I know, I know- who can believe that being rebellious would be helpful when it comes to obedience to God?
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But I am not speaking about being rebellious to God; rather, I am thinking that the stubbornness and rebellious nature of my people (that is, the Jews) has helped us to overcome the constant harassment and persecution that we have suffered since the day Sarah kicked Hagar and Ishmael out of the camp.
We refused to allow the Hasmoneans to conquer our spirit, or the Assyrians to destroy our worship of God, even when we were disbursed throughout the Diaspora. The Babylonians destroyed our cities and our temple, the only place we could sacrifice to God, yet even in their pagan land, we maintained our worship and belief in God.
The Nazi’s came close to genocide of our people, but those in the camps maintained their faith, and stubbornly refused to be broken. Starved, sickly, and always just a step away from death, they survived, and when they were brought back into the Land, they flourished!
In order for these things to have happened, there must have been a pretty strong spine and will to overcome within those people, and that usually translates to being just a little rebellious. If not for that “Don’t tell me what to do!” attitude, we would have been assimilated into the other religions of the world. In fact, we see that did happen to the Samaritans, which is why they were looked down upon by the Judeans.
Now for the bad news: I believe this rebellious attitude is slowly disintegrating within Judaism.
I have seen some Conservative and Reform congregations not just accept homosexuality as normal within their congregations, but actually support it by allowing same-sex marriages in the synagogue!
There are more and more mixed religion marriages where the Jewish partner converts to the other religion, instead of insisting (as it used to be) that the Gentile convert to Judaism. I am also in a mixed religions marriage, which existed just before I accepted Yeshua as my Messiah, and even though Donna has not converted to Judaism, she is completely supportive of everything Jewish in our marriage. She bought the mezuzah for our doors, she makes a matzo Ball Soup just like Bubbe used to make, and she joins me in having a Passover seder every year. She also looks forward (as do I) to breaking fast after Yom Kippur.
I pray that this assimilation with the Gentile world is only a temporary situation, and that as we get closer to the Acharit haYamim (End Days) my people will not only reject the non-Torah teachings of the Gentile world, but accept Yeshua as their Messiah (which, for the record, I absolutely know he is) and there will be a resurgence of faith within Jews, everywhere.
In the meantime, we need to refocus our attention to obedience to God, through obedience to his instructions in the Torah, and not allow our rebellious nature to be subdued by the “easy” ways of worship and lifestyle that most non-Jewish religions teach (which is even found, to a degree, within some Jewish sects).
You know, just about everyone agrees that anything worth having is worth working for, yet when it comes to salvation, well… it seems to me that salvation isn’t worth it to most Christian religions because they prefer the easy way to God’s way.
Thank you for being here and supporting this ministry with your presence. You know I never ask for money, but if you buy my books, I certainly won’t complain about a few royalty checks.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!
