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

God's amazing grace and protection in Afghanistan

Ansari*—along with his wife, two teenaged daughters and young son—once believed in and strictly followed the tenets of Islam and Sharia in their native Afghanistan.

But when one of the daughters became deathly ill, nothing in their own faith system could help them, nor could doctors. Some ‘underground’ Bibles for Mideast ministers in their area heard of the girl’s problem and offered to pray for her. With no other options, the family agreed … even though in Afghanistan, an Islamic state by constitution, any expression of any faith other than Islam is simply not permitted and means certain persecution and often, even death.

After prayer, the young woman received a powerful visitation from Jesus … and was dramatically healed! The entire family, now thoroughly convinced of the reality and Truth of the Gospel, immediately joined the Kingdom of Christ. They became faithful members of an ALG underground church which meets regularly for prayer and worship about 30 miles from their home. Even without their own vehicle, they somehow manage to attend the secretive weekly services.

During worship this past Sunday, someone prophesied that the family urgently needed a thicker prayer covering from the church due to looming dangers in their lives. The church of course obediently prayed for divine protection.

Back in their own home that evening, the children heard unusual sounds outside. The family decided to read and meditate on Psalms 91 and 121—both Psalms of assurance of God’s protection. They then spent some time in prayer. 

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Ansari’s wife stood, feeling compelled to read Micah 2:10:  "Arise and depart, for this is not your rest. Because it is defiled, it shall destroy; yes, with utter destruction.”

Jesus then appeared to Ansari, telling him to leave the house immediately. So without taking anything with them, even a change of clothes, the family fled their home.

Afghanistan ranks second only to North Korea for places where it is hardest to be a Christian, according to research by Christian charity Open Doors

By dawn the next day the exhausted family reached their pastor’s house. Both the church leader and his wife had had the same dream that night, seeing Ansari and his family coming to them! So they were praying for them.  And even as they did, the little family arrived at their doorstep!

They received a warm welcome of course, and given the opportunity to rest and recover.

By noon that day a believer rushed over to see the pastor.

"Ansari's house is burning!” he exclaimed. “Someone set it on fire last night and it’s completely destroyed but still burning. Nobody wanted to stop the fire or save the family … so no one knows whether Ansari and his family are dead or alive. I was all by myself there, and couldn’t do anything. That's why I came here right away!” 

The pastor invited him in and astounded the man by showing him the family safe inside his home. He explained how the Lord had divinely guided  and protected them all.

A LONESOME PIETY: A former Muslim praying somewhere near Kabul, Afghanistan, in hiding from relatives who want to kill him for forsaking Islam and converting to Christianity [Credit: Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times]

He then called all the church members for a joyous time of praise and worship which went on until Tuesday morning.

“Though we lost our house and all our belongings,” Ansari says, “we have Lord Jesus and HIS eternal Kingdom.”

“That is enough for us to live and work for Him,” his wife adds.  

Praise the Lord for His love and care!  Please keep this family and the church there in your prayers.

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* Name changed for security reasons

Three new churches in north India!

About a year ago, a Bibles for Mideast pastor took a team of workers to visit a Hindu village chief and his wife in North India. Married as young teenagers, the couple had been trying to conceive for 30 years. They prayed according to Hindu beliefs, had visited Hindu temples from north to south and offered countless burnt offerings to idols … but still, no child.

The pastor shared the saving message of Jesus with them, and then offered to pray. While the chief refused, his desperate wife agreed and managed to convince her husband to receive prayer well.

North Indian Hindu woman

When they’d finished, the pastor prophesied the couple would have a baby boy by the same time next year. He handed them a sample gospel and asked them to read it and pray to Jesus every day. 

The stubborn chief refused, but his wife knew this to be their last resort. She dutifully read and prayed every day, and within two months, discovered she was pregnant! It was an easy transition to believe in the reality and Truth of Jesus, and her husband became convinced as well.

After the birth of their son, the village chief contacted the pastor and requested he visit again and pray for them. The minister agreed, then boldly pressed for more. He told the chief he would come, but that he also wanted him to arrange a three-day retreat and request all villagers to attend. The chief agreed, and made the necessary arrangements.

Village evangelism

So the team visited the village about two weeks ago for the retreat, holding gospel meetings as well. About 150 locals showed up, including family members of the village chief from other nearby communities and another village chief.

The meetings took on a festival atmosphere and Holy Spirit showed up gloriously. Each and every person accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour!  On the fourth day, all the new believers underwent baptism and … lo and behold: a new ALG church was born!

The leader from the neighboring community then asked the team to come visit his village as well.  So off the missionaries went. They held two days of gospel meetings and saw over 70 people accept Jesus as Lord. They too were baptized and yet another ALG church came into being.

Prayer in the street

By this time, some of the local Hindu population converged on the new believers, waving their saffron flags and chanting Hindu and anti-Christian slogans. But they proved no match for the new Christians, who joined forces and chased them away without incident.  

At the request of a former Muslim family in a region further afield, the team then journeyed to meet up with four Muslim families. They held several days of prayer and fasting with even many other local Muslims joining in. By fast’s end, seven families put their faith in Jesus, along with 13 other followers of Islam. All were soon baptized and a third new ALG church added to the Kingdom!

BAPTISMAL ceremony

These new churches and believers urgently need prayer for our Lord's mighty protection. Anti-Christian movements flourish in the ‘new India’, and persecution is rife. Please also pray the Lord to open other villages in North India for evangelism and new churches.

Once again, thank you for your support of our ministry. We could not and cannot do it without the help of God’s people.

A gracious life, well-lived and perfectly ended

Pastor Paul (Director, Bibles for Mideast)
Pastor Peter Haneef (President, ALG Churches)

Mrs. Grace Perry (84), the beloved mother of our sister Susanna Perry-Ettel of Bibles for Mideast, entered into the heavenly abode. She was, till her last breath, an active joyful woman of strong faith, full of love and laughter.  One of her common 'admonitions' to her children as kids was, "If you have nothing to good to say about someone, don't say anything at all." She constantly would find something to praise and/or encourage in even the most difficult people, Susanna recollects.

We, Bibles for Mideast and the Assembly of Loving God Church share our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. May our Risen Lord comfort and console them in this time.

Here is the message she posted (with her three brothers) on Facebook:

GraCE mARINA pERRY

It is with great sadness we share the news of the sudden passing of our beloved mother, Grace Perry. It has come as a shock since despite her age, she was extremely fit and active up until what appears to have been a heart attack. Here one minute busily sweeping up after dinner, gone the next when she stepped out to dump the dust bin.

We were all gathering together at our [my and my husband’s] Haliburton home for our first whole family reunion in a number of years. So it's a tremendous blessing we're all together to support each other and our father, John. For that I am beyond amazed and thankful. I see God’s Hand orchestrating it all.

Mom/Grace had been a central pillar in our immediate family, our extended family, as well as an active golfer, bridge player, church goer, always volunteering in her Pittsburgh church and community helping those less fortunate. She will be SO greatly missed.