I was brought up in a Jewish home in Brooklyn New York. In 1975 I began to search out the deep questions of life and in my seeking I began to explore Eastern religion. I soon saw that these Eastern disciplines did not hold the answer I was looking for and I began a journey back to my Jewish roots. On the first Sabbath I ever observed as an adult I met two identical Jewish twins one after another who stopped me on the streets of New York City asking me if I believed in Jesus. When I told them I was Jewish and did not believe in Jesus they startled me by telling me that they also were Jewish and did! I asked how they could and they gladly explained. I saw for the first time that Jesus was spoken of extensively in my own Hebrew scriptures and was amazed. I was soon to meet one of these twin brothers two weeks later on the Staten Island Ferry en route to Manhattan, NYC. When the ferry boat docked I prayed to receive the Spirit of God and forgiveness in Jesus. I have not been the same since!
Since the day I gave my life to Jesus, I have been compelled to share the amazing news of the gospel with my own people. This led me to Orthodox Jews in the early days and onto Moscow, Russia and the Central Asian Republics in 1998. I began a live call in talk radio show on a secular station in the mid 80’s proclaiming to the Jewish community of the Washington, DC are that Yeshua (Jesus) is the promised Messiah of Israel. It was in 1994 that along with my wife, 3 year old son and 3 month old daughter that we moved to Moscow, Russia to establish a Messianic Jewish Congregation that has since multiplied and is still thriving today. As I said in 1998 we moved to Almaty, Kazakhstan where we planted another Messianic Congregation and then another in the Northern Kazak city of Karaganda. We continue to serve a network of Messianic Jewish Congregations in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. I have traveled the world speaking in churches about the call of Christians to bring back the gospel to the people from whom it first came. I have embraced our calling as Jews to be lights to all nations and by the grace of God have traveled the world to begin to fulfill that call. My travels have led me to Norway, Sweden, Japan, India, Nepal, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the United Kingdom. You can view photos I have taken in those nations on this web site. I am presently the founding director and president of the Gates of Zion, a non profit organization established for the purpose of Jewish reaching Jewish people worldwide with the truth of the Messiah and teaching the body of Christ to embrace their Jewish foundations and be part of the effort to bring Jewish people back home to their Messiah and King.
After almost a decade in the former Soviet Union we have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to move back to New York City, the city with the world’s largest Jewish population. We moved into the upper west side of Manhattan in October of 2004. Our vision is to effectively reach the large Jewish community that works and lives in the New York Metro area with a Jewish message about their Jewish Messiah. We are trusting the Lord will enable us to penetrate the strategic marketplace and business community in New York City which has an overwhelming number of Jewish people. We are also preparing to reach out to the large percentage of Jewish students on University campuses such as Columbia, which is walking distance from where we live. We believe being in New York City is the most exciting part of our journey to date! We trust the Lord that many Christians will get behind us and become partners with us in this great work. It is full time for Christians throughout the world to begin to pay back the great debt they owe the Jewish people and bring the glorious message of salvation back to where it all began! Click where it says, “invest” on our home page to see how you can participate.
Yours in Messiah Yeshua,
Jeffrey Bernstein
President
Gates of Zion
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