As a Jew, I can support Palestine! Article by Olivier Melnick

Depending on which side of the Middle East fence you are on, Palestine and the Palestinians can be defined in very different ways. Of course, your understanding and supporting of the Arab/Israeli conflict will vary greatly based on which definition you adhere to.

One of the major reasons why there is so much strife in the region is because of the lack of clarity in these definitions as well as the amount of historical inaccuracy supporting them. Modern day Palestinians and their supporters often speak of “historic Palestine” in an attempt at validating its existence prior to that of the Jewish people. But was there such a thing as a historic Palestine and if there was, how could it be defined?

See complete article here:

http://www.newantisemitism.com/antisemitism/as-a-jew-i-can-support-palestine

What About Israel, by Bill Randles.

What About Israel, by Bill Randles.

The epistle to the Romans is often said to be the perfect rendering of the gospel, because the epistle wasn’t written to correct a specific heresy as many of the others were. I have always believed this to be true and have stated it many times, but now I have been shown that I was wrong on that point.

Romans is indeed the best and most complete rendering of the workings of the gospel that I know of in scripture. But the epistle was written to address an error that had crept into the church in Rome, and which would eventually make its way into almost all of the churches.

That error is called “Replacement Theology”, the false teaching that the church of Jesus Christ is the new Israel of God, and that other than coming into the church as individuals, God has no ultimate plan for the physical children of Israel.

See full article (the first of a series) here:
https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/what-about-israel-romans-9-11-pt-1/

Also see my own article:
https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/gospel-of-the-kingdom-what-about-israel/

Is Baptism a Christian Concept or Jewish – by Ron Cantor

Growing up Jewish, I was taught that Christian Baptism was the ultimate act of betrayal. Considering that Jewish people in the Middle Ages were forced into Baptism by so called Christians who had completely erased the Jewishness of the Gospel from the pages of the New Testament, its understandable that Jews today feel that way.

continued at:
http://messiahsmandate.org/video-ep-2-is-baptism-a-christian-concept-or-jewish/#sthash.cZtxmAVJ.dpbs

The Jews Rejected Jesus (?)

What Does “Free Palestine” Mean?

There have been pro-Palestinian protests around the world. A large march in Sydney was recently shown on the news. Heading the march was a large banner stretching across the road, reading “FREE PALESTINE”.

I wonder how many who may offer their support to that sentiment understand what the phrase really means? It is fair enough to have sympathy for the Palestinians who have lost family members among the casualties sustained in the Israeli response to Palestinian rocket attacks, but do those sympathisers recognise that “FREE PALESTINE” refers to the desire to wipe Israel off the map? To remove Jews from Israel so that Palestinians can take over and replace them?

Do the sympathisers recognise that the phrase reflects the Hamas goal to destroy Israel and remove it from existence? A goal typified by the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” referring to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in other words Israel, which they want to be be “freed” by the driving of Israeli’s from the land.

Do they recognise that the goal of eradicating Israel is behind the Hamas rocket attacks and why Hamas use Palestinian civilians as human shields, resulting in the high Palestinian body count when Israel attacks Hamas military targets?

And it is that latter practice that is the REAL weapon that Hama is using against Israel. The rockets are merely the means of “arming” that weapon. They know that their rockets are unlikely to cause serious damage on the ground. But the effectiveness of the rockets is not in the physical destruction they can cause, it is in their ability to bring about Israeli retaliation against military targets that have been strategically placed among a Palestinian civilian population. And the more civilian casualties caused, the more Hamas gains in the ideological war they are creating and the more support they attract from ill-informed outsiders.

Hamas are using the Palestinian people as ideological cannon fodder. It is from groups like Hamas that Palestinians need to be freed.

More importantly they need the lasting freedom that can only be found through faith in a member of the Jewish race they are taught to despise; but not just any Jew. It is through faith in Jesus, King of the Jews that they will find everlasting freedom.

So, do you REALLY want to “Free Palestine”?
Then introduce Palestinians to Jesus.

For Whatever Reason by Steve Maltz

“The World will always find a reason to hate Jews”

[ But why does the church follow the world? – onesimus]

For Whatever Reason by Steve Maltz

A lot of rhetoric has been poured out over recent days. There are a lot of angry people out there. There are also a lot of frightened people too, and it is for their benefit that this has been written.

The nudge that I needed was supplied, first, by a Facebook posting from a friend, who eloquently asked “what has become of the British nation? Thousands of people have marched through central London to call for an end to Israel’s ground campaign and air strikes in Gaza. Protesters marched from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy in Kensington. A police blockade stopped them from gaining access. Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly and Hyde Park Corner were closed. QUESTION: Where were all these people and why was NOT ONE of them protesting against the ISIS who have murdered thousands in Iraq or the 170,000 Muslims slaughtered in Syria by Muslims? Where was these peoples outrage when Egypt was murdering each other? And where was the protests over the past 12 years as Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians? Is anyone brave enough to give me an answer?”

But, yes, this man was admittedly a friend of Israel, yet … (in a small voice) … shouldn’t all right-minded people echo this cry? The second nudge was more telling, because it came from a well-known Christian blogger from the other camp. He tweeted four times in succession and here is the gist:
Just returned from anti-Israel demo in London. Huge numbers there calling for an end to Israeli aggression … admit to feeling uncomfortable marching alongside Socialist Workers Party and Stop the War coalition … wouldn’t it be good if Muslims would turn out in such huge numbers to protest the extinction of Christians in Iraq? … For that matter, it would be good if ANYONE turned up to protest the Iraq situation!

Needless to say none of this was retweeted, because it was dangerous stuff. Dangerous? Why? Because spiritual truth and light was allowed to briefly flicker into view.

Read complete article here:
http://www.kesherweb.com/core/resource/whatever-reason

God’s Israel

Replacement theology is something that continues to raise its head, but that’s not surprising considering its roots go very deep – right back to the early days of gentile inclusion within the church. As more gentiles were added, and especially after the late first century exile of Israel from the Land, the idea of replacement theology strengthened.

Here are some of the important points related to this issue:

1) God has NOT changed the identity of Israel or shifted that identity from one group of people to another
2) God’s promises and prophecies related to Israel remain and apply to blood descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
3) The gentile church has not become Israel – not a “spiritual Israel” or “the new Israel”
4) We should not confuse today’s political nation of Israel with the Israel of God. God’s Israel also exists beyond the borders of the land He promised to that people, and while many inhabit the promised land, most are still scattered among the nations.
5) One day God will bring ALL of His Israel back to the land He promised to them
6) One day all of Israel will recognise their Messiah and will be ruled by Him (both son of David and Son of God)

Here are links to a few articles dealing with these points that I’ve I posted earlier:

https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/refined-not-redefined/

https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/gospel-of-the-kingdom-what-about-israel/
https://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/one-new-man-and-the-gospel-of-a-jewish-messiah/
http://onefiles.blogspot.co.nz/2010/02/gods-future-for-israel.html

God’s Truth Does Not Need to be Unleashed.

Today I followed a link to an article on John MacArthur’s website and found this statement at the top of the home page:

“Unleashing God’s Truth One Verse at a Time”.

Excuse me Mr MacArthur, the bible wasn’t written in “verses”. It wasn’t written to be addressed “one verse at a time”. That approach is guaranteed to lead to error, resulting in false doctrines that are supported by out of context proof texts.

It’s therefore not surprising that MacArthur has fallen for (and promotes) some very harmful theology (including, but not limited to, an unholy trinity of Calvinism, Cessationism and Supersessionism), a very scary thing when he has such a devoted following, and no less dangerous than the extreme charismanics he has been targeting recently.

God’s truth doesn’t need to be “unleashed” – He has already revealed His truth and it just needs to be received. A good starting point for us is to ask God to give us a love of the truth, and then receive that love when it is given. Another helpful step is to respect the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who has been sent to teach and equip followers of Jesus instead of denying His continuing work.

May our love of the Truth and desire for it exceed our love of any theology we may have been taught – and be greater than our love for the theologians and teachers who introduced us to it.

“Disqualifying Jesus” : recommended article.

The following is from the Sojourning With Jews blog

____________________

Many Christians have been in this conundrum:

Why don’t you [Jew] believe in Jesus as the Messiah? It’s all right there, it’s plain as day, and so obvious, look at the prophecies.

To which a Jew may reply:

Because I’m Jewish, Jews don’t believe in Jesus.

At which point [most] Christians will say:

But…Jesus, and his disciples were Jewish.

Now, this is a very strange thing to say since we have been stripping Jesus and his disciples of his/their Jewishness for almost 2k years now.

See complete article here: http://sojourningwithjews.com/2013/10/13/1482/

Killing Two False Theologies With One “Stone”

Here is a section of scripture that exposes the errors of both “Judaising” and “Gentilising”.

And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

Judaising: The insistance that Gentile believers in Jesus need to become Jewish or follow Jewish law to be accepted by God.

Genitlising: The demand that Jewish believers need to forsake their Jewishness and its ways to be accepted by God.

Both of the above focus on “the law” in some way – making relationship to IT the central thing rather than relationship with God through Jesus.

The quoted section of scripture is only one example where this issue is addressed, but the example given couldn’t be clearer. Paul demonstrated his own relationship to “the law” as a Jew (he continued to keep it) and it was made clear that gentiles who believe “should observe no such thing” (with a few general, moral exceptions).