Email to Persecuted  |

A Call Posted on 02/20/2010 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (9)

I had the most bizarre phone call this morning. One longs for calls like this one but then also freaks out when it finally does come through. We don’t talk about secret believers on the phone&certainly not about evangelism or leading Muslims to Christ. We also don’t talk about the Bible, baptisms, the Koran or Jesus being accepted by a Muslim as God’s Son -NOT ON THE PHONE ANYWAY. But we long for them to hear the truth about Jesus. When I was little the only number I knew was my dadi’s sister’s number.I always knew that ‘Uncle Ears’ was listening. We would call him ‘Uncle Sunnah’ which is a pun on the word which means ‘what was heard of the prophet’s teachings’, we pun on it to mean ‘the Uncle on the phone who listens to us’. But today no matter what I knew I could not stop the speaker nor just hang up without listening. It took me a few minutes to work out the hissing pressure cooker sound on the other end was not from our kitchen but was whispering. It soon became evident the young lady was Humaira, a friend of mine from school. We had spent 12 years together&then she left for England. Lately the emails had gone quiet. She was obviously desperate not to be heard by anyone else but needed to speak to me. She knows her call to me was risky. It took me a while to figure out she was talking about Jesus. My first instinct was to hang up& pretend this call was not happening! Then I knew with a wave of God’s wisdom that filled me in that moment, that my friend needed me more than ever. Although caution is key to any such situation, there was no way I could hang up on someone thousands of miles away from me who needed me.There was a reason she had called me. Perhaps she has been brought back to Pakistan. I do not know. Humaira has been through some family crises. Despite her education& her wealth, she came to a point where she was unable to see the sufferings of her father& as she sought to help him she was thrown into the arms of Jesus. She managed to convey to me she was a believer in Jesus, the Son of God& although she did not call herself a Christian she was reading her Bible as well as the Koran because she found comfort& direction in the Bible& when she said her ‘namaz’ (prescribed Islamic prayers) she had no option but to gaze on the face of Jesus. But how was she to move on&live her life. As she spoke her voice became more urgent & then there was a click that ended the call. What was she trying to tell? Did she want discipleship? Is she back in Pakistan in trouble? Do her family know about her new found faith in Jesus or has she managed to hide it from them? I do not know the answers nor where to call her or if it is safe to call her. But I am asking you to pray for her. She is a lawyer, knows her Islamic faith well which is obviously still confusing her. Who will reach her at this time with the promise of the Gospel? Who will minister the truth to her? Who will stand by her as she takes her first steps into the arms of Jesus? Will it be you? Could she be your neighbour? Could someone like her need a ministering voice, a guardian of sorts who will walk her on this road. Could it be someone in your office or school? They may not be too easy talking about it. Give them time, but pray for them and the people you work with and study with. Perhaps there is a Humaira who needs answers and needs help. Perhaps Christ wants to use you for one just such as this. Pray for me as I ask God to guide me in how to help Humaira and that Uncle ‘Sunnah’ will not listen but will be oblivious to our conversations. Pray me throug

A heart full of love for my people Posted on 02/17/2010 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (5)

For some time now internet access has not been secure. On Sunday I asked the pastor if I could use his more secure internet connection to access your replies& messages to me. I snuck a peek at the messages that are sent my way. Words of encouragement, verses of scripture that come my way from you are nourishment to me. Please never stop. Thankyou so much for speaking to Jesus on our behalf, standing in the gap for the millions of lost souls in my part&for those born into Pakistani Christian homes but then are not reached for the gospel, continue to live under the label ‘Christian/Sweeper’ &never really know that they can shine for the one whose name they bear! When I see your words of encouragement to me, I know there is hope. I know that one day we, you&I, by praying have become part of the change God wants for Pakistan’s Christians. When my own people have been healed& from that healing the Glory of God& His might& power will shine through, then the unreached Muslims around them will see what the transforming work of the Gospel can do. Guria, a friend of mine from school met me at a dinner party two weeks ago. I had not met Guria since we were 15. She had chosen a different line of study and gone her own way. Over the years we have both come to faith. Jesus has become our most precious friend. We found our way to the rooftop& sat on a traditional wooden carved swinging seat. It was a great reunion. We felt closer talking about Jesus than in the 11 years we had been together in school. Suddenly we were bound by something a lot more powerful&precious than school, a common uniform, teachers& homework. This teacher we were both talking about was Jesus& what He had worked into our lives. But we both gave thanks for Sister Rita, Sister Mary Jo& Sister Mary Hope. Three nuns from our Convent school who used to encourage us to read our Bibles&go to Church&live our lives for Jesus. They led us to Christ, every day, challenging us to be different. Only when we left school and went to University, their words and encouragement came to mean the world to our faith. They had warned us about college& being a minority in a Muslim environment& what it would mean in terms of living out our faith. We knew they prayed for us as they did for other students. We knew we had been blessed by their faith in Christ commitment to us. As we sat on the swing& opened our hearts to one another with ease and comfort as we shared what God was doing&how He was leading us. Guria is under pressure from her family to marry a Pakistani man who lives in America. They insist the only hope for Christian girls is to go away to America. She desperately wants to stay because like me she wants to serve the young people of the Pakistani Church. Those who do not know Jesus yet bear His name. I did not know how to comfort Guria’s heart. But I realised it was comfort enough to her&me to know that we shared a heart for this ministry and for our brothers and sisters. My heart aches just to serve my people. Guria’s heart aches to serve them. Will you pray that no matter what happens in the years ahead, who God brings for us to marry, they will be men who will love Jesus and His people. I love my people, I love my land.

Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow Posted on 02/13/2010 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (5)

‘Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone, Because I know He holds the future-Life is worth the Living just because He lives.’ Words that represent the hope that helps me from one day to the next. When I hear of the injustices being done to God’s people in my land, when I see the tiredness on the face of a woman standing by the road waiting for her bus, a father load his motor bike with 3 children&his wife to take them to church or school, or a road traffic accident in which no one could possibly have survived - I take strength from Jesus’omnipresence. What do I say to a friend whose brother died in a road traffic accident and did not know Jesus &was drunk while he was driving? Reema’s family are faithful simple Muslims. Her brother Asim’s drinking was what brought them so much shame and it was also what killed him. They were ashamed and embarrassed in their family and community and then they had to grieve alone. Islam prohibits the consumption of alcohol. Sadly it was Christians supplying the alcohol for his addiction. In Pakistan being born into a nominal Christian family tends to create an ease about ethics &morality. The argument being ‘the Bible does not say thou shalt not drink.’ To understand this read Jude’s 4th, 8th & 10th verses: ‘For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and King...v.8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings...v.10Yet these men speak abusively and what things they do not understand by instinct, like unreasonable animals- these are the very things that destroy them... Christians have taken the grace of God&turned it into a licence to drink&smoke&have easier relationships than Muslims would with the opposite sex. A Muslim woman is less likely to enter into an easy &unrestrained conversation with a Muslim man. But the young people in my community look for a Bible verse that says ‘Thou shalt not talk to a member of the opposite sex’ or ‘thou shalt dress modestly’&in order to establish their identity as Christians, they establish it more by way of deviating from all things Islamic than cleaving to Jesus and being filled with the Spirit which would guide them to be modest and self controlled. There for the lack of a Bible verse that says ‘Thou shalt not drink any alcohol or hard drink’ is taken as licence to drink. Because generally Alcohol is frowned up there is no control on these young people making them vulnerable to drunkenness, abusive behaviour, drugs and crime. This is the sub culture that I ache to reach. To show these young people that being a Christian is not an identity you are born with but a commitment to Jesus, a commitment to live like Him and for Him and have eternal life in Him. Before long the alcohol becomes a crutch helping them forget that their mothers&sisters are working in the homes of Muslims, being abused & raped so they can have a roof over their heads, to forget they are an oppressed minority and have only one distinctive right , a permit to buy alcohol, to forget their fathers’ are unemployed because they bore the name of Christ and to forget they will always just be second class citizens. But they do not need to drown because they have hope in Jesus &He lives & life is worth LIVING in His abundance & promise because He holds the future&He has made us inheritors of eternity.

His Light in this Darkness Posted on 02/01/2010 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (7)

I woke up early today. I don’t know quite what it was but something woke me up. Perhaps it was a dream or a disturbing thought. I do not know for certain but I found myself a shawl, wrapped it around myself and made my way to the terrace right at the top of the house. The sky was still a dark blue but the stars were disappearing and being replaced by a thin thread of orange across the sky as the sun rose and awoke the Mullah’s across the land who made their way to their microphones and called out to the faithful Muslims calling out to them ‘Allah Ho Akbar,..,’ God is great, I bear witness there is no God but Allah...hurry rise up and pray I bear witness there is but one God Allah’ As he calls out for Muslims to awake and pray their namaaz which is one of the 5 pillars of Islam, the neighbours switched a light on in one room, off in another, there was moment, the sound of running water was heard as people did their wudhu (which is the ritualistic required washing of the body to present one’s self clean before Allah in prayer). I was high enough to see into the next street. The Mosque’s car park filled up with cars as people made their way. Over the years more and more people have started to come to the mosque to say their morning prayers. Mostly older men, probably those who have retired and some who will go straight to work from here. Over the years more of these men have grown beards and are not moderates and over the years I have seen the steady stream of little boys in the early evening going to the mosque to learn to read the Koran. As he calls out for the people to recognise the greatness of Allah, a prayer rose from my heart. The thin thread of orange, became a beautiful woven tapestry of orange and purple and shades of paleness and brightness dancing together in the sky testifying to the very greatness of God the Creator and as the darkness of the night sped away and the brightness of the sun began to appear I remembered the words from Isaiah ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light’ and the words became a prayer in my heart. I had counted 10 minerets from where I stood. 10 mullahs were saying the same thing and there was a cacophony of sound around me. Truly I believe God is great. To many the sound of the Adhan or the morning call to prayer is annoying and irritating. But I am always impressed by it. I am impressed because a nation of men and women are being reminded to pray to their God and they do and let's not be fooled that they do it because they have to and fear punishment if they did not do it. Most certainly that is a part of their faith and that is a teaching but there is a sincerity, a reliance on God, an awareness that only He is great and therefore worthy to be remembered throughout the day and bowed before. I remember Daadi would always say, when you hear the adhan, say thank you to God for being the greatest and ask Him to shine His truth into the lives of the Muslims who are talking to Him at that moment. Ask Him to minister to their needs and draw them close to Him that they be saved and transformed and the truth be revealed to them. What a truly awesome God we serve. He will weave a beautiful brightness into their darkness and many are and many more will see the glory of the living God and follow Him. Praise God.