Talk:Jerusalem Prayer Team

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The Jerusalem Prayer Team was created to mobilize Christians to pray for and encourage the people of Israel, according to the Christian Faith. Aspects of their operation include maintaining Online Prayer Walls; various media presentations; public appearances by founder Dr. Michael D. Evans and the development of petitions that are sent both to governmental officials and various members of the private sector that allow those who sign these petitions to voice their opinion regarding Israel and its relationship with the rest of the world - - specifically the Arab world.

The Basis: Psalm 122:6
The decree to Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem was issued by God in Psalm 122:6, which says, "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee." In Hebrew, it is written "SHA-ALU SHAOLM YIRUSHALAYIM."

"SHA-ALU		-	To Ask" "SHALOM		-	Peace" "YIRUSHALAYIM	-	Jerusalem"

That Jerusalem is an integral part of the both the Jewish and Christian faiths are exemplified in multiple verses of scripture.

"II Chronicles 6:6 - 'But I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'"

"Luke 19:41 - 'But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city, He began to weep.'"

"Acts 1:4 - 'And being assembled together with, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father…'"

Followers of both faiths feel the need to, in fact, pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.

History
Mike Evans began the Jerusalem Prayer Team in 2002 to unite people in intercessory prayer for Israel and to develop a platform from which to speak out to world leaders at UN conferences, peace summits, etc., on behalf of Israel. From that platform Evans has met with dozens of heads of state, including Barzani from Kurdistan, President Cristiani of El Salvador, the president of Philippines, President Musevani of Uganda, as well as many foreign ministers, ambassadors, prime ministers and kings. He has worked closely with Israel’s prime ministers for three decades. As an advisor to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, he recommended Benjamin Netanyahu for his first government post. His recommendation followed a meeting with the future prime minister after his brother, Jonathan, had been shot in the back while leading the raid on Entebbe in Uganda. Benjamin Netanyahu is now serving his second term as prime minister of Israel. The Prayer Team also raises funds to meet humanitarian needs of the Jewish people in Israel providing coats, blankets and home repairs for those in need. The ministry has a website that includes articles about the people of Israel, the problems being faced by her leaders and other pertinent topics.

Members are also invited to post their prayers for Israel and the Jewish people on "prayer walls" that are actually web pages with hundreds of prayers uploaded by people all over the world. The prayer walls are open to all—not just members of the prayer team. More than 300 national Christian leaders, including Pat Robertson, Tim LaHaye, Joel Osteen and John Maxwell are supporters of the Jerusalem Prayer Team. It receives no funding from the State of Israel and its official statement says JPT "believes that God loves Arabs in the Bible as much as the Jews." Press Release, January 2009.

Founder: Dr. Michael Evans
Michael David Evans was born in Springfield,Massachusetts June 30, 1947 to a non-practicing Jewish mother whose parents were immigrants from the Soviet Union. Following his discharge from the United States Army, Evans moved to Texas where he earned an Associate of Arts degree from Southwestern Assemblies of God College. He speaks of early life as abusive and painful at the hands of a troubled alcoholic father.

Evans is a member of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. For more than three decades he has covered strategic events worldwide, such as the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid and the 43rd General Assembly of the United Nations’ specially convened session in Geneva. He most recently covered the International UN Conference on Afghanistan in The Hague, Netherlands, and the Durban Review Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Evans arranged an exclusive interview on Fox News Network with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the 65th U.N. General Assembly in New York City in September 2010. The interview was conducted by Eric Shawn of Fox News.

On July 13, 2007, Evans appeared on MSNBC debating with Arianna Huffington and Pat Buchannan while discussing his book, The Final Move Beyond Iraq. He also appeared on MSNBC with Tucker Carlson to discuss Iran.

Mike Evans has produced 18 documentaries based on his books about Israel—many of which have won him Excellence in Media (EIM) Angel Awards. EIM is a California-based 501(c) 3 non-profit organization describing itself as dedicated to quality family-oriented programming in all facets of communication. Others who have received EIM Angel Awards include Tom Hanks, Tom Poston, Jane Seymour, Red Buttons and many other notable celebrities.

His best-known production, Let My People Go,, was written in 1988. It spotlighted Natan Sharansky, who was convicted of spying for the U.S. and imprisoned for nine years in a Soviet Concentration Camp known as the Gulag, where physical and mental torture, as well as sexual abuse, occurred on a regular basis.

Evans joined with other activists, including Sharansky’s wife, Avital, with assistance from East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel, New York Congressman Benjamin Gilman and Rabbi Ronald Greenwald, asking President Ronald Reagan for Mr. Sharansky’s release as well as the release of nearly 400 Jewish prisoners from President President Mikhail Gorbachev. Sharansky was the first political prisoner ever released by Mikhail Gorbachev due to intense political pressure from Ronald Reagan and his administration.

Mike Evans also worked with a Dutch government official to encourage the opening of the doors of the Dutch Embassy in Moscow to the Jews of Russia.

Mike Evans purchased and restored the Corrie ten Boom house in 1983. The Corrie ten Boom Fellowship is a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation governed by a board of directors. It gains no direct or indirect funding from the State of Israel, nor do any of Evans’ organizations. He has served as the chairman without salary for decades.

The museum is housed in the former home of Casper ten Boom and is dedicated to telling the story of his family which harbored, fed and found safe houses for as many as 800 Jews during the Nazi takeover of Holland during World War II. The museum can also be viewed online in 20 languages.

Ten Boom family members were eventually betrayed by informants and were sent to concentration camps where most died, except Corrie ten Boom, who went on to tell the story of the family’s work with the Resistance movement. Her autobiographical book, The Hiding Place, was published in 1971 and made into a full-length feature film of the same name in 1975 and starred Jeannette Clift and Julie Harris.

Upon purchasing and restoring the house, Mike Evans created the Corrie ten Boom Fellowship, an organization that follows in the tradition of the ten Boom family by continuing to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The Fellowship also encourages Christians to exercise their faith by helping the Jewish people, praying for them and for the peace of Jerusalem in accord with the scriptural mandate in Psalm 122:6.

Evans has written extensively on the Middle East, Christian Living, Prophecy and Iraq. His works include 37 fiction and non-fiction books. The 2010 novel, titled GameChanger is a fictional work set in the U.S. that suggests how the next extremist terrorist attack could bring America to a standstill, potentially changing the way we live forever.

Evans has also documented how concessions made during earlier administrations have led to the great peril of the Jewish people in his book, Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos. His book, Atomic Iran, pinpoints the ways Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has planned to "wipe Israel off the map." Evans shows how recent activity by the President and his allies in the Middle East poses a significant threat to Israel and Jews everywhere.

A complete bibliography of all Mike Evans' published books is included below.

In addition to his work as a commentator, author and documentarian, Mike Evans is a widely sought-after speaker, having spoken over 4,000 times from the Kremlin Palace in Moscow to the World Summit on Terror in Jerusalem and the Knesset. He has spoken at countless Middle East Summits, prophecy summits and church conferences, where his broad perspectives on the Scriptures, prophecy, the Middle East and Christian faith are widely valued and deeply cherished. He has spoken at more than 3,000 churches worldwide.

Mike Evans has been invited to the White House several times and was also invited to the State funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. As one who frequents the Middle East, Mike Evans has met with hundreds of Israeli government officials over the years and he works to connect with local leaders, prime ministers and ambassadors alike.

One of Dr. Evans more recent addresses was to 3,000 attendees and a worldwide television audience at the Restoring Courage events hosted by Glenn Beck in both Caeserea and Jerusalem, Israel during August 2011. See video excerpt.

The Precedent
The Jerusalem Prayer Team is an extension, if you would, of the efforts of the ten Boom family of Haarlem, Holland. The family ten Boom started a weekly prayer meeting for the Jewish people in 1844, after a moving worship service in the Dutch Reformed Church of Rev. Witteveen. Willem ten Boom felt the need to pray for the Jewish people, so he started the weekly prayer meeting where the family and others who stopped by specifically prayed for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). These meetings took place every week for one hundred years, until February 28, 1944, when Nazi soldiers came to the house to take them away for helping local Jews and hiding them in a secret room. On that day, the family was together for a Bible study and prayer meeting.

In 1837, Willem ten Boom opened a Clock Shop in his house. His family lived in the rooms above the shop. The ten Boom family were devoted Christians who dedicated their lives in service to their fellow man. Their home was always an "open house" for anyone in need. Through the decades, the ten Booms were very active in social work in Haarlem, and their faith inspired them to serve the religious community and society at large.

During the Second World War, the ten Boom home became a refuge, a hiding place, for fugitives and those hunted by the Nazis. By protecting these people, Casper ten Boom and his daughters, Corrie and Betsie, risked their lives. This non-violent resistance against the Nazi-oppressors was the ten Boom's way of living out their Christian faith. This faith led them to hide Jews, students who refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and members of the Dutch "underground" resistance movement. Through these activities, the ten Boom family and their many friends saved the lives of an estimated 800 Jews, and protected many Dutch underground workers.

On February 28, 1944, this family was betrayed, and the Gestapo (the Nazi secret police) raided their home. The Gestapo set a trap and waited throughout the day, seizing everyone who came to the house. By evening, over 20 people had been taken into custody! Casper, Corrie, and Betsie were all arrested. Corrie's brother Willem, sister Nollie, and nephew Peter were at the house that day, and were also taken to prison. Although the Gestapo systematically searched the house, they could not find what they sought most. They suspected Jews were in the house, but the Jews were safely hidden behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom. In this "hiding place" were two Jewish men, two Jewish women, and two members of the Dutch underground. Although the house remained under guard, the Resistance was able to liberate the refugees two days later. The six people had managed to stay quiet in their small, dark hiding place for all that time, even though they had no water and very little food. The four Jews were taken to new "safe houses", and three survived the war. One of the underground workers was killed during the war years, but the other survived.

Because underground materials and extra ration cards were found in their home, the ten Boom family was imprisoned. Casper (84 years old) died after only 10 days in Scheveningen Prison. When Casper was asked if he knew he could die for helping Jews, he replied, "It would be an honor to give my life for God's ancient people". Corrie and Betsie spent 10 months in three different prisons, the last being the infamous Ravensbrück concentration camp located near Berlin, Germany. Life in the camp was almost unbearable. Betsie (59) died in Ravensbruck, but Corrie survived. Corrie's nephew, Christiaan (24), had been sent to Bergen Belsen for his work in the underground. He did not return. Corrie's brother, Willem (60), was also a ringleader in the Dutch underground. While in prison for this "crime", he contracted spinal tuberculosis and died shortly after the war.

Four ten Booms gave their lives for this family's commitment, but Corrie came home from the death camp. She realized her life was a gift from God, and she needed to share what she and Betsy had learned in Ravensbrück. "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still" and "God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies". At age 53, Corrie began a world-wide ministry which took her into more than 60 countries in the next 32 years! She testified to God's love and encouraged all she met with the message that "Jesus is Victor".

Prayer Wall
Not only does the Jerusalem Prayer Team promote the need to pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, they also facilitate this. By visiting their website you can post a prayer to be viewed and repeated by others. Also on the site are specific examples of what can be prayed for on behalf of Jerusalem, Israel and the Jewish people.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team is involved in, and promotes more than just praying for the Peace of Jerusalem. Below is a list of other elements that are integral to their efforts, that are discussed on their website, and that individuals who would like to learn more about or participate in can do so.

Corrie Ten Boom
Biography - The story of Corrie ten Boom is one of courage, concern, and compassion. Inspirational to Mike Evans in the formation of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, the story is shared on the website.

THE HIDING PLACE - The complete story of Corrie ten Boom’s life, this is both a book and a movie, and information regarding both are available on the website.

Petitions
Understanding that the fate of Israel and Jerusalem is a very "political" issue, the Jerusalem Prayer Team drafts and delivers various Petitions to both political groups and groups in the Public Sector. At any given time several are pending, and can range from a petition to President Obama to vote "NO" on a PLO State with East Jerusalem as its capital, to a petition to Delta Airlines advising them that they should stop Discriminating against Jews.

Products
Inasmuch as Dr. Mike Evans is a New York Times bestselling author and a Middle East analyst who has penned a number of books dealing with the Middle East and the politics that exist there, the Jerusalem Prayer Team website provides visitors the opportunity to purchase one of his many books on Middle East politics.

Media
If a visitor prefers shorter articles to full-length books they can learn more about Dr. Evans’ analysis by reading articles that he is written for various publications.