Survey Shows Messianic IDF Soldiers Share Their Faith - Israel Today Staff

Survey Shows Messianic IDF Soldiers Share Their Faith

Wednesday, March 02, 2016 |  Israel Today Staff

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Messianic Jews

The Israeli Messianic community website and news portal Kehila News Israel (KNI) has published a survey showing that not only do young Messianic Jews serving in the Israeli army boldly share their faith, but they generally receive positive reactions when doing so.

KNI conducted the survey in cooperation with the various local ministries that host events for young soldiers.

A whopping 96 percent of respondents said their fellow soldiers know they are followers of Yeshua. Perhaps even more encouraging is that 65 percent said reactions to their faith have been positive, even inquisitive.

Israeli Messianic Jews proudly serve in the IDF just like everyone else, and the growing number of believers in the military was demonstrated by the fact that 30 percent of survey respondents said there is at least one more fellow believer in their unit.

Head on over to Kehila News to see the full results of the survey.

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Rabbi Threatens to Kill Messianic Jewish Evangelists - ISRAEL TODAY

Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin, the Israeli Messianic Jews behind the One For Israel project

Rabbi Threatens to Kill Messianic Jewish Evangelists

Sunday, October 25, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff

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A well-known, though already controversial, Israeli rabbi recently released a video encouraging his followers that Messianic Jews sharing the Gospel deserve the “death penalty.”

“Whoever incites to idolatry, his punishment is death,” stated Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi. “And whoever follows him also deserves death!”

Mizrachi was referring specifically to Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin, the Israeli Messianic Jews behind the One For Israel project that exists primarily to share the Gospel via the Internet.

In one of their more recent videos, Bar and Vaknin exposed several of Mizrachi’s false teachings regarding Yeshua and the promises about Messiah.

Mizrachi warned that “if they dare to speak up again, these two clowns, I will strike them down.”

In a video response to Mizrachi’s threat, Bar and Vaknin asked for prayers for their personal safety, but also expressed forgiveness and love for the wayward rabbi.

“Rabbi Mizrachi, we still love you, forgive your incitement, and refuse to hate you back,” said Vaknin.

Born in Israel, Rabbi Mizrachi now resides in New York where he heads an organization that teaches his brand of Judaism to both religious and secular Jews. He has courted controversy in the past by, among other things, suggesting that Down’s Syndrome and autism are “punishments for sins committed in a previous life.”

Watch the full video response by Eitan Bar and Moti Vaknin here: Rabbi and Messianic Jews

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Messianic Student Fellowship in Israel

The Messianic Student Fellowship in Israel

Israel Today

Monday, June 03, 2013 |  David Lazarus  

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Higher education has always played a pivotal role in the economic and social development of Israel. Decades before the state came into being, major institutions like the Technion in Haifa and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem were established to train up a new generation of Jewish professionals.

When Israel attained independence in 1948, these were the only two universities, educating a total of 1,600 students. Today there are more than 300,000 students enrolled at the country's 67 institutions of higher learning—and one Messianic Student Fellowship.

Until recently there were only a handful of Messianic Jews on campuses around Israel. Few in number and largely ostracized by their own people, the early Jewish followers of Jesus in Israel were perhaps just too busy trying to survive to think about going to college.Whatever the reasons, Lisa Loden, Chairperson of the Messianic Student Fellowship in Israel, says Messianic Jews in Israel did not give a high priority to higher education.

The full article appears in the current issue of Israel Today Magazine.

Israel's Messianic Jews celebrate Shavuot

Israel's Messianic Jews celebrate Shavuot

Thursday, May 16, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  

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Israeli Messianic believers in Yeshua from across the country gathered in the Jerusalem-area village of Yad Hashmonah on Wednesday to mark the biblical festival of Shavuot.

Shavuot is one of Israel's most revered biblical holidays, as it commemorates, among other things, the giving of God's Word at Mt. Sinai. The holiday has entered the Christian calendar as Pentecost, the day of the outpouring of God's spirit on the local body of Yeshua's followers in Jerusalem. So, for Israeli believers, Shavuot is doubly important.

As with every year, hundreds of Messianic Jews and Christians living in Israel made their way to Yad Hashmonah for the festive event. Among those addressing the gathering was a Ugandan pastor who two years ago had acid poured over his head by an angry Muslim gang. He is currently living in Israel to undergo treatment in Tel Aviv.

The African visitor said he was raised a Muslim who hated the Jewish state, but after finding the Bible realized that every passage made clear that the God of Israel is the one and only true God.

Israel Today Magazine On-line