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The Jewish Church
The Song of Moses and the Lamb
My Historical Sketch - Pastor Cohen Gary Reckart
Revelation 15:3

The seven candlesticks are a motif of the Church

The Praise People
Who Do Worship Their God
(I hit a stone wall in my life, I went into the rock for a refuge, and with many tears I learned my destiny)

Before God said "let there be" he already had in the counsel of his own mind a glorious new heavenly host, a "praise people, a Jewish people." A group of new created beings who would share the glory-world with he and the angels. This new heavenly host would be a group whose identity would be "the called out ones." Unlike the angels who had no decision in their heavenly presence, this new host would dwell in the presence of God by choice. These would praise God by choice and thus would be Jews by choice. This new living creature would be a little lower then the angels. The design of this creature would incorporate a soul and a body, but on a different dimension then that of God and his angels. God did not want another revolt in heaven like that of lucifer and his minions. Heaven would henceforth be a place of eternal peace and joy for those who desired fellowship with God. The new heavenly host would be called the "Edah, Ekklesia, Israel, the Church, and the Israel of God." These, if they desired, would be given power to prevail.

God purposed in the counsel of his will to bless righteousness and curse evil. Before his eyes the entire span of eternity from the creation of this creature to the gathering of this new glorious host was laid out. From right to left he could view time and see the beginning and the end. He could see all things in between. Time was before him like one giant picture. In in the midst of this picture he would himself visit man like a shepherd to lead him the way to be a part of the heavenly host.

These beings would need an environment in which to live. So God prepared in his counsel the creation and the world and all that would be therein. He would create the habitation for this creature and prepare it for his arrival. Now, ...God was ready to say: "let there be" and created the heavens and the earth and the plan was set in motion. On the sixth day of this marvel God created the new being, the new living creature, after his own image and his own likeness. He breathed life into his new man of praise and he became a living soul. God made the A-dam in a likeness that he could fellowship and visit in the cool of the day. He would also use this form to come one day among the race of A-dam and bring them the hope of eternal life as one of the new heavenly host.

The picture of eternity lay before God, he saw lucifer bring to the A-dam the nature of evil, sin, and unrighteousness. The test of the man's choice was now in motion. Yes, he could have banished lucifer and not allow evil and sin: but then the man would have no alternative way of life to make his choice. And so God allowed evil to come among mankind to test his will and his choice. The human experiment lay before God in generations of time. And as man began to multiply upon the face of the earth the Divine plan began to unfold. Step by step, generation by generation the man would make this journey, this alijeh into the very presence of God.

God blessed righteousness and rewarded those who looked into the invisible and searched after him. The man had in his memory the ancient record of his grandfather, and the God who walked with him until he sinned. This one man desired to know this God, to meet him, to discover a means of communication, and find some means of reconciliation. How could the A-dam's sin be undone? How could man find the true way if God did not guide him. One Godly man can make a diference. And it came into the mind of Enos to call upon the name of God. Would God hear? Would he give man a second chance? In the mind of Enos, there was no harm done in calling up to heaven for God to visit him somehow. And so man began to call upon the name of the LORD and set in motion an act whereby many also would find God. We might say this is the real beginning of the "praise people, the real Jews by choice." For "praise" is the Jewish word Judah, and from Judah we have the derivitive Jew. Those who call upon the name of God in praise are doing the Judah or Jew thing irrespective of flesh and blood or genealogy in a certain race. Please understand, that it is in these "praises" that the names "Judah, Jewish, and Jew" have their etymology.

When Leah named her son Judah it was because she wanted the meaning of this legacy of "praise" to be established in Jacob's house. This was the day praise came into the house of Israel. The beginning of the real Jewish people began not with Jacob or even his son Judah: but with a predeluvian Godly people whose worship of music and lyrics identified them as Hebrews (from the other side of the flood). God accepted the praise of Enos who transferred this worship and relationship to his son Cainan. Cainan transferred them to his son Mahalaleel. And thus there began a generational transfer of the knowledge of God from father to son.

During the subsequent generations of time, man increased upon the earth in great numbers. But they did not all accept or chose God as their LORD, ...the exalted God, none greater. Man exalted his ego and called himself "adonai." He made himself into a god. Thus, the paganism of the human race was founded and all apostate and rebellious religious have at their center the idea of human godhead. This is the beginning of god-cults and the mystery of iniquity. At the height of this earthly revolt, there remained only one man and his family who were God-fearing and righteous. The time was necessary for a catastrophic cataclysmic judgment. Sexual apostasy, drugs, alcohol, violence, killing, cannibalism, and human abuse was unrestrained in this liberal society. God repented he made these! He could not in good conscience allow all these beings to be so wicked and not execute judgment. He would have to repent to the devil if he did not do something. And, God was not going to repent to a demon or any of his minions! Man will perish FIRST! And so he ordained the deluge and flushed the evil ones from the face of creation.

When the man departed from his tabernacle of safety, he desired to praise God. He remembered the ancient lamb sacrifice, the sacrifices of his forefathers, and built an altar and there called upon the name of God. A "praise people" came off the ark! Altars from henceforth would be a place where man met with God and where the tokens of grace and mercy in praise would be offered. No altar no praise! The "praise people" celebrate with music and lyrics, with poems and psalms, alone or in choirs. The lamb would be the central sacrifice because it figured in God's first grace and mercy to Adam and Eve. With a new beginning, God blessed again the men and women and they were fruitful and multiplied upon the face of the earth. A righteous genealogical thread of father and son was soon broken, bringing over into the new era the gods that were before the flood. Nimrod, a backslider, once a might hunter before the LORD, apostated and established his kingdoms and his new paganism. His peer from the righteous branch was Phaleg, and in his days the earth was divided. The evil ones congregated around Nimrod and his new lofty design to reach heaven without God and righteousness. The righteous lineage separated and moved to Ur. In this little village, within glimpse of the magnificiant tower reaching to heaven, a son was born whose life would forever change the destiny of many millions of people. His name was Abram! So far as we know Abram means "father". He would become the friend of God and his seed would become the depository of Divine promise that would perfect the human experiment for their development into the heavenly host. Abram became a man of faith in God. Upon instructions to depart from his family and begin his alijeh journey seeking a city that had foundations whose builder and maker was God, he departed not knowing wither he went. He entered into the land of Canaan and there built his first praise altar. At the age of 100 he entered into a covenant with God and as the token was circumcised. Justification, sanctification, and righteousness were imputed to him. On the mount of Moriah, in the greatest test of his faith, he raised his eyes to heaven and said Adonai "Jireh" (Lord I see)! He saw the future Messieh in his glory and the destiny of his seed, even all the new heavenly host that would come forth.

Abram offered up the ram caught in the thicket with thorns surounding its head, he called upon the name of God ( he continued the praise people legacy). He called upon God as Elshaddai, God Almighty. Yes, indeed, no man was worthy to be likened unto this God; and should a man endeavor to fake his human godhead, Abram would stand at his altar and offer praise to God from his heart that Elohim was Elshaddai: ...God Almighty. Therein developed the difference between the seed of Abraham and the seed of the other nations. The seed of Abram were the "praise people" of God, and the pagans would praise themselves for their achievements in knowledge, occult witchcrafts, science, philosophy, mathematics, engineering, physics, and astronomy. They would have human gods and make many images and idols representing them, but to Abram and his seed there would be only the ONE GOD and they would make no graven images or idols! It was in this relationship of the Divine with the descendant of Adam, that God swore he would bless the seed of Abram. At this same swearing ceremony, God swore that the Gentiles (non-Abram seed), would share in the Divine eternal blessing. Here we have the first glimpse that the heavenly host would comprise the physical seed of Abram and also a group outside this number among the nations. To cement this Divine plan of salvation God changed the name of Abram to Abraham to make it impossible for this promise to be denied. For "Abram" means father and "ham" means nations. Thus it is said Abraham shall be the father of nations. Now how can he be the father of both his physical descendants and those not his physical descendants? The mystery is to be unlocked in the word "father." There is in the development of this word the meaning not only of a biological parent, but also the meaning of one who begins something not hitherto existing. Thus, God is called Father and has no biological offspring. He is Father by virtue of his being the origin of man who hitherto did not exist. Abraham was the father of a new world religious system we now know as "the Jewish faith," the praise people! All, both his physical descendants and those not his physical descendants who adopted and who practiced his same Jewish faith: would be united into one earthly group, preparatory to the number to be in the heavenly host.

Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob, and from the lions of this righteous man came 13 children, twelve sons and one daughter. It was at Jabok, a stream cutting between the land Padanaram and Canaan, that this patriarch had an encounter that marked a new era in the coming forth of the heavenly host. Jacob's name was changed to Israel, for as a prince had he power with God and man. From him came twelve tribes and the giving of the Covenant of the Law with its Ordinances. To the twelve tribes God gave the Tabernacle plan and established a world center for monotheism, ...one God! The destiny of a One God people was revealed. In the following generations many of the descendants of the"praise people" went after human gods, to their own confusion and shame. Through the lust of their hears, many in Israel were enticed into paganism and the worship of images and idols. The Old Testament record paints the grisly tale of babies and children being offered as burnt sacrifices to idols. This degenerate vine of Sodom forsook God and defiled the promised land with much blood. The nation became so evil God evicted ten tribes to Assyria in 606BC and two to Babylon in 587BC. In the midst of this horrible betrayal of their God, there remained a remnant of "praise people" who would pray three times a day and offer their worship regardless of their punishment. These were a small contingency of "praise people," Jews from the tribe of Judah, who would not apostate. They would rather die then worship or bow to idols and false gods! The issue of God worship was so strong in ancient times, that it divided families, tribes, and nations. The testimony of the wars and conflicts, the ashes and ruins of civilizations, are so indelibly etched in chronicles of time, they cannot be erased. At the center of these bloody centuries was the issue of God vs gods! It is sad that the history of the nation of Israel reports near total degeneracy into occult and demonic darkness. In the midst of this great affliction, Daniel was given the Divine time plan for the coming of God into the world. The original Jews believed when God came he would be the Messieh and their LORD, their King would come riding upon an ass. He would be the heir of David and rule over all Israel and restore that Kingdom of "praise people." Messieh would come from the tribe of Judah, and thus he himself would be identified as a "man of praise." Those who followed the Messieh would become the people of God, for Emmanuel would be among them. The coming forth of God into the world to bring the knowledge of being a part of the new heavenly host would be fulfilled in 70 weeks, ...490 years! There was great expectation by a remnant, but we might expect the devil would show up at the same appointed time in Israel and attempt again to thwart man in his opportunity to be among the heavenly host.

Sometime in September of 4 or 5 BC a babe was born. His mother embraced him and whispered softly his name: ...J e s u s! For the angel said: "he would save his people from their sins." Once his name was pronounced she and Joseph laid him in a manger. The destiny of God in this human body was something determined in the foreknowledge of God. For it was in the image of this body, this son, that God had fashioned and made the first man. In this body, in this son, God would dwell and visit mankind as a shepherd to lead him in the way to life eternal and to be among the new heavenly host. Jesus was son of man and Son of God. He was God and he was man. He was the Creator and the created. He was the son of Adam and Adam's God. He was the King most high of David and David's son who would be King. He was the Messieh and he was the King of Israel. He was the inspiration of Prophets and he was the Prophet High Priest Potentate. He was the Alpha and the Omega. He was the Almighty God and the First and the Last. Paul said that in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He saw in Jesus the visible image of the invisible God. He did not see Jesus as the second God of rank in a hierarchy of three. He did not see Jesus as Jehovah or Yahweh junior. He did not see him as just a man. He saw him in his glory, that he was indeed God manifest in the flesh, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles and received back up into glory. Wow! God among man and according to one writer the Jews KNEW HIM NOT or they would not have crucified the LORD of glory! These received HIM NOT! But to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to be called the sons of God, even those who believed on his name. For his name, the name J E S U S, is the name of God! The name so worthy of praise and so glorious in honor, that every knee shall bow and every knee shall confess that Jesus is LORD!

Around the years 26-27AD there existed among the nation of Israel a remnant who waited for Messieh-God. There existed also the sects of the Pharisees, Saducees, Herodians, Scribes, Doctors, Helenist Philosophers, Kabbalist, Talmudist, Essenes, Zealots, and Atheist. Each of these in their own little worlds of make-believe would rather have their systems of religion and occult sciences then to acknowledge Messieh God was among them. So they plotted in their secret societies, their paladans of demagoguery, their conclaves, their Iscarri, running at last into the Sanhedrin Court, to rid Israel of he whom some said had made himself God! The high priest arose in those days and said it was needful that one die for the nation, rather then the whole nation be taken from their control and grasp, which they deemed to be the same thing as destroying "their" nation. And so in the land of Israel, among those who called themselves Jews, in the city of Jerusalem, the King of Israel, the God Messieh was to be sacrificed by the leaders who represented all the people. How was this Passover sacrifice to be killed? They chose among themselves that he was fitting for crucifixion, the most horrible method of death the Romans practiced. It was decided and it was done: the sacrifice of Jesus was the crucifixion he who said when you had seen him, you had seen the Father! While those guilty of this transaction bewail my accusation, it remains a fact that no amount or weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth can change what happened! Peter accused the Jews is these words: "whom ye have taken and by wicked hands have slain and crucified." A person would have to deny the Apostles Doctrine to take that down from the flag pole. The death of the Messieh God was predicted by Isaiah in chapters 6:9 and 53:1-12. We have other passages that have now come to light that foretold and spoke of those things done to our Messieh, ...Jesus. Was the important work of God to be thwarted, stopped, throttled, and destroyed? What did Jesus mean when he said: "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?" Wasn't he giving the Jews a forewarning not to try and stop the eternal plan of God or they would end up in hell-fire where the worm dieth not? They would not be in the number of the heavenly host! They would be cast The murderes would be destroyed and their city burned to ashes! These would be damned with everlasting perdition and the Kingdom given to others! They would see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God and they themselves thrust out! To the Jews of the Temple cult, the synagogues of satan, nothing mattered, not even the threat of being lost forever and cast into eternal darkness. Their hate was so gross they would accept their damnation proudly and take a blood libel upon they and their children! So indeed, Messieh God would go from them and take a remnant according to the election of grace. He would then fulfill his covenant to Abraham and take a remnant also from among the Gentiles. A new "people of praise", a new Jew would emerge! He would not he a Jew outwardly and circumcision in the flesh, like those who said away with him: but the new Jew would be one inwardly and circumcision would be of the heart. These new Jews would carry the real etymology of the names Judah, Jewish, and Jew, for indeed they would bring forth a praise out of the world the other physical Jews could never give unto God. And so, on the day of Pentecost, in the city of Jerusalem, 120 Israelites became Jews, the true and new "praise people." The baptism of the Holy Spirit sealed this new people to be numbered in the new heavely host. The same day 3,000 more Israelites from the 12 tribes came into the Church and they also became the new "praise people" of the new heavenly host From the midst of Israel came a new Jewish religion with God's destiny as its objective and goal. These are by the Greek tongue called Christians, but but in the original Aramaic/Hebrew called Messiehian: meaning the people of Messieh, the people of God manifest!

This group of new Jews whose identity cannot necessarily be traced to the tribe of Judah, are nevertheless the olive tree of Romans chapter 11. It was in Acts 10 that the first Gentiles were saved and grafted into this Jewish olive tree. Here we have another vivid understanding of what Jesus meant when he said there was one fold and one shepherd. Other sheep had he not of that fold, them also he must bring and make the fold one. This fold is the earthly new heavenly host. Thus, with the engrafting of the Gentiles into the Jewish New Testament Church, there came to be one body and one new identity. These were all Jews of the new birth, the praise people. Being baptized into Jesus and into his name, which of necessity is into his same tribe (Judah), these have become the true, correct, and honorable Jews of the Kingdom of God. This is the Jewish Church. This is the Kingdom of God. This group are the true praise people!

These are the true Jews among the ones who were Jews in name only, who were not and never were the people of God. They had the outward identity of being a Jew by physical birth, but they did not have the inward Jewishness of their original predecessor. No, Leah named Judah "praise" because it was in him and through his seed she hoped the worship of the one true God would continue and triumph in the house of Israel. Thus, the names Jewish and Jew can have only one etymology even if the term later came to identify a physical decendancy. If a physical Jew does not live up to the etymology of his/her identity, then they bear a false identity. Likewise, a person who claims to be a Christian who does not live up to the identity of a Christian, bears a false identity. The term "Jew" does not describe a race of people according to the flesh, it describes a people of a certain tribe from which they came: the "PRAISE TRIBE!" The false identity subscribed to a Jew or a Christian by those terms, does not preclude a person with the true identity from the use of such terms. A person born in the tribe of Judah who is not a true "praise people" of God, is simply not a real Jew! One may claim ethenicity as a descendant of the tribe of Judah, but not be a real Bible Jew according to the etymology of the title!

Now, since there remains those Israelites who call themselves Jews of physical descent, who are not now the people of God, can any of them be saved? Answer yes! They cannot however be saved if they remain in unbelief and refuse to acknowledge that Jesus was the Messieh. Jesus warned the nation of Israel, "if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in yor sins." There is no time past, present, or future that any Jew can be saved if they refuse to accept Jesus as God Almighty manifest in human form for the purpose of assembling his new heavenly host. Those who resent Jesus, hate Jesus, reject Jesus, and will not believe: these shall be cast out to be destroyed with the unrighteous Gentiles.

Any Jew who refuses to repent of their sins; who refuses to undergo mikvah baptism in the name of Jesus Messieh; and who refuses to be filled inwardly with the gift of the Holy Spirit, ... cannot be saved!

The promise is still unto them, but they do not obrain it by default or by inheritance in their flesh and blood genealogy.

The Apostle Peter made this plain in Acts 2:38-40 of the New Testament. It is absolutely false and a lie, that God will turn back to the Jews from whom he took the Kingdom and give it back! There is not one scripture that supports this false doctrine. It is a false doctrine that Jews do not need to acknowledge Jesus as King of Israel and the LORD their righteousness (God). It is absolutely false and a lie, that God will turn back to the Jews and accept Talmudic occultism (Kabbalahism), a rebuilt temple, and rekindled fires and blood sacrifices. There was no hope for a Jew in the days of the Apostles except through Jesus alone, by faith alone, and by grace alone. And this shall never change. The new Jewish Church was established on the day of Pentecost and it alone is the one and only true Israel of God upon the earth. All who come to Jesus by faith and received the grace of Acts 2:38 are the new "people of praise" the true Jews! These are the true circumcision!

It is very fitting then, that the new heavenly host, the new people of praise, the true Jews of the seed of Abraham, will enter into a city with twelve foundations and in them the names of the 12 Apostles. The name of that city? New Jerusalem! And on the 12 gates the names of the tribes of Israel. This is a picture of the true Israel of God. The heavenly host will arrive home in short time. Will you be among that number? Will you become a true worshiper of God in Spirit and Truth? Will you come out from among the world and be separate? Will you chose this day to be a real Bible Jew, one of the praise people? Will you accept Acts 2:38 and become a Jew by choice and unite with the one body, the one sheepfold, and receive your inheritance in the Israel of God? If you say yes: sanctify yourself so that you may have a right to enter into that city! Let the praise people enter in.

Revelation 19:5--"And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

THE PRAISE PEOPLE ARE HOME! THE NEW HEAVENLY HOST HAVE ARRIVED!

Permission is granted to the Olive Branch to post this on the Jewish Church web site.

Note: You can write to Pastor Reckart at acts0412@jmfi.org