Description

ISRAEL’S RESTORATION

A series of lectures by Bible expositors interested in the evangelization of the Jews.

by

Compiled and Edited by

JOHN W. BRADBURY,

D.D., LITT.D.

www.solidchristianbooks.com

2016

Contents

FOREWORD. 3

1. TO THE JEW FIRST. 4
2. A SUFFERING PEOPLE. 12
3. THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL AN HISTORICAL MIRACLE. 24
4. “MANY ANTICHRISTS” 39
5. THE LORD’S SUPPER IN THE LIGHT OF THE PASSOVER. 52
6. THE JEW IN HISTORY AND DESTINY. 58
7. ANTI-SEMITISM: ITS ORIGIN, DEVELOPMENT AND FINAL DOOM 68
8. THE JEWISH PROBLEM AND THE DIVINE SOLUTION. 75
9. A LEAF FROM A MISSIONARY’S DIARY. 88
10. AN INTRODUCTION TO ESCHATOLOGY. 100
11. FULFILLED PROPHECY CONCERNING THE JEW.. 109
12. UNSHAKABLE THINGS. 122

 

 

 

 

FOREWORD

Every missionary organization sponsors pam­phlets or books which, in one form or another, inter­pret their ideological and practical interest. The American Association for Jewish Evangelism puts out this book with that purpose in mind. It is not in­tended to be comprehensive. To do that would re­quire several volumes.

ISRAEL’S RESTORATION is designed to be informative and inspiring. The hope is cherished that many Christian people will be encouraged to see and to share the concern felt by those responsible for the American Association for Jewish Evangel­ism. By sharing this responsibility with as large a number of Christians as possible, the cause of Jewish evangelism will be advanced. It is desirable, there­fore, that this book be given wide distribution.

There will be found a variety of messages in ISRAEL’S RESTORATION. The writings were selected with this in mind. They are assembled for their diversity. And yet there is a common founda­tion in all the chapters. Each writer is an esteemed exponent of the great need for Jewish evangelism. This concern is the spiritual atmosphere of the book. At the same time there is in it much that is valuable in the line of Biblical prophecy. This should prove interesting to Bible students, for any religious ref­erence to the Jews cannot be separated from the oracles of God.

The book is sent forth with but one controlling purpose and that is that its readers may be constrained to unite with those engaged in the work of the American Associa­tion for Jewish Evangelism in an intensified move­ment toward awakening Jews to the soon-coming of their Messiah in power and great glory, “to set up His Kingdom,” into which are gathered the redeemed among both Jews and Gentiles.

 

 

1. TO THE JEW FIRST

 

A brief account of the origin and development of the American Association for Jewish Evangelism

By John W. Bradbury, D.D., LITT.D.

There are about six millions of Jews in the United States. This is the largest congregation of Jews in one country that history has ever known, including the Promised Land. Most of these Jews have arrived or have been born in this country in the past sixty years.

For the first fourteen centuries of the Christian era, America’s existence was unknown. When the foundation for the United States was laid in the settling of this country it was Christian people who were the original settlers. Out of their pioneer sufferings there developed a free country, so free that when the American Revolution came men wil­lingly died to preserve that freedom forever.

Our country developed phenomenally in freedom. From all parts of the world peoples of varying creeds, racial distinctions and social conditions have come to add their part to the building of a great nation.

HOPE OF FREEDOM

Among these came the Jews. Their ancestors were driven from their homeland in Palestine as a penalty for their rejection of God’s redeeming love revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. They have known neither peace nor security in the countries where from time to time they have lived. Frequently they have had untold suffering in countries nominally Christian but where freedom was not allowed to raise its head. They looked everywhere for a place of safety but none appeared until the United States opened its doors, giving freedom to the Jews, as to all others.

That Jews by the millions should thus enter this country is understandable. Seeking liberty and op­portunity they came eagerly expectant. While at first their way was made difficult, the benevolent arms of Liberty embraced them and they have become a vital and important part of our country’s economic life.

The Jew, however, is a religious person. He has the Old Testament. A racial solidarity grips him, born out of untold persecution in many nations. He believes in his Scriptures. He is confident that they are “a guide of the blind, a light of them that sit in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and truth in the law” (Romans 2:19, 20). But no other people accepted the religious approach of the Jew to them. An estrangement existed between Jews and Gentiles. Christian churches were closed to Jews. Few Christians patronized Jewish synagogues. The alien mood continued for many decades. Many Jews felt they were discriminated against. None of this promoted a conciliatory spirit between Jews and Gentiles.

The Christian Church failed to evangelize the Jews. More Jews joined Christian Science or other cults than entered evangelical churches. They felt no welcome, not even a disposition to understand their spiritual needs.

Because of this condition there have grown up a number of independent Jewish missions in the United States. These have done sporadic evangel­izing with comparatively small results. The mass of Jews have not been reached with the Gospel of Christ. They will not be evangelized until the evan­gelical churches of this country assume a respon­sibility for the work. Only when the churches are aroused by organized and persistent efforts will the different denominations do their God-given duty to evangelize the Jews.

AAJE INITIATED

Under this conviction an interdenominational group of believers met at the Moody Bible Insti­tute in Chicago, November 16, 1944 to create the American Association for Jewish Evangelism. Those present were Dr. Hyman J. Appelman, International Evangelist, who became the first President; Dr. J. Palmer Muntz, General Director of Winona Lake Bible Conference, elected Vice President; Dr. B. E. Allen, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Rockford, Illinois, who was elected Secretary; Robert O. Fleming, Christian business man of Seattle, Wash­ington; Dr. Harry E. Jessop, President of the Evan­gelistic Institute, Chicago; E. B. Funk, Banker, Warsaw, Indiana, elected Treasurer. This group be­came the incorporators and the directors of the new missionary undertaking. Dr. Joseph W. Hakes, pastor-evangelist of Winona Lake was elected General Secretary. Dr. Abraham B. Machlin was elected Field Secretary.

Immediately the AAJE received nationwide in­terest. Its aims were so reasonable, sacrificial and ethical that the effort to obtain a wide range of interdenominational leaders to form the Advisory Council soon drew together a galaxy of well-known names. Not one was selected until a declared purpose to press the cause of Jewish evangelism was agreed upon.

The first public conference of the AAJE was held at the Moody Church, Chicago, May 7, 1945. To this meeting were invited leaders of all Jewish missions in the United States and Canada. The aim of the AAJE was there declared to be “to enlist the aid and support of all Christian people and organiza­tions in the endeavors of the corporation.” The widest collaboration was sought. Representatives of many missions participated in the discussions. The objective, as mutually agreed upon, was to “mutually endeavor to purify and to strengthen the Christian witness to Israel.” This conference was called at the suggestion of Dr. John W. Bradbury, Editor of The Watchman-Examiner, National Baptist Weekly of New York City. It was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Hyman Appelman.

The AAJE at this meeting took on greater propor­tions. Rev. H. B. Centz, experienced Jewish evangel­ist, was added to the little staff. A new periodical, Salvation, was launched. Policies were instituted which have never needed amendment or change. It was as though the hand of the Lord guided in all decisions made.

BORN OF GOD

The birth of a new Christian enterprise is its most critical and interesting stage. Many are born only to die. If one is born of God, it will live and prosper. The early stages of the AAJE were, how­ever, critical and adventurous. The country was at war. The minds of the people, even Christians, were mainly occupied with the alarms of war. The new mission could not have been brought to birth in a more critical period. Yet it continued to grow.

In the summer of 1945 the AAJE held its first great conference on Prophecy and the Jew at Winona Lake Assembly Grounds in Indiana. There thou­sands of friends of the cause attended. Sessions were held morning, afternoon and evening with most encouraging attendances. The speakers were well-known Bible expositors such as Dr. Alva J. McClain, Dr. B. B. Sutcliffe, Dr. John W. Bradbury, Dr. Harry A. Ironside, Dr. Hyman J. Appelman, Rev. Albert Lindsey and Rev. Herman B. Centz.

FIRST ANNUAL MEETING

At this Conference, the first Annual Meeting of the AAJE was held. Here for the first time a Jewish mission agency made full report of all receipts and expenditures in open meeting. All contributors pres­ent had the right to vote. Questions were invited and frankly answered. Elected as an Advisory Coun­cil were over forty outstanding religious leaders of many denominations. These in turn elected the Board of Directors, thus setting the pattern of accounting and democratic elections for subsequent years. There being a rising bitterness against Jews in the world in that year, this Conference unanimously passed the following declaration regarding Anti-Semitism.

The American Association for Jewish Evan­gelism, Inc. assembled at Winona Lake, Indiana, wishes to go on record as an organization that it is friendly to the Jews now scattered through­out the world; and not only are we friendly to the Jewish people, but we are utterly opposed to the spirit of Anti-Semitism that is now rampant among the nations of the world.

We see no reason why the spirit of Anti-Semitism should exist, for every reason that is given has proven to be a reason that could be leveled at some, if not all, the Gentile peoples. Yet the Gentiles are not made the objects of persecution because of these reasons, real or imagined. The members of our organization can only believe that Anti-Semitism is a movement conceived by Satan and propagated by his ser­vants to attain his ambition to destroy the God­ conscious Jew, as part of a purpose to place Satan-controlled men in power over all the earth. We also believe that those who yield themselves to the spirit of Anti-Semitism sur­render to the spirit of Satan, – a spirit soon to find its incarnation in the Antichrist himself.

Moreover, we hold that the spirit of Anti-Semitism is not only unchristian, it is likewise utterly un-American. America was begotten by men and women whose lives were dedicated to founding an asylum for all the oppressed be­cause of their religious convictions. The Jews have the same right to erect the altars of their faith, and worship their God according to the light they have as any other people in America. And since there is a closer relation between the faith of the Christian and the Jew than there is between that of any other religious people, it becomes all the more the sentiment of the American Association for Jewish Evangelism that the spirit of Anti-Semitism is a spirit that no born-again Christian can possibly afford to harbor. Rather will the true Christian realize his debt to the Jew by offering him a friendly, helping hand in this hour of need, earnestly praying the while that his eyes shall be opened to behold in Jesus Christ his Messiah and the Saviour of the world.

AAJE GROWS

The growth of the Association since these early beginnings is remarkable. Its President, Dr. Hyman J. Appelman, himself a converted Jew, has given evangelistic leadership, being responsible for speak­ing in many meetings, attended by numbers of Jews and seeing some of them join the great election of God through obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. In Australia, Great Britain, Israel and Mexico his testimony has greatly edified evangelical churches and warmed their hearts in Christian love for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The challenge of Dr. Appelman rings out in Christendom, calling the churches to obey their Lord in an effective witness of the Gospel to the Jews.

Gracious persons, strong in the Word of God, such as Dr. J. Palmer Muntz, General Director of the Winona Lake Bible Conference and pastor of the Cazenovia Park Baptist Church, Buffalo, N. Y., a sacrificial and competent Vice President of the AAJE; Dr. Harry A. Ironside, formerly pastor of Moody Church, Chicago, eminent teacher of the Word, now with the Lord in glory, who served as President of the Advisory Board; Bishop William Culbertson, President of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, now serving as President of the Advisory Board; Dr. B. E. Allen, an outstanding pastor who has served the AAJE throughout its history as Secretary; Elmer B. Funk, banker, whose guiding hand is apparent in transparent reports of the organization’s finances; Dr. V. Raymond Edman, President of Wheaton College and Dr. Alva J. Mc­Clain, President of Grace Theological Seminary, both busy men but always counselling wisely in AAJE affairs; Dr. Albert G. Johnson, of Portland, Oregon, whose faithful support has been given to this missionary program from its inception; Robert O. Fleming, Christian business man of Seattle, Washington, to whose prayers and cooperation the organization owes much; Dr. Peter Mac Farland, whose loyalty knows no bounds; these and many others have given of their best.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

A few words cannot tell the significance which can truly be attached to AAJE’s Advisory Council. This great group of outstanding ministers and lay­men, numbering sixty, does not constitute simply a list of names. Each year they elect the Board of Directors and in numerous other ways advise con­cerning the AAJE program, assist in Bible con­ferences, serve on local committees and, above all, seek in every way possible to bring the Gospel of Christ to the Jews in Christian fellowship.

FIELD ACTIVITIES

The development of missionary activities on the part of the AAJE has been phenomenal. All has had to be undertaken by faith. Leadership in this practical application of the Gospel has been and still is the responsibility of Dr. A. B. Machlin, Di­rector of Field Activities. No one can measure the burden laid on this earnest servant of the Lord. With no backlog of funds, at the start no field staff, no mission stations or missionaries, the work has had extraordinary developments. It would take pages to relate what God has wrought. Mission stations have been established in many places. The staff of missionaries is not used for the collection of funds, so that their full time may be devoted to the work of evangelism. Each month, Salvation, organ of the AAJE, reports this work.

Missionary interests have been operated or estab­lished in Frankfort, Germany; Brussels, Belgium; London, England, especially in cooperation with the Hebrew Christian Testimony, founded by David Baron and now directed by Dr. Newmark; Hungary; Paris, France; Israel and Mexico besides a number of cities in the United States. In all this work, Dr. Machlin has been and is the operating genius, being constantly faced with the monthly outlay of sub­sistence salaries and expenses, besides all the travel involved and new opportunities constantly under exploration. This superhuman undertaking could not be done without the prayer support of many people and the devoted loyalties of Mrs. Machlin and Helen, their daughter.

Along the uphill road of this ministry Dr. Machlin has had the able assistance of Dr. Joseph Hakes and Rev. Herman B. Centz.

WINONA LAKE CONFERENCES

Every year, at Winona Lake, the AAJE holds a Conference on Bible Prophecy and the Jew. Thou­sands of people attend. The annual meetings of AAJE are participated in freely. Missionaries give their testimonies straight from the field. Avid in­terest is displayed in every phase of the work. Some of the best known Bible interpreters are each year found on the programs.

The strong foundation of the AAJE, however, is the hearts of those who contribute their prayers, their goodwill and their means to the cause. By this support a solid Christian missionary fellowship is being built. Confidence that money contributed is conscientiously used for the utmost outreach by missionaries of the gospel is our greatest asset. The years have established this faith and rewarded all who have had a part in the salvation of many Jews, as well as Gentiles.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON PROPHECY

A further aspect of the work of AAJE is its policy to undertake such activities as are made possible for the edification of the churches generally. Such a great collection of religious leaders of sacrificial missionary motive are devotedly capable of carrying on the cause of Jewish evangelism collectively, as well as individually. They are also used of God in a ministry to Christians generally. In keeping with this policy, the AAJE sponsored, promoted and carried through the great International Congress on Prophecy held in New York, November 9-16, 1952. Many thousands of Christian people heard thirty-one Bible teachers in fifty-seven sessions during eight glorious days. The result of this Con­gress is a book entitled Hastening the Day of God which carries the needed testimony for our time regarding the final triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many more thousands of Christians now have an opportunity to receive this ministry of the AAJE through the book. Thus the service of this organiza­tion reaches farther and farther.

THE WILL OF CHRIST MUST BE DONE

The history of the acts of Christ’s apostles is never completed. Workers come and go but the work goes on ceaselessly. The important part is to see and know where God is working. In recapitulating brief­ly the work which the Holy Spirit has guided His servants in doing through the AAJE we do so in humble and grateful attitude to the Lord Whom we serve. The prayer and desire of those who have given their best to this cause is that many of God’s stewards will make possible the realization of the vision the Lord has given the American Association for Jewish Evangelism in carrying the gospel of Christ to the neglected field of Jewry in all parts of the world. Whenever the Church as a whole awakens to this ministry of reconciliation we believe that the greatest revival in the history of Christian­ity will take place. May God help us all to see this.