FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Nazarene Israel publishes a free weekly electronic newsletter, to keep you informed as to the latest developments in the Ingathering of the Lost Ten Tribes.

If you want to sign up for the free newsletter, please fill in the form below.

May the Name of YHWH be glorified in all the earth.

ABOUT THE GENERAL OVERSEER

Norman B. Willis
servant@nazareneisrael.org

Shalom, Nazarene.

Sometimes people want to know more about me, so that they can put a name and a face to the words they read, whether in our books, or in our emails. 

I really dislike the spotlight, and the apostles did not spend much time writing about themselves.  However, some people have expressed that they will feel more comfortable about what I write once they know who I am, and how I got called to this work.  It is for them that I write this.

I was born in 1963, in the greater Seattle area. My earliest memory of religious things is that of praying when I was seven.  I remember being on my knees by my bedside, praying until I could not kneel any more that YHWH would make me like His Son.  I kept on praying until I just could not kneel any longer.  I kept praying that no matter what, YHWH (whom I called ‘God’ at the time) would do whatever it took to conform me to the image and likeness of His Son (whom at that time I called ‘Jesus’).

As a young man, my earthly father admonished me to study hard, and to do as well as I could in school, so I always worked as hard as I could at my schoolwork.  I was a very happy child, and every weekend we would go out on camping or fishing or hunting trips somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

On Sundays we went to the Methodist Church.  For some reason it seemed like the children in the Methodist Church were meaner than the children outside of the church, and so when my parents got divorced (when I was nine), I began to ask myself what good Christianity was, if it did not keep my parents together, and if the children were all mean.  As a boy nine years old, I did not understand that even if Yeshua’s followers do not always do the right thing, it is not necessarily a reflection on the faith.  However, since I did not understand that, I stopped going to church.

Even though I stopped going to church, I still believed in the Father in heaven, and I prayed to the Father that He would cause me to live my life like His Son had lived his.  I wanted to make a sacrifice with my life that would help others.  Thanks and praise to YHWH, He answers prayers.

My Early Years

My earthly dad had taught me to do as well as I could in school, and when I turned eleven, the government schools began teaching us about Darwin, and Evolution.  I looked up to my teachers, and I believed what I was told.  Then I began to wonder that if Evolution was true, then Genesis could not be true; and if Genesis was not true, then how much of the rest of Scripture was not true?

Evolution was the most damaging lie that anyone has ever taught me.  Now that I am grown, I can see how ridiculous Evolution’s premises are.  It breaks every law of science known to man, and it requires all sorts of things that are conceptually impossible.  However, because I was taught to believe Evolution as a child, I was not yet able to spot the logical flaws in Evolutions premises.

More than anything else, Evolution was what caused me to fall away from the Father.

The Military

Although the government schools had basically taught me not to believe in the Creator, I still wanted to make a sacrifice for others.  Since my parents raised me to be patriotic, it was only natural for me to turn to military service.

From the age of twelve, I began dreaming of becoming an officer in the U.S. Army Special Forces.  I joined a search-and-rescue group called the Civil Air Patrol, and became as active as I could.  I spent much of my youth learning the basics of woodland survival, and paramilitary search-and-rescue operations.

After graduating high school, I joined the U.S. Army ROTC at the University of Washington.  They had a special simultaneous membership program by which a cadet could also join a reserve unit, so I joined the 12th Special Forces Reserves while I was still in college.  While still in college I completed the U.S. Army Airborne School, and then graduated the Special Forces Officer’s Qualification Course as the officer honor graduate. 

Still wanting to serve my country, I requested assignment to the independent light airborne infantry brigade in the Republic of Panama, as an airborne infantry officer.  On my way to my first assignment, I became the Distinguished Honor Graduate of my Infantry Officer’s Basic Course.

The Quest for Spirituality:

It was in Panama that my life changed.  I had always taken an interest in spiritual matters, but in Panama I first began to understand that Satan controls the world.  However, without understanding Scripture, I had no tools with which to deal with this knowledge.

When I first arrived on the Isthmus of Panama, I was told that the Panamanians were our friends and allies, so I went out and made friends with the Panamanian people.  I even fell in love with a young Panamanian woman whose brother was in the Panamanian Defense Forces.

The official U.S. Government story was that the conflict in Panama was about Panamanian President Manuel Noriega’s drug running into the United States.  However, it was common knowledge in our battalion that Noriega had been running drugs into the United States in conjunction with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.  Even more confusing was the fact that the war on Panama was being led by President George Bush, who had been the head of the CIA at the time Noriega had been running drugs with the CIA.

As an idealistic young man, I had some real challenges with what was happening in Panama.  It was completely nonsensical to indict Manuel Noriega for running drugs into our own country, when he had been doing so in conjunction with George Bush’s CIA.  It was like arresting someone for smuggling with you.

It was clear to me that the charge of drug smuggling was only a red herring (a decoy tactic) designed to confuse the people, and to lead them away from what was really going on.

The real issue was that the United States wanted to renegotiate the 1977 Carter-Torrijos Canal Treaty, which gave sovereignty over the Panama Canal and the U.S. military bases to Panama.  However, that Noriega’s drug-running with George Bush’s CIA would be sold to the public through the mainstream news media got me asking some very large questions.  I took the issue very seriously, because it occurred to me that my own government was quite probably going to kill the brother of the woman I loved. 

The whole thing made no sense.  It occurred to me that Protestants were going to kill Catholics.  Christians were going to kill other Christians, and the real story was being intentionally concealed from the public under the guise of drug-running.  It led me to a real crisis point in my life.

I began searching for answers, but since my government had taught me that the Scriptures were incorrect, I felt like I had to look elsewhere for answers.  Then my company commander taught me about Eastern mysticism, and divination.

Since I had been trained in Western science my whole life, I was at first very skeptical that mysticism and divination were real.  However, to my surprise, when I consulted the oracles, I seemed to get real results.  I kept trying to consult the oracle to prove it was groundless, but after about the twentieth time and I still got uncanny results, I began to stop doubting.

The turn to embracing divination was one of the darkest periods of my life.  Divination is spiritual disaster, but when one’s government teaches one not to believe in Scripture, it becomes very easy to get swept up in the excitement of divination.

After the Military

I left the army with an honorable discharge as a captain.  Returning to college, I became very involved in social work, and social action, and began to prepare for my longtime dream of becoming a psychologist.  After being accepted to a Ph.D. program in the Bay Area, I relocated, and got ready to do the work.

I was very excited to get my doctorate, but curiously, as the program drew nearer, I began to draw nearer to Scripture.  Looking back, I can see that I was being drawn towards the Messiah without even knowing it.  Because I was seeking spiritual Truth, He was drawing me nearer to Him, even though I knew nothing of Him.

Difficult Decisions

When I visited the psychology institute again, I shared some of my newfound spiritual convictions with the faculty, and was surprised when they told me that Judeo-Christianity was not welcome at the school.  I could not see the advantage of going to a school that pretended to consider all the scientific evidence fairly and impartially, when in fact the faculty was intentionally screening against Judeo-Christian belief.  It seemed completely un-scientific.

As much as I wanted a doctorate, I realized that spending four years in a school that intentionally closed its eyes to the Scripture would only be four years spent in a school that closed its eyes to the truth.  Therefore it seemed better just to strike out on my own, and seek the Spirit directly.

Turning Points

While I was still in the Army, I had studied the classical Eastern spiritual texts.  After leaving the Army I had begun to disciple under a Korean Zen Buddhist monk who was living in the West.

In 1998, my Zen master publicly acknowledged that I had attained full enlightenment.  He offered me ordination, as well as the position of Head Disciple within his monastery.  However, as much of an honor as being offered the title of Head Disciple, I could not go through with it.  Even though I had become ‘enlightened,’ I found something terribly wrong with my Zen master’s ethics.

In the study Joseph’s Return, we explain that Hindu and Zen Buddhism probably descends from Avraham’s other sons, who were sent away eastward, to the Land of the East.  There are therefore many parallels between Buddhism and Judeo-Christianity, since all of these faiths ultimately descend from Avraham.  However, I never saw the same attitude of selfless sacrifice exhibited in Buddhism as one sees in Judeo-Christianity.  The Buddhists talk about transcending the ‘self,’ but in the end, their focus is only on themselves (rather than on Yeshua).

Many psychologists and New Age people will tell you that Buddhism holds the promise of peace for all mankind.  However, as an ex- supposedly ‘enlightened’ Zen Buddhist, I can tell you first hand that Buddhism does not hold any of the same potential as the Nazarene Israelite faith.  The proof of this is easily seen.  If we look at the world, we find that historically Judeo-Christian nations are relatively wealthy, powerful, prosperous, and the people are free.  However, in the historically Hindu and Buddhist nations, the people have difficulty.

There are some exceptions to this rule (such as Japan and South Korea), but this is only because these nations adopted Judeo-Christian style constitutions.  Even though Gandhi was a Hindu, he admitted that he had originally been inspired by Yeshua.

New Directions

Since I was frustrated by the institutions that I had always placed my faith in, I felt I was going to have to seek out the things of the Spirit directly.  I decided I would just have to follow my inner compass, and see where it took me.  Rather than place my faith in an institution, I realized I was going to have to seek the Spirit, and do as the Spirit led me to do.  This was probably one of the most difficult, yet most important, decisions I ever made.  However, it was when I made the decision to place spiritual matters ahead of everything else that YHWH really began to bless me.

Within weeks of my decision to pursue the things of the Spirit, I received the second of four prophetic dreams I have been given, which told me that I would relocate to Northeast Washington State, and that there I would finish writing a book.  Although I knew the dream was important (in that it was unlike any other dream I had ever had), I disregarded it.  That was very dumb.  I knew this dream was important and yet I said to myself, “I don’t want to go to Northeast Washington State.  It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  Why would I want to go there?”

I was to learn the first of many lessons about obedience.  When YHWH puts a call on your life, you can go the easy way, or the hard way.  However, because of my hard-headedness, I would have to go the hard way that time.

Days of Reckoning

Despite having been indoctrinated to believe in Evolution, my faith in Scripture nevertheless grew stronger.  It was a strange time.  Having been raised as a Christian, I could not understand that both the Old and the New Covenants were true.  It did not make sense to me.

Though I began to check into the New Covenant, I resisted the Laws of Moses.  I got such astonishing results from divination that I could not see why the Laws of Moses would prohibit them.  It did not occur to me at that time that just because something is ‘spiritual’ does not necessarily mean that it is good.

Worse, since I was not yet saved, I did not understand the requirement to obey the government appointed over us, as commanded in Romans Chapter Thirteen.  Because of what I had seen in the military, and because of what I knew to be true about the nature of mankind, I feared the ever-increasing role that government plays in the peoples’ lives.  The government seemed to be encroaching on the people’s rights under the U.S. Constitution. 

Because I was not saved, and because I did not understand the Post-Millennial concept, eventually I got caught up in protests against the U.S. government, and their infringements on the people’s Second Amendment freedoms.

The Aftermath of Protest

Because I did not understand the need to obey the governments appointed over us, I got involved in a protest against local government infringements on the Second Amendment that spun totally out of control, and ended in my being saved.

Because of what I had seen in Panama, I had developed post-traumatic stress due to my fears of the government.  One evening after a neighborhood party (in which I had become badly intoxicated) I suffered a post-traumatic stress break.  I was completely blacked out, and do not remember much about the incident, except that at some point I picked up the telephone, and all of the hurt and anger and fear of the government came gushing out at a 9-1-1 operator (and went right onto a tape recording).  I am told that I said some incredibly frightened, fearful things, and that I threatened the government to ‘back off,’ and stop taking away the people’s civil liberties, ‘or else.’  I also informed the operator that I had guns, and that ‘no one had better try to take them away from me.’

In retrospect, the whole thing made no sense.  Why call the government, and threaten the government to leave you alone, because you are afraid of what they are doing?  It just makes no sense.

For his part, the county sheriff thought he had a terrorist, and rolled the SWAT team.  A friend of mine (who was friends with the SWAT team members) later told me that the Sheriff had given the SWAT team orders to (quote) “take him (meaning me) out,” because I was challenging the sheriff’s authority to take away the people’s rights under the Second Amendment.

The incident that follows is difficult to describe.  When the SWAT team arrived, I surrendered into their custody, but was nonetheless thrown to the ground and was held by five officers, while a sixth one beat me repeatedly in the back of the head.  Believing that I was going to die, I called out to YHWH for help.  Suddenly a gold-colored energy filled my head, as if my entire skull became filled with flowing, molten gold-colored electric energy.  Although I had been in utter panic the moment before, it was so beautiful that the thought I was going to die no longer mattered to me.

It is difficult to describe, but as I lay there face-down on the ground, waiting to die, when the next blow came, it was as if the golden energy funneled itself out the back of my head, and into the officer’s hand.  The last blow did not hurt at all.  At that moment, the officer’s hand broke.

That was June the 6th, 1999.  I knew instinctively Who it was who had saved me.  I had called out to ‘G-d’ for help, and He had answered me, even though I had called Him by the wrong name.  It was also clear that whoever ‘G-d’ was, I owed Him the rest of my life.  From there I only had to figure out Who He was, what He wanted, and then I had to figure out how to do what He said.

Studies from the Word:

While in the jail, I began reading Romans Chapter Thirteen.  My whole attitude towards the government was very defiant up until that point, but upon reading Romans Chapter Thirteen, I realized that I had been so very wrong.  Shaul (Paul) wrote Romans Chapter Thirteen to the Romans while Nero was emperor in Rome.  And yet, Shaul told the Romans that the authorities that are appointed are put there by Elohim. 

Because it was clear to me that YHWH had miraculously saved my life, I also knew that whatever Scripture said, I had to do it.  I remember telling myself that whatever Scripture said, it was right and I was wrong, and no matter how hard it was, I prayed that the Father would cause me to understand His Word.

When reading through the Good News, I still felt convinced in my heart that I had been right in protesting against the government.  I felt that the government was wrong, and that I had actually been involved in a noble effort to preserve the same freedoms that our forefathers had died for.  Then I got to Romans Chapter Thirteen:

Romans 13:1-7
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from Elohim, and the authorities that exist are appointed by Elohim.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of Elohim, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
4 For he is Elohim's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is Elohim's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are Elohim's ministers attending continually to this very thing.
7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Reading Romans Thirteen was like hitting a wall.  I remember backing up a few pages, so I could try to get a run at it.  Still, because I knew that if there was any discrepancy, Scripture was right (and I was not), on the fourth or fifth try, it finally sank in that what I had done was utterly wrong.  It was from this experience that I first realized that the act of salvation, the act of becoming broken, and the act of being filled with His Spirit were three separate events.

The Command:

After being broken in my spirit (so I could be filled with His Spirit), I began praying daily that YHWH would show me what He wanted me to do, and that He would cause me to do it.  Then, about three days before being released from the jail, YHWH spoke to me in an audible voice.  He said, “I’m giving you one last chance: You had better take the ball, and run with it.” 

I remember being scared out of my mind, staring fixedly at the place on the wall from where the voice emerged.  I had no idea what it meant to “take the ball, and run with it.”  All I knew then was that it was Elohim (G-d) who had spoken to me, and that because I owed Him the rest of my life, I had to figure out what He wanted me to do, and then do it.

However, there are some things that now make sense to me:

The Move to Washington

While still in the jail, the sheriff’s deputies made it pretty clear that if I chose to stay in Santa Cruz County, they would see to it that I would end up in prison for the rest of my life.  One officer told me that I was a “marked man.” 

Basically, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department was running me out of the county.  I had two choices: relocate to Washington State (where I was born), or else spend the rest of my life in prison.  It was not a difficult choice to make.

Once I had relocated to Washington State, I set out to discover what YHWH wanted from me.  Since I knew it was Him who had saved me, I had no doubts that the ‘Old Testament’ was true.  However, I still did not know at that time whether or not the ‘New Testament’ was true.

I had been raised as a Christian.  If my job was to “take the ball and run with it,” then I could not just assume that the Christianity I had been raised with was correct.  Rather, I had to put everything I had ever been taught aside, and read from Scripture alone, and figure out what it really said.  Then once I knew what it really said, that was the religion I would have to practice…whatever that was.

The first step was to prove from the Old Testament alone, whether or not Yeshua (Jesus) was really the Messiah.  Thankfully, that was not too difficult (and we explain how to do that in the Nazarene Israel study).

What does the Messiah want?

Once I could show from the Old Testament that Yeshua was the Messiah, the next question was, ‘Which Christian denomination is the right one?’  Basically I wanted to know which Church I should join.

It only made sense that if there were hundreds of different denominations, then at the very most, only one of them could be practicing the faith that Yeshua had delivered to the apostles.  But which one was it?

The more I studied, the more I realized that none of the established churches were practicing the faith once delivered to the saints.  Not only that, but not even Christianity was the original faith of the Apostles.

Basically, there were several groups that followed Yeshua: the Nazarenes, the Christians, the Gnostics, the Ebionites, and so forth.  Each one of these had their own particular take on Yeshua’s teachings.  However, as we show in the Nazarene Israel study, the disciples were called ‘Nazarenes.’

The Nazarenes both believed on Yeshua, and kept the Laws of Moses.  That is very different from Christianity, which teaches that Yeshua (or ‘Jesus’) came to do away with the Laws of Moses.

Since the Christian version of the faith was much easier to keep, it spread much faster than the Nazarene Israelite faith did.  Then, three hundred years after Yeshua, the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as their official religion.

After the Roman Empire made Christianity their official religion, they began a systematic campaign of exterminating all other variations of the faith, including the original Nazarene faith.  All of this is explained in the Nazarene Israel study.

Building the Stick

After YHWH showed me the truth of the Post-Millennial Return of Yeshua, I came to the realization that since Yeshua was not going to gather us all back to the Land of Israel supernaturally (as in a cloud), it was important for me to go to the Land of Israel, and see what preparations could be made for the coming reunification of the Two Houses. While it was going to be YHWH who brought His people back home, He was going to do it through other people. For that reason, it seemed important to go to the Old City, and learn first hand what life was like among our Orthodox Jewish brothers.

Just prior to the relocation to Israel (in 2003), I felt I needed to take the name Yosef ben Ruach. I did this for a number of reasons.  Perhaps the most important of these was that I had been told that most Messianic Jews in Israel keep their faith ‘in the closet.’  Mostly this is done out of fear of persecution.

The power of the Orthodox establishment in Jerusalem is very great.  It is not uncommon to hear of believers losing their jobs (or being unable to get jobs) when their employers (or potential employers) find out they believe.  However, even at that I was astonished when several Messianic Jews also counseled me to keep my faith in Yeshua ‘in the closet,’ on the premise that it would help me to “move about more freely.”  They stressed how much pressure there would be to deny my faith in Yeshua, if the Orthodox there knew what I believe.

Praying about this advice at that time, I felt that it would be very bad for me to be silent about my faith.  Even if it cost me my life, I felt I could not remain silent about my faith, as Yeshua tells us that whosoever denies Him before men, He will deny before His Father in heaven.

Mattai (Matthew) 10:33
33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. 

I was headed to the Old City, basically alone.  I knew I would be greatly outnumbered there, and would be subjected to tremendous pressure to deny Yeshua.  I knew it would be exceedingly important for me not to ‘shrink back’ for any reason, but to stand up for my belief in Yeshua.  At that time, it seemed that it would be a good idea for me to take the name ‘Yosef Ben Ruach,’ as it would leave me no choice but to stand up for what I believed.

The name did force me to be up front about who I was, and what I believed, and it did force me to stand up for my faith during times that the pressure to shrink back was very great.  However, now that I am stronger in the faith, I realize that I do not need to rely on a name any more.  Therefore, upon returning from Israel, when my mother and father asked me to change my name back to my given birth name, it only seemed right to honor their request by changing my name back to Norman B. Willis.

I have also come to recognize that Mark, Luke, Timothy, Cornelius, Philemon, and others in the Renewed Covenant still used their non-Hebrew names, even long after they had professed Yeshua. Therefore, I do not endorse the policy of taking a Hebrew name.

It was a blessing to be in Israel for as long as I was. I can see YHWH’s wisdom in allowing me to go to Jerusalem for some time, and then bringing me back home.  The Hebraic culture is very different from the Western culture, and by giving me almost two years’ exposure to that culture, YHWH was essentially showing me some of the things that Ephraim would have to learn, so that the Ephraimites could prepare for the Ingathering. 

Once I had seen the things that YHWH wanted me to see, then He brought me back into the midst of Ephraim, so that I could better be used to do the work of building the Stick of Ephraim (from inside of Ephraim).

Personal Data

In 2002 CE (6002 from creation) I took both a nazirite vow and a celibate vow.  When I first ran across the Nazirite Vow, I had no idea what it was about.  It just looked like a commandment not to eat grapes, and not to cut one’s hair.  However, I knew that there had to be some reason it was there in Scripture.

When I was seven I had prayed that YHWH would make me like His Son, and I had wasted so much time in the mean time, that if there was an extra vow that a man could take, then I felt that I needed to be taking it, just to make up for all the lost time.  So I took the Nazirite Vow, and the Celibate Vow, and figured that I would figure out what they were for later.  Since that time, I have come to understand that these two vows are essentially related, and they are the vows to work for His Kingdom full time.

(For more information about the Nazirite Vow and the Celibate Vow, please see, ‘Yeshua the Celibate Nazirite,’ available on the Free Studies page, or in volume one of Nazarene Scripture Commentary.)

I am very optimistic about the coming Ingathering.  If we understand the prophecies correctly, the next twenty or thirty years should see the Jews and the Christians coming together as one, in a greatly expanded Millennial Land of Israel.  It promises to be a challenging and tumultuous time, but also a very happy and exciting time.  It will be a wonderful blessing when all of the ancient prophecies come true, and the Ephraimite people are brought back to the Covenant, and back to the Land of Israel.

Relocating to Rural Northern California

Although I am originally from the Seattle area, and although I tend to prefer cooler weather, when I was asked to leave Israel, I automatically knew I would move to rural Northern California, because that was where my assistant was.

My assistant (Joan Bedwell) and I met in 2002, when she was seeking advice on a personal family issue.  Ever since that time she has offered help and support to the ministry.  She has handled the book distribution and office filing since 2005, and she generally makes herself invaluable.  It only made sense that I would relocate to the same area as her, so that we could collaborate more effectively.

Even in rural California, housing is not cheap.  I would not have chosen to live here on my own.  However, Joan got a loan on a house, which she then donated to Nazarene Israel.  At present, we have sort of an ‘Elisha apartment’ situation.  She and her two children live on one side of the house, while I live on the other side of the house (in an ‘in-law add on,’ on the other side of the office).

Initially I did not want to live in the same house, so as to avoid the appearance of evil.  (I also did not want to live in a hot climate.)  However, with a limited budget, I have to recognize that this is what YHWH provided, and I am extremely thankful that He provided a dwelling place through my assistant.  I take comfort in the fact that both Elijah and Elisha dwelt with widows, at YHWH’s will.

Not having children of my own, I sometimes can miss out on all of the many wonderful lessons of parenthood.  Being in close proximity to my assistant’s children allows me to experience first-hand some of the wonderful good times, and the wonderful learning challenges that any parent faces.  It gives me a much better sense of what the average Ephraimite family goes through in trying to keep their children pure in a world that is not pure, than if I continued to dwell alone.

YHWH is very wonderful, and He provides as He wills.  I am thankful that He has chosen this worthless and broken vessel to have any part in His work.  May His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven, and may His great name be glorified.

Shalom,

Norman

Sign up for the English newsletter here: