An Israeli man paralyzed with fear was isolated in his home for nine years, but Jesus, Yeshua, set him free!
Also, even during this war, God is stirring Israelis to order over 10 times more New Testaments and evangelistic materials!
Amazed to See God’s Faithfulness
As war continues to rage all around, so many Israelis are overwhelmed with a sense of uncertainty and lack of hope.
And we sensed God showing us it was the perfect time to produce an evangelistic video pointing to the true source of all security and hope – the Word of God.
We interviewed Israelis on the streets, read God’s promises to the Jewish people from the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) together with them, and then spoke about how God fulfilled them in miraculous ways.
Then we spoke about God’s ultimate promise and the ultimate fulfillment: how He promised to send the Messiah who would die for our sins and rise again, and how Yeshua did this out of perfect love for us.
Not only did several of the Israelis in the video say they were moved by this beautiful story of redemption, but by God's grace, we’ve had nearly 900,000 views of the video in Hebrew alone so far, with thousands of Israelis responding since then, speaking with us online and on the phone, and meeting in person.
The orders for New Testaments and evangelistic materials have gone through the roof! We’ve had over 10 times more orders since this video was released than beforehand!
And several Israelis have come to faith in these last few months as well – secular and Orthodox Jews. One of them has a deeply moving story we’d like to share with you.
An Evil Spirit in the Room
Yaron* grew up as a typical Israeli, but then had an experience that left his life in shambles. He was on the phone while his friend took part in a seance, and an evil spirit came into Yaron’s room, leaving him paralyzed with fear. He said the spirit took control of his life from that point.
For nine years, he didn’t meet with anyone besides his parents. He just stayed in his house in deep depression, got addicted to dark video games, and engaged in New Age mysticism.
Light Penetrating the Darkness
But even there, the light of God began penetrating into his soul. At one point after the war started, he said to himself, “These games have such dark characters, but if there is such a thing as dark, that means there must be such a thing as light. I want to find the true light.”
He began searching online, began reading the New Testament, and came across our evangelistic videos. Something stirred in his heart, “I think this might be what I was looking for,” he said. After all these years of addiction, isolation, and desperation, he finally stirred up the courage to meet with someone – thank God it was with us!
When we first saw him, he was literally shaking in fear, and his eyes were red. But he was glad to be able to speak with us about Yeshua. We shared the whole Gospel with him, and when we asked if he wanted to repent of his sins and follow Yeshua, he responded, “Yes!”
But there was still something stuck inside. When we encouraged him to pray, he said he felt so unworthy and dirty before a holy God, that he couldn’t bring himself to speak with Him.
We answered, “Yaron, that’s the whole point of the Good News: None of us could ever be worthy enough on our own. Yet it says in Romans 5:8, ‘But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us.’ No matter what you’ve done, God’s love for you is so strong that He sent His only Son to die in your place, because He deeply desires to have a relationship with you.”
Yaron replied, “Ok, I’ll try again.” We all closed our eyes, and there was total silence for a full minute. But then he began such a beautiful, sincere prayer – humble words of contrition flowing from the depths of his heart to the heart of God.
Beautiful Transformation
He prayed to receive Yeshua as Lord, and repented of each area in his life where he had opened a door to the enemy, and we prayed for deliverance for him. At the end, his face had completely changed – instead of depression, he was shining with new life and joy; instead of fear, he exclaimed, “I feel such peace now!”
We talked with him about the next steps in the faith, including baptism. We opened the Scriptures and explained how it means dying to ourselves and rising again in newness of life with Yeshua. He responded, “Let’s go do it right now!” We found a nearby stream, and he took the plunge!
Our team member Yoav has been in constant touch with him since, discipling him. And Yaron is growing in the Lord. He learned about worship, and we were almost in tears a few days later to see this man whose entire adult life had been overwhelmed with darkness and emptiness now filled with joy and passion as he was playing the guitar and worshiping Jesus!
Please Pray with Us
Please pray for Yaron and all the other new believers – that God would strengthen them, help them stand in spite of sometimes intense persecution and temptations, and that they’d become disciples who make disciples.
Please also pray for God to pour out His Spirit across Israel during these difficult times, and that many more Israelis will come to faith through our online and street evangelism. As we’re working on the next evangelistic videos, please pray that God would grant great anointing, guidance, and fruit.
We also have an urgent need for more workers in evangelism, discipleship, and the Pro-Life and Gospel Campaign, so we’d greatly appreciate your prayers for that!
One Last Thing
And one last thing: For many more inspiring stories of what God’s doing in Israel, you’re welcome to sign up for our newsletter, and get these stories straight to your inbox. You’re welcome to also follow us on social media, and don’t forget to like and share this video so that others can be encouraged in their faith!
