Chapter Four: What happened while I could not "see"

 MELDING JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY

What we can learn from each other

3-2012

Introduction

While this book may seem to “ramble” with numerous interjections that elaborate on concepts from the Word of God that have been developed in my thinking over a 30+ year time span, each “concept” we “understand” contributes to our overall “journey” and explains various areas that contribute to make “Man” what he was designed to be by his Maker. Some concepts may be new to you; but as you understand the mindset that God has “formed” in me through my spiritual “journey” in various areas, you will understand more and more of what you are “seeing” in my words and receive clarification of concepts that most “Christians” have brushed over, but never “studied.” 

My exposure to Judaism through my wife, Suzette, challenged what I “believed” for 60+ years, and, in some instances, called me to heart wrenching change. So I ask the Reader to be patient with all the “elaborations” and prepare for the challenges at the end of this material. After being a “pastor” for some 30 years, please understand that it is not my desire to bring confusion or division into the Body of God’s People in the Earth, but to shed the light of “Truth” that will bring freedom and security into our lives!

You may notice that I referred to Jesus as “Rabbi (Teacher) Jesus.” At this point in my understanding I believe that is what He was. Pastor Joe Gall (retired)

CONTENTS

(Those items in “quotes” are excerpts from previous messages that clarify or explain the concepts under discussion) To give you a "Heads Up" Here are some of the things I will discuss with you: 

MELDING JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY

   -“JOE’S JOURNEY”   
   -“IN THE IMAGE OF GOD”             

 HAVE CHRISTIANS GONE TOO FAR         

   -“OSTRICH BELIEVERS”             

THE “ANOINTING”         

   -“FREE WILL”   

THE LOVE OF GOD          

   -“MEASURING THE LOVE OF GOD”
            

CHRISTIANS AND THE CONCRETE MINDSET         

   -“THE FEAR ROOT”     

NEW BELIEFS?  

   -“A VERY BRIEF HISTORY LESSON”         
       -WHAT I HAVE GROWN TO BELIEVE    

“THE WORD WORKETH WITH SOUND”   

WHAT SHALL WE “MELD”           

1. RESPECT FOR THE WORD OF GOD        

   -“OSMOSIS BELIEFS”     

2. GROWTH IN HOLINESS             

   -“HOLINESS”   

3. PRAISE AND WORSHIP            

   -“THE REALITY OF THE SPIRIT”   

4. VALUATION OF THE FAMILY & A DAY OF REST  

   -“SOUL TIES”  

5. BELIEVERS IMPACTING THE WIDER COMMUNITY          

6. WHAT ABOUT THOSE “TONGUES?”    

7. CHRISTIANS AND THE TORAH 

WRAPPING IT UP!          

 
MELDING JUDAISM & CHRISTIANITY 

Is it even possible?

The three major religions of the world (Judaism, Catholic/Christianity, and ,Islam) all come from the same root, Judaism. The Catholic Church broke away from its Jewish roots in 300AD; Christianity/Catholic beliefs broke into separate, but common, beliefs with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation; that movement gradually turned into various branches which we lump together as “Christians.” The Catholic beliefs and traditions were taken on, with modifications, by “Protestant Churches,” However a distinct separation from Jewish roots continued after the founding of the Catholic Church and today, primarily because of those Catholic beliefs, we see little resemblance, except in the Catholic Church (due to “Replacement Theology”) to our Jewish roots. I am not yet familiar with Islam, so I will discuss areas that I am familiar with. 

The Catholic Church, in discounting and separating from its Jewish roots, nonetheless took on a “replacement” attitude towards Judaism; actually taking many of the scriptures, rituals, and basic beliefs straight from Judaism. Even the very “vestments” used in Catholic services, and the services themselves, still reflect the idea that the Catholic Church replaced the Jews as God’s “Chosen People” in the earth. That despite the fact that God does not change His mind! “Replacement Theology” is nonsense in light of the Word of God. Anti-Semitism, at times fostered by the Catholic Church, vilified the Jews and persists to this day.  

I need to remind you that I was raised Roman Catholic and involved in it until my late 20s…I love and appreciate my Catholic friends and relatives! This is not an attack on the Catholic Church or them; it is an honest examination of its effects on my life and my journey towards truth. 

What I would like to accomplish is to look back at the “roots” and determine if, in the process of departing from the “roots,” “Christianity” has missed something and our brothers in Faith, the Jews, have also missed something, about relating to the God we both claim and serve. Judaism will always stand on its own as the “original” choice of God for a people to represent Him in the Earth; one of its “offshoots,” Christianity, owes all of its “roots” to Judaism. Both have drifted away from the original intent of the roots. Drawing attention to reclaiming what both have “lost” can only make both stronger!

Uniting the elements both have “lost” would result in a stronger role for both in ushering in the return of God to again make His Headquarters in the Earth and with the “Man” He so loves! 

At the time of this writing I have just retired from about 30 years of one form or another of “pastoring.” (March 2012)

Let me share a little more of my background so you can better understand the “journey” God took me on, and which I will continue on until I see Him Face to face.  

Because of World War 2, when my parents lived in Holland and endured that terrible experience, an important fact about my heritage had been buried for the survival of my grandparents and parents. I was born from Jewish stock. That fact was hidden until my Mom shared it with her children when I was in my early forties. That put an important milestone into my “journey.” So important that I would see results from that 20 years later! 

In my mid-sixties many things began to come together in my soul and spirit. I was raised Roman Catholic, with my Dad and Mom heavily involved in ministry; my Dad was one of the early married deacons in that religion. I married my wonderful wife, Suzette, at age 20, and she set another important milestone into my life and “journey.” From that point on, we began to “journey” together. We “journeyed” through the Catholic Charismatic movement, which changed us spiritually and in our soul. We became “hungry,” even desperate, to continue the growth in the spiritual realm we were introduced into. But the Charismatic movement within the Catholic Church receded and the “teaching” had great limitations.  

My wife, Suzette, was the adventurer and found a place that could feed our need for more teaching and understanding. It was called “Halleluiah Acres” and pastored by Dr. Mike Clark. For seven years we traveled back and forth over the 60 miles between us and our new church, and we fed on what was presented. Eventually Dr. Clark moved on to found a remarkable orphanage in Guatemala which today serves over 500 orphans. During this time we walked unscathed through bankruptcy as the business I headed up went belly-up and I eventually took a job at a local Christian radio station, KAJN, in Crowley, Louisiana. I would spend some 15 years there and it was another milestone in my growth. During those 15 years I had opportunity to interview many of the movers and shakers in the Christian movement and got a more mature world vision of the “Christian” movement in the earth. As we came out of bankruptcy we came out on 17 acres of beautiful property in the country and were able to build a 4000 square foot home/ministry center in the Egan, Louisiana, area, all for cash. 

The heart of what God had for me KAJN was embodied in the “Intercessory Prayer Time.” Mr. Barry Thompson gave me liberty to minister to a quarter of a million people every weekday afternoon for 30 minutes. While we prayed for needs that had been phoned in, I also shared from the Word and shared as led by the Spirit of God. At times the presence of God was so strong in that little control room that I was on my face on the ground. It was a season of grounding and growth. 

God also set my voice and my name in the listeners of KAJN for a purpose yet to be revealed. I still tell folks that I had the largest pulpit of any minister in South Louisiana! 

We had “prayer meetings” in our home almost as soon as we moved into the “Haven.” We enjoyed powerful visitation by God’s Spirit in those meetings and they grew to about 40 people. That went on for several years until the Spirit of God shut it down. After the closing of the prayer meetings Suzette and I dragged our kids to church after church for about a five year period looking for a church that would allow freedom for God’s Spirit; and, sadly, not finding it. The structure and programs of church after church overwhelmed the Spirit’s gentle draw. 

Then in November of 1999 we had a visitation of the Holy Spirit in our living room and the next year I heard a command to “pastor” on the way home from KAJN on highway 90 just outside Crowley, Louisiana. After resistance on my part because of some unfortunate experiences Suzette and I had in those prayer meetings, I surrendered to that “call.” I left the radio station to become a full-time pastor. I became convicted, and told by the Spirit, that only in that way could I provide a place where the Holy Spirit could move “as He would.”  

The Haven church took off well. However it experienced several traumatic “divisions” and never really grew. We were able to erect a church building, pay a small salary, and meet expenses. 

During this time Suzette felt the draw of God to Israel and the Jewish people and made two trips to Israel with Minister Billye Brim. God set the Jewish people in her heart and called her to begin to intercede for Israel. At this time she began to study seriously in the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament).

On the first trip to Israel, Suzette met Joe and Judy Lawler. Joe Lawler was a contractor who handled federal projects. Mr. Lawler eventually met with us and offered me a lucrative job (for an underpaid pastor!) as a project supervisor on one of his projects at the VA hospital in New Orleans. We had already been urged, by a financial teacher and prophet (David Avanzini), to establish our finances for retirement. We felt this was the means God would use to speed that along. And it was. 

What we did not know is that the three years I spent in New Orleans, only seeing my family on the weekends, would be much more than just a pivotal time for our finances, it would be the time that God would change both Suzette and myself for the next season He had for us. 

Suzette continued her intense study of the Torah and God began intense change in me. Many of the twisted areas and thinking of my life were changed during that time.  Suzette says that my self-talk and self-esteem were totally changed. I began to appreciate my wonderful wife and our relationship totally changed for the better, 

After those three years I was ready to re-establish ties with my wife and family. I ”retired” from Mr. Lawler’s company; I went home and took care of my wife, who had several physical issues she was dealing with. Little did I understand that what I was “sowing” into caring for my wife, I would immediately “reap.” 

In March of 2011 my vision was attacked and days later I was legally “blind.” In March and April of that year Suzette pulled away from the Haven church and converted to Jewish beliefs. She and my two boys, Benjamin and Daniel, made it official in August of 2011 and were totally separated from the Haven Church. They attended Temple in Lafayette and Lake Charles, Louisiana, and both the temple in Lafayette and the temple in Lake Charles immediately began to draw from Suzette the results of her intense study of the Torah and the Hebrew language. 

This was traumatic for me personally and as Word of Faith pastor! It caused me to examine deeply what I believed and make many adjustments in my thinking and in my life. I found several areas about the Word and the person of Jesus that I had to reconcile and found myself in Christian apologetics at age 64!

The things that have happened in my thinking during the time since March 24, 2011, to date, are not completely able to be described in “words.” My belief structure has been upended and, at the same time, solidified. It is only as I continue to study that the words are gradually coming to describe, codify, and verbalize what my spiritual eyes now “see.” One of the things driven home to me was the common “roots” and “beliefs” of the “Jewish” people and “Christian” people.  

Without an understanding of “what is in us,” a concept the Holy Spirit has “grown” in me for all of my life, we cannot have a foundation we need for the “melding” of two similar and diverse peoples. Until Christians and Jews begin to see what the Creator placed in the creation, Man, we lack the common ground for “melding,” even understanding! 

Many of my thoughts and ideas I have shared through the years in “messages” or “preaching.” In those I carefully presented my ideas and backed them up with scripture; they sometimes now need “tweaking” to update them to my “new” beliefs, but represent solid biblical principles. I found many of my “ideas” were actually Jewish beliefs; beliefs I was not exposed to before 2011. Most of them came by the Spirit of God who knew where I was going and what I would have to do. Like Paul in the desert, I was “taught of God.” Not that I am pretending to be anything other than what I am, but acknowledging God’s intervention in my life and thoughts with ideas that He originated! Things He chose to reveal to my thoughts that I had not “studied.” Jews call them “sparks” from God released into our thoughts.  

I will continue that trend of sharing from those messages in the rest of this treatise, taking the liberty of “cleaning them up” as needed. Many thoughts and concepts come from my Roman Catholic and “Christian” background and Jewish and Christian readers will need to take that into account. We also need to note that I am now on a “Journey of Study” that is verifying many of the “ideas” planted in my by God; confirming and clarifying them with understanding for me and for you!

So I am going to share the first of several “messages” that make up this volume. Open your eyes, ears, and spirit as we discuss…

Next: IN THE “IMAGE” OF GOD