The first time I joined a church a number of things happened. You have to be really careful about what you ask for: you might get just what you ask for.
Someone took me to St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hicksville, LI, NY. A guy "witnessed" to me and said, "if you don't accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, his death will all be for nothing". That emotional approach seemed to work. Based on my experiences, it doesn't pay to feel too sorry for anyone. Keep reading.
But, I said to myself, "It's too bad that there isn't something Jewish like this." One year later, the church decides to go "Hebrew-Christian" with a twist.
Pastor Jack Hickman, now claims he's really Jewish, descended from Spanish Jews called Marranos (ie. Pigs in Spanish) who were people who outwardly converted to Xianity to hang on to their possessions and so they wouldn't get booted out of Spain during the Middle Ages.
Pastor Jack is now "Abba (Heb. "father") Yaakov Abensur. The Abensurs were a family of Jewish Kabbalists. It was all a made up bunch of BS. Hickman's mother was traced to Portland, Oregon and she said that her son was "sick and she didn't know why he was doing this."
It was so insidious. It all started out based on pot luck dinners, Sabbath celebrations, Jewish holidays and Christian holiday observances. Then it went sour.
I had an entire life built up around this cult. The church had a sizeable group and many of my school mates were in this church. I had friends, girlfriends, a karate teacher and when I got jumped in the kitchen of my parents house, my elder in the cult made sure I had a place to stay.
One day, Hickman showed up in sack cloth, proclaiming that the "Shalom" of the community was broken and he was sitting in judgement or something like that of the cult. Also, before you'd ask him a question you had to say "shalom" to him. Someone didn't and Hickman simply lied to him.
Anone day, Hickman gave a speech and said that "even the most dearly beloved brother or sister if they leave would have to be killed." It was right around this time that I decided to move on. Hickman also ripped off a speech that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, gave.
Because I signed up with Hickman, Lubavitch entered the fray. I really like how annoyed the Jewish community was because after being beaten up for being a loud mouth about Judaism, I could now stick it to the Jewish community. One orthodox Jew came up to me and said, "Every Jew with a brain in his head knows that this is "avodah zara" or idol worship.
Whether or not it's avodah zara is not clear. Some authorities maintain that it's "shituf" or the belief that G-d's nature is compound and that Jesus shares in this compound nature. This opinion was explained by Rabbi Sholom Klass, the late publisher of the Jewish Press many years ago. The rabbis believe that it's wrong for Jews to believe in this but that it's basically ok for non-Jews to believe that G-d exists in parts or has a partner.
I loved the fact that guys like the aforementioned orthodox Jew were so annoyed. After all, where were they when I got tortured for being Jewish? Nowhere to be found. All that stuff about not standing idly by our brother's blood is nothing but bs.
So a few years ago I corresponded with the Jerusalem Post and 2 guys wrote back to me. It was obvious that they were missionaries. One of them gave me the rap that he "just found out that he was descended from Spanish Jews who were Marranos." I told him I head that garbage 30 years ago and I wasn't buying it again. He said I was too bitter. And why shouldn't I be?
Judaism was enough of a problem but Christianity is even more so. After what happened to me the first time around, I'm not letting my guard down. But I'm going to get as much out of this as I can.
I got severely damaged in the war between the Jews and the rest of the world. The Jewish community never wanted to take ownership of the problem. The Christians do so that's where I am right now

What is up with Portland and cults?
It's like a magnet for psychotic cult idiots!
Do they have nothing to do but to prey on people?
I don't get the attraction....

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batman1976
What is up with Portland and cults?
It's like a magnet for psychotic cult idiots!
Do they have nothing to do but to prey on people?
I don't get the attraction....

What other cults run out of Portland? Hickman was from that area but he operated out of Hicksville and East Meadow LI. Later on, the Shoresh Yishai cult moved to Maine and Colorado.

Quote
batman1976
What is up with Portland and cults?
It's like a magnet for psychotic cult idiots!
Do they have nothing to do but to prey on people?
I don't get the attraction....

I think cults work best in areas where people have a lot of time on their hands. Also, where the more established religions are losing their ground. The old solutions often don't work anymore. The pastor of the church I go to has told me that Christianity is dying. If all the old religions die, where will people go to for their ethical training? Try starting your own religion! It's harder than you think, I know I tried.

I told him "If you start serving kosher pastrami around here, I'm gone." Not that I don't like kosher food, but I'm not going to the church to wind up like I did with Jack Hickman.

PCUSA has opened a Messianic Congregation in Pennsylvania. I think it's in the Philadelphia area. Does anyone know about it?

I would like to recommend you look into a Messianic Jewish Congregation.
You might find that they consider themselves Jewish first in all manners. The first big thing is most of the names in the Torah / Bible are wrong starting with Yashua, we can thank the Greeks for most of that. The second thing is they recognize the way of life that He as well as the apostles lived and try to duplicate it. Look into it but be careful, like any splinter religion they are disorganized which leaves a lot of room for Cults to pop up in there name.
Good luck and keep the faith whatever it may be.

JD:

Please don't proselytize or make religious suggestions.

Such posts are against the rules you agreed to.