GOD HEARS Prayer Letters

The Church is designed for hostile environments. Its designer and builder, Jesus, said He’d build it right at the “Gates of Hell”, and those gates would not withstand it (GHPL Jan 6, 2021). He started building it under Roman occupation (notably intolerant of kingdom-minded competitors) and was continuously opposed by a firmly entrenched religious system.

On March 18, 2020, I wrote,

In northern Israel at the foot of Mt Hermon, there is an archaeological site named Banias. Its cliffs are full of niches for idols; and the natural rock terrace below once held temples, including the Temple of Pan, a Greek god who was half goat, half man. 

Over the years I’ve noticed many ways in which Islam, which began to be formulated six centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection, copies aspects of biblical Judaism and Christianity with distortions that reveals they are counterfeits.

The final hurdle I had to face in becoming a full-fledged Christian was accepting that Jesus is God, because I’d been taught for a time by well-trained, committed Jehovah’s Witnesses using their own Bible version.

My conversion was supernatural. In my 30s, agnostic and anxious about future, I was provoked to read the Bible for the first time. One evening as I was reading a particular four-word sentence in Exodus, God spoke to me. Before that moment, I was an unbeliever. After it, I knew there was a God who knew me and cared about me.

Last week, I wrote about “swirl”, an oppressive, shifting spiritual atmosphere that robs people of peace and clarity of thought and brings confusion and anxiety. That same day, an artist friend painted a picture of a family of fish, all the same kind, rapidly swirling together.

I often go for a walk Wednesday mornings to worship and pray in the Spirit while listening to God for a topic for the GHPL. Stepping outdoors today, I was hyper-aware that the world is in a dark place. Anxiety has ramped up over preliminary evidence that COVID immunity is short-lived.

When I asked the Lord what to write about this week, I saw in my mind’s eye someone holding a cup of cold water. Immediately I thought of Jesus’ positive words about offering a cup of cold water. My mind also went to a description I’d read this week in a missionary’s email of the hardships and fears Canadian Muslims are experiencing because of COVID.

For some time I’ve wanted – even longed– to do a Bible study with a seeking Muslim or new believer from a Muslim background. An opportunity has arisen, as well as an excellent study tool.

The Bible documents the existence of numerous tribes from the time of Noah. Many have disappeared through slaughter or absorption; however, I met someone in Jordan last year whose family name is listed in Genesis 10! Successive empires – Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, the Medes & Persians, Greece, Rome – swept through the Middle East (ME), often systematically transplanting or mixing people groups.