 Exploring Beth Emunah Messianic Synagogue
Hello and Welcome to my web-site! Beth Emunah Messianic Synagogue in California is a messianic congregation led by Murray Silberling, that firmly states that they are a Jewish organization. In truth, they are not a Jewish group but a Christian congregation, specifically part of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. I will demonstrate this, using information from their web-site and other Christian sites. Each time, reference links will be provided so that you can see the information for yourself.
Church Mother Beth Emunah is firm on their website that they are are a Jewish group. However, they are actually a full member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a Christian denomination! A real Jewish congregation would never be part of a Christian sect:
Click Here
Violating the Sabbath Beth Emunah has a Shabbat School for their kids. This is different from Jewish synagogues, which have school on a Sunday. Why do Jewish synagogues have their schools on a Sunday instead of Shabbat like Beth Emunah? The reason is because school activities, such as writing, cutting, making projects, etc. are all forms of work, and work is illegal on the Shabbat! This is why there is no such thing as Shabbat School at a real synagogue. However, this violation of the Shabbat does not seem to bother Beth Emunah. In fact, here is a link to the Beth Emunah website where you can see the children writing and coloring, which are forms of forbidden type of work-a real Jewish group would not make this error:
Click Here
Name Game Another sign that a group is not really Jewish is their inability to use Hebrew. On Beth Emunah's 20 Something group's website, they state that "Dor V'Dor" means "From generation to generation." Actually, it means "generation and generation"-to say "From generation to generation" you would say "L'Dor Va'Dor", and this phrase is actually part of Jewish prayers. Here is the link to the proof that Beth Emunah made this error, the "Dor V'Dor" line is under the pictures:
Click Here
Christian Beliefs As Beth Emunah is a Christian congregation, it is not surprising that they have Christian beliefs. If you click on their Statement of Faith, it brings you to the Statement of Faith from the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. If you compare the MJAA beliefs to the statement of faith of a Christian organization, you will see that is a Judaicized version of Christianity. Here is the MJAA beliefs and the beliefs of the Denver Seminary, a Christian school-note how they are nearly identical (Editor's Note: MJAA attempts to use Biblical verses to support themselves, but they often take verses out of context or use them inappropriately. Many of the sites in my Great Sites, Priceless Information section review how they make common errors):
MJAA Beliefs
Denver Seminary Beliefs
Christian Links
Beth Emunah is listed on many Christian websites, something a real Jewish group would never do! Church Directory USA
Click Here Church USA
Click Here Praize Directory
Click Here Christian Index
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
|