Page 38 - Prophetic Word Newsletter Archive 2010

“THIS ONLY I WANT TO LEARN FROM YOU: DID YOU RECEIVE THE SPIRIT BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW,
OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH? ARE YOU SO FOOLISH?

HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT, ARE YOU NOW BEING MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH?…
THE LAW WAS OUR TUTOR TO BRING US TO CHRIST. BUT AFTER FAITH HAS COME, WE ARE NO
LONGER UNDER A TUTOR…THERE IS NEITHER JEW NOR GREEK…YOU ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS”

Gal. 3:2-3, 24-28

“…THERE IS NEITHER “…GIVE NO OFFENSE,
JEW NOR GREEK… EITHER TO THE JEWS
YOU ARE ALL ONE OR TO THE GENTILES,
IN CHRIST JESUS” OR TO THE CHURCH OF GOD…”
Gal. 3:28
1 Cor. 10:32

A GENTILE Do you believe the above statements? A JEWISH
BELIEVER If so, answer these questions: BELIEVER
IN CHRIST IN CHRIST
Is one of these two praying believers in Christ more holy in the
sight of God because of his outward appearance?

Does the outward wearing of the Jewish prayer tallit give greater
access to God? Does it make the wearer more holy?

If you know the bulk of Scriptures pertaining to Jesus’ and Paul’s
teachings on outward appearances, the answer is an emphatic

‘No!’

Then why, dear Gentile believer, are you seeking to look like and
act like and even worship more and more like a Jewish believer in
Christ if God Himself recognizes no such distinction between saved

Gentiles and saved Jews?

The fact is that God divides all mankind into one of three categories: They are either Jews, or Gentiles,
or having been a Jew or Gentile prior to conversion, have now become members of the House of God
(namely, the Church of Jesus Christ.) If we really believe that is true, then there really is no need for a
Messianic Movement at all (ouch!) If multitudes of Muslims were to begin to convert to Christ, would a
“Muslim Messiah Movement” be in order so that they may remain culturally comfortable, but yet isolated
and aloof from the rest of the Body of Christ? In God’s eyes the Muslims are Gentiles-same as were you
and me!

The Church was not meant to remain Jewish in nature or pagan-based Gentile-ish, but rather to

manifest a “new (spiritual) creation in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17) that consists of converted Jews and Gentiles.

We find no emphasis in Scripture for the Jews to become what the Gentiles were in custom or habit, nor

should the Gentile believer seek to now become Jewish in appearance or custom. It is quite fine for

Jewish believers to culturally retain their Jewishness, but you will be hard pressed to support the present

wave of Gentile believers in Christ who are taking on the Jewish culture by embracing the likes of

wearing tallits, tassels, yarmulkes, praying the Shema, lighting Jewish Sabbath candles, praying Jewish

Sabbath prayers, or celebrating the nothing-to-do-with-Christianity, man-made holidays of Hanukkah

and Purim! Where is all this coming from? It is coming from the delusional idea that it is indeed more

spiritual, more holy, to return to the Torah as the main source of “Christian” instruction. This dear friend,

is spiritual pride! It is a form of elitism being formed within Christianity, the very thing over which Paul

took issue with Peter: “…WHEN PETER HAD COME TO ANTIOCH,

I WITHSTOOD HIM TO HIS FACE, BECAUSE HE WAS TO BE BLAMED;
FOR BEFORE CERTAIN MEN CAME FROM JAMES,
HE WOULD EAT WITH THE GENTILES;
BUT WHEN THEY CAME, HE WITHDREW AND SEPARATED HIMSELF,
FEARING THOSE WHO WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION.
AND THE REST OF THE JEWS
ALSO PLAYED THE HYPOCRITE WITH HIM,

SO THAT EVEN BARNABAS WAS CARRIED AWAY WITH THEIR HYPOCRISY.
BUT WHEN I SAW THAT THEY WERE NOT STRAIGHTFORWARD
ABOUT THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL, I SAID TO PETER BEFORE THEM ALL,
‘IF YOU, BEING A JEW, LIVE IN THE MANNER OF THE GENTILES
AND NOT AS THE JEWS,
WHY DO YOU COMPEL GENTILES TO LIVE AS JEWS?…’ ”
Gal. 2:11-14