Why Should We Care About Israel?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. So why should Christians actually care about Israel? Is that something we're assuming without biblical foundation? Thanks for joining us on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. You're really going to enjoy the conversation I have with my guest, longtime friend going back to, oh, 30 years.

Scott Volk will be joining me momentarily in studio with us. As we'll be talking about Israel, why should we care? Why does it matter? Is Israel different than any other nation?

Is God being partial if that's the case? Or are we even wrong in taking this prophetic significance to Israel today? We'll talk about all that, and as always, we'll take your Jewish-related calls a little later in the broadcast.

866-34-Truth, 866-348-7884, the number to call. Scott Volk and I have been dear friends now for 30 years, and Scott was my assistant for years during the Browns revival, traveled with me and was really a pastor liaison to students and to leaders around the country. So we've got some amazing memories doing that.

He then became the pastor of Fire Church for a number of years, and then since then has been working with Together for Israel, raising funds to help needy people, believers, and others within Israel, making an amazing impact and helping educate the church as well. So Scott, welcome to the line of fire. Great to have you. Oh my gosh, when you said 30 years, it actually... I've known you longer than I haven't known you, and that's amazing, over half of my life. And how amazing, bro, that we've gotten a journey together like that. Yeah, and what's crazy is I'll go to places where I've been going for decades and be talking to the children of the ministers there, and I'll say, you are older than I was when I first came. I was like the man of God. I was just a kid comparatively.

Right. Yeah, so when we first met, how old was your youngest? When we first met... Not Olivia, but your youngest before Olivia. Well, if we've known each other 30 years, then my youngest was two years old when we met.

Yeah, that's what I distinctly remember. And I can't... she's 32 now? She's 32 now.

Gonna be 33 in November. Amazing. So yeah, it's incredible how time flies. It's amazing how much things have changed in the last 30 years. But when I look back and I see the hand of the Lord in bringing me to Brownsville and working together with you, and ultimately thrusting me into the place where I am with such a burden for Israel, I'm just so thankful. It's like I see the hand of God on all of those 30 years, and really extremely grateful to you and the role you've played in that in my life.

Yeah, well, you've been an amazing blessing over the time. Friends, I want to reminisce for a minute with Scott. I want it to be meaningful to each of you. But we got to travel, and we saw God do amazing things around the world. And with all kinds of travel, you have all kinds of interesting situations, memories. When you think back, Scott, to some of our travel, either something that you remember because of the intense spiritual move that was taking place, or because of just some humorous thing that happened. What memories come from that?

I actually have two that stand out to me immediately. One was at a church that we went to together in Dallas, Texas. You were speaking at some large gatherings. The smaller church that was not even an English-speaking church asked us to come. And between two meetings, I was shocked that you even agreed to do it. We got in a car, and we rode to this Hispanic church that probably seated maybe 150 or so, and it was packed out. I remember it. It was in the middle of the day, right?

In the middle of the day, like maybe one or two in the afternoon, the place was packed out. You got up to speak, and then we had to leave really, really quickly. So it was with a Spanish translator.

Spanish translator. And you, as you typically did in those days, you were willing to pray for anybody that wanted prayer. And I, because I was with you, felt like I needed to just walk with you. And people were getting touched, definitely touched, by the power of God in those days in such a significant way that they would testify years later how your prayer over them really affected them. But that day, I just remember everybody just really experiencing a touch from God.

And we actually left our driver. We were walking out to leave, but you didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to the pastor. And if I'm not mistaken, bro, correct me if I'm wrong, I think they carried him out of the meeting because he had a hard time walking himself just to be able to say goodbye. And it was just such an amazing picture to me of these people who were so hungry, not for the personality of Mike Brown, but for God to come in touch because he was moving in such an amazing way. And I remember as he came out just trying to grieve him, he collapsed completely overwhelmed by God's power. And when you say it wasn't about me, their place has never heard of me, but they heard someone coming from the revival. And God was so gracious that he responded to that spiritual hunger. I remember that well.

Okay, memory number two. Memory number two, we were in a tent, probably in Catania, Italy, or maybe some seaside Italy village with the Christ is the answer people in Italy. We were having meetings morning, noon, and night.

It was remarkable that that tent was filled. Again, it was just supernatural hunger. And I remember as we were trying to leave one night, you had poured out your heart in three meetings during the day. That night you prayed for people and the throng of people was so strong in desiring, like they would get prayed for and then they'd want more.

They were surrounding you that a police escort, actually, you didn't ask for it, but somebody who was trained as a policeman just took charge just to get you out of there. And again, it wasn't because people wanted to touch you because you were some celebrity like the Beatles or something. They were just, they were so hungry for the manifest presence of God. And as you would lay your hands on people, they were being touched.

So those two stand out to me in supernatural ways. And you know, friends, when you read in the New Testament about the crowds thronging around Jesus, okay, that's Jesus, not us. But they were getting healed.

They were getting touched. They were getting set free from demonic power. And when that legitimately happens, if God's genuinely using you to heal the sick, if God's genuinely using you to set captives free, if he's genuinely using you to transform lives through the power of the gospel, we're just earth and vessels, the power, the glory is all his. People will come flocking. Look, it's no surprise that as reports come that God's moving in Asbury, and he's moving all over America, but suddenly reports, and this is just God's way of bringing attention to it, God moving in Asbury, a town of 6,000, the last Sunday that was basically open to the public, 50,000 people converge.

You say, well, that's terrible. We should just be in our own congregations and worshiping the Lord. Okay, on the one hand, we're not to be running around looking for a touch here, a touch here, a new manifestation here. Right, we can be revival junkies, manifestation junkies.

That's immature. However, when God really is doing something, people will come. Scott, you mentioned that you saw the Jesus Revolution movie. I haven't seen it yet. I've got to go see it.

I read the book and was touched by the book, but you were really touched watching this movie. It's one of these things, God just started moving, and people started flocking. When Chuck Smith opened his doors, people started flocking. Something was in the air because God was moving. What touched you so deeply? Well, what touched me first of all was the realization that I would not be sitting here today with you if it was not for my uncle Paul coming back to tell his Orthodox Jewish family that Jesus, Yeshua, was the promised Messiah. And here my uncle, a philosophy instructor from Rutgers University, a Jewish hippie moving out to the Haight-Asbury area of San Francisco, pot smoking hippie, gets encountered by Jesus on a street corner and comes back to tell my family.

And then my mom gets saved, my dad gets saved. It was remarkable. So as I was sitting there watching this, Dr. Brown, I was blown away to watch on this screen a man who played the role of Chuck Smith opening his doors to these people who nobody wanted anything to do with. And bro, I'm telling you, as I was sitting there, I actually felt like I was in that building, and I sensed the presence of God. You've known me 30 years.

I'm not a feeler. And it wasn't even necessarily the movie as much as watching God touch the lives of people who were hungry and watching God move when people made way for him to move. I was deeply, deeply touched. I want to go see it again.

I encourage you to go see it too. Yeah, and you know what's really interesting is when God really moves, you don't have to advertise it, announce it. Word just gets out. In fact, in the spiritual realm, it happens. You know, I've seen many times when God's moving in my life in a significant way, and I go to minister, the crowds are larger.

I didn't announce it. Somehow, people are just drawn. When someone has a real gift of being an evangelist, that's not my primary calling except toward Jewish people. But when someone has a real gift as an evangelist, they show up in an area and all these lost people are drawn, and you say, how did it happen?

I just preached there a week ago, and they weren't there. Well, there's an anointing. There's something that God actually does. And Scott, this is what we're really believing for with our Jewish people, that we see the trickle. We see the regular trickle, and it's wonderful. It's beautiful.

Each one is an individual life. A very small trickle of very, very religious Jews, ultra-Orthodox Jews, but they're coming. More and more people coming. But we know that there's going to be a national turning. There's going to be the ultimate revival in Israel, which is the ultimate goal of our ministry, redemption in Israel.

It's the third of our three Rs, and it's the climax of everything. Do you really have a deep expectation in your heart, a settled faith that that's going to happen? Without a doubt, obviously, because it's written in the word that all Israel shall be saved.

I think the title of today's broadcast is why we should care about Israel or why should we care about Israel. I believe when the church, Jew and Gentile together, carry God's heart for Israel, that something is destined to happen. That's ultimately going to usher in the return of Yeshua. Jesus is coming back when Israel welcomes him back, and so much of that depends on the church coming into all that it's called to be. Israel has got to be an important piece of that puzzle. We should care about Israel because Israel holds the key to world redemption. We love revival. When Israel bows its knee to Jesus, that's life from the dead. I am firmly convinced because the Bible is clear about it. And even though we're seeing a trickle, now, Dr. Brown, I really believe that as the Lord is opening the hearts of the people, the men and women in the church to embrace Israel, we're going to see what we saw back in the 1970s. We're going to see people coming and responding.

I don't know what the statistics are. I know you do. But so many of the friends that you have who are your contemporaries were saved in the midst of that Jesus revolution movement in the 1970s. And what was that? That was the church opening up its doors to allowing God to move. And when that happens, we're going to see our people saved.

Yeah, it's true. The church will provoke Israel to envy. Our first our revival in the church leads to our last our redemption in Israel. There is still time for you to join us in Israel at our tour in May.

We'll tell you how to do that on the other side of the break. Stay right here. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. God is the one who is giving you the opportunity to be saved. We're going to be talking about the role of the church in the temple to the end of the earth. The role of the church, ultimately provoking Israel to envy.

A Jewish Jerusalem welcomes Messiah back. You didn't always have this view. How is it that God gave you this burden, this vision? Remarkably, I took my first tour to Israel in 2005. You and I actually spoke at a conference together a couple years before that. together a couple of years before that, while we were at that conference in Israel, someone encouraged me. I should bring a Torah group over there, but you have to understand something, Dr. Brown. I, as a Jewish believer, actually reacted or recoiled against what I felt was almost like this hyper-reaction of Christians for Israel, somehow feeling like if they were not Jewish, they were less of a believer.

And so it actually turned me off. So many people pretending to be Jewish or whatever it was, I was turned off by it. When I went to Israel that first time, I actually went there without any kind of burden whatsoever. I walked into an underprivileged children's center.

I saw the faces of these kids in Tiberias, some of the poorest kids from the most broken homes that you can imagine. And I heard the Lord speak in my heart as I looked at them, and as much as you've done it to the least of these brothers of mine, you've done it to me. That actually launched our ministry together for Israel in 2005. But I still had no burden for Israel, amazingly. And you didn't want this idea that the Jewish believers are special or different, and then you saw a lot of gentile Christians trying to look like Jews or act like Jews.

That all just turned you off. It turned me off as a Jewish believer in Jesus. But what also confounds me even now is that as a Jewish believer in Jesus, I could have been so blind to God's heart for Israel.

That's what blows me away. In 2010, our ministry started in 2005, which exists to funnel funds to believers, both Arab and Jew in Israel. We started giving, and I really believe that as a result of my giving, God blessed me with this revelation of His heart. I was flying back from Israel in 2010, and it was as if the Lord was sitting next to me on that flight, pointing His finger at me, saying, You're a Jew, and I've called you to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

I remember coming home and telling my wife about it, telling you about it. I would kneel by my bed reading scriptures in Jeremiah and finding tears uncontrollably falling down my face as I read about God's heart for Israel. And I thought to myself, I don't have this heart. I need to be gripped with a burden for Israel in the same way that the Lord was. God the Father, Jesus, Paul the Apostolic, Apostle to the Gentiles had this burden.

Why didn't I have it? And I'm telling you, the Lord, as I opened up my heart, saying, Lord, teach me, He filled me with a burden for Israel. And it's interesting, though, because what I like to say, I kind of felt like a Cornelius. Acts Chapter 10, Cornelius is praying.

He's doing all the right things. He's praying and he's giving. God arrests him and arrests Peter. Peter shows up at his house, and what does the Lord tell Cornelius?

Your prayers and your giving have ascended as a memorial to me. Peter ends up coming to a man whose prayers and giving touched God's heart, so much so that Cornelius and his household are saved. The very thing that happened to only Jewish people in the upper room in Acts Chapter 2 now happens to Gentiles in Acts Chapter 10. The Jewish people are marveling, how can this happen? These are uncircumcised people. These are unclean people. But it was the Lord who said, don't call unclean that which I've made clean. The Gospel goes to Cornelius and the nations because of a man who prayed and gave and as someone who was giving without even having a burden for Israel.

I felt like the Lord blessed me and said, okay, I see where your heart is. Now let me reveal my heart to you where Israel is concerned. And friends, there is still time.

I had to reach to grab my phone to make sure I had the right link for you. We just have a few seats left. The tour is in May from the 16th to the 24th. You'll be in Israel with us. Scott, folks wanted just five star hotels.

This is going to be the first time. All five star hotels. That's what folks wanted.

So that's what you're getting. But it's not just the tour by day. We do special meetings every night for those that want to come. You sit in on the live radio broadcast because it's evening time in Israel. We have a Q&A time. We're going to have some prayer meetings together. Doctor and Dr. Stangler, Mark and Angela Stangler will be with us having a fun nutrition, health, medical Q&A night. We'll hear from some local Messianic believers and things. So it's an amazing time. It really is the tour of a lifetime. So here's how you can sign up.

You need to sign up now because literally we just have several seats left. Ask Dr. Brown dot org, Ask Dr. Brown dot org, forward slash or backslash. It's backslash Israel dash tour dash 2023.

Got that? Ask Dr. Brown dot org backslash Israel dash tour dash 2023. And you don't have to say Dr. Brown sent you because that's our website when you go there. So I want to make sure I had that right.

That's Ask Dr. Brown, Ask Dr. Brown dot org for whatever the slash is that starts one side forward slash forward slash forward slash Israel dash tour dash 2023. And Scott, just have a minute, roughly how many tours have you led now? I've been on over 30. I actually stopped counting.

It's somewhere between 30 and 36. All right. And every time do you see people transformed, impacted every single time people go to Israel, even with mediocre tour guides, their lives are impacted. But everybody that's ever gone to Israel with you has always been deeply impacted. And that's been the testimony that comes back to us. Amazing tour guides. You have amazing, amazing tour guides. You have you. And I think that I always say one trip to Israel will transform you for a lifetime because you start seeing scripture in what everybody says is technicolor, where you walk, where Jesus walked, where you see the the the shorelines that Jesus saw, where you experience the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane. Your life is changed forever. Yeah.

So no hype. It's reality. We know not everyone's able to go. Many of you would like to. But if you're able, here's the time. Here's the time to sign up.

So ask Dr. Brown dot org forward slash Israel dash tour dash 2023, come with your friends, family will fill the second bus and that's it. So it's an intimate time together in the presence of the Lord. I'm not sure what is happening with our music feeds in and out of things today. But OK, in fact, we've got we just switched our clock.

OK. We do have a few more seconds. That's why there's no music yet, because it's not it's not time yet. This is not a political trip. No, it's and it's not a pro Israel anti Palestinian trip. No, it's a trip about the land, the history, the present, the future.

And with it, a burden for all peoples who live there. All right. There we go.

There's the music friends. We'll be right back. I'm going to get you some calls on the other side of the break. And talk some more with my dear longtime friend, Scott. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling eight, six, six, three, four truth.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. There we go, we missed our Israel music last time, Shabbat Shalom, we're a day ahead, we're a day ahead. But welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. All right, Scott, feel free to join in.

Some of these questions are not just Bible related, but modern Israel politically related. So if you want to join in on great. Go ahead.

Great. Let's let's start with our friend Yoni Yonatan in Israel. Welcome back to the line of fire. Are you there, Yoni? Hmm.

That's interesting. Hopefully, we don't have a problem on our phone lines. Let's try a victor in Georgia.

Yeah. We don't have you there, victor in Georgia. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, victor. Hello.

Yeah, you're on the air. Okay. Yeah. My question is, I heard this guy named Michael Heissner talking about who was Elohim, and he was reading Psalms 82, and I think that's like a part of the verse one, that it said God among God, something like that.

Can you explain and elaborate more on that? Yes, certainly. Sadly, Michael Heissner is with the Lord now, passed away after a long battle with cancer, but passed away with a real clear note of victory in his voice and in his heart in terms of, hey, we're all going to join together with the Lord, those who know him in the future. So we miss him, of course.

I've answered this a bunch of times, but let me give you a very specific answer. So the Hebrew, Elohim nitzav ba'adat el, be care of Elohim yishapot. So God, Elohim, stands in the council of El. Does that mean the council of God or the council of gods?

Well, it's singular. So El was the chief deity in the Canaanite pantheon and was another way of just referring to the God of Israel as God, be care of Elohim yishapot. Among the Elohim, he pronounces judgment or he sits in judgment. So Elohim, God, the one and only God, also called El, God. Elohim is an intensive plural form, meaning that it speaks of the majesty and power of God.

It's a Semitic way of speaking of greatness, power to speak of it in the plural. He sits in the midst of the gods, the Elohim, which is either referring to if it was Canaanite religion, the different gods, different deities, and El was the chief deity. And he would sit over the other deities. Or as understood in the Israelite world, there were angelic beings, divine beings over whom God sat. We understand that God is as the ruler and the only creator among these other divine beings, spiritual beings, heavenly beings, right, the angels. And they had certain authority over certain nations. People would often worship these angels, some of them fallen, as if they were gods, so they were called gods by the people. There's only one absolute and true God. So ultimately it's God sitting over the council of angelic beings that rule over the nations of the world or have various functions over the nations of the world. Much of it is part of the idolatrous beliefs of the nations, believing in angelic beings as if they were deities themselves. That they're all created beings, they'll all die like men, God says. It also has a spiritual application to Israel's judges who were called Elohim because they stood and functioned in that particular way, carrying out the divine will on the earth.

And they too, because they're unfaithfulness, just die like men. Hey, thank you, sir, for the call. I appreciate it. 866-34-TRUTH.

Let's go to Gloria in Texas. Welcome to the line of fire. Hi, Dr. Brown, thanks for taking my call.

I don't know if you can hear me, I can... Okay, so my question is really quick, I hope it is real quick. It's about Samuel. So in 1 Samuel 1, he reads his genealogy from Elkanah, and then he talks about kind of being an Iframite, but when you get to 1 Chronicles 6, and if you read verse maybe 27 and 28, it kind of lists Samuel as if he's actually a Levite. And the reason why I'm asking this question is because this past Sunday I was actually teaching a discipleship class, and I had mentioned that Samuel wasn't a Levite, that God had instituted him as a judge over Israel, and then someone corrected me and said that he was actually a Levite, that if I go look in the book of Chronicles, you would see that he's a Levite. So if you compare that to the judges and see the inheritance of the Levites during the days of Joshua, that you will see that some of the Levite got inheritances in the land of Ephraim. So my question is, is he a Levite? Is he descended from the line of co-op, or is this just... Yeah, yeah, so he's... Right, right.

It's interesting. I was just looking at that very passage in 1 Chronicles 6 last night. Yeah, Levites lived in different parts of Israel. So you had Levites living in all the different 12 tribes, some in Ephraim, right, so he's an ultimate descendant from Levi through his father Elkanah, but Elkanah lived in Ephraim. So it's just like saying that you're a priest who lives in America, or a priest who lives in Mexico, or a priest who lives in Israel, just that they lived in different places, they received inheritance among the different tribes, so that's why he'd be identified as an Ephraimite, but an Ephraimite is not saying he's not a Levite, right, just there, it's just saying that he lived in that territory in Ephraim.

So no contradiction there at all. Hey, thank you, thank you for the call, I appreciate it. So Scott, when you have been to Israel yourself, so you've been there many, many times, and every tour you're excited about, and you're with people, you've said that folks have actually gotten off the plane in Israel, it's just another plane and another airport, right, it's not like you're standing next to the wall in Jerusalem and overwhelmed with that site or some, you know, in the desert of Judah, so it's just an airport and an airplane. You've had people get off the plane and encounter God right there. Yeah, remarkable, they'll get off and they'll kiss the ground, it's not even outside, it's in the airport, but there's such a sense, you know, it goes back, I think, even to what we were discussing earlier when we were talking about God moving in a special way, I believe that God encounters those who come to him with expectation. When you go to Israel and there's an expectancy, you are much more, your senses are more open, they're more acutely aware of what's happening in that place. There's such a remarkable calling on that land, and people, when I think about, there's one place on earth where the Lord has chosen as his eternal abode, he's going to place his presence there forever, Jesus was born there, he lived there, he died there, he's returning back, God chose that square mile, however many it is of earth, that he chose as his own to give to his people. So when you're going there with an expectation of, I want to encounter God, I think it happens as soon as you step off that plane, I'm not saying you won't be able to walk, some can't, but that expectation that you have of meeting God in the place that he calls his own, it arrests you in such a remarkable way. And friends, if you go to the website AskDrBrown.org and just scroll down, you'll see some moving slides on my new book, other things like that, so the Israel tour will pop right up there on the homepage.

So I gave you a direct link a moment ago, but just go to AskDrBrown.org and scroll down, you'll see it partway down the page, and you can just click there, get all the information you need, and get signed up. We would love to be with you there, it's a great opportunity to get to know folks and spend time together. What always interests me is, I'll see people on the tour, it's like, didn't you go on the tour a few years ago?

It's like, yeah, there's so much to take in, I just want to go back and do it another time. So it is something I really look forward to, and that's why we're just giving you this last opportunity, bringing Scott on the air here with us. And by the way, Scott does not call me Dr. Brown in private, just somehow being polite on the radio here, it's like, I do not require friends if they're, you must refer to me as Dr. Brown, because until you get to 40 years, it's a friend. The show is Ask Dr. Brown, so I feel like, but if you want me to call you Mike, Bubba, you just tell me what you want me to call you, and I'm here for you. Well Mike.

Mike. Yeah, because you don't call me Bubba. No, I don't call you Bubba.

No. I don't call you Bubba. A quick story, so when we lived in Pensacola during the Brown's revival, so it's right next to the Alabama border, it's definitely the southern part of America, and it has in certain ways more Alabama culture than say a culture of Miami or Orlando, another part of Florida. Anyway, we would hear people getting baptized, and we just knew that Bubba was kind of like a nickname, you know, and we would all have this moment, like this revelatory moment, you know, I was there a year or two years or six months when I first realized that Bubba was actually a name, and that God would be getting baptized, hi, my name is Bubba, and it's like Bubba's actually a name, we just knew he was a nickname, so that was kind of a revelation.

That was a revelation. But the moment we realized, and so for those in the south, sorry, please forgive our ignorance, last thing before I go back to the phones, you've, as you've been in the land a lot, developed a heart for everyone there, so we pray for our Jewish friends to be saved. We're not glorifying Israel, Israel needs Jesus, Yeshua, like every other nation on the planet, we're not, in fact, we want you to get a greater burden for the Jewish people by being there, but you're not anti-Palestinian. We're not, oh, we just have to stand with Israel and who cares about these other people.

What have you said about that in terms of having a right heart, a right approach? Yeah, well, I really believe if you look at Israel through a political lens, the results will be that you will either hate the Jewish people or the Arab people or both. If you look at Israel through a biblical lens, through a godly lens, you'll end up loving both Arab and Jew alike. Anytime, like if people come to me and say, are you pro-Israel, I have to ask them what they mean because that almost insinuates that you're anti-something whenever you're pro-something. So I, what I like to do when we're in Israel is show people who are coming on these tours that really, even within Israel, even among the unbelieving community, Arabs and Jews desire to live together in peace. They really do. How about though, these born again Jews and born again Arabs who are working together and laboring together for the kingdom.

It's really remarkable. It's such an incredible picture of seeing God moving in Israel. So when you go to Israel, don't go to Israel with some political agenda. You know, Israel, I've heard Israel's an apartheid state.

How can you go there? That's nuts. Or I've heard these Palestinians are all evil. They want to see Israel wiped off.

That's crazy. We've got to go over there saying, Lord, give me your eyes to see these people as you see them. And then everything changes. Right. And that's the goal to give you God's heart, to help deepen God's heart for Israel, for the nations, for the Palestinians. When you're in Israel, something just happens.

Things come alive. So one last time, ask Dr. Brown. Go ahead, scroll down. You'll see a number of reading slides.

Look for the Israel slide. Okay. We'll get back to your questions on the other side of the break. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.

Oh, yeah. Welcome to the Jewish Thursday, Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Let's go.

Let's try again to connect with Yoni and Israel. Are you there this time? Yes.

Yes. I'm here. Somebody was trying to prevent us from talking. How are you doing, Dr. Brown? Doing great. How about you, buddy? Well, actually not good. Not good at all. You know, those days in Israel, a lot of people say on the personal level, not bad. On the national level, not so good, because I'm sure you're aware of the situation right now in Israel with the current political, how do I say this, conflict between the government, which is right-wing, and the opposition to the government, and the judicial reform that the government tries to pass. You're probably aware of it, right?

Yes. But here's the question, here's the question, should the judiciary have as much power as it has? You know, Israel doesn't have, you know, constitution the same way America does, so the people can express themselves through voting. And of course, Israel is ultra-democratic with so many different parties and, you know, each one vying for different power and influence. So if the Supreme Court has too much power, how do you fix it without taking people's rights away? I mean, it's kind of a difficult question to process, so there are many concerns.

Some seem exaggerated that this is the end of democracy in Israel, which you hear over and again. Others say, no, this is the right step to take. So where do you draw the line? What do you think is the healthy balance here?

Well, if this, how would I put it? I'm in the middle, because let me just give you and your audience a perspective about the Supreme Court in Israel. So out of 99 Supreme Court justices, 95 was Ashkenazi Jews, and most of them are liberal, left-leaning, secular, atheist, and only four were Mizrahi Jews.

And in the Israeli population, 30 percent are Mizrahi Jews, and in the Israeli population, about 20 to 25 percent are religious Jews. So yes, the Supreme Court in Israel do have too much power, and we don't have enough time, but I try to sum it up to you and to the audience. The big three reforms that the current government is trying to do is, one is the way that judges are selected, because right now, effectively, the judges select themselves. So we have a committee that selects Supreme Court judges, and in the end, the judges have a veto. So if the judge doesn't like one nominee, they can say, no, they are not going to elect.

And this is really problematic, because it creates a situation when they only choose somebody who is like them. Most of the judges that are appointed to the Supreme Court are left-leaning, secular, atheist. So the second thing is what we call in Hebrew, elatash v'ruh, which means because the Israeli Supreme Court can overturn every legislation made by the Israeli community. And not only that, they don't, we don't have constitution. So the judges don't need to say, look, you passed a law that say that all, I don't know, all people below six feet are not allowed to work in the Knesset.

No. They say it's not reasonable. So for example, there was a situation when they appointed a minister who was convicted in court, right? So they say, oh, it's legal, but it's not reasonable. So the Israeli population say, wait, it's maybe not reasonable for you, but for me it is reasonable. How can you overturn the law just because it's not reasonable? And the third thing is that the Israeli Supreme Court eventually can overturn laws without giving a legal explanation.

So right now we call it reform and somebody call it a revolution because the current government tries to do three things. One thing is that if the Supreme Court overturn a law, the law can come back to the Knesset and then the Knesset can re-legislate the same law and the Supreme Court won't have the power to overturn it. The second thing is that they're trying to change the report in the committee that selects the Supreme Court judges and to give more power to the Knesset. And the third thing is that they want to cancel the, what we call the reasonable reason to cancel law. And they say, okay, only if a law is illegal, that's a step for them to say, okay, all non-whites in Israel are not allowed to vote in the election. So this is, of course, a law that the Supreme Court will have the power to change, but not laws that, okay, it's bad. Because it's still really, really controversial, because they want to do all of this not with a, the Knesset is 120 members, so they say, okay, if 61 members decide to overturn the ruling of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court cannot overturn it. And so a lot of people feel, like you say, that it's the end of democracy. So I myself, I don't know, because on one hand, yes, the Supreme Court in Israel doesn't represent the people of Israel. And I do believe the Supreme Court, but this is not, I'm not a legal expert, but what I can tell you that the feeling right now for me in Israel, that we are on a break of a civil war, because the two sides have not even agreed to talk, you know. But I'm a social media addict, and I'm all day, I'm on Twitter, on Facebook, and people are like, it's terrible, because it's like an unbreakable world. And I don't know, I don't know, I'm afraid, I'm telling you the truth, this is the first time I'm calling you and I'm telling you, I don't know, I'm sad that this is the current situation in Israel.

Yeah, so let me just give you some words of encouragement. First friends, I want to ask you to pray for Yoni Yonatan, raised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, Haredi Jew, turned away from that, still has certain beliefs and certain connection to Jews' tradition. We've been talking a lot about Yeshua, about Jesus, but would you pray for God's peace to settle in Yoni's heart, as he cries out to God, even in the midst of questioning his beliefs, and Jesus, Yeshua, are you real, that God would make himself real to Yoni, in Israel, make himself real in such a way that this supernatural peace would come. Scott, what anniversary is this in May? May celebrates the 75th anniversary of Israel becoming a nation. So friends, on the tour with us, you'll be with us literally days after the celebration of the 75th anniversary.

That's why I wanted to go in May, it's a prime, perfect time to go. So when we're there, what a perfect time to be praying. What a perfect time to be praying in the midst of this, that people would recognize there are no earthly solutions, and Yoni, that's the fact.

I think there's a lot of rhetoric, and people on both sides are being irresponsible with inflammatory rhetoric, like we have in America, you have some very similar in Israel, but it gets even more intense because of so many different parties and factions. But Yoni, I want to encourage you, we call Yeshua a sar-salon for a reason, Prince of Peace, and there's a great verse in Isaiah 26, Yetzer shalom shalom ki v'chaba tuach, so the mindset that is leaning on you, you will keep in perfect peace, shalom shalom ki v'chaba tuach, because it trusts in you. So Yoni, let's make sure that we talk, we can communicate on Gmail, we've got each other's email, to make sure that we spend some time together. Want to meet you firsthand on this tour, even have some of my friends pray with you for God's grace and peace.

Look to Him, that's where you're going to find Pete in the midst of the storm. Thank you for calling, and by the way, super helpful analysis for our listeners. I've got to get to some more calls, but thank you so much, Yoni. Everybody pray that the Prince of Peace will make himself real to Yoni, with deep peace and horror. And take some time reading his words in the brit khadashah, in the New Testament, I think you'll find more peace than on social media. Thank you, thank you for the call. Very quickly, Peter in Canada, welcome to the line of fire.

Time is short, so weigh right in, please. Good afternoon, Dr. Michael Brown, good afternoon, Scott, Dr. Michael Brown, I've got a couple of questions concerning Israel. First of all, this is a dream come true, to visit Israel with you as our leader. You are a blessed man who speaks the truth at a time where there's so much deception on this earth.

I had received an email concerning Israel quite a few months ago, and now it's becoming real. And for all the listeners right now who are interested in going on to the trip, this may help them as well. My first question is, I'm actually on the website booking as we speak.

Now I live in Canada, and unfortunately I won't be able to meet with the group at JFK on the 17th... You book, no, not everyone's gonna be meeting there. Everyone and Peter... Let me just answer this. I just have... Go ahead. Let me just ask my questions, and then once I ask my questions, you can then answer everything at the end. We only have a minute on the air, that's why I was jumping in. But Peter, are you able to call into tomorrow's broadcast, is that possible? Well, let me just ask this one question, and then let's see, I'm just booking right now. Now the trip is until the 24th of May, but here when I'm booking, it says, available May 26th to May 21st. What happens on the other three days? Where are we at? Uh-uh, no, okay.

It does, it ends on the 24th, and then you travel back. If you just should look to our ministry, we'll give you a personal call, Peter, all right? Just ask for more information, we will give you a personal phone call, no rush to speak with you at length. We can't wait to see you in Israel. We'll see you next time.