דף תשעים וחמש
Four entered the orchard: Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher (i.e., Elisha ben Avuya), and Rabbi Akiva. One looked and died. One looked and was harmed. One looked and cut down the trees. And one went up in peace and went down in peace. Ben Azzai looked and died. Scripture says about him (Ps. 116:15): “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints”. Ben Zoma looked and was harmed. Scripture says abouthim (Prov. 25:16): “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee” and the continuation. [Cont. of the verse: “Lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.”] Elisha looked and cut down the trees. Scripture says about him (Ecc. 5:5): “Suffer not thy mouth to bring thy flesh into guilt” etc. Rabbi Akiva went up in peace and went down in peace. Scripture says about him (Song of Songs 1:4): “Draw me, we will run after thee” etc. They gave a parable: What is this similar to? To the orchard of a king and there is an observation deck built above it. It is upon [the man] to look so long as he does not move [his eyes] from it*. Another parable was given. What is this similar to? To [a street] that passes between two paths, one of fire, and one of snow. If he leans one way, he will be burnt [by the fire]. If he leans the other way, he will be burnt by the snow. A man must walk in the middle and not lean to or fro. A story of Rabbi Yehoshua [who was walking in the street and Ben Zoma came opposite him], he reached him and did not greet him. He said to him [from where and to where] Ben Zoma? He said to him: I was watching the creation, and there is not between the upper waters and the lower waters even a handbreadth. As it is written (Gen. 1:2) “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.” And it says (Deut. 32:11): “As a vulture that stirreth up her nest,” etc. Just as the vulture flies over the nest, touching and not touching, so too there is not even a handbreadth between the upper waters and lower waters. Rabbi Yehoshua said to his students: Ben Zoma is already outside. In a few days, Ben Zoma passed away.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So they were clever enough to enter Eden without Jesus but they could not negotiate Eden without Jesus for no man no matter how wise ever will see the Father except through Jesus Christ.so we have two issues here and the first is permission and that all humans are too impure be allowed into Paradise.Let us for fun just presuppose that this story from the Tosefta was true and these Rabbi’s got access to heaven by their kabbalistic mental gymnastics.But they did it without Jesus the Messiah and they could not negotiate Paradise without Jesus.Rabbi ben Azzai beheld the glory of God and died because he was impure and could not see God and live and he died.Rabbi Zoma eat the honey and the purity of divine honey drove him insane.Elisha ben Avuya sinned and chopped down a tree and was cast out of his own people as a heretic and an eternal exile.And yes Rabbi Akiva returned in peace but he was killed by the Romans soon after.So it ended badly for all four in reality.
Does it go deeper than simple permission and that even if the unclean and sinful were allowed entry to heaven ,would heaven kill them? Well it appears so. Can a mortal man whose sins not washed clean by the blood of Jesus even if he entered Paradise would the things of Eden be so Holy he would either die and fall to hell anyway or go insane as the Rabbi who took the honey and was driven insane and now in the eternal realm the insanity is then eternal too.
The general theme of palace ascent stories is the overall inhospitable nature of the divine realm and also intense preparation for the ascent. Often entailing days and days of fasting and prayer and one must prepare one’s own food because because any food prepared by a recently menstrual woman would invalidate the ascent.Angels could kill an invalid ascenter and the environment itself is hostile and inhospitable and designed to kill anyone with an impure thought even.If you read more Heikhalot literature you will find this and although the stories themselves are lore and not real but it shows the high level of purity one must have to ascend the heavenly realm.To me it is more proof that one one enters paradise without Jesus and even if you got in without him you would still never survive.
דף תשעים ושש
Whether you call it Paradise which is a Persian word pardeiz that meant an enclosed royal garden or orchard.Or Heaven or Eden which means pleasure in Hebrew.In any case God’s Kingdom is so pure that not only will nothing impure will have permission to enter but if they did enter the purity of Paradise itself would destroy the impure for even its honey would drive the impure insane! Only those who’s sins were wipped clean by the blood of Jesus will ever enter for Heavens and their protection equally.
Here is Babylonian Talmud tractate Chiggah 15a-6
The Gemara relates: They removed Mitatron from his place in heaven and smote him with sixty rods [pulsei] of fire, so that others would not make the mistake that Aḥer made. They said to the angel: What is the reason that when you saw Elisha ben Avuya you did not stand before him? Despite this conduct, since Mitatron was personally involved, he was granted permission to erase the merits of Aḥer and cause him to stumble in any manner. A Divine Voice went forth saying: “Return, rebellious children” (Jeremiah 3:22), apart from Aḥer.
Of course we know Metatron is fiction and Metatron is not Jesus.But he does in allegory represent the concept of the Messiah being divine as opposed to the Orthodox line of the Messiah as a purely human earthly King.So this fictional repremand in the Talmud is really a distancing of any notion that the Messiah is or was divine.So there seems to be two motives for Ma’aseh Merkavah and Heikhalot literature being condemned or restricted in the Mishnah and Talmud and also too the Tofsefta.one is it is viewed as dangerous but second they fear validation of a divine Messiah and any belief that through Jesus the Messiah one can enter the Pardeiz without the fate of the four Rabbi’s in the above story.
So what do I think on the vision of Metatron in Third Enoch ,like a child who sees something very adult but does not understand it.So a second temple mystic try’s to behold the Throne and sees Yeshua the pre-incarnate Messiah on the Throne next the the Father YHVH יהוה and he does not know who Jesus is.So he describes it as he knows how and thinks Jesus is an angel not knowing Jesus is the Son of God.Does that make sense,so there is some truth in the Metatron vision but the real truth is not fully understood!
Here we have some stuff from the Book Idra Raba ,The greater gathering (literally threshing floor)
Idra Raba: Verse 171
הַשְׁתָּא אִתְתָּקָנוּ וְאִתְכָּוְונוּ דַּעְתָּא, לְמִתְקָן תִּקּוּנוֹי דִּזְעֵיר אַפִּין, הֵיךְ יִתְתָּקַּן, וְהֵיךְ יִתְלַבָּשׁ בְּתִקּוּנוֹי מִתִקּוֵּני עַתִּיק יוֹמִין, קַדִּישָׁא דְּקַדִּישִין, טְמִירָא דִּטְמִירִין, טְמִירָא מִכֹּלָּא. דְּהַשְׁתָּא חוֹבָתָא עָלַיְיכוּ, לְמִגְזַר דִּינָא קוּשְטָאָה יָאֶה וְשַׁפִּירָא וּלְאַתְקְנָא כָּל תִּקּוּנִין עַל בּוּרְיֵיהּ.
Get ready and direct your minds to establish the Corrections (formations) of Zeir Anpin, how he will be constructed and don the Corrections (formations) of Atik Yomin (Eng. ‘Ancient of Days’), Holy of Holies, concealed of all concealed, hidden from all. It is now your duty to carry out and establish a splendidly beautiful and truthful judgment, and to establish all the Corrections (formations) thoroughly.
Idra Raba: Verse 172
תִּקּוּנֵי דִּזְעֵיר אַפִּין, מִתִּקוּנֵי דַּאֲרִיךְ אַפִּין אִתְתָּקָּנוּ. וְאִתְפָּשָׁטוּ תִּקּוּנוֹי מִכָּאן וּמִכָּאן, כְּחֵיזוּ ב”נ, לְמִשְלְטָא בֵּיהּ רוּחָא דִּטְמִירָא דְּכָל טְמִירִין. בְּגִין לְמֵיתַב עַל כּוּרְסְיָּיא, דִּכְתִּיב וְעַל דְּמוּת הַכִּסֵּא דְּמוּת כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם עָלָיו מִלְמָעְלָה. כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם: דְּכָלִיל כָּל דִּיוּקְנִין. כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם: דְּכָלִיל כָּל שְׁמָהָן. כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם: דְּבֵיהּ סְתִימִין כָּל עָלְמִין עִלָּאִין וְתַתָּאִין. כְּמַרְאֵה אָדָם: דְּכָלִיל כָּל רָזִין דְּאִתְאַמָּרוּ וְאִתָּתְקָנוּ עַד דְּלָא אִבְרֵי עָלְמָא, ואע”ג דְּלָא אִתְקָיָּימוּ.
The Corrections (formations) of Zeir Anpin were made through the Corrections (formations) of Arich Anpin, and his Corrections (formations) unfurled from this side and that side, like the countenance of man.In order that the spirit of the concealed of all concealed, , will reign in him. So he will sit on the throne, , since it is written: “And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it” (Yechezkel 1:26). “The appearance of a man, that comprises all forms, “the appearance of a man,” as it includes all the names .The appearance of a man” in which are sealed all the worlds above and below.The appearance of a man” for including the secrets that were expressed and established prior to the world’s creation, even though did not last.
This is about the formation of the Zeir Anpin or the lesser countenance or small face.Which is a secret code for God having a Son.Again we see more throne visions here also.Which the Zeir Anpin represents six aspects of the Ten S’firot
דף תשעים ושבע
In Kabbalah, Zeir Anpin (meaning “Small Face” or “Lesser Countenance”) is a “partzuf” or divine persona that represents the six emotional Sefirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yessod) of the Tree of Life. It is the masculine, active aspect of the divine, acting as a conduit that allows the higher divine light to descend and be expressed in the world, often through its union with the feminine Nukvah (Malchut)
So the union of the Zeir Anpin and the Nukvah (female) is Bride of Christ language in secret code.
Is the Zeir Anpin a real thing? I would say yes and no ,I do not think it exists physically but it is symbolic and its symbolism has relevance though.
Zeir Anpin, the emotional sephirot centered on Tiferet (Beauty), is the transcendent revelation of God to Creation (“The Holy One Blessed Be He”), a perceptible manifestation of the essential Divine infinity (the Tetragrammaton name of God)
What does that mean to me as the Zeir Anpin being a manifestation of the Lord God himself and the small face (which is what Zeir Anpin means in Aramaic) at that.
So again like Metatron the Zeir Anpin is not Jesus but the Zeir Anpin is a symbol of the concept that Messiah is the Son of God and the Zeir Anpin being united with the nukva the female is symbolic of the Bride of Christ.So the Zeir Anpin is not a real being but a symbol of a real concept in a Biblical world view.And of course the meaning of the Zeir Anpin is different in mainstream Kabbalah than Christianity, but as a believer I accept the Christian world view.From that perspective I understand the witness for Jesus that the lesser countenance or small face is (is what Zeir Anpin means).If you meditate on what Kabbalists define as the Zeir Anpin how can you not conclude it is symbolic of the Son of God who is Jesus the Messiah Lord and eternal King.Almost all Kabbalists agree that kabbalah is very Christian in its perspective but they not liking Jesus explain it away with many rationalizations.You can see why the rational tradition oriented Talmudic Judaism tried so hard to outlaw the mystical side of Judaism.
דף תשעים ושמונה
There is a fun text called the Heikhalot Rabbati (The great palace) and lets take a peek at some of it.
Chapter 1:1
אמר ר’ ישמעאל מה הפרש שירות שהיה אומר מי שבקש להסתכל בצפיית המרכבה לירד בשלום ולעלות בשלום:
Said Rabbi Ishmael: What are those songs which he recites who would behold the vision of the Merkaba, who would descend in peace and would ascend in peace.
But we know Rabbi Akiva in reality did not return in peace ,he was killed and torchered by the Romans after the bar Kokhva revolt.But I will look at this and see what we can learn.
Verse 2
גדולה מכולם להכנס ולהכניסו ולהביאו לחדרי היכל הרקיע להעמידו לפני כסא כבודו ולידע כל מה שהוא עתיד להיות בעולם למי משפילין ולמי מגביהין למי מרפין למי מגבירין למי מרוששין למי מעשירין למי ממיתין למי מחיין למי נוטלין ממנו ירושה למי נותנין לו ירושה למי מנחילין לו תורה למי נותנים חכמה:
Greatest of all, it is that have a care for him, to gather him in and bring him unto the chambers of the palace of the seventh heaven, to cause him to stand on the right hand of the throne of the glory of God; for there be times when he standeth over against Tazsh the Lord God of Israel, to see all that which is done before the throne of His glory and to know all that which is destined to come to pass in the world: Who shall be cast down, who exalted; Who shall be weakened, who made strong; Who shall be crushed with poverty, who made rich; Who shall die, who shall live; From whom shall inheritance be taken, To whom shall inheritance be given; Who shall be granted the Law for his portion And who be given Wisdom.
You can see one of the problems with this type of mysticism is an attempt to obtain secret knowledge.And why people go insane and that this is why God protects us from this type of knowledge.Again like the ealier analysis that as much as we lack moral right to this knowledge we also lack the spiritual maturity to understand this without it killing us like the honey of paradise.
Verse 3
גדולה מכולם שהוא צופה בכל מעשה בני אדם יודע ומכיר בו נאף אדם יודע ומכיר בו רצח נפש יודע ומכיר בו נחשד על המה יודע ומכיר בו גדולה מכולם שמכיר בכל מיני כשפים
Greatest of all it is that he beholdeth all the works of the children of men, yea even those which they work in their secret chambers, whether these be seemly works or works corrupt: A man stole – he knoweth and recognizeth it; A man committed adultery – he knoweth and recognizeth it; A man committed murder – he knoweth and recognizeth it; A man was suspect to have lain with a woman in her uncleanness – he knoweth and recognizeth it; A man spread slander – he knoweth and recognizeth it. Greatest of all it is that he recognizeth all those who know sorcery.
If we knew all the deeds of men could then love anybody? That why and “we are all sinners before God but the details may left out” to an extent is smarter.Once again Eden’s honey will make you insane.
Chapter 2:3
גדולה מכולם שתוקעים ומריעים ואחר כך מנדין ושבים מנדין ומחרימין שלשה פעמים בכל יום ויום מיום שנתנה רשות לכשרים ולענוים לעלובים לנבונים ולישרים ולחסידים לבחורים ולפרושים לצדיקים ולתמימים לירד ולעלות במרכבה לומר יהא בנדוי דטעצ”ש ה’ אלקי ישראל לו ולכסא כבודו ולכתר ראשו לבית דין של מעלה ולבית דין של מטה ולכל צבא מרום ולכל משרתיו מי שעומד לפניו חושש במרכבה ועוזב אותן:
Greatest of all it is that in the heavenly court of justice, three times each day three times each day they blow the trumpets thrice and excommunicate with the lesser excommunication and again excommunicate with the greater excommunication, saying: “Let him be excommunicated to Tazsh the Lord God of Israel, to him and to the throne of His glory and to the crown upon His head, to the heavenly court of justice and to the earthly court of justice and to all the host of heaven and to all its servants, he who standeth before one beholding the Merkabha and who abandoneth him.
The Hebrew never says court but its implied ,it sounds a bit like Michael Heiser’s Divine Council stuff ,The Beit Din of Heaven! Awesome stuff and I’m sure such a thing exists.
דף תשעים ותשע
I did not quote the Hebrew here but this from chapter 5 is just bizarre.
The first voice: Everyone who heareth it at once crieth out and prostrateth himself. The second voice: Everyone who hearkeneth unto it at once falleth into confusion and thereafter returneth not. The third voice: Everyone who heareth it at once is seized by convulsions and at once dieth. The fourth voice: Everyone who hearkeneth unto it at once hath the skull of his head and his body broken and most of the ends of his ribs are torn out. The fifth voice: Everyone who heareth it at once poureth himself out as a vessel and is utterly dissolved into blood. The sixth voice: Everyone who hearkeneth unto it at once is seized at heart by a fierce fire, and his heart is tumultuous and overturneth his inmost bowels, and his bile is dissolved within him as to be as water.
A vision someone had but I am not sure what to make of it and this is why when not backed up with the truth of scripture mysticism can deceive so many.This here in verse 2 makes more sense.
מי כאלקינו מי כמלכנו מי כיוצרנו חמה מפליט ומוציא כתר ראשה (נ”ב סוד כימה) כימה וכסיל וכוכב הנוגה צוררין ויוצאין מחלוק שלו מזלות וכוכבים שמעורר ובא על כסא כבודו אור גדול היה מפליט בין עיניו כי מלך גבורות ומלך נפלאות ומלך פרישות כדבר שנאמר (שם) קדוש קדוש קדוש ה’ צבאות וגו’:
Who is like unto our King? Who is like unto our Maker? Who is like unto the Lord our God? The sun and the moon emit and send forth the crown on His head. The Pleiades and Orion and the star of morning, Constellations and stars and planets Flow and issue forth from the garment of Him Who sitteth crowned upon the throne of His glory. And He gave forth a great light from between His eyes. For King of miracles, King of powers, King of wonders, King transcendent is He.
I can’t disagree on this ,who is like the Lord!
אמר ר’ ישמעאל כל השירות הללו שמע ר’ עקיבא כשירד למרכבה ותפש ולמד לפני כסא כבודו שהיו משוררין לפניו משרתיו:
Said Rabbi Ishmael: All these songs did Rabbi Akiva hear when he descended to the Merkabha, and he laid hold upon them and learned them before the throne of God’s glory, for there His servants sang them before God.
Visions of the song’s of Heaven which I am guessing that Rabbi Akiva heard these songs in his trip to Eden featured earlier in the quote of the Tosefta.
דף מאה
אמר ר’ ישמעאל כל ההתראות הללו וכל התנאים הללו כי התרו והתנו בו בסמא”ל והוא אמר קבלתי עלי ויכחדו עשרה אבירים הללו:
Said Rabbi Ishmael: All these warnings and all these conditions were made known to and laid upon Samael the wicked, and he saith, ‘I have taken all upon me provided only that ten of the mighty shall be destroyed, to wit: Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph, and Rabbi Judah ben Baba, and Rabbi Jeshbab the scribe, and Rabbi Hananya ben Teradyon, Rabbi Hozpit the interpreter, Rabbi Elazar ben Shammua, Rabbi Hanina ben Hakinai, Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha, Rabban Simon ben Gamaliel, Rabbi Eliezer ben Dama
Here in chapter 6 verse 1 we get Samael a high ranking demonic entity in the adversaries army wishing the destruction of many Rabbi’s.
Here is chapter 10 verse 1
פנים נאים פנים הדורים של יופי פנים של להבה פני ה’ אלקי ישראל כשהוא יושב על כסא כבודו וסלסולו מתייא במושב הדר יופי ואז מיופי גבורת הדא מעלה מהדר חתנים וכלות בבית חופתן המסתכל בו מיד נבקע המציץ ביפיו משתפך כקיתון המשרתים אותו ביום לא ישרתוהו מחר והמשרתים אותו למחר אינם משרתים לו היום כי תשש כחו והושחרו פניהם תעלה לבן ונחשכו עיניהם אחר הדר יופי הדר של מלכם שנאמר קדוש קדוש קדוש ה’ צבאות וגו
A lovely face, a majestic face, a face of beauty, a face of flame, is the face of the Lord God of Israel when He sitteth upon the throne of His glory and His dignity is established in the dwelling of His majesty. His beauty is more lovely than the beauty of the powers, His majesty surpasseth the majesty of the bridegrooms and brides in their bridechambers. He that beholdeth Him is at once torn in pieces, and he that glimpseth His beauty at once poureth himself out as a vessel. They who serve Him today serve Him not tomorrow, and they who serve Him tomorrow serve Him never again. For their strength grew feeble and their faces darkened, their hearts wandered and their eyes were obscured after [the vision of] His majesty, the splendor of the beauty of their King. (As it is said, “Holy, holy, holy.”
I’m guessing this is a reference to the Angels of fire singing Holy,Holy,Holy day and night forever and ever from Isaiah 6:3.
I will end the analysis of the Heikhalot Rabbati here but it was very informative.
דף מאה ואחת
so I want to talk about the Bible a little bit here and we go to read 2nd Samuel or Shmuel chapter 22. So please read verses 1-6 for context because I will begin at verse 7.
ז– בַּצַּר־לִי֙ אֶקְרָ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה וְאֶל־אֱלֹהַ֖י אֶקְרָ֑א וַיִּשְׁמַ֚ע מֵהֵֽיכָלוֹ֙ קוֹלִ֔י וְשַׁוְעָתִ֖י בְּאָזְנָֽיו
“In my distress I call the Lord God and yes to God I call and from his Palace (Holy Temple) he hears my voice my cry inn his ears”
Right here is the word Heikhal הֵֽיכָל (palace/temple) so there is Biblical basis for Heikhalot literature. People did abuse it but it had Biblical beginnings and even earlier than Isaiah 6 or Ezekiel 1 also ,you see it here in Shmuel or Samuel. Here is more 2nd Samuel 22
8 “The earth trembled and quaked,
the foundations of the heavens shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
10 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.”
Now we go back to the Hebrew in verse 11
וַיִּרְכַּ֥ב עַל־כְּר֖וּב וַיָּעֹ֑ף וַיֵּרָ֖א עַל־כַּנְפֵי־רֽוּחַ
“And he rode upon a K’ruv (that is Cherab in English) and was seen upon the wings of the wind”
That above is compelling throne vision stuff.Now I want to go to verse 14 so something very special!
יַרְעֵ֥ם מִן־שָׁמַ֖יִם יְהֹוָ֑ה וְעֶלְי֖וֹן יִתֵּ֥ן קוֹלֽוֹ
“The Lord thundered from heaven and the Most High gave forth his voice”
This above is two powers theory right here ,you have first the Holy letters YHVH and it says not the Most High as a double reference but it does say “And the Most High” meaning there is a difference.This is obvious two powers stuff and I think the “And the Most High” is Jesus in pre-incarnate form.Like in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 where the Lord and Most High are used separately which may also be a pre-incarnate Jesus also and more two powers theory.
So what is the lesson here? I think I made a strong case for the identity of Jesus as the true Messiah secretly encoded in the Zohar.Many people may say to me that it is disrespectful to Christianize a Jewish religious text but I would say two things.First is is not a new notion that the Zohar is very Christiological and second the evidence in favor of Jesus in the Zohar is to compelling to overlook and it would be equally irresponsible not to expose such evidence.To those on the other side who say it is not responsible for a Christian to read and explore mystical material.I would say that I did not write this book to teach people to use mystical visions as a form of worship or knowing God. I wrote this book to show the Christian morals that really behind these Rabbinical writings if you look at them that way and these texts bear out a Christian world view.Which is as we learned in this book a large reason that the Rabbinical authorities banned Heikhalot and Merkavah literature.
Do I think throne vision literature is good to read in general? Like many things in life it is how you use it ,it is not a sin to drink alcohol in moderation but abuse of alcohol is a different story.I here have showed the positives of Ma’aseh Merkavah and Heikhalot literature but for sure the occutlists do abuse it.There is a lot of Heikhalot literature in the Bible itself from Isaiah 6 to Psalm 82 ,Ezekiel 1,Pauls vision of the third heaven ,Collosians 1 etc John 1 and obviously the Book of Revelation.
In general I would not recommend studying Kabbalah to most Christians but it is to popular and to many people do teach it in an occult fashion that looking at the true Biblical principals behind it is important.So that when or if people are exposed to mystical and esoteric things they can weed out the legit from the occult.
What is the truth about the Zohar,is it a real divine revelation,or it it legit spiritual but occult or is it nonsense?
In my opinion the Zohar is some ways like the Talmud in that it is Rabbinical literature but not inspired scripture.With the fact that some parts of the Zohar do appear to date early and other parts date later by their knowledge of things that second century Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai could never have known known.And the true Jewish mystics all maintain Yochai wrote the Zohar and Mosed De Leon only found it.Another thing is the Zohar’s mixture of Hebrew and several Aramaic dialects also point to it being written over time by different authors.However calling the Mishnah the Divrei Torah meaning oral Torah gives away that who wrote that section did not seem to know that the oral Torah was codified in a book called the Mishnah in the late second century, which led to the Talmud.There is evidence that early dating and even possible bar Yochai involvement is possible in some of the book.
I think it was to a great extent a mystical meditation on the Torah by many Rabbi’s as well as combining older mystical throne vision type texts also.Then in 13th century De Leon compilled a series of different mystical books from the greater and lesser Idra along with the Sifra Tzeni’uta (Book of modesty or concealment) and put it all into one large book.So I am in favor of a written over time theory but to make it look divine leon claimed only to find it in a cave and gave Shimon bar Yochai all the credit.And all the Metatron material makes it obvious Enoch 3 was part of it also.Sort of like Maimonides’s Mishna Torah which was meant as a one stop covers all for legal Rabbinical stuff ,the Zohar sort of did that for Jewish mystical thought.Then the real Sh’khinah showed up and in secret to revealed the true Messiah in code (Jesus).
דף מאה ושתיים
So I was a person who was saved very late in life and I was not raised in Church or anything really.I was for the most part a life long agnostic until my mid 40’s when I started to have a change of heart and started to explore religion.I read the Zohar about a year before converting to Christianity and I had grown up in an area that had a high Jewish population and had a lot of exposure to Jewish culture.As I read the Zohar I began to notice how much like Christianity the characters were and the Zohar was a major reason for my choosing Christianity as my religion.I am not saying that it was the only factor but it was a substantial factor.In the end we only seek God if God draws us near as John 6:44 says:
44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
God used the Zohar to draw me in among others factors also like some people I met in Rhode Island as a teenager who planted a good seed.This does not mean that I am saying reading these types of esoteric writings is for everyone but if observed in the right context they can be helpful.
So is it true as they say that all that is needed to be saved is to believe in Jesus? Yes and no ,yes but it takes some context like what Paul said when he said if I had not known the Torah I would never had known what sin was.So to simply believe in Jesus without context does not mean anything ,lots of people believe in Jesus but in what way? Here in James 2:19
“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
To be saved one must believe that we are alienated from God by our sins and that Jesus is the only way back to God and Jesus himself is God in the flesh.
Here is Romans 10:9
9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”
With the understanding that I am lost and that I cannot fix myself and only Jesus can fix me.Yes, if you confess that Jesus is your Lord and he rose from the dead you are saved!
דף מאה ושלוש
A lot of people pray the “sinners prayer” but you do not have to just have a sincere understanding that you are lost in sin and Jesus is the only road back and he rose from the dead is fine to pray.Here is a version of the sinners prayer anyway though.
| God, I come before You today on my knees as humbly as I know how to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He took all my sins when He went to the cross and He has been raised from the dead, and is alive forevermore! I receive Jesus today as my Lord and Savior, for You said, whosoever shall call upon the Name of Lord shall be saved. You also said that whosoever comes to You, You will in no wise cast out. So, I have confidence that You will receive me now. God, I don’t want anything to keep me from going to heaven, so I thank You that You always direct my paths in this life.You said in 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I thank You, Lord, for forgiving me of all my sins, known and unknown. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21 & 17, I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, and I am now a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away and all things have become new! Thank You, Father God, for saving me, for forgiving me of all my sins and cleansing me with the blood of Jesus. Now You are my heavenly Father, and Jesus is my Lord and Savior! In Jesus’ Name, Amen. |
This gives people something formal who want more structure but remember a traditional formality without real belief does not mean much.
I hope you enjoyed this unusual book and especially in today’s popularity of the Jewish origins of Christianity. You hear much about Torah and Jewish holidays but here we looked at the mystical and I hope you got something from it.
Truth in Mikra 
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