Middle Eastern Pastor Braves Threat of Death to Spread the Gospel of Jesus
S: Surely we have had many problems with the police and we were just about to be put in jail. And surely the fear of this is always a cause for anxiety. But God performed a big miracle and we registered as an official church as well as an (NGO) on the way soon. That will not take the risk away, but will help us to me more comfortable in what we do. Many people in [my country] (Muslims) know what Islam really is, especially after seeing what ISIL does. But the fear still exists, and we are praying to God that we have the wisdom to win them to Christ and teach them the gospel.
CN: Do you have Bibles translated into your language? How difficult were those to come by?
S: We have Arabic bibles and mostly they are from Lebanon, which is more open country in acceptance to what we’re doing.
Q: You told me your church recently welcomed a group of Muslim converts. What was that like and how happy were they to receive Christ?
S: Actually, every month we are meeting such people wanting to know about Jesus Christ. Recently, a guy who lost his leg during the war, with his wife and child, came to our church to visit us and they listened to the gospel for more than an hour. I told them that I wanted to give them Bibles as they were just about to ask for one. Things like this are happening more and more as the war goes on. God is doing great things. Yet we have received three families from a Muslim background—two from Iraq and one Syrian. Mostly all of them are shocked after what they see on TV, and one of them had his fingers cut by radical groups in Iraq because he was working with us. Now they say we found the love and we experience it. You can see the tears in his eyes almost every time we sing a song and pray. We teach him now how to read and write and giving him discipleship also with many others.
CN: You also told me about some new programs that you have going on with your church. Tell us about those.
S: Some Christians supported us to help 10 families for one year with monthly food package. This is a relief program that we want to advance to show the people in need how much they are loved, especially after the war. They need to know that we love them because Christ loved us first.
CN: Where have you been holding your church services?
S: We do that in a small place we rent and it. It holds a number of 25–30 persons at maximum. We don’t like it, but we have to hold our praise and worship to a very short time limit so that we don’t disturb the neighbors.
CN: You told me that you’re trying to purchase a building in which to hold your services. We know that will be expensive. What can we as Christian brothers and sisters do to help?
S: They can pray so the Lord will lead us and give us the good place or land to build on it. Also, they can support and give to the body of Christ here to share what they already have with fellow believers. We love Christ just as much as they do!
Shawn Akers is the editor of Ministry Today, Standing With Israel and New Man.
