Jesus, Jews for Jesus, Reasons to Believe, Salvation

Jonathan Cahn’s Journey to Christ

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Growing Up in a Reform Jewish Home …

Jonathan Cahn grew up in a normal American Jewish home. His parents were secular, not religious. He remembers being in Hebrew school and watching the filmstrips of David, Isaiah and Elijah. God was so real in what he was taught of the Bible. God spoke to people and He moved on their lives whether it was Moses and the burning bush or Abraham being called by God. But, there was a big gap between what he saw of the living, breathing God of Israel (the God of the Bible) and what he saw in the synagogue.

In the synagogue, nobody told of how God led them or changed their life. Synagogue was about liturgy and rituals. It was as if there once was a glory, but the glory and presence was no longer there. People went to synagogue because they were Jewish, because of tradition. It was more of a cultural thing. Jonathan’s family went to Yom Kippur and at the end of it, people didn’t come out saying, “Wow, my sins are cleansed.” There was none of that.

There was no sense of the reality of God, the assurance of God, the presence of God, or the life-changing power that’s in the Bible. Therefore, Jonathan began questioning the whole thing. He thought, “How do I know there’s a God? I don’t see the evidence. How do I know He exists? How do I know we were the first ones to find there was one God, which is what we were taught?” He knew tradition wasn’t God and what people told him wasn’t God. And, even if they were religious, that’s not it either.

Jonathan Cahn’s Journey to Christ

Finding the Truth

Jonathan had to find the truth for himself. Soon, he started seeking and reading books on anything he could, on every subject. He got books on science, on religion, on UFOs, on the occult, on every religion and ideology, everything he could. And one day, he picked up the book, The Late, Great Planet Earth. In it were the prophecies of Israel. Jewish people were going to be scattered to the ends of the earth, and they were! And then, in the end times they’d be gathered back to the land of Israel, and they were! And the world would focus on the controversy of Israel and the Middle East and Jerusalem. Jonathan had never heard anything like that, and it just blew him away. He had no idea the Bible said that. Therefore, as someone who was of a scientific outlook, he could not argue against it.

There was no way he could disprove it. He knew that even with all the computers and super computers, we could not foretell history. Then, he started reading the prophecy of the Jewish Messiah. In Micah, it says, He’ll be born in Bethlehem. And he thought, “Bethlehem, that’s Catholic. How did that get into our Bible?” And then, he was reading about the Messiah in the book of Zachariah, that He would come to Jerusalem riding a donkey. He had heard about that – something like Palm Sunday. He thought, “But, what’s that doing there?” It said that the Messiah would be a light to the gentiles. And, He’ll even be rejected by His own people (Israel) for a time. Then, he read in Isaiah 53 where it said the Messiah, Israel’s Messiah, would die for their sins. He always thought that was Catholic, not Jewish, but it was there, clearly.

Truth Coming Together

Jonathan was trying not to connect what was being revealed, but it was connecting. He didn’t want to accept it, but he couldn’t argue against it. He thought that if he was seeing Yeshua (Jesus) in the Hebrew Scriptures, he would have to see something Jewish in the New Testament (New Covenant) scriptures. Finally, he got to the point where he was going to open up what he knew as the New Testament, a forbidden book. Jonathan was expecting something Catholic and foreign. Nevertheless, he opened it up and read the genealogy of Yeshua (Jesus), the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then, the genealogy went down all the Hebrew names, all the Jewish names. As he was reading, he found where Yeshua (Jesus) was quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures. That’s just what he would have expected the Messiah to do. Also, he found that the New Testament clearly upholds Israel. In the New Testament, it says you have to bless the Jewish people, love the Jewish people.

He knew that it wasn’t enough to be telling people about the prophecies. Ultimately, he knew it was about God and himself. But, he wasn’t following God and didn’t want to follow God. He believed that if he followed God, he would have to join a monastery, become a monk. He thought it was about giving up everything good or everything he enjoyed in order to follow God. So, he fought God on this, but he knew he had to do something. Finally, he made a deal with God. Jonathan told God, “I know I should follow you, but I don’t want to. I will accept you when I’m on my deathbed.”

Defining Moment – Drawn to God

While driving in a Ford Pinto one night, he was heading to a train track. It was just after a snowstorm and dark. The tracks came at an angle and the road was bumpy. On the road, he couldn’t tell where he was. Then, he saw a light to his left. Other cars were crossing, but he was on the track. The train was coming head on. Suddenly, it plowed and smashed into the Ford Pinto, tossing it up like aluminum foil. At that moment, the only thing Jonathan could do was call out to God. The car was destroyed, and it made the newspaper headlines. Surprisingly, Jonathan didn’t even get a scratch. He realized then that his life was so close, within inches of eternity. He knew he had to get right with God, but didn’t know how to do it.

Jonathan remembered, from Hebrew school, that Moses met God on a mountain and Elijah met God on a mountain. So, one night he drove his car up a mountain where he had never been before. He kneeled down on a rock and said, “Lord, I’m yours in the name of Messiah. I know you’re the Messiah. Come into my life. Cleanse me, forgive me, make me new, and lead me on. From this moment on, I’m going to follow you as your disciple.” That first week he felt something different. It was very gentle, but it was real. He was working and going to college at the time. He worked as a security guard at a factory, and a cleaning man there looked at Jonathan and said, “What happened to you? You have that glow.” Jonathan was glowing. He was born again.

Revealing the Truth

When you follow him, Messiah (Jesus), your life becomes what it was meant to be from the beginning. Because Jonathan’s parents were raised traditionally in many ways, Jonathan was told that a Jew couldn’t believe in Jesus and be Jewish. One day, Jonathan read some scriptures to his parents. He read about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem, Messiah dying for our sins, Messiah as a light to the gentiles, and Messiah riding on a donkey. Each time, their reply was – that’s obviously Jesus from the New Testament. Then he told them everything he just read was from the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). And, it was simply speaking of the Messiah to come. There was dead silence. And then, his father said, “Well, that doesn’t mean anything.”

Jonathan explained that a rabbi can say, this is kosher and this is not kosher. But, the mega rabbi, the grand rabbi, is the one who can make those who are not kosher become kosher (acceptable to God). He can take those who are born of the nations (gentiles) and make them spiritually children of Israel. He can even take us in our uncleanness and in our sins and make us clean.

What is the Ultimate Hope of Israel?

The ultimate hope of the Tanakh (the Old Testament Scriptures) is that God and man will become joined together forever. It’s about the covenant, that’s what Israel’s about – the covenant, God and man. Well, what is the ultimate of that? It’s the Lord God coming and becoming one with us. He knows our sorrows, our pain, our sins, and is still one with us. That is what the Messiah is. He’s the joining of God and man. It’s not just that Jesus (Messiah, Yeshua) is Jewish, but it’s about believing in Him. It’s the most Jewish thing that you could ever do, whether you’re Jewish or not.

Jonathan says, “Listen, I’m the least likely person in the world to be telling you what I’m telling you. Seek for yourself. I was raised with a scientific outlook to research, see whether something is true or not. It’s not about religion, it’s not about tradition, and it’s not about what people have told you. In the end, it’s only going to be about you and God. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. Ask and it will be given to you. God is there to show Himself to you. Seek Him and you will find Him.”

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WHAT DO REFORM JEWS BELIEVE?

Reform Judaism (also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism) emphasizes the evolving nature of the faith. It affirms the central tenets of Judaism — God, Torah, and Israel — while acknowledging the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. Reform Jews see the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) as a living, God-inspired document that enables them to confront the timeless, timely challenges of their everyday lives. They believe that Judaism must change and adapt to the needs of the day to survive. They renew their living Covenant with God, the people Israel, humankind, and the earth by acknowledging the holiness present throughout creation – in themselves, in one another, and in the world at large – through practice that includes reflection, study, worship, ritual, and more.

Visit OneForIsrael.org and see how this organization is proclaiming salvation to Israel by raising up spiritual leaders.