Israel the Miracle!

0:00 Hello, everyone. I'm Stephen Strang, and welcome to the Strang Report podcast. I'm so excited today to talk about one of my favorite subjects, and that is Israel. I've been a lover of Israel, basically my whole life, which we'll talk about today. And I consider myself a Christian Zionist, and I was honored recently to be asked to participate in a very special book called Israel, The Miracle. It just came out not long ago, and it's essays from 75 Christian leaders about Israel, and they're all very different. I've really enjoyed diving into this book, and I was invited to be one of the 75 essayists, I guess you'd call it. And this was the brainchild of my longtime friend, Jonathan Feldstein, who is the founder and the CEO of the Genesis 123 Foundation located in Jerusalem. So I invited him to be on my podcast today, and we're going to talk about Israel and the fact that this was done in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel. But the book's evergreen. It's going to be good for years to come. It just happens to be 75 years, 75 essays, and it's a beautiful coffee table book that sells

1:34 for $75. And I bought a couple of them myself, and I want you to stay tuned. And I think at the end of the podcast, you'll want to order one too. So let me start by welcoming Jonathan Feldstein, and thank you for coming on my podcast and talking to me about this. Why don't you start by telling us what the Genesis 123 Foundation is and what its purpose is? Well, first of all, it's a delight always to be with you. Thank you for the opportunity. We established the Genesis 123 Foundation in 2017 as a way to build bridges between Jews and Christians and Christians with Israel, and we always add in ways that are new, unique, and meaningful. And what that means is that I'm not looking to compete with other people or be the next best Orthodox Jew teaching Torah to Christians or doing other things, but find different ways of engaging. And actually, oh, one of them, I always tell people, I'm the only Orthodox Jew with a weekly podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network, which I'm honored to be part of. Well, thank you. Well, I'm glad to have you on our network. I love being that. And just it's different. It's out of the box. And the book was just another download. I know I say self deprecatingly that I'm never the smartest person in the room unless I'm the only person in the room. This was an idea that God gave me. That's a great line.

2:58 I'm going to have to remember that. It's true of most of us. Well, I would hope so, because we have to have the modest. These are also to recognize that even if we are the only person in the room, most of the good downloads are coming from God anyway. And that this is what happened in October of 22. I was traveling. I was in Dallas, Texas. God gave me this idea. We need to put together a book of 75 essays by Christian leaders from all over the world in celebration of Israel's 75th anniversary and contacted the publisher immediately. He loved the idea, improved upon it. You know from publishing a few books that the whole idea of putting together a book, much less a book like this in under a year is typically unheard of.

3:39 But we ended up also miraculously gathering all of the essays, gathering all of the photos and beautiful art, all of it donated and sending it to the publisher, to the printer rather in Israel in nine months. And unfortunately, there was a delay because it came out right before the war began. And so that delay, getting them to America and getting them to other parts of the world. But that's what we do. We're building bridges. And this is an evergreen book. I'm looking at one of my copies here as well. It's evergreen. The essays are timeless from Pat Robertson's and really including yours. I mean, it's one of the most insightful. You wrote it beautifully, but it's also one of the most insightful. Well, I appreciate that. I actually wrote it quickly, which isn't always the case with writing. Sometimes I really labor over it. But in fact, let me show the viewers. It's a two page spread. And in fact, I had this idea. I have it on PDF.

4:42 Anyone who will write me via email, I'll say this again in the podcast, if you'll write me or email me and ask for it, I'll send you the PDF. You can read my essay. And I think it'll let your appetite to actually buy the book. There'll be some information about how to buy the book. So you send it to info at chrismamedia.com and just say, send me the PDF and we'll send it to you the same day. And I think it'll let your interest. But when I, when I wrote it, I've actually given talks and shared some of the same ideas. So it wasn't exactly new information. And I just shared my heart and it flowed and then whoever your editors were improved on it. And that's the, that's how it works. I will say that I'm interested personally in history and, you know, going all the way back to Genesis, really. And of course, our Christian history includes Jewish history. I've been to Israel numerous times. I've been to Mount Sinai. I actually mentioned that in my essay. And, and I have quite a few big historical books. And this I found this this morning in my own library. It's a big book that was published on the 50th anniversary of, you know, that was 25 years ago. And here I've kept it all these years. It's a very different book. It is describing Israel year by year during those 50 years, just different significant things that happened. And yours, though,

6:17 is all by Christian leaders. And I went through the table of contents and did a quick survey. And I personally know one third to one half of the people and I'm familiar with many of the other people. So you got, you really got a very good cross section of leaders in the Christian community, some very interesting essays. Of course, I started by reading the ones of the people I know, because I have a frame of reference. And tell me what reaction you're getting to the book now that it's been out a month or so. So the reaction's been tremendous. I have to tell you people are overwhelmed, which is lovely for me. This is the first book I've ever done. And I kind of pinched myself because that my name is on it, that my picture's inside it. It's something that I never imagined I would do.

7:08 But the response is amazing. And you just indirectly hit on one of the ways that people are so appreciative of it, because it's a coffee table book, you can sit down with your child or grandchild on your lap, open up to page 193 and read Stephen Strang's essay with and to your child or grandchild. And it's an interactive experience. Unlike the book that you have on your desk there, celebrating the 50th, which is an historical overview of the 50 years up until that point, this is inspiring Christians and Jews looking forward. We take a litmus test now of why Israel is significant today and it's 75th year and use that as a springboard to look forward. And that's something that's so exciting. And people are commenting on it. Today I did another interview with somebody else who thanked me that he bought a copy for his father for Christmas and made his Christmas by doing that. So I'm thrilled for this. I pray that this will be something that 50 years from now, children fight to inherit.

8:18 Well, that's very interesting. And you know, you're saying that makes me remember that when I was five or six years old, my grandmother gave me a book, not nearly this nice, lots of pictures about Israel and the modern state of Israel would have been, you know, less than 10 years old at that point. And I found it when my mother died and we went through her stuff, she had a copy and now it's part of my, but it's literally one of the first books that I can remember. I was probably just barely old enough to read at the time. And, you know, I know lots of Jewish people, you know, many of them here in central Florida, and they're often surprised that a Christian would be a supporter of Israel. And or they assume that Christians are anti-Semitic in some ways.

9:14 In the Christian community, in my circles, and I realized that the Christian community is very broad, very big, and there's many subsets, but in the subsets that are Pentecostals and Charismatics, there is no anti-Semitism at all, none, any more than people would advocate Paganism or Satanism or something. I mean, they just aren't, now they may not be activists, they may not be gunk hoe, they may not donate money, but they're not negative. And they would defend Jewish people. And that's how I was raised. Listen, when I was a little kid, some of my earliest Bible stories were about Adam and Eve and Abraham and Moses and Joshua. Before I even sort of understood the difference between Jews and Christians, I was learning all those stories, learning about King David, who I'm not sure if King David or Joseph is my favorite Bible character, but I've always been inspired by both of those stories. And of course, the prophets, and you know, I'm up into what we call the New Testament, of course. And as a child, I can remember hearing that we considered that the modern state of Israel was a fulfillment of prophecy. And that prophecy, which I need to look up the reference, is, can Israel be born in a day? Yes. Israel was born in a day. On our calendar, May 15th, 1948, it came into existence in one day.

10:48 And so where it's Isaiah 66-8, can a nation be born in a day? I mean, that's just how I grew up. We were not Christians. I and us had probably never heard the term, but I went to Israel when I was 28 years old. It was my first trip overseas. It was, I remember it was a lot of culture shock. I went with some men we considered it a pilgrimage. We toured all over Israel, and then we went down to the Sinai Peninsula, which was owned by Israel at the time as a result of the Yom Kippur War. Of course, later it went back to Egypt. So I climbed the mountain. I found out there were several mountains that people call Mount Sinai, but we call we climbed the one called Jebel Moussa for anyone who knows geography in that part of the world. And it was a very good for Moses. So it makes sense. Yeah, Jebel Moussa means the mountain of Moses. But it was, if it wasn't the mountain, it couldn't have been very far away because the sign up is not that big. And it was a very, very moving experience. And in some ways I came home radicalized and have been considered myself.

12:03 I'm proud. I get, I get some pushback from Christians who kind of make fun of me for calling myself a Christian Zionist. And even some, some of my Jewish friends, they just think it's odd. But I wear it as a badge of honor. I'm proud to call myself a Christian Zionist. And there's even a museum over there. I don't know if you've been to it or not, but it's called Friends of Zion. Of course. And there, and it tells the story that some of the first Zionists were actually Christian believers who lobbied Benjamin Harrison, who is a president we don't think of very often, but when he was president, they were lobbying that the Jewish people get a homeland, etc.

12:45 etc. And there was one of the earliest Zionists was named George Bush, which is, which is really confusing because we, we had two presidents named George Bush. And this George Bush in the 1840s wrote a bestselling book back in that era on how the Jewish people should have a homeland. And so he was an early Zionist. Now he was great uncle to George H W Bush, and they named his parents named him after the, you know, he was, he was a famous author, you know, a historical figure. Yes. So it's just kind of interesting how that kind of came down. I don't, you know, it makes me wonder if the Bush is surely the Bushes know it. I don't ever remember hearing either of the Bushes talk about it. I know it from other sources, but there's a big display at the museum about George Bush and they have to explain to people that it's a different George Bush than the one that I voted for in 2000. Here I live down here in Florida. And do you remember the recount in Florida?

13:56 We used to say we live in Florida where your, your vote counts and counts. And there was the and there was the hanging chads and everything else. Anyway, that's, that's a rabbit trail. I should not have gone down, but anyway, I'm proud to be a Christian Zionist and a lot of Jewish people don't know this history. And Mike Evans, who's the, who's the one behind the Friends of Zion, tells me that a lot of Israelis who have not a clue, they, they actually cry when they realize the important role that Christians have played. And now there are some with all this mess that's going on since October 7th and the protests with Hamas and everything else. A lot of people are turning their back on Israel, which is very, very sad. In fact, we probably should talk about that a little bit because I want to know what your opinion is. But, you know, it's important that we stand with Israel because God says that he will bless those who bless Israel. Correct. And so tell me what you think about what's going on. And, you know, this, this book was true 10, 20 years ago in the sense of the essays that were shared, of course they weren't written. It'll be true way beyond, are there protests at university campuses for Hamas? This is Christians who love Israel, who've been there, who had experiences. It was interesting to me that they were so different.

15:31 I didn't see any that kind of copied each other. It was a big concern of mine that we would have 75 essays repeating four or five scripture. I will bless those who bless you standing for, for such a time as this being a watchman on the wall. And I was honestly concerned as I invited you and others to be part of it, that it was going to be that shallow and it wasn't, not at all. And I didn't give parameters. I said, right, what's on your heart? And you did. And it wasn't something that was new and it didn't have to be new. But it's timeless because you shared your personal experience and you tied it in so beautifully also with modern history. I love it.

16:15 I love it. I love it. But yeah, what's going on? I'll say two things, three things. I never imagined living in Israel that I would ever live to send my son off to war. October 7th was a hard day and I didn't know how bad things were. But when my son came home, who was a newlywed, still is, and said, I have 10 minutes to put it on my uniform and get my gear together and I have a ride. And we didn't know what was going on. We didn't know how bad it was and neither did he. But I'm proud of him and I'm proud of all the soldiers and I'm grateful. And I know you know this, that we've seen unprecedented unity in Israel that's inspiring.

16:57 Matter of fact, the latest podcast that's coming out, I'm speaking with two rabbis, military rabbis, who are talking about where we're seeing God's hand in the war, the miracles, even despite the war. And where the unity is incredible, Jewish and non-Jewish. In fact, my son's commanding officer for another conversation is a Lebanese Christian. He's one of two Lebanese Christians to lead, he's one of two Christians to lead a IDF military unit into combat this past October. And we're seeing unprecedented unity. But we're seeing something that's also, you said you love history. This is for a deeper conversation. We're seeing unprecedented support among Christians for Israel and the Jewish people. And I don't mean only in 75 years.

17:44 I'm going back 2000 years. Since the beginning of the church, since the first century, we have never, ever seen such support. And most Israeli Jews don't understand it, don't know it exists. So when I get to show them copies of this book or tell them that the dollar that they donate to our Israel emergency campaign is going for X, Y or Z, people are shocked, overwhelmed, and incredibly grateful. And that's also beginning to break down the barriers. But life in Israel has been very hard. It's been very hard. There's a lot of stress. I think that it's, I think this level of stress will go into the DNA of our souls and be realized not just in my children, but in their children. I think that this now becomes part of the legend, the history of the Jewish people. And I think that we're going to see something that will impact us all for generations to come. Well, I think that's very important. And, you know, with wars, there's always two sides.

18:49 There's sometimes disagreements. I mean, look at the war that's going on in Ukraine and Russia. It's hard to tell who the good guys and bad guys are. But in this case with Hamas, which is a terrorist organization, this is not just a political battle. They're wanting to expel, they're wanting to eliminate the Jewish people when they say from the river to the sea, they, this means they went from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. I saw a clip. It must have been Prager U or something where somebody was interviewing these young people kind of college age and asking them what the river and the sea was. And they were saying stuff like the Red Sea. They couldn't think of the name of the river, but yet they were spouting this kind of pro-Palestinian, pro-Hama, not even Palestinian so much is pro-Hamas rhetoric. And they didn't even know what it meant, which I think is very sad. But the point I was going to make as we sort of wind up this podcast is that Jewish people, especially Israelis, you're not going to debate, is this war right or wrong?

20:00 You're not going to debate one side or the other side. And I think that with evangelical Christians, these are ones who believe the Bible, love God, are trying to live for God, trying to do what's right. They're going to be a solid for Israel. Israel can even make mistakes, and Israel does make mistakes, but there's a solid basis of support. And I've read recently from some Jewish leaders that say that evangelical Christians are really Israel's best friends that Israel can count on. And I think that for those who love Israel, and I'm guessing that just about everybody who watches me falls in that category, you need to get this book. I think you'll enjoy it. It's good to put it on. You put it on the coffee table because it looks good. Instead of a flour arrangement or whatever else you might put on the coffee table, you need to put this on. You actually gave me an idea. I'm going to sit down with my own grandson, young teenager. And he and I've never really had an occasion to talk about Israel, but I'm going to do that and to show him. I have personally purchased a couple of copies. I have two Jewish neighbors. Well, actually, I have more than two, but one next door and one across the street. And one is Orthodox and one is Reformed. And I bought them for my neighbors, and they already knew I was a Christian Zionist. They just did, but it allowed them to read the essay and to see the other essays of Christian leaders who love Israel, support

21:35 Israel. And so let me repeat again that if you will write me at this email address info at CharismaMedia.com and just say, I'd like Steve Strang's article about Israel. We'll send you a PDF. You'll see the picture. You'll see the essay. And there's some information about how to get the book. And I understand there's a discount code that people can get. Tell me about it. Yes, indeed. So you can order the book at IsraelTheMiracle.com. And when you go to check out, and you get copies for all of your children and grandchildren, use the discount code, Steve and Strang, one word. And that's my gift because I really want people and you're going to get a 10% discount because our goal, the proceeds go back to bless Israel, especially projects relating to the war right now. But my goal, why we publish this is to get it in as many homes as possible.

22:36 So people can read it the same way. And I love that you just hold the story about your grandmother and how that book made an impression upon you as a young child. I want this to be that for the next generations. Well, that's good. And as we wrap this up in a way I gave you the last word, but I just want to ask you personally, I know what it is to publish books. I published over 2000. I sort of know the drill. We've done a couple of coffee table books. They're expensive and so forth. So I know the drill. But when you read those essays, and I know you read them as publisher to vet them, to check on them, to be sure the proofreaders did a good job. But what did it do to you personally when you read those essays? All of the essays are excellent. Some of them, when I think about it now, you can't feel it, but it's stirring my heart. And a few of them made me cry. They're really that deep, theologically. And I want Jews to read these as well.

23:41 It's a stirring book. And I've read all of the essays at least two times in many cases, three and four. And they don't get old. They don't get old. This is really timeless. Well, I want to thank you for taking time. It wasn't easy to set this up, but we finally did it. And I hope that this will encourage people to first of all get the PDF, which is a little bit like getting a sample for a Kindle book or something gives you a little taste. And of course, you can read my story, which is one of the reasons I did it. And to get this book and also to support Israel. If there is a night to honor Israel in your area, or if in fact, if if you haven't been to Christians United for Israel summit every year in July, it's a wonderful experience in Washington, DC. I've been many times. And also to support the Genesis one, two, three foundation, which has its goal to build bridges between Israel and Jewish people and the Christian community. And I want to just thank you, Jonathan Feldstein, for all that you do to build bridges. You are indeed a bridge builder. And I believe that God is pleased with the work that you do. Thank you. Means a lot coming from you. Thank you.

24:56 And thank you to my viewers and listeners for tuning in today to the Strang Report. Share this with others. If you don't subscribe to the Strang Report, be sure to do it. Hit the little bell so you find out when we're live on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4pm Eastern time. And thank you for watching. God bless you.