The Jerusalem Prayer List – 27 December, 2024
By Joseph Shulam
This week's reading of the Torah, the Prophets, and parallel texts from the New Testament is the last portion of the Torah that will be read in 2024.
The Torah Portion is from Genesis 41:1-44:17.
The Haftarah from the Prophets is Zechariah 2:14-4:7
From the New Testament, the reading is John 10:22-28
For Israel, this year has been one of the most brutal years from every point of view, and this is true for all of Israel and all Israelis. The war in Gaza saw many days, with two to three Israeli soldiers dead. When you see daily the faces and smiles of the young soldiers who gave their lives for the protection of Israel and the homes and children of the innocent, my heart feels the pain of the wives, children, mothers, and fathers of those sacrifices. Beautiful lives with such brilliant potential. We have many thousands of orphans and hundreds of widows, parents, and grandparents who are, on the one hand, grieving and praying.
Israel is so unusual because, on the one hand, the families of the nearly a thousand young Israeli soldiers, both male and female, are sad, and their loss is so significant. On the other hand, they are proud and grateful that the death of their children was for the sake of the nation of Israel and for the land of Israel. I can honestly say that there is no other nation that is capable of crying and grieving for their dead sons and daughters and, with the same breath, being proud of the death of their loved ones, sacrificing their lives for the protection of the nation of Israel.
I am sharing these things that seem disconnected from our Torah readings, but in reality, they are extremely connected with our Torah reading from Genesis 41:1-44:17. In our Torah reading, we have a revelation of Joseph's heart and mind, but even more significant than Joseph's mind and heart, we see the heart of God in full practice and demonstration of the principle that we find in Romans:
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28 NKJV)
The Apostle Paul is basing his statement on the words of Joseph to his brothers—the ultimate turnaround. A great tragedy for Joseph, Jacob, his father, and the family, including his brothers, became a blessing. Our reading of this Shabbat demonstrates this principle in the letter to Romans 8:28. Paul's statement cannot be understood when we are amid struggles and the world is heavy on our lives. Even Joseph didn't know what was waiting for him on the other side amidst suffering 20 years in an Egyptian prison and how God would give these prophetic dreams to Pharaoh.
When Joseph reencounters his brothers during the famine, he keeps his identity a secret. He is unsure what to do with them until he sees that Benjamin is not harmed. When he hears that His father is still alive and still grieving for him, he loses his composure and goes to cry alone. Joseph realizes the brothers regretted making their father, Jacob, mourn and cry for his beloved son Joseph. Upon the occasion and holy encounter of Joseph and his brothers, including Benjamin, he can't continue his deception any longer. Joseph breaks down and says, "I am Joseph, your Brother!"
I imagine that Joseph saw his brothers cringe with fear. They now understand that Joseph is alive and Egypt's second most powerful man. They now fear that Joseph will take vengeance on them for the evil that they did to their brother. Joseph calms his brothers with this statement:
"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is today, to save many people alive." (Genesis 50:20 NKJV)
I confess that I have seen this principle work many times in my life, but at the same time, I admit that it is never so clear when you are going through difficulties and hardships and can't see the end of your suffering. But try to pause for a minute when the sky is falling on you, and remember this principle that Joseph shares with his brothers after he reveals his true identity.
After I received Yeshua as my savior, died with Him in Baptism, and was raised from the watery grave in the valley of the shadow of death in the Judean desert, life was never again easy but always satisfactory. I have always known this principle, which Joseph shared with his brothers and Paul shared in the letter to the community of the saints in Rome.
I have seen at work, not in my life, but in the lives of my friends and brothers, the phenomenon where people who have trouble in their lives blame God and leave their faith and even curse God. I am saying it clearly now: if you have such difficulties and hardships and feel that the world is unfair and you don't get your share of blessings, what you need to do is go and wash your face and hands and stand in a place where you can see the moon and stars or in the daytime the sun. Stop! Then, thank God for your life and for your suffering and pain. Speak to yourself in your heart or shout it with all your strength –
"Father ABBA, I know that you love me, and I know that you have the power and the grace to heal and fix and bless me, knowing that all things are for the good of those who love the Lord."
Even those who don't know if they really love the Lord should realize that if they turn around, God's blessings will not delay in coming to cover their lives with God's grace. Because, always, for God's children, ALL THINGS WORK FOR THE GOOD FOR those who love the Lord!
The story of Joseph is also a great example of blessing those who cursed you and returning good for an evil that was done to you. The story of Joseph is a classical story of someone innocent in his understanding of the surrounding environment. After suffering from criminal activity and the jealousy of his own family, instead of taking vengeance on the persons who wanted to murder him, he returned and blessed them. This is rare in human history, both individually and politically.
Before Joseph became second to Pharaoh in Egypt, with the power and the opportunity to punish his brothers, he chose to forgive and bless them. His father, Jacob, sent him from the south of the land of Israel to Shechem to look for his brothers. Joseph probably walked by himself for over a week and arrived in Shechem, looking for his brothers – they were not there. Joseph reacts differently than you would expect a brother, and especially someone who suffered abuse, discrimination, and false accusations by his brothers, would be. Anyone else might say, "The hell with them. I did what my father asked me to do to the letter. I came to Shechem, but they are not here. I don't have a GPS to find them. I am returning to my father and report that they were not in Shechem; I did my best and couldn't find them, so here I am, ABBA Jacob; I am back home."
However, Joseph walked the second mile and made an extra effort; even God helped him by sending "a personality" to direct him and tell him that his brothers were now in Dothan and that he would have to walk another two days from Shechem to Dothan. Pay attention to the details and scheming of the brothers even before Joseph reaches them. Instead of greeting their younger brother and offering him some water and food, they plotted how to kill him. Yes, blood brothers with rejection, hate, murder in their hearts and blood in their eyes, cold-blooded hate, and greedy jealousy – they could at least welcome him and hear the news from Jacob and their families first. No! Their murderous and hateful hearts could not wait to kill their younger brother!
There is so much that we can learn from this Torah portion! Even in the family, evil can nest and bloom the ugly, deadly flowers and fruit of the milk of human depravity and hate.
If you have not understood it, dear brothers and sisters, I am not only talking about what happened in Jacob's family around 1200 B.C. I am talking about today now! How could the majority of Christians in the world get up in the mornings, wash their faces, clean the golden crosses that are hanging on their necks, say their prayers addressed to a Jew, son of Abraham, son of David, put on their shirts and pants may be praying the famous prayer that most of the Christians in the world pray "Pater Nostra!" = Our Father? How do they drive or take the bus or the subway to their job, and on Sunday go to church and worship a Jew hanging on a wooden Cross, and in the same breath that they sing "Jesus, Jesus," have their hearts filled with hate? Even worse, they harbor hate against the brothers, cousins, and uncles of that same Jew who died on a Roman cross with the ultimate identification card, "THE KING of THE JEWS."
Do you think that Jesus converted from KING of THE JEWS to become the Queen of England? Do you think they found a special superglue in heaven to place back his for-skin and make him a gentile? Is Yeshua returning to Rome, Canterbury, or maybe Nashville, Tennessee? Dear Brothers and Sisters, I am writing this morning this Jerusalem prayer list to people, brothers, and sisters committed to the Restoration of the Faith and Order of the Church that we read in the Word of God, especially in the New Testament.
Most of you who read this Jerusalem Prayer List are committed to the Biblical truth and faith. I know most of you are holy and righteous, love God and Yeshua the Messiah, and anxiously await Yeshua's return. I know that you are not antisemites and that you love God and Yeshua and respect every word from Genesis to Revelation. I also know that you stand with us and with Israel during this brutal and evil war of the sons of light against the sons of darkness. This letter and my rant learned from the way Joseph acted toward his brothers with grace, forgiveness, love, and blessings in response to his brothers' evil intentions and hate reflects the love of God and the spirit of Christ, who forgave his enemies and blessed those who crucified him and nailed his hands and feet.
I am writing this to inspire you to become angels and messengers of the Biblical truth and the ambassadors of the Biblical truth that God has chosen the seed of Abraham to bring humanity back home to Zion. Especially on the eve of two holidays, Christmas and Hanukkah (The feast of dedication – John 10:22), two feast days that celebrate light and joy and the victory of light over darkness, of good over evil, of worshiping God our Creator and Yeshua the Messiah, our savior. These two holidays are historically the symbols of love over hate, good over evil, and worship of God and the Messiah over the worship of idols, and the celebration of sin and human iniquity. God's light will overcome this world's darkness.
God's glory will have victory over all the discrimination, racial hate, and antisemitism that Satan is doing his best to spread and cover up all traces of the Jewish blood of Yeshua that was shed on the wooden cross in Jerusalem. You, my dear brothers, are the soldiers of Christ who must stand for God's Truth, love, and Hope for the redemption, repentance, and conversion of all evil to God's love!
Just look at the story of Joseph – how everything turned around—the one who suffered hate and discrimination and even the murderous desires of his brothers. The hunters became the hunted, and the weak became the powerful ruler of Egypt. He could avenge the evil intentions and murderous desires of his brothers. But, No! Joseph chose to bless those who harmed him. Joseph turned the other cheek and blessed his brothers, who had caused him such long-suffering and years in an Egyptian jail. Joseph was considered dead for approximately 20 years in prison, but God's grace and God's time prepared him for the glory and salvation not only of Egypt but also of Israel.
I beg you, dear brothers and sisters, to say a special prayer for the Middle East, which includes both Jews and Muslims and Christians that live in the land of Israel and also our terrorist neighbors. We want God's grace and blessing to cover this whole region from the Red Sea in the south to the Mediterranean in the north of Egypt and all the way to the coasts of Lebanon, Syria, and Türkiye. I want you to pray that God bless these ancient lands and nations. I ask you to pray that all the leaders in these ancient and beautiful nations, full of hate and racial oppression, be melted by the truth and love of God. I ask you to pray that the powerful leaders of our world learn from Joseph and adopt his attitude toward those who hated him. Pray for Hamas and Hezbollah and the Iranians and Syrians and the Hutties in Yemen, thousands of miles away from Israel's shores, who hate us without any reason. This hate between the sons of Abraham is not a rational hatred. It is an ancient demonic hatred whose base is old and evil. With God's grace and the love of Yeshua, our Messiah, your prayers might be the only cure and medication that can cure this hate and make the Middle East the best and most blessed region of the world.
This will happen upon Yeshua's return to Jerusalem, like the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come to the wedding feast. Peace will be restored, and prosperity and blessings will flow from Jerusalem to the last corners of this blue ball called Earth! Pray, Pray, Pray for Israel and our neighbors.
Pray for Marcia and me to be healed and given the strength to continue serving God and His Kingdom. Also, don't forget to bless Netivyah International and the Netivyah projects in Israel. We are doing vital work for God's Kingdom and the Christian brothers and sisters worldwide.
A quick word on the reading from the New Testament on this Shabbat. The reading from the Gospel of John 10:22-28 is one of the oldest mentions of the celebration of the feast of Hanukkah in a written document. During Yeshua's time, the Pharisees didn't have much respect or celebration of Hanukkah, and overlooking this feast was political. The Maccabees, who organized the resistance and led the war against the Greeks, were a Priestly family, not Pharisees. But, the New Testament in John 10:22-28 mentions this holiday, and it tells us the season, "and it was winter." The second place that events related to Hanukkah are found in Hebrews 11, where the writer of the letter mentions the events of a woman who had seven sons who were executed each in a more horrible and cruel manner, and the mother, Hannah, encouraged them to die this horrible death and not worship the idol. This text is also related to Hanukkah.
Joseph ShulamA note about an old friendYohan Petri Born in Western Rumania, husband of Miriam and father of Daniel and Maya crossed the river and joined his Lord in Heaven, on December 22, 2024. Everyone knew him as Pete. In the mid 1970’s I Joseph Shulam had a Bible Study in Tel-Aviv. Three young ladies, students in the Tel-Aviv University, joined the Bible study. This Bible study was conducted in a kind of mix between Hebrew and English. We had J. M. The military attache of the American Embassy in Tel-Aviv and his family, we had several Israeli Disciples, and an Arab brother from Lod, and an Japanese businessman and some time members of his his family, and several Israelis who attended the Bible Study every Thursday evening right in the center of Tel-Aviv in the corner of Freshmen Street and Meir Dizengoff Street. It was a lively class with much discussion just the way Israelites like it. One of the university students was a married woman with two children who immigrated from Rumania invited the whole bible class to meet in her home in a southern suburb of Tel-Aviv remarkably close to the Mediterranean coast. In her home we met her husband, Pete, just at the very first moments it was clear that Pete is not just a regular person. He was an Artist, painter, a very unusual painter. He are was very Asian. Pete called his art Zhen. The truth is that although I am an amateur painter myself, uneducated in Art, but I can hold a paint brush and draw at least a stick or a flower. The truth is that I didn’t understand Zhen Art at all. We continued the Bible study in Pete’s apartment. Pete never joined the class he sat on his chair in the Balcony and smoked, cigarets that he rolled between his fingers. Pete had art and metal statues that he formed with his mind and hands in Europe and the USA, and he acted not interested in what we are learning from the Bible. The American family with two children was living in a big and fancy northern suburb of Tel-Aviv, and they invited the class to move to their private villa and be more comfortable than Pete’s 4th flood small apartment. We moved to the home of the American family in West Hertzelia. One night around 11 p.m. while I was driving Miriam home to her apartment she started to cry bitterly in the car. She said: “My husband is already 11 years drunk and on drugs. I and the children can’t stand it anymore. Tomorrow I will divorce him!” Our older Arab brother, said to Miriam you are not going to divorce your husband, he will change. There was zero optimism in Miriam at that moment. The hour was passed 11 p.m. Miriam said, I can’t live this way anymore, I have to divorce him. Elias our Arab brother said, we are going up to talk to your husband now. Miriam said, he will not let you in he is drunk and may be on drugs. Elias said we are going up and going to pray with him. Miriam said, he doesn’t pray, and he doesn’t care about the family. He only cares about his work, alcohol and drugs. Tomorrow, I will divorce him and he will be in the streets or live in his studio. It was past midnight, and we walked up to the 4th flood and Elias knocked on the door. Pete was in his underwear, and drunk and may be also on drugs. Pete was like a flag pol in hurricane, waving in the no wind. Elias took Pete by the hand and Pete said get out of my house. Elias held on to Pete’s arm and the three of us went into the small kitchen. Elias said to Pete, if you don’t change tonight your life style in a few weeks the police will find you dead in the gutter, homeless and alone. Tonight God is giving you a chance to change your life and clean up your life from all the garbage you are in right now. Pete response was I don’t care! Elias is holding Pete by his arm so he doesn’t fall. The door of the kitchen is closed, and Elias says. Pete God loves you this is why he sent us in this late night to you so that you can get healed from your addiction to Alcohol and Drugs. Pet’s response was I don’t want to be healed from Alcohol and Drugs, I want to die. Elias said Pete pray to God in Yeshua’s name now ask for deliverance. Pete said, I have never prayed before, I don’t know how! Elias said to me, Joe you pray and Pete will repeat. I said the first words and Pete started to say something that was not clear and fell flat on his face to the ground. He cried and cried and spoke in his Hungarian language and we couldn’t stop Pete from pouring out his heart to the Lord. Because I and Elias had to go home, we called John the American Military Attaché early in the morning and asked him to come and stay with Pete and Miriam. This was the last time that Pete was drunk and on drugs. The next day I called Pete’s home, and his children said that he did not sleep at home that night but he is probably in his studio. I drove back down to the suburb where Pete’s studio was located, and it was the first time that I visited the studio. It was a big place almost industrial in size. As soon as I entered the studio and looked a Pete, I knew immediately that God had done a job on Pete. He was a different person, and it was visible. Pete handed me a canvas that didn’t look anything like any art that he had in his studio or in his home. I was a simple medium size canvas with a flower vase and flowers. The difference between this picture was both in the subject and in the colors. It is colorful with bright colors on a dark typical Zhen style depressing color. No! This painting that was still wet and done with different painting techniques, had life in it. Pete stopped painting and creating art went to a rehabilitation center, one of the better ones in Israel, and got saved and saved his family. It took nearer 20 years before Pete took up paints and brushes and started to paint again. This time it was paining the Lord’s supper! The sky and the clouds, Bread in beautiful colors, and many paintings of the sky and clouds. Pete became one of the most important drug and alcohol rehabilitation expert and the director of one of the most influential in Israel rehabilitation center. My Pete’s soul be resting in the bosom of Abraham until the resurrection of the dead. Please pray for Pete’s family for Miriam his wife, and Daniel his son and Maya his daughter and their families.
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