Some of our detractors like to say we are just embittered complainers or people who "can't get past it". This presents the opportunity to explain why I post to this public forum.
I am an Evangelical Christian and support missions groups that proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.
During my time at Jews for Jesus, I personally witnessed behaviors and actions that a person considering working for or being involved with them should know about.
It has been said that Jews for Jesus is a "high demand" ministry. People coming into that environment know this and voluntarily sacrifice personal freedom to do so.
However, this situation, in the hands of sinful Man lends itself to all sorts of abuse.
I have seen a person publicly humiliated by Moishe Rosen at an Ingathering for not adequately preparing for the next year's event.
I watched Moishe Rosen walk down the halls of headquarters stopping at every office and berating everyone in that office for some minor offense (interoffice envelopes stacked too high, for example).
I have heard Moishe Rosen say that a person could essentially be ruined by being "over-affirmed".
I worked with missionaries who paid to be at an Passover banquet but had to sacrificing their meal and work at the event.
I have seen the Publications Director humiliated because the pictures turned out too dark.
This is only a fraction of what I witnessed first-hand. There are many people who've worked longer and deeper into the ministry than I ever had. Their stories are often disturbing and make one wonder if this is, in fact, a CHRISTIAN ministry.
Does it continue? In the last year, two more people that I know of joined the Ex-Jews for Jesus list claiming that it was.
Does Jews For Jesus play dirty? Moishe Rosen was pleased to have a person on the CONFIDENTIAL Ex-Jews for Jesus list who would regularly forward postings.
These posting were used to get a list member in trouble with their current employer.
So, to anyone considering serving for 18 months on the Liberated Wailing Wall or moving to San Francisco to work at their headquarters, I would warn you that, in my opinion, the culture is one where you'll find that the Joy of serving the Lord is reduced to "Suffering for the sake of the Gospel". You may learn that suffering comes at the hands of fellow believers more than it does from the world.
And the shame of it is that it doesn't need to be that way. It is an ingrained culture that sees no reason to change.
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The pain and hardship we endured while on staff at JFJ is real and heartbreaking. As staff members we erroneously put our trust in those who hadn't earned it, and if we questioned that trust then we were subject to "punishment" and "hardship". After having been off staff for over 10 years, I still bear the scars and bruises, yet it I have moved on.
The important thing to remember is that the actions of JFJ and the Gospel preached by Yeshua (Jesus) are different. If we desire a place to put our trust and to put in someone who will treat us as we should be then that trust needs to be placed in God. Yeshua placed His trust in God on that night when he prayed that God would take the "cup" from him, but he said that He would follow God's will.
So, use this as a place to let out your feelings and heartaches, but also keep your trust in Yshua and God. It is there that you will find true healing and the ability to move on.
When my family left Jews for Jesus it was because what was being told us about God's order for life, didn't measure up to everthing we heard told in every other church we preached in.
In Jews for Jesus we were told, "The proper Biblical Order is: God>Personal Relationship with God>Ministry>Family
But the Bible and just about every decently Bible-teaching church out there will say the proper order is:
God>Personal Relationship with God>Family>everything else
The director of a branch of JFJ was leaving his wife because he was in love with someone else. He also was caught doing insurance fraud with his motorcycle. Guest what happened, the staffer who found this out was fired. The executive director would not allow the staffer to tell him anything, he didn;t want to know. The branch director did leave his wife and children three months later.
Is this the answer?:The Holy Spirit through Paul:Romans 7:21-24
"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right,evil lies close at hand.For I delight in the law of God,in my inmost self,but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind,and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members."
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