It is time.  It is time that the people of Yah take off their glasses of rigid religiosity and begin to see with pure eyes.  No more seeing the Creator of the Universe, and His Word, through lenses of religious perspective and preconceived ideas.  It is time to see them as they are; through eyes of Shalom.

But what exactly is Shalom?  Many of us may realize that the Hebrew word, Shalom, means “peace”; but not everyone will understand that encompassed in this one Hebrew word is an amazing, awe-inspiring array of beautiful concepts that can only be conveyed in the English language with a number of words.  Some of these English words include:

Peace, Wellness, Wholeness, Connectedness, Abundance, Health, Confidence, Safety, Soundness, Entire, Goodness, Flexibility, Harmony.

The Creator desires His people to no longer have hearts of stone – no more hearts full of fear, rigidity and stony boxes.  He wants His people to have hearts of flesh: hearts that are according to His design – open to all that He is; all His beauty, love, abundance and health.  He wants us to be joined to Him – to be His people and to have the ability to soar high above all of the difficulties and troubles of the world around us.  He wants us to stop reacting and start educating.  He wants us to stop worrying and start spreading confidence in Him, and all that He is as the Creator of all things.   He wants us to proclaim His loving abundance that literally surrounds us everywhere in the creation; to realize how disconnected we are from the things that He has perfectly designed for us; to choose better than spending our days in the "box" buildings of men's creation; and consuming the distorted "foods" of men's design.  He wants us to spread hope in Him to anyone who will receive.

"Where can I go from Your Spirit, [YHVH]?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me."
(Psalm 139: 7-10)  

The concept of Shalom, with its full meaning including the concepts of health, balance and connectedness; is central to Yah's purpose and message within the Words of the Hebrew Scriptures.  It is a theme that once we start looking for it and delving deeper into the Hebrew Words of Yah; a whole amazing picture emerges that helps us to connect with Who the Creator really is.

It is a theme that is far too vast to deal with in one single podcast session; nevertheless, this audio recording that was recorded a few months ago is my attempt to introduce and break open this subject.  In sharing this podcast, it is my hope that you will be inspired to look into it more and meditate on what it truly means for us as His people as we move forward, seeking to be a part of what He is doing on the earth.

In beginning to look at this marvellous subject, we find that even at the very beginning of Genesis the topic of balance (shalom) begins to unfold.  There is much to consider even in Genesis, chapter 1; in relation to the act of creation itself; but for the sake of this particular podcast episode, we focus in on Genesis chapter 2.

"And out of the ground YHVH, God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Gen 2:9)

And, we begin to take a look at the following questions:
What were these two trees in the midst of the garden of Eden?
What really happened back in the garden of Eden?
What does the garden of Eden story mean to us?
What is: "good" and "evil"?
These are fundamental questions that many of us who study and ponder the Bible will likely have asked a...