“I’m a good Christian and so am I” -Daniel Botkin

While preparing for next week’s conference, I was planning which speakers and topics I want to attend. Daniel Botkin is a name I’ve heard a number of times, but am not really familiar with, so I thought I’d do a little research. Turns out, besides being a gifted teacher and long-time Messianic Jew, he is also an artist. In cruising some of his work, I found this little gem that harkens back so some of our posts about Mr. “Golden Mouth.”

Botkin brilliantly captures the absurdities that came from the mouth of this ‘hero’ among the ‘church fathers.’ Following is the desription of this painting in Botkin’s own words explaining the text on the scrolls as well as the Hebrew around the perimeter: Continue reading ““I’m a good Christian and so am I” -Daniel Botkin”

REVIVE2014 Hebraic Roots Conference

The annual Revive conference is next weekend. This will be the first I have been able to attend… Can’t wait!!

If any of my friends on here are planning to attend, please hunt me down. Would love to meet and talk!! My wife and I will be staying in the host hotel!!

If you haven’t made plans, there is still time! Here is the schedule for the weekend and other details!!

‘Cheapening’ Jewish identity?? Oh, really??!

Great article and comments, especially by John Reiler:

Does It “Cheapen” Jewish Identity When a Gentile Practices the Torah of Israel?

And, the article OMJ is addressing is:

Unity in Messiah: A Commentary on One Law and Gentiles

Those who would seek to build/rebuild the dividing wall between Gentiles and Jews would be wise to consider that they fight against a work that God is doing in the world. The diving wall was torn down by Messiah and the Apostles, but reconstruction began late in the first century with complete division between Jew and Gentile completed by about 400 A.D. Few, for the next 1700 years passed through/across that wall.

In the last 35 years the Ruach haKodesh/Holy Spirit has again been moving to destroy that wall and Gentile believers all over the planet are coming to a place of Torah observance while maintaining faith in Yeshua. At the same amazing time Jews by the DROVES are coming to faith in Messiah Yeshua!! Continue reading “‘Cheapening’ Jewish identity?? Oh, really??!”

Tzitziot. In or Out. A few thoughts.

Yesterday’s Torah Portion included Numbers 15:37-41 concerning tzitzits, a subject we have discussed before.

As I finalized my preparations for Shabbat and a lesson titled ‘Faith and Focus‘, I turned my attention to re-reading the parsha and considering the other various parts when several thoughts on tzitziot hit me. Often discussed/debated is the question whether to wear them in or out and who are they supposed to remind. Consider this:

²³Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the ^[a]nations will ^[b]grasp the ^[c]garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”Zechariah 8:23

²⁰And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the ^[a]fringe of His ^[b]cloak; ²¹for she was saying ^[c]to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will ^[d]get well.” Matthew 9:20-21

³⁵And when the men of that place ^[a]recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured. Matthew 14:35-36

If the fringe, the tzitzitot, are hidden, how are the nations to grasp it, or how did the sick reach out and touch Yeshua’s? Simply, it was worn outwardly. Isn’t that implied when Yeshua said,

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city set on a ^[a]hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a ^[b]basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

Discuss.

Interesting verse with 10:1…. (prophetic picture?)

So, a couple days ago while reading/researching the beginning of the series we started yesterday, A Common Error in Christianity and Judaism, I came across a couple verses I do not recall having ever seen. Because I was researching examples of ‘Israel’ and ‘Judah’ in juxtaposition, this was one of the passages that I happened upon…

⁷He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” Then the dread of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man. ⁸He ^[a]numbered them in Bezek; and the sons of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. ⁹They said to the messengers who had come, “Thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will have deliverance.’” So the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh; and they were glad. ¹⁰Then the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good ^[b]to you.” ¹¹The next morning Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp at the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

Immediately, another verse came to mind, Continue reading “Interesting verse with 10:1…. (prophetic picture?)”

If the Law was not given to Gentiles, then how did Y’shua save Gentiles from the condemnation of the Law?

If the Law was not given to Gentiles, then how did Y’shua save Gentiles from the condemnation of the Law?.

I like this pity blurb! There are only two possible answers, neither of which the ‘church’ wants to deal with.

Marinate!

Shavuot/Pentecost and evangelism

Yesterday I was privileged to lead a Shavuot celebration/feast/gathering for a couple fellowships at Lake Greenwood, SC. What a wonderful day of worship, sharing, meeting new brothers and sisters, and eating.

As I prepared a short message for our service, I really felt our Father leading me to consider ‘evangelism’ and ‘the nations.’ While Shavuot celebrations typically center around the giving of the Torah and/or the receiving, in greater measure, of the Spirit, the root that both events point to is evangelism! Interestingly, others had this same point of focus this year!

The stage is set in Acts 1,

1 The first account I ^[a]composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, ²until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had ^[b]by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. ³To ^[c]these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. ⁴^[d]Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for ^[e]what the Father had promised Continue reading “Shavuot/Pentecost and evangelism”

A Jew who believes in Yeshua is still a Jew!!

Why is the Messianic Jewish community persecuted by religious organizations?
Does the faith in the Jewish Jesus of Nazareth causes them to switch to another religion?

Pray for our brothers in Israel who are persecuted for believing in Yeshua! Pray also for this

Completed Christian?

If a ‘completed Jew’ has found

Yeshua,

what does that make a Christian who has found

Torah?

Revelation 12:17 says, Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Revelation 14:12 says, This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

Pope Francis Heading to Holy Land With Rabbi and Imam as Interfaith Wing Men

This might be worth keeping an eye on….

This article from the Jewish Daily Forward begins:

(JTA) — With a rabbi and a Muslim sheik as his travel companions, Pope Francis is heading to the Middle East with what he hopes will be a powerful message of interfaith respect.

It will be the first time that leaders of other faiths are part of an official papal delegation. The aim is to send “an extremely strong and explicit signal” about interfaith dialogue and the “normality” of having friends of other religions, chief Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters.

Starting Saturday, the three-day pilgrimage will take the 77-year-old pontiff to Jordan, the West Bank and Israel. The packed agenda includes courtesy calls on government leaders; open-air Masses; meetings with Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious authorities; and visits to holy sites of the three religions.

The two men joining Francis are friends with whom the pope frequently collaborated when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires: Rabbi Abraham Skorka, former rector of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary in Buenos Aires, and Sheik Omar Abboud, a former secretary-general of the Islamic Center of Argentina.

“I don’t expect Francis to wave a magic wand and bring together Jews and Palestinians,” Skorka told the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire. “But his charisma and his great humility can give a powerful message of peace for the whole Middle East.”

Since being elected to the papacy in February 2013 Continue reading “Pope Francis Heading to Holy Land With Rabbi and Imam as Interfaith Wing Men”