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[Anti-Semitism] [Anti-Semitic Decrees] [No Longer "Christian"] [Rising Tide] [Replaced?] [Terms to Avoid] [Sharing Faith]

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Anti-Semitism in the Church
A Required Response to the Charge
that Messianic Judaism is Apostasy
by Messianic Pastor Ari Levitt*
ThM, ThD, DMin, MBA, CNHP

Page 12

Ms. Nero’s Article Continues My Response

In Closing

The rituals that the Messianic Jews are tenaciously clinging to as their Judaic roots are not at all what our Lord Jesus Christ held fast to. The reason Jesus didn’t adhere to Judaism as it was practiced leading up to and during His time was because it was polluted. The Jews, at that time, were in a state of depravity. They were now divided into Pharisees and Sadducees with the Pharisees being the majority and the most powerful sect. [83]

By adding to the written law a mass of absurd or frivolous traditions, which, as they [Pharisees] foolishly alleged, were handed down from Moses, they subverted the authority of the sacred record; and changed the religion of the patriarchs and prophets into a wearisome parade of superstitious observances (The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, And Constitution, Traced For The First Three Hundred Years by W.D. Killen. Anson D.F. Randolph & Company, New York, pp 6-7, 1883). [84]

It is these traditions [sic] that Messianic Judaism continues to observe as a sign [sic] of them still being Jews or completed Jews. They want the very stuff that Jesus abandoned just so long as no one calls them “Christian.”

Church, Jew and non-Jew alike, you are

“…born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of G-d, which liveth and abideth for ever (1 Peter 1:23).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BORN AGAIN and MADE AN HOLY NATION[99] sounds like a new name to me, and don’t you ever let any one humiliate you by calling you a Gentile Christian or a Messianic Jew. Yes, Satan has tainted the name Christian for 2,000-plus years, that’s his job. But, a True Christian is known by his fruit and is not ashamed of who he is in Christ Jesus. Satan is also guilty of having blurred the spiritual vision of the non-Jewish Believers by leading them to leave out much of what G-d intended them to do, and on the other hand, the Messianic Jewish Movement, he [sic] leads them to leave in The Church, much of what G-d intended them to not do. It’s satanic trickery on both hands – the gates of hell attempting to prevail against the True Church of Jesus Christ, and you all have been so accommodating.

In the infancy of The Church, wherever the Believers in Jesus Christ went, their topic of conversation was of Jesus. [sic]

“They delighted to tell of His mighty miracles, of His holy life, of the extraordinary circumstances which accompanied His death, and of His resurrection and ascension. Out of the fullness of their hearts they discoursed of His condescension and His meekness, of His wonderful wisdom, of His sublime theology, and of His unutterable love to a world lying in wickedness. When they prayed, they prayed to Christ; when they sang, they sang to Christ; when they preached, they preached Christ. Well then might the heathen multitude agree with one voice to call them Christians” (Ibid. p 57).

That is why we are Christians. Why would one professing to believe Jesus as their Messiah want to be looked upon as a Messianic Jew because his or her Jewishness is more important than who he or she is in Christ? Messianic Judaism is apostasy! It’s schism! Just to prove that they are still Jews and be accepted by those practicing Judaism, Messianic Judaism is no better than the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who were all about outward appearance. [sic]

“…hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness….ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27-28).

In view of the fact that you have placed yourselves above being called Christians, you are denying Christ even though He prayed that all His people might be one.

Jesus prayed for unity/oneness in His Body – His Church. For the reason that He is immutable, why would He, after His death, say, “Oh, I changed my mind since Jewish Believers should maintain their Jewish heritage and identify [sic]. They are going to have to stand apart from the non-Jews so that they are Completed Jews.” No, Jesus didn’t say that. He didn’t tell the Jews that in their walk with Him they must keep their Jewishness because when any of us walk with Him, we are new creatures, meaning He and His ways are first and far most [sic] above traditions, rituals, and cultures. It’s Jesus – not the “nesses”. The “nesses” are outside The Church with the exceptions of, maybe, music and one’s native tongue. (All music must be pure for G-d.) [sic]

Believers, the Bride of Christ – Jew or non-Jew, should be totally immersed in The Church of Jesus Christ. There is no alternative and never has been that can label itself as being of G-d. All in The Body of Christ should identify with Him, His Gospel, and let go of the rest. As Believers in Jesus Christ, our historical identity is Jesus and His Gospel, and nothing else. Not even Judaism. It is far more important to remain a Believer in Christ – a Christian, than it is to remain a Jew, or anything else. Messianic congregations are not G-d-made, but are man-made – by some “wanna-bes” – wanting to be special or a notch above other Christians. The Messianic Jewish movement is not of G-d.

Jesus is “JESUS” and what difference does it make how He is seen (Jewish picture or non-Jewish picture) [sic]. What is utmost important [sic] is that you follow HIM, and Him alone, not your “ness,” traditions, rituals, and cultures.

There is equity [sic] in following Jesus Christ. Thank G-d, no one in Christianity is esteemed above another. Jewish Believers are not esteemed above non-Jewish Believers. Remember, Matthew 8 where Jesus marveled at the faith of the Roman centurion and He said …

“…many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness…” (Matthew 8:11-12).

The kingdom of heaven (www.scarlet-to-snow.com/info23.htm) is “now” for all who have faith, and for Jesus to say many from all over will “sit down” (in faith) with the patriarchal fathers of faith shows that no one group of Believers in Jesus is esteemed above another. It’s about faith, and when one has complete faith in G-d, that one has true love for Him, which is all He wants from any and all of us.

It is not the intent of this Apostate Alert to discourage MJM from wanting to identify with the Hebrew people, but it is intended to discourage you from clinging to Judaism as a way of being identified as a Hebrew. Go ahead, be involved in the Jewish community, if they will allow you to « support Israel, we all should « practice Saturday Sabbath, we all should « celebrate the yearly feast days, we all should « have your traditional Jewish weddings « have your Bar Mitzvahs « play your Jewish Music to The Lord with its unique sound. [sic] Great! Go ahead, do all of that. But, when it comes to Messiah Jesus, your salvation and The Church, remember, The Church of Jesus Christ is a “new thing” and it’s not about Judaism and its rituals and it’s not about anyone’s culture. Thus, leave out of The Church your …

 

 

[83] Again Ms. Nero demonstrates her abysmal lack of knowledge of either the Scriptures or of secular history. Yeshua was born, lived, and died as a Torah-observant Jew, accepting and observing all those things that were written in the Scriptures by the prophets, who were verbally inspired by His Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit). If Yeshua is G-d, and the Holy Spirit is His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit inspired every “jot [yod] and tittle” of the Scriptures as He taught, then He would have been a hypocrite had He Himself failed to follow the very mitzvot [commandments] that He Himself wrote in stone with His own finger on Sinai and that He gave to Moshe [Moses] when He met with him “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”

What Ms. Nero either doesn’t know because she has failed to do her homework, or fails to admit out of dishonesty, is that neither Yeshua, nor the Shliachim, nor most adherents of Messianic Judaism accept the oral (Rabbinic) tradition as binding on their lives, only those mitzvot (commandments) that appear in the Scriptures. She obviously has no idea what “rituals” are used in Messianic Jewish worship.

Judaism of the Second Temple Period was in almost exactly the same state that “Gentile Christianity” finds itself in today, though it was not nearly as fragmented as Christianity is. There were five major “denominations” or so-called “parties” within Judaism at that time: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Zealots, and the Messianics.

The Pharisees were the theological  conservatives, and through their sub-division of Scribes were directly responsible for maintaining the faithful transmission of the Scriptures that we enjoy today. They would be the theological counterparts of most of today's Baptists.

The Sadducees were the liberals, mostly political appointees to the priesthood, who were only concerned with the proper “form” of worship and with retaining their cushy “clergy” positions. Since they categorically rejected all things supernatural, they naturally rejected a supernatural G-d who provided supernatural revelation. Theologically they would be more like today’s “high-church” Episcopalians, Lutherans, Catholics, and those “God is dead” philosophers who for some strange reason want to cling to the title “Christian.” If they were alive today, they would be those who produce “religious” documentaries for PBS and The History Channel.

The Essenes were the separatists, like the Catholic monastic orders, who were almost all gathered together at the Qumran community where they spent their lives in prayer, meditation, ritual bathing, and copying the scrolls that we have recently received as the “Dead Sea Scrolls.”

The Zealots were the religious/political activists similar to the modern religious ultra-right, except they advocated and actively promoted the violent overthrow of their political oppressors, like the “Branch Davidians” and those other self-called “Christian activists” who bomb abortion clinics.

The Messianics were the many tens of thousands of Jews who made up the true “faithful remnant” from all four parties, who were earnestly watching for Messiah, and who and recognized him immediately upon hearing of His resurrection. Just as is true in the “organized church” today, only a small portion of the “organized synagogue” were redeemed by faith as was their father Avraham.

When Jerusalem fell in 70 CE, the Temple was destroyed so there was no further function for the Sadducees, the Zealots were all killed, captured, or dispersed, and the Qumran community was overrun and destroyed, leaving only the Pharisees and Messianics The Pharisees and Messianics maintained fellowship in the Synagogue until the Bar-Kokhba Revolt in 132-135 CE. At that time Rabbi Akiva declared that all who failed to recognize Shimon Bar-Kokhba as the Messiah were heretics, which resulted in all true Messianic Believers being put out of Synagogue fellowship.

From 135 until 324, Pharisaical Judaism and Messianic Judaism went their separate ways. Pharisaical Judaism gradually evolved into today's Rabbinical Judaism, and Messianic Judaism absorbed an ever-increasing number of Gentile Believers, until the Jewish Believers became a relatively small minority within what was still considered a “sect” of Judaism. Up until the establishment of the Roman State Religion in 324, the synagogue remained the only existing “form” or “model” for both Messianic and non-Messianic Judaism. In 324, Emperor Constantine ascended to the Roman throne and immediately established his total control over both the religious and civil life of the Roman Empire by creating the blend of Messianic Judaism and Babylonian Paganism that became “the church” at the Council of Nicea in 325. Following the Council of Nicea, from which all the Jewish Elders were specifically “uninvited,” all members of the new Roman Church, which de facto included all citizens of the Empire, were given the choice of renouncing all traces of their Jewish heritage or being put to death. And until the rebirth of Messianic Judaism in 1967, that remained just about the only choice for Jews who accepted Yeshua as their Messiah — convert to Ms. Nero’s form of “Christianity” and renounce all Jewish heritage, or renounce Messiah and be permitted to remain in the Jewish community. 

 

[84] This statement is exactly the kind of patently false, venomous, and inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric that Martin Luther and Adolph Hitler spewed to stir up the masses against the Jewish people.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

[98][99]It is quite interesting that Ms. Nero should take this promise that was as part of the eternal covenant that G-d made with Israel and try to apply it to the Gentile “church.” She is a thief and usurper, who would steal for himself that which belongs to others.

“In the third month after the children of Yisra'el [Israel] had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they had departed from Refidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Yisra'el encamped before the mountain. Moshe [Moses] went up to G-d, and ADONAI [the pre-incarnate Yeshua] called to him out of the mountain, saying, ‘This is what you shall tell the house of Ya'akov [Jacob], and tell the children of Yisra'el [Israel]: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you [Israel, not the gentile church] shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you [Israel] shall be to me a kingdom of kohanim [priests], and a holy nation.” These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Yisra'el.’” (Exodus 19:1-6 HNV)

yarmulkes (God never told men nor women to cover their heads – His Spirit is their covering)
Torah Scrolls (the whole Word of G-d is in your heart)
Parading the Torah Scroll around the congregation for the congregants to touch it
Phylacteries
Lighting of Sabbath candles (Holy Spirit is the light)
Prayer shawls (God’s Spirit is your covering)
Common prayers (they straitjacket the Holy Spirit)
Star of David
The menorah
Israeli and American flags (that’s patriotism)
 

The Torah is the Hebrew Bible! For G-d’s sake, don't allow anyone to carry a Bible to church [unless, of course, it's a great big King James]! They might actually read it and find what liars and hypocrites men who teach this garbage really are! That's why Catholics were forbidden to read the Bible until the 13th century.

 

… and snake-handling, and poison-drinking, and gibberish babblings [see above], if Ms. Nero’s so-called “logic” is to be consistent.
 

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