They Thought for Themselves : simplebooklet.com

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 4 Copyright 2009 Sid Roth All rights reserved This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged Permission will be granted upon request Unless otherwise identified all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Scriptures trans Isaac Leeser Copyright 1909 by Hebrew Publishing Company Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc Used by permission All rights reserved Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version Scripture quotations marked NIV Chapters 6 and 7 except Deut 18 10 12 are taken from the HOLY BIBLE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION NIV Copyright 1973 1978 1984 by International Bible Society Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House All rights reserved Scripture quotations in Chapter 10 unless otherwise identified are from The Holy Scriptures trans Alexander Harkavy Copyright 1936 by Hebrew Publishing Company Emphasis within Scripture quotations is the author s own Please note that Destiny Image s publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father Son and Holy Spirit and may differ from some publishers styles Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized We choose not to acknowledge him even to the point of violating grammatical rules DESTINY IMAGE PUBLISHERS INC P O Box 310 Shippensburg PA 17257 0310 Speaking to the Purposes of God for This Generation and for the Generations to Come This book and all other Destiny Image Revival Press MercyPlace Fresh Bread Destiny Image Fiction and Treasure House books are available at Christian bookstores and distributors worldwide For a U S bookstore nearest you call 1 800 722 6774 For more information on foreign distributors call 717 532 3040 Or reach us on the Internet www destinyimage com Previous ISBN 0 910267 02 2 Previously copyrighted 1996 by Sid Roth Reprinted 1999 2002 2005 Paperback Hardcover ISBN 10 0 7684 2842 4 ISBN 13 978 0 7684 2842 1 ISBN 10 0 7684 3135 2 ISBN 13 978 0 7684 3135 3 For Worldwide Distribution Printed in the U S A 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 14 13 12

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 7 Contents Introduction 9 Chapter 1 By David Yaniv 11 Paralyzed Learn to Live With It 13 Chapter 2 By Jonathan Bernis 31 No Place for a Good Jewish Boy 33 Chapter 3 By Rose Price 55 The Survivor 57 Chapter 4 By Alyosha Ryabinov 75 A New Song 77 Chapter 5 By Sharon R Allen 89 Yiddishkeit 91 Chapter 6 By Sid Roth 113 There Must Be Something More 115 Chapter 7 By Michael L Brown Ph D 137 Tradition or Truth What I Learned About Rabbinic Judaism 139 Chapter 8 By Randy and Tricia Horne 165 It Was Not for Me 167 Chapter 9 By Batya Segal 177 Bat Shalom Daughter of Zion 179 Chapter 10 By Manny Brotman 203 The Amazing Jewish Book and the God Shaped Hole in My Soul 205

Page 8

Page 9

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 9 Introduction M y father was born in Poland into a traditional Jewish family My mother s family while also very Jewish was much more Americanized Dad won out in our religious education I attended a traditional synagogue and was trained for bar mitzvah Even as a child I saw the hypocrisy in our religious observance For instance on major holidays we parked several blocks away from the shul because we didn t want the rabbi to know we drove on the Shabbat And we had to get there early or the other members would take all the best parking spaces The long services in Hebrew a language I didn t understand added to my boredom and resentment Why did we go to synagogue Why all the ritual Why was God not speaking to us today Was the Bible from God These are just a few of the questions that plagued me 9

Page 10

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 10 T HEMSELVES I was proud of being a Jew but the religious side turned me off It just wasn t relevant For almost 30 years God was irrelevant to me until I thought for myself This book is the result of a dream I had in which I was instructed to find and interview Jewish people who broke through the mold of their previous experiences to achieve their destiny Everyone has a special destiny but few reach it The people in this book come from widely divergent backgrounds including a holocaust survivor a concert pianist a media executive and a Ph D They range in upbringing from atheistic to Orthodox What is the common denominator among those in this unusual group They all thought for themselves and dared to confront the forbidden If you have ever thought that there must be something more to life you were right 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 13 C HAPTER 1 Paralyzed Learn to Live With It I was born in Tel Aviv in 1936 to parents who immigrated from Germany My parents kept up tradition celebrating Yom Kippur Rosh Hashanah and other holidays but they were never really religious After the Second World War when my father found out that two of his sisters and one brother and their families had been killed in Nazi Germany he took every Bible and everything in our home that was even remotely religious and threw it out Where was God he would ask How could God allow such a thing to happen From then on I was raised in an atheistic home My father even resisted my having a bar mitzvah Although he finally allowed it he refused to set foot in the synagogue How could god allow such a thing to happen 13

Page 14

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 14 T HEMSELVES In 1960 I married a South African girl named Sheila whom I met when she and her mother came to Israel as tourists At the time I was a guide and a bus driver Her mother who took two tours with me one day said My baby is waiting for me in Haifa I want you to meet her I thought it was funny that this elderly woman would have a baby But when I reached Haifa and saw her baby I realized she was a matchmaker Sheila and I went to South Africa on our honeymoon to visit her family and stayed twelve and one half years I m a refrigeration and air conditioning engineer by trade I did quite well in business in South Africa for a time Then I undertook a project to air condition a large building The quantity surveyor I hired to estimate the cost of the job made a mistake and I lost all my money My lawyer told me it was useless to sue the surveyor because he wasn t insured And even though I was bankrupt I had to finish the job because I had signed a contract The Mistake Paralyzed Me for Life Afterward I decided to return to Israel Moving back was very difficult for my wife but she realized it was best for us and our two sons who were 11 and 8 years old At the time I spoke Hebrew but my family did not We decided to live on a moshav which is an agricultural commune similar to a kibbutz I thought we would stay there for a short time to allow my family to learn Hebrew and then I would find work in my trade But when the time came and I said All right 14

Page 15

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 15 L IVE W ITH I T let s move to the big town they didn t want to go They had come to love life on the moshav Even if they had agreed however it would have been difficult to leave You can t build up any savings there because you only receive a small monthly allowance to buy food and supplies But if we stayed at the moshav we were set for life The first year on the moshav we had to work in different jobs to allow everyone to get to know us and for us to get to know them Toward the end of that year I was assigned to milk the cows I enjoyed it because it was something new and because I knew it was just a temporary assignment The first year on the moshav we had to work in different jobs to allow everyone to get to know us and for us to get to know them One day in the cow shed I slipped on a wet spot on the floor and fell flat on my back My back was in so much pain I went to the hospital to have it checked The hospital technicians didn t find anything serious on the x rays They said You just got a good knock there Go home rest take some painkillers and it will be all right within two weeks Instead of getting better the pain got worse The second time I went to the hospital they x rayed me again and again sent me home saying there was nothing wrong I rested for another two weeks and by that time the pain was 15

Page 16

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 16 T HEMSELVES excruciating I had never experienced such pain The painkillers helped initially but after a while they lost their effect I kept increasing the dosage until I was taking 50 pills a day for three years I reached a point where every morning when I got out of bed my feet would go numb I knew something was seriously wrong but I also knew I couldn t go back to that same hospital again Because of the bureaucracy in Israel it took some connections to be allowed to go to another hospital but through friends who knew somebody who knew somebody it was arranged for me to visit another hospital in Tel Aviv The doctors there did a special x ray called a myelogram After the x ray the head of the neurosurgical department himself came to me and said You ve got two slipped discs one of which is completely compressed and the other one is missing a piece He was amazed I had waited so long to get help When I asked for his prognosis he replied Well we ll have to operate What does that entail I asked cautiously Oh it s nothing he said Ten days and you re back home as good as new That sounded wonderful to me so I said Let s do it When I woke up from the anesthetic in the evening after the operation I had no feeling from my waist down so I called for a doctor The doctor on the evening shift said I can t tell you anything You will have to wait until 16

Page 17

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 17 L IVE W ITH I T the morning when all the surgeons come in for the day shift When I woke up from the anesthetic in the evening after the operation I had no feeling from my waist down The next morning the doctor who had operated came to me and said David I m terribly sorry I ve got some bad news for you Bracing myself I asked What do you mean you ve got bad news for me He said I made a mistake and you will be paralyzed for life Apparently he had cut too deeply with his scalpel and severed the nerves that were essential for me to walk I had no feeling in one leg and only partial feeling in the other At first I was in shock Then I began to feel sorry for myself I thought What am I going to do now I had pain before but at least I could walk If I could only take time back now I would rather live with the pain But I couldn t go back A Broken Man The doctor s prognosis for the future was summed up in one cold sentence Learn to live with it It was very difficult I hated everybody I blamed everybody But worst of 17

Page 18

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 18 T HEMSELVES all I absolutely hated myself I could not accept what had happened From the hospital I was sent to a convalescent home called Beth Levinshtein which helps paralyzed people mainly soldiers who get wounded in the war They also take some private cases such as mine There I started to feel a little better about myself because everyone around me was either worse off than I was or in the same condition The staff made iron calipers braces for me which were attached to special shoes With the help of crutches and the calipers I could make my way around without a wheelchair although it was very difficult But worst of all I absolutely hated myself I could not accept what had happened Three and one half months later I returned to the moshav to find my home rearranged My friends had made a ramp so I could easily get into the house with my wheelchair They installed handles in the bathroom and other places around the house where I would need them I was very grateful But now that I was surrounded by healthy active people I began to realize how much of an invalid I was I started feeling sorry for myself again so much so that I needed psychiatric treatment Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would need a psychiatrist I had 18

Page 19

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 19 L IVE W ITH I T always been such a strong person Suddenly I was a broken man Suddenly I was a broken man Before long the psychiatrist gave up on me because I wouldn t stop feeling sorry for myself I was the most unhappy person imaginable I couldn t forgive the doctor I couldn t forgive anyone My condition was also very difficult for my wife to the point that I was afraid she might leave me She never did In fact she would try to reassure me telling me not to worry that she would stay with me through thick and thin But the more she told me not to worry the more I worried The moshav gave me an easy job in the office where my coworkers were especially kind But the nicer they were the worse I felt I was sure they were giving me special treatment because of my disabilities In the midst of my pity parties I still had hope that I would some day walk again I read in the newspaper one day about a man who would put his hand on sick people sending something that felt like an electric current through their bodies and they would feel better The moshav offered to pay my expenses so I went to him Nothing happened Then I heard about a guru I went to him with the same result I believed in each one I went to When you re 19

Page 20

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 20 T HEMSELVES as desperate as I was you try anything The moshav even paid for transcendental meditation Nothing worked Nothing happened Nothing worked After seven and one half years of trying everything the world had to offer I finally gave up I finally accepted the expert advice of all the specialists professors and neurosurgeons who told me Learn to live with it You are going to remain paralyzed for the rest of your life Don t even think of getting better My wife had long since given up hope that my condition would ever improve She would say What are you running after Accept it This is how you are going to remain I ve accepted it Why can t you And at that point I really did accept it I still felt sorry for myself but I accepted it I realized that nobody could help me I determined to go on and try to live as normal a life as I possibly could Why Don t You Pray With Me One day I stayed home from work with the flu and was totally bored At two o clock that afternoon I decided to watch television Since Israeli stations only broadcast in the evening I started watching a program on Lebanese television called The 700 Club I was intrigued by the name thinking it was an entertainment program 20

Page 21

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 21 L IVE W ITH I T I soon realized that it was a Christian show But there was nothing else to do and I was curious so I kept watching Still I felt like I was doing something wrong so I locked the door I didn t want my wife and my children to catch me watching Christian television The program held my interest because it featured stories about people who were healed from different sicknesses The first time I watched there was an interview with a woman who had been healed of cancer She showed an xray of a tumor the size of an orange Then she showed an x ray of the same spot taken three days later The tumor had disappeared I was sure it was phony These people had to be paid actors Some of the stories even made me laugh out loud at the absurdity of the claims Yet I found myself watching every day at two o clock behind locked doors After a month of this I decided to tell my wife I said Sheila I ve been watching this Christian program about people who get healed by believing in Jesus and by people praying for them I expected her to be annoyed with me On the contrary she said If it makes you feel better keep watching She even suggested I record it so we could watch it together in the evening During every program there was a time when co host Ben Kinchlow would say Pray with me Whenever it came to that part I switched off the television I didn t even want to hear people pray to Jesus I felt it was wrong 21

Page 22

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 22 T HEMSELVES Whenever it came to that part I switched off the television I didn t even want to hear people pray to Jesus I felt it was wrong As I was watching alone one afternoon several months later it seemed that Ben s finger stretched out from the television pointing straight at me He said You Why don t you pray with me I could have sworn he was talking directly to me I got scared The next thing I knew I found myself praying the sinner s prayer with him Here I was praying with him to this Jesus who to me had never been more than a dirty name When that prayer was finished I couldn t believe what I had done I thought to myself What on earth do I do now I immediately told Sheila Again she responded more positively than I expected She said If it makes you feel good you just carry on But do me a favor Don t tell anyone about it Let it be between us for now I was sure that I was the only Jewish person in the whole world who had ever prayed that prayer I thought The first thing I have to do is buy a full Bible So I went to Nazareth and bought a Bible At the book store I saw a map of the city on display and somehow the name of a Baptist church caught my eye As I started reading my Bible I soon discovered there was more to it than I had ever imagined I found that the prophecies from the Old Testament are fulfilled in the New 22

Page 23

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 23 L IVE W ITH I T Testament And I started to wonder why Jewish people throughout the centuries had not believed in Jesus You Will Be Healed The following Sunday I went to the Baptist church at eight o clock in the morning I was too early the doors were locked All around me I heard the bells of churches ringing and here this church was locked I was just about to leave when an Arab man walked up and introduced himself as the pastor He first spoke to me in Arabic and then English because he didn t speak Hebrew When I told him my story he was amazed He said We ve tried to get Jewish people to come to the Lord for years and here you re walking in yourself This is the first time since I ve been a pastor that this has happened The pastor invited me to stay for the service Being Jewish in an Arab congregation I thought I would feel out of place but I didn t The love I experienced that day was the love of Jesus The love I experienced that day was the love of Jesus At the end of the service there was an invitation to come forward to receive the Lord as personal savior After I came forward I found myself praying the same prayer I had been praying daily for four and one half months in 23

Page 24

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 24 T HEMSELVES front of my television But this time I did it in front of a whole congregation of witnesses This was almost too much for my wife It was one thing to watch a Christian program or pray a prayer in private It was quite another to make a public profession of faith in Jesus She was incensed that I would do such a thing without first consulting her However as the weeks went by and she saw that I was steadfast in my decision she agreed to come with me to a meeting of Jewish believers Soon afterward she accepted Jesus too About five months after I became a believer in the Messiah I was again watching The 700 Club when co host Danuta Soderman had a word of knowledge She said There is someone she didn t specifically say where who has been paralyzed halfway down his body for years and with me that was the case seven and one half years She said He will feel a warm sensation running through his body and he will be healed I said Oh please God let it be me I believed it was me but nothing happened Still I kept praying because I realized immediately if it wasn t for me it must have been for someone else all of a sudden a feeling like an electric current ran from my spine down to my tiptoes and my feet started jumping 40 inches at a time 24

Page 25

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 25 L IVE W ITH I T That same evening around ten o clock I was lying in bed reading my Bible when all of a sudden a feeling like an electric current ran from my spine down to my tiptoes and my feet started jumping 40 inches at a time When people are paralyzed they get unwanted reflex movements and I thought that was what this was Some of them were more severe than others but I couldn t explain the electric shock Finally the movements stopped and I went to sleep The next morning when I woke up I started to assist my legs with my hands as I usually did in order to get them out of bed As I touched my legs all of a sudden I realized I had feeling in them I thought Wait a minute This is unusual I started to touch all the places where I had lost feeling years before There was feeling in them I shouted Sheila for God s sake come here I can feel Rubbish she said Lie down She took a needle and started pricking me Close your eyes Where am I pricking you And she continued pricking me in different places on my legs Each time she pricked my legs I told her the correct spot Now she began to share my excitement Immediately I went to the dispensary on our moshav to see the doctor I put the special shoes back on because I still didn t know exactly what had happened to me and after seven and one half years of paralysis my legs had no muscles in them When our moshav doctor was shocked too I realized a true miracle had occurred 25

Page 26

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 26 T HEMSELVES When our moshav doctor was shocked too I realized a true miracle had occurred The moshav doctor sent me to a hospital for an electric test of my reflexes I had had this test done many times before and of course it was always negative This time my reflexes responded to the test perfectly The doctor who performed the test asked if I could return the following week A week later I met with about 25 doctors neurosurgeons and neurologists from all over the country including the neurosurgeon who had operated on me They all examined me but no one could give a logical explanation for what had happened They said it was not possible Some of them even thought I was lying by claiming that the older x rays were mine Even today doctors who examine them cannot believe that I am walking At the end of the examination they said to me This is a medical miracle I said Listen This is not a medical miracle This is Yeshua Jesus Someone asked Yeshua who Yeshua is a very common name in Israel so he thought perhaps Yeshua was my physiotherapist or a friend 26

Page 27

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 27 L IVE W ITH I T I said Listen This is not a medical miracle This is Yeshua Jesus Yeshua the Messiah I responded That was too much for these Jewish doctors They did not want to hear another word about this Jesus They refused to believe He could have had anything to do with my healing We know from the Bible that even when people saw Jesus perform miracles right before their eyes they didn t believe Some even accused Him of being demon possessed The doctor said to take off the iron calipers but to keep using the crutches because my legs were just skin and bones And slowly slowly I took my first steps in seven and one half years I knelt down on knees that hadn t felt anything since the accident and thanked the Lord for the miracle He had done But He wasn t finished yet The doctors had told me that the muscles in my legs were all dead and that they would never grow back Over time God recreated those muscles Today my feet are just as normal as anyone else s You Have to Leave When the members of the moshav saw me walking they didn t accept that this was the work of Yeshua any more 27

Page 28

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 28 T HEMSELVES than the doctors did Instead they chose to believe the doctors conclusion that it was a medical miracle It was not long before word had spread around the moshav that I was a believer in Yeshua The leaders of the moshav called me into their office and said We re terribly sorry but you have to leave We do not accept Christians on the moshav This moshav is associated with B nai B rith in New York and they were worried they would lose their funding if they didn t expel me I said I call myself a Messianic Jew and I will not go quietly There is a great big Christian world out there just waiting to hear my story Sensing that the publicity generated by expelling me might be worse than if they let me stay they said I could remain if I promised I would not evangelize on the moshav I said I call myself a Messianic Jew and I will not go quietly There is a great big Christian world out there just waiting to hear my story That arrangement worked fine until May 1988 when I participated in a major Messianic Jewish event in Jerusalem called Shavuot 88 at that time the largest gathering of Jewish believers in Israel in almost two thousand years It seemed that every Hebrew speaking newspaper in Jerusalem covered the miracle of my healing 28

Page 29

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves PARALYZED L EARN 2 24 2012 TO 12 09 PM Page 29 L IVE W ITH I T When I came home from the meetings the moshav leaders said That s it You promised us you would not evangelize Now your picture is splashed all over the newspapers B nai B rith is going to stop the money flowing to us You have to leave They voted us out at a general meeting and gave us ten days in which to leave Nobody from the moshav where we had lived for 16 years even came to help us pack our belongings If God had not made a way we would have been out in the street and penniless But we serve a living God At the gathering somebody had handed me an envelope As I ripped it open I couldn t believe my eyes It contained a scholarship and airline tickets to attend Bible school in Dallas Texas My wife and I graduated in May 1989 and followed the Lord s leading to Seattle where we live today I have been healed for well over a decade and my faith grows deeper every day Soon we will return to Israel and proclaim the good news about the true Messiah who saves and heals Commentary by Sid Roth I read in the Torah that God heals people But in 30 years of going to a traditional synagogue I never saw anyone get healed On television I saw faith healers and thought they were all counterfeit But you can t have a good counterfeit unless there is the real thing The Talmud as well as the New 29

Page 30

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 30 T HEMSELVES Testament records healings that occurred when Jewish believers in Jesus prayed to God The Talmud also warns traditional Jews not to let Messianic Jews Jewish believers in Jesus pray for them Tosefta Chullin Chapter 2 22 23 This is a backhanded compliment These rabbis recognized that the Jewish followers of Jesus had power to heal in His Name And once you experience healing in His Name you might believe in Him Isaiah 53 4 5 tells us the Messiah would bear away all our diseases But only our diseases did He bear Himself and our pains carried while we indeed esteemed Him stricken smitten of God and afflicted Yet He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and through His bruises was healing granted to us The early Messianic Jews even brand new believers experienced miracles of healing in His Name And since He doesn t change I too have seen many Jewish people healed in Jesus Name My own mother before becoming a Messianic Jew was healed in His Name 30

Page 31

Page 32

Page 33

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 33 C HAPTER 2 No Place for a Good Jewish Boy I was raised in a traditional Jewish home I refer to myself as a former holiday Jew We went to synagogue on the high holidays and had family gatherings on the important holidays like Passover Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement I was forced against my will to go to both Hebrew school and religious school So while my friends were out playing on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school I was studying Hebrew in the synagogue to prepare for the most important experience a Jewish young man can go through the Bar Mitzvah becoming a son of the commandment And so at age 13 I was Bar Mitzvah and entered into adulthood At that time my parents felt they had fulfilled their responsibility and they gave me the choice whether to continue on with synagogue life or not I had had enough of Hebrew school and religious school 33

Page 34

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 34 T HEMSELVES and so I departed from the synagogue except for the high holidays I remember asking some of my teachers We re the chosen people but what are we chosen for As I reflect back on the things that I learned growing up I had quite a rich heritage I learned all about the patriarchs of our faith Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I learned about the calling of the Jewish people I was taught that we were chosen people and that we had a special relationship with God But I never really quite understood I remember asking some of my teachers We re the chosen people but what are we chosen for One teacher responded that we were chosen to be persecuted That wasn t something I was too excited about I remember being taught about Moses and how he had this divine encounter with the burning bush and how he led the children of Israel out of Egypt I learned that the Passover the Exodus out of Egypt is probably the watershed event in Jewish history It is the most important holiday that we celebrate And I fondly remember sitting together as a family and reciting the story of the Passover Exodus I heard all about the God of Israel But one thing that I didn t learn was how to have a relationship with God I remember asking what God was like and none of my teachers could give me an answer 34

Page 35

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 35 G OOD J EWISH B OY At that time I had a great fear of dying I went to my rabbi and asked Rabbi what happens after you die He gave me a long answer about this man climbing a mountain and not being able to see the other side When he finally reaches the top then he can see the other side He said that God is already at the top of the mountain looking over the other side I left the rabbi s office amazed at his wisdom but having no idea what he meant I was more confused than before Years later as I thought about that encounter I realized the rabbi had no idea how to answer my question He was just too proud to admit it From the time I was a little boy I learned a prayer called the Shema which is found in Deuteronomy 6 4 Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu Adonai echad Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one I was taught that we Jews were responsible for bringing the revelation of the one true God to the world and that this was something of which we could be proud We believed in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of Israel From the time I was knee high I learned to recite that prayer the central confession of Judaism I heard all about the God of Israel But one thing that I didn t learn was how to have a relationship with God In spite of all this I learned more about what Jews did not believe than what Jews did believe I learned that Jews do not believe in Jesus That was made very very clear to me I 35

Page 36

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 36 T HEMSELVES was taught that the Christians were responsible for the holocaust for the Crusades for the pogroms for all the terrible persecutions of Jewish people My understanding was that anyone who wasn t Jewish was a Christian A Gentile a Christian it made no difference to me They were nonJews I learned more about what Jews did not believe than what Jews did believe I learned that Jews do not believe in Jesus I grew up with what I refer to as an us versus them mentality As Jews we had the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob On the other side was Christianity There was the religious institution of Judaism and the religious institution of Christianity Christians had three gods Their central deity as I understood it was Jesus Christ son of Mr and Mrs Christ I thought that Jesus was His first name and Christ was His last name That was all confusing to me I remember visiting a Catholic church with a friend as a young teenager The priest was standing in the pulpit with all these goblets and smoke rising around him And there was a statue of Jesus Christ and a couple of other gods It didn t make much sense to this good Jewish boy I understood that as Jews we had the synagogue and the temple and on the Christian side they had the cathedral the church and the monastery We had the Star of David on our flag the religious symbol of our people The 36

Page 37

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 37 G OOD J EWISH B OY Christians had their own symbol called the cross There was no relationship between the two whatsoever I was taught that we had our book called the Torah the five books of Moses and the writings of the Jewish prophets a book that Christians call the Old Testament And they had another book called the New Testament This was the book of the Christians In my view the two religions had nothing in common except for one thing Christians embraced our book I was pretty happy about that I didn t believe in the Christian Bible but Christians believed in the Jewish Scriptures I was brought up believing in the Jewish holidays We had Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement Passover Hanukkah and all the other Jewish holidays The Christians had Christmas Lent and Easter We had matzo gefilte fish and kreplach They had Easter eggs chocolate bunnies and Christmas trees We had our menorah that we lit on Hanukkah They had the little baby in the manger On the one hand I saw this picture of the Christian God hanging on the cross eternally Then during Christmas He was transformed into this eternal infant It was very confusing In my view the two religions had nothing in common except for one thing Christians embraced our book 37

Page 38

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 38 T HEMSELVES We had our rabbis and Christians had their priests pastors and monks We had our religion they had theirs and there was a gulf and a wall between the two The idea was very clearly expressed in all the teaching that I received that Jews are not to believe in Jesus Judaism and Christianity were two distinct religions with nothing in common Never the two shall meet That is the mentality of most Jewish people and that s what I was raised to understand and believe I Knew Christians Were Dangerous People In high school my preconceived notions about Christians and Christianity were seriously challenged The assistant coach of our wrestling team was different from anyone I had ever met Besides being an all American wrestler he was part of a group called Athletes in Action and the leader of a high school outreach called Young Life I was convinced that all born again Christians were hypocrites I knew they were dangerous people who we were supposed to avoid This man was always smiling I could not figure out why No matter what people said to him or what comments they made about him he was always smiling Word quickly circulated around the high school Stay away from this guy he s one of those born again Christians 38

Page 39

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 39 G OOD J EWISH B OY By this time I was convinced that all born again Christians were hypocrites I knew they were dangerous people who we were supposed to avoid But there were some things about this man that I could not figure out First of all I couldn t deny that he was probably the nicest person that I d ever met I couldn t deny that he had great joy something that I didn t have I was happy some days other days I was miserable He was always happy But what impressed me the most about him was that he had a sense of purpose a sense of destiny He knew where he had come from and where he was going He knew that God had put him on this earth for a purpose He didn t have any fear of death I was impressed by that That drew me This coach started to share the Gospel with me and invited me to some of his Young Life meetings I figured Why not There are some beautiful girls who attend and it looks like the thing to do A short time later he invited me to one of the Young Life camps down in Florida I went for one reason and one reason only he offered it to me free of charge I thought I can go to Disney World and hang out on the beaches for free Such a deal So I went down to this camp and everything was going great I was having a wonderful time until I found out that part of the deal was I had to listen to the guest speaker every night One speaker began to share about Jesus Christ the God of the Christians And for the first day I was squirming in my seat and very uncomfortable But as time went on I was really drawn in by the things he had to say 39

Page 40

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 40 T HEMSELVES I marveled at the stories of this man Jesus who could walk on the water heal the sick raise the dead and supernaturally provide food for a multitude I thought This is really interesting And I noticed that there was something different about these messages than anything I had experienced growing up in the synagogue The teaching in the synagogue seemed to go into my head as head knowledge but as this man spoke it was like something was happening in my heart There was a churning and a drawing from my heart I was amazed at what was happening I didn t know what to make of it Later I attended another Young Life camp Again I felt a drawing The speaker challenged those who hadn t made a decision to embrace Jesus to ask God to reveal Himself to them He directed us to find a place of solitude where we could pray I noticed that there was something different about these messages than anything I had experienced growing up in the synagogue The teaching in the synagogue seemed to go into my head as head knowledge but as this man spoke it was like something was happening in my heart There was a churning and a drawing from my heart That was a real dilemma for me I had never prayed before outside of using the prayer book I knew how to 40

Page 41

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 41 G OOD J EWISH B OY read Hebrew and how to recite the prayers in the prayer books but I had no idea how to spontaneously pray to God from my heart So I sat by a stream looking up at a beautiful clear sky with thousands of stars not knowing how to pray to God I said something like God I believe You re real and I ve never spoken to You before but I m talking to You now I really want to know You If this Jesus is who they say He is please show me I really want to know Amen I returned to the meeting and watched as a number of my friends made a profession of faith in Jesus And I saw their lives change before me But there was a problem Something in me said This is true but I m Jewish and Jews do not believe in Jesus Eventually I lost contact with my coach and lost interest in Jesus A Change in Plans After I finished high school I had one goal to be a rich and successful businessman I wanted to earn a million dollars before I was 30 to make my mark on the world as a worldwide industrialist and retire early with multi millions of dollars So off I went to the University of Buffalo to earn a degree in business and start making as much money as possible as quickly as possible God however had other ideas It was at college that I began experimenting with drugs eastern meditation and the occult Mind expanding 41

Page 42

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 42 T HEMSELVES drugs and the supernatural realm became a major pursuit around my business studies and occupied much of my free time All of this radically changed with an encounter with a young woman I knew who was almost destroyed by drugs She quit going to class She stopped caring about her appearance Every time I saw her she looked worse than before her eyes bloodshot her hands shaky and her hair unkempt There was nothing I or anyone else could do to bring her back from the brink of ruin and death My relationship with her grew more distant because I couldn t watch her continue to destroy herself Eventually I lost contact with her You can imagine how shocked I was when I ran into her off campus one day and she looked completely well and healthy Light sparkled in her eyes When she saw me the happy grin on her face got even bigger Everything about her was different I Have Been Born Again Before I could think better of it I blurted out What in the world happened to you I realize now how rude that sounds but I really could not help myself It was as though she had come back from the walking dead I ve been born again she said You ve been what I asked Born again she laughed I ve made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life 42

Page 43

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 43 G OOD J EWISH B OY I could not deny the evidence standing right in front of me but I did not want to accept what she was telling me I thought If it worked for you fine but I have other plans for my life She could tell from the puzzled look on my face that I wasn t making the connection so she proceeded to tell me with great enthusiasm that she had turned to Jesus and that He had set her free from her addiction The desire had just gone away One instant she was a hopeless addict The next the craving had vanished I could not deny the evidence standing right in front of me but I did not want to accept what she was telling me I thought If it worked for you fine but I have other plans for my life I just wanted to get away from her and that took at least ten minutes Even then I couldn t really get away For the next few weeks she called me every day asking questions like Do you know why you re here on earth and Where would you go if you died right now At first I politely tried to brush her off but I was beginning to sense a certain pressure Her questions haunted me Why was I here Where would I go if I died Her words had impact because there was no denying that something amazing and real had happened to her She was not the same person I had known before 43

Page 44

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 44 T HEMSELVES No Place for a Good Jewish Boy After numerous invitations I finally agreed to go with her to a home Bible study group that she belonged to From the moment I walked into the room I wanted to turn around and run Clearly this was no place for a good Jewish boy to be especially one who was still using drugs But I couldn t leave At this time my only mode of transportation was a Suzuki 750 motorcycle It was a terrible stormy night complete with pouring and blowing rain By the time I arrived at the Bible study I was soaked to the skin The wife of the leader who was hosting the Bible study gave me some clothes to change into while my clothes tumbled around in her clothes dryer throughout the evening I couldn t leave without my clothes I knew I was a sinner since I was dealing and using drugs but it was the first time in my life that I was aware of my physical separation from God The study session seemed to go on for hours although it was probably only around 90 minutes or so I was miserable I felt totally and completely out of place and was positive that everyone there was fully aware of my extreme discomfort I m sure you know how this feels it is not a great feeling In addition to that the leader approached me at the conclusion of the Bible study and in a decidedly German 44

Page 45

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 45 G OOD J EWISH B OY accent invited me to join him in the living room for a few minutes You can imagine my horror from the moment I heard his very clear German accent addressing only me After all I had been brought up believing that the world was divided into two groups Jews and Gentiles and that Gentiles didn t like us very much especially German Gentiles based on the facts of the holocaust I had a subconscious fear of all Germans and I felt as though I was standing in the fiery furnace of that fear Nevertheless I followed him to the living room and sat down on the couch where we were joined by an older gentleman He placed a Bible on my lap and began to lead me through the Scriptures to Romans 3 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Interesting I knew I was a sinner since I was dealing and using drugs but it was the first time in my life that I was aware of my physical separation from God Then he took me over to Romans 6 23 which said For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord At that moment I had what can only be described as a supernatural experience Although I did not have a vision or hear a heavenly voice I do not know what else to call it The room became abnormally bright and warm I began to sweat profusely and I can honestly say that I felt as though the couch I had been sitting on had arms that reached out and grabbed me holding me in place I had begun to deal with a sense of my own separation from a God who loved me Jonathan Bernis 20 year old college student It was that plain and simple At the same time 45

Page 46

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 46 T HEMSELVES I struggled with an innate understanding that this direction meant abandoning my own goals and ambitions Looking back at this event of more than 30 years ago I am convinced that the presence of God came into the room that evening and apprehended me God had a plan for my life that was different from my own and He meant to make sure I would lay aside my plans and follow Him I am convinced that the presence of God came into the room that evening and apprehended me God had a plan for my life that was different from my own and He meant to make sure I would lay aside my plans and follow Him I felt the weight of my sin And then I was asked to pray a simple prayer repenting of my sin and inviting Jesus into my heart By this time I was so uncomfortable and there was such a battle going on inside of me I would have prayed anything just to get out of that house It wasn t very eloquent but it was a sincere prayer of repentance As soon as I prayed that prayer the lights and the temperature in the room returned to normal the battle was finished and the couch released me Then the teacher s wife brought in my folded dry clothes and I was free to go It was a very strange experience 46

Page 47

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 47 G OOD J EWISH B OY What Were the Jewish Heroes Doing in the Christian Bible Over the next few days I developed a tremendous hunger for the Bible but I did not have a Bible and did not know where to get one I wanted to read the New Testament in particular but where does a good Jewish boy go to shop for a New Testament I could not go to my friends they were all drug users I could not go to the rabbi he surely did not have one I had no idea the Bible was the bestselling book of all time and I could have bought one at any grocery store or pharmacy Finally I remembered that my high school wrestling coach had given me a Bible and said I would need it some day I had thrown it into a box in my closet at home and forgotten about it Was there a parallel universe Were there two Abrahams a Christian Abraham and a Jewish Abraham the father of all Jewish people Was there a Christian David and a Jewish David What about the other Jewish heroes Was there a Jewish Isaac and a Christian parallel Had they converted to Christianity and no one had ever told me I jumped on my motorcycle drove over sixty miles to my parents house ran up to my room and dug through the box in the closet until I found the Bible I ran back out 47

Page 48

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 48 T HEMSELVES of the house without ever saying hello or goodbye and drove back to my dorm room where I devoured the Scriptures I couldn t get enough His name wasn t even Jesus it was Yeshua In Matthew it says His name would be called Yeshua which means the salvation of God or God saves because He will save His people from their sins I do not know what I expected to find in the New Testament I had always thought of it as the Christians book and I didn t think there would be any connection at all to what I had learned at synagogue as a child You can imagine my shock when I dove into the book of Matthew and immediately found references to Abraham Moses David and the other Jewish heroes I had learned about as a child I couldn t understand though what these great figures of Judaism were doing in the Christian Bible Was there a parallel universe Were there two Abrahams a Christian Abraham and a Jewish Abraham the father of all Jewish people Was there a Christian David and a Jewish David What about the other Jewish heroes Was there a Jewish Isaac and a Christian parallel Had they converted to Christianity and no one had ever told me My mind was reeling As I continued to read I discovered that Jesus was not the God of the Gentiles as I had always been told but was in fact Yeshua the Messiah of Israel I 48

Page 49

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 49 G OOD J EWISH B OY nearly laughed out loud with joy as I learned that Yeshua was born to a Jewish mother in the Jewish homeland of Israel and that all of His first followers were Jews And the Holy Spirit began to do a work inside of me drawing me back to my own Jewish identity Now if you think it was amazing when I opened the New Testament and discovered how Jewish it was how much more of a shock do you think I experienced when I went back to my own Jewish Scriptures the Scriptures that I supposedly believed in as a Jew and my parents believed in and the rabbi believed in I began to read the Jewish Scriptures for myself as if for the very first time and I discovered prophecy after prophecy that spoke about the Messiah In almost every prophecy I saw Jesus I discovered that His name wasn t even Jesus it was Yeshua In Matthew it says His name would be called Yeshua which means the salvation of God or God saves because He will save His people from their sins I realized that someone way back in history had spread a lie that said a Jew should not believe in Jesus That the New Testament was not for Jews That the Jewish Scriptures did not speak of Jesus as the Messiah As I read hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the Jewish Scriptures I began to wonder Why don t the Jewish people see the truth The answer is that most have never read their own Scriptures One of my favorite prophecies is found in Jeremiah 31 31 34 49

Page 50

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 50 T HEMSELVES The time is coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah This is a promise to all of the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob even though they were split into the two tribes Verse 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they broke My covenant though I was a husband to them declares the Lord When Jeremiah speaks of the covenant with their forefathers he is clearly referring to the Mosaic covenant Most Jewish people today still embrace the Mosaic covenant that s being spoken about here But Jeremiah also prophesies a newer covenant that has not yet been accepted by the majority of the Jewish community God says in this Scripture that the reason for the new covenant is because they broke My covenant though I was a husband to them So the Jewish people are being given this new covenant because they were unable to keep the old covenant Rather than rejecting the Jewish people for breaking the previous covenant He is offering them a new one Do you see that Now look at verse 33 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time declares the Lord And then God mentions four things One I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts Number two I will be their God and they will be My people Number three 50

Page 51

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves N O P LACE FOR A 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 51 G OOD J EWISH B OY No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another Know the Lord because they will all know Me And number four For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more v 34 These are four promises that God made in His new covenant The first one tells us that the laws of God are going to be written on our hearts The law has been taken off of tablets of stone and off of parchment and has been placed within our hearts by the Holy Spirit Second He will be our God and we will be His people Third we will all know God from the least to the greatest This is not yet fulfilled And then the fourth one I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more Only His blood can remove sin and remove all uncleanness from us Animal sacrifice only covered our sin but the Bible says that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness through His own blood So this is the new covenant I remember staring in amazement at these words in our Jewish Scriptures written hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born I want you to catch one more thing In verse 35 there s another prophecy that says This is what the Lord says He who appoints the sun to shine by day who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar the Lord Almighty is His name Now look at this Only if these decrees vanish from My sight declares the Lord will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before Me v 36 51

Page 52

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 52 T HEMSELVES Even though Israel rebelled even though she was unfaithful God is faithful He made the covenant with Himself God is being faithful to Himself to fulfill His promise to Israel God is saying that as long as the sun is shining by day and the moon and the stars at night He is going to preserve the Jewish people as a nation Let s read on Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done v 37 Even though Israel rebelled even though she was unfaithful God is faithful He made the covenant with Himself God is being faithful to Himself to fulfill His promise to Israel And as long as there are stars and the moon at night and the sun during the day as long as the heavens above haven t yet been measured God will preserve the Jewish people Commentary by Sid Roth Jonathan and I have been friends for more than 30 years We have seen tens of thousands of Jewish people make peace with God through Messiah Jesus I find it interesting that both of us had as a life goal to become a millionaire before age 30 We found something that money cannot buy We found peace 52

Page 53

Page 54

Page 55

Page 56

Page 57

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 57 C HAPTER 3 The Survivor I am a survivor of Hitler s Holocaust My family who lived in a little city in Poland was warm and caring We looked out for one another My relatives lived within walking distance of each other so if it rained and you ducked into the nearest house you were always in the home of a cousin or an aunt or uncle My upbringing was very Orthodox My mother instilled in me that Judaism was life I never knew a difference between a high holiday or a low holiday A holiday was a holiday Every Shabbat Sabbath was even celebrated as a holiday My mother and my grandmother would start getting ready for the Shabbat on Wednesday baking challa bread On Friday they prepared the fish and the chicken soup and made the noodles In the afternoon we would take a cholent a one pot dish with meat vegetables and potatoes to the baker to cook 57

Page 58

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 58 T HEMSELVES We would take special baths and dress in our finest clothes The table was all set in beautiful white linen and whatever silver we had Meal time was family time On Friday nights we had fish Father would come home from the synagogue and recite the Kiddish the blessing over the wine and the challa then he would bless the children Saturday morning we would go to the synagogue After services we would stop by the bakery and bring home the cholent We all sat around grandmother s table and enjoyed the Sabbath meal The Nazi Horror When Hitler took power change came quickly The Germans invaded in September 1939 One day at school shortly after the invasion all the Jewish students were called up to the front of the classroom With a guard standing nearby our teacher told us Don t come back to the school anymore because you are Jews I was ten and onehalf years old We were all absolutely devastated The next thing the Germans did was throw us out of our home and force us to live in a ghetto They took the whole town of Jews and put us on one street My sister who is two years older and I were among the first to be sent away We were on our way to visit our grandmother when the Germans grabbed us and put us to work in the ammunition factory It was a horror because we went from a warm house into freezing conditions and from a loving hugging kissing 58

Page 59

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 59 T HE S URVIVOR family to a man constantly beating us with a whip For a while we went back to our parents in the evenings But one day instead of letting us return home they marched us into the woods That summer I had been in the woods gathering mushrooms blueberries and raspberries Now I was confined to a prison camp in those same woods That summer I had been in the woods gathering mushrooms blueberries and raspberries Now I was confined to a prison camp in those same woods It s unthinkable what those people did to us It s almost indescribable In the morning they woke us up when it was still dark We had to go outside no matter what the weather was and line up five deep for them to count us We worked a full day at the factory I operated a machine that stretched out a piece of aluminum from a quarter of an inch to the length of a rifle bullet I had to grease it feed it and take away the shells Before the invasion my biggest responsibilities were to go to school learn come home help my mother with the housework do some gardening and watch out for my younger sister Now I was being told that either I learned how to work that machine or I would die And I had to learn quickly I cried for a while until one day I just couldn t cry anymore because I didn t have any tears left That happened 59

Page 60

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 60 T HEMSELVES after the city was evacuated and I knew I would never again see my parents or my family That was my last day of crying for 25 years I prayed and nothing happened When my prayers were not answered I concluded that there was no God At first I would still pray I would get up in the morning and say the Modeh Ani and during the day I would say the Shema and just pray to God One day I prayed that God would send my mother because I was hungry and homesick I needed a mother s hug instead of the beatings I wanted to take a bath because I was covered with dirt and we didn t have soap I prayed and nothing happened When my prayers were not answered I concluded that there was no God The Concentration Camps I was transferred from one concentration camp to another until I was sent to Bergen Belsen and then Dachau It s hard for me to believe that I lived through such horror Such horrible horrible things happened at Bergen Belsen We were tortured We were put in a field and forced to dig sugar beets out of the almost frozen ground with our bare hands I remember my hands bleeding badly We had many difficult experiences in the camps One stands out as particularly cruel I was working in the field 60

Page 61

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 61 T HE S URVIVOR one day digging up sugar beets and by then I was more like a zombie because I had been in these conditions for several years I decided I was going to steal a sugar beet and eat it I was determined that my belly was not going to hurt that night All we used to receive was a quarter of an inch thick piece of bread it was 80 percent sawdust and a cup of coffee That was our food for 24 hours Obviously this was barely enough food to exist on let alone to sustain someone working in the extreme cold When the guard caught me I got such a bad beating that even today when I talk about it I can still feel the cato nine tails on my back and on my face and around my body and the punishment of hanging by my hands all because I stole a sugar beet One time while we were lined up we were completely undressed for an experiment to see how long it would take for our blood to freeze The cold weather alone killed many of us because we were not dressed properly We would have to stand in line for hours no matter how deep the snow was half naked and without shoes One time while we were lined up we were completely undressed for an experiment to see how long it would take for our blood to freeze To this day when I am in cold 61

Page 62

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 62 T HEMSELVES weather and my toes and fingers go completely numb I remember that time when my body started to freeze The only reason I survived the experiment was because several people fell on top of me and their bodies kept me warm I had made up my mind that I would survive the same day that I had said there was no God When I did survive I took full credit Later I realized it had to have been the Lord But there were days when I thought I wasn t going to make it When we were on our way to Dachau our train was bombed As we ran into the woods to get away from the train I thought to myself That s it I ve made enough bullets Let them use the bullets on me Death looked better than life One time when I was still in a camp in my own hometown I was walking across the field with somebody and I smiled For the offense of smiling the Germans put me in a sewer tank for 24 hours I had to stay on my toes to keep from drowning I was no more than 12 years old at the time For the offense of smiling the Germans put me in a sewer tank for 24 hours I had to stay on my toes to keep from drowning Another difficult time was when my sister who was in the same camp got typhoid fever She was my last living family member and I didn t think I could go on if I lost her too The guards came in periodically to check for those 62

Page 63

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 63 T HE S URVIVOR who were sick Then they would take them outside and leave them to freeze I laid on top of my sister to protect her and when they asked for people to lift up their hands to show they were healthy I put my hand up in place of hers Selected to Be Shot Twice I was selected to be shot Both times when the guards unlocked the chain I ran away The second time I ran into a guard I was running so hard I bounced off of him But he didn t see me It could only have been God If he had seen me he would have shot me himself I looked up at him and then fled into a wooded part of the camp When we were finally liberated in May 1945 I was full of unforgiveness for what I had been through I hated the Germans with a passion The unforgiveness literally poisoned my body causing me to need 27 operations I was looking for somebody who would be willing to drop a bomb on Germany and Poland I had lost all of my family except my sister and one aunt nearly 100 relatives My New Life After I was released I came to America got married and had children As much as I hated God I became active in the traditional synagogue My children needed to learn about Judaism but I couldn t teach them because I was dead inside Socially I was the best Jew I was active in helping to build the Hebrew school I even worked my way up to become president of the sisterhood 63

Page 64

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 64 T HEMSELVES If someone had asked me back then Do you believe in God I would have said No Even today many rabbis don t believe in the Bible and very few believe in God But I believed in maintaining my Jewish identity and tradition My Daughter Believes in Jesus One day my teenage daughter came to me and said the worst thing I could imagine She said Mommy I believe in Jesus Christ and He is the Jewish Messiah I nearly had a heart attack I told her what Jesus Christ did to her family and why she didn t have many aunts and uncles The Nazi guards had told me over and over that because I killed Jesus Christ He hated me and put me into the camps to kill me She said Mommy I believe in Jesus Christ and He is the Jewish Messiah When I was seven or eight years old I was hit in the head with a crucifix by a priest in Poland for the crime of walking on the sidewalk in front of his church So for my daughter to believe in Jesus Christ was death I threw her out I couldn t have this enemy living in my house When my husband went to the house where she was staying to check on her he became a believer too The house was used as an outreach to Jewish people My younger daughter was still going to a private Hebrew school But somehow I knew that she had secretly 64

Page 65

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 65 T HE S URVIVOR become a Messianic believer and I beat her for it even though I don t remember doing it I had lost my first family under Hitler and now was about to lose my second family all because of this Jesus I was ready to meet Jesus and kill Him After my husband accepted the Lord he came home and started reading Proverbs 31 to me I didn t know what Proverbs 31 was but when he told me he believed also he became a traitor to me too The rabbi couldn t do anything with him He was very stubborn I was ready to leave my family but I couldn t A friend of mine a lawyer said If you leave the house the authorities will put you in jail for desertion of your minor children I had lost my first family under Hitler and now was about to lose my second family all because of this Jesus I was ready to meet Jesus and kill Him I tried everything possible to reach both children For the first time I told them about the concentration camps I begged them I pleaded with them to reject this Jewish enemy For two thousand years we had been persecuted because this man was supposed to be a Messiah I told them everything I had learned and nothing helped Since my husband had become a believer he insisted that my daughter come back home They witnessed to me 65

Page 66

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 66 T HEMSELVES constantly I would find my Jewish Bible opened and little pieces of paper with Scriptures on it I didn t know they were Scriptures because I didn t know the Bible I Go to the Rabbi I ran to the rabbi He would tell me different Scriptures with which to challenge my family In response they would give me five more At the urging of my family I asked the rabbi about Isaiah 53 He said No Jew reads that especially a Jewish woman So I couldn t read it The same with Psalm 22 There are 328 prophecies of the coming of the suffering servant Messiah I asked the rabbi about almost all of them Finally the rabbi told me not to come to the synagogue anymore because I had read him Isaiah 53 I kept yelling and screaming and crying Help me I m not going that way What do you want from me My family is dead because they believe in Jesus you tell me but my food disappears Who is eating the food Why do I have so much laundry If they are all dead then why is it Help me I started sneaking down to the basement and reading the New Testament in a locked room 66

Page 67

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 67 T HE S URVIVOR He just replied No I can t help you anymore So I started sneaking down to the basement and reading the New Testament in a locked room I read Matthew first and it showed me Jesus was a gentle man He wasn t a killer of my people but a very gentle man Then I started to think about what I believed I went to another rabbi for help but he said Look I can t help you because I don t read the Bible very much The Millionaire Shortly after that encounter I went to a dinner at Arthur DeMoss house Mr DeMoss was a wealthy Christian businessman who would open his home once a year as an outreach to Jewish people He asked me if I would mind if he prayed for me I told him I don t care if you stand on your head It s your house Instead of standing on his head he started to pray Jews never close their eyes in prayer but all of a sudden I closed my eyes and said a very simple prayer God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob if it s true if He who they are saying is Your Son and You have a Son and He is really the Messiah OK But Father if He isn t forget that I talked to You That was the first prayer I had prayed since 1942 I felt the biggest stone rolling off my back For the first time since the war I cried and I felt so clean I knew He was real and I made Him my Messiah 67

Page 68

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 68 T HEMSELVES For the first time since the war I cried and I felt so clean I knew He was real and I made Him my Messiah When Holocaust survivors get angry with me today because I am a Messianic Jew I just show love to them because I know how they feel I ve been there I don t argue with them Berlin Calls One day I got a call from Sid Roth A friend of his a pastor from a large church in Berlin had just called him to say We re going to rent the largest coliseum in Berlin the one that Hitler used for his meetings and we re looking for Messianic Jews to take part in the events we have planned Sid said I have the perfect person meaning me But when he called me I refused When I left Germany I swore I would never ever go back to that accursed land And here he was asking me to go back to Germany How could he For six months I wrestled about whether to go I asked the Lord to kill me to take me home but not to send me back because as soon as I started praying the word came Yes you have to go back and you have to forgive I finally surrendered I went with my husband and four other believers Many more came later It was as I said a six month struggle I had people pray and fast for me 68

Page 69

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 69 T HE S URVIVOR This was a big event A number of prominent Christians were there including Pat Robertson Demos Shakarian and Pat Boone When I walked into that coliseum the one where Hitler said the Nazis would rule the world for a thousand years it was jam packed with young Germans A number of them had stars of David Jewish stars around their necks Israeli flags were waving When I saw the American leaders some of whom I knew and I saw the German people wearing stars of David and mezuzahs I thought It s impossible Then I thought What am I doing here Lord what do you want from me Get me out of here I don t want to speak German Am I doing this right or am I telling the Germans and the world that it s OK to go kill Jews These thoughts tormented me until I spoke Confronted by Nazis On Sunday they called me up to speak I don t remember saying the things that were printed I don t remember speaking on forgiveness But after I finished my talk some people came up to me who were the last people on the face of this earth that I wanted to see They were ex Nazis Apparently I had asked for any ex Nazis to come up and be prayed for and forgiven I don t remember saying it but here they were asking me to forgive them Could I forgive them face to face as I had from the podium That s when I realized that I had spoken on forgiveness One of those who had come forward was a guard from 69

Page 70

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 70 T HEMSELVES Dachau He had been in charge of punishment When he came and identified himself my body shriveled up in pain as he knelt down He was pleading with me to forgive him I am a believer but people cannot comprehend what I experienced in Dachau and Bergen Belsen They cannot imagine the hell I went through It was only by the grace of God that I was able to forgive those who came forward because Rose Price could not forgive them for the atrocities I went through as a child one of the ex Nazis whom I had prayed with for forgiveness came up to me He said that after I had prayed with him he had his first night s sleep since the war As I was ready to leave Berlin one of the ex Nazis whom I had prayed with for forgiveness came up to me He said that after I had prayed with him he had his first night s sleep since the war Show Me the Strength Another time I was in Germany again and I realized I was not far from Bergen Belsen I knew that I had to go back Once and for all I had to bury Bergen Belsen I had a Swedish couple with me Susan and Gary and a German man named Otto all believers 70

Page 71

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 71 T HE S URVIVOR I had to ask a guide for the location of the main gate I didn t recognize it because the barracks had all been burned But I knew if they put me where the main gate had been I could find where the barracks had stood I was amazed that even today no grass grows where the electric wires were located No matter how many times they plant grass it does not grow The guide gave me a list of the names of those who had been at Bergen Belsen and I found my sister s and my name on the list We were on the last transport out from Bergen Belsen to Dachau After that all those who remained died of typhus I cried and I wept At one point I was hollering at BergenBelsen You died but I survived I am here I survived While I was hollering I started to pray for the salvation of the country and that the German people would learn of the Messiah s love and forgiveness At one point I asked Lord how can I pray that prayer at this cemetery where so much happened to me so much that is indescribable As I was praying the German man became hysterical I went over to him to hug him and he said How can you pray for us when we did that to you My family was involved with this We put you here How can you Show me the strength Show me the strength Then he asked for forgiveness and the four of us just kept on crying and praying for one another and for the German people You Have to Forgive If you feel you cannot forgive someone you cannot hate anyone more than I hated the Germans I lost my 71

Page 72

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 72 T HEMSELVES stomach I had 27 operations before I went to Berlin Hate has an address in your body Love cannot dwell in the body with hate When I finally gave up all the hate and love started coming in something happened inside my body I didn t have pain anymore I haven t had an operation since 1981 because the Lord has taken all that poison out of me Nobody knows the pain you have gone through and nobody knows the pain I went through But there is no excuse for hate You have to forgive Nobody knows the pain you have gone through and nobody knows the pain I went through But there is no excuse for hate You have to forgive You have to give up the hate It s not even up to you to have the strength to forgive You cannot do anything in your own power You have to go to the Lord and the Lord will give you the strength Commentary by Sid Roth What kind of power could allow Rose Price to forgive Nazis who tortured and murdered almost her entire family This power is the Holy Spirit of God God predicts a day will come in which He will change man s heart and give him a new spirit I will give you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you 72

Page 73

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 73 T HE S URVIVOR and I will remove the heart of stone out of your body Ezek 36 26 This new Spirit that God will put within us will allow us to live at a higher level and overcome all fears Jeremiah 31 30 33 31 34 in some versions written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus predicts a new covenant from God that will not only cause God to remember our sins no more but allow us to know Him Imagine having intimacy with God You can hear His voice You can experience His love I know this is true because I know Him And what He has done for me He desires to do for you 73

Page 74

Page 75

Page 76

Page 77

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 77 C HAPTER 4 A New Song I was born to Jewish parents in Kiev in 1958 My parents tried to hide our Jewishness There was nothing Jewish in our home and we never attended synagogue Yet even as a child I wanted to be Jewish because my mother and father were I couldn t rationalize it but it just felt right inside As I grew up the only religion I was exposed to was atheism Atheism was taught in the former Soviet Union as the truth In college they even offered a course on it in which they ridiculed people who believed in God When my professor claimed that science had proven one hundred times over that there is no God I wanted to ask for even one proof out of a hundred I didn t feel atheism was based on any scientific proof But I didn t have the courage to voice my inner thoughts 77

Page 78

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 78 T HEMSELVES I Knew There Was a God I somehow knew there was a God I knew that even something as simple as a wristwatch could never have been constructed through random acts of chance How could all those tiny pieces of metal have assembled themselves together over millions of years Only a fool would believe that If a wristwatch could not have evolved how could they ever expect me to believe that something as complicated as a human being just happened Even one cell in the human body is much more complex than a watch People have to be blind to deny the existence of a Creator I come from a family of musicians My grandfather was a violinist and composer My father was a violinist My mother is a classical guitarist They were well known in the former Soviet Union My father even played in the orchestra which was a great accomplishment since Jews were discriminated against When I was five years old I began to study piano at music school I didn t know how good I was until I entered a few competitions in the fifth and sixth grades To my surprise I won the first prize twice After I finished music school and decided I was going to be a professional musician I practiced between six and eight hours a day at least six days a week I appeared to be on my way to a promising career except for one thing I was Jewish In the Soviet Union that was a major drawback When a Jewish person wanted to enter college or pursue a career it was much harder for him simply because he was Jewish In spite of the odds I did 78

Page 79

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 79 A N EW S ONG manage to gain admission to college and earn my bachelor s degree The next step for me would have been to attend the conservatory I was talented enough to get in but at that time my grandfather emigrated to the United States This was in 1979 before large numbers were allowed to leave Now I had two strikes against me I was Jewish and the grandson of a traitor My grandfather was a well known art critic Because the circles of music and art are so closely aligned everyone in music knew that my grandfather now lived in a capitalist country As a result they would never accept me into the conservatory The Long Wait At that point I wanted to get out of the country so badly I didn t care where I went Of course the authorities made the process very difficult I don t know of one person during that time who was allowed to emigrate without great challenges You are required to gather numerous documents some of which are ridiculous For example a friend of mine who was divorced for many years had to get a document from his former wife saying that she would allow him to leave In the office where I submitted the documents they called me a traitor I was prepared for the verbal abuse but it wasn t pleasant I didn t feel I had betrayed my country I believed every person should have a choice where to live 79

Page 80

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 80 T HEMSELVES After I turned in all the documents I had to wait Some people were forced to wait for years Eventually someone calls you and tells you whether you can go or not But the waiting period is very difficult I couldn t work because I had applied for permission to emigrate and no one would hire me And now the army wanted to draft me They do that to bring more fear and harassment When I had waited for about eight months I started to get very anxious I learned that in some cases people were denied permission to emigrate I became very fearful I thought What if they don t let me leave If that happens I can never establish myself as a musician in Russia I would always be persecuted People would always know that I had tried to escape from Russia and my future life would be full of misery I needed to pour out my heart to someone but I didn t feel there was any human who could possibly help me So I thought if there were a God in Heaven I should try Him I needed to pour out my heart to someone but I didn t feel there was any human who could possibly help me So I thought if there were a God in Heaven I should try Him The question was Where do I find Him My first instinct was to go to a synagogue but I didn t know where any were And you don t want to walk around the streets of the Soviet 80

Page 81

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 81 A N EW S ONG Union asking Where s the nearest synagogue If the person you talk to is KGB you might end up in prison So I decided to go to a church instead The one I found happened to be Russian Orthodox As I walked inside I got confused by all the pictures of saints on the walls There were so many I didn t know which one to pray to As I walked around the church I saw a replica of Jesus Yeshua is His Hebrew name on the cross My atheism class helped me because I had learned that Jesus is for the Christians Of course they taught that He never existed even as a man I certainly didn t know anything about all the saints pictured there So I decided to pray to Jesus I said Jesus please get me out of this country Then I turned around and left Our family received permission to emigrate soon after that But I forgot about the prayer We emigrated in 1979 to Chicago Right away I started to study music at DePaul University Now that I was in a free country I wanted to investigate my Jewish roots I began to read about Jewish history I even went to a reformed synagogue a few times Although I was a bit bored with the service I was excited to be among my people My heritage had been withheld from me for so long it was like getting back something that had been stolen I also got involved at a Jewish community center I Find the Messiah One thing I learned was that Christians and Jews do not mix I never knew that before My atheism course had 81

Page 82

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 82 T HEMSELVES taught me a little about different religions but I didn t know that Jews were told not to accept Jesus as their Messiah One day my sister came home and told our mother she believed in God and that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah Mom didn t take it very well One day my sister came home and told our mother she believed in God and that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah Mom didn t take it very well As they discussed the matter I listened from another room To my surprise what my sister said made sense to me That was a miracle in itself because I never gave much weight to anything she had to say Quietly without telling anyone I began to read books about Jesus that my sister had brought home One book was about several rabbis who had found the Messiah That was stunning to me I was totally amazed that a rabbi could believe in Jesus The book also discussed prophecies of the Bible that had been fulfilled I was fascinated by passages such as Isaiah 53 which contained so many Messianic prophecies I wanted to know the truth So I asked God to give me a sign if Jesus really was the Messiah Suddenly a bright light came into my room It stayed for a little while and then it left But even after God had answered my prayer for emigration to the U S and now had sent this supernatural 82

Page 83

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 83 A N EW S ONG light I was still not willing to admit to anyone what I was beginning to believe I had grown up in such unbelief that I asked God for another sign but I didn t get any more My sister attended Bible studies with a group that met right in the midst of the Jewish community My mother feared that my sister would be persecuted for believing in Jesus and asked her not to go back But my sister said I really want to study the Bible Can the group come to our house Since our house was not close to the Jewish community center my mother agreed When the group arrived for their meeting they invited me to join them I wanted to but I still didn t want to admit it I said I m not interested but I ll sit and listen During the course of the Bible study the leader suddenly pointed to me and asked Do you believe that Yeshua is the Messiah Immediately I was going to respond No but I couldn t Instead a newfound strength welled up within me and I said Yes By the time I told my mother she had grown more accustomed to the idea It didn t matter that much to her whether we believed in Jesus or not She was just afraid of persecution from the traditional Jewish community By the time I told my mother she had grown more accustomed to the idea It didn t matter that much to her whether we believed in Jesus or not She was just afraid of persecution from the traditional Jewish community 83

Page 84

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 84 T HEMSELVES When I finished my master s degree program at DePaul University I gave two recitals They were the best achievements of my life For the two hours that I played the concerts and for a short time afterward I felt a great sense of accomplishment People really loved the performances and praised me But by the following day I felt empty All those hours of daily practice year after year had yielded only a couple brief moments of glory Now the glory was gone and all that was left was this strange empty feeling At first I wanted to produce and play more great music so people would lift me up again and tell me I was wonderful Otherwise I felt I would sink It s natural to desire to be great but we are not to use it to bring glory to ourselves The Lord showed me He wanted me to live my whole life for Him So for a year I didn t play piano And for about two years I didn t give any significant concerts Piano was an idol for me I put my idol on the altar and said If you don t want me to use this for the rest of my life I won t I want my life to magnify You God In the meantime I attended Moody Bible Institute where I met my wife Jody who also is Jewish and believes in Yeshua After one semester we had an opportunity to go to Israel A highlight of my time there was when I prayed for a boy with epilepsy Jody and I went to see him with a Russian friend who had just become a believer in Jesus It was difficult to communicate because we didn t share a common language We spoke English and Russian and the boy s mother spoke Spanish and Hebrew God showed me there was a demon causing the epilepsy So for the first time in my life I told a demon to get out in the name of Jesus 84

Page 85

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 85 A N EW S ONG Suddenly the boy indicated he felt something leave him He did not know what I had prayed because he didn t understand the language Months later I found out that he never had any more occurrences of epilepsy God showed me there was a demon causing the epilepsy I told a demon to get out in the name of Jesus Suddenly the boy indicated he felt something leave him Playing for God After we returned from Israel I began to understand that I was to use my talent for the piano to serve God I also felt the desire to praise God with singing That was interesting to me because I don t sing very well Anyone who becomes a new believer can receive a new song whether he is a musician or not When that new song started to come out of me I went to the piano and began to praise God Some beautiful new music compositions came out of it God has continued in His faithfulness to me over the years He has given me the opportunity to play in Sweden Germany Austria Ukraine Israel and Canada as well as the United States I now have eight music recordings And God has blessed Jody and me with two wonderful children Josiah and Yasmine Maybe you are experiencing great difficulties in your life as I did I looked in many different 85

Page 86

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 86 T HEMSELVES directions for the answers But I found that the only way to have true peace and victory is through knowing the Messiah He will put a new song in your mouth Commentary by Sid Roth Although most American Jews are agnostics most Russian Jews are taught to be atheists This is rapidly changing in both countries Hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews like Alyosha are now believers in Jesus And there are hundreds of Messianic Jewish synagogues in America to accommodate Jewish believers in Jesus Where do you stand Do you believe there is a God who created the world When I was in school the theory of evolution sounded reasonable Today I realize it takes more faith to believe this complex universe evolved through chance than to believe the account of creation in the Bible Consider the example Alyosha gave of a wristwatch If you took it completely apart and shook the pieces around in a box for a million years would it come out reassembled and ticking How much more complex is the heart and the thousands of miles of capillaries that help make up the circulatory system Did you know the human eye has one million nerve fibers in each optic nerve Each one is connected to the brain When the eye points at something it sends a message to the brain that tells the brain the distance to the object The brain then sends a message 86

Page 87

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 87 A N EW S ONG to the muscles of the lens telling it how much to change its curvature In a split second the object is in focus In the last 24 hours your heart has beat 100 000 times your blood has traveled 186 million miles throughout 60 000 miles of tubing in your body Your kidneys have filtered over 42 gallons of liquid And you have probably exercised 7 million brain cells No machine made by man compares with your body By the way if man evolved from the monkey why have we never found full fossils or animals that are part ape and part human And why has every missing link between apes and men turned out to be a mistake or hoax I remember in high school we used to study the evolutionary date charts They stated as fact that dinosaurs lived millions of years before man At the Creation Evidences Museum in Glynn Rose Texas we can see evidence of human and dinosaur footprints made within minutes of each other captured in a limestone bed Actually this same limestone has 57 human footprints and 192 dinosaur prints proof the evolutionary charts are fantasy Man and dinosaurs lived on Earth together What about the Big Bang theory If a big explosion created order out of chaos why has every observable explosion in history brought disorder The Bible says the real big bang is yet to come 87

Page 88

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 88 T HEMSELVES But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up 2 Peter 3 10 NKJV Then God will bring us a new heaven and a new earth It will be in perfect order a garden of Eden Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away Revelation 21 1 NKJV 88

Page 89

Page 90

Page 91

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 91 C HAPTER 5 Yiddishkeit M y life in 1982 was dedicated to the well being of my family and to my activities at Chabad of Irvine Jewish Center One can find Chabad centers in even the most remote communities of the world I have always had a deep admiration for Chabad and that is why my husband and I supported the Chabad movement here in Southern California But wait I m getting ahead of myself I want to go back to the beginning my beginning I was born in 1945 at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City My Hebrew name is Sura Rifka I was raised in an observant Jewish home From the moment my mom lit the Shabbos Sabbath candles on Friday evening until one hour after sundown on Saturday night there were certain rules and regulations that we followed They did not make 91

Page 92

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 92 T HEMSELVES us feel constricted or oppressed It was our way of showing our love our respect and our devotion to God We followed the rabbinical injunctions such as not using electricity on the Shabbos We would leave one light on in the hall which was turned on before Shabbos started and was left on through the night and the next day until one hour after sundown Saturday night when Shabbos was over We were not permitted to work on Shabbos and that included my homework since on Shabbos one is not allowed to write on cut or tear paper We knew that the Shabbos was special because of what we did or did not do and it was distinct from the other days of the week Of course my mother kept a kosher kitchen where only kosher foods were permitted Separate sets of dishes and utensils designated for milchig dairy or fleishig meat products were strictly enforced My brother and I knew from the time we could reach up into the drawers and cabinets never to confuse those items deemed milchig and fleishig Separate sets of dishes were also needed for Passover Those dishes were brought out of the hard toreach top cabinet once a year to be used only on Pesach We observed all the Jewish holidays My brother and I attended Hebrew School We grew up knowing who we were within the Jewish Community Moving West As a young adult I married a man from a similar Jewish background We had a daughter whom we named Elisa 92

Page 93

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 93 Y IDDISHKEIT Her Hebrew name is Chava Leah When she was only a few years old we divorced We received a Jewish divorce known as a get I worked in the Garment Center in New York City During this time Elisa attended Jewish Day School I remember those early years when Elisa and I would wait for her school bus on cold snowy dark winter mornings at seven o clock We would huddle together freezing in the wind It was on such a morning when I whispered to my daughter There has got to be a better way Moving out of state seemed like a step in the right direction Elisa had an allergy problem that was worse during the damp winter months New York had the worst winter climate for children like her I had heard a doctor on a talk show mention that when people with certain allergies moved to another climate their allergies would often disappear With that doctor s words echoing in my ears I sat down and made a list of the leading Garment Centers in the country The doctor s theory about the benefits of moving was certainly worth a try On August 27 1974 Elisa and I arrived in Los Angeles California Almost immediately I enrolled her in Yavneh Yeshiva because school was starting in September She was six years old We lived near the school in the Fairfax District the Orthodox section of town and became involved with the Shaari Tefillah Congregation In a few years my parents moved to Los Angeles to join us and shortly after that we moved south to Orange County At that time there was a big real estate boom and 93

Page 94

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 94 T HEMSELVES like many others I decided to get my real estate license Once I received my license I started to work in an office owned by a man named Ron Allen He was to become my husband Business Was His Religion When Ron and I first met he knew I was Jewish and that I was raised in an observant Jewish home All I knew about Ron s religious background was that he was a Protestant He never mentioned Jesus the New Testament or church If he had I would have run in the opposite direction Apparently he hadn t been to church since he was a teenager He was 42 I was 32 Religion was the furthest thing from Ron s mind business was his religion As Ron got to know our Jewish traditions he embraced them as his own and eagerly participated Because of Ron s warm and loving ways my parents welcomed him into the family My mother would say about Ron He s so hamisha which in Yiddish means He s so comfortable to be with We were active in Chabad and became attached to the rabbi Mendel Duchman whom we admired and respected Part scholar part showman and part businessman Rabbi Duchman was successful in renewing peoples interest in the Jewish lifestyle His wife Rochel was warm caring and knowledgeable She was the picture of the young Jewish balaboosta conscientious immaculate housewife a rebbetzen s rebbetzen rabbi s wife so to speak Ron and I knew right away that this was where we belonged I became very active in the Chabad women s group 94

Page 95

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 95 Y IDDISHKEIT Converting to Judaism A few years after Ron and I were married our discussions about his converting to Judaism turned serious I knew that our future together could be impaired if Ron refused Having a Jewish home and raising Elisa Jewish was foremost in my mind In order to be a successful Jew you must ask yourself the question Are your grandchildren Jewish and be able to answer in the affirmative When Ron legally adopted Elisa shortly after our marriage even the adoption papers stipulated that Elisa would be raised Jewish consideration of burial and the afterlife for a Jew are of vital importance In addition consideration of burial and the afterlife for a Jew are of vital importance As a Jew I knew that burial in a Jewish cemetery was a must We believe that if we are buried in a Jewish cemetery we will roll underground all the way to Eretz Yisroel and be among the first to be resurrected As Jews we believe that we go to Paradise or Abraham s Bosom If we should accidentally wander to the other place Father Abraham pulls us back The importance for me of being an observant Jew is underscored by the following story from the Talmud Tractate Berachot 28b about Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai on his deathbed The rabbi s students were shocked to find 95

Page 96

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 96 T HEMSELVES their master weeping Asked to explain his behavior the sage responded that if he were being taken before a king of flesh and blood whose punishment was not eternal and who could be bribed and appeased he would still be deathly afraid imagine how he must feel as he finds himself coming before the King of Kings who lives forever whose punishment is eternal and who can neither be bribed nor appeased Moreover two roads lay before him the sage explained one led to Heaven and one to hell and with such prospects should he not be afraid In the January 1989 issue of the B nai B rith Messenger Torah Thoughts the Rebbe Menachem M Schneerson writes about this story The Talmud relates that when the great sage Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai wept before his death he said There are two paths stretching before me one to Gan Eden heaven and one to Gehinom I know not on which I shall be led It goes without saying that Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai was concerned with his spiritual status and if he had attained a sufficient level of holiness to enter heaven These concerns are from a man who is credited with the survival of Diaspora Judaism and whose influence has been felt throughout the ages Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai leaves behind him the expansion of Jewish thought and law Babylonian Talmud Responsa literature Rishonim Achronim Chassidut and Mussar But he didn t know for sure whether he was going to Heaven or hell 96

Page 97

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 97 Y IDDISHKEIT Is it any wonder this story got my attention If such an eminent and renowned Torah scholar as Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai is uncertain where he is bound it is incumbent upon us to do whatever is necessary to ensure our future fate and to be deemed worthy of Gan Eden Another important consideration regarding Ron s conversion had to do with the Israeli Rabbinate who accept only Orthodox conversions So we knew that only a kosher conversion would do As part of any Jewish conversion the study of Jewish life history and ethics is vital Ron was exposed to Yiddishkeit Jewish lifestyle in our home I looked forward to his education with Rabbi Duchman As part of any Jewish conversion the study of Jewish life history and ethics is vital Before this conversion was to take place I wanted to make Ron aware of the three ceremonies that would be required I explained that males needed to be circumcised and that since he was already circumcised the rabbi would draw a bit of blood from the penis as a symbolic gesture It would also be necessary for him to be immersed in water in a mikvah This is similar to baptism and symbolizes purification and identification with the Jewish people The third ceremony though not always done in Reformed or Conservative conversions must always accompany an Orthodox or 97

Page 98

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 98 T HEMSELVES kosher conversion and that is the renouncing of a person s prior beliefs before a Beit Din or rabbinical court council of rabbis It s So Pagan Ron agreed to all the ceremonies but the last one He said he just didn t think he could renounce Jesus I was horrified My husband had never mentioned Jesus hadn t been to church for more than 30 years and had never used the words Christian Christ or New Testament Here we were leading a Jewish life we helped to build the synagogue our home was used by the Jewish community our daughter was attending Hebrew Academy and my husband was telling me he couldn t renounce Jesus Ron agreed to all the ceremonies but the last one He said he just didn t think he could renounce Jesus I was so upset I said to my husband This is crazy You re such a smart and logical person and such a successful businessman How can you believe in something so pagan It s a fantasy It s like Greek mythology And then in the midst of my horror came this calming thought I ll just begin to read the Jewish Bible and in no time at all I will be able to show my husband the Scriptures that will prove to him that Jesus could never have been the 98

Page 99

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 99 Y IDDISHKEIT fulfillment of the Jewish Bible I knew that everything God wanted His Jewish people to know about His Jewish Messiah so that we Jews would recognize Him when He would come would be in my Jewish Bible Is Jesus in the Jewish Bible I marched downstairs to the family room and took my Jewish Bible off the shelf As I opened it that day I prayed a very specific prayer I prayed to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob to show me the truth and to help my husband become a Jew That morning as my husband went to work and my daughter to school I began to read my Bible I started at page one In the beginning and continued to read page after page When my husband came home from work and my daughter from school there I was still reading The next morning when my husband went to work and my daughter to school there I was reading When they came home again there I was still reading This went on for days for weeks and then months I was amazed at what I found written within the pages of my Jewish Bible I was amazed at what I found written within the pages of my Jewish Bible You see every Jew feels that he basically knows what s in his own Jewish Bible That s because as children we attend 99

Page 100

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 100 T HEMSELVES Hebrew School Yeshiva or Cheder then as adults we attend synagogue where we hear a portion read from the Torah and a portion from the Haftorah the Prophets Within the pages of my Jewish Bible there is much written concerning the Messiah where He would be born how He would live His life the miracles He would do The Bible also speaks of His suffering and death It frightened me because what I read sounded very much like what I heard said about Jesus Whoever may be wondering if Yeshua Jesus appears in the Jewish Bible need only read the many passages concerning the Malach Ha Shem The Messenger of the Lord By carefully studying the passages concerning His appearances and how He conducts Himself one can only deduce that this is no mere created being He speaks as God and accepts the worship that can only be given to God Himself And He carries in Him the ineffable name of God the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew the Yud Hay Vav Hay see Exod 23 21 In addition Yeshua Jesus Hebrew name means salvation Everywhere in the Jewish Bible and our Jewish Holy Prayer books whenever the word salvation appears we are saying Jesus Hebrew name Yeshua In Proverbs 30 4 I found that God has a Son In Isaiah 49 6 the Scriptures speak of a time when the Suffering Servant would lament to God of how He had 100

Page 101

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 101 Y IDDISHKEIT failed to restore the 12 tribes of Israel God responds by saying It s too light a thing for You to be a servant for Israel only I will give You as a light to all the nations of the world In Hebrew the word translated nations is goyim So I had to ask myself the question When did the Messiah come and fail to bring back the tribes of Israel and then when did God give the Messiah to the goyim God Had a Son I learned that the ancient Jewish writers recognized that there are two pictures of the Messiah depicted in the pages of the Jewish Bible They even had names for them Moshiach Ben Yoseph Messiah son of Joseph the suffering servant Messiah and Moshiach Ben Dovid Messiah son of David the Messiah who would come as the conquering hero In Proverbs 30 4 I found that God has a Son Who was it that ascended into heaven and came down again who gathered the wind in his fists who bound the waters in a garment who set up all the ends of the earth what is his name and what is his son s name if thou knowest it Could the Rebbe Be the Messiah When I finished reading all the pages of my Jewish Bible I was confused and frightened The thought came to me Sharon how dare you think that you could interpret the Bible by yourself as if you knew as much as a rabbi But then I would 101

Page 102

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 102 T HEMSELVES think about the passages I read where God told the children of Israel to come and hear His Word for themselves see Deut 4 10 29 11 18 20 and Jer 29 13 I knew I couldn t stop there There was too much at stake How could I even bear the thought of being an outcast from my people How absurd it was to think that a man the Gentiles call Jesus Christ could be a Messiah for the Jews So I said to myself Sharon you must have missed something I remembered that the rabbis say You cannot understand the Bible without the Jewish Commentaries So I bought the Rashi commentaries the Soncino commentaries and the latest Jewish commentaries called The ArtScroll Tanach Series by Mesorah Publications And as I read the commentaries the more I wanted to read I also brought home texts from the Babylonian Talmud the Encyclopedia Judaica Midrash Rabbah Mishneh Torah by Maimonides Targum Onkelos Targumim Jonathan The Messiah Texts by Raphael Patai and the Guide to the Perplexed by Maimonides On and on I studied day after day With each text I studied I thought maybe this one will hold the answer the key to destroying the thought that this goyishe messiah is the real thing the Jewish Messiah All this was beginning to affect my life When asked if I would accept a role in the leadership as next president of Chabad Women I felt I had to decline because I was leading a double existence 102

Page 103

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 103 Y IDDISHKEIT I was fully accepted by Chabad and adhered to all the traditions I even went to a cable television station periodically to hear the Rebbe Menachem M Schneerson speak to his followers via satellite I held this man in high esteem He was respected and consulted by leaders of the world All of us who listened to him believed that he spoke the truth It always seemed in those days it could very well be true that one day it would be revealed that the Rebbe Menachem M Schneerson was the Messiah It is a popular belief among Chabad followers that in each generation the Messiah dwells among us but if we are not worthy he will not be revealed to us So here I was listening to this Jewish leader believing that he spoke the truth and yet at the same time I was researching ancient Jewish material to find the truth about Jesus During the next few months my home library increased And my fears multiplied proportionately to the number of books I accumulated Not to Worry One afternoon Elisa came home from Hebrew Academy to tell me that they needed mothers to drive students to visit a kosher bakery She asked if I could volunteer I was glad to help That day while walking through the Fairfax area I noticed that in the window of the Chabad bookstore there were some anti missionary books on display When no one was looking I dashed back to the bookstore and bought every anti missionary book available I was becoming more and more disturbed by my research To this point I had studied in private Only my 103

Page 104

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 104 T HEMSELVES family knew what I was reading But the time had come for outside help and so I turned to my rabbi I called Mendel and Rochel and asked them to come to my home When they arrived we sat in the library and I showed them my books I told them that when I read my Bible I saw Jesus I asked Mendel to help me They whispered to each other Then they turned to me and Mendel said Not to worry He had just the man for me a professional who works with people like myself He would give him my phone number and the man would call me I thanked them as they left I felt so grateful and relieved that I was going to get the help I needed and the answers I so desperately wanted I told them that when I read my Bible I saw Jesus Two nights later I received a phone call from Rabbi Ben Tzion Kravitz I gave him a little background about my research and explained how it began He listened and told me not to worry He even mentioned a videotape he possessed of people who had renounced their faith in Jesus I told him to bring it with him when he came to my house It was a lovely sunny clear morning when Rabbi Kravitz came to my house I had prepared fresh fruit on a paper plate for the rabbi I wanted him to know that I was familiar with the Laws of Kashrut but would honor his hesitancy to eat anything away from his home I did not wish to cause him any concern about what he was served 104

Page 105

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 105 Y IDDISHKEIT When the rabbi arrived I introduced him to Ron who then retired to the upstairs where he spent the day working Ron remained at home not because I feared the rabbi but because it was not appropriate for the rabbi and me to be alone For the next ten hours the rabbi and I discussed the Bible Jewish history and tradition The rabbi had a very modern approach to the Scriptures and I a very traditional one After reading the Talmud Midrash Targumim and other commentaries I wanted to talk about what our forefathers believed and what the ancient Jewish writings had to say concerning the Messiah Desperately Seeking the Truth After many conversations the rabbi suggested I talk to someone else He recommended Gerald Sigal in Brooklyn New York author of The Jew and the Christian Missionary Rabbi Kravitz said he would call Mr Sigal tell him my situation and let the two of us discuss various issues over the phone The rabbi and Mr Sigal devised a plan Mr Sigal would call collect every Monday night We would discuss various topics and then he would pose a question that I would research during the week The following Monday I would give him the answer For example one week Mr Sigal said that the genealogy of Jesus was faulty because in Judaism no women were ever included in the Jewish genealogies I was puzzled by 105

Page 106

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 106 T HEMSELVES this statement for I had recently read the long list of genealogies in First Chronicles in Historical Records of the Jewish Bible and women are mentioned in those records The women s names were included to further the specific knowledge needed where a father had only daughters and no sons or when there was more than one wife or there were concubines Our conversations continued for some time until Mr Sigal told Rabbi Kravitz I was too far gone to be helped Rabbi Kravitz was upset with me and said I should have accepted whatever Mr Sigal said He accused me of not really wanting to know the truth The rabbi didn t understand I was desperately seeking the truth and would go to any lengths to find it Rabbi Kravitz was probably embarrassed too because Rabbi Duchman kept asking him Haven t you helped her yet When I Read My Bible I See That Man A short time after this I received a phone call from Rabbi Duchman He told me about an internationally known deprogrammer Rabbi J Immanuel Schochet who would be speaking soon at my daughter s Yeshiva I said I would attend The night I heard Rabbi Schochet proved to be a turning point in my search for the truth My family and I sat up front because my daughter was attending the academy and we felt comfortable sitting close to the speaker 106

Page 107

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 107 Y IDDISHKEIT Earlier that evening Ron Elisa and I had decided that we would just go to listen and we wouldn t say anything until the entire program was over Then and only then would I quietly go up to the rabbi and ask him if he could help me The rabbi s speech centered on the generalities of Jewish home life and the problems facing the family He also discussed various religions and how they differed from Judaism After the rabbi completed his talk he asked for questions One person asked the rabbi what he could do to protect his children from Christian influence The rabbi stated that if traditions were respected and followed within a Jewish home there would be less of a chance for a child to go astray Another person expressed his concern about missionaries who wanted to teach his children about Jesus The rabbi reiterated the value of having Jewish traditions in the home but also stressed the importance of sending our children to Jewish day schools and Yeshivas The third question came from a man who asked what he should do when his child comes home asking him about Scriptures with which he as a Jewish parent is not familiar At this point Rabbi Schochet grabbed the sides of the podium and shouted to the audience Never under any circumstances does a knowledgeable Jew ever turn to That Man That Man is a name that Jews call Jesus when they don t want to say His name 107

Page 108

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 108 T HEMSELVES I felt the rabbi was talking directly to me so I grabbed Ron s hand and whispered Should I say something And Ron said Yes I then grabbed Elisa s hand and whispered Should I say something And Elisa said Yes So I raised my hand and asked Rabbi what do you tell someone like me who knows Yiddishkeit follows Judaism has a Jewish home and yet when I read the Jewish Bible I see That Man With so many Jewish families and rabbis in the room my question hit like a bombshell For the next four or five hours until midnight Rabbi Schochet and I discussed Yiddishkeit Jewish customs the Bible and other subjects When midnight approached the rabbi was anxious to close the meeting so he said what he considered to be the words that would show me and all the others in the room why Jesus could not be the promised Messiah He shouted to the audience that Jesus committed blasphemy from the cross Then in an angry mocking tone the rabbi quoted Jesus saying My God My God Why hast Thou forsaken Me I was horrified at Rabbi Schochet s tone of voice and accusation that Jesus had committed blasphemy I told him there were many ways that Jesus could have made that statement He could have cried out in a plaintive voice or in a pleading or beseeching voice But Rabbi Schochet refused to see my point of view I found it amazing that in 108

Page 109

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 109 Y IDDISHKEIT his anger he apparently forgot that the statement Jesus made on the cross was first said by our own beloved King David in Psalm 22 And would any Jew dare to say that David committed blasphemy That night I told my husband and daughter I have no more doubts Jesus is my Jewish Messiah I do not profess to be a Hebrew scholar or a Bible scholar I am only a plain ordinary Jewish woman who loves Yiddishkeit and who just wanted to know the truth That night I told my husband and daughter I have no more doubts Jesus is my Jewish Messiah Commentary by Sid Roth There are three major reasons some Jewish people don t investigate the claims of Jesus as Messiah First the most anti Semitic people historically have called themselves Christians By definition the name Christian means a follower of the Messiah Any person who is prejudiced and violent is the farthest thing from being a follower of the Messiah These Christians may have worn large crosses and attended church but their actions proved they were not followers of the Messiah the Prince of Peace Second we Jews believe in One God Believers in the Messiah also believe in One God But God s 109

Page 110

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 110 T HEMSELVES essence is infinite beyond complete comprehension The rabbis even called Him the Eyn Sof the One Without End From the Scriptures we understand our One God can manifest Himself in more than one way There is much evidence of this in the Torah Did you ever wonder who was with God when He made man Let Us make man in Our image after Our likeness Gen 1 26 My favorite passage that illustrates this unique nature is Genesis 19 24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven How could the Lord be in Heaven and also on earth simultaneously Why must the One true God be as limited as man Incidentally I don t pray to the Messiah I pray to God in the Name of the Messiah My forefathers prayed to God through the Jewish high priest My High Priest is Jesus The last reason some Jewish people don t seek after Jesus is because the rabbis tell them if they believe in Jesus they will no longer be Jewish But if Jesus is the Jewish Messiah then there is nothing more Jewish than believing in Him So the question is not How can you be Jewish and believe in Jesus but rather Who is Jesus The followers of Rabbi Schneerson that Sharon mentioned could have saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had thought for themselves The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem according to 110

Page 111

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 111 Y IDDISHKEIT our Scriptures Rabbi Schneerson never even visited Israel In fact all rabbis worldwide could save themselves a lot of trouble if they understood why Rabbi Yochanon Ben Zakkai the architect of modern day rabbinic Judaism didn t know whether he personally would go to Heaven or hell A famous rabbi said If a blind man follows another blind man won t both fall into a ditch Is there life after death With all the books about people who have died or had near death experiences and gone to Heaven or hell there can be little doubt But what do our Jewish Scriptures tell us about life after death Daniel 12 1 2 says At that time shall thy people be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book of life And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to disgrace and everlasting abhorrence Only those whose names are recorded in the book of life go to everlasting life in Heaven Is your name in the book of life If you don t know for sure before you die your fate is everlasting abhorrence hell The only way to know for sure is to know God Not know about Him Not just believe in Him You must know Him You must think for yourself 111

Page 112

Page 113

Page 114

Page 115

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 115 C HAPTER 6 There Must Be Something More B ecause I work eat sleep and that s the way it goes There must be something more These are the words of a song that I wrote shortly after graduating from college It seems as though I blinked my eyes and I was married I blinked my eyes again and I had a daughter I blinked my eyes again and I had a job as a stockbroker with the largest brokerage firm in the world Merrill Lynch But there was something missing Deep inside I felt a yearning there had to be something more I didn t find it in religion Both of my parents were Jewish I attended an Orthodox synagogue and was bar mitzvahed I was proud of being a Jew But I found the religion boring and many of the religious people hypocritical God was just not relevant in my life 115

Page 116

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 116 T HEMSELVES I was proud of being a Jew But I found the religion boring and many of the religious people hypocritical So I looked to money for happiness My goal was to become a millionaire by age 30 But I blinked my eyes again and I was 29 with no hope of being a millionaire by 30 I left my wife my daughter my job and went searching for something more I had been married young Perhaps the single life would give me satisfaction After one year I knew this was not my answer Then I took a New Age meditation course The instructor taught me how to lower my brain waves When I was in this passive hypnotic state I was told to invite a counselor into my head He said this counselor would answer my questions On the last day of the course the instructor tested my new power by giving me the name of a woman I didn t know Then he asked what was physically wrong with her I asked my counselor and he showed me that this woman had cancer of the breast Could she have cancer of the breast I asked My answer was correct I knew it was not a lucky guess The power started growing One day I had the thought I would like to open my own investment business Almost immediately a businessman whom I barely knew offered me a free office secretary and telephone 116

Page 117

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 117 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE Sid did you know your own Jewish Bible condemns your involvement in the occult Soon after I took advantage of his offer he asked Sid did you know your own Jewish Bible condemns your involvement in the occult He showed me from the Torah Deuteronomy 18 10 12 There shall not be found among thee any one who causeth his son or his daughter to pass through the fire child sacrifice one who useth divination fortune telling one who is an observer of times astrology or an enchanter sorcery or omens or a conjurer hypnotist witch Or a charmer casts a magic spell or a consulter with familiar spirits medium or someone using channeling or ouija boards or a wizard spiritist Transcendental Meditation Silva Mind Control Edgar Cayce or who inquireth of the dead channeling seances etc For an abomination unto the Lord are all that do these things This businessman told me that the counselor who gave me information was a demon and very evil The Bible the Supernatural and the Jews Then I read a book by McCandlish Phillips called The Bible the Supernatural and the Jews 1 Phillips said that 117

Page 118

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 118 T HEMSELVES because a Jew is under a covenant with God he faces an even worse judgment for participating in New Age practices The book included stories of famous Jewish people who had dabbled in the New Age and lost their lives I decided I had better find out if the Bible really was from God So I stopped consulting my counselor and started reading the Bible I soon got the scare of my life My counselor started cursing me I realized this counselor had a mind of its own and was from the pit of hell I had to get rid of it But there was no one I could go to for help Then things got worse I broke into astral projection This is when your spirit leaves your body I was afraid my spirit would be unable to find its way back and that my body would be buried alive As a young boy I had a great fear of death because I thought that dying meant I would cease to exist Now death looked like my only way to find relief from this horrible situation The Worst Night of My Life On the worst night of my life I called my wife and asked her to pray Then I prayed a prayer of my own Jesus help I didn t know if He was real but I had nowhere else to turn When I went to bed I didn t want to wake up Life was too hard The next morning I knew immediately something was different The evil that had been inside of me was gone I 118

Page 119

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 119 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE knew it had to do with that prayer Suddenly I realized I had no fear Instead I felt surrounded by liquid love Finally I had experienced what the New Age could never give me the tangible presence of God I had never felt such peace And I was convinced that Jesus was my Messiah Next I heard the audible voice of God He told me to return to my wife and daughter My wife Joy had become an agnostic when she was exposed to atheistic professors in college But when I showed her the predictions about the Jewish people written thousands of years in advance in the Bible she said I must believe the Bible is from God See Chapter 10 for further discussion about these predictions She became a believer in Jesus shortly thereafter Something Wrong With the Rabbi My mother a great peacemaker convinced my father that my newfound belief in Jesus was a phase and it too would pass I was very concerned for my parents to know the Messiah and I tried to witness at every opportunity My mother would listen but my father would get angry and close his ears Over the years my parents watched how my marriage was restored They observed the new stability in my life They could see I was becoming a real mensch Yiddish word that roughly translated means a good human They watched my wife daughter sister brotherin law and nephews become believers When my sister lost her daughter Cheryl Ann my parents observed her inner 119

Page 120

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 120 T HEMSELVES strength in dealing with this tragedy a strength she had not had previously My mother a great peacemaker convinced my father that my newfound belief in Jesus was a phase and it too would pass One day after much prayer my father let me read to him the 53rd chapter of Isaiah By the time I finished he was angry and accused me of reading from a Christian Bible because he said I was reading about Jesus I showed him it was published by the Hebrew Publishing Company but that was not good enough He said he would only accept a Bible from his Orthodox rabbi Hmm I thought My father thinks Isaiah is speaking of Jesus So the next day I called our family rabbi for an appointment When I entered his office he greeted me with a warm welcome and asked what he could do for me I asked if he would give me a Bible and inscribe something personal to me He gladly complied writing some kind words to me on the inside cover I thanked him and left quickly I could not wait to show this powerful gift to my father When I arrived I confidently displayed the inscription to my dad and made sure he read it Then I began to read the same passage from Isaiah Now he had only two choices Either he had to agree Jesus was the Messiah or he had to think something was 120

Page 121

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 121 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE wrong with the rabbi To my shock he said I ve always thought there was something wrong with that rabbi And then he proceeded to tell me how he once saw the rabbi eating out in a restaurant on Yom Kippur the day of fasting Think for Yourself One afternoon when I went over to my parents house for a visit my father was at the racetrack I decided this was the time to prove to my mother that Jesus was the Messiah I knew that she had very little knowledge of the Scriptures did not know if they were true and gave no thought to an afterlife although she came from a religious family and attended an Orthodox synagogue Mom did you know the entire history of the Jewish people past present and future is in the Bible I started by trying to prove that there is a God and the Bible is His book Mom did you know the entire history of the Jewish people past present and future is in the Bible Hundreds of precise predictions have come true already And the scientific dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Israel proves no one entered these predictions in the Bible after the event occurred For instance God said He would bless us beyond any people that ever lived if we would be obedient to His laws see Deut 28 1 However if we disobeyed we would lose 121

Page 122

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 122 T HEMSELVES our country be persecuted and scattered to the four corners of the earth see Deut 28 36 37 Isa 11 12 And wherever we would flee we would be persecuted see Deut 28 65 And even though many of us would suffer and die we would always be preserved as a distinct people see Jer 31 36 With the suffering we have gone through as Jews you would think every Jew left alive would have assimilated as a means of self preservation But against impossible odds God has preserved us as a distinct people Then in the last days a miracle would happen Israel would become a Jewish nation see Jer 16 15 If there were no Israel and the UN had to vote on it becoming a Jewish homeland today what would the probability be Zero would be too generous That is how impossible it was in 1948 But God caused a great sign to occur that was of far greater magnitude than the crossing of the Red Sea as though it were dry land see Jer 16 14 15 And a nation Israel was formed in a day as Isaiah predicted see Isa 66 8 Amos said once we returned we would rebuild the waste cities see Amos 9 14 And if you investigate the history of Israel you will find one city is built upon another Tel Aviv is as modern and cosmopolitan as any city in the world Isaiah even said the desert would blossom as the rose see Isa 35 1 By the way did you know Israel exports more roses to Europe than any other nation Ezekiel prophesied the reforestation of Israel see Ezek 36 8 And Isaiah 35 7 tells us The burning sand will become a pool the thirsty ground bubbling springs How did Isaiah know 2 700 years 122

Page 123

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 123 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE ago that Israel would develop technology that would cause underground water to bubble to the surface supporting the growth of vegetation in the barren desert Since this water originates from deep within the earth it comes out warm allowing growth in any weather 2 The only way Isaiah or any of the other prophets could have known these things is if God told them Two hundred years before Cyrus was born Isaiah identifies him by name and says God would use this Gentile to build the Jewish Temple and restore the cities in Israel see Isa 44 28 45 1 13 How did Isaiah know his name And better still how did God get a heathen to want to restore Jerusalem Jeremiah prophesied that Israel would go into captivity in Babylon for exactly 70 years see Jer 29 10 Guess how many years we were captive in Babylon I could go on and on about the amazing predictions of the Bible that were written thousands of years before the fact but would you like to know about our future Since God has demonstrated 100 percent accuracy so far it is reasonable to expect Him to know our future for the first time in her life she was confronted with the accuracy of God s Word As I quickly moved from Scripture to Scripture I could tell my mother was impressed with my knowledge of the 123

Page 124

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 124 T HEMSELVES Bible And for the first time in her life she was confronted with the accuracy of God s Word Mom Zechariah says that in the last days the whole world will not know what to do with Jerusalem see Zech 12 3 Today the problems of Jerusalem and the tiny nation of Israel are in the news continuously And Israel will be invaded by many nations The invading powers are mentioned by name see Ezek 38 3 9 It will be a real blood bath two thirds of our people will perish see Zech 13 8 And when there is no hope left the Messiah will fight for Israel Let me read it to you from Zechariah Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as He fights in the day of battle They the Jewish people will look on Me the one they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great Zechariah 14 3 12 10 11 Mom do you know why we will be weeping I think this was the first time I paused for air and gave her a chance to speak I guess because we will be so grateful for being spared she said That is partially right But the main reason is that we will realize for the first time that Jesus is our Messiah and we missed Him But if Jesus is the Messiah why don t all the rabbis believe Sidney I love you but you still don t know as much as the rabbis who have studied all their life 124

Page 125

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 125 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE Mom the Talmud tells us that years ago when the rabbis pondered how to recognize the Messiah they concluded that there would be two Messiahs One would suffer for the people and be like Joseph He would be rejected by his own people He is described in Isaiah 53 He was despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised and we esteemed Him not Isaiah 53 3 And according to Daniel 9 26 He would die before the second Temple was destroyed After the sixty two sevens the Anointed One the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary He would die by crucifixion David describes this hundreds of years before the first recorded crucifixion David even saw the guards gambling for his clothes And he noted that His bones would not be broken because this is the requirement for acceptable sacrifices I am poured out like water and all My bones are out of joint My heart has turned to wax it has melted away within Me My strength is dried up like a potsherd and My tongue sticks to the roof of My mouth you lay Me in the dust of death They have pierced My hands and My feet I can count all My bones people stare and gloat over me They divide My garments among them and cast lots for My clothing Psalm 22 14 18 125

Page 126

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 126 T HEMSELVES He did not die for His own sins but for our sins we considered Him stricken by God smitten by Him and afflicted But He was pierced for our transgressions He was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed Isaiah 53 4 5 Incidentally the prophets go on to say His ancestry would be from the line of David see 2 Sam 7 12 13 the Gentiles would follow Him see Isa 11 10 and He would be born in Bethlehem of Judah see Micah 5 2 Did you know his mother was living in the wrong place until shortly before His birth Mary had to go to Bethlehem for a special census for tax purposes at the precise moment of his birth OK already so why don t the rabbis see this she asked Well they saw this suffering servant Messiah and called Him Messiah ben son of Joseph But then they found just as many predictions about the Messiah reigning as King and ushering in an age of peace They called Him Messiah ben David like King David How did they reconcile these supposedly contradictory roles Their theory was that there were two distinct Messiahs But today it is clear that it is one Messiah with two appearances First he came to initiate the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah to change us from the inside out OK already so why don t the rabbis see this she asked 126

Page 127

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 127 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE The time is coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and will remember their sins no more Jeremiah 31 31 34 Since we humans are so unclean compared to the holiness of God we always needed a mediator and the blood of an innocent animal to atone for our sins During Temple days our intermediary was a high priest Today our intermediary cleanses us from all sins the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world Then when we are clean He actually takes up residence inside our body which becomes His temple Speaking of two appearances of the Messiah did you know the first time Moses identified himself as our deliverer we rejected him See Exodus 2 11 14 And the first time Joseph identified himself as our deliverer his own brothers wanted to kill him see Gen 37 8 19 20 Jesus fits this same pattern His second appearance will be when He comes to rule the world and to usher in an age of peace They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Isaiah 11 9 Today the rabbis teach us about His second coming but never mention Messiah Ben Joseph I found out why when I participated in a debate with a rabbi at the University of Maryland After the debate I engaged a young Orthodox rabbinical student in dialogue I asked him to tell me who Isaiah was speaking of in the 53rd 127

Page 128

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 128 T HEMSELVES chapter He amazed me with his answer He said I can t tell you Why I quickly asked You know Hebrew better than I Read it from your Tanakh Old Covenant No he responded it would be a sin Why I asked again Because I am not holy enough he said We can only tell you what the rabbis who lived closer to the days of Moses tell us the verse means How sad Mom What he was really saying was he could not think for himself Although I thought my presentation to my mother was overwhelming she let me know she was grateful for the change believing in Jesus had caused in my life but was not ready to accept the truth What would your father say Are you hungry Can I get you something to eat Over the years whenever my mother was sick I would pray for her and God would heal her Before she died she too accepted Yeshua Hebrew for Jesus as her Messiah Over the years whenever my mother was sick I would pray for her and God would heal her As a Jewish nonbeliever my mom was so proud of me she would tell all her Jewish friends that if they were sick her son would pray in 128

Page 129

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 129 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE Jesus Name and God would heal them Before she died she too accepted Yeshua Hebrew for Jesus as her Messiah Who Is a True Jew But my dad was still embarrassed and very hurt by my faith He was born in Poland and saw anti Semitism by socalled Christians firsthand After my mother s funeral my father had only one question Was I going to say the prayers Kaddish for my mother in the synagogue every day for eleven months There was an ulterior motive behind my father s question If I would say the prayers for my mother he could be assured that I would say them for him And it was his belief that somehow these prayers would be his ticket into Heaven without punishment or delay Since he knew I did not agree with this form of prayer he wondered what my answer would be For a split second I thought of the time commitment I thought of the endurance needed to sit through all the rituals and prayers in a language I did not understand I thought of the possible repercussions by those in the synagogue who knew of my outspoken faith in Jesus But as quickly as these thoughts raced through my mind I found myself agreeing to do it It had been years since I had put on the tefillin little box with Scripture inside that is wrapped around one s head and arm to conform to Deuteronomy 6 8 A retired rabbi helped me as I placed the tefillin around my arm and on my head After one service I got into a conversation with the man who read from the Torah The Torah reading happened to 129

Page 130

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 130 T HEMSELVES be about the Jewish people walking through the Red Sea as though it were dry land As I discussed this with my friend he looked at me with the most incredulous expression and said You don t really believe those stories do you I responded with just as incredulous an expression and said You don t What are you doing here It is one thing when a secular Jew does not believe in the Torah But when a Jewish religious leader does not believe it shocks me Then when he told me he did not believe in God or life after death I was curious why he came to the synagogue at all He responded Because my friends are here Because I like the traditions of my fathers And because it gives me something to do I always thought these elderly men who davined prayed every day at the minyan a gathering of ten or more Jewish men to pray were the most holy Jews in the synagogue I found that many of the men I prayed with felt the same way as this man My father greatly appreciated my going to the synagogue every day to pray And since I had not mentioned Jesus in a while he asked Do you still believe in Him I had been waiting for God s timing because every time I mentioned Jesus my father would always get angry I told him that I believed in Jesus and He was the reason I was going to the synagogue I said I did not believe the prayers were necessary for Mom because she was already in Heaven At that he got angry and I quickly changed the subject 130

Page 131

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 131 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE My father would say to me You re a wonderful son You re as good as gold But do you have to believe in Him On another occasion my father said men from the synagogue had told him that their sons would not have been so faithful to go to the synagogue every day My father would say to me You re a wonderful son You re as good as gold But do you have to believe in Him The Talmud declares that if a voice from heaven should contradict the majority of rabbis we must ignore that voice A true Jew says that if the Torah contradicts the majority of the rabbis we must follow the Torah May God grant that soon all Israel would be true Jews Heaven Must Be a Wonderful Place Years later I got a call that my father was dying in the hospital My sister also a believer and I went to his bedside I felt a strong presence of God that had been on me constantly for several days It was the same tangible presence as when Jesus first became real to me years earlier I said Dad do you remember how Mom always said Heaven must be a wonderful place Don t you want to be with her and the rest of our family My father had lost his voice His body was destroyed by cancer But a great miracle happened When I asked him if 131

Page 132

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 132 T HEMSELVES he wanted to make Yeshua his Messiah and Lord my sister and I heard him say Yes I am a very thankful person Every member of my immediate Jewish family believes in Yeshua Joy and I have celebrated 43 years of marriage My daughter is now married and has three daughters And I have seen miracles happen thousands of times when I pray for the sick in His name It has been more than 30 years since I was set free Over time the mind can play tricks If this had been my only experience with God I would begin to doubt But I have studied the Bible for myself and I am 100 percent convinced only one person in all of history could be the Jewish Messiah Daily I experience the presence of God And I have seen miracles happen thousands of times when I pray for the sick in His name Thank God there is something more Commentary by Sid Roth Some people in the New Age believe they have been reincarnated died and come back as another person or being Some have testified under hypnosis about experiences in other lives and in countries 132

Page 133

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 133 T HERE M UST B E S OMETHING M ORE they have never even visited How is this possible The Bible says you die once and then comes the judgment This rules out any possibility of reincarnation Therefore people who speak of past lives are channeling for familiar spirits These familiar spirits have been around for thousands of years My sister a sensible stable elementary school teacher had also violated Deuteronomy 18 and opened herself up to demonic influence Years later she attended a deliverance meeting As the leader of the meeting prayed for demons to manifest so they could be cast out she heard some coughs around the room and screaming The screams got louder They didn t seem human My sister hadn t gone to participate but observe In her own words I was scared and wanted to leave I turned to tell my husband a Jewish accountant that I wanted to go but I couldn t get an audible word out My tongue wouldn t lie flat it kept twisting around in my mouth Then I looked down at my hands and saw they were both in fists I couldn t open them My fingernails dug into my palms I was paralyzed The fear was intolerable I started crying Then a man came over to me and said Name your demon I didn t know what he was talking about Couldn t he see I was paralyzed When I didn t answer he walked away Next a lady came over and said the same thing Name your demon I found 133

Page 134

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 134 T HEMSELVES the words coming out of my mouth Demon of fear She commanded it to leave My fists immediately opened up and I was able to talk I knew the spirit world was real That evening I was released from a fear of people that had tormented me my whole life I was free My sister her husband and their three sons are now Messianic Jews I m glad everyone doesn t have to experience the reality of the dark invisible world to find the Lord The devil is real Demons are real And the only defense is the Jewish Messiah 134

Page 135

Page 136

Page 137

Page 138

Page 139

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 139 C HAPTER 7 Tradition or Truth What I Learned About Rabbinic Judaism Y ou don t even know Hebrew How can you tell me what the Bible says It s true Rabbi I don t know Hebrew but I will learn In the meantime I can use the dictionary in the back of Strong s Concordance Meantime shmeantime If you don t know Hebrew it doesn t mean a thing I will never forget those words spoken to me in 1972 I was a brand new believer in Jesus just 17 years old My life had been dramatically changed and I mean dramatically Only months before I was shooting heroin using massive quantities of LSD and speed and living in total reckless abandon My nickname Drug Bear was well deserved and I was sinful proud and rotten to the core All this was 139

Page 140

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 140 T HEMSELVES in spite of a typical Long Island Conservative Jewish upbringing by very happily married parents In fact my father was a highly respected lawyer working as the Senior Law Assistant to the New York State Supreme Court judges My drug abuse was not due to some inner turmoil or spiritual quest I used drugs because they made me feel good You see I was a fairly talented teenage rock drummer and the whole Woodstock cast off restraint get high do your own thing mentality appealed to me I wanted to be like the rock stars Soon life became one big party The Surprise of My Life But God had other plans My two best friends the bass player and guitar player in our band were raised in homes that were Christian in name only They were no closer to Jesus than I was But they were friendly with two girls whose father was a dedicated born again Christian and their uncle pastored a little church in Queens New York The girls went to the church to please their father my friends went to the church to spend time with the girls and then I went to the church to pull them all out I didn t like the changes I was beginning to see in them What happened I got the surprise of my life In that little church I met with the God I was not seeking and I found out the truth about Jesus the Savior and Messiah in whom I had never believed I was transformed The love of God broke down my resistance and in answer to the secret prayers of a faithful few I turned away from the filthy life I had been leading My father was thrilled to see the change 140

Page 141

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 141 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM He had only one problem We re Jewish Now that you are free from drugs you need to meet the rabbi and come back to our traditions And so I began to talk with the young scholarly rabbi who had just become the spiritual leader of the synagogue in which I was bar mitzvahed I Must Learn Hebrew I knew beyond any doubt that my experience was real but how could I answer his questions What could I say when he told me that the English translation I was using was wrong and that time and time again the New Testament writers misinterpreted the Hebrew Scriptures He could read the original text I couldn t He also brought me to meet with Ultra Orthodox Lubavitcher rabbis in Brooklyn who specialized in dealing with straying young Jews like me For my part I was happy to have the opportunity to share my faith with these sincere men After all I was reading the Bible day and night memorizing hundreds of verses praying for hours even persuading a Jewish Jehovah s Witness that her religion was not biblical But these rabbis in Brooklyn had answers I had never heard before And all of them had been able to read and understand Hebrew since their childhood I could barely remember how to pronounce the letters Plus they looked so Jewish with long black beards and all Their faith seemed to be so ancient and authentic Was mine So it was that I began to study Hebrew in college If my faith was based on truth it could withstand honest academic scrutiny If Jesus was really the Jewish Messiah I had 141

Page 142

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 142 T HEMSELVES nothing to fear Serious questions deserved serious answers and I was determined to follow the truth wherever it led regardless of the consequences If Jesus was really the Jewish Messiah I had nothing to fear Serious questions deserved serious answers Little by little I became convinced that I should pursue scholarly biblical and Jewish studies One year in college I took only language courses six to be exact Hebrew Arabic Greek Latin German and Yiddish Talk about brain drain I wanted to read the relevant texts for myself in the original languages without anyone s help But college was not enough In order to pursue my goals graduate school was necessary There I could study the other ancient languages relevant to the Hebrew Scriptures languages like Akkadian that is Babylonian and Assyrian Ugaritic from a major city north of Canaan Aramaic Syriac Phoenician Punic Moabite the list goes on By the time I wrote my doctoral dissertation I had studied about 15 languages some in great depth others only superficially I received my Ph D from New York University in Near Eastern languages Faulty Foundations Almost all my courses were taught by Jewish professors and along the way I also had the opportunity to do some 142

Page 143

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 143 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM private study with several rabbis What happened to my faith It actually became stronger As I learned more I became even more convinced that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah the one whose life atoning death resurrection and return were foreshadowed in the Hebrew Scriptures I had sound answers for serious questions I also discovered something unexpected It was not the New Testament faith that was built on faulty foundations the foundations of rabbinic Judaism were faulty It was rabbinic Judaism not the New Testament faith that deviated from the Hebrew Bible It was not the New Testament faith that was built on faulty foundations the foundations of rabbinic Judaism were faulty Rabbinic Judaism does not even claim to be based upon a literal interpretation of the Scriptures Instead the rabbis say that their faith is the continuation of an unbroken chain of tradition dating back to Moses and the prophets This is a crucial point As we will see later such an unbroken chain does not exist I have often heard rabbis and anti missionaries say in a somewhat derogatory tone that without Christ there could be no Christianity or without Messiah there could be no Messianic Judaism whereas Judaism can exist without 143

Page 144

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 144 T HEMSELVES a Messiah important as such a figure is in Jewish thinking Judaism it is claimed is the religion of the Torah Of course I agree that there could be no Christianity without a Christ just as I agree that there could be no salvation without a Savior and no deliverance without a Deliverer This presents no problem at all Our faith is based on the person and work of the Messiah But the real question is the following on what foundation is traditional Judaism based Judaism as we know it today is not the religion of the Torah as much as it is the religion of rabbinic tradition Without tradition there could be no traditional Judaism without the rabbis there could be no rabbinic Judaism This is very significant For many of our people human tradition is more important than biblical truth More than 20 years ago an Orthodox rabbi told me I was reading the Scriptures through rose colored glasses In other words I would always misunderstand the Word no matter how sincere I tried to be I wasn t seeing clearly My vision was distorted More than 20 years ago an Orthodox rabbi told me I was reading the Scriptures through rose colored glasses That was quite an accusation and I didn t take it lightly I studied the Word from every possible angle asking myself 144

Page 145

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 145 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM whether other interpretations were correct challenging the standard Christian answers with which I was familiar Now almost a quarter of a century later I can honestly say that it is religious Jews in spite of their sincerity and devotion who read the Bible with colored glasses They will be the first to tell you that the Bible says only what the sages tell them it says Who are they to differ with the great Jewish teachers of the past Who are they to disagree with the famous rabbinic commentaries of the middle ages How could they possibly break with the traditions they learned from their fathers After all what can I know My father learned it from his father who learned it from his father who learned it from his father and so on all the way back to Moses Are you telling me they made it up Are you telling me they were deceived How dare you question our sacred traditions And so the myth of an unbroken chain of tradition going back to Moses has kept many Jewish people from reading the Bible on their own This is the heart of the matter The Game of Telephone Rabbinic Judaism believes that God gave Moses a Written Law found in the Torah the five books of Moses But we are told most of the commandments in the Law are briefly worded general statements something like the headings of a paragraph in a book They need interpretation They need to be expanded and explained So according to the traditional belief God also gave Moses an Oral 145

Page 146

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 146 T HEMSELVES Law that interpreted the Written Law Moses then passed this on to Joshua who passed it on to the 70 leading elders in his generation who passed it on to the prophets of the next generations And so it went but not without lots of additions This is because the rabbis teach that the Oral Law kept growing since in every generation new traditions were developed and new situations emerged which called for new applications of the Law Within two centuries after the time of Jesus this Oral Law was so bulky and complex that it had to be written down lest it be forgotten that s right the basics of the Oral Law were now written This became the Mishnah which was expanded into what is known as the Talmud over the next few centuries After that according to the rabbinic belief those who studied the Talmud continued to develop and pass down the Oral Law to each succeeding generation Every religious Jew believes with all his heart that it is impossible to understand the Scriptures or follow God s Law without these oral traditions And what happens when an observant Jew is approached by a Jewish believer in Jesus The believer is regarded as an ignorant newcomer and his interpretations are totally scorned We have an unbroken tradition going back to Moses How dare you differ with us How dare you try to teach us Yes tradition carries quite a lot of weight And it can stop people from thinking for themselves I find it amusing to say the least when Orthodox Jews tell me that I have been brainwashed 146

Page 147

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 147 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM What happens when an observant Jew is approached by a Jewish believer in Jesus The believer is regarded as an ignorant newcomer and his interpretations are totally scorned Now you can better understand why so many Jews with whom believers try to dialog will immediately say I have to ask my rabbi He will tell me what that verse really means He will look it up in his books You see the rabbinic Jew believes that the further back in time you go the closer you get to the original revelation at Mount Sinai kind of like a thirty five hundred year old game of telephone And Talmudic tradition teaches that since the days of Moses we have been on a steady spiritual decline This is all the more reason that we have to depend on the views of the earlier generations They were closer to those who received the original revelation and they were on a higher spiritual plane They can tell us what the Scripture means Talk about reading the Bible through colored glasses Are the Traditions True But someone might ask how can you be so sure that these traditions aren t true Why do you say that they don t provide the correct interpretations The answers are simple 1 They take for themselves an authority that the Scriptures never gave them 2 They put the voice of 147

Page 148

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 148 T HEMSELVES earthly reason on a higher plane than the prophetic word from Heaven 3 They contradict the plain meaning of the Scriptures 4 At times they even contradict the voice of God 5 There is no biblical evidence for an unbroken chain of tradition and plenty of evidence against it Before I give you some examples I want you to understand that this is not a matter of finding minor contradictions and interpretative difficulties No The issues here deal with the very heart and soul of traditional Judaism a religion which stands or falls on its traditions The question that every honest Jew must ask is What if the Bible says one thing and my traditions say another Will I follow God or will I follow man It is not a question of whether these Jewish leaders were evil men and deceivers Most of them were zealous for their faith They sought to lead good lives and please the Lord But were they right Did their traditions really originate with God or did they originate with man Let s take a careful look None of the examples that follow are taken out of context in any way They are plain and straightforward First let s see what traditional Judaism says of itself According to the contemporary Orthodox scholar H Chaim Schimmel the Jewish people do not follow the literal word of the Bible nor have they ever done so They have been fashioned and ruled by the verbal interpretation of the written word 1 As expressed by Rabbi Z H Chajes a leading 19thcentury authority the Talmud indicates that the words 148

Page 149

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 149 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM that were transmitted orally by God are more valuable than those transmitted in writing Chajes goes so far as to say that allegiance to the authority of the said rabbinic tradition is binding upon all sons of Israel And he who does not give adherence to the unwritten Law and the rabbinic tradition has no right to share the heritage of Israel 2 How can such a claim be made The rabbis assert that it is the Bible itself that gives them the exclusive authority to interpret Torah and develop new laws They find support for this in Deuteronomy 17 8 12 probably the most important text in the Bible for rabbinic Judaism This is what the verses say If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge whether bloodshed lawsuits or assaults take them to the place the Lord your God will choose Go to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who is in office at that time Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose Be careful to do everything they direct you to do Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you Do not turn aside from what they tell you to the right or to the left The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your 149

Page 150

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 150 T HEMSELVES God must be put to death You must purge the evil from Israel What Moses is clearly saying is that in every generation the Levitical priests and the current judge in Jerusalem would function as a kind of Supreme Court a court of final appeal the likes of which exist today in many nations around the world including Israel and the United States This court would be responsible for settling disputes regarding various legal matters such as homicide civil law and assaults That s it The text does not give any authority to subsequent generations of rabbis around the world where does it even mention rabbis nor does it give anyone authority to tell all Jews when to pray what to pray how to slaughter their cattle what to believe about the Messiah when to visit the sick whether or not one can write on the Sabbath and on and on and on Nothing of the sort Yet it is from this little text that the sages have derived so much power As for verse 11 which says Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you Do not turn aside from what they tell you to the right or to the left this was actually interpreted by the 13th century commentator Nachmanides to mean the following Even if it seems to you as if they are changing right into left it is incumbent on you to think what they say is right is right 3 Why Because the Spirit of God is on them and the Lord will keep them from error and from stumbling This is quite a claim If the sages tell you that left is right you are to follow the sages Let s take this a step further What if 150

Page 151

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 151 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM 1 000 prophets of the caliber of Elijah and Elisha tell you that the Torah means one thing but 1 001 sages tell you it means something else Whom do you follow Maimonides the most influential medieval Jewish scholar is emphatic The final ruling is in accordance with the 1 001 sages 4 Yes the Talmud even teaches that if Elijah himself differed with a rabbinic tradition or a prevailing custom of the people not a biblical Law itself but simply a tradition or custom concerning that Law then he should not be followed 5 But you might say there may be something to that Shouldn t we follow the plain and obvious meaning of the Bible even if some prophet claims that God told him otherwise Of course we should But that is not what Maimonides was saying He actually argued that if someone like Elijah favored the plain and obvious meaning of the Scriptures instead of the rabbinic tradition the tradition was to be followed So even a proven prophet backed by the power of God and following the plain sense of the Bible has less weight than rabbinic tradition And the sages by a majority of even one outweigh the likes of Elijah and Elisha when it comes to interpreting the Law Are things getting clearer now More Weight Rabbis or God But it doesn t stop there A legal decision made by the majority of the sages carries more weight than even the voice of God According to one of the most famous stories in the Talmud Baba Mesia 59b there was a dispute between 151

Page 152

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 152 T HEMSELVES Rabbi Eliezer the Great and the sages about whether or not a particular kind of oven was ritually clean He answered every one of their arguments but they refused to accept his decision Rabbi Eliezer then called upon a series of miracles to verify his ruling If the Law is in accordance with me then let this carob tree be uprooted let this stream of water stop flowing let the walls of this house of study collapse Amazingly the Talmud teaches that each miracle happened but still the other rabbis refused to be moved Finally Rabbi Eliezer called on God Himself to verify his position Immediately a voice came from Heaven saying Why are you troubling Rabbi Eliezer The legal ruling is always in accordance with him To which Rabbi Joshua exclaimed It is not in Heaven In other words since the Torah was given at Mount Sinai and is therefore no longer in Heaven legal decisions are to be made solely on the basis of human reasoning and logical deduction Period As expressed by the legal authority Rabbi Aryeh Leib Let the truth emerge from the earth The truth be as the sages decide with the human mind 6 And so if God speaks as He did here the sages can and should overrule Him if they disagree with His interpretation What was the basis for such an incredible position The Talmud cites the last three words of Exodus 23 2 and interprets them to mean Follow the majority But the text says the exact opposite Just read the whole verse The meaning is clearly Don t follow the majority Even J H Hertz the former chief rabbi of England wrote The Rabbis disregarded the literal meaning of the last three 152

Page 153

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 153 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM Hebrew words and took them to imply that except when it is to do evil one should follow the majority 7 And that is their support for negating and disregarding the voice of God A verse that says Don t follow the majority was sliced up and reinterpreted so as to mean Follow the majority and on this basis God Himself was overruled It almost takes your breath away Can Rabbis Change the Torah Amazingly the Talmudic text goes on to say that Elijah later informed one of the rabbis that God laughed about the incident saying My sons have defeated Me Talk about majority rules Not only is it true that 1 000 prophets following the plain sense of the Scripture don t stand a chance against 1 001 sages but God Himself doesn t stand a chance against even two sages should they beg to differ with Him Did you have any idea that the power of tradition and human authority went so far Not only is it true that 1 000 prophets following the plain sense of the Scripture don t stand a chance against 1 001 sages but God Himself doesn t stand a chance against even two sages should they beg to differ with Him It is not that these rabbis were arrogant or irreverent They simply believed that it was their God given duty to 153

Page 154

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 154 T HEMSELVES interpret and make Laws and over the process of time they came to believe that their traditions were sacred They even claimed to have the right to change the biblical Laws if necessary What was their scriptural support for this Psalm 119 126 It is time for you to act O Lord Your law is being broken To which you might say I don t get it What has this verse got to do with changing the Law Nothing But it was totally reinterpreted actually totally misinterpreted to mean Sometimes in order to act for the Lord it is necessary to dissolve His Laws 8 I kid you not Is it any wonder then that at times the Talmud credits the sages with uprooting Scripture with their interpretations 9 This is something worth remembering the next time someone tries to tell you that Jesus and Paul freely went around breaking and changing the laws And where do the rabbis claim that the Bible itself makes reference to the Oral Law One key text is Exodus 34 27 Then the Lord said to Moses Write down these words for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel What does this verse have to do with the Oral Law Nothing at all The context speaks of Laws to be written down How then did the authors of the Talmud find a reference here to the unwritten Law First they failed to quote the beginning of the verse Write down these words Then they noticed that the Hebrew phrase translated in accordance with al p was very close to the Hebrew 154

Page 155

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 155 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM phrase for oral al peh So the verse was understood as if it said Write down these words for on the testimony over these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel But that is not what the Hebrew says as any reliable Jewish translation of the Bible will tell you at once A play on words is one thing the real meaning is something else And how did Rashi the greatest of all Jewish biblical commentators handle the clear meaning of this verse that the covenant was based on the written Word He interpreted Write down these words to mean these words only explaining that it is not permitted to write down the words of the Oral Law 10 So God says Write but the tradition says Don t write it all God makes His covenant with Israel based on what was transmitted in writing the Talmud says that the real essence of the covenant was based on what was transmitted orally And isn t it strange that a biblical text clearly emphasizing the Written Law was utilized by the Talmud to point to the Oral Law based on a play on words alone What an example of grasping at straws The complete absence of any mention of an Oral Law in the Hebrew Bible stands in direct contrast to the frequent references to the binding nature of the Written Law found throughout the Scriptures Just read verses like Deuteronomy 31 24 26 After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end and notice there was no part of the Law that Moses failed to write down he wrote it all from beginning to end he gave this command to the Levites who 155

Page 156

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 156 T HEMSELVES carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God There it will remain as a witness against you There are plenty of other verses that say the same thing such as Exodus 24 7 8 Deuteronomy 17 14 20 28 58 59 30 9 10 Joshua 1 8 23 6 First Kings 2 1 3 Second Kings 22 13 23 3 21 First Chronicles 16 39 40 Second Chronicles 30 5 31 3 35 26 27 Ezra 3 2 4 6 18 Nehemiah 10 28 29 13 1 and Daniel 9 13 I encourage you to look up these verses and read them carefully Where is there any mention of an Oral Law 11 And if there were such an authoritative chain of interpretation why are there so many disagreements about the Law on virtually every page of the Talmud One could almost say that the Talmud consists of disagreements and discussions about the interpretation and application of the Law And why do the great rabbinic commentaries differ on the meaning of hundreds and hundreds of biblical verses Where is the authoritative chain of tradition And if there were such an authoritative chain of interpretation why are there so many disagreements about the Law on virtually every page of the Talmud No God did not give an Oral Law to Moses on Mount Sinai The very first mention of even the concept of such a 156

Page 157

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 157 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM binding oral tradition is more than 1 400 years after Moses What s more many of the Jewish groups that existed in Jesus day such as the Sadducees and the Essenes had no belief in any such tradition That was a distinct doctrine of the Pharisees Why Because they were the ones who invented the whole idea of an unbroken chain of binding oral tradition beginning shortly before Jesus came into the world And as they passed their unique traditions on to their successors the new generations began to say We didn t invent these teachings we inherited them They have been passed on to us from our fathers They go back many years way back as far back as we can remember all the way back to Moses Not quite Let the truth be told There was no secret Law given to Moses by word of mouth or passed on by him orally to the biblical prophets and leaders Actually our forefathers sometimes forgot the Written Law read Second Kings 22 for a classic example of this An Oral Law wouldn t have stood a chance And there is not a single example in the Scriptures where anyone was ever punished rebuked or held accountable for breaking any so called binding tradition That s because there was no such tradition to break Only violations of the written Word were considered sinful The Truth Now it s time to listen to that Word The Torah tells us that wherever we Jews are even scattered around the world if from there you seek the Lord your God you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all 157

Page 158

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 158 T HEMSELVES your soul Deut 4 29 Jeremiah the prophet gave the same message You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart Jer 29 13 And the Book of Proverbs says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight Proverbs 3 5 6 God will not let you down if you sincerely seek His truth Why not humble yourself and ask for His help There is a place for reason and rational discussion and there is a place for seeking God too They go hand in hand But the Lord opposes those who are wise in their own eyes Study the Word and seek God You will not be disappointed When Moses and the prophets couldn t figure out how to interpret or apply the Law they prayed and asked God for the answer And God showed them what to do 12 Why not follow their lead Why be smarter than Moses and the prophets and try to figure it all out for yourself Ask God to guide you into the truth Study yes by all means But ask God to open your eyes when you do That s exactly how the Psalmist prayed in Psalm 119 18 Ask God to guide you into the truth It is not that the rabbis meant evil They really believed in what they did and there is often beauty and wisdom in their words They were totally committed to their traditions 158

Page 159

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 159 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM and through these traditions they sought to bind the people of Israel together But while the traditions may have bound us together they have more importantly bound us up You can be free today To the Jews who had believed Him Jesus said If you hold to My teaching you are really My disciples Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free John 8 31 32 Commentary by Sid Roth I never heard much talk about the Messiah when I was a child At our Passover seder we would open the door for Elijah to announce the Messiah But the adults viewed the event as a fairy tale almost like the Jewish version of Santa Claus As I got older I realized it was just pretend but I went along with the charade for the sake of the young children and tradition Every Passover we read Psalm 118 22 The stone which the builders rejected is become the chief cornerstone Now I know that the cornerstone we builders the Jewish people rejected is the Messiah No wonder Elijah never came to our Passover seder Messiah had already come to die at Passover Isaiah 53 7 says He was like the Passover lamb which is led to the slaughter The name Passover comes from Exodus 12 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are and when I see the blood I 159

Page 160

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 160 T HEMSELVES will pass over you and there shall be no plague against you to destroy But why was blood necessary Leviticus 17 11 says For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have appointed it for you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls for the blood it is that maketh an atonement for the soul In other words a blood sacrifice was the only acceptable substitute to atone for sin During the first Passover the blood was to be applied to the doorposts Later under the Mosaic Covenant an animal had to be sacrificed in the Temple on the altar see Lev 1 11 This is why we read in the Talmud Yoma 5a there can be no Yom Kippur without blood Since the Temple was destroyed in A D 70 there have been no Temple sacrifices for forgiveness of sin In fact 40 years before the Temple was destroyed the ancient rabbis recognized ominous supernatural signs that God no longer accepted the animal sacrifices that were offered Yoma 39a b That was the year Jesus died for our sins Even the Jewish prophet Daniel said our Messiah would come and die not for His own sins but for ours before the Temple was destroyed see Dan 9 26 True Judaism requires the blood of atonement of Jesus Since we have no Temple today either our sins cannot be atoned for or God has already sent His Messiah 160

Page 161

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 161 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM Of whom is this Yom Kippur prayer from a traditional Jewish prayer book speaking Our righteous anointed is departed from us horror hath seized us and we have none to justify us He hath borne the yoke of our iniquities and our transgression and is wounded because of our transgression He beareth our sins on His shoulder that He may find pardon for our iniquities We shall be healed by His wound at the time that the Eternal will create Him as a new creature 13 161

Page 162

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 162 T HEMSELVES Endnotes 1 H Chaim Schimmel The Oral Law A Study of the Rabbinic Contribution to Torah She Be Al Peh rev ed Jerusalem New York NY Feldheim 1987 italics added 2 Z H Chajes The Student s Guide Through the Talmud trans and ed Jacob Schacter New York NY Feldheim 1960 4 3 See Nachmanides to Deuteronomy 17 11 and also the Babylonian Talmud Baba Batra 12a 4 See Maimonides introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah 5 See again Maimonides introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah and also the Babylonian Talmud Yebamot 102a 6 See the introduction to his Ketzot HaHoshen on Hoshen Mishpat in Shulhan Arukh 7 Dr J H Hertz The Pentateuch and Haftorahs London Soncino 1978 316 The only real issue is whether to translate the Hebrew word rabb m in this verse with many or mighty The Talmudic passage in Baba Mesia 59b of course understood the word to mean many in other words the majority Either way the meaning is impossible to dispute don t follow the rabb m 8 See the Babylonian Talmud Berakot 54a 162

Page 163

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T RADITION OR 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 163 T RUTH W HAT I L EARNED A BOUT R ABBINIC J UDAISM 9 See for example the Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1 2 59d the Babylonian Talmud Sotah 16a with Rashi s comments to the words oqeret and halakah 10 See also Gittin 60a in the Babylonian Talmud 11 It is possible that a rabbinic Jew might point to Nehemiah 8 8 the only verse which mentions that the Levites made the Law clear as it was being read This means either that they translated it into a more understandable language probably Aramaic for the exiles or else they explained its meaning This of course was the role of the priests and Levites to educate the people in the Torah see Leviticus 10 10 11 But once again to make some connection between this verse and an alleged unbroken chain of binding tradition is to build a mountain out of a non existent mole hill Also the context makes it absolutely clear that the center of attention and authority was the written Word alone as emphasized in the numerous verses just cited The rest of Nehemiah 8 also shows us that the Jewish people then did what the Law literally told them to do without any extra traditions or interpretations added on And so Nehemiah 8 15 says that the Jews followed what was written in Leviticus 23 37 40 They obviously had no clue that the Talmud would later claim that Leviticus 23 could not be understood without all kinds of special interpretations and specific traditions 12 See for example Leviticus 24 10 23 Numbers 9 1 14 15 32 36 27 1 5 Zechariah 7 163

Page 164

Page 165

Page 166

Page 167

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 167 C HAPTER 8 It Was Not for Me T ricia Why did Jesus have to die for my sins Raised as a Catholic this concept was still foreign to me Everyone knows if you re a good person you ll go to Heaven when you die So why did Jesus have to die It seemed odd It didn t fit the character of God or did it Since I had little knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures Jesus death in exchange for our salvation didn t make much sense to me But God was about to use a young Jewish man named Randy to draw me into a relationship with Him At the time I met Randy I had been in a period of seeking God for answers The two questions that bothered me most were Why did I have terrible back pain and Why didn t God answer my prayers to heal it I would go to Mass pray pick up the missalette and skip over all the traditional prayers just to get to God s Word I knew the Scriptures 167

Page 168

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 168 T HEMSELVES were the real thing what church should be all about But I would kneel stand genuflect bless myself and do other religious things out of respect Little did I know that my mother a quiet believer had been listening regularly to a radio program called Messianic Vision What did Randy have to do with all this Little did I know that my mother a quiet believer had been listening regularly to a radio program called Messianic Vision One day Sid Roth the host of the program said on the air The Jewish person that God has put in your life is no accident My mother thought That s nice But I don t know any Jewish people that well Within a matter of a few weeks I told her I had met a nice Jewish guy Immediately she made the connection but she told me nothing about it at the time After we had been dating for seven or eight months I told my mother I didn t know how we could pursue marriage with Randy being Jewish and me Catholic She suggested I check out the local Messianic Jewish congregation and start listening to Sid Roth s program When she explained who Sid was I thought A Jewish person who believes in Jesus How unique But was it really Paul Peter Matthew Mark John Stephen what were these men Protestants Catholics Greek Orthodox No They were all Jewish OK I thought I ll tune in to this program on the way to work After all this might be a compromise that would work for us Maybe 168

Page 169

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 I T WAS N OT FOR 12 09 PM Page 169 ME Randy could be one of these Jewish people who believes in Jesus Jesus You Loved Me That Much So I started listening to testimony after testimony of Jews and Gentiles touched by the powerful love of God I would weep I couldn t get enough I was hungry for truth for God I sent for teaching tapes testimonies and Bibles It was all so wonderful I began to be convicted of sin in my life The depth and weight of it was suddenly very heavy I knew I needed pardoning my sin was coming between me and God At the same time I was listening to Sid and others explaining God s plan of salvation From the very beginning God required an atonement a sacrifice for man s sins Israel s sacrificial system in the Old Testament was a foreshadowing of Jesus atoning for my sins Wow No one is righteous not one all of us have gone astray each one has turned to his own way but God has laid the iniquity of all of us on Jesus see Isa 53 6 This is a better more excellent way than the Temple sacrificial system because it brings us into a relationship with God This is a better more excellent way than the Temple sacrificial system because it brings us into a relationship with God 169

Page 170

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 170 T HEMSELVES Jesus you loved me that much I found myself crying out to God and asking Him for forgiveness one day in the car while tuned in to Messianic Vision on my way to work So began my new life with God I couldn t stop thinking about Him I wanted all I could get From religion I knew about Him and even believed in Him But now I knew Him What a difference In contrast Randy didn t seem to care whether He even existed Could we actually pursue marriage like this Where should I go for advice The source who first shared the Gospel with me seemed like a good place to start Being a new believer with a lot of chutzpah I called Sid and told him my situation He said No you can t marry this man but you can continue to pray that God will show him the truth That answered that question What was God doing in Randy s life Randy I was brought up in a reformed Jewish home I went to Hebrew school three times a week for six years mainly to prepare for my bar mitzvah Our family celebrated the high holy days out of tradition rather than out of Torah observance I always wondered What is the sense of any of this I had the impression that most of the people present were there just because it was what Jewish people did on these holidays Hebrew school was not something I enjoyed for me it was a burden worse than public school because it cut into all of my after school activities 170

Page 171

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 I T WAS N OT FOR 12 09 PM Page 171 ME I don t remember a single time asking myself if I thought God existed or asking Him who He was I should have been seeking answers to questions about who God was and how He related to my life But I was so caught up in sports who I was where I was going and how I would get there that God never was an issue I don t remember a single time asking myself if I thought God existed or asking Him who He was My bar mitzvah was a fun time I remember studying hard so as not to make a mistake I got my wish and made it through without any flaws Not making a mistake was much more important to me than the ceremony or any other part of my bar mitzvah In my family the bar mitzvah was the pinnacle of each child s Jewish studies Once you went through this door you no longer had to attend Hebrew school As a family we still attended high holiday services together but for me it remained hollow and meaningless The deepest questions I faced at that time were Why am I at this service and When can I leave Someone Was Listening That all changed in the summer after I graduated from college while vacationing on Cape Cod I met Tricia whom God would use to change my life from shallowness to one of truly caring about people 171

Page 172

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 172 T HEMSELVES After months of trying to persuade Tricia to yield to my ways I finally realized it was much easier to yield to hers Though Tricia was a Catholic the only thing this meant to me was that she went to church and I didn t I had very little knowledge about her religion At this point in my life I did not attend any religious services other than the dinners my parents held at their house during the Jewish holidays My understanding of God had not changed He didn t bother me or so I thought and I didn t bother Him As Tricia and I started to get more serious about our relationship religion became more of an issue Instead of going out with my friends one Friday night she suggested we attend a Messianic Jewish congregation I wanted to refuse but I didn t feel like fighting about it so I agreed The service was very Jewish but different from anything I had experienced I had never been exposed to individual and corporate spontaneous prayer It was obvious as these people prayed that they knew someone was listening The people were nice but it was not for me It was obvious as these people prayed that they knew someone was listening We did not return for five months Neither of us had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior at this point although Tricia was truly searching Then in the summer of 1985 Tricia gave her life to the Lord In September she asked me what I was doing for the high holidays When I told her I didn t have plans since my family was celebrating in New 172

Page 173

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 I T WAS N OT FOR 12 09 PM Page 173 ME York with relatives she suggested we go back to Ruach Israel to see what a Messianic service was like for the holidays Once again I agreed This time the service was not as foreign to me Some parts were vaguely familiar and I even remembered some of the chants Tricia enjoyed the service so much she wanted us to start attending on a regular basis We worked out a system where we would meet at a location halfway between our workplaces park one of the cars and take the other to the meeting on Friday nights Many times I would try to convince her that after a long week of work we should skip the service and go somewhere to relax but to no avail She would reply You can do that but I really want to attend the services After a few weeks of attending I thought I might as well try and get something out of it so I began to listen more attentively and even started to read the Bible Before bed I would pray to God and ask Him to show Himself to me Sometimes I would say in Jesus name to see if anything would happen As time went on I learned more about God But I still had no relationship with Him My Neck Has Been Healed Sid Roth came to speak at the Copley Place Hotel in Boston on Saturday April 26 1986 Tricia had been avidly listening to him on the radio and now of course wanted to attend his meeting In my mind we had already gone to service Friday night and now she wanted to ruin Saturday too I protested She persisted 173

Page 174

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 174 T HEMSELVES We went to hear this man speak about how he came to know Jesus and how God had restored his mind and marriage I thought this was interesting but I had heard others say the same thing before on the tapes Tricia had been giving me Near the end of the night he called people forward who needed to be healed Tricia went forward for her back and I went with her Standing next to Tricia at the front was a woman whom I had met earlier in the week at a Passover seder I knew she did not believe in Jesus I came to find out later that the only reason she was there was because it was her husband s birthday and all he wanted was for her to come and hear Sid This woman had been in a very serious car accident and could not move her neck She wore a TENS unit hooked to her neck to stimulate nerve endings to help with the pain Sid went down the line praying for people and of course they were falling over just like you would see on television When he got to this woman and Tricia they didn t fall over and then the next person in line did I had it all figured out He must be paying these people to fall over and I knew Tricia and this woman were not part of it After Sid was finished praying he said he felt that someone had been supernaturally healed so he told the people to very slowly move the area in their body that needed healing to check it out My eyes first went to Tricia Then I saw the woman next to her shaking her neck and shouting My neck My neck I can move my neck 174

Page 175

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 I T WAS N OT FOR 12 09 PM Page 175 ME Although I did not understand what was happening I knew I had encountered the presence of God and my life would never be the same At that point it almost seemed like I disappeared because I started to weep not just shed a tear but really weep Although I did not understand what was happening I knew I had encountered the presence of God and my life would never be the same The next morning I remember waking up and looking at the ceiling and thinking something was very different Everything was the same but the way I was looking at it was 180 degrees different from the way I had seen it a day earlier I later asked Tricia what had happened to me the night before that could make such a difference She stated calmly You had a born again experience I started reading the Bible again and found that passages I couldn t understand before now made complete sense I was a changed man Jesus was for me Randy and Tricia were married on July 18 1987 in a beautiful Messianic Jewish ceremony They now have two children Daniel Joseph born July 4 1990 and Joshua Michael born November 21 1993 and are raising them up to love and serve the Messiah of Israel The Lord has significantly healed Tricia s back and she leads a normal life free from the agony of back pain 175

Page 176

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 176 T HEMSELVES Commentary by Sid Roth Randy and Tricia Horne are typical of the many couples who have intermarried The Jewish community has done research predicting that if intermarriage and assimilation trends continue there will be very few Jewish people left in America Not to worry God says as long as this earth exists there will be physical Jews see Jer 31 35 verse 36 in some versions I see something far deeper in the union of Jew and Gentile in marriage The one flesh unity of Randy and Tricia reflects the shalom that will make us all one Jew and Gentile under the banner of Messiah s love The rabbis say Jesus is the Messiah of the Gentiles and we Jews are still waiting for our Messiah Isaiah 11 10 says from the root of Jesse David s father will the Messiah come as a sign to the Gentiles nations In other words the Gentiles will follow the Jewish Messiah We Jews believe in one God and one Messiah Now if the rabbis say Jesus is the Gentile Messiah by logic that makes Him the Jewish Messiah Besides how can we have peace on earth unless the whole world follows the same Messiah Come quickly Lord Jesus 176

Page 177

Page 178

Page 179

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 09 PM Page 179 C HAPTER 9 Bat Shalom Daughter of Zion A t the beginning of this century rumors began to circulate that a Jewish State was about to be reborn in the land of our forefathers Excitement swelled in the Jewish community in Yemen as they felt the days of the Messiah were soon to come Many Jewish people started to make their way back to Zion Leaving everything behind except their most essential belongings they set out on the long perilous journey across the desert some carrying their children on their shoulders They had little food or drink Many suffered from exhaustion and many died but they died full of hope and faith knowing they were returning to the land of their forefathers In the late 1930s my father left Yemen for Israel then called Palestine traveling by boat from Yemen to Egypt and from there by train Most of the family had died either in Yemen or on the way to Israel Upon arrival in Israel my 179

Page 180

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 09 PM Page 180 T HEMSELVES father joined his one surviving brother About this same time my mother and her family settled in Jerusalem After the rebirth of Israel the new government committed itself to bringing back the Jewish people from all over the world During the 1948 War of Independence my father joined the Jewish forces fighting for the survival of the newly born Jewish State of Israel He served in Ramat Rachel a kibbutz just south of Jerusalem After the rebirth of Israel the new government committed itself to bringing back the Jewish people from all over the world In 1950 an airlift called Operation Magic Carpet brought home to Israel a large part of the Yemenite Jewish community within a short period of time Most of them had never even seen an airplane before The rabbi explained from Isaiah 40 31 that God would lead them on wings like eagles which dispersed any fears they may have had of flying for they knew prophetically they were being taken home to be prepared for the days of redemption He Hears Your Prayers The Israeli Yemenite Jewish community in which I was raised was Orthodox My parents kept a kosher home and were strict observers of Torah the five books of Moses They kept the Shabbat Sabbath and all the feasts of Israel 180

Page 181

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 181 Z ION As I grew up I went to an Orthodox girls school in our neighborhood Every morning we prayed as our forefathers had for two thousand years At school we learned about the Messiah who would come and redeem the Jewish people He would reveal to the world that the God of Israel is the true God and would bring peace to all nations He would sit on His throne in Jerusalem and rule the world with an iron rod Though we learned this the emphasis in our school was on the Dinim the laws and commandments we had to follow as observant Jews It was not a subject that excited us very much I could not understand how it would bring me to a closer and deeper understanding of God but I knew from studying the Jewish prophet Isaiah that God s thoughts were higher than my thoughts so I didn t argue My father read his Bible every day when he returned from work He instilled in me a love for and firm belief in God and His Word The atmosphere at home was warm loving and full of music When we came together with family and friends on Shabbat holidays and special occasions we sang and prayed according to the Yemenite traditions My father read his Bible every day when he returned from work He instilled in me a love for and firm belief in God and His Word He taught me Never forget that God exists Whenever you need Him for whatever reason then 181

Page 182

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 182 T HEMSELVES He is always there to help you Turn to God because He hears your prayers and He knows your needs Every evening before I went to sleep my father and I quoted together a passage of Scripture I knew by heart Sh ma Yisrael Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad Ve Ahavta Et Adonai Eloheicha Bechol Levavcha Uv chol Nafshecha Uv chol me odech Hear O Israel The Lord our God the Lord is one Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might Deuteronomy 6 4 9 NKJV I followed this with a personal talk with God I used to bring before Him all the things of the day about which I was concerned and I had the assurance that He heard my prayers and was meeting my needs I knew God was my Father in Heaven and I loved Him but there were aspects of His character His righteousness holiness and judgment I did not understand and so I feared Him as well As a child I loved art and got good grades in painting and drawing I also was very interested in theatre and had the opportunity to act in some productions I began to attend a children s group at the main radio station of Israel where we read stories and sketches on the radio I loved it This opened a whole new world for me The director said I had an excellent voice for radio and he could help me to make this my profession when I graduated My father would tell me Don t spread yourself so thin Concentrate on one thing and do it well I knew this was 182

Page 183

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 183 Z ION very good advice but I loved all I did and it was difficult for me to give up anything I had the support and love of both my parents my father in particular always encouraged and complimented me Of course the youngest child generally gets the most attention so at times I was spoiled Miracle War As I was preparing to finish elementary school and begin the summer holidays in June 1967 Israel suddenly found herself embroiled in what became known as the Six Day War Israelis remember it as the Miracle War I was surprised to see that both of my brothers and my father were called to serve in the reserves For seven days our family sat in the neighbor s basement anxiously waiting to hear the news Our only contact with the outside world was the radio Every hour when we heard the beep we ran to listen to the latest bulletins Israelis remember it as the Miracle War For seven days our family sat in the neighbor s basement anxiously waiting to hear the news On the second day of the war all the adults in the room began jumping with joy hugging each other and shouting When I asked why I was told that Jerusalem had been reunited and our Israeli flag had been lifted on the 183

Page 184

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 184 T HEMSELVES Temple Mount Even as a child I realized this was a miracle only God could have performed After two thousand years of foreign domination Israel had expanded her borders to the heartland of her ancient territory I began to understand God s prophetic word for the Jewish people I Need Freedom When I was 12 years old and in a secondary school I started to question my way of life I began to break away from the teachings of my youth and go my own way Since I greatly respected my parents and did not want to hurt them I waited for the appropriate time and then explained my feelings to them I can t live this way anymore I said I respect your lifestyle but I need to explore a different one for me I believe very strongly in God but the mitzvot laws that I have been taught seem oldfashioned and not suitable for life today I find I am unable to keep them with my whole heart and I do not feel they bring me closer to God I asked for their permission to go to a public high school My father has always been an open minded man so he said It is all right You can do that as long as you are happy But do not forget who your God is and where you come from And so I transferred to public school This proved to be a great challenge I was confronted with a totally different culture And much to my surprise some teachers including the head teacher did not believe in the Bible as the Word of God Instead they viewed the Bible as a collection of mythical tales not really inspired by God 184

Page 185

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 185 Z ION He singled out one boy in our class who wore a kippah as the object of sarcastic remarks and ridicule An even greater shock was finding that one of my teachers was an avowed atheist and particularly sharp toward any student who believed in God He singled out one boy in our class who wore a kippah as the object of sarcastic remarks and ridicule My frustrations at this new school challenged me to study the Bible for myself It was an eye opening experience to study the books of Isaiah Ezekiel Jeremiah and the other prophets The prophecies concerning the return of the Jews to our homeland amazed me Because of my disenchantment over the way the Bible and other subjects were taught I began to question the wisdom of attending public school After two and one half years I left and enrolled in a school at which I could study mostly at home and go to classes just two days each week This was a period of deep soul searching for me a time of seeking for truth Since I was studying at home I had a lot of time to think and read I knew I had not found satisfaction in a religious Orthodox lifestyle even though I appreciated and identified with the traditions But I had to ask myself If keeping the commandments does not bring me peace and a closer relationship with God then what does I was searching for the answers to other questions as 185

Page 186

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 186 T HEMSELVES well What is the purpose of my life here on earth Who is God really What will happen to me after I die I tried to find answers in philosophical books but they left me confused raising more questions than answers I gained no satisfaction from studying them Yom Kippur War My quest for truth was suddenly interrupted by the Yom Kippur War in 1973 This was the hardest war Israel had ever faced All our Arab neighbors attacked us declaring a Holy War for Allah on the holiest day of the Jewish year Their sole intent was to destroy Israel and annihilate the Jewish population We were totally unprepared and consequently this war was a terrible tragedy for us In Israel in time of war all reserve units are called up to strengthen the army My two brothers and my father were again fighting in a war they had not wanted Unlike 1967 this became a very personal war to me as many of my friends and neighbors were either wounded or killed I was devastated and in deep mourning I cried to God for answers In January 1974 I began my military service which every Israeli teenager enters at age 18 I served in the navy It was just after the Yom Kippur War and I saw some of my friends and acquaintances coming home wounded some very severely from the war This increased my longing to know God and to know what the hereafter had in store for me I asked all sorts of questions but never received any clear answers 186

Page 187

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 187 Z ION Premature Marriage I had served in the navy for one year when I married and obtained a release from service A release was generally granted to girls getting married and starting a home My husband Avi was an old friend I had known before I went into the navy He was six years older than I and a confirmed atheist I still do not know what induced me to marry As I reflect on it now I realize I was far too young and made an impulsive decision However there was a lot of confusion in those days and emotions were blown out of proportion I had lost friends in the war and felt I was in danger of losing another Even though the marriage was a mistake I know God was watching over my life Our relationship fell apart after only one year After giving up all hope that our marriage would ever amount to anything we agreed to separate But the day we decided to get a divorce Avi had to go to the Galilee on a press assignment he was a press photographer On the way back he was involved in a serious traffic accident in which his friend the driver of the car was killed and Avi was seriously injured It was a miracle he came out of the wreckage alive He suffered a severe concussion which the doctors told him would require a long period of rest Ironically just a few days after the accident I discovered I was pregnant Because of Avi s injuries and my pregnancy we decided to stay together When he left the hospital however Avi went to his mother s home for several months to recuperate 187

Page 188

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 188 T HEMSELVES Transcendental Meditation Meanwhile I was under tremendous pressure I was 20 years old pregnant with my first baby and in a marriage hanging together by a thread I was trying to earn a living and at the same time visit my husband in the hospital every day I had to travel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and then spend hours in the intensive care unit Since I could not really communicate with Avi I would sit and watch the injured soldiers entering the hospital One had been explaining to his friends how to dismantle a hand grenade when it exploded in his face His brain had died but his heart kept beating I saw others die or remain comatose I was under tremendous pressure I was 20 years old pregnant with my first baby and in a marriage hanging together by a thread Again I was caught in a web of circumstances that forced me to think about issues of life and death I knew there had to be answers to my questions answers that would change my life I also knew I would have no peace until I found them I got a part time job working for the Ministry of the Treasury While there I made friends with a lady deeply involved in transcendental meditation TM She knew I was going through a hard time and encouraged me to come to their meetings believing they held the answer for 188

Page 189

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 189 Z ION me In my desperation I finally yielded to her persuasions and let her enroll me in a course I had been very concerned this might be a religion despite her assurance it wasn t However toward the end of the course my friend said I forgot to tell you there is a closing ceremony but you can ignore what takes place This aroused my curiosity We were told to bring an apple and a new white handkerchief as an offering for the maharishi though I did not realize at first what was taking place One by one we were taken into a small room with a TM instructor who stood in the back whispering incantations while the incense smoke arose by the picture of the guru I laid down my apple as an offering to the maharishi Then the instructor gave me my own special mantra to repeat while meditating The ceremony made me very uncomfortable and I went home in despair This was in stark contrast to TM s promises of personal fulfillment joy peace and contentment I tried to ignore the religious part of the course and continued doing the exercises and the early morning meditations as I believed it would help me in my pregnancy Then suddenly it hit me By doing TM I m worshiping other gods I knew something was wrong but I could not put my finger on it Then suddenly it hit me By doing TM I m worshiping other gods Once I understood the implications I was almost physically sick I confronted my TM 189

Page 190

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 190 T HEMSELVES friend You said this wasn t a religious course but now I realize I was ensnared in idolatry A New Profession As time went by Avi improved physically He started working a few hours a day in his lab but was frustrated with his physical limitations and inability to provide properly for his family He became self absorbed and lost his temper easily It was difficult to communicate with him After the dreadful experience of TM and with my married life deteriorating I turned more and more to God with my questions crying out to Him for comfort appealing to Him for help in my distress and begging Him to reveal Himself to me After the dreadful experience of TM and with my married life deteriorating I turned more and more to God with my questions crying out to Him for comfort appealing to Him for help in my distress and begging Him to reveal Himself to me When trouble comes it does not seem to stop Avi broke the metal plate in his hip and had to be rushed to the hospital He had an emergency operation and once again was confined to the hospital for several months This time he had a plaster body cast He was admitted to a private hospital close to home so I didn t have to travel as far to visit him 190

Page 191

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 191 Z ION Through Avi s long term illness I had taken on the responsibility of supporting the family but I was only working part time at the Ministry of Treasury so I began to look for a second job It was at that time that God began to answer my prayers A friend of ours knew of a printing business looking for a computer typist to operate a typesetting machine One day he called us to see how we were doing He asked if I knew of anyone looking for a part time job Yes I know someone me I said But I have no training in typesetting He quickly replied That doesn t matter If you take the job they will train you Then I ll take it I announced I would love to learn a new profession Little did I know what God had in mind From my first day at the printing firm I knew I was part of something very special There was a wonderful atmosphere and the few people I saw were very kind to me Even the interview with the manager was pleasant Although I started out with no knowledge of computers after a while I became quite proficient I worked in a tiny room where I operated one computer and Ibrahim a young Beduin Arab operated the other He was about my age 23 married and already had four children A Different New Testament One morning my employer handed me an envelope with a manuscript for me to typeset When I pulled it out I discovered it was the New Testament in Hebrew My first 191

Page 192

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 192 T HEMSELVES reaction was Oh no this can t be real What sort of place is this Why do they want to print the New Testament in Hebrew here Are they missionaries For a while I sat there struggling with my conscience What chutzpah nerve they have Shall I do it What am I supposed to do My mind whirled I needed the job but how could I work on such a thing I felt I had no choice so I began It was difficult to open the manuscript and start typing thinking I was contributing to the work of missionaries helping them convert Jewish people and steal Jewish souls I vividly recalled a story I had read as a child about a widow named Hannah who had seven children She lived during the time of the Inquisition When faced with the choice of death or bowing to the cross she heroically refused to yield choosing death rather than conversion The longer I worked on the manuscript the clearer it became to me the New Testament was a Jewish book As I began to type and read the New Testament it was different than I had expected To my amazement on the first page was the genealogy of Yeshua which showed Him to be a descendant of Abraham of the line of David My first discovery was that Yeshua was a Jew And the disciples were Jews The longer I worked on the manuscript the clearer it became to me the New Testament was a Jewish book Then the questions began What s wrong with it I thought Why are 192

Page 193

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 193 Z ION the rabbis so against it Why do they reject this book All these questions went through my mind while typing I had been brought up to believe that Jesus was the God of the Christians and that the New Testament was a Christian book yet I knew I was typesetting a book that was completely Jewish How could this be And if Christians followed a Jewish book how could they have persecuted the Jewish people for so many centuries And so the struggle for my salvation began My heart was no longer at peace In my head it made sense to me that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah but my upbringing kept my heart from accepting that idea As I read the words of Yeshua in HaBrit HaHadashah the New Testament truth began to shine into my life Yeshua said all actions stem from a person s heart and God is concerned with our thoughts and motives not just our actions That really struck home Then came the amazing revelation of eternal life I thought This is the answer I have been seeking for a long long time The words of Yeshua pierced to the very depths of my heart and although I was still fighting God was winning the battle Then came the amazing revelation of eternal life I thought This is the answer I have been seeking for a long long time All I have known up until now has been very obscure concerning eternal life but Yeshua s words are very clear and certain and I can understand them The words of Yeshua pierced to 193

Page 194

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 194 T HEMSELVES the very depths of my heart and although I was still fighting God was winning the battle Is This Truth Two major questions remained Is this really the truth or am I deceiving myself and Why does the name of Yeshua generate so much anger among the Orthodox Jews I began to look up the references in the Tanakh the Old Testament to check them against quotations in the Gospels I wanted to know if the prophecies and promises of Yeshua s coming were really written in the Tanakh I delved deeply into the subject After many months of searching I felt I could go no further without help So I began to ask all my friends Who is the Messiah really Why hasn t the Messiah come yet Why couldn t Yeshua be the Messiah I bombarded everyone I met with my questions even people I hardly knew I was not ashamed but was very open about it Still I had doubts about whether Yeshua was Messiah Sometimes I felt as if I had found a great treasure but a little later I would dismiss it again My turmoil lasted for months During this time Avi was discharged from the hospital and came back to live with me again as we had decided to give our marriage another chance While he had almost recovered from his initial concussion his legs were still in casts After I had finished typing the New Testament I was given various Christian books to typeset in Hebrew These 194

Page 195

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 195 Z ION included The Hiding Place a book about Corrie ten Boom a Christian who had hidden Jews during the Holocaust Run Baby Run the story of Nicky Cruz a New York gang leader whose life was changed by faith in Yeshua and Joni the story of Joni Erikson whose faith had sustained her when she became a quadriplegic as the result of a swimming accident Those books made a great impression on me While I was working on the computer tears would sometimes run down my cheeks I saw how God s love had touched people and radically changed their lives I See an Angel About nine months after I had started typesetting the New Testament and the other books into Hebrew I was troubled more than ever with my many questions But no one I asked was able to give me satisfactory answers One night in desperation I went to my bedroom and cried out to God God please show me the way I should go Is Yeshua the true Messiah of Israel or is He a false Messiah If He is the true Messiah I want to follow Him and serve Him But if He is not please let me forget about Him Right after I prayed I saw a vision of a man clothed in a long white robe His bearded face was shining and full of glory The countenance of the man was majestic I did not understand the meaning of this vision yet I felt God was trying to give me a sign 195

Page 196

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 196 T HEMSELVES God please show me the way I should go Is Yeshua the true Messiah of Israel or is He a false Messiah If He is the true Messiah I want to follow Him and serve Him But if He is not please let me forget about Him The next day I left work at 3 00 P M and was standing at the bus stop watching for the next bus Suddenly I saw a man coming toward me from the other side of the street I realized I had seen him before He had the same face the same long hair the same beard and the same clothes as the man I had seen in the vision the night before A shock ran through my body and the experience gave me goose bumps I looked around to see if anyone else at the bus stop saw him but no one indicated noticing him As I looked back toward him I saw that he had disappeared I realized this was God s sign The tall bearded man was the man in my vision It couldn t be a coincidence my meeting the same man from the vision in the street I knew it was an angel and I rejoiced At last I was convinced Yeshua was the Messiah I had total peace and an overwhelming joy in my heart The struggles between my head and my heart were over I was thrilled to know I was finally on the right path This was my turning point 196

Page 197

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 197 Z ION At last I was convinced Yeshua was the Messiah I had total peace and an overwhelming joy in my heart When I got home I was so excited about what I had seen I blurted out to my husband Do you know what has just happened I had a vision and after that I saw an angel and he was from God Yeshua is the Messiah I m certain of it The revelation was so real to me I did not consider anyone might doubt it But Avi a confirmed atheist looked at me mockingly as if I had gone crazy He made fun of me in front of my friends When he had an attentive audience he would say sarcastically Have you heard Batya saw an angel and now she believes in Yeshu This is a derogatory name for Yeshua On those occasions I wished the ground would swallow me When we were alone I would say to him You just don t do that sort of thing This is something personal something intimate You can t ridicule prayer and the things that I experienced with God This is something between me and God I Lose My Daughter Our relationship continued to deteriorate I was very vulnerable as a new believer in Yeshua I had no idea what direction my life would take nor much inner certainty about the future I needed brothers and sisters in the Body 197

Page 198

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 198 T HEMSELVES of Messiah to support me But Avi forbade me to meet with other believers or to read the Bible If you continue doing this he told me I shall fight you in the highest courts and take our daughter away from you True to his word Avi moved ahead with his vendetta I was ordered to appear before the Rabbinical Court When Avi arrived I noticed he was carrying a briefcase I had no idea what was in it My lawyer a religious man could not guess either When he came before the judge Avi opened the case and produced all the books I had typed plus my New Testament These are her books he shouted pointing at me She is a missionary And I won t have her bringing up my daughter There was a great commotion in the courtroom The rabbis seemed gravely concerned After consultation they forbade Avi to allow me into the house and said that I could no longer raise my daughter They gave him full custody My lawyer requested a recess but they refused I shouted at the rabbis before I left the courtroom God is the only Judge He will make the decision about where my daughter will be If God wishes for her to be with me He will make it possible My courage to speak amazed me I almost felt as though the Lord had spoken those words through me I hugged and kissed my daughter good bye and closed the door of my house behind me I had been banished 198

Page 199

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 199 Z ION With a heavy heart and tears streaming down my face I hugged and kissed my daughter good bye and closed the door of my house behind me I had been banished Defeated I couldn t understand why God had allowed it to happen Yeshua Please Help Lord I cried this is too much for me Please help me I cannot bear this With my mouth I said that I was sacrificing my Isaac as Abraham had but my heart was not in it She was my daughter I was leaving my daughter It felt as though a sword were piercing my soul I cried Oh Yeshua please help me Amazingly the separation from my daughter lasted only three days A finding by the civil court annulled the verdict of the religious court because of a technical error But I knew it was a miracle from God My daughter was with me again I could take her in my arms and hold her By the grace of God I have been able to bring her up and she is still living with me to this very day She is now 18 years old and about to enter the Israeli Army I am proud of her and love her very very much The battle in the courts for custody of Tali lasted eight years including about four years in the Supreme Court of Israel Year after year it dragged on until Avi decided to marry another woman and pressed me to agree to a divorce It is amazing how God can use the evil things in the world to bring about good 199

Page 200

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 200 T HEMSELVES It is amazing how God can use the evil things in the world to bring about good This fight which was really persecution for my belief in Yeshua stimulated my spiritual growth I had to learn to fight to survive even though still a baby spiritually The fight strengthened me and the problems refined me The Lord gave me many insights and my relationship with Him became very deep and secure A few years later I became involved with a group of believers who were musicians we would meet to sing and pray One evening we were praying together in a circle and when I opened my eyes I saw a young man who had come in late There was something very familiar about him though I had never met him before After that I kept running into him in Jerusalem I learned that his name was Barry and I found that I enjoyed his sense of humor Barry s whole life before he came to the Lord had revolved around music He once had been a professional rhythm and blues musician a style of music totally alien to me I had heard such music one time as a child but did not like it at all When Barry found Yeshua he gave up his guitar although later God was to use this talent in ministry for Himself Barry was one of the best guitarists I had ever heard and as I also played guitar we really got on well together As the years went by Barry and I got to know each other well He was a constant prayer companion for me in my court battles over Tali We began to work together and finally came to realize that God had brought us together to be man and wife We had two wedding celebrations a traditional Yemenite Jewish wedding and a Messianic celebration It 200

Page 201

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 B AT S HALOM D AUGHTER OF 12 10 PM Page 201 Z ION was a wonderful time for both of us It was not easy for our parents to accept our faith but the wedding helped give them some insight and praise God they never cut us out of their lives Barry s father a traditional Conservative Jew does not agree with the ultra Orthodox position that Messianic Jews are no longer Jews My parents know I am a believer in Yeshua and they accept it They love Barry and I am still my father s little girl They love our children our daughter Tali our lovely six year old son Ariel Lion of God and one of the names of Jerusalem and our beautiful daughter Liran who is almost two My parents get great joy from their grandchildren We have spent many a Shabbat at their table a mixture of Yemenite Orthodoxy and Messianic Judaism As Jewish Orthodox people who have great respect for God and His Word they express their joy at seeing how God has blessed me with a new family Commentary by Sid Roth The Lubavitchers are a sect within traditional Judaism Many believe their rabbi Manachem M Schneersohn who died in 1994 is the Messiah This group has a synagogue in Siberia The president of this synagogue recently visited a local church in his area because he was friends with the pastor At this meeting there was a Messianic Jewish dance group comprised of Jews Gentiles men women African American white and Hispanic dancers that touched the synagogue leader deeply Afterward he said Our traditional worship 201

Page 202

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 202 T HEMSELVES is dead Many of our young people are leaving the synagogue But I feel such joy and life in your worship I feel God s presence We want what you have What is the difference between us The leader of the dance group said There is only one difference Our Messiah is Jesus He died and rose from the dead 2 000 years ago Your Messiah is Rabbi Schneerson whom you expect to rise from the dead But he has been dead for years and will never come back What you are experiencing from our dance group comes from their intimacy with God Without Messiah Jesus it is impossible to have intimacy with God After we Jewish people have intimacy with God then our assignment is to tell Gentiles about the Jewish Messiah Isaiah says the call of the Jew is to be a light to the Gentiles nations Isa 49 6 NKJV The assignment of the Gentile believer in Jesus is to tell Jewish people about the Messiah see Rom 11 11 And when we all do our job Messiah will return and usher in an age of peace 202

Page 203

Page 204

Page 205

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 10 PM Page 205 C HAPTER 10 The Amazing Jewish Book and the God Shaped Hole in My Soul And ye shall seek Me and find Me when ye shall search for Me with all your heart Jeremiah 29 13 O ne does not have to live too many years before discovering that there exists within a certain emptiness a void or vacuum that the things of this world can never fill Neither money nor sex travel fame drugs titles possessions nor any other human accomplishment can fill this emptiness I call this vacuum the God shaped hole in my soul I eventually discovered that this particular void is reserved only for the Creator of the Universe the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Himself to live in each of us personally Here then is the story of my personal search through religion academics sports business and the media my 205

Page 206

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 206 T HEMSELVES discovery of the Bible the amazing Jewish book my coming to understand how to have a personal relationship with God and my experiencing His abundant life I tried religion I had a wonderful religion Judaism Both of my parents were Jewish I attended a Conservative synagogue I was born a Jew and I would die a Jew But somehow even in the synagogue the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob seemed to be so far away I didn t feel that I could live my whole life for only religion I tried academics I had honors in scholarship both in high school and college But I could not live my life only for a string of doctorate degrees after my name I excelled in sports In Philadelphia I was quarterback of the championship high school football team and pitcher for the winning city baseball team I had awards in basketball and table tennis But I couldn t live only for athletic accomplishments and the friends they brought I tried the business world I worked my way up from production control to vice president s assistant and eventually to corporate president I had a lovely ranch home in a modern Jewish community Our company had a twinengine aircraft and a pilot who flew me and the executives who worked for me wherever we wanted to go But still I couldn t live my life only for business accomplishments And then I experienced the media I was Chairman of the Board of Fourth Television Network We provided programming to 500 cable franchises For a number of years I produced and hosted a nationally syndicated daily radio show which aired on 22 stations I have been interviewed 206

Page 207

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 207 IN M Y S OUL on numerous national television and radio programs across the United States Canada and the Middle East which were broadcast to millions of people But even being involved with the media could not be the ultimate purpose of my life There had to be something more During the course of my lifetime I have been privileged to experience many things that other people would like to experience and have not been able to But none of my accomplishments could ever fill that God shaped hole within me One day at the Fairmount Park Recreation Center in Philadelphia before I had experienced most of the things described above I met George Gruen a Jewish Bible believer George and his wife Doris lived their lives on a higher plane than anyone I had ever met They had true joy peace happiness and a genuine love for me and others I wondered what made these people so different There had to be something more George was a coach of baseball and basketball teams Since I loved sports so much I wanted to participate Along with the competition George conducted Bible studies from the Jewish Scriptures for all participating team members For the first time in my life I seriously considered the credentials and the message of the Jewish Bible 207

Page 208

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 208 T HEMSELVES The Credentials of the Amazing Jewish Bible Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to Thy Word Thy Word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against Thee Psalm 119 9 11 First of all I discovered that the Jewish Bible is historically accurate when checked against other existing historical records And in some cases it gives the only sensible account for certain periods of time when no other historical records are available Then the Jewish Scriptures are geographically reliable and have been confirmed many times over by archaeologists who use the Bible as a road map to locate buried cities and historical artifacts Israeli military leaders sometimes use ancient battle routes and follow battle strategies found in the Tanakh Jewish Scriptures in modern day warfare against Israel s enemies Most amazingly the Jewish Bible specifically foretold the future with 100 percent accuracy in every instance Most amazingly the Jewish Bible specifically foretold the future with 100 percent accuracy in every instance The Hebrew Scriptures prophesied of 1 The Re establishment of the State of Israel In Isaiah 11 12 God said 208

Page 209

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 209 IN M Y S OUL And He shall set up an ensign for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth God said that He would make Israel like an ensign in Hebrew a miraculous flag or banner for the world to see He would then re gather the Jewish people from the four corners of the earth after almost 2 000 years of worldwide dispersion On May 14 1948 Prime Minister David Ben Gurion stood in Tel Aviv s Museum Hall and proclaimed the Statehood of Israel A nation was born in a single day exactly as the Bible prophesied over 2 700 years ago see Isa 66 8 2 The Restoration of Hebrew The Pure Language In Zephaniah 3 9 it is written For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent Israel is a melting pot of Jewish people from more than a hundred nations of the world yet they all learn to speak biblical Hebrew with modern Hebrew words added One may wonder why Hebrew is called a pure language in the Bible That is because there are no words of vulgarity or profanity in biblical Hebrew Never before in the history of mankind has an ancient people been scattered across the face of the earth for almost 2 000 years and later restored to their own land with 209

Page 210

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 210 T HEMSELVES their own ancient national language How did the Jewish prophet Zephaniah know that would happen 3 The Miraculous Defeat of Israel s Enemies in Four Major Wars Isaiah 19 16 17 predicts the miraculous victories of modern Israel over her enemies which occurred in 1948 War of Independence 1956 Sinai War 1967 Six Day War and 1973 Yom Kippur War In that day shall Egypt be like unto women and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which He hath determined against it During the four major wars Israel s small population of several million Jews had to defend itself time after time against the growing Arab League of 20 nations now 21 nations with a population at that time of approximately 140 million Arabs Israel was outnumbered 5 to 1 in soldiers 3 to 1 in enemy aircraft and tanks 8 to 1 in artillery and 18 to 1 in missiles Israel s military budget paled to insignificance when contrasted against the tens of billions of petro dollars Israel s enemies spent for Israel s destruction And yet Israel even though out manned out gunned and outfinanced has won war after war against insurmountable odds There is no answer but God Himself who foretold in the Bible this would happen Here are three brief examples of the exciting miracles God performed on behalf of Israel 210

Page 211

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 211 IN M Y S OUL A Jewish tour guide testified During the war my men and I were trapped in a minefield The mines started blowing up all around us All of a sudden a little whirlwind of sand appeared and led me and my men through the minefield to safety An Israeli wrote me I was down in the battlefield and saw on the hilltop a man completely dressed in white helping our soldiers from foxhole to foxhole Whenever the man lifted his arms up toward heaven the battle always went in the favor of our Israeli troops I gave my binoculars to my General to get a better look He too saw the man in white who then disappeared in front of our eyes A reporter told me that his father also a reporter was on the Golan Heights after the Israelis captured it His father asked the Syrian soldiers Why did you retreat from the few Jewish soldiers that first came up They replied You must be mistaken We did not see a few Jewish soldiers We saw hundreds of them Whom did these Syrian soldiers see Did they see the angels of God Could it be that once again God is sending His angels to fight for His Jewish people and putting a fear in the hearts of Israel s enemies according to Isaiah s prophecy 4 Agricultural Miracles Would Occur When the Jews Returned to Israel In Isaiah 35 1 it says 211

Page 212

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 212 T HEMSELVES The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose When the Jewish people returned to Israel from the four corners of the earth they found malaria ridden swamps and parched barren deserts The nomads who occupied the land for centuries were not the children of the deserts rather they were the fathers of it They contributed nothing to restore the land through their negligence it had gotten worse When the Jews returned to their homeland an agricultural transformation began to take place as prophesied by Isaiah When I lived in Chicago I was able to buy luscious oranges from Israel In Miami I could buy tomato juice from Tel Aviv And now in the Washington D C area where I live I can purchase beautiful fresh cut flowers from Israel One only has to visit the famous Carmel Market in Tel Aviv to see the fantastically huge citrus and produce that Israel grows The Scripture says the desert shall blossom as the rose The most important cut flowers that are exported from Israel are roses The tiny nation of Israel is number three in the world for exporting cut flowers valued at 140 million a year with the majority going to Europe How s that for a dry parched barren desert Bananas a warm climate fruit are grown in the Jordan Valley with excellent results while just five miles away apples a cold climate fruit also yield a top quality crop I have witnessed this marvel with my own eyes 212

Page 213

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 213 IN M Y S OUL In the short existence of modern day Israel it is already part of a select group of nations that not only produces enough food for its own citizens but exports 20 percent of its total agricultural products to other countries of the world Israel also exports its agricultural technology and know how to third world countries as well as to highly developed countries in Europe and to the United States Israel is the most water efficient country in the world regulating and controlling alternative water resources such as recycled water from industry and sewage from the domestic sector Using integrated computerized control of irrigation and fertilization systems in a substantial percentage of Israeli field crops and horticulture minimizes labor costs and maximizes the best possible conditions for the crops In a special station in Israel s Negev Desert using desert methods and techniques of irrigation salty water is pumped from the depths of the Negev with unsurpassed results in producing the best tasting and highest quality tomatoes to be found anywhere Eggplant yellow melons potatoes pears and table grapes are also watered with this salty water and harvested in the Negev Desert Once our Jewish people returned to the land Isaiah s prophecies about flowers in the desert and Israel s agriculture proved to be right on target 5 Israel s Waste Cities Would Be Rebuilt The prophet Amos wrote in Amos 9 14 And I will bring again the captivity of My people of Israel and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards 213

Page 214

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 214 T HEMSELVES and drink the wine thereof they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them Since 1948 the Jews have built their nation with one hand and with the other have held their weapons Despite defending itself in four major wars caring for the transportation housing language training employment and education of millions of immigrants from over a hundred nations forming a government and developing an infrastructure Israel has managed to build and finance a modern nation of which it can be proud What once were waste cities are now expanding modern cities and ports such as Jerusalem Tel Aviv Jaffa Haifa and many others Since its independence Israel has had a non stop building program and is reclaiming the desert at such a rate that its map makers have a hard time staying current Israel has not only excelled in agriculture but also in its technology universities sciences defense medicine resorts and much more The State of Israel is exactly what the Bible said it would be 6 The Jews Would Return to Israel From the Land of the North Russia Jeremiah 16 14 15 and 23 7 8 tell about Exodus 2 Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north If you were to fly north from Jerusalem you would eventually come to Moscow The former Soviet Union 214

Page 215

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 215 IN M Y S OUL especially Russia contains the only sizable Jewish population north of Israel that could fit this prophecy It is estimated that there are from two and one half million pure blooded Jews to ten million intermarried and closet Jews in the former USSR Whatever the numbers well over a million Russian Jews have already immigrated to Israel in recent years The majority of these immigrants are highly trained educators physicians engineers and musicians who are infusing Israel with a windfall of intelligent professionals from the land of the North exactly as the Jewish Scriptures predicted over 2 600 years ago Is it any wonder I call it The Amazing Jewish Bible If one ancient prophecy from the Jewish Scriptures came true we could call it luck If two prophecies came true we could call it a lucky coincidence If three prophecies came true we could say what a remarkable lucky coincidence But when prophecy after prophecy after prophecy comes true specifically by the sheer law of compound probabilities we have passed from the realms of luck and coincidence and God has given us a sure word of prophecy that we can live by and upon which we can base our decisions I and millions of others have concluded that the Jewish Bible is the most corroborated authenticated document in the world Yes the Bible is confirmed by history archaeology geography prophecy and the Dead Sea Scrolls And most of all it works in the lives of those who sincerely put it to the test I can verify this by my own experience This 215

Page 216

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 216 T HEMSELVES kind of evidence does demand a verdict What should we do about it I thought it was fascinating all those years ago that God fulfilled Bible prophecy but I wanted to know how that related to me What was God s plan for me personally The Message of the Jewish Bible Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool Isaiah 1 18 As I searched the Jewish Scriptures I discovered that God s plan to have my sins forgiven and to have me enter into a personal relationship with Him could be summarized in five spiritual principles I call these The Five Jewish Laws In other words just as the Creator has welldefined physical laws such as gravity centrifugal force and inertia that govern the operation of the universe so He has well defined spiritual laws that govern our relationship with Him Here are these laws Law 1 Tells of God s Purpose God created you and me to have a personal relationship with Himself and as a result of that relationship to enjoy His abundant life Nothing gives God greater pleasure than when you and I choose to have a personal relationship with Him out of our own free will 216

Page 217

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 217 IN M Y S OUL The Lord hath made all things for Himself His own pleasure Proverbs 16 4 A personal relationship with God will bring you His abundant life of peace purpose meaning joy and happiness At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psalm 16 11 This is a wonderful life to have isn t it But most people don t seem to be experiencing this abundant life today Why not This brings us to Law 2 Law 2 Reveals Man s Problem Sin separates you from a personal relationship with God and His abundant life Sin also causes spiritual death But your iniquities your sins have separated between you and your God Isaiah 59 2 The soul that sinneth it shall die spiritual death Ezekiel 18 4 Sin also causes guilt unhappiness lack of peace frustration and a lack of purpose What is sin It is the transgression or breaking of God s law Part of the Shema Deuteronomy 6 5 says And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might 217

Page 218

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 218 T HEMSELVES If we do not love God with all of our heart soul and might then we have broken the most important and First Commandment and have sinned If we put anything before God such as self material possessions sex money drugs or anything else then we have made idols of those things and have committed idolatry If we hate somebody in our hearts then we are murderers If we lust in our hearts then we are adulterers If we steal kill lie covet work on the Sabbath or dishonor our parents then we have broken the Ten Commandments Actually our rabbis and scholars tell us that there are 613 Commandments in the Tenach that we should all keep Who can keep all of these commandments None of us Who can keep all of these commandments None of us First Kings 8 46 says For there is no man that sinneth not As I studied the Jewish Scriptures I realized that both knowingly and unknowingly I had broken countless commandments of God and that I had to turn from these sins with God s help Ezekiel 33 11 quotes the Lord God As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked unforgiven but that the wicked unforgiven turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil sinful ways for why will ye die O house of Israel 218

Page 219

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 219 IN M Y S OUL I realized that I had sinned and needed God s help Are you willing to admit that you too have sinned and need God s help That brings us to Law 3 Law 3 Explains God s Plan A You Cannot Remove Sin by Your Own Human Efforts None of us can get to Heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments the law The knowledge of sin is produced by God s law which is so pure and perfect that it is His ruler or measurement to show us as human beings how far short we fall of God s glory and holiness Without the law we would not even know how sinful we are Man s plan is to try to remove his own sins by his own human efforts These efforts may include religion man s attempts to reach God or just plain being a do gooder hoping that one s good deeds outweigh one s bad deeds to attain self righteousness In Proverbs 14 12 it says There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death spiritual separation from God Again the Creator who has put a hundred billion galaxies in space in perfect mathematical and chronological precision is not sloppy when it comes to His spiritual laws If one does not obey God s precise spiritual laws as revealed and confirmed in His Word one cannot achieve God s required righteousness right standing with God B Sin Can Only Be Removed by Faith Believing What God Says and Acting Upon it 219

Page 220

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 220 T HEMSELVES Righteousness comes by faith Genesis 15 6 says And he Abraham the Father of the Jewish People believed had faith in the Lord and He God counted it Abraham s faith to him for righteousness Righteousness with God does not come by our good works mitzvot For by God s grace something that we don t deserve you and I are forgiven through faith It is not of ourselves It is the gift of God not of our human works unless any of us should boast and say that we deserve it see Eph 2 8 9 C Faith Must Be Placed in God s Provided Blood of Atonement Covering for Sin If one has spiritual faith in the sense that the Bible describes then God requires an act of faith acceptable to Him Leviticus 17 11 says For it is the blood that maketh an atonement covering for the soul When the Temple was in existence and the lamb was sacrificed on the altar providing the blood of atonement this was an act of faith acceptable to God But since the Temple is no longer in existence and the sacrificial system has ceased how can we have the blood of atonement today by an act of faith That brings us to Law 4 Law 4 Shows God s Provision God has provided the blood of atonement today through a Perfect Sacrifice One whom the Jewish Bible 220

Page 221

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 221 IN M Y S OUL calls The Messiah The word Messiah means The Anointed One Isaiah 53 5 6 says But He was wounded through our transgressions rebellions bruised through our iniquities moral evils the chastisement punishment of our peace welfare was upon Him and with His wounds stripes blood we are healed atoned for All we like sheep have gone astray sinned we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon Him the Messiah In the life of Abel Adam and Eve s son we see how God provided atonement for one person see Gen 4 4 On Passover we see God s atonement for a family see Exod 12 13 On Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement we see God s provision for a nation see Lev 16 30 And in the Messiah we see atonement for all who believe have faith in Him as their personal perfect Passover Lamb see Isa 53 But the critical question is How can we know who is the true Jewish Messiah In the Scriptures God gives over 300 prophecies that clearly identify the Messiah According to the law of compound probabilities there is only one chance in 33 554 432 that even 25 of these prophecies could be fulfilled by a single person 1 221

Page 222

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 222 T HEMSELVES Whoever has fulfilled the following prophecies is the true Messiah of Israel The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judah see Micah 5 1 2 be born of a virgin as a miracle sign to the Jewish people see Isa 7 14 The Hebrew word for virgin used in Isaiah 7 14 is almah This is translated in some versions of the Bible as maiden or young woman However in the Jewish Scriptures when almah is used and read in context it is almost always clear that it refers to a virgin Furthermore God promised Israel a sign It would not be a sign for a normal young maiden to bear a child It would be a sign if a virgin gave birth to a child by the hand of God Please note that the Hebrew name of this Child Immanuel means God with us This shows His unusual nature Some stumble at this prophecy because of their lack of faith God who put the universe in place could have easily had a virgin bear a child Besides what is that compared to God s marvelous creation of a human being be despised and rejected of men see Isa 53 3 live a sinless life see Isa 53 9 be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver see Zech 11 12 13 die for the sins of the Jewish people and the whole world see Isa 53 5 6 8 die by crucifixion see Ps 22 14 18 Zech 12 10 222

Page 223

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 223 IN M Y S OUL have his clothing gambled for at the time of His death see Ps 22 18 come before the destruction of the Second Temple A D 70 see Dan 9 24 26 arise from the dead see Ps 16 10 110 1 Only one man in history has fulfilled these prophecies He has changed the calendar and the course of history and millions of Jews and Gentiles have trusted Him for their personal atonement His Hebrew name is Yeshua which means salvation To my non Jewish friends He is known as Jesus which was originally translated from the Greek as Je sus hay SOOS Christos CHRIS tose and was later anglicized as Jesus The Christ which means Salvation The Messiah When you meet God s requirements concerning Messiah Yeshua you do not lose your wonderful biblical Jewish heritage rather you complete your Judaism by gaining the blood of atonement gaining the Messiah and gaining an infinitely more personal relationship with the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob However it is not enough for you just to know intellectually that Yeshua is the Messiah An act of faith is needed to receive the Messiah s blood of atonement and to enter into God s abundant life That brings us to Law 5 Law 5 Gives Man s Prerogative A Free Will Choice You need to ask Messiah Yeshua into your heart and life in order to have the blood of 223

Page 224

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 224 T HEMSELVES atonement and a personal relationship with God and to enjoy His abundant life The Messiah will not force His way into your life He desires to be invited Joel 3 5 2 32 in some versions states Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered saved Salvation means deliverance from sin s penalty separation from God sin s power over you and someday from sin s presence eternal life When you ask Messiah Yeshua into your heart and life you will receive His atonement and eternal life As you grow in Him spiritually you will experience personal peace joy happiness guidance meaning purpose and much more than you could ever imagine I Found the Abundant Jewish Life I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Messiah Yeshua in John 10 10 KJV As I studied the prophecies which identified the Messiah I knew in my heart that only one man in all of history fulfilled them and He was Yeshua of Nazareth Yeshua was born of a virgin in Bethlehem He lived a sinless life No one ever found even one sin in Him History testified that He healed the sick by giving sight to the blind hearing to the deaf speech to the dumb walking to the lame and cleansing to the lepers He even raised people 224

Page 225

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 225 IN M Y S OUL from the dead He was despised and rejected by jealous leaders He was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver He died by crucifixion for the sins of the Jewish people and for the whole world Those who crucified Him gambled for His garments And He died before the destruction of the Second Temple History testified that He healed the sick by giving sight to the blind hearing to the deaf speech to the dumb walking to the lame and cleansing to the lepers The Prophet Daniel wrote that after the Anointed One the Messiah was cut off murdered a Prince would come and destroy the city Jerusalem and the Sanctuary the Temple After Yeshua s death Prince Titus and the Roman Legions destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in A D 70 exactly as Daniel prophesied Since the Levitical sacrificial system was no longer available it meant that God had now provided once and for all time a perfect atonement through the blood of Messiah Yeshua for all who would believe see Dan 9 24 26 Yeshua also arose from the dead as King David prophesied Flavius Josephus the primary Jewish and Roman historian of that time wrote in his Antiquities of the Jews Now there was about this time Jesus a wise man if it be lawful to call Him a man for He was a doer of wonderful works a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure He was The Messiah and 225

Page 226

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 226 T HEMSELVES when Pilate at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us had condemned Him to the cross those that loved Him at the first did not forsake Him for He appeared to them alive again the third day to over 500 Jewish witnesses as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him 2 Here I was faced with a dilemma How could I as a Jew accept Yeshua Would that make me become a goy a Gentile George Gruen pointed out to me that the hope of the Messiah was not of Gentile but of Jewish origin It came from the Jewish Bible and even today observant Jews recite from Moses Maimonides Thirteen Principles of the Jewish Faith I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah and though He tarry I will wait daily for His coming 3 The question was not whether accepting Messiah was a Jewish thing to do it definitely was but rather who is the Jewish Messiah I had no doubt about who fulfilled all those prophecies Besides accepting a Jewish Messiah out of a Jewish Bible and having the Jewish blood of atonement was a very Jewish thing to do It did sound very kosher Then one day in the privacy of my home I got on my knees and prayed Dear Heavenly Father I know that I have sinned against You and I ask Your forgiveness Messiah Yeshua please come into my heart and life cleanse me with Your precious blood of atonement and make me a child of God Thank You for doing this according to Your Word Amen 226

Page 227

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 227 IN M Y S OUL When I prayed that prayer the lights in my room did not flicker An angel did not knock on my door with a telegram from God But the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob came closer than my hands or my breath and I found a peace that passed all understanding and a joy unspeakable and full of glory Since that day in Philadelphia over 40 years ago the Messiah has not left me He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother Everything that God has promised in His Word has come true love peace joy forgiveness happiness guidance purpose and so much more My mother Ethel my sisters Rose and Joyce and a number of my relatives and friends also invited the Messiah into their lives At the age of 19 I married Audrey Yvonne Kitchen When Audrey was only 6 years old she contracted Bulbar Polio the most deadly of the three types of polio She was completely paralyzed from her neck down to the soles of her feet She could not move her arms hands or legs She couldn t even swallow her saliva Her parents were not yet believers in Yeshua but her grandparents were strong Bible believers and volumes of prayer ascended to the throne of God God reversed the incurable Bulbar Polio and completely healed Audrey The doctor said it was a miracle He said there was no way he could explain her recovery medically God graciously extended her life another 44 years Audrey who hadn t even been able to swallow her own saliva was given a lovely singing voice to glorify God She led a very active life as a wife a mother of two sons and an 227

Page 228

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 228 T HEMSELVES outstanding business administrator We were married for almost 28 years before Audrey went home to Heaven In the fullness of God s time the Lord brought Sandra Frances Sheskin a beautiful Jewish woman into my life Sandra is a first generation American born of Jewish immigrant parents from Poland and raised in a practicing Orthodox Jewish home Most of her family members from both sides were murdered by the Nazis Prior to our marriage Sandra was the main public spokesperson for the United States government on the History and Heritage of the National Emblem of the U S A The Great Seal of the United States In that position Sandra was directly responsible to the Office of the President Sandra is a Messianic concert singer and recording artist having shared her love for Israel and her Messiah from Jerusalem to the White House and around the world and before as many as a million people live Together we have been very involved in bringing our Jewish people out of Russia back to Israel combating antiSemitism worldwide and teaching the Jewish Scriptures Today there are tens of thousands of Messianic Jews and hundreds of Messianic Jewish synagogues and congregations where Jewish believers worship with at least 40 such congregations and fellowships in Israel 228

Page 229

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 229 IN M Y S OUL Today there are tens of thousands of Messianic Jews and hundreds of Messianic Jewish synagogues and congregations where Jewish believers worship with at least 40 such congregations and fellowships in Israel Each year thousands of Bible believers attend Messianic Jewish conferences What a joy to be involved in this end time Messianic Jewish spiritual awakening that God promised our people in Hosea 3 5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king referring to the Messiah and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days There are so many more wonderful things that the Messiah has done in our lives answers to prayer miracles of provision healings of illnesses supernatural guidance and much much more It would take volumes to write about it I cannot encourage you enough to invite Messiah Yeshua into your heart and life O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in Him Psalm 34 9 verse 8 in some versions Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered saved Joel 3 5 2 32 in some versions Here is how to invite Messiah Yeshua into your heart and life as an act of faith to receive His blood of atonement 1 Pray Prayer is just talking to God in your own words 229

Page 230

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 230 T HEMSELVES 2 Confess Acknowledge to God that you have sinned broken His Commandments and that you are truly sorry for it 3 Ask and Receive Ask Messiah Yeshua to come into your heart and life and to cleanse you with His blood of atonement 4 Believe Thank Him by faith for doing this Some people have emotional experiences when they invite the Messiah into their life and others do not Just thank Him for coming into your heart not based on human feelings but on the authority of the Jewish Bible This is an act of faith acceptable to God Here is a sample prayer Dear God I confess that I have sinned against You and I m truly sorry for it Messiah Yeshua please come into my heart and life and cleanse me with Your precious blood of atonement Thank You for doing this according to Your Word I ll do anything You want me to with Your help I really mean it Lord In Your Name Amen Does this prayer express the desire of your heart If it does pray it right now and the Messiah will enter your life as He promised to in God s Word You can take a moment right now and pray this prayer out loud Did you invite Messiah Yeshua into your life Did you really mean it Then where is Yeshua according to the Bible God s Word says 230

Page 231

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 231 IN M Y S OUL Behold I stand at the door of your heart and life and knock if any man hear My voice and open the door of his heart and life I will come in to him and will sup fellowship with him and he with Me Messiah Yeshua in Revelation 3 20 KJV Either God is the world s greatest liar or Messiah Yeshua is in your heart right now if you prayed to receive Him God is not a man that He should lie neither the son of man that He should repent hath He said and shall He not do it or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good Numbers 23 19 The moment that you asked Messiah Yeshua into your heart and life as an act of faith God began to do many wonderful things for you including the following 1 Your sins were atoned for covered forgiven 2 You received righteousness right standing with God by faith 3 You entered into a personal relationship with God and became a child of God 4 You received eternal life 5 God s Holy Spirit Ruach ha Kodesh entered your life to lead you and guide you 6 You began the abundant life and the exciting adventure for which God created you to know God and to make Him known 231

Page 232

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 232 T HEMSELVES If you did not yet ask Messiah Yeshua into your life ask Him to come in right now and these wonderful blessings will be yours too Here s how to grow in God s abundant life 1 Confess any future sins to God and ask His help to overcome them 2 Pray to God in the Name of His Son Yeshua and praise thank Him much 3 Read God s Word the Bible once or more every day Just as you have three square physical meals daily you need regular spiritual meals Before you read pray for God to show you the truth as you read He is the Author It is His Book 4 Memorize as many Bible verses as you can Start with the verses in this chapter 5 Fellowship at least weekly with other Bible believers After trying the best the world has to offer and now walking with the Messiah for more than 40 years I can honestly say there is nothing that satisfies like knowing God in a personal intimate way Commentary by Sid Roth Many people say to me You have been a Jewish believer in Jesus for more than 30 years Do you still believe in Him as fervently as you did in the 232

Page 233

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 233 IN M Y S OUL beginning Don t you doubt the experience you had almost a quarter of a century ago Don t you think you imagined it If that were my only experience I would have probably stopped following the Messiah many years ago But my faith is based on two things the Spirit of God and the Word of God First the Spirit of God literally lives inside of me As I am writing to you I feel His presence It s like rivers of living water flowing through my body It s wonderful I have never been high on drugs or drunk on alcohol but I can t imagine any high that could come close to what I am experiencing now I know God is with me all the time I have seen sickness leave when I say His Name I have spoken in a language I had never even heard previously let alone learned and led a man to know Jesus I have what the Bible calls a peace that passes human understanding So when someone asks me Don t you think you should forget about this Jesus stuff I respond It s too late I ve already experienced Him I know Him Second my faith is based on the prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures Most of God s predictions about His Jewish people have already come to pass We can have full confidence that the remaining prophecies will come true as well The Scriptures tell about an event that will cause the prophetic time clock to accelerate Jeremiah 233

Page 234

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 234 T HEMSELVES says there will be a large exodus of Jews from the land of the north north of Israel is the former Soviet Union see Jer 16 15 Once this happens the Jewish people in all the nations of the world will return The prophet Ezekiel says not one will be left in the Diaspora see Ezek 39 28 Isaiah says the Jews from China will return to Israel as a sign of the last days see Isa 49 12 Sinim is Hebrew for China Most people have never heard of Chinese Jews But I have been to Kaifeng China and met many Chinese Jews who are in the process of returning to Israel How will God cause an American Jew to return to Israel After all we would not only have to give up our American lifestyle we would have to face the unique dangers of living in Israel as well Jeremiah 16 16 answers this question First there will be a season of mercy Fishermen will gently tell the Jewish people that the floods are coming and the only ark of safety will be in the loving arms of Messiah But those who do not heed the warning will become victims of the hunters Past generations have seen these hunters Pharaoh Haman Stalin and Hitler The only place a Jew will be able to find refuge from the new hunters will be in Israel Even so the Bible says all nations will turn against Israel in the last days see Zech 14 2 Two thirds of the Jewish people will perish see Zech 13 8 234

Page 235

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HE A MAZING J EWISH B OOK THE 2 24 2012 12 10 PM G OD S HAPED H OLE Page 235 IN M Y S OUL When no hope is left the Messiah will fight for Israel see Zech 14 3 The nation will repent see Zech 12 10 and be cleansed of sin see Zech 13 1 You have two choices Either come to know the Messiah now and fulfill your destiny by becoming a champion for God or believe in Him at the last great battle when He rescues us from destruction The only problem with the latter choice is most of the Jewish people will perish before the great rescue I believe most of the American Jews will not recognize the American anti Semitic deathtrap until it is too late That was our fate in Hitler s Germany And death without forgiveness of sin results in eternal separation from God with no chance of reversal If you are not Jewish your decision becomes even more critical As you know the first followers of Jesus were all Jewish If you wanted to follow Jesus the requirement was to convert to traditional Judaism After Peter had a revelation from God it was decided a Gentile could believe in Jesus without converting to Judaism The flood gates were opened and even more Gentiles than Jews followed the Jewish Messiah But Jesus said in Luke 21 24 that when Jerusalem was in Jewish hands it would signify the end of the Gentile age Jerusalem is in Jewish possession We are at the end of the Gentile age Multitudes of Gentiles will still be 235

Page 236

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves T HEY T HOUGHT 2 24 2012 FOR 12 10 PM Page 236 T HEMSELVES swept into His Kingdom but those who resist will harden their hearts and their love will grow cold Time is running short Some reading this book will be alive during the apocalyptic disasters predicted in the Bible Others might die tonight You don t know when your end will come Now is the only moment you have for sure Make it count After you have prayed to make the Messiah your Lord or if you have any questions or want to locate a congregation in your area please visit my website at www TheyThoughtForThemselves com 236

Page 237

Page 238

Page 239

TheyThought4Themselves TheyThought4Themselves 2 24 2012 12 10 PM Page 239 Sid Roth s It s Supernatural and Messianic Vision P O BOX 1918 BRUNSWICK GA 31521 1918 912 265 2500 912 265 3735 FAX If you would like more information or to respond WW SIDROTH ORG E MAIL SIDROTH ORG at WEB SITE to these stories please visit Sid INFO Roth s website www TheyThoughtForThemselves com MESSIANIC VISION CANADA SUITE 143 5929 L JEANNE D ARC BLVD ORLEANS ONTARIO K1C 7K2 E MAIL CANADA SIDROTH ORG 239 Untitled 1 1 4 4 14 2 17 PM