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. Rehoboth Messianic Congregation is a Messianic group in Vancouver, Washington. According to its website, its mission is "To help God's people to "be productive in the land" . They state that they observe Jewish holidays and beliefs. There is only one problem, that is, there is nothing Jewish about their congregation. It is completely a Christian group. I will prove this, using information from their site and other Christian web-sites. All of the information will be referenced, so you can see it with your own eyes.
Violating the Sabbath One of the most important concepts in Judaism is the sanctity of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is holy, and, as commanded in the Bible, there is no work allowed on the Sabbath. If Rehoboth claims to practice a form of Judaism, why do they violate the Sabbath? On their web-site, on their "Ministries" page, they list: "
Shabbat School -
Adult -Sat. 4:45 - 5:40 PM
Children - during Shabbat Service (ages 3-12)
So what is the problem? Let's think, what do you at school? Well, you write down information, and, particulary with kids, cut, paste, draw and create projects. All of these activities are work and have always been considered work in Judaism. Even if the subject matter is Jewish, writing, cutting, creating projects, etc. are all forms of work, and are direct violations of the Bible! That is why all real Jewish groups have "Sunday schools". No one wants to violate the Sabbath. On a side note, it is very common for churches to have their church schools running for the children while the adults are at services. But, what about their leader? Do we have evidence that he is violating the Sabbath? Yes, we do. On the ministries page, it states: "Radio - "Portrait of Messiah" with Pastor David on 1330 AM K-Praise
Sat. 12:30 & 7:00 PM, Sun. 5:15 PM"
Not suprisingly, a radio production is considered work on the Sabbath and thereby a violation of Jewish law. Here is the link to the Ministries page, where you can see the evidence:
Click Here
So, what is 1330 K-Praise radio? Well, according to their site, the K-Praise mission is: "KKPZ 1330 AM was established in 1923 and has been owned and operated by CBC since 1995. It's programming is designed to provide the Church of Portland with the best in “Defensive Line Training.”"
Clearly, this is not an organization that a real Jewish leader would work for. Here is the link to the K-Praise site, the quote is from the beginning of the "KKPZ's Programming Focus & Mission" section:
Click Here Christian Beliefs
Simiilar to most churches, Rehoboth has a Statement of Faith which reflects Christian beliefs. As a comparison, here is Rehoboth's beliefs and Denver Seminary's beliefs, a Christian seminary. As a side note, Rehoboth attempts to cite Biblical verses to prove their point. They make numerous mistakes in their presentation of the words of the Bible. Most of the topics are covered by organizations that I link to in my "Great Sites, Priceless Information" section. Alternatively, feel free to e-mail me any questions that you may have on any of these concepts or verses:
Notice how their beliefs are nearly identical:
Rehoboth's Beliefs-Click Here
Denver Seminary's Beliefs-Click Here
Would a real Jewish congregation have beliefs that are nearly identical to a Christian Seminary? The answer is "no."
Christian Listing You can find Rehoboth advertising and being listed by several Christian organizations. Would a real Jewish group do this? Of course not! Rehoboth advertizes their events with Christian News Northwest, something a real Jewish group would never choose to do:
For the first link, they are the third paragraph under "Sunday, August 3" and for the second link, they are the four listing under "THURSDAY, MARCH 8":
Click Here
And Click Here Mission Portland
Click Here HIS Glory Ring Ministries
Click Here International Harvester's Fellowship (This will bring you to the Church directory. If you click on "Messianic" under "Desired Denomination", you will find Rehoboth):
Click Here Baptist Evangelical Minister Jay Snell
Click Here Picture Not So Friendly
Rehoboth have a number of pictures on their web-site showing that they lack a great deal of understanding of Judaism, and that they are completely a Christian group. Rehoboth has a picture of their group using a river as a Mikveh, a Jewish ceremonial bath. But, if you look at the picture, you can see that they lack an understanding of Judaism. All of the people in the picture are fully clothed. In reality, a person enters a Mikveh without clothes or with a very loose-fitting garment, not with pants and t-shirts. The reason is that to use a Mikveh properly, the water must reach all parts of the body. Clothing against the body, such as pants, can potentially block the water from reaching the body, nullifying the trip into the Mikveh. Howerver, for a Christian baptism, it is common to go in wearing clothing, just like Rehoboth Messianic. Incidentally, the need to be naked or wearing very loose-fitting clothing to a Mikveh is why women and men do not go to the Mikveh at the same time. Of course, in the Rehoboth picture, men and women are enterring the river together, typical of Christian, but not Jewish practice. Here is the link to the picture to see the proof: Click Here Rehoboth has another obvious error in their picture of their Passover men's dance (Editor's note: There is no such thing as a Passover men's dance in Judaism). If you notice, the men are all wearing a tallit. Look at the background, and you will see that the event takes place at night. The tallit is not worn at night, except for on Yom Kippur. A real Jewish group would never make such an obvious error! Here is the link to the proof: 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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