BarthNotes has an interesting post and video clip up today,
Odd Oklahoma draws attention to a video posted in November 2012 by “Rabbi” Ralph Messer, showing Messer in conversation with Jim Barfield (misspelt “Jim Berfield in the accompanying blurb). The two men have a lot of common: both are known for their eccentric appropriations of Jewish tradition, which they have fashioned into weird idiosyncratic forms of religion that depart from both Judaism and Christianity and which go under the name of “Hebrew Roots”.
Messer (background here) achieved notoriety last year, when he involved scandal-hit evangelist Eddie Long in a bizarre ritual that involved Long (the “fresh sperm“ preacher) being wrapped in a Torah scroll – the incident included a commentary by Messer in which he claimed that a Torah scroll cover is a “foreskin” (it’s not).
One particular item is noted at the end of his message. If you’re not aware of it you should be,
WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah also promotes “Hebrew Roots” teachers such as Michael Rood and Jonathan Cahn; Cahn, with Farah’s assistance, has come to wider attention due to a best-selling apocalyptic paperback called The Harbinger, and he presents himself as being an expert in “Hebrew Mysteries”.
I’ve spent years stymied by the fact of so many (otherwise) reliable Christian websites and/or Christian news sources listing WorldNetDaily in their links of “reliable news sources”.
What’s finally dawned upon me is they continue to do so, BECAUSE they are themselves, adherents of the Hebrew Roots Movement!
