Shabbat Shalom

Candace Long: Good morning and welcome to Shabbat Shalom. I'm Candace Long, your host and producer. Before Pastor Matt McKeown comes to teach, let me answer a question that came in from a listener. She wrote, "I have the Jewish calendar that you recommended and it says that we are in the year 5787. If the earth is supposed to end at 6,000 years, how did you come up with the date September 12, Rosh Hashanah, as the possible day that the Lord will return? I ask this respectfully."

First of all, I appreciate the manner in which she asked the question. We can all learn a great deal from this. Obviously, she is a genuine God seeker. Many years ago, I had the same question, and I found the answer on the last page of Rabbi Washer's excellent resource, "When All the Pictures are Restored." Here's what he wrote:

"In Seder Olam, a work from the second century by Rabbi Eliezer, the years of Jewish history are calculated. In that work, Eliezer only gave the Persian period 34 years, but the Persian period was 244 years long. That drops out 210 years. Now, I do not know why he made such a radical mistake in a Jewish world based and founded on absolute precision and accuracy. Perhaps it too was a picture. I do not know.

However, if you add those years back into the date of the present Jewish calendar and do some research in Jewish history, you will probably arrive at the same date that I have determined. To the best of my knowledge, the day of the Lord, the resurrection, and the birth pangs will fall on Rosh Hashanah 2030. The truth is, we are supposed to know when the Messiah himself is coming. We are supposed to know when the kingdom begins. God is a perfect communicator."

The listener wrote that the Jewish calendar gives the present year as 5787. So if you add the missing 210 years, which is how long Israel was enslaved by Egypt interestingly, you arrive at the year 5997, three years away. So how did I come up with my proposed date, which is based on a lot of my own research? Rabbi wrote the first edition of the book "Pictures" in 1997. Now, I'm not saying he's wrong and I'm right, but we did not have clues back then such as the worldwide pandemic in 2020 and the inoculation of almost every Jew in Israel with a genetically modified substance starting in Hanukkah, the feast of the dedication of the temple, which was when Antiochus Epiphanes polluted the temple in 168 BC, fulfilling a prophecy in Daniel 11.

I see this metaphorically as a scheme to pollute the bodily temple of every Jew. A key confirmation happened exactly three and a half years later from Pesach of 2020 with the Hamas attack. All of that influenced my opinion that we are in the final year of the 2,000-year period known by Jews as the Era of Messiah before the Day of the Lord. The key here is to study, to stretch yourself to listen. Shema, press your ear to learn what the Lord is saying, as this listener has done, as Rabbi has done, and as I have done.

Let's recite the Shema together. Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Baruch shem kavod malchuto l'olam va'ed. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. And the last section: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I set up for you this day shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your arm and as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and in your gates.

Matt McKeown: Good morning friends and welcome back to Shabbat Shalom, the radio program where we find out how the Torah applies to our modern lives today. Let's dig a little deeper into the Jewish roots of our Christian faith this week in a double portion of Parashat Matot-Masei. As we step into the final chapters of the book of Numbers, we find this portion that's deeply practical, deeply spiritual, and actually pretty relevant to everyday life today. It's a portion about transition, about preparation, and about the kind of people that God is shaping before they step into the promise.

It begins with something that might seem simple on the surface but carries tremendous weight. It begins with words, specifically vows. Moses gathers the leaders of the tribes and speaks to them about the importance of keeping one's word. He says that when a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he must not break his word. He must do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. This statement alone tells us something powerful about how God views speech. Words are not casual. Words are not empty. Words are binding.

Now, this is something that in our culture we've largely lost sight of. We live in a world where words are often treated as temporary, flexible, and easily adjusted. People say things without thinking, promise things without intending to follow through, and speak in ways that carry no real sense of weight. But in the Torah, words are treated as actions. To speak is to commit. To declare is to establish. There is a direct connection between what is said and what is done.

This makes sense when you consider the nature of God himself. God creates through speech. "Let there be light," and there is light. His words bring reality into existence. And because we are made in his image, there is a reflection of that creative power in how we speak. Our words may not create worlds, but they shape lives. They influence direction, they establish commitments, they build or break trust.

Now, the passage goes on to address specific situations, particularly involving vows made within a household structure and how those vows can be affirmed or nullified. While the cultural framework is specific to ancient Israel, the principle underneath is timeless. God is establishing order, accountability, and responsibility around speech. Words aren't just personal; they exist within relationship. What you say affects others. What you commit to has ripple effects beyond yourself.

And this is where it becomes practical because if we take this seriously, it changes how we speak. It changes how quickly we make promises. It changes how casually we say, "I'll do this," or "I'll be there," or "You can count on me." It forces us to slow down and recognize that our words carry weight and that integrity is built on not just intention but on follow-through.

Now, let's take this a step deeper. In the New Testament, Yeshua addresses this very issue. He says, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." In other words, your word should be enough. You should not need layers of explanation or reinforcement to make something believable. There should be a consistency between what you say and what you do, and that builds trust over time. This connects directly back to what we see in Parashat Matot. God is forming a people who reflect his nature, and part of that formation involves speech that is aligned with truth, speech that is reliable, speech that carries integrity.

Now, here's where this becomes even more personal because it's not just about what you say to others. It's about what we say to God. What promises have you made? What commitments have you declared? What things have you said in moments of emotion, moments of need, or moments of desperation? "God, if you do this, I'll do that." "I promise I'll change." "I'll follow you." Over time, it's easy for these words to fade, easy for these commitments to weaken, easy for life to move on while those spiritual promises remain unfulfilled.

But this portion reminds us that God hears those words, not in a harsh or condemning way, but in a way that calls us back to alignment. Because integrity with God matters. Faithfulness in the small things matters. Consistency in what we say and how we live matters. Now, there's also a grace in this. The Torah provides structure, not just to enforce but to guide. It recognizes that we're human, that situations are complex, and that there needs to be a framework for accountability.

But the underlying call is still clear: be a person whose words mean something. Now, think about how this plays out in your daily life, in your relationships, in your family, in your ministry, in your leadership. Are your words dependable? Do people know that when you say something, it will happen? Do your commitments carry weight? Because in many ways, your words are a reflection of your character. And when your words are consistent, your life becomes trustworthy. And when your life is trustworthy, it reflects something of God's nature to the people around you.

Now, as we move on to the next part, we're going to shift from words to action, from commitments spoken to battles fought. Because Israel is about to deal with Midian. And we're going to see what it looks like to confront something that previously led them into compromise. But it all begins here: with words, with integrity, with the recognition that what we say matters.

As we continue on in Parashat Matot, the first half of our double portion, the focus shifts from words to action. Israel is instructed to go to war against Midian. Now, this isn't just another battle in the wilderness journey. This is something very specific, something deeply connected to what happened earlier in their story. Midian was not just an external enemy. Midian was the source of a previous failure. It was through Midian that Israel was drawn into idolatry and immorality, into compromise that led to destruction within the camp. What could not be accomplished through curse from the outside was achieved through seduction from the inside. And now, before Israel steps into the promised land, God brings them back to that moment. But this time, they are not to fall into it; they are to confront it.

Now, this is important because it shows that God doesn't ignore unresolved issues. He doesn't simply move his people forward without addressing what has previously caused compromise. There are moments where something must be dealt with directly—not avoided, not minimized, not explained away. It must be confronted so that it does not continue to have influence. Now, this can be uncomfortable because confrontation is rarely easy. It requires clarity and courage. It requires a willingness to face something that may have been easier to leave behind. But if it's not dealt with, it remains. And what remains can resurface.

Israel goes into battle and they're victorious. They overcome Midian, and on the surface, it appears that the task has been completed. But when they return, something happens that reveals that the work is not fully finished. Moses becomes angry because the people who had led Israel into compromise have been spared. Now, this is not about unnecessary harshness. This is about understanding the source of the problem. The issue was not just the external threat; it was the internal influence. And if that influence remains, the same pattern can repeat itself.

This is where we need to be honest with ourselves because there are things in our lives that may not look like a threat on the surface, but they carry influence: patterns, relationships, habits, thought processes. Things that might not seem immediately destructive, but they have the potential to draw us out of alignment over time. And if we don't deal with them intentionally, they remain. Now, again, we have to be careful not to read this passage through a purely literal or physical lens when applying it to our lives. This is not about people; this is about influence. It's about identifying what leads us away from God and making a conscious decision to remove its hold.

Now, there's another layer here that's important to recognize. After the battle, there is a process of purification. The soldiers, the spoils, everything that has been part of the encounter must go through a process before it can be reintegrated into the camp. Nothing simply transitions back into normal life without being addressed. And this reveals something powerful: victory does not eliminate the need for cleansing. Just because something has been overcome doesn't mean that everything is automatically aligned. And this, although it seems simple, is huge. There's still a process of bringing things back into order, of making sure that what comes forward into the next season is clean, whole, and aligned with God.

Now, let's bring this into our lives. There are moments when we face something difficult, something that has influenced us in the past, something that has led us into compromise or distraction. And when we confront it, when we deal with it, there can be a sense of relief, a sense of victory. But the question is: have we fully dealt with it, or have we left pieces of it in place? Because partial obedience leaves room for future compromise.

And that's what this passage is addressing. God isn't just interested in temporary change; he's interested in lasting transformation. He's preparing a people who are about to step into promise, and he knows that if certain influences remain, they will carry those patterns into the next season. And this is where the grace of God meets the responsibility of his people. He reveals what needs to be addressed. He gives direction, he provides clarity, but we have to respond.

Now, here's the encouraging part. Israel does respond. They complete what was required. They bring everything into alignment. And then something beautiful happens. The leaders come forward and say that not one man was lost in the battle. And in response, they bring an offering to the Lord, not because they were required to, but because they recognized his hand in what has taken place. This is a moment of genuine gratitude, a moment of acknowledgment, a moment of recognizing that victory did not come from their strength alone. And this is the balance that we need to hold. Yes, we confront what needs to be confronted. Yes, we deal with what needs to be dealt with. But we also recognize that the strength to do so comes from God.

As we move into the next part, we're going to see a shift again—from battle to boundary, from confrontation to inheritance. But now the question becomes: how do we live in what God has given us? How do we handle what was entrusted to us? And now we're going to see that even blessing requires wisdom.

As we continue in Parashat Matot, the focus now shifts from confrontation to something more subtle but just as important. The battle with Midian is complete. The issue of compromise has been addressed. And now Israel stands on the edge of transition. They are preparing to finally enter the promised land. And right at this moment, a new situation arises, not from outside opposition but from within the camp.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad come to Moses with a request. They look at the land on the east side of the Jordan and they see that it's good for livestock. It fits their needs, it aligns with what they have. So they ask if they can settle there instead of crossing over into the land that God has promised to the rest of Israel. Now, at first glance, this seems reasonable. It's not rebellion, it's not idolatry, it's not outright disobedience. It's a practical request based on what they see in front of them.

But Moses' reaction is strong and tells us that there's more happening here than what appears to be on the surface. He immediately recalls the failure of the previous generation, the moment when fear kept Israel from entering the land. And he sees the potential for history to repeat itself. He hears this request and interprets it as hesitation, as pulling back from the full promise, as something that could discourage the rest of the people. And so he confronts them. He challenges their intention. He presses into the heart of the issue.

And this is important because it shows us that not every decision is simply about what is practical. It's about what it produces. The question isn't just, "Does this make sense?" but "What will this lead to?" Now, Reuben and Gad respond, and their response clarifies everything. They explain that they're not withdrawing from the mission, they're not abandoning the people. They're willing to go ahead of Israel to fight alongside them, to help secure the land for the other tribes before returning to their own portion.

Now, this changes the entire situation because now it's not about avoidance; it's about responsibility. It's not about stepping back; it's about stepping forward in a different way. And Moses recognizes that. He accepts their request, but with a condition: they must follow through, they must fight, they must stand with the rest of Israel until the work is complete. And if they don't, there will be consequences.

And then he makes a statement that has echoed through generations: "Be sure your sin will find you out." That's a phrase that's often quoted, but in context, it's not just a warning; it's a principle. What is hidden does not remain hidden forever. What is unresolved eventually surfaces. What is misaligned will reveal itself over time. But there's also a positive side to that truth. What is faithful will also be revealed. What is consistent will become evident. What is aligned will stand.

Let's bring this into our lives today because this moment with Reuben and Gad is incredibly relevant. There are times when something in front of you looks good. It fits your situation, it aligns with your resources, it makes sense practically. But the question isn't just, "Is it good?" The question is, "Is this aligned with the full calling that God has placed before me?" Because sometimes we can settle for what is good when God has called us to something greater.

Now, this doesn't mean that every different path is wrong. In this case, Reuben and Gad were allowed to settle in that land. But they were not allowed to disengage from the larger mission. They still had responsibility to the whole. And this is where balance comes in. God may lead you in a way that is specific to your life, your calling, your situation. But that direction will never disconnect you from his greater purpose. It will never isolate you from what he is doing in the lives of others. It will always carry a sense of responsibility beyond yourself.

Now, here's another important layer. Reuben and Gad had to go ahead of everyone else. They had to fight first. They had to carry weight before they could settle into what they desired. And that reveals something about how God works. Sometimes the thing you want isn't wrong, but the timing matters. Sometimes the desire is valid, but the process cannot be skipped. Sometimes the place you want to settle requires you to first step into something that stretches you. And this is where maturity is formed.

Now, think about your own life. Where are you making decisions based on what looks good right now? It makes sense in your eyes. Where are you evaluating based on comfort, convenience, or immediate fit? And where might God be asking you to consider something deeper—not just what works, but what aligns; not just what is available, but what is assigned? Because when those two things come together, something powerful happens. You don't just step into something that works; you step into something that carries purpose. And when you walk into that place, you begin to connect with something larger than yourself.

As we move into Parashat Masei, the tone shifts once again and we encounter something that might seem at first glance like a simple record. The Torah begins with a list of the stages of Israel's journey—every place that they traveled, every stop along the way, every moment from Egypt to where they now stand on the edge of the promised land. It reads almost like a travel log: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel." And then one location is named, and another is named, one after the other.

Now, it's easy to read through this quickly because it looks like just historical details, something meant to document rather than to teach. But if we slow down and pay attention, we begin to see that this is far more than a list. It's a reflection. This is a moment where God causes his people to look back before they move forward. And that's incredibly important because we are often so focused on where we're going that we forget to consider where we've been. We look ahead to the promise, to the next step, to the future that God is calling us into, but we don't always take the time to recognize the journey that brought us here.

But God does. He records it—every step, every movement. Now, think about what that means. Some of those places were moments of victory, some were moments of failure. There were moments of clarity and there were some moments of confusion. And yet every single one of them is included. Nothing wasted, nothing forgotten, nothing left outside the story. And this reveals something powerful about how God works, because he doesn't just value the destination; he values the journey. Because the journey is where transformation happens. It's where identity is formed. It's where trust is developed.

We all have our own journey list. Moments where God moved clearly, and moments where things didn't seem to make sense. Seasons where you felt very close to him, and seasons where you felt distant. Times that you saw breakthrough, and times where you struggled. And it's easy to categorize these moments—some as good, some as bad, some as success and some as failure. But in God's perspective, they're all part of the same story. They're all part of the same process. They're all contributing to something.

This means that even the places that looked like detours, even the places that felt like delays, are still all under his direction. This can be a challenging process because there are moments in life where things feel off track, like something has gone wrong, like you've taken a wrong turn or ended up somewhere you didn't expect. But here's the good news: God is still leading. And that changes how you see your story. Because instead of viewing certain seasons as wasted or meaningless, you begin to see them as formative. What was God trying to teach me in this moment?

As we come to the final part of Matot-Masei, we move from remembering the journey into defining the future. The people of Israel are standing at the edge of the promised land, and now God begins to outline the boundaries of that land. He defines where it begins and where it ends, how it's to be divided among the tribes. At first glance, this might just seem like geography, map-making, like simple instruction about land and territory.

But what we're actually seeing here is something much deeper. God is not just bringing his people into a land; he's giving them a defined place within it. Each tribe will know their portion, each family will know their inheritance. This isn't random; this is intentional. It's ordered. It's designed so that every person has a place within the larger promise. And this is important. It means that God's promises aren't vague; they're specific.

But it also means that not everything belongs to you. There are certain things he has portioned out for others. And that's important. One of the challenges we face is to step into things that were not assigned to us—comparing our portion with someone else's. That's what got Korah into trouble a few Torah portions ago: wanting something that someone else has, measuring our life against a different calling. And when that happens, we lose clarity that the boundaries are meant to provide.

Because within the structure of justice, God also builds mercy. Within the system of accountability, he also creates space for grace. Let's bring everything together that we've seen so far. In Matot, we saw the importance of words, the need to confront compromise, and the responsibility to walk in alignment even when making practical decisions. In Masei, we saw the value of remembering the journey, recognizing that every step had a purpose, and understanding that God had been leading all along.

And now at the end, we see the outcome of that process: a people who are ready to step into something defined, something structured, something with boundaries, something intentional. And the question for us is simple but powerful: Do you know what God has given you? Do you understand your portion? When you truly understand that, you stop comparing yourself to others. You stop chasing things that don't align with your calling. And even in the moments that don't make sense in our lives, we realize God was leading, he was forming. Those weren't detours; he was preparing you.

My friends, may you walk this week in a deep awareness of what God has entrusted to you, a clear understanding of the boundaries he has established in your life, and a confident trust that the one who has led you this far will continue to lead you into everything he has prepared. Shabbat Shalom.

Candace Long: Coming up next is Families Under Attack with Reijane Morrison. This week, Reijane is training listeners in how to build your ministry if the Lord is taking your ministry gifts to a higher level. I'm Candace Long, I want to welcome you to Families Under Attack with mental health counselor Reijane Morrison, helping you make sense of what you may be going through in your family. Now today we're going to do something a little different. As you know, in this series, Reijane has talked us through the major disruptors affecting families, and she's done a wonderful job addressing the top mental health challenges of our day. Next week will be our final episode of Families Under Attack, so we are dedicating these last two episodes to empowering you. Today's episode is called Building Your Ministry. If the Lord is leading you to get out there and take your ministry gifts to another level, how do you begin? Reijane, start with us telling us how you and Steve built Healing for the Nations. What's involved in starting from the ground up?

Reijane Morrison: You know, I think the Lord, because he orders our steps, it's easy when we get older, which we both are—

Candace Long: Oh, no.

Reijane Morrison: —to look back and answer this with a big smile on our face because we see how the Lord has moved. But my dad was a doctor, I thought I would be a doctor, so healing was always something in my heart. So I think the first thing is, God wires us with a heart and with passion. I was also a creative, so I loved to create, and there's something really beautiful when you think about creating and healing because healing is about life and more life, and so is creativity, right?

And it's moving into more of the fullness of our life and how we're uniquely created. So the first thing I would ask people to pray about is: what has God already been doing? What passions are there? When I look back at my life, how do I see him ordering my steps? And I've got to tell you, I was a messy stepper. I wanted to be a pediatric heart surgeon. Imagine that. I did. I wanted to be a surgeon. I was studying and knew all the bones in the body when I was 10 years old, drew them, made my own skeleton.

But I wasn't that great and didn't love math, which you've got to be really good at that. I was more of a creative. My father had an accident and went into psychiatry. And I believe I've shared with the listeners about roaming around as an eight, nine, ten-year-old at the state mental hospital and seeing things. So again, what life experiences? Where was God opening the door to discover through what we see? And it's a deep work. We don't sometimes have the connection of thoughts until we look back and go, "Wow, you've been doing this."

Candace Long: We have shared so much of our self-discovery time because together we probably have 100 years invested in self-discovery. And I've heard from listeners and they are very much tuned into what we have already shared, so you're building upon that.

Reijane Morrison: That's right. So I was a—I would call it a very secular Christian. I did church, I grew up in church. But there were some choices and things that happened to me in my life that really made me more desperate for God. So, desperate for God is really important. And through that, I went from a good old Methobaptist—those were the influencers in my life, Methodist and Baptist—to encountering this thing called the Holy Spirit.

So I would say to the listeners, if you have not been Spirit-filled—and I'm not talking about the Spirit-filled that comes with salvation, I'm talking about the gifts of the Spirit, a prayer language—that intimacy that that offers with the Lord, that's when I began to hear the connections were coming. And the call came. I had a prophetic word over me, and I think we have to be very careful about being dependent upon prophetic words. We've talked a lot about testing those, right?

But I had a word about having a voice and proclaiming God's truth and that he would help me. And that's happened. And then probably five years after that—it was five years—I had the "I want to heal my people, put me to the test" God encounter that became the calling of my life.

Candace Long: What you said is very key: that happened within five years. What we're talking about here for our listeners is not a quick, "Okay, I have to make a decision. Let me go out and get an LLC and put up my sign."

Reijane Morrison: Yeah. And it's a training and equipping. And the lookback—I bet you could see this too. I mean, we're both very creative, kind of divergent, we can think of a lot of different things and then bring them into something. God's doing a lot of things to equip us. So I would say to the listener: what have your experiences been, what are your passions? Have you presented those to the Lord? And if you already know that, the Holy Spirit is going to be our teacher, our guide.

He's going to draw us to—like you and I both have great respect for John and Paula Sandford, some of the pioneers of inner healing. And it's so interesting how we can see God drawing us to certain things. And that's been something I've really trusted the Holy Spirit with. What do I listen to? What do I not listen to? What do I pay attention to? Because there's a lot of noise out there, a lot of experts, and we want the Holy Spirit to do that.

Candace Long: The thing I want listeners to know is that my guess is that many of them have ministry gifts. The Lord's coming back. He's going to take the ministers, the ones he's going to train as priests. So they have to have some kind of sense that, "I'm a minister, but I don't know quite how to begin." And so you look for: how has God been using me? If I have been counseling with my neighbor or my best friend and have seen miraculous things happen when I pray over her or him, then that's a sign that God is blessing or anointing some part of what you do. And obviously, that began to happen in your life. You want to comment on that?

Reijane Morrison: Yes. I mean, I look back and I see miraculous things. And when God moves, he also gives favor. He provides, he provides miraculously. So we were called to England. That became a training ground. I thought we were going there to train them. Well, that whole experience trained us to get us ready for the retreat ministry that we do today.

Candace Long: Was that your beginning officially?

Reijane Morrison: Well, my work in the psychiatric hospitals was a training ground of the stir for more. It was a secular environment, and that's where that passion began of, "I want to see this happen in Christian circles, in the body of Christ, for the body of Christ." And the time in England, the growth that was happening—one of the things that I knew that I wanted to equip people, so there's focus, discipleship, growth. Because I shared in an earlier episode with the things that happened around the "I want to heal my people," being able to see into the spiritual realm, I thought I was going to have a deliverance ministry.

Candace Long: Right.

Reijane Morrison: And that's important in the body. But as I prayed into that, it was clear: I want to equip people for growth and for those times of deliverance to really stick when they have them. And I had to work through: what does that mean? And that's where the Sandfords came in, so many pioneers that—

Candace Long: We grew up in the soaking ministry.

Reijane Morrison: We did.

Candace Long: You know, and I would go places and just soak and learn how to soak because for you and me, we're very much doers, and it was hard for me anyway to sit down and soak because I kept wanting to get up and do. But I know that Dr. Robert McGee's work played a key role in your personal development as a key mentor. How did you build upon his work to make it your own? And I want to read something for our listener here. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 15, where he says—and I'm going to abbreviate a little bit here—"I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has done through me, to preach the gospel to Gentiles, lest I build on another man's foundation." And this is very key because a listener cannot just take someone else's material, slap their name on it, put out a business card. That's illegal. So I remember early on after I'd written "The Levitical Calling," a woman who had a dance ministry, a liturgical dance ministry, was so revolutionized by this book that she wrote me and she said, "I want your permission to write a book based on your book." And I said, "No. You may not do that." But see, I was new in that part of the ministry myself. So there is a difference here between creating your own curriculum. So how did you incorporate Dr. McGee's work into your curriculum?

Reijane Morrison: Well, first of all, we had a very God encounter with how we met. That was very clear—the Lord had put us together. Robert was a strange Texas guy, very large man, big ideas, so creative. And he loved me because I could take his ideas and make them happen. But he would make you crazy with all of his ideas. One of the things that he'd already done is he had written the book "Search for Significance." The same year that I had had my vision from the Lord, almost the same time his book came out. And what was beautiful about his book that so inspired me was he made it very simple. The lies of the world system: performance, approval, blame, and shame—four traps, we'll call them—and how they counter the love message and what Jesus did on the cross. And to me, that was like, wow. So that, because of our work together, and I worked for Rapha—"The Lord is my healer," interesting, right?—he recruited me, I helped him basically expand the Rapha ministry. He had one pilot hospital program in Galveston, Texas when he called me and he said, "You're the one, I want you to help me," because I had done a lot of that in the secular world, okay? But we became—he was literally like not just my mentor, but a big brother. And when we were called to England, I continued to work for Rapha. I helped write some of the first Christ-centered 12-step addiction programs before "Celebrate Recovery" even, which is probably the most known in terms of Christ-centered programs. So I was continuing to work. But he decided he would come to England and send his wife and go through our weekend retreats that we had started. And I had permission from him to reference and use the "Search for Significance."

Candace Long: Okay, let's stop here. This is very important because a lot of people don't seek that permission. This may put you on the spot—did you have that in writing as a memorandum of understanding?

Reijane Morrison: Well, yes and no. This comes back to Robert being a funny guy. What happened is, he was so impressed with our intensive retreat, he knew that the insurance model in this country was going to change. If anybody remembers when HMOs and PPOs came in, and he said, "The model for our company will not be sustainable." He said, "I want to pass the baton to you. I want to help fund"—this is the favor of the Lord that came out of the blue. We thought we would be in England forever. We sold everything to go and respond to the Lord's calling there, which was full of visions and amazing stories. But when he said it, we knew the Lord had already been working on us. That's another thing: we don't just get it; we continue to evolve in the Lord and what he's doing.

Candace Long: You were creating the retreat model and you had his permission to use some of the guts of what his material was, and then you began to expand and grow your material.

Reijane Morrison: Yeah, he helped us—he literally funded us coming back from England, helped us set up with the house. I continued to do consulting work with Rapha, but he said, "I want you to do a more extended retreat, I will fund that." So in our 501(c)(3) that we had to create, the paperwork is there and he was on our board. So that's kind of our covering, okay? One of the things he said—and it's a different approach from what you've done—is he went through so many Christians trying to in essence steal his material.

Candace Long: Absolutely.

Reijane Morrison: That to try to defend it legally, he said, "This will bankrupt you and you don't"—he laughed, he laughed. He said, "Reijane, you don't have that kind of money. You're just going to have to be smart and trust the Lord." And you know, let him be wise about what you do and how you do it. But he said, "You can think you're protecting everything, but ultimately the enemy can get in that and make you crazy." And I've had—I actually wrote some material while I was working for him, pioneered that, and when I left to go to England, a man in the company took it over, made probably a million dollars on that material—I'm not going to mention what it is—and we were poor little missionaries, never got a penny of that.

Candace Long: Well, and I think that's when you and I met years ago because I know exactly who you're talking about and what all went down. People who know me know that I'm very anal about protecting one's intellectual property because it is—there's nothing more infuriating. I had a major, major Christian leader—won't mention names—I had been working years creating my messaging and my branding in the arts field, in creativity and innovation. And so I was invited to speak to a group of ministry leaders in Washington, D.C. So I went there, this person was on the dais, and so heard me speak. The person—I won't tell what sex it is—took that and began to utilize that. And I heard it and it was my wording, my messaging, my branding, my positioning, my mission, everything that I had spent years. I was absolutely livid. And I know exactly how God feels when he has created something, when Satan comes in and takes his creation and assumes ownership of it. And people don't understand, they think that as Christians or as a faith-based people that everything we do ought to be for public domain.

Reijane Morrison: Yeah, and that's super, super sad because they don't have the heart behind it. I mean, certainly what Robert, "The Search for Significance" material, I would say is foundational because we want the cross to be the center, right? But one of the things—I worked with him on revising the "Search" a couple of times. And we take things much deeper. And he never got that. In fact, he said, "Well, people won't want to do that or go there." He had some fear of man, I suppose, right? But you can, one, have permission if you're going to use somebody's ideas, as we've shared. But two, the Lord is going to give you your own unique voice, your own unique way of presenting that material. And a person coming in and trying to take it because it's a good idea never got that calling, never got that voice, doesn't understand the powerful things that can happen when that voice goes astray, right?

Candace Long: Let me speak a minute about the legalities because a lot of people don't understand about filing a copyright notification. When you write material, like I'm sure you have, I want to talk to our listener about the difference between an original work that is copyrighted with the Library of Congress and a derivative work. There's two different things. There was a piece of music, a particular album that Robert Sterns did that was just brilliant. And I loved the album, but I was envisioning parts of different of his pieces to put together as one unit, and then I was going to write a narrative on top of that because the music itself told a story that I wanted to take bits and pieces. But of course, I didn't have permission to do that. So I contacted his company and I paid a fee and I gave them a memorandum of understanding, told exactly what I wanted to do and asked their permission to do that and to edit that particular work for my album "Audeo." And they were pleased with that. So I have a document that is a contract, it is a licensing permit. So if you were to take someone else's material and you want to adapt that and create your own thing, that is doable with the Library of Congress, but it is called a derivative work. I'm telling this to listeners. So you put their copyright on there because that belongs to them, that does not belong to you. But what you are copyrighting is the original work that you are then utilizing that and adding to, to make a new work. And that's what you're copyrighting. So once you have that legal document, if you find that they have just taken off with your material, now you have legal claim because God has given ideas for us to steward because he has vetted us carefully. Will Reijane be trustworthy? Will Candace be trustworthy with this material? Can I trust them to steward this revelation? Will they fight for it if it is encroached upon? And so all of that, I wanted to make sure they knew that.

Reijane Morrison: And I just want to reiterate that everything that's created for believers is sacred in its own way. It's not, "Oh, well, this is about the Lord, so I can do whatever I want to do," okay? That's not honoring to the author, to the Lord, or to yourself when you do that.

Candace Long: No. A classic example are—and I don't mean to be picking on dance ministries—but if they take someone's hit song and they go into a church where they're contracted to minister, they get paid to come in and do a ministry teaching. You are now dancing to their material and you do not have a license for that. That is theft. That is theft. God cannot honor that and cannot honor your ministry. It's something I feel very strongly about that people do not know about. If people send links to a YouTube video of music, I don't know if they've paid to stream that, because that's a form of stealing. See, I'm just extremely cautious with that because of the value of one's intellectual property.

Reijane Morrison: Well, we do a chapel as part of our—it's a worship service kind of time in the morning and sometimes in the evening on our retreats. And we pay a licensing fee to be able to play music for people to hear if we're doing a playlist which we start and end with somebody else's music.

Candace Long: You're doing it correctly.

Reijane Morrison: Absolutely.

Candace Long: Absolutely. That's how God can bless a ministry. Are there other ways that you compensate or honor your mentors, rather than the word "compensating," because we've kind of talked about that?

Reijane Morrison: Something that's very important: the mentor word is very important. One of the ways people get in trouble—and I'm sure every—as we share, people will think of big names, people who have fallen. They don't have a circle advisory board, mentors, board of directors, trusted people that have the courage to say hard things to them that they're going to listen to. And that's been one of the most important things in my life: I have a group of people. And out of that group, I'm more honest with a few than with all of them, but there's wisdom in godly counsel. But we also have to have a humble heart for correction. And that's one of the most important things—that humility, those voices that we know are the Lord, that our heart stays soft and that we don't develop pride in what we do, because it is so subtle how it comes in and the enemy is going to devour at that point. And he loves to destroy because the ripple effect into the kingdom is so great. So we've talked about material protection. I'm talking about soul protection, our hearts, that we stay, "O Lord, where am I off track?" And the other thing—and I'm sure you've been through this—is we can't hold on too tightly to our ministry. There are going to be strategic seasons where we have to be willing to say, "Lord, it doesn't look like you're providing for this anymore. What do you want to tell me? Is it time to quit?"

Candace Long: When the well dries up.

Reijane Morrison: And it will. It absolutely will. And we will have tough seasons. So people, you will wonder, you will doubt. In your internal belief systems, you've got to have tools for your heart, those equipping tools, to face these things that come up.

Candace Long: That is excellent, excellent. But if you have a situation going on in your family, I want to refer you to our shabbatshalomradio.com page. Look for the button at the top that says Email the Show. Now, if you want to reach out to Reijane directly, you'll find her contact information included in her handout on our main page. I'm Candace Long and you've been listening to Families Under Attack with Reijane Morrison. Join us next Saturday morning from 6:30 to 7:00. Shabbat Shalom. Coming up in the next hour is Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Michael Washer, followed by part three of "Uncovering the Ancient Snare," which interestingly was written right after Hamas attacked Israel, which was when the entire vaccine pollution scheme was coming together for me. Stay tuned for the second hour on WEEA AM 590, our media partner for shabbatshalomradio.com.