The following is a post that I was asked to write about my experience in the Messianic movement. I'm afraid that it never was used as it wasn't as vitriolic as the requestor was undoubtedly hoping for. I always try to bring correction with love and grace. With that in mind, I do feel that in these days this message is one that needs to be expressed.
Let No Man Deceive You
I was raised in a conservative Jewish home. Growing up, we would attend synagogue most weeks as well as celebrate the Jewish holidays. During those years God was busy with me, planting His Word in my heart – His Word that I heard during the weekly services. As I grew and became a little more familiar with Scripture I began asking questions, like when did God stop requiring us to make sacrifices. All my questions seemed to do was make people uncomfortable, but I kept searching for answers.
When I was 17 years old I accepted
Messiah and the atonement He made, once for all, on the cross. I was
certain that I was the only Jew to ever have done so. Not too long
after that I went to church with a friend of mine. Unfortunately
there were a few things that I just couldn't get past. One was that
it seemed like the sermons were focused not on Scripture, but on the
founders of that particular denomination or how we can live better,
happier lives. The other was the fact that the people there kept
trying to convince me that I was no longer Jewish and that I didn't
need to hold on to my Jewishness, my traditions, etc. Needless to
say I did not feel comfortable there, so I stopped going. I did,
however continue to read the Bible and learn about God.
Fast forward 10 years or so. I was now
married and while I had shared everything with my husband, there was
one little detail I had managed to keep secret – my faith in
Christ. My husband had been raised in the Lutheran church, but had
not yet come to salvation. One day, amidst some very troubling
circumstances, I shared my faith with him and he agreed to go to
church with me. When I looked in the phone book I saw that there was
a Messianic congregation in town, so we decided to go there as I
thought I would feel more comfortable.
When we first started attending I did
indeed feel more comfortable. I was very happy to see that Jewish
believers were worshiping in a Jewish way, much like an Hispanic or
Aftican-American church would worship within the context of their
culture. It was also nice to see non-Jewish believers there as well.
But the longer we were there, some things started getting us
concerned. There was a trend among the leadership in the
congregation to try to impose Mosaic Law on believers in Christ. They
supported keeping kosher and other legalistic duties – duties that
I never kept before coming to Christ. I couldn't understand how they
could justify requiring people to keep these laws now that they were
in Christ and free from the law of sin and death. They also held the
view that non-Jewish believers were “less than,” and would not
allow them to hold certain positions simply because they had not been
born a Jew. This view was also held by many who were pillars of the
Messianic movement. Added to all of this was a general disdain for
anything “church.” While I completely understand that many, many
Jews are repelled by the church because of historical violence that
the church has committed against Jews, I couldn't understand how
those who had come to Christ could justify the positions they were
taking. When I started asking about this and pointing out that
Scripture teaches that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile but
we are all new creatures in Christ, or that God made all food
acceptable to eat I was met with condescension. They tried to
convince me that I obviously didn't know what I was talking about.
It wasn't too long before we left that congregation.
We have been part of several churches
since that time. The sad thing is that whenever there has been a
question over a teaching, policy or doctrine, I've been met with the
same attitude of condescension. The even sadder thing is how God's
Word has come to take a back seat over people's agenda. Sometimes
the Word has been moved from the back seat to the trunk and isn't
taken seriously at all.
Over the years I have tried to keep
things simple, relying not on man's word, but on God's. It doesn't
matter if a person is a pastor or a layman. If what they are
teaching doesn't agree with Scripture, don't believe it. In
Scripture we are told, “Now the Berean
Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for
they received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts
17:11 NIV) If people were checking Paul's teachings against
Scripture to make sure that he was correct, how much more diligent
should we be! As time goes on there will be more and more false
teachings, more and more wolves in sheep's clothing trying to deceive
believers and lead them astray. There will be more and more
deception within the church as well as without, all designed to keep
us from God's truth. Be diligent in studying the Scriptures daily so
that you know God's Truth.
