'Yeshua Is the Messiah'

"Fraud . .. deception ... playing with religious tradition." These harsh words, aimed at a new movement of Jewish-born Christians, spill forth from Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of the American Jewish Committee, normally one of Judaism's most temperate envoys to Christianity. His target: the so-called Messianic Jews, who insist that they can adopt a belief in Jesus as the Messiah and yet remain as Jewish as ever.

In the earliest days of the church, of course. Christians were accepted as being Jews, and the Messianic Jews say they are trying to re-establish those bygone days. Ever since the two faiths divided, however, proselytism has been one of their touchiest disputes, exacerbated by Christian anti-Semitism and centuries of forced conversions. Most Jews fiercely resent all proselytizing, and many Christian denominations now oppose organized efforts to convert Jews.

Shun Labels. Among the Messianic Jews, however, proselytizing is part of the faith. Exactly what that faith is, though, is confusing to the outsider. Although the Messianic Jews hold to orthodox Christian doctrines such as the deity of Christ, which Judaism considers idolatry, they often shun labels like "convert" or "Christian." Some retain Jewish traditions like Saturday worship and the wearing of skullcaps, or call their leaders "rabbis" and their meeting places "synagogues." To Jewish leaders such as Tanenbaum, they are simply Christian evangelists masquerading as Jews to gain more converts. In any case, since the late 1960s, perhaps 10,000 to 20,000 young U.S. Jews have decided to follow Jesus.

Much of the tumult in the movement is now swirling around a Pentecostal group in Stony Brook. Long Island, called B'nai Yeshua (Sons of Jesus), which draws up to 200 people for Friday-night services and claims to run the world's first major "messianic training center." It has 30 students at present and 31 full-time evangelists who are waging a summer campaign.

This month B'nai Yeshua dedicated its twelve-acre, $1,105,000 estate during a conference attended by 700 believers, about two-thirds of them Jewish. Leader Mike Evans, 29, presided like an auctioneer over fund-raising appeals ("Tell every single person what you want them to do. Lord") and faith-healing marathons ("There's a man with a gall bladder problem sitting over there. Well, you're God's beloved"). At one point Evans appealed for commitments to Jesus, blending Jewish terminology with tent revivalism: "Great God of Israel, I need forgiveness for my sins. I believe that Yeshua Jesus is the Messiah."

Professing amazement at the opposition B'nai Yeshua has aroused from Long Island Jews and Establishment Protestants, Evans says: "We are just a bunch of young Jewish kids." Evans, who was given a weak religious upbringing by his Jewish mother, ran a Texas Bible camp until he felt God tell him that a great revival was coming in the New York City area. Despite his Jewish emphasis, he gets backing from such Gentile Pentecostal stalwarts as Christian Broadcaster Pat Robertson and Evangelist David Wilkerson.

Other new groups that play up their Jewishness play down or avoid altogether the heavy Pentecostalism of Evans' B'nai Yeshua. Among them: Philadelphia's Beth Yeshua, which has grown from 30 members to 150 in two years, and Beth Messiah in the Washington. D.C., area, begun with six members in 1973 and now boasting 500. A pioneer in the new style was charming, talkative Moishe Rosen, who founded "Jews for Jesus" in 1973 and now presides over 80 staffers and a $2 million annual budget from his unmarked headquarters in San Rafael. Calif.

Jewish authorities hold that a Jew who adopts Christianity -- or any other religion -- is a meshummad (apostate), a grievous sinner who incurs various penalties. He may not be a witness in a Jewish legal proceeding or count in the minyan, or quorum for prayer. He remains technically a Jew, however, since the Talmud says that "a Jew who sins is still a Jew."

Literal War. Jewish groups are fighting as never before against proselytizers of all varieties. In recent months Christian street preachers have been punched in New York's heavily Jewish garment district, and the Jews for Jesus outpost in Manhattan has been ransacked. One Texas convert says he was kidnaped while celebrating Passover with his brother, a rabbinical student, and held for days of "deprogramming" until he renounced Jesus. The most extreme opponent is Hesh Morgan, whose militant Anti-Missionary Institute plants spies in Evangelical groups to gather information and assigns youths to disrupt meetings and heckle speakers. It is "literally a war." says one Los Angeles rabbi.

Most Jewish groups, however, favor voluntary talks with converts rather than strong-arm tactics. New York's new Jewish Community Relations Council has a task force compiling data on 45 missionary groups and has assigned psychologists and educators to develop a counter strategy. Similar efforts are under way in 16 other cities.

With strong family and community pressure at work, why are these young Jews following Jesus? Theodore Freedman of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith says they are "largely children with emotional problems." Donald LeMagdeleine, a Roman Catholic who is conducting the first careful survey of the young converts for a thesis at Berkeley's Graduate Theological Union, disagrees. They want a religious experience that they did not find in their synagogues or in Jewish cultural upbringing, he says. "They are not looking for Jewish rap groups. They are looking for God."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.