The Church may not realize this, but the fourth month on the Hebrew calendar, called Tammuz, is one of spiritual warfare where we must defend our souls. The enemy of our souls looks for weak spots or places where we or our ancestors compromised and attempts to take advantage of us. At sunset on June 15, we entered the month of Tammuz. Let us look back in history to see what was happening in Tammuz a few months after the Israelites came out of Egypt. After a long trek from Egypt to Mount Sinai, Moses ascended the mountain to meet with God. Exodus 32 tells the story: "Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, 'Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And Aaron said to them, 'Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me...' And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, 'This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' So, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it..." (Exodus 32:1-5 - NKJV)
 
The building of the golden calf stemmed from a grievance rooted in the hearts of God's people. The bottom line is they did not trust Him although He demonstrated His faithfulness multiple times throughout their journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai. Here is the reason why God told the Israelites, many times, "Remember." Exodus 13:3 is an example. "Then Moses said to the people, 'Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the Lord brought you out from there by strength of hand.'" (ESV) Had the Israelites remembered the way they came out of Egypt, they may have rethought their sin of building the golden calf. Exodus 12:36 tells us that the Israelites "plundered the Egyptians." They simply asked for their gold and received it without a fight.
 
Here is the lesson from this story that we need to take to heart: When God gives us plunder as we are coming out of our own Egypt, we must not use it to make an idol for a lower form of worship. We were all made with a need to worship. God's desire is for us to worship Him alone because this fosters greater intimacy with Him. When we use the gifts He gives us to make idols for worship, He is greatly grieved. Tammuz is the month for heightened alertness. We cannot allow the enemy to entice us to take our eyes off the Lord and His promises. We must be patient and never settle for inferior forms of worship. When we build idols, they bring curses and desolation upon us and cause God's manifest presence to leave.
 
This call to "remember" is not only important for us as individuals, but also for our churches and our nation. We cannot forget the battles we fought, the blessings we have received, and the prophetic words spoken over us. We need to remember the snare of the golden calf so that we do not use the plunder God gave us to build an inferior idol to worship. God is faithful and will bring His promises to life at the perfect time and in the perfect way.
 
A segment of our society would like to erase the past so that they can alter the future. If we rewrite the past, we can rewrite the future. If the foundations of God are removed, then we can build on new and ungodly foundations. We cannot allow this to happen! We must "fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Our worship of the One True God will demonstrate our faithfulness to Him and our remembrance of His faithfulness to us. Let's make this month one of radical worship to Adonai, The Lord Our God! 

​Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, signed a resolution declaring that June will be "Nuclear Family Month" in his state. He says, "The Nuclear family is God's perfect design for humanity and is aligned with the long-held traditional values of Tennessee." The resolution commends those who seek to protect and strengthen traditional values. It also presents statistics documenting "the harm to children caused by being raised in fatherless homes." These children, it reports, are "ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances," and include "sixty percent of youth suicides, seventy-one percent of high school dropouts, and eighty-five percent of youths in prison."
 
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn's June newsletter tells a story that illustrates the need for fathers in a family even in the animal kingdom. He reports that animal-care personnel at a wildlife preserve in Africa discovered rhinoceroses that had been killed by wild, young male elephants. Elephants are not known to be killers, so the park overseers began to research how the elephants grew up. It was discovered that they had grown up without fathers so had no one to model proper elephant behavior. They were drawn into violent behavior. The fascinating answer to their dilemma was to ship elephant father figures into the preserve who could demonstrate proper behavior to the juvenile delinquent elephants. Before long, the young elephants stopped attacking.
 
This elephant display of the need for fathers should be taken to heart by our own society. In a recent sermon at Bethel Church in California, Pastor Kris Vallaton talked about the deconstruction of the family in America. He quoted a staggering statistic that fifty-one percent of children in America are born without a dad. He claims that the United States is the most prominent fatherless nation in the world. Because of this orphan spirit, children are growing up with a mindset of abandonment, rejection, and emotional isolation. The feelings that come from a lack of a loving father on earth make it difficult for these children to connect with Father God, and instead of viewing Him as a loving father, they view Him as a distant and demanding god.
 
The Church must be involved in helping young people break free of an orphan spirit. I believe that the greatest curse on earth today is our fatherless generation. Romans 8:19-22 tells us that even creation groans as it waits for the manifestation of the mature children of God. Most definitely, the ills of our society can be traced to the feeling of alienation that children have from earthly fathers and Father God. We need a demonstration of Father’s love by the men of the Church who have received the Spirit of God and know their sonship so that they cry, "Abba, Father!" (Romans 8:15) To our fatherless generation, the Church must make available to them opportunities to develop a personal relationship with Father God through prayer and worship and studying the Word of God that defines their identity and declares the truth. The community of Believers must support and encourage those who have the orphan spirit so that they can replace the lies with truth.
 
Everything that God does is for love's sake as He is love! He loved the world so much that "He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) We have a promise in Malachi 4:6 that God "will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers." This verse is repeated in Luke 1:17. Let us pray it in!

​In Bucks County Pennsylvania it is wheat harvest time. I love looking across the rolling, expansive, golden-brown fields ready to be cut. The farmer determines if the crop is ready by pressing his fingernail into the kernel. If no mark is left, the grain is ideal for harvest. It is called winter wheat and would have been sown in the fall. Once the crop is inspected and ready for harvest, the farmer brings in a combine harvester. This one machine does several operations: It cuts the stalks, threshes the grain (by separating the grain from the husk), and blows out the waste (called winnowing). The next machine to come onto the field is a baler. It collects the wheat stems and compresses them into cylindrical or rectangular bales. Then they are transported to be used to feed livestock or as a fertilizer additive. In the meantime, the harvested grain is loaded onto trucks and taken to local farm buildings. There it is dropped into tall steel or concrete silos to be processed into flour.
 
Something I noticed about local harvesting is that it is done to the very edge of the field. Such a practice would have been unacceptable in Biblical days. Leviticus 19:22 says, "When you reap the harvest of your land do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God." This law of leftovers is repeated in Deuteronomy 24:19. "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for a foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." Verse 22 explains further: "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this."
 
The Jews call this tradition "Pe'ah" or "leaving the corners or edges." As we can see in the Deuteronomy Scripture, when we show compassion and generosity to those who are less fortunate than we are, it touches the heart of God, and He promises to bless us. This was also a way of preserving the dignity of the needy by allowing them to harvest the food for themselves. We can see this played out in the book of Ruth. "One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain. Maybe someone will be kind enough to let me gather the grain he leaves behind.' Naomi said to her, 'Go, my daughter.' So, Ruth went to the fields to gather the grain the reapers left behind..." (Ruth 2: 2, 3 - TPT)
 
Today, as we do not live in an agrarian society, how can we apply the principle of leaving the edges? First, we must not live a marginless life. When we use everything we have, including money, time, and energy, we open the door to exhaustion and fear, fear that we will not have enough. The root of living like this is lack of faith. We must believe that God will provide for our needs. As the Bible says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
(Matthew 6:19, 20 - NKJ) Second, a Christian has the obligation to take care of those in need in our communities. The underlying purpose of "leaving the edges" can be demonstrated through acts of charity or kindness.
 
We live in a society where people spend all that they have to satisfy their desires for the latest and greatest vehicle or computer or gadget of the day. The responsibility to live within their means has been forgotten. There is nothing left for a rainy day or to help others. Let us take Hebrew 13:5 to heart as it is a promise from God for us to embrace. "Don't be obsessed with money, but live content with what you have, for you always have God's presence. For hasn't He promised you, 'I will never leave you alone, never! And I will not loosen my grip on your life.” (TPT)

​Have you noticed the increasing number of individuals in our society who seem to be ignorant of truth? Sadly, there are those who intentionally pervert truth and attempt to get others to agree with them and their agendas. Many get their information from sound bites without verifying their reality. When false claims are repeated over and over again, those who do not do their research begin to accept them as facts.
 
Here is what I know for certain: Truth originated from God! Psalm 119:160 tells us, "All Your words are true; all Your righteous laws are eternal." When Jesus was praying for His disciples, He reminded His Father that they are not of the world. Then He said, "Sanctify them by Your truth; Your Word is truth." (John 17:17) Many in the present generation have not been exposed to Biblical truth, so they are easily swayed in the wrong direction.
 
The word truth in Greek is "aletheia" and translates as divine revelation with nothing hidden. In John 14:6 Jesus declares, "I am the way, the truth (aletheia), and the life." If we investigate the Hebrew word for truth, we will see that it is "emet." It is more than just factual accuracy and is rooted in the word "amen," and means to be certain. Hebrews4Christians.com says that "Yeshua is Truth since in Him there was no mismatch between who He is and what He said. He is utterly trustworthy. His actions and speech are one and are entirely reliable.”
 
Another interesting fact that I learned is that the Hebrew word "emet" contains the first, middle, and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet indicating that truth encompasses all things and endures from beginning to end. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; Mem is the middle, and Taw is the last. Since these letters spell out truth or "emet," we can be assured that truth is unchanging from beginning to the end. God is called the Spirit of Truth in John 15:26 and 16:13 The second passage assures us that "When the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth." Also, in three verses in the book of Revelation (1:17, 2:8, and 22:13) the Lord is called "The First and the Last."
 
In this time when many blindly embrace perceived truth, it is important for us to base our truth on the firm foundation of the Bible. One may be ridiculed for their beliefs when based on truth because truth is narrow. We cannot allow the spreading of lies on our watch. We know from Genesis 1:1 that "God created the heavens and the earth." We know from Genesis 1:27 that "God created mankind in HIs own image...male and female He created them." We know from Genesis 17:8 that God gave the land of Canaan to Israel as "an everlasting possession.” We know from Genesis 12:3 that God made Israel a great nation to be blessed and that all nations "will be blessed through them." We know from Psalm 139:13 and 14 that we were "knit together in our mother's wombs" and that "We are fearfully and wonderfully made." We know from 1 John 4:16 that "God is love." I could go on.
 
King Solomon declared truth when he wrote, "Every word of God is flawless..." (Proverbs 30:5) And, we have assurance from the Lord in Psalm 145:18, "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." Let us be wary of those who are perverting truth because perceived truth is no truth at all. God is counting on us to be proclaimers of truth.