Hidden Girl ~ Lola Rein Kaufman

In honor of Yom HaShoah, of the victims of the Holocaust, the survivors, the "hidden", those that risked it all to assist, and the families of all of the above, I read this book. I recommend it. It's short and easy to read, but will bring a tear to your eye in a couple of spots, and will shine a light on things you hadn't known before. At least it did for me.

Replacement Theology, Crap with a capital C.

The Fulfillment of the Law

1 "In that case, I say, isn't it that God has repudiated his people?" Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra'el, from the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Binyamin. 2 God has not repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance. Or don't you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra'el, 3 "ADONAI, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I'm the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!"w 4 But what is God's answer to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba'al." 5 It's the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) 7 What follows is that Isra'el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, 8 just as the Tanakh says, "God has given them a spirit of dullness eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day." 9 And David says, "Let their dining table become for them a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see, with their backs bent continually." 11 "In that case, I say, isn't it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?" Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy. a 12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world - that is, if Isra'el's being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter - how much greater riches will Isra'el in its fullness bring them!13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work 14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! 15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!16 Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you - a wild olive - were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, 18 then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. 19 So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." 20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won't spare you! 22 So take a good look at God's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God's kindness toward you - provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! 23 Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. 24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree! 25 For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness; 26 and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the Tanakh says, "Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya'akov 27 and this will be my covenant with them, . . . when I take away their sins." 28 With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs' sake, 29 for God's free gifts and his calling are irrevocable. 30 Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra'el's disobedience; 31 so also Isra'el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God's mercy. 32 For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all. 33 O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments! How unsearchable are his ways! 34 For, 'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been his counselor?'c 35 Or, 'Who has given him anything and made him pay it back?' 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Jesus was a Jew!!!

The research, and reading that I have done the last couple of months, more and more convinces me that I am on the right path.  My intention to go back as far as I can to the "original" is on the right tract.  

Moses was Hebrew, the Bible was given to Moses, by God, in Hebrew.  The Bible was first written in Hebrew.  It was then translated to other languages.  So to truly understand the Bible, you must understand Hebrew.  OR have someone explain it to you.  

Hebrew doesn't exactly translate to Greek, and Greek doesn't exactly translate to English.  The variances, are enough to distort and confuse.  So please please please if you find yourself on this journey as I am, go back to a Hebrew text, for translation. 

Taken from Torah class by Tom Bradford:  "Don't think for a minute that God doesn't play along with each of us on many matters that may prove, in the course of time, to be error.  For reasons I can't fathom, He allowed the church to go unchallenged for centuries in the belief that it had replaced Israel, a man-made doctrine that the Holy Scripture refutes.  Somehow, He used that bl.ind spot in the church for good, to spread the gospel to the Gentiles of the world.  But over the last fifty years He has begun to correct us, showing us that He never replaced Israel with the church, nor did he ever decide He was finished with His people.  That time when the church will make the Jewish people jealous for our faith and the stony hearts of His people will be softened so that they can accept their own Messiah is upon us."

"God does not tolerate neutrality".  Christ says in Revelation, "I would rather you were hot or cold, but you are tepid so I spit you out of My mouth."  Be either for or against him, but not a fence sitter.  

"God didn't choose Israel because they were great men; He chose them because He is a great God and uses ordinary people to carry out His will."

Jacob was a sinner... Isaac was a sinner... Even Abraham had more than one wife... which is NOT how God intended it.  He didn't choose them because they were virtuous, he choose them so that you and I would know that we need not be perfect in order belong to God too. 

God created Israel to be His people.  He separated Abraham from his family, separated Isaac from Ishmael, separated Jacob from Esau.... until he had the twelve tribes of Israel, His chosen people.  THE foundation that is necessary for all understanding, is written in the Tanakh, the Old Testament if you will.  A foundation that is necessary for understanding the New Testament.  The New Testament that tells the story of Jesus.  The Messiah written in depth about in the "Old" Testament.  The Messiah of the Hebrews...  

Jesus was Hebrew, brought to the world by God, to save the Hebrews from their sins.  Jesus tells us in the New Testament that what he brings is for everyone.  

It is my firm belief that when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, when you accept the God of Israel into your heart, you become spiritually a part of the Hebrew Nation.  Paul confirms this in Romans, that the Gentile believers in Christ are grafted into the nation of Israel.  

Within a few generations of Israel after the Exodus, most of the Ephraim-Israelites wanted to be free from the strict restrictions and requirements of the Torah and the Law of Moses, that they mixed with Gentiles so freely, that most of their descendants don't remember having a Hebrew ancestry.  Some folks even believe that the purpose of Ephraim being absorbed into the Gentile world is so that, through the miraculous ways of God, every Gentile believer in Christ has literal, physical, genealogical ties to Ephraim.  

I think we are going to find a circle once you piece all the puzzle together...

God created Israel (Hebrews), God brought the living Word to the Hebrews (Jesus), Hebrews rejected Jesus, so the Gentiles were used to spread the Gospel, Then the Gentiles will bring the Word back to the Hebrews.  AND yes this is already happening!!!

I am not really sure I had a specific point with this post, but a bunch of little tidbits, that I tried to piece together, hope that I did so in a cohesive manner.   Thanks for reading.  

Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12: 1-3 (Complete Jewish Bible)

The Call of Abram

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's householdand go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 

The New Covenant (Testament)

"So how one comes to be called part of God's set-apart people, the Hebrews, occurs by means of a number of sequential forks in the road.  It started with the Abraham fork, then the Isaac fork, and then the Jacob fork.  And it stayed that way for about eighteen hundred years.  Eighteen centuries after Jacob we find yet another fork in the road; it's called the new covenant (testament).  The new covenant (testament) is the fulfillment of an Old Covenant (testament) prophecy about a time when the physical covenan=ts and laws of teh Hebrews, called the Torah, would be written, spiritually, on certain men's hearts.  Not all men's hearts, just those who were elected and declared by God to be His.  This would happen by means of a Messiah.  This new fork in the road brings us full circle; this fork brings to fruition that promise of the Abrahamic covenant that "all the families of the earth will be blessed" in you, Abraham.  ALL doesn't mean Gentiles and not Jews.  It also doesn't mean Jews and not Gentiles.  ALL means ALL."  (Journey Through the Torah Class Series: Genesis, Tom Bradley)