Testimonies

Shalom! Greetings from the ends of the earth :) from Finland! My name is Jaana, I am married and have three teenage kids. I am a worship leader and also studying to be a music pedagogue and singing teacher.

I got to know Yeshua when I was 15. About 20 years ago I heard praise and worship music for the first time and I felt that "this it is", my calling. In Finland there are lots of believers that are friends of Israel and people love to sing "Hebrew" style of songs in churches. God has given me also a love for Israel and I have sang many Messianic and Hebrew songs in churches and conferences. Songs like El Gibbor, Hallelu et Adonai and so on. I made my first trip to Israel 2009 and had many opportunities to lead worship there for small groups. It was an honor to serve God’s people on His own land. Israel seems to be so near us, only 4 hours flight and same time as in Finland.

After that trip I got a word from the Lord two times that I should learn Hebrew language. First I didn’t take it seriously but when the second word came, it touched my heart and I began to study lessons on the internet and YouTube. So I found these interesting lessons by Holy Language Institute :) and - best of all - it included understanding of Yeshua the Messiah! Great!

I often listen to the audio Bible when I go to sleep. I believe that God’s word in Hebrew is healing to our body and soul! It also helps to get to sleep. And I learn the language :) Awesome! Shalom uvracha! Lehitraot!

I'm like every typical Christian family. I grew up going to church all my life. At the age of 10 I dedicated my life to Yeshua. I loved reading the Bible, especially the End Times. I was really into Revelation. There was something about that book that I loved. I guess a yearning to go home and see my Saviour.

When I got older I rededicated my life and this time it felt different. Like the footprints poem. G-d was carrying me down the stairs and the isle to the front. It felt like my feet were not touching the ground at all. After that I got baptized, so did my husband. We started attending a different church in 2005. The staff there are amazing and love the Jewish people.

I found this Hebrew Quest course on someone's page that I am following and my husband and I decided that we would learn Hebrew together. Sometimes I find my devotion time dull. So I am hoping that when we start studying the Holy Language, that the Bible will come alive and become even more and more intimate.

A few years ago our church introduced the Gifts of the Spirit. And one of the gifts that our retreats ends with is the gift of tongues. Plus my husband and I would love to visit Israel one day.

Shalom. I was enrolled in a Baptist Bible College Asia in 2008. Included in our subjects were Greek and Hebrew Languages with Dr. Jerry P. Cruz as our teacher/instructor. In studying these subjects slowly and clearly I understood the need to pursue learning them more.

Our teacher out of his generosity is providing us all the materials free of charge. I understand how blessed I am being grafted to the True Vine, Yeshua.

The Messianic Bible sent me emails helping me a lot for additional knowledge of the feasts ordained by Yahweh. In fact, as you have seen in our Chanukkah picture, we are celebrating with you, and also the Feast of the Passover here, and hopefully or prayerfully all the feasts...because we know these are the Feasts of the Lord.

I love to learn speak write Greek and Hebrew that's why even after I graduated last year from BBCA, we did not stop studying them through the effort of our hardworking teacher, Dr. Jerry P. Cruz. By the way he is a dentist by profession, he made a self study of these languages and for almost 20 years I've heard him teaching before I meet him again. I said again, because we knew each other well since 1987 and we belong to the same denomination Assemblies of God here in the Philippines. In order for him to have credential he studied Modern Hebrew which he also taught us for free while he paid for it. And now he is enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for Biblical Hebrew.

I found the Holy Language Institute site by browsing on where I could learn the basic Hebrew speaking. I am really eager to learn speak, write and communicate with the Jewish people and someday reach the Land of Israel, and meet the chosen people of God. A warm thanks to you, yes, I am learning a lot in this site.

What inspired me to learn Hebrew is several years ago as I was doing family research, I discovered that we are Sephardic Hebrews with our ancestry stemming back to Spain when our ancestors were persecuted during the Spanish Inquisition in 1492. Many of our ancestors fled also in Mexico, but were ever pursued and persecuted by the Mexican Inquisition.

My father's last name is Sanchez and my mother's last name is Peralta, both names can be traced to Hebrew roots. Then, after being so persecuted, our ancestors fled into what is now called/known as New Mexico.

Some fled into Arizona and southern Colorado. I know that the Sanchez's settled in a small village called Vegita (New Mexico) but a band left from that village and dispersed into intermarriages but the Sanchez's that didn't want to be dispersed in that way, stayed rooted in Vegita - which my family descended from. We are known to be “The Hidden Jews” and in just the past several years, many thousands of us are discovering where we came from and what happened to our people.

Also (if I might add) I found out that the “ez” added to the last names of our people was to show that they are Jews, the “ez” standing for “eretz Israel” — the “ez” was also a way for our ancestors to let us know, as their children and as their children’s children, that we are Hebrews.

Many doors are being opened and it brings such joy to my heart to see so many people discovering who they are.

On January 10, 2007 I was traveling to a job interview. Going over a bridge at 60 mph I saw another vehicle coming into my lane. With nowhere to go I braced for the impact, he hit me head on. Crushed my foot, broke my leg and hip, I had a hole in my stomach, lacerated liver, and cracked back. After they used the jaws of life to cut me out they started preparing me for a helicopter ride. At this point I prayed (cried out to God please take this pain away) in the blink of an eye I heard a voice say "come I have place prepared for you" and I was floating in the clouds. Words cannot describe the love and peace I felt.

When I awoke 10 days later I had a feeling deep inside to get back to the beginning of God's word. At the time I didn't understand what this meant. After being released from the hospital I came across some Hebrew; when I heard it I knew this is what I was looking for. I found a web site called eteacher.com and learned how to read and write biblical Hebrew. Not too long ago I found Holy Language Institute and really enjoyed the way Izzy teaches the language, the way he systematically breaks down every word prefix suffix to the root of the word. It has really helped in my reading Hebrew.

I never thought I would be learning Hebrew in my 40's....

My Hebrew journey started around 1994 when I joined a Sabbath keeping church. I did not know at that time that Yahweh had put a thirst, or was going to put a thirst in me, for Hebrew. And not only a thirst but also a strong love for Hebrew.

I dearly want to travel to the Holy Land one day and therefore, I want and need to know the language. And I want to be able to read the Bible in Hebrew, as well as teach it one day.

Over the years, I bought all kinds of stuff — Hebrew books, Hebrew Bibles, Hebrew dictionaries, lexicons, and even college level textbooks and workbooks that had DVDs.

But none of it helped me because it was all too advanced. Plus, I was working at the time and just did not have the time to dedicate to learning Hebrew. I started and stopped many times. Then in 2011, I retired. By January 2012 I knew I had to get serious about learning Hebrew.

I started out (January 2012) teaching myself, and then in March enrolled in a live, nine-month online course from Israel to learn Hebrew. After this, I was able to start using all that advanced stuff I bought so that I could continue to advance to the next level.

But I still had a feeling that something was missing. One of the students in the online Israel course told me about you and gave me your website address. After viewing your three free lessons, I felt so blessed.

The way you talked about Yeshua really inspired me! And I not only felt a connection to you, I knew that this was the missing link that I needed. Thank you so much for allowing me to be one of your students at Holy Language Institute.

Shalom, my name is Janette. I am 53 years young!

At about nine years old I started to become aware of religions. My aunt was a practicing Jehovah Witness and my brother joined the Nation of Islam; somewhere in the mix I also heard about Jesus.

One afternoon while on my way to the corner store I was stopped at the red light. I remember looking up to the sky knowing that G-d was there. (It's amazing never being taught anything about G-d, somehow I knew He existed.) I asked Him, "G-d what real, is it Jesus, Jehovah Witness, or the Muslims? I wanted to know."

That summer I participated in the children's summer program at the church on the corner. There I learned about Jesus and got water baptized. Years later my aunt told me more about the witness and explained to me that only 144,000 people would live in paradise on the new earth. My little friend and I were so afraid; we thought we were not going to make the cut. We cried and we cried.

Years passed. My boyfriend's mother was a Christian, but she smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol. I really did not think much of her Christianity. His grandmother also a Christian, but she enjoyed gossip so I really did not think much of her Christianity either. Besides this, most of the Christians I met did not draw me to Jesus. My mother started church, but I didn't think much of her Christianity; because she has always been sweet, loving, and an honest person so she was just being normal.

My boyfriend's sister got saved; she was different. I saw Jesus in her and I wanted to meet the Jesus that she met and my search began. I started at the church where she got saved. As soon as the altar call was given I raised my hand and went forward. They took me in a back room and had me saying thank you Jesus over and over again. My doing this action was supposed to bring on Ruach HaKodesh. I was really looking for Jesus so I was not about to act as if something happened when it didn't. Back then I did not know why He did not come; I thought it was something about me.

I searched for Jesus for about one year and then I stopped. I looked for Him in different churches, still no Jesus. Well, more time goes by; I move in with my boyfriend, we have a son. One day I get upset and move back with my parents and with nowhere else to turn I decide to go to church with my mother. As I am listening to the pastor preaching I'm thinking, "Oh no! I have to get my mother out of this church. This guy does not even know how to preach. He's speaking plain English, that's not how you preach!" All the other churches I had been to at that point the preacher just hemmed and hawed through the whole service so I thought that was how it was supposed to be. Well, I don't know what my facial expression was, but whatever it was, this pastor understood it; he had me pegged. After service the pastor walked up to me and gave me a new beginner's book he challenged me to complete. During this time of my life I was so cocky, I thought, "Oh! A challenge, I have this book finished in no time." This was on a Sunday morning; their Bible study was on Thursday evenings. I said to myself I'll have this book finished by tomorrow and have it back by Thursday Bible study. I'll show him! I thought he thought that it would take me about two weeks.

I didn't know anything about the Bible. I searched the scriptures to find the answers and oh my Lord, I found Yeshua in the scriptures. I completed that study book in two days, but not because I wanted to show him how smart I was, oh no. I was no longer interested in showing the pastor that his challenge was nothing to me. I was more interested in the person of Jesus. Here He is, the person I have been looking for; I found Him. I could not put that Bible down. I was totally in love with my Lord.

For many years I was strong in my faith, but one day I grew weak and fell into sin and I was so ashamed before my Lord I could not face Him so I stopped going to church and soon was back in the world. However, the Lord had already established a firm foundation in my soul and through many learning periods I came to understand that all my efforts are as filthy rags and will never measure up to G-d's standards of holiness.

One evening sitting on the edge of my bed, talking to Abba, I said, "Father if you don't help me I can't be helped." I finally realized my salvation was by G-d's grace through faith alone in His Son and not of how perfect of a walk I had, no longer able to boast and hold others to the letter of scripture and learning to rely on His faithfulness. (For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged. Matt 7:2.) Because I was doing so well with serving the Lord, I had very little grace for one who was weaker. I believe the Lord allowed this so that I could learn more about His mercy and grace, to learn to operate with tender love and compassion. I only found understanding through my own need, and for this I am grateful.

I am so glad I met the Lord through His holy scripture and not at church. Because if I had met Him at a church I would be under the impression that I had to find the right church and then blindly follow a man, believing whatever was said. I am completely aware that G-d gave us men for the working of the ministry and for the edification of the saints.

But I listen in all things for His voice, for it does not change. Jesus said, "My children hear my voice and another they follow Me. Another they will not follow." I am not trying to hear a new thing, but to build upon that which the Lord has already given me. All truth must reconcile with His word.

I love the Jewish people. My Lord is Jewish. I went to Israel a few years ago and I enjoyed it so much. I took the opportunity to witness to a couple of the Jewish people who were out and about. The message of Jesus and they seemed to be very receptive. One young girl about 20-23 years old and the other an older gentleman about 45 years old.

While on my tour in Israel we sang Hebrew songs and I developed a desire to speak Hebrew, but I did not do anything about it. However, over the last few months my desire has increasingly grown stronger and stronger. So I started searching the web for teaching yourself Hebrew and I have been immersed in learning the language.

When I am off from work, I study Hebrew all day long and learn Hebrew songs. I found Holy Language Institute just by searching the web for teaching yourself Hebrew. I clicked on it and began to watch each lesson. I have an enormous desire to communicate with the Jewish people in their own language and with my Lord in prayer. I also want to read and sing in Hebrew. My passion for it is so strong that I stop almost every Jewish person I see, asking if they will talk with me. I always ask things pertaining to heritage and culture. And the conversation always leads into the Torah. I only speak to them concerning Torah, and to my surprise they love it.

Once I stopped a Rabbi at LAX and asked if I could ask him a question, which led to more conversation, and we talked for about an hour. He told me how he enjoyed our conversation because he was surprised and impressed that I know so much about the Torah. I also learned that in Israel the men don't speak with you so freely as they will in the US.

I hope to marry a Jewish man one day! Yes, as aged as I am. I look forward to it. My desire is that he is in love with Jesus, and keeps the Jewish festivals and customs. Well, that's my story. Shalom!

I walked many paths in the occult. My final destination was Tantra (the opening of the mind). In that discipline I learnt mantras (sacred sayings and sounds of the universe).

However, the mighty hand of Adonai passed over my life and within a church I cringed and sobbed my heart to Yeshua haMashiach. The ministry of Rabbi Bill Schnobolen had shown me Yeshua, and I did not match standard Christianity—I tried but I was a misfit.

Based on my belief system that sound and breath created the universe, and that I followed a Jewish Master and Hebrew G-d, it then seemed right that I should start to create the new universe with the purity of the Hebrew G-d’s sounds. I went to a few internet sites and although interesting, they did not make the language alive. I was learning Hebrew songs and prayers from YouTube too.

I found these YouTube videos from the Holy Language Institute and really took off. Suddenly, the friendly chide of “Hebrew’s too hard” became nonsense. By the letter Vav, I was wanting to connect and joined the Holy Language Facebook group and site, as well as ordered the set.

I am poor, but these things are affordable and user‑friendly. There is no sales push and privacy is respected.

Thank you to Izzy and his family for their grace and openness; they are active expressions of the Holy Language.

How I came to know Christ was when my husband Shawn and I were living in Houston Texas and at his co-workers wedding they had communion after their wedding vows and so we took communion not knowing we shouldn't until after receiving Christ and then Shawn and I both said to each other that the Lord was calling us to come to know Him.

We started attending a Church and gave our lives to Christ at the same time. I was age 25 and my husband was 26. We also went through water Baptism. We grew in Christ and received the Holy Spirit one day at Church. We moved to a more Holy Spirit filled full doctrine, no candy coated God's True Word, Christian Southern Gospel Church called Faith Chapel after we moved to Spring, Texas.

We prayed to have a child but I was ill since I was a teen and it was God's Will that we adopt, so we adopted our beautiful daughter Jia from China in March 2003, she was 7 months old an answer to our prayers and so beautiful as still to this day as she is age 11 and a believer in Christ also.

I had surgery at age 30 and by God's Grace I am still alive because surgery started going very wrong, and God used an emergency Doctor that was quickly called in to repair me. Thanks to God and the Doctors, I am no longer sick. I used to be a hair designer for 10 years and then after adopting I stayed at home to care for her as to this day still.

Shawn and I taught children at the Church we first went to in Houston Texas, about Christ and then when we moved and attended Faith Chapel, we started playing in the Church band, I the violin and he the electric bass guitar. We picked up instrument playing for a positive outlet because Shawn's brothers were hit by a drunk driver back then and we stayed at that hospital many nights, days in prayer in hospital chapel and God saved their lives through their doctors whom also prayed.

Shawn, our daughter Jia and I moved to Ohio with my husband's job transfer and we went to a Baptist Church in Columbus for 3 years and then we moved to Hudson Ohio, where we are to this day and we attended Christ Community Chapel for a while but felt not much spiritual growth, our marriage had rough times just as some do and with prayer and staying strong in Christ, God showed me His mercy and taught me forgiveness and His peace is everlasting and God will get you through anything in life and God healed our marriage and in the midst we started attending a Holy Spirit Filled Church again but here in Hudson Ohio this time and we so missed a Holy Spirit filled true to doctrine, Church that we thank God we are a part of now and we are glad we will be able to grow in fellowship with other Believers in Christ Yeshua, for you never want to feel alone and never alone with your Faith in Christ.

So now that we are at River Of Life Church in Hudson Ohio, we can grow stronger in Christ spiritually with my husband, daughter and my lives, including number 1 putting Christ first and fellowship prayer with Christ as well as reading God's Word.

My husband Shawn and I got interested in learning Hebrew because my vision from Yahweh God, January 21, 2013, sparked my interest. My vision video is on YouTube and to tell you about it, it was a night I was in deep prayer, I was in need of His mercy to deliver me from my sadness and it was that 2 a.m., that I heard high wind I woke up and went to our glass porch doors and as I looked outside, a glowing white perfect shaped cloud horse with glowing outer blue, like hot fire, the horse had an eye looking straight at me and it was in prance stance, it was porch level and it blew with the wind East slowly and its tail was shaped as a letter Lamed and the tip of its tail had an arrowhead pointed West and so as I got my husbands attention, he looked out and he saw the horse cloud already heading up into the sky, so I went west into our kitchen to see out windows and I saw perfect shaped face cloud that looked like similar features of Jesus but not sure if God meant that and following the face cloud was a perfect shaped Eagle cloud that followed and all blew East in the wind.

All trees were blowing in the wind East as if they were bowing to Yahweh God, though I knew He was there with me even though I couldn't see Him, the peace that came over me was such peace that us Humans don't know of unless given to us by God. The peace was like as if I had just stepped into our Father's arms and consumed in His complete comfort and love that all my sadness and all my human worries were all gone away, it was just complete peace in Him and I know this was all from Yahweh God.

A month later after I prayed for the meaning of this vision, God gave me a sleep style vision dream and in it, I was in Jerusalem at a Temple area and an angel with no wings or the Lord was walking and talking with me along with angels with no wings walked with us too and through this city Temple area, He spoke to me and I asked how would I remember and He said I would and He then sent me through a ring of fire and before I went into it, He sat upon a high construction beam and the others spread out amongst this city and He started singing a song in Hebrew and Greek, and the others harmonized the song with Him and it was Jedediah, Sheni, Paleocene, Paleogene, Oh, oh, oh oh, ...Jedediah, Sheni, Paleogene, Paleocene, oh, oh, oh, oh. Beloved of God, Second Passover, Ancient-Born, Early dawn of the recent, One, One, One, One. One referring to One as in He as in Yahweh God – ONE.

I am English speaking and I had not but learned a few Alef Bet Gimmel Hey Yod, cool letters from you on your YouTube videos and then I had this dream God Yahweh, Yeshua Christ or one of His Angels sang this song and I didn't know any of these words in the song and translated them later online.

I know God has something for me to do for Him in life, I don't know how He will use me to do His Will, but I'll let Christ lead the way, though I am 41, nobody is ever too old nor too young to be used by Him.

Hi, my name is Horatio Josephs. I live in the beautiful country of Jamaica. I have been a Christian since I was 12 yrs old. I have been a pastor for over 20 years. My walk with Yeshua began from a very early stage, even without me knowing it. I was the pastor for a couple of churches over these past years. The experience I gained was both bitter and sweet. Our Messiah always shapes our lives and situations in such a way that we cannot comprehend but the only thing we can do is praise Him and obey his Word. While being the leader of those churches, I met many sincere, genuine and loving individuals who have never forgotten what I did for them. For them, I give Yeshua thanks.

On the other hand, there were some individuals who were not so sincere in neither action nor deed. The way I thought that the church should be and how persons were supposed to be each other's keeper was not the reality in this instance. My very work and ideas were thrown out by the leaders of those churches. I went to one of those churches to see how I could reconcile my life as I was going through a very difficult time. Unfortunately, they only made the situation worse. But, for them, I still give Yeshua thanks. Every experience made me suffer but I grew stronger. And each experience has helped in my journey to learn more about our Messiah, Yeshua.

My grandmother was a very instrumental person in my journey as she gave me some good advice and information. She believed in YHVH while I was nowhere near that belief. She taught me a lot of things which I am now able to decipher and understand. May her soul rest in peace.

I realized that something was clearly not right about the church system and so my journey to knowing the Messiah became more intense. He has provided for me in ways that cannot be explained. I have been unemployed for about 4 years but He has certainly not left me destitute. One very important blessing He gave to me is my wife and she is from the very church that broke my heart. Isn't He wonderful?!!

I found Holy Language Instititute while browsing the internet to find a website to teach me Hebrew. I only learned Greek while in college and we were only promised to be taught Hebrew but that was not done. I did a short introductory course with someone but it was not sufficient. I needed to learn more about the language but the teacher did not go so far. I even went again to do the course (for free because I could not afford it). I found the website about two years ago and I was so elated because you guys made it so easy to learn and remember the language. It was a part of my routine to watch a lesson at 5 am before going out to find work. I have learnt about the letters and how each of them represents something. I still have many more lessons to go but I'm all pumped up and rearing to learn. Hebrew is truly an amazing language; but what else could it be since it is the language of the one true god, YHVH!! To Him be all honour and praise.

I do hope many more persons will find this website and become members because it really makes learning the language easier and affordable. Many and much thanks to Izzy for giving me an account or else my dream of learning the language would not have become a reality. Praise be to Yeshua, the true Messiah!!!

As an adopted child I have felt rootless many times in my life, even though I had a very loving family.

My adoptive mother put me in the Pentecostal Sunday school when I was 3 years old and they taught me about Jesus. He was sometimes my only friend.

Many years later when I met my husband we went to the same church, and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes so I finally understood that Jesus is Jewish.

I have tried to learn Hebrew on my own but it is too difficult. Yeshua has put the Jewish people in my heart to pray for them and bless them.

This is a short version about when the Messiah found me.

My name is Elisheva, I am Jewish and I was born and raised in the most uncommon part of the world for Jews to live in – Indonesia, the greatest Muslim country in the world. Well, at least that is what the world thinks of her. The country is actually a republic. It just happens to have a population that is predominantly Muslim (80 percent). The government only acknowledges 6 religions and Judaism isn’t one of them.

I grew up in Germany and was raised a Christian by my Christian mother. My father was too busy traveling all over Europe. He let my mom take care of the religious part of our lives, complete with all the pagan holidays and celebrations of Churchianity. When we returned to Indonesia, my Dad, from whom my Jewish heritage I have inherited, did not forbid us to continue celebrating the pagan religion but neither did he encourage us to do so. By the grace of G-d alone, our family decided to separate ourselves from this world, way before "going back to the Torah" became a "trend". We never had a Christmas tree with Santa in our home or participated in any egg searching games of Easter. G-d has kept us pure in that respect.

As my sister and I grew older, the G-d of my ancestors whistled as in Zechariah 10:8 and the remaining blood of Avraham avinu flowing in us was stirred in us and caused us to return to Him and His Ways. This is when He taught us that the Yeshua we have been taught to follow was really a part of the people of my ancestors. He was Jewish and Torah observant. So why weren't we?

The only Synagogue in Indonesia was closed down in 2010 and eventually torn down by radical Muslims in May 2013. We have no shul where we study the Torah. No Rabbi to teach us the language of our ancestors. But Baruch HaShem for Holy Language Institute! This online school was the beginning of our journey back to His Heart.

Some years ago a Rabbi from the US was invited to speak in a Christian seminar. Obviously his visa was for tourism reason and not for teaching the Torah. I went to the seminar and talked to him briefly. His name was Izzy Avraham. He told me he had a weekly newsletter and encouraged me to sign up.

When the seminar was finished, I went home and searched for his name in Google. I found the name Izzy Avraham connected to Holy Language Institute, thinking this was him. When I signed up with his newsletter I realized this was not the same guy I met at the seminar! They looked similar with the dark hair, dark eyes, slim figure and the beard, but they did look different. I actually emailed Izzy and said something like, "Why do you look different from a few days ago at the seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia?" The reply was, "I have never been to Indonesia!" That is when I was definitely sure that this was another Izzy Avraham!

When I found out about Holy Language Institute, I registered and finally started my journey of the Hebrew quest! He made it so interesting that it was hard to stop watching his videos and continue studying! I have now finished his course and continued studying more in other Hebrew language online classes and our community is now reading and studying the Torah in Hebrew during Shabbat! (As for me, I study the Hebrew Torah every day now for my subscribers.)

There are 2000 Jewish descendants in Indonesia and only 7 devout ones in Bekasi, where we live. We are secret Jews practicing Judaism, observing Shabbat, keeping kashrut, and the rest of the Torah. We have all the reasons to be afraid to continue following His Path. But we have even a greater reason to stay on this Path and stand against all odds – G-d.

There are people who accuse us of being fake Jews, pretending to be one to follow a "trend" or be "cool" as it is in other parts of the world. To us, Judaism and the Torah is not a trend. Why would we want to go with this "trend"? It can get us killed. To us, following G-d down to the very smallest mitzvot is not about being cool. This too can get us killed. All this is about the Truth. The ultimate Truth. The only Truth.

Knowing this full well, our small Jewish congregation called Brit Beracha (meaning Covenant of Blessing) decided to let the Truth of His Kingdom, the Living Water flow from our lives into the lives of Indonesians...regardless of their religion. We started a project called EITS CHAIM (Tree of Life) PRODUCTION. We have newsletters sent out every week to 260 Christians and pastors and leaders of churches about Yeshua and his Torah messages.

We have radio talk show programs every month which are also broadcasted via the internet for public. Muslims and Christians with access to a radio are able to listen in. Against all odds we spread the Truth of the King, debunking myths and lies regarding Palestine and the Covenant people, and teaching them the Jewish and Hebrew perspective of the Bible. We are now in discussion and are welcomed to have our own TV talk show in a Christian cable TV channel...for free! Please pray that all this will start very soon!

We have received blessings and prayers, but also curses and threats. We are safe because friends and families all over the world are praying for our safety and G-d has heard their pleads. As much as we love to stay safe and alive, we do love G-d and talking about Him more. I have observed Indonesia and Churchianity here lately and noticed how "going back to the Torah" has become a "trend". My goal is to make all this not about a "trend" or "coolness" but a deeper understanding of truth and a more intimate connection with G-d.

Every Shabbat we recite the Aleinu prayer. This is the prayer that is the closest to my heart as it reflects the deepest desire in me for this world—to have the whole earth turned into HaMakom, THE place, where G-d dwells as King over all the earth. This is what keeps me and my team moving...against all odds.

I grew up in a non-religious home. My dad is a lukewarm Christian and my mom is a lukewarm Catholic.

In my teenages I started listening to some very dark and heavy metal music. My lifestyle was very much inspired by that type of music.

Since I was a 'metalhead' I thought it would be cool to practice the occult, and so I did.

So I started to communicate with spirits, inviting them into my life. I also bought myself a copy of Anton LaVey's 'Satanic Bible'. All of this changed my life drastically, for the worse.

I had many sleepless nights because of the evil spirits that were present. They were whispering, making horrifying sounds and they even attacked me physically.

To make a long story short, I realized that I was playing with the fire. It was pure evil.

I had heard about Yeshua and a very close friend of mine testified about how Yeshua saved his life from drugs, alcohol and suicide-attempts.

And I could tell that he was truly a changed man. That got me thinking.

So after hearing the Gospel it eventually hit me and my heart was opened and I finally came to Christ, accepted the free gift of salvation and got saved! This was almost a year ago and I got baptized recently.

I have witnessed how God has transformed my life and my personality. I left the blackest darkness and entered into the whitest light I have ever known!

I believe that God allowed me to experience that dark reality for a greater purpose, because now I can testify to other people of its destruction.

Now the Lord has given me a loving heart for Israel and for His chosen people. The Lord has also led me to study the 'Feast Days of The Lord' and that's truly a blessing! I love studying the Feast Days and Jewish tradition!

Thank you for the very in depth lessons and for the insight you provide from the holy language. It's truly a blessing to learn the unique Hebrew language and it gives me a more intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach!

I hope that I will one day be able to speak the language that our Lord Yeshua spoke. That would be awesome!

As a kid I was raised in the church. Because grandma dragged everyone, we didn’t have a choice. When I was 15 there was an "evangelist" that I met who was extremely gifted in prophecy and healing. This evangelist I found out actually turned out to be a satanist with a plan to recruit me. At the tender and gullible age of 15 he began to instruct me in different eastern religions and practices, especially New Age. I soaked up all the information, and felt like I was special because of the "hidden knowledge" I had that the church folk did not.

For 3 years New Age was my secret, but yet I was left for a longing in my heart for something greater. The climax of that religion was to get to the point where you say "I am that I am, I am God". Well I got to that point, and as much that I called myself God, I couldn’t reconcile the fact that I was mere human destined to die, and I had not created anything. At the age of 18 the lies of New Age and the truth of the Bible in me came to all out war. I wanted to believe the truth, but I was confused. All the while I was battling this I was in my first few months of Bible College!

I decided to give God an ultimatum. At 5 o'clock Wednesday morning I told God to reveal Himself to me. I asked him if he were real to send two angels in my room to speak to me about Yeshua. I said this in desperation, arrogance and disbelief. As soon as I said those words I got off of my knees and went back into my room around 5:05. Not even 15 minutes later 2 huge angels came to my room and preached to me the eternal gospel of the Messiah for 5 hours! They first started talking in English, declaring the glories of Yeshua, but then they began to talk in another language I could not mentally comprehend, but I spiritually understood it. When the encounter was over I was overwhelmed with tears and thanksgiving, and I ran to the chapel on campus! I disrupted the gospel choir with shouts of thank you God for saving me, for at least an hour.

From that day on I dedicated my everything to serve Yeshua and his purposes for as long as I live. That was in 2004, and shortly after I endeavored in missions, and since 2010 I made the complete move to live in a 3rd world country for Yeshua to be glorified. Our ministry has seen many miracles, healings, deliverances and salvation all to the glory and honor of God. In 2008 God began to move my heart for Israel, and started me on a path to honor the whole word of God. Now my wife and I are torah observant, and have dedicated our lives to seeing "all Israel saved".

I heard of holylanguage.com by searching online for a messianic ministry that teaches Hebrew, and from good friends in California. I am passionate about learning Hebrew because my family will be moving to Israel in 2015 for full-time ministry, and we desire God to use us to the utmost. Shalom!

A friend requested that I recommend a center where he could learn Hebrew and I was subsequently drawn to introduce him to holylanguage.com.

As a descendant of Gad, it's natural for me to be interested in Hebrew; for my native language Igbo was derived from Hebrew and consequently has a lot of similarities that makes me feel at home.

Learning Hebrew roots is a very good thing indeed but a lot of people think that it's the only language of God. If that is so then why does he still communicate to people in English, French, Dutch etc. Even those that learn Hebrew roots have testified that YAH does talk to them in a language other than Hebrew. Didn't the RUACH HA KODESH authorize the Apostles during Shavuot to speak other people's languages calling them to repentance?

If we are not careful our passion for Hebrew language can become a stumbling block which hinders us from having a closer relationship with God. The creature should never take the place of the Creator.

Love and blessings.

My name is Nance Whitaker, wife of Ed, my strong, handsome, awesome husband of 22 years, homeschooling mom of three teens and servant of Elohim. My journey is not so different than many others who have come to realize there was more to our Bible believing faith than what was being taught in church. Not that I mean to be critical of those who have brought me up in the faith, I am grateful for everyone who has been placed in my life and taught me the best that they knew how, it's just that the Ruach does the drawing, not man. And draw He did. Being one who loves to learn and seek the move of Yah, I enrolled at a conference in Texas in 2007 to learn how to develop the gifts of the Ruach and be a better leader in general. The school was a one week training with a world famous Charismatic Tent Revival preacher, the kind of guy who I greatly respected for his love of the poor and downtrodden. I had been to a few Bible training schools in the past but this time I was looking for someone who seemed to demonstrate the thing he taught, and being that he was already in his mid 80's, I figured I better take advantage of the opportunity when he came into my town and offered this free school. Yep, it was free. Now I just had to find my own way to Texas.

The week at the school was exhilarating, I made new friends and we prayed. Much as I love being a stay at home mom, it was nice for this little mama to take a week off of serving everyone else and refill her own "tank" for a change. Thank Yah for a strong husband who allowed me to have that time away and took care of the house like a pro. At the school, we prayed every morning and every evening we opened it up for ministry to the community with teaching and prayer for the sick. I have a strong gift of evangelism so I am naturally drawn those who still go out into the highways and byways compelling them to "come" to Messiah. Far too many "Messianics" have lost the "go" part of our great commission. May we never lose sight of making disciples, proving our devotion to Yeshua, living the principles He lived.

At one of the evening sessions a strange looking, very elderly man strolled in the door. As the preacher was preaching, he raised his little hand. Everyone was nervously surprised, since, in traditional church preaching one does not raise their hand to ask a question right in the middle of the sermon! So all eyes are fixed upon this old man that nobody seems to know from the community. The preacher points and asks him to speak his question and the man inquired, "What do you think about Sabbath and all of the feasts we are commanded to keep in the Bible? And what about the things we are not supposed to eat?" Oh, you could feel the tension in the room as the head usher piped up with, "He can take questions individually after service only, please!". But we were left with his question ringing in our ears and looking at each other with nervous smiles. At the end of the night, the worship band played and many were dancing near the altar. The old man was dancing and having the most joyful time of anyone out there, I felt kinda sorry for him and also inspired by him at the same time. A few students joined hands with him and danced in a circle. The evening ended and the man left, we never saw him again. But his question played over and over again in my mind. On the last day of the school, I purchased a "prayer shawl" from the book store and it had strange writing on it. I was told it was Hebrew and it was good to pray with it on your head. So I took it home as a sort of a souvenier of the week. Once I got it home, it became a zealous quest to find out what it actually said.

This was where my journey down the Ancient Paths of Torah began, with a little old man and a prayer shawl. I became infatuated with all things Hebrew from then on. Then I was led to various ministries that helped me grow in knowledge of the fact that we are all grafted in as ONE into Israel, Romans 11 came alive in my belly! So here I am, six years later, in LOVE with the Hebrew Roots of my faith and now my family has a Yeshiva at a local women's prison as well as offering your Hebrew Quest DVD course to the whole prison compound. There are at least 30 showing up every class, with tears in their eyes, thanking Yah for you.

My family has recently been asked to return to Ghana, W. Africa again this year to share what we have learned about our Hebrew heritage in Yeshua, our LIVING TORAH, so we can walk as HE walked! HalleluYAH! I am nothing, just a homeschool, stay at home mom but look what Abba is doing, it is all Him and none of us. He does the drawing and He does the restoration work in our hearts. I am humbled and honored to share this with those He brings our way.

I grew up in a gentile Christian home. At an early age, I accepted Jesus as my Lord based on his being the Son of God, and I tried to follow him and achieve righteousness through my own actions. As I grew older, I realized the power of sin in the world and in my own life. It was then that I truly accepted Him as my Savior and accepted the truth that it was only through the shedding of His Blood on the cross that I could have a relationship with God and that I could not be saved except that I am covered in His righteousness.

Though I have tried to be diligent in my Bible studies, when I was asked to start teaching an adult Sunday School class and leading congregational devotionals, I started doing word studies, particularly in the Tanakh. I started to want more than just individual word studies.

I am convinced that reciting Hebrew phrases is a way to show love and respect for who are, in fact, God's chosen people. I have memorized the Shema in Hebrew and recite it, probably incorrectly, in the morning and when I go to bed. I firmly believe scripture teaches that as a Christian gentile I was grafted into the tree of Avraham, but that the Jewish people are still the chosen of God.

I want to read the Bible that Jesus read. I feel that is something that will bring me closer to Yeshua Messiah, give me a better understanding of both the Foundational and Apostolic Scriptures, and make me a better disciple. Thank you for the opportunity to achieve this goal.

I was born to a middle-class family that was very "worldly Catholic" on both sides. I did hear a little growing up that there were Jews on both sides of the family tree, and I am glad I finally came to recognize the significance of that fruit on the tree. I would say that for the most part God was part of our lives: 1) for an hour on Sunday, 2) most of the time before we ate, 3) at bedtime, and of course 4) when we happened to get ourselves in deep trouble. Talking about God went to about the extent of getting another chuckle or two out of the funny little anecdote that the priest had included in his homily. That I have come to know The God of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov is a total testimony to the miraculous power of Abba in a faithful and prayerful wife, my Yaya.

I spent most of my life being a selfish, self-serving idiot for the most part. I was one with a very quiet and deceiving nature who came off very "kind" and "good," but what an ugly, duplicitous person I was on the inside. I had the false-face persona perfected and fit quite well into the world. I could lie and deceive very well, and would do it even when it wasn't necessary. I followed in the footsteps of the examples of the men in my life who selfishly filled their lives with whatever distractions they could find to keep themselves from looking inward or having any kind of a loving relationship with their spouses—lusting after women, hunting, golf, billiards—all sorts of distractions.

I said the sinner's prayer in my early twenties, read in the New Testament fairly regularly for a while at that time, but found it difficult to understand and felt I didn't get much out of it. I definitely did not have an inner change. Looking back, I can understand why my Bible reading was difficult—my mind could not digest how many things conflicted with what I had been taught by Christianity. So, I continued to live a life of debauchery, self-centeredness, always occupied, but never satisfied—competent and successful from the world's perspective. Did I even need God?

As I approached 40, I came to a crossroads. I was starting to see health issues and came to recognize that I had been clinically depressed for most of my life. I needed to see that there was more to God than the pathetic presence that he seemed to have manifested in my life and in the life of my family. I even told my wife I was ready to give up on God—and of course, that was when things started to turn around. She said, "Well, will you just go through the motions with me and at least pray with me at night," and I said, "OK." She talked about where I was at with a friend who ended up sending me the book *The Case for Christ*, and that really started the ball rolling for me. For the first time, I was given something concrete to think about with regard to my faith, and looking at the Kingdom from that perspective excited me. I became hungry for the Word and devoured it. I wanted to fill my mind with things of the Kingdom. I saw in Revelation where Abba says that, really, being half-minded about the Kingdom is worse in his eyes than being totally against Him, so I decided I did not want to be a wishy-washy believer anymore.

Now, my wife, Yaya, had always been unsettled at best about celebrating Christmas and Easter, because of some of what she had read in the Word, so when she came across some teaching about the Hebrew roots of our faith, she was able to absorb the truth immediately. We live in rural New Mexico, but ended up spending the winter in Tucson AZ and found a place to fellowship that was teaching about Torah and looking at things from a Hebrew perspective. There we met a man who invited us to come an celebrate Shabbat each week with a group of Sephardics who from birth had been Torah-keeping Jews who believed that Yeshua was the promised Messiah. We have kept the Shabbat from that time, and are loving learning and keeping Torah, and enjoying growing deeper and more set apart with each passing day.

I've learned so much and changed so much since then. I've learned much on what it means to be a true husband and am striving daily to love as Messiah loves his congregation. I have learned that on a person or interpersonal level (i.e., how we act, what we say, what we eat, how we treat others, how kadosh we are, etc.) there is only one reason why we can or can't do something—because we have chosen to do or not do it. I now choose life, and it is SO fulfilling.

I look from time to time for "wholesome" things to listen to while I work. I came across Izzy's "Yeshua Radio" and have been blessed by much of what I have heard him speak upon. Izzy has wonderful insights and displays a real passion for the Kingdom. I pray that Abba continues to bless Izzy and his ministry, and that he will continue to draw near to Yah and Yeshua. May Izzy's lips be anointed to always bring forth the true messages of The Kingdom. May he be blessed and fruitful in raising up others to "be leaders in the revolution."

I am a pastor of an evangelical church in the Netherlands, Enkhuizen and Grootebroek. I'm married to Wilma, with four children and ten grandchildren. Before I was a pastor I worked 30 years as a policeman in various positions. During that time I preached in our church. Eventually, I did a Bachelor's degree in theology. With great pleasure and curiosity, I followed all the modules.

As a follower of our Lord Yeshua, I love the Bible, especially the Tanakh, the Old Testament. On several occasions, I have tried to learn Hebrew. I managed a little during my bachelor's degree. I had a good grade on my final list, but the knowledge quickly sunk again. Then I tried to follow online classes through an institute in Jerusalem once, but that did not work and was indeed very expensive. Now I'm like a child, beginning again, as we're told to do in Izzy's first lesson, and that pleases me. I write lines full of Alephs, Bets, and so on. I have fun now and hope to keep going. I am convinced that a good knowledge of Hebrew will give me a deeper understanding of the Scriptures. And since Yeshua is the Word made flesh, it also gives me a deeper relationship with Him.

The picture was made in Jerusalem. I was there several times. I am a traveler, so I have been in North and South America, Canada, Africa, India, and of course, several times in the Holy Land.

I give you all my warmest greeting in the name of our Lord Yeshua.

My name's Jo Anne. I am a missionary living in Uganda originally from Chicago. In the mid 70's I moved to the north shore suburbs of Chicago, a mostly Jewish community and lived there for over 20 years. I had not previously been acquainted with any Jewish people prior to moving to the north shore. It was also during this time that I met my first Messianic couple and attended services with them a few times. During that time I also attended some of my Jewish friends' children's Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

I had an opportunity to tour Israel in Nov 2006, which was a desire of mine since living in the Jewish community. I loved being in Israel so much I returned in January 2007 on a Christian mission trip and had an opportunity to live as a full-time missionary in Jerusalem from mid 2007 to the end of 2008. When I was in Israel for the first time I knew I would return because it felt like I belonged there as if it was my home. The truth is I would love to actually live in Israel, but that is quite hard to do unless you have Jewish blood.

My mother was Catholic and my father Lutheran, though he never attended church, so I was raised Catholic. I received salvation in Jesus in 1972 but it was when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1978, that I had said to my friend "I should have been raised Jewish"...I didn't understand that at the time as I did not know any Jews or Messianic Jews at that time.

In 2007 and 2008 while living in Jerusalem it became more difficult to obtain long-term visas so I relocated to Uganda. I had been ministering there yearly since 2002. I have been living in Uganda since 2010 and within the first couple of months I met some people who taught Hebrew Roots. I also met a Ugandan Evangelist Drake Kanabo who is the founder and director of Christians4Israel NGO and another organization Christian Friends of Israel, Uganda, director John Gudoi. I know Ray and Sharon Sanders from CFI Jerusalem during my time living in Israel so this was quite exciting for me. I believe these connections could have only happened through the Holy Spirit.

I have been meeting almost weekly since 2010 with a group to study Torah and Christianity's Hebrew Roots, which has triggered a desire to learn to read and speak Hebrew. We also celebrate the Feasts including Shabbat. Some do not agree, but I do believe Christians should celebrate the Feasts. I especially look forward to the weekly Shabbat. Sometimes it is difficult for me to celebrate Shabbat on Friday night to Saturday, but I do pick another day during the week if I am ministering on Saturdays. It is said that a family who prays together stays together. What better way than through Shabbat! Just imagine what could happen in our societies if every family celebrated Shabbat, blessing their families every week! It is my opinion that Christianity received a great loss when Christianity broke from her Hebrew roots.

There are about 100 Israelis living in Uganda (secular Jews) but they do celebrate the Feasts of the Lord, which I have had the privilege to attend. Since I was in the USA in March of this year, I was so blessed to attend 2 Passover Seders. One was a Messianic Seder celebrated at the beginning of the Hebrew Passover and the other was on Resurrection Sunday as a Passover Seder for Christians. For some reason this year, these two Passover celebrations impacted me greatly. I saw such a connection between the Passover Seder and Jesus being our Passover Lamb that I had not seen before, inspiring me to write an article, Jesus the Passover Lamb, which can be found on my website www.touchingheartsint.org

. I also had the privilege to speak on Yeshua as the Passover Lamb twice while in the States and again twice when I returned to Uganda in April.

As a missionary in Uganda, I believe my main purpose for being here is to preach, teach and disciple according to Matthew 28. I disciple on the Sermon on the Mount as a lifestyle and preach mostly on the love of the Father or the Father's heart of love toward humanity and the power of grace to pursue holiness by living a separated lifestyle and passionately loving and following Jesus by returning to 'first love'.

I include the importance for Christians to return to our Hebrew roots and Torah. I have come to believe that we cannot rightfully walk out the New Covenant in Jesus without going deeper into the knowledge and understanding of the Old Covenant; for the New Covenant builds on the Old Covenant. In fact the Sermon on the Mount is directly from Torah. I have my PhD in Biblical Studies, but my studying of Hebrew roots and Torah has given me a greater understanding of the Bible as not only a history book on the life of the Hebrew people, but a greater revelation and understanding of God's intentional and extravagant love for all humanity. Now my next step on my journey into Christianity's Hebrew roots is for me to read and speak Hebrew so I can get an even greater understanding of the Scriptures and be able to teach on a deeper level.

I have a couple of books on learning to speak Hebrew and have a software package from Hebrew World and follow the teachings found at www.Hebrew4Christians.org

. Unfortunately I have not put as much effort into actually learning God's holy language as I would like, but I have learned most of the alphabet and some prayers in Hebrew through the Hebrew4Christians website.

I just finished writing my first book, entitled, Love the Heartbeat of God for Revival and am currently re-editing it, then I need to find a publisher or publish it myself. However, I began writing this book in 2004, but was unable to finish it. It wasn't till after I went back to Christianity's Hebrew roots that I understand why I was unable to finish my book and why I said so many years ago, "I should have been raised Jewish". I know that I would not have been able to write what the Lord has commissioned me to write without going back to my Hebrew roots.

It is important that Christians understand our Hebrew roots and the history of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and His love and purpose for His covenant people Israel. It has given me a much greater understanding and revelation of the intentionality of God's love for humanity as a whole and personally for each of us individually.

I have not been back to Israel since 2011, maybe next year in Jerusalem. L'Shanah Ha ba'ah Bi Yerusalayim! I love Israel, the people, the land, and the language and along with many others in Uganda, we gather to pray for Israel every week. If God cares so much for His beloved Israel, then we ought also care!

Only God knows if I have Jewish blood or not, but what is most important is that I have Hebrew roots and I know from where I come from. As Christians we ought to appreciate greatly the Hebrew nation, Israel and the Jewish people for it was through them that Yeshua, the way of Salvation, has come to all of us. It is now up to us to receive God's love, love Him back then give His love away.

I now look forward to continuing my journey through Holy Language Institute so I can learn to read and write God's Holy language. Thank you Izzy for making this opportunity available to those of us who desire to learn the language of God.

Shalom,

Jo