Missions Catalyst

Missions Catalyst News Briefs 9.21.16

1. PAKISTAN: Christian Boy, 16, Arrested for Kaaba Blasphemy
2. USA: Nabeel Qureshi Battling Cancer
3. SUDAN: Christians on Trial Need Prayer
4. BURUNDI: Risen from the Dead
5. WORLD: Help Influence Urban History

Greetings,

I came across the testimony of former atheist David Wood a while back. It was so disturbing I didn’t get past the eight-minute mark. (For a shorter version, see the CBN piece Psychopathic Atheist Turns to Jesus.) I recently discovered that this same man led Muslim-born apologist and author Nabeel Qureshi to Christ (see below). That was enough to motivate me to take another look at Wood’s story.

As I’ve urged my husband many times, don’t quit a movie at the darkest part and deny yourself the “good stuff” to come (assuming the movie was recommended by a trusted source).

This week’s news is kind of like that: things we don’t like to hear, but that may open the way for later stories of redemption. Please read on.

Waiting with you for the rest of the story,
Pat

Need something to lift you right now? Watch Revelation Song in 14 Languages (from TeenStreet 2016, OM’s international youth congress). It provides a glimpse of the united diversity that awaits us in Heaven.

Source: World Watch Monitor, September 20, 2016

A 16-year-old Christian boy has been accused of committing blasphemy by “liking” and sharing a post on Facebook which “defamed and disrespected” the Kaaba in Mecca, the building at the center of Islam’s most sacred mosque.

Most of the Christians in the boy’s village have since fled their homes for fear of an angry backlash against them.

At around 3pm on Sunday [September 18], several police vans raided Nabeel Masih’s house in Dina Nath village, in the Kasur district of Punjab province, 30 miles southwest of Lahore. There are at least 300 Christian homes in the village.

The complainant, Akhtar Ali, filed this accusation at the nearby Phoolnagar Police Station: “On September 18, I was with my friends Bakht Khan and Saddam… We took our friend Waqar’s mobile phone and started seeing pictures of his various friends on Facebook. But when we opened Nabeel Masih’s profile, there was a picture posted in which the Kaaba is defamed and disrespected. Seeing that picture, our religious feelings were hurt.”

» Read full story.

» For another (even more heartbreaking) story of a teen victim, see Morocco: Teenage Girl Sets Herself on Fire in Response to Rape and Injustice (GodReports).

Source: Christian Post, September 8, 2016

Nabeel Qureshi, an author, global speaker, and prominent Christian convert from Islam who was once part of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, announced in a post on his Facebook page last week that he has been diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and explained that the prognosis was “quite grim.”

In a ten-minute video posted to YouTube [September 7], Qureshi expanded on the details of his diagnosis, revealing that he has stage four stomach cancer. According to statistics from the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for individuals with stage four stomach cancer is four percent.

» Full story with pictures. You can also follow his journey and pray with others at Praying for Nabeel Qureshi Facebook page.

» Editor’s note: I just finished Nabeel’s book Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus and found the apologetic/friendly debates between Nabeel and David Wood most useful in my dialogues with atheists as well. It is all a bit philosophical; perhaps too much so, for some. If you want some less heady tips on talking to Muslims (and others), check out this conversation or find a Halal food court and start a conversation of your own.

Source: Voice of the Martyrs, September 9, 2016

Three Sudanese Christian leaders and a Czech aid worker are currently on trial in Sudan, facing charges that carry a potential death penalty. The trial began in Khartoum on August 21 for Rev. Hassan Abdelrahim Kodi, Rev. Kuwa Shemaal, Christian leader Abdelmoneim Abdelmoula, and Czech national Petr Jasek. After their arrest in December, all four were accused of conducting intelligence activities and providing material support for rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan region. Pray for a just verdict and their immediate release.

» See full story with prayers and pictures as well as a longer related story (updated September 20).

» Please also pray for Iranian Christian prisoner Maryam Naghash Zargaran, who has been returned to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison after a medical leave was cancelled, and rejoice with us that a Canadian missionary has been released from a two-year detention in China.

Source: Simon Guillebaud, September 5, 2016

Last month we sent out 701 volunteers for two weeks, who worked in every single province and in twenty-two different hospitals. This outreach was formally approved by both the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health (which is amazing considering the current tensions and suspicions in the country because of rebel movements). The hospital authorities were mostly very receptive, although there was some opposition. Sometimes the opposition was overcome by the whole team donating blood.

Seventeen-year-old Aristide from Cibitoke was pronounced dead by the doctor, who withdrew the drip and covered his body with a sheet. The mother started weeping hysterically, and her cries drew the attention of our team nearby. One of them came rushing in, and felt led to claim his life back from the dead. After praying over the corpse, Aristide started breathing again, and he and his mother promptly gave their lives to the Lord, along with another forty-one people who witnessed or heard about what happened.

So our 701 folks spent their time washing seeping wounds, soiled patients, stinking societal rejects, and loving them in practical ways like doing their cooking, laundry, and general cleaning. They prayed for them, encouraged them, and listened to them. Just under 7,000 inpatients were ministered to, along with many more family members and staff. They reckon about 24,000 heard the gospel and 3,345 people made commitments.

Loving people in word and deed. Bringing hope and healing in humility.

Beautiful.

» Read full story.

Source: World Evangelical Alliance, September 19, 2016

We are living in decisive times for the future of our urban world and the health and integrity of God’s creation. These two realities—cities and towns in the next 20-30 years growing from 50 percent of the world’s population to 75 percent living in urban areas, and the integrity of the world’s ecosystems that all life is dependent upon—are inseparably linked and both vitally important to the wellbeing of humanity. This is why the decisions being made for the “New Urban Agenda” that will be launched at the United Nations Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador (October 17-20, 2016) will be historically important and influential.

We believe Christians have a lot to learn about urbanism at UN Habitat III, but we also have a lot to offer from our biblical perspective, experiences, expertise, concerns, and values. The question is, however: Will Christians show up at this decisive time or just sit on the sidelines watching?

» Read full story and learn about the “Urban Shalom” project. Sounds interesting.

» Also check out the Brookings Institute’s Cities and Refugees: The European Response.