Why I Am Not a Traditional Jew

You know, Jewish tradition is beautiful. Traditional Judaism has helped preserve our people for thousands of years, and yet there's a reason, many reasons, that I'm not a traditional Jew. Um It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. That's 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. You know, there's got to be a special category in Jewish thought for Jewish believers in Jesus.

We fit into certain categories and others we don't fit. And I want to explain why on this Thirdly Jewish Thursday, I am not a traditional Jew myself. This is Michael Brown. You're listening to the line of fire on our Thirdly Jewish Thursday broadcast. As always, a lot of ground to cover, news items to talk about, Jewish issues to discuss, and The phone lines are open for your Jewish-related phone calls.

So any Jewish-related, Israel-related, Hebrew-related question you have of any kind, I'll do my best to be of help to you. Even broader Middle East Islamic issues, we'll touch on those if I can help with your calls. 866-348-7. Eight, eight, four.

Now, there is an interesting poll from pewforum.org, some of their research, and they have this. Recent poll, Israel's diverse religious landscape. non-Jewish population of Israel.

So we're talking about what everyone would recognize as Israel as opposed to West Bank and Gaza. Non-Jewish population, nineteen percent.

So almost one out of every five people in Israel is not listed as Jewish. 14% are Muslim. They would be so-called Palestinians. And uh Drew's two percent. Druze have an unusual set of beliefs, somewhat close to Muslims, but a distinct religion of their own.

Christian, two percent, and other or no religion one percent.

So that's the 19%. Then the next largest number is Ghiloni. Higundi means secular. Forty per cent of Jews identify as secular. Then the next largest group is Maserti, which means traditional.

Uh it's could be mildly religious. It would be different than the conservative Jewish movement in America, which is not politically or morally conservative, is not that religious actually. But they consider themselves traditional. That's twenty three percent.

So they would be more observant, but not ultra observant. but certainly not secular. And then Uh 18% are divided into the very religious. 10% of them say that they are religious, that is dati. Dante.

They would certainly be wearing a yarmulke, a head covering. They would certainly be. In the synagogue regularly on the Sabbaths, they would certainly be observing the dietary laws carefully. Duty, and then 8% Haridi, ultra-Orthodox. That number would be growing the fastest because they have the biggest families, often 10 to 12, or 13 or 14, or 15 kids.

Per family, so they're multiplying at the highest rate. Kharidi, ultra-Orthodox, those would be the ones you commonly see in pictures praying at the wall.

So with the long black coats and the black hats, they would be the most fastidiously observant.

Some are Hasidic, some are not. That's another subdivision, but very interesting. 40% Ghilanese secular of the Jewish population, 23% Maserti traditional.

So between traditional, religious and ultra-Orthodox, that is 41% Of the population, a little bit more than the secular. But where do Messianic Jews fit in on that? Where do we fit in? And the answer is, I say we need another category, Ruhani. which is spiritual.

Ruhani. Jews who have a different spiritual orientation. Oh, it's not to say the others don't have a spiritual orientation, it's to say that ours is of a different kind. 866-348-7884. Your Jewish-related calls.

When you come back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. I was just asked an interesting question.

Someone asked me, Are you the head of the Messianic Jews? Are you the head of the Messianic Jews? This is Michael Brown of this Thurly Jewish Thursday. The number to call 866-348-7884 with any Jewish-related questions, Israel-related questions, Hebrew-related questions, Judaism-related questions that you may have. I responded that.

I've been considered the world's leading Messianic Jewish apologist. Thankfully, more and more are being raised up, and by God's grace, many will pass me and be more effective in the days and years ahead. But I've served as that role, serving the Messianic Jewish community, debating the rabbis and putting out material to answer Jewish objections to Jesus and things like that. But I said, Messianic Jews are as. diverse and ununited as Jews worldwide.

You have secular Jews, you have religious Jews, you have Jews who are Reconstructionist, Reformed, Conservative, Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, and divisions within them. Is there one head of Jews and Judaism worldwide? No, no, of course not.

Well, the same with Messianic Jews. We have different groups, different organizations.

Some Messianic Jews are in Messianic congregations, some are in churches, some are unaffiliated.

So there's tremendous diversity among us, and yet. What unites us is our faith in Jesus Yeshua the Messiah. and the fact that we recognize we're still Jews. And we embrace Jesus Yeshua as the Messiah.

Some Messianic Jews are very secular. In other words, in terms of observance of the Jewish holidays, in terms of observance of the Jewish calendar, and things like that, that's not them. That is not their heritage or their background or what they feel the Lord's written on their heart. That's not how they see the scriptures.

Some are thoroughly involved in church and Christianity in the full sense of the word.

Some have converted to Catholicism or other traditional Christian expressions. And therefore, you know, they're celebrating Easter and following the Lenten calendar and things like that. You have others who are part of Messianic Jewish congregations, but Are not traditional. They say, hey, look, according to Scripture, we should celebrate the Passover. Why celebrate a separate holiday called Easter?

We celebrate the Messiah's death and resurrection within Passover. And why celebrate Christmas? It's not a biblical holiday. We'll celebrate the birth of the Messiah at tabernacles when we think he may have been born.

So they're doing what they're doing based on scripture, and yet they're clearly identifiably Jewish. They worship on a Saturday, Shabbat, as Sabbath, as opposed to a Sunday. They call their congregations a congregation or a messianic synagogue rather than a church. And then you have others who live very traditionally. They feel that the traditions are beautiful and have helped preserve our people, and some of them are even inspired.

So they're traditional. They don't find all the teaching of the rabbis binding. If they did, they would not be following Jesus Yeshua. Right? If they did find the traditions of the rabbis binding, then they would have to deny Jesus as the Messiah.

But they find the traditions beautiful and therefore they like to keep them. And then some have a mixture. They like some of the traditions, they don't like other traditions. They find some in harmony with Scripture, others not in harmony with scripture. And because of that, they use some and don't use others.

And ultimately, except for the most ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra-Orthodox Jews that try to follow all the traditions, their basic philosophy would be: all right. You know, here are the ones that we feel are relevant or worthy, and here are the ones that we feel may have been outdated or just for a certain time or community or need reinterpretation.

So why am I not A traditional Jew. Why don't I follow the traditions? According to traditional Judaism. when God gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai, He not only gave him the written law, which is called Torah Shebichav. In traditional Judaism.

That is the law, the teaching that is in writing. But he also gave him what is called the Torah Shabba Alpe. The oral law. the teaching that is passed on orally. and not put in writing.

According to traditional Judaism, when God gave the commandments, the commandments were not comprehensive and complete in themselves. They weren't meant to be. For example, if it says don't steal, Lotignove, what does that mean? Does it mean don't kidnap, don't steal a person? Does it mean don't steal a thing?

If you're walking through a parking lot and there you find a nice pen laying on the ground in the middle of the parking lot, if you pick it up, are you stealing? What's the right way to respond to that?

Well, it's not written out. You say, well, it's self-evident what it means: don't steal. Everybody knows.

Okay, let's go a little further. What about don't do any work on the Sabbath, and whoever works will be put to death? Where does the Torah explain in detail what it means to do work? You would think that if there's a death penalty for doing work, it would define work, correct? Theoretically, that's what you'd expect, but it doesn't.

So, how do we explain that?

Well, traditional Jews say that the written Torah does not tell you everything. You need the oral traditions. You need the oral traditions to help interpret the Torah. And what are those oral traditions? They are the explanations.

Of the written law. They are principles of interpretation, so future generations will be able to deduce these truths about the oral law from the written law, and that these were allegedly passed on through the generations. Moses to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders to various prophets, the prophets to the leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah, all the men of the great assembly, and then passed on through pairs of scholars, two scholars in each generation that were principally responsible. And then by the time of Jesus, passed on to Hillel and Shammai, who led the two main Pharisaical schools at that time. And then in the early...

Third century, so a little after 200. Traditional Jews would say, because of persecution scattering, because of challenges of daily life, because the oral traditions were getting lengthier and lengthier and lengthier, they were finally put down in writing, and that's what's called the Mishnah. And then they were expanded further in what's called the Talmud. And the main Talmud, the Babylonian Talmud, reaches its culmination more than 500 years after the time of Jesus. But traditional Jews will say, Yeah, it's an ongoing tradition.

In other words, these things have been passed down and put in writing, and then every generation has to pass them on in a living way and study the traditions and make application.

So it doesn't matter even if it's 300 years old, it's still part of that chain going all the way back to Moses. They would say that I learned it from my father, who learned it from his father, who learned it from his father, all the way back to Moses. And if you say we don't have the accurate tradition, then you're either saying my father or his father, someone along the way, was lying.

Now, that's the way it's presented. But there are many, many other alternatives. And there are plenty of non-traditional Jewish scholars who recognize that there is no such thing as an unbroken chain of oral tradition going back to Moses. And that's what I want to examine with you today: this idea that there's an unbroken chain of tradition that goes all the way back to Moses on Mount Sinai. And I believe I can.

give you clear evidence that there is no such thing As an unbroken oral tradition going all the way back to Moses on Mount Sinai. Therefore, while I might find beauty in the traditions, while I might find value in the traditions, I do not follow the Jewish traditions in my own life, certainly in any rigorous way, not in disrespect to the rabbis, but in respect to God and His Word. And I do believe that through the Messiah coming into the world, God has given us a new and better way. A new and better way whereby we apply what is written in the word by the spirit. Listen to what Alan J.

Avery Peck said. He's a Jewish scholar of early rabbinic literature. The rabbinic notion of oral Torah. Cannot be equated in any concrete sense with a corpus of laws and interpretations that actually existed throughout Israelite history. Clearly, he writes, Jews in different historical periods and places observed Scripture's dicta according to interpretations of the Biblical text, some of which may have been transmitted from generation to generation.

But there is no evidence that such traditions ever comprised a unitary tradition stretching back to Sinai. And he says, the clear evidence of the rabbinic writings indicates that these texts do not embody such tradition if it did exist. They are rather the products of their authors who pursue their own independent program in order to create a system of practice and belief that would take Judaism from their day to our own. In other words, the rabbinic. Leaders.

the rabbinic scholars, the teachers. Developed these traditions as a way to preserve Judaism through the centuries, as a way to practically live out what was written in the Torah and preserve the unity and devotion of the people of Israel. But these traditions were now. Retroverted as if they were from way back, all the way back to Moses. In other words, maybe they began to have their origins a couple hundred years before the time of Jesus.

Let's just put that number out there. And then, by the time we get to the time of Jesus, they're known as the traditions of the fathers. And another few generations, no, no, no, these don't go just go way back. How far back? All the way back to Moses.

This is how the myth Binding oral tradition going back to Moses has been birthed. If I felt that God gave these and commanded all of Israel to keep them, fine, then it would be my joyful privilege to do so. That is not the case. 866-34Tree. Shake.

Hey, this is Michael Brown. I want to invite you to join me for our second ever trip to Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. This is a great opportunity I get to interact with you, our radio listening audience, and our ministry partners as we experience the land of Israel together and it will be a life-changer. We've got a great price on the trip. And if you're one of our monthly supporters, our torch bearers, you're eligible to receive a special discount for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Space is limited, and we're accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on the trip to secure your spot, go to askdrbrown.org, click on the Israel banner, or call our office at 704-782-3760. Give us strength to always do what's right. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome to Thurley Jewish Thursday. This is Michael Brown, 866-348-7884. Have you made your plans to join us in Israel next year?

If not, go to the website askdrbrown.org, a skdirbrown.org. Right on the homepage, you'll see the Israel banner. Click on it, find out everything about this amazing trip. We can't nearly put everything on the trip onto one web page. It's going to be an extraordinary, life-changing event.

And having seen what you get on this trip from doing this tour a couple of years ago, it's a terrific price on top of it for everything that you get.

So join me. Remember, if you're one of our Torch Bearers monthly supporters, you get a special discount as well. Go to askdrbrown.org to register and Join us. All right, before I get to the phones. In volume five Of my series, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, I tackle the question of traditional Judaism with respect and honor for the traditions, with respect and honor.

For the rabbis, I tackle this and I explain why I don't believe that these traditions are binding or go back to Moses. It's a whole volume that addresses these many questions. Those that want to study this in more depth can go there. Those who just want to get an overview of what we cover in that volume, go to realmessiah.com, realmessiah.com, and just click under objections, the traditional objections there. Also, Yesterday, my Testimony.

put together by the team at I Met Messiah, my testimony on video was published.

Now there are different versions of me sharing my faith and sharing my story from LSD to PhD and things like that. And we've often gotten great reports on this testimony. It's all to the glory of God. It's not my story. It's the amazing God that we serve and what He's done.

This is unique, this testimony. The way they did it, the way they put it together, the musical animation, the sound effects, the video editing, they did an incredible job on it. Since it was posted yesterday, let's just see. Since it was posted yesterday morning, it's been viewed on Facebook about 80,000 times.

So if you haven't seen it, it's posted on my Facebook page, AskDr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown on Facebook. I think you'll find it really edifying. The Lord will be glorified through it. My dear bride, Nancy, told me that she thought it was really moving.

So that was significant for my wife, who knows my story. I mean, we met after I was saved, but she certainly knows my story. For her to share that, that was significant to me. 866-34Truth. All right, let's take some Jewish-related calls, and we go to Luke in Charleston, South Carolina.

Thanks for calling the line of fire. Hello, Luke. And Luke is gone. Look at that. I tell you what, let me finish something up before I go back to the phones.

Some news that is of interest. Honestreporting.com notes how the Associated Press. has written about problems in Gaza. All the problems going on. I mean, there are lots of hardships for the people living in Gaza, lots of hardships.

Um Who's causing them? Hamas. For example, I've read that for every hundred Sacks of concrete that that come into Gaza Maybe three or four are used for building housing and things like that, and the rest are used for construction of tunnels. to infiltrate under uh Israel and try to attack. It's widely known that a large amount of the funds that come in that international aid gives to Gaza goes to military build-up, to weapons.

And you have to ask: where do the weapons come from? Where do the funds come from to build these terror tunnels and things like that?

So, the whole problem, the great problem for the people of Gaza is they elected a corrupt and violent radical Islamic government, Hamas, which is. worse than the previous one, Palestinian Authority, which is anything but ideal.

So we understand the problem.

So Associated Press, one of the largest news agencies of the world, wrote a short article about Gaza, just 30 nine words. Not a single one of those words was Hamas. In other words, it would be like diagnosing a patient who has cancer that spreads through the whole body and talking about this the bones are not in good shape and these organs are not functioning well, but forgetting to say the word cancer. Honestreporting.com says that's like talking about Syria, not using the words Islamic State. are talking about the September 11th attacks and not mentioning al-Qaeda.

It's more than surreal, it's bad journalism. And then they asked the question, why should the AP mention Hamas and give five very, very glaring reasons So, what words does the AP use? It includes words such as specter of violence, chronic realities. And the phrase, Palestinians in Gaza are growing ever more desperate. It describes problems and then uses the word Israel or Israeli.

speaks of Netanyahu. And Lieberman, does it say, another Israeli leader, does it say anything about? Anything. About Hamas, no. People.

And if you missed this. Uh if if you if you missed this. In my article about Mark Zuckerberg, is he a well-intended, sincere liberal? But he has a massive blind spot. I mentioned that uh An Israeli organization called Shurat Hadin ran a test.

They and let me just grab it in front of me. Shirata Okay, they ran a test on Facebook. They had two separate pages. One page was in. Hebrew.

basically saying stop the Palestinians. The other page was in Arabic. saying stop the Israelis. And what what they did, this was the end of last year.

So the anti-Israeli page would have a cartoon showing a crocodile with a Star of David. With the Al-Aqsa mosques inside its mouth, accompanied with the phrase, death to all the Jews. And then they'd have something equivalent. Uh i in Arabic Excuse me, in Hebrew, calling for death to the Palestinians, death to all the Arabs.

So they had these two sites with inflammatory material that ultimately Facebook should shut down. If you're saying death to all the Jews or death to all the Arabs, but what page got shut down? The one calling for death to the Arabs. What about the one calling for death to the Jews? No problem!

No problem. That extraordinary bias, just like the AP report, these extraordinary blind spots, some of which are willing and open and undeniable and clear. It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 Truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on this Thurley Jewish Thursday, 866-348-7884. Let's go back to the phones.

Brian in Salina, Ohio. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, I am Mr. Lieberman. He's the new defense minister in Israel.

I guess he's been. pretty critical of Israelis. too soft handling of the Palestinian violence. And ID supports And it has introduced the death penalty now.

So I'm wondering, what do you think about that? Will that Well that stop some of the islands? No, I don't think it's going to stop things. Here's what happened with Lieberman and his party. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has a very tenuous Coalition, barely a majority.

You have to have 61 out of the 120 Knesset seats to have a majority.

So he's got the slimmest of majorities. And he has a lot of affiliation with the ultra-Orthodox religious parties. That's the only way he got his coalition. Last time around, as prime minister, he didn't need to do that. This time he did.

Well, he wanted to strengthen his coalition, reached out to Lieberman's party, which is a very, very strongly nationalistic party. And Lieberman said, yeah, I'll do it if I can get this position. in terms of being defense minister. And that means I am going to advocate for the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israeli citizens.

Now the only person that's been put to death by a trial, as a result of a trial, in Israel's history, the history of modern Israel, is Adolf Eichmann. The notorious mass murdering Nazi who was successfully kidnapped by Israeli agents in a daring raid in Argentina, then brought to Israel, then tried, then convicted, and hung.

So he's the only one. Others, Palestinian mass murderers, are in jail. And they can be in jail for life, but there's been no death penalty. Do I think that having this death penalty would stop the violence or slow it? No, certainly not, for a few reasons.

One, The hatred towards Israel and the Jews by Palestinian terrorists is so intense and so great that it really doesn't matter. You can impose whatever penalty in the world you want to impose, and that's not going to stop them from doing it. Secondly, if they truly believe they're doing Allah's work, then the death penalty would probably be a path to martyrdom for them. For Lieberman, I don't know if he thinks it would slow the violence down. Maybe in some cases it would.

Maybe some people would think twice, but many of them that commit these violent acts know that they may die in the process.

Some of them, of course, are suicide bombers and the like, and they're planning it.

So it it's more just cracking down. It's more just part of this strong nationalism. How would Israel as a whole relate? I don't know what polling says on this, Matt. I don't know if there's data on it yet.

But on the one hand, Israel tends to be more tolerant, more humanistic in that respect. Remember, this is the same Israel that has gay pride parades in some of its cities and free abortion for women serving in the armed services and things like that. On the flip side, When you have these intifadas, these uprisings, and hundreds and hundreds of Israelis are seriously wounded and many others killed, including elderly, including children, many Israelis then are at that breaking point, and they would very gladly see more strict penalties. And in some cases, you've had some of the most notorious murderers ever. In Israel's history, some of the most notorious terrorist murderers, sir, and they have been exchanged in prisoner releases, you know, a thousand Israeli prisoners to get back one Israeli So, say a thousand Palestinian terrorists who are in Israel's prisons exchanged to get maybe the corpses of Israeli soldiers back or something like that.

So, obviously, if you had the death penalty for some of these murderers, there would be no possible exchange. But this is sure to stir up more animosity towards Israel. We're saying we're going to have the death penalty for Palestinian terrorists convicted of murder of Israelis. How far will it go? Will it be carried out?

That remains an open question. Thank you, Brian. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday 8663. For truth is the number to call. We go back to the phones in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tommy, welcome to the line of fire.

Hey, doctor Brown. God bless you. Hope you're well. My question today would come from Isaiah fifty-three, where it says bite his wound. We are healed.

Old Testament Jews looking at that scripture and Even, you know, Jews who understand the the original scriptures when they read that, are they going in their minds there is going to be a Messiah who comes that actually does physical healing. Um And You know, things along those lines, or are they thinking more in a spiritual sense? Or how would they interpret that scripture? Would they? Be bye plus.

Yes, we don't know how the text was originally interpreted. In other words, when it was spoken, it's in the larger context of Isaiah 40 to 55, which speaks of the return of the Jewish people from exile. And so after great hardship and difficulty and suffering, that the Jewish people would be restored to the land. And the servant of the Lord, beginning in the 41st chapter of Isaiah, is often the nation of Israel as a whole. But then sometimes that servant is deaf and dumb and unresponsive.

And then other times the servant seems to be an individual within Israel whose mission is to restore Israel to God and to be a light to the nations, one that will be rejected in the process. Was it originally identified with the prophet who spoke the message, some other individual? A remnant within Israel? We don't know that for sure. Was it clearly looked at as a messianic prophecy so that ancient Jews would have said this is clearly the Messiah?

No, I don't believe so. I don't believe they would have read it like that originally. When the Messiah comes and dies and rises and then says, look back, it's in your scriptures. Then you look back, it's like, there it is. I didn't see it.

Have you ever looked at one of those pictures, and it could be a beautiful woman and an old man? And you look at it and you say, What do you see? I see an old man. Keep looking. And you keep looking, and then suddenly you see the beautiful woman, then you can't see the old man anymore.

But it's actually there. And there's wisdom from God in doing that because if everything is laid out in a way that is clearly predictable, just like a mathematical equation, then people will try to make things happen, take them in their own hands, manufacture them, as opposed to follow God by faith and obedience. And then, as things become clear, now we're accountable. Also, the prophetic language for healing was holistic. When I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the Hebrew root for healing, one of the simple points I put forward was as literal as the smiting is, that's how literal the healing would have to be.

What kind of smiting had Israel suffered?

Well, they suffered the destruction of the temple. They suffered the ravaging of their land. They suffered exile. They suffered terrible economic hardship. They suffered shame and a holistic and physical sickness and disease.

If God says, I'm going to restore you and heal you, Then, what would that mean? It would mean the reversal of all the negative conditions and a complete healing.

So, as this is then used, when we get closer to the time of Jesus, the Greek translators of Isaiah, the Septuagint, they translated this in a spiritual sense, that when it speaks of him carrying our pains and sicknesses, it means it more in a spiritual sense. I would say it's not either or. It's both and. It's inside and outside. When it's quoted in 1 Peter 2, by his wounds you were healed, retrospectively, it's pretty much talking about coming to faith in Jesus, that we were healed, that we were delivered from our sin.

But in the process of that, it does not exclude, say, deliverance from drug addiction, or returning of sanity to someone that had lost their mind, or physical healing of diseases.

So it's not either or, it's both and. But if someone was looking at that originally, I would say, whatever state of quote, sickness you found yourself in. A marriage that had been destroyed, children that had been alienated, a body ravaged with disease, a bankruptcy, an economic collapse. When you were reading that and all those things that happened as a result of sin, and now you know those sins have been paid for, and through that person's suffering, you can be healed. It would be the healing, the restoration of all those.

And think of 2 Chronicles 7:14. If my people are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, right? That famous passage. What does God say? I'll hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

We don't only think of a land being healed, but in context it's been ravaged by locusts. It's under the judgment of God. Healing is restoration.

So at the cost of his wounds, there is restoration for us. That's really what the prophet is saying. Awesome.

Well, thank you very much, doctor Brown. I appreciate that. Your ministry has I don't know. Had a great influence on myself and my family.

So bless you, and thanks again.

Well, thank you, sir. I'm so blessed to hear that. 866-34TRUTH. All right, let's try to reconnect with Luke in Charleston, South Carolina. Are you there this time, Luke?

Hello, Dr. Brown. How are you today? I'm doing well, thank you. Hey, Dr.

Brown, I have two questions for you. The first one pertains to examining. our rabbinic interpretations of prophecy and then and being unsure at the same time and Yeah. Having faith into salvation, and the other one is about. Application of uh Of the concept of God fear to those who may not have heard about Jesus.

If I could go with the first one, I'd like to get your thoughts on it. Yes, so if if you could just explain in a little more depth when you speak of rabbinic interpretation of messianic prophecy and then and then uh questioning issues regarding salvation, just explain exactly what you're looking at or struggling with. Yes, sir.

So when evaluating what Do the rabbinical Jews believe how they're interpreting their prophecy? I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and was the Messiah, and He died for our salvation. But sometimes, you know, in in evaluating these things and being conflicted, uh you know, the fear comes on, like, what if I'm wrong? What if Jesus didn't actually rise? What if he is not the Messiah?

And then having that fear, worrying that, oh, maybe I've lost my salvation because I am doubting Um whereas I I think I think that comes on because I I originally had a a poor Interpretate a forward education on what belief means. I think belief is much more about. Trusting Jesus for the For salvation of your rather than Absolute certainty. And I know that. Um this is something that's Jeff.

Probably had this. struggle and coming up and Try to you know examine the rabbinical beliefs and being a believer in Jesus. I just want to know your thoughts on that. While having these fears, I can still have trust in Jesus and I'm still Yeah. Sure thing.

And Luke, are you raised in a Jewish home or just coming at this from another angle? No, sir. I am a Gentile Christian, but I just know that if Jesus wasn't the Jewish Messiah, then he was nobody's Messiah. All right, well, you're right on that. First, let me encourage you, Luke, and remind you of what Paul wrote to Timothy: that if we're faithless, he remains faithful.

He can't deny himself. The sin is active denial, not struggling in faith. The sin is walking away from Jesus and denying him. And putting down our cross and saying, I'm going to live for myself and do my own thing. That's the sin.

It's not a matter of losing salvation as much as renouncing the Lord and walking away from Him. Paul says to Timothy, if we deny Him, He'll deny us.

So if God forbid you or I said, I don't want to follow the Lord, I reject him, I don't believe in him, and we renounced him.

Well, now we're in a very serious condition.

However, Through our struggles, through our ups and downs, through our fears, through our doubts, he remains absolutely 100% faithful, never changing, making intercession for us. Remember, Remember that It says in Romans the 8th chapter. That the one who died for us is the one who's interceding for us, so who can bring a charge against us? There's no charge that can be brought against us because he says it's paid for at the cross, and I'm interceding for them.

So. In the midst of this, Assurance in the Lord. Look at it like this. You might be on a plane and you have a fear of flying. But That flight gets you there just the same.

If you were peaceful in flight, If you were scared in flight, That plane is still going to get you there just the same. It's just one flight you enjoy more than another.

So, your salvation does not depend on you having perfect faith 24-7. And in that sense, you've put your trust in the Lord by getting on the plane.

Now, that plane is going to get you to the destination, even if you have some fears along the way. That being said, for sure, God wants to give you a certainty of faith. A no-so faith that removes doubts and it doesn't simply come through intellectual study. I'll address the rabbinic interpretations in a moment. And it's a very fair question.

Of course, I've devoted years to that very question. But the New Testament writers, John in his gospel, and then in 1 John. It says I've written these things that you can know. That you have eternal life. And Paul in Romans 8, Galatians 4, talks about the witness of the Spirit and God putting the Spirit of His Son within our hearts by which we cry.

Abba. Father.

So I want to encourage you that you can go to God and say, God, give me assurance. And it's not based on your performance. It's based on what Jesus Yeshua did. As our Savior, as our Lord, as our Messiah. Stay right there.

I want to address the rabbinic objections on the other side of the break. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on Thurley Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown here. Remember to check out our special resource offer this week. the beautiful slimline leather-like.

Tree of Life version of the Bible, now produced by Baker Books. I just saw a stack of them getting ready to be shipped from our office. Really beautiful Bibles. The official release will be in Jerusalem at the beginning of this next week. And when you get the Bible through us, you also get a free DVD and we're paying the postage.

So it really is a terrific resource offering. You'll love the Bible. Go to askdrbrown.org, ASKDRBrown.org. You'll see it right on the homepage banners. All right.

Back to Luke in Charleston.

So, Luke, when I came to faith, In nineteen seventy one, Shortly after that, my dad said, all right, I need to talk to the local rabbi. And I thought, great, I'll get to share with him about Jesus. I was so zealous to do it. And I was 16 years old. The little Hebrew I had learned in previous years, I had pretty well forgotten.

Here's a well-educated rabbi who's been studying Hebrew all his life. And we began to meet in early 1972. And he challenged me. You know, how can you tell us what to believe? You can't even read Hebrew.

Very nice guy. We're friends to this day. And I then met with numerous other rabbis. Over a period of a couple of years, he'd send me to another rabbi, another rabbi, another rabbi, and we'd talk for hours and interact. And that really challenged me.

And I laid out everything before the Lord because I was sure about my salvation. I was sure that Jesus had changed my life. Yet these rabbis were raising many powerful questions, and I didn't have good answers for them because of lack of scholarship in my own life. And the Christian scholars I looked to. We weren't sensitive to the Jewish objections as learned as they were.

So I laid out everything before the Lord honestly, Luke, and I said, God, if I have to leave my friends in church and leave everything that's dear to me now and walk away from Jesus to be loyal to you as a Jew, I'll do it. Conversely, if everything I believe is true, and I have to be rejected by the Jewish community to follow the real Messiah. I'll do it. And God overwhelmingly reminded me through his word that Jesus was the Messiah. And to be candid, Luke, there are objections, rabbinic objections, but when you look at the objections and look back to the text and look at the answers to the objections, you realize.

The objections do not Stop our faith. The objections do not overrule our faith. In fact, the objections are just platforms on which we can further explain what we believe. And I have a whole volume, Volume 3. Of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, where I lay out the major rabbinic objections to the major messianic prophecies one by one in several hundred pages of writing.

That's volume three of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, or you can get the summary of those objections and answers on my RealMessiah website, realmessiah.com. But the short answer is, there is a solid response to every rabbinic objection. And when you go back to the text without the objections, you just read it for what it says, overwhelmingly it points us to the cross. Yeah, yes. I have all five of your uh Yeah, you're lying, Dr.

Bonnet. I'm working through them and they've been A huge aid to me. I was just it's just sometimes the fear strikes, though so you're you have the fear that you may be wrong, then the fear that Yeah, it you're disbelieving by having fear, so Yeah, just I try to I try to make sure that I'm grounded on Okay, faith in Jesus is trust in Jesus. Jesus. Oh an absolute certainty.

or a complete knowledge that they trust. Um in Jesus' name. And it's and it's a trust yeah, Luke, it's a trust that's well grounded. You know, it's just like when I get on a plane, I have trust that everyone's done what they've done, the mechanics to clear everything, and the pilots, that the pilots don't want to die, that the people working on the plane don't want to die, and that they so it's not a blind trust. You know, I hope this thing's going to get there.

All the more do we have a solid trust in Jesus. The other thing, Luke, is if the fear ever hits, What's the fear based on? The fear is based on being wrong, but isn't that telling you I really want to do the right thing. In other words, if you didn't care... You'd never get hit with a fear.

If you could care less what God says, if you could care less what's right and wrong, it doesn't matter. You're just going to do what you want to do because it's convenient. You wouldn't get hit with that fear. When you get hit with that fear, that's saying, Are you sure? Are you really sure?

And the best way to respond is: God, I just want to follow you. It's very freeing. God, I just want to follow you, whichever way the truth leads. I just want to follow you. And with that, he can give you assurance and peace in the midst of it, as he's given to me.

And I'm blessed that the volumes have been of help to you. They're written with that very mentality: I'm going to follow the truth wherever it leads. I'm going to ask the difficult questions. I'm going to challenge my faith at every turn. And as I did that over a period of many years, with each new challenge, rather than my faith getting weaker, it got stronger.

So be encouraged and remember, your salvation does not depend on moment-by-moment perfect faith. It depends on the faithfulness of the Lord who died for you. All right? Thank you very much, Dr. Brown.

I really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for calling, Luke, and God bless you for your sincerity. May the Lord continue to ground you. In his truth and in his love. All right, friends, I am going to continue explaining in the next hour why I'm not a traditional Jew.

It's something I plan to spread out over a couple of hours. Again, if you'd like a summary of my main issues with the concept of an unbroken chain of tradition going back to Moses at Mount Sinai, if you'd like a summary of that, go to my website, realmessiah.com, realmessiah.com, and just look at objections under the subject of traditional objections. Also, Let me just read this to you. Do I have it in front of me? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Uh the news release Baker Publishing Group to release new Bible translation with Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. The Tree of Life version, translated by both Christian and Messianic Jewish scholars, releases this May. And Jack Hayford has said, Pastor Jack Hayford, the tree of life version, there's a miracle in motion. See, here's what's so significant. What's so significant is that.

Jewish believers have grown to the point, the Messianic movement has grown to the point, together with top Christian scholars, we've been able to put out a brand new team translation, the first of its kind. And as Baker says, before there were Christians, there was a Jewish line, a chosen people from which the Messiah would come. It is Judaism that birthed Christianity, not as a new religion, but as the fulfillment of a promise. Most Bible translations have pulled Christianity from its roots, but Holy Scripture's Tree of Life Version reunites Christianity with its parentage and recovers the authentic context of the Bible and the Christian faith. 32 Messianic Jewish and Christian PhD scholars of the Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society have collaborated over the last seven years to present the first authoritative Jewish Holy Scriptures to include the New Testament.

Again, a unique new production. We appreciate the pioneer work of David Stern, his Jewish New Testament and complete Jewish Bible, wonderful pioneering work.

Now, this is a brand new group translation, the Tree of Life Version. Get your copy. You're getting multiple copies, a beautiful, slimline, leather-like edition. You'll be really impressed with the quality of the binding, the quality of the book itself. But above all, you'll be impressed with the translation.

When you order it through us, you will also get a free DVD. Plus, we'll pay the postage. Call 1-800. 278-9978-1-800-800-800-80 278-9978 or go to the website, ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org to order.

My bottom line today: your roots are ultimately not in the tradition of the fathers, but ultimately in the Lord Himself. You know, Jewish tradition is beautiful. Traditional Judaism has helped preserve our people for thousands of years, and yet there's a reason, many reasons, that I'm not a traditional Jew. The bird. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr.

Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and president of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. So what about the traditions? There are some parts of the church. That are very traditional, that emphasize, we've learned this in previous generations, and we respect those generations and believe these traditions were inspired. What about in Judaism?

There's no such thing as traditional Judaism without traditions. There's no such thing as rabbinic Judaism without the rabbis. Should Jews today follow these traditions, or do these traditions get in the way? of the Word of God. This is Michael Brown.

It is Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. 866-34TRUT. That's 866-348-7884. And if you have any Jewish-related question, Israel-related question, Hebrew-related question, Judaism-related question, Middle East-related question. We'll do our best to take your calls today: 866-348-786.

Eight. Eight. Four. That is the number to call with your thoroughly. Jewish Thursday questions.

I'm looking at a news item. I'm going to get to this question of tradition in a little while. I touched on it first in the first hour, but I'm going to introduce it afresh from another angle in the second hour. This is Washington Times Doug Ernst reporting on Monday: Iran threatens to raise R-A-Z-E, Israel, in less than eight minutes on Khamenei's orders. Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei and his surrogates started off the week by mocking the Obama administration.

And claiming the capability to raise Israel in less than ten minutes. Mr. Khamenei told state-controlled media Monday that U. S. objections over Iran's continued missile tests in defiance of the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was tantamount to crying.

We're being babies. We're crying. Quote, The US has engaged in a lot of you and cry over Iran's missile capabilities, but they should know that this Balihu does not have any influence and they cannot do a Darn thing. Just change that. He said jihad still exists.

Great jihad means not abiding by the enemy whom we are fighting, not abiding by enemy in economy, politics, culture, and the art is the great jihad. These are the ones that we we signed the nuclear deal with. Listen. You know, I'm not a big fan of Donald Trump, but when he says it's one of the worst deals he's ever seen, you better believe it. Which is why Senator Cruz said the first day in office he'd tear the thing up.

I mean, this agreement is an outrage. And listen to Iran. Listen to Iran. Ahmad Karimpur, a senior advisor to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' Al-Quds force, mulled how long the destruction of Israel would take. If the Supreme Leader's orders are to be executed with the abilities and the equipment at our disposal, we will raise the The Zionist regime in less than eight.

minutes Diplomats told Reuters in March that Iran's missile tests leave Western nations in a lurch. As the nuclear agreement signed with world powers in July, included non-binding language related to missile programs. Reuters reported, Several diplomats said the most Iran could expect would be a public rebuke by the Security Council. Talk about how not to make a deal. Talk about what not to put into the hands of your enemies.

And all Iran does is stand by and mock us. Hey, we sign a deal like this with Iran. We deserve to be mocked. God willing, the next administration will fix this. But right now, this is a mess that we helped create, and Israel has every reason to raise its voice in protest.

This is Michael Brown. We'll be right back. Shake the nation. Change the world. It's fire we want.

For fire we please. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-342. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. I am the nutshell in my Thanks for joining us on Thurly Jewish Thursday on the line of fire. A little while, I want to take some of your calls, your Jewish-related questions. I want to get back to the question of Jewish tradition and why I myself am not a traditional Jew. But all this week, we are having special guests on who are part of the Tree of Life Version of the Bible project, some of the scholars involved with.

Uh some of the scholars involved with Translation, some involved with theological input, some involved with just a larger vision. We've had some great interviews with different leaders involved. I was told by Dr. Jeff Seife, who's heading up the project, that Baker Books, now in charge of distribution of the Bibles and producing the new editions, that the pre-orders Were 50, 5-0, 50 times higher than they expected. They had to go to a second printing before the first printing was even officially released.

The official celebration is going to be in Jerusalem in the beginning of this week, where the Bible will be announced in that sense. And thrilled to have with me Dr. David Ross, born in New Zealand, came to the States in 74. He and his wife received a calling from the Lord, to their surprise, to get involved in Bible translation. They got trained to do that.

They moved to Asia, where they were involved in a scripture translation project, which eventually resulted in the translation of the New Testament into a language there. David has served as the founding president of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics in Dallas, Texas, and a translation consultant in Nigeria as well, and now part of the Tree of Life project. Dr. Ross, welcome to the line of fire. Thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you, and good afternoon. First, tell me about where you served in Asia. Is is that something you can talk about publicly?

Well we we served in a in a minority language Project there where there were. Uh most of the people who spoke the language were were Islamic people. Very interesting.

So you had to learn that language and then do a translation of the New Testament into that language? Yes. Very interesting.

What kind of principles did you learn for a Bible translation? I've got my scholarship in Near Eastern languages and literatures, and yet I understand there's a specific training you get, especially to take a language, maybe they don't even have their own written language, and now go from there to a Bible translation.

So, what does that training entail? A lot of it is involved in learning another language and another culture.

So we start off with the sounds of language, we start off with l teaching and learning how to write down the grammars of language before we ever get to dictionaries. And then we recognize that language is part of culture.

So very often we have to study the culture as well in order to figure out not just word for word translations, but what words mean in those cultures.

So, for example, in certain cultures, if you said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, that that concept might not translate immediately. Absolutely, because not every culture is familiar with lamb. Yeah, or sacrificial lambs, right? Particularly, that's right. We were actually in an inland culture where they were 500 miles from the sea and they didn't have a word for a sea or a boat or a fish.

Wow. Fascinating. Fascinating. Yeah, it's like the story about the guy preaching in Alaska and says, though your sins be white as scarlet, I'll wash them, red as scarlet, I'll wash them white as snow. And the translator said, What word do you want to use for snow?

We have 32 words for snow. And then the same guy preaching in the equator, and the same thing comes up, and they say, What is snow? We've never heard of snow.

So it's a lot more challenging than your average person would realize. Exactly.

So we. We try to tell translators that they need to be concerned about transferring the meaning of the original to the meaning of the host culture. Got it. And often we want to translate it exact, and that's how we're honoring God's word. But if it's unintelligible, we haven't gotten the message across.

Absolutely. If you took one of your Greek Bibles and did a word-for-word translation, you wouldn't understand it in English either. Exactly.

And what happened with this people group when you presented them with the New Testament in their language? Oh, it was uh Mm-hmm. A great time. The uh there'd been very little things written in that language beforehand, and so the idea that the the language was being um blessed with God's word was something quite substantial. Yeah, what an amazing ministry.

What an amazing job.

So, how did you then get connected with the Tree of Life version of the Bible?

Well, it happens that some of the translators We were part of the faculty here at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, and they were showing me the work that they'd been working on, and I became very quite impressed with what they had done. Very interesting.

I have a commentary coming out on the book of Job next year. And once I completed writing the commentary, the editor and I discussed that it would be good if I did my own translation to add to the commentary. And maybe I'm too picky and trying to figure out every nuance, every word, but that was a difficult experience. Even though I had worked through all of the challenges of what I believed each word meant, each verse meant, still to now translate it.

Sometimes the simple things were really difficult because there's so many different ways that you could say it.

So there's quite a science in this and then different opinions as to what's the best way to go about a translation or not.

Someone asked me earlier in the week about the Tree of Life version. They said, is it closer to, say, the New American Standard Bible, which is, quote, more literal? Or is it closer, say, to the NIV or even to the left of that, the NLT, which would be more dynamic in translation? Where would you place the TLV in your view? In my view, it is probably a little bit more literal than some of our freer and more dynamic translations, but it's attempting to be.

Very true to both the Christian translation principles and the Jewish translation traditions. And so it it's coming to speak to a particular audience. Uh that that is It's not necessarily our ordinary everyday English audience. Yes. And I I analyzed it the same way as you did.

But when you mention Jewish translation principles, Christian translation principles, what are those differences i in principle? The Well, it has to do with the fact that many times when we translate into another culture we don't And you mentioned in Asia, and I've been involved with it in Africa as well, they do not have a British or a Jewish heritage. And so when we come to talk about the meanings of terms, It's uh it's not like we're speaking to an audience that's familiar with things like priests and high priests and Pharisees and Sadducees. Whereas when we're translating it for the for a Jewish audience, they are familiar with those terms. And so they're going to need some some very different way of thinking about it.

Got it. And in your view, sir, what are the the The best quote selling points, or the most positive things about the Tree of Life version that positively impressed you.

Well, I have to admit, I do not have a Jewish background, but I have been very impressed by the sense that the Tree of Life version is coming out of a Jewish heritage and is Very attractive for those of us who would like to understand more of that heritage as we learn more about the scriptures. I think sometimes when we don't have that background, we can miss some of the nuances of what's in there to our own detriment. Yes. And as as you read this as a Christian and with a Gentile background, does it seem obtrusive to you that Jewishness is being pushed on every page? Or does it more connect you to the realities of the first century?

I find it connects me to the realities very much. I'll give you an example. There's two words in Luke. That uh Yeah. used to talk about um uh teachers of the law or experts in the law, and they're two different Greek words.

And quite often in our English translations, we just sort of whip over the difference between them quite without thinking about it too much in detail. But I noticed that the Tree of Life version does what I think is a great service. In one case, it would call them Torah scholars, and in another case, they'd talk about Torah lawyers. And that kind of helps me to understand the difference to what's being talked about. Mm.

Got it. Yeah, and you do have to this day some who specialize in legal rulings and some who specialize just in the general scholarship. Exactly.

Yeah, and they overlap, but they are definitely distinct categories. Dr. Ross, it's been a great blessing to have your involvement. And obviously, a translation project is massive. I've been so thrilled to see the team that came together.

And for Baker Books to now say this is one of the Bibles that we're going to officially put out, that's a tremendous significance in the history of Bible translation and a great boon to the team.

So, Dr. Ross, thanks for your involvement. Thanks for your expertise. And thanks for your heart to reach everyone with the good news of Jesus.

Well, thank you and keep up the good work. We appreciate what you're doing also.

Well, thank you, sir. We are going for it. All right. So, friends, great to hear from Dr. David Ross and the expertise that he brings.

I'd love to have another show where I could discuss with him all these issues of bringing the Bible where it's never been. And people of different cultures, they got no background. And you use a certain image, it has no particular meaning to them. You know, for example, if you're going overseas to preach and you say, man, it was difficult to get here. It cost me an arm and a leg to get here.

People look at you, it cost you an arm and a leg? What do you mean? I see you have an arm. I see you have two arms, two legs. What do you mean?

Ah, it's an idiom. Be careful using idioms when you're preaching overseas. Yeah, a lot of things to learn. Get your copy of the Tree of Life Earth, and I'll tell you how when we come back. Angel World.

Oh God of burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Shoot it first. Thanks for joining us on Thursday, Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown here, 866-34TRUTH. Number to call any Jewish-related questions, Hebrew-related questions, Israel-related questions, Judaism-related questions, even Middle East-related questions. We'll do our best to give you solid answers from the word or from accurate news sources as the case would be.

866-34TRUTH. We go to the phone starting in Clearwater, Florida. Armando, welcome to the line of fire. Thank you, doctor Round, for taking my call. You're welcome.

Um I ha I think What would you tell someone that uh tells you that if you if you don't keep the star back and the huge holiday, you don't love the Lord because the argument is is If you love me, you give my command. Obviously, if you express your love for the Lord. By Observing the Sabbath and keeping the biblical calendar, God bless you. If that's how you can express your love for the Lord, the Lord certainly doesn't reject that or scorn that, of course. But the simple answer is that Jesus did not command us in the New Testament to keep the seventh-day Sabbath or the biblical calendar.

He said he came to fulfill. What was written in the law and the prophets.

So we don't. Practice blood sacrifices anymore because he died for our sins, even though the blood sacrifices take up many, many chapters in the Torah, and even though they're commanded forever, we don't have an earthly high priest. Hebrews 7 says there's been a change in the law. We now have a new high priest who is not from the line of Aaron, but from the line of David and on the order of Melchizedek, who is a priest-king.

So we have a new and better way. And that's why throughout the New Testament you never find a commandment for all believers saying, observe the Sabbath. You find many other teachings, many other things commanded. 1 Corinthians 5 says, let us therefore keep the Passover, but it seems to be talking about it in a metaphorical or spiritual sense as something always where we purge the leaven of wickedness from our midst. Otherwise, what Yeshua says is, come to me and find rest.

And if you read his commandments, his commandments are that we love one another. His commandments are that we abide in the vine and things like that. His commandments are that we go and make disciples of all the nations. Those are his commandments. As someone said, if you have a red-letter Bible, read his red-letter words.

Those are his commandments, that we love and pray for our enemies and things like that. But he never laid that, especially on Gentile believers, that if you don't observe the seventh-day Sabbath, you don't love him. Rather, we find Sabbath reality by coming to him and finding rest. And Colossians 2 reminds us that the seventh-day Sabbath is the shadow, the substance is found in Christ in the Messiah, and that's where our emphasis needs to be. How about the um the Mm-hmm.

The argument that you you have to call the Lord Yeshua, other ways God doesn't hear your prayers. That that's one of the That you have to use the Hebrew. Word to for you to be able that to listen to your prayers. Yeah, that's a terrible, terrible teaching. I'm all for saying Yeshua if it helps remind us of the Jewish roots of our faith.

And helps us connect with him as the Jewish Messiah. But the New Testament itself is the complete opposite of that. What do I mean? The New Testament was written either all in Greek or almost all in Greek.

So, for example, some of the earliest books of the New Testament, maybe Paul writing to the Thessalonians, he wrote it in Greek. And did he transcribe Yeshua? No, he couldn't. Greek doesn't even have the sh sound. All right?

That's why in English we say Saul, not Sha'ul. We say Solomon, not Shlomo, because the SH in Hebrew passes through Greek and then ultimately into English, and it passes in as an S to us.

So when the New Testament was written, Paul wrote, he didn't write Yeshua, he wrote Yesus in Greek. When John wrote his gospel, he didn't write Yeshua in Hebrew, he wrote Yesus in Greek.

So. We have over 5,000 manuscripts, Armando, of fragments of parts of the Greek New Testament or large portions of or complete copies of the Greek New Testament. We don't have any original copies of a Hebrew or Aramaic version. They existed, they existed for small parts, maybe for part of one book or one book or something like that. But the New Testament, as we have it, was either all written in Hebrew, excuse me, in Greek originally, or almost all in Greek originally.

And that means that right from the start, The issue was it was not you have to pronounce this in Hebrew. No, the issue was know who he is. It's it that's the important thing, that's the essential thing. And then some make it even worse. They say you have to use Yahshua, which never even existed.

That would be like me naming you Armodo, and everyone has to call you Armodo. No, that's not your name. Uh but the fact is, in Spanish, Michael is Miguel. In uh In Russian it's Mikhail. And that's pretty close to what the Hebrew is, Michael.

Mm-hmm.

So Mikael Michael in English is just Michael, and that's perfectly fine. And here's the other thing. As I said, there are different languages like Greek that don't even have the sh sound. And to say you have to pronounce it a certain way, it's like telling a German, unless you can say, thank you. that God will not hear you.

Well, it's hard for a German to say the. Just like it's very hard for me to pronounce some of the Arabic letters. The idea that God would require you to pronounce an ancient name the way it was originally spoken, otherwise, God won't hear you, that is complete nonsense. And the billions of prayers that God has answered in the name of Jesus or Jesus in Italian or Jesus, that is God Himself shouting to the world: it's who he is, not how you pronounce his name. That's first and foremost.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. Yes, you're very welcome. Thank you so much. All right.

Thank you, Armando, for the call. Isn't it a shame? That some people actually believe this, and a sincere brother like this even has to deal with those types of things? It's one thing if you say, Hey, where does the New Testament tell us we're supposed to observe the Sunday Sabbath? Fine.

Fine question. It doesn't. Where does it say that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day to the eighth day? It doesn't. Where does it say that Gentile believers are required to observe the seventh-day Sabbath?

Ah, it doesn't say that either.

So over the centuries, it's no problem. That as the church grew and developed, that it based itself on a Sunday celebration, celebrating the new beginning, the resurrection of Jesus, there's no problem. If it said this is now the new Sabbath and God has replaced the original Sabbath, that wouldn't have been a problem. Or that Jews should not observe the seventh day, Sabbath, or that's Passe. That would have been a problem, but that's.

And to the extent that it did happen, that is a problem. But to say that if you don't observe the seventh-day Sabbath, you don't love God, man, that's error and that's dangerous. And worse still, if you don't say the name Yeshua, that God won't hear you when you pray. Talk about binding dead tradition.

So, we come back. I want to explain my view on tradition: what's good, what's bad, and why I myself am not. A traditional Jew. To order your copy of the beautiful, slim-line, leather-like edition of the Tree of Life Version, brand new, literally hot off the press from Baker Books. Go to my website.

Ask Dr. Brown, ASKDRBrown.org. When you order this week, you get a free DVD, plus, we're paying the postage. You can also order by phone 1-800-0. 278-9978-1-800-278-9978.

We'll be right back. Join Dr. Michael Brown along with Messianic Jewish pastor Scott Volk for a unique behind-the-scenes tour of Israel, February 25th through March 6th, 2017. Space is limited, so we're accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on the trip and to secure your spot, please visit our website at askdrbrown.org and click on the Israel Tour banner or call our office at 704-782-3760.

It's the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. This is Michael Brown. When we did our first ever Israel tour, after many trips I've made to Israel to minister, but our first ever Israel tour. When we did that, I was thrilled by some of the special things we got to do behind the scenes.

One highlight: I don't know how many tourists do anything like this, but it's got to be unique. We went to the city of Sephat. This is in northern Israel. It's a center of Jewish mysticism to this day. It's kind of a combination of the arts.

Avant-gad artsy types and very, very traditional Jews who practice Jewish mysticism. Part of it is like another world. And in that community, there are quite a few underprivileged, impoverished children, those living in difficult housing situations and things like that.

So there's a school that they're part of. And we got to go there, hang out with these kids. I mean, they were waiting. They were so excited for our visit. They prepared special items for us.

We played, there's this tiny little dirt area where we could play some soccer together. Just had to watch the ball would easily go over a fence and down this hill. But it was amazing. And Scott Volk, Together for Israel, who coordinates the tours for us, he donates money to help there. And I mean, that was amazing.

And then I don't know where this was. I probably couldn't say it. I wouldn't be allowed to say it even if I knew where it was. But we went into these Israeli military barracks. and they took us behind the scenes where we watch footage.

of say a Palestinian terrorist who's Mm-hmm. Hiding in a particular location in a heavy Palestinian neighborhood. And maybe a radical neighborhood.

So the Israeli soldiers know they have to get in and get out, but they don't want anyone to be hurt. They don't want anyone killed. And how they do it and how they carry it out and how it's monitored and watched and all the precautions. It was amazing. It was amazing.

We got to do that together as a tour group. And then, I mean, how often do you get to go onto Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18? Mount Carmel, where Elijah calls down fire from heaven. How often do you get to go there and do a teaching on that very thing? Talk about Elijah calling down fire from heaven, standing on Mount Carmel, where the thing actually happened.

and then have meals together. And then you get to sit in on radio broadcast some nights if you want to join me where I'm broadcasting from different locations. Just a wonderful time. Oh, and then we had some meetings attending some key congregations where I even did some preaching and ministry that we were able to add those in and bring everyone along for those.

So join us February 25th to March 6th of next year.

So that's a long time off. It'll be here before you know it. It really will be. And if you get your deposit in, it guarantees you a place because we only have room for a certain number of people. You know, you have a certain number of people who can fit on a bus or on a couple of buses, and then you have cutoff numbers.

So the sooner we hear from you, the better we can plan accordingly.

So go to the website, ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org. When you go there, You'll see it right on the home page banner. Sign up, join us. We've already had our first few dozen sign up, and it's going to be a really, really special time together.

All right. If you have a Jewish related call, Jewish-related question, Hebrew-related, Israel-related, Judaism-related. Glad to take your calls at 866-348-7884. We come back. I want to explain why.

As a Jewish man, I am not a traditional Chew. We'll do that when we come back right here on the line of fire. Shake me. Change the world. Change the world.

Send it along. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.

Michael Brown. Welcome back to Thurley Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown here. Before I go to your calls. Let me explain why I myself am not a traditional Jew.

If I were a traditional Jew, I I would be following the traditions of the rabbis, which supplement the teachings and laws of the Bible, which give further interpretation to those laws, and which create new laws, new traditions, new prayers. If I was a traditional Jew, I'd be rising at a certain time in the morning and saying certain words when I rose up in prayer. I would then be following various rituals, even the way I'd wash my hands in the morning. The diet I would eat, well, there's nothing I eat now that would be, quote, non-kosher, but things would have to be rabbinically approved if I was eating meats and other things like that. And, for example, every day I'd be praying at certain times of the day.

I'd be praying at a certain time in the morning, and then in the late afternoon, and then in the evening, I would be in the synagogue certain days of the week. I would be engaging in the Torah readings at certain times of the week, as the traditional Jewish community does. I would observe the Sabbath as traditional Jews taught.

So, for example, no driving a car on the Sabbath, no writing on the Sabbath, things like that. I would have the garb of a traditional Jew. I would be wearing the kippah the yalmulka, the small head covering. I'd be wearing what's called a talit katan, or a prayer shawl, but it's an undergarment that would then have the fringes, the ritual fringes that would then hang out from the sides of your pants to remind you to keep the commandments and various other things as a traditional Jew. Why?

Am I not a traditional Jew? Don't those traditions go back to Moses? No, they don't. There are some things that have been observed by the Jewish community for centuries. That were unknown to Moses or Isaiah.

For example, the idea that a religious Jew would wear a kippah, a particular head covering. That was not even practiced in Jesus' day. It wasn't. There were parts of the Jewish world where A thousand years ago. It wasn't practiced where a Jew would wear that particular type of head covering.

Various other things. The fact that the fringes are white rather than this techlet, this. Deep blue color, kind of purplish blue. It was the rabbis that said that that color could only come from a particular snail. And that snail was now, they couldn't find anymore, it was extinct, or they couldn't find it, and therefore they couldn't have that exact dye, so you have white instead.

Or even to have the fringes the way they are as opposed to just being part of the physical garment the way they were in biblical days. I'm not saying these are bad things, I'm just saying these are later traditions. The idea that certain prayers would have to be prayed. For example, the idea that on the Sabbath you thank God who commanded you to kindle the Sabbath lights. That's not commanded in the Bible.

God never commanded it. That's a later commandment of the rabbis. The idea that when you pray, certain prayers are to be prayed. None of that's in the Bible. I'm not saying these things are sinful or wrong.

Many of the traditions are beautiful. And God's used many of these traditions to preserve the Jewish people.

However, because they are not binding. Because they do not go back in an unbroken chain to Moses, because they do not have divine authority behind them. And because in some cases they violate the spirit of the law. Or get in the way with life in the spirit. For those reasons, I don't Keep them.

If I was called to reach ultra-Orthodox Jews, then this would have to become my lifestyle. If I was called to live among them. There would be no possible way I could reach them unless I was able to embrace these and say, okay, even though I don't believe God is commanding me to keep these, I'm free to, and I respect these traditions and therefore will keep them. Otherwise, I would be completely alien to the culture there.

Now, we do reach ultra-Orthodox Jews, but that's through the written word and through testimony and through things like that. To live in their community, you would have to live among them. Otherwise, you'd be totally, totally shunned. You'd have to live as a traditional Jew.

So unless I was called to do that, I wouldn't keep these because, again, they don't go back to Moses on Mount Sinai. They are not eternally binding. And they are not part of the new and better covenant that the Messiah has brought about. You say, Where do they come from? They were developed over the centuries by sincere Jewish religious leaders as ways to express their faith, as ways to help those that didn't know how to pray or what to say, to have a unified voice going up to God, to be a priestly people, just like you have the Psalms and the Bible.

They were recited and tradition.

So these are liturgies that developed. And the question would come out: well, how do we observe this today? We can now drive. Can you drive on the Sabbath? How about fly?

How about this and that? As technology changes, how do you apply the law?

So these traditions are living and growing in that respect. And then those that are considered to be firmly planted, binding. The question is: how do you live them out in each generation? But remember that sometimes tradition can get in the way of the Word of God. And when the traditions overrule scripture, I don't care how ancient they are, I go with scripture.

And it seems that most of the traditions we know today come from the Pharisees. Who were very religious, committed Jews who sought to live in a state of ritual purity like the priests would, and elevate all Jews to live at this high status wherever they were. And these traditions may have had their origins a couple hundred years, maybe 160 or so years before the time of Jesus. And then as they developed over the centuries, they are now known in the New Testament as the traditions of the fathers. The traditions of the The fathers.

And that's how Yeshua refers to them. And that's how the New Testament references them. That the fathers said this, or the elders said this, the traditions of the elders, or the traditions of the fathers. But sometimes he said that your traditions get in the way of the word of God. In which case he would say, This is the spiritual purpose of this commandment.

This is why God gave it. The Sabbath was given for man, not man for the Sabbath. And your traditions are taking away the spirit intent of it. And if you come to me, you'll find rest. To get more on that, go to my website, realmessiah.com, realmessiah.com, and just click on traditional objections on the objection section.

Click on traditional. You'll understand why I take issue with this idea that these traditions are binding or go all the way back to Moses. More fully, volume 5 of my series, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, lays these things out in more depth. All right. With that, we go to the phones: 866-34TRUTH.

Let's start in High Point, North Carolina. Orlando, welcome to the line of fire. Good afternoon, Doug Bryant. Good afternoon. Yeah, my question deals with uh uh The time of discerning the time of visitation.

Luke, I think it's 1944. talked about time of visitation That was when he was coming in. I think it was that was when he was coming into Jerusalem. And they were they they were told uh not to say anything, to to be quiet and and They did not discern that time when he came the first time. that all that stuff happened to the juicy.

Yes, sir.

Yes, exactly. And he weeps over that. He weeps over Jerusalem. And he says, if only you had known, and because our forefathers as a nation missed it, now of course, thousands of Jewish people did follow him as the Messiah, but as a nation, our leadership missed it. As a result of which, yes, terrible suffering, terrible devastation, the destruction of the temple, and the scattering of our people.

Absolutely. Yeah. That was because of the the people that were in charge of the temple, the Pharisees, they did not discern it. Yeah, well, the main ones in charge of the temple, those were the Sadducees, but the Jewish leadership in general, Pharisees, Sadducees, they did not recognize that this was the time of the Messiah's coming, or they did not recognize that the Messiah would come in this way. And so when he came, they rejected him.

But they have the Old Testament.

Now, we at this time we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. Mhm.

Now we not only we see the shadow, we see the whole thing.

So when we ask, are we the are we supposed to discern the the time of visitation for the second time, everybody says, no, we're not. He'll come as a thief. No, no, no. It's right. Here's the difference.

What Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5 is that he's going to come as a thief for the unbeliever. That we who are believers, that we who are believers. Right, that that we now here's the deal. It doesn't say we're going to know the day or the hour, Orlando, but we should have a sense when his return is drawing near. The fact is, though, we've got to come with humility because those who had the scriptures missed it the first time around.

The leadership missed it.

So, that means that all the speculation, he's coming any day, or he's coming in five years or ten years or date setting, that's dangerous. And instead, if we're really walking with an open heart before the Lord, Orlando, if we're really walking in humility before Him with the Word as our guide, I believe as we get close to that time that there will be a massive recognition among believers and leaders in the body that it won't just be this little group speculating or that little group speculating that will recognize, okay, it looks like there's peace and safety in the world, but this is the time of sudden destruction and the return of the Lord. But let's learn these things with humility because of the errors of those in the past and the many errors in church history as well. An important question, and I appreciate it. All right, we've got a break coming up.

We'll take your other questions on the other side of the break here on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday on the line of fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Welcome back to Thorly Jewish Thursday. Time flies when you're having a great time. 866-348-7884. We go to Spokane, Washington. Brett, welcome to the line of fire.

doctor Brown, thank you for having me on, and I can't tell you how much I want to go with you. the promised land next year, but I'm not able to, unfortunately. Hey, hopefully there'll be other tourists in the future where maybe the Lord will surprise you and make a way where there seems to be no way. But God willing, one of these days. But thank you.

No doubt. My question has to do with God's providence and the whole debate and free will and God's sovereignty. And it seems like to me in the Old Testament there is still this tension. between those two concepts and that And is there kind of uh some Jewish arguments on both sides? And what is What are these arguments that they have and where does where do the uh theologians fall?

Yeah, when it comes to those things. Sure thing. First thing to understand is that generally speaking, There is not the same emphasis on theology in Judaism as there is in Christianity. The greater emphasis is on observance of the law and understanding the varied levels of discussion about the law and interpretation of the law.

So there's more commentary on that than there is just theological speculation.

So you have theology in Judaism, but the emphasis is much heavier in Christianity. That being said, there is a recognition of tension, but not because everything is foreordained. The Calvinist view would be foreign to Judaism. You may have it among the Jews of the Dead Sea Scrolls that there's more of a determinism that's found there or a predestination that's found there. But the one dictum that occurs in the Ancient Jewish document called Perke a Vot, which is maybe written in the third century of this era, part of what's called the Mishnah.

It's a little Hebrew phrase that says, Ha kol safui, everything is foreknown, but free will is given.

So it puts foreknowledge and free will side by side, puts them in tension, but says that's the way things operate. And ultimately, although every Jew would recognize, religious Jew that. That he's dependent on God's mercy and grace. Jews would believe that every human being has the Yetzer Hara, the evil inclination, the Yetzer Hatov, the good inclination, and these two are intention, and that every Jew has to work for his good desire, his good inclination, to overcome his evil or bad inclination, as opposed to total depravity. That a human being is a hopeless slave to sin that needs to be saved from sin by a Savior.

It would say that God has given us the power of repentance.

So, yes, we need His mercy, we need to ask for His forgiveness. But traditional Jews would point to Genesis 4, where Cain is told sin is lurking at the door, but you must overcome it. And that would be more of the the Jewish view. Hmm. Have have you now this is kind of A slight little segue.

Have you come under or studied at all? About the concept of molinism and where that follows into the divine providence debate. Yes, that would not be specifically a Jewish question. It could come in philosophically, but the idea of middle knowledge. Uh this has come up in some debates with with my Calvinist friends that people would raise that.

I don't tend to analyze things philosophically as much as exegetically.

Now, you can do both, but I am more of a biblical exegete by far than I am a philosopher.

So I don't come at this with the philosophical question of how could God know things in advance without predetermining them. For example, if I announce to you. That in the basketball game tonight, Golden State versus Oklahoma City, that Golden State wins 109 to 98.

Well, now it's predetermined. If I have announced that based on factual information, it can't be changed.

So if you miss it, but you watch a video replay of it, it can't be changed. It is what it is. If that's the way world history is, that it's fixed before we get there, then um we really don't have free will and choices. But if God simply foreknows, because Isaiah 57, 15, he inhabits eternity and therefore he knows the beginning from the end, he knows the results of that game based on the choices of the players.

So, therefore, there can be foreknowledge with free will at the same time. The question is, how free our wills are. You know, that's a whole other question. But I've never gotten into the Molinism argument heavily, not that it's unworthy, but simply the idea of middle knowledge and other things, that's more philosophical. And it may be overly simplistic, but the way I look at it: if God inhabits eternity, He knows the end from the beginning, He can know that based on choices that we make.

As opposed to it all being predetermined and foreordained. Hey, Brett, gotta run, but thank you, sir. For the call, much appreciated. If we went on the subject too far, we'd get too far afield from thoroughly Jewish. Thursday, but thank you for the very Jewish question.

866-34 Truth. We go to Addison, Texas. Carl, welcome to the line of fire. Yes, thank you, Dr. Brown.

I appreciate you taking my call. You bet. Hi, um, my question, um, and I'll I'll make it as quick as I can because I really want to get your view of it. Um I was started attending a new church of our visiting. I'm not joining there, but um Two things that are kind of Other I mean, sweet spirit in the church, but two things kind of rub me, a little different is the.

He seems to, it's one of those churches where he almost believes that if you're not speaking in tongues, you're not saved. Not enough death. maybe a little bit away from the Jewish uh Format today, but the part that another part is that he felt like I guess, and you've probably heard this before, this with replacement theology, where it sounds like the church is. is now like God's chosen people and getting away from the traditional beliefs or you know Yeah, Israel and Yeah, Jewish Jews which which which is what you know I you know, of course I still believe and I've yeah tell you what let me do my best to answer just because I've got a a minute and a half before we're done. In my book, Sixty Questions, Christians ask about Jewish beliefs and practices.

60 questions Christians ask about Jewish beliefs and practices. I address this issue: Has the church replaced Israel in God's plan of salvation? If these brothers and sisters believe that God still has promises for national Israel. If they believe that God has restored the Jewish people to the land and that ultimately He has plans for the Jewish people as a nation, as a people. then they are not guilty of replacement theology.

They may use terminology that you like or don't like, but remember, many of the promises that come to Israel also come spiritually to the church as a whole. But the church as a whole is not promised, for example, life in the promised land or that that's your one slice of the earth. And obviously, the words, world's what, two billion professing Christians are not going to fit in there anyway. There are promises that were given specifically to Israel. Replacement theology says all the promises that were given to Israel now apply to the church.

They have been transferred. The church has replaced Israel in God's plan of salvation. If they hold to that, that really will rub you the wrong way, rightly so. And you might have to ask the leaders exactly where they stand on it. All right, got a run, but thank you for the call.

Be sure to go to the website, check out this week's special resource offer, and my bottom line today. Jewish scriptures, Jewish roots, Jewish Messiah, it makes perfect sense. Mm-hmm.