SID: So my friend Dr. Michael Brown, before he was a doctor, of course, he’s into drugs, he’s into rock music, he’s a musician. And you think his parents would be so happy, his nice Jewish parents, that now he’s off of drugs and he’s become as we Jews call a real mensch. But they weren’t happy because of Jesus.
MIKE: I mean, listen, they were thrilled that I was off drugs. But my dad sat me down and he said, “Michael, it’s good you’re off drugs, but we’re Jews. We don’t believe in this.” So here, I’m saved in just a matter of weeks. I’m shooting drugs, using heroin, LSD, cocaine, stealing money from my own father, just a decadent, wicked kid, 16 years old, brand new believer. Dad said, “Great, you’re off drugs. We’re happy for you, but we’re Jews. You have to talk to the rabbi.” So within weeks, literally within weeks of me being born again, I have my first appointment to meet the local rabbi who’s now going to begin to lovingly challenge me about everything I believe. You’re talking about a brilliant guy, just graduated from Jewish theological seminary, studying Hebrew all his life. He knows objections I don’t even know exist and now I’m going to get challenged. So literally, right out of the spiritual womb I get challenged.
SID: And one of the things he said to you is how well do you speak Hebrew or understand Hebrew. What did you say?
MIKE: Look, when I was Bar Mitzvah-ed I learned enough Hebrew to chant a passage from the Torah, the Prophets, but I didn’t even know what I was reading. I just chanted the Hebrew.
SID: Me, too.
MIKE: So the little I remembered was just a few letters, a few words. So I said to him, “Look, I don’t know Hebrew now, but I can use it in a concordance in the back of Strong’s, there’s a dictionary in the back.” I said, in the meantime, I remember he said to me, “Meantime, shmeen time, it doesn’t mean a thing.” So once I started college, I thought, okay, I got to learn Hebrew, but they were teaching modern Hebrew. So I thought, all right, I get a textbook. I taught myself biblical Hebrew, and then I thought, you know, I could learn maybe some of the related languages like Arabic, but you know, the New Testament is in Greek and Latin is important, and the scholars write in German. So I ended up in college studying six different languages and then going on to NYU to do my Master’s and Ph.D. there and then learning the other ancient Semitic languages. Look, I loved the study. I enjoyed that. But I was determined I don’t want to have to rely on a dictionary. I don’t want to have to rely on the commentary. The rabbi says that. I want to be able to think for myself and understand what the text says.
SID: The big question is, Mike, I know you. I know that you have a healthy fear of God within you. I know this. Between you and me, has there anything been told to you by rabbis with these 2000 years of study and knowing Hebrew well that has rocked your faith?
MIKE: I’ll be totally honest with you.
SID: Yes.
MIKE: When I got hit with some of the objections in the early days, okay, I knew that Jesus had changed my life, but I also said these are serious questions. I need to dig. And I determined before God, I prayed with all my heart. I said, “God, I’m going to follow you as a Jew and I’m going to be loyal. If Jesus is not the Messiah and I have to renounce him and lose all my friends and say I’m wrong, I’ll do it. But if everything I believe is true, I don’t care of the whole Jewish community rejects me, I’m going to follow.” And I said, “God, you’ve just got to help me to know that I know, that I know.” And Sid, the scriptures opened up to me like never before. Words came jumping off the page. I remember telling God, if Yeshua, if Jesus is not the Messiah then you intentionally deceived me because it could not be any more clear. So it had the reverse effect from what the rabbis wanted. The more I got challenged, the more I learned, and I did it with an open heart. I said, “God, I’m not just trying to come up with a cheap answer.” When I look at some of the answers others had, I thought, no, that’s a cheap answer. I don’t like that. And I would dig and I would wrestle, and out of that, two or three times of really having my faith rocked, I came so much clearer in my understanding. And I can say, shout it to the whole world to any rabbi, any time, day or night, with all respect, for a sincere man, Jesus, Yeshua is the Messiah of Israel. If he’s not the Messiah of Israel then the Hebrew Scriptures are lying to us.
SID: And guess what I’ve had Dr. Michael Brown do? You will be fascinated with this. We took the Modern English Version of the Bible and I had him chain reference the most important predictions proving Jesus is the Messiah from the Old and the New Covenant, and then write a commentary. And I’m going to tell you, he did something you’ve probably never seen before. He not only wrote it as to why Jesus is the Messiah, but he wrote why the rabbis say he’s not, 2000 years to prove this, and why the rabbis are wrong. It will be one of the most intriguing studies and that combined with the healing and the supernatural. And then there are articles that I have written on the End Time book to the church. You know what that is? Not Revelation—Esther, on God’s heart for the Jews and Israel, on how to communicate the Gospel with Jewish people, on the feasts and the cycle of the feasts, and I’m not saying to do these things because you have to. But God has a blessing in everything in this Bible, and it’s one of the freshest translations because even many of the words that were originally from the Greek are from the Hebrew now. Like instead of Mary, how about “Miriam”. She sounds a little Jewish, Mike. Now when we come back, I’m going to have Dr. Sandra Kennedy and Dr. Michael Brown, and we’re going to just be so free in the Holy Spirit. I believe people are going to be healed and I believe some of you are going to fall madly in love with Jesus. Be right back.
