Podcasts about jewish hebrew

Good Shabbos Mevarachim Chodesh Iyar, Weekly Office Learning BH Thu, Apr 24 Summary from Otter.ai • 4:05 PM • 30 min plus • Weekly Learning Introduction and Purpose 0:05 • Focus on Kisurei Hachaim and Modern Relevance 1:18 • Yom HaShoah and Its Significance 3:30 • Counting the Omer and Halachot 6:01 • Customs and Practices During the Omer 8:55 • The Role of the Tannaim and Amoraim 9:10 • The Impact of Historical Events on Modern Practices 24:01 • Respecting Different Customs and Practices 29:21 • The Role of Reminders and Tools 29:35 • Conclusion and Final Thoughts 29:5 Cover Pic The Kaliver Rebbe Ztl who survived the Shoa and rebuilt Yiddishkeit in the holy land & beyond with all the United Souls - https://eligoldsmith.substack.com/ Itamar Asked - ChatGPT 4 Great questions! Let's go through each historical event and tie them to both their Jewish (Hebrew) and general (Gregorian) calendar context:

By Robert Dick in Seattle, WA - April 6, 2024 - The book of Hebrews is aimed at Jewish (Hebrew) members of the Church who are seemingly being pressured to return to their original beliefs. It is an elegant "sales pitch" and the most important thing it is selling is the superiority of Jesus Christ to every element of their former religion.

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/israel-studies

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

Rachel Elior's book The Unknown History of Jewish Women: On Learning and Illiteracy, On Slavery and Liberty (de Gruyter, 2023) is a comprehensive study on the history of Jewish women, which discusses their absence from the Jewish Hebrew library of the "People of the Book" and interprets their social condition in relation to their imposed ignorance and exclusion from public literacy.  The book begins with a chapter on communal education for Jewish boys, which was compulsory and free of charge for the first ten years in all traditional Jewish communities. The discussion continues with the striking absence of any communal Jewish education for girls until the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the implications of this fact for twentieth-century immigration to Israel (1949-1959). The following chapters discuss the social, cultural and legal contexts of this reality of female illiteracy in the Jewish community-a community that placed a supreme value on male education. The discussion focuses on the patriarchal order and the postulations, rules, norms, sanctions and mythologies that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, laid the religious foundations of this discriminatory reality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Recapping Yevamot, to explain the first mishnah of Kiddushin. With a deeper dive into the halitzah case on this daf - namely, how do we know she frees herself with halitzah? Plus, a story of R. Tarfon's beit din for a woman who comes for halitzah. Also, the economics of Jewish (Hebrew) slaves, usually as a matter of paying off debt. What about the sale of a female Hebrew slave? How does that compare to the acquisition of kiddushin?

Join us in this series of The Year 5783. In this installment we compare and contrast the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars as an introduction to understanding the difference between "Resolutions" and "Seasons and Times." This is an enlightening journey designed to shift our thinking to produce greater results in our lives. In this season, we must recognize that God wants our attention because He's invested things in us that he wants poured out into the earth right now. Moreover, Hebrew/Jewish thought is slightly different than present day Christian thought even though present day Christian thought has its roots in Jewish/Hebrew thought. We explore this all of this installment of The Year 5783. Take a listen and share with others.For questions or comments email us at questions@ekklesiaunited.com.

Ever since I started speaking and writing about the term qadisha ... an ancient Middle Eastern (Semitic) term for holy woman or feminine holy one or woman in consecrated service ... women have been writing to me to say the word is causing a deep activation and re-membrance within themselves. Qadisha is typically thought of only in terms of the sacred sexual priestess or 'cult prostitute', but as I will show, this attitude actually flows out of Western Empire religion and its origins in Judaism. The original qadisha in pre-Jewish Hebrew culture was much more than this, if she was even this at all. I've come to see qadisha as my own call to service, and I believe this word can open up for us a path of service in the Christ-following tradition, that is not tied to Empire religion, nor entangled with the feminine pain that often still filters through embodiments of the more popular term 'priestess'. Join me for a historical deep dive and practical suggestions on this path! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/divine-radiance/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/divine-radiance/support

God's Word is packed full of power … power unlimited … to transform your life. But one of the biggest problems people have with the Bible is understanding it. Making sense of it. Knowing where it comes from, and where what they're reading today fits into the big picture. Well, I think it's time we did something about that.   About the Bible – Old and New We've all heard of those word association tests that psychologists use. You know, they say ‘black', you say ‘white'; they say ‘rabbit' and you say ‘carrot'; day/night; God/mmm love; devil/mmm evil; Bible/hmm … Bible? How do you respond to that? Stuffy, old, irrelevant? Well, different people will have some different views but actually in Australia where I live, the Bible is one of the least trusted of all historical documents. Over the last week and a bit on the program we've been talking about the incredible power that we unlock, when we read the Bible. But this thing that we call “the Bible”, it's a big book, it's massive and it can be daunting. So today I thought it might be useful just to have a look to see what this Bible is exactly. I want to share with you a secret, it's sad but true. I never read a book cover to cover until I was in my early twenties. I managed to get through school and university and did pretty well I might add, without ever reading a book from beginning to end. I remember at university, in first year English, we studied the book Wuthering Heights which absolutely bored me to tears, I'm sorry and I never opened the book once. There are companies that publish crib notes, you know the summary of the book and a summary of what's in it and a summary of what some of the critics say, so I just quickly read those, crib notes, wrote essays and did, by and large, reasonably well. And I never, ever liked libraries either. You know how libraries have this kind of dusty, dank smell; all of them are the same. Every library on the planet has the same smell. I thought about it for a while, I thought ‘Berni, why don't you like libraries? Why did it take you so long to read books?' The answer I guess has two parts. Firstly, libraries for me always felt really big and inaccessible. They have tens of thousands of books and in the old days when I was at university, they had card systems for accessing, for finding things, I mean these days they have computers. The old card systems had what they call the Dewey Classification system and finding anything just took so incredibly long. And secondly, when you did find the stuff, there was always so much of it, there was so much time involved to, I don't know, look through all those books and research them. I mean, some people are natural book worms, well I'm not. I still frankly don't like libraries. I'm sorry if you're a librarian, I just don't like libraries. I haven't darkened the doorstep of one since I finished my last degree quite a few years ago now. You know something; I think for a lot of people the Bible is exactly like that. It feels big and inaccessible. There are many, many people who wouldn't mind having a read but, for goodness sakes, where do you start? Well today let's break it down a bit, let's make it a bit more accessible. I remember when I started Bible College only a few months after becoming a Christian, everyone took for granted that we knew about the Bible. The reality was, I didn't and my hunch is, I wasn't alone. Let's unpack it a bit, let's demystify it a bit. All of a sudden you know it becomes a whole bunch more accessible. The thing that we call the Bible is made up of 66 different books written by different people over somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 years. That's the kind of period over which the Bible was written. And it wasn't just written by different people but at different times and the last book was written, well almost 2,000 years ago. There are essentially two parts to the Bible, this was complete news to me when I first opened it, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and when I started at Bible College I didn't know which one was which. The Old Testament, well the Old Testament is God's story and the story of how He interacted with and engaged with His chosen people, the Israelites. The Old Testament is written completely B.C., before Christ, before Jesus came to be on earth with us here. What Christians call the Old Testament is in fact exactly the same as the Jewish Hebrew scriptures, Jews still use those same scriptures today, Christians call it the Old Testament. It's written mostly in the original language of Hebrew, the language of the Jews. Now there's small parts of books like Daniel which is written in a language called Aramaic which is the language that Jesus actually spoke but by and large, the Old Testament was originally written in the language of Hebrew. And what we have today, the thing that we call the Old Testament is an English translation of that. Now there are lots of funny name books, Deuteronomy and Judges and Chronicles and there's Ezekiel, there are 39 separate books and there are kind of 4 main parts of the Old Testament. The first 5 books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, are the Jewish or Hebrew Law, the Torah. And then you go Joshua through Ezra and Nehemiah and that's kind of the history of what God did and how His people responded. And then after that are the wisdom books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. And the rest of the books in the Old Testament are written by men called Prophets. Men whom God called to call His people back to Him. That's the Old Testament, it's a story of God engaging with Gods people. And the New Testament is 27 books. Now, it was mostly written in the language of Greek. The first 4 books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are gospel accounts, they're the historical account of Jesus' life and His ministry. And the next book, the book of Acts is the story of the first 20 or so years of the Church after Jesus rose again to be with His Father. Then there's a whole bunch of letters called Epistles from people like Peter and John and Paul, written to Churches that they were involved in or in some cases, to individuals. This may be old hat to some, but I know to many, just a simple understanding of the basic structure of the Bible is going to be a real help. I know that when I was a new Christian, no one ever bothered to explain it to me – I wish they had. Now some people might be saying to themselves, that's all well and good, but how accurate is the Bible. Because before the printing press was ever invented by Gutenberg in 1450, the Bible – there's this massive thing, the Old Testament and New Testament – was transcribed over and over by hand by people called Scribes who copied them by hand. It's hard to imagine. But these days, there's a science called Textual Criticism. It studies whether any errors crept into the Bible as it was copied through all these generations manuscripts. And what it tells us, is that having studied thousands of manuscripts, the levels of accuracy are remarkable. I mean it's a science, people have done it. There are very, very few words or sentences where there is any doubt what was originally written. And blessedly these days, this thing called the Bible has been translated into easy to read, contemporary versions. No more thee's and thou's – great, modern day, accurate, easy to understand translations. And did you know that in the Bible, over half of the 66 books, over half, you can read in half and hour or less. Now look, in a few minutes we can't hope to do anything but scrape the surface. Today we've just talked about some basic factual stuff. No-one really taught me this stuff. I remember becoming a Christian and going and sitting in a Church and people just teach from the Bible which is wonderful but no-one ever explained to me that it was 66 books written by a whole bunch of people over different periods of time. That some of it was stories and history and some of it was letters and some of it was poetry. But when you simplify and demystify all that stuff, it turns out that it's just a wonderful book. And with the many contemporary translations, it's much, much easier to read than I ever thought. As I started to read the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, I was completely blown away by this amazing Jesus. Who would have thought … the Bible.   Getting Practical – Useful Resources I have to tell you, that thing they call the Bible was a real problem for me. I mean, first coming to grips with the fact that it is what it says that it is, the Word of God but then, just getting into it. It's made up of 66 separate books written over about 1,500 years in different times, in different places and different cultures. So there are words and names and places and concepts and ways of thinking … well, we're not always familiar with them. We're continuing in our series ‘Power Unlimited' – because that's what Go's Word brings into our lives so today, we're going to get down and really practical on just how to get into the Bible because unless we do, we're going to miss out on much of the power that God wants to pour into our lives. Over the years I've discovered a few very simple helps or resources that have made such a difference in making sense of God's Word. You see, it turns out there's a whole bunch of people much smarter than me who have done some great research and put the information together in such easy usable ways and all their work makes getting into God's Word, the Bible, so much easier for the likes of you and me. Today I just want to share some of those resources with you. I remember twenty or so years ago, just after I became a Christian, I started attending a tiny little Baptist Church in the southern suburbs of Sydney. A little place called Oyster Bay. Our pastor, Phil, was a passionate and gifted Bible teacher and that man has had a huge impact on my life. Now as well as Sunday services, the Church used to have these little home Bible studies and we'd meet one night a week in someone's house. In our small group, five of us would gather together. And at the time, the particular little home fellowship that I'd joined, was studying the Old Testament book of Hosea. So we'd lob in there each Wednesday evening, we'd have a cup of tea and some fellowship and then we'd sit down and do a Bible study together. And right through that book, over and over and over again, Hosea talks about Ephraim – that word is mentioned 29 times by Hosea. So I remember asking these people, most of them had been Christians for a good many years, “Okay, who or what is this Ephraim thing?” I mean, Hosea kept talking about it and so it seemed to be quite central to what he was saying. But you know something, no-one could tell me who or what Ephraim was. Now it turns out the Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel, Ephraim was one of Joseph's sons and there's a whole history around this tribe and how they rebelled against God, but we didn't know that in that Bible study so a lot of what God was saying to us, through this amazing, powerful book of Hosea, well it was frankly lost on us. And that sort of thing happens a lot more than you might think. Consider the story of the Good Samaritan. It loses its whole meaning if we don't understand the Samaritans and who they were and what the Jews thought of them. Now when Jesus told that story to the assembled masses they all knew the Samaritan story but we don't, it's not natural to us. And there are names and places and concepts and ways of thinking in the Bible that are foreign to us, because we're separated from them by time and culture. It might have made sense to the people back then but not to us now. And unless we understand those things, we miss out on the richness, on the gravity, on the power of what God is trying to say to us. I remember coming to grips with the Jewish system of blood sacrifice in the Old Testament. Now I kind of think about blood sacrifice and it's pretty ghastly to me here and now, but it's something I really had to understand to understand what Jesus did for me on the Cross. So I decided I was going to find out, not just skim the surface, not read through a story and have them talk about Ephraim or Samaria or all these other things I didn't know about and miss out on what God was trying to say to me through the story. Now these accounts were written such a long time ago and God has preserved them and kept them accurate for us here and now but there is indeed a gap of culture and time in history that we have to bridge to understand completely what's happening in what's been written. I mean after all if the Bible is God's Word and if God is speaking to us through it, I decided I needed to know what He was saying. And surprisingly, that's not as difficult as I thought it would be. Right now, I'm going to talk about a handful of really simple resources that made absolutely the world of difference. The first one was my Bible, a simple English translation, not the King James with the ‘thees' and ‘thou arts', there are so many good contemporary language translations available to you and me today. The New International Version or the NIV as it's called, is really popular. I happen to use the New Revised Standard Version (the NRSV). There's a translation called The Message which is really in here and now language. The Contemporary English Version (CEV). The New English Translation (NET). Which one is the best one? The one you're going to read. You can get a thing called A Study Bible, it's got not just the words of the Bible, but it's also got a huge amount of resources packed into it. It explains the meanings of different words, there are notes and maps and cross references. They're really good, they don't cost a whole bunch more than a Bible with just the Bible words. So if you want to do more than just skim across the surface, it's really good to have one of those – a Study Bible. Check them out. One of the most helpful features in a Study Bible is a summary of each book: who wrote it, when, to whom and why because context is so important isn't it? Before I read Ephesians I read four or five paragraphs in my Study Bible which explain the context and all of a sudden the book of Ephesians made a whole bunch more sense to me. A Study Bible is a really worthwhile investment and it's not much more than an ordinary Bible. You can get one from a Christian bookshop or you can buy one online. I happen to have an electronic one these days on my tablet device. The second resource is my Bible dictionary. Now I happen to purchase a Bible dictionary called the Holman Bible Dictionary, years ago – it's just one, single volume. You can get Bible dictionaries that are 25 volumes, mine is just one volume and it has pictures. So when I was reading and it talked about the Temple in the Bible, I could go to my Bible dictionary and look at it and see a picture and plans and explaining the different parts. So I'm able to read a few paragraphs in just a few minutes, and I'm there, I understand what the writers saying about the Temple, about the Holy of Holies, wow! When the Bible talks about Ephraim I look it up, half a column, three minutes, I know who or what Ephraim is. The story of the Good Samaritan; who were the Samaritans? What was their relationship to the Jews? Ah! That's what Jesus meant by the story of the Good Samaritan. And lastly, the third resource was a Bible timeline. It's one of these things you can fold out and it's about four pages wide that show the chronology of the Bible. You read about King David, when was he king? Who was King before him? Who was King after him? What else was going on? Which prophets were writing when David was alive? And all of a sudden you put the whole Bible thing in time sequence, that's huge. And just to top things off, let me tell you about two stunning websites. The first is biblegateway.com where you can compare different Bible translations. The second is studylight.org, it has Bible dictionaries online, the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words, and so many more great resources. All free. So let me ask you? Do you take Jesus seriously? If you do then we need to take the Bible seriously. And for just a small investment on your part in just a few simple resources, they pay such huge dividends in hearing and understanding what God is saying to us today through His Word.   Listen and Learn If you spend anytime with me here on the program one of the things you will know is that I'm really passionate about God and what He has to say. Not in a religious sort of a way but in a Jesus sort of way. The thing that really strikes me about Jesus when you read about Him, is how plain and matter of fact He was about sharing with people who God is and what His plans are. Over these last couple of weeks on the program we've been looking at what it means to lay hold of God's power unlimited, God's resurrection power that's available to you, as you open His Word the Bible and listen to what He has to say. The Bible is God speaking to us and He means to challenge us and stretch us and encourage us and bless us through His Word. One of the ways that many people get God's Word into them is by listening to people speak. Radio programs like this or on television and of course, if you attend a Church. But how can preaching and teaching be a part of really getting God's Word into us? Over these last twenty years or so, the time that I've been a Christian, I've seen two things. On the one hand I have been so blessed by some really good teaching and on the other hand I've seen some pretty bad stuff too. In my very first Church, a little Baptist Church, our pastor's name was Phil Littlejohn. Now Phil was a gifted teacher, he just had this ability to open God's Word and speak God stuff into my heart. I learned later this is a real gifting, different people have different gifts and abilities given to them by God and teaching is one of them. Jesus had that, I mean time and time again when He opened His mouth people were amazed because He spoke with a plainness and a power and an authority that they hadn't heard before. And you know something, He didn't always tell them things they wanted to hear. “Love your enemy.” “Take up your cross and follow me.” “Lose your life for my sake and you'll gain your life.” It's not exactly good marketing, I mean the spin merchants would not have let Him get up and speak like that today. I've spent quite a bit of time looking at how Jesus preached. It's real, it's powerful. It's balanced on the one hand and radical on the other and it sort of, well, it cuts through all the selfish rubbish we go on with, right to the heart of what God wants to talk about. And my prayer is that when I discharge my gifting to teach in my own way, I'll always try to teach like He did. But you know I've also sat in Churches over the years and listened to preachers drone on with dry and theoretical, completely cerebral stuff, that's not relevant to my life. On more than one occasion I've walked out after church and two hours later I ask myself “Do I remember what he talked about?” And the answer is, “No, not really.” Or you listen to other speakers and there are lots of words and they're very entertaining and they make people laugh and they tickle their ears with great stories and things they want to hear and they yell and people slap them on the back afterwards, ‘praise the Lord' but I've been to some of those too and well, I felt like I'd been at the Lord's table to be fed but I left hungry and empty. The flip side of that is that with some other preachers, I can remember years later what they were talking about, years later in difficult circumstances God seems to bring into my heart the words they spoke to me. Preaching and teaching is one of the ways that God gets His Word into us. You see it right through the Bible; He uses men and women to speak to others, to teach them. I mean the Samaritan woman at the well; she went and told people about Jesus. Paul and Peter and all the other guys that went out preaching. The question is, how do you get the most out of that? How does preaching and teaching play a part in us reading our Bible and unlocking the power unlimited that God has for us? Well, here are just some of my observations. I see people come into a Church on a Sunday and listen to the preacher and they don't take any notes and they don't bring their Bible and they don't follow what the preacher's saying in their Bible. I take my Bible with me, I open my Bible and I read what the preacher is talking about. People can speak all the words that they like, everything that they say, they can crack jokes and have great stories – the most important thing is God's Word, the most important thing is what God is saying. And secondly I take some notes. I mean you can't even get through kindergarten on a half an hour a week without taking notes. You know, if we take God seriously, if we want to follow Jesus and really take that seriously, you know something, we've got to take learning seriously. Do you know what a disciple is? A disciple is literally “a learner”, that's what the word disciple means, to be a learner. And thirdly, the thing I do when I've listened to some really good preaching, is I spend some time afterwards in God's Word reading it for myself. Sometimes it's not until you get home and you pray it through and you spend some time in that passage and maybe looking at some other related ones, that God really drops it into your spirit. I mean, years ago I heard a preacher teaching on a profound passage: 1 Peter 5:6,7: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Now I've learnt so much from what God taught me through that preacher in this passage but I've learned just as much and maybe even more from pondering and praying over this scripture and looking at other related passages. Learning in my heart – that's when I humble myself, when I get off my little tin pot throne and just walk each day faithfully with God. He's the one who later opens the doors; He's the one that's got an eternity ready for me. I've looked at this whole thing of preaching, and listened to some incredibly sermons and some dreadful ones too, I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of preaching; dead and alive. Dead preaching is full of words, it's boring and dry or maybe it's hyped up and frothy and bubbly but at the end of the day, there's no eternal food there because God's Word is not being preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's only God's Word by the power of the Spirit that can change us. I can't change you, I can't say things in my own strength that will change your life, but if I'm speaking God's stuff, if the Holy Spirit somehow takes God's stuff and puts it into your heart, that's when change happens and only God can do that. This is how the Apostle Paul put it: 1 Cor 2:1-5: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God Can I encourage you to be discerning as to what you listen to? Go and listen to the preachers who are proclaiming God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.. Go and have a read about how Jesus preached in the Gospels Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, the first four books of the New Testament. It's edgy and profound and real and dealing with the hard issues, and find yourself some preachers like that. Not ones that just entertain and tickle your ears with things you want to hear. The ones that open up God's Word and say, ‘Well, what's God saying to us today?' and then take what they said home, open your Bible there where they left off and go and lay hold of God's power unlimited for you, for your life.

Thanks to God for Spiritual union. Today we tie in parts of Jewish Hebrew, the Catholic Church Liturgy and the old version of the Bible from the Reformation and look at how these fit together and join each other. We give thanks for this wisdom and understanding that God allows for. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vikki-semple/message

Concerning Biblical Salvation, what is the purpose of the Law of Moses, the Torah? Paul wrote in Colossians 2:13-14 - "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (tree)." What was he referring to?  Colossians 2:14 is problematic for a lot of people and, in fact, presents us with a large number of varying and different interpretations. However, my understanding of the statement is rather straightforward because I think it directly relates back to Genesis 3:22, "Then YHVH Elohim (God) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil." We will come to understand that Paul in Colossians 2:14 was NOT AT ALL speaking about the Mosaic Law (the Torah) and yet the Mosaic Law is extremely important to the story. Without the Law, we will miss some rather important details about Messiah and the Jewish-Hebrew biblical law of the Shetar Hov - a bond of obligation. To get freed from this obligation bond that the Garden Serpent foisted upon Adam and Eve, to sign for it, the only way out of that unfair deal was to graciously receive the gift of a payment on our behalf by Mashiach Yeshua. His actions to set us free falls under the biblical laws of acquisitions, liens, and discharges of debt. On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio - Program Number 6, Episode 59, we'll have a look into Paul's statement from Colossians 2:14, "...having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Understanding the biblical laws of  the Shetar Hov (acquisitions, liens, and debt discharge) can help us to better understand what Paul was referring to in Colossians 2:14.  Prepare yourself to take down some notes.

Concerning Biblical Salvation, what is the purpose of the Law of Moses, the Torah? Paul wrote in Colossians 2:13-14 - "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (tree)." What was he referring to? Colossians 2:14 is problematic for a lot of people and, in fact, presents us with a large number of varying and different interpretations. However, my understanding of the statement is rather straightforward because I think it directly relates back to Genesis 3:22, "Then YHVH Elohim (God) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil."We will come to understand that Paul in Colossians 2:14 was NOT AT ALL speaking about the Mosaic Law (the Torah) and yet the Mosaic Law is extremely important to the story. Without the Law, we will miss some rather important details about Messiah and the Jewish-Hebrew biblical law of the Shetar Hov - a bond of obligation. To get freed from this obligation bond that the Garden Serpent foisted upon Adam and Eve, to sign for it, the only way out of that unfair deal was to graciously receive the gift of a payment on our behalf by Mashiach Yeshua. His actions to set us free falls under the biblical laws of acquisitions, liens, and discharges of debt.On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio - Program Number 6, Episode 59, we'll have a look into Paul's statement from Colossians 2:14, "...having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."Understanding the biblical laws of the Shetar Hov (acquisitions, liens, and debt discharge) can help us to better understand what Paul was referring to in Colossians 2:14. Prepare yourself to take down some notes.Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/biz/fund?id=23WBKCMBHKDT8/Ancient Roads: Real Israel Talk Radio)

Biblical salvation is more than just a theological construct. It is a Truthful and Real condition that every human being on planet earth needs! Two of the more well-known and better expressions of this much-needed gift from the Hand of the Almighty Eternal One is, firstly, that of John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His Unique Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." A second statement to explain this is from Sha'ul (Paul) who wrote in Colossians 2:13-14 - "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (tree)." The often-quoted statement from John 3:16 is pretty easy to follow. However, for many, the statement from Colossians 2:14 is a bit more problematic and presents us with a large number of different interpretations. My understanding of the statement is rather straightforward because I think it directly relates back to Genesis 3:22, "Then YHVH Elohim (God) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil." We will come to understand that Paul was NOT AT ALL speaking about the Mosaic Law (the Torah) and yet the Mosaic Law is extremely important to the story. Without the Law, we will miss some rather important details about Messiah and the Jewish-Hebrew biblical law of the Shetar Hov - a bond of obligation. To get freed from this obligation bond that the Garden Serpent foisted upon Adam and Eve, to sign for it, the only way out of that unfair deal was to graciously receive the gift of a payment on our behalf by Mashiach Yeshua. His actions to set us free falls under the biblical laws Acquisitions, Liens, and Discharges of Debt. On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio - Program Number 5, Episode 58, we'll have a look into Paul's statement from Colossians 2:14, "...having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Understanding the biblical laws of acquisitions, liens, and discharges of debt can help us to better understand what Paul was referring to in Colossians 2:14. Prepare yourself to take down some notes. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/biz/fund?id=23WBKCMBHKDT8/Ancient Roads: Real Israel Talk Radio)

Biblical salvation is more than just a theological construct. It is a Truthful and Real condition that every human being on planet earth needs! Two of the more well-known and better expressions of this much-needed gift from the Hand of the Almighty Eternal One is, firstly, that of John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His Unique Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." A second statement to explain this is from Sha'ul (Paul) who wrote in Colossians 2:13-14 - "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (tree)." The often-quoted statement from John 3:16 is pretty easy to follow. However, for many, the statement from Colossians 2:14 is a bit more problematic and presents us with a large number of different interpretations. My understanding of the statement is rather straightforward because I think it directly relates back to Genesis 3:22, "Then YHVH Elohim (God) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil." On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio - Program Number 6, Episode 58, we'll have a look into Paul's statement from Colossians 2:14, "...having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." We will come to understand that Paul was NOT AT ALL speaking about the Mosaic Law (the Torah). Rather, he was specifically addressing Jewish-Hebrew biblical law referred to as the Laws of Acquisitions, Liens, and Discharges of Debt. All of this is expressed in ancient Israelite law and a good understanding of this can help us to understand what Paul was referring to in Colossians 2:14.  We will also have a look at some additional biblical ideas concerning ransom and redemption. Prepare yourself to take down some notes.

https://megachurch.pl/news/קורונה-וירוס-ומה-עכשיו/ Please share with your Jewish Hebrew speaking friends. Also available in: English https://youtu.be/TSeh9Ti7JDY German https://youtu.be/bseK6U_dAJ0 Russian https://youtu.be/5_MWV4Xucss Swedish https://megachurch.pl/news/coronavirus-vad-hander-nu/ French https://megachurch.pl/news/coronavirus-et-maintenant/ Spanish https://megachurch.pl/news/coronavirus-y-ahora-que/ Italian https://megachurch.pl/news/coronavirus-e-cosa-ora/ [FULL TRANSCRIPT] == ?קורונה וירוס ומה עכשיו כולנו שמענו על אפידמיית קורונה וירוס COVID 19. עד עכשיו רוב הזמן חשנו בטחון יחסי: - מים חמים - חנויות מלאות מוצרים - תרופות בבתי מרקחת רק קצת יותר מזומן לא היה מזיק. אבל לאחרונה המראות מסין הקומוניסטית, גופות פזורות בכל מקום, מדפים ריקים בחנויות וערים באיטליה עם חיילים ברחובות גרמו לנו להתעורר למציאות הקשה. פתאום גילינו שהשגשוג המודרני יכול ביום אחד להעלם. ובמקומו הגיע פחד, מאבק על הישרדות, סכנת הדבקות ומוות. לכן אולי טוב יהיה לשאול את עצמך. האם יש בסיס אמין לתחושת הביטחון שלי? הרי לפני מגפת הקורונה בכל עת יכולתי לקבל התקף לב, לחלות בסרטן או להידרס. אך הסיכויים לאירועים אלו היו קטנים מהסיכויים להידבק במגפה. אף אחד מאיתנו לא יודע אם ידבק בנגיף COVID19 וישרוד. אך כולנו יודעים שביום אחד החיים יגמרו ואנחנו נמות. ומה יקרה אז? ולכן זהו זמן מושלם, לחשוב ברצינות על אלוהים? בימי התנ"ך אנשים חיו בעולם עם הרבה יותר סכנות. אך כשהתמודדו אתם תמיד אמרו באומץ רב: "גַּם כִּי-אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת לֹא-אִירָא רָע..." - תהילים כב:ד האם ידוע לך למה המחבר של הפסוקים האלו, מלך דויד לא פחד מהרע והסכנות העומדות לפניו? בואו נקרא את הפסוק במלואו. "גַּם כִּי-אֵלֵךְ בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת לֹא-אִירָא רָע כִּי-אַתָּה עִמָּדִי" - תהילים כב:ד זאת ההשגחה וההגנה של אדונינו הכל יכול, אשר שכנעה אנשים ונתנה להם תחושת ביטחון אמיתית. האם גם אתה רוצה תחושת ביטחון אמיתית ולהיפטר מפחד ודאגה? אנשים בתנ"ך ידעו שאפילו המוות אינו האסון הכי נורא בחיים ושאחריו החיים לא נגמרים. "כִּי בָטַחְתִּי כִּי לֹא מָוֶת וְלֹא חַיִּים לֹא מַלְאֲכֵי אֵל לֹא שָׂרֵי הַצָּבָא לֹא אֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר יֶשְׁנָם וְלֹא אֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר עֲתִדִים לָבֹא וְלֹא גִבֹּרֵי כֹחַ׃ וְלֹא רוּם וְלֹא עֹמֶק וְלֹא אֵיזֶה יְקוּם אַחֵר יִהְיֶה לְאֵל יָדָם לְהַפְרִידֵנוּ מֵאַהֲבַת הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר בְּיֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ אֲדֹנֵינוּ!" - רומים ח:לח-לט מדוע אנשים במקרא לא פחדו מהעתיד, לא בחיים האלו ולא בעולם הבא? התשובה פשוטה מאוד: הם קיבלו הבטחה מאלוהים ובטחו בה. השליח שאול עונה לשאלה הזאת בקצרה: "יוֹדֵעַ אֲנִי בְּמִי הֶאֱמַנְתִּי" - טימותיאוס ב א:יד ומה איתך? במי אתה בוטח? בעצמך? סמכות אנושית? פוליסת הביטוח? משרד הבריאות או השלטון? אף אחד מהם לא יעמוד במבחן ולא ייתן לך תחושת ביטחון אמיתית. זאת בדיוק הסיבה לפחד המתמשך שלך. פשוט עמוק בפנים אתה יודע שכל הדברים האלו הינם חסרי משמעות, ולא באמת יעזרו לך. הגיע הזמן לשינוי. ישוע מציג את עצמו כהרועה והמגן הכי טוב. "אֲנִי הָרוֹעֶה הַטּוֹב" - יוחנן י:יא הוא גם הוכיח, שאתה מאוד חשוב לו ושיש לו את הכוח לפתור את כל הבעיות שלך. "וֵאלֹהִים גִּלָּה אַהֲבָתוֹ לְעֵינֵינוּ כִּי בְעוֹד הָיִינוּ חֹטְאִים נָתַן הַמָּשִׁיחַ אֶת־נַפְשׁוֹ בַּעֲדֵנוּ" - רומים ה:ח אם תעמוד במצבך הנוכחי ביום הדין מול אלוהים, גזר הדין הצודק והיחיד שמגיע לך יהיה מוות נצחי. כלומר להיפרד מאלוהים לנצח. גיהנום. בדיוק בגלל זה ישוע, למרות שאף פעם לא חטא ויכל לחזור לאביו שבשמיים, החליט למות על הצלב, בכדי לשלם את החוב של חטאיך, אחת ולתמיד. אך זה לא סוף הסיפור. שלושה ימים מאוחר יותר הוא הראה את עליונותו על המוות וקם לתחיה. עכשיו הוא קורא לך שתבטח בו. "הִנֵּה אֲנִי עֹמֵד לַפֶּתַח וְדֹפֵק אִישׁ כִּי יִשְׁמַע אֶת־קוֹלִי וּפָתַח אֶת־הַדֶּלֶת אָבֹא לֶאֱכֹל עִמּוֹ וְהוּא עִמָּדִי" - ההתגלות ג:כ אם תפתח את הדלת ותזמין את ישוע אל תוך חייך, הוא יציל אותך מגיהנום. דמו שנשפך על גבעת גולגולתה, יגן אליך ביום הדין מהזעם אבינו שבשמיים. עם כניסת ישוע אל חייך הוא יהפוך לרועה שלך כאן ועכשיו. השטן כבר לא יוכל לגעת בך כי אתה תהיה שייך לישוע. "אֲנִי בָאתִי לְמַעַן יִמְצְאוּ חַיִּים וְחַיַּת נַפְשָׁם לָרְוָיָה" - יוחנן י:י "בָּעוֹלָם צָרָה תְּבוֹאַתְכֶם אַךְ־הִתְאַזְּרוּ עֹז... Support this podcast

I talk about the pagan Valentine's Day, the Jewish Hebrew day of love in the summer months, and conclude with the singing of a song. I forgot to mention in the episode that the Hebrew word for "Love" is "Ahava" and the root of that word is "hav" which means "to give".

Michael and Lorisa share about their experience in going to Israel for the first time. They are convicted about our need to understand our Jewish roots as Gentiles. The Gospel is rooted in a Jewish/Hebrew context. Jesus was given to the world through the Jewish people and He is returning for them. We hope you are convicted and stirred as they share their experience.

Inspired by the upcoming day of Atonement on the Jewish/ Hebrew calendar, this episode introduces a teaching about Nothingness, and the power of Nothingness to help us move toward self-compassion, forgiveness, and new beginnings. Two meditative practices are briefly introduced - these practices can be utilized in any time or space as a way to tune. The lessons of Yom Kippur are profound - enjoy these universal ideas and practices that can bring great benefits to self and other. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/withinus/message

This is our third episode in an arc on Spiritual Development. We look closer at Stages II and III of M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith, and how we can navigate tensions to this journey moving towards union with God.  It's important to evaluate what part of Christianity we try to protect out of fear. Our goal: "Life in the Spirit" (see Romans 8) meaning to move into union with God.  Our guest music today is: Feel Your Love, by Still Spoken You can find it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3wWxnAjCikcl6Ug9Fymr09 Reminder of the M. Scott Peck's Stages of Faith: Stage I: Chaotic, Antisocial Stage II: Formal, Institutional, Fundamental Stage III: Skeptic, Individual, Questioner Stage IV: Mystic, Communal Part of the dark side of stage 2 is high boundaries, but because of fear, there's no openness to tension. Sermon on the Mount reference re: murder, adultery and divorce: Matthew 5:21 Jesus is moving the focus of spirituality out of the rules into the center of our heart, where we need God to be transformed. If faith is not marked with compassion, and is not moving you towards openness in God, then it'll become religious and legalistic. The point of healthy boundaries is to lead you into LIFE. Recommended podcast on Jewish & Hebrew culture: "Stuff Jews Should Know." Examples of Stage II to Stage III transitions in the Bible: -Galatians 6: Paul reframing the importance of circumcision vs. being transformed into a new creation through Jesus Christ. -Peter having a vision about allowing "unclean" foods to be eaten. (Acts 10:9-16) -Jesus breaking sabbath laws with healing, eating grain, etc. This transition is usually a result of suffering. These "rules" or the way that God and the world make sense based on religion until suffering happens in life, and the rules stop making sense. Matthew 12:1 A Discussion about the Sabbath 12 At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. 2 But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.” 3 Jesus said to them, “Haven't you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. 5 And haven't you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? 6 I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! 7 But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.'[a] 8 For the Son of Man[b] is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Development is a process of maturing over time, through life stages. We can get stuck in different development stages, and never move past them. From the therapeutic perspective: Looking at the amygdala + limbic system, the amygdala triggers "fight or flight" in our reactions. Even though in our current culture, our lives are rarely threatened day to day, we'll continue to experience life day to day as "threatening." "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Viktor E. Frankl Our guest music today is: Feel Your Love, by Still Spoken You can find it on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3wWxnAjCikcl6Ug9Fymr09

It’s been a tough week for our country. Riots at political rallies. An increasingly course discourse. Much angst in the world. And I know you are feeling it. Well, consider this PODCAST to be a bright and beautiful shot of much-needed adrenaline to your system, some refreshing encouragement from Jesus’ heart to yours. Let's begin our discussion with this: It is one of the most precious, and quite frankly priceless privileges in the entire Bible. I am referring to the one verse that concludes the fourth chapter of the book of Hebrews. One glorious verse that speaks volumes, both to the original readers of this verse, and to us as well. But before I read it to you, I must first set this scene: As its title suggests -- Hebrews -- this book was written to Jewish believers in Jesus. These precious people lost everything when they become committed Christ-followers. Unlike the letters of Paul, written to local gatherings of believers in a given city -- Rome, Corinth, Philippi -- this letter was written to Jewish (Hebrew) believers struggling everywhere throughout the Roman Empire because, due to relentless persecution, they were scattered, far and wide. We get only the barest of glimpses into their desperate circumstances from cryptic statements such as these: “Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever” (Hebrews 10). Or this in Hebrews 13: “Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” No one was exempt. Not even someone as faithful as young Pastor Timothy, protege of the Apostle Paul, of whom we read in Hebrews 13: “I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you.” For the first generation of Jewish Christ-followers, times were tough, their circumstances dire. So in order to encourage them, the writer of this great book made to them (and to us!) this precious promise: “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Emphasis upon that shockingly bold word “boldly.” Trust me. That thud you just heard was sound of their jaws dropping and hitting the floor as the original readers scanned those words into their suffering souls, for reasons that you will soon hear. Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. God bless you richly as you listen.

In recent months we've noticed a rather disturbing trend taking place in traditional Christianity, especially in the more charismatic circles of the Christian Faith. As more and more adherents/believers/Christians, if you will, are feeling the tug towards the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith, the church's leaders are seeing and actually acting upon opportunities to take advantage of their members' and followers' interests in things Hebrew or more popularly, Jewish. And again, this seems to be more localized to charismatic churchianity.    It wasn't but 3-short years ago that so-called Rabbi Ralph Messer, in a rather disturbing and strange ceremony, wrapped Bishop Eddie Long in a Torah scroll and crowned Eddie Long some kind of king. This of course upset to no small degree many traditional and orthodox Jews around the nation and possibly even the world. You can actually see this travesty on youtube.com--simply type in the search term Ralph Messer Torah Scroll Eddie Long and you'll have a number of video clips that clearly show this incident.   Other Christian leaders have taken it upon themselves to take hold of the ever burgeoning interest in the Jewish/Hebrew roots of the Christian Faith, taking it upon themselves to teach, preach, produce videos and CDs, and write books on the subject. The vast majority of content on the subject that these preachers are putting out to their flocks is based upon horribly twisted theology, doctrine and Jewish tradition and even mysticism that in the long-run serves only to severely damage their credibility as men and women of Yahovah/Yahweh/Yahuah or whatever name you refer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by, and worse, lead their followers down a path of spiritual destruction.    The Eddie Long incident is an extreme example of what can go wrong when money and power hungry preachers and teachers see an opportunity to tap into a new trend that they identify as being of potential interest to the so-called Body of Christ. As more and more people who once identified themselves as Christians are leaving Christianity for various and sundry reasons--mainly because they've come to terms that Christianity is in and of itself hollow and it is an irrelevant aspect of their overall spiritual lives--these jack-legged preachers are finding themselves scrambling to come up with new, thought-provoking schemes and themes to capture the imaginations of their followers and to keep the cash-flow going.    In this multi-episode series of It's Not As You Perceive, we explore and discuss one of the latest trends seemingly taking charismatic churchianity by storm in recent months--that being the Jewish Prayer Shawl. As you will see, the issue we will present to you in this series has nothing to do with Christians, or for that matter Jews, owning or using prayer shawls. The issue, as you will hear dear friends, is the false teachings and prophecies that these men and women of churchianity are putting out to their members and followers, potentially leading them astray. Seemingly gone are the days when sermons and teachings were based primarily on what is contained in the Bible. Instead, the sermons and teachings are geared toward appealing to the itchy ears, the greed, and desperation of believers looking for anything that their beloved religion could offer to make their unfulfilled lives match the ill-perceived abundant life that the Master promised to those who would be His disciples.    We warn you that a great deal of what you will hear in this series as being taught, preached and advocated by various preachers and teachers may disturb you as much as it disturbed us when we first heard it. If you are indeed disturbed, then it's a sure bet that your spiritual discernment meter is properly functioning. After gaining a clear understanding of such false teaching, the challenge then becomes, what do we do with that which we've just learned? Let's discuss and sort this thing out.   This is a combined episode of It's Not As You Perceive, Episode 63 and Sabbath Thoughts & Reflections 25--The Prayer Shawl Controversy, Part 1.