Noun: It’s Thanksgiving.  Let’s eat!

Vs. Verb – Let us give thanks for our many blessings.

Thanksgiving is not a meal, it is a privilege, and if you love the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength, it is also an obligation.  THEN we eat!

For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. – 2Co 4:15

So today I gave the Word at Hope of the Valley’s noontime meal, the usual Friday lovefest.  I saw many old friends that I hadn’t seen since three years ago when the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission shut down their Survival Outreach Services lunch program.  The first guy I saw when I walked in was one of the humble and sweet, yet still inebriated, latino lambs that loves the Lord with all his heart, but drinks all day to numb his personal pain, which in this man’s case, had to do with the fact that he left his family in Mexico with the best intentions to make a living and send home money, but he lost his first job here and started drinking and, well, that was fifteen years ago.   He saw me and he lit up, stood up and hugged me.  He asked me how I had been and I said to him “I’m grateful”.  He looked at me and said, “now that I see you, I’m grateful too”.  I told him that his English had gotten better since the last time I saw him and I was grateful for that since my Spanish is still terrible.  We laughed and Jesus laughed too (don’t ask me how, I can always tell when He’s laughing).

Then I greeted and loved on the rest of the flock, while waiting for my translator, my great friend Laurie Craft, (who also runs that facility) who is the most fluent person in Spanish that I have ever known who was not born speaking it.  There were about 80 folks there, and I met some new friends as well as re-connecting with the old.  Laurie arrived, and I launched into the sermon about Thanksgiving being a verb, not a noun.  Since every Word I give is extemporaneous, I can’t really re-create it here, but the gist is… We were made to be grateful to the One who gave us life and who loved us so much that He allowed us to choose Life by dying on a Cross that we might live, and live life abundantly.

Such a deal!  When we give thanks with a grateful heart, He is glorified and He is then able to bless us beyond our imagining.

As my friends are homeless or very, very poor, sometimes they feel that they don’t have much to be grateful for…  My response is to tell them to give thanks anyway for what you DO have and watch God move to clear the boulders out of your path.   David was a terrible sinner, yet God called him “a man after His own heart”,  One of the reasons for that was David’s simple gratitude, even in the midst of great trials, for what God had done and what He IS DOING.  It astounds me how faithful David was even without the benefit of knowing Jesus (and yet he hoped for Messiah and knew that God was GOOD!).  Here are some of his psalms that reveal the depth of his gratitude.

Psalm 50- Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

Psalm 69 – I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.  I will praise the name of God And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Psa 100 — Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

So let us be as the faithful ones in the Bible.  Hear the Apostle Paul’s encouragement and admonition:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God – Philippians 4:6

Above all, be grateful that God has sent His Son to die that we might live abundantly and eternally!

With Gratitude and Godly Affection,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Why do people use the Name of Jesus (the one Name under Heaven by which we can be saved”) as a curse? “Jesus Christ!” is the most often heard name used as an epithet in stressful situations. It is used liberally by Christians as much as those who don’t believe. How can we use the “Name above all names” as a curse?

The 3rd Commandment says:
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. – Exo 20:7

And Paul tells us:
…that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.- Philippians 2:11

God wants us to know and revere His Name as our Lord Jesus, Yeshua Ha’mashiach, the Light of the World. He wants us to call upon that Name frequently with love and gratitude for what Jesus did that only He could do and “in faith, believing”, as James tells us, to access the Power of God which is ours in Christ Jesus, to heal, and to bring forth miracles in this place.

“by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the Name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” – Act 4:30

Using the Name of Jesus as a curse is like being given a precious chalice, a gift for a banquet table meant to bless us and bless those that come to have fellowship and dine with us, and then to take that chalice and use it as a bludgeon to beat away those who come to your door.

Obviously, as we all do, I hear this all the time. Somebody gets some bad news in the mail or a phone call, and the name of Jesus is the first thing out of their mouth. I like to gently admonish my friends by saying “say it with love”.  Ironically, that Name is the perfect thing to come out of our mouths when bad news hits, but said in love, and with prayerful supplication and gratitude for what God has done and what you desire and believe He WILL do to alleviate the problem OR to use it for your good. We have the opportunity, that is, to bless or to curse with the Name of Jesus.

Now I will out myself here. I have been known, and not in the distant past, to use some of the courser words that many people, especially proper Christians, use the Name of Jesus instead of, when I stub my toe or hammer my thumb. Okay I’m human, and the Holy Spirit and I are working that out. But I hold strongly that the Name of Jesus is to be used reverently, and when the Holy Spirit compels me to speak it, always in love.

Then God said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” – Exo 33:19

Now, on to a slightly different topic, but on the same track of how terrible it is when people turn blessings that God intended for us into curses…

The Blood of Jesus is the Power of God through which all mankind, as many as would believe, may be saved. Ever since coming to faith, as a Jewish man, I have marveled at the Gospel’s story of the trial of Jesus. How in the world could the Jewish crowd, the same ones who proclaimed and worshiped Jesus as Messiah, upon His entry into Jerusalem just days before, have turned thumbs down on our Lord to proclaim His death over that of a thief and criminal, and then seal it by saying:

And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” – Mat 27:25

The Blood of Jesus was shed to be a blessing to the entire world, but these people brought that very Blood upon themselves as a curse. Could it be, that 1900+ years later, the worst horror the world has ever known, the holocaust, came to happen, because these very people, chosen by God to bless the world, had brought down upon themselves and all their generations, this horrible curse?

We must be very, very careful in our lives that we truly walk in the way that Jesus Himself walked, in love for our enemies and with love for the brethren, and above all the love of God. Let us ourselves always use the Name of the Lord in love, to His Glory, and be grateful always, for the Blood of Christ by which we are saved.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. – 1John 1:7

In Joy inexpressible, from the Source of all Love,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Today at noon, I had the pleasure of giving the Word and loving the flock at Hope of The Valley Rescue Mission’s new headquarters at my old stomping grounds, the Central Lutheran Church in Van Nuys.  HOTV took over what was an old Lutheran Social Services suite of offices on the church property and is helping the church (which is a small but powerful congregation of mostly homeless folks) to survive.

For 12+ years, that location had a lunch for the homeless every Thursday, and it was my joy to be the preacher and chaplain to the flock there as a volunteer with another local Rescue Mission.  That location has a huge spiritual and emotional draw for me.  For one thing, that was the feeding where I first laid eyes on my now wife, Donna. (here I will digress)  She was talking to a friend of mine who is a poster-child for crazy homeless people, replete with scrambled egg hair, a giant beard, and eyes that bug out of his head when he talks, and especially when he laughs.  What Donna, a newbie volunteer to this meal, couldn’t know was that my friend was and still is, a saint and a soldier of the Most High God’s Army and I know his works. The fact that he is schizophrenic does not impair his usefulness as a Holy and sanctified vessel.   Still, there was this lovely blonde woman serving and interacting with my friend like they were at a cocktail party, and I saw that this beautiful, pristine lady was engaged with my crazy friend with love and true interest.  I made a mental note that I had never seen anyone so powerfully attractive because of the goodness of her heart, and went up to give the Word.

As it happens, the Word I gave that day, 9 or so years ago, was the same one I gave today at the same location.  Get Jesus on Your Boat.  It goes like this… (in a nutshell)

Several of the Gospels tell the story of Jesus, after the feeding of the 5000, going off to a mountain by Himself to pray, and telling the disciples to meet Him at Capernaum.  As they got into their small fishing boat, and had rowed a short way, a storm came up on the sea and they were very afraid.   Now many of us, if not all of us (and certainly all of my homeless friends) have gone, or are going through a storm at some time in their lives. It might be a financial storm, it might be a health storm, it might be a family betrayal storm, a divorce storm, emotional, mental, the list goes on…

The Gospels of Mark and Matthew tell us that they then saw Jesus walking on the storm (not just walking on smooth water, mind you, but upon the storm) and they were afraid because they thought He was a ghost!

Sidebar here… perhaps it is because the disciples were still trying to figure Jesus out.  Was He God or was He just a really smart and charismatic guy?  Perhaps they thought He was a ghost because something had happened to Him while He was away from them (the crowd had been pressing Him very heavily after the feeding after all).

In any case, then all three Gospels agree that Jesus draws near to them and says “Be not afraid, it is I”.

Now the Gospel of John’s version fascinates me.  In John’s Gospel it goes like this…“Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.”

Wow! So they WILLINGLY received Him into the boat and they were IMMEDIATELY where they were going.  Now THAT is a Word to live by.  So… whatever the storm we are going through, which may be a trial that God is allowing to deepen us, or it may just be something that is just part of life here in the Valley of the shadow of death, if we willingly bring the Lord into the situation, we will have the peace and even the joy of the Lord (our strength) to withstand and eventually overcome, the length of the trial. That is basically the Word I gave back ten years ago and again today.

I ended the Word by asking if anyone felt that they needed Jesus to come on their boat today, and if so, said I would be happy and blessed to go before the Throne of Grace with them in prayer.

When I gave the general prayer and blessed the meal after giving the Word, this one guy comes up to me whom I had not seen before.  He had been drinking and his demeanor was contrite.  He said to me that the Word had touched him deeply and that he wanted to reconnect with Jesus.  I prayed a Holy Spirit prayer over him for a long time, which revealed that he had wandered in the weeds but had never lost sight of Jesus, he was just staying back because of shame.  At the end of the prayer I looked up and he was crying.  I asked him if he wanted to be an effective servant of Jesus and a soldier with the full Armor of God.  He said yes and I prayed the Armor on him, welded on with the Blood of Christ.   Then I asked him if he had a Bible, and he told me that he had just had his only copy stolen the week before.  I inscribed the Bible that I gave him (I’m a Gideon for this purpose) with what the Lord showed me is the true Soldier’s Commission, 1Corinthians 16:13-14.  “Watch.  Stand fast in the faith.  Be brave. Be strong.  All you do, let it be done in love.”

When I left him, (now sober and I hope, resolved), with the promise of seeing him again next Friday, I turned around and saw a soldier from the past who had just gotten out of prison and his Armor was in total disarray.  He too, was in tears, and I prayed his Armor back on and began the process of setting him up with a Christian recovery program I know where he can get his strength back.

I saw and prayed with a number of other old friends today, and it was a spiritual and emotional time and a blessing to me across the board.

Today, THAT is what Jesus is doing.  I look forward to seeing what He has in store for me tomorrow. (Ephesians 2:10)

Blessings to the saints now and forever,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

I will let you in on something… This has been a very bad year for business.  It has also, praise the Lord, been a very GOOD year for ministry.   I am an executive recruiter that works on contingency.  This has been my job for the whole 20 years that I have been in ministry (for which I do NOT get paid, praise God!).  I like my profession because I am always on the cutting edge of God’s Will.  When I close a deal (we are talking straight commission here) I have a wonderful and bountiful influx of income, however, I can be working on 15 deals at any given time (all pretty work-intensive) and if I don’t actually place those candidates then I can make nothing for six months work (which is close to my current situation).  This is a wonderful faith building situation, in that I find I must trust Him more than the money in the bank (or lack thereof).

Add to this that the Lord has blessed me with a wife who is a true partner, and who agrees with me in prayer and trust and helps me through the darker moments before the light of faith shines and chases the dark cobwebs of concern (I won’t say the word fear) from my mind and heart.  What a gift from God!

I always tell people that I am the most blessed person I know.  I came from a good home, with great parents who taught me by example to live by the “Golden Rule”.   Although they were not Christians (in fact they were Jewish) they were emotionally intelligent, smart and articulate, and they really loved me.  If there was anything that might have served me better in my upbringing, it was, that as an only child, I was a good bit spoiled, and I have a big ego and an entitlement bias because of it.  Therefore, when things don’t go my way, professionally speaking, I tend to fret and stew. . (mostly my OLD self, the HS and I are still working on it) These are NOT good things for a faithful Believer to indulge in, and so, once I catch myself doing that, I seek God’s strength, and quit it.

I had a friend who was a very “downcast” type of person.  His demeanor was really pitiful.  He had been raised by an unbelieving father (also Jewish, as it happens), who told him from childhood that he would never amount to anything.  This is a devastating curse for a parent to put upon a child and it always impacts the thinking of the adult after they have “grown up”.  My friend, we’ll call him Bob, was very poor and although he was not homeless, he used to go up to the local mall with a sign, and accept charity from anyone who would stop and take pity on him (and he did look pitiful).  When I first met him at a local church he put the squeeze on me for money to buy Christmas presents for his daughter.  I found out later that he did this all the time and went to many churches always with a similar story, depending on the time of year.

As it happens, I got to know this guy when I invited him to join a group of men with whom I was doing weekly Bible studies at the time.  Once I got to know Bob, and saw his true and loving heart for leading people to faith, I realized that he was not a beggar, really, but that the Lord was using him in that capacity to be a “lightning rod” for mercy.  There are many people who rarely (or never) think about blessing someone else, but when they see a particularly pitiful-looking person or circumstance (think of those dog and cat rescue ads on TV) they will then be moved to show mercy and dig deep in their pockets.  I came to realize that this was Bob’s “Kingdom job”.   He was blessing people by accepting their heartfelt donation and he was also sharing his love of the Lord with them as a special gift from Bob to them.

When we would get together he would usually start to complain about his circumstances.  He would start by saying I really love the Lord and I know He is doing great things in my life BUT… then he would run down the litany of his woes.  His car was shot, his health was bad, his daughter’s boyfriend was a slug, etc.  One day, after I realized that Bob had the faith to wake up each morning and do his job (hey, he went out every day and did his best to “earn” his daily bread, so it was like a job to him), and that he really DID love the Lord with all his heart, mind, soul and strength, AND that he loved other people enough to see them saved, then the Lord gave me a Word for him.  I told him “Bob, don’t let your BUT get in the way of your FAITH”.  Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Bob said “what do you mean”?  I explained to him that it is alright to run down your laundry list of troubles before the Lord, but instead of doing it after you tell Him how great He is, as if as great as He is, He can’t change it, try this…  Praise Him for Who He IS and what He has already done, THEN run down your list of troubles, trials and worries to Him, and THEN tell Him that you are confident in His ability to change circumstances (oh He can!) and deliver you from temptations (oh, He WILL!) and that you are choosing to believe that He is BIGGER than your problems.  “That, my friend”, I said, “is not letting your BUT get in the way of your faith!”

When he heard that, the biggest grin that I ever saw on Bob came over his face.  He said John, you’re right, and I will begin doing that right now!  Now, as it happens, we did see the deliverance of the Lord in quite a few areas of Bob’s life through the power of that Godly perspective and the prayers of Bob and many of his brothers, including his daughter being delivered from a horrible and idolatrous relationship and being befriended by a very good and Godly couple who are her friends and mentors to this day.  Hallelujah!

Hebrews 11:6 – without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Genesis 12:2 – I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.  In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

1John 3:16 – By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Matt. 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

We are made/born to put God first.  He is worthy to be praised and worshiped and we are created to give Him glory.  We are also given free will and with that comes the possibility that pride and fear (the remnants of sin) will cause us to worship the things He has given us instead of the Giver Himself.  That is idolatry, and it makes God angry.

Jesus showed us that the best way we have to bless God and glorify His Name is to lay down our lives for each other.  That is what pleases God most.

Sometimes we go through a time of drought.  I am going through one right now.  The resources that have been plentiful in years past are dwindling.  The enemy wants me to believe that God is angry because He has withheld the blessing on our income for a season.  My attitude in this circumstance is what will dictate the REAL blessing that only God can give.  He is deepening my faith.  Why is that important?  Because I LIVE to please God, and when God is glorified in this servant, then I am joyful!  Be joyful saints!  Faith and trust is a choice that is yours to make.  Be assured, He is worthy of your praise and ABLE and WILLING to deliver you from your circumstances, but first He will walk you through your fear.  Don’t let your BUT get in the way of your faith.

Love and eternal blessings,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Philippians 3:20 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

cit·i·zen- a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it

2 Corinthians 5:20 – Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

am·bas·sa·dor – an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.

Mark 4:30 -Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? 31 It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; 32 but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Romans 8:28-30 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Here’s how these work together…  We know (because the Apostle Paul explains to us) that we are not FROM here…  Oh, we may be, in our flesh, created here, or evolved here (if that is the divine Creator’s plan, not because science says so), but we who believe, the “called according to His purpose”, (some fully realized and some not yet), are spirits before we are clothed in flesh (yes just like Jesus), and the implication of Romans 8:28-30 is that we were foreknown by God, justified by His death on the Cross, and are even now, glorified with Him.

Now Paul also says we were predestined, but I think that is often misunderstood to imply that we were in some way preselected, and so belong to some special Christian “club”.   Not so!  Because the Creator/Father God is Transcendent (omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and unknowable by our simple minds) He already knows who the called are, because all Time and Space is ONE to Him and He knows what WILL happen because, in His Transcendence, it has already happened and IS HAPPENING.

Now, follow me here… in His imminence (as our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah, Son of God) He withholds this knowledge even from Himself so that the selection of the called becomes a truly relational exercise, where our free will meets His Truth (in the living Word of God, Christ Jesus) and we choose to follow Him or we do not.

SO… We have established who we, as the called, ARE.  Now we must recognize ourselves as citizens of Heaven, who are IN the world but not OF it.  As the definition of citizen shows us (see above) we have both protection from our home country (in this case the power of God in Heaven) and an obligation to obey it’s laws.  Jesus spoke clearly on what the law now consists of …

Mark 12: 29 – 31 -Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

Now… we are not only citizens of Heaven sent here to fulfill God’s Purpose, but we are also Ambassadors as 2Cor 5:20 tells us (also above).  As Ambassadors, we are able to offer our heavenly protection (through the power of faith-filled prayer and the practicing of miracles through the Holy Spirit) to those to whom the Lord calls us.  When two or three are gathered in His Name (Matthew 18:20), we ambassadors are also an Embassy (see definition above below).

Em-bas-sy – One country’s main diplomatic office in another (usually in the capital city of the host country) where the highest diplomatic officer is the ambassador. Embassy premises and all its diplomatic staff fall under the sovereignty of the ambassador’s home country and are protected under the concept of diplomatic immunity by the host country.

As an Embassy, we are able to offer God’s protection because, as we know, for example, when there is an American Embassy in Beirut, and someone enters into the Embassy, they are no longer on Lebanese soil, legally speaking, but standing on American soil, with the rights and sanctions afforded an American citizen.  We provide sanctuary to those who allow themselves to come under our (as the Lord’s) protection.   Like that mustard seed grown into a mighty tree, we offer the “birds of the air” protection and sustenance, spiritually speaking.

Now, as ambassadors of Heaven, we also have the responsibility to be good representatives of our home “country”.  Not self-righteous, not judgmental, not pharisaical, not callous to sin, but rather understanding of it and loving, as our Savior was, to the poor, the disenfranchised, the widows and the orphans and also to the devil-tormented, the addicted and the sexually immoral (as was Jesus similarly understanding and willing to lay down His life to change them).

WE ARE AMBASSADORS FROM HEAVEN, SENT TO EARTH TO LIGHT THE DARKNESS AND HELP THE CAPTIVES TO BE FREE.

Yep… That’s us, according to the full Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is what Jesus is doing!

Love you saints,
John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

I was at a Bible Study last night that volunteers give weekly at the local Homeless Services hub, called the Samaritan Center here in Simi Valley. It was a great night. My wife, Donna, had decided to join us and there were about 15 of us, in all, clients of the Center who make the weekly commitment to dive into the Word of God, and several good friends who love the fellowship and are friends of the poor (as Jesus was).

I was not teaching last night, but facilitated the meeting, which involves everyone stating what they were most grateful for in the past week, and ending in focused prayers for each other. My friend Joe, a beautiful saint who happens to be wheelchair-bound, was teaching on our need to forgive. He did a great job and illustrated his lesson with a great sports story about a famous baseball player’s violent feud with another player, and how through the power of forgiveness, two enemies became life-long friends to the Glory of God.

When he started the lesson, Joe said that forgiveness and love are both pleasing to God but in his mind, forgiveness is more difficult than love. That statement provoked the Holy Spirit in me to rise up with a Word of understanding. I wrote down these words. “Forgiveness is the hardest APPLICATION of Love” (sic)

1 John 4:8 – He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Jeremiah 31:34 – No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Matthew 6:14 -“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

If we are to love as God loves, then we are called to forgive as God forgives.Forgiveness is a function of Love and Love is What/Who God IS.

When I think of forgiveness I think of Jesus on the Cross saying “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do”. Moreover, the Holy Spirit showed me a picture years ago of Jesus’ face as He looked up into the eyes of the Roman Centurion who was nailing him to the Cross. I believe that there was nothing but LOVE in our Savior’s eyes as He looked upon His child. I believe that this Roman soldier was forever changed by that gaze and may, in fact, have been the soldier who proclaimed at Jesus’ death while the earth was quaking, “Truly THIS Man was the Son of God!”

Since those of us who are saved AND sanctified have the Holy Spirit Who informs us moment by moment, He will bring to mind, on occasion, those things that we have left undone, unsaid or must make amends for… The first reaction of any human being on remembering old hurts is to fall back into the old defenses and hard attitudes of the past. We ARE after all, flesh and blood as well as spirit. In these moments we saints must DECIDE to take the role of Peacemaker seriously and RESPOND to the Spirit in Love instead of REACTING in the old anger or pain when He beings it to our attention. As with picking up your cross and following Jesus (see Blog # 3), when we DECIDE to agree with the Spirit and DO something about it, the Spirit agrees with us and we feel an enormous sense of the Joy of the Lord (because He is glorified). He may then give you wisdom and a mandate to act further, or He may not, but if your repentance of your own unforgiveness is genuine, than that is usually enough. That is how to APPLY love as forgiveness, with the Love of God that lives in you being both the generator of the desire to forgive and also source of strength to DO it.

By the way, my wheelchair-bound buddy is the greatest example of forgiveness in a saint I have ever known personally. He lost his ability to walk AND the love of his life in the same car accident caused by a drunk driver who crossed the center divider without warning. Joe struggled with anger and unforgiveness for a little while, during his recuperation, but called on the Lord’s Peace to overcome his anger and God delivered him from it. When I met Joe several years ago I was struck by the beautiful smile on his face looking up from that wheelchair. I have never seen him any other way but joyful. We should all be as faithful as my good friend Joe.

Blessings Abundant.
John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

I often hear some of my friends who go to various churches talk about how crucial it is to “witness” to unbelievers.  As they talk about it, and as I see them go about the work they feel they are told to do by the Bible, as they understand it, they talk about needing to open conversations with perfect strangers for the express purpose of finding out if they are a Believer, and then, regardless of the response (or reaction) begin to tell them what they believe, based on their understanding.   More often than not, they walk away wondering if the words they spoke had any impact, and hoping that they did, but having no way to know.

Now, please understand that I love these friends; and their desire to spread the Gospel and win souls for Jesus is a very good thing.  I just don’t like to hear the frustration, and often anger, that they evidence when they express how they feel when their targets don’t receive the Word in love.  What I tell them, in love, is that to lead people to the Light of the Lord we need to do a little less talking and a lot more relating.  In effect, not to witness (verb) but to BE a witness (noun) of the power of God to transform a life, by showing them what He has done in us.   In order to do that, we need to make a relationship with the person, and then the Holy Spirit that lives in us, will be His own Witness, using us as His lampstand so that His light can be seen.

John 5:32 “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.

Isaiah 43:10   “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, and My servants whom I have chosen, you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He.

To clarify, this does not necessarily mean that we have to develop a lifelong relationship with every person that God puts in our path to enlighten, although, certainly, we will have an eternity-long relationship with them in any case, if He has His way.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that my mother taught me to look for the good in a person, and you will find it.  Proverbs 11:27 addresses this:  “He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.”  So… here is a trick for all you who wish to win souls that has worked for me (through the Holy Spirit) in the 20 years I have been God’s witness.  Treat everyone that you meet as if they are already a Believer, saved and sanctified, and a friend to boot.

I have found, in my professional endeavors as an Executive Recruiter, that people that I like usually like each other (a very good thing to know when they are hiring managers and candidates in a job search).  For this reason I have become known in the industry more as a HEARThunter than a HEADhunter, and it has been a source of my success.  NOW, if you will, take that to a spiritual level…  Since people I like tend to like other people I like, then people that love me tend to also like people I love.  Since I love Jesus, when I treat these strangers well, and they come to like me (this can take as little as three minutes because I am treating them already like a trusted friend), they then, by association, start to like Jesus (because it is Him that I serve).

In the homeless flock, there are many black sheep, and some active goats, and of course, all the wolves who come to feed off the flock… Here is a true story….  There was a guy that I saw at one of the Homeless lunches in Van Nuys who was covered in Nazi tattoos including the SS logo and a swastika in a braided circle right at his throat.   As a Jewish man (albeit one who follows Jesus), this might have caused me some consternation but the Holy Spirit moved me in compassion for him as I watched him responding to the Word that the Lord gave me to deliver to my friends that day, wherein I happened to profess my Jewish heritage as an illustration during the sermon.  When I stepped down from the pulpit, I went right over to this guy with my usual smile and outstretched hand and greeted him.  As he took my hand of fellowship, he looked me in the eyes, and then looked away.  He asked if he could have a few moments of my time outside.  Now, I have had certain demon-inspired people over the years actually pull weapons (which they quickly put away when the Lord intervened), and asking me to “step outside” might have seemed a bit threatening, but remember, the Holy Spirit was already telling me something about this guy, that he was special.  Long story short, when we went outside he broke down in tears, apologized for his tattoos, and told me that he had just gotten out of prison, had been Aryan brotherhood gang-related, had repented of his former lifestyle, and begun to believe in Jesus and wanted to know what to do with his new found feelings.  I led him to the Lord right there in that parking lot.  His name was James, and we became friends and I was privileged to disciple him for almost six years until he died of a heart attack unexpectedly.  I know where James is and I look forward to seeing him again.

The reason I am telling this story is because YOU CAN DO THIS TOO.  If you are a Believer and submitted to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then He lives in you in the person of His Holy Spirit.  You are able now to be a light to shine into the darkest places without fear.

If you are not naturally an outgoing person, then make that your daily prayer, to become one, remembering that He is a SUPERnatural God.   Those are the prayers He will always answer with a resounding YES.

Mat 5:14  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

With Joy untold and His great Love,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Let me begin this blog by saying that Christ’s desire for the Church as God’s Israel, the Body and Bride of Christ, is that we were and are to be a living organism, with many members, as a body has many members, and one Head, that is Jesus.  I maintain that Christianity, as we call it, was never meant to be just another world religion.  Yet that is exactly what it has become, in the mainstream, which may be why most Christians, when they try to evangelize, find that their arguments ring hollow with those with other religious-bents who are equally as fervent about their beliefs.

Through the centuries, Christ’s amazing story (Messiah, Savior, Light of the world, Risen Lord) has survived, and thrived, in the hearts of true Believers all over the world.  However, meanwhile, another church, born of the same pharisaical power mongering that called for the death of the Son of Man, has grown like a cancer within the Body of Christ, more political than faithful.  The former lives because Christ lives in the hearts of these true Believers in the Person of the Holy Spirit.  The latter, a much larger group, is religious at it’s core, and is more interested in politics and world domination than it is in being about Our Father’s business.  You recognize these because they are more interested in the benefits of having a relationship with God, than they are in bringing God the Glory He deserves by living the life He gave them for His Glory and not for their own benefit.

This is not to say that there are not many well-meaning and fervent Christians who love God sitting among these churches whose leadership are more interested in growing large than in drawing close and growing deep.   However where these lambs sit on Sunday may be the central issue in their deep frustration at not seeing the power of God moving in their own lives and among the other members of their flock.

At this juncture, let me be clear.  Although the Pharisees who saw Jesus to the Cross were Jewish, they’re being Jewish is not the issue.  The issue is the spirit of the Pharisee, a demonic spirit, which lives in the ones who desire personal control because of their self-proclaimed status as God’s “chosen people”, be they Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, New Agers, or Christians.

I myself am a Jewish man.  Some people ask me why I converted from Judaism to Christianity.  I tell them I did not convert, but at His call, at the perfect time, I received Messiah as my Lord, the Son of God who saved me. I did this as any Jewish person who diligently searches the Scriptures and finds Yeshua is Messiah would do when they understand Who the Christ IS .  My standard response is, “while I am certainly blessed to be one of God’s original Chosen People, I am infinitely MORE blessed to have been allowed to choose Him back”!

The spirit of the Pharisee in the modern church is obsessed with the political nation of Israel and the end times.  Why?  Could it be because they are looking for a power-base on earth instead of drawing their power from the Source of all Power, God Himself, in the Person of His Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit?  This is the spirit of the Pharisee at work.

Paul very clearly tells us that the “Israel of God” are those who circumcise their HEARTS to the Lord Jesus Christ

Gal 6:15 & 16 – For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.  As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

We who truly believe, and serve the Lord, are Citizens of Heaven who have been, as Paul also says, foreknown by God, called to this place, justified by Jesus’ death on the Cross, and glorified with Him even now!  (Romans 8:29 & 30)

It is my daily prayer that God would glorify Himself through this servant by making me sensitive in my spirit to what His Holy Spirit is desiring me to do today, and to have the obedient heart to walk that out.  Because of this prayer, and more so God’s faithfulness, I see miracles of restoration and healing every day!  It is my daily joy to interact deeply within the full Body of Christ to bless, pray with, encourage and often exhort the members of the Lord’s Flock to follow Him as He said to do, by taking up their cross daily.

I have encouraged my homeless flock, and the Lord’s soldiers whom I have been privileged to help raise up over the years, that while their cross may look dark and heavy before they bend to lift it, like Jesus’ Cross was, when they finally make that hard choice to stoop to pick up that cross JUST BECAUSE JESUS ASKED US TO, that they find, when they take it up, that it is made of balsa wood and is filled with helium, and it actually lifts THEM.

As Jesus said in Matthew, “for My yoke is easy and My burden is light”.

The Lord gives Wisdom liberally to ALL who ask, and without reproach (James 1:5).  I encourage you today to test these words against the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Truth to you personally.  Above all, do what He says!

In His Love, with His blessing,

John Henry, Roadhouse Rabbi

When God spoke, and said “Let there be Light” there was light, and it was good. As we are saints, set apart and called by the Most High God for His mighty Purposes, we must always remember that in Christ Jesus, our words too have power to do good in this place that we have been sent.

Mat 16:19 – “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

As a shepherd to a homeless flock, I hear much self-deprecation coming out of the mouths of those who are, in fact, actively walking with Jesus and who would not want to displease the King, if they realized that this is precisely what they are doing. They say things like, “I am no saint” or “I can’t be like Jesus” or worse, things like “that is just the way I am” (in regards to some pernicious sinful behavior) or “I don’t have the strength to forgive my mother (or father, friend, brother, partner, wife, husband, cop who arrested me, storekeeper who shortchanged me, you fill in the blank).

When I hear these statements coming from my friends, I like to kindly point out to them that they have just cursed themselves by speaking negatively about a saved and sanctified, called and empowered child of the Family of God. I also point out that the reason it is not pleasing to God when we do this is because it ties His Hands from blessing and renders His servant (ourselves) ineffective in the tasks and trials we have been given to do.

Eph. 2:10 – “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Worse yet, I hear many of my friends who are walking Believers, even my pastor friends, speak curses like “well, you know that one is never going to change” or “I hope they get what is coming to them” or “Obama is the Anti-Christ”.

Right now you may be thinking, what’s wrong with saying that? Here’s what I believe. If we believe as our Lord says that every person in Christ is a New Creation and if He is working in each of us to conform us into the image of Jesus, then who are we to curse ourselves and each other with the voice God gave us to pray and to bless. He also called us to submit under those He puts in authority and to pray for our leaders. Whoever they are, let’s do that. God can change a heart, if a heart is only willing to be changed. Let us pray down the walls of the enemy instead of throwing at each other the bricks he has handed us!

We as christians (little Christs) have been called to enlighten, encourage, exhort (in love), pray for and bless the Body of Christ (each other). Why would we curse with our mouths those we are called to bear with in love? Truthfully, the answer is often found in the way we are taught, and how we apply ourselves to God’s Word. Many “religious” Christians like to apply John 3:16 to themselves as if it were a badge that gets them into Heaven, but they have never read, been taught, or understood 1 John 3:16 which tells us “By this we know what love is, that Jesus laid down His Life for us and so we ought to lay down our lives for each other.” It is in this verse that we see that we are not called just to receive the Love of God but to distribute it as well.

On another note, we have been called to be a “Light and salt” in this dark and tasteless world to the unbelievers. We must also speak encouragement and reveal our faith in a Holy and Righteous, as well as a loving God by our words and as well as our deeds. I have always had the desire and ability to look for the good in a person and thereby, to find it. My mom, a wise and loving Jewish woman, taught me that if you look for the good in a person, you will find it, and that is how they will treat you, but if you look for the bad in the same person, look out, because you will find that, and it will not be pretty.

I apply this great truth as a pastor. When I minister to a large (or small) group of homeless folks coming to eat a free meal, not all of them are Believers, and some want nothing to do with the Word of God, but I greet each one personally, and offer them a kind word of blessing or an offer of prayer as if they are a Believer. It is VERY rarely that someone will not appreciate the blessing of a word or the personal touch of kindness that comes from the Holy Spirit through the submitted saint. Many of these, who go on to give their lives to Christ, reveal to me afterwards that when we first met they were unbelievers, or actively enemies of God, but they liked the way they felt when they received a blessing from me and it set them on a path to seek God because of that. Of course, the Lord sent others to them, and arranged many trials and encounters in their lives that brought them to faith along their journey. God’s Plan is perfect and has many moving parts. Romans 8:28 assures us of this. This is one reason why He deserves ALL the Glory.

Just know… If you are a lover of Jesus and those He calls you to, you can be effective as one who blesses, a prayer-warrior, an encourager of the brethren, a friend and a soldier in God’s Army for good. You have the choice to use your words for good or evil. Listen saint… Bless and do not curse.

John Henry Raskin – Roadhouse Rabbi
August 18,2015

Let me begin this blog by saying “Thank You Jesus” for awakening this saint, servant and soldier to my true abundant life in Christ Jesus. When I said yes at 43 years old in 1995 it was a complete surprise to me, but no surprise to Him.

“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. – Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

I am now 63 years old and have been walking with the Lord in the power of His Might for 20 years. I have seen the miracles for which most Christians, and many pastors, ache to see. I tell my pastor friends if you want to see a miracle, BE a miracle.

I am a pastor, on my off-work time, to the homeless flock of the San Fernando Valley. I bring the Word of God to feedings for the poor and have worked with several Rescue Missions, but most of all, I have been a friend to the poor, as my Lord was, and instructed me to do. This is why I see miracles… I hold them in their pain, I ask them about what keeps them from reaching out to God and others, I pray with them and I see miracles of restoration and healing, spiritual, yes, but also emotional and often physical, real miraculous healing. I have come to trust the Lord absolutely and I have the gift of being able to pray in faith, believing, when instructed to do so by the Holy Spirit, before Whom, I am ever submitted.

My belief is that Christianity was never meant to be a world religion, contained in buildings, but was always a Living Body connected to it’s Head Jesus Christ. This is why though many are called few are chosen. Few choose to opt out of the business of religion, and walk in simple and joyful humility, trusting God for their daily Bread and being the miracle that they want so badly to see.

I distrust religion, as it is typically practiced, and I distrust politics, and see them as two sides of the same coin (Caesar’s).

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”- James 1:27 (NKJV)

The Right and the Left are both wrong. They are the Powers and Principalities, money-worship (Mammon) on the Right and fornication-worship (Molech) on the Left, whose work is darkness, but God allows for His purpose, which is to drive His children to the Valley of Decision where He desires their YES to be for Him, that they would be saved.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2Chron. 7:14 (NKJV)

The world, you may have noticed, is getting darker as the Left and Right, two pincers, are causing many to run in fear to the center. It is our job and privilege to be the watchers and witnesses to meet these at the Crossroad.

To we who believe, Jesus says this.

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
– Luke 12:32

The Word of God says this:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; – Philippians 4:6

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The true Center is where Jesus is. That is where we all need to be. We, the called according to His purpose, must stand in the Center, looking neither to the Left nor the Right, and be the Light and Salt to this dark and tasteless world, leading those who come in confusion and fear, gently but surely to the Cross in love. THIS is what Jesus is doing!

In His Love and Truth,

-John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi 9/11/2015