Exploring Congregation Beth Simchat Hamashiach
 Thank you for entering my page! Right now, you are probably searching to find out more about Jewish beliefs in Jesus. Perhaps, you are questioning your faith, and are looking at different options. Congregation Beth Simchat Hamashiach is a Messianic Jewish congregation in Phoenix, Arizon. It claims to be Jewish, but, in reality, it is a purely Christian congregation. I will demonstrate that they are Christian, using information from their website and other Christian sites. Each time I will provide references, so all of the information about them is easily seen. Christian Foundation Beth Simchat Hamashiach is a full member of the Church of the Nazarene, a Christian movement! A real Jewish synagogue would not be a member of a Christian movement. Here is the link to the proof (note how Zimmerman is listed with the title "Rev.", short for Reverend, a Christian ministerial designation):
Click Here Moreover, Beth Simchat Hamashiach is part of the Multicultural Ministries of the Church of the Nazarene. Again, here is the link to the information:
Click Here Along those same lines, Beth Simcha is listed on the Faith Christian Community of the Nazarene homepage, a member of the Church of the Nazarene. Here is a link to their homepage-you will note that Beth Simcha is listed on the bottom left side in their "Links" section."
:
Click Here Not suprisingly, Beth Simchat Hamashiach provides a link to the Church of the Nazarene in its "Links" section :
Click Here Overall, it is obvious from these references that Congregation Beth Simchat Hamashiach is a Church of the Nazarene church, and not a Jewish synagogue. School Is In Session Beth Simchat Hamashiach has a "Shabbat School" conducted by Pastor Crystal Lutton. Here is the link to the information, under "Family Life Ministries":
Click Here So, who is Pastor Lutton? Pastor Lutton is the founder of Arms of Love Family Fellowship. According to her own site: "Arms of Love Family Fellowship is an Arizona Non-Profit Organization that has met as a home church and is currently heading our outreach ministry. The home church was established to serve as a family-friendly church where children are not simply tolerated but welcomed and wanted. Meetings were fashioned after the Jewish Synagogue style of meeting where a passage of Scripture is selected in advance, read at the meeting, and then discussed. Currently the Luttons have been led to membership at Beth Simcha Hamashiach where Rabbi Jack Zimmerman and the leadership team are supportive of Pastor Lutton's ministry call and really understand God's heart for both children and grace. Pastor Lutton has received her Masters of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and is excited about everything God has planned for this ministry.
The ministry that is supported by AOLFF is the spread of the message of Grace-Based Discipline and its place in the Christian home. Crystal works extensively online and in real life to spread this message. The greatest tool to date has been the Positive Christian AP email list started by Joanne Davidson and now owned by Crystal....
It is pretty obvious that Pastor Lutton is a Christian looking to spread Christiniaty, getting lots of help from Reverend Zimmerman (of course, being falsely referred to as "Rabbi"). Here is the link to the proof, the information comes from the first and second paragraphs:
Click Here To bring home the point, according the first paragraph from the previous quote, Pastor Lutton received her degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. You may wonder What type of school is Fuller Theological Seminary. Well, according to Fuller, they are "...Fuller is training Christian leaders for service in the new millennium."
Clearly, the children of Beth Simchat Hamasiach are being educated by a Christian minister, not a Jewish educator. A real Jewish congregation would not allow a Christian minister to run their school. Here is the link to the Fuller quote:
Click Here Not suprisingly, you can find a review by Reverend Jack Zimmerman of Pastor Crystal Lutton's book on her site. Here is the link to the proof:
Click Here There is another important issue that needs to be addressed at this point. You may have noticed that Beth Simchat Hamashiach has a Shabbat School, while Jewish synagogues generally have school on a Sunday. I often have a similar question asked of me by Christians...Why do Jews have Sunday School instead of Saturday school, if their Sabbath is on a Saturday? This is asked because typically Christian have school on Sunday, the same day as the Christian Sabbath. The reason why Jews have Sunday school and not Saturday school is because in school you do things like write, complete projects, cut, paste, have quizzes....all of which is work. Doing work on the Sabbath is a violation of the Ten Commandments. No real Jewish group would ever violate the Ten Commandments. Then again, Beth Simchat is a Christian group, so this is not a shock.
Their Beliefs As Beth Simchat Hamasiach is a member of the Church of the Nazarene, it fits that their beliefs are almost identical to the beliefs of the Church of the Nazarene. Here are links to Beth Simchat Hamasiach's beliefs and the Church of the Nazarene's beliefs; you will see that there is little difference between the two groups:
Beth Simchat Hamasiach's Beliefs
Church of the Nazarene's Beliefs 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".
E-mail me-click here |