Again, thanks dear brother for sharing your thoughts- Brad
Parashat HaShavua VaEra / And I Appeared
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 6:2-9:35
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 66:1-24
Romim / Romans 9:14-25
Shemot {6:2} G-D spoke to Moshe (Moses), and said to him, "I am HaShem; {6:3} and I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), to Yitzchak (Isaac), and to Ya'akov (Jacob), as G-D Almighty; but by My Name HaShem I was not known to them. {6:4} I have also established My brit (covenant) with them, to give them the land of Cana'an, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. {6:5} Moreover I have heard the groaning of bnei Yisrael (children of Israel), whom the Mitzrim (Egyptians) keep in bondage, and I have remembered My brit.
Why did HaShem wait hundreds of years, while bnei Yisrael were suffering miserably in Mitzrayim, to remember them? It confuses me that a loving and caring G-d would allow people, His people, to suffer in slavery, under servitude to hard taskmasters, before He finally decides to redeem them. I am often asked a similar question about the holocaust, “If there is a G-d then why did He allow such a thing to happen?”
It is sad that people are so quick to accuse G-d of being brutal without recognizing their own brutality, manifested in anger, hatred and prejudice. I am not going to address the question of the holocaust in this drash (commentary), other than to say that the cures recorded for us in Torah (Devarim [Duteronomy] 28), answer this question. G-d is a loving, kind and compassionate G-d, but we also must remember that He is a just G-d and will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. Sadly His justice, as He warned us, extends beyond one generation.
Devrim {5:9} you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I, HaShem, your G-D, am a jealous G-D, visiting the iniquity of the avot (fathers) on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate Me;
Now back to our original question of why HaShem waited hundreds of years before remembering bnei Yisrael.
HaShem had bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim so that their numbers would increase to the point where they could be a viable nation. A nation needs people, and not just a few. HaShem knew that His new nation would have to fight for and conquer the land He had promised Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov so there needed to be sufficient people to foster an army that could accomplish that task. HaShem also needed a people who would want to leave Mitzrayim, when the time came to do so, as one. Bnei Yisrael, having been used, abused and in salved for hundreds of years in Mitzrayim, accomplished that purpose. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for bnei Yisrael to leave Mitzrayim they jumped at it.
Today you would be hard pressed to get the Jewish population of the United States and Canada to leave as a whole and take up residence in Yisrael. Why, because they are rich and prosperous so there is no incentive for them to leave. We see an example of this from the Babylonian exile. Only fifty thousand Jews left Babylon when King Cyrus issued the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). That was because they were prosperous and flourished within the Babylonian society. The same is now true for the Jews of the United States and Canada. However, if suddenly they were to be thrust into hard times and faced with the prospect of being persecuted, perhaps even imprisoned, they would leave. The time bnei Yisrael spent suffering in Mitzrayim was the time HaShem used to prepare them for their departure. It took hundreds of years to get them to the point of wanting out of Mitzrayim, but when the fullness of HaShem's time came they were ripe to leave.
We need to take note of how HaShem works with Yisrael, because this is how He works with us. Perhaps you have been going through years of trials, tribulation and hard times. Your life has been a disaster and you are working like a slave, but getting deeper into debt and depression. You have a boss the rivals any Egyptian taskmaster and there are footprints on your back from all the people that have been walking over you. From this you have been questioning and doubting your relationship with G-d, thinking that He has left you and no longer cares for you. Well take heart because, if you are a child of G-d, a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach, then HaShem is preparing you for a change. He has a plan and a purpose for you, and when the fullness of His timing is right He will call you out and you will be so ready!
Galitim (Galatians) {4:4} but in the fullness of time, G-d sent forth His Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Visit our Webpage @ www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net
272 Ranee Ave Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A-1N6, Tel: 416-785-7612
An ever changing Messianic Jewish website
till King Mashiach Yeshua comes back!!!
Shalom Shalom
Friday, January 15, 2010
Personal post
Just so you know, within circles I run I bumped into a pastor that I had known through friends. we chatted and my wife mentioned a writing I was doing about a new model for church. Any rate he gave me his web site to look at and asked me if I could submit an article or two. When I looked at the site, I found an article that his son did about how he'd found out the "truth" about messianics. I looked up the evidence. The material was absolutely crazy. If you want to read the article, you will find it here.
I took the liberty of e-mailing Pastor Reckart, and will just show how I answered some of these major concerns. Just thought you might find it interesting. If you like, e-mail this pastor and set him straight. It would nice to bury him under emails. God's grace to you and yours, Bradley Avi
Dear Pastor Reckart:
I ran across an article you had written some time ago, although since there is no date on the article, I am uncertain when it was written. The article was entitled:
Dangers Of The False Messianic Movement
I ran across this article while reading a local family’s web site (at the invitation of a pastor friend). His son, as it turned out wrote an article for the web site about his confusion of family members who began to study the Gospels and the Torah (Law) on Saturday mornings. He says, he was confused until he read you article (and provided a link) and now his confusion has moved to sadness at the loss of his family members. He cites you as setting him straight about how evil and dangerous this was. I read you article a few times and then other articles that you had written about other people you have concerns about. At first, I thought I would simply ignore this. As you know…any fool can get a web site and say anything he wants. But, I felt that as a pastor, you would very likely accept with grace anyone who tried to help you understand something that you have communicated with a lack of knowledge. So, I have taken that challenge upon myself.
I did not want to critique the whole article. Much of the history as worthy. If you forgive me, I think the most difficult part is your 29 contentions, and I thought I would address those.
Again, if you have printed a retraction from your earlier article, then please ignore this. I know when I first ran across this movement (about 10 years ago) I had some concerns. Time has helped me see that my concerns were not insurmountable. (thus the interest in whether you wrote a retraction “due to new information”, or if you have toned down your original contention.
Also, context is difficult to understand. If you were striving against Messianic groups who do and practice these things, then I would like to throw my support in there with you. It would be terrible to have people tarnishing the good name of believers, by using similar designations.
God’s grace to you and yours,
What do the false messianic movements do that are deceiving, cultic, and a great danger?
1.) They engage in ritual prayers (holding hands in a circle), chants, and circle dancing;
Wow, they encourage prayer. Good for them. As a pastor, we used all sorts of positions to pray. I agree with Paul…pray without ceasing.
2.) They reject the name of Jesus as the name of a pig god and begin using Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua;
I am sure I can’t comment for all Messianics, but this is news to me. I do say Yeshua, and did even before I attended a Messianic congregation. Also, my Spanish brothers have a different name as does my French brothers. I see no ill will in using what would have been Jesus’ birth name. Perhaps you don’t remember the wonderful Scott Wesley Brown Song “Yeshua Ha Messiakh” Here’s a link if you need.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/scott-wesley-brown/tracks/yeshua-ha-mashiach--1009257
3.) They begin sabbath keeping and damn all who worship on sunday;
We keep Sabbath because He (Jesus) kept Sabbath. The followers of Jesus must walk as he did. I understand and have full respect for those who worship on other days. In fact, as a missionary to Muslims, we typically worshipped on Friday (it was their day of worship) so we never had a conflict with them.
4.) They begin to observe all the Old Testament feast days;
You mean like Jesus and the apostles. Oh My! What shall we do? FYI, I attended my first Passover at a Mennonite Brethern church. There are many churches which believe that God may have a message in His chosen holidays. I have noticed a trend in Canada among Charismatic churches, they do a sustained teaching about the feasts in Fall (in the time between the start of new church programs and before Christmas), it’s only been going on for the last couple years, so tough to know if it’s a trend that will stay.
5.) They start trying to dress like they are Jewish wearing the tallit and kipah;
Dress as you please, if they dress in such a way that they feel closer to the God of Israel by dressing like Jews, what is that to you?
6.) They deny salvation is in Jesus alone, that a person must also keep the law to be saved;
Again, news to me. Remember the Jews hate Messianics because they are just really Christians who dress and talk like them. All the Messianics I know say we are saved by grace through faith…the Law teaches a saved people how to live. In Theological circles we call this sanctification.
7.) They reject Paul and call him a false apostle;
Again, I think you made this up. If there is any Messianic who hates Paul and calls him a false prophet, I would be surprised. Paul is a regular character of study. He is the classic educated Messianic Jew. We have much to learn from Paul who wrote about ½ of the NT. We may disagree about interpretation of specific passages of Paul, but that is common in the Christian church. I kinda thought you would know that.
8.) They reject Paul's books: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
I wonder if you are falling into the “person who” logic fallacy. You looked the world over for someone who calls themselves Messianic and find the weirdest teaching and say this is what ALL of them believe. Perhaps a bit more research would help.
9.) They preach another Gospel that Paul did not preach;
Most of my brothers say they teach specifically, exactly what Paul preached and would change if they were ever pointed out the error of there way. I hope you would as well.
10.) They preach another Jesus that Paul did not preach;
Sorry, you are repeating yourself. Repetition doesn’t make it more true.
11.) They teach the Talmud and the Kabbalah (witchcraft mysticism);
Paul quotes Talmid, and in fact at least at one point so did Jesus. I can show you examples of this if you wish. This doesn’t mean those extra-biblical sources are correct, just comments in interpretation of Scripture. In Bible study (non-messianic) we encourage people to know context. This can and does include understanding what scholars of the day understood about a specific passage. Again, I figured you knew that. Kabbalah is witchcraft. Again, I think almost all Messianic congregations would affirm this. Perhaps you found someplace that endorses it, not unlike some “so called” churches which endorse varying degrees of false teachings and mysticism.
12.) They place Kabbalah emblems throughout their meeting places;
News to me, perhaps you want to expound.
13.) They become very cruel and hateful to those who refuse to accept their concision doctrines;
I am sometimes surprised by the reaction I have gotten by coming to different conclusions on a specific passage of scripture. Sometimes that helps sharpen me. I don’t know that we would be anymore “hateful” then I was as a Baptist…or perhaps as hateful as yourself. Check your motives, pastor.
14.) They teach for doctrine the commandments of men;
Tough to comment on without a bit more detail. Do you mean they encourage people to celebrate Christmas? …Oh, yeah, sorry, that was just the first doctrine of men that popped into me head.
15.) They place women over members of the church and give them authority men alone should have;
Not my experience. I think the church has not done well with respect to women, and have encouraged women to share their spiritual gifts. I see that you have a different perspective. Mostly, I think the Messianic communities I have known tend to be too paternalistic…sorry. I think you might like them.
16.) They replace baptism in Jesus name (Acts 2:38), and insert the name Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua or some other guess name;
Cute Linguistic flaw. Jesus is a derivative of the Greek translation of the name of the Messiah translated from the Greek New Testament. In English it has become the accepted name of that historical figure. If someone wishes to be baptised in the name which closer matches his historical birth name, I doubt people will go to hell for that.
17.) They practice both male and female circumcision (female depending on the cult);
I have to call schmotzy on you here. Circumcision is widely practiced around the world. I was circumcised and my parents were both non-believers at the time. Female circumcision is practiced in some cults, and not in Jewish…or Jewish-like practices. I think you know you are lying with this, thus the parenthesis. I would urge you not to choose false statements. The is limited sin in communicating what you did not know any better, but a chosen lie is unbecoming for someone who claims to follow God.
18.) They offer up animal sacrifices (some do not but fellowship with those who do);
Again, the parenthesis makes me think that you know you are lying. If it is true, I would like you to come forward with the evidence. I am eager to extend an apology, but this looks like something you made up.
19.) They celebrate Communion with old Passover emblems and not with unleavened bread and wine (also footwashing);
“Old Passover Emblems”? I have never seen a Passover with leaven among Messianics. Many Christians do this in Communion often, a personal bone of contention for me, but not for Passover. It is forbidden. As for “foot washing”, my uncle, also a pastor, told me about foot washing ceremony and how it had healed years of old wounds in his church. That was years before I ever heard anyone talk about Messianics.
20.) They believe in polygamy and or fellowship those who do (allowing legalized adultery and fornication);
Again, I think you made this one up. If I am wrong, please prove this contention. Could there be someone crazy person who actually did this somewhere in the world? Perhaps, but that is a long way from saying this is part of their belief…please, it is unbecoming to bare false witness.
21.) They allow young girls under the age of 13 to be secretly married to religious leaders;
Repeat of what I just said above. Secretly is kinda funny. If it is a secret how would I (or you know about it). Please cite your sources.
22.) Men will wear tallit prayer shawls with knotts that represent all the laws in the Old Testament;
As do a number of Mennonite and Pentacostal brothers I know. In fact, Christian book distributors sells these item in multiple colours.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=prayer+schawl&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=14&Go.y=12
23.) They teach a whole new vocabulary of Jewish words to embellish law-keeping that makes many who are fascinated by Jewishness believe they are doing things the first Christians did. This is a great deception and a danger. These rituals of prayers and words are not used by Jesus, the Apostles, or the first disciples. They are as false as a Catholic mass with all its Latin words and ritual.
More of a personal bias then an actual concern. Yes, the Messianics, do get used to communicating in Hebrew words. Some new Christians have commented about the “new vocabulary” in this worldview. New vocabulary is not wrong. I think these are the words of the Bible. To an “outsider” or person new to this understanding this can be a bit difficult to follow. Some of these would have been very likely used by Jesus and the disciples, like the Shema (but difficult to argue either way with certainty from silence). The “danger” is your contention, but I noticed you haven’t defended why it is dangerous. “As false as the Catholic mass in Latin.” Have to tell you there are believers in this world who don’t speak English. Get used to that. English doesn’t make us more holy.
24.) Women and young girls are forced to wear head coverings. These become more a symbol of submission to the false messianic movement then it does humility to God. It is a great danger to women and girls to be told if they do not wear these head coverings they are cursed and God will not hear their prayers or receive their worship;
I wouldn’t know. My wife and daughters don’t wear head covers, so I am at a bit of a loss. I can’t argue what this terrible thing must mean, since it is not a local practice. You might want to look for someone who feels “forced” and ask them what this means. Again, I think you made this up. Please provide your evidence. Just for your information there are several Mennonite divisions locally as well as Hutterites who do wear head coverings. I never asked them if they are “forced”.
25.) They make use of all sorts of cow, ram, goat, and fake horns to blow and act like they are being real Biblical:
Horns would be Biblical, wouldn’t they? Is it the blowing of these horns that cause you concern? I again have found this in Charismatic churches around the country.
26.) They worship the tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH above the name of Jesus;
I admire your dedication to the locally accepted English derivative of the name of the Messiah, but our Bible (2/3s of it) when it says LORD is using the tetragram. I must confess, I have never seen someone worship 4 letters. I don’t know what that would look like. Perhaps a bit more information would be helpful.
27.) Many men wear garments with all sorts of knots in fringes around their shirts;
And this causes you problems because you are a fashion consultant? So what. I see in your photos you are wearing a tie…is anyone worried about what you wear?
28.) They make use of the Menorah, but do so in a false way. This is wrong use of a right emblem. They do not use it to represent Jesus;
I actually wasn’t sure where you were going with this until I realized that you use the Menorah symbol extensively, so you can’t get completely upset about using “Old Covenant imagery” I think you would find that Jesus is the Menorah may be a typology, and may be the backdrop to a good sermon, but I don’t know that every representation of the Menorah is actually Jesus. I think the Menorah was a real part of the temple, and a standing symbol of the lights of the church in the book of Revelation. Perhaps, it is something we can discuss at length later.
29.) For the most part, these law-keepers are not holiness people. They are a mixture of all kinds of religion. Next week they may transmute into something completely different than what they are today. They are not people with stable and consistent doctrine, faith, practice, conduct, and order.
Knowing that you could not adequately state your concern, you throw one last blanket (shotgun) try at mudslinging. I will try to respond. “Not holiness people”, I think the people I know feel we have been far too lax with respect to understanding God’s holiness. Mixture of all kinds of religions. I must have missed that in you other 28 contentions. Their spiritual understanding is that Jesus is not a US 21st century product, but a real man who live in Israel, spoke Hebrew and was the King of the Jews. They are eager to know this “Jesus”, not to try to create a modern, English “cosmic Jesus”.
“Next week they may transmute into something completely different”, I find this cute. Next week, you may be hit by a bus…I can’t tell the future. Under the silliness of this phrase is a truism, and that is that within the Messianic community, they often have limited respect for the History of Christianity from the Early church fathers (post-apostles) to present, as such they don’t benefit from the struggles of faith throughout the centuries. With the possible exception of Martin Luther, and the Puritans. “they are not a people with consistent doctrine, faith, practice, and order.” To some extent, this is a fair concern. Their faith as alive and dynamic (from the fellowships I have been a part of) it lacks some of the ancient historical weights and burdens of the traditional church (a subject, I am working on in an upcoming book). Their faith is not yet codified. Most have simply adopted the historical professions of faith until they come up with something that they feel needs to be written to represent them. I have yet to see a desire to “codify” this, but it may happen someday. What I do see, is very well educated, passionate people who love God and find they could not stand to be spoon feed a teaching that has been designed for the lowest common denominator. They are people who pray with intensity. They sing, (and even dance) with zeal. They read and discuss God’s word for hours on in. When I first attended a Sabbath gathering, I felt it reminded me of an intense seminary classroom.
A concluding comment:
I think sincerely that you are doing what you can to raise a concern about something you are obviously not connected to. I know as a pastor, I sometimes sounded the alarm bells on some things that I was sure were terrible and turned out not to be nearly as bad as I thought. I do wish you would have done some better research. I ran into your article form a teenage posting a note that told “the truth” about those Messianics. Now, unfortunately, I have an obligation to explain to him that the information provided was put together from someone who has a “ministry” for pointing out the wrongs he thinks everyone does. I used to work at a Bible college while I was in grad school and as a part of the Theology department I realized that I was really only called upon to tell what everyone did wrong. If I said someone was doing “something right” then it was implied that I didn’t look deep enough. Supporting good was not encouraged. Pointing out evil that others might not have seen was held as valuable. I began to hate the character I was becoming. It was for that reason I withdrew from Seminary for a while to see if I would begin to see a world not quite as jaded.
If you are trying to understand Messianics, then I would encourage you to go to regular sources, not some obscure sources which state silliness. I would recommend…
The Messianic Israel Alliance http://www.messianicisrael.com/
The Messianic Jewish Alliance http://users.eastlink.ca/~nertamid/MJAC.HTM
And First Fruits of Zion http://ffoz.org/
Don’t worry, if you think you will find these people to be just run of the mill people who love their Messiah. I am sure if you dig deep enough you will find lots of flaws. Believers are not perfect, just forgiven. We also live in a world where we see through a glass dimly, when the perfect comes we will know fully as we are fully known.
Thanks for your time. -Bradley
I took the liberty of e-mailing Pastor Reckart, and will just show how I answered some of these major concerns. Just thought you might find it interesting. If you like, e-mail this pastor and set him straight. It would nice to bury him under emails. God's grace to you and yours, Bradley Avi
Dear Pastor Reckart:
I ran across an article you had written some time ago, although since there is no date on the article, I am uncertain when it was written. The article was entitled:
Dangers Of The False Messianic Movement
I ran across this article while reading a local family’s web site (at the invitation of a pastor friend). His son, as it turned out wrote an article for the web site about his confusion of family members who began to study the Gospels and the Torah (Law) on Saturday mornings. He says, he was confused until he read you article (and provided a link) and now his confusion has moved to sadness at the loss of his family members. He cites you as setting him straight about how evil and dangerous this was. I read you article a few times and then other articles that you had written about other people you have concerns about. At first, I thought I would simply ignore this. As you know…any fool can get a web site and say anything he wants. But, I felt that as a pastor, you would very likely accept with grace anyone who tried to help you understand something that you have communicated with a lack of knowledge. So, I have taken that challenge upon myself.
I did not want to critique the whole article. Much of the history as worthy. If you forgive me, I think the most difficult part is your 29 contentions, and I thought I would address those.
Again, if you have printed a retraction from your earlier article, then please ignore this. I know when I first ran across this movement (about 10 years ago) I had some concerns. Time has helped me see that my concerns were not insurmountable. (thus the interest in whether you wrote a retraction “due to new information”, or if you have toned down your original contention.
Also, context is difficult to understand. If you were striving against Messianic groups who do and practice these things, then I would like to throw my support in there with you. It would be terrible to have people tarnishing the good name of believers, by using similar designations.
God’s grace to you and yours,
What do the false messianic movements do that are deceiving, cultic, and a great danger?
1.) They engage in ritual prayers (holding hands in a circle), chants, and circle dancing;
Wow, they encourage prayer. Good for them. As a pastor, we used all sorts of positions to pray. I agree with Paul…pray without ceasing.
2.) They reject the name of Jesus as the name of a pig god and begin using Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua;
I am sure I can’t comment for all Messianics, but this is news to me. I do say Yeshua, and did even before I attended a Messianic congregation. Also, my Spanish brothers have a different name as does my French brothers. I see no ill will in using what would have been Jesus’ birth name. Perhaps you don’t remember the wonderful Scott Wesley Brown Song “Yeshua Ha Messiakh” Here’s a link if you need.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/scott-wesley-brown/tracks/yeshua-ha-mashiach--1009257
3.) They begin sabbath keeping and damn all who worship on sunday;
We keep Sabbath because He (Jesus) kept Sabbath. The followers of Jesus must walk as he did. I understand and have full respect for those who worship on other days. In fact, as a missionary to Muslims, we typically worshipped on Friday (it was their day of worship) so we never had a conflict with them.
4.) They begin to observe all the Old Testament feast days;
You mean like Jesus and the apostles. Oh My! What shall we do? FYI, I attended my first Passover at a Mennonite Brethern church. There are many churches which believe that God may have a message in His chosen holidays. I have noticed a trend in Canada among Charismatic churches, they do a sustained teaching about the feasts in Fall (in the time between the start of new church programs and before Christmas), it’s only been going on for the last couple years, so tough to know if it’s a trend that will stay.
5.) They start trying to dress like they are Jewish wearing the tallit and kipah;
Dress as you please, if they dress in such a way that they feel closer to the God of Israel by dressing like Jews, what is that to you?
6.) They deny salvation is in Jesus alone, that a person must also keep the law to be saved;
Again, news to me. Remember the Jews hate Messianics because they are just really Christians who dress and talk like them. All the Messianics I know say we are saved by grace through faith…the Law teaches a saved people how to live. In Theological circles we call this sanctification.
7.) They reject Paul and call him a false apostle;
Again, I think you made this up. If there is any Messianic who hates Paul and calls him a false prophet, I would be surprised. Paul is a regular character of study. He is the classic educated Messianic Jew. We have much to learn from Paul who wrote about ½ of the NT. We may disagree about interpretation of specific passages of Paul, but that is common in the Christian church. I kinda thought you would know that.
8.) They reject Paul's books: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
I wonder if you are falling into the “person who” logic fallacy. You looked the world over for someone who calls themselves Messianic and find the weirdest teaching and say this is what ALL of them believe. Perhaps a bit more research would help.
9.) They preach another Gospel that Paul did not preach;
Most of my brothers say they teach specifically, exactly what Paul preached and would change if they were ever pointed out the error of there way. I hope you would as well.
10.) They preach another Jesus that Paul did not preach;
Sorry, you are repeating yourself. Repetition doesn’t make it more true.
11.) They teach the Talmud and the Kabbalah (witchcraft mysticism);
Paul quotes Talmid, and in fact at least at one point so did Jesus. I can show you examples of this if you wish. This doesn’t mean those extra-biblical sources are correct, just comments in interpretation of Scripture. In Bible study (non-messianic) we encourage people to know context. This can and does include understanding what scholars of the day understood about a specific passage. Again, I figured you knew that. Kabbalah is witchcraft. Again, I think almost all Messianic congregations would affirm this. Perhaps you found someplace that endorses it, not unlike some “so called” churches which endorse varying degrees of false teachings and mysticism.
12.) They place Kabbalah emblems throughout their meeting places;
News to me, perhaps you want to expound.
13.) They become very cruel and hateful to those who refuse to accept their concision doctrines;
I am sometimes surprised by the reaction I have gotten by coming to different conclusions on a specific passage of scripture. Sometimes that helps sharpen me. I don’t know that we would be anymore “hateful” then I was as a Baptist…or perhaps as hateful as yourself. Check your motives, pastor.
14.) They teach for doctrine the commandments of men;
Tough to comment on without a bit more detail. Do you mean they encourage people to celebrate Christmas? …Oh, yeah, sorry, that was just the first doctrine of men that popped into me head.
15.) They place women over members of the church and give them authority men alone should have;
Not my experience. I think the church has not done well with respect to women, and have encouraged women to share their spiritual gifts. I see that you have a different perspective. Mostly, I think the Messianic communities I have known tend to be too paternalistic…sorry. I think you might like them.
16.) They replace baptism in Jesus name (Acts 2:38), and insert the name Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua or some other guess name;
Cute Linguistic flaw. Jesus is a derivative of the Greek translation of the name of the Messiah translated from the Greek New Testament. In English it has become the accepted name of that historical figure. If someone wishes to be baptised in the name which closer matches his historical birth name, I doubt people will go to hell for that.
17.) They practice both male and female circumcision (female depending on the cult);
I have to call schmotzy on you here. Circumcision is widely practiced around the world. I was circumcised and my parents were both non-believers at the time. Female circumcision is practiced in some cults, and not in Jewish…or Jewish-like practices. I think you know you are lying with this, thus the parenthesis. I would urge you not to choose false statements. The is limited sin in communicating what you did not know any better, but a chosen lie is unbecoming for someone who claims to follow God.
18.) They offer up animal sacrifices (some do not but fellowship with those who do);
Again, the parenthesis makes me think that you know you are lying. If it is true, I would like you to come forward with the evidence. I am eager to extend an apology, but this looks like something you made up.
19.) They celebrate Communion with old Passover emblems and not with unleavened bread and wine (also footwashing);
“Old Passover Emblems”? I have never seen a Passover with leaven among Messianics. Many Christians do this in Communion often, a personal bone of contention for me, but not for Passover. It is forbidden. As for “foot washing”, my uncle, also a pastor, told me about foot washing ceremony and how it had healed years of old wounds in his church. That was years before I ever heard anyone talk about Messianics.
20.) They believe in polygamy and or fellowship those who do (allowing legalized adultery and fornication);
Again, I think you made this one up. If I am wrong, please prove this contention. Could there be someone crazy person who actually did this somewhere in the world? Perhaps, but that is a long way from saying this is part of their belief…please, it is unbecoming to bare false witness.
21.) They allow young girls under the age of 13 to be secretly married to religious leaders;
Repeat of what I just said above. Secretly is kinda funny. If it is a secret how would I (or you know about it). Please cite your sources.
22.) Men will wear tallit prayer shawls with knotts that represent all the laws in the Old Testament;
As do a number of Mennonite and Pentacostal brothers I know. In fact, Christian book distributors sells these item in multiple colours.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=prayer+schawl&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=14&Go.y=12
23.) They teach a whole new vocabulary of Jewish words to embellish law-keeping that makes many who are fascinated by Jewishness believe they are doing things the first Christians did. This is a great deception and a danger. These rituals of prayers and words are not used by Jesus, the Apostles, or the first disciples. They are as false as a Catholic mass with all its Latin words and ritual.
More of a personal bias then an actual concern. Yes, the Messianics, do get used to communicating in Hebrew words. Some new Christians have commented about the “new vocabulary” in this worldview. New vocabulary is not wrong. I think these are the words of the Bible. To an “outsider” or person new to this understanding this can be a bit difficult to follow. Some of these would have been very likely used by Jesus and the disciples, like the Shema (but difficult to argue either way with certainty from silence). The “danger” is your contention, but I noticed you haven’t defended why it is dangerous. “As false as the Catholic mass in Latin.” Have to tell you there are believers in this world who don’t speak English. Get used to that. English doesn’t make us more holy.
24.) Women and young girls are forced to wear head coverings. These become more a symbol of submission to the false messianic movement then it does humility to God. It is a great danger to women and girls to be told if they do not wear these head coverings they are cursed and God will not hear their prayers or receive their worship;
I wouldn’t know. My wife and daughters don’t wear head covers, so I am at a bit of a loss. I can’t argue what this terrible thing must mean, since it is not a local practice. You might want to look for someone who feels “forced” and ask them what this means. Again, I think you made this up. Please provide your evidence. Just for your information there are several Mennonite divisions locally as well as Hutterites who do wear head coverings. I never asked them if they are “forced”.
25.) They make use of all sorts of cow, ram, goat, and fake horns to blow and act like they are being real Biblical:
Horns would be Biblical, wouldn’t they? Is it the blowing of these horns that cause you concern? I again have found this in Charismatic churches around the country.
26.) They worship the tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH above the name of Jesus;
I admire your dedication to the locally accepted English derivative of the name of the Messiah, but our Bible (2/3s of it) when it says LORD is using the tetragram. I must confess, I have never seen someone worship 4 letters. I don’t know what that would look like. Perhaps a bit more information would be helpful.
27.) Many men wear garments with all sorts of knots in fringes around their shirts;
And this causes you problems because you are a fashion consultant? So what. I see in your photos you are wearing a tie…is anyone worried about what you wear?
28.) They make use of the Menorah, but do so in a false way. This is wrong use of a right emblem. They do not use it to represent Jesus;
I actually wasn’t sure where you were going with this until I realized that you use the Menorah symbol extensively, so you can’t get completely upset about using “Old Covenant imagery” I think you would find that Jesus is the Menorah may be a typology, and may be the backdrop to a good sermon, but I don’t know that every representation of the Menorah is actually Jesus. I think the Menorah was a real part of the temple, and a standing symbol of the lights of the church in the book of Revelation. Perhaps, it is something we can discuss at length later.
29.) For the most part, these law-keepers are not holiness people. They are a mixture of all kinds of religion. Next week they may transmute into something completely different than what they are today. They are not people with stable and consistent doctrine, faith, practice, conduct, and order.
Knowing that you could not adequately state your concern, you throw one last blanket (shotgun) try at mudslinging. I will try to respond. “Not holiness people”, I think the people I know feel we have been far too lax with respect to understanding God’s holiness. Mixture of all kinds of religions. I must have missed that in you other 28 contentions. Their spiritual understanding is that Jesus is not a US 21st century product, but a real man who live in Israel, spoke Hebrew and was the King of the Jews. They are eager to know this “Jesus”, not to try to create a modern, English “cosmic Jesus”.
“Next week they may transmute into something completely different”, I find this cute. Next week, you may be hit by a bus…I can’t tell the future. Under the silliness of this phrase is a truism, and that is that within the Messianic community, they often have limited respect for the History of Christianity from the Early church fathers (post-apostles) to present, as such they don’t benefit from the struggles of faith throughout the centuries. With the possible exception of Martin Luther, and the Puritans. “they are not a people with consistent doctrine, faith, practice, and order.” To some extent, this is a fair concern. Their faith as alive and dynamic (from the fellowships I have been a part of) it lacks some of the ancient historical weights and burdens of the traditional church (a subject, I am working on in an upcoming book). Their faith is not yet codified. Most have simply adopted the historical professions of faith until they come up with something that they feel needs to be written to represent them. I have yet to see a desire to “codify” this, but it may happen someday. What I do see, is very well educated, passionate people who love God and find they could not stand to be spoon feed a teaching that has been designed for the lowest common denominator. They are people who pray with intensity. They sing, (and even dance) with zeal. They read and discuss God’s word for hours on in. When I first attended a Sabbath gathering, I felt it reminded me of an intense seminary classroom.
A concluding comment:
I think sincerely that you are doing what you can to raise a concern about something you are obviously not connected to. I know as a pastor, I sometimes sounded the alarm bells on some things that I was sure were terrible and turned out not to be nearly as bad as I thought. I do wish you would have done some better research. I ran into your article form a teenage posting a note that told “the truth” about those Messianics. Now, unfortunately, I have an obligation to explain to him that the information provided was put together from someone who has a “ministry” for pointing out the wrongs he thinks everyone does. I used to work at a Bible college while I was in grad school and as a part of the Theology department I realized that I was really only called upon to tell what everyone did wrong. If I said someone was doing “something right” then it was implied that I didn’t look deep enough. Supporting good was not encouraged. Pointing out evil that others might not have seen was held as valuable. I began to hate the character I was becoming. It was for that reason I withdrew from Seminary for a while to see if I would begin to see a world not quite as jaded.
If you are trying to understand Messianics, then I would encourage you to go to regular sources, not some obscure sources which state silliness. I would recommend…
The Messianic Israel Alliance http://www.messianicisrael.com/
The Messianic Jewish Alliance http://users.eastlink.ca/~nertamid/MJAC.HTM
And First Fruits of Zion http://ffoz.org/
Don’t worry, if you think you will find these people to be just run of the mill people who love their Messiah. I am sure if you dig deep enough you will find lots of flaws. Believers are not perfect, just forgiven. We also live in a world where we see through a glass dimly, when the perfect comes we will know fully as we are fully known.
Thanks for your time. -Bradley
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