Bibles for Mideast pastors brutally beaten, arrested and thrown in jail

Report:  Bibles for Mideast

Police forced themselves into a room today as two Bibles for Mideast pastors were teaching the Bible to two new believers. After brutally beating the four, they took them into custody.

The brand-new Christians had begun attending worship services at a Middle Eastern underground church two months ago. Now firm believers, they were readying themselves for baptism.

As one pastor attempted to speak to the officers, they retaliated by punching him in the face, bloodying his nose and breaking several teeth. He fell to the ground, blood spewing from his nose and mouth. They continued their assault with kicks with boots to his stomach and cruelly thrashed the other three as well.

From there the police took them to a Sharia court, where they were sentenced to a jail run by secret police. This particular jail has a dire reputation for its harsh mistreatment of prisoners.

Bibles for Mideast is calling on all of our fellow believers for 100 hours of prayer and fasting, for our Lord to mightily protect and deliver the four men. Please join us in prayer for all ministries, ministers and believers in the Middle East.

Dear fellow believers: do not be afraid! Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is with us. He is mighty and powerful. The church is his body. He will not allow his body to go astray.  While he once suffered, was crucified and died for us, he has risen from the dead and is now with us. We are under his mighty wings.  We have a bright tomorrow, for the battle is the Lord’s. Trust Him and look to Him. He will do everything, turn everything around, for His good and for the good of His people. Amen!

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For the exciting update on this story, please see Muslim prison officer dreams of Jesus' Glory and pastors wonderfully released

Royal Family members believe in Jesus, now face death threats and prison

Report: Bibles for Mideast

Please pray for new believers in a ruling family of a country Bibles for Mideast has been making major Gospel inroads in. One family member was sentenced to death, and another, a supporter of evangelism, has been sent to prison.

The man with the death sentence had been accused of a serious crime years ago. He confessed to it (and all his other sins!) and invited Jesus to take over his life. When asked by officials to renounce his new-found faith, he not only refused but persisted in encouraging the evangelistic efforts of others.

The court ultimately ordered his execution, ostensibly for the earlier crime but more obviously for the ‘hidden crime’ of conversion.

Another member of the same family has recently been imprisoned. Several others have died for their faith, and many face persistent death threats.

While Bibles for Mideast occasionally puts itself in danger by publishing such stories, we can no longer hide the truth. The blood of Jesus is the seed of the church. We believe for and can see—in the near future and by God’s grace—a new, faithful Christian land where this family lives.

Pontius Pilot ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, though he could find no fault in Him. Pilate feared the crowd, the Jewish rulers, losing his friendship with Caesar, and weakening his own authority. We can and will not do the same.

Please pray for this family and others sharing their faith in dangerous places. Bibles for Mideast, its ministers, believers and all other Christian missions involved in evangelism in the region need and appreciate your prayer support.

Jesus, You are my Everything

Jesus is the song that I sing
He is the joy that a new day brings.
He is my strength when I am weak,
He is my voice when I speak
He is my friend when I need a hug
He is my lover, when I need real love.
He is the lawyer who pleads my case
He is the only righteous judge who forgives me,
then, all my sins he does erase.
He is the doctor who heals my wounds,
He is my redeemer, and He’s coming back soon.
He is my comforter when I’m feeling down,
He is my angel that is ever present, always around.
He is my provider always supplying when I need help,
He is my water, my bread, stored up on the shelf.
He is my teacher, who shows me what to do,
He is my encourager, when I really don’t want to.
He is that fire burning deep down in my soul,
He is my fortune-teller, for in his hands, my future he holds.
He is the repairman, who comes to fix my stuff,
He is the everlasting father, who is more than enough.
He is the prince of peace; yes a peacemaker is he,
He is my eyes, my light, my pathway, when I can’t see.
He is my mighty counselor when I need advice,
He is my debt consolidator, for He paid the ultimate price.
He is my hope for tomorrow,
He is my ever-flowing income,
so I don’t have to beg, steal, nor borrow.
He is the mercy, which He renews for me every day,
He is my truth, my life, the only way.
He is the warden, who unlocks the chains and sets me free,
He is my role model, for I always look up to thee.
He is the author, the finisher of my faith,
He is the patience that always tells me to wait.
Jesus is my everything,
although with my natural eyes, Him, I cannot see,
Jesus is my everything, my everything,
everything I want to be.
Jesus is my everything,
all the time, every day of the year
So when I wake up the morning
I will tell Him that He is my everything
When I am about to close my eyes to sleep,
I will tell Him that He is my Everything
And even if death should take me
And worms have destroyed my body
Yet in my flesh I shall see Jesus
And I shall tell Him face to face
Jesus, You are my everything!
[by PC of  Bibles for Mideast]

End-time prophecy about the Middle East

Special message from Pastor Paul

It is the end-time harvest. Our Lord will be returning to take His bride in glory at any time. Before His return we have to take the Gospel to the unreached, especially in the Muslim world. Because of that, we do not fear persecution or death for His name's sake. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few.

Our Lord has given us clear information about the Middle East through prophetic words. The Arabian Peninsula will soon face absolute devastation. Oil fields will burn and some countries will disappear.

And our Lord will break the power of Islam in order to set the nations of the Middle East free. Some populations will turn entirely to the Lord. The Glory of the Lord will be such that thousands, even those injured by nuclear radiation, will be healed!

By the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Bibles for Mideast ministers wholeheartedly for this great breakthrough and end-time harvest.

We ask the prayers of those waiting His soon coming in glory

“For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober….” [1 Thess. 5:2-6]

Former radical Hindu man now testifies in most unusual way

Thankappan, a taxi driver in South Asia, once despised Christian missionaries. As a fanatic Hindu and active member of an anti-Christian movement, he often spoke out against Christianity and even organized people near Hindu temples to challenge the evangelistic activities of Christians.

Once, when an evangelist handed him a Gospel leaflet, he made a public display of burning it. Another time he argued with an evangelist and  ended up slapping him.

But Christ Jesus captured him and made use of him as a good vessel in His vineyard. And today he testifies Jesus as a miraculous man.

One day while driving his taxi a few years ago, he happened to drive near a Gospel meeting on a street corner.  Pastor Paul of Bibles for Mideast, himself a convert from Islam to Christianity, led the meeting. Seeing Pastor Paul, a former Muslim, and a former Hindu both witnessing for Christ enraged him. He spat in the diretion of the meeting through his car window.

At that very moment–while his anger distracted him—a huge truck ploughed into his car. Thankappan sustained multiple injuries and ended up in a coma in hospital. 

His intestines, both small and large, protruded from his abdomen. Doctors tried their best, but were unable to reposition them within his body. They declared he had less than a 0.01% hope of survival. So they created a pouch outside his body and just simply kept intestines together as a pack hanging below his waist, and stitched him up.  

While still comatose a few days later, something remarkable happened. He had a vision that Jesus Christ touched him and said, “I am giving you life again. Confess your sins and become my witness.”

When Thankappan opened his eyes, he saw Pastor Paul praying over him. Others, including his wife, stood nearby with tears in their eyes, expecting his death at any moment.

Though he had been unable to speak, he slowly opened his mouth and said to Pastor Paul, “Pastor, I spat at you. I spat at Jesus Christ. I persecuted the Lord Jesus and His servants. Forgive me. Forgive me. Ask my Lord to forgive me.”  Then he began to weep deeply.

A short time later, someone called for the doctor. He was amazed to see Thankappan had emerged from the coma, speaking and crying.

“This is a great miracle!” the doctor exclaimed.  

Thankappan was baptized and became an evangelist, distributing Christian literature and witnessing about Jesus all over the city.  His wife also became a believer and helped him in ministry. 

When preaching on street corners, he holds the Bible in one hand and reveals his unusual digestive pouch as part of his testimony.

“I was an enemy of Christians, but Jesus Christ loved me, made me alive and saved me from sin and death. Now I am His servant,” he declares. “I was persecuting Christians; but the Lord Jesus showed me how He mightily fights for His children. And I am a clear example for that.”

His grown children, living with their own families and also once strongly against Christianity have all accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Thankappan still drives cars for his livelihood as well as being involved with our Lord’s ministries.

Pray for him and his entire family that they would continue to be used mightily as witnesses for the Lord.