Yom Yerushalayim Sameach
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Today, we celebrated the re-unification of Jerusalem under Jewish leadership through the Providential hand of HaShem in 1967.

How did we celebrate it? The Israeli Air Force is busy bombing Hamas rocket launching stations in Gaza, in an attempt to ward off the latest round of barrages into Israeli towns including Sderot, which has basically been bombarded non-stop since the Jewish eviction from Gush Katif in August 2005. In the meantime, the Israeli government has passed legislation requiring a general referendum before future land withdrawals can be arranged, keeping Judea, Samaria, and the Golan safe--at least, for now.

And the Messianic community is still busy arguing over who's the better Jew, and, more importantly, which Jew is better at getting Jews to believe in Messiah. It really is as asinine as it is entertaining. Considering the fact that it is the Ruach that convicts, and as servants of Yeshua we are to be operating in tandem with the Ruach, the only thing we're scoring points at is giving ourselves too much credit while arguing over a moot point.

In the meantime, I recently attended an awesome Yeshiva hosted by one of the most educated Bible scholars I've ever met. In a private conversation regarding all things Israel, he can openly state that he is a Messianic Jew. However, when publicly addressing a room full of gentile Christians eager to know and understand the truth of their faith in Messiah, the most he can say is, "We're One New Man." Tell me where in scripture Yeshua is quoting as saying, "I came to establish One New Man"? Then again, I can't blame the guy: when one of the largest Messianic associations in the country refers to gentiles as "Associate Members," can you really expect any Christian to embrace, let alone believe, that they, too, have been made Jewish through their faith in Messiah Yeshua?

In the meantime, the United States continues to turn her back on Israel in bigger and bolder ways. The Evangelical Christian community feels free to voice their opinions about the matter and even train American Christian college students to advocate for Israel on campus. Yet, where is the Messianic Jewish community's Zionist voice? How many praise and worship songs do we sing about Zion-- yet how many of these passionate claims can we back up with truth and actions?

Sometimes, I get the feeling I should've titled this blog "The Disunified Body". The Ruach is no respecter of persons, but apparently the believing community can like and dislike, use and abuse anybody they want. They can pick and choose which causes suit their needs and fit their agendas based on which side of the argument they're currently on. And if it really doesn't suit them, they don't need to pay attention to reality at all. Now, if that doesn't bring glory to HaShem and edification to the nation of Israel, I don't know what does.

So many people argue that right after we regained the Temple Mount, we rescinded it back to the Arabs out of fear. Instead of joining the bandwagon, tell me, as a believer: What are you doing to get it back? You're a stone in the living temple, right? What are you going to do about finding yourself--and your fellow stones--a home?

Labels: Christianity, Israel, Messianic Judaism, Zionism