Despite persecution, more than 3,000 former Muslims baptized
/Report: Bibles for Mideast
(April 05, 2017) By God’s grace, in spite of setbacks and persecution, more than 3,000 former Muslims were recently baptized in all of the churches of Assembly of Loving God (ALG) in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Bibles for Mideast had evangelized them and prepared them to witness Jesus Christ in the water and by the Spirit. What a tremendous blessing as our 21 days of fasting and prayer wrapped up!
Satan tried to spoil the ministry many times, but our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed all the evil plans.
In one church in Asia, the pastor and newly-baptized believers were attacked by fanatics. Pastor Paul was stoned while changing out of his wet clothes after the baptism service, receiving a blow to his head. Hameed, Fasal, Ruqiya, Sheela and Bishara were wounded as well.
In his epistle to the Philippians, the apostle Paul spoke of knowing the fellowship of the Lord’s sufferings and his goal to experience the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:9-11). We aspire to the same.
Five strong powers worked together against our Lord’s resurrection.
1) The government: Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect (governor) ordered the Lord’s crucifixion and also commanded the sepulchre be sealed;
2) The military: soldiers guarding the burial site;
3) The Lord’s own people: the Jews wanted to seal the tomb and set a watch;
4) Heathen: all screamed against Jesus;
5) Satan: of course never wanted the resurrection of Jesus.
But our Lord Jesus Christ overcame all these powers by rising from death and the grave. Such was the power of His resurrection!
Certainly we too need to overcome these forces. Most governments do not favor Christianity; police, military, terrorists and other militants all conspire against us. Many of our own people (blood-relatives or nominal Christians) do not share our precious faith in Jesus Christ. Non-believers and satanic forces everywhere work against our evangelistic activities.
Let us overcome all these powers by experiencing the power of our Lord’s resurrection.
“In the world you face persecution,” Jesus said. “But take courage; I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33)
St. John says, “For whoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith. Who is it that has won the battle over the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5: 4-5)
