Prayer for Israel
©September 1, 2008 Asher Intrater

I. Child Murders

 Over the last week, Israeli news has been dominated by the horrible stories of two cases of child murder. In one case, Roni Ron was having an affair with his daughter in law, and murdered her daughter (his own granddaughter), 4 year old Rose; allegedly putting her in a suitcase and throwing it into the Yarkon River.

The second case was of a mother, Olga Borisov, who suffered from depression and was reportedly abused by her husband. In an act of desperation, she took her 4 year old son Alon and drowned him in the sea near Bat Yam.

These crimes show us the ugly nature of sin. Let us repent of our own sins and the sins of our people. May these crimes bring our people closer to God, by knowing our need for forgiveness, cleansing and salvation.

The primary base of ancient idolatry was sexual immorality. (The same may be said of modern idolatry.) The "problem" with sexual immorality is that it produces "unwanted" pregnancies. The unwanted children must be done away with somehow. Thus ritual child murder was the "spiritual" result of immorality.

Deuteronomy 12:31 – for every abomination that the Lord hates they have done…; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

The parallel to abortion is obvious. No one "wants" to have an abortion. It's that lust demands sexual immorality, which produces unwanted babies. Then there is the "awkward" problem of getting rid of those "bothersome little things."

These child murders were done by parents. We need a massive turning of the hearts of the parents back toward love and faithfulness to our children. This is exactly what was prophesied that the spirit of Elijah would do in the end times.

Malachi 4:5-6 – I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

At this year's national youth conference, "One Thing," in Israel, I got down on my knees on the platform and asked the young generation to forgive us for our sins as the parental generation. We asked the Spirit of God to bring restoration and healing of the generations as part of the end-times revival in the Land.

II. Summer Evangelism

Please pray for fruit from the seeds sown in evangelism this summer – particularly for the sharing from the group of young adults, led by Adi S and Liat A, on the beaches. Pray as well for fruit in the upcoming Jews for Jesus campaign this autumn, led by Zeev N.

III. Teen Intensive

Please pray for fruit from our Teen Summer Intensive discipleship program that we just finished. We took 12 of the best young teen disciples and put them through a program that started at 5:00 AM and went till late at night. This last Wednesday Yoel Y led an evening of prayer and fasting for teens in Tel Aviv. God is certainly stirring in the hearts of these young people.

IV. Yad Ha Shmona

Please pray for Yad Ha Shmona, the Messianic kibbutz outside of Jerusalem, for blessings spiritually, financially, and relationally. We have just moved our prayer and equipping center to that location, and we are excited about the things God has in mind. We believe something significant for the Body of Messiah is happening here.

V. Israeli Pastors' Debate

Pray for the National Israel Pastors conference, scheduled for this Friday morning. There has been an ongoing debate among the leaders about the degree of Jewish cultural elements and rabbinic traditions to be embraced by the local Israeli Messianic community. (See brief article below.)

We believe that the scriptures are consistent from beginning to end. Although there were many different authors during a period of almost 2,000 years, they were all inspired by the same Spirit of God. Truth does not contradict itself. The principles of the Bible are developed from Genesis to Revelation; they grow and expand on the same themes.

The more I study the Bible, the more I see how perfectly consistent the scriptures are. The last three chapters of the Bible reflect a complement of the first three: Genesis 1 and 2 have the creation, the Garden of Eden, and the union of Adam and Eve. Revelation 21 and 22 show the new creation, the restoration of Eden, and the marriage of Yeshua and His glorified Bride. Genesis 3 shows the victory of the Serpent over Man, with Revelation 20 showing the victory of the Messiah over Satan.

One passage that has seemed contradictory is the "curse of the Law":
Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law…

Thinking that the Law is a curse has caused fundamental misunderstanding of the Bible message. Paul (Saul) obviously wasn't calling the Law a curse, but stating that the Messiah redeems us from the punishments written in the Law that we have brought upon ourselves by sin and disobedience.  

This can be demonstrated reading the prayer of the prophet Daniel. I believe Paul had this passage in mind (or quoting it directly) when he wrote Galatians 3.

Daniel 9:11 – All Israel has transgressed Your law… Therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses have been poured out on us.

When Paul wrote of "the curse of the Law," he was referring to Daniel's prayer that we be redeemed from "the curse written in the Law." Seeing the connection between Galatians 3 and Daniel 9 helps us to understand the consistency of Scripture and to interpret correctly what Paul meant.