Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! My guest is Eden Spring.
From Oneness Pentecostalism to Torah: Eden Spring’s Testimony on Sabbath, Dreams, and Returning to Covenant
Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews Eden Spring, who shares her journey from growing up Oneness Pentecostal in Indiana, leaving church to live a partying lifestyle, and later being drawn back to God through prayer, Scripture, and vivid dreams. Eden describes dedicating her son after a night of intense intercession that coincided with her childhood pastor feeling prompted to do the same. During COVID, conspiracy research and Bible reading led her to wrestle with Jeremiah 30–31, the New Covenant, Israel/Judah, and eventually Torah observance, including Sabbath and feasts, along with rejecting holidays she saw as rooted in idolatry. She recounts deliverance from nicotine, personal convictions about modesty, and dreams she believes revealed themes like leaving “father’s house,” the harlot system, and the regathering of Israel. Stephanie and Eden discuss balancing Word and Spirit, humility, loving others, and following Yeshua, affirming His divinity.
Host Stephanie interviews Rico Cortez of Wisdom in Torah Ministries, who describes learning Torah since 1998 as a “cheat code” that brought structure, healing, and a clearer way to please God after painful church experiences. He explains how his background in professional baseball, scouting, coaching, and decades of martial arts shaped his teaching discipline, humility, and shift away from competition and “conspiracy” topics toward helping others approach God rightly.
They discuss identity struggles for believers “grafted in” between Christianity and Judaism, advocating gentle, non-argumentative communication. Cortez emphasizes reading Scripture through Ancient Near Eastern and honor-shame cultural lenses (e.g., nakedness, Exodus, Joseph, David, turning the other cheek), and outlines a deep focus on Leviticus and blood/atonement themes to better understand Yeshua, the priesthood, and end-times altar defilement. He invites viewers to his YouTube, Telegram, and weekly Shabbat teachings, noting travel to 39 countries.
Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews Ken Rank, an elder at Beit Minorah and longtime Hebraic-leaning Christian, about reading the whole Bible with first-century Jewish context and how New Testament writers frequently draw from the Old Testament.
They discuss division and toxicity in Hebrew roots and sacred-name debates, urging patience, humility, and focusing on weightier matters. Ken addresses whether Yeshua/Jesus is in the Old Testament, pointing to manifestations such as the Word (Logos/Memra), the angel of the Lord, Abraham’s visitor, the burning bush, and the fourth man in the fire, and connects New Testament claims to Old Testament passages (John the Baptist “prepare the way,” Isaiah 35, and “first and last”). They also discuss prayer, the Trinity analogy, God’s ability to take forms, the meaning of “name” as character/authority and applying knowledge through service.
Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! My guest is Melissa Schilling Smith!
Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews Melissa Schilling Smith (“God’s Little Hummingbird”), a Bible/Torah teacher and content creator, about her testimony and the Hebrew-roots/Torah movement. Melissa describes Levite (Cohen) family history, Jewish identity hidden through persecution, and a turning point involving severe illness after eating shellfish, followed by fasting, study in Leviticus and Jeremiah, and conviction about Sabbath, food laws, and rejecting pagan traditions like Christmas and Easter. She links a modern “Ephraim awakening” to prophecies about scattered Israel and argues Shavuot/Pentecost reflects Israel’s restoration and the Spirit enabling obedience to Torah per Ezekiel and Jeremiah’s renewed covenant. They discuss Torah as defining love and freedom, Paul and Yeshua teaching from Torah and prophets, and Melissa’s concerns in the movement, including denying Yeshua’s divinity, divisive debates, Hebrew misuse, pride, slander of Jews, and neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
Welcome to Grafted: Jewish Roots of Christianity! Host Stephanie Pavlantos interviews researcher, author, and Biblical Hebrew instructor Jeff Benner.
Jeff is the founder of the Ancient Hebrew Research Center and the membership site Excavating the Bible, which offers tiered masterclasses from “Bible reader” to “Bible translator.”
Benner argues the Bible is best understood through the language and concrete worldview of its Hebrew authors and says translations often “pave over” Hebraic nuance. He gives examples: tikva as “rope/hope,” nefesh as “creature/soul,” and a Hebrew term rendered “for” that he says literally means “under/in place of,” affecting “life for life.” He discusses word origins, gendered nouns, and re-readings of the Aaronic blessing, “name” as character, and “image” as shadow. Benner recounts lesser-known Dead Sea Scrolls history, access controversies, and how the scrolls confirm textual stability while restoring missing material such as an acrostic verse in Psalm 145.
