As soon as I stepped into Bahrain's capital, the eagled eye security men spotted me. I was picked and locked up. I was thoroughly interrogated, denied food, water and detained for close to 48 hours. I did all I could not to release information that will establish my link with the Believers in the country as that will be detrimental to their work. In my solitary confinement, I prayed and trusted God that I will be released. I was eventually deported with full security guards out of the country. Even though I was not able to accomplish the purpose of my missionary trip to the country, I was glad that I was not executed like our other colleagues at Afghanistan. It marked the beginning of my journey to the closed nations.
Seven years after that first unsuccessful attempt, God has guided and guarded me through several closed nations and brought me in close contact with many more of his choicest heroes and heroines in these places whose testimonies I will carefully share in this edition. God is doing so much behind the curtain that the church needs to know and be thankful for. Also, there are challenges confronting many of the missionaries working undercover in these areas we need to be aware of. We need to join them in shedding tears and possibly go on our kneels to help wipe away some of the tears as we also join in enjoying the thrills of the harvest. The Psalmist rightly captured it in Psalm 126:5-6 when he wrote 'Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. 6 He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.'
Stealing Became Productive in South East Asia
Just few weeks ago, we had a meeting with 230 mission leaders from across the globe in one of the Asian countries. One of the major highlight of the meeting was report of what God is doing in some of the closed nations. One of the foot soldiers for Christ from the South East Asia thrilled us as he reported the story of a young man who broke into a church in one of the closed country among one of the chronic unreached people groups where preaching of the gospel is highly restricted. One of the items he stole from the church was a Bible. While reading through the stolen Bible, he was arrested by the God of the Bible as he came under conviction, gave his life to Christ without anybody preaching to him. He has been sharing the testimony of his salvation over and over and as at the time of the report, no fewer than 800 persons in that region have been led to Christ. This former thief has also planted many underground churches and currently serves as one of the leaders of the underground church movement net work. God is awesome!
A New Revolution in IranThe country of Iran witnessed the Iranian revolution in 1979. There seems to be a new revolution that will soon dwarfed the one led by Ayatollah Khomeini. The ongoing revolution is spiritually. The spirit of God is quietly sweeping across the country bringing the souls of the Iranians to himself. We constantly receive news of the awesome things God is doing and we are grateful to Him. At the time of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 at Iran, there were only about 500 known Muslim converts in the country, according to Operation World. By 2000, there were a reported 220,000 believers, including Muslim converts. Even children of government ministers and mullahs have been converting to Christ. In 2011, it was reported that Iran and Afghanistan have the fastest growing population in the world. In Iran, the Evangelical population is growing annually at 19.6 %. In Afghanistan, the rate is 16.7%.
God's Work Cannot be Stopped Despite Persecution
Just recently, we received report of a man who came to Christ through reading the New Testament Bible. Before coming to faith, he never knew what love was neither does he loves from his heart. He met a friend who gave him a New Testament Bible and told him he wanted the God in the book and wanted to test His love. The God of the book did not let him down. He testified of how love came into his heart and how full of love the God is. That was how he became a Christian. His fiancé challenged him to choose between the God of the book and her. He decided to choose the God of the book. Surprised by the young convert choice and changed way of life, the fiancée also decided to test the God and see what He is like. She too became a Christian.
Two years later, the Pastor of the young believer left. He and one other person were appointed to take over the church. The church saw its membership grew to 80 persons and three other fellowships were planted. His ministry attracted the attention of the government. He and his fiancée were arrested. They were tortured and threatened with execution if they refuse to reject their faith in Christ Jesus. Both of them testified: 'they tried taking Jesus out of our lives but what they have done strengthened our faith'.
Many like these young men are languishing in jail today but instead of discouraging non believers, many more are surrendering their lives to Christ. A young lady who was locked up for eight days in a public cell testified “to me, the impact of persecution is that the church grow, it is hard for believers but when Christians face persecution, it gives believers the opportunity to explain the reason for their hope to Iranians already thirsty for spiritual truth”.
No Nation is Closed to Dream, Satellite and Internet No Matter the Censorship
A Muslim woman followed her Christian daughter to the church for the first time. She confronted the pastor with her dream “Jesus was standing on a large square stone, proclaiming, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. The Pastor turned to 1 Peter 2:7 and showed her the exact words from the Bible and then explained to her what it meant. The woman was astonished, got her own copy of the New Testament and gave her life to Christ. She has been studying the scripture and growing steadily in the faith. This also represent stories of hundred of supernatural encounters across several closed nations of the world.
Many others in Saudi Arabia have embraced Christ as a result of gospel massages through the internet and some through satellites televisions.
One tool that has been very central to all the encounters, whether through dream, internet, satellite TV, etc... is the Bible. The need for more of it cannot be overemphasised. A pregnant woman on bed rest was given a Bible. She read it and came to faith. She delivered a baby boy and dedicates him to Jesus of the Bible. A police officer listened to the gospel from an arrested Christian and the next thing was to ask for a New Testament.
Hunger for His Word
While in the Arabian Peninsula in November 2012, I had the privilege of meeting with core mission leaders again. Some of the encouraging reports presented include the good work going on in the United Arab Emirate on university campuses. The seed been sown into the life of the youths today will upturn every other power that oppose the gospel. It is encouraging to also note that, an indigenous church has been born in the country. Our prayer is that the converts will continue to wax stronger and that God will give them wisdom to share their faith. The traditional belief is that in view of the material advancement of the country, the indigenous people are well to do and as such reaching them through holistic mission is untenable. That is not entirely true.
For example, the Balochi people group are downtrodden and forgotten. They are a tribal society and an ethnic group who are native to the Balochistan region in the Indian subcontinent and southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Southwest Asia. They mainly speak Balochi, which is a branch of the Iranian languages, and more specifically of the Northwestern Iranian languages, that is Kurdish and other Iranic languages of the region. They inhabit mountainous terrains and deserts, and maintain a very distinct cultural identity. The Baloch-speaking population worldwide is estimated to be in the range of 10 to 15 million. However, the exact number of Baloch and those who are or claim to be of Baloch ancestry is difficult to determine. They are over 500,000 in number resident both Oman and UAE. They don't have international passport, visa nor resident permit. As a result, their children cannot be registered in school. Yet they have to be taught. Volunteers are needed to work among this people, teach their children outside the formal school setting and minister the love of Jesus to them. Women volunteers are needed to establish social contact with their wives and direct them to the finished work of Calvary.
Crucial Need for the Gospel in the Arabian Peninsular
At Oman, there are only 10 known indigenous believers. Their conversions are largely the work of the Holy Spirit. In one of the cities, Jesus appeared to a man in a dream and told him, He love him and will help him solve his problems. At Muscat, a Christian lady was working in the hospital with a Muslim lady from the area. The Muslim lady was really touched by quality of Christian life of the South African lady and also surrendered her life to Christ.
After a while, the sister of the Muslim convert fell sick. She prayed for her but unfortunately, the girl died. Disappointed, she left the faith. Pray that she will be restored to faith. Another testimony worth citing is that of a Christian teacher who visited a woman with stroke from neck to the leg. This quiet and simple lady prayed for the woman and God breathed on her prayers. The woman was healed. The Swahili speaking Omanis are open to the Swahili speaking East African nations. Our prayer is that God will usher in more labourers from there to Oman.
At another part of Oman, a missionary spent lot of his time in a coffee shop with the locals. After establishing social contact, he gave an MP3 portion of the Bible to one of them. The man was so excited at the gift that he testified how he had longed to have a Bible for ten years. He later told the missionary that he wanted to have the Jesus that the missionary had. The situation is worse at Qatar where there are only three known indigenous believer in the entire country. Though there are pockets of churches in the country but they are servicing settlers. A senior colleague called them 'flower pot' churches. Our prayer is that God will bring strong revival in these Qatar and all the closed nations of our time.
What Can We Do?
God's word does not exempt the closed nations from the Great Commission. For our obedience to be completed, we must take the gospel to the darkest part of the earth. For us not to be labelled cowards, we must penetrate the hardest part of the world. To usher back the King of kings, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached in the entire world for a witness. We must start with determination to go. We must put action to it. The first action step is prayer. We can pray for the hardest nation from any part of the world. The God who enabled the Israelites to bring down the wall of Jericho will in response to our prayer give us the hardest heathens. His words: 'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession'. (Ps 2:8). It sound simple but we must remember that the most precious thing in this which is the air we breathe is not just cheap but free. While on our kneels, He will give us directions and strategies. For Jericho, it was that cheap and unappealing to common sense: 'Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.' (Josh 6:1-4).
There are many creative ways of penetrating the closed nations today. Somebody once insisted that there is actually no closed nation today any more but many believers hearts are closed to the great commission. The church is no longer passionate about lost souls. If we are passionate about anything, nothing can really stop us from getting it. As I travel round the world, I come across people who break all kinds of barriers just to get money. If the same passion with which men pursue money is used to obey the Great Commission, the job would have been done. We need to get out of our comfort zone. Let us visualise the dying world in Yemen. Those perishing daily in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and all over the 10/40 window. If men can go that far for money, we can go wherever the marching order leads to snatch souls from the devil.
Paradigm Shift Needed
For me, this is a worthy price to pay for the advancement of the gospel. The Son of God left heaven and was born by a woman in the manger and brought up by a carpenter father. If Jesus did that, we can do much more for the one who paid the supreme price for us. Let us change our paradigm and get the job done. Let us remove our title, collar and priestly garment, incarnate and get the people saved. Their souls are too precious to be ignored!
Your Money and the Closed Nations
I attended a group discussion at the United Arab Emirate (UAE) few weeks ago where we were robbing minds on our different strategies. An elderly lady from the United State of America joined the group much later and interrupted our discussion. She introduced herself as a donor and had come to ask if there are missionaries needing financial support. If I were allowed to respond, I would have shouted a big YES! But the group leader said NO! I looked at the face of the others waiting for them to object but instead, they substantiated the 'NO' answer that was given. I was an odd man in the group. All of them were not just working as missionaries but are working under cover. They all have registered companies that are bringing in money. Without the company in the first place, they would not have been issued visas and resident permit.
That still does not mean that the donor ministry is not relevant in the closed nations. Most individual missionaries may not require financial support because they already have a regular flow of income for personal from their businesses but missions is not just about the individual. For example, we have talked so much about the power of the Bible in these nations and how many are severely hungry for it. If you cannot go yourself as a missionary, you can help sponsor the publishing of more bibles. We need millions of Bibles in the different languages in Iraq for example.
Help Publish Kurdish Bible
It is difficult to buy and export the Kurdish Bible to Iraq but it is absolutely simple to publish them there. The only barrier is the money involve. The cost of producing each copy of the book of Psalm is approximately N320 ($2). The New Testament will cost N780 ($6) each and a full Bible will cost N1600 ($10). We encourage you to make input in the area of sponsoring the production of more Bibles. We will be glad to serve as bridge to get your support to the frontline missionaries helping to produce and distribute God's word in one of the most dangerous mission fields on earth. If you cannot go, you can send his word. It will amaze you what the word you send through the sponsorship of the production of His words can do. Your support can also be helpful in the area of logistic. We have one of God's choicest servants going in to the Iraq field in February 2013. In Rom 10:15, Apostle Paul was very blunt about this when he asked: 'And how can they preach unless they are sent?' The Church has the responsibility to send.
In China, over 50 million Christians desperately need to have their own Bible this year. That's more than six times the population of New York City and almost half the population of Nigeria. Many rural Chinese believers can't get their hands on a Bible or even afford one. That's why Bibles for China is working to meet this need. Wendell Rovenstine, President of Bibles for China, says they have three Bible distribution trips planned for 2013. "On each one of these trips, we do anywhere from 10,000-15,000 Bibles per trip, but we believe between now and then, the Lord will provide us more funds." For every $5.00 donated to Bibles for China, an anonymous donor matches dollar-for-dollar. That puts two Bibles in the hands of Chinese Christians. "When someone in China gets a Bible, they do not just lay it down. They carry it with joy, and they share it with those they come in contact with.
Untapped Human Resources in Africa
Africa remained one of the most blessed continents in the world. We are not only blessed with mineral resources but also with human resources. The church is also not left out of these blessing. Travelling across the chronic unreached nations of the world, I am amazed at the pronounced way the few Africans I met and those I have heard about have impacted the nations. When Ukraine was in utter darkness, a young convert from Nigeria, by name Sunday Adelaja went there to School. Today the history of that country cannot be written with devoting many of the chapters to him. While in Japan in 2010, I met some young men from Africa doing awesome work for God there. One of them was converted while he was in the prison there. Some of the incredible works going on in the Middle East and North Africa are pioneered by African Missionaries. Most of those I met personally have pleaded to remain anonymous because of the security implication on their work. There is no doubt that God is interested in Africa and Africans but what is on ground compare to the need for more labourers is a drop of water in the ocean.From the Best to the Rest?
Once upon a time, the call was from the West to the rest of the world. The cry now is from the best to the rest and not necessarily from the West. I feel very strongly that we should be talking of the saved to the world. We are all stakeholders in world evangelisation be it Africa, Asia, Middle East, etc. We all have responsibility to reach the world. We all are responsible to obey the supreme command. Mongolia report is amazing. Not too long ago, it was one of the most chronic unreached people groups of the world. Today, they are among the leading missionary sender nation going by the ratio of the number of missionaries per the number of Christian/church.
Conclusion
To sum up, can we all get busy with the search for the lost coin? Can we all focus on the forgotten and closed nations of the world? Can we all get involve in hastening the return of the King of kings?
