Giving God Your Yes with Chris Mitchell

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Welcome to A Word in Season with Doug Stringer and friends.

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We share good news and godly wisdom to empower you to be salt in light in every season of life.

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On this episode, Doug is joined by CBN Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell.

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Be encouraged and reminded that your yes to the Lord can take you on a journey without boundaries.

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We are reminded to keep our focus on the Lord and the power of having an intimate prayer life.

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With God, all things are possible.

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After the episode, consider leaving a review and follow us on your favorite streaming service.

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If you've gleaned anything from this podcast, consider paying it forward with a gift at somebodycares.org.

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Now let's join our host, Doug Stringer.

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Well, it's a special blessing today to have longtime friend Chris Mitchell with CBN News.

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And he's also the Executive Director of Jerusalem Dateline.

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It's a weekly program covering the Middle East.

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In 2015, the National Religious Broadcasters presented Jerusalem Dateline, the most creative programming award.

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He's also the author of Dateline Jerusalem, an eyewitness account of prophecies unfolding in the Middle East and destination Jerusalem.

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And so he's been able to communicate so many different facets.

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But I first met Chris Mitchell back in the 80s, I believe, when you were still operating out of Virginia Beach with CBN there.

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You were interviewing me for one of my testimonies, so we became friends ever since then.

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Two questions I learned from Michael J, the Christian comedian.

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First, he says, what do you do?

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And then he says, why do you do what you do?

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And obviously, it takes a special calling and a yes to God to be willing to go to the hotbed of the world and at a place that's constantly under tension.

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And yet God's heart is for Israel and to bless Israel as well.

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And right there from Jerusalem as you've been there for 25 years.

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How did you get involved in CBN and news reporting?

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And then how did you end up in Jerusalem and working in the Middle East for the last 25 years?

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First of all, Doug, it's great to be with you and I appreciate what you and Lisa do.

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And somebody cares ministry and the many manifold ways that you reach out with the gospel and with God's love.

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So great to be with you in terms of how I got to Israel and CBN.

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First of all, I was, let's see, exactly where do I start?

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I think I should start back in Potoske, Michigan.

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My wife is from Potoske.

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We got married in 1978.

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We lived in Boston for about a year and I'm from the Boston area originally.

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But after about a year, we felt the Lord lead us back to her hometown and we were involved in a church there that had just started a year or two before.

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We got there called Harbor Light Community Chapel.

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And we stayed in the Potoske, Michigan area for about six years.

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During that time, I was involved working in a factory called Potoske Manufacturing.

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It was a chrome plating factory.

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We did these small name plates for many car manufacturers.

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You know, in Michigan, that's the car capital of the States.

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And so they have many other industries that are related to the car industry and Potoske Manufacturing was one of them.

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I also worked in a place called Circuit Control.

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That was another sort of a spin off of the car industry.

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And again, we, we manufactured by the thousands or hundreds of thousands,

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the little terminals for cars and motorcycles.

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But there was a kind of, I would describe a holy dissatisfaction while I was there and I felt, well, the Lord had something else for us for our career.

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And I was really a follower of Pat Robertson at the time.

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I loved what he did is commentary, his analysis from a Christian and a prophetic perspective.

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So I applied to CBN for work and at the time they had a hiring freeze on.

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So then I thought, well, maybe I'll go to the new university with CBN University at the time.

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Now it's called Regent University.

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So I applied there and got accepted.

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And then 1985, my wife, Liz and our two and a half year old son, Philip at the time, we drove a U-Haul all the way from, from Michigan to Virginia Beach.

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And we enrolled in a degree in communication.

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And after three years, I graduated in 1988.

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And while I was, you know, going through school, I was working at UPS as a preloader earlier in the morning.

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Liz was working in a local hospital.

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And I got an MA in communication.

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She got what's called a P-H-T, putting hubby through.

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So she helped get me through school, graduated 1988.

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And then for a year, Doug, I was working as still as a preloader.

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So I get to work at five in the morning, get out around eight or eight thirty loading these UPS package cars that people see all over.

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And then I was a maintenance man.

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So I did that for about a year.

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So I remember one time looking up into the heavens at night and saying, Lord, what did I do?

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I came down here to get a degree in communication.

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And here I am working as a maintenance man and as a preloader, which was fine.

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And I was supporting my family, but I felt Lord, the Lord had other things for me.

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One night I was going to Kmart and I met a friend of mine who said they were hiring in the features and testimonies department.

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So I applied, I got a position as a researcher in the testimonies and features department.

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And that's probably how we met doing your testimony.

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I was a researcher.

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A few months later, I became a producer.

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So I would travel around the country and doing testimonies with stories like yours and others.

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About two years later, I got a job in the news department.

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And about four years after that, I was my first visit to Israel was in 1996.

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And at that time I fell in love with the land, the people.

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And I felt like the Lord was this proud landowner showing me His land.

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My one regret was at Liz and my three children by then, Philip, who was probably 14 at that time.

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And then Kathleen and Grace, they weren't with me.

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And you can tell stories, show videos and pictures, but it's not the same as actually being there.

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1997, for the second time I came to Israel, I went to a message by Derek Prince, a well-known Bible teacher at the time.

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And he shared a story during his message and he said that in 1948, he was getting out of the British Army

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and he was explaining to a Jewish elderly woman that he wanted to live in Jerusalem.

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And she said to him, well, Derek, you don't choose Jerusalem.

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Jerusalem chooses you.

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And when he said that, it really pierced my heart.

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And I thought, Lord, are you choosing us for Jerusalem?

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Well, 1998, the next time I came for the third time on an assignment with CBN.

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Just before I did, my boss put out an email asking for volunteers to start a news bureau in Jerusalem

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and literally pushed myself away from the computer screen and knowing that any calling to Jerusalem was not to be taken lightly.

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But we prayed about it. My wife and I fasted about it.

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And one of the things I did at the time in 1998 was to pray while I was there in Israel to put our children, Philip, Kathleen and Grace,

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on a spiritual altar just like Abraham did in a physical sense with Isaac.

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And as I prayed that through, which is a very, very difficult thing to do, but with the help of Holy Spirit, I was able to do that.

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And then I just felt a fierce love for them, so much greater than myself.

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I certainly knew that mentally, intellectually, but now I could sense that spiritually to some degree.

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And so then in 1999, we thought we were going to come to Israel, but because of budget reasons, they delayed it.

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And then in May of 2000, your friend in mind, Michael Little, the president of CBN at the time,

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met me at the third floor, the main headquarters building and said, get ready to go to Israel.

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So we made plans. We arrived in August of 2000.

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And then what's called the second it to Fata began five weeks later at the end of September.

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That was a three to four year period of suicide bombings, terror attacks.

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One of the worst times in Israel's modern history where they were terror attacks near home, school and work.

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And yet I believe that time of prayer back in 1998, where we sort of gave Philip Kathleen and Grace to the Lord, protected them and us.

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And you know, as a parent, it's one thing to put yourself and your spouse in harm's way.

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You can agree that this is where you should be, but it's another thing to put your children in harm's way.

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But he protected them, protected us.

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That was the beginning of our experience there in the land.

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And as you said, you know, we have reported on many, many things since 2000.

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Here we're coming up on 25 years there.

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And it's really been a blessing, a privilege to be able to share what's happening in the land and trying to help interpret it much the same way as we hope.

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It says in the book of Chronicles that the sons of Izakar understood the times and they knew what Israel should do.

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So that's kind of the prism that we pray about and we hope that we can interpret the many signs and the times and the many sometimes complicated things in the Middle East to people that would watch Jerusalem Date Line or the 700 Club or the different social media platforms.

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You said something so profound of what that woman told you.

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You don't choose Jerusalem. Jerusalem chooses you.

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And then you said giving your children to the Lord in a practical way, but also how Abraham offered Isaac.

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The point of first reference, first time the word worship as ever mentioned in scripture is not in the context of singing or instruments.

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It's in the context of obedience to God.

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And in fact, it's when Abraham offered Isaac.

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That was an act of worship.

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In many ways, what you have done is an act of worship offering your life and your calling, being called by God, being called by Jerusalem to be there and to report from there around the world.

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And do you see what you do as a form of just offering yourself as a living worshiper to the Lord and through that God's able to filter through that and share his heart through the things he gives you to share to the rest of us.

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Well, that's a great way of looking at it, Doug, you know, as active worship.

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We do. And when I say we, I'm talking about the Jerusalem Bureau, the wonderful team that we have there.

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I believe we do feel like we have all been called to Jerusalem for such a time as this.

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And what we do is it kind of like an active worship, you know, offering ourselves as a holy sacrifice unto the Lord, as it says in Hebrews.

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And so, and we want to be able to walk worthy of that calling and we take it seriously.

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We also begin our days in prayer and pray throughout the day, you know, so that we can be doing the things that he wants us to do, the stories he wants us to report on, making connections with the people that he wants us to.

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And but but I hadn't quite thought of it the way you expressed it there, but I think that's a wonderful way of looking at it as literally as an act of worship, putting our lives, our bodies on on the altar to do what he's called us to do at this moment in history and prophecy.

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It's interesting you brought up the Intifada in 2000 because that's where we actually connected again after you left here because I was there for the All Nations Convocation as part of the Council of Elders.

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And we were there when that Intifada began and to think that you've been there since then, 25 years.

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That's amazing what God has done and how God continues to use you for the rest of us because it's like we get a piece of understanding the dynamic of what's happening there through you and your team in the Bureau there in the Middle East that we're able to get real time information from you on a regular basis,

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how to pray, how to intercede and to get a perspective we're not going to get from a lot of worldly news. We get the perspective through God's Word and through God's people that helps us to get a better understanding what's happening there.

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Yeah, you know, before I came to God, there was somebody who said that that you'll be able to report on so that we can pray.

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And I think in a very real way, that's something that we can offer to the body around the world to help understand what critical things are happening to the Jewish people, to the state of Israel, to the many peoples in the Middle East, and so they can pray.

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And I love intercessors, I love the prayer movement. If I wasn't doing what I did, I think I'd just be part of a prayer ministry, but I think we can serve the prayer ministries around the world so they can know how to pray with insight during these days.

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And you have a great advantage. You're actually being on site for insight to help us to know how to intercede. And like the tongue of a ready writer that Scripture talks about, you're able to take those things and share it for the rest of us to know how to be interceding in real time.

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I want to step back just for a moment.

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You obviously had some Christian background or something that would cause you to want to draw close to the Lord and to walk in obedience. But what was your epiphany with God? How did you come to that place of understanding the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection that you're able to do what you do now?

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And secondly, maybe intertwine somewhere, we all go through unexpected challenges and detours. You know, people see what you do and see how successful you are, but all of us have gone through challenges in the midst of our serving the Lord and loving people.

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Tell us a little bit about your faith journey and also have there been times where you just felt like everything was caving in and you had to hold on to the horns of the altar to be able to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus?

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Yeah, well, first of all, I can share about my faith journey, which I was raised in a Roman Catholic Irish family.

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When I was in the fourth grade through eighth grade, I went to Our Lady Ascension School and high school, I went to St. Mary's High School in Lynn, Massachusetts.

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So I was an altar boy, a choir boy. So at the very beginning of my life, I had, I believe, a sanctified upbringing. And yet there were times when I didn't, in fact, my late teen years, and I would say from 16 to 24 were critical years.

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I described them starting at Dunkin Donuts and ending at McDonald's. And I'll explain that. So I was 16 years old. And my sister and I, I think she must have had a car, she's two years older than I am.

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So she probably had her license and instead of going to Mass at Our Lady's, right up the street on Route 1 in Saugus Mass, we went to Dunkin Donuts.

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And I remember standing there, probably going to order a Boston cream donut, thinking, well, this is a big deal. We're skipping Mass. We're just, you know, hanging out at Dunkin Donuts.

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And that was sort of a demarcation spiritually to me. So for the next eight years, it was sort of a spiritual search, a quest for me.

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I wanted to ask questions or answer the questions to who am I, why do I belong here, what am I doing, what's my life all about, what happens when you die was a big question at that time.

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During those eight years from 16 to 24, I did have an uncle. His name was George. He was Armenian. And he was a wonderful man and he really befriended me.

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I asked him one time, George, what makes you so different? Why are you so happy? And he said it was this relationship with Jesus. And that really drew me to him.

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But also I was living in the world at the time and I didn't want to give up the world and yet I was attracted to George and his faith.

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But then about 24, I had moved from Boston, Massachusetts down to Washington. I had served on the President Ford committee reelection committee, not because I was Republican, but because I was just wanted something to do.

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My cousin was a friend of the Ford family. I grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. As I was asking him, what does it mean to be born again? How do you invite Jesus in your heart?

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I had also read the book by Chuck Colson at that time called Born Again. So I was real drawn to faith in the Lord.

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And so we spent about two hours over that lunch and asking those questions. As I left, I remember the music from Jesus Christ Superstar on the intercom.

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It meant something to me and I was living on Capitol Hill with some people at the time on D Street from the time of McDonald's to D Street.

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Something happened there and that was in epiphany in my life where I just felt that Jesus saw the cry of my heart and God came into my heart.

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And all of a sudden, it wasn't a religion. It was a relationship. And by the time I got the D Street, I was a new person.

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For the first time in maybe eight years, I wanted to go to church and I went to attend a church that Sunday with Dennis.

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And from then I get part of the church and then from there I met somebody in a ministry in Washington.

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It's where I met my wife Liz, where I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. And so that was the beginning of my journey.

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So to your question, why do I do what I do? I do it because I feel like God's called me there. And that had been confirmed.

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I feel over and over through prayer and different signs that God gave me. And I just want to be obedient to him.

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And it was simply saying yes. And I think our relationship with the Lord can almost be boiled down to yes.

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Just, Lord, what do you want me to do? And if you know what he wants to do, if it's clear, what his direction is, just say yes.

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And I think that was what happened in calling to Israel. There was an opportunity. We felt the calling of God in our heart.

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We felt that urge and that unction from Holy Spirit. And we simply said yes. And it wasn't easy to take your wife and three children to a different country,

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much less a country that five weeks after we got there, you know, literally started blowing up near home, school and work.

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And yet during that crucible, we, meaning my wife and I didn't have a conversation to say, well, do we go back? Did we miss it?

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Is it too dangerous for us or our children? We just never had that conversation. We just felt like God called us and he would watch over us.

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And it was sort of like living out Psalm 91 that he dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

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So that is why we've been here in our 25th year and just keep saying yes. The calling hasn't lifted.

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We still feel called. Now we're in a different season. Now we have grandchildren. So my wife spends a bit more time here in the states than Israel.

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And but to your next question about challenges. Yeah, it's very challenging and sometimes people may see the outward work or being on camera or being on a doing interviews or stories.

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And yet there are times when it's just very difficult, it's discouraging.

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And you just have to say, get up that day and plod through it sometimes. So it can be very, very difficult. I'm trying to think of any particular example, but I just feel that there are times when you feel maybe the weight of opposition, the weight of disappointment.

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And you just have to say, we're going to plod through, we're going to keep going, we're going to keep going. I'm just what Paul did not compare myself to Paul, but he told us to keep going and they went through so many obstacles in his his faith journey and the missionary trips that he took.

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So I would just encourage people if they're discouraged, if they feel like they want to give up, just continue to go the next step the next day the next morning.

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Keep going. Because, you know, he said, forgetting those things which lie behind and pressing forward to the high mark of God and Christ Jesus, you know, we have a destination.

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And it's with him forever and ever. We can look forward to rewards and crowns. And so, you know, Paul was so great at encouraging us to what lies ahead, and not to look what lies behind or the obstacles that we may be facing in this present time.

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We began this interview, you actually talked about your sense to go to Regent University or CBN University became Regent University. And here you went thinking you're going to go there to look for a job that was no job open.

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And that can become very disappointing. And then you graduated after three years with your MA in communications. And you began to wonder, okay, God, what am I doing here? Why did I come here?

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A lot of people allow disappointments or discouragements to keep them from their destination. Keeping your eyes fixed on the purposes of God beyond what we see. Discouragement can be like a powerful drug.

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What would you say to others about keeping their focus and perspective on where they want to go versus what they're going through?

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One of the things I would say would be, pour out your heart to the Lord. I remember there was one night and it was at CBN housing. We lived in an apartment there just outside the campus. There was a ring road there where people would play volleyball or play different sports.

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Well, I went there probably around seven or eight in the evening and I just poured my heart out to the Lord. It really was cathartic. And it wasn't too long after that, there was a breakthrough.

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So first of all, I would say just pour your heart out to God. And if you know that he has a calling in your life and he has a destination for you and you know it's the Lord, don't give up. Just keep going through the disappointment, through the discouragement, through any obstacles.

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And also I would say have people with you that can pray with you and get you through this, whether it's your spouse or a close friend, a pastor, you know, we don't do this on our own.

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So we do need help. We need prayer partners. We do need encouragement, especially during these trying times. At all times, I think that should be part of our life, part of our Christian life, but have people stand beside you, encourage you.

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I can remember when we graduated, one of the things we had as well, we had this small group of prayer partners that had just graduated and all of us didn't know exactly where we were going to go.

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During that prayer time, one of the people there, and it was just maybe five of us, had a vision for me. And if you remember the old RKO radio, they had a picture of a globe with a antenna on it with a

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sort of like these lightning bolts coming out it. And she said, that's for you. That was a long time ago. And here we are maybe 35, 36 years after graduation and 25 after being in Israel.

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And the Lord has us in a place where we are literally broadcasting to different nations. And I didn't see that 36 years ago. You know, that was an encouragement.

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And I think some of these prophetic words are things that we can hold on to. So I would say, you know, pour your heart out to the Lord, make sure you have people that can stand with you and pray with you and just have maybe these prophetic words that can help get you through these times of disappointment and discouragement.

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I consider you a very prolific broadcaster, communicator, author, and yet knowing you all these years and watching you, how you interface, you're interviewing and meeting with people, heads of state, people that many people would never even get to be around.

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But yet God's given you access to accelerate the communication that he's given you for the rest of us. One thing I've noticed about you is that your consistency, your graciousness, even through the most difficult of times, but also your extreme reverence for God and your humility.

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I'm reminded of the proverb that says, by humility and the fear of the Lord, we are given stewardship of riches, honor, and life. And really, you've epitomized that. You've really walked in consistency of your faith through every challenge.

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And you've also been a man of humility, even though God's taken you to some incredible places and allowed you to see and meet different people. And yet you continue to be very gracious to everyone.

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And I just appreciate that and I'm honored to call you friend. Tell us a little bit about some of your books and some of the projects you're working on now, even as you're doing some video series and stuff that you're working on, how we can find out more about what you're doing and some of the things and why you wrote those books and what they're about.

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Well, that's very kind, Doug, about sharing what we've done over the years. One thing I've felt about humility is it says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time.

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Well, I literally say that for anybody want to listen, this works for me. I just say, Lord, I humble myself before you. I can't do anything without you. And that's so true. And I have people praying for me like you and Lisa.

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That is another, I think, important, vital thing is to have people praying for you on a regular basis. Before we came to Israel, Liz and I knew that would be probably our most important asset would be people interceding for us.

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And it makes the difference. I mean, capital letters, T, H, E, the difference in our lives. And you can see God answering prayers through daily circumstances. You may ask for favor, open doors, anointing.

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And God is so consistent and so faithful to answer prayers like that. So thank you. And I hope that's an encouragement to others.

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To just to get before the Lord and just humble yourself. We need him and we haven't arrived and we won't arrive until we see him face to face. And even then, I'm sure we're probably growing in his grace throughout the ages.

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Well, to the work I'm doing, I first wrote, Dateline Jerusalem in 2013. It was just a compilation of all the experiences we've had through those times.

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And sort of an eyewitness account of prophecies unfolding. That's sort of the subtitle. It's been a privilege just to be able to see and report on the front lines of Israel's history, which is not only history of the Jewish people, but it's history of prophecy unfolding before our eyes to see the

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Jewish people return to the land to see the nations of the world increasingly turn to Jerusalem, like the prophet Zechariah said. I wrote two books after that called ISIS, Iran and Israel.

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Also another one, another one you mentioned, Destination Jerusalem. Those actually focused more on what's happening with Christians and persecution throughout the Middle East.

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And also the rise of radical Islam. And what I'm working on now is a year in the making has been a video series on the land of Israel starting in Caesarea, the Megiddo to the Sea of Galilee to Masada to

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the Mount of Olos, the city of David and Jerusalem. It'll come out later this year, hopefully, we're still praying about how exactly it will be released. But I'm really excited about it and I've shown you and Lisa the trailer and I think it'll be a journey through the land of

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Israel for different people. First of all, people that may not be able to come financially or maybe physical limitations for people that are preparing to come that would give them a taste of what they're going to see or people that have already visited

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Israel and help stir the memories of what an impact, you know, coming to the to the land of Israel can have on people. My wife, Liz, likes to say that before you come to Israel, reading the Bible is like reading it in black and white but after you come it's like

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reading it in color. And it really does make an impact when you can come to see firsthand the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Olives, the Sea of Galilee. These are real places. And that's exactly where all these events in the New Testament and the Old Testament

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take place. And it really is just a wonderful demarcation in your faith, like a plumb line to actually draw closer to the Lord, closer and deeper into the Word as well. So that's one of the projects I'm working on and we're continuing to do our Jerusalem

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Date Line twice a week and tell other stories on whether it's the 700 Club or different platforms through CBN News. And you also have a podcast on Pray.com, I believe. Yeah, Pray.com that you are going to be on this week.

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Oh, wow. Pray.com slash Chris Mitchell, all one word. And that's been a blessing in the last almost year, just a one other opportunity to share with people like yourself, Doug, that really have an experience that they can share about prayer, about their ministry.

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I find it a wonderful format, just like we're doing talking here. And it's really a wonderful, I think, way to help bless the body and draw them closer to the Lord.

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Well, just on another note, I still have this Cup CBN News Jerusalem from 2012. Wow.

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I've been here quite a few times, but this is from 2012. We were actually doing quite a bit all day, one day together and then also over at your offices. And on one side it says Isaiah 6 6 set Watchman on your walls on Jerusalem.

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Amen. And that is something I reminded of every day when I drink my coffee.

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That's great. But also to pray for Jerusalem and bless Israel. How can people get your books? How can they follow you and some of the material that you put out on a regular basis and any final thoughts you have? And what would you say to other leaders in their walk and their journey, especially in the times we're living right now?

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Well, first of all, they can watch Jerusalem DateLine on JerusalemDateLine.com. It's on our CBN News YouTube channel. It's on JerusalemDateLine.com on the CBN News channel.

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You can watch that twice a week. We do stories for the 700 Club almost every day since October 7th and that's 700Club.com or CBN.com.

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And also Jerusalem DateLine on Facebook, YouTube and different social media like Instagram and Telegram as well. So you can see those.

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The books DateLine Jerusalem, you can go on Amazon or ISIS Iran and Israel and Destination Jerusalem. You can get them on Amazon.

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And final thoughts, a friend of mine, his name is Ken Larson. His encouragement to leaders is to finish strong.

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And I think he cites many examples in the Bible of many leaders that didn't finish well and didn't finish strong.

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I would just encourage others, leaders or not, that just try to finish strong. And I think the one thing to keep in mind is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

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And we have a goal and a destination. And he is the one who can keep us from stumbling.

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He is the one that can get us through these obstacles, challenges, disappointments, discouragement and keep close to Holy Spirit.

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Foster this relationship with Holy Spirit moment by moment. Keep praying, keep asking.

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Invite him into every detail of your life. Even the very small things. Lord, what do I do here or there? Just befriend him.

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Because he is our friend. He is our paraclete, our comforter. He stands beside us. I think that would be my encouragement as well as staying in the Word every day.

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Staying in the Word and using that as our lamp, as our guide, as it says in Psalm 119, a lamp under our feet. Those would be my encouragement.

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And to make sure you have brothers or sisters, depending on your gender, to stand beside you, to pray with you, to encourage you, because we need each other during these, especially during these perilous times.

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Also, be encouraged because we are privileged to live at an extraordinary time in history and prophecy.

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We see the signs of the time. God has called each and every one of us for such a time as this. He has a purpose for each and every one of us.

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So make sure you find that purpose and fulfill it. So when our journey is over, when he takes us home or comes here and joins us, that he can say, well done, good and faithful servants, enter into the joy of your Lord.

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You know, that was powerful. In fact, would you pray for those who'd be watching or listening, that it would actually minister to them?

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Father, we just thank you that you have called each and every one of us. It's listening right now. To be on the earth for such a time as this.

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We have a heavenly calling. We have a purpose that you said that even before the foundation of the world, we had good works that we would walk in them.

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So we pray, Father, that we could walk in those good works, that we could finish the race, and that we could live our lives in such a way, walking worthy of the Lord, worthy of our calling, so that when we see you face to face, you can say to us, well done, good and faithful servants.

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Lord, I pray for those that may need prayer partners, but may need people to come alongside, whether it's a pastor, a friend, a spouse, they can just make sure that they walk together and they can walk through challenges, obstacles,

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disappointments, and discouragement to help fulfill your purpose and your plan. And Father, I pray as well that they could foster this wonderful relationship with Holy Spirit, who was sent to be a comforter, to be a paraclete, meaning stand beside us, to be a guide,

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and lead us into all the truth, as you say in your word. So I pray that they would foster that wonderful relationship, because Holy Spirit is amazing.

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And Lord, we pray as well that you would help us all be encouraged by your word, that your word would be a lamp under our feet, and so we can look to your word for strength, for encouragement, for guidance, and for edification in Jesus' name.

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So I just pray for each and every one. Thank you for Doug and Lisa and what they do, and their many platforms to bless physically, logistically, and so many practical ways, and also be a spiritual blessing to so many.

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And so we give you the praise and the glory, Father, and for what you've done and doing in all of our lives. Lord, I also pray for any financial challenges, for any health challenges that you would bring healing, provision, restoration.

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Lord, if there's healing, there's relationships that need to be healed, we pray for those healing of relationships as well. And we ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Well, everyone who's watching or listening, I would gather you have come to see that Chris Mitchell is full of not just information and knowledge, but he is one who has lived in the Lord.

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And Chris brings a biblical and prophetic perspective to what we see on the daily news. He actually gives life to it. He has a history, a track record, a proveness. He's a voice you can trust.

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And so I want to encourage you to read his books, follow him, and to go to Jerusalem Dateline as well. And just to hear the news from God's perspective through one who has surrendered himself to the Lord in his family and all the team that he has there at the CBN Middle East Bureau, as Chris is the Bureau Chief.

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And I've seen you in bulletproof vests. I've seen you in helmets. I've seen you at every day. I love seeing you in palaces of kings, literally in presidents. And yet you've been consistent to be an ambassador for Christ. So thank you, Chris, and thank you for being with us today.

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Great to be with you, Doug. Thanks so much.