 | The Jerusalem Prayer List – Thursday, February 26th, 2009by Joseph Shulam
I am out of Brazil and on my way back home to Israel. The conference in Belo-Horizonte was a great success because Marcelo and Matheus and the staff of the Brazilian branch of the “Teaching from Zion” that in Portuguese is calle “Ensinando do Siao” because the Brazilians eat the last syllable of ever word that ends with a consonant. My name for the Brazilians is not “Shulam” it is “Shulaaaa.” There were people who have come to the conference from Miami, Boston, and Portland in the United States, and from Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, and other countries in South and Central America, and we had people from Portugal, and Slovenia, who came specially for this conference. There were many who for the first time heard the message of Restoration. This concept is gaining speed in the latin world. Restoration means that we have to go backwards and not forward. We have to return to the orignial condition and blue print that the Creator / Designer intended for the edifice to be. For most Christians in the world this concept is very strange and considered impossible. The question always come, how can you go back to that which existed 2000 years ago! Well, the answer to this question is very simple, We have the blue print! We have that which God designed and we believe that God intended what HE said in the Scriptures and intended for people to believe and do His will. We have patterens of Restoration several times in the Bible, King Josiah in 2 Kings 22-24, and Ezra and Neheimiah in Neheimaih chapter 8 and 9, and we see that it is the prayer of Israel for God to restore our days as of old and Jeremiah expressed it in the book of Lamentation.
In the conference in Belo-Horizonte there were about 600 participants and many of them were “Pastors” from different denominations. The level of excitement and involvement that this conference had was beyond my experience and I have been to a few Christian conferences in my life. One of the highlighets of the conference was a play that the Har Zion Congregation preformed in the University Concert Hall of Belo- Horizonte. The play was about the plight of the Jews of Brazil and Portugal during the Inquisition. For those who don't really know what the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition really was let me just comment on it with two sentences. The words “oppression” and “persecution” and “geneside” don't begin to discribe what the Catholic Church has done to the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. We are talking first of all of forced conversion to Catholicism. We are talking of mutilation of the most cruel kind. We are talking of burning people and whole families for just eating kosher food or for celebration of the Passover. We are talking of publish humiliation and mental manipulation that led people to confess sins that they have never committed. We are talking of instruments of torture that the devil himself invented. All this was done in the name of the christian faith and the holy mother church. It was done with the direct command and sanction of the “holy sea” and the Pope himself. It was demanded by Rome who commanded King Emmanuel I to import this inquisition from Spain in order to marry his son to the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the same pair who sent Christopher Columbus to discover American. The inquisition lasted over 300 years and Jews had to hid their Identity and keep what they could in secret at the pain of death. The Har Zion congregation did a masterful job producing this theatrical presentation of the problem and used it also for a wonderful witness of the real Yeshua who is a Jew and remains a Jew and will return as a Jew.
Another one of the highlights of the conference was that so many of the leaders of the Messianic Congregations associated with Netivyah attended the conference. They have come from all around Brazil and greatly encouraged each other. Elhanan from Jerusalem and Tom Taylor from Portland were guest speakers and they both did a great job teaching. Marcelo is a gifted leader who orchestrated the conference with executive ability for which I envy him. The whole staff of “Ensinando do Siao” did a wonderful job in this conference and I am sure that the Lord willing everyone will surpass himself and do even a greater job. The fact that Jewish people from the community attended every session of this conference was a great encouragement to me personally. I do believe that we have something important to share and present to the Jewish Community of Brazil and in fact to the Jewish Community World wide. I had a chance to speak to a young Jewish couple about Yeshua as the most important Jew who has contributed more for spreading the Word of God around the whole world than any Rabbi or even a group of Rabbis and their respons was – “we never hear things like this in the Synagogue.” What they ment was that the Universality of God as the God of the whole world and as the God of the Gentiles also is not normally being taught in the Synagogues. In the weeks before coming to the conference at Belo-Horizonte I was in Vitoria and in Rio and Curitiba, and in all these cities I see very fine developments and growth and especially spiritual maturity and clarity of vision that I don't always see in other places. I need the encouragement that I receive from our brothers and sisters in Brazil and I need to be able to see that our message is working. When I visit churches in the United States I don't see that same excitement and joy in doing God's Work as I see in Brazil. I am not saying this in condemnation of anyone but as an observation that ought to encourage people to do better. It can be done because God is our enabler in all things.
I have not been in Israel for six weeks and the news that I hear from our congregation and from Netivyah is that people are doing just great and although they miss me, they are doing a great job and managing to do even better than when I am there. For me this news is also an encouragement. As I am getting older and beginning to get letters from Social Security about my rights to retire it is good to know that Netivyah and Roeh Israel can get along and do without me as good as they can do with me. Please pray for Netivyah and for the Roeh Israel Congregation in Jerusalem, and for our brothers and sisters in Finland, and Germany, and Korea, and Japan, and Brazil and also pray for our brothers and sisters in the Good Old United States of America. All of us and in fact the whole World needs a revival and I believe that with the financial shakeup that is upon us the Christians in the World are going to wake up and outdo themselves in doing good and demonstrating the power of God in the Good News.
Marcia is also back home in Israel after being gone for some three months in the United States. Danah seems to be recovering well from her surgery and although she still has some pain and feels so very tired, she and Noaam seem to be doing better. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for my family.
On Monday next week we are starting the Negev Seminar with brothers from Japan and from Haifa and Nataniah and Jerusalem. This seminar in my opinion is really of great importance because it is dealing with two very important subjects, the divinity and deity of the Messiah and Jewish Identity. Since these two subjects are essential issues for the whole body of the Messiah in Israel it is the right timing for this seminar. In fact it was planned a year ago in March before all the totally un-necessary chicken-fights that have been raging in Israel over these two subjects. I suppose that one could say that “theology” and “truth” have very little to do in the lives of the disciples of Yeshua until politics and greed enter into the picture, than suddenly “theology” and “truth” become instruments of war and tools of destruction for personal or sectarian gain. I like this line that I just wrote: ““Theology” and “truth” have very little to do in the lives of the disciples of Yeshua until politics and greed enter into the picture.” Please continue to pray for all of us in Israel. We are all “saved” and we are all sinners still. We need to learn to love each other and the Lord so much more than we do!
We all continue to pray for the sick people that we know in Jerusalem, in Brazil, in Japan, and in the United States. Miriam, Hannah's mother is going to have eye surgery on Sunday. Please pray for her and for the successes of this surgery. Marcia's knee is giving her a whole lot of trouble. Ruby is coping with more medical challenges. Paulo in Brazil is improving but still needs much prayer. Ahuva, Lea, Ilana, Zvi and Sara, Sarit, Kemi San in Japan, all need your daily prayer for the healing that God has promised to be evident in their lives. Danah my daughter and Noaam also need your prayers.
Yuda is continuing to do a fine job administrating the Soup-Kitchen but with the banking situation in the world and in Israel and the unemployment raising the needs of the Soup-Kitchen are also growing. I know that it is not easy anywhere in the world now, but I also know that the Lord wants to see His people put the right priorities up front in their lives. I need your prayers so that I too can do it and put more of the Lord's priorities into my life.
Kol HaYeshua Radio broadcasts are going on and we are ever so thankful to the Lord for TWR and for Sansa in Finland and for others like E.R. in Germany who are supporting the broadcasts of Kol HaYeshua Radio by paying to TWR for the transmission. We are doing the production but the most expensive part of Radio work is the transmission and we are grateful for the opportunity to teach our people the Word of God and present to Israel the Good News because we have enough of the bad news from our State owned Television and Radio stations. Please pray for Kol HaYeshua and ask God to give us more responses and better followup.
We are working now on the publication of the book “Hidden Treasures” in Hebrew. It is a very important little book that will help so many Hebrew speaking Disciples of Yeshua both in Israel and in the World to understand the New Testament better. Books in Hebrew are essentially given out gratis and we have to cover the whole cost of the printing of this book. In the same time we are working on the translation of the commentary of Galatians that we have written into Hebrew. These are big projects and I ask you to pray for their success and our ability to publish them soon.
Israeli politics are still a big mess and the elections held on February 10th, 2009, did not change much. We say in Hebrew, “The same lady with a different dress.” Israel needs your prayers. We had elections but they were inconclusive and Mr. Peres the President gave Mr. Netanyahu the right to construct a government of a coalition and it looks like the coalition will be very right-wing and will essentially tie Mr. Netanyahu's hands from doing anything. When God does not bless something man labor in vain, but it is our task to bless the government no matter who is going to be at the head of it. We are commanded to do so and we are going to do our very best to bless Mr. Netanyahu and those who are supposed to lead this nation bring calm and peace to our region. Please pray for Israel's place in the world and remember to pray for the Jewish people all around the world because with the financial crisis that is raging now many blam the Jews in vain. I need your prayers so that I will get home well and sound and be able to keep up with all that is going on in Israel now. In our congregation we have a month of Bar and Bat – Mitzvahs. It is wonderful that there are families that are not regular attendants of our congregation who chose to have their Bar-Mitzvah celebration with us in Roeh Israel. It is a great privilege to serve the general public and receive their respect. This is what I think ought to happen with every congregation of Yeshua's disciples.
Blessings and more to all of you who pray for us and want to see Israel saved,
Joseph Shulam
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