Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The Rabbis

How should Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) interact with the Rabbis?

People who call themselves "Rabbi", are frequently on Christian television.  Some of these people are part of the Children of Truth, but many are not.

For example, Yechiel Eckstein created the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in 1991 AD, a charity that raised money to help poor Jews immigrate to Israel, and help poor Jews continue to live in Israel.  Since that time, his charity has collected one and half billion dollars, eventually becoming the second largest Jewish charity in Israel.

Eckstein got most of these donations through infomercials that he ran on Christian television.  It was primary the Children of Truth that made these donations.

Another one, is Daniel Lapin.  Lapin has been an ardent defendant of Christianity.  He started the American Alliance of Jews and Christians just for the purpose of setting the record straight regarding the treatment of Jews by Christians.

For example, he calls the National Holocaust Museum anti-Christian because it completely ignores the six million Christians, who died in the Holocaust for attempting to rescue Jews from the Holocaust, like the family of Corrie ten Boon.  He has argued that the term "righteous Gentiles" should be changed to "Righteous Christians", because he points out correctly that all of the "righteous Gentiles" honored at Yad Vashem called themselves Christians.

Daniel Lapin also has shows on Christian television, radio, and internet, including "Ancient Jewish Wisdom", where he tells Christians how to apply wisdom from ancient Jewish sources to family, faith, and finances.  I have no doubt that his love for Christians is real.

Still others with the title of "Rabbi", who are not part of the Children of Truth, have appeared as guests on various Christian television, radio, and internet shows.  They are frequently consulted by Christian teachers like Perry Stone and Billye Brim for insight into scripture.  Others, like Pastor John Hagee, work closely with these unbelievers in his Christian Zionist organization, Christians United For Israel, and frequently has them appear at his "Night To Honor Israel" conferences, which he holds in large Christian churches.

Then there are the Messianics.

There are a number of people in the Messianic movement who call themselves, "Rabbi".  They are part of the Children of Truth, and are firmly fixed in Christian television, radio, and internet.

Some of these Messianics who call themselves "Rabbi",  have shows on Christian television.  This includes Jonathan Bernis on Jewish Voice, Randy Weiss on Crosstalk, Kirt Schneider on The Jewish Jesus, and Baruch Korman on Love Israel.  Besides these, there have been various Messianics who call themselves "Rabbi", like Jonathan Khan, who appear as guests on numerous Christian television and radio shows.  There are many Messianic websites created by other Messianics who call themselves "Rabbi", like David Chernoff, Jason Sobel, and Zev Porat.

There are many more Messianics who call themselves "Rabbi", leading congregations across America and around the world in the Messianic movement.  The Messianic movement has been shown to be one of the fastest growing religious segments in the world.

So, what is the problem with having all of these people with the title of "Rabbi" embedded in the Christian world?

The first problem is the title "Rabbi".

The title "Rabbi" came from Babylon, where one of the titles of the king of Babylon was "Sarru Rabu", the Great King.  The Akkadian word "rabu" has the same meaning as the Hebrew word "rab" - to be great in some sense.  It is the title of a Babylonian military officer that is translated as "captain".  The sages took on this Babylonian title and made it their own while they were living in Babylon. 

The lowest title was "Rab", and was originally assigned to a sage (a scribe or a priest) with disciples.  The next title was "Rabbi", and was assigned to a Rab, who had at least one disciple who became a Rab.  The highest title was "Rabban", and was assigned to a Rabbi, who had at least one disciple who became a Rabbi (three generation of disciples), or had outlived all of his own disciples.

Rab, Rabbi, and Rabban with respect to generations of disciples was similar to the concept of father, grandfather, and great-grandfather with respect to generations of descendants.

By the time when the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) started his ministry, this system of Babylonian based titles became formally standardized - and with much different meanings than the original.

The term "Rab" came to be assigned to any man of good standing in the Jewish community who was following the traditions of the elders.  It is the same as the title "Reb" in Yiddish, as in "Reb Tevye" the central character in the movie "Fiddler on the Roof".

The term "Rabbi" came to be assigned to a sage who had disciples.

Priests were considered to be sages by default.  So the Faithful Priest, John the Baptist (Yochanon the Mikvah Man), was also considered to be a sage.

It is for this reason, that the followers of John the Baptist (Yochanon the Mikvah Man) called him, "Rabbi", because he had disciples (John 3:25-26).  John the Baptist, however, directed his disciples to follow the Man of Truth, instead of himself (John 3:27-30).

So, when the disciples of John the Baptist became disciples of the Man of Truth, they called him, "Rabbi" as well (John 1:35-38).

The term "Rabban" came to be assigned exclusively to the Nasi (prince) of the Sanhedrin.

The first Nasi of the Sanhedrin to be given the title of "Rabban" was Gamaliel the Great, who advised against punishing Peter the Jew (Sh'mon aka Simon aka Cephas aka The Apostle Peter) and John the Jew (Yochanon ben Zebedee aka The Apostle John) for preaching about the Man of Truth (Acts 5:34-39).  This is the same Gamaliel who taught Paul the Jew (Shaul aka Saul aka the Apostle Paul), before Paul the Jew began persecuting the Children of Truth (Acts 22:2-4).

So, when the Children of Truth let others call them "Rabbi", they are exalting themselves above others like the scribes and Pharisees did (Matthew 23:2-7).  The Children of Truth are to humble themselves and serve each other, instead of taking on the title of "Master", that only belongs to the Man of Truth (Matthew 23:10-12).

This takes us to the second problem.  The Children of Truth should not address anyone as "Rabbi", including unbelievers.  None of the Children of Truth should accept anyone calling them "Rabbi".  My Rabbi, the Man of Truth, said to call no one "Rabbi", except him.

The Man of Truth said in no uncertain terms, that the Children of Truth are not to allow others to call them "Rabbi", because he is their only Master (Matthew 23:8).

No one can have both the Man of Truth and someone else as their master (Matthew 6:24).

(The word "Rabbi" literally means "my master", but it can also be understood as a teacher, in the sense of a school master (John 1:38).  [The word translated as "master" here is "didaskalos", which is a master over scholars, which is to say a teacher.])

Now we are ready to address the third problem.

When the Children of Truth disobey the commandment of the Man of Truth to not call anyone but him, "Rabbi", it creates confusion about the identity of the Man of Truth as the Messiah of Israel.

The Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) says, that the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) would raise up a Prophet of Truth like unto Moses (Moishe) (Deuteronomy 18:15-16).  The Law of Truth says, that we must obey the commandments of that Prophet of Truth (Deuteronomy 18:17-19).  The Children of Truth then tell Jewish people, that the Man of Truth is that Prophet of Truth like unto Moses who we must obey (Acts 3:20-23).

So, when the Children of Truth rebel against the commandment of the Man of Truth to call no one "Rabbi", except the Man of Truth, they are negating their testimony concerning the identity of the Man of Truth.  They are denying with their actions, what they are proclaiming with their mouths (Titus 1:16).

The fourth problem is the doctrine taught by the Rabbis.  All branches of Rabbinic Judaism today came from the Pharisees.  The Man of Truth commands that we have nothing to do with the doctrine of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6-12).

The Rabbis claim to be experts in the Law of Truth, but the Rabbis are liars!  They are only experts in their own traditions and commandments that they created in Babylon.  These traditions and commandments, along with Rabbinic commentary on them, have been written down in the sixty-three tractates of the Babylonian Talmud.  The Babylonian Talmud is usually just called the Talmud.

Keeping the commandments of the Rabbis is not the same as keeping the Law of Truth.  The commandments of the Rabbis on how to keep the Law of Truth are very different than the commandments of the Man of Truth on how to keep the Law of Truth.  The Man of Truth made this very plain in the Sermon on the Mount.

Paul the Jew was taught how to keep the Law of Truth by keeping the commandments of the Pharisees at the feet of Gamaliel the Great (Acts 22:3).  However, he counted all of these commandments as manure to be discarded, so he could become like the Man of Truth (Philippians 3:5-8).

The fifth problem is that the Rabbis have all kinds of fables in the Talmud that are not found in the Original Covenant (Tanakh aka The Old Testament).  The Children of Truth are commanded to avoid these Jewish fables as well.

The Children of Truth are to pay no attention to theses fables and endless genealogies that the Rabbis focus on, because these things do not help the Children of Truth keep the Law of Truth in the way that the Father of Truth intended (1 Timothy 1:4-8).  Fables like these are designed to appeal to those who will not endure the sound doctrine of the Book of Truth (The Bible) (2 Timothy 4:3-4).  The Jewish fables and the commandments of the Rabbis found in the Talmud turn people from the truth found in the Book of Truth (Titus 1:14).  These cunningly devised fables are not like the events recorded in the Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament) by eye witnesses of the fulfillment of the prophecies recorded in the Original Covenant (2 Peter 1:16-21).

So, in summary, the Children of Truth are not address anyone by the title of Rabbi, except the Man of Truth.  They should never go by the title of Rabbi.  The Children of Truth also must avoid the doctrine of the Rabbis, and the fables told by the Rabbis.

This does not mean that the Children of Truth must have nothing to do with the Rabbis or the Talmud.  The Talmud not only contains the doctrine of the Rabbis and Jewish fables, but it also contains history.  For example, the Talmud bears witness that the Man of Truth performed miracles while he was on the Earth and that the Pharisees said that this power came from Satan (Matthew 12:22-24).

So, the Children of Truth need to be cautious when dealing with the Talmud, so that they only draw out of it what agrees with the Book of Truth.  It is no different to use anything in the Talmud that is true to bring people closer to the Man of Truth, than it was for Paul the Jew to use a quote from a pagan prophet to rebuke the Children of Truth in Crete, because what the pagan prophet said was true (Titus 1:12-13).

In like manner, the Rabbis can have much wisdom to share with the Children of Truth when it comes to matters of family and finances.  A lot of this wisdom has came from studying and discussing the writings of wisdom in the Original Covenant that so many of the Children of Truth ignore.

The wiser Rabbis realize that they have a vested interest in helping the Children of Truth succeed.

These wiser Rabbis know that history has demonstrated over and over again that the Children of Truth are the only allies that the Jewish people have ever had in every place where they have been scattered.  They recognize that the Children of Truth have protected the Jewish people at times from their enemies - like the Nazis and the False Church of Rome.  They recognized that there would be no country of Israel, if Christian Zionists had not pursued the impossible dream of making the impossible country come into existence.

So, these wiser Rabbis have come to understand that the Children of Truth are the little sanctuary that the Father of Truth provided for the Jewish people in the Diaspora and His means to bring the Jewish people back into the land of Israel (Ezekiel 11:15-17).

Of course, not all Rabbis are this wise.  Many of the Rabbis have persecuted the Children of Truth, particularly the Jewish Children of Truth (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16).

So, how should the Children of Truth interact with the Rabbis?

They should pray for the Rabbis that are persecuting the Children of Truth and show the goodness of the Father of Truth to all Rabbis (Matthew 5:43-48).  After all, it is the goodness of the Father of Truth that will lead the Rabbis to repentance (Romans 2:4).

So, it is definitely right that we show them the goodness of the Father of Truth by helping them carry out the will of the Father of Truth in doing things like caring for Holocaust survivors.  However, we should care for the Rabbis themselves as well.

We should be like Paul the Jew and earnestly desire for the Rabbis to come to the knowledge of the truth (Romans 9:3-5).  We should recognize that the Rabbis have great zeal for the Father of Truth, but that their zeal is without the knowledge of the truth (Romans 10:1-3).  Though the Rabbis are blind to the truth, the Father of Truth desires that they know the Man of Truth (Romans 11:24-26).

There are Rabbis who acknowledge that the book of Acts documents real history and that the resurrection of the Man of Truth was a real historical event.  However, they still refuse to accept that the Man of Truth is the Messiah of Israel because he did not meet the requirements of their traditions!  Talk about being blind!

That veil of tradition that blinds the eyes of the Rabbis from seeing the Man of Truth when they read the Original Covenant, will be taken away when they repent (2 Corinthians 3:13-16).

So,we need to fight for the Rabbis on our knees to end their blindness.

The Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil) has blinded the Rabbis from being able to see the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4).  Therefore our fight is not with the Rabbis, but with the Father of Lies (Ephesians 6:11-12).  We need to put on our armor and fight to set the Rabbis free from their blindness (Ephesians 6:13-17).

The Father of Truth is not willing that the Rabbis should perish and he is not willing for you to perish either (2 Peter 3:9).

The Man of Truth was raised from the dead to ensure everyone that judgment is certain, unless they come into the House of Truth (Acts 17:30-31).  So, the Rabbis and everyone else must surrender to the prophet like unto Moses, the Man of Truth, because they believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9-13)!

Come into the House of Truth!

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