Challenging the assertions of an anti-missionary rabbi

All of us need to be constantly aware of  the assertions espoused by our “religious” leaders, verifying in Scripture everything we read or hear, or even see – because oftentimes perception can get in the way of reality.  Christian pastors have twisted Scripture to suit their purposes for the last two thousand years – but Jewish rabbis aren’t all that innocent, either; especially those whose goal is to “debunk Jesus and the New Testament.”  Sure, we all know why the rabbis have reason to strike back at Christianity; but one has to wonder – do two wrongs make a right?  Is it really a good idea to not only attempt to prove biblically why Christianity is off the mark, but to then also go after Christians to take them completely away from “Jesus” (and consequently the John 14:6 warning) and the NT, and bring them into Judaism which does not acknowledge Y’shua as Messiah?

Teachers/pastors/rabbis with an agenda can be very dangerous, as they can often do more harm than good.  Their assertions usually carry just enough truth to sound plausible, but ultimately, the end result can be devastating for those whose lives they touch.  Such is the case with the anti-missionaries (rabbis, teachers, or those who have decided to “leave Jesus” and are on the Internet to verbally clobber everyone who refuses to follow suit).  Usually, the rabbis don't personally engage Christians or Messianic/HR types; they usually stay behind the scenes and allow everyone else to do it for them; especially their "converts"....

One such rabbi is Tovia Singer who spends enormous energy leading Christians and Messianic/HR types away from “Jesus”…Take a look at this article on his website and you’ll see he has just enough “truth” in his comments to make some people start wondering if Judaism and “rejecting Jesus” isn’t the way to REAL salvation.

Singer “thinks” he knows all about Christianity and the New Testament, but folks, THINKING something doesn’t necessarily make someone’s thoughts or personal opinions fact, nor does it make one an expert, as some of his comments and assertions reveal! 

Here are just a few excerpts from his web page, above.  Be sure to notice the “hidden agenda” here, which seems to be, “I’m just innocently writing this, but down deep I know that, thanks to my teachings, Christians are finally learning how deceived they’ve been and how we Jews have ALL the Truth!”

SINGER:  I always wondered why Christians have a visceral reaction when the core principles of their faith are questioned. They might laugh off annoying atheists, but they glower at former Christians who urge them to choose the Jewish faith. I thought about this conundrum for the past 30 years. I cannot count the number of people that I watched return to God during this time. Hashem redeemed so many from the Church in recent years. As it turns out, I have never been a Christian. As such, I studied this phenomenon as a detached observer. This, I believe, has been to my advantage.

RESPONSE:  “Detached” a little much, perhaps, because Rabbi Singer has completely missed that G-d DOES talk about His Messiah throughout the Tanach.  But instead of seeing scriptures such as, for instance, Isaiah 53 for what they say, he has over-analyzed and over-Hebraicized and forced certain scriptures into meaning something completely different than their plain meaning.  One has to wonder how Isaiah 53 could possibly be “about Israel” as Singer and other scholars proclaim.  After all, can Israel DIE for Israel? (No, but Y’shua did! See Matthew 27.) Can Israel be wounded for our transgressions? (No, but Y’shua was! See Matthew 27.) Can people take Israel's garments and divide them? (No, but that certainly happened in Y’shua’s case! See John 19:23.) WHEN was "Israel" wounded for our transgressions or crushed because of our iniquities? Has the world been HEALED by "Israel"? Not hardly! Y'shua has filled myriad Tanach prophecies - and people can reject it all they want, but they cannot CHANGE the facts!  For more on this, please check out our blog article The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 cannot possibly be about Israel. 

And the reason we “glower at former Christians who urge us to choose the Jewish faith” is because (1) they simply traded one “religion” for another just because someone came along who sounded completely different from their pastors, impressing them with his vast knowledge of Hebrew and the “Old Testament” (which is basically ignored in every church).  (2)  Those who have rejected “Jesus” basically become the “mouthpieces” for the anti-missionary rabbis whose goal seems to be to “use” former Christians against each other; after all, who better to reach to “lost” than a “formerly lost person” who is now “found” and has been learning from the anti-missionary rabbis?

SINGER:  Frequently, this informal investigation and probing begins by calling into question the long-enduring doctrine of the Trinity. Their departure from the church spirals from there. As time moves on, Christians eventually discover that the authors of the NT may have quoted the Jewish scriptures dishonestly. I mean dishonestly here; I don’t mean incorrectly. They grasp that the authors of the NT may have done their work in a nefarious manner. Christians could live with mistakes in the NT. After all, some scribe may have copied something wrong. Mistakes happen. No one leaves Christianity because there is a mistake in the New Testament. But they cannot abide by lying.

OUR RESPONSE:  How sneaky and arrogant can you get – to suggest the authors of the New Testament LIED!  Notice how Singer goes right into an actual false church teaching to hook the gullible and make them think that, not only did their PASTORS mislead them, but the Apostles were a bunch of liars who wanted to lead people away from YHWH! 

Singer is correct – there is no such thing as “trinity!”  Trinity was an invention of King James.  Perhaps King James might have done this to be “dishonest” but that doesn’t mean that all “the authors of the NT may have quoted the Jewish scriptures dishonestly.”  That is simply PERSONAL OPINION!  The New Testament – when read in context through Hebraic eyes, perfectly lines up with Torah and Tanach!  Sure, it’s easy to say (as anti-missionaries love to do), “No, that’s NOT what it says.  The Hebrew word actually means such-and-such, and if you knew some Hebrew, you would be able to grasp the REAL meaning of that passage!”  Well, yeah, but what they DON'T tell you is that Hebrew words usually have multiple meanings, and these "scholars" have picked the one that lined up with their respective train of thought....

SINGER:  Finally,--and this is big--they are shocked by the vacant, unsatisfying answers they receive from their pastors and church elders about these inconsistencies. They are appalled by the fuming reaction they often encounter from their coreligionists. They don't know what happened to the "love."

OUR RESPONSE:   Anyone with two brain cells to rub together should be able to see through Singer’s charade!  He goes in for the kill with some truths, rubs them in, and makes people who have been “wondering” what’s wrong in their churches, “suddenly realize” that their pastors are ignorant of Scripture, and bam! – “Gosh, I’ve been duped!  This rabbi is showing me the way to God’s Truth, so I need to go and check out his teachings.  He might be right.  If my pastor is wrong about the Trinity, then he must also be wrong about this Jesus character. Oh my gosh, I wonder if the whole New Testament is a myth?  Wow - I HAVE BEEN LIED TO!”

As for “what happened to the love?”  I’ll tell you what happened to it.  Once people “leave Jesus” they tend to turn into emotional terrorists, verbally berating Christians and Messianic/Hebrew Roots types, and forcing their new-found knowledge down our collective throat in the most vile ways they possibly can!  Check out Facebook groups such as this one, and you’ll see what I mean! Be sure and read every comment and check out the photo-shopped memes and ask yourself if people with the Holy Spirit within can possible behave like that - whatever their twisted justification!

SINGER:  None of what I stated has ever crossed the mind of a Christian. Nothing. Are Christians therefore stupid? Are they unable to process such unambiguous teachings? We know the answer: they were deprived of the tools to discover this on their own. As such, they imitate the scandalous methods of the New Testament writers and impose Jesus onto the Jewish Scriptures, an Oracle they cannot read and know too little about.

OUR RESPONSE:  In other words, ONLY Judaism provides the way to God. Never mind that there is a “rest of the story” contained in the New Testament that reveals the WHOLE Truth all plainly there for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear!  Yes, Torah IS THE "God-breathed Word" - but guess what:  He didn't stop "breathing" once the Torah or the Tanach were written.  There IS a "rest of the story" that perfectly lines up with Torah and the rest of the Tanach.  Christians can see "the rest of the story" (for those who know how to read Scripture in context!), but they fully miss the all-important first Two-Thirds; while Jews are missing the key elements of the final Third - that being that our Creator has already sent His Messiah!

Folks, we must be very careful to “read between the lines” when it comes to the teachings of the anti-missionaries whose goal is to take you away from the WHOLE Truth and bring you into theirs. NOBODY has the market cornered on YHWH’s Truth.  We are all just trying to learn.  Unfortunately, we are constantly being pulled apart by those who claim to “know it all” – when, in reality, their teachings don’t necessarily line up with Scripture.  To see how you can refute many of the anti-missionary assertions, we invite you to check out our Countering Jewish Anti-Missionaries page.