Transcription
How do you respond to people who excel you in invention, creativity, and wealth? Do you envy them? Do you feel their success somehow diminishes you? Or do you admire what they've achieved and try to emulate it?
These questions sum up what I call the Israel test. In the 1880s, European Jews settled in Mandate Palestine and wrought an agricultural miracle in that desolate territory, then sparsely populated by a few score thousand Jews and a couple hundred Arabs. The Jewish settlers drained malarial swamps, leached salt from the soils, terraced the barren hills, and planted millions of trees. They massively expanded the capacity of the land and enabled it to support a substantial Arab population.
In the two decades between 1921 and 1943, Jews quadrupled the number of enterprises, multiplied the number of jobs by a factor of 10, and increased the level of capital investment a hundredfold. Far from displacing Arabs, they provided the capital for a major expansion of Arab farms and enabled a sevenfold rise in Arab population by 1948 to a level of 1.35 million, the largest in the long history of Palestine. In other words, the Arabs came to what would soon be the state of Israel because of the Jews. By comparison, Transjordan, now known as Jordan, with the same geological endowment and four times the land but no Jews, was able to sustain a population density only one-tenth of the population density of Palestine.
Crucial to Israel's accomplishments were world-leading technological advances in the recovery of water through desalinization, drip irrigation, and sewage recycling. Over the past 50 years, Israel has increased its population tenfold, its agricultural production 16-fold, and its industrial production 50-fold, while actually reducing net water consumption by 10%. Since 1948, this huge expansion of effective water resources enabled the land to support not only more Jews but also millions more Arabs. Today, the state of Israel, with its astonishing achievements in computer science and other high-tech fields, distills both the genius of the Jews and the misdirected anger of the failed states that surround it.
The great divide in the Middle East is not between Arab and Jew, but between admiration of achievement along with the desire to replicate it, and envy accompanied by violent resentment. People who admire success, who pass the Israel test, tend to be wealthy and peaceful. People who resent achievement, who fail the Israel test, tend to become poor and violent. So again, how do you respond to people who excel you in invention, creativity, and wealth? Do you envy them? Do you feel their success somehow diminishes you? Or do you admire what they've achieved and try to emulate it?
The Israel test is the central divide in the world today. How you answer it as an individual, and ultimately how we answer it as a nation, is a test of our own will to triumph over enemies who hate us as they hate Israel for what is best within us. I'm George Gilder, a non-Jew who has passed the Israel test.
Today is a special day for a lot of reasons. Uh, number one, today is Pentecost Sunday. So that's 50 days, right, since the glorification of Christ Jesus. Penta, 50, penta days, penta. And, uh, so we pause to acknowledge that. Also, this week, uh, the reason why you see our stage dawned with, uh, Israeli flags is because we recognize a miracle that just this last week, on May 14th, Israel celebrated, listen carefully, Israel, for the second time, celebrated its 76th birthday. So that is a remarkable Bible prophecy fulfillment. The nation of Israel existing today for the second time in human history, exactly as the Bible said.
And so today, we're going to be having a service. I have to tell you, got to be honest with you, I'm going to go fast. I, between the hours of 3 and 6 o'clock this morning, I actually threw away more than half of my sermon. Yep. That's, that's what, that's what usually happens. But this was super doubly. A lot of verses, too much. Can you imagine? This should boast in your faith as believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Bible, that, uh, to get ready for a 55-minute sermon, I had to throw away so many Bible verses that apply to the events of this week and to the days in the age in which we live in. Absolutely awesome, incredible.
So, uh, before we get ready to read together as a church, again, last Tuesday, May 14th, made history as Israel celebrated its 76th birthday. And the book of Isaiah, chapter 66:8. Chapter 66:8. The Bible tells us, by the way, this is, uh, 743 years before the birth of Christ. This is nearly now a 3,000-year-old prophecy. "Who has heard such a thing? And who has seen such a thing? Shall the Earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children." According to the Bible, there would be a rebirth of the nation of Israel, and it would not happen in a week, it would not happen in three days, it would happen in one day. And on May 14th, 1948, under the leadership of then-President Harry Truman, who stood for the state of Israel, the United Nations voted for the rebirth of the nation of Israel in one day.
I want to show you something. Put your eyes to the screen and check this out. New York Times. This is, uh, New York Times. It's blurry, I know, but Saturday, I think that says May 15th. I can't make it out. It's a little blurry. I think it's the day after. Doesn't matter. "Zionists Proclaim New State of Israel. Truman Recognizes It and Hopes for Peace. Tel Aviv is Bombed. Egypt Orders an Invasion." In less than 24 hours after the birth of the nation, five surrounding nations attacked Israel. They had some guns and a lot of pitchforks and hammers. They had some tractors and trailers and horses, and they won. And they won. Why? Well, you're going to be looking at the reason why. And listen, I'm calling upon all, uh, wokers today to stay tuned. I know today's going to be full of truth. You're going to have an allergic reaction to truth. Hang in there. Hang in there. Also, this, those of you who are from, uh, churches that, uh, have absolutely abolished Israel from their theology, you need to hang in here. Find some truth. In fact, it'll probably be a good challenge for you to also hear. If you're holding to that view that Jesus is coming back soon, you probably don't know that either. And also the fact that God so loved the world that he gave gifted his only glorified Son upon the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead. Listen, that is a New Testament record of the event, but it's an Old Testament doctrine found in scripture. And so this is very, very important. One more, uh, message before we dive into this. Matthew 5:17. My Jewish friends, listen, don't tune us out because I'm quoting now a New Testament. Hang with us, please. Jesus is only quoting the Old Testament here and speaking of it. In Matthew 5:17 and 18, Jesus says, "Do not think that I've come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Jesus Christ stood and endorsed Moses, and he stood and endorsed the psalmist, he stood and endorsed the prophets. In fact, later on, Psalm 40 and the book of Hebrews will say, "Behold, in the volume of the book, it is written of the Messiah, all about him."
So here we go. I will read the odd-numbered verses. You, nice and loud, so that the world can hear you today. Read the even-numbered verses. Isaiah 55, beginning at verse one. Our title today, on this very special day of Israel's birthday week, and the fact that it's Pentecost. Israel, the ultimate target. Israel, the ultimate target. Israel is being targeted. Is it, is it being targeted by violence? Yes. Is it being targeted by those who hate it? Yes. Is it being targeted by those who love God and love Israel? I say yes. I target Israel as an, as an object of prayer and support and to speak up because my God says that he has declared Israel to be his home. That's what the Bible teaches, and that's why we are people of the book.
"Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Verse three: Incline your ear and come to Me. This is God speaking. Come to Me, here, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you. Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are high, Or higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, And the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth in bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater—Beautiful verse 11. So shall My word be, That goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field Shall clap their hands. I can't wait to see that happen. Verse 13: Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Several times in the reading, you heard "everlasting covenant," "everlasting sign," "forever." God's commitment. That prophet Isaiah speaking to the nation of Israel. Listen, just to get you all excited in advance. This is again, nearly a 3,000-year-old prophecy. Did you once see the word "Palestine" in this? You're not going to find the word "Palestine" in the Bible because it's not in there. Why? Because what predates the word "Palestine" is the word "Israel." You need, you need to watch and be educated today and learn something about this very truth.
Father, we pray that You would now govern this time. We, we ask, Lord, that the sun would stand still and the clock would stop ticking, that we'd be able to get through just a fraction of Your word. But God, at the same time, may it stimulate us all to search the scriptures more, for in them we see and we find eternal life. We pray it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, amen. You may be seated.
Israel, the ultimate target. There is no doubt about it. All around the world, even right now, at this very moment, while you were praising the Lord and we were backstage singing and praising the Lord, our phones were lighting up with breaking news, all pointed at Israel. The president of Iran, his helicopter crashed hours ago in a weather storm. And I posted, "I wonder how long it's going to take for Israel to be blamed for this crash." And by the time I came out here at first service, Israel was being blamed. Now, for the crash. Maybe Israel created the weather. Israel is the target. The target of either affection and love, because Jesus Christ, the Manifest Son of God, was born in Bethlehem, and the land of Israel, that the Old Testament prophets prophesied that the Messiah would sit upon the throne of David, which is in Zion and Jerusalem. And for that matter, I submit to you today that Israel is hated. Israel is the target of hatred. And today, listen, there's a great test being done in all of the world and in the church today. Where do you sit with the nation of Israel? Where do you sit with the people who are called the Jews? You better be careful how you handle them, because world history warns you. I'm not saying they're perfect. I'm not saying that they do everything right. Neither do you. Neither do I. But God has set His sights upon them.
The book of Isaiah, chapter, excuse me, the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 24, says, "For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land." May 14th, 1948. We celebrate today the 76th birthday of the nation of Israel. Why Israel? Is the question we're asking in this first argument. Why? And there's, listen, I'm going to make some huge statements today, and you need to write them down and not believe them. I do not want you to believe them. I want you to go see if I'm telling you the truth. And listen, disclaimer, you can't use Wikipedia as a history book or a research tool. But there's no better documentation on the planet that deals with the nation of Israel more than the Bible itself. That's a huge statement. No doubt. The Christian today says, "Of course, I've read my Bible." That's such an easy statement to make. But listen, it is, it is a factual statement to make. But notice what I didn't say. I did not say that there's more history written about Israel than all of the museums that cover the globe. But it's true. The kingdoms, if you're going to study the Babylonian Empire, guess who you've got to study? Israel. If you're going to study about the Assyrian Empire, who do you have to study? Israel. What about the Ninevites? Israel. You name it. What about the Egyptians? Hello, Israel. Whatever nation you're talking about in the world on a grand scale of documentation that is undeniable, you have to include Israel. In fact, I'm going to submit this to you. I believe I can prove the existence of God with one word. That word is Israel. I can literally prove that God exists. The God of Israel said, "This is what I'm going to do in the future," and God did it. How do you explain that? Absolutely awesome.
In the year 1739 BC, listen, you university kids, listen up. 1739 BC, Jacob had a run-in with Almighty God. And when it was all over, God changed his name from Jacob to Israel. 1,739 years BC. So that's nearly 4,500 years ago, just about. Jacob has a headbutt with the God of all creation, and God changes his name. He didn't say, "Jacob, your name from now on is going to be called Palestine." He said, "Jacob, from now on, your name is going to be called Israel." God named him Israel. So that's just for you to research. I just want you to think about that. Why Israel? Because God says so. That's why. Thanks for coming. God bless you. I mean, that should be it. Talk about mic drop. That's it. God says. God says.
Romans chapter 3. The Apostle Paul writing to Gentiles. The Jew writing to the Gentiles in Rome. Chapter 3, verse one. And then I'll read nine verses, four and five. "What advantage has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way. Chiefly because to here it is, because to them were committed the Oracles of God." Did you know that God called the Jewish people to be the custodians of the revelation of His word, the Bible? That comes as a shock to many Jewish people, that the New Testament was written by a bunch of Jews, not just the Old. The Old and the New. Chapter 9, verse 4, Book of Romans: "Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, notice the covenants plural, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises, of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen."
Israel is the number one key player in end-times Bible prophecy. You have to have Israel on a map for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled in the last days. So many so-called churches, and I'm going to label them that way from now on, so-called churches, who have replaced the church for Israel. They've taken Israel out of the Bible and they've inserted the church. That's called replacement theology. It's a demonic doctrine. If you attend a church like that, you need to run for your life, because if they've tampered with that, then they've tampered with the very apple of God's eye. He says, and God has made Israel promises that he says, against all odds, are eternal promises. They're covenants forever, and they will be fulfilled. But when you cut Israel out of your Bible, then you have no promises yourself. Not a one.
And here we are in the 21st century, dealing with Israel. The breaking headline news almost always now being in Israel. And that's because we are living in the days that the Bible speaks of as we see the end-time scenario beginning to come together. It won't be long until God focuses all of His attention, promised attention, prophesied attention, on the nation of Israel. But Israel and the very creation of it and the faithfulness of God to it proves the existence of God himself. And that's why you're seeing the world divided right now. There are those who love God and love God's word. There are those who hate Israel and hate His word. The lines are being drawn. Friends, you got to, you're going to have to pick. You're going to have to decide. And I want to suggest to you today that Israel, in all of its faults and all of its sins and all of its failures, is a national picture of what God deals with you and I on an individual basis all the time. But Israel was unfaithful to God. So are you. But Israel didn't keep everything God told them to do. Do you?
Very important. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 35 and 36. Jeremiah chapter 31. "Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinance of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar—isn't that awesome? Puts His pinky finger in the ocean and the ocean goes nuts—the Lord of hosts is His name. If those ordinances depart from before Me,” says the Lord, “Then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.” How many of you believe in your Bible? Raise your hands. Look at that verse. End of story. God says, as perpetual as the moon and the stars will be, so will be My protection and My word regarding the nation of Israel. If the sun and the moon cease to exist, then it will mean that I have failed. And if I fail, Israel will stop being a nation. Israel, now back in their land since May 14th, 1948, is a nation again, just like Isaiah 66:8 said. Which means you're living in the last days. Welcome to the last days. You're living in them because ever since May 14th, 1948, the end-time scenario began like a stopwatch in a race. Don't miss it.
Luke 24:44. Then He said, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." The covenant that God has made is that God would redeem not only mankind, but the very vehicle by which God would send the Savior would come through the Jewish people to the nation of Israel. And you cannot deny that, my Muslim friends. You can't deny that. And you have to remember, there was no Islam. There was no Islam then. There was no Allah. As they know, Allah, Allah, remember, is Arabic for the word God. The Bible doesn't. The Bible tells you the God, the name of the God of the Jews, Yah is His name. Yahweh, Yahovah, if you want to say it, uh, as we say it. Believe it or not, Josh, Yeshua. Yeshua. We say, we don't say that. We say Jesus. Is that wild? He's the manifestation of God on Earth. Listen, the Bible says that there's no other name given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ. And this Jesus, listen, this Jesus is not a New Testament construct. He's the one that the prophets said that would be born in Bethlehem, that he would come on Palm Sunday into Bethlehem riding on the back of a donkey. We celebrated that not too long ago. But Jesus said, "Everything." What a challenge he's asking you. I believe he's asking you, "Go search the psalmist, search the, the psalm, the prophets, go read Moses. You're going to find me in there." That's a huge statement.
Number two, church, write this down. Israel, the ultimate target. Is this why now? Why Israel? Why now? Do you really think for a moment that you and I sit in here right now, that it's a coincidence that Israel is the, is the issue of the day? You think that's, uh, you think that's just some sort of, uh, cosmic joke or coincidence? I love the fact that in the Hebrew language, the word "coincidence" doesn't exist. If you have coincidences, then you have accidents. God doesn't know anything about coincidence or accidents. He's sovereign over all. God. So why now? This should excite you as a believer. Why now? I'm living at a time, you're living at a time that Israel is prevailing in the news, and the world is having to decide. I find it interesting. I don't know if I posted this or not, but you can look it up later somewhere. It's very cute. It's a meme. But somebody's videoing their two cats, and the two, and the two cats are fighting, and there's one cat just sitting there, and this other cat is just pounding this cat that's just sitting there, just pounding. And every, with every hit, there's a date that's put up since May 14th, 1948. On May 15th, there's the cat going wham, wham, wham on the other cat. And there's a Palestinian flag over this one cat, and there's a Jewish flag over the other cat. And the Jewish cat's getting all knocked around. And I mean, it's a great meme. I should have played it. He's just pounding. And with every hit of the paw, there's another date, and another date, and another date, and a location of war. Israel being attacked. And then the one cat, "Is that enough?" And the, the one cat just goes, "Boom!" And the other cat goes flying. And then the scre, the sound goes, "Genocide, genocide." Israel defends itself, and it's genocide. Have you noticed that for 72 hours on October 7th, the world screamed genocide? Hamas committed genocide against the Jews. 72 hours. That's it. After that, the narrative changed. The Western world folded in fear and swallowed political correctness, and to save their own skin, adopted the narrative, and the machine of propaganda to hate Israel began all around the world. I personally believe the machine of demonic deception, that's right, went into power. There's no other explanation for it. I don't believe people are that stupid around the world. I think there's a demonic act that's taking place of deception. Why now?
Let's put our eyes to the screen. "Israel, the occupying power, continues with its colonial policy and its daily violations. It continues to abuse, to arbitrarily detain, to carry out ethnic cleansing, steal land and natural resources, uproot trees, steal money. Israeli activity to Jerusalem, demolition of homes, confiscation of land and property, spoiling of natural resources, racist violations perpetrated by Israel. Israel continues to commit various forms of human rights violations in Palestine. Israel, the occupying power, is advancing in its efforts of mass colonization and continues a path. Put an end to this colonialist regime, the part atrocities and massive destruction inflicted on the Palestinian people, war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and state." Thank you. United Nations Watch. Say I take the floor on behalf of the and watch. My name is Musab Hassan Yousef. I grew up in Ramallah as a member of Hamas. I addressed the words to the Palestinian Authority, the guy which claims to be the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. I ask, where does your legitimacy come from? The Palestinian people did not elect you, and they did not appoint you to represent them. You are self-appointed. Your accountability is not to your own people. This is evidenced by your own total violation for their human rights. In fact, the Palestinian individual and their human development is the least of your concerns. You kidnap Palestinian students from camp and torture them in your jails. You torture your political rivals. The suffering of the Palestinian people is the outcome of your selfish political interest. You are the greatest enemy of the Palestinian people. If Israel did not exist, you would have no one to blame. Take responsibility for the outcome of your own actions. You fan the flames of conflict to maintain your abusive power. Finally, you use this platform to mislead the international community, to mislead the Palestinian society, to believe that Israel is responsible for the problems you create. Thank you.
Do you know who, do you know who that guy is? His father is the founding member of Hamas. He not only saw the violence of it all, and the doctrine of it all, he lived it. He did it. And then, listen, he saw, then he became a secret agent for the Israeli government. He literally is a man that has a fatwa on his life where they see him, you are to kill him. And, uh, not too long ago, he became a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The point, the point is this: today, in the 21st century, you and I are living at a time where Israel is God's timepiece to watch. No other nation in history has been born out of a promise made by God himself, Israel. No other nation in history has more documentation regarding its wins and its losses. Look at the honesty of the Bible. If Jews wrote the Bible to make themselves look good, they failed. No other nation in history has a sacred book, the Bible, written about it. No other nation in history has its sources or successes, I should say, and its embarrassments displayed for all to see. No other nation in the history of man has existed, was captured, occupied, dispersed, and forgotten, but Israel. No other nation in history has retained its language, its culture, its religion, while being scattered throughout all the nations of the world. Nor other nation in history has been regathered, renamed, restored, and recognized, but Israel. Nor other nation in the history of man has its very future outlined in the Holy scriptures themselves, but Israel. Why now? Because you and I are living at an epic moment of time, a time of decision. Jeremiah says, "Multitudes, multitudes have been brought into the valley of decision." And I believe today the world is at a point of choosing sides. You must choose a side. You cannot remain neutral. To remain silent is to be guilty. Amen. We are so mimicking the church in the 1920s and '30s in Europe when it sat silent while the same kind of rhetoric happened. Now it's global, and now it's of course much more powerful, which means historically, the evil that must be coming will probably be much more powerful than what the Third Reich brought to this world.
And number three is this: Israel, where? Notice it's a question. Israel, where? What, what about Israel? How can this be? Well, let me ask you this: Where is the history of Israel? Let me say it this way: Where is it not? How would it be that God says, "Now remember, you're not believing a word I'm saying. God says, 'You disobey Me, I'm going to drive you to every nation on the earth. I'm going to drive you away from your land. You're going to be punished by being sent out. When you're ready, I'll bring you back.'" And the Jews went everywhere. You can't find a place on the planet where there's not a Jewish culture. You can't find one. Somewhere there's a Jew. And God says, "I will scatter you to the uttermost parts of the earth." And that's what He did. Everywhere there's Israel, so to speak. Everywhere there's a Jew. If you think about it, someone cried this last week in the, uh, city council meeting, "We are all Palestinians." That's okay. Listen, when people are paid to say things, they say things to get paid. The funny thing is, no one goes and does, uh, Ancestry.com to find out if they're Palestinian, because you can't find that out. If anything, you'll be a Jordanian. But a lot of people search Ancestry.com to find out if they have Jewish blood in them. You can trace that. It's quite interesting. The, the Bible says in Genesis 17:7, chapter 17:7, God says, "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants." Excuse me, where does that stop? Descendants. Where's the expiration date on that? Descendants after you, in their generations, for an everlasting. I'm sorry, does that say "everlasting covenant" in my Bible? It says "everlasting covenant" to be God to you and your descendants after you. Are you seeing this? I hope CNN's watching right now. I know Newsweek's watching right now. Newsweek is always responding to me. Why did you say this? Why did you say that? Why don't you print that? Genesis 17, verse 7. Why don't you think of that for a moment? God has brought Israel back into their land because that's what God said He would do, and then He would establish them. We'll read more on this in a moment. And that He would put them in a place in the last days, just before, before He returns, He would gather them back to the land. God said that. Listen, you can get so caught up in the UN narrative that you'll begin to parrot the UN narrative without even thinking about it. And why is it that people like George Soros, Bill Gates, and the whole bag of nuts all have the same talking points on these things? You know, these guys can't stand each other unless they're tearing America apart or attacking Israel or, or going after your freedoms. Jeremiah 32:4. Was that a political statement? Okay, good. Some said yes, some say no. Okay, then Jeremiah 32, verse 40: "I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I, listen, that I will not turn away from doing them good. But I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me." This is what God is going to do. And I think He started now with Jewish people who are waking up that their Messiah did come. In fact, 2,000 years ago, just as the prophets foretold.
Psalm 89:3. You guys okay? Psalm 89:3 says, "I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations.'" God is. Friends, listen, man, concerning Israel, I know that she's been gone for 2,000 years. She's back in the land, and God is rolling up His sleeves, about ready to go to work. If you miss this, you're going to miss everything. These are exciting days. Oh, this is so scary. It's this and war everywhere. I know, I know. Isn't it crazy? But the Bible said that was would happen. Satan stands in direct opposition to God's eternal plan. That shouldn't surprise you. Satan hates human beings for having been created in the image of God. You see how many doctrines have there been out there that Jews are not really humans? Have you ever read Adolf Hitler's stuff? You should get a copy in English of "Mein Kampf." By the way, if you're a big fan of Planned Parenthood, who's the founder of Planned Parenthood? Margaret Sanger. You know she had a fan. Margaret Sanger. You know what his name was? Adolf Hitler. Interesting. She said, "Blacks are not humans." Hitler turned that around and said, "Jews are not humans." Hey, maybe there's going to be a time when people are going to say, "Christians are not humans." I don't know. If it happened once, it can happen twice. If it happened twice, it could happen three times. Notice and be, be aware of those who are standing in direct opposition to God's eternal plan. You need to mark them. What about those who hate Jews because God says He's chosen them? They hate Jews. Why is that? Why are those who hate Israel when God says He loves Israel? You see all of a sudden right now, our, our, our holiday or weekend table with our relatives is all turned upside down. Now we had everybody around the table. Hey, what about, what about what's going on in Israel? And one, one family member will say, "Those Jews." And then you're going to counter and say, "Well, what about October 7th?" "Oh, they had it coming." And you'll say, "How can you say such a thing?" Invasion, military, a sovereign. Listen, do you know that Gaza is a sovereign country? People forget that. 2005, 2006, they were invaded by a military power. A bunch of hungover rave party teenagers or young people were slaughtered, and Israel is the bad guy. So people are rising and they're hating Israel. Listen, people are rising up and they're, they're displaying what side they're on. That's what's happening. Don't worry about it. Pray about everything, but don't worry about it.
And of course, this is not going to be any surprise to you. I'd like to now take you to a college campus. Put your eyes to the screens. It's always fun. Gaza graduation. Let's see how much students actually know what they stand for. If you get them right, you win $100. First question: Have you guys chanted "From the river to the sea"? Yes. Okay. Which river? Which sea? The Sea of, so you don't, you don't know. The answer was the Mediterranean and the Jordan. What does Hamas say their number one goal is according to their charter? They just wanted to free Palestine to murder all Jews around the world. How many years did Israel occupy Gaza? Late 1800s. The entire time. '48 was actually under Egyptian control for the first 20 or so years, and then Israel actually left Gaza in 2006. I'm shocked. Wait, they left? What is the definition of Zionism? Doesn't that mean when you like hate Palestinians? Right. Jewish people who think that Judaism is the highest race. Zionism actually just means that you think Jews are entitled to having their own homeland to protect themselves from another Holocaust. You don't even have to be Jewish. That makes you a Zionist. Okay. What does "anti-revolution" mean? I don't know what that means, but you've chanted it. Yeah, it's like a global call to murder Jews. Wow. Wow. Did you know? You said that? No. Would you say it again? Probably not. How much have our foreign adversaries donated to American universities in the last decade? No idea. Couldn't give you a number on that. The answer was over $6 billion. How many Gazan refugees have the Arab neighboring countries let in in the last few months? 35,000. The answer was zero. Look, you asked an education major about, about students don't seem to know what they stand for. So wouldn't it be great if these expensive colleges actually taught them something? You guys, um, isn't that amazing? That was so fast and so quick. Uh, but isn't it amazing that Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, how many Palestinian refugees have they received? What about Saudi Arabia, Qatar? How many have they taken in? Listen, there's so many people flying, being flown from other parts of this world to Mexico, coming into here. But why aren't Palestinians being flown to places like beautiful Turkey and like, uh, UAE and in other countries? Why not? Because, did you know, like Egypt summed it up perfectly? Egypt built a giant, massive wall at Gaza and said, "We will not have one Palestinian come into this now. We will not have one Palestinian coming into Egypt." Because most likely, they'll be Hamas. Are all Palestinians Hamas? No, but all of the Hamas individuals are Muslim radicals using Palestinians. And Egypt says, "You can't tell them apart till it's too late." This is not, this is not American doctrine. This is not European doctrine. Egypt said, "No way. Not a one." They echoed what Jordan, what Turkey, what Saudi Arabia, what Syria, what Lebanon, what you name it. Fascinating, right? Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable.
Which leads us to this. Number four: The Jews, then in history. The Jews. See, Jack, if they're His chosen people, then why all the grief they went through? If they're chosen, do you remember? Have you ever seen the, uh, Fiddler on the Roof and Tevye? Remember Tevye? Because it's all, it's hardship, it's difficulty. And yeah, got to watch it if you've never watched it. It's a classic of all time. Fiddler on the Roof. And he says, "God, I know that You chose us, the Jewish people, as Your chosen people. That was special. And You've chosen us, but God, can't You choose someone else for a while?" Some of my dearest Jewish friends still say to me, "I can't believe in God. I don't believe in God because where was He in the Holocaust?" Well, you can roll back the hands of time and interview Jews back in the Babylonian times. "Where's God if we're taken captive by Babylon?" "Where's God if we've been sold into Egypt?" "Where's God if we've been taken by the Assyrian Empire?" "Where's God?" The Ottoman Empire. "Where's God?" You name it, you pick it. October 7th, 2023. "Where's God?" You listen, you look at this stuff and you'll, you're going to ask this question: "Where's God?" And God is saying, "I'm over here. I'm in the place you sent me." This is what it sounds like when I'm not in your, your heart and in your life and in your reality. You wanted me out.
Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 15. "But it shall come to pass," God is speaking, "if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you." Verse 62: "You shall be left few in number." You all hear that? There'll be few of you left. That's called a remnant, by the way. "Whereas you were as the stars of heaven in multitude, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. And it shall be that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do good and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and to bring you to nothing, nothing. And you shall be plucked," listen, "from off the land which you go to possess." Verse 64: "Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other." That is a statement of historical fact as we stand here today. And at the time, it was a prophetic warning. And the simplest person can wake up and realize, "Wow, the Jews were blessed when they followed God. And when they disobeyed God, He said that He would send them away from the land. But He says, 'In the end, I'll bring you back into the land.'" What a remarkable truth that is when we talk about the Jews and their history. As I said earlier, you've got to almost study every other empire that's ever existed. You've got to also realize that the Jew today doesn't want anything to do with God. They're blaming God. They're angry at God. It's all God's fault. And God is saying, "Why don't you read the book I gave Moses? You're always yapping about Moses, how much you love Moses. Read the book." I said, "I would." Listen to this. He said, "I'll not only bless you, your wives when your wives get pregnant, they're going to crank out healthy babies. You're going to have a population explosion if you follow Me." And another thing, see that? That'll dry Bill Gates nuts right there. And he says, "Oh, by the way, you know, when you plant a seed in the ground, the crop is going to be so much, it's going to produce double the amount." All of that happened, and they got wealthy, and they got powerful, and then they forgot God. That's the history of Israel. But glory be to God, we're at the end where they're going to start waking up. Listen, I don't want to embarrass anybody, but since October 7th, this church has seen an amazing amount of Jews coming to faith in Messiah here in this church and online and on television. I love it. We're broadcast in Los Angeles on, uh, Fox on Sunday mornings, and so many, I'll just say Jews from all walks of life. It just happens to be most of them are wealthy and influential. They work hard. Look, they're smart people. More Nobel Prize winners are Jews. So, you know, I wish I was a Jew. I can't even do a Rubik's Cube. They're smart people. Why? They're disciplined. And if you, you know, if you like music, Rodgers and Hammerstein, I mean, the Gershwins, and on and on it goes. And that, I'm just going from the past, not even the current. But you think you have a cell phone? It's Jewish. The inside of your computer, all those guts that make your computer work came from Israel. More Nobel Prize winners. That's a, that's a blessing of God. And we can go on and on on that one.
The next one, number five: Is Israel here? And again, with the question mark. Israel here? Yep. Amos 9:14. "I," this is God speaking, "are you guys awake still? 'I will bring back the captives of My people, who Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens and eat their fruit from them.'" The third largest producer of fruit for all of Europe is Israel. "I will plant them in their own land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,' says the Lord your God." Israel's in the land. Listen, they got rough days ahead of them, according to the Bible. The Antichrist is coming. He's going to deceive them. He's going to set up his throne in Israel. The Bible says the Antichrist is coming, and many of the Jews are going to accept the wrong one. You know that. You've read your Bible. They got rough days ahead. It's called the seven-year tribulation period, also known as the time of Jacob's trouble, Jacob, Israel's trouble, seven years. Book of Daniel says Israel owes me seven years. Listen, people don't confuse the church being involved in the seven years unless you're a replacement theology person, then you've got to have the church in the tribulation period because you replace Israel with the church. So your eschatology is all messed up. That's why you're never happy. Look, the Bible teaches, Jesus says, "I could come at any time. Anytime." The doctrine of imminency is now. Paul the Apostle believed in it. The scriptures, First John, it's all there. Jesus, John 14, it's all there. But the replacement theology camp, oh, they got their knickers in a wad. They're never happy. Everything's tight. It's like, "What's the matter with you? We've got to go through so much stuff." Maybe, maybe not. I mean, life's rough, period. But if you're talking about the big seven, I ain't going to be here. I'm not. God has promised the church will not be here. The church, the bride of Christ, is viewing the whole thing from above. Revelation 19, read it. The church is in heaven looking down to what's happening on Earth. Revelation 19. Let the Bible speak for itself.
Ezekiel 34:1. Ezekiel 34:11. "For thus says the Lord God, 'Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.'" He's doing that now. He might be doing it to one of you here, maybe. Well, first of all, he's old. He's doing it to everybody. But if you're a Jew, he says right here from Ezekiel, "I'm going to search you out." If you're a Jew, this could be for you. Well, if you are a Jew, it is for you. But what will you do with it? He says, "I'm going to seek you out, My sheep." This is Ezekiel. This is not John 15. "My sheep." This is not John. Then this is Ezekiel. "As a Shepherd seeks out His flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the..." Wait, wait, wait. "...from the pastures."
From the bushes, from the what? From the nations, just say amen. I need to hear it. Amen.
God says, "I'm going to hunt you. If you're in Brazil, I'm going to hunt you down. I'm going to speak to you and I'm going to have you come back home. If you're in America, you're going to sell your home and you're going to move to Israel. If you're a Canadian, you're going to move to Israel. If you live in Indonesia, you're going to move to..." God is saying that I'm going to hunt down for my sheep. He's talking to the Jews, Jewish people. He said, "I don't know about that." Yes, you do. You just read the word. "I'm going to bring you back from all the nations." Have we not been learning that? Absolutely. Awesome. "And gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Palestine, I mean Israel, in the valleys, and in all the inhabited places of the country." People, do you see this? This is serious.
If you know John 3:16 and you think it's beautiful, all the Bible is beautiful. Every promise is true. Every statement is true. And you're going to have to face up to the reality, even this is true. God has an everlasting covenant with the house of Israel to listen, save any Jew who will turn to him. He says it's going to be small in number, but that's not going to prevent him from reestablishing his land. Why? Because, listen, the Bible says when Christ comes back, back in the second coming, at the end of the Book of Revelation, he, I know it's a shocker, but he doesn't come to America. He's not coming here. Why would he come here? He's not coming to California. But the weather, which is funny, by the way, the same weather. Get on your weather map, put Jerusalem in, and put Chino Hills in, and it's almost identical year-round. So, you, it's not just here. Same latitude, by the way. Now, you guys, he's coming back to his land. Satan knows this. Satan doesn't want Israel to exist because that messes up Satan's plan. If Israel exists, then that's where Jesus is going to land. So he's going to shut down the runway by trying to destroy the nation. It's not going to work. God's word will never fail.
Number six, we're almost done. Number six is the Jews. Now, Israel is the ultimate target. The Jews. Now, as we said, this is the birthday, May 14th, the birthday of Israel this week. And as I said, it's the second celebration. Israel used to be 76 years old when God established the nation back in the Old Testament, but now they're 76 years old for the second time. I love that. Listen, according to the Bible, friends, all forms of racism is a sin to God. Did you know that? It's wicked to the core, and it's Satan's delight. Racism is a satanic belief rooted in demonic doctrines. If you're a racist, it's because you have demonic influences in your life. Deuteronomy 30 verse 3 says, "The Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you." Again, stated in scripture. For time's sake, write this down. I'll paraphrase it. Isaiah 43:1-7 is incredible. God says, "In the last days, I'm going to bring my people back from the north, south, east, and west, back into the land of Israel."
Number seven. There's eight of them. Number seven, God's plan for the Jews. Oh, yeah. God has a plan for the Jews. And with that is a demonic attempt, no doubt, to discredit the Bible, confuse the masses, and mislead the world. You have in your possession your device, your phone, your iPad, whatever you're using, and it is amazing that that thing connects you to the powers or to the information or to the flow of what's going on in the world around us. That device can control your attitude and your opinion and even your mood, if you think about it. And it's great when it's used for good. It's very bad when it's used for bad, isn't it? Interesting that our identity, your identity, is now stored in the cloud. You say, "Well, I didn't store mine in the cloud." You may not have, but your bank did. Your, you, your government did. Isn't it amazing? The cloud. Can you show me the cloud? Where is the cloud? If every, if it's so important, uh, I'd like to see what's... I'm just kind of flirting with your imagination here right now. Isn't, didn't the Bible say that Satan is the prince of the power of the air? And I'm beginning to think he's the prince of the power of the cloud. You don't know what's true. What's, what, what's going on. Alexa's lying to you now. Watch that. Ask her some questions. There's some questions you can ask her. It's absolutely remarkable. Ask her, "Is Bill Gates a doctor?" See what she says. Oh, there's a lot of fun things you can ask. We have proven in our home by asking certain questions of Alexa that she's woke. We need a born-again. [Applause] Alexa. It's funny though. You ask Alexa about Christianity and it says, "It is believed that." And you ask, you ask Alexa about Islam and it's fact. Isn't that fun? Start watching when you're doing word searches now. How many times when you're looking for something and you're typing and you're, you're, you're trying to type in "God" and it will, and it will spell H-O-D. And you'll say, "Well, that's because the H is near the G." Then try it again. Watch what happens. Watch how many times you type in "Jesus" and it doesn't say Jesus, it says Jess. It says justice. It doesn't even stay in the same alphabetical lineup. What's going on? Just start watching it for now. And you're not aware until I just said this, and now you're going to be going home. Watch out. Get home first, and then, and then do it.
But God's got an amazing plan for the Jews. He has to. Listen, he will keep his word. All these people that are protesting and and being angry about what's going on with the Jewish people, listen, they were attacked. They're responding. They're not attacking the Palestinians. They're attacking Hamas. Hamas knows this. They're not dumb. So they sit next to a Palestinian. They, they live with Palestinians. They, they launch their rockets from daycare centers. They go into the hospitals. Think about it. We need to pray that the Palestinians rise up in one voice and expel Hamas. That's what needs to happen. Get the bad apple out. And war is horrible, as you're watching. But listen, in light of our government and what we're saying to Israel, "Stop defending yourself." If I was China and I heard America say, "Our doctrine is, don't defend yourself." Well, okay, then we'll take Newport Beach. We'll take LA. We'll take New York. You're not going to do a thing about it. You said not to defend yourself. You got to watch out when you're saying things on the global scene. Somebody might take you seriously. God's got a plan for the Jews, and he will fulfill it.
And the final is eight. God's plan for Israel is this. As you saw a moment ago, from the river to the sea, these chants. And I've mentioned the word Palestine, Palestinian, several times. I mentioned this several months ago, actually, was back in October. And again, don't believe me, but please write this down. In word studies, there is the etymology of a word. You should look up the etymology of the word "Palestine." For example, you will find that the word Palestine is a modernized version of what the Romans called Palestina. And in Latin, that is the word for Philistine. Palestinian root, Palestine. That word from ancient language is Philistine. What? So then you ask the, you search the etymology of a Philistine. The word Philistine is "to invade" or "the invader." That is, if you're walking around saying, "I'm a Palestinian," you don't even know that the word means "I'm the invader." That means you're in a place you ought not to be. This is, this is too much truth, by the way. Do you want to know what the word Hamas means in Hebrew? Violence. They call themselves Hamas. Are they violent? No. God has a master plan development for Israel. It will not fail. It's never failed. And Israel's not going to go away. It's got rough days ahead, as I mentioned earlier, but it's not going to go away.
In Psalm 132:13, we're almost done. "For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his own dwelling place." Ever heard of people screaming and yelling about being a Zionist? You better stop and think this through for a moment. Zion is where God had David establish his throne. Zion. It's a place. I've been there. Many of you have been there. To believe that Zionism is real is simply to say that Jerusalem is real, the city of David is real, Israel is real. If you deny that, then you are anti-Zionist. Isn't it amazing right now? All of you are feeling the discomfort of, "I don't know. I don't know. I wouldn't say that word. I would never..." Zionist. Do you believe in the Bible? Oh, every word. Then you're a Zionist. So how can you say that? Because he's coming back to Zion. He says he wrote his name in Zion. Zion. See, you've been so polluted by the college campus and by CNN that you think it's a bad word. God says it's my land where I put my people. Isn't that remarkable?
And then finally, this. Romans 11. A Jew writing to the Italians. "I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew." Verse 25: "For I do not desire, for I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant or uninformed of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." That's a reference to the church age. "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'"
Father God, in Jesus' name, we celebrate the fact that most of us in this room are Gentiles. We've been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. The Bible says we, the Gentile, we have come to the glory of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Lord, we pray, pray right now for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray, God, for the peace to not only bring an end to this violence, but we also know, Father God, that your nation will soon someday rely on no Iron Dome. They're not going to, they're no longer going to rely on Raytheon or Raphael. They're not going to be dependent upon Boeing or the US Space Force. All that's going to evaporate. The, the Bible tells us in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 38, that they will begin to put their trust in you alone. Oh God in heaven, thank you for allowing us to live at a time like this, to be able to proclaim that Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, born in Bethlehem of Judea, a Nazarene, was crucified before the world, just as the prophets foretold, rose again from the dead, as the prophets foretold, that the Son of God is Savior, and that the psalmist says, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry with you, and you perish in the way." We praise you, God, that you are the very one that holds the wind in His fist, and the seas in the hollow of Your hand, and in the fold of Your robe. And You're the one who says, "What is My name, and what is the name of My Son, if you'll tell Me?" And all of us know His name. In the count of three, Church, let's end this by praying in His name. One, two, three, Jesus. Jesus is His name.