Sid: My guest, Sharon Allen, she’s one of the 10 Jewish people that I put in my book “They Thought for Themselves.”  This is a book of 10 Jewish people from every walk of life from a Jewish concert pianist, to a Jewish Ph.D., to a Jewish mega millionaire, to Jewish people that are secular, Jewish people that are religious, but they had one thing in common, they thought for themselves, and they became believers in the Messiah. My guest this week is Sharon Allen, she has a fascinating story. She was raised in an observant Jewish home in New York City. She got married to a Jewish man, had a child; got divorced moved out to the West coast; got into the Real Estate business and married the fellow she was in business with. Only one problem, he loved everything Jewish; he was active in their synagogue, but when it came time for him to convert to traditional Judaism he said “I’ll do anything because I love everything Jewish, but I won’t renounce Jesus.” Sharon was horrified, although she knew he was raised in a Christian home he never spoke about church, he never spoke about Jesus, everything he did was Jewish; everything Sharon did was Jewish. So we so distraught she couldn’t understand how this wonderful businessman that loves everything Jewish could even be interested in Jesus. So what happened Sharon?

Sharon: Well like I said I was in absolute horror at this thought that all of a sudden my husband says he can’t renounce “That Man.” In the midst of all of this I had this thought, “I’ll just begin to read my Jewish Bible.” I start at page 1 and pretty soon I would find a scripture that prove to my husband that “That Man” could have never have been the fulfillment of the Jewish Bible.

Sid: Now who did you think Yeshua was at that time from your training?

Sharon: At the time, you know you grow up in America, and you kind of think it’s Roman Mythology. I thought that “That Man,” Jesus, was Roman Mythology. You know the idea of the virgin birth, and it was mashugana to me. It didn’t make sense, but I thought “Oh well it’s good for the Gentile people they don’t have the One true God, but through Jesus they have a good code of ethics, and they have learned about the One true God.” So it was okay for them, but it wasn’t okay for me and my family because my family is Jewish we pray directly. Until later when I studied and I realized that Moses brought the Israelites to Mt. Sinai and wanted to hear the Voice of God, and when the Israelites heard the Voice of God they said “No Moses you speak to God for us.” God originally wanted to be one on one. So I always…

Sid: So did you figure like one night of looking over the Torah, the Jewish scriptures would be all you’ll need to convince your husband, as you put it this mishegas, which means craziness?

Sharon: Yeah I didn’t think it would take me long and pretty soon I would find THAT scripture that would prove that “That Man” couldn’t have been the fulfillment of the Jewish Bible because I knew. There was one thing I knew for sure and that was everything that God wanted us to Jews to know about His Jewish Messiah, so that we Jews could recognize Him when He would come would be in my Jewish scriptures. So I went to the Family Room and I took down my Jewish Bible, every Jewish home has their Jewish Bible. Now I have many Bibles, but at the time I had my Hebrew Bible, and took it down from the shelf and I opened it to the first page, and I prayed this prayer “Dear God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, please show me the truth about Your Messiah so I can make my husband Jewish.” I proceeded to read, and my daughter went off to school that morning, and my husband went off to work, and there I was sitting and reading page, after page, after page. Hours later…

Sid: By the way, hadn’t you read the Bible before?

Sharon: You know as Jewish people we think we know what’s in our own Hebrew Scriptures because as children we go to Yeshiva, we go to Hebrew school. As adults we go every Shabbos to the synagogue and we hear a Torah portion, a portion from the Torah, 5 Books of Moses, and we hear a Haftorah portion, a portion from the prophets. Because of this we think we know what’s in our own Jewish Bible, but something completely different happened when I began to read page after page, after page…

Sid: By the way, I was raised in a traditional Jewish synagogue and I went to the synagogue, and I heard the first 5 Books of the Jewish scriptures, the Torah, and portions of the prophets, but I heard it all in Hebrew, and guess how many words of Hebrew I could speak? Maybe 3 or 4.

Sharon: I understand.

Sid: So it was like sitting in foreign language. Anyway you’re sitting down, you’re starting with Genesis and so by the end of the evening did you have your evidence?

Sharon: You know what, my husband came home from work, my daughter came home from school, and I was still reading. The next morning I was still reading page after page, and my daughter went to school, and my husband went off to work, and hours later my daughter came home from school and my came home from work, and I was still reading page after page. This went on for days, it went on for WEEKS, it went on for months. I couldn’t believe what I was finding in my own Jewish Bible.

Sid: What was one of the first things you made that made a major impact on you?

Sharon: Many things. I think that for me the Malach HaShem, now Malach HaShem in the English Bibles it says the “Angel of the Lord.” When you say “Angel of the Lord” you have this picture of a created being that could be the same angel, or different angel occurring each time. You have this picture of it being a created angel, but Malach HaShem, Malach in Hebrew means “Messenger,” and HaShem we’re saying “The Name.” HaShem means the “The Name” because Jewish people do not pronounce the Hebrew letters Yud Hey Vav Hey, which is the ineffable name of God, the Tetragrammaton, the name for God that we Jews don’t even pronounce. In prayers we say Adonai, but we do not pronounce the 4 letters that are the name of God. So here is… and I will call Him the Malach HaShem out of respect, and each time the Malach HaShem appears, and in your Bibles it would say “Angel of the Lord” but everywhere this unique messenger appears the people recognize Him as God. They are fearing for their lives and they fall on their face, and they say “They are going to die because they’ve seen God face to Face.” Instead of this Malach HaShem saying to them “No, no, no don’t fear for your lives I’m not God, I’m just a mere created being, I’m just an angel. Don’t worry I’m not…” He doesn’t correct them, but what He does say is “Shalom” He gives them peace. In Hebrew Shalom, I know we know it as “Hello” and “Goodbye” and “Peace,” but it is also means “Psychological wholeness.” In other words, this unique messenger recognizes that these people are in terror for their lives and he’s giving them psychological wholeness, but He never corrects them. Each time through the Bible, each time the patriarchs, or anyone meets Him, that is their immediate reaction, they fall on their face in fear. In Judges we meet Menoah, a very interesting thing happens. Menoah recognizes the Malach HaShem as God, and He also falls on his face and fears for his life. The Malach, this Messenger, comforts him and gives him psychological wholeness through saying “Shalom.” Menoah is so excited and wants to know what he can do that he actually offers sacrifice to this Malach, this Messenger. If this Messenger was an angel, an angel cannot accept sacrifice, only God. We only sacrifice to God. So Menoah offers this sacrifice and the Malach HaShem allows it, and not only that but as the flames are going up into the skies, the Malach HaShem goes into the flames raises up into the heavens and Menoah says “This is Pelly,” and the Hebrew word Pelly, which means wonderful, this miraculous wonderful thing that has happened. Pelly is a Hebrew word that is only used when we’re talking about God.

Sid: Now that had to be pretty shocking to you, but hold that thought we’ll pick up right here on tomorrow’s broadcast.