The Arabian Peninsula Partnership
The Gospel for every person and a church for every people in the Arabian Peninsula amongst indigenous peoples
August 6, 2009
True deliverance.
Praise
Thank God for hundreds, if not thousands of Gulf Arabs who have been exposed to the Gospel through outreaches in different "holiday" cities throughout the summer.
Prayer
Continue to pray that the German family of 5 and the English man who were taken more than 4 weeks ago, will be found. Ask that God will be with their families and friends as they wait for news. Pray that if someone knows where they are, he or she will have the courage to tell the investigators.
Pray for believers who will not have any fellowship over the summer. Pray for God to sustain them in the "wilderness", making His presence with them known in ways they recognize, and drawing them closer to Him.
MBB's in our country have sometimes expressed an attitude found in their culture: that one must deserve to be forgiven. Pray that their perspective will be transformed by the clear teachings of Scripture, and that unconditional forgiveness will become the norm in their relationships with one another.
Pray for one who has studied in the west and had extensive contact and friendship with Christians. Pray for the workers following up with this special one - for abilities to draw closer and open up spiritual topics especially.
Abu-H., is a new, but elderly believer in Jesus. He is now studying through the entire Bible with a Western discipler. Pray that the power of God's Word and Spirit will transform his heart, removing any resistance to Christ-like character.
Testimony
Recently, over dinner, M, a real "shebab" (young rich spoiled modern local) and progressive liberal Muslim, told us that as the oldest son in his family he had his head shaved when he was a baby. We were joking about our son's lack of hair, and he was simply telling us about the cultural practise of many in the East, of shaving the head at birth to promote good, strong hair. This however, led on to another rather interesting anecdote...
When he was about 7 or 8 years old, he was taken to his granny's house. He had no idea that he was about to be tied down and burned three times with a piece of live coal on his stomach while the Qur'an was recited over him by a strange old woman. The reason this ritual was performed was to 'purify' him; to drive away any jinn (spirits) and cleanse him from any curses that may have come upon him through the family line. We asked him how he felt about it. He said he accepted it quickly because when he went home, his uncles and other family members told him to "Get over it! We all went through the same thing!", so that gave him a sense of identity as part of the male clan. (His sister, on the other hand, had the Bible read over her at her birth in the local missions hospital - much to the chagrin of their granny.)
What is striking is that M is supposedly modern. He's "westernized" through his cultural and educational background. He's the future of our city. And yet there are these idolatrous and evil familial, cultural and demonic holds on his life which will keep him blind or confused to the Truth until they are dealt with through a Sovereign Work of God's Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ - The Redeemer - bears the scars on our behalf. His Blood alone can cleanse - deep within. He's paid the price, and M's granny has no understanding. Pray with us for the Light of the Greatest News to reach into M's dark roots and bring him, and his family, True deliverance.