Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to thye tenth part of our series on spiritual Transformation and to the second and concluding part of 'The Seven Destructive Veils'. Last week we looked at the first three of these seven destructive veils that separate us from Elohim (God) and these were:

• 1. The veil of fleshy desire;
• 2. The veil of legalism; and
• 3. The veil of fear.

Today we are going to look at the last four, namely:

• 4. The veil of inner resentment and bitterness;
• 5. The veil of impure thinking;
• 6. The veil of excessive grief; and
• 7. The veil of uncleared conscience.

We shall now resume examining the importance of gazing upon Yah'shua (Jesus) with an unveiled face so let's begin by taking a close look at the fourth veil that must be taken down if the Saviour's likeness is to be imprinted on our characters - the veil of inner resentment and bitterness. If we don't take it down it will transform us into sour, morose, and embittered souls. We'll begin with Colossians, chapter 3 once again, the first 16 verses, to remind ourselves of the vital truths it teaches. I'll be using the New International Version (NIV) throughout this morning's teaching:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of Elohim (God). Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in Elohim (God). When Messiah (Christ), who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality ('fornication' - HRV, NRSV, KJV), impurity ('uncleanness' - HRV, KJV; 'indecency' - NEB), lust ('passions' - HRV, NRSV; 'inordinate affection' - KJV; 'unbridled passion' - Barclay), evil desires ('wicked lust' - HRV; 'foul cravings' - NEB; 'shameful desires' - NLT; 'evil concupiscence' - KJV; 'desire for forbidden things' - Barclay) and greed ('covetousness' - KJV, ESV; 'the spirit which makes a god of gain' - Barclay), which is idolatry ('disobedience' - HRV). Because of these, the wrath of Elohim (God) is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the [pagan] life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

"Therefore, as Elohim's (God's) chosen people, qadosh (holy, set-apart) and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Master forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love (ahavag, chesed, agapé), which binds them all together in perfect unity.

"Let the shalom (peace) of Messiah rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to shalom (peace). And be thankful" (Col.3:1-16, NIV).

This veil alone is something we could, and probably ought sometime, to spend many hours discussing, because it's a serious, recurrent problem and I've witnessed so many people destroyed by it who have chosen to make it a part of their identity. 'I choose to remain embittered and resentful' is the reality of the choice so many choose to make. Yet no believer ever consciously chooses [1] to be veiled from Messiah but neither are they immune from falling into this temptation to grievously sin, and resentment is a grievous sin against the imaging of Elohim (God). You could even describe it as spiritually suicidal. And like most sins it is easier to fall into than to climb out of.

Selwyn Hughes relates the story of a very able minister of the Gospel who once said to him: "I was taught a great deal in my training for the ministry, but no one ever taught me how to get rid of my resentments," and then proceeded to ask for counselling. Hughes looked into his eyes and saw in his countenance how bitterness and resentment were draining him spiritually, mentally, and physically.

Here's the thing, the brutal truth which few want to hear because they get a perverse short term pleasure from resentment and bitterness...and it is perverse because it is fed by the demonic and thus becomes highly addictive like heroin, is this: no one, no matter how hard they make the effort, can carry Messiah's character in their soul when the veil of resentment hangs over their spirit. Indeed, in a church which Hughes once pastored early on in his ministry, a deacon, whom he dearly loved, refused to give up his resentments. Hughes talked to him and said to him prophetically: "If you don't [give up these resentments] then they will eventually kill you." Well, this is exactly what happened. In a deacons' meeting he got up to voice his disagreement over a certain issue, and dropped dead in front of everyone. Hughes has spoken in the Ruach (Spirit).

Now I'm not saying that resentment and bitterness will necessarily cause you to drop dead but it will for sure shorten your lifespan in the same way that prolonged stress and drugs do, or at the very least destroy your ability to build healthy relationships and make your last days miserable. One thing I have personally had to wrestle with, more than once, is the hurt caused by betrayal which has sometimes overspilled into bitterness because of a feeling of resentment that proper justice has not been done. I have long since learned and accepted that justice is rarely done in this world but belongs to the next world. In each case, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the transition from inner pain to bitterness was a conscious decision. We have no one else to blame when we do it. And there are inescapable consequences for wrong choices for which we alone are responsible. Add to this the realisation we all need to come to accept that we have not ourselves always dealt justly with others, so who are we to complain?

There's no guarantee in this life that you won't be hurt in by someone in some way, if not by multiple people. This is a fallen world but we don't have to be spiritually, mentally and (in some cases) physically imprisoned (e.g. through illness) by resentment. We do have a genuine choice to either submit to the demonic narcotic that resentment and bitterness are, or to turn to Christ in humility and release all our hurts, frustrations and disappointments to Him. That's what He's there for. That's why we call Him our Saviour and Deliverer, our Divine Physician. The Enemy will offer you other 'solutions' too including a demonic anaesthetic to numb your heart to turn it so cold so you don't have to experience the resentment and bitterness you chose not to feel because you wanted to justify your feelings. But just because you're not conscious of the feelings doesn't necessarily mean you have genuinely forgiven the one who hurt you, nor does it mean they're not there somewherre, buried deep in the soul, lingering and unextinguished. They're just out of conscious perception and in certain circumstances can be triggered and awakened. Psychological coping mechanisms may help us survive in the short term in the days of our ignorance about how to properly respond to the pain of abuse or betrayal but it doesn't ever fix you. And it will waste years of your life as dysfunctional behaviours spoil your relationships. Only gazing at Yah'shua (Jesus) will accomplish release from that terrible inner prison.

You can't properly focus on Christ if you hold resentment in your heart, no matter how just your cause, no matter how situationally innocent you may have been when you were hurt. So long as you resent, everything you think about will be pulled off on a tangent - pulled from the vertical to the horizontal - so that you become consumed and blinded. Bittermess, hatred and resentment are self-defeating and will slowly kill you. There is only one way to overcome them: Gaze on Yah'shua (Jesus), and see what He did with all those people who could have caused Him to hate. He forgave them, even when dying in agony on the cross, showing us what the higher way consists of.

Another veil that must be taken down if we are to be transformed into the same image as Yah'shua (Jesus) is the veil of impure thinking. The apostle Paul said:

"Rejoice in the Master always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Master is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to Elohim (God). And the shalom (peace) of Elohim (God), which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus). Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, >whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things" (Phil.4:4-9, NIV).

Before anyone goes and beats themselves up, let me say this: no one need be ashamed of wrong or impure thoughts that leap unbidden into the mind. A picture, a word, a story, an advertisement, a glance, an odour - almost anything can summon the thought into the mind. The great Methodist preacher, Dr.William E.Sangster, used to say, "Victory or defeat turns on the skill and the speed by which the thought is managed in the mind." In other words, the speed at which you intercept such thoughts and turn them around is the main thing. If a man turns his thoughts swiftly to spiritual things, and focusses his gaze immediately on Christ, evil thoughts can be outwitted and overcome. If, on the other hand, a person toys with the thought, allows the imagination to wallow in it, fondles it, harbours it, and entertains it, instead of blasting it with prayer, then lust will soon take control - and by 'lust' I mean to eagerly desire something that is impure and unlawful in Yahweh's eyes.

The Christian/Messianic view of morality is this: a man can keep the Ten Commandments (which are a summary of the 300 or so other mitzvot /commandments) and still be morally impure if he allows the central citadel of his mind to become preoccupied with impure thoughts. Let me make this point again: the thoughts that crowd unbidden into our mind are not sin. They become sin only when they are nurtured, fondled, and entertained. To live, therefore, behind the veil of harboured impure thinking is to live in an inner hell of disloyalty, where one's self-respect is cancelled out by self-contempt. But when we instead gaze upon Yah'shua (Jesus) with an unveiled face, His purity, which is so white and burning, is more than a match for the evil and impure thought. It cannot stand the sight of Messiah and leaves the mind beaten and ashamed.

Another veil that has to come down if we are to bear upon our spirits the imprint of Yah'shua's (Jesus') loveliness is the veil of excessive grief. I know one or two people who seem to be in a perpetual state of grief over tragedies that took place many years ago, sometimes decades ago. Grief comes to us all. We can't avoid it. It's part of our human existence from which nobody escapes. Yet some believers prevent the beauty of Christ from spreading through their characters by holding this suffocating veil over their spirits.

Whenever a calamity or a death of a loved one takes place, then a certain amount of grief is natural and proper. Even "Yah'shua (Jesus) wept" over the death of His dear friend Lazarus (Jn.11:35). We must all confront the shock and loss of those we love who pass on. It's at such times you sometimes discover how much you actually loved them. Most of us must say goodbye to our parents and stand by their graves. Some have to go through the grief of burying a son or a daughter. They say that when parents die, your past dies with them - but when a child dies something of your future dies, both of which are traumatic. We're told in Scripture that it is right and proper to grieve over the deaths of loved ones - "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Mt.5:4, NKJV). We need it far more than they do. It's a huge adjustment time. Life changes, and it changes abruptly.

Someone - and I'm not sure who it was - once said this: "The greatest test of growth in Christian/Messianic living is the measurement of time it takes a person takes to get over the fact of grief." My parents lived through the Second World War. They lived with death every day. Friends and loved ones were dying in battle or from bombing raids in a never-ending stream. They learned to cope with death quickly as all those who experience war must. Soldiers absolutely must.

So how are we to meet grief and sorrow? Firstly, by making up our minds that grief is bound to come. It's unavoidable even if we want to run a mile in denial that it will come. This attitude will save us from feeling, when it does come, that we are being singled out for persecution. If we don't prepare for it in this way then we get drawn into what is known as a 'persecution illusion' - or a 'martyr's complex'. Illusions turn out, in the end, to be worse than realities.

Do what Yah'shua (Jesus) did. Let me read another passage to you:

"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way. Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at His teaching, because His message had authority" (Luke 4:28-32, NIV).

You may be wondering what this has to do with grieving but it's this: When faced with a problem Yah'shua (Jesus) didn't back off, or try to dodge the issue, or even escape - He went straight through. And that's the point about so many difficulties because the right Christian/Messianic response is nearly always to "walk right through". It faces everything and transforms everything. The transformed are supposed to be transformers and they can only be transformers by setting the example by walking through difficulties and not avoiding them or skirting around the edges. That's the first thing we must do. Risk, in faith, going through, even if our natural tendency is to avoid doing this at all costs.

The second is, surrender your grief to Elohim (God) and spend more time than you have ever done before in fellowship with Him. Don't just pray for yourself but for others because prayer for yourself does not cancel loneliness. It may aggrivate you if you think only of yourself. Bring the needs of others into your life because this truly works. You see, in doing this you move out of the substance of the spring festivals...which are about self...and into the heart of the summer and autumn (fall) festivals which is about others. It does have to start with self and then graduate into others - the corporate. It's one of the reasons we are gathered here today. It's why Yahweh commands us to assemble on sabbaths, new moons and annual festivals - to spent time with one another together with, and centred on, Him. Closet time, private time with Him, is for all the other times of the day and week.

The last veil we must look at - and this will end our two-part series on destructive veils - is the veil of an uncleared conscience. Let's take a look at our final passage for today:

"Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Yah'shua (Jesus) began to speak first to His talmidim (disciples), saying: 'Be on your guard against the chametz (yeast, leaven) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

"'I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into Gey-Hinnom (Gehenna, hell). Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by Elohim (God). Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

"'I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge Him before the malakim (angels) of Elohim (God). But he who disowns Me before men will be disowned before the malakim (angels) of Elohim (God). And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) will not be forgiven.

"'When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) will teach you at that time what you should say" (Luke 12:1-12, NIV).

The moment we violate one of Yahweh's spiritual or moral principles (which are given to us as mitzvot/commandments) then we immediately drop a veil, as we spoke about last week, so that no one shall know. It is the unconscious tribute we pay to goodness and to Yahweh's moral laws. But, unfortunately, the dropping of the veil produces only inner guilt, so we must learn to lift that veil by being honest with Elohim (God), honest with ourselves, and honest with others. No one gets away with anything in this universe, as we have just read: "Nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed, or concealed that shall not be made known" (v.2, Moffat).

Here's the truth and reality we have to deal with as believers first and foremost - violations of Yahweh's Torah (Law) of mitzvot (commandments), the moral and ethical principles by which He governs the universe, have to be 'revealed' voluntarily and forgiveness sought, or else it will be 'revealed' as an inner conflict, complex, functional disease or personality disorder. Whenever we offend against Yahweh's Torah, His principles, then a curtain of guilt descends on our spirits.

But remember, this feeling of guilt is redemptive. It is to the soul or spirit of man what pain is to the physical body. They are exactly parallel. It is Yahweh's 'warning signal' that something is wrong, and attention must be given to it. Those psychologists and psychiatrists who take the attitude that guilt (and I mean, real guilt, not false guilt) is dangerous to the personality, and that consciousness and morality are simply artificial, man-made concepts, do more damage than they realise [2]. Their notions run counter to the torot or laws of the universe established by the Creator.

Authentic guilt (as opposed to false guilt and guilting which we don't have time to get into today) cannot be got rid of by ignoring it, making fun of it, or dismissing it with a wave of the hand. Elohim (God) has arranged the universe so that we can only be comfortable in that which is good for us - namely, His will. So every sin must be brought to Him for forgiveness, for only as that veil is lifted can He imprint His loveliness in our hearts.

With these thoughts in mind let us conclude with a prayer: 'Dear Father Yahweh, may Your Name be blessed amongst us today, and may Your truth penetrate every heart. We know that bitterness and resentment can so blind us that we cannot see straight, and everything is confused. Now, however, we gaze at You and, in the gazing, we let every one of our resentments go. We are free to be Yours and Yours alone. We see so clearly now that when we gaze upon Yah'shua (Jesus) Your Son, He sterilises impure thoughts as a powerful x-ray sterilises a cancer cell. We are made pure within simply by gazing! Help us to focus our gaze so fully on Yah'shua (Jesus) that even though grief comes, our burden can be lightened as we take on the burdens of others. Help is not to compound our guilt by saying there is no guilt, but enable us, by Your grace - Your undeserved loving-kindness - to confess every sin, put every wrong right so that we can gaze upon Your face, and be changed into the image of our Master and Deliverer - our Lord and Saviour - Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). Amen.'

We have three more weeks in which to cover more ground in this important series on the fundamental principles of the gospel as they relate to spiritual transformation which will then take us to Yom Teruah or Day of Trumpets/Shouting. Until then, may Yahweh bless you and keep you, especially in this continuing time of the pandemic and also for those of you resuming the school year or returning to work after your vacations. May His grace and peace attend you. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Calvinists would have you falsely believe that you have no choice in the matter because they believe that everyone is either predestined to salvation or to destruction and have no say in the matter because they have no real choice. This lie has caused great spiritual destruction in the Body of Christ, leading souls caught in such traps to abandon all hope.
[2] See Postmodernism

Acknowledgments

[1] Selwyn Hughes, Every Day With Jesus: The Transformed Life (Crusade for World Revival, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK: 1979)

Comments from Readers

[1] "As usual what a valuable teaching, Brother Christopher, as well as timely. Thanks and may you be doubly blessed for all you do and accomplish" (MM, USA, 16 August 2021)
[2] "Thank you very much for your message. This series is indeed important and I have learned a lot from it. South Africa, as you say, is currently going through a rough time - from mandatory vaccines for keeping your job, to riots and looting (with more planned to start next week), to the rising number of deaths from the [Covid] plague. Please pray that all this evil will be brought to a speedy end. Your section on grief was especially helpful since I have personally seen more death this year than any other year, especially close family" (RRB, South Africa, 16 August 2021)
[3] "This is amazing. Family please read. I'm needing all of this!" (HLY, USA, 27 August 2021)