Exloring Life Eternal

September 4, 2006

"Treated like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor wander in labor, foraging for food; wastelands provide food for their children as they gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked." Job 24:5-6

"The Kingdom belongs to you beggars:
Rejoice!!" - Jesus (in Luke 6:20ff)

PRAISE:
We are praising the Lord for the safe keeping of two MBB believers who have been in hiding these past few months. They made it through the summer months without any major incident.

PETITION:
Please pray for some members of a Muslim group which disciples new converts to Islam, who are currently dialoging with a missionary via email. Please pray that the so-far friendly "debate" will continue as an open channel for these men to hear the Bible's teachings, come to understand the Gospel, and be granted faith "by the hearing of the Word of God".

Please for a dynamic Christian missionary lady who has begun to suffer bouts of confusion, apathy, and other negative symptoms. Ask God to remove all work of the enemy against her, her family, & her vital ministries.

Pray for the young tentmaking couple that was given only a few weeks to vacate their accommodation. Pray that God would give them peace amidst all the turmoil of finding adequate housing in their restricted budget in a short time frame.

Pray for the MBB who had a car accident recently. He is discouraged by the recent events.

Pray for the outreaches in the remote villages in our mountainous country. Pray for the lone National believer in his small village of less than 100 people. He has been taunted for leaving Islam and blamed for every calamity in the village.

TESTIMONY: A Long Awaited Bible
One of the most rewarding ministries that I have ever been involved in was the home visitation ministry at the Christian hospital. Ninety-seven percent of the women who had a baby at Oasis Hospital were Muslims. The home visitation ministry put Christian nurses in the homes of as many new mothers as possible, usually within one week of the birth of the baby.

The Christian nurses would arrange the visit before the mother was discharged. On the day of the visit, two nurses would go on the home visit. They took medical equipment for assessing both mother and baby, a copy of the Bible for each mother, along with other gifts for both mother and baby.

On this morning, we visited the new mother. Also at the home were two of her sisters and her mother. Following the check of the mother and baby, the nurses told all of these ladies how Jesus loved little children, and admonished them to raise their baby in reverence of God.

Then, they started to take the Bible out of its gift bag. Upon seeing it, the new mother exclaimed, “Is that a Bible?” When told it was, she said that her family had been trying to find a Bible for 10 years, and did we have enough for each of them, and at least one more for her father. What a glorious day! Seven Bibles were given to one family, and for six months, until workers left and this girl’s family scattered, there was a Bible study in a Muslim home.

* AP = Arabian Peninsula
+ MBB = Muslim Backround Believer

<>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Praying Thru the Arabian Peninsula
www.pray-ap.info
USA #: 800-376-5876 (Eastern Time)
Encouraging & equipping believers & churches everywhere to pray with a heart filled with the "Seed-of-Laughter" for those at the heart who know "God-Hears" so that biblical church planting movements will spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond for the Lord's glory.

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To learn how you can support this & other work in the Middle East, visit:
http://www.srginc.org

Or write MertH.:
ptap@srginc.org

Or:
PTAP
c/o Strategic Resource Group
P.O. Box 1809
Easton, MD 21601
USA

I received this today from an email list:

==
Gary Glenn, chairman of the Campaign for Michigan Families and co-author of the state marriage amendment approved by voters in 2004...says Republican leaders in Michigan are right 'to publicly condemn (Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow) for thumbing her nose at the vote of the people of Michigan -- but cannot in fairness fail to publicly condemn Republican Senator John McCain for voting the exact same way.'
==

I disagree with Mr. Glenn.

#1. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. He NEVER told us to condemn people. Condemn is the harshest possible judgement that I know of: to curse people to share in damnation. Today, it is very popular for various officials to condemn this person or that person for whatever reason. Sadly, the land is in a state where the wicked condemn the righteous for speaking what is right many times. But a Christian cannot condemn others, or even claim to, & yet be faithful to Jesus at the same time. We ALL sin!

#2. Both Debbie Stabenow and John McCain are siding with bad laws, true enough (see 1 Timothy 1:5-11). Any civil law which does not outlaw homosexual & other perverse behavior is wrong. Those who pass & approve of laws which would give refuge to people who love evil, do not understand their role in office. On this, I believe that both Mr. Glenn & I would agree: homosexual behavior is wrong & unhealthy & dangerous to society.

#3. What is needed though is not "public condemnation." This is something that God alone has the right to do: condemnation. What is needed is:
a. Prayer for various people in authority.
b. Witness to those in authority, at all levels & through many means.
c. Wisdom for all those who vote for various officials.
d. Repentance from dead works & a return to the First Works & our First Love: Jesus!!

That is why I am not a politician in the sense of the world. I desire a polis that is not of this world. I desire to see the Kingdom of Heaven in its fullness & to see Jesus reigning fully over my heart & the hearts of all.

Peace,
Mert Hershberger

Waves of sorrow, oceans of grief,
Acres of agony beyond my belief!
Deep in despair to the core of my soul -
Nothing can help me! I'll never be whole.

Staring and sinking ever deeper into pain -
Gut-wrenched and stinking with nothing to gain.
How does this help in the healing from sin?
The determinant in discipline is that SOMEONE shall win.

A whisper of gladness, a glimmer of hope,
A visit with an old friend may help me to cope.
Rivers of refreshing rushing down from the crest,
Mountains of mercy for passing the test.

When everything's gone and there's nobody left
and I'm all alone to live with myself,
the excellent experts with their PhD's,
their master's and doctor's and other degrees,
are sometimes no comfort in the shame of the day;
it hardly matters what they have to say.
Yet one underqualified with love in his heart
can reach me and touch me and draw me apart
and tell me who loves me and remembers my name,
caresses my sorrow and passes over my shame.
Then I am disarmed and cannot be the same.
I don't feel less guilty nor better about sin
but I feel forgiven - that I matter again.

So that brings a question that's important to me:
Which kind of expert do I want to be?

- Bill Hawkins, January 28, 2006