I Expect To Get Belittled and Persecuted, And...

I'll only stand up in a fight-back kind of way when necessary. Otherwise, I'll turn the other cheek. I can hold my own--after all, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) While I might care about what you believe (since I don't want to say "I don't care what you believe", because I do care), there's nothing that I can do about what you believe--I've brought up 1 Corinthians 3:5-8. However, I care about when you're proselytizing and persecuting others.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated:



Even though I am a Messianic Jew, I intend to follow the example of the ger tzedek Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Update: When I saw this picture on Facebook, I had to explain:

It takes a different meaning for me--at least for this week. As a Messianic Jew, I was pretty persecuted. Not a few days later did I find a disturbing search result on my blog that indicates that Messianic Jews are being silenced at where I was persecuted. If only more people would speak up, that certain persecutor couldn't persecute us.

I'll Stay On The Threads, And...

I wanted to apologize for the way that I handled the situation re "Rabbi" Jason. While I'm leaving up the old post for reference, I do want to say that I let my nerves get too hit. I guess that I just don't like the intra-community persecution, especially from a "rabbi" who heads UMBC Hillel, doesn't believe in a Mashiach (when Tanakh presents the concept of a Mashiach--and especially Maimonides to present-day Jewish [Messianic and Non-Messianic Jewish] scholars codify the concept of a Mashiach), and apparently has made other Messianic Jews on campus feel uncomfortable (As I said, I don't like the search result "find messianic jews umbc"--that indicates to me that we either feel like we have to be silent on campus, or there's even a witch hunt going on.). If a Non-Messianic Jew without any kind of authority had persecuted me and/or someone else, I or we could blow the persecution off. But I'm talking about the "Rabbi" of UMBC Hillel with whom I chose to share that I'm Messianic and that I wouldn't proselytize.

Also, as far as Erik goes, I just used Erik as an example of a controversial topic in of himself--not to persecute or boogeyman him. Therefore, I'm just going to bury his comments--they're not worth reading or dignifying with a response.

Who I Am And Why I Stay Off Of the UMBC Threads

Let me state that, in full and unequivocal disclosure, I am a non-proselytizing type of Messianic Jewish Protestant of the (for a lack of better termage) Evangelical ("fundamentalist") strain. I'm also a conservative Republican. As far as I can read, the Bible tells me:
"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor."
Now, firstly, do I care if you even believe in a Mashiach or Messiah? Yes; but what can I do about it? Do I, however, care if you persecute me and other Messianic Jews for believing in the Biblical and historical Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah? Yes. After all, we who are Messianic Jews at least believe in a Jewish man as Mashiach--and the concept of Mashiach is both in Tanakhand codified all the way from Maimonides to the present.
As for gentile Christians, I don't encourage persecuting them, either--nonetheless, you probably expect gentiles to be Christians and thus won't persecute them like some of you may be prone to persecute "meshumadim" and "koferim" like me. By the way, I am--as far as I can tell--well educated enough in my dad's people's history, etc. to know that I am considered a heretical apostate, soul stealer and destroyer, etc. by many--I've even been on the end of persecution, even by "Rabbi" Jason Klein (and I'll still keep "out[ing] [my]self", thank you; and to not eventually disclose that I am Messianic would've been as dishonest as stating that Jews For Jesus causes "havoc" and that--albeit implicitly as it was stated that--I am not Jewish. Again, by the way, I at least believe in the 12th Priniciple of Maimonides and a concept in Tanakh.).
By the way, I want to let Messianic Jews like myself know that we don't have to stay silent on campus--as long as we don't truly proselytize (which, according to Webster, is forcing, bribing, or otherwise coercively inducing conversion of any nature), we are okay. We can even share our faith if asked--that is not forcing, bribing, or inducing conversion (See Webster and 1 Corinthians 3:5-8). I apologize for not being more public about being persecuted when I chose to disclose that I'm a Mesianic Jew who promises not to proselytize--after all, I don't want people looking for "find messianic jews umbc" (as my FeedJit showed). I don't want Messianic Jews to feel forced into silence or even (G-d forbid that we'd be) witch hunted on campus. The same goes for other groups, by the way: as long as you're not proselytizing or persecuting anybody, laissez-faire. 
Especially given all of that and other factors, I know to stay away from these threads. Besides being at risk for being persecuted (including being accused of being a proselytizing, soul-stealing Nazi who's trying to destroy the Jewish people by converting everyone to Christianity in the way that my great-great-grandparents were converted into Roman Catholicism during the pogroms), I want to stay away from contentious and unnecessary debates about topics including--but not limited to--same-gender marriage, abortion, and Erik Walker.
In conclusion, you know who I am, where I stand, and that I'll let you be if you let me be. L'shalom tikatevu. 

In Case Wikipedia Deletes This...

Here's what Messianic Jews and gentile Christians alike have failed to take up in regards to Messianic prophecy--in other words, I (as far as I know) am the only Messianic Jew taking this up:

Psalm 112

Ironically, Messianic Jews and gentile Christians alike have failed to take up the following:

"Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. 2 His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. 4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 5 A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. 6 Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. 7 He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 8 His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies. 9 He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever; His horn will be exalted with honor. 10 The wicked will see it and be grieved; He will gnash his teeth and melt away; The desire of the wicked shall perish."(NKJV)

Messianic Jews and Christians could easily argue that the psalm states, for example, "his righteousness endures forever", not "will endure forever", meaning that only God could fit the description of the one whose "righteousness endures forever." Furthermore, for instance, verse 2 ("His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed") could be connected to zerah (i.e., "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.") in Isaiah 53:10.

Therefore, especially in connecting Psalm 112 to Isaiah 53, one could argue that only Jesus fits the description of the Messiah. Furthermore, in light of that Messiah has to be God, one could connect Psalm 112 to Isaiah 43:11 ^[32] and Isaiah 45:21^[33].

By the way, be forewarned: if I did any more editing, I'd have to weed out much of the Anti-Messianic bias. 

UMBC, Messianic Jews Are Out There...

Keep looking. You'll find us--me, my sister, and so many others. By the way, don't be afraid: only meshumadim v'koferim (heretics and apostates) like "Rabbi" Jason Klein--the same Non-Messianic, Reconstructionist clergyman who implicity accused me of proselytizing for merely mentioning that I'm Messianic--will try to shut us up. I can assure you that you needn't worry about meshumadim who don't even believe in a personal Mashiach--since Reconstructionists don't. Most of the Non-Messianic Jews who I've met here are--even if they don't believe in a Mashiach--understand and will tolerate those who do. After all, a concept of a Mashiach is in Tanakh--which even our persecutors like Rev. Klein can't escape. If Rev. Klein gives you tsores, by the way, you tell him what I should have told him when I "out[ed] [my]self" as a Messianic Jew: "At least I believe in a Mashiach, and that a Jewish man is HaMashiach."

As a Messianic Jew, I am telling you to be unafraid to speak out--chazak v'amatz tov.

   

Baltimore, Maryland arrived from google.com on "The Nicole Factor: In Full Disclosure To My Non-Messianic Jewish Friends (e.g., UMBC Hillel and JSU)..." by searching for find messianic jews umbc.

Part 14 Of My Stage32 Submission

With this part, I want to be very careful--after all, September 11th is not something to exploit or merely connect to other events. Nonetheless, think about--if you will--September 11, 2001 and September 24, 2008--as if our economy needed any more pain (after all, human lives were already impacted and the financial center of global trade attacked on September 11th)! Then think about October 24, 1929 and December 7, 1941. In a--if you will--weird or strange way--which is hard to explain--, we have lived the reserve parallel of what my great-grandparents and grandparents lived.

In other words, we were attacked before our economy crashed--actually, twice (once in 1993 with the World Trade Center bombed, the second time with people murdered due to murderers who crashed planes with people in the World Trade Center--and I will not call the murderers "suicide bombers" or " jihadis" due to that there are real suicide victims and people fighting for real holy causes in violent ways).

My great-grandparents, on the other hand, saw their economy crash before they were attacked--and if one counts the J.P. Morgan bombing, they went through an attack-Depression-attack pattern. We went through an attack-attack-"Recession"--actually, "Depression"--pattern. Also oddly enough, the First Great Depression happened on Great-Granddad's 25th birthday--after which he had to go to a mental hospital (He had met Great-Grandma either before he left Sugar Notch for Wood River, Illinois or after he came back from Wood River--since they both worked in a silk mill at least in the 20s, whereas he may have been coal mining around the time that and after he went to Wood River.). September 11th, on the other hand, happened on a steprelative's 77th birthday--and he was suffering an unrelated mental problem--though the steprelative has nothing to do with this story but that he shares a creepy parallel with a man who saw a tragic event happen on his birthday. On another unrelated note, "December 7th" and "September 11th" kind of rhyme.

Meanwhile and anyway, my great-grandparents lived through the Depression--and Pop-Pop (as you may already know if you have been paying attention, Jack) and his brothers Francis "Red" Anthony and James "Jim" Julian Czarnecki were all born into the Depression. I sadly have nothing to tell about what they remember about the First Great Depression and Pearl Harbor--I am estranged from Pop-Pop and Granduncle Red died before I was born. As for Granduncle Jim, he was only two and probably could not tell me much--if anything--about the Depression--that is, he was only two when the Depression happened, and not even conceived when Pearl Harbor happened.

What I do know is that Great-Granddad was too old and too mentally unable to serve in World War Two, his brothers Edward "Ed" Leo, Joseph--aka, the wicked "Suzy"--, and Bernie all served. I have already discussed Great-Granduncle Bernie, and spare me if I'm repeating details--I'm discussing Great-Granduncle Bernie again.

Pfc. Bernard "Bernie" S. Czarnecki was born on March 15 (though his dad claimed that he was born on May 15), 1920 at the 203-207 Freed Street compound--although the Census indicates that 203 was being rented at the time, and he therefore was born at 205 or 207 Freed Street. Pfc. Bernie Czarnecki enlisted in the military on December 12, 1940 and was recorded as enlisting again on February 17, 1941. Pfc. Czarnecki served in the Army's 111th Infantry Division Medical Corp., in which he was attacked while he was in the battlefield. With a piece of shrapnel in his head and a botched operation to remove the shrapnel, he was discharged exactly five years after he enlisted. After dischargement, he lived the rest of his life in the Lebanon, Pennsylvania Veterans' Affairs Home and Hospital.

As stated, his widowed sister--Alexandria Alice Czarnecki Dombroski--took care of and set up a Social Security account for him. As also stated, Johnkie and Suzy cruelly took his--and their sister's--benefits when he died from his war wounds on July 16, 1963. Meanwhile, I once tried writing to the Department of Veterans' Affairs to get more information about him--and I was not next-of-kough for them to get any information. Pfc. Czarnecki also never even got a Purple Heart--much less someone to claim him as next of kin and preserve his memory in the past three generations.

Part 12 Of My Stage32 Submission

With college kicking my tuchus, I have not had time or energy to keep telling the family story. Incidentally, Rev. Klein was not at Shabbat tonight; so that helped. Meanwhile, I understand what my great-great-grandparents and great-granddad went through--just as they dreaded for anyone to find out that they were Jews and Crypto Non-Messianic Jews, I dreaded and (as I've done at most Shabbatot) kept my mouth shut lest anyone find out that I'm a Messianic Jew and act like Rev. Klein.

Nonetheless, their--that is, my great-great-great-grandparents' and great-granddad's deception--is not excused. Also, I will at least credit my great-great-great-grandparents for not becoming meshumad Catholics and for willing to die for their ethnoreligious background--they were Jews, Non-Messianic Jews, and sacrificers for their ethnicity and faith.

Meanwhile, I stated the following in regards to Great-Granduncle Bernie's story: "Nonetheless, it'll give you an idea for when I jump back to describe Great-Great-Grandma Czarnecki and her three like-mom-like-sons children: Great-Granddad, Great-Granduncle John "Johnkie" Felix Czarnecki, and Great-Granduncle Joseph "Suzy" Paschal Czarnecki. After all, particularly the latter two evily exploited Great-Granduncle Bernie and were especially like their mom in doing that--as devious and cunning as they could be."

For example, my great-great-grandparents lied to the naturalization authorities:

For one matter, Great-Granduncle Stanley was born on November 11, 1911; Great-Grandaunt Alexandria was born September 28, 1910; and other birthdates were fudged. 

As for Suzy, he was particularly devious--and Granduncle Tony described Suzy's wife as (if I recall correctly), "quiet but sneaky". For instance--as I expressed on Facebook:

"[I still think] about what Great-Granduncle Johnkie and Suzy did to Great-Granduncle Bernie: what they did to him is a shame, and no wonder Granduncle Tony recalled what he heard years later. Of course, given that Suzy used to spit on him and others while he'd talk to them, and Great-Grandma hocked a loogie on his sheets one time (which she bragged about to Mom, and I never connected that the neighbo

r was 205 Freed Street's Suzy Czarnecki until years later); how cruel and frustrating Great-Granduncle Suzy could be doesn't surprise me. After all, look how one of his disciples--Pop-Pop--turned out (Don't think that I'm reconciling with Pop-Pop any time soon, even though I reconciled with Dad.). Incidentally (as I learned later), Great-Grandma (having a Jewish mother, Anna Trudniak nee Monkova) did keep a Jewish custom--whenever some Jews say something that they don't like, find dirty, etc., they spit. Also, I wonder if Great-Grandma (though she was a Slovakian-speaking Anusit who knew Polish as well) knew any Yiddish curses--Great-Granduncle Suzy may have deserved a few.

"

As I stated, Great-Grandma did this[--that is, the tradition of spitting as described by Jewish Virtual Library, whose website I used on Facebook to explain what Great-Grandma did] to Great-Granduncle Suzy's sheets...and now that I think about it...what a nasty man (that is, Great-Granduncle Suzy for expressing his contempt for people by spitting deliberately while talking to them)."

Great-Granduncle Johnkie, meanwhile, owned a barber shop and lived in Dallas, Luzerne; so he couldn't do--although he tried to do what he could for--as much harm as Great-Granduncle Suzy did. In the next part, I'll explain how their mother was more like this, and how Great-Granddad became like his brothers and his mothers--in other words, I'll relevantly jump back.