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How so? Last time I checked, all who follow Jesus do not keep the Torah.
Not all. There is a rather large group of people scattered in the U.S. and around the world who DO follow Jesus and the Torah. Some groups are large enough to have a synagogue, but most of us just meet in our homes or online for the Sabbath. We are called 'Messianics.' And just like Jews have various sects and Christians have numerous denominations, we too have differing ideas. But we ALL have these 2 things in common:
1- We believe the Torah is eternal (and we obey to the best of our ability) and;
2- We believe that Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth was the Lamb that God promised Abraham He would "provide (or "see") in that place."
To give you an idea how large we are, this year at Tabernacles (Sukkot) our camp alone consisted of nearly 800 people. We had folks coming in from Alaska, Canada, Brazil and even New Zealand! We camped out in RV's and tents for the entire 8-day feast, worshipping and rejoicing before the Lord. It was AWESOME!
First, there was this Total Loser that married a college friend of mine in California. I bring this up because he envisioned himself as a sort of spiritual leader, problem is, he had no intelligent followers. One of the last conversations we ever had was for him to tell me that and I paraphrase but the quotation is more or less the conversation "I already know everything, you know nothing, so what good would a conversation or time with you benefit me?" I make mention of him first because on his facebook page, he describes himself as a "GURU" under the occupation/work section. Thing is, he is no guru, and he sure does not know everything. Anyone with half a brain can see that, but anyone desperate enough to be preyed upon by new-age gurus would fall for his mindless ramblings and hyper-judgementalism. Oh did I mention that he is a recovering alcoholic who at last observation, drank about 6 non-alcoholic beers every night?
Or that he also, at the time, referred to himself as a "chef" when he was nothing more than a glorified fry cook?
And the ultimate question, "If you know so much, then why are you broke?"
Second was the late megachurch pastor who my parents used to worship. There was a lot of coercion and pressure to jpin his flock, and from the first time I met him, something just did not seem right.
Turns out he was as phony as the aforementioned new-age guru, but under the guise of "I am builing the biggest baptist church in america"
One week my parents made us "join" his church as a family. The next week, seven days after he introdiuced me to the flock of followers, made such a big deal about me and my family, he forgot not only my name but that I had joined the week before.
I promptly went out and proclaimed my renunciation of my membership loudly and publicly. (It was almost fun to see the fear in the people's eyes as adults ran from me as though the lightning were about to strike!
My mom's response, as was the response of a few other members was "Why should he remember you? You're nobody....you're not worth anyone remembering" Such abusive thinking certainly reflects an unhealthy religion.
Years later, it turns out he got fired from the church because it came out that he was laying god's word into young single women (and a few married ones too) in the church.....and after he got caught the first time, he apologized, then kept doing it!
(Rumors were that he and his wife were frequenters of a swingers club, but this is not verified) He went off to another church, started over, did it again, Died a horrible death of brain cancer years ago.
I would say that anyone who does not have the best interests of the person to whom they are ministering should be suspect. People who have such phoniness, hatred, prejudices should be avoided.
There is an area of town here where it is recommended that
"
No one should drive through or visit this part of town unless they are ministering to the needs of people there"
I have been through there a few times, to see clients that are homebound. I got to thinking about my parent's favorite preacher (well favorite until he got into trouble then, in typical fashion, they disowned him.) I was thinking about how he would never be in a neighborhood like this because there is simply no money to be made for him.
And in light of these signs, where should a mere mortal seek spiritual guidance?
If a "prophet" says something will come true and it doesn't....even one time....he's a false prophet. The OT penalty for such a thing is to be stoned. If we did that today there would not be a lot of the Word of Faith heretics left.
First, there was this Total Loser that married a college friend of mine in California. I bring this up because he envisioned himself as a sort of spiritual leader, problem is, he had no intelligent followers. One of the last conversations we ever had was for him to tell me that and I paraphrase but the quotation is more or less the conversation "I already know everything, you know nothing, so what good would a conversation or time with you benefit me?" I make mention of him first because on his facebook page, he describes himself as a "GURU" under the occupation/work section. Thing is, he is no guru, and he sure does not know everything. Anyone with half a brain can see that, but anyone desperate enough to be preyed upon by new-age gurus would fall for his mindless ramblings and hyper-judgementalism. Oh did I mention that he is a recovering alcoholic who at last observation, drank about 6 non-alcoholic beers every night?
Or that he also, at the time, referred to himself as a "chef" when he was nothing more than a glorified fry cook?
And the ultimate question, "If you know so much, then why are you broke?"
Second was the late megachurch pastor who my parents used to worship. There was a lot of coercion and pressure to jpin his flock, and from the first time I met him, something just did not seem right.
Turns out he was as phony as the aforementioned new-age guru, but under the guise of "I am builing the biggest baptist church in america"
One week my parents made us "join" his church as a family. The next week, seven days after he introdiuced me to the flock of followers, made such a big deal about me and my family, he forgot not only my name but that I had joined the week before.
I promptly went out and proclaimed my renunciation of my membership loudly and publicly. (It was almost fun to see the fear in the people's eyes as adults ran from me as though the lightning were about to strike!
My mom's response, as was the response of a few other members was "Why should he remember you? You're nobody....you're not worth anyone remembering" Such abusive thinking certainly reflects an unhealthy religion.
Years later, it turns out he got fired from the church because it came out that he was laying god's word into young single women (and a few married ones too) in the church.....and after he got caught the first time, he apologized, then kept doing it!
(Rumors were that he and his wife were frequenters of a swingers club, but this is not verified) He went off to another church, started over, did it again, Died a horrible death of brain cancer years ago.
I would say that anyone who does not have the best interests of the person to whom they are ministering should be suspect. People who have such phoniness, hatred, prejudices should be avoided.
There is an area of town here where it is recommended that
"
No one should drive through or visit this part of town unless they are ministering to the needs of people there"
I have been through there a few times, to see clients that are homebound. I got to thinking about my parent's favorite preacher (well favorite until he got into trouble then, in typical fashion, they disowned him.) I was thinking about how he would never be in a neighborhood like this because there is simply no money to be made for him.
7,000 miles apart via the big pond and beyond, stories like these are all too prevalent. One expects these "men of god" to lead exemplary lives but too often, we all see through the make up and posturing that they are indeed no different to anyone else. In fact, they tend to be the worst of the worst leeching off gullible folk who are too lazy to question or challenge them. It is all about the money when you remove all the carefully placed veneers of BS.
Selling cosmic real estate should be a crime against humanity.
The last church I attended, they bought up land with buildings from the local utility and used the largest of these industrial buildings as the church (with a few modifications). They rented out the old church to another denomination (money) and eventually moved back as the folk were complaining about facilities being not clean and not convenient etc. The acoustics were great and being real cold in winter and real hot in summer, it was for the most part not lavish and rudimentary.
Folk have expectations for what they deem church should be and the niceties that go along with it all. Conversations with numerous pastors stated, "build it, the people will come"
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