As a Christian born in an Orthodox Jewish home, I feel the pull of two cultures during the holiday season.
As Christmas approaches, I celebrate the Advent of Jesus of Nazareth, the long-awaited Messiah. As Hanukkah nears, I feel a special burden for my Jewish brothers and sisters.
Many of my formative years were spent in the Daughters of Miriam Jewish orphanage in Clifton, New Jersey, where my education was rooted in Jewish traditions and practices. I retained my sense of heritage after accepting Christ. I have a passion for the Jews and have prayed continually in the past 70 years for God to empower me to reach Jews around the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
The older I grow, the more determined I am to revel in my Jewish heritage, and the more convinced I am that God intended for me to have a ministry to the Jewish people. I have traveled to Israel annually for more than 50 years and ministered to the Jewish people through conferences, mailings, correspondence courses, radio shows, TV specials and even a prime-time movie. All with the intention of winning them to Christ.
As much as the Jews in Israel will always be on my heart, most of the world’s Jews live outside Israel. In fact, there are about as many Jews living in the U.S. as in Israel. The two nations together comprise more than 12 million of the world’s 14 million Jews. So I have never lost sight of the need to reach the millions of Jews living outside Israel’s borders as well.
My love for the Jewish people and Israel is not unique among Christians in this country. As Christians, and as Americans, we all have a special relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. Israel is our older sibling; we are her younger sister.
In a larger sense, Israel represents those who are chosen by God but who have not yet accepted the truth—those who will eventually accept Christ as their Savior and who will become His servants.
The Jews are still God’s chosen people, but they have rejected Jesus. I believe God has already determined—and destined—for all of Israel to somehow be saved, and for Christians to play a role in it.
Christians represent the one source of truth in the world. It is from us that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is shining everywhere—and through us, that those who are destined to receive the gospel of truth will hear it. Without us, they will never hear the truth and never receive it.
Just as Christians must bear a burden for the Jews, so America must shoulder a burden for Israel. No other nation is as rich as America. No other nation is as powerful. No other nation has the tremendous blessings America enjoys.
But, as great as America and its people are, Israel and the Jewish people have been chosen by God. That’s why it’s our mission as Christians to reach every Jew—not only in Israel but on the face of the planet—with the good news of Jesus Christ. {eoa}
This article includes material from “The Legend of Morris Cerullo: How God Used an Orphan to Change the World.”
