how is it a lie people all around the world enter through church doors every Sunday. Well gay partners are allowed to marry in some states now, but that doesn't mean that God recognizes it. God doesn't recognize common-law marriage either but many people do it. The hearts of many men will fail them. The strength, wisdom and wealth of man will also fail them. No man on the face of the earth, not yesterday, not today nor tomorrow has been given the authority to change what HASHEM has established. I am a Messianic Jew but don't think for a moment I follow this Lords day routine. What God sets apart has Holy cannot be removed. How is it that men and women can read what the early Roman church takes responsibility for, and not see it for what it really is. Persecution, persecution and persecution. Today the Roman church or Catholic Church is a billion strong. The second commandment is not to have any idols of any kind, especially in the image of any heavenly body. Hello. I'm worried about the salvation that so many think they carry around with them. Yes it is a gift. Yes it is grace. It is not do what you want. The church body just like our observant Jewish brothers have the task of picking up the bible for themselves and study. Yeshua said my people perish for a lack of knowledge. If trust comes from hearing you better know who you're listening to. 

Perhaps this is an issue of identity. Early second and third century Rome dictated by Constatine had no desire for the Jewish identity, and hence came a change to the weekly Sabbath. Jews and Gentile followers were being persecuted by the thousands just as in fifteenth century Spain. So what was one to do? Again I ask how is it no one in the church is speaking up. Rome is to busy following the Pope rather then God. We are not to bow to anyone but the Father in Heaven. The church has taken it upon itself to lead the blind to the spiritual gas chambers, and doesn't know it. Who's perfect not anyone Jew or Gentile but lets be honest, when will man stand up as many of our forefathers had and take a stand. This goes beyond hatred for the Jewish identity, it is ignorance. 

Please read your bibles starting with Genesis not John. Read it all. Digest it, allow it to manifest within your spirit.

Shalom.

We shall continue with the story in the previous article. Since Prophet Samuel took over the top job in Israel, he initiated reforms to the nation to bring his people back to God. His reformation made Israel strong again. The Philistines were defeated and they stayed on their side of the border. No one dared to attack Israel and the nation prospered.

As Samuel grew older and older, he began to delegate his duties to his sons. Unfortunately, he had the same problem as his predecessor, Prophet Eli. His sons were corrupt. They abused their positions to demand bribes from the people.

1 As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.
2 Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba.
3 But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.
1 Samuel 8:1-3 (NLT)

One day, all the elders of Israel had a meeting with Samuel and asked for a king over them. What was their reason? Samuel’s sons were corrupt and hopeless. A king is better.

4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel.
5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”
1 Samuel 8:4-5 (NLT)

The question here, is having a king the solution to the corrupt and incompetent sons of Samuel? What made them think that the king would be less corrupt than Samuel’s sons? We shall look into this issue later. Let us see how Samuel responded.

6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance.
7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.
8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.
9 Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”
1 Samuel 8:6-9 (NLT)

Samuel was not pleased. He went to the Lord for guidance. The Lord was not pleased too. As far as God was concern, it was his people’s rejection of him. The Israelites preferred to have a human king than the Lord as their king because they wanted to be like the nations around them. However, God behaved like a gentlemen. Since the people wanted a king, the Lord will give them one. He told Samuel to tell them the cost of having a king.

10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king.
11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.
12 Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment.
13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him.
14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants.
16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use.
17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves.
18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
1 Samuel 8:10-18 (NLT)

This is my response to the above passage: Wow, so expensive! I do not think Samuel’s sons would demand that much. If I were them, I would rather live under the rule of Samuel’s corrupt sons than to have a king that made the above demands for the simple reason that the former option is cheaper. Was that the respond of the Israelites as well?

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.
20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
1 Samuel 8:19-20 (NLT)

They still wanted a king despite the high cost they had to pay. This tells us that their reason of having a king to solve the problem of Samuel’s corrupt sons was not valid at all. They did not want a king because they thought the king would cost them lesser than Samuel’s sons. They wanted a king because the other nations around them had one each. They wanted to go to the trend despite the higher cost they had to pay.

Since they wanted a king, God agreed to give them one.

21 So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said,
22 and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
1 Samuel 8:21-22 (NLT)

Let us stop here to evaluate what we can learn for this story. The Israelites wanted a king. Why? The only answer is vanity. They just wanted to copy their neighbors. They did not expect the king to help them in any way. The nation under Samuel was strong and prosperous. The only problem there was Samuel corrupt sons. There are ways to solve corruptions and having a king is not one of them. In fact, Samuel had even told them that the king would even cost them more money. Yet the Israelites insisted on having one and they were willing to pay for that all because they wanted to be like other nations.

How can we learn from this? Do not let vanity get into our heads. It is good to have nice things but we must always count the cost. You may be dreaming of buying a bigger house or car. That is great. Our Christian lives must not be stagnant. We should be constantly improving. Having a bigger house and car is only part of our progress in life. However, we must also consider the cost of doing so.

You need to ask whether you have the finances in place to pay for those dreams. If you don’t, then delay those plans and make enough money first. It is better to defer your dream house than to buy now and have it repossessed because you cannot afford the installments.

The worst reason for buying expensive things is to follow others. Just because many people around you are driving expensive cars, it does not mean you must get yourself similar car as well. You must think of whether you really like driving those types of cars and whether you can financially afford it. It will cause even bigger embarrassment if your car got repossessed.

In conclusion, God wants us to have good things in life. He also wants us to be secured with who we are. We are the head and not the tail. We do not have to subject ourselves to a heavy financial burden just because we want to follow the crowd. Trust in God. He is the one we should follow, not the crowd and he will give us a better future if we choose to trust in him.

Oklahoma City Thunder

It is official.  The new Oklahoma City team name will be the Thunder.  I like the name but the logo is very lame.  I think my 4 year old son could have came up with a better looking logo.  This articleat ESPN gives a little more information in regards to the new team name and logo.  I believe the colors are simple and the logo is blah! .  If anyone at the OKC Thunder needs help, I have a 4 year old boy who has a lot of free time to help you out with a more creative design.

LeBron not that good at H-O-R-S-E!

I read the articleand I am still laughing.  Lebron played two games of H-O-R-S-E and lost.  Many have speculated to whom he lost to, maybe Kobe or Paul Pierce, but he lost to a average dude named David Kalb.  David Kalb won the opportunity to play Lebron in a game of H-O-R-S-E and now we have a new King on the basketball court.  Please take note, that many of the shot taken during the game of H-O-R-S-E were trick plays.  LeBron may be able to take home an Olympic gold medal but he can't win at H-O-R-S-E.

So, I was thinking, "The Burger King" is flipping creepy! Seriously, little kids probably have nightmares about this dude. I do love BK, but not enough to wake up with the King in my bed and not be completely petrified. "Wake Up with the King" is by definitely one of the creepiest commercials out there. They had a King mask at Halloween USA and it creeped me out there too. I said something to my friend about how freaky it was and the salesperson chimed in that pretty much everyone agrees. So, I guess everyone does kinda think those commercials are really odd.

I guess BK hit some kind of advertising gold with the King though. I mean, they have me thinking about it at 1 in the morning. I'm not going to rush out and by some burgers right now, but he won't stop me from eating some of their delish burgers and onion rings. That onion ring sauce is great.

I have no idea why I just wrote so much about the King of the BK lounge(as Dane Cook would say) but I guess that's just who I am. A weirdo, no jk jk but srsly. :)

P.S. Dr. Phil is on Conan. How does he still have a t.v show!?!?! I'd rather watch the King be creepy than that fake, old doc.

“I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.

You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.

You died when you refused to stand up for right.

You died when you refused to stand up for truth.

You died when you refused to stand up for justice.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the sermon “But, If Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church on November 5, 1967.

Dream with me...

     "We buy a run down pit of a motel that has had prostitution running rampet for decades at hourly rental rates and transform it into a home and rehabilitation organization that helps women who find themselves on the corners of Aurora night after night. A place where God is able to take the very drug dealers and users out of this dive of a hotel and transforms their lives to create a safe house for users to become dry and learn a trade and become members of a productive society and Christ centered community, as their lives are transformed by the King's power. A place where the ex-users are teaching and mentoring their previous dealers to live lives that are a reflection of Christ. A place that supports itself from a high-traffic coffee house carved out of the once deplorable hotel office. A coffee house that gives employment to recovering users and dealers alike, and helps bring girls off the streets from selling themselves for a living to serving, not only coffee, but an ideal atmosphere where all people are welcomed and have an chance to experience God. What if this place becomes an epicenter of the Epic Story God is currently writing."

Dream of the possibilities, they are great!

Mountain Marathon Madness. As a run up to Asia's longest running high altitude marathon. King of the Hills held time trials to seperate the weak from the strong. Koji Miyazaki took first place with time of 44:23. Ping Leung came in 2nd just 10 seconds behind. The 5 race KOTH series starts November 23 in Sai Kung. Find more information at http://www.seyonasia.com/index.html

新一季的山野之王在愉景灣開跑了。參賽者要在炎熱的天氣下進行2.8公里長的繞圈賽，在一小時內跳以最快時間跑出最多圈的選手勝出。日本藉的選手宮崎最後以44分23秒完成兩圈成為優勝者。下一場的山野之王將在11月23日在西貢舉行，欲知詳情請到 http://www.so-u.tv/

Thai Airways is an awesome airline -- they served us the best food I've ever had on an airplane, fresh and delicious.  We had soft dinner rolls and spicy curry; endless refills of tea and water and even wine, all of which were served with the meal as a matter of course.  And then, just before landing, the flight attendants make their way down the aisles with a basket of orchid blooms, each separate bloom (and some greenery) wired to a safety pin -- they hand these out to all the women on the plane.  I've kept mine in a drawer -- it's still pretty even now, no matter how faded.  (Akin to my "mendi," or henna, which today has finally started to decidedly fade from its Friday brilliance.)

Reading the news from Thailand now, I can't connect violent street protests with the serenity and urban beauty I found there.  My attention is drawn to how many of the protesters are furious with the prime minister.  Nepal, of course, had no president, and only an interim prime minister, when we arrived.  The king of Nepal had only just left his palace a few days before we passed through Bangkok.  So I peered out the windows of the terminal and took these pictures:

There was another sign which read "World's Longest Surviving and Best-Loved Monarch."  Quite a contrast to Nepal, where the people fought a civil war and then decided to force the monarchy out of power.  Then again, in Kathmandu itself, to my knowledge, there haven't been violent street protests that have led to serious injuries and death.  Over the summer, when students protested the government, they blocked traffic and burned tires.  In fact, a few times, when we asked about the status of the latest protest, we received the cheery reply:  "Oh, it's over now.  They ran out of tires."

The world is strange.

Nepali of the day:

where is... :  kahaa chha?

-tira:  toward the

north:  uttar

south:  dakshin

east:  purbaa

west:  paaschim

purbaatira:  to the east

desh:  country

In his abdication speech, Gerzam was quick to stress that he will not be retiring, news which bodes well for TBoB and the entire raiding world —

My Brothers and Sisters,

Today, I have decided to do something I feel needs to be done, I am abdicating. I am NOT retiring. I will retain the founder nation, for now, but I am as of today, Tuesday September the 2nd, 2008 at 7:30 PM, I will no longer be king and my Crown Prince, St Mason, will be raised to the throne. This is because I do not have enough time to commit to leadership of the region and, considering he and r3v are the true builders of the region this time around, they deserve to rule fully. As expected, I will cease to refer to myself as king, though I will retain the honorary title of Cruor Imperator given to me a few months ago. I will still participate when I can in raids, but I feel unable to effectively manage TBOB. I will hold a coronation thread for his majesty shortly, I invite ALL members to attend. His Majesty May choose whatever Regal Name he prefers and will be your new Co-Head of State. I bid his majesty good luck and I will be here to help him, should he even need it. I also wish to thank my brothers and sisters of blood for their great loyalty to me during my reign.

Good Day my brothers!

Sean I, Former King of Cruor, Cruor Imperator, your Brother of Blood.

And there you have it. Gerzam has been a fine leader and a great example to the whole of nationstates in how to run a region effectively and inspire confidence and activity in others.

St Mason will now receive the crown in an elaborate coronation ceremony to be witnessed by countless brothers. More news will be posted as the details emerge, in what continues to be a lively era for the region of The Brotherhood of Blood.

But I can't complain. During my brief exile from the throne I lost weight, my coat became scraggly, and I shed constantly. My cage was small and prevented me from partaking in one of my favorite activities; stretching.

One dark evening a young woman I had never seen before opened my cage and picked me up. "Myow!"  I said, and to my surprise she replied! I couldn't believe it. Finally, someone who spoke my language. Immediately, I was in love and I left plenty of white hair on her black sweater.

The woman and her male companion, whom I would later call Mom and Dad, took me home with them a few days later. I entered a new territory and immediately claimed it as my own. Mom and Dad would prove to be loyal servants, constantly doting on me and delivering daily feasts of Sheba. I regained my physique, my coat shining and reflecting brighter than the Arctic snow. I had plenty of room to stretch, and fittingly, a king size bed for napping.

I was properly dubbed King Regulus Arcturus and my first act as King was to purr . . .

Regulus is one of the brightest stars in the sky, and the brightest in the constellation Leo. The word itself is Latin for "little king". How appropriate.

Arcturus, for the uneducated, is the third brightest star above your head and the brightest in the constellation Boötes. My Dad will also tell you they are one of the finest metal bands from Norway.

The next chapter of my story begins with an absolutely, incredible — WHATS THAT?

MYOOOOOOW!!!

Sorry, something's come up.  Check back later.

Deuteronomy 30:11- 14 - For this commandment that I command you today - it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. It is not in heaven, [for you] to say, "Who can ascend to heaven for us, to take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it? Nor is it across the sea, [for you] to say, "Who can cross to the other side of the sea for us to take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it? Rather the matter is very near to you - in your mouth and in your heart - to perform it. 

It is written in the psalm, "I shall not die, but live." In order really to live, man must first give himself to death. But when he has done so, he discovers that he is not to die, he is to live.

How to say Torah. - I shall teach you the best way to say Torah. You must cease to be aware of yourselves. You must be nothing but an ear that hears what the universe of the Word is constantly saying within you. The moment you start hearing what you yourself are saying, you must stop. 

By extension, the entire natural universe serves HASHEM without expecting compensation. All the celestial bodies (sun, moon, etc) have no concept of self identity. 

To have no self identity goes against the grain of society. Moses had no self identity. The moment his universe lined up with that of HASHEM is when he went out into the fields with his brothers. Moses had wealth, shade from the sun and upon the horizon, kingship. Because he gave up the wealth and authority (a foreshadow of Yeshua) concerning the things of Egypt, HASHEM gave unto Moses a leadership role second only to Messiah Yeshua. When we lay down our lives for our brothers as did Yeshua (on his own authority) HASHEM directs His eyes towards us. Forty years to the day at the age of eighty while doing none other than shepherding a flock of sheep, HASHEM appears to Moses His servant. Prayers will be answered, the promise to Abraham concerning his descendants is underway and slave labor for the Jews of Egypt will cease. Blessed be the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

The above is mandatory not optional. Change comes in season not over night. This is the mistake that millions teach when it comes to approaching the alter. Without the spirit to guide us, without the lamp upon our feet and light upon our path we would all be groping in the darkness. God must be in the home from the moment of conception, first with marriage and upon the arrival of our children. We must make our decisions intellectual decisions. When we follow the masses we become like the open field, with the rushing of the northern wind, we perish. 

As one travels the road of Torah he or she becomes less in tuned with any personal ambitions. Like time all things move forward this is the way of Torah. Each day is a new moment to take hold of, to do as HASHEM does and that is to create continuously. Yochanan the immerser responded to a disciple, "I must become less so that he can become more." 

We shall continue. We will endure.

Shalom and abundant peace.

There is no doubt that McCarthy is an excellent writer and thinker. He has oft been compared to Faulkner, I suppose for his awareness of the bleak and lonely world, the individual wandering phantasmically through it. I'd say that the closest analogy to his fiction is a drunken round of Russian Roulette between Wallace Stegner, Stephen King, and Nietzsche. His world as shaped by the terrain (both its physical and metaphysical aspects) is vivid but formless, and his characters react fluidly to everything but violence, which is the lone truth of his world.

Take, for example, the she-wolf who gets Billy Parham into his ghastly back-and-forth over the U.S.-Mexico border: he is confounded by her itineracy until finally catching her, and then he decides that she belongs in her rightful home, which is a place he cannot find or at least reach. When she is taken from him and exploited for show, he finds himself as stranded as she, and, in something of a John Galt moment, finds the most resolute solution is to fire a rifle bullet through her brain and bury her in the desert.

To carry my initial metaphor to its trite and tattered conclusion, I'd say I am scarcely venturing upward before discovering that I am unprepared and ill-equipped to summit said sonofabitch. If violence alone is articulated with any definition in Dimension McCarthy, then it makes sense that violence should be meticulously defined in the narrative. And it is. In particular, there is a story-within-the-story passage about a man who goes blind after a German (of course, right?) army officer sucks the eyeballs out of his head. In a brief but lucid passage, McCarthy details the outpopping of the eyeballs, the vision conveyed by them (presented, unavoidable, including of the ground and the man's own mouth), the attempts to put them back in place with such things as metal spoons, the (you can imagine) pain, and the dangling by the optic nerve until eyeballs and cords go numb, dry, wither, ostensibly fall off.

The internal story, like a few others in the book, is a captivating parable that frees McCarthy to explore certain philosophical ancillaries of his landscape that would be otherwise untenable within the framework of his Spartan narrative. A man gone blind begins to see the world as it is, for he no longer can discriminate amongst what to see. Great. But I find myself wondering why, out of all the means to blindness, he had to lose his sight by having his eyes hoovered out of his skull to flippity-flop around for several days, grindcore style, before rotting off of his wretched face. I understand the utility of morbid idiosyncrasy to keeping your reader engaged--hell, in a story for a college workshop I once put a bullet through the head of a schizophrenic father to be nestled within the brain of his infant son sleeping soundly on the floor upstairs--but did he have to go and pick such a squirm-inducing episode? Now whenever I pick up the book--and I'm one hundred pages past that scene--I am hauntingly aware of the back of my eye and the juicy sinews that tether it to my brain, and I can't help but feel them extended and exposed and slowly withering away.

Thus my reticence to summit Mt. McCarthy. Shortly after dry-heaving through this passage, I was informed of better treasures yet in his earlier, supposedly more essential works. I get the creeps just thinking about that. McCarthy writes with the delicate touch of a true master, and this story has a presence that is both infectious and close to one's own soul. But, like many men too smart for the collective good, he likes to serve his insight with a shot of sadism.

The logical response to this aversion, however, is that his treatment of violence is not sadistic but honest and straightforward in a vicious way. Man is a cruel animal, capable of brutality in both evil and benevolent contexts, and if my sissified manner of reading is incongruous with the truth, well then maybe I ought to stick with the caricatured humanity of Dr. Seuss.

Violence is integral to all great literature. I don't feel like I even have to support this claim. But I will: Homer, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Donne, Cervantes, Rabelais, Goethe, Defoe, Scott, Melville, Twain, Dostoevski, Tolstoi, Dickens, Mann, Faulkner, Elliot, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Grass, Bellow, Coatzee, The Fucking Bible. One interesting thing about this list: all men.

Okay.

Bleecker, Stowe, Dickinson, Plath, Walker, Lee, Lessing, Morrison, Picoult, Pessl. (Forgive me, please, for my unfamiliarity with this half of the canon; I am a recovering misogynist.) One might suggest that the aforementioned woman authors tended toward violence of the subjugating variety, rather than the competitive variety championed by their brutish male counterparts. This is true, but in the end, is not competitive violence a quest for subjugation, and therefore hardly variant from preexisting dominance? In fact, one might say that the violence expressed by these female authors is even more brutal than that of the men, because it very clearly spells out a victim and precludes mercy or empathy.

I can think of few great texts which do not feature some form of violence. Most contemporary children's lit does not, but, then again, the old stuff, the really good stuff--Grimm and Grimm, Andersen, Disney, Pretty Much Every Folk Tale Ever Recorded-- does.

We get it, right? Violence is well documented in literature, which is itself a reflection of the human condition (I won't even bother to support this one). In an interview with the New York Times, McCarthy himself confided that he dismissed authors who did not "'deal with issues of life and death." Of Henry James and Marcel Proust he remarked, "To me, that's not literature. A lot of writers who are considered good I consider strange."

So then maybe I am just another weak-assed romantic, a reader more at home with the purple ramblings of Wilde and Rimbaud and other effeminate men who were--shit!--brutalized for their lack of violent literature.

In the end, however, few of these writers whom I name-drop articulate the sort of graphic savagery of my subject (with the possible exception of Stowe, who had a pretty distinct political purpose in mind, which McCarthy does not). But that does not preclude the necessity of his correspondence, since that kind of force does exist in the world. If anything, McCarthy's explicit rendition of the abject proves his talent, since he is able to maintain the integrity of his art while simultaneously revolting his audience (whereas the lofty writer of cruelty--Dostoevski, say--couches it in innuendo and implication; and the genre hack--Lovecraft, Romero, Zombie--uses it descriptively but only to titillate).

There is no insignificant truth to McCarthy's understanding of violence as a force that communicates universally. And there is no lack of nobility in his attempt to define it. Candidly, so that the rest of us may learn a lesson that our murderous progenitors did not. We may not like to think about what they did, but all the more reason that we do--unless we unforeseeably commit it ourselves.

And yet after all this thinking through I can't stop conceptualizing the exposed rears of my eyeballs. I will continue to try out McCarthy, but slowly--I can direct my neuroses at only one organ at a time.

We are now about half way through the book of Deuteronomy our hearts are anxious and our spirit awaiting the climax. HASHEM delivers His message through His faithful servant Moses. The days of wandering endlessly are drawing to a close, we are in need of instruction. We pay attention but our thoughts are scattered, we just want to unpack. Our flight delayed. This covenant has spanned four hundred and forty years. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have left their impact, the bones of Joseph not yet laid to rest. 

Parashas Shoftim speaks of many decrees that are to be established and observed once the Children of Israel are established in the land of promise. They are righteous judges, appointed kings, punishment for idol worship, cities of refuge and the art of battle. 

D'varim 16: 18 - 20 - Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities - which HASHEM, your God, gives you - for your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not pervert judgment, you should not respect someone's presence, and you shall not accept a bribe, for the bribe will blind the eyes of the wise and make just words crooked. Righteousness, righteousness shall you pursue, so that you will live and possess the Land that HASHEM, your God, gives you. 

King David acknowledged that righteousness and justice is the foundation of HASHEM'S throne. God informs us in verse twenty that righteousness is of the utmost importance and we must treat it as so. 

Genesis 17: 1- 2 - When Abram was ninety-nine years old, HASHEM appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai; walk before Me and be perfect. I will set My covenant between Me and you, and I will increase you most exceedingly." 

"Walk before Me and be perfect." Abraham's heart felt trust in HASHEM was accounted to him as righteousness. Genesis 15: 3- 6 - Then Abram said, "See. to me You have given no offspring; and see, my steward inherits me..." Suddenly, the of HASHEM came to him, saying, "That one will not inherit you. Only him that shall come forth from within you shall inherit you." And He took him outside, and said, "Gaze, now, toward the Heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them!" And He said to him, "So shall your offspring be!" And he trusted in HASHEM and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. 

Till this day many congregation leaders regardless of their denomination preach that the grace that has been given to us as a gift is suffice. Continuing. The majority of those who have been taught this also believe that Jews all over the world do the works in which they do in order to inherit one's mercy, love and salvation. This is hardly the fact. Where does this sad lie come from? And where lies its poisonous roots. Salvation from the mouth of many biblical Jews including the one who shall return, Yeshua, know very well where it derives. Read it for yourselves. 

To walk before God and be perfect takes work, everyday work. Salvation is all some desire. Works come from trust. If not for trust Abraham would not have worked so diligently as he did. My personal opinion is that Abraham didn't have to, it was natural for him.

Sp to walk before God and be perfect is to understand what it means to walk before Him. Go and study. The world's legal system is corrupt to a point where even the innocent don't feel safe or protected. State by state and city by city all make rules and regulations as they go about their day to day affairs. Have you ever laid your eyes upon the statue with the blindfold stating, "Justice is blind." There is no room for such disgrace and injustice when it comes to a world that HASHEM told us to inhabit. Isaiah 59: 4 - 14 - No one calls out in righteousness and no one is judged truthfully; trusting in emptiness and speaking vanity, conceiving wrongdoing and giving birth to wickedness. They hatch adder's eggs and weave spider webs: Whoever eats of their eggs will die, and when the eggs are squeezed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not become a garment, and people will not clothe themselves with their work; their work is the work of wickedness and an act of corruption is in their palms. Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of wickedness; plunder and calamity are in their roads. They know not the way of peace and there is no justice in their circuits; they have made their paths crooked; all who walk them do not know peace. This is why justice has become distant from us and righteousness has not reached us; we hope for light, but, behold, there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness. We grope the wall like the blind; and like the eyeless we grope; we stumble at noon as in the dark of night; as if in graves like the dead. We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is distant from us. For our willful sins have increased before You and our transgressions have testified against us; for all our willful sins are with us and we are aware of our iniquities; defiance and denial of HASHEM and withdrawal from after our God, speaking of oppression and rebellion, conceiving and contemplating words of falsehood from the heart. Thus justice has been withdrawn and righteousness stands at a distance; because truth has stumbled in the street, and integrity cannot enter. 

Please allow us to continue. 

The difference between Kings anointed of God and self appointed kings is the distance between Heaven and earth. An earthy king is self ruling, the King sanctified of HASHEM rules with God in mind. He is given the power and authority like that of a Kohen Hagadol (High Priest) to minister, guide and see to both their physical and spiritual needs. Moses was a King, a true king because he put the Children of Israel first as did Yeshua. Moses was void of himself, transparent and willing to lay down his life to sanctify all that is HASHEM'S. 

Deuteronomy 17:14 - 20 - When you come to the Land that HASHEM, your God gives you, and possess it, and settle in it, and you will say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the nations that are around me," You shall surely set over yourself a king whom  HASHEM, your God shall choose; from among your brethren shall you set a king over yourself; you cannot place over yourself a foreign man, who is not your brother. Only he shall not have too many horses for himself, so that he will not return the people to Egypt in order to increase horses, for HASHEM has said to you, "You shall no longer return on this road again." And he shall not have too many wives, so that his heart not turn astray; and he shall not greatly increase silver and gold for himself. It shall be that when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself two copies of this Torah in a book, from before the Kohanim, the Levites. It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear HASHEM, his God, to observe all the words of this Torah and these decrees, to perform them, so that his heart does not become haughty over his brethren and not turn from the commandment right or left, so that he will prolong years over his kingdom, he and his sons amid Israel. 

The sad truth is that after King Solomon, idolatry became the norm. Disobedience was wide spread, both Judah and Israel now a disgrace in the eyes of God. At times there was peace, and usually it came after the children of Israel cried out to God, however this did not last. Where would we be today if we had only learned to walk before God with trembling and awe. Glory was to be for Israel and long its day; a city without walls, children playing in the streets and old men and women sit with a staff in their hand.

There was a glimpse of hope for a period of time, a young king took office. His name Josiah and at the age of eight the Kingdoms throne was occupied. 2nd Kings 22: 1 - 23: 30 -Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah, of Bozkath. He did what was proper in the eyes of HASHEM, following the ways of his forefather david; he did not veer right or left. In happened in the eighteenth year of king Josiah that the king sent Shaphan son of  Azalaih son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the Temple of HASHEM, saying, "Go up to Hilkiah the Kohen Gadol, and [tell him] that he should collect all the money that is brought to the Temple of HASHEM, which the gatekeepers have collected from the people, and they should give it over to the workmen-in-charge in the Temple of HASHEM, to repair the deterioration of the Temple, for the carpenters, the builders, and stonemasons, and for buying wood and quarried stones to repair the Temple. However, no accounting shall be made with them for the money given over into their hand, for they act with integrity."  Hilkiah, the Kohen Gadol, said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found a scroll of the Torah in the Temple of HASHEM. Hilkiah gave the Scroll to Shaphan, and he read it. Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought a report to the king, and he said, "Your servants have counted the money that was found in the Temple, and have given it into the hand of the workmen-in-charge in the Temple of HASHEM. Shaphan the scribe then told the king, saying, "Hilkiah the Kohen has given me a scroll." Shaphan then read it before the king. It happened that when the king heard the words of the Scroll of the Torah, he rent his garments. The king commanded Hilkiah the Kohen, Anikam son Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah, the Kings servant, saying, "Go and inquire of HASHEM on my behalf, and on behalf of the people and on behalf of all of Judah, concerning the words of this Scroll that was found; for great is the wrath of HASHEM  that has been incited against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this Scroll, to fulfill all that was written for us." So Hilkiah the Kohen, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaish went to Hudlah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, the keeper of the royal garments, who dwelled in Jerusalem, in the study house, and they spoke to her. She said to them, "Thus said HASHEM, God of Israel; Say to the man that sent you to me, "Thus said HASHEM: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place and upon it's inhabitants - [namely] all the words of the Scroll that the king of Judah read - because they have forsaken Me and burned offerings to the gods of others, in order to anger Me with all their handiwork; My wrath has been incited against this place, and it will not be extinguished. And concerning the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of HASHEM, thus should you say to him: 'Thus said HASHEM, God of Israel: [Regarding] the words that you have just heard - because your heart is soft and you humbled yourself before HASHEM when you heard that which I have spoken about this place and its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse; and you rent your garments and cried before Me, and I, too have heard - the word of HASHEM. Therefor. behold, I will gather you in to your forefathers  - you will be gathered to your grave in peace -n and your eyes will not see all the evil that I am bringing upon this place.'" They brought this report back to the king.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE - The king sent out and gathered to himself all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The King went up to the Temple of HASHEM, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, as well as the Kohanim and the prophets and all the people, from small to great, and he read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the Temple of HASHEM. The king then stood at his place and sealed a covenant before HASHEM, to follow HASHEM and to observe His commandments and His testimonies and His decrees with all [his] heart and all [his] soul, to uphold the words of this covenant written in this Book of the covenant that had been found in the Temple of HASHEM. The king then instructed Hilkiah the Kohen Gadol, the Kohanim of the second rank, and the gatekeepers to remove from the Temple of HASHEM all the articles that had been made for the Baal, for the Asherah, and all the hosts of the heavens. He had them burned outside Jerusalem, in the plains of Kidron, and their ashes carried away to Beth-el. He also dismissed the priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn offerings at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding areas of Jerusalem, as well as those who burned offerings to the Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the heavenly hosts. He removed the Asherah from the Temple of HASHEM to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem; he burned it in the Kidron Valley and ground it to dust, and then scattered its dust over the graves of the [idolatrous] common people. He demolished the rooms of the idolators that were in the Temple of HASHEM, where the women would weave curtains for the Asherah. He brought all the priests from the city of Judah, and he defiled the high places where these priests used to burn offerings from Geba to Beer-sheba; he smashed the high places at the gates and the one that was at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was situated at the one's left [when entering] the city gate. But, the priests of the high places were not permitted to ascend the alter of HASHEM in Jerusalem; rather they would only eat unleavened among the brethren. He also defiled the Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben  , so that no man could pass his son or daughter through the fire for the Molech. He also abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had designated for [worship of] the sun, [which would race] from the entrance to the Temple of HASHEM to the office of Nethan-malech, the officer in the outlying area of the city. He burned the chariots of the sun in fire. And the alters that were on the roof of the upper story built by Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had set up, and the alters that Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Temple of HASHEM, the king smashed; he eliminated [them] from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. And the high places facing Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonian, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab , and for the Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled. He shattered the pillars and cut down the Asherah-trees, and he filled up their places with human bones. Also the alter that was in Beth-el - the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat built, with which he caused Israel to sin - also that alter and its high place he demolished; he burned the high place and ground it into dust, and burned the Asherah-tree. Josiah then turned and saw the graves that were there on the mountain and he sent [men] to take the bones out of the graves, and he burned them upon the alter and defiled it; in accordance with the word of HASHEM, which the man of God had prophesied about these events had proclaimed. Josiah then said, "What is this tombstone that I see?" The people of the city said to him, "It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and prophesied about the deeds that you have done upon the altar of Beth-el. He said, "Leave it alone. Let no man move those bones." His bones saved the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. Furthermore, all the temples of the high places in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had built to anger [HASHEM], Josiah removed and he did to them like all the deeds that he had done to Beth-el. He slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were there upon the alters, and burned human bones upon them, and he retuned to Jerusalem. The king then commanded the people saying, "Perform the pesach-offering unto HASEHM your God, as written in this book of the Covenant. For such a pesach-offering had not been celebrated since the days of the judges who judged Israel, and all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah this passover was celebrated unto HASHEM in Jerusalem. Furthermore, the necromancers and the conjurers of spirits, the teraphim, the execrable-idols and all the abominations that had been seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to uphold the words of the Torah that were written in the Scroll that Hilkiah the Kohen found in the Temple of HASHEM. Before him there had never been a king like him who returned to HASHEM with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his resources, in accordance with the entire Torah of Moses, and after him no one arose like him. Nevertheless, HASHEM did not relent from His great flaring anger, for His anger had flared up against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had angered Him. So HASHEM said, "Judah, as well, will I remove from My presence, as I removed Israel; and i will reject this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the Temple of which I had said, 'My name would remain there.'" The rest of the deeds of Josiah and all that he did - behold, they are recored in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. In his days Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, went up to wage war against the king of Assyria by the Euphrates River; King Josiah went to confront him, and [Pharaoh] killed him in Megiddo when he saw him. His servants drove him, dead from Megiddo in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his grave. The common people took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and crowned him king in place of his father.

So we see in a young king at the age of about twenty six and in the eighteenth year of reign Josiah is introduced to Torah. His eyes now open, he rents his garments and sets out to destroy all that which HASHEM considers abominations. Is this not what we should be doing today? Pagan deities are the norm these days as they have been for ages. The ways of paganism have formed a bond with many people and are now apart of millions of households. Many have grown distant and because of the masses in society, majorities are following blind guides into bottomless pits. "Well God knows my  heart and besides we don't worship the tree or the bunny rabbit we just do it as a family and community event." Does that sound familiar? The harvest is great and the workers are few, pray that the Father send more workers." 

                                                                        Where Are You

 So many have heard My voice

Many have seen Me

Yet I see not near, only in the distance your backs turned,

When you look to be embraced

Are My arms not stretched outward unto you

I hear my voice from afar,

It is written, is it not

My fathers appointed times

His placement concerning My life and reasons to rejoice,

Who are these false gods put in place by men

Celebrating not My birth or My true resurrection

Given from My Father in heaven,

You call Me God and speak My name

Yet the feasts where there ought to be many

Stand very few,

You say with words you know My Father

And that you are grateful for Me

How is it then you think you’re showing love

When My Father’s work has been over shadowed,

I say unto you

There will be a day when many will call upon Me

Not on days which are full of idols,

Or the day of sun worship

But on that day when so many are in great need,

And your false gods are destroyed.

Shalom to everyone and may your Sabbath be one of delight.

Rabbi Lawrence

Bare-Breasted Virgins compete for Swaziland King.

Although this dude has to have no game whatsoever if he is resorting to this to meet women.  According to Forbes, he is the 15th wealthiest monarch around and yet he has to resort to a dance-off to meet his wives.  Honestly though, this could make for an awesome addition to NBC's reality programming for the fall TV season.

To think is to desire. To follow without study is to be lost. How fortunate are those who are raised in homes where Torah study begins early. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Today as well as the last eighteen hundred years, man has been lied to. He has been fooled. He has been removed like a branch from it's vine. He is now lifeless, twice removed from receiving the nourishment he so very much is in need of. Like electronics there is a new bible published every week. Words are displaced, and so too are many of those who read it. Yeshua tells us in Matthew twenty four that many will be fooled into war with one another because of a distance from TORAH. To do Torah is to hit the target. Fasten your seat belts because the ride will be a turbulent one. There is a chance that many of you will not be familiar with the term Torah, or its foundation. Most bible translations for the Word Torah is Law.

If the above applies to you don't be angry because you are not alone. For years preachers have taught that the Law (Torah) has been done away with, unfortunately they do not comprehend or just don't know they are speaking about the Word of God. Not that of man. Matthew 5: 17 - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it." The word fulfill here means to bring into the light. Many false translations read it quite differently. The majority see it as this; "Because there is not one that is good, Yeshua took it upon himself and therefore brought it to an end." No. absolutely not. Sorry you have been lied to. Like any good teacher Yeshua did take it upon himself to expound the Torah, not to do away with it. When you deny Torah, you deny Yeshua. When you deny Yeshua, you deny Torah. Yeshua is the living Torah because he was without sin. He had to be otherwise he would have a false Messiah. God does not contradict Himself. His decrees are for all generations and all people. The Torah is binding to both Jews and Christians. 

Let us take a step back to the time of Noah. Noah is commanded to fill the ark with seven sets of each clean animals and one set of the unclean. Why,  because this is how God separates between those who are His and those who are not. God called to our Jewish people to be a nation of light, kings and priests. If the Sabbath, clean and unclean animals as well as all Torah were only for the Jews to follow what would be the point of HASHEM commanding our Jewish people to be light and an example. If God loves all people and He does, why would He want only the best for one nation and not for all. This all began with the Roman persecutors when they looked to bring an end to anything Jewish. Anything known as Judaism. I'm sorry but it is the truth. Jews have been persecuted by wanna be Christians for centuries. Yeshua said, "They will kill and persecute you and think they are doing God a favor." The very ones who accused our Jewish people (and still do) of being the Christ killers have done the persecution. This is not in anyway an attack on the Christian community. One must know its history and come to terms. I do. As a Jew I know about the disobedience of many of our ancestors. I am aware of the punishments dealt out by HASHEM. It has not escaped me. It is well documented. 

Yeshua was born a Jew, ministered as a Jew, was persecuted as a Jew and has risen as a Jew. Yeshua said unto the Samaritan woman, "Salvation comes from the Jews." Often I read or hear how it is taught and believed that non Jews or non Jewish believers have to abide by Torah. The fourth commandment to observe the Sabbath and sanctify it meaning set it aside as Holy is for all, not just our Jewish People. Apostle Paul did not speak against Torah, "Heaven Forbid." Yeshua did not declare pig flesh and bottom crawlers clean to eat. Again if he did; he would have spoken against Torah, and if he is Torah in the flesh he would contradict the Word. Yeshua said, "I am the Lord of the Sabbath." 

Man has not the right to think he can change the Word of God. Not of the Sabbath, dietary laws and not of the festivals, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Feast of tabernacles. HASHEM commanded us not to do the things of the heathens, easter the fertility goddess. "Well God knows my heart I don't think He minds my partaking in christmas, halloween and easter." Think again. Is it any wonder why many of our Jewish people are not willing to sit down and hear what so many Christians have to say about Jesus. That brings me to another topic. Many people desire to know the devine name of God, but when it come to Messiah they have difficulty parting with the name Jesus. When the angel of God came to Miriam (Mary) telling of the one she will conceive, he never in a million years gave the name Jesus which come from the Greek. The name given was not Jesus but Yeshua meaning salvation. I will not hit anyone over the head concerning the name but we all need to consider his Jewishness and his given name. If man desires to use his given name how much more for the one you call Messiah. 

It is time for many to revisit the scriptures for themselves. Don't think it's wrong to study books other than Christian authors. Yeshua had some disagreements with the Torah teachers of his day but as much as many bible scholars continue to tell. Is the Creator of the universe not worthy of our time and study. Please receive all this with good intentions. Yeshua held back no punches. The truth shall set you free.

Shalom

Here is the full post as seen on the Blizzard forums:

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King
approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information.
In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content
patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly
before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to
bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain
some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:

-New class spells and talents
-Stormwind Harbor
-Barbershops in capital cities
-Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades
-Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles
-Guild calendar
-Hunter pet skill revamp
-New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of
the major highlights. We’ll post the full patch notes as soon as
they’re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning
Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two
professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the
release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the
expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the
other professions beyond 375.