the state of “Hebrew Roots” Believers or non-Jewish Messianics 2025
The modern Messianic Movement as it was called when it was “rebirthed” in the 70’s is going on it’s third generation now. Just as all religious faiths evolve over time, the Messianic faith has evolved to a place where it may become no better than Christianity with all its multitudes of denominations and sects. This should be concerning to all who no longer worship in the “church” or “synagogue”. Messianism enjoys distinction in the Judeo-Christian realm because it is the only faith to be resurrected after a 1700 year dormancy.[1] Having been resurrected by the Ruach of Adonai and not by any man, shows the exceptional nature of our faith but also implies a Higher Calling. A calling that should not resemble any of the Big Two who came before us while still fulfilling what has been called the Great Commission.
The most significant problem has become the idea of conflating Christianity with Messianism. There is a reason why this is happening and it would be helpful to review the last 60 years to see why the Messianic denomination is suffering from an identity crisis and paralysis. It was not always so!
The 1970’s-1980’s 
The biggest boost to the modern Messianic faith began after the Wars of 1967 and 1973 in Israel. When the modern state of Judah (a.k.a. Israel) recaptured Jerusalem in 1967 after 1900 years under gentile rule and then survived the multi-national Arabic invasion in 1973, many Jews and Christians realized for the first time since Yeshua resurrected that Israel being a nation in the End days was not an allegory anymore. This shook the spiritual realm of many people. Jews started to look to religion again as they saw literal prophecy unfold and Christianity finally realized (not all of them to be sure) that YHVH and Yeshua had not divorced or stopped using the Jews as an instrument for salvation (Yoch.4:22). This, along with a major Awakening that was occurring in the United States caused a confluence of Jews and Christians in a way that the world had not seen since the first century! Countless numbers of Jews started to believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and countless number of gentiles became more interested in Jewish things. It was a match made in heaven that no man could possibly have put together.
Just as we are all more pure as babies and children, so was this faith. And this faith needed its own translation to maintain “doctrinal purity” since a reading of any Christian or Jewish bible would have the effect of pulling people to one side or the other. Hence, the Spirit moved Dr. David Stern to write the Complete Jewish Bible, which had both the functions of clarifying skewed biblical passages and readability. Armed with this, new Messianic Jewish sects formed in the 80’s to map out the newly evolving and resurrected faith.
1990’s-early 2000’s
In these early assemblies, Jews and gentiles worshipped in one place just as Yeshua wanted – One new Man, as Paul taught. Because Jews and gentiles were roughly equal in numbers before this time, some being more gentile and some being more Jewish, depending on which city and state it was located, this caused an identity crisis among the Jewish believers at first because 1. they believed it was their duty to evangelize the unbelieving Jews so ALL of Judah could be saved, as Paul stated and because of this, 2. they also believed it was necessary to maintain their “jewishness” for their sakes because the anti-missionaries saw Messianic Judaism as a conduit towards Christianity.
All the while grappling with the above issue, Ruach ha-Kadosh continued to work among the gentile world to bring them together in One Body. Between the 700 Club Christians worshiping Israel along side Yeshua and the break-up of a major Christian Sabbatarian denomination in the mid-90’s who kept much of Torah within a Christian worldview, the 90’s became a breeding ground for gentiles who were looking for something more, new leadership (including this author).
Just before the turn of the century, so many throngs of gentiles had come into the faith, they started evolving concepts of their own as to how they fit in, in this new worldview. In this zeitgeist of euphoria among gentiles who quickly outnumbered the Jews of our faith, two organizations arose that skyrocketed Messianism beyond what any Jew or gentile could imagine:
In 1996, the first non-Jewish Messianic sect, the Messianic Israel Alliance, was organized under three major doctrines that would cause great consternation and ultimately division among the Messianic Jewish sects roughly a decade later. They were as follows:
- That northern Israel was a people yet to return to the Land because of the many unfulfilled prophecies relating to this, especially Yechezquel 37
- Because so many gentiles were responding to the Call in the Spirit to be joined to Yehudah, the Christian gentiles must be the genetic descendants of the ten Northern Tribes. If this was the End times, as many still proclaim to this day, then who else could it be, they reasoned?
- As such, it was our duty to keep the Torah as only an Israelite could do, in covenant with both Judah and our Elohim.
Not long after this, one Dean Wheelock started a teaching ministry called the Hebrew Roots, who printed a circular/journal quarterly. It was so popular and so influential among readers that the name would be adopted after the first major division in the Body. We will refer to this publication in the next section.
As I keep mentioning, there was a division before the end of this period. Because there were now both Messianic Jewish and other Messianic sects to choose from for worship, the Christian gentiles felt naturally inclined towards non-jewish worship and teaching and the secular or unbelieving Jew felt naturally inclined towards the Jewish sects. In the midst of this mini-revival among gentiles, people did not discern which kind of house of worship they were looking to join. As I keep mentioning, the gentile world responded to a greater degree outside of eretz Israel such that by 2009, the Messianic Jewish sects decided to settle the disagreements among all Messianics by publishing a “position paper” that all but condemned the major teachings of the MIA to hell and all their leaders. It should be noted that only 1 of their 3 acrimonious charges against Messianic gentiles were correct – that we are not genetic descendants of the northern House; the other two, they are dead wrong, which I have thoroughly exposed in “A Latter Day Testament – part 1”.
2010’s-present
Now that the Messianic body was divided, that left the Jews to go in the direction they wanted without “gentilean” influence and the “gentile” Believers to go in the direction they wanted – which has NOT been a net gain. The rest of this article concerns the latter Messianic group and the evolving problems that have arisen as a result of this division in the Body.
Just as the Messianic Jews have struggled with an identity crisis almost since the beginning, the gentile Believers of the faith have had a crisis of identity also – the problem being they aren’t aware of their crisis! “How so” you may ask??
The problem is multi-faceted at this point but the first item I would put forward is the lack of a unified label. In my own state of Indiana, I have noticed for a long time that (Messianic) gentiles here are using all kinds of outlandish descriptions of our assemblies and fellowships such as “this walk” or “who have come this way” apparently because an ultra-minority of bad Believers have co-opted the term “Hebrew Roots”. And many years ago, before the Jews divorced us, the libelous term “Messy-antics” made its way around the nation such that no one wanted to use that term anymore.[2] My concern is that if we all don’t adopt a singular label for all of us non-jews, we will be given a name by those from without – and it is never a term of endearment or uplifting!
Hebrew Roots Believers?
Another problem in our ranks is that even though it seems like a healthy majority of non-jewish Believers may still think of themselves as a Hebrew Roots Believer (a residual effect from the namesake publication mentioned earlier), many of the Believers that have come into the faith after 2009 seem to be utterly ignorant of their “Hebrew” roots such that there is hardly anything “hebraic” about their “newfound” faith. The effect is a dragging into the Messianic space one’s Christian doctrinal rubbish! This is what is meant by “conflating” and it leads to a syncretistic faith, something that can easily be condemned by scriptural and secular history. Some may get offended that I lambast that errant religion but that only proves my point: they never came out of Christianity, just as a talmudic Jew hasn’t come out of their Judaism! I really can’t overstate it enough: the lack of a strong identity causes malaise or worse, division.
In a serious discussion with a fellow colleague on this matter, he reminded me what the response was from those who left Christianity behind over 20 years ago (before that post-2010 effect): we all had Christian, Jewish or secular backgrounds but no one questioned the practises of doing Hebraic things: wear head coverings? “Ok!” (both men and women) Taking on a new name or Hebraic name once you “crossed over” (the literal meaning of “hebrew”)? “Yes, alright!” Learn Hebrew and use the real biblical names instead of their opaque Christian ones? “Yes sir!” Go back for another teaching after having oneg? “I wouldn’t miss it for nothing!”
I think that is enough examples although I could add more. The attitude of literal “newbies” was one of willingness. It wasn’t one of “I don’t have to do that” or “but I have always understood…”
Conversion and Teachers
Both of the above problems stem from yet another two-fold problem:
one, the lack of a conversion program
two, the lack of non-Jewish teachers who are well grounded in Messianic doctrines and practise.
I will have to quickly unpeel the above statements before it inflames the reader: on the first count, I do not mean conversion like the P’rushim were doing in the post-resurrection days (although it is a clear command for doing Passover). I mean a formal conversion program, like the Messianic Jews have in place, where one takes classes in order to know what it is they are joining. The current generation, post-2010, think that they can come as they are, baggage and all! Yes, unbelievers CAN come as they are but at some point, those that want to stay for the long haul need to drop their baggage – doubly so for the already religious person.
As for the latter, as dumb of a statement as that sounds (lack of teachers), we can’t do the former without training of the latter. What I mean on this point is that we have far, far too many teachers in this faith who haven’t been formally trained or sat under Messianic authority long enough to discern between Messianic doctrine and practise and Christian ones. In just my state alone, in the 7 short years I have lived here, I have seen more than one person who took off their Christian hat one week and put on a Messianic one next week who became teachers or headed a congregation/fellowship! Some even had degrees from their Christian colleges – my G-d; just burn that blasted paper!! It don’t have meaning in our movement! To be fair, there are some Messianic teachers out there who have taught methodically and purposefully to rear young ones or (older) newbies. I’m not saying we need some central seminary because Yah knows, before the building could be erected, the planners of such a place would be hanging their fellow workers from the rafters or confining them to a stockade and throwing away the key before the building was finished!!
Conclusion
From where I stand, I will confess what I have seen since 2010 in our Movement: we are in the wild, wild West right now with EVERYONE doing what is right in their own eyes (main theme of Shoftim/Judges). If it didn’t work for our forefathers, why do we think we can get away with it in 2025??
We also lack cooperation among the multitude of independent congregations – big time!
We like to say we are “chosen” also, a “people for Yah to possess” (along with the Jews: 1 Kefa 2:9) but in order for us to be a “people”, we need to be distinctive; we need rigor, discipline, training, understanding, wisdom and judgment. And we need Unity. We do have a lot of knowledge but it needs to be grounded in a distinctive identity that is severely lacking.
Is this just another opinion??
If someone from the world can say, “there’s a Jew; there’s a Christian; there’s a Muslim; there’s a Sikh”, etc, etc., then why can’t the world say, “oh, there goes one of those Hebraic/Hebrew people”??
I think I just made my case.
Peculiar = distinctive = identity
[1] The Nazarene sect (or today’s Messianism)never really died out but merely went underground, only to be noted in the margins of history.
[2] This author noted that those who spoke thus quite often were guilty of the very term they called others!
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