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Around midnight, other than a dark figure following me, I was the only person on

the street.

Would you like to buy some drugs? He asked in perfect English from behind.

No I said abruptly as I continued walking.

I was an American college student, dirty, and on the streets in the middle of the

night. He must have assumed I was not on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.How about a girl? I can get you a girl right now, he continued. I was tired,

wanted sleep, and not interested in immoral behavior, but this guy would not leave

me alone.

Thirty minutes later he was still following me. I looked to the sky and prayed,

Lord, I am exhausted and want to sleep, but, it appears you have other plans for

me tonight. You want me to talk with this guy.

We now stood under a streetlight and I could make out the features of a young

Arab man.

I am not interested in drugs or prostitutes, I began. Several months ago

Jesus came into my life and made me a new creature, and those old immoral things

passed away.

He listened quietly as I explained that the Lord has a plan for all lives, and it

begins with accepting Jesus.

Some Jews told me this yesterday, he blurted out. They told me Jesus loves

Messianic Jewish baptisms

at Pool of Siloam, 1973.

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the Arabs as much as he does Jews. He became very excited and insisted I

meet his Jewish friends, which I did the next day. They invited me to live in the

Old City, behind the Damascus Gate.

I realized that a tour guide was not needed. The Lord was taking care of all

the arrangements.

The Messianic Jews had a fellowship on Prophet Street that held servicesthroughout the week. Since I was the only one able to play a musical instrument,

guitar, I led singing.

The Jerusalem community loved to sing and dance. I sat on the top of a piano

playing and singing as people poured in from the busy street outside. The Or-

thodox Jewish community was openly antagonistic toward the Jesus movement,

but most Jews were inquisitive and I spent many hours sharing Christ.

I wanted to know more about this Jesus that I was told all my life did not

exist, said a Russian Jew who accepted Jesus in Israel.

Our fellowship held baptismal services at the pool of Siloam, the place that

Jesus healed a blind man. We also occasionally took part in meetings with other

mainstream Christian denominations. Though Messianic Jews have accepted

Jesus, they still consider themselves Jews.

Many think Messianic Jews are converts to Christianity, said one member of

our fellowship, Alex Vig, a Jew from New York as we sat in a Jerusalem restau-

rant one day. But, Christians are really converts to Judaism.

Messianic Jews point out that Jesus never stated that he intended to set up a

new religion, separate from Judaism. They also point out that Jesus still ob-served Jewish holy days and took part in Temple worship.

I learned more about the First Century followers of Jesus from a Danish tour

guide at the Garden Tomb, a short distance from my Jerusalem home. We often

sat by the Garden Tomb and talked.

Most people say the Jews didnt accept Jesus, but that is not true, he said

one day as we drank lemonade. All the first followers of Jesus were Jews. They

followed him in large numbers and First Century Jewish Law upheld his legiti-

macy as the Jewish Messiah.

The message of the Garden Tomb moderator, though spoken 40 years ago is

becoming very popular with Jews and gentiles today. To my knowledge, we were

the only Messianic Jewish congregation in Jerusalem during the Jesus move-

ment, but there are now 15-20. Also, many non-Jews have become interested in

the customs of Jesus and the First Century church. Jewish Seders, commonly

referred to as the Last Supperin the New Testament, are becoming popular in

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Christian churches.

Persecution of Jewish followers of Jesus was intense during the Jesus move-

ment. One night the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a militant organization headed

(at that time) by Rabbi Meir Kaahane attempted to stage a riot during one of our

services.

The JDL is a violent organization. While many Jews advocate passive resistanceto anti-Semitism, the JDL encourages taking up arms. They have been linked to

bombings of Russian organi-

zations. The Federal Bureau

of Investigation (FBI) labeled

the group a right-wing terror-

ist group in 2001 because of

their violence.

I was leading worship when

a young man stood and be-

gan shouting that Hitler was a

Christian. Other JDL rushed

into our meeting and at-

tempted to provoke us to

fight. When none of the wor-

shippers would fight, the JDL

attempted to break furniture

and windows.During the confusion, a

JDL was injured and lay un-

conscious on the floor. The

JDL rioters became quiet and

eventually left the gathering

as we attended to their in-

jured comrade. We later

found out the JDL had called

police during the disturbance

and claimed we were causing

problems for the community.

They hoped the disturbance

would get us deported.

The Jesus movement in

Jerusalem was the beginning

Messianic Jews make their way throughHezekiahs Tunnel. It leads under the walls of

Jerusalem.

of a great revival preparing to sweep the land of

Israel. Modern Israel has Jewish followers of Jesus

throughout the land.

The Jesus Movement:

Sept. 2012messianicjudaismnetwork.com

Also Watch:

BASIC House Jesus Movement

Youtube

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