Israel’s Messiah and my personal saviorIsrael’s Messiah and my personal savior
“I believed in God although I wasn’t sure I wanted toget too close to Him”
When I was young I believed in God although I wasn’t sure I wanted toget too close to Him. It was evident to me that we didn’t get here byaccident, that there is order and design in the universe, and that thereis a uniqueness to being human that couldn’t be explained through chanceprocesses. What wasn’t evident to me was that God actually cared aboutme personally and that He wasn’t out to restrict me but to set me free.
I graduated from high school in 1966, just about the time the wholehippy, Height Ashbury thing was making its way to the East coast.Looking for something to give life meaning I traveled around thecountry, took a lot of drugs, and investigated all kind of philosophiesand religions.
What I found was that many people claimed to have a viable lifephilosophy but in reality most were inconsistent and didn’t have realpeace. Before this pilgrimage I had been challenged with the claims ofJesus Christ. For some reason I had to exhaust every other avenue beforeI would take Christ seriously but finally I was at the end of my rope.
Through both observing the lives of other followers of Jesus and readingthe Bible I began to realise that Jesus Christ was truly who He said Hewas. Although a lot of horrible things have been done to Jewish peoplein His name I saw that His words showed that those who did the wrongcertainly didn’t represent Him. Not only that, but I saw how He clearlyfulfilled prophecy after prophecy in the Hebrew Scriptures. Once Iplaced my faith in Him as Israel’s Messiah and my personal savior, Iwanted to study the Bible more so I went to seminary and eventually Godled me to start Faith Community Church where I am the pastor today.
If you are Jewish and want to investigate further, the Gospel ofMatthew, the first book in the New Testament, presents Christ’s life inthe context of Judaism. If you are not Jewish, The Gospel of John, thefourth book in the New Testament is a excellent place to start.