Shalom from Germany!

I had a wonderful worship experience today in four languages: German, Russian, English, and Hebrew! I spoke at congregation Beit Sar Shalom, which is affiliated with Chosen People Ministries in Germany, led by Vladimir Pikman.

The congregation and ministry began as tens of thousands of Russian-speaking Jewish people were immigrating to Germany in the mid 1990s. Vladimir and his wife Inna left Kiev to live in Germany, following the Lord’s callto share the Good News with their Russian and Ukrainian Jewish friends, family and neighbors. This young couple was able to lead many Jewish people to Jesus. They started a congregation called Beit Sar Shalom, and over the last ten years have planted an additional half-dozen Messianic congregations – primarily for Russian Jews – all over Germany.

The congregation in Berlin meets at the Beit Sar Shalom Center, which the ministry purchased about seven years ago. I spoke on the Abrahamic Covenant and my message was translated into German and Russian.

I would like to share a clip of the congregation’s worship – it is a common Messianic song sung in German! You can visit the Beit Sar Shalom website to hear the message… and learn a few new languages all at the same time!

Blessings in Yeshua,

Mitch

P.S. I’m on my way to Israel for the next few weeks… stay tuned for more blogs and videos.

Letter to the editor of TIME Magazine: Response to “Heaven Can’t Wait”

I found the article “Heaven Can’t Wait” in the April 16, 2012 edition of TIME Magazine to be both enlightening and disturbing. I am a Messianic Jew (a Jew who believes Jesus is the Messiah) and a 60-year-old male who lives in New York City. I reflect both the Jewish and Christian communities’ views on Heaven, as well as those of my generation.

I also lead Chosen People Ministries, an organization founded in 1894, which has been reaching out to the Jewish and Christian communities with the message of a Jewish Gospel for more than a century. This gives me a unique perspective on heaven and hell, the nature of the Gospel, the balance between good works and good deeds, and the Christian and Jewish hope for the future kingdom.

I appreciated Jon Meacham’s insights (perhaps more for their cultural rather than theological value) but was shocked by his misunderstandings about the early Christians – all of whom were Jewish, up to a point.

He writes, “The story of Jesus as interpreted by Paul and as told in the Gospels created a unique understanding of salvation and life after death. No one in first-century Judaism had been looking for a human atoning sacrifice.” (p. 33). Unfortunately, Meacham makes a mountain out of this theological molehill and builds his misunderstanding of the Christian hope upon his under-researched and inaccurate idea.

Inter-Testamental literature and early Rabbinic writings indicate that a substantial group within first-century Judaism believed in the coming of a suffering and even atoning Messiah.

A key passage demonstrating this is Isaiah chapters 52 through 53, which is alluded to by Jesus, quoted in the book of Acts in the early sermons of Peter, and affirmed by Paul in his classic statement on the Gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, which Meacham quotes at the end of his article.

Isaiah chapter 53 describes a suffering individual, identified by the prophet as the Servant whose “mission” in life was to die in the place of sinful Israel and the Gentile nations (Isaiah 53:4-6). The prophet clearly describes the atoning death of this individual in verse 8, “He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due.”

The author of “Heaven Can’t Wait” appears to downplay the issue of personal salvation and presents a view of salvation focusing on “heaven coming to earth,” bringing a more corporate version of redemption focused on righting the wrongs and evils of our present day. This implies that the work of Christians today should focus on changing society as a means of preparing for the age to come.

The view of heaven Meacham espouses ignores the hope for a suffering Messiah that is the bedrock of faith for Messianic Jews and all types of Christians. He ignores tomes of scholarship, including the new book entitled The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 (available here), recently published by Kregel Publications and edited by myself and Dr. Darrell Bock, who teaches New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary – one of the world’s foremost evangelical seminaries. I also teach at the Talbot School of Theology, a part of Biola University, and Meacham quotes form Dr. Erik Thoennes of the same institution.

The Gospel According to Isaiah 53 highlights the views of leading evangelical scholars who believe that Jesus, from His own words in the Gospels to those of other New Testament writers, is clearly understood as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. Jesus is the Suffering Servant who died a substitutionary atoning death for our sins.

The Apostle Paul, also a Messianic Jew, summarizes the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, claiming that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead, according to the Old Testament Scriptures. Unless one believes that the words of Paul and even the words of Jesus were penned centuries later (which is another discussion), then clearly many first-century Jews did believe that a human atoning sacrifice was expected… especially by those Jews who believed in Jesus and wrote the New Testament!

Meacham quotes the end of 1 Corinthians 15, but should consider that the hope of heaven and admonition to remain “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” would be impossible without the foundational truth of Messiah’s death and resurrection, providing personal salvation for both Jews and Gentiles and ultimately the redemption of a world cursed by sin.

I am glad the author and TIME Magazine tackled such an important topic. However, I believe that the article should have taken a much broader look at the variety of views on heaven. Meacham’s work reads far more like an editorial than a well-researched article, which is how it seems to have been presented.

Living Unleavened Lives: Eating Matzah as a Spiritual Discipline

Matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover

We are midway into the Passover week (actually eight days) and I find myself thinking about the many ways I am going to make matzah palatable today. Maybe I’ll make my father’s recipe for matzah brei. Here is my recipe, in case you want to try it!

Step 1: Carefully break a piece of matzah into small pieces and put into a bowl of hot water.

Step 2: Crack 3 medium eggs, stir, and begin making an omelet (use only egg whites to make it healthier!)

Step 3: Dry the soaking matzah in a paper towel, before it gets too mushy and still has a little bit of crunch to it, and add to the omelet.

Step 4: Matzah brei can be made either salty (adding salt, pepper, garlic and fried onions to the mix) or sweet (keeping the matzah omelet plain and simple and then applying large amounts of marmalade, strawberry jelly or leftover charoset from the previous night’s Seder).

Please try one of these versions of this traditional Jewish breakfast dish and let me know what you think!

Even before breakfast, I’ll need to think about lunch – perhaps a matzah sandwich with tuna fish or turkey, or maybe even some leftover brisket. I also have to decide what kind of matzah I’m going to eat with my sandwich; regular matzah, egg matzah, egg and onion matzah.

Passover menu planning does not stop there – there are also unleavened snacks! I’m glad I live in Brooklyn, where I can easily get most of my usual cakes, ice cream sandwiches and other types of desserts made without leaven.
I like bread, and during a normal week, I usually eat some bagels, rolls and a few slices of bread–but during Passover, I spend 8 days trying to figure out new ways to enjoy matzah!

Why do I do this? This is a question I ask myself with every crunchy bite of the striped, pierced and quite frankly tasteless (unless you’re eating chocolate matzah) “bread substitute.” Sometimes I think that the manna in the wilderness that came down from heaven to feed the children of Israel was made of matzah, which is why my ancestors cried out for a change of menu.

I do not eat matzah because I believe God will judge me for not doing so during Passover. I believe that keeping the Jewish holidays to be voluntary for followers of Jesus. Yet I do keep most of the festivals and try to be especially strict in avoiding leaven during Passover.

I observe the Jewish holidays because keeping them helps me identify with my Jewish people. I view myself as part of the Jewish community, though my faith is not often understood by the majority. I also believe that the holidays point to Jesus, and by understanding and observing them my relationship with Messiah is deepened. After all, He kept the festivals too!

But mostly, I munch on matzah for 8 days because of the spiritual value in doing so. I was reading a blog the other day by a pastor who was suggesting a variety of spiritual disciplines designed especially for holy week. He included fasting as one of these disciplines, as well as reading the passion narrative and a few other excellent ideas. However, I thought to myself, he is missing a wonderful spiritual discipline that predates so many of these other suggestions – one that is so very biblical (Exodus 12:15, 19,13:7, Leviticus 23:6) and would certainly make holy week more meaningful – eating matzah!

I believe that refraining from eating leavened bread products is a rigorous spiritual exercise that helps followers of Yeshua focus on purity and personal holiness, as well as the original intent and deeper values undergirding the holiday. And if you view the Feasts of Israel as prophetic (which I do) then the perfect fulfillment of the feast of unleavened bread is Jesus the Messiah.

In Jewish tradition, leaven symbolizes moral degeneration, and the more you avoid leaven, the more you are reminded of the purity of life that pleases God. Jesus mentions leaven in this way when He takes issue with the teaching of Jewish leaders that cause the purity of Torah to be compromised by additional teachings that could lead a person to misinterpret God’s original intent. (Matthew 16:6,11-12)

I am sure this is what Rabbi Saul – the Apostle Paul – meant when he wrote,

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor. 5:6-8)

So why don’t you try it? There are still a few days left in Passover. If you get your whole family involved in eating matzah for the remainder of the week, it would provide a memorable family experience, and you could talk to your children about the importance of living an “unleavened” lifestyle – not just during Passover, but throughout the year. I think you would find this to be a valuable spiritual discipline both personally and as a family. We have!

Here are some further reading from some of our very religious Jewish friends with some interesting information about matzah to help make your “leaven avoidance” more meaningful.

• Leaven and Matzah
• Ten Steps to Preparing for Passover

Matzah is a symbol, but Jesus is our example – and by His Spirit He provides the power we need to live godly lives.  He is the epitome of sinless perfection!

Conference Summary: Israel, the Church and the Middle East Crisis

More than two thousand people, including hundreds of students, attended the “Israel, the Church and the Middle East Crisis” conference, showing the deep interest that believers in Jesus have in knowing more about the End Times and the role of Israel and her neighbors in the plan of God.

As you know, this conference was co-sponsored by Chosen People Ministries, Biola University, the Talbot School of Theology (part of Biola) and the ministries of Joel C. Rosenberg, the award-winning author and Middle East expert, who was also a main speaker at the event.

The event took place on the campus of Biola University in La Mirada, California on Friday evening March 23^rd and continued all day Saturday before concluding with a celebration of Israel, the Jewish people and God’s plan of redemption for the world on Saturday evening.

The other main speakers included Dr. Walter Kaiser, our foremost Evangelical Old Testament scholar and Dr. Mitch Glaser, President of Chosen People Ministries, a 118- year-old mission to the Jewish people.  Musicians included Messianic minstrel Marty Goetz, as well as Steve Wiggins, who serves on the staff of Harvest Fellowship in Redlands, California.

The conference highlighted the testimonies of Michael Zinn, a Russian Jewish believer and leader of Chosen People Ministries’ work in Israel, as well as Hormoz Shariat, an Iranian evangelist and former Muslim.  A variety of workshops and panel discussions were held on the topic of the Middle East Crisis and the plan and purposes of God for the Jewish people.

Seminars were held on how to witness to both Jewish people and Muslims and difficult issues such as the impact of anti-Semitism on Jewish evangelism, the impact that the Middle East Crisis has had on relationships between Jewish and Arab believers in Israel, as well as how the conflict impacts the work of the Gospel in Israel in Israel today.

On Friday night at the beginning of the conference, I outlined the goals and unique viewpoint of the conference, detailing some of the reasons why I believe that understanding the Middle East crisis is important for everyone, but especially for those who believe the Bible to be the Word of God and that biblical prophecy must be taken seriously.

In my talk, I suggested the following:

• The Middle East and Israel in particular is the focal point of biblical prophecy and will become the “nexus” for End Times events preceding the Second Coming of Jesus.
• Prophecies of End Times events must be viewed through the lens of Scripture, so that believers today do not join those who have been enthusiastic about the Second Coming, but have wrongly made the Church look foolish by setting dates and identifying the last days key players and events. The serious study of End Times prophecy must be done with humility, care in interpretation and, above all, must be true to Scripture and not speculation.
• Understanding the Middle East crisis through the lens of Scripture will enable believers to become a more relevant witness for the Lord as friends and neighbors today are confused and frightened by world events. Those seeking comfort and peace of soul will never find it in USA Today, CNN or Fox News.  Followers of Jesus should be ready to let help loved ones know what the Bible says about today and about tomorrow.
• Understanding the Middle East crisis, through the lens of Scripture, will give us hope and help us to point others to the Prince of Peace, who is the one and only true hope for the world.
• By understanding the Middle East crisis, believers will gain new biblical insights into End Times prophecy–and knowing the urgency of the hour, will become more fervent to proclaim the Good News to those who do not yet believe in Jesus the Messiah; both Jews and non-Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Buddhists and the mass of those who are unaffiliated.  Knowing more about the End Times will motivate us to fulfill the Great Commission; “to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles” (Romans 1:16).
• Understanding the complexities of the current Middle East crisis and what the Bible says about His promised future for Israel and her neighbors will move us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem; more effectively, more intelligently and with greater passion.

The event was recorded and DVDs, podcasts and online viewing of the messages and testimonies will be available within a month!

Conference Blog: Israel, the Church, and the Middle East Crisis

We are just hours away from the start of Chosen People Ministries’ conference at Biola University entitled Israel, the Church, and the Middle East Crisis.

The main speakers are Joel Rosenberg, Dr. Walter Kaiser, myself, Hormoz Shariat (a former Muslim) and Michael Zinn (Director of Chosen People Ministries’ work in Israel).

The conference will focus on the current Middle East crisis, with special attention to what is happening in Iran, Syria, Egypt and Israel. I believe it is critical to understand contemporary events from the perspective of Scripture, as all too often we allow ourselves to be overly influenced by CNN, Fox News or even USA Today! We always need to balance our news sources with the truth of God’s Word.

I’d like to tell you why I believe this conference is unlike any other, and why this event is so critical for believers in Jesus.

Many Christians are struggling to figure out if they should support Israel or the Palestinian cause. A recent conference held at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Israel, seems to have exacerbated this struggle in the hearts of many believers. I know of quite a few who came away from this conference feeling they have to choose between Israel or the Palestinian cause – yet I don’t think a choice needs to be made.

This is especially true when you focus on the spiritual needs of both Israelis and Palestinians. Christians need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem – including all who live within the environs of the nation of Israel, both Jews and Arabs. We need to pray that they come to know the Lord Jesus and have their lives and futures transformed by His grace. This would certainly begin the peace process within the hearts and souls of individuals, though it might not have immediately obvious political effect. However, it will certainly help in developing deeper relationships and true spiritual brotherhood in the Messiah. After all, if more citizens of the Middle East believe in Jesus, it would lead to greater opportunities for peace on all sides.

Let me list a few of the reasons why this conference is unique:

• The speakers at the conference all believe that the Jewish people have a divine right to the land of Israel.
• The speakers all believe that both Jewish people and Arabs need to believe in Jesus to be saved, and that faithfulness to their own historical religions will not suffice.
• The speakers all believe that Christians need to separate the wheat from the chaff regarding the news we hear about events in the Middle East.
• The speakers all believe that the true answer to peace is the Middle East will come from the Prince of Peace, Jesus, and that the lives of Jews, Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians need to be transformed one at a time.
• This conference will offer workshops on reaching Jewish people for Jesus – both in Israel and in the United States – as well as seminars on how to reach Muslims around the globe.

Be sure to check both my blog and our Chosen People Ministries website as we will be posting tidbits from some of the terrific conference messages as well as interviews with our speakers.

Kosher Jesus?

Mike Brown and Shmuley Boteach debated before an audience of more than 700 Jews and Gentiles, believers and non-believers, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan last night.The debate focused on Shmuley’s book, Kosher Jesus, and Dr. Brown’s forthcoming book in response, The Real Kosher Jesus.

Brown summarized Rabbi Boteach’s viewpoint as being completely opposed to any reasonable interpretation of the New Testament.  Brown suggested that Shmuley turned Jesus into a rebel against Rome, who taught nothing new and died because of his treason against Rome.

According to Shmuley, Paul was the person who reinvented Jesus and transformed him into a Divine Messiah who died for the sins of humanity.

In effect, according to Dr. Brown, Shmuley has stripped Jesus of the uniqueness ascribed to him in the New Testament scriptures.

Shmuley responded by painting a picture of Jesus as a Jewish freedom fighter who was both a sincere zealot for Jewish causes and a great rabbi who taught in a way similar to the rabbis of his day.

Mike said that the only way Shmuley could be correct would be to assume that the entire New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, was edited and influenced by later Christians, inspired by Paul, who elevated Jesus to a status he never claimed for himself.  Mike noted that Shmuley gave very little historical or other type of evidence to justify such a radical reinterpretation of the New Testament.

The debate was successful in raising critical issues about Jesus. Clearly  both Mike and Shmuley agreed that Jesus was Jewish and spoke as a rabbi and a Jewish prophet   But that is where their agreement ended!

There has clearly been more interest in the Jewishness of Jesus within the Jewish community, from Kosher Jesus to a new Jewish Annotated New Testament edited by Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler.

Hopefully more and more Jewish people will study the New Testament and discover that indeed Jesus is Jewish, and more importantly, the Messiah and Savior of the world.For more information on why the New Testament should be taken more seriously as an historical  document, read the book, Isaiah 53 Explained. It is yours for free at www.isaiah53.com.

Rabbi Shmuley is still far from the Truth!

I have been reading the new book by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, entitled Kosher Jesus. I found it refreshing to read so many positive statements by an Orthodox Rabbi about Jesus… but Rabbi Boteach still does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah or God in the flesh, or that He died for our sins. Instead, he presents Jesus as a good and pious Jewish man who loved his people and who died trying to free His kinsman from oppression.

Shmuley, whom I’ve come to know quite well as a result of our many public debates¹ is still waiting for the Messiah to come and reign on David’s throne, like most religious Jewish people today.

However, Shmuley – who is sometimes called “America’s Rabbi” – has caused the debate on the issue of Jesus to take a new turn by publishing this book, which states positive views of Jesus that are at odds with those of many in the Jewish community.

For example, one author on a religious Jewish website writes,

However, writing a book that completely exonerates Jesus and promotes Jewish respect for him is something that I find grossly naive and severely imbalanced in light of the overall picture of history and early gospel texts. “Kosher Jesus” is a one-sided coin that presents a single perspective while being ignorant of all others.²

Another Jewish writer comments,

The vast majority of Jews will never read “Kosher Jesus” and understand that Boteach really referring to a Jesus who had a million-dollar makeover. They will think of the Jesus praised by Tim Tebow! For an Orthodox Rabbi to urge Jews to embrace Jesus is incredibly irresponsible, as it will inevitably facilitate the slide by some down the slippery slope toward Christianity.³

There are many additional – and even harsher – comments by Jewish leaders regarding Shmuley and his latest book, including one prominent Orthodox Rabbi in Toronto who has put a ‘ban’ on the book and says that Jewish people should not read it!

Last month, Shmuley wrote on his own blog:

…Rabbi Schochet declared the book heretical, banned anyone from reading it, banned me from speaking about it, banned others from hosting me, and refused to offer a single reason or explanation as to why.⁴

It appears that some Jewish leaders simply do not want Jewish people to even think about Jesus or to be exposed to the idea that Jesus was Jewish and that there was value in what He taught and did. I understand this concern – in fact, I was raised with it – and I contend with it regularly in my efforts to help my fellow Jewish people come to know Jesus as Messiah and Lord.

After reading the book, I have come to the conclusion that although Shmuley paints Jesus in a positive light, his approach is short-sighted and even disrespectful to Christians and Messianic Jews. Many of our core beliefs are eviscerated in his attempts to “retell” and reconstruct the Gospel story.

A writer from one of the leading Jewish newspapers in the New York area comments,

Boteach has the noble goal of improving the relationship between Christians and Jews, yet his approach here is problematic, as well. By severing the good Jewish Jesus from bad Christian teachings about him, he casts all Christian beliefs — about, for example, Jesus’ uniqueness and significance — as groundless and fantastic. Far from building a bridge between Jews and Christians, his portrait of Jesus will be rejected by most Christians as irrelevant and even insulting.⁵

I could not agree more with the above critique.  I believe it is good to try to understand one another’s faiths and engage in respectful dialogue – and yes, even to try to persuade each another to accept what we believe as true. However, Boteach’s attempts to build relationships with Christians on the basis of his own imaginative Jesus will never build the bridges he desires. After all, who among us would want to give our lives in service and sacrifice for a failed first century revolutionary?

A Jewish Messiah who died once and for all to atone for our sins, reconcile us to God, and give us eternal life, however… that’s a Jesus worth loving and serving!

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Notes:

[1] A debate entitled, Is Jesus Kosher, between Shmuley and Dr. Mike Borown, will be held in Manhattan on March 13^th at 7:30 pm at the Ethical Society building on West 64^th street, Manhattan. If you happen to live in the New York area or are visiting the Big Apple, please attend.  You can ask for the details by e-mail or call212-223-2252.

[2] Yehudah Ilan. Kosher Jesus, Treif Christianity, http://chizzukemunah.com/2012/01/16/kosher-jesus-treif-christianity

[3] Rabbi Michael Skobac. It’s Your Own Mess Shmuley – Clean it Up http://www.jewsforjudaism.ca/resources-info/response-to-shmuley-boteach-s-kosher-jesus

[4] Boteach, Shmuley. http://www.shmuley.com/news/details/P2/

[5] Gregerman, Adam. http://www.forward.com/articles/151028/#ixzz1mAbuEuEY