Still no answers five years after teenage sisters murdered for reading the Bible

Report: Bibles for MIdeast

Five years ago, sisters Arifa, 17, and Akhtar, 19, were kidnapped and gunned down by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant terrorist group in Indian-controlled northern Kashmir, bordering Pakistan. The victims were the daughters of Gulam Nabi Dar, a salesman at a government ration shop.

Arifa and Akhtar

The girls did embroidery work and attended classes to learn to read and write at an adult education center run by an underground Bibles for Mideast outreach ministry. Though Muslims, the sisters believed in Jesus Christ, attended prayer services and had begun to read the New Testament.

Pastor Paul, Director of Bibles for Mideast and himself a convert from Islam, had visited the small community where the girls lived and shared his own story along with the message of the gospel. After the message, Arifa and Akhtar read Isaiah 53 together, declared their faith in Jesus Christ, and accepted Him as their Savior and Lord.

The very next evening militants barged into their home and forcibly took the girls. The terrorists may well have come to know about the underground ministries in the area and the young women’s involvement. Their bullet-riddled bodies were later found some distance away from their home. One had been shot in the left eye.

The teens’ family lived in two rooms, and their father had not yet come home from work when the assault happened. Police sources say the gunmen managed to escape under cover of darkness.

When the incident happened, two other women—aunts of the Arifa and Akhtar—were there, along with their younger brother and a young female relative who had come to visit the family. The women raised an alarm and ran after the gunmen, but stopped when the militants began threatening them. Their elder brother lived in another village with a maternal uncle.

Mourning over bodies of Arifa and Akhtar

“One of the gunmen had his face covered with a black scarf,” said younger brother Gulam Jeelani. “Only his eyes were visible. Two others followed him. They were speaking Urdu. One spoke a few words in Kashmiri.”

After the invasion and murder, local missionary Pastor Idris and his assistant were attacked with steel pipes, the pastor’s legs being broken. Pastor Paul and his family also suffered three brutal assaults and threats on their lives.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, or the 'Army of the Righteous', aim to create an Islamic state in South Asia and to ‘liberate’ Muslims in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India has identified the group as the alleged masterminds behind the 2008 terror attack on the Indian financial capital of Mumbai that killed 166 people.

Man learns the truth in Jesus' words, 'Better to lose one eye than go to hell with both'

A south Asian man learns first-hand the truth in Jesus’ words from Matthew 18:9: “It is better for you to have only one eye and have eternal life than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

One-eyed Sapru, taxi-driver and evangelist

48-year old Sapru, born and brought up in South Asia, wanted nothing to do with Christianity. The avowed atheist and equally-avid communist had many friends, most of whom, he says, were alcoholic. He drove a taxi for a living, and his drinking to relax with buddies soon grew into full-blown alcoholism.

But his Christian wife Blessey never gave up on him. She secretly prayed and meditated on scriptures every day, holding tightly to God’s promises for household salvation.

“If I had ever seen her praying or reading the bible, I would not have allowed it,” Sapru says.

Once, in an alcohol-fuelled rage after an argument with Blessey, Sapru beat her severely.  He then climbed into his taxi and careened off. He didn’t get far before colliding with a truck. The impact left him with life-threatening injuries, including a dislodged, completely destroyed left eye. An ambulance took him to hospital, where he went directly into emergency surgery.

Blessey, on hearing of the accident, rushed to the hospital with some Bibles for Mideast missionaries. They headed straight for the hospital chapel and fell to their knees. Blessey read promises from her bible and cried out to the Lord for her husband. She asked God to give me him his life back, but as a new creation.

“While the surgery was going on, my soul was wandering around trying to get a seat in heaven,” Sapru explains. “The angels did not allow me to enter into heaven, but pushed me to hell instead.”

Jesus, he says, then stepped in, rescuing him from the descent to hell.

“He held me back safe in His mighty nailed hands because of my wife’s intercession. The Lord showed me my wife and the prayer team kneeling down and praying for me with tears. And he said to me, ‘Go; be saved and baptized and live for me with your family.’”

As the surgeons worked to save him, Sapru’s heart and pulse slowed to a standstill. Doctors were ready to declare him dead when he suddenly began breathing again. He is convinced that is the exact moment when Jesus allowed his spirit to return to his body.

“It is better for you to lose an eye,” he heard Jesus say to him, “than to have both your eyes and be thrown into hell. Let this be your testimony in witnessing for me.”

Sapru confessed to his wrong ways, accepted Jesus as his personal savior and Lord and within days was baptized in water.

 “I recovered, but my left eye has been totally removed,” he says. “I don’t worry about it, because the Lord wants me to be with Him in heaven. Praise the Lord for His wonderful love.”

“Though I have only one eye, I can easily drive the car now. My boss, a believer in Jesus gave me a car to drive for him. I have two sons. I am so happy to see them rejoicing in the Lord because of my conversion and activities in ministries.”

Hindu woman monk becomes part of the bride of Christ!

Chandrika, dedicated to Hinduism from a young age, had led in the singing of devotional Hindu songs (bhajan) since a girl.

At the age of 17, a bright being she believed must be the Hindu Lord Sun appeared to her in her bedroom, calling her to follow him. From that day onwards she devoted herself to the many Hindu deities, performed the ritual home worship ceremonies called poojas and other traditional Hindu rites. Eventually she became a monk, turning her home into a monastery. She declared herself to be Chandra Devi, ‘goddess of the Moon’ (its literal meaning) and wife of the Lord Sun.

One day she happened to meet some evangelists working with Bibles for Mideast. When they attempted to share the Gospel with her, she didn’t deny Jesus, but argued that Jesus was simply one of many thousands of gods and certainly not a savior!

The evangelists gently told her that no one, no being, but Jesus had come down from heaven to earth with the mission to save all humanity from sin and death. He did this through his love, his crucifixion on the cross of Calvary and his resurrection from the dead. Those who believe in Him will be saved and enter the Kingdom of Heaven, they assured her. But she refused to take them seriously.

Then, at the age of 33, Chandra had another dramatic vision. This time she saw heaven and the Lord Jesus sitting on the throne. He appeared as bright as thousands and tens of thousands of suns all shining together, she says. She then saw Jesus as Bridegroom, and His church as the ever-beautiful Bride sitting at His right and worshipping Him with great joy. She had never witnessed such joy!

Chandra Devi recieving her new Bible

Not long afterwards, she says an angel visited her and told her that when she was young, Jesus had been the one who appeared to her and called her to be His bride.

“He is the Sun of Righteousness and you are His bride,” the angel said.

Her doubts about Jesus as savior vanished. The very next day she attended a gospel crusade being led by Pastor Paul and afterwards, telling him her story, she asked for a Bible. Several days later she received water baptism and the Lord Himself anointed her with the Holy Spirit.

Working alongside Bibles for Mideast, Chandra now conveys the Gospel to many unsaved people in her area. Please pray for her and the continuing work of the ministry.

Terrorists who abducted Catholic Priest Tom Uzhunnalil arrested

Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil (left) and the attacked seniors' home (right)

Report: Bibles for Mideast

Three terrorists belonging to the gang that abducted Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil  and killed 16 people at a seniors' home of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Aden in Yemen have been reportedly arrested in the war-torn nation. Father Tom is an Indian Salesian missionary priest of the Catholic Church.

India's External Affairs Ministry has confirmed the arrest of militants, Bibles for Mideast missionaries reported today, on Friday, 29 July.  However, it is still not known where the priest is and when he can be safely brought back to India.

The terrorists were caught in Saila, near Aden in Yemen and reportedly said that they belong to Al-Qaeda.  It was earlier said that they belonged to ISIS, but this has not been confirmed.

It was on 4th of March that armed terrorists barged into a seniors' home run by the Missionaries of Charity and shot dead 16 people, including four Indian nuns. These militants later whisked away Father Uzhunnalil and said they would crucify him on Good Friday. A spokesperson with External Affairs has reported he is safe.

The gang which announced that they were behind the attack did not reveal any details about Father Tom, whose whereabouts are still not clear.

They had recently posted pictures of the priest on his Facebook account. It is not known whether these are true or not, or how they accessed his account.

Muslim father kills daughter; Jesus raises her from the dead

Report: Ramza, for Bibles for Mideast

I was born in an orthodox and fanatic Muslim family in the Muslim month of Ramzan [also known as Ramadan—Ed.] in a Middle Eastern Kingdom. So my parents named me Ramza. Now I have been born again by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, and have become a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

I was a religious girl from my childhood. I was always at the front of the line for Islamic practices such as reciting the Koran, doing namaz [prayer] five times a day, and fasting in the month of Ramzan. I also always kept the tradition of wearing the ‘abaya’ with full head and face covering. [Typically black, the abaya is constructed like a loose robe or caftan and covers everything but the face, hands and feet—Ed.]

My family is a big one, with a father, three mothers and thirteen children including myself. My father has a huge income from several trading and contracting agencies, being their local Arab sponsor.

One of my friends who studied with me in school tried to convey to me the message of Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died and, she said, resurrected. She was the daughter of a pastor ministering with Bibles for Mideast, and gave me a gospel tract. But I never accepted her message and arguments.

After my school education, my father wanted to get me married to an old and rich man who already had three wives and several children. I would have been younger than his youngest child.

One evening, I went to meet my father in his room, where he was talking with one of my step mothers. I pleaded with them not to arrange my marriage now, but send me for further studies. My father denied my request. I argued with him, for I simply could not imagine such a marriage. He refused to listen, so I finally announced I would leave home before the marriage.

My father, enraged, grabbed a chair and hit me over the head with its legs. The blows cracked open my skull, and he and my stepmother were certain I’d been killed.

This seemed to waken their criminal minds. Hiding my death from others, they put my body into a plastic bag, tied it up, and drove a long distance by car through the desert and all the way to a deep well in the middle of a date plantation. The well had no water. (Other family members may well have thought I’d left home because of the marriage plans.)

When they threw my body down the waterless well, I felt my soul going through a terrible darkness to hell. I thirsted deeply for even a drop of water. Yet I knew my soul desired not earthly water, but the Water of Life. I then saw the gospel my school friend had given me in front of me, and it consoled me some. When I tried to grab hold of it, it seemed out of reach.  Still though, it somehow led me to an amazing experience.

A strong, healthy and beautiful man stood inside the well. He caught the sack holding my dead body, untied it, and began rubbing my head and body. I opened my eyes like waking up from a dream. I saw nail marks in His hands.  He was my Lord Jesus. He then carried me up and out of the well.  He said to me, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though dead, will live” (John 11:25).

Lying prostrate before Him, I said with tears of joy, “Lord Jesus, you are my Lord and Savior! You were crucified and you died for me. You are risen indeed. I am yours. I believe in you.”

When I raised my head to look at Him, He had disappeared.

I didn’t know what to do. But I was so happy. I praised and thanked my Lord Jesus. Within a few minutes, a husband and wife from Bibles for Mideast came to me. They introduced themselves as Christians, and explained that Jesus had guided them to me. I shared my experiences with them. They gave me a bible and brought me to a house where five women laborers of an agricultural and cattle farm stay together.

They are all born again, and I now live with them.  They teach me more about the Word of God and we worship Jesus together in our house church. I also work with them on the farm as well as in ministry for the Lord. I don’t want go back to my parents unless they accept the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please pray for my family members and all the people of the Middle East to be saved.