Israel Today: Increasingly Alone

Israel Today: Increasingly Alone

September 3, 2025

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Chris Katulka

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 9/03/25. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand In the Gap Today. And it’s also our bimonthly Israel Middle East and biblical prophecy emphasis. And I cannot emphasize enough that the frequency and the intensity of world events that we’re all witnessing how they align with biblical prophecy and where Israel continues to be a resurfacing focus is literally beyond anything that’s ever been seen since Jesus gave the Olivet discourse to his disciples when they ask him for signs of his coming as we read so often and refer on the program here in Matthew 24 and elsewhere, we’re going to address some of these in today’s program, but only some of them because of the nature of only an our program we have here today. My special guest is once again, Chris Katulka. He’s Vice president of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and is also host of the Friends of Israel Today radio program.

He’s also a Bible teacher and is a writer for Israel, my Glory magazine, which many of you likely get, and he’s author of the book, Israel, always. Now, the title I’ve chosen to frame today’s conversation is this, Israel Today, increasingly Alone. So just as you know where we’ll be going today, here’s a roadmap. We’ll get an update on the various threats to Israel’s security from Yemen, Iran, and others here in this first segment. The next segment, we’re going to get an update on what is really happening in the Gaza as the world’s attention is turning to that place, and particularly with Israel now about to take over Gaza City, which is they’ve announced that they’re going to do. In segment three, we’re going to get a perspective on the Jewish fall feasts, and particularly the September 22nd and 23rd just coming up shortly here. That’s the date of Rosh Hashanah, or also known as the Feast of Trumpets. And some thought there by many speculating about is this a possible time for the rapture of the church? We’ll talk about that. Then in the last segment, we’re going to conclude what the scripture says. We as true believers are to be looking in these days of incredible prophecy fulfillment. So all of this and more today here on Stand in the Gap today. And with that I welcome to the program again, Chris Katulka from Friends of Israel. Chris, glad to have you back,

Chris Katulka:

Sam. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Sam Rohrer:

Chris, regardless of what anyone says, including Donald Trump, peace in the Middle East. Well, it’s not there yet and it’s not arrived. And by some accounts, war actually may be more likely now since the intensive attack by Israel against Iran and the US bombing of some nuclear sites in Iran just two months ago in June. Now, let me start with a broad question. In your opinion, is Israel more secure today than it was say at the beginning of 2025? And I’m going to say specifically since before the June attacks against Iran, and then why are I not?

Chris Katulka:

This is such a great question. Strategically, yes, I actually think Israel’s in a better place. If you don’t mind, I’ll even go back to October 7th, 2023 because we’re actually getting ready to mark 700 days since that event. And in 700 days, I just want you to think about what Israel has done. They have moved and positioned themselves because of that attack into the powerhouse, the military powerhouse of the Middle East and really put the bully of the Middle East, which is Iran in its place. So strategically, Israel is in a much better place than they were before, and we do have to give credit to President Donald Trump for the Abraham Accords that were signed even in his first administration because I don’t know if you recognize, but during the war with Iran and especially during the war with Hamas, throughout the war in Gaza and with Hezbollah and with the fall of Syria, most of the Middle Eastern countries have been just crying out ever so subtly, oh, please stop, don’t go any further.

But in reality, they’re thankful because most of these countries are Sunni countries that their Shia counterparts are losing to the tiny Jewish state of Israel and they don’t have to do anything about it. And so really the vast majority of the Middle East that has signed peace accords with Israel, we’re watching as an audience to Israel dominate their enemies over the last 700 days. So strategically from my position, looking at what’s going on, watching it even from afar, and I had mentioned, I think even on your television show, that we had a team in Israel during the 12 day War, even from that position as well, Israel has shown time and time again that they are the strategic powerhouse, a military powerhouse in the Middle East. And so I think that puts them at a great advantage for where they are. But again, like you said with the title of the show, they have shown to be the powerhouse Sam, but at the same time very alone. And that’s an interesting place to be if you’re the strategic military powerhouse of the Middle East.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, absolutely. So that being the case strategic, I would agree with you on that from my perspective as we’ve covered that for years now for a long time. But who in your opinion, poses to Israel their greatest security threat as we speak?

Chris Katulka:

Okay, again, this is a great question because I think a lot of people might be pointing the finger at Iran. A lot of people might be pointing the finger at Hamas or the Houthis or other factors in the Middle East. I don’t think that they are Israel’s greatest threat right now, actually. I think they still pose a threat, but Israel has shown us over the past 700 days that they have this under control. The greatest threat in my opinion that I’ve seen in the last six months to Israel is the West. It’s the nations of the west who are threatening Israel and leveraging the acceptance and recognition of a Palestinian state in lieu of a ceasefire. So

Sam Rohrer:

Give us, alright, hold that because we’ll bring it up in the next segment here because UN’s going to be doing some voting, we’ll pick up on that. But Yemen’s in the news, they have threatened the Houthis there. They have threatened Israel in a significant way. Are they, as an example, more just a thorn in the side or a true threat? I mean, the fact is the US bombed them for two weeks. Israel has gone after them and yet they are still there lobbying missiles into Israel. I

Chris Katulka:

Would say that they are a thorn, honestly, it’s one of those things, Sam, where Israel could go in and completely demolish the HT presence in Yemen, which I’m sure the Saudis wouldn’t mind that at all one bit. But the reality is that they are more a thorn in Israel’s side. They don’t pose the same threat that Iran poses. They are kind of the equivalent of a Hamas just from a further distance. In fact, Israel was able to strategically take out a command post because a jihadist in Yemen posted a selfie of himself on social media and Israel found it and found out where their headquarters was and took care of that. So again, Israel is in charge of that situation, but the question is where do you want to put your resources right now?

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. I have Chris Ulka from Friends of Israel with me today and our theme is Israel today, increasingly alone. We come back, we’re going to focus on the Gaza and what’s happening there and bring up what Chris said at the moment, the West may be Israel’s greatest enemy. Well, if you’re just joining us today, welcome aboard. This is our bimonthly emphasis here on Israel, the Middle East and the biblical prophecy. We’ve done it this way with very little exceptions, actually almost since the beginning of Stand in the Gap today, when for those first years, Dr. Jimmy De Young, now with the Lord was with us every other Wednesday. And so we’ve continued that to the day and frankly, everything that we went back over in those early years was all right on Mark. And now the world is focused like a laser on the Middle East and things are coming into view in a prophetical way just in an incredible fashion.

So that’s why we do that because well, when the Lord spends and the scripture focuses so intently on God’s purposes and role for Israel, the Jewish people, the city of Jerusalem, well then that’s why we think we should. And so that’s just the reason for that. Alright, now moving ahead. October 7th, we’re coming up on that. It’s actually been a few years ago now, but it’s coming up here where Hamas attacked Israel. Israel’s been in a state of war, so they declared war, if you recall right, some days after that. But within that major things have happened. But despite all of the major victories by Israel, Hamas still exists weakened, but it exists. So does Hezbollah. It exists. And Iran, although possibly with Iran, can make the case that they’re actually stronger perhaps now than before. Why? Well, due to its strengthened alliances with Russia, which have greatly changed since October 7th then and China, particularly since the June attack by Israel against Iran where there is now believed to be advanced Chinese military technology in place there that did not exist prior to that.

So we’ll see what takes place, but the war which started in Gaza is not yet won. It’s still ongoing. The world though is mobilizing against Israel, primarily the West and coming up at the United Nations on September 22nd will be votes against Israel. It’s already announced, it’s already on the agenda and with it will be votes in favor, not just against Israel, but votes in favor of a Palestinian state. Not a new idea, but there seems to be a lot of momentum now, and that’s further creating circumstances that I’m going to say from a political perspective almost makes it more imperative that Israel wins the war in Gaza Now before that vote if they truly want to win the war. Now, that’s my perspective there on the end. But Chris Israel’s called up 60,000 additional IDF soldiers, 50,000 of them were to report yesterday, September 2nd. The call up is allegedly to fortify Israel’s effort to reclaim Gaza City. But both Turkey, Egypt and others, the IEE, the a IE rather just came up and just said something today, warning Israel, do not do it. So what’s the status of this effort? Will it happen or not? And from Israel’s perspective, should it happen or not?

Chris Katulka:

The big thing, Sam, is getting the hostages out. And I know that’s exactly what Netanyahu is still pushing for. I think there’s something like 48 hostages that are still in Gaza right now. They dead and alive. And so that is the goal is to get out as many hostages as possible. And again, the targeted goal from the very beginning has been the elimination of Hamas. It’s hard for people to get their mind wrapped around this sometimes even for me. But Hamas was elected into power by the Palestinian people. And I think this conversation is going to play out as we talk further into this discussion. And so Hamas, even with certain polling data that we’re seeing even recently, Hamas could still technically win an election within the Palestinians. And those are Palestinians who live in the West Bank and who live in the Gaza Strip.

And so Hamas still has a lot of power. And so Israel knows that Hamas still has a lot of political power. And so this is why they’re trying to take care of this cancer that constantly is a pressure on Israel. It’s been a pressure on Israel for 15 plus years. This isn’t something that happened on October 7th. And so yes, I think it is absolutely necessary, but Israelis are tired, Sam, I mean actually the data coming back showing that a lot of the reservists are hesitant to return. Remember when we’re talking about reservists, we’re talking about those who are already served in the military under the age of 40 that have to leave their families again. I have an Israeli friend whose son is going up to serve in Syria for another two and a half months, leaving his family behind. Again, it’s putting a lot of strain on Israel.

So there’s tension. Netanyahu has tension, but I believe that it is something that needs to happen because Gaza City is the main hub right now of Hamas. And Hamas still has abundance of tunnels underneath the ground where a lot of military action happens. And so when your listeners see all those images of destroyed cities in Gaza, that’s not because Israel’s just targeting homes. That’s because underneath them are tunnels and they still exist and it’s still a threat to Israel. And the last thing Israel needs is a revived Hamas and ready to push back against Israel again.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, that’s great. And we will go further onto that, ladies and gentlemen, because before Hamas was voted in as the political leadership of the Gaza, it was the Palestinian liberation, the PLO. But believe it or not, in this we’re going to talk more about the United Nations vote coming up. They’re actually wanting the PLO reestablished, what a slight of hand that is. But anyways, we’ll go into that. Chris Egypt sits to the south of Gaza. They’ve had a peace agreement with Israel. It’s been working thing, it’s been observed pretty well. But there were some reports a couple of weeks ago that they had and were amassing a significant amount of military equipment, tanks and all that kind of thing on the south. And there was a report that I had seen that they had actually attacked an Israeli military outpost. It got very little attention, which raised the question of whether or not it actually happened. There’s a lot of disinformation out there, but what do you know about that? Did it happen?

Chris Katulka:

Well, I don’t know if that particular happened. I’m in the same boat as you, but I do know that there are news sources that are coming out that talk about the fact that Egypt is training the Palestinian authority security officers essentially for a role that they would play in a post-war Gaza. And so what this means is in Israel there are two segments, or in the Palestinian Territories, there are two governments that are ruling in the West Bank, there’s the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, it’s Hamas. And so what’s happening is look at Egypt doesn’t like Hamas either they’re terrorists. LCC is trying to stamp out terrorism. He doesn’t want terrorism on his border, but he’s relying on the Palestinian authority, who is the governing body and security in the West Bank to be a part of this post-war Gaza to help bring security. But here’s the problem.

Number one, it shows that Egypt is trying to show influence over Gaza. Nobody likes that. The Saudis and the UAE don’t even like that. They don’t want any part in that. And number two, the reason why I said we’re going to have this conversation later about Israel’s elections, the Palestinian authority as we know, it doesn’t stand a chance in any future elections. The Palestinian people cannot stand the Palestinian authority. They cannot stand the government that rules over them in the West Bank. They don’t trust them. They haven’t held elections in more than 18 years. Mah Abbas is still in charge of them. And so really Egypt is trusting in a group of people that most Palestinians don’t even like. So to be having that kind of influence is number one, showing the Israeli people, they’re not too excited about Egypt’s influence that they’re trying to put over Gaza. But then also the fact that Egypt is working apart from Israel on trying to create a post security in a post Gaza world. And so this will be very interesting to see how this plays out, especially not just for Israel, but like I said earlier, the Saudis and the UAE are not big fans of

Sam Rohrer:

This as well. Okay. Alright. That’s excellent. That’s great information. I haven’t seen a lot of that stated quite as clear as what you just stated. That’s superb. Alright, let’s go to last segment. You made a statement that in fact the greatest threat to Israel is the West. Alright, well the West is lined up. I mean Australia and Zealand and Canada and the UK and France and Macron and France is taking the lead on trying to convince everybody else to vote against Israel and support a separate Palestinian state, which he wants the Palestinian authority, PLO or whatever that would be the actual designation, what you just described to be the leaders. But as you’re saying, the people don’t want it, which seems to be a failed objective question to you. Do you view the building anti-Israel mood among the west primarily to be significant or much ado about the same old, same old?

Chris Katulka:

Well, it’s both. You nailed it. It’s both Sam, it’s significant because it’s still a conversation and it’s still the same old rhetoric. All they have to do is go back to 2005 when Ariel Sharon, the prime minister of Israel unilaterally gave the land of Gaza to the Palestinian people and the west was celebrating. And you know what happened? All of a sudden the Palestinians were able to have their own election like we had been talking about. The West was ecstatic, and who did they elect? Hamas. That’s when the West goes, oh my goodness, what just happened that created a civil war among the Palestinians and created a chaos that we see today? It’s absolutely astonishing to me because they thought that the Palestinian authority would win and they didn’t. And so here we are again and we’re having the same conversations that only make Israel feel more alone than ever.

Sam Rohrer:

And ladies and gentlemen, of course what we’re seeing is exactly what scriptures talks about. Now, ultimately, Israel will stand totally alone, totally alone, which brings up biblical prophecy and well, that brings us into the matter of the fall feast days coming right up here, September 22nd, Rosh Hashanah. How does that fit in? Well, we’re halfway through our program today. Our focus is this Israel today, increasingly alone. Of course we know that that will be the case. Scripture tells us that. But as we take a look at that and looking at the headline news of the day, we also are observing that. And of course you’re going to find that the news of the day agrees with what scripture says it will do. That’s why we on this program stand in the gap today. Generally we’ll take headline news, but view it through the lens of scripture.

That’s the only way that you can bring clarity to the confusion in the deception of the day, which again happens to also be something that scripture says will come about. Now my guest today is Chris Katulka, he’s vice president of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel. They have a website@israelmyglory.org, and that’s where you can get their magazine, Israel, My Glory. And I’m sure many of you perhaps have been getting that for a long time. Alright, but moving forward here into this now, the biblical and the Prophetical importance of what the Bible refers to as the feasts of the Lord. I’ve covered this in the past extensively on other programs. Just going to look at it just briefly here in this segment. But the scripture does refer to, well scripture, I uses the word feasts of the Lord, but frequently they’re referred to as Jewish feasts because Christians most generally don’t observe the feasts which are broken into the spring and the fall.

However, I have found with note that there’s been the last couple of months perhaps and increasing attention on a lot of media out there focusing on the first of the fall feasts, which begins here on September 22, September 22, 23. And it’s officially referred to as Rosh Hashanah, but it’s also commonly referred to as the Feast of Trumpets or the one feast where it is said no man knows the day or the hour since. What actually begins that is that it’s when there’s an official sighting of the new Moon. Now these things have contributed to much speculation that it would be a good time for the rapture of the church fitting within that no man knows the hour of the day and so forth and trumpets in the trumpet call. So that being the case, Chris, I wanted to just ask you about this before we go into that specifically on Rosh Hashanah. Could you do this enumerate the spring feasts their significance to the Jews and to Christians, and then cite the fall feast, just a listing of them and what the significance is. Then I want to bear down then on Rosh Hashanah coming up here.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, this is actually some of my favorite things to talk about. Sam. I taught Leviticus as an adjunct professor at Word of Life Bible Institute for a long time. And these are holy days. The whole book of Leviticus is about delineating between the things that are holy and common and clean and unclean. And in Leviticus chapter 23, God is setting aside seven various feasts that are separate from every other day of the year to set them aside. Even Shabbat is supposed to be set aside one day a year to separate between what’s holy and common. And so Passover, the feasts of unleavened bread, the feasts of first fruits and Shavuot or Pentecost are spring feasts, Passover and unleavened bread, of course point to Christ, our Passover lamb who was perfect and died on the cross and resurrected. Those are images that we see of Passover, the feast of unleavened bread and even the feast of first fruits because Paul calls Christ the first fruits of the resurrection, which means we all resurrect one day, but Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection.

He’s the one to be resurrected first. And then of course Vu or Pentecost happens in Acts chapter two when the church is born and the spirit comes down. And so these are all events that were fulfilled at Jesus’s first coming, his death, burial, resurrection, and even his ascension and the coming of the Spirit. And so that’s the spring feast. But then there’s this break. There’s a long break in the calendar for the summertime and then all of a sudden we come to the seventh month, the month of Tissie, where now we begin the last of the seven feasts, the last three which begin, as you had mentioned with Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets or the New Year yum Kippur, which is a day of atonement, Israel’s atonement day, the day when all of their sins are forgiven annually. And then finally Sukkot, which is the Feast of Tabernacles when God comes to tabernacle with his people. And so these all have prophetic connotations for what will happen at Christ’s second coming and the events leading up to Christ’s second coming. And so I think that these are, there’s a nice little divide there, a break. And then between the spring feast and the fall feast, the fall feast are events that are still yet to happen.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, that’s a wonderful concise overview. Okay, let’s now move to this first of the fall feast, Rosh Hashanah Feast of Trumpets. What does the observance of this particular feast today, this first of the fall of the three observances of the fall, what’s it mean to the Jews? What does the significance of this date and up observance?

Chris Katulka:

This is a time of celebration. Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Trumpets has kind of developed over the years today, rush Hashanah and Hebrew Rush means head or it means the head or the first rush. And then Hashanah is the year, it’s the new year. I always feel bad for Jewish people because they have three calendars they have to follow, have to follow the calendar that we use all the time. Then they have to follow their religious calendar, which begins at Passover. You can read about that in Exodus chapter 12. And then they have to follow their ancient Hebrew civil calendar, which starts here on Rosh Hashanah. This marks a new year for the Jewish people that’s coming up and they actually mark the date that goes back to the day of creation. And so this is very interesting. And so this will mark a transition from one year to another for Rosh Hashanah. And so actually the idea of the civil calendar and the head of the year is actually something that developed during the Babylonian captivity. And so that’s not the original intent of the Leviticus chapter three passage that we hear about the Feast of Trumpets, a gathering together, a convocation of people gathering in of the Jewish people, but like you had mentioned earlier, but this actually is something that gets picked up a civil new year that gets picked up during the Babylonian captivity.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, so that being the case, knowing that the spring feast days marked very, very specific and as we’ve talked about before to the day, the fulfillment of them were to the day of events related to the first coming of Christ. There is then that the fall feast will link as it did in the spring will be dress rehearsals, the word meaning we’ve talked about. But on other programs we’ve talked about bachelor dress rehearsals for events related to the second coming. Alright, so let’s now look at that. There are those who are saying that perhaps this time may be the day of the rapture or somewhere in that period of time. Date setting is something people have done in past, that’s not the intent, but some are bringing up and saying, because that event says no man knows the day of the hour because of the observance of the New Moon. And nobody knows for sure quite when that is, that it fits into that. Alright, here’s the question. Does it pertain to that or does Rosh Hashanah and the Feast of Trumpets refer to perhaps the Lord’s second coming and not to the rapture at all? How do you perceive that and interpret that?

Chris Katulka:

I totally respect people who see that as the rapture of the church, especially because the rapture talks about a trumpet that is sounded and there’s the Feast of trumpets. But I actually think in the false feast, God is turning his attention back to Israel. The launch of the spring feast is the Pentecost, the birth of the church. But then when you get to the fall feast, I think God is turning his attention back to Israel again. And I don’t think it’s necessarily talking about the rapture again. It could be we’ll find out in glory. But when I see it, I think God’s turning his attention back to the Jewish people. And the whole point of the trumpet, when you all come to Israel with me one day, I’ll take you to the very corner where the trumpeter, it actually is in Hebrew that goes back 2000 years ago.

It’s etched in stone right there. Archeologists found it the place of the trumpeter where a priest would get up and blow the shofar, a rams horn, a trumpet to gather people in for Shabbat or gather the Jewish people in for war or it was a call for people to return to come together. And I believe that the trumpet sound, the feast of trumpets, if we’re talking about it from a prophetic perspective, is something that we’re witnessing right before our very eyes. Israel being called back to the land. I mean we’re seeing it. We have the splash zone, if you will, for prophetic events that are taking place. I think God is calling his people back to the land because the next event is Yom Kippur. Look at Jesus’s sacrifice already happened in Passover. Now what’s happening at Yom Kippur is the forgiveness that comes through repentance, which is what Yom Kippur is all about.

Because between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is what’s called the 10 Days of awe where the Jewish people repent and they ask for forgiveness because that time is coming Yom Kippur, when your name is either written in the Book of life or the book of death. And so this is an opportunity for forgiveness and repentance and I believe this is the moment from Zacharia 12 when Israel repents and turns to the Lord and God’s grace and compassion and mercy is poured out on them and forgiveness comes. And when that happens, the third feast comes, which is the Feast of Tabernacles. God comes down, revelation chapter 21 verse three, the new Jerusalem comes down a beautiful picture of God dwelling among men. That’s what the word sukkot means and tabernacles God dwelling. So that’s kind of it in a nutshell there and the way I see those fall peace taking place.

Sam Rohrer:

Alright, that’s excellent. And again ladies and gentlemen, stay with us with all of that now in mind. Alright, we’re at a very, very eventful time in history. So in the next time we’re going to talk about now looking ahead in light of all of the things we’ve just talked about, how should we as a believer in Jesus Christ be looking now and frankly how should the Jews for whom these feasts are in Africa, we’re talking about how should they be looking? Well, before we get into the final segment, Chris, where I ask you as we talk about looking ahead now in light of all of the things that we’ve talked about, I’ve given your website once@israelmyglory.org. Can people there still get a subscription to Israel My glory?

Chris Katulka:

Yes, please. If you go to Israel my glory.org, you’ll find a subscribe button. And if you’ve never subscribed to Israel My Glory, we want to give you a one year free subscription to our award-winning Christian magazine. You can get it in print or digital and I encourage you to do digital because then you get more than 50 years of Israel, my glory right at your fingertips. And that’s Israel my glory.org.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, excellent. Thank you so much for that Chris. And ladies and gentlemen, before we take off here, again, if you’ve not communicated to us, please do so. We need to hear from you. We need your prayers. I say that often, but I cannot say it enough. Secondly, if you’re being blessed by this program, we need your financial participation. Why? Well simply because we have bills too, just like you do. And I do know that even though we may be hearing that we’ve never had such a roaring economy, I do know that we’re all facing a lot of increasing expenses. So I know that that is the case. But if God is blushing you through that, don’t just figure that, well, we don’t need it. We do. So I just want to put it out there. I don’t beg, I’m not going to do that. If the Lord has touched your heart, then I would pray that that would be the case and you can take care of all of that.

Communicate to us and give online at stand in the gap radio.com or off of our Stand in the Gap app if you download that. Alright Chris, let’s move into this. In the all of that discourse, Jesus lays out signs. He didn’t use these words, but in essence that they would converge multiple indications that things would convert like wars and rumors of wars and pestilence and that kind of thing. He mentions them all there would converge in a comprehensive way, I’m going to say, and would be visible. Obviously they’re going to be visible. There were signs and that’s why he said so they would be visible for those who had eyes to see, but they would be visible in combination since there have always been some earthquakes, there have always been some pestilence. But he’s saying that there’s going to be a coming together in a way that’s going to be different.

And he basically says it two different ways. One in frequency or speed and a volume. And the other would be intensity signaling the comparison which he then uses to birth pains and on other programs with other guests we’ve talked about where we have been maybe in the past weeks or months would be comparing it to birth. Kind of like Braxton Hicks. My wife has given birth six times to six children and there were always Braxton Hicks, those preliminary things that were proof that there was a coming delivery. But then when full on labor comes, there’s no backing up. That’s when intensity and frequency make it happen. There’s no backing up at that point. Now the question is what should we be noticing and for what should both Jewish and Christian believers, if there is a difference at all, be looking in these days. So Chris, when you consider the olive that discourse, is it primarily a message to Jews generally or Jewish believers specifically since Jesus was directly answering his disciples and in this message, is it the same to all believers, Gentiles or Jewish? And why or why not? Distinguish a little bit if you can.

Chris Katulka:

I think Jesus is talking to both the Jewish people and he’s talking to believers, gentile believers. I think he’s talking to in the Olive at this course. He’s highlighting exactly what you said. I liked your analogy with the Braxton Hicks there. I chuckled for a moment because I’ve been there as well. And when you see what’s going on, there is an intensity of these meteorological events and these geological events that begin to get more intense. But for me, the sign of the nations, that’s always been the thing when you look at the Old Testament is that when it comes to Israel, it’s not just for Israel. That is what’s so important for the world to understand, especially for Christians all around the world, God bringing the Jewish people back to the land. He says, I’m not doing this for you, not because you deserve it.

I’m doing it to uphold my holy name. Ezekiel chapter 36, my holy reputation because my name is the one that’s on the deed and the promise that I made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I have to fulfill it but also so that the nations know that I am the Lord God. So when I look at what’s going on, both from a meteorological perspective, from a geological perspective, all of those things, earthquakes, all the weather patterns, all of these things, wars and rumors of wars, the big trigger for me that we live in a time like no other in church history is that Israel is back in the land. Israel, the Jewish people are back in the land. This to me is a sign because again, remember when Jesus is speaking on the olive at discourse, he is assuming that the Jewish people are in the land, not out of the land in the land.

In fact, during the early church period, there were a lot of Roman emperors, especially Constantine’s son who was not the biggest fan of Christianity. He did all that he possibly could to help the Jewish people rebuild a temple just to prove that Jesus’ words were wrong. It’s very fascinating the tension that takes place there. But they’re assuming there’s this assumption that when you read the olive at discourse, the Jewish people are in the land. There’s a temple that is rebuilt. All of these events that must take place happen and all of the cosmological ones, all these various events that must take place happen as a result because the Jewish people are in the land and God is in the business in that moment of bringing about what would become the great tribulation and the events that would follow after that. But there has to be a presence in the land. I think we’re seeing it happen. Look at, I remember what I had. We had talked about the Feast of Tabernacle, I mean the Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets earlier. I think we’re witnessing prophecy happen right before our very eyes and we don’t even have the date set. We can just say, as the apostle Paul said 2000 years ago, the Lord is near,

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, he is near. And we can sense it. I mean I can talk to, well anyways, I won’t go on there, but it seems like every true believer that I have communication with Chris, and I’m sure you as well, there’s a sense of a significance of this time for the reasons that we’re talking about now here to the practical aspect. When we see all these things around us and we witness Israel back in the land and we witness all the things that we’ve talked about in the program, how should all true believers be thinking and what should they be doing and to what should they be looking in these days? What should be that the forefront of our minds and our hearts?

Chris Katulka:

This is really important for your listeners to understand. This took me a while to learn from the scriptures. A lot of times we divide the scriptures up and we say one third, I’ve heard this a lot. One third of the Bible is prophecy. Actually the whole Bible is prophecy from genesis to revelation. The whole Bible is prophetic. Even within the components that command us on how we should live today are driven. They are driven on the basis that Jesus is returning. The apostle Paul was saying, walk in a manner worthy of your calling. Be gentle, be humble, be patient. Bear with one another in love. Why would he say this? Because he knew that at any moment the Lord could return. In fact, he uses a fantastic Jewish word there that really only Jewish people would understand to walk. Walk is the Hebrew word halak.

And halak is actually the word that they use in Judaism for behavior, for law. It’s called halachic law. And so how you walk today is a determination as a believer to show what your anticipation and what your hope is for in the future. So as we think about prophecy, prophecy, when we think about all the events that are going to take place, they matter. They’re very important. But the Apostle Paul was commanding Christians to live a certain way to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. Not because that’s just the way you should be, but because the very spirit that’s in you, which is a prophetic promise, is anxiously waiting for its complete fulfillment in the future. So walk in the manner worthy of your calling

Sam Rohrer:

Chris, coming back. Alright, Chris, perfectly said, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that that is the case. Hopefully this program’s been helpful in keeping us focused in our mind and our hearts as true believers. Chris’s website, Israel my glory.org. You can get a free one year subscription to their magazine, Israel, my Glory, and then on our site, let us hear from you this week and bear us up in prayer. Partner with us financially. All is needed and until we meet again tomorrow, the Lord willing, stand in the gap for truth.