Artistic impression of the banners of the twelfe tribes of Yisrael
(Artist: Jenny Bredenkamp SA)
What I have to say is not the official position of any organization or group of people. This message comes from my heart and I realize that it may anger some. I trust however that you will at least reserve judgement until you have heard and considered what I have to say.Let me attempt to explain where I am coming from. First of all I don’t have the privilege of being a Jew. I prefer to speak of the Jews as the “Yahudim” from the tribe of “Yahudah” or Judah; they know where they have come from and the chosen destiny they have been given by the Creator of heaven and earth.
Do you know that the only difference between the spelling of your name and HaShem’s name is the
addition of a “daleth” HaShem is spelled “yud, hey, vav, hey” Yahudah is spelled “yud, hey, vav, daleth, hey’ This is because your destiny is to be like a door (Hebrew letter “daleth”) inviting the nations back to HaShem.
Many years ago I experienced a “spiritual awakening” in my life and found myself strangely drawn to “Jewish things” I travelled to Israel and worked as a shepherd on a kibbutz for almost a year. Every Sunday I went up to Jerusalem and prayed on the Temple Mount. I experienced an unexplainable attraction to the land and to the people. I returned to South Africa and prepared myself for the “ministry” yet I could not escape a deep emptiness and longing in my life to return to the land. Many years later I began a journey of return through the discovery of the Hebraic roots of my faith.
I do not like to call myself a “Christian” because much of what is called “Christian” is totally contrary to the will and purpose of the Elohim of Yisrael, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov. Yet I have been powerfully drawn to a Jewish Rabbi called “Yahshua” who I believe came as HaShem’s anointed messenger 2000 years ago, who I have since learned, came for the lost sheep of the house of Yisrael. I have also learned that the part of Scripture we incorrectly called the “New Testament” is thoroughly Jewish and was not written primarily to a gentile audience but written largely to the dispersed children of Israel.
Mat 10:5 יהושע (Yashua) sent these twelve out, having commanded them, saying, “Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Shomeronites,
Mat 10:6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Yisra’ĕl.
Mat 10:7 “And as you go, proclaim, saying, ‘The reign of the heavens has drawn near.’
Mat 10:8 “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received without paying, give without being paid.
This is what you would expect the Messiah to say. He came to call back his own and all those who desired to be part of these set apart people and to live a life of obedience to the Torah of HaShem. The Messiah would not and did not come to start a new religion called Christianity, Constantine and the church fathers must take responsibility for this.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once gentiles1 in the flesh, who are called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called ‘the circumcision’ made in the flesh by hands, Footnote: 11 Cor. 12:2.
Eph 2:12 that at that time you were without Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Yisra’ĕl and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no expectation and without Elohim in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Messiah יהושע you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.
In other words the gentiles were never part of plan “B” we too were always part of plan “A” as the wild Olive branches grafted into the nation and faith of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yakov (Rom11). I believe the “gentiles” (the mixed multitude who were willing to leave behind their Pagan ways to follow the Elohim of Israel) were included in the covenant on Mount Sinai given to Moshe and as such were also obliged to obey the commandments of Torah.
I believe it is possible that many Gentiles are connected to one of the so called lost tribes of Yisrael. I say “lost” however HaShem doesn’t lose anything. Genesis 48:19 speaks of a multitude of nations that will come form Ephrayim, yet we still cannot say for sure where we come from. I have learned when a people forsake Torah they eventually lose all sense of who they are and where they belong.
To my great shame I recognize that I have come from a people who have hated and killed Jews; have perfected the art of idolatry, as well as having an obsession with pagan festivals such as Christmas and Easter, who have gorged themselves with the flesh of pigs and other forbidden things.
I yearn for “tikkun” (restoration) and to return to the land of Yisrael and the re-gathering of the twelve tribes; the rebuilding of the temple; the return of the temple service, where the Messiah will teach the nations the Torah from Mount Tzion in Yerushalayim.
Yeshayahu/Isa 2:2 And it shall be in the latter days that the mountain of the House of יהוה is established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. And all nations shall flow to it.
Isa 2:3 And many peoples shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of יהוה, to the House of the Elohim of Ya’aqoḇ, and let Him teach1 us His ways1, and let us walk in His paths1, for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah1, and the Word1 of יהוה from Yerushalayim.” Footnote: 1 His ways, His paths, the teaching and the Word of יהוה are used synonymously.
Yirmeyahu/Jer 50:4 “In those days and at that time,” declares יהוה, “the children of Yisra’ĕl shall come, they and the children of Yehuḏah together, weeping as they come, and seek יהוה their Elohim.
Jer 50:5 “They shall ask the way to Tsiyon, their faces toward it, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to יהוה, in an everlasting covenant, never to be forgotten.’
Jer 50:6 “My people have been wandering1 sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. Footnote: 1Or lost, or straying, or perishing.
Jer 50:7 “All who found them have devoured them. And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty, because they have sinned against יהוה, the Home of righteousness, and the Expectation of their fathers: יהוה.’
Jer 50:8 “Flee from the midst of Baḇel, come out1 of the land of the Chaldeans. And be as rams before a flock. Footnote: 1Rev. 18:4
I never cease to be utterly amazed that HaShem has also chosen people like me from among the nations and given to us His Torah.
Now I understand better than ever that it was that Jewish Rabbi Yahshua who came as the Torah in the flesh to seek and save the lost.
So what then is the advantage of being a Jew? A well- known and misunderstood Jewish sage called “Shaul” answered this question as follows:
Romans 3:1 What then is the advantage of the Yehuḏite, or what is the value of the circumcision?
Rom 3:2 Much in every way! Because firstly indeed, that they were entrusted with the Words of Elohim.
How many Yahudim today take this gift seriously and are walking in the ancient paths of our fathers?
How many Yahudim today see the Torah as their exclusive possession and are not willing to share its beauty with the nations?
Jer 6:16 Thus said יהוה, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and find rest for yourselves. But they said, ‘We do not walk in it.’
Jer 6:17 “And I raised up watchmen over you, and said, ‘Listen to the sound of the ram’s horn!’ But they said, ‘We do not listen.’
Jer 6:18 “Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is upon them!
Jer 6:19 “Hear, O earth! See, I am bringing evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to My words, nor My Torah – and they rejected it.
As a non-Jew seeking to observe the Torah I find it distressing to observe how many Yahudim disregard the Torah of HaShem.
In His great mercy HaShem has caused many Yahudim to return to the land because He has destined the Yahudim to be a light unto the nations, yet in Israel we find we find a very high abortion rate. Some have quoted the abortion rate to be as high as 50% of unborn children. Who could ever have imagined a “gay parade” in Yerushalayim? What about the pig farms and the pork “lavan steak” you can freely purchase in the supermarkets in Yisrael?
What about the “sinat chinam” hatred without a cause that prevails in the hearts of some religious Yahudim, the same hatred which caused the destruction of the second temple. This same baseless hatred I saw in the eyes of a young Jewish security guard who threw me and my brothers out of the local synagogue, even though we were regular visitors welcomed by the Rabbi to come and “daven” and listen to the teaching of Moshe. This same fate is shared by many Yahudim in Israel who have come to the knowledge of Yahshua who have understood the Talmudic teaching that Moshiach came first as the “Ben Yosef” the suffering servant and will return as “Ben Dawid” the conquering Messianic king.
The same Moshiach that wept for you many years ago continues to weep for you and intercedes before the Father for you.
Mat 23:37 “Yerushalayim, Yerushalayim, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her! How often I wished to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not!
Mat 23:38 “See! Your house is left to you laid waste,
Mat 23:39 for I say to you, from now on you shall by no means see Me, until you say, ‘Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of יהוה!’ ”1 Footnote:1See Ps. 118:26.
I beg you to return to His ways. I pray your eyes will be opened to recognize your Messiah.
Your Messiah loves you so much he will not even bring an accusation against you before his Father.
Yochanan/Joh 5:45 “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Mosheh, in whom you have set your expectation.
Yoch/Joh 5:46 “For if you believed Mosheh, you would have believed Me, since he wrote about Me.
Yoch/Joh 5:47 “But if you do not believe his writings,1 how shall you believe My words?” Footnote: 1 Lk. 9:33, Lk. 16:31, Mal. 4:4-5.
May the day soon come when you will weep for the one who was pierced for our transgressions!
Zec 12:10 “And I shall pour on the house of Dawiḏ and on the inhabitants of Yerushalayim a spirit of favour and prayers. And they shall look on Me whom they pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son. And they shall be in bitterness over Him as a bitterness over the first-born.
Who am I? I am just another voice crying out in the wilderness of a “Torahless” humanity.
Yeshayahu/Isa 40:1 “Comfort, comfort My people!” says your Elohim.
Isa 40:2 “Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim, and cry out to her, that her hard service is completed, that her crookedness is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of יהוה double for all her sins.”
Isa 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of יהוה; make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim.
May HaShem bless you and safeguard you. May HaShem illuminate His Face upon you and cause exceeding favour to abound towards you. May HaShem turn His Face towards you and establish His shalom upon you and your children forever and ever – Amein.