Favor of Zion

Is the Torah Observant movement kosher?

Got an e-mail from a friend a few days ago that contained a forwarded message from a particular ministry concering the "Torah-observant" Messianic Jewish movement.  The author of this e-mail said that, while he had no problems with people calling Jesus "Yeshua" or observing the Sabbath on Saturday, bells would go off inside of him when he heard the term "Torah observant" being thrown around.  My friend asked me what I thought of this.  Below is a portion of my answer:

What does an Islamic school and Isaiah 52:7-8 have in common?

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, the one who brings peace,
who brings tidings of good and proclaims deliverance. 
All your sentries raise their voices and shout together in triumph. 
For clearly, they see the return of the LORD to Zion.

This morning, I was listening to a CD that included a narration of these words, based on Isaiah 52:7-8.  It is very revealing of the time in which we live.

It just so happened that as I was listening to this recording, I was driving by a school of Islamic studies that has opened up not far from where I lived.  While I cannot at this moment prove it, my suspicions are that this school has less-than-honorable intentions when it comes to its instruction regarding America, Israel, and the Jewish people.  The existence of this place is also very revealing of the time in which we live.

Coincidence?  Hardly.  It is rather a pointed reminder that we are living in an age that is leading down a narrow road to the ultimate confrontation between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world.  The return of the Jewish people back to their land is the ultimate harbinger of things to come.  It means that the Lord has once again laid down a stake in His own land, and His enemies are getting nervous.

Why else are there all the rumblings and shakings happening in our world?  What else can explain the monumental rise of radical Islam and its associated terror?  Could it be nothing other than the fact that the LORD is getting ready to roar from Zion (Amos 1:1)? 

Last week I reminded you of the lesson of the ninth of Av (Tisha B'Av)--namely, that in God's economy good always arises out of evil.  Please, I beg you, remember this truth as you read the news.  Remember this truth as you observe the rise of perversion in Western Culture.  Remember this as you observe the rise of radical Islam.  Remember that, behind the scenes, the Kingdom of God is flourishing faster than any other man-made religion worldwide--and that among both Jews and Gentiles.   Remember--and rejoice! 

 

"The Other Israel"

"Perhaps nowhere else on the globe does there exist a greater discrepancy between perception and reality than Israel. The press portrays the country as a savage land racked by war and terrorism... The reality, though, is a country of 7.4 million people whose stock market and economy are humming along quite nicely."

So says Yoram Ettinger, retired Israeli Ambassador and current consultant on U.S.-Israeli relations.  I can't agree more with what he has to say.  So many times over the years, when I have shared with friends my love for Israel and desire to spend time there, I have gotten responses like: "But is it safe there?"  The reason they say that is that the only times they see pictures of, or hear about, current events in Israel are in times of war and terror.  Perception is, indeed, so different from reality.

Click here to read the article in its entirety (from ynetnews.com).

Words of comfort after the 9th of Av

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1-2)

What is the 9th of Av?  And what does it have to do with light and darkness that was prophesied over 2500 years ago?

The 9th of Av is the most ignominious date on the Jewish calendar. Coming in late July or early August (it fell on July 30 this year), it has played host to some of the most defining tragic events in Jewish history, including:
586 BC -- Destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians
70 AD -- Destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans and start of the second Jewish exile
135 -- Fall of Betar, last stronghold of the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation
136 -- Jerusalem was destroyed and the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina established to replace it
1096 -- Pope Urban II declared the First Crusade, murdering masses of Jews
1290 -- King Edward I expelled all Jews from England
1306 -- Jews expelled from France
1492 -- All Jews expelled from Spain
1555 -- Pope Paul IV confines the Jews into a walled ghetto in Rome
1648 -- Cossacks massacred thousands of East European Jews
1914 -- World War I began, culminating in World War II and the Nazi Holocaust
1941 -- Plans for the "final solution to the Jewish problem" were laid out by the Nazis.
2005 -- Israel planned to forcibly evacuate all Jews from Gaza on the 9th of Av. (The evacuation was rescheduled for Av 10 after it was brought to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's attention he'd "coincidentally" slated his unilateral disengagement on Tisha b'Av.)

In light of this horrible history, how can one rejoice and walk in the light?