Who Is God?

Shemesh, Batya

ISBN 10: 1514457458 / ISBN 13: 9781514457450

Published by XLIBRIS, 2016

Seller Inventory # I-9781514457450

Synopsis:

For millions of years, God had been creating and destroying many worlds. Finally, the Almighty decided to make a man in His Image. He would give mankind intelligence beyond all other creations. In this new world, God would seek out a friend in a human being with whom He would be able to communicate. He loves His creations and wishes to be loved as a father. In this book, Batya tells the story of how God first approached her. She then writes about God’s point of view on questions of free choice, justice, guilt, punishment, reincarnation, and more. With the Bible as her witness, Batya is brave enough to face difficult topics of faith in a very friendly, clear, and easy-to-read writing style.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Who Is God?

By Batya Shemesh

Xlibris

Copyright © 2016 Batya Shemesh
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5144-5745-0

Contents

Introduction, ix, 
Chapter 1. I Heard a Voice, 1, 
Chapter 2. Who Is God?, 13, 
Chapter 3. First Days of Creation, 47, 
Chapter 4. Music for the Soul, 62, 
Chapter 5. Guilt, 88, 
Chapter 6. Free Choice, 115, 
Chapter 7. Does God Know the Future?, 138, 
Chapter 8. Why a Holocaust?, 150, 
Chapter 9. Who Is the Messiah?, 186, 
Chapter 10. Life after Life, 223, 
Glossary, 267, 
Index, 281, 

CHAPTER 1

I Heard a Voice

      Once upon a time,
      There was a story that would
      Change my night to day.
      A story of a
      different way,
      Beginning to perceive
      What we believe.
      This changed my life.

      How could this be true?
      It is the story of an ordinary Jewess.
      The story about how
      You came to me.
      The story about who I
      Came to be.
      You're in my heart.

      I heard your voice
      When no one else could hear.
      You made your choice
      When you brought me near.
      You gave me wisdom
      Beyond my years.

      There's no one I will fear,
      'Cuz you'll be there for me.
      There's no one else
      Who really cares for me
      The way you do.
      I love you too.

In the summer of 1988, I was walking down a cobblestone street in Jerusalem with my baby girl in a stroller, on my way to our neighborhood grocery store. We had serious financial problems at the time, on top of which my husband, now my ex, was also stingy. He refused to pay the tab we owed the grocery. I was ashamed to go there and face them, but we were out of bread. Every day I prayed to God to help me. "Hashem, save me! Give us food, if not in my merit than in the merit of my two innocent children." (Hashem is the name we call God when we are not reading from the Bible or prayer book.)

I barely had enough money to buy a loaf of bread when I met another American Jewish woman whose name was Barbara. I was a twenty-eight-year old married Orthodox Jewish woman and mother of two; a five-year-old boy who was in school at the time, and a little eighteen-month-old baby girl. When the baby and I arrived at the store, it was closed because of a death in the storeowners' family. Barbara arrived at the grocery store the same time I did. She was also discouraged because the store was closed, so we started up a conversation. She invited me up to her apartment, and I went up with my baby.

When I walked in the door chimes rang. I looked around and saw dolls on the mantles and on the bookshelves. Two of the dolls were Chinese woman with Buddhist dress sitting in a lotus position. The atmosphere felt thick and low key. The dolls were not there for a little girl to play with. It felt like a place idol worship. I wondered if Barbara was into prohibited mystical or magical ceremonies. I was a little scared. She took me into a room with a massage table and told me she healed people by touching them. I knew a lot about natural medicine, vitamins, and herbs, but back in 1988, I had never heard of hands-on healing. She gave me a free treatment and told me that I was going to become a great healer. I was pleased, but I couldn't imagine that it could ever happen.

A few days later, I told Barbara about my sister-in-law Suzanne who didn't feel well. We called her, and she made an appointment with Barbara. Suzanne came with me a few days later for her appointment.

Barbara liked me and lent me books to learn what she was doing. What I remember most, is a book on kinesiology. Kinesiology today is a very popular way of diagnosis, but was almost unknown at the time. Barbara instructed me to hold up my arm and resist while she pressing downward. According to how strongly I was able to hold my arm against her force, she was able to tell me what happened to me in my past and diagnose my physical health. With her encouragement, I started practicing what she taught me right away.

During the same period, my neighbor Rachel started visiting me at my home. Rachel's husband was friendly with my father. I hadn't seen him for five years, since the birth of my son. Rachel told me that my father was crying day and night and he yearned to see me again. She insisted that I should reconcile with him.

My husband, Jacob, convinced me to sever contact with my father after the birth of our son. I had disclosed to Jacob how my father had physically and emotionally abused my brother, sister, and me when we were children. Jacob feared he would be a bad influence our children.

I kept dismissing Rachel until my father finally wrote me a letter. In the past, I had asked my rabbi for permission to meet with my father without my husband's knowledge. The rabbi did not consent. He told me to try to convince my husband to allow me to see my father without the children. My husband still refused. I didn't insist, argue, or complain about it, even though my father was really sorry about his past, I understood Jacob's point of view.

My father's letter was very dramatic. He closed the letter by imploring me to see him or his blood would be on my hands. I was very moved by his letter, and I thought that in no way was I going to be a murderer by refusing to see him. I discounted the lack of approval and consent from the rabbi and my husband. Taking the initiative, I decided to clandestinely meet my father and mother in a nearby park. I took my little daughter, Gila, in the baby carriage while my son was at kindergarten. I shook with fear. I was afraid that my husband would catch me. I was also afraid to meet my father. More than these fears, the fear of what might happen to my father if I didn't agree to see him conquered all.

This was a big breakthrough for me. I decided that I didn't care what anyone said; I wouldn't be the cause of my father's early demise. I got the courage and conviction to conquer my fears and followed through with my plans to meet my father. Even so, I was trembling the whole way down to the park and was shocked when I saw him.

Daddy had lost at least forty pounds, he was emaciated and his beard had turned white. My mother did not appear to have aged as my father had. They were very nice to me, and I was friendly too. I remember showing them the kinesiology that I was learning.

The next week we met again, same time, same place. This time my father's mother came with my parents. My grandmother was a psychic. When she was three years old, she had dreamed that an angel came down like a flame and told her that Arabs were planning a riot in their town in Turkey. At that time Turkey was Moslem but the majority of the citizens were of pure Turkish descent, not Arabic. Grandma told the dream to her father, who was the rabbi of the town, and he believed her. He told everybody to abandon the town and head for their relatives in other areas. Just as my grandmother dreamed Arab mobs came and destroyed property, but no one was there to get hurt. Thanks to her, the townspeople were saved.

My grandmother gave psychic advice to people her whole life without ever considering herself important or charging any money. She was about seventy-eight years old at the time of this story and had cancer. She said she didn't want to use her psychic powers anymore; she wanted to bestow them on me. She blessed me and assured me that I would become a healer and help a lot of people.

As soon as she said this, I started to have unusual feelings and visual experiences. I saw that my grandmother wasn't going to die from the cancer. I touched my father and envisioned a child screaming in a crib. He told me that as a baby, he became caught between the bars of his crib. This was the vision that I was seeing.

My grandmother survived the cancer and lived another thirteen years, until the ripe old age of ninety-one. In all those years, she never used her psychic powers again. She just prayed to God from her heart all day long.

An Unforgettable Conversation

As we walked together toward my apartment, I continued to see all kinds of visions. When I got home, I started hearing sounds. Among the different voices came a voice that said, "I am Hashem."

I said, "What? It can't be!"

"Yes, yes, it's Me!"

"How is that possible?"

"It's really Me. I've been with you all the time."

The voice was close to me. Hashem spoke as if we were good friends. I stopped and thought, Is this true? Is this really God speaking? What can I demand of God to prove that He is God? If I ask Him to do a miracle, maybe He won't want to do so. If I ask Him to tell me the future, I won't know if it's true until the future arrives.

I quickly thought to seek proof by asking Hashem about something having to do with learning Torah. I learned from my youth that God loves to teach. I said, "I am going to test You. I am going to ask You a question, and You'll tell me where the answer is in the Bible — in what book and on what page." We had a big library because my husband was in the business of selling Jewish books. I asked, "Why did You create such a big universe with so many planets that don't have life on them?"

I got an answer to go to Psalm 147:4-5 "He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit."

Hashem explained to me that in order to have mercy on the world, He needed the world to be small and cute, like a baby. In order to make the world small, He had to make the universe large, since size is only a matter of proportion. I was very impressed and happy that I wasn't imagining things; the Psalm that God told me to read really had to do with stars and planets. Also, the answer was truly insightful and beyond my ability to ever invent.

I asked another question. "Why do wicked people succeed in life?" I was guided to Psalm 11:4:

"When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.

For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face"

God explained to me that wicked people are anxious to do evil. He gave us free choice in the world, and He doesn't stop the wicked. If the foundations, meaning what the person worked for in his or her life (for example, marriage, job, creations, or even children), become destroyed, the righteous shouldn't give up hope because God loves good people. Even if you aren't perfect but you are honest with yourself and others, you will merit seeing God's ways in this world and meeting Him in the world to come.

After a few more questions, I asked, "Why are you talking to me?"

Hashem told me to look in Isaiah 58:7–9,

"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always;"

I understood that Hashem wanted me to help people by answering their questions and mine.

A person who is weak because of poor nutrition is a hungry person. By teaching him what to eat, I am feeding the hungry. If a person is physically cold from poor health and I give them herbs to help his circulation and immune system, I am clothing the naked. People who are weak and unable to help themselves or have such poor digestion that they can hardly eat are miserably poor, much poorer than those who are financially impoverished. These are the people that Hashem wants me to help.

In the future people would be begging for help. I learned that I shouldn't be cold and ignore their cries because I don't have any appointments open for them or for any other excuse. "Do not turn away from your flesh and blood." I was meant to tune into my intuition, my gut feeling, and then make a decision If I should go out of my way for them or send them to someone else.

I kept asking questions for days. On the fourth day, I asked, "What is happening to me?"

I was guided to the book called Guide to the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides. I read that there are different kinds of clairvoyance. Prophecy. The Holy Spirit. Then there is spirit of God. Prophecy is when a person goes into a trance, and is neither aware of himself nor his surroundings. He sees a vision and/or hears a voice in a very powerful and even shocking way. Abraham, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all had prophecies in this manner. An exception to the rule is Moses, who had prophecy without falling down or dreaming.

The Holy Spirit is called Ruach Hakodesh in Hebrew. It means that a person is endowed with a voice from Hashem and receives information even if he doesn't understand it.

Spirit of God is a voice coming from God but is limited to what you can understand and what you've learned. Hashem told me that this is the type of clairvoyance that I was having. I made a decision at that moment to start learning as much as I can, in order to get answers from Hashem. For twenty-five years, I continued to attend courses, read books, research the Internet, get together with other healers, and most of all, learn from my own patients. All was for the purpose of learning more and more so that Hashem will be able to guide me more and more.

I asked, "But why do you have to choose me?"

Hashem said to look in Amos 9:9.

"Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not totally destroy the descendants of Jacob," declares the Lord. "For I will give the command, and I will shake the people of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground. All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, all those who say, 'Disaster will not overtake or meet us."

In Jewish tradition, "the house of Jacob" refers to the women, and "the sons of Israel" refers to the men. When I first read this, I understood that God was telling me that women will be first to get prophecy in the time of the redemption and that other women like me will also get messages from Him. Now I understand that God was also hinting to me that He wouldn't destroy me. Instead He will take me away from my husband as grain is shaken from a sieve. Then I would begin my life's mission.

For the twenty-eight years Hashem has been teaching me. The more I learned from Hashem, the more questions I had. Only after about twenty years did I start getting a better understanding of God and His Bible and I began to write. As I wrote, I had more questions. Now, instead of our once-a-week learning schedule, I found myself learning all week long.

Sometimes I wrote after I got an intuitive idea, and sometimes Hashem dictated sentences and phrases to me. As I wrote, Hashem helped me find quotes to explain and prove my point. I began to really enjoy the learning. Hashem continued sharing His secrets with me and my husband, and I just kept writing and writing more ideas and more revelations. Hashem is infinite, so is His wisdom. What's limited is our ability to understand.

Through this amazing book that He helped me write, you will learn so much about who God is that you will not be the same person. This book is a major breakthrough. It is revolutionary in understanding major and minor questions of faith and understanding God's character.

Having conversations with God is very fascinating. Slowly I began to understand how He operates. Essentially, God and man are very much alike. We were created in His image with a whole array of emotions. Those emotions are in the likeness of God. The next chapters will put all those emotions into action so we can all have an amazing understanding of who God is, and How we can have a better understanding of His point of view.

CHAPTER 2

Who Is God?

Many people ask, "Is there a God?" That is the question on which my aunt Betty was pondering for years. My aunt, my mother's sister was an atheist. My mother was brought up in a traditional Jewish home but they were not religious. Betty was a rebel she wasn't one to keep tradition based on tradition alone. My mother became orthodox when she was only twelve years old. The rabbi of her Hebrew school helped her observe the Sabbath and study the Torah. She married my father who was an orthodox Jew and they brought us up in an orthodox home with a full time religious education.

I wanted to help my aunt believe in God so when I found this set of DVDs called Intelligent Design. I sent her a copy. I highly recommend them to everyone. It is a documentary of a group of Darwinist scientists who decided to go on an objective mission to prove that Darwin was right. Deep in the unchartered crevices of the earth the Cambrian Explosion was discovered. This entire population of sea creatures that lived millions of years ago, came into being almost overnight.

This discovery and many more forced these scientists to come to the conclusion that there is one Creator. A Creator that has intelligence and created a world with the deliberate intention to enable us to study it.

There is a book called "Signature in the Cell" by Stephen C. Meyer. He explains our DNA storage patterns are so complex, that even a top computer engineer cannot duplicate them. Furthermore, they are an application of the same type of patterns that the best engineers in the country have worked for years to figure out. He and his colleagues have come to the conclusion that the one creator of the world is even smarter than they are. Another book was written by the same author called "Darwin's Doubt" which exposes the discovery of the Cambrian explosion as proof of an intelligent creator.

After fifty years of being a sworn atheist my aunt Betty was convinced that there is an intelligent designer of the world, the next question was, "Who is He? What is he like? What does he want from us?" I answered my aunt's question with a quote in Isaiah 40:28. "Did you know? Did you hear that Hashem is the God of the world? He creates the corners of the earth, doesn't tire, and doesn't get weary. There is no contemplating his wisdom."

I explain to Aunt Betty that these were questions of a prophet to our nation at a time when they were so drenched in idol worship that they forgot who Hashem was. She said, "I guess times haven't changed that much."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Who Is God? by Batya Shemesh. Copyright © 2016 Batya Shemesh. Excerpted by permission of Xlibris.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Bibliographic Details

Title: Who Is God?
Publisher: XLIBRIS
Publication Date: 2016
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New