Awakening to Messiah

by Schneider, K. A., Rabbi

• ISBN13: 9781449705879
• ISBN10: 1449705871
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-18
• Publisher: Westbow Press

Excerpts

It was 1978, and discos were really hot. Some may remember John Travolta dancing in Saturday Night Fever under the crystal disco ball. People stood in lines a quarter mile long in Cleveland to get into a discotheque. I figured if I could start a disco in a fairly large community that didn't already have one, they would line up at the doors to get in.To open the discotheque, I would need financing, and my plan was to obtain the necessary finances through friends of our family, who lived in the neighborhood. Once the finances were obtained, I would be part owner and be in charge of running the business. The main obstacle I encountered was securing investors. No one would invest in the disco, because they said I didn't have a solid business plan.I then got a job selling encyclopedias door-to-door, simply rest of my life." Even though I did not have a faith that was established by any specific set of doctrines, I still had a strong faith that there was a God, even from childhood. I said to myself, "I will spend the rest of my life doing whatever I need to do, so I can get to the place where I can levitate off the ground. This will be my new wrestling." I knew if I could just levitate off the ground, I would have tremendous bliss in my life. This now became the focus of my life and a higher reality than making money.OVERCOMING SPIRITUAL DARKNESSOne summer night in 1978, the LORD put a stop to my searching for the miraculous and supernatural in Autobiography of a Yogi. As I slept in my bed that night at Bremerton Road in Pepper Pike, Ohio, the LORD awoke me from my sleep. Even though my eyes were closed, I was aware I wasn't sleeping. I was in a state of conscious awareness, and it was as if I was being translated into another realm. I had not been taking drugs nor was I drunk.In an instant, Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) appeared on the cross. The terrain was in color, and there were people in the distance looking at Him. Suddenly, a ray of red light from the sky beamed straight down on His head. I knew it was coming from God, since it was coming from above.I had never experienced a vision before and never even thought about what a vision was, but I knew, somehow, that God had just revealed Himself to me and had shown me that Jesus (Yeshua) was the way to Him. No one had ever witnessed to me about Jesus, and I had never read the New Testament. As a Jew, I had been taught that Jesus was not for Jews, but as an American, I knew enough to know the person on the cross was Jesus.When the vision ended, I got out of bed and looked at my clock radio. It was 3:30 in the morning. Again, I had never considered what a vision was, but I somehow knew I had just experienced a vision. Even though it only lasted a few seconds, I was so excited. I was 20 years old and had been so lost, searching for meaning and purpose in my life and trying to escape my fears. Now God had revealed Himself to me, showing me the answer!As time went on, I came to realize that God had literally translated me 2,000 years back in time to visibly witness Yeshua being crucified. I came to this understanding while reading Luke 23:49, which describes the people who were watching Him being crucified from "a distance." In my vision, I specifically saw, not only the color of the terrain in which the cross was staked, but also the people who were watching His crucifixion from "a distance."49But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. ~Luke 23:49 NIVSince I had never been exposed to faith in Jesus, I didn't understand how He was the way to God, but eventually God would show me. In my excitement, I started telling everyone about the vision. Later, someone told me I should buy a New Testament. I did, and I started devouring it. It was like fire to me. As I read it, I realized the teaching was different from the book, Autobiography of a Yogi, so I threw away the Autobiography of a Yogi and continued reading the New Testament. Praise God!to make money, so I could travel throughout the Midwest, finding the perfect location for my discotheque. I knew finding the right location would be the key to having a solid business plan.I did fairly well selling encyclopedias; at the same time, I continued researching my disco venture. As I continued researching, I came to the realization that I lacked the necessary business knowledge and savvy to be successful at starting a discotheque, so I continued selling encyclopedias as I contemplated my future.