Culture & Christianity: The Allen Jackson Podcast - Did Israel Let October 7 Happen? Here’s the TRUTH. [Featuring Yair and Anna Pinto]

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

What does it look like to follow Jesus while raising a family in the midst of conflict? In this conversation, Pastor Allen Jackson sits down with Yair and Anna Pinto, Christians living in Israel, who share their firsthand perspectives on the Israel–Gaza war through their social media platforms. Together, they explore faith, media narratives, military service, and the realities of parenting and community life after October 7, 2023. Rather than reacting emotionally or politically, this episode invites believers to pursue discernment, pray with understanding, and consider how Scripture shapes our response to Israel and the challenges of our time.

Well, welcome to Culture and Christianity. I'm excited today. I have two friends from Israel with me, Yair and Anna Pinto. Welcome back to Murphersboro. It's great to be here. And if we are half asleep, it's because we just landed three hours ago. And we have been traveling for, what was it, like 15 hours? 15 hours. She had a layover. But without the kids. So no complaining. We left three kids with our grandparents back at home. So this is like a vacation for us. Three small children.

Exactly. Two, five. Two, five and seven. Yeah. Yeah. You are on holiday. Yep. Yeah.

And all of them look like her exactly. Thank God. So like I didn't contribute any external genes, only internal organs and stuff like that. And you're in the States for NRB, National Religious Broadcasters. Yes. Yes. And to meet friends like you, come on podcasts, say no. Share the truth.

Yeah. I'm sure you flew across eight time zones. I hope you flew across eight time zones so we could have a podcast. That's a delight. You're our first stop. We just landed and came here. Well, it is always good to see you. We are so thankful for your lives and what you're doing.

I want to start and just introduce the people listening to who you are a little bit. Let me get to know you. We've had an opportunity to break bread together. You had surgery one day. And I called you post-op. I think you were still under the influence of anesthetic if you did a TV show with me. I remember that my leg was still up high because I got injured. in Gaza, which, you know, was tough, but Anna was happy that I was, you know, back home and not in

the front lines. And I had the surgery and then went live. Your accent gives you away. You're Israeli. But Anna, you're, you've got an American accent. Yeah. Yeah. You're sober, though, born in Israel. I was born in Israel, born in Jerusalem, but my parents are American. They came to Israel. They went to a Bible school and met in Israel, and then I was born there. So where did you two meet. It's a long story, but... Yeah, it's two different versions, too. True. Mine is the real one. His version and then you get the right one? Exactly. I understand. For those of you back at home that don't know Israel, you know, the amount of Jews that follow Jesus is very small.

So you can say around 30,000 all across Israel. I mean, just your church has 15,000. So it's kind of like, that's it. That's what we have. This is all ages, female, male. Yeah. Exactly. All the ages, female, male, everything. So, you know, to find a girl that also follows in Jesus is like American. Because out of the population, it's 0.001% that follow Jesus. And it's important for me. It was important to find a wife that believes in Jesus. But, you know, what are the chances? So this is where a prayer goes into place. So my mother, when before I went to the army, she prayed that I will have, one more friend that is a follower of Jesus with me. No, one friend, not one more.

Only one friend. One friend. Yeah, because all my life I was the only follower of Jesus in high school, the only follower of Jesus in my basketball team. But your parents are believers? Yes, my parents are. Second generation. That's amazing.

Exactly. Yeah, my mother is the first generation. She actually received Jesus after the IDF in Europe. Because Israelis after the army, they go travel the world a little bit. and that's how she found. And before an Israeli man goes to the army or woman, the mothers usually pray that God will keep him safe. And they also pray, at least my mother also prayed,

that I will have at least one follower of Jesus with me because it's a time in your life, you're 18, and then you're thrown into this big world of the army, new friends, no family, no congregation, nobody, you're all alone. And then I joined the army and she's calling me. So did you have another friend that believes in Jesus with you? I said, no, mother. No, of course I don't have.

I never had any believer of Jesus with me. Why would this be any different? Said, okay, I'll keep praying. She was a redhead like Anna, by the way. Very stubborn. Super stubborn also with God. She said, okay, you wait, I'll keep praying and I'll call you again. And she did the next week.

And I said, again, no, no friend that believes in Jesus. Jesus. She did again. It took her three weeks, and on the third week, I was saving and guarding the barracks in the middle of the night. And I see this guy that I recognized from youth camps because small community, you know everybody. He said, what are you doing here? And he responded, and he said, I came here, was transferred from a different unit. And the army is a big place. and out of all of the brigades, all of the companies, all the platoons, he was stationed in my company, in my platoon, in my room on the bunk bed above me that was empty, okay? That's an answer to a mother's prayer.

And when God, you know, fulfills a promise, he makes sure that you know it's him, you know, against all odds. And then fast forward, after I'm getting out of the army, we'll get to the stove of how we met. Yeah. Fast forward to how did we meet and all that. When I finished the army, my mother had another prayer that I will find a woman that is also a follower of Jesus. And again, back to the statistics, 0.001%. And out of that, you know, I want a woman.

So it's like half of that. So it's already 0.000.5 or something. I don't know why I lost it already, you know. And then, you know, I need to like her. She needs to be my age. That would help. To look good, you know. As you can see, I thought, okay, there's no way that I will just start dating and randomly meet somebody

because the statistics don't add up. So I decided, okay, I'm giving this to you, God, and I'm trusting in you. And then after the army, I was searching for myself, I was like meeting with my father's friend, the guy that was with me in the bunk beds, and he was teaching me the Bible. Like, we were sitting reading the Bible. And one day, he said, you know, my daughter went to the IDF with one girl, I think you would like her. So why don't you give her a call and check it out? That's his side. Yeah, exactly. So, okay, continue to the other side. On my side, same timeline, but my side, also, I've never had believers in my high school, in the army. Only there was this one course that I went, and I also had an empty bunk bed. And the person who was with me in that

bunk bed was a believer that I knew, but only by face, and I didn't really know her. We became best friends afterwards. And as teenagers do, we were talking about guys and there's no believers. And she was saying, wait, there must be somebody that's our age that you don't know that you haven't met yet. And then we were scrolling through, through, I think it was Facebook. And she says, oh, there's this guy. His name is Ye'il. He's a great guy. My dad's his mentor. He teaches him. He studies the Bible with him. And he went to the Army. with my brother, which was the one that was stationed with him. So we were both bunkmates in the army together with the same family of believers.

And basically it was a blind date, but from those two people, which is, it really is God. It's just amazing. I want to give myself some credit here because her friend called me and said, oh, I want you to meet this girl, but you should Facebook her. And I said, I was old school. I said, no, no, I don't do this Facebook thing. and give me a number, a caller. I'll ask her out. And that's what I did. But you didn't pick up the phone in the beginning. Yes. So fast forward. We're here, 13 years married. You've been 13 years. Three kids. 13 in May, yes. Three kids. Wow. So you both served in the army. And you're still active. I mean, you've been on reserves, but they called you up into Gaza. Did you get called up in the since October 7?

No. When you have children normally you're, you're exempt from that unless it's a, unless you're a doctor or something like that. But I was a Hummer Instruct. So I wasn't called up. She was teaching tank officers how to operate the tanks. It doesn't look like it, right? You know, when I studied, I was at Hebrew University a long time ago. And I'd meet the women after the army, you know, and it always made me anxious because they were like tank commanders. Yeah, yeah.

You mind your manners. It's a completely different world. So very good. So three children, a family. You also work for TBN? Correct. Yes. I know you do, you and Madi do a podcast.

podcast that you've gotten a lot of traction. How do they find that? People want to learn a little bit more about you that way. So yeah, so we do daily news from Israel, from Jerusalem about what's happening and we encourage people to know how to pray for the situation. It really started on October 7th when we realized that the world is not sharing the truth. I mean, despite the fact that we were attacked by so many terrorists, the world blamed us, you know, very, very fast in the media. So that's how it kind of began just with me using my phone from the front lines inside Gaza and in the northern border. It started in our house actually on October 7th, 6 in the morning. He pulls out his phone.

I'm like, oh, great. Now he's going to start doing news. What is going? Like, we still don't know what was going on. We didn't know the magnitude of everything. We didn't know that they infiltrated, that they kidnapped, that they slaughtered. We had no idea. And then he started filming himself and explaining kind of what was happening.

And we were watching it unfold. as he was filming. And Israel is a small country. I mean, it's about the size of Middle Tennessee. So if something's happening anywhere in Israel, everybody knows. You don't know all the details. You just know something's happening. Exactly.

Besides the news that we were seeing. But our Facebook page was filled with missing people. Have you seen my sister? Have you seen my father? Have you seen? And these are people who were taken hostage or who were murdered. And these were all these heartbreaking stories you were seeing on our personal feet. Because there was a huge music festival.

Yes. There were thousands of people down there, in Nova. Yeah. And people found. from their homes. They were slaughtered in their beds. Yeah, I watched the videos. It was awful.

Yeah. And at that moment, the heart part is that I was called to go and to defend the country. 24 hours. You know, as part of my reserve duty service. Because in Israel, the men and women, they serve for three years, men, and then two years. That's the mandatory part. And then after that, you're part of the reserve army until the age of 45 for me, because I'm an officer. And then women until they have children also faulty.

So it's like this is the army. It's people like me, civilians that have jobs, have families, and they need to leave everything. I have a backpack packed with bulletproof vests with boots, like military boots, uniform, a little knife, a helmet. And then, you know, it's ready whenever I need to go back. And that's how it is with. hundreds of thousands of Israelis. And on that day, the scariest day that we ever had, I had to

leave her and the three kids. We had a three-month-year-old baby. And she had to stay alone. And we live in a community that is surrounded by five Palestinian villages just all around us. Like, all the view is like Palestinian villages. And you think, what's stopping them from just crossing the fence? The same thing. That was also a miracle, that they didn't react. simultaneously when they were attacking from Gaza that they didn't react and they didn't start targeting us and from the north if they didn't do it at the same time they were supposed to that was part of the plan but it that didn't happen so we were really we were saved by that yeah I think that's a part Americans don't

understand because when we have a war it's in Ukraine or Afghanistan yeah and it's thousands of miles away but in Israel I mean it's literally across the fence I mean it's your backyard I mean it's within a hundred yards yeah and so when you say you were surrounded All the neighborhoods immediately surrounding you were Palestinian. So the fear was they might join the attack. Exactly. Yeah. And your husband's going to fight.

He was gone. And I was practicing with the kids' drills of running out of the house as fast as we could to get to the car. While I was sort of scoping and looking and seeing if they would infiltrate, what do we do? We can't hide. I can't hide with a three-month-old. He would cry for sure. So our best option was to run. So we were timing ourselves.

I was trying to think, how can I protect my kids? So let's try to be prepared. So that was part of my preparation of the worst case scenario. Check about the spray. The spray. The hair spray is good. Yeah. You become very, very creative when you're alone with three kids, zero sleep.

And just fear for him mainly. But it's a real flight or fight. So I just said, okay, I'm going to basically make this place that feels so unsafe suddenly. The home, the place where you're supposed to be at the safest place on earth felt violated. You felt completely unsafe and you didn't know what to do. So I bought special things to lock our windows. We did these drills. I saw all kinds of YouTube's about, I didn't have a gun back there. Now we have a gun, but I couldn't do anything with a knife, really. So I was trying to think, what else could I do? So I knew that hairspray is flammable. So I put hairspray bottles across

the house with little lighters. So I knew I could at least burn them and maybe then I'd have time to like kick them or stab them with something else. And that would give us a few more minutes or a little bit longer. And this was going on for a few months. This was for a few months. Yeah. Yeah.

I slept on the floor in front of the kids' door for the first few weeks just because it would be at least one more body to protect them in case they didn't do. Well, and the horror of October 7th was civilians and families were targeted. I mean, they murdered children and women and families in front of one another. I mean, it was really, it wasn't warfare. No. Terrorism isn't the right word. It was beastly.

I don't, the language I have is. I think it was demonic. Yeah, I think that's the way I can describe it. Your English is better than mine. I would agree with you. I've been practicing. No, and so there was a reason for that fear, because if that were, to continue, you and your children were very much vulnerable.

Yeah, yeah. You know, you don't have to look far to see that our economy is in real turmoil. Our nation is $37 trillion in debt. Inflation rates made it hard to buy and sell a house, even a car. We're all feeling it. When you go to the grocery store and you spend an extra dollar or two in every item, that gets personal in a hurry. Well, the most important thing we can do during uncertain times is to invest ourselves in

knowing God better. Read his word, pray. That's the only place we're really going to find stability we need for the disruption that I'm pretty certain is ahead of us. Beyond that, it's just plain wise to make the best decisions possible in our daily lives with our investments. When you think of all the options out there, gold is an investment that has stood the test of time. That's why I work with preserved gold. They've treated me with honesty, integrity, kindness every step of the way. They're offering a free wealth protection kit, and all you need to do,

is text Alan, that's A-L-L-E-N to 50-505. As a bonus, you'll get up to $15,000 in free gold and silver with a qualified purchase. Go ahead and text them today. We've been friends a while. In our country, I've never seen the hatred for the Jews being expressed in the way it is right now. So let's have kind of a candid conversation, maybe. Some things that are being said, like the Israelis, let October 7th happen. just so you could annihilate Gaza.

You live in Israel. You fight in the military. You vote in their elections. That's absurd to me. That you would sacrifice thousands of civilians, women and children. I think if you want to do annihilate Gaza, you'd annihilate Gaza, but you wouldn't sacrifice your children for that. Yeah.

So just to answer the question, if that was the cause, then we failed because Gaza is not annihilated. The Palestinians are having more births and the population is growing. And we are letting in 400 aid trucks every day from Israel into the Gaza Strait and have been doing that throughout most of the time of this war, except for maybe one month and a half. And Hamas is the terrorist organization that is controlling the Palestinian people. Sadly, most of them voted for this.

terrorist regime that is stating in its mandate that their goal is to destroy Israel from the river to the sea. Okay? That's what they want. No Jewish presence in the United States. Exactly. And that's in their charter. It's not just, you know, a sideline ideology.

They stated proudly. And Israel does not only provide food for the Palestinian people. We are also trying to make a different government that will rule. them. We're trying to make sure that the school system. So that it's not Hamas. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. We do not want a terror regime that seeks our destruction and also that is using all the children of Gaza as human shields as terrorists and is using the hospitals, the schools, the United Nations buildings, the mosques as terror infrastructures. I've been inside the Gaza strip. And before the IDF opens fire at any kind of tear targets in the Gaza street,

they are letting the population know in advance. Okay. So it's kind of counterintuitive because you enter a neighborhood and you know that Hamas terrorists are operating from that neighborhood. Before you enter, you throw leaflets from the sky to notify the population, evacuate this area because Hamas terrorists, are operating from here and we want to neutralize the threat. Okay, so also Hamas is reading Arabic and they know that we're coming now. So that's kind of harmful to the purpose of the mission. It makes you far more vulnerable. A lot, a lot. It's a greater risk for you. No, for sure, because they know we're coming. But we do that because we do not want the civilian population

to suffer. And Hamas knows that and does the exact opposite. They're placing their headquarters inside hospitals, inside schools, inside mosques. And then when Israel carries an attack against a hospital or a school or a mosque, then automatically the whole world is flipping around against Israel because we are attacking hospitals. All eyes on Gaza, you've probably seen those. Yeah. Where has been all eyes on other things that have happened around the world,

different genocides, different things. It's always the Jewish people who are doing the wrong things who are attacking, who are. No Jews. no news. Exactly. We've seen that again and again and again that's happening. Like it's very sad. But on the one hand, it's very sad. I have to say it's also makes me feel more confident in my faith. Because when I see this, I just understand, because in the beginning of this war, I didn't realize why does everybody hate us? Why does all these terrorist regimes launching attacks against Israel? Don't they have anything better to do? When we don't have gold, we don't have oil,

We don't have natural resources. We're a tiny strip of land. What can they gain by destroying us? Then I realized this is a spiritual war. And the enemy of God wants to destroy Israel. Why? Because if you look at the Bible, the purpose of Israel, back through the times of the Exodus from Egypt, and up until today, is to prove that God is faithful.

He picked the people of Israel, not because we're good, the opposite, because we are stubborn, because we're doing all the mistakes again and again. You talk about my friends, be careful. It's me. Because it's not about us. Nothing is special about us. It's because of him. He's faithful to his promises to the people of Israel,

despite the fact that we are sinners. And because of that, he will be faithful to his promises to each and everybody around the world. Okay? And he's using Israel today, the same way he used us back in the biblical times, to be an example on a nation level that he is faithful and that he is performing biblical level miracles today in modern days. And you see it when Iran launched 500 ballistic missiles at Israel. The interception rates were more than 90%. This is better than the company is designing the missiles stating that they are. This is a miracle. And seven nations attacking us at the same time

and look at the Middle East right now. Hizbala has been weak. completely. Hamas has been weak and completely. Iran is almost collapsing from within. And Khutis in Yemen are also hiding in their tunnels. I mean, it just, it's amazing to see that when God is making a miracle, he makes sure that it's against all odds and it's not in our power to do it. I mean, I can try to take credit as an IDF officer that I'm smart and good, but listen, this is too much. It's not about us. But we'll ask your wife. She'll tell us the rest of the story. She'll tell them. Tell them I'm smart. But I think that I don't want to walk past that too quickly because October the 7th was such a horrible day.

I mean, because of what Hamas did, but it also brought questions into Israel. You know, why the IDF didn't respond more quickly. I mean, all the questions that come whenever there's a military issue like that. But out of the horrors of that, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, the Houthis, I mean, they've all been so diminished. Yeah. It's impossible. Iran's been a threat for a long time, decades. 78, I think, yeah. Long time. I mean, since before you were here. Exactly. And now they have been, I mean, they're collapsing in on themselves. We wouldn't have dared to imagine that on October the 8th. It seemed, I mean, the threat seemed far greater than the possibility of God doing something. So out of all the horror and all the tragedy, God has brought something remarkable out of that.

Yeah, that's what really I love about God, that he can take a terrible situation, like the worst situation ever, and turn it into an opportunity to share his love and to share the fact that he's still powerful. And it's just like, I think that me and I would say that almost everybody in Israel got encouraged by that, even the people that do not believe in God yet, they understand that there's something bigger, that there is a reason that we are in this land and we are still there after this two and a half year of war and of fighting, you know. And if you look about it from an economic point of view, even, I mean, the Israeli economy somehow is doing better than what we were two and a half years ago.

I mean, after two years of war. With no tourism. With no tourism. With all the soldiers being mobilized to serve. Yeah, with everything. Like now we're inventing defensive technologies and, you know, anti-rocket defensive systems and water desalination plants and all kinds. of stuff that, by the way, you know, we're still bringing water into the Gaza Strip to,

so that the Palestinians have water during the wall. This is like a side note. I was in Gaza. And of course, it's a war zone. And accidentally we blew up a tunnel of water, like a pipe of water that brings water into the Gaza Strip, you know, for millions of people and stuff like that. Then we had to stop the fighting, send in into the wall zone, special people that know how to fix the water pipes so that the Palestinian people will have water while we are fighting them at the

same time. And do we get any kind of credit for that around the world? Like, who does that? No other army. I don't think that the U.S. ever did that while launching a war. And definitely not Britain, definitely not any European empire that existed. So it's kind of like no matter what you do. Well, Hamas, I think it's fair to say Hamas wasn't piping any water into Israel. No, for sure not. They weren't sending any supplies. to Israelis that are suffering. No, listen, it's very weird. It's like counterproductive to the way we fight is very hard

because you fight and feed them. And then they attack you. And it's like kind of goes again and again. I don't know what the solution is. I mean, other than praying for something. It's so indoctrinated too and to the children. They're taught from a very young age that these are, these are the evil people, these Jews.

to annihilate them. And if you grow up into that, it's such a poisonous, tumultuous field. It's impossible really to raise children that way and expect them not to turn out monsters. Absolutely. And that's true in Gaza, but it's also true in the West Bank. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, throughout the territories, the children are taught that same way. Yeah. Because I've been there. I've seen the children eight years old being led in a little parades around the Temple Mountain, on the old city especially. Yeah. Making some horror, in Arabic, but some horrible statements.

Yeah. You know, with their life and with their blood, they will kill the Jews. I mean, they're indoctrinating these little kids. Yeah, yeah. So it's being baked in. So we have to have a culture change. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, there was a few ideas that Trump threw out there that I think can work, you know, if they would take shape, like, you know, moving the Palestinian people from Gaza into a few different countries and have like a full generation of, D-D-programming or anti-brainwashing or something, you know, that they can teach them something different than becoming a terrorist. So let me share this. It's very important because for us, like for me, I like basketball. So, I mean, I looked at Michael Jordan, at all these, you know, NBA stars as like role models of working hard or something I can achieve if I try hard. for the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in Judean, Samaria, the role models,

and they have pictures of them all over the houses, are terrorists that committed terrorist attacks and suicide attacks against Jews. These are the role mothers. And the parents are encouraging that the leadership is rewarding terrorism by giving money to the families for generations. So how can the kids? you know, aspire for something good if this is like the top level of what they can achieve in their lives. Okay, I won't pivot a little bit. We've explored that.

It's another awkward conversation. I did it last week on the podcast I talked a bit about how the primary sponsor of hatred for the Jews has been the Christian church. Not the Palestinians, not even the Nazis. It was Christian Europe that made World War II possible, the destruction of the Jews. and most Christians just don't know their history. They don't know. But the World War II was possible because for hundreds of years before that, the Christian Church had been that great sponsor.

The Spanish Inquisition, the Portuguese Inquisition, the progromes, I mean, the whole thing. So the Jewish people, they know that history. You know, when I was at Hebrew University, I remember one day in class, I forget the topic that came up, but they found that I was a pastor. I've been there for months, and they didn't know I was a pastor. You were in Hebrew University for how many years? Just one. One year?

Okay, cool. Impressive. It's a tough university to get in. I couldn't. She got in. They wouldn't accept me. I must have bribed somebody. Because by then everybody in the class, they were my friends, and they turned around and

say, why do you hate us so much? And it's an awkward conversation because there isn't a good explanation. There's not a logical explanation. And that's why I go to Israel. I take people with me to Israel whenever I'm. I can. And I don't go to see churches or piles of rocks or, I mean, I like the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, but I go because of the people. That's the treasure in the land of Israel. It's not the piles of rocks. We've got rocks in Tennessee. And I think, but maybe we talk a minute

about this because you're both believers. I think the average Israeli is far more trusting. Maybe it's changed a bit in the last decade, but they've been historically far more trusting of a Muslim than a Christian. Yes. Yes. I think that changed significantly. in the last 10 years, and I think moreover after this war started, when we realized that so many people hate us, like supernatural hate, and then you have this supernatural love and support from Christians that we felt this while fighting this war. Even religious have changed their minds from being so scared and anti-anything Christian or anything has to do with Jesus or anything like that. They're now, well, maybe they're not

so bad because they're actually trying to help us. They're trying to support us. They're trying to bring in supplies for us that we needed. They're praying for us. They're doing this and that. So their eyes have been opened up and we've seen how they're more accepting now. It's still like at the beginning stages of that, but it really is something has changed there. God is moving. Yeah. Just like he's changed Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran. He's changing the hearts of the people. It's amazing to watch. Yeah, exactly. I think it's preparing the way. You know, this is what they feel. It's another step. towards the revival of the Jewish people.

I mean, we're not there yet, sadly. All our friends are not followers of Jesus, except from Mati that's here in the next room. But we pray for them. They know, and, I mean, they love us for who we are. I believe that we cannot convince anybody to believe in Jesus. I mean, we need to pay attention and to be aligned with God. and then when he tells us to do something, to share, to, I don't know, to pray, we need to take that step.

And then it's his job to touch the heart and to basically reveal himself to somebody. You know, that's what I think. And this is what we have been doing in Israel. And what I learned, because it was very hard. You know, I said I was the only follower of Jesus growing up in high school. And I would not share my faith up until a very, you know, old age. My friends realized I believe in... The very old age. You look like very old age.

Sorry, I meant like, you know, I was hitting my... Very old. I'm very old age. So, and when they realized I was a follower of Jesus, the whole class did not speak to me. They called me a traitor. Some of them even beat me up because of my faith. Because I'm a Jew that believes in Jesus. It's even like... It's even worse.

You know, how can you believe in Jesus? He's not Jewish. He's from the Christians and stuff like that. And then, you know, I got back. I explained to them and they were okay with me. It took a few months, but they accepted me back. And they said, next time, don't lie to us. Just share it.

And then joining the army, I had another opportunity. New friends, new people, a fresh start. And I told myself from day one, I will read my Bible that has the New Testament attached to it in Hebrew, which is very rare in Israel. Usually it's only the Old Testament. On my bunk bed every night, and I will not be ashamed. And very fast I became the representative of Jesus in the base because I was the only follower of Jesus until the second guy came. So it was, what I learned is that if you are proud about your faith, then God.

God will bless you, and people will see that, and they will respect you. Not necessarily will also, I mean, believe, but they will respect you for who you are, and they will see the light shining through you. And that works compared to the fact that I was ashamed and then, you know, receiving your punishment for that. So that was my experience, yeah. What about your friends, Anna? They're also. Most of them are non-believers.

but I'm a Christian, so my parents aren't Jewish. So I actually felt I had an easier time than he did because he was felt like, or he didn't feel like it, but they saw him as a traitor. For me, I was just kind of like, oh, this is this weird girl. Like why do you even want to be friends with the Jewish people? Why are you, why are your parents here? So it was a bit like, you're okay, but we'll keep a little bit of a distance.

And then, but as he said, we just, I showed love and I showed who I am. I wasn't, it didn't take me as long as it did him to realize the easier way of how to do it. Usually it takes you faster to realize stuff than me. So from a young age, let's say, I was very open about it, about what I believe. And my friends just accepted it. It was fairly quickly. They accepted it of who I am and what I believe. They don't necessarily agree with it, but they will stand up for me.

If other people attack or something, they will stand up for me and said, No, but this is what she believes. Just let it be. So I think that's an accomplishment. Yeah. But you know, what you're describing sounds so in many ways, it's similar here. Because we've been told for a long time now, if you're a Christ follower, if you're a real, not a generic Christian. You know, you can be a, but if you're a real believer in academia, they don't want you to talk about it at the universities, particularly the elite universities, or in the corporate boardrooms or in government positions.

don't bring your Bibles, don't bring your faith, don't bring your biblical worldview. And I think for far too long, the believers here have withdrawn from that. We've been undercover, covert. And we have to change, just like you described. I think we have to decide that wherever we go, we're going to go be ambassadors for our Lord. And I think wherever you are in the world, there's pressure against that. Everywhere, right again. And so, again, it's why I'm honored to call you my friend.

No, listen, it's 100%. I think that being a believer in Jesus is not just a small part of my life. It defines everything that I do in every aspect of life. If it's my professional career, if it's my relationship with people, if it's my belief, if it's my, you know, ethics. It should be every part of your life and not just like, yeah, Yeah, I'm a professional. I do that. And I go to church on Sunday and that's it.

It shouldn't be like this. It should be filling you up to the fact that people look at you and say, oh, this is a guy who believes in Jesus. It's like impossible not to know that, you know? And I think that's how it should be. You know, I'm delighted to tell you about one of our sponsors. To be completely honest, we've declined a number of people who wanted to sponsor our podcast

or something we were doing. But ancient nutrition isn't just a sponsor. actually a product I use. Jordan Rubin's a friend. We were at a Christmas event a little over a year ago and I happened to be seated near Jordan and I kind of confessed, you know, I need to get healthier. A few days later, he showed up in my office with an eating plan and a box of ancient nutrition products that he said, you need to put these into your routine. And I did. And it worked. I didn't exactly completely disappear, but I got a lot healthier and stronger and had the energy to complete the assignments before me,

which have been pretty intimidating lately. So I want to recommend it to you. Ancientnutrition.com. They're multi-college and protein and a whole menu of products. If you go to ancientnutrition.com and you just use the promo code Allen 30. You get a 30% discount,

and you can start this year in a healthier way for more productive outcomes. I think it'll be a blessing to you. I tell my friends here, when we talk about the Jewish people. My prayer for the Jewish people is that they would come to know Jesus as their Messiah. And it's not about, I think we use the wrong,

I think language is a problem because it isn't about conversion or rejecting or becoming. It's the awareness that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. Yeah, yeah. It's funny that... That changes everything. When I, when people like that watch me on YouTube, like realize that I'm a follower of Jesus, then I say, but, but you're a Jew? How can you believe

Jesus is for the Christians? And then I say, no, Jesus was a Jew. All the biblical prophecies talking about the Messiah coming are fulfilled through Jesus. Read the Bible, you know, and then compare, if you have a better Messiah, let me know. I mean, which other Jewish so-called Messiah fulfilled all the biblical promises like Jesus did. None of them, many of them get offended by that also, but this is my answer and it's the truth. So I think believing in Jesus is the most Jewish thing that you can do. I mean, a cool rabbi from the Galilee, fishing with the people, preaching in the synagogues and in the temple mount. And when he comes back, he's coming back to Jerusalem.

I can sit there for my office. I have a front view to the Mountain of Olives. Every time I go to the Mount of Olives, I take a minute because I think, well, maybe today, you know, it's okay with me. So, okay, I'll ask one more question. I don't want you both to answer. If you could talk to a group of Americans about what do you want them to know about Israel and the Israelis, and how would you like them to pray? So there's so much craziness and so much garbage.

And you're my friends. So you do. You can talk to several thousand Americans and they'll share it with their friends. Let's talk to hundreds of thousands Americans. Yeah. What do you want them to know about Israel and Israelis and how would you like them to pray? Well, I think, well, there's a lot of things. But our culture now, and I see it especially after October 7th, people are educating themselves

through TikTok, Instagram, different stories and just accepting that as truth and not really diving into actually what happened and history and learning. Everything on TikTok's not true? Exactly. TikTok University. There's people that are already professors there. So I think just not to be blinded by all this hatred and lies that are going around and really look for the facts if you don't believe it.

You don't, you think that the Jewish people are wrong and you think that IDF is wrong. Okay, then go look for yourself and dig a little bit of bit deeper than TikTok, just a little bit deeper, and find out for yourself what the truth is. And I think that's something for this generation, especially, just look for yourself and educate yourself. Sounds like being an informed consumer. Yeah, yeah. And prayer, I would say, well, maybe it's just because I also have young children, but prayer

for the children of Israel that they are not too much impacted by all of this that we've, they've experienced with the alarms. We've been multiple times a day running to the bomb shelter. We did it in quite a, I think we successfully did it. They're not running in fear. They're just, we run because we have to run, but then we pray, and they know that that's a safe place, and they know that God will protect them.

But just that, just to guard them, really. Yeah. And the impact of that on the rest of their life. Yeah. Yeah. And then in the middle of a siren alarm, I go live on your show from the room next door. I remember you turned your camera and the kids are sleeping in the shelter.

And I think, yeah, I'm a spoiled American. So yeah. Well, I think that one thing I want the world to know about Israelis is that we love life. I mean, we want peace. We want peace with all our neighbors. Everybody. I want to go and travel to Tehran. I pray for the people of Iran every single day.

And I want to have good relationships with Lebanon, with Syrians, the Palestinians. But everybody, I mean, I don't want, well, I don't want to fight. You know, we do it because we have to defend ourselves. But this is not who we are. This is not something that we want to do. And if you want to dig deeper and the good stuff that Isat has been doing, you can easily do that. Cherry Tomatoes, Israeli invention, I think USB is that invention. Like so many high technologies, Ways, you know, GPS systems.

I actually trained the inventor of Waze and the Hummer Tanks. He would show me the first version of Ways. He said there's this new app that I'm working on it. It's called Ways. Waze sounded so weird to be and it was so at the beginning stages. Yeah, of it. This shows also how small Israel is. Because, I mean, what, 10 million people, everybody knows everybody in a tiny strip of land.

And the fact that we are always in the news is, again, an encouragement that our faith is real. Because there's no other reason other than God cares about Israel. He wants to use us to show to the world that he's faithful. And we need to pay attention and look and see. And in terms of praying, I would say, play for the peace of Jerusalem, you know, but don't do it just because it says. And, you know, look at Jerusalem as this, you know, mystical place that you read about in the Bible. I mean, pray for the people. And if you can, come visit us, you know, it will change your life, not just walking where Jesus walked, talking to the people, understanding the dynamics.

And then you'll know how to pray and get us. that close to a relationship with God. So. The peace of Jerusalem is not just an absence of conflict, it's peace with God. Exactly. When the people of Jerusalem have peace with God, our world will be different.

It's coming. Amen. It is emerging. Well, Anna and Yahir, thank you for spending some time with us today. Thank you for having us. I hope to sit at a table with you in Jerusalem before too long.

That time, I'll be the one jet lagged and not you. We'll have you for a Shabbat dinner. That would be an honor. That would be an honor. Thank you for coming back to Tennessee. Thank you. Thank you. Until next time. Yeah, absolutely. All right, we've got an assignment to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and our friends in the land. God's moving in the earth and I want to be a part of it. Don't sit in the seat of the skeptic. Let's get up and use our voice in our lives for the purposes of God. We've got to take our Christianity into the culture and make a difference. Thanks for joining me today.

Before you go, please like the podcast and leave a comment so more people can hear about about this topic too. If you haven't yet, be sure and subscribe to Alan Jackson Ministries YouTube channel and follow the Culture and Christianity Podcast. You can do that on Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Together, let's learn how to lead with our faith.

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