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Messianic Israel / Jew Evangelistic T-Shirt: Shema & Isa 53

God loves Israel! He loves Israel far more than did the Apostle Paul, who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit:

1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. … 1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 9:1-5; 3:1-2)

What does God say to those who harm Israel?  “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8). As with the rest of mankind, Jews who do not believe the gospel will be eternally lost (Romans 11:28a), but nonetheless “as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (Romans 11:28b-11:29).

 

What is the greatest blessing Jehovah has ever given Israel? The Messiah, the Savior of the world, God blessed for ever, Jesus!  To that end, we have designed the T-shirts pictured below, which have been added to the collection of evangelistic T-shirts and other materials I posted about some time ago. Both sides of the T-shirt reference the evangelistic pamphlet Truth From the Torah, Nevi’im, and Kethuvim (the Law, Prophets, and Writings) for Jews who Reverence the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, which is online at https://faithsaves.net/Messiah/.  The front has this evangelistic website as well as the text of the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָֹה אֶחָד׃

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Israeli flag Shema Deuteronomy 6:4 Messiah Jesus T Shirt

While the back has the evangelistic website and Isaiah 53:8b: “For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

along with, on both sides, the flag of Israel.  (We did not see a way to design the shirt so that the vowels and accents could be included, although we recognize the Biblical and historical case for their inspiration and preservation.)

We believe that these shirts can be blessed by the God of Israel for Jews to embrace their crucified and risen Messiah, Jesus, as well as to help Gentiles come to repentance and faith in Him.  If you get to evangelize Muslims because of this shirt, Isaiah 53 is good for them also, since Muslims deny the Lord Jesus died on the cross, claiming the Gospel accounts are fabrications. But Isaiah 53, which clearly predicts His death by crucifixion and resurrection, and which we have physical, pre-Christian evidence for in the Dead Sea Scrolls, cannot be so explained away by Muslims.  This T-shirt can also help you explain the powerful evidence for the Bible from prophecy for agnostics and atheists and the powerful impact of Isaiah 53 to both Jews and Muslims. Furthermore, God promises to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:1-3). Do you want to be blessed by the living God? Bless Israel!

The immediate motivation for our making these shirts was a pro-Hamas, anti-Jewish rally we saw in Los Angeles.  Jew haters there held signs such as “Resistance is not terrorism,” glorifying the murder of 1,200 Jews on October 7, 2023, the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust:

resistance is not terrorism pro Hamas anti Israel Jewish Semitic A. N. S. W. E. R. coalition

They also promoted “from the river to the sea,” advocating the destruction of the Jewish state and the murder of the Jews:

from the river to the sea Hamas terrorism kill Jews

The protesters were part of the anti-Israel hate group, the A. N. S. W. E. R. coalition, who argue that to say “Hamas is a terrorist organization” is a “lie.” (By the way, if you need more reasons to stop using Google as a search engine, note the pro-terrorism, anti-Israel search results that come up first if you search for “answercoalition.org Hamas terrorism”; compare those results with what you get on Duck Duck Go, where the top result [as of the time I am writing this] is the Anti-Defamation League explaining why Hamas is a bloodthirsty terrorist organization that calls for the eradication of Israel.)  The protestors also reproduced lies pumped out by Hamas about civilian deaths in Gaza, while saying nothing about the fact that Hamas wants civilians in Gaza to die and Israel does not. Of course, Islam allows Muslims to lie–after all, Allah is the best of deceivers.

They were blocking the street so that we could not keep going on the bus we were on in Los Angeles.  Our destination was not far away–a museum in LA.  We decided to get off the bus and walk there.  A few blocks away we saw an orthodox Jewish man walking in the direction of the advocates of terrorism.  We told him about the protest; he thanked us, and re-routed.  After we got home from the museum we designed the T-shirts. It is right to stand against terrorism and for the Jewish people.  It is especially right to stand for the greatest Jew of all, the resurrected Lord, Jesus.

We saw posters like the following a few blocks away.  The anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas protestors did not say anything about these people.

Jewish babies kidnapped by Hamas poster

Jewish youth kidnapped by Hamas hostage

Jewish grandmother hostage kidnapped by Hamas

They also said nothing about United States citizens killed by or held hostage by Hamas. They are also not important, it seems. (Let me add that the large majority of inhabitants in Gaza and the West Bank support Hamas’ murder of Jewish civilians–the large majority “extremely support” terrorism, while in a recent survey only 7.3% of survey participants were “extremely against” such terrorism, combined with 5.4% who are “somewhat against” it, for a total of only 12.7% of the population who are against terrorism; it is certainly possible survey results reflect some bias, but the overall picture is likely to be accurate.)

What about here in the USA? When asked if they support Israel or Hamas, 95% of those over 65 support Israel.  The percentages get progressively lower the younger people are.  Among 18-24 year olds, only 55% support Israel, while 45% support Hamas.  This is a terrible trend, and awful evidence of the anti-God garbage taught in the public school and university systems.  Maybe consider getting some of these T-shirts for yourself or as presents for others.  Perhaps you are afraid of Muslim violence or anti-Jewish violence if you wear one, since true Islam in America–like all true Islam–is violent and bloodthirsty, not peaceful.  Perhaps if you are living in Saudi Arabia or Iran it would be unwise to wear one of these shirts; but if you live in the United States of America, and you will allow threats of Muslim violence to curtail your free speech, something is very wrong.  Obviously Christians have liberty to wear or not wear a T-shirt like this, and it is perfectly fine not to wear one, but our decisions must be made out of Biblical principle and for the glory of God, not out of fear.  If you say you would have protected Jews in the Holocaust, but are afraid to stand for them and against their murderers now, why should we believe you would have stood were you in Hitler’s Germany? There are Biblical principles here.  God’s love for Israel is not saying God loves everything the modern state of Israel does–but God still loves Israel, and Scripture still says to bless Israel.  (By the way, if you are born again, God loves you with an infinite and special love, but He still does not love everything you do–He does not love your sin, nor does He love Israel’s sin.)  Be salt and light: stand up for righteousness. Do not let the wicked pro-terrorist people be the only ones who are making their voices known.  Stand for the God of Israel, for the Messiah of Israel, and for the nation of Israel.

Postscriptum:

As FLAME: Facts and Logic About the Middle East points out concerning anti-Israel, pro-Hamas bias in media reports about Gaza civilian casualties:

[T]he media insist on treating Hamas’s notoriously unreliable information feed as fact. Conversely, they refuse to give precedence to proven, reliable sources of information, such as the Israeli or U.S. governments, the latter of which confirmed Al-Shifa’s use as a Hamas headquarters. Israel presents photographs of Hamas blocking exit highways, so Gazans cannot leave the war zone . . . but Hamas denies it, says NPR. Such is the inane, “he-said, she said” pablum we are fed by the media.

The media also steadfastly refuse to ask the questions demanded by the story—and by any curious reader, listener, or viewer. When reporters interview Palestinians on the street or doctors in hospitals, the viewer cries to know: “Do you ever see any Hamas guys around here? Have you seen any tunnels?” But never does the reporter ask this, let alone questions like, “Do you support Hamas? Do you think there should be a Palestine next to Israel? What do you think about the October 7th attack on Israel?” These are obvious queries that responsible, curious, fact-hungry journalists would and should normally ask their sources. But they never do. Why?

The short answer is that if they asked these questions, the stories they tell wouldn’t fit the narrative they are trying to sell—the narrative in which the Palestinians are an oppressed people, Israel is an evil, colonial aggressor, and Hamas is a product of legitimate Palestinian resistance.

To sell their perverse narrative, international media swallow the wildly inflated death-toll numbers cranked out by the Gaza Health Ministry. For this reason, the media simply repeat the daily growing casualty figures Hamas gives them.

Reuters reports, for example, that as of November 22nd, Gaza’s Hamas-run government says at least 13,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, including at least 5,600 children. But Luke Baker, a former Reuters bureau chief who led the organization’s coverage of Israel and the disputed territories from 2014 to 2017, said on X (formerly Twitter), “Hamas has a clear propaganda incentive to inflate civilian casualties as much as possible.”

Moreover, the media almost never give a breakdown of the casualties. They don’t say how many were Hamas terrorists or how many were human shields, killed in residences schools or hospitals where Hamas were hiding. They never tell how many were killed—not by Israeli forces, but by Hamas and other terrorist groups—because of misfired rockets, or by Hamas shooting at Palestinian civilians heeding Israeli orders to evacuate.

In addition, it’s probable that a significant number of the “children” reported killed or wounded by Hamas are youths aged 13 to 18, who were located in Hamas facilities or even took an active part in the fighting.

If you are not aware of the connection between Soviet communist propaganda and modern anti-Zionist lies about Israel as a colonialist oppressor, please read the article here.

Suzerain-Vassal Treaties & the Books of Moses: Joshua Berman

I had the privilege of interviewing Jewish scholar Dr. Joshua Berman, professor of Hebrew Bible at Bar-Illan University in Israel, on the fact that the books of Moses, the Pentateuch, follow the late second Millennium BC format of a suzerain-vassal treaty. This fact strongly supports the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, and, hence, the existence of genuine and unavoidable predictive prophecy in the Bible, and, thus, the Bible’s Divine authorship.  Jehovah, the God of Israel, is the suzerain or great King, and Israel is the vassal, the subordinate dependent on the suzerain.

Dr. Joshua Berman Bar-Ilan University Israel suzerain Vassal treaty professor Hebrew Bible
Dr. Joshua Berman, professor of Hebrew Bible at Bar-Ilan University in Israel

When my wife and I visited Egypt last year as part of a faculty tour of Egypt led by evangelical scholar James Hoffmeier, we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Berman in Luxor, Egypt, on the issue of suzerain-vassal treaties (he prefers to be called “Joshua.”) Joshua Berman explains the issue quite clearly and effectively, so if you find the terminology “suzerain vassal treaty” scary, watch the video below of the interview, and I suspect you will both understand the issue and see the value of it for Christian apologetics.

 

I have posted about apologetics videos recorded on this trip to Egypt in previous posts on this blog, such as this one on the famous Merneptah Stele.

 

Ironically, when I debated president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Dan Barker, on the Old Testament, Mr. Barker claimed that “The Israelis over in Israel … the archaeologists are throwing up their hands saying, ‘No, there’s nothing. None of these stories has any archaeological evidence at all.’”  Barker’s assertion was always ridiculous, as was demonstrated within the debate itself, but the interview with Dr. Berman provides even more evidence for the foolishness of Mr. Barker’s argument.

 

After the interview with Dr. Joshua Berman, other scholars, including Kenneth Kitchen (On the Reliability of the Old Testament), James Hoffmeier (The Archaeology of the Bible), and Meredith Kline (Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy) are also quoted.  You can learn more about archaeological evidence for the Old Testament here.

 

So please watch the video below.  You can watch the embed below, or view it on faithsaves.net here, or on Rumble by clicking here, or on YouTube by clicking here.

TDR

Main Reason God Intervenes on Earth in an Obvious Way: That We Know That He Is The Lord

Reading through the Bible twice this year, I just recently finished Ezekiel and I noticed these words as an emphasis in the book:  “Ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.”  I wondered how many times then it was in Ezekiel so I looked it up, and then I also wondered how many times it was in the Bible.  I kept the search to “know that I am the Lord.”  The words of that search just in Ezekiel are 63 times.  “”Know that I am the Lord” is found 77 times in the whole Old Testament.  It has to be an emphasis of the book of Ezekiel found so many times, and it is God Who is saying those words.

Here are some samples.

6:7, And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7:4, And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

7:27, The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

11:10, Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

12:15-16, And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.  But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

12:20, And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

14:8, And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

15:7, And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

23:49, And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

25:5, 7, And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. . . . Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

25:11, And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

25:17, And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

29:6, And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

30:8, And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.

30:26, And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

33:29, Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

35:4, I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

35:23, And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

39:6, And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

Those aren’t even half of the usages in the book of Ezekiel.  I’m guessing that you didn’t read them.  You got the gist of them after a few samples and stopped reading.  This is typical, but maybe you should go back and read them.  What you can see is that God does what is called in scripture “evil things,” which doesn’t mean “sinful,” but things of judgment, like pestilence, famine, war, and death, so that the people will “know that I am the LORD their God.”

I noticed that it isn’t only “evil things,” but also blessed ones such as the following example:

36:11, And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

That is a positive one, but I don’t think I saw another positive one of the 63 usages in Ezekiel.  It does mean that God uses blessings or positive things so that we will know that He is the Lord, but He mainly uses negative ones, ones that hurt and deprive.  Those get our attention better and we know it.  God uses those.  What does it produce?  In rebels, it produces more anger and rebellion, and then God judges them more, destroys them usually.  However, His purpose is that they would know that He was the Lord.  That’s what He wants.

The way these above examples read is something I’ve often said and that is that pleasure whispers to us and pain screams at us.  I don’t like pain.  I don’t want pain.  But I know that pain gets my attention more than pleasure.  I almost don’t want to say it, because I’m saying something that will come about.

None of us should lose sight of the point though.  God wants to be known as the LORD our God.  That knowledge is more than just intellectual.  It affects our wills.  You can read that in these passages too.  It’s the kind of knowledge that overcomes us and changes us.  Our behavior changes, because when we know that, we act like we know it.  This is what God wants from us.  We should know it.

The title of this piece is that God intervenes on earth in an obvious way.  If God wants us to know something, He shows us.  How we see He shows us in Ezekiel is through these difficult circumstances and events.  They get our attention.  They make us think.  We could avoid them if we would just take in the revelation of God through creation, conscience, and through His Word.  God is sovereign, but He may not intervene in a noticeable way, but if He wants to be noticed, this is how He wants to be noticed, that He is the Lord our God.

AUTHORS OF THE BLOG

  • Kent Brandenburg
  • Thomas Ross

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