This is a pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live
>> Don Hawkins: Foreign Just ahead on a pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live, Gil Ilyatovic, CEO of Compedia, founder of Crossflix and bless il It's a pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live. Welcome to Encouragement Live, providing biblically based encouragement and insight on a wide range of practical life issues. Now, here's your host, Don Hawkins, author of Master Discipleship Today. Well, it is a real delight to have Gil Iljatovich in the studio all the way from M. Tel Aviv, Israel. And Gil, you just landed less than 24 hours ago.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, just landed here in Texas and it's wonderful.
>> Don Hawkins: And you're enjoying our cooler weather. Is it ever this cold in Israel?
>> Gil Iljatovich: I hope to bro with me some, warm weather, but I didn't succeed so far.
>> Don Hawkins: It hasn't happened. Now by the time we air this program, it very well could be warmer.
Gil Robertson is involved with the Israel Trauma Healing Project
tell us a little bit about how you were involved, with the Israel Trauma Healing Project. I want to talk about that a little bit and then talk about Crossflix, because we are now running spots for Crossflix. They're, one of our underwriters. So tell us about the Israel Trauma Healing Project.
>> Gil Iljatovich: You know, Israel is going in the last year, and a half through a terrible war and with hostages, with all our young boys and girls are there in Gaza fighting for the, for the lives of Israel against monsters. Actually we can see what they are doing there in Gaza and many of the soldiers coming out with post trauma. So we in Crossflix decided to, give a lot of the donations that we are getting to Crossflix and the subscription as a donation to help with the healing for the trauma soldiers.
>> Don Hawkins: Boy, that's a great thing to know. And I would assume, Gil, that trauma is almost, almost at epidemic proportion in Israel.
>> Gil Iljatovich: We are talking about more than 30% of the soldiers that coming out from Gaza. They are under PTSD post trauma, which is terrible for our nation.
>> Don Hawkins: You know, when you think about a nation going through what your country has been through, not just since October 7th, but literally since that time. I mean, you have countries all around you that some of whom would like again to use the phrase from the river to the sea, they'd like to take Israel off the map.
>> Gil Iljatovich: I believe this is a spiritual war.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Because you know, The Arabs has 24 countries that and much, much bigger than Israel. Israel is a tiny country in the size of New Jersey. And why they want Israel? Because Israel is a, promise by God.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: As in fulfillment for the biblical prophecies that when Israel will establish, then the Messiah will come. And we say that in Israel that we can hear his footsteps and the enemy hate it and he fight against it in all the power that he can to destroy Israel and to destroy the ability even the Messiah to come.
>> Don Hawkins: You know, it's interesting. Both Christians and Jews are looking forward to Messiah. and in reality the promises of Messiah permeate the whole Old Testament.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Jews and Christians longing for Messiah and Jews are very, you know, it's in every prayer the Jews are asking for Messiah to come. And I have to say something. It's a little bit funny. The mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, he was asked by the Christians organizations in Jerusalem what he will do when Messiah will come. He said, you are Jewish. and when m Messiah will come, he will not come to the fifth Avenue in New York. He will come to Jerusalem. So how you are planning to welcome him? So he said, I will check his passport if you've been here before or not. And I will welcome him anyway.
>> Don Hawkins: We're over 100 years old. Dallas Theological Seminary President Dr. Mark Yarborough on the seminary's motto, Teach truth, love. Well, that is what we do.
>> Gil Iljatovich: That's our slogan that we use.
>> Don Hawkins: Obviously it's preach the word for all of us. We are called to teach truth and live it out. To learn more about how Dallas Theological Seminary can equip you for biblically based Christian service, visit DTS Edu.
Crossflix is an ever growing community of broadcasting developed for the family
That's DTS Edu. are you looking for family friendly television or biblical studies with informative programming? Let me introduce you to Crossflix. From children's cartoons to in depth studies to inspiring music, Crossflix is an ever growing community of broadcasting developed for the family. Now available for Roku, Apple TV, Firestick, Apple iOS and Chromecast. Search through our on demand library with a free trial. Crossflix. Entertain, Educate, Inspire. We're talking with Gil Iljatovich. Gil is, not only a resident of Tel Aviv, Israel. He represents the Israel Tribe Trauma Healing Project. He is also the CEO of Compedia. They're a, global leader in the development of immersive educational platforms, content and technology. Their award winning products internationally have taught millions of people in 50 countries speaking 35 languages and are now working with the Master Life Coach Training Institute, gilded. I get all of that correctly?
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, very much. Thank you.
>> Don Hawkins: Well, that's great. Actually you had texted Matt or actually emailed that to me in adv, so I was glad. But tell me about how you started Compedia. What what brought you to that place?
>> Gil Iljatovich: I always my heart was for education. And I started Compedia in 1987 as a company for developing technologies and content for educational purposes. And for many years we worked with companies like mgm, Jim Henson Company, National Geographic and others and developed education software. But in the last 13 years or more, even 14 years, God led us to work on many of biblical education. We worked with Museum of the Bible and other ministries to create content for the Bible. And what we did since we developed so much interactive Bible content, we put everything on one platform and did a cooperation with Crossflix which is like Netflix for Christians. We thousands of different titles for Christians and everything we put on one platform crossflix.
>> Don Hawkins: And my understanding is that crossfix is a relatively inexpensive platform, for families, Christians and, and even others as well.
>> Gil Iljatovich: First of all everyone can get go to Crossflix.com and try it for free. And after a week if you want to continue, you do a subscription with only ten dollar per month. And out of this ten dol give quarter to Bless for the Trauma Healing Project for American soldiers and Israeli soldiers.
>> Don Hawkins: We have been running promotional spots for Bless IL for quite some time. Tell us about that initiative. That's, that's a great initiative.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Bless is a initiative that is now cooperate with the Mighty Oaks and the Navy SEAL Future foundation to help the soldiers in Israel with the trauma, and also the soldiers here in America that suffering from ptsd.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah, PTSD is a very devastating kind of thing. I think those of us who have not been exposed to it firsthand probably can't even relate to it. but you actually have members of your family who are in the Israeli Defense Force.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, of course. my son was actually his last day in duty as a combat commander was October 7th.
>> Don Hawkins: We certainly know what happened on October 7th, 2023. I'll have more with Gil Iohnatovich on this pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live. Stay with us for crossflix, a complete multimedia platform at your fingertips featuring faith based movies and shows for the whole family. Plus an amazing library of interactive online Bible courses such as the Eternal City and Revealing the Secrets of the Hebrew Bible. You'll have access to your own community and join others on their spiritual journey. You may join as an individual or as a church and develop connections like never before. Crossflix has partnered with the SEAL Future foundation and Blessil to support brave American and Israeli military veterans and their families suffering from trauma. The relationship between the US and Israel is a long standing one of strength and divine connection and one that must continue to be nurtured. When you join crossflix, you'll see firsthand the amazing work you'll help support providing encouragement and hope to American and Israeli veterans and families. Crossflix.com Educate, entertain and inspire.
Toni King writes about PTSD in her new book The Maze of Medicare
>> Gil Iljatovich: The people of the Middle east and.
>> Don Hawkins: North Africa are familiar with hardship and.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Struggle, but Sat 7 gives the.
>> Don Hawkins: Hope of God's word to the hurting and broken. SAT7's new president, John Cernelia. Our vision is to see a growing church in the Middle east and North Africa, confident in Christian faith and witness, serving the community and contributing to the.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Good of society and culture.
>> Don Hawkins: To learn more or support this ministry, visit sat7usa.org Toni King on her book the Maze of Medicare. I looked up on the Internet how many books have biblical in regards to Medicare and there was zero. And then God brought you into my life and you helped me write the Maze of Medicare because we took Medicare and put scripture with it because people are stressed, they don't know what to do, where to turn. You can order the Maze of medicare@tonysays.com that's T O N I tonysays.com PTSD is a very devastating kind of thing. I think those of us who have not been exposed to it firsthand probably can't even relate to it. but you actually have members of your family who are in the Israeli Defense Force.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, of course. my son was actually his last day in duty as a combat commander was October 7th and of course the army, continue with his, extended his military service. Later he was stabbed by a terrorist. But thank God he's okay. Now my daughter was called back to duty and they briefed her with all the horrors that Hamas was doing on October 7th. And since then she's suffering from a constant pain in her stomach. This is some version I believe, of ptsd. What worried me about PTSD that I learned here in America from the Navy SEAL Future foundation and from the Mighty Oaks that much m many more veterans kill themselves after coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan than those who were killed in battle. Much more so I'm afraid and terrified that Israel will suffer the same problem. So we need to take care of it.
>> Don Hawkins: My conversation on this pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live is with Gil Ilya Tovich. Gil is a great friend of this ministry and a great friend of Israel, because he lives in Tel Aviv. And Gil, I think those of us who have not been to Israel. Can't begin to understand what it's like not only visiting there, but living there. Tell us a little bit about what life has been like there, especially since October 7, 2020.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Well, it's even difficult to describe the situation that you are at home, sleeping in your bed, and suddenly you hear a siren and you need to jump from the bed. Going to a shelter room with small kids, even with a dog. We have a dog. The dog is, by the way, the first run to the shelter room. M. And it's a terrible situation. No one should live under such a condition. But more than this, we know in Israel that we have hostages there in Hamas, that were kidnapped from their bed. We're talking about girls that were kidnapped from their bed with their pajama barefoots. And they were in, in Gaza. And recently, just recently, they brought back from Gaza children one years old baby and four years old, his brother in coffins after they killed them in bare hands.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah, I heard about that. And their mother, Sherry Beavis, I recall, they made like they were sending her body back, but it actually was not her body. And then finally, the next day, I think they finally did send it back.
>> Gil Iljatovich: They play with the, sentiments and the feelings of the people of Israel. They in Gaza don't care for lives. They use their children and women as a human shields. But here we are living under biblical values and every life, every soul is important. So they play with this, they play with our emotions because they know that we care and they doing horrible things.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
Gil Yatovich: Israel is a strong country and society is strong
Let's talk a little bit about, the life of the average person on the street in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and Jaffa and different places like that. they're living, in many ways under the threat of even terrorist attacks, that could take place at any time.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes. just recently, few buses were exploded in, near Tel Aviv. But I have to say we are a strong country and strong people. And the Jewish people went through so many persecutions and we survived. And we know that God is with us. And God brought us to Israel after 2000 years of exile. Not just for vain. There is a reason for this. And we came from the four corners of the earth back to Israel with a purpose and with a mission to bring back the Messiah to this universe, to the whole universe. And, Israel will prevail. That's not a question. And Israel is strong and the society is strong. We need help, but we are strong.
>> Don Hawkins: You know, I've been preaching through the book of the Revelation which is a New Testament book in the church. I Pastor and recently I was preaching on the new Jerusalem and I believe that God has a plan for the existing Jerusalem, but there will ultimately be a new Jerusalem in which Messiah will reign. And I believe that both Jewish people who have believed in Messiah and Christian people who have believed in Messiah will be a part of that. And it's interesting that the gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and other parts have the names of the 12 apostles. So I believe that there's, there's a future both ways looking at that.
>> Gil Iljatovich: That's true. And the Bible start with a verse in Hebrew. in the beginning God created the.
>> Don Hawkins: Heavens and the earth.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Exactly. And in Hebrew it's seven words.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And when you read the last sentence of creation and you jump every seven letters a new word is coming out. Israel.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: M, which means Israel is the completion of creation with the purpose of bringing new Jerusalem.
>> Don Hawkins: You know. And I think about the promises of God, specifically covenants that that Yahweh Elohim made to Abraham and to David and through Jeremiah. The first one was in Genesis 12 and repeated in Genesis 15. I know you're very familiar with those. Give us your perspective particularly on the fact that the word forever is a part of that promise.
>> Gil Iljatovich: The covenant between Abraham and God. He said it's forever.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And so it's not, we don't say Old Testament, it's the Hebrew Bible because it's not old.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's a living book that still living in our souls, in our society. And we see in Israel everything that happening is according to the prophecies and the, its fulfillment of the prophecies and exactly what God promised to Israel that will happen. It's happening nowadays.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah. And, and God said to Abraham, he said you will have this land, this piece of real estate and you will have it forever. And there, there may be as you say 24 Arab nations and maybe other countries in Europe and other places who are not happy with that promise. But God has made that promise. And by the way, Christians agree that the scriptures are living. Hebrews 4:12 in the New Testament says the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than a two edged sword and is a discerner of the thoughts and motives of the heart. And so as we look at the word of God, I've recently been personally reading through some of the psalms and also Proverbs and just amazing practical things. There which brings me to the fact that I need to mention that we're talking on a pre recorded program with Gil Yatovich and Gil is the CEO of Compedia. he is also very involved in the Israel Trauma Healing Project.
Gil Robertson helped develop curriculum for Museum of the Bible in Washington
But Gil, since we're talking about the Bible, I want to shift a little bit and talk about the Museum of the Bible and your role in establishing that wonderful museum in Washington.
>> Gil Iljatovich: D.C. we were chosen, this is by God to develop ah, technologies for Museum of the Bible but more of this, a curriculum that will reflect the museum perception of teaching the narrative history and impact of the Bible. We worked with more than 100 scholars worldwide and created actually an amazing curriculum and we put many of the content that we developed for the museum and for other ministries. On Crossflix, you can find on Crossfix.com many of the content of teaching the Hebrew Bible, teaching the New Testament and many others.
>> Don Hawkins: I think I want to encourage you to Visit that website, Crossflix.com and check out what's available there. You can try it for free for a week and then if you decide you want to embrace, has a lot of family friendly, I would say G rated kind of entertainment, movies, programs but it also has a lot of in depth Bible study that you've put together. And I know that you personally are a, ah, devout student, particularly of the Hebrew Old Testament and there's some things that you've come up with, some insights there that I'd love for you to share with us.
>> Gil Iljatovich: I have to say that the first time that I read the Bible in English, you know, I was in hotel and I opened a drawer and there was the Gideon Bible and I opened it. I was a little bit shocked. I said wow, so many differences from the Hebrew Bible. And I will give you a few examples. In English it said when God created a woman, it said I will make him a helpmate or a helpmate or a helper. Depend on the version of the translation. But in Hebrew it says something different. Ezer, Kennegdo. Ezer Kennegdo is not a helper. It's a helpful opposition. I will make him a helpful opposition. It means that, that your wife's supposed to help you and if you will go, and if you will go in the wrong way, she should put you on track.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah. She'll confront you. She will, yeah. And, and my experience has been that my wife does that very thing. She's a support, she's an encouragement and I've done a lot of personal study, Gill. And on the subject of encouragement, in fact, the mission of this radio program, Encouragement live, is to give people encouragement, judgment.
Gil Ian: There are some things we don't discover in the Hebrew Bible
what are some other things that we, maybe those of us who have read and studied the English Bible may not have discovered because of not looking at the Hebrew Bible?
>> Gil Iljatovich: I will give you another example. There is amazing story, in the Bible about Elijah running away from Jezebel. And he is hiding in a cave. He is very desperate. When he came out from the cave, he see a vision. And he saw first there was, a fire that burned everything. And this is not God. And then there was, a, windstorm. Yes, this is not God. And then there was a, earthquake and big noise. And this is not God. And then it says in English that he heard a still small voice. That was the God. But in Hebrew it says something different. Call the mamada m come called mamada ka. It's not a still small voice, if you will translate it accurately. It's a voice of a total complete silence. He hear the voice of a total complete silence. To understand this, why this is God, we have to go back to the first verse of the Bible. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth. In Hebrew, the verb bara, it means to create from outside.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah. Out of nothing. Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Not just out of nothing, but outside. God is outside.
>> Don Hawkins: I'll have more with Gil Ian on this pre recorded edition of Encouragement Live. Stay with us for more.
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Don Hawkins talks with Gil Elatovich about secrets of the Hebrew Bible
Welcome back to Encouragement Live. Our toll free number is 855586 LIFE. Here again is your host, Don Hawkins, author of Master Discipleship Today. This is Encouragement Live. Our program is pre recorded and I'm talking with Gil Elatovich about the secrets of the Hebrew Bible. Talking a little bit about God is outside of everything. Tell us a little bit more about that, if you will.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Okay, if we are going to the first verse of the Bible in Hebrew, in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. And in Hebrew it's bereshit bara eloim et has the verb bara means to create from outside. It means that God is outside to the world that he created to the universe. He is not part of it. He is transcendental God. So from that we understand that God is in control, but he is not here. In that sense, we can pray for him, we can be in touch with him, we can be even close to him, but he still is outside to the wall that he created.
>> Don Hawkins: Sometimes we use the terms imminent and transcendent. He's, imminent in the sense that we can pray to him and talk to Him. And we were having lunch together and you talked about how the Hebrew people. And this is in Deuteronomy chapter 6 where it says Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu adonai Kai. The Shema that there's a certain posture that you have to adopt to be able to listen to God.
>> Gil Iljatovich: When Jewish people say the Shema, they close their eyes very strong because we want to be disconnected from the reality around us and connect to this transcendental God. this is the imminent that allow us to be close to something that is so aloof by closing our eyes, don't see the reality and be close to God. And it is very important. The Shema Yisrael, I believe the same. This is the most important, words in the Bible. The most important Verses that Jewish people say because, it's in our prayer every day and every night. It's on our foot doors, you know, in every door you can find it. Inside the mezuzah there is a scroll with the Shema inside it. It's in the tefillim that the Jewish people wear for prayers. And it's an important because according to the Jewish tradition, when Jacob was on his bed, death and his children was surrounded him and he gave blessing to each one of them. And he saw the future. One of the things that he saw in the future was that one day from his sons, especially from Judah, yes, will come King David. And from him will come the Messiah, Yeshua. And will come a new religion, actually Christianity, that will believe in the Trinity, which is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And he didn't understand it, he didn't got it. But his children calm him down and say, oh listen, Israel, our, God is one. One. It means, don't worry, our God is one. It's still unity.
>> Don Hawkins: And it's interesting that that reflected unity. And yet the plurality of Elohim, for example, is a plural word. So you have room, for the diversity of father, son and spirit, but you also have the unity. We don't worship three gods, we worship one God.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes.
>> Don Hawkins: And of course for the Hebrew people looking for Messiah, there is that.
Deuteronomy 6 says parents should be the teachers of their children
But there's also the important principle in that passage about teaching the family. And talk about how, parents, for example, you have two adult children, how you and your wife have sought to implement the principles of Deuteronomy 6, especially verses 6 through 9.
>> Gil Iljatovich: This is actually God is telling us you should be the teacher of your children. And what happened many times with the process of immigration, when the people coming to a new country, the children learning fast everything, they learn the language, they learn the technology, they learn the culture. And the parents stay behind this destroy the family because you can't break the authority of the parents. So we in Israel have a program that we are teaching the parents that they are coming from different countries so they will be able to teach their children. And this is not just about knowledge. This is the authority of the parents. Because if a child is teaching by strangers, are, ah, teaching them and not the parents, and the parents stay behind. A child can do anything. He can drink alcohol, he can use drugs, and the parents can say nothing because they don't know nothing. So it's very important and the Bible says very clearly teach it to your son, you will teach it to your children, not, strangers. So it's more important than teachers is the parents, the authority of the parents to teach their children.
>> Don Hawkins: This is pre recorded by the way. We're not, actually taking phone calls. Gil Ilyatovic is from Israel, lives in a suburb of Tel Aviv and he's the CEO of a company there, Compedia.
Gil: Deuteronomy chapter 6 is the most important Bible passage
Gil, we were talking about Deuteronomy chapter six. you call this the most important passage in the Hebrew Bible. and I would like your opinion on why Those verses, 1 through 9 of Deuteronomy chapter 6 are so important and, and how that impacts the family today.
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's important because first of all, it's talking about the unity of God as one. Second, it's teaching us that we should come to our God not just with our heart or with our mind, but with everything with our heart, with our mind, with our soul and with our money. Everything that we have, with all our human as a beings, we have to come to God and to be close to Him. So this is, it's understanding that because we were created by God, we belongs to God. So, so we need to come to him with everything that we have. And when Jewish people pray, they put the tefillin, it's called tefillim, it's a box and inside it the tournament is six, and inside it is the shema. And we put it on our hand, left hand and on our forehand. So in that way we can come immediately while we are praying in two ways to God, heart and mind, with love and with understanding.
I sense from your love for the Hebrew Bible that your parents cultivated it
>> Don Hawkins: I want you to talk a little bit about your own family and background because I sense from your love for the Hebrew Bible. And we're going to get into some more secrets of the Hebrew Bible. We've talked about a couple of those. but obviously your parents must have carried out the mandate of Deuteronomy chapter six, when they raised you because they've cultivated in you, a great love for the God of the Bible, but a great love for the Bible also.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Both my parents are Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe. My father from Belarus, my mother from Poland. And as children during the Holocaust, they didn't get any education. Not talking about, biblical education, they didn't get any education. They came to Israel after the war, and had to find their ways. But, my God, my father, when he came to Israel, he said that God talked to him and said to him, forget the past and from now on you have a mission to build a nation for me, for God. And that's what healed him. So although. And my mother was with the same. She was all the time reading Psalms and praying. Although they didn't get formal education, they still had. Both of them were very close to God. And they implemented in my soul the love to God and to understand that we have a mission in our life.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And, my mother gave me the name Gil. And one I asked her, why Gil? Because Gil means in happiness in Hebrew. And she told me, because you were born after 2000 years of exile in Israel as an answer for 2000 years of prayers. So you brought happiness to our life.
>> Don Hawkins: And you were their firstborn son, as I recall.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes. actually I have a sister that is older than me and two sisters that's younger than me. I was the only boy among them.
>> Don Hawkins: But you were the son. And sons are very special in Israel, correct?
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, in Jewish tradition. because I'm carrying my. His father's, family name.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes. It's a wonderful thing to have genealogies. Father, son. My father was a very godly man, and I'm thankful for the influence he's had on me. And I've had the privilege of having an influence, I think, on my son and on my grandson and. And, members of my family, the girls as well, but especially, the men. I have one son who will carry our name, family name forward, and that's important. And, and it's interesting in that passage, in Deuteronomy, look at the first and second verses. It talks about teach them to your children and your children's children. And I think part of the reason for that is the society is so bad today. Talk about the bad influences on the family. That we can counter by applying those principles from Deuteronomy 6.
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's not just for this, because, of course, in the Shema, in this, verses. And it's very clear that, we have to teach it to our children. It's part of the obligation. It's not questioned about. And we, see now that, people go away from the Bible. People go away from God, and we see what's the result. I have to say that I was born in Israel in a city called Bnei Brak. Bnei Brak is the poorest city in Israel. And when you think about poor city, what's going on in your mind? What do you think about prostitutes, drugs, danger, to be there at night? We're not going in the poor city at night. Yeah, but in this city there is 200,000 citizens, no one police station. Why? Because this is the most religious city in Israel. The reason it's, poor, because the men are not walking. You know, they're devoting their lives to the Torah.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: So it's poor, but zero violence. No crime at all. No, drugs, no. No nothing. it's. You can go in the middle of the night in the city of Nebuchadnek. Nobody will hurt you and no need for a police.
>> Don Hawkins: How do you spell neighbor?
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's B, N, E, I dash B.
>> Don Hawkins: R, a K. Is that close to Jerusalem? Close to Tel Aviv?
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's very close to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv.
>> Don Hawkins: Tel Aviv.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yeah. And, it was established by a religious Orthodox Jewish that came from Poland more than 100 years ago and became the most religious city in the country. You can see a Bible seminar in every corner. Not Starbucks, a Bible seminar. This is a, very religious city in Shabbat. The whole city is closed down. No cars in the streets. It's a, very. And people devoting their lives to God. And you see that if you are going according to God's law and you teach your children, you just need to teach your children God's law. What he gave us. God gave us a gift. The Bible is a gift that he gave us so we can live according to his word. And the moment we are living according to his word, no need for a police, station in the poorest city in a country that's.
>> Don Hawkins: That's really an amazing thing to think about. Here are people who are studying the Torah, studying the Bible, and they are teaching the Bible to their children, their sons, their daughters. And as a result, this is a community where all of the evil influences are not present. What you're saying is the word of God has a power to change people's lives. Do you have an extra car taking up valuable space in your driveway? Let encouragement live. Take it off your hands. It's easy, free, and best of all, tax deductible.
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Gil Ilatovich has created a tool to help people understand the Bible
That's his faithful stewards.com now you have put together a tool Gil, that is helping people develop an understanding of the Bible. and also to have something for family friendly entertainment and it's called Crossflix.com we've touched on it earlier in the program but tell us again a little bit more about all of the different features of crossflix.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Crossflix has hundreds of biblical and Christians, moving drama, documentary, everything. It's huge amount of movies. Also interactive Bible courses in revealing the secrets of the Hebrew Bible, Introduction to the New Testament, Jerusalem, the Eternal City that shows all the archaeological findings in Jerusalem that prove that the Bible is truth and others. So hundreds of hours of interactive Bible courses and social network and live media all in one platform.
>> Don Hawkins: Talk a little bit about your own personal journey of studies. you obviously had a background in studying and have not only studied the Hebrew Bible but give us a little bit of your educational background that led you to develop material that went into the the Museum of the Bible but also into Cross. Licks.
>> Gil Iljatovich: I have a company in Israel called Compedia and we were chosen by Museum of the Bible to develop many of the technologies for the museum and also a curriculum that reflects the museum perception of Teaching the narrative history and impact of the Bible. I worked with more than 100 scholars worldwide, which was called the Green Scholar Initiative.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And created encyclopedia about a mile Bible that it's covering from Genesis to Revelation. And it was for me, you know, as a Jew who walked on the New Testament, I realized that this is a Jewish book. You know, it's written by Jewish people.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah. Even the New Testament has a tremendous Jewish roots. Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes. Of course you can't understand the New Testament, fully understand the New Testament without understanding the Jewish root of Christianity.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah. So important to see that Jesus was Jewish. Jesus was raised in a Jewish home and he obviously went to the synagogue, was there on the Sabbath day and, and all of that and, and even when he began his ministry people recognized him as a rabbi. We have more coming up with Gil Ilatovich and especially about the hand of God on the nation Israel. God has done some amazing things in protecting this country. We want you to find out more about crossflix which he talked about Gill's company Compedia, developing a lot of the technologies, in fact virtually all of the technologies working with the Green Scholarship Initiative. And you can go to Crossflix.com and you'll be able to download Biblical studies there. You'll be able to download movies and videos. These are family friendly, right Gil?
>> Gil Iljatovich: Exactly. You know, you, every Christian can feel safe for him, for him children.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes, that's a wonderful thing. Again, that's Crossflix.com and our program is pre recorded in case you're wondering. We're not taking phone calls.
>> Gil Iljatovich: We are putting all the time new content on Crossflix. And beside the revealing the secrets of the Hebrew Bible and other content that we have, we want also to teach the parents according to biblical principle how to educate the kids, how to be close to them, how to raise them as a believer.
>> Don Hawkins: I think that's a powerful thing. And again that fits the mandate of Deuteronomy chapter 6 where we were told to teach our children. And, and as I recall there are actually two ways to teach. There's the formal when when you're seated and then when you're walking in the way. Talk about what the Hebrew text says there, how we can understand. It seems to me that that might be a place where understanding the Hebrew Bible might give us some insight that we don't have. For example from the English Bible.
>> Gil Iljatovich: First of all in ancient times they didn't had schools as we know today. Children were always study at home. And there is a, few ways to know God. One way is that, God revealed to you, which is very rare. You know, suddenly you see God. I didn't met in my life many people that saw God or any other vision.
>> Don Hawkins: There were people in the Old Testament, Elijah for example, and Abraham and, and others. And you know, those are amazing.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes. The other way is if you fasting for 40 days and then you can torture yourself, I don't know. And you get to the kingdom of God. But the, but the realistic way to know God is through His Word.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes.
>> Gil Iljatovich: That's why God gave us His Word, so we will know Him. That's the only reason God don't need from us anything. He don't need that we'll pray for Him. He don't need any favor from us. He is complete, he's perfect.
>> Don Hawkins: He doesn't even need our money, even though we want to be stewards of our money.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, but God really don't need from us anything. He just wanted that we will know Him. That's why he gave us His Word. So, but this is a journey that will take all our lives to know him through His Word. That's why the Jewish people teaching their children to read and write from three years old, because we know it's a long journey and they should start as soon as possible. And when you read, you can read the Bible thousand times and every time something new that you even didn't thought about, about coming up.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes. And you can not only read the Bible in those formal settings where you maybe have family Bible reading, family worship, and, and they were using it to teach their children to read and write. but then there are also times when maybe you're walking to the marketplace, for example, in Israel, or, or maybe visiting with a neighbor and you can talk about different things from the Bible and teach things during those settings as well. Correct.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Of course. and Israel, there is no separation between the religion and the country.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: It's one our holidays. National holidays are biblical holidays. When Shabbat is coming, you feel it all over the country. The Bible is part of our culture. I know that unfortunately here in America, Bible has not been taught in schools. In Israel, when my children in public school went to the second grade, there was a ceremony in the school where they got the Bible covered with a golden, paper. This was the first Bible they got. When they finished school, they got another Bible. When they went to the army and finished their basic training, there was a ceremony. They got a gun and a Bible and swear together with the gun and the Bible. So they will not know why they are using their God to protect God's land.
>> Don Hawkins: That's amazing to think about that.
Tell us some other secrets of the Hebrew Bible
And, and that brings me to something that I want us to talk about. more of the secrets of the Hebrew Bible. There's some things that we, Those of us who have studied the English Bible, for example, may not understand. you've already given us a couple of hints. You've taken us to the very beginning, the better sheet. And you've talked about how, God, God Bara, created from outside of everything. Tell us some other secrets of the Hebrew Bible.
>> Gil Iljatovich: The name of the first man that was born is Adam. Yeah, but it's not just his name. It's, actually, Adam means every human being Being a human being is Adam in Hebrew. And when you look at his name, it is Adam. You see that it's combined from few things. First of all, the word dam. Dam means blood. So human being has blood.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: In us. Ah. Then if you add, you say Adama, which Earth. It's also coming from the same word, Adam, Adama, which means earth. So a man or a woman, we have blood inside, but we came from the earth, and we will have no blood in our body. We'll go back to earth. All these in the world. Adam, which means human being.
>> Don Hawkins: It's amazing you packed so much insight into that one term.
Gil: There are two descriptions of creation with Eve in Genesis 3
Now talk about Eve. Is there anything we need to understand about Eve? She was called the mother of all living in Genesis 3.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Yes, she was the. Of course. it's interesting that, there is two description of creation with Eve. In the first, description, they are, together created. Men and women.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And both of them in the image of God.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: In the other description, first man was created, and then God put him into sleep, did surgery. Surgery. Of course, surgery. He needed to put him into sleep, slip and out of his ribs. Created the woman.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And they. The description of Adam M and Eve in this, description that they are, coming from the earth. So there is two. It's not two different, stories. It's one creation with two different aspects. In one aspect, we are in the image of God. In the other aspect, we are dust of the earth. And it's in each of us what it means. From one hand, we are dust of the earth because we have, fears. We don't know everything. We are, You, know, just 100 years ago, people were afraid from sneezing because this couldn't be the end.
>> Don Hawkins: Yes.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Or you know, people were not. Were afraid to go to a dark forest because maybe robbers will catch them or animals. But for the other hand, we are in the image of God. It means that we can create new things and we can invent, new things. As long as we have more of the image of God on ourselves, then we have less dust of death. Because the moment, the man invented penicillin, we are not worried anymore from sneezing. And when we have the light, the darkness gone away way so. But that's explaining as a woman and man, we are equal in the image of God.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: But from the physical side, as dust of death, we are different.
>> Don Hawkins: Yeah.
>> Gil Iljatovich: And all is wrapped in one creation.
>> Don Hawkins: The hand of God protecting Israel. Even with what happened October 7th enemies, surrounding Israel, God has protected his land, his people. And you have so much about that@crossflix.com Gil thank you so much for sharing your love of God's word, the Bible and telling us where we could learn so much more about it.
>> Gil Iljatovich: Thank you and shalom.
>> Don Hawkins: Shalom, my friend. Sam M.
