In Witnessing to a Jew

Hello,
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to answer you, as I am a full time student, and also have been having great modem problems, which have knocked me from the internet some days and brought me behind in my studies.
Please allow me to say, however, that I am also Jewish - by heritage on my mother's and father's sides. Though I was raised a Christian. I agree with a lot of what you are saying, however. I also think that Catholicism and Christianity are Pagan. That is why I am Messianic, and believe in observing Torah. The reason that I do believe this is because Yeshua (which I know is Hebrew for Salvation) taught (according to the New Testament - or B'rit Hadasha) that we are suppose to follow Torah. He said that He did not come to do away with it, and that not one jot or tittle would pass away until all things are accomplished. Now, many people believe that the Apostle Paul's teachings are contrary to this, and that believers in Yeshua are not under the law - but the Apostle Peter said that many will confuse Paul's teachings to their own destruction.
The early church was zealous for Torah, the Apostle Paul kept Torah, and Peter and James encouraged keeping Torah. Now, through your knowledge of Catholic history, you know that Constantine converted in 324 A.D., and made "Christianity" the official legal religion of Rome. After this, he made several edicts, including changing the Sabbath Day from Saturday to Sunday, in vereration of the sun god, Mithra. After this, the Catholic Church changed Passover to "Easter," created "Christmas," which really means that Christ is canceled. Not many Christans know that! Mass, in Latin, is missa or messa, and means dismissal - so the Catholic Church's goal is to dismiss Christ. But, through this period to the 1500's, all of the "Christian" church was under the control of darkness (the Catholic Church) and thus, it was called the Dark Ages. There were a few sects, such as the Waldenses, who remained true to Torah and the original faith, but they were persecuted for their faith or at the least had to remain in hiding atop of the Andes Mountains. I am sure that you know that in the 1500's Martin Luther came along, who, yes, was prejudice of Jews, but still YHWH brought about the truth through Him. He changed many views of "Christians" with the formation of Protestant belief, but still many beliefs are still coming from the darkness, such as Christmas, Easter, Sunday, failure to observe Torah, etc. There are few today, who have the testimony of Yeshua and Moses, which is called for in the B'rit Hadasha.
However, I know this is not what you wished to hear from me. I was just giving you my worldview, in so many words.
From a "Christian" perspective, Isaiah 53 is just the chapter that ties it all together, from the Tanakh to the B'rit Hadasha, but I know that Jews (and remember that I myself am a Jew) believe that someone other than Isaiah wrote that section of the book, but what do you do with the prophecy in Psalms 22? Who's hands and feet are being pierced there? It's not David's. He was never hung on a cross. How do you explain that 500 people saw Yeshua alive after His crucifixion? Did that many people see a hallucination? How do you make to no effect secular accounts of Yeshua? We have been without sacrifices for almost 2000 years now. How, without blood atonement, have all people been forgiven of their iniquities from that time, without YHWH making some type of provision for our forgiveness?
Many things have confused the fact of who Yeshua was. The Middle Age paintings of Him, which make Him look very modern - according to that time, the fact that Christians do not keep the Torah, the false celebrations of holidays rather than the observation of YHWH's feasts, etc. but the fact is that He did come to teach Torah, to teach men how to keep Torah, to provide an atonement through His blood and to open up YHWH's kingdom for us to be able to enter, from Avraham's bosom.
You gave to me Daniel 10:14, but what about Daniel 9, wherein it says:
25 - Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. (This is the rebuilding in Jeremiah).
26 - And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Notice it says that the Messiah will be cut off but not for Himself - then for whom was He or will He be cut off? This means that if He hasn't already been cut off - then He will have to be when He does come. Who will cut Him off? Who will have the power to cut Him off?)
27 - And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (And will there be another war in which the 3rd Temple will be destroyed and the sacrifices will be cut off? Will there be a deja vous of the 2nd Temple destruction?)
How do you explain these things?
Ben Kosiba may have done many things to imitate the Messiah, but there are no accounts of Him working miracles or healing people. On the contrary, he was caught doing illusions to allude to the fact that he could do miracles.
YHWH's feasts are a prophecy in themselves. Yeshua died on Passover, rose on the first day of the Feast of First Fruits, and ascended to Heaven 40 days later. Pentecost was the day that the Holy Spirit descended. He will return on Rosh Hashanah and tabernacle with us for good on the Feast of Tabernacles, Tishri 15, just as the pattern goes of when He was born. YHWH does work in patterns.
Genesis Bereishit says that the salvation YHWH provides to kill the serpent would do so with the bruising of His heel. On the cross, Yeshua's heel was bruised, and he bruised the head of the serpent at the same time by overcoming him and sin.
Finally for now, let's look at what YHWH has said about the Messiah. It's all in Bereishit.
Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalalel Jared Enoch Methuselah Lamech Noah
The names mean - Man Appointed Mortal Sorrow; The Blessed God Shall come down Teaching His death shall bring The Despairing Rest, or comfort.
And in sentence form: Man (is) appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.
I am not convinced that the Jewish rabbis conspired to hide the Gospel in Bereishit. Either they put it there or Moses put it there by the inspiration of YHWH. What do you believe? I believe it is a divine plan developed by a magnificant Creator!
But no matter what you believe, what are you going to do if you find out what you do believe is wrong, and that you had a chance to accept the Messiah and refused?
Zechariah 12:10 - And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 - In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
Zechariah 13:1 - In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. 2 - And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
Please, be sure of what you believe, for Zechariah 9:14 says: And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow (Torah - Messiah) shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
*Torah is from the root word yä·rä' which means to shoot an arrow and also means to teach. Therefore, since Yeshua is the teacher, He must keep and teach others to keep Torah.
Blessings to you through YHWH, Adonai.

© 2010 Kimberly Padilla, A.A Religion