A Scripture used in one of the messages in the last few days comes from Matthew 10:27-33 along with some comments:
27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops, 28 and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Often, we feel completely alone; no one knows what we are going through. We face difficult circumstances that only a few around us may understand. We experience death, illness, and accidents. But the deeper our relationship with God becomes, the more we realize that He has never abandoned us. In fact, when we felt most alone, He carried us to safety through the storm that surrounded us. The Bible promises that nothing escapes God’s notice — ever! So, we can and trust Him.
This week was full of events, both miraculous and tragic. I’ll start with a story sent to me by Al-Hanini about a man named Sheikh Morsi.
Hello Brother Jack. When I (Al-Hanini) was using public transportation together with the brothers Zalatimo, Jaafar, Hael and Arshid, and Abdelrahem, we met Sheikh Morsi, Mullah Zanati, and Mullah Qabsiri, who were on their way from Isfahan, Iran to Mecca via Iraq and perhaps Syria. Seeing that Sheikh Morsi was obviously suffering from a serious neurological disorder that had him totally unaware of his surroundings, Abdelrahem asked the mullahs if he could approach them. When they gave him permission, he asked: “Would you allow us to pray for him?” “Go ahead, sheikh, we have been praying day and night for him, reciting the Quran over him and asking how he might be cured. We intend to visit Saudi Arabia; perhaps he will be cured.”
As Abdelrahem began praying for him, Hael and Arshid applied oil to his head and waited for about 15 minutes. Abdelrahem then gave him a light tap on his head. This stunned the man and he suddenly looked up and began looking around. He started talking and calling them each by name. The two mullahs were shocked and asked Abdelrahem who his Lord was. “Who do you worship?” Abdelrahem replied by saying, “We worship a merciful Lord. We sleep and He protects us until morning. We wake up healthy by His mercy and bounty. We eat and thank Him and He increases His blessing upon us. Isn’t He a merciful Lord? He is Jesus Christ.”
Needless to say, the mullahs were astonished! They looked at each other and began to weep. They took their shoes off and started hitting themselves on their heads. “Jesus and His Book in His mercy heals! We have been praying over him for over a month, and he hasn’t healed the man! Woe to us! Where do we stand? We are failures!” Jesus is a wise Lord! We now believe! We believe!! Forgive us! Will He forgive us?” Then they began hitting themselves again with their shoes. “We have been fools! Jesus is wise! Jesus is the true Lord!” Abdelrahem suggested that they calm down, saying: “We will pray for you, don’t worry. You are our guests and the Lord is merciful and forgiving. Believe in him and you will be saved. Believe with all your heart.”
Al Hanini
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Al Hanini further went on to report how those clerics sat in the back of the bus, praying. They “saw things” (not identified), moving their heads from side to side. They laughed, cried, and called upon the Lord. They read the Bible, kissed it, and thanked God that they were now on Jesus’ path before their life was over. Their actions shocked the rest of the people on the bus. All they have talked about ever since is the Bible and Jesus. They have spent most hours reading the Scriptures and memorizing it as fast as they could.
Back in Isfahan, Dargham says the sheik and the two mullahs haven’t slept a wink and have read the entire New Testament. As they traveled, they began preaching to people. They started on the bus but then continued even after they got off. Dargham said it was pretty frightening. People in this area of strong Shia Islam, are very fanatical in their beliefs and they had not yet heard the story of Sheikh Morsi’s healing. Every time they stopped at a place to rest, the men began preaching about Jesus to anyone who would listen to them. These three men were men of very high ranking and so people didn’t challenge their preaching, they just listened in shock. The two mullahs were both at least 70 years old and Sheikh Morsi was 65.
Sheikh Morsi, Mullahs Zenati and Qabsiri eventually went to the mosque. I received this message from Omar about what happened next.
Hello brother Jack, this is Omar. Dargham and I arrived at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. We both entered separately from each other. There were many sheikhs and hundreds of people there. The sheikhs and people were surprised that the mullahs and Sheikh Morsi had come back so early. Morsi was speaking when the brothers entered and the mullahs Zanati and Qabsiri spoke after him. The mullahs told the story how they had changed plans, not going to Mecca after all. “We didn’t go to Mecca. We met a man who followed the Lord, and he prayed for Morsi and when he called upon his Lord, he was healed. We now believe in Him and His Book. When we saw what had happened, we asked the man, “Whose book is that, and who is its Lord?” His answer was, “Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for me and for you, and it is He who caused you to be here today. If it weren’t for Jesus, none of you would be alive today! Take this Book. Read it! It is in Farsi. Read about the miracles. Examine the truths within it.”
It was then that trouble began. The demand was made that the sheikh and the mullahs renounce their belief in Jesus, but the men refused. “We will not renounce our belief in Jesus. We refuse! We are now believers in and followers of Jesus. All of this (gesturing at the mosque and all it represents) is false! Jesus is the source of all Truth!!”
As the confrontation worsened, Al-Zanati, Al-Qabsiri, and Morsi said: “Even if you kill us, we will not die! We will go to live for eternity with Jesus. Right now, we see angels around us and they are describing Paradise to us.” The extremists that were challenging them then took their Bibles from them but they could not read a page because they would not open. Al-Zanati said: “The Book won’t open for you because your hearts are black. Give it to me.” As Zanati put his hand on the Bible, it opened up. When it opened, their attackers went into a rage and threw all three Bibles into a fire but they wouldn’t burn. Then they really lost control of themselves, demanding that they return to their religion but the men emphatically refused. “If we have to die, we will die for our belief in Jesus only, because He is the only source of all Truth.”
That is when they forced all 450 attendees out of the mosque and sealed the doors shut. After abusing them for about 20 minutes, they took all three men up to the top of the minaret and threw them down to the ground. The fall didn’t kill them immediately and no one was allowed to approach them. As the men were on the ground dying, they shouted: “He is coming. He is coming. HE IS COMING!!” They shouted to the crowd that they should die to their false beliefs and accept the sacrifice Jesus made, providing for an eternity in God’s Kingdom. It was only a few minutes until their souls went to be with the Lord, but we (Omar and Dargham) heard them laughing out loud as they died.
Omar
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Shahbandar and Murtadah are in the area and say the situation is very dangerous and things could get much, much worse. And, that is what happened. I received additional information a day later and I was told that each of these men had several wives. They were all terrified when they learned that the sheikh and the mullahs were going to go to the mosque. After the men had gone home before going to the mosque, they had told their wives that they must believe only in Christ, and they needed to do it immediately. The wives followed their husbands and decided to become followers of Jesus also, as did all of their children. I was told that there were at least 46 people including the women, and all children (judging by the ages of the clerics, at least most of their children must have been grown).
This is where the story got much worse. The brothers combined their information and sent a report of what happened next, using one of them as the spokesperson. Dargham, for one, saw all that happened and confirmed all. The families of the men were at the mosque when everything happened. (NOTE: Almost all reports are sent to Sister Rolla and she translates them into English and sends them on to me. In respect for those that send the original reports, the only editing that is done is to help with a proper understanding of what is being reported.)
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My dear friend and brother Jack: Myself, along with the rest of the elders, brothers and sisters, couldn’t hold back our tears this week as we recounted the latest events. The women of the sheikhs’ families were arrested on the spot and killed for their belief in Jesus. The men were arrested by the security forces and their hands were bound. They were then humiliated by being stripped naked and told they had to renounce their faith in Jesus and accept Muhammad, the Prophet of God, as their savior, or die. None of these men renounced their faith in their Messiah, Jesus. Then, each man was placed in the hands of several men who used their long knives to end the lives of these believers, tearing and slashing as their twisted minds dictated.
I apologize for mentioning these details, but I believe that we, as the family of Christ our Redeemer, need to hear these stories to understand the courageous faith of these martyrs and to remember the covenant between us and our God. How can we know if we will or won’t face the same circumstances before our Lord calls us home? Is our relationship with God deep enough that the price of serving Him will not matter to us? He died for us, and even if it costs us our short earthly lives, so be it. In the light of eternal; glory in the presence of our King, nothing else is worth mentioning. These brave souls paid a heavy price, sacrificing their courageous lives.
Some more news from Isfahan, once again, while these new believers, were sharing the greatest story ever told — the story of our Creator and His great love for fallen humanity and His granting of eternal forgiveness to all who accept it– the men of the families were stripped of their clothes, forced to lie on the ground, then were brutally beaten. Then they were given the same choice as before: either to deny their relationship with Jesus Christ, and to accept Allah and his prophet, Muhammad as their savior, or to die where they already had bled. Each of these brave men were executed because they would not bend. They are now with the Lord.
Spokesman for the HOB brothers
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I know that a report such as this one is difficult to read. I know there are much more gruesome details that could be shared but this is enough for this report. I pray that we do not read an update like this and lightly pass it off as just another missionary story. These are real people who have real families. There are other family members and neighbors that have apparently been reached with the gospel that was shared by Sheikh Morsi and his two mullah friends. I heard a number of approximately 95 or so in total. All 46 of the immediate family members were slaughtered and it happened right after the sheikh and mullahs were thrown from the top of the minaret. The rest have apparently now been displaced. Our House of Blessing communities desperately need our prayer support in providing the Word of God to the multitudes who are so desperate to hear the Good News of the Gospel. Thousands are turning from Islam to a belief in Jesus Christ. Praise God.
Because there was so much information that came in these last couple of days, and to keep this update from getting too long, I am writing an additional update tomorrow and it will be made available in short order.
I would like to close this update with two passages of Scripture.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me…. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:4, 6
9 When 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. 10 And 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?” 11 Then 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. Revelation 6:9-11
For anyone who has questions about the ministry of the House of Blessing, please feel free to contact the House of Blessing at either of the email addresses below. Thank You.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack) 541 408-2779