I often hear some of my friends who go to various churches talk about how crucial it is to “witness” to unbelievers.  As they talk about it, and as I see them go about the work they feel they are told to do by the Bible, as they understand it, they talk about needing to open conversations with perfect strangers for the express purpose of finding out if they are a Believer, and then, regardless of the response (or reaction) begin to tell them what they believe, based on their understanding.   More often than not, they walk away wondering if the words they spoke had any impact, and hoping that they did, but having no way to know.

Now, please understand that I love these friends; and their desire to spread the Gospel and win souls for Jesus is a very good thing.  I just don’t like to hear the frustration, and often anger, that they evidence when they express how they feel when their targets don’t receive the Word in love.  What I tell them, in love, is that to lead people to the Light of the Lord we need to do a little less talking and a lot more relating.  In effect, not to witness (verb) but to BE a witness (noun) of the power of God to transform a life, by showing them what He has done in us.   In order to do that, we need to make a relationship with the person, and then the Holy Spirit that lives in us, will be His own Witness, using us as His lampstand so that His light can be seen.

John 5:32 “There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.

Isaiah 43:10   “You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, and My servants whom I have chosen, you may know and believe Me, And understand that I am He.

To clarify, this does not necessarily mean that we have to develop a lifelong relationship with every person that God puts in our path to enlighten, although, certainly, we will have an eternity-long relationship with them in any case, if He has His way.

In a previous blog, I mentioned that my mother taught me to look for the good in a person, and you will find it.  Proverbs 11:27 addresses this:  “He who earnestly seeks good finds favor, But trouble will come to him who seeks evil.”  So… here is a trick for all you who wish to win souls that has worked for me (through the Holy Spirit) in the 20 years I have been God’s witness.  Treat everyone that you meet as if they are already a Believer, saved and sanctified, and a friend to boot.

I have found, in my professional endeavors as an Executive Recruiter, that people that I like usually like each other (a very good thing to know when they are hiring managers and candidates in a job search).  For this reason I have become known in the industry more as a HEARThunter than a HEADhunter, and it has been a source of my success.  NOW, if you will, take that to a spiritual level…  Since people I like tend to like other people I like, then people that love me tend to also like people I love.  Since I love Jesus, when I treat these strangers well, and they come to like me (this can take as little as three minutes because I am treating them already like a trusted friend), they then, by association, start to like Jesus (because it is Him that I serve).

In the homeless flock, there are many black sheep, and some active goats, and of course, all the wolves who come to feed off the flock… Here is a true story….  There was a guy that I saw at one of the Homeless lunches in Van Nuys who was covered in Nazi tattoos including the SS logo and a swastika in a braided circle right at his throat.   As a Jewish man (albeit one who follows Jesus), this might have caused me some consternation but the Holy Spirit moved me in compassion for him as I watched him responding to the Word that the Lord gave me to deliver to my friends that day, wherein I happened to profess my Jewish heritage as an illustration during the sermon.  When I stepped down from the pulpit, I went right over to this guy with my usual smile and outstretched hand and greeted him.  As he took my hand of fellowship, he looked me in the eyes, and then looked away.  He asked if he could have a few moments of my time outside.  Now, I have had certain demon-inspired people over the years actually pull weapons (which they quickly put away when the Lord intervened), and asking me to “step outside” might have seemed a bit threatening, but remember, the Holy Spirit was already telling me something about this guy, that he was special.  Long story short, when we went outside he broke down in tears, apologized for his tattoos, and told me that he had just gotten out of prison, had been Aryan brotherhood gang-related, had repented of his former lifestyle, and begun to believe in Jesus and wanted to know what to do with his new found feelings.  I led him to the Lord right there in that parking lot.  His name was James, and we became friends and I was privileged to disciple him for almost six years until he died of a heart attack unexpectedly.  I know where James is and I look forward to seeing him again.

The reason I am telling this story is because YOU CAN DO THIS TOO.  If you are a Believer and submitted to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then He lives in you in the person of His Holy Spirit.  You are able now to be a light to shine into the darkest places without fear.

If you are not naturally an outgoing person, then make that your daily prayer, to become one, remembering that He is a SUPERnatural God.   Those are the prayers He will always answer with a resounding YES.

Mat 5:14  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

With Joy untold and His great Love,

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi

Let me begin this blog by saying that Christ’s desire for the Church as God’s Israel, the Body and Bride of Christ, is that we were and are to be a living organism, with many members, as a body has many members, and one Head, that is Jesus.  I maintain that Christianity, as we call it, was never meant to be just another world religion.  Yet that is exactly what it has become, in the mainstream, which may be why most Christians, when they try to evangelize, find that their arguments ring hollow with those with other religious-bents who are equally as fervent about their beliefs.

Through the centuries, Christ’s amazing story (Messiah, Savior, Light of the world, Risen Lord) has survived, and thrived, in the hearts of true Believers all over the world.  However, meanwhile, another church, born of the same pharisaical power mongering that called for the death of the Son of Man, has grown like a cancer within the Body of Christ, more political than faithful.  The former lives because Christ lives in the hearts of these true Believers in the Person of the Holy Spirit.  The latter, a much larger group, is religious at it’s core, and is more interested in politics and world domination than it is in being about Our Father’s business.  You recognize these because they are more interested in the benefits of having a relationship with God, than they are in bringing God the Glory He deserves by living the life He gave them for His Glory and not for their own benefit.

This is not to say that there are not many well-meaning and fervent Christians who love God sitting among these churches whose leadership are more interested in growing large than in drawing close and growing deep.   However where these lambs sit on Sunday may be the central issue in their deep frustration at not seeing the power of God moving in their own lives and among the other members of their flock.

At this juncture, let me be clear.  Although the Pharisees who saw Jesus to the Cross were Jewish, they’re being Jewish is not the issue.  The issue is the spirit of the Pharisee, a demonic spirit, which lives in the ones who desire personal control because of their self-proclaimed status as God’s “chosen people”, be they Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists, New Agers, or Christians.

I myself am a Jewish man.  Some people ask me why I converted from Judaism to Christianity.  I tell them I did not convert, but at His call, at the perfect time, I received Messiah as my Lord, the Son of God who saved me. I did this as any Jewish person who diligently searches the Scriptures and finds Yeshua is Messiah would do when they understand Who the Christ IS .  My standard response is, “while I am certainly blessed to be one of God’s original Chosen People, I am infinitely MORE blessed to have been allowed to choose Him back”!

The spirit of the Pharisee in the modern church is obsessed with the political nation of Israel and the end times.  Why?  Could it be because they are looking for a power-base on earth instead of drawing their power from the Source of all Power, God Himself, in the Person of His Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit?  This is the spirit of the Pharisee at work.

Paul very clearly tells us that the “Israel of God” are those who circumcise their HEARTS to the Lord Jesus Christ

Gal 6:15 & 16 – For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.  As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

We who truly believe, and serve the Lord, are Citizens of Heaven who have been, as Paul also says, foreknown by God, called to this place, justified by Jesus’ death on the Cross, and glorified with Him even now!  (Romans 8:29 & 30)

It is my daily prayer that God would glorify Himself through this servant by making me sensitive in my spirit to what His Holy Spirit is desiring me to do today, and to have the obedient heart to walk that out.  Because of this prayer, and more so God’s faithfulness, I see miracles of restoration and healing every day!  It is my daily joy to interact deeply within the full Body of Christ to bless, pray with, encourage and often exhort the members of the Lord’s Flock to follow Him as He said to do, by taking up their cross daily.

I have encouraged my homeless flock, and the Lord’s soldiers whom I have been privileged to help raise up over the years, that while their cross may look dark and heavy before they bend to lift it, like Jesus’ Cross was, when they finally make that hard choice to stoop to pick up that cross JUST BECAUSE JESUS ASKED US TO, that they find, when they take it up, that it is made of balsa wood and is filled with helium, and it actually lifts THEM.

As Jesus said in Matthew, “for My yoke is easy and My burden is light”.

The Lord gives Wisdom liberally to ALL who ask, and without reproach (James 1:5).  I encourage you today to test these words against the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Truth to you personally.  Above all, do what He says!

In His Love, with His blessing,

John Henry, Roadhouse Rabbi

When God spoke, and said “Let there be Light” there was light, and it was good. As we are saints, set apart and called by the Most High God for His mighty Purposes, we must always remember that in Christ Jesus, our words too have power to do good in this place that we have been sent.

Mat 16:19 – “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

As a shepherd to a homeless flock, I hear much self-deprecation coming out of the mouths of those who are, in fact, actively walking with Jesus and who would not want to displease the King, if they realized that this is precisely what they are doing. They say things like, “I am no saint” or “I can’t be like Jesus” or worse, things like “that is just the way I am” (in regards to some pernicious sinful behavior) or “I don’t have the strength to forgive my mother (or father, friend, brother, partner, wife, husband, cop who arrested me, storekeeper who shortchanged me, you fill in the blank).

When I hear these statements coming from my friends, I like to kindly point out to them that they have just cursed themselves by speaking negatively about a saved and sanctified, called and empowered child of the Family of God. I also point out that the reason it is not pleasing to God when we do this is because it ties His Hands from blessing and renders His servant (ourselves) ineffective in the tasks and trials we have been given to do.

Eph. 2:10 – “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Worse yet, I hear many of my friends who are walking Believers, even my pastor friends, speak curses like “well, you know that one is never going to change” or “I hope they get what is coming to them” or “Obama is the Anti-Christ”.

Right now you may be thinking, what’s wrong with saying that? Here’s what I believe. If we believe as our Lord says that every person in Christ is a New Creation and if He is working in each of us to conform us into the image of Jesus, then who are we to curse ourselves and each other with the voice God gave us to pray and to bless. He also called us to submit under those He puts in authority and to pray for our leaders. Whoever they are, let’s do that. God can change a heart, if a heart is only willing to be changed. Let us pray down the walls of the enemy instead of throwing at each other the bricks he has handed us!

We as christians (little Christs) have been called to enlighten, encourage, exhort (in love), pray for and bless the Body of Christ (each other). Why would we curse with our mouths those we are called to bear with in love? Truthfully, the answer is often found in the way we are taught, and how we apply ourselves to God’s Word. Many “religious” Christians like to apply John 3:16 to themselves as if it were a badge that gets them into Heaven, but they have never read, been taught, or understood 1 John 3:16 which tells us “By this we know what love is, that Jesus laid down His Life for us and so we ought to lay down our lives for each other.” It is in this verse that we see that we are not called just to receive the Love of God but to distribute it as well.

On another note, we have been called to be a “Light and salt” in this dark and tasteless world to the unbelievers. We must also speak encouragement and reveal our faith in a Holy and Righteous, as well as a loving God by our words and as well as our deeds. I have always had the desire and ability to look for the good in a person and thereby, to find it. My mom, a wise and loving Jewish woman, taught me that if you look for the good in a person, you will find it, and that is how they will treat you, but if you look for the bad in the same person, look out, because you will find that, and it will not be pretty.

I apply this great truth as a pastor. When I minister to a large (or small) group of homeless folks coming to eat a free meal, not all of them are Believers, and some want nothing to do with the Word of God, but I greet each one personally, and offer them a kind word of blessing or an offer of prayer as if they are a Believer. It is VERY rarely that someone will not appreciate the blessing of a word or the personal touch of kindness that comes from the Holy Spirit through the submitted saint. Many of these, who go on to give their lives to Christ, reveal to me afterwards that when we first met they were unbelievers, or actively enemies of God, but they liked the way they felt when they received a blessing from me and it set them on a path to seek God because of that. Of course, the Lord sent others to them, and arranged many trials and encounters in their lives that brought them to faith along their journey. God’s Plan is perfect and has many moving parts. Romans 8:28 assures us of this. This is one reason why He deserves ALL the Glory.

Just know… If you are a lover of Jesus and those He calls you to, you can be effective as one who blesses, a prayer-warrior, an encourager of the brethren, a friend and a soldier in God’s Army for good. You have the choice to use your words for good or evil. Listen saint… Bless and do not curse.

John Henry Raskin – Roadhouse Rabbi
August 18,2015

Let me begin this blog by saying “Thank You Jesus” for awakening this saint, servant and soldier to my true abundant life in Christ Jesus. When I said yes at 43 years old in 1995 it was a complete surprise to me, but no surprise to Him.

“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. – Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

I am now 63 years old and have been walking with the Lord in the power of His Might for 20 years. I have seen the miracles for which most Christians, and many pastors, ache to see. I tell my pastor friends if you want to see a miracle, BE a miracle.

I am a pastor, on my off-work time, to the homeless flock of the San Fernando Valley. I bring the Word of God to feedings for the poor and have worked with several Rescue Missions, but most of all, I have been a friend to the poor, as my Lord was, and instructed me to do. This is why I see miracles… I hold them in their pain, I ask them about what keeps them from reaching out to God and others, I pray with them and I see miracles of restoration and healing, spiritual, yes, but also emotional and often physical, real miraculous healing. I have come to trust the Lord absolutely and I have the gift of being able to pray in faith, believing, when instructed to do so by the Holy Spirit, before Whom, I am ever submitted.

My belief is that Christianity was never meant to be a world religion, contained in buildings, but was always a Living Body connected to it’s Head Jesus Christ. This is why though many are called few are chosen. Few choose to opt out of the business of religion, and walk in simple and joyful humility, trusting God for their daily Bread and being the miracle that they want so badly to see.

I distrust religion, as it is typically practiced, and I distrust politics, and see them as two sides of the same coin (Caesar’s).

“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”- James 1:27 (NKJV)

The Right and the Left are both wrong. They are the Powers and Principalities, money-worship (Mammon) on the Right and fornication-worship (Molech) on the Left, whose work is darkness, but God allows for His purpose, which is to drive His children to the Valley of Decision where He desires their YES to be for Him, that they would be saved.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2Chron. 7:14 (NKJV)

The world, you may have noticed, is getting darker as the Left and Right, two pincers, are causing many to run in fear to the center. It is our job and privilege to be the watchers and witnesses to meet these at the Crossroad.

To we who believe, Jesus says this.

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
– Luke 12:32

The Word of God says this:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; – Philippians 4:6

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

The true Center is where Jesus is. That is where we all need to be. We, the called according to His purpose, must stand in the Center, looking neither to the Left nor the Right, and be the Light and Salt to this dark and tasteless world, leading those who come in confusion and fear, gently but surely to the Cross in love. THIS is what Jesus is doing!

In His Love and Truth,

-John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi 9/11/2015