Deceiving Someone
This article talks about:
- Deception and Secrecy
- Cultural and Religious Conflict
- Faith and Authenticity
-By an Anonymous Author-
My friends say to me you’re deceiving her and her family. I thought for a while in my heart. How have I misled, betrayed, double-crossed, or made her believe something that is not true (the definition taken from Merriam-Webster dictionary)?
I care for her and her family. I know they care for me also. She asked to pray for a member of the family and others. I pray for my people in Israel. Just as the disciples did. I have not told her I believe in Yeshua ben David the Mashiach (Messiah). My friends say, “so you are deceiving her,” that you, in her eyes (understanding), are not a Jew and are a traitor. I told them how do you think we, believing in Yeshua the son of God, can live in Israel in peace and not with contempt from our fellow Jews?
First, they must see how we live: that we love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are honest, keep the commandments, keep kosher, and keep Shabbat. Then, if they ask us, and if God puts it in our hearts to speak about God’s beloved son Yeshua, then, and only then, we must speak up.
My father of blessed memory said, “Don’t say or pronounce out loud in Israel, you believe in Yeshua. The eyes of our people have scales on them for the sake of the gentiles.” There will come a time that Israel will look on Him, the one whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him (Zechariah 12:10). Their minds are hardened. For, to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Yeshua is it taken away (2 Corinthians 3:14).
In 2015, there was a young Jewish boy, a secular, called Natan. He was 15 years old when he died and went to heaven. He was shown what will happen in the future. In the first account of his testimony, he saw the Mashiach and when he would come to Israel. He said, “Everyone will be very, very surprised that he is, of all people, the Mashiach.” (YouTube “Rabbi Rami Levy and 15-year-old Natan give-clinical death-testimony about the end of days coming soon”) Natan didn’t reveal in his testimony who the Mashiach is on the YouTube. In his first testimony, he said the Mashiach told him not to tell—it’s not time yet.
Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, a very famous, well-respected Rabbi in Israel who passed away on January 28, 2006, left a note and asked that it be read after his death. In the note, he said Yeshua is the Mashiach. He didn’t reveal it before he died because it wouldn’t have been accepted. Rabbi Kaduri’s closest friends knew and also believed in the Mashiach.
Generally, he received people, but they didn’t know he believed in Yeshua. After the note that Rabbi Kaduri wrote, the son said it was a forgery, but I don’t think it was a forgery; it had been checked twice.
All of the religious Jewish communities didn’t accept that Rabbi Kaduri believed in Yeshua (“The Rabbi who found Messiah” on DVD and online). There are secret believers in Israel who believe in Yeshua among the orthodox, Charedim, conservatives, and seculars today.
Have I, Natan, Rabbi Kaduri, and other Jewish believers deceived the Jewish community? No. Even after Yeshua passed away, the disciples stayed low for a while and many believers kept it secret (book of Acts). In the time of Paul, before Yeshua appeared to him, the believers hid from Paul because he was persecuting believers.
I haven’t ever told her or her family that I am an orthodox Jew. I only said to them that I am a Jew trying my best to love my neighbor as myself, keep commandments, keep shabbat and kosher. My friends wonder how I answer when she asks me, “What synagogue do you go to? Where is it located?” They want to know how I answer. There are several synagogues around my place that I go to, and then I stay the whole shabbat with someone or some family. I go to their synagogue. Sometimes, I have to work the night or day of shabbat and am unable to go to synagogue, but I pray at home and read the parsha and haftarah for that Shabbat.
So, what then if they ask what Rabbi you go to? I told her, presently I have no specific Rabbi. I read the comments of Rabbi Sacks. I have gone to a lecture that Rabbi Rivlin gave which was very interesting. I listened to a Rabbi during Chanukah that was for women.
My mouth isn’t full of cursing, deceit, and fraud (Psalms 10:7). My mouth is loving, willing to listen and cry when sad things happen to her and her family. I speak on the Tanach (Bible). I have no scheme to deceive them (Psalms 35:20). I have no evil scheme to destroy, divide, or hurt her or her family. I pray they, too, will know Yeshua as God’s beloved son.
My friends say to me, “You are endangering her and her family for having contact with them.” They are in an orthodox community, and whom they associate with shows in the community. It puts a bad light on them if someone knows you are a Jew that believes in Yeshua the Mashiach. In the orthodox community word gets around if they see you with them. They themselves don’t know that you believe in Yeshua the beloved son of God. Someone might say to her and to her family, “She believes in Yeshua, are you like her?” Or they might not say a word and not talk with her and her family in the orthodox community. My friends say the day will come when they will find out, and they will feel betrayed.
I told my friends that I pray for her and her family often. I tried to cut it off, but I really love her and her family. They also care for me. If the day comes that they find out, I pray they too will have the appearance of Yeshua the beloved son of God. If they ask me, “Do you believe in Yeshua, that he is the Mashiach?” I will answer, “Yes.”
In conclusion, have I deceived her and her family? The answer is no. I have kept it secret just like many people in Israel have also kept it secret; that they believe in Yeshua, today. Have I misled her about who I am? No, I am still a Jew. It’s the general Jewish community who popularize the belief that when you believe in Yeshua that you’re not a Jew. Even Paul said he was and is a Jew after he experienced the appearance of Yeshua (Acts 21:39, 22:3). Have I made her believe in something that is not truth? No. When I stay for shabbat, we talk about the parsha and haftarah, and sometimes about the prophets. It is strictly the Tanach (Bible).
I believe that it will be revealed who the Mashiach is, and then all of Israel and the Jewish people will know that I and many other believers in Yeshua didn’t deceive or betray them.
Written with the knowledge of the Lord by a Jew that believes in Yeshua the Mashiach.