Rabbi Jason Sobel was raised in a Jewish home in New Jersey. As he grew up, on the outside he seemed to be thriving- working in a large recording studio in New York City with rappers and rock stars. Yet he was on a quest for something more. “I looked at their life, and I said, ‘There has to be something more than this.’ And I began a spiritual journey. I was going to the synagogue and studying with my traditional rabbi. And I started studying martial arts and Eastern philosophy,” he told Crosswalk Headlines. His search led to what Sobel calls a “crazy spiritual experience” while meditating. “My soul began to leave my body. Next thing I know, I was up in Heaven and standing before this King,” he said. He knew the King was Jesus.

It was an encounter that changed his life. “Next thing I knew, I was back in my body, shaking under the power of Heaven, running around, going, ‘I’m called to serve Him.’ My mom’s like, ‘You’re called to serve who? We’re Jewish, for goodness sake,’” he said. So began his journey into what is known as “Messianic Judaism.” Messianic Judaism believes in “maintaining a Biblically Jewish expression of their faith.” This may include such things as “worshiping in Hebrew, following Mosaic Law, dancing as King David did before the Lord, and keeping Biblical holidays such as Pesach, Sukkot, or Shavuot.”

After attending a Messianic service at the invitation of a friend, he was given his first-ever copy of a New Testament. “I took it home, read it, and realized [Jesus] was the one who Moses and the Prophets spoke of,” he said. Rabbi Sobel’s conversion has led to him to be ordained in the Messianic faith and to start Fusion. It’s a ministry that seeks to connect Christians and Messianic Jews worldwide. He has also written a number of books, including Signs and Secrets of the Messiah and a book with Kathie Lee Gifford, The Rock, the Road, and the Rabbi. He has also found himself as a spiritual advisor on the popular show, “The Chosen.” “I come from a conservative, Bible-believing background,” he said. “I’m a strong evangelical who believes that the Bible is God’s Word. So we start with that as our primary source of truth and inspiration, and we don’t change it,” he said of his approach to faith.