28 | NOVEMBER 12 • 2020
Jerusalem
W
hen Dr. Glenn R. Plummer,
an African American pastor,
moved to Israel from Detroit
with his wife, Dr. Pauline Plummer, in early
September, he wasn’
t expecting a large wel-
coming committee.
But Plummer, who holds the title of
first-ever Bishop of Israel for the Pentecostal
denomination Church of God in Christ
(COGIC), also didn’
t anticipate that their
lives would be threatened after anti-mis-
sionary activists said the couple moved to
Israel to proselytize.
“I was not prepared for the kind of attack
we experienced and, as a result, have decid-
ed to address the matter,
” Plummer told
the Jewish News. “We’
ve had to contact the
police to discuss this. They gave us some
advice, which we’
ve followed.
”
He did not elaborate on the nature of the
attacks or on their contacts with the police.
The Plummers’
experience reflects
longstanding Israeli fears that evangelical
Christians are interested in Israel for just
one reason: to convert Jews to Christianity.
Under Israeli law, missionary activity in
Israel is illegal only if a missionary targets
a minor or offers money or something
of financial value to another person.
Missionaries often place Christian-centered
written materials in the mailboxes of private
homes, and some quietly hand out New
Testaments translated into Russian, Hebrew
and Amharic, an Ethiopian language.
Plummer, a prominent Christian media
personality who served as the first and only
African American chairman and CEO of
the National Religious Broadcasters, told
the JN that he and his wife are not mis-
sionaries. He said he learned of the accu-
sations soon after arriving in Mevaseret, a
Jerusalem suburb.
“Our only purpose here is to build a rela-
tionship with an even broader group than
our church and establish a bridge between
Black America and Israel,
” Plummer said
of COGIC — the largest African American
church in the U.S., boasting 6.5 million
members domestically and millions more
in 100-plus other countries.
In addition to Glenn Plummer’
s title of
“Bishop of Israel,
” COGIC has granted Ruth
Pauline Plummer the title of “First Lady of
Israel,
” saying in a 2019 press release that
the title had been left “vacant” after the
death of Nechama Rivlin, wife of Israeli
President Reuven Rivlin.
MISSIONARY CONCERNS
Ethiopian Chief Rabbi Reuven Wabashat,
in a Nov. 1 letter addressed to the Ethiopian
community, said the Plummers are in Israel
to missionize.
While the Plummers “speak about build-
ing bridges between Israel in general and
between Ethiopian Jews and the African
American community in the U.S., their true
intent is to pave the road for missionary
activities,
” Wabashat wrote in the letter,
which was also sent to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and the Ashkenazi
and Sephardi chief rabbis, according to a
report in the Times of Israel.
Wabashat urged his community to “use
every possible platform” to avoid the alleged
missionizing activity.
Rabbi Tovia Singer, founder and director
of Outreach Judaism, a Jewish counter-mis-
sionary organization, also insists that the
relationship-building is an attempt to con-
vert Jews to Christianity.
“They’
re here for the same reason so
many other Christian groups come to
Israel: to evangelize Jews in Israel,
” Singer
said.
Singer created and shared videos contain-
ing recent and not-so-recent footage of the
couple discussing their move to Israel —
the Plummers refer to it as “making aliyah”
— on their TV show, as well as the impor-
tance of evangelism to their church’
s follow-
ers. Singer interspersed the videos with his
own commentary on their motives.
In one spliced segment, Plummer says
COGIC’
s purpose is “to win souls and
second, to make disciples.
” In another, the
pastor declares, “We have work to do. The
time has come to go to Israel … to lift up a
nation for the Lord Jesus Christ.
”
In another segment, Plummer says,
“The Ethiopian community now in Israel
becomes a great door of connection for
those of us who are African American. Now
we see people who look like us and us like
them. That’
s opened all kinds of dialogue.
”
Singer claimed that the Plummers moved
ERETZ
MICHELE CHABIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Glenn and Pauline Plummer deny their goal
is evangelizing, say they’ve been targeted.
Drs. Pauline
and Glenn R.
Plummer sent Rosh
Hashanah greetingS
from Israel to the
Coalition for Black
and Jewish Unity.
Glenn and Pauline Plummer deny their goal
Glenn and Pauline Plummer deny their goal
Detroit Pastor
Addresses Controversy
Over His Move to Israel
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