Our Guest Dr. Howard Morgan
Sid: I have as a guest Dr. Howard Morgan a Jewish believer that is red hot for the Messiah. I’m speaking to him at his home in Atlanta, Georgia. We’re highlighting his book “Leaves from the Olive Tree.” It’s based on kingdom perspectives versus humanistic religious perspectives. We’ve been talking about the church started out with great glory, the least Christian, the least Messianic Jew could lay hands on the sick and people would recover. Everything in the Bible we read today took place then. God doesn’t change, one guess who did the changing. Somehow little by little we’ve deviated from the pattern. On yesterday’s broadcast I wanted you to ponder the question I raised, the job of the Jewish believer was to be a light to the nations, and that’s why the Messiah started with the Jew. So the Jewish people could take the word of God to the nations, to the Gentiles. We Jews are called to proselytize all Gentiles to be worshippers of God. However, the job of the Gentile believer is to provoke Jewish people to jealousy, that’s Romans 11:11. What is going to provoke a Jewish believer to jealousy? Is it a congregation that has a Greco-Roman culture, or a congregation that has a Biblical, not rabbinic big difference, a Biblical Judaic culture? Is it a church that has a Passover service like none the world has ever seen where curses are literally broken and the lame walk out of wheelchairs and the blind see and the deaf hear? Is the pastor is talking about the miracles and the exodus, or one that has Easter eggs and bunnies? Which will fulfill your God called destiny better? I want to get into some really amazing things from our Biblical Hebraic roots that most Christians have never even speculated. When I get together with a Jewish believer like Howie Morgan, or many of my other friends we argue. Some of my Gentile Christian friends say to me “Why are you arguing so much?” I said “I don’t know it’s Jewish.” Then of course I read in Howie’s new book about the Beit Midrash. Explain to me what the Beit Midrash is Dr. Howie Morgan.
Dr. Morgan: The Beit Midrash means house of study or investigation. Every synagogue around the world and down through history had a room that in which all the books the commentaries were. The difference we were talking about in previous shows about the church and the Greco-Roman mindset in most churches you’ll hear the pastor give a lecture sermon message. You go home you never have an opportunity to question or dialogue.
Sid: Now if you do question, and actually question as if what he said is wrong what happens to you under the Greco-Roman system, and what would happen under the Hebraic system?
Dr. Morgan: Well in the Greco-Roman system you could get executed.
Sid: (Laughing)
Dr. Morgan: You do not! You do not confront the emperor! You know you lose your life. So we find people get marked as rebels, we get marked as heretic people in the church down through the century. We talked earlier about the murder, the persecution of those who disagreed with the Caesar mentality in the Christian religion, but in the Jewish world you were encouraged, inspired to argue. We see Jesus arguing with the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, and the scribes and they argue with Him. You know when you read it from our Greco-Roman mindset you think “Oh here’s sweet gentle Jesus and all these bad Pharisees arguing with Him.” Jesus grew up in the synagogue, and in the synagogue there was the Beit Midrash He grew up arguing the scriptures. You know we see Jesus when He was 12. What was He doing? He was arguing the scriptures with the doctors of the law. He was disputing with them and saying “What do you think, and what do you think?” We’ve not been iron sharpening iron. So in the synagogue after the rabbi would speak He would come and they would sit in the Beit Midrash and if they were hungry they would have a sandwich or something to drink. For the next several hours they would open the scriptures together and the commentaries and He would encourage the dispute. He would encourage the argument because iron was sharpening iron. He would be making His talmudim, his disciples, dig into the scriptures and dig into the Hebrew…
Sid: Where did we get the whole idea that you have to someone who’s gone to seminary to teach us?
Dr. Morgan: It’s again how the institution trains its people and then empowers them by giving the ordination papers. In the kingdom the ordination comes from heaven via the anointing, not from an institutional sanction that says “You’ve jumped through our hoops now we’ve indoctrinated you, and then you can be part of our organization and we’ll pay you and give you a pension.” In the kingdom people just get anointings by the Holy Spirit and they begin to function in the Spirit. You know the disciples people challenged them and said “Where did you go to school you’re ignorant unlearned men?” Their answer was “We have been with Jesus.” That’s where the power comes from being with Jesus and not being…stuck in our heads. Again it’s that whole intellectual rationalization of the scripture rather than letting the Holy Spirit reveal Christ to you, and reveal Christ through you. So when do we have… you mentioned in another show about the good church. Well you know here’s the good church, but when does the pastor then say “Okay I’ve preached for an hour to you,” and you know they’ve only heard 10%. Psychological tests prove that people only retain 10% of what they hear. Now let’s go and see what you actually heard today. I’d love to see pastors give their people a test on say Tuesday afternoon and not a multiple choice test, but a real essay test and say “What did pastor preach about on Sunday?” Make them put it in an essay, I’d think pastors would be shocked by how little they actually got in their preaching. It’s a very poor way of teaching. The best way is to demonstrate it, it’s to model it. So what did the rabbi do with his students, why? Because his heart was to raise up disciples not just have church goers, but to really have equipped disciples after the preaching he’d bring those who wanted to with their children and they’d sit around a big table they’d have a gnosh, they’d have some pastrami or whatever, and sit and talk. The rabbi would question and they would question “Well what did you mean by that, and why did you say that?” The hours would just disappear that’s why you need some food, and we encourage people in that chapter in my book they can have a Beit Midrash in their home.
Sid: Yes, but what if they’ve only been a believer only a year?
Dr. Morgan: So what, they’ll start right there. How exciting is that to have your Bible be a believer for one year and have your Bible and then teach people. Maybe you’ve only been a believer 3 months.
Sid: Listen Howie, normally you have to pay your price.
Dr. Morgan: Yeah.
Sid: Earn your stripes.
Dr. Morgan: Hmm. Hmm.
Sid: Before you can be even considered to teach in Sunday school. Yet I can tell you I’ve travelled the world as you do to, and someone that has been a believer for 3 – 4 years in the average church, a good church, could go out and be an apostle in a foreign country. Be so used by God, and walk in the miraculous and plant a hundred churches.
Dr. Morgan: Yes exactly…
Sid: Instead of sitting year after year saying “I’m not being fed I think I’m going to find another church!”
Dr. Morgan: Yeah, and that’s another lie “I’m not being fed.” Well if you’re 3 years old in the Lord, 4 years old don’t you think it’s time you fed yourself?
Sid: (Laughing)
Dr. Morgan: It’s as if we have a teenager who can’t feed himself, or an 8 year old. You know, you and I we raised children as many of our listeners have, you teach your children to feed themselves.
Sid: Let me ask you about this, the mentality the pastors job is to teach our children, is to teach us, is to feed us… that’s the Greco-Roman way, what’s the Biblical Jewish way?
Dr. Morgan: His role is to equip you, and disciple you, and train you to feed yourself. Then you can go and feed others so you can open your home as a new believer. Remember when you and I first got saved we were just telling everybody about Jesus. Thank God…
Sid: Listen, I was involved in starting one of the first Messianic congregations in the United States, a few of us. We knew nothing, I was a year old in the Lord and we saw a move of God’s Spirit… I didn’t know anything. I’m telling you and Jewish people were coming in and it was so exciting. You know why? I was so excited about the Lord, and I didn’t know I couldn’t do anything. If I read it in the Bible it was true.
Dr. Morgan: Right.
Sid: I had to get educated to find out “Well we don’t do this today.”
Dr. Morgan: Right, right. So what happened Sid exactly what we were talking about in previous shows, you were moving in the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the Living Water was flowing out of you and that is what the Kingdom of God is all about. It’s about creating an environment where the Living Water can flow, and then let’s let God teach us rather than being so concerned “Oh if they teach a Bible study they won’t teach doctrine correctly.” I want to have a place where the Holy Spirit is free He’ll sort out the doctrines because if your doctrine is “Jesus come manifest yourself, teach us to love” that’s the best doctrine in the world according to 1st Corinthians…
Sid: Alright what about the concept the one man, for lack of better words, the one man show. Where did it come from?
Dr. Morgan: It’s that same, the institution, the power, and the politics of one man who…
Sid: Who gives a message every week and once in 2 or 3 months he’ll bring in an outside speaker in, but pretty much he must speak.
Dr. Morgan: Right. So my question to people like that “Are you insecure? Are you territorial? Are you raising up disciples? How are you raising up disciples? Do they every get a chance to preach? Do you take them on the streets preaching? Do you give them an opportunity to preach every night of the week in some environment, somewhere, maybe they won’t preach in the pulpit on Sunday maybe that’s a place you will use, but what are you doing the rest of the time? Are you bringing them up? Are you afraid that someone’s going to think “Oh he’s more anointed than I am, then this guy is going to go off and start a church.” Oh what a terrible thing another church will start. Some more sinners might get saved. I’ve had pastors say to me “Oh we won’t allow somebody to start a church within 2 or 3 miles of our building.” I said…
Sid: Oh look worse than that they’re signing non-compete clauses where for 5 years they can’t start another church. Oi Vey! I tell you we have to go back to our Jewish roots. We’re out of time.
