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monstordh
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Name: You Know
Gender: Male
Interests: Torah, Family, Computers, Writing, Art, Music
Expertise: Procrastination, but I do make a living doing computer stuff like developing websites, and doing commercial design
Occupation: Artist
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/10/2006
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| Whoa! I had almost forgotten I had this Xanga account! Thanks for Mr. Smith for reminding me with his excellent post. Just a note to say "Hi!" and tell everyone I have the most wonderful family in the world!
blessings,
-dh | | |
| Recently Boaz Michael posted some emails he had received and asked for some input on how to respond to them. Here is one of the letters, and my response. I would like to hear how YOU would have responded.“Hi, I have a question about you people. I’m reform Jewish and not too religious. I have a friend who is not Jewish but wears a yarmulke around, acts like the orthodox and he says I should believe in the Jewish messiah just like him so that I can be “complete”. How can you expect to trick us into believing that? Even though I don’t care that much, it seems wrong to walk around looking like religious Jews and teaching Christian things. He mentioned that you could answer my questions.” Dear Levy,
Thank you for your letter. Through your taking the time to write to us with your concerns, it shows me that you are serious about this matter, and I intend on giving you a genuine response.
First, let me say that it is not the intent of our organization (and presumably of your friend) to proselytize Jews—especially to a religion which condemns the righteous Torah of your forefathers. Unlike other organizations who use Jewish-type symbolism only in order to attract unsuspecting Jews for conversion attempts, our motives for Torah-observance are entirely different. Let me share a Scripture with you. The prophet Y'shayahu (Isaiah) says,
"And the foreigners who join themselves to Hashem to serve Him and to love the Name of Hashem to become servants unto Him, all who guard the Sabbath against desecration, and grasp My covenant tightly—I will bring them to My holy mountain, and I will gladden them in My house of prayer; their elevation offerings and their feast-offerings will find favor on My Altar, for My House will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." (Isaiah 56:6-8)
Through this passage Hashem tells us that if we (non-Jews) bind ourselves to Hashem and His covenant (Torah), then we will find favor before Him. Yes, for the last two thousand years Christianity has been a religion in opposition to and in competition with Judaism. There is no question of this. Countless Jewish lives have been lost in the name of "Christianity." And for us to lure you into a religion which is against the Torah or would lead you to serve "gods whom you have not known" (Devarim/Deuteronomy 13) would be unthinkable.
The reason we do these things is not as a lure, but out of our genuine desire to express our devotion to the Almighty. And in our expression, if we are truly desiring to serve the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, how can it help but look Jewish? When we begin to follow the ways of Torah, the expressions of our faith will inevitably have similarities with you and your brothers and sisters. Although we do not deny our belief in our Messiah who himself said "I have not come to do away with the Torah…" (Matthew 5:17), we do not agree with historical Christianity in regard to positions of our relationship with the Jewish people or Torah-observance. We do not wish for you to think we are in any way a threat to our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is our desire that we would all serve Hashem sincerely, rather than seeing one another as a threat. We seek to understand your position, and to act in ways that honor the Name of Hashem, rather than damage it.
The Shmonei also says, "May Your compassion be aroused, Hashem, our G-d, and give goodly reward to all who sincerely believe in Your Name. Put our lot with them forever, and we will not feel ashamed, for we trust in You. Blessed are You, Hashem, Mainstay and Assurance of the Righteous." This is our prayer—that Hashem would put our lot with your people and that we might serve Him in love and in fear throughout our days.
Last, we have an open-door policy. If you wish to continue dialogue on this subject or any other, we welcome your comments, your criticism and your insights. I hope that this might give you at least a small glimpse into understanding where we are coming from, and hope that it helps you understand your friend a little better. Again, we appreciate you taking the time to write to us. Please feel free to contact us anytime. | | |
| I recently came across an article on aish.com entitled "The Conversion Vaccine," subtitled The best defense to the ambitious "Jews for Jesus" missionary campaign. It's an article on the attempts of Jews for Jesus to "evangelize" Jews in order to convert them to Christianity. The article accurately points out that the best resistance to such missionaries is to simply be educated in the spiritual aspects of Judaism and to practice Judaism itself. They also accurately pointed out that Jews for Jesus does not have any power of influence over observant Jews in regard to conversion. Why? Because observant Jews know the Torah, and Jews for Jesus do not. Although Jews for Jesus makes up for its Torah ignorance in zeal, it does not carry enough weight for observant Jews to turn away from the Biblical mandate to beware of those who will lead you astray to serve "gods you do not know" (Deut 13, e.g. this one named "Jesus").
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying Jews don't need to know their long awaited Messiah. What I am saying, however, is that they don't need to be convinced into thinking the law-breaking, Sabbath-violating Jesus that JFJ has created is their savior. He is not. The true Savior of all mankind, particularly of the Jews, is the Torah-loving, Sabbath-keeping Yeshua who is accurately portrayed in the Apostolic Scriptures if one reads them without an anti-nomial, anti-Semetic bias.
Unfortunately, the damage JFJ has done in regard to Jews in regard to their search for Messiah has been catastrophic. Their blatant rejection of the Ways of the Almighty (found in His Torah) have pierced the hearts of Jews (and G-d fearing non-Jews) around the world. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
One of my very good friends' father is an elder in a local evangelical church. He doesn't agree with the Torah-based lifestyle of his son. And in order to illustrate the point that the Law "really is done away with" he told the story of the JFJ missionary that came to their church. When he came, he specifically requested to be taken out to eat catfish...on Yom Kippur. Let's just say I'm glad that I wasn't around, because I would have been looking for a bomb-shelter. But it's amazing the mercy our Heavenly Father has on us—even in our rebellion.
But here lies my question. How do you think his actions reflect to any Jew who is even slightly observant, much less devout? It would be like calling up a pastor to get spiritual counseling, and told to hang on while he stokes the fire in order to finish offering his child up to Molech. His credibility not only went out the window, but he was understood to be exactly what he was—a false prophet.
Sadly, JFJ has forced the majority of Jews into believing that everyone who believes in Yeshua as Messiah has the same anti-Law mentality. It has also caused them to create anti-missionary tactics and programs in order to combat this introduction of a false religion (the one that rejects the Law of G-d). Although the education of Jews to know their spiritual heritage is quite valuable, the downside of this is the staunch rejection of any idea that their Messiah has indeed come.
I have to admit, we need to be thankful to Jews for Jesus for at least one thing. With their introduction of the bait-and-switch Torah tactics that have been used time and again in order to trick some poor Jew into converting to their brand of Christianity based on the "common thread" of the Torah, many have come to realize the validity of the Torah (even though JFJ does not). It has created a rebirth of the Torah movement in our day (Baruch Hashem!), and created an environment to which we could recognize that the original Biblical faith is a Jewish one.
The JFJ addition to the equation is a double-edged sword of which only the Almighty will be able to sort out in the end.
Thanks, JFJ, for your life-touching ministry.
I'd like to hear your comments. Feel free to post them on this article with the comments link. | | |
| Pirkei Avot roughly translates to "Ethics of the Fathers." It's part of the Talmud (Jewish commentary on Biblical law). This is a saying that has hit me recently that I pray my life will exemplify. Maybe it will inspire someone else as well...
Make your Torah study a permanent fixture of your life. Say little and do much. And receive every man with a pleasant countenance.
-Pirkei Avot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 15 | | |
| This past weekend, our Sabbath fellowship hosted Boaz Michael of FFOZ and his family. The culmination of the weekend was the Knocking on Heaven's Gates seminar held this past Sunday evening. While the numbers were few, the message was challenging and very timely. And while the seminar was great & the words were powerful, the words spoken at the seminar were not nearly as powerful as the ones unspoken. What do I mean by this? Let me see if I can explain.
Just as I stated, the message of the seminar was timely, applicable and powerful. Please don't misunderstand—they were exactly what we have been needing as a body of believers. The couldn't have come at a better time. But from my perspective, it wasn't the message of the words that Boaz shared that were the most challenging. It was the message of that which was unspoken that I heard the loudest. The silent words of which Boaz spoke during this past weekend were deafening. They are still ringing in my ears, almost to the point of nausea. It is these words which have been the double-edged sword of both frustration and anticipation. It is from this soil that all the weeds and flowers in my mind have sprung in the past few days. To put it in a nutshell, the phrase "actions speak louder than words" is more true than we will ever fully realize. Just seeing how Boaz and his family live out their faith day-by-day and hour-by-hour has caused serious pause within me.
I have thought for a long time that I was living out my faith through my actions, and that I was pretty much par for the course. Now I realize that I've got to switch my minature-golf putter for a nine-iron, and look beyond the tee. I've said for a long time that I thought Boaz had a lot of wisdom, and now I truly know what I mean by that statement—Again, please don't misunderstand. This isn't about putting Boaz on a pedestal. It's about waking up and smelling the coffee (did someone say 'coffee'???). Boaz just happens to be the catalyst for the metamorphosis (L-rd willing)—Here's what I mean by wisdom. There are a lot of people out there that have a lot of knowledge. While knowledge is great, I would rather have an ounce of wisdom than a pound of knowledge. Knowledge is impressive, but wisdom is applicable and sustaining. Anyone can amass knowledge, few, however, cling to wisdom.
But what is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? We can get into a huge discussion of the differences, going back to the original Hebrew, etc. but this is not my point. My point is practical and observable. To me, the core difference between knowledge and wisdom is application. Let me briefly elaborate. Was not Solomon the wisest man in all the earth? But was his decision to marry pagan women wise? The answer is obvious. This leads us to a profound question. Why did the wisest man on earth make such an unwise decision? Answer: Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Foolishness is the refusal to apply knowledge. And this is where the unspoken words of Boaz grew in volume. Though he had a message of a disciplined prayer life, seeing his application of his knowledge of a disciplined prayer life this weekend spoke much louder than his words.
There's an old saying that "those who can't do, teach." This was not the case this weekend. This was clearly a "lead-by-example" teaching method that is a standard of FFOZ that I appreciate immensely. I'm going to do everything within my means to rise to the challenge, and become a man of prayer and lead my family by example. Thanks for the challenge, Boaz.
I'll leave you with this: Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7, NIV) | | |
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