Friday, February 10, 2012

To My Bible Believing Brethren

Over the past few decades, Christian Zionists, or the community of Bible Believers, have once again come to the realization that the prophecies of the Bible are being fulfilled - by the Jews and in the Land of Israel. Christian support for these efforts are not only lending a hand - through political backing, lobbying, public diplomacy efforts, financial assistance and volunteering - but are crucial for the ultimate realization of the phenomenon of the "coming" as in Isaiah 60 - "for thy light is come", a light that will cause all nations and faith and beliefs to come just as Yithro came (Exodus), as Naaman came (II Kings) and as the nations (Isaiah).

I now have been alerted to this film, called "Awakening".  The effort of "Jews for Jesus", it seeks to revitalize pro-activ, aggressive, in-your-face proselytizing.

I am aware of the fundamental drive to attest, to give witness, to engageor what these J4J people term "sharing their faith through proclamation evangelism".  I have read their mission statement which states: “We believe that Jesus the Messiah died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; that all who believe in Him are justified, not by any works of righteousness they have done, but by His perfect righteousness and atoning blood and that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” I can comprehend the vitalism this activity provides, especially for people who are undertaking such an intrusive behavior, quite unappreciated by those whose souls they wish to snatch, for that it is our response.  I cannot make it more clear.

If David Brickner, Executive Director of Jews for Jesus, says in the film,  “We come to New York to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue”, well, it can be avoided.  It need be avoided.

It is written in Habbakuk 2:

הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה, לֹא-יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ; וְצַדִּיק, בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
but the righteous shall live by his faith

Each of us has his own faith and need be righteous in it.  But as you know, in the end of days, Jerusalem will be rebuilt and sacrifices will be brought by all to the Temple there.

That reality is being prepared, is being achieved, by Jews in Judea and Samaria in the forefront and by those non-Jews who are aiding the endeavor.

Let us not injure the balance of faith that has been developed.  Let us not harm the accomplishments so far made and yet to be done in the Land of Israel, where prophets, kings and priests lived and worked and where the redemption will take place.

If you believe in the messages contained in the Bible, believe and practice those beliefs but do not intrude or invade into the faith frameworks of the Jews.

The message of Jews for Jesus should be that Jesus was a Jew and relearn the proper patterns of contemporary coexistence, for all of us.  That is the true mission.

^

P.S. And this from CFOIC, on whose board I sit:

...The time has come for Christians to focus on the here and now. Obviously God has blessed the Jewish people through the centuries and He has managed to keep them a separate people and has returned them to the Land of Israel as He promised. Therefore, we have a responsibility to leave the future in His hands. So far He has managed it very well without our help. Christians should bless Israel with pure motives and a pure heart...

- - -

...At CFOIC, we do everything we can to deter people from that approach, and to educate them in what I refer to as the “wait and see” approach. Let us wait and see what God’s plans are. We have a tendency to think we know what God’s end time plan is. In reality we do not know how He is going to unveil and play out His plan in the world of mankind.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has never yet forsaken His people. He always manages to get His purposes accomplished no matter what devises their enemies have tried to use to deter, derail, or destroy His people.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So you are chosen. Chosen for what?
Goes g-d approve of what your people are doing to the Palestinians

YMedad said...

"Chosen"? Did I use that? No, but if we are chosen, it is to be chosen to suffer from antisemites like you.

YMedad said...

oh, and you approve of wehat the Arabs of the territory of the former Mandate of Palestine did and are doing to us?

Anonymous said...

It's their land, habibi. If you came to my house claiming G-d gave it you I wouldn't let you in either. the notion that what you are doing is going to bring you closer to G-D is insane. You don't have a legal leg to stand on.

Anonymous said...

"Chosen"? Did I use that?

no. You just implied that you were closer to G-d

"But as you know, in the end of days, Jerusalem will be rebuilt and sacrifices will be brought by all to the Temple there.
That reality is being prepared, is being achieved, by Jews in Judea and Samaria in the forefront"

How do you know it is the end of Days anyway?

Rich Robinson said...

"If you believe in the messages contained in the Bible, believe and practice those beliefs but do not intrude or invade into the faith frameworks of the Jews."

Um, the message of the Bible is that the Kingdom of God is here and we need to repent. I guess Paul and the other apostles should have "left the Jews alone." Come to think of it, maybe Moses should have left the Jews alone, Abraham and his descendants were probably doing OK without the whole Sinai thing.

BTW, who told you that telling Jewish people the Good News is "quite unappreciated"? This Jew for one appreciated hearing the message decades ago. And what do you do with those who don't appreciate *your* message?

YMedad said...

Dear Rich, all religions have custons of observance and beliefs. we don't need to share. as for your "appreciation" experience, whenb Messiah does appear you & I can ask him if he's beeb here previously. until then, as I wrote. oh, as for Moses, you did read your copy of the Bible, yes? God took the Jews out of Egypt and that was the second major foundation-even after Creation that formed the Jewish people. Without the Law of Sinai, well, Jews might as well be Christians, yes?

Rich Robinson said...

@YMedad: " oh, as for Moses, you did read your copy of the Bible, yes? God took the Jews out of Egypt and that was the second major foundation-even after Creation that formed the Jewish people. Without the Law of Sinai, well, Jews might as well be Christians, yes?"

I was of course being tongue in cheek that Abraham's faith was fine for his descendants without the Torah. But if Moses really received the Torah from God, then it was meant to be followed. If Jesus really is the Messiah, ditto. If he's not, perhaps Jews should get busy telling Christians that they're wrong. Unless it's OK to live in ignorant bliss.


"whenb Messiah does appear you & I can ask him if he's beeb here previously."
What would you say to a secular Jewish person today who says, "I don't know if Moses received the Torah or not, if there's a world to come, I'll ask him then." If there's no place to talk about what's true and what's not then we might as well all live according to personal preference - which I'm sure is not your viewpoint.