Israel & Biblical Prophecy 2026: Looking Back – Looking Ahead

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Chris Katulka

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 1/7/26. 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 first program this year in our continuing, Lord willing, it’ll be the whole year just as we’ve done for the past seven or eight years. And that is a bimonthly emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. Now, since the globally redefining COVID bioweapon assault, which we’ve talked so much about, we all remember it, that came on the world in 2020. From that transforming event to this very day where legacy impacts as a result of that, economically deteriorated health, debt ridden, collapsing, national economies, people are referring back to that event. But the resultant pursuit coming out of that of controlled media, integrated surveillance and control is now moving to a dominant global government. It’s only increased. I think we’ve all noted that. And if not, we need to because it is.

Wars and rumors of wars have increased. Earthquakes and other signs, Jesus said would appear in these latter years have increased. It’s all sped up even through 2025, which then said what happens in 2026? Well, the political and the geopolitical and the economic events of just these first seven days of January seem to ensure, well, that change can be expected, perhaps even more assuredly. Perhaps we’re in these birth pang days, at least Braxton Hicks days. And it’s this objective view that brings all, I think, God fearing people to the point of considering what prophecy. And God’s word says about the things that we are now witnessing and because biblical prophecy of a necessity places Israel, the Middle East and God’s plan of redemption on center stage with all else, all others as secondary players. Well, it makes it very appropriate to consider what we have seen and what we may see in the year ahead from a biblical worldview perspective.

And today I’m really glad to have back with me the vice president of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and host of the Friends of Israel Today radio program, Chris Katulka, to be back with me. I’m so glad for that. The title I’ve chosen to frame today’s conversation is simply this, Israel and Biblical Prophecy 2026, that’s where we are, looking back and looking ahead. And with God’s help, that’s what we’ll do. Chris, welcome back to the program this first Wednesday of 2026. It’s so good to have you back.

Chris Katulka:

Sam, it’s always a joy to be with you and happy new year. Thanks for having me back in 2026.

Sam Rohrer:

Happy New Year to you as well and to Friends of Israel. We are friends of Israel as well. Now, let’s get onto it. Chris, as someone who is involved in a ministry so long focused on Israel and biblical prophecy, such as friends of Israel, I would like to start with having you start by looking back over 2025 and identify, I’m going to say the most notable, one, two, three, or however you want to do it, events from last year, from your perspective and two areas, and then state why. First is regarding Israel and her relationship to the world, and then secondly, regarding biblical prophecy. So let’s go here. Israel in relationship to her neighbors, the most notable things of 2025 in Israel’s relationship to the world, most notable 2025.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. I want to start, if you don’t mind, with the big one to me, which is January 2025, Donald Trump’s election. It was a game changer. I actually think Israelis were hanging on to every single second that went by in anticipation of the November election, but ultimately him becoming president happened in January when he was sworn in during the inauguration. And that changed everything for not only Israel, but for a lot of what was going on in the Middle East as well. So when I think about Israel and its relationship to the world, it has changed completely as a result of Donald Trump’s election. That’s a big one. That kind of came to my mind when I was thinking about this question because the conversation of 2024, Israel and its relationship to the world and 2025 relationship to the world has created the environment that we’re in right now where you and I were just saying before the show started, that it’s just the beginning of 2026.

And I feel like we’re dealing with more right now than we had just a few weeks ago. So again, and I think that’s the Trump effect on what’s going on, not only globally, but big time and what’s going on with Israel. The next one, the big one, another big, big one is June 13th through the 24th, 2025, and that has to do with Iran when the 12 day war took place and as a result of the 12 day war, Israel flexed its muscles to Iran, putting Iran in its place and letting them know within just a few days they can control the skies of the Iranian country. And so really, that was a big flex of power. They had already dealt with Hezbollah. Hamas had been weakened and now Iran. Iran, the big issue that’s been a big issue for Israel for very long and between June 13th and the 24th, the 12-day war, Israel flexed its Muscles.

And then of course with Donald Trump in power, what happens? We have the B2 bombers flying over and destroying from what we know. I’m not saying it’s completely gone, but doing its best to destroy what was left of some type of nuclear ambition that Iran had. Big, big moment in Israel, Iranian relations, big, big moment in American Iranian relations and big, big moment for America and Israel relations there. Trump’s 20 point peace plan from last fall in September 2025 to try to bring an end to the war between Israel and Gaza, which we could probably talk about more later on in the show. That was a big moment in 2025. And so I think when I see what’s going on there, there’s no doubt about this. We talk about biblical prophecy. We can always center on Israel. Israel is the bullseye of biblical prophecy, Sam, and you know that.

I mean, the bullseye of it is not only just Israel, the bullseye is Jerusalem. And so when we talk about biblical prophecy, God is moving. Now, how those puzzle pieces come together and how they will ultimately formulate into his plan to accomplish his plan of redemption, we’re waiting to see. But we can definitely, Sam, me, you, and our listeners can look at the signs of the times as the scriptures say. And I think that’s exactly what we need to be doing because it’s a big deal what’s going on with Trump’s election, Iran, the fall that really Hezbollah losing its influence, Hamas losing its influence, and now Iran. We’ll have to wait and see how this will play out, but Iran losing its influence as well as we’re potentially watching the fall of the Ayatollahs.

Sam Rohrer:

Chris, that’s an excellent overview. And ladies and gentlemen, I would agree that what you said, Chris, are highlight points. And I don’t want to lose track of this. Just want to reemphasize when we look at the Middle East and Israel through prophecy, we look at that as the center of the target, as Chris said. And underneath all of that, we can find individual human people who play key roles, but the real figure of focus is the God of heaven that raises up those who are in positions of power and takes down those who are in positions of power, both people and nations. The focus is God is on move, and that’s the prophetical word of God. When we come back, we’re going to step in now and a little further detail on the peace plan and what that’s doing in the Middle East. Joining us today, welcome aboard.

My special guest today is Chris Katulka. He’s generally with me oftentimes about once a month and on our bimonthly focus on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. And if you just joined us, again, between Chris and myself, we made some key comments, I think, and that is that you cannot look at what’s happening around the world geopolitically, internationally, or in any way without focusing on Israel. Why is that? Because God’s prophetic word focuses on a people, the Jews, a land, Israel, and God’s holy city, which scripture says and calls it that, God’s holy city, Jerusalem. So it’s not possible if a person is going to do honest analysis of world events that Israel does not compose a primary focus of our attention. Otherwise, we’re not doing what God says. We’re imposing our own priority. So that is being settled. Just put it out there.

But one of the things that Chris, you mentioned in the last segment, and I would have too, as a notable event of 2025, was in fact the pronouncement of the Gaza Peace Plan, which is somewhat in effect. So I’m going to ask you a couple of questions here, but I did a thorough documented history of the development of that. So let me just give that a little bit here to set it up for us as we go into it. But on February the 4th, it was February the 4th, right after the inauguration of last year, 2025, that Donald Trump shocked the world with a declaration. It was a shock, with a declaration made in a joint White House press conference with a surprise to Benjamin Netanyahu looking on when the president said that, “The US would take over and own the Gaza Strip.” Those are incredible words.

In addition, he accompanied the statement with an ambitious vision to, as was said, “level it, ” level Gaza and redevelop it into the riviera of the Middle East. Well, that was also an amazing thing. Now, not known at that point back then was that Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has no official position in this US government or this administration, was already at work to bring about the means for taking over and owning the Gaza, where he actually talked about taking over the Gaza and owning it in a presentation that he made a year before in 2024. I just throw that in. That’s interesting. Now, the formal plan for this piece plan was unveiled then officially on September 29th at another White House press conference and presented as “the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict.” And in that meeting, Donald Trump formally positioned himself in that setting as seeking the position of chairman of the Gaza Peace Plan Board.

According to official records, in early November of last year, 2025, Donald Trump sought official installation authority to that position from the United Nations officially receiving it on November 17th, 2025. So it’s fairly current. And Chris, let’s get into it. Because of this widely known and unknown impacts of the, I’m going to say the Trump framework to own and govern the Gaza with UN backing now and authorization, it seems that if there is a political agreement of some type that has more of an ability to influence Israel and what it does, it’s probably this agreement, which is why I want to go. Here’s my question. Do you see that this land acquisition labeled as a peace proposal as furthering the best interest of Israel and God’s plan for Israel or the interest of the enemies of Israel, which some are saying, or even for instance, the Trump empire that is being furthered by Jared Kushner, and why do you say what you say?

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, it’s a fascinating development to see what’s going on with Gaza because we’re talking about an area when we’re talking about it from a biblical perspective, you just have to read Joel chapter three, where Joel talks about the end of days when nations will be judged for how they treated Jerusalem, how they treated Israel, and ultimately God gathers the nations down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, which in Hebrew actually means the valley of judgment. That’s what Jehoshaphat means, judgment. So he’s bringing them into a valley of judgment, and it’s there that God puts these nations on trial for how they did two things. Number one, how they treated God’s people, his inheritance, and also how they treated the land as to whether or not they kept it according to what God wanted it to be, or they divided it up. And so you have the people, how the nations treat the people, the Jewish people, and how people are the nations treated the land.

And I don’t think any of this bodes well for God’s ultimate plan for Israel. I don’t think it slows down God’s plan for Israel, to be quite honest with you, Sam. God’s got a plan. We talked about that in the last segment.

So when I look at these events unfolding, I’m not concerned in the sense of whether or not God’s still in control or not, but it does bring to question whether or not a nation will be judged based on how it treats the people, the Jewish people and the land, the land of Israel, especially dividing it up. So what we’re seeing here, especially with the Trump peace plan, the 20 point peace plan that includes this board of peace and also the treatment of how these nations are going to have ultimately some type of influence in demilitarizing this area. The goal, which is the complete opposite of what God’s plan is, the goal of what Trump is trying to do is to force Israel out of Gaza. That’s what’s so interesting, is that the goal of what Trump is trying to do is to get all the Jewish people, not that that’s Trump’s intended goal, but that’s how he’s trying to please the nations around him is to get all of the Jewish Israelis out of Gaza and to what?

To place in there some type of international stabilization force that includes many different countries that would ultimately bring some type of stability to the region. I know that they already have 15 Palestinian technocrats. A technocrat is essentially somebody that has … They’re skilled in a particular area. And so they have 15 very skilled Palestinians that were actually approved by the Israeli government. They did background checks on these individuals, that’s according to the times of Israel. And these are going to be people who will be ruling the day-to-day activity of what’s going on with the Gazans as this process is taking place. But ultimately, what’s going on when we look at it from a biblical worldview is we’re doing exactly what God says don’t do in Joel chapter three.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. And I think that’s a great point. I want to jump in on just to get another question in here. So what is being done without a doubt we can objectively say is high risk. I agree with you totally. None of this is throwing God’s plan off. Matter of fact, God is coordinating. This is happening how … Well, we don’t know, but when you tamper with God’s people and God’s land, and one of the things that’s a part of the plan, it came out later, was that the White House and Trump and Kushner both agreed with Qatar who said, “We will not participate and put money into this unless you agree to force Israel not to declare sovereignty over Judeo-Samaria.” So now you’ve dealt with the land issue two times, very, very high risk because that’s what you’re saying. I throw that into it. And here’s my other question here, bring it into it.

Of this stabilization force, it’s called international stabilization force, the ISF as a part of the peace plan. I find it interesting that there is going to be, and now official, the forces will be commanded by a two-star US general, don’t have a name on that yet. Egypt will be leading deployment logistics and regional coordination. And all in all, there are 10 nations designated to have authority in this area, thereby all impacting Israel, all in this negative way because of what you’re just saying. These 10 are the US, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, and Canada. I cannot talk about 10 nations and Israel and prophecy without thinking about what God says about the rise of 10 nations. I don’t know. What are your thoughts?

Chris Katulka:

Well, number one, of those 10 nations, I think I find it very fascinating that only two or three of them are at least neutral or against a Palestinian state because recently we’ve seen, of course, Egypt and Qatar and Turkey, they’d love to see a Palestinian state form, but recently we’ve seen France and the UK and Spain certainly and Canada desire to see a Palestinian state form. They just saw that they opened a Palestinian embassy essentially in the United Kingdom. And so an embassy of a country that doesn’t exist, try to figure that one out. But again, I see the direction that you’re going here. And again, when it comes back to God’s sovereignty, God is in control of all of these things. And again, our focus is always on what’s going on in Gaza, but you bring up a great point about the West Bank.

And this is what happens with the … This is a byproduct, Sam, of the Abraham Accords. See, the Abraham Accords brought many of these Muslim nations into some type of relationship with Israel. And so before, whenever we were talking about peace between Israelis and Palestinians, it usually involved the US and some type of Western diplomacy and US and maybe some European countries or the British parliament leading the way or whatever the case might be, there’s usually a Western thing. Now all of a sudden we have Arab nations, Muslim nations involved, and that means Donald Trump’s got to play both sides of the table now, which puts West Bank on the chopping block.

Sam Rohrer:

There we go. And ladies and gentlemen, that is why 2026 is going to be not less thorny, but more thorny. But again, no surprise to what God is unrolling, not at all. Now when we come back, we’re going to shift from that and I’m going to get Chris’s perspective on what is happening, the changing face in Iran and what that might mean. Well, if you’re joining us, we’re halfway through the program. Again, my guest today is Chris Katulka. He is with the, well, most of you I know would know this, the Friends of Israel, the gospel ministry. He also hosts his own radio program, The Friends of Israel Today radio program, and he’s a Bible teacher. He writes for Israel My Glory Magazine, many of which you may get that and you can get it by going to their website at Israelmyglory.org, Israelmyglory.org. All right, Chris.

Well, I know our listeners probably could listen to us to go for another half of a program on what we are talking about in the last segment relative to the peace plan, the components of what went into it, the people who are involved, the nations who are involved, the alignment of the enemies of Israel now in Gaza, the very enemies of Israel that have threatened them from cutter to Turkey to Egypt that is not a friend, but temporarily, perhaps not waging war, but determining the future of Israel and their property and now tying in the deal by the Trump administration that Israel cannot declare sovereignty over land that they own. Judea Samaria has many prophecy watchers, Bible believers all, as you’re saying, look at that and saying, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, that’s a highly risky activity because as you said, God will bring down the nations who attempt to divide up the land and upset God’s plan relative to Israel and they will not, but he’ll bring them down to the valley of Jehosaphat for judgment.” So I think that’s a key thing as a walkaway, but let’s move now because one of the enemies are Iran.

And in what I asked you in the first segment to hit a highlight of 2025, you mentioned an event with Iran. So let’s just get into this. But in the past few days here in this eventful first part of 2026, protests have been erupting throughout Iran, including in the capital city of Tehran. Last night I was watching supposedly what I was seeing. It’s hard to tell, Chris, frankly, what is true or not true. There’s so much AI generated things that I observe pictures that are supposed to be current that really came from three years ago and that kind of thing. I don’t know, but it’s believed that there is extensive protesting in Iran. There was burning in the capital city of Tehran last night. Theoretically, there is a threat of collapse of the Islamic regime, the Ayatollah being positioned in social media as likely possible to fleeing to Russia.

That’s a rumor that’s out there. Maybe true, may not be true. Instability of some degree though appears to be at least the minimum, but the question is what does it mean and how should it be interpreted inside Israel and by the friends of Israel? Now, just weeks ago, in addition, Israel had indicated that they were about to attack Iran. People who are listening may remember that. The Iranian guard in the Ayatollah had declared that Iran was officially at war with Israel and the United States. Timing of those things were pretty close together and then tied into that, Donald Trump issued a tweet that he declared that the US was locked and loaded and ready to attack Iran, which then really blew up things by what does that mean? And then all of a sudden, then comes the information suggesting that there’s a near collapse of the entire Iranian government.

So in these days when there’s so much intelligent agencies, psyop going on and manipulation of truth on both sides, as I say, it’s hard to determine what is the truth. But from your perspective, as you view it on the ground and what you’re seeing there, what do you think is really happening in Iran as we speak?

Chris Katulka:

Well, a lot of the things that we had just mentioned here that you had just mentioned were events that were kind of taking place outside of Iran. Whether or not Iran was telling Israel we’re at war with you, that’s the leadership of Iran thinking externally or whether or not Donald Trump’s locked and loaded or the US is locked and loaded. That’s an external threat. But really the thing that was being kind of masked and was really beginning to come out during that time as well is an internal implosion of Iran. Number one, there’s a drought. There’s no water in Iran. I mean, they’re actually moving people by the thousands out of cities because there’s no water for the Iranian people. When you don’t have water for your people, you don’t even need an Israel or a United States or an enemy. You’ve got an enemy from within, and that’s your people.

Without water, you don’t have food. Food is an issue and scarce for the Iranian people. Then on top of that, you have an inflation rate that the Iranians are covering up. They’re saying it’s 30%. There are people who are saying it could be as much as 200 to 300% of an inflation rate with the Iranian currency. So now whatever food is available, you can’t even buy that food and there’s very little of it. So of course, the issues I think that probably we’re seeing were the outbursts of trying to cover up what was actually going on internally with the Ayatollahs and the leadership of Iran and that it’s crumbling from within. And this does play … Where this does have a big effect is the events that took place with the 12-day war with the US bombing those nuclear sites and incredibly strong sanctions on Iran have put them in a place where the Ayatollahs are on their knees.

And like you said, you even heard that there could be a chance that they’re escaped to Moscow. I’m sure after they saw what happened to Maduro, I’m sure they’re going, “We got to get out of here.” ASAP, I’m sure they’re looking at the events that are going on around them. And on top of that, I just read a report out of the Jerusalem Post that the Iranians have fallen in love with Benjamin Netanyahu, not with Donald Trump, not with America. In fact, they’re a bit weary of Americans and their kind of ambition to go into countries and do regime change, but they love Netanyahu, which is very, very fascinating. He’s actually one of the most popular persons in Iran residents have been telling the Khan news in Israel. And so Netanyahu’s name is very famous in Iran. So when you see what’s going on, the implosion seems to be happening not just from the outside.

Those seem like all hot air. What’s really going on is in the inside, Iran is crumbling because of its leadership and I think desperate, desperate for change. And that’s the thing is you’ve got a lot of Iranians, especially young Iranians who are hungry for freedom, who are hungry to be normal. They can’t even dance in the streets. They can’t be themselves because they’re under the regime of the Ayatollahs, these religious Ursian Muslim group that controls the country, not just the politics, but also the religious component. Everybody basically is forced to follow their way of living. And in doing so, you end up with a lot of angry people as well. So it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out because I know we’ve had instances like this before, but I think with the lack of water, the lack of food and the bad economy, I think it could push it along even further.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. And I think the things that you mentioned, Chris, there are great level Israel may not have known about that drought. It’s been a big deal. And of course, everybody can agree with that. But what you said sets up for my next question here, because I’d like to bring it back from a prophetical perspective of what this may mean because in here is the question, Persia of old pre-Islamic days was not an enemy of Israel. Islamic Iran that became an enemy of Israel, but prophetically, the alignment of Iran, which is Islamic Iran, with Russia and alignment with their goals of Turkey does present a picture of that northern team of nations that move down against Israel in the days that may not be all that far down the road. So you’ve got 10 nations, the thing being put together, as we talked about on Gaza, and those nations of Israel being actually put there by law with our help here, and then you’ve got Israel, but then you have Iran, which looks like maybe if they get rid of the Ayatollah, will they return to being a friend of Israel?

When you got prophecy over saying that, no, they don’t end up becoming a friend of Israel. They align with Russia and Turkey, the enemies of Israel. How do you see this meshing with what’s happening with what we know prophetically?

Chris Katulka:

I like that you brought up that prior to the revolution, Iran was actually a friend to Israel. Believe it or not, in fact, the Iranian people under the Palavi Shahs, they actually used to celebrate on October 29th, Cyrus the Great because of his tolerance for the people. And we all know that goes back to Ezra chapter one. So I’m glad that you brought that up, but it also begs the question, like you say, “Well, how does this all fit into prophecy?” And I was having a discussion with Joel Rosenberg a few years ago because especially with the Abraham Accords coming, it was interesting to begin to see some of the alignments that were taking place with Turkey and with Russia and other countries as well that are a part of that alliance of Gog and Magog. And it’s interesting because even Joel Rosenberg, who is a specialist on Ezekiel 38 and 39 would argue there are moments where some nations come into this alliance and some where they leave.

You can’t ever really see throughout time how these alliances form because at one minute you’ll have a country come in that’s in alliance with what’s going on with Ezekiel 38 and 39, and then all of a sudden one will leave and another one will come in. And it’s a very fascinating discussion because if Iran does change and they go back to a secular government, which is the wish of many, what does that, especially when you hear Iranians love Netanyahu, Well, how does that play out in understanding Ezekiel 38 and 39? And my mind goes back to the prophet Zechariah actually. At the very end, it says all nations will attack Israel. So at some point this alliance will take place, whether it be see events happen today or not with Iran, but at the end of the day, all nations is Israel.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. And Chris, that’s a great thing. I’ll give you a chance to add to that in the next segment when we go into it. But ladies and gentlemen, in the next segment, we’re going to, again, segue to now looking ahead into 2026 and said, based on all these things, what things should a number of people look for? What should we be watchful for in 2026? All right, Chris, if you’re ready, let’s shift and look into 2026. Okay? Can we? Because as a friend of Israel, your organization is a friend of Israel, and I’m not using it that perspective, but a friend of the Bible, a friend of Israel, a friend of God, as we look at scripture, our view of the world, our view of the Middle East, our view of what happening all over the world right now, be it, as you mentioned, Venezuela as something that happened there or some event, whatever it is, we look at all things as they unfold through the eyes of how God’s hand is working.

So I’d just like to break this out just a little bit here from that perspective. Just go here from an Israeli citizen perspective. In Israel, as we’ve talked before, there are secular Jews who care little for what’s going on. They’re there because they’re Jews perhaps. Then there are religious Jews, Orthodox type Jews who have a real strong bent on rebuilding the temple and temple worship, and they are on another track. So here, let me have a question. What is or should be, do you think will be the things that religious Jews should watch for in 2026 or say maybe are watching for in 2026? Just start there.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. The big one, I think that the desire for them to rebuild the temple, especially among the ultra Orthodox, always remains the same. How that will play out will be interesting. We’re seeing more and more activity of ultra Orthodox Jewish people finding the confidence to the Temple Mount to …

Sam Rohrer:

All right, Chris, at least you might be speaking into the ether at this moment because I cannot hear you. Sometimes that happens on live radio. Maybe see if Tim, we can get him back or I’m going to keep talking here for a little bit and see if we can get Chris back in. But one of the things that I was asking Chris at that point, and I brought up the matter of the temple, Mount. We’ve spent a lot of time on this program with the fact that the religious Jews in Israel, the Orthodox in particular, are really strongly believing that the return of Messiah, as they’re looking for Yeshua, we say already has come. We know has come. They’re looking and thinking that if they … Okay, Chris, I was filling in while you were there. I was just saying that many of the religious Jews think that they need to necessitate and push forward temple worship and sacrifice and all that because it helps to bring for them, as they say, the Messiah.

So anyways-

Chris Katulka:

Val, your operator, please hang up now.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. Now, I don’t want the operator got in there. I don’t want to talk to her. Sometimes this happens. So anyways, I’m going to go ahead. If we get Chris in, we’ll work on that. But that is a part of it, and that is a motivating factor from the standpoint of religious Jews. One of the things that many are pressing for, I know in Israel and looking for this year, is that they feel that during the peace plan as put forward with its deal to basically tell the Knesset and the leadership not to declare sovereignty over Judeo-Samaria, there are many who are saying, “We can’t go along with that. ” And many in Israel have said, recently, Israel’s saying, “Nobody’s going to tell us what to do. We’re going to do what we need to do. ” Chris, are you back there now?

Chris Katulka:

I’m here.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. I was just trying to fill a little bit about religious Jew activity and why they believe that temple worship and starting the sacrifices is important. Just answer that and then I’ll go and answer the question of what should the Messianic or Jew Christian, put that way, a Yeshua believing Jew, which is a Christian, and a true Gentile Christian be watching for an anticipation in 2026 regarding Israel and biblical prophecies. So work those together.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. Well, you can’t have a law without a sacrifice. The sacrifice, I think about one third of the laws of the book of Leviticus are about the sacrificial system. So for a religious Jewish person, ultra orthodox Jewish person, you’re eliminating a major portion of your laws if you don’t have some type of temple. The entire law system is almost built around the temple or tabernacle. So that’s the first question. The second one is, I think actually Messianic Jewish people in Israel are thinking number one about how the gospel can go forth in Israel. I think that’s their biggest thing, especially right now. That’s the most important thing that’s on their mind. And number two, I think they’re most concerned. I had mentioned in the previous segment that at some point all the nations turn against Israel. That’s what the Prophet Zachariah says. So I think that we’re seeing a rise of anti, not just against Jewish people, it’s also anti-Zionism, which is the idea that Israel shouldn’t even exist.

And I think this is not only something that Messianic Jewish people are concerned about, but secular Jewish people, ultra orthodox, religious Jewish people, any Israeli is saying, why in the world does everybody else get to be … Why do Americans get to have Americanism? And Italians get to have Italianism or whatever you want to call it or the British. Why do they get their system? But then Zionism, which is just the belief that the Jewish people have a right to exist in their ancient homeland, why don’t we get that? Why is that criticized? Because Zionism is hated all throughout the world. And I hate to say this, Sam, it’s becoming more increasingly attacked within our own circles as evangelical Christians on seeing it more and more and more, which makes it more and more diligent for you to be teaching truth, for the friends of Israel to be teaching biblical truth about Israel, the Messiah Jesus, and its role in God’s plan of redemption.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. With that, bear that in mind, we have a couple minutes left, but let me take it to this as well. Messianic believers are true Bible believers, first Christians. All right, so we’re putting that in just one to make sure everybody knows. There’s Gentile and they’re Jewish, but they’re believers that they believe in Yeshua, they’re Christians. Now, in Matthew 24, Jesus was looking ahead to the disciples and he gave a whole list of things about things that would be evident. I’m going to say in the days that we are alive now, because Israel has now been brought back into the line, a time clock has been started, and Jesus started with this first thing about don’t be deceived. Here’s my question, of what should all true believers be most watchful from a don’t be deceived perspective as we go into 2026?

Chris Katulka:

I think that exactly what I was mentioning. I watched the Turning Point USA event, and I was very sad to see how many Christians were clapping at people who were criticizing Israel. Christians, who claimed Christians who were criticizing Israel. I go on social media and I see Christians who are criticizing the Jewish people. It’s antisemitic. And then on top of that, they go one step further and they criticize Israel. It’s coming up more and more … The stalwart conservative evangelical Christian that loved and supported Israel is beginning to lose its influence, which means that we need to be diligent to be teaching about the importance of Israel and the Jewish people. This is a big area of deception right now that’s happening within the church. It’s a rise again of that old theology called replacement theology, that the church has replaced Israel and therefore Israel has no place in God’s plan of redemption.

And so that to me is, I think Jesus is against everything that he taught and everything that he believes about his own people and about his nation and about the influence that the nation is supposed to have in God’s ultimate plan for a blessing to all the families that heard. That’s why Jesus wept that Jerusalem didn’t believe. He said only if you include the peace that you believe the

Sam Rohrer:

People- Okay. And I’m going to step in, Chris, because you’re breaking up too much and we’re at the end of the program. Ladies and gentlemen, you get the idea about, is Christ really saying don’t be deceived. He’s given us a lot of signs there, Matthew 24, wars, rumors of wars and that kind of thing, but he starts with don’t be deceived. Can I put it this way? Don’t be deceived into believing that God, he’s changed his plan and he’s changed his purpose for fulfilled prophecy. Don’t be deceived about that. The word of God tells us exactly what will happen. God tells us what will take place. Don’t be deceived about who God is, who Jesus is, and what God’s plan for the final days will be. Don’t be deceived about those things, and there’s lots of efforts to try to distract us. Let’s not be distracted.

All right, with that, thanks for being with us today. And Chris Katulka, thank you so much for being with us today.