Ariel:
Shalom and welcome to the very first Tree of Life Israel Podcast. We're really glad that you're joining us today, and we believe that this podcast will really be a blessing for you all.
Eliel:
Yeah. We just want to share some powerful testimonies with you in order that you would be encouraged in your faith, and also that you would gain a better understanding of God's plan, and His heart for Israel, and also what your role is in God's incredible plan.
Ariel:
So my name is Ariel Hyde.
Eliel:
And my name is Eliel Fos.
Ariel:
And we serve the Lord together here at Tree of Life Ministries in Haifa, Israel. And so we'd like to start just by giving a little bit of the biblical context of what is God's plan for Israel and the nations, and why Israel is relevant to you today. I'm just going to share briefly this time, but we'll be sharing more in depth in future podcasts. And then after that, we want to share some testimonies of what God is doing today.
So throughout the Scriptures, we see this incredible love story that God has for his covenant people, Israel. And even though they keep failing over and over – how He keeps showing His grace and is faithful to His covenant. And then we see that the people of Israel, for the most part, most of our people rejected our own Messiah – Jesus, Yeshua. And yet even then, God says through the Apostle Paul in Romans 11 – I'll read from verses 11 through 15 – he says that God still has a plan for His people Israel.
So he says here in verse 11, "Again I ask, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke Israel to jealousy. But if their transgression means riches for the world and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring? For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them, for if their rejection is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Praise God.
So when Israel didn't receive their Messiah, the Gospel ended up going around to the rest of the world. But he says here that once Israel receives their Messiah, it will bring greater riches and life from the dead to the rest of the world. And he also talks about a role that you have here in provoking the Jewish people to jealousy, and we'll talk about that more in the future.
But I just want to read this amazing quote from Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers in history, really, and one whom God used powerfully in the 1800s. He wrote this, "I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough about it. But certainly if there's anything promised in the Bible, it is this.... the day shall yet come when the Jews who were the first apostles to the Gentiles, the first missionaries to us who were far off, shall be gathered in again. Until that shall be, the fullness of the Church's glory can never come. Matchless benefits to the world are bound up with the restoration of Israel. Their gathering in shall be as life from the dead." Hallelujah.
So that's the reason why we pray for the salvation of Israel. It will bring life from the dead for the rest of the world. And for the last 2000 years, most Jewish people were very closed to the Gospel. I mean there were events like the Crusades, and the Inquisitions, and pogroms, and even the Holocaust, that many people who were involved in those things called themselves Christians. And so many Jewish people have looked at these things and said, "Oh, Jesus must be our enemy." And so it's been very difficult to share with them. But, God has been touching more and more believers' hearts, Christians' hearts, around the world, to have His heart for His people, Israel, and to pray for them. He's been stirring up the remnant of Jewish believers to share the Gospel. And He's using all of that together. And right now we're seeing that God is opening up the eyes of His people, Israel, like no time in the last 2000 years.
And some of the things that we're seeing here, as we are sharing the Gospel are...My wife and I, Shayla, we started Tree of Life Ministries in 2014, and directly after that, Eliel joined. And Eliel and I were praying together, and just asking the Lord for His guidance, and He gave us both the same verse on the same day. It was from Acts 5:20 and it says, "Go stand in the Temple and speak to the people, all the words of this life." And so we knew that God was calling us to go out to the public places, share the Gospel, and also film it, so we could reach other people with it.
And we did the first video about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It wasn't maybe the best, but we were learning. And after that, we did one on Isaiah 53 – the powerful prophecy of the Messiah who would suffer and die for our sins and rise from the dead, And Jewish people were so shocked, those that we interviewed, seeing this is what the Messiah would do, and some of them even said, "Wow, this is pointing to Yeshua." And so we thought, "Oh, maybe we could reach 53,000 Israelis with the message of Isaiah 53."Eliel:
Eliel:
Very narrow vision. Huh?
Ariel:
Yeah, exactly. But God surprised us. And before we could even release a video in English saying, "Oh, please help us to reach that many," God had already caused it to go to many more, and it's reached-
Eliel:
Praise God.
Ariel:
...millions in Israel and around the world. And so we're seeing that so many Israelis are seeing that video, but also many others. And tens of thousands have been responding with comments, calling us, and some of them have been coming to faith as well.
Eliel:
Yeah, so just a short testimony of one person that saw one of our videos. And he started writing in the comments and just, really speaking so not nice to us, cursing, and was so against Jesus, Yeshua, and all the videos that we had been putting online.
And then after a couple years, suddenly we received this order, that somebody ordered New Testaments, and not just one, many New Testaments. So that was a little bit interesting, why would somebody ordered that many New Testaments? So when we called – what happened is that suddenly this person, his name is Noam, that's how we call him, that is not his original name, it's just for confidentiality.
But he said, "Oh, it's me, Noam, I was really cursing you and I was really so not nice to you. But after so many conversations with you, all my resistance turned to really genuine questions." Questions that he started to ask. So it's not just that his heart started to turn, but his heart really turned to Yeshua, and he became a believer. And now the books that he was ordering - they're not just for himself, but it was for his friends that he's sharing the Gospel with. And this is really a story of an enemy becoming a friend, and a brother, actually, in the Lord.
So this is one of the testimonies and things that we see happening through this video. And a continuation of just showing love, and just not taking to heart all the harsh things people say to us, but just answering with love and really mercy, and just continue showing the light of Jesus, Yeshua, to them. And this is the fruit that we sow, somebody like that, Noam, from a religious background that became a believer and is now sharing the Gospel with others.
Ariel:
Praise God.
Eliel:
Praise God.
Ariel:
So yeah, there are people like that from religious backgrounds, others from secular, or New Age, or even homosexuals who have come to faith. So it's something really exciting that God is doing. And God also led us to begin going out on the streets, as well, to share the Gospel.
Eliel:
Yeah. So obviously in the past it was really difficult to go to the streets and share the Gospel. There would be so much hate toward Jesus. But things are changing, God is really working in Israel, and softening people's hearts. So as a ministry, we organize events, especially in Haifa, we have many cultural events that the municipality is doing. So we mobilize believers from our congregations, from around Haifa, Jews and Arabs.
So we go as Jews and Arabs, and people from other nations, we just go as one family, and we talk with people. And some of them, when responding, they say, "Wow, this is amazing. Jews and Arabs here together, showing love." And it's also touching their hearts when an Arab says to a Jew, "Happy holidays. God loves you. We love you."
And in one of the last outreaches that we did like that, there were more than a 100 believers that came to pray, and go out to the streets, and share the Gospel. And we had quite an amazing number of believers that got saved throughout these outreaches, just recently.
Ariel:
Yeah. Just at that one, there were nine Israelis who came to faith just during that time.
Eliel:
And just the openness, really the openness to stand with us, to come to us, or we approach them, and just to hear the Gospel, and not just run away or just start hating us. Just really, people listened. And that's amazing actually to see.
Ariel:
Praise God. So at one of those events - we often pass out things to show God's love at the beginning, like apple cider or other things - and so we gave something like that to a person, and started talking with him. And we said, "Hey, is there anything we can pray for you for? We've seen God do miracles. Maybe you have any pain in your body?" And so she said, "Oh yeah. Woah, I got pain." She started telling us about it, "My shoulder, I can barely lift it up, and then my stomach is really hurting, because I have this disease. And then I went to this doctor and I went... ," she kept going on and on.
And so at a certain point, I just said, "You know what? God knows all the different ailments you have. Let's just go ahead and pray for you." So we prayed for her in Yeshua's name. And we asked her, "How are you feeling now?" And then she lifted up her shoulder, she said, "It's not hurting anymore!" And her stomach wasn't hurting. So God did a miracle right there in the middle of the street.
And so then we said, "God wants to not only heal you physically, but especially, He wants to heal you on the inside." We talked about the disease of sin, and how Yeshua came, and took all of our sin and died and rose again. And so, she actually ended up receiving Yeshua right there on the streets.
Eliel:
Praise God. And this is just one of many stories. This is amazing, praise God. And also it's amazing just to witness this with your own eyes. It's so powerful. And when we go to the streets to share the Gospel, we always have a team that is staying behind and praying for us. And this is also an answer to prayers when we ask them to pray for these situations. And God is working, praise God.
Ariel:
Yeah, amen. So a while back, we were fasting and praying together, and just asking the Lord, "What is the next step?" And it was once again at the same moment, the Lord put it on both mine and Eliel's hearts, this word about fighting against abortion.
And there have been 2 million abortions here in Israel since the founding of the modern state, and there's almost no one speaking out against it publicly. And it's just something that people in the culture consider, "Oh, if you don't want the pregnancy, you just have an abortion."
And so we started putting together a campaign, especially of videos, but also other things that we're preparing. It's been a major battle to get it out. But a year and several months ago, we launched it, and it's a pro-life and Gospel campaign. And by God's grace, it's now reached 8 million views just in Hebrew alone. And we know of at least 153 babies who have been saved from abortion. Yeah.
And there's some amazing stories that we'll share in the future also. But just one right now: There was a lady who – actually her abortion was scheduled for that – but then she was on Facebook, and just happened to see our video. And then she called our hotline and ended up choosing life for her baby. So, praise God.
Yeah. And just one last area we want to share on right now is just that: God has called us, just like how Israel's original calling is to be a blessing to the nations, we also felt God calling us to just translate all the videos and things that we make, that start in Hebrew, into multiple other languages. And it's been amazing to see how people in Brazil, and Switzerland, and Kenya, and Sri Lanka, and all sorts of other countries, have actually come to faith through these videos.
Eliel:
Yeah. And actually just recently: the war in Ukraine. And we were really asking God and praying for Ukraine, just for all the people that are suffering there. We were asking God, "How can we be a blessing for Ukraine and reach people with Your love, and Your compassion, and the message of the Gospel?"
And we just felt like, "Okay, we need to translate the video that we did about "overcoming fear and anxiety", into Ukrainian and Russian." So we did the translations really quick and broadcasted it all over Ukraine, and it's reached 30 million views in Ukraine.
And many messages started to flood in and people started to call. And we have our contact person in Ukraine that started to answer, and talk with people, and comfort them, and lead them to the Comforter, which is Yeshua the Messiah. And people's lives were changed and got saved. Praise God.
Ariel:
Yeah. So we really give God glory for all of these things. And we're so grateful to all of you. Many of you have been praying with us through this.
And I had a dream recently that some of the team members and I were go coming into a room – we were like soldiers in this dream – and then suddenly, enemy forces came in. And it was so powerfully and so quickly that we had to just immediately surrender.
And then there was this other part of the room going out to the exit, and we went over there. And we saw some of our fellow soldiers coming in and they had broken through the enemy lines, and were then able to give us some weapons. And then we spread them out through that room and were able to have a counter attack and win.
And I knew immediately when I woke up that this was about prayer, that the weapon is prayer.
But what happened was – we were just about to release, just about two months ago, the new evangelistic and pro-life videos that we had prepared. And the day before and the day of, when we were going to launch it, some just major attacks happened. And it was exactly like in the dream, so sudden that we couldn't even do anything. We had to just stop.
Eliel:
Yeah. It was totally unexpected. We were not prepared. The enemy just was able, for a moment, to stop us.
Ariel:
Yeah. And so we really realized, "Wow, this dream is actually coming to pass. We really need more prayer."
Eliel:
Yeah, your prayers.
Ariel:
Exactly. And so we'd like to ask for prayer for that. That now we would be able to launch it, and it would have a powerful impact, and that many Israelis would be saved, and many would choose life.
And also, we're launching new outreaches. We've been doing, of course, evangelistic outreaches, but we felt God also calling us to go out on the streets and talk with people about abortions so that they'll choose life. And together with that, share the Gospel with them.
Eliel:
Just another prayer request for one person, he's a son of a rabbi that just recently called us, and he wanted to order the New Testament, but he was afraid to receive it at home, because his father might see that it's a New Testament. And so two of our team members went and met this person, and it was a really genuine search for the Messiah – Jesus.
Also, somebody had shared the Gospel with him before, and it was really stirring in him – the real search for Yeshua. And so when our team members talked with him, he was really...he's right there, ready to receive Yeshua and be saved.
So, just to pray for him that he will make this step to become a disciple of Yeshua, of Jesus. And that whatever forces will come against him – all the persecution he might face – that he will be able to stand by the grace of God and really pursue the true Messiah, Jesus.
Ariel:
Yeah. I mean when you think about it, really, this kind of story was unimaginable just even a few years ago in Israel – because there had been such opposition. A rabbi's son ordering a New Testament, talking about Yeshua and just-
Eliel:
I'm amazed.
Ariel:
...and also even the things we were sharing earlier about the things happening on the streets with God doing signs and wonders and people coming to faith. It reminds us of going back to the Book of Acts – so it's exciting what God is doing.
So, we just want to end this time just by praying together. And we believe that there's power as we agree together in prayer. So yeah, let's just go ahead and do that.
Eliel:
Yes, all right. Well, Lord, we just want to thank You for our brothers and sisters, around the world, Lord God, that You're putting on their hearts to pray for Israel, to seek Your face, Lord God, how they may bless Israel. And we are just asking You and begging You for Israel, Lord God. That Your Spirit will fall on this land, that the people that are called by Your name will humble themselves and pray, and they will turn from their wicked ways, Lord God.
And Lord God that You will hear from heaven, that You will forgive and that You will clean and heal our land. Lord, we just pray for this son of the rabbi, that he will be saved completely, Lord God, that there will be no doubt, that there will be a full surrender to You, Lord God, no matter the cost. That he will take up his cross and follow You. Lord God, that he will choose the life that You're offering through Your death and resurrection, Lord.
Lord, we just also ask You to help us and give us wisdom for how to talk with people. Lord God, we just dedicate to You all our ways, all our plans, let Your will be done as it is in heaven, so on earth. In the name of Jesus, Yeshua.
Ariel:
Yes, Lord. We just thank You for all of our brothers and sisters and their hearts for You and for Israel, Lord. And we ask that as they're blessing Israel and praying for Israel and being a part of what You're doing here, that You would bless them, Lord, that You would send revival in their communities. Lord, that they would see Your hand at work. And we would be working together as one new man in this harvest that You're doing here, Lord.
And we ask You that You would pour out Your spirit all across Israel. Lord, remove every veil from the people's eyes so that they would truly repent. And we ask that You would give power and breakthrough, Lord, so that Your Gospel can go forth, that there would be no weapon formed against Your people, and that they would prosper. But that your word of the Gospel and Your Word of Life would go forth without hindrance, on the streets and online – in every place, Lord. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, the name of Yeshua. Amen.
Amen. Well, thank you for joining us and we want to just encourage you. Please share this podcast with your friends, home groups, leaders, just –anybody you think that it would be a blessing to.
And also, we thought part of the idea of making this is also that you're welcome to just actually use this in your home groups or prayer groups, or other, and actually listen to it, and then pray together for the things that you've heard about.
And also, just you're welcome to subscribe and follow us on social media platforms and on podcast platforms, so that you can hear all the updates. And also, you can sign up for our newsletter at TreeofLifeIsrael.org.
So we're so grateful for you all. May the Lord bless you and see you next time. Shalom.
Eliel:
Shalom from Israel.
Israel doesn’t deserve God’s help, but when believers pray, He has miraculously delivered them. Once, three Israelis were facing 100 enemy soldiers, and what God did next sounds like it came straight out of the Bible.
Many new believers in Israel still haven’t become true disciples. Our vision is that, like Jesus’ first discipleship team, new groups will be established to equip them to fulfill their calling and change the world.
The intense opposition to the Gospel on the streets of Israel is giving way to openness and even curiosity. For example, Maya, who initially rejected the Gospel and walked away, suddenly turned around and turned to God.
Millions of seeds have been sown through online evangelism in Israel, reaching even the unreachable like Anna. We shared the Gospel in her religious community, but had to flee because of persecution. Yet God still broke through.
Did you know that Arabs will play a crucial role in the coming revival in Israel? God wants to supernaturally intervene in their lives, like He did in Aisha’s, who was in the middle of a suicide attempt. Join us in prayer!
