Brethren, yesterday I received an email from a brother in Christ. He asked me if I had heard about the bill introduced in Israel to outlaw teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had not heard about this and we were both eager to vet it.
I have a friend from Israel who is an elder in a Messianic congregation. I wrote to him and asked if this was true.
Here is his response:
Hello Geri,
Yes, this is true. I read the law proposal in Hebrew and it definitely is intended to stop the believers in Jesus from sharing their faith in any form, including electronically. Which is why I think it can’t pass.
Say I’m not allowed to give out literature on the street. OK. Can I wear a T-Shirt with Yeshua on it? or Isaiah 53? In court, can I not say it’s my favourite T Shirt with my favourtie chapter?
And say you uploaded something in English on YouTube intended at Israelis, is this not allowed? Will they ban it on YouTube?
OK, so say I uploaded in English from the US, intended at Israelis – I’m not violating US law, am I? I know people who came to faith through English videos not intended for Israelis at all. Or, say I did it in Hebrew, from the US, would that be illegal?… you see the complications?
What if I did it in Israel, but I’m not violating YouTube US laws. Or, how can they prove I did it in Israel and not in the US. Say I wore a cross, and people asked me “I thought you were Jewish – why the cross” and I said I believe in Jesus and THEY started asking me questions – would I get arrested? I only wore a cross and answered questions.
You know how many conversations I’ve had just because people saw me read my Bible somewhere? Electronically would mean you mustn’t evangelise on a website. Are all Israeli believers to now immediately go to their websites and remove anything that might promote the faith? Nonsense. I think it’s too complicated and that it won’t pass.
But if it DOES pass, it won’t stop any of those who actively engage in Evangelism from continuing. It might even help the gospel in some way. But it will give plenty for Israelis to report about to supporters oversees 😉
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – Is it possible that the Israeli government this year could pass legislation making it illegal for people to share the Gospel message in the very land where Jesus was born, raised, preached, died, buried and rose from the dead?
Unfortunately, yes.
As Palm Sunday and Easter approach – the two most sacred days on the calendar for those who follow Jesus as both God and Messiah – two members of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) introduced a bill last week that would ban any and all efforts to tell people about Jesus.
The bill would send violators to prison.
[…] The proposed legislation would outlaw all efforts by people of one faith who, in any way, want to discuss or try to persuade people of other faiths to consider changing their current religious beliefs.
The punishment for doing so would be “one year imprisonment.”
If the conversation is with minor – someone under the age of 18 – the punishment would be “two years imprisonment.”
This bill would apply to people having spiritual conversations with Israelis of any religion.
However, in their official explanation of the bill, the two Israeli legislators specifically emphasized the warning to stop Christians, in particular.
The bill’s primary objective, therefore, appears to be making it illegal for followers of Jesus (“Yeshua” in Hebrew) to explain why they believe that Jesus is both Messiah and God with the hope that Israelis might consider following Him.
The bill does not only make a simple personal conversation about Jesus with another individual a crime.
It would also make it illegal for “someone who solicits a person – directly, digitally, by mail or online – in order to convert his religion.”
Thus, producing and publishing online videos explaining the Gospel to Jewish or Muslim people in Israel – and to those of any other religious faiths – would suddenly become illegal.
Publishing books, other printed literature, online articles, podcasts, or other forms of media that explains the life and ministry of Jesus and His message found in the New Testament would also become illegal.
So would discussing the Gospel message via email, text messages, written letters and/or on social media, including answering questions initiated by people who don’t follow Jesus.
All Israel News has the full text of the bill. Source
TO MY JEWISH PEOPLE:
HOW CAN I BE SAVED? YES…..YOU NEED YESHUA TO BE SAVED and I would gladly go to prison for saying this!
Wow
Geri, I follow Amir Tsarfati on Telegram. For what it’s worth, Amir has inserted in his Telegram account a quote from Benjamin Netanyahu’s account on twitter: “We will not advance any law against the Christian Community”. I sure hope this is followed thru with.
I don’t think the Bill will pass….this time. The first thing that popped into my head after reading this was the Two Witnesses from Revelation and how people tried to stop them from preaching. I be Rapture Ready 😃.
Amir said the bill was voted down today.
Praise God. I’d like to see that in writing
Here we goooooo.
Either way The International Fellowship of Christians & Jews is completely safe from any kind of persecution except maybe false advertising or REAL mis or disinformation. Any Christians out there that give their hard earned $ to this rascally
outfit thinking they share the Gospel of Christ are suckers. U may as well flush it or waste it on lotto tickets.
They fleece (you) the Jesus flock with their heart wrenching & frequent ads of suffering elderly & obviously needy Jews but these needy don’t get the most important thing that YOU think they get..the Gospel. Isn’t that the most important part u hope your donations will accomplish? Instead your $ buys slick tv ads that tug at your heart strings in 3hour blocks of tv “crisis” time. Their tv ads are constantly appearing & takes lots of bucks to produce + the actual ad time. You can look them up on the internet but I last recall the most recent tally of IFCJ was about 250
million $. If memory serves me correctly their Charity Navigator score was pretty good but it doesn’t score them on the spiritual spreadsheet & that is a big fat ZERO in my book.
You never see one of these needy being led to Christ on their ads nor do they preach about Jesus to them or tell you the truth that the IFCJ actually hates & avoids the Gospel like the plague. God wants us to be a good steward of whatever He gives us & carry out the Great Commission. For most of us our pocketbooks are the most effective way thru Holy Spirit endorsed ministries. We need to be careful we support only those ministries where God uses men to do His will NOT so called “ministries” where men use God for personal enrichment.
The following is for only blood bought Holy Spirit filled REAL Christians!
Invest in what brings glory to the Lord God who saved you, forgave you & went to the cross to take your sins upon Himself as a precious free gift for you so you could have wonderful eternal life with Him. Out of love of what He did for you don’t you want your hard earned $ to go to a ministry that shares that same Good News?
Being a good steward will give you a good report of stewardship when you are facing Him at the Bema Seat of Judgement. Check all ministries out b4 parting with your God-given $ & for sure omit the ICFJ from ur giving list.
Amen and amen. I will try to make this an article today – very busy day
This article seems to confirm that the bill has been stopped. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/israeli-leader-halts-bill-christian-proselytizing-98058587.
Thank God!