The Jerusalem Prayer List – May 2nd, 2012

From Jerusalem for a change – Joseph Shulam

From day to day the Messiah of Israel is being revealed from inside the very heart of the Jewish people. For many years always around Passover there was posters hung all around town with the bright big letters that read, “The Messiah's Meal,” or using normal Christian language it would read, “The Lord's Supper.” These Feasts or Meals were always a mystery for Israelis who are not deeply involved in the Orthodox Jewish Hassidic circles. Here is parts of a large article published in one of Israel's main daily Newspaper, Haaretz.

The day Chabad came to the Last Supper

Article that talks of Passover feast becoming 'flesh and blood' prompts harsh responses. By Yair Ettinger

Chabad spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod sparked a lively debate in the Haredi forum "Stop, Thinking Here," when he referred to bread and wine as allegories for flesh and blood. . . . The article, in last week's Talk of the Week, the Chabad Youth Organization's weekly newspaper, dealt with the Hasidic "Messiah Feast," eaten on the last day of Passover. The feast was originally introduced by the founder of Hasidic Judaism, Rabbi Yisroel Ben Eliezer, also known as Baal Shem Tov, to express the yearning and anticipation for the messiah. The feast includes matza, and the Chabad custom is also to drink four glasses of wine at the meal, as is done in the Passover seder. . . . Brod concluded his essay by writing, "Let us then draw strength from the faith in the coming of redemption and the anticipation of it. We will eat on the seventh of Passover the 'Messiah Feast,' intended to infuse the faith in the messiah's coming into our blood and flesh, like a meal that becomes our blood and flesh. And may we celebrate the last Passover holiday with the messiah in the Third Temple." . . . . Brod added that the idea that spiritual values enter our body by means of food is "an authentic Jewish idea, reflected in eating the sacrificial animals' flesh in the Temple era, eating the Sabbath and holiday meals, etc." "The Lubavitcher rebbe explained many times that by eating this [Messiah] meal the faith in the messiah's coming becomes part of our entity, as the matza and wine become part of our body," Brod said. "This is why I've written about this idea in Talk of the Week about 25 times already. There is not one iota of similarity between that and the Christian ideas. It's simply ignorance coupled with wild imagination and I don't intend to change Judaism because someone has distorted thoughts." . . . .

This article is just one more indication of what is going on here behind the scenes for many years. Israel and the Jewish community have God's promises and these promises will be fulfilled. It is time for Christians all around the world to do three things, simple things, but very very important things:

1. Speed up your prayers for the salvation of Israel. Ask God for the return of Yeshua, and the resurrection of the dead, and the New Jerusalem. Pray this prayer every day, three times per-day, and at the same time say the “SHEMA” and the Lord's prayer.

2. Support financially those who are being good servants and disciples of Yeshua in the Land of Israel. Those who are working to serve the Israeli community and have a good witness are those who do more than just pray and worship and have meetings, but those who feed the poor, and publish good material that speaks to the heart of the Jewish people, and those who present Yeshua to Israel.

3. Learn and study the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and pay attention to the relationship and promises that God promised to the Jewish people and to Israel. Many Christians neglect the so called Old Testament, and for this reason they miss the wonderful faithfulness of God and the Messiah. The study of God's Word is really very seriously being neglected in many of the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and of course in the so called “High Church” circles the situtation might be much worst. If Christianity is going to survive the first century of the 21st century it in necessary for Christians to be equipped with the Word of God, and to know how to use the Word of God to answer for the hope that is in them. The question always needs to be asked is “do Christians have hope?” If they do have hope and it is not visible or they have no answers to explain that hope – there is no testimony or witness and if there is no testimony or good witness – there is no seed to plant and if there is no seed to plant there will be no harvest.

The progress on the building project is gaining speed and we need the financial support for the building to gain speed too. If the Lord is impressing you to stand with us for this building project and support it, please remember that seed that you plant in Jerusalem will bring fruit from Jerusalem that might reach out to the ends of the Earth. Even right now Netivyah has a local multi-faceted ministry with humanitarian, multimedia, radio, lectures, publications, congregational, and also international teaching ministry. We need you to stand with us and help us continue to do the Lord's Work and hasten His coming. Please pray and stand with Netivyah. Please go to our web page and see and hear and read good material. You can also go to YouTube and to Joseph Shulam's facebook and see some of the new YouTube video teaching on the parables of Yeshua. We are getting so many wonderful comments on these teaching from all around the world. They are short 9-12 minutes each and they bring a different perspective on the Words of Yeshua and His parables. These teachings are going to continue for several more weeks. After the teaching on the parables there will be other series on other topics. Please lift this project in your prayers.

We need your prayers for our next trip to Finland and the United States. Right now the schedule is for me to be in Finland from June 4th to 14th and than in the United States. I shall be in New Jersey first for the week-end of June 15-18 and for the next week-end I will be near Washington D.C. in Virginia. From Virginia to Tennessee to be with Barry my son's family from June 27 – July 5th. From July 1-3rd I will participate in the David Lipscomb University Summer Celebration Lectureship. I am not one of the keynote speakers, but I will have a class two days and also do something to introduce the topics of the keynote speakers by bringing something Jewish to the mix. I suppose that in a way, I will be the token Jew, for D.L.U., but it is o.k. Sometimes a small Jew can do more in ten-minutes . . . and bring glory to God and challenge the hearers and upset the complaisant.

I am open after the 5th of July to speak or travel to other parts of the United States for a week or ten days. If church would like to invite me to teach the Word of God and speak about Netivyah's work between July 5th and 9th, I would be open to it for anywhere in the United States. I will be in California between July 9th and 23rd and from July 24th to July 30th in the Dallas, Texas, region. I might take a trip to San Antonio, Texas, to visit Dell Sanchez, a dear friend and together work on planing for the big conference for the restoration of the Marrano / Anussim Jews back to Israel in 2013. On the last week-end of July, the Lord willing, I shall be in Dallas speaking in the Newbeginnings Church in DFW, and after that back home to Israel. So, please dear brothers and sisters, as you can see I will need strenght and stamina to be able to do good teaching and sharing and also to have God's favor and blessings to raise funds for the building project in Jerusalem.

We need your prayers also for Netivyah and the many projects that we have. We need to publish a new Teaching from Zion magazine, and finish the second edition of the commentary on the Jewish Roots of Romans, and finish the publication of our new book on the Angel of God's presence.

Please continue to pray for our sick and ill friends and brothers and sisters: Ahuva, Leah, Ilana, Sarit, Marcia, Tim Tucker, Paulo, Ruby, David S., David K., Tania, Lehee, Zvi, and Sara.

Please pray for those who are in need of work and financial blessings and work: Jonathan, Laural, Noah.

Please also pray for Danah my daughter. She needs strength and protection and blessings in many ways. We are asking God for special grace on Danah at this time.

I repeat the special prayer for the first Museum of the Anussim in South America that our dear brother Marcelo is building in Belo-Horizonte. This Museum is of great importance because most people in South America and in Brazil know nothing or very very little about the atrocities that the Catholic church did against the Jews between the 16th and 19th centuries. These acts of horror have stained the name of Yeshua in the eyes of the Jewish nation and have left a deep historical trauma in the Jewish psyche even until today. This Museum that Marcelo is building from his private funds is of great importance in order to keep the memory and freshness of these events in the eyes of the public and raise up the revival of these people from the darkest pages of Christian History. Please pray and help this project. If you are interested to help please contact Marcelo Guimaraes at: Marcelo Guimaraes < כתובת דוא"ל זו מוגנת מפני spambots, יש לאפשר JavaScript על-מנת לראות את הכתובת >.

I bless you all and thank you and wish God's blessings and Grace upon you in every way.

Joseph Shulam