Has famous rabbi been resurrected from dead?

A Jewish teacher transforms the society in which he lives. After he dies, there are rumors he will be raised from the dead. Sure enough, his followers soon claim he is appearing and maintain there are miracles being performed in his name. And his return is supposed to begin a whole new era for the Jewish people.

Sound familiar? It's not the story you think.

Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, a leader in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, died in 1994. But some of his followers claimed he was the Messiah and would eventually return from the dead. Now, Zev Porat, a Messianic Jewish Rabbi who preaches the Gospel, claims just such a movement is underway in his homeland of Israel.

Porat explained the story in a recent appearance on "Freedom Friday" with Carl Gallups, author of the end times examination "When The Lion Roars" and 'The Rabbi Who Found Messiah," an examination of the revival of Messianic Judaism in Israel. Porat explained it is this very revival of belief in Jesus Christ as the Jewish Messiah which may be inspiring the startling claims about the late Rabbi Schneerson.

"Rabbi Schneerson is one of the leaders of the Lubavitcher organization in New York and of course also in Israel," Porat explained to Gallups. "He passed away in 1994… and right now we're in the middle of 2017 and his followers are saying that he has resurrected and that he's walking around somewhere right now in the world and that he's going to appear to the people, and he's doing a lot of miracles right now. This is really amazing. And I'll tell you right now, Carl, it's because they for years have been saying that Yeshua cannot be God, cannot be the Messiah because it is impossible God would manifest Himself as a man. And now, they're doing the same thing. They're not saying Schneerson is God but they're glorifying him in the same way, meaning they’re actually using the words they were once using against us [Messianic Jews]."

Porat is one of the leading evangelists in the "Kaduri Revival," a Messianic movement sparked by the revelation the esteemed rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri may have identified Yeshua, Jesus Christ, as the Jewish Messiah in a letter opened one year after the rabbi's death. Gallups explores the story in "The Rabbi Who Found Messiah," which was also turned into a blockbuster documentary by WND Films.

Extraordinary events predicted centuries in advance are unfolding now. Here is your guide to the incredible prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes. Don't miss the bestselling sensation from one of America's most prolific and beloved pastors. "When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time" by Carl Gallups, available now in the WND Superstore.

Porat's own discovery of Messiah was dramatic, featuring an extraordinary experience he recounted to Gallups.

"I never found any fulfillment in being a religious Jew; I was just forced into being religious," he recounted. "Then one day, I started examining the Scriptures, someone was witnessing to me. And I had a Damascus road experience like Paul. And Yeshua spoke to me in Hebrew, and confirmed to me that He is the Messiah. He spoke to me and from that time on I just had a new revelation. I knew who He was. I was born again. And God has put me into full-time ministry. I started preaching the Gospel over in Israel in the beginning, later to the nations and to the world, using Hebrew roots. And it's very important to do that because I do witness Yeshua HaMashiach using His Hebrew name… to reach the Jewish people."

Porat argued Jews need to be witnessed to in a way appropriate to their own cultural background.

"We [Jews] didn't recognize who Yeshua was because He was dressed like a Catholic Pope," Porat said wryly, alluding to how many Jews think of image of the Christian church within their community. "It's very important that we bring back the Hebraic roots so the Jews do see who Yeshua was and who He is."

Such a Jewish-centered approach is meeting with increasing success, claimed Porat. The emergence of a strange story about a rabbi being raised from the dead, he argued, is rooted in a crisis of confidence for Orthodox Judaism as well as the larger sense the world is on the brink of a massive change.

"I believe one of the reasons this is happening is because we're getting close to the second coming of Yeshua HaMashiach [a term referring to Jesus often used by Messianic Jews] and because people are hungry for truth," Porat told Gallups. "People are lost. And they're seeing the salvations [the conversions to Messianic Judaism] in Israel, especially in the Orthodox movement, and they don't know what to do. So they're coming up with this method, this trick if you want to call it, and trying to deceive the people, those that are already deceived [into not recognizing Yeshua as Messiah]."

Porat said Christians should not underestimate what is happening in Israel.

"Many of these people here in Israel, I'm talking about secular Jews are beginning to follow!" he exclaimed. "There are signs all over in Israel. People are protesting in the streets. There's parades. You don't know what's going on Israel with Rabbi Schneerson here, guys. There's signs everywhere saying he's resurrected.

"For us it's an opportunity to preach the Gospel, of course. But this is end times stuff. This is exactly what's supposed to be happening. And I've heard in Brooklyn and New York they're having parties and dancing in the street proclaiming he's going to show up in Central Park or something."

Gallups said Jesus Himself prophesied this kind of frenzy would occur before His second coming, including in Israel, "especially in Israel, especially God's people, the Jews, would be running around saying 'here's the Christ, there's the Christ!'" However, Gallups said when Jesus Christ really does come back, "you will not be able to miss that."

"The whole world will know," said the pastor.

Gallups said Christians are right to be concerned because it is a "false Christ" and a "false hope" which is being offered to those Jews who believe these wild rumors. However, he sees a silver lining.

"The exciting thing is it does open up opportunities, especially to speak to Orthodox Jews in Israel, of the true Christ," said Gallups. "And the very things they have been condemning Christians for, about Jesus and the resurrection, and appearing after the resurrection and performing miracles, they have been condemning Christians for and now they're proclaiming the very same thing with Rabbi Schneerson."

Porat said though the Schneerson story is sad, because it isn't true, he argued it is important for missionaries not to condemn Jews for believing it. Instead of trying to angrily rebut the stories, he said, it is better to preach the Gospel.

And both Porat and Gallups agreed this strange story is a sign of larger developments on the way.

"If this isn't tied to last days prophecies and fulfilling exactly what Jesus said would happen, I don't know what is," concluded Gallups.

Extraordinary events predicted centuries in advance are unfolding now. Here is your guide to the incredible prophecies being fulfilled before our very eyes. Don't miss the bestselling sensation from one of America’s most prolific and beloved pastors. "When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time" by Carl Gallups, available now in the WND Superstore.