Schlackman on Discovery of His Messiah

How did a New York Jew discover his Messiah? Find out with Dr. David Reagan and Nathan Jones on the show Christ in Prophecy.

Last aired on May 27, 2012.

Transcript

Dr. Reagan: How did a New York Jew raised in a very conservative Jewish home end up living in Texas and believing in Jesus as his Messiah? For the very fascinating story about one man’s journey from the Star of David to the cross of Jesus stay tuned.

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Part 1

Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus our blessed hope and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. I am delighted to have as my special guest this week a dear friend of mine named Stu Schlackman. Stu welcome to Christ in Prophecy.

Stu Schlackman: Thank you Dave, glad to be here.

Dr. Reagan: Well thank you.

Stu Schlackman: Glad to be here.

Dr. Reagan: And as always I am blessed to have my colleague Nathan Jones. Nathan is our Web Minister and he is here to help me interview Stu, welcome Nathan.

Nathan Jones: It is always great to be here Dave.

Dr. Reagan: Thank you. Well our special guest today, Stu Schlackman is a businessman who lives in the Dallas, Texas area. He owns a highly successful business that trains people in sales. He is the author of a book about sales that has a very clever title, the title is, Don’t Just Stand There- Sell Something. But the most important thing that you need to know about Stu is that he is a Jewish believer in Jesus, which brings us back to the question I opened with: How did a New York Jew raised in a very conservative Jewish home end up living in Texas and believing in Jesus as his Messiah? Stu let’s start with your upbringing, tell us about the home you grew up in, the religious training that you received.

Stu Schlackman: Well actually it started in Yonkers at the age of 5; I started to go to the temple with my family.

Dr. Reagan: Now that is Yonkers, New York?

Stu Schlackman: That is New York.

Dr. Reagan: It is just above Manhattan Island?

Stu Schlackman: Yes.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah, okay.

Stu Schlackman: And I went to Lincoln Jewish Community Center and started Hebrew School in sixth grade, I mean six years old.

Dr. Reagan: Six years old!

Stu Schlackman: Six years old, and just followed all the traditions.

Dr. Reagan: Did you go to synagogue regularly?

Stu Schlackman: Every Saturday, every Saturday. But by the time I was nine years old, 10 years old I figured out that I could play basketball instead of go to the synagogue. And then when it was done if it was Bar Mitzvah I would go in so I could eat the food.

Nathan Jones: There you go.

Stu Schlackman: So me and my brothers would play basketball, because our parents didn’t go.

Dr. Reagan: Oh.

Stu Schlackman: They just sent us off we went by ourselves.

Dr. Reagan: Well how did they justify that?

Stu Schlackman: They’ve already been there. They had already–

Dr. Reagan: So they already knew all the customs.

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: And this was for you to go and learn the customs.

Stu Schlackman: That was it.

Dr. Reagan: It was not an idea of getting into a personal relationship with God.

Stu Schlackman: No, no, it was all about the traditions, the holidays, following the holidays, having a kosher home, those were the important things that I remembered.

Dr. Reagan: So you grew up in a very conservative, kosher home that honored the Jewish traditions.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, my grandfather, Grandpa Willy on my mother’s side, my mother’s father was actually orthodox.

Dr. Reagan: Oh.

Stu Schlackman: And I will actually say today that my faith has a lot to do with my grandfather who was my mentor. He would bring me to the orthodox temple when I would visit him in Brooklyn and we would sit on the right side and the women were on the right.

Dr. Reagan: Oh, this was really an orthodox congregation.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, and there was no English, not one word of English.

Nathan Jones: All Yiddish?

Stu Schlackman: 100% Hebrew.

Nathan Jones: Oh, Hebrew.

Stu Schlackman: And I would have to follow him in the prayer book which is the Siddur.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: And I would just follow him along.

Dr. Reagan: So this would be like going to a Catholic church years ago where everything was in Latin?

Stu Schlackman: Right, exactly. So I mean I was steeped in Orthodox Judaism.

Dr. Reagan: So you did have a member of your family who was very interested in spiritual things.

Stu Schlackman: Yes, he was.

Dr. Reagan: I know that from the book that you wrote about this in which we are going to talk about more in the program, that he really had a tremendous impact on your life.

Stu Schlackman: He did.

Dr. Reagan: Now your mother, I read something in your book that just absolutely, I was rolling on the floor laughing. Tell me about your mother, you have a statement in your book that your mother’s laws overruled the laws of Leviticus. Now tell us about that.

Stu Schlackman: Yes, well I was 16 years old and we were eating out at the East Bay Diner in Oceanside and all of sudden my mother orders an omelet with bacon. And you can’t eat bacon it’s not kosher; you are not allowed to eat pork. And I go, “Mom, what are you doing, bacons not kosher.” She goes, “It’s okay we’re out of the house.” I am going, really? But she was the one in the first place who told I am not allowed to eat any pork products.

Dr. Reagan: Another thing I noticed in your book that I really enjoyed that you really evidently got into the Scriptures because you were in a Bible contest in your last year of Hebrew School.

Stu Schlackman: Yes.

Dr. Reagan: And it had questions like this; I should ask these of Nathan. Nathan are you ready? What was David’s third wife’s second son name?

Nathan Jones: David’s third wife’s second son’s name?

Dr. Reagan: Second son’s name. Or name the next three kings who ruled after King Hezekiah? Or what were Jacob’s six son’s children’s names? Now those were the kind of questions, and you did well in that didn’t you?

Stu Schlackman: Yeah I got an honorable mention, got an honorable mention. In fact I still have the book today that they gave me as a gift, which is a Jewish commentary on all the Jewish principles.

Dr. Reagan: Well you make a comment in your book that I want you to elaborate on, right after this you say, “What the Bible contest did not test was my understanding of our faith. If it had I probably would have failed, truth to be told all my years of Hebrew education did not bring me into a clear concept of or closer relationship with almighty God.”

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: So it is one thing to know about the Bible, but it is another thing to know God.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, it was all about knowledge. When you grow up in a Jewish home the most important thing is education, to be well versed, to know things, to learn, to excel in school, to get straight A’s, to go to a good college to get a good profession to make a lot of money; that is success in life.

Dr. Reagan: You know we had Marty Goetz, I don’t know if you know Marty or not but we had had Marty Goetz at 1 of our conventions he is a great Jewish Christian musician. And he said he made that very same point, he said, “You know when you grow up in a Jewish home it’s; “Son are you going to be a doctor? Are you going to be a lawyer?”

Stu Schlackman: Exactly.

Dr. Reagan: “Are you going to be a big time businessman?” And he says, “Momma, I am going to be a Christian piano player.” And it didn’t go over very well.

Stu Schlackman: It doesn’t go over well.

Dr. Reagan: So the emphasis is really on wealth, right?

Stu Schlackman: Right, yeah, and like I say in the book my mother would guilt me into whatever it is I should be doing. That is why I say, “My mother worked for the largest travel agency in New York City, she was Vice-President of guilt trips.”

Dr. Reagan: Is that right? Guilt trips, oh I see guilt trips.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, I mean that is why I was an engineer. I went to a good college, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Nathan Jones: Oh, yeah.

Stu Schlackman: And they said you’re to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. And I have cousins, two cousins that are lawyers, two that are engineers, one went to Harvard and to Rensselaer, two to Columbia.

Dr. Reagan: So you must be really considered a failure by your family.

Stu Schlackman: Right, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Sales?

Dr. Reagan: Well you know what is fascinating to me is how in the world you get from Yonkers, New York and later Long Beach, New York where you lived to Dallas, Texas of all places, and then end up finding the Messiah in your life. And in just a moment we want you to tell us that story, okay.

Stu Schlackman: Sure, sure.

Part 2

Nathan Jones: Welcome back to Christ in Prophecy. We are interviewing Stu Schlackman about his journey from the Star of David to the Cross of Christ. And he has been telling us about his strict Orthodox Jewish childhood in New York. Well Stu you were telling us a little about your college, could you also tell us why you decided to go into sales, and how did that bring you to Jesus as your Messiah?

Stu Schlackman: Well it is kind of funny I mean life is a journey. And so I went to college to study engineering, and I was an engineer for seven years, and then I really didn’t like it and I got tired of New York City and I left and moved to Boston to live with some good friends. And then a good friend of mine John Kavazanjian hires me into Digital Equipment Corporation and the next thing you know they are saying, “You know you should be in sales.”

Dr. Reagan: I can’t imagine that.

Stu Schlackman: I said, “No.”

Dr. Reagan: I can’t imagine how they figured that out.

Stu Schlackman: It was a riot. So this guy from Birmingham, Bob Baines, I get to be friends with him. Next thing you know he is promoted to sales manager in Birmingham and things were shaking up at corporate headquarters, I was working in Merrimack, New Hampshire and Bob says, “Why don’t you go into the internal sales development program and come live in Birmingham.” And at the time I was recently married and we had our first son Greg and I know that my wife Debe at the time was not happy in the north and she wanted to get back to Dallas, that was where she was from. So I said, “We’ll go to Birmingham, and eventually we will get to Dallas.” So Bob hires me to move there, but while we were in New Hampshire he says, “Stu, I hear you are Jewish.” I said, “Yeah I am.” He says, “I am very intrigued about that, tell me about it.” Now nobody in my life ever said that. Usually it is Anti-Semitism, “You’re Jewish? What is wrong with you?”

Dr. Reagan: That’s right.

Stu Schlackman: But I grew up in a town that was totally Jewish so I was comfortable in my own environment. So we ended up moving down to Birmingham. And then 1 night I am having dinner with Bob and Greg Christian and Greg Christian is a biblical scholar. And we had a 2 ½ hours dinner over Mexican food and Greg is telling me everything about the Bible from Genesis to the Book of Revelation, which I knew nothing about.

Nathan Jones: Wow.

Stu Schlackman: And he is focusing on the issue of sin. And I said, “I know about sin, that is why we have Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement, so my sins are forgiven.” And it was like a month later because it was in October he says, “So you fasted last month on Yom Kippur?” I said, “No, not this year.” But one thing led to another and Bob invites me to his church which is Shades Mountain Baptist Church. We are sitting in a class, he takes me to a class, and they are studying 2 Kings. And you know I’m listening and I am poking him and saying, “He is wrong. He is wrong.”

Nathan Jones: Really?

Stu Schlackman: And I mean I studied the Bible because I was in a Bible contest.

Nathan Jones: Even Hebrew.

Stu Schlackman: And all of a sudden the teacher says, “Excuse me what is going on back there?” And Bob pokes me and says, “Tell him.” I said, “I’m not going to tell him.” And Bob says, “He is Jewish.” And I thought I was going to be killed. And they all turned around again, looked at me like I was a celebrity. And the next thing you know, the turning point for me was in a hotel, it was a Holiday Inn in Hoover, Alabama. One night I decided to open up the side drawer and I see a Bible in there.

Nathan Jones: Oh, a Gideon Bible huh?

Stu Schlackman: Yeah the Gideon Bible, I am looking at it I see Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and then all of a sudden I turn half-way through, a little more than half-way through and it says the New Testament of Jesus Christ. I go, “What is this doing in my Bible?”

Dr. Reagan: That is supposed to be a sin for an Orthodox Jew to even read it.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, I know. I thought, “What is this doing in my Bible?”

Nathan Jones: Oh, no.

Dr. Reagan: Oh, dear.

Stu Schlackman: Then I turned I see Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then I see the book of Hebrews, I go that has to be a good one.

Dr. Reagan: That’s a good book.

Nathan Jones: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: Then this voice says to me, this voice actually says to me, “So you believe in the first part, you don’t believe the second part. Are you calling me a liar?”

Nathan Jones: Wow.

Dr. Reagan: Wow.

Stu Schlackman: I mean really that voice. And I said, “Okay, why would I say that to myself?” That can’t be me. Then I said, “Okay let’s apply some logic. Okay, both books are in the same binder. Why?” And really, okay, so do I believe the first part, the Old Testament? Yes. Well who am I to decide that the second part is false, based on just my upbringing?

Nathan Jones: Logical.

Stu Schlackman: Logical, then I said, “I need to explore this.” And then after visiting with Bob and going to Shade Mountain then we decided to go to a Christ of Church where my wife was from. And one night they visit me at the house, on a Monday night after I go to church on Sunday. And they started studying with me on the prophecies. And the prophecies amazed me. Okay, so this person of Jesus Christ rode into town on a donkey, was sold, betrayed for 30 silver coins, was born in Bethlehem, born of a Virgin, and was crucified in Psalm 22 before crucifixion existed. How is that possible? And then the verse that got me actually it is in the book on page 95 or 94 I believe is this, this is what really got me: 2 Peter 1:20-21 it says, “Above all you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they carried along the Holy Spirit.”

Nathan Jones: Great verse, great verse.

Stu Schlackman: It’s like, the funny thing is the way we start the book in the introduction is the second sentence is 1 John 5:9-11 which is, “We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God which is given about His Son. Anyone who believes in the Son as God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar.”

Dr. Reagan: Wow.

Stu Schlackman: And that was the voice that came to me in the hotel room in Birmingham and it was just like about seven years ago that I realized that that Scripture existed. And it was like from that point on I mean it was only a few weeks later that I walked down the aisle on a Wednesday night and was baptized.

Nathan Jones: Wow! Praise the Lord.

Dr. Reagan: Well know one thing that intrigues me about this was the importance of one-on-one personal evangelism by friends.

Stu Schlackman: Yes, yeah.

Dr. Reagan: Who didn’t try to hit you over the head with the Bible or condemn you, or argue with you, but just witnessed to you.

Stu Schlackman: That, Bob Baines was a friend, he was my manager, he nurtured me, he mentored me. Bobby Thomas who worked in the office was another very strong Baptist, and he was gentle and kind. We were good friends. We went on a lot of road trips together and we just, he would talk to me about the person of Jesus and it was never pushing it on me. He never condemned my faith, he was admired by it and really that was an attraction to these people and what they represented. I said, “I’ve got to have some of that.” I mean really, it was like… I grew up in New York City in that area where everybody is judgmental. I heard my relatives talk about the other relatives and I am saying, “I wonder what they are saying about me in the background?”

Dr. Reagan: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: Really everybody had a nickname.

Dr. Reagan: Oh, yeah.

Stu Schlackman: So and so the coffer, so and so the miser, so and so this, you know, unbelievable.

Nathan Jones: Would you say then that Bible prophecy and the voice of the Lord is what led you to God and your friends of course?

Stu Schlackman: That was definitely part of it, I felt the Scriptures talk to me. And of course in Corinthians it says that there is a veil over the eyes of the Jewish people. But that veil is lifted when you read the New Scriptures.

Dr. Reagan: Yes.

Stu Schlackman: The New Testament and for some reason the New Testament the Scriptures that I read brought life.

Dr. Reagan: Let me share something with you. I go to Israel a lot and I know a lot of Jewish people, some of whom like our guides over there really know the Bible but it is all up here, and not here. And one thing that they say to me over and over that I find so interesting I will say to them, “Do you have a personal relationship with the Lord.” And they will say, “Oh, you don’t understand Jewish people can not have a personal relationship with the Lord. Our relationship is a national relationship, not a personal relationship.” Does that a ring a bell with you?

Stu Schlackman: Yes, it is more of a culture and a nationality than a faith. You see it is a religion not a faith.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: Because faith is putting your hope in something else. My favorite verse is Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see.” That is what faith is all about.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: It’s having faith that this person of Jesus Christ, Yeshua, died on a cross for my sins and was raised on the 3rd day, He was resurrected. I never saw it, but it is in the book.

Dr. Reagan: And you can truly believe that you can have, in fact you know a personal relationship with Him.

Stu Schlackman: Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Reagan: And that is one of the things that sets Christianity apart from all other religions in the world, it is one of many things but one of them is the fact that you can have a personal relationship with God, where others, in Islam God is aloof and distant and arbitrary. And I know that Muslims tell me the one thing that really brings them to Christianity is when they start reading something of the Gospels and they read about the love of God, because Allah has many, many names in the Koran but never is he called the God of love.

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: He is a stern, judgmental God, but the true God is a God of love.

Stu Schlackman: In fact in Islam, that God could decide at the last minute whether or not he will let you into Heaven.

Dr. Reagan: Oh, yeah, right.

Stu Schlackman: For his own reasons.

Dr. Reagan: And another big difference of course between Christianity and world religions and Judaism in particular is works, the whole idea of works. You know I have actually read ads in “The Jerusalem Post,” where it would say, “The Chief Rabbinic of Israel has decided the following family is in desperate need. We have therefore decided that anyone who contributes $100 or more to this family will receive eternal life.”

Stu Schlackman: Wow.

Nathan Jones: It is like indulgences.

Dr. Reagan: It’s a work salvation. And wasn’t that something that impressed you about Christianity; that it is not works?

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: In fact what do you say in your book about that?

Stu Schlackman: It is grace. I say in the book we say in the Old Testament that works lead to faith, and in the New Testament faith leads to works.

Dr. Reagan: That’s right.

Nathan Jones: That’s great.

Stu Schlackman: What a difference, what a relief to know that, it is like going to 10th grade Geometry and where I grew up it is like you study hard and hopefully you will get an A and excel. But in Christianity you walk into the class and everybody gets an A.

Okay, now learn Geometry. And my attitude is I am so thankful that I got an A, now I want to learn it.

Part 3

Nathan Jones: Welcome back to our interview of Stu Schlackman a Jewish man from New York who found his Messiah in Alabama and now lives in the Dallas, Texas area. Stu could you tell a Jewish person today about your faith in Jesus.

Stu Schlackman: Wow, and I have. Here is what I would say, and really this is emotional for me, but it touches my heart more than anything else; first of all the Jewish people are God’s chosen, God never left His people and the Bible talks about that. I never converted and I never left my Judaism, I call myself a completed Jew because the story kept on going. The Old Testament ends at the book of Malachi and then 400 years later the Messiah comes. The Old Testament has the Messiah throughout, the Scriptures about the Messiah you can not ignore it, because God has a plan for everybody. And the thing is this life is going to end and there is an eternity and there is also one that you don’t want to be in. And God has a plan for salvation for everybody that comes through the Jewish Messiah Yeshua. It is wrong for a Jewish person to not believe that God is not sending a Messiah. And that Messiah I truly know without, beyond a shadow of a doubt is His Son Yeshua Jesus.

Dr. Reagan: So one of the points that you would make in talking with a Jewish person is that you have not rejected your Jewish heritage, your background.

Stu Schlackman: No.

Dr. Reagan: That you have completed it.

Stu Schlackman: Yes.

Dr. Reagan: You have fulfilled it by accepting the Jewish Messiah who is Yeshua.

Stu Schlackman: Yes.

Nathan Jones: You are a Jew born a new as Marty Goetz likes to say.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah.

Nathan Jones: You can be Jewish and a believer in Jesus at the same time.

Stu Schlackman: Right, I mean I don’t practice the holidays anymore, but did I deny any part of the Old Testament? No. So I was brought up Jewish, I have Jewish blood. I believe in Genesis to Malachi, there is nothing in those Scriptures that I have negated or denied. It is just that, that book, I mean there is 3 reasons for the Old Testament: first of all to point to a Messiah, second of all the book of Leviticus all the sacrifices was to wean the children of Israel off of idolatry, but the main reason was to say, “You can’t keep the law, you are sinners.”

Dr. Reagan: That’s right, that’s right.

Stu Schlackman: And you need the Messiah. So I believe that the Messiah came and His name is Jesus. And that is what the New Testament is about. It is a book about God’s love for His creation.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah, and in fact most Jews grow up being taught and believing that the New Testament is a Gentile book.

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: But the New Testament is a very Jewish book, it is written by Jewish people, it is all about Jewish culture, it is about a Jewish Messiah.

Nathan Jones: 100%

Dr. Reagan: Every member of the original Church was a Jew.

Stu Schlackman: Right, absolutely.

Dr. Reagan: And yet one of the tragedies of the Church over 2,000 years is that much of the Church has taught that because, they would label the Jews as Christ killer and say that because they killed Christ God washed His hands of them and has no purpose left for the Jewish people. But you know as well as I do that Romans 9-11 teaches that is an absolute lie.

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: That God still loves the Jewish people.

Stu Schlackman: Yes.

Dr. Reagan: That He still has a plan for them. And He is going to bring a great remnant to salvation in the End Times.

Stu Schlackman: That’s right.

Dr. Reagan: In fact that has already started. Did you know in 1967 when the Six Day War began there was not 1 single Messianic congregation on planet earth? Did you know today there are over 500, and they are still growing? They are all over Israel; they are all over the United States. Something happened in 1967 the Holy Spirit was poured out and what happened was that young Jews in particular began to turn to Yeshua as their Messiah in unprecedented numbers. The remnant is already coming to the Lord.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah, and that is in Romans 11 actually. It’s amazing. I have met more people like Debbie that grew up Jewish.

Dr. Reagan: Now who is Debbie?

Stu Schlackman: Debbie Pope is my writer, she has–

Dr. Reagan: She took your manuscript and edited it.

Stu Schlackman: She brought it to life.

Dr. Reagan: Yes.

Stu Schlackman: She is incredible, but she has the same background as I do.

Dr. Reagan: And I want to complement her because I read your manuscript in its raw form. And she took it and edited it and never took your personality out of it. I mean it is a fantastic book called, From the Star to the Cross. And the subtitle is, Accepting the Promised Path from Judaism into Christianity. And we are going to tell people how to get a copy of this book in a few moments. But what does that subtitle mean, accepting the promised path from Judaism into Christianity?

Stu Schlackman: I believe that God’s promise is through His Son Jesus, Yeshua. And that it is a path; it is a journey through life that we all take. At some point in every body’s life we are all on a path, the Holy Spirit convicts everyone of sin, and that is in John 6:44. So everybody at some point in their life has to say, “What is the purpose and meaning of life?” And really it is preparation for eternity.

Nathan Jones: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: And I believe we are all on this path and the promised path is one that if you grew up a Jew as I did the promised path is His Son the Messiah, because the Jewish people always believed in a Messiah.

Dr. Reagan: You know Stu you mentioned earlier in our interview of the importance of prophecy in bringing you to an understanding of Jesus as the Messiah. And I don’t think that can be emphasized too strongly. I met a Jewish fellow one time an IRS agent who came to my house to review my income taxes. And he got there and he said, “You know they put your folder in the wrong pile because when I called you and made this interview you were in the real high pile of people who have probably have cheated.” And he said, “I looked at it and you are just fine.” So he said… I said, “Well fine, can we just call this?” “No, I’ve got an hour set aside so let’s talk.” He said, “Do you believe the signs of the time indicate that Jesus is coming soon?” I said, “Excuse me I thought your name was Goldstein.” He said, “Well yeah, but I am a Jewish believer.”

Stu Schlackman: Wow.

Nathan Jones: Wow.

Dr. Reagan: I said, “How did you become a believer?” He said, “A guy knocked on my door on day and said, ‘Do you know Jesus,’ and I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Let me tell you about Him.’ And he took the Hebrew Scriptures, my Scriptures and showed me the prophecies and talked about Jesus fulfilling them and he said nobody had ever done that.” You know it seemed to me like it is just the best way to testify to a Jew.

Stu Schlackman: Yes absolutely.

Dr. Reagan: Because they are skeptical of the New Testament but show them the prophecies and how Jesus fulfilled them.

Stu Schlackman: Right.

Dr. Reagan: Didn’t that have a tremendous impact on you?

Stu Schlackman: Oh it did, starting in Deuteronomy 18:15 and there, “A prophet will come like me.” You know let’s go to, how about–

Dr. Reagan: That is Moses speaking there.

Stu Schlackman: Right, Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not leave the Tribe of Judah.” Oh, I mean it goes on and on, Psalm 2.

Dr. Reagan: And you have many of those prophecies listed in your book.

Stu Schlackman: Yes. Embedded in the book of Psalms there is so much about David and the Messiah coming. And look at Isaiah 53, I mean it depicts Jesus perfectly. Psalm 22.

Dr. Reagan: So perfectly that it is not read in Synagogues.

Stu Schlackman: Right, it goes from Isaiah 52 when the read the Haftorah to Isaiah 54.

Dr. Reagan: They absolutely skip that chapter because it is so detailed about the Messiah.

Stu Schlackman: Yeah.

Dr. Reagan: Exactly about the way He would be suffering and would die for our sins and so forth.

Nathan Jones: Gambling of His clothes.

Dr. Reagan: Yeah.

Stu Schlackman: You know what happened? This was amazing but when my brother Jay died he was buried by a Hasidic Jewish Rabbi and the Rabbi knew I was a Christian at this point. And I said to him, “Can I ask you one question?” He said, “Yeah.” “What do you think of Isaiah 53?” He looked at me with these piercing eyes and said this, “Idolatry.” And that kind of stopped the discussion right there. You know what he was saying? What he was saying is, “There is nothing between God and man.” But who has the right to say that?

Dr. Reagan: Well Stu I hate to bring this to a close, but our time is up. And folks, Stu has put his remarkable story in the form of a book entitled, From the Star to the Cross. It is wonderfully written, you’ll be laughing one moment, crying the next. It is the kind of book that you just can’t put down. It is also illustrated with some great photographs of his family, and I loved particularly his picture of him at 13 in his Bar Mitzvah. And here is a message that will tell you how you can get a copy.

End of Program

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