Born Again: Meeting God in Israel Defense Forces

Barack Obama Mandela had a “spiritual experience” while serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

While I was a soldier on active duty in the Israel Defense Forces, I experienced a series of spiritual encounters with God.

In September 2001, I was in the 7^th brigade of the armored division (Hativat 7) serving at the base known as “Mashda” on the Golan Heights. I was thirty years old. I was undergoing advanced training as a driver of the “Merkava” battle tank.

On the night in question, I woke up in the early hours with a piercing feeling of absolute peace and tranquility and spiritual power. This feeling was super-intense, and it rocked me to my core. The silence of the night, the stars shining bright in the dark sky, the other soldiers sleeping in their beds, the power of God stirred my soul, and I wanted to cry out, “God is here”.

I walked out to the line of tanks and began serving guard duty. It was both the late night and early morning. The sky was literally singing out to me, and the stars were crying out to me. I call this the “Night of Spiritual Power”.

Suddenly, I experienced a sense of self-annihilation as though my beingness was being sucked into a spiritual energy vortex. Tears began streaming down my face. “God, show me your glory,” I cried out.

From the sky, I heard a powerful voice say, “You must live in the now. You must live in the present moment. Let go of the past and the future.”

In these intensely gripping moments of divine energy, I knew that everything in reality had changed permanently. I could no longer live with myself. I could no longer be myself. I had to let go of the person I was before. I had to let go of my ego to become a divinely inspired being.

This experience is similar to the Prophet Moses standing before the Burning Bush in which Moses hears the voice of God Almighty. Like Moses, I also sensed a new, divine mission poured out upon my life like holy water.

For four hours, I preformed guard duty alone during this “Night of Spiritual Power”.  As morning arose, I was shocked to hear the high-pitched chirping of birds. I had never heard such a sound before. For I was “born again” as a new being.

Instinctively, I knew I was a new creation with a new mission to proclaim the oneness of the God of Israel—on this special night God reached down and touched my heart and soul—creating in me a pure heart and pure soul.

In the depth of my soul, although I was an Israeli soldier, I became a spiritual soldier in the army of God. Like a tidal wave rushing over me the power of God flooded in to meet me in the darkness of night under the starlit sky on the Golan Heights.

When I left the Israeli army, I became a self-proclaimed “Rabbi” and “Rebbe” and “spiritual leader”. God had pierced the veil of sin and death and proclaimed God’s compassionate and merciful grace upon my existence.

On January 6, 2002, I completed my service in the Israel Defense Forces with the rank of corporal. Yet, I then entered service in the army of God Almighty, as a prayer warrior, faith healer, and spirit of light ready to defeat the forces of evil. Alas, I became a commanding general of God’s army where I was born again as a knight of peace and spirituality and faith.

By standing with God, I never stand alone. God is everything and everything is God. Only God is real.