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Dec. 5, 2024 - Jim Bakker Show
58:25
The Jim Bakker Show with Barry and Batya Segal
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Week One: Pastor Jim's Sabbatical 00:03:06
Hello and welcome to the Jim Baker Family Show, coming to you from the village of Morningside, USA, nestled in the beautiful Ozark Mountains.
Today, our special guests are the founders of Vision for Israel and the host of Roots and Reflections, Barry and Fatya Sego.
Our co-host today is Mondo DeLa Vega.
And now, here's your host, Pastor Ricky Baker.
Hallelujah.
Hello, you're watching Jim Baker's PTL Television Network.
It's an honor you chose to tune in with us today.
Pastor Jim Baker just started his sabbatical.
You know, this is the first one in about five years he's taken.
I don't know why.
He's taken five years off.
So Mondo finally said he can have a week off.
Yeah, just one week.
Just one week, yeah.
Not more than one week.
He wanted to, but Mondo said he can only have one.
You know, it's amazing because you got a man that he loves to work.
He loves to be here with you.
But then again, his body's telling something different.
It says rest and recover.
But it reminds me of that scripture, right?
Is trust, delight, and commit and rest in the Lord.
I think a lot of Christians don't understand what the word rest means because we feel like we're always going.
We always got to do something.
We got to be in ministry of something.
And in the middle of the night, you get called to do a visitation somewhere or you get, you know, it's like the other day, I left here about six o'clock.
By the time I got home, my wife called me and says, I need you to stop by and visit a friend because he needs to talk to a pastor.
Can you stop by and talk and minister?
Well, I knew what that meant, meaning I better block off three or four hours in the evening, but that's the life of a minister, right?
That's right.
You keep going and never stops.
And we love being with you.
And Pastor Jim loves being with you.
But there's times where your body has to rest.
That's right.
He wrote a book, Pastor Jim Baker.
He wrote a book called The Three Big Mountain Movers.
I don't know if any of you have ever seen it before.
It's a great book.
I'd recommend getting it.
But the first keys, he said, it's trust, delight, and commit.
One thing that he left out of the book, though, was rest.
I realized that was that generation.
They just didn't believe in that.
But hey, you know what?
It's catching up.
He's resting right now.
He's recovering well.
And he wants us to tell you that he loves you.
And he wants to thank you for your continued support of the PTL Television Network.
You know, today we have some very exciting guests from Israel with us.
We have Barry and Batya Segal with us.
You know, they started Vision for Israel in 1994.
This is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of the impoverished Israelites, Jews, Arabs, minority groups, and refugees there in Israel.
And I want to thank you guys for traveling all the way here to be with us.
Shalom.
Thank you.
Shalom, shalom.
God bless you guys.
So this is going to be the common question.
You guys live in Israel.
So what is it like?
Moment of Truth 00:15:16
What's the culture like now since October 7th?
How has the environment shifted being there in Israel?
I think it's been very challenging.
Definitely, it has shaken the entire nation, whether Jewish or Arab alike.
You know, I think the soul of the people has been afflicted with a hurt, a deep emotional hurt inside that this unexpected attack on October 7th, 2023, which killed over 1,200 Israelis, not just Jews, but also Arabs that were there working down in the south or assisting many of the agricultural areas and then foreigners as well.
So I think, you know, it's something that has been a great burden for the nation of Israel to carry, of which, you know, in the wider perspective of belief and faith in God, I believe God is up to something and doing open heart surgery.
But nevertheless, it hurts and it affects all of our families, even our own.
That's right.
You know, I've heard this, Amanda.
We watch a lot of the mainstream media.
We see a lot of what they have to say.
But that is one thing that we are not hearing is that, you know, we just assumed it was all Jewish people, all Jewish individuals who died that day of that horrific massacre.
But you're saying that there were other groups there working.
It wasn't just the Jews who passed away that day.
Well, I think there's something that's unknown to the common news viewer because the news seems to shut it out.
But many of the Arab communities like Rahat, a Bedouin city in the south in the Negev, which was targeted also or affected by the barrage of Iranian missiles, maybe intentionally, not intentionally, or even Arab villages, Israeli Arab villages on the northern border of Israel are oftentimes suffering rocket attacks just like the Jewish people.
And the other thing that most people don't realize is that the Israeli military, the IDF, also is not just entirely all Jewish.
We have Arab soldiers, Arab commanders, Druze, and very loyal.
So we are one nation of Jewish and Arab peoples together, not just the enemies and Christians.
Amen.
Now, you have a show on the PTL Television Network.
Your show is called Roots and Reflections.
What a beautiful name.
And you air on the PTL network Mondays at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and Saturdays at 12:30 and at 6 p.m.
So if someone's watching the PTL Television Network and Roots and Reflections pops up, I'll ask you, what are some of the things they can expect to hear?
What are some of the main topics you talk about on your show?
This really Barry's baby.
Come on, he's been doing it.
He's been doing it.
He's been doing it for so many years.
And basically, it's for those that haven't come to Israel yet.
And I think it's basically to give them a taste and a flavor of what Israel is all about with food and with the culture and with archaeology.
And I actually feature with some of my cooking there, which I love very much to cook.
And I love to eat.
All right, come and visit.
We'll come and visit.
Here we go.
You know, one of the things that people don't get to see is Israel.
And if you ever have an opportunity, I always tell people it's beautiful to go to Europe and whatnot, but there's nothing like visiting Israel.
There's nothing like the Holy Land.
Everything that you can think of is one that is in that area.
If you want to experience the desert, it's there.
If you want to experience the sea is right there.
That's right.
But the most important part is to understand that the Bible comes to life.
Exactly.
And we forget that the Holy Land is still there.
It's not just a story that we heard as kids.
I got to ask you something.
The first time people show up to Israel, why do they feel so emotional the moment they stare to Jerusalem?
I honestly think that it's connecting them to the people that live in the land.
And I think, as you said, the fact that people come to Israel, especially if you're a born-again believer, I think it brings the Bible into life.
You really see the places where Jesus, Yeshua, was walking.
You see the places that are mentioned in the Bible.
It's amazing.
It's like it's a history of thousands of years that you see, well, this place actually exists.
Oh, this is where Jesus was walking.
Oh, these are the streets where he was.
This is where he was born.
And so I think people feel connected because it's like you go to visit a good friend.
You go into their home, you feel right at home.
And I think a lot of believers are telling us that this is how they feel is like when they go, when they just arrive, they said, we don't want to, we just don't feel like we want to go back because we feel like, yeah, exactly.
Ricky, you remember we were there 2014 with Rabbi Jonathan Kahn.
That's right.
We spent about a month.
And one of my favorite stories that I love to tell people is when I got lost.
I got lost in Israel and Ricky and I and the crew, we had cell phones, but the reception wasn't great.
And I remember you and dad and mom and Claire and other people were trying to meet up because I was on the other side of Jerusalem and I was filming some B-roll and whatnot.
When I finished, I try to call Ricky and asking them, where are you guys?
What gate are you guys on?
Because when you go to Jerusalem, it's the location is by gates.
The Lionsgate and what other gates?
The Joshua Gate?
The Jews gate.
So I'm on the phone with Ricky and the reception is not so good.
And I'm asking them, where are you guys?
No idea where I was.
No idea.
Yet he tells me, I'm at this gate.
Well, I heard the Lion's Gate.
So you went there?
I went on the other side of the city.
Yeah, I walked around.
By the time, now you have to understand the people that were leading the tour told me by a certain time, you don't want to be on the Palestinian side because then it's going to be, you know, it's going to get dangerous.
Well, they were rioting during that time as well because some legislation that was passed.
So they were rioting during that time.
And Mondo found himself right in the middle of it.
Right in the middle.
And I'm walking.
And I'm telling this story for a reason because I'm walking and I'm lost and I'm praying and I'm not scared, but I'm praying, asking God, I need a sense of direction because I'm lost and nobody's telling me where to go.
And people are screaming at me and they're saying, F Israel.
And it just, it gets weird.
I look up and I see Via de la Rosa.
I read that in the Bible.
Finally, I don't know why, but I felt hope for a moment and I knew where I needed to go.
All that to say that the Bible is real.
The Bible is so real that when you walk the streets of Jerusalem, you can sense the spirit of God all over Jerusalem, knowing that what you read as a little boy, what you read as a little girl comes to life once you taste, once you walk, once you breathe, once you step out of that airplane and you land in the Holy Land, you are not the same when you come back.
And I can tell you that if you want to watch or experience, go to the website, jimbakershow.com.
I think we're available there.
And it's hours and hours of documentary and footage of places that you only read in the Bible, yet we show it to you.
That's right.
And it's all hosted by Rabbi Jonathan Khan as well.
He was the host for that tour.
It was an amazing time.
You know, a lot of people know this, that, you know, the Jewish culture, not everyone has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
But you two have.
I want to hear about your experience.
What brought you to Jesus?
Have you always been Christians?
And, you know, kind of what was that faith journey like for you to, you know, to find Yeshua?
Ladies, friends.
Yeah, I was born in Jerusalem, actually, to a religious Orthodox family.
And I was a person that always was searching for truth and for reasons for our life in this and purpose for our life in this earth.
And I was going through, you know, we were talking about Israel and the history of Israel.
So there was the first war that I experienced as a young teenager.
It was the Six-Day War in 1967.
And then afterwards, it was the Yom Kippur War, which was in 1973 in October.
And for me, it was like seeing that God is actually still alive and God is still performing great miracles for the people of Israel.
And I wanted to know more about God, but I didn't like the Orthodox lifestyle because I didn't think that that brings me closer to God.
And so I was searching a lot.
And, you know, at some point in my life, it was actually early in my life.
I was invited to do some work at a printing place and I was handed a manuscript.
And when I got the manuscript, I realized it was Hebrew New Testament.
After they trained me to work on the computer, I was supposed to be typesetting and editing the New Testament.
And I said, why am I doing that?
I'm Jewish and I am not supposed to be typesetting and helping promote the New Testament.
It's a Bible for the Christians.
But the more I read the New Testament in Hebrew, I realized how Jewish of a book it was.
And I knew that Yeshua, Jesus, was actually a Jewish Messiah.
And I said, so how come me as a Jewish person do not know much about Jesus, Yeshua?
And I started asking God questions.
I started researching more.
And, you know, I always say that in my head, it made sense that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.
But in my heart, it was very hard for me to receive him.
It took me about nine months of doing more research and a lot of prayer and a lot of questions.
And then one night I just cried out to God and I said, God, if you are real and Jesus is the true Messiah, I want to follow him.
And I saw a vision of an angel of the Lord that night.
And the next morning, I was going to work as usual.
When I finished my work, I was standing in a bus-stop and the same angel that appeared to me in the night after I prayed appeared to me in life.
And it was in Jerusalem, not so far from where I was born, actually.
And so I got goosebumps, and the rest is history.
I really received, you know, at that moment I received Yeshua.
I knew without a doubt that Yeshua is my personal Messiah.
And since then, there was a lot of things happening, but a lot of good things, a lot of challenges, a lot of victories.
And I just praise God for the life that He's giving me because I'm a new creation and I love it.
I just love the Lord with all my heart.
And I just think the amazing testimony of me thinking for myself, understanding that Yeshua, Jesus, can be our Jewish Messiah.
And, well, you know, I had a lot of struggling with the thought of all the history of Christianity against the Jews, not understanding why the Jews were persecuted for so many generations.
And, you know, meanwhile, I was reading also about Christians that loved the Jewish people.
One of them was Corey Tenboom, her testimony, and how her family were ready to lay down their own lives to save Jewish people.
And I realized that there are different kinds of Christians.
So, you know, somehow God put it all together, showed me a big picture of what he's all about.
And, you know, thank God that was over 40 years ago.
Barry, have you always been a believer in Jesus, Barry?
No, I was actually, unlike Batia, who was born in Jerusalem to an Orthodox Jewish family, I was raised in a city called Motown, Detroit.
And so when I was, you know, I would say it's a very typical suburban conservative Jewish home that I grew up in.
But at the age of 10, things started changing in my life.
I had a love for music.
My father loved music, didn't know how to sing a note and tune, but he loved music.
And I just kind of gravitated towards that.
So I remember I was taken to jazz clubs with my older brother at the time.
And at the age of 13, we celebrate a bar mitzvah, when you're confirmed under the sun under the law of Moses.
And so that's when a boy becomes a man by Jewish tradition.
So at my bar mitzvah, I decided I'm going to take all the money that's given as gifts, and I'm going to go out and buy my first electric guitar, big amplifier, and join a rock and roll band.
All right.
The dream was real.
So by the age of 14, that's exactly what I did.
At the same time, my hair grew down past my shoulders.
I was playing in a rock band throughout junior high school and high school.
And we were trying to climb the ladder of success.
Well, during that time, my family moved from Detroit, the home of soul music, to Cleveland, the home of rock and roll.
And so they were very turbulent years, as you know, in the late 60s, early 70s.
People were in a journey looking for truth, looking for whatever they thought.
And I became a professing atheist, an anarchist.
I became a hippie, yippy, Woodstock generation, pot-smoking, Jewish, guitar-playing Jew in a rock and roll band.
Oh, man.
That's a long title.
So one of my guitar teachers, I never read the New Testament, didn't go to a church.
I grew up in the synagogue, at least through my bar mitzvah and visiting on the high holidays, the major feast.
But I didn't really, I was just devoid of any interest in God.
And I was swept in to that generation of those who were seeking for truth.
A lot of the songs written then still are so popular now because it reflects people searching.
And so this guitar player who played with a famous band out of California ended up moving to Cleveland and became my guitar teacher.
And I'll never forget that he had long black hair, long flowing beard, and a beautiful electric guitar over his body.
A Seed Planted 00:11:02
And he looked the way Jesus would look like with an electric guitar.
But every song he sang, everything that he played, all reflected something to do about Jesus.
And it just was a seed that was being planted.
And I thought, well, I'm the student.
He's the master.
Who am I to question him?
Well, make a long story short, on October May 1st, 1971, fighting in police battles in Washington, D.C., and trying to shut down the government of the United States of America, I was arrested, and I was put in an arena with thousands, hundreds of other people waiting for legal aid to come and free us.
And while I was there, I had this thought.
I looked around and I said, well, if communism isn't the answer, and socialism isn't the answer, and capitalism isn't the answer, what is the answer?
I want to know.
And all of a sudden, a still small voice in my ear said, Jesus has made everything perfect.
And when I heard those words inside, I began to cry.
Well, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.
And about two months later, leaving a Jewish delicatessen one night carrying a corned beef sandwich with Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing, so tasty but not kosher, I was going home to practice the guitar 11 o'clock at night.
And I came to a street corner where usually there were cars and people walking dogs.
And it's as if the angels of God had cordoned off the whole place and insulated and isolated the area.
And I felt this heaviness come over me and the power of God came upon me and I began to weep.
And I fell on my knees in front of this big oak tree.
I'll never forget.
And as I was there, I was in my right mind.
I was just going home to practice guitar late at night.
An audible voice spoke to me and said, Barry, you should have more faith than this.
Audible, not inside my ear, from outside, three times those exact words in English.
And I instantly, without ever having read scripture, having visited any kind of fellowship, I instantly understood that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah.
Wow.
And over the next 20 to 30 minutes, I started bargaining with God, thinking I could hold on to something.
And it took about 20 minutes where I finally yielded everything.
I mean, it was like the angels in heaven in the balcony of Oliver Twist saying anything.
And I just said, God, I'll give you anything.
But I didn't want to give him guitar and music.
About 20 minutes later, I just said, God, if I never pick up a guitar again, never sing another song, my life is yours.
And that's when things broke.
Wow.
So I didn't know where to go, what to do.
A few months later, I was invited by another Jewish guy who was a bass player for another band who got saved in the Jesus movement out in California.
Invited me to a church, Pentecostal church, with an Italian pastor who ran back and forth.
And I got zapped by not Frank Zappa, but Jehovah Zappa that night by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And about two weeks later, I was invited to a conference in Cleveland where a Bible teacher was teaching about Israel and Bible prophecy, and his name's Derek Prince.
Oh, wow.
And that night, with my long hair and everything, Derek just prayed, and we became like father and son from that day forward.
And because of him, I moved to Israel.
Some years later, he asked me to move in with them.
I was a single guy.
I moved to Israel, made aliyah to Jerusalem in 1981, August of 1981.
And I knew that Jerusalem was my calling according to scripture in Zachariah chapter 8, verse 7 and 8.
So it says about, I will save my people in the east and the west, and they shall come back to Jerusalem and I will be their God.
That was God's calling on my life.
Amen.
Now from the written word.
How did you and Batya meet?
Wow.
So right when he came to Israel.
Were you both believers in Israel whenever you guys met?
Okay.
So he moved to Israel in 1981.
And at that time, I was having Bible studies and music.
The Lord was just giving me, inspiring me to write music and songs to scriptures in the Bible.
So we had a small group of believers.
We were gathering together every Saturday night.
And one Saturday night he showed up.
And the rest is history.
We just started, you know, doing music together, actually.
That's how we began.
And then he invited me to pray with Derek and Ruth because he lived with them.
And things were happening.
And after a few years, we got married.
Amen.
What a powerful testimony, man.
It just shows you that, you know, the Jewish community around the world, they are coming and seeing Christ Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
That's a huge part of this ministry, friends.
We want to make sure that everybody has the ability to hear the message that Jesus Christ is their Messiah.
Jesus Christ is, you know, the Savior of this world.
He came, he put himself subject to our human flesh and desires.
He succumbed to none of it.
He lived a perfect life, yet he died on a cross for our sins.
You know what a beautiful thing.
When I think about your testimony, I think about where we are right now in history because we are seeing protests like never before.
That's right.
Why do you think that the spirit behind the protest still there?
What is it about a generation?
Because your generation was pretty radical in the 60s.
Yet this generation is more defiant than it was in the 60s.
What's behind the spirit of defiance that will say, I'm going to tear everything out so I can make a statement?
I don't think it's much different than when I was a teenager and going through my rebellious period in life.
I think today it's even more intense.
We see a greater amount of spiritual warfare throughout the world, obviously, including an increase in anti-Semitism.
But I think it's exactly what 2 Timothy talks about, the end times and seducing spirits and people becoming unthankful.
We've become, for the most part, especially in the Western world, very self-indulgent, self-centered, and it increases all the social problems.
And I think also behind it are two rather huge principalities and powers, that being witchcraft and the spirit of Antichrist.
And they work in tandem.
They are called by different names in different generations and different empires of this day.
And I think, you know, here in America, which I have a privilege of both being a U.S. citizen and Israeli citizen and being able to vote in the elections here, I think the society is being shaken to the core.
I think the norms that we thought in the past are not holding anymore.
And that's true for our own people, the Jewish people, and I think it's true for every people group.
So I do believe that the devil knows his time is coming to an end, so he's increasing the influence of the demonic in this day and age.
That's right.
You know, you made a good statement.
You're able to vote in both elections.
So how do you feel about the election of President-elect Donald Trump?
How do you think it'll affect our relationship with Israel as a whole, nation to nation?
Well, first of all, just to let you both know that this was the most expensive election I've ever voted in for the U.S. President.
We flew from Tel Aviv to Berlin, Berlin to Munich, Munich to Charlotte, Charlotte heading to Dallas because I have a Texas residency in terms of voting.
And the plane was diverted with about 80 other planes, and they were running out of fuel, so they sent us to Oklahoma City, whereupon near midnight, we rented a car and started driving towards Texas and stopped overnight.
And about seven hours later, I was at the voting booth the very first thing I did passing into the state of Texas.
Now, to answer your question, and it's a privilege, you know, for me as a human being and as being American-born to have voted in the United States elections as well as in Israel, too.
But we're very pleased and happy about the results.
There have been different polls which are kind of reverse as to the Jewish community in the United States, but I would say roughly between 70 to 85 percent of the Israeli Jewish community in Israel wanted to see President-elect Donald Trump make it through the election successfully.
And it's a little bit different than we saw amongst the Jewish community here in the United States.
I think part of that is because Israel doesn't take the centerpiece place of some of the Jewish community in America.
And also there's this traditional understanding: well, once I was a Democrat, my grandparents were Democrats.
I'll be a Democrat no matter what the policies are.
And I think that's a mistake.
You don't vote on the basis of personality.
You vote on the basis of policy and direction.
But we're extremely happy.
President Donald Trump was, of course, the first president to recognize and follow through with moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
That was a very powerful.
Which many presidents have said before.
I mean, I feel like the last five or six people, you know, generations or presidential elections, excuse me, they've all promised, if I get elected, I will do this.
But he actually walked through and fulfilled his promise.
Well, I believe it had actually been recognized or passed in Congress during the time of President Bill Clinton, but never acted upon by any president.
In addition to that, of course, he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which, of course, we were all threatened.
It's going to cause World War III.
It's going to upset the Palestinian Arabs.
And nothing really took place and happened in protest.
The other amazing thing is that he brokered with his cabinet the Abrahamic Accords, which brought us peace initially with four new Arab nations.
And the first of them being the United Arab Emirates, which was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 25 years.
And then, of course, the maps of the State Department, which had been very ambivalent or hostile towards Israel, now were rewritten for the Golan Heights to become part of Israel.
Stand Together Until Our Last Day 00:05:51
And I think it's going to be interesting to see with incoming Ambassador Mike Huckabee, who we're extremely happy about.
And I've met him in Jerusalem before and see what happens concerning the future of the biblical heartland of Israel, Judea, and Samaria.
Amen.
What an awesome pick that was with Mike Huckabee.
I think that's just a tremendous pick.
Why?
Because we've seen him here.
We've seen his heart for Israel and he truly does love Israel.
Friends, we're going to get right back and asking some more questions, but we want to thank our partners, our monthly subscribers, Mondo.
That is the reason we can continue to broadcast the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world, friend.
It is you and your partnership with this ministry, the reason the PTL network can also stay uncensored.
That is a beautiful thing, too.
You know, there's a lot of Christian networks, and, you know, sadly, just due to governmental guidelines, they've had to take shows off.
But we've kind of been that last final standing block to say, hey, you know what?
We want to provide the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
We want to preach Jesus until our last day.
And that's why, you know, I think it's a great thing to support this network.
No, absolutely.
And one of the things is you are important in your voice and your contributions are so important to their suggestion and their suggestions and your opinions and your prayers are so important.
But I want to tell you something more now than ever before, we need to stand together.
And we are networking with other ministries and working with them and being able to stand alongside of them, but also understand that the PTL network is here to stay.
A network, Ricky, that is not afraid to talk about the issues of today or even be loud about what is going on in the world about trying to silence our voices.
We came under attack a few years ago and they told us, you better be quiet and not say anything if you want to stay in the good side of us.
But I want to tell you something.
We decided we were not going to stay silent.
We were not going to stay silent about COVID-19.
We were not going to stay silent about our stance when it comes to a man and a woman, about our children, about what we believe.
I want to tell you something.
Can I borrow your Bible?
Yeah, please.
I forgot my Bibles.
I'm a good Christian, and I'm awesome.
But I want to tell you something.
There are some things, no, there's a lot of things that are non-negotiable with God.
And when you understand what are God's non-negotiables, I want to tell you something that you risk it all for him.
Why?
Because he sent his only begotten son to risk everything for us.
Why can't we, Ricky, stand for the truth?
We have to.
And not be afraid.
Amen.
You know that there's ministries right now that are afraid to talk about a lot of issues because partners of their ministries will stop supporting them.
That's not right.
It's not right.
And there's a lot of churches today that are afraid to talk about what's happening today because the people in the church will stop tithing.
But I want to tell you something.
And there's a big argument about should we tithe?
Should we not give?
You have to not be deceived.
There's an age of deception that we're in right now.
And in Matthew 24, the Bible talks about in Matthew 24, three times Jesus talked about deception.
That's right.
He did.
Even the very elect will be deceived, not just with prophecy, not just with teachings in the church, but even the very principles in which this word was rooted on.
That's right.
You know, it even says here in 1 Timothy chapter 4 says, Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later time, some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
And friends, if that doesn't describe the era and the time we're living in right now, friends, what we need to do is ensure that we have a close relationship with the Holy Spirit.
It's not just good enough to say you know the Holy Spirit anymore, friends.
You have to have a relationship with him.
Talk with him every single day.
Talk to Jesus every single day.
Open up your Bible every single day.
I was reading a Barna study and I loved it because it said, you know, people who got in their word every single day, a dramatic reduction in divorce went down in the household.
A dramatic reduction in depression and anxiety went down in the household.
So what is the, what is, you know, these studies telling us that the word of God truly does have everything we need to live a good life.
Jesus said it is written.
That's right.
And that's how he wrote it.
He used the word.
Amen.
He used the word.
I want to tell you something.
If you don't use the word to strengthen your marriage, to strengthen your ministry, to strengthen your business, then you're doing it all wrong.
The power is in the word.
The power is in the word.
Let me say it again.
The power is in the word of God.
In the beginning was the word.
And the word was.
You're going to get me preaching.
I'm not supposed to preach.
Amen.
Amen.
Well, I want to thank Barry and Batya Seagal.
That's how you say it right.
I want to make sure I'm saying it correct.
I said Segal at the beginning of the show, and he said, hey, it's Seagal.
There we go.
I like that.
I want you to tell us about your ministry, a non-profit humanitarian aid organization you founded called Vision for Israel.
Now, you guys have been doing this for about 30 years, if my notes are correct.
But I want you to tell us what it is.
How can people find you online?
And how can people support this cause?
So we began out of being in business in Jerusalem, but a great desire.
From Music to Mission 00:02:46
Also, we were very much involved in leading Hebraic praise and worship music, but we felt we wanted to do something bigger for the country of Israel.
And after the Gulf War in 1991, I felt this impression about the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, how he was used to save the Jewish people in Egypt, and how he also saved the nation of Egypt.
And the Lord spoke to me from Proverbs in 1993, without a vision the people perish.
And we wanted to do something more than just singing on stages all over the world and just shepherding a congregation, a local Hebrew-speaking congregation in Jerusalem and being in business, whatever.
We wanted to do something nationally for the entire country, for the entire demographics.
And so in 1994, we launched Vision for Israel, both as a nonprofit in the nation of Israel and also simultaneously in the United States of America.
And from that time, which we started in our home, it grew quickly.
But everything would change in late February 1996 because we were coming back from a praise and worship and speaking to her in South Africa.
We entered the taxi early morning at Ben-Gurion Airport.
And when we got in the taxi, he turned on the news and it had just reported that a Hamas suicide bomber had just exploded himself on bus number 18 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem.
And our hearts were gripped because that was the bus and the time that our older daughter took in the morning towards her school.
And so as we raced home and ran up five flights of stairs, what we would later find, God thank you, is that our daughter stayed at home that morning.
But three of her friends were murdered by that on that bus that morning, killed beyond recognition in late February 1996.
And from that time on, we decided nothing's more important than helping our people.
There was such an atmosphere of depression and desperation.
Two weeks later, another Hamas suicide bomber on the exact same bus line blew himself up, and another one of our daughter's friends was murdered.
And so it was a time and a season that you just didn't know when you walked outside what would happen if you took the bus, whatever.
And so we decided that's it.
God's Comforting Work 00:15:28
We're going to start visiting the victims of terror attacks.
And as we started sewing into their lives and weeping with them and just hugging them and whatever we could do, paint their houses, whatever apartments, whatever, bring toys for the kids, we would do.
And God began to increase the work to the point now that we're helping the poor and the needy, the Holocaust survivors that remain alive, the lone soldiers, the victims of terror attacks, the general poor and needy population, as well as I work specifically with our version of Homeland Security.
And we work with the paramedic crews and medical crews.
And Bhatia, of course, does a lot of the face-to-face visitation with families.
Yeah, we do a lot of disaster relief.
We equip a lot of the people that need equipment if it's defend, like special units, civilian units that are actually guarding now and defending certain areas.
So we're equipping all of them, trying to get whatever is necessary.
And believe me, throughout all these years of experience and really touching the lives of millions of people, this last year, when we spoke about October, what happened in October 7th, 2023, God just really prepared us for that time because we have been living under terrorism and under attack and under disaster situations.
And we felt that the word that God is giving us is comforty, comforty, my people.
And also, what we felt really strong in our heart is that when there is so much hatred and so much terrorism, this is the time for us to come and show the love of God, embrace people, comfort them, basically be there for them.
And God is really has been a great source of blessing in our lives as well, because as a result of it, the word and the work has been expanded enormously.
I wanted to explain just as because of the war and the battles raging on seven fronts that Israel is facing today, since the autumn of 2021, by God's grace and his provision, we've actually now already placed and installed through Vision from Vision for Israel 391 bomb shelters publicly accessible across the southern and northern borders of Israel at a cost today of $14,000 apiece.
And that's this what we're seeing on the screen right here.
Exactly.
And that has a story of its own.
And it's equivalent to over 25 million pounds of rebar and concrete.
And we're talking 391 as of the end of October in this year.
And so it's been an amazing provision.
And of course, what we were looking at is a very difficult story because I think the Druze Arab village in the Golan Heights of Majdel Shams maybe never prepared or expected that Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group of jihadists, would even strike rockets in their town.
But what we saw there with the pockmarks on the outside of the shelter is in late July, we placed three bomb shelters publicly accessible around a soccer field up in Majd al-Shams.
It's a Druze Arab village.
And five days later, Hezbollah launched its rocket attack against that village.
And kids and children and adults sought to run to it, but they only have about 15 seconds maximum.
And 12 children were killed trying to reach the shelter, but nine were saved.
And that was the soccer field.
That's where we reported on that.
We talked about that.
You know, this is a concept that is so foreign to America to think.
I'm from a third world nation.
I understand.
My family had to flee in the 80s, the civil war that took place, destroyed Central America.
But can you imagine being in Israel under constant attack and persecution all the time?
How was your ministry impacted with the events of October 7th, 2023?
Oh, we were called immediately to reach out to thousands of people with food supplies, with monies, with clothing, with mattresses, with blankets, because a lot of people were moving away from their homes and a lot of people were homelesses, basically.
And so we've reaching, we were, you know, with the help, people were really united because we were all together with some Orthodox organizations.
We just got together and we started distributing tons of stuff to the population.
The amazing thing, too, is in America, we found friends that called us and they said, if you need anything, please let us know.
And within a few weeks, we got containers loaded of clothing and some other supplies that came.
Yeah.
I will just add to this that the calls that were pouring in from the civilian security teams, many of who were killed on October 7th, it just brought us a rush of adrenaline.
You just have to do something.
You just can't stand silent in the midst of a battle raging.
And it was actually October 7th that morning just to bring the reality of it because I want people to understand Israel just from October 7th has suffered over 28,000 rocket, missile, and drone attacks on seven fronts since that day.
And there's not a nation in the world I know that would put up with that.
And people can see our own videos.
We have a YouTube channel called Vision for Israel.
We have a website, visionforisrael.com.
People can see for themselves what we've gone through.
But where were we?
We were at home in an apartment on the western side of Jerusalem where we live.
And my daughter and Batia, we have three children, but the daughter that was still with us at home, they were yelling to me, get out.
There's an rocket siren.
Well, I was taking a shower and I had shampoo in my hair.
And they're yelling to run because there's about less than a minute for a rocket from the Gaza Strip to land anywhere near us.
And about 30 seconds later, a rocket slammed into the street 500 feet from our doorway.
And I decided maybe it is time to get out of the shower and dry myself off.
But when we went out a half hour later, I mean, the whole building shook.
When we went out a half hour later, we saw half the rockets still sticking out of the asphalt pavement, and it was on a major Jewish holiday day, and it struck 40 feet from a children's park.
But thank God, nobody was in the park because it was in the morning hours.
But that's the reality we've been fighting and facing, and the people of Israel are still fighting and facing.
You haven't just been facing this reality for the last few years.
This has been decades and centuries and generations of people who have had to fight for their very existence.
We want people to support your ministry.
Visionforisrael.com.
When someone goes there, what's the best way someone could support you?
Well, the best way, obviously, is they can go to the donate portion of the website, Vision4Israel, which for us spelled out F-O-R, visionforisrael.com.
And we're very appreciative, and there are different projects people can sew into.
But I can tell you this, that we've made it a commitment of ours.
We are committed to the physical and the spiritual restoration of Israel.
Whether it's new immigrants, whether it's the poor and needy, we've even gone and done what we can for the Arab population of Israel, as well as our own people group, the Jewish people.
We are one nation, and I believe that in some ways we can say one nation under God.
And I think God is using this to bring us closer to understanding.
And I really, I'd like to just say to any Jewish people watching today that you don't stop being Jewish when you come to know Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah.
I was born a Jew.
I'll die a Jew.
I'll always be a Jew.
But I have the love of God and the power of the Messiah, who we call Yeshua, which means salvation in my heart.
And I just want to leave this at least as a promised scripture because it deals with the bridge between war and, of course, coming to know him.
In Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, the Jewish prophet, in Isaiah 60, verse 18, it says, Violence shall no longer be heard in your land.
And the Hebrew word here in the Old Testament for violence is chamas.
So I stand on that promise.
Hamas shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders, but you shall call your walls salvation.
And it comes from the name Yeshua and your gates praise.
So it's amazing.
Here we see violence, Hamas, but Yeshua.
And I believe that that is a scripture and a promise we can all pray and stand on for the people of Israel.
Amen.
You know, you're doing a great work.
You're not just serving the Jewish believers there in Israel.
You're also serving refugees.
You're serving the Arabs as well.
What started, and maybe, you know, I want you to lead people down that journey.
What, Brandon, did this start off as something you said, I'm just going to help, you know, my fellow Jewish man, my fellow Jewish woman?
Or did you always have the heart just for the nation?
We always had the heart for the nation.
Yeah, absolutely.
Because, you know, even, you know, after becoming believers, we know that it says there's no Jew, no Gentile, no male, no female.
Still, there are Jews and there are Gentiles and there are male and they're female, but still, God is giving you, when you come to know him in a personal way, he gives you love for all people.
We don't like maybe some of the actions of some of the people, but God is giving you love for all people.
And I think that is the greatest testimony that we can, you know, our answer for hate is love.
Our answer for murder is life.
For death is life, you know.
And this is a joy for us because we see a calling.
And the amazing thing I want you to think about it is the connection between the nations and Israel.
Once we are doing this work, because there was more even interest from the nations, the Christians who love the Lord, that have this passion for Israel, that wanted to come and help in an enormous way.
And I think, as you mentioned at the beginning of the program, we were talking about the greatest deception, I call it deception, that is actually blinding people at this time.
The answer from us is to take that and bring some clearance in the minds of the people, bringing clarity.
And I believe that's what you're doing on your show, Roots and Reflections, as well.
You're really bringing clarity.
It's a wonderful program.
I want you to go and support and watch this.
It airs here on the PTL network, Mondays at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, as well as Saturdays at 12.30 p.m. and 6 p.m.
This is news.
This is prophecy.
This is Israel.
This is the Middle East.
You guys are really covering it all.
But what you're doing is you're bringing clarity to these conversations.
You bring up the topics that we're dealing with now and you lay them out from a biblical standpoint.
I want to thank you guys for the stance you're taking on roots and reflections.
And where else, maybe if someone's watching other than the PTL network, where else could someone watch Roots and Reflections?
Well, not only on a YouTube channel called Roots and Reflections, but we also have an app for the news update every week and can be downloaded on any mobile device called VFI News.
It might also be listed as Vision for Israel.
It's a V with a vine kind of growing there.
And every week I try to bring an updated report from the Middle East and the news.
We're hands-on on the ground.
We're not doing it from a distance.
We're in Israel and bringing these reports because we have a sense of the pulse of the heartbeat of God and what's going on.
But we also want to break through this false veil of fake news and bring the word of truth.
We need to connect because we want to bring you up-to-date information and news headlines on what's happening right now.
Because I want to tell you something.
The world's shaking right now.
That's right.
As I'm talking to you, Sweden tells citizens to prepare for war.
Five million households get pamphlets on how to get their homes ready for nuclear Armageddon.
Nuclear, yep.
I want to tell you something.
We are facing wars.
This is another one.
Ukraine fires first U.S.-made missile into Russia.
Which war?
Yeah.
Russia said they will, you know, they have the option to respond with nuclear, which, you know, that is a very dangerous game that's being played.
And Mono, that's the news happening right now.
People need to prepare.
And I want to tell you something.
They're telling people to prepare with food and water.
Can you imagine that?
For the last 20 years, this ministry has been sounding the alarm to get ready with food and water.
We have offered multiple items, Ricky, of how to get prepared, how to get your home started.
Yet many people laughed.
People have made videos about us.
People have mocked us.
Yet the nations are telling you, get ready with food and water.
And even our own nation now is telling us to get ready with food and water.
Absolutely.
And listen, get your house in order.
I'm not trying to bring you fear.
I'm trying to bring you faith.
That's right.
Faith without works is dead.
That's right.
The only people.
Ooh, I'm screaming again.
Mano get to holler in my voice.
I want to tell you something.
The only people that make fun of you is people that don't know the Bible.
That's right.
And when I say they don't know the Bible, they don't understand that a time is coming where the Bible declares what Jesus told us there will be no food to eat.
That's not having fear.
That's having faith to know that a fool sees calamity coming, yet it doesn't prepare.
We have to prepare.
But I want to tell you something.
Preparation is all about one reason, one mission.
That is to win one more for the kingdom of heaven.
Amen.
Because if you have an opportunity to share the gospel of hope, why not do it with some food?
Some water.
Have some water, have materials.
Listen, go to the website, jimbakershow.com, and look at the different options that we have with food with new mana, the grid down chowdown people, Seychell, Lion Energy.
Prepare Your Family 00:06:21
Faraday.
Faraday.
I mean, there's so many.
I mean, the options are, there's so many options.
Go to jimbakershow.com, see everything we have to offer.
I've said this many times on the broadcast, and I will still stand by this.
Friends, if you don't want to purchase those items through us, go somewhere else.
Just do it.
I don't care if you don't do it through us.
Just prepare your family.
If you do it, you help support our ministry.
That means the world to us.
But friends, by all means, don't let us be the reason you're not prepared.
Go out and prepare your family because we're seeing right now, not only is Russia saying that they have nuclear capabilities, that is very clear, and that they would be willing to use them.
But Iran right now, while they are not making the statement that they have them and they're ready to use them, we know that they've been trying to develop and work on their nuclear program for decades now.
Absolutely.
And you know, recently our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he quoted in the Knesset in Israel, he said, we must stop the Iran's march for nuclear weapons.
And Iran is the major number one supporter of global terrorism today.
That's right.
And they never kept to any agreement that was proposed in what I would call a deceptive policy of appeasement.
They've been on the march for nuclear weapons ever since.
I thank God for our nation, for the intelligence we receive, even probably from our friends in Iran and around the Middle East have fed to our nation the ability to strike where necessary.
And of course, on October 26th, one of the biggest surprises was that when Israel counterattacked after Iran's ballistic missile attack on October 1st, that we actually hit amongst many of the targets, one of the military targets of nuclear weaponization in Parchin.
And that only came out in recent days and weeks about it, but it just shows we are definitely going to do something.
And I come back to your words in a different way.
When crisis comes, it's too late to prepare.
So that's been our motto in our ministry for decades now.
That's right.
And really, it is a very first world point of view and perspective to think, oh, nothing bad will ever happen to us.
Like Mondo said, we've received all the letters, all the emails, all the videos of people saying, you know, you're pushing an agenda of fear.
That is not the case.
Friends, we want you to be prepared for anything.
We want you to be spiritually prepared first and foremost.
Make sure you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
Make sure that he rules and reigns on your heart.
But friends, it is important to physically prepare as well.
Have a water and food system.
Have a clothing system so that if someone comes to you in need, you can provide it to them.
Even if you're saying, well, I don't need to prepare for me and my family, do it for those who aren't in your family.
Do it for those who might just need something.
Mondo, we saw in Houston, Texas.
We saw in Amakali, Florida.
We saw in Kentucky.
We saw in Joplin, all these places where natural disasters were happening.
And we were able to show up with food, with water, with clothes.
And it wasn't laughing that we were bringing food.
It wasn't laughing that we were bringing clean water.
It wasn't laughing that we were bringing clean clothes for these people to wear.
They were saying, thank you for being prepared so that our families can have a meal, have water, and be clothed.
And I want to thank you for doing that for the people in the nation of Israel.
These bomb shelters alone, I don't want to overlook that.
You said there's 31 as of the last day of October, almost 400 probably by the time this has already been.
What would it take to sponsor one?
I was going to say, if someone wants to sponsor one of these or if a ministry wants to say, hey, we want a partner and we want to be the reason an additional one has come in or an additional 10 has come in and gotten installed in the nation of Israel, what would that look like?
It's a good question.
So each one costs us net price, $14,000.
It includes the crane crews.
It includes the delivery.
It includes the manufacturing, the handicap ramp for physically impaired people.
Yeah, wheelchair access.
It includes the signage that we always like to dedicate it in somebody's honor of the donor and memory of someone or from another ministry.
And our hope is that we can reach 1,000 of them.
We'd love to protect the nation of Israel under the shadow of his wings.
Amen.
So you'll go to visionforisrael.com.
There'll be a donate button and they can donate that price.
It's going to be, you said $14,000 roughly.
Yeah, it weighs 30 tons.
I want people to understand how strong.
So they're meant to withstand bombs.
I mean, these are saving individuals' lives.
And we know they have already.
That's right.
And we want to throw up that picture again.
Please throw up that picture because we reported on that.
And right when it happened, we were taping a show.
We reported on it instantly.
And you said that there were nine lives saved because of this bomb shelter.
Friends, you can be a part of the reason that somebody in Israel has peace of mind that, hey, my children can be playing out on a soccer field.
My children can be enjoying the outdoors.
And if something were to happen, they would have a safe place to go to.
You said your goal is 1,000 of them.
So you see about 600 more of those.
And I believe, hey, you know what?
Between your friends, our friends, the people who love Israel, we can get to that number.
Ensure that the nation of Israel has, yes, their iron dome, but that they have places to go to throughout their land.
We want to make sure that we have the nation of Israel protected and that we have their back.
That is our number one ally in the Middle East.
And friends, it is time for Americans to wake up and ensure that we are following biblical principles by supporting the nation of Israel.
But Barry and Batya, I want to thank you guys for being on the broadcast with us today.
Your program again.
It's called Roots and Reflections.
It's on the PTL television network.
Amen.
Go to jimbakershow.com or give us a call at 1-888-9881-588.
We have representatives here in our building ready to take your call and answer any question you might have.
I also encourage you, go to visionforisrael.com.
We're going to put that up on the screen.
Go support this ministry that is supporting the nation of Israel.
Well, as Pastor Jim always says, I'll never say it as good as him, but I'll keep trying.
God loves you.
He really does.
Bye-bye for today.
Again, thank you so much for being with us.
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