Long post incoming!!
What is a good strategy to be a light unto non-believers?
Christians, Torah keepers, and believers alike are sometimes seen in a bad light because of our spreading the truth. We may be perceived as pushy, disrespectful, hostile, or not accepting. Of course, it is a very fruitful and loving act to have good intentions and try to open the eyes of others, so perhaps there's an approach that will better help them see us that way, as our actions can influence how they see our beliefs and, most importantly, the Father.
Regardless of belief system, most if not all people share a desire to be understood. In this time and age especially, personal beliefs make up a fragile and sensitive subject. It's a very personal thing that people hold dearly and passionately to themselves. When outsiders feel that that part of them has been violated or disrespected, it will push them away, which is the opposite of what we want. Alienating others means alienating ourselves. Before we share our perspective with non-believers, it's important that they feel their own beliefs are respected, and that we won't judge them for being what they are, or for the choices they make, even if they're wrong. After all, judging is the role of the Father only.
Pride can be a stumbling block when it comes to preaching. I like to keep in mind that there are generally so many people who walk around thinking that they're the ones who know the real "truth" and that everyone else is blind; if that's the case, then who am I to think I know what's best? I can't see humanity getting very far in learning the real truth if everyone lives that way. Beliefs would not easily shift. And since there's only one truth out there, that leaves so many other unchanging false beliefs out there. This isn't to say that we're wrong...and even if we know with all entirety that we're right, the chances are so slim that we're 100 percent right in everything, which is one reason why humility and open-mindedness are so important.
If you and a non-believer are comfortable with and accepting of each other, a good way to help them may be to request a civilized debate or a respectful controversial discussion where it's okay for either side to share his or her thoughts and to agree to disagree. If that person is not open to that or anything related to sharing perspectives, I think it would be wise to respect that and not to force anything upon them. We can do our part, but we simply can't change them.
There are all those vegans trying to convince people to eat like them, for example. The way that feels to us is probably similar to how non-believers feel when we try to get them to believe the way we do. Perhaps non-believers may feel even worse, because changing your diet is one thing, but changing your beliefs and lifestyle (including your diet, since we eat clean) is a whole other thing.
Anyway, these are all just my own personal thoughts. Have you ever tried to open someone's eyes? How did it go? What approach do you take when you want to shed light?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!
#spreadtheword #preachthegospel #loveyourneighbor #shineyourlight #kindness
Day 8 trades 13 and 14.
Net results +1.31%
One AUD/USD short.
One trade in NVDA options
Neither trade went to a full profit, but both were profitable. The scripture says "he who gathers little by little makes it grow"
Both trades followed all reqs so i wont post another set of sheets for sake of being overly redundant.
Attached is the currency trade.
The fruit of faithfulness is good, it takes time to harvest.
The descendants of Datan and Abiram were destroyed for trying to usurp the Levitical priesthood. Nobody is authorized to serve as a priest at God's altar on earth except the sons of Aaron, and God has commanded death for usurpers. I would be very careful in claiming to be a cohan or a replacement priesthood.
Numbers 26:9-11
BIBLE STUDY LESSON 01
SERIES U --- THE EARLY CHURCH
POWER FOR MISSION
LOOKING INTO HEAVEN
From Acts 1:1-26
My Dear Theophilus, friend of YHVH: [In my previous letter to you, the book of Luke, I told you how Yeshua lived and taught from the time of His coming until the day He returned to heaven.] Before leaving for home, Yeshua was empowered by Ruach HaKodesh to instruct His apostles about their new work. During the forty days following His crucifixion, Yeshua visited the apostles several times, proving to them that He was alive again. On these visits, Yeshua taught them much about the Kingdom of YHVH. Once, when they were meeting together, Yeshua gave the apostles some specific instructions. [Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait here for My Father to keep a promise He made to you. I have told you before about this, for as John baptized you with water, so you will be baptized with Ruach HaKodesh.] Those who were with Yeshua began to ask Him about this. [Has the time now come when You will take the Kingdom from Rome and give it back to Israel?] they wondered. [It is YHVH’s work to set such a timetable,] Yeshua cautioned. [You have no business trying to learn His secret events and dates. But you will receive unusual power when Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you, enabling you to talk about Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.] After He had finished talking to His friends, Yeshua rose into heaven and was soon out of sight beyond the clouds. While the disciples stared up into the sky, hoping to catch one last sight of Him, two white-robed figures stood beside them. [Why are you standing around here, staring up at the sky?] these visitors asked. [The same Yeshua Whom you saw ascending into heaven today will come again, returning in the same way that He left.] At last, the disciples descended from the Mount of Olives and went the half-mile back into Jerusalem. When they arrived in the city, they gathered for a prayer meeting in the upper room of the house where they had been staying. At the meeting that day were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the patriot, and Judas the son of James. The brothers of Yeshua were also there, along with several women, including His mother, Mary. Day after day these people met there to pray. At one meeting, when there were one hundred twenty people present, Peter stood up to speak. [My brothers,] he said, [long ago, Ruach HaKodesh spoke through King David, telling how Judas would betray Yeshua and lead men to arrest Him. As you know, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, even though Judas was one of the apostles, chosen for that work as we were. Now, with the money Judas received for betraying Yeshua, he bought some land. It was there that he fell to his death, bursting open so that his intestines poured out upon the ground. This field has become known to the people of Jerusalem as Akeldama, the Field of Blood. In the Book of Psalms, it is written: ‘May his home be desolate, may it be without inhabitant.’ It also says in the Psalms: ‘May another take his place of service.’ It is time to choose an apostle to take Judas’ place, to work with us in witnessing to Yeshua’ resurrection. We should choose someone who has been with us from the beginning when Yeshua was baptized by John until the day when Yeshua was taken into heaven.] The disciples nominated two men: Joseph, sometimes called Barsabbas or Justus, and Matthias. The disciples prayed about their choice, saying, [Adonai, because You know which man is right, show us whom You have chosen to become an apostle, to do the work Judas left to go to the place he deserves.] Then they drew lots. Matthias was chosen and his name was added to those of the other eleven apostles.
COMMENTARY
DR. LUKE AND THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
In the ancient Near East, medicine was mixed with magic. Because demons were blamed for all illnesses and accidents, the prescription for a fever was not much different from the treatment for a broken leg. The priest pronounced a spell over the patient and gave him a potion of magic herbs. By Roman times, medicine was much more advanced. The physician had replaced the priest as the medical expert. Many of the best doctors in the Empire were Greeks who were skilled at surgery. Some of their instruments were very much like the ones modern doctors use. Yet in other ways, their knowledge was far behind our own. Because they did not have anaesthetics, operations were performed without putting the patient to sleep. Many people survived surgery only to die of infection because they did not know about the need for strict cleanliness and danger of bacteria. Luke, author of the Acts of the Apostles and the third Gospel, was a Greek doctor who travelled with Paul on his missionary journeys. Thus, as far as we know, he was the first medical missionary. When Luke reported the miraculous healings performed by Yeshua, he spoke as a doctor confirming healing greater than he or his fellow-doctors could aid with their medicines. Luke, the physician, respectfully told of the healings of Yeshua, the Great Physician.
Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.
#numbers 26:2
God counts nations according to their fathers and their faith, not according to their mothers, pigmentation, or geographical borders.
Hey brothers and sisters, the verse below just means the area you could see if you stood in a broad plain and turned around 360 degrees. It doesn't mean we live on Asgard. Circle of earth, circle of eretz. Think of earth as dirt or firm ground, not a planet.
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
(Isa 40:22 NAS95)
We read about a veil on the heart of Israel, but do we know what that means? Clint Lalum has thought about the veil for many years, and offers his understanding of it in this second part of our conversation. How does this biblical analogy of a veil on the heart shape his call to be part of Christian Friends of Israel? He explains that as well as he tells us of the miraculous series of events that brought him to Jerusalem.
Clint can tell you about God’s answers of “yes” and “no” to his prayers. Sometimes the “no” isn’t pleasant, but it is necessary. There’s even a kind of “Mercy in ‘NO’,” as Barry Phillips and David Jones discuss in their midrash. Eved Adonai and Jimmie Black share aspects of that message in their music.
https://thebarkingfox.com/2023..../07/06/reunion-roadm