As I was thinking about how to write today’s update, I reviewed reports of the past few weeks coming from the Middle East. Then I read in 1 Peter the following:
12 …And now at last this Good News has been plainly announced to all of us. It was preached to us in the power of the same heaven-sent Holy Spirit who spoke to them; and it is all so strange and wonderful that even the angels in heaven would give a great deal to know more about it. 13 So now you can look forward soberly and intelligently to more of God’s kindness to you when Jesus Christ returns. 1 Peter 1:12b-13a (TLB)
As I was continuing in my morning devotions, I read these words in a devotional by Steve Miller:
“For God’s angels, the prophecies of Christ’s first coming provoked an amazement that will never cease. A key reason for this is they will never experience the wonders of salvation and forgiveness. Holy angels don’t need these gifts, and fallen angels can’t receive them. You’ll recall that when Satan rebelled against God, many angels joined forces with him. These fallen angels are forever condemned, separated from their fellow holy angels with no hope of redemption. Their fate is permanent. This surely had a sobering impact on the angels who remained loyal to God. They saw firsthand the consequences of defying the Creator.
So when Adam and Eve sinned, severing all of humanity from God, the angels knew the seriousness of their offense. Yet God, in His infinite love and wisdom, had already planned a rescue operation. Through the cross, He would bridge the unbridgeable chasm between Himself and man. As god, He alone could make the impossible possible. So brilliant and so great and so miraculous is God’s gift of salvation that the angels — who live in God’s very presence and are eyewitnesses of what He can do — had an overwhelming passion to understand it.”
It must be an awesome phenomenon for angels to behold, to see the transformation of a human heart from the evil that is within it, to being blessed with the righteousness available through the Blood of Jesus Christ. Not only that, but a human being’s destiny is instantly changed from one of an eternity without God, to an eternity as part of the Kingdom of God and under His eternal blessing and favor. It is a gift of such value it is difficult to even fathom. But, this is the free gift, through the cross of Christ, that is transforming lives by the thousands today through the ministry of the House of Blessing.
I received a report from Abdelrahem and Omar that several sheikhs had come to visit them. Two were from southwest of Erbil in Iraq. Their names were Sheikh Bayan, Sheikh Al-Shomri. There were also two sheikhs from Kirkuk, Sheikh Al-Sindiani and Sheikh Al-Akari. These four were powerful tribal sheikhs. Apparently much of their livelihood from escorting people to the Hajj and the Umrah pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia, was being threatened by the number of Muslim sheikhs and their followers coming to faith in Jesus Christ. It was quickly recognized by some of the sisters that these sheikhs and their entourage had intentions of killing Abdelrahem, Omar, and the HOB men and women who were with them.
The sheikhs expressed their outrage because of the preaching about Jesus Christ and the light and truth He brings. As the discussion became more confrontational, the sheikhs accused Jesus of being an absolute liar and fraud. The brothers debated with them, telling them of what Jesus had done for humanity and what the Old Testament prophets had taught in the Torah and in the Psalms. As they debated back and forth, the Holy Spirit gave Abdelrahem the ability to overcome their arguments and was able to explain to them truths about Jesus and the reason for the sacrifice He had made. Brother Abdelrahem sent a list of Scriptures that were shared for those who would like to look them up and see what he taught (not necessarily in the order they were shared):
- Isaiah 41:10
- Philippians 4:13
- Isaiah 40:31
- Proverbs 3:5-6
- 1 Corinthians 5:7
- Joshua 1:9
- 1 Timothy 1:7
- Romans 8:28
- John 16:33
- Hebrews 11:1
- Ephesians 6:10
When Abdelrahem finished his explanation, he presented the sheikhs with a challenge to read some chapters from his Bible which he set in front of one of the men. He read it and then passed it onto the next sheikh. Pretty soon they were arguing amongst themselves who was next going to get to read what Abdelrahem had set before them, until they broke out in tears. They knew that Abdelrahem was aware of their treachery and now regretted it. They begged him for forgiveness and then prayed, asking for forgiveness from the Lord. These men and their entire entourage of assassins became believers in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. These tribal Shiite Sheikhs now dedicated themselves to the service of their Lord Jesus Christ and were determined to gradually convert their mosques. They knew that there were extremists who attended their mosques and were going to have to be very careful in how to bring the message to those attending their mosques. They then invited Abdelrahem, Omar, and HOB missionaries to come to visit their mosques, and please bring Bibles and teaching booklets!
Abdelrahem finished his report by saying that many more are coming to faith and he will be going to as many of them as the Lord opens the doors. Please pray!!
I received another report from brother Omar. This was an account of what happened after the events detailed above. Omar said that he and some of the sheikhs went to Hasakah, which is in the northeast corner of Syria. They decided to visit a small mosque where Sheikhs Bayan and Al-Akari had visited in the past at times to pray before they found Jesus as their Savior. The man’s name doing the teaching in the mosque was Al-Tahhan. So Omar and the brand new Christ-followers, Bayan and Al-Akari, sat and listened to the sermon. After about half an hour, Sheikh Bayan and Sheikh Al-Akari introduced themselves and reported which region they were from, Kirkuk and Erbil in Iraq.
After introducing themselves, they began telling the crowd of about 340-370 in attendance that they had faithfully followed their belief system as committed Muslims for many years, including their pilgrimages to the Hajj in Mecca as well as the Umrah observance (which is also in Mecca). After giving testimony of their faithfulness as Muslims, the men shared how they had learned that all of this religious observance was worthless next to what they had found when they learned of the sacrifice made by Christ and the ransom He paid for the sins of the entire world. With great passion, they also shared that Jesus was returning, just as He had promised, and that His return is very, very soon. They emphasized to the listeners that His coming is so soon that they don’t dare delay their commitment to Him, because they take a chance of being too late. “Believe us!” they continued, “It is the truth! Please, you know us, you know our names. Our lives changed when we met Christ. He is the only one in history that sacrificed His life for the world. In fact, if it were not for Christ, none of you would even be alive today! Please forgive us for speaking as long as we have.”
About that time, two men from the audience stood up and asked if they could approach the front where the men were speaking. Al-Akari and Bayan agreed. The two men, whose names were Abu Shusha and Al-Tunisi, as soon as they got to the front began an argument and demanded that Al-Akari and Bayan must return to their Muslim faith. They said, “You are infidels, crusaders, and enemies of Islam. Death to you, you followers of the cross and Christ!” It was at this point they pulled out long knives and began to stab and slash the men on their hands, arms, and legs, and then ran out of the mosque. This greatly scared the people and they began to scream and yell as the men were bleeding profusely. The knives must have severed some arteries or veins because Omar said their blood was spraying out of them like out of a water hose. A man ran up and said he was a doctor. He took a quick look at the men’s injuries and said they had to be disinfected and stitched up immediately or they were going to bleed out. The doctor immediately asked for help. He said that his clinic was ten minutes away and they had to try to block the flow of blood until they could get there. Their case was extremely urgent.
As they loaded the men to take them to the clinic, the brothers tried to stop the blood flow but it was almost hopeless with too many deep, wide-open wounds. They did their best while holding the sheikh’s Bibles and praying earnestly for the Lord’s mercy and help. Al-Akari and Bayan prayed, saying, “Jesus, please heal us! We do not want to die before being able to testify why we have such a trust for You in our souls. Please heal us and bring us to safety. You are our Savior!”
When they arrived at the doctor’s clinic, he immediately began to tear their blood-soaked clothing open so he could have full access to the wounds. As he tore their clothes, he had a shocked look on his face and asked, “Where are the wounds? Their clothes are soaked in blood! WHERE ARE THE WOUNDS?? Where are the wounds that I need to clean and stitch up?” Not only was the doctor shocked but so were Omar and those with them. No one was more shocked than Al-Akri and Bayan! God had just done an amazing miracle right in front of them all. The sheikh’s wounds were no longer visible. God had healed the men but left their clothing soaked in their blood as a very obvious witness of what had happened.
Since the men had been healed of their wounds and they had only been away from the mosque for a few minutes, they decided to return. The people were so shocked by the events that they had not left. They were now able to not only see the evidence of the awesome miracle God had done, but were able to come up to them and physically touch them and see how real the healing actually was!
In Omar’s own words, “Oh my Lord, my brother Jack, the situation was terrifying, very frightening, but how miraculous! It was another example of the power of faith and that Jesus truly is present with his righteous ones!” The people then came up and asked Al-Akari and Bayan to bless them. They even tried to pray to them but the men quickly stopped them and said, “Pray to Jesus, not to us! We will, however, pray for your guidance. Just believe in Him and you will be safe. May the Lord bless you wherever you are and wherever you go.” There was a great harvest of souls that day…and it is continuing today!
These are tremendous times for the House of Blessing. The number of people declaring their faith in the Lord Jesus is exciting. This latest miraculous healing of the brothers who would have been mortally wounded if the Lord had not intervened is causing a huge stir. Thousands of lives are being touched. As new to the faith as these two Sheikhs were, they stared death in the face and refused to walk away from their faith in Jesus. The sharing of their testimonies by word of mouth is proving to be powerful. No one knows how far the testimony has already traveled. Omar said that close to 2,000 people gathered a day ago and had a great time of celebration with a feast of rice, potatoes, and butter. The Lord multiplied the available food as they only had three 25-kilo bags of rice, and 30 bags of potatoes (each bag 2.5 kilos). But, with the blessing over the food by Abdelrahem and the elders, all the people were fed and were satisfied. Omar shared with Sister Rolla that 30 kilos of lemons were sliced and put in water along with some ice, mint and a little sugar. They did not stop giving the people the juice to drink and the more they drank, the better it tasted…and they didn’t run out! Praise God for His love for His people!
I am told that there is a very large gathering of the House of Blessing community in the Deir ez-Zor region. The healed brothers will be there and there will be a great time of celebration and sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Please pray for their safety as the enemy of our Messiah is prowling around to do harm wherever he can.
We thank God for all the souls that have been reached, but it is presenting a great challenge and burden. These people all need follow-up and the need for Bibles and copies of the teaching booklets is huge. Thousands are needed of each. As Abdelrahem has said so often lately, we are out of time! Jesus is at the door! Whatever we are going to do, we must do now. I agree! Please contact either one of the e-mail addresses below to find out how you can help if you have been moved by the Lord to do so. It is an enormous printing project! Thank You and may the Lord bless you abundantly.
“…I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
Thank you all for your prayer support and your gifts. Look what God is doing!
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)