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Shalom!
For those who have been praying for our ongoing saga in Arad, I want to say
thanks for your prayers. It's great to know that you guys are
really holding us up in prayer...Things are happening fast and furious
here. This is the result of Sunday's meeting. The Subject of this
e-mail is not erroneous, as you will soon see!
Here's the latest update. God bless
you! Keep in touch.
Thanks to all of you who wrote and shared that you
were praying for the big meeting of the Religious groups in Arad last Sunday
evening. Thanks also to all of you who were praying but didn't write.
Needless to say, your prayers were a big reason that things were kind of
quiet on Sunday...although not totally...Monday saw a victory of sorts,
and today, even though one Religious man tried to burn down the Chess
Club with a few Molotov Cocktails, the Lord got the victory...Read on...
On Sunday night,
A few of our group tried to go to the meeting,
but were turned away when the doormen realized who they were. It seems
that while they invited the whole town to participate, many people were
not welcome, and even shown the door before
anything even got started. Some other Russian speaking friends were able
to get in, but after a while, when they saw that there would not be any
translation into Russian, they left on their own having not understood
much of anything. So while none of us really knows what went on behind
those closed doors, we can assume that they were planning their strategy
of the next step in trying to remove us from the city.
While the Religious leaders and other townspeople
were gathered in the Main Sephardic Synagogue to discuss the
"Problem with the Missionaries...", we
were gathered in the Congregation Center praising,
worshiping and praying to the Lord. Things were pretty quiet for a while, but I heard later that some of the
"meeting goers" went to our Pastor's house and started cursing
at them...Nothing too new there. (This is terrible what they
continually do to the Pastor, his wife, and their small children! It is a
different or another tragic story, but it is not ‘old hat’ or old
news!....highlight and this comment by Eddie)
Monday, Shuk day
(open market day) is the day that Eddie puts out used clothes for the
townspeople to take at the Chess Club and Bible bookstore, (although
everything is free). Invariably, a few Religious men and even some women are
there to stop people from taking our clothes..."These people are bad
people...they give you free clothes and then baptize you into
Christianity..." they say. At least this time they were talking
quietly and not screaming at the top of their lungs like they usually do.
This Monday was a bit different than most in that the
Lord gave me a lot of compassion to go right up to the two Religious men
who were there, and start talking to them, as if they were my
brothers...we were actually able to have a short dialog about the faith,
until they started slandering me and belittling me in front of a secular
man who was interested in what they had to say. I know the Holy Spirit
was with me, because throughout their badmouthing me, I maintained my
smile and my peace, content to have been able to share a bit of my faith
with them. These are the ones I usually ask you to pray for...please
continue to pray for M* and A* to meet their Messiah! Thanks.
Today, Wednesday,
We saw the results of Sunday's meeting in full
swing. When Eddie got to the Chess Club in the morning, he saw that
during the night someone had thrown a Molotov Cocktail (a bottle filled
with flammable liquid which is lit and thrown at the area where the
thrower wants to burn) at the outside wall of the Club. Although no
one was there and no real damage was caused, this was definitely a very
dangerous act, as it could have burned the place down
again! Eddie called the police who came quickly this
time and investigated the situation with care...this too is an answer to
prayer, as we have seen in the past how sometimes they seem to take the
side of the Religious in their fight with us, whom they call "The
Missionaries", and sometimes even refuse to take our complaints.
The biggest part of the story of
today though, (Wednesday), is what happened this afternoon...I went to
the Club to see if Eddie was there at about 4pm. He wasn't, but
the police were there again, this time with a Religious guy who had
thrown a few other Molotov Cocktails on the outside of the building,
while many chess players were both inside and outside
playing their games. Again,
miraculously thank God, no one was injured and no real damage was caused.
(…or anyone killed! Let’s not
neglect to thank God that no one was killed! ...highlight and this
comment by Eddie) Even so, someone
even suggested that throwing lit Molotov Cocktails like this could even
be construed as
attempted murder! (be Construed vs is Classified!
Murder vs Murders! ...highlight and this
comment by Eddie) May God have
mercy on this guy who Satan stirred up to do this! Anyway,
one of the chess players called the police and again they came, but this
time they caught the one who definitely threw the burning bottles in the
afternoon as there were many witnesses for the afternoon episode, and who
we also believe threw the bottles in the morning.
Since Eddie was not there when the afternoon
burning bottle episode took place, I called him and he first came to the
Club, and then went to the Police Station to launch a complaint. Also,
two of the Chess and domino Players had also gone to the Police Station
to give their story as eyewitnesses. For the most part, it seemed that
the Police were being fair and listening to us this time, doing their
jobs much better than they had in the past, again an answer to our
prayers.
Keep up the prayer support that the Lord will
continue to expose and confound the plans of the enemy, who are not these
Religious individuals, but Satan who is stirring them to do these things.
Pray for us to continue to remember it's a spiritual battle, so we should
continue to call on Him and not focus on what these guys are doing to us.
So all in all, it looks like the Lord answered
our prayers about last Sunday's "big meeting" and even
allowed one of them to do something stupid enough that the Police were
also called into investigate and catch him. The guy who did it is
someone who we had never seen before...he probably was at the meeting,
got all riled up, and bang, did this.
So while it looks like Satan might have gotten the
upper hand, we can be glad that no one was hurt and no damage was
caused. Unfortunately, the person who did this dastardly deed is probably
going to have to pay dearly. Imagine, going to your Club to play your
favorite game and getting a Molotov Cocktail thrown very close to
you...it could have exploded in their faces, but thank God it didn't! God
really protected us. He really turned this evil around for good, as is
His promise in Rom. 8:28. Please also pray that when the townspeople hear
about this, it will cause them to think of the Lord and many will come to
know Him as a result of this!
So there's your latest update on the Arad situation. God
bless you as you continue to serve Him. Thanks again for your prayers.
Keep it up! WE SERVE A MIGHTY GOD, AND JUST AS HE WILL GET THE GLORY IN ARAD, HE WILL ALSO
GET THE GLORY IN YOUR SITUATION!!! Let's continue to trust HIM!
Your brother in Arad, A*
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