David Yaniv was born in Tel Aviv in 1936 to parents who had lost three children into Nazi Germany and their faith in God. David grew up in an atheistic home. (David is interviewed by Sid Roth)
One day while milking cows on a moshav, David slipped and fell, landing on his back. The x-rays showed nothing wrong, so rest and painkillers were prescribed.
The pain increased and David went back for more x-rays, which showed nothing wrong. His feet began to go numb, so he sought permission to go to a hospital in Tel Aviv.
The myelogram showed one completely compressed disc and another one with a piece missing.
David woke up from the operation with no feeling from his waist down.
The doctor said, “David, I’m terribly sorry. I made a mistake, and you will be paralyzed for life.”
The doctor had cut too deeply severing the nerves enabling David to walk.
After seven and one-half years in a wheelchair, out of desperation, he began to watch The 700 Club. He laughed at the miracles which were being testified about until one day Ben Kinchlow said, “Pray with me.” David would switch off the television set, convinced it was wrong to hear people praying to Jesus.
Several months later, Ben stretched his finger out and said, “You! Why don’t you pray with me?” David felt that Ben was pointing and talking to him. David found himself praying the sinner’s pray with Ben to Jesus!
David went to a bookstore in Nazareth and bought a Bible and started reading. He soon discovered that the prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled in the New Testament about Jesus.
David found a Baptist church and found himself praying the sinner’s prayer in front of the congregation.
His wife soon began going to church and received Christ.
Five months later, David was watching The 700 Club when Danuta Soderman gave a word of knowledge. She said, “There is someone who has been paralyzed halfway down his body for years.” “He will feel a warm sensation running through his body, and he will be healed.”
David was praying, “ Oh, please, God, let it be me.”
That same evening David was lying in his bed reading his Bible, when all of a sudden a feeling like an electric current ran from his spine down to his tiptoes, and his feet started jumping 40 inches at a time.
When the movement stopped, he went to sleep.
The next morning, he started to assist his legs with his hands to get out of bed, when he realized that he had feeling in them.
His wife didn’t believe him and took a needle and pricked him while he had his eyes closed, saying, “Tell me where I am sticking you?” David told her the exact spot each time.
His Moshav doctor couldn’t believe it either and sent him to the hospital for an electric test of his reflexes. David responded to the test perfectly. The doctor asked him to return in a week.
A week later David met with 25 doctors, including the neurosurgeon who had operated on him. They all said it was impossible. Yet at the end of their examination, they all said this was a medical miracle.
When David told them that Yeshua had healed him. They did not want to hear another word about Jesus. They refused to believe that Jesus could heal. David said this reminded him of the miracles Jesus performed in the Bible and people did not believe, and accused Him of being possessed by demons.
The Moshav asked David and his family to move due to his belief in Jesus. With no money and no place to go, someone handed David an envelope containing a scholarship and tickets to attend a Bible School in Dallas, Texas.
David and his wife graduated in 1989. David returned to Israel and pastored Roots Messianic Congregation for 17 years as well as serving as Lt. Col. in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces).
He died while helping to produce the movie The Miracle of Israel.
It is amazing to me that God still reveals Himself to certain people while others adamantly deny His existence.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)
God still saves and He still heals today in His way and in His time. How and when has God revealed Himself to you?
“Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” (Psalm 145:3)
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11)