The Refiner's Fire constantly gets bombarded with hate mail that ranges from traditional Jews who accuse us of leading "unsuspecting Jews astray"; to Gentiles who accuse us of being "under the law"; and White Supremacists who make no secret about wishing us dead. (The article below, was written by one of The Refiner's Fire's teachers, Carmen.)

Often, my initial response to those types of e-mails tends to be fairly "carnal". But usually, before I click "send", I take a deep breath and ask myself, "Is this how Yeshua would respond?" The answer is usually a resounding "NO!" Why? Because if I respond in kind, then I am no better than the people who wrote those nasty letters to me.

This is the difference between me - a spirit-filled, born-again believer in Yeshua - and those "religious" types who might know ABOUT God and the Bible, yet don't have the Holy Spirit in their hearts.

Many reading this will raise their eyebrows and groan because that sounds like so much Christian "mumbo-jumbo" - but people who are truly "saved" know exactly what I'm talking about!

So what does it mean to "be saved"?

Having the Holy Spirit living "in your heart" is a tangible thing; a life-changing thing that completely changes a person from the inside out. Once you've been "saved", you're never the same again. It isn't just "knowing about God and the Bible"; it's FEELING Him in control of your entire life and your very soul. It's being guided by God every waking and sleeping second of your life. Being "saved" is having a two-way PERSONAL relationship with Him.

What do I mean by this? Well, here's an example. Before I met Yeshua, I was extremely "carnal". I was the queen of dirty jokes during my 22 years in the Army, drinking, cussing, carousing, doing whatever I wanted, however I wanted, and whenever I wanted. I didn't necessarily LIKE myself that way, but I always felt I was just being "real". (My foster grandmother in Germany had held me on her lap once when I was about four or five, and told me about God, but I was not raised to be "religious", and God was really never a part of my life until I "got saved" - and turned "inside-out"! - in 1995.)

While stationed in Germany in the mid- to late-eighties, my best friend was a former Christian woman who had converted to Judaism after she married an Orthodox Jew 20 years before. She constantly sang the praises of Judaism and knocked herself out to get me into synagogue so I could learn more about my own Jewish roots. While that was somewhat intriguing, I was secretly turned off by the fact that this woman didn't act any different from me. She was just as "carnal" as I was (she even had an extra-marital affair during the time I knew her)! I didn't really want to waste my time doing religious Jewish "stuff" if I was going to remain the same on the inside. If nothing was going to change for me in some "godly way", why bother?

On the other hand, Christians - who I always thought were mostly hypocrites - DID show some signs of being "different" - but I didn't really know WHAT made them different. I just knew that SOME Christians really seemed to be "into" God and the Bible. These few didn't cuss or act carnal or "bad" in any way; and they seemed to emanate "something". (Truth be told, it was precisely those Bible-thumping, "born-again" types who could get my blood pressure up the quickest, and I always wanted to pound the crud out of them because, in all honesty, they made me feel guilty about my sinful lifestyle - which I really didn't want to give up!) But still, something drew me to them and I felt a little jealous about whatever it was they had that I didn't. It was a cleanness and an inner peace that simultaneously turned me off yet also tweaked my curiosity.

The day I was "zapped" by the Holy Spirit in mid-January 1995, I suddenly KNEW what it was I had detected in those few born-again Christians! It was a holy, clean, strange, and wonderful feeling that made me WANT to be a better person immediately! I realized that, just because somebody calls himself a Christian (or an Orthodox Jew), it does not automatically mean he is "saved". It simply means he knows ABOUT God and the Bible. Anybody can learn ABOUT Him, but not everybody seems to GET Him. The "getting Him" happens when you push aside your human intellect and mindset, and allow God to work in you - and when your mind and your heart FINALLY connect, THAT is when you are "saved"! (Matthew 18:2-4 says we must be like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. Just as little children trust and love their parents unconditionally and without question, THAT is how we need to depend on God! It's called "faith".) The second you give your heart and soul to God and ask Him to do His will in you, you can almost feel the "rush". It's a feeling that can knock you off your feet because you can literally SENSE being "inhabited" by the Holy Spirit as that "veil" is lifted from your "spiritual eyes" and, for the first time, you can actually SEE what you've been missing. I would NEVER have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself!

Being "saved" is not just blindly following an emotion. It is a REAL and tangible thing. I wouldn't trade my belief in Yeshua for ANYTHING in the entire universe. I love the Torah, and I keep it to the best of my ability, but Torah isn't what gets you into heaven. Belief in the shed blood of our Savior is. Yeshua was foreshadowed throughout the entire Tanach; He is God's New Covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Orthodox attacks

In order to belittle the efforts of The Refiner's Fire (and to try to intimidate me into feeling inadequate), many Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews try to impress upon me how much schooling and religious training they've had, or how many years they've been studying the Torah. They don't realize that a hundred years of college couldn't teach one how to have a relationship with God - especially since they are convinced that their "works" are key to pleasing Him:

2 Chronicles 34:25 - "Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place and it shall not be quenched."'

Isaiah 41:29 - "Behold, all of them are false; Their works are worthless, Their molten images are wind and emptiness.

Isaiah 59:6 - Their webs will not become clothing, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And an act of violence is in their hands.

Romans 4:2 - For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Galatians 2:16 - nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Ephesians 2:8 - For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

They've forgotten that He scattered the Jews because of their failure to obey Him. They've forgotten that He promised them a New Covenant and DELIVERED! They keep insisting that Messiah is yet to come - because they are blinded to the fact that HE'S ALREADY COME AND GONE AND IS ABOUT TO RETURN AGAIN! God sent us a Sin Sacrifice some two thousand years ago, yet the traditional Jews refuse to see it. Theirs is a completely "carnal" view of understanding God.

My question to the traditional Jews is: If you're so much more "learned" and in tune with God than I am, then how come none of you ACT like it? Why are you all so "carnal"?

Of all the Jewish people I've ever been in contact with in my entire life, NONE of them have ever given me "goosebumps" about God. They ALL acted just like I did during my "carnal" days - and every Orthodox Jew who has ever written to my website, is a carbon copy of those particular Jews, except a lot more hateful. NONE of them show any fruit, whatsoever. This includes the GENTILES who join forces with them against Yeshua! (Yes, there are those "former Christians" who have decided God is a moron and the things He said weren't fact!) As an example, here's a copy of an e-mail I received recently from a Gentile who has an "anti-missionary" website called "Christianity Revealed":

Your god was a dead man. Your dead man-god:

• crawled out from between a woman's thighs
  
  
• cried for his food
  
  
• suckled teats
  
  
• crapped his pants
  
  
• had to be taught to read and write and grew up and was killed!

I've got news for you -- that is NOT your CREATOR! That is a pagan idiot's dead-man god! Only an ignorant dumb a-- would embrace that line of crap!

....And when I wrote and told him, "That's what I love about you Orthodox types. You're so.....ungodly and crude. God must be so proud." HE replied:

You Idiot -- I am a gentile. So much for your dumb ASS-U-mptions.

If these people REALLY belonged to God, wouldn't they at least show SOME kind of Godly "fruit"? Does God teach us to be rude, crude, and hateful? Have you ever checked out the hatred and sarcasm on those "anti-missionary" websites, such as Jews for Judaism, Outreach Judaism, Messiah Truth, and others? They literally DRIP with unchained sarcasm and false innuendo! The "Christianity Revealed" site even goes a step further and peppers its hate-talk with curse words....

The traditional Jews have gone above and beyond what's necessary to thwart Messianic Judaism and Christianity. I have some Messianic Jewish friends living in Israel who are constantly PHYSICALLY attacked and verbally harrassed by the Orthodox Jews! They have even had their car trashed by their Orthodox neighbors. Now, I don't know about you, but if Judaism spawns that kind of carnal hatred and behavior - FROM PEOPLE WHO INSIST THEY FOLLOW TORAH AND THE GOD OF YISRAEL, then I'm a monkey's uncle! That's why I have YET to meet an Orthodox Jew I can actually say I respect - simply because I NEVER see "fruit" in them. None of them are GODLY. So WHY should I - someone who is Jewish by birth - strive to be like them?

My decision to cling to Yeshua and refrain from being a "typical, carnal Jew" was rewarded one day at the fitness center where I work out, when a Christian lady I had befriended was surprised to discover that I attended a synagogue. When I told her I was a believer, she cracked a relieved smile and said, "I figured you must be Messianic, because Jews don't normally talk about God. I have many Jewish friends, and I've never heard any of them say a word about God."

The Refiner's Fire was created to counter traditional Jewish "Anti-missionaries"

It's ironic, but the reason I created The Refiner's Fire was a DIRECT result of that Orthodox Jewish girlfriend I had in Germany, back in the eighties. We lost touch after I returned to the U.S in 1989, but a couple years ago, I decided to look her up on the 'net. Well, I managed to find her, and it was a great reunion - until I mentioned that I had become a believer in Yeshua. Immediately, she sent me a detailed e-mail telling me how I was "off the mark" and insisted that I visit "Outreach Judaism" and correspond with Rabbi Singer who would surely be able to "set me straight". So I did - and what I found on his site, along with his arrogant tone of voice, made my blood boil. It didn't take me long to realize that HE was leading his own people astray! Shortly thereafter, I discovered many other "anti-missionary" websites - ALL of which had the same rude, sarcastic, and arrogant undertones. Some, like that GENTILE's e-mail above, were too disgusting to read. But, as a result, I decided to create an ANTI anti-missionary site to combat the vicious "anti-missionary" lies - even if it meant that I would have to "get tough" in return. (...The old adage about fighting fire with fire!) Satan is an in-your-face type of guy, and so it's time that believers stopped "pussy-footing" around, as well!

Sh'ma Yisrael! Yeshua IS God and He WAS your Final Sin Sacrifice. He died for you, whether you like it or not, and He has been trying to get you to see that for centuries. Whether or not you choose to become a believer is up to you; it's strictly YOUR decision. Nobody is FORCING you to "convert to Christianity". However, God has commanded believers to spread the Gospel, and people like me will be doing exactly that until the Raptures comes! If you don't want to read or hear about Yeshua, all you have to do is ignore us. If this sounds harsh, I'm sorry. But the bottom line is, what I am saying IS Biblical. You can verify it in the Bible....

Yes, "Christians" are guilty of many horrible deeds against the Jews. "Christians" have done many atrocious things in "the Name of God". But, please realize, that wasn't Yeshua's fault! He never told us to kill or hurt the Jews in any way. On the contrary, God said that anyone who went up against the Jews or Israel would be punished:

Genesis 12:3 - "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Yeshua said we were to love one another (John 13:34-35; John 15:12, 17; Romans 12:10 and 13:8, to name just a few). Our God's name is not "Allah" and we don't adhere to the Quran which commands Allah's followers to kill all infidels and those who refuse to convert. Our God is not a rapist who forces us to do anything. He gives us all the choice of either belonging to Him - or not....

We are in the end times as outlined in the Books of Daniel and Revelation. Therefore, I beg you: Please put aside your raging hatred of Christianity long enough to LISTEN to God for once, and to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the Truth of Yeshua - as foreshadowed in the Tanach - before it's too late.