Mary Isn’t Alone

I watch Youtube for religious purposes, and Youtube’s algorithms keep recommending videos it thinks a person with my interest in God would like. I see a lot of recommendations for videos from One for Israel, a Messianic Jewish organization. A lot of them feature debate intended to debunk the anti-missionary arguments of mainstream Jews.

I am leery of getting drawn into the debate-centered approach to Christianity. Generally, it’s boring and carnal, and it’s a heavy-duty time suck. Still, I do end up watching some of One for Israel’s material. Their videos are generally fast-paced, and many of them are testimonies, not debate.

Their videos are real eye-openers. They are produced by Jews, and they are aimed at Jews. This means they provide a Jewish perspective on Christianity and Judaism, and they reveal a lot of things Gentiles generally are not aware of.

Yesterday I saw a remarkable video about mainstream Orthodox Jews who pray to dead people. I thought this was a Catholic/Anglican/Orthodox thing, but it looks like many Jews do it, too.

Long ago, there was a respected Jewish sage named Bar Yochai. I know practically nothing about him. I do know he’s dead. He was a kabbalist, which means he studied bizarre Jewish mysticism. Like Madonna, only presumably with smarter teachers. Religious Jews go his tomb, set fires, dance, and pray to him for help.

This is remarkable. Remember what happened to Saul for communicating with the dead? It wasn’t good. Communicating with the dead is a sin according to the books of Moses. The Bible says people who do it are detestable to God.

You can go to a website and pay Jews to take your prayers to Bar Yochai’s tomb. Look it up. No joke.

The notion of asking dead people for help is disturbing to me. These people are lobbyists. Like the lobbyists in politics, they supposedly have superior connections to an individual in power, and they use their influence on behalf of others. Can you imagine anyone thinking heaven has lobbyists?

If you’re Catholic, you probably can. I should not have asked the question.

I remember a testimony from a person who said he visited hell. He said he could hear all the thoughts and feelings of the spirits around him, even though they were countless. I think he was telling the truth, and I think God can hear like that, too. I don’t think God is only capable of listening to one person at a time. I believe he can hear you just fine without an attorney to come before him on your behalf.

The Bible confirms this. It says God is near to all who call on him.

I have dead ancestors in heaven. Do I really need to prompt them? If they have any ability to influence God on my behalf, aren’t they doing it already? Unlike me, they are now perfect beings with perfect hearts. It’s a little presumptuous of me to assume they aren’t helping me in every way they can.

If I were in heaven, and I had a son or daughter who needed help on earth, and I were permitted to talk to God about it, I would do so without being asked. Common sense, right?

Here’s something interesting about this. Jesus told the common people of his time that the religious leaders were whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones. Now, in at least one case, his words are literally true!

There are Jews who worship a rabbi who died recently. His name is Menachem Schneerson, and he was the leader of a sect called the Lubavitchers. They thought he might qualify to be the messiah. Then he died without changing the world. This was a big blow, because one of the talking points they use against missionaries is the assertion that the messiah can’t die before accomplishing his mission. They say that if Jesus were the messiah, he would have brought peace on earth while he lived.

Schneerson died almost 24 years ago, and some of his followers won’t let him go. They call him “messiah” and pray to his dead body. It has caused a schism among the Orthodox.

Orthodox Jews say the messiah won’t be divine, so it’s weird that any would pray to this man.

Jesus died, but he’s quite a bit different. He’s not your typical dead person. He wasn’t buried (after the resurrection). He manifests himself to people all the time. He visited me twice. He showed himself to dozens of people before he ascended. Praying to Jesus is fine.

Interesting stuff.

I saw another neat video. In it, One for Israel addresses a common criticism of Christianity. People ask why prominent rabbis, whom they respect, haven’t accepted Jesus. Answer: they have. But once they accept him, they cease to be respected rabbis, and according to the current regime, they cease to be Jews at all.

This reminds me of the propaganda gays put out. Clergymen who rape boys aren’t homosexuals! They’re “ephebophiles” (who commit homosexual rape). Prison rapists and other men who have perverted sex supposedly aren’t homosexuals, either. Bad people can’t be homosexuals, apparently. People who think Jesus is divine can’t be Jews. They are transformed into Gentiles, instantly.

Here’s an example. Daniel Zion was a respected rabbi in Bulgaria. He persuaded the king not to give Bulgaria’s Jews to Hitler, so they were not exterminated. That makes him a hero of Judaism, but it’s also awkward, because he believed in Jesus. As a believer, he can’t be a rabbi or a Jew.

Why don’t more people know about him? In 1949, rabbis in Israel declared him insane. The reason? He believed in Jesus and still wanted to be a rabbi.

That’s some catch, that catch-22! He got the bum’s rush when he converted. You can’t be a major rabbi who believes in Jesus, because a major rabbi who believes in Jesus is insane, and insane people have to be removed from their positions.

The Soviet Union used to use this tactic on dissidents. They put them in mental asylums. They had a point. In the USSR, you had to be nuts to take on the government.

That was humor. It’s an old joke. They were not crazy.

The video provides a list of other rabbis who believed. Such people have their careers terminated, and they lose their influence. How can anyone complain about the absence of knowledgeable Messianic rabbis when it is literally impossible for a Messianic to remain a rabbi?

I find the whole thing fascinating, because it lines up with my new understanding of the way supernatural beings work to erase their enemies on earth. It’s not enough to punch someone in the face, take away his wealth, give him a disease, or put him in prison. You have to destroy his reputation, and, if possible, arrange it so future generations have no idea who he is.

Of Jesus, Maimonides used to say, “May his bones be ground to dust.” The bones of the dead proved the dead had existed. They were preserved. Jews were not permitted to destroy them. Many religious Jews have called Jesus “Yeshu,” which means, “May his name and memory be blotted out forever.”

Like Elijah, Jesus still has his bones. He ascended. It would be hard to grind them at this stage.

Satan concealed the evidence of the millions of Jews who followed Moses in the desert. He tried to get rid of the bones of all Jews during the Holocaust. He goes after the reputations and memories of Jews who accept Jesus. He gets Christians fired from positions of power.

You should watch the testimonies of Jews who convert. Their families don’t just disagree with them. They say they’re dead. Often they pretend they don’t exist.

This is the future of Christians in America. We’re headed the same way. We deny Jesus all the time, and we punish his people. We deny him every time we support homosexuality in order to get along with people or protect our wealth.

Debating about this stuff is not very productive. Either God opens your eyes, or he doesn’t. If your eyes and ears are closed, all the proof in the world won’t matter. Pharaoh rejected God even after the many miracles of Moses and the ten plagues. I do not debate with people. But I do try to speak the truth even if it bothers them. The fact that you are offended by what I say does not mean I’ve done anything wrong.

A friend of mine told me God showed her that she wasn’t supposed to concern herself about how people dealt with the things he told her to say to them. That’s their problem. God’s children just deliver the mail. What you do with it once we give it to you is 100% on you.

I don’t know if One for Israel is accomplishing anything with its somewhat argumentative videos, but the information is important.