Page 155 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

Looking Like Christ

In his book Messianic Judaism is Not Christianity, Stan Telchin (a Jewish believer in Messiah)
addresses some of the motives that Gentile believers become involved in these groups. One of the
reasons he has frequently heard cited is that the Gentile believers have a love for the Jewish people
and wish to gain some acceptance and influence with them by adopting Hebrew roots. Stan writes that
those who embrace Hebrew Roots to be accepted by Jewish people are misguided.

Gaining acceptance by the Jewish community seems to have become one of [Messianic Judaism’s]
primary objectives... As Jews who believe in Jesus, Messianic Jews want to be identified with and
accepted by a Jewry that has largely rejected God and His Word. Clearly, this is not a biblical
objective...

I agree with Arnold Fructenbaum who says, “It is self-deceiving to believe that a Jewish lifestyle is
the means of being accepted by the Jewish community or the Jewish leadership.” The traditional
Jewish community abhors Messianic Judaism...

In order to be a Jew, a person must be born of Jewish parents. It does not matter what his parents
believe or what the person himself or herself believes. Many of us are quite comfortable with Jewish
Hindus, Jewish Buddhists, atheistic Jews, agnostic Jews, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.
We even can understand humanistic Judaism. The Jewish community does not have any trouble
continuing to call these people Jews.

But when a Jewish person accepts Jesus, the situation changes. Why? Because so many Jewish people
have bought into the rabbis’ repeated slogan: “You cannot be Jewish and believe in Jesus.” When
it comes to followers of Jesus, by whatever name they choose to identify themselves, the line in the
sand is drawn. These people are not welcome. What that has to tell you is that those in Messianic
Judaism fool only themselves when they insist that they soon will receive approval from the Jewish
community...
[Stan Telchin, Messianic Judaism is Not Christianity]

In his book, Stan Telchin provides the testimony of a number of people who left Messianic Judaism.
The reasons they provided for departing from this movement are insightful.

“Tell me Charlie, did you stay in the synagogue very long?”