My Path to One New Man in Him | 7 11 2025 Arrows cover story

My Path to One New Man in Him From Music Addict to Israel Advocate

by Donna Diorio

July 11, 2025 cover story to Arrows from Zion elist

I wanted to comment on a Jewish friend's post of the Iranian weasel - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who in 1979 took prisoners of the US Embassy staff. He was recently dispatched to his Maker who is not Allah, by the way.

Nov 1979. That was the point where I first became political. Before that I was just captivated 100% by the music industry, but this event got my attention as an American watching CNN coverage of it every night.

A few months later passing the magazine rack in a grocery store, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a Time magazine with a picture of Time’s “Man of the Year,” the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeine. What stopped me was because he was the most evil person I had ever laid my eyes on.

I had no real interest in politics before the Iranian Hostage Crisis, but I knew evil when it was staring out at me from the magazine cover. Later that year I would cast my vote for Ronald Reagan for President. I was fed up with the weakness of the Democrat President Jimmy Carter. I voted for him based on his engaging smile and Southern charm. It was the last time I would vote without knowledge of the issues critical to the USA.

By 1983 my life would be in such personal crisis and I would follow my husband’s lead to cry out to God. I returned to my childhood faith, made better by learning the gifts of God were still available to us. I was excited to learn this, but none of my music industry Jewish pals were happy at all about my Jesus encounter.

My expectation was that if the Bible was packed with Jews, then there should be Jews in the faith too. I had been drawn to the Jewish people my whole adult life, so my interest in the Jewish people continued after returning to faith. It didn’t make sense to me that there were no Jews in church.

Also my interests in the political situations surrounding Israel began to grow. Because of repeatedly reading my Bible cover to cover, Israel was put firmly in my heart. Especially reading the prophets like Isaiah, Israel became almost my alter ego if you can understand that. I related to Israel in the Scripture so completely – both the good and the bad.

I discovered political controversies because of the dueling narratives between Israel and her haters. Already I was given to verify the prophetic claims made in the Bible like how prophecies were proven true in historical events. So I set myself to wade through the Israeli versus Arab narratives about disputed history from before Israel became a state in 1948 and in aggressions and wars afterwards.

Even though Palestinian narratives are full of passionate fervor about being victims of evil intentioned warrior Israel, it was the exact opposite I found more worthy of believing. I spent a good deal of time, several years, combing through books and news articles to get to the truth of the clashing narratives.

There was far more evidence of Arabs warring against Israel – including all the terrorist operations from Yasser Arafat, a faker and narrative spinner to the end – than Israel being the aggressor. The terrorist organizations even had the gall to paint themselves as David facing off with Goliath Israel.

It is how all guerrilla warfare fighters see themselves, even as this urban warfare is the most difficult to defend. This is what America has been finding in recent years with the alliance attacks by Antifa, BLM and pro-Palestinian anarchists.

But in those early years I settled firmly on the side of Israel. By 1993 I began to develop the firm conviction that as the nations ‘sowed’ in unjust dealings with Israel and her enemies, so would those nations ‘reap’ on their own soil. Turning a blind eye to Israel’s plight defending against terrorists and warring Islamist aggressions would become the painful learning experience of nations whose leaders will not stand up against evil.

Around 1988-90, I would discover an Israeli believer associated with Francis Frangipane who was writing about the things I was seeing from the Hebrew biblical prophets about Israel. Reuven Doron was the only one I knew of writing about the things I was seeing scripture. I was excited about that and saw he was way ahead of my learning curve on those issues.

As I learned from Reuven's newsletters, Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, he began to write about how there were Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus' Hebrew name) in Israel. At first I wasn't all that interested, but afterwards I became vitally interested. I wanted to know who they were and wanted to connect with them.

By 2001 I understood the Israeli believers were a priority to God, even if many Jewish believers in Jesus didn't know it, I knew it. As I got to know a few of the Israeli ministry leaders I also understood they are the best sources of the truth in Israel news events. It's not that they all are on the same page of analysis, but I know how to judge by the Word of God and the witness of the Spirit.

The fact that that they were underdogs ignored by the majority of Christians who said they loved Israel, also drew me to them. They were God's best kept secret in Israel, but I knew God did not mean for it to remain the case. God did not want the Israeli believers to be a big secret, but He wanted to draw those who truly loved and obeyed Him into the secret of all He was going to do through them.

This became my mission in August 2001 when I started the Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries. It was three weeks before the attack of Osama bin Ladin's terrorists assault on the United States.

Regardless of the continual battles even getting my emails delivered to subscribers the past 24 years, giving up has never been an option.

This is a marriage spiritually, with the one new man of Israel and the Church, and it is an 'until death do we part' marriage.