Statement of Faith
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How I Became Aware of the Hebrew Roots Movement
About the Author
Contact JGIG
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Joyfully Growing In Grace engages in an examination of beliefs found in the Hebrew Roots Movement, Messianic Judaism, and Netzarim streams of thought and related sects.
The term “Messianic” is generally understood to describe Jews who have come to believe in Yeshua/Jesus as their Messiah. Jews who are believers in Jesus/Yeshua typically call themselves Jewish/Hebrew Christians or simply, Christians.
Many Christians meet folks who say they are ‘Messianic’ and assume that those folks are Jewish Christians. Most aren’t Jewish at all, but are Gentile Christians who have chosen to pursue Torah observance and have adopted the Messianic term, calling themselves Messianic Christians, adherents to Messianic Judaism, or simply, Messianics. Some will even try to avoid that label and say that they are followers of "The Way".
These Gentiles (and to be fair, some Messianic Jews) preach Torah observance/pursuance for Christians, persuading many believers that the Christianity of the Bible is a false religion and that we must return to the faith of the first century sect of Judaism that they say Yeshua (Jesus Christ) embraced. According to them, once you become aware that you should be 'keeping' the edicts and regulations of Mosaic Covenant Law, if you do not, you are then in willful disobedience to God.
It has been my observation that Christians who adopt the label of Messianic identify more with the tenets of Judaism than they do with the tenets of Christianity. Many reject the label of Christian altogether and some eventually even convert to Judaism.
1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says, "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil."
Joyfully Growing in Grace examines the methods, claims, and fruits of the Hebrew Roots Movement, Messianic Judaism, and Netzarim streams of thought and related, law-keeping sects.
To borrow from a Forrest Gump quote, “Law ‘keepers’ are like a box of chocolates - ya never know what you’re gonna get!” The goal of JGIG is to be a resource to help those affected by the Torah pursuant movements to try and sort out what they’re dealing with. Make use of the tabs with drop-down menus found at the top of this site – there’s tons of info there, and it’s very navigable.
Be sure to click on the many embedded links within the posts here - there's lots of additional and related information for you to access that way, as well.
Welcome, and may God grant you wisdom and discernment as you consider all of these things.
Do you find it frustrating when you’re directed to a link that does not exist? Me too! My apologies for any broken links you may find here.
JGIG occasionally links to to sites that sometimes change hosting sites or remove content, forums that periodically cull threads, sites/posters that appear to ‘scrub’ content from their sites (or YouTube posts, pdf files, etc.) when that content receives negative attention, and others that over time simply cease to exist.
Please let me know via the ‘Contact JGIG’ drop-down menu item under the ‘About’ tab at the top of this page if you come across a link that is broken so that I can try to repair or remove it. Please include the name of the post/article where you found the broken link as well as the link itself. You may be able to find content specified by doing a search and viewing a relocated or cached page/post/video.
Thanks,
– JGIG
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Joyfully Growing In Grace is not a heresy-hunting site, it is not an anti-Semitic site, nor does its author have any agenda other than defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This site is not against the Laws of God.
This site does not condemn believers who find joy and insight into their faith by celebrating Feasts, observing a seventh-day Sabbath or who feel they should adhere to dietary laws.
This site does not condemn believers for choosing to not celebrate the Birth or Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 14:6 says, "He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God."
JGIG is not about secondary disputable matters, but addresses core issues of the Christian faith and examines how the Hebrew Roots Movement, Messianic Judaism, and Netzarim streams of thought and related sects stand or fall when placed alongside the plumb line of the whole of Scripture.
JGIG is not a site to 'expose' teachers in the HRM, as they are a dime-a-dozen. The posts at JGIG do examine teachings, however, and may, from time to time reference or quote a particular teacher for demonstrative purposes only.
JGIG is not a place for conspiracy theories. Jesus told us that when we see certain things to not be afraid; that our Redemption draws near. He didn't say to get it all figured out and go and retreat to some bunker somewhere; He calls us to love God, love others and make disciples. So there won't be time spent on conspiracy-minded banter here.
Welcome, and may God grant you wisdom and discernment as you consider all of these things.
© 2008-2019
You may copy/post articles/excerpts authored by JGIG online freely as long as you include/post a hot-link to the original article as it appears at JGIG, including the title of the post.
You may make print copies of COMPLETE articles here authored by JGIG for individual or small group use only, provided a complete, typed web address for this site and the particular article is included on each copy.
If you wish to make copies or copy and paste articles from the Articles Page or any other post here not authored by JGIG, please refer to any copyright rules for that article provided by the original, linked to source.
Some in Law ‘keeping’ sects have stated their intent to ‘refute everything written at JGIG, line by line’ on their websites. To them I say, “Knock yourselves out!” Just make sure you post hot-links to both this site and the specific posts that you are ‘refuting’.
No part of JGIG may be reproduced by any means for profit.
Thanks!
– JGIG
There are some sites and forums popping up authored by Hebrew Roots adherents using (some mocking) the name 'Joyfully Growing In Grace' in their sites', forum's, or Facebook page titles that are not affiliated with Joyfully Growing In Grace.
Read carefully, folks.
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Hi Wendy
..Received your note about your new blog–it looks great, and you have some interesting topics already posted!
Thanks for sending the link along with the invite.
I’ll be back–i bookmarked you!
God bless you and the ministry the Lord has given you. I pray MUCH fruit comes forth!
pj
May I recommend Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor by Tom Carson. I’m reading it right now and fnding it to be very encouraging (especially for those in full-time ministry) and well written.
To pj –
Thanks for your kind words about my blog and for linking to me from your site. I’ve returned the courtesy. I like your site a lot . . . a good balance of insight, news, discernment . . . and well done!
To RichardD –
I’ll check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
~Wendy~
Hello Wendy,
Thank you so much for pointing me to your site. I’ve really enjoyed poking around and exploring the site. I’ll be back.
May God continue to bless you and your ministry.
E.D. Jones
Thanks, E.D.! Welcome!
Dear Wendy
I am so moved by and appreciative of your “Pass the Toast” review. Thank you so much. I have no idea where you are in big, big USA (please tell me) but I am in a small, small, church in small, small Uk. It just thrills me to bits that you there, across the pond, get stuff that feeds you and blesses you in my blog. As you probably know, I started it so that a few frends who seem to have difficulty in relating to the Lord first thing in the morning might get just something to kick start their day. God bless you, your husband, and your children.I doubt if we’ll ever meet this side of the new heavens and the new earth but I’ll look forward to meeting you and talking to you there. What a time that will be!
Love in the Lord Jesus
Neil
You are my cosmic twin Wendy. I read this again, all my favorite books, music, interests, and even the part about not reading literature because you were in a Christian school through 11th grade – also me! It’s almost scary!! I have to say “No Compromise” was one of the most influential books on my Christian life. I think it was these type of stories that kept me connected to the truth in all my wanderings.
God bless you for all you do!!
8thday
i lost all my bookmarks when changing computers…im sooo happy to have found your blog again!!!
This opening page is amazing and pretty much answered every question I had about this movement of sorts. Sadly, I have some very longtime friends who have fallen into this movement….and I have had to cut one of them off because she’s gotten very arguementative. She told me “I used to believe as you, but I have been enlightened.” She said she was born again a year ago….which makes me wonder about those other years when she professed…and therefore, I have to go back and say, “If you are just NOW born again, then you didn’t believe as I believe.”
I go to a Calvary Chapel here in Southern California.