Messianic Jewish organizations have begun to respond to the claims of “Rabbi” Ralph Messer. From the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations:
On behalf of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC) and the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), we join our voices with the wider Jewish community in condemning the ritual orchestrated last Sunday by Ralph Messer at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. Messer is not recognized by any major branch of Messianic Judaism and, under the standards of the UMJC and the MJAA, is not even considered part of our community, let alone a rabbi. He is operating entirely outside the mainstream Messianic Jewish community. Furthermore, his claim to be acting on behalf of the Jewish people is outrageous and without merit (http://umjc.org/home-mainmenu-1/news-mainmenu-40/1-latest/746-umjc-mjaa-respond-to-messer-video).
And this:
We in the Union of Conservative Messianic Jewish Congregations / Union of Conservative Messianic Judaism and Congregation Beth Ha’Mashiach stand with our Jewish people and condemn these actions as neither Jewish nor following any Jewish teaching. Further more, these teachings in no way reflect the teachings of our Messiah, Yeshua Ha’Nazaret who was a fully Torah observant Jew and taught that the Torah would never pass away “Not one Yod or Tittle will pass away until all is made Full”, that is, made know, properly taught (Matt 5:17-18).
This action is repugnant and shows both a lack of understanding of Torah, Jewish teachings and observant Jewish behavior.
This action however does serve as a valuable lesson if we will heed it. It is time for Messianic Judaism to stand-up, align ourselves with our people, our rabbis, our Torah and remove the cancer of those claiming to be practicing Messianic Judaism, but who in reality are churches, lead by Pastors, using Jewish symbols to teach Gentile Christian Theology.
We need to be part of the effort to have truly Jewish rabbi’s for Messianic synagogues, trained in Yeshiva and teaching Judaism that recognizes Yeshua Ha’Nazaret as Messiah, in a Jewish context. We need to resist proselytization by churches of the Jewish People, drawing them to become Gentiles in order to recognize Yeshua as Messiah. We have lost 6 million to the Holocaust; we have lost many more to assimilation, it must stop now!
Thanks to Rabbi Gabriel at Congregation Beth Ha’Mashiach in Loganville, GA for this information.
