The following is a pre-recorded program. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire.
And now here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome friends to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday, a moment when Israel is under siege as we get close to the anniversary of October 7th. What an incredibly intense time. It's a good time to recite Psalm 121 that the one who keeps Israel, watches over Israel, doesn't slumber or sleep.
We can't explain why certain things happen. We can say, God, have mercy on the House of Israel, on the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Reach out your hand and it is the traditional calendar, the new year, right now, Rosh Hashanah, the biblical term Yom Teruah, the sounding of the trumpet blast, the shofar blast, the wake-up time, a time of great introspection in the Jewish community, searching hard, the 10 days of awe, the days of awe, leading into the Day of Atonement.
And then after that, five days after Sukkot Tabernacles, it should have been a celebration, the happiest day of the year, October 7th last year. Now remembered in infamy in Jewish history, and yet Jewish people will be called on to rejoice. So a season where we really pray, we really stand with Israel in every way that we know how. So thank you for your prayers. Those of you that want to contribute to our ministry as we are on the front lines pushing back against anti-Semitism and reaching out to the lost sheep of the House of Israel are materials used on the front lines in Israel and around the world.
We regularly hear of Jewish people coming to faith. We'd love to send you my brand new book, just comes out in a few days, Hearts of Compassion, Backbones of Steel, how to discuss controversial topics with love and kindness. It's yours for your gift of any size to help us stand with Israel today.
Be as generous as you can. It's a critical hour and we are making a difference. Number to call 800-538-5275.
800-538-5275. We have two special interviews today. First with two Christians from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, the USA branch, talking about a very, very important event that will be taking place on October 7th in D.C. You can participate.
Young people in particular, we'd love to see you participate in this. So we're going to break this interview into two parts. Then, in the bottom half of the hour, I'll talk with Joel Turnoff, long-time pioneer leader in the Messianic Jewish movement, also long-time leader in helping raise humanitarian funds to help in Israel. We'll give you an outlet as well through his ministry, through what he's doing, so we'll talk about that, the critical moment in which we stand.
But again, to every one of you that knows Jesus, knows Yeshua as Messiah and Lord, please do pray. God, have mercy on Israel. God, protect your people. God, open the hearts of your people. And to all those surrounding them that want to destroy, God, open their hearts and minds.
Bring them to repentance and may everything meant for evil turn around for good. All right, let's go into part one of this interview. I'm speaking now with Susan Michael and Allison Griffin from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, the USA branch. There's an important event that is coming up in just a few days on the anniversary of the October 7th massacre last year in Israel. An important event we want you to know about and we can never talk about what's happening too much in light of the agonizing situation Israel finds itself in right now and has been in the midst of an existential battle for decades and decades since the founding of the modern state of Israel. So Susan, for those who are not familiar with the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, who is this?
What do you do? Well, first of all, Dr. Brown, it's great to be with you today and your audience. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was born in 1980 when all of the embassies moved out of Jerusalem in protest of it being the capital of Israel. And so there were a group of Christian leaders there from around the world that said, we don't support what our governments have done, and we're starting an International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem that represents the millions of Bible-believing Christians around the world who understand the significance of Jerusalem and stand with Israel. And that's how we were born. That's how we got our name. Our mission statement from day one was right out of Isaiah 40, verse one.
It says, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says the Lord. And we were very aware that we were a historic, groundbreaking, pioneering ministry to bring about a whole new relationship between Jews and Christians and to be there representing Christian love and support from around the world to the people of Israel. We've been doing that in very practical ways now for 44 years, but we also have a presence out in over 90 nations, such as here in the United States. And out in the nations, our priorities are, of course, bringing awareness and raising funds for our projects in Israel, but secondly, educating the Christian community and our nation. And we've built a lot of educational resources for the Christian community here in the United States. But thirdly is advocacy, the need to take a public stand in support of Israel.
It's not our focus, we're not a political lobby, but sometimes we just have to take a stand. And so we've been very active in Washington, D.C. over the years, and the upcoming event is just one example of the ways that we do that. And Susan, I had the joy of speaking decades ago, probably around 1992, at the big festive event, the Feast of Tabernacles Sukkot at the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. Thousands come from around the world and the march down the streets in Jerusalem is quite extraordinary with thousands of believers in their festive garments from around the world.
And the nation streaming into Jerusalem, it's kind of an advanced prophetic fulfillment. But ICAJ has done a lot to change Israeli Jewish perceptions of the church because so many Jews just think Christians hate us, Christians persecute us through the ages, Christians just look at us as Christ killers, and here are Christians saying, we actually love you and we love Israel. So have you seen a shift in attitude within Israel over the decades?
Well, it's been my privilege to see an amazing shift in attitude. You know, every Israeli that goes to school, they're primarily taught about the Catholic Church and about the history of Christian anti-Semitism. And they're unaware of the large evangelical world, the Bible-based part of Christianity that is very supportive. And so we have been there to let them know, no, we represent millions, hundreds of millions of Christians around the world that love you and are praying for you and want to be a part of blessing you in this day and hour and we want to encourage you. And so it has brought a complete sea chain in Jewish-Christian relations, both in Israel, and I've also seen it change here in the United States.
And it's one of the most fulfilling things that I've been a part of. Is there actually official government recognition of ICEJ and any bridge to the parliament or anything like that within Israel? Well, no, because we're not a diplomatic embassy. We don't represent a nation or a government, but we do represent the kingdom of God and the church global. And so we have and they recognize that, but no, we do not have like a diplomatic status.
Got it. So it is clearly there in a Christian way and it's not, there's no political advocacy with a particular party there in Israel, which we just add to being divisive. And even though, as followers of Jesus, we want everyone to believe in Jesus. I'm a Jewish believer in Jesus.
I've spent 50 plus years dialoguing with rabbis, debating, interacting. I want everyone to believe in Jesus. ICEJ is there to say, hey, we're just going to show you love and solidarity in the midst of the storm because as Christians, that's what we do. So obviously the nation has not had a moment to recover from the trauma of October 7th. The fact that there are still hostages as we're coming up on a year later. The fact that now hostilities have increased and bombs falling and even as we're speaking, this will air a little bit after we speak, bombs from Iran falling in Israel. It's a very, very intense time. And yet from the get-go after October 7th, there was world denial of what happened or world justification of what happened or rather than increase in solidarity with Israel, instead there was an increase in antisemitism.
It's shocking. If anything reveals the demonic nature of antisemitism, it's this right now. Allison, tell us about what's happening on October 7th, why it's so important and how Christians can get involved. Yeah, so we were actually really helping to spread the rally of the one last November that had about 300,000 attendees. We were trying to get the word out for Christians, but for this event, we really wanted to bring Christians and Jews together. We wanted to stand together in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. And so we're really excited.
We have a long list of speakers of Christian and Jewish backgrounds, along with some other community leaders. And something that you mentioned is that you would think that they would have a lot more support after what had happened. And I think I just watched this video of a brother and sister that were hostages during the Nova Festival. And they were just saying how appalled that the younger generation, like the Gen Z's and everyone's just absorbing all of this, all of the lies and that they hadn't had any support after even what they went through. So we're actually really excited to display a younger generation of influencers. Even our MC has 5 million views on TikTok.
I think I'm a little too old for TikTok, but just showing the broad reach of people that we're trying to bring for support on October 7th. Now, Allison, what happened last time around in November? Many people many people may have heard about this in the news, but there's so much that happens on a daily basis and depends on what news sources you're listening to or watching.
What happened last year? Yeah, so after October 7th, there is a lot of protests that were going on around the country and there really wasn't one large Jewish support rally. And so they basically, the Federation, the Federation had an event in D.C. on the National Mall and it was actually the largest group of, the largest gathering of modern day Jews in one space.
It was about 300,000. And so it was incredible to be there. I know we were there with our Christian Stand with Israel sign. And just personally, and I think Susan can share as well, to see the Jewish friends and colleagues faces when we had those signs, it really did something to their heart. And kind of what Susan was talking about, it really has bridged the gap from what their idea of the church and anti-Semitism.
And so that happened last November. And so we're just trying to do this again on October 7th where we're showing our support and we're saying, hey, we're here for you. All right, so Allison, tell us where people can go to find out about this website, social media page.
Where can they go to find out? How can they participate? Sure, it's gen dash Zion, g-e-n dash Zion, g-e-n dash Zion, g-e-n dash Zion dot org slash October 7th. And October is fully spelled out. And so I just want to also highlight that we are partnering with the Philos Project. Philos Project is the main one who's organizing and maybe Susan can share a little bit about ACLI and American Christian Leaders for Israel, but we're just helping them as one of the event coordinators for this project.
All right, once more spell out where they go. We'll put it in the description of the video as well, but spell it out one more time. Sir, it's gen g-e-n dash Zion dot org slash October 7th. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Trivita Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend, James Robison, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife Betty host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.
Well, let me just say this to you. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.
It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the nopal cactus juice with me, nopalette. I began drinking about that much in the morning in the glass and that much later in the day. And in three months, I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable. Now that's just my testimony, but that's been more than 10 years with no pain. Matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try, see if it helps relieve your pain. I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me.
Nopalaya is supported by clinical studies for lowering inflammation and improving mobility, flexibility, and range of emotion in the neck, back, and joints for less reliance on pain medication and improved quality of life. Call 800-771-5584 and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order goes to support the line of fire.
Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Shalom, shalom. It is Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. It is the Jewish New Year, the biblical feast of trumpets. It is a time when Israel and the Jewish people worldwide are under intense siege, a time to pray for Israel and stand with Israel.
We go back to this interview with Susan Michael and Allison Griffin from the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem USA branch. All right, so, Susan, from your viewpoint, why is it important that Christians in America get involved? And how can we get Gen Z more involved? Because, you know, we've all seen the polls. 51% in one poll of Gen Z said that Israel should be ended and given to Hamas. I mean, it's mind-boggling how the the PR thing is twisted things, but Susan, why is it important for Christians to get involved?
And then, Gen Z, how do we reach Gen Z here? Well, Dr. Brown, you know, you mentioned the traumatic events that happened in October 7th of last year. And what, you know, what Americans need to understand is all of Israel is traumatized. There's not a person in Israel that doesn't feel the trauma of that event. A third of the country is actually clinically traumatized, PTS.
But the rest, they're all traumatized by it. Then, to have this wave of anti-Semitism around the world, this shocking rise of anti-Semitism on Ivy League campuses and here in the United States, has really traumatized the rest of the Jewish world. I mean, the American Jewish community, which is the second largest community in the world, is looking at each other in shock. You know, should we start moving to Israel?
What do we do? We always felt safe here. We no longer feel safe here. So this is why it is so important that Christians not just say, we love you, but get out in the streets and actually be seen and be heard. Now is the time.
Many of us have said for so many years, you know, never again. Well, now is the time to get out and put feet, you know, to those prayers and to those words. And you do that by showing up and being very visible and very vocal.
That's why it is so important. Now, in terms of reaching Generation Z, it is not easy. And that's why the coalition of organizations that we have pulled together under the American Christian Leaders for Israel network, we collaboratively work together on all kinds of events like this one on October the 7th. We got behind the Philos project and support them however we can. We have thousands of organizations that are part of the network. So we are right now brainstorming how to pull together our network and do something collaborative that will be of greater impact to reach young adults.
I think many, I think we have many young adults in the churches in America that really do want to know the truth. And that's where we need to start. I think once we can reach them through the Bible and let them understand the biblical significance of Israel, we can have tremendous influence there. And from there into the Christian campuses, we have built a semester-long course that we're just giving away free of charge to any Christian campus that wants to use it to help the Christian young people understand the biblical significance of Israel and how it's connected to modern-day Israel. So there's many things that we can do, and we're brainstorming how to do even more. Yeah, friends, if you just go to gen dash zion, g-e-n dash zion, z-i-o-n dot org, just go there and you'll see something pop up. Sign up for our upcoming October 7th rally now.
Just a couple more things, Susan and Allison, as we do our best to spread the word and all the different platforms that we have access to. In your heart, an I-C-A-G in Israel, do you have hostility towards the Palestinians? Are you saying, God bless Israel and God curse those Palestinians?
Because that's what a lot of people think. If we say we're for Israel, we must hate the Palestinians. Either of you can speak, but how do you feel in your own heart towards the Palestinian people? Absolutely, we do not curse the Palestinians. They are part of the humanity that Jesus died for, and for years, for decades, we have taught in churches that it is so important that you pray for the Arab people, you pray for the Palestinians. You cannot just see them as the enemy and be against them, but you must see them as victims in this spiritual battle against Israel.
And to pray for them and pray for their salvation. My own husband is from Egypt, so we carry a love for the Jews, but we also carry a love for the Arab people, wanting to see blessing for the entire region. But we're very committed to the biblical significance of Israel, and we believe peace and blessing will only come to the region if they live in peace with Israel and the Jewish people.
Yeah, and of course I knew your heart in that, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to express it. When Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed Congress, he said that Israel's enemies, they're your enemies, America. And I wrote an article about this recently saying, let's take it further. The ultimate one who wants to destroy Israel and the Jewish people is Satan himself, and you want to see a picture of who the devil is. Look at what happened on October 7th. Look at that evil. Look at that barbarity.
That's an expression of who he is. It's the same devil that's inspiring the wicked persecution of Christians in different parts of the world, Christians in Nigeria being burned alive and killed in horrific ways and suffering as they're suffering. That's the devil behind it, and there's a common foe that we find. That devil also wants to destroy the Palestinians. And when we pray, people say, free Palestine. Free them from destructive leadership that's out to hurt them as well and just use them as pawns. So, when we pray for God's best for Israel, it's God's best for everybody, ultimately. Alison, any last words you want to speak, especially to folks who feel they can't do anything and they're just powerless?
Anything you'd like to say to that, Alison? Yeah, so I just, you know, really prayer. Prayer and ICEJ has done that since day one. They've gathered thousands and thousands of people for their global prayer network, and that is just something where if you can't fly to DC for this rally, which we would love to have you, I would also say get connected with even the local Chabad or Jewish communities here. I think for me, when October 7th happened, I was starting to get invited to my friend's synagogues to help just send supplies over. And I know my friends were kind of parading me around like I was a unicorn because they had never met a Christian that supported Israel.
And I had to be the voice to tell them, hey, this is not about me. There are millions of Christians that love you. And so, at least in my network, I live in Miami, so there's a lot of Jewish people. You know, I think just basic demonstrations of love and then, of course, prayer.
And you can go to the ICEJ website for that. We have daily prayer for Israel. All right. Well, thank you so much, Susan and Allison. One more time, friends, go to jen-zion.org, and then you'll see pop up for October 7th how you can be involved. And let's pray.
May the purposes of the Lord be accomplished. Thanks so much for joining us. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. All right, thanks for listening.
I do encourage you to get involved however you can. And wherever you are, whoever you are, you can pray. And if you are a Jewish person yourself, your soul's in turmoil, you're in pain, out of solidarity for our people, as we all are on different levels. May I remind you of the words of Yeshua, M'shichein, Jesus, our Messiah. He said, come to me, all you who are burdened, weighed down, tired, weary. I will give you rest. There is a menuchah. There is a rest.
There is a shalom. There is a peace that is found only in him in the midst of the storm. Learn of him. Take his yoke on you. You'll find it to be just right. His yoke is easy.
It fits just right. His burden is light. You'll find forgiveness of sins, new life in him.
Again, go to realmessiah.com and you'll find the truth. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Tributa Wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend James Robison, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife Betty host the Life Today television program. Now here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced. My friend Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40 year plus best friends.
Well, let me just say this to you. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.
It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the Nopal cactus juice with me, Nopalaya. I began drinking about that much in the morning in the glass and that much later in the day. And in three months I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable. Now that's just my testimony, but that's been more than 10 years with no pain. Matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try, see if it helps relieve your pain. I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me.
Nopalaya is supported by clinical studies for lowering inflammation and improving mobility, flexibility, and range of emotion in the neck, back and joints for less reliance on pain medication and improved quality of life. Call 800-771-5584 and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order goes to support the line of fire.
Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. This is how we rise up. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.
Get on the Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back friends to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.
This is Michael Brown. It's a very intense time in the Jewish world. There's all the emotion of the Jewish High Holy Days, the biblical Feast of Trumpets becoming over the centuries by tradition, Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year.
But it's not a time for partying. It's a time in the Jewish world where even secular Jews get more religious and religious Jews do much soul searching. It's a time of repentance and seeking God and cleansing before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. And then five days after that begins Sukkot, seven days and an eighth day ultimately of celebration. And it was at the end of that, should have been the greatest day of joy of the year, Simchat Torah, the greatest joy of celebration on the Jewish calendar that October 7th happened. Of course the Hamas terrorist plan did for that very day.
So all kinds of emotions in the Jewish world. A lot of Christians say, I want to help. I want to do something.
I don't know what to do. Well, we're going to give you a tangible outlet of how you can help. I'm here now joined by my old colleague Joel Chernoff. He and his family are literally pioneers in the modern messianic Jewish movement. The group LAMM that he was part of decades ago, pioneers in messianic Jewish movement. So Joel, as a messianic Jew, your journey has tied you deeply with the Jewish community. As a follower of Jesus, Yeshua, that hasn't separated you from your Jewish community. It's only deepened your Jewish roots. How does that feel?
Explain that to our listeners. Well, before I tasted of the Lord, I do have to say that I was pretty nominal. I was proud to be Jewish, but not that connected to it. Once I met the Lord in a serious fashion, a supernatural experience with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that changed my life. Within a short time, I had turned over my entire life to God. I said, give me, I was just 21 at the age at that time. And I said, Lord, give me your best life.
And I can say 50 years later, he has done just that. But the thing it did was that it gave me an enthusiasm and an interest in being Jewish. And that was important to me. And from that point on, I turned my talents musically towards writing folk, rock sounding, but yet ancient feels of Jewish music and out pop messianic lamb music. And it popularizes the messianic sound all through the seventies.
Lamb was at the top of the charts. But then after that, the Lord led me to become the general secretary or CEO of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, which is the largest organization representing or can speak for the messianic community. And through that particular ministry, we have been able to integrate, reintegrate into the mainstream of our Jewish people by service, serving our people in their times of need, especially in Israel where poverty is so strong. Even before COVID, even before this war, poverty was a serious, serious issue. And the Lord led us to found the Joseph Project International, which is now the largest importer of humanitarian aid in the country of Israel now. All right. So say that last sentence again. That's quite striking. A messianic Jewish organization. Please say that once more. Yes. The Joseph Project International is the largest importer of humanitarian aid in the state of Israel, with over one hundred and seventy million dollars worth of of aid shipped in and and distributed since October the 7th.
Over 20 million dollars worth worth of aid has been distributed throughout the country, supporting the IDF and displaced Israelis and terrorist victims. So, Joel, as a Jewish believer in Jesus, we understand you get ostracized. You're an outsider. The early accusations, you're just Christians pretending to be Jews and you don't really care about being Jewish. We said, well, we are. We just do it differently.
We don't keep all the traditions we have. But the God of Israel is our God. And again, we want our Jewish people to follow Yeshua, to come to know him. But it's fascinating that over the years now that there's been more and more recognition. I have Orthodox rabbis working with me and Orthodox Jews working with me together for the good of Israel. And they realize there's something that joins us. So you're saying through acts of service, Joel, that now the nation of Israel and even Jewish community in America has embraced what you're doing and embraced messianic Jews in a deeper way.
Is that right? Yes, especially in Israel. We actually work hand in glove with the government of Israel. We actually help them out. The prime minister from time to time has his national emergency team stage a meeting in our facilities in Israel because they simply like it.
They've done that once. We've had a lot of Knesset members there and they absolutely love it. They consider us one of the best run in the country, one of the best run charities in the country. Every piece of humanitarian aid is computerized in and out of the warehouse. So there's no black market.
There's nothing. We do our business excellently. And it's so much so that now, Mike, over 100 corporations in Israel give us their excess inventory, other goods, because they can get a tax deduction from us with the government.
And so now we have all these mainstream companies bringing all their stuff to our door. And of course, we have trucks and we send them all over the country. Over a thousand deliveries during this war.
That is an amazing number of truck deliveries. So we'll give this out several times over the course of centuries. I'll be speaking with Joel this segment and next. But before I ask some more specific questions, where can people go to participate actively, to stand with Israel in a tangible way?
What's the website they go to? Yes, Joseph Project. It's one word, josephproject.org. That's where you can go, www.josephproject.org.
All right. So paint a picture, Joel, of what life is like right now in Israel for your average Israeli or throughout the country. What are some of the needs?
Paint a picture for us. Well, what you have, of course, the army and the army is doing its best, but there's so many goods that they can't afford to buy. So we pitch in and we give them vests, helmets, all kinds of toiletries, mattresses.
That's that's a part of it. You have got two hundred thousand Israelis that are displaced or they are put up in hotels and they're and they're trying to get back in the south, they're trying trying to get back in the north. They need help. And poverty was already a major problem. Twenty five percent of the country below the poverty line, a third of the children, even before Covid. Covid, it got worse. And now it's even worse. You know, Mike, that the tourist industry is the second biggest industry in the country, and they've taken a huge hit, over a billion dollar loss. That's a small country.
That is a huge, huge loss. The workforce, a lot of it is fighting in the north, is fighting in the south. And so families are in real trouble economically. Moody, as you saw recently, recently downgraded the credit, the credit rating of the state of Israel, making it much more expensive for the state of Israel to to borrow funds. And that's what they're doing is borrowing funds to pay for this war.
That's terrible. So there's tremendous pressure on the state of Israel besides the high cost of living there anyway. So, man, pitching in, helping, contributing, even if your listeners cannot cannot be there, just to just to send a gift, help us out. We are we are your arms and legs in Israel. But the needs are tremendous.
At josephproject.org, the funds would go directly to help those in Israel in need. Exactly. You know, Joe, when you mention people, the workforce is fighting, you say, what does that mean? So when you get out of high school in Israel, you immediately go into the army, men for three years, women for two years. But if you're a man, then you can be called up in the reserves. If you're a non-officer, so just a regular soldier, you can be called up up until the age of 40. They upped it down to 41 during this war.
If you're an officer up to the age of 45, now they upped it to 46. So you have several hundred thousand Israeli men, husbands, fathers that are pulled off the workforce that are on the front lines. And some are out for a while back and forth, back and forth. So this this is the reality. And talk about just Israeli life.
Do you have to have like a bomb shelter in your house or safe room? What's normal life like? You know what? It's funny.
It's funny to bring it up. Last year, October the 6th, I was I was there. I would just so happened to be there with Miriam. We were there hosting an international Messianic Jewish conference and it was at Yad Hashmona at their beautiful place, their hotel. We we get in on the Shabbat and we had a great meal. And then we went to bed and we woke up in the war and it was bombs going off everywhere. We didn't even know what was happening.
But the first thing that we did. Go out the front door, run it, run into the bomb shelters. Bomb shelters are everywhere throughout throughout the country.
And you've got to be close. It isn't the first time. All through that conference, we were in and out of the bomb shelters. But it was a privilege to stand with our people. Our people are used to keeping the bomb shelters close, even in our facility, the Joseph Project Warehouse. We have bomb shelters throughout the building so that on just a moment's notice, bam, we are in the bomb shelter. So, yes, this is simply a way of life in Israel. It's dangerous at times, but our people are resilient. They are tough and they're not going anywhere. Yeah. So, friends, again, josephproject.org.
We've got a few seconds before the break. You live in Israel, friends. You have a safe room in your house. If you're in a house, you have to have a safe room.
So, this is the best place to go. Bombs are going off. An apartment building, something like that. There are bomb shelters there. You live in a place like Sderot, which is on the border of Gaza. You can never be more than 15 seconds, 15 seconds from a bomb shelter, whether you're a kindergartener, whether you're at your place of business, whether you're playing sports.
That is the level of threat that can be there all the time. Israel is in a nonstop war for its own existence. It's that simple because people want to destroy Israel because God has chosen Israel.
It's our sacred right, our sacred joy to stand with the people of Israel at this time. We'll be right back. This is Michael Ellison, founder of Trivial, a community-based organization that provides you to wellness. I want you to hear an amazing testimony from my friend, James Robinson, and most all of you will know of him. He and his wife, Betty, host the Life Today television program. Now, here is James. Let me tell you about a miracle I experienced.
My friend, Michael Ellison, he and his wife are our 40-year-plus best friends. I had so much pain with what was called tennis elbow that I could hardly reach over and pick up the phone without pain, without it hurting me. I couldn't pick up something to drink, a glass of tea or anything.
It was very difficult to do anything without wearing a tight strap. And then Michael shared the nopal cactus juice with me, nopalaya. I began drinking about that much in the morning in the glass and that much later in the day. And in three months, I was a different person. I have now gone more than 10 years with no pain, not better. Well, I have no joint pain. I am telling you, it did something to the inflammation in my body that was undeniable. Now that's just my testimony, but that's been more than 10 years with no pain. As a matter of fact, if I miss for some foolish reason, a few days, I can feel it creeping back that fast. So give it a try, see if it helps relieve your pain. I hope it does like it has mine because it worked for me.
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Call 800-771-5584 or go online to TriVita.com. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us friends on this thoroughly Jewish Thursday, right in the midst of the holiest time of the year on the Jewish calendar, right in the midst, literally right now, the Jewish new year. It's a time when Jewish people around the world are searching their hearts or praying, are coming into the Amim Noorayim, the Days of Awe, 10 days between Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the new year, the trumpet blast in scripture, and the Day of Atonement, where they'll be asking God, repenting and praying, asking God for another year of life to be written in the Book of Life. Let's pray at this time that God will open up hearts, open up minds, reveal Yeshua to his people, and this is a great time to stand with Israel when it is in an existential battle surrounded by hostile foes. I'm joined with Joel Chernoff, he's been leading Joseph Project for many years, given tens of millions of dollars of humanitarian help to Israel, josephproject.org, josephproject.org. So Joel, do the people in Israel that are receiving the help, the IDF and others, do they know who Joseph Project is or that Christians support this?
How is that related to them? Well, you know, I have been in and out of the Knesset many times. I've sat with people in the State Department.
Our people are not dumb. They know exactly who the Joseph Project is. Every single interview in the Knesset, especially in the State Department, that's the first question. Who is sponsoring the Joseph Project? And of course, I tell them right off the bat that we have great discussions concerning Messianic Judaism, Christian anti-Semitism.
Their problem really isn't with Messianic Jews, but it is the hurt that has come through Christian anti-Semitism of the past. But yeah, I mean, our people know exactly. We aren't fooling anybody at any time.
We're on the internet, the website is there, they can see it. We just serve. I mean, the Lord gave us a verse, it gave me personally a verse right in the beginning of the Joseph Project when he gave me a prophetic word that was eventually accepted by our executive committee and they told me to go forth and do it. And it's 1 Peter 2.15, because I was arguing with the Lord, Lord, you know our people, they don't even want our help.
How in the world are we going to do this in Israel? It just seemed ridiculous. It was too big to go there and establish the Joseph Project and to prepare for a million people that were going to be coming in a time of great trouble in the future and to meet urgencies along the way.
It just seemed too big for us, way too big. And the Lord gave me a verse that shut me up, which was 1 Peter 2.15, where it says, For this is God's will, that by doing good you will silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. He said, Joel, just step out in faith and do good and I will silence those that would try to silence you.
But you're going to have to step out of the boat. You're going to have to take a step of faith. And that's what we did. It took three years from 1996 to 1999, after the executive committee of the MJA said go forth and do it. Nothing happened for three years.
I cast the vision at all of our conferences, nothing, nada. And then all of a sudden in 99 something broke, God sent me somebody to kind of help. And then by 2000 we were shipping goods into Israel and we've had several bureaucratic miracles. I mean we could have been stopped cold in our tracks, but God's been faithful all the way along. Anytime that there was a problem, somebody tries to stop us, a bad article, somebody in government tries something, every time he has swept away the obstacle and we just keep pushing pushing forward. It's been a series of miracles, but now the Joseph Project, we are actually a part of the mainstream. That is the goal, is to be a part of the mainstream, to serve our people. What does the gospel say?
The Messiah says, if you want to be first in the kingdom of God, you must be the servant of all. Isn't that true? Yeah, absolutely. Can you tell us stories when goods arrive, be it bulletproof vests for soldiers, be it humanitarian aid for displaced people, or those impoverished? Do you get reports of the reactions of the people receiving the goods from the Joseph Project? Well we have reports, but we also have video of course. We have videos of the army, I mean thrilled.
I mean you wouldn't believe this, but the army is suffering from lacks in various areas. For instance, and this is kind of comical to think of it, but we take truckloads of mattresses down to the border of Gaza because they are sleeping on the ground oftentimes. It's very uncomfortable, it's tough to sleep. So we take dozens and dozens, hundreds of mattresses down there. Oh, they are so happy, Mike. They are, I can't believe, we actually have a mattress to sleep on, wonderful. And then they go in into the war, they come back and they have a place to sleep. So those are the kinds of things, even toiletries, small things. We'll take truckloads of them down there. They know what they need, little flashlights, toothbrushes, all kinds of stuff.
We will just buy them or they are shipped in or the corporations give them to us and we take them down. Oh, they are so, so happy. And of course many of the displaced people, especially from Gaza, who suffered such trauma, terrible trauma. We were able to be Johnny on the spot, a spot with them.
I mean, I was telling you about that conference last year. Well, it just so happened at the end of that conference, many, many of the displaced came into that hotel and we were able to bring all of their kids boxes of beautiful toys. Oh, they were so thrilled with those toys because they were very nice toys and they had nothing, they had nothing there. And we were able to bring them toys and clothing and things of that nature that was just such a comfort to them after the trauma of seeing terrorists in their backyard and their friends killed and murdered and women raped.
And here they were sitting next to us on camera at times thanking us and saying what a blessing it is. And even the Messiah was there. So one of the cases was an elderly Jewish woman who had a Filipino caretaker on the kibbutz. And the terrorists came in and they were all around her and they were in the bomb shelter. Of course, she was a believer in the Messiah and she had her Bible out in the bomb shelter, but the door was cracked open. The terrorists come in. They found them sitting in the bomb shelter that the older Jewish woman was not making sense. And the terrorists looked at them, looked at the Bible and didn't kill them.
And she escorted them out the front door. And it's just an incredible story. And here we are sitting at this hotel and she's saying the Joseph Project was the first people to find us. Oh, we are so thankful. Me and this Jewish woman were so thankful. And God bless you.
And she was just thrilled. But this is the kind of trauma that these people have been through. And just to be a blessing to them, just the smallest, a box of goods, a little bit of food, clothing, blankets was, oh, what a blessing to be there right on the front lines with them. And Joel, we're recording this Wednesday.
It airs Thursday. The latest news from Israel already reporting eight young soldiers here, their smiling pictures, all killed in the war in Lebanon, trying to take out Hezbollah, people that are trying to kill Israelis. They're just trying to save lives and push back against these terrorists.
The nation as a whole is in PTSD right now and the nation is under constant assault. When I was in Israel in June, one of the believers came up to me and said, I was a Christian woman and she said she was talking to a soldier. And the soldier said, are you a Christian? She said, yes. He said, are you an evangelical Christian? She said, yes.
He said, you're the best friends we have. Thank you. So here is a direct way for all of you watching and listening to connect through a messianic Jewish organization in the name of Yeshua, intangible ways of love and service to those hurting, to those in need. You know, funds come in from all around the world to help those surrounding Israel, even those attacking Israel. This is a way for Messiah's body to stand together. josephproject.org. 30 seconds, Joel, any last thing you want to say to our audience? Well, you can you can pray for about three things, I think.
And people ask me this question all the time. Pray for the political leaders, the military leaders of Israel, that God gives them wisdom. Number two, pray for the soldiers.
God would protect them. And third, pray that the plans of the enemies of Israel will be revealed, that they will come to the attention of the planners in Israel, the military planners in Israel. And four, you can pray for the United States, that the United States continues to stand with the people and the armies of Israel.
God is in control. I'm a thousand percent confident for the future of the people of Israel. So stand with Israel and pray in this fashion. God bless you all. All right, thanks so much, Joel. Thanks for the work you're doing. So one more time, josephproject.org. And for those of you who are seekers, questions about the Messiah, questions about coming into our relationship with God, go to realmessiah.com. All the resources there are free. You can be blessed, helped in your own journey. You stand with God against the enemies of Israel.
