One highlight of returning back to America to visit friends and family is Christian radio. Although while overseas I am grateful for the modern age and the host of Christian messages and podcasts available online, but there is something that sends a smile trekking across my face when I randomly turn on broadcast radio and hear a sermon, talk, or Christian music.
Last year, shortly after returning from Asia I flipped on the radio while driving in California and landed on KWVE 107.9, a Calvary Chapel owned station that features primarily Calvary Chapel Bible Teachers. I caught the tail end of a pastor introducing a Jewish girl’s resettlement testimony to Israel. The pastor congratulated his church for donating over 1 million dollars through an organization called IFCJ (International Fellowship of Christians and Jews) for the resettlement of Jews to Israel while giving a short pep talk on how this was the Christian responsibility.
I was interested to hear the testimony of this young girl. She had come from the Ukraine and although hardly Jewish in anything but her distant genetic heritage, she was often rejected from society because of this undesired “baggage” she had received. After becoming an adult she heard of a Jewish resettlement program through IFCJ and chose to make the big move.
Her introduction grabbed me and I was eagerly waiting on the edge of my seat to hear how she had found Jesus through her resettlement. But instead, she went on to share how she was initially brought to a training center where she found many others like herself. In a tightknit community they learned Hebrew together, Jewish traditions, and adopted her long-lost Jewish faith. She concluded by thanking the Church for helping people like herself and stepped off the stage to the background noise of joyous applause and strong affirmation and praise from the pastor.
I had to turn off the radio, I was furious. Did I hear correctly? Did I miss the Jesus part? This church had given more than a million dollars to send Jews back to Israel to be indoctrinated with a false religion, and then they rejoiced in it!
Even devoted Dispensationals, in their strong support of Israel must have a limit to their support for Israel. And that limit surely is the point when evangelicals begin shoveling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to support false teaching. In this case, the teaching that one can receive salvation apart from Christ. Make no mistake, Judaism is a false religion that firmly and vehemently teaches that Jesus was not the Messiah. Although, Christians and Jews share the same pages of Scripture in the Old Testament, our interpretations are distinctly different. Christians have the New Testament revelation to guide our interpretation of the older testament and how these pages point toward Christ. This is precisely what Jesus, the Apostles, and Christians throughout the ages have done.
Let me close with a clarification. Although I do not identify as a full blown dispensationalist, my issue here is not with the particulars of dispensationalism. It is with what I believe most dispensationalists would also affirm – Judaism without Christ does not lead to eternal salvation. If a church feels so led to support Israel so passionately, there are a number of other means by which a million dollars could be spent, and might I recommend one that involves the proclaiming of the gospel in the midst of this support!