Growing up in the Christian church, it was hard for me to understand why a Jew was utterly rejected by his family, friends and culture if he professed Jesus as his Messiah. Essentially, the Jew who dared to breath the name of Jesus in anything other than an epithet or curse was cast out of the family and community as a pariah and treated as dead. Understanding the complicated and multifaceted issues, not the least of which is a Torah-less Egyptian/Gentile looking Jesus who bears no real resemblance or connection to Yeshua, the Jewish Rabbi of Scripture, began to help me understand why Jews so violently and radically reject Jesus, a false Messiah.
Christendom generally expects and historically has required any Jew who believes Jesus/Yeshua is the Messiah to reject the Torah, a radical ‘no-no’ according to much Scripture. I could not relate to how ‘out of place’ this forced the Jew to be until the Holy Spirit began to awaken me to the everlasting unchanging Torah that is the Way of Righteousness, even today! It was at this point that I could not only understand the plight of the Jew cast out of his community, but could empathize. I had committed the ‘unpardonable sin’ Continue reading “Living in ‘no man’s land’ … but, there is hope!!”
11:3 Restoration 