SAY TO THE WEST!

    For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you have been precious and honored in My sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.
    Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!' and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!
    Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’” Isaiah 43:3-7

    For over 30 years I have said that America must be rendered useless in its relationship to Israel, because in the end, Israel stands alone making way for Y'shua to come and deliver her by Himself alone.
    I believe that just before all this happens many of America's Jews will be shaken like a tree in a violent storm, dropping its leaves to the ground causing them to become afraid of what they see coming upon them and they flee America and go back to Israel. This will make way for God's judgement to rock this nation as well as fulfill what He said He would do through the prophet Isaiah. We are beginning to see it right before our eyes.

    I was given a series of prophetic words going back to the early 1990's. Back then it was so far off in the distance and unimaginable that no one could wrap their minds around it, including myself. But now, it stands at the door and knocks.
    When God told Isaiah that He would cry out to the world, to the North, South, East and West for them to give up those who are of the descendants of the house of Israel so they might return to the land, Isaiah was clear, it would be Yahweh Himself who would shake the nations in order for them to be released and come out. As an American Jew, I feel the resonation of it deep in my soul.
    Modern Israel stands as a testimony of His shaking. The nation was not created out of indigenous people, it was created out of those who had been once scattered and now come home. It was birthed out of the Holocaust. Mostly from the North, South and East, the Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim came as survivors and remnants of WWII to rebuild an ancient nation as their new homeland .. the nation of God.
    Today there are roughly 20 million Jews worldwide. 6½ million of them live in the land of Israel while another 5½ million are in America. The other 9 million are scattered throughout the globe. There has been a steady pilgrimage to Israel going on since 1948 but it has picked up exponentially over the last 20 years. But not from west... not from America.
    American Jews are comfortable. Many are in high positions and financially strong. They have bought into the system and been lulled to sleep by liberalism and progressivism. Reformed Judaism, which is vibrant in America, has become a safe haven for the pricked conscience of the American Jew who would prefer no pressure or requirements. It holds no lifeline to biblical Judaism or adherence to the truth of scripture whatsoever. It's an aberration as it holds no connection to the very truth that it claims to have come from. The clarion call is less likely to be heard, much less responded to in Reformed synagogues across America. It is unlikely when the prophet calls, "Awake... shake yourself from the dust" that his voice will be heard, much less heeded where the truth is subjective and liberalized. Many would prefer leeks, onions and garlic rather an encounter with the living God. Mark my words though, the call will come.
    Nonetheless, God shakes and God calls. Nonetheless, He is faithful and capable of demolishing a man's stubbornness and hard heartedness right before his haughty eyes.
    Perilous times are no longer coming, they are here. Difficult days are upon us. The breath of God now blows on the trees and the shaking has begun. When it's finished, America will no longer be the land of the free. It will stand at a distance and in opposition to Israel. It will no longer support her or the Jewish people. It will become like any other nation who rose to glory and then in arrogance walked away from its Source.
    America is the last bastion of dispersed Jewry. The greatest hold out of Abraham's seed. But the inescapable reality is, God made a promise to Abraham and He is not only keeping it to this very day, He will fulfill it just as promised. 
    It won't be long. The signs are all there.

Addendum 6/11/2020: Two articles have appeared in the Jewish News Service in Israel over the last four days about the influx of global applications for Aliyah [citizenship]. The first dated 6/10/20 below directly relates to the writing of this article which I originally wrote 10/7/2019 before I published it on 5/31/2020. The second relates the fact that Israel is at an all time historical high of global applications. Both establish this article, SAY TO THE WEST as prophetic and precise.
* 6/10/2020 https://www.jns.org/coronavirus-helps-spur-north-americans-to-make-record-setting-aliyah/
* 6/8/2020 https://www.jns.org/in-an-era-of-global-uncertainty-record-numbers-of-jews-seek-to-return-home/


Steven Bliss
©10/7/2019

MY PERSONAL PANDEMIC POINT OF VIEW

    This all gets weirder by the day. It's hard... fighting through depression. I meditate, read and have the Bible read to me every day. But I don't know, maybe you're better at it than me, but it's really starting to get to me.
    The isolation is staggering. Nothing is normal, right? I know everyone's experiencing the same thing, but I'm starting to talk to my shadow and notice that it's following me. Oddly enough, I'm beginning to enjoy its company these days. I keep hoping that it might just talk back and carry on a conversation with me. This "being alone" thing through all this is like some sort of cruel form of punishment. You have to really like and be into yourself to actually enjoy it. Know what I mean? Up until now I loved being alone at times. Me time, you know... space, where no one intruded in my little slice of the life pie, but after 8 weeks... I'm like, "Hey, anybody want to share some pie? I'll grab some Cool Whip or real whipped cream!"
    I really want to believe there is going to be a lot of good come from this, but I'm beginning to have my doubts. I hate all the new lingo like "THE NEW NORM". What does that even mean? People talk about it like they have this deep sort of psychic understanding. Is this the zombie apocalypse? Or the sequel to Will Smith's, I AM LEGEND?
    And the mask thing is really starting to bug me. Is this a set up to the Jihad and the worldwide take over of radical Islam? Or is this a Lone Ranger episode and the Kemosabe's going to pull up in his Humvee named HairTrigger and stop the bad guys from hoarding all the paper products? Wait, did I just say something politically incorrect? For the first four weeks of this thing no one in my Whole Foods gave a rip. No masks, no gloves. Now it's signs everywhere and some of the people working there act offended if you're not complying. Hypocrites... give me a break. And what is this crazy stuff I'm seeing on the roads? People driving alone in their cars with a mask on? Who the hell thinks that's sane? What? Is the radio going to spit on you? Come on people... GET REAL!
    And this whole "can't go to church or synagogue" or whatever it is you attend has just gone off the edge. Let's get real and talk about God and creation, if you're smart enough to be into that sort of thing. God made us for interaction not isolation. To tell people they can't fellowship together for the sake of the greater good is just pure BS! It goes against every principle and the rules of love! Not one of us are on this planet because we willed ourselves into being. Maybe some tree hugger tinfoil hat types perhaps, but for the most part it took intimacy and interaction with another human to create life. And I'll just talk about Jesus right now... He came and died so that all of us who actually realize how messed up we are without Him can have... WAIT FOR IT... RELATING-SHIP WITH GOD! That's based solely in intimacy! Fellowship is personal, live, human to human interaction, it's not sitting somewhere watching a TV or smartphone screen and acting like it's the same thing. NOPE, it's not. 
    Ok, in the first few weeks as we were navigating the mirky waters of the COVID-19 it might have been a good idea... but enough already. This is boarding on socialism or communism. Big Brother, mind control. If they get you to comply without any resistance, they've lured you into a trap. History is full of such stories. And again, like the masks, we're being wooed into the NEW NORM! I watched my little church service online yesterday... and God bless all of them, but it was just not connecting. So what is the point and why do we keep letting them tell us this is the way it has to be?
    I don't know about you but one of the things I know about myself is I'm a touchy feely guy. I grew up in a family that kissed each other. Call it weird but we love each other. Hugging is not the "norm", it's necessity. My dad is almost 94 years old and to this day when I greet him or say goodnight or goodbye I kiss him... square on the lips. I was built for interaction, for intimacy and touch. I sat at the park the other day where I go and walk and I watched families and couples interact. They were holding hands and being intimate with each other. I found myself becoming envious, even downright emotional. Then I became a little mad. I've not been in relationship out of choice for the last five years and, for the most part, wanted nothing to do with it ever again. But this COVID thing has kicked the reality of not having it and all that it brings along with the realization of just how empty life is without it into high gear. I went from sensory deprivation to sensory revelation in a matter of 8 weeks.
    Now, I didn't say all that because I'm suddenly on the hunt, I'm not. But when you come to the point where you don't even know what touch is like anymore, you know you're in a bad place. When the Hallmark channel suddenly makes sense and you find tears running down your cheeks at the stupidest stories, you know it's gotten bad. I mean people substituted rubbing elbows for handshakes for God sakes. What's next, classes on tree hugging as an alternative? 
    Look, desperation is never a justification for jumping from the flame into the fire, but for me, the epiphany has been quite startling to say the least. I wonder what the birthrate will be between November and February next year? All these hospitals that are doing such bad business because the virus isn't really paying off like they hoped will be bursting at the seems in the maternity wards come winter.
    It really is disturbing to me because I realize that the freedom we have, or had, is the way God created us to be. And when those things are removed, it creates a tremendous emptiness and void... and when that's not replenished, the outcome is never positive.
    The more they seek to isolate us with their projections of doom and dread, fear and despair, the greater control we allow them to have. When they see they can get away with it and that we comply without resistance, power slowly drains from the brains that God gave us which are created like His... to function in wisdom and discernment. Just something to think about.

    Anyway... that's the way it is in my brain, May 12th, 2020!

Steven Bliss
© 5/12/2020

TO DIE IS TO LIVE

    We live in the most ego-centric, self-interested, self-absorbed "ME" society the Earth has ever had the unfortunate displeasure of having to put up with.
    All the deserts on the face of the Earth were at one time fertile Crescents, but through time and erosion the eventuality of their destruction was predetermined. Humanity, in particular our society and its culture are so obsessed with the concept of self that it's willing to, at any and all cost, destroy whatever stands in the way of its personal fulfillment and gratification. We're even willing to kill babies in the womb to the tune of millions just to remove what we consider an intrusion into our peace and happiness. How much more depraved and destructive does it get? We are willing to kill our own kind, the continuation of who we are as human beings just because we don't want the inconvenience.
    History has never been kind to the story of humanity. Though there have been moments in time when people have come together for short periods, but for the most part, it's been a bloodbath going back to the creation of man. Survival of the fittest. If anything stands in your way kill it or make sure it never has power over you whatsoever. Whether it's dictators, emperors, premiers, kings, queens or regimes, history has continuously revealed and proven that the hearts of men and women everywhere are much darker than anyone wants to believe.
    Are we any different now? I don't think so. And perhaps because there's more of us today, it just may be worse. Oh sure, we live in what appears to be a higher level of sophistication and consciousness in many ways, but much of the world is as barbaric and twisted as it ever has been.
    That brings me to my point and why the title of this article. Proverbs 14:12 says "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its way ends in death." That's a strong and ominous statement because it applies to every single one of us, from the least of us to the greatest. More startling are Jeremiah's words, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" Jeremiah 17:9 Is there a remedy? What is the anti-virus to this obviously harsh and bitter truth? Can we be healed? How do we even know if we're going the right way? How do we know what we determine as best for us is, actually best? Without sounding crusty and steeped in cliche, Let me break it down as simply as I can. We have to die to ourself so that we can live life to its fullest.
    Jesus said it this way, "I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies [meaning it goes into the ground and dies in order to begin the process of transformation] it stays a mere grain [it lies on the ground without accomplishing its purpose]. But if it dies it will multiply and produce a magnificent harvest. Therefore, the one who loves their life loses it, but the one who hates their life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life!" John 12:24‭-‬25
    Die? Is He actually talking about dying... as in going into the ground and never coming back, dying? Yes, in a way He is. He's talking about a mentality, a perspective that goes against the grain of human thought. To overcome ourselves and our self centeredness we must be willing to give up the idea of our agenda for the agenda of the One who knows not only knows what we were created for, but what's the best way for us to get there and accomplish that purpose with great success. Making sense is human, trusting God isn't. It takes faith and the willingness to lay everything down to have His perspective be the one we function in. But how?
    Humility! It's the rain that softens the hard ground of our lives that prevents the seed from going down deep so it can die and then live. But not just produce life in us but a harvest. Humility says to God "it's not my way that matters, but Yours, not my will, but Yours, not my agenda, it's Yours." Humility fills the clouds of Heaven for God to water our seed.
    I'm not talking to only Christians or the church here necessarily, though they're welcome to tag along, I'm talking to those who are stuck. Those who have a heart and desire to see change in their lives, who either don't know God or perhaps hate anything religious yet want to know who God is and if there is purpose for their lives. Those who have a longing for answers. To those who desperately want a connection to God, something that not only has meaning, but lasts. They are sick of this world, sick of doing things their way and never getting anywhere. Those who have lost hope and desperately want to find a better way. If you're reading this and it hits you and you're worn out with no place to go, then you have found the way to hope. Today is your day. 
    There is no coincidence you are reading this and experiencing the thoughts you are having in your mind right now. God loves you... that's right, right where you are and just as you are. All He is asking you to do is surrender. To give up control and die to yourself. To give your life to Him right here, right now. He wants you to know His only Son Jesus who was willing to die for you and take your sins and carry them Himself, paying the price so you don't, and just like that seed going into the ground, He rose up alive so that you could know God personally and have life, not just here and now, but forever. If home is what you're looking for then ask the One who created you and knows the way back, lead you.

    To all of you who know God and feel a deep sense of hopelessness in your life as you realize just how self focused and self absorbed you've been, constantly spinning your wheels, then it's just this simple... surrender, repent and come back.

    There is life after death. Not just the one where breath leaves your body for good, but a real vibrant life right here, right now. It's as simple as this... with God, to die is to live!


Steven Bliss
© 4/20/2020

WHY WORSHIP?

Recently a friend of mine told me that their child had asked the question, "Why are we told to worship God?" To her it seemed almost selfish that God would expect us to worship and praise Him. A very interesting question and perspective from a 9 year old. They ask me if I had any thoughts that might help them in their attempt to give an answer. I rattled it around in my brain for a while. After all I was the director of music at a very large church in Southern California for a long time and have written hundreds of worship songs... of course I can answer that. Right? But as I fumbled through it I realized that I saw things from the perspective of an adult. When I came to God, I was 30 years old. My perspective was that of an adult, not a child. So after throwing out my first response because it was just too lofty, I repositioned myself as a father talking to my young child. So this is what I wrote.

First off, the word worship means, in the simplest of terms, to love and adore someone or something so much that it occupies the majority of our thinking, so much so that they or it becomes a huge part of who we are.

When it comes to God it plays an even greater role because the more we worship Him, the more He becomes the most important thing to us. The greater our minds pull away from the world and all its distractions and we begin to become more like who He is. We slowly begin to resemble Him. And the result of becoming more and more like Him is, an unmovable peace deep within us begins to take shape because we now have peace with Him. And God knows this.

God doesn't need our worship. If you think about it, according to the Bible, God is surrounded by amazing angels and creatures too fantastical to describe who give Him praise and honor and glory constantly. So in reality, the worship of God is not so much for Him as it is for us. Why? Because we live in a fallen world and pride has taken over our minds as a result, the only way to pull away from that mindset and attitude is to re direct our minds focus towards the One who made us. God is holy and by us worshipping Him we bring ourselves into a place of humility before Him, acknowledging that He is and always will be God and that we need Him every second of every day. There's nothing wrong with being our best but when that takes us over and we put all our confidence in ourselves we begin to lose perspective of who we really are and what we were created for, and is to know God personally. So we don't really need more of us or the world and all it offers us, we really need more of God.

This is why there is such a struggle in this life to pull our hearts and minds away from Him. The truth is the one who hates us hates Him because God created us in His image. God has a very real enemy who wants to keep us from being intimate and really close to God because he knows this, that if we believe in God and His son Jesus, and if we give our lives to God and worship Him, then God's enemy [who is our enemy as well] whose name is Lucifer, not only loses the battle with us but he loses everything. Every single soul matters to God.

The Bible says He will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind and heart is focused on Him. That is worship. To love and adore God. To give ourselves to Him and trust Him with all our heart, no matter what may come. To love Him more than we love anything else. What we worship will take over our thinking and affect our thoughts and our actions. The more we love and adore Him the more we want to be like Him. It's not selfish of God, it's wise. It is the love of a Father for His child.

Why does God wants us to worship Him... because He knows it fills us with life.


Steven Bliss
© 4/26/2020