At times it seems that there is only a remnant of Jews who believe in the Messiahship of Jesus, and we are often accused of being brainwashed.
But the number or the general consensus have never been a good indication. Especially not during the time of the Old Testament. See for example God’s answer to the Prophet Elijah, after he complained that the people of Israel didn’t really follow him: “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal” (1 Kings 19:18). There was a remnant of the people of Israel that truly followed God.
Today is no different.
Almost all of us Jews being told from childhood that Jesus is “A gentile for gentile.” Why is this? Who is really being brainwashed?
There is no doubt that we are not in the majority; according to Wikipedia, there are no more than half a million Jews in the world who believe in Jesus. And most likely, even that number surprises you. Most of the Messianics in Israel prefer to keep a low profile due to all kinds of persecution by different Orthodox groups. But in reality, there have always been thousands of Jews who believed in Jesus the Messiah in the past, and also today, the numbers of Jewish believers is increasing.
The problem is that most Jews have never bothered to check the true facts about Jesus. The Orthodox Jews believe a myth about Jesus in the Talmud that was invented by the rabbis who hated him with a passion – a myth that, it must be said, was conjured up some 500 years after Jesus. As for secular Jews, most of them think of Jesus as the baby from the Christian Christmas stories, or the emaciated figure on the hanging crosses in churches, or, Jesus of the Crusades and of the Inquisition. All this instead of looking back in history and learning about the most famous Jew in the world from the original source; the New Testament.
So allow us to present a few points to you:
Most Jews have never seriously investigated much about Jesus. Those who have chosen to examine the person of Jesus have been surprised by what they found. There was a time when the most educated and greatest scientists believed that the earth was flat, but they had to change their mind when new research showed that the earth was in fact round. The same applies to Jews who seriously investigate about Jesus. Those who find out who He truly is will have their lives and worldview transformed. When religious Jews learn anything about Jesus from the rabbis in their academies, the information comes from malicious myths and is influenced by prejudice. The possibility that Jesus might be the Messiah is not even considered to be an option in these academies.
In addition, Christianity deviated away from its Jewish roots over time, and many supposed “Christians” did horrific acts to the Jewish people, audaciously in the name of Jesus, and so caused many Jewish people to loathe Jesus. Those “Christians” presented a false image of Jesus to the people of Israel; a Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes, with minimal resemblance to the Jewish Jesus who lived here in Israel about 2,000 years ago. This also explains why, when a Jew does come to the recognition that Jesus is the Messiah, they face a tremendous amount of pressure from family and his peers. Those who give in to the pressure, to the threats, the rejection and loneliness, have to keep a low profile and their faith in Jesus a hidden secret.
The teachings about the Messiah in traditional Judaism and among the modern rabbis ceased to be based on the Old Testament prophecies, since they point to Jesus. Instead today there is a vague and blurry image of who the Messiah will be and what he will accomplish, as we discuss in another video dedicated to this subject.
And what if a rabbi or a religious Jew does come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah? The community defames him and erases his name from their memory, as if he never existed. A good example of this is the life story of Rabbi Dr. Wertheimer. As part of his position, he served for about ten years as the rabbi of the synagogue “B’nai Yeshurun”, and was very much loved by the community members. But when he came to faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Jewish academy that qualified him to be a rabbi, erased his name from its list.
There are many Jewish Israelis among us who comes from strict and conservative families, who kicked them out of their homes and severed any connection with them only because of their faith in Jesus. If more Jews, including rabbis, will believe in Him, will this all of a sudden, cause you to believe?
The truth is, that it shouldn’t concern you what others think, because it doesn’t change the facts. The dilemma still stands: either Jesus is your Messiah, the Messiah of the people of Israel, and of the entire world, or he is not the Messiah of anyone. What the majority believe doesn’t change or affect the truth.
Sometimes when people see that the majority accepts a certain opinion as the norm, they are also more willing to be open about their beliefs. Maybe it will help you to know that many of us Jewish believers have met religious Jews and even with rabbis who admitted right in front of us that they secretly believe in Jesus the Messiah, but are unable to admit that in public, from fear for their lives if their faith becomes known.
As we grow from infancy to adulthood, we find out that not everything we were told or taught is true. Sometimes, we have to learn certain things on our own and not to depend on the “indoctrination” we grew up with. Even as adults, we need to adopt certain opinions over other opinions and to be sure of them. Look around you… What do the democrats think of the republicans and vice versa? What do the Muslims believe about the Jews, and vice versa? Our opinions and the things we passionately believe in are not always true, and it doesn’t matter how much we will argue to prove that our position is the right one. It’s illogical to think that all of us, with our contrasting views, are always right at the same time. It is the same in relationships; each one of us has been in a situation where they judged someone too soon, but once they got to know them better, they found that what they thought of that person up until that point, wasn’t right.
It’s the same with Jesus; most likely what you’ve heard of Jesus up until today has been based on prejudice and even on lies. Therefore, you owe it to yourself to investigate and to find out who Jesus is. After all, he is the most famous Jew who ever lived!
We know that people say we have been brainwashed, but we promise you that most of us were born into an environment that is very hostile towards Jesus, and therefore each one of us who accepted the faith in Jesus as the Messiah did so only after having researched it thoroughly; the prophecies in the Old Testament, the writings of the New Testament and the words of Jesus. When we invited Jesus into our hearts, He changed our lives; He became for us an eternal source of living water. So, don’t let your rabbi, your friends, or even your aunt think for you. Think and check for yourself, who is Jesus to you?
