Good News According To David Landis and the JesusTrail.com

David Landis is an experienced outdoor adventure specialist

http://jesustrail.com/about-us

Great site if you want to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

Also,

90% of Jesus’ ministry was in the Galilee region.

Here’s a resource to learn more about the region today.
http://www.gogalilee.org/

Good News According To Godfearers Who Worshipped The God of Israel But Were Not Jews

Before Jesus, Godfearers (from Greek θεοφοβείς, or φοβουμενοι τον θεον and Neo-Persian: Tarsàkàn) are non-Jews who attached themselves in varying degrees to Judaism without becoming full-blown proselytes referred to in the biblical Book of Acts.[1]

Godfearers were in a sense early Christians before the time of Jesus.

Good News According To Andrew

Andrew was an apostle and a Jewish believer in Jesus.

Andrew helped start the Orthodox church in Istanbul (Constantinople).

The New Testament records that St Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter, by which it is inferred that he was likewise a son of Jonah, or John, (Matthew 16:17; John 1:42). He was born in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee (John 1:44). Both he and his brother Peter were fishermen by trade, hence the tradition that Jesus called them to be his disciples by saying that He will make them “fishers of men”

Is the word “church” really in the original Bible scriptures? IschurchintheBible

Good News According To Messianic Jewish Christians

Jewish followers of Jesus started Christianity.

According to church tradition Peter (a Jewish believer in Jesus) founded the  Catholic church in Rome. Andrew (a Jewish believer in Jesus)started the Greek Orthodox church currently headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey (then called Byzantium and later Constantinople) in AD 38.  Mark (a Jewish believer in Jesus, discipled by Peter) created the Egyptian Orthodox church (in Alexandria which had a large Jewish population) in about 42 AD. Paul (a Jewish believer in Jesus, also a rabbi) started many early churches and wrote the most letters of the New Testament.

Aristo of Pella may have represented the believers who fled to Pella instead of being slaughtered by the Romans in the destruction of the Temple.

The first historian of the church, Eusebius of Caesarea provides the names of an unbroken succession of thirty-six Bishops of Jerusalem up to the year 324.^[1] The first sixteen of these bishops were Jewish—from James the Brother of Jesus through Judas († 135)—the remainder were Gentiles.

After the death of Jesus, the early congregations remained mostly Messianic or Jewish-Christian until around 130 CE. Since then, the church became mostly gentile in composition. With the resurrection of Israel as a country, Jewish participation in the church is again increasing which is good news for the church.

Also, Hypsistarians, a fascinating group played a little known key role. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypsistarians
Mention by Goethe -After describing his difficulties with mainstream religion, Goethe laments that

…I have found no confession of faith to which I could ally myself without reservation. Now in my old age, however, I have learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they would treasure, admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their knowledge, and inasmuch as it must have a close connection to the Godhead, pay it reverence. A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian. That, however, is no small task, for how does one, in the limitations of one’s individuality, come to know what is most excellent?[1]

…remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.. Ephesians 2:12-13 (New International Version)

Messianic Music – http://www.musicfromisrael.com/c/C-MSC/Messianic.html

chosen people ministries

Issues

Who is a Jew?
Matrilineal or Patrilineal Descent
http://judaism.about.com/od/whoisajew/a/whoisjewdescent.htm

How should Gentile and Messianic Christian’s follow the law?

The Jerusalem Church created a double standard: one for Jewish Christians and one for Gentile converts (for the parallel in Judaism, seeConvert to Judaism and Noahides). The Decree may be the first act of differentiation of the Church from its Jewish roots[3], depending on when Jewish
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jerusalem?wasRedirected=true

Medieval rabbinic figure Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon), also known as the Rambam, wrote a commentary to tractate Sanhedrin stressing a relatively naturalistic interpretation of the Messiah and de-emphasizing miraculous elements. His commentary became widely (although not universally) accepted in the non- or less-mystical branches of Orthodox Judaism:[citation needed]
The Messianic age is when the Jews will regain their independence and all return to the land of Israel. The Messiah will be a very great king, he will achieve great fame, and his reputation among the gentile nations will be even greater than that of King Solomon. His great righteousness and the wonders that he will bring about will cause all peoples to make peace with him and all lands to serve him…. Nothing will change in the Messianic age, however, except that Jews will regain their independence. Rich and poor, strong and weak, will still exist. However it will be very easy for people to make a living, and with very little effort they will be able to accomplish very much…. it will be a time when the number of wise men will increase…. war shall not exist, and nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation…. The Messianic age will be highlighted by a community of the righteous and dominated by goodness and wisdom. It will be ruled by the Messiah, a righteous and honest king, outstanding in wisdom, and close to God. Do not think that the ways of the world or the laws of nature will change, this is not true. The world will continue as it is. The prophet Isaiah predicted “The wolf shall live with the sheep, the leopard shall lie down with the kid.” This, however, is merely allegory, meaning that the Jews will live safely, even with the formerly wicked nations. All nations will return to the true religion and will no longer steal or oppress. Note that all prophecies regarding the Messiah are allegorical Only in the Messianic age will we know the meaning of each allegory and what it comes to teach us. Our sages and prophets did not long for the Messianic age in order that they might rule the world and dominate the gentiles, the only thing they wanted was to be free for Jews to involve themselves with the Torah and its wisdom.

What does the word “Torah” actually mean?

The word Torah comes from the Hebrew root yarah which means “the mark”.  This is meant to bring to mind an archer as he strives to “hit the mark”. Conversely, the Hebrew word for “sin” means to litteraly “miss the mark”.  Torah most litterally means “teaching” or “instruction” . Thus, the picture that the word Torah is meant to paint is aiming for the center of the target to do what is right.

Torah is most often used to reference to the five Books of Moses. (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) However, sometimes the word Torah may also be used to refer collectively to all Scripture or even to include all teaching derived from Scripture. With all of these meanings floating around it’s easy to see why the word Torah needs defining.

For the sake of this article we will define Torah as: The divine document written by HaShem given to Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Though it contains laws and commands, the Torah is better understood as God’s teaching and instructions on life rather than some divine municipal governance. The Torah teaches us how to do what is right and by doing so, find blessing. It also warns us how to avoid the curse from doing wrong. According to the Scriptures, the Torah is truth, our delight, holy, good, spiritual, and many other attributes.

The Torah is the following books of the bible – B’reisheit (In the Beginning), Shemot (Names), Vayikra (And He Called), Bamidbar (n the Wilderness), and Devarim (Words). Also known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

http://jerusalemcouncil.org/articles/teaching/torah/#more-282

also –

We can speculate all we want on the matter of things to come or ascribing one man or another his inheritance. However, our judgement will not stand when the Shofar of Heaven sounds and Tzar HaShalom takes His place to judge the nations placing one to his right and another to his left. His judgement will remain… Maybe it’s not so wise to argue who is in and who is out to the point of forgetting the Judge!!!

…This has been my general approach to the subject here to fore.

Certainly Torah is the law by which we will be judged and knowing it’s finer points is a Mitzvah. But let us not neglect the finner points of the character of HaShem in the process. He is abounding in loving kindness and truth showing mercy to thousands. Many will be spared judgement they deserve. Yeshua promises we will be shown much mercy if we are also merciful. Therefore, especially in discussion of identity and inheritance let us walk gently with mercy rather than extreme justice.

Paul reminds us that ones Jewishness is not outward. For this reason we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. When we look at the end of time, all who remain are shown mercy. (That is, those who live.) In this salvation of mercy there is neither Jew nor Gentile. A fellow heir can reject the fullness of his inheritance in Torah just as easily as a fellow Jew. But, I think it is dangerous to dwell too much on who is in and who is out of the covenant. Yeshua seems to take a “wait and see” attitude. If we claim Him as our Rabbi I think it’s important that we follow suite.

Certainly conversion exists today. But it has always been more symbolic than definitive. Much like baptism in Christianity, the process is an outward depiction of an inward change. Can such a demonstration be falsified? Absolutely!!! Can we see another’s heart to declare their state? Not unless HaShem reveals it to us and in my experience, HaShem doesn’t generally reveal such things to the general populous and rarely to specific individual. It is on a need-to-know basis and we obviously need to know less than we think….

When a baby is born, his father expects him to get a job and provide for himself, take a wife and produce a family of his own. However, the father does not expect the baby to do all of these things by tomorrow. It will take years of careful instruction to bring the boy to maturity. In between, there is grace for poopy diapers, temper tantrums, sibling rivalries and all of the other things that are common to the development of children. But the end result is a responsible righteous man.

In the same way a we all grow in Torah. It is like a guardian that brings us to righteousness. For the Christian that doesn’t yet know Torah fully there is more grace and mercy than we often show. HaShem is drawing them to Himself just as He has drawn us.

A Jewish baby, upon birth, is not recognizably Jewish. Not until 8 days later is he given the sign of the Covenant in his flesh. Even then the sign is hidden from the world. A baby must learn Torah and grow in wisdom and stature regardless of his genetic heritage. But if that baby is not fully grown shall we say that He is not walking in the fullness of the Father’s will?

As FFOZ pointed out in their last Messiah Journal, the major problem in discussions on conversion and identity come down to the Gentiles responsibility to keep Torah. Shall we convert then and proceed to stone them because they have transgressed laws that they barely know??? MAY IT NEVER BE!!!! Instead let us show them the same love that we were shown as we began to take baby steps in Torah. This is why we have the Torah cycle. It teaches children and converts year-by-year to walk in the fullness of righteousness.

Without an atonement of Moshiach we would be forced to “throw the book at someone”. But this is why Moshiach has been given: to atone for the transgressions and sins of those who stumble or are turned away by various snares and traps of the enemy. As Yeshua says: “I did not come for the righteous but for sinners…” “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” We must conclude then that “whosoever” in John 3:16 is included in the “lost sheep of Israel” mentioned here. Thus, I’m reaffirming that belief in Moshiach is prerequisite to immersion and conversion.

As Israel says again and again: conversion is a public confirmation of an already existing condition. Even to the Jew who has been cut off, Yeshua’s death gives them the chance to repent and be grafted in again. Yeshua’s resurrection reminds us of His promise to restore all that has been lost and save as many as will accept His salvation. He will restore the world in fullness and the former glory will be surpassed by the later.

As to how this plays out in the end of days and whether the Gentiles will survive the resurrection or how the nations will be inhabited in the times to come… To all these things we can only adopt a “wait and see” attitude. We know in part and we prophesy in part. But when the fullness comes there will be no more partiality. Until then we trust in the goodness of G-d and seek to be found faithful with a little responsibility that more may be added to us.

This is why discussion based on conjecture bug me so much: If we do not start trusting in G-d’s goodness and preaching His mercy along with His righteousness we will quickly loose sight of the Good News! Heaven forbid that a lack of faith cause us to grow weary in doing good or cause us to fall away altogether. If we loose sight of HaShem’s identity, arguing about our own identity won’t do much to save us. Rather, by focusing on His righteous mercy we encourage each other to get up and try again and live the righteousness that we so long to see perfected in our lives.

In the end there are only two identities for humanity: those who are HaShem people and those who are not His people. But for both groups their identity lies less with their own making and more in the identity of Moshiach. If our identity, Jew or Gentile, is based on anything other than the salvation of Moshiach we have bigger problems than what to call ourselves. But if we are in Moshiach we are grafted into an inheritance older than the children of Israel and more lasting than their generations. We are our Beloveds and He is ours and we shall feast at His table forever!

Hopefully this encourages each one to press in and serve HaShem with gladness. Conversion into the Kingdom of Righteousness is something to be proclaimed. I was in darkness but now I have seen the light! But if our conversion is for any other purpose than proclaiming that great event in our life we have defiled the entire act. Therefore, may it be that each conversion of rebirth is complete and holy to our G-d and that we continue to learn more how to faithfully walk in righteousness. Amein.

LIBRARY

The faith of the Mother Church
an essay on the theology of the Judeo-Christians

by Emmanuele Testa

Atallah Mansour, author of “Narrow Gate Churches” – http://www.amazon.com/NARROW-GATE-CHURCHES-Christian-ebook/dp/B001QFYCZW/

Muhammad had a Jewish-Christian for an advisor! Waraqah ibn Nawfal http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waraqah_ibn_Nawfal?wasRedirected=true

Q)  Why is the return of Messiah bad for Jews???

A)
Given those assumptions, we are talking not about what the future actually holds, but about people’s belief in a particular future.  Many rapturists proclaim that messiah will return, some Jews will finally convert and the others will burn.  Neither option is appealing to Jews (excepting of course the miniscule number of people who consider themselves both).  Many of us consider it a hostile vision.

It is fundamental to Christianity (it’s belieiefs) that it surpassed/supplanted  Judaism and that the Christians are right and the Jews are wrong. Although there are some swings toward tolerance, overall deep down most Christians find Jews troublesome or offensive, precisely because of (what they see as) Jews unwillingness to accept TRUTH. I would say that we all want others to confirm our world view.

Personally, I am not too riled by people who think the best outcome of all is that I burn or embrace their truth. It is a bridge I do not contemplate much and figure I will cross or not when it exists. Until then it is idle speculation – a great unknown (likely in the view of some and unlikely in the view of others).  But I still get no comfort from them or their vision.

Good News According To Laurence Oliphant then William Blackstone

Modern zi0nism is a core part of the Protestant reformation. As average Christians in Europe were finally allowed to read the Bible and to actually read God’s promises to Israel and the Jewish people they started to support the restoration of Israel. There was a major movement especially within Britain. America’s founders came out of this environment and brought these ideas with them to the new American promised land where they flourished even more.

William Bradford – ‘Come let us declare in Zion the word of God’
quoting Jeremiah in 1620 as he got off the Mayflower. Founding of
America.

In the 1700’s Famous preacher Jonathan Edwards was a Christian Zionist.

According to Sizer, the term ‘Christian Zionist’ first appears to have been used by Theodor Herzl to describe Henri Dunant, the Swiss philanthropist and founder of the Red Cross. Dunant was one of only a handful of Gentiles to be invited to the First World Zionist Congress.

Joseph Rabinowitz was a leader in the Jewish community in Russia when he went to Palestine seeking a place of safety from Russian mobs who were attacking Jews. In the holy land he realized that Jesus is who he says – the way to true peace and the Messiah. Rabinowitz did not think Oliphant was as effective as he could have been but…

Laurence Oliphant (1829–1888) was an early Christian zionist (and British author, international traveller, diplomatist and mystic) who desired to see the resurrection of Israel.

…his mind was occupied with a large project of colonization in Palestine, and he made in 1879 an extensive journey in that country, going also to Constantinople, in the vain hope of obtaining a lease of the northern half of the Holy Land with a view to settling large numbers of Jews there (this was before the first wave of Jewish settlement of the Zionists in 1882). This he conceived would be an easy task from a financial point of view, as there were so many persons in England and America anxious to fulfill the prophecies, and bring about the end of the world…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Oliphant

Charles Taze Russell – founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, prophetic Christian Zionist

Conrad Schick (1822-1901) a German Protestant missionary was actually the architect who planned Meah Shearim in Jerusalem which is now the main Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, the city of Jesus.

Another Christian zionist was professor George Bush (distant ancestor of the future US president).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bush_%28Biblical_scholar%29

Henry Wentworth Monk (April 6, 1827 – August 24, 1896) was a fascinating Canadian Christian Zionist.  “If Blacks free what about the Jews?”

Mormon Christian Zionist –

Orson Hyde 1841‏
– famous prayer for restored Israel
– site of BYU israel

Also, Brandeis called William Blackstone the Father of Zionism, not Herzl because Blackstone was first.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Memorial

Emma Lazarus – female Zionist predating Herzl by a few decades

Herzl – Moses, Moses Rambam, and Herzl – “the 3rd Moses”. According to Herzl’s biographer Reuben Breinin, “Herzl had a dream in which he encountered Moses and a messiah figure on a shining cloud…” . Also, Robert S. Wistrich wrote in “Theodore Herzl between Messianism and Politics”….

THEODORE HERZL – BETWEEN MESSIANISM AND POLITICS – ROBERT S. WISTRICH

former US President George Bush (Jr) is the greatest Christian zionist supporter of Israel in history so far. IronicallyChristian Zionists have been stronger supporters of Israel than the liberal American Jewish community (see the book A Match Made in Heaven by Zev Chafets for the details).

Good News According To James Ridgway

Good news for Israel tourism from pastor James Ridgway who sent some 300,000 tourists to Israel!!

Feb. 5, 2009
NADIA BEIDAS , THE JERUSALEM POST

American pastor James Ridgway was honored late last month for bringing some 300,000 tourists to Israel since 1974 through his nonprofit organization, Educational Opportunities, which was also marking its 35th anniversary…

…The tours feature both Jewish and Arab guides. Ibrahim Matar directs the contemporary studies program for Educational Opportunities, a program in which pilgrims learn about both the Palestinian perspective and the Israeli perspective of the conflict. Matar arranges for all of the pilgrims to visit a Jewish settlement and a Palestinian refugee camp.

Matar said the tours “build a bridge for peace.”

Rula Shubeita, a tour guide for 12 years, said it is a priority for the pilgrims to pray and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

“They relate to these holy sites. All of their lives they studied about Jesus, Jerusalem, Nazareth. It’s a great experience for them. It’s once in a lifetime,” Shubeita said.

Ridgway said he believes Arabs and Jews will live in peace one day.

“I hope I will live to see that day,” he said.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304689986&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Good News According To Rob Bell

hear about the original meaning of the gospel, good news and church – you just might be surprised. 

Charles Winters – only the second posthumous pardon in U.S. history

Charles Winters,  Boston Protestant who aided his Jewish friends and served 18 months in prison for it  who helped smuggle arms in the 1940s to the land that would become Israel. Only the second posthumous pardon in U.S. history.

John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister

John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister is Jewish but not religious.

Christchurch Jewish Synagogue

funny name for a synagogue?

http://www.chc.org.nz/