I have nothing against James Jacob Prasch. In fact, I know very little about him and his ministry. I have no questions about him concerning his DNA, his genealogy, or any such thing. However, I do have questions with regard to Israel's Law of Return. In a book I recently read, written by a Jewish author, it had stated that Messianic Jews are ineligible to obtain citizenship in Israel because they are not considered true Jews. I am still trying to locate which book I recently devoured that this was in so that I can quote it precisely, but at the moment it is evading me.
This article is not about Jacob Prasch, but about his right-hand man, David Lister.
When I wrote Moriel Ministries for the second time (the first time was to learn more about Paschal Theology) to inquire about this, David Lister responded with false accusations, presumed "ulterior motives," and ad hominem. Typical of men like him. Thomas Ice was hired to do the same for Tim LaHaye. Phil Johnson does the same for John MacArthur. And, like a coward, without bothering to re-read what I had originally written, or to read my clarifying response to his false accusations, or to provide an actual response to my actual concern, he said he would no longer read anything I had to say. I am retaining our e-mail correspondence in case he attempts to spread lies about me, which I have no doubt is not beneath him.
David accused me of questioning Jacob's Jewish ancestry, his Jewish DNA, his Jewish this, his Jewish that. Not once in anything I wrote did any such questions come up. The question I had was in regard to Israel's Law of Return. Because I could not locate the book in which this quote was in, I did a quick Internet search to see if there was any truth to this statement. Here are just a handful of the fifty results I looked at, all of which had the same thing to say.
"Messianic Jews are NOT entitled to automatic Israeli citizenship, Israel's Supreme Court has ruled, concluding that their belief that Jesus was the Messiah makes them Christians instead of Jews. ... The law and its subsequent amendments define a Jew as a person born to a Jewish mother or who converts to Judaism and PROFESSES NO OTHER FAITH." (Emphasis mine.)
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/27/world/israeli-court-rules-jews-for-jesus-cannot-automatically-be-citizens.html
"Messianic Jews are NOT considered Jewish under the Law of Return. That means that a Messianic Jew who is not a citizen of Israel CANNOT get immigrant status under that Law. A Messianic Jew who is a citizen (for example, an Israeli Jew who becomes a Messianic Jew) is guaranteed religious freedom, though he or she may encounter problems regarding marriage and divorce." (Emphasis mine.)
https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aaec6b.html
"According to the 1970 amendment, 'The rights of a Jew under this Law … are also vested in a child and a grandchild of a Jew, the spouse of a Jew, the spouse of a child of a Jew and the spouse of a grandchild of a Jew, EXCEPT for a person who has been a Jew and has VOLUNTARILY CHANGED HIS RELIGION.' " (Emphasis mine.)
https://lawoffice.org.il/en/obtaining-citizenship-in-israel/
Please note that the last quote comes directly from an Israeli law firm. The Law of
Return is an Israeli law, passed on July 5, 1950, which gives
Jews the right to come and live in Israel and to gain
Israeli citizenship. However, according to this law, and every result I obtained concerning it, Messianic Jews are not
considered true Jews.
From the fifty results I examined, it sounds like a Jewish citizen who becomes a
Messianic Jew is protected, but may have certain difficulties (see the second quote above); but a
person who is a Messianic Jew who desires to obtain
citizenship is apparently ineligible. This does not mean that they are not allowed to live there, because even Americans and Muslims live in Israel, but they are not allowed to become citizens and are not allowed to have a vote. Israel is for Jews only! (Other countries could learn from this; maybe then we would not have all the problems we currently have. But I digress.)
My question to Moriel Ministries was, IF what I have been reading concerning the Law of Return is true, how did Jacob obtain his citizenship? IF he was not born with it, IF he did not obtain it prior to becoming a Messianic Jew (a Christian), IF what I have been reading is true concerning the Law of Return, then either Jacob has (1)
lied about obtaining Israeli citizenship (meaning he has not), or (2) lied to the
Israeli government in order to obtain Israeli citizenship (meaning he denied being a Messianic Jew).
There was no question concerning his birth, his DNA, his genealogy, etc. IF what I have been reading is not the whole picture, IF I missed something, I was hoping that Moriel Ministries would correct me and educate me by providing sources that show that Jews not born as national citizens who hold to a different faith are allowed to apply for and receive immigrant status or citizenship. But no such information was provided. Instead, David Lister levels false accusations against me, erects a straw man of his own making to try and easily blow down, and throws ad hominem my way.
David Lister demonstrates that he has no integrity. He has shown himself not to be wise, and that he does not have a clue as to what "discernment" is or looks like. He charges to Jacob Prasch's defense in the same way Thomas Ice charges to Tim LaHaye's defense and Phil Johnson charges to John MacArthur's defense. He responds to a matter before hearing it, or before looking into it, and without paying attention to it and reading it correctly, and without responding to it with factual information. How difficult is it to provide evidence that Messianic Jews are able to receive citizenship by simply citing Israeli law? Calling people names and saying you will no longer read their e-mails is not providing an accurate response. It is being a coward! I am not interested in Jacob's DNA or geneaology, and neither were ever the issue. The issue was what the Israeli Law of Return has to state. IF I missed something, IF I am wrong about my understanding, I gave Moriel Ministries the opportunity to correct me and educate me on the matter, and David Lister merely leveled false accusations against me and threw ad hominem my direction.
"In 1st King 18:17-18, Elijah turns the false accusation from Ahab back on him. Ahab says, 'Oh you who trouble Israel.' And Elijah says, 'I haven't troubled Israel; you have.' Remember this, there's always a projection that is vendetta driven, revenge oriented, from the religious hypocrite. They will project onto you what they themselves are." —Joshua Chavez
This
is precisely what David Lister attempted to do with me via our
correspondence; project his faults, failures, weaknesses, and
shortcomings upon me. He attempts to claim that I wasted much time, when
my simple concern could have been answered quickly and easily by
saying, "Jacob's married to a Jewish Israeli citizen, which circumvents those prohibitions." Everything David
attempted to accuse me of, and label me with, is exactly true of himself
and James.
David Lister has no intention of dealing with my actual concern. He has no intention to apologize for making false accusations against me, accusing me of having an "ulterior movite," or for using ad hominem against me. He has no intention of repenting. According to Scripture, David has demonstrated that he is not a man of God; he is not a Christian. For anyone who might be confused by this article, it is not about Jacob Prasch but about the behaviour, attitude, and actions of David Lister. I merely share my original concern about Jacob in order to provide context. If anyone reading this knows of information that allows Messianic Jews to apply for and receive immigrant status or citizenship, please cite it and share it with me via e-mail. David attempts to lump me together with people who apparently question or deny Jacob's DNA, genealogy, etc., which was never an issue mentioned in my e-mail. He jumps the gun and erects a straw man he can easily blow down while ignoring my actual concern. I encourage Jacob to let David go and hire a better man, a man who walks after Christ and reflects Christ. David has stumbled into sin and hypocrisy.
There are
far too many liars and hypocrites in ministry and with
public ministries these days, and many of them act in
unbecoming unChrist-like manners, refusing to step down even
when it is demonstrated that they are unfit for ministry.
I have known too many of these public ministers
who lie through their teeth on a regular basis about any
number of things, including those things they attempt to
prove yet have zero proof for. Well-respected teachers, such
as Henry Morris, have been caught lying in order to try and
defend the faith when such action is not required. There is
enough provable evidence out there to disprove things like
Evolution that a Christian should not need to lie about
things or try to twist them to support their position. If we
do not know a thing, we should admit such. If we are too lazy
to search for an answer for someone, we should not respond
with the cop-out, "Well, some things need to be accepted by
faith." One such story I read 20 years ago, I just shook my
head because even without the knowledge and education I have
now, I could have provided an answer to the person whereas the
radio pastor copped out. I have no respect for that.
ADDENDUM:
So David Lister contacts me again. Apparently the requirements of religion and ethnicity are circumvented by
means of legal marriage to a Jewish Israeli citizen. Since I do not know who Jacob is married to, or what her status anywhere is, you would think that David would have enlightened me by initially pointing this out to me. Or, if Jacob was born a natural citizen or obtained citizenship prior to becoming a Messianic Jew. How simple would it have been for David to have simply responded by saying that Jacob is married to a Jewish Israeli citizen? Concern answered. Case closed. Had he done this, it could have saved us both a lot of time. But, nooooo, David had to take the least peaceful path and resort to name calling and false accusations against me. David wastes all this time instead of answering the concern directly, and then attempts to accuse me of wasting time. Hypocrite much, David? The proverb is true: "He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him" (Prov. 18:13). Let this be a lesson to you for next time. Even though my concern is now answered, as I said earlier, David has no
intention to apologize for making false accusations against me, accusing
me of having an "ulterior movite," or for using ad hominem against me.
He has no intention of repenting. He has demonstrated that he is not a man of God, nor is he fit for ministry.
ADDENDUM #2:
This article did not originally concern James "Jacob" Prasch (other than to provide context), but due to David's standoffish and defensive demeanour, I was curious as to why he would behave in such a manner. He set off many red flags, which then pressed me to look into things. Although my initial concern with regard to Jacob had nothing to do with his DNA or anything else, it has since come to my attention that James Aloysius Prasch (as appears on his birth certificate, on the alumni roll for his Roman Catholic school St. Mary's Star of the Sea, and on his mother's obituary) is a conman and a liar. He has since been added to my list of people to avoid, including the pathological liar, David Lister. Both Prasch's parents were of Roman Catholic descent, his mother, Maureen A. Prash (nee Connors), being a devout Roman Catholic while his father apparently held to no faith. Prasch is not a Jewish surname. Since Jewish status depends upon the mother, Prasch is clearly not a Jew himself. New Jersey synagogues also have no record of a Catholic boy by that name converting to Judaism and receiving his Bar Mitzvah. His wife, Pavia, is Jewish, which is how he recently obtained his Israeli citizenship, but that is as far as his "Jewishness" goes. Through this union is how he learned some Hebrew and Yiddish. His father was a New York police officer from New Jersey. The gravestone for Prasch's father and uncle, John Gilbert Prasch, in a Catholic cemetery, has the symbol of Freemasonry (left side) and the symbol of the cross (right side) on it. His grandfather on his father's side was George Conrad Prasch, and on his mother's side was Francis Joseph Connors. He is a citizen of the UK—not of America. Prasch is no better than televangelists, prosperity preachers, or Dispensational sensationalist charlatans. He is a fraud who lives large off fleecing the naive and gullible who give to his anti-Christ ministry. James "Jacob" Prasch is a false teacher, a cult leader, an accuser of the brethren, and an abuser of Christ's flock. He is as disqualified from the ministry (more so, actually) as those he rails against. His doctrine and theology is completely anti-Christ, teaching another Gospel, a false Gospel.
By the way, here is a warning from God that you both, James Prasch and David Lister, need to take seriously: "ALL LIARS will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." And for those who would defend such people and such behaviour and attitudes, exposing the lack of honesty and integrity you yourselves possess, here is a warning for you: "although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things." If you defend these men, it is because you are a hypocrite and because you are the same as these men. You are as dishonest and lacking integrity as they are.