Rev 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (NIV)
We hope you are edified by these true stories... Please share with us your stories... All Glory and Honour to the LORD...
A "Cornelius" breakthrough among the Baloch people.
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Note: The names of Muslim-background believers have been changed to English sounding names for security purposes. Dear Friends, If you're wearing a hat hold on to it. If you're standing up sit down before you read this. When God moves sometimes things can happen very quickly. Sunday through Tuesday we experienced incredible answers to years of prayer by hundreds of people. Bruce's family has come into the Kingdom!!!! Let me fill in the details: When we first had Bruce staying in our home I met with his father who asked me to take on the role of being a father to Bruce. I agreed and told him that would include teaching him about faith in Jesus the Messiah. He agreed that I should do so. Since that time (5 years ago) our vision and prayer has been that the whole family would join Bruce in following the Saviour. Likewise, Keh, who continued discipling Bruce in that first year while Sue and I were out of the country, had the same desire and vision for the family. He recalled when he and his family attended the wedding of Bruce's brother how family members were hopeful that in the name of Jesus they would be freed from the fear of "jinns" (demons). Several times in the past Ed and Keh have gone to Bruce's home especially on the second Eid when people sacrifice an animal to remember Abraham's willingness to offer his son. But it didn't happen too smoothly this time. First, Keh wasn't originally planning to be in the country at this time and the rescheduled trip almost didn't happen either. Bruce and I were nearly resigned to the inevitability that Keh wouldn't be able to squeeze a trip to the interior into his tight 7 day schedule. Another friend, Ron, needed Bruce's help in getting his car up to another city and Bruce figured that it would probably work better after the Eid holiday. It was all very confusing and at the last minute we all decided to travel at night so as to arrive Sunday morning - the day before the big holiday. One thing on our minds was a letter that I had received 2 weeks before from Bruce's brother - who had always wanted to become a M. religious leader. His letter was full of superlatives about how we prayed, how often we prayed, and God's answers to prayer. He mentioned the changes in Bruce's life and character. He asked some specific questions about the wording of a particular passage of scripture and finally wrote: "I want to become one of you. Please guide me." We were unsure what he really meant knowing some of the debates he had initiated in past encounters. Anyway, the group left Karachi at 11 Saturday night (I had gotten about 5 hours sleep on Friday and had been running around all day Saturday "fighting" with customs agents about exporting a small sample). Our little 800cc Suzuki performed its heroics once again getting nothing but injury in return. Private travel without sturdy 4-wheel drive vehicles is usually NOT recommended in the interior of this province. We surprised everyone at Bruce's home when we arrived about 6:45 A.M. To back up a bit, that evening before departing from Karachi, Keh and Bruce had been praying for the family and Keh felt led to pray for a miracle that would help the family put their faith in Christ. We were welcomed into the family home and served some breakfast and Bruce and Ron jumped into Ron's car to finish their journey to the other city. We didn't expect to see Bruce back for 8 to 10 hours. After breakfast Bruce's brother (the one who wanted to be a religious leader) was eager to sit us down and talk about the letter he had sent. But first he began to explain about a dream he had just that night (while we were on the road). In his dream he saw a man dressed in white with his arms outstretched. The man told him that he had a special gift for him and was sending messengers who would guide him to it. Soon after he woke up we arrived from our night long journey - at exactly God's right timing. He continued to explain that in previous years he had been taught that warfare and fighting were the right paths but now he believed that was wrong and that the way of love was the path of Truth and Power. He spoke about some of the things he had read regarding false worship that had impressed him - how our worship is worthless if in the midst of it we remember a brother wronged and don't leave our worship to be reconciled. He reiterated that he wanted to become one of us, following the path of Christ, and requested that we guide him. Keh asked, "What do you feel the next step is?" He replied that the rest of the family should hear what he had told us so that they could join in too. Keh and I looked at each other with stares of disbelief and recovered enough to say, "Uh, right. That's a good idea. You do that and we'll sit in the other room and pray." The family (women, children, everybody) quickly gathered and we exited and prayed. Fairly soon, Bruce's brother returned with the verdict: Yes, we will all follow the way of Jesus the Messiah! Earlier, I had told Bruce's brother that I wanted to go to the bazaar to phone Sue. So he said, "Edward, you and I will go to the bazaar now. Keh, you stay with the rest of the family and explain a little more about this way of Jesus the Messiah and about "Ghusl" (which means washing or baptism). Keh said to me, "You're coming back soon, right?!?" I'm not sure if I answered - we were both in a state of shock. So, off we went to the bazaar. Bruce's brother began telling me about how he had been gathering some of his friends in the past few weeks explaining to them about the way of the Messiah - especially about real prayer that wasn't just for show. He said that many were very interested in this. More shock. We got to the Public Call Office to place the call and Bruce's brother pointed out the Pepsi sign across the street. Then he said, "You know this name, Pepsi, is more famous around the world than the name of Jesus. We have to overcome our weaknesses and compete with them so that His name becomes more famous." In the meantime the family who owned the establishment had brought us some cold drinks - RC - to our relief. Bruce's brother said, "RC is OK but no more Pepsi's for me!" The line for Karachi came through and I told Sue that what had happened with our friend Cornelius (please see Acts 10) was happening right now as we were speaking. Meanwhile, Keh had the opportunity to give a brief overview of the gospel of Mark to the rest of the family (some of whom had never heard much of anything before). He explained about "Ghusl" as being one of the first steps of obedience to enter into the way of Jesus the Messiah. He asked each one turn by turn if they understood and were willing to follow this path. Father, mother, sisters, brothers all said yes. I arrived back just as Keh had finished. One stunned face greeted another as we shared stories. Then we began to feel a bit of the weight of what must happen next. A new nation, a new people group was about to be significantly penetrated with the gospel. What we did here might likely be repeated for years and could either adorn the gospel message or create stumbling blocks to others who might come in the future. We prayed again. It needed to be simple and direct. It needed to be culturally and linguistically relevant. It needed to be reproducible locally. It needed to be private - within the home. It needed to be an act of worship and praise filled with dependence upon the Spirit's power. So we began to map out our strategy for the next day's baptism ceremony for the whole family prior to the Eid festivities. Finally, Bruce arrived back and Keh and I agreed not to tell him anything ourselves until his brother had a chance. When his brother came in it was Bruce's turn to be amazed. After his brother left the room, Bruce turned to embrace us and wept and praised God!! BUT, there were still some problems. One of the brothers and his wife had not been present during all this. Keh and I began to feel worried that this might well prevent all we were hoping for. So we urgently told Bruce to go talk with his sister-in-law about all this since the brother was still at work. Bruce gathered his thoughts and went into the kitchen (a mud-walled room with a fire pit in the middle) to talk with her. He began with small talk, played with the baby, and nervously got around to the subject. She answered casually, "Oh yes, your mother and sister have already explained everything to me. I'm part of your family and am ready to do this." Bruce's stunned look greeted us as we eagerly asked what had happened. Now one last person - the brother. The only problem was that we had to first visit Bruce's uncles. This took a couple hours then we went straight for the brother's shop. Strangely enough, Bruce's brother (the first one mentioned in this letter) was already there. I suppose we should have guessed - he had already explained everything to him and he was agreeable but wanted to ask one question in the morning (he had to work all night) before the ceremony. We prayed for him. The next morning we awoke early to prepare the water containers. Bruce's brother asked his question: "Does this mean we are becoming Christians??" Bruce knew what he meant. He answered, "No, we will not be alcohol drinkers, pork-eaters, or try to join with a different ethnic group. We will follow the teachings and life of Jesus the Messiah." "Oh, good," he replied. So we all gathered together. Keh and I spoke in Urdu and Bruce translated everything into his mother tongue. We went back and forth sharing our desires from the beginning for their family. I told about the sacrifice of the Messiah and how He offered us forgiveness. Keh told about the resurrection and newness of life, eternal life. Then Keh asked three questions: 1)Are you ready to follow the path of Jesus the Messiah? 2)Are you willing to obey by faith His command to receive "Ghusl"? 3)Will you call others to follow this path? Now, you must understand that Bruce's father is a fairly quiet man not really given to any kind of personal or philosophical discussion. He would normally politely tolerate our discussions in the past and early on find an excuse to go out. But this time he was leading the answers: "Yes, Praise the Lord, we will follow this new path!; we will receive "Ghusl"; we will call others to join us!" All the others joined in heartily. I explained how baptism symbolizes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our fellowship and that it is a step of obedience, an act of worship. We had decided that Keh and I would first baptize Bruce (this had already been done 5 years before but he needed to show the way for the rest of the family since he was the first to come to faith). Then the three of us together baptized all the rest, using proper Arabic terminology as is appropriate in this culture in religious matters. Keh then told them to change their clothes and as they did to picture themselves taking off the old life and putting on the new. This phrase seemed to be repeated again and again by several family members over the next two days. Some more questions came. Bruce's father asked, "So should we go to the Eid prayers like always or should we stop going?" Bruce answered that now these prayers could be done for the right reason: not as a show to others, not as a means of absolution from sin, not as a duty, but out of love and praise for the God who saves and as an opportunity to pray for our community. We all went to the prayer ground together. Then came the time for the ritual sacrifice of a lamb. Again, Keh and I, with Bruce translating, explained how we could not have planned a more perfect occasion for entering into the path of Jesus the Messiah than this day of sacrifice. We could perform this sacrifice as a remembrance of HIS sacrifice for our sins. All in all it was a most amazing time. Later that day the family called another meeting where they decided who among them should receive more training to teach them about their new life. Since Bruce lives and works far away they picked his brother (the one who wanted to be a M. religious leader) to do this. We laid hands on him and prayed God's blessing on him for this work. Later they decided that he AND his sister should come and stay at our house for a week at a time (every few months or so) so that the sister would be equipped to teach the ladies as well. That seemed like a pretty good idea - stunned again. Other things happened that day, that night - some began to share about the peace they had or spoke reminders about their new life. We can't be sure how many hundreds of prayers were answered in the space of two days. We witnessed a repeat of the Cornelius event. We had NEVER seen such dramatic changes of heart in so many people all coming together at a single time. And so we remain stunned. One of the brothers is visiting us now (the one with the question). He got to read through excerpts of the last week of the Messiah's life with us and then see it for the first time in the Jesus film (recently available in his mother tongue)! It was another great event till late into the night. Hey, is this an exciting Easter or what?!?!? Please pray for the follow up with the brother and sister due to visit 20 April for their first week. In the meantime the brother who is leading the family in study is doing so out of his quiet times in the gospels. They will be memorizing several passages in their mother tongue as well. Pray for their protection from the schemes of Satan. Let God guide you in prayer and be sure of this: He will answer "...far more abundantly than you can ask or think"!! And now, some words of warning: PLEASE don't share about this in any large public gathering or to any group where you don't know each and every individual. We want to err on the side of caution for the protection of our friends. It can be amazing how news like this can quickly be transported around the world if brought to the attention of the wrong person. Of course do not print this out to post up on a bulletin board or for general dissemination. BUT DO TELL PEOPLE WHO WILL PRAY!!!! Thanks for your love and prayers. May you be blessed by the presence of the Resurrected One!! For further information about the long-neglected Baloch people contact <irving@mbsnet.com> |
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