I ran into an interesting thought while studying a little book with explanations of Hebrew words. The Hebrew word shema means to hear. A question was asked that we could all easily answer. Do you ever find yourself in a fog of stress and anxiety, unable to focus because you’re being pulled in multiple directions? We are bombarded with so many things in our modern world that we can be left feeling flat and unable to focus. But while stress may seem like a modern issue, perhaps there’s an ancient solution.
Jewish people have for thousands of years spoken a prayer the moment they wake up that focuses their attention on God rather than the things of the world. It is called the “Shema,” which means “hear or listen.” It comes right out of Deuteronomy 6:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you like down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
It was Jesus who said, “he who has ears, let him hear”, suggesting action. The Hebrew word “shama” means to hear, listen, and respond, emphasizing the connection between hearing and taking action. Shama is translated “obey”, though there is no specific Hebrew word for “obey” because hearing is understood to be part and parcel of actively taking action. “He who has ears to hear, let him do what he has heard. I suspect our whole attitude and outlook on life would be changed for the better if we remembered to put this into practice before facing our day!
On to the House of Blessing…
I combined a couple reports from Dr. Nibras that I received in the last few days. He had some miracle testimonies, progress reports and also some spiritual insights meant to benefit us all.
Greetings to you, Brother Jack, and to all who love Jesus. I spoke this morning with Pastor Abdelrahem, the elders, and Rabbi Shabazi. Rabbi Shabazi emphasized that we must quickly fulfill our role in carrying out the Great Commission as found in Mark 16:15-18. It was Jesus who gave this commandment, and it was given to every believer and follower of His throughout the world. Sadly, it seems that even the most devoted servants of Christ — among those with the least income and political freedom, living in great numbers — sometimes take these things for granted when times for them improve. We forget the source of our blessings and lose sight of the purpose of our existence in this fleeting life. This cycle of forgetting and remembering repeats itself, as seen in the pages of the Bible regarding Israel. Yet, as we learn from the example of the Children of Israel in Scripture, we too lose sight of the essence of life. Spiritually wise people, however, re-examine how they live out their faith and ask the Lord if any adjustments are needed. We are in the final hours of this age, and we shall stand before our King. This thought crosses my mind constantly these days, and I hope it crosses yours as well.
Miracles continue to happen on the mission field, including another story of God’s grace and mercy which I received from Brother Omar. As a background for what happened let us look at a passage from the Scriptures, from Paul’s letter to the Romans:
14How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? 15And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17So the faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed; Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Romans 10:14-18
What truly amazes me is the number of people who respond to the Gospel message and become believers and followers of Jesus Christ in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, including the entire Middle East, and especially Saudi Arabia. Today’s update includes a story of how the power of God’s love reaches the hearts of some of the most desperate and heartless people, changing their path from being hired killers and followers of an infidel regime like that of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers, to followers of Jesus Christ. You have heard the story of Sheikh Khabaja and Sheikh Al-Jandawi, who were converted to the Gospel through Umm Khadija and her husband Abu Hamidu, who are newly trained House of Blessing missionaries. Umm Khadija was healed of blindness after Pastor Abdelrahem prayed for her.
After this event, many people became believers and were baptized. Omar and his companions decided to travel to other tribes in the region to spread the Gospel. After traveling for about half a day in the desert, Omar and his companions found a group. When they entered the mosque in an area where about 2,000 people lived, they found some men and women ill, some very sick. Some had gastroenteritis, some of them had the sickness but also had diarrhea, and the rest were said to have other serious health problems. They were placed in the mosque to prevent the spread of disease. These men and women were in such a bad state (we think it was Malta fever from the cheese) that they could not leave the mosque, and the people in the area hadn’t left their homes. When Omar saw their condition, he told Shahbandar and Mortada that they shouldn’t be left to die. Omar and those with him looked at them with the eyes of Christ.
Now here is the good news of how God’s love was demonstrated to them. God hadn’t sent Omar and the others to judge them as infidels because they were followers of Muhammad, no, but to present life to them. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to teach people to love Jesus! Then he asked the men to go out and gather anything edible they could find to make soup. After searching, they found two onions, some spinach leaves, two apples, a little rice, some breadcrumbs, and some arugula and garlic.
They combined all the ingredients into a soup and heated it over an open fire. After they prayed over the soup and asked God to grant them healing, Omar told the sick men the story of how Al-Jundawi and Kabajah had come to believe in Jesus Christ. They were astonished to hear this story because they knew Kabajah and Al-Jundawi well. Then he said to them, “Now is your time, your day. You can live or die — with Him as your savior, or alone! The choice is yours!”
After listening to the explanation of the plan of salvation, they asked how they too could be saved, so each one of them was prayed with individually. Then the men began to eat their soup and a small piece of bread that Omar and his companions had found. Within minutes, their bodies were strengthened, and they began to feel better. Then they asked if there was a way they could be baptized. Because water was scarce, Omar and his assistants could only pour a little water over their heads, but with faith and to the best of their ability, they baptized each one of them. The last I heard of this story, the men were still weak, but were gradually recovering, thanks to God’s grace and the love of Jesus shown to them by the HOB missionaries.
Just so you know, the number of sick men reached 480 and women 275. They were healed, and we thank the Lord for that.
Pastor Abdelrahem and his assistants continue to pray daily for hundreds of people, as do those who work with him. The Lord continues to touch people’s hearts, not only by answering their prayers for their physical needs, but also by giving them encouragement and hope in a place where hope is scarce. The services for Holy communion, attended by hundreds and thousands, bring much encouragement, hope, and spiritual renewal.
The believers continue to gather in different locations to celebrate the spiritual riches they had learned from God’s Word. As you know, training sessions took place, bringing together hundreds of thousands of people in many locations — some in large gatherings and others in smaller groups to facilitate teaching and foster personal connection. While not all sessions have concluded, there were those that were particularly powerful. What a tremendous honor and privilege it would have been for you, Brother Jack — and for all the supporters of the House of Blessing around the world, to have witnessed this celebration firsthand! We cherish the freedom to gather with fellow believers — a blessing that the House of Blessing community does not take for granted. It is, however, a privilege that has come at a great cost.
By God’s grace, the HOB printing press was able to print 6,000 copies of the booklets for our brothers in Iraq, and we are currently printing another 10,000 copies for our brothers in Iran. This is a tremendous blessing for the recipients; these booklets have become their most precious treasure. After their long gatherings conclude, the believers spend their remaining time poring over these new copies, searching for the treasure God has placed within their pages. Thank you Brother Jack for providing them, and a special thank you to all HOB supporters. Without your financial sacrifices, none of this would have been possible!
Bible study sessions will continue across Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, and Saudi Arabia. Hundreds of thousands will gather to participate in the teachings provided by HOB instructors, and each of them will join the ranks of the House of Blessing volunteer evangelists. We rejoice to see the fulfillment of the promises God made to Abdelrahem and Pastor Rashid over 14 years ago, when this latest House of Blessing project began. God Almighty declared that every copy of the Bible would bear fruit — indeed, abundant fruit. These were the words of the Spirit of God, and that is precisely what has come to pass. I also know personally that God rewards every evangelist by allowing them to impact at least a hundred souls. Yet, the harvest exceeds expectations; today, my brother, the Lord has granted a thousand souls in return for every missionary who sacrificed his or her life for their faith in the Lord Jesus. The vast multitudes who have heard this message over the past fourteen years have seemed ready to respond to this call! What a mighty God we worship!
As you know, Brother Jack, Jews around the world celebrate the Jewish autumn festivals. This year the Hebrew New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is being celebrated on September 12th and 13th. Yom Kippur falls on September 21st, and the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) begins on September 26th, concluding on October 3rd. Over the years that HOB has served in Islamic countries, new believers have been taught the significance of these festivals. We will celebrate and join in fasting and teaching the new believers who do not yet possess a copy of the Bible or study booklets. We thank the brothers in Najran (southern Saudi Arabia), such as Al-Saftawi, Omar, Murtada, and Shahbandar, and the many sheikhs who have become followers of Jesus, for their constructive teaching efforts. They are still teaching without Bibles or teaching booklets. Our prayer is that we can very soon provide them the secondary printer that they desperately need in the Najran area.
Just a side note: Today, the Lord protected Omar and the brothers, allowing them to return safely to their locations after being attacked as they were traveling. It is by the Lord’s grace that they survived the enemies of the faith.
The situation in the Middle East is not improving. Chaos reigns, and many countries around the world are experiencing the same chaos and turmoil today. The signs of the times are clear. The signs of a major war in the Middle East are also becoming clearer by the day. The United States, Iran, and Israel are preparing for a momentous event. Difficult days await humanity as it stands on the precipice of the end of the age. The return of our awaited Messiah is imminent.
Omar told me about another incident that happened. While I do not have all the details, the story is that he, Mortada, Shahbandar, Al-Shuyukh, and Awn approached a mosque near Bisha (southeast of Mecca), to ask if they could share their message. This mosque practiced a more general form of Islam. It was a Friday — the day Muslim men typically gather at the mosque to listen to sermons and pray.
Usually, such occasions might offer an opportunity for HOB missionaries to share their message, but that was not the case this time. They were immediately rejected and angrily ordered to leave. They were struck with shoes and subjected to verbal abuse and profanity; yet, Omar and his companions left on foot, they prayed that the Lord would be in control — even of their attackers. What happened next shocked and deeply saddened Omar and his team. He said it seemed as though a lightning bolt from the heavens struck the mosque, igniting a fire that claimed the lives of a number of people inside. The exact count is not known, but the shock of the event was enough to move the men to tears.
When Omar told me what had happened, he said something entirely different from what I have ever heard him say before. He said that a shift is taking place. The current state of affairs is a sign that the Age of Grace is coming to an end. I agree with him on this; the situation has become insane in a very short time. It goes along with what Pastor Abdelrahem has stated more than once: the Father is about to declare “It Is Enough!” But until then I am sure we will continue to see things deteriorate.
God has, however, set a limit on evil. According to the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, the “Restrainer” will be removed at the end of the Age of Grace, allowing evil to run its full course. Who, then, is this “Restrainer?” It is the followers of Jesus — the true members of the Body of Christ who fulfill the spiritual mission of the Holy Spirit.
Our world today is racing away from God rather than drawing closer to Him. Psalm 2 aptly describes this situation:
1Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? 2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.” 4He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Psalm 2:1-4
We stand on the threshold of the Day of the Lord. This period aims to bring God’s judgment upon the world that rejects Christ, and also to awaken the Jewish people, leading them to acknowledge their Messiah Jesus — whom they rejected two thousand years ago. The true, believing Church will be gathered up before the “Day of the Lord” — the time following the end of the present world order. Are you ready? Until God takes us to Himself, let us continue to fulfill the mission to which we have all been called. We will praise and worship Him today, tomorrow, and forever and ever!
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11
“Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 2:12
Just to let you know, Pastor Abdelrahem and his team have arrived in Azerbaijan. Prayers are continuing to be offered all across the Middle East by HOB in observance of Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year. Please continue to pray with us and for us.
Your brother, servant of the Lord,
Dr. Nibras
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Thank you all again for your prayers and support. The House of Blessing is going all out to reach every single person they can with the Gospel, and the response has been greater than anyone could possibly imagine — except that when we walk by the Spirit of God, there are no limits to what can happen!
Please do keep them all in prayers. And, of course, thank you for your support through financial gifts which will make it possible to finish the purchase of the second printer and to keep mass-printing Bibles and teaching booklets. If anyone has any questions or comments, or desire to help with the cost of printing, please feel free to contact us at either of the email addresses below. Thank you all.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)