| 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 Ruach Israel is a Messianic congregation in Needham, Massachussets. Ruach Israel states that it is a "Messianic Jewish Synagogue", directed by Rabbi Richard Nichol. However, the truth is that it is not at all a Jewish organization, but a completely Christian organization! I will prove this, using information from their site and other Christian sites. Each time, I will provide links to the proof, so that you can see the evidence for your own eyes. The Leadership and Educators
Dr. Richard C. Nichol is the "rabbi" of Ruach Israel, and a leader in the Messianic Jewish organizations. He also happens to be a Christian minister, with absolutely no Jewish Rabbinical ordination. His bio from the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute reads as follows: "M.Div. (Biblical Theological Seminary); D.Min. (Homiletics, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary).
Here is the link to the proof:
Click Here What is the M.Div. (Master's of Divinity) program at Biblical Theological Seminary all about? According to the Biblical Theological Seminary's website: "The Master of Divinity is the foundational degree for Christian vocation."
This is a Christian work degree, not a Jewish theological degree. Reverend Nichol is trained to lead Christians, not Jews. Here is the link to the quote:
Click Here So, what is the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary? Why, it is an evangelical Christian school! Here is a quote from their Mission Statement: "Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary is an educational institution serving the Lord and His Church. Its mission is to prepare men and women for ministry at home and abroad. The Seminary undertakes this task as a training partner with the Church so that what is learned on campus may be complemented by the spiritual nurture and the exercise of ministry available through the Church."
Serving the church? Exercise of ministry? A real Jewish leader would never have degrees from Gordon-Conwell, but a Christian missionary would! Here is the link to the Gordon-Conwell Mission Statement, the quote is from the first paragraph:
Click Here So let's look a little closer at Nichol and Gordon-Conwell. If you look at the quote from the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute, you will notice that he has D.Min (Doctor of Ministry) from Gordon-Conwell. So what is the purpose of the Gordon-Conwell's Doctor of Ministry program? The goal of the program is: "The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) is the highest professional degree for men and women already successfully engaged in ministry. This program enables leaders in Christian ministry to increase their effectiveness in the church, parachurch organization, or mission in which they minister. Graduates of this program will have improved their skills and understandings in a specialized area of ministry to such an extent that they can impact their congregation or community more powerfully for God."
This is a degree for a professional evangelist, not a Jewish leader. Here is the link to the proof:
Click Here This leads to another question. What exactly is the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute that Reverend Nichol works for? It is a branch of the Fuller Theological Seminary, a Christian seminary! Here is the description of the program from the Fuller website:
Click Here A real Jewish group would never partner with them! Here is what Fuller says about itself: "Fuller Theological Seminary, embracing the School of Theology, School of Psychology, and School of Intercultural Studies, is an evangelical, multidenominational, international, and multiethnic community dedicated to the equipping of men and women for the manifold ministries of Christ and his Church.
Its obvious that a real Jewish group would never join with Fuller! Here is the link to the proof, the quotes are the first paragraph:
Click Here Not surprisingly, Ruach Israel advertises for MJTI on it's website:
Click Here Ruach Israel has another MJTI faculty member as it's guest scholar, Reverend Jonathan Kaplan. Here is the link to his listing on their site:
Click Here According to the MJTI website, Jonathan Kaplan holds an M.Div from Columbia Theological Seminary. Here is the link to the proof, he is listed under "School of Jewish Studies Visiting Faculty":
Click Here What is Columbia Theological Seminary? It is part of the Presbyterian Church! According to it's website: "Columbia Theological Seminary is an educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and a community of theological inquiry and formation for ministry in the service of the Church of Jesus Christ." Clearly, Reverend Kaplan is a Christian minister. Here is the link to the quote, the quote comes from the second paragraph:
Click Here Similarly, Mark Kinzer was a guest speaker for Ruach Israel's young adult's group on February 15. Here is the link to the information:
Click Here Mark Kinzer is also an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, the aforementioned seminary that has joined with the MJTI to train Messianic leaders to convert Jews. Again, this is a Christian missionary training institution, not a Jewish school. Here is the link to the proof; the proof is in the second paragraph from the bottom:
Click Here Lausanne Consultation
As a Christian Leader, Richard Nichol has presented a paper at the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE), one of the major conferences on evangelising the Jews to Christianity. Here is a link that shows he presented at the LCJE; he is the first paper listed:
Click Here For those unfamiliar with the LCJE, it's history is as follows: "In 1980, The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism (LCWE) sponsored the Consultation on World Evangelisation (COWE) in Pattaya, Thailand. "Reaching Jews" was one of the 17 mini-consultation groups at that event. The enthusiasm of the leaders in the field of Jewish evangelism who attended to expand the network gave rise to the formation of a task force, now called the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE).
This is obviously a group who target Jews, not supports true Judaism. Here is the link to the quote, which comes from the section "How did LCJE begin?":
Click Here Further, the LCJE adheres to the Lausanne Covenant. Here is a quote from the first paragraph of the Lausanne Covenant: "We, members of the Church of Jesus Christ, from more than 150 nations, participants in the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, praise God for his great salvation and rejoice in the fellowship he has given us with himself and with each other. We are deeply stirred by what God is doing in our day, moved to penitence by our failures and challenged by the unfinished task of evangelization."
This is a Christian evangelical group. A real Jewish leader would not associate with them. Here is a link to the quote, which comes from the first paragraph:
Click Here Richard Nichol and Ruach Israel are also cited in another LCJE paper titled "Evangelism Among Russian Jews In The United States." Again, a clear indication that Nichol and Ruach Israel are about evangelism to Christianity. Reverend Nichol and Ruach Israel are in the first paragraph on page 11 of the paper (Editor's Note: The paper is in a PDF format. You need to have an Adobe program on your computer to read it):
Click Here Christian Support
As a Christian church, Ruach Israel gets support from other Christians. Richard Nichol/Ruach Israel receives money from the Wellesley Baptist Church. Here is the link to the information; Richard Nichol is the ninth missionary listed:
Click Here Richard Nichol was also a guest speaker at Cornerstone Assembly of God church on June 10, 2007:
Click Here Richard Nichol has presented for Campus Crusade for Christ at MIT. The advertisement is on page 3 of the MIT newspaper, in the lower left-hand corner:
Click Here Campus Crusade for Christ only brings Christian leaders, not Jewish leaders. Incidentally, the topic that he talked about was examining the historical evidence of whether Jesus rose from the dead. There is no historical evidence of this, only the claims from the Christian bible. Along the same lines, Nathan Joiner of Ruach Israel also delivered the sermon at Wellesly Baptist on November 2, 2008:
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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