Jerusalem Prayer List October 31, 2014 They say that the third intifada has started. Intifada is an Arabic word that means to shake off. The first Intifada started in December of 1987, the second Intifada started in the year 2000, and this is the third Intifada. The Palestinian leadership inspires each one of these terrorist campaigns against Israel and it is a call for disorder, violence, assassination, and kidnapping. In a city like Jerusalem where the populations are mixed and living one next to the other it is really very difficult for a civilized society to deal with street violence that is both institutional and individual. It inspired from the top and executed by individuals. This is actually what happened last night in Jerusalem. A Rabbi who has been promoting for the rights of Jews to go up to the temple mount to pray was shot four times Arab cook who was actually in jail for 10 years for terrorist activity with the Islamic Jihad. He came to work with an automatic weapon and shot the red headed Rabbi. The Israeli intelligence found the murderer in a few hours. He lived less than half a mile from the place of the shooting. The police asked him to come out with his hands up and instead he started to shoot at the police, they shot back and killed him. Jerusalem has been suffering from Palestinian violence every day for more than a week. There has been stones and Molotov cocktails thrown around the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Jerusalem needs your prayers now! There is a whole lot of violence brewing in the whole Middle East. ISIL is in Syria and Iraq killing by the hundreds, raping thousands of Kurdish and Yazdi women and selling them in the Markets of Irbid and Mosul. The world is being quite and the measures of the West to stop this killing in Syria and Iraq are like a ban-aid on the gunshot. At the same time the W.H. is occupied with calling the Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu ugly name, and condemning Israel for building in the city of Jerusalem. Sweden yesterday recognized the State of Palestine, officially. Christians in the World need to arm themselves with prayer and a clear vision of where all these extreme Islamic Terrorist activities are lead, and what Christians need to do about it. Of course prayer is our most powerful weapon against the evil intentions of our enemies, but God might have more ways to resolve these problems around the world. We need to call upon God to pull out all that He has in His arsenal to make an end to these evils and horrors. May be God wants now to have a massive promotion of Aliyah (immigration) of Jews and Marranos/Anussim from all the world back home to the Land He gave to Abraham and his seed forever. (See Genesis 13:14-15) Please pray for Jerusalem and pray for Israel, and pray for the United States and the White House to fall in line with God’s will for Israel and for all the nations of His World. I was gone for ten days to write a new book. I finished my part of writing the book. The title is “Simply Paul.” It is a book that presents Paul and his background as a First Century Rabbi / Lawyer and diplomatic envoy and finally as an Apostle of Yeshua. The book will be small – may be 100 pages and at first it will be in Hebrew and later be translated to other languages. This weeks reading in the Synagogues around the world is from Genesis 12:1 – 13:18. This the story of God’s calling of Abraham and God’s promises to Abraham. In this text there is the interesting exchange between Abraham and Lot his nephew in the conflict about the land and the grazing rights of their shepherds. Let us learn from Abraham how to deal with conflicts between members of the family. By family I mean our physical family and also our communities, churches and Synagogues. Abraham calls Lot to discuss their problem. Abraham is the older and the more powerful and the stronger person. He first tells Lot, “Let us not fight between us . . . because we are men and brethren.” I know that in English the translation only says that we are brethren. But the phrase “men and brethren” is used specifically in conflicts between people who are close. It is used in the story of Joseph and his brothers, and it is used in the book of Acts several times. Peter uses this same phrase in the book of Acts 1:16, 2:29, 37, 7:2, 26, 13:15, 26, 38, 15:7,13, 23:1, 6, 28:17. ALL THESE TEXTS ARE EXTEMELY IMPORTANT. If you follow these texts you will see that most of the time that the book of Acts uses this phrase the address is to Jewish people who are in opposition or in conflict with Peter or Paul. What does this phrase really mean? It is not so complicated. The first thing that we are is human being. The implication is that we need to be men and act like men, like humans with respect to the fact that we are all brothers because we are all children of the Almighty God who created us all and gives us all “He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Second, we are brothers, we are more than just human animals with ability to think and imagine, and we are brothers. This brotherhood has different degrees from very close children of the same father and mother, to very far people who are created in the image of God but have lost all Godliness, but even with these lawless humans we still have something in common and a degree of brotherhood. “Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Genesis 13:8-9) He allows Lot to be first and to chose what he wants. Lot not being considerate of all the Abraham did for him and the fact that Abraham is older. He selfishly choses the best part of the land, the most fertile grazing land, and he does not chose only a part of that good land, but all the good land of the Jordan valley. Abraham and his camp, with all the shepherds and sheep separate from Lot and stay up on the hills of Samaria and Judea all the way down to the Negev Desert near Beer-Sheva. What Abraham knew is this. Abraham knew that he couldn’t out-do God’s mercy and truth. When we do something right, when we walk the second mile, or give our coat also to those who want our shirt, God is there to reward and restore what we have lost. God tells Abraham: “And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” (Genesis 13:14-15) On the other hand Lot who was under the impression of, “I really got a good deal now. I left Abraham, that old man, up on the mountain land, having to walk up and down those stony hills of Judea. I can live in Sodom the big and successful city. My shepherds can pasture in the best land and my flocks will grow and I will get rich and at the same time I can enjoy the Manhattan of Sodom and send my children to the best schools in Sodom and to play football in Gomorrah.” What Lot did not know is that his selfish choice was not the best choice because God looked and saw the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah and decide to put an end to those abominations. Abraham was the stronger and the more graceful and put his trust in the gracious and righteous God “who is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Yesterday when our staff visited our new building they reported that windows and doors are being installed in the building. The elevators are already partially installed. Please keep on praying for this building project. We are getting very close to the end and now our financial needs have been cut to a little more than 100,000 dollars. Praise be to the Lord for His faithfulness never ends. Praise be our brothers and sisters all around the world who have sacrificed and given generously and have made this great monument for God and for Yeshua in the city of Jerusalem. Netivyah was the first local congregation to own it’s own building and Netivyah is the first to build a Synagogue for the Jewish Disciples of Yeshua in this great city, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Thank you dear men and brethren, God bless each and every one of you according to His promise to Abraham in this week’s portion of reading. Please don’t forget Jerusalem in your prayers. I pray and ask you to pray for the following sick people who need a divine breakthrough of healing from God: Clara in Brazil, a young mother with a very aggressive cancer. Please pray also for Udi in Jerusalem, Ahuva, Leah, Ilana, Tania, Sarit, David S., Sara and Zvi, Miriam, and Marcia my wife, Luba, Ludmila, Barry my son, Lonnie and Barbara, Ruby, Paulo, Takeo Sensei, Tomoko San, Sadako San, Shoko San, Toru Sensei, Tim Tucker, Anna, Sato-Maria, Ging and Raymond. I ask you again to pray for Barry our son. Although Barry is doing some better, he is still suffering from diverticulitis and he needs healing. Marcia my wife also needs special prayer. Her situation is again complicated with a major flare up of the Rheumatoid Arthritis. I ask you to pray a special prayer for all our brothers around the world, who have children who are challenged with the faith of their families, and walking on the edge or who have already fallen off the edge of faith in God and in Yeshua. I know many such families around the world. I pray for three things for these families: 1) Please, don’t be angry with your children. 2) Continue to love your children and support them. 3) Work hard on being good examples of faithful and dedicated disciples of Yeshua. Don’t five up on your children. Remember the words of Proverbs: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Prov. 22:6) God be with you and with us here in Jerusalem. Bless you and prosper you and keep you healthy and if you wish sassy enough to speak out the truth in Love, His love! Joseph Shulam
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:26:06 +0000