The Feast of Shavuot, known as Pentecost in the Church world is the same Feast, the one emphasizing seven weeks after the First Fruits Feast of Passover week and the other Fifty Days after First Fruits or Resurrection Sunday. The …
I Am Not A Non-Jew
These words were spoken as a mild rebuke by a pastor friend some years ago. Since that time, I have not spoken of Christians from the nations as non-Jews. What was his point? He explained. “My identity is a positive …
Do We Want The Jews To Disappear?
I am burdened about the destiny of 100,000 to 200,000 Jews in the Churches of North America. Do they continue to maintain any serious Jewish identity and transmission of that identity to their children? Sometimes those in the Messianic Jewish …
The Quest for Jewish Authenticity
The two most noteworthy developments in the Kingdom of God over the last 50 years are evangelistic progress in the Southern Hemisphere and the emergence of the Messianic Jewish Congregational Movement. By comparison with the growth of Christianity, the Messianic …
The Cave and the Shadows
What does Plato’s well known analogy on reality have to do with the Church and Messianic Judaism? Plato described life in a cave with its dim lights and shadows as an analogy for those who live in the world of …
Zionism And Justice
Ten or so years ago I walked into an airport bookstore and saw Jimmy Carter’s (then) new book on Israel and the Palestinians. At the time, there was been quite a commotion over this book. Carter used the word ‘apartheid’ …
Re-Interpreting Scripture
Some years ago, I was asked to review two books that have a very negative slant on the modern State of Israel. I wrote a lengthy letter to one of the authors and have had extensive dialogue with the brother …
Building a Fence Around the Torah
The famous rabbinical maxim to “build a fence around the law” was originally published in the Talmudic tract, Pirque Avot (Ethics of the Fathers). The basic thinking is as follows: We do not want to violate the Torah. If we …
Enforcing Standards
The Inability to Enforce Standards in Western Society Certainly one of the primary characteristics of Western society is an inability to enforce standards. We see this across the board in every institution and every sector of society. The only exception …
The Replacement Theology Challenge Today
A dear friend works in a church connected to an apostolic leader who has published a book that argues for replacement theology. As most teachers who hold to this very wrong theology, he does not like to call his theology …