Sunday, January 24, 2016

Where Most Anti-Missionaries Go Wrong 1

I have a little bit of an edge over some anti-missionaries, at least in one way, since I know the inside mindset of Christians and Messianics. As I've stated before on this blog, many anti-missionaries focus on 'Jews for Jesus' and other normative Christian groups. What they don't realize is that many former Protestants, who you could easily argue are still Protestants, but call themselves Messianics or Hebrew Roots Christians, are not really mainly focused on converting Jews. They're mainly focused on discovering the supposed Jewishness of the most popular mamzer perhaps in all of history: Yeshu.


The reason they have this sudden awakening to some things Jewish is usually not because they have some hidden agenda, but rather that they have a sincere interest in some things Jewish.

Many anti-missionaries, especially those who have always been Jewish all their lives or have never been Messianics or known and explored the mindset of Messianics personally, don't really get where the Messianic or Hebrew Roots Christian is coming from.

Part of this problem is because of the new idea within Judaism of being closed off, not seeking converts or to bring back gentiles of partial Jewish ancestry. While it's true, Judaism is the only one of the so-called "Abrahamic religions' (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity) that holds that you do not have to be one of them to be good and righteous in God's eyes. The Torah clearly states that gentiles can be righteous without being Jewish. Any learned Jew knows that. However, in relaying this concept properly, many anti-missionaries are inadequate.

A good Rabbi I know, Rabbi David Katz, has explored the true meaning of the term 'ger', which often in Torah literature doesn't refer to a convert to Judaism, who is mostly called a Jew or sometimes a 'ger tzedek'. Instead, the term ger often refers to those who are associated to some degree with the Jewish people, but are not, for whatever reason, technically Jewish. He also relays in his teachings that although the ger toshav (a gentile who rejects idolatry lives by the universal Noahide laws, if not more, and is permitted to live among Jews) isn't officially recognized or accepted today in a formal way, such a person can truly be a ger toshav in all regards just without official recognition, yet. Such a person can take on most of the Torah's commandments as the Jewish people were commanded at Sinai, although he is not obligated in all of them.

This idea is largely swept under the rug, out of the sight of people, and this is a problem, because if we had more leaders among the Jewish people teaching the truth of the term 'ger', we could bring an end to much idolatry and false religions among the gentiles, and perhaps even the entire fall of Christianity as we know it, save for perhaps the Roman Catholic Church.

Since this is so huge, that is the precise reason why it is not popular today. The world has been increasingly led into an insane place where almost nothing makes any sense. People are more wicked as the days go on, and lack of faith in HaShem and in His Sages whom He appointed is in serious lack, even among some practicing Jews. For this reason, the truth will appear crazy, insane, or too much for most people to handle. This is because what is normal and good has become crazy to people, while what is crazy and evil has become normal to them. This, unfortunately, has affected most of the world and it is a sure sign that the time of redemption is coming closer.

All of what I've written here so far is not the main point of this post, it's just a necessary introduction. I want to touch on a more serious point that almost no one realizes or actualizes in serving HaShem. That point is the very important and pertinent idea of the tzadik.

Joseph is called a tzadik, mainly because he passed a serious test of sexual temptation. Tzadik means righteous, and righteousness can be boiled down to what the Torah is based upon, since all of the Torah afterwards is established upon this precept. This basis of the Torah is shmirat habrit and tikun habrit, the abstinence toward sexual transgression in thought, word, and action, and the correction of any such transgressions.

Moses was the leader of Israel and was the only one fit to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt, bondage, which is synonymous with sexual sin - taking Israel out of that and unto HaShem and His Torah. The soul of this leader is termed 'Moses-Messiah' in the Holy Zohar. The author of the Zohar, Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai), embodied this soul. Later, the holy Ari z"l, Rabbi Isaac Luria, who spent many days in total seclusion and hitbodedut by the Nile river, attained huge insights into the Zohar and his some of his extraordinary teachings were written down by one of his main disciples, Rabbi Hayyim Vital z"l. The Ari z"l also embodied the 'Moses-Messiah' soul.

Later came another unparalleled master and teacher, who built upon the layers of Torah revelation that Moses, Rashbi, and the Ari z"l, relayed to the people of Israel via God's great mercy. His name was Rabbi Nahman (commonly spelled 'Nachman') of Uman. The numerical value of his name, Nahman ben Simha, is the same value as Shimon ben Yohai. Rabbi Nahman, after having spent many days and hours in seclusion/hitbodedut, bonding with his Creator, receiving unparalleled insights into the Torah, and breaking his bodily urges, ended up passing away at the young age of 38. After revealing unparalleled Torah insights for his time, the Ari z"l also passed at 38. All three of these tzadikim had disciples record their teachings, and it is likely these disciples all possessed parts of the same soul.

Why do I mention all of this? Because it is absolutely necessary to know about and follow the Torah of these tzadikim the same way you had to have followed Moses to get out of Egypt. Some tried to leave Egypt before Moses was ordered by God to lead them out. They ended up failing and dying, unfortunately. Others protested Moses' leadership in the wilderness, namely Korah and his followers. They were swallowed up by the ground. Only Moses could lead Israel out of Egypt and into righteousness, righteousness which is characterized especially by breaking the lust for sexual sin, which is the overall lust that all the 70 prototype nations embody, and the opposite of which, corrected sexuality, tikun habrit, which is the overall rectification since it is the whole basis of the Torah as evidenced by the brit mila (circumcision).

The male sexual organ of the man of Israel is termed the ot brit kodesh, literally 'the sign of the holy covenant'. The Sabbath is also called a sign, an ot, and there is much that these above-mentioned tzadikim link between the idea of pure, corrected sexuality, and the Sabbath, both of which are considered to encompass the entirety of the Torah. Meaning, if you uphold either of them, it is as if you uphold the whole Torah, and if you blemish either of them, it is as if you've sinned against the whole Torah.

The Moses-Messiah is not to be confused with the Messiah of the redemption who will be as David in every respect. David's role was to establish the Torah of Moses and present the kingship of HaShem through it, unto all Israel, resulting in a Jewish Empire which spanned much larger areas than any historian would like to admit. The role of the Messiah will be to teach the Torah of Moses, Rashbi, the Ari, and Rabbi Nahman - which are all layers of the same Torah. This is why Rabbi Nahman stated that the Messiah would write a commentary on his magnum opus, Likutei Moharan. Well, no wonder!

Anti-missionaries often do not stress the importance of following the tzadik, because, since Christianity tried to copy something from this very real and practical concept of the tzadik, the anti-missionaries have grown to disregard it and state that no one needs an intermediary between them and HaShem. We do, he is Moses who returns to constantly reveal new revelations of Torah. It has nothing to do with, lehavdil, the opposite, the man-god idol of the Christians. However, since many anti-missionaries have not merited being drawn near to the true tzadik throughout all of his reincarnations, they fail to see the necessity and therefore throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to arguing this point against Christianity.

I write much more about the subject of tikun habrit and the tzadikim on my alternate blog, here. It is a must for everyone to absorb this information, and it can turn an idolater into one who serves HaShem properly, according to the Torah of HaShem's messenger, prophet, and appointed leader of Israel: Moses. Every Jew must be aware and must be told who is the true tzadik of this generation. The latest 'version' of the Moses-Messiah soul reincarnating into this world is in Rabbi Nahman of Uman. We must learn his books and put all of the advice to practice. You'll see, it will become very hard, even if it seems very easy, because it has the power, if simply done by us, to purify our souls entirely. This is true even in this sick generation where we have been subjected to the worst sexual perversions that have become normalized by the world around us, shoved in our faces, and made the norm. In this time when complete faith in HaShem and His Sages and tzadikim is hardly realized and much less actualized.

To be a true anti-missionary is not just to debunk the false messiah, the false tzadik, it is to reveal and promote, lehavdil, the true tzadik and spread his Torah. This is where most anti-missionaries will not go, because all they know is standard Judaism, without much of the life, spice, and the joy that the true tzadikim teach us, in explaining to us the inner workings, the spiritual life, that is behind every single letter and word in the Torah and in the statements of Hazal (the Sages of the Talmud).

6 comments:

  1. Hi Machael, there is only one problem with what you say. Christians will quickly tell you that those rabbis were only men and sweep what you say far away before you can even say hello. Because they see those Tzadik as false, they will probably have no intention to listen to you. I think that's why most counter-missionary will use the Hebrew Bible as common ground to show the false teaching of the New Testament. Finally, I will admit that there are a lot of counter-missionary that have never read the writing of the tzadik, and it would take a lot of time to study before having good arguments. I am not saying that it is not worth the reading, but mostly for personal growth.

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  2. The point of this post was jot to say that you should preach the true tzadikim to Christians and Messianics as a first response, rather, that the anti-missionaries won't admit even the point of the true tzadik because they're afraid of it being too similar to the watered down xtian version.

    Meaning, you disprove Yeshu, which is easy to do, but you don't deny that we have to follow a tzadik, an intermediary, namely Moses and his over soul that returned to us several times to further reveal to us Torah. The only difference between what the Torah states about the tzadik and what the xtians state, lehavdil, about their false messiah is:
    1. The tzadik isn't God or a god, which is obvious and shouldn't have to be stated,
    2. The tzadik reveals the Torah in layers. Yeshu, lehavdil, didn't reveal anything, no comprehensive collection of Torah hidushim for practical action. Instead, he didn't say anything novel, and anything the xtian bible records him as saying that is true is already said in the Torah or by the Sages and certainly is NOT anything comprehensive (it's all contained in very few statements).
    3. The tzadik doesn't have to die for anyone, nor is he necessarily the Messiah of the redemption although he is a type of messiah.
    4. God's salvation to Israel which He sends to the tzadik is through the Torah the tzadik reveals, and it is all aimed at practical application that is again aimed at annulling a persons's lusts and inclinations toward evil. It isn't a quick fix or a go to heaven free card, it is an extremely hard thing to first find the true tzadik and then put any of his advice into practice.

    In short, Yeshu has nothing to do with the true tzadik. Just because xtians have somethig that seems to be somewhat similar on the surface, to the unlearned eye, and that they actually make it outright idolatry - none of this means you skimp on the all important necessity of finding the following the true tzadik who is the aspect of Moses. The reason why most anti-missionaries say nothing about this is because they don't know the true tzadik appropriate for our generation because of some disconnect between them and HaShem. This disconnect is nothing like that of the believers in Yeshu who are outright idolaters. Instead, the observant Jews who have a disconnect are capable of disproving Yeshu easily and should, and their work isn't in vain. It just isn't complete.

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  3. Hi Michael, I have a Question regarding hebrew that is not related to this topic.

    מִי הֶאֱמִין לִשְׁמֻעָתֵנוּ וּזְרוֹעַ יְהוָה עַל מִי נִגְלָתָה

    לִשְׁמֻעָתֵנוּ

    I see the word as Shema and not שְׁמוּעָה

    Would it be more proper to translate as "what we have heard" or "our report".

    Thank you very much

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    Replies
    1. The word שמועה is related to שמע, it means that which has been heard. You'll see in Hazal and Posqim the phrase "מפי השמועה" meaning "according to what [we've] heard", and it means things that were passed down orally, primarily from Moshe himself. שמועה can mean report or news, anything that's heard or heard of. That's why in modern Hebrew the term "מה נשמע?" means "what's up?", but literally means "what's heard?", the נ prefix signifies the root word having been done.

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  4. Thanks for the informative post, Michael.

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