The Jewish new year is September 18h this year, and so begins the so-called High Holidays, a.k.a. the Ten Days of Awe, ending with Yom Kippur, when Jews traditionally believed that the heavenly court of God is in session, and that God decides who will live and will will die in the coming year.

1) The traditional synagogue greeting "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life") to Jews means "May you live another year." Yet the Bible treats this with eternal consequence.

"L'Shanah Tovah Tikateyvu" is how you say it in Hebrew, and it's popularly said during this time of year.The concepts of a Book of Life and a Day of Judgment, both strong themes in the Judaism of Scripture, are obscure and inconsistently taught in most modern synagogues today. Orthodox and Chasidic Jews, similar to the ancient Pharisees, take these themes more seriously. But they only comprise 12% of the Jewish population. Most modern Jews look upon born-again Christians as being obsessed with eternal life; Jews are more concerned with this life, and believe that the next life (if it exists at all), will take care of itself.

What Moses only briefly alluded to in Exodus 32, the New Testament majors on. Moses prayed that God would not strike the Israelites dead for their rebellion, and prayed " 'Yet now, if you will forgive their sin -- and if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which you have written.' And the Lord said to Moses, 'Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.' "

St. Paul spoke of such a book to the Greeks at Philippi, and said that their "names were in the Book of Life".
Jesus spoke of such a book: "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life" (Rev. 4:3) Also Rev. 13:8, 17:8, 20:12-15.

Clearly then, faith in the Messiah as our Atonement (lit: our "Kippura") is key to "L'Shanah Tovah Tikateyvu"!

2) Jews have been unable, for 2000 years, to keep these High Holy Days holidays in the way required by the Torah

Post-Biblical Jewish practices have had to "make due" and adapt to the destruction of their religious system by the Romans 2000 years ago. Scripture required a sacrificial system, an atoning sacrifice, a High Priest, an altar, a Holy of Holies, and the Temple: all of which were necessary at Rosh Hashana (lit: "Head of the Year"; i.e. "New Year") and Yom Kippur (lit: "Day of Atonement"). The Jewish religion underwent a massive change since the destruction of the Temple and its service in AD 70.

Today, Jews attend synagogue services, pray for God's yearly blessing upon their lives, listen to the blowing of the shofar, and fast on Yom Kippur. But they have no atoning sacrifice, as their Scriptures require.

3) The Talmud teaches that at Yom Kippur, 40 years before the Temple's destruction, God stopped forgiving Israel of sins.
​
The Jewish Talmud is the authoritative rabbinic commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures (The Hebrew Scriptures not include the New Testament). In "Seder Mo'ed: Rosh Hashana 31b", as well as in The Soncino Talmud, tractate ‘Yoma,’ 39b, mention is made of a yearly miracle that occurred on the door of the Temple court over 2000 years ago. It was customary to fasten a thick scarlet thread on that door. After the High Priest performed his Yom Kippur service, the thread would turn white, which the rabbis interpreted as a sign that the High Priest had performed his duties correctly and that the sins of the nation had been forgiven for that year. On or about the year AD 30, the scarlet thread never turned white again. This caused the rabbis great concern, but they refused to connect that with the death of Jesus. Read Christian Witness to Israel's website inclusion http://www.cwi.org.uk/library/articles/HAMOYK.htm

4) The commonly-used term "scapegoat" is taken from Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

People today use the term "scapegoat" often. It's become part of common speech. But just as with the phrase "handwriting on the wall", they rarely connect it with the Bible. A "scapegoat" was used at Yom Kippur in a detailed ceremony where the High Priest laid his hands upon a male goat, transferred the sins of Israel to the animal victim, and had it led out into the wilderness, far away from the community of Israel to fend for itself, presumably to die. This symbolized the separation of Israel from its sin, and the vicarious "blaming" of the innocent goat for the guilt of the people. Leviticus 16:8-26 details this ceremony. Hebrews 13:10-14 applies it to Jesus.

5) The N.T.'s Letter to the Hebrews devotes three entire chapters and 85 verses to "Yom Kippur" themes.
Yom Kippur is a major theme of Hebrews. We can't understand a large portion of the Bible without knowing something of this holy day. Hebrews 8 speaks of Jesus being a heavenly High Priest for Christians now; far better than the temporary high priests of the now-defunct Temple, whose priests had to yearly offer animal atonements for the nation's sins. Hebrews 9 and 10 details this intricate Temple service, emphasizing the once-and-final single sacrifice of Christ. Aside from Jews, this has ramifications for Roman Catholics, who are taught that the Mass is a repeatedly needed re-sacrifice of Christ. Hebrews 9 refutes this.

6) The three holidays: Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashana & Yom Kippur are all connected to "end of the world" events.

According to Jewish tradition, during the High Holy Days, (which include the entire ten days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, as well as the days in between) the Court of God is said to be in session. This is when God decides the fate of all Jews. Four series of blasts from the shofar (the ram's horn) are sounded in the synagogues, culminating with the "Tekiah Gedolah" (lit: the "Great Blast") which is the final trumpet sounding, when God renders His judgment.

The sounding of the final trumpet figures heavily in the New Testament, which uses the language of the High Holy Days to speak of events at the end of the world. Notice:

"For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (I Thess. 4:16-18)

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed -- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible. and we shall be changed." (I Cor. 15:51,52)
​
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

Shalom, Friends.

In over 20 years, I have never experienced such success in street evangelism as I in the past three months!
The timing seems right, the mood of the area (greater Philadelphia) seems right, and despite wearing the masks, the threat of rioting, vandalism, and the continuing quarantine, souls continue to come into the Kingdom. These people are giving us their contact information and phone numbers for follow-up, and after our presentation of the Gospel, they pray the prayer of salvation with us.

We are working with Crossroads Community Church (PCA) in a heavily-Muslim area of greater Philadelphia, with very few Whites; and mostly African-American, Middle-Eastern, South Asian and Hispanic passers-by.
It doesn't get much better than this.

Thank you for your prayers.

Feel free to e-mail me for more details of what's happening on the streets of greater Philadelphia

Rick Anderson rickchaim@juno.com

On Thursday the 30th, I worked with evangelist-friends W. A. of Crossroads Community Church (Upper Darby) and D. K. of Church of the Savior (Wayne, PA) to do street evangelism and tracting. This is a heavily-Muslim neighborhood with greater Philadelphia's most famous mosque, Masjid Al-Madinah, just two blocks away. I passed out "Messiah Has Set Us Free" and "Who Is the Most Radical Radical?" and spoke to people near the 69th St. Station and between the 3 of us, we had 4 people making new professions of faith in Christ. Most, if not all of them gave us their personal information for follow-up. "T" and "C", as well as "J" and "Y" . I also shared the Gospel with "Z" and his two high school friends (young blk. men) and with "B", an American Muslim. We also spoke to one or two Middle-Eastern Muslims walking by. (Any time a dedicated Muslim has a dialog with a street evangelist, it's good.) There were many hajib-wearing and veiled women, covered head to toe. Most did not take literature.
​
Amazing, it's it? Despite the wearing of masks, despite the racial and political animosity, despite the recent rioting and vandalism, and despite the VIRUS ... God is honoring YOUR prayers, and His WORD!
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

​"Boga Nyet!" "No God!"]: Soviet-era propaganda poster of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, supposedly telling the world that he saw no evidence of God in space.
 
Roughly 40%  of Jews world-wide are agnostic or atheist, and this is especially true among Russian emigres. Here in Philadelphia, with a Russian-speaking population of about 90,000, at least 60% of Russian speakers are Jews.  The Soviet internal passports of the past, designated Jews as either ethnically Jewish or religiously Jewish. In other words, the Soviet state made a distinction between agnostics/atheists who came from Jewish backgrounds, and those who practiced the faith of Judaism. Most of them were (and are) the former.
 
Years ago, Communist Russia taught something called "Scientific Atheism". It was based on the presumption that atheism was the foundation for empirical science and that religious faith was simply a superstition. If you wanted to get anywhere in Russian Academia or be "upwardly mobile" in the Party or the Institute or the factories, you kept your religion to yourself, (or didn't have one to begin with).  Many of these US emigres are still atheist/agnostic because they've never had a dialog with a Christian who knew what he/she  was talking about.

There are MANY fine books written on how to share your faith with "A&A" people. But in case you don't have time for a book, here are some basic rebuttals condensed into a few talking points.
 
FIRST ... read this helpful, handy-dandy link!  https://chaim.org/atheism

NEXT ... review these talking points: 
 
1) Reasoning with Agnostics: If they object to taking a blind "leap of faith" (as they think you've done!), then tell them they've already taken that leap by concluding that no conclusion can be reached about God. The point you should make with them?  Their view itself already is a religious faith commitment.
 
2) They assume agnosticism is open minded. Challenge that assumption on your understanding of Romans 1:18-23. In other words, ask them: "Wouldn't you be more inclined to be biased against faith in an all-powerful Judge of deeds and thoughts who brings mankind to a Day of Judgment? Ask: "How can you be sure that you wouldn't be prejudiced (and not open-minded) against such a conclusion, and therefore avoid it for closed-minded personal reasons?"
 
3) Show them John 3:19 and following verses. Even if they discount your use of the Bible, certain verses contain "cut-to-the-heart" timeless truths that even the unchurched can see. For example: "Light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

4) Ask them if they are open-minded or narrow-minded.  (No one likes to think of himself as "closed-minded"!) Agnostics/atheists believe they've arrived at their views because they're open-minded. They aren't, but what you're doing here is getting a commitment from them to keep an open mind. Ask: "Are you willing to change your mind if I could show you that belief in the biblical God is not only possible logically, but is in fact essential for a civilized society? (In other words, "Are you willing to change your mind if it can be shown that atheism/agnosticism doesn't make logical sense?)  
 
To counter "Scientific Atheism", here's a short list of the founders of various fields of physical science.  What these all have in common is a shared faith in the existence of the biblical God, and NOT in an agnostic/atheistic universe of random-chance. And their discoveries were based on that biblical view: 
 
. antiseptic surgery: Joseph Lister
. bacteriology: Louis Pasteur
. calculus: Isaac Newton
. celestial mechanics: Johannes Kepler
. chemistry: Robert Boyle
. comparative anatomy: Georges Culver
. computer science: Charles Babbage
. dimensional analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. dynamics: Isaac Newton
. electronics: John Ambrose Fleming
. electrodynamics: James Clerk Maxwell
. electromagnetics: Michael Faraday
. energetics: Lord Kelvin
. entomology of living insects: Henri Fabre
. field theory: Michael Faraday
. galactic astronomy: Sir William Herschel
. gas dynamics: Robert Boyle
. genetics: Gregor Mendel
. gynecology: Louis Agassiz
. hydrography: James Simpson
. hydrostatics: Blaise Pascal
. ichthyology: Louis Agassiz
. isotopic chemistry: William Ramsey
. model analysis: Lord Rayleigh
. natural history: John Ray
. non-Euclidean geometry: Bernard Riemann
. oceanography: Matthew Maury
. optical mineralogy: David Brewster *
 
[ The Biblical Basis For Modern Science by Henry Morris, p. 463-465, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1984 as quoted in Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Vol. 2, by Michael L. Brown, p. 243, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2000.]

Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 

Sunday (May 31st), is Pentecost. Jewish communities for the past 7 weeks have been  "Counting the Omer". (Leviticus 23:9- 21) An omer is a sheaf of grain. Since Bible days, Jews would count the days from Passover to Pentecost (a.k.a "Feast of Weeks", a.k.a. "Shavuot") in anticipation of the first spring harvest, when two bread loaves were presented to God in the Temple, the "fruit" of that harvest and that waiting. This idea is naturally carried over into the New Testament.
 
St. Paul tells the New Testament church how to prepare themselves to receive the Lord's Supper by reminding them that they are, in a spiritual sense, like the bread they are about to eat.  In Old Testament times, two loaves of bread for the Feast of Weeks (Hebrew: "Shavuot") were presented to God in the Temple as the end-result of the waiting and counting period of the 49 previous days. That bread was made by first, crushing the individual grain husks (symbolic of physical death as well as "dying to self": I Cor. 15:35,36; Col. 3:3); second, by adding oil to the mix (symbolic of the Holy Spirit: Matt. 25:3,4,8), third, by the combination of crushing the husks, adding the oil and applying heat, individual grains began to function as a homogeneous single batch of dough, and bread is produced. The ideal for this? Acts 2:1 and of Pentecost FULFILLED by Christ: "they were all with one accord in one place."

 
John 12:24: Christ speak of Himself as a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies, in order to reap a harvest of much grain: the language of Shavouot (a.k.a. "Pentecost).

Romans 8:23: The Holy Spirit in believers is spoken of as a "Firstfruits" of what is yet to come: the renewal and glorification of the saints' mortal bodies.
 
I Corinthians 15:23: "Christ the Firstfruits" is compared to the single sheaf of spring grain waved before God in the Temple the day after Passover.
 
Ephesians 1:13, 14: The Holy Spirit in believers is spoken of as an "earnest" (i.e. "earnest money"); God's pledge & guarantee to complete His saving work in them.
 
II Corinthians 5:5: "who also hath given unto us the EARNEST [Greek: "arrabon"] of the Spirit";. Here the Holy Spirit is of as a "down-payment" and pledge of future things: (KJV)
 
Acts 2:1-4: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come ..." The agricultural 49 'countdown' days (7 weeks + 1 day) concluded by a Firstfruits harvest of born-again human beings.
 
Acts 2:5-11: Jews from all over the known world, from all the major language groups, assembled in Jerusalem for Firstfruits as the Law of Moses required. While there, some come to believe in Christ, receive the Holy Spirit, then return back to their lands to spread the gospel.
 
Acts 1:3: " ... being seen by them during 40 days ..."  From the time of His resurrection to His ascension into Heaven, it was 40 days. Ten days later, on the "Pentecost" (Greek: "Fiftieth"), the Spirit descended & reaped a harvest of souls.
 
Acts 1:3-5: "Wait for the promise of the Father": the NT's fulfillment of the OT's command: to count the seven weeks of 49 days plus 1 day: from the waving of the first sheaf before God in the Temple until the spring harvest of barley sheaves (a.k.a. "Shavouot", or "Weeks"). 
 
Leviticus 23:15-17: The agricultural counting of the days until the spring harvest: grains and sheaves represented Christ and the firstfruits harvest of souls in Acts 2.
 
Luke 24:49: "But tarry in the City of Jerusalem": Christ's command for the disciples to wait (in essence, to anticipate and count down those 50 days" of Lev. 23:15) until the Spirit comes. 

Isaiah 2:3 " for out Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem .." The historical fulfillment of the Acts 2 event prophesied  by Isaiah 700 years before it happened.
 
Ruth 1:22: The biblical context for Ruth is the spring barley harvest of Firstfruits. (a.k.a. "Shavouot") Ruth the Moabitess was joined to God's family because of her faith, not her race. A Non-Hebrew, she was Christ's ancestor. She heralds the make-up of the New Testament church.
 
John 12:23: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies it produces much grain." More "Firstfruits" language. Christ speaks of his death as producing a harvest, using commonly-understood words.
 
I Corinthians 10:17: "For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread."  Actually, this is Passover language, but it's relevant. Because both holidays connect. The proof of that? The "Counting of the Omer" (Leviticus 23:9-21) 
 
Hope you see the connection! 

Check out some of my other Jewish holiday posts at 
http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

​
Chag Same'ach!  Happy [Passover] Holiday!  Passover starts April 8th this year. 

So much of the Bible is written in "Passover language" If you don't know something about how Jews celebrated it in Bible times, as well as today, you're missing something! 

Check out these passages, and this year, if you want a Passover seder for your church that will elaborate on these connections, contact me either through www.scripturesdramatized.com, or send me an e-mail.
 
Passover Scripture Verses
 
Exodus 12:12 - Establishment of Passover, importance of Lamb's blood, reason for the name "Passover".

Exodus 12:38 - The "mixed multitude" who left Egypt (not just ethnic Hebrews), heralding the nature of God's acceptance: not by ethnicity, but by adoption.
 
I Corinthians 5:6-8 - Paul's use of Passover language to illustrate the nature of New Testament fellowship.
 
Matthew 26:26,27/Luke 22:20 - "This is My body". Christ's fulfillment of the Seder's ritual eating of the matzoth and the drinking of the four wine-glasses.
 
John 13 through 17 - The "Passover Discourse": Christ's fulfilling of the Seder's "hagaddah" [the "telling"] when the master of the feast applied the Exodus lesson for all in attendance.
 
John 11:55 - The first century rabbinical schools with their pilgrims arrive in Jerusalem for the holiday.
 
Psalms 120 through 124 - The "Psalms of Ascents" [as in "to ascend"/to go up] sung by first century pilgrims during their climb up Mt. Zion to sacrifice the lambs in the Temple.
 
Matthew 26:18 - The Passover purification, including the removal of leaven from each dwelling.
 
Luke 12:1 - "Beware the leaven of the Pharisees": Christ's use of the earthly purification ritual to illustrate its ultimate spiritual significance.
 
Exodus 12:8/Numbers 9:11 - The Torah's requirement that the lamb be eaten with bitter herbs.
 
Acts 5:35/Acts 22:3 - NT reference to Paul's teacher Gamaliel, the rabbi who is quoted each year during the Seder meal. 
 
John 13:21 & 26 - Jesus and Judas mostly likely "dipped the sop" in bitter herbs at this time. This is a ritual dipping ceremony illustrating the bitterness of slavery.

John 6:32-35 - Jesus declared Himself to be "bread", a fulfillment of the liturgical "This is the bread of affliction" statement made by the master of the feast.
 
Exodus 12:39 - The reason why matzoth [unleavened bread] was eaten - it was "the bread of haste". They were fleeing the Egyptian army, and they needed to hurry it's preparation, without time for the yeast to rise properly..
 
I Corinthians 11:25 - The "cup after supper", most likely the drinking of the 3rd of four liturgical cups of wine, still offered today in the modern Seder.
 
Matthew 28:29 - The cup that Jesus would not drink until his brethren were in heaven with him; most likely the 4th of the four cups.

Matthew 24:1,2 - The reason why Jews cannot sacrifice lambs anymore: the Temple's destruction and their world-wide dispersion ["Diaspora"].

Mark 7:3 - a reference as to why Jews historically had so many needless washing rituals: their conscience was defiled due to the Law's effect on their hearts.
 
Matthew 15:3 - Christ argues with the Pharisees: grace vs. legalism; a confrontation between the traditions of the elders and the pure word of God.
 
John 21:20 - The "reclining at table" Passover custom, reflected in John's reclining with Jesus: a freed man reclines at a feast, expressive of his freedom; a slave either stands or sits on a stool when eating. 
 
Deuteronomy 28:58 - The plagues on the Egyptians, and a warning to the Covenant People, both Jews and Gentiles, that the same shall happen to them if they spurn God's kindness and offer of mercy.

Leviticus 26:44/Romans 11:12 & 15 - a promise to regather the Remnant - both ethnic Jews and Gentiles in a "New" Jerusalem, despite former covenant disobedience.

Matthew 26:30 - The singing of the Great Hallel (Psalm 136) at the end of the Passover Seder, a custom still preserved today.
 
Matthew 11:7-15 - the Seder's chair for Elijah the Prophet is the Jewish way of demonstrating their expectancy of Elijah's arrival, the precursor to the Messiah's arrival (Malachi 4:5). According to Jesus, John the Baptist fulfilled Elijah's coming, but which Jews today see as yet-unfulfilled, since they reject Jesus as that Messiah, and  reject John as that precursor-prophet.
 
Ephesians 2:20/I Peter 2:5 - the rebuilding of the final temple; not of stones, but of human beings, and the fulfillment of the Seder's concluding prayer, reflected in the Passover songs at the end of the feast, especially that of "Eliahu Ha-Navi" (i.e. "Elijah the Prophet")

CHAIM Ministry to the Jewish People is launching its Spring Feasts Program selection. This year, we offer hosting churches a choice of three Spring Feasts programs. 
 

"The Feast of Esther” (Purim)

• 30/45 minute expository teaching (or sermon)
• explains Purim’s background and its relevance for the Church.
• features traditional Jewish holiday items.
• explains modern Jewish practices and how we
  can share our faith with Jewish people through
  this holiday

 
“Messiah in the Passover"

• ideal for inviting Jewish friends!
• a three hour "Seder" (the sit-down ritual meal);
  interspersed with the ancient "hagaddah" (the
  "telling" of the Exodus)
• includes "read along" service booklets that may be taken home for personal reference
• allows audience participation in the service
• a sampling of ritual foods used at Last Supper
• shows the origin of Christian Communion
• shows Jewish view of events of Last Supper
• special simplified recipes provided for kitchen
  staff preparation
• (the "modified" program is a 75 minute "show & tell" teaching and doesn't feature the meal)

 
"Pentecost Fulfilled”

• 30/45 minute expository teaching (can be presented as sermon)
• shows relevance of the agricultural feast for better New Testament understanding
• features ancient and traditional Jewish holiday
  items and their New Testament relevance.
• explains modern Jewish holiday practices and how we can share our faith with Jewish people through this holiday

​ 
Can a Jewish rabbi ever become a Christian?  It's rare, but it happens. Consider the remarkable case of  Orthodox rabbi, Daniel Zion, who lived in Bulgaria, but was born in nearby Salonika, Greece in 1883. 
 
In 1941, Bulgaria became an ally of Nazi Germany in its invasion of the Soviet Union. Bulgaria's king: Boris came under tremendous personal pressure from Adolf Hitler to cooperate  in both the German invasion of Russia and then the Holocaust.  The Nazis wanted Bulgaria's Jews sent by cattle trains the death camps of Poland and Germany.

It's difficult to say when Rabbi Zion became a believer in Jesus, but it was before the Nazis occupied his country. Strangely enough, though he publicly confessed New Testament faith in the messiahship of Jesus, he continued to live a traditional Jewish life; and continued to serve as one of the chief rabbis of Bulgaria all the while. He had a large following.

Rabbi Zion is reputed to have received a vision from Jesus that he was to tell King Boris of Bulgaria to refuse Hitler's insistence to send the Bulgarian Jews to the camps. Through Rabbi Zion's connection with Bishop Stefan of Sofia, head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, King Boris received this remarkable warning by letter on the day before he was due to meet with the Fuhrer. As a result,  King Boris stood up to Hitler and refused to release the Jews. Significant numbers of Bulgarian Jews were spared.

On May 24th, 1943, Zion addressed a gathering in a Bulgarian synagogue, then joined a mass street demonstration against the so-called "Laws for the Protection of the Nation"; Bulgaria's version of the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws of Germany. Two days later, he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp himself. He survived the camp and, after the war, emigrated to Jaffa in what was then British-ruled Palestine.

When Israel became a nation in 1949, Rabbi Zion, despite his belief in Christ,  was offered a position as judge on Jerusalem's rabbinic court, the "Beit Din", but only IF he agreed to keep his faith in Christ a personal and private secret. This he refused to do. The Beit Din therefore declared him insane and stripped him of his title of rabbi. Despite this, many Bulgarian Jews still considered him their rabbi, and between morning and evening Sabbath services in his synagogue, Rabbi Zion would hold teachings about Jesus and the New Testament in his home. Before he died, Zion served as President of the Union of Messianic Jews in Israel (Ichud Yehudim Meshihiim Be-Israel).

Understandably, Daniel Zion is not talked about within Jewish communities because they are ashamed of him, (if they've even heard of him at all). But he was highly educated, and as the chief rabbi in Bulgaria during the war years, influenced the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, not only by his teaching but by his example of character and the active measures he took to rescue his countrymen from the gas chambers.

"When the roll is called up yonder" as the old hymn goes, there no doubt will be many obscure saints honored whom most of us have never heard of here on earth. Their fame will have to wait for that glorious day. And for that reason, Daniel Zion is one of the "Honorable Menshen"!

[sources:] 

1) Wikipedia

2) Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus - Vol. 1, Michael L. Brown, Baker Books, 2001

3) Mishkan 15, "Rabbi Daniel Zion: Chief Rabbi of Bulgarian Jews during WW II," Joseph Shulam (1991), pps. 53-57.
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 

​ 
Voting "Pro-Life" is good for America in more ways than one: it may forestall the wrath of God for at least this generation: maybe. For the very crime of child-murder, God displaced nations in the past. Or starved them. Or brought war upon them.
 
Let's start with Cain and Abel ... 
 
"The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground." (Gen. 4:10)
 
 The story of Cain and Abel is the first instance in history of the shedding of innocent blood. God is not beyond using figurative language to drive a point home. Of course shed blood doesn't have a literal voice, but what this verse means is that the shed blood of the innocent gives loud testimony to God, testimony that He will not leave unpunished, not only in the life to come, but in this life, and not only with individuals, but with nations as well.
 
Now this is not just an ancient "Jewish" judgment confined to how God dealt with Old Testament Israel. For this same sin He punished gentile nations too. Notice Leviticus 18, where He warns Israel to refrain from certain sins, including the slaying of the innocent:
 
" ... for all these abominations the men of the land have done who were before you, and thus the land is defiled, lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations which were before you." (Lev. 18:28)
 
Nor is this vengeance confined to Old Testament judgments from a bygone era, having nothing to do with nations today. It's relevant to our own New Testament times: Consider Rev. 6:10:
 
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
 
Who's doing the speaking? The martyred saints in heaven. If you thought it was wrong for Christians to ask for revenge, or that this kind of language is inappropriate for saints to ask today, then explain this verse. The point? God avenges the shedding of innocent blood in all ages and with all nations. He punishes entire countries for slaying the innocent. And that includes the unborn, and those in "partial birth" status.
 
This past national election, we had two viable candidates running for office: one who was in favor of this and one who was against it. One presidential candidate vowed to continue the abominations of Planned Parenthood regarding pre-born babies, and to continue partial-birth abortion. The other candidate vowed to oppose it.
 
According to Numbers 35:33, the shed blood of the innocents defiles a land in a way unique from other sins:
 
"So you shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it."
 
Repeatedly in Scripture God calls Himself the defender of the orphan and widow, the avenger of the poor and helpless and those who have none to speak for them. (Prov. 24:11,12) Among these victims are the aborted. Few political campaigns are decided by a single issue. But this "single issue" is among the most important. According to Scripture, a nation's punishment for innocent blood shed is war, famine, exile; or all three. What form that would take in modern America we should shudder to think.
 
But "doom and gloom" is not inevitable in our immediate time. God's wrath has been known to skip a generation, or several, if a country shows repentance, and "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land." (II Chron. 7:14) He did exactly that in the days of good King Josiah, and reserved his wrath for a future time. (II Kings 22).
  
During Jeremiah's day, the worship of Baal was tolerated for many years alongside of the worship of the true God in Israel. Baal's worship required the regular mass deaths of infants who were burned alive before the idol's image, in ways just as horrific as has been done in abortion facilities since Roe v. Wade, the law of the land now for 45 years. During Jeremiah's time, there were at first gradational, measured judgments; all the while the prophets warned of the coming of national disasters if there wasn't national repentance. Israel refused to stop this process, and finally, the much heavier "nation-breaking" judgments came under Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.
 
If any politician, clergyman or public figure tells you "a woman's right to choose" is sanctioned by heaven or "enshrined in the Constitution", that person is ethically perverted and must be blocked from holding office, whether in the church or in politics.
.
When St. Paul penned his famous words about praying for national leaders in Romans 13:1-7 and I Tim. 2:1-3, roughly 10% of the populace were Roman citizens. Paul himself was a citizen (Acts 22:28). This was a rare privilege, and a citizen of Rome had certain rights that the other 90% didn't have. For example, he could appeal directly to Caesar for redress of grievances. Make no mistake, Paul used those rights. But what a Roman citizen could not do was vote for the election of his leaders. You, on the other hand, can.
 
Elections are fast coming upon us. There are two major parties in America. One of them will indeed perpetuate the slaughter of the unborn. The other party offers the best chance to oppose it. There are powerful forces that have mobilized to perpetuate Planned Parenthood's agenda. Keep this in mind as the elections approach, and use your God-given constitutional privilege! 
 
It could be argued that God is now bringing retribution upon America, but, as we know from biblical history, this retribution can come in measured steps, alongside of His favor and grace as well, OR it can come with major nation-destroying disasters and NO reprieve. We have gotten the former; we may yet get the latter if there is no change in our laws.
 
The slaughter of the unborn must be stopped. So do your part in this next election.
 
 
Continue reading other blogs? Clickhttp://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

​ 
"The New Testament is full of Jew-hatred. From its negative depiction of the Pharisees to its charge of 'Christ-killing', it's been THE major cause anti-Semitism for 2000 years!" 
. 
 This is a view not usually stated openly, but unfortunately it's widely believed by many Jewish people, including Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein of 19th Century Hungary, who lived through one of Hungary's worst anti-Jewish riot in history. We at CHAIM Ministry (www.chaim.org) have heard this argument more than a few times. If someone said this to you and you were a Christian, how would you respond?
 
Your Jewish friend may like you as a person. He may even respect Christianity in general. But this view of the New Testament is still widespread: that the troubles between Church and Synagogue can largely be traced to the New Testament.
 
Now this isn't just a "Jewish" problem. This bias towards the New Testament and the gospel it contains is shared by many Muslims as well. But we need not go too far afield, here: I even speak to a lot of Roman Catholics who assure me that their years in Catholic school have given them "all the religion they need" for the rest of their lives. But when I ask them what the gospel is, what comes out of their mouths is "duty", "obligation", "going to Mass", "church attendance", "being good Catholics." I talk to enough Protestants,who grew up in a gospel culture, and for plenty of them their understanding of what the New Testament's gospel is, is pretty much the Protestant version of what the Catholics say:  the need for works, performance, duty, "my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds". For well over half of them, what they say has nothing to do with the essential message of the New Testament: what Christ did on the Cross. Rather, what they say has everything to do with them and their religious performance: in essence, a definite negative presumption about the New Testament and the message it contains. Historically, Jews have harbored those same negative presumptions, and their history in Europe helps us to understand why.
 
The Promised Land, published in 1912, was an autobiographical sketch of author Mary Antin's childhood life in Czarist Russia and her subsequent coming to America during one of the worst pogroms in history. A "pogrom" (Russian: "to wreak havoc") was a government-initiated riot against Jews in lands under Czarist rule. One of the worst pogrom was in 1881, the year Antin and many thousands of others emigrated to the United States. During the pogroms, both Britain and America issued formal protests to the Russian government. In Promised Land, Antin shares the terror she experienced as small girl, hiding with her parents in her own home while marauding bands of church-goers marched through the streets, stirred up by government-sponsored priests of the Orthodox church against the "Killers of Christ" living in their midst. The mobs believed they were expressing their love of Jesus by their hatred of Jews. What's significant here is that Czarist anti-Semitism was distinctly religious. Antin explains that Christmas and Easter were especial times of terror for the Jews in the Pale of Settlements: those areas especially designated for Jews to live. Consequently, these late 19th Century emigres passed on to their Americanized children and grand-children their trauma of what it was like when "Christians" left their Easter and Christmas church service and went out to riot.
 
No wonder the New Testament is not a favorite book among Jews today, not for what's actually written in it, but for what kind of people presumed to represent it!  Roughly half of today's American Jews had grandparents and great-grandparents who left Czarist Russia during that time, a time in history popularized by the play and then the movie "Fiddler on the Roof."
 
The first Czarist pogrom is usually dated from 1821, but Russia wasn't the only country that had anti-Jewish riots in the name of Christianity. In neighboring Tisza, Hungary, (across the border) the district rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein (1824-1908) ministered to his congregation during the infamous "Tisza Eslar Affair", when leading Jews there were falsely accused of murdering a Christian girl and using her blood in a ritual. This baseless slander was eventually exposed due in part to the efforts of famed Bible scholar Prof. Franz Delitzsch of the University of Leipzig. (Keil and Delitzsch's Commentary on the Old Testament: 10 Volumes), but the resulting anti-Jewish rioting so vexed Rabbi Lichtenstein that he decided to read a New Testament in order to discover a basis for all this hatred. This was the same New Testament copy he had read in anger 40 years before and hurled into a corner of his study where it remained untouched until the day he read it again after this riot. But what he found in it was the opposite of what he thought he'd find. He writes ...
 
"I had thought the New Testament to be impure, a source of pride, of selfishness, of hatred, and of the worst kind of violence, but as I opened it, I felt myself peculiarly and wonderfully taken possession of. A sudden glory, a light flashed through my soul. I looked for thorns and found roses; I discovered pearls instead of pebbles; instead of hatred, love ..."

"From every line in the New Testament, from every word, the Jewish spirit streamed forth light, life, power, endurance, faith, hope, love, charity, limitless and indestructible faith in God ..."
 
Lichtenstein started using the New Testament in his synagogue preaching until three years later, he confessed to his congregation that he had been doing this, and that he'd become convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was Lord and Messiah. His conversion became known, to the astonishment of all the Jewish communities of Hungary. Lichtenstein published three pamphlets telling of his new-found faith. When he was called before the Chief Rabbi of Budapest to recant his views, he refused. His fellow-rabbis asked him to resign and be baptized but he refused, replying that he would not join a church or be baptized, but that he only desired to stay with his congregation. His congregation voted to have him stay as their "Christian" rabbi. Finally however, he did resign and continued a writing and visitation ministry across Europe, hounded by his fellow-rabbis but supported by several missionary organizations.
 
"When the roll is called up yonder" as the old hymn goes, there no doubt will be many obscure saints honored whom most of us have never heard of here on earth. Their fame will have to wait for that glorious day. And for that reason, Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein is one of the "Honorable Menshen".
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 

 ("Menshen": plural for "mensh": Yiddish for "a person deserving of honor".)

[sources:]

1) Wikipedia
2) The Promised Land, Mary Antin, 1912
3) The Anguish of the Jews, Edw. H. Flannery, Paulist Press
4) Famous Hebrew-Christians, Jacob Gartenhaus (as quoted by: Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus - Vol. 1, Michael L. Brown, Baker Books, 2001
5) "The Story of Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein", http://www.messianicassociation.org/bio-lichtenstein.htm
6) Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus - Vol. 1, Michael L. Brown, Baker Books, 2001

[Featured: members of Iran's Council of Guardians, responsible for enforcing Sharia Law upon the parliament.]

Muslm militants and terrorists threatening violence against the US are not the only threat from Islam. A "slow-burning fuse" is the deceptive way the Islamic faith ITSELF has been "sold" to Americans by the intellectuals and elites of Academia.
 
Most US Muslims are peaceful and tolerant of others DESPITE the teachings of Islam, not BECAUSE of them.
 
Typical of this are imams in local mosques and Muslim scholars in America's universities who insist that though the "crazies" overseas are doing evil things, the basic religion itself is peaceful and tolerant. Nonsense. The faith of the Qu'ran has never been so. Though there have been historical lapses of violence in the past, the history of Islam is the history of the violent and coercive spread of this faith. 
 
The next time someone tells you that Christianity and Islam use the same methods and have the same violent history, point them to the lives and deaths of the Christian apostles. All but one: John of Patmos, died the death of a martyr. And most importantly to this comparison, they did not take the lives of others. Compare that with the lives and deaths of the apostles of Islam.Though cruel excesses were certainly done by false followers of Jesus, the apostle gave an example of how to live and teach peaceably in this world.. And "The servant is not greater than the master." (Jn. 15:20) If the masters gave an example, then their followers can be expected to do the same.
 
The same holds true with the apostles of Islam. Now to some specifics ..
 
1) Mohammad dies in 632, leaving no plan to succeed him. Among his lieutenants and their followers there are 3 civil wars fought.
 
2) Abu-Bakr, Mohammad's father-in-law was the first caliph. He killed or forcibly eliminated all rivals.
 
3) Omar (also known as Oman) killed Abu-Bakr in 634 (a rival he forgot to kill)
Omar reigns for 10 years; and kills or forcibly eliminates all his rivals.
 
4) A rival Omar forgot about cuts his throat in 644. As Omar dies, he appoints Ufman as caliph. Ufman reigns for 21 years. With help from uncles and aunts, Ufman kills or forcibly eliminates all of his rivals.
 
5) Ufman is beheaded by Aisha, wife of Mohammad in 655 with the help of  Aisha's lover Ali as well as Zuber ,a Muslim general. (As a side note, the 53 year-old Mohammad married Aisha when she was 7 years old, then consummated the marriage when she was 9, according to both the Hadith and authoritative Muslim tradition. The Hadith is the companion commentary to the Qu'ran. The Muslim explanation for this? She was very precocious, so it was lawful.)
 
6) After General Zuber kills Ufman, he himself is executed 3 days later.
 
7) Aisha then has her lover Ali executed in 661 because he was sleeping with a young concubine.

All this, of course, can be substantiated by either the Qu'ran, the Hadith, or authoritative Muslim tradition, just as the lives and deaths of the Christian apostles can be substantiated by the writings of the post-Apostolic Fathers of the Church.
 
"And the angel of the Lord said to her: 'Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. And you shall call his name Ishmael. He shall be a wild man; His hand shall be against every man; And every man's hand against him." (Genesis 16:12)
 
The next time someone tells you that Christianity and Islam use the same methods and have the same violent history, you'll know what to say. 
 
 
Continue reading? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

​ 
[Featured above: a flawed concept of the Trinity that has led to much misunderstanding within Islam.]
 
Philadelphia, PA has one of the fastest growing Muslim populations of any metropolitan city in America. The great majority of Philadelphia Muslims are African-Americans whose parents and grandparents left the Church. If you have a heart for local church evangelism, you should probably know something about your Muslim neighbors and what they really believe.
 
Two things every American Christian needs to know about what Islam actually teaches, whether it be the kind that beheads people or the kind that says "let's all just get along": Muslims believe in the need to institute Sharia Law world-wide; preferably by peaceful means (if possible). That's the first thing. But the second thing is that under Sharia Law, the teaching and propagation of "associationism" becomes a crime against the state; it is "shirk" according to Islamic law, and to Muslims the Trinity doctrine is "shirk".
 
Now it's important for American Christians to understand that most Muslims in this country just want to "get along" and live decent, moral lives and raise their families here.. Their understanding of their faith is that it is a code of ethics by which to live, and not a call to arms against the infidel. The problem, however, is that this view is a popular and convenient  "Americanized" interpretation of what the Qu'ran's teaches. But the Qu'ran itself is much more militant than this relatively benign interpretation. The Qu'ran has much to say about (for example), the Muslim sin of "shirk". 
 
Shirk, or associationism is associating "partners" to Allah. It's the equivalence of polytheism (i.e. idolatry) to them. And to them, it is the unforgivable sin. In Islam, God (as in Judaism) is an indivisible unity of one, But the New Testament teaching of God as Father, Son and the Holy Ghost comes under the category of "shirk". One of the big problems that Islam has historically had with Christianity is a problem that started with Mohammad himself. 

It's unlikely Islam's founder even HEARD a biblical explanation of the Trinity, or for that matter, the Gospel itself. For example, the Qu'ran's condemnation of both the Trinity doctrine and the Gospel condemns not the orthodox [i.e. "correct"] doctrine found in the early creeds of Christendom, but rather the distorted views of the Christian heresies circulating in Arabia in the 6th Century AD. What the Qur'an condemns, is actually something called "Tri-theism" which the early creeds of Christendom also condemned: it's the view that the three Persons of the Godhead are in fact three distinct Gods, each with an independent center of consciousness and will. Aside from that, many Muslims believe that the what Christians call the "Trinity" includes Mary as part of the Godhead, due in part to her overly-prominent rule in Roman Catholic doctrine as it developed later, near the time of Mohammad's birth, in doctrine, paintings and statuary.  Tritheism was an early heresy whose practitioners were banished to Arabia earlier on in history by the Roman Catholic bishops of the Christian Roman Empire. What Islamic scholars have tended to do historically was to read back into the Qur'an the Christian-Islamic controversies that came later, including that of the Trinity.
 
However, many Muslims in America have never had a clear presentation of the Gospel presented to them personally. All they have heard is rumor and here-say. This time and this place, in 21st Century America is a rare window of opportunity where this can be done with hardly any restrictions and in a cordial atmosphere. Seize the opportunity! 
 
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs

​
1.  When Jews say "No thanks I'm Jewish", what they MEAN is: "I'm exempt from hearing any of this." 
 
Why do they say this? Simply by virtue of the fact that they're JEWISH!  Their self-identity is so strongly invested with the view that Jews don't believe in Jesus because that would them make them "Christians" or something other than what they are. At this point, some evangelists would give up and AGREE with them! Quite a few Jewish students attend classes at the U. of Penn campus where we have an outreach during the fall and winter. However, during a past Independence Day outreach in Philadelphia,near the Independence Visitor's Center, a Jewish man came to new faith in Christ. And in the one after that, four more at least gave us a hearing. So it does happen. Yet for a Jew to call upon Jesus as Savior, Lord or Messiah, that makes him a non-Jew in all the mainstream synagogue communities. "Messianic" Judaism is not accepted as an alternative form of their faith. At the time when the N.T. was written, this was not the problem that it is today. But in AD 90 the synagogues at the Council of Jamnia (or "Jabneh") in Roman Palestine declared all Jews who believed in Christ as heretics and "non-Jews". And this prejudice has remained until today. 
 
 
2. Black women get a little bit huffy if you ask them, "Do you know what the gospel is?"
 
"Of COURSE I know what the gospel is!"
 
A prevailing view in the African-American community is that if you grew up black, then you automatically know certain things because it's how you were raised; that because gospel "culture" was all around you, you just know what it means to be saved.  But it's not the case. I've had plenty of African-American people tell me that their church membership or their Christian lifestyle was the basis of their salvation. Many American black people raised as Christians have become Muslims. In the city of Philadelphia, where CHAIM Ministry to the Jews www.chaim.org  does most of its missions work, we meet Muslims of all shades, all the time. While we "aim" for the Jews, it seems we reach Muslim as well.  Philadelphia has one of the highest number of African-American converts to Islam of all cities in the US. 80% of these, however, were raised in the church.  2/3 of Philadelphia Muslims are now African-American. But  black or white, if someone never understood the gospel originally, then they are ripe for conversion to some kind of cult, and with African-Americans, that "cult" is either the JWs, or Islam. 
 
3. Pan-handlers are really clever with the stories they come up with.
 
I actually had one young man give me this fantastic tale about just being robbed, and the surprising thing was, he already had this hand-printed cardboard sign carefully printed out, saying exactly that. (Must've taken him some time to make that.) A lot of pan-handlers are very young these days: college-age.It's never a waste to talk to anyone about the gospel, but you have to keep in mind that pan-handlers have one basic thing in mind when they talk to any passer-by!  I'm told that some of them make $60 a day. Clearly, begging is not a passive activity. If you want to do it right, you have to have a "work ethic".
 
 
4. Muslim college students tell you, "All religions amount to the same thing. We all believe in the same God."
 
MUSLIM students say this! Unbelievable! I've even said back to some of them, "The Qu'ran says differently: that all religions DON'T amount to the same thing." And they usually don't argue, or just stare back like I'm telling them something they never heard before.. Part of the problem is the wide toleration on college campuses for everything  BUT intolerance. It's so pervasive that nobody wants to be seen as dogmatic about anything traditional. I'm guessing that nowhere in the entire Muslim WORLD would any self-respecting Muslim say that both Christianity and Islam amount to the same thing  ... EXCEPT on the American college campus! 
 
5. Catholics think the gospel is whatever it was they were supposed to learn in Catholic school.

 
Most Catholics I've spoken to treat their parochial school experience as a kind of immunization shot: you get a "dose" of religion early on, so you don't catch the "real thing" later! We ask all people if they know what the gospel actually is, even professing Christians, but many Catholics think we're talking about Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. So we explain we're talking about the message of the four gospel writers, not the books of the Bible. Others think we're talking about the Golden Rule: "Do unto others ... [etc.]". Most Catholics I've spoken to have confused religious duty with religious conversion. (Protestants too, BTW.)
 
6. Quite a few passers-by will thank you for what we're doing ... without really KNOWING what we're doing! 
 
One gospel brochure we use says "Get Yourself Recycled!" on the front cover. I've had students at the U. of Penn campus take the brochure, tell me they always recycle, and then thank me for spreading the word about recycling. Others have some general idea of what we're doing, and thank us. But they won't stop long enough to find out anything specific. But occasionally, a person stops by and thanks us, and knows what we're doing. And those experiences are truly blessings! 
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
The CHAIM Ministry team is looking for volunteers, street evangelists, and evangelist-trainees to help us with our various outreaches. Contact our websites, or shoot me an e-mail if you can help. 
 

"The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England" 

by Felicia Dorothea Dorothea Hemans (1793-1835)

THE breaking waves dash'd high
 On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky
 Their giant branches toss'd;

And the heavy night hung dark,
 The hills and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moor'd their bark
 On the wild New-England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,
 They, the true-hearted came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
 And the trumpet that sings of fame:

Not as the flying come,
 In silence and in fear;–
They shook the depths of the desert gloom
 With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storm they sang,
 And the stars heard and the sea!
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang
 To the anthem of the free.

The ocean-eagle soar'd
 From his nest by the white wave's foam;
And the rocking pines of the forest roar'd–
 This was their welcome home!

There were men with hoary hair,
 Amidst that pilgrim band;–
Why had they come to wither there,
 Away from their childhood's land?

There was woman's fearless eye,
 Lit by her deep love's truth;
There was manhood's brow serenely high,
 And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar?
 Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?–
 They sought a faith's pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
 The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstain'd what there they found–
 Freedom to worship God.

​[Portrait of Christopher Columbus by Sebastiano del Plombo, (1519] (later, superimposed with background map)
 
 
[Addendum to original blog below: In the same year that Columbus sailed to the new world, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, at the insistence of  the churchman Torquemada head of the Spanish Inquisition, insisted that all Jews be expelled from Spain. And he purposely chose Tisha B'Av, the date of the two previous destructions of the Jerusalem Temple, as the date for this. Torquemada was enraged that many Jews were pretending to convert to Roman Catholicism in order to gain social advancement, yet secretly continuing as practicing Jews. Torquemada maintained that once Jews were baptized as Catholic, regardless of their motives, they then became property of the Church and could therefore be punished for heresy. There is credible speculation that Columbus was one of these "conversos", which the clergy also called "marranos" ("swine"). More about this in the next blog.] 
  
Columbus landed in the New World on October 12th, 1492. (1)  Every grade school student knows that he sailed west because he wanted to find an easier trade route to the Indies. After all, weren't we all taught that? (2) Yet, according to the obscure and recently translated Voyages of Christopher Columbus, written by Bartolome de Las Casas, Columbus sailed west in 1492 primarily out of missionary zeal, and not because of economic considerations. De Las Casas, who accompanied Admiral Columbus to the New World, quotes a driven and deeply religious man who felt isolated from the society of his time.(3) 

"It was the Lord who put into my mind ... the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. For the execution of the journey ... I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me ..." 
 
Indeed, for eight years prior to his voyage, the mapmaker Columbus was a laughingstock and a byword among the crowned heads of Europe.The man's scheme was itself more than enough for any monarch to bear, and Columbus' personality didn't make his ideas any more palatable. He was often overbearing, insistent and altogether too proud, even in the presence of kings. 
 
With his idea ever in his mouth, and with a detailed balance sheet of the costs and requirements of such a voyage , Columbus in 1484 approached King John II of Portugal, seeking sponsorship for the voyage. A commission of the King's scholars studied his idea at length and made their recommendation: The scheme was outrageous and impossible. Columbus then sent his brother to the court of England to make the same request; and Henry VII replied in turn, and after a much briefer deliberation, that Columbus was insane.
 
Even Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain turned him down, though they admired the mapmaker's religious fervor. After four and a half years of deliberation, Columbus was told that his scheme "rested on weak foundations," that its success was "uncertain and impossible to any educated person." Columbus was nearly devastated. He was especially counting on Their Spanish Majesties, because all Europe regarded them as staunch defenders of the Christian faith. 
 
In the spring of the fateful year 1492, as Columbus was preparing to present himself to the King of France in yet another attempt at sponsorship, he happened to stop by La Rabida, a Franciscan monastery where his son was staying. Here he spoke to Father Juan Perez, the prior of the monastery. Fr. Perez was a man of insight and compassion. He was also the former confessor to Queen Isabella and the man who changed Columbus' life. Though we have no record of the conversation that passed between these two, we do know the outcome. Fr. Perez became convinced that Columbus had divine guidance. He immediately sent a messenger to the Queen herself, urging her to reconsider the mapmaker's proposal. Just as immediately came the reply: Columbus was to return to the Spanish court to have an audience with Ferdinand and Isabella. With the letter of reply came a gift of money. 
 
Never could Fr. Perez's messenger have arrived at a more fortuitous time. The Moslem army occupying Grenada was about to surrender. The forces of Islam were being swept from Catholic Spain once and for all, and the court of Their Spanish Majesties was ready to grant almost any favor that a religious visionary could have asked. But in the presence of the King and Queen, and flushed with his own victory, Columbus forgot himself. Proudly, foolishly, the mapmaker stipulated the following demands: a tenth of the riches found in any new lands he might discover, the positions of governor and viceroy of those lands, and the unheard-of title: "Admiral of the Ocean Sea". At this, Isabella became very grave. Who was this man who dared dictate terms to her? But hastily, Luis de Santangel, a member of the Spanish court and also a friend of Columbus, intervened. Skilled diplomat that he was, de Santangel managed to apologize for his friend and reassure Isabella. Columbus,who had been dismissed from the court for his impudence, was called back and granted all that he had asked, along with the Queen's own offer of her personal jewelry as collateral for the expense of the voyage! 
 
Outfitted with three small ships and a crew of 90, Columbus set sail on the morning of August 3rd, 1492 with fair weather and promising winds. Sailing at first south by southwest to catch the northeasterly tailwinds blowing from the tropics, the journey could not have gone more smoothly -- if the sea and the weather were the only considerations. A following sea, and day upon day of clear skies graced the way of the three small sailing ships. 
 
But with increasing distance came the crews increasing discontent with the length of the voyage. None of the men, nor any mariner in Europe had been more than 300 miles from land. (4) Rumors of sea monsters and bottomless chasms in the midst of the ocean fueled the fear that gripped the tiny vessels. Despite the Admiral's encouragements and promises of reward, the crew began to murmur against him. Finally, Martin and Vincent Pinzon, captains of the Nina and the Pinta, demanded an emergency meeting with the Admiral on the Santa Maria. The crew, Columbus was informed, wanted no more promises. If the Admiral did not turn the ships around, there would be mutiny. In a grim session with his captains that was purposely omitted from the ship's log, Columbus agreed to turn back and give up ... in three more days ... unless land was sighted. Now the crew members began to openly challenge the Admiral. In one such confrontation, Columbus, according to de Las Casas: 
 
"... reassured them as best he could, holding out to them bright hopes of the gains they would make, and adding that it was useless to complain, since he was going to the Indies and must pursue his course until, with the help of the Lord, he found them." 
 
In those last days Columbus stood alone against practically the entire crew. 
 
Scrawled in his diary is his own name it etymological divisions: "Christo-ferrens", which literally means "Christ-bearer". Included also is this passage from Isaiah the Prophet:
 
"Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you people from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name ... I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 
 
Now we have a more complete picture of the man. And, just as we were all taught, land was sighted on the 12th of October, the day before  the day he had agreed with his crew that he'd turn back. So began the endless convoys of galleon and conquistador, of missionary and mercenary, of the good and the evil, and of every facet of the Old World in quest of the New. 
 
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 
 
(1) This article was originally written by me and published in 1986 by Catholic Twin Circle magazine. 
 
(2) His featured portrait is by Sebastiano del Plombo (1519) but with the background map added to the original painting later.
 
(3) The reader is encouraged to view Liz Wheeler's video on Columbus. She debunks "politically correct" revisionist history about his supposed role in the deaths and abuse of the indigenous peoples of the New World. 
 
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialLizWheeler/videos/575969132860781/UzpfSTU4NjM5Mzc5ODoxMDE 1NjgyMzM5MzU1Mzc5OQ/
 
(4) This excludes the much earlier Vikings. The news of their journeys was kept obscure for hundreds of years. 
 
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/destination-the-new-world/

​ 
"Christ our Atonement" (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur)

• a 60 minute "show & tell" expository teaching based
  upon the Jewish New Year and the Day of
  Atonement; with shofar, tallis, etc.
• includes "read along" service booklets that may
  be taken home for personal reference
• featuring ancient and traditional Jewish songs
  and prayers as used in Apostolic days
• traditional blowing of the ram's horn "shofar"
• explains modern Jewish practices and how we
  can share our faith with Jewish people using
  these holidays

 
"Feast of Tabernacles Fulfilled" (Sukkot)
 

• 45 minute expository teaching (can be
  presented as sermon).
• a display and use of the ancient "lulav and
  etrog", as well as the four species of lastfruits
  grain used in Bible times.
• explains relationship between Puritan
  Thanksgiving and Sukkot
• explains modern Jewish practices and how we
  can share our faith with Jewish people.

 
"The Lesson of Hanukkah”
 

• 45 minute expository teaching (or sermon)
• shows relevance of Maccabean Revolt for the
  Church and for New Testament understanding
• features traditional Jewish holiday items and their
  New Testament relevance.
• explains modern Jewish practices and how we
  can share our faith with Jewish people through
  this holiday

 
"Isaiah's Advent Message" 
 

• 45 minute dramatized memorization of Isaiah selections
• appropriate to the Christmas/Advent season
• performed in "period" dress
• read-along hand-outs provided, with chapter-by-chapter synopses
• personal testimony of how Isaiah chapter 53 changed my life
• and from it, why I changed my religion.

https://www.weebly.com/editor/main.php#/

​ 
Shalom, Friends, 
 
 I just RE-visited Wildwood's Boardwalk, (with a stop-off in Avalon, NJ  to do some jetty fishing: magnificent weather, great jetty, few fish, but WORTH it!) . Last time I visited these same people was in July. This time I walked the entire boardwalk length of Wildwood, and back,  wearing CHAIM's red "God is Love" T-shirt (with the phrase from I John 4:8 displayed prominently in four languages) Walked by one shop. Young man called out to me, named Asef: "Why is it in Russian?" I answered, "Because there are a lot of Russian-speakers down here in Wildwood. For example, some from Azerbaijan,some  from ... " He immediately interrupted me: "Hey, I'M from Azerbaijan!"  We engaged in small talk and familiarities. I told him I was doing missionary work. He told me he was Muslim, but he liked the shirt because he thought it showed the unity of all faiths. I quickly divested him of that notice, and gave him a gospel brochure, tailored to him, and asked him to read it with an open mind. He agreed. I told him about a recently deceased Azerbaijani friend of mind and how she had been raised Muslim, but just became a Christian before she died. Asef thanked me for sharing. While we were talking, the Israeli owners  gathered around us to try to detach Asef from me, but I was finished anyway and moved on. At the next store, three Israelis were up at the store front: a young man and two young ladies. The man read the shirt out loud in Hebrew and I went over to him. After some small talk, I told him (Eli) who I was and what I was doing. He told me he liked the shirt. All three Israelis were staring at the shirt. I gave Eli CHAIM's Isaiah tract: "The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53: Who Can It Be?" They all were staring with very serious, intent looks. At the last store, a young man called out to me. I stopped and asked "Is this store still owned by Israelis, or did they sell it to Egyptians?" He said (name is Karim)  "I'M Egyptian!" After some small talk, I told me he was Muslim. I gave him an Arabic-language tract and asked him to read it with an open mind. He thanked me and didn't object.
 
 Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 

​ 
Witnessing on the streets of Philadelphia, I've found that controversy sparks interest, and people stop what they're doing and listen. God USES controversy to get people to think about eternal things!
 
Black Israelites have been in the news not too long ago, with CNN's "mugging" of Nick Sandman, the Covington Catholic youth wearing the MAGA cap at the March For Life Rally in Washington, DC.. But the Black Israelites are in Philly as well. They look for opportunities to get news coverage wherever they go. I've seen them set up their display outside "Liberty Place", on 1600 Chestnut St, one of Philadelphia's prime shopping and business districts. I recently visited 1600 Chestnut St. to pass out CHAIM's gospel tracts and speak to people. Ten feet away were some Black Israelites behind their missionary display, wearing distinctive white robes and "Aaronic" head-dresses, doing street preaching to all who would listen.
 
Black Israelites are a racist cult. They believe that black people are the true Israel of God, simply by virtue of their race, and that in the resurrection of the just, all "true" (i.e. black) Israelites will be slave-masters and all whites will be their slaves. Since I was only ten feet away, I challenged them on this, showing from Scripture that adoption by God is not on the basis of race, but by faith. I told them I was an Israelite by race, but they replied that no Caucasian can be a Jew in the eyes of God. According to them, all white Jews are illegitimate as Jews.
 
As we were speaking, several other passers-by gathered around and began taking my side, arguing with the Black Israelites. "What about someone from a mixed race? Will he be a slave or a slave-master in the resurrection?" I asked them. "There ARE no mixed races," they told me. " ... because racial descent is through the father only."
 
They were claiming that a black person who is 1/256th white by decent, with a distant white male ancestor, is actually white, and will be a slave of a black man in the resurrection, EVEN IF that "black" man is only 1/256th black, and APPEARS to be white: as long as he has no black male ancestors. THAT little conversation went nowhere, but I DID have a chance to share the gospel with "H", an young Algerian Muslim nearby, and with "G", a biblical studies student at Swarthmore College who, though studying the Bible, had not yet believed in Christ as his Lord and Savior. But "G" was receptive and thankful that we had this conversation, perhaps sparked from this street controversy, that happened right before I met him!
 
So what's the lesson here? That God uses controversy and interest, even negative interest, to advance His message.
 
"Some indeed preach Christ  even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill. The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice."
 
[Phil 1:15-18]
 
 Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 
 

​ 
Rev. Fred Klett and I joined up with some evangelist friends from NYC to do a Saturday outreach in various parts of Philadelphia last week. We went to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Art Museum on Ben Franklin Parkway (next to the "Rocky" statue), and Philadelphia's famous South Street, made even more famous by American Bandstand's 1963 hit song"South Street" by the Orlons. (Which I heard on the radio when I was 7.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6q5KM5THAs South Street's gotten a lot seedier since then!
 
We shared the gospel with quite a few people, and more people than I ever remember before gave us their phone numbers for follow-up conversations, especially "S",  a young Jewish man (Can't give out his name.) (The person in this photo is not that person, btw.) "S" told me he was not messianic, but a traditional Jew. "S" told me he was an "anti-fascist". "You mean 'ANTIFA'? ", I asked him. He answered "Yes". He told me he had recently brawled with the "Proud Boys" in Philadelphia, if not at this VERY event, then at something similar.  https://phillyantifa.org/all-out-november-17th-pushback-against-proud-boys-and-threepers-i n-philly/ (Good thing I didn't tell him I was a Trump supporter!) "S" stood still and heard me give my testimony about first believing in Jesus from reading Isaiah 53. I told him the rabbis got it wrong about Jesus. He took it all in, no objections, no arguments. Then he gave me his cell phone number for follow-up. 
  
Also, I recently returned from the NJ shore resort of  Wildwood, NJ to visit the Israeli-owned T-shirt stores and souvenir shops. I wore the "God is Love" red shirt (with the I John 4:8 phrase in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian and English), and passed by the various stores with a bag of CDs and tracts. Due to the time of day and the heavy Saturday crowds, the Israelis themselves were intent on only potential customers, and I could get into no conversations. However, "T" an Egyptian (merchant?) read my shirt's message aloud in Arabic "AllahHU maHAbbah!" he said. That was my cue, and we spoke for several minutes. He told me that though Muslim, he strongly believes in Jesus and is familiar with the NT. "Issa is mentioned many more times in the Qu'ran than Mohammad is," he assured me. We discussed the "problem" of Christians claiming that Jesus is divine. Apparently, "T" is a God-seeker who is not tied down ONLY to the tenets of Islam. "I'm a Muslim because I was raised a Muslim," he said. I replied with "I'm a Christian but I was raised a Jew", and my life was changed by reading Isaiah. Because I could not translate the prophet's name into Arabic, we reached an impasse here. (He didn't know who I was talking about.) "You can't show me one place in the Bible where Jesus said He was God," he said. So I quoted him John 1:1 and said, "Are you willing to continue this conversation?" He said "Yes" and gave me his cell phone number: I was finally able to get the prophet Isaiah's transliterated Arabic name for him and then sent it to him. My point with him was that Isaiah is INDEED mentioned as a prophet in Islamic tradition, and that Isaiah spoke of the divinity of Jesus. 
 

​[Continued ...] In Judaism, Christ's very absence makes Him all the more conspicuous. Personally, I was raised Jewish. But if I had been raised Muslim I would've been taught that Jesus was the 2nd greatest prophet who ever lived and that He was returning to judge the world in righteousness. If I had been raised Hindu, I would've been taught that Christ was an "avatar", a reincarnation of Krishna and one of the most enlightened men in history. If I had been raised Buddhist, I would've been taught He was an enlightened wise teacher and someone to be emulated.� Yet In Judaism, it's not who He was that's important: it's who He wasn't. And to me, Jesus was too important an historic figure for that kind of obscurity and obfuscation.
�
For one thing, the world dates time from His birth; not just the "Christian" world; the world world!� Yes, I know it's the year 1440 on the Islamic calendar, and the year 5780 on the Jewish calendar, and� the year 108 in North Korea. But the universally-accepted legal calendar used in all commerce and business between nations today still dates time from His birth. 
�
So Jesus predicted (and bewailed!) the destruction of the City and temple which Jews mourn at Tisha B'Av.� But he wasn't the only one. So did Jeremiah. And Daniel did so as well.
�
Daniel 9:24-27: Few Old Testament prophesies have sparked�as much controversy�as this one. 600 years before Christ, Daniel's given a vision of the coming of the Messiah, and what was to happen to his people, his temple and� to Jerusalem. He gave such a precise timeline of events, with the particulars so thoroughly spelled out that it almost sounds fabricated, so much so that liberal Christian theologians have downplayed Daniel's credibility, Christian dispensationalists�have broken�the timeline into parts separated by thousands of years, and Jewish scholars consistently reject any interpretation that�involves Jesus of Nazareth in the mix.
�
According to the prophet Daniel, during the rise of the fourth of four world empires, the Messiah shall come, shall visit Israel, and be "cut off" (i.e. "killed). Here's Rashi's "take" on that: (from Daniel 2:1-45, specifically Daniel 2:44 ...)
�
" 'And in the days of these kings'; [meaning ... ] in the days of these kings, when the kingdom of Rome is still in existence, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, The Kingdom of the Holy One, blessed be He, which will never be destroyed, is the Kingdom of the Messiah."[Talmud tractate "Avoda Zara 2b", as quoted in Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Vol. 3, Michael L. Brown, Baker.]
�
Rashi, who lived in the 11th Century AD, believed the Messiah had to have been Herod Agrippa (of all people!), since Rashi's faith precluded any belief in Jesus. But here's the point: according to one of the greatest Jewish scholars of post-Biblical history, the Messiah had to have lived at the time that Jesus of Nazareth lived! 
�
Daniel and Jeremiah weren't the only ones who spoke of those times. Isaiah did as well: he portrayed, 700 years before it happened a two-fold messianic "coming"; first, the Messiah's coming as a suffering servant, then as a conquering king. 
�
But just as Judaism has had an historic "disconnect" with Scriptures' two portrayals of the Messiah (the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the conquering king of Psalm 110), so also has it had a "disconnect" with the Messianic Age at its beginning, vs. the Messianic Age at its completion. Jews have seized upon the choicest portrayal of the Messiah and His Kingdom to suit a preconceived theology: of the Messiah as glorious ruler in an age of sinless perfection and universal peace. But the argument's circular: it pre-supposes its conclusion. Their argument really isn't: "Jesus failed to set up the Messianic Kingdom (or Messianic Age)," but it's: "Jesus failed to set up the Kingdom according to OUR understanding of it." So what's Judaism's understanding? Unhappily, it's like the Christian dispensationalists' understanding of it as well, only without the "Jesus" part. In other words, the Kingdom in its glorious final form only, and the Kingdom as in "not here yet."

The Hebrew prophets spoke extensively of the glories of the Kingdom: There will be "peace to her like a river" (Isaiah 66:12); "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb" (Isaiah 11:6), "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4). But the prophets also spoke of that Kingdom as coming progressively and gradationally: growing even in the midst of conflict, and contending with evil before its final glorious conquest. Consider Daniel 2:35 & 2:44, for example. Indeed, the whole of chapter 2, and it's "mirror-image" chapter, chapter 7 (particularly 7:13-18) speaks of that kingdom in this way. The Messiah comes in His kingdom during the reign of the fourth world empire from Daniel's time. Daniel's time was Babylon, the one afterwards was Media-Persia's time, the third was Greece (Dan. 8:20,21). The fourth could only be Rome.

Tisha B'Av is indeed a time of mourning. Jesus himself wept for what was prophesied to happen to His people and His city. And before him, so did Jeremiah (Jer. 9:1). But the lesson from Jewish history calls for more than re-doubled resolve and determination that it "never happen again". It calls for a reconsideration of the words of the Hebrew prophets, and especially those of Christ.�
�

[Featured: U. of Penn Campus, where the gospel is shared]
 
1.  When Jews say "No thanks I'm Jewish", what they MEAN is: "I'm exempt from hearing any of this." 
 
Why do they say this? Simply by virtue of the fact that they're JEWISH!  Their self-identity is so strongly invested with the view that Jews don't believe in Jesus because that would them make them "Christians" or something other than what they are. At this point, some evangelists would give up and AGREE with their prospects! Quite a few Jewish students attend classes at the U. of Penn campus where we have an outreach during the fall and winter. However, during a past Independence Day outreach in Philadelphia,near the Independence Visitor's Center, a Jewish man came to new faith in Christ. And in the one after that, four more at least gave us a hearing. So it does happen! Yet for a Jew to call upon Jesus as Savior, Lord or Messiah, makes him a non-Jew in all the mainstream synagogue communities and branches. "Messianic" Judaism is not accepted as an alternative form of their faith. At the time when the N.T. was written, this was not the problem that it is today. But in AD 90 the synagogues at the Council of Jamnia (or "Jabneh") in Roman Palestine declared all Jews who believed in Christ as heretics and "non-Jews". And this prejudice has remained until today. 
 
 
2. Black women get a little bit huffy if you ask them, "Do you know what the gospel is?"
 
"Of COURSE I know what the gospel is!"
 
A prevailing view in the African-American community is that if you grew up black, then you automatically know certain things because it's how you were raised; that because gospel "culture" was all around you, you just know about what it means to be saved.  But it's not the case. I've had plenty of black people tell me that their church membership or their Christian lifestyle was the basis of their salvation. Many American black people raised as Christians have become Muslims. In the city of Philadelphia, where CHAIM Ministry to the Jews www.chaim.org  does most of its missions work, we meet Muslims of all shades all the time. When we "aim" for the Jews, it seems we reach Muslim as well.  Philadelphia has one of the highest number of African-American converts to Islam of all cities in the US. 80% of these, however, were raised in the church.  2/3 of Philadelphia Muslims are now African-American. But  black or white, if someone never understood the gospel originally, then they are ripe for conversion to some kind of cult, and with African-Americans, that "cult" is either the JWs, or Islam. 
 
 
3. Pan-handlers are really clever with the stories they come up with.
 
I actually had one young man give me this fantastic tale about just being robbed, and the surprising thing was, he already had this hand-printed cardboard sign carefully printed out, saying exactly that. (Must've taken him some time to make that.) A lot of pan-handlers are very young these days: college-age.It's never a waste to talk to anyone about the gospel, but you have to keep in mind that pan-handlers have one basic thing in mind when they talk to any passer-by!  I'm told that some of them make $60 a day. Clearly, begging is not a passive activity. If you want to do it right, you have to have a "work ethic".
 
 
4. Muslim college students tell you, "All religions amount to the same thing. We all believe in the same God."
 
MUSLIM students say this! Unbelievable! I've even said back to some of them, "The Qu'ran says differently: that all religions DON'T amount to the same thing." And they usually don't argue, or just stare back like I'm telling them something they never heard before.. Part of the problem is the wide toleration on college campuses for everything  BUT intolerance. It's so pervasive that nobody wants to be seen as dogmatic aboutanything traditional. I'm guessing that nowhere in the entire Muslim WORLD would any self-respecting Muslim say that both Christianity and Islam amount to the same thing  ... EXCEPT on the American college campus! 
 
 
5. Catholics think the gospel is whatever it was they were supposed to learn in Catholic school.

 
Most Catholics I've spoken to treat their parochial school experience as a kind of immunization shot: you get a "dose" of religion early on, so you don't catch the "real thing" later! We ask all people if they know what the gospel actually is, even professing Christians, but many Catholics think we're talking about Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. So we explain we're talking about the message of the four gospel writers, not the books of the Bible. Others think we're talking about the Golden Rule: "Do unto others ... [etc.]". Most Catholics I've spoken to have confused religious duty with religious conversion. (Protestants too, BTW.)
 
 
6. Quite a few passers-by will thank you for what you're doing ... without really knowing what you're doing. 
 
One gospel brochure we use says "Get Yourself Recycled!" on the front cover. I've had students at the U. of Penn campus take the brochure, tell me they always recycle, and then thank me for spreading the word about recycling. Others have some general idea of what we're doing, and thank us. But they won't stop long enough to find out anything specific. But occasionally, a person stops by and thanks us, and knows what we're doing. And those experiences are truly blessings! 
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
The CHAIM Ministry team is looking for volunteers, street evangelists, and evangelist-trainees to help us with our Independence Week outreach in Philadelphia's "Center City" on any of the days between June 29th to July 4th. During the week preceding July 4th, people from all over the country as well as the WORLD will be converging on America's Cradle of Independence. We'll need help handing out brochures, and speaking to people about their souls. Contact our websites, or shoot me an e-mail if you can help. 
 
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs
 
 
Six Things We've Learned Doing Street Evangelism in Philadelphia
 
 
 
1.  When Jews say "No thanks I'm Jewish", what they MEAN is: "I'm exempt from hearing any of this." 
 
Why do they say this? Simply by virtue of the fact that they're JEWISH!  Their self-identity is so strongly invested with the view that Jews don't believe in Jesus because that would them make them "Christians" or something other than what they are. At this point, some evangelists would give up and AGREE with their prospects! Quite a few Jewish students attend classes at the U. of Penn campus where we have an outreach during the fall and winter. However, during a past Independence Day outreach in Philadelphia,near the Independence Visitor's Center, a Jewish man came to new faith in Christ. And in the one after that, four more at least gave us a hearing. So it does happen! Yet for a Jew to call upon Jesus as Savior, Lord or Messiah, makes him a non-Jew in all the mainstream synagogue communities and branches. "Messianic" Judaism is not accepted as an alternative form of their faith. At the time when the N.T. was written, this was not the problem that it is today. But in AD 90 the synagogues at the Council of Jamnia (or "Jabneh") in Roman Palestine declared all Jews who believed in Christ as heretics and "non-Jews". And this prejudice has remained until today. 
 
 
2. Black women get a little bit huffy if you ask them, "Do you know what the gospel is?"
 
"Of COURSE I know what the gospel is!"
 
A prevailing view in the African-American community is that if you grew up black, then you automatically know certain things because it's how you were raised; that because gospel "culture" was all around you, you just know about what it means to be saved.  But it's not the case. I've had plenty of black people tell me that their church membership or their Christian lifestyle was the basis of their salvation. Many American black people raised as Christians have become Muslims. In the city of Philadelphia, where CHAIM Ministry to the Jews www.chaim.org  does most of its missions work, we meet Muslims of all shades all the time. When we "aim" for the Jews, it seems we reach Muslim as well.  Philadelphia has one of the highest number of African-American converts to Islam of all cities in the US. 80% of these, however, were raised in the church.  2/3 of Philadelphia Muslims are now African-American. But  black or white, if someone never understood the gospel originally, then they are ripe for conversion to some kind of cult, and with African-Americans, that "cult" is either the JWs, or Islam. 
 
 
3. Pan-handlers are really clever with the stories they come up with.
 
I actually had one young man give me this fantastic tale about just being robbed, and the surprising thing was, he already had this hand-printed cardboard sign carefully printed out, saying exactly that. (Must've taken him some time to make that.) A lot of pan-handlers are very young these days: college-age.It's never a waste to talk to anyone about the gospel, but you have to keep in mind that pan-handlers have one basic thing in mind when they talk to any passer-by!  I'm told that some of them make $60 a day. Clearly, begging is not a passive activity. If you want to do it right, you have to have a "work ethic".
 
 
4. Muslim college students tell you, "All religions amount to the same thing. We all believe in the same God."
 
MUSLIM students say this! Unbelievable! I've even said back to some of them, "The Qu'ran says differently: that all religions DON'T amount to the same thing." And they usually don't argue, or just stare back like I'm telling them something they never heard before.. Part of the problem is the wide toleration on college campuses for everything  BUT intolerance. It's so pervasive that nobody wants to be seen as dogmatic aboutanything traditional. I'm guessing that nowhere in the entire Muslim WORLD would any self-respecting Muslim say that both Christianity and Islam amount to the same thing  ... EXCEPT on the American college campus! 
 
 
5. Catholics think the gospel is whatever it was they were supposed to learn in Catholic school.

 
Most Catholics I've spoken to treat their parochial school experience as a kind of immunization shot: you get a "dose" of religion early on, so you don't catch the "real thing" later! We ask all people if they know what the gospel actually is, even professing Christians, but many Catholics think we're talking about Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. So we explain we're talking about the message of the four gospel writers, not the books of the Bible. Others think we're talking about the Golden Rule: "Do unto others ... [etc.]". Most Catholics I've spoken to have confused religious duty with religious conversion. (Protestants too, BTW.)
 
 
6. Quite a few passers-by will thank you for what you're doing ... without really knowing what you're doing. 
 
One gospel brochure we use says "Get Yourself Recycled!" on the front cover. I've had students at the U. of Penn campus take the brochure, tell me they always recycle, and then thank me for spreading the word about recycling. Others have some general idea of what we're doing, and thank us. But they won't stop long enough to find out anything specific. But occasionally, a person stops by and thanks us, and knows what we're doing. And those experiences are truly blessings! 
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
 
The CHAIM Ministry team is looking for volunteers, street evangelists, and evangelist-trainees to help us with our Independence Week outreach in Philadelphia's "Center City" on any of the days between June 29th to July 4th. During the week preceding July 4th, people from all over the country as well as the WORLD will be converging on America's Cradle of Independence. We'll need help handing out brochures, and speaking to people about their souls. Contact our websites, or shoot me an e-mail if you can help. 
 
 
Continue reading other blogs? Click http://www.scripturesdramatized.com/radio-blogs