By MORDECAI SPECKTOR
A film titled The Miracle of Israel, which will show on two local TV stations in late May, is backed by a group seeking to convert Jews to Christianity.
The film’s Web site notes that the “documentary” is “a project of The Miracle of Israel Foundation. The Miracle of Israel Foundation seeks to inform, encourage and equip people to know and understand the importance of supporting Israel — both the Land and the People.”
In addition, the film — which is narrated by the late Leonard Nimoy — purports to explore “four ancient prophecies in light of modern events,” including the establishment of Israel in 1948, the “regathering of the Lost Jewish Tribes to the homeland, the “rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, and claims of the coming of the Jewish Messiah.”
“The four miracles highlighted in the film are not only distinct threads woven into the fabric and seams of the Jewish people’s survival and restoration, but some say they are proof of prophetic fulfillment that has and will impact the world as it moves toward the Last Days,” according to the Web site.
The “Last Days” apparently is another term for the End Times, a Christian concept of events preceding the second coming of Jesus. According to certain views of Christian eschatology, the ingathering of the Jews in Israel will presage the second coming. Those believing in the divinity of Jesus will go up to heaven, be “raptured,” while nonbelievers, including Jews, will endure horrific suffering.
An advertising agency approached the American Jewish World about advertising broadcasts of The Miracle of Israel in this edition of the newspaper.
The ad artwork was sent to the paper by a graphic designer at Jewish Voice Ministries International (JVMI), in Phoenix, Ariz.
JVMI “is dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel of Yeshua (Jesus) to the Jew first and also to the Nations throughout the world, according to Romans 1:16. The Good News is proclaimed through television, print and online media, international festival outreaches [and] medical clinics/humanitarian aid.”
The group’s president and CEO, Jonathan Bernis — who is depicted on the JVMI Web site wearing a kipa and tallit — is a “Jewish Believer in Yeshua (Jesus).” Bernis “has worked on the forefront of world evangelism since 1984, taking the Good News of Israel’s Messiah to the far reaches of the earth, to the Jewish People, and also to the Nations.”
The American Jewish World declined to publish the ad for The Miracle of Israel. The newspaper does not accept ads for Christian groups engaged in proselytizing Jews.
The film is scheduled to air May 30 and 31 on the local CBS and NBC television affiliates.
(American Jewish World, 5.22.15)
