Missions Catalyst

1. Iran: Man in White Calls Family to Follow Him
2. Mexico: The Cult of Santa Muerte, the Saint of Death
3. North Korea: Rare Letters Smuggled Out
4. Uganda: Prayer Transforms the Karamojong People
5. Lebanon: Crises Open Hearts to Christ

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Amin, a Persian pastor in Australia, shares how he began following Jesus after God answered his prayer and appeared to him and his mother and sister in a dream on the same night (Eternity News).

Source: Eternity News, October 14, 2022

Growing up in Iran, Amin prayed five times a day like other Muslims, repeating verses in Arabic in an attempt to talk to Allah.

“One day I started to think about, why, if Allah is God, he should know that I am not an Arab— I’m Persian, I’m Iranian, and I speak Farsi, so why would he expect me to talk to him in another language, which is Arabic?” he recalls.

“That moment was a revelation…I said, ‘God, if you are alive, show yourself to me. I want to talk to you from the bottom of my heart and it doesn’t make sense to me anymore to speak to you in another language.’”

For seven days, Amin stopped praying and put thoughts of God aside.

“And on the seventh night, I had a dream of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He came into my dream and he didn’t come to only my dream—he came to my sister and my mother and myself in the same night.”

[The next morning] a family friend knocked at the door and when he came into the house, he put a New Testament on the table and said, “I want to talk to you about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only a prophet. He’s the son of God. He died on [a] cross and he rose on the third day.”

As he gave them the life-changing news, they felt filled with the Holy Spirit even though they didn’t know who that was at the time.

“We couldn’t deny it, you know? It was very hard to forget about what has happened. We all gave our heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we accepted him as our God and our Savior.”

See the full story with pictures. Amin and his wife later immigrated to Australia where he pastors Grace Persian Church in Brisbane.

Source: International Mission Board, October 31, 2022

Casting a long shadow across one of Mexico City’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods stands a seven-story image of Santa Muerte—the Saint of Death. She takes the form of a human skeleton clad in black plastic sheeting with arms outstretched, inviting residents in from the streets to make offerings of flowers, fruit, burned cigarettes, and alcoholic drinks.

The Catholic church denounces devotion to the folk saint as a cult, but for her many worshipers, the city’s poorest-of-the-poor, Santa Muerte promises prosperity, healing, protection, and vengeance in criminal gang battles. “The bony lady,” as her followers call her, is believed to be the one who will come to collect us when it’s our time to die.

The cult of Santa Muerte was popularized by Jonathan Legaría, the ambitious son of a middle-class family in Mexico City. Always fascinated by magic and the occult, Legaría convinced many that he had healing powers. After his violent death in a hail of bullets in 2008, at just 26, the cult grew rapidly under the organization of his now-deceased mother, Enriqueta Vargas.

There are now an estimated 10 million followers—not just in Mexico, but across the Americas.

The full story includes pictures and prayer points.

Source: Open Doors, October 26, 2022

Between 300,000 and 500,000 North Koreans secretly follow Jesus inside the country but because of the danger involved, we often don’t have direct contact. These secret believers want to share with you how much your prayers mean to them. Read [an excerpt from one of] two letters below.

“I would like to give you an update on how we are doing. Right now trade is severely restricted because of the pandemic. As a result, there are far too few goods to obtain.

“All the tribulations we face, such as the pandemic and persecution, remind us of a time of war.

“Despite these difficulties, we remain faithful to the work of Jesus Christ. Our hearts cling to Him. The North Korean church has been saved by the blood of Christ. The future of our church depends on our faith, our families, and the next generation.

“We thank Father God for His protection and heavenly mercy He sends us every time. We pray desperately that we may hear His voice.

“We want to thank all brothers and sisters for their love and support from the underground network of the North Korean church. We pray for you that God will protect your body and soul with His infinite grace and blessing.”

Read the full story and pray.

Please also pray for South Koreans following a tragedy in Seoul (Reuters).

Interested in hearing more from the Church in neighboring China? Listen to Hannah Nation discuss Lessons from Chinese House Churches (Global Missions Podcast) or read Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church (Kirkdale Press).

Source: Mission Frontiers, November 1, 2022

Up to 900,000 Karamojong live in the least developed and poorest part of Uganda, across six districts in the northeast, mostly in the hills. Locals call them “Karamojong Warriors,” as they often steal cattle and kill resisters. They live in “homesteads” of several extended families, with their cattle when they are not out grazing.

Automatic weapons have turned the region into a virtual no-go zone. Heavy flooding, droughts, and armed conflict with related tribes all contribute. Government efforts to forcibly disarm the Karamojong have only been marginally successful.

Mission work in Uganda began with other people groups in the plains, with few ever working among the Karamojong. However, one worker who lived, among them became a prayer champion, facilitating on-site prayer teams from Uganda, South Africa, Korea and the U.S.

God is now answering these prayers through a Church Planting Movement (CPM) started in 2015 in northern Uganda refugee camps. Six years later, this CPM has spread to 44 refugee camps and 56 districts of Uganda, with starts in other countries. The CPM has multiplied to 2,775 groups across Uganda, with about 2,000 new believers every month.

In June 2021, just before a new lockdown in Uganda, a CPM team leader, Jennifer, took two others to share in her home district of Abim. Later, Jennifer and a translator ventured up in the hills to find a nearby Karamojong community. She reported:

“The elders were sitting in a circle, drinking. I greeted them and asked if they could give me a few minutes. They gladly accepted, and I shared from our Good News for You lesson.

“Before I finished one warrior stood—crying, ‘I have killed so many, can God ever forgive me?’ When I finished, all eight received Jesus as Lord and Savior. I then shared with the women and children. Ten women and a few children also gave their lives to Jesus! There was no trainer to leave with them, so we began fasting and praying for this seed to grow.”

Read full story. Also from Mission Frontiers: A family left the field but didn’t forget about the people group they served among, the Rajput of India. They dedicated themselves to being prayer champions instead.

For more from Uganda, read Christian Evangelists Attacked for Preaching to Muslims in Uganda (Morning Star News) and a Pray for Uganda infographic from INcontext International.

Source: Mission Network News, October 27

Surviving another week is the goal of many in Lebanon. Others try to profit by hoarding handouts from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and selling them on the black market.

“There are [like] sharks around us, you know? They know that NGOs are receiving money, so they all try to get as much as possible from NGOs,” Nuna of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says.

“Some commodities are not available anymore, so people can monopolize it, put it at the price they want.”

Triumphant Mercy demonstrates the love of Christ by meeting everyday needs. September “was the back-to-school month,” Nuna says.

TM Lebanon partnered with School in a Bag to distribute school supplies and children’s backpacks to needy families.

“That was such a relief; many people cannot afford a backpack with notebooks and pens, and all these [basic supplies] that they need,” Nuna says.

Grateful parents couldn’t stop thanking Triumphant Mercy team members. “We didn’t know how we could do this (get school supplies for our children), and then this specific help came,” parents told Nuna and her team.

Believers gladly shared the reason and source of their generosity.

“We keep on turning people’s eyes towards God, and I’ve never seen Lebanese people so open,” Nuna says.

“There’s so much pride in Lebanon; they did not need Jesus. But now everybody needs him, and that’s amazing; we’re seeing people open to receiving Christ.”

The full story includes links to learn more.

Keep praying for Lebanon in these difficult times. See also Aoun’s Presidency Ends Leaving Power Vacuum in Crisis-Hit Lebanon (Reuters).