Battle With Missionary Paul Cohen-Round 1

On August 23, 2009 I received this email from Paul Cohen, a Christian missionary.

How perplexing are Israel and the Jews to the world! No one, Jews especially, knows how to solve the problem of contention with, and hatred of, the Jew. There are those, like Hitler, who think extermination is the answer. There are those, like Muhammad, who think bullying into submission is the answer. They are wrong. God, the Savior of Israel, has the true answer, and He has given it to us to give to you. While this letter is addressed to the Jews and the nation of Israel , it is meant for everyone to read and, whosoever will, to share with Jewish friends and acquaintances, and with whoever professes a love for the God of Israel.
Paul Cohen
The Key for Israel and the Jew

Introduction: Jews, you have tried everything to be at peace by dialoguing with, and appeasing, the world. You have tried everything, and nothing has worked, because you lacked the simple solution. Here is the key for Israel, the Jew, and the whole world

_____________________________________________________________________________________
then, on August 24, 2009:

You need to go all the way, Justin, and reconcile with God through the King of the Jews!

Paul

____________________________________________________________________
then on August 24, 2009, again:

“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3 HNV).

Justin, you are quite confused. Idolatry is parading around a Torah scroll, lifting it in the air, kissing it, and singing songs to it. So is standing before an ancient broken down wall and praying to it.

Worshiping at the feet of the Angel of the LORD is not idolatry:

Joshua 5:13-15 BBE
(13) Now when Joshua was near Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man in front of him, with his sword uncovered in his hand: and Joshua went up to him and said, Are you for us or against us?
(14) And he said, No; but I have come as Captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my Lord to say to His servant?
(15) And the Captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And Joshua did so.
Abraham, the father of those who have the faith of God, saw the One he worshiped in the flesh (Genesis 18), and continued thereafter to worship Him in spirit and truth. He never left the living God to worship a book or a wall.

So, while I am in the tradition of my fathers, who are you following?

The King of the Jews is no ordinary man, but is God Himself, Who took on human form as promised to redeem all of Israel and the world. Only God can raise Himself from the dead. Only God can give His Spirit to those whom He chooses, empowering them to live and to testify of His works. Jesus Christ is the One and Only God, the Same Who appeared to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and others; there is no other God.

Having no contact with the God of Abraham, you, along with the nation of Israel that He set aside in their apostasy, have substituted idols of paper and stone for God. You are as dead to His Holy Spirit as those things you serve.
But God has determined to raise Israel from the dead, and your unbelief won’t stop Him. In fact, it will only serve to glorify Him, as it has here by my reply.

Paul Cohen
www.thepathoftruth.com

_____________
My response is:
_____________

“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3 HNV).

Justin, you are quite confused. Idolatry is parading around a Torah scroll, lifting it in the air, kissing it, and singing songs to it. So is standing before an ancient broken down wall and praying to it.

I am confused? If it is the Torah that gives this commandment, should we not honor it? Simcha Torah is a holiday from the Torah, if you don’t remember. Perhaps you didn’t learn that as a child? No excuse, because neither did I. That Wall is half torn down because your cronies tore it down-don’t play stupid with me!

Worshiping at the feet of the Angel of the LORD is not idolatry:

Joshua 5:13-15 BBE
(13) Now when Joshua was near Jericho, lifting up his eyes he saw a man in front of him, with his sword uncovered in his hand: and Joshua went up to him and said, Are you for us or against us?
(14) And he said, No; but I have come as Captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my Lord to say to His servant?
(15) And the Captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, Take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. And Joshua did so.

The Messiah is not supposed to be an angel, but a prophet and king. Attributing power to any other source other than one G-d is idolatry. You should look at what the Rambam says about this. After all, the fact that you correctly identify the man as an angel comes from Rashi. Why do you quote the rabbinate if you oppose their views? That is a contradiction.

Abraham, the father of those who have the faith of God, saw the One he worshiped in the flesh (Genesis 18), and continued thereafter to worship Him in spirit and truth. He never left the living God to worship a book or a wall.

Abraham lived before the giving of the Torah. It says in the Zohar that G-d looked into the Torah for to create the world:

זוהר כרך א (בראשית) פרשת תולדות דף קלד עמוד א

תא חזי כד בעא קב”ה וסליק ברעותא קמיה למברי עלמא, הוה מסתכל באורייתא וברא ליה

“And these are the generations of Yitzchak…” (Beresheet 25:19). Rabbi Chiya opened the discussion with the verse: “Who can utter the mighty acts of Hashem? Who can declare all His praise?” (Tehilim 106:2). Come and behold: when the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to create the world, He did so according to the Torah. And every act that the Holy One, blessed be He, used to create the world was done according to the Torah. This is the meaning of: “then I was by him, as a nursling: and I was daily his delight” (Mishlei 8:30). Do not pronounce it as “a nursling,” (Heb. amon) but rather ‘a craftsman’ (Heb. oman), BECAUSE IT WAS A TOOL FOR HIS CRAFT.

The fact that Jews revere the Torah is to their credit because it is the will of G-d. If early Christians or even some Jews today don’t recognize that, it’s their error.
With regard to the Western Wall-as one gets closer to the Holy of Holies, “behind” the Wall, the קדושה, or holiness increases. The Holy of Holies is where Adam was created, where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, where the Jacob had the dream if the angels going up and down the ladder, and where the Ark of the Covenant was kept! Sound important to you? According to Jewish law a Jew must face the Temple Mount when he prays. Apparently you are unaware of that and you simply think that Jews pray to the Wall! A Jew cannot step on the area where the Holy Of Holies is because we are in a state of impurity טומאה today. Therefore, to not transgress this (as well as secular law), Jews pray at the Wall.

So, while I am in the tradition of my fathers, who are you following?

Who are your fathers? Are you a Jew according to Jewish law?

The King of the Jews is no ordinary man, but is God Himself, Who took on human form as promised to redeem all of Israel and the world.

This is hardcore idolatry. Look at what the Rambam says about how we perceive G-d. G-d has no shape and is not bounded. It is idiotic that you “worship” a Jew but disparage the Jewish Nation.

Only God can raise Himself from the dead.

Are you saying G-d “dies” להבדיל? That is ridiculous. G-d is infinite and not bounded-He has no beginning or end. Do Christians really believe what you wrote?

Only God can give His Spirit to those whom He chooses, empowering them to live and to testify of His works. Jesus Christ is the One and Only God, the Same Who appeared to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and others; there is no other God.

Again, you are mixing paganism with with Judaism. G-d has no form and a man cannot be G-d. You want to give me a lecture about another pagan idea of yours-Santa Claus? By the way if you rearrange the letters Santa it spells Satan!

Having no contact with the God of Abraham, you, along with the nation of Israel that He set aside in their apostasy, have substituted idols of paper and stone for God. You are as dead to His Holy Spirit as those things you serve.

Excuse me? When Jews pray they begin by addressing the G-d of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Did you not go to Hebrew school, or are you just another lost American Jew? Jews are being exiled because of their sins, not because of their “apostasy.” Here you are describing yourself, Paul, and those who think like you. I am alive and well and we are waiting for the Divine Presence and prophesy to return to the Jewish Nation-which it will. The writing off of the Jews is an act of Esav’s jealousy and his regret that he spurned the birthright. You don’t want to talk about that, eh Paul?

But God has determined to raise Israel from the dead, and your unbelief won’t stop Him. In fact, it will only serve to glorify Him, as it has here by my reply.

This may be the only correct thing you wrote on this email! But, who is the believer, Paul?