UPDATE on church members brutally attacked … and more former Muslims baptised

By Pastor Peter Haneef

I thank you for your prayers and support for Pastor Kumar and three of his church members who were brutally attacked by Hindu militants almost a month and a half ago. Pastor Kumar remains in hospital, and the other three were discharged recently.

They are all very poor, so other local church families have been helping their families and Pastor Kumar's family as well with their daily needs. They also did as much as they could to settle the hospital bills. With the help of our other churches and our generous partners, we have managed to cover the rest of the expenses.

By God's grace, Pastor Kumar continues to recover from his injuries and may be discharged from hospital by the end of this week. He has undergone two surgeries, one a major procedure on his back. Doctors were not certain he would be able to out of bed afterwards. But now, he has begun walking slowly with his wife’s assistance. The doctors themselves report this is a miracle! Of course we know it is because of your prayers that our Lord touched his backbone and healed him as a witness to His glory.

Please pray for him that our Lord may give him more courage and strength to labor in His Vineyard, witness for Him, and win more souls for His Kingdom. Pray also for his family and all the members of his church. 

Many of the local people who were against the church and ministry are now attending the prayer meetings and worship services. Please pray for them, and also for the conversion of the attackers. 

Ninety-four former Muslims were baptized in the Middle East last week. Pray for them and their families. So far this year, thousands of former Muslims have been baptized not only in the Middle East, but in our Asian and African churches as well.

Baptismal ceremony in the Indian Ocean by African ALG Church

This past Sunday, Pastor Mustafa baptized 22 former Muslims in Somalia in Africa. Others are also preparing for baptism there. Even more people are getting ready for baptismal services in Pakistan, which will probably happen next week. Please be in prayer for all of them.

94 former Muslims baptised in dramatic Arabian Sea ceremony!

94 former Muslims praising God in the Arabian Sea [photo: Bibles for Mideast]

[Oct. 26, 2019] By God's grace, several Middle Eastern pastors of the Assembly of Loving God (ALG) churches of Bibles for Mideast baptised 94 former Muslims in the Arabian Sea early yesterday morning!

The pastors and believers had all fasted and prayed for the Lord's guidance and protection over the three days leading up to the service. Going 72 hours without food or drink, they feasted only on the Word of God.  

Very early yesterday, they travelled by six buses to the shore of the Arabian Sea. God blessed them by providing ex-pat evangelical Christians as drivers, all promising to keep the journey and baptisms secret for the safety of the believers and churches.

The sea had been churning violently since the evening before, inciting fear in some of those to be baptised. How could they safely get in with such massive waves crashing in?

Before beginning the service, all joined hands as the pastors led in prayer. As soon as they finished, the sea calmed, the waves completely subsided. The people looked up in awe to see unusual illumination from above. Pastors and candidates approached the shore praising the Lord of Creation and salvation. As they proceeded with the ceremony, the Holy Spirit moved powerfully among them.

When all had headed back to shore after the baptism and the final prayers concluded, giant waves began to swell and crash in again. As mysteriously as it had appeared, the glow from above the sea also dissipated.  

Returning to their churches bursting with joy, the believers celebrated the Lord’s Supper and only after that, broke their fast.

We know without a doubt that God’s protection and care guided and guarded His children as the apple of His eye. Their time of prayer and fasting, added to the prayers of our prayer partners, moved and continue to move heaven. A great mystery we shall all know the answer to one day!

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Kindly continue praying for the newly-baptised and their families.

Please also pray for all the leaders, believers and the ministry of Bibles for Mideast as a whole for the great task of winning every Muslim to the fold of Jesus Christ at any cost!

No time to waste: the time is short, the harvest ripe

By Pastor Paul

Praise be to the Lord Jesus! The return of our Lord is imminent. Let us not waste our time and energy in our efforts to bring the gospel to the unreached. Whatever we have—our health, wealth, wisdom, power, everything—has been given us by our Lord to be used for HIS glory, for HIS Kingdom's sake.

Our Heavenly Bridegroom wants us to be wise virgins who have oil in our lamps when He comes (Mt. 25:1-13). Our Master wants to see us as His wise and faithful servants, whom He made ruler over His household, and to give them food in due season (Mt. 24:45-51).

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man will come. Let us not bury our talents in the ground, but trade with them and make even more.

Certainly the share is equal for those who do His ministry and those who pray for and support the ministry. Because of the prayers and support of the faithful, the ministers receive power and energy for the work.

The word of God says, "As the share is of the one going down to battle, so will the share be of the one staying with the equipment. They will share equally.” (1 Sam. 30:24). So please, be always praying for and supporting those who bring the gospel to the unreached.

"And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,

“ ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

“ ‘But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

“ ‘Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’ ” (Rev. 12:7-12)

P.S.: Please continue praying for Bibles for Mideast  and the Assembly of Loving God churches. We desperately need your prayer support. Please also share with your praying friends.

With love, prayers and Shalom, and in the mighty name of Jesus,
Pastor Paul  (Director), Bibles for Mideast

God continues to move in India

UPDATE ON: INDIAN PASTOR AND CHURCH MEMBERS VICIOUSLY ATTACKED BY HINDU EXTREMISTS

By Pastor Paul

By God's grace, Mercy and I were discharged from hospital last Saturday after a severe viral fever. I personally thank you for your prayers.

Since being brutally attacked by Hindu militants several weeks ago in north India, believers in the area have been in fear for their lives. Pastor Kumar and three of our church members are still in hospital, but recovering from their injuries.

Last week, a number of them reported seeing an amazing vision in the sky. They are convinced it was an angel sent by the Lord Jesus to comfort and encourage them.

Since then, they have been feeling more secure and strong, and have become more bold in the precious faith.

Several Hindus witnessed the sight as well, and are now friendlier towards the Christians, offering help and support where before they treated them as enemies and ‘untouchables' [the lowest in the Indian caste system—Ed.]. Previously enraged whenever they saw believers gather, many have even joined them to worship secretly.

We join with the believers in praying for the conversion of the militants who attacked the church and the pastor. Please keep Pastor Kumar, the other three still in hospital and all the church members and those attending the services in your prayers. Once again, thank you for your prayers and kind support.

I need to praise and thank our Lord Jesus for choosing me from the Islamic faith and community to labour in His Vineyard. October 10th of this year marked 44 years of Christian life for me. On that day in 1975, at age 21, I embraced Christianity and was baptized.

Since then I have endured severe persecutions and seen death face-to-face several times. But our Lord has protected me in His mighty hands and made me a witness of Him.

I praise and thank Him for choosing me from the darkness of Islam. I praise and thank Him for His love, care and protection throughout my life. I praise and thank Him for His complete guidance by the Holy Spirit.

I would say as Samuel does: "Thus far the Lord has helped me” (1 Sam. 7:12).

Now I am waiting to meet Him in the clouds on that wonderful and great Day, and by His grace alone. That is my one and only desire. HIS KINGDOM COMES.

AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS. AMEN.

With prayers, love and Shalom, and in Jesus’ mighty name,
Pastor Paul, Bibles for Mideast

Indian pastor and church members viciously attacked by Hindu extremists now recovering, but need your help

Imagine this. You are a tender five years old, and out of the blue, your daddy disappears. You don’t know why or how, but suddenly he’s gone and all you now know and experience is your terrified mom.

She tries to explain to you he has been killed. You’re not too sure what that means, but from the way she’s acting, it must be horrible.

A day or so later, your mom grabs you and flees the only home you’ve known. Sometimes she carries you, sometimes you have to run alongside her, but all you know is something really scary is happening and you better keep running.

She seems to hear ‘bad guys’ behind you somewhere … she looks like it at least … and just tries to run faster.  She makes more turns and twists along the way, and your little legs are about ready to give out.

Finally, you get to the river—you’ve glimpsed it a few times before—and she stops by a house somebody is building there. It’s only partly ‘there’, and nobody is around, so she takes you inside.

Then she leaves. You watch her from an opening in the wall … probably where they will put glass for a window someday … and see her jump from the high bank into the river! Why didn’t she tell you she was going for a swim?

And that’s the last time you see her.

Such was how life began for young Kumar of northern India. He remembers little about life with his parents, except that they did often visit a Hindu temple and worship the many idols there.

The small boy wasn’t alone in the unfinished building long. A well-off fellow—perhaps the man having the place built—found him sobbing there shortly after his mother vanished, and took the youngster home with him.

Unfortunately, the rich man’s motives were hardly compassionate. He set his ‘new acquisition’ to work almost immediately, treating him as a household slave.

After several years of unimaginable hardship, little Kumar, now 8, fled the second home he’d ever known, again in fear.

Not too long afterwards (we’re not sure exactly how long) kindly Pastor Mohan of Bibles for Mideast found the youngster begging for food in the streets. He approached the dishevelled child and gently inquired about his past. The more he discovered, the more his heart went out to the unfortunate boy. He invited Kumar home with him, and since the little fellow seemed to understand this man was safe and good, he went along.

Soon, he became an integral part of the family; a young brother to Pastor Mohan’s other children. He went to school, studied well, and grew to have a strong faith in Jesus.

On graduating high school, he went off to Bible College and at 25, was ordained a pastor of the ALG (Assembly of Loving God, umbrella for Bibles for Mideast churches). He married a few years later.

Now with three young children of his own, Kumar’s main ministry has been among Hindus in northern India. Due to the increasing, and increasingly violent persecution of Christians by Hindu nationalists in India, his young church must of course meet secretly.

He had been warned many times to stop his work but continued tirelessly and with even increasing success. His church had grown to 40 faithful believers when last Sunday, just as their worship service drew to a close, angry militants stormed the believer’s home they met in.

The aftermath of an attack on a house church and its congregation in Kolahpur, Maharashtra

They pummelled Pastor Kumar with iron pipes until he lay bloodied and unconscious.  They set on other church members as well, seriously injuring several.

Pastor Kumar and three other church members were finally was taken to hospital, all in critical condition. For 48 hours, the pastor remained in acute care and doctors had scant hope for his survival.

On hearing of the attack, Pastor Paul and Pastor Peter Haneef, along with several other Bibles for Mideast leaders, left immediately for the long train trip to northern India and held three days of prayer and fasting in the home of a church member. By the second day, Pastor Kumar opened his eyes and by the third, he could speak again. Doctors were able to pronounce him out of serious danger by then.

Pastor Paul made it back to his home by late this past Thursday, but Pastor Haneef will stay longer with the young church. Pastor Kumar and the three who were most severely injured with him remain in hospital.

Please pray for their complete healing, as well as for the pastor’s wife, children and other church members. Most live in grass-thatched huts with barely enough to survive, never mind having to face almost daily persecution.

Please also pray for the resources they will need to pay the hospital bills. If you feel led to help this valiant young pastor and his church do the work God has called them to do, please click here.
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A Christian advocacy group in India, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), India, have documented over 200 incidents of anti-Christian violence in just the first eight months of 2019. This averages to 27 incidents of violence per month. Many, many more of course go unreported.

Indian Christians hold placards protesting against attacks on churches in the Indian capital of New Delhi (AP photo)

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UPDATES!
God continues to move in India
UPDATE on church members brutally attacked … and more former Muslims baptised