We promoted it through Messianic networks and social media advertising it as testimonies of Jewish believers.

Why we follow Yeshua.

We knew the event would attract not only curious seekers and supportive believers but also hostile opponents who would come to disrupt or protest.

We hired security and made plans for how to handle disruptions, but ultimately we trusted that Yeshua would protect what he had called us to do.

In the weeks leading up to the event, I prepared my testimony carefully, praying over every word, wanting to communicate clearly and lovingly without compromise.

I knew I would have only about 20 minutes to share everything that had happened to me.

So, I had to choose the most important elements.

I decided to focus on three things.

First, my background as an Orthodox Jew and MSAD agent, so people would understand that I was not someone easily deceived or manipulated.

Second, the detailed account of my death and encounter with Yeshua, so they could hear directly what I had experienced.

And third, the warnings Yeshua had given me about Israel’s future on because that was the message he had specifically sent me back to deliver.

The night before the event, I could not sleep.

I lay awake in my small apartment.

now empty and quiet since my family had left.

And I talked to Yeshua like I had learned to do.

I told him I was afraid of what would happen the next day, afraid of the persecution that would certainly intensify, afraid that I would say the wrong words or fail to communicate clearly.

And I felt him speak to my heart, not audibly, but unmistakably, reminding me that he would give me the words I needed, that he would be with me on that stage, and that my job was simply to be faithful and leave the results to him.

I finally fell asleep around 3:00 in the morning and slept deeply for a few hours.

When I woke up on March 27th, I I felt a supernatural peace that made no logical sense given what I was about to do.

I got dressed carefully, putting on a simple button-down shirt and slacks, wanting to look respectable but not formal.

I ate a small breakfast.

Even though I had no appetite, I prayed one more time, committing the day to Yeshua and asking him to use my testimony for his glory and for the salvation of Jewish souls.

Then I drove to Ashdod, my heart pounding, but my resolve firm.

When I arrived at the Eshkol Events Hall around noon, 3 hours before the event was scheduled to start, I was amazed by what I saw.

There were already hundreds of people gathered outside the building, some waiting to get in early, others holding signs protesting the event.

The protesters were mostly Orthodox Jews and some secular Israelis who opposed missionary activity.

Uh their signs said things like Jews for Jesus are not Jews and stop the deception and protect Jewish souls.

But there were also people holding signs of support, Messianic believers who had come to encourage the speakers and show solidarity.

Police were present to keep the two groups separated and prevent violence.

Inside the hall, volunteers were setting up chairs, testing sound equipment, and preparing for the massive crowd that was expected.

Yakov was there directing everything.

And when he saw me, he came over and embraced me.

He said, “Today is historic, Avi.

What happens here will ripple across Israel.

Are you ready?” I nodded and said, “As ready as I will ever be.

Yeshua will have to do the rest.

” We prayed together along with the other speakers and volunteers, asking for protection, for clear communication, and [snorts] for hearts to be open to receive the truth.

By 2:00 in the afternoon, the hall was completely full with every seat taken and people standing in the aisles and along the walls.

The atmosphere was electric, charged with expectation and tension.

I looked out at the crowd and saw such a mix of people.

There were Messianic believers who had come to support us.

Curious secular Israelis who wanted to understand what this movement was about.

Skeptical religious Jews who had come to argue and disprove us.

journalists with cameras recording everything and even some people I suspected were sent by orthodox organizations to gather intelligence or cause disruption.

The diversity of the crowd was itself a testimony to how much interest this topic generated in Israeli society.

At exactly 3:00, uh Yakov opened the event with a prayer in Hebrew, asking Hashem to guide the evening and open hearts to truth.

Then the first speaker, a woman named Ruth Schwarz, who had been a rabbi’s daughter before coming to faith in Yeshua, shared her powerful story of how studying the Talmud had led her to questions that only Yeshua could answer.

The crowd listened with wrapped attention, some nodding in agreement, others shaking their heads in disagreement, but everyone engaged.

Two more speakers followed, each with compelling testimonies of encountering Yeshua in supernatural ways.

a doctor from Hadasa Hospital who had seen Yeshua during a near-death experience during a terrorist attack.

A former ultraorththodox man from Benet Bra who had been studying to be a rabbi when Yeshua appeared to him in a vision while he was reading the book of Daniel.

To each story was unique, but the common thread was undeniable.

Yeshua was revealing himself to Jewish people in Israel in ways that transcended human explanation or manipulation.

Then at 4:30, Yakov introduced me.

He gave a brief background of my credentials as a former Mossad operations officer and lifelong Orthodox Jew, emphasizing that I was not someone prone to delusion or deception.

The crowd grew very quiet as I walked onto the stage.

I stood at the microphone and looked out at 8,000 faces in the hall and knew that thousands more were watching online.

This was the moment Yeshua had prepared me for.

This was why he had sent me back from death.

I took a deep breath, felt his presence settle over me like a mantle, and I began to speak.

I started exactly as I had planned, with the words I spoke at the very beginning of this account.

My name is Avi Goldstein.

I’m 42 years old and until 18 months ago, I was a senior operations officer with the MSAD, Israel’s National Intelligence Agency.

I went on to describe my background, my orthodox upbringing, my specific and taught hatred for Yeshua, my career serving Israel in the most dangerous places on earth.

I saw people leaning forward interested because this was not the typical profile of someone who follows Jesus.

Then I described the operation in St.

Petersburg.

The moment I was shot, the sensation of dying, and the transition into the supernatural realm, the hall was completely silent now except for my voice.

I described meeting Yeshua face to face.

My initial rage and resistance, his overwhelming love, the scars in his hands, and the scriptures that suddenly made perfect sense.

I quoted Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and Zechariah 12:10, showing how the Hebrew scriptures pointed clearly to a suffering Messiah who would die for sins and then reign as king.

I described being shown heaven and seeing Abraham and Moses and David worshiping Yeshua as the fulfillment of all God’s promises.

I described the horror of hell and seeing Jewish people there who had rejected Yeshua, not because God hated them, but because they had refused the only atonement for sin he provided.

Then I shared the vision of Israel’s future, the two possible timelines, depending on whether we recognized Yeshua or continued to reject him.

I spoke with tears running down my face, pleading with my fellow Jews to understand that I was not a traitor trying to destroy our people, but a brother trying to warn them of danger and point them to salvation.

I said, Yeshua is not the enemy of the Jewish people.

He is the Jewish Messiah, born in Bethlehem, descended from David, crucified in Jerusalem, and raised from the dead, just as the prophets foretold.

Everything our fathers waited for, he fulfilled in his first coming.

Everything we still hope for, he will fulfill in his second coming.

But we must recognize him.

We must call on his name.

We must trust in his atonement rather than trying to earn righteousness through our own efforts.

The time is short.

He is coming soon.

And when he returns, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Yeshua is Lord.

The only question is whether we will recognize him willingly now and be saved or reject him stubbornly and face judgment.

I finished my testimony and stood there in silence, emotionally exhausted, waiting to see how the crowd would respond.

For several long seconds, there was complete silence in that massive hall.

Then suddenly, like a dam breaking, the response came from every direction at once.

Some people erupted in angry shouting, yelling that I was a liar and a deceiver, that I was mentally ill or demonized, that I was betraying the Jewish people and helping our enemies.

But at the same time, from different sections scattered throughout the hall, other people stood up with their hands raised and began shouting their own testimonies.

A woman near the front row cried out, “I saw him, too.

” Yeshua appeared to me in a dream 3 weeks ago.

An elderly man in the middle section stood and declared with a strong voice, “I died during a heart attack last year and met Yeshua just like he described.

He sent me back to tell my family.

” A young soldier in uniform stood on his chair and shouted, “Yhua spoke to me while I was on guard duty in the Golan Heights.

I heard his voice as clearly as I hear my own.

” All across that enormous venue, in what had to be hundreds of instances, Jewish people who had been silently carrying their own encounters with Yeshua felt emboldened by my testimony to speak out publicly for the first time.

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