This is the recent testimony of David, my famous Jewish Believer internet
friend. He has over the years started churches and Messianic congregations all
over America and Israel.
He is full of Jewish humor and sarcasm. I love it. He loves Jesus, hates
radical Islam, loves Israel and wants our southern border walled up. My kind
of a guy.

Stephen
 

                                  AND IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT BEARS WITNESS
 

All humankind is on a giant quest for truth. (Whether they know it or not)
Truth
in all things.  From the packaging in their local grocery store, to the news
they
listen to nightly.  We are offended and even hurt when we find out we have
been
lied to.
1. The truth is that we all are on this earth for a very short period of time.
2. The truth is that almost all are born into a religion in this world.
3. The truth is that the womb is certainly not the best way of finding a
religion.
4. The truth is that there are many religions in this world that all beckon
one to
    come and join. Each one stating reasons why theirs is good or even best.
5. The truth is that logical deduction alone cannot show one the path to God.
6. The truth is that to find God one must seek him, and since God is above
logic
    One must not stop at logical deduction (nor ignore it) but seek the person
of
    God himself.
7. The truth is that God is really big enough to satisfy the longing seeker
after
    Himself.

Catholicism states that it was the first church, Orthodox Judaism states that
over
600,000 men plus women and children heard his voice at Mount Sinai. Mormonism
states that Joseph Smith was a confirmed prophet who brought forth
The book of Mormon, which alleges that it tells the tale of the inhabitants of
ancient America, visited by Jesus the Son of God. Jehovah's' witnesses state
that
all Christendom is wrong and worships a false triune god, not the One True God
Jehovah and so ad infinitum are the claimants for the truth in eternal things.
The same can be said of most of the worlds religions.

So how does an individual find out the truth and separate it from error?  It
must
be noted that in the verse of scripture at the head of this paper it states:
"And it
is the Spirit that bears witness and the Spirit is truth."(1 John 5:6) This
appeals to
me for good reason. Our father Abraham heard God speak to him, so did Isaac
and Jacob, as well as many of my people.  They didn't have a man tell them
what they must or must not believe.  So as a 20 year old ( 66 when this was
written and now 72) I was challenged as a Jewish young man to examine the
claims of Jesus of Nazareth (believed by many to be Messiah.) Being raised as
an Orthodox Jew, I thought it wrong even to talk about this person.  (I didn't
really know why, but I certainly didn't want to make waves in the family.  No,
I was content to be a Jew, knowing it was our truth, and when I passed a
church or saw a cross, I recalled that the people who worshipped there didn't
like Jews.  My many fights with them sort of confirmed this do me..

So I cannot honestly say that I was looking for Jesus, or answers for that
matter.
I was happily looking forward to a career in the entertainment field....my joy
was
making people laugh and be happy.  So it was natural for me while stationed in
the USAF at Anchorage Alaska to join a comedy group that was on the order of
"Spike Jones" and had engagements in the various night clubs around Anchorage,
also appearing on KBYR TV a number of times.  Ken Guthrie formed
the band and after he gave it up I began leading the comedy group.  I was
looking

forward to an entertainment career in Hollywood, and that was my sole purpose
at that time.  Through a series of experiences I found myself surrounded by
evangelical Christians and Jehovah's' witnesses.  Each one attempting to save
me. There was one man called "Smitty" by profession he sold automobiles in
Anchorage. One night while a heated discussion was going
on between the witnesses and my roommate (a fervent Baptist) about the
Trinity,
Smitty took me aside and said to me, "Don't bother with this discussion, as he
felt I needed to settle the matter as to whether Jesus was the Messiah of
Israel or
not.  He showed me a verse of scripture from the book of the prophet Daniel
the
9th chapter and his comment was that the Messiah was to appear prior to the
destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 of the Common Era.  He stated that
either
the Messiah came (Jesus) or throw out the Jewish bible.  Though I have lived
long enough to know there were other alternatives.  Yet I began to pray to the
God of Israel to show me the truth.  "Is Jesus the Messiah or not?"  What
follows
is my experience, not anyone else's but my own, and that subjective/objective
experience is totally sufficient for me.

"I got off the night shift (being a radio operator) at 7 a.m. As usual I went
to the
mess hall and had breakfast, and promptly took my shower and was about to go
to sleep, I remember laying my head down on the pillow, and without any
intervening time I found myself walking upon clouds in the heavens. All of a
sudden a young man dressed in biblical garb came up to me and he put his arm
around my shoulder and said: "You are going to leave Judaism and follow me,
for I have called you unto myself".......He never stated: I am Jesus,
I just absolutely knew it in my spirit as we spoke.  He then stated that
certain things would happen to me and I would know of a surety that it was he.
 Then
he said he would reveal himself to me and I would know it was true.  I saw in
the
vision my seargent demoted to corporal, I saw myself being delivered from a
personal attack, and lastly that he would reveal himself to me. I proceeded to
get up drenched with sweat and decided to go get drunk as the affect on me was
so frightening as the last thing I wanted was to leave my religion and accept
Jesus whose people hated me. (Later I found out differently)

Well, I swore off of bible discussions that very day, and stayed away from the
people who had taken this interest in me.  One night I was at work on my radio
shift and sure enough the first word came true.  (Objective reality to a
subjective
experience) My sergeant was standing there with two stripes on his arm.  He
and
a few others engaged in homosexual activity and were caught, demoted and
were awaiting court martial.  Well.....to say the least I was shook up, and my
vision was turned into a momentary nightmare, as there was no way to argue
against  what I had just witnessed.
Then one night I was taking a shower alone in the barracks and a
huge man entered into the shower room and made it quite obvious that he was

about to sexually attack me, I cried out......."God!!!!  And immediately a few
people entered into the latrine, that stopped his advances and caused me to
recall the vision once again.. My Baptist roommate Al, invited me to go to a
movie on the life of Christ called "Day of Triumph" that was playing at one of
the theatres at Elmendorf AFB.  I said absolutely not, and looked for my
friends who were drinking buddies.  We went to Anchorage, and attempted to get
served (which you can do 23 ½ hours a day in Anchorage in the 1950's) but they
were cleaning up the bar on 4th avenue.  We went out onto the Seward Highway
to a place we often frequented, and again there just happened to be no
licensed person to serve us at this bar.  We then went to a package store and
purchased beer which we then hid in our jackets and brought into the secured
area in which we lived.  We decided  to play cards and drink our beer...(As I
was a total loser at cards, and as I was to be married shortly I decided
against playing. I looked out the window, and saw "The blue goose" (a name we
gave to the truck that would take us to the base which was about 5 miles from
where we were housed. I knew I had to get aboard and go to that movie.  I
did....and for the first time saw the story of Jesus (poorly portrayed.)
Toward the end of the movie Jesus was resurrected from the dead and was
sitting with his disciple speaking to them, when all of a sudden, the screen
began to look distorted as if there was a giant old fashioned radiator the
waves of heat coming off of it were causing the very atmosphere to change, and
then the person who portrayed Jesus on screen changed before my very eyes to
the one who appeared to me in that vision.  At that moment "The Spirit bore
witness with my spirit and I knew Jesus was my Messiah, In spite of
everything, I had both subjective and objective evidence to the same, and
though I had not heard the term "being born again" I surely was as I received
this Jesus as my messiah and my savior.  My life changed that night in Alaska,
but what has occurred since that night over 46 years ago is that The God of
Israel who was real to the people in the scriptures became real to me. My
family and my fiancé forsook me because of my new beliefs; I was penniless
when I returned home.  I found a door slammed in my face by my sister, yet as
I went to a quiet place to pray, I heard these words: "There is $300 in the
mail for you".  I went back to my sisters home, again I was not received, but
I yelled out...."You must give me my mail !!"  She opened the door and handed
me a package of mail with a rubber band around it, and with my last 10 cents I
went and purchased a cup of coffee at the nearby Soda fountain, and began to
read the mail.  There were letters from Air Force buddies, and old mail from
my fiancé, but there was one letter that stood out, from the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.  I opened it and there it was written:

"For honorable service to your country and to the commonwealth of
Massachusetts, we award you as an honorably discharged veteran $300"

More important than the $300 was the fact that God had revealed himself in the
real world to me! And that he was absolutely trustworthy and that he cared
about
my life.  The last 46 years have been full of excitement, and fulfillment.
Yes there have been my many failings that are unworthy of the God who has been
so good, to me but what strikes me in the revelation of himself is that "For
While We Were Yet Sinners Messiah Died For Us" (Isaiah 53 and Romans 5:8) Yes
he loves us with an unchanging everlasting love, that is hard for us to
comprehend, yet there it is.

In l John 5:8 we read: "And there are three that bear witness in earth, The
Spirit,
The Water, and the Blood, and these three agree in one.
Yes it is the Spirit that bears witness that Yeshua is Gods son, and his blood
that was shed for us avails for forgiveness and cleansing from all sin, and by
the washing of water by the word (Ephesians 5:26) we can experience the
witness of Gods Holy Spirit.

All one must do is have a heart that is open and honest, and ssk God to reveal
the truth to him or herself, and then let God be God.     Seek him.......