Misrepresenting the God of Israel
“Rabbi” Ken Spiro presents himself as a teacher of the Tenach (Old Testament), yet perverts it by changing the words and meaning of Its Author. Walking in the fear of man, he paints a politically correct picture of God's instructions to Israel while trying to justify himself and the nation in their present unbelief. In these letters the ways of unbelief, and the false notions of God on which they are predicated, are exposed and destroyed by the Light of Israel's Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Victor wrote Ken Spiro in response to Jewish History Series Part 1 – Why Study History?:
Hi Ken,
You write: “Since God is the cosmic scriptwriter, director and producer, the events of human history are not random. This is a story with a plot — a goal. This means we’re headed for a specific destination; there is a finish line.”
Then you write: “Unfortunately something went badly wrong. Beginning with Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge, the relationship began to fall apart. Humanity found it too difficult to maintain a relationship with an invisible God. People felt that showing respect to the various visible forces of nature, created by God, would be the way to indirectly show respect to God Himself. What happened however was that within a few generations worship of God was replaced by worship of nature: the sun, the moon the trees… God was forgotten and idol worship was practiced by all. The whole purpose of creation was lost.”
If God created all, was satisfied with His work, directs and produces all, is there not a contradiction in what you go on to say? Please explain.
Victor
Victor received no response.
Paul wrote this to Ken a few months later:
Hi Ken,
In the Jewish History Series Part 14 of 68 – Joshua and the Conquest of the Promised Land is found the following statement and quote:
“Before they enter the land, the Jewish people send an envoy to the Canaanites with the message, ‘God, the Creator of the Universe has promised this land to our forefathers. We are now here to claim our inheritance, and we ask you to leave peacefully.’”
I cannot find this quote in the Bible. Can you tell me where you found it?
Thank you,
Ken’s reply:
Dear Paul,
Shalom-You didn’t find it because it’s not a direct quote. Here the quotation marks are used to imply dialogue rather than an actual quote from a text. i.e. it gives a different perspective to the narrative rather than just 3rd party description-something like a script in a play. I hope I’m making sense. In any case it’s just a literary way of summarizing what the Torah text has implied over and over again in Chumash (The Five Books of Moses) and Navi (The Books of the Prophets). If this isn’t clear let me know and I will try and explain it better. All the Best, Ken S.
Paul’s reply:
Hi Ken,
No, it still isn’t clear to me how or where this is indicated in the Torah. Can you give me “chapter and verse”?
Todah rabah [Thank you very much],
Paul
When Ken did not reply, Paul sent a reminder and clarification a couple of months later:
Hi Ken, I have not heard back from you. In case you did not receive it, here is my question and the correspondence again. I understand that you are paraphrasing, but I cannot find anything remotely resembling the request you report that the Israelites gave to the inhabitants of the land God was giving them. So I am asking you to show me where that happened.
Thank you once again,
After still no reply, Paul sent this note:
Your Statement: “Before they enter the land, the Jewish people send an envoy to the Canaanites with the message, ‘God, the Creator of the Universe has promised this land to our forefathers. We are now here to claim our inheritance, and we ask you to leave peacefully.’”
Hi Ken,
The reason your paraphrased statement stood out to me, causing me to ask you where you found it, is because, contrary to “summarizing the Torah text,” it quite clearly is altogether contradictory to the Scriptural record. The Lord God of Israel, in no uncertain terms, and on more than one occasion, gave specific instructions to the children of Israel to show no mercy, take no prisoners, declare no amnesties, and in no way to deal with those occupying the land He was giving to them except to expel and destroy them. Here are some pertinent examples of His instructions and warnings:
“Behold, I am about to send an Angel before you, to guard you in the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Be on guard before Him, and listen to His voice. Do not be rebellious against Him, for He will not forgive your transgressions; for My name is in Him. For if you fully listen to His voice, and do all which I speak, I will be an enemy to those distressing you, and will be a foe to your foes. For My Angel shall go before you and bring you IN TO the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite; AND I WILL CUT THEM OFF. You shall not bow down to their gods, and you shall not serve them. And you shall not do according to their works. But tearing you shall tear them down, and smashing you shall smash their pillars. And you shall serve Jehovah your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall not be one miscarrying, nor one barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send My terror before you, AND I WILL CONFOUND ALL THE PEOPLE AMONG WHOM YOU COME. And I will give the neck of your enemies to you. And I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, that the land not become a waste, and the beast of the field multiply on you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you are fruitful and possess the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea as far as the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness as far as the River. For I will give the people of the land into your hand. AND YOU SHALL DRIVE THEM OUT BEFORE YOU. YOU SHALL NOT CUT A COVENANT FOR THEM and for their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they cause you to sin towards Me. If you serve their gods, it will be a snare to you” (Exodus 23:20-33 LITV).
“Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way. BE CAREFUL NOT TO MAKE A TREATY WITH THOSE WHO LIVE IN THE LAND WHERE YOU ARE GOING. This will prove to be a trap to you. But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah” (Exodus 34:11-13 GW).
“The LORD your God will bring you to the land you’re about to enter and take possession of. He will force many nations out of your way: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites-seven nations larger and more powerful than you. When the LORD your God gives them to you and you defeat them, DESTROY EVERY ONE OF THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN CLAIMED BY THE LORD. Don’t make any treaties with them OR SHOW THEM ANY MERCY…. But this is what you must do to these people: Tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols…. You must destroy all the people the LORD your God hands over to you. HAVE NO PITY ON THEM, and never worship their gods, because they will be a trap for you…. The LORD your God will hand these people over to you and will throw them into a great panic until they’re destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you, and no one on earth will even remember their names. No one will be able to stop you. You will destroy them all” (Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 5, 16, 23-24 GW).
“Hear, O, Israel! You are to pass over Jordan today, to go in to EXPEL nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the giants, whom you know and have heard it said, Who can stand before the sons of Anak! Therefore, understand today that Jehovah your God is He Who goes over before you. Like a consuming fire, He shall destroy them, and He shall BRING THEM DOWN BEFORE YOUR FACE. So you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as Jehovah has said to you. Do not speak in your heart, after Jehovah your God has cast them out from before you, saying: For my righteousness, Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations, Jehovah your God DRIVES them out from before you. Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go to possess their land. But for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah your God drives them out from before you, so that He may perform the Word which Jehovah swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, understand that Jehovah your God does not give you this good land, to possess it, for your righteousness. For you are a stiff-necked people” (Deuteronomy 9:1-6 MKJV).
The one instance that Moses relates where it may appear that Israel was permitted to seek the peace of those in the land turns out to show otherwise. As is explained in detail, such an approach was not permissible with the nations within the land given to Israel:
“When you come near a city to fight against it, then call to it for peace. And it shall be, if it answers peace to you, and shall open to you, then it shall be that all the people found in it shall be forced laborers for you, and shall serve you. And if it shall not make peace with you, and shall make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it. And Jehovah your God shall give it into your hand; and you shall strike every male of it by the mouth of the sword. Only, the women, and the little ones, and the livestock, and all in the city, all its plunder, you shall seize for yourself. And you shall eat the plunder of your enemies which Jehovah your God has given to you. SO YOU SHALL DO TO ALL THE CITIES VERY FAR AWAY FROM YOU, WHICH ARE NOT THE CITIES OF THESE NATIONS. BUT OF THE CITIES OF THESE PEOPLES WHICH JEHOVAH YOUR GOD IS GIVING YOU AS AN INHERITANCE, YOU SHALL NOT KEEP ALIVE ANY THAT BREATHES. BUT YOU SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY THEM, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as Jehovah your God has commanded you” (Deuteronomy 20:10-17 LITV).
Moses, speaking to the children of Israel right before they would begin the conquest of the land, sums it up once again:
“The Lord your God, He will go over before you; He will send destruction on all those nations, and you will take their land as your heritage: and Joshua will go over at your head as the Lord has said. The Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, whom He put to destruction. The Lord will give them up into your hands, and you are to do to them as I have given you orders” (Deuteronomy 31:3-5 BBE).
“God has always been your defense; His eternal arms are your support. He DROVE OUT your enemies as you advanced, and TOLD YOU TO DESTROY THEM ALL” (Deuteronomy 33:27 GNB).
There was never a hint of anything like a voluntary relocation program advocated or initiated by God. Quite to the contrary, He commanded and initiated total, uncompromising, warfare. He did not ever suggest for Israel to seek peace or any accommodation with HIS enemies in the land He was sanctifying – that was only permissible with those far away, as quoted above in Deuteronomy 20. I emphasize “HIS enemies” because they firstly hated Him, and that is why they hated Israel, His people.
Even the people of the land are on record acknowledging that God said and did these things. The children of Gibeon were inhabitants that, knowing what God had commanded and was doing, tricked the children of Israel into taking an oath and making an agreement of peace with them. The Israelites did not first enquire of God, and were fooled, committing themselves unwisely. When they asked the Gibeonites why they did this, the Gibeonites replied:
“Because it came to the ears of your servants that the Lord your God had given orders to His servant Moses to give you all this land, and to send destruction on all the people living in it, because of you; so, fearing greatly for our lives because of you, we have done this” (Joshua 9:24).
There is no evidence of anything remotely resembling what you report, Ken. The Israelites never gave warning for anyone to “leave peacefully.” What you are suggesting happened is a fabrication, which I think you have created to justify modern day Israel in the relentless pressure she feels to always justify herself to the world about how much care she takes to avoid death and destruction when dealing with her enemies. You are trying to show Israel is righteous by correlating what has happened in the past, in the Bible, with what is happening today. Firstly, you must know it is wrong to tamper with the Scriptures, which is, in effect, falsifying the Word of God. This is not good. Secondly, there is profound difference between modern day Israel, which follows men, and Israel of the past that was led by God through men of His choosing.
It is an indisputable fact that none of today’s Israeli leaders, those elected and otherwise, claim that their decisions for how the country conducts herself is based on the active involvement of God and His revelatory instructions. No one is reporting or suggesting that God is giving them His Personal directions as was the case with Moses and Joshua in the days of the exodus from Egypt, the wandering in the wilderness, and the taking of the land, wherein He told them very specifically what to do, and in all their ways how to conduct their affairs. Israel today is a secular country with no claims to divine guidance, and is no different in this regard than the rest of the world. In common with the democratic West, Israel is a secular country with a hodgepodge of religious organizations, which to varying degrees vie for the attention and commitment of people, influential or otherwise. There are many voices, but no Voice as at Sinai.
The difference between Israel under Moses and Joshua and Israel today is that the former was beholden to no nations or persons, only God, and the latter is under the direction of men who do not hear from God. The latter is beholden to all people, the world to whom she looks for help, approval, and justification. The former heard from God, and He directed them. If they obeyed Him, it went well. If they did not, it did not. The latter is torn by many voices, none of which bring clarity, unity, true peace and security; only God can give these things, as He demonstrated to the children of Israel, recorded in the Bible, the testimony of Truth.
The reason Israel is the way it is today is because it failed, indeed refused, to be what God commanded it to be yesterday, in the days of the former prophets.
In fact, Israel of today, under the guidance of men, and seeking approval of the same, finds things are getting progressively worse, not better, with no hope in sight. No hope is on the horizon because Israel is not looking in the right direction. You, as your apologetic twisting of Scripture reveals, are not either. You are trusting in man’s righteousness, Ken, which the prophet Isaiah likened to menstruous rags. If nothing else, the story of Israel, as told in Scripture, shows that there is nothing righteous about man, even those whom God chooses. No man is good. He alone is righteous.
Things will continue to go awry for Israel until she looks to her God and Creator, not in vain religion, but in reality. That will be when He chooses to speak and reveal Himself to her through those whom He sends, just as He sent Moses and Aaron.
Ken still did not reply.
Paul’s final note to Ken:
Ken, you have not been “returning our calls.” We know why. You cannot defend your made-up Torah fabrications and interpretations, so you just ignore the Truth that exposes them, hoping It will go away. It will not. What happens is that you “go away,” perishing in your sins and presumptuousness. For a time you may continue to fool men and retain their honor, but even that will end because you are now exposed as a fraud who denies God’s Word while claiming to honor Him.
Your position is typified by such falsehood as this, published in Jewish History Series Part 26 – The Great Assembly.You write:
“It is impossible to understand the Written Torah without its Oral complement. For example, when the Written Torah states: ‘And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart … and you shall write them upon the door-posts of your house and upon your gateways,’ it is the Oral Torah that explains which ‘words’ the Written Torah is referring to, and that these words should be penned on a small scroll and affixed to the door frame. Without the Oral Torah we wouldn’t know about the mezuzah and countless other ways of day-to-day Judaism.”
God commands the words He speaks to be planted in our hearts in order that we might fulfill them where we live and in our comings and goings. In other words, it is not enough to hear or see the words, they must also be performed. Words of Moses also recorded in the same place confirm what I say:
“Therefore you shall lay up these My words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, so that they may be as frontlets between your eyes” (Deuteronomy 11:18 MKJV).
If the words of God are implanted in the heart and soul, they must also inform our sight and actions. But you, following in the footsteps of superstitious Jews (no better than sorcerers and magicians, and worse because having the heritage of those who heard from the living God, with more, therefore, expected of you), focus on physically putting some words between your eyes or on your doorframe! If you had God’s words in your heart and were walking in true godliness, you would not need a mezuzah or tefillin, and because you do not have his words in your heart, these things do not help you. In fact, they provoke God’s wrath, because they mock Him.
The missing component for having the Torah embedded in your heart is not found by adding the “oral tradition,” which is composed of men’s opinions and ordinances, things for which God has not asked. The missing component is God Himself. Without Him you have nothing, even though you have the authentic Torah, which is not opinion but the Word of God. The problem for you is that you do not have any connection to God, even by your own admission. How then can you keep the Law? If those who heard the words of the covenant spoken by God on Mount Sinai could not keep it, how much less can you?
“Moses said to the Levites who were responsible for taking up the ark of the Lord’s agreement, Take this book of the law and put it by the ark of the Lord’s agreement, so that it may be a witness against you [Notice: No mention or need of an oral portion or tradition; the Law written in the book is sufficient for judgment]. For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death? Get together before me all those who are in authority in your tribes, and your overseers, so that I may say these things in their hearing, and make Heaven and earth my witnesses against them. For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving Him to wrath by the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 31:25-29 BBE).
The oral Torah is a work of men’s hands, as is putting a mezuzah on your doorpost. You have been taught and are teaching a form of religious ritual and superstition as substitute for true faith. God has nothing to do with it. It is this kind of observance and worship that He rebuked, warning Israel to avoid adopting such customs from the heathen nations. For example:
Jeremiah 10:1-16 BBE
(1) Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel:
(2) This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them.
(3) For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe.
(4) They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.
(5) It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good….
(14) Then every man becomes like a beast without knowledge; every gold-worker is put to shame by the image he has made: for his metal image is deceit, and there is no breath in them.
(15) They are nothing, a work of error: in the time of their punishment, destruction will overtake them.
(16) The heritage of Jacob is not like these; for the Maker of all things is his heritage: the Lord of armies is His name.
Your heritage is the mezuzah, a fabrication of men. Even the Torah, a gift from God, has become a snare for you as you lift it up as an idol and kiss it, but deny the Author and Giver of Truth by adding, “We must have the oral portion,” adding things He has not said or asked for, which negate His Law, and Him:
“You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2 JPS).
“Don’t you add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:6 HNV).
We know His Word and understand Him because our heritage is the God of Jacob, the living Word Who lives in us. He has plainly stated what He is after – the Law written in our hearts, become one with our flesh – and He has not been unable to provide, or unjust to withhold, what is required to fulfill His will, to whosoever calls upon His Name in truth. You do not call on His Name in truth. You blaspheme His Name by limiting Him, reducing Him to a piece of paper in a cylinder of metal, or in a box you put between your eyes. It may as well be covering them.
You say that because there is no physical temple or sanctuary today, God’s presence and power is not available, as though He, the God of all creation, is subservient to geography and building materials.
You make a liar out of Him every way you turn. Your dependence on an oral Torah that disagrees with what He gave Moses is clearly something He never said was necessary – quite to the contrary:
“For this commandment which I command you today is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in Heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to Heaven, and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it? Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us to the region beyond the sea, and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and do it? But the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30:11-14 MKJV).
Because it is not in your mouth and in your heart, you look for external means to justify yourself. You deride and dismiss Reality by putting His written Word on your doorposts instead, scrunched up and hidden in a piece of metal, which reflects the status of your hearts, made of stone and unyielding. Regarding His promise to change hearts, you proudly declare, “God would never change His mind,” as if the fulfillment of His promise was evil. You blaspheme. He did not change His mind – He changed us, as promised, which the first covenant, written on stone, was unable to do. He came and wrote the Law in our hearts:
“Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el, and with the house of Yehudah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, says the LORD: I will put My Law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 HNV).
The writings of the apostles of God’s Anointed say nothing about God canceling His covenant with Israel. Paul wrote this:
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I too am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ‘LORD, they killed Your prophets and they torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life’? But what does the divine response say to him? ‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Even so then, at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:1-5 EMTV).
The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the same promise:
“Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, Who stirs up the sea, so that the waves of it roar; the LORD of Armies is His name: If these ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Yisra’el also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. Thus says the LORD: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Yisra’el for all that they have done, says the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:35-37 HNV).
Those who deny these words and promises deny God, whether they call themselves Jews or Christians and believers in His Holy Scriptures or not. You deny the Torah too, as we have shown, so why should it be surprising that others who claim to believe God are also found false, just as you are?
You make many statements that outright contradict God, such as this, in Jewish History Series Part 25 – The 2nd Temple:
“The intense spiritually of the First Temple cannot be compared to the Second. The constant open miracles are gone. Prophecy will also disappear during the early years of the second Temple. The Ark of the Covenant is gone — and although there is a Holy of Holies, it stands empty.”
But the Lord God of Israel says:
“The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:9 KJV).
Is God a liar? According to you He is. But we know He is not. If He said the latter house would be greater in glory, so it was. And how did that happen?
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me; and the Lord, Whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the Messenger of the covenant, Whom you desire, behold, He comes!” says the LORD of Armies” (Malachi 3:1 HNV)
Yehoshua HaMashiach, the Lord Jesus Christ, God, YHWH in the flesh, appeared in the temple. He came and supplanted the temple made by hands with the Temple made in Heaven. He said:
“But I tell you that One greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6 HNV).
And:
“Destroy this temple [His body], and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19 HNV).
You say that there have been no prophets or prophecy beginning at some time during the second temple and ever since. But Jesus Christ prophesied of that temple, and His prophecy was fulfilled:
“And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, Master, see! What stones and what buildings! And answering Jesus said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be one stone left on another that shall not be thrown down” (Mark 13:1-2 MKJV).
He also prophesied of Jerusalem, and that prophesy has also been fulfilled:
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has drawn near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the fields enter into her. For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that has been written. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing a baby in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath among this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:20-24 EMTV).
What do you do with these prophecies? I am sure you have your explanations, just as did the Jews who paid the Roman soldiers to lie about the disappearance of the body of Christ, Who had raised Himself from the dead after three days, just as He prophesied.
Your explanation of prophecy, from the same writing I just cited, is more man-centric, self-righteous, God-denying, blaspheming rationalization, concocted solely to justify your sinful state:
“Prophecy disappeared because the Jewish people had damaged their relationship with God. They were spiritually weaker and could not do the same intense spiritual work required to achieve prophecy. To be a prophet you have to perfect yourself spiritually, you have to have total self control.”
Have you not noticed, Ken, that God sent prophets to the Jewish people, time and time again, particularly because they had forgotten Him, and “damaged their relationship” with Him, big-time?
“I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending, saying, Return now each man from his evil way, and make your doings good, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But you have not bowed down your ear, nor listened to Me” (Jeremiah 35:15 MKJV).
Since when was God dependent on man’s ability and righteousness to “achieve prophecy” or perfect himself spiritually? That is not how God describes the situation. It is how men describe it, concocting doctrines to pass themselves off as godly, but who are found to be liars, just as we have proven you a liar and imposter. Here is the testimony of the God of Israel:
“And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm has saved for Me; and My fury upheld Me” (Isaiah 63:5 MKJV).
Does that sound like He needs your help, or could count on it? How about this?:
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains; and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness of it” (Psalms 50:10-12 MKJV).
In case there is any doubt left about how capable men are of achieving spiritual enlightenment and prophetic competency, I submit this:
“God looked down from Heaven on the sons of mankind, to see if there was any discerning, who was seeking God: Every one has turned aside, together they are corrupted, not one is doing good, not even one!” (Psalms 53:2-3 LITV)
You really are creative when coming up for excuses as to why you and your compatriots do not hear from God anymore. Here is another one (from Jewish History Series Part 12 – The Golden Calf):
“When the sanctuary stood, people would feel holiness in the world in a way we can’t begin to understand today. No amount of description can begin to give us a sense of what it would have been like to connect spirituality to God via the Mishkan [Tabernacle]. Today we are like people born blind- no description of sight can begin to replace the actual experience.”
When Jesus Christ, Yehoshua HaMashiach, died on the cross, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the sanctuary was split in two, from top to bottom (initiated from Heaven). The way to the Most Holy Place was opened to mankind, which we now enter by the blood, not of goats or bulls, but of the Anointed Messenger of the Covenant of God. The blood of the perfect Son of God brings complete forgiveness and spiritual connection to God. He is the Tabernacle of God, bringing the promise of faith to the nations as Abraham’s Seed.
Who or what but God can bring people into connection with Himself? Can a place? If a place could, He would not have taken it from us. If a place could bring a people into connection with God, your fathers would not have been in unbelief, eventually losing their land and nation. How could that happen if they had such a strong connection to God?
No, Ken, a place is not the answer, nor is a book. Your old wives’ tales, oral traditions, and superstitions are bad enough, but to teach them to others, and then not answer the exposure of blatant manipulation of God’s Word and teachings because you prefer to maintain face among men, is truly reprehensible. You are no different than the Muslims crowding around the Ka’bah, but worse in that you do not have the diabolical Koran to blame for your instruction. You are a damned hypocrite, claiming to revere His Word when you despise It. You pervert the Bible and all that is holy to cover over the blood on your hands as a murderer of the Messiah, the Word of God made flesh.
Do not think any more to blame God for the perversion of Scripture and sins of others, such as Catholics and Protestants, in order to justify your rejection of His Word and testimony. You only compound the wrath on you because of your hypocrisy.
No, God has not forgotten the Jews, which is why we are sent to tell you your sins.
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be wise within yourselves, that hardness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the nations comes in; and so all Israel will be saved, even as it has been written, ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” (Romans 11:25-27 LITV).
How can you repent unless you know your offenses? They are not secret anymore, not that they ever were to your Creator.