6 Comments

1. 

   Vicky Derksen says

   Dear Jono,

   You have been instrumental in turning my world upside down in recent months and I want to thank you for what you are doing through Truth2U. I grew up a Protestant Christian from childhood and ended up in the Word of Faith camp for a couple of decades. My husband and I “inherited” the pastorship of a church five years ago at about the same time that we were awakening to the fact that the Torah is still primary. We began keeping Sabbath and the feasts to the best of our ability. We shut down our church and started meeting in our home with others who wanted to become “Hebrew Roots” people. Two years ago our home group embarked on a chronological reading of the Bible together. It was going great until we reached the New Testament. All of a sudden there was this abrupt change in EVERYTHING we were reading and it didn’t match up to all we had just read in the Tanakh. We started asking lots of disturbing questions and just couldn’t find answers. We finally kinda gave up on finding any answers and tried to settle back into the comfort of where we had been.

   This last December another Hebrew Roots person began asking us questions about Yeshua’s credibility. I decided to go home and assemble a list of messianic prophecies from the Tanakh, but when I sat down to do it, my mind just went blank. So I turned on my iPod and decided to listen to the book of Isaiah. I knew there were some messianic prophecies in there. I started in chapter 1. Everything was going good until I got to Isaiah 7:14. I’m listening to the story of Ahaz and Isaiah and when verse 14 came along I thought, “What the heck is this verse doing right here?” I stopped, went back to Isaiah chapter 1 and listened all over again. I listened to chapter 7 another five times. I got out my Bible and read it for myself another five times. I finally read it to my husband and he was left scratching his head. I decided to investigate online to see if others found this as strange as I did. In my web search, your website came up with a podcast on Isaiah 7:14 with Rabbi Michael Skobac. I thought, “Oh, I’m familiar with Jono. I’ve listened to him when he’s had other Hebrew Roots teachers on here. I’ll see what he has to say.”

   Needless to say, I was surprised by what I heard on that podcast because I didn’t expect to hear it on your website. But it was like this light was switched on and suddenly I saw things in a completely different light. My husband and I listened to all the preceding podcasts on Debunking 365 Messianic Prophecies. We shared them with our extended family members who listened to all of them intently. We then began listening to Tovia Singer’s podcasts (whom we discovered through his visits on Truth2U). All of a sudden, all of our intense questions about the New Testament had very clear answers! The Tanakh had new meaning to it (and now we need to re-read it without our “Jesus glasses”).

   Thank you, thank you, thank you for daring to step out and do what you are now doing. Our entire extended family feels set free from something to which we didn’t even realize was holding us captive. The Scriptures have come alive to us in a new way. If you ever felt uneasy about stepping out and debunking these prophecies, please know that my family is unspeakably grateful that you have. We are still contemplating where we go from here. We suddenly feel like we know so little about the Tanakh because we only knew it through the eyes of Christianity and Hebrew Roots theology. Thank you for the role you’ve played in our present journey. There aren’t enough words to express our gratitude!

   Sincerely,
   Vicky

2. 

   jono vandor says

   Vicky, what can I say? Thank God! You have possibly written my favorite comment of all time! Thank you so much for sharing your journey. You really have made my week, and right before Pesach! May you and your family have a blessed Pesach and I hope T2U continues to be just one of many blessings in your life! I dearly want you and your family on the Tanakh Tour of Israel in November. 😉

3. 

   Sophiee Saguy says

   That is truly an inspiring post. Those who seek Him will find Him. “seek the L-rd your G-d, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” D’varim / Deuteronomy 4:25.

4. 

   ShoutedTheDustSpeck says

   Enjoy your break guys, you really do deserve it.

   You guys did touch on the problem of peace. Let us consider for a moment that Jesus did fulfill the bringing of peace in a spiritual sense. The peace that resides in the hearts of the believer. Then you must assume that because this was fulfilled, then this sort of peace exists.

   In my own scope of reference, I’ve noticed something odd. Not to burden you guys too much with repeated detail from my own posts, but I’ve noticed that those who I know to be the pillars of churches and missions are, underneath, the most burdened people I have ever met. I have noticed that the longer and harder working, more sincere the believer, the heavier the weight. (Your listener, Darren, made a comment on focus that touched on a one of the possible whys of this.)

   I know well what happens when the church doors close and the smiles, hugs and greetings cease. I know that prior to this, that people sit in their seats pushing aside the thought that they are the only ones who carry a burden that is not light and a yoke that is not easy while everyone else around seems to do so with ease. The truth is that hundreds of sermons exist that go “if your life is easy and going well, then Satan doesn’t feel the need to interfere and lets it be calm as you are no threat to his kingdom. It is those that matter to God the most whose lives are the hardest and most chaotic. It is those that meet the most resistance so they will give up the fight.” So people fight on and carry their burdens and some have a sort of peace that passes understanding as they are carrying on the hope that this life will end and that their burdens will be lifted.

   Does this qualify as peace now, or is it simply the hope for peace later that brings this feeling of relief? Perhaps Jesus did bring hope to the hearts people, of that I have no doubt. Did he bring peace, however?

5. 

   Sophiee Saguy says

   Nice post, ShoutedTheDustSpeck. The messiah will bring actual peace — peace in the world (not just peace in a spiritual sense). “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither will they practice war any more” (Isaiah 2:4).

   In the Messianic Era, all nations will live peacefully together. Similarly, people of all dispositions will live together in harmony. Isaiah also said: “The wolf will dwell with the lamb; the leopard will lie down with the kid; the calf, the young lion, and the fatling together, will be led by a young child. The cow will graze with the bear; their young will lie down together; the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 11:6-7).

   Ezekiel 34:23-31 speaks of the Messiah as a shepherd and a prince. The prophet describes the times as a period of peace, security and great bounty.

   Real honest to G-d peace, STDS, not a “spiritual” peace.

   Prophecy is always based on the p’shat — the plain meaning — of the text. The real meaning of any Scriptural text is the p’shat. Everything else is a kind of midrash, basically a “flight of fancy” intended to teach some supplementary message (a morality story), but certainly not something to base prophecy on! This is why prophecy can never be derived from a d’rash, still less from rĕmĕz or sod.

   So the idea of some “spiritual peace” being hinted about because of belief in Jesus simply doesn’t rise to the level of prophecy. If the prophecy were about spiritual peace and not actual peace the bible would tell us that clearly.

   Jesus did not bring peace.

   Luke 19:27 says that Jesus said “Take my enemies, who would not have me rule over them, bring them here, and kill them before me.” Not exactly peaceful.

   Matthew 10:34 has Jesus saying “Think not that I have come to send peace to the world. I come not to send peace, but the sword.”

   Times were very unpeaceful 2000 years ago with the Romans crucifying 50,000 to 100,000 Jews. We well know that they slaughtered the Jews in Jerusalem and destroyed most of the city circa 68 CE. Since the time of Jesus there has never been world peace.

   May moshiach come speedily and in our days — and fulfill the messianic prophecies including world peace!

6. 

   Yechiel Shlipshon says

   There are numerous problems with the Gospels; one of my favorite is from Gospel version 1. The Nazarene had no virgin birth, three wise men or revival/resurrection from a Crucifixion. The Church fathers inserted this, and they had a lot of background for it. There are 16 crucifixions and several wise men, virgin births and more from several Pagan religions. Also, the Septuagint (a Greek translation that the Gentiles wrote the prophets and writings for) was not enough in error for them; they had a revision of the first Greek one! Still, some of what Jesus/the Jews of the time thought may have slipped in. Some missionaries who approached me had problems with them; as Matthew 19:16-19. There are these 3 issues they cannot explain; Jesus saying he is not the good one, only G-d is, the 7 Laws of Noah, and the statement that these are all you need to be saved – if you are not Jewish. Hummm; there are more, but if you read up on the debunking of the 363 prophecies and other material, you shall get the picture. Several have thanked me for the information, as “the truth shall set you free”. Shalom.