“We’re fighting against terror, and we’re fighting spiritual warfare as well,” said Israeli Christian Sasson Pochtar, a soldier in the war against Hamas.
Israeli Defense Forces deployed Sasson to fight in Gaza on October 7, 2023, the same day Islamic extremists invaded Israel, massacred more than 1,200 of Sasson’s countrymen and took 251 hostages to Gaza. The day the war began. “I’m leaving my wife home and my girls, and I know there’s a chance I will not come back alive,” he said. (Instagram, July 31)
A Messianic Jew and youth pastor at Beit Hallel Congregation in Ashdod, Sasson wears a Christian patch on his IDF uniform, a fish symbol called an “icthus,” from the Greek acronym for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.”
“From day one, people were asking many questions. They see that I’m kind of different than others, especially on social media. My social media is so open about my life, and they were like, ‘Are you a pastor? You’re a Jewish guy. How does that work? How can you be a pastor?’
“Well, I’m a Jew (and) I believe in Jesus, that He’s the Messiah, He’s the Christ, and He’s the Savior of the world.” Sasson’s openness and love for his fellow soldiers have led to many such conversations through which he can share the gospel.
Sasson asks that we continue to pray for the Israeli people, and for Christians to stand strong in their faith and shine Christ’s love. “We just need more prayers for wisdom and for love — love, love and love. This is the biggest thing that I think we need to pray is to love,” he says. “I came to a point that I had many questions about that, but I really realized that I don’t hate my enemy.” (Lyndsey Koh, Mission Network News, November 22)
Let’s pray for Sasson and other Christians as they share Christ with Jews who don’t yet know He is their Messiah. Join us in these prayer requests from Beit Hallel’s website:
Pray for the Nation of Israel
- That the veil over their eyes will be removed. (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)
- For the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them. (Joel 2:28-29)
- For God’s favor and mercy upon Israelis. (Psalm 102:13)
- For the return to the Jewish people to Israel (Jeremiah 31:10)
- That God would put a new heart and spirit within them. (Ezekiel 36:27-28)
- That Messianic congregations will be established and that God’s favor will rest upon them. (Psalm 90:17)
- For Messianic believers to be united in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, Yeshua. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
- That Messianic believers will lack in nothing and that God will add to their numbers daily. (Acts 2:44-47)
- For Israeli believers to walk in love as a testimony to the return of the Jewish people. (Jeremiah 31:10)
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