WiseReader

I am reading Grant Gordon’s latest book, Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland Jr. [The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009 ISBN: 978-1-84871-053-5], and found this comment as relevant and important today as it surely was for Ryland when Newton wrote it in April, 1773.

Newton is responding to John Ryland Jr.’s request for spiritual counsel regarding concerns of feeling spiritually inadequate for ministry.

“It belongs to your calling of God as a minister, that you should have a taste of the various spiritual trials which are incident to the Lord’s people, that thereby you may possess the tongue of the learned, and know how to speak a word in season to them that are weary; and it is likewise needful to keep you perpetually attentive to that important admonition: ‘Without me ye can do nothing’.”(Letter Five, pp.34-35)

Tags: Grant Gordon, John Newton, John Ryland Jr., Letter Writing, Mentoring, Pastoral Care, Pastoral Counsel, The Banner of Truth Trust, Wise Counsel

Is Yeshua the Prophesied Messiah of the Hebrew Bible?
Dan Kane
WinePress Publishing, 2009
ISBN: 1-60615-003-0 

Having spent eight years working with New Covenant Forum, Canada’s oldest continuing evangelical outreach to Toronto’s Jewish community, I’ve developed an abiding interest in the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, and in learning how to effectively share my faith with Jewish people.

A few months ago I received a copy of Dan Kane’s book, Is Yeshua the Prophesied Messiah of the Hebrew Bible? The theme is not new, of course. Many Bible scholars, teachers and evangelists have explored this topic, and our book shelves are sagging with works about the messianic credentials of Jesus Christ.

This book is interesting because it is not written by a formally-trained theologian, nor by one who has invested a life-time in Jewish outreach. Kane, with earned degrees in science and engineering, has worked in the nuclear industry, specifically concerned with disposal of radioactive waste.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Kane did not really give religion that much interest until in his mid forties. He came to faith as an adult, and now lives in Nevada where he is an Adult Bible study leader in his local Baptist church.

The author introduces the book by recounting a variety of ways groups view Jesus, particularly Catholics, liberal Protestants, Mormons, Muslims and Jews. Following that, Kane lays out how he approached his research into whether or not Jesus was the Messiah prophesied about by the ancient Hebrew prophets.

He begins with the New Testament record of Jesus, discovering that the Biblical account differs in many ways from the popular views of the churches and groups mentioned above.

Following his New Testament research, Kane examines the Old Testament writings, including a look at the Talmud - Jewish oral tradition. Comparing what he found in the Old Testament and Talmud with what he had discovered from his New Testament research, Kane concludes that Yeshua (the Jewish way to say Jesus) is indeed the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Bible.

Kane has diligently searched the Bible and Jewish literature in presenting his study of the messianic credentials of Jesus. And while much of his material will be familiar to mature believers, he has provided fascinating insight into Jewish history and Jewish thinking about Jesus. Not everyone will agree with all of Kane’s conclusions, but he has given readers much to think about.

Every author writes with a particular audience in view, but at times I found myself questioning who Kane’s intended audience was.

For example, in the Introduction, Kane writes: “Because of the awe and respect many have for the ineffable Name of HaShem, I have chosen to use hyphens with spelling G-d and L-RD” (p.X). Though, to my knowledge, this only concerns observant, orthodox Jews (a minority within their community), it seems that his concern to follow this Jewish custom signifies an intended Jewish readership. However, the vast majority of Jews have no concern at all about this convention. In fact, many Jewish versions of the Bible do not follow this convention at all. So perhaps Kane wants to provide Christians with a Jewish-flavored study of their Lord and Savior.

Further, choosing to refer to Jesus in a variety of ways - Mashiach (Hebrew for Messiah), Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus), L-RD and G-D - lends credence to thinking the intended audience is Jewish, since these are not terms used by the Christian community at large. The same can be said for his decision to use HaShem (the Name), Elohim and Yah as names for God.

Even with a discernible Jewish flavor, Kane’s frequent challenge of Roman Catholic, and liberal Protestant theology leads me to think that the audience in view is mainly conservative Christians. Whatever the case, evangelical Christians find a good level of information and teaching to encourage them in their Christian lives.

Kane is prone to overstating his case, as I feel he does in the following examples:

“…most denominations teach that one cannot know if he is saved!” (p.66)

“The Catholic, Orthodox, and many Protestant Churches believe he was speaking literally when he discussed eating his flesh and drinking his blood…” (p.73)

“Judas’s remorse was that his plan failed to force Jesus’ hand.” (p.79)

Regarding his study of Jesus, Kane says he discovered that Jesus was different from “the one taught by Catholics and most Protestant Churches and their derivatives.” (p.X)

When commenting upon Jesus refusing the vinegar and gall, Kane asserts that “This lends support to the notion that he and the others drank unfermented wine (grape juice) just a few hours earlier at their last supper together.” (p.87)

Kane’s dispensationalist theology comes through repeatedly, and while I have no objection to that personally, I do find that, like many dispensationalists, Kane tends to place heresy and doctrinal views held by evangelical Christians in the same category, labeling them as false doctrine. For example, the Roman Catholic view of justification, rightly viewed as false, is equated with so-called “replacement theology” (e.g. the church has replaced Israel as the people of God), both being seen as heresies to refute. One may legitimately disagree with the view that the church replaces Israel as the chosen people of God, it hardly warrants equating this with subverting the gospel message.

These criticisms noted, I still recommend Kane’s book for Christians seeking a popular treatment of messianic prophecy and a Jewish history of reaction to Jesus.

Tags: Dan Kane WinePress Publishing, Hebrew Prophets, Jesus Christ, Judaism, Messiah, Prophecy, Talmud, Yeshua

Today’s front page of The Toronto Star carries an editorial by the Star’s publisher, John Cruickshank. Titled, “A brutal spectacle that failed a city and its people”, the piece doesn’t even attempt to disquise its disdain for the G20 conference, its world leaders, and the police mandated to protect them during the meetings. A few excerpts from Cruickshank’s editorial will illustrate my point:

The G20 security strategy has been spectacularly successful at cocooning the world’s leading politicians and staggerlingly ineffective at protecting the property and peace of mind of Torontonians.

……………………….

By bringing in thousands of heavily armed strangers and throwing up barricades everywhere to regular traffic, frightening off good and decent citizens, Canadian authorities created a ghost town in the heart of our city.

………………………

And most protesters conducted themselves faultless as the global good and great met behind rings of gulag-like fencing and battalions of police beating Plexiglas shields with batons in a primitive show of might.

And in what I can only assume is the naive ramblings of a man who probably has never experienced personaly the on-the-edge-of-disaster power of a protesting throng, infiltrated by hooligans intent of mayhem at any cost, he claims:

The only force that can prevent vandalism and mayhem in a city is the presence of its population.

Why then, I ask Mr. Cruickshank, did I watch live television broadcast Black Bloc thugs smashing windows, spray-painting walls, and destroying vehicles while hundreds of citizens stood by - not stopping the vandalism, but photographing it? And why did those same citizens berate the police as they desperately tried to keep crowds under control so that even more destruction did not occur?

Further on in his piece, Mr. Cruickshank writes:

The strategy that ensured G20 leaders would never have to see a Canadian who wasn’t a politician, a police officer or a waiter lacked even a glimmer of common sense when it came to the security of Toronto and Torontonians.

………………………..

Canadian authorities knew that this overweening show of paramilitary hubris would draw the violent dregs of nihilism from around the world. Previous summits offered stark and certain warnings. Given that, the attempt to provide security for the city and its inhabitants has been a sad and distrubing failure.

In my view, it would not matter where a G20 summit was held. Those intent on violence and mindless destruction of property would find a target for their hooliganism. I do, however, agree with Mr. Cruickshank, and with Toronto Mayor David Miller (who did have words of praise for how the police handled themselves) that the downtown core was not, given the ubiquitous violence around these events, the best venue.

But having ackowledged that, I commend the law enforcement officers who served as best they could in the circumstances in which they were placed. And I would ask the publisher of Canada’s largest circulation daily to tone down his rhetoric which seems more aimed at scoring political points against Canda’s Conservative government than it is in providing reasoned discussion about important political and social issues.

It is sad when a mainline publisher stoops to conjuring images of police states and freedom-denying politicians who couldn’t care less about the everyday lives of citizens when writing about a significant international summit. Surely the issue deserves more reasoned discourse than this.

One can only speculate on what the editorial would have said had a major terrorist event taken place. When leaders of 20 nations gather in one place, it is an extraordinary setting requiring extraordinary precautions.

I decry the mindless destruction of property, and sympathize with those who have experienced hardship through no fault of their own. But I am grateful that we live in a free society, and that freedom always comes with cost.

Tags: Black Bloc, Capitalism, David Miller, Freedom of Express, G20, G8, Hooliganism, John Cruickshank, Law Enforcement, Protest, Security, The Toronto Star, Toronto