By Thomas Holland –
After living a life of partying and chasing women in the Navy, Israel Cohen, a Jew, learned that the man he had been taught all his life NOT to believe in was the man he needed most.
“My rabbi told me never believe in Jesus and never read the New Testament,” Israel says in a video on the YouTube channel “Now I See.”
He was told: “That’s a Gentile’s book and Jesus is for the Gentiles.”
Israel Cohen grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Philadelphia. At the age of eight, he joined the Cub Scouts, where he learned how to build a shortwave radio.
“I would rush home from school and put on the earphones and I was hearing these people talking about Jesus on the short wave,” he says.
At 13, Israel was preparing with his rabbi for his bar mitzvah, a Jewish rite of passage for young men to be seen as adults and be able to participate in public worship and prayers. That was when his rabbi told him to avoid Christianity at all costs.
In 1960, Israel joined the Navy. A fellow sailor taught Israel how to smoke cigarettes and drink whiskey.
“They said real sailors drink whiskey and that was burning my throat. I did it because I wanted to be a real sailor,” Israel says. “I wound up getting drunk every night.”
Israel also started going out with women.
“Something deep down inside of me I was saying, Man, this doesn’t feel right,” he said. “Something’s wrong here; this doesn’t seem right.“
When people joined the Navy in 1960, they would stand in line for their uniforms, at the end of which they were given scriptures that matched their stated religious preference, whether Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish.
“I had my Tanach, my little Jewish scriptures,” he said. “I didn’t know what you did with the Bible. I thought it might be like a rabbit’s foot or a good luck charm.”
Consequently, he didn’t read it.
But then a friend challenged him to read Isaiah 53, which Christians consider to be an entire chapter of Messianic prophecy.
He was struck by the power of the words. “Wait a minute…This sounds like the Gentiles,” he thought. “This sounds like what I was hearing on the short wave radio.”
At first, Israel conjectured that he had been handed the wrong scriptures on distribution day. But then his sailor friend showed him the back: it was printed by a Hebrew publishing house.
The fellow sailor explained that Isaiah 53 was about Jesus, and that if wanted to know more, he should read the New Testament.
“I can’t read the New Testament,” he said. “My rabbi told me never to read the New Testament,”
“I’ll make a deal with you,” the sailor responded. “If you don’t tell your rabbi that you read the New Testament, I won’t tell him either.”
Israel relented. He was surprised by what he read. He had expected a book about Catholic statues and laws.
“What surprised me is how Jewish the New Testament really is,” Israel remarked. “It’s the most Jewish book I’ve ever read.”
Not only that. As he read the New Testament, it brought conviction to his life.
“I had all kinds of anger. I was getting drunk every night, I was going with the women, I was smoking three packs of unfiltered palms all day,” he recalls. “I was pretending I enjoyed it. I didn’t want to pretend anymore, I didn’t want to live that way anymore.”
At 3:00 a.m., Israel hid under his blanket and prayed to accept the Lord.
“On May 16, 1961 I came to faith in the Messiah that’s just so important in my life,” says Israel. “It was a moment that completely changed the revolution in my life. Even if I was the very last person on earth, Jesus would still have died for me and I’m confident that when I die I’ll go to be with him.”
To learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus, click here
About this writer: Thomas Holland studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near Beverly Hills.
