#one of the books i read talked about how all jewish souls were at sinai at least metaphorically

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

Hi! Obviously ignore this if I'm asking something too personal, but you've mentioned that you're in the process of converting to judaism and I've been wondering how did you start? I've done a good bit of research and think it's something I'm interested in, but I have no idea what the actual process of conversion looks like, much less where to begin. Obviously feel free to ignore, or send me towards someone else, but thought I'd ask!

Hey no worries, anon! So, I will preface this by being forthcoming and saying I got partway through the conversion process, was forced to move, and ended up in a different part of the country with only one shul nearby whose rabbi (and community) are… very unfriendly to converts. They don’t SAY they are, but a few months of attendance and a handful of meetings with the rabbi with regards to conversion really hammered home that neither my wife nor I felt even remotely comfortable converting here, considering it’s a very personal and often vulnerable process, and wherein you have to actually like… trust and communicate with the rabbi you’re working with. So my conversion, while I still consider it “in progress”, is in an indefinite stall until we can move somewhere else or can reliably get to the next closest shul, which we currently cannot for various reasons.

ANYWAY. I started by doing a lot of research. Mostly I was just looking into… all kinds of religion, including Islam actually, because I missed the community and the structure and the spiritual anchors of my very conservative evangelical christian upbringing, but I didn’t like or want to return to the actual, y’know…. beliefs and tenets of Christianity. I found Judaism and just… the more I read and researched about the beliefs and the general culture of questioning and grappling with things within it, the more I felt like I’d found a people who I could understand, and a religion that understood me and would allow for me to be uncomfortable and question why things are taught certain ways and so forth. Which was one of many things that drove me away from Christianity, as I was not good at the whole “blind faith” thing. (they insist it’s not blind, but if you’re not supposed to question god then… what else IS it?)

At that point we were living in upstate new york, and the nearest reform shul was very small, did not have a permanent rabbi (there was one for a number of local communities that cycled around every few weeks), and really while they were officially reform they seemed to as a community have a practice and beliefs a lot closer to something like reconstructionist or humanist Judaism. I went to shabbat services on fridays there for a few months, and they were very nice but said they were very much not a usual reform congregation and that I should probably actually convert somewhere with a permanent rabbi and that was a bit more traditional, but that in the meantime they were more than happy to have me attend services and events with them. They were very sweet and I did appreciate that opportunity to accustom myself to the general pacing and content of a friday night shabbat service.

At that point we get to the part that you’re actually asking about, and I’m sorry if you’re just like “OH MY GOSH MAGS PLS JUST GET TO THE POINT” which is when we moved back down to Florida and I actually properly started the conversion process with a rabbi! I started out emailing the local shul and saying that I had just moved to the area, I was not Jewish but was interested in possibly converting and had been attending services at a very small shul up north, and is it all right if I attend a few shabbat services while I consider converting? I will say, I have never been told “no please don’t attend” about going to shabbat services, but especially with the world the way it is, and me being new and not knowing anyone in the community or having anyone to vouch for me, I prefer to ask beforehand so that they know to expect someone new who is reaching out and less likely to be a threat.

Anyway after a couple of weeks at that shul, I already loved the people and could tell I would get on pretty well with the rabbi, so I emailed her again about setting up a meeting to discuss converting. We had the meeting, talked about why I wanted to convert, what would be required of me, etc. She got me set up with a book list and some books from the shul library, gave me a reading assignment and asked me to write down any thoughts or questions I had, along with some other things that were kind of reading comprehension stuff, and told me to email her when I had finished so we could have another meeting. She also stipulated that she would have me live and practice through a full year of the Jewish calendar at minimum before she’d declare me ready to go to the mikvah, and we’d meet regularly, I’d do a lot of reading, I needed to attend a beginning hebrew class for adults that would be starting again over the summer, attend services (both weekly and holiday) as much as possible, and engage as much as possible in the community. (I really loved them. I was a soloist in the Purim spiel that year and I had friends and once I’d finished converting and could join the synagogue I’d already been needled to join their tiny choir and it was just a great group of people.)

Aaaand then we had to move due to things outside our control, and I couldn’t attend as often due to being a heck of a drive away (in a car with no A/C, in Florida, in the summer) so I tried to shift over to a closer shul whose rabbi my old rabbi knew, but it was High Holy Days and then he was travelling for some studies and couldn’t start doing anything like conversion until that was all over, and then we had to move again and now we’re here and have a very unfriendly rabbi and congregation, so we don’t attend services right now.

…………all this to say: you’ve done some research and you think you’re interested. Next step is to find the nearest shul that is of the movement you want to convert in, and call or email them and just let the rabbi know where you’re at and ask if you can attend some services respectfully to see if you still feel drawn to Judaism when engaging with it directly. If so, let the rabbi know, set up a meeting, and go from there. It’ll take time, a year at the LEAST and usually longer even if you DON’T have the sort of issues I’m currently having, but if HaShem is calling you home, it’s worth it.

(and if your rabbi requires to you take any classes or what-not, most organizations that run them that require you to pay some kind of fee offer scholarships or reduced tuition if you’re not financially able to enroll in them initially, so be sure to reach out about stuff like that, too.)

[test-type-archived]

about the position of UNIT-01 in the tree of life in EOE:

This morning while I was adulting I had end of evangelion playing in the background (as it happens lmao) with English dub cast commentary because I just ??? love hearing people talk about NGE and trying to figure things out. so the scene where the mass production evas crucify UNIT-01 comes and one of the producers comments that “the position" of UNIT-01 within the Tree Of Life is “weird” and that he doesn’t understand why it was placed there.

So I’m here typing this furiously because evangelion is such a piece of art in every aspect and there’s nothing about that scene in particular that is arbitrary or weird and I just love so much what those two seconds of image evoke. So here I'm gonna rant and ramble about it because even though that guy is never gonna read this I need to prove him wrong and also take the chance to preach about the never ending intelligence of our lady and saviour Bio-engineer Yui Ikari.

Going into this I'm leaving this Tree Of Life with the names on it here as reference because it can be confusing for anyone who isn't familiar with it:

Anyways, this was one long ass intro and this is the image in question:

I’m willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt because to be fair the scene where we see the tree of life happens fairly quickly, so it’s very easy to think everything written is gibberish and miss the fact this tree of life is both upside down and flipped, like a mirror. Which makes sense because we are being shown what the seele soldiers see from the ground, meaning the formation is facing up towards the sky and could only be read if looked at from above.

BUT !! nothing is gibberish, in fact if you look at the flipped image you can see it says Kether / Crown (Corona), that means this first circle is the top:

If that first circle was the bottom as one could assume at first glance then UNIT-01 would be placed in the Yesod / Foundation sefirot, and that would be weird so I can see why that would be confusing (although the Kingdom sefirot doesn’t seem to be included in formation to begin with, but again I’m just giving him the benefit of the doubt).  But now that we know for sure we're looking at the Tree Of Life upside down, we can see that UNIT-01 is actually placed in the Tiferet (also spelled Tiphareth)  / Beauty sefirot.

This is where my rambling about how fucking genius this movie is in every detail starts.

Tiferet appears in the configuration of the sefirot along the middle axis, directly beneath da’at (or beneath kether, when da’at is excluded), and corresponds in the tzelem Elokim to the upper torso (in particular, the heart !!! this is the level where the heart chakra is !!! do you see now how it starts relating to UNIT-01? ). 

It’s associated in the soul with the power to reconcile the conflicting inclinations of chesed and gevurah so as to allow for focused compassion, thus accounting for its designation in Kabbalah as midat harachamim ('the attribute of mercy'). It’s interesting that SEELE never seemed bothered with the fact Yui’s soul resided inside UNIT-01, and seeing they agreed with Gendo’s favoritism to preserve that unit intact over the other two + the fact Yui’s father was a member of SEELE, it would seem almost purposeful.  It probably was. 

Now we need to understand that ‘beauty’ is referred to in terms of balance and (a)symmetry, not so much in terms of aesthetic preferences or attraction as we often think of it. The beauty of tiferet manifests itself through the elegant blend of emotive gesture implicit within its expression.

The union of the three primary emotions of the heart, chesed (72) gevurah (216) and tiferet (1081) equals 1369.  1369 is a square number (the square of 37), a sign of perfect 'inter-inclusion’ in Kabbalah where every part of an object reflects all of its parts, as in a hologram.

Here let me get a little conspiracy theorist with information that may sound like a lot of mumble jumble but if you wouldn’t like Evangelion if you weren’t into that. 

1369 is the number of letters in the chapter of the Torah which precedes the Ten Commandments, describing the preparation of Israel to receive the Torah at Sinai. The Torah itself corresponds to the sefirah of tiferet. It was given to Israel by both of God’s Hands, as it were, chesed and gevurah. 

This is the value of the conclusion of the second verse of the Torah (Genesis 1:2): 'and the spirit of God hovered upon the face of the waters' (=1369). 'The waters’ symbolise the Torah. God’s spirit hovering upon the face of the waters symbolises the Torah-portion which precedes the giving of the Torah.

37 = hevel ('vapor'; Abel, the son of Adam and Eve). Our sages teach us: 'The Torah of this world is hevel in comparison to the Torah of the world to come'.

That’s... a lot. And very specific to characters that in Evangelion aren’t depicted as religion makes them out to be. Adam isn’t a human male but an alien, albeit still accurately the first person on Earth. And Eve (English form of ‘Eva’) are human’s work at cloning these alien demi gods. So none of this I just made you read relates directly to the plot in terms of names and characters, but it does in terms of themes although it’s very subtle.

We have UNIT-01 as the sixth sefirot (Tiferet) bringing together chesed (benevolence) and gevurah (power).  I could indulge in what both mean and how it relates to UNIT-01 with Yui and Shinji (and how chesed and gevurah are basically the Rei and Kaworu in Shinji’s heart, as they define themselves to be ‘hope’ and ‘I love you’ in one of the scenes towards the end of Instrumentality) but that would get super long and this is already long as fuck. So if you’d like to know more about these concepts you can read about it HERE.  

Point is, these three together equal 1369, and that number represents the preparation to receive the Torah (basically the Jewish Bible, for y’all uncultured swines) from God itself. The Torah is symbolic, we’re not getting a literal book. The Torah, or Bible, is ‘the word of God’. 

This scene in the movie is literally the preparation to receive the ‘new word' from (our) God. As Fuyutsuki says, the fate of humanity is ‘up to Lilith (our creator, hence our God) to decide’. This IS the Neon Genesis Evangelion. That’s exactly what the title of series means: The gospel / word / message of the new world / beginning. UNIT-01 brings balance (beholding the fruit of life and the fruit of knowledge) to prepare the coming of Lilith with the ‘news’ of a new beginning. That’s why it’s the heart of the Tree, why it’s the ‘ark’ to human souls (hearts), why UNIT-01 is key to the Human Instrumentality Project and to start the Third Impact.

The placement of UNIT-01 in the Tree of Life is so perfect and wholesome, I don’t even know how to finish this post because my mortal brain could never come up with something so meticulously and intelligently layered in meaning. Hideaki you fucking genius.  

[angryacegiant]

Fight me you Twat waffle

Alright you little fuckers, sit down and shut up. I’m gonna prove to your sorry ass that the bible is pro-LBGT+. And there is nothing you fuckers can do about it. So, you, being the little shit you are, may be all like but what about Leviticus 18:22 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” It clearly states that homosexuality is a sin!!

So, the verse you’re ever so incorrectly quoting comes from Leviticus (AKA “Levitical Law”), it was part of the life guidelines God laid down for the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai after their exodus from slavery in Egypt. We call it “Levitical” because Moses was descendant from Levi, one of the twelve original tribes of Israel and sons of Jacob. The Levites were held responsible for religious duty of the nation of Israel, so the term “Leviticus” as well as “Levitical Law” flows from the recognition of the Levites as the main holders of religious law among the nation/peoples of Israel.

Now, we’ve all heard the arguments from people about which Levitical Laws our modern, twenty-first century Christians adhere themselves to. Most of them are cherry picked for convenience and ease of use. We love to quote Levitical Law against homosexuals, but we seem to forget our reading comprehension when that same law turns to the clothes we should wear and the foods we should eat. What’s more, Levitical Law wasn’t MADE for you, a modern day Christian. It was a covenant law between God and a people who followed him for everyday use and is included in the canonical Hebrew text for reference and context. And that’s really what we need here, isn’t it? Context.

Oh, DO let us open the can of worms about biblical contextualism. Because while you may not think it’s important, it really is. The fact of the matter is that contextualism and contextual reading of biblical text becomes crucial, especially for what we refer to as the Old Testament. Because we no longer live in a tribe mentality and because we no longer live under the social and political laws and landscapes of Ancient Israel and its surrounding and neighbor areas, we absolutely must take this into context before we just throw it out blindly.

Property rights. “Mike”, you say, “What does Leviticus 18:22 have to do with property rights?” And to you I say “Everything”. Because this passage is specifically dealing with and addressing women and men as they pertain to property. Or didn’t you know, that women were considered property in Ancient Israel? They were. They were absolutely considered property to be bought, sold, and betrothed. A man in these ancient tribes was considered a property holder. And a woman was property. She was property belonging to her father upon her birth and transferred to her husband, but not upon what we see as “marriage”. Because in Ancient Israel, “marriage” was not a ceremony and a paper signing, “marriage” was sex. And the transference of property rights from father to husband for a young female was found through sex.

So, what God is saying in these passages is that the divine transference of the covenant of marriage and the ownership (yes, ownership) of a woman comes through the consummation of that relationship. What he is saying is that two men in equal standing lying with one another cannot equally own one another and therefore, it creates disputes and dissatisfaction. Because at this time, sex was the catalyst of property transference. If two men of equal standing lay together, who owns whom?

And the thing is. We do not live there anymore. We do not live with those mentalities. We are not the social and political tribes of Ancient Israel and we do not have their functioning. Two men of equal standing in society in the twenty first century can have sex without implications of ownership. Two women in the twenty first century can have sex without implications of ownership. Your thinking lacks not only context on a historical scale, but also a progressive scale in which you fail to see the passage of time and sociopolitical interactions from a tribe mentality to something more evolved. To continue this line of thought let’s talk about Levitical law in relation to other books of the bible. Moreover, Levitical law was OVERTURNED in Paul’s letters to the Romans! Paul stated that those of Gentile faith are not required to follow Jewish law. That is why we, as Christians, are allowed to eat pork, that’s why we can shave, that’s why we can get divorced, because we are not subject to Jewish law!

Born this way!

Some Christians confidently assert that God did not create homosexual people “that way.” This is important because they realize if God did create gays “that way,” rejecting them would be tantamount to rejecting God’s work in creation. In pressing their “creation order” argument, some Christians are fond of saying, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!” To bolster their position, they often cite Jesus’ words in Matthew 19:4-5, where he responds to a question about whether divorce is permissible:

“Jesus answered, ‘Have you not read that the One who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh”? Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ ”

From these words, some Christians draw the conclusion that heterosexuality is the creation norm and, thus, heterosexual marriage is the only legitimate way for people to form romantic relationships. Ironically, Jesus’ own words in this very same passage refute these conclusions.

As the dialogue continues, Jesus’ disciples are disturbed by his strict teaching on divorce. The disciples say that if divorce is not a ready option, perhaps it would be best for a man not to marry a woman. Jesus responds:

“Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.” (Matthew 19:11-12)

Also in Ephesians 1:4 it states “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”. This is a clear passage that in short means God specifically created LGBT people that way. Along with that, another passage that supports this claim is Psalm 139:14 – “I praise you, nor I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Here Jesus identifies three classes of men who should not marry women. Taking his categories in reverse order, first, there are those who have made themselves “eunuchs” for the kingdom of heaven, i.e., those who foreswear marriage to better serve God. Second, he mentions those who have been “made eunuchs by others,” an apparent reference to castrated males. But Jesus mentions a third category — eunuchs who were born that way. Some might argue that Jesus was referring to males born without testicles, but this would be extremely rare. Moreover, this interpretation ignores how the term “born eunuchs” was used in other literature of the time.

Gay people in the bible

From our days in Sunday school, many of us are familiar with the Gospel story where Jesus healed the servant of a Roman centurion. This story is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10. In Matthew, we are told that the centurion came to Jesus to plead for the healing of his servant. Jesus said he was willing to come to the centurion’s house, but the centurion said there was no need for Jesus to do so — he believed that if Jesus simply spoke the word, his servant would be healed. Marveling at the man’s faith, Jesus pronounced the servant healed. Luke tells a similar story.

The same Hebrew word that is used in Genesis 2:24 to describe how Adam felt about Eve (and how spouses are supposed to feel toward each other) is used in Ruth 1:14 to describe how Ruth felt about Naomi. Her feelings are celebrated, not condemned.

And throughout Christian history, Ruth’s vow to Naomi has been used to illustrate the nature of the marriage covenant. These words are often read at Christian wedding ceremonies and used in sermons to illustrate the ideal love that spouses should have for one another. The fact that these words were originally spoken by one woman to another tells us a lot about how God feels about same-gender relationships.

In the entire Bible, there are only two books named after women. One is Esther, which tells the story of a Jewish woman who becomes Queen of Persia and saves her people from destruction by “coming out” as Jewish to her husband, the king. The other is Ruth, which tells the story of two women who love and support one another through difficult times. Both books contain powerful messages for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, but it is the story of Ruth that addresses the question we raised in chapter one: Can two people of the same sex live in committed, loving relationship with the blessing of God?

In the ancient world, eunuchs were widely associated with homosexuality. Here a self-avowed eunuch is welcomed in to the early church without any concerns about his sexual orientation. He was welcomed on the same basis as other people – his faith in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 56:3-5, which promises eunuchs who keep God’s commandments that someday they will receive a house, a monument, and a name within God’s walls. Perhaps, like gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians today, he had gone to his religious leaders pointing to the Scriptures which affirmed him, hoping he might somehow be accepted. But instead, he had been clobbered once again with Deuteronomy 23:1. A eunuch “may not enter the assembly of God’s people!” And so he had taken his precious scroll of Isaiah and begun his journey home, reading about another of God’s children who had been despised, rejected, and cut off.

It was at this point Philip, guided by the Holy Spirit, happened along and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian eunuch, still seeking a religious authority figure, answered “How can I unless someone guides me?” (8:31) So, Philip started with this Scripture and “proclaimed to him the good news of Jesus.” (8:35) Then they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is some water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” Philip’s answer should be astonishing to anyone who still holds a prejudice against gay, lesbian, and bisexual believers.

Philip responded, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

Philip did not say, “Let’s talk about Deuteronomy 23:1.” He also did not say, “I realize since you’re a eunuch that you may desire men; can you promise me you’ll never have a sexual relationship with a man?” Instead, operating under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” We have no way of knowing whether the Ethiopian eunuch was in fact gay. But we do know he was part of a class of people commonly associated with homosexuality and that this fact was completely irrelevant to whether he could become a Christian.

On the premise of the LGBT community lets also talk about transgender people and the bible. More specifically how God couldn’t give two flying fucks about it. I bring into evidence Galatians 3:28 “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” As you can see, God literally does not care what you or anyone else identifies as.

History

Now its time to talk about the virgin mother, I.e. historical context. The word ‘virgin’ did not originally mean a woman whose vagina was untouched by any penis, but a free woman, one not betrothed, not bound to, not possessed by any man. It meant a female who is sexually and hence socially her own person. But if you so insist that you take to modern day patriarchal version than fine with me. By your own standards Jesus had two fathers and a surrogate mother, which never had sex with either of them.

History lesson: late 13c., "bundle of twigs bound up," also fagald, faggald, from Old French fagot "bundle of sticks" (13c.), of uncertain origin, probably from Italian fagotto "bundle of sticks," diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis "bundle of wood" (see fasces).

"Male homosexual," 1914, American English slang, probably from earlier contemptuous term for "woman" (1590s), especially an old and unpleasant one, in reference to faggot (n.1) "bundle of sticks," as something awkward that has to be carried (compare baggage "worthless woman," 1590s). It may also be reinforced by Yiddish faygele "homosexual" (n.), literally "little bird." It also may have roots in British public school slang noun fag "a junior who does certain duties for a senior" (1785), with suggestions of "catamite," from fag (v.). This also spun off a verb (see fag (v.2).

Burning sometimes was a punishment meted out to homosexuals in Christian Europe (on the suggestion of the Biblical fate of Sodom and Gomorrah), but in England, where parliament had made homosexuality a capital offense in 1533, hanging was the method prescribed. Use of faggot in connection with public executions had long been obscure English historical trivia by the time the word began to be used for "male homosexual" in 20th century American slang, whereas the contemptuous slang word for "woman" (in common with the other possible sources or influences listed here) was in active use early 20c., by D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce, among others.

So in short a faggot is a bundle of sticks that is set on fire that is now a slur for a homosexual male. Yet isn’t it funny that Moses came across a burning bush (sticks on fire) and saw God in them. Isn’t it funny how faggots and God can look the same sometimes?

Let’s talk about that slut Paul:

Now it’s time to slut shame St Paul. It seems that Paul was disgusted with certain aspects of sex in Greco-Roman society. He was at times a bigot and a prude - he even admits as much when discussing whether women's hair should be covered. He at no time discusses equal relationships between people of the same sex. It is possible that if he had known about them he would still have disliked them; after all Paul seems to condemn prostitutes, but given that we know most ancient prostitutes, whatever their social opprobrium, were forced, usually sold in fact, into prostitution, it does not speak well of Paul, that he condemned these poor abused people: Jesus never did!

So, stop fucking using my religion as an excuse to be a bigoted asshole you little self-righteous fucker.

[hervekposts]

Who are YOU Sir ?

Who are you sir? Extract of "The Book of Prophet Kacou Philippe", published by Edilivre, France www.philippekacou.org . Kc.62:10 Any anointing that would cause a poor soul in search of healing or deliverance to fall is of the devil! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. Before the enemies or opponents of God, Fire was called down! Before Sodom and Gomorrah, Fire was called down! Before the fifty men of Ahaziah, Fire was called down! But whoever will call fire upon a poor soul in search of healing or deliverance is a devil incarnated! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]... 11 Well, what did Moses do before this great Revelation? He asked the voice that spoke to him: who are You Lord? Amen! And on the way for Damascus, when this light shone, Paul fell down. Paul fainted, he fell unconscious. He saw that it was the end of his life! Paul faced death but when he regained consciousness, what happened? Did he say: this is too supernatural, thus it’s God? No! Did he say: this must be the God who came down upon the mountain of Sinai! You see? But he put the old and ultimate question which Moses and the fathers have always put. Paul said: I’ve seen Your great glory, I’ve seen your great Might which threw me on the ground, I’ve heard your voice of thunder … BUT WHO ARE YOU? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen! ]. … You defeated me that’s true but who are You? You see? 12 Who are you sir? Here is the question mankind failed to ask. If there is a multitude of prophets today, it is because mankind failed to do it. Look all over the earth, how many Jews are seduced by Osborn, Billy Graham, Morris Cerullo or Yongi Cho? There is none, they are not distracted. You see? If there is an Israeli embassy in our country, it is because there are Jews here but how many of them are in our churches? There is none! You see? If Benny Hinn made a real Jew fall, this Jew would yell at him: I see that you are a powerful man but who are you? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] 13 See the case of John the Baptist in... I read John 1:19-23: " And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites that they might ask him, Thou, who art thou? And he acknowledged and denied not, and acknowledged, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he says, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. They said therefore to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. ". [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] . You see? 14 When the Jews learnt all John was doing, what did they do? Did they send the priests and Levites to go and see whether the things they had learnt were so? No! Did they send these priests and Levites to see the prosperity of his ministry or the numerous Converts and what he was dressed of? No! Did they send these priests and Levites to ask for collaboration or to request John the Baptist’s adhesion to the federation of churches? No! You see? Did they send these priests and Levites to see whether John … But the Bible says that the Jews sent the priests and Levites to ask John, who he was? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 15 John said: I am not the Christ! They said: all right, but who are you? He said: I am not this or that but they said: all right, so who are you? Tell us who you are! You see? Even if John said: "I have three thousand faithful on this side, I have got some assemblies in every city, I have got some assemblies in France, in Belgium … I’ve worked such and such miracles… I have a twenty-year experience … "These Jews would not be distracted! What they are interested in is who he is! [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 16 Does the Bible say that at this moment, in this place, a man will do what you are doing as it was the case of the prophets of the Bible? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] You see? In spite of their error, despite the fact that it was said in John 8:44 that they were sons of the devil, they had, at least, the wisdom to ask John who he was because the Jewish blood was flowing in them. [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!] Do whatever you want before a Jew, have the fame, raise some dead people, have the world for you, he will ask you: WHO ARE YOU? [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. Because that is what mankind failed to do, that is why we have hundreds of prophets of nations today. 17 Go down into a burning Thorn-Bush as Moses did, any Jew or son of God, small or great, will ask you who you are! ". Make a Jew fall down in a vigil of prayer, still on the ground like Paul, he will yell at you: " who are you sir?" But a son of the devil will say: "oh! See how powerful he is! " … Even if an Angel comes down, it is the same! You see? 18 In Luke 1, a man said strange things to Zacharias. And Zacharias did not know that he was an Angel. After having heard these things if he asked directly who this man was, he would not be mute! You see? It was confusion for a priest as him. 19 Let’s read it now in Luke 1:19 " And the Angel answering, said to him, *I* am Gabriel, who stand before God, and I have been sent to speak to ... " Zacharias did not have to consider the old age of his wife but he simply had to say to this man: " what you are telling me is strange! A man cannot say that, so who are you? "But instead of that, he who is a Jew and moreover a priest, worries about his old age. To the point that Gabriel answered the question saying: "I am Gabriel, who stand before God ". 20 If Zacharias had asked that, he would not have been mute! You see? Read through all the Bible and you will see that it's that. When John the Baptist himself sent his disciple towards Jesus, it was not to see if the rumours of miracles which reached him were so; but the question was: WHO ARE YOU? Are you really the Christ? You see? 21 And Jesus Himself in Mat.16, at seeing his disciples, felt compassion. People were following Him because He spoke of God, of Moses, of the law and of the prophets; He healed the sick, raised the dead but none of the disciples dared to ask who He was. For them He was a true man of God, that’s all! And one day, Jesus Himself asked the question in their place. I am going to read it in Matthew 16:13-14: "But when Jesus was come into the parts of Caesarea-Philippi, He demanded of his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I the son of man am? And they said, Some, John the Baptist; and others, Elias; and others again, Jeremias or one of the prophets ". [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. You see? 22 They do not even know who they are following! The important thing for them is that Jesus talks to them about Moses and about the prophets. That’s what mankind failed to do today. You see? 23 If you see that T. L. Osborn, Yongi Cho, Chris Oyakhilome, David Owuor, Emmanuel Makandiwa, Uebert Angel, T. B. Joshua, David Oyedepo, Ewald Frank, Morris Cerullo or Reinhard Bonnké is supernatural, the biblical logic orders that he should be questioned : " sir, who are you? Does the Bible say that you will do what you are doing? Did the Bible announce you like John the Baptist? Does the Bible say that the time in which we are living a man of your race will rise in this generation to do what you are doing? Has GOD called and commissioned you like Moses, Paul or one of the prophets? ... We see all your miracles, your anointings, your knowledge but who are you? Tell us who you are! ". If you see that Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Doug Batchelor, Billy Graham, Edir Macedo, Valdemiro Santiago, Silas Malafaia, Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Alberto Mottesi, Claudio Freidzon or Dante Gebel is supernatural, that is the question you should ask him if you are a son of God. If you see that Benny Hinn, manasseh Jordan, Joaquim Gonçalves, Donald Parnell, Alejandro Bullón or Guillermo Maldonado is supernatural, the bible logic orders that he be asked: " sir, who are you? Does the Bible say that you will do what you are doing? Did the Bible announce you like John the Baptist? Does the Bible say that the time in which we are living a man of your race will rise in this generation to do what you are doing? Has GOD called and commissioned you like Moses, Paul or one of the prophets? ... We see all your miracles, your anointings, your knowledge but who are you? Tell us who you are! ". They are sorcerers and magicians under Joel 2:28 and 1 Co.2:4-5. [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 24 Who are you sir? You, Benedict XVI, … You, presidents of churches, … You, reverends, bishop, … You, anointed prophets, … You who open churches , missions and ministries, who are you? You, in big hairy tuxedos, you whose good scent before men is stinking before God like the odour of hairy goats in Daniel 8, who are you? You whose posters and photographs are strewn on walls, who are you? WHO ARE YOU SIRS? Answer, sirs! Who are you? 25 Tell us who you are so that we can give an answer to those who will ask us . Are you Matthew 25:6 made flesh? Are you the Christ? Are you the prophet? Are you the light of the world? Are you the one who has got the keys of the Kingdom today? ... So who are you Sir? Tell us who you are? ... O God! Thank You and the honour be to You, to the ages of the ages [Ed: the congregation says: Amen!]. 26 Let’s stand up in a spirit of prayer … If you are here for the first or second or even the third time and you have not yet accepted this Message, raise simply your hand to say that you accept It now!... 27 And this evening, after you have listened to this preaching, if you believe that I am the prophet who has to come for our generation according to Matthew 25: 6 raise your hand and ask whatever you want grounded on this faith.