Episode 163

Today, we continue the series “What do You Believe?” with Dr. Henry Benach, President of Jewish End-Time Ministries and missionary to the Jewish people. In this episode, Dr. Benach shares his testimony, how the Lord Jesus Christ saved him after hearing the word of God at a Baptist church service that he discovered after a sweet lady called his house by accident–thrice! He also discusses Judaism (having been born and raised in an Orthodox Jewish home) and how to witness to the Jewish people that they might know their Messiah. The current turmoil in Israel has not taken our Lord by surprise, and Christians everywhere can be sure that God’s plan for Israel does not include defeat at the hand of our enemy, the devil. Whenever we encounter a Jewish person, therefore, let’s take what we learn from this podcast and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

They were chosen because God has promised them a land, and that land belongs to them and nothing that anyone can do. Maybe people listening to this, they won’t like to hear this, but God gave them the land they do not occupy the land. As people say, the occupiers, they’re called, they do not occupy the land, they own the land.

[Jay]

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers podcast. I’m Jay, and I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 163 of the Removing Barriers Podcast, and this is the 4th in the series of what do you believe? And in this episode? Will be looking at what those who follow Judaism believe.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things, Removing Barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net/donate, Removing Barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

And joining us in this episode is Dr. Henry Benach. Dr. Henry is the president of the Jewish End-times Ministry. Dr. Henry. It is indeed a pleasure and welcome to the Removing Barriers podcast.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Now, thank you very much. I’m glad to be here and look forward to what we have to say. Hope it’s a blessing.

[MCG]

Oh man. Alright, before we dive into your ministry, let’s talk a little bit about you. Tell us what type of family were you born in?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

But I was raised in a Jewish Home in Cleveland. OH. My grandparents were from Eastern Europe on my mother’s side. They were from Ukraine and on my father’s side they were from Budapest, Hungary and Belarus. And so as a young boy I did pretty much everything that an Orthodox Jewish boy would do and went to the synagogue when I was 8 years old, I went to Hebrew school and. So that was kind of the way I was growing up. I mean, I could spend the rest of whatever time we have telling you. About my life. But it’s pretty interesting, but pretty much raised in a Jew. Tone.

[Jay]

OK, being raised in a Jewish Home, certainly that means you observe all of the Jewish holidays. You observe all of the what they would call the Torah and all of these different things. Could you describe what that was like and what sort of effect it had on you spiritually, particularly in terms of genuine salvation?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, it had absolutely no effect on me as far as genuine salvation because I didn’t understand anything. Thing about and I wasn’t allowed to even discuss Jesus in our home because Jesus was considered to be not the Messiah, and Christians were considered to be the enemies of Judaism. And then I was taught that they Christians persecuted the Jews. And you know, I didn’t have any spiritual insight at all. Into that. I remember going to the Hebrew school and going to the synagogue every Saturday. But honestly, I never really thought about any spiritual matters above the fact that I believed in God and God was 1. And so I wasn’t interested in knowing about Christianity. I wasn’t interested in knowing about it. And my parents certainly would have objected if I even considered talking about it. And so, you know, I just. Never thought about. The only thing I really learned was like David and Goliath and Daniel and the Lions den and the basic, you know, Samson and Delilah, the basic practices that we would observe Passover every year. We would have a celebration of Hanukkah. You know, just basic things, but really as far as genuine salvation, I didn’t even know there. Was such a thing.

[MCG]

Wow. So two questions rolling around in my head here. How deep into Judaism would you say that you went and described to us the first time you heard the gospel?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

You know, I as far as going deep into Judaism, I was just, you know, expected to go to the synagogue on Saturday. I was expected to, you know, follow the traditions. My parents weren’t all that religious, though. The synagogue went to as an Orthodox synagogue, and so, you know, I just knew that there were certain things I was supposed to do, and there were traditions I was supposed to follow and practices I never didn’t hear the gospel. And until maybe I was 21 years old, a friend of mine. I was a very close friend of mine and one day we used to always, you know, we spent a lot of time going out and going to parties and doing different things and spending time together. All of a sudden my one friend, he didn’t want to participate in anything we were doing anymore. He was just completely against everything we were. Doing and I remember sitting in his car and he told me about salvation, about Jesus and I told him, Nah, that’s not for me. I don’t want to hear anything. About it you. Know that’s good for you, but I just considered him kind of religious nuts, but I didn’t know the real meaning of it. And it wasn’t until several years later, actually, when I was 27, when I actually first heard the gospel, I attended a church I was at home on a Saturday. Day. And the lady called my house with the wrong number, she said. Mr. Smith, I said no wrong number. She called back three times and the third time she called, she said, Sir, I’m sorry that I bother you, but since I have, I’d like to invite you to come to our church tomorrow. There’s going to be two ladies who were once in a cult called the Moonies. And I had kind of dabbled in Buddhism for a period of time when I’m a teenager. And so I thought, wow, that sounds interesting. So the next day, it was a Saturday. She called me the next day it. Was Sunday. I went to church. I heard the gospel again and I knew that it was true. I believed it. And that morning on the 23rd of July 1978 and went forward in the church and accepted Christ as my.

[Jay]

Savior from a phone call from a lady who had the wrong number but decided to invite you to church anyway.

[MCG]

Incredible. Where’s the love of that?

[Jay]

When you went to that service the following day, was that also the time where you came to a full realization of your sin? Or do you think it was more of a gradual revelation?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I never really thought about the matter of sin. So much I, you know, I had never gone to a church. Before and when the pastor preached, really, that was the first time that I even knew that was such a thing as sin. I didn’t know anything about it, you know, and I just. But I. Knew. That my life was kind of messed up. I was a rock’n’roll disc jockey working in this town in Alabama, and I was having problems in my life. That you know, it’s interesting that God kind of brought me closer just a few days before that I was sitting in my living room. There was a big family Bible sitting there, you know, I didn’t know anything about the Bible. I didn’t know anything about religion or. Jesus. But I just opened up the Bible just to, you know, randomly opened the Bible and it came upon a verse that just really just spoke to my heart and says something like this. You know, we’re troubled on every side, but not forsaken. And just it was like, wow, you know, this is really speaking to me. I knew the reality and somehow I. Already kind of believed in Jesus, but I didn’t really know him. And so when I went to that church and heard the preaching, I mean, I was under such conviction of the Holy Spirit that I just knew I had to. I didn’t know, understand it all. But I knew this was the right thing for me to do.

[MCG]

Well, what were the barriers? Do you think that we’re preventing you from coming to Christ earlier? I think maybe you can just list them because when we think back on everything you have just said we, we know some of the barriers, but what would you say they are?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I would say the biggest barrier to me coming to Jesus was my family because they told me this is not for Jewish people. This is for Christians. Christians are against Jews. Don’t follow this. Don’t you see someone who you thinks the Christian cross the street walk on the other side of the street? I just didn’t know. And basically I was told. By my family, don’t do this and so had I really investigated it myself and even considered that possibility on myself. I may have come to the Lord sooner, but my parents told me, you know, this is not for you. Stay away from that, you know. And so that was probably the biggest barrier and I believe. That’s also a very big barrier for Jewish people in general because of their upbringing. They’re told by their parents very strong parents, strong mother especially don’t do this. Stay away. And so that was kind of the biggest barrier for me.

[MCG]

Ohh wow.

[Jay]

Doctor Blake, if you could clear something up in my head. You said it two Times Now that your family told you that Christians are against. Jews, they persecuted the Jews. And yet I think that the conflict that’s happening over in Israel right now between Israel and Hamas is exposing a lot of what people think about Israel, who’s pro Palestine, who’s pro Israel. And it seems that Christians are the ones that are supporting Israel. Why do you think perhaps that? Jews in general don’t think that Christians are in their corner when now that there’s a conflict, they’re beginning to see that the people they thought were in their corner, really. Art.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I wonder if these people that claim to be Christians that are doing all this demonstrating and actively persecuting and doing acts of anti-Semitism, I wonder if. They really are. True believers, you know, there’s a lot of people that call themselves Christians, but they don’t even know what a Christian is. There’s a lot of people in these protests. Right. That if they would allow you to ask them, why are you protesting? What are you protesting about? I’ve seen where many of them say I don’t know.

[Jay]

Right, that’s true.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Figuring some organized propaganda on the part of whoever is organizing this to make people think that, you know, it’s all the fault and this is the history of the Jewish people, they blame the evils of everything on the Jews during World War Two, they were blamed for everything. And that’s kind of, you know, demonic. As far as I’m concerned, the devil is the one who is orchestrating. All this in an effort to defeat the Jews, kill the Jews and. And annihilate the Jews. And that’s the history of the world. But I think that, I mean, I have questions. I’m not judging. I’m not a judge of anybody. Salvation. But I I have questions whether these people really know the Lord. And if they do, they don’t know their Bible because the Bible makes it very clear. Bible says I’ll bless them talking about. People that bless the. Choose. I’ll bless them to bless thee and curse him. A curse of thee. And so I think that you know, there’s a real misunderstanding of, you know who these people really are.

[MCG]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Well, you described though going back to the question about strong family pressure to keep from going from Judaism to Christianity, how did you ultimately gather the strength to receive Christ even though it was contrary to what your family desired for you? How was that barrier removed?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, I I’d like to say probably because I was from my teenage years, I was a rebel, and I didn’t always do everything my mom and dad told. The deal, and in fact I was so afraid after I made the decision to trust the Lord that I didn’t call my mother on the phone for six months and my mother call her every week. I like football, American football, and so I would call her every week after the game and we would kind of commiserate.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Bad things were, you know, team was always losing and blah blah blah. And so. But after I got saved, I didn’t come because I knew she was going to be. The immensely upset, well after six months, one day I came out of work. I had moved. To Chattanooga, TN, I came out of work. I was working for a short period of time at the factory. When I came outside, my sister popped up in the back seat and she said Mommy’s here and she’s mad, I thought. My goodness, I’m in trouble. So, but my mom actually drove 600 miles with a social worker, thinking that I had gotten involved in some cult and she was going to Get Me Out of it. And she was not as mad as I thought she was. But she told me I wish you had really told me what was going on. And so it. What led me to do it against my family’s wishes were was just I was going to do what I wanted to do. And, you know, they weren’t going to. If I knew that was right, I was going to do it many times if I thought it was wrong, I did it too. But. If I thought it was really right, nobody could talk me out of it, so I made that decision on my own, even though I knew I’d there’d be some. The repercussions for my family, but it all turned out OK.

[MCG]

Has anyone else in your family garden save your mother, father, sister.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

My father did not get saved unless at the last moment of his life he trusted the Lord. He told me I was getting ready to go to Italy to work with Russian and Ukrainian Jewish people in Rome, Italy, and before I left, it was my father’s birthday and I called him on the phone and I remember him. Saying to me. I’ll never believe that. Jesus is God and I went to Italy and I was there three days and they got a phone call and one of the men came to me and said your father. Was dead. I don’t know if he made a decision. I can. We hope. On the other hand, after my mother came down with her social worker trying to Get Me Out of this supposed cult, I would call my mother on the phone every week again. And I’d say mom, is there something you want me to pray for? And she would say yes.

[MCG]

Oh well.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

And she would, you know, she would ask me to pray for one of her friends, maybe was sick or had cancer or whatever. And so we had a prayer group and we would pray for them. And God seemed to do some things that really answered these prayers well over a period. Of about 11 years, my mom saw that number one. Her son was not in some cult and it was. Not a fad. And so in 2001, I got word that.

[MCG]

Yes.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

And I went up to my mother’s house, and after a very difficult time for me to speak to her, talking to your parents is very. But praise the Lord. I was able to lead my mother to the Lord, and I have a younger, much younger sister than I am, and she also accepted the Lord. But as far as I know, nobody. Else in my family ever did.

[MCG]

Ohh wow. Well, praise the Lord for the fruit that you have seen thus far and also you on the mission field. Tell us about your mission, your missionary.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Yes, after I accepted. The Lord in 1987.

Even.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I was working at a radio station that was a rock disc jockey. And I really just did not want to continue doing that and so I. You know, started looking for a job. I couldn’t find a job anywhere. I mean, most people, anybody at that time could get a job delivering newspapers, but I couldn’t even get a job delivering newspapers. So I prayed. I went to the altar. Every service. And after about 3 weeks, I said in my heart I really felt a little bit speaking to me saying, you know, Henry, there’s millions of Jewish people around the world that need to hear the same message you heard. And I want you to go and tell them about the Lord. So I quit my job with no prospects for a job my pastor. Told me I was going to go to Bible school and he said as long as you maintain a C average, we’re going to give you $100 a month. And that was all the support I hit. And later I was able to find a job and I applied to a mission agency here in Chattanooga and went back to my hometown of Cleveland. OH. I was there for 9 years and then after the founder of that mission passed away, the Board of Directors asked me to come back down here to back to Chattanooga to be the director of that Mission Board, which I did. So I started directing that board. We started going to colleges, trying to find missionaries. We went from 9 missionaries to 40 in a very short period of time. And then in 1990, I went to, as I said, Italy to work with the Soviet Jews. And then I went actually to Ukraine and started the ministry there where I worked for first for 15 years, taking large groups of people back and forth to hold large outreaches.

[MCG]

Yeah.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

And then in 2005, when the door was still open but barely anyone was interested anymore, I was invited to go to Cuba, and I went to. For I’ve been going there since 2005 and continuing to do so. In fact, I’ll be leaving to go there on Tuesday morning to go to Cuba. To minister the people.

[MCG]

Tell us more about Jewish anti ministries. Whatever you want folks to know about that.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, we started this ministry in 2003. I was with another mission board and the Lord led me to start this ministry. It’s not a board, but it’s a ministry to continue reaching out to Jewish people around the world. And so I had several men that were already working with me, one in the Ukraine, who was organizing all of our trips. And then one in Cuba, who was organizing our trips. And now we have three other men who are now working with us. Basically. It is a team ministry to reach out to Jewish people. Through different outreaches and different events that we have, we organize. Conferences on prophecy in Israel, we do conferences on Jewish evangelism as basically on educational and evangelistic ministry to try to reach Jewish people worldwide. And we’ve been doing that since 2003 and continues to grow. God has blessed us. We’ve seen many, many people come. To the Lord. It’s wonderful ministry.

[MCG]

Yeah, man, what’s your website URL?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

It is J. M hyphen missions plural JE mhyphenmissions.com.

[MCG]

Alright folks, so go there and check out Doctor Henry Ministry there into the Removing Virus podcast. We are sitting down with Doctor Henry, the President of Jewish Anti ministries and we are finding out about his life before salvation after salvation and now his mission field. We’ll be right back.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things, removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers.net/donate, removing barriers, a clear view of the cross. Do you have the desire to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints? Answers in Genesis can help. They provide biblically sound books, CD’s, DVD’s, home schooling materials, VBS materials, online courses, digital downloads, and the Answers magazine and more. Plus tickets to the Creation Museum and Ark encounter go to the answers book store. By clicking the link in the description section below. So you too can be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks the reason of the hope that is in you.

So Dr. Benach, we’re going to shift a little bit and talk about Judaism as a whole, how to witness to Jews what barriers might be in place when Christians are trying to talk to them about the gospel. So can you give us an overview and tell us who are the Jews and what is Judaism? How many Jews are there in the world? Where are they in the world? That sort of thing.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, to answer your question about the number of Jewish people, they’re approximately 12 million Jewish people split up between the United States, South America, they’re everywhere around the world, about 6,000,000 Jews in Israel. And growing number believe in fulfillment of prophecy. And these people are returning to Israel as God promised they would. Judaism, of course, is a very one of the oldest religions, that there is. It started, of course, you know with Abraham and and we know the story from the Jewish scriptures about how. God called Abraham out of his country and brought him to let him. Canaan gave him the land which he owns now, which unfortunately everybody else wants as well. And that’s one of the. This. Problems in the world today is that they want to take away the land of the Jews and really, you know, this may be a little off of what you asked me. But the problem in the world today really comes down to 1 answer and that is one side wants to see the other side dead. Now if the Israelis. Would stop fighting. There would be probably a massacre of the Jews if the other group, Hamas and others, would stop fighting, there’d be peace. But they don’t want to see the Jews live in their land. That’s why they save from the river to the sea. They just want. All of that land, but unfortunately God has given all that land to the Jewish people and. Believe one day they will get that, but Judaism is been a religion that is. Focuses on that. There’s only one God and opposed to a lot of other religions where they believe in multiple gods, but Judaism is. Monotheistic one God, the Jewish people will recite. A prayer they’ll say. Shama Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad, hero Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord the Lord is 1, and so that has been what God has, blessed that as they’ve been a shining light to the rest of the world by their religion. It’s an interesting. Religion. But there is no aspect of Jesus being the Messiah and. Fact, as I said earlier, Jesus is not considered to be the Messiah. He may be a good prophet, he may have been a prophet, he may be a good man, but he wasn’t the Messiah. They’re still actively waiting for their Messiah to come. I don’t know how they will recognize him. Unfortunately for my studies when the Antichrist. Appears on the earth. They will recognize him, perhaps as being the Messiah and sign a peace treaty with him for 3 1/2 years, and at the end of the. 3 1/2. Years. They will find out that he’s not the Messiah and he’ll persecute them, and it’ll be a great. Persecution, again, as far as witnessing the Jewish people, there really is not anything like your standard evangelism that you see in most churches where you, you know, walk up to somebody and say if you died today, do you know for sure you’d go to heaven? They just don’t have that aspect of understanding. So. I wrote a book. Those are called go to learn. When I was in graduated from high school I studied psychology. I thought I wanted to be a psychologist. And I learned that the number one topic that everybody likes to talk about is themselves. And so I wrote this book called Go to Learn and my method of starting out with evangelism with Jewish people is I like to ask a lot of questions, questions about that individual. And if you talk to Jewish people and you ask them, well, tell me a little bit about yourself. Just kind of like what you’re doing with me. They’ll talk and they won’t stop talking. And they’ll love to talk and they will continue to tell you. And so you keep asking questions, asking questions, asking questions. And eventually the time will come. It may not be the first time you talk to. But the time will come when they’ll ask you a question, and that’ll open the door for you to tell them about what you believe. A lot of people just get frustrated because Jewish people don’t want to hear about Jesus right away, and so some people get frustrated and they start, you know, getting upset with the fact that they don’t want to hear about it well. It takes patience. It takes persistence, it takes going back again and again and again, and making a friend and getting them to know that you really care about them before you have an opportunity to see them come to another Lord.

[Jay]

OK, you used the words or the terms the Jews, the Jewish people, and Israelis all entertain gibly. And I’ve heard some people say that they’re not the same thing. One is a faith or people or culture or an ethnicity. Israelis are in a nationality or the government, and that particular term. So could you give us a concise history of the Jews or the Jewish people or Israelis? Are they synonymous when we speak about these things? Are they the same thing, and should we address them as such?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Always said that I would prefer that people say the Jewish people as opposed to Jews sometimes just to say Jews is kind of a derogatory term. But although it is a true term, the Jewish people are a racial a group of people. It is not a faith because their faith is Judaism. When I say Israelis, I could be mistaken because I’m sure there’s Arab Israelis. So, but I should probably have said the children of Israel, which are the children of Jacob and so. Jewish people is a more a term that I like to use better than saying Jews because sometimes Jewish people, you know, I’ve heard people say you Jews and that kind of derogatory statement, although if you’re talking about the people in general, they are the Jewish people or they are Jews. I mean there’s only three people on the face of the earth. Jews, Gentiles, and the church. That’s all there is. And so when I say Israelis, I usually say that meaning. The Jewish people that live in Israel, but you know, I didn’t take into consideration. There’s probably Arab Israelis who live there as well. So it’s either like Jews, Jewish people, children of Israel or Jewish Israelis.

[MCG]

Yeah, as Jay said, I’ve heard folks say that, you know, not to use certain terms, but then we listen to Someone Like You or a Jew and they will use the same term. So I guess sometimes it contacts and is who’s saying it, I guess.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Yeah. So depends on who’s saying it. If it’s someone who doesn’t like them and they start, they use in a derogatory way, probably wouldn’t say you Jewish people, they’re probably using the derogatory way and maybe even worse thing. You know, the Jews use that in driver turn. You know, this seems like every race has some derogatory.

[MCG]

My.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Statements or phrase or term that’s used. So try not to use that you know in witnessing the Jewish people, there’s probably a lot of things not to say. It’s probably better not to say. For example, I never say that as a Jewish person that I am a converted Jew. I’m not converted. I didn’t convert, Colossian says. We are complete in him, so I believe I am a completed Jew. I’m not converted because you start talking about conversion. That’s the worst thing that Jewish person wants to hear.

[MCG]

Mm-hmm.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Especially those that don’t have a spiritual light in their. Heart. Mm-hmm. And they start thinking that somehow I’m going to make some decision. I’m going to become. Gentile one. They misunderstand the fact that it’s not convert, so I never used the word convert. I never really discuss unless someone like yourselves and us talking. I’ve rarely used the word missionary because that’s kind of a derogatory term too. So I might say Ambassador or messenger. But you don’t usually use the words missionaries, so there’s. Few words I don’t usually say New Testament, which you know, we believe in the testament, but that’s kind of a, again, a Gentile Christian term. Instead, I might use the term new covenant because that if I say, well, you know that’s found in the old covenant and they’ll say, what do you mean old to them? That’s our Bible. So I would say Jewish scriptures. And. The new covenant. So there’s certain words that are best used in a way that will be a. Little bit more. Easier on the ears for the Jewish person.

[MCG]

All right.

[Jay]

Good to.

[MCG]

Know. Well, let’s compare the core beliefs. Maybe you can tell us what are some of the core beliefs of Judaism. And let’s compare that with biblical Christianity or true Christianity, and maybe tell us where they differ, where they line up.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, as I said earlier, the Jewish people believe in one God. While they think that Christians are worshipping 3 gods, father, son, Holy Spirit, that each one of them are separate. God’s truth of the matter is that one phrase that they use, that’s Shama, the hero, is your the Lord, our God, is 1. 1. The word one is a plural word. In fact, you could find that same word as the word Ahad. It’s found in other places, for example husband and wife, a man and woman should leave their parents and become one flesh. So you got two people that are one, and there’s another first lady that says the whole congregation of Israel. That word hole is the word Ahad 1 so they don’t understand that there’s a plurality. So we’re not worshipping 3 gods. We worship one God. That has three different characteristics. Each one of them mentioned in the scriptures. Early on in the very beginning, the spirit of the Lord, the Bible says, was upon the face of the waters, and then later many times in the Jewish scriptures, Jesus appears as the God that can be seen. And so the core belief is very. Basic one is we believe in one God, just as they do, but they hold firm. So that there’s no, you know, try unity of God like we believe in Judaism when a boy is 13 years old, he will have what’s called a bar mitzvah. The son of the commandment that makes him a man in the Jewish religion. We as believers don’t hold to that. Instead, we believe that there’s a time. When we make a decision to trust the Lord Jesus as our savior, that we. Completed, we have not a religion. We have a relationship. Judaism is really a man’s religion. The man has the major part in going to the synagogue, the different commandments, and there’s 613 Commandments that he’s supposed to keep is supposed to Christianity, the only commandment.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

You’re told the keepers. Love our neighbor as ourselves and love the Lord our God with all our heart. So Judy. Is Christianity what I mean by that? It comes up to the very doorstep of Christianity, but it needs to be completed by faith in the Jewish Messiah. So. Christianity is a very Jewish I want to say religion, although I don’t necessarily believe. Jesus was Jewish. The disciples were Jewish. The book that we read the Bible was written by Jewish authors, so they only believe in the Torah. The first five books of Moses, and there is another book that they use called the Talmud, which is a commentary, the oral tradition. And they believe in some of the prophets and some of the of the writings, the Psalms, proverbs. While we also believe that the inspired word of God is found in the new covenant, which gives us the Gospels and the writings of the disciples, the apostles and the apostle Paul and Luke, and so we see, you know, there’s one of the major differences there. They have many, many traditions. Where we don’t have those traditions, well, maybe some. Of them we do. For example, Christmas, I think is a without getting too deep. Into it. I truly don’t believe Jesus was born on December 25th. I believe that he was born somewhere, maybe at the Feast of Tabernacles. I can accurately figure that out by looking at the time of when Elizabeth his I guess would be his aunt, conceived and we can kind of time it off. So we have traditions about Christmas. We have traditions about a lot of different things, so but they have a lot of traditions as well. Big difference.

[Jay]

According to Judaism, how is a person reconciled to God?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, you know there is 7 different feasts. One of them is called Yum Kippur. The Day of Atonement, 10 days before that is the holiday called or feast called Rosh Hashanah, which is the feast of trumpets. In between that time they were supposed to, you know, repent of their sins, and then the priests would take a lamb. Would sacrifice the land and put the blood upon the altar and then send the scapegoat out in the wilderness. Well, unfortunately. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD. There is no longer sacrifices, no genealogical records, so the rabbis came up with the plan that in order to have reconciliation with God, you have to do what are called mitzvahs, good deeds as much good as you possibly can. Two charitable works. And if your good deeds are accepted by God, he will cover your sins for the next year. Nobody knows if they’ve done enough. Good. And so the only way that people can be reconciled is by the setting of blood without the. Shedding of blood. There is no remission of sins. But their method today is good. Deeds do as much good as you possibly can.

[MCG]

Do you think that when we are witnessing to Jews, you already told us some of the ideas that you have and some of the techniques you use when you’re witnessing to Jews, do you think it’s necessary to address maybe what we will consider errors in their faith or in their doctrine when we’re doing that?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, I would hesitate to do that, because what would happen is if you’re at that door and you start pointing out that there. Were I give an example? I was out visiting and a friend of mine said let’s go to this Jewish ladies House. So the last time I was talking to her, she was real nice in the very beginning. And then all of a sudden. She got upset, mad and told me to leave. I said, what did you do? She said. Well, I told her that if she didn’t accept Christ, she was going to die and go to hell. And so I went back to her house with him. And the first thing she said to me was don’t tell me that I’m going to go to hell if I don’t accept Jesus. I said, well, I didn’t come here to tell you that. And then I recognized your last name and I said, was your father a Holocaust survivor and and tell me a little about your father. And it’s like, all of a sudden, she perked up. And she. Glad to tell me about her father and what he did and what she’s done. If you start pointing out problems, you’re out the door. You’re out of here. So you know, even though we know that their way of salvation is not correct, the best way to really draw things home is to maybe ask questions. You know, what is your way of salvation? I just witnessed to a Jewish man the day after I was in Virginia, I drove up to Delaware to witness to a man and he said to me, he said, well, I believe in the Jewish way. There’s one God I said, well, I agree with you. There’s only one God that said. But let me ask you a question. The Bible says that all of our iniquities, all our sins, are as filthy rags. All our righteousness is are as filthy rags. That means we’re sinners. I know I’m a Sinner. And would you agree you’re a Sinner? Oh, yes, I am a Sinner. OK, so now God is going to accept you into heaven with your sin. God is not going to allow sin in heaven. What can you do about your sins so that I encourage people to try? To you know. And get people to really. They’re sinners. They’re unrighteous. They’re not going to go to heaven with their sin. And there’s something that has to be done to remove the sin. And the only way that is for today is acceptance of Jesus as their savior. So. And I’m hesitant to try to point out their wrongs. They probably. Get offended very quickly and you probably will not have much of an opportunity. I think the best way to do is kind of draw them to the knowledge of hey, I’m a Sinner and I, you know, I don’t have a way of. Of atonement. I need a way of atonement.

[Jay]

So this podcast is called removing barriers. We certainly don’t want to be putting up any barriers talking to the Jewish people when we’re witnessing to them, creating barriers that don’t need to be there. Are there any other pitfalls that we should be careful to avoid in addition to the ones that you’ve mentioned? Are there any others that you would like to share with the audience and with us as well?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I just think the main point is to go to learn. I keep repeating that term. Go to. Learn. Learn about them. Ask them questions. I mean, this is true of anybody, not just Jewish people. I go and ask people if I were to start asking you to tell me about yourself, just like you’ve done with me. I’m glad to share with you all the things that happened in my life. And so the same thing with them, and especially with Jewish people. They love to talk. And especially when they’re talking about themselves, you know, when you go to talk to somebody, if all you do is talk about yourself, they’re not going to be that interested. They’re going to get kind of like, well, you. Know I’m not really interested what this person have to say. But if you go and ask them to tell you about themselves, they’re glad and they’ll say at the end of the conversation that guy is a good conversationalist. I really like that person, so try not to speak too much about yourself and ask them a lot, like repeating this term. Go to learn. Go to learn.

[MCG]

Oh man, this is a little bit off topic, but I’m curious about you. Answer added Jewish people, still God’s chosen people.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Absolutely, absolutely. One of the biggest misconceptions today is that God has forsaken his people and instead the church now has replaced Israel. I don’t believe that. I believe that God still has a plan. Well, Paul asked that question as God cast away his people, which he. 4 new and then the answer was God forbid.

[MCG]

Mm-hmm.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

God still has a plan for Jewish people. He’s still protecting them, even though in belief he still protects them and he loves them. And I believe they’re still God’s chosen people. But. The chosen part is not chosen for salvation. We got to make sure that we understand they’re not chosen for salvation. They were chosen because God has promised them a land, and that land belongs to them and nothing that anyone can do. Maybe people listening to this, they won’t like to hear this, but God gave them the land. They do not occupy the land. As people say the occupiers, they’re called, they do not occupy the land, they own the land Genesis 1516 through 21. God promises them a vast area of land which they don’t have right now. Then they have 1% of it, which they will get in the. In the Millennium. But that is something that people that need to understand. God still has a wonderful plan for Israel, and in Romans Chapter 11 the Bible says, and so all Israel shall be saved. So these are coming, our future day when God’s plan will see its completion with them coming to. Know the Lord.

[MCG]

Yeah, man, we did an episode way back in episode 149, I think. It is. I would love for you to listen to it and let me know what you think the start of it is Israel. Hamas war, a biblical perspective. And we had Leopold, Doctor Leopold on to talk about that. And I think he did a lovely job expounding on that. And also exponent the fact that the Jews are still God’s people. And it’s interesting about the land because as Leopold was. Explaining to us how much land God gave them and how much land they occupy now, and still they’ve been asked to give up more. I hate to turn this a little bit political, but since I have you just get your perspective. I don’t know if you have been able to kind of follow Ben Shapiro and the latest parties going on with Candace Owens.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I really haven’t listened to them, but if they you know, it probably are they pro Israel or anti Israel.

[MCG]

Well, Ben Shapiro is a Jew and Candice Owens. I guess as it was a Christian, I don’t think she’s saved, but she has recently converted to being a Catholic like her husband. But she was being accused of being anti Semite because she does not agree with. I guess I will say everything that’s going on in terms of the Israeli Defense force doing in Gaza. So she basically has this phrase as a crisis king, and they find that the term crisis king is anti-Semitic. But I was going to ask you about that what your impression and that is. But if you don’t know about it, that’s fine, we’ll.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, I do know that this feeling of anti-Semitism that’s going on in the world today is something that’s been going on. From the beginning of time and those that don’t agree with the Israeli armies going into Gaza and trying to reclaim and eliminate Hamas, I wonder if those people will ask the question after 911 did anybody protest? The American Government, when they went to Iraq or they went to those places and eliminated ISIS and those other people that. Actually did the work on 9/11. That’s killed Americans. I don’t recall there being an anti America protest on college campuses. I do. I am old enough to remember anti Vietnam War protest. I’m of that age and I was a teenager and draft eligible to go to Vietnam although they never was. Called, but I don’t recall anybody saying that you shouldn’t. Go and do something about that. But now here, all these people are against the Israeli Government and the IDF going in to take care of those people that killed 1400 Israeli citizens in a savage, savage way, fired thousands of rockets took babies. And massacred him right in front of. Parents. So, you know, I don’t think these people really know what they’re talking about. And especially and we start to get. I mean, I don’t know how political you want to be, but I can get you pretty political and go even further and talk about how this whole movement of Palestine, Palestinians, is an issue that really is only 55 years old. There were no Palestinians prior to that. So they have to have something to protest and they’re fired up by people. Who are putting? Crazy thoughts in their minds, and if you could sit down with them and ask them what are you really protesting? I don’t think they even know.

[MCG]

Yeah. Tell me this because it seems to me that the definition that’s like racism. Of course, this is all the podcast. So my wife, Jenni, are black, and it seems like racism has evolved. If you want to put it that way, the definition of it has change over the course of time. If you go back, you know, 100 years.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

They don’t know.

[MCG]

I believe. Of what? Black people, or even not, maybe not even 100 years, even 50 years or less. What was defined as racism back then is not today. Today it seems to morph into. If you disagree with a black person, and it seems Candace Owens was also saying that at least that’s what I’m interpreting. Similar for what she’s saying is that can you disagree with the Jew and not be anti Semite? So what is the definition of anti-Semitism? I guess is the question. How would you define it?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Anti-Semitism as far as I’m concerned, is the desire to let the Jewish people live, to let them stay alive. To persecute them just because they’re Jewish, much in the same way that it occurred hundreds years ago with black people just to persecute them because of the color of their skin. And so somebody got this idea in their mind. I don’t like what this person looks like. I don’t like what they are. I don’t like who they are, and so I’m against them and they shouldn’t even be alive as far as I’m concerned. And if they are, they need to be relegated to some back corner where, you know, nobody sees them. We’re the right ones. You know, we’re right. You’re wrong. And you know that is. Been not something that just started, you know, hundreds of years ago that’s been going on. The persecution the Jewish people has been going on forever for thousands of years. And basically, I don’t I purpose, you know. I. How can I say this? I think probably. Again, it’s a demonic. Attack upon the Jewish people by the devil who wants to eliminate the Jews off the face of the earth, because if he can do that, it will result in the promises of God against the devil being cast away. And so if he can kill all the Jews, well, that would show that God can’t protect his people. And that he won’t necessarily be cast in the lake of fire. So he’s put ideas in people’s mind. I don’t know. You know, what is the difference? You know? And I’m sure you’ve said this. Why are people so against one another? And racism is just one group of people who just think that they’re more superior than anybody else. I don’t agree with that. I think that anti-Semitism is a much greater racism and for longer. And more persistent than it has. I mean there are. In my grandparents hometown in the Ukraine and this place called Tati. There were Russians that came in in 1920, and just because the Jewish people were there, they accused him of all kinds of things. They accused him of sacrificing Christian babies. They accused them of having all the money, controlling everything. And so we got to get rid of these people. So they said. But they came into my grandparents. It’s. And 2000 Jewish people were hiding in the synagogue, trying to keep from being killed, and these White Russian army came in, set the synagogue on fire and killed, burned 2000 Jewish people to death, all because they were Jewish. I don’t know if I even answered the question of why. Why? I don’t know.

[Jay]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I can’t answer the question why people. Are against people of other colors or races. To me, it’s just demonic.

[Jay]

Yeah, I’ll ask you one last question, Doctor. Benak, this is such an inexhaustible topic. I have so many questions, but I’ll condense it down to this. Perhaps some people would say, and I’m not making this argument, but I’ve heard people make this argument. They say that the Jewish people are. No more, because when the temple was destroyed in 8070, Jewish people were scattered to the four corners of the Earth, and there are no Jewish people any longer. And it’s only because of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the UN partitioning Palestine in 1947. That’s the only reason why you have the state of Israel and so. It’s unfair, it’s colonization, it’s oppression. It’s all these other buzzwords that are floating in today’s political landscape. What would you say to those people who absolutely deny? The biblical account of the Jewish people and say that it ended in 8070 and this thing we call Israel and the Israeli people now is just the creation of modern day monarchies and governments. And it’s not, it simply doesn’t exist. What would you say to them?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I would say to them that they need to go to the Bible and listen to what God said when, he said. About Israel, he talked about them, the land of Israel when Jesus was in Egypt with his parents after Herod was first getting the children trying to kill the babies. God told Joseph, take the child back to the land of Israel. It has always been called the land of Israel, except for after. 70 AD when the Romans, in an effort to get rid of the fact that there were, was in Israel, changed the name to Palestinian, it wasn’t Palestine. And by the way, there were always Jewish people still living in the land that land just because it wasn’t occupied by them fully. It’s still belonged to them. I mean, this is not the first time that they were cast out of their land. It happened again back in the 600 BC time when Daniel and the rest of the children of Israel were taken into captivity. There was still a remnant of Jewish people that were still there, and there were still Jewish people in the land of Israel. During the period of time from 70 AD, maybe not a lot because they were all cast into countries you know, first like Spain and then they were kicked out of Spain and they went to Eastern Europe and then the Holocaust. But there’s always been Jewish people. I mean, they have been a people that have tried very hard to maintain their identity, their parents. The writings. So I would say that you know, just because the United Nations gave them a partition land as a. Homeland doesn’t mean that the Jewish people didn’t exist, or they didn’t deserve to have that land. I believe God gave them that land. If somebody wants to read Genesis chapter 15 through 21, they’ll see very clearly that God gave specific parameters to Abraham and said I’m giving you this land. And here is the promise seed Isaac. He didn’t. Give it to. Israel. He gave it to Isaac and then he gave the same promise to Jacob. And throughout history, he’s always promised that those people would return to their land. And he said especially the scripture verses say I will cast them out no more. So they’re just giving. A small portion of the land that God actually gave them. It’s a much larger part, but that’s an excuse that people want to make. You know, the Jews don’t exist anymore. They don’t deserve the land. They’re occupying the land, and it really belongs to, well, who does it really belong to? Show me in the Bible where it says it belongs to anyone else. But that’s what people want. A two state solution. And really, they’ll never be. A peaceable 2 state solution. I would almost. I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I’d guarantee that there won’t be a. Two state solution.

[Jay]

Hmm, absolutely right.

[MCG]

In respect of your time, do you have more time to continue talking or?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I think so more.

[MCG]

OK, alright. Because I’m intrigued about this as well. In episode 149, I mentioned before with Doctor Leopold, he mentioned some of that stuff that you just talked about and this is one question I asked him and I’m curious of what your answer will be on this question because for me and for Jay and for some of our listeners, yeah, we believe the Bible is true. Is it and followed by Word of God, and we believe is the final authority in all things pertaining life and death. But can the Bible be used as a type of deed to someone who may say, hey, I don’t believe it, should we use it as a title deed to say Israel should have all this land?

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Just because someone doesn’t believe that the Bible is the word of God does not make it any less the word of God.

[Jay]

True. Amen.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

I asked an Arab man in Israel. I was there. I’ve been there several times. I asked him. Well, the Bible says that God gave the land to Isaac as a promise and he said to me as well, the Jewish people wrote that book to do it the way they wanted it to be. They wrote their book exactly the way they wanted it to be. Well, unfortunately the Bible claims inspiration by God, and it would be impossible for 66 books of the Bible to have been written over a period of thousands of years to so perfectly harmonize to so have prophecies that were predicted thousands of years before that. Actually came true. That’s the true test of the scriptures, that prophecy that was predicted actually came true. And of course, in order to be a prophet, everything you say has to be true. So there is enough evidence from the Bible itself to show that it is. Is the inherent word of God. But just because someone says, well, I have a message I wrote called you can’t forget God. Moses was heading back to Egypt with his wife and the children of Israel were crying out because of their laborers in Egypt. And the Bible says that. Moses and his wife set out, and most people haven’t seen this verse, but the Bible says God sought to kill Moses. And it’s in the book where he says God was going to kill Moses. And his wife takes and cuts off the foreskin of their son because Moses had forgotten to circumcise his son before he left Egypt to go back to Israel to fulfill the covenant. So just because Moses forgot to do it didn’t mean that he wasn’t supposed to do it. We had to do it just because. Person doesn’t get saved. Doesn’t mean that God’s command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he shall be saved is not true. Just because a person doesn’t pray doesn’t mean that God can’t answer their prayers. So to use an excuse that, oh, I don’t believe the Bible, and so all these other things can’t be true. Doesn’t make it not true, and so you can’t forget God in the matter of salvation. You can’t forget God in the matter of service. You can’t forget God in the matter of sin. God said, you know all of sin and come short of the glory. God well, if you want to say, well, I’ve never sinned. Well, that doesn’t change the fact that you are a Sinner. You inherit the sin from your forefathers. And so that’s an excuse people make because they just don’t want to obey the word of God.

[MCG]

Yeah. Doctor Henry, tell us, how can folks get a hold of you? Get ahold of your ministry.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Well, certainly they can go to our website at jemhyphenmissions.com. I have written about 12 pieces of literature, gospel tracks specifically geared towards sharing the gospel with Jewish people. And if you go to our website, you can go on there and order. I have all these tracks. You can see the tracks. You can order the tracks. And here is the best part of it. All. They’re free of charge. I don’t charge anybody for these tracks. You can sign up on the website, order tracks, and we’ll send it to you free of charge. So we want to be able to get the Gospels Jewish people, so we make it as easy as possible. Also, if they’re interested in learning how to witness the Jewish people, they can go on their site and have a book that’s on Amazon that’s go to learn book, how to witness the Jewish people. And it would be a great help. Or they can contact us and we will be more than glad to assist them in any way of their evangelization of Jewish people. Perhaps maybe come to a church or do a presentation. But just simply go to the website and everything’s there.

[MCG]

Amen. Ohh. Doctor Henry was indeed a pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the removing various podcasts.

[Dr. Henry Benach]

Thank you very much. It’s been a real privilege to get to know you and I’ll look forward to seeing you again sometime in.

[Jay]

The future this is the removing barriers.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely.

[Jay]

Podcast If the podcast or the blog were a blessing to you, leave us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t forget to share the podcast with your friends, removing barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get a hold of us, to support this podcast, or to learn more about removing barriers, go to removingbarriers.net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast we attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.