AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Ariel is a large town deep in the Palestinian Authority-administered West Bank. To Jews it is the capital of Samaria, while to Arab Muslims it is just another unwanted Jewish settlement.

Pastor David Ortiz, a Messianic Jew whose four oldest children have all served in the Israeli Defence Forces, has been living in Ariel with his family, pasturing a small Messianic congregation and witnessing to West Bank Arab Muslims for many years. For this he has been shot at, beaten and stoned, while Hamas has issued a fatwa against him for the crime of leading a Muslim to faith in Jesus. On top of this, rejection and open hostility from radical Orthodox Jews can be both threatening and hurtful.

On Good Friday, a Hebrew Purim package was delivered to the Ortiz's house. It looked inviting, but as Ami Ortiz (15) opened the package a powerful, professionally-made, shrapnel-filled bomb was detonated.

While Ami's survival is nothing short of miraculous, he is in great need of prayer for healing. Ami's body is very badly burned and heavily lacerated. Shrapnel tore through his neck; both his arms are broken; he has lost two toes; one eye was penetrated by shrapnel and might not recover; while ten pieces of shrapnel (hot metal bolts) penetrated his lungs. One lung remains collapsed. Ami is in a medically induced coma.

This family is paying a very high price for their faithfulness to the gospel. The bomb was so powerful it also caused extensive damage to the family's home. Authorities are investigating. The culprits have not yet been identified.

• Please pray for Ami Ortiz and his parents David and Leah (who is a member of Jews for Jesus) and the rest of the family.
  
  
• Pray as well for the Messianic church in Ariel; for their witness, gracious love, and courage.
  
  
• Pray that as prayers from across the world focus in on Ariel, may the Holy Spirit bless the city with a revival that brings repentance and then peace as the two (Jew and Muslim) are made one through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:14)
  

Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) http://www.worldevangelicals.org/. This article was initially written for the WEA RLP(Religious Liberty Prayer) mailing list.