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What is God
Doing in
Iraq? |
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Iraq
Population: 24.1 million
Capital: Baghdad
People Groups: 42
Main Religion: Islam 97%
All
Christians: 1.5%
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World Help believes the window
of religious freedom in Iraq may be small. That's why the ministry is
gearing up to saturate the nation with God's Word. "We feel like we only
have a six-month window to saturate Iraq with Bibles and New Testaments,"
said spokesman Vernon Brewer. "At the end of June when the U.S. plans to
hand over the control of the government to the Iraqi people, we feel like
there'll be no guarantee that there will be any religious freedom
whatsoever." A Muslim-controlled government could change that. As a result,
World Help is working to distribute 250,000 New Testaments in the country.
"We also want to be involved in an Iraqi-led church planting movement, and
to see the church in Iraq strengthened and equipped for a systematic
home-to-home, door-to-door approach to sharing the gospel," Brewer said.
Mission
Network News, January 2004 |
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It would be hard to imagine a time that Maher hasn't smiled. Though short in
stature, the Madian-born Iraqi lights up a room, whether it's at the
hospital where he helps translate for Iraqi patients, or in his church which
has now held services for 10 weeks in a row. There was a low point in his
life. It came as he was being interrogated in Saddam Hussein's military
intelligence prison - the most feared prison in all of Iraq. As he heard
stories of other prisoners there who had been severely tortured by the same
men questioning him, he wondered whether he would ever see home again. Maher
Abdul Mageed was born into the Madian culture, a sect that can be traced
back to the original followers of John the Baptist. Though 90 percent of
John the Baptist's followers turned to Jesus Christ after their leader's
death, some did not, choosing instead to worship John, a religion that has
been passed down for generations. Maher accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior
in 1994 after first hearing the Gospel from his brother who had left Iraq
for another country. Within a year, Maher felt called by God into ministry,
though there was no evangelism training in Iraq. Under Saddam's
dictatorship, preaching could result in a three-year prison term. A father
and a husband, Maher decided to start a media ministry. He reasoned that
audio tapes, books, CDs and videos were the easiest way to preach the Gospel
without being accused of proselytizing. Using double-deck cassette players,
he would stay up until midnight each night taping various Christian
programs. His wife would then help copy the tapes while she cooked. He was
eager to share his tapes and CDs with fellow members of the church he
attended, the sole Arabic evangelical church in the area where he lived. Word
began to spread throughout the church and surrounding neighborhoods about
Maher's ministry, which concerned the local church council's several members
who also belonged to the Baath Party. "They asked me to stop my media
ministry and said it was becoming a problem," Maher recounted. "I asked
them, why? They were fearful that Saddam would close the church." Over the
next few months, Maher tried his best to meet the council's requests,
without shutting down his ministry altogether. Still, the moment came when
he was asked to do just that. The leader of the church council confronted
him on everything he had been doing, from passing out tapes to printing and
distributing a flyer with the plan of salvation on it. "I told him, 'I'm not
doing anything wrong,'" Maher said. "He told me, 'You don't like to obey my
orders.' I just said, 'I don't like to not obey my Jesus.'" That was on
Friday. The following evening, Maher was sitting in his living room chair,
watching TV and eating peanuts in his pajamas and robe when someone knocked
at the door. Two men, security agents for Saddam Hussein, quickly informed
him that he must not open his mouth nor make any sudden movements. A man who
had frequently borrowed tapes from Maher's ministry stood there as well. He
quickly pointed to Maher and nodded to the men, leaving as quickly as he
came. Maher made up an excuse to run upstairs where his wife was. He quickly
told her what was happening and instructed her to hide the mountain of audio
cassettes and videotapes they had brought home from the church. In all, 10
evangelical pastors were arrested that day. Maher spent five days in a
4-by-4-meter room with five Muslims who had been accused of political
crimes. When he was brought in for interrogation, a cold chill ran through
his body as he was told what the charges were. "They had been listening to
the CDs I passed out," Maher said. "One of the recordings talked about a
leader's integrity, and the fact that the best leaders in the world are
Christians. To them, that meant I was opposing Saddam being the leader of
the world. That was the lowest moment for me because I knew they had torture
devices. I started praying." Five days
later, Maher was released unharmed, though many of the other pastors were
imprisoned until Hussein released the prisoners right before the war began.
Since the initial bombing has ended, Maher and his family have enjoyed a new
freedom to worship and share their faith with others. They have started a
church which is housed in a local Anglican church building, with 90 percent
of those who attend are brand-new believers. "Jesus filled us with more
purpose," said Eman, Maher's wife. "He filled us with a great ambition to
tell the people about grace and God's Good News." More than 10,000 Iraqis
already have been touched by Maher's media ministry since it began. He
believes the future will only get better. "Thirty-five years of
dictatorship, we are tired. Enough's enough."
Baptist Press News, January 2004
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This story of hope comes from a
leader in the Middle East who typed it while driving back across the desert
from Baghdad with a Korean missionary family who had spent the last three
months in Sadir City. Formerly called Saddam City, this is the centre of
Shia Islam in Baghdad, with four million people who have been systematically
oppressed under Saddam's regime. They were coordinating Korean medical and
relief teams, and befriended the city's religious and community leaders and
plan to move back to Baghdad later this year. On the last day of the
leader's visit, he visited Georges (name changed). Georges has requested his
mission to run a discipleship course for his people, which will start next
month. Georges was pastor of an underground church that had grown to over
100 people. One night in February this year, the secret police came and took
him from his home to the infamous Red Building - named from the colour of
blood. Georges found himself crammed into a two metre square cell, in total
darkness - with six other religious leaders: three Shiite and three Sunni
Muslims. From the first day they asked him to tell them about Jesus, but he
refused. Instead he told them about Adam and Eve, the next day about Noah,
then Abraham etc. Finally after 10 days of laying foundations they were
begging him to tell them about Jesus. So the next day he told them the
biblical story about Jesus. After he finished there was silence for the
longest time. Finally some started asking questions, but not the usual
religious argumentative questions, but genuine questions seeking to
understand. The atmosphere of the cell changed. One man began asking Georges
to pray for him every time he was taken away to be tortured. They even ended
up sharing communion together. Miraculously Georges was released a few days
before the war. No one was ever released from the secret police building
before. The only way out was in a coffin. At least one of the others was
also released as he now comes to visit Georges. The leader continued his
report stating his excitement at the future opportunities opening up in
Iraq. "It really is a new season in a new country. It seems the Brazilians
and Koreans are taking up the challenge, but it’s important for all of us to
play our part. If we wait for all to be quiet, it will be a long time before
some parts of the world hear the gospel. The Iraqis are revelling in a
new-found freedom, but there is still much pain and heartache in their
lives. Pray for the full revelation of the freedom that Christ brings."
Joel News International, August 2003 |
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Saddam Hussein's wild son Uday,
whose debaucherous lifestyle has been creating headlines for years, was
bedridden for some time last year after being shot. We have now heard from a
reliable source that a young Christian called Rahkma (name changed) "saw
herself explaining the gospel to Uday in a dream". The dream made such an
impression that she immediately set off on her way to Uday's office in
Baghdad. "I have a message for Uday from Jesus Christ, which I can only give
him verbally," she told the security guards, who initially suspected an
unusual joke, but Rahkma persisted. "Jesus Christ is a well-known person,"
one of the guards said, "so perhaps we should let the woman in," and spoke
with Uday. "There's a woman here who claims to have a message for you from
Jesus Christ. We can't get rid of her. What should we do?" Uday told his
secretary to send Rahkma to him in his limousine. She spent 2 hours with
him, and could not only explain the gospel to him but also pray with him to
invite Jesus into his life. According to the report, Uday was crying as he
prayed. "What can I do for you or your family?" asked Uday. "Nothing,"
replied Rahkma, giving him a Bible. "I'm simply your sister now." Observers
consider it unthinkable that Uday will publicly speak of his experience with
Jesus in Iraq's current religious and political climate. However, during a
televised speech some days later, he spoke out for increased tolerance
towards Christians.
DAWN Friday Fax, March 1998 |
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Yusef Matti, an evangelical pastor in
northern Iraq, was forced to take his family into hiding after armed men
threatened to kill him if he did not leave the region. The 100-member
congregation, Grace Evangelical Church, was forced to close after a mob
attacked its facility and bomb threats were made. Yet in the past seven
years the Christian Church in Baghdad has grown from 250 members to
1,200 members. One Christian leader there says, "Saddam Hussein, because
of his oppression, has done more to advance the spread of Christianity
in the Middle East than all the foreign missionaries have done in the
last 50 years." It is noted that 50 Christians are employed in Saddam's
palace because he can trust them.
Prayer Link, June 1998 |
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I was born to Muslim parents, and I'm a
descendent of 'ALI IBN ABU TALIb' the cousin of Mohammed, the prophet
of Islam, and the fourth Caliph (i.e., "ruler"). At an early age, I
was one of the Muslims believers who performed all of the religious
duties, from praying to fasting and everything in between. I was
planning to be an Imam of a mosque, like my grandfather. I started to
study the Fiqh and the Quran (Islamic sacred scripture), but after some
time, I felt bored reading similar books and essays. I recognised that
there are a lot of differences in Islam. For instance, in Iraq (my
country), there are a lot of Shia, and it was strange for a Sunni like
me to know that there was someone different from his faith but claiming
to be Muslim, so I decided to study the various Islamic schools of
thought. After a lot of reading in this field, I become more familiar
with Mu'tazilah than any other school of thought. Mu'tazilah is more
reasonable than the rest of the schools, in the sense that it involves
argumentation and philosophy. I began to be open-minded for the first
time in my life. Gradually, I decided to study other religions. I tried
to preach the Quran, starting in Da'wa (i.e, evangelizm) with some young
Christians, using my good knowledge of the argumentative tools, and I
created many faith problems for them. Because of this, their families
appealed to the priest of their church and asked him to invite me to
visit him. Arguing with him was very difficult for me because he always
answered all my doubting questions. After I had known him a year, he
died, but he had changed a lot of my thoughts about Christianity.
However, I still didn't believe in it. After this, I started to see
Islam with new eyes, seeing the contradictions in it, studying it in
comparison to Christianity. One night in a dream, I saw a vision of a
man with a beard talking to me: "Son", he asked me, "why do you attack
my sheep?" I replied, "Who are you sir?" He answered, "Jesus Christ" So,
I answered his question, "I'm not attacking your sheep, sir, I'm trying
to bring your lost sheep back to the straight path." He said, "You are
the one who is lost; I'm the straight path." I woke up asking myself a
number of questions: Did I really see Jesus? He said that I'm lost. What
did he mean? Does that mean that the Christian is right and that I'm on
the wrong path? But it was only a dream. Still, Mohammed said in one of
his Hadith that if you see a prophet in a dream, you see him truly
because Satan could not act like a prophet in a vision. Obey him, and
follow what he says. That is what Mohammed said.
After some time being a little confused,
I left the two religions and became a non-believer. Around that time, my
father (a high-ranking officer) died in a car accident, which we assumed
was a natural accident. So, I kept carrying on with my life, and because
I had inherited from my father a good fortune, I was able to do a lot of
wicked things-wasting money on sex, alcohol, drugs, whatever I could
find for pleasure. After a period of time, I heard again a voice (which
I knew was Jesus' voice), saying, "Run away from your country NOW!"
This voice was firm with me, so I woke up, I bagged my things,
and in a few hours, I was outside Iraq
and heading for my mother's home in another Arabic country. When I was
in the airplane (that was 1990, and Iraq was not under the siege), I
began to doubt my actions and started to blame myself for the stupid
thing I was doing. But then, I told myself, "Well, let's have an early
vacation. I can at least thank Jesus for that". And I smiled at the evil
thoughts about what I was going to do for pleasure on my trip. When I
landed in the Arabic country that I was traveling to, I went to my
grandfather's house. There, I called my mother back in Iraq saying,
"Mom, don't worry-I'm visiting here for a while, and then, I'll return
home". She replied, "Don't ever think about coming back-there was a
police unit seeking you!" Knowing that I had never broken the law or
even been involved in any political opposition, I answered in shock,
"What??!! What you are talking about?!" She said, "They were seeking
some military documents that they think that your father hid, and for
this (they had told her), he was assassinated. Thank God that you
left-they thought that you had the documents. They took your brothers
(from another mother), too, to investigate them". I was shocked. I felt
dizzy. I could not imagine what would happen! But if I were there in
Iraq, they would torture me to confess what I had not done, and maybe
they would kill me. What an unexpected danger I had escaped from! I had
never imagined that I would have to flee for my life. I had never had a
thought that I could ever be in such danger. Who could have known such a
future for me?! God alone could have known it! So, was Jesus God?!! I
really became confused, shocked, dizzy, and-in this condition-passed
out. After a few hours, I woke up from my comatose state, and I start to
pray to God, sincerely asking Him to show me the way, the truth. After
that, I dreamed again of Jesus, and he said to me, "I love you. Why you
don't love me likewise? Come to me because I have a plan for you". I
woke up crying. He was looking for me, and I was trying to escape from
him. He wanted me to be with him, and I was not. He had saved me from
the hands of the Iraqi torture machine, so I told him, "I'm coming to
you, Jesus, even if this costs me my life". At that moment, He entered
my life, and become my Lord and Savior. I really was washed in His pure
blood, becoming another person, one reborn in His grace. Local
Christian churches refused to help me at first, and for a period of
time, I felt that I was very alone and that only God was with me. The
only real worry that I had, however, was about my means of living, for I
had left my wealth behind me, and unfortunately for me, the Iraqi
authorities had confiscated all my property. After a long period of
time in my mother's country, where I was witnessing for Jesus, extremist
Islamic groups there discovered my apostasy from Islam. They held a
faith court about me, and commanded me to repent and renew my faith in
Islam, or they would kill me for being a Murttad (i.e., "apostate").
They gave me 2 days to make my decision. I tried to go to the police for
protection, but the police arrested me for inciting activities against
Islam and disturbing community security. They put me in jail and started
to investigate me, asking about other converts and about missionaries. I
was lucky that I had not been baptized yet because they emphasised the
following
questions: "Have you ever been
baptized?!" "Who baptized you?!" "Which church do you attend?!" "Who
evangelized you?!". My being a foreigner helped me, for they eventually
released me and commanded me to leave the county, giving me only a very
short period in which to do so. God provided me a visa to an Eastern
European country, and I left my mother's country within the time they
had demanded. May God bless you, and guide you to His truth.
In Search of Peace, October 2000 |
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German