Inside Israel Today: God’s Hand at Work

Inside Israel Today: God’s Hand at Work

August 13, 2025

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Chris Katulka

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 8/13/25. 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:

Well, hello and welcome to this Wednesday edition of Stand In the Gap Today, and it’s also our bimonthly focus on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. Now today, Chris Katulka, vice President of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and a host of his own program, their program. The Friends of Israel Today radio program will join me again. Chris is also a Bible teacher and a writer for Israel, my Glory magazine, which many of you may get. And he’s also author of the book, Israel, always Now, as I said, on Monday’s program just two days ago this week in which we’re in now would continue to unfold with some unexpected, some expected, many unexpected, I guess I think is what I said, of likely historic events, some political, some weather related, some economic, much of a Middle East and Israel focused.

Now, today’s only Wednesday as we know, and just since Monday, big things have occurred. I’m going to imagine just a couple of those to keep us aware of how much and many converging things that the scripture talks about are happening before our eyes. We just need to keep our eyes open, not to be fearful, not at all. The Lord tells us about that. Don’t be perplexed, but be aware. So I just mentioned a couple of those things. For instance, just since Monday there have been more major earthquakes and earthquake warnings are existing right now around the world. They’ve literally shaken the earth and these are continuing. Donald Trump has nationalized the Washington DC Police called in the National Guard and declared a deliberation day for that city with the threat that it will remove from the city, all homeless people, drug pushers, and any other law breakers with indications.

Just keep your eye on it that after this other major cities may be next. Now also as of today, the Epstein files, that issue not going away and it should not go away until it’s dealt with, but files are still being protected and downplayed. Just this morning as an example, Ghislaine Maxwell, the focus of it is being granted further release from prison now to house arrest as the administration attempts to reframe her image and imprisonment in the Epstein sex trafficking criminal activity and moving her from lead abuser of young girls in trafficking to that of an innocent victim. Watch that unfold. This is not insignificant, and I could go on including the theater a lot factoring into this of the meeting of our president and Vladimir Putin regarding some deal that appears to have maybe have been made in the past. This is an announcement of it in Ukraine and that’s scheduled for this Friday. And I mentioned just these few, but you get the point. But moving from these things to Israel and our focus today, Chris Katulka from Friends of Israel, and I have chosen to title today’s conversation with this title Inside Israel Today, God’s Hand at Work. And that’s a point I just want to always emphasize, never take our eyes off of it. God is at work and we’re just talking about a piece of it. And with that, welcome back to the program Chris. Glad to have you back,

Chris Katulka:

Sam, great to have you. Thanks for having me back.

Sam Rohrer:

Yep, you’re welcome. Chris, before we get into the meat of today’s program, I’d like for you to share just a bit again about the Friends of Israel Ministry. You did that last time just briefly, but here’s the question. What is the core mission of Friends of Israel today? And is it the same as when Friends of Israel was originally founded?

Chris Katulka:

Excellent. The core mission, thankfully you asked this, is that at Friends of Israel, we have a passion for God’s word that has driven our organization and those that partner with us to have compassion for God’s chosen people. And it was the reason we were founded back in 1938 prior to the Holocaust, as Christians we’re gathering together in Philadelphia and saying, we have a passion for God’s word and we see what’s going on with the Jewish people in Eastern Europe and we have to have compassion on them. And so they acted and started raising funds among churches and believers to liberate Jewish people into freedom that were under Hitler’s hand. But I love that you’ve titled this inside Israel today, God’s Hand at Work and even earlier with all of the events that are taking place globally from the earthquakes to what’s going on in DC to Israel, all of it, you can begin to get weary.

And as you were saying, don’t fear. You have to be aware, you have to be awake of what’s going on. And I think you kind of set the pace for what this entire discussion is going to be about is, Hey look, we’re going to be talking about some serious things that are going on in Israel and around the world with antisemitism, but it’s the same heart that our founders at Friends of Israel had, which was understanding this God is sovereignly at work, God is sovereignly in control of all of these things. Our founders at Friends of Israel believed it, and because of their confidence in God’s sovereignty and their confidence in God’s word, they took action. They didn’t just sit by and wait idly for something to happen. They took action. And I think that’s where we need to be as Christians today with all the things you highlighted and what we’re going to be talking about today. Remember, God is sovereignly in control and it’s also important for us to take action in light of that.

Sam Rohrer:

Absolutely. And that ties right in with our focus as we tell people stand in the gap. What for truth, what truth, God’s truth all fits together and expand upon the Friends of Israel mission just a little bit, and that is this, it says, friends of Israel, I’ve read several articles today that have mentioned that phrase, friends of Israel, they weren’t talking about you as a ministry, they were just talking about friends of Israel. And here’s my question, does Friends of Israel, your ministry primarily seek, I should say, to develop more Gentiles who would become friends of Israel and Jewish people or to persuade more Jewish people and those in Israel perhaps that there are people out there who are friends of Israel?

Chris Katulka:

Amen. You answered the question. Thank you very much, I appreciate it. That’s exactly what Friends of Israel does. We in both ways. Number one, we want our Jewish friends to know that we are their friends no matter what through the highs and lows, through whether or not the world is loving what Israel’s doing or hating what Israel’s doing, we will stand with them. As antisemitism is on the rise, we will stand with them. They can count on us to be their friend. And through that, a part of our mission is to provide physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people. So not only are we providing physical comfort, like for instance, we built bomb shelters in Israel. We help in with a pro-life organization in Israel. We help with a lot of humanitarian aids over there and Magan David Dome, which is their Red Cross.

But we also provide spiritual comfort, which is the hope of the gospel. That’s the part of being a friend of Israel. It’s one of the most important parts of being a friend of Israel. And so that’s one side. The other side is encouraging, mobilizing and equipping the church to be a friend of Israel, to love the Jewish people. And we have so many programs and resources at Friends of Israel that are constantly equipping and mobilizing the body of the Messiah, Jesus, to get active, to show love to the Jewish people and to be a testimony of God’s faithfulness to them. And that’s what we seek to do at the Friends of Israel. So yes, friends to Gentiles that love the Jewish people and friends to the Jewish people as well.

Sam Rohrer:

Alright, and that’s excellent, Chris. Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re just joining us inside Israel today, God’s work at hand is our theme. Chris Katulka, vice President for Friends of Israel North America is my guest today. Next segment, stay with us. We’re going to go to Israel. Talk about the Gaza and the rise of the two states solution. Well, we all remember October 7th, right? But long before that date, when the enemies of Israel attacked unsuspecting citizens of Israel, I’m talking about October 7th, the indoctrination of young people, primarily Palestinian children in the Gaza was also known and its impact was very predictable. And in fact, it was predicted since October seven, Israel declared war. We know with attacks by Israel against the, and I’m saying that because it is ultimately and then it becomes anti-Israel political and it’s anti-military leadership, Hamas leadership then inside Gaza. So Hamas comes along and does what they do and manifested itself October seven.

Now that war, as we know continues and it’s grown to include not just a moss, but as we know attempting to weaken the forces of Hezbollah and other proxy of Iran to the north of Israel, and then all the involvement with Iran in the last months. Then last Friday, Israel’s security cabinet voted to approve a proposal from Prime Minister Netanyahu to conquer Gaza City and effectively control the entire Gaza. And I can say without doubt, this decision is going to produce some other events because it followed threats from other nations, including Turkey. It brings the Middle East and Israel again, I think into the center stage of the world’s attention for a number of reasons. We’ll talk about another one at the end of the program that has done that. But this one is bound to do that. Chris, let me go to you on this.

With the rise of the focus on Gaza has come the renewed rise of a very anti-Israel, I’m going to say global attitude, an anti-Israel global attitude encompassing the concept of forcing a two-state solution often referred to. But what they’re trying to do is not new, but it is to recognize a separate independent Palestinian state. So that’s the two state solution. And while I say while the approach is not new, it’s certainly gaining more speed with, well, the European Union last September, much of the west, the West as compared to the East. But the West endorsing the idea most recently, including France, the uk, Canada, and now just some days ago, Australia with an official vote of the United Nations scheduled for this very purpose to condemn Israel and support a two states, try to force that in scheduled for September. Now here’s my question from an internal perspective within the various sects of Judaism, and I’m going to say that you and I have talked in the last program about you’ve that orthodox, you’ve got secular, you’ve got conservative Jews, it’s a mishmash of people within Israel. How do the Jewish people actually view recognizing a Palestinian state within the Middle East?

Chris Katulka:

I’ve mentioned this on your program before, that if you get two rabbis in a room, you get three opinions. That’s a Jewish saying, and it’s very hard to get Israelis to agree on something. And all you got to do is look at their party system. Sam, they’ve got, I mean, if you don’t like the pension system in Israel, they have had this before. A pension party rises up and they can, if the left people vote for them, they can come to be a part of the government. It’s not like the US where there’s Democrats and Republicans. There’s more than 20 parties in Israel and they’re all tiny parties, but they make up coalitions. And so opinions matter, and there’s a lot of opinions, but there’s actually a unifying theme in Israel that has been forged since October 7th, prior to October 7th. I think I could pretty confidently tell you that 60% of Israelis wanted to see a Palestinian state or some type of authority that the Palestinians would be able to govern their people independently from Israel.

I could tell you pretty confidently and conservatively, 60% of Israelis believe that 40% didn’t want to see a Palestinian state. Today, since October 7th, the country is basically unified. I think it’s more than 90% now, that don’t want to see a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have shown themselves and played their cards on what a future Palestinian state would look like as a result of not only October 7th, but the following, the war that has gone on, the ability for Hamas to sit there and know it’s lost the war. I mean, key leaders have been exterminated by the IDF, literally, there’s nothing left with Hamas, and yet they still continue to forge a path for war against Israel. When Israelis look at what it’s cost them over the last two years, they don’t even want to think about a Palestinian state. But what is ironic in all of this is that as the world is watching what’s going on the eu, or I should say certain European countries like France and then of course uk, Canada, Australia, these western democracies, I don’t think they’re just embracing a Palestinian state.

I actually think what they’re doing, if you listen to them, they’re leveraging a Palestinian state to get Israel to stop the war. If you don’t stop in Gaza Israel, then we’re going to promote a Palestinian state. And so what does that do? That means they’re leveraging this threat that they’re going to embrace a Palestinian state, which it seems it continues to move forward. And the sad part is, if you went to any of these countries today and you said, well, what does the Palestinian state, what does that even mean? What are the borders of a Palestinian state? Who’s leaving the Palestinian state? I can tell you this right now. I just read a report that said that the former prime minister of a Palestinian authority, not even Hamas, the ones in the West Bank, the ruling party in the West Bank, that former prime Minister celebrated October 7th as a major momentum shift for the Palestinian struggle.

He endorsed October 7th. Is this what Macron in France or the UK Prime Minister Starmer or Kearney in Canada, is this what they are embracing as a future Palestinian state? I’ll tell you that right now. There are no other options. It’s not like there’s this moderate group of Palestinian leaders that are saying, we’re up to the task. We’re up to the task. No, the Palestinian people in 2005 voted for Hamas to rule them. They didn’t force their way in. They voted them in. And not just in Gaza, Sam in the West Bank. The West Bank voted for Hamas. The reason why the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Hamas is in Gaza is because there was a civil war that happened between the Palestinians. And fortunately for the West Bank, the Palestinian authority was able to get a hold of it. But Hamas law or Hamas won Gaza. That’s the reason their separation there. But they were voted in. What are they expecting for the future Palestinian state?

Sam Rohrer:

Well see, Chris, you’re laying out the case very, very well. And that, see, that’s part of the narrative of truth that is not a part of the public media narrative. And I want to go there in the final moments of this segment, and that is this, the primary narrative right now that’s being used to drive the hostility towards Israel in this Gaza matter is that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and intentionally starving the people and the children. Now, the IDF and I dispute this charge and then talk about all the food that they have been sending and all that kind of thing. Hamas has been keeping it to themselves. But here’s the question. The world wants to condemn Israel and make them look like the immoral intruders overlooking what happened on October 7th and everything you just talked about. What can you share about this battle? I’m going to say the battle of narratives that are taking place right now, which one will prevail? Because whoever prevails on this one will prevail, I think in the matter of a Palestinian state.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, the global opinion. That’s what matters big time. And when the war began in October 7th, a friend of mine sent me a video because I don’t know if you remember when the October 7th war began and Israel went in, they were documenting everything. I mean, they were sharing videos of tunnels and what they were finding and ammunitions and arms and all of it. They were documenting it. And a friend of mine messaged me an article and said, do you think Israel’s overdoing it by sharing all of this stuff? It might hurt them in the public relations world. They might lose that battle. And I responded to him and said, you know what, Sonny? If Israel shared nothing, people would say they don’t share anything. They’ll lose in the public relations battle in the world opinion. Oh, they’re sharing too much. They’re going to lose if they share too much.

I’m going to tell you something, Sam, that’s just a reality of what I’ve been dealing with in 20 years of Jewish ministry and in leading trips to Israel and engaging with Israelis and officials in Israel. Israel can never win the public opinion against Palestinians who promote the occupation, if you will, the occupation. It’s always the David Goliath story. As much as Israel shows what they do and how they do it and how ethical they are, it will never win in the court of public opinion, which will always shape the mentality of a two state solution. Even though it’s as antiquated and 1990s as possible. It will never, ever, I believe Israel will never win that battle. They won’t. When the Palestinians after 1967 and 1973 realize they can’t fight Israel, they realize they can fight them in one place, and that’s the court of public opinion. So everything is about pictures. Everything is about sharing a narrative of we’re suffering in Israel is the one doing it, and the reality is one of the greatest assets to the Palestinians is not the world, it’s Israel. They’ve been done the most for the Palestinians throughout time. So anyway, I think that’s really important to see as you look at the history of the Palestinian people.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, Chris, that’s a great history. Thanks for sharing that. Ladies and gentlemen, just a quick thought. Why don’t we ever hear anything about the fact that the United Nations funded the building of all of the tunnels that were exposed that made the attack on October 7th, possibly United Nations funded all of that. Yep, that’s right. Why isn’t that a part of the narrative? It’s because of what Chris just said. So when we come back, stay with us, we’re going to go and say, in light of all this, antisemitism rises. Why is that? Alright, Chris, before we get into this right now, you have a website that you’d like to share with our listeners worship, should they go?

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, I would encourage your listeners to get a one year free subscription to our award-winning Christian magazine, Israel, my Glory, by going to Israel my glory.org, that’s Israel my glory.org. And there, if they’ve never subscribed to our magazine, which looks at what’s going on in Israel from a biblical perspective, it’s been in publications since 1942 with readers all around the world, they can get a one year free subscription at six issues in either print or in a digital version. I encourage the digital because then you get the last 50 years of Israel, my glory, right at your fingertips. So again, that’s Israel my glory org.

Sam Rohrer:

Alright, excellent. Thank you so much. Alright, now let’s continue on where we kind of left off the last segment, and that is, as you said, the way it is, Israel can do no right and regardless of what they say, they in the global opinion tend to be the bad guys. And we’re seeing that work out in the Gaza circumstance. Now that being the case along with that is just the fact that there is a, I used the word before Hamas was first anti-God and the enemies of Israel anti-God. Then you may say it’s more anti-Israel than anti-God, but probably not. But it comes in that order. But connected closely with the Gaza discussion is the fact that Turkeys leaders, Erdogan of Turkey radical Muslim leader that would like to see a resurrection of the Ottoman Empire with himself as a leader, he has called for Muslim nations to arise in literal military fashion, literally arise militarily against Israel if, or I’m going to say when, because I think it will happen when the IDF moves in to take final control of the entire Gaza.

Now, reports are indicating at least some that I’ve read the last some days, that both Egypt to the South and Turkey to the North are not just using words, but they’re actually readying forces with Egypt, with quite a force of tanks and things to the south. Now here’s my question. What additional information can you share about Turkey’s threat and throw Egypt into that and what may happen in the next days and weeks since it does not look like Israel will wait long after the security cabinet voted to go ahead? And I suspect from a political perspective that they probably want to do it before the UN gathers to meet, to vote against them in early September.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, I definitely think you’re right. I think Israel wants to act soon and act as fast as possible because again, I believe, and I think Netanyahu is right on this, Netanyahu wants to make sure that two things are accomplished. The remaining hostages, whether dead or alive or removed from Gaza and that Hamas is stamped out there are still, according to the numbers, as many as 20 hostages and as many as 15,000 Hamas sympathizers or invested in the military, the militia arm of Hamas that are still present in Gaza. And so this is a serious issue for Israel and they can’t dance around the problem anymore. They have to go in and deal with it once and for all. And the problem is, is that the Israelis either want all the hostages out if you talk to some of them, or they want the Hamas to be stamped out. And so Netanyahu I think is trying to accomplish both. I think he believes, and I think he’s right, you have to take both at the same time. They go hand in hand with one another, and I believe he’s trying to do that prior to the UN resolution that they’ll put forward Turkey. On the other hand, Turkey did this earlier, if you remember, not long after the war started

Against Gaza, Turkey, the prime Minister, Erdogan had threatened that they would actually send troops down. This would be an interesting thing because from my recollection, Turkey is a part of the NATO allies. Now, Israel’s not in NATO, but to be a part of NATO is to be a part of a coalition of countries, I should say, that agree with a Western way of thinking. And whether or not the Western countries want to see a Palestinian S say or not, it’s a different thing to attack your ally Israel. And so over the decades, Erdogan has taken Turkey from a secular country that actually most people don’t realize this, but the number one country that Israelis visited as tourists was Turkey. Over the years, Turkey, you could always find Israelis visiting the beaches and the towns and cities of Turkey. That’s not been so much since October 7th, but Turkey has been threatening and finding alliances with Iran and Russia in threatening Israel.

I’m not too sure about the Egyptian component because Egypt has a peace deal with Israel and share security relationships with Israel. So whether or not they have the diplomatic component that’s important, but even security details, security relationships and sharing security information because quite honestly, Egypt and Israel share a lot of common threats. The Sinai is a breeding ground for Al-Qaeda and for other terrorist organizations. And so they’re working really hard to keep the Palestinians in Gaza so they don’t bleed out into the Sinai Peninsula and to also keep the Sinai Peninsula secure. So attacking Israel would almost work against what I believe is kind of a security relationship that they have with one another. But again, I think that what Turkey is threatening is exactly the same leverage that the Western countries are using by saying, we’re going to accept the Palestinian state if you don’t do what we say, it’s all leveraging the Israelis and trying to corner them in a game of chess to get out of Gaza. And instead of getting out of Gaza, Netanyahu is doing the opposite. He wants to go into Gaza to end this. And I just think it’s very fitting, Sam.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, and I think it is

Chris Katulka:

Marks the 20th anniversary of going into Gaza.

Sam Rohrer:

Yeah, I mean, I think ladies and gentlemen, we just need to be aware of this because these pieces are moving. Let’s shift gears here for the last part of this segment, Chris, and that is when there are Muslim nations like Turkey and the others around Iran and all that that have, because the Quran says to eliminate Israel, they have no right to be, there’s that part that always produces a straight up hatred for Israel. That’s part of the reality of where things are over there yet does appear, not appear. There is a rising antisemitism even here in America where many otherwise political conservatives and some religious leaders are actually coming to the defense of Hamas and not standing with Israel. And it’s something worth noting. Have you noted that? And what are your comment? What do you think?

Chris Katulka:

Oh, it’s not only the fact that you’re seeing antisemitism rising around the world, but actually I think this is very apropos to the people who are listening to this radio program is that we’re seeing more and more Christians, those who claim to be Christians, that are calling that saying that supporting Israel is over. We’re not doing this anymore. And it’s gotten to the point where it’s not just, Hey, look, you can disagree with the way that the Israeli government manages how it’s fighting war. No problem, that’s normal. Israelis do that right now. That’s fine. But we’re talking about the fact that Christians are actually going so far as to say, Hey, you know what? This covenant that God made with Israel is done. So why in the world would we continue to support a secular state from a biblical perspective? It’s over. And then they go even further.

Some of them that you can find trolling on social media and they’re saying it’s not even the fact that it’s Israel, the Jews are the problem. And I’ve got actually a substack host that was sharing the fact that Candace Owens was saying Support for Israel is over. She had a video that said, support for Israel is over. I believe she might’ve even been talking to Tucker Carlson at the time, and I think she’s talking about it from a Christian perspective. And this person picked up on what she said, and she said, every Jew must consciously choose whether or not they will be defined by someone else. Every Jew is capable of rejecting the demonic reality behind the Talmud. And she went on and said, Judaism is the worship of money, power, and the blood of Christian children. And she went on and on and on.

This isn’t just disagreeing with how a government defends itself against its enemies. I mean, it’s trickling into the national conversation among Christians about Jewish people and bringing up fam. Well, I’m talking about some classical antisemitism here that sounds like it’s not only just coming out of Nazi propaganda, but coming out of the medieval era talking about those blood libels when they used to say they would, the Jews would kill the Christian children and use their blood during Passover. Those kind of lies that build an army against the Jewish people. You’re seeing more and more that are actually angry at not only Israel, but the Jewish people. And I think I’ve mentioned this earlier to the point, and I’m not saying it’s just Christians. This is just antisemitism that what happens in Israel affects a Jewish person’s life in America. Why Jewish people in America might not have Israeli citizenship or a Jewish person’s life in Europe or South America or Australia, that they’re just walking to the store or they’re going to their class on college campus and they’re physically attacked for being Jewish, had nothing to do with Israel because they’re wearing a kippah on their head.

I just had a colleague who went to Italy, Sam, and she stood with other Jewish kids who were going over there to learn about antisemitism. So she’s a Bible believing Christian works with friends of Israel. She went over with other Jewish kids to learn about antisemitism in Italy, and a kid had to cover his head with his kippah on because he kept getting attacked by Italians over there. He actually documented it. What does a kid from America or Canada wearing a kippah in Italy have to do with what’s going on in Israel? That is the kind of antisemitism that we’re seeing rise up. And it is demonic. It is demonic.

Sam Rohrer:

Yes, it is, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve talked about it on this program before. God is not done with Israel. There is a church. The church age is here. That was an inserted in time issue. God himself did that, but God did not get rid of Israel. Now that’s the heart of it, and we’ll come back. We’re going to touch on other issue that’s coming to the front in Israel. Well, before we go into our final segment here, just want to thank all of you who have joined us either at the beginning or somewhere through the program. Thanks for being on board today. If you have never written to us, I encourage you to do that. If God blesses you, has blessed you through this program in any way, and I know he has for many because I’ve heard from people literally all over the world, but it’s good for us to know that.

And you may think, oh, well, who am I? Well, you’re very important, and it’s helpful for us to know that. It’s also an important thing that if you’re being blessed, you do three things. One, you pray for us very, very important. Number two, you consider sharing with us financially that is also very important. And then thirdly, if you’re being blessed, take a little initiative and share of the program with a friend. Because if you have a friend and you talk about truth and you share things as friends do, they also, I can assure you, if you’re being blessed with this program, they will also. So just take that moment and do those three things. Pray for us, partner financially with us, and then share the knowledge of this program with others. Okay, now let’s go here. Chris, we talked about the changes and what’s happening with Gaza and all we just talked about in the last segment is vaulting Israel back into the center stage of the world because it is going to happen.

It’s happening. But there was another event just a bit over a week ago. Many Jews went up to the Temple Mount and they prayed, and then that’s an unexpected thing. They have not been allowed to do that, and there’ve been some changes. I’m going to say primarily from October 7th, I think, where some things have been happening. But a group went up and they prayed on the Temple Mount. And from that unprecedented event, there was an official call. There was some interesting graphics that came out of that by some Jewish leaders who said, the time to rebuild the temple is now. So that is raising an item that many Christians have followed for a long time and say, wow, rebuild the temple. Now, that was followed closely in timing there with the focus on sacrificing of a red heifer and the complete observance of the ritual killing and turning that heifer to ashes as a way to sanctify the items of temple that would be built.

And that red heifer, after they had done that officially, they came out and they said, well, it was only a rehearsal, that it was a rehearsal because they said it was not actually qualified red heifer because they found either two or three black hairs on that, otherwise totally red haired heifer. But I have heard some leaders who have said, well, no, they disagree with that claim, and they think in fact that that heifer was qualified because some other reasons, and therefore ashes are indeed available. Now, whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But the point is the discussion of a rebuilt temple is further ahead now than it’s ever been from a Jewish perspective within Israel. Chris, who is pushing hardest to restart temple mount worship in a rebuilt temple. And the most important question is why is it so important?

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, the greatest advocate for a temple mount or for a rebuilt temple is definitely a certain sex of the Orthodox group, not all of them. Again, it’s important to know that just like we have people who interpret the Bible certain ways, there are interpretations of how rabbis be the religious texts, whether it’s from the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, or from their religious texts like the Mishna, the Talmud, when they read these, some of them go, it’s not our job to rebuild the temple. The Messiah rebuilds the temple, so stay out of it where other ones go, no, no, no. We can usher in the Messiah coming by building the temple. So not all of the, I don’t want to lump all of the ultra orthodox together into one particular group. So the ones who do want to see it, though many of the ture that they’re called hasim, the Ultra Orthodox, they want to see a temple rebuilt, and they’ve invested already over the decades, millions and millions of dollars into actually building a menorah that when you all come to Israel with me, I want you all to come to Israel with me.

When you come, I’ll take you to the merah that they’re going to use in a future temple. That’s what they say. They have the incense altar built. They have all of the high priestly garments designed and ready to go. They’ve got the lavers ready to go. They’ve got pretty much everything in order, in order to have all of the worship elements in place for a temple. They have a cornerstone cut and ready to go. But recently, the thing to understand about the Temple Mount is that Jewish people have not actually been given permission to go up and pray on top of the Temple Mount. That area where the dome of the rock is the golden dome, and where even more importantly, one of the largest mosques in the world is called the ska mosque. That mosque and that dome are where Muslims worship and Muslims don’t want Jews up there worshiping.

They don’t even like it. Really. When Christians come up and walk around, there’s only certain times of the day that you can do that. Well, recently, because the government of Israel has become more and more Orthodox, more and more religious, they have been pushing that, Hey, we live in a pluralistic society. There’re Christians, there are Muslims, there are Drews Jewish people. You name it. There shouldn’t be a ban for praying in areas, especially when we’re the ones that have kind of given permission for the Muslims to maintain control over that area. They maintained what’s called status quo after the 1967 war when Israel could have demolished at that moment, the dump of the rock and built a temple up there, but they didn’t. They maintained status quo and Jordanian organization runs the temple Mount, the complex up top, but recently the Ultra Orthodox have been pushing for that, and they have been going up and praying.

I’ve been a part of one of those prayer walks last fall. I was over there and I was going up onto the Temple Mount, and I was with a bunch of Orthodox and religious Jewish people, and they went up and prayed up on top of the Temple mountain. They had special security to do it. It is quite dangerous too. The Muslims don’t want Jewish people up there praying, and so ultimately, with the Red Heifer and all the components put in place, yes, they’ve already been building altars, the Jewish people and practicing sacrifices and doing all those things. But the main driver of all of it, how all the pieces will come together is ultimately driven by the Orthodox, the common Israeli that might be secular or even practicing. They’re not thinking on a day-to-day basis about rebuilding the temple, but there are groups of biblically minded, honestly, they’re not believers, but they have the Torah in mind that understand that the vast majority of the laws that Jewish people are called to follow, have to do with a temple, and so we have to rebuild a temple, and that’s the way they think, and they’re ready to rebuild that temple right now if they get the chance.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, well, we’re just about out of time. We could go much further into this, but is the group that’s pushing hardest for this, do they believe that the building of the temple is necessary for what they’re viewing as the first coming of a Messiah, whereas we believe there’ll be a second coming, or do they believe that their building of that is a trigger for the Messiah to come?

Chris Katulka:

Again, it’s all about interpretation, Sam. So yeah, I think they see it as a trigger for the Messiah to come, and then if they build it or he will come. It all depends on interpretation, but then again, like I said, there’s a whole other group that will go. It’s not your job to do that. In fact, there’s a whole group of Orthodox Jews that don’t even want Jewish people in Israel right now because it was supposed to be the Messiah that brings the Jewish people back to Israel, not the movement of the Zionistic movement that’s happened over the last 150 years or so. So even they go, Israel shouldn’t even be touched. So again, it all depends on interpretation and how you understand it, but as you can see, there’s plenty of funds and motivation to make it happen, and they continue to push forward and to make it an agenda that’s actually worked its way right up into the government of Israel to esse it. As you see these religious parties,

Sam Rohrer:

And Chris, great information. Thank you so much. That’s been very, very helpful. You’ve gotten a lot in, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s program. Again, as you know, we could go so much further, so much deeper on all of these issues, but wanted to give an overview and a perspective, and today guest, Chris Katulka, vice President of Friends of Israel with me and Chris. Thank you so very, very much. Chat website for a copy of their magazine, Israel my glory.org. You can find it and for us, stand in the gap radio.com or on your app, stand in the Gap, get the program, send it along to a friend.