MESSIANIC FAITH
The two most common religions we know about in the United States is Jewish and Christian.
Each of these two faiths have very basic and simple level explanations to their religious beliefs. However there are different splits and divisions and subgroups within the two faiths.
The there is the religion in the middle the one that follows parts of both. The Messianic Faith.
The religious faith called Messianic Faith is a belief system that believes in Yeshua as the Messiah, as lord and savior of the world, and believes in following the commandments of Moses in the Torah. Messianics use the Hebrew name Yeshua to refer to the savior, who is known the world over as Jesus Christ.
Jewish Christianity:
Some see it as Jewish/Hebraic form of Christianity. Others see it as a form of Judaism. It is typically called Messianic Judaism. The followers of this faith call themselves Messianic Jews.
The modern Messianic faith has some varying views about things, which can be considered side issues. The faith in it’s modern form started in the 1970’s during the era or movement know as the “Jesus Movement” or the “Jesus Freak Movement.” Jewish people who believed in Jesus as Messiah and savior started to have separate services from the Christians, observing Sabbath on Saturdays and observing the Torah holidays and conducting services in Hebrew. They embraced their Jewish heritage. They conducted services the same way as the traditional religious Jews did. They gave themselves the name Messianic Jews.
Prior to this time, the Jews who believed in Jesus as Messiah were called Hebrew Christians. They became believers in Jesus and would go to church and participated in the different churches around their towns. This was the way of faith for many Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah for many decades. They joined Jewish-Christian groups for support and association. The most famous one was Hebrew Christian Alliance of America.
During the Jesus Movement, a new Jewish believer group was formed called Jews for Jesus. This group was started by a young Jewish man who became a believer in New York State, and moved to San Francisco. He adopted the trends of the day to attract young Jewish men and women, talking to them handing out small papers called “tracts” His methods began to attract Jewish people to believe in Jesus. He encouraged them in their new faith and they began to populate churches. It appeared to be another spin off movement of Jews in the Church.
While Jews For Jesus was getting attention all over, Many Christian-Jews already in the Christian Churches began to meet on Sabbath and follow Torah. They set themselves apart from traditional Christianity by keeping Sabbath, The Bible Holidays and eating kosher. Then in 1978, after many Christian Jews began Hebrew form of worship to identify with their Jewish heritage, The Hebrew Christian Alliance of America Changed their name to Messianic Jewish Alliance of America. The members identified themselves as Messianic Jews. They were primarily Jewish and the worship was completely Jewish in format.
Later, in the 1980’s, Christians began to come to Messianic services in large numbers and observe the Sabbath and embrace the Messianic Jewish way of worship.