Post by Mpossoff on Jan 11, 2007 0:37:02 GMT -8
Hi all my name is Marc Possoff and I'm new to the forum. Glad to be hear.
Here is my testimony so you could get to know me and how Jesus the Messiah miraculously entered my heart and miraculously lifted the veil from me.
I was saved recently early last year.
I grew up in a non-religious Jewish home.
Yes we celebrated all the major holidays. My grandmother on the other hand kept
kosher and I would say somewhat religious. In my family if you married a gentile
that was bad. I would say growing up my father would talk about how important it
was to be Jewish and would emphasize that we were the Chosen. Now his
interpretation of being the Chosen meant that we were better than the Gentiles and we had the "real" God.
I never had a real sense for the religious aspects of Judaism but I did know
that we weren't suppose to believe in Jesus. That Jesus was for the Gentiles but
we had the REAL God.
I grew up in a mixed neighborhood. There were many Gentiles and many Jews. There
was 3 synagogues in my neighborhood. I can remember when the Messianic Temple
and congregation took space in our neighborhood the Jews wanted to run them out.
They are still there today! I believe this congregation of Messianics is the
"forerunner" of Messianics in the USA; BETH YESHUA,
www.cby.org/. Anyway in my family that
was forbidden. I was raised to think that those Messianics were nut cases for
believing in Jesus.
Like I said I lived in a mixed neighborhood and had many friends who were
Catholic. I always remembered that I was jealous that they celebrated Christmas.
But it was pounded in my head that Jesus and Christmas was for the goyim.
Although I had many Christian friends and so did my parents, we were Jews and
they were goyim.
So as a little boy I wasn’t raised religiously. My father wasn’t a fan of religion. We observed Passover and I do know why we observed it. Yom Kippur was definitely observed as we were taught it was the day that God forgave you of your sins for the year. When it was time to “get” a Bar Mitvah my father gave my bother and I a choice on whether or not we wanted to have a Bar Mitvah. I didn’t want to have one because I didn’t think it was important. “Hey I’m not religious anyway and God doesn’t care about me.” If I remember one thing that made me somewhat proud to be a Jew in my childhood it was when my grandparents spoke Yiddish. When I was around that generation and they spoke Yiddish it gave me a “false sense”, if you will of pride.
Never a sense of anything I sought spirituality all my life and couldn't find
it. There was something definately missing. Did some horrible things in my life. Won’t get into my sinful life, that’s another “story”.
BUT I wasn't proud to be a Jew in a certain time in my life. I would often lie
that I was Jewish . I lied to people. I would tell people that I was half Jewish
and half Catholic. I would tell people that my mother was Italian and my father
was Jewish. I would lie and tell people that I was raised Catholic. I felt
ashamed to let anyone know I was Jewish because of what the world though of the
Jews so I made myself something I was not. If I was having a conversation about
religion I would tell people that Jesus was just a prophet.
I wouldn’t say that I didn’t know who Jesus was but it was so inrooted in me that He was for the Gentiles only. Honestly the thought of Jesus made “my stomach churn”. The thought of the New Testament gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
I knew there was a God. I thought God didn’t care about me. And I didn’t need a savior. I would say that Jesus did exist and that he was just another prophet, but that was for the Gentiles to discuss.
Ooooh.... I married a Gentile and got married in a Church. That was a disgrace
to my family. Not that I married a Gentile per say but that my wife didn't
convert and that we got married in a Church. I remember it was hard for me at
the wedding service as well because of the kneeling, the altar, Jesus. But I
loved my wife and she wanted to get married in a Church and I thought I'm not
religious anyway. My wife wasn't necessarily religious either but her faith at
that time was much stronger. To appease my family we had a jewish ceremony at
the reception. But my family still said that we were married by a priest.
There was this Pastor at work that always talked about Jesus. Everytime I would
see him he would greet you with..."Praise the Lord!, and when saying
goodbye.."peace by unto you you". Yeah right one of those crazy nut cases who believes in Jesus and wants
everyone to believe. I always thought that people have different beliefs but
Jesus ain't for me. Although my wife was Catholic and we raised our kids
Catholic, she had her beliefs and I had mine. even at my job I never told people
that I was a Jew.
My life was in shambles. I was doing things that were horrible and wondered why
I was doing them. My nickname was "Shaddy" because I did Shaddy things and had
that reputation. I was dying on the inside. Marrital problems , problems galore.
I lived in darkness but put a good front. Lived a life of sin; sleeper
houses(adultery), compulsive and addicting behavior you name it.
My mother in law became very ill in 2005. She moved in with us. I kind of got
close to her. I got a call one day from my wife and she told me her mother was
dying. I rushed home only to find my mother in law on the floor covered with a
sheet. I remember seeing her feet sticking out.
That death did something to me that it's hard to describe. It me realize that when I die I'm going to hell. The next morning
I begged God for mercy on my soul. I prayed to God that I am ready and willing
to accept the truth whatever the truth was.
I stayed home from work for about a week. The following Monday I got that Pastor's phone number from a colleague of mine. Called him that morning and asked him if he could speak to me. I told him on the phone that I wanted to accept Jesus but don't know how. That came out of nowhere. The truth was revealed to me. The truth was that Jesus Christ is Savior. The truth was "that no one can come to the father except through me". That's what is called a miracle. I met the Pastor in his car and I repented my sins, realized the truth that Jesus died for my sins, that Jesus is God. A complete transformation from my life thinking that I'm a Jew and that I'm not suppose to believe in Jesus. The veil was lifted. I immediately experienced the presence of God and peace. The Holy Spirit was inside of me.
I didn't stop there though. Today I'm still in some pretty intensive weekly Bible studies with the Pastor. I'm growing. My spiritual walk with Jesus is growing.
One thing I would like to close with. Although my wife is Catholic she isn't saved. It's pretty apparent that I'm saved. My wife can't accept it. She knows I believe in Jesus.
She told me one day..."Why don't you just be a Jew"( her thinking just like mine used to be was that Jews don't accept Jesus).
My answer was "I am being a Jew, a Jew that Jesus wants me to be and expects me to be".
Today I know I am a Jew just like our forefathers who believed in Gods promises and the promise of Jesus the Messiah. That the Messiah died for my sins( a dirty rotten sinner) ONCE and for ALL! Joyous to know that we are not waiting for the Messiah to come for the first time, He already came and died for our sins and He will be coming again and believers will be shouting for joy and meeting Him in the air and He takes us to Heaven!
The Holy Spirt has been pushing me to know the importance of me being a Jewish believer which is why I joined this forum. That I'm part of the remant that the Bible talks about that is saved.
Marc
Here is my testimony so you could get to know me and how Jesus the Messiah miraculously entered my heart and miraculously lifted the veil from me.
I was saved recently early last year.
I grew up in a non-religious Jewish home.
Yes we celebrated all the major holidays. My grandmother on the other hand kept
kosher and I would say somewhat religious. In my family if you married a gentile
that was bad. I would say growing up my father would talk about how important it
was to be Jewish and would emphasize that we were the Chosen. Now his
interpretation of being the Chosen meant that we were better than the Gentiles and we had the "real" God.
I never had a real sense for the religious aspects of Judaism but I did know
that we weren't suppose to believe in Jesus. That Jesus was for the Gentiles but
we had the REAL God.
I grew up in a mixed neighborhood. There were many Gentiles and many Jews. There
was 3 synagogues in my neighborhood. I can remember when the Messianic Temple
and congregation took space in our neighborhood the Jews wanted to run them out.
They are still there today! I believe this congregation of Messianics is the
"forerunner" of Messianics in the USA; BETH YESHUA,
www.cby.org/. Anyway in my family that
was forbidden. I was raised to think that those Messianics were nut cases for
believing in Jesus.
Like I said I lived in a mixed neighborhood and had many friends who were
Catholic. I always remembered that I was jealous that they celebrated Christmas.
But it was pounded in my head that Jesus and Christmas was for the goyim.
Although I had many Christian friends and so did my parents, we were Jews and
they were goyim.
So as a little boy I wasn’t raised religiously. My father wasn’t a fan of religion. We observed Passover and I do know why we observed it. Yom Kippur was definitely observed as we were taught it was the day that God forgave you of your sins for the year. When it was time to “get” a Bar Mitvah my father gave my bother and I a choice on whether or not we wanted to have a Bar Mitvah. I didn’t want to have one because I didn’t think it was important. “Hey I’m not religious anyway and God doesn’t care about me.” If I remember one thing that made me somewhat proud to be a Jew in my childhood it was when my grandparents spoke Yiddish. When I was around that generation and they spoke Yiddish it gave me a “false sense”, if you will of pride.
Never a sense of anything I sought spirituality all my life and couldn't find
it. There was something definately missing. Did some horrible things in my life. Won’t get into my sinful life, that’s another “story”.
BUT I wasn't proud to be a Jew in a certain time in my life. I would often lie
that I was Jewish . I lied to people. I would tell people that I was half Jewish
and half Catholic. I would tell people that my mother was Italian and my father
was Jewish. I would lie and tell people that I was raised Catholic. I felt
ashamed to let anyone know I was Jewish because of what the world though of the
Jews so I made myself something I was not. If I was having a conversation about
religion I would tell people that Jesus was just a prophet.
I wouldn’t say that I didn’t know who Jesus was but it was so inrooted in me that He was for the Gentiles only. Honestly the thought of Jesus made “my stomach churn”. The thought of the New Testament gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
I knew there was a God. I thought God didn’t care about me. And I didn’t need a savior. I would say that Jesus did exist and that he was just another prophet, but that was for the Gentiles to discuss.
Ooooh.... I married a Gentile and got married in a Church. That was a disgrace
to my family. Not that I married a Gentile per say but that my wife didn't
convert and that we got married in a Church. I remember it was hard for me at
the wedding service as well because of the kneeling, the altar, Jesus. But I
loved my wife and she wanted to get married in a Church and I thought I'm not
religious anyway. My wife wasn't necessarily religious either but her faith at
that time was much stronger. To appease my family we had a jewish ceremony at
the reception. But my family still said that we were married by a priest.
There was this Pastor at work that always talked about Jesus. Everytime I would
see him he would greet you with..."Praise the Lord!, and when saying
goodbye.."peace by unto you you". Yeah right one of those crazy nut cases who believes in Jesus and wants
everyone to believe. I always thought that people have different beliefs but
Jesus ain't for me. Although my wife was Catholic and we raised our kids
Catholic, she had her beliefs and I had mine. even at my job I never told people
that I was a Jew.
My life was in shambles. I was doing things that were horrible and wondered why
I was doing them. My nickname was "Shaddy" because I did Shaddy things and had
that reputation. I was dying on the inside. Marrital problems , problems galore.
I lived in darkness but put a good front. Lived a life of sin; sleeper
houses(adultery), compulsive and addicting behavior you name it.
My mother in law became very ill in 2005. She moved in with us. I kind of got
close to her. I got a call one day from my wife and she told me her mother was
dying. I rushed home only to find my mother in law on the floor covered with a
sheet. I remember seeing her feet sticking out.
That death did something to me that it's hard to describe. It me realize that when I die I'm going to hell. The next morning
I begged God for mercy on my soul. I prayed to God that I am ready and willing
to accept the truth whatever the truth was.
I stayed home from work for about a week. The following Monday I got that Pastor's phone number from a colleague of mine. Called him that morning and asked him if he could speak to me. I told him on the phone that I wanted to accept Jesus but don't know how. That came out of nowhere. The truth was revealed to me. The truth was that Jesus Christ is Savior. The truth was "that no one can come to the father except through me". That's what is called a miracle. I met the Pastor in his car and I repented my sins, realized the truth that Jesus died for my sins, that Jesus is God. A complete transformation from my life thinking that I'm a Jew and that I'm not suppose to believe in Jesus. The veil was lifted. I immediately experienced the presence of God and peace. The Holy Spirit was inside of me.
I didn't stop there though. Today I'm still in some pretty intensive weekly Bible studies with the Pastor. I'm growing. My spiritual walk with Jesus is growing.
One thing I would like to close with. Although my wife is Catholic she isn't saved. It's pretty apparent that I'm saved. My wife can't accept it. She knows I believe in Jesus.
She told me one day..."Why don't you just be a Jew"( her thinking just like mine used to be was that Jews don't accept Jesus).
My answer was "I am being a Jew, a Jew that Jesus wants me to be and expects me to be".
Today I know I am a Jew just like our forefathers who believed in Gods promises and the promise of Jesus the Messiah. That the Messiah died for my sins( a dirty rotten sinner) ONCE and for ALL! Joyous to know that we are not waiting for the Messiah to come for the first time, He already came and died for our sins and He will be coming again and believers will be shouting for joy and meeting Him in the air and He takes us to Heaven!
The Holy Spirt has been pushing me to know the importance of me being a Jewish believer which is why I joined this forum. That I'm part of the remant that the Bible talks about that is saved.
Marc
day by day as I was raised a christian, but I will tell you...I love the 
It is truly the "Tree of Life" and all who eat of it are happy indeed!
