Some Jewish people come to faith in Yeshua after a time of intense research, digging into both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament to find the truth for themselves. In this week’s episode of Our Hope Podcast 🎙, we are sharing three testimonies from Jewish intellectuals who discovered the Jewish Messiah!
Welcome to Our Hope,
Speaker:a production of Chosen
Speaker:People Ministries.
Speaker:On this podcast you will hear
Speaker:inspiring testimonies,
Speaker:learn
Speaker:about Messianic apologetics
Speaker:and discover God's plan
Speaker:for Israel and you.
Speaker:Wherever you're listening,
Speaker:we hope you lean in,
Speaker:listen closely and be blessed.
Speaker:You may have heard this
Speaker:statement before, “I’m Jewish;
Speaker:I don’t believe in Jesus.”
Speaker:Throughout this season,
Speaker:we have learned why
Speaker:such resistance exists
Speaker:in the hearts and minds
Speaker:of our Jewish brethren.
Speaker:One of the reasons
Speaker:is that the Jewish people
Speaker:have experienced
Speaker:centuries of persecution
Speaker:from the Church
Speaker:and those who proclaimed to be
Speaker:followers of Jesus.
Speaker:Another reason is
Speaker:that the Church has
Speaker:gradually drifted away
Speaker:from the Jewish
Speaker:roots of our faith.
Speaker:The way Jesus, the disciples,
Speaker:and the New Testament
Speaker:are presented
Speaker:might not look familiar
Speaker:to the Jewish people.
Speaker:Sadly,
Speaker:this has made them see Yeshua
Speaker:as the “God of the Gentiles.”
Speaker:In this episode of Our Hope,
Speaker:you will hear three amazing
Speaker:testimonies of Jewish
Speaker:intellectuals who,
Speaker:despite their own cultural
Speaker:and personal resistance
Speaker:to Jesus, found the truth
Speaker:of Messiah in Scripture.
Speaker:The first is Dr.
Speaker:Michael Brown.
Speaker:Dr.
Speaker:Brown grew up believing that
Speaker:Jesus is the God
Speaker:of the Catholic Church.
Speaker:As a teenager, he lived a life
Speaker:steeped in drug addiction—but
Speaker:then a friend shared
Speaker:about his pastor’s
Speaker:teaching on the
Speaker:Book of Revelation.
Speaker:Dr.
Speaker:Brown’s curiosity was piqued,
Speaker:so he visited the church
Speaker:to hear what else
Speaker:the Scriptures had to say.
Speaker:Take a listen.
Speaker:Growing up Jewish,
Speaker:I thought that Jesus
Speaker:was the God of the
Speaker:Catholic Church.
Speaker:He was just some guy
Speaker:kind of foreign to us,
Speaker:God of this other religion,
Speaker:but nothing to do
Speaker:with us as Jews.
Speaker:When I was in high school, I
Speaker:earned the nickname Drug
Speaker:Bear and Iron Man.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, I smoked pot,
Speaker:I smoked hash, I used ups,
Speaker:I used downs.
Speaker:I used LSD.
Speaker:I used mescaline.
Speaker:I used amphetamines.
Speaker:I used cocaine.
Speaker:I shot heroin.
Speaker:I would take massive quantities
Speaker:just to see how far I could go.
Speaker:I once did enough
Speaker:mescaline,
Speaker:hallucinogenic drugs,
Speaker:for 30 people,
Speaker:the equivalent of one ounce.
Speaker:I couldn't distinguish
Speaker:between reality
Speaker:and hallucination.
Speaker:I would walk with my hand
Speaker:in front of my face at night
Speaker:because I didn't
Speaker:know if the tree
Speaker:that was growing up in
Speaker:front of me was really there,
Speaker:or if the tree that grew
Speaker:up into fireworks
Speaker:that they were really taking
Speaker:place.
Speaker:I'd see a car coming at me
Speaker:and suddenly the car
Speaker:became a person.
Speaker:You know, the eyes,
Speaker:the lights became
Speaker:eyes and the mouths.
Speaker:I'd see someone walking the dog
Speaker:and then they morph
Speaker:until they each become
Speaker:a little bit of each other.
Speaker:And it was really
Speaker:going on a trip.
Speaker:I had a really wicked heart.
Speaker:I mean, I was proud,
Speaker:really proud,
Speaker:obnoxiously proud.
Speaker:And I was vicious
Speaker:with my tongue.
Speaker:I wasn't a fistfighter.
Speaker:I didn't get in fights, but
Speaker:I would cut people down.
Speaker:I would rip into them
Speaker:until they were in tears.
Speaker:I thought, well,
Speaker:if there really is a God,
Speaker:he knows I have a good heart.
Speaker:You know, if
Speaker:if I see an old woman
Speaker:and she's entering a store,
Speaker:I'll open the door for her.
Speaker:Or if I'm in New York City
Speaker:and I see some poor bum,
Speaker:some drunkard on the street,
Speaker:I'll give him a few cents,
Speaker:so in my heart, I'm
Speaker:actually a good person.
Speaker:I thought a church,
Speaker:I don't know, is
Speaker:kind of like a synagogue.
Speaker:You say these prayers
Speaker:out of a book
Speaker:and then maybe you have
Speaker:these other rituals
Speaker:that you go through
Speaker:or something like that.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:And you got some guy
Speaker:hanging on a cross and,
Speaker:you know, and that's
Speaker:what it's like,
Speaker:not this church.
Speaker:This was very, very different.
Speaker:And then my friends
Speaker:would come back with stories
Speaker:they said
Speaker:the pastor was preaching
Speaker:from the Book of Revelation,
Speaker:the last book of the Bible
Speaker:that tells us about
Speaker:the end times.
Speaker:We're sitting around
Speaker:getting high, smoking pot
Speaker:and they're telling me
Speaker:these stories.
Speaker:They said
Speaker:there's going to be a beast.
Speaker:It comes out of
Speaker:a bottomless pit,
Speaker:seven heads and ten horns.
Speaker:It's going to rule the world.
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:"That's in the Bible?"
Speaker:That's what they talk
Speaker:about in this church?
Speaker:That's a cool church!
Speaker:And at the end of the service,
Speaker:the pastor said,
Speaker:is there anyone here
Speaker:who wants to receive
Speaker:Jesus Christ, Jesus
Speaker:into their hearts?
Speaker:I guess he did that
Speaker:in all the services
Speaker:and my friend, sitting
Speaker:next to me nudges me.
Speaker:He said, "Mike,
Speaker:you should go out now."
Speaker:And see I knew after
Speaker:my first visit there,
Speaker:these people are praying for me
Speaker:because they think
Speaker:like I'm the worst sinner
Speaker:in the world.
Speaker:These old people
Speaker:will really get
Speaker:a kick out of it
Speaker:if I go up there
Speaker:and say this prayer.
Speaker:They'll be all like, "Oh,
Speaker:the big sinner, went up."
Speaker:So I,
Speaker:I went up to pray the prayer.
Speaker:I didn't mean anything by it.
Speaker:I just
Speaker:I was
Speaker:having a little fun with it.
Speaker:So the pastor said, "Say
Speaker:these words out loud with me,
Speaker:'I believe Jesus died for me.'"
Speaker:Okay, Jesus died for me.
Speaker:Jesus took my place.
Speaker:I sinned.
Speaker:I did all these bad things.
Speaker:He was perfect.
Speaker:He died for me.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I believe
Speaker:I believe that's true.
Speaker:I believe Jesus did die for me.
Speaker:"Say these words,
Speaker:'I believe He rose
Speaker:from the dead.'"
Speaker:And I thought, you know,
Speaker:somehow I know that's true.
Speaker:Also, the story didn't end
Speaker:just with Him dying,
Speaker:but it goes on that's
Speaker:why all these people
Speaker:believe in Him today.
Speaker:He rose from the dead.
Speaker:I believe it.
Speaker:And then he said, "And
Speaker:I promise to live for you
Speaker:all the days of my life."
Speaker:And I said the words.
Speaker:He said, "Did you mean that?" I
Speaker:said, "Yes." He said,
Speaker:"I believe you."
Speaker:God knew I didn't
Speaker:mean the last part
Speaker:and that's when the deep
Speaker:spiritual battle
Speaker:really began to take place.
Speaker:I loved heavy rock music,
Speaker:so Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix,
Speaker:and bands a little different,
Speaker:Jethro
Speaker:Tull, these different ones,
Speaker:because I was a drummer,
Speaker:bass set
Speaker:and pounding, everything!
Speaker:It was kind of a whole
Speaker:new world for me.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:I want to play drums
Speaker:just like that.
Speaker:One of my favorite things
Speaker:to do in life was to get high
Speaker:and to go to a rock concert.
Speaker:You talk about an experience,
Speaker:you go to a concert,
Speaker:say, at the Fillmore East
Speaker:and they have what's called
Speaker:the Joshua Light show,
Speaker:this pounding, flashing light
Speaker:going on behind them,
Speaker:and here's Zeppelin,
Speaker:Dazed and Confused
Speaker:and Robert Plant
Speaker:kind of staggering
Speaker:over the stage as
Speaker:a singer and Jimmy
Speaker:Page ripping out
Speaker:guitars, and John Bonham,
Speaker:that drummer with
Speaker:a heavy drum beat and bass
Speaker:player,
Speaker:just driving this thing.
Speaker:And the music would be so loud,
Speaker:I would test it.
Speaker:I would scream at
Speaker:the top of my lungs
Speaker:and if I could hear myself,
Speaker:the music wasn't loud enough.
Speaker:I lived for it.
Speaker:And then my own band we'd play
Speaker:every day, we'd practice
Speaker:and play for hours
Speaker:and the loud music
Speaker:and getting high man.
Speaker:We loved it.
Speaker:Now I'm in this little church.
Speaker:There's maybe 40,
Speaker:50 people there,
Speaker:I'm 16 long-haired hippie,
Speaker:you got guys 50,
Speaker:60 years old and jackets
Speaker:and ties and ladies
Speaker:in their dresses.
Speaker:And there's the pastor's wife
Speaker:playing the piano.
Speaker:That's the instrument piano,
Speaker:no amps, no drums.
Speaker:She's playing piano
Speaker:and she's playing
Speaker:these little ditty hymns.
Speaker:"There's within my heart
Speaker:a melody,
Speaker:Jesus whisper sweet and low."
Speaker:I'm talking about these
Speaker:silly little ditties
Speaker:softly and tenderly.
Speaker:"Jesus is called
Speaker:sunshine, sunshine
Speaker:in my soul tonight."
Speaker:That's what we're singing.
Speaker:And as we're singing
Speaker:these songs,
Speaker:and we're just singing
Speaker:a couple of songs,
Speaker:you have 40, 50 people,
Speaker:you got no amplification,
Speaker:no drugs.
Speaker:Suddenly I experience
Speaker:this joy
Speaker:I've never experienced
Speaker:in my life.
Speaker:I mean, I can't even
Speaker:describe it with words
Speaker:as I talk about it now.
Speaker:And immediately,
Speaker:it's like my life
Speaker:passes before me.
Speaker:I thought
Speaker:getting high on drugs,
Speaker:no it's different.
Speaker:Rock music, playing,
Speaker:going to a concert,
Speaker:this is different.
Speaker:Winning in sports,
Speaker:playing sport.
Speaker:No, this is different.
Speaker:Having a great relationship
Speaker:with someone,
Speaker:doing good for someone.
Speaker:I thought, this is different.
Speaker:This is completely different.
Speaker:This must be what
Speaker:these people call
Speaker:the joy of the Lord.
Speaker:And I realized this
Speaker:is how much God loves me.
Speaker:This is what Jesus did
Speaker:for me, dying on the cross.
Speaker:This was the most
Speaker:pure, amazing joy
Speaker:a human being
Speaker:could ever experience
Speaker:when God made himself
Speaker:so real to me at that point,
Speaker:I didn't want to live the way
Speaker:I was living anymore.
Speaker:I said I'll never put a needle
Speaker:in my arm again,
Speaker:when I experienced
Speaker:that incredible
Speaker:joy and I realized
Speaker:how much God love me.
Speaker:When I stopped doing drugs
Speaker:and I said, "Dad, Dad,
Speaker:I got saved." I mean,
Speaker:who knew what the words meant?
Speaker:And he said, "Hallelujah!"
Speaker:He was just making fun of it.
Speaker:He didn't take it seriously.
Speaker:Now, hang on, we're Jews.
Speaker:We don't believe this.
Speaker:So he was Jewish
Speaker:enough to be concerned
Speaker:that his son is going
Speaker:to depart from the faith.
Speaker:"I'm thrilled you're off drugs,
Speaker:but now you need
Speaker:to come back to Judaism.
Speaker:You need to talk to
Speaker:the local rabbi."
Speaker:And for me,
Speaker:I was excited to do it
Speaker:because I wanted,
Speaker:I wanted my Jewish
Speaker:people to know about Jesus.
Speaker:I meet this rabbi and that
Speaker:one, ultra-Orthodox
Speaker:rabbis who've been studying
Speaker:these things for
Speaker:decades and centuries.
Speaker:And and I thought, you know,
Speaker:I need to learn more.
Speaker:My faith is secure in my heart,
Speaker:but I need to learn more.
Speaker:I need to learn Hebrew.
Speaker:I need to learn
Speaker:more about Judaism.
Speaker:And the more I study,
Speaker:the more clear it was.
Speaker:I was completely
Speaker:on the side of truth
Speaker:in following Jesus.
Speaker:We would keep having these
Speaker:discussions and debates
Speaker:and so very, very few rabbis,
Speaker:despite their sincerity
Speaker:and all their study,
Speaker:have even opened up
Speaker:an honest question before God
Speaker:as to who He is.
Speaker:In their mind it's blasphemous,
Speaker:it's sacrilegious
Speaker:to read the New Testament.
Speaker:It's sacrilegious.
Speaker:So they stay away from it
Speaker:entirely.
Speaker:They don't know who
Speaker:He really is.
Speaker:They know
Speaker:some of the bad stories
Speaker:we preserve
Speaker:in our own traditions.
Speaker:You know, hanging on a crucifix
Speaker:in a Catholic church,
Speaker:the horror stories
Speaker:of the Inquisition
Speaker:and the Crusades
Speaker:and the terrible things
Speaker:that so-called Christians
Speaker:did to Jewish people
Speaker:through the years.
Speaker:What really happened was
Speaker:He was laying down
Speaker:His life for us.
Speaker:He was taking the place
Speaker:of the animal sacrifices.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:He was doing this, as Yeshua
Speaker:the promised Messiah
Speaker:in keeping with scripture
Speaker:and our tradition.
Speaker:So He was not some Gentile God
Speaker:hanging on a cross
Speaker:from another religion.
Speaker:He was our Messiah, dying
Speaker:as the righteous one,
Speaker:taking our sins
Speaker:on His shoulders
Speaker:and then rising from the dead
Speaker:so that we could have a
Speaker:great relationship with God.
Speaker:My dad, he actually
Speaker:would come and hear me preach.
Speaker:You know, he wanted me
Speaker:to go back to Judaism,
Speaker:but then he saw how radically
Speaker:my life was changed
Speaker:and and began to consider,
Speaker:could it be
Speaker:that Jesus is the Messiah?
Speaker:I remember he was even
Speaker:reading the New Testament.
Speaker:So his heart was wide open
Speaker:because he saw how
Speaker:Jesus had changed my life
Speaker:and he knew that
Speaker:this was something
Speaker:only God could have done.
Speaker:Dr.
Speaker:Brown is now one of
Speaker:the leading voices
Speaker:in Messianic apologetics.
Speaker:He has written over 40
Speaker:books about the church,
Speaker:Yeshua, antisemitism
Speaker:and many other topics
Speaker:related to faith and culture.
Speaker:It is truly amazing
Speaker:to see the transformative power
Speaker:of Yeshua in a person’s life!
Speaker:Like Dr. Brown, Dr.
Speaker:Seth Postell
Speaker:grew up in a Jewish home
Speaker:and saw Jesus as a foreign God.
Speaker:But when his mother found
Speaker:the truth of Yeshua
Speaker:in her Tanakh,
Speaker:everything turned
Speaker:upside down—and you will not
Speaker:believe what happened next.
Speaker:You believe in Jesus
Speaker:and you're Jewish?
Speaker:If you knew Biblical Hebrew,
Speaker:if you only knew
Speaker:the Hebrew Bible,
Speaker:if you could read it
Speaker:in the original language,
Speaker:then you would know that
Speaker:Jesus can't be the Messiah.
Speaker:And that was something
Speaker:I took as a deep challenge.
Speaker:And then my investigation
Speaker:went from a bachelor's degree
Speaker:to a master's degree to a Ph.D.
Speaker:to the beginning
Speaker:of a second PhD.
Speaker:And the more that I studied
Speaker:the Hebrew Bible,
Speaker:the more I studied
Speaker:how the New Testament
Speaker:is reading the Old Testament,
Speaker:the more I realized that
Speaker:Jesus is the Messiah.
Speaker:I grew up in New Jersey,
Speaker:very well
Speaker:aware of our Jewish identity.
Speaker:I do remember that whenever
Speaker:my dad was really,
Speaker:really angry, the worst
Speaker:thing he could ever say
Speaker:was "Jesus Christ".
Speaker:My mom started to become more
Speaker:and more spiritual
Speaker:and she started to read
Speaker:the Bible.
Speaker:She started to read
Speaker:the Old Testament,
Speaker:what we called it, or the
Speaker:the Hebrew Bible.
Speaker:She became more
Speaker:and more curious
Speaker:intellectually with Jesus.
Speaker:She came home with
Speaker:the very good news
Speaker:to tell my father.
Speaker:"Murray, I've been
Speaker:searching the scriptures.
Speaker:I've been reading,
Speaker:I've been studying,
Speaker:and Jesus is the Messiah."
Speaker:My father started to cry.
Speaker:He said, "I thought
Speaker:I married a Jew.
Speaker:How could you
Speaker:betray our people?
Speaker:How could you do this?
Speaker:Please tell me,
Speaker:why do you believe in Jesus?
Speaker:But please don't show me
Speaker:the New Testament."
Speaker:Because, of course, we knew
Speaker:Christians hate Jews.
Speaker:Christians believe
Speaker:in the New Testament.
Speaker:The New Testament
Speaker:must be antisemitic.
Speaker:As she read to him, Isaiah 53,
Speaker:my father got very angry
Speaker:and he stopped her
Speaker:and he said, "I
Speaker:told you, Lorraine,
Speaker:I don't want to hear
Speaker:the New Testament."
Speaker:And she stopped and she said,
Speaker:"Well, Murray,
Speaker:this is our side of the book.
Speaker:This is this is not
Speaker:the New Testament.
Speaker:It was-
Speaker:this is a prophecy
Speaker:from seven hundred years
Speaker:before Jesus was born." Well,
Speaker:my father was in shock.
Speaker:Over the next several months,
Speaker:something very strange
Speaker:had happened in our family.
Speaker:So suddenly up until
Speaker:that point, my mom and dad
Speaker:felt very insistent upon
Speaker:sending me to Hebrew school.
Speaker:They were very clear
Speaker:about our Jewish identity
Speaker:and now suddenly they start
Speaker:to talk to me about
Speaker:about Jesus, and
Speaker:it was very confusing to me.
Speaker:I didn't understand.
Speaker:I thought that my mom and dad
Speaker:had an identity crisis,
Speaker:something definitely
Speaker:was wrong with them.
Speaker:And I remember them
Speaker:bringing me to a service.
Speaker:My mom and dad decided
Speaker:to go back to the house.
Speaker:I was with my mom's
Speaker:friend, Linda, in her car.
Speaker:It was a blue Mercedes
Speaker:and we're driving home
Speaker:and she says to me, "So, Seth,
Speaker:when are you going to accept
Speaker:Yeshua as your Messiah?"
Speaker:I didn't know
Speaker:quite what to say, but I said,
Speaker:"Linda," I said,
Speaker:"Give me a break.
Speaker:I'm young.
Speaker:I want to live a little.
Speaker:I want to experience life.
Speaker:I want to I want to enjoy."
Speaker:And she looked at me,
Speaker:she said, "Seth,
Speaker:did you know that
Speaker:Jesus could come back
Speaker:at any moment now?"
Speaker:I said, "Okay." Now
Speaker:we're on the highway.
Speaker:We're driving.
Speaker:She said he could come
Speaker:back at any moment.
Speaker:I said, "Okay, so what?"
Speaker:She said, "well,
Speaker:you know what would happen
Speaker:if He came back right
Speaker:now?" I said, "No." (She
Speaker:said) "I would be taken up
Speaker:and I'd be with Jesus forever
Speaker:and you would be
Speaker:in the passenger seat of my car
Speaker:going fifty-five
Speaker:miles per hour, all alone
Speaker:without a driver,
Speaker:and you would crash, die
Speaker:and go to hell."
Speaker:This is true.
Speaker:Jesus, don't come back.
Speaker:Jesus, don't come back.
Speaker:Jesus, don't come back.
Speaker:I was pleading.
Speaker:Don't come back.
Speaker:And so that was when
Speaker:my prayer life began.
Speaker:I had very, very serious
Speaker:childhood asthma.
Speaker:I was on heavy medications,
Speaker:one of the medications I was
Speaker:on was called prednisone,
Speaker:and prednisone was something
Speaker:that deeply affected my moods.
Speaker:It also affected my shape.
Speaker:I remember
Speaker:looking in the mirror
Speaker:and I was fat.
Speaker:My face was swollen up.
Speaker:It was red.
Speaker:I already believed
Speaker:in my heart of hearts
Speaker:that I was an ugly kid.
Speaker:I was the ugliest
Speaker:kid in my class.
Speaker:And so I grew up
Speaker:seeing myself as ugly.
Speaker:And then with the
Speaker:prednisone, I just remember
Speaker:detesting myself.
Speaker:There's nothing worse
Speaker:in the world than
Speaker:to look at the mirror
Speaker:and see yourself as ugly.
Speaker:And again,
Speaker:it wasn't just an ugliness
Speaker:of my physical appearance,
Speaker:it was
Speaker:it was the ugliness of
Speaker:my inability to overcome
Speaker:my own weaknesses.
Speaker:My inability
Speaker:to free myself from sin.
Speaker:I was convinced that
Speaker:God hated me, too.
Speaker:And I started to see that
Speaker:I was ugly in God's eyes.
Speaker:And so I went through this
Speaker:never ending cycle of praying.
Speaker:And so it was as if
Speaker:I would be born again,
Speaker:and then born again, again,
Speaker:and then born again,
Speaker:again, again,
Speaker:and born again, again, again.
Speaker:And no matter what I did,
Speaker:no matter how I prayed,
Speaker:this dread sense of terror,
Speaker:that I was a dirty,
Speaker:rotten sinner, ugly
Speaker:in God's eyes,
Speaker:that God hated me,
Speaker:and that the first chance
Speaker:He was going to send me
Speaker:to hell.
Speaker:And it really scared me
Speaker:and I had no hope.
Speaker:Several years later,
Speaker:I found myself in this service
Speaker:and the speaker was a pastor
Speaker:and for whatever reason,
Speaker:he kept looking my way
Speaker:and it was odd because
Speaker:he didn't know me
Speaker:and there were a couple hundred
Speaker:people there
Speaker:and he kept looking at me
Speaker:and it felt
Speaker:like he was exposing
Speaker:all the things I hope
Speaker:nobody else would see around
Speaker:me, all the things
Speaker:I hated about myself,
Speaker:all the things I believed
Speaker:God hated about me.
Speaker:And so I'm sitting there
Speaker:and I'm very uncomfortable.
Speaker:And at the end of the service,
Speaker:I just remember him
Speaker:just inviting people
Speaker:to stand up.
Speaker:I stood up
Speaker:and I looked forward,
Speaker:and it's as if I
Speaker:saw Yeshua waiting for me
Speaker:and His arms are
Speaker:stretched out, and up
Speaker:until that moment, His arms
Speaker:were always stretched
Speaker:out in anger, He wanted
Speaker:to strike me down.
Speaker:But this time,
Speaker:for the first time,
Speaker:His arms are open
Speaker:and all He wanted
Speaker:to do is to hug me.
Speaker:All He wanted to
Speaker:do is embrace me
Speaker:and it was as if I heard,
Speaker:"I did this for you.
Speaker:The scars are for you,
Speaker:these wounds are for you.
Speaker:Of course I love you.
Speaker:Of course I accept you.
Speaker:I came for sinners."
Speaker:And I guess it
Speaker:was the first time
Speaker:that I recognized that
Speaker:Yeshua loves sinners.
Speaker:And I think
Speaker:for the first time in my life,
Speaker:I no longer saw myself as ugly.
Speaker:I no longer believe that lie,
Speaker:that I was ugly in God's eyes.
Speaker:And for the first time,
Speaker:I actually truly felt
Speaker:loved from the inside out
Speaker:and I knew that God loved me.
Speaker:The chains broke.
Speaker:I was new. I was free.
Speaker:Well, as I started
Speaker:to get more and more excited
Speaker:about the fact that
Speaker:I was a new creation,
Speaker:that it was something
Speaker:that God did supernaturally,
Speaker:I wanted to share.
Speaker:And one of the things
Speaker:that started happening is
Speaker:I shared with my family.
Speaker:"Wait a minute,
Speaker:you believe in Jesus
Speaker:and you're Jewish?
Speaker:This just can't be.
Speaker:And in fact, you're saying
Speaker:that Jesus is the Messiah
Speaker:based on the Old Testament?
Speaker:Who do you think you are?
Speaker:Do you know better
Speaker:than the rabbis?
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:if you really could read
Speaker:Hebrew, you would know
Speaker:that you're misreading the text
Speaker:that Jesus couldn't be
Speaker:the Messiah.
Speaker:You're trusting on a
Speaker:Christian translation."
Speaker:I remember thinking to myself,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I have to know Biblical Hebrew
Speaker:and I have to know it
Speaker:really, really well.
Speaker:After I finished my first
Speaker:Ph.D., I started another Ph.D.
Speaker:in Hebrew Bible here in Israel.
Speaker:I can put all of
Speaker:my intellectual weight
Speaker:on the text itself.
Speaker:And the more that I studied
Speaker:the Hebrew Bible,
Speaker:the more I studied
Speaker:how the New Testament
Speaker:is reading the Old Testament,
Speaker:the more I realized that
Speaker:Jesus is the Messiah.
Speaker:This is true
Speaker:not just on a heart level,
Speaker:not just because I know
Speaker:that God
Speaker:has redeemed me for my sin,
Speaker:not just because
Speaker:I know that He's
Speaker:given me a new life and hope
Speaker:and that I know that
Speaker:I'm beautiful in His eyes,
Speaker:not because of me,
Speaker:but because of Him.
Speaker:But there's the other
Speaker:side of it
Speaker:and it's the head side of it
Speaker:that that God calls us
Speaker:as a people to search,
Speaker:to search the scriptures,
Speaker:to study, to see if,
Speaker:in fact, Jesus is the Messiah.
Speaker:And I'm convinced
Speaker:with all my heart,
Speaker:to the extent that I've studied
Speaker:all these years, that
Speaker:to understand Moses,
Speaker:to understand the
Speaker:prophets, to understand
Speaker:the writings is in fact,
Speaker:to see Yeshua,
Speaker:the greatest Jew
Speaker:who ever lived.
Speaker:The Savior of our people
Speaker:and the savior of the world.
Speaker:Dr.
Speaker:Seth Postell is now
Speaker:the academic dean
Speaker:of Israel College of the Bible
Speaker:in Netanya, Israel.
Speaker:His pursuit of truth
Speaker:is truly encouraging.
Speaker:Now fluent in Biblical Hebrew,
Speaker:Dr.
Speaker:Postell is able to
Speaker:share how the Tanakh,
Speaker:or the Old Testament,
Speaker:reveals the Jewish
Speaker:Messiah, Yeshua.
Speaker:Our next testimony is from Dr.
Speaker:Erez Soref.
Speaker:Like most Jewish people, Dr.
Speaker:Soref believed that
Speaker:because he is Jewish,
Speaker:he doesn’t need to believe
Speaker:in Jesus.
Speaker:During his
Speaker:post-military travel,
Speaker:he met a group of Gentile
Speaker:believers and was drawn
Speaker:by their personal connection
Speaker:with God.
Speaker:This friendship led Dr.
Speaker:Soref to rediscover his Tanakh.
Speaker:Take a listen.
Speaker:I mean, my family,
Speaker:my neighbors, my friends,
Speaker:my people, nobody knows.
Speaker:Nobody tells us!
Speaker:It's the best kept secret
Speaker:among the Jewish people.
Speaker:I was born to a
Speaker:Sephardic Jewish family,
Speaker:my family are Babylonian
Speaker:Jews on my mom's side,
Speaker:and Sephardic Jews
Speaker:from Spain on my dad's side.
Speaker:My mom would try to drag
Speaker:my brothers
Speaker:and me to synagogue.
Speaker:Maybe it had something to do
Speaker:with our people
Speaker:thousands of years ago.
Speaker:But God was very,
Speaker:very far away in school.
Speaker:We would study
Speaker:the Old Testament
Speaker:from first grade
Speaker:to twelfth grade.
Speaker:We study it
Speaker:as History of our people,
Speaker:as wisdom literature,
Speaker:something that one
Speaker:just needs to know
Speaker:being Jewish, but
Speaker:not as the Word of God.
Speaker:After my military service,
Speaker:like a lot of Israelis,
Speaker:I decided to travel the world.
Speaker:Initially in Southeast Asia
Speaker:a lot of Israelis
Speaker:are going there for
Speaker:the mysticism trail
Speaker:and the drug trail.
Speaker:I wanted to understand
Speaker:what they believe.
Speaker:And so I was exposed
Speaker:to some Hindu and
Speaker:some Buddhist literature.
Speaker:I got to to realize that
Speaker:there is a spiritual reality.
Speaker:But that spiritual reality
Speaker:I saw was very, very scary.
Speaker:It was negative.
Speaker:It was dark, but
Speaker:it was very real.
Speaker:I ended
Speaker:up in Amsterdam, Holland,
Speaker:and I came there
Speaker:with merchandise to sell
Speaker:because I ran out of money.
Speaker:It was there
Speaker:that I've met a group
Speaker:of very enthusiastic
Speaker:young believers in Jesus.
Speaker:And I said, "Well, I'm Jewish
Speaker:and we don't believe in Jesus."
Speaker:And they said, "Why?
Speaker:Jesus is Jewish?"
Speaker:And I said, "I'm not sure why,
Speaker:but I'm sure we don't
Speaker:believe in Jesus."
Speaker:As I got to know them,
Speaker:I noticed two things
Speaker:that really drew my attention
Speaker:and made me curious.
Speaker:One was what they called
Speaker:"personal relationship
Speaker:with God".
Speaker:I couldn't understand it.
Speaker:I mean, I could see it.
Speaker:I could see how it works
Speaker:out in their lives.
Speaker:They would pray
Speaker:for one another.
Speaker:They would talk to God
Speaker:like one talks to a friend.
Speaker:It is very foreign
Speaker:to a Jewish mindset.
Speaker:So this friend said, "Well,
Speaker:would you like to pray?"
Speaker:I said, "I don't
Speaker:know how to pray,
Speaker:you know, in my bar mitzvah,
Speaker:they gave me a page,
Speaker:I read it,
Speaker:give me a page, I'll read it."
Speaker:And the second thing
Speaker:that was even more
Speaker:shocking than that
Speaker:was that some of them
Speaker:were familiar with passages
Speaker:in the Hebrew scriptures
Speaker:that I wasn't very well,
Speaker:familiar with.
Speaker:In school, we would
Speaker:study certain chapters
Speaker:and we would skip
Speaker:over
Speaker:a lot of the other passages.
Speaker:But they referred me
Speaker:to passages that they called
Speaker:prophetic or Messianic.
Speaker:They talk about the Messiah
Speaker:and I was amazed.
Speaker:I said, "Well,
Speaker:how come you guys know
Speaker:the Hebrew scripture?
Speaker:I mean, this is ours."
Speaker:And they said, "No, it's it's-
Speaker:the whole Bible is one book."
Speaker:And I said, "Well,
Speaker:I have a Bible at home
Speaker:and I've never seen
Speaker:the New Testament."
Speaker:I decided to check it out.
Speaker:So I read the Hebrew scriptures
Speaker:and I saw
Speaker:there was the same one
Speaker:as we had.
Speaker:I had one in Hebrew
Speaker:and those passages
Speaker:were right in there
Speaker:telling when the
Speaker:Messiah will be born,
Speaker:what will He do?
Speaker:How are we going
Speaker:to recognize Him.
Speaker:Reading this,
Speaker:I became very curious
Speaker:and I said to myself,
Speaker:I have to read
Speaker:the New Testament.
Speaker:So I actually
Speaker:got one in Hebrew.
Speaker:And every morning
Speaker:I would kind of look at it
Speaker:and then look away,
Speaker:go about doing my things.
Speaker:Finally,
Speaker:I said to myself, "Well,
Speaker:Erez, you are a hypocrite
Speaker:because you would
Speaker:read Hindu writings
Speaker:and Buddhist writings
Speaker:and whatever.
Speaker:But when it comes to Jesus,
Speaker:you know, you avoid."
Speaker:And I started reading.
Speaker:I was very surprised.
Speaker:First of all, it took
Speaker:place in Israel, in places
Speaker:I've been to many, many times
Speaker:growing up in Israel.
Speaker:I've never, ever heard anything
Speaker:about Jesus of Nazareth.
Speaker:I've never met a
Speaker:Christian person.
Speaker:I've never
Speaker:seen a New Testament.
Speaker:I had absolutely no
Speaker:idea what it meant.
Speaker:It is particularly ridiculous
Speaker:because I had first
Speaker:degree family
Speaker:living on the shores
Speaker:of the Sea of Galilee
Speaker:and throughout my childhood,
Speaker:we would visit them
Speaker:several times
Speaker:a year, swim, fish, but
Speaker:I had no idea that Jesus
Speaker:or His disciples,
Speaker:you know, ever existed.
Speaker:We refer to this phenomenon
Speaker:as Jesus being the
Speaker:best kept secret
Speaker:among the Jewish people.
Speaker:As I read about all
Speaker:the religious institutions,
Speaker:they're still very much with us
Speaker:among the Jewish
Speaker:people to this day.
Speaker:But Yeshua was different.
Speaker:I felt very drawn to Him.
Speaker:He did not try to do
Speaker:things to win men's favor.
Speaker:And so I started the
Speaker:process of comparing
Speaker:the prophecies in
Speaker:the Hebrew scriptures
Speaker:about the Messiah
Speaker:and how are we going
Speaker:to recognize them
Speaker:in the fulfillment
Speaker:in Yeshua in the New Testament.
Speaker:And to my amazement,
Speaker:it matched.
Speaker:I became convinced
Speaker:first in my head
Speaker:then in my heart,
Speaker:that Yeshua is indeed
Speaker:the promised
Speaker:Messiah for people.
Speaker:Shortly after that,
Speaker:I started noticing
Speaker:changes in myself.
Speaker:I had a great hunger
Speaker:to read the word of God,
Speaker:the Hebrew Scriptures
Speaker:and the New Testament.
Speaker:So thinking that I'm
Speaker:the first Jewish person
Speaker:since the time of
Speaker:Paul the Apostle,
Speaker:whom I read about in
Speaker:the New Testament,
Speaker:I felt that God is calling me
Speaker:to go back to Israel
Speaker:and tell my family,
Speaker:to my friends, my neighbors,
Speaker:my people and everybody else
Speaker:that I meet about
Speaker:this great discovery
Speaker:that Yeshua is not
Speaker:just the Messiah
Speaker:of the Gentiles,
Speaker:He's also our Messiah.
Speaker:After becoming a
Speaker:follower of Yeshua,
Speaker:I became overwhelmed
Speaker:with a sense of joy
Speaker:on the one hand,
Speaker:but also urgency
Speaker:because I said, how come nobody
Speaker:nobody told me before?
Speaker:I mean, my family,
Speaker:my neighbors, my friends,
Speaker:my people, nobody knows.
Speaker:Nobody tells us.
Speaker:And I felt very strongly
Speaker:that I need to go
Speaker:and tell my people.
Speaker:I decided to surprise
Speaker:my family.
Speaker:My dad was there
Speaker:and I told them
Speaker:that I believe in
Speaker:Yeshua the Messiah.
Speaker:The consensus was
Speaker:that in some way or fashion,
Speaker:I've lost my mind.
Speaker:My dad's family,
Speaker:they have arranged
Speaker:for me a meeting with a chief
Speaker:psychiatrist in our city,
Speaker:and he actually formally
Speaker:declared me to be sane.
Speaker:I should have asked
Speaker:for that in writing.
Speaker:My mom's family arranged for me
Speaker:a meeting with the rabbi,
Speaker:and the rabbi promised my mom
Speaker:that he would prove to me that
Speaker:Yeshua is not the Messiah.
Speaker:The day before our meeting,
Speaker:the rabbi called my mom
Speaker:and he canceled the meeting.
Speaker:To my great joy,
Speaker:I discovered
Speaker:there were other believers.
Speaker:I discovered
Speaker:there was a congregation
Speaker:of Jewish believers
Speaker:and I started going there.
Speaker:And so I told them,
Speaker:"I want to study
Speaker:the word of God.
Speaker:Is there any Bible school
Speaker:or Bible college
Speaker:or something like that
Speaker:I can go and invest some time
Speaker:and just study the Bible?"
Speaker:And they said, "Well,
Speaker:no, there's nothing."
Speaker:And I completed my
Speaker:doctoral studies
Speaker:in the United States after that
Speaker:with my wife
Speaker:and young children,
Speaker:we came back to Israel.
Speaker:I knew that God has
Speaker:called me to serve Him, but
Speaker:I didn't know exactly where.
Speaker:I remember very vividly
Speaker:how it felt
Speaker:coming to know Yeshua
Speaker:and having a deep desire
Speaker:to study the scriptures
Speaker:and not knowing how to do it.
Speaker:And I felt very strongly
Speaker:that I need to go
Speaker:and provide this opportunity
Speaker:for Israeli believers,
Speaker:both Jewish and Arab, to study
Speaker:the word of God in Hebrew right
Speaker:where it happened.
Speaker:And to that,
Speaker:I dedicate my life.
Speaker:As the president
Speaker:of Israel College
Speaker:of the Bible, Dr.
Speaker:Erez Soref has devoted his life
Speaker:to helping Israelis study
Speaker:the Hebrew scriptures
Speaker:and the New Testament
Speaker:in their homeland – Israel.
Speaker:As believers in Yeshua,
Speaker:we play an important role
Speaker:to invite Jewish seekers
Speaker:to know the truth
Speaker:of their Messiah.
Speaker:As Paul says in Romans 1:16:
Speaker:“For I am not ashamed
Speaker:of the gospel, for
Speaker:it is the power of God
Speaker:for salvation to
Speaker:everyone who believes,
Speaker:to the Jew first
Speaker:and also to the Greek.”
Speaker:And we can share
Speaker:this gospel message
Speaker:with respect, kindness,
Speaker:and sensitivity
Speaker:to Jewish concerns
Speaker:about the person of Jesus
Speaker:and the New Testament.
Speaker:Speaking of the New Testament,
Speaker:we will answer a very
Speaker:important question about it
Speaker:in our next episode:
Speaker:“Can
Speaker:we trust the New Testament?”
Speaker:Join us as we talk with Dr.
Speaker:Darrell Bock about how the
Speaker:B’rit Hadashah,
Speaker:or New Testament,
Speaker:is just as valid
Speaker:and divinely inspired
Speaker:as the Tanakh.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to this week’s episode
Speaker:of Our Hope, featuring Dr.
Speaker:Michael Brown, Dr.
Speaker:Seth Postell and Dr.
Speaker:Erez Soref.
Speaker:This episode was produced,
Speaker:written, and edited
Speaker:by Grace Swee.
Speaker:This episode was
also created thanks to:Dr.
also created thanks to:Mitch Glaser, Abe Vazquez,
also created thanks to:Kieran Bautista,
also created thanks to:and Ifoundshalom.com,
also created thanks to:in partnership
also created thanks to:with One for Israel.
also created thanks to:I’m Nicole Vacca,
also created thanks to:until next time.
also created thanks to:Thanks for
also created thanks to:listening to Our Hope.
also created thanks to:If you like our show
also created thanks to:and want to know more,
also created thanks to:check out ourhopepodcast.com
also created thanks to:or chosenpeople.com.
also created thanks to:You can also support
also created thanks to:our podcast by giving today
also created thanks to:at ourhopepodcast.com/support.