Short Review of an “israel today” magazine article

Short Review of an “israel today” magazine article
in the October 2005 NR81 issue
by Chaplain Leonard M. Hart



Article: “The High Holy Days: Call To Repentance” page 13

I am going to skip over the “holidays” themselves and address the unbibical claims made in the last two paragraphs (even though much could be addressed concerning those “holidays”).

paragraph 5: “On Yom Kippur, Jews are called to knock with all their might at the Gates of Mercy (Exodus 34: 5-7) because it is the Day of Judgement. The Lord grants forgiveness of sins on Yom Kippur, enabling the repentant to be written in the book of life.”

By inserting a scripture from the Bible (Exodus 34: 5-7) into their statement, it would appear to have credibility , that is, unless you actually read Exodus 34: 5-7. Regardless of whether you read that scripture from the King James Version of the Bible or from the Jewish Bible, aka “Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures”, Exodus 34: 5-7 does not say what their statement claims. This is a common practice among Jewish authors, writers, and rabbis. When called on it, they may answer, as did a prominate Jewish rabbi on a late night talk show, that God had given the scriptures to the Jews and therefore the scriptures meant what the Jews said that they meant. The rabbi also stated that Christians error in thinking that they can understand the scriptures, because it was not given to them.

I have yet to find, anywhere in the Bible, where your sins can be forgiven on October 14th (ten days past Rosh Hashanah), regardless of whose calendar or Bible you use. According to the article, this only applies to Jews. I guess everyone else just goes to hell, no matter what day it is. The teaching in the article quoted, does not exist in Exodus 34: 5-7, or any other part of the Bible.

paragraph 6: “Like the bibical priests, Jews who have received God’s atonement through His Son Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah) intercede and fast for their people on Yom Kippur, so that they too may receive the gift of eternal life.”

Like their statement in paragraph 5 , of the article, there is no bibicial basis for it. It sounds a lot like the Catholic belief that a family member can be prayed out of purgatory. The paragraph starts out by stating that Jews are performing the same duty as bibical priest. There are a lot of differences, and a few should be obvious. No one becomes like a bibical priest by performing unbibical acts. Then the article states that these Jews “intercede and fast for their people on Yom Kippur, so that they too may receive the gift of life.”. There they go again, leaving everyone else out. There is only one intercessor between us and God, and that is Christ our Lord. No one else can, and Jews cannot intercede for other Jews. If a person is to receive the gift of eternal life, they will have to do it God’s way. No man made plan or special separate plan for Jews only, will work. It is only through the shed blood of Christ our Lord that anyone can receive the gift of eternal life. He paid a debt He did not owe, because I owed a debt I could not pay! The law required the death penalty for sin. He fulfilled that requirement of the law by taking our place (note: it was the penalty that was nailed to the cross with Him, not the law). Christ did not distroy the law or do away with it, instead He submitted to it’s requirements in our behalf. Praise be the name of the Lord!!

Some may try to defend the statements in the article by saying that they were just explaining what Jews in Israel believe. Even if that were true, where are their statements showing a bibical prospective? The article leads no Jews to Christ, keeps them in their error, and Judaizes Christians by bring in more “traditions of the elders” into Christianity. Christ warned us to beware of their teachings and yet most of todays church just gobbles it up as if it were some insight into Christianity. They are not even aware, let alone heeding the instructions to beware. Let those with eyes to see, see and those with ears to hear, hear. #