Hello and welcome to my webpage! Do you live in St. Louis? Are you interested in Messianic Judaism? Beit B'resheet is a messianic congregation in St. Louis led by Rabbi Richard Altom and Pastor Dale Wathern. However, there is one major problem, namely, there is nothing Jewish about Beit B'Resheet-they are a Christian organization! To be specific, they are a full-fledged member of the Assemblies of God movement, better known by most as the Pentecostal movement. I will prove this, using information from their web-site and other Christian web-sites. Each time I will provide references so you can see the evidence for your own eyes.
Pentecostal Parent On the Beit B'Resheet web-site, they state: "We are a messianic congregation that has ties to the Assemblies of G-d and MIA (Messianic Israel)
"Ties to the Assemblies of God", the Pentecostal movement? Definitely, a bad start. Here is the link to the quote, the quote comes from the third paragraph:
Click Here But, the connection between Beit B'Resheet and Assemblies of God movement is much stronger than they portray in the quote. In reality, they are full member of the Assemblies of God movement. Here is the link to the Assemblies of God web-site where Beit B'Resheet is listed-you will note that "Rabbi" Altom is really Reverend Altom, a Pentecostal minister!:
Click Here So, Beit B'Resheet is a Pentecostal church led by a Pentecostal minister. Would a real Jewish group be part of the Pentecostal movement? Would a real Jewish group be led by a Pentecostal minister? Of course not!
The Name On the Beit B'Resheet web-site they claim that their name, Beit B'Resheet, means "House of New Beginnings". Here is the link back to their web-site, you will see that they make this claim in the first paragraph:
Click Here Unfortunately for Beit B'Resheet, their Hebrew is rather weak. In reality, their name translates to "House of In the Beginning." The word "New" does not appear in the Hebrew. A real Jewish congregation would not make such an error. Considering that B'Resheet is the first word of the Bible, this is a pretty obvious error! Headwear Wanted One of the more interesting items I noticed while looking at a picture on the Beit B'Resheet web-site is that Reverend Altom wears a Tallit, the Jewish. Here is a link to the pictures on their web-site, where you can see that he is wearing a Tallit, but his head is uncovered:
Click Here Ever see a real Jewish leader wearing a Tallit at synagogue but without a Kippah...probably not. Then again, Altom is a Pentecostal minister, not a Jewish leader!
Christian Links Not surprisingly, Beit B'Resheet is listed on a number of Christian web-sites. A real Jewish congregation would never be listed on these sites! Morris Cerullo World Evangelism-they are the 14th listing on the left, under "Rabbi Richard Alton":
Click Here Crossmap Christain Directory:
Click Here
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions. An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here Countermissionary Counseling
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them:
Jews for Judaism Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Torah Atlanta
Outreach Judaism
Torah Life and Living Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism. Messiah Page Messiah Truth Jews for Judaism Outreach Judaism Counter Missionary Reference Torah Atlanta Messianic Verses in Tanach Kosher Judaism Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
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