Some observations, from looking around the intellectual climate of this time, particularly among those who claim to seek truth and God.
- The current religion of the Jews is not that of tabernacle and sacrifice. There has been no temple since Titus destroyed it
- The Orthodox are the spiritual descendants of the Pharisees.
- There is an overwhelming love and support for Israel among megachurchians. Who forget the prophets confronted the problems in Israel (They have a liberal class, and like everywhere else, their liberal elite are globalist, parasitical and stupid).
- The number of Jews who have become members of the global elite and think that they can manage us by manipulating google ranks of facebook likes has led to an error among the alt right of tarring all Jews with the same brush. Not all Jews are that powerful or evil.
- The Muslims want to kill Jews about as much, if not more so, than their local Christian population.
At this point we should look at Hebrews. This letter was given to Christian Jews: one part of the text could be taken as a prophecy as most of the New Testament is early and predates the failure of the first Jewish revolt and the destruction of the temple.. But more importantly, it discusses how the religion of the first covenant moulds into the second.
1Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. 2For a tent was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place. 3Behind the second curtain was a tent called the Holy of Holies. 4In it stood the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which there were a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; 5above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot speak now in detail.
6Such preparations having been made, the priests go continually into the first tent to carry out their ritual duties; 7but only the high priest goes into the second, and he but once a year, and not without taking the blood that he offers for himself and for the sins committed unintentionally by the people. 8By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary has not yet been disclosed as long as the first tent is still standing. 9This is a symbol of the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10but deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time comes to set things right.
11But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), 12he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
The Jews need to look to Christ. There are those among them who have, and they are shunned by many within the faith. More importantly, the progressives need to turn to Christ, for feminism and toleration lead to population implosion. The reason that Jewry is becoming more orthodox is that the elite do not have children. The Hasidim do.
All scripture is given to us and is of utility. Some of it is a warning — often against bringing in the worship of strange Gods, but some wisdom literature reminds us not to be prissy and to enjoy the common pleasures of humanity.
We can learn tactics for preserving faith in a time of darkness from the Jews. They have preserved their society against treat opposition. They had no homeland: and now they have one and can go back they now have to adapt to again be able to defend their land an nourish it. There is always a need for an army, and generally a need for walls.
In this life, however, there is no sacrifice at the temple that can save us. When Christ came, he folded that tabernacle up. The new tabernacle is the church, and that is not made of stone, but people.
Choose Christ. Choose people. Shun the idolatry that is ideology.
Something in your post spurred my curiousity here. I notice your mention of the Jewish Orthodoxy and I do agree with a great deal of what you’ve said.
But, Can I get your opinion on Orthodox Christianity as well? Or perhaps a post detailing your thoughts on the seemingly different branches of Christianity?
I’ve always been of the opinion that for the general person, it’s not so much the branch that you’re a part of but rather faith in Jesus Christ that matters. As I’m sure you’ve experienced, some people are adamant that their church is the true faith, while others propose that it is only faith in Christ that is important.
I myself have the opinion that so long as our faith in Christ is true, He will chastise and rebuke us into correction rather than letting us fall into judgement.
I understand the scope of such a question, so, please, take your time in your response.
One of the commentators, here, Scott, converted to Orthodoxy. This is what he says.
I have come to the conclusion that RANK AND FILE Orthodox, (including Eastern, Oriental, Coptic, etc) and Catholics (including Roman and Sui Iursis and a lot of traditionalist/sedavacanists) need to shut up and stop arguing with each other all the time.
Several years ago, an RC priest told me that in his opinion, what’s wrong with Christendom today is a lack of obedience. At the time, I had not yet converted and, having a thoroughly enlightenment driven world view this sounded horrific to me. Muh freedom! Muh conscience!
But the more I understand about Gods created order, the more I see the wisdom of that priests words.
Here’s my very simple, non-clergy understanding of our relationship to each other.
The Orthodox church does not take a position on where the Holy Spirit IS NOT. Only, we claim to know where the Holy Spirit IS.
And the Holy Spirit is present WHERE THE SACRAMENTS ARE.
We acknowledge that as long as there is a valid, verifiable line of apostolic succession as traced thorough accepted rites of holy orders, that priest is performing a sacrament. THEY ARE BEING NOURISHED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
So why, brothers and sisters, are you fighting with each other? It is our job as the faithful servants of the Lord to OBEY the properly constituted authorities over us. Are you Catholic? Obey the teachings of your priest and church. Are you Orthodox Lutheran? Obey the teachings of your priest and church. Are you a Coptic? Obey the teachings of your priest and church.
Is there a dialogue happening between the Bishop of Rome and your church? Good. Pray for that dialogue to bear fruit.
If Bartholomew I declares “hey, we had this pan Orthodox meeting a few months ago. Sorry not everybody came and made it a full ecumenical council. We’ll try again in a few years.” Good. Pray for those leaders to iron out their differences. They are not elected officials in a stupid, lowest common denominator “democracy.” They are the monarchs of your church.
Is Pope Francis the antichrist? How the hell should I know? Will the Coptics ever agree to the canons of Chalcedon?
Will you personally be held accountable if they don’t? Or better yet will YOU PERSONALLY BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HOW WELL YOU CAN ARGUE WITH OTHER PEOPLE (WHO ALSO HAVE NO AUTHORITY) ON THE MATTER? No. It’s not for you to worry about.
As for protestants, what do I think? As I wrote above, we do not know where the Holy Spirit IS NOT. Only that we are nourished by Him when we receive the sacraments. I believe most of them are seeking Christ. I believe they LOVE Christ and want to draw near Him. Pray that this happens. Be gracious. You are no better. You just know something they don’t. The writer of the article here uses the word “denomination” to describe Orthodoxy. It drives me crazy, but what other word does an American have? It is a LONG WAY to go to explaining what is so wrong about that. Do you, oh layperson of Orthodoxy have any idea how to fix that? It is baked into the cake of western language and ecclesiology. AND IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
Our leaders will be held accountable for the souls of so many. YOU WON’T. You aren’t an archbishop. You will be held accountable for how you treat those under your authority (if you are a father, husband, boss, etc) and how well you let Christ show in all you do. That’s it.
I consider the Orthodox Christians are, largely Christian. Probably more Christian than the Episcopalians and Presbyterians in the USA. They have reasonable theology — that is a theology we can argue about from a shared basis — which is not the case for the Quakers, Unitarians or Mormons.
But this I know. We have to cover our brother’s back. Our elite promotes evil