Int’l Missionary Groups Seeking to Convert Israeli Soldiers

Operating under the radar, missionaries have been actively engaged in attempts to convert soldiers and Israelis forced to leave their homes in the south and north. International missionary organizations are taking advantage of the situation to surreptitiously preach to Jews as part of a “humanitarian aid” campaign.
According to researchers at Yad L’Achim’s countermissionary division, the organization “Jews for Yeshu,” based in the United States, has recruited hundreds of volunteers for this campaign.

In a video film, David Brickner, a non-Jew who heads the missionary organizations, says: “This is a time of crisis, but we are reaching out, also with a message of the gospel, and also with very practical needs… Our staff numbers more than 50 workers and 200 volunteers. We are providing 5,000 packages a week to soldiers and families that have been uprooted…. We are preparing 2,000 meals a day for the evacuees and we are serving Israel in a traumatic period with … the Christian gospel.”
Similar missionary activity is being carried out by the Curt Landry Ministries, based in the United States. In this campaign, a man appearing to be a religious Jew – with a kippah and tzizis – presents himself as an American donor. He shows up at assembly points for soldiers and distributes food and a biographical book; he then asks them to take a picture of themselves with the book so that they will be able to receive “many more donations and good things for you.”

Later, when the soldiers had a chance to thumb through the book, they were shocked to discover that it preaches Christianity, incites against Judaism, and invites readers to accept upon themselves “that man.”

Similar activities with soldiers are being carried out by Israeli branch of the worldwide International Christian Fellowship (ICF) that is active in Tel Aviv as a messianic church. The church’s pastor, Sergey Mazhuga, is seen distributing copies of Tehillim published by missionaries that highlight verses they claim are in accordance with Christian theology.

“We had an opportunity to preach the gospel and pray for some of them [the soldiers – that they convert out of their religion,” Mazhuga said.

Yad L’Achim views missionary activity among soldiers with the utmost severity. “Israel is fighting for its survival, its security people are sacrificing their lives to protect Am Yisrael, and the missionaries are trying to harm us behind the scenes and kill our souls,” a Yad L’Achim official said. “We’re speaking of ugly, criminal actions that are opposed by the Israeli public. We want to live as Jews and don’t want them to deceptively preach to us to convert.

“The list of organizations we’ve uncovered is just part of a larger fabric. Yad L’Achim activists have arrived at places where missionary material is distributed and gathered it up. We are vigilant in monitoring missionary activity and urge the public to be on alert and update us in the event they come across such activity via our emergency hotline, at *9234, which operates 24 hours a day.”

Pictures taken from a missionary film