SHEMA!
Tevet/Shevat 5772 January 2012
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MA CHADASH? WHAT’S NEW?
Report On The Thanksgiving Outreach
The
evangelism on Thanksgiving went very well.
Nine of us gave out 4,000 of the Thanksgiving
pamphlets. We met up with the Evangel
Ministries team (they had about six people)
and prayed together before going out along
the parade route. We also gave out 51
McDonald's gift cards to help feed the
hungry.
Chanukkah: Dedication Of The Temple
Join
us for Chanukkah on December 24 at 10:30
a.m. Following the service we will have
a party. Bring some food to share (but
nothing non-kosher). Make a batch of tasty
latkes (potato pancakes) and compete for
the Golden Latke Award! This year,
we light the first Chanukkah candle on
Tuesday evening, December 20. Feel free
to use our Messianic Jewish Candle
Lightening Ceremony For Chanukkah.
It can be found at www.shema.com/pdf/chanukkah.pdf
Jesus Made Me Kosher! Radio
Jesus
Made Me Kosher! is on WLQV, 1500 AM, Monday through Friday, from 3:30
to 4:00 p.m. It’s also streamed live at
www.faithtalk1500.com. Plus, the programs
are available for a week at faithtalk1500.com/ContentPages/1483/.
Click "Listen Now" next to "Jesus
Made Me Kosher". Cut and paste the
show you want.
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TODAH RABAH! THANKS VERY MUCH!
2011
has been a good year for Shema. It’s been
a year of growth. We started our Friday
night Shabbat dinners, which have helped
unite our growing community. We engaged
in street evangelism. We started the Jesus
Made me Kosher! radio show. The Lord
provided for all of our needs, and more!
We were able to give generously to others,
including helping the new Jews for Jesus
Moishe Rosen Center in Israel. And so,
at the end of this year, we thank El Shaddai,
the God who abundantly supplies, and we
thank His people, through whom He supplies!
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AS SURE AS HELL
PART 1
What do you say when someone asks you, "Do you mean
to tell me that if I don't accept your
religion, I am going to Hell?" Or,
"Are you telling me that if I don't
believe in a Jewish carpenter who died
2,000 years ago, I'm going to Hell?"
Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church
in Grand Rapids, recently published a
book contradicting the biblical teaching
on Hell. Several years ago Rich Nichol
and Jamie Cowen, representatives of the
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations
(UMJC), were asked by a reporter from
The Jerusalem Post whether Jewish
people who don't believe in Jesus were
going to Hell. In the article (Radoszkowicz,
Abigail. "Zaka Gets Donation from
Messianic Jews", Jerusalem Post,
July 3, 2003), Rabbi Nichol responded:
“Our primary identity is as Jews. We're
not evangelists”. He said that the UMJC
“...does not believe that Jews who have
not accepted Jesus are doomed to Hell”.
What a terrible answer! If the reporter
had asked me the same question, here's
how I would have answered it: “B'va-dai!
Of course”! Here's why:
Hell Is A Reality
Hell is a reality. The Son of God, who is the Supreme
Religious Authority, had much to say about
the reality of Hell. The divinely inspired
Word of God, which contains no errors,
informs us that Hell, like Heaven, is
a real place. Hell is a place of fire
(Matthew 5:22). It is described as a lake
that burns with fire and brimstone - burning
sulfur (Revelation 20:14, 21:8). It is
a place of destruction (Matthew 7:13).
Messiah told us not to fear those who
can kill the body (the First Death), but
rather to fear God who can destroy both
body and soul in Hell. It is described
as the Second Death - the First Death
being physical death in this world, and
the Second Death (Revelation 21:14) being
the final separation from God that takes
place after the Day of Judgment. There
is no escape or appeal process for anyone
who is sent to Hell.
The Purpose For Hell
One of the names for Hell, Gehenna, gives us a
fascinating insight into its purpose.
“Gehenna” comes from "the Valley
of Hinnom". It was a deep, narrow
ravine to the south of Jerusalem where
those Jewish people who had became idolatrous
during the days of the kings burned their
children alive as sacrifices to Molech
(2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:33).
This valley later became the garbage dump
for the city. The garbage was dumped there
and burned. Over time it became the symbol
of the final destiny of the wicked - a
place connected to false religion, of
things that are no longer useful, only
fit to be thrown away, burned and destroyed.
Hell will serve as the ultimate destiny of the Devil
and his angels (Matthew 25:41), along
with all human beings who have joined
them in their rebellion against the Three-In-One
God. God is infinitely holy. He is completely
separate from all sin. He will not allow
the rebellious, the wicked, the ungodly
into His presence and into the New Heavens,
New Earth and New Jerusalem, where only
righteousness will exist. The unrighteous
and the unrepentant must forever be removed
from the presence of the righteous God,
righteous angels and the souls of human
beings that have been made righteous.
That’s Hell's purpose.
The Whole World Is Going To Hell
We need to realize that the whole world is going to Hell
and here's why: In the beginning, our
first parents rebelled against the Creator.
After being warned by the Living God not
to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil, they instead trusted
the Father of Lies. When Adam and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit, they joined the
rebellion of the Enemy and the fallen
angels. This one rebellious act enabled
Satan, sin and death to take control of
humanity; and Satan became “the god of
this world” (1 John 5:19).
Adam and Eve’s rebellion affected every aspect of their
nature. Their body, their soul, their
will, their mind, their spirit became
corrupted. Their orientation toward God,
who is the Source of Life, changed for
the worse. Instead of coming closer to
God when they heard him walking in the
Garden in the cool of the day, Adam and
Eve ran away from Him. Adam and Eve were
prevented from eating from the Tree of
Life by being exiled from the Garden of
Eden. They were headed toward physical
death - the First Death - followed by
the Second Death - Gehenna, the Lake of
Fire, Hell. That corruption of nature
was passed on to all of their descendants
like a deadly virus.
Here is the human condition according to King David:
The Lord has looked down from Heaven
(thoroughly searching with His all-seeing
eyes) on the sons of men to see if
there are any who understand (they
don't understand enough), who seek
after God (they don't seek Him sufficiently).
They have all turned aside (and
missed God and salvation). Together
they have become corrupt. There is no
one who does good, not even one.
Human beings are "sons of disobedience" - rebellious
children. Because of our fallen nature,
we are inherently predisposed towards
disobedience to God. It’s our “default
setting”. We naturally follow this sinful
world's corrupt ways, indulging the lusts
of the flesh and the lusts of the mind
- physical sins and mental sins - and
are by nature children of wrath, deserving
of the righteous wrath and punishment
of an infinitely holy God. Humans are
mere flesh - not spirit. We are of this
world - not of the next world. We are
perishable - not imperishable. The entire
world of human beings is perishing and
headed for destruction like a rotten piece
of fruit (John 3:16). Rabbi Paul made
it clear that the people of the nations
of the world are excluded from the commonwealth
of Israel. They are strangers to the covenants
that contain the promises of salvation
and reconciliation. They have no hope
and are without God.
What is true of the nations is also true for the Chosen
People. We are lost and headed for Hell.
Non-Messianic Jews are without Temple,
without sacrifices, basing our religion
on a broken covenant that cannot save.
The Son of God said to Jewish people that
since He had now come into the world,
He was the Way - which means that there
is no way to get to the Father other than
by transferring our loyalties to Yeshua.
Messiah, who cannot lie, said that He
is the Truth - which means that no other
worldview is capable of saving us. The
Son of God, who is never wrong, said that
He is the Life - which means that apart
from being connected to Him, people will
be destroyed in Hell (John 14:6).
Yeshua said to a group of Jewish leaders (men who believed
in God, knew the Torah, went to the Temple
and offered sacrifices): Unless you
believe that I am He, you will die in
your sins (John 8:24). Simon Peter
stood before the Sanhedrin and declared
to the leading priests, scholars and rabbis
that Yeshua is the only source of salvation
(Acts 4:12). It doesn't get much clearer
than that!
Rabbi Paul made it crystal clear that if during our earthly
life we personally confess with our mouth
that Yeshua is Lord and believe in our
heart that God raised Him from the dead,
we will be saved. But the inverse is
equally clear: If during our lives on
Earth we don't confess with our mouth
and believe in our heart, we will be lost!
The Rabbi from Tarsus had great sorrow
and unceasing grief in his heart because
he knew that his Jewish people who didn't
believe in Messiah were going to Hell.
Now that the Son of God has come, believing in the Father
but not the Son is not enough! We must
be loyal to the Father and the Son. The
Father spoke from Heaven declaring that
Yeshua is His beloved Son in whom He is
very pleased. God declared Yeshua to be
the Messiah by raising Him from the dead!
Dare you contradict God? Who is the
liar, but the one who denies that Yeshua
is the Messiah? This is the antichrist,
the one who denies the Father and the
Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have
the Father; the one who confesses the
Son has the Father also (1 John 2:22-23).
And if, apart from loyalty to the Messiah, the Chosen
people are lost, where does that leave
Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, New-Agers,
Secular-Humanists, agnostics and atheists?
Embracing these religions, philosophies
and worldviews will keep you on your way
to Hell. Rabbi Paul made it clear that
Jews and Gentiles are equally lost and
must come to God on the same terms - His
terms.
We Can't Save Ourselves From Hell
Not only are human beings corrupted in nature, alienated
from God, under the authority of Satan,
without hope and headed to Hell, but we
are completely incapable of changing this
situation on our own. We need to be born
again, but we are incapable of replacing
our fallen nature with a new, godly, divine
nature. We are in a state of spiritual
death, dead in our trespasses and sins.
And dead people are incapable of giving
themselves life! Dead-in-our- trespasses-and-sins
human beings can never be good enough,
righteous enough or religious enough to
reconcile ourselves to God, transform
our nature and avoid the Lake of Fire.
To be continued ...
Shalom!
Rabbi Loren
SHEMA! (Hear!)
is the newsletter of
Congregation Shema Yisrael
P.O. Box 804
Southfield MI 48037
Phone: 248-593-5150
Email: Shema777@aol.com
Website: www.shema.com
Services: Saturday 10:30 a.m.
At Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church
3600 Telegraph Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302
Jesus Made Me Kosher! is
broadcast
Monday through Fridays at 3:30 p.m.
on WLQV, 1500 AM
and streamed live over the Internet
