When a “rabbi” who preaches Jesus as the messiah, offered prayers to honor the victims of the Pittsburg synagogue he outraged the Jewish community. Most disturbing is the revelation that it was a Jewish congressional nominee who invited Messianic Rabbi Loren Jacobs to offer the offensive prayers.
Nominee Lena Epstein justified her decision in the name of “embracing our religious differences.” How ironic, since Messianic Jews confuse and distort religious differences.
Messianic leader Jacobs, said his prayer while wearing a traditional Jewish prayer shawl know as a “tallit” but without his head covered with a Yarmulke - the Jewish sign of reverence for God.
The tallit Jacobs was wearing contains braided strings tied in accordance to rabbinic Jewish teaching, however, Messianic Jews reject rabbinical Judaism. It is hypocritical to usurp rabbinic tradition and call yourself a “rabbi” and at the same time reject rabbinic Judaism. Additionally, Jesus himself instructed his followers to “not be called rabbi” Matthew 23:8.
Now you can see why the Jewish community is offended by Messianic Judaism. Rather than respecting our differences, it creates a mishmash of contradictory religious beliefs and practices.
More than one Messianic leader has admitted that they only adopt Jewish traditions as a modality to attract Jews to Christianity. In case you think only Jews are offended by this religious distortion, many Christians also see Messianic Judaism as misleading. In response to Messianic Jews for Jesus tactics, the Reverend Billy Graham denounced the use of “gimmicks” when sharing the Christian faith.
The victims of the Pittsburgh Synagogue attack deserved to be honored by a rabbi who shared their beliefs and not someone who distorts them. Lena Epstein should have known better and owes the Jewish community an apology.
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Washington Post
Appearing with the vice president on Monday, Loren Jacobs invoked “Jesus the Messiah" and asked God to favor Republicans in next month's midterm elections
AOL
Rabbi cites Jesus in prayer for synagogue victims with Pence
Rabbi Loren Jacobs of Messianic congregation Shema Yisrael was invited to pray at a Michigan campaign stop with Vice President Mike Pence.
JTA
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Lena Epstein, a Jewish Republican nominee for Congress in Michigan, defended inviting a Messianic rabbi to honor the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre at a campaign event that featured Vice President Mike Pence. “I invited the prayer because we must unite as a nation — while embracing our religious differences