Yesterday was “Jerusalem Day” in Israel. It was the commemoration of the liberation of Jerusalem during the Six Days War in 1967. It has been 43 years since the Six Days War in 1967. Jerusalem has changed so much from the days of my childhood. Jerusalem was a small city before 1967. The population of Jerusalem was near 200,000 people in 1967. Now Jerusalem has near one million population. In fact Jerusalem is the biggest city in Israel now. It has surpassed Tel-Aviv both in geographical size and in the number of population. On the other hand Jerusalem is also the poorest city in Israel because it has two populations that are not very productive, the Orthodox Jews and the Arabs. These two groups of population don't pay much taxes, and don't work in areas that contribute much to the economic fiber of the city.

On the other hand, Jerusalem is the eternal capital city of the Jewish people and of every Bible believing person in the world. This statement might be sound strange to some ears, but just think about it. The New Testament speaks of Jerusalem in two voices, the historical Jerusalem that is now and was than a city full of conflict and strife and what we call “the heavenly Jerusalem.” Paul's letter to the Galatians speaks of these two Jerusalem in terms of Sara and Hagar, the free woman and the slave woman. The book of Revelation mentions two times “New Jerusalem” and one time “heavenly Jerusalem.” In other words Jerusalem plays a role all the way to the “Heavenly Jerusalem.” The “Heavenly Jerusalem” is actually the culmination of all of the Biblical aspirations for the saints of all generations. Some Christians and some Jews would like to disconnect the two Jerusalem’s from each other, but it is impossible because essentially the two Jerusalem’s are deeply connected with each other. As long as the last chapters of the book of Revelation are still attached to your Bibles Jerusalem is relevant to every Christian and to every Jew and in fact to every Muslim in the world. Yes, this Jerusalem of today is actually a shadow of the Jerusalem that we are all waiting for, but a shadow is a very important thing. A shadow is a foretelling of what is about to show up just around the corner. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, Jerusalem is there for us all, Jerusalem is bleeding with the blood of Jews , Christians, and Muslims, Jerusalem with the cross cultural population is on the one hand tearing at the seems and on the other hand Jerusalem is being built up. Yes, Jerusalem is being built up and not President Obama nor the Palestinians are going to be able to stop the building up of Jerusalem. The building of Jerusalem is going on in every direction, the Jews are building and the Muslims are building and even Christians are building in Jerusalem, and the building is not only in stone and cement but also in spiritual materials that are not visible and have eternal value. Yes, dear brothers, things are happening in Jerusalem from a spiritual point of view that have and will have impact on all three religious groups that look up to Jerusalem as their spiritual capital, Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

I love Jerusalem! I remember my childhood in Jerusalem with great joy, the old neighbors, and the school friends, the shops in the market place where my father and mother shopped, the people who helped shape my personality. Jerusalem is different from any other city in the world. When Jerusalem dresses up for the High Holidays in September and October the city of Jerusalem has a totally different air about it, especially on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) and in Sukkoth. Balconies in Jerusalem are adorned with “booths” made from wood, cloth, branches of green trees, decorations from paper, plastic, and even fresh fruit like pomegranates and fresh dates.

You need to continue to pray for Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of now, and the Jerusalem that we are all waiting for in the end. There is a promise of peace and prosperity for those who pray for Jerusalem.

Jerusalem needs your prayers in every area. Jerusalem's poor are growing in numbers. Jerusalem's security situation is so very serious and explosive. The religious secular and the Jewish Arab division and the sephardic and ashkenazi divisions are all time bombs that might explode any minute. Yes, please pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for Jerusalem's politicians who are riddled with corruption and bribe like in the old biblical days. Pray for the Messianic Jews in Jerusalem who are struggling to find themselves and to find some balance between what Yeshua said and was teaching and what the churches have done to the Jewish people. Just lift up Jerusalem in your prayer and praise the Lord for giving us a Jerusalem.

Please pray for our congregation to be there for our members and also for the community. Disciples of Yeshua must be at least a little salty and spread that salt around. We have some serious challenges in Jerusalem as disciples of Yeshua.

We are asking you to pray for our building program. In October 2010 our case will be heard in Israel's High Court. This is an appeal to the decision of the Middle Court of Israel that decided very fairly and justly, but this decision was challenged by those who oppose us and don't want to allow us to have our minimal civil rights. We believe that justice will prevail, but we need your prayers and support. We also need to have the funds for the building. As soon as the court makes the decision we hope to immediately start building. Since we already own the building and have been using it for more than 25 years all we need is to do some serious remodeling. We need to raise at least one million dollars more and for this to happen we need you to pray for us to have many brothers and sisters who are willing to sacrifice for Jerusalem and for the Kingdom of God.

We have some challenges with brothers and sisters who have lost their jobs recently and we have to stand with them and help them.

We have several older people (over 80 years old) that need care. We are still praying for a place in Jerusalem that will take care and provide a place for these older and very dear sisters and brothers who have given their lives for the Good News and for the Messiah. We must provide a place for widows and those older generation disciples of Yeshua. I know that is a big challenge for us all, but also a challenge for the Body of the Messiah all around. What happens here is heard and seen by the World. Jerusalem is the window of the World.

I ask you to keep praying for the sick in Jerusalem. We have so many who need healing and I know that this is actually the situation everywhere. It seems like healing from God is one of the most requested prayer everywhere, because our health is one of the most precious equity that we hold. Please pray for David, and the older David, and Ahuva, Liora, Leah, Ilana, Sarit, and Marcia my wife who is going to have a knee replacement surgery next month.

We also continue to pray for our brothers and sisters all around the world: I pray for Bernie R. who has been suffering from MS for more than 35 years. I pray for Tim Tucker my teacher and friend who is suffering from A.L.S. for more than 20 years. I pray for Ruby our dear sister in Oklahoma who is suffering pain for also near 20 years. I pray for Paulo our dear brother in Brazil who is also suffering for several years.

We will have Shavuot Holiday (Pentecost) next week and we plan to have a long study well into the night and good food with cheese from Zippori's God's flock dairy and many brothers and sisters who are not from our congregation plan to come and visit our feast of Pentecost. I ask you to pray for our witness to both the neighborhood and to the members of other congregations who will visit us.

I would like for you all to pray for the youth from our congregation who are now finishing High School and in the Israeli Military. We have several children who have grown up in our congregation and who are either already in the military and all in wonderful high units and several who are about to enter in this summer. Please pray for their witness in the army and their health and protection. In fact there are near 300 soldiers in the Israeli military who come from faithful homes of Jewish Disciples of Yeshua and all of them as I said excel and do above and beyond the call of duty. They all need your prayers.

The Conference in Portugal is picking up speed and there too your support in prayer is absolutely necessary and God's blessings and even miracles are needed so much in order to break the stronghold that both the Catholic church and the Orthodox Jewish Establishment holds over these poor Jews who have lived under the fear and shadow of the cross, the dark cross dripping with Jewish blood and I am not talking about the blood of Yeshua. Israel needs these Jews to come and settle the Negev Desert. These Jews are have suffered and have kept their identity even at the pain of death, death by fire and torture. The conference will be held in Portugal on December 3-6, 2010, in the city of Castelo de Vide.

We have good news from Brazil. Our dear brother Matheus and his dear wife Tatiane have given birth to a boy. The baby was circumcised on the 8th day and given the name Daniel. We all thank God for Matheus and Tatiane and for Daniel and their whole family.

My list of prayer needs is so long that I could fill several more pages with these needs, but for now I will ask you to pray and lift up all those you know, family, and friends, whom you know have a need for healing, finances, work, fellowship, and above all more faith. You can make a difference even if you don't see the difference with your own eyes now. Remember God has books and He keeps records.

Blessings to you all and thank you for your support,

Joseph Shulam

P.S. - We all must remember that “what you sow is what you reap” goes both on the bad we do and also so clearly for the good that we do. God is no debtor to us for the good we do. Every good we do is going to receive the reward that God has packed down and multiplied for us.