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Shalom, my name is John Parsons, the author and developer of the Hebrew4Christians web site. Presently I am operating this ministry by faith in God's provision through the love of His people. It is my sincere hope and prayer that you find the content of this ministry helpful as you "learn the language of the Kingdom" and grow in your understanding of Hebrew and the Jewish roots of your Christian faith.
The Hebrew4Christians web site provides a resource for the Church regarding its rich Hebraic heritage by promoting Jewish literacy among all those who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord. I believe this is important today for many reasons, but especially because many people in the church today are unaware of the inherent Jewishness of their heritage, and sadly this reflects in many misinterpretations regarding the Scriptures. Jesus was (and is) a Jew, and to be a follower of Him implies learning about the Jewish people -- their culture, their language, and their way of understanding the Scriptures.
Please Consider Supporting this Work...
I've worked hard to make this a feature-rich web site for you, with thousands of pages of information, free downloads, audio files, interactive web forums, and so on. But please understand that Hebrew for Christians is neither affiliated with nor supported by other organizations. We are not part of a church denomination, a school, a Jewish educational service, or any other group, and therefore we receive no financial assistance other than through occasional book sales and the tzedakah of some faithful supporters. Of course operating this way is challenging, but it also enables us to offer content that is unique and not predetermined by denominational biases or agendas.
Often those who discover the richness of the Jewish heritage of their Christian faith feel alone with their passion... Sometimes they are misunderstood and even ostracized by their Christian friends. Sadly, Messianic believers are often not welcome at either church or synagogue... When we try to share our insights with the church, we are regarded as "legalists;" if we share with Jews we are considered outsiders or "missionaries." We feel out of place in both camps - alone - yet we are assured by the witness of the Holy Spirit that we are walking in the truth. Because of this, I want to quote A.W. Tozer regarding the Loneliness of the Christian:
The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorptions in the love of Christ; and because with his circle of friends there are few who share his inner experiences, he's forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord himself suffered in the same way.
The man (or woman) who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided, and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for the friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none, he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart. It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else.
As an independent (i.e., lonely) ministry, Hebrew4Christians addresses vital theological concerns that most traditional churches (and synagogues) ignore while remaining free to engage in self-questioning and honest exploration of the Scriptures. And unlike some other "Messianic" ministries out there, we remain entirely grace-based, meaning that we do not subscribe to legalism or rituals as the expression of our faith in the finished work of Yeshua for our salvation. That in itself is a big part of why I love this ministry: We don't have to feel entirely alone along this path, chaverim!
The sages say, "He that sustains one life is as if he had sustained all the world." If you believe in the vision of Hebrew for Christians and find the content to be helpful, please prayerfully consider supporting us. We must "fight the good fight of faith" -- especially in these days of increasing spiritual darkness -- and we can't do this without your help! Thank you, chaverim!
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