New Vision
for Missions to Muslims
You can
also participate in God’s Wondrous Plan for Egypt and the Middle East
I am
fortunate to participate in God’s plan
With
a prayerful heart and eager anticipation, the 2015 Los Angeles Egypt Mission
Team departed from Los Angeles.
Our
team was joined by a team from Hong Kong totaling 23 members coming from
different churches. Team members included several pastors and intercessers. Our
goal was to hold several evangelical meetings (they were not allowed and so was
called healing meetings), visit several local churches and major meeting. With
prayer, we began our spiritual battle, asking God to revive the churches in
Egypt, allow God’s kingdom, His purity and His righteousness reign over Egypt.
As we began our mission trip, we neither have a very clear understanding of the
meaning of all of these, nor what can be done, so in our private prayer was
“May God open our eyes so we can see His purpose and witness God’s work”.
As
we began our trip at the airport, we first hand experienced God’s hand leading
the way. It so happened that we had a Parkistani driver driving us to the
airport, and on the plane we met a Jew who is hunger for the Word. And it so
happened that we met a group of Bangladesh workers travelling to Iraq; we had
the opportunity to share with them the gospel. With our daily prayers and
devotion, anytime and anywhere the horn of blessing was blown. Several of the
originally planned large meetings were changed to small gatherings or even
cancelled, God has changed our itinerary. He led us to meet with several of the
spiritual leaders. God’s way is higher than our way. The end result is not what
we came to do, but to witness God’s work in progress. We came to witness God’s
promise and today it is coming true.
Or
maybe we were able to enter the glory, it seemed like we were able to see the
blue print for Egyptian churches responding to the call for missions to
Muslims. Our small group was pushed into God’s everlasting plan of Pisgah
mount, and caught a glimpse of God’s end time revival. We dare not keep this to
ourselves, withhold our proclamation. It was just like what is stated in King
II 7: 9: “ Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right.
This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until
daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the
royal palace.”
From
Daniel 9: 1-3 “In the first year of
Darius son of Xerxes[a] (a Mede by descent), who was
made ruler over the Babylonian[b] kingdom— 2 in the
first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according
to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the
desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned
to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in
fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.” Daniel fasted, in sackcloth
and ashes.
Daniel completely
trusted in God’s words and prayed accordingly. In three years, God made Cyrus King of Persia allow 50,000 Jews to
return, this was exactly 70 years after the Jews were captured. He witnessed
with his own eyes the miracle was completed just as recorded in the Scripture.
Because of his belief, he was able to participate in God’s plan for the return
of the Jews. Likewise, we are the same, it is all God’s grace that we can take
part in Egypt’s revival and can share this with the Chinese churches. If you
also believe in God’s promise to Daniel, you will see God’s glory and take part
in His magnificent plan.
The
End Time Revival and the Crucial Steps in the Process
Let’s
first look at how God carries out His plan. Generally speaking, God has a promise
or a prophecy (God’s mouth), plus followed by events in history (God’s hand)
plus men’s participation (the last is not always necessary). Just like the
return of the Jews, through the prophets, He foretold the 70 year duration, He
mad Cyrus King proclaimed, He moved
Daniel to pray. If Daniel did not pray, God’s will still will be done, the only
difference is Daniel would have no part in it.
In
terms of the 2nd coming of Christ, biblical scholars believe there
are still three conditions to be met, “spreading the gospel to all people”, “rebuilding
of the temple” and “all Jews will be saved”. Except for prayer, today we are to
participate fully in “spreading the gospel to all people” and “all Jews will be
saved”. A lot of churches are already participating in the efforts to fulfill
the 1st condition. In terms of the third condition, how is this
progressing?
“All
Jews will be saved” the second to the final step, up to now, there are two strategies,
which are both good. First is to bring the gospel directly to the Jewish
people, and second, bring the gospel through the “silk road” (Back to Jerusalem
Movement ). Other than these, are there any other approach that are closer to the
biblical approach of mission?
This
mission trip allows me to see: “It is almost impossible to bring believers through
Muslim countries. But God has this hidden mystery, through generations of
hatred, one turn from hatred to love, even to bring the gospel to the Jews.
Even in certain instances, through the dying for the Jews, (love can cover all
sins), this saying can be fulfilled, the moment for all Jews to return to God
has arrived.
“All
Jews will be saved”, the third to the final step, large number of Muslims in
the Arab countries believe in the gospel, and they in turn bring the gospel to
the Jews, then large number of Jews will turn to God. If this is to be done,
how will God carry this out? Did the Bible mention large number of Muslims turning
to God? Yes it did:
Psalm
87: 3-7
Glorious things are said of you, city of God:[a]
4 “I will record
Rahab[b] and Babylon among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre,
along with Cush[c]—
and will say,
‘This one was born in Zion.’”[d]
5 Indeed, of
Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in
her,
and the Most
High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in
the register of the
peoples:
“This one was
born in Zion.”
7 As they make
music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.”
Rahab
is today’s Egypt (Isaiah 30: 7). Babylon is today’s Iraq, Syria, and Arabia, Philisti is today’s Jordan and Parkistan,
Torah, today’s Lebanon, Cush is today’s North Africa, all Muslim countries.
This passage prophesized people in these countries will be saved, what a
glorious event. Their source is in Jesus, and they are to live there.
“All
Jews are to be saved”, what is the fourth to the final step? It is that Egypt
will be the first to be saved among the Muslims. Is there an order in terms of
who is to revive first? It is first Egypt, are there any other supporting
passages in scripture? Isaiah 19 : 22 -25 state:
22 The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will
strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas
and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians
will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will
worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the
third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing[a] on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them,
saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel
my inheritance.
The Egyptians will be God’s people, how can that
be? Do I hear it correctly? But through this short mission trip, through prayer
and personal witness, I truly believe God’s word is being fulfilled, the
Egyptians are God’s people, and is an entry point into the neighboring Arab
world. Israel is not in third place, position wise, but third in the process.
The
Crucial Meaning of Mission to Egypt
There are at least ten reasons supporting the fact
that Egypt will be the entry point to the surrounding Muslim countries.
ΠIsaiah
19: 24
24 In that
day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a
blessing[a] on
the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them,
saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel
my inheritance.
Psalm 87: 4 I will record Rahab (Egypt)[a] and Babylon (Assryria)
among those who acknowledge
me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with
Cush(other Muslim regions)[b]—
ŽEgypt is located in the Mediterranean, important
entry/exit point to the Red Sea, intersection point for Europe, Asia and
Africa. Egypt has always been the trade center in the middle east, important
military site, politically strong.
Egypt no longer uses the old Egyptian language
but uses the same language as the surrounding countries. Culturally, it will be
easiest to bring the gospel to the neighboring countries. In the early days,
Greek was used as a means to bring the Bible and gospel to the world, now the
Arabic language can serve the same purpose.
Jesus in His childhood days, went to Egypt with
His parents. This land that Jesus walked on should have special meaning.
‘In June 2012, Muslim Brotherhood took power but
was overturned in July 2013. Now politics and religion are quite open to
Christians, people in power are quite friendly to Christians. We have met large
groups of students in churches and museums all expressed interest to contact
with Christians. We even heard there is a church in the middle of the city
frequently have Muslim officials visit and observe. During our visit, we have
also witnessed people from neighboring countries visiting Egypt as tourists,
for business and enjoy religious freedom.
’Hager (Egyptian) is Ishmael (middle eastern) mother.
So middle eastern people are descendants of Egyptians, establishing the
relationship biologically, we hope spiritually they will be similarly related.
“From the Bible, we see Egypt is richer than its neighboring
countries, Abraham and his family, Jeremiah, Jesus and His father, they all
went to Egypt. Joseph distributed food from Egypt. The first Old Testament (Septuagint，LXX) were translated in Alexandria. Today, can it
also be the land to distribute the gospel-the spiritual food?
”In the early day churches, Egypt was one of the
five major parish. In the first century, Mark went as a missionary to Egypt,
bringing the gospel to Egypt. So from the 5th to 9th
century, the Egyptians established the Coptic Church. In the city of
Alexandria, one can find the church set up by Mark, and other churches,
monasteries. After the Muslim took over Egypt, there were plenty of Chirstian
martyrs and blood shed from Christians. The blood from these martyrs are still speaking.
•Burnt but not destroyed. As of today, Egypt still
has the most Christians among the middle eastern region (roughly ten to fifteen
percent of the Egyptian population.
New Opportunity for the North American Chinese
Churches
From this trip, I deeply feel that God has greatly blessed
the Chinese churches. I sensed the love of Egyptians for the Chinese. Everywhere
we went, they all wanted to have pictures taken with us; this is a big
difference from the deep hatred that the Egyptians have for the western country
missionaries. Today is a good opportunity for the Chinese missionaries.
God’s words are clearly stated in Psalm 87 and Isaiah 19 and
is fully proven in the current environment. It is clear, Egypt is God’s chosen
country to revive, making it an entry point to the surrounding Arab countries. If
we don’t keep step with God we will lose our position in God’s plan and lose
the opportunity to witness God’s glorious work, keeping ourselves out of God’s
work.
God’s will will be done. He alone does miraculous things, but
He is mindful of us and wants to invite us to be His coworkers. Who are we to
deserve such blessing? Time lost will never be regain, we will never have this
opportunity again. What kind of awareness are we to be, how do we prepare
ourselves, how do we offer ourselves, how do we pay the price for such a
glorious moment?
Our God is a trustworthy God, what He said will be accomplished
in every detail. His blessing on the North American churches are especially
rich, spiritual, financial, education, training, medical resources, far surpass
those poured out to the other countries in the world. What we received freely,
we are to offer freely.
Didn’t Isaiah 49: 12 has already prophesied that our
descendants are to come to God?
What can the North American Chinese churches do? The churches
are to pray and pray for revival. This is the first step. There are three
others
First, with one heart and one mind, we are to witness. The
devil is not afraid of us individually, or with us fighting each other (Matt
24: 49), such as famous evangelist. He can tear down what is built. But the
devil is afraid of the twelve weak disciples who were fishermen. God’s heart is
much bigger than ours. God said who is against us is helping us, but we say,
whoever does not agree with us cannot walk with us, we will put a stop to it,
even put them to death. There are people who made it their goal to make fun of
the evangelist all in the name of “defending the truth”. They don’t even know
that they are being used by the devil. No wander, there is a missionary couple
to North Africa, they said in war torn countries, the missionaries do not
identify with any denomination. Missionaries from all denomination work
together with one heart and one mind, to spread the gospel. They don’t have
time for in-fighting with each other.
A lot of churches have set aside 10% or more of their budget
for mission. But only one percent of the fund goes to mission to the Muslims or
the unreached, the rest of the fund goes for mission to land where there are
already churches. Actually, sending missionaries to reach the unreached or
Muslims should be the main effort. After our trip to Egypt, our church has made
adjustment to our mission budget, we directed all our mission budget for
reaching the unreached or reaching the Muslims. This is not extreme, because
even if all the Chinese churches in the world are to do likewise, it does not
even balance the gross inbalance in global mission fund. Are you willing to
follow suit?
We are to bless Egypt and the Egyptian churches in every way
possible, in short term mission support, prayer, and training. To proclaim
God’s promise to Egypt. We can encourage believers to do business in Egypt.
What we do may not amount to much, but God values our action. Let us strive
together, we may even witness the miracle of five loaves of bread and two fish,
using the limited to feed the unlimited. God’s promise is at work, you will
more and more trust in God’s word, you will pray according to God’s will. We
may not be able to claim that we helped the Egyptian churches enter their
destiny, but at least we can claim we accompanied them.
This may be the “blessed Esther” (the Northern American
Chinese churches), this is our opportunity, only by grasping this opportunity
can we can show that we compatible with the grace that we received. May one day
we can all claim we have participated in this plan for Egypt, we have stood by
their side, suffered with them, wept with them. Egypt will return to God.
Muslims will return to God, Israel will return to God. Amen! Amen!
May the following serve as a reminder and an encouragement
Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s
people live together in unity!
2 It is like
precious oil poured on the head,
running down
on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the
collar of his robe.
Gen 12: 3 Matt 24: 14
and all
peoples on earth will be blessed through you. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and
then the end will come.
Isaiah 19: 23 –
25
In that day there
will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to
Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will
worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and
Assyria, a blessing[a] on the
earth. 25 The Lord Almighty
will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my
handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.
Since early 2015, large
number of refugees from Syria, Afganistan, Iraq and other surrounding Muslim
countries have reached eastern European countries via land, and another several
hundred thousands reached by sea to the “Christian countries” such as Germany,
Sweden etc. Now this refugee issue has caused major problem in these countries
and the situation is getting worse by the day. These people with different
race, mostly Muslims will cause “As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be
partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with
baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any
more than iron mixes with clay (Dan 2: 42-43). Situation will get worse. The
rock not cast out by the human hand will appear (God is the living stone, once
abandoned). Let us eagerly await God’s prophesy to be fulfilled. May we all
participate in this Mission to Muslim movement. This rock will shatter the
countries, and turn into mountain, you and I are witnesses to this. (We will be
like this rock as I Peter 2: 4 prophesied.
慕宣新視野1
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