1. religion and spirituality
2. judaism

MaozIsrael
r e p o r t
December 2010 Kislev - Tevet 5771
Since 1976
Founded by Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram
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Israeli soldiers preparing for guard duty in the Old City of Jerusalem. Their job is to
protect the rights of Jews, Christians and Muslims to worship in freedom in the Holy City.
Practical Issues:
HOW TO PRAY FOR THE APPLE OF HIS EYE
By Shani Sorko-Ram Ferguson
I
f you watch a variety of Christian
shows about Israel, you might
honestly believe that the greatest
prayer need in Israel lies somewhere
between the 6th trumpet blast and the
rebuilding of the third temple (no disrespect intended, since any attempt by
Christians to bring Israel to God’s attention is greatly appreciated by both
By mail: Maoz Ministries
P.O. Box 535788
Grand Prairie, TX 75053-5788
Him and us!) I can only assume that the
reason these things become the focus
of prayer is because although Christians worldwide get tremendous insight
from the Bible, they often lack updated
information to make their prayers for
Israel more specific and relevant to the
times. The quickest way to overcome
this problem is simply to go to the best
source for things going on in modern
day Israel - Israeli believers.
Since every Christian does not have
By phone:
US
G.B.
CAN.
800-856-7060
0208 6922831
866-712-0188
By fax:
US
CAN.
the luxury of sitting down for coffee with an Israeli believer to get the
scoop, we’ve compiled some categories
that we hope will help you direct your
prayers when beseeching our Father on
behalf of Israel.
LAND/MILITARY
I know this will come as a surprise to
some of you, but I would personally
care little for land disputes because I
have no desire to live in the desert hills
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866-712-0188
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2 MaozIsrael Report november 2010
of Judea and Samaria or Gaza (even
though Gaza has stunning beaches!),
except for the minor detail that God’s
honor is at stake so long as the land
lies in the hands of those who curse
His name.
Nonetheless, focusing solely on
Israel’s land rights is attacking the
problem in reverse. In his initial failed
attempt to conquer Ai, Joshua was
informed by God that the failure was
not due to military error, but because
there was sin in the camp. It should
also be noted, that God did not tell
Joshua it was wrong for them to send
a military force. The military was and
is the tool that God uses when establishing the children of Israel in their
land. Once the sin was dealt with,
the win over Ai came automatically.
Before the sin was removed, even
the most logical approaches failed.
Still, in the beginning of God’s deliverance from Egypt, He did work
miracles on Israel’s behalf regardless
of their state.
Psalm 81:13-16 (The Message)
“Oh, dear people, will you listen to
me now? Israel, will you follow my
map? I’ll make short work of your
enemies, give your foes the back of
my hand. I’ll send the GOD-haters
cringing like dogs, never to be heard
from again. You’ll feast on my freshbaked bread spread with butter and
rock-pure honey.”
As Israeli believers receive more
and more recognition as being reliable soldiers in the Israeli Defense
Forces with an excellent spirit of
service, pray that God will give great
favor and responsibility to believers
in the army.
Pray that God will give these believing soldiers insight, boldness and
courage that will assist operations
and ultimately glorify their God.
ECONOMY
W hile the world economy has
teetered, the Israeli economy has
(so far) held its own. To be clear, the
standard of living in Israel is far below American standards. Nevertheless, it continues to move forward.
Israeli minds and ingenuity have
impacted the world (as can be seen
in the next articles). And the world in
turn has offered up many dollars in
appreciation. However, not far down
the line, Israel’s economy faces the
crisis of a government practice that
drains the economy - welfare.
In Israel welfare is used to temporarily help the unemployed or disabled. But there is a sect of society
that has a permanent hand out from
the government - the Orthodox Jewish community. Their children are
born into it, and are not raised to ever
leave it. And since this sect of society can boast of fulfilling God’s first
commandment of being fruitful, in a
couple of decades the population demanding subsidies will outweigh the
scales of the working population’s
treasure chest.
Pray that God would raise up
responsible leaders who will rein
in welfare pay outs. And pray that
God would give the government
wisdom in integrating that sect of
society into the workforce.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
This is is a major issue in Israel.
While our declaration of independence declares freedom of religion
and expression, the ultra-Orthodox
only want freedom of religion as long
as it is their religion. And protecting
especially Messianic Jews’ freedom
of religion or expression often takes
tens of thousands of dollars and years
in court to defend. And even after all
that, in the end, a ruling in the favor
of the persecuted (Messianic Jews) is
often ignored by the persecutors (Orthodox) - in the name of God.
For example, some Messianic
Jewish paid for radio commercial
spots and billboards simply stating
“Yeshua = yeshuah” meaning Jesus
= salvation. Within hours of the first
radio spot, anti-religious freedom
groups successfully pressured the radio stations and billboard companies
to remove the ads.
Pray that there would be a flow of
freedom of information in the land.
Truth always triumphs, and the
only way to keep truth from winning is to keep it from getting out.
A level of religious persecution is
something that every individual who
follows God wholeheartedly has experienced since before the time of
Yeshua. It seems to be something
that comes with the territory.
Nonetheless, pray that God
would give strength and courage
to those undergoing persecution in
Israel, as well as wisdom as to how
to avoid it if possible or react to it if
not. Pray against the fear that persecution can cause among others
in the community who hear about
it so that they will not be shaken
in their faith. Pray against lawlessness, and that the government
would enforce Supreme court rulings against sects of society who
reject its supreme authority over
rabbinical authority.
GOVERNMENT
“When the godly are in authority,
the people rejoice. But when the
wicked are in power, they groan.”
(Proverbs 29:2)
Without a doubt, our government is
a bit on the corrupt side. But not in the
way the U.N. would have the world
believe. Our military is the most honorable entity in our land, and indictments against their policy of conduct
are of the most misguided accusations
spinning the globe today. In other
matters within the goverment, however, in regards to money favors and
sexual harassment, the indictments
pour in to the courts. And there is an
overwhelming sense of lack of justice
for all the clever ways lawyers can get
november 2010 MaozIsrael Report 3
serial criminals out of paying their dues to society, while
people with lesser offenses or involuntary offenses get
slapped with hard sentences.
Pray that justice and mercy would reign in the land.
Pray that the illegal or unethical deals in the government would be exposed and quickly prosecuted serving as a deterrent in the hearts of government leaders.
Pray that God would put a desire in the hearts of Israel’s government leaders to live pure, honest lives.
SAFETY
While Israel is a land with the uneasy threat of terror
looming, her streets are statistically by far safer than the
streets of many cities in the U.S. You could walk around
at 2 a.m. almost anywhere in Israel’s cities (large or small)
and feel safe.
Recently, however, there are a few neighborhoods that
have been overrun by illegal immigrants and Sudanese
refugees. Their only source of income is crime because
they don’t register with the system. Israel’s illegal immigrant situation carries very different variables than the
one in the U.S. since being born in Israel does not automatically qualify one for citizenship. And fixing the problem is very tricky.
Aside from that, while we don’t have much in the way
of street crime, large scale mafia-like organized crime (a
large percentage coming from the Former Soviet Union)
is as serious a problem as Israel’s human trafficking. In
fact, the two are connected.
Pray against human trafficking and a spirit of violence in these neighborhoods. Women and children are
particularly vulnerable since reporting a crime against
them would mean reporting themselves. Pray that Israel will find creative ways to shut down the local mafia
and deal justly yet compassionately with refugees who
fled their homes in Africa for fear of death, as well as
those who came here to make a few extra bucks.
CHARACTER
I remember someone explaining to me that some of the
aggression in modern Israeli culture contains the residue
of Holocaust trauma. In stories too sad and too long to
tell, even after World War II when emaciated Holocaust
survivors tried to make it on delapidated boats to the Holy
Land, the British Navy would intercepted the boats and
put the Jews in internment camps in Cyprus (some 50,000)
where the British purposely implemented procedures to
dehumanize them. For example, they would throw over
a fence which imprisoned a couple of hundred Jews only
enough food or spoons, etc. for half of the people. It was
the survival of the fittest. The paranoia of being a sucker
Israel’s Diamond Center in greater Tel Aviv. One
of the largest and certainly the most advanced
in the world, it’s yearly exports top $7 billion.
Gettyimages
4 MaozIsrael Report december 2010
tel aviv, the party town. her sins are great,
but god’s power and grace are greater.
israelimages
or not having enough still hangs over
large groups of the Israeli people.
Nevertheless, that fear which leads
to selfishness and even aggression will,
not lead to lasting prosperity. Israelis
will prosper even more when they have
the courage to look past the extra shekel they might get and see God who is
waiting with outstretched arms full of
blessings to shower on those who will
regard their neighbor above themselves.
(Thank God, there are many selfless,
kind and giving Israelis!)
Pray that God would give Israelis,
especially new believers, the courage in
their hearts to trust Him to honor their
integrity. And pray that God would
show His pleasure with even the smallest baby steps in that direction.
MORALITY
A friend of mine told me the other day
that she had been attempting to work
with schools to share with students the
benefits of abstinence and options of
dealing with an unexpected pregnancy
other than abortion. The schools told
her they couldn’t allow her to speak on
such matters because they did not want
to teach on morality issues. I’ve heard
similar stories regarding army bases.
Unfortunately, the stifling of such conversation has created a society that is
not immoral - but amoral. Meaning the
absence of moral standards, restraints,
or principles. Then it should come as no
surprise that prostitution is legal, abortion rates are through the roof and an
estimated 50,000 Israeli men (and foreign workers) visit a brothel each day.
Pray that God would prick the conscience of Israelis to become aware of
their proverbial “nakedness.”
PET PROJECT:
Pick a field, a subject or a sect of
society that you find interesting or feel
deeply about and make it your pet project. Praying for the “whole world” to
be saved is vague, and hard to track its
success rate. Specifics help your heart
engage in your prayers and encourage
you when you get word back that God
is moving in that area.
Example: Since music and worship is something dear to our hearts,
we pray that God will raise up Israeli
believing musicians who know the
culture, and that He will give them
the means by which to excel in their
craft. We pray that God will search
out and save musicians who already
excel in the music world. We pray for
God to grant creativity to songwriters
to write songs that would pierce the
hardest hearts in this land. We pray
that those who don’t know Him will
experience His presence through it.
There is nothing that gives God more
glory than to witness what He can do
out of a surrendered mortal man.
SALVATION
“All Israel Shall be saved.”(Rom. 11:26)
It’s one of the clearest and most con-
december 2010 MaozIsrael Report 5
troversial verses in the Bible. Is it possible for God to save a whole people
group? Before you go trying to explain
why God can’t do it, remember He’s the
one who created every speck of dust in
the universe. And if He can save you,
surely He can save a whole nation of
individuals like you!
While it may feel over your head
to “give God no rest,”(Isa. 62:7) realize that imploring God to “hold to His
word” is a guaranteed way to assure an
answered prayer. Praying through Romans 9-11 is a great place to start!
But the salvation of Jews is not just
about Israel, it is about the salvation of
your own non-Jewish friends and family members. Romans 11:15 promises
that the salvation of the Jewish people
will bring about world-wide revival
among the Gentiles!
Gettyimages
Pray that God would open the eyes
of the Jewish people to their need for
salvation and grant the Jewish people
the spirit of repentance.
YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS
While the salvation of Israel is the
culmination of the plan of God for Israel, the main tool God will use to represent
Himself to them are the Jews who are already believers (and therefore members
of your family in God!). It seems reasonable then to say that prayers and resources
of the saints around the world should be
focused on Jewish believers who against
all cultural backlash have embraced their
destiny in the New Covenant.
As more and more native Israelis
have the blinders taken off their eyes,
the believing Body in Israel takes on
more and more of a native expression.
Since the Messianic Jewish (an
Christian Arab) community is only in
its “first fruits” stage, pray that God
would bring Israeli believers to full
maturity and sanctification despite
the hardships and isolation many of
them face where they live, work or go
to school. Pray that God would raise
up congregations of every style, culture and size that will be most effective here in bringing Him glory.
Pray for those God has called to be
leaders (especially native Israelis) in
the Body to rise to the occasion and
have opportunities to realize and
utilize their giftings. Also, pray that
those who are called to lead will experience God’s financial blessings
so they will be able to “devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry
of the word.” (Acts 6:4)
It’s hard to explain if you’ve never
been here, but one of the greatest hinderances in the lives of Israel’s believers here are the random everyday crises
that occur and keep them from accomplishing important things.
Pray against distractions, losses of
time and finances.
“All Israel shall be saved!”
Why?
I do not believe for a moment that Jews are simply
smarter than Arabs. Not for a moment. The world
can witness Arab acumen in their ability to fight and
terrorize the world with sometimes the simplest of
weapons and successfully rain down destruction
against countries possessing great
resources. Arabs are not stupid.
Only in the Bible can we find the
answer to this mystery. So here goes:
God chose Israel through the
father of the Jewish nation,
Abraham. God told Abraham that
in His divine plan for Abraham’s
descendents, they would bless
the entire world.
The first portions of that
promise have been fulfilled. The
Israeli people have given us the
Bible, the prophets, the apostles
and the Messiah Yeshua Himself.
When Israel finally fulfills the
rest of the promise in receiving
salvation through Yeshua King of
the Jews, then great revival will
burst forth throughout the world
(according to Romans 11, Zechariah,
Isaiah, etc.) and the Messiah will return
to earth to reign in His Kingdom.
True, the majority of Jews in this world
have not yet received their Messiah to be Savior
and King of their lives. Yet that blessing – that
promise – that Israel would bless the world is clearly
being fulfilled in part.
Jewish scientists and doctors and whizkids in hi
tech – Jews in every beneficial field known to mankind
– are blessing the world today. Israel’s creativity is
simply astounding.
But there is more. The Bible also pointedly says that
God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those
who curse Israel. There is no people on earth that
curses Israel more than the Arab peoples. For many
Arab nations, there is nothing more central to their
identity and activities than to seek the destruction of
Israel. Therefore, they are poor, underdeveloped and
locked into a religion that glorifies death and demands
submission to a punitive and ruthless god.
In fact, the phenomenon of adversity and inability to
JEWS RECE
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IVE
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6 MaozIsrael Report december 2010
RE
NOBEL PRIZES
N
?
ABS
AR
T
oday the Jewish population worldwide is
approximately 14,000,000. Before World War
II, the population had grown to 18,000,000,
until one third were destroyed by the Nazis.
This means today, Jews are 0.02% of the world’s
population.
Contrast that with the Arab population* today which is
approximately 358,000,000 souls living in 25 countries.
Here then is a stunning statistic: Out of a total of
802 Nobel Prize winners, Jewish winners number
129 and Arabs 7.
T
H
A
By Shira Sorko-Ram
*This number does not include non-Arab Muslims bringing the total to 1.57 billion Muslims. Total number of people on earth is nearly 6,9 billion.
Prayer Line in the USA: 214.677.0560… 9:00 am to 9:00 pm CST
Email your prayer request from anywhere in the world: prayer@maozisrael.org
december 2010 MaozIsrael Report 7
rise up and take hold of their destiny in spite of their
vast resources of oil applies to the Muslim peoples
in general: the greater their hatred of Israel (and
Christians), the more impoverished and pathetic the
condition of their masses – with few exceptions such
Jewish
Nobel Prizes
Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World
Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phil lips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Joseph son
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L. Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
Give
as the tiny minority of billionaire sheiks.
Of course they don’t see it. In fact the world doesn’t
see it. But the followers of the God of Israel and His
Son are privileged to see it so that they can pray for
both the Jewish people and their Arab cousins.
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Ed elman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis
Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel
Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin
TOTAL: 129 NOBEL PRIZES
Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herb ert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abra ham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
a one-time gift or
a recurring monthly donation
by credit card from almost any country.
Arabs
Nobel Prizes
Literature
1988 Najuib Mahfooz
Physics
1990 Elias James Corey
1999 Ahmed Zewail
Medicine
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad
Peace
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1994 - Yasser Arafat
TOTAL: 7 NOBEL PRIZES
Go online to www. maozisrael.org or
call our USA office at 800-856-7060
All credit cards accepted.
8 MaozIsrael Report december 2010
Israel:
God’s gift to the World
Gettyimages
H
ere is just a taste of the
remarkable achievements
from the world’s 100th
smallest country, with less than
1/1000th of the world’s population
– and which is only in its 62nd year
since it’s rebirth.
l The cell phone was developed in
Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli
branch of Motorola, which has its
largest development center in Israel.
l The technology for the AOL
Instant Messenger ICQ was developed
in 1996 by four young Israelis.
l Voice mail technology was
developed in Israel.
l Most of the Windows NT and
XP operating systems were developed
by Microsoft-Israel, and the Pentium
MMX Chip at Intel-Israel.
l The Pentium microprocessor
in YOUR computer was most likely
made in Israel.
l Israel has the highest percentage of
home computers per capita in the world.
l In absolute terms, Israel has the
largest number of startup companies of
any other country in the world, except
the U.S. (3500 companies mostly in
hi-tech).
l Israel is ranked #2 in the world
for venture capital funds, right behind
the U. S. Outside the United States and
Canada, Israel has the largest number
of NASDAQ listed companies.
l Israel designed the airline
industry’s most impenetrable flight
security. U. S. officials now look to
Israel for advice on how to handle
airborne security threats.
l Twenty-four per cent of Israel’s
work force holds university degrees,
ranking third in the industrialized
world, after the United States and
Holland and twelve per cent hold
advanced degrees.
l Israel leads the world in the
number of scientists and technicians in
the work force, with 145 per 10,000,
as opposed to 85 in the U. S., over 70
in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.
With over 25% of its work force
employed in technical professions. Israel
places first in this category as well.
l Israel produces more scientific
papers per capita than any other nation
by a large margin - 109 per 10,000
people - as well as one of the highest
per capita rates of patents filed.
l The Weizmann Institute of
Science, one of the most important
research centers in the world for brain
studies, was voted the best university
in the world for life scientists to
conduct research.
l Israel’s Givun Imaging developed
the first ingestible video camera, so
small it fits inside a pill. Used to view
the small intestine from the inside,
cancer and digestive disorders.
l An Israeli company was the first
to develop and install a large-scale
solar-powered and fully functional
electricity generating plant, in
southern California’s Mojave desert.
l Israel’s $100 billion economy
is larger than all of its immediate
neighbors combined.
l Relative to its population, Israel
is the largest immigrant-absorbing
nation on earth. Immigrants come
in search of democracy, religious
freedom, and economic opportunity.
All the above while engaged in
regular wars with an implacable
enemy that seeks its destruction, and
an economy continuously under strain
by having to spend more per capita
for its own protection than any other
county on earth.
Just think what will happen when
Israel produces a new generation of onfire, committed, passionate ambassadors
bringing the Good News of their God
and their King to the world!
--Shira Sorko-Ram
Dear Friends at Maoz,
At the beginning of 2010 Jenifer and I sensed the Lord directing our church,
Faith Fellowship, to begin to support an organization whose primary focus
was to help reach and minister to Israel and the Jewish community. Another
church recommended Maoz Israel. We prayed and sensed the Holy Spirit’s
peace that this ministry was fulfilling God’s purpose to reach Israel.
In June 2010 we invited Ray and Christy Wilkerson to share about Maoz
Israel to our church family. I had shared with the Wilkerson’s earlier that
morning about my passion and vision to challenge our church to begin to give
above the Lord’s tithe with offerings to overseas ministries. The Wilkerson’s
prayed for me and our church that God would expand our outreach and giving.
That day we received a love offering of close to $1,500 for Maoz Israel. What
a miracle this was!
In July and August we had two more ministries come and share with our
church body and we also received a love offering for each of them. We placed
the opportunity and challenged our body to pray and be obedient to the Holy
Spirit as to what they personally should invest into international missions;
we received offerings of $3,100 and $3,300 for each of these missions
organizations.
I firmly believe that as a church we became obedient to God and the Holy
Scriptures when we began to invest in Maoz. After we became obedient we have
seen a multiplication of awareness and personal giving to missions. To top it
all off, our finances for the overall church never dipped this summer as trends
would project, but God provided more than enough
and we had one of the best
summers of giving our church
has ever experienced. Even one
week our missions’ giving was
greater than the general tithes
and offerings.
What a privilege and joy it is
to be able to invest in Kingdom
ministry!
In His Grip,
Pastor Luke Crain
Faith Fellowship
Lucas, TX
Want to know how to
effectively pray for Israel?
Request our weekly prayer letter via e-mail
Please e-mail us at maozisrael@maozisrael.org
My present:
A letter of thanks
By Avner Valer
T
wo years ago I started to
work at a local printing
establishment. The days were
not at all easy for me, and the nights
were even worse.
Every morning while traveling to
work I would listen to rhythmical
worship songs, songs of victory, in
order to attempt to feel a little bit better.
I was disappointed in myself, in
the important people in my life and in
believers in general.
“That’s it”, I thought. “Today I’ll
inform my boss that I’ll quit this
monotonous job; there’s too much
time to think here.
I need to go to a place where I can
talk with someone, to have someone to
advise me, comfort me. . .perhaps I’ll
join a Bible school abroad?
Perhaps I’ll settle in some
monastery and live in prayer and
fasting, separated from people?
I felt like a big, dark cloud was
hovering over my head at all hours
of the day. Only a tiny little grain of
faith was left in me that some day the
sky would brighten and that I would
see the light of the sun glowing over
this blackness.
Telephone
On that very day that I already planned
leaving my current work place, I
suddenly received a phone call from
an unknown number.
On the other side of the line was
Omer (the head of Maoz’s Media
Department), and he told me about a
vacant position for a graphic artist at
Maoz Israel offices. He’d heard about
me from a number of people who
had recommended me for this job.
Passion for media, graphics and
art in general had always burned in
my bones, and that is why I was so
delighted to hear of this offer.
Until then I had taken only one
graphic course, but it became clear
that God had directed some of my
old friends to speak with Omer
about me and recommend me to
join the ranks of Maoz.
Meeting at Maoz Offices
I met with those in charge at the
Maoz offices.
After being interviewed, I was
told, “You should know there
are two conditions if you decide
to start working here. First, we
will send you to take a course on
video editing.”
“Wow!” I thought to myself,
“I’ve always wanted to learn video
editing but couldn’t do it because
of lack of budget and time.”
“The second condition,” they
told me, “is that the Maoz staff is taking
their annual three-day retreat in a few
days’ time and it will be an excellent
time for you to get acquainted with the
staff. We are going to Eilat and we
want you to go with us.”
“Wow!” Three days’ holiday; it
sounds fantastic! “OK”, I said, “I
accept the job”.
Trip to Eilat
During the retreat I began to know
my new friends and I came into a
completely new period in my life. I
can say with confidence that a number
of the Maoz staff are in the list of my
closest friends.
Ari
I met Ari during the trip to Eilat. He
was not aware of the fragile mental
state that I was in. He accepted me
with open arms and a warm smile,
which he gives to me until now every
time I meet him. We discussed a little
bit about media and other cool things
like this.
Slowly I opened up to Ari and
shared my hurts with him. From
the moment that he knew about
my situation he offered me an
open door to his office any time
that I’d like to discuss issues with
him. I accepted his invitation
seriously, and I must say that he
was there to hear me out and help
me heal and grow.
Our meetings were not
scheduled; whatever time was
needed, Ari made it available. It is
written about the Messiah that “a
bruised reed He will not break, and
smoking flax He will not quench,”
(Isaiah 42:3) and this is the way
that I feel that Ari dealt with me.
He spoke with me gently and
with endless patience. Ari knew
also to be firm and authoritative
and let me know when in his
opinion I was wrong.
Even my parents (who are not
yet believers), after seeing my
fragility and pains, already started
to doubt the integrity of the
Messianic Jewish movement and
even called it a “sect”.
Today my father appreciates
Ari very much and permanently
asks how he is. There’s no doubt
that my parents changed their
opinion in regards to Jewish
believers during the period of
time that I was part of Tiferet
Yeshua congregation.
Today
Today I believe that God gave
me a personal call to be sent
to another location. I have
moved to the north of Israel, where I am working with an
evangelism team.
Not everyone can understand why I have left such a
wonderful job at Maoz which is so good to me, but it is
as in one of the lessons that Ari taught me on a one to one
basis: sometimes it happens that God gives a personal call,
and then the person should obey. In any case, I will always
know, as also Ari and Shira emphasized to me – that I’ll
always have a home to come back to – Tiferet Yeshua.
Tiferet Yeshua
Tiferet Yeshua is a congregation filled with life and joy.
Ari and Shira take care to bring in the best teachers from
around the Land every Shabbat, teachers whose calling and
passion is to impart faith and truth so that the lost can be
saved and the saved can continually grow.
Unlike most of the congregations in the Land, the
dominant language at Tiferet Yeshua is Hebrew – which
creates a very comfortable atmosphere to bring in Israeli
guests who have not yet opened their hearts to Yeshua. I
found there friends of all age groups.
The young adults are a very close knitted group and
spend time together also during the week. Families invited
me for visits on an ongoing basis, and once in a while the
congregation organizes events like meals, going out to parks
and other fun-time places, so that our fellowship will bring
us – and newcomers – new godly friends to encourage us as
we meet the challenges that will come our way.
Thank you
It is important to say “Thank You,” and I couldn’t think of
a gift worthy enough to bring to you. This is why I thought
to write this letter of thanksgiving.
My prayer is that the Lord would give you, Ari and
Shira, your reward for all your work, that when you’ll come
before Him He’ll say to you: “Well done, my good and
faithful servants.”
Note from Ari and Shira: Avner is an
extremely talented young man who is
passionate about the Lord and his faith.
After meeting him, we saw a charismatic,
sensitive and artistic person who had
baggage from past drug addiction, but
who wanted to give Himself to God
completely. We saw the potential in him,
and are thankful for the time God gave us
for discipleship while he worked at Maoz
and attended Congregation Tiferet Yeshua.
Although we were sorry to lose him in
our graphics department, we sent him out
with joy, as we have sent many others
from our congregation. We are thrilled to
see the light he has become. He is now
working with an international ministry in
outreach on the streets in northern Israel,
and on the Internet. Internet is a tool
the Lord has given the Messianic believers
in Israel to get the message of Salvation
out to the Israeli people unhindered. With
Avner’s writing abilities (in Hebrew) and his
technical knowledge and artistic skills on
the web, he is developing into an awesome
messenger of the King.