July 25, 2025 • 30 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, this is Chris Mitchell with CBA News and here
on prey dot com Dateline Jerusalem for this week's podcast.
Thanks for joining us, and I just wanted to tell
you a few things about the possibility we're planning to
do a six week seminar marking twenty five years of
(00:22):
reporting from the front lines of the Holy Land. It
was twenty five years ago August seventeenth, two thousand, so
next month we'll mark that twenty five years. I arrived
in Jerusalem and landed in Tel avivs Bengorian Airport with
my wife Liz, our three children, Philip, Kathleen and Grace,
(00:45):
and so this coming month will mark twenty five years.
So we're planning on a seminar, perhaps in October, discussing
what it's like to be reporting twenty five years on
the front lines of the Holy Land. And we wrote
a book in twenty thirteen called Dateline Jerusalem and Eyewitness
(01:08):
Account of Prophecies Unfolding in the Middle East, and I'm
going to read a little bit from that book. But
some of the subjects we're planning for this seminar would
be what it's like twenty five years of reporting from
the front lines October seventh and beyond, what happened on
October seventh, why that's so significant in Israel's history, and
(01:31):
what has happened in nearly two years since that fateful day.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Also from the river to the sea.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
After October seventh, there was just a rise of global
anti Semitism, and the chant for many has been from
the river to the sea, Palestine must be free. We'll
be discussing Israel's historic and legal and biblical right to
the land of Israel, and also Israel as a right
(02:00):
to the nations, what it has done, what the Jewish
people have done since they've settled the land, not only
since nineteen forty eight, when Israel became a nation, but
even before that, back in the late nineteenth century when
for the first time in two thousand years, many Jews
immigrated and came back to the Land of Israel.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Also the rocks cry out.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Over the last twenty five years, we'd had the privilege
of reporting on some of the major archaeological discoveries that
confirm Israel's biblical history. For example, the at Magdala, where
the hometown of Mary Magdalen, there was discovered what's called
(02:48):
the Magdala Stone. Some people say that's the biggest archaeological
discovery in the last fifty years in Israel. We also
talked about the Dead Seas scrolls discovered in nineteen forty eight,
the Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed the blind man
has recorded in the Gospel of John, and what's called
(03:10):
the Biblical super Highway, the road leading from the Pool
of Siloam all the way up to the Temple mount
where Jews two thousand years ago would make a pilgrimage
up from the pool, where they would immerse themselves in
Mikah there and then be purified and go up and
give their sacrifice to the temple. So the rocks cry out,
(03:33):
it's just an amazing history of what's happened in the
last twenty five years of Israel's archaeological discoveries, including Shiloh
or some people call it Shiloh, where they have now
discovered what they believe may have been the Tabernacle of
the Lord. They also discover the gates of the city
of Shiloh, and also maybe the place where Hannah prayed
(03:56):
for a son and God granted her prayer, answered her
prayer with the man Samuel who became a mighty prophet
to the Lord. So the archaeological discoveries are just incredible.
What's happening, and also prophecy and pastors, why some pastors
are saying this is a time more than ever to
(04:18):
stand with Israel for such a time as this, and
many of the prophetic things that are happening in Israel.
One of those would be Aliyah, the return of the
Jewish people after two thousand years. Also, one thing that
we have reported on CBR News is the Red Heifer
(04:40):
where they plan to have a ceremony to burn a
red heifer and the ashes would be used to help
people be purified as they go into the temple. This
would be one a major step into rebuilding the Third
Jewish Temple. Many many things are happening in Israel currently
(05:04):
and it would be a retrospective as well of what's
happened in the past twenty five years. So all this
would be part of a six week seminar and letting
the Prey dot com audience right now know the very
first announcement sort of publicly of what we're planning, and
I hope you can find out more about it when
(05:26):
we get the landing page up and the website.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're working on that right now.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
But one of the things that has increasingly becoming clear
is the centrality of Jerusalem and why it's so important
in God's history and in the prophetic history that's coming up.
It says in this book that we wrote about twelve
years ago, but very relevant today as well. History's final
(05:55):
chapter will be written in Jerusalem. And let me read
some of the When an Iranian president thunders a murder's threat,
or an obscure Turkish drunkard has a dream in Mecca,
or a Jewish couple from Brooklyn lands at Tel Aviv's
Bengorian Airport. These events might seem disconnected, but they're not.
(06:16):
In Dateline Jerusalem, CBN News correspondent Chris Mitchell connects the
dots and unveils Jerusalem as the epercent and crossroads of
this spiritual, political, and yes, supernatural worlds. So that was
some of the things that we wrote back in twenty thirteen.
If you'd like to get a copy of Dateline Jerusalem,
(06:37):
sure you can find it on Amazon. It was published
by Thomas Nelson, and the last chapter talks about the
rendezvous in Jerusalem, a date with Destiny.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
These are some of the quotes.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
At the beginning of the chapter, God is restoring the
focus once again to Jerusalem. The place of beginnings is
also the place of ending. That was from a woman
named Ruth Heflin in her book Jerusalem, Zion, Israel and
the Nations. Ruth was an amazing prophetic woman who's since
gone on to be with the Lord. Back in actually
(07:13):
two thousand, just after we arrived in Jerusalem, she went
home to be with the Lord. I had the privilege
of being prayed over by Ruth and prophesied by her.
Just an amazing woman of God. The second quote here
is from Benjamin Disraeli, a former Prime Minister of Britain,
(07:36):
where he said, the history of Jerusalem is the history
of the world. It is more, it is the history
of heaven and Earth. And from Second Kings, chapter twenty one,
verse seven. In this house and in Jerusalem, which I
have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I
will put my name forever. And so it goes on
(07:58):
dateline Jerusalem of History and Prophecy. Jerusalem's geography seems to
place it at the hub of the world. It lies
near the crossroads of the ancient trade route the Villa Marus,
the way of the Sea. It also sits at the
seam of Africa's great rift valley that struts through Israel's backbone.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
During history's epics, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Been the focal point of armies and generals from Alexander
the Great to Napoleon. Great nations like the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians,
and finally the Ottomans plundered its people and goods. Then,
for centuries, Jerusalem faded into obscurity. It languishes a backwater
(08:43):
town in a decaying empire, with barely a hint of
its former glory. Now it's blazed its way back onto
the world's center stage. Politically, diplomatically, evangelic, evangelistically, and even
million arily. Jerusalem lies at the epicenter of world attention.
(09:05):
While all roads may have one day led to Rome
and in Caesar One's place the Golden Column as an
ancient load star, History's inexorable march ends in Jerusalem. And
I wrote this twelve years ago, but it seems just
as relevant now as it was then.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
For better or worse, good or evil, the world is on.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Its way to the City of David. The fate of
this city, the diplomatic discussions over its future, and the
political tempests. It's great it creates show the prophet Zecharrai
had it right.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
There will be a rendezvous of.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The nation's coming to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
He knew one.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Day the nations of the world would focus on Jerusalem,
and he prophesied the city would shoot back to the
forefront of the world's agenda. This is how he put it,
and this is from zen Ekichariah chapter twelve, verses one
through three. This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel.
The Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the
(10:10):
foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of
man within him, declares, I Am going to make Jerusalem
a cup that sends all the surrounding people's reeling. Judah
will be besieged as well as Jerusalem on that day,
when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her.
I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations.
(10:35):
All who try to move it will injure themselves. In
July two thousand and one, Pat Robertson dedicated our Sibia
News Jerusalem Bureau and alluded to the same prophecy. This
is the navel of the earth. This is the place
where prophecy is going to be fulfilled. It's not Washington,
it's not Bond, it's not Paris. It's Jerusalem. That's going
(10:59):
to be the focus of world of the world. And
that's what's happening right now. Actually, the nations of the
earth are once again beginning to look at Jerusalem daylight Jerusalem.
The book that I'm reading from meant to set out
various markers along today's history. They include the circumnavigation of
(11:20):
the Gospel back to Jerusalem. It began on Jerusalem's Mount
Zion when three thousand souls were saved, and now the
Gospel is making its way back to the eternal finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The amount of olives.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Jews scattered all over the earth have begun to make
their trek back to their ancient homeland. The regathering of
the Jewish people from the four corners of the world
is something that's never happened before. A people, once dispersed
for two thousand years, preserve their identity and at a
specific moment in history, migrated back to their homeland and
(12:00):
where the prophets foretold they would The biggest spiritual revival
among the Jews. Since the Book of Acts is also unfolding,
Muslims too are coming to faith in Jesus as never
before in the fourteen hundred year history of Islam. Signs
and wonders offer and accompany these heavenly visitations. Christians around
(12:22):
the globe seem drawn to make their way to Jerusalem.
They're rediscovering their attachment to the city. There also is
never before making common cause with God's chosen people during
their time of crisis, and to stand with them for
such a time as this. Believers also pray fervently for
the peace of Jerusalem. From the far flung southeast silence
(12:45):
to the center of the city itself. Millions of Muslims
covered the city too. The black flags will come from Khorasan, Iran,
no power be able to stop them, and they will
finally reach Ialah, the Dome of the Rock, and Jerusalem,
where they will erect their flags. This quote is just
(13:06):
one of many that denotes some Muslim see Jerusalem as
their next, final and ultimate destination. It foretells a brewing
battle over the control of the city. The ultimate conflict
appears to be over control of the Temple mount the
pinnacle issue at the end of the age, and that's
(13:30):
the view of Simon Montefiuri, author of the seminal work
Jerusalem the Biography. We interviewed Montefieri, the great nephew of Moses, Montefieri,
who established the first neighborhood outside Jerusalem's Old City. We
sat under the shadow of the iconic Montefieri Windmill, restored
(13:50):
by Christian Zionists, and that's where Montefieri remarked, I think
Jerusalem will becoming more and more the center of the world.
First of all, there are more and more believers Muslim, Jewish,
but also Christian believers who look to Jerusalem, who look
to the Temple mount for Judgment Day, for the Apocalypse,
(14:11):
and the number of believers in the three great Abrahamic
religions is actually increasing, even though we sort of think
we're in an increasingly secular world out there, and that
means that Jerusalem will become more and more significant.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
But also if you look.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
At the tectonic plates that are moving. First of all,
the history of Jerusalem is always decided by what happens
in Cairo and Damascus, the great sort of cities in
the Middle East, that's all up in the air. There's
the Israeli Palestinian conflict, there's Iran versus America, there's Iran
versus Israel. So there are vast divergence, vast conflicts, and
(14:53):
all of them center on these fragile stones.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
After all, what is Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Jerusalem is real, the Temple Mount, one structure, tiny, tiny
space in which all of us believe, all of us
look for the future. Now, some of this is still relevant.
The situation, the conflict with Iran has certainly changed a bit,
certainly after the Twelve Day recent War, but still it
(15:21):
is a conflict between Iran and Israel and Iran in
the US. So to continue, I believe Montefieri. He also
mentioned the Temple Mount is the place where God met
Man and Man meant God. This holy place will one
day be the focal point of world attention and consternation.
(15:42):
And here's a section called the centrality of Jerusalem. Jews, Muslims,
and Christians revered Jerusalem, but for different regions reasons. For
the Jews, it's hard to underestimate its significance. Jerusalem threads
its way through the fabric of Jewish religion, culture, customs.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And its rites of passage.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
When a Jewish couple marries, the groom recites Psalm one
thirty seven, verses five and six. If I forget THEE
O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If
I do not remember THEE, let my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem
above my chief joy. When Jews pray, they face Jerusalem.
(16:29):
In Jerusalem, they face the Temple Mount, the arcs where
the tourist girl is kept in Jewish synagogues throughout the
world face Jerusalem, and the Hebrew Scriptures mention Jerusalem three
hundred and forty nine times throughout history. The Jews are
the only people who made it their capital. Yet it's
(16:50):
not just a political capital, but a spiritual beacon. During
the most holy Jewish holidays, Jews acknowledge Jerusalem. The Passover
Seda finishes the liturgy concludes with the words next year
in Jerusalem after their day long Yam Kippur david tonemtfast.
(17:11):
The prey book ends with next year in Jerusalem. For
three millennia, it's been enthroned at the core of Jewish
thought and faith, and that's why June seventh, nineteen sixty
seven remains such an important date in Jewish consciousness and
such a pivotal day in world history. On that day,
(17:33):
during the Sixth Day War fought between Israel and a
coalition of severb seven Arab Nee armies, Israeli paratroop is
led by Mordecai Gore, captured Jerusalem's Old City. His cry
into his field radio, the Temple Mount is in our hands,
entered the pantheon of national symbols of this state of Israel.
(17:55):
For the first time since the destruction of the Second
Temple and the the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. In a
d seventy, Jews once again controlled the Temple Mount. It
unleashed an enormous sense of historical longing among the Jewish
people worldwide. For Muslims, the capture in nineteen sixty seven
(18:16):
of the Temple Mount, or Harem Alsherif to them stands
as a Nakba Arabic for catastrophe. The dream of Jerusalem's
reconquest stirs the hearts of many Muslims worldwide. The rallying
cry increasingly used to stir up Muslim fervor is that
(18:37):
a laksamasque is in danger the main mosque on the
Temple Mount. This message accuses the Jews of physically undermining
and destroying the mosque while it's a fabrication. They disseminate
this libelous story through film, cartoons and sermons to the
Muslims masses, who unfortunately seemed too weaker to believe the
(18:59):
lie and going on and dateline Jerusalem called Jerusalem center stage.
Jerusalem therefore looks like God center stage, and it appears
he's drawing the Nations to a rendezvous in Jerusalem and
their date with destiny known as the Navel of the Earth,
(19:22):
the rock of Creation, the womb of the Kingdom of God,
the destiny of the Nations, and our own seem to
be linked to a city, a place, a king, and
a coming kingdom. The prayer your Kingdom Come, prayed for
two thousand years might be on the cusp of being answered.
The battle of the end times will be the battle
(19:44):
over the city, and the battle has already begun. Israel
and Jerusalem will increase in importance in the eyes of
both Earth and Heaven in the coming years. It's in
the center of the world and in the center of
what He's doing Ultimately, it's a scene he's creating. After all,
the Bible says God is going to do something. It
(20:06):
will be in the latter days that I will bring
you against my land, so that the nations may know
me when I am hollowed in you ogg before their eyes.
That's from Ezekiel, chapter thirty eight, verse sixteen. Thus I
will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be
(20:26):
known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall
know that I am the Lord. That's Ezekiel thirty eight,
verse twenty three. Like a casting director, he chooses the
characters to be part of the story that's being played
out today.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
This story of the end of the age ripples through
the world.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
What can one say about the unprecedented natural disasters striking
the earth in the last several years, And that's so
true in twenty thirteen and again here in two thousand,
twenty twenty five. Given this backdrop of geopolitical events, spiritual trends,
(21:06):
and natural disasters, could we be living on the verge
of prophetic events foretold thousands of years ago? Is something
remarkable happening in our time? Remember that flotilla, After that
incident rabbis released the statement saying, we have entered the
Gog Magog period of history prophesied by Ezekiel. Is something
(21:28):
remarkable unfolding in our time? Could we be living in
the days Jesus talked about on the amount of olives.
Here is what he said two thousand years ago. Watch
out that no one deceives you, for many will come
in my name claiming I am the Christ and will
deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars,
(21:50):
but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such
things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise again, nation and Kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these
are the beginning of birth pangs. When history's trends merge
(22:11):
with biblical prophecies, then something truly profound is unfolding in
our time. Many agree forty one percent of Americans think
they will be alive when Jesus returns, and he said
he would return to Jerusalem. To me, coming to Jerusalem
was like walking into a history book, like watching prophecy
(22:32):
unfold and the Bible come alive. You can see the
headlines of the newspaper and the pages of.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The Bible overlap.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
The world today certainly is convulsing, and the nations are
rising up against the nations.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And the chapter ends with a love story.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Everybody loves a love story. It's the grand theme for
the Ages, and it will be the one of the
main melody during Earth's end time symphony. From the beginning
of Genesis to the end of Revelation, the Bible bursts
with God's great love for his people and the world.
It's God's love letter of his often unrequited love. It's
(23:15):
first a love story of his passion for his chosen people.
In Deuteronomy fourteen twelve, he said, the Lord, your God
chose you to be a people for himself, a special
treasure above all the peoples who are on the face
of the earth. Eventually he used them to bring salvation
to the world from one of their own. John three
(23:36):
point sixteen says, for God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For the Christian,
the climax of the Age ends with a love story.
Many Christians come to Jerusalem to deepen their love. We
followed one Christian group from New Life Church in Virginia Beach,
(23:58):
Virginia during their visit. For most Christians, it's a powerful
and sometimes life changing experience. One pilgrim told us, when
you read the scriptures, you're kind of looking at it
in black and white, but when you come here, it
really jumps off the page. It makes the Bible come
(24:19):
alive and you able to see it in color.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
You're like, wow, this is real.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
This is really what our faith is built upon. They
walk in the same place as Jesus walked, like the
garden of Gsemone another said, through tears, I don't ever
want to be in the garden of gsemone pleading before
the Father.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Oh, I don't ever have.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
To be in the garden of Gsemine pleading before the Father,
because Jesus did it already. The other high Life, for
many is another garden, the Garden Tomb. Its director at
that time told us, what we do have here in
the garden is a perfect representation of the biblical accounts
at the end of the four Gospels. One of their
(25:01):
tour guides says, as you go through the whole story
of what jesus life meant, what his death and resurrection meant.
It's like you see the lights go on in people's eyes.
They suddenly get it. And I've been I've had Christians
tell me I've been a Christian my whole life, thirty
or forty years. But it's only now, for the first time,
(25:22):
I really get it. I really get it was a
real man God in my place. It was salvation paid
at an incredible costs, but absolutely permanently established. This relationship
between Jesus and his church is another signpost along the way.
It's a growing romance between a bride and his gridegroom.
(25:42):
Song of Solomon throughout describes this intimate relations relationship. I
thought of that again on the has promenade during a
wedding ceremony.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I looked to the mount.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Of Olives and realized that's where Jesus will come for
his bride. He brought me to his banquet hall, and
his banner over me is love, the voice of my beloved.
Behold he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
(26:14):
Behold he stands behind our wall. He is looking through
the windows, gazing through the lattice. My beloved is white
and ruddy, chief among ten thousand, I my beloved, and
my beloved is mine. Make haste, my beloved. And that's
from the Song of Solomon. In Eastern tradition, the bridegroom
(26:34):
would leave his betrothed and go to prepare a place
for her in his father's house. He left, but promise
to return. This return is stirring the hearts of believers
in Jesus around the world. It's a love sick bride
pining for the bridegroom, and a divine romance played against
the backdrop of a world in chaos. A sign of
(26:55):
this romance is the emergence of twenty four to seven
houses of prayer mushrooming up throughout the Middle East and
the world. It's an intimacy described by Isaiah. You shall
no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any
more be termed desolate.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
But you shall be called.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
By hes Belah, and your land Beulah, for the Lord
delights in you, and your land shall be married. For
as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your
sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.
So shall your God rejoice over you. I have set
(27:34):
watchmen on your walls, Oh Jerusalem, They shall never hold
their peace day or night. You who make mention of
the Lord, do not keep silent, and give him no
rest till he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise
in all the earth. That's from Isaiah chapter sixty two.
The Christian knows it's not really the end but a beginning.
(27:55):
It's not the end of the world, just the end
of the age and the start of a new age
with the one they've been waiting for. That's why their
cry is even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. So that's
part of the last chapter in the book, Dateline Jerusalem,
and we'll be discussing some of that in this coming
(28:15):
six week seminar.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
The first, let's pray, Father, we.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Just thank you for the signs that we're seeing right
now of your return of the end of the age.
And Lord, I pray for each and everyone watching that
you would keep them safe, that you would provide for
them above and beyond what we can ask a think.
And Lord I pray for each and everyone that we
would fulfill your purpose and plan as we look at
(28:43):
the end of the age. So bless each and everyone
watching and listening right now, and Lord, that we could
be faithful so that when we see you, you can
say to each one of us, well done, good and
faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord. And
we asked that in Jesus' name. So thanks for joining
us for this week's pray dot Com podcast. I hope
(29:09):
you enjoyed this reading from Dateline Jerusalem and just the
news about this upcoming six weeks seminar.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I'll be talking more about that.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
When we have the website up and running and the
six weeks. Many times I think to give an understanding
of the times. Being there for twenty five years gives
one a perspective many of the things happening geopolitically, politically
and prophetically, and I hope you can join us for
(29:41):
that and in the meantime, God bless and if you
would like to contribute to this podcast, please hit the
give button if you can, that would be very helpful.
So thanks for joining us again. This is Chris Mitchell
and coming from Jerusalem right now, Mac coming from somewhere
(30:01):
in the States right now, but heading back in just
a few days.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
God bless Bye bye
Hi, this is Chris Mitchell with CBA News and here
on prey dot com Dateline Jerusalem for this week's podcast.
Thanks for joining us, and I just wanted to tell
you a few things about the possibility we're planning to
do a six week seminar marking twenty five years of
(00:22):
reporting from the front lines of the Holy Land. It
was twenty five years ago August seventeenth, two thousand, so
next month we'll mark that twenty five years. I arrived
in Jerusalem and landed in Tel avivs Bengorian Airport with
my wife Liz, our three children, Philip, Kathleen and Grace,
(00:45):
and so this coming month will mark twenty five years.
So we're planning on a seminar, perhaps in October, discussing
what it's like to be reporting twenty five years on
the front lines of the Holy Land. And we wrote
a book in twenty thirteen called Dateline Jerusalem and Eyewitness
(01:08):
Account of Prophecies Unfolding in the Middle East, and I'm
going to read a little bit from that book. But
some of the subjects we're planning for this seminar would
be what it's like twenty five years of reporting from
the front lines October seventh and beyond, what happened on
October seventh, why that's so significant in Israel's history, and
(01:31):
what has happened in nearly two years since that fateful day.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Also from the river to the sea.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
After October seventh, there was just a rise of global
anti Semitism, and the chant for many has been from
the river to the sea, Palestine must be free. We'll
be discussing Israel's historic and legal and biblical right to
the land of Israel, and also Israel as a right
(02:00):
to the nations, what it has done, what the Jewish
people have done since they've settled the land, not only
since nineteen forty eight, when Israel became a nation, but
even before that, back in the late nineteenth century when
for the first time in two thousand years, many Jews
immigrated and came back to the Land of Israel.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Also the rocks cry out.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Over the last twenty five years, we'd had the privilege
of reporting on some of the major archaeological discoveries that
confirm Israel's biblical history. For example, the at Magdala, where
the hometown of Mary Magdalen, there was discovered what's called
(02:48):
the Magdala Stone. Some people say that's the biggest archaeological
discovery in the last fifty years in Israel. We also
talked about the Dead Seas scrolls discovered in nineteen forty eight,
the Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed the blind man
has recorded in the Gospel of John, and what's called
(03:10):
the Biblical super Highway, the road leading from the Pool
of Siloam all the way up to the Temple mount
where Jews two thousand years ago would make a pilgrimage
up from the pool, where they would immerse themselves in
Mikah there and then be purified and go up and
give their sacrifice to the temple. So the rocks cry out,
(03:33):
it's just an amazing history of what's happened in the
last twenty five years of Israel's archaeological discoveries, including Shiloh
or some people call it Shiloh, where they have now
discovered what they believe may have been the Tabernacle of
the Lord. They also discover the gates of the city
of Shiloh, and also maybe the place where Hannah prayed
(03:56):
for a son and God granted her prayer, answered her
prayer with the man Samuel who became a mighty prophet
to the Lord. So the archaeological discoveries are just incredible.
What's happening, and also prophecy and pastors, why some pastors
are saying this is a time more than ever to
(04:18):
stand with Israel for such a time as this, and
many of the prophetic things that are happening in Israel.
One of those would be Aliyah, the return of the
Jewish people after two thousand years. Also, one thing that
we have reported on CBR News is the Red Heifer
(04:40):
where they plan to have a ceremony to burn a
red heifer and the ashes would be used to help
people be purified as they go into the temple. This
would be one a major step into rebuilding the Third
Jewish Temple. Many many things are happening in Israel currently
(05:04):
and it would be a retrospective as well of what's
happened in the past twenty five years. So all this
would be part of a six week seminar and letting
the Prey dot com audience right now know the very
first announcement sort of publicly of what we're planning, and
I hope you can find out more about it when
(05:26):
we get the landing page up and the website.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We're working on that right now.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
But one of the things that has increasingly becoming clear
is the centrality of Jerusalem and why it's so important
in God's history and in the prophetic history that's coming up.
It says in this book that we wrote about twelve
years ago, but very relevant today as well. History's final
(05:55):
chapter will be written in Jerusalem. And let me read
some of the When an Iranian president thunders a murder's threat,
or an obscure Turkish drunkard has a dream in Mecca,
or a Jewish couple from Brooklyn lands at Tel Aviv's
Bengorian Airport. These events might seem disconnected, but they're not.
(06:16):
In Dateline Jerusalem, CBN News correspondent Chris Mitchell connects the
dots and unveils Jerusalem as the epercent and crossroads of
this spiritual, political, and yes, supernatural worlds. So that was
some of the things that we wrote back in twenty thirteen.
If you'd like to get a copy of Dateline Jerusalem,
(06:37):
sure you can find it on Amazon. It was published
by Thomas Nelson, and the last chapter talks about the
rendezvous in Jerusalem, a date with Destiny.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
These are some of the quotes.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
At the beginning of the chapter, God is restoring the
focus once again to Jerusalem. The place of beginnings is
also the place of ending. That was from a woman
named Ruth Heflin in her book Jerusalem, Zion, Israel and
the Nations. Ruth was an amazing prophetic woman who's since
gone on to be with the Lord. Back in actually
(07:13):
two thousand, just after we arrived in Jerusalem, she went
home to be with the Lord. I had the privilege
of being prayed over by Ruth and prophesied by her.
Just an amazing woman of God. The second quote here
is from Benjamin Disraeli, a former Prime Minister of Britain,
(07:36):
where he said, the history of Jerusalem is the history
of the world. It is more, it is the history
of heaven and Earth. And from Second Kings, chapter twenty one,
verse seven. In this house and in Jerusalem, which I
have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I
will put my name forever. And so it goes on
(07:58):
dateline Jerusalem of History and Prophecy. Jerusalem's geography seems to
place it at the hub of the world. It lies
near the crossroads of the ancient trade route the Villa Marus,
the way of the Sea. It also sits at the
seam of Africa's great rift valley that struts through Israel's backbone.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
During history's epics, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Been the focal point of armies and generals from Alexander
the Great to Napoleon. Great nations like the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians,
and finally the Ottomans plundered its people and goods. Then,
for centuries, Jerusalem faded into obscurity. It languishes a backwater
(08:43):
town in a decaying empire, with barely a hint of
its former glory. Now it's blazed its way back onto
the world's center stage. Politically, diplomatically, evangelic, evangelistically, and even
million arily. Jerusalem lies at the epicenter of world attention.
(09:05):
While all roads may have one day led to Rome
and in Caesar One's place the Golden Column as an
ancient load star, History's inexorable march ends in Jerusalem. And
I wrote this twelve years ago, but it seems just
as relevant now as it was then.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
For better or worse, good or evil, the world is on.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Its way to the City of David. The fate of
this city, the diplomatic discussions over its future, and the
political tempests. It's great it creates show the prophet Zecharrai
had it right.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
There will be a rendezvous of.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
The nation's coming to Jerusalem.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
He knew one.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Day the nations of the world would focus on Jerusalem,
and he prophesied the city would shoot back to the
forefront of the world's agenda. This is how he put it,
and this is from zen Ekichariah chapter twelve, verses one
through three. This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel.
The Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the
(10:10):
foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of
man within him, declares, I Am going to make Jerusalem
a cup that sends all the surrounding people's reeling. Judah
will be besieged as well as Jerusalem on that day,
when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her.
I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations.
(10:35):
All who try to move it will injure themselves. In
July two thousand and one, Pat Robertson dedicated our Sibia
News Jerusalem Bureau and alluded to the same prophecy. This
is the navel of the earth. This is the place
where prophecy is going to be fulfilled. It's not Washington,
it's not Bond, it's not Paris. It's Jerusalem. That's going
(10:59):
to be the focus of world of the world. And
that's what's happening right now. Actually, the nations of the
earth are once again beginning to look at Jerusalem daylight Jerusalem.
The book that I'm reading from meant to set out
various markers along today's history. They include the circumnavigation of
(11:20):
the Gospel back to Jerusalem. It began on Jerusalem's Mount
Zion when three thousand souls were saved, and now the
Gospel is making its way back to the eternal finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
The amount of olives.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Jews scattered all over the earth have begun to make
their trek back to their ancient homeland. The regathering of
the Jewish people from the four corners of the world
is something that's never happened before. A people, once dispersed
for two thousand years, preserve their identity and at a
specific moment in history, migrated back to their homeland and
(12:00):
where the prophets foretold they would The biggest spiritual revival
among the Jews. Since the Book of Acts is also unfolding,
Muslims too are coming to faith in Jesus as never
before in the fourteen hundred year history of Islam. Signs
and wonders offer and accompany these heavenly visitations. Christians around
(12:22):
the globe seem drawn to make their way to Jerusalem.
They're rediscovering their attachment to the city. There also is
never before making common cause with God's chosen people during
their time of crisis, and to stand with them for
such a time as this. Believers also pray fervently for
the peace of Jerusalem. From the far flung southeast silence
(12:45):
to the center of the city itself. Millions of Muslims
covered the city too. The black flags will come from Khorasan, Iran,
no power be able to stop them, and they will
finally reach Ialah, the Dome of the Rock, and Jerusalem,
where they will erect their flags. This quote is just
(13:06):
one of many that denotes some Muslim see Jerusalem as
their next, final and ultimate destination. It foretells a brewing
battle over the control of the city. The ultimate conflict
appears to be over control of the Temple mount the
pinnacle issue at the end of the age, and that's
(13:30):
the view of Simon Montefiuri, author of the seminal work
Jerusalem the Biography. We interviewed Montefieri, the great nephew of Moses, Montefieri,
who established the first neighborhood outside Jerusalem's Old City. We
sat under the shadow of the iconic Montefieri Windmill, restored
(13:50):
by Christian Zionists, and that's where Montefieri remarked, I think
Jerusalem will becoming more and more the center of the world.
First of all, there are more and more believers Muslim, Jewish,
but also Christian believers who look to Jerusalem, who look
to the Temple mount for Judgment Day, for the Apocalypse,
(14:11):
and the number of believers in the three great Abrahamic
religions is actually increasing, even though we sort of think
we're in an increasingly secular world out there, and that
means that Jerusalem will become more and more significant.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
But also if you look.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
At the tectonic plates that are moving. First of all,
the history of Jerusalem is always decided by what happens
in Cairo and Damascus, the great sort of cities in
the Middle East, that's all up in the air. There's
the Israeli Palestinian conflict, there's Iran versus America, there's Iran
versus Israel. So there are vast divergence, vast conflicts, and
(14:53):
all of them center on these fragile stones.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
After all, what is Jerusalem.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Jerusalem is real, the Temple Mount, one structure, tiny, tiny
space in which all of us believe, all of us
look for the future. Now, some of this is still relevant.
The situation, the conflict with Iran has certainly changed a bit,
certainly after the Twelve Day recent War, but still it
(15:21):
is a conflict between Iran and Israel and Iran in
the US. So to continue, I believe Montefieri. He also
mentioned the Temple Mount is the place where God met
Man and Man meant God. This holy place will one
day be the focal point of world attention and consternation.
(15:42):
And here's a section called the centrality of Jerusalem. Jews, Muslims,
and Christians revered Jerusalem, but for different regions reasons. For
the Jews, it's hard to underestimate its significance. Jerusalem threads
its way through the fabric of Jewish religion, culture, customs.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
And its rites of passage.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
When a Jewish couple marries, the groom recites Psalm one
thirty seven, verses five and six. If I forget THEE
O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If
I do not remember THEE, let my tongue cleave to
the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem
above my chief joy. When Jews pray, they face Jerusalem.
(16:29):
In Jerusalem, they face the Temple Mount, the arcs where
the tourist girl is kept in Jewish synagogues throughout the
world face Jerusalem, and the Hebrew Scriptures mention Jerusalem three
hundred and forty nine times throughout history. The Jews are
the only people who made it their capital. Yet it's
(16:50):
not just a political capital, but a spiritual beacon. During
the most holy Jewish holidays, Jews acknowledge Jerusalem. The Passover
Seda finishes the liturgy concludes with the words next year
in Jerusalem after their day long Yam Kippur david tonemtfast.
(17:11):
The prey book ends with next year in Jerusalem. For
three millennia, it's been enthroned at the core of Jewish
thought and faith, and that's why June seventh, nineteen sixty
seven remains such an important date in Jewish consciousness and
such a pivotal day in world history. On that day,
(17:33):
during the Sixth Day War fought between Israel and a
coalition of severb seven Arab Nee armies, Israeli paratroop is
led by Mordecai Gore, captured Jerusalem's Old City. His cry
into his field radio, the Temple Mount is in our hands,
entered the pantheon of national symbols of this state of Israel.
(17:55):
For the first time since the destruction of the Second
Temple and the the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. In a
d seventy, Jews once again controlled the Temple Mount. It
unleashed an enormous sense of historical longing among the Jewish
people worldwide. For Muslims, the capture in nineteen sixty seven
(18:16):
of the Temple Mount, or Harem Alsherif to them stands
as a Nakba Arabic for catastrophe. The dream of Jerusalem's
reconquest stirs the hearts of many Muslims worldwide. The rallying
cry increasingly used to stir up Muslim fervor is that
(18:37):
a laksamasque is in danger the main mosque on the
Temple Mount. This message accuses the Jews of physically undermining
and destroying the mosque while it's a fabrication. They disseminate
this libelous story through film, cartoons and sermons to the
Muslims masses, who unfortunately seemed too weaker to believe the
(18:59):
lie and going on and dateline Jerusalem called Jerusalem center stage.
Jerusalem therefore looks like God center stage, and it appears
he's drawing the Nations to a rendezvous in Jerusalem and
their date with destiny known as the Navel of the Earth,
(19:22):
the rock of Creation, the womb of the Kingdom of God,
the destiny of the Nations, and our own seem to
be linked to a city, a place, a king, and
a coming kingdom. The prayer your Kingdom Come, prayed for
two thousand years might be on the cusp of being answered.
The battle of the end times will be the battle
(19:44):
over the city, and the battle has already begun. Israel
and Jerusalem will increase in importance in the eyes of
both Earth and Heaven in the coming years. It's in
the center of the world and in the center of
what He's doing Ultimately, it's a scene he's creating. After all,
the Bible says God is going to do something. It
(20:06):
will be in the latter days that I will bring
you against my land, so that the nations may know
me when I am hollowed in you ogg before their eyes.
That's from Ezekiel, chapter thirty eight, verse sixteen. Thus I
will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be
(20:26):
known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall
know that I am the Lord. That's Ezekiel thirty eight,
verse twenty three. Like a casting director, he chooses the
characters to be part of the story that's being played
out today.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
This story of the end of the age ripples through
the world.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
What can one say about the unprecedented natural disasters striking
the earth in the last several years, And that's so
true in twenty thirteen and again here in two thousand,
twenty twenty five. Given this backdrop of geopolitical events, spiritual trends,
(21:06):
and natural disasters, could we be living on the verge
of prophetic events foretold thousands of years ago? Is something
remarkable happening in our time? Remember that flotilla, After that
incident rabbis released the statement saying, we have entered the
Gog Magog period of history prophesied by Ezekiel. Is something
(21:28):
remarkable unfolding in our time? Could we be living in
the days Jesus talked about on the amount of olives.
Here is what he said two thousand years ago. Watch
out that no one deceives you, for many will come
in my name claiming I am the Christ and will
deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars,
(21:50):
but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such
things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise again, nation and Kingdom against kingdom. There
will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these
are the beginning of birth pangs. When history's trends merge
(22:11):
with biblical prophecies, then something truly profound is unfolding in
our time. Many agree forty one percent of Americans think
they will be alive when Jesus returns, and he said
he would return to Jerusalem. To me, coming to Jerusalem
was like walking into a history book, like watching prophecy
(22:32):
unfold and the Bible come alive. You can see the
headlines of the newspaper and the pages of.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
The Bible overlap.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
The world today certainly is convulsing, and the nations are
rising up against the nations.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And the chapter ends with a love story.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Everybody loves a love story. It's the grand theme for
the Ages, and it will be the one of the
main melody during Earth's end time symphony. From the beginning
of Genesis to the end of Revelation, the Bible bursts
with God's great love for his people and the world.
It's God's love letter of his often unrequited love. It's
(23:15):
first a love story of his passion for his chosen people.
In Deuteronomy fourteen twelve, he said, the Lord, your God
chose you to be a people for himself, a special
treasure above all the peoples who are on the face
of the earth. Eventually he used them to bring salvation
to the world from one of their own. John three
(23:36):
point sixteen says, for God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For the Christian,
the climax of the Age ends with a love story.
Many Christians come to Jerusalem to deepen their love. We
followed one Christian group from New Life Church in Virginia Beach,
(23:58):
Virginia during their visit. For most Christians, it's a powerful
and sometimes life changing experience. One pilgrim told us, when
you read the scriptures, you're kind of looking at it
in black and white, but when you come here, it
really jumps off the page. It makes the Bible come
(24:19):
alive and you able to see it in color.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
You're like, wow, this is real.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
This is really what our faith is built upon. They
walk in the same place as Jesus walked, like the
garden of Gsemone another said, through tears, I don't ever
want to be in the garden of gsemone pleading before
the Father.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Oh, I don't ever have.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
To be in the garden of Gsemine pleading before the Father,
because Jesus did it already. The other high Life, for
many is another garden, the Garden Tomb. Its director at
that time told us, what we do have here in
the garden is a perfect representation of the biblical accounts
at the end of the four Gospels. One of their
(25:01):
tour guides says, as you go through the whole story
of what jesus life meant, what his death and resurrection meant.
It's like you see the lights go on in people's eyes.
They suddenly get it. And I've been I've had Christians
tell me I've been a Christian my whole life, thirty
or forty years. But it's only now, for the first time,
(25:22):
I really get it. I really get it was a
real man God in my place. It was salvation paid
at an incredible costs, but absolutely permanently established. This relationship
between Jesus and his church is another signpost along the way.
It's a growing romance between a bride and his gridegroom.
(25:42):
Song of Solomon throughout describes this intimate relations relationship. I
thought of that again on the has promenade during a
wedding ceremony.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I looked to the mount.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Of Olives and realized that's where Jesus will come for
his bride. He brought me to his banquet hall, and
his banner over me is love, the voice of my beloved.
Behold he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
(26:14):
Behold he stands behind our wall. He is looking through
the windows, gazing through the lattice. My beloved is white
and ruddy, chief among ten thousand, I my beloved, and
my beloved is mine. Make haste, my beloved. And that's
from the Song of Solomon. In Eastern tradition, the bridegroom
(26:34):
would leave his betrothed and go to prepare a place
for her in his father's house. He left, but promise
to return. This return is stirring the hearts of believers
in Jesus around the world. It's a love sick bride
pining for the bridegroom, and a divine romance played against
the backdrop of a world in chaos. A sign of
(26:55):
this romance is the emergence of twenty four to seven
houses of prayer mushrooming up throughout the Middle East and
the world. It's an intimacy described by Isaiah. You shall
no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land any
more be termed desolate.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
But you shall be called.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
By hes Belah, and your land Beulah, for the Lord
delights in you, and your land shall be married. For
as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your
sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.
So shall your God rejoice over you. I have set
(27:34):
watchmen on your walls, Oh Jerusalem, They shall never hold
their peace day or night. You who make mention of
the Lord, do not keep silent, and give him no
rest till he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise
in all the earth. That's from Isaiah chapter sixty two.
The Christian knows it's not really the end but a beginning.
(27:55):
It's not the end of the world, just the end
of the age and the start of a new age
with the one they've been waiting for. That's why their
cry is even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. So that's
part of the last chapter in the book, Dateline Jerusalem,
and we'll be discussing some of that in this coming
(28:15):
six week seminar.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
The first, let's pray, Father, we.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Just thank you for the signs that we're seeing right
now of your return of the end of the age.
And Lord, I pray for each and everyone watching that
you would keep them safe, that you would provide for
them above and beyond what we can ask a think.
And Lord I pray for each and everyone that we
would fulfill your purpose and plan as we look at
(28:43):
the end of the age. So bless each and everyone
watching and listening right now, and Lord, that we could
be faithful so that when we see you, you can
say to each one of us, well done, good and
faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord. And
we asked that in Jesus' name. So thanks for joining
us for this week's pray dot Com podcast. I hope
(29:09):
you enjoyed this reading from Dateline Jerusalem and just the
news about this upcoming six weeks seminar.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
I'll be talking more about that.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
When we have the website up and running and the
six weeks. Many times I think to give an understanding
of the times. Being there for twenty five years gives
one a perspective many of the things happening geopolitically, politically
and prophetically, and I hope you can join us for
(29:41):
that and in the meantime, God bless and if you
would like to contribute to this podcast, please hit the
give button if you can, that would be very helpful.
So thanks for joining us again. This is Chris Mitchell
and coming from Jerusalem right now, Mac coming from somewhere
(30:01):
in the States right now, but heading back in just
a few days.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
God bless Bye bye
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