Our ministry was founded in 1948 by Charles Halff, a young Jewish man from San Antonio, Texas, who become a believer in Jesus as his Messiah and Savior. The Halffs had long been prominent in the local Jewish community, and Charles’ confession of faith in Jesus caused quite a commotion within his family. The story is recounted in detail in his biography entitled What It Costs a Jew to Become a Christian.
The late Dr. Charles Feinberg of Dallas Theological Seminary took an interest in Charles Halff’s early ministry and encouraged him to go on the radio. Thus, The Christian Jew Hour (Charles’ popular radio program) became the first official name of the organization. In the mid-1950s, we were incorporated as “The Christian Jew Foundation.” Dr. Halff was assisted by a number of able and distinguished associates from the 1950s to the 1990s, including Wayne Carver, Al Runge, A.H. Barbee, Woodrow Kroll, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, and others. Several of these men went on to head their own ministries when they left San Antonio.
In 1988, Dr. Halff asked his longtime friend, Gary Hedrick, a pastor in Eureka, Illinois, to move to San Antonio and assume the presidency of the ministry.
Later, the name of the radio program was changed to Messianic Perspectives and the organization became known as “CJF Ministries.” Dr. Halff went home to Heaven in November 2000, and the ministry continues today under the leadership of his successor, Dr. Gary Hedrick.
About our Name
The acrostic "CJF" hearkens back to the old name of the organization, "Christian Jew Foundation." Our Founder, Charles Halff, was a Jewish man who became a believer in Jesus in the 1940s. It was rare in those days to hear about a Jewish person who was also a Christian, so he became affectionately known in evangelical circles as “the Christian Jew.” In 1948, he adapted that moniker when he went on the radio (“The Christian Jew Hour”). Decades later, when the ministry experienced significant growth in the late 1990s, the name of the radio program was changed to “Messianic Perspectives” and in the early 2000s, the name of the organization was changed to “CJF Ministries.”
The Song of Solomon
with Dr. Charles Halff
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HANUKKAH
DEC 22, 2008
Hanukkah is not mentioned in the Tanakh; however, it is alluded to in the apocrypha books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. In the Second Century BCE, Judah Maccabees and his brothers led a revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had desecrated the Temple, murdered Jewish citizens, and outlawed the Jewish religion. In 165 BCE, Judah successfully reclaimed the Temple and rededicated it. The 8-day festival of Hanukkah was instituted to celebrate that rededication. The Gospel of John references the festival in Chapter 10, verse 22: “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”