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Jewish Evangelism … The Greatest and Most Impossible Task of All
Found this fascinating quotation by sculptor Henry Moore that I have decided sums up (even though he had no idea how it would impact me personally) the work and mission of Jewish evangelism…
"The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is—it must be something you cannot possibly do!"
In the work of Jewish evangelism and missions, there are days that the work just simply seems impossible. There are days in which it seems as if there are rejections all around. Days filled with rejections of the Gospel message by Jewish people and rejection of the Romans 1:16 mandate by churches and Christians. However, we must remember that it is not impossible with God because not only is He omniscient and transcendent but also He is the master of making the impossible impossibly simple.
Therefore, Moore’s quote is correct that we are called to that which is impossible under our own power. However, if we are faithful to the calling of Jewish evangelism, God will make it happen.
This truth is what we need to remember on this missionary journey of Jewish missions. Do not stop. Do not give up. Do not walk away. For if you do, you might miss the miracle of a lifetime!
A friend of mine came to me a few years ago burdened about his long-time friend who was dying and also was Jewish. My friend grew up with this other person from elementary through college. They truly had been friends for a lifetime.
Tzedakah Ministries shared some materials and witnessing tools with this friend. I personally checked in with my friend along the way and gave advice on the next step to take. Ultimately, the Jewish man died … but not before becoming a believer in Jesus as Messiah. This salvation moment had been years in the making, and many might have been tempted to give up along the way. However, the seed was planted so that God might make the impossible happen.
But that is not the end of the story! At the funeral my friend was asked to speak. He pondered how to tell the story of Jesus even in the middle of a Reform synagogue. He found a way by quoting Isaiah 53:6(!) and noting that even in death his friend had discovered the true identity of the Suffering Servant. After the funeral was over, a Messianic Jewish relative revealed to my friend that she had been praying for her cousin for over 30 years! She attended the funeral believing it was impossible only to find out that her prayers, the witness of my friend and others, and the truth of Messiah Jesus had made an impossible dream an eternal, heavenly reality!
So, the point of this article is simply this … WE CANNOT GIVE UP THIS “IMPOSSIBLE” TASK OF JEWISH MISSIONS. We must keep going. We must never surrender. We must never quit! Our time is short. Our time is now. Will you continue in this fight for 15 million Jewish souls who need to know that Jesus is their Messiah? Don’t agree if you are tempted to back down. We have a spiritual battle on our hands and we need all the Christian volunteers we can muster!
One of my spiritual heroes is the German World War II martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He not only fought Nazi oppression and rescued numerous German Jews from the Holocaust but also he was a firm believer in Jewish evangelism and missions.
He wrote these words in 1936 to a friend of his and I believe they can apply to us today – “My calling is quite clear to me. What God will make of it I do not know … I must follow the path… I believe its nobility will become plain to us only in coming times and events. If only we can hold out.” (Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, p. 205).
Think about it! Shalom! |
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Jewish Evangelism - Social Media |
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The Myriad Maze and Opportunity for Jewish Evangelism in Social Media
My mother is amazing. My mother is one of my heroes. My mother’s love is unconditional. My mother is also terribly frightened of technology. She just learned in the last year how to check the voice messages on her cell phone. She still thinks that when someone gives you their email address that you need to write out the word “at” (i.e., @). However, even my wonderful mom knows that technology and social media are here to stay and we might as well use it to share the Gospel. You will never see my her on social media outlets, because she does not quite understand how a person can have 700 online friends including her 1st grade boyfriend, but you can be assured that she wants it to be used for the Gospel.
Therefore, Tzedakah Ministries is ramping up to travel this maze of social media available in cyberspace. Tzedakah Ministries “twitters” under the name ElijahsWitness. Tzedakah Ministries is also “linked in” as a means of building ministry and witnessing connections. Tzedakah Ministries hopes to be able to launch evangelistic and training/equipping clips in the near future on the ministry’s own video account at http://www.youtube.com/user/TzedakahMinistries1. In addition, Tzedakah Ministries is even looking towards having a larger presence in the virtual reality world.
By now, you might be asking yourself … “Why?” The answer is simple – Jewish people are all around the world and they are on all of these vehicles. Christians are also around the world and traveling these same technological roads. So why not marry technology and the Gospel together? Why not use these tools available in 2010 as a means of informing, convicting, and equipping Christians to share the Gospel with their Jewish friends on the world wide web?
Would it not be an awesome act of God for a copy of the DVD evangelistic video/tract Mystery Solved? to be seen in England by a Christian who then takes it to a British Jewish friend? Would it not be amazing for a business connection become an open door opportunity to share your faith with a Jewish co-worker? Would it be not stupendous for a 140-character tweeting comment be utilized as a Gospel seed planting moment?
Tzedakah Ministries believes it is time to use these social media opportunities for a Gospel moment and not as it is so often used today as a moment for sin and degradation. Join us with as we travel this road and if you have suggestions for a stop on the journey, let the ministry know by emailing or via whatever social media outreach you choose to let us know.
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Land Of Believers (book review) |
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Book Review … In the Land of Believers (Welch)
Tzedakah Ministries recently wrote a blog about one of the most intriguing books I have read this year. As intriguing as My Jesus Year (see last issue) and written by another Jewish individual who does not yet believe in Jesus as Messiah – In the Land of Believers by Gina Welch. The post, which in all actuality is an apology letter.
Yes, I did write the word “apology” in the previous sentence. I apologized because here was a woman who spent months and even a couple of years surrounded by Christians but who again never heard a true and complete Gospel presentation. And where did she spend these months … in the Singles Group of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.
But perhaps I should begin at the beginning of Welch’s story. Gina Welch is Jewish but she is also an atheist and extremely liberal in her politics. She goes to graduate school in Virginia and suddenly finds herself surrounded by politically conservative, religious Southern Christians. She decides to explore this world with an eye towards writing a book about her sociological experience. She decides to go “undercover” and begins attending Thomas Road shortly before Jerry Falwell’s death. She goes through a “newcomers” class, she joins the church by salvation and baptism, and she becomes an active member of the Singles Group. She manages to maintain her secret identity for a number of months including being able to attend Falwell’s funeral and going with other singles on a missions trip to Alaska No one discovers the truth about Gina’s real views on God and Christianity until she “outs” herself to the Single’s minister and her best friend in the group.
After reading this book and/or the blog post, many might want to give into the temptation to criticize Welch’s falsehoods. And some criticism is deserved including her tendency to have a self-indulgent opinion that she is smarter than anyone in the room. However, the point that we as believers in Jesus should take away from this book is simply – How could another Jewish person spend a year surrounded by “self-professed Christians” and still walk away without having a personal faith in Messiah Jesus? Where are we failing? What are we doing and how are we living that results in seemingly nothing?
Gina Welch wrote a unique sociological work – she is the Jane Goodall of evangelicals. She also wrote a book based upon a falsehood that will make her a lot of money and garner a bunch of television interviews. However, and unless something changes, she will also walk into eternity without Messiah Jesus.
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