BACK FROM THE BRINK: My Brush With Christianity – by Rafi Levy
Pastor McDonald and my “friends” told me that I must be possessed by Satan and that I had better think twice about my decision to deny Christ or I would burn in Hell forever.
Nevertheless, I was determined to end a two-year chapter of my life as a believing Christian. I could no longer listen to this mind-controlling propaganda. I had to listen to my mind, my intellect and my soul.
Here’s my story …
I was born in a coastal town in Israel in 1998. My mother had also been born in Israel, into an Orthodox Jewish family. My dad came from a secular Jewish family in the Ukraine. I was always hungry for spirituality, longing to be closer to God. Synagogues held no appeal for me because I did not feel that there was any spirituality there, only boring, mind-numbing services and davening.
I had grown up with negative feelings towards Christians because of the Holocaust. I felt that Christians stood by and either did nothing or were responsible for aiding and abetting the Nazis as millions of innocent Jews were killed, including members of both sides of my family. I was brought up to believe that Jesus had been a traitor and an enemy to Jews. That is essentially all I knew about the man.
My family immigrated to Canada in 2006. In October 2013, while in Grade 10, I had my first exposure to devout Christians. I became friendly with a girl who was a very active member of Calvary Evangelical Church. When I found out that she was a Christian, I decided to put my knowledge of Judaism to the test.
She began debating me about God, sin and atonement, heaven and hell, and whether Jesus was the real Messiah. I didn’t have any answers. I was ignorant of the issues. Eventually, she lent me a book about a Jewish man who felt betrayed by his daughter’s conversion to Christianity. The man later became a Christian himself, as did the rest of his family. I found the book quite compelling, but I had turned a blind eye to the fact that the central character of the book knew virtually nothing about Judaism when he renounced it and converted.
In February 2014, my friend invited me to attend a meeting of my high school’s Christian group, known as Brothers and Sisters in Christ (BASIC). Although no one approached me directly during the meeting, I was amazed by all the love and passion that seemed to flow in the room. It appeared to me that these people possessed something warm and special, which I had been seeking for a long, long time.
That night, I decided to take a closer look at Jesus and watched a lot of Christian YouTube videos. I began to attend more worship services at Calvary Evangelical Church and particularly enjoyed the lively praise and singing. The pastor presented me with a Christian bible. He specifically asked me to read the New Testament books of Hebrews and Romans. As a result of my reading, I began to consider that the Torah of the Jews must now be null and void, having been replaced by the “New Covenant” of the Christian “Messiah” Jesus. Slowly, I was becoming more convinced of the claims of Christianity.
Without telling my parents, I attended an Easter Sunday service at the church. Filled with stirring hymns and powerful sermons, it was the most beautiful service and spiritual event that I had ever experienced. A skit about the alleged resurrection of Jesus really blew me away. My parents were freaked out when they found out that I was going to church regularly and reading the New Testament daily. Even though they punished me, it didn’t deter me. The following week, when Pastor McDonald asked if anyone in the service wanted to accept Jesus into their heart, I went forward to the altar, confessed Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, and asked him to forgive me for my sins. I became a “born-again” Christian.
I attended Calvary Evangelical almost every week, occasionally going to the Wednesday youth group bible studies. I decided that Christianity had more relevance to my life than Judaism ever had.
I met twice with Jeff Schwartz, the “rabbi” of the local “Messianic Jewish Synagogue,” and attended their “Erev Shabbat” services a few times. I also attended an inspiring Jews for Jesus concert and found myself enjoying their music while rejecting their proselytiz¬ing approach. I was unimpressed by the “Messianic Jewish” movement and felt that its adherents were living a double life, fooling themselves by hanging on to Jewish tradition and practice. My inten¬tion was to assimilate into the Calvary Evangelical congregation and to become an elder there someday. I was convinced that Christianity had become the new covenant of the God of Israel.
In March 2016, I was baptized at Calvary. My speech that day contained many references to my Jewish background because that was where I had come from. I was convinced that if Jews were to see the life I was living, they too would come to accept Jesus into their hearts. I did not realize at the time that my baptism was both the high point … and the beginning of the end … of my life as a Christian.
My parents were devastated after I told them that I’d been baptized. I often heard them crying at night. I would pray to Jesus that they would understand. One day, my mom gave me a booklet published by Jews for Judaism. It was called The Jewish Response to Missionaries: Counter- Missionary Handbook, and it directly challenged many of my essential Christian beliefs. The claims it made shook me to the core, so I put it aside and decided to continue being a Christian, despite my new doubts, which began to weigh on my mind as a result of reading this booklet.
In December 2016, I travelled to Israel with my parents. I was totally captivated by the beauty of the land, especially Jerusalem. I met a lot of religious Jews who were passionate about their Judaism and happily shared their insights. It made me think a lot about my faith. The trip kindled a spark within me. That spark reignited the doubts I developed from reading the Jews for Judaism booklet and forced me to confront my decision to be a Christian.
I returned to the Jews for Judaism Jewish Response to Missionaries hand¬book. It finally opened my eyes. With it, I started carefully studying the Bible. The Jewish and the Christian scriptures were utterly inconsistent on every issue and Messianic proof that I studied. The alleged Messianic prophecies about Jesus didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Then I found Rabbi Michael Skobac’s YouTube video, A Rabbi Cross- Examines Christianity. It was amazing. I was discovering just too many contradictions and inconsistencies. I began to realize that I had made a huge mistake in becoming a Christian and that I couldn’t continue with my faith in Jesus anymore.
I immediately contacted Jews for Judaism and attended their six-week Counter-Missionary Survival Seminar, which started a few days later. With the help of that compelling information and some amazing one-on-one counselling from Rabbi Skobac, I did teshuvah (repentance) and returned to Judaism.
I called my Christian friends and informed them of my decision to leave the church and return to my Jewish faith. They made many powerful emotional appeals to sway me to remain in the church, but their attempts were futile. I was convinced otherwise.
There was no turning back.
Thanks to the information I learned from Jews for Judaism, I successfully defeated three of my missionary friends in a debate. I thank God for Jews for Judaism. I feel confident and happy about my decision to reject the claims of Christianity and embrace my Jewish heritage. My parents are happy, too.
Thank God, I am now on the road towards living a spiritually fulfilling and rewarding Jewish life. Thank you to Jews for Judaism.
(Names and details have been changed for privacy)
