Featured Interview: Ken Heidebrecht
Ken Heidebrecht lives in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is a land of historic lighthouses, vibrant music, and wine. How fitting for a man whose mission in life is spreading the good news of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Ken shepherds two ministry efforts — Hanging On His Words and Mountains Into The Sea — both of which can be found on YouTube. It is my belief that Ken is part of a younger generation of men who our Messiah has raised up to challenge false doctrine. When you survey his online catalogue of teaching videos, and listen to his music, several things become crystal clear:
- He is not afraid to tackle contentious religious topics
- He has a gift for making the complex understandable
- He loves Scripture
- He loves people
Although we have yet to meet face-to-face, I feel as if I know him. (Yah has a way of bringing believers together that way.) We connected via email over a year ago when he reached out after reading a copy of our book The Gospel Worth Dying For. Our purpose behind writing the book was to pull together all the pieces of the Gospel of the Kingdom message in one place. Ken’s endorsement served as a witness that what we had written was cohesive, comprehensive, and honored our Father in Heaven.
Who Is Ken Heidebrecht?
When you visit Ken’s ministry channels, subscriber comments echo my impression of this remarkable brother in the faith. Here are just a few of the reactions he gets from followers and supporters from all over the world:
As one of thousands who has been profoundly impacted by Ken’s ministry, I was curious to know more about him — his background, challenges, and outlook on life through the lens of the Gospel. He graciously responded to my request for an interview.
Brenda: We are told that the Word of Yah is a mirror, reflecting the true condition of our soul. When you gaze into that mirror, who do you see?
Ken: When I gaze into that mirror I see two things. I see a man who continues to age through the frailty of mortality (which is why I need Jesus to resurrect me), but also a man whose appearance slowly reflects the character of God’s Son each time he approaches the mirror. I try to approach the mirror in light of how James constructs his teaching in the first chapter of his brief epistle. When I keep practicing the commandments of God (which is what doing the Word means in his letter), I can leave the washroom after looking at myself in the mirror and remember what it is that I looked like in that reflection. If I don’t actually do the good works of the Law, then I will leave the washroom forgetting who it is that I had just seen in the mirror — and worse, others around me won’t recognize who I am either. My life goal is to reflect the light of Christ through my faith AND works, so that the world around me can see the purity of that light and glorify our Father in heaven.
Brenda: Most believers can point to a specific day or experience that convinced them the Bible was true and Messiah real. When did that happen for you?
Ken: I don’t recall ever having a definitive moment where I knew that the Scriptures were true. I grew up reading the Bible and always held a belief in the God of the Bible (though my walk would definitely not reflect that at intermittent stages of my life). There was, however, one particular moment in my life where my faith in Yahweh and His Word was cemented — and that occurred after I reached a very low point in 2012. I cried out to the Father in desperation to know Him more and begged Him to reveal the truth of what life is all about in a tangible and coherent way. Shortly after that prayer, I “stumbled” across certain online ministries that helped open my eyes to truth in Scripture that I had never seen or considered before.
Brenda: You have such a gift for teaching. What led you to start your YouTube ministry Hanging On His Words?
Ken: After Yahweh responded to my prayer in 2012, I began to study His Word more fervently. I craved it like a person who craves a particular food. That passion led to me scouring the internet in an attempt to find others like myself who were studying the Scriptures with fervency, who weren’t afraid to ask good questions, and who could test doctrines without being judgmental and condemning. Over time I met Sean Griffin (Kingdom in Context) on a Facebook chat thread. He noticed my passion and interest in discussion and reached out to me to see if I would be interested in joining a study group that he was a part of. I accepted his invitation, which led to us spending years of studying the Scriptures together. We put to practice the method of iron sharpening iron. Sean decided to start a YouTube channel called Kingdom in Context in 2018 for the purpose of preaching concepts in Scripture that we had both never heard of growing up, but felt were extremely important for the body of Christ to understand. He wanted to reach the masses with the gospel message of the literal Kingdom of God — and I did too. About eight months later, Sean suggested that I also consider starting a channel as he considered me well-versed in the knowledge of God’s Word. I don’t like the spotlight and I don’t like talking on camera. However, I decided that it would be character building for me to try something new and took a step out of my comfort zone. I released my first video in September of 2018 and almost four and a half years later, I can say that I am so thankful that I did. It has been a blessing to hear various testimonies from people saying how the content I have created has blessed, encouraged or helped them. All for the glory of the Father!
Brenda: Your other passion is music. I am amazed at how your lyrics and compositions differ from so-called contemporary Christian and Torah inspired music. Can you elaborate on your process and approach to songwriting?
Ken: When I came into this particular faith walk which involved keeping the covenant commandments of God, comprehending the literal promises of His Kingdom to come, understanding the first resurrection and its timing, acknowledging who the Son of God is and appreciating the various roles that he plays, and the importance of grasping Yahweh’s creation model with all of the intricacies that are interconnected with that — I felt I had to express these ideas through a medium of music.
Music has been a huge passion of mine ever since I picked up my mother’s brush and pretended it was a guitar at age 6. I quickly recognized that our faith community lacked the type of music that touched on all of the aforementioned concepts in their lyrical content and decided to fill that void by writing and recording new music. I was in bands throughout my teen years, and even produced my own secular music as a hobby when I was in college, so my love for music has always been a part of my life.
When I write a song, I start with a guitar part. Then I take that guitar part and come up with a drum beat. Bass and synthesizer/piano pieces follow that process. Then I think about a topic that I would like to communicate lyrically and begin searching for a melody that can accompany the lyrics. Both melody and lyrics fuse together as I listen to the other parts of the song. That’s typically how I write music.
Brenda: The times in which we live seem to be shrouded in doom, gloom, and negativity. However, as believers we are admonished to stay hopeful. In your opinion, how do we do this?
Ken: Reminding myself about the covenant promises of God is what usually helps me snap out of any periods of fear and depressiveness that I’m in. Meditating on the Scriptures that allude to those promises helps a lot. Knowing what the message that God has tried to communicate to mankind is, is imperative if we are going to navigate the dark barriers of this world. When you know Scripture and what the overarching contextual message is, you can possess the type of confidence that the apostles had even in their time of persecution. Believing that Yahweh and His Son are bringing a massive home down through the sky so that we can all live in it forever as resurrected immortals is a great message to hold onto as the days grow shorter and the darkness increases.
Brenda: As a man of faith, what gives you the greatest joy? What are your most profound challenges?
Ken: What gives me the greatest joy is my comprehension of God’s message to us and how that message has effected the lives of others who also believe it. In John 8:31-32, Jesus told those who had believed the message that the Father had given him that, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” As a humbled disciple of God’s Son, I have come to know the truth that he asserted I would receive if I remain in his word as a disciple. I have seen this come true in my life. I feel liberated. Nothing has given me more joy than to understand and believe what my Messiah taught while he walked the earth in mortal flesh. However, my most profound challenge would be the “abiding” part in that text. I can abide now (though I stumble and fall at times), but when faced with intense adversity and persecution, will I go down defending my faith and the authority of my Messiah as Peter attempted to in Gethsemane the night that Jesus was betrayed, or will I succumb to the pressures of Babylon and deny him as Peter also did hours later when Jesus was being held in a mock trial? I’m preparing my mind and my heart to abide for the long run.
Brenda: What is your recipe for perseverance?
Ken: Remaining steadfastly glued to the Word of God and being in some sort of a community with others who also love God is my current recipe for perseverance. We all need fellowship with others who share the same love for the Scriptures, and the God of those Scriptures. We need to be encouraged by our scattered body of fellow believers. We need to lay the infighting aside, and work on edification and lifting each other up. The Adversary wants to divide and conquer. He wants us isolated and fearing everyone and everything. The way that we combat that and persevere will be through the power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of those who can love God and love their fellow brothers and sisters too.
Brenda: What is the best advice you can give someone new to Torah?
Ken: The best advice I can give is — don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Enjoy the journey. The Father opened your eyes and He will guide you along the way. I have been trying my best to keep the instructions of God (Torah) for over 10 years now and I still have a lot to learn. Yahweh knows your heart and knows your desire is to please Him and to love Him the way that He receives love, so don’t be too hard on yourself or others around you who haven’t been awoken to the beauty of His liberating Law. Also, refrain from seeking the council of those within Judaism. I have personally seen people get sucked into that religion of man-made tradition and it defeats the original purpose of trying to keeping Yahweh’s commandments through faith and love.
Brenda: Anything else you would like to share?
Ken: In closing, I would just like to encourage you. You can know the Word that our heavenly Father communicated to His prophets of old. You can comprehend the message that He so desperately wants us all to clue into. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t allow the Enemy to fluster you and kick you while you are down (you will have down times – that’s where Jesus helps us as our High Priest in the tabernacle above). Disciple after the ways of your Messiah and seek a community of believers who share the same passion and love for the Creator as you do. You can do this! It’s God’s will for you to do this! It’s why we were all created in the first place.
I am profoundly grateful for young men like Ken Heidebrecht who encourage brothers and sisters in the faith. It is through their painstaking research, which involves testing Bible canon against ancient books banned by religious gatekeepers, that believers in Messiah have been motivated to test the scriptures for themselves. In doing so we are finally able to see and hear what the Spirit is saying. I believe that when the Gospel of the Kingdom is fully understood and embraced, it will stiffen our resolve to live courageously, righteously, and faithfully.
If you haven’t already, please take time to check out Hanging On His Words and Mountains Into The Sea. Ministries like these deserve our prayers and support. You can support Ken’s efforts financially by clicking on the links below.
