© March 13, 2011

Fukushima

by Asher Intrater

The following is from our partner, Pastor Y. Ikarashi in Iwaki, Fukushima Japan.  His Global Mission Center is functioning as a major base for both Christian and Governmental disaster relief efforts in that area. 

“Presently, we are functioning with a staff of 10-20 people.  Everyday, aid is arriving from many churches around the country. Yesterday, I was able to visit the evacuation center where there are many people who suffered from the tsunami. In cooperation with the Municipal authorities, we are organizing Christian volunteers to demonstrate the love of Christ by finding, helping and encouraging people who have not made it to the evacuation centers. We need funds, materials--but more than anything, we need your 24 hour prayer.   We are standing in the gap, and interceding for Japan’s salvation; it is a time when we simply cannot remove our hands from the plow."

We are sending our staff member, Ariel, who was an emissary in Japan for 4 years and speaks the language.  He will be supporting the work of the Global Mission Center in prayer, counsel, and practical service.  

You can follow and pray for him on our blog Pray for Japan.   If there are those who sense a special call to pray and intercede for him on a daily basis, please send him an e-mail at ariel.blumenthal@reviveisrael.org.     

Faithful unto Death

By Asher Intrater

After the Fast of Esther, we had a wonderful celebration of the Feast of Esther - with singing, dancing, "haman-cookies" and a play for the children. Our son Ami, who is enlisting this week in the Israeli army, gave the message. There were several not-yet-saved Israeli guests in attendance. One prayed with us to commit his life to follow Yeshua (Jesus), and another to be healed. 

The figures of Mordecai and Esther in the book of Esther are striking. They were quite different in personality. Mordecai was a man of total obedience. He refused to bow to Haman [as Yeshua refused to bow to Satan (Luke 4:7-8)]. His stance of faith brought him in opposition to the world empire, but he did not flinch. He was faithful even if it would mean his death.

Esther was a woman of total confidence in the grace and favor of God. Four times she addressed King Ahashueros, saying "If I find grace in your eyes." Yet her dedication to the King also led her into a position where she would have to be faithful even unto death (Esther 4:14-16).

Yeshua challenged the congregation at Smyrna, "Be faithful unto death" – Revelation 2:10. Whether we have an Esther personality of bridal adoration, or a Mordecai personality of prophetic righteousness, we are all called to be faithful unto death. We have a covenant with Yeshua. He was faithful to His covenant with us even to death on the cross. Being faithful to covenantal relationships is very costly. We must be faithful to the covenant as well – faithful unto death to Yeshua and to our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Victoria's Secret

On Tuesday March 15, the elite Israeli navy commando unit, Shayetet 13, seized freight ship "Victoria" about 200 miles east of Israel heading toward Egypt in order to deliver weapons to Hamas in Gaza. The weapons were supplied from Iran, transported by land through Syria, sent by ship from the Syrian port Latkia to the Turkish port Mersin. The ship contained 50 tons of weapons hidden under grain bags.

The weapons included Chinese-made C-704 land-to-sea missiles with a 35 kilometer range. To load weapons of this caliber on the ships required cooperation from higher level government officials. The weapons seizure is not only a victory for Shayetet 13 (which had been involved in such earlier incidents as the Marmara, the Francop, and the Karin A); it also highlights the cooperation between Iran, Syria, and Turkey in supplying arms to terrorist forces.

Itamar Terrorist Attack

The murderers of the Fogel family have still not been apprehended. Pray to guide the Israeli police to find them. Here are excerpts from an editorial by Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post

Ruth Fogel was in the bathroom when the Palestinian terrorists pounced on her husband Udi and their three-month-old daughter Hadas, slitting their throats as they lay in bed on Friday night in their home in Itamar. The terrorists stabbed Ruth to death as she came out of the bathroom. Then they moved on to the other children, going into a bedroom where Yoav (11) and Elad (4) were sleeping. They stabbed them through their hearts and slit their throats.
The murderers missed another bedroom where the Fogels’ other sons, Ro’i (8) and Yishai (2) were asleep. The boys were found by their big sister, Tamar (12), when she returned home from a friend’s house.
In a rare move, the Prime Minister’s Office released photos of the Fogel family’s blood-drenched corpses. Maybe Binyamin Netanyahu thought the massacre of three little children would move someone to rethink their hatred of Israel. That was the theme of his address to the nation Saturday night.
Netanyahu spoke to world leaders who rush to condemn Israel at the UN Security Council. He demanded that they condemn the murder of Jewish children with the same enthusiasm and speed.

He shouldn’t have bothered.
The government released the photos on Saturday night. The website "My Israel" posted a short video of the photographs on YouTube. Within two hours YouTube removed the video.
Anti-Jewish propaganda is so ubiquitous and so murderous that killing the Fogel babies was seen as an act of heroism. The murder of the Fogel family was greeted with jubilation on the streets of Gaza, as Hamas members handed out sweets.

Esther Fast
By Rose

On Friday, from 8am-6pm we had around 40 people in and out of our prayer room joining us in prayer and fasting for the Jewish people, the Church, and the nations.  It was a dream come true.  It was breathtaking to see our Revive Israel team in the prayer room all day worshipping and laboring in intercession with one heart and mind.  Suffice it to say that this day was "for such a time as this."  

What we did this year is a seed that is going to grow until we enter into the fullness of the promises. Every year we plan to call believers across the world to participate in this Esther fast. This year hundreds of thousands across the globe from prayer houses, prayer lists, Aglow branches, churches, and Messianic congregations said they would participate.  It is going to take millions to break the powers that are and will be coming against Jerusalem and the return of our Beloved King.