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Judaism,
Christianity, After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel was split into two kingdoms known as the House of Judah and the House of Israel. The House of Judah (the Jews) remained faithful to the God of their fathers, but the House of Israel turned away from God and began to worship idols. Because of their unfaithfulness, the House of Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians in 722 BCE; never to be seen again until the end of days when the Holy One, blessed be He, would gather them again to Himself. The House of Israel was scattered into all the nations of the earth and lost its identity. The prophets foretold the demise of Israel; but they also wrote of a time when Israel would be gathered out of all the nations to which it had been scattered. For thousands of years the Jews have waited for the time when the prophesies would be fulfilled and the two houses would be united again. The rabbis taught that when Messiah came the kingdom would be restored:
In the first century of the common era, a Jewish Rabbi from the Galilean city of Nazareth began to teach, and plant the seeds of restoration and of a renewal of the covenant that God had made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. He restored many of the teachings that had been discarded when Shammai became nassi (president) of the Sanhedrin after the death of Hillel. The followers of Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph of Nazareth compiled his teachings into the writings of the Nazarenes which would later be called the New Testament. For nearly two thousand years the words of Joshua (Jesus) would be largely ignored by those who claimed to be his followers, and a new religion called Christianity would attempt to redefine his message. Rabbi Joshua ben Joseph [a.k.a. Jesus Christ] taught that only the righteous would enter into the kingdom; and he defined righteousness as every rabbi since Moshe [Moses] had defined it. He said, "Anyone who breaks even the least of the mitzvot and teaches others to break them will be called 'least' in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who does and teaches them will be called 'great' in the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:19) But what does this have to do with the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel? For thousands of years the rabbis taught that before Moshiach [Messiah] can come to establish the Messianic Kingdom and unite the two houses, Israel must perform "t'shuva" (repentance) and become faithful, once again, to the God of their fathers. After all these centuries, the impossible has begun to happen as Christianity begins to make a paradigm shift. Scholars and theologians like Dr. Marvin Wilson (Our Father Abraham) and Dr. Brad Young (Jesus the Jewish Theologian) began publishing books about the Jewish Roots of Christianity. The Jewish Roots movement began to gain momentum in the last decade of the twentieth century until it had turned into the fastest growing movement in Christianity. Ordinary people from virtually every Christian denomination are now beginning to observe the Biblical Holy Days just as the first century believers did. They have begun to observe the Sabbath just as the first century believers did. They have even begun to keep the kosher laws concerning clean and unclean meat. By the thousands they have been joining Messianic congregations and in-home Bible studies. In the course of all this spiritual activity, several major works have been written about "Lost Israel" and the restoration of the two houses of Israel. Some of these works have been written by Messianic or Christian believers of Messiah Joshua ben Joseph [Jesus the Christ]; and the other books were written by an Orthodox Jewish Israeli. Some of these books can be read right on the internet. According to Orthodox Jewish author/researcher, Yair Davidy, "...the predominant religion among lost Israel is Christianity." We are now beginning to see some evidence of the two houses coming together. In October 2000, for the first time, Christians, Messianics, and Orthodox Jews came together in a celebration of the biblical festival of Sukkot (also called the Feast of Tabernacles) at the Sukkot 2000 conference in Ocean Shores, Washington which was sponsored by Christian Renewal Ministries International. In 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and in 2005 CRMI sponsored a celebration of Sukkot in Jerusalem where Christians and Messianics learned from Orthodox Rabbis (Zech. 8:23). For more information go to http://www.originsofourfaith.com/ft.html Help this ministry with a tax deductible donation.
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