It is a little known fact in the “town square” that Christianity, at its very
outset, was Jewish. Rather than belabor that point, I simply sight
chapter 15 in the Book of Acts of the New Testament, as being about a small
group of Jewish believers in Y'shua (Jesus) getting together to discuss the
plausibility of the notion that a Gentile can come to believe in Y'shua without
first becoming a Jew.
Whereas in the First
Century A.D., it was a mystery that a Gentile could believe in Y'shua, Today,
in the 21st Century, it is a mystery that a Jew can believe in Y'shua. To
date, I have not yet found an adjective that can adequately describe just how
ironic this is!
Today, we are
engaged in what has popularly been dubbed a “war on terror”. In light of
the fact that this war is a struggle between Islam and the West with its
potpourri of divergent belief systems, I believe that it is safe to say rather
axiomatically that...
Until the human race
collectively comes to a consensus about who God is, what He is like and what He
expects from us, we shall forever be at war.
This axiom is
corroborated in the “Oleynu” prayer in Jewish liturgy which ends with a quote
from the Prophet Zechariah…
“On that day (the day when peace
reigns on earth) the Lord shall be One and His Name shall be One.”
As I see it there
are three possible ways by which we can come to this consensus1:
1. We humans willingly debate the issue rationally and
dispassionately
2. One particular view is dictatorially imposed upon everyone else, or
3. The truth is irrefutably revealed to everyone.
It is unlikely that
the members of "our species" will agree on anything.
Personally, I find that this substantiates the reality of the doctrine of
sin. We humans are too arrogant and biased to relinquish our points of
view despite the evidence. The afore mentioned axiom would concur that
this reality is to our detriment because it inhibits the unanimity necessary
for the prevention of war.
Sadly, even if the
truth were to be irrefutably revealed to everyone (which I do believe will happen one day in the future), in the state our
world is presently in, many would still reject it. In reality, I’m pretty well
convinced that this objective truth already exists today. The writer of
the Book of Proverbs declared “Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice
in the square;” (Prov. 1:20). Even though the
voice of Wisdom can metaphorically be heard today, I fear that her voice is
drowned out by the rabble of foolishness... whether it come in the form of peer
pressure, vogue thinking, tradition, individuals assumed to be experts, predetermined prejudices, any
other of a myriad of influences on thought processes or just plain
unwillingness on the part of people to put in the effort to think critically.
Unfortunately, in
this day and age, there seems to be only two remaining alternatives… continued
war or the imposition of a world view upon the masses by a dictator or group of
self-appointed dictatorial elitists. The former alternative is
destructive at face value to say the least. The latter alternative is most likely inconsistent with objective truth.2
Feeding heavily into
this “gemish” of confusion over the nature of God, what He might be like and
what He expects from us, is the fideistic rejection by the Jewish people of the
Messiahship of Y’shua. As a whole, the Jewish community defines a
Jew as someone who is the child of a Jewish mother but who also does not believe in
Y’shua. To much of the Jewish community, the contention that Y’shua is
not the Messiah is an axiom in itself. This “axiom” however, is a
presumption and is built upon a paradigm which places it directly at odds with
Christianity. The Jewish rejection of Y’shua as the Messiah is a direct
refutation of Christianity which claims, to the contrary, that He is the
Messiah. The rabbis seem to be oblivious to the fact that their “faith
stance” is in reality an affront to Christianity. The modern western "church" does not perceive
this either. Not wanting to “offend”, much of the church relegates
“Judaism” to being 'just another religion' and makes up some canard that “Jews
can’t be reached for the Gospel or they have their own means of receiving 'salvation'”. That is an unfortunate
assumption. There have always been Jewish believers in Y’shua including among them being the very “founder” of this
phenomenon which has been inadequately dubbed "Christianity".
This clash between
Christianity and Judaism, rather than being confronted, is ignored. Each
side seeks its own comfort zone. It’s not comfortable to
confront. It’s not comfortable to challenge one’s culture and opinions as
they measure up against Biblical truth. Ironically, this pursuit of
comfort produces exactly the opposite effect. Ignoring the debate only
contributes to the afore mentioned lack of consensus on the nature of God.
This, in turn, carries with it its already noted horrific
consequence of war and human self-destruction. Instead of finding comfort, the one who pursues comfort
unwittingly foments war and the inevitable accompanying threat to personal safety…
the very antithesis of comfort.
There is another
element of irony that accompanies this issue. Even though Judaism is
fundamentally antagonistic towards Christianity, the very existence of the
Jewish people on the world's stage validates Christianity because their
survival over the millennia validates the Bible which prophecies that they will
survive history.5 By
validating the Bible, therefore, the Jewish people validate the Gospel of
Y'shua which is revealed in the Bible.3 It is also worth noting that if some entity
wanted to invalidate the Bible, the logical strategy might be to try to annihilate
the Jewish people, and, by so doing, delegitimize the Bible by discrediting its
prediction of Jewish perpetuity. Islam,
of course, rather conveniently, illustrates this rejection of the Bible via its
claim that the Bible has been replaced by the Quran. Current events (and also history) reveal an
inherent anti-Semitism in Islam which goes hand in hand with its rejection of
the Bible. (As an aside, I ask “If the
Jews corrupted the Bible as Islam claims, why is it that we say so many bad
things about ourselves in the Bible? One
would more likely assume that we’d want to show ourselves in a more positive "light” if we’d actually chosen to “corrupt” the Bible).
This anti-Semitism
is not just limited to Islam. Liberal “Christian”
theology which challenges the literal interpretation of the Bible, even to the
point of relegating the birth, life, death and/or resurrection of Jesus to the
level of allegory is also notably anti-Semitic.
Sadly such theology lends itself to the acceptance of Islam as a “legitimate”
religion which brings us back to the argument of… “There are many ways to God”
which is contrary to the call of the Oleynu to universal consensus... our axiom.
Furthermore, rather obviously, it lends credibility to Islam to which it
ought not be afforded. As the Apostle
Paul wrote:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before,
so I say again now, if any man is
preaching to you a gospel contrary to what
you received, he is to be accursed!
Galatians
1:8-9
Note the emphasis
that Paul placed on “preaching another Gospel”.
Twice he says that anyone who preaches another Gospel… “He is to be
accursed”. So who is to be
accursed? Allow me to give you somewhat
of an incomplete list of examples… Buddha, Bahaula, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russel (Founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses), Joel
Osteen and Muhammad. All these have
preached another Gospel and all, according to Paul, “are to be cursed”. I dare say, ‘though, it is ultimately God who does the
cursing. The Bible's sole functiion here, is to warn.
The liberal
Christian who tolerates these aberrant belief systems has rather obviously
rejected the admonition of the Apostle Paul.
Clearly, he does not really believe the book he seems to claim to
believe. Dare I say, he has chosen political
correctness in the guise of “tolerance” so that he might have the COMFORT of
avoiding conflict and by so doing, he ceases to be a peacemaker and becomes if not a
warmonger, at least a war perpetuator.
The Gospel of Y’shua
is unashamedly and without exception, for everyone whether he be Jew or
Gentile, Black or White or any variable in between.
Subsequently, it is
safe to say that, in light of what the Bible has to say in the matter, peace will never
come to this planet until either the Jewish people, are destroyed, (as is
the contention of many anti-Semitic groups), which would invalidate the Bible, which
according to the Bible, will never happen5, they en-mass,
receive Yeshua as their Messiah which will happen6 one
day, or Biblical Christianity is determined to be utterly false which,
also, will never happen7. In spite of the
inevitability of the universal acceptance of Y’shua by the Jewish people at a
specific time in the future, it behooves genuine believers in the Messiah, nevertheless, to
“pave the way” as it were, by prioritizing prayer for, safety and well-being for, and evangelism to the
Jewish people. Even if many do not believe now, a seed will be planted
that will bear fruit on “that day.” This priority must also be extended
to everyone as well, As the Apostle Paul wrote…
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Messiah, for it is the power of God
unto salvation, to anyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek
(Gentile).
Romans 1:16
Ultimately the veracity of the Bible and the survival of the Jewish people are mutually connected. In the
end times it is over the veracity of the Bible and the subsequent issue of exactly whom
Jesus is that, consensus will be reached. And it is this consensus that will mark that day when peace finally reigns on this planet.
1.All three of these
mechanisms for achieving consensus are mentioned in the Bible. Although
there are several references to each mechanism, the following are one or two
references to each.
A. Rational debate -
"Come now, and let us reason together, "Says the LORD," Though
your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red
like crimson, They will be like wool. (Isa 1:18)
B. One view is
imposed upon the masses - Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the
authority of the first beast in his presence And he makes the earth and those
who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was
given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on
the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has
come to life. Rev. 13:11-14)
C. The truth is
irrefutably revealed to everyone - "I will pour out on the house of David
and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication,
so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for
Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like
the bitter weeping over a firstborn.
(Zech. 12:10)
2. Scripture would
not argue that the foundation of this dictatorship will probably be a
lie. I use the word “probably” only for the sake of argument.
Scripture argues irrefutably that it is a lie. - And he deceives those who
dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in
the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an
image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
Rev.
13:14)
3. The fact that the
Jewish people have survived two millennia of exile from their homeland, endured
wave after wave of intolerable persecutions including attempted genocide, and
returned to their original homeland to speak the same language they’d spoken
two millennia earlier, is a testimony to the predictive nature of the
prophecies inherent in the Bible.
4. Behold,
days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant
which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a
husband to them," declares the LORD. "But this is the covenant which
I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD,
"I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jer.31:31-33)
5. Thus
says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the
moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves
roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs From
before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel
also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." Thus says the
LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the
earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done," declares the
LORD. (Jer 31:35-37)
6. and so all
Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM
ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH
THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." (Rom. 11:26-27) It is important to note that the average
Jewish mind interprets this as “converting to another anti-Jewish religion”. This is blatantly not the case! In the “end of days” everyone will know
whether Jesus is or is not the Messiah and what His nature will be like. If He is, indeed, the Messiah, belief in Him
is fundamentally the most Jewish thing that anyone can do. Furthermore, it is the object of this website
to produce evidence that supports this notion.
7. And they sang the
song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
" Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous
and true are Your ways, King of the nations! (Rev. 15:3)
No comments:
Post a Comment