John 11:25: I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” In one of author Chris Tiegreen’s devotionals, he writes as from Christ to us:
“I am the unquenchable life. I cannot die. When I come to live within you, you can’t die either. You can feel lifeless, and you may fear death, but you will never know the worst of its sting. Those who believe in Me will live in Me. Think of how this frees you to live. Many of My earliest followers chose to care for and comfort people who were dying of plagues and had been isolated from their families. They could demonstrate My love because they didn’t fear death. Their compassion changed the world. Martyrs have remained true to Me because they were not afraid of those who could kill the body. Their testimony rises up before My throne and lives forever. I have responded to their sacrifice with My power, and again the world is changed. You live in an age and a culture in which people obsessively pursue long, happy, fulfilling lives. Meanwhile, they obsessively fear death. That never allows room for fulfillment. It only enslaves.
“In My Presence in heaven, you will wonder why it took so long to get here and wish you had been here sooner. You will never want to go back into a dark world and fallen existence again. You will wish you could tell everyone in that dark world and fallen existence to stop worrying and live freely because their trials and sufferings are brief. So are the passing pleasures they seek. You will regret not living with a heavenly perspective during your physical life. Choose that perspective now. Let go. Live freely. Fear nothing. I am the resurrection and the life. Nothing — not even death — can quench the life that is in you.”
On to the House of Blessing…
In today’s Mideast Update, I have included the last three reports I received from the House of Blessing. Although it is a bit lengthy, please take the time to read what Pastor Abdelrahem and Dr. Nibras have to share. Their words come straight from the heart and what they describe is from the front lines of the House of Blessing community of believers numbering over a million scattered across the Middle East. Today’s first report was received from Pastor Abdelrahem on June 2, 2026.
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. Peace be upon all of Jesus’ beloved. I want to clarify a very, very important matter. In addition to the violence of war, there is the agenda of the oppressive regime — the tyrannical Islamic regime, and other jihadist Islamic groups that seek to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth.
While all these attacks continued against my brothers and sisters, hundreds of thousands of people became followers of Jesus Christ! Our Lord has consistently answered one of our most fervent prayers: that He would multiply each of the fallen missionaries by at least a hundred souls. And He has done so, and much more! This has happened from the very beginning of this project, my preaching to people, Pastor Rashid and I, until this very day! Praise be to God!
Thank you, and thanks to everyone who supported and helped. In addition to providing more Bibles and teaching booklets for new believers, the House of Blessing did its utmost with the available resources to provide more wheat, survival supplies, mattresses, blankets, and other necessities for sisters Ferial and Hafiza and their teams, also including brother Al-Kalani, and many others who helped. I thank from the bottom of my heart those whom the Lord urged to give. It is truly a great thing that God has inspired His people to sacrifice in order to meet the urgent needs of so many destitute people! And God has multiplied everything! This is the God we worship!
While missionaries learn to trust in God every day of their lives, they witness thousands of innocent people being slaughtered. Many of us, believers in freer parts of the world, cannot even imagine it. Yet, it is important that we allow ourselves to be affected by what is happening in other parts of the world including the entire Middle East. The fallen Lucifer knows his time is short, yet he still intends to triumph! Can he? Of course not. Yet, in his twisted view, he thinks he will destroy Jehovah God’s sovereignty and dominion over His creation — and over eternity! It will not happen!! Our God is God! There is no god but God! Let us look at this powerful passage in Isaiah 45:
5 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 6that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; 7I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things. Isaiah 45:5-7
While all these events are unfolding, great gains are being made in Kurdistan, western, eastern, and northern Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. What an ongoing miracle! As we submit ourselves to the Lord’s authority and leadership, tens of thousands of souls are being converted. How greater is our Father’s love!
As I and the brothers were preparing for prayer this evening, I received disturbing news that Dr. Nibras and Al-Hanini had been arrested and taken to an unknown location. When I spoke to them the day before, they were expecting to have left our area and arrived where Jaafar and Zalatimo are located in Syria. Today, they discovered that contact with them had been lost. Al-Kilani worked to gather information, and it turned out they had been kidnapped and taken to an unknown place. We ask for your prayers for them. Let us raise our hands to the Lord of the Universe. Our hearts are broken. He is a skilled doctor and a lover of the Gospel and the Word of the Lord. Please pray for him. (Many of you received a special prayer request concerning this).
Your brother,
Abdelrahem, servant of the Lord.
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The second report I received was from Dr. Nibras on June 4, 2026. This was after prayers had been answered and both he and Al-Hanini had been released. Dr. Nibras does not say anything about their arrest and confinement. The short story is that they were taken as they crossed back into Syria. They were imprisoned for two days in a terrible place where they were given no food or water and were severely beaten multiple times. After two days, a high ranking official came to make a determination of what was to become of them. This usually means execution. As Dr. Nibras was given the opportunity to speak, he testified to the man about Christ and in time, the official broke down in tears. He admitted that he had made a terrible mistake with some Christians a few days earlier. In short, Dr. Nibras was able to pray with him as he accepted Jesus as His Savior and Lord! The men were then released.
Peace be with you, my brother Jack. I am alive and well, and I am comforted, my brother Jack. As long as the Lord Jesus is with you no one can harm you. All official figures on the victims of the floods and the mocking attacks are far lower than the reality. This also applies to the number of Christians being martyred. There is a continuous flow of martyrs to the area under the altar mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11.
9When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
In the past few days, a number of missionaries have been killed, some in Deir ez-Zor and some in Raqqa, where it has been difficult to reach the bodies for burial. Often, the killers of missionaries lie in wait for friends or family members to approach the bodies and then they attack them. This is what happened.
Alongside the tragedies that always accompany these developments, there is always good news. This good news is that the underground church in the Middle East is growing rapidly. Neither the media nor international religious organizations realize the hundreds of thousands who are becoming followers of Jesus Christ. The true numbers are truly astounding, and they continue to be. The worse the circumstances become, the more people are drawn to this calling.
I believe these are historic days. Looking at the prophecies of the Bible, we see that we are in the end days. Soon, the great and terrible day of the Lord will arrive. God’s Word tells us that there will be a great harvest of souls at the end of the age of grace. We also see that there will be a great harvest of souls that will enter the kingdom of God after the removal of the true church from the earth. I believe that many who doubt the Gospel of Jesus Christ today will later realize they have missed their chance to escape all that will befall the earth, but they will then decide to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, even though it costs them their lives. Revelation 7:9-17 may refer to this type of person. Many biblical passages warn us of the importance of recognizing the time of grace available to us, including Romans 13:11-14.
11And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, nor in strife and envy. 14And put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
For people in the Middle East, life is fraught with danger. Death is ever-present, and fateful decisions are made. We have a responsibility to exercise self-control and manage the countless things that occupy our attention every day. If we don’t, the age of grace is drawing to a close! Let us do what we can while we still have the opportunity!
Thanks to the generosity of many, countless lives have been saved, and many more have subsequently come to faith in Jesus. As always, there is a great need for copies of the bible. Brother Omar mentioned that there are approximately 390,000 believers in the eastern, western, and even northern regions of Iran that he knows need copies of the Bible, most of them new believers. If God inspires you to help in this matter while you still have the opportunity, accept the challenge and receive the blessing that comes from obeying His voice. Thank you, and may God bless you all and grant us success in this endeavor! We are on the path of Christ, still breathing in the balm of the Gospel and smelling its sweet fragrance. Thank you all for your love and heartfelt prayers. The Lord has answered.
Your brother,
Dr. Nibras, servant of the Lord
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The third report I received was also from Dr. Nibras and was received on June 5, 2026.
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. Some verses in Matthew 24, came to mind. We find Jesus prophesying about the events that will occur in the age of the Church;
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My nation’s sake. 10And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another, 11then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
The ongoing war between the legitimate government, ISIS, and the supported opposition forces is escalating. ISIS is a Sunni organization, but it represents an independent ideology. Its followers believe that they alone are the true followers of the prophet Muhammad and his teachings. They aim to establish a new caliphate and force all others to submit to their interpretation of Islam or face death.
At the same time — I say this because missionaries in the Middle East — not just the HOB volunteers, but all missionaries there, are going through very difficult times. Naturally, I have a close relationship with the House of Blessing. As the situation worsens — and it is indeed worsening — the number of those who are converted to the true Christ is increasing. Every fallen missionary becomes a seed that often brings hundreds of new souls to life, who, by the power of Jesus’ blood, will spend eternity in the Kingdom of God!
The past few weeks have been extremely difficult, and things don’t seem likely to improve anytime soon. Refugee camps are ravaged by war and the diabolical hatred of various jihadist groups. Every week, hundreds are killed who have lost everything and have no shelter. The Middle East is a powder keg with fuses lit in every direction, and those fuses have already been lit. The question is no longer whether a major war will erupt in the Middle East, but when. ISIS appears to be one of the strongest military forces in the region, with the exception of Israel. ISIS has not yet tested Israel, but it has repeatedly threatened to do so.
Reports have reached us of the deaths of many belonging to the Widow Sisterhood. Mufida’s widow family lost 137 women, and there were many others from the Hafiza and Ferial widow families, all while they were doing the Lord’s work. In their place of service, most of the widows of Mufida, Ferial, and Hafiza serve in northern and eastern Syria, though they move in small groups in different directions as the Lord guides them. Death is not a concern for them, so they go out every day without knowing whether they will return to their tents in the evening or find themselves in the presence of the Lord.
Regarding the number of missionaries from the House of Blessing organization who have gone missing in Syria in the past few days, I know that Brother Abu Layla and Abu Shaker have lost 69 of their brave men. They were captured with their Bibles, preaching the Gospel. These men fell captive to ISIS and the ‘infidel state.’ Without going into painful details, I will tell you that these men were all subjected to brutal and repeated rape at the hands of these sadistic, depraved savages affiliated with the Islamic State. When their satanic frenzy subsided temporarily, and their victims were severely wounded and on the verge of death, they beheaded a large number of them. A man was allowed to escape to sow terror into the hearts of the missionaries. One cannot help but wonder: What religious system permits such behavior? What a stark contrast to the love of Jesus Christ, who taught His followers to love not only their friends but also their enemies! This divine love has a profound effect on people who have never heard of this God who loves them so much. This conversion may not be recorded in contemporary religious statistics, but missionaries know this great miracle through their personal experiences — and God has inscribed their names in the Book of Life!
Today, pastor Abdelrahem and his congregation were subjected to a vicious attack immediately after he moved to a new location, having been relocated by the missionaries of the House of Blessing organization. People were killed near the site, and his room was completely destroyed but the Lord saved him once again! Among the dead (all of them believers) were 53 women, men, and children. It is so sad to hear such stories. I know that many people don’t like reading such reports, including most pastors, but the world needs to know what is happening in other parts of the world, especially to our brothers and sisters. We must care! We must also pray — not just say we will pray, but pray sincerely! God answers prayers, but He does not answer good intentions that go unfulfilled. If we remember that everything we have is a trust from God, it gives us a different perspective. There is no greater investment than helping these courageous missionaries bring the Word of Life to the hundreds of thousands who are dying or facing death. I am not an advocate of the so-called “prosperity gospel,” and I wouldn’t be naive enough to tell you that the payoff will be many times greater. However, I will say that God knows of our obedience to Him and the sacrifice it often represents. The payoff may not come in this life, but it certainly has an eternal reward that we cannot even imagine! Also, if everything were reversed, we would be so grateful that others whom we have never met have answered the call. This is part of God’s commandment to love others as we love ourselves.
In many places today, missionaries are forced to live by faith alone. They don’t know where their next meal will come from, or even if there will be one at all. But, in spite of it all, they not only quote this psalm but sing the words:
1The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. 3Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. 4One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. 5For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of his tabernacle. He shall hide me; he shall set me high upon a rock.
6And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. 7Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8When you said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” 9Do not hide your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me. 11Teach me Your way, O LORD, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. 13I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27
I am certain of this: whatever we do in the name of the Lord, whom we call our Lord and Master, we must do it now! I say this because I am a passionate student of prophecy, and I know that our time is running out. As God said in the time of Noah, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever…” (Genesis 6:3). The door of the ark is about to close. If we care about eternity, if we truly care about the Kingdom of God, if we truly intend for our lives to be an example of the greatest commandment Jesus gave, then we should do so today. Many Christians don’t put their faith into practice in times of ease, so that when difficulties arise, their faith would remain strong, God is all they need and sufficient for them. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us!
His servant forever,
Dr. Nibras
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In conclusion, all of HOB sends their thanks to all who earnestly pray for them. Your gifts are also very much appreciated and applied to the needs at hand. Once again, through your generosity, HOB’s printing press is running and approximately 10,000 more teaching booklets will shortly be ready for transport and distribution all across the Mideast where the House of Blessing communities of believers are ministering. Thank you all and please feel free to contact either of the email addresses below with your questions or comments.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)