Over the last Sabbath, actually shortly before it started, I read an article about a woman who went on a journey to re-discover her Jewish roots. Her mother was Jewish and her father was Catholic. Long story short, her mother was told she needed to assymilate, she joined the Catholic church, and her Jewish roots were never discussed. So her kids were raised Catholic. When Rachael (the author) got married, her husband was Baptist, with no desire to convert (to Catholicism) so, Rachael, became a Baptist, who was a Jewish woman...who was raised Catholic. A long and tragic journey led her to once again embrace her Jewish roots...the turning point of which, came when she was teaching a Bible study out of her home to the ladies in her Baptist church. The study was in Romans, and Rachael noticed that three chapters were missing from the study manual. Rachael asked her pastor why those chapters were not included and was told that only someone with a degree could teach THESE...and that he would do it...
What?? I was shocked by this and saddened when I read that Rachael was promptly shown the door, and told that she would lose her class if she proceeded to teach these chapters. Racheal did teach them, however, the way that she'd been convicted to do so, according to her Jewish lineage. Through her boss at the time, Rachael had begun speaking with a rabbi. The rabbi asked Racael if her parents were Christians. Racael said that she was "half" Jewish because her father was Catholic. The rabbi said to her in no uncertain terms:
"You're not 'half' anything...you're Jewish!"
He gave her some books to read, and said, "When you're finished, come back for more.". Rachael said she read, non-stop that weekend, and the more she read, the angrier she got. Rachael said that those three chapters had been twisted to show the Jews lack of faith in a Messiah, and used by the church to justify "replacement theology.". I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking to me, and calming me, as I read, but at the same time, something inside me despretly wanted to know what she meant! It's not because I did not believe her...it's because I do!! At the end, I left Rachael a comment, asking her which chapters they were that she was not allowed to teach. Sure enough (she answered me) they were Romans 9, 10 and 11. I had a feeling...and now I want to find out how and why they are distorted. (?!). I don't have a Hebrew/Greek linear and I also don't have a Jewish Bible (yet). Finding teachings on Romans that are NOT from an Evangelical point of view is harder than I expected. Last night I read Romans 9, 10 and 11 out of a Contemporary English Bible, and wondered if I were "swallowing" the very "distortions" Rachael had mentioned in her article. I decided not to use my KJV because I thought the wording might confuse me as far as the message is concerned.
But G-d absolutely had done SOMETHING in my heart. What IS it?? When I had first finished reading that article, I sat on my sofa and just tried to slowly digest what I had read. Raechel said that today, she has made alliyah and lives in Israel. I immediately became envious because I wanted to be there too, almost like I was being "pulled" there. I was very happy for Rachael...but felt very strongly that I (want) to be there too. Odd, considering, I've never particularly cared one way or the other whether I went to Israel...that is, not until I started on this journey. So, something has changed in me, and for the first time, I thought: (deep breath)
I think, if I could covert to Judaism, I would.
It's true, okay! But I have a problem. Judaism (at least to my knowledge) does not acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah...does it? Then again, what exactly does Rachael mean when she (said) that those 3 chapters in Romans are distorted? I'm not giving Jesus up okay. It won't happen, and even if I were to walk away from him (for whatever reason) I know Jesus would come with me, because he is with me wherever I go (Josh. 1:9). The thing is, as someone who became a born-again (Christian) at 15, I can't understand WHY Judaism does NOT embrace (Jesus Christ) as the Messiah. In Revelation (5:5) it says that the Lion of Judah has triumphed (the Root of David). Judah, of course, was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, and Tamar (Gen. 28?) appears in Yeshua's genealogy. How women appear in Yeshua's genealogy, I don't know, because apparently, only men typically appear in Jewish geneologies. I always believed that this is a really special thing that only proved that Jesus IS the Messiah, not that he is not. Anyway, I was taught that in Genesis chapter 1, when God says: "Let Us make man in our image," he's speaking to Jesus because Jesus always existed with G-d in Heaven (before he ever walked on earth.)
So, this got me to thinking, if Jesus himself is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus is a descendent of King David, also from the tribe of Judah, why is it that those who practice "Judaism" do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah? I don't understand. To me these are like puzzle pieces destined to fit together! So, why don't they? I've heard that many who practice Judaism do not even read the New (Covenant) so they may not even know Revelation 5:5. But why would they not? Is this considered blasphemy? Is it disloyal? There are plenty of references to Jesus in the Old covenant?, yes? Do these not count? What am I missing?? So, with all of this, swimming around in my head, I have to ask (Crazy as it sounds), what exactly is...Judaism? How nuts, to say that I would like to convert to something and then need to ask what it is. Elohim's original law was the ten Commandmnts given to him on Mount Sainai, but I believe that Judaism says that Yahweh gave Abraham the Torah on the mountain, so was that the first five books of scripture (given on the mountain?). I know that Jewish tradition says that Yahweh also gave Abraham a separate "oral" law that only rabbi's (apparently) can interpret.
Again, I don't understand. If someone is loyal to Judaism because they are (want to be) loyal to Elohim, won't we just stick to what scripture actually says about Abraham bringing down the stone tablets that contained the ten commandments? Anyway, what happens when we screw up and make mistakes? Without belief in the savior, who fills in the gaps? Who grants the perfection that Elohim requires that we can't? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of G-d. But I will say this, Jewish folks who have a devotion to their faith, seem more devoted to something that is not perfect, then most Christians seem today, to the perfect G-d who paid a terrible price for us. We are (I think) no longer under the penalty of the law, because of the price Yeshua paid, but as followers OF Yeshua, this does not mean that we are exempt from it. But the way the typical Evangelical church teaches it; it literally does not matter anymore. We think the Law, that convicts us of sin is nothing more than unnecessary legalism and we use the devotion of Jewish folks to what we think are unnecessary traditions as "proof". That your works won't save you. This is not the answer. This is cruel and unfair. (at least, I believe it is).
So, there is much more I could say, and there are many more questions I have...but they will need to wait for another time. I am confused, but I know that G-d is in control. I just think that we need to stop trying to "win" people over to our side of the board and decide to help each other understand. Don't argue and be offended, just have compassion. God will do the work he wants to do within a person. I know he's doing a work in me!
http://www.aish.com/sp/so/My-Resilient-Jewish-Soul.html?s=mm&tab=y
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Some Words About Shabbat
Well, it has happened: the days of my week have different emphasis. They now center (more and more) around "Shabbat" or the Sabbath rest, which begins on Friday evening and concludes on Saturday evening. Wow. So, what is the SABBATH to me? It's an intentional time of the week, purposely set aside just for the Lord. As the second commandment says, God wants us to keep a day of rest each week in remembrance of him.
"Keep the Sabbath day holy. You shall do no work on this day, nor any of your household."
Now this is a loose paraphrase, of course, but you get the idea.
This has taken some getting used to, and it will take some continued practice on my part, but what a privilege, what an honor, what a refreshing change! This is what I want to empathize...how wonderful it has been to truly FEEL that I'm making a conscious effort to look forward to spending time with my Lord and Savior. I can't think of anything else I want to LEARN to be disciplined at doing. This is a GOOD thing.
I'm not Jewish, and I believed that the Sabbath day did not apply to me, because Jesus blood shed on the cross had "fulfilled" the Old Covenant commandment. I mean, all my life, my week began on Monday, because that's when school or work started. Even after going to church for sometime, I still consciously thought of Sunday as the last day of the week, rather than the first.
But now, with Monday being the third day of the week (Saturday, Sunday, Monday), it has a whole new meaning because basically, the week is half way through already! This makes Mondays much more pleasurable to get through, because my mind is already looking ahead to the next Shabbat! This makes the workweek take on a whole new meaning too. I'm starting to do my work with a more intentional sense of timing. Time must be set aside for Shabbat, but also the preparation. Am I going to cook something specific? When do I need to prepare to have it ready in time? This sounds like it would be worrisome, but it actually isn't. This gives me a focal point around which to plan the rest of the week. So the sabbath let's you plan your work around the time you will be resting. I LOVE this! Isn't this what we all want?? This also seems to lessen the anxiety of simply becoming sluggish from having too many options. Although, how could I explain the discipline, and actually tell it as joyful?
With Sunday church being, say two hours at most, about 80% of my Sunday (mindset) would center around what I did before and after church. Now I loved church, and the Lord met me there...but so it was, more and more, the events that surrounded church would crowd into the time I actually was in church. Believe it or not, this got worse (sometimes) when I served in church. This is because usually when someone is in a service role, they come into the sermon late and then they must leave early, which means, you're thinking about the before and after so you can be in the right place. Fine... but this can make it tricky to hear what God is saying. There might be little quiet, or peace involved...because it's more like, "On your mark, get set, go!"
The sabbath "day" which begins in the evening, is a 24 hour period where the end of the previous week and the beginning of the new week, are connected to each other...they flow into one another. This is wonderful, for several reasons. First, it creates a complete "circle" where the beginning and end are connected. This creates a security I've never had before. Secondly, it takes deeper commitment then going to church on Sunday...at least in my view. This is because, for that time period, certain things are abstained from as a special showing of devotion to the Lord. It is longer than two or three hours, and more specific. Thirdly, church comes in the evening, after the time of rest that prepares us to worship. This makes so much sense to me! It's like the icing on the cake, ya know? Besides, I can't count how many times I've sat in church on a Sunday morning and thought, "I need a nap.". Not to mention, "where are we going to have lunch? Are there any doughnuts?"
Now, this is not to say that those things don't happen ever if one attends church on a Saturday evening (let's say). :). But because one has hopefully spent deliberate time, not just in prayer, but, away from distractions like, say Facebook, or maybe TV, this helps "create" or to bring our rest. We have given ourselves the time to sleep, and then make ourselves ready to worship Him. It occurs to me now that Sunday worship actually seems to mirror to the stress created in our everyday job, and our desire to seek pleasure in order to get away from the stress.
Think about it: Sunday morning church: chances are, you were up really late Saturday night, maybe even doing some church activity. But now you're sleep deprived at about six in the morning, when you must get up to go to church to meet with God. So, let the rat race begin! Chances are, you've got kids and yourself to get ready, so everybody's hogging the bathroom all at once, and you have nursery this morning, so you gotta be there early. Everyone rushes out of the house, no breakfast...ladies putting on make up in the car because you have people to pick up first. You realize you forgot the craft you were supposed to bring, and you run back home, stomach already rumbling because the coffee you drank to help you join the land of the living this morning is already failing you. You pick up some lovely brothers or sisters in Christ, with music that's too loud in the car and arguing kids...sounds like the commute to school and work, right? You park the car, sprint across the parking lot, and everyone promptly...separates. Your kids have youth group, your husband (whenever he gets there) will be watching the parking lot, your 12 year old has Jr. High group, and you need to pass out construction paper, tissue paper and glue, so you can help little hands make flowers and birds, because on the third day, God made all of the seed bearing plants. You barely make it to the nursery on time and you wonder whether you turned your phone off.
In a few minutes, everyone's mind is on lunch, because you're all starving. But there's a bake sale after church, which your teens are helping with, so you'll need to stay after and help clean up. You grab lunch on the way home, and you're excited and thinking that football's on. Plus...you MIGHT be able to finally take a nap later!
Time out. I don't know about you, but I get tired just reading all of that! Listen, God bless our amazing servants who set up and tear down, take care of our kiddos and keep our churches going. I am a single woman with no kids, but the above (made up) scenario comes from years of watching dedicated moms and dads run around like chickens with their heads cut off...in the name of spending time with God and honoring him. But the thing is, and I've come to find this out personally, the whole schedule, coupled with the early morning start, and the afternoon finish, leaves us needing REST! We need breakfast, we need lunch, we need sleep, we need to take our time (but how, when we have none?). We need quiet time, we need prayer time. We need everything that church is there to give us...but we've actually gotten little to none of it.
Now, I'm not saying (again) that none of the above is true for a Saturday worship service, if one even goes to a separate church service. But the Sabbath promotes the rest beforehand, and the evening seems to do two things: it says both "go out and celebrate" and also "settle in and pay attention." Doesn't it make sense to do a little of both after you've rested up? Sure, but I no longer feel that the typical Sunday morning church service encourages rest.
So, I am now celebrating, or observing the Sabbath, at the present time, by myself, because no one in my family has ever celebrated the Sabbath before. This has simply not been something that we've known as a normal part of life. This is a personal choice and it is new territory for me. Now there are those who are Jewish by birth, and then there are those who convert later. Personally, I've been convicted that the latter, is a conversion by rebirth, or being born again. Remember when Nicodemus asked Jesus what a man must do to be saved? I never realized this before, as someone who considered herself a born-again Christian who was not under "the law.". So, I celebrate the Sabbath, as someone who is free to follow the law...because I've received the grace of Yeshua.
The train of thought in the faith I'd come to accept as a teenager seems to divide everything in two, and tell people to sort of "pick a side": saved/unsaved, law/grace, Heaven/Hell. Now, this to me, was much better than the alternative of being 'bound" by Original Covenant law, and needing to perfectly follow it. This was all
I knew. Now I know that being born again absolutely is not limited to those who are biologically Jewish; in fact, the scriptures say. "He came to His own and his own received him not.". As a result, he presented his message to Gentile believers, that whomsoever would be saved, could be, so that Jewish folks who might not otherwise know the Messiah, might see the faith in others, and know that G-d desires that this faith be theirs as well. (Romans 11:11-12). The scriptures speak about Jewish folks being provoked to Jealously because of the faith set aside (if you will) for them...being embraced by Gentiles. As rabbi Greg Hirschberg puts it: "Oh, we've provoked alright!"
It does not seem to me that we are provoking to jealousy though. Most of us (as folks who are not born Jewish) seem to have ignored or abandoned Jewish tradition, Jewish feast days, Jewish customs, and called them legalism. We then rebuke those who are Jewish, telling them that the Law will not save them. We then pray for them to accept the salvation that comes from believing in Yeshua, and we seem to sorta pat ourselves on the back, believing that we know the truth, and the Jew does not. We don't mean any harm...we just firmly believe that no ones works alone will save them. The problem is, that this actually promotes a kind of anti-Semitism, that I think most Christians are entirely unaware of. We do not see it as being so, because, we are attempting to include Jewish folks in the freedom of salvation that is theirs first...then to the Gentile.
For years, I never even thought about this because my thought process had "crossed over" from the "camp" of "not saved and going to Hell" to "Saved and going to Heaven!". Granted, this alone is quite a "conversion" (amen, praise Yeshua!). But when a person becomes a Believer, and (Christ) changes their heart, what does this really MEAN? If we say, there is a "regeneration" that takes place, does this "accepting" of Jesus and "cultivating" a relationship with him involve "putting on" as it were, a new identity? I think so. The fact is, Christians are scared to death of the original covenant because of all the animal sacrifices and the belief that it must be followed perfectly. We know that this just is not possible, so other "evidences" like the Sabbath are deemed unnecessary as well, because this was ordained in the original covenant.
My belief is that Yeshua was the ultimate sacrifice, making all other blood sacrifices unnecessary; but I'd really like to ask the most orthodox rabbi, what he does, when it comes to the slaughtering of animals as it relates to the original covenant. I mean, we simply don't do blood sacrifices anymore, right? And anyway, what happened to a person under the original covenant when they made a mistake? Were they automatically struck dead right there? Now, you're thinking of Lot's wife aren't you? Something tells me that Jehovah gave her every chance possible to repent and leave that place before she actually became that pillar of salt. Our G-d is a gracious God who is slow to anger.
Anyway, I say all that to make the point that when one bears their yoke under the grace of Yeshua, this make observing the Sabbath different than it would be for one who is trying not to make any mistakes (shall we say). The Sabbath rest becomes more about the evidence of a heart in line with the character of Yeshua as a person rather than keeping rules.
So for instance, I'm not really a stickler for the exact time it begins... But I know that on Friday evening as sunset approaches, I want to be in that mindset. The Sabbath is about something set aside specifically for the Lord that has been saved just for the occasion. So each week, I make it a point to give attention to something that has remained put away the rest of the week, be it a song book, a journal, some special prayers. I do prepare food ahead of time,so there is little meal preparation, but I do not worry about not using electricity, for example. I turn lights and electrical things on and off as needed, because there was not electricity in Biblical days anyway...but being that we are now dependent on it, I think some sense of instinct applies here. I do abstain from Facebook, email, washing dishes and doing laundry, because these are work related things that are not "set apart...". I would do them any other day as well. But my computer and TV are not off limits, because these can be useful in activities related to the Sabbath. So, while discipline is involved, it is all about the emotional condition of the heart wanting to more closely connect with God. Perfection is not necessary because Yeshua's death paid for what my efforts never could...but thai you Lord that you honor them anyway. What a great and awesome God I serve! Shalom!
* John 3:16-17
* John 1:11
"Keep the Sabbath day holy. You shall do no work on this day, nor any of your household."
Now this is a loose paraphrase, of course, but you get the idea.
This has taken some getting used to, and it will take some continued practice on my part, but what a privilege, what an honor, what a refreshing change! This is what I want to empathize...how wonderful it has been to truly FEEL that I'm making a conscious effort to look forward to spending time with my Lord and Savior. I can't think of anything else I want to LEARN to be disciplined at doing. This is a GOOD thing.
I'm not Jewish, and I believed that the Sabbath day did not apply to me, because Jesus blood shed on the cross had "fulfilled" the Old Covenant commandment. I mean, all my life, my week began on Monday, because that's when school or work started. Even after going to church for sometime, I still consciously thought of Sunday as the last day of the week, rather than the first.
But now, with Monday being the third day of the week (Saturday, Sunday, Monday), it has a whole new meaning because basically, the week is half way through already! This makes Mondays much more pleasurable to get through, because my mind is already looking ahead to the next Shabbat! This makes the workweek take on a whole new meaning too. I'm starting to do my work with a more intentional sense of timing. Time must be set aside for Shabbat, but also the preparation. Am I going to cook something specific? When do I need to prepare to have it ready in time? This sounds like it would be worrisome, but it actually isn't. This gives me a focal point around which to plan the rest of the week. So the sabbath let's you plan your work around the time you will be resting. I LOVE this! Isn't this what we all want?? This also seems to lessen the anxiety of simply becoming sluggish from having too many options. Although, how could I explain the discipline, and actually tell it as joyful?
With Sunday church being, say two hours at most, about 80% of my Sunday (mindset) would center around what I did before and after church. Now I loved church, and the Lord met me there...but so it was, more and more, the events that surrounded church would crowd into the time I actually was in church. Believe it or not, this got worse (sometimes) when I served in church. This is because usually when someone is in a service role, they come into the sermon late and then they must leave early, which means, you're thinking about the before and after so you can be in the right place. Fine... but this can make it tricky to hear what God is saying. There might be little quiet, or peace involved...because it's more like, "On your mark, get set, go!"
The sabbath "day" which begins in the evening, is a 24 hour period where the end of the previous week and the beginning of the new week, are connected to each other...they flow into one another. This is wonderful, for several reasons. First, it creates a complete "circle" where the beginning and end are connected. This creates a security I've never had before. Secondly, it takes deeper commitment then going to church on Sunday...at least in my view. This is because, for that time period, certain things are abstained from as a special showing of devotion to the Lord. It is longer than two or three hours, and more specific. Thirdly, church comes in the evening, after the time of rest that prepares us to worship. This makes so much sense to me! It's like the icing on the cake, ya know? Besides, I can't count how many times I've sat in church on a Sunday morning and thought, "I need a nap.". Not to mention, "where are we going to have lunch? Are there any doughnuts?"
Now, this is not to say that those things don't happen ever if one attends church on a Saturday evening (let's say). :). But because one has hopefully spent deliberate time, not just in prayer, but, away from distractions like, say Facebook, or maybe TV, this helps "create" or to bring our rest. We have given ourselves the time to sleep, and then make ourselves ready to worship Him. It occurs to me now that Sunday worship actually seems to mirror to the stress created in our everyday job, and our desire to seek pleasure in order to get away from the stress.
Think about it: Sunday morning church: chances are, you were up really late Saturday night, maybe even doing some church activity. But now you're sleep deprived at about six in the morning, when you must get up to go to church to meet with God. So, let the rat race begin! Chances are, you've got kids and yourself to get ready, so everybody's hogging the bathroom all at once, and you have nursery this morning, so you gotta be there early. Everyone rushes out of the house, no breakfast...ladies putting on make up in the car because you have people to pick up first. You realize you forgot the craft you were supposed to bring, and you run back home, stomach already rumbling because the coffee you drank to help you join the land of the living this morning is already failing you. You pick up some lovely brothers or sisters in Christ, with music that's too loud in the car and arguing kids...sounds like the commute to school and work, right? You park the car, sprint across the parking lot, and everyone promptly...separates. Your kids have youth group, your husband (whenever he gets there) will be watching the parking lot, your 12 year old has Jr. High group, and you need to pass out construction paper, tissue paper and glue, so you can help little hands make flowers and birds, because on the third day, God made all of the seed bearing plants. You barely make it to the nursery on time and you wonder whether you turned your phone off.
In a few minutes, everyone's mind is on lunch, because you're all starving. But there's a bake sale after church, which your teens are helping with, so you'll need to stay after and help clean up. You grab lunch on the way home, and you're excited and thinking that football's on. Plus...you MIGHT be able to finally take a nap later!
Time out. I don't know about you, but I get tired just reading all of that! Listen, God bless our amazing servants who set up and tear down, take care of our kiddos and keep our churches going. I am a single woman with no kids, but the above (made up) scenario comes from years of watching dedicated moms and dads run around like chickens with their heads cut off...in the name of spending time with God and honoring him. But the thing is, and I've come to find this out personally, the whole schedule, coupled with the early morning start, and the afternoon finish, leaves us needing REST! We need breakfast, we need lunch, we need sleep, we need to take our time (but how, when we have none?). We need quiet time, we need prayer time. We need everything that church is there to give us...but we've actually gotten little to none of it.
Now, I'm not saying (again) that none of the above is true for a Saturday worship service, if one even goes to a separate church service. But the Sabbath promotes the rest beforehand, and the evening seems to do two things: it says both "go out and celebrate" and also "settle in and pay attention." Doesn't it make sense to do a little of both after you've rested up? Sure, but I no longer feel that the typical Sunday morning church service encourages rest.
So, I am now celebrating, or observing the Sabbath, at the present time, by myself, because no one in my family has ever celebrated the Sabbath before. This has simply not been something that we've known as a normal part of life. This is a personal choice and it is new territory for me. Now there are those who are Jewish by birth, and then there are those who convert later. Personally, I've been convicted that the latter, is a conversion by rebirth, or being born again. Remember when Nicodemus asked Jesus what a man must do to be saved? I never realized this before, as someone who considered herself a born-again Christian who was not under "the law.". So, I celebrate the Sabbath, as someone who is free to follow the law...because I've received the grace of Yeshua.
The train of thought in the faith I'd come to accept as a teenager seems to divide everything in two, and tell people to sort of "pick a side": saved/unsaved, law/grace, Heaven/Hell. Now, this to me, was much better than the alternative of being 'bound" by Original Covenant law, and needing to perfectly follow it. This was all
I knew. Now I know that being born again absolutely is not limited to those who are biologically Jewish; in fact, the scriptures say. "He came to His own and his own received him not.". As a result, he presented his message to Gentile believers, that whomsoever would be saved, could be, so that Jewish folks who might not otherwise know the Messiah, might see the faith in others, and know that G-d desires that this faith be theirs as well. (Romans 11:11-12). The scriptures speak about Jewish folks being provoked to Jealously because of the faith set aside (if you will) for them...being embraced by Gentiles. As rabbi Greg Hirschberg puts it: "Oh, we've provoked alright!"
It does not seem to me that we are provoking to jealousy though. Most of us (as folks who are not born Jewish) seem to have ignored or abandoned Jewish tradition, Jewish feast days, Jewish customs, and called them legalism. We then rebuke those who are Jewish, telling them that the Law will not save them. We then pray for them to accept the salvation that comes from believing in Yeshua, and we seem to sorta pat ourselves on the back, believing that we know the truth, and the Jew does not. We don't mean any harm...we just firmly believe that no ones works alone will save them. The problem is, that this actually promotes a kind of anti-Semitism, that I think most Christians are entirely unaware of. We do not see it as being so, because, we are attempting to include Jewish folks in the freedom of salvation that is theirs first...then to the Gentile.
For years, I never even thought about this because my thought process had "crossed over" from the "camp" of "not saved and going to Hell" to "Saved and going to Heaven!". Granted, this alone is quite a "conversion" (amen, praise Yeshua!). But when a person becomes a Believer, and (Christ) changes their heart, what does this really MEAN? If we say, there is a "regeneration" that takes place, does this "accepting" of Jesus and "cultivating" a relationship with him involve "putting on" as it were, a new identity? I think so. The fact is, Christians are scared to death of the original covenant because of all the animal sacrifices and the belief that it must be followed perfectly. We know that this just is not possible, so other "evidences" like the Sabbath are deemed unnecessary as well, because this was ordained in the original covenant.
My belief is that Yeshua was the ultimate sacrifice, making all other blood sacrifices unnecessary; but I'd really like to ask the most orthodox rabbi, what he does, when it comes to the slaughtering of animals as it relates to the original covenant. I mean, we simply don't do blood sacrifices anymore, right? And anyway, what happened to a person under the original covenant when they made a mistake? Were they automatically struck dead right there? Now, you're thinking of Lot's wife aren't you? Something tells me that Jehovah gave her every chance possible to repent and leave that place before she actually became that pillar of salt. Our G-d is a gracious God who is slow to anger.
Anyway, I say all that to make the point that when one bears their yoke under the grace of Yeshua, this make observing the Sabbath different than it would be for one who is trying not to make any mistakes (shall we say). The Sabbath rest becomes more about the evidence of a heart in line with the character of Yeshua as a person rather than keeping rules.
So for instance, I'm not really a stickler for the exact time it begins... But I know that on Friday evening as sunset approaches, I want to be in that mindset. The Sabbath is about something set aside specifically for the Lord that has been saved just for the occasion. So each week, I make it a point to give attention to something that has remained put away the rest of the week, be it a song book, a journal, some special prayers. I do prepare food ahead of time,so there is little meal preparation, but I do not worry about not using electricity, for example. I turn lights and electrical things on and off as needed, because there was not electricity in Biblical days anyway...but being that we are now dependent on it, I think some sense of instinct applies here. I do abstain from Facebook, email, washing dishes and doing laundry, because these are work related things that are not "set apart...". I would do them any other day as well. But my computer and TV are not off limits, because these can be useful in activities related to the Sabbath. So, while discipline is involved, it is all about the emotional condition of the heart wanting to more closely connect with God. Perfection is not necessary because Yeshua's death paid for what my efforts never could...but thai you Lord that you honor them anyway. What a great and awesome God I serve! Shalom!
* John 3:16-17
* John 1:11
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Numbers Don't Lie
Israel is calling me. Whether I'm looking for it or not, it's right there. However obscure, or unrelated...it's right there. I was watching "The Big Chill" (1983). In this movie, Glen Close is Sarah, and Kevin Kline plays her husband Harold. This reminded me: was Ruth Gordon a Holocaust survivor? You know, Ruth Gordon from "Harold and Maude"? (1971). Anyway, in Harold and Maude, there's a quick shot where Maude's sleeve is rolled up to reveal a stamped number on her arm.
The first time I noticed this number, I gasped: "Is that real??". A couple days ago, I was thinking I ought to look that up. So tonight, Kevin Kline playing Harold reminded me. I found an article written when Ruth Gordon died at the age of 88. As I read, I noticed that the first quote by a fellow actor who worked with Gordon...was from none other then Glen Close! I gasped a little, and giggled. Then I glanced at my TV screen: "There she is," I said. Apparently, Close was in a movie with Gordon called "Maxie," which, at the time of Gordon's death had yet to be released. The article, said nothing about Gordon having anything to do with the Holocaust. If this had been true for her, it absolutely would've been mentioned in a piece giving a recap of the life of such a social activist. Being that Gordon's last names was actually Jones, it was unlikely that she might've been involved in the Holocaust (at least, I thought so). However, one never knows...it's not impossible.
I came to the conclusion that the character Maude must've been a Holocaust survivor. So I found another article on the film "Harold and Maude.". This article, mentioned many hidden gems in the now famous cult classic. The author mentioned that this movie was the first place she'd ever heard the music of Cat Stevens. The article, BTW, is called "For the Love of Harold and Maude". Anyway, getting back to Cat Stevens, the author mentioned that she was constantly seeing his name everywhere, and he was all over the news (at the time). In her list of newsworthy events in Stevens life, was...(drumroll)...his deportation from Israel! I did not know that Cat Stevens had BEEN deported from Israel! (What can I say, I could not have cared less that he changed his name and converted to Islam, and all that). It was YEARS ago, and at the time it actually took place, I was a tiny baby! Wow. I'd gone on this little "detour" to take a little break from my various Israel Facebook pages, stories of the latest rockets fired, and never ending posts about this bad deal with Iran...yikes! I wanted some way to be steered away from all of that.
So, in a seemingly unrelated topic...there it is again! Israel, looking right at me! I don't care how obscure it is, or how (not) a big deal this seems. Israel, right now, is like the identical digits I keep seeing on clocks...always appearing in my life when I'm not looking for it. Wow. I LOVE this!! :)). Something (someone) bigger than myself is guiding me, saying "I'm paying attention.". Gee, what IS this crazy faith, anyway? BTW, Maude was the Holocaust survivor, and her stamped number let's us know that briefly without an in your face, "The Sorrow and the Pitty" sort of exposure. This leads me to believe that was certainly not real.
The first time I noticed this number, I gasped: "Is that real??". A couple days ago, I was thinking I ought to look that up. So tonight, Kevin Kline playing Harold reminded me. I found an article written when Ruth Gordon died at the age of 88. As I read, I noticed that the first quote by a fellow actor who worked with Gordon...was from none other then Glen Close! I gasped a little, and giggled. Then I glanced at my TV screen: "There she is," I said. Apparently, Close was in a movie with Gordon called "Maxie," which, at the time of Gordon's death had yet to be released. The article, said nothing about Gordon having anything to do with the Holocaust. If this had been true for her, it absolutely would've been mentioned in a piece giving a recap of the life of such a social activist. Being that Gordon's last names was actually Jones, it was unlikely that she might've been involved in the Holocaust (at least, I thought so). However, one never knows...it's not impossible.
I came to the conclusion that the character Maude must've been a Holocaust survivor. So I found another article on the film "Harold and Maude.". This article, mentioned many hidden gems in the now famous cult classic. The author mentioned that this movie was the first place she'd ever heard the music of Cat Stevens. The article, BTW, is called "For the Love of Harold and Maude". Anyway, getting back to Cat Stevens, the author mentioned that she was constantly seeing his name everywhere, and he was all over the news (at the time). In her list of newsworthy events in Stevens life, was...(drumroll)...his deportation from Israel! I did not know that Cat Stevens had BEEN deported from Israel! (What can I say, I could not have cared less that he changed his name and converted to Islam, and all that). It was YEARS ago, and at the time it actually took place, I was a tiny baby! Wow. I'd gone on this little "detour" to take a little break from my various Israel Facebook pages, stories of the latest rockets fired, and never ending posts about this bad deal with Iran...yikes! I wanted some way to be steered away from all of that.
So, in a seemingly unrelated topic...there it is again! Israel, looking right at me! I don't care how obscure it is, or how (not) a big deal this seems. Israel, right now, is like the identical digits I keep seeing on clocks...always appearing in my life when I'm not looking for it. Wow. I LOVE this!! :)). Something (someone) bigger than myself is guiding me, saying "I'm paying attention.". Gee, what IS this crazy faith, anyway? BTW, Maude was the Holocaust survivor, and her stamped number let's us know that briefly without an in your face, "The Sorrow and the Pitty" sort of exposure. This leads me to believe that was certainly not real.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
One For Israel... (Keep it Going)
In Israel, there is an outreach ministry called "One For Israel". This is a messianic ministry that helps give aid to Holocaust survivors, and helps to share the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ...not only with the people of Israel, but folks all over, through various websites, all in Hebrew.
One for Israel also films the testimonies of Jewish folks who have come to know Yeshua as their savior (in both English and Hebrew, with subtitles). These testimonies are posted on Facebook, and also used as promos on You Tube. These videos are a powerful tool that helps to carry the message of Christ to many. Now, the ministry is facing opposition, because certain folks are attempting to raise money, and (it is my understanding), find legal grounds to have these recorded testimonies removed (from both Facebook and YouTube). These videos are a very important outreach tool, both for Jewish folks who are curious about salvation, and those who are not Jewish, but want to know more about Judaism and the Jewish faith. This is a call to prayer: May those opposed to the message of "One for Israel" be won over by it themselves.
The facilities of "One For Israel" ministry are in Israel College of the Bible, which is in central Israel, in the city of Netanya. According to their website, they are the only Hebrew speaking Bible college in Israel, and also the world. The college has a media center which includes a messianic radio station called "Agape FM". The school was established in 1990, and I personally came to know more about them earlier this year, through YouTube. I did an online sarch to see if there even is a Bible College in Israel, and was lead to Israel College of the Bible, who had just completed their brand new campus in Netanya. I am now a regular listener to "Agape FM" online, I follow the ministry and the college on Facebook, and through this social media interaction, I've come to thoroughly enjoy their ministry tools, and sweet love for Yeshua.
God is so good. The fact that I "stumbled on" this Bible college seems to have now become yet another puzzle piece in my journey of faith. In my case, I love these ministry tools, because I desire to know more about Judaism, and I am just tickled pink that the message of Yeshua is reaching Israel and the Jewish people. Again, please pray with me, that these testimonies of faith will be allowed to remain on YouTube and social media sites. I also encourage everyone to visit Facebook and "Like" "Israel College of the Bible," "One for Israel," "Agape FM" and also the page "Prayer Warriors for Israel.". Thank you to the staff of Israel College of the Bible, and everyone involved with "One for Israel" ministry.
PS... please share! :))
http://www.oneforisrael.org/
One for Israel also films the testimonies of Jewish folks who have come to know Yeshua as their savior (in both English and Hebrew, with subtitles). These testimonies are posted on Facebook, and also used as promos on You Tube. These videos are a powerful tool that helps to carry the message of Christ to many. Now, the ministry is facing opposition, because certain folks are attempting to raise money, and (it is my understanding), find legal grounds to have these recorded testimonies removed (from both Facebook and YouTube). These videos are a very important outreach tool, both for Jewish folks who are curious about salvation, and those who are not Jewish, but want to know more about Judaism and the Jewish faith. This is a call to prayer: May those opposed to the message of "One for Israel" be won over by it themselves.
The facilities of "One For Israel" ministry are in Israel College of the Bible, which is in central Israel, in the city of Netanya. According to their website, they are the only Hebrew speaking Bible college in Israel, and also the world. The college has a media center which includes a messianic radio station called "Agape FM". The school was established in 1990, and I personally came to know more about them earlier this year, through YouTube. I did an online sarch to see if there even is a Bible College in Israel, and was lead to Israel College of the Bible, who had just completed their brand new campus in Netanya. I am now a regular listener to "Agape FM" online, I follow the ministry and the college on Facebook, and through this social media interaction, I've come to thoroughly enjoy their ministry tools, and sweet love for Yeshua.
God is so good. The fact that I "stumbled on" this Bible college seems to have now become yet another puzzle piece in my journey of faith. In my case, I love these ministry tools, because I desire to know more about Judaism, and I am just tickled pink that the message of Yeshua is reaching Israel and the Jewish people. Again, please pray with me, that these testimonies of faith will be allowed to remain on YouTube and social media sites. I also encourage everyone to visit Facebook and "Like" "Israel College of the Bible," "One for Israel," "Agape FM" and also the page "Prayer Warriors for Israel.". Thank you to the staff of Israel College of the Bible, and everyone involved with "One for Israel" ministry.
PS... please share! :))
http://www.oneforisrael.org/
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Magic
Was listening to a radio program this morning called "The Times of Israel" where the host of the show was talking about the Blood Moon craze and he very flatly said there was no Biblical basis for it, while seeming to give examples of scripture indicating that there WAS basis for it. Okay, now, I've decided I'm not going to give scriptural examples here, because, believe it or not...I don't wish to start a theological debate. That's not the purpose of this entry.
The theme of this blog, is of course me discovering Hebreic roots...the Hebreic roots of Yeshua, which believers in Him should have as common ground, whether they are Hebrew by their biological blood, or they've been grafted into the olive tree by Yeshua's shed blood. I've come to believe that while we cannot know the day or the hour that Yeshua will come to take his bride home, we CAN know the season in which this particular event will occur...as foreshadowed by all sorts of other events leading up to it...for example, wars and rumors of wars. Two pastors come to mind, relating to Blood moons; one was mentioned this morning, and the other I was led to find online. Pastor John Hagee, and Pastor Mark Biltz.
It is my personal belief that when someone reads the scriptures for all they're worth, they are often led to investigate certain things that are between the lines in Scripture, but maybe not specifically stated. For example, in the Jewish culture, the new day actually begins at sundown and is half way through at sun up (or so I've heard). To my knowledge, there is not a specific Bible verse that says this...it's a part of Hebrew culture that is either learned through practice or known about from some other source. In the Bible, "feast days" are divine appointments with God. I am sure there always was eating involved as well, but more importantly, they were..."stop and reflect" times with God. Remember Me. Celebrate Me. Spend the day in Self examination. In biblical days the times of the year were determined by the seasons, which were determined by the sun and the moon. The calendar, was simply not divided into weeks and months, and years, with Sunday being the first day of the week. Now, today, the widely accepted view is that Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is the last...at least, this is what I thought as a kid :) (This is why those two days are called a week (end), right?
Anyway, my point is, our calendar is much different today than it was in Jesus's time. Holidays, or "holy" days, were also quite different in Jesus's day, in the Hebrew culture. These occasions were not celebrated on the same day each year (as they usually are in our culture) because the cycle of the moon marked their timing each year. This "revolving" change signified when to plant and harvest and plant again. I'm going to exclude the men here for a moment, because, another example is a woman's menstrual cycle...every 28 days, yes? But because not all of our months have the same number of days anyway, the time of the cycle is never exactly the same. I suppose this is a bit ironic because now I'm going back to the idea of blood moons. Just how long IS a year on a Jewish calendar? I don't know, but in any case, it does not equal 365 days, as our years of 52 weeks.
So, being that God created the sun and moon to signify seasons, somehow, I doubt that he has ever followed the same calendar that we do. That being said, why could there (or should there) NOT be blood moons that have "signified" or "marked" certain events in history...as pertaining to God's people? For example, the radio host pointed out John Hagee's observation that there was a blood moon very very near the time Israel became a state in 1948. I say "very very near" because the radio host felt it necessary to point out that the supposed blood moon did not occur right in 1948 when Israel actually became a state. My response would be, "And?...your point is what?". The Father is not obligated to align his time table directly with ours. The fact that there was a blood moon at all is an incredible thing, don't ya think??
I've heard rabbi Mark Biltz teach a lot on blood moons, and when he does, he's able to go backwards, through history and point out approximately when blood moons have occurred (according to the Hebrew calendar), show how these have correlated with certain events. He goes back through the past, comes up to the present and then puts the past and present together to show a "completed circle" of events and the blood moons that seemed to "mark" or signify their coming. A person seeing a blood moon once in life, let's say, probably would be a memorable thing, I don't know. But to try to get a bigger picture, documenting when many have happened, and looking at events surrounding them...just might not be a coincidence.
We are in a love relationship with our creator, and he is making it no mystery that he wants to "woo" us to himself. The scripture tells the beautiful story of the lost coin. A bride, preparing for her wedding loses one of the coins that are sewn into, or attached to her veil. These coins that adorn her are quite valuable, so she shines a light, and sweeps the house searching for it...till she finds it. In the same way, I think Yeshua "sweeps" the earth, searching for the missing "treasures" that are that remnant of the bride he is soon coming to collect. Perhaps blood moons simply represent the "cycles" of preparation leading up to the "coming" of our bridegroom and the wedding feast. We are in a continual "dance" with our Heavenly Father, a divine romance that is cultivated through a love relationship while our savior "keeps time" until the day he can come and get us to be with him. Perhaps blood moons are just one "light" the savior shines to let us know that he's "looking" for us. This is beautiful, and romantic and wonderful, is it not?.
I truly believe that God (Elohim) wants us to continually pursue him with wonderment. He wants us to be "tickled pink" by him as he is by us. The Biblical tales of the Old Covenant, paint a rich picture of the redemption Yeshua made possible with the new covenant. It is amazing to be able to embrace tradition with a childlike faith and let it open our eyes to the fact that God has made us participants in his plans. We are the apple of his eye, we are holy spirit sealed. This takes simple belief that comes from exploring who God is through his word. So, even if there have never been "blood moons" that have shone in a charcoal sky signifying certain events, this idea can sorta...make us believe in magic again, and help us return (Teshuvah) to our creator, if we may have become estranged from him. This, to me, is worth far more than arguing that the dates of the blood moons through history do not add up, or wondering why there apparently, was not one during the Holocaust, for example, or dismissing the phenomenon completely because the moons that shone, did not appear directly WHEN these milestones took place...translation: It took a while. Perhaps this is because God was creating a little "suspense" so we'd keep watching. "Remember me," he says. "Celebrate me."
All of this, helps me to embrace my savior, and rest in his love, rather than forcing myself to understand that I am a mindless speck, who is not allowed to. Am I just one who is waiting to have her "ears tickled"? In this case, if it works, why not? I'd rather hear a story about God sending "signs" to say that something important is happening...than argumentative reasons as to why it just isn't possible. We are being numbed to death with what we should NOT believe or think...and we have it shoved down our throats that there is absolutely NOTHING we can do for God because he paid all. So, where does this leave me? This leaves me in the "desert" of the world, sifting through sand in search of water while I keep telling people "Jesus saves.". Once again...Hebrew roots to the rescue! The stories and traditions and celebrations and feast days provide the evidence of a faith worth dying for, when a Christian cannot take their heart out and put it on the table so others can tell that it's a "saved" heart. By themselves, these things do not provide salvation to anyone... and this seems to be the preverbal "Chokehold" we keep Jewish folks in, feeling that we must show them their "error"... while THEY have all the evidence.
What I'm finding out is that most Christians have no "roots" planted showing where our faith originated from. We literally think they are not necessary. Christ paid it all on the cross, and this is all we believe to be important. We believe that ultimately our deeds do not affect us, because our eternal security only rests on one thing. We have no knowledge of the brutal treatment Jews have faced throughout history, in the name of people who said they were Christians. Were these people telling the truth? I want to say: of course not!! But we need to consider that the contemporary Evangelical "Christian" message of salvation takes thousands of years of history and seems to say that it's nothing but legalism. We seem to "throw out" over half a Bible that we say we live by, and believe...while we expect others to believe in Jesus. How is anyone supposed to do that, when we've discredited all the evidence? Not only that... this Old covenant "legalism"... and belief that no Jewish tradition or feast day is necessary to Christianity, creates an insulting sort of anti-Semitism, that we believe Jewish folks need to accept, because it is simply the "correct view.". Isn't this basically a "repeat" of what the Jewish people have endured all through history?
No thank you. Not interested. I will never deny Jesus...but in order to make this true, I must not deny his story either. Anyway...isn't that what "history" is?...the stories of those who've come before us? So many seem to love to talk about what Jesus (Yeshua) died for...but they treat the way he lived, as though it were irrelevant. For the time being, I've not witnessed to anyone in a while. This is because I know I need the witness of others more experienced than I am. I think it's better for me to ask the Father's forgiveness, because, I've known not what I've been doing. I then want to sit and listen to the tradition of lifting a bride's veil to confirm her identity...because of the story of Jacob, who worked seven years for Rachael only to find out he'd been tricked into marrying her older sister instead. I'd like to listen to the story of what blood moons are...because the sun and moon were the original clocks people lived by. This is magic (or at least if feels like it) because the reasons this is real are bigger than I am. Maybe magic is not for unreal things...maybe it's for real things that seem to have surreal causes or origins. When we trust, when we believe...when we become as little children so we can grow up...maybe this is when reality begins to happen.
The theme of this blog, is of course me discovering Hebreic roots...the Hebreic roots of Yeshua, which believers in Him should have as common ground, whether they are Hebrew by their biological blood, or they've been grafted into the olive tree by Yeshua's shed blood. I've come to believe that while we cannot know the day or the hour that Yeshua will come to take his bride home, we CAN know the season in which this particular event will occur...as foreshadowed by all sorts of other events leading up to it...for example, wars and rumors of wars. Two pastors come to mind, relating to Blood moons; one was mentioned this morning, and the other I was led to find online. Pastor John Hagee, and Pastor Mark Biltz.
It is my personal belief that when someone reads the scriptures for all they're worth, they are often led to investigate certain things that are between the lines in Scripture, but maybe not specifically stated. For example, in the Jewish culture, the new day actually begins at sundown and is half way through at sun up (or so I've heard). To my knowledge, there is not a specific Bible verse that says this...it's a part of Hebrew culture that is either learned through practice or known about from some other source. In the Bible, "feast days" are divine appointments with God. I am sure there always was eating involved as well, but more importantly, they were..."stop and reflect" times with God. Remember Me. Celebrate Me. Spend the day in Self examination. In biblical days the times of the year were determined by the seasons, which were determined by the sun and the moon. The calendar, was simply not divided into weeks and months, and years, with Sunday being the first day of the week. Now, today, the widely accepted view is that Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is the last...at least, this is what I thought as a kid :) (This is why those two days are called a week (end), right?
Anyway, my point is, our calendar is much different today than it was in Jesus's time. Holidays, or "holy" days, were also quite different in Jesus's day, in the Hebrew culture. These occasions were not celebrated on the same day each year (as they usually are in our culture) because the cycle of the moon marked their timing each year. This "revolving" change signified when to plant and harvest and plant again. I'm going to exclude the men here for a moment, because, another example is a woman's menstrual cycle...every 28 days, yes? But because not all of our months have the same number of days anyway, the time of the cycle is never exactly the same. I suppose this is a bit ironic because now I'm going back to the idea of blood moons. Just how long IS a year on a Jewish calendar? I don't know, but in any case, it does not equal 365 days, as our years of 52 weeks.
So, being that God created the sun and moon to signify seasons, somehow, I doubt that he has ever followed the same calendar that we do. That being said, why could there (or should there) NOT be blood moons that have "signified" or "marked" certain events in history...as pertaining to God's people? For example, the radio host pointed out John Hagee's observation that there was a blood moon very very near the time Israel became a state in 1948. I say "very very near" because the radio host felt it necessary to point out that the supposed blood moon did not occur right in 1948 when Israel actually became a state. My response would be, "And?...your point is what?". The Father is not obligated to align his time table directly with ours. The fact that there was a blood moon at all is an incredible thing, don't ya think??
I've heard rabbi Mark Biltz teach a lot on blood moons, and when he does, he's able to go backwards, through history and point out approximately when blood moons have occurred (according to the Hebrew calendar), show how these have correlated with certain events. He goes back through the past, comes up to the present and then puts the past and present together to show a "completed circle" of events and the blood moons that seemed to "mark" or signify their coming. A person seeing a blood moon once in life, let's say, probably would be a memorable thing, I don't know. But to try to get a bigger picture, documenting when many have happened, and looking at events surrounding them...just might not be a coincidence.
We are in a love relationship with our creator, and he is making it no mystery that he wants to "woo" us to himself. The scripture tells the beautiful story of the lost coin. A bride, preparing for her wedding loses one of the coins that are sewn into, or attached to her veil. These coins that adorn her are quite valuable, so she shines a light, and sweeps the house searching for it...till she finds it. In the same way, I think Yeshua "sweeps" the earth, searching for the missing "treasures" that are that remnant of the bride he is soon coming to collect. Perhaps blood moons simply represent the "cycles" of preparation leading up to the "coming" of our bridegroom and the wedding feast. We are in a continual "dance" with our Heavenly Father, a divine romance that is cultivated through a love relationship while our savior "keeps time" until the day he can come and get us to be with him. Perhaps blood moons are just one "light" the savior shines to let us know that he's "looking" for us. This is beautiful, and romantic and wonderful, is it not?.
I truly believe that God (Elohim) wants us to continually pursue him with wonderment. He wants us to be "tickled pink" by him as he is by us. The Biblical tales of the Old Covenant, paint a rich picture of the redemption Yeshua made possible with the new covenant. It is amazing to be able to embrace tradition with a childlike faith and let it open our eyes to the fact that God has made us participants in his plans. We are the apple of his eye, we are holy spirit sealed. This takes simple belief that comes from exploring who God is through his word. So, even if there have never been "blood moons" that have shone in a charcoal sky signifying certain events, this idea can sorta...make us believe in magic again, and help us return (Teshuvah) to our creator, if we may have become estranged from him. This, to me, is worth far more than arguing that the dates of the blood moons through history do not add up, or wondering why there apparently, was not one during the Holocaust, for example, or dismissing the phenomenon completely because the moons that shone, did not appear directly WHEN these milestones took place...translation: It took a while. Perhaps this is because God was creating a little "suspense" so we'd keep watching. "Remember me," he says. "Celebrate me."
All of this, helps me to embrace my savior, and rest in his love, rather than forcing myself to understand that I am a mindless speck, who is not allowed to. Am I just one who is waiting to have her "ears tickled"? In this case, if it works, why not? I'd rather hear a story about God sending "signs" to say that something important is happening...than argumentative reasons as to why it just isn't possible. We are being numbed to death with what we should NOT believe or think...and we have it shoved down our throats that there is absolutely NOTHING we can do for God because he paid all. So, where does this leave me? This leaves me in the "desert" of the world, sifting through sand in search of water while I keep telling people "Jesus saves.". Once again...Hebrew roots to the rescue! The stories and traditions and celebrations and feast days provide the evidence of a faith worth dying for, when a Christian cannot take their heart out and put it on the table so others can tell that it's a "saved" heart. By themselves, these things do not provide salvation to anyone... and this seems to be the preverbal "Chokehold" we keep Jewish folks in, feeling that we must show them their "error"... while THEY have all the evidence.
What I'm finding out is that most Christians have no "roots" planted showing where our faith originated from. We literally think they are not necessary. Christ paid it all on the cross, and this is all we believe to be important. We believe that ultimately our deeds do not affect us, because our eternal security only rests on one thing. We have no knowledge of the brutal treatment Jews have faced throughout history, in the name of people who said they were Christians. Were these people telling the truth? I want to say: of course not!! But we need to consider that the contemporary Evangelical "Christian" message of salvation takes thousands of years of history and seems to say that it's nothing but legalism. We seem to "throw out" over half a Bible that we say we live by, and believe...while we expect others to believe in Jesus. How is anyone supposed to do that, when we've discredited all the evidence? Not only that... this Old covenant "legalism"... and belief that no Jewish tradition or feast day is necessary to Christianity, creates an insulting sort of anti-Semitism, that we believe Jewish folks need to accept, because it is simply the "correct view.". Isn't this basically a "repeat" of what the Jewish people have endured all through history?
No thank you. Not interested. I will never deny Jesus...but in order to make this true, I must not deny his story either. Anyway...isn't that what "history" is?...the stories of those who've come before us? So many seem to love to talk about what Jesus (Yeshua) died for...but they treat the way he lived, as though it were irrelevant. For the time being, I've not witnessed to anyone in a while. This is because I know I need the witness of others more experienced than I am. I think it's better for me to ask the Father's forgiveness, because, I've known not what I've been doing. I then want to sit and listen to the tradition of lifting a bride's veil to confirm her identity...because of the story of Jacob, who worked seven years for Rachael only to find out he'd been tricked into marrying her older sister instead. I'd like to listen to the story of what blood moons are...because the sun and moon were the original clocks people lived by. This is magic (or at least if feels like it) because the reasons this is real are bigger than I am. Maybe magic is not for unreal things...maybe it's for real things that seem to have surreal causes or origins. When we trust, when we believe...when we become as little children so we can grow up...maybe this is when reality begins to happen.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Just your Average Joe?
I follow a lot of Israel pages on Facebook, so I see a lot of posts and news stories about celebrities going to Israel and all the fanfare they receive. Just yesterday, I saw a story about Michael Douglass and his family arriving there. Apparently, Jon Bon Jovi now has a concert scheduled there for October. I remember when Madonna said that she "considers" herself Jewish...that was also newsworthy, apparently. When Kim Kardashian and Kanye got there, of course, it was the same scenario. Even the latest Duggar baby...wonderfully named Israel, was EVERYWHERE. Every Israel page I follow seemed to post about that little guy continuously for a week (at least) :)
Congratulations to them on a healthy baby boy, and love to Israel!! Hey, why not? I get that. But lets get back to Michael Douglass for a minute. From what I understand, his family is now in Israel for his son's Bar Mitzvah. This is WONDERFUL!! Amazing! Mazel Tov! Now, if I recall correctly, an article came out about a month ago in which Michael Douglass said that he is Jewish, but he had never really celebrated his Jewish roots or heritage. Douglass said that he now wanted to change this...and he wanted his children to also know their Jewish roots. So, very soon after that, another story came out, saying that Douglass's son was given a bad time (bullied) for wearing a star of David. This story also went all over social media and, understandably, gleaned a lot of support. Now, the Douglass family is celebrating his son's Bar Mitzvah in Israel, and apparently, Michael Douglass has sustained an injury (at the Bar Mitzvah). So this...is also newsworthy...I guess.
Okay, it's not hard, I would think, for famous individuals who can afford what they like to do things like visit Israel. I would imagine that this gives them A LOT of exposure that sometimes, even THEY would rather not have Like MJ said in the song..."Just leave me alone." Right? Anyway, this is ISRAEL. This is The Holy Land; this is the Promised Land, this is THE place where so many Biblical things happened. This is where Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach walked and talked and performed his miracles. (!!!). People all over the globe...myself included, dream about making it someday to this tiny country. In my case, my desire to go, has flourished pretty recently. But many people have wished and hoped and dreamt and prayed about getting to Israel for decades. I'm sure, the reasons for this vary greatly... but no doubt, many times it's a financial issue. Many of us simply can't afford it. So is the case with me, and many others. My own mom used to describe Israel tours, and how much they cost to people everyday because that was her job. But she was behind a desk everyday, with a headset on. Anyway, she never actually WENT..and so I've not been either.
To anyone fortunate enough to have gone on one or many Israel tours, congratulations to you...how amazing! To anyone who wants to get to Israel so bad they can (almost) taste it...I so empathize with you. My mom used to describe to me that the water in the Dead Sea is so dense, people can just sit on top. She used to tell me how sometimes she would get calls from people asking if she had been to Israel herself, and what could she tell them about it? (??). How different it must be when you've been to a place and seen it firsthand...especially Israel!! :) But whatever the particular reason for wanting to go, I'm sure many of us have our heartstrings tugged, if we read or hear of a story where another celebrity has arrived there, and they receive all the notoriety that comes with it. Anyway, because my mom's job was telling folks how wonderful and amazing Israel is, I learned quickly not to soak up all of the negative news reports that are EVERYWHERE surrounding this tiny little paradise. Mom would often get calls from people concerned about whether it was safe to visit. The only special instruction given was that everyone just stay with the tour...which of course is just par for the course, no matter where one travels.
I think if I had one wish (one wish of many) but one wish, I would set up a fund for everyday people (more specifically, low income people) who would like to go to Israel, but can't afford it. Not a college scholarship, and not a Kickstarter Campaign. I have no idea right now what the criteria would be: Would there be special incentives for someone who was born in Israel and want's to go visit, for example? What about a college student? No idea, so I should think about this more. I'm just thinking about all the average folks out there who love Israel, and want to go see it...no fanfare, no publicity, no celebrity welcome. Just someone who gets to stare at the Sea Of Galilee and feel as though they hear angels singing... (HALLLL-lelujah). Wow!! I would love to this myself...but would also love to help someone else find their dream. PS...an absolute must, would be spending money, because things are expensive in Israel, so this would be included in the total amount. Yes...I think that would be great! I would also encourage each person granted the fund to keep a travel blog while there...and if you see any famous faces while visiting the Holy Land...let me know! :))
Congratulations to them on a healthy baby boy, and love to Israel!! Hey, why not? I get that. But lets get back to Michael Douglass for a minute. From what I understand, his family is now in Israel for his son's Bar Mitzvah. This is WONDERFUL!! Amazing! Mazel Tov! Now, if I recall correctly, an article came out about a month ago in which Michael Douglass said that he is Jewish, but he had never really celebrated his Jewish roots or heritage. Douglass said that he now wanted to change this...and he wanted his children to also know their Jewish roots. So, very soon after that, another story came out, saying that Douglass's son was given a bad time (bullied) for wearing a star of David. This story also went all over social media and, understandably, gleaned a lot of support. Now, the Douglass family is celebrating his son's Bar Mitzvah in Israel, and apparently, Michael Douglass has sustained an injury (at the Bar Mitzvah). So this...is also newsworthy...I guess.
Okay, it's not hard, I would think, for famous individuals who can afford what they like to do things like visit Israel. I would imagine that this gives them A LOT of exposure that sometimes, even THEY would rather not have Like MJ said in the song..."Just leave me alone." Right? Anyway, this is ISRAEL. This is The Holy Land; this is the Promised Land, this is THE place where so many Biblical things happened. This is where Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach walked and talked and performed his miracles. (!!!). People all over the globe...myself included, dream about making it someday to this tiny country. In my case, my desire to go, has flourished pretty recently. But many people have wished and hoped and dreamt and prayed about getting to Israel for decades. I'm sure, the reasons for this vary greatly... but no doubt, many times it's a financial issue. Many of us simply can't afford it. So is the case with me, and many others. My own mom used to describe Israel tours, and how much they cost to people everyday because that was her job. But she was behind a desk everyday, with a headset on. Anyway, she never actually WENT..and so I've not been either.
To anyone fortunate enough to have gone on one or many Israel tours, congratulations to you...how amazing! To anyone who wants to get to Israel so bad they can (almost) taste it...I so empathize with you. My mom used to describe to me that the water in the Dead Sea is so dense, people can just sit on top. She used to tell me how sometimes she would get calls from people asking if she had been to Israel herself, and what could she tell them about it? (??). How different it must be when you've been to a place and seen it firsthand...especially Israel!! :) But whatever the particular reason for wanting to go, I'm sure many of us have our heartstrings tugged, if we read or hear of a story where another celebrity has arrived there, and they receive all the notoriety that comes with it. Anyway, because my mom's job was telling folks how wonderful and amazing Israel is, I learned quickly not to soak up all of the negative news reports that are EVERYWHERE surrounding this tiny little paradise. Mom would often get calls from people concerned about whether it was safe to visit. The only special instruction given was that everyone just stay with the tour...which of course is just par for the course, no matter where one travels.
I think if I had one wish (one wish of many) but one wish, I would set up a fund for everyday people (more specifically, low income people) who would like to go to Israel, but can't afford it. Not a college scholarship, and not a Kickstarter Campaign. I have no idea right now what the criteria would be: Would there be special incentives for someone who was born in Israel and want's to go visit, for example? What about a college student? No idea, so I should think about this more. I'm just thinking about all the average folks out there who love Israel, and want to go see it...no fanfare, no publicity, no celebrity welcome. Just someone who gets to stare at the Sea Of Galilee and feel as though they hear angels singing... (HALLLL-lelujah). Wow!! I would love to this myself...but would also love to help someone else find their dream. PS...an absolute must, would be spending money, because things are expensive in Israel, so this would be included in the total amount. Yes...I think that would be great! I would also encourage each person granted the fund to keep a travel blog while there...and if you see any famous faces while visiting the Holy Land...let me know! :))
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Israel's Memorial Day (Thank you for your Example)
Listening to "Voice of Israel" online. Today is Memorial day in Israel. Yom Hazikaron. Never have I seen anything like the sirens sounding in Israel, and seeing everyone...stop. I mean, cars come to a stop on the freeway. People walking in public places stop and bow their heads. If people are out eating, they will put down their utensils and stop talking. And all of this...is only from me watching it on FB. I am now listening to the stories of family members of victims online...A special broadcast of Voice of Israel, dedicated to those who gave their lives.
So, on MEMORIAL DAY in Israel, everybody stops and...remembers. Wow. This is what this day is for, correct? So, the entire occasion is taken quite seriously by, the whole country. This fills me with a somber humility, that I have been pretty unaccustomed to. I think this is sad. I think it's sad that Americans (as a whole) are not sad on our Memorial Day. I'm not saying that no one here feels anything on our Memorial Day...but in honesty, that's what it feels like. Our country is huge, and I think the very fact that we are divided into states might suggest the walls we put up signifying our general "personal space" mentality.
What do typical Americans do on Memorial Day Weekend? In my experience, we rejoice over the fact that WE have a long weekend and a shorter work week. We plan picnics and barbecues, and trips to the lake...trips out of town because we'll have an extra day to have fun. We are encouraged through TV commercials to do a lot of extra shopping because stores have Memorial Day sales. We do have many parades, which are largely happy traditions where folks bring lawn chairs, and watch people clad in uniforms riding in old war vehicles, and I bet that most of us wonder who had the job of restoring these old "classics" rather commemorating those who lost their lives defending us. If we're home to see the evening news, we'll see highlights of, say rows of American flags at Arlington Cemetery, for example. The President might go there to commemorate soldiers. We DO have actual remembrances of those who've died, yes. But they seem few and far between, separated, individual, spaced out...and to most of us, they are impersonal because we are "removed" from what's going on. There seems to be very little recognition or appreciation of the millions of lives lost...the blood shed so that we could have our freedom. There might be a radio program somewhere, with sound bytes from times past. But most of us might watch war movies on TCM, while ordering take out food because it's summer time, and we love the excuse not to cook. After a while, we'll change...say..."Saving Private Ryan," if we watch it at all. We must watch "something happy" now because this is too depressing.
I've never been to Israel before, but I am now jealous because of a very defined sense of family that seems to be universally shared throughout the whole country. Now, Israel is tiny...it's a small country. But you know what? Who cares, because I want to know how this sense of everyone being connected to everyone else is achieved. Americans simply do not experience this. We are all broken off into little clusters, which can and do extend beyond our own families, yes. But even so, we are taught so much to value our own space, mind our own business, and live for the "now.". We are largely uninterested in history. We think it's pretty pointless because it's already happened.
Besides, we will do anything to keep from being depressed, or being aware of profound sadness or grief. We do not want to look death or aging in the eye (Heaven forbid). So most of us talk and analyze everything to death: We hate our government, or we don't care, because we hardly know anything about it. We watch the news for five or ten minutes, we shake our heads and say, "Oh God, how awful," while many of us are probably pretty glad that it does not affect us personally. We turn our TV's off, and seem to get offended because this sadness is ruining our pleasure.
Israeli's seem to be grateful (in a way) to remember the suffering...simply because this reminds them of immense joy. They gather together with quiet respect, showing their loved ones who've gone before, that they LOVE them. They take time. They bow their heads. They PACK cemeteries to recognize a connection, now broken...but NOT...because Israeli's keep it alive! They remember. They appreciate...and they teach their children to do the same. When I was a child, America's Memorial day, was mostly just a chance to get out of school for a day. Israel is so tiny, that whenever anyone dies in war, or terror attacks, it is always someone that everybody knows, and there is great sadness. Now as I said, geographically, things are quite different here; but what I think is tragic about the US, is the way we are so incredibly desensitized to violence and war in general, through our mass media, largely. Translation: we watch too many war "movies" and then we glorify the violence with things like academy awards, and 90% of what we see on our news has to do with some kind of violence. We shut it off, if you will...we separate ourselves from it...and we seem to forget to "feel " that it's even happened.
Now, there's nothing wrong with celebrating in general. There's nothing wrong with parades, there's nothing wrong with academy awards, I just think it's so tragic that culturally, where I come from, we keep trying to think of ways to avoid taking the bitter with the sweet. We avoid most of the bitter, rather than embracing it, and in many ways, things like Memorial Day take on a rather saccharin, detached, disrespectful tone. Remorse gives way to arguments over things people have said on Facebook. I'm unsure about anyone else, but I personally have grown weary of a deep sense of being a wanderer without an anchor. I see the deep sense of unity going on in Israel now, and seem to hunger for the "equality" and sense of agreement with each other that is flowing through the veins of her people. This is like a refreshing drink of "living" water to me. It's life, in the middle of so much death. I, from a country known for the "equality" of everyone, am asking how this is accomplished, and suddenly longing to be a part of it.
So, on MEMORIAL DAY in Israel, everybody stops and...remembers. Wow. This is what this day is for, correct? So, the entire occasion is taken quite seriously by, the whole country. This fills me with a somber humility, that I have been pretty unaccustomed to. I think this is sad. I think it's sad that Americans (as a whole) are not sad on our Memorial Day. I'm not saying that no one here feels anything on our Memorial Day...but in honesty, that's what it feels like. Our country is huge, and I think the very fact that we are divided into states might suggest the walls we put up signifying our general "personal space" mentality.
What do typical Americans do on Memorial Day Weekend? In my experience, we rejoice over the fact that WE have a long weekend and a shorter work week. We plan picnics and barbecues, and trips to the lake...trips out of town because we'll have an extra day to have fun. We are encouraged through TV commercials to do a lot of extra shopping because stores have Memorial Day sales. We do have many parades, which are largely happy traditions where folks bring lawn chairs, and watch people clad in uniforms riding in old war vehicles, and I bet that most of us wonder who had the job of restoring these old "classics" rather commemorating those who lost their lives defending us. If we're home to see the evening news, we'll see highlights of, say rows of American flags at Arlington Cemetery, for example. The President might go there to commemorate soldiers. We DO have actual remembrances of those who've died, yes. But they seem few and far between, separated, individual, spaced out...and to most of us, they are impersonal because we are "removed" from what's going on. There seems to be very little recognition or appreciation of the millions of lives lost...the blood shed so that we could have our freedom. There might be a radio program somewhere, with sound bytes from times past. But most of us might watch war movies on TCM, while ordering take out food because it's summer time, and we love the excuse not to cook. After a while, we'll change...say..."Saving Private Ryan," if we watch it at all. We must watch "something happy" now because this is too depressing.
I've never been to Israel before, but I am now jealous because of a very defined sense of family that seems to be universally shared throughout the whole country. Now, Israel is tiny...it's a small country. But you know what? Who cares, because I want to know how this sense of everyone being connected to everyone else is achieved. Americans simply do not experience this. We are all broken off into little clusters, which can and do extend beyond our own families, yes. But even so, we are taught so much to value our own space, mind our own business, and live for the "now.". We are largely uninterested in history. We think it's pretty pointless because it's already happened.
Besides, we will do anything to keep from being depressed, or being aware of profound sadness or grief. We do not want to look death or aging in the eye (Heaven forbid). So most of us talk and analyze everything to death: We hate our government, or we don't care, because we hardly know anything about it. We watch the news for five or ten minutes, we shake our heads and say, "Oh God, how awful," while many of us are probably pretty glad that it does not affect us personally. We turn our TV's off, and seem to get offended because this sadness is ruining our pleasure.
Israeli's seem to be grateful (in a way) to remember the suffering...simply because this reminds them of immense joy. They gather together with quiet respect, showing their loved ones who've gone before, that they LOVE them. They take time. They bow their heads. They PACK cemeteries to recognize a connection, now broken...but NOT...because Israeli's keep it alive! They remember. They appreciate...and they teach their children to do the same. When I was a child, America's Memorial day, was mostly just a chance to get out of school for a day. Israel is so tiny, that whenever anyone dies in war, or terror attacks, it is always someone that everybody knows, and there is great sadness. Now as I said, geographically, things are quite different here; but what I think is tragic about the US, is the way we are so incredibly desensitized to violence and war in general, through our mass media, largely. Translation: we watch too many war "movies" and then we glorify the violence with things like academy awards, and 90% of what we see on our news has to do with some kind of violence. We shut it off, if you will...we separate ourselves from it...and we seem to forget to "feel " that it's even happened.
Now, there's nothing wrong with celebrating in general. There's nothing wrong with parades, there's nothing wrong with academy awards, I just think it's so tragic that culturally, where I come from, we keep trying to think of ways to avoid taking the bitter with the sweet. We avoid most of the bitter, rather than embracing it, and in many ways, things like Memorial Day take on a rather saccharin, detached, disrespectful tone. Remorse gives way to arguments over things people have said on Facebook. I'm unsure about anyone else, but I personally have grown weary of a deep sense of being a wanderer without an anchor. I see the deep sense of unity going on in Israel now, and seem to hunger for the "equality" and sense of agreement with each other that is flowing through the veins of her people. This is like a refreshing drink of "living" water to me. It's life, in the middle of so much death. I, from a country known for the "equality" of everyone, am asking how this is accomplished, and suddenly longing to be a part of it.
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