The Jerusalem Prayer List - Thursday, May 21, 2009

by Joseph Shulam

Today in Jerusalem day in Israel.  It is a celebration of the city of Jerusalem.  In June 1967 the Israeli Army conquered, or liberated, or occupied, or delivered, or freed, Jerusalem from the hands of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  Your choice of which word you would prefer to use to describe what happened in Jerusalem in 1967 will depend much on your understanding of God's Word, and may be on your attitude toward prophecy.  

There is however no doubt in my mind that something major happened in June of 1967 in the whole world over in respect to the city of Jerusalem and the Middle East. 
1.  Jerusalem was opened to everyone that wanted to visit this great city.  During the years of Jordanian occupation Jerusalem was not opened to everyone.  Jews could not visit their "holy place" in Jerusalem or in Hebron.  There were places that Christians also could not visit in this Holy City to three of the World's great religions. 
2.  The city became modernized and had things like sanitary conditions, medical care, and education for the children, were quickly improved by the State of Israel.
3.  Jerusalem became a truly international city with two languages and two cultures side by side and tourists from all around the world started to flock to this wonderful city, the eternal capital of the Jewish people.
4.  Christians all around the world became aware of the command to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" and that raised a new awareness of Christians toward the city and the Land.  This new awareness turned many in the Evangelical camp of Christianity toward the study of God's Word both in the New and in the Old Testament.  Christians all around the world started to pray for Israel's salvation and for the Peace of Jerusalem and this trend is spreading even to some of the more remote areas of Asia and South America.

The above are just a few of the effects of the liberation and occupation of Jerusalem by Israel.  Jerusalem has not been occupied by a Jewish State since the year 70 A.D. when Titus the Roman General conquered the city and burned it to the ground.  The day of June 6th's, 1967, will be remembered by all as the day of Jerusalem!  Today is the day of Jerusalem according to the Hebrew Calendar and we are celebrating with all those around the world who care to pray and continue to pray for the peace of this great city.

Please lift up in prayer our dear brother David S.  He has gone into surgery today for the removal of both gall and kidney stones.  We continue to pray for our dear brothers who are suffering from chronic illness, like Ruby, and Lonnie and Barbara Smith, and like Paulo in Brazil, and Tim Tucker in Finland, and Liz's sister in Tennessee, and like our brother Lukka in Sweden, and in Israel we have Sarit, Sara and Zvi, and Marcia, Liora, Ahuva, Ilana, and Lea.
 
Our building problems in Jerusalem also need your prayers.  Last month we had to dig up all the floor of the Soup-Kitchen and lay down an iron grid and cement and replace the floor, and this month one of the balconies is in need of support because as the building settled the balcony is separating from the building and we need to make a cement and iron column to support it.  This is just more expenses to do the upkeep on this old building, but we are still waiting for the good judge to give his verdict and allow us to build.  These are no small expenses and we are in constant strain with people coming every day to our office wanting to register in order to receive food from the Soup-Kitchen.  Yesterday we had three elderly Russian Immigrants come asking for food and I just could not say "no" to them.  So, I asked Yuda to come and talk to them since the Soup-Kitchen is  his responsibility and he did a great job explaining to them that we already have more than 20 people above our budget and they will just have to wait for a month and come back again.   Jerusalem is one of the poorest cities in Israel because there is such a big Orthodox Jewish population here and in that community the men study Torah and some of the women work, and they have many children, and for this reason they don't pay much taxes and there is little industry and business in this holy city and people are needy.  This has always been the situation in this city and even in the time of the Apostle Paul he traveled around Asia Minor and Rome to raise funds for the "poor saints of Jerusalem."  In Isaiah chapter 66 we read that Jerusalem is essentially the mother of us all and we shall all be comforted by Jerusalem.  I am sure that this text does not mean that forever this city will be full of poor and sick and needy people, and for this reason Abraham our father was looking for a much better Jerusalem and so was also Paul when he likened present day Jerusalem to Hagar the slave woman and the Jerusalem that we are all waiting for to Sarah the free woman.  Let us continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and bless all those today who are working to make peace in this city and preserve the historical value and heritage of the city of the great king.

We are getting ready to print the Hebrew version of the book "Hidden Treasures" and it will be a very important contribution to the study of the New Testament for all those who are Hebrew speaking.  There is very little material like this in Hebrew because most of the material printed in Israel in Hebrew is not original.  The Hebrew literature produced by the missionaries in Israel is usually translated and regurgitated old Protestant Evangelical "stuff" that is translated to Hebrew.  Please pray for the success of this printing run. We are printing 1000 copies of this book in Hebrew and we know that most of these will be given for free and not sold. 

The feast of Shavuot is coming upon us next week and we are going to have a very nice "all night" study in our congregation with food and with four speakers who will teach about Shavuot, which in English is Pentecost.  Please keep that study night in your prayers because we normally have many guests in these events.

Well this letter is getting to be a little long and you might get tired of it! 

Please keep us in your prayers and continue to support the Lord's work in Israel!

Joseph Shulam 

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