Metro

Friendship

or Not?

Organizer of "Thank God for Israel"
evangelicals' luncheon has sought
to convert Jews in the past.

DON COHEN

Special to the Jewish News

he Detroit Jewish News has
halted publication of an ad
for a "Thank God for Israel
Luncheon" after an investigation
by the paper found the organizer
has told Christian audiences that
the Detroit Jewish community
represents "ripe fields" for con-
verting Jews to Christianity.
The ad, which appeared Sept.
15 (page 33) and Sept. 22 (page
27) listed Tim Munger (of West
Bloomfield) as the contact per-
son for the Sunday, Nov. 6, event
sponsored by six area churches
and featuring three evangelical
pastors speaking on the topic:
Why I Thank God for Israel.
Kosher meals will be available
upon request, the ad states. The
ad does not say Munger is a paid
missionary of the New Jersey-
based Friends of Israel Gospel
Ministry Inc. (FOI).
"It is not an attempt to convert
Jewish people maintains
Munger, who says he is organiz-
ing the event on his own and not
as part of FOI, though previous
Thank God for Israel programs
in Kalamazoo and South Bend,
Ind., were done under its aus-
pices. While insistent that the
program would not include
evangelizing, Munger said he
didn't know exactly what mes-
sage would be delivered, saying
that if people want to know, "they
should come and listen:'
"The luncheon is about us, as
believers of the Lord Jesus, ful-
filling a requirement to bless the
Jewish people and bless the

T

jig

September 29 2005

Jewish state says Munger,
explaining it is motivated by "our
love for the Jewish people."
Though only a handful of Jews
attended the previous events, he
hopes Jews will attend to hear
from pro-Israel churches and to
build "personal relationships"
with evangelicals.
But in two Aug. 18, 2002, ser-
mons delivered at the Byron
Center Bible Church near
Grand Rapids, Munger spoke
quite differently. According to
audio files of the speeches
posted by the church on the
Internet, he is introduced as a
FOI missionary who "seek[s] to
win those of the nation of
Israel to the Savior" and speaks
passionately about his activity
on behalf of FOI to evangelize
Jews, strongly urging other
Christians to do the same.
In his recorded sermon,
Munger tells how he was pastor
of a church in Alpena 17 years
ago and was drawn to Jewish
evangelism after he brought a
Friends of Israel speaker to his
church. "God began bringing
Jewish people across our way:' he
said.
He leads his audience through
Jewish and Christian scripture to
encourage evangelizing Jews, at
one point emphasizing his own
commitment by saying,"[The
Apostle Paul] is willing to go to
hell, to be separated from God
for eternity, if by doing that every
single Jewish person would come
to Jesus Christ ... 0, may God
instill in us, and in me, that pas-
sion."
After working for Friends of

Israel in the Kalamazoo area,
Munger spent three years in the
late 1990s in the organization's
southern New Jersey headquar-
ters as head of "church min-
istries."
In the sermon, he goes on to

woman in a Kalamazoo nursing
home, and how he "had the privi-
lege of sharing the gospel with ...
a Holocaust survivor" at the
Holocaust Memorial Center, then
located in West Bloomfield.
"What a privilege to be able to
share with the Jewish
people that the glory
can come back for
their soul when they
Rev. Munger goes on to tell his
trust the Messiah," he
says on the audio
audience: "They need to be
clip. "My heart's
desire, and my prayer
saved. They can be saved. They
to God for Israel, is
they might be saved."
will be saved. I have a message:
This was no sur-
prise to Judith Miller
ripe fields."
of West Bloomfield,
who has trained
docents for the
Holocaust Center for
say he was offered the opportu-
decades. "You must be talking
nity to represent the organization about Tim Munger," she said
in Metro Detroit. "Such a deal I
when the situation was described
have for you, Oy, yoi, yoi," he says
to her, recalling that she met
he was told, affecting a Yiddish
Munger when he showed up for
accent. He jumped at it.
docent training.
"The Detroit area has over
"He said he came to Detroit
100,000 Jewish people and is
because it was one of the largest
home to one of the leading
Jewish populations in the coun-
Jewish populations in North
try, that he was a minister and
America and there was no
worked on behalf of the Jewish
Friends of Israel missionary
people," Miller recalls: "But when
there," he explained in the ser-
I asked him to bring me infor-
mon. "And so that was a no-
mation about his organization,
brainer."
he didn't do it ... and didn't do it."
He goes on to tell his audience: She says when he finally brought
"They need to be saved. They can her a Friends of Israel flyer, it
be saved. They will be saved. I
mentioned evangelizing Jews.
have a message: ripe fields."
"He said he had come from
The audio files have Munger
Boston, and I told him to go back
telling how he biought a number home to Boston:' she says.
of Jews to believe in Jesus,
He didn't complete his docent
including an elderly Jewish
training, but Miller says he gave

her a bound book about why
Jews should accept Jesus. "I felt
bad about it; we got off on the
wrong foot;' Munger says of
meeting Miller. "You only have
one chance to make a good
impression."
He says he has personally
taken more than 800 Christians
through the HMC, and Miller
confirms he often brings groups
through on his own.

Sermons On Web

Munger was surprised to learn
that his sermons were available
on the Internet, and was particu-
larly concerned when reminded
of his story of how a friend refer-
eeing a soccer game in the area
was appalled by the obscenities
he heard from the players.
According to the audio,
Munger tells his friend, "Why
does that surprise you, Bruce?
They're Jewish!" When his friend
concluded that it means Jews
"need Jesus," Munger replies,
"Exactly. Exactly."
"It sounds anti-Semitic;' he
admits, when reminded of his
comments. "We should remem-
ber that all men are sinners. I'm
sorry it comes across that way."
When asked if his 2002 ser-
mons were typical of his Friends
of Israel activity, after a long
pause, he answered, "All I can say
is this: As a representative of the
Friends of Israel, we seek to
share the gospel to Jews and gen-
tiles alike." He later added, "There

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