JESUS SPEAKS OF GOD'S TIMING

GUS ELOWITZ was the rabbi of BETH YESHUA HA MASHIACH in Houston, Texas up until his passing. This, as you can tell by the name, is a messianic congregation (not considered a "real" Jewish congregation by other Jewish groups that do not accept Jesus Yeshua as the Messiah spoken of in the Bible.) Brother Elowitz came and spoke to our women's group a few years before his passing. the first year he gave his testimony of how he came to believe in Yeshua. The next time he came, he asked if he could speak based on a paper he had written and had submitted to, i think, the NEW YORK TIMES. We agreed, of course. (the NYT had rejected his submission.) The title of Brother Elowitz' paper was THE SEVENFOLD ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHO KILLED JESUS? First let me list the seven that bro elowitz names, as best that i can. This talk was almost 20 years ago, i think. i haven't tried to remember the entirety in quite a while. please bear with me. God, the Father JESUS the Jews Satan the Romans every human being, individually (i don't know who was the seventh. Maybe you can think who that might be.) Bro Elowitz, of course, had scriptural references for each segment of his stated theory (SEVENFOLD ... WHO...) For example, perhaps, verse: EPHESIANS 1:5 "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself...."v.7 "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ... v.8 which He lavished on us.... intention... purposed" these all indicated that the Father (and Son Jesus) choose to cause Jesus' death, as a sacrifice for all who would call on Jesus to be their sacrifice and take their punishment. Now, I want to turn to the aspect of God's plan that i will call "timing". If it was God's plan that Jesus die for the sins of the World, the Lord and Jesus had to "make" it happen. That means that They must choose the time in history of Israel when the people in charge were antagonistic to the plan and will of God. And, They, the Planners, Father and Son, had to even push the (free will) wrong-hearted leaders (that is, aggravate, "egg on" the antagonists) in order for the sacrifice to happen. Jesus spoke of "timing" a few times. He said things like: My time is not yet come; it is not yet time i wonder if He also referred to God's timing when He said "one does not light a lamp and put it under a bushel." Could He be referring to God's very specific instructions to Gideon wherein the warriors were to in fact have lamps lit and confined to a jar until the appointed time when all were to break the jars and shine the lights and defeat the enemy by confusing them? i wonder, too, if Jesus' pointing out the "poor fig tree" i referred to earlier, another day, might be another instance of Jesus speaking of timing. those verses indicate that Jesus was looking for figs when it was not even the time for figs. is that right? is that what happened? was Jesus saying that it had to be this way? that the Jewish establishment had to reject Jesus as the Messiah in order that prophecy be fulfilled? that God PICKED this WRONG time when the Jewish leaders of that day did not have the fruit of being open to the Lord's work in their days?

N T WRIGHT AND SEMINARY DROPOUT

Bro Shane, with his blog SEMINARY DROPOUT, interviewed Brother N.T. Wright. i was so thankful and blessed to be able to hear their discussion . bro wright summed up his understanding of what we, as Christians are called by God to do. (this is my recollection) "As Jesus to the Jews, so the Church to the World." Meaning that our job as Christians is to do amazing and beautiful and loving and challenging things that cause non Christians to ask what and why. and then bro wright said, answer them with a cryptic parable expressing God. Well, that's what n.t. said. any way, the first part makes sense to me. maybe the second part has to do with people- hearers- internalizing God's truths by coming to conclusions themselves instead of having another explain something to them as a superior to an underling. oooh! Did i use the word "underling"? Anyway, that was a wonderful, inspiring interview. SEMINARY DROPOUT and N. T. WRIGHT

THE "UNITED METHODIST" SHIFT

A few years back, i was talking with our minister of music (ordained by the UMC after getting additional degre and going through the ordaining process.) He was on the committee to interview candidates seeking to become a part of the UMC ministries. (becoming a UMC pastor was one goal.) From him and from other subsequent sources, i learned that candidates must vow that they hold (and will defend?) certain beliefs that have been part of the UMC historically. It seems to me that during this time of "change", candidates have entered into the ministry by vowing that they have one set of beliefs while in truth their hearts were elsewhere. is that possible? I'm sure that many of those who have become more and more "liberal" over the decades have done so as a result of influence and reflection subsequent to their entry into the ministry heirarchy. However, surely there are some who misrepresented themselves when they initially signed on. would be possible to invalidate the individual's ordination because they lied about their convictions during the ordination process? i think that what is in the heart of each one must be judged by Our Most High God. So the end of the "unity" of the UMC cannot be untangled (truly) by mere men and women. However, other denominations may learn the lesson that people can appear to have one set of beliefs, unconcerned that what is in their heart is not what they are representing to others. How might a denomination guard against that? The prompt for my writing this post now was our Sunday school consideration on the passage in ACTS where Ananias and Saphira lied to the Holy Spirit (God Most High) by slightly misrepresenting themselves to their church community.

FOR YOUR SAKES

This post continues the thoughts i started exploring in the post POOR FIG TREE. If you are a modern day person connected to the Jewish community and somehow unable to step toward Yeshua Jesus, even if only to see if His claims have any value, because of the possibility of strife that would cause in your family or in the community, then it was for you and others like you that Jesus Yeshua spoke in anger against the religious leaders of His day because they, for their own selfish, ungodly reasons publicly rejected Jesus Yeshua's claims even when faced at that time with the evidence that our Lord God most high, Creator and Lord of ALL, GAVE. (THE EVIDENCE AT THE TIME OF JESUS WAS THERE FOR ALL TO SEE: AMAZING MIRACLES OF PEOPLE BEING HEALED AND RAISED FROM THE DEAD; MIRACLES OF JESUS PROVIDING FOOD FOR GREAT CROWDS; COMPELLINGLY WISE TEACHINGS THAT EXPANDED ON THE TORAH; THE EVENTS IN JESUS YESHUA'S LIFE THAT FULFILLED PROPHECIES FROM ISAIAH AND OTHER PROPHETS.) As an aside here, the evidence today that we all need to look to, to judge whether Jesus Yeshua is the One prophesied about in the Jewish writing is different. Those catagories of miracles that i mentioned, that are written in the Christian Bible- which contains the Jewish Torah, Prophets, Psalms and Proverbs and books of history all considered valid writings- those all seem far away, perhaps. (although the Bible IS God's Holy, LIVING Word and has compelling truth for us even these two and three thousand years later.) So, .... Jesus Yeshua saw the future- all the way from that day to this day and all that transpired from them to now(and with every individual!) So Yeshua saw the repercussions that would come from those insincere (hypocritical) religious Jewish leaders of that day rejecting Him. Now, another aside here: Yeshua agreed with His Father and Holy Spirit in the time before the foundations of the universe that He would be sacrificed for the sins of all who would call on Him. God chose that particular time when the religious leaders were totally overwhelmed by the evil leaders among them. God chose that particular time. i mention that because in THIS DAY, we can see how the leaders of a people or group can run things in a horrible, evil direction which is not accepted by the general people and definitely NOT the will of God. So Yeshua was angry and sad that the evil of His day would cause so many people who would live later to stumble. In cursing the did tree, He (Yeshua Jesus) was expressing God 's anger at the religious leaders of that day without pointing the cursing finger directly at them. ooh! there is also another aspect. i will write about that another time. JESUS SPEAKS OF GOD'S TIMING (looking for figs out of season. God's strategy given to Gideon.)