In Luke 20 Yeshua has a conversation with the chief Priests about taxes where Yeshua tells the people to render to Caesar that which is his, but to give to God that which belongs to God. But as believers have we rendered to Caesar, things which ought to only be given to God.

Author of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd President of the USA, Thomas Jefferson, once said that if you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed, and if you do read the newspaper, you’re misinformed. Today Jefferson’s words stand more true than ever before as virtually no young people pay any attention to the media, and people that do pay attention, are tragically misinformed. The American mainstream media such as CNN and Fox are nothing but propaganda networks. And yes, both of them, equally.

So while CNN and Fox continue to stir unprecedented panic over 150 odd deaths from a few thousand infections of H1N1 the so-called Swine Flu, it is only media outlets outside of America that reveal some modicum of truth. A newspaper in Australia interviews the WHO spokesperson that confirms the propaganda of CNN and Fox. The reality? Only 79 people infected, only 7 have died, and all 7 have lacked basic medical facilities and very likely all also had very poor nutrition. OK, now for some perspective. The Centers for Disease Control reports that each year in the US alone, 36,000 people die from the flu, and 200,000 thousand are hospitalized. CNN and Fox are caught red-handed lying to the public, creating a story where there is none, and probably committing a dozen felonies in the process.

And am I the only one that is curious why the government doesn’t step in and tell the media to shut up and stop the ratings-gathering charade when it’s proven to be just pure lies? Is there an agenda here?

The bottom line is you can relax. It’s a droplet dispersed virus, not an airborne virus, so even sitting next to someone on a plane with this flu for many hours is not likely to give it to you. If you’ll simply wash your hands and follow basic hygiene you’re not going to catch swine flu.

So how does this relate to Yeshua’s words in Luke 20? In recent decades we have surrendered our minds to Caesar. We’ve given to Caesar that which belongs to God, and we’re paying for this mistake. It’s time for us to rightfully hand back to God that which we have surrender to an enemy, and I do mean an enemy, because they are willfully deceiving us, and we then make decisions based on what they are telling us. It means the trust that we have placed in media, must be given back to God. It means reliance on being saved from calamity by the state, must once again become an implicit trust in God for our well-being.

So may you begin today, to take back those things you have surrendered to the media, to the state, to anyone other than than God. May the fear then be replaced with trust as God is once again allowed to take His rightful place in our lives as Lord of all our decisions and thoughts.

And may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, Yeshua.

Oh, and may you get rid of your TV.

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Someone recently said to me that I should not talk about my past or current hurts, pains and struggles, because it wasn’t professional and as a Christian minister, I should never be negative. This made me very angry. Do you know why?

When we read the accounts of Paul’s life, he was very positive, at times, but also very very negative at times. He would use language that if a Pastor was caught using today, he’d be chastized as I was, to stop being so negative and only speak positive words. In other words, he’s expected to lie.

Many people wear masks to church. They walk in and smile, tell everybody that everything is just going swell, while inside so many are barren and needing the love and friendship of each other, but they never receive it, because the need is unknown, hidden behind a facade. This is the Professional Christian.

It wasn’t just Paul that was blatantly honest about his circumstances and how he was feeling, Yeshua was likewise. And when Yeshua told His disciples of the things He must soon suffer in Jerusalem, Peter, sharply rebuked Him. Yeshua in turn rebuked Peter for lacking the Kingdom perspective. Clearly Yeshua was no Word of Faith preacher.

When we go to Church and tell people things that are not true, when we hide behind the masks we so expertly craft to keep everyone thinking that we’re doing ok, we disconnect ourselves from the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is not positive or negative in this manner of thinking, the Kingdom is the most striking reality we’ll ever encounter. To enter this Kingdom, God will allow no fakes, no masks, no pretending everything is ok. To experience the Kingdom and all its fullness, we must drop the facade and be real with God and His people.

We’re not perfect. We make mistakes. Those in our families will embarrass us, we lose jobs, we lose our homes, we lose hope, and that’s exactly when we need to be open vulnerable people, letting our brethren see us, not our masks, so they can reach out, and bear our burdens with us.

Today, put the Professional Christian to death, and allow an authentic Christian to be raised in its place. May you walk into your fellowship, open, vulnerable, and real. Put down the mask, be broken, and free, to enter into His Kingdom and receive the healing that awaits the broken man.

And may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, Yeshua.

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The American Idol craze has swept the globe with franchised shows in many countries. It’s been a staggering success, for those making the money from it. But what does the popularity of this show mean for you and me? What kind of effect does watching all this television have on us. What I’m asking is, is it a success for you and me?

A 2007 survey shows that watching TV is the 2nd most common thing we do during our waking hours, second only to our employment. Out of all the free time we have, we choose to sit, and watch TV.

Whenever someone comes over and discovers that I don’t own a TV, I am often greeted with strained expressions. How can you not own a TV? There’s so many good shows on TV. And while I agree that there is some good entertainment to be found on TV, the vast majority of it is not. Much of it is extremely harmful to us, much of it is propaganda, nearly all of it lacks any kind of intelligence. TV is great brain killer. Christian speaker Zig Ziglar calls it the Electronic Income Depleter, because the amount of TV you watch each day, directly correlates with how much money you earn.

Now the Bible is not silent on this issue. It talks a lot about what we do with our time. Because what occupies our time, our headspace, those are things we care most about. Spending time with God or our families, creating a better world around us, or watching TV, which one is more important to us? All we need to do is pick the one we spend the most time on, and we have our answer.

And with the amount of TV we watch, directly correlating to how much we weigh. Perhaps the best diet starts with taking back that big flat panel TV we bought for Christmas, and putting an hour aside to walk the community with our family, to get to know our neighbors and the people living so close to us that we know nothing about. Plant a garden, and start growing much of your own food, kids love this. Instead of watching a movie as a family, play a board game, or take the family to a homeless shelter to help out for an evening.

Let’s look at this another way. If I watched TV, you wouldn’t be listening to this right now and I couldn’t bring you God’s iPod or the numerous podcasts we have. If I watched TV, 100,000 people a month could not be listening to the Word of God. So it begs the question; What could God be doing in your life, if you stopped watching TV? Think about it. If you gave God back those 2-4 hours a day you spend watching TV right now, imagine what He could do with that time! Let’s teach the next generation to be active, not idle.

Scriptures:
Hebrews 6:10-12 God is fair. He won’t forget what you’ve done or the love you’ve shown for him. You helped his people, and you continue to help them. We want each of you to prove that you’re working hard. Then, instead of being lazy, you will receive the promises through faith and patience.

Proverbs 13:4 A lazy person craves food and there is none, but the appetite of hard-working people is satisfied.

God Bless you, and may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.

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A popular Christian author wrote recently about Yeshua being a Socialist. At one point in his book, he says he is often a labeled a Communist, and kinda laughs it off, but doesn’t reject the label.

If you have read my story on my personal website, IsraelAnderson.com, you would know that I grew up in abject poverty. I lived on the streets for 2 and half years from 14 to 17. I know what it is like to be very needy. So I have a perspective the comfortable Church kids writing best sellers do not. I didn’t choose to go sleep in slums with the homeless to open my eyes to another world, that was simply my life.

So it may surprise you, that I see Socialism as wrong and totally contrary to Yeshua’s Kingdom. Those who claim Yeshua was a Socialist, fail to understand the voluntary nature of charity. What our Lord wants is free and liberal giving of our prosperity, our time, our love. Charity, not Socialism is what Yeshua advocates. When men are reliant upon a ruling authority, they become slaves to that authority. But Yeshua came to set us free. Freedom, liberty, these are ideas Yeshua espoused to His followers. And Yeshua talks all the time about a monetary system that is nothing other than a free market.

But Socialism frees no one, it destroys a person’s spirit. It traps them in a system that is near-impossible to escape from. It destroys the courage and strength of the man who would otherwise be forced to rise out of their poverty, by seeking work and making something of himself. It was the free enterprise system that empowered me to change, not Socialism, in fact it was government hand-outs that kept me on the streets for so long. Change, does not come from politicians. If we have not even learnt that much already, then God help us.

Socialism purports to support the poor, say that 3 times really fast, but does so at their expense, and the expense of those being forced through the threat of violence and further loss of their freedoms and property. Socialism takes the property of another person and redistributes it as “they” see fit. When this is done by individuals, we call this larceny, theft. When Government does it, we call it taxation, either through a direct tax or an inflation tax caused by the printing of money that is backed by nothing. But the size or the scale or the word we use does not change what it is, it is still theft. The result of Socialism is an irresponsible society crippled by a sense of entitlement. So it’s ironic, that when we steal we’re called a thief and sent to jail, but when a man in a suit and big smile steals, he’s called a politician and sent to the seat of government.

As believers in Yeshua, let’s give deep critical thought to this important issue as we consider the direction we may be heading as a people right now. It is a voluntary virtue to provide charity to another, stealing is never the answer. And when God said, thou shalt not steal, He meant it. If Charity is not voluntary, it is thievery, it is moral hypocrisy. The responsibility for my neighbor, is mine, not the governments. It’s time for us, the Body of Yeshua, to take back the reigns of charity, and that means we need to see the world differently. We need to be people of action, care and concern for each other. If we don’t, God will give us the government we deserve, and as history has well shown, Socialism will destroy us.

My Scriptures for today.

Matthew 25:34-36 “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, my Father has blessed you! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. for I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. 36 I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
and
Exodus 20:15 & 17 Thou shalt not steal. and Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors possessions.

God Bless you, and may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.

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Welcome to Dust. Wait a minute, wasn’t this called the Israel Anderson Daily Devotional? Well it was. But I didn’t like the word devotional, and some of the topics I am going to delve into, are not anything you have ever read in a devotional, and so before we get too far into this I am changing the name.

There is a phrase in the Mishna* that says, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.” The idea was that if you followed behind your rabbi on the dusty roads, you would get covered in his dust. Meaning, you were following in his footsteps so closely, to be so much like him, that you are glorified to be covered with the dust he left behind. That is how close a disciple wanted to be to his rabbi. This is how close we want to be to our rabbi, Yeshua.

And if you’re wondering, The Mishna is a major source of rabbinic Judaism’s religious texts. We don’t consider it an inspired work, but this phrase is just beautiful. The word Mishna means repetition.

So this new name holds a great deal of significance. We’re going to talk more in the future about this and what it means to follow Yeshua. Now you’ve no doubt noticed that I always called our Lord by the same name His mother called Him by, Yeshua. Yeshua is written in different ways, but pronounced pretty much the same. I have nothing against the name Jesus, but my tongue can handle Yeshua, and so why translate His name into Jesus, when no one in His day ever used that word to refer to Him. And the word Jesus actually comes to us via translation through several language steps.

It’s been a major part of my journey with God, to discover and wrap myself up in the reality and the mystery of knowing God. What my aim with Dust is, is to share with you my journey, my light. And to steal a line from AW Tozer, my favorite author, though my fire may be small, it is yet real, and there may be some that can light their candle at its flame.

Thank you you for listening, see you tomorrow, and may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, Yeshua.

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News comes to me today of a 22 year old San Diego woman auctioning her virginity to the highest bidder. The bidding so far, is at 3.7 million dollars. That’s quite a paradox when sex has become so cheap in our generation

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but for a presentation I am preparing I needed to review an episode of the South Park cartoon that featured a particular radical Darwinist. I had never watched South Park and it breaks my heart to think that what I saw in that episode, is considered by so many of my Christian brethren, to be acceptable entertainment for the mind given us by God. Everywhere we turn, sex is treated as cheaply as possible.

Sex is no longer about intimacy and love, it’s about pleasure. It’s no wonder that many young people consider kissing to be more intimate than intercourse.

But God has a lot to say about sexuality. It’s not a matter He’s silent on at all. Indeed an entire book in the Bible is all about the courtship, marriage and consummation of the love of two Hebrew lovers. So erotic is this book that Jewish boys are not allowed to read it until their Bar Mitvah at 13 years of age. God is not embarrassed about sex. And to blast the stereotype about Christians and sex. It’s documented by none other Johnson and Johnson, that married Christians, have the best sex lives.

Now I’m a young man single, I know the temptations that are always there, but if we follow the world’s lead and allow sex to become something so cheap, we’re going to miss the best sex there is. If you’re single, make a bond with me today. To wait. To put temporary pleasure aside, so that in God’s good time, we’ll get to experience a fullness of intimacy, and pleasure, that only waiting for that one special person can give us. Within the safety of marriage, God can release us to each other fully. Sex is His idea, it’s His invention, and He wants us to enjoy it in the fullest way He intended it to be.

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Song of Songs 6:3

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