Gil
Alon
What I
am about to tell is quite amazing. Even now (October 2000),
over five years since I came to know the Lord, I still find
it difficult to grasp the sequence of events that
transformed my life. Here is my story . . .
My name is Gil (which in Hebrew means “joy”). I
was born in Haifa, Israel on the 3rd February 1963 to a
secular middle class family and my parents were of Eastern
European Jewish origin. I was raised as a secular Israeli
and for me and my family being Jewish meant keeping the
“traditions” and nothing else. At school we
studied the Bible as an historical book mainly to know and
understand the history and traditions of the Jewish people.
For me God was an abstract being that existed only in the
Bible stories. We all hated the Bible classes as for us
they were boring history lessons with no spiritual context.
On special occasions we sometimes went to the local
synagogue but I could never find God there. I used to watch
the people reading from the prayer book but it looked like
they were doing it out of habit rather than from a sincere
heart.
That
Name
My
parents have never been religious but they respected
traditional values. At home we hardly kept any holidays,
not even Yom
Kippur (The Day
of Atonement), which is considered very holy even among
non-religious people. My dad was a coach driver and tourist
guide and in my childhood I used to travel a lot with him
to the various places “where Jesus walked”, but
although I heard about Jesus I knew little more than that
He was born in Bethlehem.
One day, during one of our Bible lessons at school, the
teacher was talking about the book of Micah chapter 5:
Now
gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops; He has
laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel
with a rod on the cheek. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in
Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from
everlasting.
Because
I knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it immediately sprang
to mind: “This must be about Jesus!” I raised
my hand and told the teacher and the class with confidence
that this passage talks about Jesus. The teacher’s
response was very harsh and I was almost thrown out of the
class for even mentioning “that name”.
Seeking
Enlightenment
Like all
Israelis I had to do three years compulsory military
service and in the 1982 Lebanon War my unit was deployed
around the city of Beirut. I trained as an officer and
signed on for an additional two years and in the latter
part of my service I worked as a computer programmer in the
Tel-Aviv area. At this time I was searching for God but
because I could not see a path to God in Judaism, I read a
lot about Eastern philosophies, especially Buddhism and
Hinduism.
In 1985, while still on active service, I became ill with
iron deficiency anaemia, and after two years of seeking a
cure through conventional medicine I turned to alternative
medicine and was cured (to the amazement of the doctors).
This almost miraculous cure convinced me to research
alternative medicine and after I had left the army in 1987
I chose to study acupuncture in England.
In my last years at school I had private English tuition by
a lady whom I deeply respected and before my departure, I
visited her. Before I left she told me she believed that
Jesus was the Messiah and gave me some advice: “Gil,
you are about to go to a foreign country and may come
across many difficulties but whenever you are in trouble or
need support ask God to help you in the name of Jesus and
wonderful things will happen to you in your life.”
Her words became very precious and valuable in the years to
come.
The
Invisible Hand
I
studied in East Grinstead in the beautiful county of West
Sussex and my studies included Chinese philosophy,
especially Taoism. I discovered that Eastern philosophers
talk about a spiritual experience or enlightenment which,
when achieved, brings us as close as possible to knowing
the “Ultimate” or “Source of all
things”. This kind of “Force” is not
personal and does not exercise moral judgement. However, in
spite of my studies and my New Age activities, I could not
find fulfilment and God seemed to be further away than
ever. However, there always seemed to be an invisible hand
helping me, and every time I was about to give up and go
back to Israel, things happened to change the circumstances
for the better. I could actually feel that
“someone” was looking after me and there was a
purpose in my struggle although at the time I could have
never even dreamt who that somebody or purpose was.
In the summer of 1990 I moved to the Dunstable area to
start my own acupuncture practice but within few months
things started to go very wrong; I did not have enough
patients and I was in deep debt. In my despair I decided to
return to computer programming and contacted various
professional computer recruitment agencies, but because I
didn’t have a full permit to work in this country
none of them would help me. I felt like there was no way
out for me and my despair deepened.
Once is
happenstance...
One
night in early December 1990 I lay in bed thinking about
the words of my English teacher: “whenever you are in
trouble or need support ask God to help you in the name of
Jesus and wonderful things will happen.” Could this
be true? Nothing else had seemed to work, so I
decided to give it a try and called to Him in my heart:
“God, if you are there, please help me in this
difficult time. In the name of Jesus.” Without
thinking much about what I had done, I went to sleep. A few
days later a recruitment agency called to say they were
interested in my technical skills and experience. I thought
that because of the problem with my work permit they would
not contact me again but within minutes they called to say
that their client was willing to issue the required permit.
Within four months I had repaid all my debts and had a
company car. However, at the time, this sudden change in my
life after praying “in the name of Jesus” all
seemed to be just “coincidence”.
After eighteen months, at the height of the recession in
the early nineties, the company was in great trouble and
had serious problems obtaining a work permit for me. I
thought my job was secure and bought a new house but after
moving into my new home in July 1992, when I returned to
the office I was told I no longer had a job. It felt like
everything was crumbling down again. I was back to
“square one” with no job, no permanent work
permit and a mortgage. Having no work permit during a
recession stricken economy, there seemed no way out.
Twice is
coincidence...
The
advice of my English teacher came back to me and again I
asked God to help me in the name of Jesus. I did not expect
help but after a few days the impossible happened. A
recruitment agency called to say that British-Airways
wanted to interview me. The interview was a success and my
work permit was eventually issued. However, I still refused
to believe that this was an answer to my prayer. It was
just another lucky coincidence.
During the next couple of years I was involved in a number
of key projects within British Airways and found myself in
central positions where my technical advice and knowledge
were required. By the end of 1994 my work permit needed
renewal which is normally very difficult to obtain. My
first application was rejected and the situation looked
again very bleak and it looked as though I was about to
lose everything again.
One evening a friend came to see me and as we talked about
life and various philosophical viewpoints the conversation
moved to Jesus. I believed that Jesus was a very special
person but I could see the relevance of events that
happened two thousand years ago to our lives today. My
friend Nigel remarked: “Why do don’t you ask
God to show you that Jesus is the truth?”
Nigel’s words continued to echo in my mind. I tried
to get them out of my head but as I lay in bed that night I
said: “O God, I have all these problems with my work
permit, please show me that Jesus is the truth and help me
to solve this problem.”
Three
times is...
The very
next morning the office phone rang and I heard the voice of
my agent: “Gil I have good news for you. We have just
received your work permit for another three years.” I
was overcome with joy and shocked from the obvious
connection to the request I made the night before. For the
first time I saw a definite connection between my plea to
God and the answer.
Everything in my life seemed to be fine. I had a good job,
plenty of money, a new car and a nice house but I did not
feel at peace in my heart and I felt the need to find God.
I talked to Nigel and his wife Shlomit, who was Israeli,
and they showed me very convincing reasons for believing
that Jesus was the Messiah. I suddenly had the strange
feeling that maybe this was the truth.
But it couldn’t be that simple, I thought. How could
I, as a Jew, believe in Jesus? As if to answer my unspoken
questions Shlomit handed me a book called
Betrayed by Stan
Telchin: “This is a story of an American Jewish
family who believe Jesus is the Messiah.” In the past
Shlomit had offered me the book but each time I had firmly
refused. This time my resistance was weak and I heard
myself say, “Yes, I will take it.” (Sources
close to Shlomit, who prefer to remain anonymous, told me
later that Shlomit danced round the kitchen singing:
“He took Betrayed! He took Betrayed!”).
Not so
good
A week
later I started reading the book and did not put it down
until I finished reading the last page. I was fascinated
but I was afraid to give myself to Him and simply thought
that there was no significance apart from accepting the
fact that Jesus was the Messiah. I started to feel very
uncomfortable with myself. I had visions from the past of
all the things I had gone through and all the dreams I had
as a kid of making a difference in the world. I started to
realise that I was not such a good person after all and
that sometimes I had treated many people badly.
One day I thought: “Maybe I need to get a
Bible.” but I immediately pushed the thought out of
my mind. “What a strange idea.”
Later that month, a friend called to say that she had met a
nice Israeli girl called Sarah, who would like to meet me.
She commented that Sarah believed in Jesus. I did not care
because “everybody was entitled to their own
beliefs”. When I met Sarah she talked most of the
evening about Jesus and her faith. It felt like Jesus was
chasing me. “Why is this happening to me!” I
thought.
Haunted
During
the following week I tried to contact Sarah as I wanted to
see her again. She did not want to see me because,
according to her, I was not a believer. In one of the
conversations we had over the phone, Sarah kept mentioning
her faith in Jesus. I felt really fed up talking to her and
was about to slam the phone down when a sharp thought
(almost like someone was speaking to me) came into my mind:
“Just listen to her!”
I was startled. It felt like I was frozen and could not put
the phone down. It was Friday and I felt very tired after a
whole week of hectic conversations and was very depressed
as it looked like things were not going very well for me.
Again, I felt haunted by many things in my past that seemed
to be incomplete, especially by the way I treated people
and how sometimes I was not totally honest in my
relationships. At the time I did not realise that God was
convicting me of my past sins. I also started to think
about what would happen to me after death. Most of my
beliefs were based on the New Age concepts so I thought
that we all probably come back for “another
chance” after we die. During that week all these
foundations had started to shake and I can remember
thinking that maybe death was final. What would happen to
me? Would I be with God? I felt no certainty of that and
began to realise that I might end up in eternal darkness
away from God with all the wrong and incomplete things from
my past surrounding me. In terror I thought, “No,
this cannot be true”. But I felt a great need for
forgiveness.
From
Minus to Plus
Around
noon that Friday I called Nigel and Shlomit and that I must
talk to them. I always felt there was something special
about Nigel and Shlomit as they were always welcoming to
guests and would see anybody at any time. There was a kind
of peace in their behaviour which I recognised. As we
discussed God and Jesus, I felt something
happening inside and I wanted to go home to be on my own.
At home it felt like my life was crumbling around me. I
picked up From
Minus to Plus booklet
that had been delivered two years earlier. Reading through
it I decided to say the prayer at the back of the booklet
but nothing “happened” so I decided to go to
bed and sleep everything away. While in bed I felt a great
need to come to God. I remember the great need for
forgiveness I felt at the time and I truly wanted to start
anew. I also realised that Jesus had died for me and in my
mind I could see Jesus on the cross. I started to plead
with God from the heart: “O God please forgive me for
all the wrong I have done and the way I have treated people
in the past. Please take me, I give myself to you
completely”.
Then I asked God to accept my plea “in the name of
Jesus”.
The next thing I remember was that I felt a kind of a wave
or wind, descending on me and going through me. I felt as
though a huge heavy stone had been removed from me, and a
peace and love that I had never experienced before
surrounded me. It felt the presence of Jesus around me. I
knew that Jesus was the Truth and although I had not read
the Tanakh for fifteen years and had not read the New
Testament at all, at that point I “knew” that
the Bible was the Word of God. I could feel His pain
suffering for me and I wept quietly thanking Jesus for
looking after me all these years, for leading me to Himself
and for saving me. Suddenly I wanted to know more about Him
and almost instantly as the “answer” came to my
mind: “Read the New Covenant (New Testament).”
Amazing
Grace
A few
minutes later, surrounded by his love and serenity, I fell
asleep. After one of the most peaceful nights I can recall,
I woke up feeling completely different. It was as though I
was not the same person anymore. I had a very strong urge
to get a Bible and then my mind moved to various issues and
beliefs that I held for years which suddenly looked so
wrong. I felt like a new person and my heart was full of
love, peace and joy. I knew nothing about the
“New Birth”. All I realised at the time was
that Jesus was the Truth and the Bible was the Word of God.
The first thing I did that morning was to get a Bible and
then go to see Nigel and Shlomit who after hearing the news
rejoiced with amazement.
I can only say that coming to know Jesus was the most
important event of my life and His joy and peace are with
me every day wherever I go. I am grateful to the Lord for
all He has done for me and I wish my life will be lived and
dedicated only for Him and whatever I do or whatever path I
take will only be for His ultimate glory and purpose.
I will always feel touched by words of John Newton, that so
much speak to me:
Amazing
grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was
blind, but now I see.
’Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour
I first believed