Amir Tsarfati: Finding Hope in Times of War

On this first episode of “The Anchor Podcast,” Amir Tsarfati sits down with Pastor Steve Berger and his wife, Sarah, amid the turmoil of war in Israel. The longtime friends discuss their ongoing support for the Jewish state, even visiting grieving families who have lost loved ones in battle. They also open up about their behind-the-scenes ministry, encouraging political leaders in Washington, D.C., through Bible study. Most importantly, they debate the importance of standing with Israel for both Jews and non-Jews alike, offering a message of hope when propaganda and deception seem rampant. You can find a written document of this podcast here. https://cdn.amplifi.pattern.com/8591c… Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://buff.ly/36cDNpo Order Amir’s new book “Discovering Daniel”: https://discoveringdaniel.com Follow us on social media: Instagram:   / beholdisrael   Facebook:   / beholdisrael   Telegram: https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel Visit our website: https://beholdisrael.org Public Reading of Scripture: http://beholdprs.org DVD’s & Digital Downloads: https://shop.beholdisrael.org Latest Middle East News: https://beholdisrael.org/news/ Bible Teachings: https://beholdisrael.org/watch-and-li… Articles: https://beholdisrael.org/articles/ Teaching Around the World: https://beholdisrael.org/teaching-aro… Bible Experience Tours: https://beholdisrael.org/bible-experi…

A: Hey, Shalom, everyone.

This is Amir Tsarfati and
welcome to our anchor podcast.

This is our first podcast from our brand-new CONNECT
center here in the Jezreel Valley, here in Galilee in Israel.

And for the first podcast, we have great friends, best
friends from Franklin, Tennessee, Pastor Steve and Sarah Berger.

Shalom. Welcome.

ST: Shalom Shalom.

A: We’re going to start.

We have a wonderful podcast.

And the whole idea of us sitting around
this table and talking is literally to bring you hope.

Hope in time of desperation, time of
chaos, time of so much terror, pain and sorrow.

And of course, as the Bible says, the
hope that we have is an anchor of the soul.

And this is why we
call it the Anchor podcast.

So I’m going to ask Pastor Steve if you can
start with a prayer and then we’ll dive into our podcast.

ST: Amen.

Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank You for the living hope that we have in Messiah Jesus.

Father, we’re asking You to bless this new
fantastic outreach opportunity that You’ve given,

CONNECT, Amir, Behold Israel, all of it.

Lord, thank You
for what You’re doing.

Thank You for the
anchor of our soul.

God, we pray that You would speak to us and through us

that You would give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to receive, Lord, all that You have for us today.

So bless us, we pray in
the matchless name of Jesus.

ALL: Amen.

A: So how long have
we known each other?

ST: Well, the first time I met
you was 1998, I think, maybe.

A: Yeah.

ST: It’s been too long.

A: That was what,
20 pounds ago?

SA: Right.

A: Anyway, the thing is,
we’ve been friends forever.

It seems like it.

And here you are in
the midst of a war in Israel.

Both of you are here.

What in the world were you
thinking when you boarded the plane?

And what are you
here for, by the way?

ST: Yeah, so, first of all, this isn’t
our first time here during the war.

It seems like we end up coming here when wars break out,

very specifically to show
love and support for Israel,

to bring gifts and support in a bunch of different ways.

But we came specifically this time for the Jerusalem prayer
breakfast, which we’ve been a part of since it started in 2017.

A: And they had a special meeting in Jerusalem,
and people from how many countries showed up?

ST: So 40 different
nations, 400 people.

And these are political, governmental
and religious leaders from around the world.

A: Wow.

And at least in one of the videos that emerged from some activities of that particular event,

we saw that you guys went to the nearby tent where grieving parents of fallen soldiers are sitting not far from the government offices.

And how was that experience? Tell us about it.

ST: Yeah. We were the guests of a member of Knesset, Ohad
Tal, a dear friend, and he suggested that we go with him.

And we had the opportunity to
minister to three grieving parents.

SA: Yeah.

You know, with our own experience,
having a child leave for eternity, it…

A: Around the same age of…

SA: Around the same age. (Exactly.)

There’s just… There’s no getting past how that gives you more permission to speak into somebody’s life

when they know, “Ah, they’ve suffered the way I’m suffering now.

I want to hear what they have to say.”

So it was dear.

I mean, they’re so precious.

And I will say this.

The one common thing the three parents told us is that

tell people that our sons wanted to support Israel and fight in the IDF,

but it would never have been their choice to have to fight against these peoples,

that because of the Palestinian invasion, that they were forced to do that, and that grieved their hearts.

A: You know, it reminds me
of what Golda Meir said once.

She said,

“When time comes, we’ll learn to forgive the Palestinians or the Arabs
for killing our sons,

but we will never forgive them for causing us to kill theirs.”

SA: That’s exactly right.

A: And people don’t understand
this whole narrative on genocide.

The worst thing for us to do is having
to go to a war and having to kill people.

We did not choose that.

It was forced on us.

October 6 was peaceful.

October 7, we were invaded.

And I think tomorrow you guys
are going down south and see firsthand.

ST: Yeah, we’re going to be touring
the kibbutzim and all the area around it.

The music festival.
(SA: Nova…)

Yeah. Where everything happened.

And I’m preparing my heart for what we know we’re going to see
and hear again,

but firsthand, putting our own eyes on the situation.

A: Well, I can tell you, pray that
the Lord will protect you, because…

Protect your heart and soul and mind,

because, you know, I’ve been exposed to all of these horrific videos
that emerged starting from October 7,

and of course, filmed by the go-pros of the Hamas terrorists themselves.

and security cameras, closed-circuit
cameras of the kibbutzim and everything.

And I truly think that even eight months later, I don’t have the
right words to describe

the things that I’m seeing when I see that.

So prepare yourself
because it’s not going to be easy.

But, you know,
life is not easy.

ST: Yeah, it’s not for sure.

And it’s interesting.

You know, this is, I think, Sarah
and I, at least our 20th trip here.

But this time, the tangible, the
noticeable difference in the Jewish people.

What October 7 did to you all, as much as we can all suffer with you around the world,

to see what’s happened to the Jewish people as a result of this,

it’s tangible, it’s palpable. I can see it and feel the pain
and the grief across the nation.

A: I don’t think anyone can say he is the
same in this country.

And even in America Jewish people will tell you that
life has turned upside down for them.

And the friends they
thought they had are no longer.

By the way, we’re hearing F-16s right now,
taking off for another mission in Lebanon and in Gaza.

And here we are in
the center of world events.

And you guys come from, you come from the US,

but particularly from a ministry that is located in the center of, nerves of, the us politics.

I remember walking with you guys in 2020, actually, it was the beginning of 2021

where you were still pastoring a huge, successful, influential church

but the Lord already then talked to
you about something completely different.

What was it?

ST: Yeah, it was pretty shocking.

We were transitioning from a place of what the world would call success and influence

into something off the radar, where we were going to be
dealing not with the masses and the thousands,

but very personally, privately, quietly, with members of Congress and the Senate in Washington, DC.

A: And in what capacity?

In what way do
you serve there?

Just tell me what you can
because I know I’ve been there.

I’ve seen it firsthand, and I know there’s
a lot of things you are unable to talk about.

And I know why.

Can you just at least share
with us what ASI is all about, the things you can say?

ST: Yeah, Sarah, why
don’t you start with that?

What is it that we do in Washington,
DC with senators and congressmen?

SA: We encourage them, through relationship and
Bible study to stand up for what they already know is true.

The people that we minister to are
already committed Christians, godly people.

But we knew, and boy, do we know all the more now in
the days we’re living in, that they needed bolstering in the Word.

You know, it’s just iron, sharpening iron, like,
oh, yeah, that’s why I’m standing firm on this policy.

That’s why.

Because of the fear of God.

And so Steve leads Bible study with
some congressmen and a few senators.

And they would say,

I’m, in humility I’m just going to say their testimony would be,

I am who I am and I’m making the stands that I am today

because Steve Berger is teaching me truth and bolstering my faith to not back down in the face of all this adversity.

Right?

A: Yeah.

Do you have cases where people came to faith

like they were probably some nominal traditional, but not really born-again Christians

and they were exposed to the living faith that is, you know, only the Holy Spirit can?

ST: I would just answer that by saying

there’s individuals who are on a very real, authentic journey with the Lord Jesus Christ right now,

and they’re in varying stages of their walk in relationship with Him.

You know, Amir, one of the things that, as we talk about this,

people say, you mean to tell me there’s actually godly people in Washington, DC?

It’s not all corrupt, and it’s really important for us to communicate that there are some very godly people, congressmen and senators both,

who feel that they’ve answered the call of God on their life like they’re there serving Jesus.

They are there taking
a stand for righteousness.

They are there fighting the good fight of
faith, and they want to finish their race well.

So that’s number one.

Number two, what we get the privilege of doing is walking very privately with very public people

and helping them develop their faith and strengthen them,

because those who are righteous in Washington, DC, Amir, you understand this,

they get hammered every single day.

A: Absolutely.

ST: Because there’s so much unrighteousness that if you’re there and you’re going to say,

hey, I’m following Jesus and going to fear God, as Sarah said,

and try to vote what is in line with the scriptures,

you’re just going to get hammered.

And so our job there, again, to use Sarah’s word, which was so great,

is to bolster their faith, to encourage them in their faith, to teach them.

And we’re not
dealing with light subjects.

To give you an example, Amir,

when we first started
gathering and I said, you tell me what you guys want to learn about.

Now think about this.

This is senators and congressmen,
what do you guys want to learn about?

They said, we want to learn
about the truth about repentance.

And I said, you want to learn about
personal repentance or national repentance?

They said, both.

And these are national leaders
taking notes while I’m speaking.

They ask me for my notes when I get done preaching
and teaching from my notes,

they want as much as they can.

They’re hungry for Jesus.

They’re hungry to answer
the call of God on their life.

And it’s very, very off the radar behind the
scenes, but they’re taking a great public stance.

Beautiful.

SA: Yeah. And you know, I would say that

in a sense, we’re providing a safe haven, too,

again, because of the darkness over DC and in the political realm,

it’s just a happy place for them to go.

A: I mean, I walked around DC quite a few times and,

you know, there’s not too many places where you can actually say there are godly, amazing, godly places.

You can see a huge mosque and
a huge museum for this and a huge…

And when you get to a church, it’s
full of also sometimes idolatry or whatever.

And it’s amazing to see that there’s
really true Christians that are there.

And that brings me to the subject of, okay, so you’re teaching truth and you’re teaching Bible,

and that is one of the reasons you’re here in Israel.

Now, can you tell me,

how is it that your faith is connected
to your stand with Israel as an American and as a non-Jew?

Why would Americans that are not Jewish
should care about Israel and stand for Israel?

I mean, a lot of Americans are asking themselves,

are we going through all of this madness in our country only for Israel?

Is it worth it?

Is this something that
we need to go through?

I think a lot of Europeans are asking the same questions

because there’s so much madness and chaos and brainwashing and
the tendencies to cover up or quench it

and pretend that it does not exist, but not uproot the problem and not deal with it.

Now, why should a non-Jewish American stand for Israel?

ST: Well, there’s a lot of really great answers to that that we
don’t have time for but

I would say to the non-Jewish Christian American:

We don’t spend enough time thinking about the
fact that we, gentiles, we’re actually grafted into y’all.

We get so short sighted.

You know, we think God only speaks English, right?

Or that He’s a southern Baptist or something.

A: And He’s only King James version.

ST: Right, exactly.

And so we don’t appreciate the fact enough that

as gentile believers, we’ve been grafted into the ancient truth, teaching and traditions to the Jewish faith.

We need to
understand that more.

So that’s one thing.

Listen, if it wasn’t for the Jews, how would the Gentiles
even know about the prophets, the promises of God, the Messiah?

The Jews preserved all of that for us, made that available
to us

so that we could see our need for a very Jewish Messiah.

Remember Jesus, born a Jew, died a Jew, suffered as a Jew,
resurrected as a Jew, and sits in heaven as a Jew.

A: And He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

ST: And He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

And the list goes on and on.

So I would just say, trying to say it quickly, but

American Christians need to appreciate that more.

Okay. So that’s number one.

The second thing I would say is, I love to tell people, supporting Israel,
whether you’re a Christian or not,

supporting Israel is as easy as one, two, three.

And what I
mean by that is this.

God told Abraham
in Genesis 12:3.

That’s one, two, three.

What did He say?

He said, made it so simple.

I love how simple
God can make things.

For those who bless
Israel, they’ll be blessed.

For those that curse
Israel, they’ll be cursed.

Okay, let me
think about that.

Which one do I want to be?

A: There you go.

ST: Right? It’s as easy
as one, two, three.

So whether I’m even a believer or not, right,

if I want to be on the blessed side of life and living, I’m going to bless and support Israel.

Doesn’t mean that I
make an idol out of Israel.

It doesn’t mean that I agree with every political
decision, but it does mean this;

If I have the opportunity to be a blessing to the group of people that afforded me the opportunity

to be grafted into the true and living God, I’m going to do whatever I can to be a blessing.

And so we’ve got a long
history now of doing that.

SA: You know, it’s interesting, years ago when Amir took us to
Ramat David air Force base,

is that who we hear taking off right now?

A: Yes, you’re hearing
all the F-16 taking off.

SA: I’m just saying it’s providential, but…

and we were able to bring a
financial gift from our church at that time. Right?

And I think of not just the blessing that we received
from doing, because it is more blessed to give than receive.

It feels better.

It’s just better to
give than to receive.

So there’s that element of blessing,

but the relationships
that have come out of that have been pretty pivotal.

And so, and, you know,

and whatever the blessing might look like to
me, it’s the fulfillment of just going,

I’m in the heart of what God has for me when I am blessing the nation of Israel

and the fulfillment that comes from that, it’s just beyond what we would have ever imagined.

ST: There’s 2000 years
of ground to make up.

There’s been so much suffering done in the name of Christ or Christianity toward the Jewish people

that it really is going to take current day Christians to bless the Jewish people, to love them in very tangible, real ways, to say,

listen, things that were done in the name of Jesus really weren’t Jesus.

You want to see Jesus? Here’s Jesus.

A: Exactly.

ST: Here’s what He’s like. And we love you. We care about you.

And as Sarah said, it’s opened up incredible doors for us here in Israel,

because the very committed Jews, they sense genuine love, and they love you back.

A: I think one of the frustrations is,

and I speak as an Israeli and as a Jew, put aside my faith even in the Messiah,

I’m just telling you, as an Israeli and as a Jew that lives here throughout this war,

we are being misjudged by the world because of propaganda that is based on lies and deception.

Now, if 2% of what they say that we do were truth, I
would have at least said, okay, there is a base to…

None of this.

We are the only country on planet earth that is warning, sending emails, text messages, phone calls,

leaflets dropped from airplanes, telling civilians, leave because we’re about to hit this place.

No one does it.

In the history of modern warfare, no one does it.

Here we are, doing this, and we’re
accused by the whole world for a genocide.

Here we are, doing…

ST: Amir, let me add one more
thing that you all do that nobody does.

You all treat enemy
combatants…

A: …in our own hospitals.

ST: In your own hospitals.

No nation does that.

A: It’s crazy.

It’s crazy.

You know, in the first two weeks, we were accused of putting some kids song in the speaker, loudspeakers,

where we had a camp of all of those terrorists that we captured.

They said, you are torturing
them by putting in a loop a kid’s song.

They just beheaded children,
raped women, burned alive families.

And the problem that people had is that those poor
people have to listen to some songs that irritates them.

Look, we don’t even know
where to start when we talk about…

I mean, I’m looking at what’s going on in countries such as Sudan, in countries such as Nigeria,

where Christians are being slaughtered, when genocide is being done,

I’m looking at places where real hunger is
in Yemen and other places, and no one cares.

But when it comes to Israel,
they fake hunger, they fake genocide

and the world is just…

So, for us, the sense
of injustice is enormous.

And we feel that the world is buying
into all of this without even checking facts.

Since when we don’t check facts?

And every time they check the facts
and see that they’re wrong,

they don’t change their narrative.

They don’t apologize, even.

How many times the BBC apologized for things they said and then moved on to do the same?

So, you know, at least we draw a lot of encouragement from people who do understand that.

It’s within our DNA to love life, not to want to murder people.

Within our DNA is to
choose life, not to choose death.

We don’t raise our children
to one day blow themselves up.

What do you say when
you see all this propaganda?

Because to be honest, I don’t see how we are going to ever have peace here,

at least not in this generation of kids who were breastfed to want to destroy us.

ST: Well, first thing, right, we’re always going
to go to the scriptures.

We’re always going,
that’s our first place.

That’s our source for truth.

And when I think about what Jesus said, right,

that in the last days, the number one characteristic of society, culture in the last days is going to be deception.

Right? The number one thing He repeated most often, “Don’t be deceived. Don’t be deceived.”

And so when I look at all of the deception that’s
happening,

it doesn’t surprise me, but it still is heartbreaking.

The deception that
produces the injustice.

The injustice angers me, but I also understand where it’s
coming from

and figuring out how to live in that holy tension between:

Jesus said it would be like this,
but then actually living through it.

We have to keep our eyes
on the living hope of Jesus Christ.

We have to, because if we don’t keep our eyes on Him,

it’s like we’re walking through the storm on the sea of Galilee

and yes, we’re walking on water, but the moment we take our eyes off of Messiah, we sink.

We have to.

In this culture where it’s so tornadic, it’s so stormy
that if we don’t keep our eyes on Jesus, we’re going to sink.

A: What do you say about
silent pulpits regarding Israel?

It’s crazy, isn’t it?

SA: It’s insane.

And I mean, we live in the Bible belt

and you would assume within, especially our area that pastors would be making much of Israel everywhere.

And we’re hearing constantly from people at other churches
saying,

do you know my pastors not once mentioned Israel?

And, you know, like, excuse me, but

I have told them; you need to get out of there.

Like if they’re compromising on something that is that
close to the Father’s heart,

what else are they watering down?

And, you know, they’re just trying to avoid any type of bad press or whatever and

we’re supposed to relinquish those things and be crucified in Christ and not care so much.

A: I think there’s such a growing antisemitism even within the church.

And it’s troubling because it’s one
more thing the church compromises on.

ST: Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly.

But I also understand the tactics of the enemy.

And what he loves to do is magnify wickedness in order to make God look inferior or people’s hope to look inferior.

You know, you look at, would just be a great thing for people to do,

read Isaiah 36 and 37 about King Sennacherib of Assyria when
he sent his Rabshakeh to malign the Jewish people under Hezekiah.

You pay attention
to the tactics and what did he do?

A: And he spoke in their language.

ST: He spoke their language.

He made little of God.

And he made much of himself.

He’s just, he’s attacking their hope.

And he says repeatedly, don’t let
Hezekiah cause you to trust in God.

And that word trust, Amir,
it repeats over and over again.

See when we lose
our trust, we lose our hope.

And so we can’t listen to
how much antisemitism there is.

Yes, I know there’s antisemitism, and it’s horrible,

but I’m telling you, there are more for us than are against us.

A: Amen.

ST: And those that are, I mean, we call
them the flyover states in America, the heart of America.

All these crazy people on campuses,
first of all, a bunch of them are hired.

They don’t even
have a dog in the hunt.

They don’t care
one way or the other.

They’re paid by George
Soros to go and cause havoc.

Whatever the issue is.

A: They’re not even students.

ST: No, they’re
not even students.

It’s the issue of the day. Go cause havoc.

But listen, we’ve got to know there
are more for us than are against us.

Our eyes have
to be open to that.

Then our faith gets increased, our trust gets increased,
our hope gets increased,

and we win over and over again.

A: Amen. And that’s the essence of this podcast,

is to bring hope and to remind people of the hope that we have.

And I want to thank you both for being
the first guests of my brand-new podcast.

It’s not going to
be our last visit here.

Next time we’re going to try
other places here in the studio.

But thank you again for reminding millions of people around the
world

that maybe the majority is silent, but this silence is very loud.

And the only hope we have is the Messiah

and it’s anchored in the Word of God.

There is no answer to be found in any other place, any other institution,

any other plan of some wise people or some very, very intelligent people.

The Word of God gives us not only the answers to
what’s going on, but also the hope that we need to have.

So I want to thank
you for being here.

SA: Thank you.

A: And we’re going to stay in touch.

And you’re always welcome when you’re in Israel to be here, guests here at CONNECT.

And for all of you, guys, that have watched our first podcast,

pray for Israel, we’re going through very hard times, again, the injustice that we feel

but at the same time also attacks from within, attacks from outside.

But we know one thing, as we just heard,

if God is with us, who can stand against us?

ST:Amen.

A: So we thank you.

God bless you.

And Shalom from
Galilee, from Israel.

SA: Shalom.

A: God bless you guys.