Prophecy is Being Fulfilled

Today I saw another interesting video from Zev Porat, the rabbi’s son who accepted Yeshua and ended up facing terrible abuse from rabbis and his own family. His grandfather responded to the news by throwing a dish at his head and lacerating his forehead, and a group of rabbis invaded a tent he was living in and spat on him and his wife.

Porat goes around Israel, speaking to Jewish people and Arabs. Some listen. He posts Youtube videos.

Yesterday he put up a video about a couple of yeshiva students. He ran into them by the Sea of Galilee. He showed them some Bible verses which challenged what they believed.

One of the big Jewish objections to Yeshua is the rabbinical stance that the Messiah can’t be God. They say he will just be a man. Today, Porat showed the students this:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

That’s Isaiah 9:6. Porat doesn’t teach from the New Testament, but often, Jews get angry at him when they hear Old Testament verses. They’re not familiar with the Bible, so they think they’re hearing the New Testament. He has to show them the Tanakh, in Hebrew, to prove he’s using the Bible they believe is true.

There is no translation issue. The word translated “God” is “el,” which is also means “God” in the rest of the Old Testament.

He showed them this verse and asked whom it referred to:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

That’s Micah 5:2. According to Porat, in Hebrew, it says the person described existed before the foundation of the world. The students agreed.

He asked the students whom it referred to, and one of them said it was David. He asked him if David existed before the foundation of the world, and of course, the student had to say no. So the student himself agreed that it was not David.

They asked him who this Messiah was, and Porat showed them Proverbs 30:4:

Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?

I’ve seen him use this verse before. It sometimes upsets people, because they already know the answer, but they’re afraid to say it. They’re terrified of persecution. They don’t want to lose their jobs, their families, and every other good thing they have.

Here in the US, no one has any excuse to be afraid to say the answer. Thank God for that.

They asked him where the Bible said Yeshua was the Messiah. There are many places, but he showed them this:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

The words translated as “salvation” are “yeshua” and a variant of the same word. “Yeshua” means “salvation.”

They agreed to communicate further, so there is some hope they will make it.

Jesus made it clear that if we were more afraid of people than we were of God, he would disown us. If we deny him in front of people, he will deny us before the Father. It’s a shame so many people are afraid to come out and say they believe. They may think they can make it as hypocrites, but they’re courting damnation. To be a Christian, you have to drink from the same cup as Jesus, and his cup was persecution and notoriety.

Psalm 56:22 says, “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.” It’s remarkable that we often fear men more than God. After all, he is God. If you’re afraid of men, you must not actually know God, regardless of how much you’ve studied.

The Revelation says cowards will burn in the lake of fire. It’s a serious thing.

Anyway, I enjoyed the video. I prayed for Porat’s success.

I have not prayed with “Rebecca” today. She is busy with classes. We are hoping to get together in a short time.

It’s frustrating, waiting for her to get her studies finished. We decided she should get through her first tests, in May, and then we can decide whether she should take the second round.

I feel like telling her to drop everything and come on over, but we want to be responsible. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing this paragraph. She reads this blog!

I hope to keep bringing better and better news about us and our relationship with God. Hope other people who have been following the story will be helped.

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One year after my friend and prayer partner Travis Quinn was shot, in an accident that eventually ended his life, our mutual friend Alonzo has been taken to the hospital with coronavirus and pneumonia. Please intercede for his recovery and his relationship with God, if you will.