‘Nowhere in the Bible do you find the words West Bank,’ says Troy Miller, CEO of National Religious Broadcasters

Miller explains the significance of NRB’s historic ‘Biblical Heartland Resolution’ advocating for Christian media to replace the term West Bank with ‘Judea and Samaria’

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When the CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters Association, Troy Miller, stepped into his new role in July 2022, just months before Israel's 75th anniversary, he wanted the NRB to build closer ties with Israel and the Jewish people.

In the latest episode of THE ROSENBERG REPORT on TBN, Miller told host and ALL ISRAEL NEWS Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg that the NRB has a rich history of supporting Israel.

“We have a lot of shared ideologies. We have a lot of shared morality in what's going on in the culture and things,” Miller said in an interview at the annual NRB convention in Nashville, Tennessee last week.

“Then along came, October 7th,” he added.

Miller recently returned from a solidarity tour to Israel, which he defined as the most important and emotional trip he had ever been on.

“We had a chance to go over and visit on the first day to go right down to Gaza – to the area – and visit the southern cities that were all along the Gaza Strip there, that were attacked that day. And look, I can't tell you – I have traveled around the world. I've been to a number of natural disasters, different places. I was in the Navy. I've been in the Persian Gulf. I've done all those things. This was by far the deeper emotional trip I've ever been on,” Miller shared.

“It was just heartbreaking,” he recounted. “I have two daughters that are 23 years old. And to hear the stories of what went on, the atrocities with women… This was an attack on the Jewish people and an attack on humanity. It was the most inhumane, evil thing I've ever heard of.”

While in Jerusalem, Miller met with some of the relatives whose loved ones were kidnapped into Gaza by the terrorists almost five months ago. He said he would never forget that encounter.

“Unfortunately, one of the families we met with that afternoon was an uncle of a young lady named Eden. And we were praying for her to come home. We went to dinner three hours later and the IDF found her and another one of the hostages… They found her body, recovered her body. And look, it still brings me to tears,” he said.

Ever since he came back to the United States, Miller has been pushing to keep the hostages’ plight in front of the mainstream media as much as possible.

As part of his endeavor to support Israel in the public relations war against its enemies, the NRB, under his leadership, decided to endorse the historic “Biblical Heartland Resolution.”

The resolution urges Christian media broadcasters to refrain from using the term 'West Bank' for the disputed territories, advocating instead for the biblical names 'Judea and Samaria.'

“We started having this discussion with a number of organizations several months ago. And to talk about this and where we're at, where does the Israel-U.S. relations go post all of this and how does it move forward?” he said of the process leading up to the decision.

“One of the things that we came up with was understanding what is biblical Israel. And every Christian who has a Bible today and knows, reads through Joshua, understands the boundaries that God sets... And nowhere in there do you find the words ‘West Bank.' You find Judea and Samaria,” said Miller.

“Now go to the New Testament as us, for Christians. We know where Jesus ministered. He went to Judea. He ministered in Judea. He went through Samaria. We know the story of the Samaritan woman... And so, that's just natural for Christians,” he continued.

Joel Rosenberg interviews Troy Miller, the CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters Association (Photo: Screenshot/TBN's The Rosenberg Report)

Another reason why NRB is pushing to take back the biblical language is the confusion that prevails among young generations. When Miller spoke to a group of young Christians, he said was surprised to discover that they thought the ‘West Bank’ and ‘Judea and Samaria’ were two different locations.

Rosenberg praised the move, telling Miller: “I think words matter. And especially in this day and age where every word – certainly for Christians – is being attacked. And we're told we can't define a man. We can't define a woman, can't define a marriage. We can't even find the lands of the Bible? So it's important that NRB took a strong stand on this.”

THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m. EST – on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.