A Jewish Believer's Testimony

[Kitt Schilke]

We are all familiar with the story of Joseph and his brothers, how they sold Joseph into slavery and then he saved his family from the famine by bringing them into the land of Mitsrayim, (Egypt). We know the children of Jacob grew and prospered in the land of Mitsrayim. When a Pharaoh came to power that did not know Joseph, Israel became a nation of slaves to build cities out of mud bricks.

Miraculously, Israel was brought out of Mitsrayim and wandered through the wilderness for 40 years. Then, Yahveh, (the true name of God) led them into the land promised to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When Jacob and his family went into Mitsrayim they were followers of Yahveh who they knew as El Shaddai. Something happened that caused Israel to forget the greatness of El Shaddai as they have done again and again throughout history.

Each Passover we retell this story. The ancient Rabbis say that each of us should consider ourselves as being a part of that story. In many ways this story is my story. I knew the glory of Yahveh and His one of a kind Son Yeshua, (Jesus). I then went into the land of Mitsrayim.

In 1970, I went to Synagogue every week, observed the holidays, and was an observant Jew. Then one night as I was not quite asleep, I became aware of a presence standing between me and the window which faced the street and was illuminated by the streetlight. I could not see His face. We conversed for some time and he then asked me if I knew who he was. I told him yes, that I knew who he was. He then told me that all I had to do was to accept his gift. Did I want to do that? I told him that I accepted his gift of forgiveness of my sin.

I knew that something was different now but exactly what was to happen I did not know. As Yahveh would have it, I became friends with an Assembly of God Pastor, Reverend John DeSanctis who filled me in on all of the details of what I had accepted and what it meant.

Eventually, my wife and I moved to Atlanta and we became very involved in a Full Gospel Church, Trinity Cathedral, in Rex Georgia. While we attended Trinity Cathedral, we helped begin a Messianic, (Jewish belief in Messiah Yeshua) outreach ministry.

Once that ministry was established, Yahveh had his different plans for my life. Doors became closed to me and I felt like I had been forsaken by the people who I held in esteem. I decided to serve Yahveh in a different way by going back to where I came from in a spiritual sense. I turned my back on Yeshua and returned to Rabbinic Judaism.

On the south side of Atlanta in those days there was no Jewish Synagogue. I had an overbearing burden to get one started to serve the Jews of that area. I met with several other Jews who were in favor of starting a Synagogue and we went to see the leaders of the Atlanta Jewish Federation.

We were told that such an effort was doomed to failure, that we should not even try. When Yahveh is behind something, it will not fail. The Federation was proven wrong and Congregation Bnai Israel became a reality. I was the first president and for several years I conducted services and performed what can be considered “pastoral” activities.

I was an attorney and became very full of myself. By making bad choices in my life, I began the journey into the land of Mitsrayim and became a slave to sin. I am not going to glorify the Waster with the specifics. I have to give praise to Yahveh. The more I sinned, the harder He chastised me. The actual word for chastise is flog and I was flogged much. I lost everything. I went from being a high power attorney to cleaning parking lots. Ouch.

About 1995, I decided that I was sick of the life I was living and I came out of the bondage of sin that I had been living. I repented, (which means changed my mind), of my sin but I did not come back to Yahveh. I had things to learn and had to wander in the wilderness for a long while.

In 2006 Yahveh miraculously introduced me to the woman who is the love of my life, Sara. We communicated with each other for several months before we met. Those months, the conversations and emails that we shared gave me the desire to be healed mentally, physically and most importantly spiritually.

Holy Spirit has stirred my spirit and renewed my interest and love in the truth of the scriptures. I enthusiastically study the Scripture to show myself approved. I know that there are many doctrines, but I will not comment on them. There is only one doctrine that is FIRST and foremost and if you do not believe it you will have no place in the Reign of Yahveh, (Kingdom of God). That one doctrine is that Yahveh gave his one of a kind Son, Yeshua, (Jesus) to be the one and only sacrifice for my, your and the whole world's sin through his death. Yahveh raised Yeshua from the dead after three days in the grave to give us immortality when he returns. I can only say this and write it through the leading of the Holy Spirit of Yahveh.

I give Yahveh praise and thanksgiving for each of the tribulations and disasters that I have gone through. All of those things have brought me to the realization and understanding of how truly awesome Yahveh's love for me and indeed the entire world is. In reality the words to express my love for Him do not exist, my language, all language is inadequate.

Promises that Yahveh has given to me are Isiah 45:3 “And I shall give you the treasures of the darkness and hoarded wealth of secret places, so that you know that I, Yahveh, who are calling you by name am the Elohim, (God) of Israel. Isiah 45:5-7 says “I am Yahveh and there is none else – there is no Elohim besides Me. I gird you though you have not known Me, so that they, (the world) know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none but Me. I am Yahveh and there is none else, forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil, (disaster). I Yahveh do all these.” Verse 14 says, “Thus said Yahveh, 'The labor of Mitsrayim and merchandise of Kush and the Sebaites, men of size come over to you and they are yours. They walk behind you, they come over in chains, and they bow down to you. They make supplication to you saying, Indeed, El, (God) is in you, and there is none else, no mighty one.' ”

Like the son Yeshua talked about in the parable of two sons in Luke 15: 20 – 24 “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” My Abba Father Yahveh is restoring to me the things that he allowed the Waster to take from me.

Praise Yahveh, Yahveh is my Shepard I shall not want,...”.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope that you are blessed by it.

Kitt Schilke