Calev Myers - Opportunities in Israel

Hi, friends my name is Calev
Myers.

I'm a lawyer that works in
Jerusalem. I serve as the

attorney of the International
Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

I also founded an organization
called a rise which exists to

connect the international
business community to the

economy of Israel, mostly
Christian businessmen. And we we

have large business matchmaking
conferences every year, the

arise conferences which ICJ
participates in and helps the

sponsor, actually, if you want
to learn more about that you can

go to arise for israel.com, I'm
not going to talk to you about

that today. That was just my
short introduction, I was asked

to talk today about leading in
times of crisis, which is the

theme of this conference, and I
want to bring to you, let's say

an Israeli or Hebrew
perspective, on on, you know,

what should we as leaders do in
times of crisis? And just to

talk about some very, very
simple points. And my point,

number one, a little spoiler, is
that we we need to in times of

crisis, I think we need to get
God's perspective to really zoom

out and think, okay, what's the
bigger picture of what's going

on here? And, and to try to
transfer God's perspective to

the people we're leading in
order to increase their faith

and give them confidence as
they're going through difficult

times. And the other thing is
just to remember to remember

that as difficult as things
might be, we certainly as a as

the people of Israel, and
probably your nation, wherever

you from have gone through more
difficult times, and we've

gotten through and we've
survived, so So how can we get

God's perspective in order to
increase the faith and the

confidence and the peace in the
hearts of the people that we

lead? This crisis right now, I
think is very similar to a

certain period of time in
Israel's history. And I just

want to talk about that talk
about a few parallels. First of

all, this is they're wonderful
things happening over the last

year. Whereas we're coming to
the end of the Trump

administration, the United
States. And we look back and

think about all the amazing
accomplishments on behalf of

Israel and Israel's diplomatic
status, with the moving of the

American Embassy to Jerusalem,
recognizing Jerusalem Finally,

as Israel's capital, and and so
many people in the international

community now now following
suit, we have five or six other

countries that have also moved
their embassies to Jerusalem.

This is an exciting thing. The
Trump administration, I also

recognize our sovereignty over
the Golan Heights, which is a

wonderful thing. It's a
wonderful thing for the Druze

and the Arab communities, as
well as the Israelis that live

on the Golan Heights because who
wants to be under Syrian hedge

ammonia right now? What is
Syrian? What is Syrian

Government right now there's not
much left of, of what we used to

think of, of Syria after the the
terrible fighting and wars have

taken place over the last few
years. So these are very good

things. And then obviously,
probably the most exciting thing

is happening as the Abrahamic
Peace Accords, were now we have

peace with all these countries,
from the Arabian Peninsula that

were that were typically adverse
and oppose to Israel, you know,

with with the the peace accords
that have now been been signed

and declared, of course, with
Bahrain, with the United Arab

Emirates. We took another step
forward with official diplomatic

relations with Morocco as well.
There's an increase of the

informal diplomatic meetings
between the leadership of Israel

and Saudi Arabia, including a
trip that our Prime Minister

made recently to Saudi Arabia.
These are astounding

achievements, and, and, and,
and, and wonderful things

really, which give us a lot of
hope as far as the peace and

security of our nation of the
people of Israel, of the of the

nation of Israel. I think we
should celebrate these

accomplishments. Our Prime
Minister, Bibi nataniel, has

been in leadership now in our
country, anything in aggregate

for about 16 years. And you
know, he's there, people love

him there. People will hate him
like any Prime Minister, but

he's accomplished accomplished a
lot on behalf of our country.

Before going into COVID-19. We
were only at 3.5% unemployment.

Our economy is booming. We have
one of the

strongest economy strongest
currencies in the world. There

are more Israeli companies
traded on the NASDAQ in New York

than the entire European
continent today, because of the

government investment in
research and development that

unleashed the latent potential
of intellectual property in this

nation. And so our economy is
doing good, our our, our

security is great. We have peace
with many of our neighbors,

obviously, except for Iran, but
I think even the Iranian crisis

Bibi is handled really well.
That was another accomplishment

in his relation with the Trump
administration of freezing or

canceling the the agreement to
normalize relationships with

Iran. And if you're wondering
how they all this all this might

affect our relationship with the
Palestinians. I think I think

it's great. I think it's the
thing that we now I believe that

we're going to break the
gridlock that we've had for the

last 70 years with the
Palestinians and and come to the

compromises and settlements. The
Palestinians have been saying

no, no, no, no, no to everything
that's been put on the table for

the last 70 years but but it's
like the the the the what used

to be the Arab League, but the
Arab countries of the Middle

East are now saying the
Palestinians were not going to

wait for you anymore. You
there's, there's a limit to how

much how long you, you can say,
No, we're gonna make peace with

Israel, we're gonna build a
relationship with or without

you. And what that does is it
takes a lot of the leverage of

the Palestinians off of the
negotiation table, because the

Palestinian economy really
doesn't have anything to offer

to the world. The only thing
geopolitical economic value that

the Palestinians have brought to
the world is good relations with

oil rich Arab nation. So as long
as you treat the Palestinians,

right, as long as you continue
funding and giving them billions

of dollars of aid, and so on,
and so forth, you can have good

relations with with these Arab
states throughout the Middle

East. But if that's not the case
anymore, and the Arab states are

going to have good relationships
with Israel with the

Palestinians, then I think the
Palestinian leadership will

eventually understand that it
needs to start accepting some

compromises and it's in it's
time to stop saying no to

everything, maybe it'll take
another few years, maybe it'll

only be after the passing of
Mahmoud Abbas, the current

leader who's, you know, going up
in his 80s. And it might be the

next generation that makes these
decisions. But in general, I

think we're moving in very
positive direction. So they're

great, amazing things happening
in Israel. That's the backdrop

of the crisis. And I know I'm
speaking to many pastors and

leaders from other countries
around the world, I think, if

you put on your lenses of what
what are the good things that

have been happening in my
society, my country, over the

last year or two, I'm sure there
are also wonderful things and

and, and, and accomplishments
and, and you're also living in

peace and security as as the
backdrop to the big crisis. For

us, a big crisis would be
probably twofold. Number one,

COVID-19, which obviously, is a
crisis for everybody around the

world. So many people have died
and hospitals are being

overwhelmed. And and we have
these continual lock downs,

which are crushing economies. 7%
of our GDP, is the tourism

industry, which literally
employs, you know, hundreds of

1000s if not millions of people,
if you if you think about all

the tour guides and the bus
drivers and the restaurants and

they and the Air Flight
companies and so on so forth.

It's It's It's crushing. It's
had a crushing effect, where

about 20% unemployment Now
again, at this time last year,

3.5% unemployment now we're at
20%. Unemployment, this is

really hurting our economy
deeply. And that's that's the

first crisis. The other crisis
is the political uncertainty, I

would say. Like, like I said,
Binyamin Netanyahu has

accomplished a lot as a Prime
Minister for our nation, but he,

he now has, he's now in three
different criminal trials

simultaneously. He hasn't been
able to put together a strong

government for the last year and
a half, we're now heading into

our fourth elections. In I think
we're on 18 months, which is,

which is astounding and and so
there's a lot of political

instability and political
uncertainty at a time when also

there's a drastic change of
power in the United States, with

Trump losing the last elections.
And and with all the great

things that have been
accomplished for Israel, it

looks like that, that strong pro
Israeli lobby in the United

States administration is now
going to disappear. So I would

say that the you know, both the
corona and and the political

uncertainty are creating crisis.
So there's so many great

wonderful

things as a as a backdrop that
have happened. But now, there's

a crisis and a crisis creates
uncertainty and uncertainty

creates worry, and worry creates
stress. And so a lot of the

people we're leading right now
we have to recognize that they

are living in a period of great
stress. I see this as very,

very, very similar to a
situation in the history of

Israel. With King. Hosea, we say
it was I in English, it was the

bene matsya. Was is son, son of
Isaiah, I think you'd say in

English, who reigned in. He was
he was a king of our people. And

it says about him that he did
what was right in the eyes of

God if if you look at Second
Kings 14th Hosea did what was

right, in the in the times in
the eyes of the Lord and Second

Chronicles 26 it says he built
fortresses all the way down to

cut this bottom there. And he
lied. So what is that talking

about? He actually built these
fortresses all the way from our

port cities, which back then
would have probably been

Ashdod.

And, and maybe a little bit more
to the north, like yafo, where

and up towards Lebanon, things
would come through the sea come

through Israel, which was a
major trade route, and then go

down. And, and, and they'd go
into Egypt, but then also into

the Arabian Peninsula, we were
on a major trade route. And by

building these fortresses, he
could do a few things. First of

all, he could protect the
travelers to make sure that they

weren't being raided and being
pillaged by, by, you know,

criminals that would that would
attack these these trains. But

then he also be able to collect
taxes from them along the way to

build up the economy of Israel.
And with those taxes, he built

up the army, and he fortified
Jerusalem. And and he also

conquered a little bit it says
he conquered the Ammonites. So

the kingdom of Israel spread out
to the east, and cover what we

would now see as part of Jordan,
which which was the Ammonites.

So he was he was a very smart
King. They say that his kingdom

was spread out the most
geographically of any Kingdom in

the history of Judah, except for
King Solomon. And so he was a

very conservative, very
successful King as far as peace

and security, regarding peace.
There was there was peace

between the kingdom of Judah and
the kingdom of Israel, when when

he was Iowa's King. I mean,
these are these were the most

bitter enemies living side by
side and, and has had so many

qualms and so many arguments and
fights, but during his period of

time, he was able to navigate
that diplomatically and create a

period of peace. So there's a it
was similar to what we're

experiencing right now in the
sense of a real peace and, and

security. He conquered the
Philistines, which, you know, I

don't need to tell you I know,
I'm speaking to a lot of pastors

that you know, the Philistines
were our, where our major enemy

at that time, and he built two
new cities, the city of Ashdod

and yagni. So, so his kingdom
was was large, it was very

strong. It says, He fortified
Jerusalem, it says he built

towers down into into the
desert, because it says that he

had very large flocks. And of
course, flocks was, were an

expression of wealth. So so he
was a very, very wealthy King.

And he if we think Bibi
Netanyahu was ruled for 16

years, it has been in office for
a very long time in our, you

know, modern Western liberal
thinking, well, it was the

Iowa's King for 52 years. So
that's more than three times the

amount of bV I mean, our people
back then we're used to this

king that's doing a very good
job, creating a lot of

stability, economic peace, and,
and, and peace with our

neighbors collecting taxes,
building our army, we were

sitting in a really sweet
situation for about 52 years.

And then all of a sudden, on
this backdrop of peace and

security crisis hit was I
unfortunately, like other kings

before him, decided to act like
a priest instead of a king to

offer incense to the Lord even
though that was not his job.

That was the job of the priests.
And he was struck with with

leprosy and he and he and he had
to go into seclusion and

abandonment and he died a very
sick leprous individual and it

was it was a crushing crisis. It
was a leadership crisis it

created that political
uncertainty and insecurity

what's gonna happen now this
amazing Kingdom we've had made a

terrible mistake and and now is
everything gonna fall apart and

and so it was a very similar
situation now. I want to say

this I'm not comparing Bibi
Netanyahu to King Hosea okay.

Bibi has not you know, tried to
offer incense and and or become

the chief rabbi of Israel. He's
kept a separation of religion

and state he's not been struck
by leprosy I'm not saying that

he's gonna die in seclusion and
abandonment, so if any of you

are at least don't misquote me
it'd be BB isn't isn't King

Hosea, but I'm making a
comparison between a backdrop of

of peaceful, good economic times
within impending crisis. Just a

little thought also about why
kings is like King Saul and

others who, who thought they
could be both King and priest,

got in so much trouble with God.
I think I really believe that

that separation of religion and
state is a biblical principle.

If you look at in Deuteronomy
17, when Moses says after you go

into the land, and you appoint
for yourself a king, it it says

very clearly that he will read
the words of the law. Before the

priests, there was a separation.
He's not supposed to be a

priest. There's something that
the king does there. Something

that priests do. Each of them
has their has their position.

And I don't think it's good to
blur those lines. I don't think

it's good for pastors to be
political leaders and for

political leaders to be pastors
because it Well, anyway, yeah, I

don't know if I need to, to go
into a long rabbit trail. But

I'll just say that it's a shame
that the Roman Catholic Church

didn't understand this,

in the Middle Ages, when they
took so much political

leadership. And and that brought
so much destruction, both

political destruction and
religious instruction. So when

you blur the lines between
separation of religion and

state, you you you can both
crush the state, but also crush

the religion. And I think we
have to keep those lines

separated as a principal and you
can see how serious this was to

God and, and the punishment he
brought to a king that would did

what was right in the eyes of
the Lord and build economic

success and security and he was
a really good king. But when he

stepped over that line, God's
struggling with leprosy. It also

says that when he was hit with
leprosy, and he was in this

seclusion, Israel was hit Israel
and Judah were hit by one of the

worst earthquakes that ever
happened. And I'm talking, I

don't know if you know much
about the earthquake history in

Israel. But there's there's the
last major one that happened at

the, at the end of the 1800s
flattened the cities of type

areas and suffered, they say
there was like a several meter

high tsunami that came across
the Sea of Galilee and put the

city of Tiberius, underwater
because of that, that tectonic,

a line that goes right through
the Sea of Galilee. And when it

shifted, it created, this is not
called tsunami, but something

like a tsunami, this wall of
water, so you have a king and an

amazing King, struck by leprosy
goes into seclusion. And he's

dying a very sad old man, while
Israel is hit with this terrible

earthquake. So this is crisis
friends. So on the backdrop of

all of that, we come to Isaiah
chapter six. Isaiah was a

prophet who lived through this
whole time of Hosea which we

talked about this amazing
kingdom, this successful rain,

the successful rule, while
crisis hits, and as this is

happening, we come to Isaiah
six, a few words about Isaiah

six, you know, and I believe
that most of you know that this

is the calling of Isaiah where
he sees this big vision from

God. God says, I need a prophet
to speak to me. Isaiah says, He

named Sheila Haney here I am,
send me guys is okay. This is

what I want you to tell the
children of Israel. And it's a

very difficult prophecy, he says
to prophesied of the children of

Israel, a blindness basically
them Isaac cannot see ears it

cannot hear hardest to deal to
understand. And he was taken

back, you know, what, what does
this mean? God, I mean, isn't a

prophet supposed to be a
revealing the face of God

revealing God's heart not
putting blindness on the people?

Right? And and and God says,
Well, in this, it's until two

when he answered Isaiah, you
know, how long will this last he

says until the stump, the tree
is cut down to a stump, yet

there'll be a sprout of life in
it. I believe that the modern

day State of Israel is that
spread of life that Isaiah

talked about, you know, several
1000 years ago, we were cut down

like a stump, there are still
less people in the world today

than they were before the
Holocaust. Sorry, less Jews in

the world today than than there
were before the Holocaust, we

had 6 million people, you know,
terribly systematically

exterminated. And we're still
we're still coming back from

that. And so we were cut down
like a stump. But out of that

stump, a sprout of life grew.
And there are certain trees in

the Middle East in Israel, that
even if you cut them down to a

stump, as long as the roots are
still in the ground, you'll see

sprouts come out, you know, the
next season. Our trees are like

that, by the way, in Israel as
compared to analogy, many times

job description, you can kind of
help tree down to the stump, but

then a sprout of life comes out
of it, it'll come back and it'll

rebound. And that that's, that's
what Isaiah saw. So this is a

very important chapter as a
sixth time thinking about just,

you know, God's plan for Israel
and the blindness that comes on

Israel for a certain period of
time. It's, it's the blindness

that Paul talks about, is this
blindness forever. Romans 11 No,

but don't be ignorant of this
mystery. blindness in part has

happened to the children of
Israel until the fullness of the

Gentiles has come in, then all
Israel will be saved. So out of

this blind, eventually the
blindness will be removed and

God is going to come to Israel's
aid and bring salvation and

everything else. So anyway,
without going into big

theological dissertation about
that, Isaiah six is like Isaiah

getting this massive download
about God's perspective for his

people, not just in the
immediate future, but you know,

for many, many generations to
come. And we we inverse one of

Isaiah six I said all that just
to read this very simple

sentence in Isaiah in Isaiah
chapter six, verse one, it says,

in the year of King whose is
death, I saw the Lord sitting on

a throne of lofty and exalted,
with the train of his robe,

filling the temple. So In the
year of Kings as death, this is

the year of the death of this
amazing King, who the children

of Israel loved. God loved him
God

was happy with the way he he
actually did was right in the

eyes of the Lord until the very
end. And he brought peace and

prosperity in his death. So you
have this amazing they have this

great backdrop of peace and
security. But then you have King

whose eyes death which creates
political uncertainty, and and

insecurity that comes through
leprosy, which obviously is a

terrible disease. So it's
similar to what we have today

where we are living in the best
of times, in the worst of times,

we were in the background of
peace and security, we have a

terrible disease, and we have
political uncertainty. But in

all of that, Isaiah sees a
vision. In the in the year of

Kings eyes death, he saw a
vision and what did he see he

saw the Lord sitting on the
throne, with his robe, filling

the temple friends, if there's
something that we need to

communicate to the people we are
leading during this time, it is

that the Lord is sitting on the
throne. He's in control. He's in

charge. He has a plan. Nobody
can stop his plan. And when we

look back and think, Well, yeah,
that was an amazing thing. It's

exactly what the people needed
to hear that time through the

prophets of the Lord. But did it
come true? Yes, everything that

Isaiah said would come true.
came true. He knew that God was

on the throne. He was able to
communicate to the people he saw

what would what would happen
that Israel go through very

difficult times in Israel be cut
down like a stump, but there be

a spread of life in it, there'd
be a revival, at the end of

times, which we're living in
today, this amazing miraculous,

this this miracle biblical
proportions, Israeli people

being brought back to the land
after 2000 years of dispersion,

and creating one of the most
strongest economies and

militaries in the world. And,
and, and, and creating

innovation, life changing
innovation, which is tackling

crises and killing diseases and
helping so many people around

the world. Israel's literally
becoming a blessing to all the

nations from the center of the
earth. I say I saw this, but

first he had to communicate and
convince the people God is on

the throne. Don't let your
hearts be afraid. Don't Don't,

don't give into this feeling of
uncertainty and, and you know,

insecurity. God is in control.
God is on the throne. That's

number one. Number two, remember
that Israel has been through

worst times, and it's going
through today, really. And we've

survived. We survived the death
of Hosea. By the way, after all

the worry and all the concern
about what will happen. Who's

that who's

is son, his name, I think in
English, it says Jonathan, but

in Hebrew, we'd say your time,

he wasn't a terrible disaster.
He wasn't he wasn't a terrible

leader. In fact, he finished
some of the things that his

father had started. He didn't
rain for as long as I did. I

think his reign was for about 16
years. But he completed a lot of

the projects, I would say he was
a, it was it was it was an A

plus he was like a B plus, he
was pretty good. So, you know, I

don't know if this is going to
be the last term of Bibi

Netanyahu is prime ministership.
He's a brilliant politician.

He's a survivor. We in Hebrew in
Israel, we say he's Teflon, you

know, like there's nothing
sticks to me. He's great. But

but but right now, we're not
sure it looks like maybe after

the next elections, he won't be
able to form the next government

be the next prime minister. So
maybe, maybe, but you know what

the person after Bibi, he might
not be as good as BB, maybe not.

But he probably won't be a
complete disaster either. Why?

Because God is on the throne
because God has a good plan for

Israel. And because this is a
time of a blessing at a time of

miracles. And so let that be our
attitude and read number one,

remember God is on the throne.
Number two, remember that we've

been through more difficult
things and we've survived and

God has a good plan. I hope that
encouraged your heart. Please

use this portion of Scripture to
encourage the people that you're

leading in this time of crisis.
All

the best.