Sid Roth - If Your Pastor Preaches This, LEAVE IMMEDIATELY
Sid Roth: Welcome, Holy Spirit. Go and flow. My guest was raised in a traditional Jewish home. Both parents Jewish. But Scott Volk had no burden for Israel. As a young man, he was transformed by Israeli children's eyes. Eyes?
Scott Volk: It was the craziest thing, Sid. I had taken my first trip to Israel. I was leading a tour in 2005, and 40 years old. And when I was there, we decided we were going to bring gifts to an underprivileged children's center as part of our tour...
Sid Roth: Right.
Scott Volk: ...so we can not only see the sights, but serve.
Scott Volk: Sid, as I walked into this underprivileged children's center, fifteen kids that were there, they come running up to us. And as I looked at them, tears filled my eyes because I heard in my spirit, "Inasmuch as you've done it, to the least of these brothers of Mine, you've done it to Me". Being raised as a Jew, coming to Jesus for the first time in my life, I realized I was looking at literally the least of Jesus' Jewish brothers and sisters. And at that point, I had been saved for a number of years. But at that point, something was planted inside of my heart that I never thought would ever be there. And that was a burden for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I can't believe I lived so long without it. I thought my life was complete. I was pastoring a church, raising kids, my kids loved the Lord. But in that moment, something entirely unexpectedly happened to me that changed my life forever.
Sid Roth: And by the way, this is happening to people that have come to love the Jewish Messiah, that is Christians, all over the world, as the world is turning darker. They are having their focus on Israel and on the Jewish people. So it begs the question: why did God choose Israel? I mean, the side of Rhode Island. It's a little nothing! It's in every newspaper in the world...
Scott Volk: It's incredible!
Sid Roth: The whole world doesn't, they're pulling out their hair, maybe not you, but they're pulling out their hair and they're saying, "What is going to happen to us"? Because this little country the size of Rhode Island!
Scott Volk: It's amazing. God chose Israel because He loves every nation and every ethnicity on the face of the earth. When God created the heavens and the earth, and He created man, He created us to live forever. And when Adam and Eve sinned, and sin came into the world, the Lord cursed the devil, and said, "One is coming after you that will crush your head". And God was looking for a people and a nation through whom that Messiah could come, so He could reverse sin and death and bring salvation to every nation of the world. And He chose Abraham in Genesis, Chapter 12, He says, "Abraham, through you, every nation of the earth will be blessed". God didn't choose Israel because they were the best. He didn't choose Israel because He loved them more than anyone else. God so loved the world. But He needed a people, He needed a nation through whom that Messiah could come. And that's why He chose Abraham, and that's why we must be carrying a heart for Israel and the Jewish people.
Sid Roth: I want you to talk to some real Christian believers as why Israel should be important to them.
Scott Volk: We're living in a time when Israel isn't even thought about. You can go to a thousand church services and never hear God's purpose for Israel mentioned. But there's only one mystery in the Bible that comes with a consequence if we don't get it. It's the mystery of Israel, and if we become ignorant of that mystery, we become arrogant and proud. And the Bible says, "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble". And today, Christian eyes are being opened, and Christian hearts are being opened, like mine was, with regard to the significance of Israel. And Sid, I believe strongly that this is a message that the church needs to hear today because so many in the church, even in the church, are turning their backs towards Israel. And I am appalled.
Sid Roth: But what about a Christian that says, "I don't want my back against Israel, I'm just kind of indifferent about Israel".
Scott Volk: Indifferent. Indifferent.
Sid Roth: What would you say to them?
Scott Volk: I would say to them the same thing that I would say to someone who is indifferent about innocent babies being taken out of wombs. I would talk to them about being indifferent when innocent people are dying anywhere on the planet, except this indifference brings forth a disposition of heart that actually puts us in opposition to God. So my heart is, why can't we, as believers, why can't we, as the church, simply say, "Lord, if I'm being indifferent, if I'm being ignorant, open up my eyes so that I can see the significance of Your heart for Israel," because when we get the significance of God's heart for Israel, we now have a proper understanding of God's heart for the world. "For God so loved the world that He sent His Son", His Jewish Son, into the womb of a Jewish woman who, many say "Mary," but her name was Miriam. The disciples were Jewish, Jesus was Jewish. I like to say this, He was born a Jew, He lived as a Jew, He died King of the Jews, and He's coming back as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Sid Roth: That says it well. Many people are kind of wondering this; why is tiny Israel front and center stage right now? Here's the truth. If you don't know, you will miss not only God's destiny for the world, but your destiny. Your personal destiny. That's how important it is. Be right back.
Sid Roth: I don't know about you, but have you noticed, all these universities around the United States and now the world are starting to have protests against Israel? Why? Why is Israel the enemy? Why the increase? And it really is. I mean, it's hard for me to believe, why the increase of this anti-Semitism? Why now? What's going on?
Scott Volk: Obviously, brother, we're getting close to the end. We are living in the end days. But it's interesting to me that many people say that the current hatred of Israel is because of the way that Israel is treating Palestinians. And I'll say to them, "Well, what do you have to say about the hatred of Israel long before Israel ever became a state"? From the time that God chose Abraham and chose Israel as the people through whom the Messiah would come, there's been a diabolical hatred against Israel.
Sid Roth: But He's already come, the Messiah. So why is there still this hatred?
Scott Volk: Well, when I look throughout history, you've got Pharaoh who hated them, you've got Haman who hated them. You've got Herod who hated them. Then Israel is disbursed; everybody thinks, okay, the problems are gone. Then in the 1930s, Israel is again the focus when an evil regime arises and said, "We need to eradicate Israel". I believe that the reason why it's intensifying now is the same reason why it was intensifying back in the Book of Exodus, when Pharaoh wanted the Israelites annihilated. God's got a purpose and a plan, and the devil happens to know that purpose, because it's going to take Israel welcoming back their King before He returns. The Bible says Jesus says as He's weeping over Jerusalem, "I will not return again until you welcome Me back, by saying, 'Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.'" When Jesus returns, the reign of the devil is forever over. I say we are approaching those days, when Jesus will be released. That's why it's incumbent on the church to not be antithetical towards Israel. Even in Israel's lostness, God supernaturally delivers them out of Egypt, they build an idol, and do you know what God calls Israel, even in their back-slidden state? "My people". God calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He associates with His people, Israel. They're His first-born Son. They are His. They're the apple of His eye. And I'm telling you, we're coming up to a time where nations are going to be divided based on how they treat Israel. And God is watching. And like I referred to before, He came the first time as the Lamb of God. He's coming the second time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. I don't want to be in opposition against the Lion when He returns.
Sid Roth: Explain something to me. If the United States becomes like many of the nations of the world, anti-Israel, what is your prognosis for the future of America if that persists?
Scott Volk: When you look in history of nations and kingdoms that have turned against Israel, you can see, a lot's been written about it. What happened to Great Britain, the United Kingdom, when they turned against Israel. I don't know ultimately what the United States is going to look like, except that I know what the Bible says for those who turn against Israel, It's God's judgment, and God fights against them. We don't want to be opposed to God. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. We've got to humble ourselves as a nation. We've got embrace what God says. We've got to carry God's heart for His people. And again, it's not just political, it is deeply spiritual. And that's what Paul was carrying. He was carrying an unceasing sorrow and burden in his heart, because of the lostness of the people of Israel. The hope is in the church, Sid. We've got to arise and carry God's heart for His people.
Sid Roth: Paul said probably the most amazing statement in the entire Bible. He said, knowing Jesus, knowing what Jesus did for us, he said, "I will give up my very salvation for my brethren after the flesh". That's quite a statement. If anyone knew what salvation was, it was Paul who wrote most of the New Testament. And he said, "I would be willing", how could he have such a love for the Jew?
Scott Volk: Because he as a true apostle. We throw around the word "apostolic" and "apostle" very, very freely today. But when we look at what the apostles went through and what defined an apostle, I'd love to talk about the heart of an apostolic people for Israel who, like you said, would be willing to give up even their own salvation. Paul, the same apostle that wrote "Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice" is the one who, deep in his heart, there's sorrow for. We continue with church. And I love church. I love big meetings, I love conferences. But as soon as we grab hold to the truth of Israel, we become a threat to the enemy. And I'm telling you, that is costly. I say, let's go the costly route and say, "Lord, how can we respond to the situation where Israel is concerned right now, so that we don't end up like every other nations Biblically and even in modern times, that have turned their back against Israel. Israelis is not yet living into the fulfillment of what they've been called to live in". But it's a promise.
Sid Roth: Let me take you, shift gears, because as strong as you are for loving the Jew in Israel, something so profound happened to you when you went to the world's worst concentration camp: Auschwitz. Tell me about that.
Scott Volk: I was in a train sleeping cabin, we boarded the train around midnight. We're arriving in Auschwitz, which is the name of a Polish city, I can't pronounce it in Polish. We know it as Auschwitz. And I wake up before we arrive. It's like, 5:00 in the morning, the sun is just beginning to enlighten the earth, and I pull out my phone. And I'm looking down on railroad tracks upon which our Jewish people traveled and were annihilated to the tune of six million-half of world Jew-ery.
Sid Roth: Why do you believe the devil motivated Hitler to want to exterminate the Jew?
Scott Volk: Because if the Jews are gone, then God's promises aren't true. That is the devil whispering in Eve's ear, "Did God really say"? Whispering in all of our ears today, "Did God really say"? When God says, "I will," He means, "I will". Not "I might," not "I'm not sure if I can do it," over and over and over in the prophets, God says, "I will restore. I will restore".
Sid Roth: Okay...
Scott Volk: The devil is running scared.
Sid Roth: You're on the same tracks headed to the place where six million innocent Jews were murdered. You get there. Describe what happened.
Scott Volk: Walking through Auschwitz was like no other experience I've ever had before. Seeing the barracks that are still standing in which our people were exterminated, did something in my heart. I don't know that I learned anything, maybe, in my head as far as knowledge goes, but something almost indescribable happened in my heart, only to validate the call of God on my life where Israel is concerned. Sid, we spent about two hours in Auschwitz. We then went to Treblinka, where there's nothing left. Nobody survived Treblinka. But what's standing in Treblinka right now is a memorial, acres and acres of land, and memorial stones, 1500 stones representing 1500 communities where Jews were herded onto train cars and brought there.
Sid Roth: I'm told they were so jammed into these train cars, they could barely breathe. There was no restroom, there was, it was, even before they were burned to death in the ashes, you saw the ashes.
Scott Volk: Sid, as I was walking on the ashes of our ancestors in Treblinka, I was reminded of a Biblical paradigm, that God gives life to the dead. Reminded of a Scripture in Romans 4 that "Abraham believed in God who gives life to the dead, and speaks into being that which does not exist". Reminded of that prophecy in the Book of Ezekiel, the Valley of Dry Bones, where that prophecy is actually interpreted by God Himself, saying, "These bones are the people of Israel". And Sid, it wasn't skeletons in this valley. We've heard, and I love stories of resurrection where people have been dead three days, there was no skin left on these bones. These bones weren't even connected. They were scattered, and God causes these bones to supernaturally come together as an army, and then breathes His life into them, and they then glorify God. The Book of Romans says, "Israel's salvation will be as life from the dead". I was devastated walking through Treblinka that day, but I was also hope-filled, because we are not people who live without hope, that God, who birthed the nation of Israel out of the ashes of the Holocaust, will, indeed, birth a nation out of the ashes of the Valley of Dry Bones that will forever live to be a demonstration of God's resurrection power for Israel and every nation of the earth.
Sid Roth: He mentioned ashes. He's standing in the place where humans became ashes, men, women, children. One day you're going to become an ash, hopefully from old age. But one day you'll just be ashes, unless you recognize there are two places you end up when you die. You're a spirit. You're going to live eternally. Where are you going to end up? In a place where God is, called heaven? Or a place where the devil is, called hell? I want you to say this prayer out loud, mean it to the best of your ability, right now. You have no idea what a supernatural God we serve. "Dear God. Please forgive me for every sin I've ever committed. I ask You to cover all my sins with Your precious blood. Jesus, come and live inside of me. I make You my Savior. And now I make You my Lord. Amen". You got a Jewish heart when you saw, looked in the eyes of those orphans. You further got a Jewish heart when you walked through Auschwitz and Treblinka. I want you to pray that everyone viewing right now, look into the camera, transfer that heart to the viewers.
Scott Volk: Yeah, this is a supernatural heart that the enemy opposes. So as I pray, I ask you to open up your heart. Father, in Jesus' Name, in any areas where we've been blinded to Your heart for Israel, I pray that You would give us the apostolic heart that Paul carried, that we would have unceasing sorrow, that something inside of us will not be complete until Your people, Israel, bow their knee to Jesus as King. Help us, Lord, to be obedient to Your word, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, to give You no rest until Jerusalem is established as it prays in the earth. And forgive us if in any way we've been opposed to Israel, or just not even caring about Israel. Let us carry Your heart as a father would carry a heart for his son or his daughter. May we carry Your heart, Lord, for your first-born Son, Israel, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Sid Roth: And if you said that prayer, I'm going to tell you a promise of God... the promise of God is you will carry in your heart because Jesus lives inside of your heart. And the people that Jesus wept over when He went to Jerusalem you carry now in your heart. I say Shalom, peace. Shalom, completeness. Shalom. Shalom.