Red Flags
The Christian missionary is in essence encouraging a transaction. He is asking you to give the devotion of your heart to Jesus and in return he is promising you a service in the after-life – “eternal salvation”.
When someone encourages you to commit yourself to a transaction, you look out for “red flags” – warning signs that something may be amiss with the transaction that is being offered. The purpose of this article is to help you see the red flags inherent in the missionary presentation.
Christian missionaries claim that Jesus entered the world to reverse the effects of Adam’s sin (Romans5:19). The missionary contends that when Adam sinned, all of mankind was condemned to eternal hell and those who direct their devotion to Jesus are saved from this punishment.
Here is the red flag. If you read the Bible (Genesis 3:1-24), you will not find the punishment of eternal hell decreed as a result of Adam’s sin. In fact hell is not mentioned in that passage at all. What is mentioned is the decree that man will work for his bread by the sweat of his brow, that women will suffer the pain of child-birth and that the earth will give forth thorns and thistles. Are believers in Jesus free from these curses? Are their land free of thorns? Do they not have to work for their sustenance? Are Christian women free of the pains of child birth?
The fact that all of the tangible and visible effects of Adam’s sin are NOT removed through faith in Jesus, while it is only the intangible curse of eternal hell-fire, that is not even recorded as an effect of Adam’s sin, that is allegedly removed through faith in Jesus – should set some bells ringing.
Here is another red flag.
Missionaries claim that Jesus is a fulfillment of various messianic prophecies that are recorded in the Jewish Bible. They encourage you to accept Jesus as your “savior” on the basis of these fulfilled prophecies. In effect the missionary is telling you that the Jewish Bible is a book that you can rely on to make a life-changing decision. If this is such a weighty book wouldn’t you think that the Divine Author knew how to present Himself? You would think that the book itself would adequately teach whatever message God felt that we need to know. Why does the book need the supplement of the missionary presentation to help you “get the message”? If the missionary would sincerely want you to base your life on this book, he should leave you with a copy of the book and encourage you to read it (preferably in the original language). Why does he find the need to provide you with a list of preselected passages and an accompanying explanation in order to help you “see the light”?
One more red flag.
Throughout history, many students of the Jewish Bible have come to the realization that Jesus is NOT the Messiah predicted by the Jewish prophets, and that devotion to him as a deity is idolatrous. The authors of the Christian Scriptures explain this phenomena to their audience with the explanation that those who don’t accept the claims of Jesus are children of the devil and that they are spiritually blinded (John8:44, 2Corinthians3:14). What is the proof for the “spiritual blindness” of these people? Does this spiritual blindness manifest itself in any tangible way? No, it doesn’t. Some of these “spiritually blinded children of the devil” were paragons of humility, kindness, honesty and devotion to God. The “proof” to their spiritual blindness is simply their non-acceptance of Jesus!
I don’t expect you to take me on my word, but the purpose of this article is to get you to think twice before taking the missionary on his word. Please study the issue seriously before trusting the missionary. Study the Jewish Bible from cover to cover. Ask yourself: What faith is this book encouraging? To whom is this book encouraging me to direct the devotion of my heart?
I trust that you will find the truth in the pages of the Jewish Bible.
If you found this article helpful please consider making a donation to Judaism Resources by clicking on the link below.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FEAQ55Y7MR3E6
Judaism Resources is a recognized 501(c) 3 public charity and your donation is tax exempt.
Thank You
Yisroel C. Blumenthal
1000 Verses - a project of Judaism Resources 
I have a quick question: Does not the Jewish Scriptures offer a ‘transaction’ for those that seek the God of Israel (Jer 29:13, etc). In other words, it seems like it’s the Lord’s nature to offer a transaction when there is dedication shown towards Him and His Word. I may be misunderstanding your opening paragraph, but it seems to me that whomever it is that is the Messiah will certainly offer the promises of Scripture to those who earnestly seek Him and follow Him. I’d love your feedback and appreciate your willingness to respond!
There is nothing in the first paragraph, or any one after it, which suggests that “transactions” are inherently “bad”. The Rabbi is only warning us about certain “red flags” that indicate that there may be bad consequences or even grave danger when dealing with individuals. For example, if you want to buy a used car, there are signs that you are dealing with an honest seller or agent and if you buy a car from them, you will get a “good deal” and you won’t ever regret your transaction. But there are also signs that the seller is unethical (& the “car” is junk and a “lemon”) and is not telling you all the facts, but only certain select info (like select bible verses) and then only distorted or half-true info (like a word in the OT verse is mistranslated). Red signs you need to look out for when someone desperately “wants to get you in a new (to you) car today”. They will make a deal almost “too good to be true”. Now if you already decided that “car” is for you, you don’t want to hear about “be cautious” or about red flags from a “car nut friend” or a “3rd party mechanic” (the Rabbi), although the advice is learned and unbiased and with no self-interest involved. Another example is the sober friend who says give me your car keys, because they see the signs, the red flags, that you are too drunk to drive (you protest because you’re “drunk”, vulnerable to those who want to take advantage of you in your current emotional state and while your judgement is clouded yet you reject your true friends who tell you what you really don’t to hear right now. Now, you may only see half of the truth because that is all you want to see. There are those who want to preach to you after they “whip you into an emotional state”, an ecstatic state, when you “drunk on the lord”. You true friend wants you clear headed, so you can tell right from wrong (with it’s red flags), so you can study together (or alone) and so you can savor all the Word, all the Truth.
So maybe this is the reason some seem upset and have a misunderstanding of the clear, unambiguous words of the rabbi; they don’t want to notice any read flags which might cause them to stop & think again. Maybe that is why some folks want to be “sweet talked” with a set of a relatively few, select verses (or partial verses) that tells them dreamy, fantastic, nice things about their future in comparison with their “horrid”, miserable”, sinful past. And the hell you go to if you reject their deal.
Now to be clear, not all those (not even most) who offer you a “deal” are unethical or unscrupulous individuals. Most truly believe in the product that they are selling and they sincerely believe it good for all others. But these are “babes”. They need to study for themselves; see it with their own eyes. That is why I hope some will read the writings of some of “the names that I drop” or websites I mention in their effort to “prove me wrong”. For instance, search the web for the phrase “hell is not real” and you may see a fine article by a Christian about “the unbiblical origin of the concept of hell”, although a concept of hell is indispensible to many people’s theology. Fear of “hell” is a red flag.
Scott
Thanks for your question – I have no problem with a transaction my problem is with a shady deal
Shalom
Please read about another red flag: I was living in Germany and Switzerland so far. Here, we have reformed areas and Roman Catholic areas likewise. And you simply can tell the difference by driving through. Catholic areas are marked with crucifixes at the roadsides. Everyone who pretends you had to accept Jesus is not allowed to see the fact that Jesus is a carven image and that his Jesus imagination was derived from this image first and foremost.
There is no passage in Jewish nor in Christian Bibles that states you had to remove the corpus from this idol in order to make it God pleasant. Maybe, they please a triune Christian God (including a God-Son called ‘Jesus’ – SHMA ISRAEL!) with this behaviour but HaShem had told Moshe that HE expects of HIS people to set such a God on fire. HaShem had made clear that HE wants HIS people not to serve ‘Jesus’ nor to adore him. Obviously pagan missionaries that call themselves “Christian” are unaware of the true meaning of the Second Commandment.
Greetings
Shomer
Reblogged this on 1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources.
The Miaskite (excuse me) missionary also misunderstands the death penalty that Hashem pronounced if man sinned. the definition given by our prophets is that “his children will experience certain things but he will not know anything about it” Also Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 9:5,10 The dead know nothing. no screaming in agony from the perverted imagination of the missionary. Of Pharaoh we read in Ezekiel 32 “He is being comforted in hell (sheol) Also in Yiddish “A Michaya” not “A tsabrenta mench” Love your comments Rabbi Y.
Of Pharaoh we read in Ezekiel 32 “He is being comforted in hell (sheol)
A genocidal madman is being comforted? explain this verse if you please.
If you genuinely believe that Pharoah did the things he is reported to have done, what do you make of that?
Concerned Reader It wasn’t the Pharaoh of teh Exodus that Ezekiel was referring to 1000 Verses – a project of Judaism Resources wrote: >
I realized that after I posted. I’m sorry rabbi.
Excellent article! The first one is new to me and is a water tight case against “the second Adam”.