02.01. The Stirring of the Bones

The Stirring of the Bones Why such a manual?

Why should we care about Judaism? Why study Judaism? Are there not already enough books on this subject? Is there anything new about this people that requires a new approach, a re-discovery, re-exploration, a re-evaluation of this subject?
Has not the church replaced the Jew and has she not been fulfilling the mission to which God called the Jews, and which they have failed to fulfill? We shall endeavor to show that this is not the case.

We shall seek to show that such a manual is vitally needed at present.

1) Because God is not yet through with the Jewish people;
2) because of the recent upheavals in Jewish life.

It appears that the books extant on this subject are not sufficiently adequate. There is much that is new about this people and much of what is old is now to be studied in a new light. Moreover, the precarious, critical changes which mankind as a whole is now undergoing with new problems every day, new anxieties, necessitate new solutions, or rather a fresh approach, a rediscovery of old truths, and old prophecies; and the more we delve into the situation, the more we realize that we cannot just do it without the Jews:

1) Because they are in our midst;
2) because their history is a vital part of our civilization;
3) because of the part they are yet to play in the redemption of the world.
The world now faces an unprecedented crisis which if not overcome might soon lead the world to total destruction.
The ominous handwriting on the wall: MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN (Daniel 5:25) is clearly seen by all thinking men and women; and translated into modern usage, it cautions:

“A few more steps in that direction which mankind is now racing will catapult it into TOHU VABOHU - into chaos and extinction.”

The “heathen rage” while crying, “Peace, peace!” People, good ones and not so good ones, convene, confer, speak and write, discussing ways and means of how to avert the impending catastrophe, while the “powers” whom they represent, in whose name they speak, vie with each other in accelerating the production, or acquisition, of implements for mass-annihilation.

“Peace, peace!” - But there is no peace, because the heart of man is evil: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21).

Mankind is sinful and the wages of sin is death. Yet, there is a cure for man’s evil heart, a remedy for his sinfulness: “the blood of Christ which taketh away the sin of the world” and its resultant evil (see John 1:29 and Hebrews 10:17). But, alas, mankind has not yet accepted this unique and only remedy. They have not yet recognized the “Prince of Peace,” who for 1900 years has been calling to weary and afflicted humanity: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Why has mankind not availed itself of this life-saving remedy? The answer may be: Most of them have not heard of it at all, and many of them have not heard enough of it.
Was not 1900 years of grace time enough to reach the hearts of every human creature in every corner of the earth? The time, surely, was sufficient, but there were not enough true and faithful messengers to carry the Good Tidings near and far.

Let us here have a swift glance at the course of the spread of the divine message: The first messengers, apostles, evangelists, were Jews, and with their typical zeal nourished by the knowledge of Christ, they launched out into the then accessible world, and not to Jews of the Diaspora only, but also to Gentiles. Thousands upon thousands heard the Gospel and were convicted of its truth and its blessings. Within a relatively short period nearly all the “world,” as it was known at that time, came under the sway of Christianity.
But then came a relapse: The “wild branches” which were grafted into the natural branch began to disregard and disdain the hospitality of the stem, arrogating to themselves its prerogative, deeming its life-giving sap unsavory, and even loathing its adopted parentage. Thus began the process of degeneration, deterioration and decay.

Now when the “wild branches” sought to exercise their usurped authority, they exercised it with ignorance, arrogance, cruelty and failure.
For centuries the cross and the sword were almost twin brothers; at least the non-Christian nations identified them as such. It was not the Gospel of love, of the meek and “Gentle Jesus,” that the Medieval Church offered and preached to those who needed it, but rather a concoction of truth and falsehood, light and darkness, allurements and threats, all mixed, and then thrust forcefully down unwilling throats.
With the Protestant Reformation there came a reformation in missionary work. The Scriptures resumed the authority which, for long years, the Catholic hierarchy had usurped. With the unadulterated Word of God in hand evangelical messengers could again carry the Gospel of love and salvation to all creatures.
But the endeavors were not adequate, not proportionate to the vast needs. There were not enough Christlike, self-sacrificing messengers of the Good News. And more tragic, there were even less of the love-filled, selfless messengers to bring that same Good News to the Jews next door. How well fits here: “. . . they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6).

Had they tended to their own vineyard, the Jews - their neighbors - first, they might have had more workers for the distant vineyards: for, every Jewish “convert” is a potential missionary and usually an extremely zealous one. As an example consider the fact that during the nineteenth century, the proportionately very little mission activity among the Jews in Europe brought about 300,000 converts. That is an enormous number, compared with the numbers of conversions in foreign lands.

Moreover, in course of time, Satan confused light with its shadow, fruit with its husks, and many of the missionaries, or mission societies, began to preach to the “benighted natives” a form of “Christianity” rather than Christ, and that sort of “Christianity” began to be identified with “civilization” (i.e., Western civilization) with its technical achievements, schools, hospitals, museums, theaters, etc., and, to the “natives” it meant also, colonialism, conquest and subjugation to foreign masters.

No wonder, that at the first opportunity, the natives, after they had learned the values of so-called Christian civilization, made use of it in dispensing with the missionaries, in a more or less “civilized” manner. Thus, now nearly all the Gentile world is closed tightly against Christian missions.

If we were to sum up the results of 1900 years of preaching to the Gentile “first,” we would find that the vast majority of mankind is un-Christian, hundreds of millions are anti-Christian and most of those who are called “Christian” nations are only nominally Christian.

China, with its countless millions is now tightly closed to Christian activities, the other Asian countries with their hundreds of millions are rapidly barring their doors to missions. The vast continent of Africa, which was once called the “dark” continent, is expelling the missionaries who brought them “civilization,” and is now relapsing into spiritual darkness.

How about Europe, the “civilized,” the “Christian” continent? Recent estimates show that of the 550 million people living in Europe - 400 million have not yet heard the message of Christ.

If one wants to know how many of those who have heard the Gospel are really followers of Christ, he may get an approximate estimate by having a look at those of the American people, for example, who “have heard.”

At present there are 66 million people in the “Christian” United States who have not any church affiliation. And those who are affiliated, even those who shout, “Lord, Lord,” show little evidence of being regenerated.

Contrasting this “Christian” complacency and indifference with the anti-Christian activities, we may have a clear picture of Satan’s triumphant march, driving humanity to godlessness and destruction.

The Arabs having got their education at the missionaries’ schools and colleges are making enormous strides in the conquest of Afro-Asian peoples to Islam, the faith of Mohammed.

Buddhism, too, has launched out to conquer the world. Competing with these are other “isms,” even Rabbinism, and above all Communism, the gravest menace to humanity. All are feverishly striving to entice the world into the clutches of Satan. Thus there is confusion, ferment, turmoil, chaos - the “raging of the heathen.”

Some of our liberal theologians point with satisfaction to modern society with its modern institutions and its opportunities for all, which enables the poor to live more conveniently, more luxuriously than did kings of yore, and they call this Christianity. Is it?

Probably, were it not for Christianity we might not have reached this stage of more convenient living. But this “advanced,” “progressive” life with Christ left out has not made man happier, better, nobler.

Had education and science been subservient to the moral values and truth of Christianity, we might enjoy their fruit, but since they became rebellious and put themselves above their mistress, their fruit has become bitter and venomous.

The discoveries of the marvelous forces stored up in nature should have opened man’s eyes more and more to see the omnipotence of the Creator of these forces and thus apply them only to His glory and to the welfare of His creatures. But Satan would not have permitted that.

- Thus the horrible abuse of the Creator’s marvels.
- Thus also the abuse of leisure, probably the greatest blessing which technical achievement has extended to man.

It is enough to scan the contents of the daily newspaper, or look and listen one evening to television, in order to be convinced that leisure is being terribly abused. Little is there, in the press as well as in television, which tends to make man better, nobler. We may assume that they provide man with what he requires. And it seems that he requires nothing more than to eat and drink and be merry, and let the morrow take care of itself!
In short, while paganism has become “civilized,” “Christian civilization” has become paganized.

This is what the Gentile church has achieved during 19 centuries.

WHY HAS THE CHURCH FAILED?

Why this catastrophic failure that has brought mankind to the brink of the bottomless pit?

We cannot find another answer except this: Because the “Church,” however you define the word, has not obeyed the Master’s injunction to “begin at Jerusalem”; it did not follow Paul’s example to go “to the Jew first.”

Mind you, both the Master’s command and Apostle’s example came after the rejection. I stress this point “after” because there have been theologians who taught that because the Jewish people “rejected” Christ, He rejected them. They were cast away.

These “modern” thoughts, and all such casuistry about God having broken His promises, abrogated His Covenant with Israel, because He is “no respecter of persons,” imply that the Jews do not mean any more to Him than any other people, to say the least. All these thoughts were in vogue already in Paul’s time.

But Paul, who knew the Scriptures better than all theologians, past and present, who knew, loved and obeyed his Master more than they have done, emphatically refuted them: assuring and reassuring those that wanted to know, that God does not change, that Israel is still His “Chosen people,” and it is still to the Jew first.

No, He is not through with them; He still has a great future in store for them, and He still wants them to carry out their mission to all mankind. (See Romans 3:1-2 and Romans 11:1-36).

How those old doubts, heresies and prejudices, persisted all through the nineteenth centuries; how modernists still try to twisted squeeze out of a certain word or words, culled out of their context from the Scriptures, “proofs” that they are right, and not Jesus and not Paul, is hard to comprehend.

It only shows how powerful Satan is to confuse man’s mind and lead him astray.

Again and again we hear the argument: “The Jews had their chance and failed it, so the ‘Church’ assumed their mission.” Now, we might similarly contend: “The ‘Church’ has had its chance and failed, so perhaps we’d better go back to the Jews.”
But why use childish arguments, when the Bible from Genesis to Revelation revolves around this Jewish people? Those that would “cast away” this people would do well if they first cast away the entire Bible.

After the Bible has related the fall of mankind, it goes on relating the history of the people whom God chose to lift it up again. For many generations the Lord led this people through rigorous training and education. From time to time He manifested His will and instructions to them in diverse manners; sometimes it was through the Holy Spirit by the prophets, sometimes by personal revelation, and finally with the climax when the Word became flesh.

All theophanies had the one purpose, to prepare and equip this people for the universal ministry (a “kingdom of ministers”) of proclaiming to all nations the glory of God and the saving grace which is in the supreme sacrifice of His only Son for the atonement of their sins.

The Jewish people is still God’s witness, whether they, themselves, or their antagonists like it or not. Their tragic history serves as incontestable proof that the Bible is the Word of God and that He cares for the salvation of mankind. At present, the Jew may be His unwilling witness, but the time will come when he will become a willing and most efficient witness.

Why did the Jews, as a people, reject the Messiah, whom they so anxiously expected? Was God’s choice of this people wrong? Was all His training and disciplining then a failure?

These are blasphemous questions - silly, childish questions.

But strange as it is, there are mature people, even learned people who, by their talk, evoke such speculations. It is quite natural.

Man, who takes pride in his wisdom and logical thinking, presumes to measure and weigh God’s wisdom and deeds according to his own standards. We do not know what might have been the course of history had not blindness in part afflicted the Jewish people; had they not stumbled; had they accepted their Messiah when He came to them. We do not know what might have been, but we do know that whatever happened happened according to God’s plans.

To us, to mortal man, it is a mystery. Yet, Paul, inspired by God, instructs us and comforts us: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25); and his chapter 11 to the Romans, if we read it prayerfully, will shed heavenly light on the matter and reveal to us at least part of this mystery.

However, the Lord Himself told His faithful disciples, at their first meeting after His death, that it was not for them to know God’s times and seasons. For them, as for all other believers, it is only to be His witnesses - and to begin at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47 and Acts 1:6-8). In short, as regards the evangelization of the Jews, as indeed in all other human conduct, we are bound to subjugate our wills to God’s will; we are to obey His command implicitly and leave His planning and the results to Him.

Yet I shall try to give a reply to some questions which I have been, asked lately:

1. Are the Jews now more than before spiritually prepared for this vital change of heart and mind; to return to the God of the Sacred Scriptures, find out what is His will and fulfill it?

2. Are they now, more than before, physically and mentally equipped with the necessary qualifications for their mission?

3. Are they now more than before willing to take upon themselves this most difficult and hazardous task?
To question No. 1 our reply is “Yes.” For the first time in Jewish history the Jews are beginning to ask, “What is Judaism?” During the time of the prophets there was the question, whether to serve Baal, or Jehovah, or both. When it became clear that Jehovah God was the only One, Judaism then meant to serve Him in accordance with His commandments as recorded in the Sacred Scriptures. With the coming of the Messiah Jesus a crisis came which changed the whole course of Jewish history. While thousands of Jews believed in Christ, the people as a whole followed their leaders who rejected Him and His teaching.

Soon afterward, Jerusalem, including the Holy Temple, the center of Judaism, was destroyed and its people was dispersed into many lands. Now again large numbers of Jews came to know Jesus and followed Him. But the people, as a whole, blindly followed those rabbis who promised that if they would keep the Torah, observe its commandments scrupulously and conscientiously, God would send them the Messiah who would return them to the Promised Land and to pristine glory.

But how could they keep God’s commands when almost all of them were, directly or indirectly, connected with and dependent upon the sacrificial ordinances which could not be observed when there was no Temple and no altar?
Were the leaders at that time not stricken with partial blindness, they would have seen that their Redeemer liveth - that He was the living, the only sacrifice. As it was, they salvaged the few commands which could be kept even in exile and built around them “hedges” and “fences,” as they called it, till the original Judaism became distorted beyond recognition.
The leaders cherished the hope that this mode of Judaism would serve the people as a vessel to carry them on the seas of exile safely till the Messiah would come. Thus they embarked in a wreck on the boisterous, uncharted seas with raging billows pounding on it, with pilots who knew little of navigation. Countless were their losses, indescribable their suffering, as they were tossed about during the nineteen centuries of exile. Yet, they patiently endured their trials and tribulations in the assurance that the Messiah and their deliverance might come at any moment.

All they had to do to be worthy and to hasten His coming was to observe meticulously, implicitly, all the laws and ordinances which the rabbis had “prescribed.” This they did, zealously and unswervingly, doing all that the rabbis enjoined them to do. This implicit faith in the rabbis and their type of Judaism could thrive only under the strict surveillance and constant watch of the rabbis and was made possible when the Jews in the Diaspora lived segregated in ghettos, depending on each other, responsible for each other, in a hostile menacing world around them, where the synagogue was the center of life, where all “foreign” (Gentile) ideas were anathema, where no book besides the rabbinic books could penetrate. That was “Judaism,” the Judaism of the exile, the Judaism of the ghetto. But the old Ghetto walls now have crumbled and collapsed beyond repair.

There came the age of “Enlightenment,” the age of “Emancipation,” and enlightened and emancipated Jews began to think for themselves. They began to doubt the wisdom of the rabbis and to wonder whether the words of Isaiah of old were not meant also for later ages:

“. . . O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

New leaders arose, various “isms” were initiated to replace that so-called “Judaism” which was rapidly deteriorating and disintegrating. But all “isms,” all new hopes and aspirations were shattered during the last score of years. All the hopes and dreams that modern “emancipated” Jews had conceived in regard to education, progress, science, democracy, socialism and the like, vanished during the years of World War II, the Nazi atrocities, and the bankruptcy of Communism, as an ideal. * * See chapter, “A Peculiar People; A Glance at Their History.”
The establishment of the State of Israel brought some new hope to weary and heavy-laden Jewries all over the Diaspora. But it was also the new “State” that challenged traditional “Judaism” to reality, to life in a modern State. It was there, in the new State of Israel, that the question arose, “What is Judaism?”
The rabbis have not yet relinquished their hope of reinstating their brand of Judaism. Imposing synagogues are being erected, various attractions and inducements are offered to enlist members; much is done to make Judaism more attractive, more palatable, more digestible, but all in vain. The people as a whole stand now at the crossroads, disillusioned and confused, and ask: “Whither?”
The answer to their quandary we are to supply. “Whither?” they ask: The answer is, we should say: “‘Return ye, all the way back to your God, who has chosen you to be His holy people and to make Him known to all the peoples of the earth.’ It is to that end, that God has preserved you through all those vicissitudes.”

The survival of the Jewish people in a world alien and hostile to them, is the greatest mystery and miracle in the history of mankind. The Jews know that. They also know that they were destined by God to make Him known to all the world. Even their liberals and agnostics acknowledge this, although it is all quite hazy to them. They know that they have not yet carried out this worldwide mission. Why? Because, having followed false prophets and blind leaders their knowledge of God, His Word and His will, became muddled and adulterated.

The highest, noblest ideals were exchanged for the observances of meaningless rites, which could never have appealed to the hearts of the Gentile world; nor could they have satisfied their own longings. Least of all could these petty rites, which have become known as “Judaism,” have given a man the assurance that he is one with God, that his sins have been atoned for.
This kind of Judaism now has less appeal than ever to other peoples because most Jews themselves have abandoned it. They themselves realize that it is not leading them in the right direction - back to the God of their fathers. * * See chapter on Sects.

It is thus our task to show them the way back to God who revealed Himself to their ancestors and by whose everlasting covenant all the families of the earth were to be blessed (Genesis 12:3); we are to show them that all subsequent revelations confirmed this covenant and its divine purpose.

2. Are they now, more than before, physically and mentally equipped with the necessary qualifications for their mission? Here, too, the answer is “Yes.” Already in the time of Christ the Jewish people were well prepared for their mission to a world sunk in the mire of idolatry, sin and corruption. They had the Word of God, they loved it and were ready to guard and defend it with their very lives. They had a fair knowledge of the nations around them with whom they traded and among whom they had settled in large numbers. They had the message and they had the means of communicating with other people. Some, like Paul and the other disciples, fulfilled the mission excellently, but the people as a whole failed.

Since that time the Jewish people has had additional training, not by direct revelation, through prophets, but indirectly by harsh experience. It was a post graduate course, each lesson beaten in by hard blows. Now, after 1900 years of rigorous schooling, they have learned to know all nations and to live with them; they have learned to endure all climates, to overcome difficulties which to other people would be insurmountable. This schooling in exile, has equipped them with exceptional intellectual endowments in such qualities as perseverance, resourcefulness and initiative, with ambition and energy.

Proof: After about 1900 years of economic and social restrictions, severe degradation, oppressive laws and legal disabilities, and in spite of hate and prejudice with its periodic outbursts of mob violence, massacres, gas-chambers and concentration camps, they have survived. One may now encounter them in the highest positions of human civilization. They are to be found high up in industry and commerce, in finance, law, and medicine and in all branches of art, science and in politics. What is most important, they can and do create and shape moral ideas and public opinion since they exert such an influence on the press, theatre, radio, television and education.

These high intellectual endowments can be used for good or abused for evil; they can make or break, do or undo, kill or cure. Generally, the Jews have used their abilities for self-defense and for self-perpetuation. Their extraordinary potentialities are well demonstrated in the upbuilding of the new State of Israel where, within a few years, they have turned a barren desert into a flourishing land, and that with almost no implements and no previous experience. And these gifts were bestowed on them not only for their own good, but for the good of all mankind - “All the families of the earth” are to be blessed through them. Yes, the Jews are more than ever before, qualified to accomplish the task which was given to them by God from the time of Abraham.

3. Are they now more willing to take upon themselves this most difficult, hazardous task? Again the answer is “Yes.” However, we should bear in mind that no man has ever been too willing to undertake a task which is likely to incur great suffering and expose him to ridicule, hate and persecution. Moses, greatest of prophets, hesitated persistently before he obeyed God’s command to go to Pharaoh. The other prophets, too, tried to evade God when He ordered them on difficult missions.

Even the Saviour Himself, in the flesh, pleaded, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).
The Jews have always been a zealous people. They have been the most idealistic people on earth. They have always been in search of the highest ideals, and when they found one which they thought was the right one, they devoted all their heart and mind to it. No other nation has had so many martyrs as they have had. They have always been ready to offer on the altar of their faith not only their possessions but also their very life. They showed the same ardor, enthusiasm and self-sacrifice, when one or another “ism” captured their heart as a great “ideal.”

Now that they have come to realize that the zeal with which they had hitherto worshiped God, has been without knowledge: and now that they have become disillusioned with the various “isms,” which they believed would bring salvation to mankind, they ought surely to be ready to give their all to the one and only ideal of salvation for Jew and Gentile alike when the knowledge of this ideal is impressed upon their hearts. And their hearts have never been more open for it.

It is thus the purpose of this book to assist every Christian in finding the way to the Jewish heart, and the prerequisite to reach man’s heart is love. But one cannot really love what one does not know.

There is a fourth question which we have been asked: Are there not enough books on Judaism, why one more? My answer is: Yes, there are plenty of books, more elegant, more scholarly than I may boast for mine, but they lack a necessary perspective which this book will emphasize. As I point out in the Chapter on “The Jewish Religion,” most, if not all, of those books have, it seems, only one aim: to glorify Judaism and show its superiority over Christianity, thus only what fits into that frame is used and what does not well fit in is ignored.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

I became aware of the need of such a special presentation for Christians years ago soon after the Lord had called me to dedicate my life to the evangelization of my people. I had my own struggle at “Peniel,” as did my forefather Jacob, but the “Angel of the Lord” blessed me and promised to be with me and guide me through all the difficulties encountered in such a mission.
When I began my practical work, I realized that the old methods of reaching the Jews through mission centers was not sufficient. There were more than 6,000,000 Jews in the United States scattered in over 9,000 cities and towns. A large army of qualified missionaries and hundreds of centers would be needed to reach them.

I therefore saw no other solution to this problem than to place the responsibility for evangelizing the Jews primarily at the door of the local churches by challenging each church to minister to the Jews of their vicinity. We have a good example of the effectiveness of this in the early church. The apostles sowed the seed which fell on fertile ground, producing rich fruit. This fruit was disseminated and in turn produced more fruit and so on. Every one of the followers became a missionary, which explains the rapid growth of the early church.

I wish to say, however, that I do not desire to minimize the efforts put forth by mission centers. They have their place in large cities as well as in foreign countries and have rendered monumental service. Without them the fires of Jewish evangelism might long ago have been extinguished.
This conviction I have voiced by word of mouth from thousands of pulpits as well as through the printed page, and, thank God, the appeal has not been without effect. The response was heartwarming. Requests for advice and instruction began to pour in from earnest Christians who realized that they were duty bound to make Christ known to their Jewish friends but they did not know how to approach them, for they knew as little about the inner life of the Jewish people within their gates as they did about the peoples in distant lands.

Here is a letter typical of the requests which we received at that time:

Very often I have felt guilty of negligence of the divine command, “To the Jew first,” and I have tried to calm my conscience with the thought that the Jews did have the Gospel first and rejected it and that the command is no longer binding upon Christians today. But your message enlightened me very much and I realize now that it is the duty of every follower of Christ to carry the Gospel “To the Jew first.”

However, like many others, I feel so inadequate in contacting my Jewish friends, and should like to know more about them, their relationship to Christianity, how to approach them, how to gain their confidence, how to win them to Christ. I feel that from your many years of experience in preaching the Gospel to your own people, you would have valuable advice to offer. So please (and I am sure that many others join me in this plea) take the time to prepare a manual on the subject.

Requests in such a spirit, both oral and written, have been received from hundreds of devout Christians and I am sure that there are thousands who would welcome something to guide and direct them in their witnessing to the Jew.
The great need for information on the real life of the Jewish people has been recognized not only by the layman but also by Christian leaders and missionary organizations, as the following transcript shows:

Dr. C. E. Matthews, Director of Evangelism under the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, requested me to write a chapter for his book, The Southern Baptist Program for Evangelism. In his preface to that chapter he writes:

It is the writer’s belief that of all minority groups the most neglected by Christians in soul-winning is the Jew. . . . The writer himself is very guilty of this sin of neglect. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred we, as Christians, will pass by the Jew and seek to win the Gentile in evangelism. We make no plans to win the Jew and apparently, from the amount of praying we do in their behalf, we reveal our utter lack of interest in the spiritual welfare of the people who Paul said were to have first access to the Gospel and over whom our Saviour bitterly wept because of their spiritual blindness.

The first concern in the heart of Paul was for the Jew. So deep was his concern and so great was his pity and love for them that he cried with bitter tears for three years as he pleaded day and night with them. We are trying to work out a plan in our program of evangelism to attract the Jew to the preaching of the Gospel and to include him in our efforts to win a lost world to Jesus.

One of the main reasons that Gentile Christians hesitate to try to win Jews to Christ is that we are ignorant concerning their many and varied religious sects in Bible times and now and concerning what each of them believes. For this reason we have asked Dr. Jacob Gartenhaus, Secretary of the Department of Jewish Evangelism of the Home Mission Board, to write an article on the subject of evangelizing the Jew. Dr. Gartenhaus has favored us with an article on the subject written especially for this book. In this article we have found more actual information on the subject than we have ever read in any book outside of the Bible. But articles in newspapers and magazines were not enough: they might easily be overlooked. So in response to many further requests, I published my first tract, How to Win the Jews. So great was the demand for it that I had to reprint it again and again, altogether in 22 editions - almost half a million copies.
This small tract, however, became inadequate after the Second World War. Things have changed enormously. A new world emerged from the debris of the old, and the greatest change of all occurred within the Jewish people. The horrible German atrocities which were climaxed in the slaughter of about 6,000,000 Jews while the civilized world looked calmly on without any serious protest, had such a disillusioning effect upon the lives of those who survived that they despaired of ever being able to expect anything but trouble from non-Jews.

Yet mightier than these negative causes for the changes in Jewish life, and its relation to the non-Jewish world, was the positive cause of the establishment of the national home - the State of Israel. The Jew no longer felt himself to be a homeless creature wandering from one place to another where sooner or later he would again become an object of hate, persecution and expulsion. He had become conscious of the fact that now he had a haven where he would be welcomed as a brother and fellow citizen. Indeed, the Jew has become a sound, normal, human being with but little of the complexes and problems that were the marks of the wandering Jew - the ghetto Jew.

We became aware of the fact that the Jewish people is in the process of being remodeled, recast; the dry bones of Israel are coming to life, a new type of Jew is now being born. Christians everywhere know that a miracle is happening before their eyes: ancient prophecies are being fulfilled and now more than ever they want to know this wonder-nation - the peculiar people.

Thus in response to the recent urgent requests we are now publishing a new and much enlarged guide to “win the Jew.” Our earnest prayer and sincere hope is that this book may lead its readers to the knowledge and the love which is required in approaching the Jew and winning his heart to his true Messiah.