What is the Gift of the Holy Spirit?
"The problem for Christain religion comes in when looking at the original writings of the Tanach.
EVERY pillar of the Nicene religions, Oneness Pentecostal, Messianic Jew, Nazarene, and infamous Hebrew Roots, crumbles when proper context is applied.
Oh, they love their stories of three-headed gods and virgin births, but it's simply not in scripture!"
The gift of the Holy Spirit has become the topic of much discussion in our day. Men and women of all persuasions and from all walks of life have become interested enough to search for greater understanding of this phenomenal spiritual experience. Capturing headlines, dominating the content of many religious periodicals, and generally creating excitement, this canon of apostolic faith deserves a sincere appraisal.
The Facts
The Holy Spirit is God. “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). “There is . . . one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4). To become a subject in the kingdom of God, Jesus said a person must be “born again,” or “born of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:3-5). The birth of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spirit are synonymous terms. The Apostle Peter understood this truth as he spoke. to the multitude in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). This experience was received by the Jews on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), the Samaritans (Acts 8:15-17), and the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-48), plainly indicating that it was meant for all people, regardless of race, creed, color, or station in life. The new birth, consisting of water and Spirit, was never set forth as being optional or unessential. “Ye must be born again” are the words of Jesus in John 3:7. Until a person is born of the Spirit, he cannot be called a “son” of God.
The Privilege
But why concentrate only on the absoluteness of the command? It is a blessed privilege to experience a release of spirit, finding freedom of soul and expression in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is no other experience similar to it. “Incomparable” is the only adequate description of this filling. The transition is to an entirely new realm and way of life. A complete transformation takes place. The soul has an empty place “in the shape of God” that nothing else will fit or satisfy. The baptism of the Spirit completely satisfies every longing of the soul. In this experience is fulfillment. [See Tongues-glossolalia is "learned behavior"]
The Evidence
There are two major evidences of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The initial, outward evidence is speaking with tongues, which means speaking miraculously in languages the speaker does not know.
Speaking with other tongues has been connected with Spirit baptism since the beginning of the church age. On the birthday of the New Testament church, the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s ascension, approximately 120 disciples of Christ were inundated by the Spirit of God and “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). The household of an Italian centurion received the same spiritual experience, which the Jewish Christian onlookers readily identified, “for they heard them speak with tongues” (Acts 10:44-48). In Acts 19:1-6, a group of John the Baptist’s disciples heard about the Holy Ghost from the Apostle Paul; they too were filled with the Spirit, “and they spake with tongues.”
We cannot adequately express with our own words the ecstasy experienced in the baptism of the Spirit. Only through unaccustomed words of heavenly coherence can we utter what our souls would express.
There are perhaps several other reasons why God chose speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of this spiritual baptism. It is an objective, external evidence that recipients and onlookers can both identify with certainty (Acts 10:46). It is a uniform evidence-all the disciples on Pentecost, all the household of Cornelius, and all the believers in Ephesus spoke in tongues. “So is everyone that is born of the Spirit” are the words of Jesus in His description of this spiritual new birth (John 3:8). Speaking in tongues also indicates the complete control of the Spirit over our human wills. The tongue is the most unruly member of the body (James 3:8), and its being tamed by God is evidence of His complete control.
Further evidence of the Spirit’s abiding presence in our lives is the fruit of the Spirit, which Paul mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
The Promise
Was the baptism of the gift of the Holy Spirit for the apostles or early disciples only? Is it today available to only a select few who are “superspiritual”? The obvious answer to these questions is no.
The Apostle Peter made it very plain in his message on the Day of Pentecost that the gift of the Holy Spirit is for everyone: “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). (See Luke 11:13.) Our faith, obedience, and submission to the Lord Jesus and His gospel qualify us for this most joyous of all experiences. (See Acts 5:32; 11:15-17.) As Isaiah 12:3 states, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Seek Him today, for “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1)*. This means you!
Taken from the Word Aflame Press tract “The Gift of the Holy Spirit”
The
problem for Christain religion comes in when looking at the original
writings of the Tanach.
EVERY pillar of the Nicene religions, oneness pentecostal, messianic, nazarene, and infamous Hebrew "Roots," crumbles when proper context is applied.
EVERY pillar of the Nicene religions, oneness pentecostal, messianic, nazarene, and infamous Hebrew "Roots," crumbles when proper context is applied.
Oh,
they love their stories of three-headed gods and virgin births, but
it's simply not in scripture!
Actually,
nearly every aspect of the Christian religion is based upon pure
pagan influence.
*The core teachings and doctrines of the Church are incompatible with the cornerstone principles declared by the Prophets of Israel, and are opposed by the most cherished tenets contained in the Jewish Scriptures.
Over the course of many centuries, the Church systematically altered the Jewish Scriptures in its authorized translations of the Bible in order to persuade its adherents that Jesus is the promised Jewish messiah. To accomplish this task, Christian translators manipulated, misquoted, and mistranslated verses in the Hebrew Scriptures so that these texts appear to be speaking about Jesus.
Over
the past two millennia, Christians have been unaware of this
systematic Bible-tampering because few parishioners can read the
Hebrew Bible in its original language. Since time immemorial, earnest
churchgoers utterly depended upon manmade Christian translations of
the "Old Testament" in order to understand the "Word
of God." As a result, Christians have wondered aloud why Jewish
people, who are reared since childhood in the Holy Tongue, and are
the bearers and protectors of the sacred Oracles of God, do not
accept Jesus as their messiah.[1]
Although the belief in the unity of God is taught and declared on virtually every page of the Jewish Scriptures, the doctrine of the Trinity is never mentioned anywhere throughout the entire corpus of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, this doctrine is not to be found anywhere in the New Testament either because primitive Christianity, in its earliest stages, was still monotheistic. The authors of the New Testament were completely unaware that the Church they had fashioned would eventually embrace a pagan deification of a triune deity. Although the worship of a three-part godhead was well known and fervently venerated throughout the Roman Empire and beyond in religious systems such as Hinduism and Mithraism, it was quite distant from the Judaism from which Christianity emerged. However, when the Greek and Roman mind began to dominate the Church, it created a theological disaster from which Christendom has never recovered. By the end of the fourth century, the doctrine of the Trinity was firmly in place as a central tenet of the Church, and strict monotheism was formally rejected by Vatican councils in Nicea and Constantinople.2
When Christendom adopted a triune godhead from neighboring triune religious systems, it spawned a serious conundrum for post-Nicene Christian apologists. How would they harmonize this new veneration of Jesus as a being who is of the same substance as the Father with a New Testament that portrays Jesus as a separate entity, subordinate to the Father, and created by God? How would they now integrate the teaching of the Trinity with a New Testament that recognized the Father alone as God? In essence, how would Christian apologists merge a first century Christian Bible, which was monotheistic, with a fourth century Church which was not?[2]
Although the belief in the unity of God is taught and declared on virtually every page of the Jewish Scriptures, the doctrine of the Trinity is never mentioned anywhere throughout the entire corpus of the Hebrew Bible. Moreover, this doctrine is not to be found anywhere in the New Testament either because primitive Christianity, in its earliest stages, was still monotheistic. The authors of the New Testament were completely unaware that the Church they had fashioned would eventually embrace a pagan deification of a triune deity. Although the worship of a three-part godhead was well known and fervently venerated throughout the Roman Empire and beyond in religious systems such as Hinduism and Mithraism, it was quite distant from the Judaism from which Christianity emerged. However, when the Greek and Roman mind began to dominate the Church, it created a theological disaster from which Christendom has never recovered. By the end of the fourth century, the doctrine of the Trinity was firmly in place as a central tenet of the Church, and strict monotheism was formally rejected by Vatican councils in Nicea and Constantinople.2
When Christendom adopted a triune godhead from neighboring triune religious systems, it spawned a serious conundrum for post-Nicene Christian apologists. How would they harmonize this new veneration of Jesus as a being who is of the same substance as the Father with a New Testament that portrays Jesus as a separate entity, subordinate to the Father, and created by God? How would they now integrate the teaching of the Trinity with a New Testament that recognized the Father alone as God? In essence, how would Christian apologists merge a first century Christian Bible, which was monotheistic, with a fourth century Church which was not?[2]
by Edward Carpenter
"One has only, instead of the word 'Jesus,' to read Dionysus or Krishna or Hercules or Osiris or Attis, and instead of 'Mary' to insert Semele or Devaki or Alcmene or Neith or Nana, and for Pontius Pilate to use the name of any terrestrial tyrant who comes into the corresponding story, and lo! the creed fits in all particulars into the rites and worship of a pagan god."
Challenge
to Oneness Christians, Messianic Jews and Hebrew-Christians
Ready?
The
Challenge: Simply & honestly answer these questions:WITHOUT
taking anything out of context, mistranslating, or imposing a
pre-conceived notion. (All chapter and verse numbers are according to
Christian bibles.)(It's what they use)
(It's just a sampling of a list, too. There are many more issues than this!)
Why
does the subject of 2 Sam. 7.14 “commit iniquity,” if, according
to Hebrews 1.5, this is Jesus?
Why
does the speaker in Psalms 41.4 say, “I have sinned against Thee,”
if, according to John 13.18, this is Jesus?
Why
does the speaker in Psalms 69.5 mention his “folly” and his
“wrongs” if, according to John 15.25, John 2.17, Romans 15.3, and
John 19.28, this is Jesus?
Why
is the speaker in Psalms 69.31 (who we have already established is
Jesus) declaring that praise and thanksgiving will please God better
than a sacrifice??????? Of all places for Jesus to bring this up
(which would be strange enough in any event), isn’t this the
strangest, right when he’s on the cross??????
Why
does God, in Jer. 31:29-30, make a point of stressing that “everyone
will die for his own iniquity” – immediately before introducing
the new covenant, whereby Jesus will die for everyone else’s
iniquity? Isn’t that a rather strange way for the “tutor to lead
us to Christ?”
When
does the new covenant of Jer. 31:31 come into effect? If it was 2,000
years ago, why hasn’t the first 3/4 of verse 34 happened yet?
Why
will there be sin sacrifices when the messiah comes, when the New
Testament is adamant that there won’t be? (Hebrews 9:28; Heb.
10:10,12,14,18; Ezekiel 3:18,19,21,22,25; Ezek.44: 27, 29; Ezek.
45:17,20,22,23,25)
Why
is Torah law going forth from Zion in the messianic age, in the sight
of all the nations of the world, instead of Jesus, if the law is a
curse and Jesus has fulfilled and replaced it? (Isaiah 2.3, Micah
4.2)
Why
are the Jews keeping (DOING) the Torah law in the messianic age, if
it is a curse and Jesus has fulfilled and replaced it? (Ezek. 37.24)
Why
is no one who is uncircumcised IN THE FLESH allowed to enter the
temple in the messianic age, if “neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision means anything,” according to Paul? (Gal.5.6, Ezek.
44.7) Whose opinion should I trust, Paul’s or God’s?
Why
does “forever” have an expiration date in Christianity? (Romans
10.4; Ps. 119: 44, 111, 152, 160, 172, 142; Deut. 29.29)
How
can Jesus be qualified to be the messiah through Davidic lineage if
he did not have a human father? Can the “Holy Spirit” be of the
seed of David?
How
can Jesus be qualified to be the messiah through Davidic lineage,
even through Joseph, if Joseph came through the cursed line of
Jeconiah? (Jer. 22:28-30, Matt. 1.11,12)
How
can Jesus be qualified to be the messiah through Davidic lineage,
even through Mary, if she came from Nathan, the wrong son of David,
as well as from the cursed line? (Luke 3:31, 1 Chron. 22:9,10, Luke
3:27)
How
could both Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies be correct, and
divinely inspired, even if they are of two different people, if they
diverge (at Nathan and Solomon) and then come back together (at
Shealtiel)? How can two brothers have the same grandchildren???
Why
don’t the genealogies in the New Testament agree with each other,
or with 1 Chronicles 3, which came first and CANNOT be incorrect?
Why
is Paul so anxious for you to not study the genealogies? (1 Tim.1:4,
Titus 3:9-11)
Why
is Hebrews 8.9 wrong about what God said in Jer. 31.32?
Why
is Hebrews 10.5 wrong about what God said in Psalm 40.6?
Why
is 2 Corinthians 3 wrong about what God said in Exodus 34.29-35?
Why
is John 19.37 wrong about what God said in Zech 12.10?
Why
are Romans 9.33 and 2 Pet. 2.8 wrong about what God said in Isaiah
28.16?
Why
is Romans 10.6-8 wrong about what God said in Deut. 30.12-14? Why
does it leave out Deut. 30.11, and the last half of verses 12, 13,
and 14???
Why
is Romans 11:26-27 wrong about what God said in Isaiah 59:20-21?
Why
is Matt. 12.21 wrong about what God said in Isaiah 42.4? Why does he
leave out what it really says – “He will not be disheartened or
crushed until he has established justice in the earth”?
Why
is Matt. 1.12 wrong about what God said in 1 Chron. 3.19?
Why
is Matt. 2.6 wrong about what God said in Micah 5.2?
Why
is Luke 4:18-19 wrong about what God said in Isaiah 61:1-2?
In
Romans 9:24-26, why does Paul leave out the first part of Hosea 1.10,
which tells us that the verses he is quoting (the second half of
Hosea 1.10, and Hosea 2.23), refer to the sons of Israel?
Why
does Matt. 2.15 leave out the first half of Hosea 11.1, which says
that Israel is God’s son?
Where
in the Hebrew scriptures is the verse, “And he shall be called a
Nazarene,” quoted in Matthew 2.23?
How
can it be possible that the holy and inspired men of the New
Testament were so ignorant of the Hebrew scriptures?
Why
doesn’t Jesus himself know his own scripture, if he’s God and he
wrote it? (Math. 23.35; Zech 1.1,2; 2 Chron 24.20,21)
Why
is Jesus wrong in Math. 5.43 about what God said in Lev. 19.18?
Why
does Jesus change God’s law (Math. 5.32, Luke 16.18 – declaring
every legally divorced woman an adulteress, and every man married to
a legally divorced woman an adulterer), if “I did not come to
abolish the law,” and “whoever annuls one of the least of these
commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the
kingdom of heaven?” (Math. 5.17,19)
Why
do most Christian translators lie about what God said in Hosea 14.2,
and change His words, “take away all iniquity… that we may
present our lips as bulls” (demonstrating that prayer substitutes
for sacrifice) to “… the fruit of our lips?”
Why
do Christians never mention verses like Hosea 14.2 or 1 Kings 8:44-52
or 2 Sam 12:13 or Lev. 5:11-13 or Ps. 32.5 or Isaiah 6.6-7 which
demonstrate that one does not need a blood sacrifice to have their
sins forgiven, or verses like Proverbs 21.3 or Psalms 40.6 or Hosea
6.6 or Psalms 69:30-31 or 1 Sam. 15.22 which say clearly that God
actually PREFERS other methods of atonement to blood sacrifice, or
Jeremiah 7:22-23 which goes so far as to say that God NEVER EVEN
COMMANDED US ABOUT SACRIFICES???
Why
are there numerous stories in the torah of people who sinned, and
were forgiven through prayer and repentance – WITHOUT A SACRIFICE,
such as David in 2 Sam 12:13, or the city of Nineveh in Jonah – and
not a single story, ever, of someone who sinned and gave a sacrifice
in order to be forgiven?
How
can Jesus be both the high priest (per Paul in Hebrews), who comes
from the tribe of Levi, and the messiah, who comes from the tribe of
Judah?
How
can Jesus be the Passover lamb for the gentiles, especially the
uncircumcised, if outsiders were forbidden to partake of it? (Ex.
12:43,45,48)
Why
is the New Testament so concerned about the laws of the paschal lamb
when it comes to the 2nd half of Ex. 12.46 (see Jn. 19.36), but not
at all concerned with these laws when it comes to Ex. 12:
3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,44, the first half of 46, or 48?
What
good is Jesus as a sin sacrifice to the intentional sinner, since
(with one exception, Lev. 6.2,3) the sin sacrifices were only for the
unintentional sinner? (Lev. 4: 2,13,22,27; 5:15,18)
How
can Zech. 12.10 be referring to Jesus’ crucifixion, as John 19.37
says it is, when Zechariah is clearly describing an end-time
apocalyptic war that has not yet taken place?
How
can Zechariah be making a “dual” prophecy, when according to the
Christians, this passage refers to God being pierced? Is he going to
be pierced again when he returns in glory?
When
was the last supper – the seder night (the first night of passover)
or the night before? (Matt. 26.17-19, Mark 14.12-16, Luke 14.7-15,
John 13.1-2)
When
did Jesus die – the first day of Passover or the day before? (Matt.
26, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 18.28, 19.14)
Why
did God, in Jer. 31.16, tell Rachel that her children would return,
if He was referring to the dead children in Matthew 2.16? Were they
going to come back to life?
Why
are the nations putting their hands on their mouth in Micah 7.16,
much like in Isaiah 52.15? What is it that they’re seeing and being
ashamed of?
Why
did the church put an unnatural chapter break between Isaiah 52.15
and 53.1?
Why
did the Christian translators remove the two plural references to the
servant in Isaiah 53.8 and 9 and replace them with a singular form?
Why
does the servant in Isaiah 53.10 have physical children (“zera”/seed)
if it refers to Jesus?
If
“zera” really means spiritual children in Is. 53, why do all
Christians agree it means physical offspring in every other place in
the bible that it is used to refer to people?
If
“zera”/seed really means spiritual children, which ONE of the
world’s Christians is the true child of Jesus, since according to
Paul in Gal. 3.16, “seed” refers to only one person?
Why
are there many clear prophecies which state that Israel is despised
and afflicted, but none which say this about the messiah?
Why
is the automatic Christian response to the problems of Isaiah 53
ALWAYS to quote the rabbis they otherwise despise and mock and whose
writings they don’t believe in, that Jesus berated and Paul called
“men who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1.14)?
Why
did the disciples not understand what Jesus was talking about in Luke
18:31-34 and Mark 9:32, if it was always common knowledge among the
Jews that the messiah was to suffer, die, and rise from the dead?
Why
did Jesus make predictions that didn’t come true, if that’s a
sure sign of a false prophet? (Math. 16:38, Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27,
Deut. 18:20-22)?
Why
does God the Father know something Jesus doesn’t know (Mark 13.32)
if Jesus IS the Everlasting Father, and the Mighty God, according to
Isaiah 9.6?
Why
do the writers of the New Testament translate the word “moshiach”
correctly as “an anointed one” every time it appears in the
Torah, except for in Daniel 9?
Why
do the writers of the New Testament translate the word “ca’ari”
correctly as “like a lion” every time it appears in the Torah,
except for in Psalm 22.17?
Why
do the writers of the New Testament translate the words “y’mei
olom” correctly as “days of old” every time it appears in the
Torah, except for in Micah 5.2?
Why
do the writers of the New Testament translate the word “bar”
correctly to “cleanliness” or “purity” every time it appears
in the Torah, except for in Psalm 2.12? Why is it that 5 verses
earlier King David knew the correct word for “son,” but not in
verse 12?
Why
don’t the writers of the New Testament translate “ha’almah”
as “virgin” in Proverbs 30.19, if that’s what it means? (What
the four “ways” in vs. 19 have in common is that they leave no
trace, as evidenced by vs. 20 that follows.)
Why
did the Septuagint authors use “parthenos” in Genesis to describe
Dina who had just been raped, if it means virgin according to
messianic authorities?
If
Isaiah 7.14 refers to the virgin birth of Jesus, via “dual
prophecy” (since it obviously can’t refer to him via the
context), then whose was the other virgin birth that occurred at the
time of the prophecy?
*
Why are there numerous prophecies about gentiles bowing and
apologizing to the Jews in the last days, and admitting they (the
gentiles) have been wrong, and not a single prophecy the other way
around – of the Jews apologizing to the gentiles – if it is
indeed the Jews who are wrong?
*
Why are we commanded NOWHERE in the Jewish scriptures to believe in
the messiah when he comes, if our salvation depends on it?
*
Why do all the prophecies that Jesus supposedly fulfilled deal only
with the PERSON of the messiah, which the Torah barely mentions, and
have nothing to with the ACCOMPLISHMENTS of the messiah, which the
Torah is very specific about?
*
Why is it that all of the prophecies that Jesus supposedly fulfilled
are all things that are of no practical advantage to anyone, and do
nothing to improve the quality of anyone’s life, while all of the
prophecies that he did NOT yet fulfill are all things that will be of
tremendous benefit to every individual on the planet, and all of
mankind as a whole? (For example, how does a virgin birth that
happened 2000 years ago, or Jesus’ being thirsty and being offered
vinegar, or being born in Bethlehem, or being killed with a robber,
or riding on a donkey, etc… help me out at all? How do any of these
“fulfillments” solve a single problem in my life, or anyone’s?
Yet, on the other hand, when there is world peace, and all the evil
people are gone, and all the sick are healed, etc… now THERE are
some messianic prophecies we can surely use. )
*
Why is it that all of the prophecies that Jesus supposedly fulfilled
are all things that CANNOT BE PROVEN, while all of the prophecies
that Jesus did NOT yet fulfill, on the other hand, are all things
that COULD NOT BE DENIED IF HE HAD fulfilled them – even just ONE
of them?
*
Why is it that the ONLY way to fit Jesus into the torah’s messianic
prophecies is through the use of extreme force? Why is one or more of
the following methods ALWAYS required? 1) taking verses out of
context, 2) mistranslating, 3) placing a 2,000 year gap (at least) in
the middle of a verse – totally unjustified by the context – i.e.
sweeping any failure of Jesus to fulfill the scriptures under the rug
of the 2nd coming, or 4) making verses up? Why can’t the torah ever
just ONCE mention Jesus clearly, if it’s so important that we
believe in him?
ARE
ALL OF THE ABOVE FACTS JUST TREMENDOUS, AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE
COINCIDENCES???????
If
God changed his mind about so many crucial things He
said in the Torah, as demonstrated above, and now wants us to believe
in Jesus, why didn't he have the decency to come down to
ALL of us, and endorse Jesus in person to make it clear to us, as he
came down to all 3 million of us on Mt. Sinai to endorse Moses, to
make sure we would believe in the Torah forever? (Ex. 19:9.11,17, Ex.
24.17)
Why
does God break one of His own commandments, “You shall
not place a stumbling block before the blind” (Lev. 19.14), since
according to 2 Cor. 3.14 and 4.4 I am blind, and according to Rom.
9.32, 1 Peter 2.8, and 1 Cor 1.23, the above challenges are all part
of “a stumbling stone?”
Why
does God trick us, and present us with such tremendous
difficulties as the above questions, and then throw us into hell for
rejecting an apparent false god, who’s really not false, if “God
our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth?” (1 Tim. 2.4)
Why
is the Christian God such a sadist? And why do Christians expect Jews
to want to embrace such a God? **
Exodus 20:2-3 - The First of the Ten Commandments
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, and of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” (See also Deuteronomy 5:7)
Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a mortal that He should change His mind.”
Deuteronomy 4:11-12 “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no image; there was only a voice.”
Deuteronomy 4:35 “You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that God is the Supreme Being, and there is none other besides Him!”
Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other!"
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you!”
Deuteronomy 32:39 “See, now, that I, I am He - and no god is with Me...”
I Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee; neither is there any Rock like our God."
I Samuel 15:29 “The Eternal One of Israel will not lie nor change His mind: for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
I Kings 8:27 “For will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have built?”
I Kings 8:60 “So that all the nations of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other!”
II Kings 19:19 “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (Psalm 113:5)
Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God? To what likeness will you compare unto Him?”
Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will then you liken Me, that I should be his equal?” says the Holy One.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another. Neither My praise to graven images!”
Isaiah 43:10-11 “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.”
Isaiah 44:6-8 This is what the Lord says, Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God! Who then is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before Me...Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Isaiah 44:24 So said the Lord, your Redeemer, the One who formed you from the womb, “I am the Lord Who makes everything, Who stretched forth the heavens alone, Who spread out the earth by Myself.”
Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God... I will strengthen you...I order that they know from the shining of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides Me; I am the Lord and there is no other!”
Isaiah 45:18-19 For this is what the Lord says – He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – He says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, ‘Seek Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”
Isaiah 45:21-22 “...who announced this before, who declared it from the distant past? Is it not I, the Lord, and there is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other!”
Isaiah 46:5 “To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?”
Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the first things of old, that I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me.”
Isaiah 48:11 “...And My honor I will not give to another.”
Hosea 13:4 “And I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me!”
Joel 2:27 “And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, there is no other; and My people shall never be ashamed.”
Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why should we betray, each one his brother, to profane the covenant of our forefathers?”
Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.”
Psalm 81:8-9 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! Let there be no strange god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god."
Psalm 146:3 “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation!”
Nehemiah 9:6 “You alone are the Lord; You made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them, and You give life to them all, and the heavenly host bow down before You.”
I Chronicles 17:20 “O Lord, there is none like You, neither is there any God beside You, according to all that we have heard with our ears!”
The Eternal Consequences of Idol Worship
I have been told that if I don't believe in Jesus as my savior I am going straight to Hell after I die. This seems like a compelling reason for me to believe in Jesus particularly since I have also been told that there is no consequence within Judaism if I believe in Jesus. Therefore, I have nothing to lose by believing in Jesus, so why shouldn't I believe in him as my savior?
Answer: Actually, belief in Jesus is a horrendous sin with grave consequences for any Jew who professes to do so. To understand this let us look at the tragic apostasy of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its dominant tribe, Ephraim. God, speaking through the prophet Hosea declares, "When Ephraim spoke with trembling, he became exalted in Israel; but when he became guilty through Baal, he died" (Hosea 13:1). When they served God, Ephraim was "exalted," but when they became guilty of idol worship and remained unrepentant despite prophetic warnings to cease their sinful ways they signed their own death warrant. Ephraim died a spiritual death long before it suffered national destruction.
From the prophetic message we learn that apostates, even during their lifetime are reckoned as dead as long as they remain unrepentant. The prophet not only denounces belief in molten images fashioned by craftsmen, but also those who trust in a false savior- god: "And I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt, and gods beside Me you should not know, and there is no savior but Me" (Hosea 13:4).
God desires the apostate's repentance and beckons him/her to renounce iniquity: "From the clutches of the grave I would ransom them, from death I would redeem them, I will be your words of death; I will decree the grave upon you. Remorse shall be hidden from My eyes" (Hosea 13:14).
For the apostate who does not repent, God says, "I will decree the grave upon you." In a more literal sense, "I will be the cause of your being cut off to the grave." Katavcha, from the verb ketev, denotes "cutting" (e.g. Psalms 91:6). Its primary meaning is "to cut," but in Hosea 13:14, ketev takes on the secondary meaning "decree." In Hebrew, the primary word for decree is gezayra, the root of which is gezer, "to cut." There are a number of word roots in Hebrew whose primary meaning is "cutting," yet have a secondary meaning of a final, permanent decision or ruling (e.g., pasak, chakak, gezer, charatz, karat).
As we see, the belief in the false savior-god Jesus is a grave sin. The unrepentant apostate is not only shunned and considered dead by the Jewish community. God Himself considers the unrepentant apostate as spiritually dead in this life and in physical death the apostate is all the more so "cut off."[3]
Exodus 20:2-3 - The First of the Ten Commandments
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, and of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.” (See also Deuteronomy 5:7)
Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man that He should lie, nor a mortal that He should change His mind.”
Deuteronomy 4:11-12 “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no image; there was only a voice.”
Deuteronomy 4:35 “You are the ones who have been shown, so that you will know that God is the Supreme Being, and there is none other besides Him!”
Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other!"
Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you!”
Deuteronomy 32:39 “See, now, that I, I am He - and no god is with Me...”
I Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside Thee; neither is there any Rock like our God."
I Samuel 15:29 “The Eternal One of Israel will not lie nor change His mind: for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
I Kings 8:27 “For will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have built?”
I Kings 8:60 “So that all the nations of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other!”
II Kings 19:19 “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (Psalm 113:5)
Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God? To what likeness will you compare unto Him?”
Isaiah 40:25 “To whom will then you liken Me, that I should be his equal?” says the Holy One.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory will I not give to another. Neither My praise to graven images!”
Isaiah 43:10-11 “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed, nor will there be one after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.”
Isaiah 44:6-8 This is what the Lord says, Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, “I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God! Who then is like Me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before Me...Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Isaiah 44:24 So said the Lord, your Redeemer, the One who formed you from the womb, “I am the Lord Who makes everything, Who stretched forth the heavens alone, Who spread out the earth by Myself.”
Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God... I will strengthen you...I order that they know from the shining of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides Me; I am the Lord and there is no other!”
Isaiah 45:18-19 For this is what the Lord says – He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – He says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, ‘Seek Me in vain.’ I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”
Isaiah 45:21-22 “...who announced this before, who declared it from the distant past? Is it not I, the Lord, and there is no God apart from Me, a righteous God and Savior; there is none but Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other!”
Isaiah 46:5 “To whom shall you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me that we may be alike?”
Isaiah 46:9 “Remember the first things of old, that I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me.”
Isaiah 48:11 “...And My honor I will not give to another.”
Hosea 13:4 “And I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but Me, no Savior except Me!”
Joel 2:27 “And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, there is no other; and My people shall never be ashamed.”
Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why should we betray, each one his brother, to profane the covenant of our forefathers?”
Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You.”
Psalm 81:8-9 “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would listen to Me! Let there be no strange god among you; nor shall you worship any foreign god."
Psalm 146:3 “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation!”
Nehemiah 9:6 “You alone are the Lord; You made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is upon it, the seas and all that is in them, and You give life to them all, and the heavenly host bow down before You.”
I Chronicles 17:20 “O Lord, there is none like You, neither is there any God beside You, according to all that we have heard with our ears!”
The Eternal Consequences of Idol Worship
I have been told that if I don't believe in Jesus as my savior I am going straight to Hell after I die. This seems like a compelling reason for me to believe in Jesus particularly since I have also been told that there is no consequence within Judaism if I believe in Jesus. Therefore, I have nothing to lose by believing in Jesus, so why shouldn't I believe in him as my savior?
Answer: Actually, belief in Jesus is a horrendous sin with grave consequences for any Jew who professes to do so. To understand this let us look at the tragic apostasy of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its dominant tribe, Ephraim. God, speaking through the prophet Hosea declares, "When Ephraim spoke with trembling, he became exalted in Israel; but when he became guilty through Baal, he died" (Hosea 13:1). When they served God, Ephraim was "exalted," but when they became guilty of idol worship and remained unrepentant despite prophetic warnings to cease their sinful ways they signed their own death warrant. Ephraim died a spiritual death long before it suffered national destruction.
From the prophetic message we learn that apostates, even during their lifetime are reckoned as dead as long as they remain unrepentant. The prophet not only denounces belief in molten images fashioned by craftsmen, but also those who trust in a false savior- god: "And I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt, and gods beside Me you should not know, and there is no savior but Me" (Hosea 13:4).
God desires the apostate's repentance and beckons him/her to renounce iniquity: "From the clutches of the grave I would ransom them, from death I would redeem them, I will be your words of death; I will decree the grave upon you. Remorse shall be hidden from My eyes" (Hosea 13:14).
For the apostate who does not repent, God says, "I will decree the grave upon you." In a more literal sense, "I will be the cause of your being cut off to the grave." Katavcha, from the verb ketev, denotes "cutting" (e.g. Psalms 91:6). Its primary meaning is "to cut," but in Hosea 13:14, ketev takes on the secondary meaning "decree." In Hebrew, the primary word for decree is gezayra, the root of which is gezer, "to cut." There are a number of word roots in Hebrew whose primary meaning is "cutting," yet have a secondary meaning of a final, permanent decision or ruling (e.g., pasak, chakak, gezer, charatz, karat).
As we see, the belief in the false savior-god Jesus is a grave sin. The unrepentant apostate is not only shunned and considered dead by the Jewish community. God Himself considers the unrepentant apostate as spiritually dead in this life and in physical death the apostate is all the more so "cut off."[3]
**This
list may be copied and passed around, as long as credit is given to
leeannesmailbox@aol.com, who gives at least half of the credit to
Rabbi Tovia Singer.
Source
[1] http://www.outreachjudaism.org/
[2] http://www.jewsforjudaism.ca/resources-info/faqs-on-christianity
[3] Jewsforjudaism.
http://www.comeoutofhermypeople.net/impossible-questions.html
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