Just a brief thought before today’s update. The parable of the talents reminds us of the need to be wise with the gifts we have been given. Whatever He has gifted us with, we are to do something with them. If it is much, much is expected. If little, He expects us to use the little we have. Whether it is time, talents, skills, money, property, relationships, etc., they are to be invested in God’s kingdom. We do not belong to ourselves, we have been bought with a price. A very high price. May the Lord bless your investing!
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I have received several reports in the last few days. This first report received on March 2, 2026 from Dr. Nibras and Sheikh Dari, refers to a sheikh by the name of Maharaj and his wife. They are referenced in more detail in the third report.
I (Dr. Nibras) received a call from Pastor Abdelrahem, who asked me to update you now that we are at the midpoint of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Before doing so, I would like to share a passage from the Acts of the Apostles:
“But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere.” So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. Acts 28:22-24
Most who grew up in the West have enjoyed the freedom to choose how you worship. But this is not the case for many Christians around the world, nor is it the case in most Muslim countries. In predominantly Muslim and Shia countries, Christians do not enjoy freedom of worship. They are not only insulted and considered infidels, but they are also persecuted. Many have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. This is the story of the House of Blessing in the Middle East. Yet, the HOB missionaries continue to preach and teach the truth about Jesus Christ.
I have added to this update some news that I have just received. One of the most recent Shia Muslim imams, Sheikh Maharaj, has accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He also publicly acknowledged Jesus as his Lord in a large city after his wife, Bahira, was healed of her infirmity. Bahira had suffered a stroke and it affected her to where she could not speak. It also caused one side of her mouth to sag. Sheikh Dari prayed for her in front of the people, and she was cured and regained her speech after the Gospel was read to them. Some teachers from the House of Blessing were present, spreading the Gospel.
Those who have followed the House of Blessing know that special efforts are made in evangelizing during the Muslim month of Ramadan (the month of prayer, fasting, and annual sacrifice for all Muslims). Year after year, Jesus Christ reveals Himself to many Muslims through visions and dreams, even as they pray to the supposed god, Allah. Most of these people have never known anything else. Countless times, after hearing the Gospel, Muslims say, “We have been misled! We have never heard God’s message of free forgiveness in this way. We have never known the true story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection! We have never understood who Jesus really is! We want to meet your Messiah!”
The greatest miracle occurs when a person’s eyes are opened to the truth of God’s love for humanity, which was manifested in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as the Lamb of God. Naturally, these people desire a true relationship with the living God who loves them so much!
And that is precisely what is happening, at this stage of Ramadan.
Pastor Abdelrahem told me that the House of Blessing is following a different strategy this year than in previous years. While large gatherings to hear the word of God will still take place, most of this year’s gospel sharing will be from mosque to mosque.
Two, three, or five HOB missionaries will visit each mosque and, if permitted, share the Gospel for an hour. They bring a refreshing drink of tea with oregano, which has proven effective for those suffering from the flu. After an hour of sharing, most people respond to the message and ask for help reciting the prayer of repentance. The missionaries also pray for the sick. Then they return to repeat the process with those in another tent. This continues for most of the day. Each missionary team aims to reach people in at least 100 homes, as Omar, Shahbandar, Murtada, Durgham, Aylout, and the students with them are doing.
Although HOB currently only has 75 copies of the Bible out of 800 needed in the area where Omar, Dari, Aylout, and Abdelrahem are located. They distribute at least one copy to each group of new believers to share. The teaching materials used by the missionaries contain rich biblical texts, of which only 200 copies remain printed verbatim in Farsi. In this way, even with the limited number of copies, the Word of God is accurately conveyed in accordance with each lesson taught. Because Easter Week is two weeks after the end of Ramadan, people hear much about the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection, as well as the teachings of Jesus Christ’s imminent personal return as divine King to establish His kingdom and rule the entire world.
Although the primary focus of the HOB missionaries is evangelism, they are also doing their utmost to distribute available food, continue to help people rebuild their lives, and spread God’s love with all their might, including helping people emerge from this crisis and follow Jesus in a time of war and liberation from oppressive regimes.
Holy Communion services continue wherever possible. Pastor Abdelrahem continues his meetings with his leadership to pray and plan how to accomplish his assigned tasks. May God protect and strengthen him. Let us continue to pray for him and for all the faithful in the HOB community throughout the Middle East. May God answer our prayers and bring a bountiful harvest of souls!
Dr. Nibras, and Sheikh Dari
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This message was received from Dr. Nibras and Aylout Eban on March 4, 2026
Peace be with you and all the followers of Jesus. This is a study I conducted today, and with all the brothers and sisters; this is simply a liberal human understanding of justice and love. These are great concepts that must be aligned with God before we even begin to read the Bible — making sure that our understanding, or our minds, are constantly renewed — as it says in Romans 12:2
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to discern God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.”
This is not always easy — for me, it never has been — and the only way I can ensure that my mind fully grasps the sacred words in the pages of the Bible (or at least what the Holy Spirit wants me to understand at that moment) is to pray, asking Him — once again — to sincerely forgive my sinful words, actions, and thoughts, and to accept His forgiveness anew. I always feel something of this feeling, just as I did the first time I cried out to our living God, Jehovah, and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior from my sins and from death itself. Then, I could immerse myself in God’s Word, not only with a renewed mindset but also with a cleansed soul — and this is what makes it possible to “keep the word of God in my heart,” as David did in Psalm 119:10-11
“I have sought you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
These are the words we find in Romans 3:24-25:
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and have been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
So we know we are going to sin no matter what we do! As we continue to commit unrepentant sins that corrupt our souls, our chances of truly understanding what God is telling us in the Bible diminish. We grasp only a small fraction of it, often falling into the routine of reading the texts, grasping their essence, and superficially justifying the violence, judgments, plagues, miracles, and many other events in the Bible. We tend to focus on the parts of the Bible that emphasize God’s love in obvious and comforting ways, often forgetting that discipline — which is like “refinement by fire” — is also an expression of great love, just as a parent disciplines a young child for dangerous behavior. As children, we remember at least one or two times when we made a mistake, recognizing it immediately, and went to tell our mother or father before punishment came — and those times usually ended much more happily than the others when we tried to ignore or hide our mistakes and were later punished. Remaining open and accountable to our Heavenly Father will enable us to understand His guidance, which is truly the online way to live.
Thank you, brother Jack. Your brother Aylout Eban and the brothers, servants in the Lord’s work, pray from the bottom of our hearts that we may work as much as possible so that they may understand the Bible. It is difficult for them; their thinking has been transformed. May the Lord bless you.
Servants of the Lord,
Brothers Dr. Nibras and Aylout Eban, servants of the Lord
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The report below is a very special one and was received on March 6, 2026.
Peace be upon you, my brother Jack. Sheikh Dari spoke with me. I asked him how he was, and he said he was well, that God was watching over him, and that miracles continued. He told me that he had a man named Maharaj with him. Maharaj seemed eager to speak with me, and I discovered that he spoke fluent Arabic with only a slight accent. Dari also told me that Maharaj was one of the sheikhs whom Sheikh Dari had preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to. His wife, Bahira, was healed after prayer and the Gospel being recited to her. More than 7,000 people came to believe after witnessing it. Maharaj had been a believer for several days and was training to become Dari’s assistant in eastern Iran, and he had opened his mosque for this purpose.
As soon as Maharaj began to talk with me, it became clear that he was a truly changed man! Despite being a Muslim religious leader for over 37 years, he no longer worshipped Allah. You could feel the sparkle in his eyes as he expressed his excitement to speak with me on the phone. He said that Sheikh Dari had often spoken about his friendship with me and my wife, and that he had been looking forward to this opportunity to speak with me.
I spoke with Maharaj yesterday again for about twenty minutes. I wish I could have recorded it for you, Jack. If I had, it would have been so encouraging and inspiring to hear firsthand what God is doing on a very personal level in war-torn Iran. God is giving life to these people, and their joy is “indescribable and full of glory!”
Maharaj expressed his regret that he had been teaching from a wrong book (the Quran) for the past 37 years. But he said that he now devotes all his time to telling everyone he can about Jesus Christ! Maharaj said this with such enthusiasm and passion that I wondered if I had the same zeal to serve my Lord! He was so enthusiastic and energetic in his speech, despite some difficulty with the Arabic. He then began to speak about the teaching booklets he had been receiving. I was embarrassed by his generous and enthusiastic praise, and utterly astonished by his extensive knowledge of the publications translated into Arabic and Persian and widely distributed.
He said he had learned a great deal from them, just during his Bible study days, and wished he could also obtain the Old Testament. Thanks to his long experience teaching people, he enjoyed sharing what he learned from the Bible! He spoke of people’s yearning for the true word of God.
Dari said that the ministry work in his mosque was going on full force. Hundreds were being converted to the Lord every day, and he mentioned that he was in dire need of Bible study books. I asked Dari about his typical day, and he said he taught intermittently, usually for 14 hours a day, and supervised the teachers. Then he spent two or three hours praying for those who came to his mosque. He expressed his gratitude for God’s mercy in changing people spiritually and in healing many. Maharaj told him, “I thoroughly enjoyed talking with this good man.” He gave me other titles, which I must admit pleased me because they meant that God is able to use what I do, no matter how small, for His purposes! That was very encouraging for me. Maharaj said he particularly enjoyed our discussion about the Apostle John because he had become very interested in the Book of Revelation and wanted to learn more.
Dari shared that they spent wonderful hours late into the night talking about the Lord and the things happening on this earth. They talked about many things, even until the early morning. He mentioned that he owns a mosque. It could be converted into a church on its current site, and he decided to accept it and use it as a church, bringing in more Bibles and teaching booklets. What a blessing! He was so happy to know that more of his brothers would come to know Jesus Christ!
During their conversation, Maharaj and his wife suddenly pointed to the entrance of the mosque and asked Dari, “Do you see that?” Dari replied that he didn’t see anything, but Maharaj and his wife began to describe a clear vision they were seeing. Maharaj and his wife said that in this vision they saw a magnificent rainbow — the most beautiful and colorful rainbow they had ever seen. They said there was also a bright light source, but he couldn’t pinpoint its exact origin. As they continued their description, they said they saw the most beautiful place they had ever seen, a place that couldn’t possibly be part of this earth! They said there were many people there. Maharaj and his wife said they were laughing, running, having fun, playing, and worshipping God. This place seemed like paradise to him! Then Maharaj and his wife looked up and said, “People are looking directly at us and beckoning us to join them! They want us to go and be with them in this paradise!”
All this time, Dari couldn’t see any of it, but he knew perfectly well that it was real. Their eyes had been opened to see a dimension that humans cannot normally perceive. God had given them a special gift!
Then Dari’s voice trailed off as he recounted the rest of this wondrous story to me. It turned out that about twenty men attacked them in the mosque and beat them severely. Then they stabbed Maharaj and his wife, hanged them, and left their bodies on the mosque floor. They refused to renounce Christ.
Dari told me this news, and tears streamed down his face. It was very difficult for me to know what to say at that moment. Did he know what was going to happen? Of course! Perhaps this is why the Lord granted Maharaj and his wife the vision of Paradise they saw. Without realizing it at the time, they were given comfort for the difficult moments that would come the next day. I am sure it only took seconds for Maharaj and his wife to remember their vision from the previous night when they saw what they saw. I apologize for sharing such difficult news, but the story needs to be shared.
Dr. Nibras,
Servant of the Lord
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The story of the vision Maharaj and his wife had the day before their death reminds me of Mufida’s late husband, Nabil’s experience a number of years ago. Nabil had served as a sheikh for years until he was led to the Lord by Pastor Rashid. He had been a believer for some months when he went to visit Rashid in his tent. Rashid called me and put me on the phone with him and because he could speak English, I was able to speak with him for about 30 minutes or so. What a wonderful conversation it was. He was so full of joy and thanksgiving for God’s grace and the assurance of salvation He had through the blood of Christ. Not long after the phone call, Nabil had a vision very much like the one that Maharaj and Bahira had. Nabil’s vision was also the day before he was martyred.
It is hard to understand how a man and his wife, so recently having found Jesus as their Savior, would be so abruptly taken. I am told he had already memorized the entire New Testament. His teaching was very effective and hundreds were being brought to faith in Christ. But, our God, who knows all things, was not caught by surprise. The work of the Lord will not be hindered by this. The blood of the martyrs has always brought an enormous harvest of souls.
Please continue keeping the House of Blessing in your prayers. Thank you for the support that has been so generously sent. Every single gift is being used to reach the lost. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact either of the email addresses below.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)