My visit to a Messianic service yesterday

[mfblume]

Messianic Christians are very sincere and honestly want to please the Lord, but in my estimation they are the classic legalists. Not all, but many of them do not even regard Paul's writing since they know he spoke against their customs.

Those of them who do recognize Paul's writings believed Paul preached against a twisted version of the Law that Moses and God never intended. They are wrong on that count, too. Paul flatly stated the things Moses wrote about living by works of the law were part of a law that was nailed to the cross.

We need to pray for them that Paul's revelation of the law and the cross really is opened up to them as true light!

[Rudy]

What is a Jew? Why the fascination with a people and a religious system that failed.

A sister bragged about her son converting to Judaism. I told her Judaism is anti-christ. She replied he's not like that!!

Oh my!! LOL.

We that are in Christ are Abraham's seed.

To be a Jew by some is to be from the tribe of Judah, to follow Judaism and/or whose mother is a Jew.

Messianic Jews--What in the world????

[ILG]

Wow, KBTW! How interesting. It is nowhere I would want to land, but it is always interesting to me to see what other people do!

[Michael The Disciple]

Messianic Jews--What in the world????

Jews that accept Yeshua as their Messiah. Boast not against the root.

[mfblume]

It's so good they see Jesus is Messiah!!!

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by mfblume

Messianic Christians are very sincere and honestly want to please the Lord, but in my estimation they are the classic legalists. Not all, but many of them do not even regard Paul's writing since they know he spoke against their customs.

Those of them who do recognize Paul's writings believed Paul preached against a twisted version of the Law that Moses and God never intended. They are wrong on that count, too. Paul flatly stated the things Moses wrote about living by works of the law were part of a law that was nailed to the cross.

We need to pray for them that Paul's revelation of the law and the cross really is opened up to them as true light!

You are right in that many of them don't like Paul's teachings. I have had friends for many years who are Messianic, and we have gone around and around with long discussions, and have come to an agreement to agree to disagree. You have hit the nail on the head about Paul's teachings. They generally stay in the book of Matthew for the NT, and the OT.

My question to them is this - why did the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 pull 3 laws out of the 10 commandments and Torah as the only necessity for the Gentiles to keep? They generally don't have an answer for why the Sabbath was not included in that list.

My feeling is that many of the Messianics have tired of the brand of Christianity they were a part of, and felt like they have found something that surely must be genuine. They are very sincere people doing their best to please the Lord. I see that they have focused on a tree instead of seeing the whole forest or in other words - they are focusing on "law" instead of seeing the grace brought to us at Calvary.

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by ILG

Wow, KBTW! How interesting. It is nowhere I would want to land, but it is always interesting to me to see what other people do!

Well, I am also considering this. There is a Mennonite congregation that meets in a town close by, and we frequent a store that they own. I've never been to a Mennonite meeting, and am considering visiting there next. lol!

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by Rudy

What is a Jew? Why the fascination with a people and a religious system that failed.

A sister bragged about her son converting to Judaism. I told her Judaism is anti-christ. She replied he's not like that!!

Oh my!! LOL.

We that are in Christ are Abraham's seed.

To be a Jew by some is to be from the tribe of Judah, to follow Judaism and/or whose mother is a Jew.

Messianic Jews--What in the world????

Unfortunately, my Messianic gentile friends told me that many of their former Baptist friends, who became messianic, have now converted to Judaism, and no longer believe in the Messiah. That is what I find horrifically sad. My Messianic friends were also horrified at such a thing, but I explained to them, that once you begin to immerse yourself too much in a culture that doesn't believe Jesus is the Messiah, that can be a sad byproduct of that relationship.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

Unfortunately, my Messianic gentile friends told me that many of their former Baptist friends, who became messianic, have now converted to Judaism, and no longer believe in the Messiah. That is what I find horrifically sad. My Messianic friends were also horrified at such a thing, but I explained to them, that once you begin to immerse yourself too much in a culture that doesn't believe Jesus is the Messiah, that can be a sad byproduct of that relationship.

Very good words you gave to those folks.

[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by Lafon

IMHO there simply CANNOT be a TRUE "Messianic" Christian, that is to say, Jews who have believed in Christ Jesus as the promised "Son of God," for the TRUE descendants of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been rendered utterly incapable of recognizing or acknowledging Him as such!

Instead some of these descendants of Israel have been deceived into accepting what might rightly be called a "pseudo" Christ, that is, "another Jesus" as Paul wrote about in II Corinthians 11:3-4.

Please consider the following proclamations from God concerning Israel's state during the time that His judgment of gross spiritual blindness would rest upon their minds, and which effectively prevents them from proper discernment between truth and error, good and evil:

"The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee." (Deuteronomy 28:28-29).

God, through the words of His prophet Jeremiah, warned the rebellious Jews when this "curse" would be imposed upon them, saying, "... in the day of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 8:12).

We discover the actual imposition of this prophesied "curse" being rendered by the Lord Jesus Christ, when an occasion arose as He was about to enter into the city of Jerusalem, paused, and said, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But NOW they are hid from thine eyes ... because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation" (see Luke 19:41-44).

At that moment God imposed a "spiritual" blindness upon that generation of Jews, a judgment which has remained in effect to the present day, and will continue in effect until His promised second "visit" (with limited exceptions, of course, that I will briefly mention).

This judgment of gross spiritual blindness did NOT mean that the ability of ever Jew was immediately rendered incapable of discerning between good and evil, truth and error, rather it meant that by the death of every member of that generation, then ALL Jews thereafter would experience its full impact. This is why we find Pater, in his first sermon, warning his Jewish audience, saying to them, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:40). Peter knew very well that after that present generation had passed away, then NO Jews thereafter could be saved. Such is the situation the present-day Jew is confronted with.

There is to come a moment in the future, when the period commonly known as the "times of the Gentiles" has come to its end, at which time the same judgment of gross "spiritual" blindness will be imposed upon every unrepentant Gentile (see Lamentations 1:21-22). At that time God will again turn His attention back to the Israeli people, even choosing 12,000 of them from each of their 12 tribes, and will cause them to be "sealed ... in their foreheads" (see Revelation 7:3-9); implying that these will be "sealed," just as have been, with the Holy Ghost. These will, of course, also be water baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus," and become one of the "two witnesses" mentioned in Revelation 11:3 (comprised of both Jew and Gentile) who will prophesy for 1,260 days before being slain by the Anti-Christ and his deceived followers.

Much more could be said about these things, however, in writing this I pray that it be understood that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a "true" descendant of Israeli, at least at the present time, to possess a proper understanding of the identity of the "Son of God," that is, the same Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whom we have believed and been "sealed" with His Spirit and baptized in the waters of baptism "in his name." Therefore it MUST be concluded that the so called Messianic Christianity is nothing more tban a pseudo religion, and must be shunned.

As stated, In My Humble Opinion, submitted for your consideration of its merits.

How far does that extend?
Could a person who is half Jew be saved?
What about 1/4 or 1/32?
Where is the cut-off?