‘I Was Fooled’
September 05, 2007
“Dear readers,” began the letter from the missionary known as the Warrior Knight. “For a good many months I believed in J.C., but a week ago I began to question the whole matter and to examine the truth, the historical facts, and the credibility of the New Testament… I reached the conclusion that the New Testament is lies, made up by people…”
The author is a messianic Jew who wrote a popular newsletter that succeeded, in getting Jews to convert to Christianity. He came to the attention of Yad L’Achim, after many complaints were received by readers who were furious at his newsletter.
Instead of just trying to stop the newsletter’s distribution, Yad L’Achim decided to reach its author and try to show him the error of his ways. The first hurdle was finding the man, who had taken care to shield his identity. Yad L’Achim used its experience of more than 50 years in battling missionaries and its contacts to discover the true identity and home address of the “Warrior Knight” and sent some of its people to pay him a visit.
The missionary was surprised to hear a knock at the door of his Bersheva apartment one evening last month. He was even more surprised, when he answered, to find three religious Jews standing at the door.
“You sure you have the right address?” he asked.
“We’re sure we’re at the right place, Warrior Knight,” responded one of the visitors.
Hearing his code name, the missionary understood that he had been discovered and that the purpose of their visit was anything but innocent. He reluctantly invited them in.
The three – Rabbi Avraham Bitkin, Rabbi Meir Cohen and Moshe, who had been rescued from missionaries – introduced themselves as Yad L’Achim representatives and the missionary began to squirm uncomfortably. When he heard the name of the senior member of the group, M., he looked disbelievingly. M. had been a leading member of the messianic Jews and brought many new members to their center in the Sharon Region. Like so many other members of the cult, the Warrior Knight had been shocked at the news of Moshe’s disappearance two years earlier. Now, seeing him as a G-d-fearing, mitzvah-observant Jew, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Are you interested in discovering the real truth about the cult or are you content with your own truth,” Moshe asked, taking advantage of the missionary’s stunned silence.
This was the opening to a marathon discussion that at times became heated. For every point that the missionary raised in defense of his views, the three delivered crushing rejoinders that left his logic in tatters. The towering edifice he had built for himself, with the help of the cult to which he belonged, collapsed like a house of cards.
After nearly 18 hours of discussion, the missionary looked into the eyes of his interlocutors and confessed: “You’ve given me food for thought. I must work out all the facts and think about them by myself.” At this, the three got up, shook hands and left the missionary alone with his thoughts. They prayed that their words, which had come straight from their hearts, would penetrate his heart. It was clear to them that it wasn’t just the fate of one lost Jew that was at stake, but that of the many Jews whom he was dragging along with him.
The next day, at 11 a.m., Harav Shalom Dov Lifschitz, founding chairman of Yad L’Achim, was holding a meeting in his office in the organization’s Bnei Brak headquarters, when Rabbi Meir Cohen, broke in with a copy of the Warrior Knight’s latest missive to his followers.
Under the headline, “Spiritual Revolution,” the missionary revealed that he had come to the conclusion that he had erred. “For a long time I believed in J.C.,… and tried to convince you of this truth. My friends, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I was fooled. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been feeding you lies that were made up by people.
“People from Yad L’Achim visited me yesterday at my home and enlightened me. They proved to me again and again how all of my claims, arguments and sources were fundamentally false.
“I apologize to you, dear readers, but my newsletters have been lies. Judaism is the only right path. Proof of this will follow.”
