Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Arrows from Zion 3/6/2019 Elections Have Consequences

As one U.S. Orthodox commentator said of the Israeli 2019 elections,
"Love him or loathe him, the election is all about Netanyahu."

The Netanyahu charges – character, hypocrisy and a million paper-cuts
by Avner Boskey, David's Tent

Israel’s Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit has just announced his intention to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu on three charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His intention to indict kicks off a process which could last for years in the courts. Mandelblit’s announcement is not a declaration that Netanyahu is guilty, though Bibi’s enemies at the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot (‘Latest News’) crowed with satisfaction in screaming headlines with extra-large fonts declaring  ‘Ne’esham’ (which can mean ‘accused,’  ‘charged’ or ‘defendant’ in Hebrew).

According to Israeli law, anyone accused in a court of law is innocent until proven guilty. However, the overwhelming majority of Israel’s media (which has attacked and castigated Bibi and his family for over two decades) assumes as a given that Netanyahu is already guilty. For them, any trial would only be window dressing on a foregone conclusion.
Mandelblit’s announcement of intent to indict is only a first step in a drawn-out legal procedure. No actual indictment can happen until after the April 9, 2019 Israeli elections. After the elections (according to Israeli law) Bibi’s lawyers will ask for and receive a hearing to respond to the Attorney General’s charges, where they will present Netanyahu’s perspectives and counter-challenges. After that point (which could take up to one full year), the Attorney General may decide drop charges, modify them or formally file an indictment.

In light of all this,
   what can be said and understood here from both an on-site and a biblical perspective?
   what are the ramifications of this announcement of an intention to indict?
   how can we pray about this situation?
Where’s the beef? | In 1984 the hamburger chain Wendy’s presented a TV ad using a crotchety older woman who constantly asked, “Where’s the beef?” During the Democratic Party’s presidential candidates’ debate of that year, Walter Mondale drilled Gary Hart with the same question. The point behind both soundbites was to question whether or not an event or a person’s agenda has substance.

World-respected and prominent lawyer Alan Dershowitz (Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard University) has stated recently that there is no legal substance to the charges against Netanyahu. He “strongly believes that the appropriate criteria for criminal prosecution have not been met” in these cases, and that the “clear and unambiguous (evidence of) financial corruption” needed for solid conviction here is “well beyond what is alleged in the current cases.” 
His arguments and those of other legal minds can be found in the above articles. If Dershowitz’s statement is valid (that there is not sufficient legal evidence to attempt a conviction), why then is the Attorney General moving forward with this very damaging gambit only 40 days before Israel’s next general elections?

Clash of the titans | Power politics is a way of life in most countries of the world, and certainly in Israel. Powerful businessmen attempt to influence political decisions in ways which will be advantageous to their own economic interests. In Israel each major political party is financed and influenced by specific tycoons.


Property developer Alfred Akirov supports Benny Gantz and his Israel Resilience Party, Hosen L’Yisrael. (Wikipedia: Israel Resilience Party). In the past he was a main contributor to Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Ehud Olmert.
 
Histadrut Chairman Avi Nissenkorn and his government monopolies (Israel Electric Corporation, the Ports Authority, the Israel Airports Authority and other powerful unions, all organized under the Histadrut Labor Federation) also support Gantz.

Koby Maimon (natural gas and real estate magnate) backs Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his Kulanu party.

Business magnate Arnon Mozes backs Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid who worked for years as a journalist at Mozes’ Yediot Achronot. Mozes controls Israel's biggest media conglomerate Yediot Tikshoret; Channel 2, one of the top TV channels; HOT Cable TV company (second largest); Vesti, Israel's largest Russian-language daily; La'Isha, the Israeli women's magazine; Rosh 1, a teenager weekly; the Internet portal Ynet; the men's magazine Blazer; print houses; voice data providers, music distributors, information services and a plethora of real estate properties.

The Labor Party is headed by Avi Gabbay and seconded by Knesset Member Itzik Shmueli. Nochi Dankner the former Chairman of Israel’s biggest conglomerate IDB has contributed handsomely to Shmueli, as has Arnon Mozes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party are heavily supported by casino baron Sheldon Adelson, owner of the freely distributed newspaper Israel Hayom (in active competition with Mozes’ Yediot Achronot).

Adelson is also a major supporter of Naftali Bennett and his Hayamin Hehadash, or New Right party (Wikipedia: New Right (Israel)).
                Most of Israel’s political maneuverings, machinations and headlines reflect the jockeying between these ‘Power Rangers.’ Charges and counter-charges against top politicians continue to be the daily bread of Israeli media for the past 20 years, with much of the bile directed against Netanyahu and the Likud Party – who nevertheless seem to continually win in election after election. 
    Two of the three main charges against Bibi concern clashes between him and some of the above-mentioned power magnates. The technicalities of the legal charges are to a large extent wallpaper covering other deeper holes and struggles.
Dershowitz notes in the above-mentioned article that “these media companies will seek to influence the political discourse that affects their bottom line, as they simultaneously report on it.” 
The Hypocritical oath | Professor Avi Bell (Professor of Law at Bar Ilan University and the University of San Diego, Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum, and Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Project on the Foundations of Private Law) comments concerning one of the bribery charges – Hollywood magnate Arnon Milchan’s personal gifts of champagne and cigars to Bibi and his wife Sara.
    Continue reading this powerful outlay of facts at the Boskey's prophetic David's Tent site

Arrows from Zion
Summarized from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests Israeli Ministries by subscription only donna@israelprayer.com
An encouraging, uplifting report from Israel Pochtar back from the underground reconciliation conference in Turkey with news from believers in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and so on. One of the most encouraging is the report from Azerbaijan as the govt sought out the pastors asking they plant more churches and increase their numbers! An open invitation to spread the Gospel! Also Israel is carrying the report of how challenging - at great personal risk - it is for these pastors. Learn more by connecting directly with the ministry, or by subscribing to the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries

Hasdey Yeshua congregation in Arad is rejoicing at the contrast of the scorched earth from Gaza arson balloons last year to the super-abundant burst of life with grasses & Kalaniyot flowers now carpeting the area. A taste of God's promise to bless no matter what.


A key prayer point from Intercessors from Israel: the Election "balagan" (total mess): "The timing of this smells of political manipulation.... Lord help us; teach us to pray into this messy situation.... Abba, forbid that a socialist government be recreated in Israel in the next elections"  

Revive Israel, Asher writes on Deny Myself? – Why? Plus 2 videos What does the Bible say about Jewish/Palestinian Settlers? Youval Yanay & Cody Archer, and Dan Juster on Israel's Irrevocable Calling  

Ron Cantor was interviewed by i24 News - they promised it wouldn't be a hit-piece &he says it was super positive!  Watch here. Also Ron's take on the news in video on Facebook Busy Week in Israel! and his website Your Israel Connection

Josh Simon, who now heads the ministry his father once headed before being fatally struck by a vehicle in Iraq, Voice in the Wilderness, tells us how they are pressing in to be faithful to spreading the Gospel. They just lost their Jewish grandfather, his father Antony's dad, who was not born again. Josh speaks of this in the most honest terms I have heard ...maybe ever.  There is no glossing over the need of all for salvation, no matter how much we love them.  Josh & family are moving to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv & ask prayers over their on-going work of ministry in various places, home & abroad.

Kerem-El is the congregation plant the Carmel Congregation which is building a strong community for families and a vision to be the support system for their congregants.  Ways they are doing this is through Shabbat dinners & fellowship; helping the elderly of Haifa; praying together with all congregations of Haifa for their city; special women's ministry, and other get-togethers. Pray for this congregation and for the new believers they are baptizing next month.

Howard Bass in Beer Sheva writes about the upcoming Purim holiday (God Today the Same as Yesterday), the elections, his ministry time in Kenya: "The Holy Spirit is moving and working throughout the Body in the world across every denomination and 'non-denomination' to bring unity". He also shares his writing Chosen People, or Myth and a recommended teaching on the beginning of Gen 1 by Baruch Korman


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

Please keep in prayer these Israeli ministry leaders and believers with urgent health needs

CONTINUED FERVENT PRAYER for EDDIE SANTORO signs of response to chemo has doctors open to giving him more /see update above; and Elisheva's good report last week for Jacob Damkani's rehab |  Ronit Bender is home from the hospital and being watched for more definitive evidence of the leaking heart valve. Please pray that no weapon formed against against all three of these shall prosper &that miracles of healing will flow.

      Ron Cantor's mother-in-law fell breaking her pelvis now in a rehab facility mending. | Martin Sarvis has suffered an injury to his shoulder & is/was scheduled to see doctors, asks prayer for recovery & wholeness |Ruth Nessim has several health issues, one of the most critical is her EYES which has sent her to the hospital many times. Please pray for Ruth in Nahariya|  Olga Bikas’s health condition that seems to have become chronic, with no hope from the doctors for any improvement in the future. This, no doubt, puts an additional emotional and physical burden on our family. Please pray for her acute back pain. | Albert a Messianic leader from southern Israel, has had a successful surgery and an amazing recovery but keep praying for total restoration |  Rania Sayegh asks for prayer of restoration of strength, energy, and complete healing. | In the Acco congregation: Prayer for 5 year old Leon is still very much needed. The bacteria affecting the head injury has been identified as Streptococcus. Up until now all treatment, including steroids has not succeeded in stopping this infection. Pray for his mother and siblings as the past months are taking their toll.

Praying the Headlines | Israeli News You Can Trust

As an Israel Watcher for about three decades, including almost 18 years of publishing a weekly summary of prayer requests from Israeli ministries, I offer my choices of the news related to Israel the supporters of the believers in Israel might find most interesting. Now publishing in my Arrows from Zion email and online weekly at my IsraelWatcher blog.  News article links for March 6, 2019 

Teaching Articles  

School of the Prophets | by Asher Intrater, Revive Israel | A key part of our discipleship program is two hours, from 9 to 11 in the morning, when we praise the Lord and train the young people to develop the prophetic gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It’s kind of a school for prophets (and other kinds of ministry), drawing on a pattern from Samuel’s ministry team: And you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them will be drum and flute and stringed instrument, and they will be prophesying. And the Spirit of YHWH will spread upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into another man (1 Samuel 10:5-6).

Samuel was leading a group of prophets who were under his leadership and tutelage. When Samuel was young, he had no one to disciple him, except for the aging Eli, who hardly knew about prophesying himself (see I Samuel 3).  Now he not only prophesied himself, he trained other younger men to become prophets, offering them a discipleship that he was not given.  Apparently he knew how much it was needed.

When Samuel reached the end of his ministry, he called the people together and asked if anyone could bear witness to a single breach of integrity in his years of public service (I Samuel 12). The people unanimously replied that his integrity was impeccable. Even God responded to this witness with a miraculous burst of thunder and lightning (verse 17). What a testimony that is! (And what a beautiful proof of the connection between the supernatural power of God and the corresponding life of moral accountability and integrity on the part of the man of God!)

I know a group of five pastors in Korea, who have been friends for thirty years, since seminary days. They each lead their own church with each church numbering approximately 30,000 members. They meet once or twice a year to renew their fellowship. I asked one of them what they talk about when they are together. He told me that the most common topic was: how to “finish the race well” that is, to finish out their life of ministry with a testimony of integrity.

Samuel’s life gives us a three-stage pattern:
                a young man sensitive to learning about the Holy Spirit,
                a mature man who is training others, and
                an older man who has a life-long testimony of integrity and results.

The training of the younger prophets was not only how to get the gifts, but how to grow the fruit. We want to impart to the young people the prophetic integrity along with the prophetic anointing. Our first five teacher-imparter-trainers were Simcha Davidov, Dan Juster, Ari Sorkoram, Shimon Nahum and myself. We don’t want to teach about the ministry, but to train them into the ministry.

One might question whether it is possible to teach someone to prophesy. In Ephesians 4:11-12, we are told that God gave us “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers” in order to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” In other words, the five types of ministers train the younger believers to do the ministry that they themselves have already been doing. And what ministry is that? Apostling, prophesying, evangelizing and pastoring.

In both the Tenach (Hebrew Bible) and the New Covenant, we find teams of ministers prophesying. If we are not equipping them to do these ministry functions, then what are we equipping them for? Apostles and prophets do exist. This is the work of the ministry. We have a mandate to train younger “saints” to operate in those ministries.

You can’t train someone to make up a prophecy. That is the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. But you can train someone to be sensitive to listen and speak out the prophecies that the Holy Spirit gives. We can’t make God speak, but we can train ourselves to listen.

One of the ways we listen is by providing an environment with music and praise, which enhances hearing from God (see II Kings 3:15). In I Samuel 10:6 (above), the musical instruments were “before” the prophets. That means the music is a servant to the prophecy. Our goal is not to sing and strum, but to invite the presence of the Holy Spirit, who will then lead us into His own purposes. The music is a tool; the goal is the presence; the outcome is the prophecy. In a two hour meeting we usually get to about four songs.

The presence of the Holy Spirit should be so strong that an unbeliever or an untrained believer can walk into the midst of a prophesying “session” and be instantly and radically transformed even to becoming a “different” person, “another man.” We desperately need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to bring salvation and deliverance to our people. We are committed to seeking that presence and being available for that power.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit today, including tongues and visions, are a continuation of the anointing of the prophets of ancient Israel (Acts 2:14-16). The prophetic anointing on Samuel led to the coming of the Messianic King David. The prophetic ministry of John led to the first coming of Yeshua the Messiah. God is raising up a generation of new Israeli believers, who in the same Spirit, will lead up to the second coming of Yeshua.

The eyes in the physical body represent the gift of prophecy in the body of Messiah. There is a prophetic perspective of the international church, and there will be a prophetic perspective of the restored end-time Messianic remnant of Israel. We need both.

Yeshua started His discipleship program with 12 chosen staff interns (Luke 6:12). Paul started his discipleship school at Tiranus with 12 Spirit-filled students (Acts 19:6-7). We are starting our program with a dozen young trainees. Our daily program features: two hours of praise and prophecy, two and a half hours of teaching, and required reading lists in Hebrew and English. The students also have a weekly evangelism project, a weekly congregational service, and a weekly accountability interview.

Please keep us in your prayers. We continue to pioneer new ground here, and we are trusting the Holy Spirit to continue to lead us as we develop the program along the way.




Donna Diorio 
donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
 
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