Rabbi Schneider - False Prophets, the Law, Witchcraft, and the Lost Fear of God
John Matarazzo: I know one of the things that is on a lot of people's minds today is about prophecy. We are seeing what seems to be prophecy in the Bible coming to light today. But there's also a lot of people that are claiming to be prophets, are saying things that are prophetic. Help us understand this because the prophecy is... we know that God wants to speak to us, but sometimes humans get in the way.
Rabbi Schneider: Well, amen. I've always been very reluctant to try and create something that I'm not sure about myself as from the Lord or that isn't clearly revealed in his word and claim that it's prophecy or fulfillment of prophecy. And I think we all need to have that respect for the Lord, because in the Hebrew Bible and the Torah prophets, false prophets were to be not listened to and even stoned to death. So it's very, very serious. And I realize that, you know, we're human and we're learning to walk in the gifts of the spirit. But I think that the emphasis on grace today is too extreme.
So we've got all these people that supposedly are prophets, that they're calling themselves prophets. The church is calling prophets, and they seem to prophesy over and over again things that don't come to pass. And they don't take responsibility too often and no one to hold them accountable. And it just goes on. And it's very unfortunate, especially when you look at the Hebrew Bible and you see how it was so necessary for prophets to be truly speaking the words of the Lord. And if not, they were to be terminated. And the reason they were to be terminated is so that when the Lord did speak, people would listen. In other words, it's like the boy that cries "wolf". You know, it keeps crying "wolf" and it doesn't happen. Then he cries "wolf" again and no one responds.
Well, that's in a way, the same thing that can happen with this problem that we have today with all the false prophecies and prophets. No one pays attention anymore because everybody and their grandmother, you know, all you got to do is go get a business card and quote, You're a prophet. So I disdain that. We need the fear of the Lord in us. If we're going to be saying, "thus sayeth the Lord", we better be sure that it was the Lord and we better hold ourselves back until we are, because we've got too much, too much riff raff going on today in the realm of prophecy.
John Matarazzo: So we talked about false prophets and how they lead people astray. Well, also witchcraft and the occult is something that leads people astray quite a bit as well. And you deal with that as well because, you know, the Bible talks about that in Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy in the Torah, and there's a lot of people that are into witchcraft that don't even realize that, but you have some revelation about that. So let's dive in.
Rabbi Schneider: I think that when it comes to witchcraft, when the Lord condemned witchcraft as an abomination, we sometimes immediately think of real explicit forms of witchcraft where people are actually identifying themselves as witches and teaching others how to make enchantments or pronounce curses or blessings through certain formulas or words, etc.. And that's obviously very clearly witchcraft. But witchcraft is also trying to manipulate people through means other than the spirit of the Lord. even a Christian can unknowingly be practicing witchcraft by trying to manipulate things through, going to a fortune teller adopting even practices, you know, from other countries, people buying into to the new age mantra. A woman can be in the spirit of witchcraft by trying to manipulate people through seduction. This is so common that many Christian women don't even realize how they're on the edge, how they're actually in a spirit of compromise when they are really trying to draw attention to themselves through the way they dress. It really is a form of manipulating your reality through your sexual power. And at the end of the day, it's witchcraft.
John Matarazzo: You mentioned earlier about some of the occult practices and how those lead us away. But a lot of the occult is really just copying or counterfeiting what is real. And I know you have a special understanding about incense and the importance of that. And I know in some occult practices they burn incense and they do other things with that. Help us understand what is what is real and holy and what is the counterfeit there?
Rabbi Schneider: A lot of this has to do with one's personal relationship with the Lord. Let me read a scripture, for example, in the book of Exodus, chapter 30:7-8, we read this: "Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it," and he's speaking about the altar, "He shall burn it every morning... There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generation". So in the Scriptures, incense is a beautiful symbol of a devoted heart unto the Lord. And I love the fact that it had to be burned every morning and every evening. So it was a continual fragrant aroma, arising to the Lord. And we know in Scripture that incense is a symbol of the prayers of the saints. So to me, when I think about burning incense, how do we burn incense? We burn incense by being in continual loving communion with our Creator. We talk to God from our heart about everything. And in this way we burn incense before him.
Here's what I want our audience to hear today. This is very precious, and I pray that a few will hear it today. And some of us today are feeling discouraged and disconnected from God because we feel that God isn't hearing our prayers. I want you to know, beloved one, God hears the weakest whisper of your heart every time you reach out to God. And prayer in its simplest form, John and our audience today, prayer in its simplest form, is simply a reaching out to God. Whether you're reaching out to God in your thoughts, whether you are reaching out to God through your words, whether you're reaching out to God from your hearts intent, every time you're reaching out to God, even the weakest whisper, even that what you feel is so weak and insufficient that so lacks faith every time you reach out to him. It is precious to him, it's incense to him. He hears it. And I want you to know he answers every one of his children's prayers.
Now, let me give you an example. I've been recently praying about a situation, a desperate, John, a desperate need I had in my life. I mean, I cried out to God from the depths of my soul in excruciating pain. I've got vivid memories of days where I was just laying there, crying out to God from the depths of my soul. And you know what? Nothing happened in two and a half years. And then one day, John, the power of God and the Kingdom of God broke into that situation and complete and absolute peace came and the Kingdom of God was firmly established. And you know what that taught me: when it comes to prayer, patience, we need to have patience. We think that God's not hearing us sometimes because nothing's changed, but a thousand years to us are like one day to the Lord.
So, number one, I want to encourage our listeners today: God, hears what you think is so far away from him, you feel like he's so far away and that he's not hearing you. I want to assure you today, from the bottom of my soul, the Lord hears you and He loves you. And he's going to respond to every one of your prayers.
Number two, it takes patience. It takes time for God to move.
And number three, we have to face reality that God's ways are not our ways. And sometimes we don't see something change. But you know what? My friend, your prayers are tears in a bottle to the Lord. And he is going to show you in the end he heard every one of your prayers how much he loves you. He's going to make everything up to you and every tear that you shed calling out him is going to be answered and fulfilled by him in ways that are so abundant. There's not even words to explain. He loves you and he hears you. And that's why incense was to be burned in the tabernacle, in the temple, because prayer, our prayers, those of us that he created his own image to be his partners. He loves us and he hears. Don't stop praying.
John Matarazzo: Wow. There's a lot there to unpack and to digest there. And I'm grateful that you've put all of your wisdom in this decoding the Torah, applying ancient wisdom in a modern world. And that's so important to... we do live, we live in a modern world, but God has given us ancient wisdom that we need to apply. We can't just say, Oh, that's that's for that time. It applies for today. And you've done a great job of pulling that together. I would just want to give you our closing thoughts here.
Rabbi Schneider: Well, my closing thought is I'm saying we are losing church. We are so empty because we don't know the laws of the Torah. Again, I am a grace person. I am not a legalist, but the law contains God's self-revelation. It is designed to edify us in our faith. Study the Torah and you will be greatly enhanced and empowered in your walk as a follower of Yeshua Jesus the Messiah.