Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Arrows from Zion 4/24/2019 The Name of Yeshua

Once again I have more ministry letters in than I can put in one issue-watch for them next week


The Name of Yeshua

To many Christians, the name Yeshua is alien to them. They think it is weird for someone to call Jesus Yeshua. Really it isn't weird at all, because it is exactly the name His Jewish mother Miriam gave Him.

The name Jesus came about as the New Testament was written in Aramaic & translated to Greek where Yeshua became Iesous, or Jesus. But believe me, no one called Him Jesus when He was walking around in Israel because the point of His birth is captured in the name He was given, Yeshua means salvation.

I was reminded of this as we gathered with Tony's mostly Catholic family on "Easter" Sunday and a boyfriend of one of the granddaughters (new to our family holidays) got a quick giggling explanation after Tony ended the food blessing with, "In Yeshua's name."

Years ago, it was probably 1992 or so, when Tony and I associated ourselves with a local Messianic Jewish congregation. That was when we began to transition from calling Him Jesus, to calling Him Yeshua. It was for a very simple reason: because as weird as it sounds to Christian ears to hear Him called Yeshua, it is even weirder for Jews to hear Him called Jesus. That is because the history of anti-Semitic persecution that distances Jews from realizing He is one of them.

In their mind, Jesus is the god of the Gentiles, not a Jewish man born in Bethlehem, traversing Israel healing the sick, casting out demons and speaking of how to enter the kingdom of God.

Tony and I made the transition from calling Him Jesus to calling Him Yeshua, and it has become natural to us. It isn't anything we put on.  Sometimes when I'm talking to a Christian who has no understanding of Messianic Jews in the plan of God, I will use the name Jesus, but I have to consciously choose to call Him "Jesus" instead of His real name, Yeshua.

For years at the family gatherings, Tony has always been the one who prayed over the food, and he does it in the name of Yeshua just like he does over our evening meals. It is as natural to him to say Yeshua instead of Jesus as it is for me, even though I am the one who carries the vision for the salvation of the Jewish people which the LORD gave me long, long ago.

We use the name that His parents gave Him — Yeshua. Not to be "accurate" but because we desire for the Jewish people to be able to see that He really is one of them. It is out of sensitivity, not out of some legalistic reason. Also, I want readers to know that I do not share this to pressure anyone to change from using the name of Jesus. It is only an explanation why my husband and I use the name Yeshua.  — Donna Diorio

Arrows from Zion
Summarized from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests Israeli Ministries by subscription only donna@israelprayer.com

Avner Boskey tells the secret hidden in the Passover seder in his trademark mashup of humor and prophetic truth. Read Rough-riding against the gods of Egypt at his site

Ron Cantor talks about how the resurrection of Yeshua was celebrated through the Passover for the first three centuries until it was officially ended in 325 at the Nicean Council. See more on Ron's Facebook pg

Adding to Ron's info, I have included information from a Catholic historian who detailed how pope Silvester actually cut the Christian ties with the Israeli Messianic believers in 318. This is critically important because it is the account of the Israeli leaders appealing to Rome to resume the contributions to support their work among the Jewish people that the Apostle Paul established. This pre-dates what was done at Nicea, and if we must put the axe to the root, we cannot ignore the facts relayed by a former Jesuit priest named Malachi Martin in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church (1983).  See more in the Weekly Summary, if you have a subscription.

Michael and Dina Beener, City of Life congregation, minister to the people of Sderot, that city close to Gaza so hard hit for years on end by rocket falling all around them. Please pray for this ministry who minister to the humanitarian and spiritual needs of the people of Sderot, also helping them with psychological and emotional assistance. If you can help them with financial support, they would appreciate that too.

Evan and Maala Thomas are returned to Beit Asaph from their time in New Zealand and file a report on all that has been going on in their absence, plus the plans for the future. Evan is also in the midst of writing a book, and there are still many ministry travels abroad upcoming.  They write, "Our absence from daily leadership of Beit Asaph gave opportunity for our coworkers Lev and Ora to grow in experience and confidence in their pastoral leadership. Together with a team of younger men and women who have been in training for several years, they provided a caring, stable, spiritual environment for the BA community in our absence. This has also given further impetus to outreach and new-generation leadership, for which we have hoped and prayed. Being founding leaders and spiritual parents of a community requires much wisdom and discernment, especially as we step aside in certain areas to give others the space they need to practice and develop the gifts God has given them."  More in the Weekly Summary.

Chuck and Karen Cohen, of the Intercessors for Israel in Jerusalem send their personal ministry letter which expands on topics they are covering more briefly in the IFI Prayer Points. You can read the full ministry letter online here. Chuck talks about the power of intercession, the distortion of history, the growth of anti-Semitism and especially Islamic anti-Semitism, among other topics.

Eli Ben-Moshe of the Ashira Project  (along with Kobi & Shani Ferguson of Yeshua Israel Ministries) have a slew of newly produced music and videos from Israeli Messianic worship artists including Eli Haitov's new single, a 7-song album by Tanya Kadin, and a new single from Alix Riback. They also welcome artists new to their production company, Evan Levin amd Birgitta Veksler-Lundvall, you might know her 2015 solo album Le'an Elech. Also announcing: "We are really excited to announce that our entire catalogue is soon to be available on Spotify, Apple Music and more. This has been a long time coming and we are so happy to finally make our artists' music much more accessible to everyone." Please click to 'donate and play a tangible part in flooding Israel with Praise and Worship for the King!

Watch this video of an Authentic Passover, made last year at the first Celebrating Seder in the Wilderness put on by Israel Pochtar's, Beit Hallel and Voice of Judah Ministries.  The experience was so profound that they held the traditional Seder meal on Passover eve in the desert like biblical days - and this was not an event for tourists, but for their own congregation and guests! How impactful! Other things Pochtar writes about are the Passover projects, outreach into their community, and also their leadership retreat in the Galilee over the Passover week.

From Avi and Chaya Mizrachi big news in the midst of Passover celebrations as their evangelistic coffee shop in Tel Aviv continues to attract Israelis. They make an appeal for donations to put toward the ability to bring on evangelistic staff ($8000 a month). If you can help, this will free up those people from secular employment to focus on the harvest field which is Tel Aviv. Eurovision will flood the city next month and the opportunities are wide open.  They also have sold the 12th floor prayer tower in order to move to a location near the coffee shop. That will take $100,000 in renovations to complete. This is good soil in Israel's "sin city" - remember: That's who Yeshua came to rescue —the sinners!


Orna Grinman, who ministers about the Tabernacle, has a good word on her blog about the Table Vs. Stage. "Strange, for a stage, or BI-MA (the Hebrew word that describes a high place) is exactly where God forbids us to worship Him!"

Revive Israel Ministries sends out a month team report leading with The Esther Fast and Israeli Elections.
I was especially interested in the short piece, Alignment Round Table with Tikkun Global "God met with us in a dramatic way concerning the imminence and magnitude of the coming together of the world-wide Church and the remnant of faith in Israel, in preparation for the release of the greatest harvest of souls in human history."

Evan Levine, one of the new artists mentioned earlier at the Ashira Project, is also a worship leader at the Revive Israel congregation, Ahavat Yeshua. But that's not all Evan is doing because he is also the head of the HaTikva Project which is making a real practical difference in the life of Israel's believing community and also among the needy with projects like HaTikva Families | HaTikva Aid | HaTikva Dental
Click to learn more, and how you can be involved in practically helping Israelis through a Mesianic Jewish organization making a difference.

After 2 weeks in the British islands, Howard and Randi Bass returned just in time for the flurry of activity that always marks the biblical holidays in Israel. Howard gave a brief of their time ministering in Britain, and also put into a spiritual perspective the horrible terrorist murders in Sri Lanka:  "We will experience more of this vengeance against the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us as the end is more in sight, just as the mother in labor cries out at the climax of her pain for the birth to break forth, and there is delivery and relief and joy on the other side."  Soon (May 3) the Shabbat meeting at Yeshua's Inheritance will switch to Friday night gatherings during the heat of the season.

Sally Shiff sends notice of an opportunity to believers in the nations to open their homes to traveling Israelis just out of IDF service and seeing the world. She writes, "I wanted to pass along this information to you if you are interested in joining this and opening your home to travelling Israelis. The person in charge used to go to our congregation and is personally endorsed by Tony and Orna Sperandeo." Learn more at www.chiburim.com/english or by writing info@chiburim.com

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 A troubling update does not stop us from believing for total healing in our brother /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 all three of these shall prosper & that miracles of healing will flow. 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.

Teaching Articles 

In case you are not aware, Tikkun Ministries sends out a goodly amount of short articles via WordPress emailings from various of the Tikkun-affiliated ministries. Truly these contain insight and information you don't want to miss. Here is just a sampling of recent mailings. Subscribe by writing webmaster@tikkunministries.org for WordPress mailings
                Alla’s Journey | by Martin Shoub, Tents of Mercy/Tikkun | This is an article that is helpful in understanding why Israel Messianic ministries have such an opened door to mininister among the Russian Jewish immigrants.

                The Blood Cries Out | David Shish, Olive Tree/Tikkun | One day in worship at the discipleship training center there was a deep sense of God having brought us out of darkness into His light. As I asked what this darkness includes, I saw that one of the darkest things in us is the tendency to accuse and judge others. This is a serious issue and we must decide conclusively what our attitude will be towards others in this regard.

                As Time Goes By | Asher Intrater, Revive Israel | We want to use our time wisely to make the most of it for the kingdom of God (Ephesians 5:16). We need to evaluate what we are investing our efforts in. Sometimes as we look back over years gone by, we can see what has been of eternal worth and what has not.

                The Quest for Jewish Authenticity | Dan Juster, Restoration from Zion | The two most noteworthy developments in the Kingdom of God over the last 50 years are evangelistic progress in the Southern Hemisphere and the emergence of the Messianic Jewish Congregational Movement.

                Sigid – An Ethiopian Thanksgiving | Avi Tekle, Tents of Mercy | On a high mountain top under the warm Ethiopian sun, swathed in white priestly garb, swarthy, dignified Kessim (Priests) stand before their people reciting melodically the ancient words of Ezra and Nehemiah

                In Violation of International Law | Dan Juster  | The land of Israel is the promised possession of our people. Yet since the days of Joshua son of Nun we have struggled to attain it. This struggle is in part due to the condition of our people.



 Donna Diorio 
donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
 
Please note change in PayPal donations:   
paypal.me/DonnaDiorio
Or by postal mail make donations payable to the order of Donna Diorio
P O Box 111302 Carrollton, Texas 75006 

I do not have tax exempt status. 
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