The Testimony of Helen Shapiro

so she's going to share about that and I don't know whether it's about walking back to happiness or or pressing forward into salvation but by the way on you're out [Music] I hope this mic is okay for sound they said would I know how to pin it on I said I've used him my like once or twice before Baruch Hashem greetings in the name of Yeshua whoa this is very high up here however it's a joy it's a joy to be here today and to hear laughs and to praise and worship with all of God's people people have asked me to give my testimony before and I have had the honor to do that and quite a few places now but never one as grand as this and it's always difficult to know how to begin where to begin but I'll try this I come from a little village in the East End of London called Hackney now some of you might know it it is of course one of the most salubrious parts of the city I was brought up in a traditional loving warm caring musical Jewish home in the hearts of what was then the Jewish community in the borough of Hackney around the Stanford Hill area Clapton to be a little more precise believe it's become quite yuppified these days I know somebody who lives there by traditional Jewish home I don't really mean we weren't I would say strictly observant to every letter of the law in fact we didn't observe most of them but what we did do was celebrate the holy days the festivals Pesach Passover of course to a lesser extent to God and of course we would go to shool to synagogue on Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement and observe Russia so now the new year and things like that and if we would like the candles on Shabbat evening every Friday night and to that extent and with a sort of a a smattering of biblical knowledge I was very aware of my Jewish heritage I didn't know why I was Jewish I didn't actually suss out why I was Jewish what it meant to be Jewish all I did know from listening to the wireless yeah for those babies among you I do refer of course to the radio our Wireless was a large piece of furniture in the corner of the room I noticed that they always referred to things to do with the church and Christmas and Easter and stuff like that and I could never understand why we never got a look in why didn't they ever mention Pacer things to do with Jewishness and little later on when we got our little nine-inch television screen the same thing happened it was then that I it was pointed out to me that we are a minority in this country I believe there aren't more than about more 300,000 of us I think in this country and that in fact we do live in a Christian country so I took that at face value in those days at a very young age and didn't think a great deal more about it I knew I was a Jew I liked it I enjoyed it was very nice and I liked the food as well that was another good part our point as far as my spiritual background was concerned like all good Jewish children I was brought up to believe in God the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but I didn't have more than a vague concept of him if I thought about him at all it was of this faraway sort of power somewhere possibly with a big stick who didn't have a great bearing on my daily life as for this Jesus well I would see on these radio programs and television programs that pictures of this blond-haired blue-eyed Aryan God hanging on a cross a golden cross in a church somewhere and I knew that they said that he was the Messiah and he didn't look like a messiah to me I've never actually heard of him until I got to the age of 6 years old to be honest I I didn't know who he was I was 6 years old I was in the playground at school minding my own business and another little girl about the same age ran up to me in tears and she screamed at me you killed Jesus Christ what I I was in tears I'd never been accused of such a thing before who was this Jesus but what a funny name I've never killed anybody I rushed home and I told my parents I don't actually remember what they told me but it's funny how the incident has stayed in my mind from six years old I'm glad it never really colored my opinion of people who said these things or certainly of Christians or of the church but I'm glad that stayed in my mind I guess it stayed in my mind so that I could tell about it today and I grew up not thinking a great deal about spiritual things really life was too exciting I was growing up I went into show business you know I was fortunate enough to have hit songs and I was very blessed God gave me a gift of music I always knew that that's a funny thing I always knew that I had a gift from God the music I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with it but I did what I thought was right at the time I sang pop songs and I sang jazz and I had ups and downs in my career and I didn't think a great deal about God I suppose until possibly one of the down times that's usually when you start thinking about things like that around towards the late 60s and I started to question things Marja in the late 60s everybody was questioning things they were all searching for the meaning of life man in my case I mean I thought what there must be more to this there must be more than this if this is it this is very depressing it's got to be more my search took me to reading books on spiritualism Hinduism Buddhism and psychic ISM this isn't that ism you name it I was interested in it I read about it I even went so far as to visit mediums media I don't know what you call them clairvoyance and the like you know to like to make contact with the dead to find out my fortune I have my palm read my tea leaves done you name it it's crazy thing we were all going through a lot of that in those days I remember that and I thought it was fine I thought it was a very benign harmless good thing to do I didn't know at that time that what I was doing was an abomination to God I had no idea like most people who were involved in that kind of thing with the New Age and all these things as long as you're not actively worshipping the devil god forbid then it must be alright I didn't realize that these seemingly harmless things that I was getting into there were just as much the occult as anything else but in my ignorance all this stuff satisfied me it answered a spiritual need in my life and it was great oh there's life after death fantastic maybe there's reincarnation maybe there isn't I'll take a little bit of this and a little bit of that one and it's all very nice this kept me going for a long while until I reached the age of 40 now I've heard horror stories about being 40 there's a lot of you still yet to have that pleasure I knew that it was supposed to be a big watershed in your life and I wasn't quite sure what to do about it but I actually got to and past my 40th birthday relatively unscathed also I thought it's funny by the way about 40 isn't it the significance of 40 in the Bible sure my ancestors were wandering around in a wilderness for 40 years then Moses fasted on top of a mountain for 40 days and 40 nights I believe the flood was forty days and forty nights the Lord Yeshua himself was tempted by the devil for 40 days important it seems to be a testing time I don't know I'm not the expert on that but anyway I got about four to six months into my 41st year when all of a sudden really all of a sudden all these things that I believed in you know all these isms that had comforted me for so long crumbled for no apparent reason all these they're just like crumbled like like idols of clay anywhere and put it now looking back and try as I might I couldn't believe any of it anymore and I tried oh I tried I couldn't understand why I couldn't believe it I know now why but it was that sad I just didn't believe it anyway at the same time at that period of my life I also became increasingly aware of how much my career had grown in importance in my life the the priority it had over all other things even at that age I thought this cannot be right my ambition my longing to show them I can still do it and I want to be in the next big hit show and and all these kind of things my career was more important to me then anything I thought this cannot be right at this time of my life so that cover all coupled with the other thing brought me pretty low I have to tell you this is like six months after my 40th birthday now nobody was aware of this nobody John my lovely husband and I love very much he wasn't my husband then he didn't know that was going on soul-searching my musical director Bob Cranham and his wife they knew nothing about it the reason I mentioned them is that Bob Bob's been my MD for musical director that is for about 1213 years or something like that and he's been a Christian he and his wife for quite a few years they had never shoved it down the throat never given me a heavy time about it I had actually done some backing vocals on a couple of gospel albums that Bob produced and they had occasionally told me about something the Lord the Lord had done for them the Lord this Lord of theirs which were actually want to think about it there were miracles but I didn't get into my head at that time I thought well that's very nice that's nice for them that's that's very nice for them and I hope they're very happy it's fine for Gentiles bomba Jew Jews don't believe in Jesus but that's fun now at this time I was going through all this stuff this soul-searching they knew nothing but it just so happened that I had to go around to Bob's place to pick up some music and he said to me that day that he was thinking of giving up the music professionally certainly and maybe all together I don't know I can't remember now and I have a sperm used I said why said well I feel that God wants me to be a preacher wow really but surely God gave you the the gift of music he said yeah but if he wants me to stop I'll stop it that's what just like that he said yeah that impressed me that impressed me terribly I went back to John I remember and I said I don't know what it is the Bob's got but I envied him his faith looking back of course I know that that's exactly what it's supposed to do isn't it written somewhere because I know how important the music is to me and I know how important it is to him that started me thinking a little bit about this Jesus this faith that these people have that could make them do such things especially as I was going through this kind of uncertain time in my life thinking about this Jesus culminated in me lying on my bed one night this is all about three and a half years ago and saying all right then like you do all right then you this this Jesus funny name they say you're the Messiah you say you're the Messiah if you're the Messiah show me prove it to me I don't know what I expected to happen but nothing did that at that moment but I'll tell you what in the ensuing days I couldn't walk anywhere without coming into contact with things and people connected with or relating to these Jesus like Christians I was tripping over him and churches I kept coming bang face-to-face with cathedrals I do a lot of work traveling in my work and I would walk around a corner and there would be like Winchester Cathedral you know I thought go in and have always been interested in church architecture anyway you know nice old buildings the coal bit dusty you know a bit damp but very nice and I would be drawn like to go and sit in a churchyard or something in a country church I'll sit under a tree and feel really peaceful all this economist I couldn't understand it this finally led to us coming home one day from a gig at a concert in Germany we flew home the band and myself to Gatwick Airport and we were saying our goodbyes see you next time when Bob this same Bob put in my hands a book now in all the years that I'd known him and all the years that I'd known that he'd been a believer which at that time was about seven years he'd never given me anything never tried to put tracts or anything like that upon me but he put into my hand this book I looked at it and there on the front cover was a menorah for those of you who don't know what a menorah is it is a seven branch lamp stand candelabra whatever you want to call it the eternal Jewish symbol older than any other Stars of David or anything like that that which was in the tabernacle and the temple well why is he giving me a Jewish book now look closer and I saw the title betrayed by Stan tell Qing oh I look a little more what would you do it said if you were a 50 year old successful Jewish businessman and your daughter one day told you that she believed in Jesus so including you're what what is this because you see I've been going through all this stuff with this Jesus thing going on the last few days I thought here he's given me a book about somebody Jewish believing in this person I was actually quite excited about it I was quite cool I said what's all this what's he given me I thought you might be interested it turns out that they had had this book for about a year and never felt right about giving it to me ever but that day that Bob handed me this book was the exact moment I was ready to receive it so I took it home I thought I've got to read it I mean I'd heard about Jewish people believing in Jesus I was thought they were weirdos you know true I did I even met one once and I still thought they were weirdos I got home I had the place to myself at that time by the way I gotta tell it just to digress I've always had a problem about this what I call Christians becoming Christians you know it's just that when Bob became this Christian I always thought but you're already a Christian it's that strange thing in the Jewish mindset that says you're either a Jew or you're a Christian yeah like a like a generic term a nice identity and a nice label if you're not a Jew you're a Christian like in the Lebanon when they say the Muslims are fighting the Christians and the Christians apply you know they're not all Christians I remember the time when Cliff Richard in 1966 when it was said I'm a Christian I always had a great problem with that it's only in recent years I've got it together but that aside I went home and I opened this book and I did it in two hours and impressed me yes it was a bit mo most you've probably read it but for those of you haven't yes it's about this guy who whose daughter told him this shocked news and when he recovered from the shock he set out to prove her wrong through the scriptures and in doing so in the end became a believer himself along with every member of his family in different directions well not impress me yeah but really never seen before and that was in the pages of his book he had reproduced many of the Messianic prophecies now I was familiar with the hit stories of the Bible I knew Genesis and Exodus I knew about Moses and King David and Solomon and you know the kings and a little bit about the exile bits and pieces like that and like every good Jew I knew that the Messiah was gonna come sometime whoever he was but that he was something good that was going to come for the Jewish people what I didn't know was that it was all written there prophesied in the Bible and I'd never actually seen the prophecies you know what it made such an impression upon me first of all Jeremiah 31 talking about a new covenant what is it he said though the days are coming says the law when I make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah not like the Covenant I made with you when I brought you out of Egypt which you blew even though I was a husband to you know in this new covenant I write my law and your inward parts on my heart so you won't have to go around telling everybody no the Lord because they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of him for I'll forgive their sins and remember their iniquities no more diet that made a big impression on me I like the idea of not having to learn laws but having it all written inside and then Isaiah Isaiah 9 unto us a child is born unto us a son is given I always thought that that was in the New Testament because I'd only ever seen it on Christmas cards that's the truth but there it was in Isaiah one of ours I was yet to find out that there's plenty of hours in the New Testament as well lera was reading that Isaiah nine and the government shall be upon his shoulders and he should be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father the Prince of Peace this was messianic stuff I tell you it made a big impression on me this even talked about him being God I went on Isaiah seven and the Virgin shall be with child and she gave birth to a son and shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us why so specific then across in Micah but thou Bethlehem Bethlehem City of David but let him house of bread if Rother out of you shall come one for me whose goings forth her evolved from eternity actually said where he was gonna be born I didn't know I didn't know Daniel Daniel 9 spoke of when he was gonna walk the earth and how the Anointed One would be cut off but not for himself and then the prince of this world should common Jerusalem the temple should be destroyed etc of course the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and as Stan tellingly pointed out in his book how was this Messiah gonna prove his genealogy the genealogies were destroyed in the temple Psalm 22 my God my God why hast thou forsaken me and then further on they have pierced my hands and my feet they've cast lots for my clothing divided it among themselves I was getting touched greatly by this I never knew I didn't know that this was all there in the what we call now the Old Testament and the Turner so specifically the Testament is the the prophecies about the one who was to come and then the the jewel in the crown of messianic prophecy Isaiah 53 which spoke of one who was to come and take our sins upon himself and our diseases and all our rottenness and take our punishment that was due to us and be bruised and afflicted because we all like sheep have gone astray each has turned to his own way and the Lord has caused to fall upon him the iniquity of us all by this time I was burning I thought I've got to do something about this because I can't let this stand I can't read this book and not do anything about it it challenges me I never knew all this stuff why didn't any rabbi ever tell me why didn't anybody ever tell me why didn't some Christian come and tell me I thought I've got to get a Bible so where do you go when you want to buy a Bible WH Smiths of course who knew from Christian bookshops I tell if I knew I wouldn't go in one anyway not then I walked into WH Smiths in Bishop's Stortford cheers from the Great Eastern Fellowship and I walked into their their religious department you should pardon the expression and you know what there were row upon row upon row of Bibles I never seen so many Bibles in my life I didn't know there were so many Bibles all different shapes and sizes with all different titles it was even a Masonic Bible yeah and such a thing it was the Jerusalem Bible the good news Bible the relatively good news Bible the the Living Bible the Holy Bible the Holy Bible the Holy Bible the Holy Bible they all said this the Holy Bible I thought I'm not gonna get a Bible that says Holy Bible because that is the word that the Christians use all the time and I'm not going to be misled so I bought a book I bought a Bible called the Bible oh yes no flies on me so I it was a Revised Standard Version and it was that in fact the only one that was just called the Bible it had lots of stuff at the bottom of each page whereby you could cross with the backwards and forwards and it was like I suppose in miniature a Study Bible and it had pictures so I took this home and I opened up a Genesis and I started to read I got about as far as Genesis 26 I thought this is going to take a year and I knew some of that stuff anyway I thought okay in for a penny in for a pound I opened up at the New Testament for the first time in my life with I have to say a certain amount of trepidation I didn't know what to expect I half expected possibly more than half an anti-semitic diatribe why because people who call themselves Christians down through the centuries from Constantine through the Crusaders via the Inquisition etc etc etc etc had murdered tortured persecuted hounded the Jewish people in the name of this Christ this Christianity this Jesus so we naturally assume they got it out of their book so I wasn't sure what to expect and you know what I opened up at that first book and what greeted my eyes was the most Jewish thing I've ever seen outside of the Old Testament the genealogy of Jesus now I knew I knew somewhere along the line that Jesus was a Jew I knew that even though he had this funny name and but I never realized the the ins and outs of it because I didn't know before that about the the lineage that you had to be at the line of David etc and there it was through were as araba bull and via King David and famous server familiar names right through to the patriarch Abraham that made me feel a little more comfortable so I started to read in the book of Matthew there's another thing sorry I go off like this occasionally um I just got to tell you that I always thought years ago now I'm talking you know in the Old Testament you've got Abraham Isaac Jacob yeah Solomon and David and Ezekiel and Hosea and Joel and Zechariah and Zedekiah and all these ayahs Jeremiah and all the rest of them wonderful big strong names and then in the New Testament you got Matthew and Philip and John and James and it always was a puzzle to me how come before I knew anything about it so how come in their New Testament they got all these English people the New Testament was obviously written by English people I was much later that I found out in fact that these people were of course all Jews and that they had Hebrew names and they spoke Hebrew and they did everything that the guys did in the Old Testament but somehow it got gobbled in the translation the names that came down to us via the the Greek to the English mattiyahu Matthew Yohannan John Miriam Mary get this Yakov James that's another little puzzle now I travel around like I said and I pick up the Gideon Bible in hotels and they've usually got various translations and I've noticed that in the Dutch and in the German and in the French Yakko never comes down to us as James but as yeah caboose jacoub Jacques only in the English translation does he become James is this anything to do with King James one asks oneself one day we will know anyway apropos of nothing at all I started to read the book of Mattia about Yeshua and I was totally taken with this person how he was born you know it wasn't a fairy story like you see on Christmas cards it wasn't some pretty little thing about lots of pretty animals in a stable looking at a pretty blonde baby this was meat and potatoes this was the real stuff I mean this was to me a revelation this was people in the land back of relate to and I read about him how he was born how he grew up that these people were Jews about what he did what he said the Sermon on the Mount for instance the restating of the the Mosaic law and on words how he healed does the way he spoke and just I was just taken with him and then of course how he died how he was buried how he rose again I read on all the time backwards and forwards into the Old Testament checking out the prophecies where they were made where they were fulfilled I got about halfway through mark I thought oh I am possibly being misled here it's all too perfect this Old Testament this Revised Standard Version was written by Christians of course translated by Christians they got a slant it that way to make it look good for them I'd better go and buy a Hebrew Bible just to play safe so I went to a little shop in Ilford called the blue and white shop in beehive Lane if ever you want to go there which stocks Judaica that's what it is religious Jewish books and artifacts I said I'd like an Old Testament please he looked at me you said how girl such a fool [Laughter] this guy was a bit of a joker as I have found out subsequently I thought no of course what a silly thing to do to go into a Jewish shopper ask for an Old Testament no such thing as an Old Testament because there's no such thing as a New Testament I said you know what I mean he said yeah he reaches up to a top shelf gets hold of a book and hand it to me I look at the title of the book what does it say on the front the Holy Scriptures that was my first encounter with God sense of humor the first of many I'm thankful to say at my expense of course so suitably armed with my Turner I went home and I opened up and started to compare with the Old Testament in this Revised Standard Version my Hebrew Bible official Jewish publication society Masoretic takes had to be right and you know it was the same and I was so pleased truly I wanted it to be the same I didn't want to be disappointed because I got that far I was already hooked you know what I mean I was being reeled in just came to me that so suitably comforted the next two months I spent reading again back for words and looking I think checking out with the the Stantons book as well I read the four Gospels it's another word I always had a little problem until I found out it means good news for different tellings of the story of the coming of the Messiah from different angles but all melding together there was a lot I didn't understand but by the end of reading the book of John I came to the intellectual conclusion that this had to be so this Jesus had to be the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies had to be and if that was the case what do I do about it so I phoned Bob and Penny I said help I'm on the verge of becoming a believer what do I do they said come oh so we're out of their house this was August 26 1987 and I spent two hours peppering him with questions there was a lot there were so many questions that I had to ask so much I wanted to know for instance all this occult stuff you know that I've been into before where did that kind of fit into the whole scheme of God and everything and they said it doesn't that was when I first learned when God says you and your your diviners your astrology's your your mediums and your spiritists they are they are hateful to me they're an abomination so I learned something that night another question was okay fine Jesus Yeshua died on a cross was buried rose again I believe that I believe it I don't know why but I believe it how does that save me I didn't quite suss it out I hadn't quite got it together I'm asking Gentiles how this saves me they pointed me to the book of Hebrews and there it is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system and that's that night I learnt I learnt a lot I learned that no longer there's a the high priest the descendant of Aaron have to go into the the most holy place the Holy of Holies in trembling and fear with the blood of bulls and goats hoping that God isn't going to kill him to sprinkle to make atonement for Israel for another year no longer does he have to do that because when Jesus died on the cross the temple curtain was torn in two it opened the way for us all to go through to follow him the ultimate once and for all sacrifice and as in every sacrifice and every covenant blood has to be shed and that his was the blood shed and that if we follow him then we are atone for but not just for a year but for always that's what I learned [Applause] and the other beautiful thing about that was it wasn't just for Israel anymore but for everybody and that's the beauty of it too I learned that last night last night seems like last night I learned that that night along with many other things that I am still learning but when penny said would you like to say a prayer ask Jesus to come into your life I know that's how you do it I didn't know maybe a signed a form or something and that's another thing I learned oh yeah I was learning a lot and it's all in there I tell you I learned that you can believe and believe and believe and believe and believe in Jesus you can believe that he is the Messiah the Son of God salvation and you can go to church and go to church and go to church but until you make that decision of your will to invite him into your life to be the lord of your life he'll stay outside so we pray and I I said Jesus come into my life be Lord of my life take over the the raves by your Holy Spirit forgive my sins come let us reason together forgive my sins wash me clean be in my life and he came into my life no sunder bowls no lightning no visitations but I just knew just and that was it and I was glad I had done it we sat back penny said well you're a Christian there's still that little irrational something in there I'm a what never it was still that thing of that word Christian what's this mean I'm not a Jew anymore for a moment it kind of hit me that in a hold on really and I remembered the letter I've had from Stan telchine good old Stan he must be getting so many royalties from his book since I came on the scene praise the Lord we'd been in correspondence when I was nearing the end of reading the Gospels I had actually written to him to say look this is looking serious here whoever you are what it what's happened does it mean if I become a believer in Jesus does it mean I'm not Jewish anymore he wrote back very kindly and said to me don't be daft not in those words Americans don't say that but you as a Jew when you believe in Jesus you don't change to something new you return to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob [Applause] what is more you your Jewishness is fulfilled and is completed just as the New Covenant the New Testament fulfills the old you're born a Jew you die a Jew only God can make that happen so don't let anybody tell you anything different either the church or the rabbis that's what it is now I want to tell you when you'd make this decision you'll find a place called the London messianic congregation this is from America in Northwest London go but this night this was before I actually committed myself that I wrote this letter so driving home August the 26 1987 10:30 p.m. I was in two minds which is not a good thing according to the book of Yaakov remember him I was elated but I was a little worried what have I done how am I going to tell people how am I gonna tell the family in the community you know there's not there are not many of us and when we throw up the odd celebrity here and there we tend to claim them and you know all I got to tell the community but you know it didn't make me change my mind it didn't make me want to turn around and go back I had made the decision and I was glad of it I was glad of it and nothing made me change my mind two days later I went with Bob and penniless had come to a church with this church I went I've never been in a church before except to a wedding or to her like a charity thing certainly never to worship it's a Church of England Church modern I thought it was gonna be all you know like you see on songs of praise or something I walked in it was full of loonies waving their arms about that was the first impression oh this reminds me of these black gospel churches in America that you see where they're really getting it on and praising God you know you know oh this is this is interested there was a band up front playing you know nice stuff there's a guy go up and gave us sermon and it was interesting this was this was a new experience for me I didn't realize such places existed and that night for the first time I had what they call Holy Communion to me was the bread and the wine I'd had bread and wine before of course at their Passover Seder of which that was the fulfillment I've had when when Jesus took the the third cup was it the threw the cup after supper which we know is the cup of redemption he added his himself to him saying this I'd never had that you know I'd had just the regular the cup of redemption is part of the Seder coming out of Egypt all that and I'd had the matzah the unleavened bread the afikoman you know the lovely thing is that when Jesus when Yeshua was presiding over their last Seder He fulfilled the whole Seder as it went along and he kept it traditional you just added himself to it he broke up the matzah and handed it round this is my body given for you but I had never been involved in this kind of Lord's Supper thing I didn't again know what to expect it was a Church of England Church so you went down the front and you knelt at an altar rail he said put your hands out like this I thought was gonna give me a little round wafer thing put on your tongue right you see the Pope there you know but no there was a guy came with a lump of bread and put it in my hand and He blessed me there's real bread and it was nice and what was even better it was real wine gave me this wine and He blessed me and a little dumplings a nice man he had a beard and everything made me feel at home I don't mean to make light of it it was it was a very moving thing because you know I turned round I got up I turn out to go back to my seat people were praising and worshipping and singing it was a wonderful atmosphere in there as I went back to my seat the Lord went ding I broke down and wept I was I was in a state I I was joyful but there was a sadness too I didn't know what was happening to me obviously the Lord touched me with his with his holy spirit with his ruach ha'qodesh and I was just saying lord save my people he gave me a burden for my own people which of course I've had ever since he just put it in my heart there and then and you know I wasn't self-conscious about crying and knowing people were looking because actually I knew they weren't because they were all involved themselves in what they were doing with the Lord but that's the night that it went from my head to my heart that's where I really made the commitment Lord I am yours forever and I fell in love with Jesus and I'm not going to take up too much more time I hope because I've been going a fair bit I do have a tendency to waffle or as I have been told on many occasions try to keep it brief but to sum up by saying this that my career is now in it's a proper place in the order of priorities wait analyst the amazing thing is that since I've become a believer I've never been busier I keep getting all this work and but the beauty of it is that a lot of it is something new and that is gospel concerts which we started doing last September we being a set of musicians myself with the help of others around me God did give me a gift a gift of music but now he's coaxing me to to use it for his glory and you know these things are going so well it's still very new but I praise the Lord for it and while I'm about it I get a little plug in we just finished recording the album actually a couple of days ago and so we're hoping that that's gonna be out July or was God willing it's called the Pearl after one of the songs that we sing but I've been going out and giving my testimony and in response to stand tell chiyan a few days after going to this church in essex i went looking for this london messianic congregation where's the rest of them there must be others I found him in bridge Lane in Golders Green there's a few of them here today and there was a what was then a smallish group meeting they welcomed me I walked in there there were Jews Gentiles worshiping the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob through the Messiah of Israel and I was at home I became a member there been a member ever since I have to tell you that it has blossomed and been blessed many of you would already know since that time especially since the Chuck snow came along Chuck I'm Ruth from the States and took over the reins there and we've moved to hand in school now if anybody wants to come along every Friday night Arif Shabbat 8 o'clock then we late we always are oh dear it's it's it's a wonderful thing that what the Lord has done he has blessed me with that congregation but you know I said that phone Bob one day I said you know this is great and I go every Friday night and it's lovely but I live 40 miles away I need to have somewhere where I can have some daily contact with believers I'll get on to it says he a couple of days later I get a call here guess what you see I live in the middle of nowhere it's all little villages in North Essex tiny little villages each one with their pretty old fashioned parish church you know what I mean I have to say I'm afraid not a lot going on what's this to me there's a there's a a church in a place called Sibyl heading them such a name and they've planted out about four or five different smaller groups in different places and one of them meets guess where in your village hall this is a wonderful group of spirit filled Christians with a heart for Israel and the Jews and there they were on my doorstep at Great Eastern and I love them very much too and you see he's blessed me in that way too I don't know what one final thing I'm gonna add for those of you with any problems like I had he has blessed me in many ways many many ways my mother became a believer six months after me and my husband six months after that and we're working on the rest of the family but I've got to tell you one very tangible way with my clothes of how the Lord has blessed me he didn't have to do it I was his already I used to be a professional smoker this isn't to say I got paid for doing it I was good at it at my worst I was up to 60 a day don't tell me none of you ever smoked I had by the time I became a believer I had got it down to a manageable twenty in an evening having gone without during the day but oh I couldn't wait til seven o'clock a.m. I said and every one of them but don't ask me one of them but I would cut back by five so come six months or so after I accepted the Lord Jesus into my life I was worshiping over civil heading him actually it was February and I got a very strong thought feeling that God wanted me to stop smoking sooner rather than later I was putting it you know it's gonna be November do you not I mean they said no now Lord if this is really you if it is from you give me a sign give me a give me a target date I'll make a deal with you only and you would make a deal with God and maybe get away with it I don't know give me a target date not doing a couple of days later I'm walking into a shop a tobacconists actually and there on the window was a poster national no smoking day March the 9th I said had to be so soon but there it was in black and white then red and blue and green and I I said okay you're on comes March the 8th I had the place to myself I'm sitting there with about 20 going putting off the awful moment it came midnight came midnight scrunched up a packet all the paraphernalia when it's the kitchen threw it in the bin went back into the living room got on my knees I had told everybody that I knew you know pray pray for me pray for all this it's very important and I had also decided that even if God didn't help me I was going to do it anyway so I got on my knees and I said well Lord this is it time has come Here I am I made the first move I said Lord I promise you but I'm never gonna smoke another cigarette again as long as I live as I finished saying that right there in the pit of my stomach the most hideous nausea be set to me I'd never had anything like it before or since thank goodness I mean it was really nasty feeling and it started to rise I'm frightened out my life it's crawling around going to the bathroom help I've heard about these things praise the Lord praise the Lord I didn't throw up this thing just rows and rows and rows this mausoleum rows and rows and rows and just finally left me he just went and from that moment to this which is two years and three months ago and not only have not had a cigarette but I have not had the slightest craving for one only God can do that I got to tell you because I have tried in the past to do it I had tried on two or three big occasions to give it up in my own strength and it it was not nice to say the least it was murderous it was wrong this was something else I had prayed God make it like I've never smoked before and that's what he did and I'm a pain now I'm one of those people you hate if you're a smoker yeah well that's what happens but I praise him and thank him because I thought what did he do this cuz I'm a singer did he do it for this reason that he just did it because he loved me he didn't have to do it it was icing on the cake and I thanked him just want to finish by saying aye I praise him and thank him for what for for calling me to him for giving me the gifts that he has given me and for it being in these days especially in these days when we hear what Lance has been telling us and what we're hearing around the world and to be part of a vibrant growing movement the Messianic movement is growing a pace in the world we have the messianic congregation in London that is growing we have it up in Manchester with motion an and in Leeds and in Brighton and and and of course what is going on in Israel and in the States and everywhere this is obviously a move of God's Spirit I've had people try and tell me that messianic congregations are wrong they are wrong it is not divisive this is a bridge and I just wanted to put my two pence worth in on that score and to say my prayer is that the Lord might use me to go out and witness to Jewish people about their Messiah so that it can come to pass what he says that they will look up and and say borough haba b'shem adonai 'blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord thank you

Channel: David Farlow

Views: 24,719

Keywords: bible, christian, jew, helen shapiro, jewish, messiah, yeshua, mashiach, prophecy, salvation, born again, torah, tanakh, famous singer, walking back to happiness, meaning of life, purpose of life, is this it, is this all there is in life, god, jesus, jesus christ, jesus christ real, true religion, famous person saved, famous person becoming a christian

Id: OeAjJXeYfHY

Length: 60min 17sec (3617 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 18 2019