Posted on 11/25/2006 7:17:24 PM PST by Alex Murphy
"and only had it restored (artificially) in 1948."
Please 'splain!
The Judaism that arose after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD replaced the Mosaic Covenant which was no longer possible without a Temple for sacrifices to cover their sins. Any Jew who took the words of Moses seriously knew when the Temple was destroyed and with it all sacrifices, then they had no covering for their sins. Their scholars then resorted to allegorizing away the words "sin, sacrifice, Messiah, . . . ".
But the prophets and Jesus taught that He would return one day to restore the Kingdom to Israel and He would sit on the throne of David right there in Jersualem forever.
Read the Book of Acts. For forty days after His resurrection, He spoke of "things pertaining to the kingdom of God". Then after forty days when they all came together, they all had just one question: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" [Acts 1:7].
Did He answer them: I'm sorry but Israel has been replaced? Did He answer: "I've just been teasing you these last forty days by telling you about the Kingdom?" Did He answer: "I've changed my mind, there won't be a kingdom for Israel". Nope, Nope, Nope.
His answer was: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His power." In other words, it is none of your business as to when it will happen because only His Father knows.
Peter then speaks of this restitution of the Kingdom to Israel in his sermon to the Jews after Pentecost: "Repent, therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ . . . whom the heaven must receive until the times of the restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets since the age began."[Acts 3:19-21]
Twenty years later at the Council of Jerusalem, James affirms Peter's declaration that God would visit the Gentile nations to take out a people for His name, thne "after this I will return, and will build again the the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, and will build again its ruins, and will set it up."[Acts 15:14-17]
And even Peter's final words to Jews and Gentiles in his 2nd Epistle were intended to stir them up to be "mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy prophets . . . ". Words like those of Isaiah 14:1: "For the Lord will yet have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land, and the sojourners shall be joined to them, and they shall cling to the House of Jacob." and Amos, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Zechariah.
The replacement theologians in the Church do not have a monopoly on replacement theology. They share it with Judaism, Islam, British Israelism, Liberalism, Unitarian-Universalism, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, . . . all who do not believe that Jesus will keep his promises and the words that were spoken by the holy prophets regarding his coming to set up the Kingdom of Israel in Jerusalem.
Many Jewish families trace their ancestry to known descendents of King David. See, for example,
http://www.davidicdynasty.org/press.php
Are such claims accepted by Christians? Hardly. But Christians don't get to decide, angry as that may make them.
Dead Idols and the Living God
1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded, A burden to the weary beast.
2 They stoop, they bow down together; They could not deliver the burden, But have themselves gone into captivity.
3 Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been upheld by Me from birth, Who have been carried from the womb:
4 Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
5 To whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal And compare Me, that we should be alike?
6 They lavish gold out of the bag, And weigh silver on the scales; They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it And set it in its place, and it stands; From its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer Nor save him out of his trouble.
8 Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,
The Beginning / MRESHIT
B'RESHIT/ GENESIS
Genesis 35
Jacobs Return to Bethel
1 Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.
2 And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone. 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem.
***
Jacob returned to the Land and they buried their idols under the tree.
So how would a Jew convert to paganism?
Reverse the process, go to the (Christmas)tree and pick up their idols.
Oy gevalt cubed!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.