Brother Raymond

Brother Raymond was a Jew who lived at the Independence Manor Care Center in Independence, MO. When I first met him he was a quiet man who sat in a wheelchair with his hands turned in and clinched. We always used to enjoy Brother Raymond as he would get excited and begin to "box" with his clinched hands towards the TV set. Brother Raymond was not always in a wheelchair, as a matter of fact he opened a burger restraunt called "Big Boy" in the 1950's and it is still there today. He had married a Christian woman who to my understanding always served the Lord and prayed for him.

Twice a month our circuit of nursing home's would find us at Independence Manor. We usually would come in and set up our equipment and begin greeting the folks who come to hear. You see some of the dear residents have served God all their life and now they can't go to church anymore. Some are pastors or pastors wives that the church has all but forgotten. Their families often forget them also and they literally die alone. Some simply tell the staff, "call me when their gone." Others have people handling their legal business and they sometimes fail to ensure that the person in the home even have basic clothing. I have known of people who had millions of dollars in the bank and yet the staff would have to find used clothes to dress the people in. Nurses who are working their shifts may come in to check the residents from time to time and see if they have yet expired. So many of these people die alone.

Bro. Raymond had a good wife. She loved him. She stayed with him until the end. As the years passed Bro. Raymond got weaker and weaker; till one day we came in and said "he's taken a turn for the worst and we don't expect him to live much longer." His wife, who was older herself, simply could not stay up any longer and had to go home to lie down. She asked if I would go in and see him. "He's not responding" she said, "he has been in a coma for nearly a whole day."

When I entered the room some time after his wife left it was as she said. He was in a coma and near to pass away. I simply asked for help from God and He led me through a path to share the Gospel with this man in His language. God had prepared me for 3 1/2 years at the Messianic Institute for that moment. I opened up and began to share. To my amazement when I asked him if he would like to accept Yeshua the Jewish Messiah as his Lord and savior; a man who had been in a coma tried to sit up as if to reach for me and cried out with what strength he had left I believe to accept this Messiah. I said to him Brother Raymond, I believe you are telling me you want to accept your Messiah and he settled himself down and was at complete peace. I prayed another prayer and left the room. I was the last person to ever speak to this man alive.

A strange feeling it is to be that last person. Some would say this or that about what happened. I know God sent me to his room on that night to speak to Brother Raymond. I also believe that I may well have spent those years at the Institute to know the issues with which to deal with and lead that man to his Messiah. Many things I have written in this thread are to that end. Many, many, more things are left to say. There are many hours of valuable information here and I pray that you prayerfully consider it. Messianics may disagree with me and that is fine. My teachers will even disagree with me on some points; but that is because I do not ascribe to the depth of which they may like to draw me into the issues and I respect them for that. I have labored in this thread to synthesize the issues as much as possible.

Some info is for the readers benefit- such as the writings on the Oral Law and are not at all intended to be used in an unChristlike way. Friend, I pray you understand that this has been a labor of love for the Jews. We have strayed into areas that I did not intend and have brought me again to terms with issues I had long since settled in my heart; but this is about Jewish Roots and I hope we can stay there.

Every Jew is different and no two are alike. As a matter of fact there was a common little saying that went in the class like this "Ask 2 Jews and we get 3 opinions." They are precious people whom God loves as everyone else. They have suffered terribly at the hands of 'Christians' over the years. God forgive us for not being more attentive to them. May we remember to pray for them and the peace of Jerusalem as you likewise remember all others. these are troubled times.