I first met Moshe Rosen, the founder of the infamous organization Jews for Jesus, several years ago. He had come to Atlanta for a fund-raiser and I somehow got wind of it and was determined to go to their dinner as a ?spy?. We met that night, and I subsequently wrote a scathing column about his organization and their goals. As I recall, he was just a guy from a a nice Jewish family in Denver who could not make a living and came up with a gimmick ? ?Jews for Jesus?. It wasn?t until he managed to book a revival of sorts in Madison Square Garden, and the mainstream Jewish press made a big deal of the event, that he managed to gain a foothold. Once the protest from the Jewish newspapers hit the local New York papers he was made.
It was a few years later - sometime in the early eighties - that our paths crossed again. I was in San Francisco for a speaking engagement and one of his disciples attempted to hand me Jews for Jesus literature at the airport. I looked at the kid and told him, ?Tell your boss that the star reporter from Atlanta is in town and she still thinks that it would be better if you were Jews for Moses.? Within a few hours, he called the Sheraton where I was staying and we made plans for dinner. Moshe ordered what seemed to be everything on the menu and then he and his wife took me to their home. It was lovely and paid for by the organization.
The following day he took me into the Hyatt Asbury area, where his office and various pieces of valuable real estate were located. I remember looking at one room that was a delegated to be the ?money room.? That was where the checks and donations came in and were counted. I remember thinking how the entire office staff were of the ?good Christian? mold. I took another look at the letters and checks and realized they seemed to be filled with Christians who were chomping at the bit to show the infidel Jews the ?way of the Lord.? This was around 1982 and I remember the figure of six million dollars coming in to promote their property and ?message?. All that he needed was a gimmick. It reminded me of a televangelist preacher who actually boasted of how he rebuked a man for questioning why he (the preacher) had a private jet. "Why not use the money to feed people and take a bus?" asked the man. "Son. I am not answerable to you. I am answerable to God. This is His jet and I'll use it until He says otherwise." Bible thumping is big business.
We talk about the attacks upon Jews, the constant terrorism and all the terrible things that have been done to the people of Israel. Yet, somehow, we?ll get through this and become even stronger. The Israeli youth that I remember from a few years ago - when things were soft - are tougher now. They grow into men far earlier than their American counterparts. Yet, Christianity has posed the greatest threat to the Jewish people, both physically and spiritually, in the last 2,000 years. Like anything else, there are good and bad. There are Christians who seek to convert Jews. Yet, there are others who strive to help the Jewish State. It?s their goal in life. Sometimes, it?s difficult to know the difference.
A cousin of mine in Atlanta, Rick Halpern, authored a book, Choose Life, a counter-missionary study guide. In it, he wrote that many missionaries are quick to apologize for atrocities committed by Christians over the centuries against the Jews, but are equally quick to tell you that their murderers were not ?real Christians?. They say, ?Real Christians wouldn?t do that, because they are so loving.? Yeah, right. I hate to think how many of us have been killed under the auspices of ?good Christians.? Unfortunately, the belief that Jewish souls cannot go to heaven and that Jews will have to be converted before the end of days is one that led to anti-Semitism. Those Christians who think like this are both insulting and dangerous. They also often take advantage of the susceptible youth they try to convert.
Unfortunately, too many of the Jewish kids today are going through life oblivious to the fact that they are Jewish. Too many of them associate their ?Jewish-ness? with material success or supporting secular causes. The case in point is demonstrated by how so many of the Hollywood crowd have distanced themselves from anything Jewish, support every battered child or women?s center, but ignore their brothers in Israel and the victims of terrorism there. So, when those kids go away to college they are fair game for these missionaries. Too many Jewish parents have done nothing to pass on their beliefs to their children. Nor are these children able to discuss the Jewish side of the many questions that life poses with Christians and others who have studied hard to do just that. That inexperience makes them perfect fodder for the various cults and religions seeking converts. So too are the transplants that move to a new city - leaving their Jewish connections behind - as they look for new friends.
I remember how many Russian immigrants I met in Israel who went there for a new life, but, in reality, had no Jewish ties. The same is true for the ones who came to the United States consumed with 'making it' and the Jewish community - busy with other causes - ignored them. The Christians, however, had plenty of time for them. Apathy is a real danger to the Jews. Yet, in contrast, there is a group of well-meaning Christians, such as Christians for Israel, who are operating a project called Exobus, the purpose of which is to assist Jews from the former Soviet Union to come to Israel. Their goal is to assist the Jewish people in their physical return and restoration of the land of Israel. Other groups, such as the Christian Chamber of Commerce, are active in promoting Israeli businesses. These are the truly good Christians who travel to Israel to support that country and showing the world that they have no fear traveling the buses and walking the streets. These are a different breed. They don't come to Israel to convert, but to support the Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and those living on Israel?s Mediterranean coast. Today, unfortunately, when many of the Jewish groups are selling "I Stand With Israel" t-shirts, more of these Christians who support Israel are traveling there to show that support. There is a fine line between those that come to convert and those who are believers, but don?t try and coerce others. There is a fine line between those that come to convert and those that realize that they have a theological difference of opinion with the Jews.
When I lived in Israel, I constantly saw Christian groups coming into our country. I'm sure many of them had convinced themselves that they were well-intentioned, but they sure packed their own agendas. Their bags wouldn?t even be unpacked before they would be in the lobby making their pitch for me to ?find Jesus?. I would be furious. They were guests in a Jewish country, but had the audacity to push their religion, because they thought it better than their host?s. That's like being invited into someone's home for dinner and asking for paper plates, because you don't trust their dishes to be clean. That behavior is both rude and despicable, and we don?t need it!
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Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.
It was a few years later - sometime in the early eighties - that our paths crossed again. I was in San Francisco for a speaking engagement and one of his disciples attempted to hand me Jews for Jesus literature at the airport. I looked at the kid and told him, ?Tell your boss that the star reporter from Atlanta is in town and she still thinks that it would be better if you were Jews for Moses.? Within a few hours, he called the Sheraton where I was staying and we made plans for dinner. Moshe ordered what seemed to be everything on the menu and then he and his wife took me to their home. It was lovely and paid for by the organization.
The following day he took me into the Hyatt Asbury area, where his office and various pieces of valuable real estate were located. I remember looking at one room that was a delegated to be the ?money room.? That was where the checks and donations came in and were counted. I remember thinking how the entire office staff were of the ?good Christian? mold. I took another look at the letters and checks and realized they seemed to be filled with Christians who were chomping at the bit to show the infidel Jews the ?way of the Lord.? This was around 1982 and I remember the figure of six million dollars coming in to promote their property and ?message?. All that he needed was a gimmick. It reminded me of a televangelist preacher who actually boasted of how he rebuked a man for questioning why he (the preacher) had a private jet. "Why not use the money to feed people and take a bus?" asked the man. "Son. I am not answerable to you. I am answerable to God. This is His jet and I'll use it until He says otherwise." Bible thumping is big business.
We talk about the attacks upon Jews, the constant terrorism and all the terrible things that have been done to the people of Israel. Yet, somehow, we?ll get through this and become even stronger. The Israeli youth that I remember from a few years ago - when things were soft - are tougher now. They grow into men far earlier than their American counterparts. Yet, Christianity has posed the greatest threat to the Jewish people, both physically and spiritually, in the last 2,000 years. Like anything else, there are good and bad. There are Christians who seek to convert Jews. Yet, there are others who strive to help the Jewish State. It?s their goal in life. Sometimes, it?s difficult to know the difference.
A cousin of mine in Atlanta, Rick Halpern, authored a book, Choose Life, a counter-missionary study guide. In it, he wrote that many missionaries are quick to apologize for atrocities committed by Christians over the centuries against the Jews, but are equally quick to tell you that their murderers were not ?real Christians?. They say, ?Real Christians wouldn?t do that, because they are so loving.? Yeah, right. I hate to think how many of us have been killed under the auspices of ?good Christians.? Unfortunately, the belief that Jewish souls cannot go to heaven and that Jews will have to be converted before the end of days is one that led to anti-Semitism. Those Christians who think like this are both insulting and dangerous. They also often take advantage of the susceptible youth they try to convert.
Unfortunately, too many of the Jewish kids today are going through life oblivious to the fact that they are Jewish. Too many of them associate their ?Jewish-ness? with material success or supporting secular causes. The case in point is demonstrated by how so many of the Hollywood crowd have distanced themselves from anything Jewish, support every battered child or women?s center, but ignore their brothers in Israel and the victims of terrorism there. So, when those kids go away to college they are fair game for these missionaries. Too many Jewish parents have done nothing to pass on their beliefs to their children. Nor are these children able to discuss the Jewish side of the many questions that life poses with Christians and others who have studied hard to do just that. That inexperience makes them perfect fodder for the various cults and religions seeking converts. So too are the transplants that move to a new city - leaving their Jewish connections behind - as they look for new friends.
I remember how many Russian immigrants I met in Israel who went there for a new life, but, in reality, had no Jewish ties. The same is true for the ones who came to the United States consumed with 'making it' and the Jewish community - busy with other causes - ignored them. The Christians, however, had plenty of time for them. Apathy is a real danger to the Jews. Yet, in contrast, there is a group of well-meaning Christians, such as Christians for Israel, who are operating a project called Exobus, the purpose of which is to assist Jews from the former Soviet Union to come to Israel. Their goal is to assist the Jewish people in their physical return and restoration of the land of Israel. Other groups, such as the Christian Chamber of Commerce, are active in promoting Israeli businesses. These are the truly good Christians who travel to Israel to support that country and showing the world that they have no fear traveling the buses and walking the streets. These are a different breed. They don't come to Israel to convert, but to support the Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and those living on Israel?s Mediterranean coast. Today, unfortunately, when many of the Jewish groups are selling "I Stand With Israel" t-shirts, more of these Christians who support Israel are traveling there to show that support. There is a fine line between those that come to convert and those who are believers, but don?t try and coerce others. There is a fine line between those that come to convert and those that realize that they have a theological difference of opinion with the Jews.
When I lived in Israel, I constantly saw Christian groups coming into our country. I'm sure many of them had convinced themselves that they were well-intentioned, but they sure packed their own agendas. Their bags wouldn?t even be unpacked before they would be in the lobby making their pitch for me to ?find Jesus?. I would be furious. They were guests in a Jewish country, but had the audacity to push their religion, because they thought it better than their host?s. That's like being invited into someone's home for dinner and asking for paper plates, because you don't trust their dishes to be clean. That behavior is both rude and despicable, and we don?t need it!
--------------------------------------------------------
Arlene Peck is an internationally syndicated columnist and television talk show hostess. She can be reached at bestredhead@earthlink.net.