John McKee delivers the February 2023 Outreach Israel News update.
Hebrew Roots Movement
Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee reviews whether or not there is a difference between the Messianic Jewish movement (mainly focused on Jewish outreach and evangelism)—versus the various non-Jewish Torah movements (Hebrew Roots, Two-House, One Law/One Torah, Pronomian Christianity). How can people, particularly online, navigate through these differences? What actually makes the Messianic movement stand out, and on a more Biblical trajectory?
One of the reasons why many people enter into Messianic things or Hebrew Roots, is that they are searching for a spiritual “high” of sorts—knowing things which are not necessarily known by others. This leads to all manner of problems!
Days of Awe: Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee mentions the difficult subject matter of how today’s Messianic people need a better, and more constructive way, of approaching the explosion of Hebrew Roots.
Too many Hebrew Roots people on social media like to hit people with sound bytes, often with very little theological engagement, as much an intention at shock value.
The Hebrew Roots movement frequently rejects the mainstream Jewish calendar, but cannot agree on which alternative should be followed.
The Hebrew Roots movement has a growing reputation for being overly negative, critical, and hostile to the good things brought to us by the Jewish Synagogue and Christian Church.
The motives of far too many people, across both the Messianic movement and Hebrew Roots, is so that they can have some kind of “edge” via knowledge or information that only “they” know.
The Hebrew Roots movement is vast, but there tends to be three types of people you will encounter: the lost cause, the offended, the one close to but far enough away from Messianic Judaism.
Within the broad Messianic sphere of influence, one will rightly see an emphasis on how God’s people need to return to a Torah foundation. But there are indeed those who imply that the Torah or Law of Moses is more important than the Eternal God who gave it.