MORNING STAR
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MORNING STAR
A Multimedia Christian Publication
P.O. Box 7755, Nashua, NH 03060
Phone: 603-883-4624 - Fax: 603-883-0466
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Toby Trudel - Nashua, NH
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Pastor Geoffrey Kragen - Roseville, CA
SENIOR EDITORS
Teresa Giordanengo - Canonsburg, PA
Al Murillo III - El Paso, TX
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Jerry Johnson - Modesto, CA
Norb Novocin - Jacksonville, FL
Pastor Russell Walden - Bunkie, LA
Mike Wilkinson - Citrus Heights, CA
Dr. Charles Wootten - Matoaca, VA
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Chuck Bennett - San Jose, CA
Jody Fauss - Lindale, TX
Zola Levitt - Dallas, TX
Dennis R. Mallory - Albany, NY
Joseph A. Nigro - Oradell, NJ
Jeannine Robinson - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Moishe Rosen - San Francisco, CA
Dale Strand - Dublin, CA
Rick Thrasher - Santa Clara, CA
J.C. Trudel - Naples, FL
Terry White - Washington, DC
SENIOR PUBLISHER - DOS and WINDOWS Editions
Steve Paulovich - Pembroke, NH
SENIOR PUBLISHER - MACINTOSH Edition
Toby Trudel - Nashua, NH
SENIOR PUBLISHER - Hard Copy Edition
Ray Reed - Beaumont, TX
OFFICE SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN
Patrick Auriemma - Nashua, N.H.
U.S. DISTRIBUTION
DIRECTOR OF BBS DISTRIBUTION
Walter H. Bauer Jr. - Sugar Land, TX
AMERICA ONLINE NETWORK DISTRIBUTION
Jerry White - Germantown, MD
COMPUSERVE NETWORK DISTRIBUTION
Kathy Ruess - Albuquerque, NM
Dr. Charles Wootten - Matoaca, VA
GENIE NETWORK DISTRIBUTION
Pastor Geoffrey Kragen - Roseville, CA
DELPHI NETWORK
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MORNING STAR is produced and published monthly, by a staff of born again believers in Jesus, located across the United States of America. Correspondence to MORNING STAR may be sent via the U.S. Postal Service or one of several computer networks.
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Editor's Letter
Editor's Letter
Hello and welcome to our 29th issue of MORNING STAR! As I've mentioned in previous issues, one of the unique aspects of this magazine (besides it being a computer-based publication) is its focus on the Jewish roots of our Christian faith. In addition to having a Messianic Studies column and Jewish testimony (Anee M'amin) in each issue, once a year we dedicate an entire Feature area to a Messianic Studies theme.
This time around, instead of presenting new material, we decided to go back over our first two years of publication and select what we believe to be the best articles we have published in our Messianic Studies column. Call it our "Editors' Choice" edition!
As I was working on this issue, I came across this quote in another publication which I felt explains well why we embrace this approach in MORNING STAR:
"The restoration of the Church to its Jewish roots is a call to Christian maturity. It's time to grow up by building on surer foundations." (Dwight Pryor, Bible Teacher & Hebrew scholar)
We have been blessed with some outstanding material in this magazine since we began publishing in October 1991 and we thank and praise the Lord for sending it our way so that we could share it with you.
You will notice that we have a new look to our format in this issue. These changes were initiated in response to our reader's survey from last summer - as well as the necessity to keep MORNING STAR at a certain size in order to hold the line on the cost of publishing.
Gone is the International section. The Missions column and Resource area will remain in each issue but will be located in other areas. CFI Reports and Partners International will appear from time to time in our Columns area. The Newsdesk has been dropped. (For prophecy updates, tune in to CNN!)
We have added a new column called "Growing in Grace" to our Studies area. Pastor Russell Walden of Bunkie, Louisiana, joins the MORNING STAR staff as editor of this column which will be a geared toward more mature believers - a great "bridge" between "New in Christ" and "The WORD For Today."
We will be bringing more new studies and columns in the months ahead. Don't forget, we are always looking for material to publish, especially in our Testimony column and upcoming Feature areas. Please consider sending in a 1000-1500 word article or story. Here are some of the upcoming themes we need help with:
Vol 2.10 - Witnessing
Vol 2.11 - Bible Study
Vol 2.12 - Praise, Prayer & Worship
As always, your prayers and financial support are desired.
As this is our Messianic issue, let me close be saying, "Shalom B'Shem Yeshua" - Peace in the name of Jesus!
Toby Trudel
Letters
Letters
"I just read the November SCUD article. Boy, was that right on target! Let the author know that at least one reader was very glad to see his article in mass print."
J. Michael Hoskins
Pitman, NJ
AOL: MikeH55503
"Greetings! I just finished reading the December 1993 issue of Morning Star. I enjoyed reading many of the articles and especially appreciated Wayne Hilsden's article in Messianic Studies . . . Thanks for sending your magazine to our office."
Dr. Frederick C. Diven
Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
Bellmawr, NJ
"Just finished reading the first sight of your magazine on disk and found it very interesting. Since I am not linked to a BBS or other network this is a super way to get a magazine and read at leisure. It sits on my Windows desktop ready to read when I find myself in need of a break . . ."
Rev. A. John Kendall
Bodmin Street Methodist Chapel
Holsworthy, Devon, England
People Profile
People Profile
Morning Star Senior Editor, Teresa Giordanengo, conducted this interview with Messianic Rabbi Robert Diamond of the Beth Yeshua Congregation in Youngstown, Ohio. Rabbi Diamond holds a B.A. degree in Bible from Nyack College in Nyack, New York. Currently he is continuing in the Yeshiva Program with the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregation and will also be ordained through this organization.
Teresa: Rabbi Diamond, how did you come to know Jesus the Messiah?
Rabbi: I grew up in a traditional Jewish family and in a conservative Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio. The neighborhood in which I lived was mostly Catholic and Protestant. I always wondered why we didn't believe in Jesus, and was always pacified with the answer: "Because we are Jewish, and Jews don't believe that way", or "We're still waiting for our Messiah to come." I knew my family didn't think much of Christianity or Jesus when they often spoke of persecution and anti-semitism in the name of Christ. It wasn't until high school that I had a friend of mine start sharing the Gospel with me. I pushed him away many times until I was personally interested in seeing what the Jewish Bible had to say.
When I looked at all the Messianic Prophecies, especially Isaiah 53, and looked at the New Testament fulfillment in the life of Yeshua I was overwhelmed with the evidence. I knew that I had to make a decision although I knew that it would be very unpopular. I know now that my name is written down in God's book of eternal life! My parents thought that my decision at 18 years of age might be a passing fad, but I hope that the last 17 years of my life have shown them that I'm still very Jewish and that I'm still very serious about my commitment to the Lord.
Teresa: Were your parents and family believers?
Rabbi: No. Both of my parents at the time were not believers. They still have not made a decision to trust Yeshua for their atonement and salvation. I also have a younger brother and sister that have not yet made decisions. As a matter of fact I think that I'm the only one in my family that has made a decision. I feel however that my parents are coming closer. They have more barriers to overcome than I did.
Teresa: When did you become a Rabbi and were you influenced by anyone?
Rabbi: Soon after I accepted Yeshua I started attending a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. This was the Church my friend attended who led me to the Lord. During my attendance I began to listen to the missionary emphasis of the Church, and eventually received my call into full time ministry. I soon found out about the Messianic Congregation in Cleveland, Tikvat Yisrael, and began to attend and grow in the Jewish roots of my faith. The congregation and Pastor gave me more direction in my calling and I finally wound up at Nyack College in Nyack, New York. After graduating I accepted a call to Beth Yeshua Congregation in Youngstown, Ohio. I became the Messianic Rabbi there in 1983 and I am still serving there in that capacity.
Teresa: Who is a Messianic Jew and how did they get this name?
Rabbi: I soon found out that there were many more Jewish people like myself who believed in Jesus as the Messiah, and continued to be Jewish and live a Messianic Jewish lifestyle. Messianic Jews are Jewish people who are believers in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. They are Jews who attend Messianic congregations because they enable them to live out their Jewishness and be a collective witness to the Jewish community of what God is doing. The term communicates to the Jewish community that we wish to maintain our God given heritage, culture, and identity as Jews while believing that Jesus is the Messiah that the Jewish Prophets spoke of through the Hebrew Scriptures.
Teresa: In what manner does your Messianic Congregation praise the Lord?
Rabbi: Our style is very Jewish and very Messianic. There are songs that are in Hebrew, songs with a Jewish melody, and songs that are contemporary praise and worship music. We incorporate Messianic dance into the worship. This makes the worship more exciting and lively as we sing and dance unto the Lord. Psalm 149:3 tells us to "Praise His Name with dancing." We have a variety of instruments as well that add to the worship as we clap and lift our hands in adoration of the Lord. Messianic congregations try to reflect Jewish cultural and religious forms in their worship to one degree or another. Our worship should reflect our Jewish cultural background and our New Testament faith.
Teresa: Do you praise the Lord similar to the way King David did?
Rabbi: I'm quite sure that we are not doing it exactly like he did, but I think that King David would feel very much at home if he were worshipping with us. II Samuel 6:14 says that "David was dancing before the Lord with all of his might . . ." Through Messianic Judaism God is restoring the joy and the spirit of the Old Testament and First Century Jewish worship. It's different and we like it!
Teresa: What prayers are said in Messianic Judaism?
Rabbi: Many of our prayers that are said in our liturgy are traditional prayers that we grew up with in the synagogue. We use these traditions to express Biblical truths about Yeshua. The beauty of it is that these traditions and prayers express the Jewishness of our faith and find no contradiction with New Testament teaching. When there is something questionable we don't use it. The other reason for using traditional liturgy is not to impress the Jewish community, but to be witness to them that they don't have to stop being Jewish to have a faith in the Messiah. These prayers include everything from the blessing said over the Shabbat candles to the services held during the special holydays. Some new liturgy is often written that expresses our New Covenant faith.
Teresa: Do you still keep all the feasts of the early Jews and when do you celebrate the Sabbath?
Rabbi: We celebrate the Sabbath on Friday evening, and remember all of the feasts of Israel as recorded in Leviticus 23. We also remember some of the minor feasts such as Hanukkah and Purim. Our calendar year is structured with these special days to remind us of God's acts of grace toward His people. We celebrate them to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness and love. They give us a way to celebrate our Jewish history and heritage, and pass these things down to our children. They also provide a way for us as a congregation to be a witness to our family and community that we can be Jewish and believe in Yeshua at the same time.
Our desire is to live out our New Testament faith in a Jewish way - through the worship, holydays, and congregational life. All of the special feasts foreshadow the Messiah and are fulfilled in Him. They are not obsolete but are good contemporary teachers that point us toward the Lord. In these matters the Apostle Paul says that every one should reach a conclusion in his own mind (Romans 14:5,6; Colossians 2:16,17, and Galatians 4:8-10).
Teresa: How do you worship the Lord?
Rabbi: I want to worship Him as I will someday when I stand around His throne in Heaven. That could be in quietness, or in loud jubilation. The Scriptures say: "Clap your hands all you peoples, shout unto God with a voice of triumph"; "Praise Him with timbrel and dancing"; "Worship him in Spirit and in Truth"; and "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 47:1; 150:4; John 4:23; Psalm 29:2).
Teresa: Is dancing before the Lord considered a way of worship and praise?
Rabbi: I think the Messianic version of dance is being understood and accepted as a Biblical expression of worship. It certainly is a Jewish expression of worship and it can glorify the Lord when it is done in the right way. The Messianic style is done in the form of an Israeli folk dance choreographed to a variety of worship and praise music. When the congregation learns the steps they have the opportunity in the services to join in.
Teresa: Is all this manner of praise, prayer, and worship Biblical?
Rabbi: If all of this was just to "pump up" congregations, or somehow impress a community then it would be unbiblical. If it had no purpose it would not be of the Lord. However, all of these expressions are found in Scripture, and what was lost to the church is now being restored - namely, the Jewish roots of Christianity. The whole purpose of it all is to bring glory to God and speak in an uncompromising way to the Jewish community that Yeshua is the Messiah and Lord. The Lord is impressed with the right motive and perspective.
Teresa: What are some of the activities and programs at your Congregation?
Rabbi: Our main service is on Friday evening at 7:30. This would include liturgy, worship, and a message. Saturday mornings we have classes for adults and children of all ages. Wednesday evenings we have Messianic dance class for our dance team as well as beginner classes. We teach the Hebrew language to children and adults, and have regular classes on how to share our faith with the Jewish community.
Teresa: Is there a significant difference in the service of a Messianic congregation versus a Full Gospel church?
Rabbi: All of us share many things in common as we compare congregations. There is worship, prayer, a message, meeting people's needs, and allowing time for the Holy Spirit to move in our presence. Messianic congregations may be different in the way we worship. There are other things that we would emphasize that would be important to us as a Messianic Congregation. We might wear items that are culturally Jewish like the Yalmulka, and Tallit (head covering, and prayer shawl).
In our services we would observe the Biblical feast days and holydays of Israel in a Messiah-centered way. We would identify with our Jewish people by praying for the "Peace of Jerusalem" and for the salvation of the Jewish people. In the preaching of the Scriptures we would emphasize the Jewishness of the New Testament and the life of Jesus. Our services would provide a place where Jewish non-believers would not feel threatened by the decorum of a traditional Church. When they come to visit we want them to see a Jewish Jesus and Christianity as a fulfillment of Judaism, and not a separate religion for the Gentiles. My parents don't understand it all, but they keep coming back!
Teresa: I especially like Jewish music. Is music played at each of your services?
Rabbi: Yes, music is a very important part of our worship services. The Lord has given the body of Messiah gifted musicians and music groups. We incorporate a lot of the Messianic music as well as some contemporary praise music into our services. We are all drawn into the presence of the Lord through the Messianic style of worship and dance.
Teresa: Does the membership in your congregation include Gentiles?
Rabbi: Yes, as a matter of fact about 80% of our congregation is from a Gentile (or non-Jewish) background. I am surprised when non-Jewish Christians ask if they can come to our services since they are not Jewish. They come to us to learn more about the Jewish roots of their faith, and to be a support to us as we reach the Jewish community with the Gospel. We need their maturity and strength in the Lord.
We don't want anyone to leave their Church, but as the Lord leads, come and join us and lend a helping hand. In the light of Ephesians 2:14-16 it is exciting to worship together: "For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall ... that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross". When Jewish people see Gentiles celebrating their Jewish customs, they begin to wonder, and may even be "provoked to jealousy" (Romans 11:11).
Teresa: What do you see happening today, Biblically, for the Jews?
Rabbi: Ezekiel in Chapter 36:24-28 describes God's plan for Israel today. It's His eternal plan for His chosen people. He wants to reestablish a relationship with them. As the Jewish people come back to God through Yeshua they receive forgiveness and salvation, and return to their original Biblical calling which is to be a "light to the nations" (Isaiah 49:6). For that to happen the Church is going to have to get on their knees as Israel's watchmen who are called to ". . . Give God no rest and take no rest for themselves until God establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth . . . (Isaiah 62:1-7). I have more to share on this in my final comment.
Teresa: Is there a final thought you have for the readers of Morning Star?
Rabbi: Paul said in Romans 11:11, "I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous." Barry Rubin, in his book "You bring the bagels, I'll bring the Gospel", calls this "the great Gentile commission". God has placed a calling upon the church today and this is to take the Good News and begin to share it with the Jewish people. How can they hear without a preacher?, Paul asks in Romans 10:14.
As the church returns to its Jewish roots through the Worship and Feast Days, I pray that she will see her calling and say with Paul "I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile." God does have one more revival planned before He returns! Jesus says "You will not see me again until you (Jewish people) say blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" That will happen as the church takes seriously its responsibility, calling, and privilege to take the good news to a chosen people.
Ministry Focus
Ministry Focus
Ministry Focus
By Norb Novocin
MISHPOCHAH!
If you spend any time at all around Sid Roth or anyone from Messianic Vision, you will soon don this new label. Mishpochah means family and Messianic Vision has as their vision the expansion of the family of believers in YESHUA!
Messianic Vision is working diligently in the Jewish harvest. They believe that they are participating in the greatest Jewish harvest in History as foretold in Jeremiah 16:14-16;
"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."
This ministry takes place through many different avenues, though its main thrust has been through the following four means;
First is their outreach to the 100,000 plus Soviet Jews in Brighton Beach. This outreach reflects the very heart of Messianic Vision. Brighton Beach is the largest concentration of immigrant Jews in America. Many of these ex-Soviet Jews came out of great persecution before the wall of communism fell. Because of that many of them never even had a chance to have a Torah let alone spend time studying from it. Where these immigrants are located is completely surrounded by Orthodox Jews who strongly oppose the sharing of the Messiah with any Jew.
But Praise God in His wisdom, because these immigrants have not had the formal teaching the Orthodox Jews have had they have also not been taught the 2,000 years of apologetics on why Jesus could not be the Messiah. Thus when one of these Soviet Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah, they know nothing else except for Christ and Christ crucified. Or as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 2:2:
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. O
I've heard Sid sharing that there is something blessed in seeing a young Soviet Jewish believer standing on the boardwalk being bombarded with supposed logic and traditional taught reasons why Jesus could not possibly be the Messiah from an older Orthodox Jew and see the young believer respond with just the statement along the lines of, "I don't know about all of that, but I do know YESHUA for He now lives in my heart and shows me that He is real and He died for me." This almost sounds like the response given by the blind man who Jesus restored his sight responding in John 9:25 to the Orthodox Jews of his day, with;
"Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see."
Their second outreach is their sister congregation in St. Petersburg, Russia. The persecution of Jews there is very intense, with some groups openly proclaiming that they have killed Jews. When Sid traveled their during 1993 their group was required to have a full contingent of security guards (18) just for their physical protection. Yet the gospel being shared amongst the Jews is received openly.
Sid shares that at the conclusion of a concert there that he gave an invitation, telling the people that salvation was such an important decision , they should run to the front to receive Jesus. He was overwhelmed when he saw people literally running down the aisles! More than 800 received the gift of eternal life that night. They believe that soon St. Petersburg will have the largest Messianic Jewish Congregation in the world. They also believe that the Russian Jews will be God's instrument to reach the world with the Gospel.
Messianic Vision also creates and distributes evangelistic tools designed to share the Gospel with the Jew. Their Bi-Monthly newsletter is always a blessing and last but not least their Radio outreach, blesses thousand across the country. Messianic Vision is heard daily across the U.S. on radio sharing the Good News of Jesus!
If you would like more information on Messianic Vision, you may get in touch with them via:
Messianic Vision
P.O. Box 1918
Brunswick, GA 31521
(912) 265-2500
Book Review
Book Review
Browsing with the Bookworm
It's really tough going into book stores during the Christmas Season. Being only 4 1/2 inches long, the number of people in the store make it even more dangerous than usual. Since I suffer from Pedaphobia (fear of human feet), I generally stay at home.
This made it tough to get material for this month's column. Fortunately the theme of this issue made it easy to solve the problem. Last year we published reviews of a number of works that can provide a better understanding of Jews, Judaism and Messianic Judaism. I have decided to reprint it here and remain safe for another year.
THE CHOSEN
By Chaim Potok
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1967
THE PROMISE
By Chaim Potok
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1969
For the Gentile reader who desires to learn more about the Jewish community in the United States, the books of Chaim Potok are a good place to start. These novels introduce aspects of Judaism in the context of stories that are highly compelling.
Two of Potok's most famous works are THE CHOSEN and THE PROMISE. These novels follow the struggle between the Orthodox and Hasidic communities of Brooklyn as lived out in the lives of Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter. In THE CHOSEN, the conflict between the two boys is carried out against a backdrop of the distant war in Europe. THE PROMISE picks up with the young men now studying for their careers. Reuven, whose background was Orthodox, is studying to be a Rabbi. Danny, who came from the even more strict Hasidic community, has rejected the role of spiritual leader and instead is studying to become a clinical psychologist.
These books show the struggles between different aspects of contemporary Judaism. Additionally the Christian can see how far these people have moved away from God while seeking to serve Him. These books should touch the hearts of all those who can recognize that the Jews are still God's chosen people, even though they have lost touch with their Lord.
In these books and others by Chaim Potok, readers can discover the cultural and religious aspects of contemporary Judaism. At the same time, the reader will enjoy some of the best fiction written today.
HOLY DAYS - THE WORLD OF A HASIDIC FAMILY
by Lis Harris
Summit Books, New York, 1985
A work of non-fiction which goes into even more detail on Hasidic life is HOLY DAYS - THE WORLD OF A HASIDIC FAMILY by Lis Harris. This work should be of interest to both the gentile and also the Jew who is unfamiliar with this aspect of Judaism.
Harris describes Hasidism this way: "Hasidism is a revivalist-pietistic movement that began in Poland in the first half of the eighteenth century. Its innovativeness lay in the way it redefined traditional Jewish values by placing prayer, mysticism, dancing, singing, storytelling, and sanctification of daily life on an equal footing with Talmudic scholarship. (Talmud is the name given to the oral law of the Jews and the commentaries on it written by Palestinian and Babylonian scholars from the third to the fifth centuries A.D.)" (1)
This book is a highly readable account of Ms. Harris exposure and immersion into the Hasidic community of Brooklyn, New York. As a secular Jew, she wanted to discover more of this community to which she felt vague ties. Her experiences, and the warmth with which she presents them, makes this book accessible and enjoyable to most readers.
HEBREW CHRISTIANITY - ITS THEOLOGY, HISTORY, AND PHILOSOPHY
By Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum
Canon Press, Washington, D.C., 1974
This is the classic work on the modern Messianic Jewish movement. Fruchtenbaum was involved with the American Board of Missions to the Jews, (currently called Chosen People Ministries.)
This work covers a wide range of topics. These include a discussion of the fact that when a Jew becomes a follower of Y'shua Hamashiach, (Jesus the Messiah), he remains a Jew. This truth can be a problem for both Jew and Gentile Christians. Both hold, (for different reasons), that a Jew who follows Y'shua is no longer Jewish.
The author also describes the history of Messianic Judaism, who Messiah is, and other theological issues related to the movement.
Finally, Messianic Judaism is examined in its relationship to the local church, missions, Judaism, and the state of Israel. This book is an excellent work for those of us who are Messianic believers but are not familiar with our roots. It is also recommended to Gentile believers so that they will have a better understanding of this movement and its place in the church. Messiah's body is made up of both Jew and Gentile, and the Messianic Jew has much to offer to the local church. May this work be a blessing to both Messianic and Gentile believer.
CELEBRATE THE FEASTS
By Martha Zimmerman
Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, MI, 1981
One of the blessings of being a Messianic Believer is being able to celebrate the Jewish feasts. And as such, we are able to see how they are fulfilled in the work of Y'shua.
There are many works dedicated specifically to Passover, and how all its aspects were fulfilled by Messiah. While most Jewish Missionary organizations have some kind of Passover Haggadah (order of service), this work goes further in reviewing of a number of other feasts as well. These include: Sabbath, Passover, Shavouth (Festival of First Fruits), Rosh Hashanah (Festival of Trumpets or New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) and Sukkoth (Festival of Booths).
Ms. Zimmerman approaches each feast in a specific way. First, she explains the significance of the feast. Next, she provides a list of the materials necessary for the celebration of the feast. Finally, she explains how to celebrate it.
This book is designed for the entire family and is especially appropriate for families with children. It provides them with a living illustration of Biblical principles.
Included in the book are readings, prayers, illustrations, photographs, food lists, and even recipes. Additional resources include a yearly Bible reading schedule, and a chart that compares the Old Testament cycle of the week with the New Testament cycle of history. This chart shows how specific feasts were fulfilled in Y'shua's life and ministry.
The enjoyment of this book should not be limited to Messianic Believers. Gentile believers will also be blessed by what is found here. Quoting Gene Getz, from his forward:
"Martha Zimmerman has captured in a unique way how these Old Testament experiences can be made relevant in Christian homes today. She has written out of experience and careful research, and her suggestions and ideas are invaluable. ... This is a book that has the potential to revolutionize a Christian family, both in its knowledge of the Old Testament as well as its understanding of who God is and what He can do in people's lives." (2)
THE ARTSCROLL LIBRARY
Mesorah Publications, Lt., Brooklyn, NY.
1-800-MESORAH
Contemporary Jewish scholarship is lacking in many ways. This is primarily due to the rejection of historic interpretation of Old Testament literature to prevent its application to the ministry of Y'shua Hamashiach.
Nevertheless, pastors and Bible teachers can benefit by the works of Orthodox Jewish sources for insight into Old Testament material. One of the best sources for this type of commentary is The Artscroll Library from Mesorah Publications. Included in the current catalog are: Talmudic material, works of the Jewish feasts and books describing the practice of modern Orthodox Judaism. This will be of little interest to most Christians.
The commentaries though should be of special interest to the Bible student. They include studies on Psalms, Esther, Ruth, Lamentations, and many others of the Old Testament books. These books can provide insight into Jewish though. Therefore they will benefit any serious student of the Old Testament. Much of what is written in these books is clearly unsound when examined in the context of the entire Bible. Nevertheless, they still will provide a perspective that deepens our study of God's word.
For Christians interested in expanding their knowledge of both contemporary Orthodox Judaism, Biography, Children's literature and Jewish History, this catalog offers a number of books that are helpful. If you are interested in examining the catalog, contact the publisher at the "800" number listed above.
As you can see there is a tremendous amount of material available to help believers, both Messianic and Gentile to develop a greater understanding of the Old Testament, the Jewishness of Y'shua, and the Jewish roots of Christianity. I hope that these reviews will give you a desire to explore this rich world of books.
Have a blessed holiday season.
Your friend the Bookworm
1. Harris, Lis, HOLY DAYS - THE WORLD OF A HASIDIC FAMILY, Summit Books, New York, 1985, p.11.
2. Zimmerman, Martha, CELEBRATE THE FEASTS, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, MI, 1981, p. 7.
Praise and Prayer
Praise and Prayer
PRAISE AND PRAYER is our international prayer link column. Send your praise report or prayer request to MORNING STAR for publication in our next issue. Call on your brothers and sisters worldwide and together we will call on God!
PRAISE REPORTS:
Cyndi from Chesapeake, Virginia thanks the Lord that they have had eight adults come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in the past 3 weeks at her church.
Ken in Pennsylvania thanks the Lord that his father and their Pastor's wife accepted Jesus as their Savior.
Cyndi in Virginia thanks everyone for the prayers, love and support concerning her recent biopsy. The results were benign.
Mary in Missouri age 15 accepted Jesus as her Savior. Thank you Jesus!
Jim in Florida says 20 people responded to an altar call at his church in Miami.
Meg thanks the Lord for the loss of weight for health reasons.
Jason in New York thanks the Lord for providing a way for him to see his friends at State University of New York/InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. He is thankful that his friend Ken accepted the Lord.
Bert thanks the Lord publicly for bringing a wife into his life.
Robert in Illinois praises God that his friend Brandon has decided to go to church, even though his parents don't.
Toby in New Hampshire thanks the Lord that his employers changed their mind about transferring him to a location over an hour away.
Linda in New York thanks everyone for praying for her daughter Andrea, age 17. The doctors believe they have found the cause of her bad headache pain - scarring in the contusion area caused by a brain injury when she suffered a concussion two years ago after an accident.
Patti in Colorado praises the Lord that the members of the Life Fellowship in Westminster, Colorado were able to worship in their new church building after waiting 14 years.
Stephen in Kansas praises the Lord for answered prayer. He has been blessed with the job of manager of a Christian book store.
David in California thanks the Lord that after 6 years their house will get a new roof. It was going to leak this year and they didn't have the money till now.
Rebecca in Missouri was very ill but many prayers and medication made her well enough to attend church. Praise the Lord!
Geoff in California has been blessed to see the Lord keep two husbands from walking out on their wives lately. They have been willing to get some help. Please pray that these marriages will become stronger and more dependent on obedience to the Lord.
Denise in Florida thanks the Lord that even though her husband got laid off 2 years ago, the Lord continues to show love, grace and mercy. The Lord has brought about a healing through these trials for both of them.
Ron Elkin (AMMI Ministry) in Philadelphia wants to praise the Lord for a new street preaching ministry that is a month old. Also praise the Lord for Jeff B. praying to accept the Lord and for Joe A., an 84 year old Jewish man who received the Lord a month ago.
Bruce in Georgia praises God that the house that was sold and then "unsold" has been sold again, this time to a believer. A faulty wire in his home burned in two behind a panel box and the breaker failed to "trip" but God sovereignly prevented a fire!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Ron Elkin of Philadelphia (AMMI Ministry) asks us to pray for three Jewish young men, Jordan, Ari and Rob who are seeking information about what we believe. Ron is also sharing the Gospel with Patel, a local Hindu man who is searching.
Dan in Georgia wishes to move to New Orleans to finish seminary, but needs financial support.
Pray for Dawn in Ohio who is in a custody battle over her son. She recently gave her life to Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade in September.
Pray for Geoff and Janette in California for strength and peace.
Carrie, 13 years of age from Texas, has of late become very rebellious toward her mother.
Pray for Thuy in North Carolina for salvation and healing.
Brother Vince in Florida spent a week in the hospital with chronic appendicitis, however no surgery was needed. Keep him in prayer as he recovers.
Melody in New York asks for prayer concerning her new job. Pray for her cousin's 14 year old son Kris who shot and killed his school teacher because he was making failing marks.
A friend asks us to pray for salvation for Joe and Stacy in Kansas.
Pray for 11 month old Abigail born with an inability to eat solid foods because of a malformed stomach.
Gail's friends Terri and Kevin are having marital problems. Pray for wisdom as they'll be separating next month. Also Gail is seeking the Lord's direction in terms of a full-time job.
Jerome's dad from Missouri has cancer and needs prayer.
Joy from Florida asks for prayer for her father and family. Her father got arrested last year and it has hurt his chances of getting a steady job.
Carolyn in Ohio asks prayer for her son and her son's girlfriend who are both out of state in college and called home and said the girlfriend is pregnant. Also Carolyn needs prayer for a muscle disease.
Pray for Diane's cousin's husband in Illinois who is in the hospital and her daughter-in-law who is also not well.
Continue to pray for Jerome in Missouri who has cancer.
Phillip in Arkansas wants to be able to get himself out of credit
card debt soon.
Spencer from New York says his dad, John, is travelling in Mexico in connection with mission work. Please pray for his safety.
Crystal has a serious infection in her foot.
Lucinda from Georgia wants God's will in her life.
Danny in North Carolina asks prayer for the family of his friend Chris, who was robbed and killed as he took his payroll to the bank.
Tom in Ohio asks prayer as his job is wearing him down spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
Mike from California sent in a prayer request for friends Glen and Denise who own a janitorial service and may have to file for bankruptcy.
Rick in Pennsylvania is going through a divorce that he did not want.
John in Arkansas asks us to pray for April and family. She is a mother of 3 children who has two rare forms of cancer. Also, Matthew in Arkansas has Cystic Fibrosis and the condition is getting worse.
Russell in Louisiana thanks the Lord that no one in his family was injured when their house burned down recently. But the insurance payment check got lost in the mail.
Aida in Wyoming is expecting her child soon. Her mother Patti is having trouble forgiving herself for a decision she made 18 years ago and needs prayer.
Joe in Connecticut has a job interview with a real estate company.
Richie in New Jersey is recovering from alcohol and is hurting and searching in his life.
Donna in Massachusetts asks for prayer that the Lord will have His way in a court hearing for the custody of a child. The Foster parents want to keep the child because of abusive parents.
Frank & Cindy would appreciate prayer for God to open the doors for a career service as missionaries to a predominantly Muslim Country. They are looking for support partners to undergird this effort with prayer.
Angela asks everyone to continue to remember her friend Rick who is still waiting in jail in Michigan to be sent back to New York for his hearing on a parole violation. Rick needs to turn to the Lord. Also, pray for Jeff in Michigan who is still hanging on with full-blown AIDS. He is stable at this time, but very much needs to call upon Jesus so that he can know the joy and freedom of salvation.
Patricia in Colorado says that her congregation should be in their new building for church in two weeks. The City officials are making things very difficult. Pray that the last inspection will go fine!
Pray for salvation for Tony, a 19 year old step son of Kurt in Michigan.
Danny from Ft.Worth, Texas needs prayer for his health and financial needs.
Jason in New York would like to go to Urbana 93, but is having some financial difficulties.
Earlene in Arkansas lost her husband of 35 years.
Jason, 13-years old has cancer of the stomach and colon.
Melissa, who is only 5 years of age has asthma.
Wendy in Tennessee wants to be healed of her depression.
Denise asks for prayer for members of her church in Florida who are not supportive of their own church.
Frank in Florida needs salvation.
Pray for James's fellowship group at "Calvary Chapel West Valley, AZ. They are under attack by the enemy.
Remember Dan and his wife in prayer. Their young son went to be with the Lord.
A missionary named Grotenberry in Virginia was out hunting deer with his son and mistook his son for a deer and killed him. Keep this family in prayer.
INTERNATIONAL REQUESTS:
Diane in Illinois has a prayer request for the healing of two of her cousins in Lithuania. They live a life of poverty and are not well.
Assyrian Christians, this time from a small village called Hassana in Turkey, are being forced from their homes and face ill-treatment and loss of many if not all their possessions. Since they support themselves mostly by weaving fabrics at home, the loss of their looms will force them into severe poverty. Please pray for them.
Continue praying for Gul Masih, a Christian believer on death row falsely accused of "blaspheming the name of the prophet Mohammed." in Pakistan.
Peruvian Christians in prison: Juana Clara Rojas, Pablo Ramirez and Amailia Chericente.
Please pray for Sarwar Bahatti, a 21-year old Christian evangelist imprisoned in Pakistan since July 1992.
Pray for Pastor Ishmael Gibriel arrested in 1992 in Sudan for building a thriving church in a predominantly Muslim town.
Pei Zongxun (Chun Chui) in China sentenced in 1983 for his house church work and distributing Bibles. He is 74 years old and suffers from numerous physical ailments. About 25 Christians from Xunyang county, Shaanxi province, were re-arrested by officers from the Ankang public security (police) bureau.
Pakistan Christians Salamat, Manzoor and Rehmat Masih are imprisoned. Salamat is only 10 years old!
A 55 year old Christian sister Chan Rhea-Yu in China imprisoned for distribution of Bibles and Christian literature.
Iran Christian brother Rev. Mehdi Dibaj has been in prison for 8 years because "his bold Christian witness was an embarrassment to the hard-line government and his family, many of whom are high-ranking Islamic clergymen." Despite torture, he is "saturated with the love of Christ".
Pray for the safety of Savme Durmaz and his 15 year old son Sukru in Turkey, who have been in unacknowledged detention since October 26, 1993. Their whereabouts are not known and it is feared that they are being tortured during interrogation.
MORE THAN EVER - Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6a).
Resources
Resources
Annual Messianic Congregations Listing
February 1994
Every February we publish an updated list of Messianic congregations across the United States and in other countries. Please note that in some cases, the actual meeting place may differ than the postal address. It is recommended to make contact by phone or mail beforehand.
If you know of other Messianic congregations that would like to be added to this list, please send the info to MORNING STAR.
ALABAMA
BIRMINGHAM - BETH-EL CHAI MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Rabbi Samuel R. Rubin
200 Vestavia Parkway, #2700
Birmingham, AL 35216
(205) 979-6214
MOBILE - CONGREGATION TREE OF LIFE
Steven Goodman
Mobile, AL
(205) 639-9418
MONTGOMERY - BETH DAVID
Ben Alpert
PO Box 20357
Montgomery, AL 36120
(205) 281-8906
ALASKA
FAIRBANKS - BETH B'RIT
Paul Welton
PO Box 80488
Fairbanks, AK 99708
(907) 479-0751
ANCHORAGE - BETH HALLEL
James E McIntosh
Anchorage, AK
(907) 337-3293
ARKANSAS - BETH DAVID MINISTRIES
Art Miller
PO Box 1779
Daimond City, AR 72630
(501) 436-7475
ARIZONA
PHOENIX - BETH SHILOH
Carl Ramsay
Phoenix, AZ
(602) 942-8056
PHOENIX - CALVARY CHURCH OF THE VALLEY
Shelly Volk
Phoenix, AZ
(602) 948-7310
TUCSON - CCONGREGATION BETH SAR SHALOM
Steve Shermett
Tucson, AZ
(602) 790-5656
CALIFORNIA
BEVERLY HILLS - AHAVAT ZION SYNAGOGUE
Messianic Rabbi: Stuart Dauermann
432 South Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 551-0659
CANOGA PARK - SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL CONGREGATION
Chris Melisko
7041 Owensmouth Ave, #102
Canoga Park, CA 91303
(818) 716-5941
CITRUS HEIGHTS - SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL FELLOWSHIP
Artis Clotfelter
PO Box 7452
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
(916) 722-6615
COLTON - BETH SHALOM MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Rabbi Rene Bloch
170 West "F" Street
Colton, CA 92324
(619) 955-6095
DIAMOND BAR - TEMPLE AVIV JUDEA
Michael Davis
PO Box 4212
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
(714) 861-0444
FRESNO - CONGREGATION B'NAI YESHUA
Jim Morgenstern
PO Box 5752
Fresno, CA 93755
(209) 222-6023
INDUSTRY - KEHILAT MASHIACH
Rabbi Tom Blackburn
Industry, CA
(818) 913-4959
IRVINE - ADAT HA MASHIACH MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Congregational Leader: Robert Gorelik
17101 Armstrong
Irvine, CA 92715
Phone: (714) 786-8261
Fax: (714) 859-0597
LOS GATOS - TSEMACH ADONAI
Morris Barenfus
Los Gatos, CA
(408) 479-0751
MONTEREY - SAR SHALOM MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Ernie Batt
Monterey, CA
(408) 624-3789
PLEASANT HILL - BRIT HADASHA FELLOWSHIP
Pastor Galen Peterson
PO Box 2321
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(510) 676-1033
SAN DIEGO - KEHILAT ARIEL
Messianic Rabbi: Barney Kasdan
PO Box 178755
San Diego CA 92117
Phone: (619) 279-4847
SAN DIEGO - TREE OF LIFE
Paul Liberman
PO Box 19381
San Diego, CA 92119
(619) 589-2405
SAN DIEGO - CHOSEN PEOPLE MINISTRIES FELLOWSHIP
Irvin or Cordelia Rifkin
Murrieta Temecula County Area
San Diego, CA Area
(619) 583-3336
SAN FRANCISCO - CONGREGATION TIFERET ISRAEL
Pastor Scott Rubin
PO Box 16206
San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 985-7015
SANTA BARBARA - MESSIANIC HERITAGE
Ralph Remick
Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 967-4130
SANTA CRUZ - TSEMACH ADONAI
Rabbi Morris Barenfus
Santa Cruz, CA
(408) 438-2436
SHERMAN OAKS - ADAT Y'SHUA HA ADON
Elders: Bob Kern & Kevin Kohut
PO Box 6010-724
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 609-2972
SHERMAN OAKS - BETH ARIEL FELLOWSHIP
Messianic Pastor: Louis S. Lapides
PO Box 55173
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
(818) 788-6702
VENTURA - TEMPLE BETH SAFAR
Joseph Mireles
Ventura, CA
(805) 984-3565
WEST COVINA - KEHILAT MASHIACH
Thomas Blackburn
West Covina, CA
(818) 913-4959
WESTMINSTER - BETH YESHUA MESSIANIC SYNAGOGUE
Rabbi Fred Butler
14200 Goldenwest Street
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 891-5326
COLORADO
COLORADO SPRINGS - KEHILAT SHAOARIT YISRAEL
Rabbi Jeff Brodsky
6060 Hollowtree Court
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 599-3807
DENVER - CONGREGATION ROEH ISRAEL
Spiritual Leader: Burt Yellin
8556 East Warren Avenue #1
Denver, CO 80231-3337
Phone: (303) 337-6254
FAX: (303) 337-0021
FT. COLLINS - ADAT ELOHIM CHAIM
Rabbi Danny L. Miller
4820 S. College Ave.
Ft. Collins, CO 80525
(303) 785-2125
CONNECTICUT
WEST HAVEN - JOY OF ISRAEL CONGREGATION
Tony Eaton
755 Campbell Ave.
West Haven, CT
(203) 932-9929
FLORIDA
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS - SHALOM YISRAEL
Harvey Permison
PO Box 1569
Altamonte Springs, FL 32715
(407) 644-1116
BOCA RATON - CONGREGATION AYTS CHAIM
Ira Brawer
PO Box 811323
Boca Raton, FL 33481
(407) 634-0200
BROWARD COUNTY - SON OF DAVID FELLOWSHIP
Winn Crenshaw
Broward County, FL
(305) 345-8636
CLEARWATER - CONGREGATION OHR CHADASH
Dr. John Fischer
2289 Hercules Ave. N
Clearwater, FL
(813) 442-9839
DELRAY BEACH - AYTS CHAYIM
Rabbi Ira Brawer
6578 Winding Brook Way
Delray Beach, FL
(407) 637-0200
FORT LAUDERDALE - BETH YESHUA
Nick Pallozzi
5430 North State Road 7
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33319
(305) 484-4930
FORT LAUDERDALE - CORNERSTONE
Marvin Pressman
2450 Giffin Road
Ft Lauderdale, FL 33312
(305) 966-4663
JACKSONVILLE - BETH JACOB
Robert Cohen
5111-6 Baymeadows Road Suite 234
Jacksonville, FL 32217
(904) 260-9777
LAKE WORTH - TEMPLE OHAV SHALOM
Marvin Aranove
PO Box 6034
Lake Worth, FL 33466
(407) 439-0600
LAUDERDALE LAKE - TEMPLE ARON KODESH
Harvey Koelner
4751 N.W. 24th Court
Lauderdale Lake, FL 33313
(305) 485-8491
MELBOURNE - KOL MASHIACH MESSIANIC SYNAGOGUE
Alan Levine
PO Box 360252
Melbourne, FL 32936
(407) 255-2557
MIAMI BEACH - BETH MASHIACH
Allen Kurzweil
PO Box 414376
Miami Beach, FL 33141
(305) 940-3933
MIAMI - EMANUH CHAIM
Keith Nellis
Miami, FL
(305) 382-4445
OCALA - MISHKAN MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Messianic Rabbi: Jerry Keyes
6675 SE Maricamp Road
Ocala, FL 32672
(904) 687-4434
ORMOND BEACH - BETH JUDAH
Dennis Richards
PO Box 5025
Ormond Beach, FL 32175
(904) 672-8443
PALM HARBOR - CONGREGATION OHR CHADASH
Dr John Fischer
PO Box 669
Palm Harbor, FL 34682
(813) 442-9839
PORT ST. LUCIE - SH'MA YISRAEL
Bill Rothschild
PO Box 8473
Port St Lucie, FL 34985-8473
(407) 871-1911
SARASOTA - BETH SHILOH
Judah Hungerman
4500 Swift Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34231
(813) 954-8646
SUNRISE - MESSIAH IS GOD FELLOWSHIP
Marshall Koniuchowsky
Sunrise, FL
(305) 746-8915
TAMPA - BETH ISRAEL
W Haim Levi
13137 North Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33618
(813) 264-1957
WEST PALM BEACH - KOL MASHIACH
Alan Levine
PO Box 360252
Melbourne FL, 32936
(407) 255-2557
WINTER PARK - CONGREGATION SHALOM YISRAEL
Rabbi Harvey Permison
1199 Clay St.
Winter Park, FL
(407) 260-5994
GEORGIA
ROSWELL - BETH HALLEL
Messianic Rabbi: Robert Israel Solomon
950 Pine Grove Road
Roswell, GA 30075
Phone: (404) 641-3000
FAX: (404) 641-3095
SNELLVILLE - JEWISH BELIEVERS IN JESUS
David Zauber
Snellville, GA
(404) 985-5132
HAWAII
HONOLULU - KEHILAT HA MELECH
William Eckmann
PO Box 90629
Honolulu, HI 96835-0629
(808) 732-4851
WAIPAHU - KEHILAH BAYITH HA SHEM
Yaakov Abregana
PO Box 570
Waipahu, HI
96797-0570
ILLINOIS
BUFFALO GROVE - LIGHT OF ISRAEL
Congregational Leader: Rev. Roy Schwarcz
PO Box 7122
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(708) 808-9838
BUFFALO GROVE - VINEYARD CONGREGATION
Eliezer Maass
1578 Anderson
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(312) 520-0616
CHICAGO - ADAT HATIVKAH
Rabbi Barry Budoff
6554 N. Rockwell
PO Box 59056
Chicago, IL 60659
(312) 761-8872
CHICAGO - ESCHOL ECHOD
Lawrence Guttman
Chicago, IL
(312) 756-1890
GLENVIEW - OLIVE TREE CONGREGATION
Pastor Daniel J. Strull
900 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Glenview, IL 60025
(708) 390-7788
HAZEL CREST - BETH EMETH
Ascher Carl
3223 175th Street
PO Box 135
Hazel Crest, IL 60429
(708) 335-4440
HIGHLAND PARK - CONGREGATION B'NAI MACCABIM
Pator Mike Becker
1713 Green Bay Rd.
PO Box 223
Highland Park, IL 60089
(708) 432-8580
ROLLING MEADOWS - TEMPLE SHALOM YISRAEL
Rabbi Daniel Rabe
2720 Kirchoff Rd.
Rolling Meadows, IL
(708) 885-1211
SCHAUMBURG - SHALOM FELLOWSHIP
Pastor: Rev. Daniel Rabe
PO Box 68687
Schaumburg, IL 60168-0687
Phone: (708) 885-1211
FAX: (708) 885-1275
INDIANA
GAS CITY - THE TEMPLE OF JOSEPH
Raymond E Barrick
Gas City, IN
(317) 674-3628
INDIANAPOLIS - CHARAM YESHUA
Rabbi Jeffrey Adler
Indianapolis, IN
(317) 726-6653
NEW HAVEN - BET HA SHEM MIDRASH
Shmuel Wahli
New Haven, IN
(219) 749-2288
KENTUCKY
WINCHESTER - KEHILAT SIMCHA
Michael Brechner
Winchester, KY
LOUISIANA
BATON ROUGE - BETH MESSIAH
Bert K Robinson
PO Box 40723
Baton Rouge, LA 70835-0723
(504) 922-5126
DERIDDER - TABERNACLE OF DAVID
1812 N 171 Highway
Deridder, LA 70634
(318) 463-5748
FARMERSVILLE - BETH YESHUA MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Rick Trimble
Farmersville, LA
(318) 726-4363
MAINE
AUBURN - BETH ISRAEL HA YEHUDA
Rick Irving
PO Box 681
Auburn, ME 04210
(207) 767-2365
MARYLAND
BALTIMORE - EMMANUEL MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Congregation Leader: Barry Rubin
7019 Queen Anne Rd
Baltimore, MD 21207
Phone: (301) 484-0484
FAX: (301) 764-1376
FREDERICK - EL SHADDAI CONGREGATION
Pastors: Ted Simon & Keith Intrater
New Design Rd. & Crestwood Blvd
Frederick, MD 21702
(301) 695-4496
GAITHERSBURG - BETH MESSIAH CONGREGATION
Pastor Daniel Juster
PO Box 75
Gaithersburg, MD 20898-7538
Phone: (301) 977-0156
FAX: (301) 670-3820
OWING MILLS - CONGREGATION ROSH PINA
Rabbi Marvin Morrison
3408 Walnut Ave.
Owings Mills, MD
(410) 484-4374
PIKESVILLE - CONGREGATION ROSH PINA
Congregational Leader: Marvin Morrison
PO Box 21485
Pikesville, MD 21208
(410) 484-4374
ROCKVILLE - BETH MESSIAH CONGREGATION
Rabbis Daniel Juster, Andrew Shishkoff and Jerry Miller
Corner of Ardennes & Halpine (next to Twinbrook Metro Station)
Rockville, MD
(301) 977-0156
ROCKVILLE - SON OF DAVID FELLOWSHIP
Scott Brown
19100 Muncaster Rd
Rockville, MD 20855
(301) 989-2532
SILVER SPRING - SON OF DAVID CONGREGATION
Scott Brown
PO Box 10555
Silver Spring, MD 20914-0555
(301) 330-2730
MASSACHUSETTS
DENNIS - BETH SHUVA
Paul Rothfeld
Dennis, MA
(508) 385-2788
NEEDHAM - CONGREGATION RUACH ISRAEL
Rabbi Richard C. Nichol
754 Greendale Ave.
Needham, MA 02192
Phone: (617) 449-6264
FAX: (617) 444-0285
PITTSFIELD - BETH SHALOM
Charles Miville
Pittsfield, MA
(413) 443-5552
SHARON - BETH EL SHADDAI CONGREGATION
Gary Derechinsky
P.O. Box 50
Sharon, MA 02067
(617) 255-9931
WORCESTER - MELECH YISRAEL
Rabbi Philip Rothberg
Worcester, MA
(508) 792-0822
MICHIGAN
SOUTHFIELD - SHEMA YISRAEL
Spiritual Leader: Mr. Loren Jacobs
19421 W. Ten Mile Rd.
PO Box 804
Southfield, MI 48037
(313) 358-3850
SOUTHFIELD - CONGREGATION BETH MESSIAH
Harold Brickner
Southfield, MI
(313) 559-1535
MINNESOTA
ST. LOUIS PARK - SEED OF ABRAHAM MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Messianic Pastor: Ed Rothman
9500 Minnetonka Blvd.
St. Louis Park, MN 55014
Phone: (612) 933-2243
FAX: (612) 931-9872
MISSOURI
CREVE COEUR - BETH TIKVAH
Rabbi Harvey Smith
12939 Conway Rd.
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
(314) 878-7975
ST. LOUIS - BURNING BUSH MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Don Maness
PO Box 39415
St Louis, MO 63139
(314) 752-1115
NEBRASKA
LINCOLN - BETH MESSIAH
Richard Segal
PO Box 30007
Lincoln, NE 68503
(402) 489-7491
OMAHA - ADAT ETZ CHAYIM
Robert Chenoweth
PO Box 241503
Omaha, NE 68124
(402) 397-7209
NEW HAMPSHIRE
DERRY - BETH ASAPH
James White
Derry, NH 03038
(603) 432-2789
HANOVER - LION OF JUDAH
Daniel Gruber
PO Box 776
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 643-4151
NEVADA
LAS VEGAS - ETZ HACHAIYIM
Rabbi Jack Bono
P.O. Box 85336
Las Vegas, NV 89185
(702) 383-0700
NEW JERSEY
BRICK - Beth Zion
David Balton
PO Box 4324
Brick, NJ 08253
CHERRY HILL - Hope of Israel Congregation
Kenneth Alpren
Cherry Hill, NJ
(609) 667-4673
CLARK - Congregation Ari Yehuda
PO Box 984
Clark, NJ 07066
(908) 464-5352
ENGLEWOOD - BETH HA KEREM
Messianic Pastor: Michael Bologh
70 West Ivy Lane
Englewood, NJ 07631
(201) 567-2262
FREEHOLD - Monmouth Worship Center
Art Levy
Freehold, NJ
(908) 577-9150
GARFIELD - Beth Israel
Jonathan Cahn
2 Lincoln Place
Garfield, NJ 07026
(201) 472-3059
LIVINGSTON - BETH MESSIAH CONGREGATION
Congregational Leader: Larry Feldman
46 Melrose Drive
Livingston, NJ 07039
(201) 535-3954
VENTNOR - El Shaddai
Michael Lax
PO Box 2409
Ventnor, NJ 08406
(609) 823-0543
NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE - ADAT YESHUA
Spiritual Leader: Russ Resnick
PO Box 80203
Albuquerque, NM 87198
(508) 848-9205
NEW YORK
BAY TERRACE - KEHILAT YESHUA
Congregational Leader: Dr. Michael Schiffman
PO Box 4691
Bay Terrace, NY 11360-4691
Phone: (718) 352-9535
FAX: (718) 352-0821
BROOKLYN - MESSIAH'S CONGREGATION
Steve Schlissel
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 332-4444
BUFFAL0 - CONGREGATION B'RITH HADOSHAH
Pastor/Rabbi: Rev. Frank Lowinger
2608 Elmwood Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14217
(716) 873-8986
FOREST HILLS - APPLE OF HIS EYE
Marc Danzis
PO Box 1060
Forest Hills, NY 11375
GLENHEAD - NEW COVENANT COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS
David Harwood
Glen Head, NY
(516) 674-4673
HOLBROOK - BETH EMANUEL
Rabbi Ashley Crane
5070 Expressway Dr. S.
Holbrook, NY 11741
(516) 467-3526
HOWARD BEACH - BETH TEFILAH
Spiritual Leader: Robert Korn
PO Box 353, Station "B"
Howard Beach, NY 11414
(718) 845-3881
KENMORE - B'RITH HADOSHAH
Frank Lowinger
2608 Elmwood Avenue
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 873-8986
MASSAPEQUA - SHAAREI HASHAMAYIM
Rabbi Ron Corbett
65 Roosevelt Ave.
Massapequa, NY
(516) 783-6441
MINEOLA - BETH YESHUA
Bill O'Brian
147 Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY 11501
(516) 746-2951
MONSEY - BETH AM MESSIAH
Rob DeMaggio
Box 549
Monsey, NY 10952
(914) 426-3855
NEW CITY - BETH-AM MESSIAH
Rabbi Robert DeMaggio
53 Maple Ave.
New City, NY 10956
(914) 638-2921
NEW YORK CITY - KEHILAT YESHUA
Rabbi Michael Schiffman
346 E. 69th St.
New York, NY
(718) 352-9535
NORTH BALDWIN - BEIT SHUVA YISRAEL
David Rosenberg
PO Box 55
North Baldwin NY 11510
(516) 223-8323
PLAINVIEW - OLIVE TREE CONGREGATION
Congregational Leader: Rev. Michael Rydelnik
88 Southern Parkway
Plainview, NY 11803
Phone: (516) 939-2277
FAX: (516) 939-0321
ROCHESTER - PETAH TIKVAH
Spiritual Leader: Rev. Richard Chaimberlin
165 Doncaster Road
(716) 427-2483
ROCHESTER - SHEMA YISRAEL
Congregational Leader: Jonathan Bernis
1326 N. Winton Road
Rochester, NY 14609
Phone: (716) 288-0670
FAX: (716) 288-0428
ROME - KEHILAT BEN DAVID
Stephen Galiley
Rome, NY
(315) 337-1914
SCHENECTADY - SEED OF ABRAHAM
Barry Feinman
PO Box 9094
Schenectady, NY 12309
(518) 482-1569
SOUTH OZONE PARK - BETH TEPHILAH
Rabbi Robert Kom
133-40 Hawtree Creek Rd.
South Ozone Park, NY
(718) 845-3881
WEST SAYVILLE - BETH YESHUA
Rich Saxon
West Sayville, NY
(516) 563-4033
YONKERS - LIGHT OF ISRAEL CONGREGATION
Rich Freeman
P.O. Box 741
Yonkers, NY 10710
(914) 962-0527
NORTH CAROLINA
CHARLOTTE - BETH SAR SHALOM FELLOWSHIP
Bill Caldwell
1300 Cross Beam Drive
Charlotte NC 28217
(704) 357-9000
RALEIGH - BETH LECHEM
Rufus Masengill
Raleigh, NC
(919) 733-0405
WILMINGTON - BAT TZION
George Holland
Wilmington, NC
(919) 763-2180
OHIO
AKRON - BETH SAR SHALOM FELLOWSHIP
Wayne Kaipainen
Akron, OH
(216) 836-0540
CINCINNATI - BETH MESSIAH CONGREGATION
Michael Wolf
6019 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45213
(513) 531-1215
CINCINNATI - KEHILAT MASHIACH
Rabbi Jeffrey Adler
115 W. Forrer St.
Cincinnati, OH 45215
(513) 733-0312
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS - TIKVAT YISRAEL
Rabbi Walter Lieber
3565 Mayfield Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH
(216) 321-7395
COLUMBUS - BETH MESSIAH CONGREGATION
Congregational Leader: Howard Silverman
PO Box 297736
Columbus, OH 43229
(614) 436-5171
COLUMBUS - OLIVE BRANCH CONGREGATION
Don Marx
720 Collingwood Ave. (Whitehall Section)
Columbus, OH 43213
(614) 486-3421
DAYTON - SH'MA YISRAEL
Howard Tockman
1319 Epworth Avenue
Dayton, OH 45410
(513) 254-2661
S. EUCLID - TIKVAT YISRAEL CONGREGATION
Messianic Pastor: Mr. Walter Lieber
13967 Cedar Road #202
S. Euclid, OH 44118
(216) 321-7395
TOLEDO - ADAT ADONAI
Rabbi Kevin Williams
3925 W. Central Ave.
Toledo, OH 43603
(419) 531-6906
TOLEDO - CONGREGATION YACHDAV
Ron Giauque
PO Box 9042
Toledo, OH 43697
(419) 535-0908
YOUNGSTOWN - BETH YESHUA CONGREGATION
Rabbi Robert Diamond
1314 Churchill-Hubbard Rd.
Youngstown, OH 44505
(216) 759-3161
OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA CITY - BET AMI
Charles Stalsworth
2425 N Warren Avenue
Oklahoma City, OK 73107
(405) 943-5208
OREGON
PORTLAND - KEHILAT HA-MASHIAH
Elders: Mr. Bob Morris, Mr. Bob Alsman
16230 S.E. Mill Street
Portland, OR 97233
(503) 761-4534
PORTLAND - LION OF JUDAH FELLOWSHIP
Rusty Tanzer
PO Box 18049
Portland, OR 97218
(503) 245-1165
PENNSYLVANIA
BETHLEHEM - LEHIGH VALLEY MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Glenn Blank
Bethlehem PA
DALTON - ETA CHAIM MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Rabbi Bruce Booker
P.O Box 89
Dalton, PA 18414
(717) 822-5131
HARRISBURG - RO'EH YISRAEL
Milton Maiman
Harrisburg, PA
(717) 238-6255
NEW CASTLE - TIKVAT T'ZION
334 E. Moody Ave.
New Castle, PA 16105
Congregational Leader: Ron Banjak
(412) 652-3702 or 962-7100
PHILADELPHIA - BETH YESHUA
David Chernoff
7501 Haverford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19151
(215) 477-2706
PHILADELPHIA - CONGREGATION BETH MESSIAH
Pastor: Rev. Herbert Links
1907 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 568-1030
PHILADELPHIA - MESSIAH'S LIGHTHOUSE
David Stuart
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 698-9089
PITTSBURGH - BETH MESSIAH SYNAGOGUE
Rabbi: Ruth Harris
3245 Beechwood Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 521-9436/653-9207
PITTSBURGH - PITTSBURGH MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Abe Sandler
PO Box 81843
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 733-7064
SOUTHAMPTON - THE COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN CENTER
Michael Goldbloom
995 Jaymor Road
PO Box 1215
Southampton, PA 18966
(215) 322-1223
WARMINSTER - BETH SHILOH MESSIANIC SYNAGOGUE
Messianic Rabbi: Dr. Harris Brody
PO Box 2955
Warminster, PA 18974
(215) 443-9078
PUERTO RIC0
SAN JUAN - B'NAI ISRAEL
Irwin Marks
PO Box 360752
San Juan, PR 00936
(809) 799-7827
RHODE ISLAND
WARWICK - SH'EARIT YISRAEL
Rachel Epstein
PO Box 1000
Warwick, RI 02888
(401) 781-3600
TENNESSEE
KNOXVILLE - BETH TEFILLA FELLOWSHIP
Jerry Mabry
9208 Kingston Pike - Suite 377
Knoxville, TN 37922
(615) 579-1133
MEMPHIS - B'RIT HADASHA
Rabbi Gary F. Shansky
1625 W. Massey Rd.
Memphis, TN 38119
(901) 685-9267
NASHVILLE - BETH CHAIM
PO Box 158485
Nashville, TN 37215-3485
(615) 298-4070
NASHVILLE - YESHUAT YISRAEL
PO Box 40206
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 256-7437
TEXAS
AUSTIN - BET SHALOM
Robert Pill
Austin, TX
(512) 444-1687
CEDAR PARK - ADAT YESHUA CONGREGATION
Tom Schiffour
Cedar Park, TX
DALLAS - BARUCH HA SHEM CONGREGATION
Congregational Leader: Martin Waldman
6304 Beltline Road
Dallas, TX 75240
Phone: (214) 386-0121
FAX: (214) 386-4770
DALLAS - BETH SAR SHALOM
Steven Cohen
PO Box 670054
Dallas, TX 75367
(214) 691-7381
EL PASO - DERECH OLAM
Michael Washer
El Paso, TX
(915) 532-9168
EL PASO - KEHILAT BEN DAVID
Pastor Yossi Laster
5500 Doniphan Drive, Suite B
El Paso, TX 79901
(915) 584-1133
FORT WORTH - BETH YESHUA CONGREGATION
Messianic Rabbi: Rev. Stanley L. Eisenberg
PO Box 16595
Fort Worth, TX 76162-0595
(817) 921-3195
HOUSTON - CONGREGATION BETH MESSIAH
Pastor Richard Freeman
11727 N. Evelyn Circle
Houston, TX 77071
Phone: (713) 729-5816
FAX: (713) 721-7769
HOUSTON - CONGREGATION OF MESSIAH JESUS
Pastor Gus Elowitz
5747 Greencraig Drive
Houston, TX 77035
(713) 726-1053
HOUSTON-ALIEF - CONGREGATION AM ECHAD
Uri Zahora
PO Box 29
Houston-Alief, TX 77411
(713) 639-3134
PASADENA - BETH HA SHEM MINISTRIES
Larry Deutsch
PO Box 3232
Pasadena, TX 77501
(713) 477-8351
SAN ANTONIO - BETH SIMCHA CONGREGATION
Rabbi Randy Shapiro
3910 West Ave.
San Antonio, TX 90212
(210) 493-7482
SAN ANTONIO - ROEH ISRAEL
Roi Garcia
PO Box 790514
San Antonio, TX 78279-0514
(512) 344-5772
SAN ANTONIO - YESHUA'S MESSIANIC FELLOWSHIP
Elliot Hass
San Antonio, TX
(512) 699-9490
VIRGINIA
BURKE - OHEV YISRAEL MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Rabbi David Chansky
9800 Old Keene Mill Rd.
Burke, VA 22015
(703) 451-2869
CHESAPEAKE - OR CHADASH
Jim Wallis
PO Box 13535
Chesapeake, VA
23323-0555
FAIRFAX - OHEV YISRAEL
David Chansky
Fairfax, VA
(703) 451-2869
RESTON - LION OF JUDAH CONGREGATION
Michael Gress
PO Box 3235
Reston, VA 22090
(703) 437-6451
RICHMOND - TIKVAT YISRAEL
Rabbi Jamie Cowen
Richmond, VA
(804) 320-0624
RICHMOND - YESHUA CHAI MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Rabbi Ray Gordet
PO Box 8362
Richmond, VA 23226
(804) 741-9550
VIRGINIA BEACH - BETH MESSIAH SYNAGOGUE
Rabbi Dr. Joseph Rosenfarb
3220 Monet Drive (near Farmer's Market)
Virginia Beach, VA
(804) 479-1626
VIRGINIA BEACH - STAR OF DAVID CONGREGATION
Dr David Hargis
PO Box 64061
Virginia Beach, VA 23464
(804) 523-6642
WASHINGTON
BELLEVUE - CONGREGATION EMMAUS
Saul Wallach
515 116th Avenue NE
Suite 225
Bellevue, WA 98004
(206) 454-9958
BOTHELL - BETH DAVID
Tai Mostovoy
PO Box 2124
Bothell, WA 98041
(206) 488-7263
LYNNWOOD - ZION FELLOWSHIP
Dr Richard Perkins
PO Box 337
Lynnwood, WA 98046
(206) 745-1184
SEATTLE - BETH HA SHOFAR
Messianic Pastor: Roger A. Ludington
13001 37th Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98168
(206) 246-5345
TACOMA - BETH SIMCHA
Frank Stiller
University Professional Square
2607 Bridgeport Way W Ste 2K
Tacoma, WA 98466-4725
(206) 566-7211
WISCONSIN
SHOREWOOD - BETH HA MASHIACH
Reagan Stoddard
PO Box 11678
Shorewood, WI 53211
(414) 962-2224
WEST VIRGINIA
BRIDGEPORT - B'NAI AVRAHAM
Chayim Nelson
Bridgeport, WV
(304) 842-6799
*** INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATIONS ***
CANADA
MONTREAL - Beth Messiah Fellowship
Winnie Marriner
514-332-9214
TORONTO - Beth Sar Shalom Congregation
Rob Styler
588 Durie Street
Toronto, Ontario M6S 3H1
416-767-8955
DOWNSVIEW - OLIVE TREE CONGREGATION
Ben Volman
P.O Box 1215 Sta. B
Downsview, Ontario M3H 2TO
416-736-1698
ETOBICOKE - Congregation Ner Tamid
Malvern Jacobs
Suite 440100, Cavell Avenue
Etobicoke, Ontario M8V 3V6
416-253-9920
VANCOUVER - Elie Nessim Kehillath Tsion
PO Box 2902 Main Post Office
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 3X4
GERMANY
JERUSALEM-KIRCHE (CHURCH)
Rektor: Paul-Gerhard Pawlitzki
Schaferkamps 30
2000 Hamburg 36, Germany
Phone: 49-40-44-190-208
FAX: 49-40-410-6973
ISRAEL
ELIAS CHURCH (BETH ELIJAHU)
Elder: Shlomo Drori
PO Box 525
31004 Hairfa Israel
Phone 972-4-52-35-81
RISHON-LE-TSION - GRACE AND TRUTH CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY
Pastors: Rev. Baruch Maoz & David Zadok
PO Box 75
75100
Rishon-le-Tsion, Israel
Phone/FAX: 972-3-966-1898
TEL AVIV - IMMANUEL CONGREGATION - YAFO
PO Box 1783
61016 Tel Aviv, Israel
Phone: 972-3-820654
FAX: 972-3-826409
KFAR SABA - KEREN YESHUA
Albert Israeli
P.O. Box 637
Kfar Saba, Israel
JERUSALEM - MESSIANIC ASSEMBLY OF JERUSALEM
Senior Elder: Victor Smadja
56 Prophets Street
Jerusalem, Israel
JERUSALEM - ROEH ISRAEL MESSIANIC CONGREGATION
Leader: Rev. Joseph Shulam
PO Box 8043
91080 Jerusalem, Israel
Phone: 972-2-231019
FAX: 972-2-249258
S.C.U.D. WARNINGS !
S.C.U.D. WARNINGS !
S piritual
C ounterfeits
U ndermining
D octrine
W A R N I N G S
By Jerry Johnson
Sigmund the Saint
Transcript of a conversation that took place in the office of Michael the Archangel on August 18, 1880.
Angel #1 (Amos): Uh, Michael?
Michael: Oh, Hi Amos! What would you like?
Amos: Well, I, uh....
Second angel, Harold (yes, the one of "Hark, the Harold angel sings" fame) enters, breathless.
Harold: Amos, did you tell him yet?
Michael: (suddenly concerned) This sounds serious. What is it Amos?
Amos: Well, Sir, you know how busy we'd been with the first missionary movement and all ...
Michael: Amos, I'm busy! Please get to the bottom line.
Amos: Well, like I said, it's been busy for the last few centuries ...
Michael: (sternly) AMOS!
Harold: Sir? A couple of books didn't make it into the canonized Bible.
Amos: We were so busy we missed 1 and 2 Psychologicals.
Michael: You left out Psychologicals? You left out Psychologicals?! They were supposed to be right after Thessalonians. No wonder the middle ages were such a mess!
Harold: Yeah, it's disgraceful, isn't it? Almost 1900 years without mental health.
Michael: Well, we've got to fix this pronto! Any ideas?
Amos: Well, we do have a plan, sir.
Harold: It seems there's this agnostic Jew in Austria named Sigmund Freud that we think we can use.
Michael: Are you sure he's receptive?
Harold: We've already got him started thinking about the self- conscious and sex. We can probably get a version of Psychologicals out and dominate within about 70 years or so.
Michael: 70 years? Well, we've already lost 1900 years, I guess another 70 years won't hurt. Are you sure you can get our people to accept this?
Amos: No problem! The way I figure it, they should consider it to be canonized truth, equal to the Bible, by no later than the '80s.
Michael: (thinking) OK, go for it. It's a pity the church missed out on mental health for all those years, but at least the latter part of the 20th century should be OK. Get to work on it!
(Harold and Amos leave, relieved)
Frankly, I assume this column is going to upset quite a few people. Mainly because there is a large segment of Christianity that feels psychology is too secular and therefore useless, if not detrimental ... and there is another large segment of Christianity which feels that psychology is a blessing and helps to "fill the gap" of mental health not addressed by Scripture.
I'm going to get both those groups at least a little upset.
Maybe a lot.
"OH, I SUPPOSE YOU ARE GOING TO ADDRESS US FROM YOUR GREAT STORE OF KNOWLEDGE. FROM WHAT? MAYBE ONE CLASS OF PSYCH 101?"
No, I happen to have a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from a California State College.
"OH, SO NOW I'M SUPPOSED TO BE IMPRESSED?"
Nope, that's just to let you know that my opinion comes from knowledge, not ignorance. And, just to confirm it ... my opinion is no doubt a minority among people who have 90 units of graduate psychology education.
Trying to do this intro is TOUGH! Do I slide up to my point subtly in a Rogerian manner, or do I hit it straight on in a Gestalt/Reality therapy manner? I am in a quandary (actually, I'm in my converted garage). Am I trying top share from my subconscious or my super ego. (No "ego" jokes, please). OK, let me do some relaxation exercises and clear my mind so I can become clear and actualized in my thinking. Speaking of thinking, am I left-brained or right-brained?
"IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE ADDLE-BRAINED TO ME! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? MAKING FUN OF PSYCHOLOGY?"
Yep. (In case it wasn't clear, this is the part where the pro- psychology people can get mad at me)
Simple fact is there is much in psychology that would prompt a nice crop of corn, if spread on the soil in a generous manner.
I spent about five years as a believer researching the New Age and the occult (more realistically defined as the Old New Age) and in my research I discovered that I could find more occultic and New Age teaching in the psychology section of a book store than in the New Age or occult section.
That included LOTS of visualization (which IS an occultic, not neutral or Christian, method), concepts of seeking higher powers, finding the god within (which is what Maslow's actualization was actually talking about), past life regression, encouragement into exploring alternate states of consciousness, be it through drugs or eastern meditation, biofeedback enhanced yogic practices and, thanks to the DSM IIIR (Diagnostics and Statistics Manual, Number 3, Revised), having too much caffeine is aberrant, but being homosexual is fine.
Oh, yeah! There's lots to make fun at in psychology.
Spend some time watching Oprah, Phil, Montel and Geraldo and see what glorious concepts are being vaunted in the name of psychology.
Colossians 2:8 says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
There is an AWFUL lot of human tradition and principles of the world in most theories of psychology.
In one of my first classes in grad school I was taught two fascinating bits of information:
1) Just as many people get as well as quickly WAITING to see a counselor as they do seeing one.
2) It DOES NOT MATTER what theory of psychology is used, an effective counselor will be effective and an ineffective counselor will be ineffective.
One of my more astute colleagues then asked, "Then why are we trying to become counselors?!"
90 units later, I was convinced those two statements were accurate.
I saw well-studied, brilliant people who couldn't counsel their way out of a paper bag and I saw hurting people who got better by just talking to a sales clerk friend on the phone.
Simple fact is the reasons that they call counseling concepts theories is because they have not proven to be consistently true! If there was a psychological truth regarding mental health, someone would have written THE book, retired ridiculously wealthy, and the world would be a wonderful place to be in.
It ain't. In fact, whenever mental health services are brought into an area, mental illness increases, not decreases.
"ISN'T IT JUST THAT PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO COME FORWARD AND ADMIT THEY NEED HELP?"
Often it is people who were, despite their pain, functioning, who suddenly quit functioning because "help" is available.
Now that I've got pro-psychology people mad, let me move to a middle ground so I can start to anger the anti-psychology people.
There are things about psychology that I believe are helpful. One is its ability to observe and log consistent patterns of thinking and behavior, such as the pattern of grief most people go through at the loss of a loved one. We all tend to go through the same pattern and if we understand that, we don't have to feel so bad about all the different feelings that occur.
Another is what patterns people with specific eating disorders go through, or how people tend to process thought or learn.
These valuable insights are gained through observing what DOES exist. It is based on replicable, consistent patterns of behavior. It only gets strange when it hypothesizes on what makes a person healthy, when the people doing the hypothesizing are terminally ill with sin.
"Psychology" means the study of the soul and most counselors and psychologists I have met are woefully ignorant of the issues of the soul, or eternity.
"BUT WHAT ABOUT CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS?"
Are they secularly based psychologists who happen to be Christians or are we talking about believers who know that there is no peace or true health unless there is a right relationship with Christ?
That makes a HUGE difference.
I was leading one of our singles classes on the topic of Counterculture Christianity and I was sharing some of the above "insights" when one of our singles who had struggled with depression made a declarative statement similar to my fertilizer reference of above.
He declared, quite emphatically, that when he was depressed the church was not able to do anything for him. His only source of help was psychology and, eventually, medication to overcome the effects of his depression.
It was during the resultant, and often emotionally laden, conversation that we stumbled across the main point of this column.
My friend had repeatedly sought help from Christians, but they declared themselves ill-equipped to deal with a "psychological" problem. Eventually he gained some "release" from his depression with Prozac.
But he didn't gain any true release. He simply fooled the serotonin levels in his body to overcome the effect of his depression. The beliefs that caused him to become depressed in the first place are still adamantly in place.
But he had a point. No church or Christian was willing to try to help him ... . partially because they believed that "psychological" problems are distinct from spiritual issues and they, therefore, felt unqualified.
I believe that separation of church and mental state (ah, a rare first amendment joke) is, frankly, arbitrary. The people that I have known that have exemplified the best mental and emotional health were believers who had continually let the Lord "teach, rebuke, correct and train [them] in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
Also, except for emotional or mental problems that are CAUSED by chemical imbalances (not the other way around), most of the stresses that people experience could be traced to issues that involve (dare we say it?) sin. Such sins include the biggie, stressing about circumstances rather than trusting in a loving and omnipotent God, lack of forgiveness, areas of unrepentance, etc.
BUT, he still had a point. When nothing else was available, psychology helped him.
Helped, but didn't heal.
And that's my point. If you are ever in an accident, you'd love to get to a hospital in the care of a highly skilled physician. However, if a hospital or doctor aren't immediately available, we will be happy ... delighted ... with first aid. Even marginal first aid is better than bleeding to death.
The world has been selling the idea that psychology is skilled surgery and that its practitioners are skilled healing physicians. All without pointing the client to God.
That's not surgery. It's first aid.
It's better than nothing, it's help, but it ISN'T healing.
Psychology is not canonized truth and we must be careful we don't credit it as such.
Next time: "Rash Limburgh and the Liberal Agenda"
Commentary
Commentary
Guest Commentary
A LACK OF IDENTITY
By Chana Cohn
Recently, a coworker spotted my necklace, a star with a cross at its center, and exclaimed, "You're a Messianic Jew!" I was almost as shocked as he was. During the weeks since I had started working at Texas Instruments, I had been explaining to bewildered coworkers that I am a Jewish believer in the Messiah Jesus. They would nod slowly, stare at the necklace, pause and then change the subject.
One time at a Christian gathering, after I had explained my identity as a Jewish believer, a man clapped me on the back and asked, "Aren't you glad to be liberated from the bondage of the law?" He then went on to criticize the Judaism of the Old Testament, congratulating me on my release from tyranny as though my Jewishness were something I needed to escape in order to appreciate the grace of God. Somehow I gathered the impression that he did not have a thorough understanding of the Old Testament.
But an even more painful misunderstanding often occurs when I explain to another Jewish person that I believe the Messiah has come and that He is Jesus. Frequently, the response is, "Then you're not really Jewish." Other times: "When did you convert?" or "What made you give up Judaism?" Always there is an underlying assumption that I cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus at the same time.
In these different situations the same basic need emerges: the need for a sense of identity. Among both Gentiles and Jews the misconception frequently surfaces that Christianity and Judaism are completely separate and mutually exclusive. With such ideas reinforced in both Gentile and Jewish cultures, it is no wonder that many Jewish believers struggle to find a suitable expression of their identity as the remnant of Israel, even though Christianity began as a splinter of Judaism.
Many Gentile Christians do not recognize the Jewish context of the New Testament. As a result much teaching lacks the depth that key symbols and phrases draw upon and the resonance of a Jewish conception of a powerful, unsearchable and glorious God who redeems His people and honors His covenants.
And while the church sometimes lacks the richness it could have in its teaching, it also lacks an important component in its congregations - Jewish people. The church has shrugged its shoulders at its unsaved Jewish neighbors and turned its back on the people through whom the Messiah came. While laboring (and rightly so) toward the evangelization of far-away people crippled by disease and poverty, the church often ignores its Jewish neighbors at home, blinded for want of Jesus' true light and starving in their souls for lack of bread from heaven.
But not only because of a cultural and moral obligation should the church reach out to the Jewish people, but if nothing else because Paul wrote, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." (Roman 1:17) Paul's mission did not end with his death, and neither should his burden for Jewish evangelism. Paul believed that a Jewish audience should have priority in the proclamation of the Gospel. Today many Jews never hear the Gospel proclaimed at all. If, as some Christians have claimed, "first for the Jews" means that the opportunity for Jewish acceptance of the Messiah ended when the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, then there would be no reason for Jewish people to exist today. Why would God go to the trouble of preserving the Jewish nation through two thousand years of tumultuous history if He has already sealed off their access to salvation through the Gospel? Such a decision would mean that God has rejected His covenant with Israel and yet still allowed generations to be born without hope of a return to communion with God, possible only through being a part of the body of Christ.
Yet even the continued existence of the Jewish people witnesses to that very covenant which God made with Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3) and renewed through Moses (Deuteronomy 29:12-13). God has not allowed His people to die out because the Jewish nation has not yet achieved its fullest identity through the worship of His Son.
This is not to say that Jewish people are unified in their own definition of what Jewish identity means. In the great debate of "What is a Jew?" many voices clamor to be heard, to proclaim once and for all what makes a person Jewish. In the Jewish population at large, personal criteria range: one believes that all Jews should live in Israel, another that every rabbinic ordinance should be rigorously obeyed, and yet another that Jewishness is fulfilled through commitment to the Jewish community. Some Jews do not even believe in God. It seems that the only point at which Jewish voices unite is to proclaim that Jews do not believe in Jesus.
This is hardly a positive affirmation of identity. The Jewish community does not become more defined through its denial of Jesus' Lordship any more than a caterpillar becomes more of a caterpillar by refusing to be a butterfly. In fact it becomes less so. A caterpillar is born to be a butterfly, and even if it could refuse to do so, it would not develop into the spectacular display of beauty as the creature it was created to be. In a similar way the very existence of Jewish people testifies to the God who would stop at nothing to preserve us. But it also means much more. We were created for God's purpose: to be transformed by the love of Jesus and to shine as a light to the Gentiles, a kingdom of priests for the nations (from Isaiah 49:6 and Exodus 19:6).
Since the Jewish people have not yet fulfilled God's mission, then the true issue here is not as some Jewish people understand it. This is not the preference of one religion over another, Christianity over Judaism, but rather the penetrating question, is Jesus the Jewish Messiah?
By holding this question firmly in mind, Jewish believers, as members of both the Christian and Jewish communities, can start to understand ourselves, our relationship to each other, and the God who made all of us. Jewish believers need to have a clear sense of who we are in relation to both Old and New Testaments, completely Jewish and completely Christian. Sometimes our mission becomes obscured in an effort to retain our Jewish identities. Harsh disagreements can arise over worship style, eating habits and diction preferences. Certainly Paul already addressed some of these issues in Roman 14:13-23 when he discussed clean and unclean food. Squabbling accomplishes little. It can cause pain to others and even division in the church at large. As the remnant of Israel, we need to have a sense of community with each other, a transglobal identification, firmly committed to remaining followers of the true God of Israel, faithfully proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
This is not to say that we need to start over and ignore the history of the church for the past two thousand years. Important ideas have traveled down the years through the hands of mostly Gentile believers. Perhaps it is now time for more of the hands to be Jewish. As Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus we enjoy a rich heritage of thought and deed left to us by those who have gone before. Now, without dismissing historical Christianity, Jewish believers need to remind the church at large of what the New Testament looks like from a Jewish perspective. And without apologizing for our professed faith or fellowship, Jewish believers need to challenge unsaved Jewish people to fulfill their calling as the Chosen People, not chosen for their own sake, but chosen for God's greater glory the glory that shines through Jesus, just as rays shine from the sun.
From the LEVITT LETTER
Features
About These Features
About These Features
The BEST OF our Messianic Studies (1991-1993)
The editors of MORNING STAR have chosen to reprint the following six articles from our first two years of publication. We have done this for the benefit of the many new readers we have acquired over the past year. I'm sure you will find these studies to be very unique and highly informative.
Toby Trudel
Editor in Chief
Why Messianic Jews ?
Why Messianic Jews ?
WHY MESSIANIC JEWS?
By Rachmiel Frydland
To ask why we are Jews is to ask why a bagel is a bagel. A bagel tastes like a bagel and not like a doughnut, although a bagel- hater defined a bagel as a doughnut dipped in cement.
Now a Jew is a Jew because he was born a Jew and because he wants to be a Jew. In most cases even if he does not want to be one, he will be compelled to admit it; otherwise, others will point a finger at him, asking, "Aren't you Jewish?"
The term Jew is related to Judah, Jacob's fourth son from Leah. Judah (Yehudah in Hebrew) means praise to the Lord. His mother Leah wanted thus to express her gratitude to the Lord for giving her this fourth son. The descendants of Judah were aware of this derivation, and sometimes were reminded of it by descendants of other tribes challenging them to live up to their name. We have to admit that some Jews succeeded in assimilating with their Gentile neighbors through intermarriage, change of name, and denial of their identity. Usually it was a long, ardent process and took several generations to achieve. On the other hand, there were groups and individuals who, though not descendants of Judah or from any of the other tribes of Israel, succeeded in their efforts at being absorbed into the people called Jews.
This was not easy. The people of Shechem wanted to do it and even went through the full rite of circumcision of every male, yet were slaughtered and never succeeded to penetrate the hermetically sealed tribes of Israel (Genesis 34). Sometimes those attempting to join them gave them trouble, like the "mixed multitude" of Exodus 12:38, and the Gibeonites of Joshua 9. However, in most other cases these non-Jewish groups seem to have been gradually absorbed and assimilated into the Jewish body by intermarriage. Large influxes took place in the Persian period, as reported in the book of Esther in the Bible, and in the Maccabean period, when whole tribes under the threat of extermination, preferred circumcision. The most prominent are the Khazar tribes of the present central Russia who accepted Judaism. The story of their conversion was described and popularized by the famous philosopher/poet Yehuda Halevi.
Today, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, Rabbis are working hard at teaching and preparing prospective converts to Judaism. In some cases, at least these converts are absorbed into the Jewish mainstream by intermarriage.
Messianic Jews
Among the 14 million Jewish people there is a group of perhaps twenty or thirty thousand people [note: this figure is much larger today than when this article was written, the number is closer to 100,000 - Ed.], born Jews, who believe in the Torah and the rest of the Tanakh and practice Jewish customs and religion. They also believe in Jesus. Some, if not most of them, prefer to call Him by His Jewish name, Yeshua. Although small in number, they are a vocal group, constantly challenging the Jewish spiritual and secular authorities with their presence, demanding recognition as Jews.
It would be easiest for these Jewish believers, among whom is also the writer of these lines, to accept the advice of rabbinic leaders and put aside our beliefs in Jesus. The Jewish authorities work very hard to achieve it. Organizations and individuals spend their time and hundreds and thousands of dollars toward this end. Among the best known are the Pe'ilim, Keren Yeladdenu, supported by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Israel, and many more who do it as a full or part time job.
Why do Messianic Jews resist? What lies behind their obstinacy, not only continuing to believe themselves but also spreading their faith to others? The answer as we see it is spiritual. This spiritual aspect can be summarized as follows:
Prophecies Demand It
We believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah because He alone gives sense to the words of our Jewish prophets. There is Isaiah 53 with its minute description of the suffering servant who was despised and rejected, afflicted with pain and stripes, by whose "stripes we are healed." He then dies, is buried, yet is revived and suffers all this "for the affliction of my (Isaiah the prophet's) people." All this can best be applied to one person only--Yeshua of Nazareth. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 98) teaches that this chapter refers to Messiah. The Targum of Jonathan begins the passage with the words Ha yatslakh avdee Mashikha, "Behold my servant the Messiah shall prosper...." Common sense says it must refer to Jesus.
The same goes for many other prophecies which speak of the time of His birth, like Daniel 9:26: "And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary...." (The city and sanctuary were destroyed A.D. 70. Messiah had to come and be cut off before then.) The manner of His birth in a supernatural way is recorded in Isaiah 7:14: "Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6 (5 in Heb.) says:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
The place of his birth is foretold by Micah, the prophet, in verse 5:2 (5:1 in Hebrew):
But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting.
The manner of His death is found both in Psalm 22:17, "they pierced my hands and my Feet (Masoretic text -- "Like a lion they are at my hands and my feet"), and in Zechariah 12:10, "They shall look unto me whom they have pierced," which the Talmud in Sukkah 52 applies to Messiah ben Joseph.
We have heard arguments against His Messianic claims by the fact that some prophecies like Isaiah 2 (breaking swords into plowshares) and Isaiah 11 (lamb and lion dwelling together) have not been fulfilled as yet and that our explanations for a future fulfillment by His second coming creates too long a hiatus (of close to 2,000 years). But what is 2,000 years in the sight of God, waiting patiently for His people to respond and accept His Anointed One--Yeshua, ben Elohim?
Personage Spotless
We hold on to our faith because of the spotless Person He was. His contemporaries testified of Him that "He doeth all things well" (Mark 7:37). He could challenge his contemporaries saying to them, "which of you convicteth me of sin?" and they held their peace. Some modern Jewish and non-Jewish scholars point out His lack of originality in many of His sayings. Would it have been better if He had contradicted the words of the prophets? Others assert that His teaching is too idealistic (e.g., the turning of the other cheek), and therefore impractical. But who can find fault in a Man who constantly goes from the South to the North of Israel, then Judea and Samaria, doing good, healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, opening the eyes of the deaf, making the lame to walk again and preaching the Good News of salvation to the poor, the needy, and the outcast? Rejected by the leading Pharisees and by the High Priests, He died a martyr's death by crucifixion at the hands of the cruel Roman soldiers.
But this is not the end of the story, for His 12 disciples plus a number of others see Him alive after He died and proclaim Him the risen Savior. For this assertion nearly all of them had to pay with their lives, dying like their master a cruel death from the hands of pagans and of unbelieving Jewish leaders. Yet these believing Jews never flinched. They knew for sure that He is alive.
Personalities of His Followers
We are convinced that He is Messiah because of the transformation in the personalities of His followers. Who could transform Simon Bar Jonah, the fisherman on the shores of Galilee, to become the leader of Messianic Jews in Israel and abroad, and finally to be acknowledged the first bishop and highest authority next to Jesus by millions of people of the whole world. What about Saul of Tarsus, convinced that he, with the letters he had from the High Priests, would completely knock out all belief in Jesus? He met the risen Yeshua on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) and from a persecutor of the Gospel he became a proclaimer of the Good News. He himself was greatly persecuted by unbelieving people everywhere until he finally died a martyr's death at the hands of the Romans in the time of Nero.
People Who Accepted Him
From the first book, Bereshit (Genesis), to the last prophet in the Tanakh (Old Testament), Malachi, the Messiah's activity involves "the people" or the nations. Ya'acov Aveenoo (our father Jacob) foresees it and says:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the
gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)
Isaiah the prophet sees Him as the "root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to Him shall the Gentiles seek" (Isaiah 11:10).
In Isaiah 49:6 Messiah is proclaimed with these words:
It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel: I will also give thee a light to the Gentiles,
and that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the
earth.
Malachi says of Him (1:11):
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of
the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles.
Peace That Messiah Gives
Jewish believers in Messiah Yeshua found that only in Him they have rest, peace, and satisfaction. They heard Messiah's invitation, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). They verified it in their own lives. They read the record of His promise, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). They found Messiah to be the Great Gentleman who always keeps His promise. The result is that we can say together with one of the first hasadim of Messiah Yeshua, Simon bar Jonah, called Simon Peter:
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the
Messiah, the Ben Elohim. (John 6:68-69)
By Rachmiel Frydland, reprinted with permission from the Messianic Jewish Computer Net, 12939 Conway Rd., Creve Coeur, MO, 63141, Harvey Smith, Sysop. (originally reprinted from The American Messianic Jewish Quarterly, MESSIANIC LITERATURE OUTREACH, P.O. BOX 37062, CINCINNATI, OHIO 45222)
Messiah in the Torah
Messiah in the Torah
MESSIAH IN THE TORAH
By Neil Lash
The idea that the Messiah can be found in the first five books of the Holy Scriptures is outrageous to most Orthodox Jews. Nevertheless, He is there! Even believers in Yeshua (Jesus) sometimes have a hard time seeing Him in the Torah (the five books of Moses, or the Pentateuch), but once He is seen, He is understood in a deeper way.
The Torah leads us to Messiah with signs all along the way. In the Torah, He is a stranger veiled from us, yet He is there. We feel His presence and we yearn for Him. These veils of Messiah's appearing take many forms such as direct prophecy, symbols of things, symbols of events and actions, symbols of offices, types, implications, and others.
1. The Messiah in Beresheet (Genesis)
There are Messianic themes in the first book of the Torah that continue throughout the entire Bible. Some of these are:
1. Man has fallen, but salvation and blessings will come.
2. Salvation will come through sacrifice.
3. The sacrifice will be linked to a son.
4. The power of the serpent will be crushed.
5. Hope will come through the child of a woman.
6. Salvation will come through Abraham.
7. New life will come through death.
We can see Yeshua in Joseph, the beloved of his father, who suffered and was rejected by his brothers and sold into slavery, but was later resurrected from this slavery and exalted to a place of great power and glory. We can see Yeshua in Joseph, when he takes a gentile bride and when he welcomes home the same brothers who rejected him. Since the link between Joseph and the Messiah is rabbinical as well as evangelical (the Jewish theory of two Messiahs, 'Messiah ben Yosef' and 'Messiah ben David' (that is, Messiah the son of Joseph and Messiah the son of David]), this particular shadow is one of the deepest and most beautiful shadows in the Torah.
Yeshua can also be seen in the account of Yaakov's (Jacob's) ladder in Beresheet 28. We read that a ladder comes down from Heaven, touches the earth, and angels move up and down on it. Consider when Yeshua said:
Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man! John 1:51
Messiah is our ladder! He came from heaven to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. He is the One who brings Israel to God, and God to Israel. In Him we climb up the ladder!
The Akeedah (binding of Isaac) in Beresheet (Genesis) 22 is perhaps the clearest reference to the Messiah in this book. God asks Abraham to take his only son, whom he loves, and go to Mt. Moriah to offer him up as a sacrifice. This is the first time that the word 'love' appears in the Bible. We see Isaac, the son, bearing the sacrificial wood, and think of Yeshua, carrying a wooden cross, Abraham tells Isaac in verse 8 of chapter 22 that "God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering," and indeed He did 2000 years later. God and Abraham were in covenant, and in a covenant whatever one does the other has to be willing to do. God did! He took His only son on a donkey into Jerusalem, up to the mount, and bound Him there. God spared Abraham's son, but He let His own Son suffer death, as the final atonement for our sin. *That* is *love*! (John 3:16)
2. The Messiah in Shemot (Exodus)
The most obvious appearance of the Messiah in Shemot is in the Passover where a people enslaved in a foreign land cry out and God sends a Redeemer to them. They are saved by applying the blood of a lamb on their doors, and they follow the Redeemer through the wilderness and into the promised land.
We who believe in Yeshua have been saved by the blood of God's Lamb. Picture the Jewish homes with the blood on the lintel and two side door posts, forming a triangle pointing to Heaven. Now picture another piece of wood with three more spots of blood, this time forming a triangle pointing to earth. Put them together and you have a star of David - the star of Messiah- who reaches down to men in the bondage of slavery to sin and says: "Follow me!"
The wilderness itself is a shadow of Messiah. It speaks of a people who are redeemed from a land of bondage but not yet in the Promised Land. Their Redeemer leads them through, His presence dwells with them. In the day, He is the Cloud that guides them. In the night, He is the pillar of Fire. He gives them a new food to eat - Manna - not from earth, but from heaven. This is to teach God's people that true life does not come from the wilderness but from heaven. Messiah said:
Yes indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life. I am the bread which is life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert: they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that has come down from heaven: if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world. John 6:47-51
The tabernacle or tent of meeting ('Mishkan' in Hebrew) described in the book of Shemot is a beautiful portrayal of God meeting with man through the Messiah. The Mishkan, plain on the outside, but rich in treasure and meaning on the inside is like our Lord who "had no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isaiah 53:2). On the inside of the Tabernacle there was bread that sustained life, wine that gave joy, light from a golden menorah, sweet smelling fragrance, the blending of heaven and earth's colors, and so much more! Truly, we see the One who John called THE WORD, who became flesh and tabernacled, or pitched his tent, among us!
3. The Messiah in VaYikra (Leviticus)
The message of the third book of the Torah is that salvation will come through sacrifice of a sinless life dying for a sinful one. The guilty one must identify with the one who is dying, and as they become one, there is salvation. One of the most powerful verses in the Torah appears in VaYikra:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. VaYikra 17:11
There's been no blood sacrifice in traditional Judaism since the Temple was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago, and yet, blood sacrifices are *central* to Biblical Judaism. Some of you may not know that in the collection of Jewish writings called the Talmud, there is a place (Yoma 39b) which explains about a scarlet thread in the Temple that would supernaturally turn white each year to show that God had accepted the Day of Atonement sacrifices. This stopped happening about 40 years before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE. (Just around the time of Yeshua's death.) Refer as well to Isaiah 53, which decodes the book of VaYikra (Leviticus). In this chapter we find the One who suffered outside the camp, who "sprinkles" many nations and whose "soul should become an 'Asham' (guilt offering)." (If you are led to study this, please share it with us. It would make a good article!)
4. The Messiah in BeMidbar (Numbers)
Yeshua is the Star (Zohar) that came forth out of Yaakov/Jacob (BeMidbar 24). One rabbinical writing ways the following: "In the week that Messiah will be born there will be a bright star - in the east - the 'Star of Messiah'." This did happen when Yeshua was born! And now *He* is the star that lights up our lives.
In BeMidbar 21, we see Messiah in the bronze serpent. The children of Israel had sinned, and God sent serpents among the people, and they bit them. Many of the people repented, and asked Moshe (Moses) to intercede for them. The Lord told Moshe to make a serpent of bronze (a symbol of judgment) and put it on a pole. When those who had been bitten looked upon the serpent (a symbol of sin/evil) they would live. Picture Yeshua - who became sin for us - and was lifted up on a cross. In beholding His suffering, there is healing for us. The New Covenant says it this way: "Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up: so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15)
5. The Messiah in Devareem (Deuteronomy)
One last insight on the Messiah from the last book of the Torah. Most of you know that Moshe, the law giver, died at the edge of the Promised Land. He never made it in. The Law speaks to us of a Promised Land where God wants to bring us, but it can't enter in. You can't enter into Messiah by the Law. Moshe's successor, Yehoshua (Joshua, another type of Yeshua) took the people into the Promised Land. As the Torah ends, Yehoshua (full of the Holy Spirit) is ready to lead God's people onward to all He has for them. Yeshua wants to take *you* into the Promised Land the same way!
All Old Covenant passages are from The Jerusalem Bible, Koren Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel, 1983.
All New Covenant passages are from The Jewish New Testament, Jewish New Testament Publications, Jerusalem, Israel, 1989.
Reprinted with permission from Love Song to the Messiah, P.O. Box 4386, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33338-4386, (305) 733-0656
The Mystery of Isaiah 53
The Mystery of Isaiah 53
THE MYSTERY OF ISAIAH 53
By Michael Rydelnik
An Old Testament passage thousands of years old still sparks debate between Jews and Christians today. To whom does this mysterious passage refer?
Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12:
"Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
One of the key Old Testament passages debated by Jewish and Christian scholars is Isaiah 53. Jewish sources say the suffering servant depicted here refers to the nation of Israel. Christians contend it refers to the Messiah.
Can the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 be Israel? The text of the passage itself plainly says no. Here are the reasons:
The Pronouns
In Isaiah 53:1-9, there is a clear distinction in pronouns. The speakers uniformly identify themselves in the first person plural (we, us and our), while the Servant is consistently described in the third person singular (he, him and his). Isaiah the prophet, a Jew, in speaking of himself and his own nation Israel, uses the pronouns we, us and our. He describes the Servant as someone other than himself and his people in using the pronouns he, him and his. Since the speakers are plainly Isaiah's people Israel (we), the Servant whom they describe (he) must be someone other than Israel. They both cannot be Israel.
The People
In Isaiah 53:8, Isaiah declares that the Servant was put to death "through the transgressions of my people". Obviously, Isaiah's people are the Jewish people. If the Servant died for the children of Israel, the Servant cannot also be the children of Israel.
The Sufferer's Innocence.
The passage repeatedly claims the innocence of the Servant. Isaiah 53:4-6 says that His suffering was not for His own sin but for the sins of others. Verse 9 specifically states, "He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." However, the prophets, especially Isaiah, never characterize Israel (or any nation) as perfectly innocent. Isaiah says of Israel, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:5). Since Isaiah affirms the Servant's innocence while at the same time affirming Israel's guilt, Israel cannot be the Servant.
The Servant's Willingness
Isaiah 53:7-12 describes the Servant as a voluntary and unresisting Sufferer. He is characterized as willingly accepting His suffering (verse 7), rendering Himself as a guilt offering (verse 10), and laying open His soul unto death (53:12). Certainly the Jewish people have suffered immensely at the hands of anti-Semites, who must still answer to God for their awful deeds. But despite the enormity of Jewish suffering, they never received it willingly.
The Servant's Death
The passage says that the Servant was "cut off out of the land of the living" (53:8) and that "he hath laid open his soul unto death" (53:12). Were the Jewish people ever, as a whole, put to death? No, we joyfully sing, "Am Yisrael Chai!" ("The People of Israel Live!"). In fact, in Jeremiah 31:34-36, God promises that the children of Israel will exist forever. Thus, since the Servant was "cut off," it is impossible to say that Israel is the Servant.
The Servant's Substitution
One of the main points of the passage is that the Servant died as a substitute for the sins of others. Nowhere do the Scriptures teach that Israel would suffer for the sins of others, only at the hands of others. For this reason, Israel is not the Servant in Isaiah 53.
The evidence is clear. The characteristics of the Servant cannot and do not apply to the Jewish people. The only One who fits the description is the Jewish Messiah, Messiah Yeshua.
From THE CHOSEN PEOPLE magazine
Jewishness and the Trinity
Jewishness and the Trinity
JEWISHNESS AND THE TRINITY
By Arnold Fruchtenbaum
"Shema Yisroel Adonai Elochenu Adonai Echad"
(Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.)
Rabbi Stanley Greenberg of Temple Sinai in Philadelphia wrote:
"Christians are, of course, entitled to believe in a Trinitarian conception of God. but their effort to base this conception on the Hebrew Bible must fly in the face of the overwhelming testimony of that Bible. Hebrew Scriptures are clear and unequivocal on the oneness of God The Hebrew Bible affirms the one God with unmistakable clarity Monotheism, an uncompromising belief in one God, is the hallmark of the Hebrew Bible, the unwavering affirmation of Judaism and the unshakable faith of the Jew."
Whether Christians are accused of being polytheists or tritheists and whether or not it is admitted that the Christian concept of the Tri-unity is a form of monotheism, one element always appears: one cannot believe in the Trinity and be Jewish. Even if what Christians believe is monotheistic, it still does not seem to be monotheistic enough to qualify as true Jewishness. Rabbi Greenberg's article tends to reflect that thinking.
He went on to say, "... under no circumstances can a concept of a plurality of the Godhead or a trinity of the Godhead ever be based upon the Hebrew Bible." It is perhaps best to begin with the very source of Jewish theology and the only means of testing it: Hebrew Scriptures. Since so much relies on Hebrew Scripture usage, then to the Hebrew we should turn.
GOD IS A PLURALITY
The Name Elohim
It is generally agreed that Elohim is a plural noun having the masculine plural ending "im." The very word Elohim used of the true God in Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,'' is also used in Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods (Elohim) before Me,'' and in Deuteronomy 13:2, " Let us go after other gods (Elohim)... ." While the use of the plural Elohim does not prove a Tri-unity, it certainly opens the door to a doctrine of plurality in the Godhead since it is the word that is used for the one true God as well as for the many false gods.
Plural Verbs Used With Elohim
Virtually all Hebrew scholars do recognize that the word Elohim, as it stands by itself, is a plural noun. Nevertheless, they wish to deny that it allows for any plurality in the Godhead whatsoever. Their line of reasoning usually goes like this: When "Elohim" is used of the true God, it is followed by a singular verb; when it is used of false gods, it is followed by the plural verb. Rabbi Greenberg states it as follows:
"But, in fact, the verb used in the opening verse of Genesis is "bara," which means "he created" - singular. One need not be too profound a student of Hebrew to understand that the opening verse of Genesis clearly speaks of a singular God."
The point made, of course, is generally true because the Bible does teach that God is only one God and, therefore, the general pattern is to have the plural noun followed by the singular verb when it speaks of the one true God. However, there are places where the word is used of the true God and yet it is followed by a plural verb:
Genesis 20:13: And it came to pass, when God (Elohim) caused me to wander (Literally: THEY caused me to wander) from my father's house ...
Genesis 35:7: ... because there God (Elohim) appeared to him ... (Literally: THEY appeared to him.)
2 Samuel 7:23: ... God (Elohim) went ... (Literally: THEY went.)
Psalm 58 Surely He is God who judges ... (Literally: THEY judge.)
The Name Eloah
If the plural form Elohim was the only form available for a reference to God, then conceivably the argument might be made that the writers of the Hebrew Scriptures had no other alternative but to use the word Elohim for both the one true God and the many false gods. However, the singular form for Elohim (Eloah) exists and is used in such passages as Deuteronomy 32:15-17 and Habakkuk 3:3. This singular form could easily have been used consistently. Yet it is only used 250 times, while the plural form is used 2,500 times. The far greater use of the plural form again turns the argument in favor of plurality in the Godhead rather than against it.
Plural Pronouns
Another case in point regarding Hebrew grammar is that often when God speaks of himself, he clearly uses the plural pronoun:
Genesis 1:26: Then God (Elohim) said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ..."
He could hardly have made reference to angels since man was created in the image of God and not of angels. The Midrash Rabbah on Genesis recognizes the strength of this passage and comments as follows:
Rabbi Samuel Bar Hanman in the name of Rabbi Jonathan said, that at the time when Moses wrote the Torah, writing a portion of it daily, when he came to the verse which says, "And Elohim said, let us make man in our image after our likeness," Moses said, "Master of the universe, why do you give here with an excuse to the sectarians (who believe in the Tri-unity of God)" God answered Moses, "You write and whoever wants to err, let him err." (Midrash Rabbah on Genesis 1:26 [New York NOP Press, N.D.])
It is obvious that the Midrash Rabbah is simply trying to get around the problem and fails to answer adequately why God refers to himself in the plural.
The use of the plural pronoun can also be seen In the following:
Genesis 3:22: Then the LORD God (YHVH Elohim) said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us''
Genesis 11:7: "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language.''
Isaiah 6:8: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?"
This last passage would appear contradictory with the singular "I" and the plural "us'' except as viewed as a plurality (us) in a unity (I).
Plural Descriptions of God
Another point that also comes out of Hebrew is the fact that often nouns and adjectives used in speaking of God are plural. Some examples are as follows:
Ecclesiastes 12:1: Remember now your Creator ... (Literally: CREATORS.)
Psalm 149:2: Let Israel rejoice in their Maker. (Literally: MAKERS.)
Joshua 24:19: ... holy God ... (Literally: HOLY GODS.)
Isaiah 54:5: For your Maker is your husband. (Literally: MAKERS, HUSBANDS.)
Everything we have said so far rests firmly on the Hebrew language of the Scriptures. If we are to base our theology on the Scriptures alone, we have to say that on the one hand they affirm God's unity, while at the same time they tend towards the concept of a compound unity allowing for a plurality in the Godhead.
The Shema
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
Deuteronomy 6:4, known as the SHEMA, has always been Israel's great confession. It is this verse more than any other that is used to affirm the fact that God is one and is often used to contradict the concept of plurality in the Godhead. But is it a valid use of this verse?
On the one hand it should be noted that the very words "our God" are in the plural in the Hebrew text and literally mean "our Gods." However, the main argument lies in the word "one," which is the Hebrew word, ECHAD. A glance through the Hebrew text where the word is used elsewhere can quickly show that the word echad does not mean an absolute "one" but a compound "one." For instance, in Genesis 1:5 the combination of evening and morning comprise one (echad) day. In Genesis 2:24 a man and a woman come together in marriage and the two "shall become one (echad) flesh." In Ezra 2:64 we are told that the whole assembly was as one (echad), though, of course, it was composed of numerous people. Ezekiel 37:17 provides a rather striking example where two sticks are combined to become one (echad). Thus, use of the word echad in Scripture shows it to be a compound and not an absolute unity.
There is a Hebrew word that does mean an absolute unity and that is YACHID, which is found in many Scripture passages, (Genesis 22:2,12; Judges 11:34; Psalm 22:21: 25:16; Proverbs 4:3; Jeremiah 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10) the emphasis being on the meaning of "only." If Moses intended to teach God's absolute oneness as over against a compound unity, this would have been a far more appropriate word. In fact, Maimonides noted the strength of "yachid' and chose to use that word in his "Thirteen Articles of Faith'' in place of echad. However, Deuteronomy 6:4 (the Shema) does not use "yachid" in reference to God.
GOD IS AT LEAST TWO
Elohim and YHVH Applied to Two Personalities
As if to make the case for plurality even stronger. there are situations in the Hebrew Scriptures where the term Elohim is applied to two personalities in the same verse. One example is Psalm 45:6-7:
"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions."
It should be noted that the first Elohim is being addressed and the second Elohim is the God of the first Elohim. And so God's God has anointed him with the oil of gladness.
A second example is Hosea 1:7:
"Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword or battle, by horses or horsemen."
The speaker is Elohim who says he will have mercy on the house of Judah and will save them by the instrumentality of YHVH, their Elohim. So Elohim number one will save Israel by means of Elohim number two.
Not only is Elohim applied to two personalities in the same verse, but so is the very name of God. One example is Genesis 19:24:
"Then he LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of the heavens."
Clearly we have YHVH number one raining fire and brimstone from a second YHVH who is in heaven, the first one being on earth.
A second example is Zechariah 2:8-9:
"For thus says the LORD of hosts: "He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me."
Again, we have one YHVH sending another YHVH to perform a specific task.
The author of the Zohar sensed plurality in the Tetragrammaton (1) and wrote:
"Come and see the mystery of the word YHVH: there are three steps, each existing by itself: nevertheless they are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other. The Ancient Holy One is revealed with three heads, which are united into one, and that head is three exalted. The Ancient One is described as being three: because the other lights emanating from him are included in the three. But how can three names be one? Are they really one because we call them one? How three can be one can only be known through the revelation of the Holy Spirit ." (Zohar, Vol III, 288; Vol II, 43, Hebrew editions. (See also Sonclno Press edition, Vol III, 134.)
GOD IS THREE
How Many Persons are There?
If the Hebrew Scriptures truly do point to plurality, the question arises, how many personalities exist in the Godhead? We have already seen the names of God applied to at least two different personalities. Going through the Hebrew Scriptures we find that three, and only three, distinct personalities are ever considered divine.
1. First, there are the numerous times when there is a reference to the Lord YHVH. This usage is so frequent that there is no need to devote space to it.
2. A second personality is referred to as the Angel of YHVH. This individual is always considered distinct from all other angels and is unique. In almost every passage where he is found he is referred to as both the Angel of YHVH and YHVH himself. For instance in Genesis 16:7 he is referred to as the Angel of YHVH, but then in 16:13 as YHVH himself. In Genesis 22:11 he is the Angel of YHVH, but God himself in 22:12. Other examples could be given. (2)
A very interesting passage is Exodus 23:20-23 where this angel has the power to pardon sin because God's own name YHVH is in him, and, therefore, he is to be obeyed without question. This can hardly be said of any ordinary angel. But the very fact that God's own name is in this angel shows his divine status.
3. A third major personality that comes through is the Spirit of God, often referred to simply as the Ruach Ha-kodesh. There are a good number of references to the Spirit of God among which are Genesis 1:2; 6:3; Job 33:4; Psalm 51:11; 139:7; Isaiah 11:2; 63:10,14. The Holy Spirit cannot be a mere emanation because he has all the characteristics of personality (intellect, emotion and will) and is considered divine.
So then, from various sections of the Hebrew Scriptures there is a clear showing that three personalities are referred to as divine and as being God: the Lord YHVH, the Angel of YHVH and the Spirit of God.
The Three Personalities in the Same Passage
In the Hebrew Scriptures you will also find all three personalities of the Godhead referred to in single passages. Two examples are Isaiah 48:12-16 and 63:7-14.
Because of the significance of the first passage, it will be quoted:
"Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last. Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand up together. All of you, assemble yourselves, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall do His pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him, I have brought him, and his way will prosper. Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit have sent Me."
It should be noted that the speaker refers to himself as the one who is responsible for the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is clear that he cannot be speaking of anyone other than God. But then in verse 16, the speaker refers to himself using the pronouns of "I" and "me" and then distinguishes himself from two other personalities. He distinguishes himself from the Lord YHVH and then from the Spirit of God. Here is the Tri-unity as clearly defined as the Hebrew Scriptures make it.
In the second passage, there is a reflection back to the time of the Exodus where all three personalities were present and active. The Lord YHVH is referred to in verse seven, the Angel of YHVH in verse nine and the Spirit of God in verses 10, 11 and 14. While often throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God refers to himself as being the one solely responsible for Israel's redemption from Egypt, in this passage three personalities are given credit for it. Yet no contradiction is seen since all three comprise the unity of the one Godhead.
Conclusion
The teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures, then is that there is a plurality of the Godhead. The first person is consistently called YHVH, while the second person is given the names of YHVH, the Angel of YHVH and the Servant of YHVH. Consistently and without fail, the second person is sent by the first person. The third person is referred to as the Spirit of YHVH or the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit. He, too, is sent by the first person but is continually related to the ministry of the second person.
If the concept of the Tri-unity of God is not Jewish according to modern rabbis, then neither are the Hebrew Scriptures. Jewish Christians cannot be accused of having slipped into paganism when they hold to the fact that Jesus is the divine Son of God. He is the same one of whom Moses wrote when the Lord said:
"Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off'' (Exodus 23:20-23).
New Testament Light
In keeping with the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament clearly recognizes that there are three persons in the Godhead, although it becomes quite a bit more specific. The first person is called the Father while the second person is called the Son. The New Testament answers the question of Proverbs 30:4: "What is His name, and what is His Son's name If you know?'' His Son's name is Y'shua (Jesus). In accordance with the Hebrew Scriptures, he is sent by God to be the Messiah, but this time as a man instead of as an angel. Furthermore, he is sent for a specific purpose: to die for our sins. In essence, what happened is that God became a man (not that man became God) in order to accomplish the work of atonement.
The New Testament calls the third person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit. Throughout the New Testament He is related to the work of the second person, in keeping with the teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures. We see, then, that there is a continuous body of teaching in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament relating to the Tri-unity of God.
(1) "Personal Name of God of Israel," written in Hebrew Bible with the four consonants YHWH. Pronunciation of name has been avoided since at least 3rd c. B.C.E.; initial substitute was "Adonai" ("the Lord"), itself later replaced by "ha-Shem" (the Name). The name Jehovah is a hybrid misreading of the original Hebrew letters with the vowels of "Adonai." Encyclopedia Dictionary of Judaica, 593.
(2) In Genesis 31 he is the Angel of God in verse 11, but then he is the God of Bethel in verse 13. In Exodus 3 he is the Angel of YHVH in verse two and he is both YHVH and God in verse four. In Judges 6 he is the Angel of YHVH in verses 11,12, 20 and 21, but is YHVH himself in verses 14, 16, 22 and 23. Then in Judges 13:3 and 21 he is the Angel of YHVH but is referred to as God himself in verse 22.
Was Paul the Founder of Christianity?
Was Paul the Founder of Chrisitanity?
WAS PAUL THE FOUNDER OF CHRISTIANITY?
By Avi Snyder
In the past several decades, a particular program of reclamation has been undertaken by the Jewish people. It does not involve the rejuvenation of the land, nor the replanting of trees. Instead, it is the reclamation of one whom many regard as Israel's greatest native son: the reclamation of Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth as, if nothing else, a Jew who deserves a rightful place in the history of our people.
However, while we are willing to reclaim Jesus to some degree, there is another first-century Jew whom we adamantly reject: Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul. Why the acceptance of the one and rejection of the other? "Because," some reason, "Jesus was born a Jew, and he died a Jew. He had no intention of starting a new religion. His teachings were Jewish, and his life was an example of fidelity to the faith of our fathers. But Paul, on the other hand, not only veered away from Judaism, but his teachings laid the foundation for twenty centuries of misunderstanding and abuse from the Gentiles." Or so the argument goes.
But is the argument accurate and justified? or is it possible that Paul himself has been the victim of misunderstanding and abuse? Is it even possible, after nearly two thousand years, to know with any certainty precisely how Paul regarded us, and what significance he placed upon his own identity as a Jew?
Yes, it *is* possible to know. We have at our disposal not only the biographical account provided by his traveling companion, the physician Luke, but we also have Paul's words. These words were preserved in the letters he wrote to various congregations of believers in Jesus throughout Europe and Asia, as well as his personal correspondence to close friends. From these primary source materials, an accurate portrait of the man's attitudes and character emerges.
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought
up in this city (Jerusalem). Under Gamaliel I was
thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers . . ."
Acts 22:3
Commenting upon his early passion for observing the practices in which he had been trained, he described himself as:
. . . a Hebrew of Hebrews: in regard to the law, a
Pharisee; . . . as for legalistic righteousness,
faultless. Philippians 3:5,6
But while en route to the city of Damascus, Saul records that he encountered one who had claimed to be the promised Messiah of Israel; one whom the young man Saul had known to have been crucified by a Roman guard; one whose followers in Jerusalem insisted had been raised from the dead in fulfillment of prophecies contained in the Holy Scriptures.
Saul insisted that he encountered the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth. The meeting irrevocably altered his life:
About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light
from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard
a voice say to me, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who
are you, Lord?" I asked. " I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you
are persecuting" he replied. Acts 22:6-8
Then in Damascus, a fellow Jew named Ananias informed Saul of the work God had in store for him: "You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard" (Acts 22:15). And so, Saul, also known by his Greek name, Paul, spent the greater part of the remaining three decades of his life in foreign nations where he taught the Greek-speaking Gentiles about the "Christ" - the "Messiah".
Did his life among the Gentiles eradicate or even lessen his sense of being a Jew? His words would indicate that they did not. "I am an Israelite myself," he wrote to the congregation in Rome, "a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin" (Romans 11:1). That he continued to identify himself as a Jew can be seen in the fact that, upon entering each new city, the place he visited first was the local synagogue, provided a minyan warranted a synagogue, of course.
In speaking to his countrymen first, Paul followed the precedent set by Jesus himself who had proclaimed his message initially and predominantly to the household of Israel, and who had told his early disciples, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Or, as Paul later put it, "first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" (Romans 1:16). But this principle of "first for the Jew" was more than an act of obedience, it was the outworking of Paul's continued love and concern for the Jewish people. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites," he wrote, "is that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1).
But many, though not all, of his countrymen rejected his pronouncement, and this caused him no little distress. So deep was his sadness, that he was constrained to write, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Messiah fro the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel" (Romans 9:2-4).
His sentiments nearly echo the cry of another communicator of God's revelation to our people and to the world: the prophet Moses, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed, " Moses admitted before the Lord after we had worshiped the golden calf. "They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written" (Exodus 32:31-32). Two men, separated by several centuries, but united in a love for their people that prompted each to offer his life in exchange for the well-being of the nation.
But unlike his predecessor Moses, Paul was commissioned to carry his message primarily to the world at large - to the Gentiles. In light of Paul's extensive Jewish education, one might wonder, "Why would God choose a mind like Paul's - a mind so thoroughly imbued with Jewish law, custom, and thinking - to be the chief herald of the Messiah among the Gentiles? Why not pick a Gentile convert to the Messianic movement, one who could communicate to his own?" At first glance, the selection of Paul might seem to be a baffling choice, to say the least.
But on closer examination, it needn't seem baffling at all. Needed was someone who could speak to the Gentiles in a manner that they could understand, while assuring the faithful translation of a Jewish message into a Gentile setting. And Paul was the perfect candidate for the position. He spent his boyhood in Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor noted as a center of Gentile culture. Though Paul's father, a Pharisee, would have kept him from indulging in any of the common pagan practices, Paul had the opportunity to observe the Gentile culture and modes of thought. Who, then, could be better equipped to guarantee the proper transmission of a Jewish message to a Gentile world than an expert on Jewish law and theology who also possessed an understanding of the world beyond the boundaries of ancient Israel? Who, indeed, but Paul.
And a threat existed that only Paul was qualified to check. As the number of Gentile converts surpassed the number of Jewish believers in the Messiah, there was the danger that the Gentile Christians might lose sight of the Jewish origins of their faith and look upon the majority of disbelieving Jews with disdain. They might even conclude in ignorance that God was finished with His ancient chosen people. But Paul, the ardent Jew, by whose labor these Gentiles had heard of the Messiah, carried the authority to meet the danger head-on. Only Paul could admonish them so bluntly: "Do not be arrogant," he warned, "but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches (the Jewish people), he will not spare you either... And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again" (Romans 11:20-21,23).
And yet, Paul is often accused of refashioning the Jewish teachings of Jesus into a pagan religion completely cut off from its middle eastern origins. Were it not for Paul, some speculate, Christianity would have either continued to flourish as a sect within Judaism, or it would have met a natural death within the embrace of the culture that had first given it life.
There are two problems with this line of reasoning. On the one hand, it presumes a discrepancy between the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Paul. The former is regarded as authentically Jewish; the latter is regarded as thoroughly pagan. But an honest investigation of the documents indicates that no discrepancies are to be found. Instead, we discover a development of thought, beginning with the teachings of Jesus and faithfully disseminated by the rabbi from Tarsus to the Gentile world at large.
Concerning the purpose of the Law, Jesus taught, "These are the Scriptures that testify about me..." (John 5:39). Paul reaffirmed this position in his letter to the Galatians where he wrote, "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Messiah that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24).
As for the Law's duration, Paul continued, "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law" (Galatians 3:25). Here again, he merely echoed the teachings of Jesus: "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached..." (Luke 16:16).
If we accept the Jewishness of Jesus' teachings - and most Jewish scholars do - then we must accept the Jewishness of the teachings of his disciple. The Jewish scholar Joseph Klausner writes, "There is nothing in the teaching of Paul - not even the most mystical elements in it - that did not come to him from authentic Judaism." (1)
Many scholars acknowledge that the teachings of Jesus are distinctly Jewish. But what about Paul? We believe that a comparison of Tanach, the sayings of Jesus, and the letters of Paul reveal a distinct harmony. Consider what Paul, Jesus, and the Hebrew Scriptures have to say about..
I. The Law:
a. Tanach - "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day
long." (Psalm 119:97)
b. Jesus - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
(Matthew 5:17)
c. Paul - "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy,
righteous and good." (Romans 7:12)
II. The Law's Purpose:
a. Tanach - "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my
path." (Psalm 119:105)
b. Jesus - "These are the Scriptures that testify about me..."
(John 5:39)
c. Paul - "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Messiah that
we might be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:24)
III. The Law's Duration:
a. Tanach - "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah... I will put my law in their minds and write it on
their hearts." (Jeremiah 31:31,33)
b. Jesus - "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John.
Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being
preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it." (Luke 16:16)
c. Paul - "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
supervision of the law." (Galatians 3:25)
In the second place, history reveals that the breach between Judaism and the Messianic movement had already taken place prior to Paul's new commitment of faith. Tensions with the local religious authorities had even culminated in the death of a Jewish believer named Stephen. Paul is implicated in the aftermath of the matter, but not as a disciple whose teachings fomented strife. Rather, he is depicted as the Messianic sect's most ardent adversary. Paul himself concedes as much in a letter to the congregation in Galatia, "...how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it" (Galatians 1:13). To blame the schism on the teachings of Paul is to overlook the fact that the schism had already occurred.
The actual reason for the schism did not center around any pagan innovations introduced by Paul, nor did it center around a lack of harmony between the teachings of the Nazarene and his apostle. The conflict centered around who Jesus claimed to be.
He claimed to be the Messiah.
Are the teachings of Jesus and of Paul in harmony with each other? We believe they are. Are these teachings inconsistent with the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures? We believe they are not.
Is Jesus the Messiah? We believe he is. We invite you to consider the matter for yourself by examining the New Testament which records his teachings, his assertions, and the prophecies in the Tanach upon which he based his claims.
(1) From Jesus to Paul, Joseph Klausner, Ph.D., The MacMillan Co., New York, 1943, p. 466.
Written by Avi Snyder, copyright 1981 by Jews for Jesus, 60 Haight St., San Francisco, CA, 94102. Reprinted by permission.
The Jewishness of the New Testament
The Jewishness of the New Testament
THE JEWISHNESS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
By Al Brickner
Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein was curious when he observed one of the teachers in his school reading a book printed in German. Asking the teacher what he was reading, the book was passed to him. He leafed casually through the pages until his eye fell upon the name, "Jesus Christ." Realizing that the little book was a New Testament, he sternly rebuked the teacher for having it in his possession. He furiously cast the book across the room. It fell behind some other books on a shelf and lay forgotten for nearly 30 years.
An outbreak of intense anti-Jewish persecution arose some years later in Rabbi Lichtenstein's native Hungary, and he was not surprised that the attacks were carried on in the name of Christianity. In the midst of the pogroms. he was startled to read the writings of men who, in the name of Christ, sternly denounced the anti-Semites and defended the Jews. Among these were prominent figures such as the honored Biblical scholar Franz Delitzsch, professor at the University of Leipzig. He was intrigued by statements which spoke of the message of Christ as one of love and life to all people.
At this time, the little New Testament flung in anger into a dusty corner years ago, was found. For the aging rabbi it had been a closed and hated book which he thought to be the source of venom aimed at his people. Was it really what he had supposed it to be? He opened its pages and began to read.
Rabbi Lichtenstein later wrote in "Two Letters: or What I Really Wish," describing the experience which flowed from his reading of the New Testament:
"I had thought the New Testament to be impure, a source of pride, of overweening selfishness. of hatred, of the worst kind of violence. But as I opened it, I felt myself peculiarly and wonderfully taken possession of. A sudden glory a light, flashed through my soul. I looked for thorns and gathered roses, I discovered pearls instead of pebbles, instead of hatred, love; instead of vengeance, forgiveness; instead of bondage, freedom; instead of pride, humility; instead of enmity, conciliation; instead of death, life, salvation, resurrection, heavenly treasure."
A Closed Book
The story of Rabbi Lichtenstein is true. It epitomizes two poles of experience that Jewish people have had so far as the New Testament is concerned. For the majority, the New Testament is a closed and unfamiliar book because it is identified with the age-long persecution of the Jewish people in the name of Christianity. Because most Jews believe that the New Testament promotes anti-Semitism, they think there could be nothing in it which could sustain Jewish life and values.
Thus, the common Jewish assessment of the New Testament is formed by a preconditioned impression. In many ways, Jewish experience seems to support this assessment. However, the majority of the Jewish people do not feel inclined to verify the assessment by an investigation of the New Testament itself.
The Message Is Jewish
Yet there is a growing number of Jews who, like Rabbi Lichenstein, have been prompted, for one reason or another, to investigate seriously what the New Testament actually contains. This writer is among them. We have come to recognize through careful investigation that the New Testament is something different than what we had first supposed.
First of all, we have discovered that its authorship and cultural background are Jewish. The beginning scenes of the New Testament are centered in the land of Israel, then called Palestine, at the time of the Second Temple. Even as the focus widens from the original setting, the action takes place primarily among Jewish communities in the Diaspora. The New Testament writers, with perhaps the exception of Luke, are all Jews. The early Apostles and followers of Jesus are also Jewish.
Fulfillment of the Jewish Hope
The basic theme of the New Testament is uniquely a Jewish one: the fulfillment of the messianic hope. This expectation was peculiarly the possession of Israel. An early passage in the Gospel of Matthew portrays Gentile wise men recognizing that the promised deliverer is to be "King of the Jews." In the early stages of the spread of the good news about the Messiah, it is only Jews and those Gentiles who are under the influence of Judaism who are prepared to receive and understand the message about the advent of the long-expected Redeemer. The primary centers for the initial preaching of the message are the synagogues in the communities of the Diaspora.
In page after page of the New Testament, by direct quote, by free paraphrase, and by allusion, there is one primary literary treasure that is invested with supreme authority: the Hebrew Scriptures. When Jesus or the New Testament preachers intone, "It is written," or "Thus saith the Lord," they rest upon Jewish Holy Writ as the final court of appeal. Jesus challenges the religious leaders with "You search the Scriptures ... it is these that bear witness of Me." (John 5:39). Peter proclaims to the Jewish throng: "And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days." (Acts 3:24.) The initial New Testament proclamations are laced with passages from Moses and the prophets, indicating that what is taking place is the fulfillment of the Jewish hope.
When one investigates the general content of the New Testament, if he is somewhat acquainted with the Hebrew Scriptures, he will find himself in familiar territory. Angelic communications remind one of the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua and many other ancient Hebrews. Supernatural births recall the nativity of the patriarch, Isaac. Miracles represent God's confirming activity as He reveals Himself, even as they did in the days of the patriarches, Moses, the prophets and the kings of Israel. They are not capricious acts of arbitrary power, as in pagan mythology, but they bear profound moral connections through which God trains His people in the ways of faith. Also, as in the Hebrew Scriptures, there is prophetic activity and inspired preaching when the Spirit of God enables men to speak His message. None of these occurrences are strange to the spiritual life and heritage of Israel.
The great themes of the New Testament are the same as those of the Hebrew Scriptures: God's holiness, righteousness and mercy; man's alienation and estrangement from God through disobedience; God's seeking love, forgiveness and reconciliation. There are also the great themes of faith, sacrifice, redemption, hope, love, peace, joy, the ultimate triumph of God's Kingdom and His judgment and reward. One can read and compare them. There is nothing presented in the former which is not unfolded in the latter. Only the perspective differs. In the Old Covenant, the emphasis is upon promise and in the New Covenant the emphasis is upon fulfillment. The one stresses preparation and the other consummation.
A Suffering Messiah
At this point, some might object that there are themes central to the New Testament which are non-Jewish. Many contend that the idea of a suffering, dying and resurrected Messiah who is at the same time divine is alien to Jewish belief. It is supposedly traced to pagan Egyptian and Greek sources. In addition, it is alleged that the manner in which the New Testament traces the rise and spread of the Messianic community remolds it into a Gentile phenomenon, ripping it from the Jewish context.
The ancient rabbis wrestled with evidence in the Tenach that Messiah was both to suffer and die and to reign as a triumphant and glorious king. Because of this problem, they developed the idea that there would be two messiahs, Ben Joseph who would suffer and die, and Ben David who would triumph and reign. In the Talmud (Sukkah 52 a and b) there is a suggestion that the passage in Zechariah 12:10, which speaks of a pierced one, gave rise to this explanation.
In the Musaf service for the Day of Atonement, there is an ancient prayer which refers to Moshiach Tzidkenu (Messiah our Righteousness) as one who is "wounded for our transgressions." The concept of a suffering and dying Messiah is not strange to Jewish lore.
While the resurrection of the Messiah, as declared in the New Testament, seemed to take everyone by surprise, there are passages in Holy Writ which are seen as promising Messiah's resurrection. Psalm 16:10 declares that God will not abandon His Holy One to the grave. Isaiah 53:10,12 portrays the Lord as prolonging the days of the Suffering Servant and causing God's good pleasure to prosper in His hand because He has willingly poured out His soul unto death.
There are passages in the prophetic writings which give evidence that the Messiah is to be divine. In Isaiah 9:6, the Messianic King is called by the awesome names; Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God; Eternal Father; Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah 23:6, the Righteous Branch that is to be raised to David is given the name, "The Lord Our Righteousness." In Micah 5:2. where there is the announcement of Messiah's birthplace. He is spoken of as coming from eternity In Daniel 7:1314. Messiah is seen coming in the clouds of Heaven and receiving an eternal dominion over all peoples. The rabbis who developed the mystical lore, such as that contained in the Zohar. observing these and other passages. speculated that the Messiah was to be divine.
Though Jesus Himself declared that salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22), He also declared that other sheep which are not of the Jewish fold would also be added to the flock of the Messianic Shepherd (John 10:16). This vision is not strange to Jewish expectation. God declared through Isaiah (Isaiah 49:6) that Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles and His salvation would spread to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 60:1-3 proclaims that Gentiles shall come to the light that spreads from Israel through the Messiah.
So the New Testament vision is not a Gentile aberration. It is rather the vision of the ancient Hebrew prophets who proclaimed that God would bring the Gentiles into the blessings of Israel through the Messiah.
In all of these ways, we Jews who have been prompted to investigate the New Testament carefully have come to recognize its basically Jewish character. But we have also discovered something else. THOSE PASSAGES WHICH ALLEGEDLY PROMOTE ANTI-JEWISH SENTIMENT, UPON CLOSER INVESTIGATION, ARE NOT REALLY ANTI-JEWISH AT ALL.
Family Dispute
There is conflict in the New Testament over the Messianic claims of Jesus, but it is mainly conflict between Jews who accept those claims and Jews who do not. In other words, it is a family dispute. When one looks closely at the ways in which the term. "the Jews," is used, especially in the Gospel of John as well as in some other New Testament writings, it can be seen that it is often used to represent the coalition among the Jewish leadership that had purposed to oppose Jesus. In those passages where this conflict is in view, the term refers to these opposed leaders. The New Testament reveals that Jesus was so popular with the people that His opposers had to operate in secret. This indicates clearly that the term, "the Jews," did not refer to the general populace.
Certain harsh statements pronounced by Jesus and the New Testament preachers are not vindictive but prophetic rebukes, in the same vein as the words of Isaiah when he calls Israel "offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly!" (Isaiah 1:4.) Though anti-Semites who professed to be Christians have used these seemingly harsh statements as a pretext to persecute Jews, they did so in contradiction to the express teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem and lamented her coming destruction at the hands of the Romans, which He announced prophetically (Matthew 23:37-39). He taught His followers to love those who opposed them and to pray for those who shamefully treated them (Matthew 5:43-46). The writings of Paul are often cited to show the anti-Semitic nature of the New Testament. How can this be in light of the fact that Paul taught Gentile believers at Rome that, though many Jews opposed the Gospel, they were loved by God for the sake of the forefathers (Romans 11:28)? Believers are not to be boastful or arrogant against the natural branches (the Jewish people), but they are to make them envious of the Messianic blessings by showing them compassion and kindness (Romans 11:11,12, 17, 30-31). Jesus taught that only the merciful were to receive mercy, only the forgiving could expect forgiveness and that love would be the hallmark of His true disciples.
We see nothing in the New Testament that is non-Jewish or anti-Jewish. It is to the contrary. Woven with the warp and woof of Jewish hope and prophetic promise. If one can accept the revelation of Moses and the prophets with utter seriousness, there should be nothing really strange in the New Testament. The real challenge of the New Testament, as we see it, is not about Jewishness, but about faith. It is not a question of "Is it Jewish?" We believe that careful investigation will verify its Jewishness. The real question is, "Is it true?" That, as we have stated, is really a question of faith and it holds a challenge for all people, Jew and Gentile alike.
Studies
Old Testament Studies
Old Testament Studies
With this column we return to the Old Testament with a couple of studies on the Psalms. After the next two columns, we will do a special series on the Letters to the Seven Churches found in the book of Revelation. On some occasions, this column with be called New Testament Studies. Whatever we call it, studies will include Psalms and books from both the Old and New Testaments.
SPECIAL DELIVERANCE
Psalm 3
By Pastor Geoffrey Kragen
It was finally morning. He could see the light of dawn crossing from the cave's entrance. It had been an awful night. Where before he had slept in the palace in the company of his concubines, last night he had slept on a blanket on the floor of the cave. How had it come to this? He loved his son, but now the boy was trying to kill him. As he began pray, he wrote down the words that he sent up to the Lord. "Lord what has gone wrong?"
It was in this situation that King David wrote Psalm 3. This psalm is a prayer of trust in God in the midst of his sorrow and fear. It was Absalom's intention to put David to death and to rule in his place. Because the support military supported Absalom, David was forced to flee. (If you are interested in the specifics of this incident you can find them in 2 Samuel chapters 15-18.)
One question is: How did David find himself in this situation? It was the result of his sin against God, specifically the sin of adultery and murder. It was his sin with Bathsheba against Uriah that lead to the circumstances in which he now found himself. Listen to what Nathan had to say to David. "This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel'" (2 Samuel 12:11-12).
Nathan's prophecy was to be fulfilled. "Absalom said to Ahithophel, 'Give us your advice. What should we do?' Ahithophel answered, 'Lie with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father's nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened.' So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel" (2 Samuel 15:20-22).
David was reaping the result of his own sin. He had no basis for complaint against the Lord because of his predicament. Nevertheless, he could go to the Lord for aid even though he got himself into this dilemma. Nathan had told David, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die" (2 Samuel 12:13).
Applying what we learn, we can understand that no matter what are our circumstances, even when they are of our own making, we can trust in the Lord for our salvation. David was forgiven for his sin because he repented. "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord'" (2 Samuel 12:13). While he was now living with the results, he had the freedom to go to God for help.
First, we will examine the text. Next, we will consider its application.
Verse 1-2: David expresses his awareness of his situation. Every day more Israelites turned against him through the treachery of Absalom. He also notes that many are saying God will not aid him. One could speculate that many Hebrews were aware of the words that God spoke through Nathan. It may have been because David was warned these incidents would occur that men expected he could not depend on any help from the Lord. David obviously didn't believe he was prevented from depending on God because of his sin. He had repented and been forgiven.
So often men decide for God what He will or won't do. We all know that AIDS is God's direct judgment on Homosexuals, right? Personally, I haven't heard anything from God to that effect. Men have claimed to be going to war because God is behind them. However, the only place I can find where He ever sent anyone into battle was in the Old Testament. Even I, in my most intolerant moods, have felt like telling God, "That 'Christian' leader should be removed for the sake of the body."
The Lord will decide for Himself how to respond; this is what David is counting on. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Verse 3: David expresses his confidence in the Lord. He will not be overwhelmed by his circumstances. He can depend on God to act as He sees fit. When David is at his most helpless, he clearly expresses that his confidence isn't in his own resources, but in God's mercy. The Lord Himself is David's shield, or benefactor, the One who watches over him.
David gives God credit for all that he is. He says God is the source of his glory. (1) We don't know specifically to what he may be referring. We can assume he realizes the positives in his life are a product of the Lord's work. David is in the cave because of who he is. His hope for aid is grounded in who God is. This knowledge causes David to see God as the One who lifts up the head, that is, gives him peace to live in the midst of his pain.
Verse 4-6: David goes on to point out that his faith in God is based on the history of the Lord's care for Jerusalem (His holy hill). David could sleep because God was there for him. Clearly, this doesn't mean that David wasn't hurting. After all, when he awoke, his focus was on the negative aspects of his situation. We know this because this is how his prayer opens. As he focuses on the Lord, however, his awareness moves from the negatives to the reality of God's love and mercy.
We can see exactly how David's mind works in this situation. Apparently, due to his confidence in the Lord, during the previous night he slept securely. When he first wakes up he is greatly burdened by negative memories. He cries out to God about his present circumstances. As he weeps, his focus moves to the Lord, and we see his confidence grow. Nothing has changed in his circumstances, but plenty has changed in his focus. Finally, he asks God to save him from his situation.
Note that the action against David is against him as king. It wasn't against him as an individual, but as the head of God's people. Action against the king was action against God. David had reinforced this truth when he had been unwilling to harm Saul, even knowing that he would replace him as king. "Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, 'My lord the king!' ... 'I will lift not my hand against my master, because he is the Lord's anointed'" (1 Samuel 24:8, 10). David could go to God because the nation was rebelling against the Lord, not against David.
Verse 7-8: Finally, David calls the Lord to action, remembering his past experiences of God's aid. He has defeated the enemy in the past; he can do so again. Those who rebel against the Lord will reap destruction. With the action of the Lord comes the nation's salvation of the nation and blessings for its people. David now waits on the Lord for his actions.
David was seeking special deliverance. If you look back into 2 Samuel, you will see that he received it. Unfortunately for him as a father, included with that deliverance came the death of Absalom. Even for David there would be no escape from the results of his own actions.
We too are looking for special deliverance. By this, I mean that we are looking for God's direct intervention, but we must recognize what deliverance ISN'T. Contrary to some popular opinions, God's deliverance is not intended to remove us from pain. It is not His goal for our lives to be comfortable. Our definition of comfort includes material prosperity and health; in fact, any of the "good" circumstances we desire.
Consider these two examples. "Three times I (Paul) pleaded with the Lord to take it (his "thorn in the flesh") away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Paul desired health and this was proper. God, though, knew that it was better for Paul to continue with this problem. It was better for Paul because of his need to be dependent on the Lord.
Here is the second example. It shows Jesus' concern over his coming death. "He (Jesus) withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. ... And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:41-42, 44). Jesus was suffering great pain as he anticipated what was to come. This included the trial, the cross, and separation from God. But he knew that this was his destiny. While Jesus desired to have relief from what was to come, his goal was obedience to the will of the Father.
Too often Christians feel that God must provide the deliverance they desire. People want relief from frustration and pain. They long for a happy, peaceful life. "After all, we are His children and He wants His children to enjoy life, right?" As we have already seen, the answer to that question is an emphatic NO!
This isn't to say that God's deliverance can't include relief from pain, illness, or poverty, etc. But when it happens, it is because The Lord is loving and merciful. His deliverance is more concerned with our spiritual not physical freedom. God loves us and desires what is best for us, that is, according to His perspective.
Yes, we can pray and expect God's special deliverance. He will provide what we need. The Holy Spirit's power will carry us through life in a way that allows us to serve God and to grow in relationship with Him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). Christ's yoke is custom-fitted, that's why it is easy. Through dependency on Him we will find rest in the midst of chaos, and gain spiritual maturity in the process. We have the comfort of knowing that the Lord is in control of our circumstances.
As believers, we are not excluded from the harsh realities of life that all men experience. "He (God) causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
What we do have is the joy of pleasing God. This is what we are to live for. The deliverance He provides enables us to live victoriously.
We also know that we can look forward to final deliverance. We see so many passages that promise us an eternity with the Lord. We read that we are to comfort one another with the reality of the Lord's imminent return, which will be our final deliverance. If we are too comfortable here, if our life is easy, if we are not in pain, then the promise of His return won't be a comfort to us. We wouldn't really need it. If we are living for the Lord, however then we will need to be frequently comforted. The promise of an eternity with God then takes on real meaning. We can look forward with anticipation, "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:17).
When we find ourselves in difficult circumstances, we should pray for relief and know that God can release us. The goal of our lives, however, shouldn't be freedom from our troubles. Instead, we should desire the freedom God offers and makes available to live for Him under all conditions. If we understand how much the Lord has done for us, we can rejoice and be at peace. This is our true and special deliverance. This really is "Special Deliverance!"
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:1-11).
1. C. H. Spurgeon, THE TREASURY OF DAVID, Macdonald Publishing Company, Vol. 1, pg. 23.
New In Christ
New In Christ
"New in Christ" is a regular MORNING STAR column written primarily for people who wish to learn more about the basic teachings of Biblical Christianity. In this issue we conclude our series on the Bible itself - the "Measure of Truth" that God gave us to live by. The editorial staff of MORNING STAR encourages all readers to freely use this information to help new Christians grow in their walk with the Lord.
THE MEASURE OF TRUTH
Part 3 of a 3-part series
By Toby Trudel
"Do you have to read the Bible to be a Christian?"
What would you answer to this question? Some might reply, "Why wouldn't you want to?" Or perhaps, "Could you call yourself an engineer without reading and knowing your job manual?" But the best answers (as always) are found in God's word.
The Bible states that true faith comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). Jesus had a lot to say in the Gospels concerning studying the Bible:
1. We are to live our lives by it. (Matthew 4:4)
2. We can only avoid being in error by knowing it. (Mark 12:24)
3. We are blessed when we hear it and keep it. (Luke 11:28)
4. If we know and keep it, we will never die. (John 8:51)
5. If we are truly his followers we will know and follow it. (John 8:31)
6. Our lives are made clean by it. (John 15:3)
There are even more reasons given to us in the New Testament letters concerning why we were to know God's word:
1. We find out what God wants us to do by it. (Ephesians 5:17)
2. It makes us wise and able to teach others. (Colossians 3:16)
3. We are to feed on it, like a baby does with milk. (1 Peter 2:2)
If you belong to a particular religion (whether you practice all of its teachings or not) ask yourself this: How do I know if the spiritual beliefs which my religion teaches are the right ones? Do you answer: Because they say they are? Because I think they are? Because my folks told we they are?
If you think about it, are those really legitimate answers? Jesus warned about following religious teachings that were based on anything but the word of God (Matthew 15:9). The only measure of truth you have to test what people tell you is right is God's word. There is nothing else in the world that is infallible. When the apostles first went out to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they gave a lot of credit to those people who didn't just take their word as truth, but checked their scriptures (Old Testament predictions about Jesus) to see if what they were preaching was true.
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11).
When we study the Bible we not only prevent ourselves from being deceived, but also gain God's approval by showing ourselves to be His workmen, always seeking His instruction (2 Timothy 2:15).
If you consider yourself to be a Christian, ask yourself this: Would you be ready and able to correctly answer the questions of someone who wanted to know about certain things the Bible says? Or what God says it means to be a Christian? Or what God would say about certain things in their life? The Lord says that his people should be ready to answer those with questions, with His word, at all times.
"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Peter 3:15).
Knowledge of the Bible is the only way to answer the questions of non Christians, teach God's will to new Christians and correct the error of false Christians (2 Timothy 3:15-17). No matter how long you've been born again or how strong you think your faith is, you should always continue studying God's word.
The apostle Paul (in many Christian's opinion the most dedicated Christian that ever lived) when approaching his death, asked for some of his personal belonging to be brought to him. What did he want more than anything else in his final days? The parchments upon which God's word was written so he could continue to study until his death (2 Timothy 4:13). This should serve as a lesson to all Christians.
Perhaps the most enjoyable reason to study the Bible (though it takes the most work) is to read what the future has in store for us. Remember, the Bible is a prophecy book and its predictions concerning the fate of this planet and return of Christ have not occurred yet! There are many people who think that just because a little over 1900 years have elapsed since the last fulfilled prophecy that those concerning the "last days" are not going to occur. Actually they're wrong on one major count already. The nation of Israel was founded in 1948, after being nonexistent since A.D. 70. The Bible predicted that Israel would become a nation again before the Lord's return.
There are many things going on in the world today which are leading to the fulfillment of those final prophecies. Many Christians feel we are fast approaching the day of Christ's return. (Though no one knows exactly when that will be.) Should we be scared? No way! After all, when you know how a book or movie ends, it's easy to get through all the turmoil in between. God's word, (again!), tells us that we can rest easy, relying on the sure word of Bible prophecy to get us through these trying times.
"And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).
If you are a true Christian, according to Christ's definition (born again), then your life is dedicated to doing the Lord's will. There should be no question, upon examining all the Bible passages above, as to what His will is in regard to studying His word. If reading the Bible is something you simply don't care to do, then it's time to re-examine your supposed commitment. If you are really a Christian then you possess the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself. He doesn't have one man follow God's will and another not do so.
It may be time for you to have a long talk with the Lord and make a real born again commitment to Him. If you need help, you should find a Bible preaching Christian church and make an appointment with a pastor, or some other elder, knowledgeable in God's word. Remember to be careful where you worship. It's not the name of the church, but what they preach that counts! When you finally do become born again, you'll notice the difference His Spirit makes within you. The hunger for His word never ceases.
Growing in Grace
Growing in Grace
There are many themes for a column that I find compelling. After reviewing them with my editor and a few days of waiting on the Lord, the direction "Christ in You" came up. While you might find any number of harmless slants under that title, I believe this three-part article can lead you to a fresh discovery of JESUS dwelling IN YOU by the Holy Spirit.
CHRIST IN YOU
Part 1 of a 3-part series
by Pastor Russell Walden
Paul, teaching the Colossians, stressed that the message "Christ in You" is central to the Gospel. "To whom God would make known ... the riches of the glory ... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:27-28).
Paul didn't preach Christ in PAUL. He didn't preach Christ in DOCTRINE, or in the PREACHER, or the INSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH. Christ in ME is not your hope. Christ in YOUR PASTOR is not your hope. Jesus died to relate to you from within your heart, not via the spiritual life of the pastor, or some other individual. This doesn't mean you don't need a pastor. There are individuals who would twist this writing to that end!
Any ministry, doctrine or religious organization whose influence results in greater dependence upon "Jesus" OUTWARDLY than fostering dependence on "Jesus in you" is at the least mistaken, or at worst the spirit of Antichrist. Jesus is at home within your heart. He prefers not to be limited to getting your worship through the church, the pastor, the preacher, etc. He did not die to give you a church, a pastor or a big preacher. He died to give you a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with HIM. The purpose of the church and the pastor is to strengthen your personal relationship to Jesus! If that purpose is not fulfilled through these ministries, something is terribly wrong.
In Matthew 24:4 Jesus answered them: "Take heed that no man deceive you." An acquaintance once stated he did not believe that he had ever met a false prophet. He was being generous in recognizing that sincere men while seeking to fulfill their ministry may at times err. Honest men make mistakes. This doesn't make them false ministers. In any case, I was taken with the high tone of that remark. And so I embraced it as my own without consulting the word for balance.
One day the word of the Lord came to me: "My word says 'many false prophets shall arise ...' (Matthew 24:11) and to 'believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).
My pretext of liberal tolerance was shattered. I admitted that I'd no doubt met many false prophets, and had tolerated them when I should have dealt with them sharply.
There are MANY FALSE PROPHETS, in and around the church. Jesus calls them "wolves in sheep's clothing." You can tell a wolf by its tracks. Paul, in his farewell address gives an explicit description of a false ministry: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEM" (Acts 20:29-30).
The theme of this column is not "false prophets." I do want to approach the subject of "Christ in You" from this angle. However, false prophets will always seek to draw your focus away from Jesus Christ within. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27); "And a stranger will they not follow" (John 10:5). A deceiver will never be effective while the Shepherd is in earshot. False prophets are compared to wolves because, like a predator, they will try to move you away from the shepherd.
Have you met a false prophet? He or she was that one who prophesied you out of your church. This was the one that tried to woo you away from the flock with smooth words and fair speeches. This was the brother or sister upon whom you became more dependent on than the indwelling Christ. You made yourself more available to this brother or sister than you did to Jesus. Having isolated you at the right moment, the trap was sprung and you were left stranded. You found yourself hurting without a support system to restore you to fellowship.
There is a song that speaks of "seeking the face of God before the face of man ...." You are in danger when you get more "horizontally dependent" on others than you are "vertically dependent" on Jesus.
"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:5). The word Christ means, "the Anointed." Even the most immature Christian is not to believe someone claiming to be THE Christ inviting them to a meeting promising to reveal "What the Seven Thunders Uttered." Lupine strategy is more subtle than that.
Your insecurities will be probed. Offenses against the church, the leadership or other Christians will be exploited. "Deeper truth" will be the emphasis and the promise of "real" miracles and manifestations. There are plenty of people advertising their anointing. Rev. Smith prays for a hangnail and it is beamed around the world via satellite. "Here is the anointing! Here is God's Man of Faith and Power!" Jesus simply says, "go not out." We are not to seek signs and wonders, but an accurate teaching of God's word and a focus on Christ in us.
Jesus never advertised his ministry. He produced supernatural intervention AT WILL for the benefit of others. He never used His gifts to milk the crowd. He strongly warned those he healed, to "tell no one . . . see that no man know it . . ." How different from today.
Before getting down on the failed leader, ask yourself why this strategy works so well in the church? Jeremiah 5:31 reads, "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and MY PEOPLE LOVE [TO HAVE IT] SO!"
Christians create their own idols. The greatest tragedy in Christianity is not the moral failures of Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, etc. The greatest heartbreak is the millions of Christians who elevated these men to the pinnacles of expectation that guaranteed their failure! By design or not, these men became idols to many of their supporters. Such they were even before they were exposed, while still basking in the praises of a people without discernment.
Successful Christian ministry, from a business standpoint, demands a "larger than life" persona. Among the believers attending meetings or joining groups around the country are found the "Gospel Groupies." These individuals travel from meeting to meeting. This is because Jesus is more real in the life and ministry of this "Big Preacher" than he is in their own hearts. This is a form of idolatry.
What is idolatry? IDOLATRY IS THAT WHICH PROPOSES THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD TO BE SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE HUMAN HEART! The greatest experience you will ever have in Christianity will be found in intimacy with Jesus in your heart and life. When He becomes the focus of your life, only then can you rightly relate to the ministry gifts and properly represent Him to the lost.
Next month we will continue to expand on the concept of Christ in us as we discuss "The Mystery of the Church."
Please note: Uppercase words in scriptures cited have been added to give emphasis of the writer's point.
The WORD for Today
The WORD for Today
In Hebrews 10:25 we read, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching." The responsibility of all Christians is to encourage one another.
This series is intended to help provide some guidelines in the process of encouragement. The book, "Encouragement, the key to caring," by Lawrence J. Crabb Jr. and Dan B. Allender, is recommended reading with the series. Each message can be read in conjunction with the related chapter in the book. The series can be used as the basis of a group study in your church. Please let us know if you find the material helpful, or if you have any questions or suggestions. The article presented here is the last of fourteen messages given by Pastor Geoff Kragen. They were presented at Foothill Bible Church in Lincoln, California.
"WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?"
"Encouragement is the kind of expression that helps someone want to be a better Christian, even when life is rough." (1)
In the first church my wife and I were involved in, there were many programs. We had Sunday school classes. We had the pilot program for small group ministries. We fed street people. We were responsible for a Spanish language church. We had a lot of stuff going on. We had a lot of outreach. We desired to serve the Lord.
Nevertheless, we were very poor at caring for those who were in service. I think of one couple in particular. They were serving in the youth group. The husband spent too much time working there. The marriage started to run into trouble. Apparently, nobody was aware of it. The couple should have received help from the church. They should have been removed from their ministry, at least temporarily. This didn't happen. Anyway, the marriage ended in divorce. I don't blame the church for this since the responsibility was the couple's. But I do think that the church contributed to the problem, instead of the solution. This was because there was more concern for programs rather than people.
The ministry of the church is always to be people, never program. The call to the Christian is the call to encourage. We see this throughout Scripture. The call is implicit in the Love Commands. " ... 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40).
It is in the context of these commands that we can carry out our responsibility to make disciples. " ... go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew. 28: 19-20).
Finally, the author of the letter to the Hebrew believers requires the work of encouragement be carried out in the church. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).
Throughout this series, we have seen our personal responsibility to care for those the Lord puts in our path. We have examined practical actions that will help us in doing so. In this last article, we will consider how the local church can be a restoring community.
This article will be shorter than the others, because only you can say what should occur in your church to strengthen these areas. I will share with you some ideas that were presented when I gave this series.
Dr. Crabb, in the supplemental study text, identifies four factors that need to be present in the church for it to be effective as a restoration community. We must emphasize first, "the value and the importance of worship." (2) Remember that to encourage others we need to have an accurate self-image. This means to see God for who He is and who we are in relationship to Him. As we focus on God our response should be one of worship. And as we worship God, we will see ourselves more accurately.
Second, we must emphasize "the teaching of the Word of God." (3) As seen in the Morning Star series on the epistles of John, love and therefore encouragement can only be carried out in direct conjunction with Truth. We must never fail to hold to the consistent teaching of the Word.
Third, we must emphasize "the radical nature of discipleship." (4) This is what encouragement is all about, the importance of discipleship. As we encourage and create a restoring community, we are obeying Christ's command to make disciples. The church must be community, which brings us to the fourth emphasis.
"The importance and uniqueness of Christian fellowship." (5) We need to redefine fellowship. In the contemporary Christian Church, fellowship often refers to a group of believers socializing, and of course eating. There is nothing wrong with Christians getting together to socialize. In fact, if we are a family, then this is something that should be happening.
Nevertheless, this is only a small aspect of fellowship. Biblical fellowship includes caring, transparency and the encouraging to good works that is referred to in Hebrews 10:25.
Discipling is the activity that is carried out in all that is going on within the church. As you teach children and young people, you are discipling. Whether it is teaching from the pulpit, Sunday school, or this series, it is discipling. Biblical counseling is also discipleship, just more intense. This is why I've been committed to having my counseling ministry be part of the local church. Since it is discipleship, then it should occur within the church. It follows that encouragement is also another form of discipleship.
If we see these functions as responses to the command to make disciples, then all that we do will be carried out with this awareness. How does this new program, project, service carry out the call to make disciples? These are the questions that must be asked within the local congregation.
In answer to that question, let us discuss the final part of your homework assignment. First, what do you see that is being carried out here that is fulfilling our call to make disciples?
The following suggestions were given at the time I presented this series within my church. I also will expand on them here. May they may be of help to you and stimulate your thinking.
First, we discussed what we felt was effective within our church. The following areas were identified. There is a strong teaching ministry occurring for all age groups. This occurs within the context of both Sunday functions as well as mid-week groups. This type of discipling is reinforced in the counseling ministry.
The church supports the needs of believers by maintaining a prayer chain. Encouragement of one another occurs within the Sunday School, the women's and men's groups and other small groups. It is in these more intimate groups that we can encourage one another individually. The leadership can also disciple one another during board meetings.
Other inward forms of encouragement are taking place through the music ministries and children's groups.
Outward encouragement is expressed through work with a gospel mission, work at local senior care homes, and support of missionaries through several different activities.
Areas that were suggested as additional ways to encourage included more people being involved in visitation. Too often this is seen as the pastor's responsibility. If the pastor chooses to be involved in this way, fine. But this activity should be the responsibility of the general membership and not limited to the "professional."
Many churches have excellent women's ministries. The women are frequently very effective at caring for one another. Unfortunately, this is often not true with the men. More emphasis is needed to identify men in pain and help them grown in their spiritual maturity.
We also need to be aware of those within the body who, over time, simply drift from sight. Some of these individuals intentionally chose to leave one church for another, or stop attending altogether! Some, due to circumstances, simply become less involved. We need to make sure people aren't lost due to neglect.
We need to look within our church and identify those that may not "fit in." Often they simply fall through the cracks. These may include single mothers, those with physical limitations and those struggling with "socially unacceptable" sin.
Another important group that is often forgotten when encouragement is needed is the leadership and their families. We need to take special action to care for the caregivers.
These are just some areas in which we can encourage. I hope that you will consider your life and the life of your church, identifying areas where the ministry of encouragement can more effectively be carried out.
In closing this series, read one last time the definition of encouragement and the Hebrew passage we have referred to so frequently.
"Encouragement is the kind of expression that helps someone want to be a better Christian, even when life is rough." (6)
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).
I hope that this series has been helpful. If you have any comments or questions direct them to us here at Morning Star.
Next month, we will begin a ten part series on Communication in Marriage. Again we will be referring to a supplemental text. If you would like to have it to enhance your reading of the series the title is:
COMMUNICATION: KEY TO YOUR MARRIAGE
by H. Norman Wright
Regal Books, Ventura, CA, 1974
Until next month, may the Lord bless you in your efforts to be His instrument of encouragement in the lives of others.
1. Crabb, Jr., Lawrence, J. and Allender, Dan B., ENCOURAGEMENT - KEY TO CARING, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984, p. 10.
2. Ibid., p. 132.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid, p. 10.
Special Studies
Special Studies
This month, we present part two of our 3-part series on the Dead Sea scrolls. These articles are the actual transcript of a recent television series produced by Zola Levitt ministries. We are grateful for their permission to reprint this material.
In this issue we present interviews conducted by Zola with Dr. James Tabor, a Scrolls expert from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Michael Baigent, author of "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception" and Professor Robert Eisenman of the California State University at Long Beach.
SECRETS OF THE SCROLLS
New Revelations From the Dead Sea Scrolls
Part 2 of a 3-part series
Dr. James Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is one of a team of experts who has returned with modern-age radar equipment in hopes of finding some answers. This ground-scan radar is used to find cavities in the rock which may not be seen with the naked eye - cavities that could contain more scrolls.
Tabor: We're right in the area where all the materials have been found. Not only have materials been found right here behind us, but also on down towards En Gedi in other wadis have been found materials. It's a very rich area. From 100 years before the time of Jesus to about 150 years after, Jewish religious "refugees" were coming out into this desert: living, hiding, working - and they left stuff. They left scrolls, they left their remains.
Let's say you go in a cave, and it looks really promising: Roman pottery, fire marks on the wall - clearly inhabited from the period. And you have 3 to 4 meters of bat dung and debris. We are modern archaeologists. What do we do? We don't just take our team in with masks and start digging and sweating: we take the ground scan in, run it around the floor of the cave, and it tells us how deep everything is. This is the new lazy man's way to do archaeology.
Mr. Thomas Fenner, one of our geologists, has used the equipment in Egypt in front of the Great Pyramids were he's discovered a channel that has led to the location of some antiquities. It's been used in Greenland to locate a number of jet bombers that were lost after the war there and have been etched into the ice.
Zola: As we'll see shortly, the scrolls are just now revealing some insights about how this Qumran community perceived the Messiah. But just as intriguing is the incredible history of these manuscripts.
In 1947, a Bedouin boy named Muhammad adh-Dhib found the first scrolls - three in all - wrapped in clay jars; looked at here by the famous Professor Yigael Yadin. They were passed on to a man known as Kando, who, working here as a Bethlehem cobbler, thought the scrolls made of animal skins might serve a useful purpose. Eventually they were sold to St. Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem for $97.20.
Professor Eleazor Sukenik, who was the first Israeli scholar to translate some of these scrolls, wrote in his diary, "I read a little more in the skins . . . we may have here one of the greatest finds of this country, a discovery never dreamed of." In time, there were other scrolls found: virtually every book of the Old Testament except Esther. Equally fascinating copies of many important non-Biblical writings were also found, which gave us a first-hand view of the political and spiritual conditions of the day.
Scholars meticulously analyzed and pieced together little jigsaw puzzles. Scroll materials were appearing from everywhere: smuggled about in shoe boxes, wallets and assorted makeshift containers. Smuggling in fact became big business: in later years, as additional scrolls were found, creative marketing placed four of the scrolls for sale in the June 1, 1954 Wall Street Journal. "This would be an ideal gift", the ad said. "Write to Box F206."
Some 40,000 scroll fragments ultimately wound up at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. Built in 1938 under the British mandate, the museum was later nationalized by the Jordanian government in 1966. Then in 1967 during the Six Day War, it was taken by an Israeli paratroop unit. The scrolls became the spoils of war.
Meanwhile, an international committee had been formed to oversee the assembly and translation of the scroll fragments. Headed by Father Roland de Vaux, the group was headquartered at the French Dominican Archaeological School at Ecole Biblique, just a short distance from the Rockefeller Museum. Strangely, not one Jewish person had been chosen, although they were translating Hebrew texts in Jerusalem. Although its members have come and gone, this committee remains in control to this day, proceeding painstakingly slowly with the "official" publication of the scrolls.
The most famous cave in this drama is Cave #4, jutting out from the cliff where tourists can see, as if it had something special to share. I talked with Professor Tabor about this cave, and about the whole issue of secrecy:
Tabor: There were 800 fragments of scrolls found in Cave #4, and very little of that material came out until last week.
Zola: Well, I can almost infer from what you're saying that somebody read these texts and said, "I don't think we should release these."
Tabor: There are all kinds of conspiracy theories that have been proposed - theories about scholarly jealousies, who gets to have their name on these texts, there's been alcoholism involved, there's been incompetence, there's been all sorts of things. It's not a pretty story. But everybody involved is not bad and everybody is not good, but it's a mess: everybody agrees it's a mess.
Zola: Well sure, and it is in the average office, too, but 20 centuries we've waited for this!
Tabor: I'll give you an example: the group of other documents called the (Hebrew or Aramaic) materials were found about the same time. You can get numerous editions now in English of all of the material: that was brought out rather quickly, and with these materials it wasn't.
So what happened - actually it took until the 80's until the pressure really began to build, and Hershel Shanks, the Editor of Biblical Archaeological Review, spearheaded a lot of this effort. The public began to get interested in the late 80's as you recall. As the word got out, people didn't know - 40% of the Dead Sea Scrolls aren't out. People began to say, "Well, I thought everything was out." What happened finally is that Professor Robert Eisenman of California State Long Beach obtained the photographs, not through any source that officially was given him - in fact he hasn't told me for protection reasons - I'm not even sure he knows where they came from. But he and James Robinson, the Editors of this volume that we looked at on the previous program.
Zola: Not the evangelist James Robison, but James Robinson.
Tabor: James Robinson, who's a very well-known scholar from Clairmont School. It's simply - I guess you could call this the bootleg edition: they simply put this out. These two volumes bring us up to date. In other words, with these "Secrets of the Scrolls" additional materials I have here that were already out and these materials, all the material is out. The problem is this is still in Hebrew: it's still raw material. It's got to be carefully looked at.
Zola: Some are more outspoken in their evaluation of those who have been appointed to translate the scrolls. Michael Baigent, best-selling author and journalist from England, has written a book entitled, The Dead Sea Scroll Deception:
Baigent: And so we asked the question, "What could they be hiding and how did they maintain the secrecy"? The second part of the book, we explore the scrolls and try and understand the true flavor of the scrolls - the true meaning of the scrolls or the true origins of the scrolls. And for a Christian audience it's very interesting because our conclusion is that basically whatever Christianity developed out of - the Messianic Judaism that Christianity developed out of - was the same community that produced the scrolls. So in a sense you could say that the scrolls were early Christian documents.
Zola: For over 40 years now, the group given credit for writing the scrolls was called Essenes. But Professor Robert Eisenman of the California State University at Long Beach, who has spearheaded much of the recent research, has a different theory:
Eisenman: In 1952, a document called "The Copper Scroll" was found. And this was a scroll that really worried the people who were promoting a theory that we know as the Essene Theory, because the Essene Theory became the official theory of the group that was controlling the non-Biblical text. And the base of the Essene Theory was to press the documents as far away from Christian origins as possible, and render this group that was intrinsic to development of Christian thinking in Palestine as a pioutistic, quietist, more or less politically uninvolved meditative group.
But what the Copper Scroll, which were two scrolls punched into metal, revealed when they were finally opened - and there was a huge political struggle to get them open - was that we had the Temple treasure list here. And you say, "Well, what would that matter"? It mattered because this pioutous, quiotous, retiring group that was apolitical, etcetera - why would they be interested in the Temple first of all, and why would they have a Temple treasure list? What it implied was that we had a group here who was in fact not this pioutous, retiring group, but a more activist, militant, aggressive group, probably connected with the uprising against Rome, and the Temple treasure list that we found in Cave #3 probably related to the attempts by the revolutionaries to sequester the Temple treasures in the face of the coming Roman armies: and that linked this group very closely to the uprising against Rome from 66-70. We feel that this movement really the better name for it than Essene, or even Zealot - is the Messianic Movement in Palestine.
We've said that this literature is tremendously Messianic. At the beginning we were seeing documents having to do with two Messiahs, but we were also seeing documents having to do with a single Judeo-Christian style Davidic Messiah too, and in the unpublished materials we're even seeing more of this kind of material relating to a kind of normative, Judeo-Christian, Davidic-style single Messiah, and if you read Josephus, the historian of this period who wrote the Jewish war carefully, you'll see that Josephus says in one passage of his book about the war against Rome, that the thing that most moved the Jewish people to revolt against Rome was the prophecy that a world ruler would come out of Palestine: that tells us that they were moved by the Messianic prophecy, and that the revolution against Rome that we often think of as political was not in fact simply political, but religious and Messianic.
We think we have here the literature of the movement: we don't say it began in the first century, it leads up from the Maccabean period in the second century B.C. on up through the Rodian period into the first century. We think we have here the literature of the Messianic movement, and in my work I have said that the last stages of this literature and the last stages of this movement, which is the project I came to Israel to research in '85, is parallel to the Jerusalem community - that community known in the New Testament as the Jerusalem Church - the Jerusalem community of James the Just, sometimes called in Christian tradition the brother of Jesus.
Zola: Many of the scrolls were probably written here in the Scriptorium, amidst this maze of storerooms and mills and stables and kitchens. Membership in this priestly order was very exclusive - it was only for the very devout who were willing to make sacrifices and get back to the Bible. Just as at Masada a few miles south, the people knew how to preserve their precious water supply. The winter rains came down the mountainsides and filled the large cisterns, and then passed through elaborate channels to pools throughout various parts of the complex. This little bath - the mikvah was used in ceremonial cleansing. They would enter here and dip themselves under the water: it was much like the baptism that John the Baptist preached in this very same wilderness, here where the Jordan River meets the Dead Sea.
These people were Jews: they rose to pray before dawn, and they held to the Sabbath rigorously. They had a community council of twelve, with an inner group of three: Jesus of course had twelve disciples and that inner group of three of Peter, James and John. The Qumran group had sacred meals with prayers much like the Last Supper or communion. They talked about the "Ruach HaKodesh" (the Holy Spirit), and about the last days. In the year 68 AD, fearing the oncoming Roman troops and certain plunder, they took their scrolls and hid them in the caves up on the nearby cliffs. Next, we'll take a look at some of those scrolls, and at some of the amazing things they had to say about the Messiah.
Part 3 of this series will continue in next month's MORNING STAR.
To order the video series, or to receive the free LEVITT LETTER write:
Zola Levitt Ministries
Box 12268
Dallas, TX
75225-9987
(214) 690-1874
Columns
Anee M'Amin
Anee M'Amin
ANEE M'AMIN is Hebrew for "I believe." In this month's column we present something a little different - testimonies from an Arab woman and a Jewish man which show that Jesus is the solution to any Arab-Jewish problem - and any other problem for that matter! In light of all the current man-made attempts at negotiating a peace between these two peoples, which we see in the news almost every day of late, these testimonies are both refreshing and timely.
AND ARAB AND A JEW
Jesus is the solution to dispelling the hatred between the Arabs and the Jews.
ZAHEA NAPPA ON A QUEST FOR TRUTH
Zahea is a lovely 58-year old woman with graying hair, sparkling eyes, and a ready smile. For the past nine months, she has served on Chosen People Ministries' staff. Although small in stature, she is a giant in her zest for living and joy in the Lord.
Zahea grew up in Oklahoma. She is a first generation American, of Druze descent (Islamic in origin). Her grandfather taught her the basic fundamentals of the Druze religion. Typical of most women in the Islamic culture, Zahea was brought up to be gracious, submissive, and skilled in the homemaking arts. She also learned to show respectful submission to male relatives and hospitality to friends and guests of the family. She and her family celebrated Druze Holy Days and adhered to a circumspect lifestyle shown by modest dress, and abstinence from alcohol and tobacco.
Her home life was in direct contrast to her typically American school life. Often Zahea questioned where she fit in. Not totally Lebanese, not totally American, she would have to forge her own way in her journey through life.
Someone had given her a Bible, and during her teen years, Zahea began to search out the Scriptures against what she knew of her family's Holy Book which is based on the Koran.
Zahea remembers, "I began to read the Bible voraciously and pray constantly. I had to know which was the truth - the Druze Religion or Christianity? The Koran states, 'The Messiah, the son of Mary was no more than an apostle; other apostles passed away before him' (Sura 5:75).
"Yet, God revealed to me that Jesus is who He said He is, and I was a sinner who needed a Savior. 'For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day' (John 6:40). If I would repent, confess my sins, and invite Him into my heart, then I would be righteous before God."
It was an extremely difficult decision for a seventeen year old to make. "Such a decision would, in effect, publicly state that all of my ancestors and my family were wrong in their beliefs." Historically, the Arabs and the Jews have been enemies, which made her decision seem all the more ludicrous since Jesus was a Jew.
"I was taught that within some very traditional Middle Eastern families, when Arabs came to faith, the head of the household was required to either prevent it or to kill the individual so that the prophets would not be ridiculed or shamed," Zahea shared. She knew her decision might carry with it the prospect of physical harm, or even death from zealously religious Middle Easterners. But the Lord's hand of protection kept her safe from anyone who would consider her an infidel.
Despite her non-traditional beliefs, Zahea was always intent on maintaining her cultural identity and it aided in her witness to her family. Today Zahea shares, "It was my privilege to become the first Christian in our family forty years ago. Of the four generations of my family who live in America, we have gone from one Christian believer (myself) to only one non-believer." All four of her children are believers, and her son is a licensed minister.
In 1984 she moved to Washington, DC, where she worked as a consultant. While in Washington, a coworker invited her to his church where Chosen People Missionary and Son of David Pastor, Scott Brown, was explaining the significance of the Messiah in the Passover through a special presentation.
She met and became friends with Scott and Margie Brown and Ruth Bernstein, who invited her to attend Son of David Congregation (planted by Chosen People Ministries). Not only had Zahea become an apostate to her people by diverging from her Islamic beliefs, but now she had become even further removed by attending a congregation for Jewish believers in Jesus.
It was through the Son of David Congregation that Zahea heard about an opening with Chosen People Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although she had been semi-retired, because of her heart for missions she applied for the position. It's a unique spot for the Lord to have placed a Lebanese woman. While employed by a ministry that is spreading the Gospel message to her one-time enemy, the Jews, she is willing to bear any ridicule from her own people as she attempts to maintain her cultural identity. Despite any humiliation Zahea may have to suffer she is able to say, "It gives me great joy to be culturally Lebanese American, working in a ministry where the focus is sharing Jesus the Messiah with people throughout the world, especially Jewish people."
ALBERT ISRAELI FROM HATE TO HUGS
Chosen People Missionary Albert Israeli knows many Arab believers whom he calls "brother." Not so long ago, however, Albert would have called all Arabs by other names; names used to insult, to provoke, or to hurt.
Albert encountered Arabs wherever he lived - Canada, Germany, Russia, and Israel. In each of those countries, his attitude towards the Arab was always the same - one of hatred. In Russia, for instance, like most of the Jewish population, Albert considered the Arabs who were attending school there to be "outsiders" and "untouchable" in their host country. "Often their behavior would mirror their immunity to the rest of society," Albert said, "behavior I and the other Jews who lived there resented." Albert's hatred of the Arab people became even more deeply ingrained after his father was injured during an attack by Syrian forces on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War. "My father's army unit was completely surrounded. Many of his friends were killed or wounded by the Syrians," he said.
In both Germany and Canada Albert often went out of his way to make life miserable for any Arab that crossed his path. Albert recalls, "Anything, no matter how insignificant it might be, was cause enough to start a fight with an Arab. They would look at us funny or make a comment. One would walk past me and I'd slap him on the head and a fight would start."
Then almost nine years ago, Albert came to faith in Jesus, his Messiah. A Jewish friend had recently accepted Jesus, and Albert felt pressured to help his friend understand the foolishness of believing in Jesus as the Son of God. "I undertook a search of the Scriptures," Albert said, "both Old and New Testaments. I needed to disprove Jesus as Messiah to my friend. Two weeks after my study began, I accepted Jesus, too." With a new life in Messiah came new attitudes. "I just didn't understand the concept of hatred towards anyone," Albert said.
But with his new life in Messiah and love towards all people came a different struggle: Albert desired to move back to Israel, where he had lived before, to carry the news of Jesus to his people. The move would mean that he would have to wear the uniform of an Israeli soldier, a requirement of all Israeli citizens. Albert knew his duty but struggled with the idea that he might one day be forced into the position to take another's life. He wanted to serve, not hurt - a desire the Lord would soon honor. Upon Albert's return to Israel and the army, he was assigned as a combat medic. It was in Albert's role as a medic that God demonstrated, through an unusual encounter between Arab and Jew, His power to transform a person's life.
During a recent tour of duty in the occupied territories, Albert's unit spotted a van which should not have been in the area. Knowing Albert as a man of faith with an assurance of heaven, his unit sent him to investigate. Understanding the dangers (a possible bomb or decoy), Albert said a silent prayer and approached the van. He saw a Palestinian come from a nearby house and head toward the vehicle. Albert confronted the man and asked him what he was doing there. The man, an Arab pastor, had been meeting with some members of his congregation. A bit skeptical, Albert further questioned him about his beliefs, and once he was convinced that the man was sincere, smiled and said, "It's good to meet you, brother."
While the rest of his unit looked on, he and the Arab pastor embraced - a bright moment amidst the darkness. The two men stood between a house and a van, between enemy lines, between heaven and hell . . . and had fellowship - the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. When the van drove away, Albert had some explaining to do to his unit who, understandably, were not used to seeing a Jew and an Arab embrace in a Palestinian area. God allowed the encounter to be a testimony to the love that He bestows on those who ask His Son, Jesus, into their lives.
From THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Testimony
Testimony
TRUST IN THE LORD
By Dennis R. Mallory
Albany, New York
I was born in November of 1950 during a hurricane-type storm in the Northeast. There was a "blowdown" of hundreds of thousands of trees in the Adirondack Mountains of New York at the time ... my mother even told me of how some of the windows in the hospital where I was born were broken. Little did I know how both the weather and the Adirondacks would affect my life in the future!
Ever since I was young, I wanted to have a small business of my own. I worked as a neighborhood paperboy and a few years later went door-to-door with Fuller Brush products. Eventually I got involved in stamp collecting and dealing in antique post cards as an outgrowth of stamp dealing.
In 1983, after reading about the Adirondack Mountains, I purchased land in Schroon Lake, New York. I chose this location because I was concerned about nuclear war and thought there would be no bombs there.
By 1985, I was ready to open a part-time weekend shop to sell my post cards in Schroon Lake. It made sense since I already owned land there.
During that summer, I heard various opinions from people who visited my shop about Word of Life, a Christian ministry with headquarters in Schroon Lake. Many of the locals and campers seemed to indicate that all Word of Life people were crazy. However, the Word of Life people seemed friendly and caring to me. I was invited to visit the Word of Life Inn for a weekend to see for myself.
I decided to visit over the Thanksgiving weekend, but was disappointed that it was mainly for families, and I am unmarried. Fortunately, I decided to try again for the singles weekend in January. During that weekend, I met someone who spoke to me about the Bible and how I should trust Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior.
I had known about Jesus Christ for years. I was brought up in the Presbyterian Church and went to church every Sunday with my family when I was young. What was it that this person knew that I didn't know? His life seemed so different; open and willing to talk to me about any questions that I might have. Why hadn't anyone ever told me the difference between knowing Christ in my head rather than in my heart?
As he talked to me I felt that Jesus Christ was talking through him. I remember him quoting Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." He asked me if I would pray with him and accept Jesus as my personal Savior. But he wouldn't do the praying for me, I had to do that on my own! He would be there to listen to my prayer, but I had to be the one to pray to the Lord. A wonderful feeling came over me after that prayer was completed.
This was a most remarkable weekend for me. Even the weather was remarkable. It snowed the whole time I was at Word of Life. We had 28 inches of snow by the time I left on Sunday. By the next day, there was 44 inches of snow from this storm in a nearby community! Truly I was both born once and born again on dates in Adirondack weather history!
Since then, I have spent some time in a Navigators Bible study program, have read the Bible, some commentaries, and numerous Christian books. The life of D.L.Moody and the schools that he founded have been of special interest to me. I was able to visit Northfield, Maine several times in 1988 and 1989 and was able to go through many of the items located in the Moody Museum. In 1990, I felt that the Lord was leading me to take some Bible courses in the Chicago area. I quit my job and drove to Wheaton, Illinois, in faith that I would be able to take evening courses and work while there. The Lord arranged everything. I was able to work at Moody Bible Institute and take an evening course at the same location. I was there for less than a year, but my time in Chicago and Wheaton truly increased my faith and trust in the Lord.
Wherever I have gone, I have found people who share common interests. I have enjoyed going to Bible studies. While my desire to have a small business still exists, I don't have the desire to get rich anymore ... as when I was young ... but only to be able to meet my living expenses.
The most exciting difference to me is that I know that I have eternal life. I have inner peace knowing that I will go to heaven whenever I die. I no longer have to worry about nuclear war, as that might only bring me to my Savior more quickly. It's great to be a Christian and hopefully more people will come to know Christ as their personal Savior through seeing how He works in my life.
Dennis R. Mallory is the publisher of Testimony Newsletter. Personal testimonies are welcome and encouraged. Contact:
Testimony Newsletter
Dennis R. Mallory, Publisher
P.O. Box 14974
Albany, New York 12212-4974
Prison Ministry
Prison Ministry
Specialist Loses It All, but Finds Happiness . . .
EARNIE SHAVERS "MUGGED BY GOD"
September 29, 1977. Bedlam at Madison Square Garden. In the 14th round, Heavy-weight Champion Muhammad Ali is on the canvas, staring up at the challenger, Earnie Shavers. A knockout specialist, Shavers is thinking he's about to become the champion of the world. But Ali gets up out of the resin and hangs on for a disputed decision on points.
"It was a big disappointment," recalls Earnie. "I thought I had won." Two years later Earnie finally got around to looking at a film of the fight.
"I watched the film over and over and my heart said I didn't win it. He won the fight. It was a close fight but he won it. Ali was the best boxer I ever fought He had the hands and the speed of a light-weight and the power of a heavyweight. In the heavyweight division, I would say he was the best ever."
Earnie would get one more shot at the world championship, but Larry Holmes denied him the title. "I had him down, I had him hurt. He fell so hard I thought the fight was over. But he got up and won the fight with a TKO in the 11th."
A tough fighter, but vulnerable.
As a 210-lb. KO artist, Earnie was vulnerable. A clever opponent could get inside to him when Earnie was winding up. Fourteen fighters took this route to victory, but 78 were counted out.
How does it feel to score 78 knockouts in professional boxing? Does it take a lot of hate to knock a man unconscious? Earnie says, "No, I never hated anyone. It was a job. You don't feel angry. Sometimes you feel compassion. I love all the guys; I contact a lot of them even now."
Every boxer has a vulnerable spot. And Earnie was vulnerable to fast-talking promoters. When he left boxing he had lost everything, his mansion, his Rolls Royce, and his coast-to-coast network of girlfriends.
Then Earnie Shavers was mugged by God.
"The Lord used a young lady to invite me to a spiritual nightclub. I wasn't interested in a spiritual nightclub, but she was a pretty young lady and I was interested in her. God used her to get me there. He mugged me."
On April 24,1986, Earnie Shavers became a Christian and saw his life change. "I thank God for losing everything I had. Now He's restoring everything I lost and then some. It's the best life I ever lived."
Keeping kids out of trouble
Now 47, Shavers works with other athletes to help keep kids out of trouble. "I work with Ali about five times a year with schools and youth groups. I see guys like Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield and Sugar Ray Leonard about once a year. I led Jimmy Young to the Lord last year."
"I get a good warm feeling when someone accepts Christ as a result of talking with me. I know that I contributed a little to the Kingdom. When I look back on my life and see what I did for the devil, I want to do a thousand times more for the Lord. That' s why I do a lot of prisons, a lot of youth. I very seldom turn down anything concerning prisons or youth."
And Earnie visits prisoners at about 135 facilities per year. His interest in prisons began years ago when a friend of his was locked up at Lucasville, in Ohio.
Last October Earnie visited prisons in North Carolina and mingled with the prisoners, signing autographs. "Some of the prisoners touched me when they told about their former lifestyles. They thought lots of money, a big house, clothes and women would bring happiness. They dreamed about the lifestyle of athletes. They thought they would be happy if they had material things. I had all those things but it wasn't the lifestyle I thought it was going to be.
"Money does not bring happiness; I had no peace of mind. Without Christ in my life I had nothing. The longer I stay in His will, the longer He meets all my needs. For someone in prison, He gives the peace you've been searching for. You can be more free on the inside than on the outside."
This Easter Earnie Shavers accompanied Prison Fellowship Chairman Chuck Colson on visits to the William Donaldson prison in Alabama and Union prison in Raiford, Florida.
"I told the prisoners that Jesus loves them no matter what crime they did. Lots of guys probably don't get visitors. They very seldom have someone tell them that they love them. I just wanted to tell them that Jesus loves them and we love them."
KNOCKOUT!
From INSIDE JOURNAL
"The Hometown Newspaper of America's Prisoners" by PRISON FELLOWSHIP
P.O. Box 16429
Washington DC 20041-6429
Missions
Missions
OPERATION ABC
Changing lives through children's eyes
Throughout the former Soviet Union, the Children's Bible delivered by Open Doors as part of Operation ABC has had major impact on people's lives. Used by as many adults as children, it can be found in Bible studies, prisons, public schools and family devotions. In fact, it is the most widely used introduction to the Bible in the CIS today.
Here are some recent reports of how God is using it in various parts of this vast country.
SIBERIA
Immediately after he was saved, Emelyan Semenov, an ethnic Yakut, used the Children's Bible as a study book.
'When I first got a regular Bible," he explains, "I tried to read it but didn't understand anything. The Children's Bible helped me out so much; now I can read the Bible and understand it." One year after his conversion, Emelyan is a pastor in the remote Arctic village of Nyurbe.
Masha Savidova, a Buryat woman from Ulan-Ude who was a former Buddhist, knew absolutely nothing about Christianity until she read the Children's Bible. "Now I can finally understand the Bible when I read it," she reports. "I gave a copy to my mother, and she read it as well. Now she is reading the Living Bible."
At least two professional translators have come to the Lord as a result of their work with the Children's Bible. Lyna Tynela, a former Communist Party member and People's Deputy for her Chukchi people, says, "This is exactly what my people need to bring them out of their despair! Many Chukchi can read only with great difficulty. This book is perfect because it breaks down the Bible into understandable parts, and there is a beautiful picture with every text."
ARMENIA
Last year, Open Doors delivered a shipment of 50,000 Armenian Children's Bibles to churches in the capital city of Yerevan. One large church had been praying constantly for these Bibles and received enough for every child.
This spring, when Open Doors returned with another 20,000 Bibles, it was learned that the children of this church had been praying spontaneously that other children in villages, schools and neighborhoods would receive Children's Bibles as well. Through your gifts, we were able to help answer that prayer.
On the same trip, the courier visited the city of Spitak, the epicenter of the devastating 1988 earthquake that left much of the city in ruins. At the local school he asked the children, 'Who owns a Children's Bible?" About half the hands went up. Amazed, he learned that many of the books had come from Yerevan, and that the Bible is used in the city's schools for daily public reading.
Said one pastor, 'his is the book that will change our nation and people."
GEORGIA
The situation is quite different in Georgia, which is dominated by the Georgian Orthodox Church. All other denominations are considered to be sects, and their activities are strongly opposed, even to the extent of keeping Billy Graham out of the country.
Still, at least one Baptist church operates freely in the capital of Tbilisi, with four separate congregations using the building. The largest of these, with 1,500 members, has a difficult time squeezing into the building's 500 seats.
A spiritual revival is underway in eastern Georgia, a strongly Muslim area, and here the Children's Bible has played a part.
For example, a Kurd named Massud spotted a crowd around a woman at the Tbilisi airport and inquired about the Children's Bible she held. The lady, from Ukraine, offered to send him a copy of his own. Surrounded by onlookers, he didn't know how to refuse. Sure enough, six weeks later, he had a copy.
As he read the book, he felt a strange fire inside. When she returned, the woman took him to the Baptist church, where he accepted Christ.
Back home, his family nearly disowned him, but eventually his wife, nephew, sister and mother-in-law also became Christians.
POPULAR SUPPORT
In most parts of the country, the Children's Bible has unparalleled acceptance by all Christian denominations. Even the Russian Orthodox clergy, who do not generally encourage people to read the Bible, will enthusiastically read it in family gatherings.
Educated Russians, who are often unable to understand the archaic language of the standard Russian Synodal Bible, read the Children's Bible, and some atheists read it to their children in hopes of instilling moral values in them.
Through your prayers and gifts, Open Doors has been able to fulfill roughly half of its commitment to provide one million Children's Bibles to the people of the former Soviet Union. Please continue to support this vital project, as together we bring God's Word to a hungry land.
From NEWS BRIEF
A publication of OPEN DOORS with Brother Andrew
P.O. Box 27001
Santa Ana, CA
92799-9961
(714) 531-6000
Education
Education
Teachers For Such a Time As This
LIBERTY MINISTRIES
By Marlene Mitchell
Fort Worth, Texas
Unique is the best word to describe Liberty Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas. Founded and directed by Christian Heritage Minister Timothy Mitchell, it has developed into a program for teaching about Biblical Principles of Government. Our society's problems are really spiritual problems in need of spiritual solutions (II Timothy 3:16). Realizing this led to the development of plays, speeches and teaching materials to make the Biblical message about government and history exciting and applicable to today.
Combining Timothy's love for history and government and my interest in education, this ministry has developed into a format not duplicated, as far as we know, anywhere else in the nation. After meeting in the library at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, everyone expected us to take up the traditional role of pastor and wife in the local church. Instead, the path the Lord had for us has been bumpy and seemingly filled with detours. Looking back many of those "detours" have developed skills needed for future opportunities.
We began our ministry by opening our home for study groups. Now we speak at churches, civic groups, seminars, retreats and home educator's support groups. People often think of history as boring and irrelevant because they have not been taught to see history from a Providential perspective. Liberty Ministries shows people how events are orchestrated by God to accomplish His purposes (Revelation 12:10,11). Costumes and skits are used to help make the message more exciting.
In one of our skits, Timothy reenacts Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. He also portrays John Dickinson, one of the most influential and involved members of the Continental Congress, who wrote "Letters to a Pennsylvania Farmer", dealing with the issue of governmental jurisdiction. Dickinson was well known by the colonists and his message still speaks volumes today.
I present "Patriotic Women in Early America" that includes vignettes of both famous and obscure women who have left their mark on history forever. Using four different costumes and appropriate props helps me give a taste of the high price former generations have paid for the liberties that we take for granted today. Other costumes include "Uncle Sam" outfits in which we present programs on patriotism and the meaning of the flag.
OUR OBJECTIVES
- To re-educate Christian adults to remember what God has done for our nation and renew their hope that He could do it again.
- To promote restoration of Biblical order to the families of our nation by helping parents to be more directly involved in educating their children as future leaders.
- To help churches be more effective in the application of the scriptures into all areas of life such as public policy, economics, education, and government.
- To provide opportunities for Christians to reason from Scriptures positive Biblical solutions to the problems of our day through the Study Group concept.
SEMINARS
Exposure to considerable information in a limited time frame helps busy Christians keep abreast of how the Bible applies to current events.
INTRODUCTORY PRINCIPLE APPROACH SEMINAR - Principle Approach is a Scriptural Approach of how to relate the truths of God's Word to all of life. We teach the relationship between government, education and religion, challenging students to develop a Biblical philosophy of education. History comes alive when presented from a Providential view - that is why we read the original documents and not just another's interpretation of the events.
FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION SEMINAR - Today parents are not the primary directors of their children's education. People are using the school to further their own agendas. This seminar is especially geared to professional educators in public, private or Christian schools, pastors, and parents caught in the educational dilemma. We discuss how Christians have looked to the secular "experts" for their educational philosophy, methods and curriculum, instead of to the Scriptures. Topics of study include: History of Education; Biblical foundations of Education; The Connection between Education and Government; Distinctives of American Christian Education; Biblical Solutions to our Current Educational Dilemma.
BLESSING AMERICA SEMINAR - We as Christians are commanded to be the SALT of the earth. SALT both flavors and preserves. This seminar helps a church or group have a positive impact on the preservation of liberty. Session topics: Loss of Religious Liberty; Value of Remembering (how history relates to today); Summary of the book THE AMERICAN COVENANT; and Separation of Church and State.
STUDY GROUPS
Consistent study of Biblical principles gives Christians time to reason and relate them to everyday living.
INTRODUCTORY CHRISTIAN HISTORY STUDY GROUP - This group studies the book "THE AMERICAN COVENANT: THE UNTOLD STORY", written by Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson in the late 70's. It deals with the basic principles of government that people must understand in order to live in liberty. It was written from a Biblical perspective and has withstood the test of time. This is the first study that anyone should have. A mastery of the concepts presented in this book is essential for the continuance of religious liberty in our land.
ADVANCED CHRISTIAN HISTORY STUDY GROUP - This group is for people who have completed the Introductory course. From a Providential view of history and a Biblical basis we reason positive solutions to current issues. Some of the topics we have studied include: Economics; Education; Federalism, Constitution, and Common Law; Jurisdiction, Lordship, and Sovereignty; Comparison of forms of government and the degree of religious liberty under each, and the difference between the Pilgrim and Puritan views of government.
MINISTRY LEADERS STUDY GROUP - Designed for pastors, seminary students, and church and ministry leaders this study group emphasizes the Pastor's relationship to civil government. In our study of Church/State relations we look at sermons of pastors from the Revolutionary War Period and analyze the governmental views of the Reformers in relation to their theology.
THE VISION
The governmental problems of our day are really spiritual problems in need of spiritual solutions. Positive solutions are needed for the problems of our nation. The Principles of government found in the Scriptures provide for the most liberty on earth.
Ideas have consequences. What Americans think about government will determine whether we live in liberty or slavery. The re-educating of the Christians of this nation is necessary for the maintenance of liberty - including religious liberty. Biblical teaching on government must be presented in such a way as to be practical and meaningful to daily living. Liberty Ministries has the vision, the resource, and the diligence to accomplish this goal.
OUR OUTREACH
In addition to Seminars and Study Groups we are available to speak to churches on a variety of timely interesting topics. Our teaching base is broadened through the writing of pamphlets, magazine and newsletter articles, study guides and books. Audio and video teaching and story tapes increase our effectiveness.
It is an adventure just to see what doors the Lord opens for us to present this message of making the scriptures practical and relevant. In November 1993 we had a booth at a local Military base at their air show. Many people, who had never heard the true history of this nation, were in attendance. A brochure was prepared entitled, "So you think you know American History ...", that gave the testimony of this nation and just a few of the many ways that God intervened on our behalf. It was stated in this brochure that much of what is wrong with this nation is that we have turned our backs on the Lord and the values of the Ten Commandments.
During the air show we were in costume performing skits to whet the people's appetites to want to know more of the facts of our heritage. Later in November we provided teaching and entertainment at the Home Educators Rendezvous. Liberty Ministries, as well as dealing with the Colonial period, taught about the difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans and about what the Bible has to say about education and law.
When asked why we should teach on these subjects it was explained that the scriptures should be the starting point of any study about law, government, economics, and health. Isaiah 9:6-9 tells us the government is upon His shoulder. It is God that created government. In colonial times someone wanting to become a lawyer or doctor was first schooled as a minister because it was understood that the foundation for law and medicine was the scriptures. The Colonial pastor was highly respected in the community as he helped the people to reason from the scriptures.
Liberty is a spiritual concept that has political ramifications. Those who have been set free, in the liberties wherein Christ has set us free, can truly understand the idea of liberty. This has a profound effect on society when applied to all areas of life. Through Liberty Ministries we are sharing this message of liberty.
God's way of raising up a new generation of Christian leaders and statesmen is through a major re-education of His people. Our motto at Liberty Ministries is from Leviticus 25:10 ... "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
Timothy Mitchell is Christian Heritage Minister and Director of Liberty Ministries. He has a B.A. in History, a Master of Divinity, and advanced training in American Christian History and Church/State relations. As an ordained minister he has served as a visiting preacher for churches in Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Politically involved, he has served as a Precinct Chairman for a number of years and has been a delegate to his party's state conventions. His duties include research, speaking, and counseling in church state issues as well as family problems.
Marlene Mitchell is the Teacher/Writer for Liberty Ministries. She has a Bachelor of Science, a Master's of Divinity and further training in American Christian History. Marlene has studied with Wycliffe Bible Translators and served as a student missionary in Central America. She is a popular speaker for women's groups and seminars. She has experience in lobbying and training others on how to increase their political effectiveness. Her duties include research, writing, and speaking as well as home education.
For more information about presentations, seminars or classes contact:
Liberty Ministries
P.O. Box 185116
Ft. Worth, Texas 76181
Phone - (817) 589-7266
Music
Music
MY TYPE OF MUSIC
By Keith Sogge
Kingston, Washington
What's your favorite type of music? Who's your favorite singer? Do you ever find yourself asking or answering these questions when you are getting to know somebody new? Maybe you like music as much as I do.
I have loved music as long as I can remember. My earliest memories from childhood include my family reunion sing-alongs. My Dad and his brothers would each play their own string instrument and start singing the songs they knew by heart. The rest of us would sing along if we knew the songs, or gather around the few sheets of music in hopes of learning it. We would sing folk songs and hymns late into the evenings.
I always enjoyed singing hymns in Church, but did not consider joining the choir for a long time. (You know the usual excuses like "I just don't have time," or "I'm not that good of a singer.") I finally did after much prodding from the Choir Director. I should have started earlier. I've enjoyed singing in the choir ever since.
I started by relying on the guys around me to help me find my notes and help hide times I sang a wrong note. Over time I have improved a bit, and now help other singers find the right note. (I still like to have somebody hide my occasional wrong note.)
I attend a Lutheran Church that has a tradition of singing a Liturgy. It's lead by a Cantor and followed by the Congregation. We also occasionally will chant the psalms. The choir leader or Pastor is always looking for volunteers to be the Cantor and asks Choir members to take turns. I have taken my turn. It's strange to hear your own voice unaccompanied echoing off the walls of the Church. I imagine a monastery with monks chanting.
I also play a mandolin and like to sing folk Gospel songs. Occasionally a group of like-minded souls in my Church get together for fellowship and praise singing. The songs are usually easy to sing and play. This is pure fun, but can also be a way to minister to people.
Singing in the choir has greatly strengthened my spiritual growth. Themes the pastor is trying to impress upon the congregation are often echoed in the songs we sing. I see music as a way to feel emotions, and this adds to the understanding of the scriptures from which the music is drawn. The teamwork a choir is required to use is also a reminder that as a community in Christ we must work together and if we do, the results are fantastic. If we don't work together, the results are disastrous.
Singing in the choir has also blessed me after the choir is done singing a song. Often for weeks I'll find myself humming a song and thinking about the words in it. This is particularly true if the song has a great melody and a strong message. This is a way that the song writer ministers to me for a long time.
Sometimes a song will minister better than any sermon. Think of the song "Amazing Grace". I can't think of any words that explain the peace of mind one receives with Salvation than these and the melody fits in such a way that just hearing the melody is soothing. Other songs like "Sweet Hour of Prayer" or "Lift Every Voice and Sing" or "Jesus Loves Me This I know" each minister in slightly different ways. How can a sermon say so much in such a short, concise way?
There is, of course, the flip side, songs without much message. I like Folk Gospel music, but there are many songs that don't say anything, or leave the wrong message. One example is "The Church in the Wildwood". This song says very little about Christ's Sacrifice and Our Response. About the only message it has is a sentimental feeling about being raised in the Church. The people selecting music for a Worship Service must take care to choose music that will spread the right message.
Music is something each of us takes personally in different measures. I've noticed that the music somebody listens to in his teen years is often the style of music he will like for the rest of his life. Think of the music you like best. What kind is it? Does it bear any resemblance to the music you listened to while in High School?
I believe Christian music can be any style. The issue should be the message of the song and whether the audience will listen. I wouldn't try playing a rap song in a Senior citizen's center and wouldn't try to evangelize to unsaved teenagers by asking them to listen to old folk songs. Neither group would listen to the song and the style of music would be a barrier to the Gospel, not a vessel to deliver it.
Differences in music styles have more to do with cultural background than Christian doctrine. I attend a Lutheran Church which in America is mostly populated with people of Northern European Ethnics, i.e., Scandinavians & Germans. The culture of these groups is very reserved, and it is reflected in the style of worship within the Church. On the other hand, there is a large, and growing, Lutheran Church in Tanzania, Africa. Their style of music is the exact opposite. No part of their body is still while they sing. Even though the style is different, the music in both Churches is saying the same thing - "Praise and Glory be to God, Our Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
Isn't that the point of the music?
Chef's Corner
Chef's Corner
SNACKS to go with that hot cup of cocoa or coffee in the middle of winter. Umm-umm good! We also have two wonderful recipes for hot punch.
SPICY PUNCH ... Stud 3 oranges with whole cloves 1/2 inch apart. Place in baking dish with small amount of water. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Combine 6 cups apple cider or apple juice and 2 cinnamon sticks; heat for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 cup honey, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 large can unsweetened pineapple juice, and 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind; simmer for 5 minutes longer. Place in heated punch bowl; float oranges on top. Serve hot. Yield: 20 servings.
CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW PUNCH ... Mix three 13-ounce cans evaporated milk, 2 cups chocolate syrup, 2 cups water, and 12 large marshmallows in large saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until marshmallows are melted. Stir in 1 tablespoon vanilla. Pour into cups; garnish with marshmallows and grated chocolate. Yield: about 12 servings.
CRUNCHY BARS . . . Mix together 2 sticks margarine and 1 cup brown sugar; boil three minutes. Line cookie sheet and up sides with foil. Line with saltine crackers and pour mixture over crackers. Bake five minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Take out of oven and dump 1 bag chocolate chips over crackers. When melted, spread chocolate over all. Put in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. Pull off foil and crack into pieces.
PEANUTY BARS . . . cream together 2/3 cup margarine and 1 cup brown sugar. Add 1/2 cup corn syrup and 3 tsp. vanilla. Stir in 4 cups quick oats and spread in a greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes (no longer). Let cool. Melt one 6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips and 2/3 cup peanut butter over low heat. Spread over oat mixture. Refrigerate until chilled. Cut into bars.
CHOCO-MALLOW BARS . . . melt 1 cup margarine; add 2 tablespoons cocoa and cool. Add 4 beaten eggs, 2 cups sugar, and a pinch of salt. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup chopped nuts. Bake in greased and floured 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with 1 bag miniature marshmallows. Return to oven until marshmallows start to melt. Let cool. For the ICING, cream 1/2 cup margarine; add 2 tablespoons cocoa, 1 box powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 5 tablespoons milk. Spread over the cooled marshmallows and cut into bars.
CANDIED PECANS . . . Mix 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon allspice into large saucepan and mix. Cook at medium to medium high heat. Bring to a boil then cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add 2 cups pecan halves. Cook mixture for about 5 more minutes; mixture will begin to thicken (gooey). Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour onto wax paper. Separate pecans. Allow to harden.
GRAHAM CRACKER BARS . . . Combine 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup margarine and boil 3 minutes. Add 1 cup chopped nuts. (I add extra nuts and chips.) Place crackers on greased cookie sheet. Pour sugar mixture over crackers. Sprinkle with 1 cup chocolate chips. Bake 10 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
CONGO BARS taste like chocolate chip cookies: Sift together 2 3/4 cups flour, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/2 salt. In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs. Add 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2/3 cup vegetable oil. Stir in dry ingredients, then add 6 ounces chocolate bits. Spread on a greased jelly-roll pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cool slightly before cutting.
CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOW SQUARES are scrumptious! Cream 1/2 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar together. Add 2 cups sifted flour and a pinch of salt and mix well. Chop 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate into small pieces and pour 1 1/4 cups boiling water over them, stirring until chocolate melts. Add chocolate mixture to butter-flour mixture and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Remove from refrigerator and blend in 3 beaten eggs, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Pour into greased 9" x 9" pan and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately spread with one 28-ounce jar marshmallow Fluff. Return to oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Let cool on rack.
Meanwhile, prepare ICING by combining 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted, 1 tablespoon butter, pinch of salt, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 to 4 tablespoons milk. Blend well. Add enough milk to reach spreading consistency. Spread icing over squares and let set before cutting into bars.
SNOWBALL COOKIES . . . These are best made the day before serving. You will need 1 box vanilla cookies, whipped topping, shredded coconut, and red and green cherries.
FILLING: Blend 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, 1 tablespoon margarine, 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained, and 1 cup chopped nuts. Spread a teaspoon of the cheese mixture on flat side of cookie and top with flat side of another, forming a sandwich. Dip sandwich in whipped topping and roll in coconut. Drop into paper muffin cups and decorate with slivers of red and green cherries.
MAGIC BARS ... Place 1/4 lb. margarine or butter in 9x13 inch glass pan and melt in microwave. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers on the melted margarine. Pour 1 can condensed milk over crumbs and layer 6 oz. chocolate chips, 3 1/2 oz. coconut, and 1 cup chopped walnuts. Press down. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown.
MARY'S GOB CAKE is a popular dessert with everyone. Mix together 1 chocolate box cake mix, 1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding, 1/4 cup oil, 4 eggs and 1-1/2 cups milk. Grease one jelly roll pan and wax paper a second jelly roll pan. Put half batter in each. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
For the FILLING beat 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup margarine and cream together. Beat in 1-1/2 cups confectioner sugar and sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour over mixture. Add 2/3 cup warm milk. Beat 5 minutes.
For the NO COOK ICING beat together 3/4 cup margarine, 9 tablespoons shortening, 1-1/2 cups sugar, 3 teaspoons vanilla, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, and 3/4 cup warm (not hot) milk. DO NOT MELT MARGARINE OR SHORTENING!
ANNEMARIE'S ITALIAN LOVE CAKE is a specialty! You will need one marble cake mix and mix as directed on package. Pour into a 9" x 13" greased pan. Mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 4 eggs; beat together and stir in 2 pounds Ricotta cheese. Pour over uncooked cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour and 15 minutes. Cool completely. For the icing, mix together 1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding, 1 cup milk, and 8 oz. cool whip. Pour over cooled cake. Refrigerate. (The lo-cal version of this cake was printed in Morning Star Vol. 2.11)
The Rat Race
The Rat Race
THE RAT RACE
By Moishe Rosen
THE RAT RACE is not a form of amusement,
Initiated by rodents for their pleasure.
If you are tired of chasing yourself through mazes,
And you know that only RATS win that race . . .
Maybe you are ready to think about Y'SHUA.
"Y'shua" is the Jewish way to say "JESUS".
But you don't have to be JEWISH to come to Y'shua.
Y'shua came TO and THROUGH the Jewish people,
But He welcomes ANYONE who wants Him.
Maybe the time has come for you to stop racing and start RESTING.
Y'shua said,
"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
And I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28).
After all, if Y'shua is who He said He was,
And Y'shua gives what He says He gives,
Why be a LOSER on the rat race?
He wants you to be BORN AGAIN and begin living the abundant LIFE.
So STOP striving and laboring for things which will not last.
Be a real winner by simply receiving the gift of eternal life,
That is yours in Y'SHUA the MESSIAH.
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