Testimonies

Y’hoshua Glick

I was born to loving parents who believed that Yeshua was the Jewish messiah. My father was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor, and subsequently taught at two seminaries. I grew up in a very traditional Church environment.

I accepted Yeshua as messiah at a very early age and I was reared to love the Word of G-D. Every morning of my life, I remember seeing my Dad up early, earnestly seeking intimacy with his Heavenly Father through His Scriptures and through prayer. His devotional life left a pattern for me to follow, and to subsequently pass on to my own six children.

My hunger for the L-RD and His Word was genuine. But my understanding was encumbered by my Christian doctrine, which required elaborate & creative theologies to explain away why "the Scripture really doesn't mean what is appears to say," regarding the validity of the covenants today, keeping of the Shabbat, G-D's ultimate purpose for the nation of Israel, and the supernatural grafting of the Gentile Church into the natural Jewish olive tree.

Although we were taught that we were "no longer under 'the Law,'" as a teenager, I was very discouraged by the legalism I felt subject to in the Church. How hypocritical, I thought, that Christians who vehemently argue that they are not bound by Torah, nevertheless superimpose their man-made, extra-biblical rules on others.

Worse yet, my high school years found me self-righteously imposing these values on others. I eventually realized that I was perpetuating the very legalism I hated. As I recognized my own hypocrisy, I grew disillusioned.

In response to this legalism, and the humbling realization of my own hypocrisy, I rebelled. I went away to college, and dove into several years of hard drinking, hard (and loose) living, and was so offended by "religion" that I ran the other way every time I saw somebody in "ministry."

But G-D, in his grace, never let go of me, and as I looked myself in the mirror one morning, I knew that if I didn't return to Him, that my very lifestyle would cut my life short.

In HaShem's mercy, he provided a believing wife, and after being commissioned as a Naval Officer, we embarked on a 10 year career in the Navy. During this time, we grew in the L-RD together. Nevertheless, I still resented "religion," and much of "Christianity" seemed irrelevant to the G-D with whom I had grown intimate.

In my mid-30s, my father disclosed to me that I was Jewish by birth. After struggling with my Jewish identity for several years, G-D spoke to me in a supernatural encounter exhorting me to stand up, take hold of my heritage, and walk in my Jewish identity.

Due to my lack of Jewish upbringing, I resisted the call to my People. So for three days and nights, like my ancestor Ya'akov, I wrestled with G-D.

I joined a Messianic Congregation, where, I eventually had my Bar Mitzvah. I was so thankful that the same door that was open to me age 13 was still open to me at the age of 40. Living as a Jew, I took a Hebrew name (Y'hoshua) and reclaimed my paternal family name (Glick).

After years of living a faith stripped of its Jewishness, the Scriptures came alive to me. It was like going from watching life through a two dimension black and white TV, to watching real life in vibrant color, three dimensions, adding senses of smell and taste. To my utter amazement, the Scriptures in their proper cultural context, make great sense.

In the fullness of G-D's time, He is regathering the Remnant of His People. As I have been regathered to the G-D of my fathers and taken hold of the Jewish identity that is my birthright, I have experienced deeper intimacy with the (still-Jewish) messiah.

In Isaiah 58:14, G-D tells us that if we delight in ADONAI, "I will make you ride on the heights of the land, and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya'akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken."