Friday, 7 April 2023

Was Yeshua Successful? Part 10

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Have you ever heard there are perhaps millions of Jewish people who secretly believe in Yeshua? These are people who have come to faith but out of fear of being ostracized from the Jewish community, including family and friends, they have become "closet believers." Let me offer you several of my own personal experiences that lead me to believe this is true.

First, I met a man in America and later visited with him in Israel who has been a follower of Yeshua for many years. He is an ultra orthodox Jew in appearance and practice. He is Chasidic. For many years he lived in fear that his wife would find out he is a believer in Yeshua and divorce him. She had her suspicions, and finally they confronted one another only to discover they were both believers in Yeshua and had been keeping it from each other.

My second example also took place in Israel. I had been invited to dinner at a friend's parent's house. The matriarch of the family was quite open to the message of Yeshua (even intrigued by it), but the patriarch was quite closed to any mention of Yeshua, although they both knew their daughter and her family (and myself) were all believers.

After dinner, the patriarch of the family got up from the table to take their dog for a walk. As soon as he left the house, his wife (the matriarch) almost jumped across the table, grabbed my hand and said, "Tell me, what happened to you?"

She caught me by surprise. I asked, "What do you mean?"

She said, "What happened to you to change you from not believing in Yeshua into believing in Yeshua?" She wanted to know more. She was both hungry and thirsty. I told her what I could before her husband returned. I trust and pray she received the good news by faith.

Finally, in the late 1980s, my rabbi and I were invited to be interviewed on Christian television (in the Washington DC market). We arrived on time at the studio for the one hour live program. We brought our Torah with us. During the interview, we opened the Torah and brought the camera in close so everyone at home could see the calligraphy.

Suddenly, the phone lines of the TV studio lit up. The host of the program said nothing like it had every happened before. There were dozens of people calling in who were upset that we had removed a Torah from our synagogue and displayed it on Television. Who were these people? Obviously, Jewish people. But, why were they watching Christian TV in prime time? Curious minds want to know.