Just a thought at the beginning of today’s update. I wonder how often we mortals underestimate the value of the life God has given us. For some, the length of time allotted is short, and for others possibly decades longer. But, we only pass this way one time. I will borrow a question from one of Jonathan Cahn’s Book of Mysteries devotionals: “Which would be more valuable, that which is common or that which is rare?” The answer is obvious. How about what is extremely rare? Once again, the answer is obvious. The more rare, the more valuable.
How about the life God has given you on this earth? Is it rare? Some would say, no. What is rare about a life lived among 8 billion other people? Everyone’s life is made up of countless actions, reactions, events — each played out in millions of separate moments. But is there another way of answering the question? Once again, to borrow a thought from Jonathan Cahn. What if your life on earth were to last 100 years but time goes on for 1,000 years. Is your time on earth rare at one-tenth of time? What if time were to last 1,000,000 years? How rare would your life be at one ten-thousanths of time? Very rare indeed! Let’s go a little farther. How about if time were to last for an eternity? How rare is your one life? Your life is no longer worth one-tenth of time, nor one ten-thousandth of time, nor one-millionth or one-billionth of time. It is one-eternieth of time! How do you attach a value to something so extremely rare? You can’t because it is priceless! So priceless that the Creator of the universe was willing to bankrupt heaven to purchase that one life. Yours. Mine.
Our lives only come around in an eternity…only once. Every moment you have only comes around one time…and never again. Every moment is a once-in-eternity moment, a one-eternieth moment. Every moment is of infinite value. So…appreciate every moment you have. I know there are those reading these words and are already deeply regretting lost years, but remember, God has paid the bill for all that has been lost. Jesus, while hanging on the cross, said “It is finished” (paid in full). Take your next moment and recognize that it, and all the ones after it are a gift from the God of eternity. Whatever you intend to do in the name of the Lord in this life, do it now. Recognize every day given to you is a gift from God. Ask Him for His guidance for whatever days you have left on this planet. He knows that exact number and He will answer your prayer. And, be encouraged. God can do more with two minutes of your time on this earth when it’s submitted to Him than you can do in a lifetime of self-made plans! Count on it!
11 And 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. 12 The 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. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. Romans 13;11-14
So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
I am going to begin today’s update with a message from Abdelrahem. Please note, only necessary editing has been done to the messages from the field in order to offer clarity where it might be needed.
Peace be with you and with all who follow Christ. Brother Jack, my brothers and sisters, over the past years, many readers of the “Middle East Updates” on keeplookingupward.com have heard stories often described as “miraculous” and “extraordinary.” These are stories about how God has used humble and unknown men and women to accomplish His purposes and plans in these times. All the stories of sustenance, protection, healing, and salvation, as well as death and martyrdom in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Azerbaijan, begin and end with a firm belief that God continues to work in and through His servants in ways that defy our ability to comprehend or explain. God does not simply use what we can explain to accomplish His will. We all know this! And we also know that whenever and wherever God works His purposes, there will be fruit and a harvest, and He will receive glory.
Our common enemy is enraged by this harvest and will attack in every way possible to destroy the workers in the fields, both physically and psychologically. He will do everything in his power to blind believers to the truth if it will cause them to lose faith in the God of miracles. It is a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless, that God’s work and victories will always be resisted by the enemy, and sometimes even by our own brothers and sisters in the Lord. When the enemy comes from the depths of hell, we know that God’s full arsenal is at hand, and we can fight against Satan’s weapons, which will ultimately not prevail against us. Only with the Gospel can we fight, and only then can we stand firm. Sometimes, we must take our stand under His wing until God guides us to a new path.
The enemy has used a familiar weapon against some of our brothers and sisters, deceiving some outsiders into pretending they are believers in Jesus and then infiltrating our ranks through teaching classes. They have tried to weaken the faith of some of our brothers and sisters. This weapon has not weakened God’s power to continue His mighty miracles. The missionaries of the House of Blessing (HOB) continue their work of spreading the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus to as many people as possible. They will continue to trust in and experience the miracles of healing, help, and salvation until we are all called home. There is no doubt about that.
However, after prayer and a long discussion with our team, we decided that HOB’s mission of reaching unbelieving souls has also been fulfilled through the people who come to the Lord by hearing these stories. This is our sole purpose — to reach souls no matter what. For me and my brothers and sisters, our efforts are not focused on collecting donations, but rather in reaching souls. Therefore, when the enemies of Christ offered us a great deal of money to abandon the Lord’s service and His work, we absolutely refused. This bribe was offered because of the birth of so many sheikhs and mullahs to the way of Christ in Iran. This has caused great anger and now today, because of our refusal; the Iranian militias in Iraq attacked many of the brothers and sisters in the teaching classes, beating them, stripping them of their clothes and raping Hafiza, Ferial, Mufida, and Sarah. They especially wanted to force some of the honorable sisters who were still suffering from old wounds, to deny Christ but they failed. We ask you for prayers for them. I sent Al-Hanini and Omar to attend to them.
I am now, along with others, in Iran. We are on our way to see Mullah Ma’touq, a man who has been seeing people, totally unknown to him, healed by ministering to them with his Bible and prayer. It seems that the objections and attacks on us and on the stories that come through ministry, and the hope that is brought, and the fact that the Bible is true, is what the enemies want to hide. We will, however, not give up until our last breath. The stories and testimonies will continue as God works in the lives of the missionaries and their ministry and facilitates their work in His mission. Pray for our success.
Your brother Abdelrahem, servant of the Lord.
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I received another short message from Abdelrahem referring to the offer made to the House of Blessing to stop the work of their ministry:
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. I contacted the brothers and elders on our way to Ma’touq, and obviously in full agreement with my response. We are people of principle; even if they gave us a mountain of gold and a mountain of diamonds, we would not be part of such an agreement. We only hold fast to the Gospel because it is worth more than all the money in the world. We remain true to our covenant, my brother Jack. Just so you know, the number of followers among the believers has reached 15,000 on our site alone, and the number is increasing. May the Lord bless you. Go forth, my brother, and we will walk barefoot if need be until the word of the Lord is firmly established.
Your brother, the servant of the Lord,
Abdelrahem
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The next report I received was from the mullah referred to by Abdelrahem in the previous message:
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. This is Mullah Ma’touq, representing the steadfastness and truth resisted by the enemies of Christ. I am proud and honored to follow Christ and take Him as my Lord. I don’t want to take up too much of your time. The great Father Abdelrahem and the honorable sheikhs, including Aylout Eban, arrived at our home. I contacted important sheikhs; Sheikh Ghazi, Sheikh Bajis, and Sheikh Zadeh from Istafan, Tehran, and Semnan. I did the following to demonstrate to them the miracle of the Gospel and the power of faith in Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for humanity.
I brought a loaf of bread, olive oil, salty white cheese, and water. I asked them to make hot tea, and we shared the food. I told them to wish for whatever they desired to eat, but before anything, before eating, I would pray for them to the Lord of the Book. They were quite surprised, but then went ahead and made their decision on what they would desire. Some wished for beef, some for chicken, and some for fish. A miracle happened before their very eyes. They ate from the bread and the oil, and the amount of food did not diminish. There were more than 500 people with us in the mosque watching this great event. What a merciful Lord! The sheikhs believed, and we agreed on one religion, the belief in Christ, and we will work to share the Gospel of His free gift of salvation. We will spread the word and as we are able, we will provide teachings and Bibles. I will open a school here to teach about Jesus. We ask for your prayers. The elders are staying here because it is safe for them, and we will be present to bring as many souls as possible to Jesus. What the government and extremist groups are doing does not concern us, and we are not afraid, and money (whether we have it or not) will not concern us. Brother Jack, He is the source of eternal life. May the Lord bless you. Do not forget us in your prayers!
Mullah Ma’touq, servant of the Lord
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Abdelrahem added a short message in reference to the gathering above:
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack, and upon all who love and follow Jesus. Today the Lord blessed the simple meal that ended up feeding over 1400 people on top of the miracle that had already happened. People brought 30 kilos of rice and lentils, and we prayed and asked the Lord to bless the food. The food was endless; everyone ate and was satisfied. They also brought tamarind juice within ice, and beautiful prayers were offered after they made donations so that we may continue to follow the Gospels. The word of the Lord will prevail.
Your brother,
Abdelrahem, servant of the Lord forever
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I would also like to add a short report sent by brother Omar about three days earlier about a very recent incident that actually led up to the visit with Mullah Ma-touq.
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. This is Omar. We had a meeting with a sheikh named Al-Jaouni, a few weeks ago before the big fire incident in which a number of men died and others were severely burned. This man is from Azerbaijan and had been given a Bible which he began to read with great interest. He read and read, and then decided to put his faith to the test by laying the Bible on his wife’s stomach, saying: “O Lord of the Bible and Lord of this book, I ask you to cause my wife to conceive.” It was after this that she conceived and was carrying twins, even though they had lost all hope! He became so overwhelmed with joy that he went to mullah Ma’touq and gave him the book to read. Mullah Ma’touq began to read and soon after began to pray for people. One day, two ugly (disfigured), disliked, and feared men came to him for prayer. He prayed for them and after three days, they were touched by the hand of God and became ‘beautiful’ and no longer feared. Ma’touq was even more moved, and more men and women suffering from various illnesses were healed as he prayed for them. We were contacted, and I, Aylout, and Abdelrahem and other sheikhs were asked to visit him. He assured us of our safety during our visit. He was very well known and had great influence. He said that the Lord of the Book would protect us.
Omar
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More news has already arrived today but it will have to become part of the next update. I can share this though: A massive amount of printing has been done of special teaching booklets titled, “Why Jesus?” and other titles for the Christmas season and beyond. These are being distributed throughout Syria; from Irbil in northern Iraq to Bosra in the deep south; from the western border of Iran all the way to the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders in the east; and now also into areas of Kurdistan and as of late, into Azerbaijan. It is a miracle in the making! Presently, a large order of Bibles and New Testaments are being printed as well. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
Thank you all for your support in prayer and financially. Every Bible will bear much fruit! It was God’s literal promise nearly 14 years ago. God does not forget His promises, ever! Please feel free to contact either of the email addresses below with questions or comments. WhatsApp and Telegram contacts are also available. Thank You, and may God bless you all.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack) 541 408-2779