Ain’t Skeered (of the mystical)

Years ago, when I lived in the southern part of the United States, there existed a trend for homegrown, folky southerners (read: rednecks) to place on the rear of their pick-up trucks bumper stickers like this one:

“No Fear”.

No one really knew what that meant, but it sure did add to your southern redneck machismo if you had a “No Fear” sticker on your pick-up truck bumper.

Then, as it became trendy to state your lack of fear via sticky labels on your automobile, a new bumper sticker started showing up on the rusted trucks of the south:

“Ain’t Skeered”. That means, “I am not scared”, in case you don’t speak redneck.

As if to counter the foolhardy “No Fear” rednecks, this new intellectual breed of southerners simply weren’t scared. (…of whatever it was we were supposed to be scared about.)

This past week I was reading Derek Leman’s post on Love and the Messianic Age. The book is a reprint of an early 20th century work by a Jewish luminary and pioneer of the modern Messianic movement, Dr. Paul Phillip Levertoff. The book touches a scary topic: mysticism.

One now-deleted comment on Leman’s post was by a concerned Christian who said, paraphrasing,

“First Fruits of Zion is going off the deep end publishing this mystical Kabala work. Highly suspect. Mysticism and Kabala are from Satan; why is an organization like First Fruits even touching things like the Zohar, when it’s clearly from the occult?”

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard such a thing. Even among my own family there is a great suspicion and fear of the mystical, especially anything related to Kabala and the Zohar, a book containing mystical commentary on the Torah. And I’m not the only one, fine blog reader! The FFOZ guys recently related how, whenever they post a video or blog or article discussing some mystical topic, they receive a flurry of unsubscription letters.

This morning, Vine of David, the folks publishing Levertoff’s “Love and the Messianic Age”, posted a blog addressing the concerns of those fearing the mystical:

Our first publication, Love and the Messianic Age by Paul Philip Levertoff, has met with an overwhelmingly positive response in the Messianic Jewish and Christian world. However, there are some individuals who are very uncomfortable with this book and perhaps even refuse to read it. That is because Love and the Messianic Age is Levertoff's effort to compare concepts in the New Testament (specifically, the Gospel of John) with those of Chassidic thought, including mysticism. Levertoff was a Jewish believer who was raised in a prestigious Chassidic family and well educated in Chassidic Judaism.

Some Christians are wary of anything labeled "mystical." Mysticism specifically provokes concern in some Christians because they equate it very directly with occultism, in the sense of paganism or Satanism. However, just because something is mystical does not at all mean that it is associated with paganism or Satanism.

I suspect part of the problem is that many in the Messianic movement are Brimstoners, Demon Under Every Stones, and Napeoleons. These attributes contribute to an overreaching paranoia and unfounded rebuke of otherwise good or neutral works.

Thus, fine blog readers, I am here to say, I have No Fear of the mystical. I approach with caution until I have a better ground on which to plant my view, but until that time, I Ain’t Skeered. Are you?

To Know God

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that I'm a total First Fruits of Zion fanboy. Whenever I get my hands on books or materials from these guys, I gobble it up like a ravaneous animal. Maybe it's because of their pragmatic approach to Messiah-faith. Maybe it's because I'm so damn sick of the bickering among religious people, especially among otherwise-good-Messianic folk; FFOZ works towards unity and shalom and building up. They work toward God-knowledge, but more importantly, toward God-relationship. I recognize, for the first time in my life, a group of people who are in actuality building up God's kingdom. And their encouragement and leadership has helped me, personally, to mature in God. That's why I love 'em.

Their latest work is republishing Love and the Messianic Age, a book by Messiah-loving luminary Jewish voice, Dr. Paul Phillip Levertoff. Levertoff was raised a Jewish chassid who, through discoverery of a New Testament at a young age, soon found Yeshua as Messiah. While he became in his day a Hebrew Christian, Levertoff never abandoned his love of Judaism. In Love and the Messianic Age, a book described as "a Chasidic discourse from one of the pioneers of Messianic Judaism, crammed with stimulating thought and pervaded by real spiritual beauty, a mint of good things and solid learning", Levertoff discusses Chassidic Judaism, mysticism, and the gospel of John.

In the following little video blog, Messianic congregation leader and First Fruits of Zion contributor Daniel Lancaster discusses two kinds of knowledge of God explored in Levertoff’s book: knowledge about God -- attained by studying creation, the Scriptures, and so on -- and inner, intimate knowledge of the Creator. Enjoy, fine blog readers: