Hebrew Christian Conference of the United States

On a regular basis, I receive claims from Messianic "Jews" that they are truly Jewish, not Christians. They claim that, in fact, they have no interest in convert the Jewish people. I find this interesting since the movement originally was much clearer about it's Christian origins and it's desire for converting the Jewish people. Somehow, this clarity has been lost over time.

After all, "Messianic Judaism" is not the original name of the movement. The original name is "Hebrew Christianity." At the first Hebrew Christian Conference of the United States in 1903, the participants were clear about their Christian affiliations and whether they had been ordained as Christian ministers. Under each man's picture was the name of the Christian movement he had joined. A. R. Kuldell's listing, the President of the Conference, showed that he was a reverend of the Evangelical Lutheran church. Leopold Cohn's listing (Cohn is well-known for fabricating his history and claiming to be a rabbi) showed that he was an ordained Baptist minister. The minutes of the Executive Committee meeting talked at length about the importance of converting Jews and the movement's Christian sponsors.

It is difficult for me to call the beginnings of Messianic "Judaism", as Hebrew Christianity, "honest." "Honest" is not a word that describes the movement. However, it certainly is more honest than today's movement, which denies and obscures it's Christain basis and history. Perhaps a good first step for Messianic "Judaism" would be to return to it's original name, Hebrew Christianity.