Caption transcript for “On the Road to Damascus”

• 00:09 ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪
• 00:19 ♪♪♪
• 00:29 ♪♪♪
• 00:33 Joshua Colson: Well, shalom, everyone, I'm Joshua.
• 00:35 Caleb Colson: I'm Caleb.
• 00:37 Joshua: And we are in Yerushalayim Jerusalem, which is
• 00:39 the same name twice.
• 00:40 Caleb: God's eternal city.
• 00:42 Joshua: For those of you who have been a part of Zola Levitt
• 00:45 Ministries for at least a few minutes, since it's been since
• 00:47 1978, you might already know who we are.
• 00:50 See, we began this television program back in 1979.
• 00:54 We didn't.
• 00:55 Zola Levitt did.
• 00:56 He was one of the first Messianic ministers on TV to
• 00:58 share the good news of Yeshua and the Hebrew roots of the
• 01:01 Christian faith.
• 01:03 Caleb: After Zola went to be with the Lord in 2006,
• 01:05 Dr. Jeffrey Seif took over as the host, as the teacher,
• 01:09 leading the ministry.
• 01:10 Then it was Myles and Katharine Weiss.
• 01:13 Jeffrey returned for a short time after that.
• 01:15 The program was rebranded to "Our Jewish Roots,"
• 01:17 and finally two years ago,
• 01:19 your beloved Bearded Bible Brothers took over
• 01:21 as the teachers of this ministry.
• 01:23 Joshua: You know, those who connect with Zola Levitt
• 01:25 Ministries on a social media level know us as the Bearded
• 01:29 Bible Brothers.
• 01:30 That's our tag name.
• 01:32 It's even been hashtagged before.
• 01:33 We've been doing it for 6 years.
• 01:35 Now, we've graduated to full-time hosts, and that was
• 01:38 inspired by the Holy Spirit, and he also inspired us to say we're
• 01:41 gonna change the name of this program to
• 01:42 "The Bearded Bible Brothers."
• 01:44 You're welcome.
• 01:45 Caleb: This is actually the best time in history to tune in as a
• 01:48 new viewer, even as a loyal supporter of the ministry.
• 01:51 In our first act of leading the ship of this new program, "The
• 01:55 Bearded Bible Brothers," God has charged us with a mission to
• 01:59 retrace the steps of Rabbi Shaul, Saul, on the road to
• 02:03 Damascus by literally going to Damascus.
• 02:06 That seems like a good place.
• 02:07 Joshua: That's a figurative thing, right, brother, "And
• 02:09 figuratively go to Damascus"?
• 02:10 Caleb: We need to go because there's a lot prophetically that
• 02:13 occurs in Damascus in Bible prophecy, and we need to go to
• 02:16 teach about that so that people will know what is to come.
• 02:19 Joshua: I watch the news and the news said there's a lot of
• 02:21 stuff going on in Syria.
• 02:22 Is that the same Damascus?
• 02:24 Caleb: Same Damascus, I'm sorry.
• 02:26 Joshua: That's the same Damascus.
• 02:28 Okay, well, join us on our journey.
• 02:32 I've got some chain mail to go order on Amazon.
• 02:37 Caleb: Genesis 10:1, 21-22: "This is the account of Shem,
• 02:42 Ham, and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after
• 02:46 the flood.
• 02:47 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth.
• 02:51 Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
• 02:53 And the sons of Shem: Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram."
• 03:01 Caleb: You know, Josh, I love genealogies in the Bible.
• 03:03 It really reveals the great mysteries of where people come
• 03:07 from and their lines and the history of it.
• 03:09 And as you guys know, we like to talk about the scriptural
• 03:13 importance of these family lines because they're important in
• 03:16 Bible prophecy.
• 03:17 Well, Shem was Noah's son, and he would have a son
• 03:20 named Arphaxad.
• 03:22 From Arphaxad would come the Hebrews.
• 03:24 And it's very cool that Shem
• 03:26 also had many other sons.
• 03:28 One of them was Aram.
• 03:30 Now that's where we get Aram of Damascus.
• 03:32 The Aramenean people, the Syrians, come from Aram
• 03:35 of Damascus.
• 03:36 Pretty cool.
• 03:37 Joshua: Do you think that I'll be able to fit my chain mail or
• 03:40 just Kevlar in this bag?
• 03:41 Kevlar was probably thinner, was better, it's lighter.
• 03:44 We have amazing stories to tell, and this is gonna be an
• 03:46 incredible time.
• 03:47 We're gonna actually have to even go in an exact path to be
• 03:50 able to get in every spot, like going through Jordan to get into
• 03:54 Syria, but don't let anybody know that has a vested interest
• 03:56 in that information.
• 03:58 Caleb: Yes, now it's too dangerous for our crew to go
• 04:01 across the border with us into Syria, so we're gonna go
• 04:03 it alone.
• 04:05 We're gonna have a crew meet us on the other side, but speaking
• 04:07 of genealogies, Josh, I also like to invite my daughters to
• 04:12 come with us for the very first time on their trip to Israel and
• 04:14 all this, so they're gonna be coming along with us.
• 04:16 Of course, they're gonna go ahead to Amman, Jordan, with the
• 04:20 crew while we go into Syria, but I'd like you guys to meet my
• 04:24 two daughters.
• 04:25 You may have seen them online from "The Bearded
• 04:27 Bible Brothers."
• 04:28 Here's Shoshannah and Elko.
• 04:30 Joshua: Wait, how many of your daughters are you bringing?
• 04:31 Caleb: I brought two, out of five.
• 04:33 Joshua: Oh, okay, well, that leaves you with a positive
• 04:34 number just in case anything goes wrong.
• 04:36 Caleb: Dude.
• 04:37 Joshua: I just, you know, quantity wise.
• 04:40 You might not have five, but you'll have three.
• 04:41 Yay, [speaking in Hebrew].
• 04:42 It's more than I got.
• 04:44 No, it's exactly--we'll be even.
• 04:51 Joshua: Well, we had to take the northern border crossing, the
• 04:54 Sheikh Hussein, to get into Jordan because our Arab Israeli
• 04:57 crew is not allowed to pass any other way.
• 04:59 So we had to pass it through Galilee, cross over the
• 05:02 Beit Shem.
• 05:03 This wasn't our first time to trudge across the
• 05:04 painstaking border.
• 05:06 Our first was with Congressman Cory Mills when we got rescued,
• 05:08 you know, from Israel on October 7th, 2023, during the attack.
• 05:15 Joshua: It can be easy to take crossing into a country with a
• 05:19 diplomat for granted.
• 05:21 I thought getting into Jordan would be a breeze again.
• 05:23 When I went in with Congressman Cory Mills, he just waved his
• 05:26 hand like this, and I walked into another country and then
• 05:28 got in a taxi and drove to Amman.
• 05:30 But no, no, no, that's not what happened this time.
• 05:34 I'm just very happy I wore clean underwear that day.
• 05:38 They searched everything.
• 05:40 Everything.
• 05:43 male: We pick up the rental car and we stamp all our papers.
• 05:47 We'll say goodbye to you and then the taxi will take you to
• 05:50 the border and just remember to take only the small stuff, don't
• 05:55 take all your major stuff.
• 05:58 Joshua: Crossing a border into another country is an intricate
• 06:01 process, and it really requires somebody locally who understands
• 06:05 everything that you need, what you can and can't do, but timing
• 06:08 is always the most specific.
• 06:09 So our producer Louis had everything set up.
• 06:12 He had a cab ready to come to the border, pick us up, take us
• 06:15 to the border that we needed to be at, and I'm pretty sure that
• 06:18 taxi did that at the border 2 hours south from where we were,
• 06:23 which left us with zero taxi to take us into Syria, thus putting
• 06:28 us several hours behind schedule, awesome.
• 06:34 Caleb: This will be the last time I see my girls for a couple
• 06:36 of days.
• 06:37 They'll go ahead with our crew to Amman, but Josh and I have a
• 06:40 very different mission, and I want to keep them out of
• 06:43 harm's way.
• 06:53 Caleb: Thankfully, God directed me to pick a very specific taxi
• 06:57 man out of a group of taxis waiting at the border.
• 06:59 He agreed to take us to Syria, but Louis was still worried
• 07:03 since this new taxi man was untested.
• 07:06 So we developed a secret safety word we would use over the
• 07:09 phone, whether by voice or text, if we got into any trouble.
• 07:12 That word was pineapple.
• 07:15 ♪♪♪
• 07:24 ♪♪♪
• 07:27 Caleb: All right, this guy for some reason can't make it all
• 07:29 the way to the border of Syria, so we're hopping in another guy
• 07:33 who can cross us over the border.
• 07:34 I don't know how it all works, but we're going along with it.
• 07:41 The guide said, "Give me your passports," and then ran into
• 07:43 this building right here.
• 07:45 Joshua: Caleb swears it's a checkpoint.
• 07:46 Don't see any points being checked.
• 07:48 Caleb: This is, up here, is the Java border.
• 07:53 What's kind of suss that he asked for our passports and
• 07:55 ran out.
• 07:57 At least we have his car so we can drive off if we need to.
• 07:59 Joshua: This car is not worth my passport, especially if they are
• 08:02 doubling my identity right now and selling it on Amazon,
• 08:05 black Amazon.
• 08:07 Caleb: Yeah, I really don't know what's going on.
• 08:11 Joshua: I've traveled the world many times, and there's only one
• 08:14 time in my entire travels that I've ever given a man my
• 08:16 passport, and he ran away and it was okay.
• 08:19 And that's when I was literally about to board a plane in Uganda
• 08:24 or in Kenya, sorry, to go to India, and they said I had to
• 08:28 have a yellow card and I didn't have one.
• 08:30 And we said, "God, leave in 45 minutes.
• 08:32 Need a yellow card."
• 08:34 And a man with one arm, smoking a cigarette, appeared out of
• 08:35 nowhere and said, "You need yellow card?"
• 08:37 Asked for my passport and ran away.
• 08:39 I hope that's what's happening here too.
• 08:42 I love Caleb.
• 08:43 He's full of ambition.
• 08:44 God tells him things.
• 08:46 He also, for some reason, believes this man who says "No
• 08:48 worries" in the most broken English I've ever heard in my
• 08:50 life, who just so happens to have blond hair and yet is
• 08:53 either a Jordanian or a Syrian and very long fingernails.
• 08:58 I'm not scared so much as I'm just saying, unless the guy
• 09:02 appears out of nowhere with one arm, smoking a cigarette, I
• 09:04 can't confirm he's from God.
• 09:07 I can now confirm that guy was from God because he made a
• 09:10 yellow card appear out of nowhere in less than 45 minutes,
• 09:13 but who knows.
• 09:15 Caleb: He's got some kind of paper.
• 09:16 Here we go.
• 09:17 Joshua: Something in his hand.
• 09:19 Caleb: We were now over 5 hours late to the border with no
• 09:22 guarantee if our Syrian crew, who we had never met before,
• 09:25 would decide to stay and wait for us.
• 09:27 Let's just say these guys are faithful and dependable, some of
• 09:31 the best and most creative individuals we've ever had the
• 09:33 pleasure of working with.
• 09:38 Caleb: Been separated from my girls for hours.
• 09:40 I think they've made it to Amman by now.
• 09:43 They're with our crew.
• 09:45 Wonder what everybody's up to right now.
• 09:48 ♪♪♪
• 09:57 ♪♪♪
• 09:59 female: Were you ready for that one?
• 10:01 ♪♪♪
• 10:06 female: Treat your little ones.
• 10:08 female 2: Oh no.
• 10:10 Caleb: Wouldn't you like to stop blowing monthly fees on
• 10:13 pagan entertainment?
• 10:14 Joshua: Yeah.
• 10:15 Caleb: Well, how about spreading the gospel of Yeshua while
• 10:17 getting a bunch of cool stuff?
• 10:19 Joshua: Yeah.
• 10:20 Caleb: Then join the Bearded Bible Bonanza on Patreon, where
• 10:23 you'll see the brothers continue their teachings with never
• 10:26 before aired content that pagans don't want you to see.
• 10:29 God bless their souls.
• 10:30 Joshua: Wait, I'm a brother.
• 10:31 Caleb: Sweet. Joshua: Dude.
• 10:34 ♪♪♪
• 10:37 male: That's Syria.
• 10:38 Caleb: This is Syria.
• 10:40 Joshua: Yay, we made it.
• 10:43 Joshua: I've been through my share of countries and borders,
• 10:44 and I've had all kinds of things happen all the way down
• 10:46 to the Chinese saying no, we want a picture of you frisking
• 10:49 us because you're so big, but I cannot say that I've been
• 10:52 through as many stops as it takes to get from Jordan
• 10:55 to Syria.
• 10:57 Somewhere the count was over ten times that we were stopped,
• 11:01 papers checked, out of the car, questioned, stamped,
• 11:05 questioned, stamped.
• 11:07 My passport may be full of Jordan Syrian stamps.
• 11:08 I don't even know.
• 11:10 It was like...
• 11:11 But we're here in Syria and our benevolent friends waited for us
• 11:15 5 hours to get through checkpoints and all kinds of
• 11:18 crazy traffic, and I mean, I started the morning somewhere
• 11:20 else and now I'm here and I don't even know, but it's gonna
• 11:22 be incredible.
• 11:27 [horn sounding]
• 11:28 Joshua: That's the horn that says you're in Syria and we're
• 11:30 on the way to Damascus and I'm feeling super like Paul
• 11:34 right now.
• 11:35 Well, not exactly like Paul because I'm not going to kill
• 11:38 any Christians or turn them in and I'm not blind.
• 11:42 But it's incredible.
• 11:43 I didn't know what to expect.
• 11:44 Now I've heard that Damascus is probably one of the most
• 11:46 civilized of all the cities here that we're gonna visit, but it's
• 11:50 still the wild wild East out there, so I don't know.
• 11:52 Caleb: A lot has happened in Syria in the past 13-plus years.
• 11:56 It all started back in 2011 with Obama's Arab Spring in which his
• 12:02 meddling in the Middle East caused ISIS to go spread out and
• 12:06 then they had to wrangle it back in.
• 12:08 Civil war started here in Syria on this road to Damascus, you
• 12:13 know, we're heading right there.
• 12:14 There was outbreaks all around, even in the province of Daraa,
• 12:18 which is not too far from here.
• 12:19 And what happened was a civil war started that would result in
• 12:23 the countless deaths, 600,000 people, between the ruling
• 12:28 dictator, if you were, Bashar Assad and ISIS and these other
• 12:33 rebel factions that were rising up.
• 12:35 Joshua: Because of the use of chemical warfare.
• 12:36 Caleb: Chemical warfare was one of the names of the game that
• 12:39 Bashar had no restraint in pouring out his wrath upon those
• 12:45 who he had a problem with.
• 12:47 And so the second deadliest conflict, Josh, in the 21st
• 12:50 century happened here in Syria, but something changed back in
• 12:55 December 2024.
• 12:58 It was shocking.
• 13:00 The world watched on the news as Aleppo was turned over by a
• 13:04 rising regime that was backed by Erdogan.
• 13:07 They're called the HTS and they're a Sunni jihadist
• 13:12 government that stepped into power and they said they're
• 13:15 going to bring tolerance and peace going on in the territory,
• 13:19 and we'll see how it happens.
• 13:21 Since then we have seen Christians suffer.
• 13:26 There's been lots of executions and things, thousands have
• 13:29 happened all the way to the Northwest, but as we said, we're
• 13:33 going to Damascus and we don't really know what to expect in
• 13:36 that territory, but if Paul can make this journey,
• 13:39 so can we, so.
• 13:41 Joshua: He made this journey blind.
• 13:43 We can make it with no other language skills,
• 13:47 any knowledge of what's going on.
• 13:49 Yeah, we'll be fine.
• 13:51 ♪♪♪
• 13:56 Joshua: This is it, the old city of Damascus.
• 13:59 Look at this place.
• 14:01 There's 2.5 million people right here, but it's not just about
• 14:05 population size, it's location, location, location that's key,
• 14:09 and this was the key in ancient times.
• 14:11 It was the combination of the King's Highway and the
• 14:14 Via Maris.
• 14:15 If you needed to get to Canaan or Africa, you had to go
• 14:17 through here.
• 14:18 If you needed to go to Europe, you had to go through here.
• 14:20 Any path you needed to take, trade happened here.
• 14:22 Like that giant shuk behind me.
• 14:24 They had all of the different shops and everything like that.
• 14:26 That's what this place was, and it was incredible.
• 14:28 Look at everybody taking selfies, hey!
• 14:31 Caleb: This amazing shuk, this marketplace, is right behind us,
• 14:35 and you can see the entrance is the ruins of the ancient Temple
• 14:38 of Jupiter.
• 14:39 When the Romans took over this territory, they had to
• 14:41 incorporate their deities and make the Damascus people
• 14:44 worship it.
• 14:45 They had the storm god Zeus who is also Jupiter and so it fit
• 14:50 very nicely with Baal Hadad, which was the storm deity of
• 14:55 Aram of Damascus, and that's why we're right here.
• 14:57 We're seeing if they just changed the names.
• 14:59 They rebranded the gods and everybody wanted a piece of
• 15:01 this, and this became a major Roman city.
• 15:05 Caleb: Amos 1:3 through 5: "This is what the Lord says: 'For
• 15:09 three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent.
• 15:13 Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, I
• 15:17 will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the
• 15:20 fortresses of Ben-Hadad.
• 15:22 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the
• 15:25 king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the
• 15:29 scepter in Beth Eden.
• 15:31 The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,' says the Lord."
• 15:36 Caleb: In fact, this scripture explains the tumultuous
• 15:39 relationship that Aram of Damascus had with the northern
• 15:41 kingdom of Israel.
• 15:42 Eventually this nation and many others would be wiped out by the
• 15:46 Assyrian Empire when they would come.
• 15:47 This was the method of judgment.
• 15:50 And even though Damascus was wiped out by the Assyrians, it
• 15:54 still continued as a city.
• 15:55 There are still people living in it.
• 15:57 And of course, after that the Babylonian Empire would come and
• 16:01 wipe out Damascus, but it still kept on going.
• 16:03 That's why it's known as the continuously
• 16:05 inhabited city of the world.
• 16:07 Joshua: Hey, I was about to say that.
• 16:08 It's the continuously oldest inhabited city
• 16:10 in the world, Damascus.
• 16:12 But if you've read Isaiah 17, there is a prophecy that says
• 16:16 that this city that's literally been going longer than any other
• 16:19 city is gonna cease to exist in one day, wiped off the planet.
• 16:23 How is that even possible?
• 16:24 Well, my friends, listen up to the oracle of Damascus.
• 16:30 Caleb: Isaiah 17:1 through 3: "'Behold, Damascus will cease as
• 16:34 a city and will become a ruinous heap.
• 16:36 The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
• 16:39 They will be for flocks--they will lie down and no one will
• 16:42 frighten them.
• 16:44 The fortress will also cease from Ephraim, the kingdom from
• 16:46 Damascus, the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the
• 16:49 Israelites,' declares the Lord Almighty."
• 16:54 Joshua: Wow, that's jarring.
• 16:55 Like, this city, this crazy population that's going all
• 16:59 around us and literally I'm being touched every second,
• 17:01 could cease to exist and be just a dirt mound in one fell swoop?
• 17:06 Wait, that's not today, is it?
• 17:08 Because we're--oh good.
• 17:09 Caleb: That's in the future, but we also believe it could be the
• 17:12 near future.
• 17:13 It could be during the Tribulation.
• 17:14 It could be before.
• 17:16 In verse 4 through 6, it talks about there's a time when
• 17:21 Israel's kind of struggling, you know, the kingdom is having
• 17:24 issues, it's having financial issues, they're trying to
• 17:27 get food.
• 17:28 It could be however God wants to interpret it, it could be for
• 17:31 the here and now.
• 17:32 But the interesting part is, yes, by verse 9 there's
• 17:36 abandonment, there's ruins of Damascus.
• 17:38 Let's read the rest of the scripture to figure out how that
• 17:41 destruction comes about.
• 17:42 Joshua: Yeah, it is populated today.
• 17:47 Caleb: Isaiah 17:9: "In that day the strong cities will be like
• 17:52 forsaken forests and treetops that were abandoned, because of
• 17:55 the Sons of Israel--they will be laid waste."
• 18:00 Joshua: Sounds pretty desolate and ruined to me.
• 18:03 Look around you.
• 18:04 This city has seen its share of wars, not just wars and
• 18:06 conflicts with somebody else, but wars and conflicts
• 18:09 around it.
• 18:10 There's been so many exchange of hands in this city over time
• 18:13 that it's too much to count.
• 18:14 And well, you can tell this by the great Mosque of Damascus
• 18:18 behind me.
• 18:19 Caleb: That's right.
• 18:20 This mosque behind me once stood upon a different kind of temple.
• 18:25 Aram had the Temple of Hadad-Ramman that was originally
• 18:28 behind here, the storm god of Arameneans.
• 18:31 Now, eventually, as we said, the Romans would come and they would
• 18:35 raze it and they would build the Temple of Jupiter that would
• 18:37 cover and house all this vast territory.
• 18:40 But during the Byzantine era, the Crusaders built a church on
• 18:44 top of it and then, of course, it was converted into the
• 18:47 Umayyad Mosque that you see today.
• 18:52 Joshua: Now the mosque you see today, the newer mosque, was
• 18:55 built after the original one was destroyed.
• 18:57 It was meant to be bigger and grander than ever before.
• 19:01 In fact, some of the pieces of the older one were used, if you
• 19:03 look in the cathedral and the temple and the different areas
• 19:05 of it, but right now this mosque is one of the largest in
• 19:08 the world.
• 19:09 Caleb: It is pretty huge and at that time people believed that
• 19:14 John the Baptist's head was buried beneath it, so it was
• 19:17 dedicated to John the Baptist and there's even a shrine to
• 19:20 him inside.
• 19:21 It was the most lavishly decorated mosque at the time,
• 19:26 with gold and mosaics.
• 19:28 You can see the imagery is just beautiful.
• 19:30 It was the most beautiful in the entire world at that point and
• 19:33 it was heralded by all the historians for people taking
• 19:37 pilgrimages here just to see how amazing it really was.
• 19:42 Caleb: Isaiah 17:13-14: "The nations will rush like the
• 19:46 rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will
• 19:50 flee far away.
• 19:52 And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,
• 19:55 Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
• 19:57 Then behold, at eventide, trouble!
• 20:00 And before the morning, he is no more.
• 20:02 This is the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those
• 20:06 who rob us."
• 20:08 Joshua: What we just read was the game plan for the
• 20:10 destruction of Damascus, and we'll explain, but first, look
• 20:12 where we're at right now.
• 20:14 This is the Citadel of Damascus.
• 20:16 This puppy is old.
• 20:18 This was built before the first crusade in 1076, and it's
• 20:22 believed to be on Hellenistic ruins.
• 20:23 The problem is archaeology in this city is tough.
• 20:26 There are so many people, as you can see around us, nobody wants
• 20:28 to have their homes dug up, their business dug up, but
• 20:31 elsewhere in the city they have found ruins.
• 20:34 Caleb: Going way back to Aram of Damascus.
• 20:36 Yes, Aram of Damascus, the original biblical times that you
• 20:39 read about.
• 20:41 But it's interesting with such a rich history, it gets so jarring
• 20:43 by verse 14 in Isaiah 17 about this singular event that wipes
• 20:49 out the entire city in just a single night.
• 20:52 You know, in the evening, they're getting ready and then
• 20:54 in the morning it's gone and I can't think of a single event,
• 20:57 Josh, that would bring about such a cataclysmic destruction
• 21:01 other than something like a buclear borehead.
• 21:04 Joshua: You can't even rhyme and spell it out.
• 21:06 Like that, people know what you're saying.
• 21:07 Caleb: Yeah, okay, well, let's read verse 12
• 21:09 to figure out more about that.
• 21:11 Caleb: Isaiah 17:12 through 13: "Woe to the multitude of many
• 21:15 people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the
• 21:19 rushing of nations That make a rushing like rushing of
• 21:23 mighty waters!
• 21:24 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God
• 21:27 will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased
• 21:31 like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling
• 21:34 thing before the whirlwind."
• 21:37 Caleb: Very interesting.
• 21:38 This description so closely aligns with Psalm 83, a
• 21:42 coalition of enemy nations that come against the nation
• 21:45 of Israel.
• 21:46 We actually read here in Psalm 83:13: "Make them like
• 21:49 tumbleweed, My God, Like chaff before the wind."
• 21:51 Verse 15: "So pursue them with your tempest and terrify them
• 21:55 with your storm."
• 21:56 It's very interesting that this coalition of nations we see
• 22:00 arrive today have done the same thing in the past, but we see
• 22:03 Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank,
• 22:07 Saudi Arabia, and most importantly, Syria and Iraq.
• 22:10 So the very important thing is, if this oracle of Damascus is
• 22:14 the conclusion of a great conflict and the nations come
• 22:18 like a mighty rushing wind, just like they do in Psalm 83, what's
• 22:22 the conclusion?
• 22:23 It says, "Come, they say, let us destroy them as a nation so that
• 22:26 Israel's name is remembered no more."
• 22:28 That's the focus of this conflict and what happens?
• 22:32 Well, we'll see what God does.
• 22:33 Joshua: That is a possibility.
• 22:35 Let's just say that all the Arab nations around Israel know the
• 22:37 Samson option, and that's their last effort.
• 22:41 If all--if they decide that there is no other option, they
• 22:44 get to push that button, that means nuclear war on whoever's
• 22:48 threatening them, and it's over for those guys.
• 22:49 Caleb: So that's probably why they don't want to.
• 22:52 Joshua: Exactly.
• 22:54 Caleb: The oracle of Damascus is a chilling reminder of the
• 22:58 finality of thousands of years of history, concluding in an
• 23:01 ultimate judgment for a city that refuses to yield to
• 23:05 Elohim's warnings.
• 23:06 The God of Abraham must keep his promise, his covenant with the
• 23:10 Jewish people, to spare them from annihilation, but that is
• 23:14 neither the beginning nor end of the story.
• 23:18 Syria is more than Damascus, and the Syrians more than their
• 23:22 government they did not elect.
• 23:24 I didn't fully understand the purpose of God sending us to
• 23:27 Syria until that evening as we walked through the Christian
• 23:30 quarter and the Holy Spirit reminded me of Rabbi Paul's
• 23:34 success in spreading the gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles.
• 23:38 History has now become cyclical just as it was for the 1st
• 23:42 century church of Acts.
• 23:44 God is about to pour out his Spirit on all flesh, as Joel
• 23:47 chapter 2 describes: "The former rain is past.
• 23:52 The latter rain is coming, and it will initiate a great
• 23:55 awakening in the Middle East."
• 23:58 Today is not the day for Damascus to be judged.
• 24:01 Today is the day for God's love to be poured out in the
• 24:04 Syrian people.
• 24:05 Poverty is rampant for people desperate and hurting.
• 24:08 Yet in their isolation and powerlessness they cry out
• 24:12 for acceptance.
• 24:13 They desire to be known.
• 24:15 Who will take up Yeshua's call to bring his gospel once again
• 24:20 to Damascus?
• 24:23 ♪♪♪
• 24:33 ♪♪♪
• 24:43 ♪♪♪
• 24:53 ♪♪♪
• 24:59 Joshua: Well, that was a whirlwind of about 48 hours max,
• 25:03 if that.
• 25:04 Caleb: That was a crazy trip to Damascus.
• 25:06 It was amazing.
• 25:07 We learned so much.
• 25:08 Joshua: But let me tell you this.
• 25:10 You may think you know about Syria.
• 25:11 You may think you've heard some things, but you don't know until
• 25:14 you've been there.
• 25:15 And we've just been there.
• 25:16 Caleb: Now we know. Joshua: So we'll tell you.
• 25:18 Caleb: And knowing is half the battle.
• 25:19 Joshua: It is. What's the other half?
• 25:20 Is it dinner?
• 25:22 Caleb: Yes. Joshua: And lunch.
• 25:24 Caleb: And breakfast.
• 25:25 Joshua: Okay, the other half is eating.
• 25:27 Thank you, GI Joe.
• 25:30 ♪♪♪
• 25:40 ♪♪♪
• 25:50 ♪♪♪
• 26:00 ♪♪♪
• 26:10 ♪♪♪
• 26:14 Joshua: We love the Syrian people.
• 26:17 Caleb: Now the Syrian people are not the enemy of America and
• 26:21 Israel, just as the Persians in Iran are subjugated by the
• 26:25 tyranny of their Islamic government, of the mullahs, the
• 26:30 Syrian people have passed from one dictatorial government by
• 26:33 President Bashar Assad, a Shiite, to a jihadist Sunni
• 26:37 government whose origins are linked with al Qaeda.
• 26:40 Joshua: Syria has been pushed to the sidelines in Christians'
• 26:42 priority list, unfortunately, of people that need to hear
• 26:45 the gospel.
• 26:47 Instead of being one of those Christians who eagerly awaits
• 26:49 Damascus's destruction, go to Damascus and make a difference.
• 26:53 Syria is ripe, a country with people who have never heard the
• 26:57 gospel of Yeshua.
• 27:00 Who are on the path of eternal separation.
• 27:05 If they die today, they will die having never received
• 27:09 the message.
• 27:10 Because they are in a country that has literally cut them off
• 27:13 from the world and the world looks at this country and says,
• 27:17 "Oh, this place is an abomination.
• 27:19 Oh, this place is too scary.
• 27:20 Oh, this--" and we have all the labels.
• 27:23 Everybody heard we were going to Syria.
• 27:25 "Oh no, how could you do that?
• 27:26 We're so scared."
• 27:27 Because God told us to and we went.
• 27:30 It was an amazing experience with amazing people who deserve
• 27:34 the gospel just like everyone else.
• 27:37 They need the love of Yeshua.
• 27:39 It's the only thing that can fix this world today.
• 27:42 And it's the only thing that will ensure an eternity
• 27:45 with him.
• 27:47 Caleb: Guys, thank you for praying for Syria, and we thank
• 27:50 you for praying for us as we were out there.
• 27:53 Don't forget, as you go, to Sha'alu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 27:57 Joshua: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 28:00 Caleb: Did you know "The Bearded Bible Brothers" is an outreach
• 28:02 of Zola Levitt Ministries?
• 28:03 That means we are entirely donor funded.
• 28:06 Consider giving at levitt.com.
• 28:07 You can also join the Bearded Bible Bonanza to access
• 28:10 additional content at patreon.com/beardedbiblebonanza.
• 28:14 Please support our mission to spread the gospel of Yeshua by
• 28:17 subscribing to our social media and sharing our online messages.
• 28:21 Join the Bearded Brothers in person on a study tour of
• 28:24 Israel, Greece, and Petra, and see the Bible come alive and as
• 28:28 always, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.