Latest / Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo / Wake Up Call: End Times, Israel, and Revival

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Wake Up Call: End Times, Israel, and Revival · Worldview Matters With David Fiorazo

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  Welcome to World View Matters, discussing controversial issues, discerning current events,
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  defending biblical Christianity, no topic, off limits.
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  And now, here's your host, David Fierazzo.
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  Hey friends, welcome, thank you so much for tuning in and for subscribing at worldviewmatters.tv.
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  I've got a book that I want to talk to you about.
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  It's called Israel War, our wake up call.
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  And this is by author and pastor Claude Stoffer.
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  And he's a graduate of Hofstra University and Asbury Theological Seminary.
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  And he has been in ministry since 1986.
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  And since 93, he's served as the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Hope,
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  Amityville, New York.
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  And he's served by vocationally as a pastor and social worker for 16 years.
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  Claude is also chaplain on the New York state chaplaincy task force.
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  His wife D, he and his wife D have been married since 1980.
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  And his teachings can be heard on his living hope radio program.
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  The church website, by the way, is Calvary Chapel of Hope dot com.
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  Pastor Claude, welcome to Worldview Matters, brother.
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  Good to be here.
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  Yeah, good to see you this time.
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  Yeah, we've we've talked before, but not not this way.
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  So I like it's been a blessing in this new format.
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  I get to see the guests and and people appreciate your inflection when they can see
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  how you and when you're passionately explaining something.
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  But before we get into your book and it's it's it's a good one.
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  I just got it.
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  I've been, you know, skimming through it, flipping through it.
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  Israel War, our wake up call.
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  And it's a study of Israel hard times and the end times.
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  And of course, our need for revival.
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  Let's talk a little bit about what you've been doing at your church lately.
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  It's fascinating.
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  You said you've been having this testimony train.
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  That's my word.
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  Yeah.
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  But tell us about what's been going on at your church.
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  Well, oftentimes people are a little a little bit hesitant to share their faith.
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  And one of the best ways to share your faith is to use your testimony
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  and how you came to the Lord.
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  And so one of the things we did this summer was we we took a break from our normal
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  through the through the Bible and the Old Testament on midweek.
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  And we had a series called testimony.
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  And so it just kind of it took off.
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  And so many people at the church wanted to give their testimonies.
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  I gave them a little bit of instruction, a little bit of an outline.
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  And it's been wonderful.
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  And last night we concluded the series went a little bit longer than summer.
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  As you can tell and I gave with my testimony.
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  And you know, it was just a blessing.
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  You know, when you give your testimony, it's a blessing to you yourself
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  because you get to reflect and remember how the Lord brought you to faith.
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  And then it's and then it's a it's really it's a, you know,
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  it's an irrefutable proof of the reality of God as he's transformed to your life.
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  You're living, you're the living evidence right there in front of people.
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  And you give your testimony.
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  Yeah, and it's a it's a process, right?
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  The process of sanctification.
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  We are always working and striving to be better believers and Christians.
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  Always learning more about God and how to be more Christ-like.
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  It's part of the Christian life.
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  But I imagine how encouraging that is for a lot of people there hearing
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  other brothers and sisters.
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  Oh, yeah, we're really good.
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  Yeah, who brought them how he brought them to the Lord
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  and what he's done in their lives?
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  So really quick, I wanted to ask you about your Israel trips.
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  You said you've been there what you've either led or coled 14 trips to Israel?
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  Yeah, I've been in I've been in a number of times over the years.
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  And you know, they say that Israel is, you know, the you know, the fifth gospel.
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  And it really is true.
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  It's it's to lead people there to take them there.
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  And for myself to go and to see the historical sites to see the the archaeology
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  to see all of the sites to walk where Jesus walked, you know, that's that's
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  my favorite place in the whole world is a site that's not necessarily
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  a biblically based site, but around the Sea of Galilee there's a mountain.
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  It's called Mount Arabelle and it's this high, high peak of a mountain.
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  And you and there's a national park on the top of it.
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  And when you go up there, it's like you're in the clouds and you can look
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  down on the Sea of Galilee and the area where Jesus spent most of his
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  time ministering and it's just to me.
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  It's one of the closest places on earth to be
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  be close to God. It's just really an awesome, awesome place.
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  I would encourage I know it's pricey, but I would encourage every Christian
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  to at least once in their life make a pilgrimage to Israel.
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  It's so worth it. It's so wonderful.
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  Well, if that many trips under your belt, you're more than qualified to talk
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  about it today. And of course, the book, I wanted to ask you a little bit about
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  the subtitle, Claude, a study of Israel hard times
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  the end times and our need for revival. So I want to focus briefly
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  on the hard time because everyone goes through hard times in life.
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  God is sovereign. Sometimes he ordains those times.
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  And I just wanted to ask you about that because you've got the introduction to
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  your book before we get into the book. It's called Beauty for Ashes.
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  And I wanted to ask you about that. And that's based on Isaiah 61
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  versus one through four. So explain that about beauty for ashes and hard times.
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  Well, when Isaiah the prophet wrote his book,
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  he, you know, it was during his time of ministry,
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  both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah,
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  both went into captivity. And in that book, it says later on
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  in chapter 49, verse three, the Lord says to his people, he says,
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  you are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
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  And so that begs the question, the northern kingdom goes in the captivity.
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  The southern kingdom goes in captivity. How on earth can
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  the Lord be glorified in that? And you know,
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  one of the things that we discover in life, if you're living for any amount of time,
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  even as from the time of birth onward, there's going to be difficulties.
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  Even as a Christian, you know, some, some teach, you know, if you come to Jesus,
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  you know, to he'll fix your marriage, you'll fill your bank account,
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  you'll buy a house, you'll have two kids and a dog and a cat and your car.
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  And everything will go fine. But that's, that's not reality. That's, that's fantasy.
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  And that's not altogether a bad thing that it, that it is a fantasy because
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  it's through, it's through trials and difficulties that our faith is proven genuine.
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  Right? And beauty for ashes, the whole concept of that introduction is that even in the midst
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  of difficulties and trials, the Lord is able to bring beauty for ashes. Right? And, and there's
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  a verse in a New Testament from the Apostle Peter. When he wrote his first epistle,
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  Peter was writing to the, to the diaspora of Christians, those Christians who had been
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  dispersed and persecuted. And it's a, and it's epistle about how sometimes it is God's will
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  to allow suffering in our lives. And the first, the first chapter he starts, he speaks about
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  that. He says that, so now for a little while, you're going to have difficulties that the
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  genuineness of your faith can be proven. And then later on as we get into that epistle in chapter
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  four, verse one, Peter makes a very provocative statement. He says, those that have suffered
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  in the flesh have ceased from sin. And you know, that's, that's kind of, that takes you back a little
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  bit, ceased from sin. What does that mean? Suffered in the flesh, I understand that. But what does
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  ceased from sin mean? And what Peter is speaking about there is a principle that I think really
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  helps us to maneuver through the mind field of life and make sense of a lot of things.
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  You know, I've used that verse oftentimes when someone is in the last stages of terminal illness
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  or when they're going through a very, very serious crisis in their life, we might even look at it
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  in terms of October 7th and the difficulties that Israel experienced with the terror attack, the
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  Hamas terror attack. And the meaning of that verse is that when you suffer in your flesh,
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  it kind of puts things life in a better perspective, right? You're not so much thinking about,
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  you know, whether I'm looking perfectly, whether I have, you know, I've cleaned everything,
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  you know, these, these things that are important but are secondary, when you're, when you're facing
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  eternity, right? It causes you to kind of rearrange your priorities and order them in a more
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  eternally minded way. And so you cease from sin, you, you're no longer going to be as easily
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  indulgent in the fleshly, simple things when you're facing eternity. Amen. Amen, brother,
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  you also mentioned I want to quote what you wrote. It says in times when we suffer, we gain
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  insight in a greater understanding of value, worth, meaning, and purpose. And nobody's immune from
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  suffering in hard times. I think it's just so sad, Pastor Claude, that some churches teach that
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  because that's, that's ear tickling. That's what people want to hear. Your Christian life will be
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  smooth and you'll be blessed and God will favor you and all this. Now, there are times when God
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  does give you favor and God does pave the way for you in certain ways. But there's a, that's a
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  whole false gospel. We'll have to do that another time, talk about that another time. But you also
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  mentioned Genesis 50, 20. And I like that. You said what evil people perpetrate against us. And
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  this is also Israel, I'm perfect example. If we look to the Lord, he can bring about as it is
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  this day to save many people alive. And it goes back 50, 20 like Joseph, we can say that those
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  who act in evil ways against us, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for my good.
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  elaborate on that just a little bit. Well, of course, the biblical and historical context there
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  is when Joseph is basically sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers. And you know,
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  they really, they really did him dirty. But he's imprisoned. But in the prison, he's able to,
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  the Lord just threw a series of, of providential circumstances. Joseph rises to the second
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  in power in Egypt. And then when a famine hits the land, he's in the perfect position to
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  provide for his, for the patriarchs. And, you know, and so at the end of his life, when it,
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  when all of this comes to a head and his brothers are standing before him, he's got all the,
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  you know, he could, he could snuff him out if he wanted. He tells them he said, you know,
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  don't, don't fear. Don't, don't worry. Don't be concerned because what you meant for evil,
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  God used for good. You know, Joseph was able to, to process those things in a way he could see
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  the bigger picture. And I think that's what the Lord does. That's what we see in the book of Job,
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  right? In the book of Job, we see, you know, 30, the first 30, the first two chapters we see,
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  we're brought behind the curtain and we see why what's happening to Job is happening because of
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  spiritual warfare and, and the devil's attack. But it is until chapter 38 and onward that the
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  Lord kind of, you know, says, okay, guys, you know, be quiet. And let me explain to you something.
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  Let me explain who I am, you know, and, and it's just a, it's just a, that book is so important
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  because it gives, it gives us eternal insight into the things of this world. And if there's one
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  thing, I think that that was, was it was one truth that came through in the actual, the recent
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  October 7th attacks is that you, there is evil in this world. You know, there are some,
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  some people say, oh, everybody's basically good. That, that was just squashed on October 7th,
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  you know, and you have to come face to face with, with, with human sinful nature and the demonic and
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  darkness and evil. Yes. I hope so. I've been telling people, you know, it's hard to, to look at some
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  of that. If you can read some of the stories and actually look at some of the brutality, but don't
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  look away because this is a reflection of the human heart. We've got to take a very quick break.
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  Our guest is Pastor Claude Stoffer and his book is called Israel War, our wake up call. We'll
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  talk more about that when we come back. Today's show is brought to you by Harbinger's Daily.
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  World News Biblically Understood. Stay informed at HarbingerStaley.com.
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  Pastor Claude Stoffer is our guest today, Calvary Chapel of Hope in Amityville, New York.
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  First Pastor Claude, I know you can probably get the book in different places. Where is it available?
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  Give us a website or two. Well, you can get it right on Amazon. That's, that's primarily where it's
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  sold to just purchase something through Amazon or you can contact our church and we will,
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  we will send you a copy of it. I'll even go so far as to autograph it for you if you're interested
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  in something like that. Bonus. All right, brother. I liked the way you mentioned November 9 and 10
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  of this year will be the 84th anniversary of Crystal Noct or the night of broken glass in Nazi
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  Germany 1938. Tell us a little bit about that. Why you decided to include that as an example here.
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  Well, and also October 7th, the attack on October 7th was almost 50 years to the day of the
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  young or war, which was a war where on a on a the high holy day on the Sabbath, Israel's enemies
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  attacked her and she was really completely and totally unprepared and it was very it was a devastating
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  thing. It was only by the intervention of the Lord really that that they were able to hold off
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  their enemies. Really, it's a it's a great war to to study and look at God's intervention. Many
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  many stories about that, but you know, Crystal Noct was a was a what's called a program. It was
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  the German people were incited by the Nazis to to really scapegoat Jews. They were given license
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  to break the law to to destroy Jewish businesses to persecute Jews and really it was the beginning
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  of really of the final solution and moving you know towards towards that persecution of the Jews
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  in Germany. We know the Holocaust came out of that and what's really said David is that there
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  are there are people to this day many of them in our own on our own college campuses who who
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  refute and deny that the Holocaust is even something that that happened, but that's one of the
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  reasons why you're seeing now that October 7th is being reported at least by Israel in vivid
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  undeniable pictures so that it cannot be denied there there is no justification whatsoever no
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  matter how persecuted Hamas and present themselves to be there is no justification for the the
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  beheading of babies the burning of children alive of raping women of just the just the terrible
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  terrible things that happened on that day and it's just a more evidence that there is this spirit
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  of anti-semitism there's this spirit of hatred towards God's people the Jews and if you ask yourself
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  well why why if you look historically I think you could make a good case that no people group
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  has been persecuted as severely and as perpetually as the Jew and you have to ask yourself why
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  is that I believe the reason for it is and I'm not I'm not you know saying anything new but Israel
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  is central to the prophetic plans of God and so the enemy the devil he wants to thwart those plans
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  and at least delay them and somehow so by if he could annihilate Israel or to destroy them in
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  some way he he feels that he could he could he could thwart God's plans and you know I mean that's
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  just you know that's just that's just clear now here's another thing David let me just continue
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  a lot of people argue that how can you say that Israel is something that's created by God and
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  fulfillment of prophecy when there's so so immoral so promoting of immoral lifestyles and
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  so the vast proportion of Israel is you know atheistic and things like that where how can you say
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  that such a such a country is part of God's plan well if you if you review and in my book I talk
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  about this if you review the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 37 in a valley of dry bones when
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  Ezekiel is told by the Lord to prophesy over the bones and to see and to bring them back to life
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  when you look at that the the the picture that that prophecy that prophetic picture that's given
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  is one of gradual and coming together of the nation by stages first the bones come together
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  than the sinews then the then the the cartilage the flesh comes together but the last thing to
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  happen to bring that nation together before the Lord is then the breath of the Lord or the spirit of
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  the Lord comes in them right so a time is though Israel now is together all of her bones and flesh
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  and she's together on externally a time is going to come in the future I believe it's when Jesus
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  comes back at his second coming that they will look on him when they have pierced and they will
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  mourn for him like a long lost son you know and and I believe there'll be a tremendous revival and
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  then perhaps as Paul mentions in Romans chapter 11 all Israel will be saved see but the enemy he
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  doesn't want this to happen and that's why we see such terror against Israel yeah you mentioned
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  what's going on in college campuses it it is concerning but the poison the propaganda has
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  been pouring out of the university system for decades and decades and now we're seeing some
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  of the rotten fruit how some of them can justify what happened in Israel October 7 and you say
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  something very interesting cloud you say on the outskirts now we're talking about the demonstrations
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  the parades pro-Palestinian they're saying the Jews caused this or whatever so a lot of college
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  campuses and a lot of statements are coming out they're not hiding it anymore but you say on
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  the outskirts of such demonstrations it's not difficult to envision such demonstrations being
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  held against Bible believing Christians who support Israel or who stand by the word of God
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  I think that is accurate I think we already see discrimination against Christians even in America
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  around the world of course you look at Africa look at Nigeria look at all other places but in
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  America where we're supposed to have a free country the freedom of religious expression and
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  everything like that we're seeing a lot of discrimination already but I agree with you I just
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  want to share have you share a little bit more on that because I think that's a really good point
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  another friend of mine we had on the podcast last week said we'll they'll go after the Jews
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  first and then they're gonna come after the Christians so what are your thoughts on that cloud
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  well you know Hamas leaders have already said that that that Israel is only the beginning
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  and now you know couple that with you know this present present Biden administration's policy from
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  almost from the first day that they took office opening the borders so that we have multiple not
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  just thousands millions of people pouring in now look I'm I'm not against helping immigrants who
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  are genuinely seeking help I think we're the wealthiest nation in the world we can help but there
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  has to be a there has to be a vetting process because what's happening is you know that it's
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  oh it's almost you'd be you'd be silly to think that terrorists don't seize the opportunity
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  to infiltrate our country and you know what happened on October 7th and Israel could very well
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  happen here within our own borders and you know so so the the whole thing that I'm pointing out
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  here is that given that that perilous predicament that we're in that perilous situation that we're
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  we need to wake up yes I'm not just talking about a political awakening although we need to
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  vote we need to be politically involved we need to infiltrate and influence the society for the glory
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  of God we need to be salt we need to be light I believe all those things but more more importantly
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  we need to be revived we need to return to the Lord right we need to this is a wake up call to us
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  you know no longer are we are we able to be Christian couch potatoes we need to engage part
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  of the problem is is that through the last 50 or more years 50 now 75 years really it began
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  in the when people came back from war war two and liberalism really began to take a hold
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  you've seen a departure from scripture and in more recent times we see the church you know
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  the woke church you know they're kind of just adopting the world's views the world's traditions
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  right pulse tells tells the Colossians you know not to be cheated don't allow yourself to be
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  cheated by you know worldly philosophies and and the traditions of men and that's exactly what's
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  happening and and really it possible also wrote he wrote the young pastor Timothy he said in a
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  ladder times people would depart from the faith and give heed to doctrines of demons that's
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  exactly what we're seeing in the world today we are living in the end times and we need to get
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  the we need as a as a may not just as a nation but more importantly as a church and as individual
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  Christians we need to get our act together with the Lord we need to get back to the Word of God
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  we need to seek the Lord you know that it's it's sadly true that in the church the the least
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  attended meetings are the prayer meetings when prayer meetings that's that's where those should
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  we should be our churches should be filled with people praying for revival praying for God's mercy
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  praying for an anointing from the Lord to share the gospel with the lost and to reach this lost
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  culture amen brother hey we're down to just a couple minutes left and I want to point out that you
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  do mention some things I mean Israel's a secular nation America for most practical purposes is a
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  secular nation to you're mentioning how it's just sad about the the tolerance that we have towards
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  sin and you mentioned Romans one you mentioned just how many genders people are imagining there's
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  so much confusion but I want to skip over that right now since we're running out of time and we're
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  going to have you back Claude Lord willing you sent me some points about accomplishing kind
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  of an awakening and you sent me five points starting with examining ourselves first go through
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  those quickly please okay well the Bible says examine yourselves as as to whether you are
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  the faith test yourselves do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you
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  are disqualified you know second Corinthians 13 five we need to you know there's a lot of people
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  Jesus Jesus said in in in the church there would be tears amongst the wheat a tear is a kernel of
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  wheat on the outside it looks like any other piece of wheat but when you open it up it's empty
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  and I think that there are many people in the church who think that they're Christian but they're
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  not they haven't been really truly born again of the spirit Jesus said why do you call me Lord Lord
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  and do not do the things that I say I think we need to examine ourselves and stop stop with all the
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  superficial you know silliness in the church and start to get to get into the substantial
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  scriptures you know to get into the Word of God and let the Word of God get into us then next we
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  need to check our motivation right it says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 it says for the Word of
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  God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-digit sword piercing even to the division
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  of soul and spirit and of joints and Maryland is a discernment of thoughts and intents of the heart
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  we need to submit ourselves to the Word of God we need to get our worldview from scripture and
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  then we're right no we're running out of time but you know we need to trust the Lord and we need
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  to receive power for life and really just get back to the spirit we need a modern day outpouring of
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  God's spirit and we need to seek that in prayer whatever form it takes we need to really get
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  serious with the Lord and on our knees war on the floor right war on the floor and prayer
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  war on the floor and the church needs to repent I like what you said there's a lot of people who
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  think their Christians are and they're not living it but Claude we're going to continue this I
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  want to mention guys the book Israel war our wake up call a study of Israel hard times and the
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  end times and of course our need for revival you can get on Amazon pastor Claude we will have you
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  back God bless you bro that appreciate your voice keep fighting the good fight we'll talk to
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  you Lord willing soon good bless bro all right thank you all right next week guys we've got
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  Dorine virtue she was a former New Ageer one of the top New Ageers in the world very influential
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  she's in Christ and she's very now calling out the darkness we'll talk to Dorine also pastor
• 27:34
  Steve Smotherman of Legacy Church in New Mexico Heidi Saint John we're going to have her back on
• 27:39
  the show can't wait to catch up with her and Jonathan Brentner he you can read his writings at
• 27:45
  Harbinger's Daily so a great guess I get to talk to God bless you and as always keep speaking
• 27:52
  the truth about things that matter