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The Refiner's Fire recently contacted the White Horse Media website to challenge some of their off-the-mark teachings - specifically their teachings about "Spiritual Israel". Our challenges were in response to allegations made on their website along with some comments made via e-mail to a friend of The Refiner's Fire:
White Horse Media's comments: I wouldn’t say that earthly Israel has no meaning to us as Christians, because many of us realize that is where Jesus lived and ministered on this earth. But as far as prophetically, it should not be our focus to expect the final events of earth’s history to take place in and around Israel and the Jewish people.
The Messianic Response: Why shouldn't it? The entire Bible is about Israel and the Jews and how they figure into the end times equation! Satan is, and always has been, totally and completely obsessed with Israel's destruction! The Bible tells us that, in the end times, the whole world will go up against Israel (see Isaiah 60:15; Joel 3:2; Ezekiel 36:8-10; Matthew 24:9). How can that be "spiritual" only? Although every nation hasn't gone up against Israel yet, if you have kept up with the news you know that things are certainly being moved into place! The Middle East has been a hotbed on many fronts, the U.S. is one of the ONLY countries in the world to stand by Israel to date, and world anti-Semitism is steadily on the rise, as is evidenced by situations such as In France where young Jewish boys are forced to wear baseball caps over their yarmulkes to keep them from being too easily identified as Jews and, consequently, beaten and killed.
White Horse Media's comments: When Jesus was on trial, the Jewish nation cried out, "His blood be upon us and on our children." Matthew 27:25. In this statement, the Jews accepted responsibility for the death of Jesus. While we realize that God does not punish children for their parents’ sins, the results of that poor decision has been experienced throughout the history of the Jewish nation.
The Messianic Response: Please read the entire passage IN CONTEXT: Just before that statement was made, Pilate washes his hands. This is apparently in imitation of the Jewish custom (Deut. 20:6-8), in which the elders of a city declare themselves innocent of a murder. After this, they pray, "...do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man". The crowd, familiar with this, and knowing the usual response, and having been worked into a frenzy, simply shouts back, as a mob will, the reverse of this - in effect, "yes, we are guilty; put his blood upon us!". They aren't in the least fear about this, and they do not consider Yeshua to be the messiah. (Compare, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do".)
The intent of the author of Matthew is to portray Yeshua as the lamb of Passover. When the Angel of Destruction saw the blood on the doorposts of the houses of the people of Israel, he passed over them. In this "second" Passover, all the principals, from the High Priest on, play their expected roles. Yeshua dies exactly at the right moment during the sacrifice of the unblemished lamb in the Temple. And the people cried out, "His blood be on (or over) us"; i.e., the blood of the lamb of Passover be over us. This is the only possible intended meaning given the setting of the rest of the narrative. Again, ripped out of its Jewish context, the passage loses its meaning and can be (as it has been) misinterpreted by anyone to suit their own purposes.
White Horse Media's comments: When they said, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15), they withdrew from the Abrahamic covenant and have suffered as a people ever since. We also realize that there have been many other people groups that have suffered mercilessly at the hand of Satan. His desire is to destroy as many as possible. 1 Peter 5:8
The Messianic Response: Wow! What a misrepresentation of Scripture! Those Jewish priests said those words because they didn't view YESHUA as their king! They said those words because they wanted Him crucified! Traditional Jews, to this day, do not view Yeshua as anything but a great rabbi, if that much.
The Jews didn't "withdraw from the Abrahamic Convenant; God gave us a NEW COVENANT - one that included ALL believers in Christ! Do you realize that, if the Jews had been "perfect people" - something that cannot possibly exist or else Yeshua wouldn't have had to be our Final Sin Sacrifice! - then they would never have been scattered into the nations, and consequently, the nations would never have heard of Yahweh OR Yeshua. God would have been the secret of tiny, little Israel!
The Jews have "suffered ever since" BECAUSE they are God's Chosen People. Please try to understand the impact of that. Every kook in the world has tried to annihilate the Jews because Satan HATES them and wants them annihilated - but they are STILL here, and they are the ONLY "race/religious group" who have, throughout the millenia, managed to keep their identity! Why? Because they know Yahweh and they keep His Torah. One day God will open all their spiritual eyes so they can finally realize the TRUTH of Messiah Yeshua....
White Horse Media's comments: The promises that once applied to literal Israel, now apply to spiritual Israel, which may include both Jew and Gentile – all who have faith.
The Messianic Response: This is one thing I actually agree with. Everyone who believes in the Jewish Messiah is automatically grafted in to the Olive Tree and is therefore part of Israel.
The White Horse article "Promised Land, Part II" says, in part: Thus Israel's right to the land was conditional upon her relationship with God....How does this apply to the Israeli nation today? Does the modern Jewish nation now have an unconditional right to that land because God originally gave it to her ancient forefathers? Clearly in the Old Testament, when Israel disobeyed God, she lost her right to that land.
The Messianic Response: In a word: Baloney!
First of all, the Land WAS promised to Israel FOREVER (Genesis 13:15 and 15:18) - and God never changed His mind, as clearly evidenced by the Six-Day War of 1967 in which the ONLY reason tiny Israel prevailed against several other bigger and stronger countries was because of Divine intervention; and before that, God used Hitler's Holocaust to return Israel to the Jews, thereby making one of His major end times prophecies happen (in 1948 the Land was returned to Israel - in it all happened in ONE DAY, exactly as Isaiah 66:7-8 prophesied)! Nothing "spiritual" about that, either....
Genesis 15:18 promises that the Jewish people would have their own country: On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram He said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates..." This is talking specifically about the entire land of Israel. In truth, God gave more land to Israel than they possess even now! Could you please provide me the Scripture wherein God reneged on His promises?
Ezekiel 36:8-10 says Israel would be restored as a nation and repopulated with its people: "'But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt." The prophet Ezekiel said that the Jews would return, rebuild and repopulate their fallen cities. In 1948, there were about 600,000 Jews living in Israel. Today there are around seven million! Many more Jews throughout the world are returning to Israel each year. Nothing "spiritual" about that, either....It's PHYSICALLY happening.
Before the Jews regained the Land from the so-called "Palestinians", the Land was in ruins [God said that, until the Jews were back in the Land, it would be a dry and barren desert]. Also, several other things have to happen before "the end as we know it" arrives - many of which are already here - such as the Bible-prophesied diseases caused by "beasts of the field" [AIDS, Mad Cow, Foot and Mouth, etc]. The Bible warns that in the end times we will have natural disasters of Biblical proportions. Just in the last ten years (with modern seismology equipment, etc) we've already seen more earthquakes, fires, droughts, tornadoes, etc. than in any other era - and they're ever worsening. How is that "spiritual"?
Please read our articles below which mention just a few of the prophecies you suggest the world is "misinterpreting":
White Horse Media's comments: Remember that when Jesus came the first time, the devil had bamboozled God’s people into making the spiritual prophecies about the Messiah carnal and physical. Satan is doing the same thing today with the subject of Israel. Yet the plain, biblical truth is that Revelation centers on Jesus Christ and God’s Israel in the Spirit, not the Israel of the flesh.
The Messianic Response: Sounds very Gnostic since you seem to be saying anything physical is evil and only something spiritual can be holy. How do you explain away the more than 300 Bible prophecies that have come to pass - and are STILL coming to pass as can be seen by events in the Middle East, with most of the world already AGAINST Israel? How about 9/11 which clearly shows Muslims fledging their wings in their effort to take over the world and convert everyone via the threat of beheading (Rev. 20:4). Please see Accurate Messiah Prophecies.
White Horse Media's comments: And with this correct understanding of spiritual Israel, suddenly other prophecies in the New Testament take on a whole new meaning! It’s now easy to see that the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 are not literal Jews and the new temple will not be earthly, but rather the Body of Jesus and the church (John 2:19, 20).
The Messianic Response: Revelation 7: 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of ....".
Where in the Bible have Christians ever referred to as tribes?
As to your allegation about the next Temple not being earthly, the Bible CLEARLY refutes that allegation! Please see:
White Horse Media's comments: How does all of this apply to prophecy? The greatest book about prophecy, the book of Revelation, talks about Mount Zion, Israel, Jerusalem, the temple, the Euphrates, Babylon and Armageddon. Thus it is clear that Revelation uses the terminology of the Middle East in its prophecies. But sincere Christians all over the earth are applying these prophecies to literal places in the Middle East and to the modern nation of Jews.
The Messianic Response: I would highly suggest you get a newspaper on any given day to see the latest Middle East headlines, and then apply them to what the Bible said. For instance, I realized from the moment I first started studying the Bible (when I read the Book of Revelation) that God would be using the spirit of Islam to make His "end times" scenario happen. Revelation 20:4 tells us that many would be beheaded for their belief; not stabbed, choked, shot or hanged, but BEHEADED. Pretty literal! And, who are the ONLY people who still behead? It's the Muslims - and they have already started - and it's in the PHYSICAL realm; not the spiritual! Please see:
White Horse Media's comments: Christianity is not a new religion, but rather the completion of the Jewish faith. So with this in mind, we can now better understand what Paul meant when he said, “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26). Some take this verse to mean that God will ultimately save all literal Jews. If this were true, it would contradict every principle of God’s dealings with humans throughout history and Scripture. God is not a racist. In Jesus’ eyes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek” (Galatians 3:28)....
The Messianic Response: While the above comment is true, I have to insert here that the writings of Paul have been very much misunderstood by Christians - consequently, the erroneous assumption that Torah (God's original "teaching and instruction") was "nailed to the cross". Torah is something Christians vehemently shun and, consequently, Christianity is NOT the "completion of the Jewish faith". Please see Torah put in simple terms.
Yeshua was a TORAH-OBSERVANT, tallit-wearing, Sabbath and feast-keeping, kosher JEW - yet Catholicism (which somehow evolved out of the misunderstood words of the Disciples) twisted His words and ignored His example. Christianity was born out of CATHOLICISM, not Judaism. Both beliefs have ignored the words of Christ and put God in a box! Do either Catholics or Christians keep the seventh day Sabbath? How about the Biblical feasts? Last time I checked, both religions made up their own "religious" holidays in the form Christmas and Easter - NEITHER of which have a thing to do with Yeshua, especially due to their insertion of paganism. Christianity also insists Christ rose on the first day, and therefore the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Our article about the Sunday resurrection myth proves otherwise!
White Horse Media's comments: The Christian religion is based on a Jewish manual called the Bible. (In this light, it is difficult to understand how any professed Christian could be anti-Semitic.) These converted Jews then took the truth back to their respective countries.
The Messianic Response: I'm commenting on the above only because I object to the word "converted". Jews are Jews, even when they decide to believe in Jesus. Once they do that, they are "completed" Jews because they still believe in Yahweh....No "conversion" necessary.
White Horse Media's comments: Sadly, even after God provides all this clear biblical evidence that His temple today is a spiritual one, the church, many Christians are waiting for the Jews to rebuild a physical temple on the site where the mosque of Omar (Dome of the Rock) now sits—also known as the Temple Mount. Yet there is no prophecy, promise, or commandment in the Bible that says the temple would be rebuilt again after the Romans destroyed it.
The Messianic Response: God's "clear Biblical evidence" shows that there WILL be a third Temple! I implore you to read our article Will there be a Third Temple and then remove anything that might be pushing the contrary on your website, as it clearly NOT Biblical!
Shalom, Neumann
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