A Jew witnessing to Jews, Part 1
Jim Bramlett
July 12, 2008
Dear friends:
Good friend Matt Schwartz is a Messianic Jewish ministry leader with a powerful ministry to Jews in Israel, the former Soviet Union, the U.S., and elsewhere. Last night we spoke on the telephone for over an hour about this. He told me that God is moving strongly among Jews all over the world. For example, he said that when he was recently in Kiev, Ukraine, he spoke in a theater to some 2,000 Messianic Jews, all singing, shouting and praising the Lord.
We spoke at length about how God used him one night in Houston, one of the most fascinating experiences I have ever read. Below is an updated version of the story. I know you will enjoy the story and find it very inspirational.
Because of its length, I am forwarding it in two parts.
(I have included both parts here. Rev)
Jim
From Matt Schwartz:
Hi Jim
Those who pray for Israel and the salvation of the Jews, will be encouraged by this simple but powerful story as a sign of the times we are living in. I updated the story where it was appropriate, and included the stories of those whose lives were changed by this wonderful night at Cal's and Betty's home in the Woodlands (in Houston).
My Amazing Night in Houston
Matt Schwartz, Spirit-filled Messianic Jew and International Bible Teacher
I was preaching on a Saturday night in Houston, Texas to a gathering of Spirit-filled, five-fold ministry leaders and pastors and their wives from across America. It was the Word Explosion Annual Leadership Conference in Houston, a five-day event hosted by my dear friends, Senior Pastors John and Doddie Osteen, of the now-30,000 member Oasis of Love, Lakewood Church.
Since then, my dear friend and spiritual mentor, Senior Pastor John Osteen, has gone home to be with the Lord. His talented and outgoing youngest son Joel, whom I love and respect, has stepped in his father's shoes to become the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church.
Joel is a joyful, always smiling, and anointed young man of God who shares a positive and uplifting message on how faith in God can change your life.. The Osteen family members are dear friends of mine. John, Doddie, Lisa, Justin and Joel have been sitting under my teaching ministry for over twenty-five years, since 1982 when Joel's father, John Osteen, Sr. first invited me to speak at Lakewood Church.
I love preaching at Lakewood Church and I thank God that they love and respect me as well. Over 17,000 Spirit-filled believers were in the Houston Convention center that night. I was the keynote speaker along with Pastor Osteen and Kenneth Hagin, Sr.
When I finished preaching my message and praying over the pastors and wives, a Spirit-filled couple who attend Lakewood Church, Cal and Betty Chandler, asked me if I would be willing stay in Houston a few extra days and meet with their precious unsaved Jewish friends. I replied, "I would, be happy to meet with your unsaved Jewish friends."
Cal said, "Matt, Betty and I are planning to invite about 100 unsaved Jewish people to our home to hear you speak. They are our dear friends from the Woodlands Country Club, where Betty and I and play both golf and tennis with them. We are on the Membership Committee and have all their names and addresses. We have tried as best we can to share the things of the Lord with them, but so far, we haven't had any real breakthrough.
"Matt," Betty said, "We plan to invite all of our Jewish friends to our home for a lovely, specially catered, Israeli style Middle Eastern dinner, sing some special songs and then we will turn the evening over to you. You will be their special guest speaker. They know that you believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Many are quite wealthy from their businesses here in Houston. The Helzbergs will be coming, who own Helzberg Diamonds. They are one of the richest families in America.
"And Matt," Betty added, "Many are engineers who graduated from either M.I.T. or Harvard, and most hold several Ph.D.'s in nuclear physics. Bob Babola,, chief flight engineer of NASA will also be coming, and he will give you a special tour of NASA, the kind of tour usually reserved for Senators and Congressman who want to see the latest advancements in our space program and to see how our tax dollars are being spent. He and his wife, and the senior staff from NASA, will be coming to our home in the Woodlands to hear you speak. They know you come to Houston to speak quite often at Lakewood Church and are good friends with the Osteen family. Some of our Jewish friends have already seen you on television on the 700 Club doing a "Messiah revealed in the Passover Seder" with Pat Robertson.
"Matt," Cal added, "Our Jewish friends highly respect you for having met with Israeli Prime Ministers Yitzak Shamir, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert and they admire the humanitarian work your ministry, Project Exodus 2, is doing to help bring hundreds of poor and elderly Jews from Russia and the Ukraine back home to Israel, in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Isaiah 43:5)."
"Matt, we have told them that you are from a prominent middle class Jewish family, from New York City and that your cousin Levi Eshkol served as the Prime Minister of Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War when Jerusalem became the capitol of Israel, a major end-time sign ( Luke 21:24).
"They also know that you are a Messianic Jew, and that you believe in Jesus as the Messiah. I told them that you would share your amazing salvation story with them, and tell them how you got saved and called into the five-fold ministry."
"Matt," Betty added, "There are over 20,000 Jews who live in here in Houston. Those coming to hear you speak are the leading Jewish families in our city. Many are best-selling authors, scientists, attorneys, doctors, and flight engineers from NASA."
I knew that this was a divine appointment from the Lord. I also know that I had only one night to share the gospel with them. So I fasted and prayed for this meeting which was set for the following Saturday night in Cal's and Betty's lovely, brand new home, in the Woodlands.
I asked God to touch all those coming with His unconditional love. I asked God to give me a rhema word for this evening and to give me a message that would challenge them to examine their Jewishness and their beliefs in God. The Holy Ghost gave me a simple but powerful message which I would like to share with you.
It has to do with the fact that all Jews, whether they are reformed, conservative or even orthodox Jews, base their hope of going to Heaven when they die on how well they have kept the Laws of Moses.
You will soon see just how impossible that is after Jesus died at Calvary as the true Messiah and the Jewish temple was completely destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman Army.
On the Cross, Jesus said, "It is finished," speaking of the Law and of the animal sacrifices that were part of offering to God a blood covenant when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and shed the blood, once a year, seven times on the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:14)
While I was praying for the meeting, the Lord, spoke to me, and said, "Matt, open your Dakes Bible and read his commentary on the Book of Exodus. I will show you some amazing things."
I said, "Okay Lord. I'll do that right now."
I was stunned by Dake's research and his extensive commentaries on the laws of Moses given by God to the Jewish people in the books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. According to Dake, who counted all the Jewish laws God had given Moses at Sinai and several times after Sinai, there are a staggering total of 2,300 laws to keep!
I spent all day in study and also realized that since Jesus died at Calvary, and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Herod's temple by the Romans in 70 AD, over 1,800 of the Jewish laws, or 80% of the 2,300 laws God gave to Moses, cannot be kept anymore. Those 1,800 laws of Moses required a Temple, in the city of Jerusalem, daily worship, a Levitical high priest who descended from Aaron, and daily sacrifices.
Those 1,800 laws deal with the preparing of animal sacrifices, making atonement for sin, the role of the Levites in worship, and the command to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat seven times annually (Leviticus 14:16). The remaining 20% of the Law of Moses is about what you could do as a Jew in the natural, such as keeping the Sabbath and adhering to the kosher dietary laws.
The 2,300 laws of Moses also include keeping the Ten Commandments. There are restitution laws for stealing from someone, laws about committing adultery, laws that govern how you run your business and how you treat other people. There are laws forbidding sexual sins. For example, if caught being a homosexual or a lesbian, there was the death penalty. Trying to keep the Law of Moses, can NOT save anyone, including the very religious Orthodox Jews, from going to hell when they die.
The best a righteous Jew could do was to keep less then 500 of the 2,300 laws God gave to Moses. No Jew could go to Heaven with a score of 20% at best, on God's Test of Righteousness.
So I came prayed up and excited about this opportunity to share the message of salvation by grace with all of Cal and Betty's well-educated Jewish friends.
They arrived in their lovely new Jaguars, Cadillacs, Lincolns and Lexuses. They were all very nice, well-dressed, friendly and highly successful. Their wives were equally elegant, and just as successful as their Jewish husbands.
They had come to hear me speak about how I, a traditional New York City Jew from Long Island, and cousin of Levi Eshkol, Israeli Prime Minister in 1967, had become a born-again, Spirit-filled believer in Jesus as my Messiah.
"We began the evening with praise and worship which they really enjoyed. Then Cal and Betty introduced me as their guest speaker.
"Shalom, Havarim" ("hello, my friends" in Hebrew), I said. "I'm honored to be here tonight and I want to thank you for allowing me to be your guest speaker. Many of you have more degrees in this room than any other group of 100 Americans I could be speaking to, anywhere in our nation.
"I highly respect you for your lifetime achievements. I also respect those of you who run our space program at NASA. Our space shuttle is the envy of the nations of the world. Now, since you all have taken many exams in your life, to obtain your doctorate degrees, how many of you have passed the bar exam and are attorneys?" I asked.
Some of them raised their hands.
"How many of you are scientists, or engineers and have a doctorate in your field?" Almost every hand in the room went up along with the Jewish wives.
Then I asked, "Did any of you ever fail an exam and have to take it a second time?"
Several raised their hands. Then I added, "Well, I once failed an important exam in my life. It was my drivers license exam that I took when I was a sophomore in high school. I had to get 15 answers out of 20 right. But I got only 14 right, so I had to take my drivers exam a second time." Some began to smile at my admission of failing this test and having to take it again, so that I could drive my dad's car to Bayside High School in my junior year in High School in Queens, Long Island.
"Let me say that you all know that Spirit-filled Christians like Cal and Betty, whose home we are in tonight, and all the saints at Lakewood Church believe that all a Christian has to do to go to Heaven when they die is to have faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. I opened my Bible and I read from Ephesians 2:8-9: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast." A gift from God or a set of complex and holy laws from Moses seems to be the only major difference between Christians and Jews.'
"We all know that we Jews have a different approach to going to Heaven when we die. Our concept of salvation is based on being a 'good Jew.' Am I correct?"
They all smiled in agreement with me and said, "That's exactly right."
So, I asked, "How many of you consider yourselves to be "good Jews"? Every hand in the room went up!
I went on: "How many of you support your local synagogue and give to charity?" Again every hand went up.
"How many of you give regular financial aid to support the State of Israel?" Again, every hand went up.
Then I said, "How many of you think that as Jews, you have perfectly kept all the laws God gave to Moses and have not broken a single law?"
Suddenly, there was complete silence in the room.
"Matt, no Jew can keep ALL the laws of Moses, can they?" asked Mark, a successful Jewish attorney and a senior partner in one of Houston's largest law firms.
I just smiled and said, "Mark, that's just what we are here tonight to find out. Can any Jew, here in America, keep all the laws of Moses?
"And I have a very important second question to ask all of you, so please write down your answers. Then there is a second question. But your two answers will determine where you will spend eternity, so think about your answers very carefully," I said.
A Jew witnessing to Jews, Part 2
Jim Bramlett
July 12, 2008
Question number 1 is, "Since God requires us Jews to keep the Law of Moses, exactly how many laws of Moses are there we must keep to go to Heaven when we die?" Now, question number 2 is, "How many of the laws of Moses can you break, or fail to keep, and still go to Heaven when you die?"
For the next ten minutes there was silence in the room. The brightest minds in Houston had no idea exactly how many laws God gave to Moses and how many of those laws you HAD to keep to be sure you went to Heaven when you died.
After about ten minutes, I said, "Okay, the test is over. I would like to hear your answers.
Richard, a flight engineer at NASA, said, "Matt, I'm not sure how many laws of Moses there are, but I'm going to guess, may I?"
I smiled, leaning forward on my lectern and said, "Go ahead, Richard."
This brilliant man who was in charge of our space shuttle and was responsible to both the President and to Congress, said, "Matt, I think that there are 700 laws of Moses. Am I right? He asked.
I simply smiled and asked everyone, "How many think there are 700 laws of Moses, like Richard thinks there may be?" Some raised their hands. Others weren't sure. Someone asked me, "Matt, are all we must keep as Jews simply the Ten Commandments? A well-dressed Jewish lady named Elizabeth said, "Matt, I think there are 50 laws of Moses. Am I right?"
Mark, a Senior Partner in Houston's largest law firm said, "Matt, I think there are 120 laws of Moses. Am I right?" he asked, smiling confidently. I could tell that Mark was used to winning his cases in court. He was rarely wrong. The room was buzzing now. How many laws of Moses are there? No one knew for sure.
A brilliant scientist from NASA said, "Matt, I think there are 613 Laws of Moses. I am sure I heard that somewhere. Am I right?" Someone else said, "No, I think that there are only 100 Laws of Moses."
Finally a nice gentleman named David Levine, said, "Matt, you must tell us. How many laws of Moses are there and more importantly, how many of those Laws must we keep to go to Heaven when we die? Even our local smart, well-educated rabbis at our Jewish synagogue can't answer deep spiritual questions like this."
All of Houston's smartest and most successful Jews waited to hear my answer I smiled and slowly said, "Are you ready? Please listen carefully to what the Scriptures teach and to what I am about to share with you."
They took out their elegant Montblanc and Waterman pens. "In the books of Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy. God gave Moses a staggering total of 2,300 laws." There was shock on almost every face.
"How many of you think that as Jews you've kept each and every one of God's 2,300 Laws of Righteousness? How many of you have even read all these laws in your Bible," I asked them.
There was silence. Not a single hand went up. I could see the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their faces. Then I said, "Since the fall of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., over 1,800 of those 2,300 laws cannot be kept because they centered on having the Temple in the City of Jerusalem, and on the daily, shedding of a blood covenant sacrifice, and offering a sacrifice for sin. I read to them from Leviticus 17:11: "It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
"We haven't had a blood covenant sacrifice since the fall of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD," I said. "That leaves us as Jews less than 20 percent of the 2,300 laws of Moses to keep, such as the kosher dietary laws and the Sabbath. Even if you kept all of those laws, you'd still only score 20% right on God's test of Righteousness. Do you really think you can be accepted by God with a 20% score and expect to go to Heaven when you die?" I asked. There was complete silence. The Holy Spirit was bringing a conviction of sin to them all.
Some Jews looked down, knowing they would fail the 2,300 laws of Moses test. "As to question number two," I added, "One must score a perfect 100% on the laws of Moses exam to go to Heaven when you die. I then opened my Bible and preached to them from Deuteronomy 30:8, where God says a person is cursed if they do not keep all the law of Moses!
"You cannot break even one of the 10 commandments and expect to go to Heaven when you die. If you even stole anything, you're a thief. If you ever committed adultery, even once, or coveted your neighbor's property, which is greed, or failed to honor your parents, you have broken the laws of Moses. If you love anyone or anything more than God, you're a sinner, not a saint. If you broke even one law of Moses, it is as of you have you have broken all the laws of Moses.
Your Nobel Prizes, your work on the space shuttle, your supporting Israel, and giving to millions to charity, or thinking you're a good person won't save you on the Day of Judgment. You will have to give a complete account of your life to God. Your good works simply aren't enough to satisfy the requirements of God and the laws of Moses.
"If you want assurance that Heaven will be your home, than your must repent of your sins and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior." Then I shared with them how I had gotten saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. I had them read with me in Leviticus 16:14, how the blood of a bull had to be shed exactly seven times and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement by the High Priest, which we haven't done in almost 2000 years.
I shared with them all how Jesus shed his blood exactly seven times in 72 hours to fulfill the Law and the Prophets for us.( Matthew 5:17).
Jesus shed his blood first in the Garden of Gethsemane.(Luke 22:44); twice more while on trial by the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:67); under Pilate's 39 lashes; and the Crown of Thorns placed on his head. (Matthew 27:28). The sixth offering of His blood was on the Cross when they pierced his hands and feet (Psalm 22:16); and the seventh offering of His Blood was when a Roman soldier pierced his side and out flowed blood and water. (John 19:34).
Two thousand years ago, I continued, God sent his only Son, Yeshua, to be our Jewish Messiah. He fulfilled over 1,000 Scriptures in your Bible. His birth in Bethlehem was foretold in Micah 5:2.
His death was described in Isaiah 53. The precise time of His appearing is found in Daniel 9:27. This Jesus, I said, died in our place. He became the Lamb of God described in Isaiah 53:6. And since 1967, God is revealing Himself to the Jewish people, all around the world. That's how I became a Messianic Jew. That how I became born again and filled with the Spirit -- through a revelation from God. The same type of revelation I am believing that God will give to you, tonight.
Jesus alone is our Messiah. I added, His name in Greek is Jesus. However, His name in Hebrew is YESHUA. To be saved from your sins tonight -- you must repent of your sins, and ask Yeshua into your heart. I then read to them from the Scriptures, "For all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:17).
"Please bow your heads with me right now and pray with me. If you think that the law of Moses will save you then simply do nothing. But if you're not sure where you will go if you died tonight, then please pray with me right now, I urged them. They bowed their heads and began to pray with me.
"Dear God, I have sinned. I am sorry I have broken the laws of Moses. Thank you for sending Yeshua to be my Savior and my Lord. Come into my heart tonight, I pray, and make me a new creation. Save me from my sins. I pray in Jesus' name. Lord, I give my heart to you."
Then I waited on God. You could hear a pin drop.
Some of Houston's Jews were crying. A Jewish lady was sobbing. A man from NASA had tears in his eyes.
The Holy Spirit was here in this place. Some were realizing that they could not be saved by religion or by good works alone. I began to lay my hands on them. Betty began to lead us in awesome worship.
I walked through the room, and I prayed and prophesied over some of them as the Lord led me. The glory began to fall. Some of Houston's most prominent Jews were coming into the Kingdom of God this night. Angels were rejoicing. The veil of darkness was being lifted. Grace was being poured into their hearts.
One man started to leave. I said, "Sit down, sir. God has not dismissed you yet." He began to cry. An extremely attractive, single Jewish woman in her thirties said, "I have sinned against God. I am a lesbian." She was immediately washed in the blood, and forgiven of all her sins by Jesus the Messiah. As I laid hands on her she was slain in the Spirit and just lay there on the floor for an hour, weeping under the anointing.
Some got filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues and prophecy, while others joined me and lifted their hands in praise to the King of Kings, to Betty's anointed singing. I was in awe of how God had arranged this night, in the Woodlands, in one of Houston's most beautiful homes.
Many left who didn't ask Jesus in their hearts, thinking, "Where would I go if I died today. Am I keeping all the 2300 laws of Moses? Will I go to Heaven when I die?" Most had never asked themselves those questions before. They had trusted in their religion and in their many good works to save them. Heaven or Hell. Law or Grace. Moses or Jesus. God had challenged their entire belief system in just one anointed sermon that lasted less then 45 minutes.
Those who didn't accept Jesus drove home that night, uncertain of where they would go if they died that very night. I had given everyone who came to Cal's and Betty's a special Messianic Prophecy Edition of the Bible, pocket sized, (both Old and New Testaments) to take home with them.
I prayed many would read the Old Testament Scriptures, consider the evidence, and come to Jesus as their Jewish Messiah. There is no other way to Heaven. I told them. You cannot be a "good Jew" without having Jesus in your life. You need to be born again and transformed by His saving grace. The laws of Moses can't save you on the Day of Judgment.
For weeks, the talk in Houston among the Jews in the city was, "What Jew is keeping all the 2,300 laws of Moses?"
"No one I know," they replied.. Do you think we need Jesus as our Jewish Messiah?"
Yes, some said. No, absolutely not, others debated. Never, others said. The very fact that Houston's most successful Jewish families were even discussing the claims of Jesus as Messiah was a miracle.
When I later returned to Houston at the invitation of the Osteens to preach again at Lakewood Church, I was met by many joyful saints, "Pastor Matt." they said with excitement, "We are Messianic Jews. We are filled with the Holy Ghost. We are giving your tapes to all our Jewish friends. Thank you for the incredible message you preached at Cal's and Betty's home. We are the fruits of your ministry here in Houston. Please stay and disciple us and train us to effectively serve the Lord."
We all held hands and prayed. A small but vibrant Messianic congregation was birthed in the Woodlands area.
I stayed with them for many days, teaching from God's Word and helping them grow in the Lord. One of the Helzberg's sons, John Helzberg, had read the Bible his parents had received at the meeting and had gotten saved. He was telling everyone about having met Jesus as His Messiah. John Helzberg was on fire for God and telling people that Jesus is coming again soon.
Thousands of Jews in America and around the world are supernaturally coming to the Lord since 1967when Jerusalem became the capitol of Israel. There are around 7000 Israelis (maybe more, no one knows the exact number) who are born again, and living in the nation of Israel today. Thousands more unsaved Jews in America and in the former Soviet Union are coming to know the Lord on a regular basis. "The gospel is to the Jew first," Paul tells us in Romans 1:16.
The Bridegroom is coming soon. The Bride is being made ready. Soon and very soon we shall see the King. The Trumpet will soon sound. We who are alive shall be caught up to meet the Lord, in the air and thus we will be with the Lord forevermore. (I Thessalonians 4:16.)
If you have Jewish friends, pray for them. Ask them, "Are you keeping the laws of Moses?" Listen to how they reply to you.. Share your testimony Tell them how you got saved and met Jesus.
Also tell them why you love Israel, as a Christian, and that you pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
If you love Israel and the Jewish people, you are invited to receive our monthly newsletter on Israel and the last days and on subjects like Jesus revealed in the Jewish Feasts, the soon coming rapture, and miracles in the former Soviet Union. Our newsletter is completely free. We publish it to equip you, God's people, to better understand the times and seasons we are living in, with emphasis on end-time prophecy.
To receive our monthly newsletter entitled, "New Wine," simply write me at the address below. .I would love to hear from you, or e-mail me, with your feedback, about the above testimony, "My Amazing Night in Houston," to Matt Schwartz: at eagleswings427@aol.com.
Matt Schwartz
The King and His Kingdom Worship Conferences
9520 East Valley Ranch Parkway, Suite 1031, Irving, Texas 75063
(972) 506-0237
NEW BEGINNINGS MINISTRY
