Jonathan Bernis - A Rabbi's Secret Message
Jonathan Bernis: Shalom and welcome to Jewish Voice. I am so glad that you're joining us today. I'm rabbi Jonathan Bernis and we are here for you. We want to help you understand the role that Israel and the Jewish people plays in your faith. It's important to God, it needs to be important to you. I want to begin today with a scripture, such an important scripture that is often overlooked, and I'll show it to you on the screen. It's from Romans 11. The apostle Paul writes, "I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own eyes that a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the gentiles has come in, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written," verse 26, "The deliverer shall come out of Zion: he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I will take away their sins". Ladies and gentlemen, this is a prophecy. Many believe that the restoration of Jerusalem in 1967 was a prophetic fulfillment, but one that's often overlooked is the blindness coming off of the eyes of the Jewish people, and that has to happen before the Messiah returns. It's an end time event, and I believe one of the most significant signs that we are in the last days. Today, right now, Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. My guest today has done extensive research on an incredible event - a rabbi, a prominent rabbi, that actually wrote a secret text revealing that Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, was in fact the Messiah of Israel. Welcome back please Carl Gallups. Carl, welcome back to the program! It's been too, too long since we've had you on the program. So, this is like... This is a mystery.
Carl Gallups: It is.
Jonathan Bernis: There's such intrigue, and I want to talk about a very specific thing that began, and it's been a journey for you - began 14 years ago. Am I right about that?
Carl Gallups: Yeah, that's right.
Jonathan Bernis: So, for 14 years you have been revealing a story that most people have never even heard about. So, just begin. Tell us how you got involved in this.
Carl Gallups: Well, yeah, and let me just say, as a part of how I got involved in it, for 35 years I have been a pastor, 34 years in one church, author, researcher, preacher, teacher, conferences. Prior to that, I spent 10 years in Florida law enforcement with two different sheriff's offices under three different sheriffs, and one of them, I did my own criminal investigations in law enforcement. So, I kind of come at all of my biblical research in a very methodical manner - I mean, exegetical, contextual, and I want the evidence for it. I need some eyewitnesses. I need to corroborate things. And so, when this story broke back in... Well, actually, Kaduri died, and I'll tell your audience exactly who he was, but he died in 2006, but it was in 2007 when it really broke. Because right before he died, in 2005, at a Yom Kippur service in his own synagogue, he said that he had had a vision of Messiah and knew who he was, and had put it in a note to be given to his ministry officials to be revealed one year after his death, and there's a Jewish reason why it was one year after his death before it would be revealed. But, the deal is when he spoke that in October of 2005, he didn't know, unless the Lord revealed it to him, that in January of 2006, he would be in the hospital with pneumonia, and a few weeks later, he would pass. So, I mean, just within weeks of him saying that. And so, he did die, so the note he wrote was held for a year, and in January, 2007, the note went up. The note was written in a coded fashion, and it basically just said... Because remember, he told his synagogue service that he knew who Messiah was and was gonna reveal his name - told students, told people. Even some of the mainstream Jewish media had reported that he had claimed to have met the real Messiah.
Jonathan Bernis: Now, Paul, we have to backtrack, because this is not just a rabbi.
Carl Gallups: No, no.
Jonathan Bernis: This is one of the most prominent orthodox rabbis in Israel. We're talking about a rabbi that had 300.000 orthodox Jewish followers, correct?
Carl Gallups: Well, that's how many were at his funeral.
Jonathan Bernis: Wow!
Carl Gallups: He had several million around the world, because he had this huge ministry organization, rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, and websites, and, I mean, material...
Jonathan Bernis: Every Israeli.
Carl Gallups: To this day, 14 years later. I was in Israel a few months ago, went just randomly to a restaurant in downtown Israel, owned by people who claimed not even to be orthodox Jews. They're Jewish people, but they weren't orthodox in their practice of their faith. I go into their restaurant, pictures of Kaduri on the wall. And I said, "Well, why, if you're not orthodox"? "Oh, he's just so loved". I guess in America, for evangelicals it would be similar to Billy Graham. Whether you go to church or not, you'd know who he is.
Jonathan Bernis: So, a huge Jewish figure. Now, I don't want to take anything for granted. I think many people that are watching don't even understand the significance of a rabbi revealing who the Messiah is. Jewish people, orthodox Jewish people, are waiting for the Messiah to come, and they've made the decision, univerSally for the most part, that Jesus is not the Messiah.
Carl Gallups: Correct.
Jonathan Bernis: So, this all happens, and you've been unpacking this now for years.
Carl Gallups: Unpacking it, investigating it, recording it, researching it. Everything that I've researched is backed up with ubiquitous references from mainstream sources, eyewitnesses, some of his own students, other rabbis in Israel. So, this is not just some little hobby that I've put together in a pamphlet or something. I've really spent a lot of time researching this. But the bottom line is the coded note, when it was put on the website, it just said, "Concerning the letter abbreviation of his name, he shall lift his people and prove that the word and law are valid". Well, that just sounds like something maybe an orthodox rabbi would say, kind of cryptic. But, his own students, 13 of them now followers of Jesus, followers of Yeshua - 13 of them because of his teachings secretly. He had taken a little group and was secretly revealing this to them. They're the ones, I'm convinced with all of the research I've done, that decoded it. And basically, when it says, "Concerning the letter abbreviation of his name," the next words, "He shall lift his people and prove that the word and law are valid," in Hebrew there's six words, and the first letter of each of those spells out Yeshua.
Jonathan Bernis: That's absolutely... I have so many questions for you. You say that this started, what you're calling the Kaduri revival. What does that mean?
Carl Gallups: Yeah. Well, it's happened hugely in two places - inside of Israel, of course, and that's my biggest part and concern, but also in the underground churches in China, because one of the rabbis in Israel, that you and I both know, who gave his life to Yeshua years ago, he's a part of the story, because he and his family are connected to Kaduri and to this whole story. He knew about it long before the rest of the world knew about it. And so, he and I have since become very good friends. Well, he's married to a Chinese woman, and they go into China and do missions in the underground church, several hundred congregations. In fact, the last time he was there, he came that close to being arrested.
Jonathan Bernis: So, this story is spreading like wildfire.
Carl Gallups: Oh, and those congregations all know about the story now, because he's telling it and talking about the research that I've done and everything, and revival has broken out there. But in Israel, orthodox Jews are coming to Yeshua HaMashiach because - because they are finding out that the greatest rabbi that they've ever known, that Israel has ever known, he wrote this note and put it in his own handwriting, and revealed it to his congregation, revealed it to the world, put it on the internet. His ministry officials did, after his death. And there it is. When you decode it, and the first sentence tells you how to decode it, "Concerning the letter abbreviation of his name".
Jonathan Bernis: Now, there's been a terrible backlash to this.
Carl Gallups: Oh, yes. And you can imagine there would be.
Jonathan Bernis: Why? Explain why. I think there's people watching that, "So what"?
Carl Gallups: Well, no, but it's very similar to when Jesus himself was ministering, and then eventually, through his miracles, through his teaching, everything, revealing himself as Messiah, rejected as Messiah. The orthodox of his days, they were standing in the presence of the Messiah they were looking for. And in the name of God, they crucified the Son of God outside the temple of God, thinking they were doing God a favor. And so... You know, and so there was a backlash then. He's not Messiah. He can't be Messiah. So, the same thing is happening, but it kind of broke apart when the greatest rabbi they've ever known leaves a note that says, "Yes"...
Jonathan Bernis: But, it flies in the face of a 2.000 year old decision.
Carl Gallups: Exactly.
Jonathan Bernis: Made by his predecessor - Jesus is not our Messiah. Yeshua is not our Messiah. And so, they're waiting for the Messiah.
Carl Gallups: Yes. Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: So, there's a lot at stake here.
Carl Gallups: A lot at stake, and it involves... I mean, as with anything of this magnitude in life, it involves power, and territory, and money, and influence.
Jonathan Bernis: And everything.
Carl Gallups: Everything. Everything! Livelihoods, everything.
Jonathan Bernis: So, it's no wonder that they're disavowing that the message - that he ever gave that message.
Carl Gallups: Sure, and I understand it.
Jonathan Bernis: But, it was actually up. It was printed on a website.
Carl Gallups: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, it was in major Israeli media and screenshots were taken of it. I've got the screenshots.
Jonathan Bernis: But they're saying it never happened.
Carl Gallups: Yeah, they tried to, but we pretty much blown that apart.
Jonathan Bernis: There's a whole backstory to this that we want to come back and talk about. There's so much here, and you've devoted so much time and energy to bringing this to light, because it's so important. This is Bible prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes. The blindness is coming off of the eyes of the Jewish people. Carl has written a fascinating book and helps us understand the growing Messianic expectation in Israel and how it fulfills Bible prophecy. We're gonna take a look at the backstory when we come back. So, don't go away, we'll be right back after this.
Jonathan Bernis: Welcome back. But, hey, before Carl and I get back into our discussion, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you to all of you who support Jewish Voice. We literally could not do this work without you. Your support is changing the lives of Jewish people and their neighbors through medical care, eye care, clean water, dental care, but most importantly, it provides us the platform to share the gospel, the good news, with Jewish people and their neighbors in places like Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, in Israel. Thank you again for all you're doing to transform lives in the name of Yeshua. Now, Carl, let's jump back right in, because this is a mystery that has so many layers to it. But, here's a household name, a rabbi that has hundreds of thousands of followers. He lives to be 100-and...
Carl Gallups: 108. Some say 106, 108, but, yeah.
Jonathan Bernis: And at the end of his life, without even knowing he was about to pass on, he reveals that he knows who the Messiah is.
Carl Gallups: Correct.
Jonathan Bernis: This old, orthodox rabbi with the big beard, and you've been unpacking this. You've done the research.
Carl Gallups: For years.
Jonathan Bernis: And you've been actually working with a Messianic rabbi in Israel, right?
Carl Gallups: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: So, he's important to the story.
Carl Gallups: He is important, and here's why, Jonathan. He was born and raised in Israel, speaks Hebrew as his first language. Speaks beautiful English, as well. Speaks a mandarin Chinese. Married to a mandarin Chinese woman, so he's got deep contacts in China. Has deep contacts in the United States, because his dad was a very prominent rabbi who had a yeshiva, a synagogue, in the United States, came back and forth. In fact, he was with his dad as a young man when his dad passed away in the United States. And so, he's deeply connected to all of these regions. Not only that, but his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, were all prominent rabbis in Israel. In fact, they served on the Dayan, the rabbinical courts. On his mother's side, they're connected to the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu. So, he's deeply engrained in military, government, orthodox rabbinical. But in the meantime, Ariel Sharon spent the night in his grandmother's house. Rabbi Kaduri was friends with his father and grandfather, and they spoke of him every day in the house. So, he's an eyewitness to all of this. He was there when all of this happened, and now he and I are very dear friends.
Jonathan Bernis: We're not talking about fringe people here.
Carl Gallups: No.
Jonathan Bernis: We're talking about very influential people.
Carl Gallups: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: Orthodox rabbis.
Carl Gallups: Yes.
Jonathan Bernis: That are coming to faith in Jesus, in Yeshua, and they're remaining Jews. They're not converting to Christianity.
Carl Gallups: Yes. I won't mention any names, but just several months ago, you and I were talking off-air, a very prominent rabbi in Israel has come to Yeshua as Messiah and Savior, because of this story, because Zev was kind of talking to him about it and he showed him the note that the rabbi, that Yitzhak Kaduri wrote, decoded it right there in front of him, and he said, "Oh, my gosh"! And he says, "How come I don't know this"?
Jonathan Bernis: We have to underscore why this is so critical for Christians, because Christians think that this is a separate issue unrelated to them.
Carl Gallups: It's biblical.
Jonathan Bernis: It's prophetic. The return of the Messiah. If you want Jesus to return, look at the signs. What's one of the clearest signs? Rabbis coming to faith, Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus.
Carl Gallups: And this is not the first time God has done such a thing. The apostle Paul himself, very similar. A rabbi, a pharisee, a teacher, zealot to the point of attacking churches and Christians and leading them to their death - boom, he has a vision, a revelation. He meets Yeshua. He becomes fanatic about, you know, writing scripture, growing churches. So, and people would say, "Well, why would you take a murdering, anti-Christian, rabbi, orthodox"? And God did it because he was so prominent. I'm convinced God used rabbi Kaduri in the same way, because he was so prominent and still is today. Fourteen years after his death...
Jonathan Bernis: It's remarkable and that's why they're trying to silence it. That's why it's trying to be silenced. Now, just very quickly, we don't have much time. You say there's a never before told backstory into all of this.
Carl Gallups: Well, the thing is, is Zev Porat. You've mentioned him. I didn't know him when I started researching all of this. And I told him my background, and he said, "Oh, my gosh"! He says, "Well, I've looked at some of your research here, and this is amazing, and you're spot on". He says, "I'm very connected to this. You know what you're talking about".
Jonathan Bernis: This is an eyewitness telling you how accurate it is.
Carl Gallups: So, that was amazing. So, we hooked up. But in the meantime, a lot of the rest of my research made it into Israel.
Jonathan Bernis: It's clearly spreading. Now, you also say... You talk about inside information regarding what happened to the original note. So, there's an original note. It reveals Yeshua is the Messiah. And then the note disappears, and you say this is shocking. So, just comment on that.
Carl Gallups: Okay, yes. It's all of that research is referenced. I was on a radio program talking about my research - barry farber, one of the most well-known talk radio people on the planet, in the top ten, and he comes from a Jewish background...
Jonathan Bernis: Really?
Carl Gallups: Oh, yeah. And when I went on his show, I didn't really know how he was gonna react. I thought he would attack me, but instead he was saying, "The stuff that I've seen that you've done is amazing". And he says, "But I'm gonna tell you something". He says this over the air. And I have all of this documented. In fact, I've got the original clip, the radio clip. He says, "I know people firsthand who were involved in this". And he says, "The note," he said, "I know what happened to the note". Well, at that point, I didn't, and I said, "What"? He says, "They took it. They took it off the website and they took the real note, they burned it in sulfuric acid and did a kabbalistic ritual over it, and dumped it into the Dead Sea so that it could never be forensically examined".
Jonathan Bernis: So, it wasn't hidden. It was completely destroyed.
Carl Gallups: My jaw was on the ground when he was telling me this on a live radio interview. He was telling me things I didn't even know.
Jonathan Bernis: I never heard that before.
Carl Gallups: Yeah. Yeah, I've got it all documented - all documented.
Jonathan Bernis: I had never heard that! That shows how committed they are to disavowing this, to keeping people from believing this. But recently, some of KadurI's diaries came to light. Talk about that, because it confirms the authenticity of the original note.
Carl Gallups: Yes. Elie Schtern, one of the most... Well, the most famous forensic examiner of documents and handwriting experts in Israel, works for Israeli intelligence, Israeli police, Israeli military. Not too long ago, just months back, it was proclaimed in Israeli publications - newspapers, websites - that they had discovered some of Yitzhak KadurI's... What they thought to be some of his diaries, that they had beforehand had not known even existed. And they looked through them and they saw that this was his. I mean, he was talking about blessings he had given, appointments he had, and ministries he had done, things that he had taught. I mean, it was amazing, and he kept a daily journal, apparently. And so, they wanted to really bring this out as a historical artifact and a big story, because he's so beloved. I mean, so beloved, the most famous rabbi in Israel's history, and now they found his diaries! But in order to bring it out, they had to authenticate it, so they brought in Elie Schtern. Well, Elie Schtern did these months long forensics on it and announced publicly, yes, this is his, this is his handwriting. I was blown away when that happened, because they put whole pages of his diary on the internet, and the journals, and when I saw it, I just leapt for joy, because I called Zev Porat, the guy in Israel that's connected to all of this, reads Hebrew, and I said, "Look what they've done"! And he says, "Oh, my gosh"! He says... Because, you see, one of the greatest, one of the biggest arguments against this whole story for those trying to cover it up, said that the note Kaduri wrote, "That's not even in his handwriting". But when you put the note next... And he had very distinctive handwriting.
Jonathan Bernis: Matched the handwriting.
Carl Gallups: Matches the handwriting! And now, they forgot! They forgot.
Jonathan Bernis: Big mistake, yeah.
Carl Gallups: Yeah, it was a big mistake. So, that's just a thing that broke recently.
Jonathan Bernis: So, let me move on. You speak a lot about the forbidden chapter in your research. What does that mean and what does it have to do with the Kaduri story?
Carl Gallups: Isaiah 53.
Jonathan Bernis: There it is.
Carl Gallups: There it is. The forbidden chapter, as you well know, Jonathan, and I've got testimony after testimony from rabbis who have become believers in Yeshua. They say, "Yes, you're right about this," and that is, Isaiah 53, and there are other passages of scripture, that either the orthodox forbid their congregations from looking at, or highly discouraged them, or never mention them, never read from them, never expound upon them, because they so point to Yeshua.
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, read Isaiah 53 and see what we're talking about. Written hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born, it's like reading the New Testament.
Carl Gallups: Yes, it is, and as a matter of fact, Zev Porat took that, put it in modern Hebrew, didn't put any verses and chapters around it, and was handing out pamphlets on the street. And, people were taking them and they were coming back, some of the orthodox coming back, saying, "Are you a Christian"? And he says, "Well, why do you ask"? He said, "This is about Jesus". And he said, "Really"?
Jonathan Bernis: It's right in there. It's so clear.
Carl Gallups: They said it. They said, "It's about Jesus". He said, "Let me show you where it comes from," and he opened up the Tanakh.
Jonathan Bernis: It's all in there.
Carl Gallups: And he goes to Isaiah, and they were dumbfounded! They were flabbergasted!
Jonathan Bernis: Carl, thank you for sharing. This is so important. The blindness is coming off of the eyes of the Jewish people. The good news, it means Jesus is coming back soon. I have so much more I want to talk about, but we need to take a short break so our announcer can share some information about the resources that we're making available to you today, and they're so important. Please, consider becoming a shalom partner with Jewish Voice. Your monthly support will really make an impact on so many lives. Jewish people will come to faith because of your support. We also want to come into agreement in prayer with you, so don't go away, we'll be right back.
Jonathan Bernis: We believe that God loves you. We believe that God cares, that God is watching, that God answers prayer. So, don't give up, don't be discouraged. Carl, will you just agree with me for everyone that's watching? And you just extend your faith forward, because we're here for you, and we believe in a God who answers prayer. So, we agree together, and thank you, Lord, that where two or three agree on earth as touching anything, it shall be done. We speak healing, we speak wholeness, we speak provision, and we speak restoration. In the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, amen.
Carl Gallups: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: And amen. If you'd like more information about our ministry or if you have something that you'd like us to pray with you about, you can log on to our website, it's jewishvoice.tv - just one word, jewishvoice.tv, and we will pray for your needs. As we close our program today, I also want to remind you what God says in his word, Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem". So, pray for Israel, pray for the salvation of Jew and Arab alike. That's God's peace plan. And then the scripture says, "May they prosper who love thee," so if you want to prosper, love the Jewish people. God loves the Jewish people, and he's committed to rabbis like rabbi Kaduri, and so many others. So, please get involved through prayer and your ongoing partnership with us. On behalf of Carl Gallups and myself, this is Jonathan Bernis, saying shalom and God bless you.