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DARK ZEAL (COIL Book 5)

Page 23

by D. I. Telbat


  --Plant churches

  --Translate and distribute Bibles and Christian literature

  --Help victims of natural disasters

  --Feed the hungry due to famine and poverty

  --Provide love and shelter for orphans

  --Offer medical missions

  --Dig wells for safe water supply

  --Support persecuted Christians

  The majority of these mission boards are based in lands of abject poverty. A billion people, including many evangelical Christians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, cannot find jobs that will provide cash income. They stay alive by growing tiny plots of rice, fishing or hunting insects. Those who do have paying jobs give generously and sacrificially; however, their wages are so low that the total sum of their tithes and offerings may only be a few dollars a week.

  About Christian Aid

  1. Christian Aid seeks to establish a witness for our Lord in every tongue, tribe and nation (Rev. 5:9) and to encourage and strengthen evangelical Christian witness in countries where Christians are persecuted or few in number.

  2. Christian Aid locates, evaluates, and sends financial help to indigenous evangelical ministries which are serving the Lord primarily in countries closed to foreign missionaries.

  3. Christian Aid continually appraises indigenous mission groups, examines their doctrinal statements, and evaluates the fruits of their ministries. We make sure they are accountable and provide financial statements regularly. Each ministry is checked to insure that it is not linked—or is a branch of—any foreign organization, but is truly indigenous.

  4. Christian Aid encourages American Christians to help these indigenous missions evangelize their own people. As we receive offerings from US Christians, we send them to indigenous missionary ministries in poorer countries. Then they send out native missionaries, who are getting the job done at a fraction of the cost of traditional missions. Christian Aid does not send out foreign missionaries.

  More than 400,000 native missionaries are on the fields or ready to go. Approximately 100,000 of these have no regular support, but are evangelizing and planting churches in their own nations with the few resources they currently have.

  As new churches are born out of evangelical revivals in Asia, Africa and Latin America, they very quickly begin to send out missionaries. Hundreds of these gospel workers have forfeited secular employment to serve the Lord full time in faith.

  Thousands of indigenous ministries operate Bible institutes and missionary training schools that provide practical field experience with focused classroom teaching. Christian Aid has sent support to more than 150 Bible institutes in China that have trained and sent out tens of thousands of native Chinese missionaries. Many native missionaries have also opted to study abroad at evangelical colleges and seminaries in America, Canada, and Europe.

  News & Stories of Missions Work and Persecution Around the Globe

  Christian Aid serves as a bridge between indigenous missions groups and Western believers. We strive to inform you about the desperate situations of millions of believers all around the globe as well as share with you evidence of the Love and Power of God among the nations. Christian Aid's News articles offer you a glimpse into the lives of indigenous believers, their struggles, and their triumphs. We hope by informing you of the needs of your brethren, God will lead you to pray and support indigenous missions groups.

  Missions Insider Report

  For 50+ years Christian Aid has championed the work of indigenous missionaries. Now, we gladly share with you highlights of the compelling news received from Christian leaders around the world. Periodically (currently about once a month), you can receive the Missions Insider Report by email. It will provide you a cross-section of the works and missions, the passion and commitment, the hardships and persecutions, the joys and victories of native missionaries working among their own people in some of the poorest, the most remote, the most difficult places in the world.

  It is our privilege to share with you the indigenous missionary's story. We are excited to be able to offer you "free of charge" the Mission Insider Report. Subscribe at www.christianaid.org.

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  Character Sketch

  Annette Sheffield – American model, burdened by worldliness

  Chloe Azmaveth – COIL liaison, burdened by mission concerns

  Corban Dowler – Master spy, burdened by lost souls

  Crac Hassad – Hamas leader, burdened by Allah's shackles

  Kalil Yasof – Israeli colonel, burdened by Muslim extremists

  Luc Lannoy – UN official, burdened by lust

  Luigi Putelli – Retired assassin, burdened by personal debts

  Nathan Isaacson – COIL operative, burdened by loneliness

  Oleg Saratov – Interpol agent, burdened by unfilled warrants

  Sohayb Hassad – Hamas killer, burdened by uncle's zeal

  Titus Caspertein – International criminal, burdened by greed

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  Other Books by D.I. Telbat

  Arabian Variable, a Covert Action & Christian Suspense; eBook

  Called To Gobi, an End Times Chronicle; eBook, Paperback

  COIL Extractions, a Short Story Collection, Book 1; FREE eBook

  COIL Recruits for Christ, a Short Story Collection, Book 2; eBook

  Dark Edge, Novella, Prequel to The COIL Series; FREE Audio, FREE eBook, Paperback

  Dark Liaison: A Christian Suspense Novel, Book One in The COIL Series; Audio, Paperback

  Dark Hearted, Book Two in The COIL Series; Audio, eBook, Paperback

  Dark Rule, Book Three in The COIL Series; Audio, eBook, Paperback

  Dark Vessel, Book Four in The COIL Series; Audio, eBook, Paperback

  Dark Zeal, Book Five in The COIL Series; Audio, eBook, Paperback

  Distant Boundary, Novella, Prequel of The COIL Legacy; FREE eBook

  Distant Contact, Book One of The COIL Legacy; eBook

  Distant Front, Book Two of The COIL Legacy; eBook

  Distant Harm, Book Three of The COIL Legacy, eBook coming late 2017

  God's Colonel, a Christian End Times Novel; eBook

  Jaguar Dusk, a Christian Special Forces Novel; eBook

  Primary Objective, a Christian Rescue Mission; eBook

  Soldier of Hope, A POW Survival Story in Afghanistan; eBook

  The Legend of Okeanos: A Tale of Restoration, Survival, and a Great White Shark; eBook

  The Steadfast Series: America's Last Days, End Times Novella eBooks

  Coming soon:

  Fury in the Storm, Where Christians Dare, Bk1; previously published as Sea Scribe

  Tears in the Wind, Where Christians Dare, Bk2 in The Leeward Set

  Visit Novel Update News for latest news on current and upcoming D.I. Telbat books.

  *~*

  About the Author

  D.I. Telbat desires to honor the Lord with his life and his writing, and to bring awareness to the Christian Persecuted Church. He is best known for his Suspenseful Fiction with a Faith Focus as in The COIL Series, and his futuristic novellas, as in The Steadfast Series: America's Last Days. On his Telbat's Tablet website/blog at ditelbat.com, he offers FREE Christian short stories, novel news, book reviews, Author Reflections, or challenges for today's Christian. Subscribe to receive his stories or related posts weekly, as well as exclusive subscriber gifts. Visit ditelbat.com/all-d-i-telbat-novels/ for a full list of his Audio, eBook, and Paperback novels. Read his complete bio at ditelbat.com/about/.

  *~*

  Contact

  ditelbat.com/contact/

  Follow us on Twitter! @DITelbat

  *~*

  ~ BONUS CHAPTER ~

  Distant Contact

  *~ NEXT PAGE! ~*

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  BONUS Chapter

  Distant Contact

  Book One of The COIL Legacy

  D.I. Telbat

  Prologue

  Through his drunkenness, Oleg Saratov realized he was being followed. For two
weeks, he'd been thrown out of one Moscow club after another. Every establishment inside the city's Garden Ring knew the ex-Interpol officer had been fired. Returning to the land of his birth, he had ranted against the authorities he'd failed, and who had failed him.

  Near Tver Square, Oleg fell against a wall and tried to focus his blurring eyes. Yes, three men were closing on him, men who murdered and robbed at night. He thought he'd lost them at Boulevard Ring, but these thugs stalked him with purpose. The money he'd flashed around for weeks had apparently attracted a few predators.

  "Come on!" Oleg waved them closer. Three men in their thirties swaggered nearer, spreading out. "I'll tear you apart!"

  But Oleg couldn't stand without leaning against the wall. He cursed through his stupor and held up a weathered fist.

  When the three were a few feet away, they rushed him together. Oleg fell toward the first, swinging a fist that seemed remarkably slow even to himself. He was on the cobblestone in an instant, feeling their boots against his ribs, then their fingers in his pockets, scratching for his wallet.

  Suddenly, three dull thumps registered in Oleg's hearing. The robbers leaped up, then fell over dead. Oleg's senses flooded back to him, thanks to the blows, and now the silenced gunshots. He sat up and saw a tall man in a jean jacket walking toward him. From the glow of the street lamps, the figure seemed almost like a guardian angel. Until he realized who it was.

  "Titus Caspertein!" Oleg spit blood past his swollen lip. "You coward! So, you've finally come to kill me?"

  "Kill you? Nah." Titus, with his Arkansas drawl tainting his otherwise perfect Russian, knelt next to Oleg. "Seems you're doing that well enough on your own. Corban Dowler sent me to fetch you."

  "Fetch me? Haven't you heard?" Oleg burped. "I've finally been put out to pasture. And I blame you. If not for you, I'd still have a job. All you had to do was let me arrest you, and my life would've been different."

  "I'm sorry, old friend. Maybe I can make it up to you."

  "How? By putting me out of my misery?"

  "No, I work for the Commission of International Laborers now. They brought me on." Titus holstered his weapon under his left arm. "I helped them design some new tech that'll put us ahead of the real bad guys. State of the art satellite and spy stuff. Because of Corban's guidance, I'm not the man you used to know."

  "So, it's true? You're a Christian with COIL? For real?"

  "Gone are my past ways, old friend. The women, the stealing, the smuggling— Well, I still smuggle, but just Bibles now."

  "Unbelievable. Apparently, you're still killing, though." Oleg spat toward the three muggers. "Old habits die hard with us, huh?"

  "No, these boys are just tranquilized. With newly-designed non-lethal weaponry. Custom handguns and rifles, even bullets. It's all about saving lives with me now."

  Oleg sighed. Titus had always lived a charmed life. That's why Oleg had begun to hate him so much. But if he'd truly left his criminal ways behind . . .

  "Why are you here, Titus?"

  "Corban asked who I would trust with my life to do what needs to be done around the world. All the people I know are crooks. Except you. Even when we were on opposite sides of the law, I still trusted you."

  "Last I checked, we're not even friends, Titus."

  "We've worked together, though."

  "I was trying to arrest you. And I failed."

  "Sure, but you got closer than anyone else." Titus sat down next to Oleg and handed him a handkerchief. "It seems you could use a job."

  "No kidding! But no one will hire a disgraced Interpol agent. Nobody with any honor, anyway." Oleg pointed his finger at the thieves. "Wait a minute. If they're not with you, why didn't you tranq them before they jumped me?"

  "I figured they'd sober you up for me."

  "Humph." Oleg scowled at Titus. "You think I'd partner with you now? I could've been killed!"

  "If you would've been sober, you could've handled them yourself." Titus flashed a broad grin, visible in the streetlights. "It ain't easy learning we're getting older."

  "You're not exactly winning me over." Oleg wiped his bloody face with the handkerchief then offered it back to Titus, who rejected it. "What do I have to do with you for COIL?"

  "There's plenty for us to do, but first we have to be moving in the same direction. In God's direction."

  "You don't really want me, Titus. I'm all used up."

  "Well, I'm already in Russia, and I don't know any other ugly Russians who'll tolerate me."

  "So you're saying you want me sober by morning?"

  "This is about more than being sober. 'The night is almost gone, and the day is near.'"

  "When did you become a poet?"

  "It's not poetry. It's the Bible. I know all about living in darkness. Jesus Christ is returning soon, brother. The day is near and we need to be a lot more than legal or sober to be acceptable to Him."

  "Religion's never been much use to me. You know that."

  "Me, neither. But realizing what our purpose is for the Creator isn't about religion. It's not time to get right; it's time to be made right. And we're going to do it together."

  "Are you about to convert me on this Moscow street?"

  "It ain't easy facing your dead and lost condition, old friend, but I wouldn't be here if this weren't important, for you and for me."

  Oleg closed his eyes. A reformed criminal was about to teach him about God? He scoffed at himself. God was just who he needed right now. The bottle certainly wasn't the answer.

  "All right. My way obviously isn't working. Go ahead. Give it to me straight."

  "That's the only way I know it, Oleg."

  Titus pulled him to his feet, and the two walked shoulder to shoulder down the street.

  ###

  End of Distant Contact, Prologue

  Book One of The COIL Legacy

  Visit https://ditelbat.com/book/distant-contact/

 

 

 


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