Threatening Israel: Iran, Now Turkey, Russia, and China

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Chris Katulka

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 4/15/26. 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 bimonthly emphasis on Israel, the Middle East and biblical prophecy. My returning guest today again is Chris Katulka. He is the Vice President of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. And he’s also host of their own program, The Friends of Israel Today Radio Program. Well, you know, now heading into the seventh week of war with Iran, seventh week. Hard to believe. Officially launched on Saturday, February 28th by decision of the United States followed immediately by coordinated attacks by Israel. The war on one hand appears, well, one hand, some would say it’s ready to launch to a new level. But according, believe it or not, the latest statement from President Trump to Fox News yesterday actually aired today is that he’s actually talking now in terms of the war is over.

Past tense. Well, all I can say is that the uncertainty continues, though the impacts thus far are far from uncertain. For instance, according to published records, I just ran these statistics just before the program. The costs already are staggering. For instance, for Israel, direct military costs right now are estimated to be at 11 and a half billion dollars. That’s US dollars, not  new shekels. Israel money, but 11.5 US dollars billion. Defense spending at an additional 7.2 billion. For the United States, direct budgetary costs are estimated right now to be at 18 billion with direct war expenditures at 11 and a half billion and an additional 200 billion in emergency spending requested by the Pentagon. Numbers just keep going up and up. In human life, for Israel, they’re officially stating that 14 have been killed, which is an amazingly small number. It’s amazing. Praise the Lord for that.

But 7,500 plus injured. Those are their numbers. For the US, 15 soldiers killed. Some reports indicating over 750 injured. Though US casualties may have been put into the term of classified, thus under reporting the real numbers. In Iran, it appears that damage exceeds $200 billion, their estimate, with between 3,500 and 7,500 people killed and over 26,000 injured. Amazing, isn’t it? War is just a terrible thing. So the costs are high and going higher. And the challenges that this is creating both internally within Israel and the US are also growing. The longer it goes, the greater the challenges. So today we’re going to discuss these things and the growing threat against Israel directly and indirectly to the United States, not just from Iran, but Russia, China, and now Turkey. And the title I’ve chosen to frame today’s conversation is this, Threatening Israel. Iran, now Turkey, Russia, and China.

And with that, Chris Katulka from Friends of Israel. Chris, thanks for being back with me today. Always a pleasure to have you on.

Chris Katulka:

Sam, thanks so much for having me again.

Sam Rohrer:

Chris, in terms of budgets and economic impacts and human life, it only grows by the day. I’ve shared just some of those right now, but internal challenges that may not get as much attention is also growing here in the United States, clearly, but let’s focus on Israel because that is your expertise we’re focusing on today. So if you were to identify the major challenges from your perspective, internally that are happening within Israel, take and identify, lay them out and just build them out a little bit so we get an idea of what’s taking place in Israel, because they’ve got a lot going on there. A lot.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. Perspective is everything, Sam. So when you’re thinking as an American about Israel, most Americans don’t want to see this war linger on for a long time. So when we’re talking about internal issues within Israel, it’s the complete opposite in the Jewish state. Over here in the US, how fast can we get out of this thing and what’s the best deliverables that we can get out of it? In Israel, Netanyahu is losing poll numbers right now because the US was going to go into a temporary ceasefire agreement or they were attempting to in Pakistan earlier or last week or this weekend, last weekend. So Netanyahu lost polling on that because that’s not the way that Israelis think. Israelis understand the war with Iran is a war of existence. It’s an existential crisis and they’ve lived with it since 1979. So when we’re talking about internal issues, the internal issues are not the same internal issues we’re dealing with.

It’s a completely different perspective. It’s a perspective of how are we going to deal with Iran long term? So of course, a lot of that is built around number one, the military. The military is already stretched. You’ll have something like 170,000 Israelis that are serving in the military right now. And these are young adults, 18 to 21 years old that are required to serve in the military. It’s their duty to be drafted into the military and they serve. They do an amazing job. It’s a very efficient military, but 170,000 isn’t enough. They have about 465,000 reservists. You are a reservist in Israel until I believe you’re about almost 40 years old. So once you get out of the military, you can go do whatever you want, but then you’re always on call in case something happens until you’re 40. And there’s about 465,000 reservists. The issue is this, is that the reservists are stretched.

And this is where the internal problems begin to take place because since October 7th, 2023, the reservists have been busy. They’ve been busy dealing with Hamas and Gaza. They’ve been busy dealing with Hezbollah and Lebanon, and now, of course, they’re dealing with the issue of Iran and the military is just stretched. And the reservists, the moment you begin to pull reservists out of their day-to-day activity, that means you’re pulling the workforce out as well. So that’s going to not only deal with the issue internally of we’re tired, we don’t want to go to war anymore, but also the issue of economics, because now you have a slimmer workforce in a country that’s at war. So that becomes an issue. Now, granted, the economics of Israel are holding up pretty strong. The Shekel continues to grow and strengthen. The economy has, I think, some analysts say the potential of a 3% increase in GDP in 2026.

So the economy of Israel is strong. Their stock market has grown. But internally, the real struggle, Sam, comes down to the ultra-orthodox issue of whether or not the ultra-orthodox, the ultra-religious Jewish people should serve in the military. This has always been a dividing issue within the government that has crippled the government over and over again for years because the ultra-orthodox don’t have to serve. They are exempt from serving in the military, and this frustrates a lot of the Israeli people. And so the problem is this, is Netanyahu’s government that he has that sides with him is mostly religious. And on the other end of it are the more secular-minded who want to see the ultra-orthodox serve. And I think we’ll continue this conversation because it’s really important for the internal component of what Israel’s going through right now.

Sam Rohrer:

All right. Excellent. Chris Katulka from Friends of Israel. Thanks for being with me on this and just setting this up. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us. Our theme today is Threatening Israel. Iran now Turkey in Russia and China, and we’re going to walk into that threat with Russia and China specifically in the next segment. Okay, Chris, in the last segment, you were concluding talking about internal challenges within Israel. I wanted to go there first, because you mentioned very clearly that the kind of challenges we’re having here in the United States, which are many, and that’s not the focus of our discussion today, are almost, I wouldn’t say opposite, but in some respects, they are significantly different than the way they are in Israel. And you were concluding by going to the matter of the draft and the children, basically of the Orthodox, the religious segment, which are very, very important to the parliamentary majority or the group that’s necessary to normal form a government there in Israel.

And so complete that thought first and then we’ll move on to the Russia-China threat.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah, this isn’t an issue of a liberal or a conservative issue in Israel. This actually just deals with the fact that the vast majority of Israelis want the ultra-orthodox to serve in the military, but the problem is Netanyahu’s government that holds his government together are primarily ultra-orthodox. So there’s Netanyahu, who I believe sits in the middle here and probably would go either way on a decision, but he’s got to cater to his government right now, which only creates more consternation within the state of Israel right now. So it’s a big issue and something they’ve been dealing with for a very long time in Israel.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. Just one quick, and then we need to move on, but is the majority rule the Netanyahu government threatened right now because of this issue?

Chris Katulka:

It’s always been threatened. It’s actually, I call it issue because there’s so many conservatives that are in the opposition parties right now to Netanyahu because they have an issue over this draft bill that he won’t seem to want to push through. And so the reason Netanyahu lost a couple of years ago to Naphtali Bennett and Yahir Lapid, which was an interesting combination of people, the reason he lost to them was over this issue. And so it continues to be a thorn in his flesh, but it just is a very old problem in Israel that keeps growing. And the reason it keeps growing, Sam, is because the individuals that are actually having kids in Israel and growing the Israeli population are the ultra-orthodox. And so they’re the ones having kids and then what happens, they become exempt. But more and more ultra-orthodox are joining the military and doing their conscription, but at the same time, there’s still plenty out there that can help.

And they’re saying, “We need help right now. Now’s the time to join.”

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, excellent. And we could go further, but we’ll just let that sit there for right now. Let’s go to Russia, China, because well before the US decided to officially attack Iran on February 28, and well before the buildup of the largest presentation of US forces around Iran, and that was since 2003 during the Iraqi Freedom Initiative. On this program, other guests like J.R. McGee is with me regularly, and I noted that back at that point, we said that Iran was no longer standing alone, but was part of an increasingly significant coalition, including Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan, and others that we said even years ago, “Watch it because it’s developing.” All right. Now, that being the case, we’ve been saying that for a long time, but now it appears that because of all the effort and the war against Iran, that this coalition I just mentioned, to me, appears to be crystallizing and strengthening regardless of whether Israeli, US or Western intelligence thought it would or anything else.

And as I’ve seen that anyway, it brings a lot into mind. So let’s go there. Let’s go to Russia first. Would you first comment on the historic relationship of Israel with Russia from the past to the present, and then walk into this matter where Russia just recently threatened Israel if they would continue to bomb Iran, particularly in relationship to a port that’s on the Russian Iranian borders. Anyway, so take that.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. Russia was actually a friend of Israel in 1948 and 1949 when they declared their independence. Russia had early on a good relationship with the state of Israel, and I believe it was primarily for this reason, because they thought that they would join … It wasn’t even Russia at that time, it was the Soviet Union. They would join in a communistic effort within the Middle East. But then in the 1950s and ’60s, what happens is something fascinating is that Russia starts providing the arms to the Arab countries that were attacking Israel, and Israel was increasingly moving more toward the West than toward the East. And I just want to make sure that the listeners know how important and strategic God’s placement of his people in the land of Israel is. Israel sits in the middle of the world. That’s what Ezekiel five: five says. And so they literally sit in the seam of the East and the West.

And so they’ve always dealt with this issue of what side do we take? Are we taking the East side or are we taking the West side here? And I think Israel definitely early, early on in its existence, took the right path forward, even though it had very socialist, even communist underpinnings as a country in the early foundings of the state of Israel, even prior to its founding. So the Kibwitsim, the Moshavs, these communal groups, they all come out of Eastern Europe and Russia, and these are Jewish people that immigrated to the holy land, to Israel. And so they were really the founders of the state here in many ways. And so what’s fascinating though is that when they get there, what happens is they begin to lean toward not Russia, but they begin to lean toward the West. And that’s when Russia ultimately begins to move away from Israel.

They’ve had good relationships over the years, but the big one, of course, is in the 1990s or so, Russia wouldn’t let Jewish people leave their country and when they wanted to move to Israel and immigrate to Israel. And it was actually through US relations with Russia that would ultimately get them to free the Jewish people to move to Israel. And today, Russian and Israel is practically like the Spanish of America. I’ve learned a lot of Russian while I’m in Israel because there’s so many Russians that live there, but the relationship is tense and it’s tense because of this growing … Well, you were talking about this growing allegiance between an alliance between Iran, Russia, and China. And again, all of those things are … It’s not just that they’re against Israel, Sam, it’s that they’re against the West and Israel is tied to the West.

It’s tied to Europe and it’s tied to mostly the United States of America. And so that kind of puts them in a tough position, especially locationally where they are. That’s why I’m saying if they’re on the scene, they’re on the very far end of our Western world to be right there next to these countries, and they are the ones who ultimately are constantly being influenced by these areas as well.

And so yes, Russia did threaten Israel, and I think later on we’re going to talk about other threats that have been coming against Israel, but this is more than just even physical threats that are coming from Russia. It’s also economic threats as well, because again, China and Russia, as Israel sits in the seam of the world, they are heavily influenced by Chinese. I was just reading that the Chinese were celebrating … The Chinese workers are celebrating the Chinese New Year in Israel, and they don’t want to leave Israel and go back to China. These Chinese workers want to stay in Israel because they make more money there than they do back in China, and they’re willing to live through the bombs in order to stay there. Chinese influence in Israeli infrastructure and all that, it’s there because they sit in that seam of the world.

And so again, Russia and China have a great influence with Israel, but there is a threat that’s coming where Russia is not scared to push back against Israel, and it’s been that way for a while.

Sam Rohrer:

Well, just a couple of days ago, the Kremlin labeled US-Israel efforts against Iran as, in their words, unprovoked aggression just today. Today, literally the 15th, there was a meeting with President Xi of China and with Russian people, and Russia assured China that they could compensate for a shortage of oil from Iran, which China needs. And you mentioned the economic in reality, the economic goes really deep in this because from the United States perspective, they would like to take over control of Iran’s oil because if you control that plus Venezuela, plus what we have in North America, we can put the screws on China, but China needs it. And Russia’s a deliverer of oil. So Russia says, “Hey, fine, we can do it and we can give it to you over land.” But the Chinese have just told the United States yesterday, “Don’t stop our oil tankers and we’re going to Iran because we’re going to start using our naval ships to escort our tankers and you don’t want to tackle with us.” So up and up it goes.

Here’s my question to you. How do you see the increasing support of Russia and China working together impacting the hope of Israel, which in regard to Iran was they would like to completely neutralize their power?

Chris Katulka:

Again, I know Iran was controlled by radical prophetic Ayatollahs who were bent on Israel’s destruction because of their Messianic view of how the world would ultimately bring in their Messianic ruler. That was their mentality. Theirs is a religious ideology. That’s not the same ideology though. That’s what makes this an interesting relationship here between Iran, Russia, and China, is that Russia and China’s influence in Israel is vastly different. And I don’t think they’re necessarily looking to destroy Israel at all. I think they’re looking to gain influence in Israel. And I think that’s the bigger issue, is the influence component in that area of the world. Russia has been trying to get into the Middle East forever, Sam, and they’ve poured so much blood, sweat, and tears into Syria and look what happened to Syria. And so this isn’t just about Israel, I believe. I believe for Russia and China, it’s about more influence in the world than it is just trying to eliminate Israel.

Sam Rohrer:

And Christ, I agree with you a hundred percent. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us because we’re going to talk about this part of it in the last segment, but that influence, that desire to be involved in the Middle East by Russia and others, we actually read about that from the pages of scripture and we’ll talk about that in the last segment. Stay with us. We can talk about the Turkey threat next. Well, as we enter our second half of the program here today, I just want to just let you know that my guest today is Chris Katulka. If you’re just turning in, you may not have heard that. He’s the vice president of North American Ministries of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. And he also hosts his own friends of the Israel Today radio program, but they have a website at Israelmyglory.com or. Org rathermyglory.org and they have their magazine that is Israel My Glory that I think that you could get access, a subscription perhaps to it there.

Anyways, I just give that and I’ll give that to you once again. But from way back, now we’re talking about threats to Israel. That’s the theme today, threatening Israel. Iran, obviously that’s the engagement that’s generating this discussion, but we talked about Russia and China that as they come into alignment and they have both within the last days threatened, either threatened the United States, threatened Israel directly, but that is coming and that’s a change. But now there’s a new one because way back to the Hamas attack against Israel, out of which has sprung all of the Palestinian and the Hamas issue, as we all know, Turkey, the nation of Turkey has made itself clear. They’ve been making it clear that they oppose Israel’s efforts against the Palestinians. That is not something new, but it’s coming up again now because here’s the problem as we’ve talked about, though still a member of NATO, which is obviously weaker now than it was, and that’s a whole different discussion, and they’ve leaned toward the West, and the West has helped to make them strong, and they are a very strong military power.

Turkey’s allegiances have been increasingly to the East and away from the West. Now, in just the last couple of days, Turkey’s President Erdogan has adopted a posture of hard pragmatism, and he’s using the regional chaos to advance their own Turkey’s own territorial claims while acting as a power broker. And this recent emergent, in my opinion, coming at nearly the exact timing as threats by Russia and China toward Israel and the United States in regard to Iran, I don’t think is a coincidence. Now, Chris, as I asked you to do in the last segment regarding Israel’s historical relationship to Russia, would you do the same thing right now to Turkey because Turkey’s an old country, Israel’s an old country, and every player that we’re talking about right now have been around for a long time.

Chris Katulka:

Yeah. They’re old country, Sam, but they actually are, they’ve been reshaped. And what I mean by that is yes, the Israelis have an ancient history to Israel and the Turkish people have an ancient history to their country. But remember, prior to 1917, which was the end of World War I, that whole area was the Ottoman Empire. So this whole … There’s a lot of history baked into all of these areas here that we’re talking about. And what’s fascinating is when Israel actually became its own independent country in 1948 and declared independence, Turkey was behind them. Turkey would ultimately, after that transition, like you said, to the West over time, they would end up joining NATO.

They were a huge help to Israel early on, and they were mostly secular, but it isn’t until President Erdogan comes along as the new president, where he has more of a bent toward the east. And by the east, I mean, in his faith, in his religion as a Muslim country. Turkey was the first Muslim country to approve Israel as a state, but when he comes along, he begins to apply some pressures. And really the breaking point that shifted for him happened in 2010 when Israel was pushing back against Hamas and Gaza after many rockets had been launched over to Israel from Hamas and Gaza, that some Turkish individuals joined one of their flotillas that came down from Turkey to get to Gaza and the Israeli Navy had to board that flotilla and get it out of its waters. This really upset President Erdogan and would change the dynamic and relationship with them subtly.

It should also be noted that the most popular location that Israelis would go on vacation over the decades was Turkey. Turkey and Israel’s relationships were not just a good partnership, but also economically, Israelis would go to Turkey all the time. In fact, I was talking recently with one of the deputies for the tourism industry in Israel, because a lot of people would fly even today, Turkish airlines from the US to Istanbul, and then Istanbul down to Tel Aviv. Since they’ve cut that off, since I believe 2023, Turkey cut that relationship off, they’ve lost almost a billion dollars in revenue because of that relationship between Turkey and Israel and what Erdogan’s doing to it. And so we’re seeing the relationship crumble and the more that Israel applies pressure to Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, the more you can see Erdogan ramp up his rhetoric toward Israel.

Do I think that he’ll send troops down to Gaza? I lean more toward no. I don’t think that he would do that, at least right now. I don’t think he would do that. But I do think he’s amping up his rhetoric in order to show that he is more in alignment with Iran than he is with Israel right now, which also puts them at odds. I think it’s beginning to put Turkey more and more at odds with the West, and that puts them in a very difficult situation because the West has leaned heavily into Turkey, as you were mentioning that earlier. And now we’re seeing, again, it’s almost as if as the Ayatollahs crumble in Iran, we’re almost seeing Erdogan come back up and he’s not saying death to Israel, but you can see his actions and his rhetoric almost seem to be taking over the roles of what the Ayatollahs were saying for many decades now.

Sam Rohrer:

Well, in addition to that, Erdogan has stated in the last years that he views himself and Turkey, the rightful claim is to the renewal of the Ottoman empire, and he has evidenced his ambition to bring that forward. And it appears to me from what I have seen, about a week ago, Turkish troops actually joined with Iranian troops to help squash an invasion of the Kurds from the north into China because Turkeys worked against the Kurds. And all this appears to me that that joint military engagement has actually moved the relationship of Turkey and Iran forward. So to me, it almost seems like that this recent threat by Erdogan is almost undeniably that Turkey wants to get into the middle of this action.

Chris Katulka:

And you also have to know too is that Turkey’s trying to make sure that … One of the things that has been a good relationship between Turkey and Iran is their border control. They’ve been able to maintain a proper border. They had some economic ties, not many, but some economic ties and some energy that they would transfer back and forth, but they had strict border control. And what’s interesting is that I think Turkey is very concerned for a Ukraine situation where all of a sudden people start pouring over into Poland, into other areas of Europe. I think Turkey’s looking and saying, “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t want to see all of these people pour over into our country.” So instead of waiting for something to happen, let’s be proactive about it.

Sam Rohrer:

Well, here’s another question for you. I agree with you on that, but Erdogan, in his recent comments last couple of days, he actually specifically talked about the fact that Turkish troops might be necessary to fight for the protection of everything on other turf, referring to something that Turkey has done before, actually threatening Turkish presence perhaps in Syria or beyond. Now, something of that flavor would be a big deal to Israel. Any comment on that if that were to take place?

Chris Katulka:

Are you asking if they go down into Gaza

Sam Rohrer:

Or have to go

Chris Katulka:

To

Sam Rohrer:

Syria? Yeah. Well, no, he’d said Syria, but earlier they had threatened to send troops down into Hamas to help them. He pulled off of that. That was about 18 months ago or two years maybe in that neighborhood. So he has talked though in terms of Turkish military and troops outside of Turkey, which then I think from an Israel perspective would have to say, “Oh man, we can’t get involved in that.

Chris Katulka:

” Yeah. The only reason why I don’t think that, I think he’s just a lot of hot air coming out of his mouth is because if he sends troops down there, that’s going to absolutely frustrate what’s going on with the board of peace and trying to bring some stability to Gaza, which is probably going to be another episode for us to do in the future. But I know that Trump and his administration, along with other countries, are working right now to try to bring some stabilization to Gaza through the international stabilization force, the ISF. So if Turkey’s going to go down there and do something, that’s going to throw the Trump administration into a frenzy and others as well, because it only creates more chaos along with other partners, I think. Again, remember, Israel has relationships with Bahrain and with UAE and with even the Saudis now, we’re going to talk about them in a second.

All of that would create a chaos that I don’t think Erdogan wants to get himself into. I think it’s hot air, but I do think that, again, Iran and Turkey, the area where they often were at conflict with one another was the way that they wanted to influence the Middle East. Iran wanted to be in Syria, Turkey wanted to be in Syria. Both of these empires, the Persian empire wanted, or the Iranian empire, the Republic wanted to expand. So did the Turkish empire, and that put them at odds, but not so much anymore.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, stay with us when we come back. We’re going to, again, put together pieces. We’re going to bring in Saudi Arabia. We’re going to bring in China, I mean, not China as much, but the Israel, they’re right in the middle of it, and biblical prophecy. We might find this interesting. Well, as we go into our final segment, again, this theme, this program emphasis, which we’ve done almost since the very time we began this program many, many years ago. Someone who’s now gone home from the Lord, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, was with us and we’ve determined to focus on this part of the world, Israel, Middle East, and do it regularly and frequently every other month. The reason being was because we said, “Well, God focuses his attention there.” Jerusalem is in the scripture is called God’s city. The Jewish people are God’s people.

Scripture refers to it as that. And through them, God’s plan of redemption was worked out. So we said, “Well, if God puts that much attention on it, we’re going to try to with the best of our ability.” So that’s why we’ve done that. So I just share that with you. And I’m glad to have my guest today, Chris Katulkavs. He’s the VP of North American Ministries, the Friends of Israel, gospel ministry with me again. And I mentioned I’ll give you his website, once more israelmyglory.com. You can find information there if you are so prompted. Now, Chris, as we go into this, it’s really not possible to honestly discuss anything about Israel or the Middle East without doing so through the lens of biblical prophecy, which is what I just kind of referred to. And one of the major problems I have with US military strategy, as well as Israel, and the rest of the countries of the world, they don’t even show up on the board, but is that all of them do their analyzing, their strategizing, and their planning for economics or planning for military security, absent any fear of God or consideration of biblical prophecy, because that’s the way of the world, but not us.

And both Israel and the United States are relying more on sophisticated military technology and now AI through a company called Palantir and others to frankly choose which targets to bomb, which people to kill and where they are, and they place their confidence in the wisdom of man. Ultimately though, we know God will prove them all to be deficient and the entire governments of the world will be brought to justice on God’s terms on the plains of Megiddo in Israel, and we know that because that’s what the Bible says. So whereas we know the events that will happen, and we’re able to look at what’s happening right now through the lens of scripture. And it’s amazing, frankly, I think what we see. But one of those things, Chris, just one prong of it is that in increasing discussion, and if people you were listening were to Google this, you’ll find it.

It’s mentioned a number of places now, but some weeks ago, Bibi Netanyahu, in an interview, talked about the shutting of the Strait of Hormuz, which it has, and obviously the oil impact that’s having, but he said they had a solution already in mind, and that was to build a pipeline from Saudi Arabia into Israel to the Port of Haifa and avoid the Gulf altogether. Now, just days ago, when I began to look for other things, I noted this and began to take note that now they’re, although not official, there are communications developing that indicate that Saudi Arabia is saying, “Yeah, that just might be a good idea and may actually be way down the road on it. ” Here’s my point. Would you share what you know about this and how may this fit in perfectly, perhaps into prophetical events yet to unfold that we know from scripture?

Yeah,

Chris Katulka:

And this is a great question. I think, number one, I think it’s not just the Saudis, but I think it’s all the Gulf states are going to be questioning and anybody who has to send their energy through a straight or narrow passageway that’s controlled by radicals, they’re going to start questioning whether or not this is a good longterm strategy for them to grow economically. So this pipeline is, I think, a very smart idea, but what’s amazing is that one of the nations involved in this strategy is Israel working alongside Saudi Arabia, which would also include, you can’t just go from Saudi to Israel, you got to go through Jordan. So that would be a relationship between those three countries, all for the purpose as well of where are they going to send that energy? Well, Israel has its own energy that it can send out, and now the Saudis are going to be going through Israel, and all of that is designed to help not only Europe, but also India and other huge countries.

And so really Israel, once again, is becoming the center of the world. And I think if you want to look biblically at this, is that Israel has God always placed Israel at the center of the world for a reason, to draw the nation’s eyes to this one tiny country. That’s what this whole thing is all about. All the scriptures are all about God sending his son, the Jewish king, to bring salvation to the whole world, and why did God choose that land to begin with? You had mentioned Megiddo earlier. Megiddo is an ancient, ancient, ancient city that goes back to the time of the Canaanites that actually was a toll road that connected the African continent to the Persian continent, to the Asian continent, and to Europe. Israel was a land bridge. And if you controlled Megiddo where the highway narrowed the most, you controlled international trade.

And so God wasn’t choosing the land of Israel because of international trade and economics and money. He chose Israel because that’s where the world went and the world traversed through all the time. And so the world is still traversing through Israel and God is drawing the eyes of the world to this tiny state that has less than eight million people in it. Why? Because that’s where Jesus is coming back. And what we’re seeing is old friends like Russia and Turkey are becoming enemies of Israel, and we’re seeing old enemies becoming friends of Israel now. And I don’t know how to put all those pieces together biblically, but I do know that God continues to draw the eyes of the world to Israel and Israel remains not only an economic force in the world, but also now it’s becoming a powerhouse in energy and relationships with other people.

Sam Rohrer:

This

Chris Katulka:

Could be an opportunity too, because it says in Ezekiel chapter 38, it talks about the fact that when Israel gets attacked by its neighbors, it’s basically living in safety, unwalled villages. We’re going to catch them by surprise. Well, here’s a relationship with the Saudis where they’re going to have a pipeline running right in there. Assets, huge assets running right into Israel out of Haifa. Could that be a situation from Ezekiel 38? It could be.

But ultimately, Sam, I think the bigger issue is this, all eyes still remain on the center of the world for a reason. God’s people are back in the land and they are pushing back their enemies, but at the same time, they’re also, I believe God is using them in order to draw all eyes to where he is going to ultimately return one day. So again, Israel is no low rung country here with very little influence. No, Israel remains a very, very important part of what God is doing in the world to draw his eyes, I believe, to what he’s going to accomplish in his redemptive plan.

Sam Rohrer:

And Chris, I think that is just perfect. I’ll just throw one thing in here, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have time to get into it, but we know biblically that the nations of Russia and Turkey and Iran and others come down against Israel and the Bible says they come down to take a spoil. That means something of value, something that would enhance their efforts, effort to control. That’s why you go to war. You want to control more. Well, just think about that. If Israel becomes the central port of energy, they already have their gas fields in the Mediterranean great value, huge fields. If they also become the point of which they are the spigot to the world for oil, now you’ve got something coming together. So ladies and gentlemen, again, interpreting things through our own eyes is only so far. Through the lens of scripture, things really come together.

So we just put that on the table at Chris Katulka from Friends of Israel. Thank you so much for being with me. Always a pleasure. Their website again, Israelmyglory.org.