Life and healing in the Palestinian wilderness

Ahmadi* grew up the only child of a poor Muslim family in Palestine. His father served as a soldier with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) under Yasser Arafat.

While still in school, Ahmadi became friends with a young Christian fellow who regaled him with stories of Jesus. The Muslim boy found the stories of the amazing man Jesus interesting, and had no problem with the idea of him being a prophet—all Muslims knew and accepted that. But when his school friend began talking about Jesus as the Way, Truth and Life … the crucified One whose resurrection opened the only way to Heaven … the friendship nearly ended. True to the faith he was raised in, Ahmadi found the idea of Jesus’ resurrection ridiculous, even offensive. So the relationship endured so long as the Christian boy kept his Bible stories out of their conversations.

Then came the fateful day Israeli soldiers killed Ahmadi’s father. In complete shock, Ahmadi stopped going to classes. As an only child, he felt obligated to find a day-laborer job so he and his mother could afford to live and eat.

His hatred of Jews grew after the death of his father, and hearing that Christians around the world supported Israel, he began to detest them as well.  

Palestinian demonstrators burn an Israeli flag during a rally in central Gaza city, Oct. 13, 2000: AP Photo

When he reached 20, his mother decided her son should have a wife and took it upon herself to find him one. They married but remained childless, Ahmadi continuing to support his mother until her death by breast cancer.

About a month ago, attempting to cross a road while carrying a load of grain, Ahmadi missed seeing a truck veering towards him. The truck knocked him over, and when police arrived, they found him seriously injured and unable to move. They rushed him to the hospital and informed his wife. Within several days, doctors realized they could do nothing more for him medically, and asked his wife to take him back home and care for him there.

Unfortunately Ahmadi’s wife had neither the love nor inclination to help him. He lay untended, covered in bedsores, his injuries oozing puss and the bed increasingly soiled by his own excrement.

One night, his wife and two of her friends took Ahmadi from his bed, rolled him up in a mat, and brought him to a deserted area where they left him to die.

All Ahmadi knew at that point was unbearable thirst. He begged for water, but no one was there to hear or answer. His feverish brain suddenly recalled how the Christian friend from his boyhood had talked about Jesus having ‘living water’; how, however improbable, whoever drank that water would never thirst again.

"JESUS!” he screamed with as much strength as he could muster. “My Living Water, my Savior, give me to drink. Give me to drink. Save me Lord!"

He could barely believe what his eyes showed him next. A stream flowing from heaven to his own mouth … could it be? In that stream an extraordinarily beautiful man appeared, looking almost like a star shining in and from the water. The man had nail-scarred hands and what? A hole in His chest?  He noticed both live-giving water and blood flowing from the hole.

"I am Jesus of Nazareth,” the beautiful man announced. “The Son of the most high God. I was crucified for you, I died, and I rose from the dead. By my stripes you are healed; by my death you have entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you believe Me?"

"I do Lord!” Ahmadi assured Him. “I believe You are my only Savior and Lord!" Something feeling like an electric shock jolted Ahmadi through and through. He stood immediately, completely healed. The Lord and the stream of water disappeared.

Ahmadi knelt down and began to pray. He hardly knew how to form appropriate words, but could feel the Holy Spirit prompting and inspiring him.

Around the same time, a Palestinian Bibles for MIdeast pastor, his family, and a small group of believers had been praying and fasting in their remote underground church. One of the believers felt led to prophesy about “a man who was going to see the Lord Jesus from the valley of death.”  He went on to describe the location, and said they were to go to that place and bring back the man to be God’s witness.

Pastor Jaseel* and his team continued in prayer even as they began their search, eventually reaching the deserted spot where Ahmadi knelt, still praying to the Lord he had just met.

Introducing himself to Ahmadi, the pastor heard more of his story and tried to help him better understand all that had happened.

Ahmadi, not wanting to return to his own home, followed the team back to where they lived. He remains with Pastor Jaseel, learning more about the Lord he now loves and serves, and worshipping Himin Spirit and Truth. Please pray for him, all Palestinian underground believers, and for further guidance from the Holy Spirit.

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* Names changed for security reasons

Sunday miracles and salvations in Bangladesh!

After their Sunday worship service yesterday, Pastor Masood and a number of youngsters in his church divided into four teams (partly to help properly ‘socially distance’ in this time of Covid) and headed out to nearby villages to share the gospel and distribute bibles.

The pastor and the two young men with him felt drawn to a woman sitting by herself in front of a house. They approached, gave her a sample gospel and began sharing about Jesus. As soon as she heard the name of Jesus, she shouted angrily at them and threw away the gospel leaflet.

Alerted by the noise, neighbors began appearing and rebuked the pastor and his team for annoying the woman.

Just then, her disabled son, about 18, also appeared, crawling on his knees through the home’s door to his upset mother. He listened to all that was going on.

When the angry neighbors surrounded the pastor and his team members with the intention of attacking them, the woman’s husband joined the scene, making his way to the front of the crowd. He grabbed what he could of the bibles and gospel literature, threw them away, and began brutally beating Pastor Masood and the two young men with him. The pastor fell to the ground under the blows.

Suddenly the disabled son spoke up. “Father they are our Lord’s people! They speak the truth. Please don’t beat them!”

The boy’s father, mother and all the gathered neighbors seemed stunned, gazing in disbelief at the disabled boy. His mother practically fell to her knees in front of Pastor Masood, reached out and then held on tightly to his leg, crying aloud for forgiveness.

Her husband, now suddenly motionless, gazed at Pastor Masood as if he were some divine being.

The pastor of course had no idea what was going on. In hushed, reverent tones, someone told him the disabled young man had never, ever, talked before. No wonder all were awestruck!  Pastor Masood consoled and calmed them with the peace of Christ, and then shared some of his own experiences with Jesus.

Crawling towards the pastor on his knees, the son asked for prayer. Pastor Masood held his hands by the young man’s head and prayed. As he did, the boy slowly straightened until he stood tall at his full height.

The amazed villagers could barely believe their eyes. They feared even getting near the pastor and his team members, murmuring among themselves that surely they came from heaven.

The pastor assured them he and the youngsters with him were simply servants of the Lord Jesus. He then shared the gospel more fully, explaining how Jesus was crucified to save each and every person from sin and death. Jesus is the mighty healer, and the miracles they had just witnessed were by His hand.

When he asked the people to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord, everyone agreed! They also arranged a prayer meeting for that evening, and many attended and were healed and saved. By the end of Sunday evening, the whole village of about 120 people had joined the Kingdom of Jesus.

Please pray for the ministry of Pastor Masood and his church. He and his team continue distributing bibles, and we thank those of you who helped in acquiring those. 

While we have already sent them 3,000 bibles, they now need another 7,000 Urdu bibles. Please pray for them, their ministry and for all the people who have newly accepted our Lord Jesus as their Savior.  No doubt they will now face persecution from other villages, all Muslim.

 [You can read our earlier stories of Pastor Masood’s often dangerous work in northern Bangladesh here: Urgent prayer request for pastors and believers in northern Bangladesh, Important update from Pastor Peter Haneef on attack in northern Bangladesh and LATEST UPDATE from Pastor Peter Haneef on attacked pastors and believers.]  

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If you are able to help us buy bibles for Pastor Masood’s and other’s work, please click here:
BLESSING Bibles for Mideast

LATEST UPDATE from Pastor Peter Haneef on attacked pastors and believers

I hope this finds you well and with peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for a prosperous new year, 2021, for you and that our Lord is with with you and blesses you from the beginning till the end of the year.

We have a wonderful, mighty Lord. Though we are in the midst of trials and temptations, our Lord God Jesus allows us not to be ashamed before unbelievers. We trust in Him forever and ever.

Pastor Masood, almost recovered from the recent brutal attack on himself and his church, has begun our Lord's ministry again. [You can read our earlier ‘update’ on the attack here, when Pastor Masood was still in intensive care after having had to undergo brain surgery] Fifteen youngsters who had been among his attackers came to regret their actions, confessed their sins and each has accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal savior! All now former Muslims, they accompany Pastor Masood as he visits homes and individuals to  share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Last Sunday morning, all were baptized.

Preparing Urdu bibles for distribution

They wanted to distribute 10,000 Urdu Bibles in the northern part of Bangladesh. By God's grace we have provided them with 1,500 Bibles as a New Year’s gift possible only by your help and prayers. We thank you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for your support. Pastor Masood has asked us for another 8,500 to distribute there this month. We hope you will join with us in praying for the fulfilment of their vision for our Lord's Kingdom.

Distributing Urdu bibles to hungry, thankful new Christians

One ALG Church in Africa, led by Pastor Mustafa, was threatened by some Muslims as they planned a New Year’s worship service in Somalia. Terrorists promised to burn down the church unless they closed it and stop all ministry.  Please pray for them.

Pastor Kumar and his church are praying and fasting to have a cemetery of their own. When they recently tried to bury the dead body of a believer, they faced many difficulties until at last they got a vault from another far-distant church and buried him there. So they urgently need a cemetery.

Our editor and chief communicator Susanna Perry-Ettel is back home after unexpected open heart surgery. While the surgery itself went well, she suffered complications afterward and has been in many ways herself through the valley of death. But by God's grace and with your prayers she came back to life. She is still however very weak and needs more prayers. [NOTE from Susanna: As a privileged, pampered Westerner I can honestly say I feel honored to have gone through this—totally helpless and utterly reliant on the goodness and graciousness of God and the prayers of His people. Privileged now to have personally shared in a small portion of the sufferings, trials and tribulations—and ultimate redemption—I share here so often with you through other people’s stories.]

Once again, thank you all for your prayers and support. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever. Amen.

With love and prayers,
Yours in His service
Pastor Peter Haneef, President, The Assembly of Loving God Church

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If you are able to help us financially, please click here:
BLESSING Bibles for Mideast

Important update from Pastor Peter Haneef on attack in northern Bangladesh

We hope this finds you well and with peace in our Lord. Thank you for your prayers and kind offers of help for the pastors and other believers attacked in their underground church by Muslim militants in northern Bangladesh during five days of prayer and fasting.

Pastor Munna and the other two seriously injured believers have recovered and been discharged from hospital. Pastor Masood, however, is still in intensive care, having had to undergo brain surgery due to the extensive damage to his head.  By the prayers of the church. thankfully, he is slowly improving.

Many of the radicals who attacked the pastors and the believers have contracted Covid-19 along with their family members, and two have died. The whole village has been declared a hotspot.

But praise the Lord, none of our church members have gotten Covid-19 so far. They adhere strictly to the rules imposed by the government, knowing they are protecting themselves and others. They also of course know the power of prayer and praise.

The villagers have come to understand the Christians believe in and worship the true, living Lord. Some of them have confessed their sins and accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal savior! Please join us in prayer for the whole village.

Pastor Masood's family is extremely poor. Our church there, which he helps lead, is also small and poor. Unfortunately the burden of hospital bills—about US$7,000—is far beyond their means. We believe our Lord's treasury is so powerful and we look to Him. We humbly request your prayers to meet the hospital bills too.

Christmas and the New Year is coming. We hope a new dawn with the light of Jesus Christ will be rising up everywhere.

May the grace of our Father and the love of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.

With love and prayers,
Yours in His service,
Pastor Peter Haneef, President
The Assembly of Loving God (ALG) Church

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[earlier story here]

While prayer is of course the biggest help, if you are able to financially help these powerful new Christians as they recover and carry on the work of spreading the Truth of Jesus, please click
HERE.

Urgent prayer request for pastors and believers in northern Bangladesh

Two pastors and about 20 members of a Bibles for Mideast underground church in northern Bangladesh were brutally attacked by radical Muslims this morning and desperately need the prayers of God’s people. Pastor Masood is now in coma in hospital with serious head injuries; many others were hurt, and two had to be rushed to hospital.

While observing all Covid-19 protocols, the small group of believers were planning to hold five days of prayer and fasting in the church. On this their third day, an angry mob of some 40 terrorists smashed their way into and through the church wielding iron pipes and wooden sticks. They attacked men and women and destroyed furniture and musical instruments.

All the believers, including the pastors, had converted to Christ from Islam. A secret baptismal ceremony for several of the newest Christians had been held just two weeks ago. Unfortunately, word of the baptisms leaked to the local imam and community leaders last Friday, and plans for the attack began formulating.

Just two weeks ago, roughly 50-60 armed Muslims attacked a nearby Christian village over a land dispute.  One person was injured and a Catholic chapel, a grocery store and several homes were ransacked.

Attack on CHristian village in northern Bangladesh

PLEASE join us in prayer for these believers: for their recovery, and future safety. We treasure and need your help as we work to further God’s Kingdom no matter the challenges and hardships.

[With reporting by Pastor Peter Haneef, President, Assembly of Loving God (ALG) Church]