An Israeli citizen is using the remarkable story of a revered rabbi to reach Jews and Muslims in the Holy Land with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Zev Porat has taken the story told in Carl Gallups’ book “The Rabbi Who Found Messiah” to to Muslims in a mosque in Haifa, Israel.
He’s logged hours preaching to Jews in Tel Aviv.
He even proclaimed the message at the Western Wall in Jerusalem just prior to Passover with an Orthodox Jew.
Porat, who works with the Messiah of Israel Ministries, was captivated by Gallups’ story of Israel’s most venerated spiritual leader, Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, who died at the age of 108 in 2006 and left behind a letter with instructions to open it one year after his death. The letter declared the name of the Messiah was Yehoshua – the formal name for Yeshua, or Jesus in Greek.
Porat said he then was led by the Holy Spirit to minister to non-Christians and help lead them to salvation.
Gallups told WND he received an email from Porat this week telling of yet another Jew who had come to faith in Jesus through the book and the companion movie.
The “The Rabbi Who Found Messiah” is available now at the WND Superstore
“Zev told me the story of how he met a man named Shimon just outside of Tel Aviv while he was engaged in street witnessing, sharing the Gospel and my book with many Jews.”
Porat told Gallups that Shimon asked numerous questions and eventually was given a copy of the movie to take home and watch.
The viewing of the documentary prompted an extraordinary day for Porat, said Gallups.
“Zev related to me that the next morning, at about 6:30 a.m., Shimon called him and insisted that Zev meet with him on that very day,” Gallups said.
“Zev went to Shimon’s city of residence, Herzilya. When the two men met, Shimon told Zev that he couldn’t stop thinking about the movie. He said he couldn’t sleep. He related that the particular part in the movie where I speak of Psalm 22 and its relation to the crucifixion of Jesus had overwhelmed him.”
Shimon then read the Psalm passage in his copy of the Tanach.
“He couldn’t believe what he saw. Zev spent several hours with Shimon showing him other similar passages from the Tanach and relating them to the life, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus,” Gallups said.
“Shimon understood completely. Zev said it was amazing to see the presence of the Holy Spirit come upon Shimon as his eyes were opened and he called upon Yeshua as Savior and Lord.”
Gallups calls Porat’s latest actions “bold in the Lord.”
“He has an anointing from God, and the Lord is using him mightily in Israel to bring the good news of salvation found in Jesus Christ to all people, but especially to the Hebrews – God’s original covenant people,” Gallups said.
“Zev has a supernatural passion for the work to which God has called him. He has thanked me over and over for writing the book and getting the book and the movie about the book to him. He is finding them to be invaluable witnessing tools to open up Gospel conversations with Orthodox Jews in Israel.”
Some of Porat’s conversations about Jesus have been captured on video. Others with whom he as spoken have shied away from the camera due to fears of persecution against themselves and their families.
Gallups believes the recent awakening is nothing short of a divine event.
“The stories of how the book was discovered by people who could get the book and movie into Israel, the story of Zev taking the book into a mosque and witnessing to the imam there, the stories of Jewish conversion using the materials and the Bible” and others are “simply overwhelming.”
