I received a note from Israeli Messianic Jewish music artists Avner & Rachel Boskey earlier this week:
The last months have been very full. As you may remember, on June 10, Avner testified in a legal trial in Beersheva, regarding the riot against the Beersheva Messianic congregation in 2005 (which we've written about in our recent personal updates).
As mentioned before, Messianic Pastor Howard Bass filed a suit against the chief rabbi of Beersheva and against Yad L'Achim, an anti-Messianic organization which actively harasses Messianic believers in Israel [emphasis mine], for their instigation of and involvement in a riot which took place in December 2005.
During the trial on June 21 the remaining three witnesses for the prosecution (all believers) gave their testimonies of what they saw and heard during the riot, and one witness from the defense (a leading Chabad rabbi) was also questioned. The chief rabbi of Beersheva, Yehuda Deri, and the head of the anti-Messianic organization Yad L'Achim were not yet questioned due to lack of time. The next trial session is scheduled for this fall – November 23.
Please continue to pray for righteousness, truth and justice to prevail in Israel. A number of Messianic believers who were present in the courtroom spoke of the hostility and hatred for believers they sensed in the eyes and hearts of some who do not yet know the Lord. Please pray for grace, love, blessing and the revelation of Yeshua for these precious people. Several fair articles appeared in the Jerusalem Post recently regarding this case.
This same morning I got a blog comment from a poster going by the name Yad L’achim in the comments to Are We Christian, posting yet more of the same rehashed arguments attempting to sway us from the path God has called us, attempting to sling mud on Messiah.
This blog sure attracts the anti-missionaries! Praise God, I must be doing something right!
Yad L’achim is an anti-Messianic organization that harasses Yeshua’s followers in Israel through verbal abuse and violence. They are currently on trial in Israeli courts for their vigilante violence against those followers of Messiah.
This isn’t the first incident of persecution against Yeshua’s devout: we’ve documented Ultra Orthodox persecution of Messianics at least three times before on this blog, covering everything from book burnings, harassment on the streets while shouting epithets, physical attacks, burning of homes, exploding packages that almost killed a Messianic boy, fire-bombings, and finally revocation of citizenship and exportation. There’s a spirit of hatred towards Yeshua in Israel unlike any place on the planet, and it’s growing.
Please pray daily for these precious people that, in their blindness and hard-heartedness, commit acts of violence and hatred against Messiah’s own. Though they think they are doing right according to their religion, they are actively subverting God’s Kingdom. Pray for them that God would give dreams, visions, first-hand encounters with Messiah, softened hearts, even an inkling of warmth toward Messiah. God can do anything, folks. I’m convinced of it. Pray for it with patience and endurance, God will bring it to pass. Pray for the folks undergoing this persecution, too, that God would give them the perseverance and longsuffering that will stand as a righteous example of Messiah.
Will Pray. Thank you for sharing Judah.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo it was ok for Christians to slaughter us Jews because we would not convert? But Yad L'Achim cannot tell other Jews to not worship idols?
ReplyDeleteYad L'Achim must be doing something right if you are saying bad things about us.
Turn away from your worship of Jesus.
I haven't said any false thing about your organization: your organization persecutes Messiah's followers in Israel, something you don't deny, and is on trial in Israeli courts for these unlawful acts.
ReplyDeleteI encourage all of Messiah's followers to pray for this organization -- that God would soften their hearts towards Messiah and bring them in line with God's Kingdom.
I will be praying for your organization and for Messiah's followers that have suffered through your organization's persecution.
In the past forcing Jews to worship Jesus was wrong.Christians were forcing a Jesus that was anti-Jewish and pagan.
ReplyDeleteYeshua(Jesus)is Jewish(Tribe of Judah)in every way.
He kept the Torah perfectly and kept all the feast days of God.
Yeshua is the visible image of the invisible God in Heaven. There is only one God.
I will keep my brothers and sisters in prayer.
Shema Israel!
I would respectfully submit that Jews who would broad-brush all Christians as slaughterers of Jews are a bit uninformed as to the complexities of Christian history. While it is very true that the Church has a complicated history with the Jewish people, times when Jews were targeted for forced conversion were often motivated by political factors. All Christians are incorrectly believed to be Roman Catholic.
ReplyDeleteFew anti-missionaries really take the time to really study the period of the Reformation, and particular the liberalization of many Christian attitudes toward the Jewish people. Unfortunately, Martin Luther often gets too much attention at the expense of other Reformation traditions that ultimately gave Jews incredible rights and freedoms. In the past two centuries, ecumenical efforts have been made to make amends with the Jewish community.
This is all rightly recognized by David Klinghoffer in his book Why the Jews Rejected Jesus, not exactly a book I would recommend for its theological conclusions. I myself come from a Wesleyan and Church of Scotland ancestry that by no means persecuted the Jewish people, the Kingdom of Scotland itself having no history of state-sponsored anti-Semitism.
Messianic friends--learn lessons from the anti-missionaries, and do not take their overly-simplistic view toward Church history!
thanks for the insighgt J.K.
ReplyDeleteI shared this blog post with a close Jewish friend who's a believer living in Israel. Although I'm certain He's aware. Please keep Him in your prayers also.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to consider is that many of the pogroms and persecutions were carried out by men who never read the Scriptures; the Scriptures weren't even translated into their native tongue. A Christian that persecutes Jews is no follower of the Master.
ReplyDeleteAll that said, it is shameful that certain Christians have persecuted Jews. It is likewise shameful that certain Jews persecuted the early followers of Messiah. It is further shameful that organizations like Yad L'achim modernly persecute followers of Messiah.
Messiah help us and give us some stability and peace.
Let’s justice prevail!
ReplyDeleteYes, 1st-century C.E. Torah-teaching Pharisee Ribi, Yehoshua, is the only candidate who can ever satisfy many Scriptural criteria. But it's also true that the Christianized "version" of Paul and goyim after 135 CE is their Hellenized image.
If you want to follow the first century historical man Ribi Yehoshua from Nazareth. A logical analysis of the historical documents and archaeology shows what he taught and how to follow him.
Learn more here: www.netzarim.co.il
Anders Branderud
Geir Tzedeq, Netzarim