Glory Be To God from Nigeria

Please read what I am posting here.  This is from a Brother-in-Christ who I have befriended first on Facebook and now on Facebook Chat.  I talk with “Jeff” almost on a daily basis.  He is an electrician who works in the hospitality industry in Nigeria.  He lives in Lagos with his siblings and he is basically responsible for them.  His father has passed away and his mother relocated.  The following is his story on how he came to Christ and I am leaving it in the form that he wrote it so you kind of get the gist of his story.  Remember that his country is seeing a terrible round of Muslim aggression toward the Christian people.  They are bombing churches and killing people right in their own homes.  I am helping him get his story out to the world as well as the fact that I am working on bringing him back to Christ as the situation in his country has been hard on him.

AM NNODIM JAPHETH AFAM FROM NIGERIA , I RECEIVED CHRIST IN OCT 2003 FEW MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF MY DAD, BUT PRIOR BEFORE THIS TIME I HAVE BEEN STRONG MEMBER OF CATHOLIC CHURCH, BUT I KNEW SOME WAS MISSING BECAUSE I DO COMMIT THE SAME OLD SINS I USED TO DO, THEN A SISTER INTRODUCED ME TO A BIBLE BELIEVING CHURCH CALL MFM IN SHORT FORM, ITS A DO IT UR SELF MINISTRY ,WHERE THE SINGULAR CONDITION TO MAKE HEAVEN IS HOLINESS WITHIN AND WITHOUT IS TAUGHT , A CHURCH THAT IS CENTERED ON DELIVERANCE AND REVIVAL OF APOSTOLIC SIGNS, I JUST DEDICATED MY SELF TO THE WORK OF GOD , EXPECTING NO POWER AS A CHRISTIAN UNTIL ONE DAY I ENGAGED IN ARGUMENT WITH A MUSLIM BREAD HAWKER WHO IS ALWAYS CASTIGATING CHRIST AS POWERLESS NAME SINCE HE HAS A MOTHER AND FATHER HERE ON EARTH,, I THEN CHALLENGE HIM TO CONCLUDE HIS PRAYER WITH WHEN EVER HE IS PRAYING IN ARABIC …I TOLD HIM TO PRAY IN WHAT EVER WAY HE USED TO PRAY IN ISLAM BUT MAKE SURE HE CONCLUDES WITH IN … THE FOLLOWING THE DAY HE CAME RUNNING TO TELL MIRACLES THAT ARE HAPPENING IN HIS FAMILY, HIS SISTER WHO HAS BEEN ILL FOR YRS GOT HEALED,HIS BREAD BUSINESS BOOM OVER NIGHT,THE ENTIRE FAMILY CHANGED FROM BAD TO GOOD..THAT REALLY SPUR MY DESIRE TO PURSUE GOD TILL TODAY….

 

Wow!  What a story here.  Now, here is an email that he sent me about his own “revival” his own rebirth in the name of Jesus Christ……GLORY  BE TO GOD FOR  BRINGING ME BACK TO HIS LIGHT, I LOST OUT BEFORE  BUT NOW AM  BACK IN THE FOLD OF BELIEVERS, BUT DUE TO  THE NATURE OF MY JOB I WON’T BE ABLE TO ATTEND SUNDAY AND THURSDAY SERVICES REGULARLY. HIS GRACE HELP ME  ON TUESDAYS  BIBLE CLINIC< SEARCH THE SCRIPTURE>…. THE SPIRIT IS BACK , REAWAKENING OF  CONSCIENCE AND HUNGER FOR CHRIST GROWING  ON DAILY BASIS…. GLORY  BE TO HIM

Jeff has really come back to the Lord.  It is like he lives right next door.  He doesn’t but words just like the WORD of GOD really works miracles.  Thank the Lord!

 

A New Addition to Spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

For a couple of months now, I have been communicating via Facebook Chat over my smartphone with a Brother-in-Christ, many miles away.  Yet, when it comes to communication, it seems as if we are all next door when it comes to Jesus Christ.  We are all brothers and sisters in His blood and His sacrifices that He made for us when He went to the Cross.

The person that I have been communicating with is Jeff from Lagos, Nigeria.  Many of you who read this post hopefully have been following the news coming out of Nigeria, which is an country in Africa.  Lagos itself, which is the capital of Nigeria, is a port city with nearly 8 million people and is one of the fastest growing cities in all of Africa.

There has been internal strife in Nigeria and most major cities in the country have experienced bombings and downright murder in the middle of the night.  Most of those being effected are our brothers and sisters in Christ.  They are being singled out for one reason and one reason only:  They believe in Jesus Christ.  They are Christians.  Sound familiar?  When I was growing up Jewish, I had learned a great deal what happened to the Jews of Europe.  Not only in Nazi, Germany but in Russia during the Pogroms of the late 1800s and the Inquisition in Spain a couple of centuries before this.  We also remember the Crusades.  Yet, as Jews it is hard to sit back and just blame its sister faith of Christianity for this.

So, chatting with Jeff in Nigeria, which is nearly six hours ahead of me in Atlanta, Georgia, there is much to learn about his suffering and wanting to be closer to Jesus Christ.  It is hard, I am sure to maintain faith in the wake of such bombings of churches, religious center and being woken up in the middle of the night, dragged out into the streets and murdered in front of families and neighbors and friends.  A few weeks ago, nearly 200 of our Christian brothers and sisters were murdered in nearly 40 different bombings.  Many of these took place while they were worshiping in churches and religious centers and in their homes.  This is just downright wrong and needs to be stopped.  Unfortunately, many of those of faith have been murdered only for their beliefs and to make life better.

Jeff sent me a chat request one afternoon on a Saturday I believe.  He mentioned to me that he found Christ in the same time period (2003) that I found him.  There is a strong connection here between the two of us.  We have our share of unforeseen circumstances and we would like for them to improve and be better.  Because of what is happening in Nigeria all around him, he has had a hard time keeping up with his faith and has stopped praying and believing to a certain degree.  I have been working with him through our chats and through the use of scripture from the Holy Bible.  I said that if there was one soul that I could save it would mean success in my life, but it goes much more deeper than this.  He was saved, but no

w I have to, we have to do what we can to stand together and make sure that the violence, not only in Nigeria, but all across the globe ceases once and for all.

Jeff told me about having to take care of his siblings as his father passed away from cancer a number of years ago.  His mother relocated but did not take the children with her.  S

o, he has a tough job.  He also is looking to relocate and make life better for him and his family.  He is lookin

g to leave for either Europe or the United States.  Of course, I told him that the United States would be a great place to settle in because of religious freedoms and so much more.  He is looking to apply for a Visa but most of the time it is based on a lottery system, so I am going to start working with him to see what can be done to bring him to the United States.

Both Alex and I welcome Jeff to our ministry and he has slowly but with our help and with the help of God and His son Jesus Christ, returning to his faith.  He reads my Bible scripture

t

hat I post to Facebook and sends related stories to me and I plan on sharing them here as time goes on.

God is great and may God bless those who are in harm’s way for His Name.

David M. Brown

Atlanta, Georgia

February 7, 2012

 

Needing God – Finding God

 

Just a couple of days ago I finished a fifteen day Holy Bible Reading Plan compliments of YouVersion.  YouVersion, most of you know is a smart phone application of The Bible and it is just incredible.  It allows you to pick a particular reading plan among many great ones and follow them to conclusion.  It also allows you to share your daily plan, Chapter and Verse with your Facebook and Twitter friends as well as book mark your favorites as well.  I have now been doing this since the beginning of the year and it has been fun and rewarding.

What makes sharing the Bible Chapter and Verses fun and rewarding?  Well first off, here is what it is NOT.  It is not something that I am doing just to show that I am reading the Bible and keeping up with my Daily Devotions.  It IS a way to share the Bible with those who have not yet read it or would like to read it but do not know how or do not understand it when they do try to read it.  What is important is to understand its overall meaning and what the differences are between the Old and the New Testaments, also known as the Old and the New Covenants between God and His children (all of us).

I titled this post, “Knowing God -Finding God.”  Yes, this is the same title of the Reading Plan (15 days) but I find it useful in the understanding of what the Bible is and how to understand it.  First, The Holy Bible is God’s Word.  So by reading it on a daily basis, you already know God.  Second, the Holy Bible is a collection of Books that are written by man, inspired by God Himself. So, putting this all together, you know God and then you can figure out how to find God within the words that He inspired man to write.

So, here I am, one who Needed God and Found Him back in March 2002.  Yet, there is not a day that goes by that says we do not need Him.  We get up in the morning and pray for answers or people that are sick or just to say thanks for giving us another day on planet earth.  We need God to guide us in our path of success or to get us from point A – to Point B safely in our daily journey.

Granted, God is not a visible being that we can see on earth.  He did not want us to be able to see Him.  He would not even let the Israelites in the Old Testament to see Him.  Moses saw Him as a fire in a burning bush. Yet, God exists in our hearts, our minds and even in our souls.  He appeared to Moses and other prophets in the Old Testament and even to those disciples in the New Testament through the clouds.  In the Book of Numbers (which will be the subject of my next posting), God appeared numerous times to Moses through the Clouds and a Pillar of a Cloud.  When He walked through the desert with the Israelites during the Exodus, He appeared as a pillar of fire to protect them when they were being followed by the Egyptian army.

Yet, with all of this said, people still believe that there is no God.  In the Holy Bible, it says that those who lay their eyes upon the Lord shall surely die.  This is what the Lord says to Moses in Exodus 33:20 NIV, “You cannot see my face for no one can see me and live.”

What if someone said this to you?  Would you turn away and still believe what the person is telling you?  Maybe if that person was looking to harm you.  But not with God.  You would turn away, yet still believe and still listen because you Believe in Him and because you know what the Bible says about this.  We all need God and we can certainly find Him in everything.  We can find God not just in what we do on a daily basis, but what we see and what we can touch.

Needing God in our lives is a no brainer.  He is no doubt the most important part of our lives.  Why?  Think about it, He gave us birth and He leads us through our daily lives and He brings us home to Him when it is time.  Finding God is easy as well. He is EVERYWHERE and EVERYTHING.  Some turn away from Him because they cannot see Him.  Well, guess what, YOU CAN SEE HIM.  YOU CAN HEAR HIM.  YOU CAN TALK TO HIM.  He wants to be with you in your daily walk.  He wants to hear from you in Prayer.  He does hear you.  You only have to know how to Pray and what to ask for.  Guidance is one thing you can ask God for and He will deliver.  You can ask for Success and He will deliver.  But know this, He is looking for something in return.  He wants you to be genuine in what you are asking for.  It might not come when you reopen your eyes after prayer, but it will come to you, but you have to do your share.

If you are in need of God in your life, yet have not found Him, take a look at yourself in the mirror.  Ask yourself, how did I get here?  How did the earth form?  The stars and the moons and the planets, did they just one day go bang, here we are?  Oh there was a bang alright, but guess what?  It was God and it is God.  When you see yourself in that mirror remember this:  We are ourselves a spitting image of God.  He said so in Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Thanks to all of my readers and to Biblegateway.com for the use of Bible Verses

Next up….”What is in a Number?”  A Look at the Book of Numbers……..

 

 

 

Israel to Strike Iran Soon

Day in and day out, through both Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as local and national media, we are constantly hearing mixed signals from both the United States of America and its greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel that an attack is about imminent on Iran.  Iran has constantly and consistently been playing

“war words” with not only Israel and the United States but with the European Community as well.  What I have to say here is this:  Prophecy is about to be fulfilled, and we all need to be ready!

There is a problem however, with Israel attacking Iran.  Teheran, Iran’s capital, supposedly houses nearly 10,000 Iranian Jews.  Of course, Israel’s attacks may be more “surgical” in other areas where suspected nuclear weapons facilities are located, but still, what would Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad do with the Iranian Jews that still occupy Iran?  Will he murder them or release them to Israel or to the United States?  These are questions that need to be answered.

So, what may need to happen is for the innocent Iranian population to stand up once again and speak out on possible war.  It is going to be up to them to stand tall and oppose their president so that they can live the lives that they deserve to live:  in Peace.

Today, it is said that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta made a statement that Israel will strike Iran by the spring or early summer.  This is irresponsible as it opens up the possibility of failure since the news is out.  This is what happened in the summer conflict between Israel and the Hamas in the Gaza Strip a couple of years ago.  News of Israeli troop movements was broadcasted over the Internet making it extremely hard for the Israeli ground units in their success.  Unfortunately, this can’t be stopped unless the internet is shut down.

I really hate to write things when it comes to possible conflict in the Middle East again.  When I say this, we have to remember that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not considered part of the Middle East, so they cannot be considered part of an overall Middle East conflict.

What I do like to do is point out some scripture from The Holy Bible that mentions the Middle East conflict that might be imminent here in the near future.  Then you might get a better grip on what we might expect.

The reason for Israel’s prominence today is biblical rather than political. The Bible says that God chose a special people to be His witness to the world:

‘”You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen” … And what nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land …’ (Isa 43.10)(2 Sam 7.23)

Although the nation of Israel was scattered some 2500 years ago, the Bible says that it will be regathered in the last days of this age:

‘”I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone … and bring them into their own land …”‘ (Ezek 37.21)

The ‘all-nation’ invasion is precisely that. God says:

‘I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle …’ (Zech 14.2)

At the very end of this age all nations will be gathered against Israel for war. But despite sophisticated weapons, they will be defeated by the God of Israel. The Bible indicates that this could be nuclear war:

“…the day is coming, burning like a furnace … (it) will set them ablaze … they will be ashes under the soles of your feet…” (Mal 4.1,3)

http://www.seekingtruth.co.uk/middle_east.htm

The president of Iran made the following statement to the world ….“Israel should be eliminated from the pages of history” … President of Iran, 2006. At no time would you hear a leader of the State of Israel make such a remark about another nation. Adolf Hitler during the Second World War did what he could to annihilate the Jews of Europe but failed. So, how does the president of Iran think he can annihilate Israel? God will not let it happen. Just as the Pharaoh of Egypt capitulated and allowed the Israelite’s to leave Egypt, so it will be that God will allow His People to survive another war.

The question is, how will they survive? God. The Jewish people were told that a savior would come to them and save them. This was mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible in the Book of Isaiah as well as other Books and this was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was delivered to earth.

So, Gog and Magog or not as was outlined in the Book of Elijah in the Old Testament, is being set. Will Russia and China and Iran and other countries of the region line up for war against the State of Israel at Meggido, a mountainous region overlooking Jerusalem? By the way, Megiddo translates into Armageddon.

Something or someone strong needs to intervene. It just might time for Jesus Christ’s return.