Shalom James,

Thanks again for taking time to correspond with me.  I deeply regret that your disaffection for placing your personal faith and confidence in the reliable composite evidence given in the Bible regarding the absolute power and authority of God and of Christ Jesus to fully subject all things to fulfill His revealed purposes lies in part with your affiliation with a group which required you to keep the modern Jewish calendar (which, as you have learned, is mixed with man-made calculations), and in particular to insist that a Christian should fast on the Day of Atonements.

The glorious truth is that Christ’s death and resurrection forever accomplished what GOD demanded for redemption and to satisfy His righteousness and justice. It is a finished work! It is as a believer matures more fully into apprehending the love and glory of God in giving His blood upon the altar for atonement that he is sanctified and ever more thankful for the extent of God’s mercy to include the likes of him.

You are absolutely right that Christians and the Church have failed in our calling just as the Jews and Israel failed in theirs.  Truly Jesus came into the world to save the sick, not the healthy; to save sinners, not the righteous. The eternal God – the very one who both presided over and dwelled within the Temple built during King Solomon’s reign – has foreseen all this, that man is incapable of carrying out His laws to His satisfaction, so He justifies the person who believes from their heart in Him and believes that what He says He can and will do. And, James, even today God the Father gives the Holy Spirit to dwell within each and every one who truly trusts and obeys the command to repent and believe the gospel. But even as it is written that not all Israel is of Israel, so not all the Church is of the Body of Christ. Yet I, as a Jew and Israeli, consider all Jews and Israelis as my brothers and countrymen according to the flesh, and, as a Christian, I consider all who say that they believe in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God as my brother and sister.  At the end of the day, the Lord knows those who are His, and Jesus said that those who do the will of His Father in Heaven are His family members.

What do you want to see done with the findings of your research and with the conclusions that you draw from them?

Appreciatively,
Howard Bass