Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
The following program is presented by the Far East Broadcasting Company, because stories of people living out the gospel with their lives inspire all of us. FEBC, taking Christ to the world through radio and new media. Learn more at febc.org. ♪
We Jewish people are very stubborn, but we need Jesus. My goal in life is until the Lord calls me to Him, I want to share the hope that is in me. Yeshua is the Messiah and He died for our sins and rose again. His name is Olivier Melnyk and he'll tell us his story coming up on this edition of First Person. Welcome, I'm Wayne Shepard.
Before we meet our guest this week, a brief word about what you'll find when you visit FirstPersonInterview.com. First, there's a schedule of what's coming up in the weeks ahead as we draw near to Christmas. Secondly, you can go back as far as you like and listen to previous interviews in this long series. And finally, there's more information about the man you'll meet today and his ministry. So thanks for visiting FirstPersonInterview.com. And you may want to download the First Person Interview app for your smartphone or tablet available free in your app store.
Olivier Melnick serves as the Southwest Regional Director and Training Director at Chosen People Ministries, but it's his personal story that we want to hear. Born in Paris to a secular Jewish family, he now shares his faith in Christ far and wide, claiming that it's the most Jewish thing he's ever done. So let's meet this interesting man now, here on First Person. ♪
Well, I know I can't call you Oliver. I need to call you Olivier. So I have that right, don't I? You have it right. And let me tell you, not a lot of people in the USA get my name right. I get a lot of Oliver and I have to correct people. It's Olivier. There's an I in there. And they look and they feel sorry. Or sometimes I tell them it's Oliver with a twist and it doesn't help. That doesn't help.
I like that. Well, it's fun. Most people can pronounce Olivier. It's kind of fun to say, isn't it?
Yes, yes. Well, it's a French name. Yes, and we'll get into your whole story here in just a moment. But before we tell your story, Olivier, let's talk about Chosen People Ministries and what that is and what your responsibility is. Well, Chosen People Ministries is a mission organization that takes the gospel of Yeshua, Jesus, to the Jewish people. We have been doing this since 1894. So we're going on 127 years now.
And we're like in 22 different countries, 25 cities in the U.S. Wherever there is a Jewish community, we'll have somewhat of a presence, either a couple, a family, or a center, or a congregation, depending on the need and the availability. But that is what we do. My role is, I was in the Northwest, in the Seattle region for a while, as the Northwest Regional Director, and we just relocated to
the Dallas area. And I now assume the position of Southwest Regional Director with the states around Texas, as well as Texas. And I'm excited because there's quite a few Jewish people in that region alone. But again, we just moved in less than two months ago. So this is, I'm getting my bearings right now. I'm trying to meet people and get organized for the ministry. We're very excited to be here.
Well, Chosen People Ministries, I mean, it exists. It's educational, of course.
But one of the, as I understand it, one of the reasons you exist is to just let the Jewish people know they have a friend in evangelicals. Well, that is one of the reasons. I mean, the main reason why we exist is to make sure that the Jewish people will hear the message of salvation found in the gospel in a way that is contextual, that they will understand and be able to relate to, which has not always been done very, very, very well by the church over the centuries.
So we exist to take the gospel of the Jewish people, and hopefully they understand that, yes, they do have friends in the evangelical community, which is also a challenge. Okay. We'll talk more about that in a few moments, but I want to hear your story. When did you come to faith in Christ, and what were the circumstances involved?
I was born and raised in Paris, France in 1959. I was born and Jewish family. My mother was a she has she escaped the Holocaust and she had to hide on a farm in the southwest of France for the last two years of the war. My dad, by his own his own saying, was an atheist, didn't believe in anything. Both parents were Jewish.
And I was raised in that family setting of post-war family that had lost any hope in any God if he ever existed. Well, after the Holocaust, it was over. So I knew it was Jewish, but it was more cultural, more the food, the Yiddish songs. But I did not go to a synagogue. I didn't keep kosher. It was very agnostic.
And then in 1981, I met a young girl who now is my wife of 38 years. And she's from California. One thing led to another. I wanted to marry her, but she told me she could not marry unequally yoked. Remember back then when she said that, I had no idea what she was talking about because my English was not as good.
And she started showing me the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, saying, you know, your Messiah is Jewish, and he wants you to come to him. And she started witnessing to me, but I was not too impressed. I had never opened a Bible in my life. So she's starting to show me things in the Bible. I'm going like, sure, whatever. And then she came.
wrote her dad in California. She said, please send me some materials for Olivier. I really want to, uh, uh, I want more, more witnessing tools. So, um, uh,
And he sent a bunch of cassettes and pamphlets. And in that box that he sent, he sent the book, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. Oh, yeah. Sure. And I got a hold of that book and started reading it. And I would read it every day on my way to work. And I actually missed my stop on the Paris subway a couple of times because I was so into the book. And I got to the place where he talks about the rapture. And I got really scared.
You know, I was reading the book that was really, really well done. You know, Old Testament prophecy, fulfillment, prophecy, fulfillment, very short chapters, very powerful. And I thought, hey, like he says, if everything happened in the first coming of this Messiah, literally, why should it be different at the second coming?
And that was a very good point. That was very, very logical to me. It was a man talking to me. It was not the Bible. It was just a guy related. So I could relate to how Lindsay's writing a lot more than I could relate to the Bible, except he was basically telling me what he found in the Bible. Sure.
Well, I talked to my wife about the rapture. I tried to convince her that she should stay behind when that happens. Did you really? Yes. I said, is there any way you can stay? She said, no, we go and I'm going to be separated from you if you don't believe in that. That's why I don't want to marry you because I don't want that separation.
Well, eventually, I thought, you know, I'm just procrastinating the inevitable. This made sense. I was virgin to all the other views of the Bible. It was just, this is what is going to happen. And yet, if it's true, you have a lot to lose. If it's not true, you go back to dust. And I thought, you're right.
So, summer of 1983, July, I don't remember the exact date, but I basically made a decision to follow Yeshua. It was partially because I didn't want to be separated from my wife, who was not my wife at the time, and also because I thought this was the truth, this makes sense. And I'm so glad I did. And here we are today. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So, after that, how did you get discipled? How did you grow as a believer? Were there people that God put in your life? Was it education? What happened? Not in France, let me tell you, because France is still to this day about 1% evangelical. So, and it's
Probably gotten worse since then. We it was the we got married in Paris in October of 83 and we moved back to the States in March of 85. And I was incredibly depressed.
fortunate to connect with men of God who taught me the Bible properly. My very first mentor, outside of my father-in-law, was a great, my first mentor, my first teacher was a man by the name of David Hawking. I don't know if you know Dr. David Hawking. Yes, yes. Who's become a dear friend of the family. And so David Hawking was my first teacher. Then I got connected with Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum.
I don't know that name. Okay, Ariel Ministries, Jewish believers, super solid teacher of the Bible. And then I went to Moody and I studied with Michael Rydelnik.
And so I really, the Lord was preparing me for the ministry that I'm doing because he put me under the wing of some solid Bible teachers, one after the other. It has been a wonderful journey. Yeah. Michael Rodelnik has been on this program to tell his story. That's in the archive. If anyone wants to go back and listen to it, it's a powerful story of coming to faith in Christ himself. So it's really interesting that God would put the two of you together.
Well, you know, I came to Moody in 1998 to get my undergrad, and he already was the chair of the Jewish Studies program. He had taken over Dr. Goldberg. And so we became friends, Michael and I became friends, and he was my professor for three years. And it was a wonderful experience. It seems like 100 years ago.
I understand that. I really do. But something he did or said to you was the impetus for what you're doing today? Yes. I think it was my last year. It was in 2000. I remember he challenged me to put together a sermon for a class, and he says, why don't you look at Psalm 83 and do a sermon there?
So I look at Psalm 83, prepared a sermon, and I realized this was about the enemies of Israel, who are the enemies of God. They hate Israel. They want to destroy Israel. And I thought this would be good if I could find a couple of current events, events,
examples for the application that it's still happening today. We have to be careful. So I started looking in the news and it was 2000. And if you recall, 2000 was the date of the second intifada. So it was not difficult to find examples of anti-Semitism, which is something that, you know, anti-Semitism is always something that's been in the
Back of my head, because my mother escaped the Holocaust and, you know, hid on a farm with, you know, righteous Gentiles. And so there's a lot of that in our family. And so I did that sermon. And then I, because I'm not a pastor, but I'm a missionary, I get to preach the same sermon in different places.
So I reused the sermon. Pastors are very jealous, by the way. Yes. Yes. And so I did that sermon, that message and in several places. And then I did a different version of them. And pretty soon people said, what you tell us about anti-Semitism. We had no idea. Have you written the book? And I said, no, I'm not a writer.
Here we are, five books later. But it's how I got developed. You know, I started research for my first book. And for seven years, I gathered research. And in 07, it came out. Well, there's much more to Olivier's story. And we'll get to it in just a moment as you stay with us now on First Person.
I'm Ed Cannon. The Far East Broadcasting Company partners with First Person because we celebrate the stories of people everywhere who have given their lives to Christ and serve Him. Our broadcasters in 50 countries of the world hear stories every day of people whose lives are transformed by the gospel and who have
faithfully been taught God's Word. In addition to First Person, I'm pleased that Wayne and I host a podcast, and we invite you to join us. Listen to Until All Have Heard at febc.org. That's febc.org. My guest is Olivier Melnick of Chosen People Ministries, and of course, we'll put information in our program notes, not only about Chosen People and Olivier, but also his books that we started to talk about a few moments ago.
Tell me about that. You said you've written five books. What's the most recent book and what is the topic? The most recent book is actually a very small book called The Time Is Now, Seven Steps Christians Should Take to Help the Jewish People. It's a follow-up, really, to one of my most important books called End Times Antisemitism.
In End Times Antisemitism, I put 20 years of research and I bring it to today and what's happening today. And I keep telling people we have to be watching. This is happening again. It's going to get worse. But I really never give people a whole lot of information about what to do. I tell them this is what happened. This is what's happening now. This is what's going to get even worse. In this little book, which is only about 100 pages long,
it's practical ways that Gentile Christians can use to make a difference in the life of their Jewish friends, including helping them, protecting them, but of course, all of that in the context of sharing the gospel. All right. Well, as I said, we'll put a link in our program notes at firstpersoninterview.com, so check that out. But take us to school for a few minutes. We don't have time to unpack at all. There's so much here.
But take us to school for a few moments and help us understand the issue of anti-Semitism. Well, the issue of anti-Semitism, well, first of all, let's start with a short definition. Anti-Semitism is the irrational hatred of Jewish people characterized by thoughts, words, and deeds.
or any combination of the three. And it's been going on since the Jewish people existed. The source of it, to put it in a nutshell, the source of it is Satan who hates the Jews and wants to destroy them. And he's done a great job at trying over the centuries. Atheism has been going on
for at least over 2,000 years, it's morphed over the years, over the centuries. It used to be theological differences at the closing of the canon of the Bible. It became historical, all the way to the Holocaust when it became a racial issue when we have to destroy the Jews. It's an evil race that has to be destroyed. That's what Hitler was promoting.
And then after the Second World War, within 20 years, you know, after the rebirth of Israel in 48, we have this new anti-Semitism that was born, which now includes anti-Israel, anti-Zionism. It's the same thing in a different package, but it's the hatred of the Jews and the...
The agenda is to destroy the Jews. It's evil. It's evil. And it comes from so many different ways. Satan is basically subcontracting it to so many different groups. I think we all understand historical anti-Semitism, but it lives today, doesn't it? This is a huge concern. Just this week in the news, I read about a school district where the students were being encouraged to learn alternative views to the Holocaust. And unfortunately, that happened in the state I just moved to in Texas.
Yes, and I'm actually, this will be the topic of my next article on my site, newantisemitism.com, looking at, you know, what does it mean? What is an alternate view of the Holocaust? I mean... Well, how does it manifest itself today?
in our day? It can be as simple as somebody calling a Jew something like a greedy Jew or a Jew who wants to take over the world. Those are all lies that I talk about in my book, End Times Antisemitism. But it can also be in the BDS movement, the Boycott Divestment Sanction movement, where people say we should not invest in Israel and people who help invest, we should not do business with them. And it comes in all
all flavors. It comes on American campuses where people are not letting Jewish groups have a voice, but they invite pro-Palestinian groups. It comes in the news. It comes in the media. Again, it's cloaked in this
false narrative of we want to, you know, it's anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, which is not anti-Semitism. That's what you hear. But really, at the end of the day, it's the same thing. The goal is to destroy the Jewish people. Yeah. When you're asked how to balance the debate in the pro-Palestinian position with pro-Israeli and all that, I mean, what's the quick answer to all that? I know that's a much, much involved issue, but what's your answer? The reality is that both Jews and Palestinians need Jesus. Right.
They both need the same Jesus, the same way. There's only one way to the Father is through the Son. So that's the bottom line. Looking at the Palestinian, they have been used and abused by their own leadership. There's no, and I don't say this as a racist statement, but there's no such thing as a Palestinian people.
It doesn't mean these people are not real. They don't exist. They do, but they come from all the countries around Israel that they should have gone back to when Israel became a country, a modern nation in 1948, if they wanted to, but they were not allowed to go back. So they became forced, by force, they became proletarians.
political refugees and now the narrative has been pushed for 50 years. Now it's no longer is it true, is it not true? Now it's like the world believes that the Palestinians have been displaced and the Jews are colonizers. Nobody's asking the question anymore.
It's a double standard. We need to educate people about it. Yeah, and this is something we need to study and think about. And this is why you're so valuable to us because you've done a lot of research. One resource that you have that I haven't even mentioned yet is your YouTube channel.
where you take these issues and it provides a great education for someone who wants to go a little deeper. Of course, you have your books, but the YouTube channel, what kind of reaction are you getting to that? I'm getting some really good feedback on the YouTube channel. I do several things on it. I do a daily one-minute devotional, which is very short to the point with one verse that I get through my devotion in the morning. But I also do some teachings. I've done teachings on the Feast of Israel. I have one on what is Palestine. I have...
several on BDS. And, and so they're, they're not very long because you know, as well as I do that today's audience, uh, as a, as a reduced attention span people, we know we, we, the, the, the, the age of communication, the age of the internet, we want something now we want it fast. We want it brief. And so, uh, I, I, I try to condense something and some in a video that won't be too long, but it's really a great resource. I keep adding every day and every week.
If people type my name, Olivier Melnick, today through Jewish eyes, they'll find me. Well, I'm glad to provide a bit of a platform for them to learn about what you're doing with Chosen People Ministries and with your books and YouTube channel. I think it's something very important for all of us. What is the goal that you have for the rest of your life, Olivier? What would you like to do?
Another simple question. I'm good at that, aren't I? You're very good at simple questions. The goal for the rest of my life, my passion is to see more of my people, the Jewish people, come to a saving knowledge of their Messiah. I prayed for 28 years for my parents to come to the Lord, and I was able, by the grace of God, to lead both of them to the Lord today.
The same day, the same day, about nine years ago. Incredible story. And I did not expect that. We should have talked the whole time about that. If you ever want to do another show, I'll tell you the story and I'll cry again as I tell it.
It's an incredible story, but I don't want people to give up praying for their Jewish friends. I don't want people to give up witnessing to them. We Jewish people are very stubborn, but we need Jesus. My goal in life is until the Lord calls me to him, either through death here or the rapture, whichever he decides to do, I want to share the hope that is in me of the
the message of eternal life through the gospel, through the, uh, the, our connection by believing that, you know, uh, Yeshua is the Messiah and he died for our sins and rose again. All right. Just one more thing before I let you go here, you've written the most recent book on helping us relate and, uh, represent Jesus and witness for Jesus to our friends. Uh,
What's one thing that we can do? Where should we start? Where should we... Well, one thing that you can do is, I think, is educate yourself on the history of the Jewish people and the history of anti-Semitism because there is a tremendous, tremendous amount of baggage that Christians carry unbeknownst to them because of previous things that were done by the church and
So as a Christian, as a non-Jewish Gentile Christian, you come to the table and your Jewish friend is going to go like, very, very careful. Like, are you talking to me about Jesus? But what about the Holocaust? What about the Crusades? What about the Inquisition? What about the Reformation? And most Christians don't like, they go like, what about it? So education, I think, is very important. I think I would start right there. Olivier, a few moments ago, you told me the story of leading your parents to Christ and
Are you willing to come back next week and tell me that story? Can we continue this conversation? I would love to, because when I tell a story, people are encouraged. So that's exactly what we will do on First Person. Next time, Olivier Melnick will return and tell us the full story of leading his own parents, secular Jews who are still reeling from the Holocaust, to faith in Christ. In the meantime, please visit FirstPersonInterview.com to learn more about Olivier, his family, and his ministry with Chosen People Ministries.
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Now, with thanks to my friend and producer Joe Carlson, I'm Wayne Shepherd. Join us next time for First Person.