Day: June 15, 2021

SOMEWHERE IN ASIA: Church Simplified

Source: Beyond, June 5, 2021

During an early morning taxi ride, Amy struck up a conversation with the driver. It was obvious that Mr. Wu was a Christian from the music playing and the stickers in his cab.

“Where do you worship?” Amy asked. 

“Well,” he answered sheepishly, “not everyone understands, but we have people come into our home. The taxi drivers that I meet would probably never be willing to go into a church, but they like coming to my house and hearing stories about God. My children, too!”

“That’s wonderful!”

Mr. Wu was surprised by Amy’s affirmation of his “simplified church.” After he described a typical meeting, Amy noted its similarity to a discovery Bible study. She offered two simple suggestions: a question to help the group know God better and a reproducing step where everyone shares what they learn with others.

“Oh, that’s great! I’m going to try those this week!” Mr. Wu declared.

Mr. Wu shared that he had seen Amy before and wanted to meet her. Amy knew the Holy Spirit had orchestrated their meeting. She, too, was greatly encouraged by meeting a local believer willing to take a non-traditional approach to see more people become followers of Jesus.

Read the full story.

You might also be interested in reading Longing to Be Whole: Hannah Prepares for Story Night (Pioneers USA) or The Gospel on the Amazon River (The Navigators).

MIDDLE EAST: Finding The Path to Life in a Place of Death

Source: Frontiers USA, June 9, 2021

Damira didn’t know how much more heartache she could handle.

Her husband had recently abandoned her and left her to raise three small children on her own. Her pantry was bare, and she was running out of money to buy food for her family.

One cold morning, she left her children in the care of her sister and walked a couple of miles out of her small city to an ancient tomb in the middle of the desert. Damira spent two solitary weeks at the tomb, crying out to God for help.

At night, Damira felt petrified. She feared the evil spirits that were said to linger around gravesites after dark. She huddled against the cold exterior of the tomb, pleading with the saint to keep the spirits away from her.

She slept in fits. But each time sleep overcame her, Damira dreamed of a man who called her to follow Him.

“I will show you the right way,” He told her. She woke up from these dreams feeling flooded with peace.

She huddled against the cold exterior of the tomb, pleading with the saint to keep the spirits away from her.

Shortly after returning home, Damira met Rayanne, a Muslim-background believer [in Christ]. Rayanne invited Damira to watch a movie about Jesus. Damira agreed to see the film, even though she had never heard of Jesus.

The movie started with Jesus’ birth and His early years. But when the story jumped ahead to Jesus being baptized as an adult, Damira began shouting, “That’s Him! That’s Him!”

Read the full story. Also from Frontiers, read about A Dream That Pointed to the Word of God.

IRAQ: Healing Hand of Jesus Breaks Out in Baghdad

Source: God Reports, June 14, 2021

“I’ve never seen Jesus do as much as on this trip! I probably prayed for approximately 240-250 people, handed out about 90 New Testaments, 30 Gospels of John, and 20 Jesus film DVDs,” says Dave Osborne of Family of Hope Ministries about his recent trip to Baghdad.

“I got to share the gospel directly a few times with people who spoke English, or I had someone with me to translate. Jesus healed at least one person every day of the trip. Once or twice, as many as 20 in a day! I really anticipated some hostility and pushback, but almost everyone was very receptive!”

On day one of Osborne’s trip, Jesus healed the back pain in the Yazidi taxi driver Adel’s back while he was driving down to Erbil. Osborne got to share the gospel with him and leave him a gospel radio.

On day two, Osborne had lunch with a hotel worker at the time, whom he met in Erbil about a year and a half ago when he first visited. “He showed me the Gospel of John that I had given him then. He carries it in his briefcase now and says it gives him comfort. He’s only read it once, but after seeing Jesus heal a couple of people at the restaurant, I’m hoping he’ll want to read it again!”

Walking through a mall, looking for encounters, Osborne said Jesus healed the pain in fast food worker’s knee, while maybe half a dozen workers looked on. Osborne left him with the New Testament and a Jesus film and the following day, at the park he visited that day, Jesus healed the pain in his knee and back, on the banks of the Tigris River. “He and his buddy Ali, stood guard with their black Hummer, with what I guessed was a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on it. Jesus also healed the pain in Ali’s back and head, and I got to leave both of them with a copy of the Jesus Film.”

Read the full story.

Also from Iraq, read COVID-19 Teaches Doctor in Iraq About Healing (Christian Aid Mission).

PAKISTAN: Acquitted But Still in Peril

Source: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, June 8, 2021

On Thursday, June 3, the Lahore High Court accepted the appeal of Christians Shafqat Emmanuel, 49 and his wife Shagufta Kausar, 52, and acquitted them of the charge of blasphemy.

Arrested in 2013, the illiterate couple was accused of sending blasphemous English language text messages to a local Islamic cleric. While the phone did belong to Shagufta, it had been missing for a month and sources suspect a spiteful neighbor might have framed the couple. Shafqat and Shagufta were sentenced to death in 2014 on the basis of Shafqat’s “confession,” which he provided when police threatened to torture his wife. This was after their torture of Shafqat had proved unsuccessful.

According to the couple’s attorney, Saif ul-Malook (who also represented Asia Bibi), the couple was acquitted on the basis of “adulterated evidence and manipulated testimonies of the prosecution witnesses.”

Malook’s main concern now is the family’s safety. A source in the government told Morning Star News (MSN) that security agencies have been directed to ensure the protection of the couple and their lawyer. Regardless, Shafqat, Shagufta, and their four children will need asylum abroad.

Read the full story.

See also Seven Years in a Pakistan Prison—Christian Couple Freed from Death Sentence (Open Doors). A BBC story about the case says nobody in Pakistan has ever been executed under the blasphemy laws, though dozens of those accused have been killed by mobs.

In neighboring India, anti-conversion laws are tightening, and new restrictions have just begun in Gujarat (Mission Network News).

INDIA: Do You Know the Roots of This Famous Song?

Source: Asia Harvest, June 15, 2021

In the hills of northeast India live the Garo tribe, numbering more than one million people. For centuries they were feared as a primitive head-hunting tribe, but in the most recent Indian census, over 95 percent of the Garo declared themselves to be Christians. Here is one reason why…

In the late 1800s, many missionaries came to the state of Assam in northeast India to spread the gospel. They succeeded in converting a man named Nokseng, his wife, and his two children. Nokseng’s faith proved contagious and many villagers began to accept Jesus. 

The village chief, angry at the prospect of losing control, summoned all the villagers. He demanded Nokseng’s family to publicly renounce their faith or face execution.

Moved by the Holy Spirit, Nokseng said: “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

Enraged at his refusal to deny Christ, the chief ordered his archers to shoot the two children. As both boys lay twitching on the ground, the chief asked, “Will you deny your faith? You have lost both your children. You will lose your wife also.”

But Nokseng replied: “Though no one joins me, still I will follow.”

The chief was beside himself with fury and ordered Nokseng’s wife to be shot with arrows. In a moment she joined her children in death. Now the chief said for the last time: “I will give you one more opportunity to deny your faith and live.” In the face of death, Nokseng did not waver, and made his final memorable statement:

“The cross before me, the world behind me. No turning back.”

He was killed like the rest of his family, but a miracle took place. The chief was moved by Nokseng’s faith and he wondered, “Why would Nokseng and his family die for a man who lived in a far-away land some 2,000 years ago? This God must have remarkable power, and I too want to taste that faith.”

In a spontaneous confession, the chief declared, “I too belong to Jesus Christ!” When the crowd heard this from the mouth of their chief, the whole village accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. Later, Nokseng’s words became a beloved song of the Garo Christians, and was later translated into English and sung around the world.

Read the full story.