More from the book ‘Whole Bible Christianity’
The Messianic movement began within Judaism as a group of Jews who had realized that the long-awaited Messiah was in fact Jesus (people like Peter, James, and Paul). In a way, most practicing Jews have always been ‘messianic’ in that they look for God’s Messiah. The Messianic movement really goes back to the beginning with whoever trusted God and His Promise. But the modern Messianic movement accepts Jesus as the Messiah, and maintains Jewish heritage and practice (sort of).
There are factions within this group just as there are in Judaism. It had grown a lot since the ‘70’s, but seems to be shrinking in the last few years. This might be due to an emphasis on Jewish traditions and trying to be as ‘Jewish’ as possible. But it’s clear to me, in view of the large number of non-practicing Jews, that even Jews are not all that interested in Judaism, messianic or otherwise.
The Messianic movement had such great potential. Through some of the individuals and a couple of good organizations such as First Fruits of Zion, I learned much about the unity of God and the Word. Messianics had a chance to unite everyone in a type of whole Bible belief, but like the Pharisees in Judaism they traded it for bickering and chasing unbiblical doctrine for the sake of power and influence.
Instead of a return to the Bible as one faith and one law that applies to everyone, now they’ve got a race to see who can be more Jewish orthodox and hand out “divine invitations.” Instead of one God, many deny the deity of Jesus. Instead of one Body they’ve got two houses. It’s a mess, and they’ve drifted away from where they had such a bright future in terms of bringing back believers to the whole Bible. Idiots. And I say that in the best way possible, because I still like a bunch of them.