What’s wrong with these Jews, an irate American missionary blurted in an email he thought was going to his friend but went, instead, to The Jewish Press online editor.
The feedback email of The Jewish Press on Wednesday received what was probably supposed to be an irate comment in a private email to a friend by our reader (who shall remain nameless) criticizing an article we ran earlier in the day, about a missionary group who donated state-of-the-art equipment to several dozen Jewish security coordinators from the Eshkol Regional Council (alongside the Gaza Strip). The only catch was that the group, “Gentile Ministry,” also included in the package a stack of bibles, each with an attached page “proving” the Jewish prophets had prophesized the coming of Jesus.
Needless to say, our readers, in Israel and abroad, had some unkind things to say about the group, which prompted the angry letter that said, above a link to our story:
“Hello George. Amazing, is it not? Evangelical Christians are the best friends that Israel has, and yet the Jews refuse to even discuss Christ. Read some of the comments below the article (missionaries donate equipment, Bibles).
“Blessings to you and the family…”
Which kind of proved the point Yad L’Achim was making when they complained about the group in a letter to the Israeli government, because in the Jewish State it is against the law to tempt someone with a gift to get them to convert to your religion.
It was also a rare opportunity to peek into the mind of this missionary who honestly looks at the Jews in Israel and elsewhere as raw potential for conversions, and nothing but that. There are, in fact, millions of Christians out there who are capable of giving simply out of empathy, even love, expecting, perhaps, a thank you in return—which Jews are only too happy to say—but if they harbor recruitment fantasies they are very good at keeping them private.
Let’s call this incident a glitch and continue to love and appreciate American religious gentiles who are the best gentile friends Jews ever had.
