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Hello and Welcome to my web-site! Are you curious about Messianic Judaism? Beth Emanuel Messianic Synagogue is a congregation in Philadelphia that is very clear that they are a Jewish movement. However, in truth, they are not a Jewish congregation at all-they are full members of the Christian movement called the Assemblies of God, a movement more commonly known as the "Pentecostals." I will demonstrate this, using information from their web-site and other Christian sites. Each time, links wil be provided so you can see the evidence with your own eyes. Pentecostal Mother Beth Emanuel claims to be a Jewish congregation, but in reality they are full members of the Pentecostal movement. Here is the link to their listing on the Assemblies of God web-site-a real Jewish congregation would never be part of a Christian movement:
Click Here Not suprisingly, its leader, Jeffrey Friedman, is listed as a "pastor" on that site. Moreover, according to the Beth Emanuel web-site: "Although we know him as "Rabbi Jeff", there are some who may remember him as "Pastor Jeff". Prior to his appointment to Beth Emanuel, Jeff served as assistant to the Pastor of the Assemblies of G_d Frankfurt Missionary Fellowship in Frankfurt, Germany. He also served as Minister of Evangelism at Praise Assembly in Springfield, Missouri...Jeff is a registered Pharmacist who also holds a masters degree in Administration from Troy State University, and a masters degree in Bible from the Assemblies of G_d Theological Seminary." So, Friedman was a minister at two churches and has a Master's degree from the Pentecostal movement's seminary...obviously, this is not the resume of a Jewish leader, but a Christian minister. A real Jewish rabbi would never be serving as the leader of a church or get a degree in Bible study from a Pentecostal school. Here is the link to the quote, the quote comes from the 3rd and 4th paragraphs:
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Not suprisingly, Friedman is supported by other Assemblies of God churches. The Milersburg Assembly of God lists Reverend Friedman as one of the missionaries that it gives money to. Here is the link to the proof, Friedman is the 21st listing:
Click Here Lawton First Assembly also lists Reverend Friedman as a missionary that they support. He is listed under "Home Missions", under the subheading "Jewish Ministries":
Click Here In reality, Pentecostal churches would never give money to support a real Jewish congregation, only other Pentecostal churches like Beth Emanuel. Shabbat School Similar to many other Messianic congregations, Beth Emanuel has a "Shabbat School." Here is a link to their site so you can see this, it is listed in the first paragraph, under "Erev Shabbat Worship Service":
Click Here Now, you may wonder why real Jewish synagogues never seem to have a Shabbat School. Real synagogues have Sunday Schools, not Shabbat Schools. The reason is that the activities that are generally done in school, such as writing, cutting and pasting, are all considered forms of work. It is illegal to work on the Shabbat-that is why a real Jewish synagogue never has a Shabbat School. So, unless Beth Emanuel is banning writing, construction projects and other similar activities, they are violating the Shabbat, something a real Jewish synagogue would not do. Ruth Calling Beth Emanuel states three reasons as to why they exist. I would like to address issue number 2. Numbers 1 and 3 are addressed in many of the links I provide at the end of the page. Reason number 2, according to Beth Emanuel, is: "To provide non-Jewish believers an opportunity to discover the roots of their faith and fulfill their "Ruth calling" by coming alongside the Jewish people."
The problem is that there is no such thing as a "Ruth calling" in Judaism. In the Bible, Ruth converted to Judaism. However, there is no such mandate for all non-Jews to convert to Judaism. The only Bible mandate is that non-Jews follow the Seven Noahide laws (if you would like more information on the Noahide laws, go to this web-site: Root & Branch Association ). So, Beth Emanuel has invented a purpose that has no support in Judaism and is against the Jewish perspective of its relationships with non-Jews! A real Jewish synagogue would not make such an error. Here is the link to show that Beth Emanuel said this:
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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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