I received a note from Israeli Messianic Jewish music artists Avner & Rachel Boskey earlier this week:
The last months have been very full. As you may remember, on June 10, Avner testified in a legal trial in Beersheva, regarding the riot against the Beersheva Messianic congregation in 2005 (which we've written about in our recent personal updates).
As mentioned before, Messianic Pastor Howard Bass filed a suit against the chief rabbi of Beersheva and against Yad L'Achim, an anti-Messianic organization which actively harasses Messianic believers in Israel [emphasis mine], for their instigation of and involvement in a riot which took place in December 2005.
During the trial on June 21 the remaining three witnesses for the prosecution (all believers) gave their testimonies of what they saw and heard during the riot, and one witness from the defense (a leading Chabad rabbi) was also questioned. The chief rabbi of Beersheva, Yehuda Deri, and the head of the anti-Messianic organization Yad L'Achim were not yet questioned due to lack of time. The next trial session is scheduled for this fall – November 23.
Please continue to pray for righteousness, truth and justice to prevail in Israel. A number of Messianic believers who were present in the courtroom spoke of the hostility and hatred for believers they sensed in the eyes and hearts of some who do not yet know the Lord. Please pray for grace, love, blessing and the revelation of Yeshua for these precious people. Several fair articles appeared in the Jerusalem Post recently regarding this case.
This same morning I got a blog comment from a poster going by the name Yad L’achim in the comments to Are We Christian, posting yet more of the same rehashed arguments attempting to sway us from the path God has called us, attempting to sling mud on Messiah.
This blog sure attracts the anti-missionaries! Praise God, I must be doing something right!
Yad L’achim is an anti-Messianic organization that harasses Yeshua’s followers in Israel through verbal abuse and violence. They are currently on trial in Israeli courts for their vigilante violence against those followers of Messiah.
This isn’t the first incident of persecution against Yeshua’s devout: we’ve documented Ultra Orthodox persecution of Messianics at least three times before on this blog, covering everything from book burnings, harassment on the streets while shouting epithets, physical attacks, burning of homes, exploding packages that almost killed a Messianic boy, fire-bombings, and finally revocation of citizenship and exportation. There’s a spirit of hatred towards Yeshua in Israel unlike any place on the planet, and it’s growing.
Please pray daily for these precious people that, in their blindness and hard-heartedness, commit acts of violence and hatred against Messiah’s own. Though they think they are doing right according to their religion, they are actively subverting God’s Kingdom. Pray for them that God would give dreams, visions, first-hand encounters with Messiah, softened hearts, even an inkling of warmth toward Messiah. God can do anything, folks. I’m convinced of it. Pray for it with patience and endurance, God will bring it to pass. Pray for the folks undergoing this persecution, too, that God would give them the perseverance and longsuffering that will stand as a righteous example of Messiah.