Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
My name is Israel Harel, I was born in Kibbutz Hulda, my mother was born in a Kibbutz and my dad in Haifa.
I grew up in Moshav Sde Moshe near Kiriat Gat. From a young age I saw that society was sick
Things didn't fit for me, I'd ask hard questions and would never get answers,
Like why is it wrong to lie, why is it ok to do this but not this
And they told me that this is what society decided.
I started seeking, searching for the cure for the sickness of the society
I ran away from home at the age of 15 and thought that drugs were the solution for society.
I lived in Akhziv Land in the summer, Eilat in the winter and Tel Aviv in the middle.
At a certain point we lived in a commune inside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
One day an old American lady came and asked us a question we thought was rather rude
"Have you heard of Yeshua the Messiah?"
We told her, yes, and we don't want to heard anymore, thank you.
But winter already started and she invited us for a meal at her house.
The problem was that before we started eating, she insisted on opening the Bible
And showing us prophecies about the Messiah.
When she started showing us prophecies I told her to stop because I wanted to check her Bible
And it turned out to be an IDF Bible, so I had no choice but to accept what was written.
And she started showing us prophecies about the Messiah like Isaiah 53, Jeremiah 31, Zechariah
That it was obvious the only one who could fulfill them was Yeshua.
The problem wasn't if Yeshua fulfilled the Biblical prophecies, because this was obvious that He fulfilled them
From His birth in Bethlehemto the fact that He will die and rise again before the destruction of the Second Temple
All these things exist in our Bible. The problem is, if it's true, if God really is God,
Than I need to give Him my all.
And I wasn't ready to have somebody else tell me what to do, even if it was God.
So I ran! I tried running from God like the prophet Jonah,
I left everything and returned to my past life to drugs, to sex, to everything I could do.
At a certain stage I tried commiting suicide and ended up in a mental hospital.
This whole time I said I believed that Yeshua was the Messiah, this was obvious from the Bible
That He was the Messiah of the Nation of Israel. But He wasn't my Lord, I didn't belong to Him.
I was diagnosed as a schizophrenic paranoid
And the doctor told my mother that I will live my life in and out of hospitals.
People can't be cured of this, only if the God that created them, fixes them.
And I thank God that this is what He did with me.
I was very violent at that time, and instead of putting me in solitary confinement, they kicked me out of the hospital.
My parents didn't want me because I was an embarresment to the family,
I didn't serve in the military because of drug use, my friends didn't want me, I had nothing to do,
So I decided that this time I'm definitely commiting suicide.
I went to the forest in the Jerusalem area, I took my belt and told myself that nothing is going to stop me this time
And as I was preparing everything, it was as if someone physically put his hands around me
And I couldn't do it, I couldn't move my hands.
And I told myself, or I stop eating and die of starvation, or I'll discover what my purpose in life is.
What is my position, who am I, and what is going on here.
I stopped eating, I didn't have much to do in the forest, so I started to read
And the only thing I had with me was the Old and New Testament
I was so confused that if you'd ask me what I read 5 minutes before, I couldn't tell you.
It was as if a light entered me, I can't describe it any other way.
After 8 days, I had stillness, I didn't pray, I didn't accept God, I didn't give anything
I simply knew that everything worked out
I was needy for healing, and at that time my friends taught that God once did miracles
He healed in the past and He will heal in the future,
But today we have only the Bible and we have to survive on our own strength.
At a certain point, because I was so hurt and bitter, I decided I've had enough
I'm going to live alone on a Greek island, eat fish,
and maybe from the surroundings God will reveal to me the when Yeshua the Messiah will return
And as a result of this I will be healed.
Suddenly I understood that I know a lot about the Bible, about God, about Yeshua
But I didn't know Him.
The difference is huge, in order to know someone you need a personal relationship with them
To know about someone requires no relationship whatsoever
At a certain stage, I fell to my knees and said, "God, I tried to manage my life by myself"
"Instead of going from glory to glory, they went from shame to shame"
"My parents don't want me, my friends don't want me, no one wants me"
"I'm happy that you still want me! If anyone can help me, It's You! Take my life and do with them what you will"
After a year I returned to the hospital and the psychologist couldn't believe what happened
He said it was a miracle, and I told him I drowned, I screamed for help, you gave me instructions
But Yeshua jumped in the water to save me.
My relationship with my parents changed, I have today a wonderful wife and kids.
I'm the leader of a Messianic Jewish congregation
God changed my life completely, He healed me not just on the surface, but in the depths of my heart
He changed me, and I am grateful to Him from all my heart.
When God created mankind, He created us to have an intimate relationship with Him
A close, loving relationship, so we may know Him, not just know of Him.
When we sinned, when we picked our will over His,
We were seperated from God, there's an abyss between us
That's why God sent the sacrifice and atonement, in order to atone for the sin, to be a bridge.
Yeshua returned me to this intimacy with God. It's not a religion, it's a relationship.
It's not a series of do's and dont's. It's intimacy, He is the center of my life, the most important thing.
He is more important than my wife, and because of this my relationship with her is stronger.
Because He is most important, I have a wonderful relationship with my children.
Yeshua came in order to be the sacrificial lamb, in order to return us to the place that God created us to be in.
To be like in the Garden of Eden, where God walked with us.
We turned our back on Him, He could have thrown me out, He could have thrown us out and started over.
But in His love He decided to pursue us so that we may return to Him.
He didn't want to destroy us, He wanted to fix us.
And talking of worldwide repentance, He corrected everything for us, we can't fix anything.
How can a something destroyed fix itself?
Baron Manchausen pulled himself out of the swamp by his hair.
That's what we're being told we can do, but we can't.
We need someone whole and without sin to draw us out of the swamp.
And that's exactly what God did, He sent the Messiah to do this for us.
My life changed, I was a sad person, a hurtful, bitter person.
Praise God, ask the people around me, today God has given me joy, He gave me peace,
God gave me a new life, and again, without Him it's impossible.
He scored the goal, not me. If I would've scored the goal, I wouldn't give glory to anyone but me.
But I know who scored the goal in my life, and I thank Him for it.
If anyone out there listened to my testimony, and something moved in your heart,
I challenge you, don't believe me, check it for yourself, read the New Testament
They tell us it's a forbidden book, that it's terrible, but why do they tell us that?
Maybe they're trying to hide something.
The New Testament was written by Jews and the Jewish Messiah,
Don't accept what we were taught since the beginning without looking for yourselves
Don't take my word for it, take the New Testament, read it, and check it out.
This is my challenge to you.