After much goading by yours truly, Jeremiah Michael is blogging: All Things Apostolic
Welcome to my blog, this blog called ‘All things Apostolic’ is about the Apostles, but more than that, it’s a place where I will, God willing, jot down my studies and thoughts on all things Apostolic, Torah, Jewish, and Christian. I hope you enjoy it!
Jeremiah is a fine young mind, studious and well-grounded in Messiah. Having followed many of his postings and musings on Facebook, and having met him in person, I can vouch for Jeremiah’s love for Messiah, Judaism and Christianity. Now that his writings have broken free of the walled garden that is Facebook, I think you all will find his writings to reflect a wisdom beyond his years.
Oh, did I mention his dad runs prominent Messianic organization First Fruits of Zion? That means Jeremiah gets to leech off the great minds and historical books and materials hoarded by that organization, all the more benefit for you fine blog readers.
He’s put out a flurry of posts to begin:
- Words of Eternal Life – Interesting comparison likening Rabbi Tarphon’s words in Midrash Sifre with Peter’s words to Yeshua in John.
- Adventures with the Apostles: Thaddeus – I really liked this one. Jeremiah highlights the intriguing story of Thaddeus, as recorded in the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus:
Thaddeus went to Abgarus; and having found him in health, he gave him an account of the incarnation of Christ, and baptized him, with his entire house. And having instructed great multitudes, both of Hebrews and Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians, he baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having anointed them with the holy perfume; and he communicated to them of the undefiled mysteries of the sacred body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered to them to keep and observe the law of Moses, and to give close heed to the things spoken by the Apostles in Jerusalem. For year by year they came together to the Passover, and again he imparted to the Holy Spirit.
- Select Poetry from Denise Levertov – poetry from Denise Levertov, daughter of Hasidic follower of Messiah, early Messianic Jewish pioneer P.P. Levertov:
As a devout Christian my father took delight
And pride in being (like Christ and the Apostles) a Jew.
It was Hasidic lore, his heritage,
He drew on to know
The Holy Spirit as Shekinah. - Yeshua is not a messiah – While some suggest there is a messiah type in every generation, Jeremiah argues for the ultimate Messiahship of Yeshua.
Great start! Welcome, Jeremiah, to the blogosphere! Go send some traffic his way, fine blog readers.
YES!! THATS MY BRO!! Awesome. Thanks for letting us know Judah. This is good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've been blogging, but my views are considered heretical by Christians and Messianics, so my blogs are for Jews about Judaism. No missionary garbage either, dare I say. So therefore I have not publicized it to Messianics.
ReplyDeleteMy main point of contention against Christian and Messianic theology is that it does not believe what the Tanakh says about eternal life, nor that same view which is reiterated by Rabi Yehoshua` quite plainly in Luke 10 (not that I consider any of the Greek nor Peshitta-Armaic texts to be trustable, nor am I completely comfortable with Syriac texts). The earliest extant Church historian, Eusebius, documented (EH III.xxvii.4-6) that the original Netzarim accepted only the Tanakh as the Scriptures and they accepted only "their own" Hebrew Matithyahu (which does not exist nor has been discovered today) as an authentic account of the life and teachings of Rabi Yehoshua`.
The "NT" wasn't even written until 4 centuries after the death of Rabi Yehoshua`.
There are thousands of redactions in the earliest extant source manuscripts of "NT".
Because of people still looking to corrupted books in the "NT" as theological proofs, they have rejected the plain fact of the Tanakh that for an Israelite a place in `olam haba (eternal life) is found by obeying the Torah in love for the Creator and one's fellow. This is the core and foundation of the halakha of Hhakham Hillel whose halakha is the basis of all Orthodox Jewish halakha; and we can even show Rabi Yehoshua` believed and taught such since his teaching on this matter has survived in Luke 10:25-28. Anyone interpreting differently from other "NT" sources are either understanding them completely wrong or the sources they're looking at are product anti-Judaistic corruption.
Also, anyone with basic logic would plainly know that saying anything contrary to Rabi Yehoshua`'s teaching in Luke 10:25 would be going against Rabi Yehoshua`. Unfortunately, Messianics by and large don't seem to agree with this teaching. On the other hand, Jews who seek the whole Torah with their entirety not only believe it but practice it--and surely do have a place in `olam haba, eternal life, by the Tanakh which says so in multiple places and by the good old life-giving teachings of Rabi Yehoshua` and Hhakham Hillel (Hillel Pharisaic Judaism) which teach this as the foundation of Torah observance.
Although most would like to avert from this, the plain fact is that for an Israelite, keeping the Torah out of love for the Creator, with all one's ability, is the formula for eternal life. For gentiles (and this is the reason for the "trust in Yeshua` and be saved" verses), Rabi Yehoshua` is a Rabi to believe in (believe in him--his Torah teachings) and begin progressing to full Torah observance. The reason Rabi Yehoshua` extended this to gentiles was not so all would become Israelites, it was that the tribes of Israel who never returned from Assyrian exile (and thus incorporated into the gentiles, becoming gentiles) would be able to return. That is why the talmidim of Rabi Yehoshua` were to go out into the goyim teaching the Torah teachings of the Pharisaic Rabi Yehoshua` (these teachings included halakhoth and Kabbalah) and to draw back not random gentiles, but lost Israelites who had become gentiles.
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ReplyDeleteEntering into the Kingdom of Heaven is just this. No one can enter into the Kingdom of HaShem right now, because its not at hand. The Kingdom of HaShem is not "Heaven" or the "`olam haba/next world"--it is the Kingdom of HaShem on this earth, as it was in King David's day--all 12 tribes restored to the Land of Israel and observing the full Torah.
Who are the forerunners of this? Observant Jews who are living in the Land of Israel. I got news for you, just as Exodus 23 says, Metatron/Shomrenu/Our Keeper/Malakh HaShem/Yehoshua` goes before Israel to destroy the inhbitants of the Land and brings redemption. What does that mean? Metatron/Yehoshua` was with the Jewish people (who did not believe in "Jesus") and were restored to the Land. This was because of national repentance after the Holocaust. These Jews were "saved" both on this earth and for life in the next world--why? Not because they said a prayer that they think Jesus was Messiah-NO! That they made teshuva to the Torah!
No one goes wrong in believing in HaShem and obeying the Torah in the motive of love and fear of Him. Anyone saying otherwise is working detrimental both to Rabi Yehoshua`'s purpose, the Torah's purpose, and the purpose of the faithful Israelites--the Jewish people.
Unfortunately, since the offer of the Kingdom of HaShem was rejected when Rabi Yehoshua` lived, over the past 2k years Ephraim has not been able to return to Judah, but Edom (Rome; Christianity) has continued to enslave Ephraim within its religion, Chrsitianity, and has been able to hold captive the Jewish people in exile; but not able to hold the Jewish people captive in their religion, although this happened by forced conversions and Jewish assimilation in part.
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ReplyDeleteWhat I'm saying is that observant Jews in this day are the Light of the World, emulating the entire Torah--they are the same as Rabi Yehoshua` was when he was on this earth. What I'm also saying is that there are Israelites among the gentiles that need to come out and join themselves with the Jewish people. Zechariah 8:23 shows how it should be done, and Ezekiel 37 tells us the tree of Yosef is placed UPON the tree of Judah (the Jewish people), Judah is the trunk of the three by which lost Israelite branches are re-instated.
This means while many Messianics are in a process, they are in error by creating a new religion and philosophy which defies Orthodox Judaism. Surely Rabi Yehoshua` taught nothing like Masorti/Conservative Judaism (which some branches of Messianism sometimes go above and beyond in certain observances, yet others do not), and even less so like the Reform movement (which is on par with some Messianic branches). Rabi Yehoshua` was an early Pharisaic Rabi who, like Hhakham Hillel had Essene associates and counterparts. In essence and core belief, the Pharisees and Essenes were not opposing, they had once been the same thing. The Essenes were known for their spiritual teachings which they majorly preserved from the Oral Tradition. This is from which Kabbalah is formed. Contemporary Judaism is mainly a continuation of Pharisaic Judaism, but also of Essene Judaism in part.
Without getting to far into that, what I'm saying is that the Kingdom of HaShem is not far from being restored, lost Israelites who have been embracing the Edomite mockery and idol need to avert to embracing Rabi Yehoshua` and his Torah which exists within Judaism.
Rabi Yehoshua` understood this greatly. He relays this understanding in the parable of the prodigal son. The funny thing is, most Two-House Messianics will admit this is speaking of Judah (the Jewish people) and the lost Israelites who'd become goyim--yet they don't even believe this parable.
Messianics deny Judah (the Jewish people) have been right next to HaShem faithfully over the past 2k years. They did not believe this. Clearly, plainly, simply, Rabi Yehoshua` proves them wrong. Clearly, the lost Israelites ("Efraim") have become goyim but it is the Malakh HaShem's (Metatron/Yehoshua`) job to return them. The Messianics lie by saying Metatron lost all Israel for 2k years. HaShem would have fired him already. Instead, he kept his faithful people, Judah, and has surely brought us out of exile into the Land of Israel, will refine our less observant population in the Land, and also he will bring back the lost Israelites. The end result is that everyone will be observing Torah in the manner of Rabi Yehoshua`/Hhakham Hillel which is summed up by doing the Torah out of love for the Creator and one's fellow. Oral Tradition is non-arguable. The Karaite fallacy that has infected much of the Messianic movement only serves to set lost Israelites further back from where Metatron calls them back to.
B"H, didn't originally intend for this to be a novel. Hope everyone reads through this correctly so as not to misquote, misunderstand, or misconstrue what I'm saying.
Hey Aaron,
ReplyDeleteYou said some damning things about the Scriptures. I want to address them:
The "NT" wasn't even written until 4 centuries after the death of Rabi Yehoshua.
Biblical scholars put most of the NT in the first century. For example, secular scholars put the gospel of John at 90 CE, Matthew around 100 CE, and Luke is dated between 40-90 CE. Are you talking about something else?
You said,
There are thousands of redactions in the earliest extant source manuscripts of "NT".
There are redactions, it's true. Did you know the same is true for the Tenakh? For every 1 redaction in the apostolic Scriptures, I can give you 10 in the Tenakh. We can talk examples if you like.
I had often struggled with the idea that anti-semitic church fathers compiled the cannon that became the New Testament, knowing they probably made redactions to fit their theology. But God, praise Him, gave me some peace in this area a few years back, telling me that the Scriptures we have today are here by His hand, even with the human errors and faults.
It's rather shaking to know edits make it into the Scriptures, especially for kids like us raised on the infallibility of the Scriptures. But there is peace in knowing the truth, and knowing that it's here by God's hand.
John the Elder at Ephesus' comments are contained in Papias' early 2nd century works, and in them John notes that Mark wrote his gospel from his memories of Peter's preaching. It, along with most of the NT, was written early, possibly with 1st Thessalonians being the first. There are only a few questionable books or interpolations, and these suggest anti-gnostic inspiration to combat the movement that was largely Greek and which no Apostle was in a position to correct in their lifetime. Although they appear very late first century and some are obviously second century, many of the teachings are very sound, especially in refuting the “knowledge” crowd.
ReplyDeleteI supervise the stat counter at Nabion. I know that there only the Tenach is accepted as for doctrine, that and a comparison of the 3 synoptics. That website can be rather strong, and from an evangelical POV, shocking; but the pages dealing with textual development are based on historical quotes and textual comparisons. In all due respect, your comments seem more blanket without support. In limiting yourself to the Tenach, how do you have such a different view of Jesus than such websites that, using only the Tenach, teach him as the living temple of God?
Shalom,
David
It's funny, Aharon has such a hard time accepting any biblical manuscripts, but has no qualms accepting the historical accuracy of Eusebius and his testimony about Jewish believers.
ReplyDeleteSure, some may have only granted canonical status to the Tanakh, but many other Jewish believers accepted the canonicity of Apostolic Teaching, including the Pauline Letters.
If we have no reliable manuscripts, how can one claim to know or follow the Master? You can't. Moreover, you make his words into a lie when he promised that the Holy Spirit would be with his disciples and would "guide them into all truth."
By comparative study of Bible and Jewish Rabbinical theology, I had known that Jesus is the same Angel of Presence, Metatron, in Jewish tradition. I am happy that I see you know this truth, as well. I do not think that Metatron was once created, rather he has been with HaShem ever. HaShem created the universe through him, as Jewish tradition says "Lesser HaShem".
ReplyDeleteHaShem bless!
A.F.