Forgiveness Leads to the Gospel

Praise be to the Lord God our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a report from Pastor Muhammad (pictured on the right above) in Kabkabia. Here is what he said:

Brothers and sisters, pray for us in Kabkabia and Surutune. This year we are moving on well in advancing the Kingdom of God in these two areas. Last month in May, we started three churches in Kabkabia and two more in Surutune IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) Camp. Over 500 men and women from a Muslim faith background heard the Good News. More than fifty of these have accepted our Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Thirteen women and fifteen men were baptized. So praise be to God!

As leaders in these areas, we have come together to address the challenges and the persecution that's going on. People showed their zeal and passion for the Kingdom of God. This happened when three church members were forcefully taken from their homes to Mosques. There, they were forced to pray, but after they refused to pray Islamic prayers they were beaten severely. As a church community, we prayed for these three: Musa, Yousif, and Abdul. As a group, we decided to reach out to the Sheikh leader even if this means our death.

By the grace of God, we reached the Sheikh of the area and told him about what had happened to our brothers. We thank God the Sheikh reacted positively towards us. He summoned members of those Mosques and said that they should pay money for the medical treatment of our disciples. He also arrested the person who came up with the idea of beating these men.

So many people willingly contributed money. We have taken these three men to the hospital. Abdul had to be carried on a bed lifted by four people due to the lack of transport in the area. All three have been healed by God’s grace. People in the area have reacted very nicely. I met someone by the name of Marak who told me, “I wished I was one of your members. Most people in Surutune are talking good of you that you have forgiven people who want to kill you.”

I just told him all praise to Jesus who is good. And invited him to accept our Lord Jesus Christ and be one of his followers. And surprisingly he asked me, “How do I do that?” I told him to accept that you are a sinner and you need a Savior and believe that Jesus Christ is sufficient and died for your sin; he will be your Lord and Savior. Tearfully, Marak said, “Yes! I accept Jesus Christ.” Then he immediately asked me for a Bible but we have run out of all we had been given, so I have given mine to him to go and read for some time and bring it back.

So we are asking for prayers:

• Please pray for us that God will continue to protect us and show his love to our people through us.
• Please pray to God to help us get more Bibles
• We also would like iron sheets to cover our new shelters (church buildings) and tuk-tuks (motorbikes) to help us with transport and collect water and firewood
• Jesus film projectors and proclaimers and three phones to connect us with more people would also be useful.

May God bless all of you.