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Nehemia: Shalom, and welcome to a special edition of Hebrew Voices. This week, I want to share with you an update about the recent United Nations Resolution against Israel. As Jews around the world celebrated the anniversary of Hanukkah, I joined Michael Rood on Shabbat Night Live to expose a modern-day Antiochus.

Michael: A couple of days ago I met you in my office because I felt that I had an urgent message to get to you, to tell everyone to tune into what we’re doing on Shabbat Night Live. Here we are, we’re going on Shabbat Night Live tonight. But this is the time of the new moon in Israel, and I have had several comments now that Nehemia Gordon, since this last fall as of the sighting of the new moon of the month of Tishrei, the seventh month, he announced that, after 20 years, he is going to step away from his project, which has been the announcing of the new moon to the entire world for this duration of time, because he was taking so much time away from the ministry that he felt that the Almighty had put him on.

And with the way things are going on in Israel and around the world, I understood that immediately. People were asking me, “Will there be a new moon if Nehemia Gordon is not declaring it?” Well, the new moon, of course, is going to continue to be sighted, and the sun will continue to rise, even though Nehemia is not in Israel at this time to do it. But, as he said, he has much more important things to do. And live with me right now, we have Nehemia Gordon from Texas. Nehemia, welcome. It’s good to see you.

Nehemia: Howdy, Michael. It’s great to be here.

Michael: Nehemia, things are really happening, not only on the Israel front, but on a worldwide scale right now, that takes us right back to Israel’s past. Tell us, what is going on?

Nehemia: Well, just recently, we had a speech from Secretary of State, John Kerry, and this was following a decision at the United Nations to condemn 500,000 Israelis as war criminals. And what they did is… You know, in 1967 Israel liberated what the world calls the “West Bank and Gaza,” and there are 500,000 Jews living in what the world calls the “West Bank.” We actually don’t recognize it as the West Bank, we call it “Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.”

I mean, we’re talking about the Old City of Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter, they’re calling “occupied territory.” The Western Wall… the world is telling us that me going to pray at the Western Wall is a war crime. And this is something that the world’s been trying to condemn Israel with for decades. And the United States, as part of the alliance that the US and Israel have, has always vetoed it. Well, Obama decided that he was not going to veto it, and there’s some talk that he was actually, behind the scenes, engineering this.

But in any event, it’s unprecedented in the modern era. Although if we go back in history, this has happened time and again. It’s unbelievable that we’re actually having these conversations today, in 2016. We’re just coming to the end of Hanukkah, and this actually happened in the historic Hanukkah. I mean, almost word for word, what’s going on today. It’s unbelievable, Michael.

Michael: Now, I want to step back. I want you to take us back in history on this, but I’m going to tell you a little bit, ladies and gentlemen, of what you’re going to hear tonight. Because I made this statement, I said, “If you think that a Muslim is going to leave office quietly, you have got another thought coming. We are going to watch what Obama and what the Pope do during Hanukkah and Purim this year.” Now, we’re seeing exactly what Obama has done during Hanukkah. We are going to see prophecy repeat itself. Nehemia, tell us, what happened over 2,000 years ago.

Nehemia: Well, Michael, in the original Hanukkah, the story that I grew up with and what I was told, is that in 168 Antiochus IV tried to stamp out Judaism. And then, three years of bitter fighting and the Jews defeat the Greeks, and everybody lives happily ever after, after the liberation of the Temple in 165 BC with the first Hanukkah. That’s not what happened, Michael. If you read in 1 and 2 Maccabees, the war continued for decades. And in fact, it wasn’t until 141 BC under the brother of Judah the Maccabee, his name was Simon, that they finally drove the Greeks out of the garrison.

There was a Greek garrison in the heart of Jerusalem in the spot that, in ancient times, even earlier, there was the fortification of David, what’s called the “City of David.” And it’s incredible, because last year, the archaeologists finally published what they’ve been uncovering for the last nearly 15 years, which was what’s known in history as the “Acra,” or the “Acropolis of the Greeks.” That was the Greek garrison in the heart of Jerusalem. We’re told in Jewish sources that Jews couldn’t go to the Temple during the day, because the Greeks would fire arrows at them or throw feces at them. They had to go at night, so the Greeks couldn’t see them.

So, imagine this; in the heart of Jerusalem there is this foreign entity, this Acropolis, this foreign fortification, and it takes them 34 years, from 165 to 141. They’ve liberated the Temple, but they can’t go to the Temple during the day because they’ll get shot at. And it isn’t until 141 that Simon finally drives the Acra out. Well then, seven years later, he gets a letter from Antiochus VII, who is one of the heirs of Antiochus IV. And Antiochus VII writes as follows. He says, “You hold control of Jaffa, and Gezer, and the citadel of Jerusalem.” Citadel of Jerusalem, read that as “East Jerusalem,” because that’s literally what he’s talking about. He’s talking about the City of David in East Jerusalem. So, “You hold control of Yafo, Gezer, and East Jerusalem. They are cities of my kingdom.”

And then he says, “Hand over the cities that you have seized, that you have conquered outside the borders of Judea…” Wait. East Jerusalem is outside the borders of Judea? “Or else, pay me 500 talents of silver for the destruction that you’ve caused, and 500 talents more for the tribute of the cities. Otherwise, we will come and make war on you.” So, he’s saying in no uncertain terms… this is Antiochus VII, the Greek heir of Antiochus IV, who’s saying, “Give me land, or there will be war.”

You know, we hear this term… I’ve been hearing this term since I was a little kid, “Land for peace.” If we just gave them another piece of land, there’d be peace. Just one more piece of land. Well, in 2005, Israel pulled out the last Jew from Gaza, and all we’ve had since then is war. I actually just did a podcast episode on the Hebrew Voices series called “City of Rockets,” in which I document that I went to people who don’t speak a word of English. And I said, “What’s been going on here for the last 10 plus years?” And it was heartrending to hear some of the stories of how the Jews of Sderot, which is a city on the border of Gaza, had been living. And what we got instead of land for peace is, we got land and in exchange we got war. And now, the world is demanding, “You’ve got to give back this land that you seized.”

Michael: It’s literally land or war, is what they’re saying now.

Nehemia: Absolutely. It’s the same words. It’s unbelievable. It’s literally the same words that were spoken in 134 BC that are going on today, in 2016. And then, Simon’s reply could be a letter that Netanyahu sent today to John Kerry. This is in 1 Maccabees 15:33. This is in a study I have online called “War Without End.” It’s quoted from 1 Maccabees 15: “Simon said to him in reply…” This is to Antiochus VII, “We have neither taken foreign land, nor seized foreign property, but only the inheritance of our ancestors, which at one time had been unjustly taken by our enemies.” It’s unbelievable. Simon says this in 134 BC to Antiochus VII. It could be Netanyahu writing a letter to John Kerry and saying, “You’re calling us ‘war criminals’ for going and praying at the Western Wall in a sovereign Jewish state? This is the land of our ancestors which was unjustly taken by our enemies.”

You want us to give it over to our enemies now? That makes no sense to anybody in the world. This is really unprecedented in the modern era, but if you go back to ancient times, Michael, this is the par for the course, where the nations of the world say, “You Jews can’t live in that area, because you’re Jews.” My ancestors, Michael, 150 years ago, lived in a place in Eastern Europe in what was the Russian Empire, and they established something called the “Pale of Settlement.” And the idea of the Pale of Settlement is, Jews can only live in certain areas that we designate. They’re trying to establish a Pale of Settlement today, in our homeland. We’re Jews. Jews come from Judea. It’s unbelievable, it’s shocking. It really is disappointing, and surprising.

Michael: Well, I’m thankful that you really have taken a step away from that which has been going on well over 20 years now, which the Orthodox have been doing it. They have been documenting the sighting of the new moon every single month, and they have been going to you. These scholars, the rabbinic scholars, the Israeli New Moon Society, go to you and to your team, and to the people who for more than 20 years have been analyzing scientifically the barley in the land of Israel.

You re-established that understanding to the effect that, even the Israeli New Moon Society say, “This is the man. He is the one that knows what he’s talking about. Disregard everyone else, listen to this person.” Because the people that only speak Hebrew, and only study the scriptures and discuss them in Hebrew, know that Nehemia Gordon and the team of Karaites, they are the go-to people as far as that is concerned.

And so many discoveries. And as far as the chronological Gospels, it couldn’t have been done without Nehemia Gordon’s work in establishing and documenting yearly, when the barley is aviv, when it’s not aviv, which contradicts sometimes what we would expect it to be. It’s reality that he would report. I say that Nehemia is the most honest biblical scholar I have ever met in my life, and it’s been a privilege to know him. And now, I believe that it’s time for him to step away, because what’s happening and going down in Israel today is going to need his full attention, because he is a mouthpiece to the world. He has an authenticated mouth to the world. It’s not blowing smoke. It’s not jumping on the newest blood moon or shemitah. It is telling us what’s going on.

Nehemia, I hope that you will be back with us and keep us updated as we see things go down, because this is not going to be a pretty picture. But the Almighty promises that there’s always going to be the renewing of the moon. As long as the sun is in the sky, then His promises to Israel stand. Is that not so?

Nehemia: Absolutely, and there’s a prophecy in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, Michael, where God says, “Just as you see the moon and the sun in the sky, so too will my covenant be with Israel.” As long as you look up and you see the moon in the sky, that covenant will continue. And there’s a great account from during the Roman occupation of Israel, where the Rabbis were not able to actually announce the new moon sighting, and they sent this code word. And the code word that they sent throughout the cities of Judea is, “King David is alive and standing.”

And what that meant is, “We’ve sighted the moon. We’ve sighted the new moon.” And the code was very clear. Anybody who heard this said, “The moon in the heaven is the sign of the covenant between the God of Israel and the people of Israel, that the covenant still stands.” And when they say, “David is alive,” that means we’ve sighted the moon. It’s a picture of the Messiah, that just as we see the moon every month, and we can see the sun in the sky every day, therefore, so too the covenant with the Creator of the Universe stands, and His promise of bringing the Messiah. And I understand, Michael, you say, “Bringing the Messiah back,” still stands, and is true. Amen.

Michael: Well, as I said years ago, and as we close this broadcast right here, it was on our programs… and this was literally a dream. I woke up in the middle of the night and I wrote this down. 4,000 years ago, the Creator of the heavens and the earth made an everlasting covenant with Abraham. All of the land from the Euphrates to the Nile belongs to the sons of Israel. Shockwaves will shake the earth as heaven reaches down to fulfill that covenant. And whatever nation stands against that promise will find themselves on the battlefield against the Almighty.

This is coming down, ladies and gentlemen. You are going to watch it. You are going to see the Almighty, His hand revealed, and He will fight for His people. The revealing of His power in this day and time, we are alive to see it. Nehemia Gordon, on the first day of Tishrei, on the real Rosh Hashanah, the real head of the year, that sighting of the new moon, he resigned so that he could do his job that he was assigned to do. And thank you for being with us, Nehemia. I hope you’ll come back and keep us posted on what’s going on.

Nehemia: That’d be great, Michael. Shalom.

Michael: Okay, Shalom.

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