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Targeting Jews: Matthew 10:5-7

By Rabbi/Brother Moshe Yoseph Koniuchowsky

Targeting Jewish people for evangelism to the Gospel message of Yahshua’s love, has always been a point of contention among varying segments of both the Jewish and Christian communities. Even in our own personal experience, we have had it told us many times that our witnessing efforts were doomed to failure since we were in the wrong neighborhood. We were told by several outraged Jewish residents on several occasions, that all we had to do is shift our evangelistic operations just a few blocks down the road in either direction towards the "Gentile" neighborhoods of New York or South Florida, where we would find a friendly welcome.

Despite this fear by unbelieving Jews, we knew that we were in the exact neighborhoods and areas where Yahweh had instructed us to be. We were seeking and reaching out to the lost sheep of the House of Judah. We were divinely sent to bring the good news of eternal life to our Jewish brethren. Apparently they were fearful and suspicious of our love for them, due in part to 2000 years of insensitive, offensive and often anti-Semitic presentations of the Gospel (such as witnessing in Orthodox Jewish areas on Shabbat or Yom Kippur). Often the Gospel that was presented to unbelieving Jewish-Israel, was a message that called for forfeiture of keeping the Shabbat, as well as the Festivals of YAHWEH. Should Jewish-Israel abandon the Holy Festivals of Yahweh, and forsake dietary laws? Should Jewish-Israel heed admonitions and often instructions on how to make a conversion to apostate "church" religious practices complete, by bidding "adios", to a culturally Jewish-Israelite lifestyle?

No other people, group, or nation, in the recorded history of the "so called church’s" attempts at world evangelization have been pressured to totally suppress their very being and identity as has Jewish-Israel! Why was it all right for other peoples to bring in their cultural nuances into their believing lives, even often times, when they had no biblical basis, while it was not acceptable for Jewish-Israel to do so? Today we know that part of the answer to this mystery lies in the anti-Semitic teachings of most of the early church fathers, who preached retribution upon those whom they thought guilty of deicide to their god. Yah has rejected the Jews for killing Messiah and so they reasoned, to be Christ like, "we must rid the world and the church of any vestige of Jewish-Israel's practices!" The ultimate conclusion was that Jewish-Israel must be targeted for conversion to a apostate religious church system, totally stripped of any recognizable Jewish-Israelite roots. In other words, Jewishness was a disease that had to be eradicated and immersed into the waters of Christian baptism. Not only did Yahshua not teach this. He admonished believers through the writings of Rav Shaul, that wild non Jewish branches coming to Yahshua (Ephraimites and non Israelites), could very well run amok in their theologies and forget that they were grafted into a Israelite olive tree (Jeremiah 11:16-17), with the patriarchs of Israel as the fathers of their faith. (Romans 11:17-21) .Instead of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being embraced as the fathers of Biblical  faith, hate filled boastful and arrogant anti-Semites such as Justin Martyr, Origen, Iraneus and Chrysostom became substitute heroes to a paganized flock. Those rescued from the nations (Ephraimites and non Israelites), were commanded to drink of the Commonwealth of Israel. For 2,000 years however the manmade church system has been trying to get the Jewish-Israel to drink of Hellenized-Romanistic paganism, with the feasts of Babylon replacing the Holy Day Feasts of Yahweh and the Egyptian sun god Rah and his day, replacing the day of Shabbat, which is the correct Yahweh’s Day.

Romans 11:11 commands all believers to maintain a lifestyle of recognizable Hebraic identity. When unbelieving Jews view the true biblical believing  lifestyle, (which should be more biblical than that of unbelieving Jews), they should become provoked to jealousy through returning Ephraim-Israel  and his non Israelite companions. All Messianic believers are called to actively obey the same Torah admonitions that unbelieving Jews should be obeying and are not! Why would any traditional Jew be jealous of "Christianity's" current presentation of a Hellenized pagan Gospel, where Easter bunnies are venerated, along with pumpkins and Santa Claus. Mary is venerated as the sinless co-redemptress  Queen of Heaven, along with the church's manifold stockpiles of statues, idols, rosaries and other idolatrous paraphernalia. All these stand in the way of Jewish-Israel’s salvation and Ephraim-Israel's return to righteousness. Even the most secular Jew knows and recognizes the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. That there is only one Yahweh, not one hundred and one. Having this background in mind, we see that the targeting of Jews for 2000 years, with an idolatrous bastardized Gospel agenda, has not only been wrong and ineffective, but was prevented by Yahweh Himself from succeeding. Had these weird targeting attempts by deceived pseudo-Christians been successful, the result would have been the assimilation and disintegration of a viable Torah observant Jewish community. They would have caused the spiritual and physical genocide, that Adolph Hitler had so desperately sought. Thanks to the protection of Yahweh, our King, most pseudo-Christian attempts at converting unbelieving Jews to their (church's) inherited forms of paganism and idolatry, cloaked in a Jesus Christ who was  stripped of all Jewishness, have thankfully failed. Yahweh wanted and continues to want unbelieving Jews to be saved Jews, not converted Jews.

Today however, we must take a second look at this issue of targeting Jews. With the light that Yahweh has given us through the rebirth of the modern day Messianic Nazarene Yisrael restoration movement, it is again plausible and even desirable to target Jews with a pure Gospel presentation. As songwriter and folk singer Bob Dylan stated several years ago, "The times they are a changing." Today through the Messianic Nazarene Yisrael two house restoration movement we have the means and ability to present Yahshua’s love and atonement through Hebraic eyes, allowing Jews to remain Jews, theologically and culturally. Through the glorious last days ingathering of  Ephraimites and Jews (Hosea 1:11), the Messianic Nazarene Yisrael restoration movement can now offer unbelieving Jewish-Israelites such crucial spiritual gifts as Hebraic liturgy, Hebrew language study, aliyah classes, Holy Day observance, Shabbat keeping, kashrut, biblical Davidic dancing and public reading of Torah and Brit Chadasha. The so called manmade "church" system, no longer has a say in how the sovereign Yahweh, has chosen to gather in and target lost Jewish-Israel for this transfer from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Yahweh’s dear Son. We have seen and learned that Yahweh-Tzidkanu is sovereign in the affairs of men. The apostate church system has historically targeted wrongly, presently targets wrongly and will yet continue to target wrongly with a corrupted cankerous message that does bring life and hope rather evokes memories of rejection and genocide! This church witness does not provoke jealousy among unbelieving Jewish-Israel and therefore is rendered totally ineffective. Rather it induces laughter and ridicule at the church system's often willful ignorance, neglect and perversion of Torah and of Yahshua’s midrashim (commentaries) on Torah. (These commentaries are better known to Christianity as the New Covenant.) They are renewed understandings of Torah not some new ideologies of a "Christian" god! Messianic Nazarene Yisrael on the other hand has a reason to target Jewish-Israel, since our message will bring healing, restoration, reconciliation and repentance toward the Yahweh of Yisrael, the Elohim of our fathers and between the estranged family  of  Israel.

Therefore we must try to understand that targeting is in itself neither wrong nor right. What ultimately determines whether targeting is biblical is the message that one brings. Are we willing to submit to the revealed will of Yahweh in these last days? Are we willing to drink this marvelous new wine put into new wineskins, called biblical Messianic Nazarene Yisrael, even if we do not quite understand its grandeur or scope? If we target Jewish-Israel with manmade "church" practices steeped in paganism we will not succeed or be obedient to Yahshua’s instructions for proper biblical outreach and discipleship. The Messianic Nazarene Yisrael  restoration movement understands that we are targeting unbelieving Jews for salvation and biblical discipleship, so that we can produce Jewish talmidim of Yahshua protected from both Babylonian rabbinical practices as well as Ephraimite Roman doctrines. Messianic Nazarene Yisrael's task is to win and properly disciple new believers so that Jewish -Israel will grow in the faith healthy, whole and well balanced. We do not target for conversion, since that is unbiblical, ungodly and even sinful!

One final word of caution is in order. Our Messianic Nazarene Yisrael  and especially  the Messianic Jewish movement must be on guard against a knee jerk reaction to biblical evangelism. Unfortunately, the abuses of the past outlined above, have caused many Messianic Jewish rabbis to avoid teaching or encouraging evangelism among their congregates. Evangelism is perceived to be too goyish!  I have had several Messianic Jewish rabbis tell me to take it easy, or to slow down or to witness at a later time, which would be more convenient or less confrontational.

We need to understand that evangelism is not a dirty word and is not a Christian invention. It is part of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 and was ordered by the Jewish Messiah to all His Jewish talmidim. I long for the day when Messianic rabbis will become more Spirit led and not history led. We cannot undo the injustices of the past toward our people, that were committed by misguided attempts at conversion motivated evangelism. We must realize, that today is the best day for salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2), and that there will never be a better time than now. Messianic Nazarene Yisraelite rabbis who feel unequipped to teach Jewish evangelism, should invite their Messianic Jewish brethren, who are well versed in evangelistic methodology, to teach seminars or classes to equip their people. Never again do I desire to hear a Messianic rabbi, or any other Messianic Jew tell me that the problem with people like Rabbi/Brother Moshe and Your Arms To Israel, is that they are too evangelistic. An individual who truly loves Yahweh and believes the scriptural admonition that there is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun, cannot possibly keep silent in the wake of masses of unbelieving Judahites perishing without the atoning blood of Yahshua. We must target Jews with the right message!

The Torah is the evangelistic tool and bait, with which Yahweh commanded all Israel to go forth and be a light to the nations. National Israel just sat on the Torah throughout recent centuries, rather than bringing in new proselytes. In the same way, modern day Messianic Judaism is in grave danger of becoming a Jewish country club of believing Jews who are at ease in Zion (Amos 6:1). Many of the same tendencies lie in Messianic Judaism and are identical to the ones that reside in traditional Judaism, which proudly discourages evangelism and that has become satisfied in building a wall around Torah, to keep non Jews out. In this regard the late Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, is to be commended, because he saw the fallacy in the inward protective tendencies of modern traditional Judaism and in its place began to aggressively evangelize and proselytize from amongst both Jews and non Jews. If for no other reason than that, we as  Messianic Nazarene Yisraelites should give the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s memory, honor and respect. If we have true convictions about our movement, we will not be fearful to evangelize Jews into Messianic Nazarene Yisrael, since we have both the truth and the culture within which to disciple those Jews, Ephraimites and Gerim seeking truth!

If we as Messianic Nazarene Yisraelites are to mature and to impact the unsaved Jewish community, we must become a bold witness in our lives, businesses, homes and synagogues. We must not fall into the non evangelistic mindset of many our Messianic Jewish brothers in Messianic Judaism. As our friends at Jews For Jesus so wonderfully state in their slogan:' Dedicated to making Yahshua an UNAVOIDABLE ISSUE TO OUR JEWISH PEOPLE. Every where that the soles of our feet touch, we must boldly proclaim that Messiah has come, because of His love for the world and because He has provided eternal atonement and pardon. The fact that targeting was used wrongly and unjustly, does not mean that we who have the answer to the "Jewish Question", should withdraw from biblical targeting.