TURNED OFF BY ANTI-MISSIONARIES?

by Yeshayahu Heiliczer

I won't mention any names. But when I was involved deeply in Messianic Judaism, I was enraged by the misinformation being spouted by anti-missionaries trying to bring me back to traditional Judaism. It was common to hear a tape from one of these "experts" and say to myself (and others in range) that this person doesn't know what he is talking about!

Now it is true that the people I am speaking about know their Judaism. They are well educated and well-intentioned people whose sole purpose was to bring Jews back from a false religion. But they hadn't been there! When they described Messianic Judaism, they were talking of another group entirely! We weren't missionaries. We weren't Christians "using" Jewish symbols to trick Jews into thinking that our beliefs were perfectly fine for a Jew. We weren't "targeting" the poor, the depressed, the lonely and the uneducated. And our movement didn't start in the 1970's as a way to evangelize more Jews into Christianity.

In fact, the Hebrew Christian movement, which evolved into today's Messianic Jewish movement, started in the late 1800's. And it was started by a group of Jewish Christians who believed that they should investigate bringing some of traditional Judaism back into their lives. What we were was a group of people who had a set of beliefs. We were not anti-Jewish, we were teaching what we felt was "Biblical Judaism." We were not anti-Torah, we were teaching that all "believers" needed to follow G-d's Torah as His perfect plan for our lives. We were people who were living the religion and the relationship with G-d that we had been taught. But we didn't know that we had been deceived.

We were not deceived by the "Messianic Leaders." They believed what they were teaching. They were sincere in their belief that "Yeshua" was and is the Messiah. Each group was sincere in their teachings even though they may have been slightly different from the next group or tending to "gloss over" certain questions which were raised by their congregants. But they were not the ones doing the deceiving. We were also not being deceived by most Christians, who really felt that it was correct for a Jew to believe in Jesus because Jesus was a Jew. So who were we being deceived by? I believe by spiritual forces which added Christianity onto the list of things planned to weaken Israel, including secularism and intermarriage. Think about it: what if Judaism had become the main world religion?

In fact if you've read my story, you know that anti-missionary information only kept me in Messianic Judaism longer. The only thing that brought me and my family out of Messianic Judaism was the grace of HaShem in allowing me to learn, one step at a time, and to teach others a path which eventually ended in my losing my position as Messianic "Rabbi" and teacher. HaShem allowed me to see the truth about Judaism, the truth about the Torah, and the truth about the "New Testament."

I can't say that there are very many people who completely accept my take on the New Testament. But until proven otherwise, this is what I believe. The New Testament obviously wasn't in existence during the life of Jesus. The only Scripture that he had was the Tanakh, and he and his students quoted from it regularly. My opinion is that Jesus, whose name was probably Yehoshua, and may have been called Yeshua, was a small town itinerant Rabbi (teacher) with a small following. Some of the events which are chronicled in the New Testament undoubtedly really happened. And when he was crucified for sedition against the Roman government, his students (as some groups do even today) became full of "messianic fervor and expectations" because they hoped and prayed that their leader, their teacher, would turn out to be the Messiah. This little cult grew, and expanded to other areas, but didn't become totally perverted until the emperor Constantine hijacked it in about 300 CE.

Constantine needed a religion that he could gain control of, and which was flexible enough to merge with the religious beliefs of the new members he wanted to induct. This new religion of the followers of Yeshua had enough history to be acceptable and was basically unknown in his part of the world. So he took the beliefs and the writings of the followers of Yeshua, and started on his path of de-judaizing it and adding those things that were necessary to make the pagans of Rome happy.

The result? We really don't know what parts, if any, of the New Testament are untouched. We don't know what stories really happened, and what stories were either made up or copied from pagan religions. And therefore all we do know is that we cannot trust anything that is written in the New Testament as truth.

Did Jesus/Yeshua really exist? Probably. Was he the anti-torah rebel that modern Christianity makes him out to be? Probably not. Was he divine? No. Was he the Messiah? No. In fact, the whole religion of Christianity falls apart very quickly when it is truthfully investigated using the Tanakh. For example, Christianity teaches that Jesus fulfilled what the "Old Testament" teaches about the Messiah. Christianity also teaches that in order to be "saved from your sins" you need to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But where in the Tanakh does it say that one needs to believe in anyone (other than G-d) to be considered righteous? Nowhere! It is simply made up. And that is just the start.

So if you are a Jew involved with Christianity or Messianic Judaism, don't be turned off by the anti-missionaries. Yes, it is true that they have not "been there," and they don't know what Messianic Judaism is really about. But they do know Judaism! The facts that they have are real. The rebuttals of Christian "proof texts" are real! What they know, and what they have to offer will bring you to the truth! So get in touch with one of the organizations listed on our web site, open your mind, and listen.

If you are a gentile, please investigate the Bnei Noach organizations to find out the truth about Christianity and the alternative that God really provided for Gentiles in the Torah.