Within Israel, a Major Messianic Jewish Ministry of Compassion

Thanks friends for joining us on a special edition of Thoroughly Jewish Thursday on the Line of Fire. It's special for two reasons. One, we have a dear friend from Israel who's in the States now before heading back to the land. She and her husband have an amazing ministry there helping, well you'll hear for yourself the people they've helped, what they've been able to do over the years.

Also an amazing testimony we'll get to share. The other reason this is special is because of all of the weather problems, the power outages in Texas, we have a satellite that broadcasts some of our shows out from there. Because of that we are not doing live radio, we're doing exclusive Facebook, YouTube feeds.

All of you that watch normally on Facebook or YouTube live or subsequently, it's all the same for you except no commercial breaks. We don't have to divide anything up, we don't have to stop in the middle of the flow of a conversation. So it is just yours truly, all of you, and my special guest Batcha Segal. Batcha and her husband Barry lead Vision for Israel in Israel, a decades long ministry. There's so much that they do and in particular Joseph's storehouse which has been an incredible way of serving in a humanitarian way as messianic Jews serving the larger messianic community, the larger Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, so many others living in Israel have been helped and blessed. So Batcha, it is a joy to have you with us today on the Line of Fire, thanks for joining us.

Thank you, it's a privilege to be here. Alright so Batcha, tell our viewers how you were raised, your background, what your views of God were as a child and as you as you grew into a young adult. Oh well, I have a very rich background growing up in a Jewish Orthodox home. I was the youngest of five children. My parents came from Yemen and they established their life in Jerusalem and yeah it was just an amazing experience being in a family that loved God, loved the Bible, very warm family, very loving family and I actually learned how to relate to God in a personal way which is also an amazing thing because my father since we were very little he was always telling us when you go to sleep this is how you pray and you always pray to God in a personal way because he hears your prayers so all your needs and all your cares and all your worries you give before God and you pray to God and he hears you and so that was something that was planted in our hearts since we're very very young age and so I cherish that and I am very grateful for the way my father raised us up. So in other words growing up an Orthodox Jewish home for you was not just a matter of rules, regulations, laws, formal prayers it was for you in many ways something beautiful being raised in that environment. Yes absolutely you know I mean as a little child I mean I was you know I was pampered I was in a very warm environment growing up later on I had a lot of questions you know being a teenager when I turned to be 12 years old I remember that day I asked my parents if I can go to a school a secular school and my parents asked you know especially my father he says why are you interested to go to to that school and I said because I don't think that you know fulfilling all the the the rules that are you know the set of rules we have the mitzvoth as they say will get me closer to God I said I know who I am and I'd like to explore other things in my life to be developed and he was totally supportive of me my father both my mom and my father and so yeah I can just say that I started having some questions about certain things when I was a teenager I can just say you know the amazing thing too was that I was very blessed and very fortunate to have good friends in our neighborhood from school and so my life was very rich I was very involved in so many different things as a child that I was exploring and I I felt like you know I had a gift and I have talents and I always wanted to move forward in my life you know you know the the feeling of like being curious knowing learning more about you know what life has for me and so yeah learning to live in a secular school was a little bit of a shock for me in some ways because all of a sudden I I came across teachers that were not teaching the Bible from faith point of view they were total secular humanistic and you know were agnostic and so it was a real challenge because it was really a testing time for me to you know to learn how to answer and where is my faith in God if it I still believe in God or if I'm following her teaching that is like the the Bible is just a book of a very nice compilations of you know of stories and so that was another challenge from the other side but I can just tell that even as a 12 year old I was already experiencing going through the war in Israel the the six-day war and I knew without a doubt that God is in control of the history and the destination of the Jewish people even as a teenager so let me just ask this the perspective of someone not even a teenager yet the six-day war so it's 1967 we're looking at it from outside the world I would have been 12 years old at that time as well and we're hearing about it and it's seems like miracle and but again we're distant we don't know how threatening it felt but as that began to unfold what did it feel like what do you remember it feeling like as a 12 year old what was the atmosphere how did Israel feel like this could be it we're being attacked we're being threatened was there a sense of the whole nation praying what what did it feel like being there well I tell you in Israel it's maybe not like in the United States but in Israel almost every single family have one or two or three members of their families serving in the military so we feel it very close to our home and I felt it because both my father and my I mean my father and both my brothers were serving in the military at that time and so of course there is fear there is great fear and as a teenager hearing the bombs and hearing the rockets and hearing just the sound of a war is horrible it's totally horrible you hear destruction and and the fear is very strong and but you know they were teaching us training us how to go into the shelter and what to do and how to do and so when there was a like a little bit of quietness they told us now you're released to go home and this is how you go home and this is you have to be very close to the walls and if you hear any rockets you have to you know lay down on the ground things like that so of course as a teenager it was very very scary and we felt like we're about that our nation may be distracted may be completely destroyed because we knew we were surrounded by so many enemies all over and so we were praying as a little as a little girl I remember I was just praying I praying to God said God you're gonna help us and and you know keep my father alive keep my two brothers alive and so when I got home my mother was not there and I was told by the neighbor that we're gonna use the shelter at our neighbor's house so we ran into the shelter and then my mom came and my sisters and the only thing we had was the radio so we were like four families in a very tiny apartment of our neighbors and we were listening to the radio and we were really praying I mean I you know as a kid I remember I was playing with the other kids but we were very very tuned into the to the news and so then we we heard the second day the great miracle that Israel has been able to defeat their enemies and as a little child I just remembered really we're doing it we are so you know few of our soldiers and we're defeating these huge enemies and I knew that God is there for us for the Jewish people preserving us as a nation amazing amazing yeah just to to feel what it'd be like you know it's not it's not like it's out there somewhere where America is fighting a battle another part of world this is right where you live and family members involved by the way a few years later in 1973 Yom Kippur War you had an interesting neighbor didn't you yeah yeah about six months before the war began in October 1973 I moved to help an elderly woman in in Jerusalem and and her house her apartment was literally next door to Golda Meir the Prime Minister of Israel and so when the war started during Yom Kippur in 1973 at at that time I was already 17 years old and so I realized that something is happening because I remember you know it's a total quiet day no cars are moving around no you don't hear anything except the people that are praying at the synagogue and then coming back home to rest and at about two o'clock it was one-third year two o'clock ice I saw so many cars coming into the Prime Minister's house Golda Meir and and I said something must be happening something may be happening and of course we heard in the news that a war begun a few hours later the rate it was announced in the radio hmm yeah so friends real life in Israel by the way if you're watching and say how come you don't have both guests on the camera this is set up as a radio studio versus a TV studio with a giant set and all of that so when we have a guest in studio it's wonderful because we can see each other face-to-face and and it's it's more intimate and we don't have to rely on a outside connection but you get to see the the face of the the person I'm interviewing but botch if you just turn around you got an admirer there on the on the screen with just her daughter just signed in on Facebook hey they're on good good to have you with us okay so so as you're growing up now how is it that that you come from Orthodox home where you felt like you loved God now some of your beliefs challenged in a secular setting how do you get from that to becoming a believer in your shoe especially when when hardly anybody in among the Jewish community especially a Sabra native-born Israeli hardly any we're believing in you sure back then what what happened so in as the war begun you know I was right about to go and serve in the military I actually joined the the military in January and the war began in October so two months before I I was joining the the forces I already had friends that were in the military serving and I lost some of my friends in the war and it was very devastating because I knew that there must be a life after death and so questions were coming into my mind because I was at that time in my life I was total secular I was not believing in you know in the way that I was raised up as an Orthodox Jew and I knew that there is much more to God than just to you know fulfill the Mitzvot and to to do all the traditional things because you know I did I did feel obligated to do it because that was my identity but I didn't feel like that was giving me satisfaction in my life and so I was searching for something you know it was like almost like a feeling or a sense that there's something more to God than this I loved God I knew that he exists but I didn't know all the capacity of his love and compassion to me and so in in 1974 when I went and served in the military and of course I realized that some of my friends passed away I decided to you know I to search more for spiritual things I joined the I did like a transcendental meditation I did all sorts of kind of weird stuff you know like I think every Israeli is searching and I I just found that there is something really fake and not full in it I just said look this is not really anything to do with my foundations and so I went on and I a I think it was like a year after and after my service I got married to to a person that actually was a friend he was actually serving in the military and we got married and after like four months we realized that it was not meant to be and so we decided that we're going to part ways and when we when you know when we that day that specific day we said okay the next morning we're gonna go to the rabbinical court and we're gonna try and get processed you know for the divorce and so when this came he was in involved in a very severe traffic accident and he was between life and death and his friend was was killed in that traffic accident and so I remember coming back home going through this shock of hearing that he is like severely injured and he may not survive I I cried out to God I don't know I didn't know nothing else to do but out of my desperation I was crying out to God and I said God why is this happening just last night we spoke we're gonna be separated and this is happening something must be going on and I said God I know you're you exist there I know you're there I want to know more of you please show me and guide me what I'm supposed to do now and of course the first thing I did is I went to the hospital to see him at the intensive care and while he was there and he was he was like a vegetable for like a month we had a concussion and a so for one month we didn't know what will happen with him at that time I found out that I'm pregnant mm-hmm and I said wow wow what am I going to do and I knew without a doubt that I that this is a gift from God and so that was just my conscious and so later on a about I think six months on towards that I was looking for a job I needed something more with better income I felt like I can do more I was working as a secretary administrator for the head of the financial in the Ministry of Finance he is like the head of the budgets department and I I said I need something more with more interests and I was offered a job somebody came a friend of the family and he says you know there is a place a printing place they want to get somebody to be trained to work as a typesetter graphic designer translator editor would you be interested I said yeah I said I don't know what it is but it sounds interesting I went for an interview I was accepted to the work they trained me a little bit and the very first thing they gave me was the Hebrew New Testament to typeset and I'm like the Hebrew New Testament I said what is this place I went and asked the guy is I asked the boss I said tell me more about what you're doing here and he said well we're messianic Jews and we are you know it's okay for you if you don't want to do the book just to ask it had you before this had you ever heard of the term messianic Jews or knew that the Christian Bible had the Hebrew Scriptures the Old Testament and this this New Testament were you aware of those things no never never I only knew about the Yeshua Jesus they called him yes shoe that was the only thing I knew and I knew a little bit about him but I was not really you know I was searching for God I was searching for something more more interesting in my life more in depth something that can give me an answer about eternal life because so many people died around me and that I wanted to know more about life after death and so you know when I was you know introduced to this place and got the New Testament I knew without a doubt that I need to do the the typesetting of this of this book the New Testament in Hebrew and so I started reading it and I learned so much about Yeshua and who he is and I felt like it was not a coincidence that I got to this place I said maybe God appointed me to be there at this time at that place and to be able to read because I love books reading is like my number one love I love books I love to write I love to read and I and so God wanted me to read it so I can you know experience it even in a stronger way so so yeah it was it was quite an experience to do the New Testament and to learn about Yeshua being a Jewish Messiah and and and and learn the words that he was speaking and everything was in Hebrew and I said wow this is so powerful and so for me it was like it made sense that Yeshua was a secret hidden Messiah that nobody wanted to tell me about him and here I am revealing him and I'm like God you're there and it is sure is my Messiah so I mean in my head it made sense to believe in him but and and I did and I just said it does make sense that he is the true Messiah and so in doing this though and here here's friends but I want you to grasp bacha did not have the feeling of I'm leaving my people I am abandoning my Jewishness I am embracing a foreign religion and a foreign God but rather reading the New Testament in Hebrew about Yeshua who came not to the Torah on the prophets but to fulfill the one who's called Mashiach Christ right Messiah so reading this she was he's he's our Messiah so that's what was happening right you were coming to this realization that Yeshua is armor so this has been hidden from us we don't know it but he's our Messiah so it wasn't like you were thinking about converting to Islam or becoming a Buddhist or something like that in your mind this was something you were doing as a Jew is that correct yes absolutely I felt like he was the one that I was searching for many many years and so when I read the New Testament and I read the words of God in in in those in the in the New Testament it was almost like somebody was like you know soothing my my wounds giving me like it's like a hungry soul waiting to to be you know fed or I'm so thirsty I wanted and I was like every word that was written I was like thinking and meditating upon and I said this is exactly what I was searching I was searching for life life after death what is it happening to us and here is Yeshua coming with such passion and such love for the Jewish people and I said nobody told me about it I didn't even know that that here you know I mean you he was existing but he was like not you know I didn't know that he was a Jewish my Jewish Messiah yeah yeah so at that time butches as you're coming to faith as a young woman if you had a guess and just all this is a guess but from what from what you knew or looking back what you know how many other Sabra's were there native-born Israelis that also believed in Yeshua back then if you just get a rough guess what would you think the numbers were you mean like real Sabra's yes native-born Israelis just like you in those days very few I think the ones that I knew I could count maybe maybe 30 or maybe maybe 30 or 40 that I knew and so and the rest were like a lot of them like people that came from America other countries yeah yeah so friends I want you to realize even if there were a few hundred you're telling tiny tiny tiny tiny numbers just a handful of native-born Israelis who realized that Jesus Yeshua was the Messiah and and I've read that at the founding of Israel 1948 there they're probably less than ten some say even less than five that had been born in the land previously that were believers so this of course growing and growing to thousands and then messianic use in the land have come from other countries as well now several tens of thousands but these are early days obviously opposition so just to fast forward there there's a whole amazing testimony with a lot more details everything that happened with them that that first marriage and separation and divorce and now your new life in Yeshua and all the battles with the rabbinic court in custody of your child we have to we have to skip over that right just just for sake of time but we we bring in along the way here someone who's got one in common with me Barry watch his husband because Barry and I are both Jewish believers Barry and I were both rock musicians he a guitarist me a drummer and Barry and I both came to faith in 1971 and Barry and I both came to faith in Italian Pentecostal churches in 1971 God calls Barry over to Israel God brings the two of you together get an amazing family just chatting about your your daughter Lee Ron that I get to see it all these different settings that was just saying hi on on Facebook but God gives you a vision of not just traditional we're gonna do evangelism and outreach but God gives you a vision of helping people in Israel in a humanitarian way so before we get to today and even a few questions about kovat and things I want to I want to talk to you about how did this vision start because it's not like you had multi-millionaire backers saying hey we want to get behind you and help poor people in Israel how did the vision start with you and Barry and what does it become since then yeah yeah it's really a miracle of God we were doing a lot of the you know the graphics and then you know we were in business we were establishing congregations in Jerusalem doing a lot of praise and worship but we are you know we were ministering all around the world like you do we were traveling to South Africa and when we came back it was in 1996 when we were coming back we turned the radio on on the taxi and as he's driving us home and we heard about the explosion of bus number 18 in Jerusalem and we were so worried because we knew our daughter our oldest daughter may tell was taking that bus and she was serving in the military and then at that time and so we we didn't have a cell phone in those days so we had to rush home and when we came home we heard the news that she was not on that bus and we waited till you know they counted the bodies very horrible tragic tragic stories and so in the evening I remember that they were announcing the names of the people that were killed and I should say murdered and and four of her friends were murdered on that exploded in this bus and Barry and I were like in tears in front of the TV we could we said it could have happened to our own flesh-and-blood daughter and so we said God use us use us to whatever way we can do to help the Jewish people we wanted to be a good testimony we wanted to feel like we're doing something to change the life of people because we felt like okay this is like their last chance maybe to receive Yeshua or to you know to know about the love of God so we just prayed about it and God just opened an amazing door that we could go gone to visit 40 of the families that were in this bus explosion because it was a Sunday and a week later another bus explosion of number 18 was happening and another devastation of like 40 people that were killed and we said no we have to do something and so we started going because a lot of them were very poor families and a lot of new immigrants from Russia so we started going an amazing door was opening for us and we were able to go and visit the families we were giving them a financial help to just help them meet the needs and the immediate needs that they they had and so that was a an amazing door and since then we were not the same I mean God had a plan for us that was much bigger than our own imagination or even prayers we didn't even think of you know starting a humanitarian aid we had a little fund you know that we were helping people but it grew up to having containers coming into Israel and and connecting with lots of people in Israel that had the need a lot of disaster medical supplies that were coming in school school packs for thousands of children every year that they were doing and it grew to much bigger than than anything we expected extraordinary and you know when you you talk about the pain and the devastation obviously one life is one life and whether you live in a country of ten people or a country of ten million people one life is one life and one family that suffers a loss it's one family that suffers a loss but to get a grasp of the the trauma of this on a nation as small as Israel you're if 40 people are murdered in a terrorist bus attacks you try my men women children innocent civilians others just people taking a bus you're talking about something of the magnitude if you multiply it the Israeli population compared to say the American population they'd be very very close to a 9-11 type of event and you have one after another and God cares God cares it's not just a matter of preach the gospel preaching the gospel is showing the love of God in a thousand different ways so it's extraordinary to hear what what birthed the ministry and then you start to see God's favor on the ministry so just paint a picture over the years this is glorifying the Lord you're not posting about what you and Barry have done this is only done with the help of all the supporters and all those that give and pray and and go and serve but from serving elderly survivors of the Holocaust to terror victims to other poor and needy Jew and Arab in the land just just share some of what you've done over the years yeah so it's it it really started with the terror victims that we were helping and then later on it was like God is like completely opening the door for us to reach out to many of the poor needy families a lot of the children at risk we've been connecting with a lot of educational centers also we were doing amazing work amongst the medical centers and the disaster relief operations in Israel and so I mean God was just like unfolding things right in front of us as an and and you know we saw it as an opportunity to move forward and to be a blessing to so many of them so far we've been able to help over one point I would say 1.4 million people a just with the school bags we're doing we are doing an average between seven to ten thousand every year and you know so it's just such a heart heartwarming to know that we can make a difference in their lives the Holocaust survivors what we've done is we felt like a lot of them are very lonely and so in recent years we decided okay what can we do to help them be in an environment where they all feel like they're you know all together and doing fun things together and being excited a lot of them very educated people and so we've created these groups of people that are coming together once and or twice a week there is the Hebrew speaking group and there's the English speaking group and also now there is a Russian speaking group and they come together we provide for them all the refreshments the food we provide for them a speaker and artists that comes and and do things with them and the amazing big big surprise is that God really gave us a center a big center in in Israel in Modi in its 8,000 square meters which is like 80,000 square feet which we dedicated about three years ago we moved in to the building in 19 a 2018 and we've been able to do events in the facility which is the real big blessing and a great miracle of God incredible incredible and and what's so interesting is that people know Barry and bacha are our believers in Yeshua they don't everything they do yell out to everyone believes in your shoe but but their testimonies are known their their ministry is known and you are just embraced as fellow Israelis who love their people right it's just in other words when you show genuine love and you just do it in an unconditional way people are people are touched by that love what what about now with with well let me step back and ask this you mentioned the the schools and helping children and things like that how much poverty is there in Israel how much need is there among Israeli children yeah the statistics are saying that one out of every four children is living under the poverty line or sorry one out of three is living under the poverty line and it's it's it's a heartbreaking to think that children go to sleep hungry to think that families cannot meet the basic needs and a you know we we're there to provide them with food to provide them with the school the education whatever needs are the needs are we normally don't turn people off if somebody is asking for help when we work with the authorities we check of course the the situation and we are approaching them and we're trying to reach out to them in terms of a poverty now it's even increased since the kovid a because of you know people are unemployed people do people do get some kind of benefits if they were not fired or or if they are out of work there is a lot of good things in Israel in terms of like the support they get but imagine if somebody is already starting the salary you know the salaries are much lower than what they are here and then they have to leave out you know 30 to 40 percent less than what their normal income is they can to meet their needs so there are many many that have fallen under the poverty line in Israel and friends if you're watching and think well I want to do something I want to help if you're listening in vision for Israel calm vision for Israel calm go there check out what they're in about you see go doing with the help again of folks giving from all around the world making a real legitimate difference in people's lives all right let's um let's talk about kovat for a moment Israel has been on top of that early on prime minister Netanyahu speaking about it as pandemic but there's a lot of controversy and that you have about 12 percent of the population is ultra-orthodox so so they're very very religious they're they're living often in very poor communities it's it's very common for them to have 10 12 kids even even more as much as possible the the men are studying Torah and rabbinic tradition all day there's not a goal to make a lot of money but rather to be there studying and praying they're partially underwritten by the government and they have been very everything has lived in community that everything is done in community praying in the synagogue children studying together celebrations of Holy Days and things like that so the there's been a lot of controversy among their rabbis as to whether to go along with shut down or not today today defy but then they've had higher percentages maybe 28% of the cases of COVID in Israel last thing I was reading they've been hit harder now millions have been vaccinated and there's the goal to require everyone to be vaccinated so it's a lot of controversy in Israel of course in America as well with the vaccination but what what's happening with it how is it affected COVID affected the society as a whole and then what what do we make of the whole vaccination controversy you know Michael what I'm feeling is that there there is like you know such a torn nation because we have to choose between one way or the other way I think that I think you know the bottom line is that yes there is a big argument even amongst the Orthodox Jews about how much they they should keep of like the social distancing and the quarantine and how and if they take the vaccination not take the vaccination and there's a lot of a lot of like we're all torn and I think the same kind of division is happening here in the United States and I I say well I think Benjamin Netanyahu baby Netanyahu he's he brought in the vaccination to Israel and the unique things about Israel is that we have this very special medical system that you know helps monitor a you know about you know about the results out of this vaccination and I and if you ask my personal view on it I you know I I I just said look if we can save people's lives that's great if we can if we can reduce the rate of those that are sick and and those that are dying from the corona that's great the question is that was it tested enough do we know enough about it was what was really the the the thought behind the action of getting all these vaccinations to Israel and try and vaccinate the entire population what was behind it we don't know I just know that the problem the problem Israel is facing right now is the British mutation and the Brazilian mutation and some other mutations over variants of of the of the corona or the kovid which they are saying now that they don't think that the vaccination is effective to the other mutation the mutation came from England is highly contagious and they say that they actually because it's highly contagious that's why there is a rise in the numbers of people sick in Israel today unfortunately as you said and you said it very accurately there is a high number of the people that died that are from the ultra-orthodox community also from the Arab community so I think we Israel is is definitely torn between you know doing the vaccinations and not but I think the majority now is a is almost forced to do the vaccination because if you don't you will not be allowed to get into shopping malls you will not be allowed to go to concerts you will not be allowed to go to performances and things like that so there is a way that they said okay we're not gonna force you to get the vaccination but you will be eliminated from going to ABCD places and and now they're saying you will be fined if they find you in the place let's say if they find you in a in a store and and you don't have the certificate that you've been vaccinated you will be fined for a thousand shekel things like that so it's it's really hard for us to comprehend what's happening things have happened so fast in Israel and in the world they think with kovid yeah a difficult situation obviously on the one hand the idea well the vaccinations gonna save lives another saying where you can't force us to undergo a medical treatment that you know so little about we don't know the side effects and other ethical issues so it's very tough and then people saying look we'd rather work and and be out in public and take our take our chances then be closed in all the time that's even worse and you mentioned the Arab community so that would often be poor community and with larger families and and also very much community-oriented like the the very religious Jews so obviously the the disease could spread or the virus could spread more in that setting so folks is Israel Israel needs prayers in this too it has unique a unique combination of things taking place and then a a goodly percentage of Israel's economy relies on tourism that people come from around the world we've had a reschedule our tour several times our last tour and others it's been shut down because of that so that's got to be just a major blow to the nation as a whole in terms of the economy with no tourism correct yes absolutely I think Israel is hurting very much from the fact that it's completely closed now for tourism almost a year now and so yes it's it's definitely affecting the economy I mean Michael it's really really sad to go in Jerusalem or any other cities and to see these huge hotels that always had lights all over and full of people and full of life it's all totally dark and closed and it's it's it's really a heartbreaking to see that so hopefully things may change but you know our trust is in God and our trust is in the Lord and I'm just so thankful that there are so many good things that are happening out of this college which I believe is bringing us more into a perspective of where God want us to be in so many ways yeah tell us some of the good that's happening I think you know the good at least from my perspective is that I think people are a little bit more aware of how they spend their time how they spend their money how they have better better valued time with their own family members I think there's people you know people have time to how do you say discover their own talents all of a sudden so there's a lot of like you know things that you can do positively and move towards you know the other amazing thing is that you see a lot of volunteers people are volunteering now I as a humanitarian aid organization I'm receiving so many calls from so many places to say we want to come we want to bring young people to come and help you and and you know what we never lack anybody that comes and helps us with the distributions of food we do every week and so that's amazing I mean for me to see people that are that have been retired from the army or from the police forces that they want to come and join forces with us that's awesome that's great you know we can reach out to the people that are in need yeah it's we've got to maximize the moment all around the world and say okay a lot of people even asking questions to and what's the meaning of life and things seem so frail and I know this one died and that one died it's some time for us to come of the message of hope and life and truth and then to be there in a tangible way loving loving our neighbor as ourselves and friends to get involved to help go to vision for Israel calm vision for Israel calm see what you can do even from from a distance from outside of the land that's where the great amount of support is gonna come from about you and you and Barry have been involved in music ministry just gave me some of your CDs and I've listened there's the Yemenite so there's the Middle Eastern touch in some of the music as well messianic music so you can find out about that other resources they have on the website but right now we have with shifting presidents so Donald Trump very popular in Israel and moving the embassy to Jerusalem and then the Accords with with different nations that were just amazing tapping we've heard that Joe Biden and and Benjamin Netanyahu finally talked a few days ago and they said it's very good talk between them they're all friends they're gonna work together but obviously no one really knows what's happening yet another election coming it really is a time of great shaking and uncertainty how do you feel what what perspective do you and Barry have with yet another round of elections in Israel is there a message is there is there consensus among believers there how does this look from the inside because the outside it just looks very chaotic yeah it is it's I think we live in a very very unique times because they couldn't form a government for the last two years and BB is still leading I mean even in the polls is still leading I think the majority of the people in Israel are definitely are for you know more right-wing than left-wing more conservatives and but it's it's to be honest it's really painful to even think about what we were going through and I I told Barry on the way here I said I don't know that if there what will be the results it looks like it's going to be almost the same way that they will and it's like the Arab it's the Arab parties that may have balancing here so I don't know I mean it's like God what are you doing for our nation I would like to see more like you know a majority for one side but even among the Likud which is the right-wing where BB Netanyahu is leading even there there was a split you know between the two of them get on sorry just was split from the Likud and he took like half of the people from there so still there is you know half and half it's like balanced I think as as as a believer God is bringing us to our knees I think God is bringing us to a place where we know we are the people that can bring the answer the answer for us is search the Lord look up to the sky from where our help is coming and did you know something very interesting that this Sunday at six o'clock I believe the Israel time everybody all the Jewish people all around the world are called to pray for the Messiah yeah to reveal himself who is the Messiah Messiah come Messiah come I think it's amazing yeah you know bacha I didn't even know about that until one of my friends sent me a link earlier this week and I didn't see the link I saw his email didn't see the link I finally watched last night so whoa now obviously not every Jew on the planet's gonna do this but it is a call multi multinational leading rabbis Orthodox rabbis others signing on saying yes we need to pray for the arrival of Mashiach so the belief would be that he's here among us he's gonna be revealed or in other words not looking for him to come to the clouds but to somehow be revealed but I remember last year the health minister in Israel Orthodox rabbi said Mashiach will give it will come before Passover and and that'll be the solution for the coronavirus and and then others saying we don't want to leave Israel right before that because Mashiach is near and so so they're gonna be believers praying around the world at the same time for God to open hearts and minds but you know it reminds me of there was an event in in Cleveland and it was in 1988 we had Israel's hope messianic Jewish worship group and they were they were playing and ministering and then I was preaching afterwards and it was in a former Reform synagogue Marty gets used to go there in fact messianic worship leader and psalmist Marty gets used to go there when he was growing up now it's just rented out in general because it's you know big big stage and and auditorium and everything so as I was preaching local religious Jews came to the meetings rabbis ultra Orthodox Jews and afterwards I talked remember the first night late into the night just talking back and forth with one of the rabbis and so it was the Saturday night service and and after Shabbat now men are finished with their their prayers and everything I believe was in October of 88 so they begin coming out to see the end of the meeting and to watch what's happening they weren't coming there at least outwardly as seekers they were coming to oppose what we were doing so the meeting ends and now they're outside they're lighting candles and praying praying prayers after the Sabbath on the steps of the building police are there it's kind of a crazy scene I go down start talking to them interacting and it ends up after an extended period dancing together and interacting they're on the street and they start crying out God we want mashiach send mashiach now they're on the streets yelling at the top of their lungs so I get right in their midst and I said all God reveal mashiach to them show them who the real mashiach is and then they start yelling God not that one the real machine not his mashiach the real mashiach it was a surreal scene and I remember I got back to my room that night my wife Nancy there with me and I just broke down weeping I just felt so Lord they're so near they're crying out for mashiach and they don't know who he is so this is a remarkable thing and and we believe that that God is going to open up eyes so last thing is we just have a few minutes left what have you seen over these decades in terms of Israelis coming to faith in Yeshua having their eyes open you were one of a handful in your day but now the number is growing it's still a very very small percentage of the population but the numbers still growing what what have you seen from secular to religious in terms of Jewish people in Israel coming to faith it's it's really amazing because just I think two or three months ago around Hanukkah time we had a friend of ours with his congregation coming to visit us just to show our place to his people at the congregation so they can be all very encouraged about God's miracles are taking place still today and one of the guys was an Israeli guy and he we were lighting the Hanukkah candles and I got to talk to him afterwards I said well you you know you I didn't I don't think I've met you before and he's a young guy is in his 30s and he told me a very very encouraged of his testimony and he and I said I really want to know what brought you to the Lord and he said they're from the south and he said that him about five years ago his brother-in-law was suffering from a tooth he had a big tumor in his head and the doctor says that they cannot do anything to help him it would be too dangerous to even do surgery on his head and out of their desperation there were secular family out of the desperation he just started flipping through the you know through the website looking for rabbis to come and pray for his for his brother-in-law for his nephew and he he he found this rabbi come to the hospital I we are really needed in prayer and he says they were and this rabbi as they told him yes we're gonna come and he was waiting they said we're coming the next day and he was waiting and then nobody came so then he flipped and he just kind of looked through his iPhone and he was like searching for prayer for healing something like that in Hebrew and the thing that came up was messianic Jews and he called them and they came immediately and they prayed for the boy and the boy was healed the boy was healed he was four years old or five years old and and and he was healed literally almost instantly and the doctors it was just when they took him to do the x-ray on his head they saw that the tumor was shrinking and it was gone and the doctor says he was a miracle he was a medical miracle and and and and he remembered that when they were praying for his nephew that they're going to be they said God if you you know we're gonna dedicate our life to you you know as they prayed with the messianic Jews to Israelis to other Israeli messianic Jews that come from Orthodox background and so it was when I heard his testimony I got shivers all over my body and I said wow your testimony really needs to go out people need to hear about this healing and you know I just felt there are so many of those people probably with testimonies of great miracles that are happening to them that are not even going out to the public but God you know it's like in the book of Joel my my my children my sons and daughters will see visions and and I believe people will be healed I believe God is already doing a huge process of where people are coming to a revelation of a personal encounters with the Lord with Yeshua and I believe it's happening and maybe we don't know about it but one day very soon a lot of things will be revealed to us about all these great miracles that are taking place so um yes there are many believers many Israeli born believers that are coming through supernatural visitations of the Lord and you know bacha a couple years ago I was with a small team in Israel and we were working with some other Jewish believers in the land and some others that had come in just to do outreach and we were we were doing TV interviews we were telling people this is going to air on Christian TV and we're gonna ask you questions about Messiah and things like that so the the first goal was maybe someone's interested to talk more and we had we had Jewish believers there messianic Jews that would be happy to talk to someone more and the second goal was to get some really good footage to air on Christian TV they give an insight to Christians about what Jews believed so we were doing very openly clearly who we were a fellow with the group yad lakim that you know very well anti missionary very disruptive group he comes in starts yelling missionary missionary disrupts the meeting and disrupts the videotaping it ends up he's following me through the local shoot the the market there and I thought as long as he's yelling at me he's not gonna chase me out so as long as he's yelling I'm just gonna stay and then I thought let me use this as an opportunity to preach so I'm asking the people around is it okay to have these beliefs are we free to have these beliefs yeah so any anyway end up surrounded surrounded by ultra-orthodox Jews and when they hear that I believe in Yeshua very angry begin to spit on the ground and you know to them Jesus is an evil person they don't know who he really is they connect a straight line from the New Testament to the Holocaust in their thinking and here I am preaching him and I remember as one guy was spitting on the ground and standing there so angry the thoughts that were going through my head bought yeah I was wondering I wonder how God's gonna open their eyes I wonder how men like this you're gonna come to faith in your shoe because we know what's happening in the Muslim community little bits and trickles in the very religious community I think there's a lot more happening that we just don't know about because it's also secret but just got a minute or two botch of that you share that same heart that there's a lot happening that pretty soon we're gonna find out how much has been happening behind the scenes I believe so I believe that there are many I believe that there are many born-again believers I believe that God is is started a process many many years ago and those are going to come out and we're all going to be very surprised about what the future had for us you know I personally also was healed of cancer and I think these great miracles of like you know visions of God is they are happening yeah I think out of this desperation to of that people are going through so much suffering now due to the kovid so many people lost their loved ones I believe that there is this time is a time of how do you say of engagement yeah with Yeshua with Jesus yeah and and all the work that that you and Barry have done with Joseph storehouse and vision for Israel and the teams and all that have worked together to just show genuine love because your followers of you shoe it's the natural thing to do that that is planted so many seeds and and made people realize God's goodness and the reality of the Messiah who changed your your life so friends check out vision for Israel calm pray for Barry and bacha there your wonderful family and all those working with them and let's believe for amazing harvest for God's grace to be poured out in extraordinary ways for Jewish people from every background to turn to God and recognize Yeshua Jesus as the Messiah and and we'll we'll post a link probably today or tomorrow on Facebook letting everyone know about this prayer for Messiah on Sunday we'll post a video that you can watch from religious Jews and secular Jews talking about we're all gonna be praying for this so join us in believing God for eyes to be open that all Israel will be safe god bless