Enemy of the State?
By Steve Cohen

How would you feel if you were declared an enemy of the state?

I received an e-mail from one of our supporters recently. He informed me that the President of Israel had recently met with a group of Lutherans. One of them, The Bishop from Jordan, informed the group that Israel’s future security depended on how the Palestinians were treated.

I was told that a vocal New York City radio host, Rabbi Singer, was going to air a program inviting some Lutherans to
speak. The friend of our ministry, a listener to that show, sent me an e-mail asking if I had been contacted to be on the show. I told him that I had not, but if the rabbi was interested in my views as a LCMS member, I would be happy to speak out. I provided him with my personal phone number so I could be reached quickly.

He sent the rabbi my information, and received the following reply which was forwarded to me:
Thank you for writing and caring.† I know you didn’t understand, however, Steve Cohen is an enemy of the Children of Israel, for he dedicates his life to converting the Jewish people.† Our people have no greater foe than those who attempt to destroy our faith.† I know you didn’t mean any harm.† We are now setting up the guests for tomorrow’s show on†the Lutherans. †Bless you.†
With love of Zion,
R. Singer

If Jesus is the Messiah, then the most Jewish thing we could do is follow Him. Our silence, not our speaking out, could have the most severe consequences... eternal damnation.
Jesus said that He, and He alone is the only way to the father – (see John 14:6).
According to R. Singer, being Jewish, believing in Jesus and telling others is equated with a spiritual holocaust. The fear mongering and this level of rhetoric by vocal opponents of the Gospel has become commonplace over the last few decades. Since the Biblical case for Jesus being the Messiah is so clear, opponents of the Gospel must attack the messenger in hopes that others will not listen.
Jesus faced vocal opposition, too. But he knew what was in the hearts of men. He understood that the message of God’s love and salvation, while rejected by some, had not really been understood or honestly considered by most. So He used the opponents of the Gospel as a sounding board to reach those who were still undecided.
What we seek today is an honest evaluation of the case for the Messiah, Y’shua.

I have been wondering... Is Jesus the Messiah?
By Gary Timm

I met young man in Forest Hills named Joseph. I asked him what he thought about the Messiah. He said, “I think He’s coming back.” I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same Messiah, so I asked, “So you believe that Jesus died for your sins, arose again from the dead, ascended into heaven and is coming back?” He said, “Yes.” Being a little surprised at his Christian confession I asked him if he was sure he was going to heaven. He said, “Probably,” but he wasn’t sure. So I asked, “If you were standing in front of Jesus and he asked you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ what would you say?” He thought for a moment and said, “Well, I have to tell youÖ I’m Jewish. So, I think the reason I should go to heaven is because I’m a good person.”

Talk about a change in course. Joseph switched gears from “He’s coming back” to “I’m Jewish and a good person.” I had to ask, “If your Jewish, how is it that you believe Jesus is coming back?” He told me he had taken some (Christian) theological classes at St John’s University (a Catholic school). As our discussion continued he told me, “You know, just yesterday I was in this very same conversation with a Conservative Jewish guy. He was very upset with me when I proposed that; “Jesus might be the Messiah.” Joseph went on to say, “I’ve been thinking a lot about the implications of Jesus being the Jewish Messiah for some time now and I’m not sure what to think.”

Are You “Dedicated’ or “Dishwatery”?
By Alan Butterworth

“In June 1863 Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee moved north in an effort to win a dramatic victory that would reverse the South’s declining fortunes. On July 1-3, Lee’s forces fought the Union army under the command of George C. Meade, and before the fighting ended, the two sides suffered more than 45,000 casualties. Lee, having lost more than a third of his men, retreated, and the Battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point in the American Civil War.”1

On November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, President Abraham Lincoln said:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But in a larger sense we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”2


How was Lincoln’s speech received? The Chicago Sun (now the Sun-Times) wrote: “The cheek of every American must tingle with shame, as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.”3

Today our focus is not the brave men who died at Gettysburg, nor those who did not understand Lincoln. It is you and me. Are we willing to dedicate our lives to the mission given to us by our Lord? Our theme verse is Romans 1:16: “I am not shamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Are we willing to take this to heart?

Will you take a moment to remember those who gave their lives to the cause of Christ?

Men like Martin Luther who changed history by refusing to compromise the truth of the Gospel despite hopeless opposition from the Catholic church and as the Turks brought more that 330,000 men, the most feared Army in history, to the gates of Vienna.4


Men like Daniel Landsmann, a Jewish believer who was the first LCMS Missionary to the Jewish people. His life was often threatened as he shared the Gospel with Jewish immigrants in the lower east side of Manhattan at the end of the 19th Century. Despite the hardships he faced, 37 Jewish people confessed faith in Jesus!6

And men like Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish believer who was tortured by the Nazis and later by the Communists, for a total of 18 years. He never stopped sharing the love of the Messiah with his torturers.7

There are so many others who gave their lives to the cause of sharing the Gospel with all people everywhere, including hopeless sinners like you and me.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3.

In just a few years, none of us will still be alive. As you set the priorities for the rest of your life, will you listen once more to Lincoln’s words?

The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion.