1. A Herald to Jesus of Nazareth's Bride

The Church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64:1-3 without Joel 2:13 first.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

This is uh my version of a um audiobook for the very first book I ever wrote uh back in 2016. It's titled A Herald, which means an announcement, to the to Jesus of Nazareth's bride in the United States of America. On the back of the book, I I made a statement, and that here it is. The church in this country is at a time in which there will be no Isaiah 64, 1 through 3 without Joel 2.13 first. So this uh this book is of course uh I I updated it just a few months ago. Uh after 10 years, I decided to make some adjustments to it. Um I'm gonna be reading the the the obviously the most recent version of it. Um none of the books I've written are expensive. Uh the most expensive ones are like $20. Of course, there's some postage if you do the paperback, but they're also all available in uh e-book form, which is I usually price them half of whatever I price the paperback at. And then, of course, these podcasts are free. So um from my perspective, there's absolutely no reason uh not to uh uh connect with these. I mean, they're all available in some very simple format, some simple way. So uh as I said, I'm gonna start reading this. I'm not a professional, but I do know how to read. So here we go. This is oh, I almost forgot. Um in the book form, uh, paperback or the e-book, there are footnotes, which of course help uh with a little more information or a little more of an explanation of what I'm saying in the main text. I have not figured out a way to do that uh that I feel like works when I'm just reading it to you. I don't know how to really just stop and say, okay, this is footnote number one without it be kind of missing the flow of the reading. Um maybe somebody else knows how to do that. I don't. So if you want the to see the footnotes, which again provide a little more information, or maybe even some passages of scripture that back up what I'm saying in the main uh text, then of course you'll need to either purchase the paperback or uh the e-book. So the preface begins the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. Glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Whenever you see in the English translation of the Bible, capital L O R D, all in caps, what the English translators are telling you is in the Hebrew manuscript, it's the name Yahweh. And they did that out of respect for my people, the Jews, because we don't say Yahweh. I'm saying it, but typically Orthodox Jews don't say the name Yahweh. They think that's taking the name of God in vain. But the writers of the Old Testament are being very specific when they do this. They're saying Yahweh said this, as opposed to one of the other Canaanite gods or the Egyptian gods. They're being very specific about which higher power, that's the meaning of the word God, that they're talking about. Today, within the United States of America, there's an army of prophetic criers or forerunners who Jesus is sending out, call his bride, to repent and to prepare for his return to this planet. And while this army is crying out with a message within the borders of the Christianized nation of the United States of America, this message is not to this nation. This message is to the church, to those who claim to be faithful followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who live in this nation. There are many other forerunners, some doing this assignment here in this country, and many more doing this assignment in other nations. For this, Jesus' return will be to the entire planet, not merely to a small slip sliver of land that he came to the first time. Here is the issue. Although the Jesus, by his spirit, has given very much to the church in this country, Luke 12, 48b, today, despite outward appearances, the church in this country is mostly a barren, dry, empty desert. Whereas she is devoid of the actual presence of the living God Himself, which is one of the blessings of the new covenant. For example, Matthew 18, 20. And worse, so very few are even aware of just how absent he is due to exchanging his presence for mere churchanity. And so this writing is not about this nation's issues. This writing is about 12 serious issues which currently and increasingly permeate the church in this nation. For those who seek to turn from these issues and turn toward, that's 1 Thessalonians 1:9. That's what repentance is, turning from and turning toward. What the bridegroom king wants, there will be reward. For those who do not, there will be losses, some of which can be profoundly devastating. The first chapter is titled The Background, specifically my background. In the flesh, I am an example of Paul's new man from Ephesians chapter 2. For my father was a Jew, my mother a gentile. This provided me with the DNA of both. Thus, in the physical, I represent the two types of human beings who make up the church, Jew and Gentile. More irony. When my mother was officially converted to Judaism, and she and my dad were then married, they immigrated to the new to the newly born-again nation of Israel sometime in 1951. In other words, this was not a vacation to the Holy Land. My parents fully intended to become Israeli citizens and to live in the promised land for the rest of their lives. My parents arrived in Israel due to the enormous influx of Jews coming to the land from all over the world after World War II, living conditions were limited and difficult. In an attempt to accommodate all these people, the government created tent cities to house them. My dad's mother was already living in one of these tents, so my parents moved in with his mother until he was able to obtain a small apartment. Once they were alone, my dad got my mom pregnant with me. So I was conceived in Israel. However, five months into the pregnancy, my mother had a checkup. She weighed some 90 pounds. The reason for this was that everything was rationed, especially food. I remember her telling me stories about how they were limited to very small amounts of milk, eggs, and meat per week. Again, this was due to the tsunami of immigrants in the country's limited resources to provide for people's needs. At this prenatal checkup, the doctor informed my dad that based on my mother's physical condition, the baby, me, was not going to make it without some significant improvement in my mother's nutritional needs. So my dad sent my mother back to her family in the States for them to nurse her back to health. In the meantime, realizing he was going to have to postpone his desire to become an Israeli citizen, my dad began trying to find employment back here. My dad knew a ton of people, and most of these people were successful businessmen. But about all these people my dad knew, only one man had a job opening that paid what my dad needed. His name was Davis Green. Mr. Green offered my dad a manager position in his company in Corpus Christi, Texas, a city to which neither of my parents had ever been. My dad then telegraphed my mother and told her to meet him in Corpus. And that's where I was born, in a city whose Latin name means body of Christ. But the irony doesn't stop there. From the time I was born, I suffered with asthma, probably due to my mother's poor prenatal condition. And as the asthma increasingly got worse, when I was about two years old, the doctor suggested my parents move me to a higher altitude, with where the air is drier and thinner and easier to breathe. So once again, my dad started contacting his friends for employment, and he found a job in El Paso, Texas. This is where I grew up, in the high, dry desert of far west Texas. In the mid-1970s, I moved to Houston for better employment. Then, on May 14, 1980, the Jewish bridegroom king, Jesus of Nazareth, who, as a Jew, I certainly wasn't looking for, came looking for me and entered into my life in a profound way. And in case you, the listener, doesn't recognize the irony of this date, the nation of Israel was reborn on the same day, May 14th, but 32 years earlier, 1948. I grew up in a very religious Jewish home, being Bar Mitzvud, that's son of the law, at age 13, attending Hebrew school as well as public school, and being quite involved in the synagogue in our local Jewish community center. So as I said, I was certainly not looking for Jesus of Nazareth in any way. To me, the words Jesus Christ was something one said when one hits his thumb with a hammer or stubs his toe. And more importantly, I grew up hearing lots of stories about how Christians persecuted and murdered my people throughout Europe, culminating in the Holocaust for some 1800 years. Additionally, a message about not going to hell meant nothing to me. For as a Jew and thus a member of the chosen people, I believe I was guaranteed to be in heaven. So again, I was not looking for some Jesus guide in any way. So when the person who told me the gospel got to the part in which he informed me that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ, I was not interested. And yet, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement of 1979, one of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar. Despite departing from practicing Judaism as an older teenager, I decided that year to take this day seriously, during the 24-hour fast, to being present in the long service on Yom Kippur Eve, as well as the all-day service, Yom Kippur Day. In the final hours of the daylong service, the ark for the Torahs, first five books of Moses, are kept as open and left open. Out of respect for the law of Moses, one stands when the Torahs are exposed like this, wanting to be alone with my thoughts in a crowded place and on such a holy day, at which a such a pivotal time in which we Jews ask the Almighty to forgive our sins and to give us another year of life. I positioned myself in a corner and pulled my talashawl over my head to cover my face with some privacy. In a moment, for some unknown reason, I began to become sort of emotional. And as I did, I said, God, who are you? I've been told lots of things about you, but who are you really? Is all this religious stuff really what you want? Can't I know you in some way? Maybe it was just the impact of being in such an environment for so many hours, as well as not having any food. But by the next day I felt better, got busy with work, and promptly forgot the whole thing. I'm touched by my next sentence. Which says, but evidently the living God he did not forget. The week of Easter, 1980. I was at home alone. My wife was out on some errand. I had all the lights off and was watching television. This is long before cable TV, so there were only the three uh network stations and a few local UHF stations at the time. This was also before I had a remote controlled television. Thus I was up at the TV clicking the channel changer looking for something to watch. I came upon something that seemed to be one of those cheaply made Hercules movies. This being pretty much a guy thing to watch, I sat on the floor and crunched on an apple trying to get into the story. The scene I'd come in at had these ancient soldiers pushing what appeared to be a bad guy through a crowd. As I watched, I assumed the man had done something for which these soldiers were going to torture or execute him. No big deal. Just part of the action that we guys like in such movies. Literally, I had no idea what I was watching. Finally, the soldiers got this man to wherever they were taking him, stripped off his clothes, threw him on the ground on top of a piece of lumber, and we're about to torture or execute him. I'm still crunching on my juicy apple. I then hear the sound of hammering, and the camera focuses on the pain-filled, grimacing face of the actor. Suddenly, this thought hits me. Why are they doing this to this innocent man? I nearly jumped out of my skin. For it was as if someone had actually said this to me. In an instant, I had all the lights on and was looking for whoever or whatever had put this question to me. I even thought someone had somehow come into our apartment. Seeing that no one else was in the apartment, I called myself and wondered how in the world did I know this guy was innocent. I immediately changed the channel. Then, not long after that Easter, some business associate asked me one day over lunch what I thought a Christian is. Offered several things, such as going to church, being baptized, taking communion, and believing in Jesus. He responded to each of these by saying, Yes, Christians do that, but what is a Christian? So when none of my answers entered, answered his question, I said, Okay, what's a Christian? To which he said, I'll tell you about it sometime, and returned to eating his hamburger. I thought that was weird, but I shrugged it off, sort of. For every few days it bothered me that I didn't know what a Christian is. But every time I would remind this man that he promised to tell me what one is, he always had some reason why he couldn't tell me at that moment. Finally, after several weeks of putting me off, I manipulated him by lying to him to get myself invited over to his house so I could make him tell me what a Christian is. And when I did, this man finally presented the gospel to me, something no one had ever done. And although I balked when he said the name of Jesus, because that name represented the persecution and even the murder of my people for 1900 years in Europe, this man's focus on my sin, such as lying to him, and the eternal paycheck it qualifies me for, and what Jesus did to pay for me, pay it for me, and thus Jesus' offer, if I was willing to repent and to follow him, was deeply convicting. And due to conviction having its way with me, that was the night Jesus of Nazareth entered my life. Thus, although I was not looking for any Jesus like Paul, Jesus of Nazareth sought me out. Several things began to happen to me within just a few weeks. For example, I asked the man who had led me to Jesus, shouldn't I be doing something? I mean, aren't there things to do as a Christian? He said, Yes, yes, there are. I said, What are they? He said, Every day read your Bible. This is one way Jesus will talk to you. Also, every day pray, which is you talking to Jesus. I was making some notes, beginning a to-do list by writing these first two things down. Then I said, Okay, got it. What else? He said, That's it. Talk to Jesus and listen to Jesus every day. I said, Come on, I'm Jewish. I've done lots of religious stuff. I can handle it. Tell me the real deal. Surely there's plenty to do in the Christian religion. He said, Gary, you're not in a religion. You're in a relationship with the living God. So you talk to him and then you listen to him. Trust me, if you do that every day, he'll take it from there. Why is that even true? Thus I began to read the Bible. And from the moment I opened it and began to read it, it began to consume. I began to consume it with an insatiable hunger and an unquenchable thirst. I just could not get enough of it. The Bible seemed to come alive. It was as if I could hear the people speaking, like I could smell the livestock, like I could feel the Judean dirt between my toes. I could see the looks on people's faces when the living God encountered them. And when he touched them, he seemed to be touching me. I also began to try to pray to Jesus, which the man described as simply talking with him. Initially, I didn't know how to do this without a prayer book, but that's really all I knew about praying, reading prayers. But little by little, remembering what this man told me about being in a relationship, I began to talk with Jesus like he was right there. Or he actually was right there. And in doing just these two things, this man was right. The Spirit began teaching me, encouraging me, revealing Jesus of Nazareth to me, capturing my heart, making changes in my life, as well as putting me into and empowering me in a variety of ministry situations. In none of these was I the initiator. He was. Jesus put me in many times despite my initial rejection or intense reluctance. My plans for me have been trusted and trampled by his plans for me many times. For example, the following year to the month that Jesus of Nazareth entered my life, he seemed to be asking me to do a ministry on a full-time basis. Another thing I did not go looking for, and I had not had I had no interest in doing. Even though I was already involved in doing some ministry in the form of a Bible study in prison and a Sunday school class for single adults. My pastor was the one who posed the question to me, knowing all the things I've been doing. Something I hadn't paid any attention to, thinking I was simply doing what all Christians did. But despite my resistance to the idea, he asked me to pray about this for 30 days. Which I did a lot of time. Yeah. A few days before the end of the 30 days, one morning as I was reading about what Peter wrote about suffering. 1 Peter 3, chapter 3 and 4. It seemed like Jesus affirmed he wanted me to do a ministry on a full-time basis. Some weeks later, I was able to see my pastor and tell him what I thought Jesus might be saying to me. I said, Yeah, we're going forward. How do I begin? He told me I needed to start by going to college. College? I'm not an education type person. I barely got out of high school. My GPA in my senior class was four and a class of four hundred and thirteen students was number 358. In other words, I graduated number 55 from the bottom. They told me to just go over to Houston Baptist University, fill out an application, and just see what Jesus might do. The thought of applying to a college was absurd. Even a little intimidating. I'm not a smart person. I already ever read any of that. I could hardly write. And as for math and science, these are the devil as far as I'm concerned. In addition, I had no money. When I found out the cost of this private university, I really had no money. There was no way I was gonna put my family and I ended debt by going to college to get a degree in something I didn't want to do. Not having any money to pay for college would surely mix my pastor's silly motion. A Houston Baptist University Advisor to help me complete the application told me it would take several weeks before I would receive an answer. As they had to get my high school transcript, and then the admissions committee had to meet answer an application, etc. A few days later, a lady who I had spoken with called me to tell me that they had obtained all the necessary information. The committee admitted and accepted. She also told me there was money in my account to pay for the classes. I was stuck. Jesus wants me at college. Jesus wants me to do that whole time. What is this? I did not choose it. Jesus began teaching me how to learn. But I never learned how to learn. But once I caught on, I began taking as many classes as I could so as to finish college as quickly as possible. Every time I registered, there was money in the account. I knew Jesus was using someone to help me. I never learned finishing college in three years. I was awarded a full scholarship from Houston Baptist too. So I'll western Baptist the Articles. I dropped out because I felt spiritually dry. It was as if I lost sight of Jesus. I didn't realize it at the time that I'd been learning lots of stuff about Jesus and about the Bible. However, I did not know that learning stuff about Jesus is not the same thing as intimately knowing what this stuff is about. This lesson is also Jesus is doing. Something he also addressed at the first John chapter 5. The knowing the Bible speaks of is not the knowing of information. Not that knowing information is wrong. It's not that knowing information is not the same thing as intimately knowing Jesus. Knowing of the Bible is as adamant new me, as you can see. Also, at the beginning of my third year college, a little congregation in a small town about an hour northwest of Houston invited me to be your pastor. About two years later, I moved to another small community west of Houston to pastor another small one. Neither of these pastorates went very well. Most importantly, in these failures, I learned that I am not a senior pastor. After these two pastorates, I went to work for a counseling ministry named Roth. Then about a year and a half into this, I was invited to join a pastoral team. I will say more about in a moment. I relieved that team in 1995. A year later, I became a special education teacher assigned to a high school English department. I'm gonna stop there since I'm trying to keep keep each episode at approximately thirty minutes.