I commend your Spirit regarding all things eternal, and your gracious evenhandedness! I am cautious about having a pretentious spirit! Again, even Abraham ethnically was not Jewish! For all I know I may even have some Jewish blood in my veins! That said, being Jewish as an ethos and a chosen spiritual alignment! Indeed, we must honor our Jewish heritage! God creating and visiting the Jew first! But God's redemption is for all nations! TR All I know is we just need to be careful of embracing things of this world and certain “practices” including some of the Jewish “culture” items … thinking its acceptable to the Lord because its “Jewish”, when its not. For example … anybody own a Jewish flag? You might want to think twice in keeping it … The “Star of David” The Hexagram … is nothing more than an ancient Egyptian occult symbol … there is no Biblical evidence that ties David to have ever used this star … but there was evidence of King Solomon used it AFTER he turned to pagan gods and the occult late in his life causing God to be very angry with him. The Hexagram is used in magic witchcraft, sorcery and occultism. How did Modern Israel get a hold of this pagan occult symbol? It was adopted as the family crest or shield by the Rothschild family in the 19th Century. The Rothschilds bought a great deal of property in Israel, from the Turks and Arabs, and were amongst the major supporters of the Zionist movement in the early decades. The influence of the Rothschilds and their heavy financial support of Israel, led the Jewish nation to adopt the so-called “Star of David” as their own symbol as a nation and for their flag. What does God say about this? Jeremiah 10:1-3 “Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen (nations), and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are false …. Deut 12:2-4 II Corinthians 6:14-18 Amen brother very true about Abraham - the seed of Abraham are all children of faith in Abraham’s God and in Abraham’s God’s Messiah, the only way truth and life. Jew and Gentile, one new man! The hidden mystery of ages that both are equally beloved of God and neither is complete without the other! You are very right Geri, test all things and let everything be weighed as either worthy of study or worthless according to only the Word of God! Much is done in ignorance and without understanding, and we have to offer as much grace as the Messiah also offers, since He alone judges and weighs the hearts of man, we cannot judge anything before the time, we should embrace only what we know can be proven in the Word of God but if something is in obvious opposition to God’s holy word we should stay far away from it. But as far as things like the Jewish flag - you are very correct in your facts about this, but the same could be said for Easter eggs and Christmas trees - both have pagan origins, but the average Christian does not consider them as pagan symbols any more than the average Israeli understands the pagan occultic meanings of the hexagram or its association with Saturn, Remphram or anything else. We can’t see the hearts as God does and He knows if someone flys an Israeli flag to worship Saturn or if in ignorance they think it simply symbolizes the reborn Israel. There is legalism everywhere, and it is easy to slip into it if we get too worried about pagan deities hiding in broad daylight. Greater is He Who is within us than He who is in the world. I’m not suggesting to wink at these things, just bringing some balance to the conversation. To say God would find someone sinful for owning an Israeli flag would in my opinion be a form of legalism on par with saying that if you put up a Christmas tree you are a pagan or if you don’t celebrate the passover you are pagan - all are legalism in my eyes and I can’t subscribe to that. I am all about the grace - I know I have needed plenty of it and still do. There is nothing wrong with celebrating the Feasts of the Lord. We have that freedom in Messiah to do so. If you choose to do so, great. If you choose to not do so, great. The feasts will certainly be celebrated in the Millenium and nations will be punished for not doing so. (Ie Egypt will not get rain for failing to celebrate the Feast if Tabernacles) What exactly our role as believers will be in this, I am not sure. Having attended a Jewish Messianic Congregation for the last 10 years, I am well aware of all the crazy people that seem to gravitate towards it. I do know that there are some legalists/Judiasiers that try to creep in and lead people astray. That is definitely an always clear and present danger. Every denomination has their own particular problems. You see, the evil one is vehemently opposed to any Jewish people being saved as it is when the nation of Israel finally cries out, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" that Yeshua/Jesus returns to this earth. Then the evil one will be cast in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. He obviously is not looking forward to that. I am about as WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) as you get. I am a through and through Gentile. God made me as I am and I am happy with that. That being said, I have many Messianic Jewish friends. They have a great love, concern and heart for the unsaved Jewish community and so do I. ❤️
