… because “church” is the name that the English Bible [quite inaccurately, we are convinced] gives to those who are part of the “Body and Bride of Christ.” Since our original foundation as a local body of Believers, however, we have come to learn that there is a more accurate term for the Body of Mashiach.

Although we do not now necessarily “object” to the use of the word “church” when used for a Gentile body of Believers, it should be clearly understand that the use of the word “church” in the English “New Testament” has absolutely no valid linguistic reason or precedent beyond Gentile (specifically Roman Catholic) tradition. It is an incorrect (and, we believe, originally intentionally misleading, manipulative, and deliberately anti-Semitic) translation of the Greek word ekklesia (ekklesia), which is in turn a valid translation of the Hebrew word lhq (qahal), which should be translated as “called out,” “called out ones,” “assembly,” or “congregation.” [Please see our article “Where Did the Word ‘Church’ Come From?” for a more detailed discussion of the word “church.”]

There are many within the “Messianic Restoration” movement who object to the use of the word “church” for a congregation of Messianic Believers because of the historical record of well over 1,500 years of persecution of the Jews by an apostate “Church,” and we would be forced to agree with that objection.

Additionally, we are absolutely convinced that it was never Yeshua’s intent to “start a new religion” — or even to start a “church” — but rather only to fulfill, complete, and correct what was wrong with the Judaism into which he was born. We therefore believe that the most valid form of worship is that practiced by Yeshua and His talmidim (disciples). We have therefore chosen to identify ourselves with that group of believers that is known variously as “the Messianic Movement,” “Messianic Judaism,”  “Messianic Restoration” or “Nazarene Judaism” [not to be confused with “Hebrew Christianity” or “Jewish Christianity” which is almost completely Gentile in nature].

We further believe that much of the conflict that now exists between Christians and Jews has been caused by anti-Semitic and anti-Gentile language that has crept into the household of faith. For example, the word “Jesus” is nothing but a compounding of errors, which may or may not have been intentionally anti-Semitic in their origin. Nobody who ever knew Yeshua in the flesh ever referred to Him by that word. In fact, it grammatically impossible to say that word in either Hebrew or Aramaic, as neither language has the “jay” sound.

The Hellenistic Nazarenes (Believers in Messiah, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who longed to be a identified with the Greek culture) of the second century and later transliterated His name from the Hebrew Yeshua [wXy into Greek as Iesou “Iesu.” [“Transliterate” is to write a word from one language phonetically using the alphabet from a different language.] When the “church” became centered in Rome and the Greek Scriptures were translated into Latin, the Romans added an “s” on the end of His name (because virtually all masculine Greek and Latin words end in “s") making it Iesouß or “Iesus.” Then the Germans came along during the Reformation and changed the “I” to a “J” making the word “Jesus.” And then the men who translated the Latin and German version of the Scriptures into English didn’t bother to correct the error. In the meantime, as more and more Gentiles were brought into Nazarene (or Messianic) Judaism, Yeshua became thought of less as the Jewish Messiah and more as the “Gentile G-d.” [Please see our article on the origin of the word “Jesus” for more information.]

As the Gentile “Church” became more and more anti-Semitic and the persecutions “in the name of Jesus” became more and more severe, Jews around the world began to hate that word more and more, and for good reason. But just stop and think how difficult that persecution would have been if the Gentiles had remembered that they were nothing more nor less than “adopted” members of a distinctly (and originally exclusively) Jewish movement. And how much more difficult it would have been to persecute Jews “in the name of” Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. (See also our discussion on the word Jehovah.)

In an attempt to help “restore” the Biblical faith to that form practiced by Yeshua and the Talmidim, we have chosen to identify ourselves as a Messianic Jewish fellowship, refer to ourselves as “Miqra,”  “Congregation,” or “Community” instead of “church,” and we are now in the process of learning how to follow the Jewish forms of worship. We are still registered with the government (sigh!) as a “church” for the purposes of Section 501(c)(3) of the Infernal Revenue Code, which keeps the government from interfering with our organizational operation.

For these reasons we now refer to our congregation as Adat (Congregation) B'nei HaMelech, and to our overall ministry as Family Bible Ministries.

Adat B'nei HaMelech

… is an independent “non-charismatic” congregation of Messianic Believers (Jews and non-Jews who believe that Yeshua of Nazareth is Israel’s Messiah and G-d come in the flesh) who have joined ourselves together to mutually express our:

Who would want to fellowship with us?

http://FamilyBible.org/About/Name.htm
was last revised at 10:09 AM on Saturday, 29 March 2008