Anyone who has read the Mideast Updates in the past weeks will realize that the powerful work of the Holy Spirit working through God’s people has escalated. We may not see much of it in the West, but it is definitely happening in third world nations. God is not willing that any perish and He will use anyone willing to be a vessel for His purpose in spreading His word.
Only days ago, Omar was approached by a sheikh named Al-Sahtouri who had requested to meet Abdelrahem at the mosque where he serves. At the time of their meeting, Al-Sahtouri was planning on making his Hajj pilgrimage and said, “I will return to you, God willing.” Al-Sahtouri asked for a Bible that he could read and was given one. The two men then talked for some time.
Two days later, Omar learned more. This is another of the testimonies of God’s power to save, direct from Al-Sahtouri. The sheikh’s wife said that her husband did not sleep for two days and was praying all night long while standing upright. She said she was quite surprised because there was no prostration or bowing while he prayed. She wondered, what kind of prayer was this? She said he was crying and she saw strange things coming from him. He decided not to go for the early morning prayer with the others that had been with him and went instead went to the 8:00 prayer, which is called the Duha prayer.
When he entered the mosque at 8:00, there were nearly 200 people present. Some began to question Al-Sahtouri, saying “What is wrong?” His answer was “Nothing…..but we are ignorant of the truth.” Someone shouted out, “What is the truth?” So, Al-Sahtouri began to repeat what he had read in the Scriptures during the previous two days. He also expressed his grief over the loss of time and the fact that people had been taught wrong for so many years. “Woe is me! Woe is us! I hope Jesus will forgive us! My Lord and my God, forgive me, please. I cannot go on the Hajj with you because it is all wrong. Please listen and pay attention before it is too late!”
The reaction from some in the crowd was quick and volatile. They shouted: “Are you crazy, old man? What is wrong with you? You are CRAZY!” Al-Sahtouri’s answer was short and to the point: “No, actually, I have come to my senses. You are the ignorant ones and I am sane.” At that they retorted, “Stop this!”
When Al-Sahtouri refused, they attacked him. They poured urine on him and insulted him in the most degrading ways. Al-Sahtouri was expelled from his house, his mosque, and even from the village. His sons pledged their allegiance to Christ. Al-Sahtouri’s testimony was that, while praying with those with him in his home prior to coming to the mosque, a man with a very, very strong light about him had appeared and was looking only at him — directly at him! It was after this experience that he went to the mosque and proclaimed his commitment to Christ. He now has a close, intimate walk with Him. Praise God!
In another report, Abdelrahem assures us all that education continues at a steady pace with the system HOB has put together. There is always a shortage of Bibles but sometimes God has unusual ways of circumventing the shortage. This brings up the fascinating story of Al-Qazzaz.
Al-Qazzaz came to visit Balut (who readers have learned of previously). He told Balut how he had been dreaming every night about chapters in the Bible. He said that a Man of Light had been coming to him for weeks and had been reading the Bible with him. He didn’t recognize what the Book was, but was given the ability to memorize everything he read as he read it. This is when he decided to visit Sheikh Balut and Al-Kalani. When he arrived, he told the story of what was happening to him to both Balut and Al-Kalani.
Balut opened the Bible and began to ask him about its contents. Al-Qazzaz said, “I know it all by heart. I have it all memorized!” The sheikhs were shocked and began to test him and he was able to quote any chapter or verse. That was of course, quite a shock to the other men and they realized what a miracle this was. After all, the Arabic translation of the entire Bible is about 2,000 pages! When they asked the sheikh what his immediate plans were, Al-Qazzaz said he had no intention of going back to live in his home. He was bringing his wife and his children to where Balut and Al-Kalani were located. It will be interesting to see what God does through the special abilities He has given this man. God does nothing without reason. Every move God makes is strategic and it becomes part of completing His purposes.
I was able to get a few more details from Sister Rolla. She said that Al-Qazzaz knew that his friends had become believers and this is why he decided to join them. Al-Qazzaz is a very well known and very much respected sheikh from the Hama governorate. In spite of his status, the sheikh told Balot that he had great difficulty getting through the many checkpoints on his travel to them. He was asked all kinds of questions about what he was doing and where he was going. They wanted names and other information — information he was reluctant to give.
In a third report, Abdelrahem related a unique situation that happened when he sent Al-Fishawy and Al-Hidmi to a friend to ask for help with provisions such as food, flour and wheat. On the way back to Abdelrahem, they got into a pickup truck in which was a man named Abu Toma. Abu Toma was very strict in his religious observances. He had been an aide to the former regime. Abu Toma’s wife, Shamiah had been blinded after being exposed to an explosion five years earlier. When they came to a rest stop along the highway, Al-Fishawy and Al-Hidmi went to purchase some things. As they stepped out of the vehicle, Al-Fishawi accidentally dropped his Bible in the pickup. Shamiah, being blind, picked it up, thinking it was her husband’s Quran. As she held the Book, she began to pray to Allah, asking him to heal her. Her words were, “Please heal me. In the name of every letter of this Holy book, oh Lord, bless my health, oh God of the universe.” Suddenly, she developed a headache and dizziness, so she asked her husband if she could nap for a little bit since they had traveled for about three hours already. The road between Aleppo and Damascus takes quite a bit of time to drive.
When Abu Toma’s wife woke up a little bit later, she noticed that her eyes were blurry when she opened them. She looked to the right, to the left, and then down. Shamiah then put her hand on her husband and screamed and exclaimed, “I see! Oh my God, I can see!” Abu Toma asked her, “What do you see?” “I see you. I see your clothes. I see everything!”
Of course, everyone in the pickup was surprised at what had happened. It was then that Al-Fishawi noticed that he had dropped his Bible and Shamiah had picked it up. He asked her for his Bible and she said, “How can you? It is the Bible and you are a Muslim!” He answered her and said, “No, we believe in Christ.” This was quite a shock to Abu Toma and so he picked the Bible up and began to read it. As he did, he realized that it was not Allah that had healed his wife but the God of the Bible. Even though she had begged Allah to heal her, God, who has no equal, had had mercy on her and touched her eyes. At that point Abu Toma insisted on going with the men so he could meet Abdelrahem.
Wouldn’t you have liked to have been a witness to what happened in that pickup truck? We serve an amazing God. Under the most desperate circumstances, God is making it very obvious that He is on the scene because He is not willing that anyone perish. No one will go to hell by accident. We serve a God of justice.
Abdelrahem sent me a message some days ago regarding the influence of Christianity on governments of the world and what is in the near future. The power of the enemy cannot stop the power of the Word of God and the harvest of souls will come in, regardless of how fallen our world is. There are great changes coming and it is because God really is in control. Yes, there is trouble, there is persecution, and things in many places are very difficult, but, God’s will and agenda will be brought about, just as He has decreed. In his message, Abdelrahem included many scriptures that spoke of the power of the Lord to keep His people from the evil one, and the power of God’s Spirit to provide an inward peace that cannot be taken away, no matter the circumstance. He asked me to comment on his message, so I sent him an email with my thoughts. He received and read it, then sent a message requesting that I include it in an update. These were my off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts:
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Greetings my brother Abdelraham:
It is true, the world — even though under the influence of the ‘god of this world’, cannot find true peace, success, prosperity, or righteousness without recognizing the true source of all these things, the God who created all things. Mankind has been given the choice to accept God’s ways or reject His ways. The coming of Jesus as Messiah was the very essence of God, even while wearing the sandals of a flesh and bone human being. He came as the source of Truth — all Truth. And as the Creator of all things — as we have learned from an abundance of Scriptures –, He has the right to define what is Truth and what is not Truth. In coming to the earth as the perfect Lamb of God, He, as God in the flesh, paid the price that no one else in history before or after Him, was qualified to pay. This is why He could say, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)
Yet, even with these facts being established and easily proven through the Scriptures, mankind has still been given the right to choose. “Choose you this day whom you are going to serve.” (Joshua 24:15). “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
Until Jesus physically returns to this earth to take control over all nations and peoples, the world’s governments will be under the influence of the evil one. They will strive and compete, fight for dominance and control, and wars and rumors of wars will continue. Nations that apply God’s laws, enjoy God’s blessings. Those that don’t, suffer. God’s grace has been made available for the entire world, Jews and Gentiles alike — but only through the Blood of Christ. Yet, even during that time slot (7 years — The Great and Terrible Day of the LORD), people will still be able to choose God over the evil one. It will, however, be much more difficult. There will be a huge multitude that respond to the 144,000 Jewish evangelists sent out and the two witnesses preaching in Jerusalem for 3.5 years.
Jesus Himself spoke of the narrow road and narrow gate that must be gone through to find Life, and few will find it. Why a few? Because mankind has a choice, and most will choose wrong. But, we live in a time when the harvest is great and many truly are finding Jesus as their Savior and Lord. We must make the most of the time we have left — which is very little. There is a false teaching today that says it is the triumphant Church that is going to bring all nations and governments into submission to Jesus, and it is not until this happens that Jesus will return as KING. But, our job as believers and followers of Jesus is not to transform the world or bring its governments into subjection. It is to proclaim Christ and, as said in Jude: “Save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear — hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”
Christianity truly is being suppressed and it has become the most persecuted religious system in the world. Yet, God is moving powerfully by His Spirit in order to reach all those who will choose Jesus before it’s too late.
Matthew 24 shows us what Jesus said to the generation He was in when He walked on this earth. It also tells us what He had to say to the terminal generation — our generation. There is also a portion of the chapter in which He warns the Church throughout the entire Church Age of what will unfold throughout history. It has proven 100% true. Then we have the warnings given to those who have authority over their ‘households.’ This speaks very directly to those in any Christian leadership positions throughout the world, pastors or otherwise. We must be faithful to watch over our ‘households.’
Yes, my brother, Christ is coming and He is at the door. Not yet to come down on the Mount of Olives and set up His kingdom as God / King, but to remove the Restrainer. He is about to call His faithful people up into the clouds to meet Him in the air. Seven years later, He will return with us to set up His millennial kingdom. Praise God.
This is the first time in history that all of the warnings Jesus gave about the time of the end, are happening all at the same time. The earth underneath us is changing dramatically, our weather is becoming very abnormal, even the cosmos around us is changing. I just listened to an interview with a man who works for the Department of Defense, a Christian man, who was required to spend three days with others of his position to discuss the calamities that are coming down upon our earth. He came out of the meeting, not being able to tell all he was told, but did say that all the things we read about in the Book of Revelation, are now here and unfolding…FAST. I won’t say more right now…
Jesus is coming!!
Jack
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Thank you all for your prayer support and also for support when the Lord lays it on your heart. It won’t be until we are all gathered at that great assembly in our Savior’s presence that we will begin to find out what all was accomplished as we followed the directions of the Holy Spirit. It will be quite the gathering!
For anyone that would like to help finance the printing of Bibles, teaching booklets, and brochures, please contact one of the two email addresses below:
[email protected] [email protected]
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)