Congratulations on your interview in Frontpage magazine!
I am very happy that it receives such conservative coverage. It’s great.
With that said, let me correct a misunderstanding you have about my Jewish Christian brother, Paul.

You wrote:

“When Paul of Tarsus converted to Christianity, he began to understand Christianity in a very different way. There was no longer a need for circumcision, or for the services of the Temple, or for observing the ritual commandments of the Torah. The entire Jewish tradition was considered to be a temporarily valid religion, as a preliminary stage for the advent of the Messiah. Now that the Messiah has come, Judaism was rejected and meaningless. The Jews were the Chosen People since the Messiah was going to be born among them, but since they rejected the Messiah, they were transformed from the Chosen People into a cursed People.”

The Strict Pharisee Paul, who continued to call himself a Pharisee AFTER his Christian conversion, saying, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee; upon hope and the resurrection of the dead I am being judged!” (Acts 23:6), He NEVER said that there was no longer a need for circumcision, Temple services or the ritual commandments of the Torah for JEWS, but he did say that many of these holy things were not required of converted GENTILES to Christianity, agreeing with the Jerusalem Council which decreed:

Acts 15:19-29

19 Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the
GENTILES who turn to God, 20 but write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood. 21 For Moses has had throughout many
generations those who preach it in every city, being read in the
synagogues every Saturday.

22 Then it pleased the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to send to Antioch chosen men from their own company with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas, who was also called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.
23 They wrote this letter of theirs:

The apostles, the elders and the brothers,

To the brothers who are of the GENTILES in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

24 Because we have heard that some who went out from among us have disturbed you [Gentiles] with words, troubling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” (to whom We gave no such commandment), 25 it seemed good to us, assembled unanimously, to send you chosen men with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to impose a greater burden on you than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. If you guard against these, you will do well.”

So you see that Paul taught that GENTILES must keep the minimum requirements of refraining from immorality, obeying dietary laws, keeping the Sabbath and biblical feasts!

The early Christian community in Jerusalem, led by James, the brother of Jesus (Yashua), tried to correct this STIGMA STIGMA AGAINST PAUL that continues to this day and advised him:

Acts 21:20-26

20 And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; 21 but they have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to let Moses, saying that they must not circumcise their sons or walk according to the customs. 22 What then? The assembly must assemble, for they will hear that you have come. 23 Therefore do as we tell you: We have four men who 24 Take them and purify yourselves with them, and pay their expenses so that they shave their heads, and so that everyone may know that those things that were reported to them about you are nothing, but that you also walk with them. 25 But concerning the GENTILES who believe, we have written and decided that they should keep no such thing, but keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.”

26 So Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with
them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of
purification, at which time an offering must be made for each of the
them….

So here the Judeo-Christian leaders in Jerusalem praised the zeal and
devotion of the Jews, but they were acknowledging that wild rumors and false accusations, misinformation, had been spread against Paul. To prove that such charges were unfounded, that Paul continued to follow halakhah, Jewish traditions, and the Torah, they encouraged him to go sacrifice with Jews under a Nazirite vow, which he did! Paul sacrificed in the Temple, but then another misunderstanding spread and a rumor spread that he had brought a Gentile to the Temple. Hey veh!

Paul never taught that the Jews’ rejection of Jesus changed their status as the Chosen People! He taught that the prophesied partial blindness had occurred, but that it was all for God’s mysterious purpose to bring Gentile converts into the Israelite fold, the Israelite root and branch of the Jewish Church of God!

Romans 11:1

1 I say then, has God rejected his people? Certainly not! Because I too am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Romans 11:25-36

25 Because I do not wish, [Gentile] Brethren, so that you are ignorant of this mystery, so that you are not arrogant in your own opinion, that blindness in part has befallen Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,

And he will turn away wickedness from Jacob;

27 For this is my covenant with them,

when I take away their sins.”

28 As for the gospel, they are [presently] enemies for your sake, but as for the election, they are loved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were once disobedient to God, now you have obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 so these also have now been disobedient, so that through the mercy shown to you, they too may obtain mercy. 32 For God has set them all in disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. 33 O depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and his inscrutable ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become your adviser?”

35 “Or who has given him first
And will it be returned to him?

36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Paul acknowledges the animosity between Judaism and biblical Christianity, but believes, according to his God-given understanding of the prophecies, that all is well if it ends well, and that everything has a great purpose that God is at work in the life of. all mankind. . Paul reminds his Gentile audience that they are grafted into ISRAEL, the Jews are not grafted into a Gentile root and branch, that is counterfeit Christianity represented by the Roman wolves in sheep’s clothing!

I know Paul’s writings on this veiled mystery of partial blindness and final restoration of all Israel (all Twelve Tribes) are hard to understand, but we should at least see clearly that Paul NEVER taught that Jews should stop circumcising their sons leave the services of the Temple. (He participated in them!) Or abandon the ritual commandments of the Torah. He simply taught that such things were not necessary for GENTILES converted to Christianity, as God is witness.

Sincerely,

David Ben Ariel

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