I now have been alerted to this film, called "Awakening". The effort of "Jews for Jesus", it seeks to revitalize pro-activ, aggressive, in-your-face proselytizing.
I am aware of the fundamental drive to attest, to give witness, to engageor what these J4J people term "sharing their faith through proclamation evangelism". I have read their mission statement which states: “We believe that Jesus the Messiah died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice; that all who believe in Him are justified, not by any works of righteousness they have done, but by His perfect righteousness and atoning blood and that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” I can comprehend the vitalism this activity provides, especially for people who are undertaking such an intrusive behavior, quite unappreciated by those whose souls they wish to snatch, for that it is our response. I cannot make it more clear.
If David Brickner, Executive Director of Jews for Jesus, says in the film, “We come to New York to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue”, well, it can be avoided. It need be avoided.
It is written in Habbakuk 2:
הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה, לֹא-יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ; וְצַדִּיק, בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה
Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him;
but the righteous shall live by his faith
Each of us has his own faith and need be righteous in it. But as you know, in the end of days, Jerusalem will be rebuilt and sacrifices will be brought by all to the Temple there.
That reality is being prepared, is being achieved, by Jews in Judea and Samaria in the forefront and by those non-Jews who are aiding the endeavor.
Let us not injure the balance of faith that has been developed. Let us not harm the accomplishments so far made and yet to be done in the Land of Israel, where prophets, kings and priests lived and worked and where the redemption will take place.
If you believe in the messages contained in the Bible, believe and practice those beliefs but do not intrude or invade into the faith frameworks of the Jews.
The message of Jews for Jesus should be that Jesus was a Jew and relearn the proper patterns of contemporary coexistence, for all of us. That is the true mission.
^
P.S. And this from CFOIC, on whose board I sit:
...The time has come for Christians to focus on the here and now. Obviously God has blessed the Jewish people through the centuries and He has managed to keep them a separate people and has returned them to the Land of Israel as He promised. Therefore, we have a responsibility to leave the future in His hands. So far He has managed it very well without our help. Christians should bless Israel with pure motives and a pure heart...
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...At CFOIC, we do everything we can to deter people from that approach, and to educate them in what I refer to as the “wait and see” approach. Let us wait and see what God’s plans are. We have a tendency to think we know what God’s end time plan is. In reality we do not know how He is going to unveil and play out His plan in the world of mankind.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has never yet forsaken His people. He always manages to get His purposes accomplished no matter what devises their enemies have tried to use to deter, derail, or destroy His people.
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