Yesterday evening I received an email from a friend of mine in Ohio and I found it a bit disturbing to say the least. We have been talking about what it is to be Jewish and the steps one has to take to either reclaim their Jewish heritage or to convert. He told his Rabbi about my family and I and we have been invited to come and visit them which we will probably do in the near future. What disturbed me greatly though was what his Rabbi told him. He told him about some people who had come to them in the recent past that claimed that they wanted to convert to Judaism when their only real purpose was to learn how one becomes a Jew so that they could go and try to convert Jews to Christianity! I have a real distinct problem with that.
You have to have some really large ( place your own word here ) to go into a Jewish community, ingratiate yourself to the people, learn from them and then stab them in the back! That has to be somewhere close to about one of the lowest things I have ever heard.
Years ago, we belonged to a Christian denomination that has a "Daniel and Revelation" seminar where they would make the claim that they knew, based on their prophetess, what the end time events were going to be. They would send out fancy colorful fliers and give an address to come to but would never mention the name of the church or the denomination. They would go so far as to cover up the church sign and remove anything in the church that would give away who they were. The end result is that the unsuspecting seeker of truth would be drawn into what amounted to an indoctrination into the denomination.
Now lets examine both situations very carefully because if you look they have some very common threads.
The biggest of those threads is deception. Yes deception! If your message is so shaky that the only way to reach people is to deceive them and lie to them then I would submit to you that there is a distinct problem with your religion and message.
Tell me, those of you Christians , who believe in the "great commission", where were you ever told that it was OK to lie and deceive to get your message out? Is there some commandment that I some how have missed that allows for deception when speaking to people about G-D and your beliefs? Perhaps you need to go back and read a bit of history, the greatest deceivers were those in leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, they have never cared to much as to how they got their message across or what they had to incorporate into it to make it palatable to the people. Is this how Christianity works? Is your message based in nothing but lies? I admit that I don't believe in Christianity and Jesus, but even I have a hard time understanding how a person can justify deception like that even if it is well intentioned. Does the ends justify the means? Shall we go further then that and re authorize torture as a way to make people believe the way that you do?
One of the things that I have appreciated about the Jewish people that I have gotten to know and converse with, is that none of them have tried to lie to me to tell me that I must become a Jew in order to be saved and to serve G-D. In fact most of the people that I have talked to have gone out of their way to point out just how difficult it can be and also to point out that their isn't a command saying that I must convert. Wow, imagine that, honesty. I have learned much from these people with no pressure at all and despite the difficulties it makes me want to convert and quite frankly ,my family and I probably will.
To my Christian friends I say this; If you want to know why people are leaving in droves, it is because on some deeper level they know that they are being deceived and if you want to know why the Jews resist you it is simply because they know beyond a doubt that you are trying to deceive them.
If your faith is based on nothing more then lies and deception you have a serious problem and need to really seek out G-D and learn the truth.
Zech. 8:23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying let us go with you for we have heard that G-d is with you.
Words to consider,
Shalom,
Ignacio
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
So How Did I Get Here...
The question that has come up a few times, has been; How did you get to this point? I looked through some of my former posts and realized that perhaps I didn't explain that part very well, if at all. I told you what I believe but not really how I got to this point. It will require a few minutes of your time for a good explanation, so make some coffee and have a seat and I will explain to you as best as I can.
To understand properly, you have to know a little of my upbringing so that will be my starting point. I was brought up in a religious environment, very conservative in nature and strict. We were a bit different though. We were Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) and as such we were very familiar with the "law" and with keeping the Sabbath. We never kept any of the holy days, but we did eat Kosher. The Law was something that I became very familiar with and in the SDA church, despite what Jesus did, we followed the teachings of the law as well. The SDA church also believed that they were the only true church and that they had all the truth because they also had their own prophetess. The Roman Catholic church, in the late 1800's even backed up some of that claim stating that because the SDA church kept the Sabbath that they were the only Christian church that was truly following the Law. So, needless to say, I knew a bit about the law. We were also taught, and this is true of most Christian denominations, that the Jews were made blind by HaShem so that they wouldn't recognize who Jesus was. There were many other strange things concerning the Day of Atonement that I won't get into here but just keep it in mind that as an SDA raised person I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on the scriptures.
Fast forward some years. I had been in and out of the SDA church for years but finally as I got to be an adult with a wife and children we finally decided to stick with the teachings of the SDA church. G-D had other plans! I reenlisted into the Marine Corp. and my family and I were stationed in NC. It was there that I was asked a question by one of my fellow Marines that started me on this road of questioning and studying. What he asked me wasn't nearly as important as was the fact that I couldn't back up what I had been taught through scripture. In fact the only way that you could believe it was if you ignored the Bible and instead went with what the SDA prophetess said. I was angry. The more I studied the Bible and the doctrines of the SDA church the more I understood that we had been lied to. This caused me to be angry with HaShem and I became an agnostic and started to learn about pagan practices. Almost left my wife and kids as well. I was angry.
Then came 9-11 and the world as we knew it came to an end. I didn't turn back to G-D at that time but I did come to understand just how important my family was to me. January of 2003 found me on board a ship heading for the Persian gulf and it was on that ship that I had, what most Christians would call, my salvation experience. I cried out to G-D that if He was real, then all I wanted Him to do was to touch me, and He did. G-D wrapped His arms around me, like it was a warm blanket and I cried and asked Him to forgive me and He did. Now some of you are going to say to me that "you see Jesus saved you!" And I will admit to thinking that at the time, but here is the real kicker, I hadn't asked Jesus to do anything I had asked G-D. It took me 6 years to realize this but that is what I had done.
I was injured twice while in Iraq and was sent home and discharged. And in the years that I was waiting to be "retired" officially I became an Ordained minister in the General Baptist Church (GB). I had questions even then, especially about keeping Sunday as opposed to Saturday but I kind of figured that eventually I would come to understand. I was a youth Pastor who watched a camp and occasionally filled in for pastors and of course very much involved with the youth and young adults that came to the camp. I thought for sure that, in all ways, we were where we were supposed to be. Again, G-D had other plans.
About 3 years ago a friend of mine started talking about something called Messianic Judaism and just how much this had changed his life. They were keeping the Sabbath and following the Holy days and it really was doing wonders for them spiritually. So my wife and I started to look into it and honestly we couldn't see anything wrong with it. What we were seeing was that this was a movement of both Jews and Gentiles that were keeping the Torah, following Jewish traditions, and still they were Christian in their belief of Jesus, whom they call Yeshua. I have to tell you that the first time we went to a Shabbat service, we couldn't believe how happy everyone was. They were singing and doing Hebraic dance, we were welcomed at the door but almost everyone and we spent the entire day with them celebrating G-D and Shabbat. It was, in all fairness a wonderful experience and it caused me to really start searching the Torah and to try and understand what it was to be Jewish. We spent 2 years studying the Torah and keeping the Holy days and it was also during this time that I discovered that some of my ancestry on both sides of the family were Jews. I am not going to get into how I found that all out because it would take too long and really isn't the point here.
What was interesting though, about this group was that they did not believe in evangelizing anyone but especially not the Jews. The reason for it was simply that they believed that the Jews already had the Torah and G-D so there was no need. During this time though, I started to ask why it is that the Jews couldn't see that Jesus was the Messiah. That question got me started on this journey and has brought me to the conclusion, that the reason that they didn't was because he didn't fulfill the Messianic prophecies. It wasn't that they were blind, but that we are blind.I have listened to many debates between Rabbi's and Christians and the Rabbi's knew the "New Testament" better then the Christians,and the evidence against him being the Messiah or the "son of G-D" was just too compelling to ignore. So I have declared publicly that I don't believe that he was either the Messiah or the son of G-D and that the Jewish people have been right all along. The rest of this is pretty much known to you, if you have been reading this blog.Let me end this by saying, as always, never take my word for anything, go and look for yourself.
The point of this was not to convince you of anything, you will have to decide that for yourself, but to simply give you an idea of the process that got me here.
Next time I write I will start talking about being a Righteous Gentile and what that means and the Noachide laws. What I learn I will simply share.
Shalom,
Ignacio
To understand properly, you have to know a little of my upbringing so that will be my starting point. I was brought up in a religious environment, very conservative in nature and strict. We were a bit different though. We were Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) and as such we were very familiar with the "law" and with keeping the Sabbath. We never kept any of the holy days, but we did eat Kosher. The Law was something that I became very familiar with and in the SDA church, despite what Jesus did, we followed the teachings of the law as well. The SDA church also believed that they were the only true church and that they had all the truth because they also had their own prophetess. The Roman Catholic church, in the late 1800's even backed up some of that claim stating that because the SDA church kept the Sabbath that they were the only Christian church that was truly following the Law. So, needless to say, I knew a bit about the law. We were also taught, and this is true of most Christian denominations, that the Jews were made blind by HaShem so that they wouldn't recognize who Jesus was. There were many other strange things concerning the Day of Atonement that I won't get into here but just keep it in mind that as an SDA raised person I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on the scriptures.
Fast forward some years. I had been in and out of the SDA church for years but finally as I got to be an adult with a wife and children we finally decided to stick with the teachings of the SDA church. G-D had other plans! I reenlisted into the Marine Corp. and my family and I were stationed in NC. It was there that I was asked a question by one of my fellow Marines that started me on this road of questioning and studying. What he asked me wasn't nearly as important as was the fact that I couldn't back up what I had been taught through scripture. In fact the only way that you could believe it was if you ignored the Bible and instead went with what the SDA prophetess said. I was angry. The more I studied the Bible and the doctrines of the SDA church the more I understood that we had been lied to. This caused me to be angry with HaShem and I became an agnostic and started to learn about pagan practices. Almost left my wife and kids as well. I was angry.
Then came 9-11 and the world as we knew it came to an end. I didn't turn back to G-D at that time but I did come to understand just how important my family was to me. January of 2003 found me on board a ship heading for the Persian gulf and it was on that ship that I had, what most Christians would call, my salvation experience. I cried out to G-D that if He was real, then all I wanted Him to do was to touch me, and He did. G-D wrapped His arms around me, like it was a warm blanket and I cried and asked Him to forgive me and He did. Now some of you are going to say to me that "you see Jesus saved you!" And I will admit to thinking that at the time, but here is the real kicker, I hadn't asked Jesus to do anything I had asked G-D. It took me 6 years to realize this but that is what I had done.
I was injured twice while in Iraq and was sent home and discharged. And in the years that I was waiting to be "retired" officially I became an Ordained minister in the General Baptist Church (GB). I had questions even then, especially about keeping Sunday as opposed to Saturday but I kind of figured that eventually I would come to understand. I was a youth Pastor who watched a camp and occasionally filled in for pastors and of course very much involved with the youth and young adults that came to the camp. I thought for sure that, in all ways, we were where we were supposed to be. Again, G-D had other plans.
About 3 years ago a friend of mine started talking about something called Messianic Judaism and just how much this had changed his life. They were keeping the Sabbath and following the Holy days and it really was doing wonders for them spiritually. So my wife and I started to look into it and honestly we couldn't see anything wrong with it. What we were seeing was that this was a movement of both Jews and Gentiles that were keeping the Torah, following Jewish traditions, and still they were Christian in their belief of Jesus, whom they call Yeshua. I have to tell you that the first time we went to a Shabbat service, we couldn't believe how happy everyone was. They were singing and doing Hebraic dance, we were welcomed at the door but almost everyone and we spent the entire day with them celebrating G-D and Shabbat. It was, in all fairness a wonderful experience and it caused me to really start searching the Torah and to try and understand what it was to be Jewish. We spent 2 years studying the Torah and keeping the Holy days and it was also during this time that I discovered that some of my ancestry on both sides of the family were Jews. I am not going to get into how I found that all out because it would take too long and really isn't the point here.
What was interesting though, about this group was that they did not believe in evangelizing anyone but especially not the Jews. The reason for it was simply that they believed that the Jews already had the Torah and G-D so there was no need. During this time though, I started to ask why it is that the Jews couldn't see that Jesus was the Messiah. That question got me started on this journey and has brought me to the conclusion, that the reason that they didn't was because he didn't fulfill the Messianic prophecies. It wasn't that they were blind, but that we are blind.I have listened to many debates between Rabbi's and Christians and the Rabbi's knew the "New Testament" better then the Christians,and the evidence against him being the Messiah or the "son of G-D" was just too compelling to ignore. So I have declared publicly that I don't believe that he was either the Messiah or the son of G-D and that the Jewish people have been right all along. The rest of this is pretty much known to you, if you have been reading this blog.Let me end this by saying, as always, never take my word for anything, go and look for yourself.
The point of this was not to convince you of anything, you will have to decide that for yourself, but to simply give you an idea of the process that got me here.
Next time I write I will start talking about being a Righteous Gentile and what that means and the Noachide laws. What I learn I will simply share.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Thursday, February 4, 2010
A New Direction
It has been almost a month since my last post and while I haven't lacked for things to say, I thought it might be better to just give it a rest and hope that some of you, if there are any left that is, may have decided to examine all that I have written. I don't know if anyone has, simply because I have received only one response and I am not really sure what it had to do with the blog.
So if you are new to this blog or you have stumbled upon it by accident, welcome!
What I will be doing on this blog from this time on is focusing on the things that my family and I are learning as we go down this Hebraic roots road and with the help of some that are better versed then I ,perhaps ,explain some things from Judaism that are misunderstood and also what our role as "Righteous Gentiles" should be as I study the Noachide laws that all of us should be keeping.
To my Jewish friends, feel free to correct me if I am wrong in what I write, I will be more then happy to correct it.
To my Christian friends speak up and have your say and as long as it is civilised we can debate the issues.
To both I will say that the only thing that I will accept though is that which is written in the Bible. I am not interested in what someone who wrote a book about something says. I want to know what YOU have studied and learned and what YOUR opinions are, I will do the same.
Please note I have not said that I am going to prove you wrong or right, I am not interested in converting you to my way of thinking, if you love G-D and serve Him , that is enough for me. At the same time if anyone tries to use this as a way to convert people you will be promptly blocked, no warning no apologies.
So let us begin starting with my next post.
Shalom,
Ignacio
So if you are new to this blog or you have stumbled upon it by accident, welcome!
What I will be doing on this blog from this time on is focusing on the things that my family and I are learning as we go down this Hebraic roots road and with the help of some that are better versed then I ,perhaps ,explain some things from Judaism that are misunderstood and also what our role as "Righteous Gentiles" should be as I study the Noachide laws that all of us should be keeping.
To my Jewish friends, feel free to correct me if I am wrong in what I write, I will be more then happy to correct it.
To my Christian friends speak up and have your say and as long as it is civilised we can debate the issues.
To both I will say that the only thing that I will accept though is that which is written in the Bible. I am not interested in what someone who wrote a book about something says. I want to know what YOU have studied and learned and what YOUR opinions are, I will do the same.
Please note I have not said that I am going to prove you wrong or right, I am not interested in converting you to my way of thinking, if you love G-D and serve Him , that is enough for me. At the same time if anyone tries to use this as a way to convert people you will be promptly blocked, no warning no apologies.
So let us begin starting with my next post.
Shalom,
Ignacio
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)