MIDEAST UPDATE…4/7/2025….”And Greater Works Than These”

I would like to begin today’s update with a passage of Scripture found in John 14. 

¹² Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.   John 14:12-14

We are living in turbulent times, but our Abba Father is always ahead of the times. He knows all things and controls their timing. There are many souls being brought to the harvest and our God knows the names of all who will listen to the Good News of Salvation and accept His free gift through Jesus. Many are being reached every hour around the world, and this is the case today in the Middle East. The House of Blessing is very busy! 

Omar tells me that there is quite the commotion building in Syria due to the number of sheikhs — men who have taught the people to follow Islam for decades, that have now turned to Christ as their Savior and Messiah. And, the people for the most part, eventually follow their lifelong spiritual leader’s example. Omar had quite an experience one day and he gave me permission to share it. He was out for a walk near a river, just to breathe in some fresh air and pray for Abdelrahem, when he was startled by a powerful beam of light that came from a mountain near where they were living in tents. He immediately knelt down and heard a voice encouraging him and the rest of the brothers and sisters to ‘stay the course and stay strong’. The voice reminded Omar that the Gospel lives with him and he should stay steadfast and deliver the message of the Gospel. ‘Greater things are coming, and soon Christ will come in the clouds above and from distant space’. The voice told Omar not to worry. The martyrs who died are alive in heaven. The voice continued by saying, “Don’t worry. Be steadfast, preach and deliver the message as you promised.” Omar shared little of this experience with others but he said it gave him a strange energy and caused him to be less fearful of anyone or anything.

In the last week, on Thursday, a sheikh by the name of Al-Hidmi who is a new believer in Jesus left in the evening from a meeting with Abdelrahem and some of the HOB leaders with his sister Mufida (not the same Mufida that readers have become familiar with), Abu Ghalib, and brother Wazwaz. When he arrived, his wife started crying, saying to him: “What have you done to us? You have brought shame upon us. You no longer have a life here with us.” She then woke his grown children and incited them against their father. They began to shout and attack their father, and would likely have killed him. Al-Hidmi’s sister, Mufida, then intervened by pulling the wife, whose name is Shahida, and her daughter, Nariman, aside to try and settle them down. The brothers also intervened by stepping in between Al-Hidmi and his sons, Yaqoub and Khaled. After pulling them all aside and calming them down, the brothers were able to explain the Gospel to them and the depth of God’s love for them all. They were able to explain to them why their father had decided to follow Christ. After a long discussion, which still included much anger and shouting by Al-Hidmi’s family, they were finally reached with the Good News of the Gospel themselves, and after all the anger, shouting and violence, they bowed the knee before their Savior and Lord, and gave their hearts into His hands. They then decided that they must declare their faith in the mosque and sell their property for the sake of the Lord’s work. 

The next day, Friday, at the time of the sermon before the prayer, they entered the mosque and Al-Hidmi went up to the pulpit where all the sheikhs were standing. For a moment there was silence and everything was calm. Al-Hidmi then told the crowd that he had always done what he thought was right, but learned that he had been mistaken all the years of his teaching his Muslim followers, and needed to ask their forgiveness. He then explained to them that he had made the best decision of his life when he accepted Messiah Jesus as his Savior and Lord. This is about as far as he got. Everyone got up and attacked Al-Hidmi and his family. The sheikhs by the pulpit shouted and said, “Go Away!” They beat him severely and ordered him to return to his Islamic beliefs, but he refused. He cried out, “You do not understand anything about the real Truth! But the source of all Truth is coming. Jesus is coming! Please believe in Him before it is too late! Listen to what I am saying because I love you all and I am praying for your well-being and guidance!” 

At that point, Al-Hidmi and his family were dragged out of the mosque while being repeatedly beaten. Their property was seized and given to the fraudulent Islamic endowment. One blessing is that Abu Ghalib, Wazwaz and sister Mufida were there to help. Al Hidmi, however, lost everything he owned. The sons said the Lord would compensate for what was lost, though we know that may not be with earthly things. Our treasures are in heaven, and God keeps very good records.

The story continued when prayers were called at 4:15 in the afternoon. Over 300 men were gathered in the main floor of the mosque with an additional gathering of 170 women in the basement of the mosque. Suddenly, after everyone had gathered, something strange happened. The mosque was hit with something that greatly damaged the building, causing half of the roof to fall in. Many in the building were injured, the exact number has not been confirmed, but was at least 120 at last count. This unexplained destruction has been seen in past by HOB believers. Recall many years ago, Sister Mufidah (widow of Nabil) was dragged into a mosque by her 32-year-old son, demanding that she reject her faith in Jesus before 400 male witnesses or be killed. Before he was able to fulfill his threat, the mosque exploded, turning the entire building into ash, including her son and all 400 witnesses. This happened in front of many witnesses. As we get closer to the return of the Messiah, we will likely see an increase in God’s display of power on behalf of His people.

Long time readers will remember one of the HOB’s special women, Sarah. I remember Pastor Rashid telling me the story of how she came to her faith in the Lord and had become a great blessing over the past years. She has been used mightily by the Lord, but has also gone through many hardships in fulfilling her calling to ministry. I received a report from Sarah herself, along with Omar, and Shahida, the wife of Sheikh Al-Hidmi. The HOB community Sarah is in has been in dire need of milk, cheese, cream, and many other things, but God continues to bless. The cows that were donated a couple months ago, were distributed to each region where there is a community of believers. Sarah took a mixture that originated with Shukria, who is in heaven now, and added it to the fodder that was being fed to the cows. This special fodder mix was then prayed over by Sarah and then was given equally to Jaafar and Zalatimo a few days ago. The miracle did not happen until the morning of April the 5th. All of a sudden, the cows that were given the special fodder began to increase their milk output. Each cow now put out 5 times the amount of milk that it had before being given the special “miracle” fodder. This has enabled each location that has one of these cows to be self-sufficient. This miracle output by each cow meets the needs of milk, butter, cheese, and cream for more than 450 people. And reports are, this is still increasing! There may be skeptics to such a story, but the Bible is full of accounts of supernatural miracles, and what is happening in the lives of these faithful followers of Christ, is no different! Praise God!

Miracles such as these bring about the greatest miracles of all. People by the score are brought to a faith in Jesus. As a result, many new Bible students are being brought to the HOB teachers. These students range in age from 6 years old to seniors. Zalatimo has 635 new students and Jaafar has 490. These men will divide the students up into groups according to their age and assign teachers for each group. I made a point of mentioning that some of these students are quite young. Praise God for that. Instead of learning to hate “infidels”, they are learning the teachings of Jesus and how to love people. To help them learn, special teaching materials with pictures are being prepared just for the young ones. What a blessing this is! 

On April the 2nd, I received a report presenting a brief rundown of some of the responsibilities being carried by the HOB leaders. Each leader is responsible for a number of families. 

Omar and his team: 910 families; Falen, Basem, Labiba and their team: 890 families: Shaker, Mahmoud, Hafiza and their team: 570 families; Taher, Hisham, Ferial and their team: 530 families. I also received word that in the Sweida area, where many have come into the faith in the last few weeks, another 285 were reached with the Gospel in the last few days. They will also need followup teaching. Please pray for the House of Blessing leadership. The task is enormous! Yet, it is the obvious blessing of the Lord! 

I have one last report to share in this Mideast Update. The Lord had spoken to Abdelrahem to gather the leaders together for a special prayer for the House of Blessing and also those from around the world that have committed themselves to be a support for the mission. It was a heavy time of prayer, including deep worship and also spiritual warfare against the enemy of our souls. Abdelrahem began by saying, “Oh Lord, forgive us of our sins and failures. You are close to us, oh Lord, and you see us and love us. We are here to deliver your message. They are poor. I know that you love them and will forgive them. These here also love you and sacrifice for you, although we could never sacrifice for You as You did for us, Oh Lord.” All the leaders responded by saying, “Amen, yes, oh Lord, amen, yes, oh Lord.” Abdelrahem continued, “Forgive your people and protect them from the onslaught of the enemy. Heal them, body, soul, and spirit. Forgive when we do not recognize Your power and Your generosity. All goodness and provision comes from You.” At that point the gathering of leaders began to groan in the spirit as they took authority over the enemy and his power to afflict, deceive, and try to destroy the work of God. 

Suddenly, the tent caught on fire and Abdelrahem continued by saying, “”Oh Lord Jesus, destroy the work of the devils that try to destroy the work of God. They will not control us because your Book is in our hearts and will never be taken away from us.” 

About that time, men and women from all around the tent camp came running, screaming that they had no water to put the fire out. Abdelrahem and his gathering of prayer warriors had not had time to get out of the tent and, without a miracle, were going to be burned to death. The people around said the temperature coming from the fire was extremely intense, a fire that no one could survive. As suddenly as the fire began, the sky thundered and an intense thunderstorm came over the tent encampment and even though the meeting tent was destroyed, the fire was extinguished and no one was injured. An amazing thing happened directly afterward. The miraculous supernatural intervention opened the door for Abdelrahem and the brothers to share the Good News of the Gospel with a large crowd from the encampment that had gathered. Over 1,100 souls came to a faith in Jesus Christ, the Savior!

It did not take long for the truth of the matter to be found out. This is the report I received from brother Abdelrahem. I shortened the report a little bit because of the length of this update. I also did a minor bit of editing to make it a little easier to understand the storyline.  

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Good evening, my brother Jack, the truth has been revealed. An attempt was made to burn us by some people who were renting from Sheikh Hab Ruman and Hajj Salam from the Al-Hidmi village. They sent four people, namely Al-Hanash, Riyad, Muhammad, and Ihab. They burned our tent with gasoline while we were praying and then fled the area. On the way to escape, the front tire exploded on their vehicle and three of them died. Only Al-Hanash remained. He then went to Sheikh Hab Ruman and to Al-Hajj and told them what had happened. They had been paid $500 each. The amount was paid by the new government and they were ordered to kill Abdelrahem and those with him. Al-Hanash continued, “Believe me, I am telling the truth. We were always covered by our religion to commit indecency, bringing young women and forcing them to commit adultery in front of us. We also smoked prohibited substances, like hashish and marijuana. These things were even done during the time of the old regime. Today, the existing regime is also full of lies. I believe the reason I was allowed to live was to tell the truth of what happened. I saw death as we crashed but I was spared.” Hajj Salam admits that his wife, Fadwa, believed in Christ and used to pray in the mosque sitting on a chair. (Note: Her excuse was that she had a bad knee. Normally, it is required of women to prostrate themselves or lay on the floor to pray. She prayed to Jesus, rather than to Allah.) Sheikh Hab Rudman’s wife, Hadiya, also admits that she believed in Christ. The women prayed their morning and afternoon prayers at home but the evening prayers were required at the mosque, as well as on Fridays. The women prayed for their husbands for three long years, that God would finally show them the right way. The women suffered a lot, but the Lord was with them. One of the women had found a Bible to purchase long ago and she kept it hidden. If the women had been caught, they would have been killed. Hadiya, Sheikh Hab Ruman’s wife, said she was very happy when Sheikh Al-Hidmi embraced Christianity, and she hoped that this would unite all of them. She had heard of Omar and Hafize and the work they had been doing for the Lord in Aleppo and said she is now ready to help in any way she can; volunteering, cooking, teaching, or anything needing to be done. Hadiya said she had never been blessed with children but the Lord had blessed her with patience…” 

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All these folks had been taught the teachings of the Quran and Islamic Sharia law but now proclaim themselves slaves to the Lord. What a miracle!

In closing, I will share the latest message I received from Abdelrahem. Once again, I did a minor bit of editing.

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Hello, my brother Jack, this is Abdulrahem. Today we have finished, and a short while ago, a very large meeting was held that brought together all the brothers, leaders, and sisters, such as Omar, Jaafar, Zalatimo, Sarah, Hafiza, Mufida, and Lubayba. We are now working to communicate with the brothers and sisters in several neighboring regions. I tell you, especially in Iran, there is a great separation of peoples happening because of the birth of sheikhs with faith in Christ. I have received news, and even in Iraq, although I can’t mention the regions, there is a great power and faith in those who have decided to follow Christ, the Savior of the whole world, and most people are acknowledging the fact. There is a great contrast between those who are teaching the Word of God and the sheikhs who are teaching Islamic teachings. We, the believers, are in a real ordeal, my brother Jack, and in great need, and the responsibilities have been multiplied upon me, but Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest. Believe me, Jack, the Lord will deal with any that try and sabotage the work of the Lord today. His Word is very effective. It comes at the time He decides, and His gift comes at the time He specifies. We do not ask from anyone, because the Lord is the true Giver. I teach the leaders and the sons to learn patience and humility for the sake of the Gospel. Jesus the Savior sacrificed His life for us. Believe me, the world is in turmoil. Time is running out and God is watching every person who is involved in His work. 

Abdelrahem

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I am including a couple photos of the Old and New Testament that is being printed for use in the Bible classes. There will be more photos as I receive them. There are also thousands of teaching booklets being printed for the students. Photos will be made available.

For those that would like to contribute to the cost of printing full Bibles, New Testaments, teaching booklets, and teaching materials for the children, please see the email addresses below. Thank you for your prayers and support. It has never been needed more! We are running out of time.

I would apologize for the length of this update, but these are testimonials that God’s people need to hear. God and His true followers are on the march. JESUS IS COMING!

[email protected]   [email protected]

Forever in His Service,

Jake (aka Jack)