MessianicMusings.com

So, you may ask, what is replacement theology, anyway?

It’s the kind of question that’s important to ask because it’s not as easy to recognize as the difference between a Sleep Number bed and a TV lift cabinet. It’s more subtle than that.

At its core, replacement theology is the notion much of Christianity is afflicted with that says, “God rejected the Jews. All their promises transfer to us now, but the curses are theirs alone. We (usually “we” is considered to be either the Christian church or, in the USA, this nation) are the “new Jerusalem” and “the shining city on a hill” spoken of in Scripture.”

It’s a mindset that says the “law” (e.g., Torah) is done away with and now we only have grace, only have forgiveness, and since we’re forgiven, anything goes, really… since it’s all a matter of repenting and claiming the forgiveness found in Jesus.

And it’s also the mindset that assumes the rules are different for “Christian” believers than it was for Jews who followed Adonai and His Torah. In doing this, the replacement theology mindset robs the Jewish people of all that Adonai promised them, and transfers it to Christianity. The danger in this, seldom recognized by those who hold such beliefs, is that makes Adonai a promise-breaker, not a promise-keeper. It makes haShem someone who changes, rather than someone who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. It ultimately robs haShem of his character, so in essence, replacement theology constitutes lashan hurrah against the L-RD Himself, and if that isn’t blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, it’s getting pretty darn close at least.

Not everyone who holds a replacement theology mindset, however, realizes they hold it, or that it’s wrong. It’s simply a false teaching that’s been around since the time of Constantine, and arguably before him since he merely codified it into “the Church.” And since it’s been passed down from generation to generation for nearly 1900 years or thereabouts, it’s the only thing many in Christianity know as a way to think about these things.

How do you recognize it? It can be as simple as recognizing what the implications are when someone utters a few off-the-cuff words like, “That’s an Old Testament thing.”

Wrong, wrong, wrong, my friend. The things done in the flesh still matter. Believing otherwise cheapens grace and diminishes the work of Yeshua at Calvary.

One of the most difficult tasks for a messianic believer is confronting replacement theology when it pops up. This does not have to be done in a hurtful or antagonistic way, but I do believe one must defend the truth when they are a believer, even if it’s with a kind word of correction.

It’s not always easy, though. Sometimes it comes at you from sources you don’t even expect it from. Case in point. I recently met with a long-time friend and we were talking about some of the movements and ideas active in Christianity that disturb us.

As a messianic, I’m a bit more on the outside looking in on that count; as a mainstream Christian, my friend is more of an insider critiquing the movement he’s a part of, at least in the larger sense. We agree on many things, though not on everything.

The topic turned to the messianic movement and some errors within my side of the fence. I’m fully willing to express as much concern about the movement I’m a part of as I am about mainstream Christianity; bad teaching ought to raise concerns, no matter what movement is the source of it. I mean, some folks get so theologically off-base, their sermons may as well be about Leptitrex as anything found in the Torah. And it can happen in any movement.

As the discussion evolved, I shared with my friend a lesson I’d been working on and a comment from one of the Sages relating to the absolute holiness of haShem and how liars and those who engage in evil speech (lashan hurrah) cannot even experience the Shekinah of the L-RD.

My friend, who studied Jewish roots before I ever became messianic and ought to know a bit better, looked up at me and said - innocently enough, mind you, “Well, remember, that’s an Old Testament thing.”

Simple reply? No, it’s not. But in that moment, I didn’t really have the right words - or even those words - at the ready. I let it slip by, I think, with a, “Not really…” and the conversation moved on. I could and should have done a bit better than that.

I’m nearly done with Part 11 of my character study on David and soon we’ll be leaving David behind for one final, new study before we reach Simchat Torah, begin the Torah cycle over, and I start writing Torah Cycle lessons for my bar and bat mitzvah kids.

I never realized when I started that my character study of David would go 11 lessons. I also never thought I’d be just scratching the surface in those 11 lessons, and if I ever come back to the topic once I’m ordained (provided God wills that I become ordained), I could break David’s life down into even more lessons, taught in even greater detail.

So what’s next? I’m not sure yet, but I’m leaning toward a book study focusing on Ruth; after all this time on David, I think it’s time to do something for the young girls in this class. Always nice at that age to have something to focus on other than the latest acne outbreak.

In the years ahead, I think one of the most important qualities any spiritual leader can ask for from Adonai is discernment. Primarily this is because I believe deception within all sorts of Christian, messianic, and even Jewish movements is at an all-time high.

Rabbi Stan recently said this in one of his sermons: “A person - or a demon - does not need to be with you to control you. All they need to do is teach you something that sinks in and that you conform your life around, and from that moment on, whoever taught you that is in control of your life, even if you never meet them again.”

Too much of this is increasingly evident within the Judeo-Christian movement. We have exchanged, each in different ways, the truth of God for lies, and we will not go unpunished if we do not repent of it, cast off the deception, and re-embrace truth.

Unfortuantely, I believe that in too many congregations, the lies are so embedded, so sunk-in, that most of the people who attend these churches would not know the genuine experience of fellowship with the Almighty from the counterfeit, because they’ve never experience the genuine.

Controversial thought, I know… but for most believers and even church and synagogue leaders, our spiritual discernment is on diet pills, and we’re in danger of becoming spritually anorexic. The time to pray for discernment and the repentence it will bring as Adonai cleanses his bride is now.

Today, my wife and I went to meet with a couple friends for prayer. Though we all (except my wife and I, of course) go to different Twin Cities-based churches, we all are feeling equally convicted that the church as a whole is pretty messed up, with a lot of false teaching in it that needs to be cleaned up soon.

Our outlooks and approaches are different, of course.

Tim (I’ll share first names only) is a solid balanced-view guy. He is an evangelical who is not highly partisan and can see the way Adonai uses each church movement, but is concerned about the amount of deception many in the church have embraced.

Jim (who wasn’t able to make it this time) is from a more mainline church, and his emphasis is to pray for mercy from Adonai.

My wife and I, as messianics, place a lot more concern on repentence than anything else, because we are convinced that God will not hesitate to judge those who embrace deception over the truth. Especially those in leadership positions.

It can become an ugly treadmill when church leaders embrace deception, and today I felt moved to pray for discernment on behalf of all Twin Cities church and synagogue leaders. But that’s a topic for another post…

Slowly… sometimes lethargically, I’ll admit… my prayer time is increasing.

I’m great at studying the Torah and related materials; studying is a strength for me. But that’s not enough if one wants to be a messianic rabbi. One must also have an active prayer life and be sure of God’s call on their life to such an undertaking. It’s certainly not a job one wants to take on without Adonai’s blessing on their ministry.

I’m still not where I need to be, quite honestly. If my prayer life were essential to breathing, I’d still need an IQAir or something to help out. But I am further along than I’ve been.

One thing that’s helping is now being part of a prayer squad. It’s a group that consists of two long-time friends and my wife, so far, and may grow beyond that. We’re all from different denominations, but we’re all brought together by the conviction that there’s too much false teaching out there in the church, be it Christian, Jewish or messianic. We all feel compelled that God wants to clean up the mess of all this false teaching, to prepare his bride and make her hold again.

It’s a help to be part of a group like that; it lends extra purpose to devoting more time to my prayer time with Adonai.

I never expected it when I began, but in the bar/bat mitzvah lessons I’m writing for my students, I’ve been doing a character study of David and, even without hardly trying, I’ve found no less than 11 lessons when breaking down the passages that pertain to David in I and II Samuel.

Eleven lessons is much longer than I thought I’d be able to go with this, but David’s life is a much richer tapestry than most people ever hear about in their church or synagogue. Everyone remembers the tale of his battle with Golyat or his fall into sin with Bat-Sheva; but there are many more episodes out of his life, and each is rich in insight, lessons and meaning that can be applied to how we live out our lives of faith today.

It might sound a bit odd, like a random offer of foreclosure help, but I honestly think that David’s life hasn’t been studied nearly enough. Even though I extracted 11 lessons for my bar/bat mitzvah kids from the Tenakh, I skipped a lot and highlighted only the most applicable main events that would carry relevancy for the kids I teach.

Next time through, I expect I could easily double the number of lessons.

One can take matters of the spiritual world to two extremes; overspiritualizing - the habit of seeing a demon under every rock, tree and cereal commercial, and underspiritualizing - the habit of seeing the world only in the scientific, observable spectrum of reality.

There is a middle-ground, though. The prophet Elijah once, through the power of Adonai, opened the eyes of a disciple to the reality of the spiritual world, and what he say was that there is more of a struggle against the spiritual than there is against flesh and blood in much of life.

Often, a simple argument with a spouse “over nothing” can be inspired by the spirit world, looking to disrupt a marriage and lead one or both spouses into unbelief or error. It’s a way of keeping our marriages from being the powerful tools for the kingdom of heaven God had in mind when he brought couples together.

Angels and demons are not toys; they are real beings and while they are not behind everything the way some folks believe, they are behind more than most of us suspect.

Some kids turn out great. Some… well, eventually you hope they’ll catch up to their peer.

A couple weeks ago, we graduated a bar mitzvah kid who has done well; he’s a young 13, but his mind is bright and he’s been a careful study and grasped his lessons well. Yet there are others I’m far more concerned about.

A child is usually as his or her parents expect them to be. If they allow their children to drift into bad habits of prioritizing entertainment over education, rare is the child who will become a good student. If they allow their kids to do whatever their heart desires, rare is the child who will show respect for their elders and obey their authority figures.

The behavior of children reflects an aspect of a congregation to those who visit. If children are generally well-behaved, it is a blessing to the congregation. If they run wild, it creates a less favorable impression.

The trouble is that not all parents are uniform in their approach to parenting. Some are involved and caring and appropriately strict; others are self-involved and unconcerned and as stable as inflatable boats.

This is human nature, it’s true; never will there be any congregation for whom all kids and parents produce equally encouraging results with their children. But I do wish more parents would see the importance of bringing up their children well. Yes, it’s a tough job; but it’s actually part of our covenant with Adonai our God. Solid parenting ought to be taken more seriously.

It’s amazing how life ticks by.

Today, my wife and I reached 23 months of marriage and we’re now only a month away from our second wedding anniversary. We’re not getting there without trials. In fact, we’ve had more than our share, it sometimes seems.

From all the health things with mom, to other friends’ troubles, family troubles on her side of the family, our own newlywed adjustments, the loss of a friend at church to the same thing that’s taking the life of my Mom. Too many things to list, it seems at times.

We’re getting through and we’re blessed to have not only faith in common, but the same brand of faith in common. Yet even with all that, we struggle. We have disagreements, misunderstandings, disputes.

Sometimes it seems like it’s all too much.

But then, a moment passes and we find a way to the next moment and somehow we survive. Not without the help of Adonai; not without the help of friends and family. But we make it through.

It means more now, carries more history now than when we first met and started saying it; but it’s as true as ever between my wife and me: we’re blessed to have found each other.

That means more, I think, than any gift wrapped in custom boxes.

This Tuesday, my mother goes in for her treatment evaluation at Rochester Mayo. She’s been told to fast after dinner on Monday, in case they want to run the first course of radiation or chemotherapy on her at that time.

This is where it will start to get more difficult for us all, and probably more painful for Mom. It scares me. While I have faith in Yeshua, and faith in my mom’s trust in Him and her eternal destination, it is the losing of her that scares me, the pain she’ll be going through, the suffering she’ll endure.

It’s the prospect of the lack of her at the other end of a phone call, which will eventually become a reality for me, possibly before the year is out. Not being able to call home and talk to Mom is going to be the loss of a bit of my psychological security blanket.

I’m 41, an age where life insurance quotes aren’t looking so affordable even for me anymore. I’m blessed by having my Mom around this late in life, far longer than many get to enjoy. I’m a married man with a wife to lean on now. But is this still going to be painful, despite how richly Adonai has blessed me.

You bet it is. It’d be foolish and untruthful to pretend otherwise.

This is one of my mom’s favorite stories to tell about raising me, and a testimony to her faith, and haShem’s faithfullness. I hope you enjoy it.

When I was young, about three or four, I kept bugging my mom what day my birthday was. I knew it was in the fall, but at that age, not much more. And I was too young to understand “September 29.” But that didn’t stop me from asking her, almost every day, from mid-August on.

One day, she grew flustered with being asked so many times and, without thinking, she told me, “You see that big, white birch tree in the middle of our back yard? The day the leaves fall off that tree, that’s your birthday.”

I ran off, satisfied, and apparently stopped bugging her. But immediately after she said it, she began to regret her hasty words. So she prayed, “God, please help me. Don’t make my son grow up thinking his mother is a liar.”

Well, September rolled on and the temperatures began to decline, and yet not one leaf fell from that white birch, right up through September 28, even though they grew a beautiful golden yellow.

The next day, the day of my birthday, my mom took me out into the back yard. We had some patio furniture set up back there and there was a lawn chair under that tree. She sat down in it and pulled me up on her lap, prepared to tell me it was my birthday.

Before she even began to speak, the leaves began to fall. And they didn’t just fall; they rained down on us, covering us in a golden blanket of white birch leaves.

Mom told me she prayed a prayer of thanks that day, and promised never again to speak so hastily; while she appreciated the answer to prayer, she was never one to put God to a foolish test.