What Next?

If you are a new Believer, please click here.

If you have been a Believer for a while, please click here.

If You Are a New Believer

Therefore if any man is in the Messiah, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians. 5:17)

Now that you have become a new creature in Yeshua/Jesus, there are several things that you should do as soon as possible:

• Decide whether you want to express your new faith the way that most first-century Believers did (with a Messianic Jewish congregation) or in the Gentile (non-Jewish) way that evolved after the third century (with a Gentile Christian church).

• Get yourself a really good study Bible and start reading it every day. We strongly recommend that you use the New American Standard Bible translation, as we feel that it is the most grammatically accurate English translation available. However, it’s shortcoming is that since it was translated by Gentile Believers, much of the Hebrew flavor of the original language has been lost, many of the Hebrew idioms and other figures of speech have been mistranslated and misinterpreted, and all of the original Hebrew and Greek names have been Anglicized.

• If you are Jewish or have decided to express your faith in the traditional Messianic Jewish way, you may also want to get a translation of the whole Bible (Tanakh plus Apostolic Writings), or at least the Apostolic Writings, that uses Jewish terms. (Remember that the so-called “New Testament” was written by Hebrew- and/or Aramaic-speaking Jews, not Greek- or Latin-speaking Gentiles.) You can also use the HNV (Hebrew Names Version) right here on our website.

• To get off on the right foot you will first want to read the Gospel According to Yochanan (John) (the fourth book in the Apostolic Writings, or so-called “New Testament”) all the way through three or four times. Yochanan’s Gospel Account (Gospel means “good news”) explains who Yeshua is and what He has done for you. Then read Sha'ul’s Letter to the Romans (the sixth book in the Apostolic Writings) three or four times. The letter to the Romans explains every major doctrine (teaching) of Yeshua’s Emissaries (Apostles).

• Locate an appropriate group of believers who worship and study together near you. Before you randomly select a “church” you should know that most organizations which call themselves “Christian” really don’t believe or worship the same way that first-century Believers in Messiah did, and most “churches” are really not the same kind of congregations that the Bible defines as the Holy Community (or Miqra). You will want to select a body of believers who practices the style of worship (Jewish or Gentile, “traditional” or modern) that you are most comfortable with. You will also want to ask the leaders (preferably the Rabbi or Pastor) where the assembly stands on the most important teachings of the Bible. Click here to find listings of Messianic Jewish congregations.

• Submit yourself to the Pastor or Rabbi for water baptism (or mikvah) as a public witness to the change that the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) has performed in you. 

If You Have Been a Believer for a While …

… and you are concerned that I haven’t “pushed” enough for water baptism, or that I have “pushed” too hard on the subject of obedience, before you email me on the subject (I get dozens of nasty scathing, email message every week from those call themselves “Christians”), please be kind enough to do the following:

DO read the Bible Study on Baptism.

DO read The Late Great Baptism Debate.

DON’T just email me to “set me straight” or try to change my mind. I promise you that you will not be able to present a single argument that I have not heard and refuted at least a hundred times over the past 50 years.

DON’T just email me for the sake of arguing theology. I have a full-time ministry and a full-time health clinic, I am also taking post-doctoral continuing education classes, and I am enrolled in my third doctoral program. I simply don't have either the time or the desire to debate theology simply for the sake of debating theology. I you have a real question and want a real answer, I will do my very best to respond as I can find time to do so.