From Yemen to Yeshua: John Ghanim’s journey from Islam to a love for Israel

John Ghanim was raised in Yemen to hate Israel but after leaving Islam and embracing faith in Yeshua (Jesus), he now considers the Jewish people his family and Israel part of his biblical calling.

In an interview with Christian journalist Paul Calvert, Ghanim shared how his journey from a Muslim upbringing in Yemen to faith in Yeshua was not simply a change of religious belief. It meant leaving behind an identity that had shaped his childhood, enduring rejection from his family, facing death threats and discovering a profound love for the Jewish people and the land of Israel.

Ghanim was born and raised in a devout Muslim family in a small Yemeni village surrounded by mountains. Islam, he recalls, was inseparable from his family, culture and country.

But after secretly leaving Islam, his search for God eventually brought him into contact with Christians while he was living in Greece in 2017.

A conversation with a Syrian Christian about Jesus as the Messiah opened a door. Ghanim attended a Bible study and later visited a Christian church for the first time.

What initially seemed strange to him became deeply compelling as he watched people pray and worship and experienced what he perceived as a genuine relationship with God.

As he began reading the New Testament, the person of Jesus increasingly captured his attention. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, particularly Jesus’ words about blessing, prayer and loving one’s enemies, convinced him that he had found the God he had been looking for.

Eventually, he publicly committed his life to Christ and was baptized. At that time, he changed his name from Muhammad to John, describing the experience as a passage from darkness into a new life.

“He’s alive. Islam behind me, the world behind me, and Jesus before me. He’s my Lord. He’s my King and he’s my Savior,” Ghanim told Calvert.

Ghanim’s public declaration of faith came at an enormous cost.

When he shared his baptism on social media, the videos spread throughout Yemen. His family and wider community came under pressure because of his conversion, and eventually he was disowned.

He says his wife was divorced under Islamic law, he lost contact with his daughters, and an imam issued a fatwa against him. Members of his own extended family, he says, volunteered to kill him.

Yet Ghanim says he never regretted following Christ.

“Yes, I lost my daughters, my wife, my family, my mother, my country, my culture, my safety. But I have access to heaven. I am a child of the living God.”

His transformation did not stop with his conversion to Christianity. He also underwent a dramatic change in his attitude toward Israel and the Jewish people.

As a Muslim growing up in Yemen, he had been taught to hate Jews and Israel. His own involvement with the Houthi movement included helping paint its familiar anti-American and anti-Israel slogans on buildings, roads and mountains.

His perspective changed as he studied the Bible more deeply.

Reading about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets and Israel’s history led him to reconsider much of what he had previously been taught. Most significantly, he came to recognize that Jesus himself is the Jewish Messiah.

His newfound faith also transformed his view of Israel – a change that soon came at a personal cost.

“So now I started to receive death threats and hate because they labeled me as a Zionist. They labeled me as a Mossad. They labeled me as a CIA. They labeled me as a so many bad things, but I told them I am a spy to the King of Heaven, Yeshua the Messiah, and I love Israel and it's out of my control.”

Ghanim now describes his support for Israel not primarily in political terms but as a biblical calling. He believes Christians should identify with the Jewish people, pray for them and speak on their behalf.

“And we Christians, we need to make a spiritual Aliyah and to stand with the Jewish people and pray for them and speak for them and love them because they are our family,” he said.

He says this conviction has sometimes drawn criticism, even from fellow Christians, particularly those invested in replacement theology. Nevertheless, he intends to continue speaking publicly.

Today, Ghanim is a full-time evangelist, using Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach Muslims, particularly Yemenis, with the message of Jesus.

He believes social media is opening unexpected doors for former Muslims and secret believers, including Christians inside Yemen who cannot safely make their faith public.

He has not yet visited Israel, but he says he longs to go.

His first destination would be Jerusalem, where he hopes to encounter Israel’s Yemenite Jewish community, eat Yemeni food and discover how God can use him there.

Ghanim's prayer reaches in both directions: for Yemenis to exchange hatred for love, and for Israel to know the protection, blessing and Messiah he has come to embrace.

“Hate will get you, will destroy you. But love will remain. Love will remain and love will win,” he emphasized.

Ghanim’s story is one of extraordinary personal loss, but also of remarkable transformation – from a Yemeni Muslim, who once participated in anti-Israel activity, to becoming a follower of Yeshua, and who now considers the Jewish people his family and Israel a central part of his biblical calling.

Click here to visit John Ghanim's website and read more about his ministry.

Click below to listen to the full interview with Paul Calvert.