December 2, 2025 • 19 mins
What happens when a life built on certainty starts to crack? Hear the One80 of Raviv Dror, who grew up in a hardline communist kibbutz where the collective came first, religion, even true Judaism, was scorned, and affection felt scarce. His story carries us from growing up on a faithless kibbutz to a cross-continent love that opens a door he isn’t ready to walk through—until everything else falls apart.
In part 1, hear how God broke Raviv free from communist ideology and slowly, faith starts to move in.
Helpful Links:
Raviv’s book Three in One: Being Israeli, Jewish & Believer IN CHRIST
Raviv’s book The Third Way
Raviv’s Faithful Tales Children’s books, series
Apologetics resources recommended by Raviv:
Dr. Frank Turek, CrossExamined.org
Prof John Lennox https://www.johnlennox.org/
Dr. William Lane Craig reasonablefaith.org
Dennis Prager, https://www.prageru.com/
Other resources:
Zionism: A Concise History, Alex Ryvchin
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:02):
Welcome to One80.
Transforming testimonies fromnext door to across the globe.
Be amazed at how God works tobring people to Himself.
Share today's One80 with afriend.
It might be the best news theyhear today.
Raviv Dror (00:21):
It's an endless circle of maintaining idea,
concept, things like that.
Religion was a curse, no faith.
I would say God was you youcouldn't find him anywhere on
the sidewalk in this kibbutz.
Margaret Ereneta (00:43):
Raveev Dror grew up far from God in an
Israeli kibbutz.
19 years of searching, then 10minutes one day, a life of
questions were answered.
Raviv became a believer.
Now he's an Israeli apologistand evangelist.
This is Margaret Ereneta.
(01:04):
Welcome to Raviv's One80, partone.
Raviv Dror (01:12):
My name is Raviv Dror.
I was born in Israel.
I live now in Israel in a citycalled Afula, in the northern
part of Israel.
I was born in a kibbutz in the60s of the last century.
It was a communist, heavycommunist socialist, secular
kibbutz, like all the kibbutzimwere, but my kibbutz was
(01:35):
especially heavy communist.
I still remember that uh wemarched in 1st of May with a red
flag with Lenin, Stalin.
It's still heavy in mymemories.
Margaret Ereneta (01:47):
So kibbutzim is the plural of kibbutz, and
Raviv is going to take usthrough what it was like growing
up in a kibbutz and howcommunism played out there.
Raviv Dror (02:00):
People don't know uh exactly what communism means.
Communism is the you know theoverall word to describe, but
socialism is the economicalbranch of the communism.
If we take it to the kibbutz,there's uh like people who
decide, who rule in a way, andthe other, like in the nature,
(02:20):
you know, there is a queen andthere is ants that serve the
queen.
So in communism, a ruler, likeokay, tsa or a president, and
the ants or the people serve thepresident.
In the kibbutz, uh, there ispeople who decide, and the other
one serves the idea.
Communism is an ideology thatis based upon, you know, Marx,
(02:44):
and it's totally against all thethings that we believe in as
believers in Christ.
It's against religion, it'sagainst the concept of family,
it's all about work, it's notabout the individual, it's all
about the group, it's all aboutthe majority, not about you know
your needs as a person.
(03:05):
And that's how I grew up.
I didn't grow up with uh withmy family.
I had a family, of course, butI spent with my parents more or
less half an hour a day.
We didn't sleep with ourparents, we slept together um
with our friend, with our group,but we didn't have any
authority, parents' authority onus.
(03:26):
They didn't really know what'sgoing on with us.
They were busy working for theidea to hold this kibbutz.
You need your parents so bad.
Their role in in your life isso big, and if you don't have
that, it affects you in manyways.
And it did, you know, it did.
And uh we we had to grow up tobe like them when we will be
(03:50):
older, to have kids, and then wework, and their kids, you know,
it's an endless circle ofmaintaining uh idea, concept, uh
things like that.
Religion was a curse, no faith.
I would say God was you youcouldn't find him anywhere on
the sidewalk and this kibbutz.
(04:11):
We hated the religious people,the ultra-orthodox, we hated
them.
You dislike, maybe not hate,but you dislike the um all the
concept of religion.
You do um the Biblecelebration, but you do it out
of tradition because it's niceand it's happy and the Jewish
people have a very niceholidays.
(04:33):
But we didn't know or we didn'tthink about any biblical
concept, you know, just just todo it.
That was my childhood,childhood without parents.
That's how we grew up until Iwas 18 years old.
In Israel, the young people goto the army when they are 18
(04:54):
years old, and um served in thearmy four and a half years, then
I served in the army 20 yearsin reserve.
Margaret Ereneta (05:04):
Raviv is going to explain the start of his
19-year search for truth.
It started with marrying abeliever, but it was a long
process for him, so we'll starthere.
Raviv Dror (05:15):
The first time Christ entered my life in a way
without me believing in him waswhen I was like 23.
My wife introduced me to him,but I didn't know what she's
talking about.
We were boyfriend, girlfriend,and she introduced me uh to
Christ.
I didn't know what she'stalking about.
It was in Israel.
(05:36):
We went together to Colombia,um, we got married.
Before I went, my wife was aChristian, Zionist Christian,
but yeah, she she loved Israel,and she came to Israel.
I met her there in the kibbutz,and uh we got to know each
other, and then uh we went toColombia together.
It's we call it like a tripafter the army for me, like
(05:56):
Muchilel.
If people know maybe this term,Muchila is a backpack.
Most of the young people thatfinish the army here goes out
for a year or something likethat to travel around the world,
usually to South America or tothe east.
And then now we went to church,to her church.
Everybody talks Spanish, Ididn't talk, and I went there,
(06:19):
and everybody, everybody lovesme a lot.
Hug me, one has to understandthat one of the fruit of
communism is that said the Biblethat love will grow cold,
right?
There's no love in communism,there's a distance between
people.
My father, for example, nevertold me he loves me.
He never hugged me once in mylife, he never gave me, you
(06:44):
know, encouragement or goodword.
Never.
He was special, but it's a it'sa fruit of the system because
we're like, okay, father, child,but you don't have this
closeness.
And then I went to this churchand everybody hug, love, smile,
things I wasn't experienced.
(07:04):
Again, in Israel, in that timeat least, we are more cold
people, we're like the Europeanin that sense.
So I liked it very much, and uhI didn't understand what
they're talking about.
I liked the services.
I started to study Spanish, andmore and more I couldn't
understand what they're talkingabout.
I went on Sunday, but not onall Sundays, stayed home, but
(07:27):
sometimes I went.
And I liked it.
I liked the experience, butnothing, nothing entered.
No, nothing, not to the heart,not to the mind.
After a year, a year andsomething, we got married, went
to uh live in Israel, and afterlike four, and I wasn't a
believer in Israel.
Israel is a secular, at leastwhere I live, a very secular
(07:49):
people, friend, family.
And I wasn't a believer.
Um, and I also told my wife wehad three kids, and I told her,
look, I won't talk to themagainst religion, but please
don't talk to them for thereligion.
Let's stay neutral because Iwas afraid that if they start
talking about Jesus and aboutGod in a place that we lived,
(08:11):
you know how children can becruel and children will start to
bother them and didn't want it.
She talked to them about Jesus,of course, but it wasn't like at
home, you know, it wasn'tpresent like a Christian home
need to have God every place.
So we grew up after 14 years inIsrael.
I was sent in a relocation backto Colombia for work with an
(08:34):
Israeli company.
We packed our things and wewent.
The idea was four years.
We went there, and then I wentto church with her and with the
children and with her mother.
Her uncle was a pastor.
We went to this church, likedit very much.
Obviously, knew Spanish, youknow, like I know more or less
English.
I always work in the Latinmarket.
(08:55):
I used to go all this Latinmarket from Spain, Portugal,
Central America, and SouthAmerica.
This was my job, going back andforth in airplanes for water
project.
We we were speaking Spanish athome and talking to my client
all the time.
So Spanish is my secondlanguage, you can say.
(09:16):
Yeah.
So I went there again, spenttime in the church.
You have to understand I was auh I wasn't a believer, but I
knew the the New Testamentalready, but I didn't believe it
as a believer.
I always say first time itentered my heart and not in my
mind.
The second time it entered tomy mind but not in my heart.
And I said, nice, but okay.
(09:39):
You know, good to know, let'ssay.
It's a good food, it's a good,you know, good to know in a in a
secular level.
Then my company, Israelicompany said, okay, you have to
come back to Israel.
I said, I don't want to come toIsrael, I want to stay and open
my own company in Colombia.
Margaret Ereneta (09:58):
So here's where life does take a turn.
Raviv's company was verydifficult to get off the ground.
And so he is at the end ofhimself and he is literally
crying out.
Raviv Dror (10:08):
What a decision.
Not recommended, but I did it.
It's out of pride, it's not outof any anything else.
Later, you know that God wasbuilding the story, but we
decided to stay.
And then everything started togo down economically first.
I lived my life verycomfortably.
(10:29):
My wife was working, I wasworking, good salaries, upper
middle class, all the Americandream.
And then um I opened thecompany, no salary anymore, and
our saving, you know, goingdown, down, downhill.
It was very difficult for me.
And then something else happenedum emotionally.
(10:51):
So, what I think is that Godwas planning the perfect storm
for me, and I got to a very,very bad situation, uh, and I
even got depressed.
And um, you know, you don't seeany hope.
I was so afraid that we'll beout of business, out of our
home, out of everything.
The money was running out.
(11:12):
I had a family of four or fiveto support, and from a very
comfortable situation, I didn'tknow how to pay rent next month.
On that, you can put theemotional stress that was there.
And I went to the shower one dayto take a shower.
(11:33):
I went in not a believer, and Iwent out a believer.
This is my testimony, you know.
So many things happen in that,you know, 10 minutes that you
understand later.
You know, you don't understandit at the time.
Yeah, and I became a believer.
It wasn't like you know, thewow, and uh how they say fire
(11:54):
fireworks, it wasn't that, butno, how can God create um the
the word in six days?
How can you know why evil?
All those questions thatapologetics people deal with
mostly, you know.
So um I had them all the time,and I felt like you know, the
Jew ask for sign and the Greekwisdom.
(12:16):
I always told my wife, said, ifthe chair will rise up now, you
know, start floating in theair, I will believe in God.
And the question whyChristianity and not Islam?
Why Buddhism and not Judaism,why, why, why, why?
Lots of whys.
And I had them, and nobodycould really give me an answer,
a good answer, at least, what Ithought.
And then in that shower, Ireceived, let's say, three
(12:40):
answers.
It was two answers and a half,let's say, to something that uh
I was wondering about all thetime.
Margaret Ereneta (12:49):
Friends, God meets you where you're at, even
if it's in the shower.
Raviv goes on to explain thoseanswers to the questions he had.
The two and a half answers tothree questions.
The first one was he noticedthe animals on the farm he was
serving at.
And are the animals anydifferent than the humans?
(13:10):
Why would they be anydifferent?
Well, Raviv got the answer hewas looking for in the shower.
Raviv Dror (13:16):
So it became clear to me that we were made, we were
created, and not evolution wasnot true.
Totally, totally not true.
That there is a creator thatcreates human beings and create
the other animals.
I didn't think like thatbefore.
Creation is real.
Margaret Ereneta (13:36):
And next Raviv is thinking about his people in
Israel and pondering this withthe Lord.
Raviv Dror (13:42):
Then I thought again, I thought about Israel in
that 10 minutes, about Israel,and said, Israel, you know,
4,000 years.
There's no way, natural way,that Israel still exists as a
nation.
Why it's not bigger in number?
Okay, they killed us, and youknow, along the history, and um
(14:03):
I understood.
I understood why we're small,and somebody is behind it, and
that somebody is God.
And somebody kept Israel allthis time.
Small but flourish, you know,and this somebody is God.
Margaret Ereneta (14:17):
So the third thing Raviv figured out was a
miracle.
He finally figured out that hismother-in-law was a miracle.
He explained that many yearsbefore she had seen a kibbutz on
an American TV station as abeliever.
And she suddenly felt Godpromised to her that she would
someday serve in a kibbutz.
It was actually her Christiandaughter who went to Israel,
(14:40):
met, and married Raviv.
And then the two of thembrought her mom back to Israel.
So 19 years of searching andwondering about God were all
coming about right in the showerin this 10 minutes, as he said.
And out came Raviv, a newbeliever.
Raviv Dror (14:57):
She went to work in the dining room and folding
clothes for the members of thekibbutz.
And it's not from this world,you know, this story.
It just doesn't happen, youknow, it doesn't happen.
So so amazing.
Just God answered her prayerwishes uh through that story.
So those three things from themoment I received or I knew who
(15:21):
is Christ in a way, to when Ireceived him to my life and
start to believe was 19 years.
It's a long, long, longprocess.
Because I'm a Jew, because I'm aJew, and because I'm come from
a communist uh background, andyou know the podcast is One80,
so it's 180, you know.
(15:42):
I went out, I told my wife thatI believe.
Now I believe.
We wrote the date andeverything.
After I received Christ, amonth, two months, I don't
remember.
I went there for work again.
And we sat down and they toldme both, you received Christ.
And I asked him, Wow, how doyou know?
(16:03):
And they say something aboutyour smile.
So for me, this is theconfirmation that something
happened.
You know, I was so happy thatthey detected it, they saw it,
and they they were happy, ofcourse, you know.
Margaret Ereneta (16:19):
So next, Raviv talks about how the Bible comes
to life.
So we already knew what was inthe Bible because of his wife
and the church he was going to,but he explains how it starts
going from head to the heart.
Raviv Dror (16:33):
I had the background of knowing more or less what is
the New Testament, what is theOld Testament, not like a
scholar or something, but youknow, you read, you are in the
church, you know who is Jesus,you know what is the gospel, you
know, you know, things, but nowyou believe them.
It's different.
It's not just, you know, wordsthat people speak or like to
(16:55):
study physics, you know, it's uhyou believe.
And it's uh and that's whatpeople don't know, don't
understand what is to bornagain.
But uh at least with me, itwasn't like again, fireworks,
and but you just the truth is inyou, and you start to see
things that you didn't seebefore, you know, uh
(17:16):
spiritually.
I explain it more or less likeyou read the Bible not as a
believer, you're you read it inin 1D, maybe 2D, but as a
believer, it's 3D, it takesvolume.
Just for an example, you know,first time I came to Israel as a
believer, it was amazingbecause you see all the sites,
and then now as a believer, yousee, there was Gideon, you know,
(17:39):
the judge.
There was uh, you know, Jesuswalked here.
These things come to life in3D, no, and not in some, oh
okay, it's a story, you know.
And this is Nazareth, and herehe was, you know, they were
pushing from the mountain, andall these things.
So it's it's the same in theBible.
You read it in totallydifferent understanding, and
(18:01):
it's yeah, it's become a livingword, not a dead word.
The Bible makes sense.
You read it as something true,not as a story.
You know, people don'tunderstand why David was after
God's own heart, you know.
And when you read it not as abeliever, just text or stories
like you read any other story,you don't understand.
And then when you read it as abeliever, you go deep into the
(18:24):
story, you understand who wasDavid, you know, and why he was
so special to God, even thoughhe was a sinner, you know.
And we never, as kids, we neverstudied the Bible, we studied
the Bible just to remember, forexample, you know, and we hated
the religious people.
We we we hated them.
We I I I don't know the word ifhated or dislike, but we didn't
(18:47):
like.
We didn't like everything thatcomes up because we were
communists, we were socialist,we were in that darkness,
spiritual darkness, no, withoutknowing it.
Margaret Ereneta (18:58):
We're going to leave here and join us next
week for part two, where we'llsee what Raveev did with this
burden of the spiritual darknesswith his people One80 is
brought to you by One WayMinistries.
Announcer (19:17):
Exalt Christ, advance his gospel.
Welcome to One80.
Transforming testimonies fromnext door to across the globe.
Be amazed at how God works tobring people to Himself.
Share today's One80 with afriend.
It might be the best news theyhear today.
Raviv Dror (00:21):
It's an endless circle of maintaining idea,
concept, things like that.
Religion was a curse, no faith.
I would say God was you youcouldn't find him anywhere on
the sidewalk in this kibbutz.
Margaret Ereneta (00:43):
Raveev Dror grew up far from God in an
Israeli kibbutz.
19 years of searching, then 10minutes one day, a life of
questions were answered.
Raviv became a believer.
Now he's an Israeli apologistand evangelist.
This is Margaret Ereneta.
(01:04):
Welcome to Raviv's One80, partone.
Raviv Dror (01:12):
My name is Raviv Dror.
I was born in Israel.
I live now in Israel in a citycalled Afula, in the northern
part of Israel.
I was born in a kibbutz in the60s of the last century.
It was a communist, heavycommunist socialist, secular
kibbutz, like all the kibbutzimwere, but my kibbutz was
(01:35):
especially heavy communist.
I still remember that uh wemarched in 1st of May with a red
flag with Lenin, Stalin.
It's still heavy in mymemories.
Margaret Ereneta (01:47):
So kibbutzim is the plural of kibbutz, and
Raviv is going to take usthrough what it was like growing
up in a kibbutz and howcommunism played out there.
Raviv Dror (02:00):
People don't know uh exactly what communism means.
Communism is the you know theoverall word to describe, but
socialism is the economicalbranch of the communism.
If we take it to the kibbutz,there's uh like people who
decide, who rule in a way, andthe other, like in the nature,
(02:20):
you know, there is a queen andthere is ants that serve the
queen.
So in communism, a ruler, likeokay, tsa or a president, and
the ants or the people serve thepresident.
In the kibbutz, uh, there ispeople who decide, and the other
one serves the idea.
Communism is an ideology thatis based upon, you know, Marx,
(02:44):
and it's totally against all thethings that we believe in as
believers in Christ.
It's against religion, it'sagainst the concept of family,
it's all about work, it's notabout the individual, it's all
about the group, it's all aboutthe majority, not about you know
your needs as a person.
(03:05):
And that's how I grew up.
I didn't grow up with uh withmy family.
I had a family, of course, butI spent with my parents more or
less half an hour a day.
We didn't sleep with ourparents, we slept together um
with our friend, with our group,but we didn't have any
authority, parents' authority onus.
(03:26):
They didn't really know what'sgoing on with us.
They were busy working for theidea to hold this kibbutz.
You need your parents so bad.
Their role in in your life isso big, and if you don't have
that, it affects you in manyways.
And it did, you know, it did.
And uh we we had to grow up tobe like them when we will be
(03:50):
older, to have kids, and then wework, and their kids, you know,
it's an endless circle ofmaintaining uh idea, concept, uh
things like that.
Religion was a curse, no faith.
I would say God was you youcouldn't find him anywhere on
the sidewalk and this kibbutz.
(04:11):
We hated the religious people,the ultra-orthodox, we hated
them.
You dislike, maybe not hate,but you dislike the um all the
concept of religion.
You do um the Biblecelebration, but you do it out
of tradition because it's niceand it's happy and the Jewish
people have a very niceholidays.
(04:33):
But we didn't know or we didn'tthink about any biblical
concept, you know, just just todo it.
That was my childhood,childhood without parents.
That's how we grew up until Iwas 18 years old.
In Israel, the young people goto the army when they are 18
(04:54):
years old, and um served in thearmy four and a half years, then
I served in the army 20 yearsin reserve.
Margaret Ereneta (05:04):
Raviv is going to explain the start of his
19-year search for truth.
It started with marrying abeliever, but it was a long
process for him, so we'll starthere.
Raviv Dror (05:15):
The first time Christ entered my life in a way
without me believing in him waswhen I was like 23.
My wife introduced me to him,but I didn't know what she's
talking about.
We were boyfriend, girlfriend,and she introduced me uh to
Christ.
I didn't know what she'stalking about.
It was in Israel.
(05:36):
We went together to Colombia,um, we got married.
Before I went, my wife was aChristian, Zionist Christian,
but yeah, she she loved Israel,and she came to Israel.
I met her there in the kibbutz,and uh we got to know each
other, and then uh we went toColombia together.
It's we call it like a tripafter the army for me, like
(05:56):
Muchilel.
If people know maybe this term,Muchila is a backpack.
Most of the young people thatfinish the army here goes out
for a year or something likethat to travel around the world,
usually to South America or tothe east.
And then now we went to church,to her church.
Everybody talks Spanish, Ididn't talk, and I went there,
(06:19):
and everybody, everybody lovesme a lot.
Hug me, one has to understandthat one of the fruit of
communism is that said the Biblethat love will grow cold,
right?
There's no love in communism,there's a distance between
people.
My father, for example, nevertold me he loves me.
He never hugged me once in mylife, he never gave me, you
(06:44):
know, encouragement or goodword.
Never.
He was special, but it's a it'sa fruit of the system because
we're like, okay, father, child,but you don't have this
closeness.
And then I went to this churchand everybody hug, love, smile,
things I wasn't experienced.
(07:04):
Again, in Israel, in that timeat least, we are more cold
people, we're like the Europeanin that sense.
So I liked it very much, and uhI didn't understand what
they're talking about.
I liked the services.
I started to study Spanish, andmore and more I couldn't
understand what they're talkingabout.
I went on Sunday, but not onall Sundays, stayed home, but
(07:27):
sometimes I went.
And I liked it.
I liked the experience, butnothing, nothing entered.
No, nothing, not to the heart,not to the mind.
After a year, a year andsomething, we got married, went
to uh live in Israel, and afterlike four, and I wasn't a
believer in Israel.
Israel is a secular, at leastwhere I live, a very secular
(07:49):
people, friend, family.
And I wasn't a believer.
Um, and I also told my wife wehad three kids, and I told her,
look, I won't talk to themagainst religion, but please
don't talk to them for thereligion.
Let's stay neutral because Iwas afraid that if they start
talking about Jesus and aboutGod in a place that we lived,
(08:11):
you know how children can becruel and children will start to
bother them and didn't want it.
She talked to them about Jesus,of course, but it wasn't like at
home, you know, it wasn'tpresent like a Christian home
need to have God every place.
So we grew up after 14 years inIsrael.
I was sent in a relocation backto Colombia for work with an
(08:34):
Israeli company.
We packed our things and wewent.
The idea was four years.
We went there, and then I wentto church with her and with the
children and with her mother.
Her uncle was a pastor.
We went to this church, likedit very much.
Obviously, knew Spanish, youknow, like I know more or less
English.
I always work in the Latinmarket.
(08:55):
I used to go all this Latinmarket from Spain, Portugal,
Central America, and SouthAmerica.
This was my job, going back andforth in airplanes for water
project.
We we were speaking Spanish athome and talking to my client
all the time.
So Spanish is my secondlanguage, you can say.
(09:16):
Yeah.
So I went there again, spenttime in the church.
You have to understand I was auh I wasn't a believer, but I
knew the the New Testamentalready, but I didn't believe it
as a believer.
I always say first time itentered my heart and not in my
mind.
The second time it entered tomy mind but not in my heart.
And I said, nice, but okay.
(09:39):
You know, good to know, let'ssay.
It's a good food, it's a good,you know, good to know in a in a
secular level.
Then my company, Israelicompany said, okay, you have to
come back to Israel.
I said, I don't want to come toIsrael, I want to stay and open
my own company in Colombia.
Margaret Ereneta (09:58):
So here's where life does take a turn.
Raviv's company was verydifficult to get off the ground.
And so he is at the end ofhimself and he is literally
crying out.
Raviv Dror (10:08):
What a decision.
Not recommended, but I did it.
It's out of pride, it's not outof any anything else.
Later, you know that God wasbuilding the story, but we
decided to stay.
And then everything started togo down economically first.
I lived my life verycomfortably.
(10:29):
My wife was working, I wasworking, good salaries, upper
middle class, all the Americandream.
And then um I opened thecompany, no salary anymore, and
our saving, you know, goingdown, down, downhill.
It was very difficult for me.
And then something else happenedum emotionally.
(10:51):
So, what I think is that Godwas planning the perfect storm
for me, and I got to a very,very bad situation, uh, and I
even got depressed.
And um, you know, you don't seeany hope.
I was so afraid that we'll beout of business, out of our
home, out of everything.
The money was running out.
(11:12):
I had a family of four or fiveto support, and from a very
comfortable situation, I didn'tknow how to pay rent next month.
On that, you can put theemotional stress that was there.
And I went to the shower one dayto take a shower.
(11:33):
I went in not a believer, and Iwent out a believer.
This is my testimony, you know.
So many things happen in that,you know, 10 minutes that you
understand later.
You know, you don't understandit at the time.
Yeah, and I became a believer.
It wasn't like you know, thewow, and uh how they say fire
(11:54):
fireworks, it wasn't that, butno, how can God create um the
the word in six days?
How can you know why evil?
All those questions thatapologetics people deal with
mostly, you know.
So um I had them all the time,and I felt like you know, the
Jew ask for sign and the Greekwisdom.
(12:16):
I always told my wife, said, ifthe chair will rise up now, you
know, start floating in theair, I will believe in God.
And the question whyChristianity and not Islam?
Why Buddhism and not Judaism,why, why, why, why?
Lots of whys.
And I had them, and nobodycould really give me an answer,
a good answer, at least, what Ithought.
And then in that shower, Ireceived, let's say, three
(12:40):
answers.
It was two answers and a half,let's say, to something that uh
I was wondering about all thetime.
Margaret Ereneta (12:49):
Friends, God meets you where you're at, even
if it's in the shower.
Raviv goes on to explain thoseanswers to the questions he had.
The two and a half answers tothree questions.
The first one was he noticedthe animals on the farm he was
serving at.
And are the animals anydifferent than the humans?
(13:10):
Why would they be anydifferent?
Well, Raviv got the answer hewas looking for in the shower.
Raviv Dror (13:16):
So it became clear to me that we were made, we were
created, and not evolution wasnot true.
Totally, totally not true.
That there is a creator thatcreates human beings and create
the other animals.
I didn't think like thatbefore.
Creation is real.
Margaret Ereneta (13:36):
And next Raviv is thinking about his people in
Israel and pondering this withthe Lord.
Raviv Dror (13:42):
Then I thought again, I thought about Israel in
that 10 minutes, about Israel,and said, Israel, you know,
4,000 years.
There's no way, natural way,that Israel still exists as a
nation.
Why it's not bigger in number?
Okay, they killed us, and youknow, along the history, and um
(14:03):
I understood.
I understood why we're small,and somebody is behind it, and
that somebody is God.
And somebody kept Israel allthis time.
Small but flourish, you know,and this somebody is God.
Margaret Ereneta (14:17):
So the third thing Raviv figured out was a
miracle.
He finally figured out that hismother-in-law was a miracle.
He explained that many yearsbefore she had seen a kibbutz on
an American TV station as abeliever.
And she suddenly felt Godpromised to her that she would
someday serve in a kibbutz.
It was actually her Christiandaughter who went to Israel,
(14:40):
met, and married Raviv.
And then the two of thembrought her mom back to Israel.
So 19 years of searching andwondering about God were all
coming about right in the showerin this 10 minutes, as he said.
And out came Raviv, a newbeliever.
Raviv Dror (14:57):
She went to work in the dining room and folding
clothes for the members of thekibbutz.
And it's not from this world,you know, this story.
It just doesn't happen, youknow, it doesn't happen.
So so amazing.
Just God answered her prayerwishes uh through that story.
So those three things from themoment I received or I knew who
(15:21):
is Christ in a way, to when Ireceived him to my life and
start to believe was 19 years.
It's a long, long, longprocess.
Because I'm a Jew, because I'm aJew, and because I'm come from
a communist uh background, andyou know the podcast is One80,
so it's 180, you know.
(15:42):
I went out, I told my wife thatI believe.
Now I believe.
We wrote the date andeverything.
After I received Christ, amonth, two months, I don't
remember.
I went there for work again.
And we sat down and they toldme both, you received Christ.
And I asked him, Wow, how doyou know?
(16:03):
And they say something aboutyour smile.
So for me, this is theconfirmation that something
happened.
You know, I was so happy thatthey detected it, they saw it,
and they they were happy, ofcourse, you know.
Margaret Ereneta (16:19):
So next, Raviv talks about how the Bible comes
to life.
So we already knew what was inthe Bible because of his wife
and the church he was going to,but he explains how it starts
going from head to the heart.
Raviv Dror (16:33):
I had the background of knowing more or less what is
the New Testament, what is theOld Testament, not like a
scholar or something, but youknow, you read, you are in the
church, you know who is Jesus,you know what is the gospel, you
know, you know, things, but nowyou believe them.
It's different.
It's not just, you know, wordsthat people speak or like to
(16:55):
study physics, you know, it's uhyou believe.
And it's uh and that's whatpeople don't know, don't
understand what is to bornagain.
But uh at least with me, itwasn't like again, fireworks,
and but you just the truth is inyou, and you start to see
things that you didn't seebefore, you know, uh
(17:16):
spiritually.
I explain it more or less likeyou read the Bible not as a
believer, you're you read it inin 1D, maybe 2D, but as a
believer, it's 3D, it takesvolume.
Just for an example, you know,first time I came to Israel as a
believer, it was amazingbecause you see all the sites,
and then now as a believer, yousee, there was Gideon, you know,
(17:39):
the judge.
There was uh, you know, Jesuswalked here.
These things come to life in3D, no, and not in some, oh
okay, it's a story, you know.
And this is Nazareth, and herehe was, you know, they were
pushing from the mountain, andall these things.
So it's it's the same in theBible.
You read it in totallydifferent understanding, and
(18:01):
it's yeah, it's become a livingword, not a dead word.
The Bible makes sense.
You read it as something true,not as a story.
You know, people don'tunderstand why David was after
God's own heart, you know.
And when you read it not as abeliever, just text or stories
like you read any other story,you don't understand.
And then when you read it as abeliever, you go deep into the
(18:24):
story, you understand who wasDavid, you know, and why he was
so special to God, even thoughhe was a sinner, you know.
And we never, as kids, we neverstudied the Bible, we studied
the Bible just to remember, forexample, you know, and we hated
the religious people.
We we we hated them.
We I I I don't know the word ifhated or dislike, but we didn't
(18:47):
like.
We didn't like everything thatcomes up because we were
communists, we were socialist,we were in that darkness,
spiritual darkness, no, withoutknowing it.
Margaret Ereneta (18:58):
We're going to leave here and join us next
week for part two, where we'llsee what Raveev did with this
burden of the spiritual darknesswith his people One80 is
brought to you by One WayMinistries.
Announcer (19:17):
Exalt Christ, advance his gospel.
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