The Kurdish people are also beloved by God. They are mentioned prominently and repeatedly in the Bible—in the Old Testament and the New—as the Medes and the Median Empire. (The Medes joined with the Iranians in ancient times to create the Media-Persian Empire, which took over the Babylonian Empire about six hundred years before Christ.) The prophet Jeremiah describes the Kurds as key end times players whom God will use to bring judgment on the forces of the Antichrist in a revived Babylonian empire (see Jeremiah 51). The book of Acts indicates that there were actually Kurdish people present in Jerusalem when the good news of Christ’s love and forgiveness was preached on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:9).
What’s more, the Kurds may have been among the first to realize that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and the Savior of the world. When I made my first trip to Iraq, I had the privilege of having a several-hour meeting with Mr. Falakaddin Kakaye, the minister of culture for the Kurdistan Regional Government. Mr. Kakaye was enormously generous in helping me understand the historic contributions of the Kurds. What fascinated me most, however, was that for the first ten minutes, the minister made a compelling case that at least one of the three “magi” or wise men who came to find and worship Jesus as the “King of the Jews” in Matthew 2 was a Kurd. “You’ve convinced me,” I replied. “Apparently, wise men from Kurdistan have been seeking to worship Jesus from the beginning.”
I am, of course, just scratching the surface in explaining how often the Bible describes God’s love for all the people of the epicenter, not just the Jews. In Matthew 4:24-25, you will find the news of Jesus’ love and forgiveness spreading throughout all of Syria and Jordan. In Matthew 15:21-28, you will find Jesus in southern Lebanon, showing mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon and healing the daughter of a woman imploring Him to show kindness to those who want to serve Him. In Acts 2, you will read that God poured out the Holy Spirit on the apostles, who immediately began preaching the good news of Christ’s love and forgiveness to the Parthians (from northern Iran); the Medes (the Kurds); the Elamites (from southern Iran); the Mesopotamians (Iraqis); those from Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphilia (Turks); Egyptians; Libyans; people from Crete; and Arabs.
The bottom line: I have no doubt that the more you study the Bible for yourself, the more you will learn about God’s great love for all the people of the epicenter—and the more you will be inspired to love them too.
Strategy No. 2: Pray
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” —Romans 12:12, NIV
As you become more knowledgeable about the people of the Muslim world, let me encourage you to begin praying faithfully and consistently for them, because this is what the Bible teaches us to do. Here are ten specific ideas you might use in praying for the people of the epicenter:
1. Praise God that He loves all the people of the world and sent His Son to rescue anyone who will repent and turn to Him for salvation. (John 3:16)
2. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the peace of all the people in the region. (Psalm 122:6)
3. Pray for God’s blessing on Israel and her neighbors. (Genesis 12:1-3)
4. Pray for open doors for the gospel so that everyone in the epicenter can hear and respond to Christ’s offer of salvation to anyone who believes. (Colossians 4:2-6; Revelation 3:20)
5. Pray for Christ-followers in the epicenter to have the courage to “fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel” despite intense persecution that may accelerate in the years ahead. (Ephesians 6:19-20, NIV)
6. Pray for the Radicals and those who persecute the Church, that God would change their hearts and draw them into His Kingdom. (Matthew 5:44)
7. Pray that the Lord would open the hearts of the Christ-followers in the region so that they might know Christ even more fully than they do now. (Ephesians 2:15-23)
8. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would raise up and send out more laborers because “the harvest” of souls “is plentiful.” (Luke 10:2)
9. Pray without ceasing, and do so with thanksgiving, “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
10. Pray in the name of Jesus, for this is where the real power lies. (Matthew 18:19-20)
We who are followers of Jesus Christ serve a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God—a wonder-working God. This is what the Bible clearly teaches, even if we do not fully understand why a sovereign God should respond to our entreaties. So as you pray for the people of the epicenter, let me also encourage you to gather others around you as part of a prayer team. The members of the early Church often gathered together for prayer, as we read about in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. This is a wise model for us to follow. We need more than individuals engaged in prayer. We need to see a global movement of “prayer warriors” raised up by God, interceding on behalf of the persecuted Church in the Islamic world and for the spiritual and political liberation of all the people in the epicenter.
For more information on how to pray knowledgeably and consistently, you may want to sign up for my Flash Traffic e-mails at www.joelrosenberg.com. These e-mails provide updates every week or so on the geopolitical, economic, and spiritual trends in Israel and the Muslim world. They also provide updates on Joshua Fund projects and will provide specific (and often urgent) prayer requests that you and your family and friends can focus on as well. You can find more prayer resources on our Web site and blog at www.joshuafund.net.
In order to give you a sense of how we are trying to help educate and mobilize this movement of prayer, here are a few sample updates we have sent out in recent years:
April 26, 2007: “Last week saw the brutal murder of three evangelical Christians—two Turks and a German—working at a Bible publisher” in Turkey, we noted, quoting press accounts. “According to Turkish newspaper reports, the five young males arrested at the scene told investigators they committed the crime in defense of Islam. . . . Violent attacks against Christian targets are becoming more frequent. Last year, several evangelical churches were fire-bombed, and a Protestant church leader in the city of Adana was severely beaten by a group of assailants. Last February, Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest working in the Black Sea city of Trabzon was shot and killed by a 16-year-old.”623
We urged people to pray for:
• Turkish Christians to have wisdom to know how the Lord wants them to operate effectively and fruitfully in this hostile environment, knowing that historically the Church grows in strength and numbers amid persecution.
• The Holy Spirit to move among Turkish Muslims and bring them to faith in Jesus Christ in record numbers.
• The Western church to know how to stand with our brothers and sisters in Turkey as well as followers of Christ throughout the Muslim world.
October 9, 2007: “Here’s the latest e-mail we’ve received from our friends at the Palestinian Bible Society: ‘Rami Ayyad, 30, manager of the Bible Society bookshop in Gaza, was kidnapped on Saturday near his home in Gaza City. His body was later found near the Islamic University on Sunday morning. It is not known who is responsible for the killing. The attack comes six months after the Palestinian Bible Society bookshop was bombed, causing significant damage. Mr. Ayyad leaves a pregnant widow . . . and two children. . . . The believers in Gaza face the threat of attack daily. But they are dedicated to demonstrating the Bible’s life-changing message to the Palestinian people. Rami was no different, and the bookshop he ran was an oasis in Gaza City.’”
We urged people to pray for Rami’s family, and that all the Palestinian believers in Gaza would have supernatural courage and love amid such trials, and for the Church outside Gaza to know how best to strengthen and encourage our embattled brothers and sisters.
August 15, 2008: “A huge story broke first in Israel in Haaretz about a week ago, and now on the Fox News Channel. The son of the leader of Hamas has renounced his affiliation with the terrorist group, has renounced Islam, and has become a follower of Jesus Christ. The full-length intervi
ews are absolutely fascinating.”
We urged readers to pray:
• That this young man’s faith deepens and grows and that he can be discipled by an older, wiser man of God.
• That the Lord keeps this young man safe from those Radical jihadists who would try to take his life.
• That the Lord would answer his prayers for his family’s eyes and hearts to be opened and that they would all come to faith in Jesus as well.
• That other Hamas leaders and Muslims throughout the West Bank and Gaza—as well as all Israelis who are hearing this story—would be moved by this young man’s spiritual journey and begin asking why he did it.
• That the Lord would continue to build His Church in the Holy Land and not allow the gates of hell to prevail against it.
October 21, 2008: “Please be praying for courage, protection, and wisdom for Christians in the Iraqi city of Mosul (ancient Ninevah), where violence and persecution has worsened dramatically in recent weeks. . . . ‘More than 15,000 Iraqi Christians, or 2,500 families, have been driven out of Mosul over the past two weeks,’ reports the Christian Post. ‘The number skyrocketed from last week’s estimate of some 3,000 Christians that fled the northern Iraq city, which is said to be the last urban stronghold of Al-Qaeda. Officials in Mosul also reported that some 13 Iraqi Christians have been killed in the past four weeks, and at least three Assyrian Christian homes were bombed on Saturday alone, according to the Assyrian International News Agency.’624 Please also pray for comfort for those affected by the violence, and for God’s peace and tranquility to descend on that city and the entire country of Iraq.
“Please be praying for courage, protection, and wisdom for Christians in Afghanistan. A Christian aid worker was just murdered in the capital city of Kabul, only a week or so after Jeremy Grafman and I visited there. Please also pray for comfort for the family and friends of Gayle Williams, 34, who was shot dead by two gunmen. Please pray for God’s peace and tranquility to descend on Kabul and the entire country of Afghanistan.”
Strategy No. 3: Give
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” —Matthew 6:19-21
Once you begin to understand God’s plan and purpose for the people of the epicenter and become devoted to prayer, please consider investing your time, your talents, and your treasure in the work God is doing in the Middle East, as the Scriptures command.
We need to strengthen our brothers and sisters on the front lines of this spiritual Revolution in tangible and practical ways. The Revivalists can’t do the work all by themselves. They don’t want to do the work all by themselves. And it’s not biblical for them to have to do the work all by themselves. They need our help.
They need Bibles and Bible study materials that are translated into the local languages. They need DVDs and CDs that tell Jesus’ story and communicate the teachings of the Scriptures. They need funding to run satellite, radio, and Internet ministries. They need retreats and training conferences to encourage and better equip pastors and ministry leaders. They need food, clothing, medical equipment, and other supplies that they can distribute in the name of Jesus to the poor and needy and to victims of war and terrorism.
This is exactly what we established the Joshua Fund to do. Should you be interested in helping us, we would be deeply honored. You can learn more about our work at www.joshuafund.net. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, you can do so securely online, or you can send a check payable to “The Joshua Fund” to:
The Joshua Fund
18940 Base Camp Road
Monument, Colorado 80132-8009
Strategy No. 4: Go
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” —Matthew 28:19-20
Learning, praying, and giving are biblical responses, but they are not enough. To truly obey the teachings of the Bible and follow the model Jesus set for us, we need to be willing to turn off our TVs, get up off the couch, put away our iPods, and go love Muslims in the name of Jesus in real and practical ways.
I asked an MBB friend of Lynn’s and mine to give me a list of ten practical ways readers of this book can show the love of Jesus Christ to their Muslim neighbors. Here’s what she came up with:
Before you approach your Muslim neighbors, pray that the Holy Spirit would show you ways you might be able to love them the way Christ Himself would love them. Of course the Holy Spirit is the expert in this matter, but here are my suggestions.
1. Take your Muslim neighbor a “welcome to the neighborhood” gift, like a box of homemade cookies, a basket of fruits, chocolate, a card, a plant, or just flowers. If you are invited to their home, never go empty-handed. Take a plant, flowers, chocolate, pastries, cookies, or any presentable sweet treat.
2. Invite your Muslim neighbors to your home for dinner. As you invite them, ask them what they would like to eat. Make sure they understand that you are sensitive to their diet (no pork or alcohol).
3. When they come to your home, be very respectful. They may take off their shoes when they enter your home, as it is a tradition. You may ask them to keep their shoes on or you may take off your shoes as well. (On the other hand, when you enter their home, please always take off your shoes.) Then, offer them a nonalcoholic drink. Out of respect, refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages in front of them. When seating them at the dinner table, if possible seat them at the head of the table away from the door or any entrance.
4. At dinner, pray for your new friends individually. Pray for the couple, their children, or whatever situation they may be in. And don’t be afraid to pray in the name of Jesus.
5. At dinner, get to know your new Muslim friends. Ask about their culture, traditions, food, interests, etc. It is fun to learn about other cultures. Also ask if you could meet again another time to have a cup of coffee or tea and continue building the friendship.
6. When you meet with them for coffee or tea, offer to pray for them individually regarding whatever is on their hearts.
7. Invite them to spend time with you and your Christian friends doing something fun and “safe”—that is, nonthreatening to their faith—so that they can see the love of Christ in His followers. This is very attractive to Muslims. Eventually, you may want to ask them to a church function, like a Christmas or Easter service.
8. When you make dinner for your own family, consider making extra and taking the extra meal to your Muslim neighbor. Middle Easterners really appreciate this gesture. Again, no pork, please!
9. When any member of their family is ill, pray for that person with your Muslim neighbor. Take them chicken soup. Offer to do some of their chores, like picking things up for them at the grocery store or the pharmacy. Offer to babysit if they need to go to a doctor’s appointment, or—if you have time—offer to drive them to their appointment. Or just offer to babysit their kids so that the couple can have a date night.
10. If you go on vacation, bring back a souvenir for your neighbor. In the Middle East, that is very much appreciated. Remember their birthdays, and surprise them with a card, a gift, a cake, or flowers. In all things, follow the teachings of Jesus to “do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31, NIV).
Loving your Muslim neighbor is the right way to begin, but we should not stop there. Jesus teaches us to “go” and make disciples of “all the nations.” I would encourage you, therefore, to prayerfully consider going on a prayer and vision trip to a Muslim country, perhaps a trip organized by an evangelical Christian ministry with a heart for the Muslim people. Prayerfully consider, too, going on a short-term mission trip—for a week or two, or even for a few months—to a Muslim country to work alongside Revivalists a
nd to learn how to serve the Church operating in the Islamic world. From there, prayerfully consider serving a Christian ministry in the epicenter for a year or two. The key is to start small, learn as you go, and constantly seek the Lord’s will and direction for your life.
Along the way, keep in mind that the Lord may be calling you to serve Him full-time in the Muslim world. That may seem scary at first. But if it is God’s will for your life, there can be no greater joy than obeying Christ’s call. Seek wise counsel from pastors, ministry leaders, and friends who know you and who have experience doing ministry in cross-cultural environments, particularly in the Muslim world. Get as much training as you possibly can. Build a team of friends and allies who will pray faithfully for you and support you financially. Whatever you do, don’t be a “lone ranger” and head into the Muslim world by yourself. Such an approach is neither biblical nor wise.
Courage and Compassion
Have you ever read the book of Jonah in the Old Testament?
If you haven’t, let me encourage you to do so. It’s a short, interesting book, and it won’t take long. If you have read it, could I convince you to reread it today? As you read, notice that God told Jonah to leave his home (which happened to be Israel), travel to Ninevah (one of the most wicked cities on the planet at that time), and tell the people that God was about to punish their wickedness by sending a terrible judgment upon them.
Inside the Revolution Page 55
