New Year, new challenges, and new Life

We do pray this newest year will be a peaceful and prosperous one for you … and that it has begun better than ours!

Pastor Peter Haneef wrapped up his mission trip to Bangladesh on Sunday with a final worship service. He reports that the team managed to distribute 11,000 bibles to Bangladeshi Muslims wanting to read and meditate on God’s Word, plus planted 53 new churches during their extended time there. On the final day of the mission, some 2000 people took part in the worship service. Three hundred people were baptized, and the Holy Spirit moved wonderfully and powerfully.

Unfortunately, word had gotten out to some ‘wrong elements’. As the ceremony ended, a large group of Bangladeshi militants rushed at the worshippers shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and attacked them. Three team members were brutally beaten and had to be hospitalized. Many others were injured. Pastor Haneef was also beaten and injured. He says his injuries are not serious, yet would appreciate prayers for himself, the others injured, and for the whole of troubled Bangladesh.

On another unfortunate note, Pastor Paul is back in the hospital. He seems to be getting better, but has a long way to go. Please keep up your prayers for our brave, faithful Director of Bibles for Mideast.

I don’t know about you, but suddenly my flu bug seems inconsequential.

Let's believe and trust!

Prayer needed for Pastor Paul;
good news from Pastor Peter

Our dear ministry leader Pastor Paul is now undergoing treatment for a small stroke; please remember him in your prayers. 

Pastor Peter Haneef reports that the ministry in Bangladesh is progressing well, with two ALG churches (in Qatar and in Muscat) helping supply 2500 bibles each. Your own donations and prayers have helped tremendously as well, for which we are so grateful.

We cherish and in fact cannot function without your prayerful support of this ministry, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

May our Lord be your forever Guide, Protector and ever-present Help, especially throughout the holiday season.

Jesus winning Bangladesh

The ongoing Bibles for Mideast ministry in Bangladesh (Pastor Peter Haneef is there now with a team) is progressing amazingly and fruitfully, Pastor Paul reports. The team has covered 550 miles and established 11 churches in just 25 days!

Last Sunday, all eleven of the new churches joined for a worship service in a village community hall. Attendees included women, men and children, all from the Muslim religion. Many shared wonderful testimonies. One middle-aged woman asked the team to visit her house in a jungle area to pray for her husband. For the last 15 years, the husband had been bedridden after being viciously attacked by a jungle animal. Team leader Pastor Hussain shared the message of salvation with him, and also explained how he, formerly Muslim, now followed Jesus.

“Do you believe Jesus can be both Savior and mighty healer?” he asked the man. The fellow affirmed his belief immediately … which is all it took for the pastor and team to begin praying for him. And THAT was all it took for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit! He immediately felt a new, refreshing flow through his veins, and standing up, began praising and thanking Lord Jesus. His witness alone brought many people from that area to the Christian gatherings.

While a corner meeting was going on in another place, an angry Imam and several others from a local mosque tried to stop the gathering, brandishing weapons and threatening to kill the people and burn their van.

In response, Pastor Hussain and the team simply knelt down, closed their eyes, and started praying. A sudden wind gust arose and blew a chili-powder-like red dust over the attackers. The would-be assailants fled immediately, while the gospel team calmly carried on. Each and every villager in attendance accepted Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

The team members have been out each day visiting people in their homes, inviting them to attend corner meetings and distributing bibles.

Just last week, we packaged and sent out another 2,000 bibles to the team.  In the time remaining on their mission trip, the team prays and hopes to distribute at least 10,000 bibles and establish 50 churches. Once again thank you for your prayers and kind support; please keep it up!

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Is God leading you to help us?
Please click here: BLESSING Bibles for Mideast.

Meet the esteemed Arab professor who became the unlikely voice of, and for, Jesus

‘Ali’*, a respected Islamic professor in the Middle East, taught for many years at a seminary in an area hostile to Christians (as most of the region is).

An expert in his field of ethics, Ali figured he really should read a Bible to study Jesus—someone he, like most Muslims, only knew as the ‘Great Prophet Isa.’

He found the Gospels especially fascinating, even stunning. The Word of God spoke deeply to his heart. He discovered Jesus to be quite different from the other prophets. He was not violent, but self-giving and loving. Yet, for someone in Ali’s position, following Jesus would be difficult, perhaps even impossible. 

Then it happened.

Ali explained that Jesus began to appear to him. The Lord would literally sit across the table, teach and answer his many questions. He said it happened 17 times! 

“I asked Him how we can live like Him. He gave me Truth for the rest of my life.” 

Then Ali was given the chance to watch the film ‘JESUS’ (produced by the Jesus Film Project). Again, he was stunned.

“It was Him in the movie, the Man who appeared to me 17 times!” he exclaimed.

He believed even more deeply, and couldn’t help but share with his fellow professors that Jesus is the Son of God. He led seven of those fellow professors to Christ. 

As expected, seminary higher-ups were far from impressed and fired him. Persecution mounted to the point he felt he had to flee to Lebanon. But the Lord’s hand was upon him. 

In Lebanon, he became the voice of Jesus for the translation of the ‘JESUS’ film into the Baghdadi dialect of Arabic! What a transformation! 

Please pray for the transformation of many more precious lives.

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*Name changed for security reasons
[Thanks to the Jesus Film people for this story]

An ISIS fighter turns to Jesus

Thank you to our friends at Jesus Film for the following amazing story

IRAQ—The phone rang. When a JESUS film staff worker answered, he heard a deep voice saying, “I am an ISIS fighter in Syria. I heard your phone number on the radio” [he had been listening to an audio broadcast version of the JESUS film].

“My name is Fareed. I am part of an ISIS militia. Our commander sent us to a neighborhood to attack and kill Christians. We hid in a burned-out church. Everything in the church was destroyed, blackened. Waiting for our orders to attack, I sat, exhausted, and leaned against a wall. With my headphones on, I began listening to your broadcast and fell asleep. 

He Saw Jesus

“Like in a dream, the burned-out church began to turn white. Color returned. The lights came on. I saw rows of benches. Suddenly a Man in brilliant white was in the aisle walking towards me. The man said, ‘Follow Me’.

“Everything was white, and then in full color,” Fareed continued. “The Man touched me on the shoulder and said, ‘Fareed, don’t worry. Follow Me.’ Just then the phone rang. Our commander cancelled the mission! All the rage and bitterness inside me was gone! I was peaceful and knew I could not fight anymore. So, I turned in my weapon and came to Baghdad. I’m calling you. What shall I do?”

The JESUS film staff member who took Fareed’s call explained the Gospel to him and directed him to a church in the city, which Fareed joined, and where he grew in his faith.

He has since been actively witnessing to others about the love and power of God, and using the JESUS film to help him.

In his latest update about that former ISIS fighter, the staff member said, “I speak with him often and have given him equipment and support to help show the film to many others. He is a transformed man.” 

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Originally published by the JESUS film people, “a Christian media ministry bringing millions face-to-face with Jesus in their heart language”.
You can visit their website here:  Jesus Film Project.