Everyone in the Hebrew Roots, Messianic Jewish, and Christian Zionist movements loves to hate Replacement Theology, and rightfully so. This false teaching that the Gentile followers of Christ have "replaced" the Jewish People in God's redemptive plans and purposes for the Human Race and that all the promises to the Jewish People that are found throughout both the Old and New Testament are now imputed to "the Church" is indeed flatly repudiated by Scripture.  The best and perhaps most explicit example of this repudiation is found in Romans 9-11, and everyone involved in any of the moveme ..read more

The subject of embassies has been in the news a lot lately following an Israeli air strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus which killed a bunch of senior Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps generals and some of their terrorist lackeys. The meeting that was going on in this "diplomatic" building was surely military in nature, and meant to advance plans for terrorist attacks against Israelis, but the fact that it was technically part of Iran's diplomatic mission in Damascus led some of the usual suspects to accuse Israel of violating the norms of international ..read more

This week, Christian apologist Mike Winger published a meticulously detailed documentary (4+ hours long!) of televangelist Benny Hinn's fake healings, false prophecies, faux repentance. It is difficult to watch. Failed Prophecies In it, Winger shows Benny Hinn's own videos of his failed prophecies. Winger begins documenting these at 46:28 in the video. In one instance from early 2020, Hinn prophesied in the name of God that COVID will kill no more than 5,000 people. A month later, after 10,000 had died of COVID, Hinn prophesied COVID would disappear by Easter 2020. In reality, COVID is still ..read more

When I was younger, I berated other Christians for celebrating Easter. I had heard the English word "Easter" comes from the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. And what do bunnies and eggs have to do with the Jewish Messiah anyways? Besides, the Gospels record Messiah and the 12 disciples celebrating the Biblical Passover. His resurrection occurred right after Passover, on the Biblical holy day First Fruits.  (You can probably find old posts on this very blog of me saying stuff like that!) Well, I've grown a bit since then and changed my mind about Easter. It's a good and holy thing that God ..read more

Painting of the animals entering the Ark by Bassano (Wikimedia Commons) I have to start this blog with a disclaimer. The thoughts I express here aren't very original. Almost everything I have to say about this subject has been said by others before me. But I feel the need to write this blog to draw attention to this subject because it's becoming very urgent, in my assessment. Also, there have been some recent developments which I think shed some fresh light on it, so with that in mind, here goes. The 24th chapter of Matthew's Gospel is dedicated to the answers Jesus gives His disciples to th ..read more

  World population map (Wikimedia commons) A few days ago we had municipal elections here in Israel. If you're reading this blog, I would imagine you're aware of the fact that there was a heartbreakingly low turnout for these elections. There was, however, a massive number of Israelis who took advantage of the fact that election days are paid days off from work (and school) by flocking to the malls and other leisure venues for a day of shopping and fun. In other words, they didn't stay home, they just didn't go to the polls. Turnout for municipal elections is usually lower than for n ..read more

  IDF troops on the move (IDF Spokesperson's Office) When I was in college, I was at the mall one day and I saw a man wearing a T-shirt that said "Life's tough, get a helmet!" I'm not sure what point the man who was wearing that T-shirt was trying to make, but this bit of wisdom always stuck with me. It's taken on added urgency in the last few days as the government issued a formal statement to the general public that, in light of the escalating violence on the northern border, there is a need to prepare for the very real possibility of catastrophic damage to civilian infrastructure a ..read more

Shortly following the October 7th depraved attacks on Israel, a longtime friend and former co-worker, a Christian man, sent me this question: Judah, what is your perspective on the difference between Zionism and Biblical Judaism?  I responded, Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people should return to Israel. The Bible certainly aligns with that: the Law prescribes many commandments that can only be kept in Israel. The Psalms talk about Israel as the place where God set his name forever. The prophets talk about God regathering the Jewish people into Israel. Zechariah speaks of a futur ..read more

Psalm 88 is the hopeless despair psalm.  Unlike other psalms, there is no redemption or hope in its conclusion.  Christian scholar H.C. Leupold said of it, "The psalmist is as deeply in trouble when he has concluded his prayer as he was when he began it." Psalm 88 opens with the psalmist pleading with God to listen because he's nearing death (verses 1-6).  He proceeds (verses 7-9) to accuse God as the source of his grief. He tells God (verses 10-13) that he's no use to God if he's dead. In verses 13-15, the psalmist demands to know why God has spurned, rejected, and poured out ..read more

As I'm sitting here writing this, the hours are ticking away before the last day of the Gregorian year 2023. Candidly, I won't be sorry to see this year end. It's been rough for Israel and for me personally, for all kinds of reasons. That having been said, I have no particular reason to think that 2024 will be any better. In fact, there are excellent reasons to think it'll just get worse for Israel and possibly also myself. Although I don't have much direct control over what kind of national experience Israel will have in 2024, there might be some things I can do, or not do, that will provid ..read more