Saturday, December 18, 2021

Jewish Anti-Christian Apologists Acting like Evangelical Anti-Mormons, Part 3: Publicizing Testimonies of Former Church Leaders and Missionaries

The following references come from:

 

Tovia Singer, Let’s Get Biblical: Why Doesn’t Judaism Accept the Christian Messiah? 2 vols. (Forest Hills, N.Y.: Outreach Judaism, 2014)

 

We find the following blurb on the back of both volumes 1 and 2:

 

“Pastor, can you listen to these tapes and tell me if everything this man is saying is true?” With these fords from Alice, a member in our congregation, I was introduced to the “Let’s Get Biblical” tape series of Rabbi Tovia Singer. At first it was only a couple of tapes, and after listening intently to them I told her that the Rabbi mentioned other tapes and a study guide. She ordered them for me and after listening to them several times and studying through the guide I went back to her and said, “Yes, everything is true.”

 

For someone who had spent most of his life “preparing for the ministry” and also having attended two prominent Southern Baptist Institutions (Dallas Baptist University and Southwestern Theological Seminary) as well as serving in various churches in the capacity of Associate Minister, and then pastoring a church in East Texas, the “Let’s Get Biblical” series was at first devastating, yet ultimately gave real meaning to my life.

 

Devasting because of the nagging guilt I felt knowing that I had led so many others down a wrong path. Sure, I was very sincere in my “belief.” This was the way I was brought up to believe. But in my search for the roots of Christianity G-d graciously brought the Truth into my life through Rabbi Singer.

 

I would encourage everyone, Jewish or Christian, to pore over the powerful message contained in these pages (as well as Rabbi Singer’s remarkable audio series). I have no doubt that if you do so with all your heart you, too, will find the truth. Study these pages very carefully and prayerfully. Check all the references to Strong’s Driver and Briggs, or any other resource you have. As Rabbi Singer leads you step by step your eyes, mind and heart will be opened to the Truth of Torah.

 

 - Michael R. D. Flanigan,
Former Southern Baptist Minister

 

We find the following testimony of a former minister/Reverend as the preface to volume 1:

 

The last thing I ever expected to be was a Torah-observant Jew. Growing up poor in a broken home with little religious influence, I embraced the Christian gospel at 16, partly through a Calvary Chapel-related commune for former street people during the early “Jesus movement” in Southern California. We were a rag-tag group—burnt out from the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll influences on the free love culture. But through faith in a personal lord and savior, hundreds of thousands of us united around the Great Commission in a collective effort to evangelize a lost and dying world before it was too late—before hundreds of millions of believers would be divinely snatched off the planet in the Rapture, the precursor event in the seven year great Tribulation period in which the world would be ruled—and ultimately tyrannized—by the Antichrist.

 

I became a member and eventually a minister of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a rapidly growing Pentecostal-charismatic denomination—very similar to the Assemblies of God. I was a close disciple of such leaders as Roy Hicks, Jr. and Dr. Jack Hayford. While my evangelical professors had taught me that the gospel must be proclaimed “to all the world,” they placed a premium on reaching Jewish people. (This book will explain why.) My passion for winning Jewish souls led me to living four years in Israel, first as a student of Hebrew and later as an English teacher, using my professional skills as a cover for my missionary activities.

 

Over time, my studies of Hebrew caused fractures in my faith. As I examined missionary proof texts in Hebrew to share them with spiritually illiterate Israelis, I noted that something seemed “off.” The English translations I knew so well appeared either mistranslated or taken out of context when compared with the Hebrew original. How could this be? Wasn’t the Bible—the Old and New Testaments—a seamless, divinely inspired work? Wasn’t Jesus the fulfillment of some 300 Old Testament prophecies by which we could surely identity the promised Redeemer? Hadn’t the Jews rejected their own Messiah and for 2,000 years paid the price of exile for rejecting him? I was less and less sure.

 

The few friends I spoke to of my doubts diagnosed I was under the influence of demons. But having done graduate studies in linguistics, I couldn’t argue with the Hebrew texts; they didn’t support the missionary interpretations. Questions tugged at me: Was Christianity true because I believed it—or did I believe it because it was true? Grasping to get back on more solid footing, I left Israel to take up a position in a large California church.

 

Two years later, I left the ministry. There was no gracious way to leave. I was hurting and I hurt a lot of people. For eight years, I wondered and wandered, spiritually and geographically, including a two and a half year stint as an English teacher in Saudi Arabia.

 

Having dabbled with a veritable stew of spiritual alternatives, I had an intuitive sense that Judaism was unique among the world’s faith systems, but I wasn’t quite sure why. Curiously, I discovered an article by Rabbi Tovia singer, which challenged me to objectively examine the textual evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection is the most cardinal doctrine in the New Testament; without it, all else unravels. Rabbi Singer recommended an approach of self-study. I took it. And I let go of Jesus.

 

Now that I was free to examine Judaism with a clearer eye and a freer heart, I entered the Jewish world through a liberal Jewish movement (which actually reminded me of liberal Protestantism). But within a couple of years, I concluded that if Judaism was a house, I was living on the porch. My experience, while warm and culturally stimulating, was spiritually thin.

 

Around time, a former Messianic rabbi told me that Rabbi Tovia Singer was lecturing in our area. I attended and left duly challenged to help other Jews influenced by missionaries. I went through another conversion, a more rigorous and demanding Orthodox process, and on the 23rd of Kislev 5760—two days before Chanukah in December 1999, I emerged from the waters of the Los Angeles mikveh with a new name—Gavriel Aryeh ben Avraham. Now fourteen years later, I can affirm that it’s been a whole new, multi-faceted life—as rewarding as it’s been challenging.

 

I’ve crossed paths with Rabbi Singer a number of times since. I’ve been a guest on his broadcasts and he was guest of mine when I was on New York radio. We spent challenging days together as part of a support mission to Gush Katif in the summer of 2005. We’ve shared in lectures together, and like many former evangelical Christians who’ve embraced Torah observance, I’ve attentively absorbed his lectures and study materials.

 

For more than a quarter of a century, Rabbi Singer has traveled the world helping Jews discover the richness and beauty hidden in their own spiritual heritage. Many of them had taken a detour into missionary Christianity and the Messianic movement in a quest for spiritual satisfaction. The book you hold now contains compelling biblical truths which brought them out of the Church and back home to the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, the Hebrew prophets, and millions of anonymous Jews who dared cling to the Torah despite all efforts to convert them away. If it hadn’t been for these brave and faithful souls, those Jews who believe in Jesus today wouldn’t even know they are Jewish! Ironically, missionaries will study this book in an effort to sharpen their counter-arguments. Since students of the Bible will pore through it to understand why Jews have said “no” to the overtures of evangelicals for centuries. But earnest seekers will employ the book to connect with the unbroken chain of Torah learning and living.

 

While an easy book to read, this is a hard book to master. It chiropractically adjusts misaligned beliefs. That’s not comfortable. But it’s necessary as we proceed into these days our Sages regard as “ikvesh d’meshichia”—the footsteps of messiah. As Rabbi Singer indicates in these pages, the ultimate redemption and revelation of the Jewish people as the historical torchbearers of the Almighty is near. May this book serve as a homing beacon for many who, like I did, wondered and wandered, yet never stopped looking for the path.

 

B’vracha—with blessing

 

Gavriel Aryeh ben Avraham

(former Rev. Mark S. Sanders) (1:v-vii)