The Middle East Report brings you truthful reporting on Israel and the Middle East
John Riley: Welcome
John Riley: Welcome to the Middle East Report. Your connection to Israel and the Middle east where we bring you truthful reporting on what's happening there in the land. Because there is a lot of deception that's happening, in the news in regards to Israel and the Middle East. And of course we love connecting you to the people, the places and the land of Israel. And today we're going to do that. We are going to connect you to the land of Israel in a very, very unique way. I've got a good friend with me, David Kiern he is an award winning movie director and writer. David Kiern has written and directed, documentaries all over the world like South Africa, India, Israel, Cuba. He has such a great passion just to do these cinematic stories about the miraculous things that God is doing on the earth and in our time. And of course this guy is a dear friend and he has an incredible heart for Israel. And I wanted to get him here on the Middle East Report to talk about these beautiful productions, these I Am Israel productions that he has been creating, award winning productions. I Am Israel, the first one and then now the sequel to that film, I Am the Mountain of the King. We are just so happy to have you here on the Middle East Report. David.
David Kiern: Jon, thank you so much for having me on. Everybody loves all your shows, man, so it's super cool to be on your show, David.
David Kiern has been making documentaries about Israel for quite a while
John Riley: We love what you do, and your love for the land of Israel. You are an incredible writer, an incredible producer. You put together all these beautiful documentaries and these movies that are just so inspiring to everybody. And so you've been, you know, doing that for quite a while. And we mentioned how you've been, you know, making these films around the world. But your attention really is focused on Israel right now. Tell us about that focus on Israel and what you've been doing with this beautiful thing called I Am Israel.
David Kiern: When I was young, growing up as a believer in a great Christian family, Israel was, something that we appreciated, wasn't something that we thought about a whole lot, wasn't something that we talked about a whole lot. But we always had a soft spot in our hearts as a family for Israel. And the Jews always believed that God had chosen Israel and the Jewish people for a special purpose. But it wasn't just growing up as a child, it wasn't something that we really thought about so much. I grew up as an artist, went out and wanted to do adventure style storytelling about what God is doing on the earth in these exciting locations. My wife and I shares that passion she shares the passion that I have to go tell stories about what God's doing, throughout the earth. So we'd done films in Mount Everest and India and a variety of other places. And I just wrapped up a film in Africa, in South Africa. And a friend of mine who's now a, Walmart executive, Lance, Lance McAlendon, he said, David, so he just finished up this other film and he said immediately, david, God told me to go to Israel and to take you with me. So m. Me being a huge Indiana Jones fan, me being a huge Lawrence of Arabia fan, I was like, absolutely, let's do it. Not knowing this is going to change my life. Not knowing at all this is going to change my life. Went, over there and toured around for 10 days with Lance and with, Tommy Waller from Hayevel and the Israel guys. And we toured, we saw the special places in the land, but really it was going to meet the Jewish people for lunch and for dinner and for coffee and just spending time and asking them, letting them talk, and just as a, as a writer, as a director, just being totally available to say, what is God doing here? And is there anything I can be a part of, anything I could be a part of? And it was during that trip I started to understand about Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. And it was during that trip that I sort of understood that much of the world, the non believing world, believes that Jews have no right in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even the Golan Heights. And so the idea on that trip, at the very end of that trip, after we'd spent time in the Galilee and seen and touched the places that Jesus actually walked. It was this, creative spiritual day, I guess. And it was on that particular day after we'd left the Sea of Galilee, that the idea sort of got zapped into my head of if we made a film called I Am Israel and the people in this movie could stand in the very places where all of the Bible stories happened, that the world says, that's not even part of Israel, that's another place, not Israel. If they stood in these vineyards and in these places where the Bible happened and they said their name and they said, I am Israel, would that be an angle? Would that be a way to tell the
David Kiern: story of what God is doing? The rebirth of the land, the return of the Jewish people, the in gathering of the exiles, and also the spiritual awakening that's happening amongst the Jewish people as they're becoming more and more and more and more and more God Focused really in our generation, in the previous generation, if we had this sort of angle, this I am Israel angle, we could do so much stuff in terms of storytelling. And so that's what we set out to do.
You went to Israel and created a beautiful film called I Am Israel
John Riley: It changed your life when you went to Israel. And as you said, you set out to do that and create this beautiful film called I Am Israel, which is the very first film. So a quick synopsis of that, and we want to get to this second film, the sequel to I Am Israel. But it changed your life when you went to Israel and then, boom, you created this beautiful film.
David Kiern: It changed my life in so many ways and in my wife's life as well. In fact, I think, you know, we have three beautiful sons and we had those children, and we were excited to have those children after we had these experiences in Israel. And I think in terms of connecting with the land and the people and then connecting with the things that God loves and he sends those blessings to you, I think it was all connected. But what happened was the idea for the first movie was to show in a fun way, exciting way, beautiful way, emotional way, and visually beautiful way, so that somebody could watch the first movie and understand the biblical significance and the beauty of the land and the people for the first time especially. It's really made for a believing audience, a, Christian audience. People that are followers of Jesus. And maybe, I know now everybody thinks about Israel all the time, but a couple of years ago, it wasn't really a thing. People want a lot of churches and stuff. They didn't really think about Israel a whole lot. It's different now. In the beginning, it was like, is there something that we can make where somebody has been reading the Bible their whole life and they could just sit down and watch this movie and really connect with their heart to the place of God, this place, you know, it's called the Holy Land. Not because it's, without blemish. It's called the Holy Land because it's set apart. It's set apart from everything else. So the Temple Mount is holy because it's set apart from. From the rest of the place. Jerusalem is set apart. So Jerusalem is called holy because it's set apart. And the land of Israel, the whole world belongs to the Lord. But there's one place that's set apart. Doesn't mean it's without blemish, but it means it's set apart. It's special. So believers, followers of Jesus, we can connect to that set apartness, that specialness of the land of Israel. So the first movie, we talk about the rebirth of the land, what's happened over the last hundred or so years. We talk about how the Jewish people have been returning home, just like the Bible foretold, just like Deuteronomy, some of the earliest books of the Bible, before they'd even gone into the promised land. God says, this is what's going to happen. But when that happens, I will call you back home. So the prophecies from Deuteronomy are unfolding in our generation. And so we tell all these beautiful stories about the real people, but it's really meant to strengthen the faith of the follower of Jesus, to connect them to the land which strengthens their. When their strength is. When their faith is strengthened, their family falls. After that, the family faith is strengthened as well.
John Riley: And I will tell you that if you see I Am, Israel, the first film in the series, it is so beautiful. The scenery is stunning. The interviews are amazing. You are going to get such a grasp on the land and the people of Israel when you see this very first film. But there is a sequel. The sequel is out, and it is I am the Mountain of the King. So what mountain are we talking about here? And we want to dive into this film, this sequel, because I watched this personally and I was just blown away by how beautiful, how gorgeous the scenery was, and the stories that you weaved into this film, it's just. It's incredible.
David Kiern: Thank you, Jon. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The second movie is all about the Temple Mount, but it's not what you think
The second movie, if the first movie is controversial because we talk about Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and elevate the Jewish people, I mean, the second movie is just nuts. So the second movie is all about the Temple Mount, but it's not what you would think. First of all, there is no such thing as actually a Temple Mount movie. Nobody's made a movie about the Temple Mount. And so the question is, okay, if you're going to do that, why would you do it? And what would it even be? What would like, visually, what's the storyline? What happened was we finished the first movie and a lot of people said, oh, what's the next one? What are you gonna do? And as an artist, you know, a lot of times artists don't wanna just repeat themselves with different locations, different characters. We wanna do something new. And it came about by just trying to tap into
God is on the move. What is he doing right now? Where's the heart of God? There's so many stories of Jesus on the Temple Mount. So many. Everybody knows the story of the widow's mite. And that's a Temple Mount story. There's so many things that we go through the entire Bible. Did you know that Paul got his commission to go to the Gentiles on the Temple Mount?
John Riley: You know, that's something I didn't realize.
David Kiern: The vision that he had when he went into a certain state and he was worshiping God on Mount Zion on. On the Temple Mount. So it's not just like a Jewish thing, by the way. Even if it was a Jewish thing, there's nothing wrong with that. Like, people say, oh, that's just a Jewish thing. Cool, that's not a problem. But the Temple Mount is something that is so intertwined in terms of the Christian faith, the followers of Jesus, most of us now believe, most scholars believe that the Holy Spirit, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was not in a little tiny room, but it was on the Temple Mount itself. And all the people that were speaking in different languages and different things, that was on the Temple Mount, the pouring out of in acts. So it's just. It's just so connected to our worldview, our faith. But we don't really talk about it so much. And when we look at the Temple Mount, we say, like, oh, you know, it's. It's not like it once was, and like, we don't really know how to perceive it. But biblically, if you look at what the Temple Mount is, Mount Zion is. It's all about a place of worship. It's all about a place of prayer. It's all about celebrating the feasts of the Lord at this one place. And why is that significant? Because all of Israel would come together. Can you imagine, you know, events during the course of an entire year where all the believers would actually come together and worship God together? That was the Temple Mount. It was also a place of dedication, dedicating your heart to God. It was a place of rededication, where if you had fallen short, you could go back and rededicate. You know, Jesus tells the story about the tax collector that would stand in the back of the Temple Mount and beat his chest, and he was sort of honoring this guy. So that's sort of just a setup. It's so much a part. If we could worship God anywhere, this would be the place. This would be the place. So I said, okay, if we can make a movie about what this represents, not about conflict, but not about any kind of violence. It's not. Even. If you watch the movie, you wouldn't even know that there's conflict. What can we do in order to make a movie about God's heart and God's design for this place. So the idea came if we had an adventure movie that followed the path of the glory of God from the Sinai wilderness and the deserts and followed that path of the glory of God, Ark of the Covenant, the trail that it made from the desert up through the Jordan River, Joshua's altar, down through Shiloh, down through when it was captured by the Philistines, up to Jerusalem, the city of David. And then finally where the glory of God came to the final resting place, the Temple Mount. And so we have this exciting storyline with jeeps and horses and helicopters and underground caves and we track where the Ark was. And through that we're able to have a lot of exciting things for children, a lot of exciting things for young adults where there's a lot of action, there's a lot of emotion and we can tell this story and intercut with those stories. We have Jewish people featured in the movie just like the first. I am Israel, where we tell their stories and I can go into that if you'd like, but we tell their stories about how their heart is really just pointed towards this place of worship.
John Riley: You have some very interesting characters that ah, are following this journey that you're talking about. Who are these? I think there's three characters in the film that you use to kind of follow this journey.
David Kiern: The leader of our expedition is ah, a man named Daron Kedar. And this is a documentary. So all of these, I'll tell who they are, but these are the actual people in real life. So it's not scripted, it's not fake. But Derone is a real IDF big shot. He's been very active for the last number of years in defending Israel, defending his family, defending the Jewish people of Israel through these things that have happened. but in our expedition story, ah, Daron leads this expedition to all these places and Joshua Waller from the Israel guys is part of the expedition and he's from the United States and then Jon Anderson is from Europe and he's a believer and he is also sort of like the scholar on the team and so he's part of the expedition and so there's a great dynamic. Everybody's very different and so the dialogue and what they also experience on a personal level is also different because they come from different places. Now our Jewish characters are also that we intercut through the movie. Very unique, very interesting people.
One of the elements of Mount Zion is music
One of the things, one of the elements of Mount Zion is music. Music is so important to God and in the church.
So many of the influences that we have in terms of praise and worship, and our lyrics come straight from the psalms. And so many of those psalms were recited every single day on the Temple Mount. And of course, many of your listeners know that God had his own worship team, and it was called the Levites. Amazing people that were raised up just to lead the people of Israel and any of the people from the nations that would come to lead them in prayer, lead them in worship. And so I really desperately wanted to find a man who was a Levite, who is a musician, who also had a heart to worship God on the Temple Mount. And everybody said, that's going to be hard in our day and age. Like, and it was the easiest thing in the world. Like, it took, like, a day to find Yair Levi, who is in the movie, and he performs a song that we believe the melody comes directly from King David's melody. and he performs that song on the southern steps leading up until the Temple Mount. Because still, it's still, you know, for Christians, for Jews to sing, to worship God, to pray on the Temple Mount. it's either illegal or it's touch and go. Like, you can definitely get arrested. So we have Yair with his fantastic son, who's about maybe nine or so in the movie. They sit and they perform this beautiful melody of King David. We have another family that we follow to Jerusalem during Passover. And I wanted to show a large Jewish family that ascends to Jerusalem and celebrates the Passover and participates in the priestly blessing at the Temple Mount. and one more thing. Our narrator is back, Jon Rhys Davies from the Lord of the Rings and the Indiana Jones movies. and I thought of Jon in this particular story, because when the priestly blessing comes, it comes first in Hebrew from the Western Wallnua. So you hear it recited in Hebrew and you see all the families around in there, and they're blessing, they're getting blessed, but they're also. A lot of the men are holding their sons on their head, touching their heads in order to also. As they're blessed, they're blessing their sons. And so we hear that in Hebrew, and it's beautiful. And then the music comes in and then you hear this. The. The best voice in the world, Jon Rhys Davies, and he tells the audience what is being said in English. may the Lord bless you and keep you. It's really, really cool.
John Riley: Powerful film. It is the sequel to I Am Israel, I Am Israel, the Mountain of King that will bring you, this beautiful, stunning cinematic journey there in Israel. And I want to encourage you to find out more about this. You can go to iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com if you go to that website, you can get all the information that you need, including something that we're going to talk about here soon, about how you can screen these films for your church, which is absolutely incredible. You're going to want to check that out. So, iamisraelfilm.com, iamisraelfilm.Com you can download the film, you can watch it, you know, online, there's DVD copies available. There's a lot of ways for you to get both of these films, but especially the sequel.
David Kern says this film was made in a time of peace
What stands out to you right now? Just thinking about it. That kind of surprised you when, you were filming this, anything coming to your mind that, like, wow, because you did a lot of research in this whole thing, Anything that pops to your mind, like, wow, this, I didn't realize this. Probably the whole film. I don't know.
David Kiern: When I started, I made a list. I had this little, I am Israel movie journal, for ideas. And I made a list of every single thing that Jesus either said or did or was connected to on the temple map. And it was. I just found over and over and over and over and over, found so many sayings that everybody's so familiar with, but we don't, we didn't necessarily know where that happened. And it's so, it's so integral to our faith. But as we were filming the movie, I really feel like God. We try to attach ourselves to what God is doing in the earth as we do these stories. And so I feel like God gave us this blessing of being able to make this film without a lot of attention, without a lot of, conflict. Because as soon as we finished it, the conflict started. And you know what I'm talking about, all the attention started with Israel. And everybody has an opinion. And I feel like God allowed us to make this, to shoot it and to complete it in this special time of peace. So that now when things have broken out, it's a tool now. It's a powerful thing. A number of years ago, like I said, everybody, nobody really had a strong opinion about Israel. Now I feel like everybody has two strong opinions wherever they live in the world. They really have a strong opinion about their own country and they really have a strong opinion about Israel. And it's this spiritual thing that's going on. And I, I believe that there's a lot of believers that are not Jewish, that have no Jewish ancestry at all. And this is our time to be
David Kiern: doing what we can do, whether it's in the arts, whether it's through music or storytelling or filmmaking or podcasting or movie making, any of this stuff, or whether it's speaking or whether it's in the business world. I feel like the followers of Jesus right now that are, that have no Jewish. You know what I mean? Because if you already have Jewish ancestry, people would be like, well, of course you care about the Jews because your ancestry comes from the Jews. I'm talking about people like me that have no ancestry at all, that are passionate about the Jewish people and the land of Israel and want to elevate them, that they would be the head and not the tail. And I feel like this is our. God's given us this. Even though there's a lot of conflict and a lot of arguments going on right now, this is a great time to really connect with the heart of God and to broadcast that into the world.
John Riley: Iamisraelfilm.com, iamisraelfilm.com we're talking to David Kiern an award winning movie director and writer, especially with these beautiful films that he has created with his team, the I Am Israel series and the latest one, I Am the mountain, of the King and David.
David Kern: Why all the focus on Jerusalem? Why Temple Mount
You know, thinking about the Temple Mount, which is located in Jerusalem, why all the focus on Jerusalem? It seems like the world is just fixated on, this city and, you know, on the Temple.
David Kiern: Why it's so simple. But it's just, it's just, it's hard to even fathom this is unfolding in front of our eyes. It's always been, you know, this was the Temple Mount is the place where the binding of Isaac happened, where Abraham almost offered up his son. the Jewish people believe that the dust that God used to create Adam came directly from the Temple Mount. And I love that idea. It's a legend, but I love that idea because, for Christians, we have this book called Revelation. And everything comes back to the Temple Mount. Everything comes back to Mount Zion. there's a river, there's a tree, everything comes back. And so to look at the Garden of Eden and then to the Temple Mount and say, this might have actually been the same place in terms of a storytelling thing that God did, but it's a real thing. So the fact that everything is all the attention of the world, more and more and more, even more than even 10 years ago, is on Jerusalem. It's where our heart should be as well. There's a minister that I've heard says right now what's going on in the earth is, people in the Christian world have to decide if they're going to have a Rome based Christianity or a Jerusalem based Christianity. And I'm saying this, nothing against any particular denomination, but to connect our hearts and our foundation for our faith that if that bedrock, if that foundation stone, so to speak, can be on Jerusalem and everything that God's done there and everything Jesus did there, I, think that that affects our worldview in a positive way.
John Riley: That is so true. And this film is making a huge impact. It is actually being screened in churches around the world, and here in the United States, thousands and thousands of screenings. And so I want to encourage people to, if you talk, to your pastor about this, go to iamisraelfilm.com, screen this in your church because you will be blessed. It's not controversial, it is beautiful. It is going to connect you to the land of Israel. It is going to connect you to the Bible and you are going to be able to think, about all those things. So. Iamisraelfilm.com A lot of people have done that.
David Kiern: And small group Bible studies and college campuses. anyone that has a small group, we've got books and we have these two movies. And we have other things too on the website that small groups can take a couple of weeks in their Bible studies and really connect with this stuff and connect also with the biblical passages that a lot of these movies are based on. The music also is one more thing. We spent a fortune on the music for this movie. I won't even tell you how much it was. but it would. You know, you could almost buy a house for the amount of money we spent. But it was intentional. The music is huge. We have a full. Unbelievable. You know, we have a huge orchestra, day and a half to record this huge orchestra. Eryn Schust, who I think has been on your show, Eryn's a good friend and Eryn wrote a song for the end credits. kind of like what they do in Titanic, kind of like what they do in Robin Hood, where the end credits song is this amazing song that you hear throughout the movie in terms of the melody. but m. In terms of you saying it's not controversial but it's super uplifting and will make your spirit soar. So much of that comes from the music. And we really went, we did Everything we could to have this big, you know, Jon Williams Star wars type score to, really get the emotions thriving on this thing.
John Riley: You are going to be connected to the land of Israel. You're going to be connected to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount. you're going to see
John Riley: the beautiful filming of David Kiern this award winning film producer and writer. it's hard to describe on how beautiful these films are. And then the music that you just mentioned, it's very hard to describe this unless you see it firsthand for yourself, you know, on that TV screen or however you're going to watch it there at the church or wherever. But it is absolutely gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's going to inspire you. It's going to connect you to Israel. It's going to give you a greater love for the Bible. It's going to give you a greater love for the Jewish people. And so we want everybody to get a copy of this. And you can find out more when you go to iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com go to that website, see everything that they have to offer there. They've got a lot of things to offer that you can check out, including the church screenings that you can find out more about downloading the films. You can get that on DVD if you still have a DVD player. Some people do or don't, but there's a lot of ways for you to see this film. David, I love what you do. I'm so thankful for the work that you do and I can't wait for the next one.
David Kiern: Thanks, brother.
John Riley: If you are a pastor or a church leader, I want to challenge you to screen this film in your church for your congregation. There is so much disinformation out there among so many regarding the Jewish people and the land of Israel. This film will just bring to life the people and the land of Israel. It is absolutely beautiful. So I want to challenge you, please reach out to David Kiern and he will tell you how you can screen this film at your church. I Am Israel Movies have screened in 12,000 plus churches around the world and you are invited to host a free screening for your congregation, even your small group, college or even school. So reach out to David Kiern and you can find out more info about that. You can get that free license for your church, for your group college, school. Iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com Please check that out. I appreciate you listening to the Middle East Report. Please get a podcast to the show wherever you can spread the word and let others know about about this podcast Follow Me I'm on all the major podcast platforms. Just search for the Middle East Report. Or you can go to AFR Net and you can download the podcast there. Thanks for listening. I'm John Riley.
The Middle East Report brings you truthful reporting on Israel and the Middle East
John Riley: Welcome
John Riley: Welcome to the Middle East Report. Your connection to Israel and the Middle east where we bring you truthful reporting on what's happening there in the land. Because there is a lot of deception that's happening, in the news in regards to Israel and the Middle East. And of course we love connecting you to the people, the places and the land of Israel. And today we're going to do that. We are going to connect you to the land of Israel in a very, very unique way. I've got a good friend with me, David Kiern he is an award winning movie director and writer. David Kiern has written and directed, documentaries all over the world like South Africa, India, Israel, Cuba. He has such a great passion just to do these cinematic stories about the miraculous things that God is doing on the earth and in our time. And of course this guy is a dear friend and he has an incredible heart for Israel. And I wanted to get him here on the Middle East Report to talk about these beautiful productions, these I Am Israel productions that he has been creating, award winning productions. I Am Israel, the first one and then now the sequel to that film, I Am the Mountain of the King. We are just so happy to have you here on the Middle East Report. David.
David Kiern: Jon, thank you so much for having me on. Everybody loves all your shows, man, so it's super cool to be on your show, David.
David Kiern has been making documentaries about Israel for quite a while
John Riley: We love what you do, and your love for the land of Israel. You are an incredible writer, an incredible producer. You put together all these beautiful documentaries and these movies that are just so inspiring to everybody. And so you've been, you know, doing that for quite a while. And we mentioned how you've been, you know, making these films around the world. But your attention really is focused on Israel right now. Tell us about that focus on Israel and what you've been doing with this beautiful thing called I Am Israel.
David Kiern: When I was young, growing up as a believer in a great Christian family, Israel was, something that we appreciated, wasn't something that we thought about a whole lot, wasn't something that we talked about a whole lot. But we always had a soft spot in our hearts as a family for Israel. And the Jews always believed that God had chosen Israel and the Jewish people for a special purpose. But it wasn't just growing up as a child, it wasn't something that we really thought about so much. I grew up as an artist, went out and wanted to do adventure style storytelling about what God is doing on the earth in these exciting locations. My wife and I shares that passion she shares the passion that I have to go tell stories about what God's doing, throughout the earth. So we'd done films in Mount Everest and India and a variety of other places. And I just wrapped up a film in Africa, in South Africa. And a friend of mine who's now a, Walmart executive, Lance, Lance McAlendon, he said, David, so he just finished up this other film and he said immediately, david, God told me to go to Israel and to take you with me. So m. Me being a huge Indiana Jones fan, me being a huge Lawrence of Arabia fan, I was like, absolutely, let's do it. Not knowing this is going to change my life. Not knowing at all this is going to change my life. Went, over there and toured around for 10 days with Lance and with, Tommy Waller from Hayevel and the Israel guys. And we toured, we saw the special places in the land, but really it was going to meet the Jewish people for lunch and for dinner and for coffee and just spending time and asking them, letting them talk, and just as a, as a writer, as a director, just being totally available to say, what is God doing here? And is there anything I can be a part of, anything I could be a part of? And it was during that trip I started to understand about Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. And it was during that trip that I sort of understood that much of the world, the non believing world, believes that Jews have no right in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and even the Golan Heights. And so the idea on that trip, at the very end of that trip, after we'd spent time in the Galilee and seen and touched the places that Jesus actually walked. It was this, creative spiritual day, I guess. And it was on that particular day after we'd left the Sea of Galilee, that the idea sort of got zapped into my head of if we made a film called I Am Israel and the people in this movie could stand in the very places where all of the Bible stories happened, that the world says, that's not even part of Israel, that's another place, not Israel. If they stood in these vineyards and in these places where the Bible happened and they said their name and they said, I am Israel, would that be an angle? Would that be a way to tell the
David Kiern: story of what God is doing? The rebirth of the land, the return of the Jewish people, the in gathering of the exiles, and also the spiritual awakening that's happening amongst the Jewish people as they're becoming more and more and more and more and more God Focused really in our generation, in the previous generation, if we had this sort of angle, this I am Israel angle, we could do so much stuff in terms of storytelling. And so that's what we set out to do.
You went to Israel and created a beautiful film called I Am Israel
John Riley: It changed your life when you went to Israel. And as you said, you set out to do that and create this beautiful film called I Am Israel, which is the very first film. So a quick synopsis of that, and we want to get to this second film, the sequel to I Am Israel. But it changed your life when you went to Israel and then, boom, you created this beautiful film.
David Kiern: It changed my life in so many ways and in my wife's life as well. In fact, I think, you know, we have three beautiful sons and we had those children, and we were excited to have those children after we had these experiences in Israel. And I think in terms of connecting with the land and the people and then connecting with the things that God loves and he sends those blessings to you, I think it was all connected. But what happened was the idea for the first movie was to show in a fun way, exciting way, beautiful way, emotional way, and visually beautiful way, so that somebody could watch the first movie and understand the biblical significance and the beauty of the land and the people for the first time especially. It's really made for a believing audience, a, Christian audience. People that are followers of Jesus. And maybe, I know now everybody thinks about Israel all the time, but a couple of years ago, it wasn't really a thing. People want a lot of churches and stuff. They didn't really think about Israel a whole lot. It's different now. In the beginning, it was like, is there something that we can make where somebody has been reading the Bible their whole life and they could just sit down and watch this movie and really connect with their heart to the place of God, this place, you know, it's called the Holy Land. Not because it's, without blemish. It's called the Holy Land because it's set apart. It's set apart from everything else. So the Temple Mount is holy because it's set apart from. From the rest of the place. Jerusalem is set apart. So Jerusalem is called holy because it's set apart. And the land of Israel, the whole world belongs to the Lord. But there's one place that's set apart. Doesn't mean it's without blemish, but it means it's set apart. It's special. So believers, followers of Jesus, we can connect to that set apartness, that specialness of the land of Israel. So the first movie, we talk about the rebirth of the land, what's happened over the last hundred or so years. We talk about how the Jewish people have been returning home, just like the Bible foretold, just like Deuteronomy, some of the earliest books of the Bible, before they'd even gone into the promised land. God says, this is what's going to happen. But when that happens, I will call you back home. So the prophecies from Deuteronomy are unfolding in our generation. And so we tell all these beautiful stories about the real people, but it's really meant to strengthen the faith of the follower of Jesus, to connect them to the land which strengthens their. When their strength is. When their faith is strengthened, their family falls. After that, the family faith is strengthened as well.
John Riley: And I will tell you that if you see I Am, Israel, the first film in the series, it is so beautiful. The scenery is stunning. The interviews are amazing. You are going to get such a grasp on the land and the people of Israel when you see this very first film. But there is a sequel. The sequel is out, and it is I am the Mountain of the King. So what mountain are we talking about here? And we want to dive into this film, this sequel, because I watched this personally and I was just blown away by how beautiful, how gorgeous the scenery was, and the stories that you weaved into this film, it's just. It's incredible.
David Kiern: Thank you, Jon. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The second movie is all about the Temple Mount, but it's not what you think
The second movie, if the first movie is controversial because we talk about Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and elevate the Jewish people, I mean, the second movie is just nuts. So the second movie is all about the Temple Mount, but it's not what you would think. First of all, there is no such thing as actually a Temple Mount movie. Nobody's made a movie about the Temple Mount. And so the question is, okay, if you're going to do that, why would you do it? And what would it even be? What would like, visually, what's the storyline? What happened was we finished the first movie and a lot of people said, oh, what's the next one? What are you gonna do? And as an artist, you know, a lot of times artists don't wanna just repeat themselves with different locations, different characters. We wanna do something new. And it came about by just trying to tap into
God is on the move. What is he doing right now? Where's the heart of God? There's so many stories of Jesus on the Temple Mount. So many. Everybody knows the story of the widow's mite. And that's a Temple Mount story. There's so many things that we go through the entire Bible. Did you know that Paul got his commission to go to the Gentiles on the Temple Mount?
John Riley: You know, that's something I didn't realize.
David Kiern: The vision that he had when he went into a certain state and he was worshiping God on Mount Zion on. On the Temple Mount. So it's not just like a Jewish thing, by the way. Even if it was a Jewish thing, there's nothing wrong with that. Like, people say, oh, that's just a Jewish thing. Cool, that's not a problem. But the Temple Mount is something that is so intertwined in terms of the Christian faith, the followers of Jesus, most of us now believe, most scholars believe that the Holy Spirit, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was not in a little tiny room, but it was on the Temple Mount itself. And all the people that were speaking in different languages and different things, that was on the Temple Mount, the pouring out of in acts. So it's just. It's just so connected to our worldview, our faith. But we don't really talk about it so much. And when we look at the Temple Mount, we say, like, oh, you know, it's. It's not like it once was, and like, we don't really know how to perceive it. But biblically, if you look at what the Temple Mount is, Mount Zion is. It's all about a place of worship. It's all about a place of prayer. It's all about celebrating the feasts of the Lord at this one place. And why is that significant? Because all of Israel would come together. Can you imagine, you know, events during the course of an entire year where all the believers would actually come together and worship God together? That was the Temple Mount. It was also a place of dedication, dedicating your heart to God. It was a place of rededication, where if you had fallen short, you could go back and rededicate. You know, Jesus tells the story about the tax collector that would stand in the back of the Temple Mount and beat his chest, and he was sort of honoring this guy. So that's sort of just a setup. It's so much a part. If we could worship God anywhere, this would be the place. This would be the place. So I said, okay, if we can make a movie about what this represents, not about conflict, but not about any kind of violence. It's not. Even. If you watch the movie, you wouldn't even know that there's conflict. What can we do in order to make a movie about God's heart and God's design for this place. So the idea came if we had an adventure movie that followed the path of the glory of God from the Sinai wilderness and the deserts and followed that path of the glory of God, Ark of the Covenant, the trail that it made from the desert up through the Jordan River, Joshua's altar, down through Shiloh, down through when it was captured by the Philistines, up to Jerusalem, the city of David. And then finally where the glory of God came to the final resting place, the Temple Mount. And so we have this exciting storyline with jeeps and horses and helicopters and underground caves and we track where the Ark was. And through that we're able to have a lot of exciting things for children, a lot of exciting things for young adults where there's a lot of action, there's a lot of emotion and we can tell this story and intercut with those stories. We have Jewish people featured in the movie just like the first. I am Israel, where we tell their stories and I can go into that if you'd like, but we tell their stories about how their heart is really just pointed towards this place of worship.
John Riley: You have some very interesting characters that ah, are following this journey that you're talking about. Who are these? I think there's three characters in the film that you use to kind of follow this journey.
David Kiern: The leader of our expedition is ah, a man named Daron Kedar. And this is a documentary. So all of these, I'll tell who they are, but these are the actual people in real life. So it's not scripted, it's not fake. But Derone is a real IDF big shot. He's been very active for the last number of years in defending Israel, defending his family, defending the Jewish people of Israel through these things that have happened. but in our expedition story, ah, Daron leads this expedition to all these places and Joshua Waller from the Israel guys is part of the expedition and he's from the United States and then Jon Anderson is from Europe and he's a believer and he is also sort of like the scholar on the team and so he's part of the expedition and so there's a great dynamic. Everybody's very different and so the dialogue and what they also experience on a personal level is also different because they come from different places. Now our Jewish characters are also that we intercut through the movie. Very unique, very interesting people.
One of the elements of Mount Zion is music
One of the things, one of the elements of Mount Zion is music. Music is so important to God and in the church.
So many of the influences that we have in terms of praise and worship, and our lyrics come straight from the psalms. And so many of those psalms were recited every single day on the Temple Mount. And of course, many of your listeners know that God had his own worship team, and it was called the Levites. Amazing people that were raised up just to lead the people of Israel and any of the people from the nations that would come to lead them in prayer, lead them in worship. And so I really desperately wanted to find a man who was a Levite, who is a musician, who also had a heart to worship God on the Temple Mount. And everybody said, that's going to be hard in our day and age. Like, and it was the easiest thing in the world. Like, it took, like, a day to find Yair Levi, who is in the movie, and he performs a song that we believe the melody comes directly from King David's melody. and he performs that song on the southern steps leading up until the Temple Mount. Because still, it's still, you know, for Christians, for Jews to sing, to worship God, to pray on the Temple Mount. it's either illegal or it's touch and go. Like, you can definitely get arrested. So we have Yair with his fantastic son, who's about maybe nine or so in the movie. They sit and they perform this beautiful melody of King David. We have another family that we follow to Jerusalem during Passover. And I wanted to show a large Jewish family that ascends to Jerusalem and celebrates the Passover and participates in the priestly blessing at the Temple Mount. and one more thing. Our narrator is back, Jon Rhys Davies from the Lord of the Rings and the Indiana Jones movies. and I thought of Jon in this particular story, because when the priestly blessing comes, it comes first in Hebrew from the Western Wallnua. So you hear it recited in Hebrew and you see all the families around in there, and they're blessing, they're getting blessed, but they're also. A lot of the men are holding their sons on their head, touching their heads in order to also. As they're blessed, they're blessing their sons. And so we hear that in Hebrew, and it's beautiful. And then the music comes in and then you hear this. The. The best voice in the world, Jon Rhys Davies, and he tells the audience what is being said in English. may the Lord bless you and keep you. It's really, really cool.
John Riley: Powerful film. It is the sequel to I Am Israel, I Am Israel, the Mountain of King that will bring you, this beautiful, stunning cinematic journey there in Israel. And I want to encourage you to find out more about this. You can go to iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com if you go to that website, you can get all the information that you need, including something that we're going to talk about here soon, about how you can screen these films for your church, which is absolutely incredible. You're going to want to check that out. So, iamisraelfilm.com, iamisraelfilm.Com you can download the film, you can watch it, you know, online, there's DVD copies available. There's a lot of ways for you to get both of these films, but especially the sequel.
David Kern says this film was made in a time of peace
What stands out to you right now? Just thinking about it. That kind of surprised you when, you were filming this, anything coming to your mind that, like, wow, because you did a lot of research in this whole thing, Anything that pops to your mind, like, wow, this, I didn't realize this. Probably the whole film. I don't know.
David Kiern: When I started, I made a list. I had this little, I am Israel movie journal, for ideas. And I made a list of every single thing that Jesus either said or did or was connected to on the temple map. And it was. I just found over and over and over and over and over, found so many sayings that everybody's so familiar with, but we don't, we didn't necessarily know where that happened. And it's so, it's so integral to our faith. But as we were filming the movie, I really feel like God. We try to attach ourselves to what God is doing in the earth as we do these stories. And so I feel like God gave us this blessing of being able to make this film without a lot of attention, without a lot of, conflict. Because as soon as we finished it, the conflict started. And you know what I'm talking about, all the attention started with Israel. And everybody has an opinion. And I feel like God allowed us to make this, to shoot it and to complete it in this special time of peace. So that now when things have broken out, it's a tool now. It's a powerful thing. A number of years ago, like I said, everybody, nobody really had a strong opinion about Israel. Now I feel like everybody has two strong opinions wherever they live in the world. They really have a strong opinion about their own country and they really have a strong opinion about Israel. And it's this spiritual thing that's going on. And I, I believe that there's a lot of believers that are not Jewish, that have no Jewish ancestry at all. And this is our time to be
David Kiern: doing what we can do, whether it's in the arts, whether it's through music or storytelling or filmmaking or podcasting or movie making, any of this stuff, or whether it's speaking or whether it's in the business world. I feel like the followers of Jesus right now that are, that have no Jewish. You know what I mean? Because if you already have Jewish ancestry, people would be like, well, of course you care about the Jews because your ancestry comes from the Jews. I'm talking about people like me that have no ancestry at all, that are passionate about the Jewish people and the land of Israel and want to elevate them, that they would be the head and not the tail. And I feel like this is our. God's given us this. Even though there's a lot of conflict and a lot of arguments going on right now, this is a great time to really connect with the heart of God and to broadcast that into the world.
John Riley: Iamisraelfilm.com, iamisraelfilm.com we're talking to David Kiern an award winning movie director and writer, especially with these beautiful films that he has created with his team, the I Am Israel series and the latest one, I Am the mountain, of the King and David.
David Kern: Why all the focus on Jerusalem? Why Temple Mount
You know, thinking about the Temple Mount, which is located in Jerusalem, why all the focus on Jerusalem? It seems like the world is just fixated on, this city and, you know, on the Temple.
David Kiern: Why it's so simple. But it's just, it's just, it's hard to even fathom this is unfolding in front of our eyes. It's always been, you know, this was the Temple Mount is the place where the binding of Isaac happened, where Abraham almost offered up his son. the Jewish people believe that the dust that God used to create Adam came directly from the Temple Mount. And I love that idea. It's a legend, but I love that idea because, for Christians, we have this book called Revelation. And everything comes back to the Temple Mount. Everything comes back to Mount Zion. there's a river, there's a tree, everything comes back. And so to look at the Garden of Eden and then to the Temple Mount and say, this might have actually been the same place in terms of a storytelling thing that God did, but it's a real thing. So the fact that everything is all the attention of the world, more and more and more, even more than even 10 years ago, is on Jerusalem. It's where our heart should be as well. There's a minister that I've heard says right now what's going on in the earth is, people in the Christian world have to decide if they're going to have a Rome based Christianity or a Jerusalem based Christianity. And I'm saying this, nothing against any particular denomination, but to connect our hearts and our foundation for our faith that if that bedrock, if that foundation stone, so to speak, can be on Jerusalem and everything that God's done there and everything Jesus did there, I, think that that affects our worldview in a positive way.
John Riley: That is so true. And this film is making a huge impact. It is actually being screened in churches around the world, and here in the United States, thousands and thousands of screenings. And so I want to encourage people to, if you talk, to your pastor about this, go to iamisraelfilm.com, screen this in your church because you will be blessed. It's not controversial, it is beautiful. It is going to connect you to the land of Israel. It is going to connect you to the Bible and you are going to be able to think, about all those things. So. Iamisraelfilm.com A lot of people have done that.
David Kiern: And small group Bible studies and college campuses. anyone that has a small group, we've got books and we have these two movies. And we have other things too on the website that small groups can take a couple of weeks in their Bible studies and really connect with this stuff and connect also with the biblical passages that a lot of these movies are based on. The music also is one more thing. We spent a fortune on the music for this movie. I won't even tell you how much it was. but it would. You know, you could almost buy a house for the amount of money we spent. But it was intentional. The music is huge. We have a full. Unbelievable. You know, we have a huge orchestra, day and a half to record this huge orchestra. Eryn Schust, who I think has been on your show, Eryn's a good friend and Eryn wrote a song for the end credits. kind of like what they do in Titanic, kind of like what they do in Robin Hood, where the end credits song is this amazing song that you hear throughout the movie in terms of the melody. but m. In terms of you saying it's not controversial but it's super uplifting and will make your spirit soar. So much of that comes from the music. And we really went, we did Everything we could to have this big, you know, Jon Williams Star wars type score to, really get the emotions thriving on this thing.
John Riley: You are going to be connected to the land of Israel. You're going to be connected to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount. you're going to see
John Riley: the beautiful filming of David Kiern this award winning film producer and writer. it's hard to describe on how beautiful these films are. And then the music that you just mentioned, it's very hard to describe this unless you see it firsthand for yourself, you know, on that TV screen or however you're going to watch it there at the church or wherever. But it is absolutely gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's going to inspire you. It's going to connect you to Israel. It's going to give you a greater love for the Bible. It's going to give you a greater love for the Jewish people. And so we want everybody to get a copy of this. And you can find out more when you go to iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com go to that website, see everything that they have to offer there. They've got a lot of things to offer that you can check out, including the church screenings that you can find out more about downloading the films. You can get that on DVD if you still have a DVD player. Some people do or don't, but there's a lot of ways for you to see this film. David, I love what you do. I'm so thankful for the work that you do and I can't wait for the next one.
David Kiern: Thanks, brother.
John Riley: If you are a pastor or a church leader, I want to challenge you to screen this film in your church for your congregation. There is so much disinformation out there among so many regarding the Jewish people and the land of Israel. This film will just bring to life the people and the land of Israel. It is absolutely beautiful. So I want to challenge you, please reach out to David Kiern and he will tell you how you can screen this film at your church. I Am Israel Movies have screened in 12,000 plus churches around the world and you are invited to host a free screening for your congregation, even your small group, college or even school. So reach out to David Kiern and you can find out more info about that. You can get that free license for your church, for your group college, school. Iamisraelfilm.com iamisraelfilm.com Please check that out. I appreciate you listening to the Middle East Report. Please get a podcast to the show wherever you can spread the word and let others know about about this podcast Follow Me I'm on all the major podcast platforms. Just search for the Middle East Report. Or you can go to AFR Net and you can download the podcast there. Thanks for listening. I'm John Riley.
John Riley introduces award-winning filmmaker David Kiern and his passion for telling cinematic stories about what God is doing around the world. Kiern explains how a trip to Israel changed his life, especially as he spent time with Jewish people and began seeing the biblical significance of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the land of Israel. That experience became the inspiration for I Am Israel.
(00:00) David Kiern’s Journey to Israel
(05:30) The Story Behind I Am Israel
(11:00) I Am the Mountain of the King
(17:00) Music, Worship, and the People in the Film
(23:00) Why Jerusalem Matters—and How to See the Films
John Riley introduces award-winning filmmaker David Kiern and his passion for telling cinematic stories about what God is doing around the world. Kiern explains how a trip to Israel changed his life, especially as he spent time with Jewish people and began seeing the biblical significance of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the land of Israel. That experience became the inspiration for I Am Israel.
(00:00) David Kiern’s Journey to Israel
(05:30) The Story Behind I Am Israel
(11:00) I Am the Mountain of the King
(17:00) Music, Worship, and the People in the Film
(23:00) Why Jerusalem Matters—and How to See the Films
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
