Not being allowed to post the photo:
What Does Israel Have To Do With My Church?
from the Gateways ZOOM meeting on May 11
Trending: Awakening to Israel’s Significance
by
Donna Diorio
For
20 years I have tried to keep an exclusive focus in this prayer summary on the
Israeli Messianic congregations and ministries —not every ministry that
operates with offices in Israel, but specifically Israeli citizen-Messianic
Jewish congregational and ministry leaders. Also Israeli Christian Arab
ministries, however due to the need for so many of them to remain anonymous to
avoid the terrorists who would try to kill them, I have very much few of those
over the years I can feature openly. I
have worn blinders to keep my focus on the Israeli ministries for the large
part. Here is why:
Too many Christians, when donating
to Israel, feel more comfortable just identifying a large Christian ministry
that connects in some way with Israel and donate their funds through them. I am
not opposed to Christian ministries connected to Israel, but this is something
I know for certain, it is ONLY the citizen- Body of Messiah in Israel who are
bringing the Gospel to Israelis. The Christian organizations in Israel, in
order to remain in the good graces of Israeli authorities have to promise not
to engage in sharing the faith.
For the most part I haven’t known
what is going on in American Christian circles or in American Messianic circles
either. Many high profile ministers, I have never even heard of because I have
only been tuned into Israeli ministries. This determination is based on not losing
my single focus of advocating for the Israeli ministries. Why? Because they are
the group who have been most ignored by others in our world of the faith. Sure,
there is lots of focus from Christians on Israel, but I am speaking about the
lack of focus on the household of faith
in Israel —the Living Stones, the Temple that is made without
hands, the body of Messiah in Israel.
There is only one explanation for
the lack of attention to the believers of Israel and that is that the Adversary
has worked hard to make them either completely misunderstood or unknown to their
Christian spiritual family. The good news is that God will not allow that to
continue forever.
Time is running out of the devil’s
schemes to keep Christians from seeing the significance of the body of Messiah
in the Land of Israel. We are beginning to see the signs of awakening emerging
now. We saw it in the explosion of fasting and prayer that Christians entered
into on Israel’s behalf in the weeks between Passover and Pentecost. That is
one sign, but our prayers must be
that this movement does not get sidetracked by those who can only see God’s
love for Israel and have rejected God’s puruposes for the Israeli Messianic
believers bringing His spiritual restoration of Israel by faith in Yeshua/Jesus.
Some Christian pastors and ministers
have been ahead of the curve in awakening to how key the Israeli body of
Messiah is. That means they not only understand God intends the salvation of
all Israel, but also they understand why the Israeli Messianic believers are so
important to the final worldwide harvest of souls. Mike Bickle at KC-IHop is one of the first
that springs to mind. Chuck Pierce at Glory of Zion. Robert Morris at Gateway
Church and pre-Gateway, Morris’ pastor, Olen
Griffing at Shady Grove Church. My
friend Jim Melnick with Friends of Russian Jewry and LCEJ-N America. David McQueen at Beltway Park Church in
Abilene, Tx Troy Brewer at Open Door Church in Burleson, Tx, and in California,
Myles Weiss has been a forerunner of integrating Messianic services within
churches to open Christians to Israel, the Jews and Israeli Messianics. These are all forerunners in establishing
connections not only with Israel and Jewish believers in Jesus, but also the
Messianic ministries of Israel.
I’m sure I’ve missed many others,
but in the larger picture of Christianity, these forerunners are a rare
minority. I do think most of them will agree that right now there is a new
awakening occurring among Christian pastors. In the case of Gateway Church, it
is an awakening that they are actively nurturing. Case in point, the pastors
Zoom meeting I hope you will all listen to (1 hour long) and also encourage
your own pastors to listen to. It is from Gateways Center for Israel led by Nic
Lesmeister.
Lesmeister first became the head of
the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute when the baton was handed off by Wayne and
Bonnie Saul Wilks a few years back. In January 2020 MJBI was dissolved in order
to combine their efforts and Lesmeister’s leadership into the Gateway Center
for Israel. I applaud the work and leadership Pastor Robert Morris, Bonnie and
Wayne Wilks, Nic Lesmeister and their team are demonstrating in educating
Christians about God’s love and intentions toward Israel like the excellent
pastors roundtable video above. If you will follow the link you will find other
valuable resource videos like, Beginner’s Guide to Loving Israel. If
you want to learn more about “Gateway’s Priority for Israel” you
can watch Pastor Robert Morris explain it in 5 videos.
Truly,
these are not just nice things for you to look at, but are great for passing on
important information to your own pastor.
In fact, one of the points the pastors talked with Nic Lesmeister about
in the featured video above was how to approach your pastor about the
importance of Israel, and Israeli ministries. They all brought up ways how NOT
to do that! One gracious way to share with your pastor might be just to share
this video discussion between Nic and 4 senior pastors about their own paths to
awakening to Israel. They also discuss some of the real obstacles pastors
consider in opening their churches to an Israel focus —things like the “weird” stuff like people suddenly start
doing, like blowing shofars randomly during the service. That’s the Israel lover equivalent of the out
of control tambourine player.
One of my favorite sections was 36
minutes in when Nic brought up to how to figure out what Messianic Jewish ministries
to support. Nic said that the usual metrics pastors use to be good stewards of
where they sow financial seed into other ministries has to be tossed out when
it comes to Messianic Jewish ministries. It is so true! And I liked hearing
what the 4 pastors spoke about as their own metrics for choosing where to plant
financial seed.
One of the pastors participating,
Preston Morrison, said, that he would encourage all pastors not to consider
giving into Messianic Jewish ministries as an investment, but to consider it as
a gift. “When I make a gift, I’m not making calls asking, ‘How many are you
guys running in your congregation this weekend? If it’s an investment, we check
in, get annual reports. But the way we see sowing into Messianic Jewish
ministries that it’s a gift to family. That doesn’t mean we are just throwing
money around, it just means we see it differently. Because if we just look at
metrics, the biggest Messianic congregations in the country are 4-500….When we
align and give gifts to the ones He loves, special things happen.”
One thing I noticed was that they all seemed
to lean toward investing their financial seed in Messianic Jewish congregations
or ministries in their own city or region. As soon as I noticed that, I believe
God reminded me of the metric that supersedes all others. It is a prophetic
truth that EVEN a great many US Messianic Jewish Congregations and Ministries
have yet to grasp:
My
metric is this: It is counter-intuitive to what people expect, but honestly
just because there is greater freedom for Messianic Jews in the United States,
nevertheless, the greatest explosion of Jews coming to faith will originate in
Israel first, then ripple out to Jews (and Christians) in the nations. That is a major SPIRITUAL reason to support
Israeli Messianic ministries. They are the ones who need our financial support
the most and whose ground will be the most fruitful to sow into because as
Israeli Jews come to faith, it will trigger spiritual restoration of Jews and
Christians throughout the nations."
Too many Christians, when donating to Israel, feel more comfortable just
identifying a large Christian ministry that connects in some way with Israel
and donate their funds through them. I am not opposed to Christian ministries
connected to Israel, but this is something I know for certain, it is ONLY the
citizen Body of Messiah in Israel who are bringing the Gospel to Israelis. The
Christian organizations, in order to remain in the good graces of Israeli
authorities have to promise not to engage in sharing the faith.
If you want to plant seed in the best
ministry soil in Israel, it is going to HAVE TO BE in the congregations and
Messianic Jewish ministries of Israeli CITIZENS - not just Christian
organizations doing good deeds toward Israelis, which is fine, it's just not
God's highest desire for Israel because that highest desire is that "ALL
Israel shall be saved."
For subscribers to the Weekly
Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries and Arrows from Zion, you have
an extra layer of information about good Israeli ministries your pastor and
congregation can sow into. Each week you are exposed to what is happening
in so many of the congregations, ministries and outreaches. Don’t be shy about
passing along the information if your pastor is one of those who is just
beginning to learn of the significance of Israel and the salvation of the
Jewish people. As salvation continues to increase in Israel, it SHALL send out a
ripple effect throughout all the nations of the world.
Arrows from
Zion
Summarized
from the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests
Israeli Ministries
For now the battle with Hamas in Israel has ceased,
but everyone knows it is not the last battle. Heaven’s war is still focused on
“all Israel shall be saved” and so I am skipping over many prayer letters that came while the battle
was still in progress, to share the many that came in afterwards.
From Asher Intrater of Revive Israel an excellent Gaza Conflict Analysis in an age of media flooding
anti-Israel propaganda. Be informed so you can set the record straight. Asher
writes, “Let me end by saying that in the midst of all
these challenges, communities of Arab Christians and Messianic Jews have been
praying together in love, unity and peace.
The Arab Christians stand in a place of heroism and faith. We hold together the hope for a better
future. Please stand with us.” ALSO Peter, Pentecost, and the Prophet Joel (DD: I came to the same
conclusions in my article We are in a “Let My People Go” moment only from the prophet
Isaiah: Acts 2:16 was the initial
fulfillment of the outpouring prophecies. ALSO WATCH the REPLAY of the Shavuot Zoom Prayer meeting
Shani Ferguson writes for Maoz Ministries “Prayer Concerning the Day
After” –“While we all breathed a sigh of relief when the ceasefire was called
(and we are thrilled to have our whole team back at work), most Israelis are
livid that the operation was cut short before a decisive victory could be established.
Sure, we took out 60 miles of underground tunnels and 1500 terror targets—and
it will take them years to rebuild their terror network—but they are still able
to rebuild. Also, the random attacks on the streets haven’t stopped.” She
continues, “There’s lots of speculation as to why a ceasefire was called so
soon and part of that is that Israel had done about all it could from the air.
If they didn’t plan on sending in ground troops, they had pretty much completed
their mission. Another factor is that both Israel and Gaza respectively felt a
little more of a pinch in their corner when it came to “things to lose” in this
conflict. With the recent approval that
allows Palestinians to submit “war crime” cases to the International Criminal
Court in the Hague, Israel understood this round would come under heavier—and more ridiculous scrutiny—than
previous engagements. Gaza, on the other hand, stood to lose the support of the
UAE who threatened that if Hamas didn’t stop firing rockets into Israel it
would stop its investment of billions into Gaza’s infrastructure.” Keeping
praying. Everyone knows this is not the last battle.
Israel Pochtar continues focus: Restoring What Was Broken - CALL TO ACTION! | Article | Your help and support is
stirred and led by God's promise to His people. The bond between believers
all over the world and the nation of Israel is propelling this nation forward,
even in times when then entire world turns its back on us. Also watch VIDEO Bringing Hope in Time of War and be encouraged by the
devotional by Vicki Pochtar The season of waiting isn’t easy but Keep on Dreaming
Did you know that the small Israeli town of Sderot, less than 1 mile from Gaza with
around 30 thousand inhabitants, is the city with the largest number of bomb
shelters in the world?! And they need them being that close to the
terrorists in Gaza! Hamas calls it “the city of the dead” and that’s why when
Michael and Dina Beener opened their congregation in Sderot to minister to the
PTSD traumatized Sderot citizens, they called the congregation the City of Life. The terrorists –
fueled by the demonic hatred baked into the false religion of Islam —speak
death over the Israeliis in Sderot, but the Beeners have dedicated themselves
to speak God’s life over them. It is just like what God spoke through the
prophet Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every
tongue that shall rise to curse you, you shall declare wrong and wicked.
This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is
of me, says the LORD." See
what City of Life is doing in War
Trauma Recovery Day also in May 9th Victory Day.
Consider becoming a partner
Howard Bass from the Beer Sheva Yeshua’s Inheritance congregation writes
about the picture of the 2 loaves waved before God during after the first
Sabbath during Passover/Unleavened bread. The biblical holidays are full of God’s
prophetic message, and this is no exception, as the new grain offering to God
of the 2 loaves represent Jews and Gentiles who have been called out by God “to
be saved, and totally "baked together" into the one loaf of the Body
of Messiah/Christ,” as Howard puts it citing Lev 23:15-17; 1Cor 10:14-17. He
also writes, “God will fill us with the Holy Spirit in a measure needed to
overcome in these last days the onslaught of evil that we have yet to
experience, and to be up to the commandment and task of striving to maintain
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace within the redeemed family of God
our Father.” He writes on current
events, “As usual, the latest war between Israel and Hamas has led to an
increase in anti-Israel, anti-Jewish irrational rhetoric and policies and
acts. In other words, an escalation in
blatant antisemitism, the likes of which have not been so publicly open and
allowed in the West -- and the US, in particular -- since WW2 in Europe. This
antisemitism is not going to abate, but only intensify.”
Howard also wrote some things that especially touched me, because it is not a
general warning to Jews to make aliyah, but a very personal one. If you love
someone, you will risk rejection to tell them what will save them. Howard wrote,
“I have written my extended family, and to my Jewish friends to seriously
consider getting their documentation prepared, should the time come that they
might need to immigrate to Israel, which now is not at all in their thinking.” Pray
for many to hear the call to “Come back, come back, O Israel.”
Ron Cantor writes that they have received a matching donation of $30,000 for
mobile bomb shelters for Ashkelon from Troy Brewer’s Open Door Church in
Burleson, Texas. With $60,000 they can
purchase 12 portable bomb shelters for this city that is only 8 miles from the
border with Gaza, and also vulnerable to rockets from terrorists. This is not
the last time terrorists will target Israeli citizens with rockets, because the
devil would love to kill as many Israelis as possible BEFORE the good seed of
the Gospel being planted in their hearts by the Israeli Messianic Jewish
believers can take hold. This is like Pharaoh trying to kill all the babies so
Moses can’t be born, or like Herod killing all the babies so Yeshua couldn’t be
born. Spiritually this is exactly what is going on against the whole nation of
Israeli Jews and we can make a difference in purchasing these bomb shelters and
also in financially supporting the Gospel preaching Messianic Jewish and
Christian Arab ministries of Israel.
Avner Boskey clears up some matter in his article In every generation the rise up to destroy us. Like me you have probably heard many mentions
of rioting on the streets of many Israeli cities that has been a jarring
surprise to Israelis during the battle these past weeks from Hamas. That is a
generic reference that in this article, Avner gives a deeper look into the
details of exactly why it has been such a jarring and dismaying surprise to
Israelis.
Read the May 17, 2021 Joint
Statement by the Israeli National Pastors and Elders of Israel
Past
this point all ministry letters that written prior to the ceasefire
Emmaus Way, Arni Klein writes about the many intense pressures we, and
they especially in Israel, have gone through for the past year and half. Even
in relatively stable region of Israel, Arnie writes that the challenges have
been more on an emotional and spiritual level: “I recently realized that living
through the last year and a half brought me to a state of communication burnout….This
last year was perhaps the second most trying period of my believing life.” He writes about “Thirty years ago, the only
ones in the Church to receive salary were pastors and administrative personnel.
The fact that the reality in the Church conflicted with eternal truth plunged
me into a depth of struggle.” Why? Because he saw from Hebrews 11:3 that “The
spiritual nature of a work or act is determined by the motivation of the heart.
We see this understanding manifest in King David, who raised up and supported a
company of Levites whose full-time occupation was to minister to the Lord in
the Tabernacle.” I (Donna) didn’t get it
at first, but again he is talking about the metrics we use to not only judge
the fruitfulness of other ministries, but from my own experience I know we
judge our own ministries to a degree by those same metrics – which really are
not the Heavenly metric. I get exactly
what Arni is saying, because when the Levite ministries are not respected and
honored for the work of the LORD that they do, it shows up in lack of donations
that God commanded for the support of the Levites. When the support is lacking,
who does not question their own validity? He wrote much more, but you will need to email Arni and Yonit to get the full
letter. Also Arni teaching on the subject of Shavuot. And
Mazal tov to you guys for the return of you son and his family to Israel after
15 years in Australia.
From the leadership team in the HaCarmel congregation, despite the horrible
outbreak of violence from Israeli Arab Muslims and extremist Jewish gangs, they
are highlighting that “the
great majority of Israeli Arabs and Jews are standing together, with many
expressions of love, reaching out to each other in various practical ways as
well. Peaceful demonstrations are taking place all over the nation, with Jews
and Arabs proclaiming unity and standing against the division, hatred, and
violence. There are also believers (and non-believers) who have been
miraculously saved out of very dangerous circumstances, as Jews and Arabs are
rescuing one another during this time. Powerful prayer meetings have been
taking place as well, with Messianic Jews and Arab Christians joining together
in intercession, launching “arrows of love” (as one Arab sister described our
prayers) into the atmosphere of violence in our land.”
Watch VIDEO Kehila HaCarmel Shabbat meeting on May 15, 2021 and Worship Watch May 25, 2021
Christian Arab pastors of Immanuel
Church in Haifa, Pastor Najeeb &
Elisabeth Atteih, have
a much longer email about the various outreaches and work, not only there but
in other nations. I have to focus this on their courageous stand as Israeli
Christian Arabs who are committed to serving all, not based on racial divides,
but based on the love of God through Yeshua. Their son, Tino, serves in the IDF
with other Israeli Arabs. They operate an outreach – which is in desperate need
of financial supporters –called the Christian Soldier’s Center. It is a refuge
to all IDF soldiers regardless of race or religion. They write, “Please pray
for our country as it is facing very difficult days....It is difficult for our
minds to understand and process the seriousness of the violence and hatred that
has accumulated on both sides over the years. Now we are reaping its
result....This hatred and enmity is caused by a lack of forgiveness for past
grievances. We know that the only solution and hope for healing is found in
Jesus Christ....There are innocent people who are being killed on both sides.” They
also write, “...there is deep fear of our neighboring countries as rumors and
myths are circulating of a coming war in the Middle East. We are praying for
divine intervention for our country Israel. Please join us in prayer. Meanwhile they are doing ZOM outreach meetings
“with believers from all over including Germany, Armenia, Holland, Iraq, local
Israelis, and refugees from Jordan.”
Eric Benson runs the men’s rehab “House of Victory” connected to the HaCarmel
congregation. It too – really like ALL the ministries of Israel — really need
financial supporters to come alongside them. Eric recently encouraged their
students and graduates from House of Victory with Psalm 119:63 that says, “I am a companion of all who fear you.” Eric
writes, “We need to be a community that sets itself apart through this wisdom
and the way we live and move and have our being in the Messiah.” This was
during a “special meeting with the graduates of our program was a time of
mutual encouragement for all who were gathered. The presence of the former
students imparted strength and hope to the men currently in our home. Their
testimony of victory was an inspiration. As we exchanged our struggles and
challenges, there was a release of comfort and joy.” And, “Through the miracle of a changed life,
one can boldly declare the words of the apostle Paul, “Follow me, as I follow the Messiah” (1 Cor. 11:1). It was a
beautiful night of fellowship. “ To learn more of this fruitful rehab ministry
for men, email Eric
Benson
Rania Sayegh, a Christian Arab prophetic intercessor in the Nazareth House of
Prayer & Exploits shares a vision she had on May 3: “I saw a bride standing
in the middle of a field of wheat. She was wearing a bridal white gown and
walking in the field. She was charmed by the field and looking around with joy
at the harvest. She had a veil over her face and was looking at this vast field
of wheat. The bride looked towards the furthest horizon and began to lift her
veil. As she lifted her veil, the wind
started to blow over the fields. At first, this wind blew gently but then it
formed a whirlwind over the field. I noticed that the whirlwind got stronger
and stronger then began to move and carry the wheat almost as though it was
harvesting the wheat. The whirlwind was carrying this wheat into the threshing
floor. The whirlwind was not only formed of wind but also angelic beings - the
Holy Spirit and angels working together!” Pray that their June 11 Arab Deborahs
gathering will be possible – the first in person gathering in 18 months. She
also wrote about speaking at the northern regional Bat Zion women’s gathering
that is put on by Chaya Miarachi and Norma Sarvis to bring the Israeli women
together for refreshing and teaching.
Last but not least I was happy to run across this featuring David and Leah
Ortiz in Ariel, in allisrael.com Reconstructing Bridges: The uphill battle to restore Arab-Jewish
relations in Israel as Pastors – both Jewish and Arab – are scrambling to
counter hate sweeping the nation. It als featured Christian Arab
pastor Saleem Shalash, pastor
of Home of Jesus the King Church in Nazareth. Watch him in this 12-minute video
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:
Pray for Ronit Bender
whose heart arrhythmia sent her to ER! She is home now with new
meds but still needs our prayers | Pray for Carolyn Hyde whose left hand is so pained she can no longer play
guitar and it is also sometimes painful to play piano | the Silvers: David's knees and Josie's
back pain | Rachel Netanel is still recovering from a broken ankle. She asks for healing & for the pain
to subside. Her ankles were weak already, so the process is slow and painful| A
prayer request for Naomi, for a dear family that is a part of Israel Pochtar's pastoral team, who
was diagnosed with colon cancer. "Despite what this battle entails, we are
confident in God’s unfailing Word and promises." Read in her own words| Please continue to pray for Jacob Damkani for the LORD's mercies over Jacob and
his dear wife, Elisheva | Olga Bikas is slowly recovering
from a broken ankle (after her back surgery!) The recovery process is slow,
but, praise the Lord, she is getting better and stronger, can already walk for
20 minutes and do some physical The recovery process is slow, but, praise the
Lord, she is getting better and stronger, can already walk for 20 minutes and
do some physical exercises. Please keep praying for Olga
My final thought 5/27 Ever since I listened to the Gateway conference with
Nic Lesmeister & the 4 pastors discussing supporting Israeli ministries -
specifically the part about what metrics do pastors use to judge what is a
fruitful ministry in Israel, I have been thinking about what metrics I judge my
own ministry in advocacy of Israeli ministries by. Now, in their discussion,
Lesmeister said that the usual metrics for determining what is good soil to
plant into another ministry has to be tossed out when it comes to Messianic
Jewish ministries.
As someone who has dealt with the
Israeli Messianic Jewish ministries for the past 20 years I get it completely
why he said that. Because the way pastors might judge fruitfulness in Christian
ministries would rely on things that just do not translate to ANY Messianic
Jewish ministry - big numbers of congregational members, or salvation per month
- whatever those metrics are, including how self-supporting they are.
For one thing, it is much easier to
be self-supporting as a Messianic congregation in the USA than in Israel, but
in the USA 80 to 90% of a congregation might be made up of Christians drawn by
God to support Messianic ministries. In Israel that is not the case. The
ministries are smaller, and not self-supporting, nor can they be
self-supporting in reality.
The revelation God started giving me
back in 1992 or so is that Paul knew they couldn't be and that's why GOD SENT
Paul on a mission to establish a financial support structure among the
churches, then to carry them to Jerusalem even though it was clearly going to
end in Paul being arrested.
So I have always known that if I
wanted to be Israel-oriented in ministry, where many, many Christians have made
a darned good living for themselves, that specializing in advocacy of the
Israeli Messianic Ministries sure would NOT be the place to bring in the big bucks
of support for my ministry.
It is a good thing that the metrics
I set for myself in doing this weekly prayer summary for the past 20 years on
behalf of those who are laboring in God's vineyard in Israel is not based on my
own ministry supporting me. I would never have made it to my 20th year if that
was my metric for deciding if what I had committed myself to was fruitful.
Donna Diorio, April, 2021
donna@israelprayer.com or donna@d10r10.com
THANK
YOU to those who support this ministry with donations. ♥
Donations appreciated | on PayPal
donna@israelprayer.com
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.
