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Praying Or Preying?
Local families receive calls, postcards
from groups trying to convert Jews.
Robin Schwartz I Contributing Writer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
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"Tom sees the
urgency of reaching
the lost (especially
his Jewish people) on
the road to an eternal
disaster; the bio con-
tinues. "He is trying
to give it all he's got
Tom Cantor
to see them saved:'
Budaj said, "He's
a wealthy business-
man. He's on a multimillion-dollar
crusade to convince Jews that they can
be Jewish Christians. He's part of the
70-million strong evangelical Christian
movement. He has targeted the Jewish
communities in Detroit, Los Angeles,
Baltimore, New York and others:'
Gary Sikorski, director of com-
munity-wide security for the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, says
the free gift is likely promotional litera-
ture and a DVD Cantor produced.
While the calls do not lead to physi-
cal harm, Sikorski and Budaj say they
can still be dangerous for members of
the Jewish community who are vulnera-
ble to this type of proselytizing. They're
urging people to be vigilant and not to
be fooled.
"It's preying on people," said the
Bloomfield Hills woman who received
the Tom Cantor phone call. "I have no
use for these people. I'm glued to my
Judaism. I would like people in the
community to have an awareness about
this. I'm sure there are a lot of people
who don't know this goes on and are
not even aware these people exist"
Hometown Effort
Closer to home, another group trying
to convert Jews to Christianity also sent
a mass mailing of postcards to Jewish
families in recent months, includ-
ing an invitation to attend their High
Holiday services. They call themselves
Congregation Shema Yisrael and adver-
tise services at 3600 Telegraph Road
in Bloomfield Township, which is the
Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church.
The group is led by Loren Jacobs,
who says he was raised Jewish but
became a Messianic Jew in 1975. On his
website, www.shema.com, he claims,
"Jesus made me kosher:' The website
also calls him Rabbi Loren Jacobs
and says his wife is a fifth-generation
Messianic Jew. The
Jewish News contact-
ed him to ask why
he's targeting local
Jewish homes.
"We are most
definitely trying to
change what people
Loren Jacobs
believe Jacobs said.
"Over the years, we
have sent numerous
cards and letters to the Jewish commu-
nity of Metro Detroit. There are various
ways to get the names and addresses of
the people we send cards and letters to.
Using various resources, we have cre-
ated our own database of Jewish homes.
We have also purchased a list from a
company that is able to provide those
kinds of lists:"
Jacobs says about 60 people respond-
ed to his most recent mailing. He says
the congregation began around 1990,
and has about 200 regular participants;
about a third are Jewish.
"It's important that 'traditional'
Jewish people believe what we do
because, like the rest of the fallen world,
they are not close to God and are not
headed to heaven but to hell:' Jacobs
said. "Using various methods, we bring
this same message to Muslims and
everyone else:'
How To Respond
What should people do if they're con-
tacted by one of these organizations?
Sikorski, a former deputy police chief
with the Westland Police Department,
encourages people to take some general
common-sense precautions.
"Don't give out any personal informa-
tion:" he says. "Once you recognize it's
an unsolicited call, politely and firmly
say, 'No, thank you: Hang up as quickly
as you can. Don't give out an address,
reveal who you are or answer religious
questions.
"So far, I have not heard anything
about persistent calling or the person
calling back at all.
"If you do choose to engage in a dia-
logue, don't assume the missionaries
are correct simply because you don't
have answers to their questions. Don't
feel pressured to give an answer on
the spot. There are always two sides to
every argument. If you apply good criti-
cal thinking skills, you will take time to
research your replies:"
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