Most of us live our Christian lives wondering how effective we are in our influence on others. We never know how God might use our impression on the people around us — even those who have no interest at all in the One we represent. But when we are faithful to make Him and His Truth known, God promises that His word will not return empty. It will in fact, accomplish the task it has been sent out for. Sometimes, this even means that it is an aid to someone’s decision — whether for or against Christ. That is a hard pill to swallow, but it is true. God has said in His Word: “Choose who you are going to serve. Choose life and blessing so that you and your seed can live.” Some will choose life, others however, choose to reject God’s free gift.
This principle is applicable anywhere in the world, both in the West where it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach people with the Gospel; and in third world countries where multitudes are hungry for the Truth but presenting it to them can be very costly. Today’s story reported by the House of Blessing elders is an example.
The story is about a sheikh by the name of Abu Dagher. The report was sent by Aylout and Omar.
Peace be upon you brother Jack. We got to know a great sheikh a week ago from Isfahan, Iran. I (Aylout) gave him a Bible and he took it. The odd thing is, he is a blind man. Odd as it sounds, the Lord inspired him to read. I did not even know he was blind. With him were sheikhs named Sheikh Issam and Sheikh Saeed Balames. After reading the Scriptures (I do not know how), Abu Dagher recognized Jesus as the true Messiah and decided he must serve Him, as did his sheikh friends that were with him. One morning at time for morning prayer at the mosque, Sheikh Abu Dagher decided to declare his faith in front of the hundreds who had gathered for prayer. He no sooner made his declaration, people from the crowd grabbed him, beat him severely, dragged him to the city garbage dump, and left him for dead.
Less than 12 hours passed and he came back to himself and went right back to the mosque for evening prayer. His friends came with him but they had so far been afraid to openly confess Jesus lest they meet the same fate as their friend, Abu Dagher. When they came back for evening prayer, they found that there were about 700 who had gathered in the mosque. The people were shocked when they saw him because, not only did they see who they thought was a dead man, but he had also been totally healed of his blindness. After speaking again to the crowd, the miracles so stunned the crowd, and because there was no other answer than the fact that God had supernaturally intervened in his situation that they became believers in Jesus Christ as well. By the time we arrived there, people were asking Abu Dagher for forgiveness for what had been done to him that morning. They were also asking the Lord for forgiveness.
We learned that this man had memorized the Bible in a week’s time while he was blind. His wife said that he used to read the Bible all day and night and while he did, a light was coming from it. As he held the Bible, he could be heard talking with someone but there was no one with him. He would pray and then cry. Then he would read some more and he did it by touching the Bible with his fingers. What a man of faith. He loves Jesus with all of his heart!
Aylout and Omar
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The story about Sheikh Abu Dagher came to me in several installments. I received two more from just Omar, explaining what happened after Abu Dagher and his friends came back to the mosque, shared the Gospel of Jesus with the crowd, introduced hundreds to the Lord Jesus and prayed the sinner’s prayer with them. I will let Omar tell the rest in his own words.
Brother Jack, how are you? My heart is very, very wounded today and sadness has afflicted Abdelrahem and Aylout as well. We are all grieving the loss of this mighty man who defied the enemies of Jesus. He was confronted by those who demanded that he and his friends deny Jesus and renounce the Gospel. They completely refused to deny their faith in their beloved Jesus. Abu Dagher and his friends, Saeed, Issam, and Amenou were all four hanged in front of the crowd.
His son, also called Dagher, says that his father truly was blind and his wife and daughter testified that he was reading the Gospel and light was coming out from around them. He was a blessed man who loved Jesus and was healed by angels in the garbage he was thrown into. When he and his friends returned to the mosque, we joined them but the Lord spoke to us, telling us to leave the mosque. Abu Dagher also asked us to leave the building. Spies that were there in the mosque turned the men in to the Islamic authorities, who promptly came and hung them in front of everyone there. The men were then buried. The people were terrified, but the men were strong and defied their attackers with the power of the Gospel. Their death was a torment but they are now experiencing eternal rest with Jesus. Their words were: “We die to live with Jesus, the Forgiver of sins.
Omar
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One day later I received this message from Omar.
Hello brother Jack, this is Omar with you. How are you? Dagher, the son of the sheikh, his wife, Amna, his daughter Sonia, who is a doctor, and also Sabah, the wife of Saeed, and his sons, Salsabil, the wife of Issam, who is a nurse, have arrived. They have decided to follow Jesus and leave their home. They came to us and we will take care of them. Sister Amna described her husband, Abu Dagher, as a very pious man who loved the Bible. He just finished memorizing his Bible a week ago, and he did it as a blind man. I don’t know how he did it but I think angels were sharing in reading the Bible with him. I do not know. A bright light came out of his room, and one time, when he was alone in his room, a sudden strong wind came out of his room and when he left his room, it smelled really good. He was betrayed but the Lord brought him back to life. But, the will of the Lord was done. There is no objection to this. We believe and have faith in Jesus with all our hearts, and we will work according to His will until the Lord comes. We will not surrender to the vile Shiites, and we will never, ever back down!
Omar
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Abdelrahem sent some thoughts concerning some of the situations that the House of Blessing missionaries are in. It has always been dangerous but things seem to have ratcheted up as of late. This is brother Abdelrahem’s message:
My brother Jack, peace be upon you and upon all who love Jesus and His followers. We are now in a very, very difficult stage, especially my brothers there (Iran). I have encouraged them to be very careful and cautious, even when teaching the Gospel. I have told them to keep everything top secret and not to deal with anyone they do not know until the crisis passes. There is an urgent need to provide the Gospel to the people who have believed in Jesus, and we will provide them with the necessary education, with the blessing of the Lord. As for the situation here, we openly pray and do what we can to support them morally and materially. The Lord is the guardian of everything with His blessing and success. The elders and I will return soon to get things organized for the teachings coming up and give the necessary advice and prayer for everyone in need. I will also do what we can to meet those needs. We are being targeted today by people who are enemies of the Lord’s work but we will overcome them with the Lord’s guidance and power.
The Lord bless you,
Your brother, servant of the Lord forever,
Abdelrahem
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As I receive report after report from the front lines of the missionaries who are proclaiming the Gospel all across the Middle East, I cannot help but think of Acts 13-14. For the sake of brevity, I cannot print out the entire two chapters but would recommend that the reader take the time to read through both chapters and contemplate the stories that have been passed down to us. After reading, one cannot miss how the account of the spreading of the Gospel in the first century matches exactly what is happening in many parts of the world today — and we are seeing it through the work of the House of Blessing at the end of the Age of Grace.
As in the Book of Acts, the Gospel was taken by the Apostles and those they trained, to city after city — from one nation to another. Miracles were performed, multitudes gathered, and large numbers of people accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord. In some places, the apostles were run out of town. In other places, they were beaten, thrown into prisons, dungeons, or even murdered. They were burned alive, they were tortured, they were crucified, stoned to death, buried alive, or fed to wild beasts in front of blood-thirsty crowds. That is happening today. In many places the population was divided between those who believed and those who rejected the message. It is the same today. We find these words in Acts 14:19-20:
19 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. 20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
These two verses give one example of how the Gospel was spread. It is in fact, much like the above story for Paul in Acts 14, with the exception that after the initial confrontation, the four men in this case were hanged. The Biblical accounts present us with the locations, cause of the attacks, details of the attacks, the survival (although they did not always survive), and the aftermath. The stories also show the resilience of God’s messengers, how fickle the crowds were, and God’s supernatural intervention.
All of these things are in evidence as the true Church completes its task in these last moments of the Age. The early Church began with an explosion of conversions and the last generation Church is finishing the same way. While this update includes just one major event from the past few days, there was another which seems to have shaken people from both Iran and Iraq. I will include that story in an update in a couple days.
As always, I want to thank you all for your prayers and support for the House of Blessing. Praise God He has allowed us to be put in this very unique period of time….very dangerous times for HOB, but time that is crucial for completing the task they have been called to. Thousands of Bibles and booklets are being printed in faith because the need is enormous! Whatever needs to be done in the name of the Lord, it should be done now. Jesus’ return for His beloved people is at the door!
For anyone with questions or wondering how to support HOB, please use either of the email addresses below.
God Bless You All,
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack) Jake Geier; 3206 SW 45th Street; Redmond, Oregon 97756 USA