I Will Take Nothing!
You will not find on The Bless Yahowah Web Site any request for donations, gifts, "love offerings", or any other form of help. Here's why.
2 Kings 5:1-27
Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him Yahowah had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior. But he was a leper.
Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Isra'el, and she waited on Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went in and told his master, saying, "Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Isra'el."
Then the king of Aram said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Isra'el."
He departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes. He brought the letter to the king of Isra'el, which said, "And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy."
When the king of Isra'el read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?! But consider now: see how he is seeking a quarrel against me?"
It happened when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Isra'el had torn his clothes, that he sent word to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Isra'el."
So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Yordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you, and you will be clean."
But Naaman was furious and went away, and said, "Behold, I thought, 'He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of Yahowah his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.' Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Isra'el? Could I not wash in them and be clean?"
So he turned and went away in a rage.
Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, "My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?"
So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Yordan, according to the word of the man of God: and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, "Look! Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Isra'el! So please, take a present from your servant now."
But Elisha said, "As Yahowah lives, before Whom I stand, I will take nothing."
Naaman urged him to take it, but Elisha refused.
Naaman said, "If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules' load of earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahowah.
'In this matter may Yahowah pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Yahowah pardon your servant in this matter."
Elisha said to him, "Go in peace."
So Naaman departed from Elisha some distance. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, "Behold, my master has spared this Naaman, the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought. As Yahowah lives, I will run after him and take something from him."
So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him and said, "Is all well?"
Gehazi said, "All is well. My master has sent me, saying, 'Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.' "
Naaman said, "Be pleased to take two talents."
And Naaman took out and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried them before Gehazi. When he came to the hill, Gehazi took them from their hand and deposited them in the house. He sent the men away, and they departed. But Gehazi went in and stood before his master.
And Elisha said to him, "Where have you been, Gehazi?"
Gehazi said, "Your servant went nowhere."
Then Elisha said to him, "Did not my heart go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever."
So he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
That same attitude of "I will take nothing from you for doing Yahowah's work" is the hallmark of every true child of Yah. Anyone who would seek to turn a profit from doing Yah's work or to have you "help defray expenses" is a liar and a thief. Yahowsha instructed us, "You have received freely. Give freely." He mentioned no exceptions to that plain and simple instruction.
There was a famous liar who claimed that Yahowsha commanded that "those who live the gospel should make their living from the gospel", but he was lying when he wrote that. There is no such thing as a "gospel", and Yahowsha would never have contradicted Himself in any way. We have just read how severely Yahowah judges those who would profit materially off His Name, Word, and merciful nature. So the false "apostle to the Gentiles" was lying, as usual.
The bottom line is, Yahowah tells us to seek Him and the things of His kingdom first, and everything else we need will be provided for us. So we don't need to pick the pockets of those who have taken the time to listen to what we have to say.
= יהוה = ee-ah-oh-ah = Yahowah /'iɑ∙o∙wɑ /
Song / Mizmor / Psalm 19:7
Yahowah's Towrah is complete and entirely perfect, returning and restoring the soul. Yahowah's testimony is trustworthy and reliable, making understanding and obtaining wisdom simple for the open-minded and receptive.
Yahowah's (
) Towrah (torah – teaching, guidance, direction, and instruction) is complete and entirely perfect (tamym – without defect, lacking nothing, correct, genuine, right, helpful, beneficial, and true), returning and restoring (suwb – transforming) the soul (nepesh – consciousness). Yahowah's testimony ('eduwth – restoring and eternal witness) is trustworthy and reliable ('aman – verifiable, confirming, supportive, and establishing), making understanding and obtaining wisdom (hakam – educating and enlightening oneself to the point of comprehension) simple for the open-minded and receptive (pethy – easy for those who are receptive).