WEEKLY Arrows from Zion 12/11/2013

Arrows from Zion
Serving the Body of Messiah in Israel since August 2001 
& Strategically Aimed for the Lord’s Harvest in Israel

Donations: PayPal acct is donna@israelprayer.com
or make check to Donna Diorio PO Box 111302 Carrollton TX 75006
I do not have tax exempt status.

Priority Prayer Focus Dec 4, 2013

It is very likely that I will not put out another Weekly Summary or Arrows from Zion until the week after the Christmas holidays.  I am not one of those Christians who supports Messianic Israel thinking that I must turn my back on the traditional Christian holidays.  I used to be but my identity crisis is now settled – I am a Christian who loves and supports the Jewish part of the Body, Messianic Israel.  I love the Jewish holy days.  They are Biblical and prophetic – a message from God to the Jewish people regarding His redemptive plans for all Israel through the Messiah.  But I do not believe that rejecting the worldwide acknowledgment of the Messiah’s birth through the Christmas holiday is productive.  We lose many opportunities to bless the people around us with the good news that the angels declared at the birth of Yeshua….we miss them so we can grouse and quibble over “real” birthdays and “pagan” and idolatrous influences.  Understand – every godly expression the enemy steps in to mar.  It is up to us to shine forth with the light and truth, not to be overcome.

So I will be preparing for our family Christmas activities, and I need to take off from preparing this weekly prayer letter to do that.  A few weeks ago I figured up that I have put out a little over 600 weekly issues of this prayer letter in the last 12 years.  It is such a blessing to me to do this and it has given me such a great love and insight into the Body in Israel.  But for the next two weeks I am taking off and declaring it family time.  We have seeds of love to plant in our families at this time of year too.  I urge all Christians to do so.  Jesus is the reason for the season. That is not just a marketing slogan.  –Donna

Urgent HEALING Need: Life and Death is in the power of the tongue

Tom Bender Tom’s wife, Ronit:  The Pet-CT scan report is not good. Tumors have gone to the lungs, stomach, pancreas, intestines and the spine, some as big as 6cm. The tumor under Tom left arm has grown to 11cm.  What do we do next? Our doctor will be organizing a meeting for us with the hospice team, and we are praying to be able to get a bed in the Italian hospital, the same hospital we went to do concerts for the dying cancer patients.  Shall we continue to pray? OF COURSE! We trust the Lord of the 11th hour!  Our son Josh will come from Perth for a period of time, which will be lovely. We are looking forward to our time together. Tears run down my face as I am sharing my heart with you. You truly have been a family to us.

  

Contact information for all the ministries is included inside the attached Weekly Summary.
Arrows from Zion
Strategically Aimed for the Lord’s Harvest in Israel

Eddie Santoro of Ahavat Yeshua (Love of Yeshua) congregation in Jerusalem writes that winter does not come in Israel on a specific date on the calendar; winter arrives with the first rain of the season.  Praise the LORD for the winter season commencing and terrific downpours.  Israel depends on the rain from Heaven, so pray that God will bless this winter season with abundant rain and snow.  Santoro reports that the spiritual rain in their congregation has also be pouring on them by the Holy Spirit.  “The worship has been great” and “the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been flowing.”

Read about the New Beginnings at the Return to Zion Center in Haifa by the congregational leader Leon Mazin.  The kehilah, which began in 2001, recently moved into a new facility (not a rental!) and they are advancing the kingdom of Messiah in their area.  Mazin shares some photos from their Sukkot celebration inside the Weekly Summary – as well as a need for the ministry to replace their mini-van which has served them the past 10 years but now is becoming too frequently expensive in repairs.  Learn more about this ministry inside the Weekly Summary.

Howard and Randy Bass returned from a Prayer for Israel conference in Willersley Castle in the UK, which was well received.   While they were away several major events took place – they became grandparent again (Rotem & Joseph Magen delivered a second son); one of the founding members of the Beer Sheva congregation passed into her eternal reward, Ester Svvanto; the arrest of a Jews for Jesus campaigner took place during their Beer Sheva outreach – no doubt through the opposition of the local anti-messianic religious folk.  

If you don’t know, Howard’s congregation is well acquainted with both the low and high level of harassment from the Yad L’Achim anti-missionary activists and their willing cohorts in the local religious schools and congregations.  On Christmas Eve 2005 the congregational worship service in Beer Sheva was surrounded by 500 rioting religious Jews who had been whipped up by false information about mass baptisms.  It was not the first mob attack against the Beer Sheva congregation.  The Negev has an especially strong presence of religious activism against the Jewish believers in Yeshua.  Please keep them in your prayers because the local authorities do not uphold the law when it comes to Messianic Jews. You can read more reports about the JFJ campaign on the Nachalat Yeshua (Yeshua’s Inheritance) website under Latest News.

The Carmel Assembly led by David and Karen Davis ask for prayer for the follow-up on the many Israeli visitors attending their Hanukkah celebrations.   Also for the men at House of Victory rehad and the children at the Or HaCarmel women’s shelter.  In May they will host their annual prophetic conference this year featuring Tass Saada, a former PLO sniper and bodyguard of Yasser Arafat, as he recounts his testimony in his best-selling book, Once an Arafat Man.  Look inside the attached Weekly Summary for information about the prophetic conference – registration deadline is Feb 20^th.

A young ultra-orthodox man who has literally grown up demonstrating against the believers in Israel for the past ten years is closer to the truth than he has ever been, Lura Beckford in Arad reports.  M has been coming to picket their premises since he was 8 years old, and though the adults he learned under have ceased to come, M continues to be obsessed and fascinated with the loving believers.  He just cannot stay away.  I have heard many speak of M over the years. Pray that God will reveal the identity of Messiah to him, and that he will enter the eternal kingdom.

Kobi and Shani Ferguson, who are recovering from a major computer crash and backup fail, are finally back online again.  They have many things to share including this article,  Why Jewish Holidays Rock.

Israel Pochtar of the Ashdod congregation Beit Halel gives an update and shares pictures from the teens attending an Arab and Israeli Youth Conference in Eilat.  “Our young people came back refreshed, recharged and full of new ideas and passion to serve the Lord more than ever.” 

Sally Shiff, an intercessor at the Kfar Saba Hamaayan (Wellspring) Congregregation led by Tony Sperandeo, is in the USA for a series of meetings (, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Missouri) representing the congregation.  Her itinerary is featured inside the Weekly Summary in the Touring Israeli Ministries section.  She writes,  “My heart is to teach on how to pray for Israel.  She will use a Powerpoint, and Tony (Sperandeo) taped some 2 min teachings on the same, so I can use that as an intro to when I speak.  I also have prayer cards to hand out, so that when people ask how to pray, I can give them names, faces, and prayer points for them to put on their fridge.”

Ron Cantor writes about Christmas and how as a new believer Jew with no cultural connection to the holiday, he learned the real meaning of Christmas – sharing good gifts even with those who can give you nothing in return.  You can read it online here.

The Sorko-Rams of Maoz Ministries asks for prayers for the Greek Orthodox priest, Father Gabriel Nadaf, who has been in the news for many months because he “has been openly speaking out about the Jewish Roots of Christianity and the need for Arab Christians to serve in the IDF, and stand behind Israel.”  The Christian Arab ‘establishment’ are condemning and ostracizing Father Nadaf, and he and his friends have been receiving death threats.  This is an extremely bold and courageous stand that Father Nadaf has taken.  Please pray for “nominal Arab Christians in Israel - that they will be filled with the Spirit of God, who will lead them to the Truth.”

Urgent HEALING Needs: Life and Death is in the power of the tongue

Please keep in prayer the Israeli believers who are fighting for their lives or other urgent health needs: 

• Four elder ministry leaders in Israel, I learned this week, are dealing with Parkinson’s which is a neurological syndrome.  Since they have not shared this information, I will just ask for you to please pray for them each to be able to continue to live normal lives, and for the hand of the LORD to bless them with healing.
• Howard Bass in Beer Sheva tells us that Ester Syvanto, the wife of Olavi -- one of the founding elders of Nachalat Yeshua (Yeshua's Inheritance) -- passed over into the presence of the Lord.  Ester was born on Dec 4, 1930, in Pushkin in the Soviet Union.  A refugee during WW2, she traveled first to Finland, and then on to Sweden.  There, in 1954, she married Olavi, and together they moved to Israel, and established their family.  Ester's home served as a gathering place for the Messianic congregation in its early days.  Over the years, she hosted many visitors, both locals and tourists, who were blessed by her excellent cooking and hospitality.
• Harvest of Asher   Update on Elena! Her last blood tests were good and the doctors says it is a big clinical improvement. Praise God. She is walking both with and without a walker. Pray for full recovery of body, soul and spirit. Continued prayer for M's health and to hear from God and receive His direction.Please pray for the wife of Ariel Ben David, who leads an Eilat Congregation, and also for his worship leader, both of whom were recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
• Pray for Ami Ortiz for ongoing issues from the 2008 bomb blast – and that he would win the appeal for government recognition that he is a terror victim.  It would mean benefits for the continuing surgeries and legal expenses.  See Leah’s report on their website of the latest round of laser surgeries on Ami’s scarring in this issue.
  
  

Inside the attachment (subscription only) of the

Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries
Arrows from Zion can be shared freely.  Just copy and paste this email into a Word document to make it easy to print.  However, we ask the Weekly Summaries not be forwarded or information republished without consent of the specific ministries. The Weekly Summary is by subscription only, write arrowsfromzion@gmail.com or donna@d10r10.com

Teaching Articles

Don't Bend the Knee to Baal By Asher Intrater Revive-Israel
Will this work for us like it worked for Daniel?  Asher Intrater has a short teaching and experience that says it can and does.  Read inside the attached Weekly Summary

Praying the Headlines

A Few Thoughts on Mandela – and the Criticism of Israel’s PM & President Not to Attend the Funeral
By Donna Dioro

So now even the Israeli newspapers are criticizing Prime Minister Netanyahu for choosing not to go to South Africa for Mandela's funeral saying that he should have joined the leaders from the rest of the world who went to pay respects. Considering some of the things that I've read over the past few days about Mandela connecting with some of the worst of the worst Islamist terror leaders and anti-Israeli contingents, I wonder why it is expected that he would go adding his presence to the hypocrisy. 

Sometimes we need to be the one person that will not go.

For several years I have communicated with a few South African Christians who love Israel, and they have held a deep concern for the anti-Israel propaganda pulsing from their nation. They have also been extremely concerned about the slide back into racism they have been seeing. The end of apartheid had been a day of glorious hope for the future, not only for Blacks but also for South African Whites. I have been seeing comparison statistics of murders of Blacks in Apartheid and the murders of Whites since. It is very shocking to say the least and I see why my South African brothers and sisters are uncomfortable with what they see as hyping the goodness of Mandela.

Surely in his early days out of prison Mandela deserves admiration for how he walked in forgiveness seeking to heal the wounds not perpetuate the hatred. But apparently, and I say apparently because I do not know these events intimately but I do pay attention to those Christians who have lived in South Africa all this time, Mandela could not stand up to the peer pressure and he was too open to the communist and Islamist elements in his people.

I read yesterday that his daughter was talking about how Mandela could not handle his emotions - he could not talk to his family but was shut up internally unable to speak to them. Not just at the end of his life. When something bad happened, he would express his emotions by buying everyone watches or something like that. He could not express comfort, he could only buy them things to show he was acknowledging a painful thing happened. This was telling to me.

Mandela was put on such a high pedestal throughout the world. He could not live up to it. He was not equipped to make the decisions he was expected to make as a man on an international pedestal. Mandela only served one term as South Africa's leaders. I think he recognized he was in over his head and tried to draw back. But our celebrity myth loving world would not let the man recede.

I am glad Netanyahu decided not to go to this funeral. Not to speak ill of the dead, because I think Mandela wanted to tread the right path, but he was not spiritually equipped to do all that was demanded of him by his international celebrity. We do need to pray for South Africa. They do not just need a good man, they need the God man. Yeshua.

Israeli Ministries on Tours

BOOKING meetings now (See open dates)  Inside the attached Weekly Summary are itineraries and open dates for Sally Shiff of HaMayaan Congregation;  Brian Slater of Yeshua’s Fresh Bread in Israel/Chosen People Ministries; and Carolyn & Richard Hyde of Heart of God Ministries.
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Donna Diorio 
 arrowsfromzion@gmail.com or donna@d10r10.com
 
Also
 Israel Watcher – A Second Opinion   Mostly political or current events commentary
| Fruit of the Fig Tree   Spiritual insights 

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I do not have tax exempt status.