A religious controversy has broken out in Israel over Jesus. And this is no Bible story from the pages of history. It’s happening today!

A Christian TV station has begun broadcasting in Hebrew amid claims they are trying to ‘convert’ Jews. Even American evangelical broadcaster Laurie Cardoza-Moore has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take it off the air.

Standing with Israel

Host of TV programme Focus on Israel, Cardoza-Moore said: “At a time when global anti-Semitism is engulfing the world, GOD TV should be using its platform to teach Christians about their biblical responsibility to stand with our Jewish brethren and the State of Israel.”¹

GOD TV* deny the proselytising claims, explaining that Shelanu TV, their Hebrew-language broadcast, features Christian content which happens to portray Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.² They have signed a seven-year contract with HOT Cable, the largest cable network in the country, and are working in partnership with Israel’s Messianic Jewish community.

Israeli pastor Ron Cantor has responded with an open letter calling for Cardoza-Moore to apologise to Messianic believers who she had effectively (though perhaps unwittingly) accused of being anti-Semitic.
“I call on you and every other evangelical to ask yourself: Whose side are you on? Israel knows that evangelicals are their best friends”, Cantor said. “But your first commitment should be to your brothers and sisters in the faith here in Israel.”³

Absolutely! Support for Israel must be double-edged – that is, total…cutting both ways, like the word of God itself. That means on the practical, earthly level as well as with the long-term spiritual view in mind.

Support for Israel must be double-edged – that is, total…cutting both ways, like the word of God itself.

Twofold Restoration

So, while we demonstrate our love for them by aiding Aliyah (emigration to Israel), praying for the peace of Jerusalem, opposing anti-Semitism and lending a hand in rebuilding the nation, our ultimate focus should surely involve pointing them to Yeshua, their Messiah and King.

Israel’s restoration is twofold – first to the Land and then to the Lord. Ezekiel specifically links the two (Ezek 36:24-26) and then, in the following chapter, builds on the theme of a nation raised from the ashes eventually becoming filled with the Spirit of God.

And yet, without seeing these phenomena with their natural eyes, the great evangelical preachers of the 19^th Century were convinced of the return, not only of Jewish sovereignty in their ancient land, but also of their faith in Christ.

Complementary Ministries

I appreciate that different ministries inevitably have specific roles – some focused on standing with Israel and others on mission. But we should complement each other so we are working together effectively as a well-oiled machine, with an overall concern for Israel’s total restoration.

Instead, now we are witnessing the ugly spectacle of pro-Israel groups shooting each other with not-so-friendly fire.

It’s the gospel, after all, that has made us Christians – the gospel handed down to us by the Jewish people; the gospel which is “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16).

Some of us clearly feel we can’t influence Israeli leaders if they suspect we are trying to promote Yeshua. But denying the gospel to the Jew is itself anti-Semitic because it means we are closing the door on their eternal salvation, unless of course we believe Jesus didn’t mean what he said when he declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He also said: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Thomas Bilney (c. 1495 - 1531)I believe the Church has lost its focus on the priceless value of a man’s soul. To what lengths will we go to rescue the soul of a dying man, snatching him from the devil’s clutches as a brand plucked from the burning?

Learning from the Martyrs

Thomas Bilney was the first of the great English Reformers to be burnt at the stake. He was followed by more famous names like Ridley, Latimer, Cranmer and Tyndale, many of whom he had led to Christ.

After coming to understand the truths of the gospel as a student in Cambridge, he began to preach to lepers and prisoners, showing great compassion and practical care to ‘the comfortless’.

But while preaching at Ipswich in 1527, he was dragged from the pulpit and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was subsequently convicted of heresy and sentenced to death, with the sentence deferred while efforts were made to persuade him to renounce his views.

He eventually gave in but was so overwhelmed with remorse for having done so that he became suicidal. He even lost his assurance of salvation, becoming convinced that he was a lost soul.

I believe the Church has lost its focus on the priceless value of a man’s soul.

But he gradually came to see that if the verse that led to his conversion was true (“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief” – 1 Timothy 1:15), then no repentant sinner will ever be turned away.

Now forbidden to preach in churches, he took to the open air, but was arrested at Norwich and again sentenced to be burnt at the stake. This time there was no denial and, as he perished in a fiery furnace in 1531, he lit a flame for the gospel from which England and the whole world would benefit. Many of his Cambridge friends were to suffer the same fate.⁴

Our Chief Concern

We have just witnessed modern Israel’s first Messianic martyr , brutally beaten to death with a brick, his assailant excusing his action by describing his victim as a ‘missionary’. The victim was also an Englishman. Could this be the spark that lights the way to Israel’s salvation?

I rest my case. You cannot put a price on the value of a man’s soul. The soul of Israel, and of all Jews, is at stake – and should ultimately be our chief concern.

* Prophecy Today UK does not necessarily endorse God TV’s output, but encourages all readers to be ‘Bereans’, weighing and testing everything according to Scripture (Acts 17:11).

References

1 World Israel News, 12 May 2020.

2 Ibid, 7 May 2020.

3 Gateway News, South Africa, 15 May 2020.

4 I am indebted to Brian Maiden for his insights in Evangelicals Now, May 2020.