Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Did you know that the Talmud, one of Judaism's most sacred documents, indirectly proves that Yeshua was the final sacrifice for sins?
Quick note: In the video I mention that the Talmud was codified in 200 C.E. In truth, it was just the Mishna, the oral Law, that was codified at that time. The Mishna is part of the Talmud, but also includes the Gemara, a commentary on the Mishna, which was completed several hundred years later.
Quick note No. 2: So there is no confusion, most Messianic Jews, including myself, do not believe in an oral Law that was given to Moses on Sinai. We were merely saying that the book that Orthodox Jews revere says, "Such and such ..." But that should not be taken to mean that we hold the Talmud in the name light as Orthodox Jews. I think that is clear in the video, but at least one emailer thought we were equating the Talmud with Scripture.
Ron Cantoris an Israeli evangelist. He blogs at messiahsmandate.orgm and you can get his book, The Coming End-Time Awakening free at roncantor.com. Ron is on the leadership team of Tiferet Yeshua Congregation in Tel Aviv and is also the director of communications for Tikkun Global. He is the author of several books, including Identity Theft: How Jesus was Robbed of His Jewishness.
In the year A.D. 123, the Roman government launched a severe crackdown against the Jews, culminating in 134 A.D., when all Jewish practices were forbidden, including circumcision, Torah study and Sabbath observance.
How did the rabbis respond?
One of the noted leaders of that day, Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradyon, conducted public Torah classes, paying for it with his life.
But this was no emotional, spur-of-the-moment decision. There was a rationale behind his actions, traceable to Rabbi Akiva, the greatest rabbinic sage of that era, also martyred for his allegiance to the Torah.
The Talmud relates: "Once the wicked Roman government issued a decree forbidding the Jews to study and practice the Torah. Pappus ben Judah came by and, upon finding Rabbi Akiva publicly holding sessions in which he occupied himself with the Torah, Pappus asked him: 'Akiva, are you not afraid of the government?'
"Rabbi Akiva replied: 'You, Pappus, who are said to be wise, are in fact a fool. I can explain what I am doing by means of a parable: A fox was walking on a river bank and, seeing fishes hastening here and there, asked them, "From whom are you fleeing?" They replied, "From the nets and traps set for us by men." So the fox said to them, "How would you like to come up on dry land, so that you and I may live together the way my ancestors lived with yours?" They replied, "You—the one they call the cleverest of animals—are in fact a fool. If we are fearful in the place where we can stay alive, how much more fearful should we be in a place where we are sure to die!"
"'So it is with us. If we are fearful when we sit and study the Torah, of which it is written, 'For that is thy life and the length of thy days" (Deut. 30:20), how much more fearful ought we to be should we cease the study of words of the Torah!'" (see b. Berakhot 61b with Eyn Yaakov)
There is a lesson here for us today, especially those of us in Christian leadership. I pray that we will take heed!
You see, for years we have made careful calculations, not wanting to rock the boat, not wanting to offend our constituents, not wanting to stir up controversy, not wanting to provoke the ire of our ideological enemies. And outwardly, it appeared that our "tiptoe through the culture wars" strategy was succeeding, as our church buildings were full and our bank accounts overflowing.
But all the while, we were selling our souls, losing our lives to save our lives, denying the calling of the Lord to preserve our reputations. And now we are paying the price, with our religious freedoms being threatened and with some dangerous, uncharted waters ahead should Hillary Clinton be elected.
A Christian leader might protest and say, "You have it all wrong. If things get really rough, then we'll take a stand. When we're truly threatened with the loss of our freedoms, then we'll be courageous."
That, my friend, is a self-deceived mindset, like a morbidly obese man who says, "It's true that I can't get up the stairs without losing my breath, but if I need to run up those stairs, I'll be ready."
Not a chance.
As the Lord said to Jeremiah the prophet when he was complaining about the tough times he was experiencing in his hometown of Anathoth, "If you race with the foot-runners and they exhaust you, how then can you compete with horses? If you are secure only in a tranquil land, how will you fare in the jungle of the Jordan?" (Jer. 12:5, New Jewish Publication Society Version).
To apply this to us in America now, if we're afraid to speak up today because someone will unfriend us on Facebook, what will we do tomorrow when someone puts a gun to our heads? (That gun could be metaphorical or real.)
If we won't take a stand today for fear of losing some wealthy congregants, what will we do tomorrow when obedience to God will cost us our tax exemption?
If, in our Christian schools today, we won't address cultural controversies for fear of offending some board members (or drawing the attention of the local accrediting association), what will we do tomorrow when refusing to compromise could mean the complete shutting down of our schools, along with a possible prison sentence?
People of God, it's time for us to wake up. Do you sense the Lord stirring your heart?
If Donald Trump is our next president, he might well stand up for our religious liberties, helping to push back against the anti-Christian spirit rising in our land. But if we don't seize the moment and come out of our self-imposed closets, speaking the truth with boldness and love, a far worse fate will come upon us.
And if Hillary Clinton is our next president, you can be sure you will be in her crosshairs.
What will we do then?
Will we cave in and capitulate, claiming in our pseudo-spiritual language that, "The culture wars are over and God just wants to love others"?
Or will we demonstrate real love for God and our neighbor by declaring with Paul, "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death"? (Phil. 1:20, NIV, and note that he wrote this from prison, facing potential martyrdom).
Now is the time to read the stories of men and women of God from past generations (and to this day) who refused to bow down to the gods of this age, laying down their lives rather than denying their Lord.
Now is the time for us to take a determined, uncompromised stand—while it is still light and while the door is still open—before we hang our heads in shame when our kids and grandkids ask us, "What were you afraid of? Why were you so silent? Why did you let this happen to us?"
I'm not counseling anyone to do anything foolish—to provoke some kind of religious conflict or to engage in self-righteous, obnoxious behavior or to respond in a fleshly, emotional way.
Instead, I'm urging each of us (in particular those of us in leadership), to do what is right today, to stand for what is true regardless of cost or consequences, walking in the footsteps of Jesus our Lord.
As He warned us repeatedly, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it" (Mark 8:35, ESV).
It's time we find out exactly what He meant, before the spirit of the world entices us out of our element (like that fox enticing the fish), thereby leading us to our spiritual graves.
In short, to compromise is to shrivel up and die; to obey the Lord at any cost is to flourish and thrive. What will we do?
Let us heed the wisdom of an ancient rabbi, and let us shout our message from the rooftops, without shame and without fear.
And let us remember again the words of Jesus, who said, "For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38, ESV).
It's time that the whole world know that we are not ashamed.
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Behold days are coming - the word of God - when the plowman will meet the reaper, and the treader of grapes, the one who carries the seed; the mountains will drip juice and all the hills will melt.
At the time of the final redemption, not only will people experience the ultimate blessings and prosperity, but the actual soil of the Land will enjoy these benefits. The Land of Israel, says the prophet Amos, willl be so prosperous and the crops will grow so bountifullly, that the seasons will overlap. There will be excessive produce, and the mountains will literally drip with the juice of its fruit. The holy land will be showered with supreme blessing! The holiday of Tu B'Shevat celebrates the earth and produce of the blessed holy land; take part in this blessing by planting your own tree in the soil of Israel.
Ezra Schwartz’s body was buried in the US, but the way his family sees it, his soul remains in Israel. During a visit to see all the places in Israel that Ezra loved, the family planted a tree in his memory, for "a tree is a symbol of life, of continuity, and of oxygen to the world."
Date honey is one of the seven blessed fruits from the Land of Israel. In honor of the upcoming holiday of Tu B'Shevat, enjoy this delicious wildflower honey straight from Israel!
A head on view of the crown of a pomegranate, by Yehoshua Halevi. The pomegranate is one of the seven blessed species of Israel, and its crown is the only naturally occurring star of David found on Earth.
Yesterday's photo showed families and soldiers commemorating their fallen loved ones on Har Hertzl, Jerusalem's National Cemetery, found on the west side of Jerusalem beside the Jerusalem Forest.
It’s great to hear from you and make new friends from all over the world. Please send mean email and let me know how you are enjoying Jerusalem365 (don’t forget to say where you are from!).
“The boastful, willful man, scoffer is his name; the arrogant evildoer, he is a willful man.” (Proverbs 21:24)
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari just condemned Israel for its assassination of Samir Kuntar as an act of terrorism. Iran has been classified by the US State Department as an “active state sponsor of terrorism” since at least 2012. This brazen act of an Iranian official calling Israel’s actions “state organized terrorism of the Zionist regime” is just the most recent example of the fulfillment of a Jewish prophecy about the End of Days.
According to the Talmud, Judaism’s treasury of rabbinic wisdom, the last generation before the arrival of the Messiah will be a generation marked by brazenness and audacity. The Yiddish word for this quality is chutzpa (insolence) and it is one of a number of Yiddish words, such as with nosh and schmooze, that has made its way into popular culture.
The full quote from the Talmud identifies a number of markers of the breakdown of respectful society. The quote ends with a call for increased faith in God as the world waits for the Messiah.
“In the last generation before the Messiah, insolence will increase and honor will dwindle. The governments will turn to heresy. The meeting-place of scholars will be used for immorality. The wisdom of the learned will degenerate, those who fear sin will be despised, and the truth will be lacking. Youth will put old men to shame, the old will stand up against the young, a son will disgrace his father, a daughter will rebel against her mother. So upon who is there to rely? Upon our Father in Heaven.” (Sotah 49a)
A review of contemporary news stories clearly illustrates that we are in a generation of unprecedented brazenness and audacity.
In the Middle East, jihadist terror group ISIS beheads with immunity. Although the video has been removed by YouTube for a violation of its Terms of Service, a 3-year-old child is shown beheading a teddy bear in the shadow of an ISIS flag. In a separate video, ISIS filmed a child beheading an actual hostage.
ISIS toddler beheading his teddy bear. (Photo: YouTube screenshot)
The chutzpa of ISIS continues as they vow to extend their plan to establish a worldwide Islamic Caliphate to include Israel. the jihadist group recently produced a video in Hebrew to threaten that “not a single Jew would remain in Jerusalem.”
In Israel, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas continues to vilify Israel and incite terror against her citizens, but his family members, like his brother-in-law and his wife, are treated in Israeli hospitals.
Global impertinence is not limited to ISIS and other Islamic groups. The UN and the EU also blatantly act against Israel’s interests
In its history, half the resolutions voted on by the United Nations Human Rights Council have condemned Israel, all out of proportion to the extreme human rights violations of any other country, including North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. In November 2015 alone, 20 anti-Israel resolutions were presented to the United Nations.
Despite the fact that the EU has no policy regarding labeling goods from other countries that have disputed territories, such as China, Morocco, Russia, Pakistan or India, the EU has begun labeling products produced in Biblical Judea and Samaria.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin recently became involved in the Middle East. His rapid annexation of Crimea in March 2014 was accompanied by a claim that Crimea has always been an integral part of Russia. And today, he has his eyes on annexing Eastern Ukraine.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a climate conference in Paris, November 30, 2015. (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Socially, changes in cultural norms regarding what constitutes a legal marriage have become mainstream, despite opposition by Bible-based voters who consider the redefinition of marriage impudent. Other social trends such as reality TV, that thrives on embarrassing participants and sexting, in which people send sexually suggestive videos and images to one another, are part of the brazen culture that signals the fulfillment of the prophecy of an increase in worldwide audacity at the End-of-Days.
Prolific author and End-of-Days scholar Rabbi Pinchas Winston told Breaking Israel News that these audacious events, along with other, similar news stories, are, indeed, the fulfillment of prophecy from rabbinic sources that date back to the second through sixth centuries.
“The Talmud long ago painted a picture of the End-of-Days and what to expect. One of the signs mentioned is incredible arrogance and brazenness, both of which exist throughout Western society on various different levels,” he explained to Breaking Israel News. “And now, terrorists such as ISIS and their supporters are showing just how far such aberrant behavior can get.”
Seen in this context, worldwide brazenness is yet another sign that we are in the period the Bible calls the End of Days.
Love For His People Blog special notice:
Love For His People Editor's note: You can order Steve Martin's book here.
With this system in place, the Jewish people can never truly understand God's holiness or His love. (YouTube )
Historical Issues Hold Answers for Jewish Unbelief in Yeshua
Throughout Israel's history, her religious leaders developed a system of commentaries on the Scriptures that has come to be known as the Oral Law, or Talmud. Originally intended to keep the Jewish people from breaking God's commandments, ironically and tragically, the Oral Law has prevented us from seeing God's love and Messiah as found in the Scriptures.
While ministering in the Ukraine, a familiar question was asked of me, only this time in Russian, "If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and the prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures are as clear as you say they are, then why don't our rabbis who study the Scriptures see this?" That is a good question.
Actually, the prophecies predicted a partial blindness upon Israel in regard to recognizing our own Messiah (Is. 53:1-7). But for a more complete answer, an overview of Jewish history will help. As we consider these key points in Jewish history and their repercussions for the Jewish people today, may it lead us to extend compassion and mercy to those who still do not see (Rom. 11:31).
There are three periods of Jewish history we need to consider:
1. The Development of Oral Law (516 B.C.-A.D. 70)
2. The Destruction of the SecondTemple (A.D. 70-135)
3. The Persecution of the Jewish people (A.D. 135 to the present).
The Development of Oral Law: 516 B.C.-A.D. 70
When our people returned from Babylonian captivity, our leadership was devoted to prevent such a catastrophe from ever taking place again. The rabbis reasoned that "it was the holiness of the Law and our disobedience to it that resulted in the exile." Thus the rabbis developed a system of buffers or "fences": "The Oral Law," providing additional rules for the people to keep which would "preserve the original commandments from trespass" (Talmud Aboth 1:1).
A Fence Around the Law: The Traditions of the Elders
In the Schulchan Aruch, "the code" of rabbinical Judaism for all ritual and legal questions, some of the fences regarding the issue of work on the Sabbath are seen:
"He who spills any liquid in a place where the soil is apt to produce something is guilty of violating 'the law against sowing'" (80:28).
"Mud on one's garment may be scraped off with nail or with a knife if it be still moist, but if it be completely dry it may not be scraped off, for it is equivalent to the act of grinding" (80:38).
And there are many, many more like these, covering each area of personal, public, religious and vocational life.
As mentioned, the intent of these "fences" was to keep people from breaking God's laws and coming under His wrath again. However, the result of the Oral Law was, and is today, that the people became in effect 'insulated' from the Scriptures.
Hence, they never really fear God's law, but deal primarily with the "traditions of the elders." With this system in place, the Jewish people can never truly understand God's holiness or His love, because the same Law of God that expresses His holy standards and judgment also expresses His love and promises (Deut. 7:7-8;18:1-22). And when Messiah came, He was judged not by scriptural standards, but by the Oral Law and the traditions of men.
Sabbath Breakers
In Matthew 12:1-2, the teachers of the Law confronted Yeshua over His disciples picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath. Though the Law of Moses clearly stated that it was legal to eat from a field or vineyard as you passed by (Deut. 23:24-25), the Oral Law made this unlawful. When Yeshua's disciples picked the heads of grain, the religious leaders thought they saw several transgressions committed:
1. Harvesting—As the disciples picked the grain
2. Sifting—Rubbing grain in their hands to separate the chaff
3. Winnowing—Blowing the chaff away
4. Grinding—Crushing the wheat to eat it
Was this the interpretation God intended for the Sabbath laws? No, this was not any different than it would be to open a "lunch bag" to eat the food inside of it, which also would be considered work by the rabbis.
This is one example of how the rabbinical community, fearing the judgment of God upon Israel for "disobedience," could be consumed with technicalities while displaying a lack of compassion toward a hungry neighbor. Messiah responded to these men,"But He said to them, "Have you not read what David and those who were with him did when he was hungry, how he entered the house of God and ate the ritual bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ... If you had known what this meant, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent" (Matt. 12:3-4, 7; referencing Hos. 6:6).
Even if the rabbis would not permit Messiah's disciples to eat as David and his men had been allowed to do simply because they were hungry, they certainly should have permitted the disciples to eat out of compassion.
Lord of the Sabbath
"For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Matt. 12:8). As Lord of the Sabbath, Messiah had unquestionable authority that should have been respected, but sadly was not because He was evaluated according to tradition rather than according to Scripture. He was judged by the traditions of men which for 2,000 years have kept my people from seeing Yeshua for who He really is.
The teachers of the Law had become "blind guides of the blind" (Matt. 15:14), blinded by their traditions to the truth of Scripture, judging the very Lord of the Word by their own rules! And so it is still today. The fences remain, and without the Word of God, my people remain unable to see Him who is the very Truth for their lives.
In my next article, I will continue our study with the second of three events in Jewish history that still hinder the Good News. Until then, Shalom.
Dr. Sam Nadleris a Jewish believer in Jesus and has been in Messianic Jewish ministry for over 40 years. Sam is the president of Word of Messiah Ministries, which is bringing the Good News to the Jew first but not to the Jew only, and planting Messianic Congregations in Jewish communities worldwide. To encourage and equip the body of Messiah in our shared calling, Sam is invited to speak in churches across the country, and has written multiple books on Jewish evangelism, discipleship and the Feasts of Israel.
For more information and resources, or to invite Sam to speak at your church, visit: wordofmessiah.org.
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