Light To The Nations
Dual Identity, Jewish By Choice
Part I
Can Gentiles Obtain The Promises And Blessings Of The Jews?
By Cohen G. Reckart, Pastor
The Jewish nation had its beginning with Jacob and his twelve sons. These sons became the heads of the twelve tribes. The tribes according to sequence of birth and mothers are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah of Leah; Dan and Naphtali from Bilhah the slave-maid of Rachel; Gad and Asher from Zilpah the slave-maid of Leah; Issachar and Zebulun of Leah; and lastly Joseph and Benoni (Benjamin) of Rachel. These sons took for wives women of the Canaanite Gentiles, except for Joseph who married an Egyptian black girl name Asenath (Genesis 38:2-12; 41:45; 46:10 ). Thus, the nation of Israel after the birth of the twelve sons begins with Gentile women, who in marriage to these twelve sons birthed the nation of Israel. The twelve sons birthed the nation Israel from the wombs of Gentile women.
There can be no argument here against the fact that these Gentile women, through marriage, had become one with their husbands and followed the traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the worship of the one true God. They became Jews by choice by agrement of marriage and conversion to the God of their husbands. There can be no argument against the fact that these Gentile women and their children born unto them were identified thereafter as Israelites and Jews. There can also be no argument against the fact that these were converts or proselytes through marriage and were joined to the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Were it not for the wombs of Gentile women who became Jews by choice there would be no Israel today.
Intermarriage of the male descendants of Jacob with Gentile women is documented clearly in the Old Testament Scriptures. According to the sacred text, seventy (70) souls went down into Egypt with Jacob. Here are the names and the sexes of those who went down into Egypt: (1)Reuben, the sons of Reuben; (2)Hanoch, and (3)Phallu, and (4)Hezron, and (5)Carmi. (6)Simeon, the sons of Simeon; (7)Jemuel, and (8)Jamin, and (9)Ohad, and (10)Jachin, and (11)Zohar, and (12)Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. (13)Levi, the sons of Levi; (14)Gershon, (15)Kohath, and (16)Merari. (17)Judah, the sons of Judah; (18)Er, and (19)Onan, and (20)Shelah, and (21)Pharez, and (22)Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Pharez were (23)Hezron and (24)Hamul. (25)Issachar, the sons of Issachar; (26)Tola, (27)Phuvah, (28)Job, and (29)Shimron. (30)Zebulun, the sons of Zebulun; (31)Sered, and (32)Elon, and (33)Jahleel. Jacob's daughter (34)Dinah. (35)Gad, the sons of Gad; (36)Ziphion, (37)Haggi, (38)Shuni, (39)Ezbon, (40)Eri, and (41)Arodi, and (42)Areli. (43)Asher, the sons of Asher; (44)Jimnah, (45)Ishuah, (46)Isui, (47)Beriah, and (48)Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah; (49)Heber, and (50)Malchiel. (51)Benjamin, the sons of Benjamin were (52)Belah, (53)Becher, (54)Ashbel, (55)Gera, (56)Naaman, (57)Ehi, (58)Rosh, (59)Muppim, (60)Huppim, and (61)Ard. (62)Dan, the son of Dan; (63)Hushim. (64)Naphtali, the sons of Naphtali; (65)Jahzeel, (66)Guni, (67)Jezer, and (68)Shillem. When we add (69)Joseph already in Egypt and (70)Jacob then there are seventy. The two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Mannasah, are not counted.
Of the seventy there are only two girls, Dinah the daughter of Jacob and Serah (Sarah) the daughter of Asher. There can be absolutely no argument here against the fact that if Dinah did not marry one of her brother's sons, then she had to marry a Gentile man if she married at all. If Serah did not marry one of her cousins then she also had to marry a Gentile man. Remember, Egyptians are a black race of people who settled in the land of Ham.
Seventy souls minus Jacob leaves 69. 69 souls minus the twelve sons who already had wives leaves 57. 57 souls minus the two girls leaves 55. There are 55 unmarried males remaining in the above list who were not married when they came down into Egypt. This means that 55 grandsons of Jacob had to take for wives and to raise children from Gentile women, ...the Egyptians.
The nation of Israel, or the descendants of Jacob multiplied in Egypt into a great and mighty nation from the wombs of Gentile women who became Jews by choice. The whole meaning of the word *proselyte* as it relates to the Jewish religion is a Jew by choice. Again, these Gentile women and their children became identified into the tribes of which their male husband descended. These also adopted and inherited all of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These became joint heirs of all the blessings and the promises. You guess the skin color. Were the original Jews really white?
Out of Egypt came a great multitude. Of this multitude it is written that there was also a *mixed* multitude (Exodus 12:38). What are we to make of the word *mixed* except *mingled seed* of the sons, grandsons, and great grandsons unto the fourth generation of Jacob with the Egyptian bloodline. This mixed bloodline multitude stood at Mount Sinai with all the others and swore into the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they would do all that was commanded of them that day (Exodus 19:8). This was in effect a confession of two things: 1.) The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would become their God and: 2.) The people of Israel would become their people. After this conversion agreement the mixed and mingled multitude became Jews by choice and came under the Covenant of Sinai and they are then after numbered with the nation of Israel. There existed no distinction between these and the others. God made of the converted Gentiles no difference than those he considered Israelites at Mount Sinai. Conversion then to God and the willingness to place one's self under the Almighty God as his worshiper, was considered adoption into the Israel of God. Among males, the final act of conversion was circumcision. Circumcision was considered coming under the binding promises and covenant of Abraham that preceded the Law by 430 years. Children born of this circumcision were thence considered Israelites and members of their respective tribe and expected by faith the fulfillment of the promise of Abraham upon them. This fulfillement had no relationship to the Law which came later.
A note here of importance, is that Abraham was uncircumcised all of his life of faith in God for the first 100 years. He was not circumcised until just after the birth of Isaac (Genesis 17:23; Romans 4:11). Sarah had for a husband an uncircumcised Gentile man. Sarah conceived by a Gentile man who was uncircumcised. Isaac was begotten by an uncircumcised Gentile father, who was of the Gentile Syrian race stock (Deut 26:5).
Abraham was circumcised when Isaac was born. Ishmael was circumcised and came under the covenant. Abraham's servants were circumcised and came under the covenant. If circumcision is a locked deal of being under the binding covenant to Abraham, then do not remove Ishmael and his seed from it or the servants from it.
Do a check of the promises and covenant to Abraham that were given and received prior to circumcision. Then you will see why the Apostle Paul could say that circumcision came after the promises and covenant to Abraham. Therefore, circumcision of itself was only a token or sign of the promises and covenant and not the covenant itself. Those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah believe that Jesus promised a new sign of the Covenant and this would be water baptism. So, water baptism would be the sign or token from God himself of a person receiving the inheritance covenant promises of Abraham. This would fall first upon the real Jews who themselves must come into the Kingdom of God and then later upon Gentile converts as well. The Apostle Peter then could refer to the *promise of the Holy Ghost* in Acts 2:38 after water baptism as a gift tied to the covenant promises of Abraham that water baptism sealed. Circumcision as a seal was replaced by water baptism as the seal of receiving the inherited covenant promises.
"In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Messiah (Christ). Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead" (Col 2:11-12)
It is apparent that Abraham had some form of Spirit baptism prior to his circumcision. We teach that the Patriarchs had the Spirit baptism upon them and not in them. Paul said that in the New Covenant, circumcision availeth nothing but faith that worketh through love did (Gal 5:6). The error of the Jews came to be that they put more value on the act of circumcision than they did in having and living the religious faith of Abraham and having an outward Spirit baptism experience. Circumcision was practiced as a ritual without this religious faith and this is the same as if there was no circumcision at all:
"For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision" (Romans 2:25).
Circumcised Jews think they have unconditional eternal security and the covenant of circumcision of Abraham secures them. This is false! If they are law breakers their circumcision is void. Gentiles converted to Judaism had to make confessions of faith at water baptism to live by certain beliefs, practices, and customs, that were in themselves considered holy worship of the one true God. Could these requirements be any less for Jews already claiming salvation as the people of God? Was not the purpose of Jesus in his teachings and doctrines of water and Spirit baptisms to bring back the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Prophets (Mal 4:6); that was absent and missing which would validated circumcision? And when they refused this faith, this religious life of the Patriarchs, did it not amount to their circumcision being counted as uncircumcision?
The issue of conversion of the Gentiles is one of great debate. If the Gentiles are converted to the ancient laws and customs as given to Moses then we would consider them legitimate Israelites, Jews by choice. But what if a Gentile was converted to a practice of Judaism that worshipped Baal, Ashtoreth, and Tammuz? Would this be a valid conversion? What if a Gentile was converted to some perversion of Judaism that believed in and practiced witchcraft, sorcery, mysticism, or some form of idolatry? Would this conversion be valid? Would not conversion be valid only if it was into the original faith, religion, and Messianic hope of the nation? And, Jew or a converted Gentile, if they departed from the Covenant of Sinai would their original faith, religion, and circumcision continue to count for them? Did not Moses stand on Mt Ebal (Deut 11:29) and tell the multitude, including the mixed-mingled converts, that if they did not continue as they had sworn unto God, that they would be cursed and not counted as the people of God (Deut 28:63)? How then can any Jew or converted Gentile who has apostated from that obligation claim they are still the people of God? Israelites? Perhaps according to the flesh, but a cursed Israelite is of no more regard to God than a cursed Gentile.
Conversion to Judaism is then a factual historical record. The conversion problem arises among New Testament believers from the very beginning. The Pharisees and the Saducees were in control of the religions conscience of the nation of Israel at the time of the birth of Jesus and the Apostles. Read the Old Testament through and through and you do not find the Pharisee and the Saducees denominations at all. Turn to the book of Matthew and they are on nearly every page. From whence did they come if they were not in the Old Testament?
The truth is they are religious sects that came to Israel from Babylon, bringing their own version of Judaism back with them. These new versions had incorporated the Law and ordinances into their man-made traditions. Their man-made traditions and opinions were made equal to and in some cases superior to the Law itself. God had said not to add to the Law, and they did anyway (Deut 4:2). They have created a false oral Law they claim was secret and known only by a select secret society. Well, the Prophets before Babylon certainly did not know of such alleged secret mystic interpretations to the public Law. To violate one of the man-made traditions of the Pharisees and the Saducees (including the secret oral law), was the same as if a person had violated the Ten Commandments. In some cases the death penalty was enforced. In some of the Laws of Moses they took away the death penalty (adultery, homosexuality, fornication, witchcraft, breaking the Sabbath etc., or used it to their advantage).
Into this highly controversial religious war between different interpretations of the Pharisees, the Saducees, and other Jewish sects, came the struggle concerning Gentile conversions to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus. The Pharisees believed that if a Gentile was not converted according to their traditions and practiced their religion, that these were not valid converts. The Saducees held the same: if a Gentile was not converted to their religious philosophy, then the conversion was considered invalid. The religious conflict between the Pharisees and the Saducees concerning Biblical interpretation and conversion of Gentiles was like a Mexican standoff. At some point there appears to have been some mediation between these two extremist Babylonian groups. Finally everything was reduced to circumcision and Phariseeism when the Saducees became extinct after 70AD. These sects apparently accepted each other's Gentile conversions if circumcision was practiced. They tried to bring the Messianic followers of Jesus back to the temple by first using this ruse, with designs later to tackle other aspects of the faith they would plot to destroy.
Part of the old Talmudic Pharisee conversion ritual included the convert entering into a pool or stream of water up to the neck. While in this baptismal posture, the Rabbi would lead the candidate through a series of questions all of which had to be answered in the affirmative: 1.) Do you hereby renounce all other religions and all other gods? 2.) Do you hereby agree to be subject to the Laws, Ordinances, and Customs of the Jewish people? 3.) Do you hereby confess as Ruth: "your God shall become my God, and your people my people." If these are answered in the affirmative, witnessed by others, the conversion is considered valid, complete, and a celebration is then afterward held. Number one above is considered equivalent to repentance, a turing around and departure from a previous life. Repentance among Christians includes the confessions of sins. Thus, converts to the two branches of Judaism, the Pharisees and the Saducees, were said to be converts to the people of Israel and thence afterward to be considered joint heirs of the same promises and covenants. These Gentiles were called *Jews by choice*. They were no longer considered Gentiles and all off-spring (children) born to these converts were considered full Jews and Israelites of the nation.
The difficulty comes when Jesus arrives, when he gathers his twelve Apostles, and when he begins to teach and bring from the other side of the Babylonian dark ages the true interpretations of the Scriptures and the Prophets. The Pharisees and the Saducees had been started by men in Babylon and their interpretations brought to Israel. Jesus was now on the scene claiming to have the correct truth and interpretations. His teachings clashed with the Pharisees and the Saducees. He exposed their teachings and doctrines as leaven. He identified their teachings as the poison of asps, vipers, and serpents. He exposed their man-made traditions of the Babylonian Elders as heresy and making the Laws of Moses of none effect (Mark 7:13). In short, he denounced their religions as apostasy and not at all a representation of that which Moses had given.
When multitudes of the common people flocked out to hear John the Baptist preach that the Messiah was coming, the nation buzzed with excitement. For the Messianic Jews believed that when the Messiah came, he would teach the correct interpretations of the Laws of Moses and the prophecies of the Prophets. He would usher in the New Covenant. And the Rabbis were to sit with their mouths shut and learn. All man-made laws and traditions would cease and the Word of God would go forth from Jerusalem. The Gentiles would hear this Word of God and come to Jerusalem and fall at the feet of the Messiah and be converted. The Apostle Peter in Acts 3:23 quoted Moses, that if anyone refused to hear the words of the Prophet that the Lord God would raise up, he would be destroyed from among the people. Thus, the Jews looked for the Messiah to rid the nation of its religious enemies. Some think this meant he would rid the nation of Gentile powers over them while allowing apostates who did not believe in him to remain. This is contradictory.
The battle over truth and interpretation increased as the Pharisee and the Saducee Rabbis rejected Jesus as the Messiah. This rejection gave them the freedom and the liberty not to have to shut their mouths and learn from the Messiah. They became enemies of Jesus and from that moment plotted his death. They searched for any blasphemous statement Jesus would have made against the Law. They searched to discover if they could prove he had broken the Law. They ask questions of him to get him to make some blasphemous statement against Moses and the Law. All of these methods were concocted to invalidate Jesus as the Messiah. What was the purpose of this hate, rant, and bigotry? It was to keep their religion and false interpretations through their traditions as the state religion over all Israel, and over any and all conversion rituals of Gentiles. But when John started baptising, Jesus started baptising, and the Apostles started baptising, this signaled a brand new religious group apart from the Pharisees and the Saducees. The new group called themselves Messiahians of the Kingdom of God (the word Messiahians when translated into Greek became the word *Christian*). It meant that Jesus and his followers were trying to create in Israel a new religious group over which the Pharisees and the Saducees would hold no authority and their man-made Babylonian traditions would have no religious power. It meant that even Jews had to go through conversion from their paganism and abominable religious beliefs and traditions. They also had to make a new confession of conversion to be *Messianic Jews by choice*. Such a new group had to be crushed either by religious power or the political power of Rome manipulated behind the scenes by these two temple cults. History and the New Testament shows us they were not successful although the war was intense and some were put to death and some were tortured and abused. Some were put out of the Temple or Synagogue if they confessed Jesus as the Messiah.
These anti-missionary practices failed to crush and kill out the followers of Jesus after the Crucifixion. The new Jewish religious group, established upon the Messianic foundation of the prophecies of the Prophets, could not be destroyed. True to the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18, he would build or establish his Church (Israel), and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The assembly of the converts from the twelve tribes of Israel was called the Church, since the word *church* is the Greek word for an assembly of people. But the term *Church* in the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the *ecclesia,* identified not a new strange religious group, but the true Israel of God in an assembly before the Lord. So that to call the followers of Jesus when they assembled together *the Church*, was to identify them as the Israel of God. This frustrated the Pharisees and the Saducees, in that they did not want the followers of Jesus to be able to claim they were the Israel of God. They wanted to identify the followers of Jesus as those who had departed from the Judaism of the Pharisees and the Saducees, and demanded that they could not call themselves real Jews any longer unless they renounced Jesus of Nazareth and returned to the two temple cults. Jews then and today will tell us that if a Jew converts to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus, that he is no longer a Jew! Is that valid? We could say in return that if anyone converts to the Pharisees and the Saducees he is no longer a Jew, since their man-made traditions, mysticism, and other erroneous doctrines and teachings are completely foreign to the Laws of Moses and the original faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No, we would not do this. These are still Jews, and Jesus considered them Jews, but he considered them Jews that still needed salvation from their sins. To say then that if someone converts to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus, that he or she ceases to be a Jew, is to make a false statement and bear false witness.
For Gentiles, this battle between the Pharisees and the Saducees against the Messianic Judaism of Jesus and the Apostles takes on a life or death reality. If as Gentiles we are converted to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus and the Apostles, does this mean we are for ever damned? The Talmudic Pharisees and the Saducees believed so. Modern Jews who are not Messianic believe so. Does this mean we do not share the same dreams and hopes that Gentiles were once told they could enjoy if they became converts to Pharisee and Saducee Judaism? Talmudic Pharisees today say that Gentiles who are not actual converts may still enjoy a future blessing if they admit the Talmudist are the exclusive people of God. Three catches: 1.) A person must deny Jesus was the Messiah come in the flesh (antichrist see 1John 4:3); 2.) Gentiles who still want to become Jews officially must be converted through the channels of Talmudic Judaism and a Synagogue or Temple holding the ancient Pharisee traditions; 3.) Gentiles who do not want full conversion must keep and observe the seven Noahide laws based upon the Law to enjoy any future destiny of Israel (the Noahide laws were inventions centuries after the New Testament times to make Gentiles quais-converts without the need of actual conversions). Alleged Gentiles who were Noahides were said to be called *God Fearers* or those who feared God. This is a twisted and perverted attempt to take Gentiles who feared God and who became converts to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus, as having some previous salvation through the temple cults, in particular the Talmudic Pharisees. This is false! It is used in an attempt to persuade gullible Christians to renounce Jesus, recant the New Covenant, and go back under the Law as interpreted by the Pharisees and their descendants.
The purpose of the following article is to refute the errors and lies of the Talmudic Jews, that Gentiles who convert to the Messianic Judaism of Jesus are not converts to the real Israel of God. It is to refute the many falsehoods that are being taught today to make the Church a Gentile Bride, when anyone with a basic foundation of Scripture knows that the Gentiles were grafted into an already existing Jewish Church, made up of believers from the twelve tribes, who are the true Israel of God who came into the Kingdom of God. Gentile converts to this Judaism are of the same body, in the same Kingdom, fellowheirs of the remnant of Israel, and equal on the same merits of grace and faith as the Jews into which they were grafted. The middle wall between Jew and Gentile was forever torn down. For anyone to say that the Jews and the Gentiles must still be of different religions and faiths, is to build back up that wall and destroy the work of Calvary. Converted Gentiles are no longer strangers but fellowcitizens of the Commonwealth (Kingdom) of Israel. They are no longer just Gentiles, but fellowheirs of the same promises and covenants (Eph 3:6). There is among these Jews who followed Jesus and among the Gentile converts to the one sheepfold of Jesus, the one Kingdom of God: One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism (Eph 4:5).
If you care to read the rest of Pastor Reckart's rebuttal to the centuries of falsehoods then click below. If you are afraid to learn and to read language with the bark still in it, then stop here. Do not proceed. What you may learn may change your way of thinking for the rest of your life.
The Kingdom of God is of such a glorious Israel, that all Jews themselves had to be converted into it from all other Judaisms. Anyone who refused to do so would be damned (John 3:3-5; Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38).
Cohen G. Reckart, Pastor
