My Hanukkah Story - Ariel Ministries

Charles Barg
03
testimony
My time with Ariel Ministries has been nothing short of a
blessed experience. I am the former Chairman of the Board, now currently serving
on the Board of Directors. Although my experience in ministry-work spans a great many years,
there was a period in my life when I didn't know Yeshua as my Messiah. Let me back up a bit. I
am a Lithuanian-Ukranian Jew. My father, a tough Chicagoan and former Marine Corps
Sergeant, was in the new steel business in Arkansas. My mother, too, was Jewish. My father
founded a large business from scratch and eventually rose up in the ranks of rural Arkansas
B'nai B'rith to become the International Vice President of B'nai B'rith. He imparted
strength in all he did.
I experienced a briss (Yiddish word for circumcision.) at eight days, a bar
mitzvah at 13, and a confirmation from Sunday school at 16, all from the
Baron Hirsch Synagogue. About that time, I stopped believing in God and
began partying. Seven years later, I began playing lead guitar in a
couple of rockabilly bands. Meanwhile, I would occasionally drive
trucks and fabricate steel for my father, uncle, and three older
cousins. Eventually, I married the girl down the street. Linda has
been my life-partner for 43 years.
In 1972, I entered University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences where I began med-school. I met my friend, Mike Hendren, while
studying there. He was a different "cut of cloth", so to speak. I would study with him, but I remember watching him all the time. I
thought to myself, "Nobody can be this good!" He was light years ahead of me in being honorable. Yet he loved me! He never
criticized my religion, but rather listened attentively and spoke with authentic dignity. After we graduated,
there were fewer encounters, but I experienced heightened respect whenever I saw him.
Two years later, Steve Johnson, a nurse and builder back then (now a doctor in Sedona, Arizona), had read
the gospel of Jesus Christ to me through the Roman Road. So I decided to do a survey of comparative religion.
Steve eventually asked me to go to a small church with him in North Little Rock and hear Dr. Arnold
Fruchtenbaun speak. He was speaking about the Abrahamic Covenant, that all who bless Israel, on a
personal and corporate level, shall so be blessed, and all who detest Israel shall suffer the same fate.
Admittedly so, I could identify with his message. After all, I had been a 20-year member of B'nai B'rith (Sons of
the Abrahamic Covenant). It was as though Arnold had been speaking directly to me that night.
After two years of comparative religion, I was exhausted. I knew that Yeshua was real, but I did not want to
own it. Each night, I would awaken and pace the floor. Finally, I shouted, "Prove it to me, God, and you can
have the rest of my life!" And He did. There were no lightning strikes or anything of that nature, but by
releasing my own will, I finally was releasing myself to Him. I apparently fell into His waiting arms! A month
later, my wife began reading the Bible with the intent to refute me. But after much prayer, she eventually
came to know our Messiah much in the same way. We have walked with Him since September, 1980. Since
then, we have encountered about every adverse thing in the universe, yet we are spiritually stronger than ever
and more confident day-by-day, thanks to the living God!
Finally, I
shouted,
"Prove it
to me,
God,
and you
can
have the
rest of
my life!"