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Need - 6,500 bags plus Bible - $196,225 Received and pledged - $146,842 (as of 3/12/2026) The following report came to us from one of our preachers in a land where becoming a Christian or possessing a Bible can bring capital punishment. He wrote: "Greetings to all of you in the name of our Savior. I want to thank you all for being partners in our ministry all these years. God has given us wonderful house churches* in our country. From the bottom of my heart, I want you to know that we appreciate the prayers and financial sacrifices you have made to help us reach our people for Christ." [*A house church is what all the New Testament churches were. In our case, most of these rented houses can accommodate up to 50 people at a time, but the congregation cannot all fit at once. They each have their allotted time, means of entry, and means of exit to avoid drawing attention. Generally, they have up to seven services a day. That means these "house churches" can have a total attendance of up to 350 people! We have hundreds of these now, from Morocco to Pakistan. - Jon] He continued: "I want to apologize in advance because I want to share with you one of the difficulties we face in the Islamic World. This time, my report will not focus on how the Lord used us to lead an individual to the knowledge of salvation. I believe we all ought to share with others about Him and report it to you, but this time I want to share with you the personal challenges we are facing here. I believe you are all aware of the magnitude of the difficulties, challenges, and pressures we face in evangelizing. Still, I want you to know about the pressures faced by those who have experienced Christ's salvation and live a life of Christian faith.” "Die like your ‘Lord of the cross.’" Police and Military security pressure is less harmful than what we experience at the family and social levels; in fact, we have learned through experience that the pursuit of security forces can sometimes be avoided. However, it's impossible to maintain employment in workplaces that dismiss employees for openly expressing doubts or ideas that run counter to the workplace's beliefs. In the families, if they learn of the apostasy of one of their children, they will sometimes kill them. If not, they abuse and imprison them inside the house or cast them out, leaving the person who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ homeless and without work or family. Few will dare give them food, shelter, or even a kind word. If they have children, they are forbidden ever to see them again. If it is a woman, she is divorced and cast out to be stoned to death. Or sometimes her family will not let her return home. At other times, it is the family that will initiate the stonings or crucifixions. Before even listening to the Gospel, the person who chooses the Christian faith realizes that doing so will mean being confronted by the wrath of the security institutions, their family*, and society." [*Their culture is greatly different from ours. Here, at age eighteen, kids sometimes move out and start their own lives. Over time, the parents see them only during holidays. Often, close siblings become distant relatives, and children forget their parents. This is not so in the Middle East. Family is everything. You carry your father's name and will not dare disgrace him. A sixty-year-old man, whose father is still alive, takes orders from his dad. Young people do not steal. Not only for fear of punishment, but also for the shame they would bring on the family name. Family is everything. I am only beginning to understand it. - Jon] He continues with a story. "About two months ago, I sat in a corner of a room with a sister in Christ who had accepted the Lord as her personal Savior and was discovered by her husband. She had been missing for five years. During that time, her husband tortured her psychologically and physically. He sometimes burned her face with acid and cigarettes to make her undesirable to all men. Then he divorced her without any rights*, not even allowing her to see her children. She told me, "I couldn't do anything, I was only praying to my Savior. When her husband first called her parents to tell them he discovered she had left Islam and followed Jesus, her oldest brother told him, 'Do whatever you want with her, don't bring her to our home, she's not clean, she has disgraced all of us.'” [*Without any rights means just that. A man can divorce his wife, but he still has financial obligations to her. But legally divorcing without rights absolves him of all responsibility. She is cast out, homeless, with no income, no job, and not allowed to see her children. She is considered by her government, relatives, and society to be dead. - Jon] “As she told me her story, she looked at my eyes and said, 'Forgive me, I denied my faith three times. The only one who would take me in was my sister, who is the second wife of a man. She would give me a room to live, but required that I deny Christianity three times to justify her allowing me to live there. I was crying, I didn't know what to do, and now I know that I might not be able to see you all anymore, but I didn't mention your names. You are safe. I will die before I speak your names. But thank you for sharing the Lord Jesus Christ with me.' Then she stood up and walked away. Her words pierced my heart deeply. I felt paralyzed and could not get up from my chair. I sat there crying and remembering many stories like hers. We will see them all again. You will never know how we have suffered. We don't ask for sponsorship from your country. We will stay where our Lord put us to do His work. We pray for your safety and prosperity so you can help us without suffering financially—so we can print and smuggle more Bibles, train more preachers, and win more of our people for Jesus. Forgive me for writing to you like this. We have our burdens, but you have many of your own. Know that as you pray for us, we pray for you." Jon writes now: When I heard this story in January, I was speechless. I don't personally know her; I don't even know her name. In fact, I know nothing about her other than what you have just read. Still, my heart was grieved for her—just as yours is now. I wanted to embrace her as my sister, mend her wounds, feed her, reunite her with her children, and give her a safe place to live—just as you do. Here is what I can surmise from experience. She was raised a Muslim girl and was thus subordinate to all men. From about the age of ten or eleven, she had to wear religious clothing. She could not leave the home without being accompanied by a male family member. She may or may not have had access to educational opportunities. In her teens, she was given to an older man to be his first, second, third, or fourth wife. Her children do not belong to her; they belong to their father. She is property and can be treated as her husband prefers. She would have believed that Jesus was a great prophet, but secondary to Mohammad, the greatest Prophet. She would learn that she was hated by Christians, ignored by society, and despised by her god, Allah. He will not hear her prayers. She would have been taught that she has no value outside the home and, worse, that there is only one true Bible and that it supports the Quran, is sequestered in the basements of the Vatican, and that all other Bibles are lies, inferior copies meant to destroy and discredit Islam. Still, she would have been touched deeply by the teachings of Jesus in the Quran, his mercy, patience, and love. She would know that to accept a Bible, pass along a Bible, or read a Bible could bring a death sentence and the loss of her family and self. Despite all this, and much more, she did the unthinkable and, after being exposed to one of our smuggled Bibles, chose to take up her cross, follow Christ, and die daily. After five years of torture and pain, she was able to escape long enough to find her pastor. Doing so is not easy, as all servants of God are constantly in hiding. She wanted to unburden herself of her denial of Christ so she could have a room to survive in. Peter did the same. They both repented and were forgiven. There were a thousand things she could have said to or requested from the pastor: a place to live where she could worship, medication for her wounds, surgery for her acid-scarred face, information about her children, etc. Instead, she chose to relay to him a heartbreaking message she felt was most important for him to hear, not for her, but for him. "Pastor, forgive me, I denied my faith three times … “I know that I might not be able to see you all anymore, but I didn't mention your name. You are safe. I will die before I speak your names. But thank you for sharing the Lord Jesus Christ with me.” For five years, she had refused to reveal the names of her pastors to protect them, even under extreme torture and isolation. She had borne their burden, and it had cost her everything. Having fulfilled her mission, she did not wait for consolation or praise, for recognition or honor; she just turned and walked away. These are the people for whom we come to you so very often, asking for offerings, for Bibles, Food Bags, and help. So many like her came to Christ when you allowed us to purchase Food Bags for them to share with poor neighbors. Christians, giving food to Muslims. It amazes them how the persecuted can love their persecutors, and it prompts them to ask life-long questions about Jesus and the Bible. This is why we ask you to help us buy Food Bags and Bibles. Last year, over 3,000 adults came to Christ after receiving a Food Bag. By mid-January this year, we have already tabulated that 2,315 adults have professed Christ openly. We have a trained group of 60 young adult volunteers, ages 19-24, who deliver the bags and risk their lives by systematically returning to each home to evangelize. Originally, our target was $160,225, and you gave $146,000. So, we have achieved 91% and need only the final 9% to finish the task. (=$16,000) THEN CAME WAR: This was the first time our men across several countries were allowed to coordinate and run the operation without our assistance. They did an exceptional job. However, several things happened that were beyond control.
These three issues have created a deficit of nearly $50,000. Fortunately, a dear benefactor and faithful partner in our ministry attempted to give us that amount. Unfortunately, because of SPIRITUAL WARFARE, his efforts were blocked, leaving us with a $50,000 deficit. Some would suggest we quit and abandon our brothers and sisters while we overeat and think happy thoughts. This is a spiritual war, and we didn’t enlist to quit. We cannot even see the enemy; we only feel the wounds he inflicts. (Don’t add doubts or a selfish attitude to our wounds.) We are aware of the price we may be called upon to pay, but until then, we will fight our Lord’s battles and die serving His servants. We are testing new, better, and cheaper ways to fight on, but this war has surprised us all and has affected the entire region of our operations. So we’re crawling out of the foxhole and attacking with bayonets fixed—it would sure be comforting to know you are with us. If you can help in any way, please donate on this page, or mail in a check and designate it to Bags of Hope Middle East. |
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