In the many years that Jake has been writing these Mideast Updates, he has been consistent in beginning each update with a Scripture verse that points us to the One who leads our hearts and minds into all truth. But I have often been challenged, feeling that I do not have the strength or courage to walk the path of many of those whose stories are told here or in Scripture. I struggle just to constantly abide in Christ, focused on His Presence, while I am safe, well-fed, well-loved and without fear for my life or that of my loved ones. What empowers them to rise above all their challenges, even to giving their lives? I found two partial answers to my heart’s question.
Your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Isaiah 58:8
Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 1Timothy 4:8-10
We are empowered, they are empowered, I am empowered, when I trust the One who holds power over all of this life and the next. It is that trust which empowers us. Spurgeon writes: “Our God, in whom we trust, is a God with a great, warm, loving heart, a thinking God, an active God, a working, personal God, who comes into the midst of this world (and to you and I and them) and He does not leave it (or us) to go on by itself (ourselves).”
So, we hold to the truth of the old song: Trust and obey, for there is no other way! For them, or for us.
— Anne
On to the House of Blessing…
In the previous update, I shared some details of the murderous events that transpired in the As-Suwayda region. The violence involved not only the Druze, a religious sect, and the Bedouins, more of a tribal entity, but also the new Syrian government and militants it uses to do their dirty work. Unfortunately many Bedouins and Druze lost their lives, and so did thousands of followers of Jesus.
Through inroads that the Lord provided the House of Blessing, some of the Druze sheikhs had been reached with the Gospel in past months and through that provision, many other Druze have been led to the feet of Jesus. This has also proven to open other doors. I received a report sent by Sheikhs Ballout, Abu Lafi and Qaoud. They said that a number of both Druze and Bedouins who fled the massacre ended up coming to them for help. Keep in mind, the two groups are enemies of each other, but God is able to establish peace between them. One thing that proved to be important was that they knew both Hael and Ersheid, who formerly were Druze sheikhs.
The Druze Sheikh Abu Ishhab and his group of more than 180 people, including women and children, arrived on one day. A day later, Sheikh Jarazih from the Bedouin Arabs arrived with more than 145 men and women. The first thing the HOB brothers did was help them with their immediate needs, including medical issues. The brothers prayed over their wounds and also asked for help from Dr. Nibras and his professional friends. Many of these people were still in shock because of what they had seen and experienced in the past few days. Their memories of the events in As-Suwayda were horrible. They had seen and experienced things beyond what most of us could imagine.
After providing for them, the brothers began to share the Good News of the Gospel, who Jesus really is, and about the miracles He performed while walking among men. As they prayed, God touched many and relieved them of much of the terror they had experienced and could not shake from their minds. The real miracle was what the Lord did in their souls. These folks who were used to being violent to those they saw as their enemies, now recognized that Jesus was the Savior of the world and they accepted Him as their own personal Savior! Reading and being taught the Word of God from the Bible, they would say. “What an amazing Book! Where were we to where we knew nothing about such goodness, love and giving? O Lord, forgive us for what we have done! I will now only pray to Him. We were living in a great deception! We thank the Lord! He is worthy of all praise!”
I received another report from Sheikh Al-Saftawi concerning a sheikh named Al-Afrini from Jaramana. In his greeting, he said (with only minor editing):
“Hello, my brother Jack, this is your brother, the servant of the Lord, Al-Saftawi. I was honored to receive a visit by Sheikh Al-Afrini. He came on behalf of his son who has epilepsy. We prayed for him after putting a cloth in his mouth to keep him from swallowing his tongue. I and the honorable sheikhs, Hael and Ershid, prayed for him and he was healed. We thank the Lord! Another man, Sheikh Hajj Aloush came to see me on account of his sick wife. She had a problem with swelling of her feet from water and it was so serious she could not walk. We prayed for her, and praise the Lord, she got up and walked on her feet as if she had never been sick! We also were visited by Sheikh Abu Nakleh, who suffered from deafness. He was anointed with oil by Hael, and then we prayed for him and he was also healed! Tomorrow (this was nearly a week ago) all will be baptized as they have accepted Christ as their Lord. They have promised to be faithful to Him. The baptism will be done by Sheikhs Ballout and Al-Kilani. We were hoping to have Abdelrahem with us but he is quite a distance from our location. Abdelrahem is trying to stay closer to where brothers Omar, Murtada, and Shahbandar are serving in Iraq. May the Lord bless you and everyone who prays for us and supports us. I ask you to pray for the families of those who departed and whose bodies were burned. They are now in the hands of Jesus. The newly born again are spending all hours reading and studying my Bible. I wish I had copies to give them, but I only have the one Dr. Nibras gave to me. May God bless you!”
Al-Saftawi
What a blessing to get reports such as this! It is amazing what God is doing among people who have been so deceived. Now that they have found the truth of the Gospel, they cannot get enough of reading and studying the Word of God! God bless men like Al-Saftawi who testify to God’s goodness and live it among all those around them.
The miracle experienced by Al-Saftawi through the prayers of the brothers who came to see him in the Damascus hospital is continuing to bring in spiritual fruit. The loss of those who were burned to death in their classrooms hit the HOB community very hard. This, however, was another testimony that was being told far and wide. Where the devil intends great evil and harm, God turns the evil into good and more souls are brought into His kingdom. This was again evidenced when doors were opened in three areas, initially affecting 450 people. Due to the spiritual birth of sheikhs as a result of Al-Saftawi’s ministry described in his report above, the three sheikhs, Aloush, Al-Afrini, and Abu Nakley, each opened their mosques to become churches. These are located in Germana, Harasta, and Douma. Places were provided in each region for about 150 Alawites (now believers) to call home. The newly saved sheikhs wanted to honor the new Alawite believers and provide for them in their desperate circumstances. Praise God for the greatness of His love!
The next report was sent to me by brother Omar. I will share his letter as close to how I received it, again with only minor editing.
Hello brother Jack: Murtadha, Shahbandar, Zalatimo, Jaafar, and I went on a tour to Ramadi. We entered a mosque in order to rest. It was dawn and by noon people had finished their prayers. There was a crowd of about 500 people there. Due to the intensity of the heat and scarcity of water, people stayed in the mosque instead of going home. So, I began to preach the religion of Jesus. There were two sheikhs there, Al-Malik and Al-Damhouri, who challenged me. They said, “This is deceitful. There is no religion after Muhammad, Islam, and the Shiites.” So I began to explain the miracles of the Gospel;. People listened but he interrupted with shouts. Men then came out of the crowd shouting, “Call someone out for us and heal with this Gospel! There is a man with a hunchback. Will he be healed?” As it turned out, this man was not only a hunchback but also partially paralyzed.
They brought the man to us and I began to pray over him, telling him he should lie down on his stomach. We said, “O Jesus, O healer of diseases, O Lord, heal this man and restore his bones. You are able, and we are nothing. We bow your compassionate hand to the ground, asking you for safety, security, health and love. Heal this man so that they may see that You exist and that Your miracles are able to happen after ten minutes.” After I anointed him with oil and then said to him, “Rise, rise and walk! The Lord is your guide and shepherd. Rise by yourself, do not fear, the Lord is your protector. Rise and go on your way so that people may see you. Rise!”
The man then rose up to his feet. The man had been a hunchback for many years! The people were so astounded by the miracle that they saw that they also believed in Jesus, saying, “Brother Omar, teach us. Pray for us. We have never seen such a miracle. We have just never seen anything like this before! We could not ever believe what we had not seen with our own eyes. Now we believe. Forgive us Jesus! We have ignored You. We ask for forgiveness and pardon. Pray for us Omar, He will listen to you, not to us!”
Omar
Of course, Omar saw to it that the people prayed with their own voices. He just helped them to know how to pray. I was not told how many found Jesus that day but, as has happened so many times before, there will have been a great number. I was told, however, that the two sheikhs, Al-Malik and Al-Damhouri bowed the knee before Jesus, their new Lord and Savior. Praise God!! I’m sure there will be more details forthcoming.
The next communication I received was from brother Abdelrahem and it really weighed heavy on my soul. Abdelrahem reported that in that land, “people’s allegiance to the Good News of the Gospel is met with force and brutality. This is to discourage anyone from following Christ. But, no, a thousand times, no! The power of faith saves the souls of the faithful.” He went on to say that all five of the brothers, Omar, Jaafar, Zaltimo, Mortida and Shahbandar were attacked and captured. In addition to the five HOB leaders, both the sheikhs who had just accepted Christ as their Savior, Al-Malik and Al-Damhouri were taken also. It was reported that the men’s eyes were bound, as were their hands. Their hands and feet were beaten with clubs and they were dragged off like dogs. Their Bibles they had were also taken. They were taken east but no one had any knowledge of where they were.
Many of you received texts and brief emails asking for prayer for these men. And, God answered! Abdelrahem did learn that they were taken not far from Abu Ghraib prison which is just a few miles west of Baghdad. The militant leader’s name is Abu Maizar. He had with him Abu Draa, Abu Elhakemm and Abu Al-Hakam. The place they were taken was up into the mountains where the militants had their hideout. This morning I found an email with a report directly from Omar. This is what he had to share (with minimal editing):
Hello Brother Jack: Here we are back and the Lord is our protector. We have been through very difficult days. They took me and the brothers to a far mountain and to a cave. We were underground and were only given a loaf of bread and a bottle of water each day. We divided the bread among the seven of us. We shared the bread and we used to pray and each one wished for what he wanted to eat. This drove the enemies crazy! We were always praying and calling on the Lord. The sheikhs Al-Maliki and Al-Damhouri were miraculously enabled to memorize the entire Scriptures while we were confined.
Do you want to know the reason for our imprisonment? The man who orchestrated the killing of Al-Sahturi had become afflicted with leprosy. (Note: For those that may not be aware or remember, Al-Sahturi had been attacked by militants who cut out his tongue and then hung him, his wife, and their two grown sons because they refused to deny their faith in Jesus.) He said he used to dream about Al-Sahtouri every night and those with him. One day, he had a strange dream that frightened him very much and he became afflicted with this disease. We did not see him the first days we were in the cave until two days ago, Monday night. When I spoke with him, I said, “I will ask Jesus to heal you and forgive you as He did the leper in the Bible. We will pray for you. Please bring me a Bible and bring the rest of your men. It is Jesus who will heal you. Believe in Him. Believe in Him! Abu Maizar then asked me how to pray with the right words.
I helped him with his prayer and he prayed: “Lord, You are able, so make me clean of my sins and my illness.” He said it three times. So, I told him to take off his clothes, and I anointed him with oil and we all prayed for him. Then I told Abu Maizar, “Now submit the matter to the Lord.” After 15 minutes of prayer, the man was healed. Those around witnessing what happened were so amazed that they submitted themselves to Jesus and committed themselves to the Gospel as well.
Abu-Maizar then told us we could go. “You are safe. Just go! I ask forgiveness for what we did to Al-Sahtouri and the others. Will the Lord forgive us?” I answered him, “Yes.” And now, they are believers also. There are more than 50 criminals who believed in Jesus and have asked to join the service of the Lord. They will join Shahbandar, Mortada, Zalatimo, Jaafar, and perhaps with Al-Malaki and Al-Damhouri. There is nothing the Lord is not capable of!!
Omar
Only God can do such a thing! I was able to get a few more details about what happened. Omar, who has the entire Bible memorized, along with the brothers with him, spent all hours quoting Scriptures. When one got tired, another would take over. They had no Bible but it had been downloaded into their minds by the Holy Spirit. In the process, the new brothers, Al-Malaki and Al-Damhouri also memorized everything they heard. There is a phenomenon that has been happening that can only be attributed to the supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit and that is the ability God is giving many to have the entire Bible downloaded into their minds.
The need for Bibles continues to be enormous because of the thousands of students attending underground Bible schools, but even if someone donated a million dollars, it would not be enough to print as many as needed. So, the Lord impressed me with a thought some weeks ago that God would bypass some of the need by causing many (not all) to have the entire Scriptures to be written on the hearts and minds of specific leaders throughout the House of Blessing community of believers. I was given a partial list of those who have the Bible memorized and I was stunned. Only God can do such a thing! Do you think we are at the end of the Age of Grace? I don’t know why else God would make such a powerful thing happen in such a short period of time!
In closing, please continue praying for the House of Blessing. The attacks will not stop, nor will the need for Bibles and teaching supplies lessen. We have to do our part. God will do His! Feel free to use either of the emails below with your inquiries. Thank you all.
Forever in His Service,
Jake (aka Jack)