anti-missionary flyer of pochtar family
Prayer request for Israel Pochtar, his family and their congregation. Israel is a congregational leader in Ashdod, Israel. Here is the latest account of persecution in Ashdod, in his own words:
As the leader of Beit Hallel, I have become a very known and hated figure among the orthodox community and they not only follow me and my wife, they also "greet" us upon our arrival to the congregation shouting insults at me and my kids and even spitting at us.
For the past few weeks, my family and I were on vacation and on the eve of our departure we came home to find that our whole neighborhood and all our neighbors received a very hateful pamphlet in which they printed a picture of me and my wife, wrote our home address and warned people about us, that we were very "dangerous missionaries from the sect of Messianic Jews who seek to convert innocent Jews."
My children were very shaken by it - my youngest is 8 and my teenage daughter is 16. They are familiar with persecution, but never to such degree and we were fully aware of the fact that upon our return from our vacation, we would come back to a new and different reality.
This will not intimidate us or make us back down. We know that for some reason, the Lord has put us in the frontline and often we receive the fire that is actually directed towards all the believers in Israel. As citizens of the ONLY democracy in the Middle East, we know we must stand up and claim our rights, not only for us, but this battle is for all believers in Israel who were ever targeted and are being targeted by vicious religious attacks.
After Ashdod's chief rabbi went on national television and openly declared war against us, promising to fight us with every means available and "purify" Ashdod from our presence, we have decided to remain silent no more. First thing we did is have our lawyer write a letter to the TV channel that aired such blatant threats notifying them of the several laws they are breaking by allowing someone on air who use threats, incite and instigate violence.
In the midst of it all, the Lord has given us so much joy, peace and assurance to know we must stand for our rights. It's not easy and we know there's a battle raging in which we're placed in the center, but we also know we're in the frontline of fire not only for us, but representing the whole body in Israel.
This has not only failed to discourage us, we actually look forward to expanding our work and seeing increase in every area of our ministry, because we know God's plan for us:
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies..." (Psalm 23:5)
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." (Matt. 5:11)
We need your prayers more than ever now that we are facing such fierce opposition. This is a spiritual war more than anything else and we know God has the victory and the last say. This is crucial time for the body of Yeshua to unite in standing for not only us, but all the believers in Israel.
Source: Maoz Israel
Website: Voice of Judah Israel & Beit Hallel Ashdod
