The Burden
- The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge,
O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. The inhabitants of the land of Tema
brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread
him that fled. For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and
from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. For thus hath the
Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling,
and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: And the residue of the number of
archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished:
for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it. (Isaiah 21:13-17)
The Lord began by showing me the need for the Gospel among Islamic peoples. Then he graced me with an urgency and ability to intercede in this area. This is what we call a burden. Then he gradually revealed a vision of Islamic countries being reached with the gospel. A Desert Harvest. Then, astonishingly, he invited me to be a part of it. The Burden, The Vision and The Call. This is how I came to be called to Arabia. First, several influences led to a burden for Muslims.
I came to the Lord in 1985 in a Full Gospel Church. Reserve Christian Church in Reserve LA, has a long record of missions involvement. My spiritual outlook soon included a concern for world missions. It was intensified by the power of a dramatic musical, 'The Spirit and the Bride say Go!' There the Church, the Bride of Christ, was personified as the 'going bride' and the 'sending bride'. That is, those who go on the mission field and those who send them. The home church is the sending bride providing finances and most importantly prayer support. My personal situation, a heavy load of debt, would keep me from going out of course but I committed to be a diligent prayer and financial supporter.
The Islamic emphasis began with a 'borrowed' copy of Mission Frontiers. April-May 1989 Vol. 11 nrs. 4-5. I still have it and it still has the address label saying "Ed Pousson - Gulf States. Mission Agency."
In that issue, the US Center for World Missions announced their 1990 Unreached Peoples Poster. At the bargain price for quantity purchases I ended up getting a half dozen of them, mostly to give away. This poster is a real eye-opener. The people groups of the world are represented in a pie chart. The angle of the arc for each slice of pie is proportional to the group's share of the total world population. Their are 9 groupings. Within each group areas are shaded representing what portion of the people in the group fall into one of four categories. White = Great Commission Christians, Yellow = Other Christians, Gray = Non-Christians within reach, and Black = Non Christians still unreached.
It's both awesome and shocking to note the darkness in the Muslim region graphically portrayed. The area devoted to Muslims has only the tiniest speck of white, a dab of gray and the rest black. Nearly a Billion people in darkness! Of all the groups represented, Muslims had the least penetration by the Gospel.
I took out a subscription to Mission Frontiers to get my own copy. The 1989 issue of Mission Frontiers (Vol 11 Nrs 11-12), highlighted Muslim Missions. The issue included a book review of 'The Cross and the Crescent' by Phil Parshall and an in depth article by Tom Trueman titled "Fresh Thinking on Muslim Missions" He quotes World Christian magazine: "Historically, Islam has been Christianity's greatest challenge." and goes on to discuss problems with missionaries approach to Muslims. Here is part of an excerpt from a memo from a mission agency to Muslims which he also quotes in the article.
"The Challenge of the Muslim World"
As we move into the 1990's we rejoice that the Church of Jesus Christ has made significant inroads among:
* major towns and cities of India;
* the Chinese;
* Latin America;
* Sub-Saharan non-Muslim Africa;
* all of Europe - even Eastern Europe...;
The great remaining challenge in COMPLETING THE GREAT COMMISSION is the Muslim world. It was becoming more apparent to me all the time.
My burden continued to be stirred up with the announcement by Gulf States Missions Agency, whose offices were housed at Reserve Christian, that it was time to cultivate Muslim awareness. Dr. Robert Douglas came to Reserve on Feb 11 1990 to speak on Islamic Missions in a talk titled "The Desert Shall Bloom (Isa. 35:1-7)." Douglas is or was the head of the Zwemer Institute, an agency, headquartered at the US Center for World Missions, dedicated to Islamic Missions. (It is named after Samuel Zwemer, an American of Dutch extraction who served in the earlier part of this century. He is known as the Apostle to Islam.)
Douglas spoke on Missions as finding out what God is doing in the world and then cooperating with him. He talked of the challenge that Islam presents to Christianity and the tremendous lack of missionaries actually working with Muslims.
I soon found myself praying with special intensity for the Islamic people when we held our missions prayer sessions. Late in the summer of 1990 around the time Iraq invaded Kuwait, I began to get the Vision.
Operation Desert Harvest: The Vision.
"And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper." 2 Chron. 20:20
To "Believe His Prophets" is extremely important. We live today in an age when God's is using prophets again to reveal his plans. The following excerpts and quotations are from the prophets that God used to birth an excitement in my spirit; a vision for a great harvest among Muslims. The first article quoted presents an astonishing prophecy of the fall of Islam. The others all provide confirmation in one way or other.
This first item is an excerpt from an article by Steve Lightle that appeared in Christ for The Nations mid 1990. "A Prophetic Bell is Ringing".
"In May of this year [1990], I entered the city of Bosra, Iraq. I was there with what we call a Holy Ghost Commando Team. I arrived on the 28th of May. On that day, a special summit conference of the Arab nations was held in Baghdad. The subject was how to stop Soviet Jews from going to Israel. It was called one week before we made the trip which we had planned three years earlier. Nothing came of the Arab Summit Conference. And I know why: because we had a twenty-four hour prayer chain going....
In 1985, the Lord brought Daniel Chapter Nine alive to me. As I read about the Babylonian captivity being only seventy years long, I began to think about how long Communism had been ruling, bringing 70% of the population of the whole world under its dominion.
The Bible says in the 19th chapter of Revelation that the ruling spirit in the last days is going to be the spirit of Babylon. I asked the Lord, "When are You going to deal with Communism?" The Lord said, "I am ready to deal with it. Go." Daniel read the prophecies of Jeremiah in the 68th year of captivity; for two years he prayed specifically about what he read there. He battled the principalities and the powers; God sent the archangels to help him as he pressed through to get things done.
Like Daniel, for two years we prayed and listened to the Lord. Lenin signed the Constitution of the Soviet Union on the 17th of October, 1917. On the 17th of October, 1987, exactly 70 years later, twelve of us were in the city of Moscow. As midnight passed, we were exactly in the spot where Lenin signed the Constitution. We made a circle, and in obedience to the Lord in prayer, we cancelled the Soviet Union's Constitution in the Name of the Lord and agreed He would make a new one.
Eleven months later, November of 1988, Mr. Gorbachev called the Supreme Soviets together and they changed 52 points of the Constitution of the Soviet Union. In January 1989, over a hundred points were changed, and in April of this year the part of the Constitution of the Soviet Union was struck out which had said there could be only one party, the Communist Party. The death blow came by prayer, "Without a vision, the people perish..." (Prov. 29:18).
One the way to Moscow in 1987, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "Your next strike will be in Babylon..." On the airplane I was handed a newspaper; on the inside of the front page there was an article about Sadam Hussein of Iraq rebuilding the city of Babylon. And then the Holy Spirit spoke and said, "This step of going to Babylon will be the first one before you go to stand on the black rock in Mecca to preach the Gospel. I am going to break the back of Islam quicker than I broke the back of Communism." There are almost a billion Muslims in the world today and the Lord loves them and doesn't want them to perish. He is looking for those who really understand so that they will cooperate with Him - first in prayer and then to do his will.
We have the same God Daniel had. He is looking for those to whom He can give vision so they can participate with Him. "Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint..." (RSV) "...where there is no vision, the people perish... (Prov. 29:18 KJV). When people have not received that which the Lord wants to do, then all the restraint comes off and they just go do what is right in their own eyes, and the purposes of God are not accomplished.
God has chosen to do absolutely nothing except what He energizes by the Holy Spirit through prayer through the body of Christ. Through His servants, He is going to change the course of history!"
Those words: "I am going to break the back of Islam quicker than I broke the back of Communism." rang a bell in my spirit. They still do every time I reread them. When an awesome and exciting prophecy like this comes along, it may or may not stir your spirit. But it needs to "go on the shelf". It must wait judging by those in spiritual authority. And it must wait for other words of confirmation.
In the fall 1990 Desert Shield progressed into a massive troop buildup. Our missions pastor, GSMA director Brother Dick, confided to me that according to his contacts, nobody in the body of Christ had gotten a clear word from the Lord on the Mid East situation. (I felt the Lord was waiting to see if we would pray, so I prayed.)
Word was not long in coming. And it was a word that confirmed Steve Lightle's prophecy! Late in 1990 as the Allied forces were preparing to go to war against Iraq, it appeared in a journal put out by Francis Frangipane. In 'The Spirit of God's Kingdom', an article titled "Middle East Prayer Watch" by Reuven Doron contained this word.
"As the Drama Unfolds in the Middle-East, we feel strongly the need to alert and inform the intercessors of our discernment. The aggressive amassing of armies in the region are but a reflection of the intensifying spiritual conflict in the heavenlies.
Isaiah 24 and Hebrews 12 both tell us that, in these last days, all the world systems shall be shaken and removed. The voice of the Lord is already thundering in the heavenlies as we see communism shaken and falling to the earth, liberating millions from bondage. Next is Islam.
As a demonic principality and a world religion, Islam controls one-fifth of the global population and is fanatically anti-christ. Islam's stated goal is world domination by means of territorial conquest and the utter submission of all souls to the "Great Allah," a demon prince! This violent religion is woven together with unrestrained nationalistic fervor to unite the Arab world into one nation. These very days it looms over the Middle East more lethal than ever. Yet, God's purpose is to dismantle this principality and it's deceptions and bring a great harvest from the Arab Nations! Therefore, we are called to pray and war against this principality. The Lord's admonition is: "The greater the victory and gains in the heavenly battleground, the less blood will be shed on the earthly battleground!"`
He also compares, as many others do, the Fall of Communism to the coming fall (or anticipated coming fall) of Islam. In the Spirit of God's Kingdom Vol 5 nr 1. Jan 1991 Reuven Doron wrote on this topic once again in a section titled: Middle East Prayer Alert
"By the time these words reach you, the war will be nearly three weeks old and probably much uglier than it is today. As we have exhorted earlier, our primary burden still is: "The greater the victory the church gains in the heavenly battlefields, the less blood will be shed in the earthly ones."
"The spiritual battle over the Middle East is to serve the Lord's purpose, which is to dismantle the stronghold of Islam, the principality over Babylon, as well as to topple the religious bondage over the region. By the time the war is over the whole Middle East, we believe, will be opened to the gospel as never before! God will bring a great harvest of souls out of the Arab World!"
So Reuven Doron gave us the second prophecy of the Fall of Islam. The third was not long in coming.
A powerful resurgence of united prayer began in our local church about one month before the fighting began. Shortly after the beginning of the War, I recall a particular prayer meeting at which one of the intercessors mentioned that they had received word to bind the "Prince of Persia". We followed that word at many of our meetings, not stopping to consider that Persia (Iran) was, strictly speaking, not even involved in the war. Of course we also bound the principality of Islam in prayer during those meetings as well. This made the next confirmation of prophecy even more exciting.
In The Morning Star Prophetic Journal Vol. 1 nr. 1, Rick Joyner had the next prophecy. In an article titled "1991 and Beyond" he wrote:
"...Several Western Nations previously considered "Christian" will have their status changed to "heathen." To the astonishment of the church, several other Western Christian nations will have their status changed to "Islamic." Islam will replace communism as the greatest threat to the West. Islam's potential for destroying the West will soon be greater than the nuclear arsenals of the Soviets. There are many Islamic extremists who are simply full of hate or jealousy over the power of the West. But most who consider the West Satanic do so because Westerners claim to trust in God and yet fill the world with pornography, immorality, homosexuality and a profound lack of regard for truth and honor. Just as the Lord used the heathen neighbors of Israel to discipline her for apostasy and idolatry, He is allowing the rise in Islam to discipline the nations and awaken the church. The hoards from the East will not hurt the "wine and the oil", those who have the true Spirit and the true anointing. Their own Koran commands them to respect true Christians and they are respectful of those who are true to their religions. But they abhor hypocrites because the Lord will use them to discipline hypocrites. The only way the rise in Islam can be slowed is by Christians becoming true to their faith.
The spirit of Islam is the biblical "Prince of Persia". The power of this spirit cannot be broken until the church, like the prophet Daniel begins to humble herself and pray for the purpose of God in restoring His Holy city Jerusalem."
He identifies Islam with the Prince of Persia! And like Steve Lightle he gives us the example of the prophet Daniel.
Rick Joyner's next article on the subject was titled: "The Spiritual Meaning of the Persian Gulf War". This appeared in the Morning Star Prophetic Bulletin February 15, 1991. He wrote the following.
"Significant events which take place in the natural often reflect what is happening in the spiritual realm...."
"The Persian Gulf War is a parallel of what is about to happen in the spirit. The Persian Gulf War is a righteous war; it is one that we had to fight. If we did not fight it now it would have been far more costly later. Even so, we should not be as concerned about the war that is going on in the natural as the one that is going on in the spirit of which this natural war is only a reflection.
This particular war is against the Biblical "Prince of Persia" whose contemporary name is "Allah." This is the same principality that resisted the prophet Daniel. Its primary strategy is the subjection and then destruction of all who call upon the true God, just as we see is its schemes to destroy Daniel when he prayed to the Lord. This is not the only battle that the church is in but it is the major one that is raging at this time.
Our warfare is for the destruction of strongholds so that the people can be saved. It is time to pray for the destruction of the stronghold of Islam and the salvation of the Arab people. Before we can effectively launch a spiritual offensive against this stronghold, its grip on us must be removed. Strongholds are deceptions, or misconceptions. A part of the strategy of the stronghold of Islam has been to erect misconceptions about Arabs in the minds of Christians as well as the reverse. Presently this stronghold has a grip on Christians through fear, intimidation and misunderstanding. We must respond to the fears and intimidation with courage and boldness and cast off the misunderstandings we have about the Arab people. We tend to perceive them in the light of the more extreme elements in their religion, just as they tend to perceive Christians by the extremists in our midst (who have historically been just as cruel, intolerant and even murderous as any Moslem fundamentalists have.) Generally, Moslems are kind, generous, hospitable and have the highest standards of honor and integrity. Our offensive against the stronghold of Islam is not an attack upon the Arab people. We are commanded to "honor all men" (I Peter 2:17). We must honor the Arabs for that which is honorable, respect them for that which is worthy of respect and above all, love them because God loves them and gave His Son for them."
Let me emphasize one of the things Bro. Joyner said. "The Persian Gulf war is a parallel of what is about to happen in the spirit." Considering the course and dramatic finish of the Persian Gulf war, what might we conclude happened in the heavenlies? Is it out of line to figure that God has accomplished his purpose in the spiritual realm. Is the stronghold of Islam now broken? Are the spoils ready for the taking? Are there captives ready to be set free? Is the Lord of the Harvest about to thrust forth laborers into the whitened fields of the Middle East?
Bro. Rick Joyner, in his book "The Harvest", had earlier given some long term prophecies regarding the Harvest in Islamic countries. These also clearly indicate a powerful move of God coming in the middle east.
From The Harvest page 103-104 by Rick Joyner. "As the harvest begins to affect Islamic countries some will vehemently resist it, but in general the harvest will reap many from among Islam. Egypt will be almost entirely won to the Lord; her devotion and willingness to sacrifice for His purposes will be so great she will actually be called "the altar of the Lord." Great apostles and prophets will come out of Islamic countries. These will rejoice greatly in the truth that sets them free, preaching the gospel with a commitment and abandon which will inspire the entire body of Christ."
from page 110 "As a legacy to Anwar Sadat, who ...recognized Israel against great opposition, the entire nation of Egypt will call on the name of Jesus and water the deserts of the earth with the gospel."
I received yet another confirmation came in the form of a second hand report from Rev. Dennis Blackwell, a pastor from Grand Isle, LA.
He related to me a word of Prophecy that came out in a Benny Hinn meeting, It is roughly as follows: "The Christians in America should not be praying against the war or to stop the war. God intends to use this war to break the back of Islam." (My first reaction to this was 'I knew that!' only later did I see that it was another confirmation.
Still another word came to us in the following manner.
Bro. Loren Cunningham of Youth with a Mission had visited Kuwait a few years before the war and given an interesting prophecy to a Church meeting there. This was related to us at Reserve Church by a brother from Kuwait who met with a group of us during the conflict.
Here is a paraphrase of that prophecy:
'The Gulf Area will undergo severe financial and military pressure. This will be in order to re arrange all the systems and to prepare the land and people for the Gospel. Kuwait will be a starting point as an entrance for all this area, and a base to reach all the countries in the Gulf area.'
Our brother from Kuwait, whom we will refer to as 'Abdul Rahman' since he wishes to remain anonymous, also mentioned the openness and cosmopolitan aspects of Kuwait. There are workers there from all around the world. 122 nations are represented there. And in marked contrast to neighboring Saudi Arabia, Christianity is openly practiced there. The National Evangelical Church had 27 separate congregations before the Iraqi invasion.
A move of God beginning there could raise up and train converts to return home and reach practically every Muslim nation in the eastern hemisphere!
Derek Prince writes in a similar vein regarding Islam and anticipating its fall. Here is an excerpt from "Mideast Prayer Strategy" by Derek Prince from April 1991, Charisma.
The basis of the spiritual power of Islam in all the Middle East and North Africa can be summed up on one word: proclamation. Every mosque proclaims five times a day certain statements about their god Allah and their prophet Mohammed. I believe the tremendous dominating spiritual power of Islam is due to ceaseless proclamation of the spiritual force that Muslims want to establish.
...the answer to proclamation is counter proclamation. We in the church have sadly failed to appreciate the power and the value of persistent proclamation.
...When you contemplate the situation in the middle east. .respond with proclamations - in prayer, in intercession, in singing....
...Islam. Pray that the present conflict in the Middle East will open the way for the apparently impregnable fortress of Islam to be breached.
I have a deep concern and compassion for the Muslim people. Having lived in Muslim nations myself, I know the awful darkness, misery and slavery that Islam imposes on men and women. My heart's desire is that God will so intervene that the fortress holding them captive will be broken open and a way will be made for their release.
Most of us would never have believed that the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe could happen so dramatically and quickly. This should encourage us that Islam will also yield to our prayers and our proclamations.
Jesus said: "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils" (Luke 11:21-22). We can invoke the One who is stronger than Islam - that is, Jesus - to move into that situation, open up the fortress, deliver the captives and enable us to take the spoil."
In that same issue of Charisma, the cover story was on the subject of Islam. The article was titled " The Threat of a New Islamic Alliance" By George Otis Jr.
The following is an excerpt from this article.
"Despite the sobering possibilities emerging from the new Islamic revival, Christians have reason for excitement over what God is doing in the Muslim world. Right in the midst of so much spiritual darkness, the church is witnessing the power of God through the efforts of an unprecedented mobilization of missionary plans and personnel, as well as God's own direct intervention. The result has been a number of remarkable reports of miracles and mass conversions.
The evidence is building that satanic agents are not the only supernatural forces at work in the Muslim world today. In fact, recent months have evidenced a dramatic rise in divine power encounters, particularly within the boundaries of Islam. While such events were noticeable throughout the entire decade of the 1980's from around 1987 onward many observers have detected a significant surge in both their frequency and scope.
In Algeria, for example, an Arab missions leader reported that 300 Muslims were converted recently after the Holy Spirit sovereignly descended upon their village during a remarkable night of divinely orchestrated dreams, visions and angelic visitations. In subsequent months, hundreds of other Algerian Berbers have found Christ through equally miraculous circumstances. Similar reports of Muslims encountering the gospel through dreams have surfaced in Turkey, Pakistan and Thailand.
Underground church leaders in Afghanistan have experienced Book of Acts style deliverances from radical Muslim tormentors and continue to win many to Christ. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, more Muslims have come to Christ since 1980 than in the previous 1,000 years combined. Further accounts, some of which cannot yet be disclosed, come from such far flung places as Soviet Central Asia, Iraq and Tunisia, further confirming that God is moving in a new way among Truth seeking Muslims."
Interest and activity in Muslim Missions has picked up still more. For example the Spring issue of Mission Frontiers has no less than 6 articles on Muslim topics. These include discussion of the Messianic Muslims and an emphasis on "tentmaking" opportunities.
Operation Desert Harvest: The Call
Some days later, the Lord spoke to me about getting a job over there. And that if I were willing to go, it would be possible for me to get out from a debt burden that was hindering me.
By now I already had the vision of what God was going to do in the Muslim countries. This plus the prospect of getting out of debt made me excited about going and being involved.
Then the Lord placed a call upon our local Church.
Pastor Rod Aguillard announced in a church meeting shortly after the end of the Kuwait War, that "the Holy Spirit challenged us to be an outreach to the Muslim world. He is encouraging me to send our best to this new field that is going to be ripe for harvest. We have accepted the challenge and are preparing the people for this grand offense."
I began to study and prepare myself to work and minister in Arab lands. The Holy Spirit has clearly led me, times too numerous to mention. The most exciting revelation came from a study of Kuwait itself.
One of the first things I was led to do after accepting the call to Arabia (Kuwait or any Gulf area nation) was to go out and get a book titled "The Rape of Kuwait" by Jean Sasoon. As I read up on the history of Kuwait, the Lord revealed something very interesting and exciting.
First of all Kuwait's origins only go back to the early 1700's when nomadic tribesmen settled in the area and established a seaport in a natural harbor. Kuwaitis have been an outward looking people, open to the world by way of the sea. Their Saudi cousins tended to be closed off from the world by looking to the desert.
In 1961 Kuwait became fully independent from Britain. From that time forward Kuwait became the most open society in the Gulf. The homeless Palestinians were welcome. Many Asian and third world workers found opportunities there.
The peaceful days ended in 1979 with the ascension of Khomeini in Iran. The Ayatollah attempted to export his Islamic revolution through all the Arab world. He attempted to overthrow the Kuwaiti government among others. (Clearly Satan did not like the way things were run in Kuwait.)
A respite came during the Iran-Iraq war. Kuwait backed Iraq as did other moderate Gulf states. The war ended in august 1988 with no clear victor. Two years later they were invaded by their "friend" Iraq.
At this point the Lord showed me the "real" reason for the attacks upon Kuwait. First Khomeini's then Hussein's. In view of the prophecies mentioned earlier. A. There is a coming move of God in the Gulf. B. Kuwait will play a major part in it. Therefore: The attacks were an attempt by the enemy to stop the Move of God before it could begin. But, according to what the prophets cited above are saying, God was using the war itself as a means to "dismantle the Power of Islam". So what Satan meant for evil, God once again turns around for good. The enemy is fallen himself in the very pit he dug for another.
The enemy used Iraq to try and stop the move of God. This was just as he used Pharaoh to try and stop God from delivering the Israelites by killing the babies. The plan resulted in Moses being raised up in Pharaohs own palace!
To my mind this realization both revealed God at work in a typical fashion. And it provided further confirmation that He is indeed going to Move Mightily in the Middle East!
Then I got an opportunity to study Islam in depth through Operation Desert Grace! Operation Desert Grace was a 12 hour course of study sponsored by GSMA. Our Christian Arab brother "Abdul Rahman" led us in a detailed study of Muslim History and Doctrine, during the summer of 91.
Muslims, we learned live in fear. Under a yoke of constant fear. Any Muslim who converts to Christianity is cut off from the community, the family and all financial inheritance. In the more radical areas he would be killed. So that typical Muslim evangelism involves working intensely with one candidate for 6 months or longer, gradually leading him to make the step of committing to Christ and breaking with everything else. So it is a very slow process.
Islam will fall rapidly and dramatically, believe the prophets. So the Holy Spirit will clearly use faster methods. One obvious solution to this problem is the conversion of whole families and tribes at once! I believe the Holy Spirit will do this in a dramatic outpouring of his power. (Even as he has already begun to do, according to the report from George Otis quoted earlier.) I also believe that, in line with the word given Steve Lightle, there will come a great "DAY OF PENTECOST" in Mecca. A day when Muslim Pilgrims from all over the world are gathered together. Just as Jews from all over were in Jerusalem on pentecost when Peter preached. 3000 were saved. So 300,000 Muslims will hear the gospel preached in Mecca and be converted. And then they will take the good news back to their home countries and spread the revival! Glory to God!
Another hopeful development is the emergence of "Messianic Muslims". Congregations of Muslim believers, who, are in the pattern of Messianic Jews. (That is Jews who accept the Messiahship of Jesus without ceasing to be Jews or abandoning Jewish forms and traditions.) These Messianic Muslims acknowledge the lordship of Jesus, while retaining Muslim forms of prayer. Praying 5 times a day and still using the name of Allah for God, only now praying to the true ALLAH! (If one can put a thousand to flight and two can put ten thousand to flight, five times a day!....)
So great things are happening and even greater things are at the door. I'm sure there are many others like myself whom the Lord is preparing to use in the end time harvest which is just beginning. It will be a glorious work, just as he is a glorious God.
So that's what I know about what God is doing. I have my passport. My resume is ready. I'm walking by faith that God will soon open the door of opportunity. Operation Desert Harvest is just beginning.
Afterword. Since this was originally written, it has become apparent that the political fallout of the Gulf War is what lead to the current Oslo accords and the 'peace process' in the Middle East today.
Looking Ahead: Isaiah 60:6-7 speaks of many Arabic peoples coming to salvation. The context indicates the timing of this. It will come about when the Church begins to move in the end time harvesting anointing. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes!