Are you interested in Messianic Judaism? Wondering what it is all about? Shuvah Yisrael is a Messianic Jewish congregation that claims to help Jews "know the Lord" and "grow in their faith." Unfortunately, there is nothing Jewish about them, they are a completely Christian group. I will demonstrate this using information from their site and from other Christian groups. References will be provided, so that you can see the evidence for your own eyes.
The Leader Larry Feldman is the leader of Shuvah Yisrael. He was born Jewish, but it is clear that his beliefs are now nothing even remotely near Judaism. In fact, he is a Christian leader! On the Shuvah Yisrael web-site, it states: "He attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois , and received a diploma in the Advanced Studies Program in 1974. He led a Messianic congregation in Brooklyn, New York for the next five years. In 1979, he enrolled at the Dallas Theological Seminary where he received a Master of Theology degree in Semitic Languages and Old Testament Studies."
Here is the link to the proof:
Click Here So what is the Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary? Why, they are major Christian evangelical schools that train people to become missionaries. So what is the Vision of the Moody Bible Institute? It is: " Our Vision
To encourage and equip believers to:
Think Biblically
Live Christianly
Serve Effectively
Evangelize Consistently"
Live Christianly? Obviously not a Jewish school. Here is the link to the quote, the Vision statement is at the end:
Click Here In fact, just to be considered as an undergraduate student at Moody, you need to prove that you are a member of an evangelical Protestant church! Again, not a school for Jewish training. Here is the link to the evidence; the church requirement is in the third paragraph:
Click Here Now, how about the Dallas Theological Seminary? If you look back to the first quote, you will notice that Larry Feldman has a Master's of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. So, what is the purpose of the Th.M.? Well according to Dallas, it is: "The Master of Theology degree program is designed to produce competent Bible expositors who are qualified to serve God effectively as pastors, missionaries, or leaders in other areas of vocational Christian ministry."
Pastors, missionaries and other Christian leaders? A real Jewish leader would never get this degree! Here is the link to the quote, which is from the first paragraph, under "Purpose":
Click Here In summary, "Rabbi" Larry Feldman is simply another Christian leader attempting to evangelize the Jewish people
Violating the Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments are the best known laws of Judaism and are often viewed as the backbone to all of Judaism. Unfortunately, Shuvah Yisrael violates the Ten Commandments, something a real Jewish group would never do! How do they do this? On the Shuvah Yisrael calendar, you will notice that during their Saturday service, they dismiss the children for Saturday School. What do you do in school...work! Work is not allowed on the Sabbath. It is a violation of the Ten Commandments. Writing, erasing, cutting, pasting, etc., all are illegal on the Sabbath. That is why synagogues have Sunday schools; no Jewish groups want to violate the Ten Commandments and do work on the Sabbath. The idea of letting children out during services to attend school is a common Christian practice, but never part of Judaism. A real Jewish group would never make this error! Here is the link to the proof that they have a Saturday schoool, it is in the Shabbat Morning section after the 10:30-12:30 schedule:
Click Here
Sharing Christian Space
If you look at the Shuvah Yisrael web-site, you will see that they hold services at the Woodbridge Community Church:
Click Here Would a real Jewish group share space with an evangelical church? Would an evangelical church share space with a Jewish group? The answer to both questions is "No!" Not suprisingly, the beliefs of Shuvah Yisrael and Woodbridge are basically identical. If you look at each, you will see that both believe in the Holy Trinity, virgin birth, Jesus' resurrection, etc., all concepts that exist in Christianity but not Judaism! Here are the links to both groups beliefs so you can see that they are essentially identical:
Woodbridge Community Church's Beliefs-Click Here
Shuvah's Beliefs-Click Here
Christian Link You can certainly learn a lot about a group based on who tends to like them. Dr. Jay Snell lists Shuvah Yisrael among many Messianic Jewish groups on his web-site. Here is the link to his site, Shuvah is the 15th listing:
Click Here So, who is this Jay Snell that so greatly loves the Messianic Jews? Well, according to his bio: "Dr. Jay Snell is a former Southern Baptist Pastor and Evangelist. He has been told he holds the SBC record for the number of evangelistic campaigns held in a given time span."
So, we find that a Southern Baptist minister is a huge fan of Shuvah and the Messianic Jewish movement. Do you think that a Southern Baptist minister and evangelist would be such a big fan of a real Jewish group? Of course not! Here is the link to the quote, it is the first two sentences on the page:
Click Here Here is a list of other Christian sites which list Shuvah Yisrael The Power of His Might (Shuvah Yisrael is listed on the right side under "Fellowships", approximately half-way down the page):
Click Here Christian Vista (3rd listing):
Click Here
ChurchTag.com:
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 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
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. Outreach Judaism Messiah Page Messiah Truth Jews for Judaism Torah Atlanta Counter Missionary Reference Kosher Judaism Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
Contact Me I am more than happy to answer any questions regarding why Jews do not believe in Jesus or on Jewish beliefs in general. Feel free to e-mail me. There is no such thing as a "stupid question".
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