|

Why did Family Bible Church "go Messianic?"
Isn't that a step backward toward "the Law?" What about
Grace?
If you are already a Christian and you are already saved,
why is all this "Messianic stuff" important?
What will your Christian friends think?
What will your Jewish friends think?
Answers to all these and more are being prepared ... Stay
Tuned!
In the meantime, click on the links at the top of this page
for more information about the "Messianic Movement."
Why is Family Bible Church “going Messianic?”
There is a long list of reasons why Family Bible Church has
made the decision to become a Messianic Jewish congregation. Some of those reasons include the
following:
1. The Pastor of Family Bible Church is a Jewish Believer in
Mashiach who for too long has remained ignorant of his Jewish heritage, having been content to
live fully-assimilated as a Gentile Christian for 49 years.
2. The Bible teaches that the Gospel is to be presented “to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek/Gentile.” Although billions of dollars are being spent by
individual Christian churches, denominations, and other missionary outreaches to send
missionaries to Gentiles, we believe that very little is being done to present the Good News
of Mashiach's Kingdom to the Jews.
3. The traditional thinking of most Gentile Christians is
that on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended on the Upper Room, Peter went out into
the street and preached the first “Christian Sermon,” and there was suddenly created a
“Christian Church” with over 3,000 members. After studying the Scriptures intently for the
past two years, I have discovered that it simply isn't true. What happened was that under the
direction of Ruach HaKodesh, Kefa, a Torah-observant Jew who was a witness to the death,
burial, and resurrection of Yeshua HaMashiach, testified to thousands of other Torah-observant
Jews as to what he had witnessed, and as a result that day there were over 3,000
Torah-observant Jews who became Believers in Melech Yeshua HaMashiach, and Nazarene or
Messianic Judaism became a part of main-stream Judaism alongside the Pharisees, Sadducees,
Zealots, and Essenes. The “church” did not become a separate entity from Judaism until almost
exactly 100 years later during the Bar Kokhba Rebellion. Therefore, if anyone desires to
experience the “First-Century Church” the only place where they can do so is in a
Messianic Jewish synagogue.
4. There is no place for Messianic Jewish worship within a
over 100 miles of our location.
3.
It shall therefore be the mission of this ministry to:
a. Faithfully proclaim, to the
Jew first and also to the Gentile, that Yeshua of Natzeret is Melech HaMashiach (Israel’s
King Messiah) and the Redeemer of Israel and of the world.
b. Encourage and facilitate
Jewish Believers in Messiah to retain their traditional ethnic distinctives (their “Jewishness”),
and to educate non-Jewish Believers in Messiah about their spiritual heritage in Judaism,
encouraging (though not compelling) them to return to their Hebraic roots, so that both Jew
and Gentile may know the spiritual reality of being one in the Messiah.
c. Provide a Biblical Jewish
context for New Covenant faith and life in which Jewish and non-Jewish Believers in Messiah
may worship together, as the Shliachim taught the Messianic Believers of the first century,
and as we believe worship will take place in the Messianic Kingdom.
d. Teach
the Word of G-d in such a way that all Believers, both Jewish and non-Jewish,
might be enlightened, encouraged, and equipped to live and model a Biblically
Torah-observant lifestyle.
e. Fully support, in whatever
way Ruach HaKodesh may lead, the reunification of the two “houses” of Israel (Israel and
Judah, also called Ephraim and Judah) and the return of that reunited Israel in fullness to
her Covenant Land and to her rightful place as G-d’s “light to the world,” and
the establishment of HaMashiach’s Kingdom on earth.
I fully understand that “conventional” Christian theology
teaches that the “Church” came into existence at Pentecost and will cease to function in its
present capacity at “the Rapture,” and that the “Church” therefore consists of all the saints
of the present age, and I faithfully taught that doctrine for over thirty years. My recent
studies of the Scripture have left that teaching in some doubt in my mind for the following
reasons:
a. The Greek
word that is translated “church” in the English Bibles is
ekklesia (ekklesia), or “called out” or “the called out ones”
when used with the definite article (“the”). This concept carries with it the idea of being
“elect” or “chosen,” and it should be properly translated as “called out.” Other than the
religious bias of the translators and the traditions of men, there is absolutely no
grammatical reason for this word to be translated “church.”
b. The Hebrew
word arqm (miqra) carries the same meaning as
the word ekklesia. and is used in the
Tenakh to refer to the “holy convocations” of Israel, and can readily be translated as “called
out.”
c. While most
“conventional” Christian theology teaches that the so-called “Old Testament Saints” were saved
by observance of Torah, the Brit Chadasha (particularly Hebrews 11; Romans 3:21-4:25; Romans
11) teaches that salvation (justification) has always been on the basis of faith in
Mashiach, totally apart from any “works of righteousness.”
d. The “called
out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach were justified (saved) by faith in the completed
work of Mashiach yet to be performed.
e. The “called
out ones” after the resurrection of Mashiach are justified (saved) by faith in the exact same
completed work of Mashiach that has now been performed.
f. The “called
out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach were either born or adopted as Israelites. (Gen.
17:10-13; Exod. 12:43-51; Deut 16:10-11; Josh. 8:33)
g. The “called
out ones” after the resurrection of Mashiach are either born or adopted as Israelites. (Rom.
9:1-8; cp. Rom. 8:15; Rom. 8:23; Rom. 11:17-27; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5; Eph. 2:11-13)
h. The “called
out ones” before the resurrection of Mashiach and the “called out ones” after the resurrection
of Mashiach are therefore related to Mashiach in exactly the same manner. (Rom. 3:30)
i. Where,
then, is the scriptural basis for saying that “the called one ones” before the resurrection
and the “called out ones” after the resurrection are two different groups of humanity?
j. There is,
therefore, no apparent Scriptural basis to claim that G-d started something “new”
or “different” at Pentecost, only that Ruach HaKodesh was now to permanently indwell those who
came to faith in Mashiach, whereas before the resurrection that indwelling seems (from
our limited human perspective) to have been more temporary in nature.
Isn't that a step backward toward "the Law?" What about Grace?
If you are already a Christian and you are already saved,
why is all this "Messianic stuff" important?
What will your Christian friends think?
What will your Jewish friends think?
|