The legacy of the Gaon of Vilna and its lessons for our time / Rachel Avraham 00, 2022-01-25
The Teachings of the Gaon of Vilna.
The error of the Gaon of Vilna.
Must "Jews not be converted to any other religion"? (Jacob Damkani /Trumpet of Salvation to Israel)
The only chance for Jews to be saved from eternal damnation.
by Rachel Avraham
Sage wisdom from "Elijah of Vilna" for these trying times
Jan 25, 2022 at 8:36 am - Topics: Jewish Thought Vilna Gaon
I am unfortunately not familiar with the teachings of the Gaon of Vilna, but I can completely concur
with his statement that:
"The most important protection is seclusion"
- and not just since the Covid-19 pandemic! And also, when it then says: "It is better to pray at
home, because in the synagogue it is impossible to save oneself from envy and vain talk and gossip" that applies
not only to Mosaic prayer in the synagogue. In the Biblical Christian faith, prayer with God at home in a quiet room is
also not only better than – as in secular Christianity – in some church, community hall or “Kingdom Hall”, but it is
also in the Biblical Christian faith the only chance to be able to speak in spirit and in truth with our Father in
heaven (Jh 4:24;).
But I also fully agree with the judgement of the Gaon of Vilna when it comes to his
justification of this opinion. However, this means that – at least with regard to mankind’s behaviour in this respect –
the world has not changed at all in the past 300 years. And if Rachel Avraham, the author of the above article, is of
the opinion that through his seclusion the Gaon was able "to be more productive in his study of Torah", then
that may well be true for the Torah, but it was clearly too little for the actual subject of a “seeker of God”.
Otherwise we would have learnt more about God from the Gaon. But not only about God himself, his plan with mankind in
the present and the future, but also about the classification of the historical event and, arising from that, answers to
the many questions which seekers – including and especially amongst Jews – ask themselves. The reason for this may have
been a certain one-sidedness, namely the fact that his study was of the Torah and primarily the Torah.
Now it is
true that the study of the Torah – for us non-Israelites, the four books of Moses – is without doubt one of the most
important tasks for every seeker of God. But if you look a little beyond the Mosaic horizon, you will find in the New
Testament the statement by the (Biblical Christian) Son of God that the teachings of Moses only applied up to the time
of John the Baptist. From then onwards, the Gospel is proclaimed throughout the world..
The Law (Torah) and the Prophets were proclaimed until John (the Baptist).
Lk 16,16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John . Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it. Lk 16,16;
Even the view of Rachel Avraham "So even in these dark times, we can cling to the Torah for
spiritual guidance and know that God has not abandoned us, even though we may not feel His presence at that moment"
results from the fact that the Torah, and only the Torah, is studied, even though this Mosaic faith was suspended by God
two thousand years ago.
For this reason, and because the Mosaic Jews in their hubris refuse to even look at the
New Testament, where their Messiah and our Lord and God Jesus Christ would have so much to say to them, it can be
explained why the Mosaic Jews and their clergy have no idea what their and our God has actually planned for us humans,
and what the future of mankind looks like.
But as Professor Mav Kahana explained in an interview above, the Gaon
took the view that: "A wise person does not take responsibility for the community. He retires to a small monastery.
He did not become a rabbi of a yeshiva. He prefers to be in touch with all the Torah, the mitzvot and the halacha, to
keep them in his head. That was his project, to retire to a room and not be in contact with anyone."
While
it is possible to find the behavioural guidelines in this view perfectly correct, the study of unbiblical, in part
rabbinical literature, such as Mitzvah and Halakha, Mischnah, Babylonian Gemara, Yerushalmi Gemara, etc., would be
rather counter-productive. That would by comparison be similar to studying the New Testament through the lens of the
Catholic catechism. And so this probably explains that the Gaon of Vilna – like the many rabbis in the Mosaic religion,
moreover – has despite all his wisdom not really understood the Torah and the prophets (e.g. Isa 14:12-13;).
They lacked the key to interpretation, which can only be found in the New Testament and reading it is considered a
sin in Mosaism.
(See also Discourse 1042: "The Battle in Heaven.")
And despite all agreement with the Gaon’s communicative rules of conduct, his parable of the king
and his son has one small flaw. The king is God; the son represents Israel. The forest equates to godless humanity,
while the servants stand for angels. So far, so good. However, what the Gaon, for the aforementioned reasons, could not
have known is the (New Testament) Biblical fact that these are not the angels of God but the angels of Satan, who
together with Satan two thousand years ago fought the other two-thirds of the angels of God with Michael at their head
for dominion in heaven, and lost (Rev 12:7-9;).
At that time, during the lifetime of the Son of God on earth, Satan and his angels were thrown out of heaven into the earth’s
atmosphere (Eph 2:1-2;), and since then Satan has ruled this world as
the “prince of this world” (Jn 12:31; 14,28-31;), invisible to man, and puts governments in place as he pleases (Lk
4:5-6;). He will now try to do on earth what he did not succeed in doing in heaven. The latter would of course not have
been known to the Gaon.
(See also Discourse 128: "The real Extraterrestrials who rule our World.")
As a result of this background, the depiction of the angels in the Gaon’s parable acquires a completely
opposite meaning. When he writes that God, regarding Israel,
"always sends his angels to protect, nourish and guide us".
then it is right that the angels lead Israel. However, since these are the angels of evil, they
are leading Israel to its doom. And this has been going on for two thousand years already. In the year 70, the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Then in 136, expulsion by the Romans from Judea into the diaspora, in the
Middle Ages the anti-Jewish pogroms, and in modern times the bestial murder of 6 million Jews in the Shoah of the
Holocaust. Finally, in 1948, the founding of the unbiblical state of Israel.
This is all a consequence of God,
who dwelt for centuries in the Holy of Holies within the temple in Jerusalem with the Israelites, and who was present at
the death of his Son on the cross, left the Holy of Holies, the temple and Israel at the moment when the curtain of the
temple was torn in two.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Lk 23,44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 23,45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 23,46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last. Lk 23,44-46;
(See also Discourse 121: "Christianity: an insertion in the history of God with Israel.")
You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.
Deut 31,16 And the Lord said to Moses: ‘You are going to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.’ 31,17 And in that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed . Many disasters and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’ 31,18 And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods. Deut 31,16-18;
The covenant which I made with their fathers, My covenant which they broke.
Jer 31,32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. Jer 31,32;
The confirmation that Israel has broken its covenant with God, and God has dissolved the covenant, and made a New Covenant with all people, came around 40 years later. In the year 70 A.D., God had the city of Jerusalem and the temple razed to the ground by the
Roman legions of Titus (Josephus, Bell, 6,254-259). This had been prophesied to them by the Son of God 40 years earlier.
They will level you to the ground, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another.
Lk 19, 41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 19,42 saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.19,43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 19,44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." Lk 19,41-44;
And it is precisely this event, where of course the altar of burnt offering in the temple was also
destroyed, which is the reason why the Israelites have been unable to perform any sin offerings for two thousand years
and will be unable to do so in the future. For the Torah prescribes that these offerings for the forgiveness of sins may
only be performed at the altar of burnt offering in the temple, and nowhere else (Deut 12:13-14;).
For this
reason, all Jews – in so far as they have not converted to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins – have had to
die in their sins for the past two thousand years, and will be found guilty at the Last Judgment and condemned to
eternal damnation. This was also prophesied to them by our Lord Jesus Christ:
Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins.
Jn 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins." Jn 8,24;
(See also Discourse140: "The destruction of the Temple.")
All those who die in their sins without forgiveness are condemned to a second death (Rev 21:8;) and
eternal damnation. A further confirmation that God has dissolved the covenant and left Israel can be found, as
previously mentioned, 66 years after the destruction of Jerusalem in the Maccabean Revolt (3rd Jewish-Roman war, Bar
Kokhba) and in the year 136 A.D. with the expulsion of all Jews by the Romans from their land of Judea all over the
world (diaspora).
But also the terrible Shoah of the Holocaust would not have been conceivable if God “always
sends his angels to protect, nourish and guide us”. Finally, since 1948, with the unbiblical foundation of the
state of Israel – the new “Golden Calf” –conquered by the Zionists by force of arms and with the expulsion of the
resident population (God will achieve that in the millennium with the true “foundation of a state” with his spirit
alone Hos 1:6-7;), and further to the present day with Israel’s war against the Palestinians, we see that Israel is
constantly waging war and that there is far and wide nothing to be seen of peace and “protective angels”..
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
Jn 15,22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 15,23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. Jn 15,22-23;
If I had not done among them the works no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.
Jn 15,24 If I had not done among them the works no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. Jn 15,24;
By sentencing the Son of God – their Messiah – to death on the cross, the Israelites broke their
covenant with God, and God has dissolved this covenant and punished the people (see above). Since then Israel has been
God-less This can also be seen today, Israel has a population – including the naturalised Arabs – of 9 million people,
and of those the vast majority – as in every other nation – is godless.
But they will drive their falling away
from God yet further by aligning with Satan when he sends his Antichrist into the world. He will probably begin his rise
as a religious leader in Israel as the “true Messiah” and label the true Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, as a “fraud
and blasphemer”, just as the Jews have been doing for two thousand years.
But after a certain period of time, he
will drop the Mosaic faith and Israel and – possibly with the help of the Catholic Church, whose Pope could make his
mark as a false prophet and align with the false “Son of God” – strive for and even achieve exclusive world domination.
These two, the Antichrist and his false prophet, will then fight in the Battle of Armageddon with Christ and his
heavenly army and lose, and will be thrown into the lake of fire.(See also Discourse 145: "The convoluted path of the Antichrist to world domination.")
(See also Chapter 07: " The Battle of Har-Mageddon.")
Not until the millennium, the thousand-year kingdom of peace on earth of the Son of God, will the
Israelites convert to Jesus Christ (Mt 23:38-39) and their sins will be forgiven by God. They will again become a people
of God, together with all those people from all nations who will make their way to Jerusalem to worship there and to
belong to the God of Israel. In the millennium, Satan will then be seized and bound in the Abyss, and for a thousand
years will no longer be able to tempt people into committing sin (Rev 20,2-3;). And for this reason the people of God on
earth will again perform offerings of thanks and sanctification in accordance with the old Mosaic rite to honour God.
However, for the Israelites it is certain that every Jew who has lived since the death of Jesus, and who will live
until the millennium but has not converted to the Biblical Christian faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his
sins, will be condemned to damnation by this self-same Jesus Christ, who will preside over the Last Judgment.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Isa 59,1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. 59,2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. 59,3 For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness. Isa 59,1-3;
It is therefore the absolute death sentence – as in the Shoah – when the former leader of the Messianic Jews of "Trumpet of salvation to Israel",
Jacob Damkani, has repeatedly called on the Jews in his sermons:
"To my sorrow, a lot of Christians do not really understand that Jews do not have to be converted to any other religion; they do not have to leave their heritage and their Jewish faith, because if God gave identity to any group of people, He gave a really clear identity to Jewish people. It is not meant for them to leave their identity and to become something else, to become Christians. In the mind of Jewish people, the Christianity is something else than what you think that the Christianity is"(God’s covenants, by J. Damkani, Abraham/04).
(See also Discourse 1114: "The Teaching of the Messianic Jews – the Analysis.")
That means that, if the Jews according to Damkani “do not have to be converted to any other religion
(than Mosaic)”, then the Jews remain in that religion that was represented two thousand years ago by the Jewish
Sanhedrin who had the Son of God murdered. The Son of God said of these Jewish brethren of Jacob Damkani:
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.
Jn 8,43 "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. 8,44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Jn 8,43-44;
You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Mt 3,7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Mt 3, 7;
You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?
Mt 12,34 You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 12,35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. Mt 12,34-35;
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
Mt 23,32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. 23,33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Mt 23,32-33;
But also in their own scriptures, in the Tanakh – the Old Testament – the prophets of Israel passed
judgement on this people in the name of God.
Israel does not know, My people do not understand.
Isa 1,2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 1,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand. 1,4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 1,5 Where will you be knitting again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. Isa 1,2-5;
When God, almost two thousand years ago, sent to the people of Israel his Son as their Messiah and
Saviour (Mt 15,24;), they rejected him. They abused him as a fraud and blasphemer, beat him and sentenced him to death.
What they did not know at the time – and to this day do not want to know – is the Biblical fact that with the Son they
also rejected the Father and turned their back on him. With the rejection of his Son, they parted from their God and are
therefore a God-less people.
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.
1Jn 2,23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 1Jn 2,23;
Jn 15,23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also. Jn 15,23;
No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Jn 14,6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Jn14, 6;
Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins. (i.e. go to hell)
Jn 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ’Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." Jn 8,22-24;
As God continues to tell them as quoted above, in Isa 1,4, they are a people laden with guilt, a race of
evildoers, and until they convert to Jesus Christ – either as an individual or as an entire people – they have no chance
of coming into contact with their God. However much they prey, God does not hear them. Their hands are covered with
blood – including the blood of the Son of God.
Even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
Isa 1,14 I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 1,15 So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 1,16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil. Isa 1,14-16;
Every Christian or Israeli who denies these statements in the Bible, or seeks to see them as symbolic
metaphors to relativise their bitter reality places themselves on the same level as those who had our Redeemer
crucified. He makes himself guilty and crucifies the Lord once more.
Although they say, ’As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.
Jer 5,1 Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. 5,2Although they say, ’As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely.’ Jer 5,1-2;
And because Israel has now been a godless nation for almost two thousand years, they have amongst them
deceit and fraud right up to the highest offices of state, just as in every other nation on this earth. Israeli
Presidents (Ezer Weitzmann, Moshe Katzav) and Prime Ministers (Benjamin Netanjahu, Ehud Olmert) have been convicted in
court and have had to resign due to corruption. Yes, even the Member of Parliament and leader of the religious Shas
Party, Ariel Deri, has been punished by a court for corruption and fraud.
You have smitten and consumed them – but they have refused to repent.
Jer 5,3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand." 5,4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 5,5 Where will you be knitting again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint.5,3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent. Then I said, "They are only the poor, They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD Or the ordinance of their God. "I will go to the great And will speak to them, For they know the way of the LORD And the ordinance of their God." But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke And burst the bonds . Jer 5,3-5;
You would think that the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem by Titus’ Roman
troops in the year 70, and the expulsion of the people of Israel from their country, the many painful pogroms in several
European countries, and last but not least the millions of victims in the Shoah of the Holocaust, would have been a
reason for the people of Israel to return to their God and to faith in his Son. But Israel’s obstinacy was stronger, and
to this day they have refused to convert and walk in the good way. As God said to Moses:
The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen these people, and behold, they are an obstinate people" (Ex 32:9).
The LORD says: "See and ask where the good way is, and walk in it." But they said, ’We will not walk in it’.
Jer 6,16Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls." But they said, ’We will not walk in it.’ 6,17 "And I set watchmen over you, saying, ’Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’" But they said, ’We will not listen.’ 6,18 "Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them.
6,19 "Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on these people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also . Jer 6,16-19;
But it is not just that Israel has refused to be converted; they go yet further. As can be gathered from
the representatives of the Israel movement in Christian communities, the Jews, who no longer have a God because they
have rejected him in the shape of his Son, now want to prescribe to the Christians, who believe in this Son of God and
worship him as their Lord and God, how they should understand their Christian mission.
In some German
congregations, naïve brothers and sisters are talked by Jewish and German preachers into believing that the Lord’s
command in Mark 16,15: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation” may apply to the rest of the world,
but not to Israel. By order of the Jewish Agency (Israeli immigration authority), people must contractually
undertake not to do missionary work in Israel and not to mention Jesus Christ, otherwise they are not allowed
to enter the country.
(See also Discourse 1013: "Report from the camp of the "Israel movement.")
How can you say, ’the law of the LORD is with us’? The lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
Jer 8,4 "You shall say to them, ’Thus says the LORD, "Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent? 8,5 "Why
then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. 8,6 "I have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ’What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, Like a horse charging into the battle. 8,7 "Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their
migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. 8,4 "How can you say, ’We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie. 8,9 "The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have? Jer 8,4-9;
So, although they have rejected their God and are thus a God-less people, they try to pretend to the
world that they alone are wise and have the law of the Lord, as the Lord himself accuses above in Jer 8,8. And if you
search the Bible, you begin to suspect that they are at the moment well on the way to turning from a godless nation into
an anti-God one.
(See also Discourse 101: "Does the Bible say that the Antichrist will be a Jew?")
For they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.
Eze 5,5 "Thus says the Lord GOD, ’This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. 5,6 ’But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ 5,7 "Hence, thus says the Lord GOD, ’Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ 5,8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ’Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. Eze 5,5-8;
Just like the godless nations of this world, the Jews in Israel have also long since not lived by the
decrees of their God. While in secular Christianity the Catholic church has falsified God’s Ten Commandments and adapted
them to fit their own ideas, e.g. by withholding the second of the Ten Commandments from church-goers and – so that they
number ten again – split the tenth commandment into two commandments, in Judaism “the false pen of the scribes” (Rabbi)
has made the law of God into a lie, as God confirms above in Jer 8,8. The “holy festivals” of Christians, such as
Christmas, have nowadays degenerated into fun events, and the religious festivals of the Jews are also celebrated more
out of tradition than in praise of God.
(See also Discourse 115: "The ten commendements of the Catholic church".)
True and proper prayer has long been forgotten by both, and when a Jew in Israel dons a kippah
(Jewish head covering during prayer, Yiddish: yarmulke or kappel), this is done not to go into
themselves and speak with God but – similar to the same headdress (biretta) worn by the imitators of the Jewish
clerics, the Catholic cardinals or the Pope – to feign wisdom and “holiness” to the people around them and to impress
them.
It is therefore no surprise that such “prayers” never reach God’s ear. Our Lord never wore a head
covering when he prayed to the Father. Paul even tells us that if a man wears a head covering while praying he disgraces
his head. In so doing, he is separated from the Holy Spirit, breaking the connection with God. So the clerics in the
Catholic Church can pray as much as they want, but God will never hear them.
Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.
1Cor 11,3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. 11,4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 1Cor 11, 3- 4;
IIt is not just that the state of Israel is no longer living by the decrees of its God; it has also
become an aggressor in the Middle East, a perpetrator of violence. In 2006, Israel launched a completely groundless
attack on its neighbour, Lebanon, with rockets and aircraft (2nd Lebanon War), and bombed its towns. As a result,
thousands of families were forced to flee, and hundreds of civilians – including women and children – were killed.
During this operation, the Israeli military also repeatedly fired rockets in the immediate proximity of the UN
observation post (UNIFIL) in Lebanon on the border with Israel. Although the commander of this UN base contacted the
Israeli military leaders a total of ten times (!) by radio to request that they should not fire rockets near to the
base, the building suffered a direct (!) hit on 25th July 2006, and was completely destroyed. As a result, four UN
officers – one Chinese, one Finn, one Canadian and one Austrian – were killed.
And not long ago (31 May 2010), a
Gaza aid flotilla which was attempting to transport aid to Gaza (food, construction materials, fuel and consumer goods)
for the Palestinians through the three-year Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip was intercepted, boarded and attacked by
the Israeli military in international waters (!), resulting in the deaths of 10 unarmed peace activists. The ships were
then forced to put into the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion.
Eze 9.9 Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with blood and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ’The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!
Eze 9,9;
The Jews are now trying to qualify this real violence in Israel, obvious to the whole world, with claims
of alleged “violence in Christian pulpits”. The Jewish Anti-Defamation League (JADL) in Germany has complained that
statements contained in the New Testament Gospels are anti-Semitic and dangerous. The head of the JADL Abe Foxman
claimed with reference to the 2010 Oberammergau Passion Plays:
“With each annual reading or re-enactment of the story of the death of Jesus in Christian
churches, millions of Christians are indoctrinated with the notion that the Jews are guilty of the worst crime in
history. In our own times, the slander of deicide has been used – even from Christian pulpits – to justify hatred
towards Jews and violence against them.”
The slander of deicide? It was deicide, as documented in the Bible:
His blood shall be on us and on our children!
Mt 27,23 And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!" 27,24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves."
27,25 And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
27,26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having scourged Jesus, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Mt 27,23-26;
So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!"
Jn 19,12 As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." 19,13 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 19,14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"
19,15 So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!"
Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar. "19,16 So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. Jn 19,12’16;
That was clearly deicide, and Foxman is right – it was the worst crime in history, committed by the
Jews. But they deny it, even though it has been documented in the Bible for two thousand years! But Foxman sees it
differently. According to Foxman, the “violence from Christian pulpits” also includes Christian evangelism amongst the
Jews, which is seen as “attempted genocide of Jewish souls”!
As a consequence, the JADL has altered the texts of
the Gospels which serve as the basis for the Oberammergau Passion Plays. Jewish crimes have been deleted. Today the Jews
play a whitewashed and disinfected role in the death of Christ. Now the Romans stand guard when Jesus first enters
Jerusalem, “in order to make it clear who really holds the power”. The Jewish high priests who condemn Jesus to death in
the Gospels debate theology in the performance, and thus divert attention from Jesus.
Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.
Mk 14,60 The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" 14,61 But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" 14,62 And Jesus said, "I am; and you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven." 14,63 Tearing his clothes, the high priest said, "What further need do we have of witnesses?" 14,64 "You have heard the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? 14,64 "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you?" And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death. 14,65 Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, "Prophesy!" And the officers received Him with slaps in the face. Mark 14:60-65;
The infamous blood oath: “His blood be on us and on our children” (Mt 27:22-25;) was deleted from
the script. But for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, not even this censorship and mutilation of the text was enough.
Their experts brought a preview on 8 May, and reported: “These Passion Plays continue to depict Jewry in harmful
stereotypes and present Jewish leaders as cunning, vindictive and xenophobic.
(See also Discourse 1014: "The Jewish Anti-Defamation League rewrites New Testament.")
It almost seems therefore that the Jews want to ban Christians completely from reading the New
Testament and the Gospels. But even if that were to succeed at some point, we still have enough information in the Old
Testament, with the prophets of Israel – as shown here – to recognise the true character of the Jewish leaders (who our
Lord called “Serpents! Brood of vipers!” Mt 23:32-39;) and the Zionist Israelites. And presumably not even the Jewish
ADL will succeed in banning us from reading their own Old Testament.
But it is also not to be expected that the
Jewish Anti-Defamation League will have all the passages deleted from their Old Testament which portray Israel in
“harmful stereotypes”, such as:
o " Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of
evildoers, children given to corruption!" (Isa 1:4;)
o "Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted." (Isa 1:5;),
o "your hands are full of blood!-" (Isa 1:14-15;) And although they say,
o "‘As surely as the Lord lives’, Surely they swear falsely." (Jer 5:2;). The LORD "has smitten them, but they did not weaken," He has
o "consumed them, but they refused to take correction" (Jer 5:3;). They said,
o "‘We will not walk in the good way.’" (Jer 6:16;).
Therefore, God the Almighty himself testifies to them:
o "‘you have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not
followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on
you in the sight of the nations.’" (Eze 5:7-8;).
With all these statements, did God defame the Jews? Or did our Lord Jesus Christ, who says of himself
that he is the truth, lie when he described their religious leaders as “serpents and a brood of vipers”? Perhaps the
Jews will conduct a lawsuit against God in the coming reign of the Antichrist, because he has allegedly defamed them in
the Old Testament, and against his Son, because he allegedly spread lies about them in the New Testament?
(See also Discourse 1015: "Shema Yisrael – Hear, O ISRAEL: the judgment of God on his people.")
The Jews – if they want to be saved – have no other option but to leave their "heritage and their Jewish faith" and to adopt the belief in Jesus Christ, their own Messiah.
For this you just need to have a little knowledge of the Mosaic religion and the history of Israel – and
to read the New Testament!
Unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins.
Jn 8,21 Then He said again to them, "I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sins; where I am going, you cannot come." 8,22 So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ’Where I am going, you cannot come’?" 8,23 And He was saying to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 8,24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He (the Messiah), you will die in your sins." Jn 8,21-24;
TThe Mosaic religion was suspended by God until its reintroduction in the millennium. Our Lord has
already told us this in Luke’s Gospel:
The Law and the Prophets (the Mosaic religion) were proclaimed until John;
Lk 16,16 "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. Lk 16,16;
"How the Jews mock Jesus Christ".
(Real Jew News)
(Rom 8:6)
After the Exodus, during the wilderness wanderings, God instructed the Israelites to make a "tent of meeting" (tabernacle). There they were to place the "ark of the testimony" in the rearmost part of the tent and put a curtain in front of it, so that this area was separated from the front part. (Ex 26:31-34).
And in this "Holy of Holies", from the lid of the ark of the testimony, God spoke to Moses when necessary, in a cloud between the two cherubim which were placed on the left and right on the lid of this ark of the testimony, and gave him instructions.
When Solomon then built the first temple in Jerusalem, the rearmost part of the temple was equally extended there as the "dwelling place of the Almighty" and the same was the case with the second temple, which was built by Zerubbabel from 520-516 B.C. and dedicated in 515 B.C., and greatly expanded and remodeled by Herod from 21 B.C. onward.
Then, when the Israelites had condemned the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, to death on the cross and the Romans had crucified Him, on the death of his Son God left the Temple and abandoned his Old Covenant with the Israelites (Mt 27:51-52; Lk 16:16).
This was also the beginning of a New Covenant and thus the start of a new relationship between God and man. It is not just that since then no more sacrifices have to be nor can be offered for the forgiveness of sins, since in Jerusalem – and only there (Deut 12:14) – there is no more temple and no more altar of burnt offering (Jn 8:24) and our Lord Jesus Christ has already died on the cross for our sins.
Nor do we need a temple or a "house of God" to encounter God (Acts 7:48-50). For God has had mercy and now comes to human beings.
If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.
Jh 14,15 "If you love me, keep my commands. 14,16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – 14,17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 14,18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
14,19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 14,20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 14,21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
14,22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 14,23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 14,24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 14,25 All this I have spoken while still with you." Jn 14,15-25;
That God and his Son come to us and take up residence with us is at first glance astonishing and somewhat incomprehensible. But if one knows the biblical background, one can recognize the full reality of this statement.
«God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth».
Jn 4,23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 4,24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Jn 4,23-24;
As the Son of God tells us here, God, the Father, is spirit. And this now is not to be understood "symbolically", but literally! Not only is it true that God is spirit, but the mode of existence of all creatures in the heavenly dimension of God – including that of already resurrected human beings (1Cor 15:44) – is of a genderless spiritual nature. However, according to Scripture, they also possess the ability to appear in physical, human form (Lk 24:36-39; Rev 20:6) and to disappear (Lk 24:31; Jn 3:8).
(See also Discourse 85: "True and false rebirth.".)
As we can see from many biblical statements, communication between God and His Son always took place on a spiritual level. God is in the spirit of the Son, and what the Son speaks is God’s word.
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?
Jn 14,10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 14,11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Jn 14,10-11;
It is therefore obvious that it is in the nature of spiritual beings to incorporate themselves both in the spirit of a human being and in other spiritual beings. They are non-material in their spiritual form and can merge into each other, as when, on the material plane, one empties a glass of water into another glass of water, and both waters become one (consider the Trinity and Rev 3:21, where all [billions!!] sit with the Lord on his – ONE – throne!).
And just as the Father dwelt in the Son, both will also dwell in us, in our spirit, if we love the Son and keep his word. God dwelt with the Israelites in the Holy of Holies of the temple, but in the faith of the New Covenant, God no longer dwells in temples that are made with hands.
It follows that the biblical Christian faith is not a religion, like the religions of this world. It is a relation, a connection or relationship with God and His Son. The believing person – as a child of God – is the temple, and his or her spirit is the Holy of Holies, where both the Father and the Son dwell in us.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1Cor 3,16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 3,17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 1Cor 3,16-17;
Here, however, it must be pointed out that the presence of God in our spirit does not express itself with "jumping, dancing, laughing, crying, rolling on the ground" and such other well-known phenomena. This is not the presence of God, but these people are possessed by demons, the angels of Satan, who were thrown down to earth after the lost battle in heaven two thousand years ago.
The spirit of God in our spirit is almost imperceptible. We recognize it only afterwards, when we see that we have – almost against our will – displayed a behavior pleasing to God. When we ourselves are amazed at how seemingly difficult problems can suddenly be solved.
Let us therefore also remember that many false teachings are in circulation. Worldly Christianity does not keep the word of our Lord (in Catholicism we find priests as child abusers [Mt 7:16], in Protestantism gays are superintendents/bishops [Rom 1:27]). You will know them by their fruits. They are rotten fruits from rotten trees that cannot produce good fruits (Mt 7:18)! And the Mosaic rite has come to a provisional end two thousand years ago (Lk 16:16).
God is no longer to be found in a "house of God". It has become evident that in this context the contact of the people (supposedly laymen!) with their God has been cut off and reserved for a priest, who then mostly regards it just as a tiresome performance of duty.
And so there is no need for "consecration" or "communion", with which Catholicism tries in vain to establish communion with the Lord. The Son of God does not come by the "hocus-pocus" (Hoc est [enim] corpus meum / corrupted in the Middle Ages) of a Catholic priest, who then possibly abuses children after the mass.
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
2Cor 6,14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 6,15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 6,16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 6,17 Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate", says the Lord.
"And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you. 6,18
And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me",
says the Lord Almighty.
2Cor 6,14-18;
Therefore, in biblical Christianity, communication between God and the child of God does not take place with prayers that are mindlessly rattled off, but directly and personally. God is our Father, we are his children, so we do in fact behave as children should behave towards a beloved father. Love for God, dear brothers and sisters, still needs to be explained to mankind. They have heard enough about loving their neighbor in the last two thousand years.
But you, when you pray, go into your inner room and pray to your Father who is in secret.
Mt 6,5 When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners (or in front of the Catholic idol altars ["Mary" and the cult of the dead "saints"] and the Jewish "Wailing Wall"! / FH), so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Mt 6,5;
Deut 4,15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, ,4,16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman. Deut 4,15-16;
Mt 6,6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door (Mt 10:21-22; Mk 13:12-13;) and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 6,7 And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 6,8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Mt 6,6-8;
So we are not supposed to "use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do" but then what are we supposed to do? – We are to talk to God. In our spirit, where his spirit is, if we are children of God. There is no need for any external "signs". These are used only by the hypocrites to impress the ungodly.
Our conversation with God takes place in a spiritual way. And even if perhaps billions of people speak to God at the same time, the omnipotence of God and His grace make it possible for Him to be present and listening for each one of His children in their spirit.
And so we have what many of us never had on earth: a beloved and loving, absolutely righteous Father. He will never separate from us, and if we do not separate from Him of our own free will, He will be our beloved and loving Father for all eternity. Amen.
(See also Discourse 85: "True and false Rebirth.".)
(See also Discourse 1042: "The battle in heaven.".)
Rachel Avraham is the editor of the Economic Peace Center, founded by Israeli Druze leader Ayoob Kara, who formerly served as Israel’s communications minister. She is also an Israel-based journalist who writes for a variety of publications and a political analyst who works at the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights. Avraham is the author of Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media, a groundbreaking book published by the prominent Gefen Publishing House and endorsed by former Minister Kara and former Israeli Consul General Dr. Yitzhak Ben Gad. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from Ben-Gurion University and a BA in Government and Politics with minors in Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Maryland in College Park.
Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash90
The Gaon of Vilna, or ‘the Sage of Vilna,’ was one of the greatest Jewish scholars since Maimonides. Born Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman1(720-1797), he once said something that is of great importance to us today.
"The most important protection is seclusion, that, G-d forbid, one should not leave the house unless one is in very great distress. And even in the synagogue, one should be very brief and go quickly. It is better to pray at home, because in the synagogue it is impossible to save oneself from envy and vain talk and gossip."
In these difficult times, I have found great wisdom in the Gaon of Vilna’s idea of seclusion, for the only way to preserve our sanity in times like these is to retire to study and use our isolation to expand our knowledge of the world around us by reading books, learning a new language, writing books and articles, and deepening our knowledge of human history and the Jewish faith.
Of course, the Gaon of Vilna did not believe in seclusion for the same reason we distance ourselves socially today. There was no corona in those days. For him, it was a way of life, because being a hermit allowed him to be more productive in his study of Torah.
Professor Maov Kahanaof the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University explained in an exclusive interview with Israel Today that theof the Department of Jewish History at Tel Aviv University explained in an exclusive interview with Israel Today that the Gaonf Vilna had the following opinion: "of Vilna had the following opinion: "A wise person does not take responsibility for the community. He retires to a small monastery. He did not become a rabbi of a yeshiva. He prefers to be in touch with all the Torah, the mitzvotnd the and the halach, to keep them in his head. That was his project, to retire to a room and not be in contact with anyone, to keep them in his head. That was his project, to retire to a room and not be in contact with anyone, to keep them in his head. That was his project, to retire to a room and not be in contact with anyone."
In Eliyahu’sranches byBranches by Chaim Friedman, Yehuda Leib and Avraham, both sons of the Gaonf Vilna, agree with Kahana’s statements about the Gaon of Vilna that when he studied, he hardly slept for days: "He researched, corrected texts and compositions on Bible, Mishnah, Babylonian Gemarah,, Yerushalmi Gemara, Toseftah, Mechilta, Safra, Sifri, Seder, Seder Avot De Rabbi Natan. On Massoret and Grammar he wrote more than a hundred principles. On algebra and trigonometry there are a number of manuscripts. His knowledge was engraved on his lips and in his heart and he knew all the opinions of the rabbis and scholars. He did not waste his time in idleness, for we saw that even when he spoke to us, he was brief and to the point."
Although the Gaon of Vilna refused to run a yeshiva, he established a private group known as the "Gloitz of the Gaon" which "studied in a room belonging to him. There were a small number of privileged scholars who studied with the Gaon and absorbed his teachings. Through the teachings of these students and the yeshivot they founded, the Gaon’s influence shaped the life of Lithuanian Jewry."
Professor Kahana noted that he did not teach the ‘gloitz of the Gaon’, but that they absorbed his ideas: "This is the ideal scholarship for generations. The deeper meaning of our thoughts is powerful. Making a change is not just the result of public opinion. If you want to try something new, you should value your thoughts and insights about every part of the Torah. Somehow, the intrinsic value he conveyed was spread throughout the Jewish world and changed it in many ways," even though none of his manuscripts were published during his lifetime.
According to Professor Kahana, the whole idea that the world was created only to study Torah was founded by the Gaon of Vilna: "The Jewish nation was to revolve around a deeper understanding of Torah. The Gaon of Vilna supported secular studies because many secular studies can lead to a full understanding of the Torah. For this reason, he supported the study of mathematics, physics, music, medicine, etc."
"He had a relationship with the Land of Israel, which prompted his students to come to Israel in the first decades of the 19th century," Professor Kahana said. "They came to Safed and Jerusalem and established new Ashkenazi communities in Israel. They founded the Hurva Synagogue, a famous house of worship in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem. The Purashim, the disciples of the Gaon community, still own it today. It was founded by the righteous scholars when they made aliyah in the early 19th century."
Some claim that the Gaon of Vilna was an early proponent of political Zionism: "The Rivlin family, who were students of the Gaon and made aliyah, claim that ‘Kol Hator’ comes from the Gaon’s writings. In this book, the Gaon propagates the idea that one must actually strive for redemption by making aliyah, as propagated by Zionism. Many scholars tend to think that the Rivlin family authored these writings and that the Gaon never thought this way." Professor Kahana noted that this work has greatly influenced the Religious Zionist movement to this day.
The God Who Is Here
The Vilna Gaon’s introduction to the Book of Esther is especially relevant to our time, for the story of Purim occurred when the Jewish people were in exile and facing physical destruction. G-d was hidden from their presence, just as G-d is hidden from our presence now. In the story, the Gaon of Vilna relates that there was once a king who had a son, but the son committed some serious offenses, so he was banished to a forest."The king’s son concluded that his father had abandoned him and forgotten him," the Vilna Gaon writes. "But this was not so. Rather, the father was very worried about his son and feared that the wild animals in the forest or the ministers who hated his son would try to attack him. So the king sent his servants into the forest to watch over his son. However, the king instructed his servants to make sure his son didn’t notice their presence, so the son would still feel like he was atoning for sins against his father" As it turned out, these servants saved the son in the forest on countless occasions.
The Vilna Gaon explains that just like the king’s son in the forest, "all our narrow escapes from day to day, as well as all our joys and blessings, come from our Father in heaven, who always sends his angels to protect, nourish and guide us." So even in these dark times, we can cling to the Torah for spiritual guidance and know that G-d has not abandoned us, even though we may not feel His presence at that moment.
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