On this page you will find personal testimonies from those members of our church who wish to share the miracle of their conversion to Christ and their experiences after their rebirth.  If you would like to share your testimony with the church and the world, please email Rev. Rick with your testimony.  We give thanks to the Lord Jesus for His wonderful grace.

From:  Cliff - New York (state), USA

"My Testimony"

I grew up in the average modern Jewish household; two parents, a sister, and me. We went to Temple on the major holidays, cooked delicious Jewish food, and if anyone ever asked what we were we simply said, “Jewish.” Outside of Temple and Hebrew school, we never really talked about God. To me God was this distant being who gave us this book and created the Jewish people. For what purpose, I had no idea. Where was He now, I couldn’t tell you. During my childhood I grew up with much hatred and dislike toward my father. To me he was the worst person in the world. Sure he would take me out fishing or to the movies but all I could ever remember was his short temper and terrible screaming. During high school I lost my faith and gave up God to become agnostic. I basically just believed that God “might” exist. My relationship with my father was also deteriorating and nearing an ultimate low. I soon went to college at SUNY Albany and during my second semester I was persuaded to read the Old Testament, I had never read it before. As soon as I began to read the opening chapter of Genesis, the first book of the Bible and read how God created the Heavens and the earth I broke down crying and my heart was touched. From that point on I knew that God existed and that His Word was truth. I didn’t know how or why. All I knew was that my life had just been changed and I had a very deep personal experience. My faith in God and in Judaism was re-established and strengthened. I was then persuaded to read the New Testament, even though I grew up being against Jesus and Christianity, as most Jewish people are, I figured, “what did I have to lose?” I sat down and read the first Gospel, the Gospel of Mathew. Once again just like before I felt that my heart was personally and wonderfully touched and changed and I believed from that point on that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and God’s Son. My life was no longer empty, I had meaning and purpose, and what’s more, Jesus took away my hatred for my father and I began to love him for the first time. I got baptized at a local church and then I went home for the summer.
        At this point I knew that my family would never understand my new faith and would oppose it, especially my parents. So I decided on not telling them until I graduated college, found a wife, had a family and then perhaps 20 or 30 years after that I’d finally tell them. Well, Jesus had a different plan in mind. About 3 days after I came home from college my parents found out that I got baptized and believed in Jesus. Apparently I didn’t have to worry about telling them anymore. Well as expected they were vehemently against what I did and were extremely livid. They didn’t know what to do with me. They asked me to take a psychological test because they believed I had a nervous breakdown in college and that’s why I believed in Jesus. Because God tells us to “honor our father and our mother” I agreed to take the test but knew it wasn’t going to solve anything. About two days later my friends came to pick me up to hang out and parked in my driveway. My father apparently couldn’t stand what was going on anymore so he stood with my mom in my house and told me plainly, “There will be no Jesus in this house. Decide now what you want to do.” I knew what I had to do. Jesus was my Lord and Savior. He died for me and took away my hate for my father, how could I deny Him now. I told my father and mother that I choose Jesus and that’s about as much as I was able to get out before they immediately kicked me out of the house. I remember crying that night on the way to my friends house and the only thing that kept me together was knowing that Jesus allowed me the privilege of suffering for Him. He says that all who leave house, father, mother, and family will receive much more in this life and eternal life later on. I’ll take that any day, rather than denying my God. I lived with friends and continued to grow in faith. By the grace of God, after 7 years I was able to reconcile with my parents. They still don’t believe in Jesus, and they still hate that I believe, but at least we can be a family again. I pray that my parents and sister will come to believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah as Jesus has allowed me, and I will continue to be Jesus’ salt and light in my house so that one day my family will accept Jesus and join my true family, the body of Christ, and enter into God’s Kingdom forever.

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