In my morning devotion time yesterday I was reading in Philippians. I would like to include a portion at the beginning of today’s Mideast Update: But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 7/17/2016, Pastor R
Over the past few days, I have had a number of people ask about how Pastor R is doing. As most know, he had endured a brutal attack in which two missionary companions were beaten to death in front of him. Pastor R was also savagely beaten, cut, and left to die a slow and painful death. I do not […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 7/10/2016
As I finish this update, the annual Muslim month of Ramadan ended five days ago. It has now been about two weeks since my last regular update, and 12 days since an urgent appeal was uploaded to this blog. Although there is always great effort put into reaching the lost, there is always a special emphasis and great expectation for […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 6/14/2016
I suspect I have read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, known as the Faith Chapter with 15 verses beginning “by faith,” more times in the last four years than I had during my entire life before becoming involved with the House of Blessing. This “faith chapter”, provided a long list of many of the heroes of the faith and why […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 6/1/2016
For those who might read this blog regularly, it might seem that there is no end to the stories from the Middle East of war, killing, never-ending carnage, and seemingly a never-ending list of missionaries who have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. I would have to agree to a point. I have enough real life stories within […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 5/2/2016
I have always thought that one of the fascinating privileges we will have as we begin an unending eternity in the presence of our glorious LORD and God, will be access to the millions upon millions of individual stories, recorded with intricate, accurate detail, of the lives of God’s faithful people as they navigated life on this fallen planet. I […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 4/18/2016
The update is not going to be a long one today, but I do want to get out the latest information that I have received. I was very happy to receive a phone call from Pastor R this weekend. His voice was not quite normal, but that is to be expected due to the chemical poisons he was exposed to […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 4/12/2016
I have found myself again reminiscing this last week on all the things that have transpired these last four years since a divine appointment connected me and my wife, Anne, to House of Blessing. God has done such amazing things…awesome interruptions from the spiritual realm that have permanently changed things here in the physical realm. But, this is what God […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 3/21/2016
A second century Church father was quoted as saying this: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” From the time that Stephen, the first official Christian martyr, was stoned to death in AD 36, Christians have been laying down their lives for the One who gave His life for them. I believe God has a special […]
MIDEAST UPDATE, 3/11/2016
After receiving the tragic news of the death of brother Omar and his wife a few days ago, I decided that I would write an update this week around them and what their lives have meant to the Kingdom of God as they worked as missionaries through House of Blessing. As regular readers will know, our contact with House of […]