Elwood Mcquaid, Chief Missionary

IsraelNationalNews.com

"While some Christian supporters of Israel do not try to convert Jews, others feel that their agenda will not be complete until large numbers of Jews are converted to Christianity." So says missionary fighter Rabbi Tovia Singer - and Elwood Mcquaid, who is featured prominently on the Jerusalem Post Radio internet website, is one of these latter: a pro-Israel major-league missionary leader who specifically targets Jews for conversion to Christianity.

The founder of Friends of Israel Gospel Ministries - which is second-largest only to "Jews for Jesus" in the field of missionary organizations directed at Jews worldwide - Mcquaid "has dedicated his life to evangelizing the Jewish people," Singer says. "If Elwood's 'Friends of Israel' are Israel's friends," says Mark Powers, American Director of Magen International Counter-Missionary Organization, "then Israel doesn't need friends. His whole life, including his support for Israel, is dedicated only to targeting Jews for conversion."

The Philadelphia College of Bible offers a Jewish Missions Program, which, according to its website, "equips the student with the necessary understanding and tools for ministry among God's chosen people. The first year of study is completed in [Mcquaid's] Friends of Israel Institute of Jewish Studies." This latter school, according to *its* website, is "designed especially for those who want to study the Bible from a Jewish perspective and who desire to minister to Jewish people." The Jewish Mission Program offers "extensive field experience [and] service with an approved organization which ministers primarily to Jewish people."

Rabbi Singer, of messiahtruth.com and outreachjudaism.org , notes that the Philadelphia College of Bible does "an excellent job in preparing their students for proselytizing the Jewish people. [It is] one of the few that trains and gives degrees in the science of converting Jews. Others are Moody Bible College and Fuller Theological Seminary." He said that though Mcquaid recently shifted his focus towards supporting Israel, "his work in converting Jews has not abated at all."

Mcquaid is the author of a book entitled "Zvi," which recounts the life story of a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel, where he converted to Christianity and decided to devote the rest of his life to converting other Jews.

"Elwood Mcquaid is highly political and well-connected," writes Singer, "and has been at the forefront of the successful struggle to defeat anti-missionary legislation in the Knesset." In 1997, then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu assured Mcquaid that he would work to thwart a bill forbidding "inducement for religious conversion" and setting a one-year jail term for those who print, import, or possess items containing such inducement. Mcquaid discusses political issues related to Israel on the Jerusalem Post Radio website.

Jeffrey Goldberg, writing in New York Magazine in 1995, explained how Mcquaid took advantage of Jews' refusal to forget the Holocaust in order to "convert" them: "In a fundraising letter, [Mcquaid] stated that Holocaust Memorial ceremonies are an ideal place to convert Jews. He wrote, 'The Month of Remembrance is a critical time for ministry to Jewish people... a fruitful time for witness as Jewish hearts are open to the Lord... Thousands of mourners, including many Jewish and Israeli young people, will return to the Polish towns where their ancestors lived, and visit the ghettos and death camps where they perished... On these solemn occasions, the Friends of Israel will come alongside these grieving people, comforting them in the Spirit of Christ... By God's grace, we will bring them God's message of true comfort and hope: the wonderful news of a living Messiah! & The saddest thing about the Holocaust survivors is that their bodies are alive but their spirits are annihilated. Liberal Judaism doesn't have answers for them. The Orthodox have more answers, maybe, but Jesus Christ is the best option," Heaven forbid.