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A Capture and a Miracle Posted on 10/18/2007 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

A week and a half ago Brother Waleed disappeared. He had been on one of his trips to encourage the brethren and disappeared on his way back home. I and my friends were concerned about his disappearance, not knowing whether he was in hiding because he had been followed, whether he had been taken into custody or whether… I do not want to even type the thought—the worst fears were at work, distressing our brethren. If Waleed had been taken in then the question was by whom? And for what purpose? Were they following him all the time he was visiting various pockets of Christ’s Body? We spent a lot of time praying and asking the Lord for wisdom and for news. Some of the brethren had to go into hiding until we had more answers. Brother Andrew and Al were informed and they were able to ask people to pray and here is one of the prayers that really gave Nadira and me a lot of hope and encouragement: ‘Lord your word says that our faith, if it be like a mustard seed, can cause a tree to move. Lord I do not know if I have that much faith, but I know there are 15 of us in this room and if you take each of our measure of faith, then perhaps Lord it comes up to one mustard seed. Then Lord let us see a miracle. Please Lord. Amen’ Forty five minutes later, after many tears and much crying out to the Lord, news came through that Brother Waleed had been freed. By whom? We do not know as yet. Waleed waits to meet with me to share what happened. The trauma of the experience was great and he refuses to say anything to anyone as yet and has promised to speak only to me. He needs time to process the experience. All we know for certain is that he was in the hands of those who are not sympathetic to the Gospel and that he was not treated very well. I will let you know as soon as I have more news about Waleed and tell you how to pray. In the meanwhile, pray for Waleed and his family and the family of the other leaders of the secret Church. They are so vulnerable in terms of exposure to those who are watching. Pray that God will protect them-hedge them in protection. Pray that if they are taken into custody then they would be given the words to speak and the wisdom and discernment to recognise the purpose of God and His goodness in all things. Dear friends, pray urgently! Your freedom is not in vain and not purposeless. Your freedom is so you can pray for them. Pray also for the other church leaders in my country that they would not be exposed in any possible investigation. We do not know who did this or who the group was but pray that seeing eyes are made blind and the Lord would intervene so that they would forget any information that is crucial to the existence and security of the secret Church. While Waleed was missing, one of the assurances God gave local believers was that Waleed was saved and had the Scriptures engraved into his life and therefore the spirit of God went with him and even though it was traumatic he was on a God-breathed mission. Pray that through this the captors may have come to know something of the Lord. May this have been the beginning of their journey to seek and then be saved. We may never know, but we have an assurance of Scripture that the seed will not come back without fruit.

The Islam Challenge to Young People Posted on 10/17/2007 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

I am concerned about the continued and, in fact, new boldness with which Islamic extremists are at work. They appear to be working to a new strategy to popularise their presence and their agendas. They are becoming the new pop culture and the ratings are on an increase. Young people in my country face more and more disillusionment in life in terms of jobs and ambition and growth. They feel they are not at par in a world where the growth and development is fast paced. They feel distant from that and from hope. In the midst of that disillusionment they are being given promises of paradise and rewards if they sign up to an Islamic agenda. Their only hope seems to come from an Islamic culture of credit and debit and accountability to the Ummah and a God who requires morality more than wealth. They despise the west for what they perceive as immorality—preferring to be morally upright and poor rather than being developed and having access to the progressive sparkle of the west. I would like for you to pray for more opportunities to share that love and the good news with them. The more young men are dazzled by Islam’s promises, the more my heart cries out. A few weeks ago a pop song was released that was musically very attractive but served the agenda of Islamic extremism. Very subtly the song has turned many young people who were resistant to Islam’s lifestyle and agenda and caused them to be attracted to Islam. These same lives could be set on fire with the love of Jesus. But who is going to do that?

A Dear Brother is Gone Posted on 10/15/2007 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Nadira and I send greetings and thanks to all those who are engaging in spiritual warfare on behalf of our team. Things have been difficult but the knowledge that our brothers and sisters are praying for us and upholding us before the Lord and claiming His protection and guidance for us keeps us going. It is this knowledge that the Lord uses to remind us that we are part of a larger body and this is a reassurance and blessing like none other! Sometimes we get so discouraged and we ache so deeply at what is going on in our context that it is easy to forget and become self centred and so inward looking that we could easily forget there is a world beyond the airport. After all for many of us, every escape seems just beyond the doors of the departures terminal. Oh but Praise God and rejoice—and again I say rejoice—because He has given us a part in the functioning and working of the family and the family on the other side of the departures terminal is praying for us and taking our efforts before the King that the family here may thrive and grow! We had sad news the other day regarding brother Hannan. This dear brother and I served together for many years and I looked up to him ever so much. Through some of the worst persecution he stood by the brethren and now his body lies cold in a grave with the last memory of him is some trumped up charge to do with deceptive fraudulent behaviour. We all know his faithfulness to the Lord and His body was true and pure. His face would radiate with joy when a new member was added to the ranks. Nadira remembers this well too. When Fazilla his daughter was little she used to say that when she grew up she wanted to be just like her daddy. The news of Hannan has come many months after the actual incident and there seems no news of his wife’s whereabouts. Some are wondering whether she too has been killed. Pray for us. Our dear brother was precious to us and his loss leaves us aching and shaken. We are aware of the devious way in which the evil one has manipulated this situation. There is little hope for us to be able to launch an enquiry into his death. How long will we bear up quietly? Will we ever be able to speak up and have a fair hearing? That’s all we want—justice. So many of our family will give their lives for the Gospel and instead of becoming an example of courage and strength in the face of persecution and resistance to the Gospel they will become examples to the youth of this land—examples of the Extremists’ tactics in destroying whatever evangelising Christian presence they come across, and examples of the punishment for those who break the Islamic law of apostasy. Pray with us brethren as we seek for ways and opportunities to spread the Gospel. It is what we need on this side of the terminal. With every opening of the terminal doors may it not be a mass of Christians leaving the country but masses of prayers pouring in, flooding this nation with Christ’s Gospel and Salvation.

A Church Under Attack - From Within Posted on 10/12/2007 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Human nature has not changed. For 2000 years we have experienced all of God’s goodness and the promises of His Gospel and yet His body still fights itself. When the body starts to attack itself it is a perversion and a disease and it needs treatment urgently- your prayers!!! The Church in my country tends to suffer from this same disease. Time and again the Church’s members forget the goodness and graciousness of God and their responsibility to His body and they begin to fight among themselves. Instead of building up the Living Stones of the body we start to fight among ourselves, and what building can be built if each building block does not fit well with the next and take the right shape. Yet time and again we fall prey to the evil one. First we fall prey to one small sin of jealousy or greed. Then bit by bit we begin to crumble until eventually our peace is completely wrecked and we do some pretty shocking things. Some of the local churches here that have been deeply involved with the growth of the body have allowed personal differences and personal weaknesses into their lives and work, permitting the evil one to destroy their lives and ministries. The pressure on the Church is great right now. It is not only the fact that we are being watched and followed. I feel great sadness that in their ‘watching’ they have probably seen the relationship between two brothers in particular and have not seen Jesus or his love. Our team is working hard to encourage these two leaders to be accountable and cultivate integrity which comes from a regular relationship with Jesus. Please pray for us. As we serve in such taxing environments, we tire ourselves out and there is so much pressure on us to appear good and righteous in front of non-Christians that we forget it is also important for us to do so only in partnership with the strength given us by the Lord. Pray for us that our zeal and desperation to see more come into the family of Christ may not be at the cost of our Christian living and relationship with Christ. Nor would it be a sense of competition with the Islamic World. May we do so only in response to the Great Commission and as those who walk the way of the Cross with Jesus. Pray that we may not succumb to the honor-shame culture in which we see it as a matter of shame if we do not have as many converts as other churches and communities. May we in our own Christian living and service honor the name of Jesus. Pray that He will redefine and transform us from a shame culture into an honor culture—not our honor but the Honor of Jesus the King. May Jesus be at the center of the Church culture in our nation. It is for His honor and His kingdom that so many of our brothers lay down their lives.