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The Jerusalem Prayer List – November 8 2011
From Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
By Joseph Shulam
Well, my time in Hong Kong and China has gone by very fast. Probably because the Lord and the brothers and sisters have kept me very busy. Hong Kong was more relaxed and all the meetings and dinners were very pleasant and constructive, and the teaching opportunities were also wonderful, but not so intense. It was actually good for me to have three days of more relaxed time and prepare for the marathon of Wuhan, China. Our good brother Tony arranged all the program for China and I can say that from start to finish it was all a miracle. After landing in Wuhan, we drove 4.5 hours on a very old road to the city of Tong Chung. The first impression of the road and the city was that I have entered a time-warp everything was like 40 years ago in the Judea and Samaria right after Israel liberated Jerusalem in 1967. There were water-buffalo being led by the nose from the fields through the road back to the farms, and people living right by (on) the road with a kind of store front type house where the business is on the first floor and the family lives above or besides the shop front. To say the least just the road itself was an experience because there were numerous cars, bicycles, people, motorcycles, and animals traveling right in the middle of the road and our very good driver had to dodge everything in a swift move sometimes to the right and others to the left around the approaching obstacle. Well, we got to Tong Chung and checked into the hotel, took dinner with the local “Pastor” and went to bed. The next morning when the sun came up – the noise also became louder. The hotel was next to a major intersection right down town Tong Chung, a city of 700,000 – just about the size of Jerusalem, but very different in cleanliness and appearance, but construction going on everywhere. You would just not believe that what you see is possible. Cars, Trucks, Tuk-Tuks, people, everyone walking in every direction through the middle of this big intersection and cars brushing the people and motorcycles zooming between the people and the cars and there is no traffic lights and no police and no one is getting killed. A miracle! We did not eat breakfast in the hotel because at 8:30 I was to start teaching in the seminary. The seminary is a regional seminary of the official government approved church of China. When we arrived at the compound of the seminary I was totally taken by the size of the place. It was 6 or 7 floors high and a very big building. Breakfast was waiting for us. The cooks were cooking in this very big kitchen and on a very big kind of stone oven, and the food was I suppose one could say “country Chinese” - but just wonderful. The students were already singing and worshipping and we walked up the stairs and arrived up to the classroom out of breath. The great surprise was the size of the classroom. The classroom was the size of a big basketball gym or even a little bigger and it was full of students there was not a chair empty. The students were totally wonderful and the leadership of the church and seminar was wonderful.
I am not the most diplomatic teacher and as some say – I am a kind of “At Your Face” style teacher. The students and the “Pastors” were extremely kind and interested and open to absorb the material. It was the first time for me to teach in a official government church, and it was the first time for all these wonderful students and leaders to meet a Jewish Disciple of Yeshua face to face. I gave a whole morning till 2:00 p.m. lectures that the main topic was the Restoration of Biblical faith and the importance of the Words of Yeshua. I can say dear brothers and sisters in the West – that I would be willing to put these country side Chinese seminary students against any college or University or seminary students in the west and hands down the Chinese would win any competition. The love that I felt from both leadership and students in this side stepped city of Tong Chung was overwhelming. They sang a song accapela at the end and clapped their hands and one could actually feel their zeal and love for God and for His Word, and for me, and for Israel and the Jewish people. You should know that many of these students are first generation Christians and some have suffered dearly for their faith. The city of Tong Chung has 80 churches and 80,000 Christians. Just a few years ago there was only one big church and several small ones, but now they are growing. I can say that I enjoyed my first day in the center of China very much because of the wonderful students between the ages of 18 to 60 that are learning in this seminary. The Lord willing “I Shall Return” to Tong Chung and do some more equiping of these future leadership of the government church in China and point them toward the Restoration of the church and Israel. A very warm invitation was extended by the director of all the churches in the region to return and teach in the seminary. It was wonderful to see how the hand of the Lord has been moving in China's rural back-yard.
We drove back to Wuhan City in the province of Hubei and arrived just in time to have dinner with several officials of the Chinese Church. These officials actually lead the Christians in six provinces of China. The lead and direct millions of Christians that survived all the tribulations for many years, and they look toward a better and greener future for the churches of China. The next day I gave a series of lectures to the Zhongnan Theological Seminary in Wuhan City. This is the second largest Seminary in China and it serves six provinces. The topics that I lectured on was “The Messiah in the Old Testament” and “Who was the Apostle Paul?” Here too the students were wonderful and very well informed on both Israel and biblical topics. Teaching all the day long and making sure that I eat only Kosher food in China made me very tired. The food was all wonderful and we ate in the Muslim Restaurant Hallal food and enjoyed it very much. There are many restaurants and they are all big and wonderfully modern and clean, and the service is very good and kind. Wuhan is a very modern city. You see the shops full and the shops are from the Chinese brands to the top international brands all doing very well and people are buying and prices are high. The streets in Wuhan can compete easily with the brand of cars and their year of production with any western city and win hands down without a doubt. Besides teaching in the seminaries and churches every day, I can say the most exciting and good thing was the meetings with leadership of the Christians in the province of Hubei and some of the top ranking government officials.
I can't write too much in this prayer list – but I can tell you that you ought to pray for these connections that our dear brothers Tony and Wong have made here in central China. We met and had a chance to talk, teach, witness, and share and eat and share and pray and eat with the very top leadership of central China. There are seeds that have been planted here that when the good Lord gives them life and water and more Son, will be a part of the Tsunami of faith that is going to overtake China and Asia and make many millions of disciples of Yeshua the Messiah in Asia. The way China goes Asia goes. This is true in politics but it is also true spiritually. I can't write too much details, but I can tell you that God has opened some very significant doors in China for the Restoration of the church and relationship with Israel and the Jewish people. China can and will turn to the Messiah if the churches learn to work together and have some unity and detach from the traditions of the European denominations and truly turn to “sola scriptura.” It is possible, it is God's desire, it is our desire and more than all it is their desire. God will make it happen and you my dear brothers and sisters must pray and ask God to make it happen and pray for the Lord's speedy return.
Today, the Lord willing, I shall fly to Korea. In Korea my first two days will be with the NewLife church in Seoul. This is a wonderful church with wonderful children who already learn how to sing in Hebrew from a very early age, and wonderfully dedicated leadership. Please pray for me to be healthy and to have a good anointing of the Spirit of God so that I can do a good job teaching, encouraging and feeding this group of young families and their children.
My next set of meetings in Korea will be in the Chung Ang University in Seoul. This is a secular University and I will have opportunities to meet many different people and speak into their lives from God's Word. I ask you to pray for these meetings in the Chung Ang University.
After the University, the Lord willing, we will have three days of teaching with Korean Israel Bible Institute in the Onnuri church in Seoul. These are wonderful old friends and supporters of Netivyah and for many years every year I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Song and Dr. Kim who have been so kind to interpret and translate my teaching to Korean. Here too, I will need a renewed strength and presence of mind to do a good and fresh and inspirational teaching to encourage these dear people whom I love dearly to persevere and continue to love and support God's Work in Israel and for Israel. I pray that God will bless every one of the leadership of Onnuri and KIBI and bring a new and fresh love in that church for the salvation of Israel and the Jewish people.
Please pray for Netivyah in Israel. We have plumbing problems in my office. Hannah has big plumbing problems in her home. We have decided to hire some of our young adults to work in the office because the amount of work that needs to be done to make Netivyah more efficient and a better servant in God's Kingdom is so overwhelming that the few of us in the office could not keep up with it. One of our very good workers resigned and went to study in college, which is good but we had to have someone to replace him. So, we need God's grace to be able to put these young people to work. We also need to pray for the provision needed to hire these fine young men.
Yuda did a survey among the people who come to take food from our Soup-Kitchen. The lowest grade was 91 our of a 100 and it was on the amount of goods that we give. This is natural because some people always want more. The other parameters of the survey were all above 95 points from 100. The questions were very pointed and clear and these results are a good encouragement to all of us and all of you who support this humanitarian help to the poor of Jerusalem.
Marcia is in Tennessee with Barry and his family and I ask you all to pray for her health. Please also continue to pray for our dear older generation brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. They seem all to be in need of healing and protection during this winter: Ahuva, Sara, Zvi, Ilana, Leah, Miriam, Sarit, and David V. Most of these brothers and sisters are above 75 years old and many of them are well above 80 years old. Please also pray for Liz our dear sister in Georgia. She is in the hospital with some serious problems and we want to ask God to heal our dear sister Liz. Ruby, Paulo, Tim Tucker, and our brothers and sisters in Japan Mr. Ishiida, and Mrs. Sadako, seem to be doing better with their health, but still need your prayers for healing and strength. These two brothers in Japan have been praying daily for the salvation of Israel more than 75 years.
Please also continue to pray for me, my health during this very busy travel in the Far East, and also pray for traveling graces.
God bless you all in every way and bless our brothers and sisters that are going to participate in the Asia Messianic Forum in Japan. There are four of us from Israel who are going to be in four cities doing teaching and a number of people from all around Asia are going to participate, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand (if they can get out), and other countries. It is a very important event and we ask for God's grace over this event.
For now I will ask you to continue your prayer support and your financial support of Netivyah and may the Lord enable you to do all that He wants you to do for the Kingdom,
Joseph Shulam
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