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June 17, 2025 11 mins

Jeff Morgan, once deeply involved in new age mysticism and driven by a desire for fame, found true freedom after a powerful encounter with Jesus that began through unexpected conversations at the gym. A church retreat and shared spiritual experiences with his wife led them both to surrender their lives to Christ. Now part of Jews for Jesus, Jeff is passionate about reaching the Jewish community with the gospel in a way that’s culturally sensitive, compassionate, and rooted in the Jewish context of Scripture. He encourages believers to use terms like Yeshua, reference Old Testament prophecies, and emphasize that faith in Jesus fulfills rather than abandons Jewish identity. Despite occasional persecution, Jeff sees increasing openness among Jewish people and urges Christians to share with both courage and care. The guys offer encouragement and practical insight for anyone seeking to share the gospel with love and wisdom.

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Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for joining us , brother.
Oh, my pleasure.
Yeah, we're really blessed.
And it's funny because we go toJerusalem sometimes and we
speak with Orthodox Jews.
We like to make goodconnections with them and we
like to go to the same place sothat they can get to know us a
little bit, and so they call methe Jewish Jesus guy.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Ah, yeah, that's the Jewish Jesus guy.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Sometimes it's derogatory, but sometimes it's
curious.
Yeah, they're curious yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's a title that I wear, you know.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Badge of honor.
Absolutely, that's right.
Yeah, amen, man.
Well, that's great, and we'dlove to just you know, get to
know you today, introduce ourfriends to you and stir them up
to recognize that, look, it allstarted in Israel.
It all started with the Jew,first right, and then spread

(00:44):
from there to all the world.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
One of my main goals is to really make Jewish faith
in Jesus known, and so I reachedout to Ray.
I reached out to Jen and youguys got back to me and were
very gracious, and I was on atrip to California and we made
it happen.
We met at Huntington Beach andwe filmed your testimony, Ray,

(01:06):
which is doing very well on ourchannel.
It was a blessing, Thank youfor that.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
And then, ray, you came up with an idea to have
Jeff preach the gospel in Israelwhile you're doing the same
here, asking the same questions.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Tell us about that, yeah, and going back and forth
and it was great it's on ourYouTube channel at the moment
and it's unique to see someonebeing witnessed in California
and then switched to Israel andjust sharing the gospel with
them.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Just for people who've one never been to Israel.
Two have never watched yourchannel.
Tell us a little bit about theatmosphere, what it's like to
preach the gospel to a Jewishperson in Israel.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
What are your?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
challenges.
Is it legal?
How do you overcome thosechallenges?

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah, well, first of all, it is legal.
Israel is a wonderful countrywith freedom of religious
expression, freedom to evenchange a religion in Israel.
Boy, we don't hear things likethat.
That's right.
Yeah, because unfortunately youasked what is it like to share
the gospel in Israel?
It's different, based on yourapproach.
So there are people that come asstreet preachers and they come

(02:08):
there completely insensitive toIsraeli culture, jewish mindset,
and they go and they get on themicrophone and you Jews in the
353, this is for you, you know,and they do this thing and it's
so offensive because someone'scoming to your country and
pointing at you in the face andsaying what you're doing is
wrong.
And I have the answer come tome and Jewish people spit on
that and I understand why.

(02:29):
You know the persecution ofJewish people throughout history
in the name of Jesus has beenhorrific, horrific, and I'm a
part of that.
You know my ancestry is a partof that.
We have Holocaust in my, youknow, in my wife's family,
holocaust survivors andeverything.
Not that that was a Christianevent, but you know my mom had
rocks thrown at her head, youknow, when she was younger, by

(02:51):
proclaiming Christians.
You know Catholics and myfather also called Dirty Jew and
was, you know, attacked, andyou know, and I had, I was
called Dirty Jew in school andyou know these things, we have
these things in our history.
It's almost genetic, you know.
It goes down from generation togeneration and we feel these
things.
And so if you come to Israelwith an insensitivity to what
the Jewish people have gonethrough throughout their history

(03:12):
, you're going to have a reallyhard time.
You're going to be argued with,yelled at, kicked at, you know,
pushed spit on and you knowwhat.
In a way, so be it, becauseyou're coming into a country to
a people you don't understandand just talking at them, and I
don't necessarily like thatapproach.
Now, as a Jew, I go to myfellow Jews and I honestly care

(03:37):
about people.
I love people, I love talkingto people, I love meeting people
and I love hearing storiesabout people's lives.
So when I go up to somebody onthe street and I come up to them
and say, hey, we have a YouTubechannel, I'm a Jewish believer
in Jesus, and they go, you knowit's like a double take.
What?
What?
They go, you know it's like adouble take.
What Is that a thing?
A Christian Jew?
Isn't that an oxymoron?

Speaker 4 (03:56):
So there's no hesitation on your part to
mention the name Jesus.
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Like I said, Ray, I had enough.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Enough fooling around with my life, let's get busy.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
I found that too.
I'm witnessing to a Jew and I'mnervous but when I do it's a
molehill.
They just say yeah, okay, yeah,yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, I love what you said, Jeff.
You love your people.
That's where all of us shouldbe.
I mean, that's what compelledPaul, who said I would wish
myself a curse for the sake ofmy people, and that cannot be
something that is faked.
When it's authentic, peoplesense it and they're more prone

(04:40):
to listen to you.
Mark, you obviously have aJewish family that you're
related to now through your wife, Laura, and you shared the
gospel with her.
What was that like, and havethere been challenges with the
Jewish family?

Speaker 5 (04:56):
Yes, I mean her father will not talk to me about
anything Jewish-related.
I took it up as a challenge.
Right, this is going to be myfather-in-law, right?
I want to be able to haveconversations with him, and now
he's just kind of done talkingto me and that.
So we have a very cordialrelationship, but he doesn't
want to go deep, he doesn't wantto open up scriptures.

(05:17):
I can use any sort of Judaicword imaginable to try to relate
and connect.
It's just not going to happen.
Yeah, it's had its challengesand family gatherings have not
been the easiest.
My wife she went to, went toancestrycom and had her test
done and it says here that sheis an Ashkenazi Jew 98%, you

(05:39):
know, which is pretty high onthat list, right, but you know
it is what it is.
You know we've been to Israelwhat?
Two, three times you know nowand obviously we have a heart
for Jewish people and I wouldlove to learn and grow
continually.
That's why I'm excited for thislast portion of this podcast to
know, you know, what's thesecret sauce.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
You know what is it that you're doing?
Yeah, Jeff, we'd really love tohear from you on that because,
honestly, look, we've been toIsrael.
Ray and I were two of thoseguys that got spat on.
At least Ray did, yeah, preachthe gospel on Ben Yehuda Street
in the open air.
We didn't know any better, butwe do want to grow, even
ourselves, in sensitivity.
We want to be wise because, atthe end of the day, we want to

(06:24):
maximize our effectiveness.
We know the gospel isunchanging.
We know the use of the law ispertinent because scripture
tells us that, but we do need tobe wise in how we apply it in
certain contexts so that we canmaximize our effectiveness and
impact.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Well, what came to mind when Mark was telling his
story was that he said that youknow, my wife, who's 98%
Ashkenazi Jew, became aChristian, and in the mind of a
Jewish person, that meansthey've left us and gone to them
, and that is really what'sstopping a lot of Jewish people
from investigating Jesus,because they feel like and what
my wife said too she says butJeff, I know this is all this is
happening, and Jesus andeverything, but I don't want to

(06:58):
be a Christian, I want to beJewish.
But she started watchingtestimonies of Jewish believers
in Jesus, which helped herunderstand that not only are you
not leaving your Jewishidentity, you're actually
becoming more Jewish, right, andhow is that possible?
Because we're going into theirreligion, right?
No, it's not that way.
You know, the natural olivebranches have been broken off,

(07:20):
still have to be regrafted in,and the unnatural, the wild
olive branches meaning theGentiles or the nations are
grafted in, are adopted in.
So when I was at the gym one dayand this gentleman that was
praying for me says I just wantto thank you and the Jewish
people for allowing me to be apart of your heritage and your

(07:44):
culture and that I can believein the God of Abraham, isaac and
Jacob because of the JewishMessiah, jesus, and I went what
I've never.
You're coming in.
You mean, I'm not coming out toa new religion.
And he said, no, I'm coming in,thank you.
Thank you for your Messiah.
And it just switched somethingin me.

(08:04):
And so what I like to do is,when I talk to Jewish people.
You know, the contextualizationof the Jewish mindset is
important, but I came to faiththrough Gentile believers.
You know non-Jewish men in thegym that had no Jewish context
whatsoever.
They just told me what I neededto hear and God moved.
And so my first advice is totalk about Jesus, even if you're

(08:26):
scared, even if you'reapprehensive.
But that being said, there is acontextualization.
That's important.
Terms like Christianity, theChurch, jesus Christ, virgin
Mary you know all these kinds ofterminology are very foreign to
Jewish people.
It doesn't sit well with thembecause what they think of is

(08:47):
Roman Catholicism and medievalpersecution.
When they hear those termsparading with crosses and
killing Jews and forcedconversions, conversions and so
that's what they think.
When they hear these words thatyou know, the Catholic Church
and all these things I thinkYeshua over Jesus is important
meaning.
Well, I know that name.
It's Hebrew, you know.
Yohanan the immerser is Johnthe Baptist and Miriam is Jesus'

(09:11):
mother's name Yeshua's mother'sname, you know, born in
Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth.
These are all things that aJewish person can relate to.
First, you go for the heart.
I love you as a brother orsister in humanity.
But second of all, I care andyou guys are really good at this
I really care about your future.
And did you know?
The first sentence of the NewTestament is this is the

(09:33):
genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah,son of David, son of Abraham,
and a Jewish person goes that'sthe New Testament.
That sounds just like theTanakh is that pretty, pretty
common.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
that response, that shock, Absolutely Like what is
that?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Because I thought the New Testament was a recipe for
how to persecute Jews and, youknow, take over Israel.
That's what they think, andsome of our biggest arguments
come against the New Testamentfrom people that have never
opened it, and so I like toquote things like Old Testament
prophecy, which, like Mark said,it doesn't help everyone.
Sometimes the testimony ishelpful, sometimes the

(10:12):
prophecies are helpful, and whatwe do is we love the person.
You know, when the rich youngruler came to Jesus before he
starts to do the commandments,what does it say he did?
First he loved him and then heshared with him that same gospel
.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
It transcends every element of society, every
culture, every boundary.
The message is still the same.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, no matter where you are in space, time or
history, the gospel reigns.
True.
It's important I love yourperspective.
It's important to understandthe contextualization of culture
that helps you understand howto proclaim the never-changing
gospel.
You know, shame on us if weever try to change the gospel,

(10:55):
but we should always payattention to the kind of
questions that culture is askingso that we can present the
gospel in a faithful way.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
That's what you're doing.
Yeah Well, thanks for coming in, brother.
We hope to have you on again.
And hey, Lord willing, maybewe'll team up with you in Israel
one day we're there.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
You guys are always welcome.
Please come Awesome.
Thank you brother.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights
from the Living Waters podcast.
Friends, we value your time, sowe've created a bite-sized
version of our podcast forlisteners who want to get
equipped.
Without the jokes andfellowship, be sure to check out
the full episode every Thursdaywhere we dive deeper into the

(11:34):
topic.
Until then, you can watch thefull podcast episode available
now on livingwaterstv.
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