Stuart

“I was a Jewish drug dealer from the Bronx who threw his best friend out of his house for mentioning Jesus — and then spent the next seven years with a Gideons New Testament hidden in his sock drawer.”

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What they struggled with

Drug addiction Alcohol addiction Religious trauma

False refuges

Drugs Alcohol Religion without relationship

What this story reveals about God

Relentless pursuit Patience Faithful to his word Shepherd's heart Father's heart Provider

Religious background

Main testimony theme

How they came to faith

Intellectual conviction Relational influence

Content advisory

Before you watch

This is a calm, intellectually rich testimony from a Jewish man who spent years reading Messianic prophecy before a single verse of Matthew broke through every wall. There is no graphic content — but the story of a man who threw his best friend out of his house for mentioning Jesus, then found that same friend's hidden Bible seven years later, is quietly arresting.

What this story teaches

People can spend years intellectually accumulating evidence for something they are not yet ready to surrender to — the gap between the head and the heart is real, and God is patient enough to wait for it to close.

How God moved

Go Deeper

So I think the most important thing a person has to do, if you are that person that Jennifer just spoke about and you know who you are then you have to make a decision because it's true, not because you're afraid of what your mother will say, not because you're afraid of what your father will say, not because you're afraid of being outcast from the synagogue or what your rabbi will say. If it's true, then you need to act on it. Search for God with all your heart and give God a chance to show you the truth. He says it in black and white: 'If you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.' Don't let anyone make your decision. Don't let anyone decide for you what's right. Ask God to show you. When you're relying on Talmud, Midrash, Mishnah, Rashi — when you go before your maker, Rashi is not going to stand next to you and be your advocate. You stand before a righteous judge for yourself. You have to give an account. So make sure you take the responsibility to come up with the answers.

People can spend years intellectually accumulating evidence for something they are not yet ready to surrender to — the gap between the head and the heart is real, and God is patient enough to wait for it to close.

What you can take from this

If you have been carrying a question about God but have never actually asked him directly to show you the truth, try praying Stuart's prayer this week: 'God, I don't know what it means to search with all my heart, but I want to find you — will you show me the truth?'

Core lie

Stuart held an absolute conviction that Jesus was not for Jewish people — 'I'm Jewish. And Jesus is not for the Jewish people. End of discussion.' This functioned as an automatic cutoff switch that stopped every gospel witness cold for years.

Religious performance

The synagogue system Stuart grew up in modeled religion as ritual performance without genuine connection to God — speed-racing through prayers, Torah scrolls becoming idols, rabbis demanding payment at funerals. This drove Stuart away from God rather than toward him.

Progressive entrapment

Stuart began drinking heavily and doing drugs as an act of rebellion at 14, then became the drug supplier for a large community of adults — a deepening entrapment that insulated him from spiritual openness for years.

Isaiah 53:1

First scripture Stuart's best friend read to him about Jesus as Messiah — triggered his furious rejection and the beginning of his journey.

Matthew 1:1

The first verse Stuart read from the hidden Gideons New Testament — 'son of Abraham, son of David' — the moment the jigsaw puzzle came together and he believed Jesus was the Messiah.

Jeremiah 31:31

The Jewish believer at the Brooklyn church showed Stuart God's promise of a new covenant — a key intellectual bridge to accepting the New Testament.

Jeremiah 29:13

'When you search for me with all your heart, you will find me' — the verse Stuart prayed before conversion and now offers to Jewish seekers.

Philippians 1:21–24

Stuart meditated on 'to live is Christ, to die is gain' during his 2.5-week hospital stay with congestive heart failure, shaping his prayer to bear fruit while alive.

Deuteronomy 6:4–5

The Shema — 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and might' — the prayer Stuart longed to understand how to live out from age 13.

Zechariah 14:9

Stuart cites Zechariah — 'in that day his name shall be one and everyone on earth will bow down and worship the one true God' — to describe Jesus as the soon-returning King of Glory.

Stuart violently rejected the gospel, threw out the messenger, then was gradually turned by God through intellectual conviction and divine redirection — a Jewish man brought to Messiah despite fierce resistance.

Stuart deliberately rebelled against his upbringing, descended into drinking and drug dealing, then returned — not to a father's house but to the God he had promised at 13 to find.

Stuart explicitly names himself doing 'a Jonah act' — trying to avoid Jewish ministry by going to Native Americans, only for God to redirect him back to his own people.

Stuart's lifelong thirst for genuine connection with God — felt at the Torah ark at 13 — was finally satisfied not through religion but through personal relationship with the Messiah.

Stuart's Christian Walk

Restored relationship with his parents — began coming home and sitting with them after years of avoidance. Left drug dealing. Ended an immoral relationship out of obedience to God. Married and built a ministry partnership with his wife. Faithfully cares for his elderly mother weekly. Discipling numerous Jewish believers who are now sharing their faith.

I knew that my sins were forgiven. I knew that God fully accepted me and that he embraced me. I sensed God.

Prayer

The power of Prayer — Best friend who read Isaiah 53 and left a Gideons New Testament in Stuart's sock drawer stood in the gap for Stuart.

Stuart's best friend came to his house, read Isaiah 53 aloud, declared Jesus was the Messiah, and — before being thrown out — slipped a small green Gideons New Testament into Stuart's sock drawer where it sat for six or seven years until the night it became the instrument of Stuart's intellectual breakthrough. Years later, a girlfriend who had come to faith read the Old Testament with Stuart for 13 months, covering Messianic prophecies repeatedly. A Jewish believer at a Brooklyn church showed him Jeremiah 31 and the new covenant. A Jewish pastor named Gary — the same name as Stuart's brother — preached the sermon that brought Stuart to the point of surrender.

Is today your day?

Yes — I'm Ready

Absolutely, He will.

You don't have to figure everything out right now.

You don't need to have all the answers.

If something stirred in your heart while you were watching or reading — that's not nothing.

That is the Holy Spirit gently knocking on the door of your heart.

Stay right here. There's no rush. The Spirit doesn't pressure or hurry.

Watch another video. Read a little more. Take your time.

When you're ready — even if “ready” just means a little curious — Jesus is ready to meet you.

You don't have to clean up your life first.

You don't have to pass any test.

You only need to say a simple “yes” to Him.

He will take care of the rest.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Luke 11:9

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