Do you fit in?

A Christian asked, "Where exactly do Messianic Jews fit in as far as the End Times are concerned?" and "Do they count as Israel or as the Church?" I'm tempted to point out that those mentioned in Revelation 12:17 don't exactly sound like the average church group to me, but instead, I ask, "Do Messianic Jews “fit in” at all? Must they “fit in”, necessarily? And why? Who chooses the container in which we must fit? Do the plans of G-d always (or ever) fit into our neat, tidy, eschatological theories, compartments and such? Will many, just like those in the first century, be too wrapped up in their own misunderstandings to discern the things that unfold in the days to come? Then, I try to relax a bit.

While we’re asking; where, actually, does the “church” fit in? I mean, even Rav Shaul referred to these things as a “mystery”, did he not? Perhaps it's the other groups that need to “fit in”. It might sound crazy, but let's not lose sight of the facts. Messiah Yeshua came solely to Israel. His disciples later carried the message of salvation to the surrounding nations and outsiders. Maybe they are the ones who are unable to accurately find their place. Just a thought, but that would explain why we were given Romans 11, no?

People have always been quite fond of pointing out what words aren't in scripture - and in this instance, you'll find I'm no different. If you consider the fact that the word “church” is found nowhere in the original scriptures, but is used as a translation of the word ἐκκλησία – the ekklesia, or the “called out assembly”, it begs the question; is it possible that even our nomenclature has contributed to massive distortions in understanding? Let me present it this way; the word “church” is from the old English word “cirice”, which is from the ancient Germanic word “kirika”, which, strangely, is from the Greek word κυριακὴ, which means “of the L-rd”, but is not even the word used to refer to this assembly in the Greek text originally. So, why the change? It's not as though English speakers wouldn't have understood the word "assembly". Why substitute it with a tri-translated distortion? Does taking what was once referred to as the “called out assembly”, and re-naming it the “church”, cause it to appear that those who are not the “church” are not “of the L-rd”?

The Auschwitz Album

6 Questions

How many believers, marginal or otherwise, will raise their children in the midst of some sort of quasi-religious environment, complete with all manner of traditional trappings and myth, only to have them later, as adults, either lose their faith entirely, or search endlessly for a way just to make sense of things? How many parents, who clearly only want the best for their children, will emphasize adherence to some semblance of moral ethic, and endeavor to instill a sense of right and wrong in the young minds of their progeny, but completely neglect kindling a fire within their young hearts for the holiness of HaShem, His Word, and a life lived on the narrow path of Messiah Yeshua?

How righteous would our nation be if those within Christianity would tenaciously fight against the overwhelmingly powerful force of nostalgia and tradition, dethroning the falsehood and atrocious error of Supersessionism once and for all, and, starting with how they raise their children, seek to move ever-so-gently towards researching and adopting the beliefs and practices of the first followers of Messiah Yeshua - and the L-RD Himself - the One that they consider their Master? How greatly would the the collective heart of the Jewish People be impacted by witnessing the "one nation under God" humbling itself, fervently returning to HaShem, and celebrating the immutable position of Israel in G-d's plan for the restoration of the entire earth?

Truly, that's all that the disparity in Christianity amounts to - nothing but spiritual blindness brought on by the elevation of tradition, nostalgia, and groupthink over the very Word of G-d - certainly nothing scriptural! What would happen if the Church embraced the entirety of scripture and calibrated itself accordingly - rather than calibrating scripture according to the various creeds, edicts and initiatives of the Church? World changing stuff, I imagine -- and wasn't that the goal all along?

Spirit

Breath

"By the Word of the L-RD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host." ~ Psalm 33:6

"..then the L-RD G-d formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." ~ Genesis 2:7

"Thus says the L-RD G-d to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live... So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army." ~ Ezekiel 37:5,10

"And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." ~ John 20:22

The fruit loop

The serpent was the most cunning of all the land animals HaShem made. The serpent said to the woman, "Did G-d actually say you're not to eat of any tree in the garden?" And the woman said, "We're allowed to eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden, except one. G-d said to us, 'You are not to eat the fruit of the tree that is in the center of the garden - don't even touch it, or you will die.'" But the serpent said to her, "You won't die. G-d knows that when you eat from that tree your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G-d - you'll know good and evil." So when the woman saw that the fruit looked delicious, that there was plenty of it, and realized that it would make her wise, she took some and ate it. She gave some to her husband, too, and they ate together. ~ Genesis 3:1-6

For many, if not all of us, this passage from Genesis is about as basic, and elementary as it gets. Not only is it foundational, but chances are, whether or not you were raised in a home that valued scripture, you picked up some version of it from popular culture at a very early age. Is there anything more for us not-so-early-in-age to learn from this well known scripture? There certainly is.

In so many ways, this tragic event that befell our greatest of grandparents, has repeated itself in an identical, endless loop, and, still, reverberates onward even today. The multifaceted strategy the enemy employed to deceive Chavah, hasn't changed in the slightest since that calamitous day thousands of years ago. If anything, it's only gained effectiveness and bandwidth since its first use. It's a plan of attack that we'd do well to be mindful of as we approach Torah, and seek to accurately apply the Instruction of G-d to our daily lives.