Article of the Month
Hi friends!
I wish you could actually hear Karen Faith Heller relate this in person. Her passion is contagious and her revelation inspiring.
Enjoy!
By Karen Faith Heller:
My grandfather was a very learned, devout orthodox Jew. In fact, the rabbis used to go to him to learn about the Scriptures. He came from a family of 13 brothers and sisters who were killed in the Russian pogroms and in the Holocaust. Somehow he, along with a single brother and sister, survived.
My grandfather, who spoke 11 languages, made it to America along with one sister, while his brother ended up in Argentina. My grandmother’s side of the family came from Poland and Russia, and she also had family that ended up in the Holocaust.
My brother and I were raised in a Reform Jewish home. However, I grew up with a genuine respect for my grandfather and his faith. I went to Hebrew school from the time I was small and became a Bat Mitzvah at the age of 12. I remember that as a very proud moment for my grandfather and my father. My father gave me my choice at that time to continue my Hebrew learning. After that, I observed the High Holy Days and Passover, but became more of what you might call a “cultural” Jew.
In my 20’s, I drifted off into the New Age philosophies and the Eastern religions. I was doing the whole Buddhism and Hindu-Guru thing and had a bookshelf filled with New Age authors. It is funny to think, that from the Jewish perspective, you can do all that and still be Jewish, even though it is forbidden in the Torah! But to learn about Jesus, the Messiah who came for the Jews, is thought to be unacceptable.
My perspective was that Jesus was okay for the Gentiles, but the Jews already have God. We would never consider reading the New Testament. That would be one of those “scary books” that doesn’t belong in our house. I had grown up equating Jesus with Hitler. That’s why it’s so hard to talk to Jewish people, because our relatives were killed in the name of Jesus. Hitler called himself a Christian, and he used Christianity as a cause for killing Jews.
We heard the stories of the deaths of our families in the Crusades, the pogroms, the Holocaust, all in the name of Jesus and under the symbol of the cross. I grew up with a fear of Germany, anything German, and of the symbol of the cross.
I have an amazing friend, Anne Holland, who has been my mentor for 14 years. For 10 years, she was trying to bring me to Jesus! I loved her, but I would think to myself, Jesus is okay for you, but I already have God. Maybe after awhile she’ll give up and go away. But she was very persistent. Anne kept inviting me to business-networking events and to meet influential business people. I would show up and then realize, “Oh no! It’s another Jesus thing!”
But Anne did not give up on me! She invited me to a high-level executive event, which she told me would be good for my business. It focused on the top one percent of business leaders in the country. The funny part was that they sent me the wrong invitation, which said “Please bring an unbeliever with you.” As I’m going there, I’m thinking, I would be the last person at this event that’s going to consider Jesus! She should just give up on me!
But I went, and I met Arch Bonnema, Norm Miller, and other influential, truly genuine, and loving Christians. Like Anne, they really demonstrated the true love and light of Christ. My heart softened at that event; it really made an impact on me.
When we were leaving, Anne said, “I want you to go to Bible study with me when we get back.” I’m thinking, “Bible study? Jews don’t go to Bible study!”
I took Raoul Garcia, my business partner, along with me to Bible study. He said he would help me to understand what they were teaching. The first few times I went, I was very angry. I was arguing about the Bible with Raoul. Raoul first said that I should consider that God might be trying to teach me something through Dr. Ed Pauley’s Bible study. He also said, “You’re so open-minded about everything else in your life. But when it comes to Jesus Christ, you are so closed-minded.”
This was the biggest insult you could give me because I always tried to be so open-minded! And then he said, “I really believe, if you would just open up your mind and your heart to Jesus, that it would bring you full around to your Jewish heritage.”
I spread my arms out and said, “Are you out of your mind? You’ve got Jesus over here, and the Jews over here, and they could not be farther apart!” But I decided I can be open-minded; I’m going to try out this new path and see if I can just learn from Dr. Pauley with an open mind.
So we kept going to Bible study, and I began growing. A few months later, Anne called us, and we went off to New Zealand for a week in November 2003. We went to this tiny little church, and after the pastor spoke, he had us close our eyes. He said if you’d like to accept Jesus into your heart, raise your hand.
So I’m thinking, I’m in New Zealand, nobody can see me because my eyes are closed, if I’m going to try out this path I’ll just try it out here. So I raised my hand. Well of course the pastor’s eyes were open! So he brought me up to the front, and nobody else is accepting Jesus in the middle of New Zealand!
He prayed over me. Anne said she knew all along that I was going to accept Jesus that evening. As we left, I said to Anne, “If I’m going to accept Jesus, I want to be baptized!” So Pastor Rob, of Impact Church, baptized me in the hot tub outside the Pencarrow Bed and Breakfast. When I came up out of the water, I saw Anne’s face and she was sobbing. And all I could think was, “Oh no…she thinks there’s something really important going on here.”
That night, Raoul shared something he just learned with everyone. For the first time in recorded history, six planets had aligned in the night skies to form a Jewish Star. That same day the largest solar flare had been recorded, and a lunar eclipse was going to occur that night!
But when we were flying home to Dallas the guilt hit me. I thought, “I’ve betrayed my grandfather, my heritage, my tradition, my family! What am I doing?” I was so upset with myself!
Two weeks later, I was throwing a charity fundraiser with Anne. As I was greeting new guests, I met Megan Bruss, a pastor’s wife. She asked me an innocent question, “Where do you go to church?” I said, “I go to Prestonwood, but I’m Jewish. I just accepted Jesus!” She said, “Oh, my father is a Messianic Jew!” I asked her, “What is a Messianic Jew?” So she sent me several books, including “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus” and “Our Hands are Stained with Blood” by Dr. Michael Brown.
I immediately opened the first book, and it was as if a light bulb went on in my head. Jesus was Jewish? The apostles were Jewish? The message was a Jewish message? Our eyes were blinded until the fullness of the gentiles could come in?
I realized there is no difference between a Christian and a Jew, because we are one in the Messiah! All of Romans 9-11 opened up to me. I felt like Paul on the road to Damascus: the scales came off my eyes. I totally got it! I was completely and immediately on fire. The Holy Spirit hit me at that very moment! I called Megan and said I might like to ask some questions of her father. She sent me his bio.
It turned out that her father is Dr. Michael Brown! He was the author of the books! I was completely amazed. Megan said, “It might be helpful for you to visit the Messianic Jewish Congregation, Baruch HaShem.” The first three Saturdays that I went to Rabbi Marty Waldman’s temple, I cried from the minute they started dancing to the end.
When the Torah was coming around through the congregation, I couldn’t breathe! It just overwhelmed me. I felt like I was seeing my grandfather, in his tallit and yamulke, singing to Yeshua. I knew I was finally at home. I thought, “Raoul was right all along. Learning about Jesus brought me full around to my Jewish roots!”
My life has been transformed by Yeshua. He changed me from the inside out. I live my life for the Lord now, with the same zeal as my grandfather. So many amazing, incredible miracles happened after that, and one was the MJBI banquet in 2004. Anne said, “I’m going to take you to this MJBI dinner.” I asked her, “What is it?” She said, “I don’t know, but Pat Robertson is speaking, and I really like Pat!”
When we arrived, there had to be 1,000 people there, mostly Christians, who loved the Jewish people. This was blowing my mind because I thought Christians hated Jews. I cried at the dinner that evening when I heard Pat Robertson talk about loving Israel and the Jewish people and Israel’s right to the Land. The crowd was cheering in support. I’m thinking, there are all these Christian people in this room, and they love Israel and they love the Jewish people! Everyone needs to know about this!
One of the things I love so much about MJBI is having the opportunity to bring Christians who don’t understand their Jewish roots to the MJBI banquet. Every time I meet a Christian who says they love the Jewish people or are open to knowing more, I invite them to Baruch HaShem and to the MJBI to try to bring more awareness. And my heart longs to bring more Jewish friends to the love of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
MJBI gives the whole picture of what it is to be a follower of Yeshua, to understand the Christian walk complete with the Jewish roots. MJBI offers the picture of what Yeshua meant for us to be, one in Messiah.
Karen Faith Heller is the CEO of CogMotion, Inc., a leading-edge, software technology firm focusing on business intelligence development (www.CogMotion.com,; and the CEO of WayCoolPeople, Inc., which specializes in organizational design, social network coaching, executive placement, and executive coaching (www.WayCoolPeople.com).