Many Christian beliefs about Jesus aren't Jewishly heretical

Yisrael Eliashiv (@shevereshtus), an excellent Orthodox Jewish follow on X/Twitter and author at MagenYehudi, on Jewish beliefs about the Messiah.

"Are any of these positions, that Mashiach will descend from the clouds, be an entirely new created being instead of a human being, an angelic creature, predates the creation of the world, any less “controversial” than stating that Mashiach can possibly come from the dead? Yet they are all sourced in our Torah, presented as possibilities, and obviously not all of them will come to fruition. Still, no one who believes in them can be considered a heretic, G-d forbid."

He gives lengthy evidence that seemingly heretical views about Messiah, such as:

• The Messiah will descend from the clouds
• The Messiah will be an entirely new creation, not merely a human being
• The Messiah will be angelic
• The Messiah predates the creation of the world
• The Messiah will die, be resurrected, and then be crowned king over the Jews
• The Messiah will come from the dead (e.g. a resurrected King David or other prophet)
• The Messiah will come with a retinue of angels

...are not Jewishly heretical. They may be wrong, he argues, but they are not heresy. He shows Jewish sages and thinkers throughout history who have held these beliefs because they are rooted in Torah and Talmud.

His goal with these claims is to show that Chabad Meshichists (that is, Orthodox Jews who believe the 20th century Rabbi Schneerson to be the Messiah) are not heretics for accepting some of these high views about Messiah.

But his statements are important to me because followers of Yeshua have often been accused of believing non-Jewish things about Messiah. 

When we say Yeshua will come on the clouds of heaven, it is often seen as idolatry. "The Messiah is just a man, not some demigod from heaven!" When we say Messiah existed before the world was created, it is seen as heresy and we are accused of being idolaters of the highest order. But as Shevereshtus shows, these views about Messiah are sourced from the Tenakh itself.

And we shouldn't be surprised by the similarity between these Jewish views of Messiah and Christianity. Christianity was at its foundation a Jewish faith.

That's not to say Christians are A-OK by Jewish standards. We're not. Despite surprisingly high views of Messiah in Jewish history, the Christian understanding is higher still: We believe Messiah to be the divine son of God, not a created being, a person and appearance of God himself. That's heresy according to modern Judaism! But it's worth understanding where the line between Judaism and Christianity is really drawn.

Shevereshtus also notes differing views on whether Messiah will live forever.

The Rambam records that some people expect Mashiach to live forever, and other traditions emphasize this, but he himself holds that this will not be the case. He believes that the Messianic Era might last thousands of years, though we’ve seen considerable disagreement regarding how long it will last before the World to Come comes to fruition. He believes the resurrected will die again, while others like the Ramban and others maintain that the resurrection will continue in perfected bodies. The Rambam believes the World to Come will be entirely spiritual, while the Ramban and others hold it will be in a perfected physical world. The Rambam claims that Mashiach will clarify tribal ancestry, while the Mishnah in Eduyot says Eliyahu will be in charge of this. The revelation of Mashiach himself, whether it will be a supernatural event or natural, is swept aside by the Rambam, who only mentions a natural revelation without miracles associated with a figure descending from Heaven with a retinue of angels in tow.

It gets a bit dicey when the Rambam states that if the presumed Mashiach is killed, he is excluded as having been Mashiach. He might have been a presumed Mashiach, but was not definitely Mashiach. This seems to contradict both verses in Torah and statements in the Talmud and Midrash, but it can be easily explained by his use of the word killed rather than died. Picking specific opinions from the Talmud and saying this is how things will unfold is one thing. To say that something the Gemara presents in both Bavli and Yerushalmi as a possibility is, in fact, not a possibility at all is something else entirely.

Ultimately, none of those disagreements matter. According to the Rambam’s own 12th Principle and introduction to the 10th chapter of Sanhedrin, details about Mashiach and the Messianic era, as long as they are rooted in the teachings of our Sages, might be wrong but certainly are not heresy.

This reminds me of an interaction recorded in the New Testament. The great Jewish sage R. Gamliel addresses the Sanhedrin,

Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.  

Gamliel is saying, "Look, remember all those men who claimed to be Messiah? They died and came to nothing."

That seems to suggest Gamliel shared the same view Rambam held centuries later: that a Messiah who is killed is disqualified from being Messiah.

It seems Yeshua's disciples, too, held this view. When Yeshua is put to death by the Romans, do the disciples celebrate and go around spreading Christianity? No! They go into hiding assuming they too will be killed for supporting a false messiah. His chief disciple famously denies even having known him. 

Perhaps fresh in the minds of the disciples was R. Gamliel's words: if Yeshua isn't Messiah, then he'll be killed and his movement come to nothing, just like all the other failed messiahs.

Shevereshtus notes that Rambam's view that dying disqualifies a Messianic candidate seems to be contrary to Torah, Talmud, and Midrash. He resolves it by distinguishing between a Messiah who is killed and a Messiah who died.

We Christians too use such a distinction but in a different way. 

A Messiah who is dead is no Messiah at all. The disciples thought this too. Christianity would not exist today if Yeshua died and stayed dead. The disciples and the early Christians genuinely believed they saw, experienced, walked with Messiah who had been killed. He was the risen Messiah: God raised Yeshua from the dead, vindicating his Messianic claims.

Some Thoughts on America's Mid-Term Elections by Aaron Hecht

 

I am writing this blog in my living room a few hours after waking up to see the results of the mid-term elections in the United States.

I have many thoughts and feelings running through my heart and mind as I scroll through the headlines, most of which are deeply personal and wouldn't be of much interest to my readers.

But here's a few thoughts that are not so personal to me and which you might find interesting and or helpful.

To start off, I am not any more worried about the future of Israel, or my own personal future, after this election then I was before it. Israel is a project of the Kingdom of the Lord God Jesus Christ, and it's not going to fail because of anything happening in this physical world.

Many people believe that America is indispensable to Israel's existence, and that without American support, Israel will not survive.

This is not the case, and I could write an entire book explaining why.

But for now, it's enough to say that if America stops supporting Israel, or even if it turns decisively against Israel, as many European countries already have, that will not be catastrophic. In fact, an unpopular opinion I hold to is that this is something that NEEDS to happen for Israel to stop looking for help from earthly kingdoms like the United States and the European Union and instead seek assistance from the God of their Fathers.

Not the RELIGION of their Fathers, but the GOD of their Fathers.

You'll be happy to know, gentle reader, that this is already beginning to happen, and I think recent electoral events both here in Israel and in the US will serve to push that along even more.

Regarding America's future, I am also not overly concerned with this one election, because many of the people who voted for Democrats in this election voted for Republicans in the last one, and if they changed their minds once they can change their minds again. If any Republicans reading this blog need to be cheered up, I will say that in my humble opinion, you've got a VERY good chance of keeping the White House in 2028 and maybe even gaining back control of one or both houses of Congress.

Once again, I could write a whole book telling you my reasons why, but for now, I'll just say that politics is a game where winning can create all kinds of new problems and losing sometimes helps you solve some of your old problems.

So, those are the things I'm NOT worried about, for either Israel's sake or America's.

Here's what I AM worried about, for America's sake.

The Bible was on the ballot in this election, and it was RESOUNDINGLY rejected.

I'm not talking about "Christian Nationalism" which SHOULD be rejected because it's a form of idoloatry (more on that in a bit) I'm talking about the Bible.

It is incorrect to say that "America is a Christian nation" but it used to be correct to say that America is a country where the Bible was the most important foundational pillar of cultural influence.

America's traditional support for Israel was a manifestation of this Biblical foundation in American culture, starting with President Harry Truman's extension of diplomatic recognition of the newly born Jewish State just a few minutes after David Ben Gurion Declared Independence on May 14th, 1948, up to this present moment.

But in this most recent election, many fiercely anti-Israel candidates were elected in races around the United States, with the most high-profile being the new Senator from Michigan, Dr. Abu El-Sayed. 

But this "blue wave" also included some self-described "Christians" like Texas Senator-elect James Talarico, whose selective and conditional support for Israel should surprise no one given his selective and conditional relationship with the Bible and the God it describes. I would take that a step further and describe the kind of Christianity Talarico practices as nothing but agnostic secular humanism overlayed with a thin veneer of traditional Christian nomenclature and vocabulary.

That did not prevent him from being elected as the new Senator from Texas, and there were other examples of this same phenomenon in many other traditionally "red" States and districts.

To be fair and comprehensive on this point, some of the most popular influencers on the political Right in America, such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, have also gone off the deep end regarding their obsessive expressions of contempt and vitriol for Israel, and this is actually a key element in their own expressions of "Christian Nationalism." 

In particular, Carlson has chosen to regard Christian supporters of Israel his most bitter ideological enemies. He also makes no secret of his belief that the Book of Esther has no business being in the Bible and he has contemptuously dismissed efforts to call his attention to other passages in both the Old and New Testament which contradict his positions.

What Tucker Carlson and James Talarico have in common is that they both treat the Bible like a salad bar, taking the parts they like and ignoring the parts they don't like while pointing to a non-Biblical "jesus" as their Lord.

In both cases, the "jesus" they're both worshiping is not the "Jesus" described in the Bible but rather he's a composite made up of a collection of ideological beliefs and positions and ideas that they themselves hold to. In other words, the "jesus" they worship is a figment of their own imaginations and thus, an idol.

In case no one ever explained it to you, an "idol" and it can also be literally ANYTHING a person looks to for their identity, their hope, or their security.

That is as true for a modern American Democrat worshipping "woke jesus" or a modern American Republican worshipping "MAGA jesus" as it was for an ancient Philistine worshipping "Dagon" or an ancient Greek worshipping "Zeus."

It is also true, just by the way, for a modern Israeli or Christian Zionist who is worshipping "King Bibi" and/or the Golden Calf of Modern Orthodoxy.

Brothers and sisters, please hear me.

The ONLY hope for America, or Israel, or Europe, or anywhere else, is the big-G "God" described in the Bible, and that means ALL of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament. All of it.

As Psalm 33:12 says "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance."

To our modern ears this sounds redundant, but the meaning is clear that the nation who worships the TRUE God that the Bible describes instead of one of the many other small-g "gods" that so many people have been worshipping all through history, will be blessed. I believe the opposite is also true, that any nation whose object of worship is NOT the TRUE God described in the Bible will NOT be blessed, but cursed, or just left to its own devices, which is essentially the same thing.

So, if you're reading this as you're in shock and mourning over the results of the mid-term elections in the United States, or the recent Knesset elections in Israel, or the elections they had last month in Brazil, or any other election anywhere else, what I can tell you is that the way to get to a better place is to open up the Bible and read it. Pray EARNESTLY into what you're reading in that Book and then get into regular fellowship with others who read the Bible and pray.

Repent individually and corporately, of the errors you've made, the idols you've put your faith, hope and trust in, the false doctrines you've held to which contradict the Bible (remembering that the Holy Spirit will never "reveal" anything that contradicts the written Scriptures) and any other sinful behavior you've slipped into, even unintentionally.

Stop chasing "prosperity" and earthly possessions, political power, book and merch sales, prestige and all that other nonsense and instead pursue righteousness.

That's the winning strategy you're looking for.

That's the way you can become a force for good that no earthly force can withstand, even a blue wave, or a red wave, both of which can be here today and gone tomorrow.

That's what I've got for you this week brothers and sisters. I hope it blesses someone.

Some Thoughts After Israel's Latest Election by Aaron Hecht

On Tuesday morning, which was election day here in Israel, I had a special problem. It was the first election I'd be voting in where it wouldn't be possible to take a cute picture of my children helping me vote, because they've "been there and done that" and it's not exciting for them anymore and they didn't want to. Happily, my furry little four legged daughter (or as some might say, my "dog") is still eager to go with me wherever I go and do whatever I have planned for us to do together. But when there's long lines of people waiting to vote, everyone is impatient and no one has time to let a guy take a picture, so if one wants to take such a picture, one must try to go vote at a time when there won't be a lot of people there impatiently waiting in line.

In order to ensure the success of my mission, I thought it best to go vote as early as possible, and the polls opened at 7AM, so I was dressed and out the door by 7:12 AM and I got to the polls (which are at the school where my sons attend, just a short walk from our apartment) at 7:19AM.

But here's where my plans began to fall apart.

Y'see, although it was the crack of dawn, and people had all day to vote, and the traditional thing is to sleep in on election day and take one's time getting to the polls since they're open until 10PM and there's no rush, on Tuesday morning, at 7:19AM, the halls of the school where I'd be casting my ballot were already filled with people. It wasn't a "large crowd" but it was way more than I'd ever seen before at the polls so early in the morning. Right then, at that moment, I knew this election would be different from all other elections, and there would be lots of surprises when it came time to start counting the ballots.

In the meantime, my daughter was a big hit with my fellow citizens, especially the people who had brought their children, who are all probably now bugging their parents to let them have a dog (dogs are VERY good for the emotional development of a child, in case no one ever told you that). In the end, a lady who lives in my building who was there to vote took the picture for us and no one expressed any impatience. But the lines were already getting long as I left the school at 7:32 AM, and I went home to tell my wife that this election would NOT be going the way all the pollsters had said it would.

She replied by saying "okay" and then putting her head back down on the pillow and going back to sleep.

She's very calm and not easily alarmed, which is one of the reasons I married her, so she could balance me out.

Later in the morning, she took our youngest son to go with her to vote, and a good time was had by all.

As the day progressed, I got several assignments to write things for different clients (a freelancer NEVER gets paid time off) and even if I didn't need to for work, I would have checked in on the news sites regularly to see the results as they came in. As I had thought would be the case after seeing the early morning crowds at my own polling place, the turnout was much higher than anyone had been expecting. I knew that this would throw off the math and that some of the parties which had been hovering just over the electoral threshold of 3.25% wouldn't be making it into the Knesset.

Now, a few days have passed, most of the dust has cleared and t looks like we've got some final results.

The bloc of parties led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has 53 seats, the bloc led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot which was hoping to depose Netanyahu and usher in a new era in Israeli politics has 48 seats and the two Arab parties have 19 seats, more than they've ever had before.

Regular readers of this blog have almost certainly seen or heard a fair amount of commentary about all this, but in case you haven't, here's a video from my friend Barry Segal in which he tells us how it is. Don't worry about the grim look on his face in the video thumbnail, he was just trying to be serious and that's how it turned out.

My own thoughts as I prepare for the first Shabbat after the Israeli elections and the last Shabbat before America's mid-term elections next week is that these results are definitely not what I was predicting and they're VERY sub-optimal. I mean, literally NO ONE got what they wanted out of this election, and we'll probably have to have another election in a few weeks which may or may not produce a result which will lead to the formation of a stable governing coalition.

Now is a REALLY bad time for Israel to not have a stable governing coalition, because we're probably going back to war with Iran before the end of the year.

Another thought I have it that is WAS, (sadly) predictable that there would be accusations of foul play when the Arab parties got the largest number of seats they ever got in an Israeli election because the Arab public (which is 20% of Israel's population, in case no one ever told you that) voted in numbers they'd never voted in before.

The narrative I'm seeing being pushed by Netanyahu-friendly influencers (what we used to call "talking heads") is that Qatar sent a bunch of money to Israeli Arab community leaders so they could use it to bribe Arab citizens to vote.

There are just two things I'll say about that.

First, there is ZERO evidence at this point to indicate that there's any truth whatsoever to this narrative, and the people making these accusations know it, but they're talking about it as if it's self-evidently true.

Second, even if it IS true, Israeli political parties, especially Likud, have been taking enormous amounts of money from Jewish and more recently Christian donors in America and Europe for decades and making no secret of it. If you ever read Ariel Sharon's memoirs, he tells the story about how he spent months in America raising money to help set up the Likud Party back in the mid-1970s. That pattern of fund-raising continues to this day.

So, for Likud and their friends to now start bemoaning "foreign influence" in Israel's elections is deeply dishonest and almost comically absurd.

As a bonus, one of Netanyahu's top aides is currently under investigation for taking money from Qatar in order to try and improve that country's image in Israel. It's difficult to believe Netanyahu himself was unaware of this, so again, for him to now be accusing Qatar and the Arab parties of trying to "steal the election" is pretty rich.

I know there are some Christian Zionist supporters of Israel who are joining in this deeply dishonest effort on the part of Likud and its allies to peddle the narrative that the Arab parties "stole the election" by having the audacity to mobilize large numbers of their voters to come to the polls. If you're reading this and you're one of those people saying this, you need to repent and you need to stop doing that.

In a more general sense, I believe it is LONG past time for Christian Zionists to stop blindly and unconditionally supporting Benjamin Netanyahu. He is NOT always right, and he is DEFINITELY not always righteous. He is also not immortal, and he just turned 77 years old earlier this month. He's had at least three surgeries that we know of in the past two years and he's also undergone treatments for cancer. Even if he keeps winning elections, he is NOT going to live forever, and we have GOT to start making plans for the day after.

Speaking of plans, it'll be weeks before we know for sure who will be the next Prime Minister of Israel but it'll be just a few more days before we know who will control the US Congress for the next two years, so buckle up brothers and sisters, we've got plenty of turbulence ahead.

Some Thoughts on Man's Best Friend by Aaron Hecht

Brothers and sisters, I hope you can have some patience with me this week. There's so many terrible, frightening, disgusting, hideous, awful things going on in this world that deserve to have a blog written about them, but I am just overwhelmed by it all. I don't even know where to start or what to say.

So, with your permission, I'm going to take a break from commenting on the decay and imminent collapse of civilization this week and talk instead about one of the greatest gifts that God gave the Human Race so that we can cope with all the problems we encounter during our time in this mortal plain.

I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit, who Jesus calls the "Helper" in John 14:26. I'm talking about a visible, tangible, "helper" that I believe God specifically appointed to be the companion, teammate, sidekick, and many other things to the Human Race.

I am talking about the dog.

The word "dog" appears 40 times in the Bible and almost every one of these instances comes in a negative context of contempt or even evil. Perhaps the best known of these verses is Proverbs 26:11; As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

Then there are some of the words of Yeshua Himself, such as Matthew 7:6 where He says “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Also notable in this context is Matthew 15:26: But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”

On the other hand, the Bible also gives us several passages which tell us of how we can see evidence of God's plans and purposes in the natural world. For instance, Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Psalm 19:1–2 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.”

But my personal favorite is Job 12:7–9 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you… or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.”

In other words, God's creation contains many clues as to what He was thinking when He created it, and if we apply this principle to canines, we can see amazing love He has for us, that he created and appointed these marvelous, wonderful, snuggly, adorable, loyal, loving and above all useful creatures to be ever by our side.

(The Far Side, by Gary Larsen)

The Science Behind my Theory

Scientists have demonstrated that dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) possess genetic characteristics that no other animals have which make them uniquely suited to be companions for human beings. 

This includes the saliva and microbes found in their mouths and digestive tracts which make them able to digest grains, rice and vegetables. I believe God did that so that humans and their dogs could eat together, which is one of the most powerful ways that humans bond.

Dogs also have unique characteristics in their adrenal glands, jaw size, ear cartilage, coat pigmentation and many other things which no other species of animals have, including wolves, coyotes, foxes and other wild animals that otherwise share much of the same genes dogs have. I believe God did that so that dogs would play with their human companions and have coats that were soft enough for humans to pet and snuggle with them, and ears that would make us laugh when the dogs moved them in certain ways.

Dogs also have smaller larynxes then wolves or other canine species, so they make noises that their human companions think are cute and funny and endearing instead of scary, like the howling of wolves or the yapping of coyotes and the cackling laugh of jackals.

But for me, the most convincing proof that God created and appointed dogs to be a special companion for human beings is what biologists call the "Human–dog oxytocin bonding loop."

In simple language, the brains of dogs and humans secrete the chemical oxytocin, which is a bonding hormone, while interacting with each other, just like human infants and their parents do.

That is NOT an accident!

That is NOT evolution!

That is evidence that even before God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life, He so loved the world that He sent us dogs.

Why is Aaron Talking About This Now?

I recently watched a movie called "Heart of the Beast" which stars Brad Pitt and literally only has two other human actors in it, both for just a few minutes and a few rather unremarkable lines of dialogue. The majority of the movie is about interactions between Brad and his dog, whose name is "Odin" but who he affectionately calls "Odie" which reminds us of the dog from the Garfield comics.

I won't ruin the movie by telling you too much about it but just suffice it to say I commend this movie to you. You won't regret watching it. It will remind you why you love your dog so much if you already have one and I hope it also inspires you to get a dog if you don't have one already.

(Official Movie Poster for Heart of the Beast)

My Personal Story

"I want a dog."

This simple, four-word sentence changed my life, and the life of my family. It was the first complete sentence in the English language that my eldest son ever spoke to me and he said it at the prompting of his mother, who told him that it was time to let me know what he wanted for his upcoming birthday.

Two years previously, I had taken my family on a short vacation to a kibbutz up in the Galilee. A few moments after we got to the cabin where we would be staying during this trip, as we were unpacking our suitcases and putting clothes in the closets, a friendly golden lab casually approached the cabin door and announced her arrival with a simple "WOOF" which prompted my sons to squeal with delight and open the door so the dog could come in. For the four days we were at this kibbutz, that dog was never more than two feet away from my sons. She followed us around everywhere, wagging her tail, curling up at my sons' feet when they sat down to eat, or watch TV, sleeping on the floor in between their beds in their room at the cabin, etc.

On our last day there, as we were walking towards the bus stop to leave the kibbutz, she went with us and sat down on the ground next to my sons so they could pet her a little more as they sat on the bench and waited for the bus. After the bus arrived and we all got on board, the dog stayed in her spot at the bus stop, calmly watching us. My sons both waved goodbye to her as the bus drove away and she slowly faded out of sight.

In subsequent emails I told my friends who lived on that kibbutz about this golden lab, but none of them had ever noticed such a dog on the kibbutz before and didn't know if there were any golden labs there now. That was somewhat puzzling to me, as I compared it to my experience of living on a kibbutz in the Negev many years ago and working in the dairy farm with a man who owned a black and white border collie named Bessie. Years later I happened to spend a few hours on that kibbutz, just passing through on my way to something else, but while I was there I asked a random person I met there if Bessie was still around and this person said of course she was and led me straight to the dairy farm so I could say hello. My old boss was still there, but he didn't remember me at all, which was only fair since I'd also forgotten his name. But I remembered Bessie, and she remembered me, and she was very happy to see me.

All of that is to say, I always figured that friendly dogs would be well known on any kibbutz they were part of, but this golden lab apparently wasn't. That, and they way she'd acted while we were there, made me wonder if she was real, or if we'd imagined her, or if she was an angel, or what.

In any case, this dog made an even bigger impression on my sons than she'd made on me. In fact, without telling me, my wife encouraged my sons to pray that I would let them get a dog of their own, and they continued praying that prayer every night for the next two years. My wife never told me about that and she assumed that I would say no to the idea of getting a dog because I didn't like her sister's dog and had been very annoyed when that dog had come over to our apartment for a visit once. I had also commented on that occasion that I didn't think our landlord would be happy having a dog in the apartment, which my wife took to mean that I wouldn't be willing to even ask our landlord if we could have a dog of our own.

But then, after two years of praying and hoping, my wife decided that if my son was ever going to get the dog he wanted so badly, he had better ask me for it and she promised to help him convince me to say yes.

In the event, that's exactly what happened.

He asked me, in English, for a dog, and a few moments later, she told me that he'd been praying for a dog for two years. If that wasn't enough to convince me to say yes, she added that the counselor at school had said having a pet would be good for the emotional development of both of our children.

I took a deep breath, and promised my wife to try and convince the landlord to let us get a dog.

In the event, our landlord had no problem with the idea, so I had no more excuses.

The only question at that point was what kind of dog we'd get. After discussing a few different options, I told my wife that I'd had a Corgi when I was a kid and that was probably the only kind of dog I'd be comfortable with. She'd had a different idea but she asked my son if a Corgi would fit the bill and he said yes. A few days later, my sister-in-law saw some Corgi puppies for sale Facebook marketplace. My son took one look at the pictures and declared that he couldn't live without the one that had red fur.

A purebred corgi puppy costs NIS 8,000 and that includes a bunch of inoculations and certifications and whatnot. I had some severe sticker shock when my wife told me that, but she assured me that we could afford it and in any case, this far into the process, we had no choice. My son would be deeply traumatized if he didn't get this puppy he'd already fallen in love with and he'd be angry at me, and God, for the rest of his life. I knew my wife was right about all that, so I took another deep breath and gave the final okay.

The breeder was up in Herzliya, so my wife and son took the bus up there a couple of days later to bring the puppy home.

They came back that evening and the look on my son's face as he came in the door was simply radiant with joy. A few moments later, my wife walked in with the puppy in her arms, and I saw her for the first time and my heart melted like butter in the microwave. I forgot all about the NIS 8,000 this puppy had cost us and how I wasn't looking forward to housetraining (that part took longer and was messier than I was anticipating, but we got there eventually) and all the other nonsense.

That first evening she was home with us, I got an overwhelming feeling that I had absolutely done the right thing and that this would end up being one of the parenting decisions I would absolutely not regret. As time went on, this feeling was confirmed as this amazing little Corgi became my furry little four legged daughter and the source of immense joy and fun for my entire family.

She is "our" dog in a cosmic, eternal sense. It is no accident that she's the dog we ended up getting, and every time I look at her, I see a manifestation of God's love for us.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of this blog, there's a lot going on in this world which is scary, ugly, awful and absurd. But God has given us signs that He is still on the Throne and we can be confident of His love for us, His awareness of our needs, His intention to provide for those needs and His ultimate plans and purposes for our provision and our good.

Dogs are one of those signs, and I believe we should be very grateful for them.

That's what I've got for you this week brothers and sisters. I hope it blessed someone.

Some thoughts on Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's Upcoming Election by Aaron Hecht

Brothers and sisters, the Feast of Tabernacles is over, and we can't avoid difficult and unhappy subjects any longer.

It's time to talk about Israeli politics.

I have not been looking forward to writing this blog because the subject is kind of depressing, even by the standards of the decade we're in, which started with a pandemic and has also included the biggest land war in Europe since WWII and a massive, seemingly endless conflict here in the Middle East which might flare up again in a big way at any moment.

But there's a Knesset election coming up on October 27th and there's a lot riding on it, so here we go.

First, let's go over some basics.

For many years, Israel's supporters have repeated the mantra that it is "the only democracy in the Middle East" and that is still true. But it is also true, and no one should even try to deny it, that Israel's democratic institutions are in very bad shape. There are also many ways in which the ordinary people of this country have been made to feel like they are not being heard by their elected officials. If you've ever wondered why there's so many street demonstrations in Israel, that feeling of being unheard is a big part of the reason.

Every single one of the 120 MKs are "at large" and thus, not specifically beholden to anyone in particular. It's not like in America, Canada, or most European countries where members of Congress or Parliament come from designated districts or wards and the voters in those districts or wards can call a number and speak to someone who will brief their elected officials on what the phone call was about.

Another difference between Israel and most other Western democracies is that there is also no such thing as absentee ballots in Israel. Every voting age citizen is informed a few weeks in advance of the elections where their assigned polling place is. Often times it is the school where their children attend, which is usually within a short distance of their home address. If a citizen wants to vote, they have to come to that room, in that building, and put an actual paper ballot in an actual designated cardboard box.

If a person is out of the country on the day of an election, or even out of town (for instance, on vacation in Eilat when they live in Tiberius) they don't get to vote. It's that simple.

This old-fashioned method of voting has been ridiculed and criticized by some, but defended by others as being "unhackable" which is not an unimportant consideration in this day and age.

With all that in mind, and despite all the problems, voter turnout in Israel's national elections tends to be robust, and the election that will be held on October 27th will probably follow this pattern.

However, this coming election will be, just as the last several elections in Israel have been, a mandate on whether or not Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu should continue to be this country's Prime Minister. That is almost the only issue that's really on the ballot. There is a certain percentage of this country's voting age population who believe that no matter what issues, challenges, problems, opportunities, etc. this country faces, as long as Bibi is Prime Minister, he'll figure out how to deal with it all.

Literally, any time I try to have a conversation with any politically right of center person in this country, and I try to ask a question about any problem you can imagine, from relations with America and the EU to environmental issues, water, questions of war and peace, relations between different demographic groups in the country (Israel is VERY tribal), education, healthcare, housing, or anything else, the answer is always the same. It follows the pattern that these are indeed serious issues that require serious consideration but at the end of the day, "Bibi knows what to do about it" and that's all there is to it.

He's been in charge for so long, and things have continued to go reasonably well for most of that time, that many people simply can't imagine a problem he won't be able to solve or a challenge he won't be able to overcome. 

So all we have to do is keep voting for Likud, or one of the other Right-of-Center parties that are always willing to be part of a coalition government led by Netanyahu, and he'll take care of the rest. According to this line of thinking, we don't need to do any serious thinking or problem solving of our own, because he's got it covered.

The worst part is, that among this group, it is also generally believed that Bibi will live forever and he'll axiomatically also continue to be Israel's leader forever.

Even to the degree that I personally agree with the first part of this mentality, I obviously don't agree with that last part, and I've been telling everyone who will listen for several years now that the leadership of the Body of Messiah in Israel needs to make a plan for what we'll do on that inevitable morning when we wake up and Netanyahu is no longer with us.

He will be celebrating his 77th birthday in a few days, and he has had three surgeries in the past two years that have been publicly reported on and he has also been treated for prostate cancer. I have no proof of it but my guts tell me he's had other health issues that are being kept secret from the public, and it's hard to even blame him for that. He knows that he must appear physically strong or Israel's enemies will think the country is weak, and they'll pounce on us. He also knows that many of his own supporters have stuck with him for so long because they think he's invincible and that could change very quickly if his physical health began to noticeably deteriorate.

Still, there's no hiding his age, and that fact that he's been working 80-hours a week, week in and week out, with hardly any breaks, for many years now. Most people half his age would struggle to keep that kind of schedule up for very long. I know I couldn't do it.

But somehow he does, and he has not given us any reasons whatsoever to suspect that he's thinking about retirement.

Therefore, my personal conviction regarding Benjamin Netanyahu is that he'll be a fact of life until his physical frame gives out, and that might happen any day between tomorrow and ten years from now, or even longer. But someday it WILL happen, and I believe that when it does, a lot of things will change very quickly, for better and for worse, in Israel and all over the world.

Some of the most radical and rapid changes will come in the Knesset, which brings us back to the topic of this blog.

If Benjamin Netanyahu is still leading the Likud Party on the 27th of this month, it is very likely to win at least 25 seats in the upcoming Knesset, possibly as many as 30. It is very unclear at this point if the other Right of Center parties which are running will win enough seats to make an automatic parliamentary majority. It is also difficult to see a path towards a coalition of Left of Center parties without including the Arab parties.

That would be a hard sell to the Israeli public since these parties are unashamedly disloyal to the State of Israel as it currently exists. There is much more that could be said about this topic, but it's all outside the scope of this blog.

The bottom line is that according to the latest polls and projections, any potential coalition of Centrist and Left-of-Center parties would have a very difficult time forming a governing coalition, while Netanyahu might also have a very difficult time putting together a governing coalition with the current constellation of Right of Center parties. 

The wild card in all this is the Ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism. Shas is the party of the Sephardi Ultra-Orthodox Jews and UTJ is the party of the Ashkenazi Ultra-Orthodox Jews.

The Ultra-Orthodox parties have been, for a very long time, Netanyahu's favorite coalition partners because all he has to promise them in order to get them to join his coalition is large budgets for the schools, Yeshivas and other institutions that their communities rely on. After he gives them these things, they barely ever ask for anything else, just loyally vote for whatever he wants them to vote for and otherwise leaves the governing of the country to him.

However, in recent years, another issue has become more and more prominent and that's the IDF draft deferments that Ultra-Orthodox young men have been getting, almost as a matter of routine, for most of the past 78 years that Israel has been a modern nation state. Until about 20 years ago, give or take, this issue was an irritant for many people, but it wasn't urgent enough to cause serious problems for anyone. But starting around the mid-2000s, the unfairness of it really began to bother a lot of people and as the years went by, the practical implications of it began to also become more and more apparent. The IDF began to say that it did not have enough soldiers to carry out all the missions it was being asked to carry out, and the only large source of potentially available additional manpower is the Ultra-Orthodox community.

The steadfast refusal of the haredi rabbis to agree to a change in the status quo which would see large numbers of the young men in their community being drafted into the IDF has led to increasing anger in the non-haredi Jewish public, especially in the last three years that Israel has been in what almost everyone agrees is an existential war for survival. Tens of thousands of non-haredi Jewish men, and many women, have served for long months in the reserves, away from their families and jobs. Not a small number of them have been killed or wounded in action, and even those who were not killed or wounded suffered immense hardship, as did their families.

With this going on, it is very difficult to understand, or have much sympathy for, the continued refusal of the haredi rabbis to change their position on this matter.

Many people outside Israel, including Christian supporters of this country, have a difficult time understanding where they're coming from as well. In case you've ever wondered about it, I can recommend you read this blog. I don't endorse the author in any way, shape or form. But this particular blog explains a lot of things regarding this situation in a way that a non-haredi Israeli like myself can understand, so maybe you will find it of benefit as well.

The bottom line is that the haredi parties which Netanyahu has long relied upon to form his governing coalitions are not as safe a bet for him as they used to be and there is even a remote possibility that they will not agree to join his coalition after the coming elections unless he agrees to promise them that a bill to enshrine the IDF draft deferments of Haredi young men into law will be brought for a vote in the first few weeks of the new Knesset.

Never mind the obvious fact that the High Court of Justice has already made it very clear that such a law would immediately be voided if it is ever passed, and even if it's not voided, it will be deeply unpopular among Israeli voters, even many traditional Likud voters. That's one reason why the haredi parties are eager to assist in the neutering of the judiciary, what has in the past been referred to as "judicial reform."

Remember that term brothers and sisters, because you'll be hearing it again.

But even before that, Haredi draft evasion was an issue in previous elections, but it is likely to be a much bigger issue in the coming elections and the fact that Netanyahu will almost certainly not be able to form a governing coalition with the haredi parties will likely be a factor in how many people cast their vote.

Something that will almost certainly NOT be a factor anyone considers when they cast their ballot, is corruption.

I don't want to get too deeply into this topic because it's incredibly depressing, but the simple fact is that there are several people who are running for Knesset in the upcoming election who, at a minimum, should not be eligible to run for political office.

I don't even have to name names here. You can just ask your favorite search engine "have any Members of Israel's Knesset ever been in prison and if so, for what" and you'll see what I mean. If you want a bonus, you can ask the search engine if any of those who spent time in prison ever expressed any remorse or apologized for the crimes they committed and were convicted of.

Needless to say, Netanyahu is also on trial on several counts of fraud, corruption and breach of trust. This trial has dragged on for years. He's been testifying in his own trial for much of the last few years and he keeps having to excuse himself for urgent matters of state. It's become a running joke. I have no idea if it will have any effect on the upcoming election or not, but it might.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, I will end this blog as I started it, lamenting the deeply dysfunctional nature of Israel's democracy. I haven't even talked about local elections for mayor and city council in this blog, which is another deeply problematic ball of wax.

There is a great deal more I could tell you about the upcoming elections which would probably be of interest to regular readers of this blog, but I think I've given you enough to get some general ideas.

If you're reading this blog I assume you pray for Israel and to be absolutely candid with you, that's just about all any of us can do at this point. I will be fulfilling my civic duty by casting a ballot in this upcoming election but I haven't made up my mind yet who I'll be voting for. I've ruled out a few possibilities, and I might rule out more before getting up early on election day, as I always do, and taking the short walk to my youngest son's school so I can get it over with and get on with the business of enjoying a paid day off from work. There's always sales on election day and several of my favorite stores are also within walking distance of my home, so I plan on seeing if I can find some bargains. Maybe it'll cheer me up a little.

That's what I've got for you this week brothers and sisters. I hope it blessed someone.

Some Thoughts on Why the Nations Rage by Aaron Hecht

 

Brothers and sisters, I am writing this blog shortly before sundown on Friday afternoon. When the sun sets here in Jerusalem, it will bring in the Biblical Feast of Succot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. This Feast is one of the "moadim" or "appointed times" which God gives us in the Bible, specifically Leviticus 23:33-43.

If you haven't read the entire chapter 23 of Leviticus recently, I encourage you to do so. It'll change your life.

But in this blog, I want to talk about a different passage of Scripture that mentions the Feast of Tabernacles, and that's Zechariah 14:16-17

"And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain."

This passage is referring to the order Jesus will impose on the world during His Millennial Kingdom, after He returns to this Earth for His Second Advent. At that time, the nations of the world will be commanded to come up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. It will not just be a commandment for Jewish people; it will be a commandment for everyone.

As readers of this blog probably know, for many years now there has been a Christian Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem, mostly attended by people who want to get a head start on obeying this commandment. The first one was at Christ Church in Jerusalem's Old City in 1979. I am reliably informed by people who attended this event that the number of people who were there was just over 1,000, and in the years since, it has grown significantly.

In the last 6 years or so, since the COVID pandemic and then the Swords of Iron War, those numbers went back down quite a bit because airline tickets became very expensive and some people were also worried about their safety. But representatives from dozens of countries around the world and almost all "nations" of the earth (the words "country" and "nation" don't mean exactly the same thing, in case no one ever explained that to you) will be here in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, in obedience with God's Word.

Contrast that with what happened at the United Nations in New York City on Thursday afternoon, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stage to address the UN General Assembly meeting. Representatives of 77 countries, and I would imagine every nation of the earth, got up and walked out of the chamber before he even started speaking. It was an act of diplomatic theater, and it's something that happens almost every year at the UNGA. But this was the largest number of diplomats to ever walk out on Bibi's speech, and they knew EXACTLY what message their walkout sends to the rest of "the nations" of this world, especially when you contrast it with the respectful silence with which almost all of them listened to the Turkish President while he was using his speech to condemn Israel, not to mention the standing ovation they gave following the address of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

All of this is indicative of how little respect there is among "the nations" of this world for Israel, and by extension to God that chose the Jewish People and established the nation of Israel.

It makes me think of Psalm 2;

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”

“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him."

Brothers and sisters, please hear me.

The nations of this world are making some very bad decisions these days. Many of them are "coming against Jerusalem" and against the Anointed One of God although most of them probably don't make the connection because they're too lazy to read the material or else they read it through the prism of Replacement Theology or some other lie from the Pitt of Hell.

A tiny remnant of Bible-Believing Christians is making a different choice, and although there might be some flaws in how some of them are doing it, at least they are obeying their King instead of shamelessly rebelling against him.

If you're reading this blog, you're probably among those who would not have walked out of Bibi's speech at the UNGA.

You are probably among those who are standing with Israel and the Jewish People in this very difficult season of history. You might even be among those who are getting a head start on obeying the command from Zechariah 14:16-17. If you are, I don't want to thank you, I want you to thank yourselves. By showing up for God's will, His plans and purposes, you are making a choice that is as brave as it is correct. I know it is not an easy choice, and I have personally lost friends who I knew since childhood over the last three years that Israel has been in the headlines more than it has at any time in history, and usually not being given fair, much less friendly, coverage.

As the time draws near for the Second Advent of Yeshua (Jesus) to this world (He is prophesied to arrive on the Mount of Olives, just a down the road a bit from where I'm sitting right now) the nations will rage more and more. They will continue to shake their fists at God, and His Anointed, and the Nation He has chosen, until He returns. All we can do is pray for those who God has put on our hearts to make the right choice, and be brave ourselves and above all, remember to look up, for our redemption is coming soon.

Some Thoughts on the Flood, the Tower of Babel, AI, and Genetic Engineering by Aaron Hecht

The word "technology" and the term "genetic engineering" do not appear in the Bible. But both phenomena are vividly described.

Let's start with the story of the Tower of Babel.

If you're like most people, you probably haven't read the story about the Tower of Babel since you were a child. It almost never gets mentioned in sermons made from the pulpit of any major Christian denomination and the Jewish Rabbis don't talk about it much either, mostly because they simply don't know what to say about it.

But I have been deeply fascinated by it ever since I was a small child and lately, I've been thinking about it a lot and I believe it has EVERYTHING to do with our modern circumstances.

But before I say more about that, go ahead and read this story for yourself.

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Now, when I first read that story as a child, something about it just didn't seem to make sense for me. I thought to myself "why would the God who created this entire physical universe be worried about a bunch of human beings making a tower out of bricks made of sand and asphalt, or even an entire city built out of such materials"?

Around that time, my mother had taken me and my sister on a trip to New York City, and I had seen the massive skyscrapers there. I found it difficult to imagine that these desert people 5,000 years ago had been able to build towers that would be even that tall out of bricks and asphalt, much less something that "reached to Heaven." Furthermore, God had allowed human beings to build the Empire State Building, so why had He been so concerned about the Tower of Babel?

It was not the only thing I was reading in my children's Bible back then that I found puzzling. The Book of Genesis has several stories that include elements that sounded very strange and illogical to me. But to be fair to my 7-year-old self, at that point in my educational journey, I had not yet learned the words "allegory" or "metaphor" and I actually had not yet even been introduced to these concepts.

Now, at THIS point in my journey, I can look back on that and what I THINK (this is informed speculation on my part so please don't burn me at the stake for this) that the "Tower of Babel" that would be the centerpiece of this city that God came down to the land of Shinar and saw people building was not a literal pile of sunbaked bricks held together by asphalt.

Now let's back up for just a moment and recall where the Book of Genesis comes from.

Moses wrote that Book after spending several days talking with God face to face up on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:20) and I think it's at least plausible to believe that when God told Moses the story about what happened at the Tower of Babel (which scholars estimate happened about 800 years previously and had probably been lost to collective memory) and also many other stories about this ancient history that happened before He called Abraham, He used allegorical/metaphorical language that Moses (and the people He was writing the Book of Genesis for) would have been able to understand.

So, with that in mind, I don't believe that the Tower of Babel and the surrounding city were simply buildings made out of sunbaked bricks held together by asphalt.

Rather, I think that these human beings were developing something that would allow them to, in modern language "play God." In other words, their "tower whose top is in heaven" is a metaphor for some technology that God saw them developing that impressed Him. 

It impressed the God who had spoken the entire physical universe into existence. 

It impressed Him so much that He thought he needed to do something immediately to make sure that the progress they were making towards the development of this technology would be stopped cold.

He had already sent the Flood to put a stop to the terrible wickedness that had existed in the world in "the days of Noah" but He had also promised that He wouldn't do that again. So, He had to do something different. He decided to "confuse their language" so that they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other and continue to make progress towards a goal that God had decided it wouldn't be good for them to continue pursuing.

A modern-day Tower of Babel

In the last few years, the human race has once again started to build a tower whose top is in the heavens" and this modern-day Tower of Babel is called "artificial intelligence."

It is a project hailed by some as giving humanity the tools we need to solve every imaginable problem that we have by unlocking the secrets of the physical universe which have been eluding us for thousands of years. Indeed, AI models have already solved some mathematical equations that the most brilliant human minds had failed to solve. Problems of chemistry, physics, medicine, etc. have all been solved and the solutions to these problems are in the process of being applied to the fabrication of new medications and vaccines, machines, computers, communications networks, etc. that are likely to bring rapid and unimaginable change to every aspect of our lives, in good and bad ways.

As a journalist who covers, among other things, military affairs, I am astounded, frightened but most of all saddened at all the items coming across my desk over the last several months which are related to the application of AI to weapons development. The killer cyborgs James Cameraon showed us in the Terminator movies are not ready to take the field just yet, but machines that that will be terrifyingly effective and efficient at killing large numbers of human beings very quickly are already being built. Meanwhile, AI-enhanced targeting software to guide more old-fashioned but still very deadly weapons to their targets have already been used on the battlefields of Ukraine and also in this ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran.

This is just the beginning, and the weapons that we're seeing now are the AI equivalent of a Sopwith Camel. I don't even want to imagine what the AI equivalent of an F-15 will look like and be capable of.

But once again, God might not allow things to get to that point.

There's an old saying that "history never repeats itself but sometimes it rhymes" and I am fairly certain that this current situation rhymes with the circumstances described in Genesis 11:1-9.

I believe some of these changes that AI could bring will be so monumental that they will be enough to impress even God Himself. In the case of AI-enhanced weapons, they will do more than impress Him, they will also alarm Him, for our sake, not His, just as the original Tower of Babel did. There is certainly the potential for these changes to derail the plans and purposes God has for the Human Race, and just as He sovereignly intervened in human history several times in order to prevent His plans and purposes from being derailed, I believe He will do so this time as well.

What will He do?

I doubt he'll confuse our languages like He did back then. I'm sure He won't send another worldwide flood, as He promised He wouldn't do that again.

But I'm sure He will do something, and I'm also quite certain we human beings won't enjoy it. Just like the confusion of languages at the original Tower of Babel, it'll be necessary to save us from getting ourselves into a much worse situation, but it won't be much fun.

I can, for instance, easily imagine Him sending unprecedentedly powerful storms and hurricanes to physically destroy all the AI data centers. This might include massive bolts of lightning to short-circuit the electrical grid which sends these data centers the electricity they need to keep running. Of course, these storms will also destroy all the homes, businesses, airplanes, and much else that are all around the data centers and electrical power stations.

Or He might do something totally different. 

The point is, the God who created this physical universe and everything in it, including you and me, is capable of manipulating the physical properties of this universe He created in ways that the human beings He created keep trying to emulate. But every time we get close to being able to actually do it, every time we try with all our might to "build a tower that reaches Heaven" He effortlessly changes something that takes away our ability to keep building the tower.

That brings me to the other modern-day Tower of Babel that has gotten far less attention than AI has gotten, and that's what's called "genetic engineering" but which I think is more correctly referred to as "genetic tinkering."

God invented Genetic Engineering

Once again, the term "genetic engineering" isn't in the Bible, but it is referred to several times.

You've probably never thought about it, but when God created the first humans, Adam and Eve, along with all the animals, birds, fish, insects, and all the plants in Genesis chapter 1, that was an exercise in genetic engineering. In fact, it was the ULTIMATE act of genetic engineering, but it wasn't the last time God conducted an exercise in genetic engineering.

The early chapters of Genesis speak of human beings routinely living for hundreds of years. One man, Methuselah, lived to be almost 1,000 years old.

But then we come to Genesis 6:3, And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.

Now I know there's some arguments about what this verse means, as some scholars believe that God was saying that God was declaring there would only be 120 more years before He sent the Flood to destroy humanity. This argument is strengthened by the fact that in later Biblical passages it speaks of people who were born after the Flood living longer than 120 years, including Abraham. But the sequence of Biblical passages is not always an indication of the chronological sequence of the historical events they describe. Certainly, by the time of Abraham's grandson, Jacob/Israel, the Bible isn't talking anymore about people living to be hundreds of years old as it does in previous chapters. For most of recorded human history, all over the world, only a handful of people live much longer than 100 years and most modern geneticists agree that the maximum age that a human being is capable of reaching is 120 years.

Now, in recent years, those same geneticists have cloned animals, given us new plants that have massively increased crop yields and are resistant to various pests that have long plagued farmers, etc.

Once again, these things are bringing tremendous benefits to the Human Race, but they are nevertheless an attempt to "build a tower which reaches heaven". Furthermore, it is also very similar to what is being described in the rest of Genesis chapter 6, with demons conducting some "genetic engineering" experiments of their own, as described in Genesis 6:4; There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

I believe this is another story which God told to Moses so he would write it in the Book of Genesis using some allegorical language that Moses and the readers of Genesis would be able to understand. I'm not sure demonic beings actually had sexual intercourse with human females and impregnated them. Later passages of Scripture which talk about angels and demons seem to be saying that these spiritual beings do not have physical bodies or gender the way human beings do, so this is not even physiologically possible.

However, I've also always wondered if this is what some of the Greek mythology is based on, as it includes several stories about "gods" having sexual intercourse with mortal human females leading to the birth of "men of renown" such as Hercules.

If anyone has any thoughts on this, or anything else in this blog, please share them in the comments section.

In any case, these experiments in "genetic engineering" that were going on "in the days of Noah" were threatening to derail the plans and purposes of God for the human race He'd created and the Earth He'd built for us to live on. It was one of the things which prompted Him to send the Flood to destroy all flesh except Noah and his family. Noah, as Genesis 6:9 tells us, was "perfect in his generations" which I believe means he was of a family lineage that did not include any of these creatures who were products of demonic genetic engineering. That's why God chose him and his family to go into the Ark so they would be preserved, along with examples of all the animals which God had created, and which were also not the result of any of these demonic experiments.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, please hear me.

There's a LOT going on in the world today that I believe very closely resembles the circumstances described in Biblical stories which ended with God supernaturally intervening in human history in order to prevent us from doing things which would do irreparable damage to the perfect plans and purposes He has for us.

I believe that we might be very close to something similar happening.

I more then half suspect that this "Super El Nino" that is already intensifying in the Pacific is part of the intervention that God is about to make in our world. Even if it's not, it's going to bring some very intense meteorological events to many parts of the world. In fact, it already is.

Climate scientists are saying that 2026 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded on this planet. We have already seen massively disruptive weather events and natural disasters all over the world as a result of these unusually high temperatures and the attendant droughts that have hit many regions. We are approaching the end of September and it still feels like high summer here in Jerusalem where I live. Similar conditions are persisting in many other parts of the world.

I think the high temperatures, the raging wildfires, the floods, the hurricanes, the storms and all the rest of these unusual events in the natural world are a reflection of the tremendous tensions in the spiritual world. 

So, buckle up! Be in urgent prayer for your families, your governments, your congregations and your communities, and anything else God has put under your stewardship.

Also, if I'm right, and God does sovereignly interfere in history in order to put a stop to either AI, or attempts at genetic tinkering, or anything else, it's going to freak people out. So, remember 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

That's what I've got for you this week brothers and sisters. I hope it blesses someone.

Some Thoughts for Back to School Week by Aaron Hecht

This week, my two sons joined 2.6 million other Israeli children, and tens of millions more all over the world, in that most beloved (and hated) of childhood traditions, the first day of the new school year.

I know how blessed we are that both of my sons are in an educational framework that is WAY above the average for Israel. I won't say much more about that, but I've seen the evidence that the principal's at both my eldest son's high school and my youngest son's primary school cited to back up their claims to being among the best schools in the country and I was convinced by it.

However, I am also under no illusions that this is sufficient.

The test scores of Israeli high school graduates have been at the bottom of the barrel for OECD countries every year for a very long time, and it's no mystery why. A recent study was published showing that Israeli teachers have some of the lowest levels of professional skills in the OECD. If the teachers are barely able to read, write, and explain complex situations, we can't expect the students to have these skills.

The problems go beyond poor test scores and have also begun to show up on factory floors and board rooms, as older workers (many of whom were immigrants from the former Soviet Union, which for all its faults had an excellent education system) retire and companies struggle to find younger people who have the skills and knowledge necessary to replace them.

But Israel is not alone in having problems along these lines.

In the last few years, I have seen one news report after another about university freshman in America, Canada, Western Europe and Australia showing up on campus unable to read even basic passages out of their textbooks or take notes in class. Professors also report students being unable to hold serious discussions about many topics because they simply don't have the vocabulary and also have a hard time focusing on anything for any great length of time.

I am therefore "that dad" who takes away his kids' screens for at least two hours every evening after they come home from school and makes them read books, play educational games (often playing with them, because that makes it more fun for everyone) or going outside and burning off energy at the park by playing with our wonderful little dog.

I'm even "that dad" who downloads worksheets with math and science problems for my sons to work on if their teacher didn't give them enough homework. I'm "that dad" who pays for them to take karate lessons and signs them up for whatever summer school programs are available from the municipality, sends them to the camps provided by our church, or anything else I can think of to get them off the couch and off their screens.

I am also "that dad" who reads the daily portion from the One-Year Bible to my children at bedtime, and you better believe I'm "that dad" who prays for them every night as they're going to sleep, and also every morning as they're on their way to school.

Brothers and sisters, I'm not saying all this to brag on myself, but rather to give you some ideas about how you can invest in your own children.

The schools do their best to give our children what they need and their teachers and coaches are, for the most part, dedicated and sincere professionals who care about the children and want what's best for them. The same is true of the pastors and youth leaders at our churches.

But they simply can't do it all themselves. 

If we want our children to grow up to be happy, successful, high-functioning human beings who will make positive contributions to society and stay with the faith after they grow old enough to make their own decisions then we have to intentionally invest our time, effort, money and other resources into making sure that happens.

It's not enough to drop them off at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon and then let them do whatever they want in the evening. It's not even enough to take them to church once a week and make sure they go into the Sunday school.

That's important, but it's not sufficient.

We must do more than that, not only for the obvious reason that we want our children to have the skills and knowledge they will need to get a decent job when they're done with school. It's not just about them getting a good job; it's also about them NOT falling away from the Faith and/or turning into a zombie/barbarian.

Beyond your local congregation (which you can and MUST sow into with your time, effort and above all your prayers) I can recommend two parachurch organizations which have been a huge blessing to my own life, especially my parenting journey.

The first is Family Life Today and the second is Moms in Prayer.

Last but certainly not least, I can't end this blog without saying once again that getting a dog for my family was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I recommend it for everyone.