Maria Merola, is the founder of Double Portion Inheritance.
Born August 18, 1960 into an Italian Roman Catholic Family, Maria's parents were both born in Naples Italy, and later came to America after World War II.
Although she is 100% first generation Italian, Maria has had a great love for Israel and the Jewish people since her conversion to the Jewish Messiah, (Yahu'shua) since 1981. But what she did not know until recently in 2007, (when she decided to trace her genealogy through a professional) was that there is Jewish blood in her family lineage on both her mother's side of the family. Maria has now been able to trace her family lineage to the Tribe of Judah of Sepharidic (Spanish) Jewish heritage.
In 1981, Maria was called out of Roman Catholicism into a life of faith in Yahu'shua. She soon recieved the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire with the evidence of speaking with new tongues. This was promised to every believer by Yahu'shua himself as "sign" of the New Covenant (Acts 2, Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16).
Maria believes that when one is "born again" through the blood of Yahu'shua our Messiah, we have his blood (life) in us. Yahu'shua himself told us that if we "eat his flesh and drink his blood" we have his life in us. (John 6:54-56) This means that all of those who are in covenant relationship with Yahu'shua/Jesus (the Jewish Messiah) are made "Jewish" through his heritage!
Maria is by no means teaching what is known as "Replacement Theology." Replacement Theology purports that the natural born Israelites (and the house of Judah/Jews), the collective 12 tribes of Israel (physical descendants of Abraham), are no longer heirs to the promises given to them through Abraham (their father in the faith) largely because of their rejection of Yahu'shua/Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. While Maria strongly does not adhere to this false doctrine, she also does not believe in another false teaching in today's Christian Church called "Dispensationalism."
Dispensationalism teaches that the Christian "Gentile" Church and Israel are two completely different entities, and that God will deal with the "Gentile" Church in what is called "The Church Age" and at a later time, God will then "Rapture" the Christian Church out of the world only for the Jewish people to be "left behind" to suffer in what is called "Jacob's Time of Trouble."
But Jacob's Time of Trouble or what is known as the "Great Tribulation" is a time for all believers, Jew & Gentile to bring in the harvest of souls as they are persecuted by the antichrist one world government and religion for their witness. The purpose of this Time of Trouble is for the believers to be "purified and made white" (Daniel 12:10) while at the same time be that powerful witness in the earth.
Maria has been called to uproot false teaching in the church, and to demonstrate through scripture, that neither of these doctrines, (Replacement Theology & Dispensationalism) are correct.
But rather, the "engrafting" of both the "Gentile" Christian Believers and the Jews (as well as lost Israelite tribes) makeup the "whole" of the 12 Tribes of Israel into ONE OLIVE TREE through Yahu'shua ha'Mashiach (Jesus Christ).
Maria Merola is called by Yahu'shua to teach and preach the message of the kingdom "to the Jew first, and then to the Greek (Gentile)."
As an avid student of the Old and New Testament Scriptures since 1981, and especially eschatology, (end time prophecy), Messianic Prophecy, and doctrine, Maria has a dynamic prophetic teaching anointing.
Maria describes her calling as first and foremost that of a "watchman on the wall" (Ezekiel 3) and a full time prayer intercessor. Maria has recieved the word of YeHoVaH or (YaHuWah in ancient Paleo Hebrew) to be like "Anna the Prophetess" (Luke 2:36) who remained in the temple "day and night" watching and praying for the coming of Messiah.
Out of that ministry of an intercessor, Maria is also called to give prophetic messages and to teach the Christian Church about the Hebraic or Jewish roots of the faith in order to do two things. First, to call and to exhort the Christian Church out of the pagan "Traditions of Men" which only serve to hinder the word of God in the life of the believer. Maria believes that Jesus/Yahu'shua is calling the Christian Church out of MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS. Her exhortation to the modern day Christian Church is to obey the call of Yehoshua in Revelation 18:4 "...Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
Secondly, to equip the Jewish & Gentile believers and to "mobilize" that end time "Two Witness" army in the earth in these last days who will prophesy against the doctrines of the antichrist for 1,260 days under the anointing of Moses & Elijah, bringing together the two elements of Law & Prophets, Spirit & Truth.
Maria is especially called to help people in identifying the differences between the false "Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes" (Revelation 2:6) which Jesus/Yahu'shua said that he "hates" and the pure doctrine of the 1st Century Jewish Apostles.
Maria is available for speaking engagements at confereneces, retreats, workshops or any church function whether in a Christian Church or a Messianic Congregation.
She has been actively involved in ministry for 28 years as a one on one prayer counselor, evangelist, vocalist, and prophetic teacher. Maria desires to implement the vision of the Double Portion concept with those who have the calling to plant Hebraic Roots Congregations all over the world. Not only does she teach on what the Double Portion Anointing is, but Maria truly operates in that anointing to do the signs, wonders and miracles as prophesied would happen in the last days (Joel 2:28-29).
Below is Maria Merola's Personal Testimony:
Y'shua Called Me
By Maria Merola
1st Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Y'shua Messiah our Master.”
Ever since I was a six year old child in Catholic School, I can remember having a genuine hunger for God and for truth. My experiences were no doubt designed by God to prepare me for the calling that he would later place upon my life to “warn the church about the religion of the antichrist.”
I experienced much emotional and mental abuse as a child in Catholic School from the nuns. This abuse took place during my 1st grade year all the way through the 6th grade. During this time, my impression of “Christianity” was that it was oppressive and frightening. Little did I realize at that time in my life, that what I had experienced as a child was NOT Christianity at all, but rather, man-made, occult-oriented, paganistic religion dressed up by Satan to look like Christianity.
My exposure to “praying to the saints” and saying the Rosary Beads heightened my awareness of the occult, as I became more and more fascinated with séances, necromancy (calling on the dead), horoscopes, psychics, clairvoyants, and witchcraft. Each time I prayed with the Rosary Beads to whom I thought was Mary, I was actually praying to Satan (2nd Corinthians 11:14) as an “angel of light.”
I would see apparitions of ugly, grotesque, demonic faces in my bedroom while praying the Rosary. I knew even then, as a six year old child that there was something very wrong about praying the Rosary, and to saints, yet I did not have any biblical basis for this, since we were not taught the Bible in Catholic School. My fear of the unknown drove me to search deeper into spiritism and the occult as I rationalized that if I knew more about the spirit world, maybe it wouldn’t frighten me so much.
God was showing me then, the real spirit behind the idol worship and paganism of the Roman Catholic religion. I believe that he allowed me to see these things in preparation for the calling he would later place on my life to warn the “end-time” church about what Revelation 17 calls “The great whore.”
As a teenager, I sought hard after the truth and spiritual reality. I had been disillusioned with what I thought was “Christianity”, because of the intense rejection and condemnation I had experienced at the hands of abusive nuns. Like Y'shua/Jesus, I too had become a victim of religion as it was the religious Pharisees that sentenced Yahu'shua/Jesus to the cross. Now, I can see that same religious spirit which the Bible calls “Mystery Babylon” was trying to destroy me, just as it tried to destroy Y'shua. But Y'shua/Jesus was using all of these bad experiences to train me for this calling he would eventually place on my life.
At the age of 14, I encountered a young man in my neighborhood that was only 17 years old. This young man had become a “born-again” Christian. He was so full of the Holy Spirit, that I was drawn to the presence of God in him. I could not comprehend how this young man could have so much love for people. He always had such a joyful and peaceful countenance about him that he radiated with the beauty of Yahu'shua Messiah. He would often testify to me about his relationship with Jesus Christ (Yahu'shua ha'Mashiach) as I would listen in amazement.
One day in 1974, when I was 14 years old, I said a “sinner’s prayer” with this young man, but I had not reached rock-bottom yet. I believe that the seed of faith was planted in my heart at that time, yet I had not been converted or transformed. The seed would lie dormant for six more years before it would germinate in the soil of my heart to produce the “fruit” of true repentance in my life.
At that time, my deep emotional scars and insecurities left me feeling like I had to prove something to the world. I had the ambition of becoming a Rock n’ Roll star, consequently, I was not interested in “denying myself” and taking up my cross to follow Y'shua. This young man gave me a Bible, which I tried reading, but since I had not been “born-again” yet, most of what I read in the Bible did not make sense to me, so I quickly lost interest.
By 1981, when I was 20 years old, I had finally hit rock-bottom. I had by this time, experimented with every thing imaginable to find “spirituality” to fill the void and emptiness in my life. I had dabbled in eastern religions, transcendental meditation, self-hypnosis, reincarnation philosophies, astral-projection, witchcraft, sciences of the mind, psychology, psycho-cybernetics, visualization techniques, bio-rhythms, psychic readings, horoscopes, etc. I had become totally demonized by this time and I felt like I was going insane. I hated my parents, I hated authority, and most of all, I hated what I had become. I had been traveling on the road with a Rock n’ Roll band as a lead vocalist at the time, which I thought would bring me true fulfillment. But every night when my performance was over, I felt very empty, depressed, and suicidal.
It was on February 10th 1981, that I finally called out to Y'shua Messiah (back then I called him Jesus) in my hotel room while traveling with the Rock band. That night, I was desperate to know if Y'shua/Jesus was real or merely some historical figure I had learned about. I felt the tremendous weight of my sin suffocating me as if I were trapped under a ton of bricks. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that night what an evil sinner I really was. I had never thought of myself as a sinner before until that night when the “veil” which covered the eyes of my soul had been lifted. I could see myself for the first time in his light as I felt tremendous pain and anguish over my utter depravity and wickedness. I cried out to "Jesus Christ" asking him to show me if he was real. In that very moment, he revealed himself to me as his presence filled the room.
As Yahu'shua came into my heart, I felt and heard many demons leaving me. I cried and wept for hours as he healed and cleansed me from years of abuse and deception. I had totally forgiven all of those who had abused me as I gave all of the bitterness, rage and anger to Y'shua Messiah. I was completely set free that night! Y'shua came to me in his awesome presence of love, joy and peace and I felt absolutely incredible! I had never experienced that kind of love and joy in my life that I had that night in that moment when Y'shua touched me. I knew that he was real and that he was right in the room with me!
The very next day, the guys in the band took one look at me, and they all stepped back as if the force of the Holy Spirit’s presence all over me pushed them back. They all gasped as they noticed a dramatic change in my countenance. They all began exclaiming “what happened to you!!??”
I immediately beamed with excitement and joy as I told them of my dramatic conversion to Y'shua Messiah. I was “born-again” and I knew it. Of course they did not receive the news of my conversion with the same excitement as I did. They instead, began to hate me because my “light” shined on their darkness, and they “comprehended it not” (John 1:5).
