A Change of Mind

President Donald Trump has changed his mind.

He has done the very thing which he urged President Obama not to do. He has done the very same thing which he assured Americans that he would not do if he were president. The reactions are as trite as they are disingenuous. Some Republican party members reveal, yet again, a serious cause to wonder about the mind of our national leaders. Some have cried that had they known President Trump would do as he has done towards Syria, that is as what they see, an involvement in the middle east they would have voted for Clinton. Briefly, here is why that is so farcical.

We have heard for years and we remember Trump’s and the entire Republican party telling us how they would at lightning speed repeal and replace President Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act. There is no one to blame for the fact of that debacle then the Republicans, this despite their majority control in Washington. Americans could reason similarly: If they had known the Republicans were going to be so inept and incompetent in their own plans towards their own party member in the White House, then they could have just opted to stay the course with the equally same group of inept and incompetent politicians.

I have said for several decades that once a man gets into the White House the sobering reality begins to set in on them. Trump is experiencing it as much as Obama, Bush, Clinton and every president who has served.

Yes, a change of mind is not always good. Yes, sometimes it is bad.

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For Our Instruction: The Past, Present and Future of Israel

Promise, conquest and comfort, environment and military, unfaithfulness, and restoration are all part of the history of Israel. Although we do think or associate famine, drought, pestilence and infestation with Israel these too were a part of Israel’s history. Of course, present day Jews look at Israel in the scriptures and draw a straight line, rightly so, to connect themselves between then and now. My purpose here is neither to affirm or deny that connection. The title of this article is not about what it probably conjures up in your mind. This article will not delve into Israel as it exists today or the popular speculations of some Christians concerning OT prophecies in Israel today. It is not a expose or a thrashing of Israel as a people or a sovereign nation. Rather, it is a view of ancient Israel from the time it was a mere promise which God made to one man all the way through a brief period until the fulfillment of that promise, and then, to what befell Israel when it forsook the covenant which God had made with Israel on the basis of that promise and the eventual restoration of Israel. The focus of this article is taken from Romans 15:4 in the New Testament (NT) where the apostle Paul wrote to a young church in Rome about the value of the ancient scriptures.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

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God is one: On a Unitarian and Trinitarian debate

The Indwelling of Deity in the Believer by Gilbert Torres

(Checkout the amiable and great dialog in the comment section with Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal. The article was my response to his article Christianity Unmasked. Some of his congregants contributed their thoughts too. gt)
Debate: Unitarianism vs Trinitarianism

This article is not about debates. It is not a refutation of a debate. It is an address of a single aspect of the discussion concerning deity. Debates are a great platform for grandstanding. I do not care to attend debates. I have never participated in one and I have no desire to do so. They can do little or nothing to enlighten the saints who are of the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Worse still, too often the saints are treated to a carnal spectacle between the presenters. The tactics of single word isolation in the original Hebrew and Greek languages are flashed before the audience; each presenter positing alternately what the word means and what it could otherwise possibly mean also. Of course, there is an abundance of verses, which like their word components, are isolated and listed for what they do not say as much as for what they do not say about God.

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all Israel will be saved: Replacement Theology

I want to state out front that I reject Replacement Theology. I reject, too, the opposing view which states Israel is still in covenant relationship with God. Similarly, I reject the anti-semitism charges which come with those rejections. I trust my reasons will be made clear through my comments on this article by Dr. Gary Hedrick, President of CJF Ministries. (The article names Rabbi Loren Jacobs as author, also. It would seem these two individuals know each other. I am not interested or concerned with exactly which one of the two wrote the article.)

Generally, I prefer a Bible term or phrase rather than one created by men,

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Melchizedek, priest of God Most High

A few thoughts on Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, as mentioned in Hebrews 7.

I still remember my first introduction in seminary to Melchizedek. The explanation was weak and unconvincing at best and without any lessons for the saints in Christ at worse.

The fact that Melchizedek's brief but significant appearance in the book of Genesis in connection with father Abraham was one of great prominence for Israel does not escape the writer of Hebrews. In a book which introduces every significant character with their genealogy, that is, their beginning, there is no mention of Melchizedek's genealogy, hence, the Hebrews account that he was "without father, without mother."

We, the saints in Christ, are quick in our sternness towards Jews on their inability or unwillingness to ponder much less grasp the significance and implications which surround Melchizedek. However, we, too, often fail.

Among the lessons which reverberate from Melchizedek as much for Israel as for the saints in Christ is that 1) God has always had faithful witnesses and servants long before Israel or the church. The value of one's genealogy is that 2) one can effectively say they "were there" in the same sense Levi was there in the body his father Abraham when he paid tithes to Melchizedek. (7:9) As genealogies go 3) ancestors two or generations in one's past may appear with names different than our own, yet, the genealogy establishes our mutual heritage.

Israel and the church share a similar reaction in their inability and willingness to understand and accept that those who are of and "live by faith" do not and may not look like us, but they are no less faithful servants and witnesses of God Most High. Certainly, Israel's reliance on genealogies to stake their claims is no different than some saints who stake their claims on a particular individual or event in history with any reliance on the testimony of scripture being secondary. Here is the confidence of those who are of the faith that is in Christ Jesus; that through that same faith we have claimed we "were there" when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek.

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Christianity Unmasked

Note: I encourage readers to read the complete article by Rabbi Yisroel Blumenthal. This article, more than any other on this blog, has a thread of extended, amiable comments shared between Yisroel and me. I have denoted those clips from his article with italics and asterisk (***) marks. The section headings are from his article. gt

***The Church has enjoyed the credibility associated with these truths because people failed to discern between that which is originally Christian and that which is the true possession of all mankind.

Christianity has also falsely claimed to be the originator of certain truths that do not belong to her.

And finally and most seriously, the Church has set herself up as the sole distributor of truths that belong to everyone.***

The Universal Principles of Justice and Charity

***This literary device accentuates the fictitious notion that Jesus is the originator of these universal truths and that they were unknown to mankind until Jesus uttered them to his audience.***

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