MJ Basic Beliefs #1: Creator
This series is in response to an email from a friend this week. He asked, “What book(s) would you recommend for training someone serious about living as a disciple of Yeshua?” Although I authored a...
View ArticleMJ Basic Beliefs #2: Creation
This series is a set of foundational beliefs, a Jewish theology (a Messianic Jewish theology) heavily based on Rabbi Chaim Luzzatto’s book Derech Hashem (The Way of God) (c. 1735). The purpose of this...
View ArticleMJ Basic Beliefs #3: Humanity
1.3 Humanity At first, for those sensitive to the issue of the impossibility of overcoming the fallen nature of our humanity by self-effort, Luzzatto’s language about “earning” perfection is shocking....
View ArticleWhat’s So Great About Tentbuilders?
You gather at a Messianic synagogue or a church. People from hundreds of miles away have come. The group is not large, about thirty or so. But everyone there is connected heart and soul to messianic...
View ArticleGuest Blog: Becoming A Disciple #1, by Darren Huckey
Imagine Imagine a world in which Mashiach is King over all. Imagine a world in which Yeshua rules the hearts and lives of every single person on this earth… A time when hypocrisy and pride have been...
View ArticleGUEST BLOG: BECOMING A DISCIPLE #2, BY DARREN HUCKEY
Last week I discussed what it means to become a disciple and listed the four basic responsibilities of a disciple. This week I would like to begin discussing the first two responsibilities, which are...
View ArticleGUEST BLOG: BECOMING A DISCIPLE #3, BY DARREN HUCKEY
Over the past two weeks I have been discussing the implications of being a disciple of Yeshua. I specifically addressed what I see as the four basic responsibilities of a disciple. As a refresher, a...
View ArticleLonging for Reward, 1st Part
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. They will be comforted. They will inherit the earth. They will be satisfied. They will receive mercy. They will see God. They will be called children of God. Theirs is...
View ArticleLonging for Reward, 2nd Part
Is God real? Oddly, one of the evidences is indirect, actually evidence that a human belief in “heaven” is based on something real (eventually it will be the earth perfected, but for now “heaven” is...
View ArticleThe Gospel from the Gospels #4
Doing theology is not easy. I think the problem, if you consider theology being hard a problem, is that God is profound and the scriptures are full of weighty things. Truth is more like a complex red...
View ArticleLonging for Reward, Third Part
This series is about our deepest longings and what they can tell us about God. The idea, simply put, is that we can look at our own nature and discover something about the purpose of being. Each one...
View ArticleReligious Unbelief
Religious unbelief is a stage of personal development. It is in some ways a step up from non-religious unbelief. The problem is, it involves people who should know better. It is not a necessary stage...
View ArticleThe Way Yeshua Applies Torah (Halakhah)
In very general terms, there are two diametrically opposed ways of approaching the commandments for the purpose of applying them. One is a loophole approach, looking for the least common denominator...
View ArticleOn the Need for “Jewish” Messianic Judaism
After Shabbat last night, I had that most intense of Jewish experiences, a “Fiddler on the Roof” party with the eleven and twelve year olds from the synagogue and a number of parents and others. Ice...
View ArticleThe Early Believers, A Look Ahead
When the history of the early believers comes into focus we get a better picture of who we are in our present lives before God. A friend and I returned recently from SBL (Society of Biblical...
View ArticleDid Mary Have Faith?
Miriam (Mary) is the mother of Yeshua. According to Luke, she was visited by the angel Gabriel (1:26-38), heard the prophecy of Elisheva (Elizabeth, 1:39-45), and uttered the “Magnificat” (traditional...
View ArticleThe Sower and Yeshua’s Revolution, Part 1
What would you hear if you were among the crowds standing on those hills in Galilee as Yeshua spoke? Many interpretations of the Sower parable you might hear by church leaders in our time have...
View ArticleAvoiding the Hereafter Heresy (Mussar Foundations)
See the end of this post for a definition of Mussar. The following reflection originated from my re-reading the first chapter of Chaim Luzzatto’s Mesillat Yesharim (The Path of the Just), an 18th...
View ArticleHidden Corners and the Messiah Revelation
The single greatest reason devotion to Jesus is something hard for people to believe is important is that God does his work quietly and in hidden corners while the world is looking for noise and...
View ArticleKnowing Messiah, Knowing God
I am so close to finishing the writing of Divine Messiah. I may have already finished it before this post appears (I posted it Wednesday night with a delay to show up Thursday morning). And four of...
View Article
