Curious about Messianic Judaism? Living in Long Island? Beth Emanuel Synagogue in Holbrook is a congregation attempting to attract more Jewish people to believing in Jesus. They even refer to themselves as a "Messianic Jewish Synagogue." However, in truth, they are a Christian organization. Beth Emanuel is a member of the Assemblies of God movement, a Christian movement generally known as the Pentecostal movement. I will prove this, using information from their web-site and other Christian sites. Each time, reference links will be provided so you can see the evidence with your own eyes.
Pentecostal Background According to the Beth Emanuel web-site, they describe themselves as: "By Jewish we mean that we strive to live a Jewish lifestyle in our homes and congregation based first and foremost on biblical instruction and secondly on the traditions of our ancestors. We have not abandoned our Jewish identity or cultural expression because of our faith in Messiah Yeshua."
So, as a start point, Beth Emanuel claim that they are a Jewish organization. Here is the link to the quote, the quote comes from the second paragraph:
Click Here But is Beth Emanuel really Jewish in their beliefs and practice? If they are, why is it that they are full members of the Assemblies of God movement, the branch of Christianity generally called the Pentecostal movement? Here is the link to their listing on the Assemblies of God church list-a real Jewish congregation would never be part of a Christian movement:
Click Here Similarly, here is the Beth Emanuel listing in the the New York District of the Assemblies of God movement. Clearly, this is no accident-they are truly a Christian church:
Click Here In the Assemblies of God magazine, "Heritage" there is a picture of a "bar mitzvah" at Beth Emanuel in an article entitled "Israel's Redemption-Jewish Ministry and the Assemblies of God." Here is the link to the magazine, the picture is on page 40. This article was written by Ray Gannon, one of the Assemblies of God missionaries to the Jewish people. Please note that the magazine is in a pdf format, so you must have Adobe reader installed to see the magazine:
Click Here Futhermore, the National Center for Charitable Statistics shows that their tax id name is "General Council of the Assemblies of God Beth Emanuel Fellowship" and that they list themselves as a "Protestant", which is the branch of Christianity that includes the Assemblies of God:
Click Here Simply put, Beth Emanuel is just another Christian church out to convert Jews, not a real synagogue.
Christian Listing As Beth Emanuel is a Christian congregation, it is not suprising that you can find them listed on a number of Christian web-site. Here are a list of Christian sites where Beth Emanuel can be found. A real Jewish group would never be found on these sites! MyChurch.org
Click Here Hosting Christians
Click Here Get To Church.org
Click Here Isaiah 54 Ministries
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
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