Rick Green: 0:12
Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It's WallBuilders. I'm Rick Green, america's Constitution Coach, here with David Barton and Tim Barton. Tim is a national speaker and pastor and president of WallB uilders. David, of course, America's premier historian and our founder here at WallB uilders. You can learn more about all three of us at WallBuilders. com . Time to rebuild the walls, folks. This is just like in the book of Nehemiah the walls are crumbling all around us and in our case, it's happening right before our eyes and we need to start picking up the pieces and rebuilding immediately, and every single one of us can play a part in this. We encourage you to go to WallB uilders, get some good materials, start one of our Constitution classes. Biblical Citizenship in Modern America as a class that's exploding across the country. Over a million people have been through it at this point and you can be one of those people to not only go through the course but to host it. In fact, Constitution Day is coming up. What a great opportunity September 17th, next month. In September, september 17th, constitution Day you should be hosting a Constitution class. Get it started, get ready, get trained. It doesn't take much, just got to get people in the room, turn on the video and get some good learning going on. It's a great way to build community and get people that want to help save the country to be teaming up with you. It's a wonderful fellowship as well, so I highly encourage you to do that in your home or at your church. ConstitutionCoach. com is the website. If you get signed up in time, you can actually host a Constitution Day event at the local school. So, yes, every school in America is supposed to do something on Constitution Day. This year it falls on Sunday, so you have to do it on Monday or Friday, Friday before or Monday after, and we will equip you. We'll give you the PowerPoint and everything where you can go in and do a 45-minute presentation at your local school, where they're supposed to do something and they just don't have time sometimes to prepare for it and do all the things it takes to host a class like that, and you can be the solution for them. ConstitutionCoach. com is the place you can sign up to do that. Alright, David and Tim, we've got our friend Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein going to be with us later. New book out called Israel the Miracle, website is IsraelTheMiracle. com and, David, you spent time with the Rabbi in Israel at some events, and here in the US as well.

David Barton: 2:10
Yeah, great guy, but really the book, I'm really excited about the book and as you look back to the story of Israel, this is their 75th anniversary, which is a big landmark for them. And as you look back to their story, their story, in many ways, America's story parallels Israel's story. Now, the modern Israel is what we're talking about 75 years here. But the original Israel and now the modern Israel and America were all born with a lot of miracles. It was God's direct intervention. We should have been whipped a number of times by the British, but God would change the weather or things would happen that were inexplicable outside of just divine intervention. And that's the way Israel was after their rebirth in 1948. There were so many things that went goofy in military terms, that should have gone against Israel, that miraculous things happened and they were able to survive and to defeat the Syrians and defeat all the Arab nations that were against them. And so the fact that Israel is here is a miracle in many ways, and they acknowledge that, and that's the title of the book, and for those that have been to Israel, it is such an astounding piece of eye candy. I mean, it's just like t he mind can't comprehend, the eye can't fully perceive what you see. There are so many fascinating places and the scenery and the old buildings and the archaeological digs and everything. It's just like you walk around saying, wow, I can't believe, wow, this is amazing, and so it's just a great place. So the name of the book, Israel The Miracle, really does describe their last 75 years and I've been able to look through the book and I mean it is a coffee table book but the pictures inside are absolutely striking and stunning. I just had fun just flipping through the pages, just looking at the photographs, and so it's really a great anniversary book and for so many Christians we understand biblically that we have a good, close connection with Israel, that it will always be one of our allies from the biblical standpoint, because God has promised in Genesis 12 that if you bless Israel, God's going to bless you, and if you curse Israel, God's going to curse you. It's that kind of covenant that he made a long time ago and he doesn't break covenants. So it's a fascinating, great book. I encourage everybody to get it. There's a lot of good books out there but man, this one, visually, is absolutely striking and stunning. The photography is great. It's made up of short accounts within it that tell you a lot about Israel and aspects of Israel that we kind of are quasi familiar with. But I mean, in my case, I was asked to write a short story for this, a short piece for it, and mine was just going back to America's long standing relationship with Israel. You go back to President John Adams and President John Quincy Adams and here's guys 200 years ago calling for the reestablishment of modern Israel. They had such a love for Israel and so many of the Jewish people that came to America and actually were great patriots in the American War for Independence and were some of the great political leaders. I mean, it's just, it's really cool to see that America has always had this really heart for Israel and the connection there. And so that's really what I covered was part of the historical connection between Israel and America that goes back hundreds of years, and it's a lot of short articles like that that are really fun to read. So it is a great book. I've been able to see it and I thought this is just worth sharing. This is something that people should want to get, want to put out, because it makes other people want to look at it and open the book and see the pictures and there's just really edifying stories all throughout the book.

Rick Green: 5:55
Well, and you guys, you've been to Israel many times. I've tried to go several times with you guys and I had to cancel a couple of different times and had other trips. I've still never been. So this book is going to be the closest I get, at least in the next few months. I'm hoping you guys are going back again soon and I'll get another shot at going with you. But, Tim, if you can't go to Israel, you can at least get this book and learn about Israel and also have it as a way to start studying about Israel and the impact it's had on the 75 different authors.

Tim Barton: 6:25
Yeah, and one of the things too. As we're even talking about this, Dad, as you're talking about how important Israel is and part of God's covenant, there's a lot of people I can imagine that are listening, that maybe aren't on the exact same page, that are saying wait, a second right? Aren't we the new covenant? Aren't Christians? We're the ones now with Jesus and Jews rejected Jesus. I mean, isn't it about a personal relationship? Why does a land location matter? There's a reason that we would encourage people to learn more of the story, and I think this is one of those places. This book offers much of that perspective. Hearing from different people saying this is why Israel was very important to me, and this is some of the biblical connection, this is the faith connection, this is the land reality, situation and part of God's covenant connection, and you're hearing from a lot of very noted individuals, noted authors, communicators, leaders and it does add some depth, some insight and perspectives. As you mentioned it looks like it's going to be a beautiful book, something that you can leave on a coffee table that people can peruse, and with 75 different articles by different authors, there's plenty of information to read and review along the way, but certainly for those that are curious about Israel, this could be a great way to learn more about that biblical connection, the American connection, why it matters as a Christian, etc. going forward.

Rick Green: 7:47
Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein, our special guest when we return. You're listening to WallBuilders.

Tim Barton: 8:02
This is Tim Barton from Wall Builders with another moment from American History. As the American War for Independence began, the President of Yale was the Reverend Naphtali Daggett. When New Haven, the home of Yale came under attack, about 100 citizens rushed out to meet the British. The Reverend Daggett galloped by them on horseback, his clerical robes flowing behind him in the wind, and he took up a solitary position atop a hill. The 2,500 British soon put the townsfolk to flight, but the Reverend Daggett continued to stand alone, firing down on the advancing troops. A British officer confronted him. What are you doing there, you old fool? If I let you go, will you ever fire again on the troops of his majesty? Nothing more likely, was the preacher's reply. America's early pastors personally confronted danger and courageously led their communities. For more information on Pastor Daggett and other colonial patriots, go to WallBuilders. com.

Rick Green: 9:01
Welcome back to Wallbenders. Thanks for staying with us. Great to have Rabbi Jonathan Feldstein back with us. Rabbi, thanks for coming on. Man, thanks for talking about this new book on Israel.

Jonathan Feldstein: 9:10
It's a delight to be talking about my book about Israel, from Israel.

Rick Green: 9:16
I was going to say! From Israel, since you're there right now. IsraelTheMiracle. com for folks that want to go learn more, IsraelTheMiracle. com is the website to learn more about it. So David and Tim were both just super excited about this and said, man, we got to get Jonathan on and talk about it. So, man, what caused you to do the book and what would people at home need to know about it, to go to the website right now and learn more.

Jonathan Feldstein: 9:43
Yeah, so actually, what causes a complete divine inspiration? Last November actually was in Dallas having conversations about the idea we were coming into Israel's 75th anniversary. I had already been in conversation with a publisher about a different book entirely and God just put this idea on me and said we got to publish a book with 75 Christian leaders from all over the world writing about why Israel's significant to them. I called up a publisher, I shared it with some friends in the Dallas area. Everyone loves it. The publisher immediately improved upon it and what we've got now and it's exciting to speak to you specifically this week, because this is the week that I am telling the publisher how many copies to print. We are on the verge of going to press and it's unbelievably exciting. We've got 75 essays from people of different ethnicities, obviously, both genders, all continents except Antarctica, denominations and ages, from I don't know, maybe 90 down to 20s, I think. And it's quite amazing because I was worried that when I charged all of these people with writing their essay about what Israel is significant to them, that we were going to get a lot of repetition. And I will tell you, other than very, very minor themes that are stretched through the book, we don't have repetition. We have beautiful essays. Many of them make me, as an Orthodox Jew, cry because of the deep theological connection that Christians are expressing toward Israel and about Israel. The best thing about it, in addition to the essays, is that it's being published as a coffee table book, so it's stunning. And not only stunning the pictures and art that is being included all represent the themes of the essays, so it's really very... The publisher's done an amazing job selecting the images and what's so nice about it? You know, you and I can read a book. We can get a book on history and read it and learn about it, and then we put it on the shelf and we don't see it again until we need to remember it or refer it to somebody else. Because it's a coffee table book, it's displayed and because it's a coffee table book, children as young as four and I've seen it with my own grandchildren, can pick up the book and can engage with it, with an adult telling them the stories, what's going on in the book, and that's something that I'm so excited... so we're telling... The book will be available in the US in the first week of October and we are already taking orders. We've already got thousands of pre-orders and we're telling people that, no matter what, they can have it as their own gift for their family by Christmas time. It's super exciting and the fact that this was conceived in November and today, in August, we are going to press and we'll have the book published and printed by next month is simply supernatural.

Rick Green: 12:32
Well, I should have absolutely started with the fact that it is a coffee table book gorgeous colors. I'm sitting here looking at the mock-ups on the website and, like you said, so that way it's not just incredible stories, it's visually stunning and it's something that kids will be interested in learning from as well, and I'm just I mean, I can't name all 75 of them, obviously we'd run out of time, but I'm just looking at a lot of names that I know well and that I respect. I mean Michelle Bachman, this guy, David Barton I don't know about him. We'll have to talk about it.

Jonathan Feldstein: 13:02
I've heard of him. We were... we had to go to the minor leagues to get him, but he was a good one.

Rick Green: 13:07
Yeah, that's right! I mean Dr Michael Brown, who I've been listening to a lot lately, Kay Arthur, I mean, you just got a lot of good... Don Sweeting over at Colorado Christian. You got some amazing people in here and, like I said, 75 of them. So they're basically short stories that each time you could do one at a time when you sit down to read and it's going to make you fall in love with Israel, if you haven't studied and you haven't been there and all those things. Johnny Moore's in there, I mean that's just a lot of good stuff. So I don't even know how you picked who you were going to have and all of that and did it this fast in one year, but you've always played such an incredible role in building a bridge between Jews and Christians and bringing us together for our commonality and certainly Israel, being able to support Israel and fall in love with it, if you've never done anything like this before. So this book, I think, is going to continue that and draw a lot of people in that in the past may not have been on their radar.

Jonathan Feldstein: 14:06
That's what we're praying for. When people see it and when I hit the road in the fall, when the book's available and hit all the world and do these book launch tours and media promotion, that people [are] going to see it and say, wow, I have to get that. And I'm not an immodest person. I don't think that I'm so special most of the time, but I get such fulfillment when people like you and someone else... just yesterday I had a couple coming and visiting because they're now going to be promoting the book through their ministry and they just couldn't put it down. It's just simply stunning and it's just... it's nice to make me feel good, but more the affirmation of the vision that I know when people buy the book, it's going to be something that they cherish. I believe that it's going to be something that's going to be a family heirloom. We've actually done something really cool. In May when I picked up the first proof copy to start showing off the last half of it was just white pages in order to just give a sense of the thickness of the book. But that gave me an amazing idea. Because it's an interactive book, because it's a book with which you engage, you just don't read it and highlight something and then put it down. You're really engaging. So we're going to have several pages at the back entitled What's Your Israel Story, so that you can sit there with your children and grandchildren and make notes about why Israel is important to you, that you're continuing that story and I believe that this will be a family legacy, not for selfish, shameful plugging of the book, but I would tell families now, while they can, to buy a few copies, because down the road these are going to be things that people will fight over inheriting.

Rick Green: 15:39
Well, and I mean I, Rabbi, I got to say, I mean, when people are promoting themselves and it's all about them, it's obvious in the books they put out. You know, this is something you've compiled for others and for the story and that's obvious. Even as I was flipping through the opening pages and reading the different stories, I mean this is not. I love the fact that you didn't make this... It's not about you, it's about you're telling the story of Israel through these voices of all of these people that have had these, like you said, very personal and very different, which is, I think, something that should be pointed out. It's not, it's not just oh, it's the same thing over and over. Everybody had something special and something different that Israel impacted them with, and, man, I just I'm excited for folks to get this. I can't wait to get one myself, and I was even thinking about it. You know, it's not just something you want in your own home. Everybody's always looking for a really, really cool gift to give to people that are special in your life. This is something that will be very different and very special that they'll hold on to, not just sticking a drawer and you forgot about it. This is something you can give to loved ones in your life as well.

Jonathan Feldstein: 16:41
You know, and with Christmas coming up, I'm glad you said that, this is something that is priced... It's not a cheap book. The retail price is $75. I'm going to tell people a discount that they can take because of our relationship, but this is... There's a couple of business people that I work with that are already planning what they're going to buy their business associates or employees as gifts for Christmas and I said you know what? I buy fruit baskets and I buy cakes and I buy things that are perishable and go away. I'm buying your book, Jonathan, because this is something that people will cherish and have forever.

Rick Green: 17:17
Amen, amen, good stuff. Man, I'm just sitting here still scrolling through Raphael Cruz. You got all these people, I mean this is... I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Really, really well done, so thankful for you, man, and thanks for taking time. I know this is crazy week for you as well, but IsraelTheMiracle. com is the website. IsraelTheMiracle. com Rabbi, I appreciate your time today, sir.

Jonathan Feldstein: 17:39
And you're welcome, and when people buy the book and go to check out, enter the word david barton as the coupon code. One Word and they're going to get a 10% discount on the purchase of the book. That's just a little secret between us.

Rick Green: 17:51
Nice, and just to make sure I understood this right. So you're basically pre-purchasing right now. You can go ahead and make the purchase and then they'll ship in time for Christmas, and all that in the fall.

Jonathan Feldstein: 18:00
They're going to ship in early October and you know that's a stress of mine right now because I want to print enough thousands of them so that everyone gets and we... they're being printed here in Israel. So we're going to be putting them on a boat the week of September 10th and they're going to be coming over there and going to our fulfillment center and going to be shipped out the first half of October and, yeah, in time for everyone to have it for Christmas.

Rick Green: 18:26
Alright, man, I don't always do this and I hope our audience trusts me on this. I think they do, because we've been doing this a while. I'm literally placing my order right now, so I've got my browser pulled up.

Jonathan Feldstein: 18:34
Oh, you're amazing, wow!

Rick Green: 18:36
I'm going through the website. I'm going to test your website right now, Rabbi, so if I call you back when we get off, you'll know there's a problem. No, I'm going to place my order right now as well, and I encourage other people to do the same thing. Hey, God bless you. Thank you so much for coming on today.

Jonathan Feldstein: 18:49
Thank you.

Rick Green: 18:50
Stay with us folks. Be right back with David and Tim Barton.

Tim Barton: 19:01
Hi, friends, this is Tim Barton of WallBuilders. This is a time when most Americans don't know much about American history or even Hebrews of the Faith, and I know often times for parents we're trying to find good content for our kids to read. And if you remember back to the Bible, the book of Hebrews, it has the Faith Hall of Fame where they outlined the leaders of faith that had gone before them. Well, this is something that, as Americans, we really want to go back and outline some of these heroes, not just of American history, but heroes of Christianity and our faith as well. I want to let you know about some biographical sketches we have available on our website. One is called the Courageous Leaders Collection and this collection includes people like Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, George Washington Carver, Susanna Wesley, even the Wright Brothers, and there's a second collection called Heroes of History. In this collection you'll read about people like Benjamin Franklin or Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Harriet Tubman, friends the list goes on and on. This is a great collection for your young person to have and read and it's a providential view of American and Christian history. This is available at Wallbuilders. com that's www. WallBuilders. com .

Rick Green: 20:04
We're back here on Wall Builders. Thanks for staying with us and, by the way, guys, while we were on break, yes, I completed my cart and it all worked great, so I'll let the Rabbi know there were no glitches in his cart and I was able to get a couple of copies of the book already pre-ordered. But, David Tim, obviously big supporters of Israel here at Wall Builders, and you guys, what is..? let's see 2024? Have you got a trip going back in 2024?

David Barton: 20:31
Rick, we got a deal for you, bro, now you can't back out on this one. You got to put this on your calendar, but we got a trip going from April the 6th to the 14th of 2024. And so we like those eight-day trips. It's about a week off because we take the weekends on either side of it, basically. And it is a fascinating trip. It's a Bible study trip. You're a tourist, for sure, but we don't do all the tourist stuff just for the sake of being a tourist. We do so many of the sites that are in the Bible, so many things that happen in the Bible, and you're actually standing right there and we actually pull the Bible out and read that story while you're standing there, read that account. So it is a great trip. We've already got a bunch of folks signed up now and space is limited. For those that want to do it, go to the website and sign up for this Israel trip. So, Rick, you got to get on this thing, man. You can't cop out on this one.

Tim Barton: 21:26
And I would say probably the best place to go for that, guys, is TBCTL, which is the Bible Comes to Life abbreviation acronym, tbctl. tours/wallbuilders , because we're doing this in a partnership, collaboration with the Bible Comes to Life. It's our good buddy, Omer Eshel. We've had him on the program many times. He is an archeologist, he is a Bible scholar, very connected with a lot of things happening in Israel specifically surrounding some of these locations, some of these sites, some of the archeological work that is still going on, some of the things they continue to find in these new excavations. They have 37,000 archeological sites in Israel. Over 5,000 of them are from the Bible period and are Bible-related sites, and when we go on these trips and tours, we specifically go to places that are archeologically confirmed biblical sites and sites from that era. So it's not just something that's a traditional site, because there are some kind of religious denomination and beliefs where there's other kind of Christian groups that have been in Israel, some of them for hundreds of years, and they have traditional sites where they celebrate certain things from the Bible happening in certain locations. And although there's nothing wrong with celebrating certain sites and locations or moments that happened at certain locations, what's great about the archeological side, and what we really care about, from even the historical side as we study American history. We say, hey, what do the original documents say? It's not what is somebody's opinion. It's not what somebody's impression of an individual or of a moment or the era. It's what do the documents say. We are so appreciative of being able to go to the archeological sites and digs that confirm these specific things happened in this location. So now, it's not theoretical, it's not hypothetical, it's not conjecture. These are the actual places where some of these moments and events happen. We pull out the Bible. We read the Bible stories in those locations. So this is something that we would highly encourage. If people have wanted to go to Israel before, they weren't sure, we would encourage you, come with us. We have tried to do Israel trips before and we actually were over in 2020 when COVID hit. We were the—I was helping lead a group we were the last tour group literally the last tour group coming out of Israel, as the nation's being shut down for COVID. We weren't going to go back as long as they were requiring any kind of vaccine entry kind of those vaccine passport thoughts, we said, nope, we're not doing it. We have to have the vaccines, that's not how we're going to do this. So now they've lifted those requirements, it's much more open, so it's definitely a great time to go. I've already led a trip to Israel. I took a student group this summer. Incredible time, 43 students, college-aged kids. We went and toured Israel and it's definitely something that we would love for all of our listeners. If you have an opportunity to come on this and, god willing, we'll start doing these trips again, maybe every other year, and so if you can't go on this one, it is worth saving up your money. If you can save $20 a month, in a few years, you can get the money saved up you need to go on these trips. Save $100 a month, you can do this a little faster, but the bottom line is it's definitely worth saving up money to go on these trips. It does help the Bible come to life. Like the organization we partner with, the Bible Comes to Life. It does bring the Bible to life and, Rick, as you kind of joked earlier, if people are thinking, man, I don't know if I can raise that money. Well, at least if you want to have some understanding, biblical connections with Israel, this book by the Rabbi can be a great introduction on some level to some of the important biblical connection and even cultural understanding and context to the nation of Israel, why it matters, why it's important as a Christian, why should we care about this? What does the Bible say? And hearing from some noted leaders and communicators how it's impacted their life and their faith. So definitely would encourage people again if they want to get this kind of coffee table book about Israel. Definitely worth getting, but if you can go with us on this trip to Israel, it will be absolutely incredible.

Rick Green: 25:29
If you think it would be cool just to be able to be in the WallBuilders Museum and pull out an original book, an original source like that, just imagine what Tim just described going to an archaeological find, like talk about original and digging in the dirt and getting to the original. Very, very, very cool. Okay, so we got the trip and then we also have the book. The book is IsraelTheMiracle. com IsraelTheMiracle. com and Tim, one more time on the link for the trip itself.

Tim Barton: 25:56
I think the Bible Comes to Life. And then take those first letters tbctl. tours/wallbuilders . I know it's a lot. We probably can put the link on our website. We'll ask our audio engineer to take care of that. We'll have the link up. If you guys want to find out more, click on that link. But it's, The Bible Comes to Life. And under their tours, look for the WallBuilders trip. Sign up under that trip.

Rick Green: 26:22
And just so the audience knows, Justin, our audio engineer, not only nodded when Tim said that, he gave the thumbs up, so that's like a double yes there. So the link will be there for you folks. Check it out. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to WallBuilders.