Rabbi’s Reflections – Saturday, November 23, 2019
Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Before I get into what I’ve got today, I want to make a point that just occurred to me. I came across the phrase, “Success in the Kingdom of God is measured by obedience.” Anybody want to challenge that? I don’t really want to challenge it, but I would like to add a thought.
Now I’m quoting myself… “Success in the Kingdom of God is measured by submission.” Submission is similar to obedience. It just provides a slightly different twist. The out-working (end product or result) of submission is obedience. We can know Scripture (Satan knows Scripture) and have no power. Our power is in direct proportion to our submission to God’s Word. (Satan’s problem is that he is not submitted.)
One last connection. Submission is connected to humility. Not my will, but Thy will be done. James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of Adonai, and He shall lift you up.” Thank you for reading. That was a bonus at no extra charge. Now let’s start the RR for today….
Here is the article link. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5619487,00.html I can have a field day with this. Many thanks to rabbi Tuvia Singer for providing so many quotes filled with enough errors that I could only write on the errors in what he said until the end of the year. (Okay, that’s only 5 1/2 weeks from now. But still…)
In this article, Tuvia Singer is fulfilling his ministry to Jewish people. He makes his living by making Messianic Jews out to be demonic to the wider Jewish community, then they give him money to fight us. He’s losing, thank God. He does try to demonize Messianic Jews in this article. This is similar to Rav Shaul (Paul) before he had his Damascus road experience. May Tuvia also be blessed with a Damascus Road experience.
Many orthodox rabbis (and very prominent ones) disagree with Tuvia Singer. They believe that a Jewish person is a Jewish person, regardless of what he/she may or may not believe. They rightly teach that a Jewish person cannot believe or do anything that makes them less Jewish.
Then there is this pasted without permission from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy-Jill_Levine. Amy-Jill Levine (born 1956) is E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Department of Religious Studies, and Graduate Department of Religion.
She has authored or co-authored about 15 books on various topics, most of them on some aspect of New Testament faith. She herself is practicing orthodox Judaism but told two of us in a private meeting that she is actually agnostic. She has not decided if there is a God. Note: I didn’t know if I should capitalize the “G.” As you can see, I decided yes.
Not much has changed in 2,000 years. I was just reading about the martyrdom of Stephen earlier this morning. He was martyred at the hands of the ruling rabbis of his day. But Stephen received a standing ovation from Yeshua, and his spirit never touched the ground. His body did, but his spirit went immediately to be forever with the Lord.
I was going to write more, but I’ve run out of time. Maybe on Monday I’ll write about the meaning of the Messianic symbol. This was briefly addressed in the article with a quote from rabbi Singer. Please pray for the salvation of all Israel. “Kol Yisrael L’Vasha,” meaning “all Israel will be saved.” Romans 11.