Zev Porat of Jerusalem recently got a new book, and, wanting to read it right away, he took it along with him on a short train trip he'd planned.
The book was "Rabbi Who Found Messiah" by American Pastor Carl Gallups.
Porat soon noticed people looking at the book's title, the image of venerated Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, who died several years ago at the age of 108, on the cover and asking questions.
For every one person who asked a question, he said, another 10 got into the conversation.
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By the time the trip was ended, "half the train knew that Rabbi Kaduri says Jesus was the Messiah," Porat explained.
But that was all right, he said, it fit right in with his work with Messiah of Israel Ministries in the Holy Land, telling Jews about the Messiah Jesus Christ.
Porat explained the incident on Gallup's radio show recently, and told how much of an impact the book and video about Kaduri have had in Israel.
Published by WND Books, "The Rabbi Who Found Messiah" documents one of the great mysteries of our time.
Released last November, "Rabbi" has seen strong sales in the past two months due to the development of a part of the prophecy – the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
When Sharon was still in office, vibrant and in command of his faculties, the venerated rabbi who claimed he had met the Messiah, predicted the Messiah would not come until after Sharon's death.
Read the "Rabbi Who Found Messiah" right away!
Kaduri died shortly after Sharon suffered a stroke that left him comatose in 2006. But before the beloved Kaduri died, he wrote a cryptic note in which he named the Messiah with whom he claimed to have had a mystical encounter. On the 108-year-old rabbi's instructions, the note was to be released a year after his death.
When the sealed note was opened a year later, it was posted on Kaduri's website. Kaduri had revealed the Messiah's name as Yehoshua, or the formal Hebrew pronunciation of Yeshua or Jesus.
Porat told Gallups he's used the video project to show students of Kaduri.
"They were really excited," he said.
The message isn't always to simple to distribute.
"The media has done everything they can here in Israel to eliminate this information," he said. "But you can't stop God's word."
There are other obstacles, too. Porat said, "It's hard for a Jewish person to grasp that Messiah, that takes away the sins of the people."
But he said it is getting through.
"We're small people with a big God," he said. "The message is getting out more and more. People are getting excited out this."
Gallups' book has been among the top-selling books in Amazon.com's Judaism category, and its companion documentary has also matched this success.
Chuck Missler, founder of Koinonia House ministry, says that in the book, Gallups "explodes one of the biggest bombshells of our lifetime."
"The implications of these astonishing declarations from the most venerated ultra-orthodox rabbi in Israel impacts every one of us – not just those of the traditional Jewish faith," Missler said. "This is a must-read for anyone who takes God seriously."
Both the book and the movie look at Kaduri's many prophecies objectively – neither affirming nor denying their accuracy or authenticity. The book and the movie simply examine the remarkable story about the popular rabbi and his shocking messianic prophecy from a journalistic and biblical point of view.
Media requests for interviews with author Carl Gallups can be made by emailing [email protected].