HAVE YOU EVER BEEN OSTRACIZED FOR YOUR FAITH?

 

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN OSTRACIZED FOR YOUR FAITH?

I have – many times.  For instance, I have a half-brother in Germany with whom I had lost contact in 2006, because his wife hated Israel, the Jews, and my Messianic lifestyle. 

I called my brother in 2020 to offer my condolences when I heard she had died, and one of the first things he said to me was, “Do you still adhere to that weird religion?” His response - when I told him that I am still now, and always will be Messianic - was a few seconds of silence followed by a sarcastic snort…

Needless to say, the rest of the conversation was very chilly, and I haven’t heard from him since.

People simply don’t get that Torah observance is not a “religion” – rather the lifestyle God commanded for His set-apart people … a beautiful lifestyle that is amply outlined in the Torah (first five Books); yet ignored, discounted, and even shunned by those who choose to adhere to only the last fourth of the Bible called “The Gospels” which they insist relieves them from any responsibilities to actually LIVE the holy lifestyle that YHWH Himself decreed in the beginning of the Bible… 

People simply don’t get that both the “natural” and the “grafted-in” children are provided every opportunity to CHOOSE to obey His Divine Instructions (i.e., keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath Rest, and the seven yearly festivals). 

 They don’t get that we eat “clean meats” and keep His festivals, not only because He commanded them to be kept; but because they each have historical and prophetic significance, AND they ALL foreshadow Yeshua!  They don’t get that YAHWEH’S weekly and yearly Sabbaths provide us with a deep, ongoing personal relationship, and perpetual connection to Him and His Divine Messiah. They simply don’t get it…

That is why we are constantly ostracized and bombarded with comments such as, “That old stuff doesn’t pertain to us, it’s only meant for the Jews!”; “You have put yourself back under the law, making grace unavailable to you!”; and, “You are guilty of trying to earn your salvation through works!”

Oh, if only people would READ and STUDY Scripture to see what is actually written…

Yeshua himself said the following, which reveals that he knew that belief in YHWH/Yeshua/Torah would cause division:

Luke 12: 51. Do you think that I have come to place tranquility on earth.  I say to you, No, rather division  52. from now on:  For there will be five in a certain house that will be divided three against two, and two against three.  53. For a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter, and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. [See Micah 7:6]  (AENT)