Weekly Bracha 22

This week in the Messianic blogosphere, plus related items.

• Lots of big stuff happening at Derek Leman’s blog this week (if you read only one, read #4):
  
  
  • 1. Jews and gentiles in a MJ discussion – Leman’s vision for Messianic Judaism: Jews returning to Yeshua. About 60 comments debating this.
    
    
  • 2. We Must Never Forget – Leman says we’ve focused too much on gentiles and Torah and too little on Jews and Yeshua.
    
    
  • 3. We Must Welcome – Leman suggests we must welcome gentiles into Messianic congregations. A huge explosion of comments erupts, in which Derek takes a beating from all sides, including a beating from his own employer, MJTI.
    
    
  • 4. On Apologies, Heated Discussions, Going Forward – Leman’s spirit is lifted as he praises God at a Messianic congregation hosting a Joel Chernoff concert. He receives apologies from some of his commenters, including his employer.
    
    
• The Torah Will Go Forth From Zion – John McKee examines in detail the prophecy “the Torah will go forth from Zion”, and the profound implications it has for Christianity and the Messianic movement. He comments that Messianic engagement of this prophecy is limited to the words of various praise songs. (Hint: Come Let Us Go Up! )
  
  
• Spare the rod – The Rosh Pina bloggers argue against spanking your children. I disagree with them, as do a number of their commenters. Interesting discussion.
  
  
• Ami Ortiz bomber feigns madness – The anti-missionary who attempted the murder of the Israeli Messianic Ortiz family feigns madness in order that he not stand trial. And it looks like he might succeed.
  
  
• Cinco de Mayo and the Jews – Rabbi Russ Resnik comments on the recent political move in the United States in which laws were introduced to crackdown on illegal immigrants. He ties it to the Torah in which we’re command to treat the alien with kindness.
  
  
• An opening letter to my Christian friends – A new Messianic blog! For his opening post, Messianic Jew Dr. Schiffman writes a long, detailed response to Christian objection to the Messianic movement.

JBOMs

• Heaven Is Near – Visions of the Fathers
  
  
• Digging With Darren - Visions of the Fathers

Podcasts

• Interview With Paul Wilbur – Speaking of “Come Let Us Go Up”, Dr. Michael Brown’s interviewed famed Messianic praise & worship leader Paul Wilbur this week. Dr. Brown introduces Paul Wilbur by saying, 

  “Have you ever been in a real difficult spot in your life, real pressure, real weight, real burden, and you put on a praise & worship song, maybe one of your favorites by an anointed worship singer leading the way, and suddenly the whole atmosphere changes, suddenly God comes down, suddenly the heaviness is replaced by joy and hope? That's the power of anointed worship.”

  Interesting coincidence that such a thing happened to Derek Leman this past week.
  
  
  
• Textual criticism of the New Testament, the deity of Yeshua, and was Yeshua into Kabbalah? – Michael Brown tackles several issues pertinent to the Messianic movement.