Israel, Prophecy, and the End of the Age

So, how much should we focus on Israel when it comes to end-time prophecy and the end of the world? Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Phone lines are open, friends. If you've got a Jewish-related question call, something you want to challenge me on, probe about, give us a call, 866-34-Truth, 866-34-87-884.

This is Michael Brown. This is the line of fire, and it is Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. I want to dig into some things happening in Iran right now, which could be of direct interest to Israel. I want to raise the question about, are other nations going to follow United Arab Emirates, one after another, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and others, and make peace treaties with Israel?

If so, does that tie in with biblical prophecy and the end of the world? We'll talk about that. But first, let me tell you where I've been the last couple of days. You said you were doing radio?

No, no. Those were pre-recorded shows yesterday, Wednesday, the day before Tuesday. I solicited questions from you on Facebook and on Twitter, and we spent two days just answering your questions, getting in-depth and answering as many questions as we could. I wish we could get to all of them, but we got to as many as we could pretty much on a first-come, first-serve basis. Those who posted first, we tried to answer first as much as possible. If we missed you, don't be offended. It just is sometimes the way they get listed. But the reason I did that is because I was doing some very important recording. We have now, by God's grace, produced two more sets of shows, 13 shows in total.

It's called Ask the Doctor. This is for METV, Middle East TV, which blankets Israel. We put these out in English, but with Hebrew captions. We sent a crew. This is working with Sid Roth's ministry, and they help sponsor doing these together. We sent a crew onto the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We have one season out already.

Now, this is an entire second season, 13 shows. We send crews out, get maybe, I don't know, about 15 different people that say they'll be happy to answer a series of questions, and some of them are totally secular. I mean, as far as an atheist who has a barbecue on Yom Kippur, the day when Israelis are fasting, Jews are fasting around the world, everything from that to ultra-orthodox Jews with long beard and black coat and the whole range, asking them honest questions, and then we play clips. We play several different clips, quite a few actually, in each show and interact with the clips and ultimately interacting, going back and forth in discussion, and presenting Jesus, Yeshua, as the Messiah of Israel. It's a fabulous, fabulous opportunity. It's something that I'm uniquely called and graced to do, and I say that to say that each of us, we're each uniquely called and graced. They're each things that you can do, that I can do, that someone else can do that are unique, part of our calling, our background. So this is something God has really graced me and called me to do. So pray with us that God will really use these to reach many Israelis, and particularly Jews around the world, but many Israelis in particular. And, oh, each show focuses on a subject that we ask folks on the street, and it could range from, you know, can a really bad person become a good person, something like that, to something like, have you heard of the concept of two messiahs, and could it be messiah's son of Joseph is actually Jesus? I mean, all kinds of questions, reincarnation and Judaism, what do you think about that? And each of them, we then interact fairly with the people that raise their opinions.

We never put on someone to make them look bad or anything like that. Rather, they get to air their views for people to watch all over Israel, and then I get to interact, share my views. So they're really well-produced, a great studio, a setup to do it. So I spent two whole days doing those, graced on the whole team, and that's why I wasn't taking calls the last two days or talking about breaking news. All right, you've got a question for me, Jewish-related question, 866-348-7884.

And I'll keep taking questions through the hour, but at the bottom of the hour, I'll be joined by my dear friend, Scott Volk. Okay, Iran. Iran is a major reason that countries like the UAE are now saying, we want to make peace with Israel. Now, part of it is economic. UAE can benefit, Israel can benefit, UAE, another oil-rich nation, Israel with all of its technology and innovation, both of them being entrepreneurial, want to grow in their economic basis and things like that. So there's a good reason to do it economically.

That's certainly an appeal. But you know the saying, the entity of my enemy is my friend. So Iran is an enemy of Saudi Arabia, of UAE. Iran with its strong Shiite Muslim base and its strong terrorist network is a real enemy to Saudi Arabia, to United Arab Emirates, and an enemy to Israel. Now, in the past, Israel was the common enemy of all these different ones, the common enemy of the Shiite Muslims and the Sunni Muslims. But as civil war is rising in the Middle East, as Middle East, Northern Africa, as countries like Yemen have been rocked and Libya have been rocked and Syria has been rocked, this is often due to inner Islamic conflicts. In other words, Sunni versus Shia. That's a major thing, for example, that's happened in Syria. So you've got Saudi Arabia versus Iran.

And if Israel can be friends with anyone, it's going to be with the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as opposed to the Iranians. But there's something else going on in Iran. Iran is under financial pressures as US has resumed putting pressure on Iran. There's growing financial pressure.

But there are spiritual dynamics taking place there that are really, really interesting. So Ayatollah Khomeini becomes the supreme leader of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979. The Shah has to flee for his life, you know, helped by America, strong American ally. He has to flee for his life, the people pushing against the secularism and worldliness and anti-Islamic sentiments of the Shah. So Khomeini comes in on a massive wave of public support. And what is he, in his late 70s at this point?

But he comes in hailed as the great leader. And there is this Islamic revolution, and it's spread from there around the world. Well, I want to read an article to you.

I shared some brief excerpts some days back, but I want to get back into this. So Iranians have lost their faith, according to a new survey. According to a new poll, four decades after the establishment of the Islamic regime, only 32% of the population consider themselves Shia Muslims. This is absolutely shocking. We've known for years now that the gospel is rising, that the house church movement is rising, that hundreds of thousands of Iranians have come to faith in Jesus.

This now is confirming it. The new poll by the group for analyzing and measuring attitudes in Iran, a nonprofit institute in the Netherlands, asked Iranians about their, quote, attitude toward religion. Now, remember, it was a pro-religion movement that ousted the Shah and brought in Khomeini. 90% of the 50,000 Iranian participants in the survey reside in Iran. And Gaman, that's the group for analyzing and measuring attitudes in Iran, claims the results of the survey to be 95% accurate and generalized to the entire Iranian society.

And 50,000, that's a good number to work with. According to the results, 78% of Iranians believe in God, but only 26% of them believe in the coming of the Messiah, Imam Mahdi, which is one of the main beliefs of the Twelver Shiites. So the Iranian Shiite Muslims, this is a major belief that they have Shiite Muslims in the coming of the Mahdi, this Twelfth Imam who's been hidden for centuries and centuries is going to be revealed.

Only 26% believe in that. That's a distinctly Shiite belief. While only 32% of Iranians consider themselves Shia Muslims, 9% have claimed to be atheists.

There's obviously a reaction against Islam, a reaction against the tyranny of Islam, a reaction against this religion imposed by the state. And 22% do not align with any religion. Half of the population used to believe, but does not anymore. And 6% have converted to a new religion. That's millions of people. I wonder how many of those that have converted to the new religion have converted to Christianity.

All right, let's keep going. Out of 61% of the people born into religious families, 60% do not say their daily prayers. So they are not following in the footsteps of their parents. 68% of the participants believe that religion must not be the basis of legislation. The whole thing of the Muslim revolution is you have Islamic law and you have Islamic government. Khamenei wrote about that, one of the most famous writings that unless you have an Islamic government, then the laws don't do any good.

So you have to have a government to enforce law, in other words, a theocracy. 71% believe that religious institutions must be self-funded, and 42% believe that promoting any kind of religion must be banned from the public sphere. They are reacting against the tyranny of Islam. The results also indicate that 73% of the population disagree with the compulsory hijab, so the women having to cover their faces, while 58% do not believe in hijab. 37% of Iranians drink alcohol regularly or occasionally, despite its prohibition after the revolution.

Prohibition and price have deterred only 8% of Iranians from consuming alcohol. The group for analyzing and marking missionary attitudes in Iran is run by Dr. so-and-so goes on with that, and this was on the Iran International, so iranintl.com, website. Fascinating. Fascinating. For years, I have heard accounts, both from missiologists looking at the data, to missionaries working with former Muslims, to Christians in various parts of the world that had been working in Iran, and I've heard the same story consistently, that next to China, more people are being born again every day in Iran than any country on the planet.

Now, it's interesting. It's just like in America and Europe, you have the rise of the religious nuns, the people who say they have no religious affiliation. You have a similar thing happening in Iran and probably happening in many nations, and you can imagine, unless this is a final end time falling away from faith around the world, which of course will directly impact the gospel as well. You can imagine that a lot of this is access to internet, is the pull of the world, of things that people were untouched by before. Now they're being touched by both questions about how the rest of the world lives and objections to their faith, as well as just the pull of the world, entertainment, worldliness, and seduction of sin, and that's going to have an effect and pull people away from religious faith. But when you have something that rules with an iron hand, and you have something that forces women, all the women need to wear the hijab, not just this is highly recommended for a Muslim woman, or this is what the Muslim teachers teach, and if you want to be in good standing with your local mosque, you should wear it. No, no, no. This is, everyone has to do it. There is a reaction against it, and because Islam does not bring people into a living, vibrant faith with God the way the gospel does, because it doesn't bring forgiveness of sins and eternal life, you're going to have these people who are pushed to do this, required to do this, obligated to do this, and they don't want to do it, they don't believe, so there is this rising tide of revolution.

So it could well be that from the inside, the terrorist, inspiring, dangerous Shia regime that leads Iran, that that could topple from the inside. We'll be right back. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, if you want to stand with us on the front lines of Jewish ministry, Jewish apologetics, reaching the lost sheep of the house of Israel, answering questions that come in constantly from Jewish believers and others that are struggling and needing in-depth, solid answers, stand with us. We're producing lots of new videos that are going to be eye-opening, super helpful for Jewish outreach, rebutting counter missionaries and others, so you can stand with us by clicking on the donate button on our Facebook page on Ask Dr. Brown as you're watching there, and thank you, all of you have given thank you.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can just click on the dollar sign beneath the chat box there, or you can go to our website askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org, and click on donate. Oh, also less than an hour from now, so right around 4 15 Eastern Time, I'm going to be back on the Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel doing our exclusive weekly Q&A chat, so join me there, less than an hour, Ask Dr. Brown YouTube channel. All right, if you got a Jewish-related question, 866-34-TRUTH. Let us go over to Joseph in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Welcome to the line of fire. Good afternoon, Dr. Brown.

Good afternoon. I've got an interesting question for you, and it's all in the book of Acts. In Acts, chapter 18, verse 2, we read that Paul meets Aquila and Priscilla, who left Rome recently because Claudius had commanded all Jewish people to leave Rome. However, in Acts, chapter 28, verse 17, Paul calls together all the prominent Jewish leaders in Rome. My question is, did Claudius or another Caesar change the ruling of banishing the Jewish people from Rome, or did these Jewish people rebel the command?

No, it's a great question, and it's one that is very important in terms of understanding the book of Romans, so I'll come to that. So it's late 40s, like 49 AD, when Claudius bans all Jews from Rome, so that would have included Jewish believers in Jesus. They were considered Jews, recognized as Jews, no one was questioning that, so they were banned at that time. He dies a few years later, and from what we can tell, they gradually begin to come back after that, and then at some point it seems there's a formal reversing of the edict, but in other words, it was in place.

While it was in place, they left, and then he dies just a few years later, and now it's not in place, it's not being enforced. So from what I can tell, it wasn't a matter of rebellion as much as he puts his foot down, people have to scatter, and then he's not around to do it anymore, and it's not enforced, so people return. It's not known for sure, as far as I know, I'm not a New Testament historian, but as far as I know, we don't know exactly how long after that there was like a more formal lifting of the ban, but it wasn't that Jews were in rebellion, it was that it was no longer enforced, it was something that happened, and then it ended. But here's why it's important, Joseph, for understanding the book of Romans. Paul is dealing there with God's promises to Israel. He says in Romans 1 16, the Gospels to the Jew first, also to the Gentile. In Romans 2, he explains that judgment will come first to the Jew, and blessing will come first to the Jew. He explains how all are under sin, Jew and Gentile alike, and are only justified through faith in Jesus the Messiah, and then he reiterates in Romans 9 through 11 God's eternal purposes for Israel, that Israel has not been cast aside. There's a remnant that believes in every generation, but there will be a national turning at the end of the age, and the Gentile believers are called to make Israel envious, and because the Jewish branches that didn't believe in the Messiah have been cut off from the olive tree, and Gentile branches have been grafted in, don't get the idea that you're the new Israel, and you've displaced the old. And then Romans 14, what do you do if you have different views about dietary laws, or what foods you can and can't eat, or which days are holy and not? How do you live together in community?

So what's the background? Originally, the house churches that met, the groups of believers that met in Rome were primarily Jews who were followers of Jesus with some Gentiles, and the Gentiles were kind of like the outsiders, the minority, the second-class citizens. Where do we fit? And Paul's saying, no, no, we have absolute equality in the Messiah. Now the Jews have to leave.

Now they come back some years later, and the situation is reversed. The believers are more Gentile than Jewish. The Jews are the ones coming back, in other words, as if they're being grafted back into their own tree like the nation. They're coming back, and now how do they all live together, and how can they find equality in the Lord? So that's part of the backdrop to Romans that helps explain things as well, but that's what goes on there. It's the edict, and then basically the non-enforcing or the lifting of the edict takes place between the 18th chapter and the 28th chapter. I'll say this last thing, Joseph. I bet many people have read the book of Acts over and over and over their whole lives and never noticed that.

In fact, I didn't notice it until I read about the ban, and so that was years after reading Acts many times, so good observation there. All right, 866-34-TRUTH. Let's go to Shim in Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Hey, thank you very much, Dr. Brown, for taking my call.

You're very welcome. So here's my question. I hear both religious Jews and religious Christians alike present the Bible as the Word of God. When I decided a while back that I really want to approach Scripture with an open heart and to really understand it as it presents itself, and the Word of God is certainly quoted in Scripture. Prophets quote them all the time, but as a collection, it really seems to present itself as Israelite and Judean literature with a lot of different things going on. Certainly the Psalms, our prayers written to God, even the books of Moses, seem to be presenting a history, not presenting something that the Lord Himself said. Yes, so in what sense is it the Word of God?

That's a wonderful question to ask. In other words, it's one thing if you have in the book of Isaiah, and the section closes with kippi adonai debayr, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. That's one thing, but we got some background out there, so you'll hear me, but we won't hear the background noise.

So that's one thing. Since we believe Jesus is the Son of God and He's speaking, you know, I'm the way, the truth, and the life of God, those are God's words spoken through His Son. But Psalms, those are prayers to God.

Or Job, that's a dialogue back and forth with people. Or, you know, Paul's writing a letter. Or as you say, here's the account of the book of Judges.

This is what happened in those days. So what basically happened was that over the period of time, as God would act in history, like with the exodus, and delivering the children of Israel from Egypt and from bondage, and confirming the promises to the patriarchs, this now verified and validated the story that came before that. And as the five books of Moses are written and now embraced by the community and confirmed by the prophets, this is now understood as God's word, meaning that God's giving us the history. God's giving us these insights.

So the history may tell you bad things that happened, as lessons. And then the prophets would confirm that which came before. Then Jesus confirms what comes before Him as scripture. And then the church recognizes that what the apostles were writing was intended to be God's word for more. So basically, even though it's not all identified internally as God's word in the sense of the Holy Spirit said, or God said, or this is God speaking, it was preserved for us and then recognized by the community. So we just have to say that we accept the fact that those that believe before us were given to recognize this as God's word through a series of events, through the Exodus, through the prophets confirming what then came before it, the prophets writing some of these things, Israel preserving these things as sacred.

These are songs and prayers that we pray so that it's God's word in terms of God wants us to have these Psalms as inspired prayers to pray, or He wants us to have this history as inspired history, history written from a divine viewpoint to learn from it. Jesus the Messiah now quotes these things as scripture, refers to them as scripture. So that's kind of the pattern of confirmation, but we need to understand what it means by God's word, right? So God's word in terms of did God speak all of it?

No, He didn't speak all of it, but did He inspire the writing of it? That's what we believe. Obviously, taken by faith in terms of the overall collection, not all of it can be independently verified, or in, you know, can I prove to you that the book of Judges is the word of God? You know, can I show it contains prophecy? Can I show, I can't prove it to you, but I can say it was accepted as scripture by the succeeding generations and verified by the prophets and by the Messiah Himself. That's how I would come at it and that's how I would understand it.

Okay, okay, great. So there's nothing necessarily in the word itself that says that, but just by virtue of how it's been, how people are related to it over time, is that kind of how? Yeah, yeah, but again, yeah, but with supernatural divine confirmation, meaning that with the Exodus, deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt, God manifesting that He is the God of all gods, nature miracles, all of this, right? That God doing this then verifies that what came before, what's written about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, these promises are true. And now when we understand Moses writes these things down and now God tells Joshua, okay, this book of the law, don't let it depart from your list. What's, what is the literature? Well, we understand that's the five books of Moses.

So there keeps being this internal divine confirmation of what's coming before and then the community of Israel as a whole recognizes this, then the church as a whole recognizes this, which is why with the exception of some books written in between the testaments, it's pretty much universal agreement as to what the books of the Old Testament are and then what the books of the New Testament are and ultimately Jesus confirms what comes before Him. So it's not just the community accepting, it's God giving His stamp in the midst of it and the community accepting. Wonderful question though. Thank you. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

This is Michael Brown. Phone lines are open if you have a Jewish related question. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-34-87, 8884.

You know the saying, third time's a charm. Well, we're trusting that's going to be the case with our Israel trip, originally scheduled for May of this year and of course because of the coronavirus delayed until October, but oh, some weeks back we looked at it and said, nah, October looks too iffy as well. So we moved it up to March, beginning of March, somewhere in the first 10 days of March 2021, and with me to talk about that and talk about Israel and prophecy, the end of the world, the peace treaty, all that, my dear friend and colleague Scott Volk. Hey man, welcome to the broadcast.

Dr. Brown, thanks for having me on. The third time, bro, is a charm and it's going to be one of the most amazing trips ever and I'm really excited because the first two times, you don't even know this yet, but I wasn't able to go, but this time I'm going to be able to be on that trip and greet all of your faithful listeners who are going to join us. It's really going to be an amazing, amazing trip.

You think that's the whole reason they fell through, the whole reason for the virus and everything is that you couldn't be on the trips? Just so that I could go, well, here's the deal, I know the Lord loves you so much that he wanted to make sure I was with you on this trip, so I don't know if that's the reason for the virus, but I do know this bro, 2021 is going to be an amazing year and tourism, one way that we can really bless Israel, tourism is one of Israel's largest, it's one of the biggest money producing industries in Israel and for people who are asking the question, what's one way I can bless Israel? Friends, listen, join Dr. Brown and join me in Israel because not only will it be a life-changing trip, but we'll be able to infuse money into the economy of Israel and really bless our bus driver and our tour guide. It's just going to be an amazing, amazing trip.

I'm super excited about it. Yeah. The other thing, Scott, is when you step back and think about it is 2020 has been a really hard year for a lot of people. It's been painful, it's been difficult for some, it's been deadly, but people being cooked up in their homes and economic challenges, it's been a rough year, and the idea of taking a deep breath and the here you are in Israel in 2021 is kind of off the charts.

Yeah, I agree with you. So many things, Mike, are happening in Israel right now and as I'm in touch with many of the people who are common friends to you and me, there's really hope rising because within Israel, so many wonderful things are happening with Arab and Jewish believers coming together in a fresh new way. I've been in touch specifically lately with an Ethiopian pastor, Mike, the first Hebrew speaking Ethiopian messianic congregation was launched in Israel not all that long ago. And when people come with us on the trip, I think not only will it be a breath of fresh air, it will be an opportunity for them to bless Israel, but I'm telling you I really believe that our lives are going to be changed because even in the midst of this global pandemic, the believers are really shining and the gospel is going forth in Israel to native Israelis and to Ethiopians who are migrating into Israel. It's a phenomenal thing. Amazing. Yeah, and that's one of the things we do is we connect with believers in the land and your organization Together for Israel helps believers in the land.

So let's just talk about that dynamic for a minute. There was a well-known Jewish rabbi, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, famous because he's been on Christian TV for decades and raising money to help Jews from around the world come back to Israel. So Jews in Russia, Ukraine, different parts of the world, impoverished Jews, and they were generally doing that. They've done that for many, many years, but Christians watching were under the impression that Rabbi Eckstein was a messianic Jew. Now, never said he was. He never said, I believe in Jesus or anything like that, but just the way the show was presented on Christian TV and pastors, you know, verifying the ministry and all of that and the different circles he'd be in and maybe speaking churches. So many people thought he was a messianic Jew.

In fact, I've read that the vast majority of people giving thought that he was, and I'm not sure. Hey, Scott, are you like taking a drive-through order somewhere while we're doing radio? Is that an echo?

It might have been an echo. Can you hear me okay? I'm so sorry.

Yeah, I can. No, no, that's okay. I just thought you might be multitasking while on radio.

Yeah, I'll have a little extra sauce on the side with my nuggets there. Well, if truth be told, bro, I actually opened my iPad to catch you on the live Facebook stream, just in case anybody was asking questions, but I'm fully here. Let's continue where you were, and I'm so sorry. No, no, that's okay.

Listen, that's what friends are for, you know, just to chat and multitask at the same time. My friend, Stu Epperson, Jr., that runs the Truth Radio Network, so we're on truth stations all over America, and he's the one that actually got me to go on the air 12 years ago. He's famous for, he'd call you just as he was about to place his order at the drive-through. Hey, Mike, okay, hang on just one second here. And it's like, you couldn't time the call like, you know, a minute later. But anyway, but I won't tell, because I can actually see you on my screen.

I won't tell about the nuggets you're eating now. Right. No, I'm joking. So, anyway, so Yechael Eckstein, Rabbi Eckstein raised, oh, hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. And you say, well, was it legit? Well, it was legit in that it did help Russian and Ukrainian Jews, different former Soviet Union, Jews in their parts of the world to come back to Israel and help them within Israel, help the poor and needy, Holocaust survivors and all that, absolutely did that. But the problem is that many Christians, as they were giving, thought that they were giving to help do outreach, to reach Jewish people in Israel. Quite the contrary, I've been informed that the vast majority of Israelis, of Jews that received the funds didn't know they came from Christians. They just knew it came from Rabbi Eckstein's organization. So they never even got to know of the sacrificial love of the body of Christ to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars given.

They never got to know about that. And you got burdened about this. What did God drop in your heart? Well, back in 2005, when I first started together for Israel, it was as a result of seeing the underprivileged Children's Center in Tiberius, Israel. And I heard the scripture in my heart that many of us have heard maybe dozens or hundreds of times, and as much as you've done it to the least of these brothers of mine, you've done it to me. And something was just sparked in my heart, knowing that these were literally the least of Yeshua, Jesus's brothers and sisters, and that I was called to be a conduit of funds to the poor and needy, both Arab and Jew. And like you said, Mike, there are many organizations that raise money for Israel.

The vast majority of the biggest organizations that raise money for Israel entirely overlooks the believing community in Israel, the Jewish believing community in Israel. But when you look at a scripture like Romans 15, 25 to 27, I don't have a Bible in front of me. So this will be close to a paraphrase.

But I'm sure you'll correct me if I get a word wrong. It says this. It says, Macedonia and Dachia were pleased to give an offering to the saints. And I just highlight that word, the saints in Jerusalem.

To me, that's the believing community, the God-fearing believing community in Jerusalem. And it was Macedonia and Dachia, churches of the nations, because they recognize not only do they have a spiritual debt to Israel, but they must also help in their material needs as well. So for me, my burden is, listen, when believers from the nations give money to the believers in Israel, it's actually paying a debt.

And you might say, oh, Scott, that's crazy. We don't have a debt to Israel friends. We have a debt to Israel because without Israel, we'd have no gospel. We'd have no Messiah.

We'd have no Bible. That's Romans nine. So when we give back to the believing community in Israel, we're strengthening the believers over there to be the witness and demonstration that God's called them to be. And we're fulfilling God's heart and burden because he desires that we be sons and daughters who bless Israel, whether it's with our giving or with our praying, with our love.

That's really what my heart is. Listen, if we're going to raise funds for Israel, let's see it get into the hands of the authentic believing community in Israel, both Arab and Jew. And let's watch what God does with our seeds as we plant it in the soil of the believing community in Israel.

It grows and it flourishes and it produces much fruit. And Scott, as you've received donations, say our mutual dear friend Ward Simpson, the CEO and president of God TV. God TV has raised significant sums to bless Israel and help Israel. So funds have been given to Together for Israel to say with needy children, and these are not children of believers as well. You're just helping those in need in Israel. So you've gotten to redo these children's centers and I've been there and seen before and after.

It's just, it's amazing and stunning to see. So you'll be there with say the local Orthodox rabbi and the Orthodox Jewish mayor and others. And you are there saying, Christians around the world have given this money to rebuild this playground and to help these needy Jewish children.

And then there's strings attached. There is no proselytizing with it. It's just saying, hey, this is the love of Christians from around the world. So you're not holding anything back and they receive, they're humbled and they're joyous to receive it. I mean, what's it feel like to be in the middle of that?

Well, that's one of the most rewarding things I could ever do in my life. And there's a reason why I use the term Christian, and that is because as you well know and have written extensively about, the term Christian to a Jewish person oftentimes, maybe most times, represents a religion that has persecuted them through the centuries. It represents the people group that are trying to get them from their perspective to turn to another God. But one thing that's becoming really, really apparent in Israel, and that is that the true Christian community is Israel's greatest friend. So when an Orthodox Jewish mayor hears that Christians from around the world are supporting them, it blows them away. Do I have time to tell one quick story from a naval base?

Tell you what, we've got a break coming up, so we'll come back to the story. But friends, go to my website, askdrbrown.org, A-S-K-D-R-Brown.org, right there on the home page. You see the link for our Israel trip, askdrbrown.org.

Click on the link there. We do have seats available. We were completely filled with two buses back in May, but then because of changing dates, changing dates, we've got open seats right now. It's a great time to get registered for the trip and then to get ready for the trip. It really is. It's an amazing time. We get to spend awesome time together, and you get to be with Scott.

I mean, what else could you ask for? We'll be right back. It's The Line of Fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution.

Get into The Line of Fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, less than half hour from now, so 4.15 Eastern Time, we're going to be back on our YouTube channel. Let's ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown, on YouTube with our weekly exclusive Q&A chat.

Join me. Less than half hour from now, we'll be taking all kinds of questions in our exclusive weekly YouTube chat. That's at A-S-K-D-R-Brown on YouTube. Scott, the amazing story you're going to tell, I'm all ears. Okay, great. I can't wait to tell you this, but before I do, I'm noticing on the Facebook page and maybe even on YouTube that there's a button that says donate. I just want to encourage everybody that's listening today, any donation that comes in for Ask Dr. Brown is going to be doubled today.

I literally just thought of this, bro, because what we want to do is we want to stand with you. These Thoroughly Jewish Thursdays are amazing. If I can be honest with you, I will download these podcasts and re-listen to them.

Even sometimes, bro, I'll steal some of your great lines. Thoroughly Jewish Thursdays, amazing. Listen, friends, hit that donate button and help support Ask Dr. Brown Ministries because there's not another ministry like this in the entire earth. Mike, listen, we were in Haifa, Israel, and while we were there, this is about seven years ago, we had a group of about 50 people, and this was the first time any American group went to the naval base to meet with these soldiers.

A lot of times people go to the Air Force base or some army bases. We were at the naval base, and the captain or the big cheese of that base, the guy in charge was there in front with me, and he looked at me and he said, this is the first time any group from America has ever been here, any group from anywhere. Why are you here? I looked at this gentleman who's probably in his 60s and had fought maybe in all of Israel's wars since they became a nation, and he looked at me and said, why are you here?

I said, why don't you ask my friends? So he innocently says, tell me why you've come. And there was an older woman in the back of the room, gray-haired, maybe one of the oldest people on the group, she raised her hand and with a feeble voice, she says, I am here because I am a Christian who loves Israel and I would have no relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob if it wasn't for you.

Bro, I'm not exaggerating. This guy looked at me, water filled his eyes, and he grabbed my arm and walked outside and said, I can't show this kind of emotion to your group, but I've never seen anything like this. And it was just a picture to me, bro, that we have an opportunity to show the love of the Messiah to his own people. Yes, the nations of the earth, we're all his sons and we're all his daughter, but he calls Israel his first born son. And when we show our love to his children, it sets up his heart to us, just like I as an earthly father am so blessed to see people loving on my kids. That's how God feels when we embrace Israel.

When you and I go to Israel together, when we get to meet all these people, the love of the Messiah shines through, and I'm telling you, it undoes people in Israel to see God moving through Christians who love them. Yeah, and it's again, no strings attached, genuine love from the heart. That's amazing. So friends, join us on the tour if you can. Obviously, there are other tours to go on, but if you want to be together, I do something every night with the tour group. We have meals together and then we'll do a teaching or have a prayer meeting or I'll answer questions. We'll do a radio show. So in addition to the amazing tour by day, we do something together by night.

That's why we call it Holy Fire in the Holy Land. Hey friends, listen, Scott, you just surprised me with this offer here. So here, let's give a challenge.

Let's see what happens. We've never done this before. We don't use the show for fundraising. You may get a person or two that just gives during the show, but obviously, the funds help us. Specifically, this helps us with outreach to our Jewish people, with producing cutting-edge material that is going to reach many, many Israelis, many, many Jews, and really help them come to faith in Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah. So someone just posted a $10 gift. Wonderful. So I want to challenge everyone watching on Facebook, they can give $5.

Everyone that can give a one-time $5 gift on Facebook, some give more. Go ahead and do that, because Scott is going to match that. And I want Scott to really feel this. So you want Scott to say, go now.

Bro, if you want me to feel it, why don't you challenge them to give $50 instead of $5? Come on, let's make this really work. Okay. Well, because I'm just trying to bring everybody in that can help it. But anyway, go ahead. You've got seven minutes or six minutes before the show is over. So go for it.

Scott is going to match. We've never had this happen. Same on YouTube. So there's a dollar sign beneath the YouTube chat there. So go ahead and do it. And let's see what comes in to help reach the lost sheep of the House of Israel. All right, Scott. And thanks for your generosity, as always.

Thanks to all of you for your generosity. So big news that the Trump administration with Israel brokers this peace arrangement with United Arab Emirates. Now, we have to remember that since the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948, it's official recognition, right?

47, 48. So you've only had two other Arab-Muslim nations, Egypt in late 70s and then Jordan mid 90s. This is 25 years since this is happening. And even though Saudi Arabia is still saying no, no, unless the Saudi plan is accepted, Israel goes back to pre-67 borders and the right of return for 5 million Palestinians, we won't have a peace treaty. But others like Jared Kushner say, no, no, there's stuff going on behind the scenes. And you're going to see one after another following suit, you know, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and others. First, what have you heard from people within Israel in terms of, in general, are they excited about what happened, UAE? Are they looking at it cautiously? Do they think it's a good thing? What have you heard? Well, I've heard a couple of things.

First, obviously, anytime anybody that lives next door to you wants to become your friend and stop lobbing, you know, potentially deadly force your way, that obviously has to make you feel good and comfortable. So on one side of the coin, I've heard, wow, this is awesome. This is amazing. And bro, I don't know if you saw the videos of the Arabs who were standing outside the El Aljet waving as it was pulling off the tarmac. I've got to tell you, my heart was warmed.

It was such a moving moment for me to see. With that being said, we know if the Bible is true that ultimately nations are going to be turning against Israel. So on one hand, I've heard, this is great, this is awesome. But the flip side of that is also, wait a second, if the Bible is true, if end time prophecy is true, nations are going to be turning against Israel. So I have, I have just, I thank God for this. I don't know, I don't know how everything happens, you know, chronologically before Yeshua returns and establishes his throne forever in Jerusalem. But I do know this, that this seems to be fitting together with what we read in the Bible. And I, I, we've never been closer to the Lord's return. And therefore I say, that's why we have to, we have to, we have to blow the trumpet where Israel is concerned, interestingly, coming up to the, the Feast of Trumpets, when one day Jesus will return with that town of the trumpet.

But we need to, we need to herald to Israel, our, our comradery, our brotherhood with them, not, not in a political way, but in a biblical way and embracing God's heart for them and trusting him. Uh, that's, that's my take and that's what I've heard. Yeah, I appreciate that. And, and thanks for all those donating.

Uh, appreciate it very much. As we're, as we're watching, we went from $10 to $304 in a few seconds. So there you go. Um, but, uh, and Scott, how, how much money has the Lord poured into your ministry that you have given to help Israel in these years now? Bro, we've been blessed to give over $2 million if you can believe that. Amazing. Right. And all the money that comes in, it comes into Scott's ministry just to give to, to help needy people in Israel.

It's amazing. But you know, my perspective on what's happening, Scott, with the peace treaty, obviously in the natural, it's good to have peace rather than to have hostility. It's a, it's a mutual benefit to all involved. And it's another sign that the larger Arab Muslim world is saying to the Palestinians, you keep taking the wrong side. You know, you're starting with the Iranians, you're starting with terrorism.

So, so they're not pressing those issues. Obviously I want what's best for the Palestinians as well, but, but they've often made wrong choices, especially their leaders. So often the people have been victims, but if in fact there is a sudden flurry and nation after nation after nation, Arab nation, Muslim nation signs a peace treaty with Israel, that to me would be one of the strongest signs that we are rapidly approaching the end of the age, because I understand that there will be a false peace that there, you know, Ezekiel 38 and 39, whatever details we get into, it does speak of Israel dwelling in unwalled cities. And first Thessalonians five says, when everyone says peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes. And we know that in the end, there'll be a turning of the nations against Israel. So yeah, this would, this would get my attention. The one treaty of interest, but if suddenly it's spread through the Muslim Arab world, that would give me the feeling that the, that the pace of the end has been accelerated, whatever that means.

God knows exactly what that means, but that something's accelerated. Hey friends, again, join us in Israel info at the website, askdrbrown.org. Stand with us. Your gifts are being doubled by Scott Volk today, which we deeply appreciate it in 15 minutes from now. I'll be right back on YouTube. Ask Dr. Brown for a weekly chat. Hey, God bless Scott. Thanks again for joining us and for your generosity. Thank you.