Monday, September 08, 2008

Missionary blogger busted posing as a Jew

Recently, someone who had semi-regularly visited this site posing as an Orthodox Jew, suddenly "came out" and announced he is now a "Messianic Jew". We know now that he was actually a fraud from the very beginning.

For those of you who are unaware of what "Messianic Jew" means, let me explain.

"Messianic Judaism", also commonly referred to as "Jews for Jesus", is not a Jewish entity or movement but a Christian one. It's established for the sole purpose of missionizing Jews to accept Christ as their savior, and they target vulnerable, secular Jews who seem to be a little bit lost in life.

Their network of Christian missionaries use many of the outward trappings of Judaism to appear as if they are Jews who simply happen to think that Jesus was the messiah. They are trained in some basic Hebrew, and use many passages in Torah that they twist to show has "evidence" that Jesus was the Jewish messiah after all.

Of course, the Jews they target are not from religious backgrounds, don't know Hebrew very well (if at all), and are easy marks for these missionaries who aim to ease them away from Judaism without emphasising Jesus too much. Don't want to scare them off, after all.

Of course, the idea is to move Jesus from the background to the foreground, and gradually begin pointing out how Judaism is a "religion of men", while accepting Jesus is accepting God. They continue down this slope, inch by inch, until they have converted the subject to Christ and left their Judaism behind.

These organizations are very savvy. They know how to benignly at first draw the vulnerable in, and then slowly reprogram the unsuspecting victim. It is a movement that is 100% rejected by all Jewish denominations, perhaps the ONLY thing that all Jewish denominations actually agree upon.

We as Jews are commanded to destroy anyone who attempts to draw us away from Torah to another belief system. The contemptible Messianic Jews are the worst of all offenders because they not only are doing that, but they are simultaneously blaspheming everything we as Jews believe in by pretending that what they are peddling is somehow actual Judaism.

A Messianic Jew is not a Jew at all. A Messianic is not accepted as a Jew for a minyan, cannot receive an aliyah, is cut off from his people and the world to come, and is not welcome in any legitimate synagogue if revealed. They are the most reviled of all movements, and are usually very anti-Semitic.

Now, I want to let my Christian friends know that you are not lumped into this group. I know and love many Christians who completely accept that we share many similar values, and accept the fact that Torah is divine, and that Israel is the exclusive eternal home of the Jewish people as mandated by God, but we also respect the fact that we are practicing completely different religions. This enables us to work together for common interests and oppose our common enemies together.

Some Christians will be confused by the venom we Jews feel for the despicable messianics, so let me put it in a way that you will understand. Let's pretend that I am determined to make Christians change their ways and become Jews. I invent a movement called "Christians against Jesus", and assert that true Christians know that Jesus was nothing more than a pagan myth.

I then open up a ministry preaching that we need to "save" Christians by convincing them that salvation can only come by rejecting Jesus and practicing Jewish Law until the true Messiah comes. I prey upon Christians who are secular, down on their luck, and looking for something more in life.

I succeed. Eventually, my ministry is a global network that is making converts left and right all over the world.

Would this be offensive to Christians? Would most Christians be disgusted and outraged that this was happening? You bet they would, and justifiably so.

I worked very hard behind the scene with my friend Bar Kochba to expose this fraud. He now goes by the name "Daniel", though in the past he went by "Yehudi01". I have severed links with him, and now consider him as if he were dead. I will not communicate with him anymore, and will not blog when I see his moniker in a thread.

Bar Kochba has an excellent piece on this, and he goes into much greater detail from a Jewish Law perspective than I did here. Please check it out.

-MZ

34 comments:

  1. Thanks for the education.

    There are also dozens of groups that use Christian themes to lure in weak minded and confused people into an insane cult.

    To me these groups are predatory and dangerous. They are not interested in god but rather their pocketbooks and power stucture.

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  2. You're welcome, Hammer. They also give Christians a bad name, and they should vigorously oppose what these evil entities are doing, too.

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  3. What's the point of trying to convert a Jew to Christianity? The only real theological difference I can see between the two religions is that Christians believe God has appeared to mankind one more time than Jews do.

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  4. Why target you, of all people in the world? It sounds as a rib to me.

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  5. Ren, as ridiculous as it may seem,I think he wanted to use his established standing as an Orthodox Jew to lend credibility to his becoming a Christian. It obviously went very badly for him, but he probably thinks that some secular Jew who wanders upon his site will think that if an Ortho can have both Judaism and worship Jesus at the same time it must be OK for him, too.

    Anyway, the bite back has been severe, so hopefully he regrets the strategy he chose to try and missionize Jews.

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  6. You would think their time would be better spent in a more secular setting... instead of trying to recruit from within the "mouth of the dragon", so to speak (no offense intended).

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  7. Ren, good question. There are a billion Muslims, millions of Hindus and Buddhists and millions more lapsed Christians, atheists and agnostics. There are only 15 million Jews. Leave us alone!

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  8. Beamish, our differences are greater than that, but I have no problem with our differences. It's when we see these parriahs who seek to pretend that one can be both simultaneously where we wind up in a fight.

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  9. Beamish, its really not about who the messiah is, but who G-d is. If a Jew believes that JC is the messiah, he's just kidding himself. If a Jew believes that G-d became incarnate in the form of a man and is one of three, then he is an idolater.

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  10. The next time you talk to the "Jews for Jesus" guy, tell him you know someone else, who might bite. His name is Beakerkin.

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  11. Ren, you think he's a closet Messianic?

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  12. how many of us are truly what we say we are? take b.k. for instance, is he really now a senior in high school? or a very old man posing as an h.s. student?

    daniel's business is his own.

    who are we to condemn him? isn't that the job of the Almighty? or are we playing G-d?

    ren - you know that beak is a non-religious jew. you're just trying to start rumors!

    now EVERYBODY knows that beak and i are not the greatest of friends, his right to whatever religion he studies, seeks out and hands his will over to is HIS business.

    madze - you said quite awhile ago there would be no talk of this on your blog and the rest of us have respected your wishes. get past this and back to your subject at hand - ISRAEL! you cannot have it both ways.

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  13. Nanc, I don't want theology debates, but this is not a theology debate at all. It is the condemnation of fraud, the misrepresentation of Judaism by a phony who means harm to the Jewish people.

    Torah condemns him, I condemn him, and he is getting what he deserves. Sorry if you don't get it nanc, but this has nothing to do with Christians who don't pretend they are Jews for missionizing purposes.

    I mean it when I say he is dead to me. I would expel him or any other messianic fraud from my home or from my shul, by force if necessary.

    I thought I made it clear that this post is not about bashing honest Christians, but declaring war on the filthy messianics who use deception to attack vulnerable secular Jews who are not able to see through their ruse.

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  14. Let me say again, though...I am proud to call Chrisitan Zionists friends. You are a friend, Beamish is a friend, and that's because we concentrate on what we have in common. You are not misrepresenting Christiantity, I am not misrepresenting Judaism, and we get along just great.

    But, fear not, I will be back to Israel and Sarah Palin tomorrow. Still, I would like to know that you support me in condemning this liar who is simultaneously damaging both Christianity and Judaism with his evil charade.

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  15. MZ,

    I love the topic of theology, but I'm fairly secularized as far as Christianity goes.

    But, I for one would welcome this Yehudi01 or whatever as a Christian brother, and I don't feel obligated to "destroy" him if he converts / reverts to another religion.

    But can a Jew become a non-Jew, theologically / ethnically speaking?

    You know, the ol' Jewish blood vs. Jewish belief argument.

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  16. BK,

    Yes, I know. God walked in the garden of Eden on allegorical legs, and Jacob thought God-Wrestler was a cool stage name, etc. etc.

    ;)

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  17. Beamish, "Yehudi01" is a trained missionary using Jewish trappings as a prop to convert Jews to Jesus Christ. I have serious doubts that he has any "Jewish blood" whatsoever, but even if he did he's an apostate of the worst kind and not recognized by ANY of the Jewish denominations as Jewish anymore.

    If he were to stop pretending to be both Jewish and Christian simulatneously, and represent himself as a true Christian and NOT as a practicing Jew, than ammends could possibly be made at some point.

    Again, it's about fraud, "Jewish blood" is the target of this scam artist's plot.

    9/10/2008 7:35 AM

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  18. Nanc, I'm in college. Just FYI

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  19. BK, I've sent you two unanswered emails that are important. Please check your email and reply.

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  20. MZ,

    I guess I'm missing the point of being angry about theological differences.

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  21. What proof can you offer that Daniel was never an orthodox Jew? You have offered none and there is none to offer. You attack him because he no longer thinks like you think. Daniel is not now, nor has ever been, a "Christian" missionary.

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  22. Careful, "Papa Frank"...I now know you're more than a little dirty in this whole disgusting affair, so don't play stupid with me. I'm not going to play your little game, missionary boy. Consider yourself warned. I am a hair trigger away from banning you.

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  23. Frank, I am aware that you know a lot more than you are letting on. I will continue to filter your comments out until you come clean about your role in the "Daniel" charade.

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  24. Somebody help me out here. What's the big deal?

    From what I can tell from my admittedly limited awareness and research, the "Jews For Jesus" organization considers "Jewish people" to be an ethnicity aside from a religious grouping. Indeed, several rabbinical sources seem to claim that even an apostate Jew is still a Jew. You can't de-Jew a Jew, and who should want to?

    There are Chinese Christians, African Christians, Arab Christians, etc., etc.

    Why can't there be Jewish Christians?

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  25. Someone's gone into overdrive on this (guess who?) Ah, how that man loves his high blood pressure...

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  26. Beamish, the messianic movement is a Christian missionary organization specifically existing for the sole purpose of converting Jews to Christianity via deception. They are also very anti-Semitic, blaming all the tragedy that has befallen the Jewish people over history as God's punishment for rejecting Christ.

    As for Jews being an "ethnicity" this is a patented lie that some groups who hate Jews peddle to try and make it OK to be JEwish and simultaneuosly follow different5 religions.

    Torah is not an ethnicity, though because we are forbidden to intermarry we do maintain a common ancestry in many cases. However, Judaism is a priveledge to be born into, not a guarantee or a right to lifetime membership. If you become a heretic or convert to another faith, you are out.

    The mystical fringe group Naturei Karta have been excommunicated, for example. throughout history Jews have assimilated out, or converted away, and while that's horribly unfortunate, it's reality.

    So yes, we are a people, and one who is born Jewish is a Jew, and a convert to Judaism is a Jew as much as the born Jew, but we cannot be both Jewish and another belief system besides Torah at the same time. That's where we part. If a Jew converts to Christianity he is considered by Jewish law to be an apostate and no longer accepted as a Jew by any denomination, Reform through Orthodox.

    So you see, a Jewish Christian is an absolute oxymoron. How about a Christian moslem, or an atheist theist? Absurd, right?

    I hope you can see why one can't be both beliefs at the same time. If a person rejects Christ and believes Jesus never lived can he still be called a Christian? No? Same goes for the opposite. If one accepts Christ as their savior they are no longer a Jew.

    Hope this helps, Beamish. If not, well, I tried.

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  27. Gert, thanks for the tip. I just checked out his site and am greatly amused by his insane obsession with me. He's dedicated two posts to ranting and raving like a lunatic about how I am the great evil and bizzarly invoked his "beloved brother, Rav Roov" no less than 4 times!

    Oddly, after becoming indignant over being called a closet messianic (when did I ever say this?) he says about america, "What we have built is a product of the life affirming message of Jesus."

    Great humor, but so, so strange. He rambles frenetically all over the place - it's interesting to watch a person who's completely unhinged create his own insane little universe before our very eyes.

    A fascinating study in dillusion.

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  28. MZ:

    Well, I'm not going to spend much time on this (and you know why) but I will say this. After reading his latest soap, I came over to see whether indeed you had called him that (a MJ). I can't find even the slightest shred of evidence that would even only appear to suggest that. So where he gets that from is a mystery. Best left to stew in his own juices, methinks...

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  29. I believe this is where Beak may have gotten the idea from:

    Renegade Eye said...
    The next time you talk to the "Jews for Jesus" guy, tell him you know someone else, who might bite. His name is Beakerkin.

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  30. MZ,

    As for Jews being an "ethnicity" this is a patented lie that some groups who hate Jews peddle to try and make it OK to be JEwish and simultaneuosly follow different5 religions.

    That doesn't seem so cut and dried given that you can be born "Jewish" by virtue of parentage without so much as a statement of religious affirmation or a personal adherence of faith.

    "Secular Jew" is not an oxymoron, is it?

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  31. Beamish, anti-Semites almost always claim the Jews are a race. Being born a Jew does not constitute a race. Ethnicity can be confused for biology, and I know several Jews who were Christian at birth, converted, and share zero "blood lines" despite being Jewish.

    As to being a secular Jew, I already explained to you the difference between misrepresenting Judaism in order to missionize converts to Christ and passively not following Jewish laws. One is much more agregious than the other.

    I will not address this matter again. I cannot tell you how dissappointed I am in my Christian friends right now, who have failed miserably to come out and join me in condemning Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism in general.

    When my Christian friends defend the "Christians AGAINST Jesus" organization we can talk. Until then, this balcony is closed.

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  32. MZ: I brouched the subject in a post of my own a while ago. Yeah, that guy "came out of the closet" but I don't understand the need for insulting him. He's simply dead to us. Let's leave it at that.

    Like Nanc, I like it better when you post about Israel. You have that edge; that ire about you which I enjoy reading-even if I don't always agree with it.

    Shabbat shalom!

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  33. MZ,

    I think the confusion lies in Jewish theology and Israeli law about "who's a Jew." Just look at how difficult it is to obtain a Jewish wedding license in Israel if you can't prove that you're Jewish through an Orthodox-leaning rabbinate court.

    Jewish ethnicity is made a "race" primarily by Russian and Eastern European identification papers identifying someone as "Jewish" rather than "Russian," etc. being accepted as "proof of Jewishness" in Israeli courts. I think it's more an unintended consequence rather than an attempt to create a racial identity.

    Maybe "tribe" is a better word than "nation" or "race."

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  34. I was raised a Christian. Right now I'm not sure what I consider myself. I have been studying Judaism. I remember growing up we had some Jews for Jesus visit our church. It really weirded me out. Something about them just struck me as very strange.

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Thank you for commenting. Respectful debate and dissent are welcomed. MZ reserves the right to censor for any reason without explanation.