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Thank you for writing to The Refiner's Fire! Let's get right to your comments:
You said: Here’s a challenge for you… find, even once, that the Jews are YHWH’S chosen people. And then you went on to say God's Chosen are "always Israel" which ultimately means that "the church" is part of Israel.....
Well, while believers in Christ are indeed part of Israel simply because they are "one in Messiah", your suggestion that the Jews have been replaced as God's "chosen" is nothing short of replacement theology. First of all, "Jews" are any offspring of Isaac - with whom God made His Covenant. In common speech, the word "Jew" is used to refer to all of the physical and spiritual descendants of Jacob/Israel, as well as to the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and their wives, and the word "Judaism" is used to refer to their beliefs.
Secondly, your statements are untrue, because God made His initial covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17 with Abram/Abraham - who was Torah observant. (We know Torah was present in the patriarchs because they offered blood sacrifices - as we can see all the way back to Adam and Eve whose sin was covered when God Himself killed an animal whose skin covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve):
Genesis 17: 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Gentiles who attached themselves to the Israelites and worshipped the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were commanded to do exactly as the Hebrews did - and this surely included circumcisions:
Numbers 15: 13 "'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"
Is every male who attends "church" today circumcised? Is "the church" Torah-observant? Do they keep the seventh-day Sabbath or the Biblical feasts? Last time we checked only the Jews and those who are "grafted in" to the Olive Tree do those things. Basically, "the church" of today doesn't even adhere to the Ten Commandments, let alone any parts of the Torah!
Who did Moshe (Moses) bring out of Egypt? The Torah-observant, Sabbath and feast keeping Israelites who received the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 and the "foreigners" who had attached themselves to the Israelites. But, in no way, did these "foreigners" replace the Jews as God's "chosen".
Deuteronomy 7: 6 For you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. 7 ADONAI didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt.
When was the last time you observed anyone in "the church" adhering to the Deuteronomy 6 decrees and commands? Do you even know of anyone in church who knows the Shema? So, how can the Sunday/Christmas/Easter church that is filled with paganism and only adheres to HALF the Bible, be part of Israel?
Deuteronomy 6: 1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
I believe you'll find the answer to all your questions and comments in this article, The Ephraimite Error which says, in part:
In the Hebrew Bible and the Apostolic Writings, while the word goy (English: people, nation; Greek: ethnos) may refer to a Gentile nation, it may, just as easily, refer to the nation of Israel. The term is used to refer to Israel or the Jewish people in Exod 19:6; Deut 32:28, cf. 32:45; Josh 10:12-13; Isa 1:4; Isa 26:2; Jer 31:36; Zeph 2:9.4. Note especially Jer 31:36: "'If this fixed order departs from before me,' declares the LORD, 'Then the offspring [lit. "seed"] of Israel also shall cease from being a nation (goy) before me forever.'" In the Greek Apostolic Writings, the word ethnos refers to the Jewish people in Luk 7:5; 23:2; John 11:48-52; 18:35; Acts 10:22; 24:2,10,17; 26:4; 28:19; 1 Cor 10:18; Phil 3:5. The first contention, then, that goy or goyim is always translated as Gentile or Gentiles is patently incorrect.
Many Christians and Christian Identity types argue that all the blessings promised to Abraham's and Joseph's physical heirs are in fact blessings promised to Gentiles. But because the premise is wrong (that goy always means Gentile), the conclusion is also wrong.
I hope this answers your questions/comments. Thanks again for writing.
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