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IN-DEPTH FEATURES The Crusades of 1999 An ancient Christian dilemma is coming to a head now after a 2000
year reprieve.
The Twelve Apostles, the followers of J. who claimed he was the Moshiach,
were rejected by the Jewish community in those days. Their claims
seemed to totally collapse when their so- called Moshiach was put
to death by the Romans without fulfilling any of the criteria required
of a Moshiach by Jewish tradition.
But instead of falling to the wayside, their unsubstantiated belief
in Yoshke's Messianism was revived by Paul, an apostle of the next
generation. He, more than anyone else, developed the skeleton of the
new religion by allowing gentiles to join the religion, promoting
Yoshke from a Moshiach into the divine itself, obviating the fulfillment
of most mitzvos, and emphasizing belief in Yoshke as the major doctrine
in his new religion. This fledgling belief system with its few commandments
and values plagiarized from the Torah proved to be an attractive alternative
to a gentile world sunken in paganism.
Among the first to adopt the new religion was the Edomite tribe who
lived in proximity to the Jews in the Second Temple Era. (Hence the
identification by our sages of Christianity with Edom.) Its few Jewish
adherents were no doubt attracted because it was an era of fearful
persecution by the Romans, a time which has always been propitious
in Jewish history for feverish Messianic prophecies and redemption
ceremonies.
By the fall of Beitar in 135 C.E. the Christian believers had separated
themselves from the mainstream Jewish community, and the Nicene Council
in the third century codified their beliefs incorporating numerous
paganistic ideas and eradicating specific Jewish practices including
circumcision.
The Jewish Shabbos which is celebrated on the last day of the week
was switched to the first day of the week and its prohibitions eliminated.
Un-Jewish concepts such as the inborn guilt of a human which must
be eradicated by believing in Yoshke, and hell for all those who didn't
believe in him helped lock believers emotionally to the religion and
achieve submission to the religion's leaders.
A thorny religious dilemma still remained. Forced to explain away
J.'s failure to fulfill the prophecies in the Bible attributed to
the Moshiach, the Christian theologians came up with a theory of his
anticipated Second Coming at the end of the Second Millennium. During
the early centuries when Christian belief was being shaped, the end
of the second millennium C.E. seemed far enough away to be unable
to shake the foundations of Christianity. But the moment of truth
has arrived, and history has caught up with Christian theology.
Christian leaders around the world are greatly concerned that the
nonfulfillment of this Christian teaching could completely destroy
the basis of their religious hierarchy and belief system -- and
the loyalty of their millions of followers all around the world. If
this prediction does not come to pass, many groups fear this will
prove the theological bankruptcy of a religion which has held sway
over large numbers of the world's population for nearly two thousand
years.
How do we Jews figure in this Christian teaching?
A prime element in Christian belief is that the Jews, the sinful,
rebellious element who refused to accept Yoshke during his first "coming"
and even gave him over into the hands of the Romans to be crucified,
will finally lose their stubbornness and convert en masse. They
believe that this is a precondition to Yoshke's second coming.
One of the most "pro-Israel" Christian lobbies, the International
Christian Embassy to Jerusalem, writes this openly on their website:
"THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL"
"When we speak of the redemption of Israel, first we can say that
redemption is promised to Israel. We find in Zecharia 12:10 the outpouring
of the Divine Spirit upon those who live in Jerusalem. He is very
clear about where this will happen. It will not happen out there in
the Diaspora somewhere but in Jerusalem . . .
"Secondly, when this nation is swept into the Heavenly redemptive
purpose, she triggers the second coming of the Messiah. This is probably
the most crucial thing upon the face of the earth because real peace
will not come from the United Nations, nor from the European Union
. . .
"Peter tells them . . . J. will stay in heaven until there is
an invitation from Israel for Him to come back. And that invitation
is by the outpouring of the Divine Spirit . . . The Book of Hoshea
(Chapter 5) talks about the coming of the Messiah, His return to heaven
and His coming again . . .
" . . . Let me tell you dear friends, the Bible teaches, mostly
in the Tanach, He will bring all nations against Israel, but the Almighty
will preserve her! She will triumph! But the pressure will bring her
through into that wonderful spiritual recovery about which the Divine
Word speaks, and usher in for the world and for Israel, that great
and wonderful kingdom promised to David, of peace and of Messianic
glory."
What Exactly is "Spiritual Restoration"?
The Christian Embassy does not overtly reveal that the "spiritual
restoration" of the Jews means their accepting belief in Yoshke.
They prefer to quote vague phrases and verses from the Tanach
which suit their purposes without openly offending Jews. Their
friendship to Israel and Jews is not out of lovingkindness, but their
desire to prove the veracity of their religion, and for this reason
-- and this reason alone -- have they demonstrated their friendship
with Israel and poured millions of dollars into different charity
projects for it.
The Christian groups have achieved stunning success in recent years.
Missionary groups have grown at a rapid pace. "Jews for Judaism"
relates that twenty years ago there were not more than a few thousand
Jews involved in Christian groups. It is estimated that since the
70s, as many as half a million Jews have become involved with Christianity.
The missionary fervor to accomplish the great "finale" has
recently rallied numerous Christian and Messianic Jewish groups to
target Jewry throughout the world and especially in Israel. Getting
the Jews to convert has become THE project enthusing Christian communities
the worldwide. Congregations all over the world are sending missionaries
to Israel to help convert the Jews. Tens of thousands of Christian
congregations are continuously being implored to donate money for
the mammoth effort. The result is that a massive missionary onslaught
has already begun and is building up momentum for the year 2000.
The methods to convince Jews have been refined by groups such as Jews
for J. and Messianic Judaism, and adopted by some mainstream Christian
communities.
The days when missionaries were pathetic, unconvincing soul-snatchers
who could sway only ignorant Jews and those who needed an emotional
anchor in their life, are gone. Today, the missionary groups reach
out to the Jewish community with sophisticated and camouflaged brainwashing
techniques that have eased the way for hundreds of thousands of Jews
to step into the bosom of Christianity. The difference between the
old methods and the new is that today the missionaries are willing
to engage in sophisticated charlantry and duplicity to accomplish
their goals, whereas before they were more candid and direct in stating
their goals.
What Does a Missionary Look Like Today?
A contemporary missionary is just as likely to be a man wearing tzitzis,
a large kipa, and payos. He will call himself by
a Hebrew name, and his talk will be liberally sprinkled with Hebrew
words. He insists that he is and wants to remain a Jew, but to be
a "complete" Jew, it is necessary to believe in "Yeshua"
the Messiah. Targeted Jews will often not hear a word about Christianity,
J.C. the Trinity, the Virgin and other established Christian beliefs
that have repelled Jews for centuries.
Julius Ciss, a former Messianic Jew who now works as a counter-missionary
with Jews for Judaism, explained the methods which won him over. After
he visited a regular church at the prompting of a Christian friend
and walked out alienated from the experience, the friend suggested
he try a Messianic congregation. The following are his own words:
"After speaking privately with [a member of a Jewish congregation
who believed in J.], I agreed to attend a Friday night `Erev Shabbat'
service.
"I walked into the meeting hall and sat down. The congregation
was addressed by a very pleasant man with a large nose and a face
as Jewish as the map of Israel. He wore a yarmulke on his bald
head, and a tallis. Many of the male congregants that evening
were also wearing yarmulkes and tallitot. Some of the
women wore head coverings and one lit Shabbat candles while reciting
a Hebrew blessing. This was followed by the recitation of kiddush
blessings over a cup of wine and hamotzi over a challah;
but each blessing ended with the expression "Beshem Yeshua
Hamashiach." They sang Jewish songs such as "Od Yishoma"
and "Hinei Ma Tov." The atmosphere felt very Jewish
and I found the environment more stimulating than any synagogue experience
I could remember.
"It was very reassuring to meet other Jews who believed in this
new form of `Christian-Jewish' expression. The environment was not
at all offensive; on the contrary, its Jewish flavor was quite appealing.
I felt comfortable and wanted to return for more of these `Oneg Shabbat'
meetings.
"The man leading the services who looked so Jewish was a Jewish-born
Baptist minister. He was a gifted speaker, passionate and convincing,
and I was extremely moved by his sermons. It was in the environment
of this `Hebrew-Christian' church, or `Messianic Jewish Synagogue,'
as its leaders preferred to call it, that my interest in my Jewish
identity was rekindled.
"I soon found myself attending meetings every week. The evangelical
techniques used by this congregation lulled me into feeling more comfortable
with the idea of accepting Christianity. Their symbols were clearly
Jewish rather than Christian. A large Jewish star hung on the wall,
ritual articles of clothing were worn, and Hebrew terminology liberally
used. The New Testament was called "Brit Chadasha." Baptism
was called "mikvah-bris." I found this Jewish environment
and terminology much less abrasive to my ears and conscience. I soon
began to feel that I had never been more Jewish in my life.
"It was at a Messianic `Rosh Hashana' service in the fall of 1976
that I formally committed myself to Christianity. At this service,
the `Messianic rabbi' had preached a message of atonement, stressed
the need for us to be forgiven for our sins through the blood of J.
I was overwhelmed by a sense that everything he preached was true.
I was overwhelmed by guilt for my sins. The opportunity to be forgiven
for these `sins' and to secure myself a place in heaven was irresistible.
The pastor announced that refusing to atone carried with it an eternity
of burning in hell. I felt I couldn't afford the risk of not `atoning.'
"After I had stood up in front of this congregation and confessed
my belief in J., the `Messianic' leader asked me to recite a prayer
inviting Yeshua into my heart and requesting that he forgive me for
my sins. After a tearful prayer, he addressed me, `Understand that
when doubts regarding J.'s salvation enter your mind, such thoughts
are not from G-d; they are, in fact, from Satan. When that happens,
you have to cling close to your savior. . . .
"I was stunned and terrified. I walked away from the meeting extremely
troubled. I was having doubts from the moment I walked out of there,
wondering, `What have I done?' Yet I could not allow myself to brood
about these doubts, because I had been infected with this new `doctrine
of the Devil.' "
The Messianic groups are thus engaging in duplicity
of the kind that if they would be businessmen selling a product with
such misrepresentation, they would be indicted for business fraud.
Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, the Messianic Jewish leaders conceal
all the hallmarks of Christianity, and clothe their religion in Jewish
practices, terms and holidays while assuring the Jews who fall into
their clutches that belief in J. only perfects their Jewish identity.
Unsuspecting ignorant Jews are taken in by the charade and join the
Messianic congregations. After falling for the deception, the Jewish
victims are unwittingly indoctrinated with camouflaged Christian doctrines
until they make a commitment to Christianity without even being aware
of the significance of what they did.
Jews for Judaism relates that a number of sensitive Christians have
condemned the deceptions of groups like "Jews for J." However,
most Christian individuals and groups revel in the success of this
approach, and continue to fund and promote this fraudulent induction
into Christianity.
Deception in Denver
The Messianic Jews and Jews for J. are the vanguard of the missionary
effort and they are funded to the tune of millions of dollars by different
Christian groups. But it is a mistake to think that only they are
involved.
Last spring, a shocking deception was discovered in Denver, when leading
members of the Adat Elohim Chaim Church of Ft. Collins, Colorado,
were discovered infiltrating the religious community in Denver.
Nathan and Temima had apparently been full members of the Orthodox
Jewish community for 2 1/2 years. They kept Shabbos and only ate kosher
food. They studied Torah with members of the community, had an Orthodox
wedding and had performed circumcision on their son. Their clandestine
plot was to enter the Jewish community, prove their "Jewish identity,"
and then immigrate to Israel where they would found a Hebrew-Christian
community with other members of their church, that would be a center
for proselytizing.
While maintaining their charade in the Orthodox community, Nathan
and Temima would return to their church community and teach them how
to wash their hands before saying the blessing over bread, and bentching
after meals. They taught the men to wear tzitzis and the
women to cover their hair. Temima had also spent time in Israel at
an ulpan and came back to teach Hebrew to the congregation.
The couple had already been given vouchers for airline tickets by
aliya shlichim in preparation for their imminent move, when
they were unmasked.
Their plan was exposed by a Jewish couple who had formerly been members
of the church. Even when confronted by leading members in the Orthodox
community as to their real intentions, Nathan and Temima initially
denied any plot. When confronted with firm evidence though, they broke
down and admitted they had infiltrated the Jewish community to promote
their plan to move members of their community to Israel. Temima admitted
that her father was the leader of the Adat Elohim church. Both had
been "converted" to Judaism by Nathan Lerer, a charlatan rabbi
whose requirement for conversion was not much more than a $1-3,000
fee.
This missionary couple had laid plans for their proselytizing program
already 3 years back. Those involved in anti-missionary activities
claim that other groups are employing the same tactics that these
missionaries tried. And the closer it gets to 2000, the greater the
number of missionaries and the more devious the strategies they are
employing to achieve their goals.
This story should send a chill up the bones not only of the vulnerable
non-Orthodox Jewish community, but the Orthodox community too. Missionaries
have been making inroads to the Jewish community in numerous unpredictable
ways, and they are doing it so cunningly that even Orthodox Jews do
not detect it and might be a prey to them.
Jews for Judaism says that Christian churches continue to spend over
$250 million annually in the United States alone to convert Jews to
Christianity, with most of the missionary and conversionary groups
affiliated with Protestant denominations. The most dangerous are the
Southern Baptists and the Assemblies of God, both of whom have 15
million members all over the country.
Rav Bentzion Kravitz, West Coast director of Jews for Judaism, relates
that he has discovered numerous cases of missionaries going to the
Aliya office in California claiming Jewish lineage and seeking to
immigrate. Today the Aliya office is on the alert and has implemented
stiffer screening procedures.
He relates that radio commercials all over the United States advertise
for Jews for J. During last Rosh Hashona, evangelical groups ran a
campaign requesting members to pray for Jews to convert. Jewish reaction
has been outrage. Jews phone in to radio stations and explain how
offended they are to be targeted. But the movements are growing and
are garnering success. Thousands of Jews are converting yearly.
Missionaries in Israel
The focus of missionary activity has been increasingly turning to
Israel, which has the greatest concentration of Jews in a relatively
small area and because of the Christian belief that the Land of Israel
will be the stage for the Great Redemption. According to one estimate,
the missionary groups have budgeted 150 million dollars alone to promote
missionary work in Israel for the year 2000, and tens of thousands
of missionaries will be converging upon the country to advance their
agenda. The Christian communities can easily put together double that
sum.
At this very minute, thousands of missionaries are preying on Jewish
souls in Israel. The most successful are the Messianic Jews, J's Witnesses
and the Jews for J. groups. They go out in pairs looking for prospective
converts, talking to them in the streets, coming into their homes,
hoping to attract their interest.
These groups have refined their brainwashing techniques over the years.
They are extremely dedicated. They do not give up even when a door
is slammed in their faces. They move methodically from neighborhood
to neighborhood, contacting tens of thousands of Jewish homes in Israel.
Material is distributed in home mailboxes, army camps, shopping malls,
and university campuses. The unlimited money at their disposal allows
them to hire workers, purchase and rent means of transport, and publish
missionary propaganda in unbelievable quantities.
Russian-speaking missionaries are sent to communities in South Tel
Aviv, Lod and Ramla. Western-educated and English- speaking missionaries
are sent to Ranana. In Netanya, French is the language of choice.
The missionaries' methods vary according to the population they are
trying to reach. High-class Israelis are invited to evenings of choral
classic church music. The poor are offered financial relief and activities.
Weekend seminars of religious indoctrination within the context of
a vacation weekend are a common ruse. Participants are requested to
pay only a nominal participation fee. Inexpensive restaurants and
cafes are opened where visitors are offered missionary material and
a friendly talk together with coffee and cake.
Even more effective is distributing charity to those in need to lower
their defenses and make them beholden to their benefactors.
Joel Chernoff, the director of Messianic Jews in Springfield, Pennsylvania,
wrote in a bulletin to his supporters:
"In the last year alone, we distributed over $15,000 to needy
Jews in Israel, many of them new immigrants who live in slum conditions
. . . Another project, Project Joseph, extends humanitarian aid to
a growing number of the poor in Israel. Over 800,000 live on incomes
of $314 a month and even less. The project also will extend humanitarian
aid to over a million Jewish refugees which we believe will arrive
from East Europe and Russia in the next two years. . . . Messianic
Jews have also in honor of the Moshiach collected $10,000 to distribute
among families of terror victims."
The culmination of these activities can be seen in the public baptisms
carried out monthly in Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa and other places in
which dozens of Jews take part.
The powerful Christian lobby applies pressure to the Israeli government
and freezes all legislation and law enforcement which might inhibit
missionary efforts. Religious Jewish anti- missionary activists are
frequently arrested and kept overnight in jail despite the missionaries
being the ones who have broken the law by bribing their targeted victims.
The missionary groups in the past sought to accomplish their work
in a low-key manner. Baptisms were done privately or at night. Congregations
were held in off-beat places, on second floors of buildings, in small
cafes and galleries, and in small groups.
Today this has all changed. In the past year, Messianic Jews arranged
mass baptismal rites in the most public manner off the coast of Tel
Aviv on Shabbos, and in open view on the Kinneret shore.
They recently purchased the Histadrut-owned Beit Brenner building
in Tel Aviv to set up their Congress Hall. The huge building, which
covers 1-7 Brenner Street and has at least 7 floors, will be used
as a massive missionary center that will host a part of the Christians
expected to come this year. The Shas party had been negotiating with
the Histadrut to purchase this building for the party's headquarters,
but when they couldn't promise to pay the fee in cash right away,
the owners decided to sell the building to the Messianic Jews, who
were able to pay up front.
In the past year, feverish construction has been going on to completely
renovate the building and give it a grandiose facade. Three floors
down, the missionary group has built a large baptismal pool for the
many Jews they are planning to convert there. The location of Beit
Brenner had advantages for them: it is near Sheinkin street, a known
hang-out where thousands of bored, bohemian Israelis aimlessly loll
the streets. The building borders the major Tel Aviv artery, Allenby
street, on one side and faces the Sheinkin park on the other. It is
close to the bustling Carmel market, and the busy Balfour-Rav Klishner-Rambam-Ha'Avoda-Nachalas
Binyamin- Yavne streets.
After the purchase of Beit Brenner, the Messianic Jews also purchased
the building across from it, at 6 Beit Brenner. They are renovating
it to be a hostel for the Jews who will be coming to use the baptismal
pool. Gullible Jews will now be invited into the grandiose structure
where experts will utilize slick brainwashing techniques to beguile
them into Christianity.
In addition to their usual techniques, missionaries have been laying
the ground for a massive proselytizing effort that will reach its
peak in the coming year. They have combed slum areas in Yaffo, Tel
Aviv, Jerusalem, Kiryat Malachi, Ofakim and Haifa, among others. Pretending
to be gathering information for an anthropological survey, missionaries
have covered tens of thousands of homes and gathered detailed personal
information about the residents. Families who potentially can be persuaded
to convert to improve their material situation were pinpointed, and
this year, with the help of the thousands of the missionaries who
are arriving, a heavy campaign will be run to convince the parents
to send their children to mission schools and to convert themselves.
Missionary soul-baiting will be intensified during 2000 by utilizing
new, attractive gimmicks, such as bringing the best international
entertainment groups to perform for free. (Performances are also being
arranged in hospitals, senior citizen homes, and youth and adult clubs.)
The audience will be seeded with specially trained youths who will
strike up conversations and befriend the teenagers in the crowd. After
making the initial contact by conversation, they will follow up by
writing letters. They will ask innocent-sounding questions about so-called
harsh, restrictive practices in Judaism and compare it with enlightened
Christian practices. Ignorant Israeli youths may, chas vesholom,
fall like ripe fruit into their hands.
Activitsts have tried to warn the government about the missionaries'
insidious plans, but no high-ranking official has taken it seriously.
"The secularists don't understand the missionaries' true aims.
The earlier secularists knew what Shema Yisroel was and is today --
what Judaism is. Today's secularist knows nothing. The Education Ministry
has insured that the majority of today's Jewish youth doesn't have
the slightest inkling what Judaism is other than it is primitive and
repulsive. He is defenseless before the missionaries's plans."
Missionaries are utilizing every attempt to infiltrate Israel and
accomplish their aims. A Jewish initiative calling on Jewish homeowners
in the Galil to rent a room in their homes to Christian pilgrims (since
all hotel rooms are reserved at least a year in advance), is being
seized by missionaries as another opportunity to gain access to Jewish
minds. The backers of the initiative are publishing a book of homes
who are willing to rent out beds and rooms to Christian pilgrims.
They charge 400 shekels to each family to advertise their name in
the book, guaranteeing they will be able to make 15,000 shekels a
month. Anti-missionary organizations warn that missionary groups will
take advantage of this offer to send trained missionaries to gullible
Jewish homes for the purpose of indoctrinating them.
Been There; Done That
Our religious readers are probably thinking -- What's all the fuss
about? Missionaries are not a new phenomenon. The year 2000 will pass
with perhaps a few Jews falling into their nets as has happened before,
and once the Christians realize that they haven't accomplished their
great vision, they will give up and leave us alone.
We would be naive to assume this. Missionaries today are targeting
a Jewish populace of whom the majority have a tenuous Jewish identity,
latent anti-Jewish feelings, and/or are indoctrinated in a post-Zionist
philosophy. Seeing their own country's leaders leading the battle
to dismember their hard-earned State and revise Jewish history to
cast the Jews as the aggressors and criminals, so many Israeli Jews
have lost their bearings and are desperately looking for something
to fill the void.
The missionaries themselves are motivated to a degree that they never
were before. Many feel it is either "now or never." They possess
deceptive and camouflaging techniques which have been refined to obtain
maximum effectiveness. And with the power wielded by the electronic
and written media in Israel, it could be just a matter of months or
a year to brainwash the population with a pro-Messianic philosophy
if the few people in control have enough motivation to do so. The
Christian missionary groups certainly do not lack the money to effect
such a change of heart and in their postings to their adherents, they
boast of their forays in the major Israeli newspapers.
Nor will the missionaries and many of the Christian visitors go away.
Even if they aren't able to fulfill all the "preconditions"
for the Second Coming in the year 2000, they will conveniently rationalize
that it is an on-going process, and "we can't stop now while things
are going so well."
Ministry of the Interior officials are aware that many Christian tourists
are planning to remain in the country after their short visit comes
to an end. The ministry secretly talks about hundreds of thousands
who will probably decide to stay on, and who they will not be able
to boot out because of international pressure. These illegal immigrants
will join the million Russian immigrants, Christian Israeli Arabs
and foreign workers to further chip away at the Jewish character of
the State and provide an alternative culture and religious milieu
to the rootless secular Jewish population.
After a year of promoting Israel's "Christian heritage," establishing
major Christian centers, and focusing on Christian tourists and ceremonies,
Christianity will not have the foreign, abrasive ring to it that it
always had to Jewish ears. The repetitive propaganda will achieve
the effect declared by Goebbel that the greatest lie when repeated
enough will be believed as the truth.
Many readers may think this is a mere exaggeration, or that we are
getting influenced by the runaway apocalyptic talk that is becoming
popular in Christian writings. They would be advised to consider this.
The falsehood of the Palestinians' claims to East Jerusalem and the
Land of Israel was historically shown in such acclaimed documentaries
as "From Time Memorial" by Joan Peters. Nonetheless it just
took a few short years of Palestinian propaganda with U.S. collusion
to create a situation that there is hardly a country in the world
that does not believe in the justice of the Palestinian cause, and
Israel is forced to give in to one demand of theirs after another
or risk the wrath of the State Department, NATO and the European Union.
Even worse, the Israeli leaders themselves have fallen under the sway
of the international barrage and have become pro-Palestinian.
Defending Our People
There are organizations that are trying to defend Jews of all
persuasions from the efforts of the missionaries. In Israel
it is mostly organizations that address a broad range of
issues but have an anti-missionary department, such as Lev
L'Achim.
Based in the U.S. however, is a full-time counter-missionary
organization that operates worldwide. Jews for Judaism has
been working to counter the missionary threats for 30 years
and they are certainly in the thick of things today.
Writing in a recent issue of The Jewish Observer
(October, 1999) Mark Powers, National Director of Jews for
Judaism, described some of their varied efforts and noted
that his organization has prepared a comprehensive program to
give a community "the tools they need to effectively respond
to missionaries in their midst." Entitled CPR for the
Jewish Soul -- A Community Prevention and Response
Program, it includes such things as "practical guidelines
on what to do if someone from the local Hebrew-Christian
congregation wishes to register his child for the community
day school; or how to respond to the listing of the Hebrew-
Christian group under `Synagogues' in the Yellow Pages."
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