Shalom y'all!

[Neubill]

Peace unto you, my friends!
Shalom aleichem!

Talking about myself isn't easy, but here goes...

Both of my parents have Jewish roots but neither were religious. All Jewish boys have a Bris (the Jewish circumcision thing, but we won't talk about that...), and that was the extent of my Jewish upbringing. When it came to faith, my parents raised me without any, and I was left to discover Truth on my own.

While my Jewish friends in school had Bar-Mitzvah ceremonies at the age of 13, I was not one of them. Instead of a Bar-Mitzvah, my Mom gave me a Bible. Little did she know that it was the best thing she could have given me, because I read it nearly every night. I read what Christians call The Old Testament all the time and the concept of One God was instilled in me at an early age. Then I would try reading The New Testament, but the words didn't make sense to me.

I spent a lot of time trying to understand the words of Jesus. People said He was The Jewish Messiah, but it didn't seem like it when I would read the words of Paul. Growing up, the Old Testament was as clear as crystal, while the New Testament was as clear as mud. However, I knew there was something about Jesus because billions of people couldn't be wrong about Him.

After 18 years of searching for dynamic and philosophical truth, I prayed to God and basically said, "God, lead me to Truth." I cracked open my Bible and the verse that jumped out at me was, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor 3:16) I knew the Truth was out there somewhere waiting for me and I was convinced that I would find it in a Church instead of a traditional synagogue.

Growing up, I had three questions:

1. What is this 'Trinity' that people keep talking about and why is it a mystery?
2. Why do Christians no longer honor the Fourth Commandment?
3. Why are certain things prohibited by God in the Old Testament but are now acceptable in the New Testament?

The church I would join would be the one that would have the answers to these questions.

My next step was by divine design. After spending time in several churches, I ended up attending my very first Apostolic service in Bellflower, CA on Easter Sunday in '96 and the visitors were Bro. & Sis Urshan (of blessed memory) and the love of God was in that church building. I knew I'd found a house of prayer where people worship in Spirit and Truth.

I was given a Bible study there and the answer to my question about the Trinity was revealed: there is no Trinity because Jesus IS the trinity! I found the answer to my first question and I figured I'd get the answers to the other two somewhere in the immediate future. My friends said, "You've joined a 'Jesus Only' church." I replied, "No, I've joined a 'Jesus Everything!' church!" I lost friends because of it, but Scripture said it would happen.

Shortly after, I was baptized in the Name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and I emerged from the baptistery with stammering lips, filled with the Holy Ghost! That was 12 years ago and the Bellflower church is my home, a place where I have family.

After baptism, The Bible was suddenly a new and exciting book for me. I started seeing Jesus as the ultimate Jewish man. He kept the commandments, obeyed The Law of God perfectly, observed all of the Feasts of The LORD, and taught His disciples to do the same. After removing myself from my 20th/21st Century mindset and looking at the Apostolic Writings in their original 1st Century context, the 'hard sayings' of Jesus weren't so hard to understand anymore.

One of the most misunderstood people in the Apostolic Writings is the Apostle Paul. When he talks about people who choose to be 'under The Law,' he is not talking about people who observe The Law. Instead, I perceive him to be referring to people who choose to earn salvation through observing The Law instead of placing their trust and belief in the atoning work Jesus performed at Calvary.

There's more to tell, but it's hard to talk about me. I'll add more, LORD willing...

May the Grace and Peace of Yeshua, our Messiah, be upon my Apostolic brothers and sisters! Shalom!