Field Reports from the Middle East

Darrell Bock: 

Welcome to The Table where we discuss issues of God and culture. I'm Darrell Bock, executive director for The Hendricks Center and executive director of Cultural Engagement for The Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. 

And today, our subject is the situation in Israel. And I have two prominent guests who live in the land. I first of all want to thank them during the time difference that they're having to endure because of when we're recording this. And They are Pastor Saleem Shalash, who is founder and senior pastor of the Home of Jesus The King Church in Nazareth, who has a bachelor's degree from Bethlehem Bible College and two master's degrees from Israeli College of the Bible, and who did doctoral studies in Los Angeles. He has been studying the impact of the Arab-Israeli conflict on Israeli theology during this time. This is part of his focus. Saleem, welcome to The Table. 

Saleem Shalash: 

Thank you. It's an honor to be with you all. 

Darrell Bock: 

And Golan Broshi, who since 2010 has been serving as professor at ONE FOR ISRAEL Bible College, which is the same as Israel College of the Bible, one and the same teaching Old and New Testaments, Biblical Hebrew, introduction to Rabbinic Traditions and Second Temple Literature. The reason that alternative name for the school, ONE FOR ISRAEL, is important, Golan, is because you're trying to make a point about who this Bible college ministers to. And it ministers to an array of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds in Israel. Is that right? And Golan, thank you for being with us. 

Golan Broshi: 

It's my pleasure. Yes, yes, this is one of our goals in ONE FOR ISRAEL to unite people from every ethnic group, especially Arab and Jews, under the banner of Yeshua, the Messiah. This is what we do, this is who we are in ONE FOR ISRAEL. Yes. 

Darrell Bock: 

Now as we turn our attention to what's going on now, and one of the reasons we asked you all to discuss this is because you bring to the discussion this ethnic mix that we're concerned about as we think about the region. And my basic question is this, what I hear from people coming from the Middle East and particularly out of Israel, is that October 7th changed everything in terms of the way people see the region. So can you give us a little before and after? Describe generally the situation, what it was like before and why October 7th has been such a turning point, such a change point for the way people are seeing? And thus where we are after? And I'm going to ask Saleem to lead us off. 

Saleem Shalash: 

Well, it's a very historical day for us now. It's very hard what we passed on the 7th of October. It was for me a demonic terror attack. It's not defense of country or try to fight a war because this is not a war. War is fighting soldiers in front of soldiers, army in front of army. But what we saw is killing children, innocent people, killing women, raping them. A lot of videos that really most of these videos is not published because it's very sensitive. It's not usual videos that I can't imagine that people could do something like that. And having time to film what happened in the 7th of October. 

So from that day on, our church was focusing, all the purpose of Home of Jesus The King Church is a reconciliation between Arab and Jews. And what we are trying to do is building bridges. That the reason that we call ourselves bridge builders or peacemakers. And on this day we felt that the devil is attacking us as a ministry with all the bridges that we try to build. And we can see a lot of things God is doing in this country that people don't expect what is happening or don't understand what is happening in this historical days. We are living historical days that a lot of raw prophets wish to see what is going today between Arab and Jews. And that is not what in media is interested to show all over the world. They just show the negative thing that is happening. 

But I want to tell you that a lot of things God is doing in the land of Israel, of reconciliation between Arab and Jews, building new relation between Messianic believers and Arab pastors working together. And ICB College Israeli College of the Bible, ONE FOR ISRAEL change all my life. And it was because at the beginning we were 12 Arab pastors and 12 Jewish pastors in the same master. And at the beginning, if people would like to know who I am, I grew with a lot of hatred for Israel and the nation of Israel. But God, in one night he changed everything through the story of Luke 15 about the eldest son and the prodigal son. I can't share it because I need just 45 minutes for this story, but God changed all my life and he changed all my thoughts. 

And I believe that if God put me in Israel for a reason, the world changed a lot of things. The situation was meeting people. It was very hard to fix all the bridges that was attacked by the devil. Secondly, the church is busy with helping a lot of evacuated families, helping a lot of people that were attacked, not just physically, also mentally, it was very difficult period. And we felt that the church was silent on Holocaust time and we felt that we are not going to be silent. We're going to share the love of Yeshua everywhere by showing the love of Yeshua. Sometimes words doesn't help but taking an action, helping these families, visiting them, blessing them, showing them that we can live together, that's help us. 

And I will tell you a very important thing that really people don't understand because I'm not talking from a political situation, I'm talking from a spiritual one, biblical concept, that God is opening a lot of doors for us as an Arab to be witnesses for the Jews. And after the 7th of October, God is opening a lot of doors, visiting a lot of families. And to show them the evacuated families come both ties, from north and from south. And they were in our hotels here in Nazareth. To visit them as an Arab pastor, that is something not taken for granted. They were shocked how an Arab pastor is coming? He's not afraid to fight with him? No, it was the spirit of the Lord there. And we feel that blessing them. We come to show them the love of Yeshua and that the only weapon that we have. 

7th of October until today, it's not done yet, we are busy every day Home of Jesus The King Church with our humanitarian aid center, that God is blessing us every day. Accepting these families. Now we have a lot of Jewish families coming to our humanitarian aid center after the 7th of October because many were hurt financially, so they are searching for help. They're coming to us. Can you imagine Jewish coming Arab for help and our blessing Jewish? That's people and the media is not interested to hear and to publish. 

But really if you want to see the truth and understand what is going in the land of Israel, don't listen to media. You know when they ask in the Bible, "Can something good come out of Nazareth?" Jesus said, "Don't listen to media. Just come and see." And I say to people, if you want to know the truth, come and see what God is doing after the 7th of October, and before even. And I do believe that the future is waiting for us for a lot of work. So we decided at Home of Jesus The King Church, to create new generation that is empty of hatred, empty of poisoned ideas, empty of planning just to fight for war, just to work for the good, for every one of us. 

And I can share from today until three days continually 24/7, about testimonies that God is doing in the land of Israel and from expected place Israel, that people don't expect anything going to happen, especially with wrong tools like Arab and Jews, wrong timings of war and wrong location, the land of Israel, I do believe that revival will start from Jerusalem to all over the world. So it's time to work. It's not time to win discussions. It's time to win souls to Jesus. 

Golan Broshi: 

Amen. 

Darrell Bock: 

Golan, your take on how October 7th changed things in the before and after? 

Golan Broshi: 

Yeah. Well, I relate to everything that Brother Saleem said. And Brother Saleem is modest, so I will say he's one of the biggest lovers and defender of Israel because he loves the God of Israel. 

Darrell Bock, with your permission, if I can share a story. In ONE FOR ISRAEL Bible College, we have a course that is called Theological Trends. And for three years now, we invite Saleem because in that one of the trends that we teach the students is about replacement theology. And what we do, we invite at least two people to defend each side. So we invite a professor to speak for replacement theology and we invite a professor to speak against replacement theology. So we have a Jewish guy that we invite to speak in front of the students, but the Jewish guy speaks for replacement theology. And we invite Brother Saleem for three years now, and Brother Saleem is speaking against replacement theology. So I just want you, Darrell, to imagine the students in the classroom when they see an Arab Christian guy with an Arab accent and they don't know what to expect and he opens his mouth defending Israel, defending the plan that God has for Israel. Can you imagine the faces on the students when they hear him? 

Darrell Bock: 

That's interesting. Obviously in conversations about replacement theology and the idea that the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God and that Israel doesn't have a future in the plan of God. And I like to tell people, because when I talk to people who hold a replacement theology, the way they will frame it will be to say, we aren't teaching replacement theology. We're simply saying that Christ is the fulfillment. And by the way, the name Yeshua, for our listeners, is a way of talking about Jesus as the Messiah, as the Messiah. 

Anyway, they will say, "We believe that Jesus is the fulfillment and the spiritual blessing only comes through Jesus Christ." Which of course is totally correct. But then I follow up by saying, "So what does the Fulfiller have to say about Israel? What did he teach?" Well, he taught things like, "Your house is desolate until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Or, "Jerusalem is going to be trampled over until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." I call him the until passages. Or, "Heaven must hold Jesus until the restoration comes." This is Peter who sat at Jesus's feet and says, "Until the restoration comes," and you can read about that restoration in the prophets of old. 

So the point is if you want to know what's coming in relationship to the program of God, the Fulfiller himself in whom the spiritual blessings reside says there's a place for Israel in the program of God. There's a place for Israel in what's going on. And there is a future for the Israeli people and they have not dropped out of God's sight as a result of the coming of Jesus Christ and everything that's associated with that. 

So there's a way of dealing with a point that they're making that has an aspect of truth in it, and it certainly is part of the key. No blessing comes to anyone except through Jesus Christ. That's why we preach Yeshua. But on the other hand, that doesn't mean that because the Gentiles have been included and the promises expanded into Gentiles that Israel has been cast out or we've lost sight of Israel in the program and plan of God as a result. No, that hasn't happened at all. Israel is still a part of the program. And you go to Romans 9 to 11 where you're talking about natural and unnatural branches and Paul says, well, God grafted in unnatural branches into the vine. He's quite capable of grafting in natural branches as well. And so this also holds out the idea of a hope for those who don't believe, those who Paul described as, "I weep and wish I myself could be crucified so that they would believe. And so that tells you there's an ongoing role for Israel in the program of God. And that- 

Golan Broshi: 

And by the way- 

Darrell Bock: 

Go ahead, Golan. 

Golan Broshi: 

... by the way, Dr. Bock, I think Brother Saleem with his ministry, especially after the 7th of October, after the war began with Brother Saleem's ministry feeding Jewish people. Can you imagine the way he provoked Jewish people to jealousy for the Messiah? He's taking the mandate that Paul gave the church to bring the Jewish people back to their Messiah through jealousy. So Brother Saleem is in the front, praise the Lord. It's a pleasure to run for Israel to get to know him. 

Darrell Bock: 

And you produce jealousy by caring for people, imagine that. We have a brand here in the United States that has what they call secret sauce that they put on what they feed you. That's the secret sauce of the way God works, is that when we show love and when we serve the city, to use Jeremiah's language, we actually draw people and bring credit to God the Father as a result. 

Golan Broshi: 

Can you imagine the impact that Brother Saleem has on Israelis, on Jewish Israelis serving them in the name of Yeshua the Messiah that they haven't heard for 2000 years? Yeshua, this name back to Israel after 2000 years in Hebrew. 

Saleem Shalash: 

Amen. Amen. And if you allow me to add Dr. Bock. 

Darrell Bock: 

Go ahead. Yes. 

Saleem Shalash: 

When I finished my thesis, I go with replacement theology because I served inside the Catholic Church for five years. When God revealed to me the biblical truth, I finished my thesis with two questions. One, why Israel still exists? A lot of empires disappeared. The Romans empire disappeared. The Babylon empire disappeared. Crusaders empire disappeared. And this small nation still exists. Why? It's not because who they are, it's because who God is. If God promised, he keeps his promises, otherwise, I would have problem with this God that if I do believe that he replaced the church instead of the Jews, soon he will change his mind and replace the church with something else. And I can't say no because basically I do believe with the idea that he don't keep his promises. 

Secondly, why God rejected his people? And always the answer because they disobey God. So my next question come directly, are we better today? It's called the grace. No one deserves it. That's called the grace. And that's the reason. And I do believe when God blesses someone, he never curse again. When he blesses the nation of Israel, look around you, 12 million Jews all over the world. They received 84 Nobel Prize. Can you imagine that? It's not once again because of who they are, it's because the blessings of the Lord. And with their disobedience, that's what Romans 9, 10 and 11 talk about, with their disobedience, we received the grace. Can you imagine what going to happen when they obey God? 

And I just want to tell you, to share with you a really quick testimony that we were visiting... Our church, we give food packages and in our food packages we wrote in three languages, Arabic, Hebrew and English, "Jesus, He went about doing good. Go and do likewise." We visited a widow woman, a Holocaust survivor. I still remember the number on her hand. And when I get in, she looked at me and she said, "Are you Arab?" And I said, "Yes ma'am" She said, "How come?" I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "How come or a visit Jewish and give them food? We are enemy." I said, "No we are not." She said, "How?" I said, "Because of your Messiah." She said, "My Messiah? He didn't come yet." I said, "Oh my God, they didn't tell you that He already came." And she said, "I don't believe in your New Testament." 

I said, "I'm not talking about my New Testament. Give me your Bible." I took the TANAK, took her Bible and I start to read from Isaiah 53, jumped to Psalms 22, Proverb 30 and Jeremiah, because in the book of Jeremiah chapter four and chapter 31, he's mentioning the word watchman in your Bible. But biblically he's using the word notzrim. And notzrim, if you want to translate it to the real meaning, mean Christians. And already Jeremiah's prophesying about our days what is happening. And her eyes was open, she said, "So I was deceived for 80 years?" I said, no, "But I'm just showing you the real savior. It's your scriptures, it's your Messiah." And she said, "How can I accept Him as a savior?" I said, "Do like me, repent, ask forgiveness. Ask him to get you in your heart and believe in him." And she did that. 

So what I'm saying that are we going to be blessings and shining in these darkness days or we just want to win discussions and to show that we are right and they are wrong? Now we are chosen, they are not, what kind of selfish it is? I didn't see that in Jesus' life. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yes. 

Saleem Shalash: 

Even it's very hard days, He just showed the love. He was blessing everyone that He's meeting. We're trying to read the same in this period. 

Darrell Bock: 

It's interesting in the way you're tying it to the Old Testament's important. I tell people when I get the rationale that says, "Well Israel's been disobedient, so she's been in effect disqualified." I say, are you reading the prophets carefully enough? In the book of Jeremiah, Israel is disobedient and yet God promises he still will keep His commitments even despite the disobedience. And so the little purchase of land in Anatov that Jeremiah was told to undertake is a sample and an example of that very thing. We're disobedient, yet you're asking me to buy land here? Yes, because I'm going to keep my promises. It's a matter of God's faithfulness in doing this. 

Now, in saying this, let's talk about the plight of the Palestinians for a second because I think you all will have insight into this that's important. What do people need to understand about the plight and the suffering that Palestinians are going through? And I say that not just because it's all over the media, but also because there is a real human cost to what's happening. So Golan, I'll start with you on that one. What do you have to say to us about- 

Golan Broshi: 

Yeah, that's a great question. Shortly I'll just say that there's two kind of hostages in Gaza. There's the Jewish-Israeli hostages that were taking in the 7th of October. That's one kind of host hostages. But there are other kind of hostages, and that's the Arabs that are under the Hamas, the occupation of Hamas. And I pray to God that through a miracle we would liberate both hostages, the Israeli hostages that were taken by Hamas and the people of Gaza that suffered under the Hamas, the hostages that suffered under the occupation of Hamas that took the Gaza Strip by storm. 

Darrell Bock: 

So when you speak of the occupation of Hamas, let's just talk about Hamas for a second. They are not willing to recognize that Israel's presence in the land should take place. They want Israel to be removed from the Middle East. They also commandeer, if I can say it that way, the property and people in the Gaza and store weapons, etc., in these locations, attack from these locations. I've heard stories of people who are told, if you do not respond positively to the request Hamas makes of using your property, then your house gets burned down or destroyed as a result. That kind of thing. 

So I tell people when this gets portrayed as Israel versus the Palestinians and it gets set up that way, that they're actually ignoring a third party in the conversation. And that's Hamas. With everyone who is supporting Hamas, a segment of radical and... how can I say this? Jihadist segment of the Muslim community that is supporting Hamas, etc. And the hard part is that many Palestinians view Hamas as their defender as opposed to their occupier. And so you've got that problem. And I tell people this is such a layered complex situation. Hamas is using Palestinians as shields to protect them. They don't care about, this was on CNN here in the United States where Hamas leaders were saying these are martyrs, they're sacrificing themselves on behalf of the cause. Even if they don't want to be in that position, they are seeing them that way. All those factors. Saleem, am I leaving anything out? As I talk about what Hamas represents in the region? 

Saleem Shalash: 

Really just a few days ago we celebrate Purim. Purim is Haman decided to defeat Israel. And today Hamas decided to defeat Israel. We need to understand what's going there. You know I'm Arab. I'm not Jewish that trying to defense Israel. I'm Arab just sharing the truth. And if you ask me if I'm going to live there, I'm not going to live under this kind of terrorist organization. This terrorist organization that received a lot of money. And all of this money goes to build tunnels to kill and to kidnap and to free us from occupation. I'm not coming here to discuss which occupation it is about, we are talking about biblical concept, but I'm talking about all this money from Oslo agreement until today the PA authority received $32 billion. That mean 15 times double what the European economy received after the World War two in the Marshall plan. Look for Europe and look for Gaza where all this money goes, 

This conflict is about business. It's not about... Using a human shield. This people that they are suffering, the Palestinian themselves, and we can hear and see a lot of movies that's Hamas their own people because they are coming to take food to survive this war. Can you imagine building 500 kilometers of tunnels? One mile of tunnel could build one school, the cost. So imagine, Gaza could be the Riviera of the Middle East. Look for Gaza today. Look for the people that they are suffering. 

And also God is still working in the heart of these people. They are asking now more to shouting to release them from this terror attack that's called Hamas. We are feeling that, but my brother Golan shared two kind of hostages. The Jewish people, the innocent people that they are all they're saying they are Jewish. And the second one that they are suffering under Hamas. Where is the leaders of Hamas? Can you tell me please? Where is the real leaders that they must be in front on this war? All of them in Qatar and in these different places they are hiding under. And who is suffering the normal people that they all their purpose, they want to live and to survive and to feed their families. 

What I'm saying that it's time that this kind of people, the Palestinian people live in dignity, live in a way that they can live like other families. How? By removing Hamas. And the only way taking Hamas outside of Gaza is this war that... I'm not agreeing, once again, not killing from both sides. Not Jewish, not Arab. We are against killing anyone. We believe in peace. But if they are killing their own people, what you expect from this kind of people to behave to others like Jewish people? 

So what I'm saying that it's time that the Palestinian who live in Gaza live in freedom. And we can see that the terror attack on the 7th of October, Israel wasn't ready for this kind of terror attack. They didn't expect it. It took a lot of time to respond. Why? Because they trust the other side. But still it's - the occupation and about the land. We can discuss it later if you would like to. But what I'm saying that today as believers, as Christians who live in Israel, we are honored to have our freedom to build churches, to worship. In Israel you have different kinds of people. So what I'm saying that it's this Palestinian to get free and to live in dignity without any kind of Hamas or other organizations. 

Golan Broshi: 

Dr. Bock, I'm glad that Saleem brought up Purim because I think Saleem would agree with me that in the bottom line it's a spiritual war as was in Purim against the... it's a spiritual war between the seed of Satan and the promised seed and those who believe in the promised seed in Yeshua. And I'm thinking about, again, in ONE FOR ISRAEL Bible College and I remember when Saleem was studying there you could... Darrell, I wish you were there in chapel, when you see Arab and Jews worship Yeshua together, instead of fighting and killing, worshiping together, that gives you a taste of what we can expect in the kingdom of heaven. 

Darrell Bock: 

So the challenge is in the area, that not only do you have what has taken place recently since October 7th, but you've really had decades of conflict and it's deeply rooted. The discussions I have with people who are pro-Palestinian, their comments go back all the way to 1948 and before and the displacement of many, many, many people in the midst of the establishing of Israel as a nation, there's oftentimes a tendency to ignore the legal means by which Israel was formed and established. Even though there also was conflict associated with, there's a tendency to underdiscuss, I don't know what other word to use, or to not discuss the difficulties that displacement faced when the countries around Israel weren't willing to help with the situation because they didn't want to tacitly recognize that Israel had the right to exist in 1948. I tell people, all the nations around Israel when Israel was formed were not interested in being a help because that would involve, in effect, recognizing that Israel had the right to exist in the land. 

And I do think that the way in which displacement was happened in 1948 produced the groundwork for many of the problems that we see today. It was never adequately solved and adequately dealt with. And as a result, the animosity that existed perpetuated itself. And we find ourselves in the situation that we're in. But we can't go back to 1948 and undo that. We can't. 

So I guess my question here is what do you hope for... And let me ask it this way, let me separate it from what you hope for to how are the Jewish people in Israel feeling about what has taken place? Because one of the changes that I hear is that they see the region differently now than they did before. So help me with that. Golan, why don't you lead off with that question? 

Golan Broshi: 

Yes, Dr. Bock, like in every conflict and even among Israelis, Jewish people, there's pro-this and pro-this side, but we are pro-life. And who promised to give us life and life more abundantly, if not Yeshua, the Messiah? So we are in a special position that instead of being pro-this side of being pro-the other side, we can be pro-Messiah and use this special opportunity that God gave us in this land, in these times to proclaim the good news of the Messiah that came to destroy the wall of separation and any other wall that we have, first of all, against us and God and then against each other and bring peace. I don't think there could be a real peace without the Prince of Peace. So how would they believe if they don't hear? So I'm so glad that Saleem and I can share the gospel together as brothers and show the Israelis from both sides something that they never saw before. Unity under the love of the Messiah, Yeshua. 

Darrell Bock: 

And the point that you're making is that the center of what Jesus brings is an offer of reconciliation, not just between an individual and God, but between peoples. And so in the midst of that, that becomes at least a way to think about getting through in the context of a conflict in which you have religious beliefs on the Muslim side and the Jewish side that are in conflict with each other? 

Golan Broshi: 

Yes. In Israel there's so many opinions and everybody has an opinion, but how many people in Israel can proclaim the good news of the Messiah? If Saleem and I wouldn't do it, who would? So praise the Lord that God chose even vessels like Saleem and myself to proclaim the good news. Because again, everybody has an opinion. Everybody's pro-this or pro-that. I want to be pro the Messiah. I want to declare the good news and see both Jews and Arabs getting saved and worshiping the Messiah together, worshiping the God of Israel through the Messiah of Israel together, side by side. 

Darrell Bock: 

Saleem, anything you want to add to this? 

Saleem Shalash: 

Yes, as I mentioned in the beginning, we are living historical days. And if we remember our Bible, we know that the Gospel start from Jerusalem and went through a Macedonian man to Europe. In the book of Acts chapter six, you read that they tried to go to Asia, the Holy Spirit prohibited them because this wasn't the plan of God. And after Europe adopted the spirit of God, that breathed the word of God, they want to put it in a box, so limit the spirit of God. It's moved to US. US adopted the word of God, they put it in every place, in every hotel, in every school. God blessed the US. Even in your money you wrote down, "In God we trust." But today US is losing the right path by taking all these Bibles outside from schools, from jails, from everywhere. 

One of my friends mentioned to me last week, very good news that he said, "Pastor Saleem, now we are allowing to put Bibles in jails." Said, "My friend, if you put your Bibles in school, you don't need it in jails." And today that spirit, the spirit of God is moving where? To Asia, to what is happening in China, Taiwan, India, all these countries, a lot of revivals, but Jerusalem is part of Asia and the Holy Spirit is moving back to Jerusalem. The circle will be closed soon. But it must pass through the Arab countries. Why? That will provoke jealousy to Jews to ask about their Messiah. Look what is happening, Doctor, today. Today, a lot of opportunities for us to go. We didn't even dream to go to Dubai until the gospel in these churches. 

I have been traveling with another messianic pastor that to Dubai to share the word of God. People didn't believe that, Arab and Jews together. How come? This is what we call it, peacemakers. Sometimes it's very difficult for me personally because I'm Arab. And when I say Arab, doesn't mean a Muslim converted to Christianity. Because if you read your Bible in the book of Acts chapter two, there were Arabs worshiping in Jerusalem, that was 600 years before Islam came. So we are basically Christian. But you become the slice of cheese between two pieces of bread. Why? Why am I saying that? Because as an Arab, if I stand for Israel in biblical concept, I become a spy. And for Orthodox Jew, I still Arab. So you are between these two piece of bread and you are the slice of cheese. But if God put you there, and if we forget every doctrine, Doctor, let's forget everything, and we believe in one thing that Jesus said in the book of Matthew 28, "Go out to all nations." Aren't the Jews nation. 

Yes they are. And they are priority for God. That's what the Bible said, Jews first. But the media try to make hatred for this nation that people start to hate Israel even before knowing who they are, not knowing the country, not understanding the reality there. And I can challenge you that no one will give his Israeli passport and leave Israel because we are so blessed in this country. So the gospel is going back to Jerusalem. Are we peacemakers? Are we bridge builders? How we can shine in these darkness day? The Lord want to see different kind of believers, believers who don't take one side and fight the other one. No, we love the Palestinian people. We love the Israeli people. We are here to show the love of Yeshua. So we are going to continue until the Lord come back again. 

And by the way, the Lord is on the way because so quickly, two hands for the end of the days, one is Matthew 24, with all the sign that Jesus gave and what we are doing, Gentiles sharing the gospel all over the world and that what is happening today. But there is important thing, Jesus is a Jew. Somebody forgot, I'm just reminding them. And even His disciples. And if you are calling to boycott Israel, start with your Bible because your Bible was written by Jew. So not just products, but also your Bible was written by Jew. Jesus said, "I will not be back until I start hearing you saying Baruch haba b'shem Adonai. And this verse we already start to hear, there is more than 35,000 Messianic believer who believe in Yeshua and the Lord is coming and we want to be witnesses together, Arab and Jews waiting for the Lord and the kingdom of God. 

Darrell Bock: 

Well, I want to thank you guys for taking your time here, including with the time difference to chat with us about how you see the situation in Israel. And what I really appreciate is this emphasis on the fact that in the Christian faith there is this emphasis on reconciliation and bringing people's from various backgrounds together. And that in the end we can do all the politics that we want. But in the end, He is certainly a key to any answer that will be real that should come to the region. So thank you all for taking the time to be with us today. 

Golan Broshi: 

Thank you. Thank you. God Bless. 

Saleem Shalash: 

God bless you all. Thank you. 

Darrell Bock: 

Yep. And I want to thank you for watching this issue of The Table and we pray that you will join us again. If you want to see other issues of The Table, you can go to voice.dts.edu/tablepodcast and you'll see almost 600 different episodes of the table listed there covering an array of topics. This is The Table where we discuss issues of God and culture and also pursue the relevance of theology to everyday life.