The Jerusalem Prayer List – March 3rd, 2011

Last week I could not write the Jerusalem Prayer List because I was actually flying home from the United States of America to Israel. Landing in Israel in the midst of the turmoil in the Arab countries around us was in a way a kind of surrealistic experience. Israel is an island of sanity, freedom, and tolerance, in comparison to any Arab country in the world. Israel is not perfect and in fact there is so much that needs to be corrected, and there is no little corruption in our institutions and government, but relatively speaking Israel is a rose among the thorns, a diamond in a brass setting. The Arab countries that are now going through this Islamic revolution are now reaping the harvest of years of neglect and abuse of their citizens. The West also kept their mouth closed and said nothing for so many years while the leaders of these Arab countries were exercising their tyranny and collecting dollars in their Swiss bank accounts. So, finally now we are home. From the minute that we landed we are on the run from morning to night trying to keep up and catch up. Being home is wonderful but it is no less busy than being on the road. I have preached in our congregation in Jerusalem, gave a seminar in Haifa, worked on the next Teaching from Zion magazine, dealt with problems in the office, and took care of other problems all in the first week after landing. I tell you these things so that you would know that even though soon I will pass the social security threshold of being 65 years old, I can still keep up and even get the young people around me to get tired when they try to keep up. I do ask you to pray for me and for all of the Netivyah staff. We are a small staff with very big challenges and we can't meet these challenges without God's help and the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

Zerubbabel is one of the names on the genealogy of Yeshua. He was a direct descendant from the house of King David. Zerubbabel led the second wave of those returning from the Babylonian exile in the 5th century B.C.E. He came back to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Exile and an Angel lead him and told him: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6) All of the challenges and events that we face must be taken and victory must be claimed with these words given by God to Zerubbabel. This principle is true in the 5th century B.C.E. for Zerubbabel and Israel, it is true for us today too. The wars that we win can not be won by physical force or the weapons of the world, they have to be fought by the means of the Spirit of God. As Disciples of Yeshua we are all warriors doing our best to win this war, but we must be willing to fight it and stand for the highest principles of humanity like, love and truth, justice and righteousness, and care for the needy and poor. The might of God and the Spirit of God manifest themselves in what people do much more than what people say. Pray for us all to do more for the Kingdom and bring glory more for the King. In our world there are still people being killed only because they are Christians, just this week the only Christian member of Parliament in Pakistan was killed in front of his mother’s house. He is the second and last Parliament member in the Pakistani government. The world is actually keeping quite, and the big countries that report to be based on Christian principles doesn’t do anything about it. The only ones who can do anything significant in this world when such injustice is done are the disciples of Yeshua those who follow their Master and are even willing to die for their faith. This Pakistani politician just last week said that he is willing to die for his Christian faith, now he is dead for his faith. Let us notice and honor people who have such strong and unmovable principles of faith that they are willing to die for their convictions.

The conference in Portugal in December was a great success. We had one of the biggest conferences dealing with the Marrano Jews of Portugal and it was one of the most international conferences on this subject. It was unanimously decided during the conference to have a much bigger meeting with a much greater impact in Israel in 2012. The Lord willing next week I shall start preparing for this much bigger conference on for the saving of the Hidden Jews of Portugal, and South America. The plan is to make a conference in Israel that will gather many more people and more prominent personalities from around the world to speak up with greater clarity and give the world and the state of Israel a challenge to free the captives and release the prisoners of conscience that the Catholic church has called Christianity. The Yeshua or His true disciples could never condone the ugly monstrosities called Christianity. Yeshua could never be a part of persecuting anyone but especially His Jewish brothers and sisters and doing it in His name. In this up coming conference we will speak clear and loud that what happened in the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition was against Yeshua and against His teaching. It is time to call these Jews who have lived a double life to come home. I am asking you all to start praying for the conference in 2012 and pray that the Lord will provide the needed financial support to make this conference happen in 2012, and that the right doors will open and the right people from Israel and the world will commit to take part in this conference and support both in prayer and with their commitment to participate. Netivyah is also going to publish a DVD with a short 30 minute documentary of the conference in December. We will be willing to send this video to anyone of you who would wish to see it.

Please keep praying for the poor of Jerusalem.

The book Hidden Treasures has now been translated to English, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, and of course Hebrew. The new book Dwelling in the House of the Lord: God, Israel, and the Church, is also getting published in English and it is being translated to German, and Dutch too. The English is being delayed by a couple of weeks because we want to make sure that we catch all the possible mistakes before we actually print it. This delay will only be a blessing for the future to all those who read the book.

Kol HaYeshua radio is a major blessing for the body of the Messiah for all those who can hear Hebrew. I don’t know how many listeners we actually have but I know that there are many who do listen and especially orthodox Jews who don’t have televisions at home listen to our broadcasts, but above the normal radio broadcasts there is the internet and on the internet we have thousands of downloads from all around the world. We have not advertized Kol HaYeshua in the newspapers or on other radio stations for a long, long time. It is time to advertize this program in the papers and may be if the Lord will provide enough funds also in other Israeli radio stations. Advertisement is so important because people become aware of the existence of Kol HaYeshua Radio broadcasts and they tune in to hear and see what is being said there about Yeshua, salvation, Israel, and the Torah. All of these topics are hot discussions in many of Israel’s living-room and during family time. We will have an immediate increase in listeners and responses after advertisements. So, please pray with us that the Lord will provide some funds for this important and very unique presentation of Good News in the Hebrew language and throughout the whole Middle East.

Barry my son and Yuda our youth leader from Jerusalem are actually in Brazil now and they both will be speaking in the conference that is held every year in Belo-Horizonte. I have gone every year since this conference has started but this year I felt that it would be better and wiser to send the younger set of leaders of Netivyah. I know that these young men will do a great job and inspire the participants of this conference with a greater love for God and for Israel and of course encourage the leaders to continue working for the restoration of our faith and of Israel’s faith in the Messiah in light of the Jewish roots of the New Testament. Please also pray for Matheus and Marcelo and their family in Brazil. These are very dear brothers who are going through some difficulties because of their stand for the Restoration of the church and of Israel. These dear brothers are like all others who are standing for the truth of God’s Word paying a price for their faithfulness. The world of traditional Christian denominations does not want to learn anything new or any of the historical background or any of the examples and commands of the New Testament. They have their traditions and their traditions are actually their gods much more so than what is plain and clear in the Word of God. Naturally when someone like our dear brothers points out the obvious the traditional Christian denominations have a hard time accepting it even when they can read it black on white on the pages of their Bibles. Pleae pray that this conference during this week-end of the Carnival in Brazil will be blessed by God and that it will actually build the faith of all those from all around South America who are gathered there to hear the Word of God.

We have several families in our fellowship in Israel who need immediate help with finances because of medical and other conditions. We have a sister in the hospital that is being kept in the hospital after surgery for over a month already because she has no where to go to if she is released. Please pray for her. The Ben-Avraham family is doing the best they can to minister to this sister but only God can actually give this sister what she needs in order to live right. She is, by the way, some one who has come to faith from Islam.

Every year for more than 15 years we give special scholarships to students who are believers so that they would be able to study in the Universities and medical schools in Israel. Every year we give 10 such scholarships. We have students who are studding law and others who are studding medicine and others who are studding things like Bible and religious studies, history, and sociology. We help both Jewish and Arab students. We have this year many more students who need help with this scholarship and we don’t have the budget for it. If you would pray with us to find ways to help as many of these students as possible it would be a great blessing to so many. We actually give each student 200 dollars per month for the school year. This might not seem to much, but it is a great help because the tuition here in the Israeli Universities is between 3000 – 4000 dollars per year.

We are about to publish the new Teaching from Zion magazine and this time we will be sending it to many people who have requested that it is sent to them by e-mail. We don’t have our e-mailing system in place yet, so I would suggest that those who can get it from the Netivyah web page (www.netivyah.org) do so in about three weeks. It would save us literally hundreds of dollars if we don’t have to print and send by regular mail this magazine. As you already know this magazine has no subscription fee and we don’t ask you for money in order to receive this important magazine with very special publication.

Praying for our sick brothers and sisters all around the world is such a privilege. I feel that it is a part of our Priestly duty to pray for the sick. Our dear sister Ruby from Oklahoma City has written me how much she is suffering from pain in her back and muscles. She has so much pain that she can hardly get up and go shopping for food. She is living alone and it is so important that we all lift Ruby up before the throne of God for mercy and healing. Roberto is the father of a very dear sister in Brazil. He just had a heart attack three days ago – just before the conference in Brazil. We see it as an attack on the importance of this conference. Paulo is the son of one of our leaders in Brazil and he too is under attack and needs deliverance and healing from the Lord. Paulo’s healing would be such a release for the leadership of the congregation in that city and of course a major blessing for the Name of our Lord among many brothers and sisters. Michael is in need of God’s healing and restoration of both body, soul, and spirit. David, we have several Davids that need healing and strengthening of their bodies. Please lift our dear beloved Davids before the mercy seat of the Lord and bring them under the blood that is on the mercy seat of the Almighty.

We have those for whom we pray all the time, they are older and need multiple miracles from the Lord for their healing and for the years that the Lord is giving them. Please pray for, Ahuva, Ilana, Leah, Sarit, Tatiana, and Myerav, Mr. Ishiida and Mr. Abe’s mogther-in-law in Japen. They are both very old but they are both soldiers of the Kingdom of God who have been praying for the salvation of Israel for many decades. Please lift Marcia my wife in your prayers and also her father, Mr. H.E. Saunders and her mother Mrs. June Saunders. They needs God’s healing and strength to life and continue serving and blessings others in their fellowship.

In Finland we have our dear brother Dr.Tim Tucker, who is suffering for so many years from A.L.S. and he is already a medical miracle, but we ask God to make even a greater miracle and heal him. Our brother Keijo went through total knee replacement on both knees not long ago and I pray for the Lord to restore his health and deliver Keijo from pain. The same is true for one of my teachers and dear brothers in Atlanta, Brother Long. He too went through his second knee replacement surgery and needs strength and relief from pain.

The feast of Purim is coming to in just a short time and when Purim comes it is a kind of a sign that the winter is coming to a close. The average rainfall in Israel is around 50% of what is should be and the Sea of Galilee is very law and in danger of turning and becoming saline. This is a great threat to Israel and the whole Middle East. This is an issue of prayer. In this land if there is no rain it is actually a sign from God that we are not doing what He, the Almighty, has requires of us. We need your prayers for God to show His mercy on this land of Israel and send us the rain that is so needed here. We need at least one hundred days of good rain in order to fill the Sea of Galilee again. We know that God can do it if He will do it. We have the ability and responsibility to cry to him and change His mind and beg for mercy on this land of Israel.

Thank you so much for praying for us and with us for these needs. I pray that God will bless you and deliver you from any evil and from all evil friends and give you more faith and more hope and for sure more Love.

Joseph Shulam