Bangladesh Report
by Josh Hamby SOC Director
When the Lord opens a door sometimes it is a crack and at other times when He opens it, it's like the Red Sea. A few years ago it was in the heart of many of us to take this School of Christ to the Bangladesh people. We never dreamed of what an impact the School would have on that nation. Pastor Clendennen talked often about what was going on there but when I was there in December I saw it for myself. I believe you may have to go back to the book of Acts to find such a move of God.
I met a man that had a hole in his neck and I was told that while he was preaching in his church, a man came in and shot him in the face. The bullet came out of his neck and he fell to the ground. Then the man stabbed him seven times and left him for dead in the middle of his church. I inquired of his health today and he told me he is fine and still preaches every week in that same church. The devil couldn't make him forsake the Will of God. Death is a real threat in Bangladesh. In 2009 we lost six of our ministers to terrorist but I have been told that over a thousand terrorists came to Christ.
One of our directors baptized nineteen converted terrorists in March and in his classes alone thirty-eight ex-terrorist have graduated from the School of Christ. Another director working in the Noga district saw thirty terrorists converted this year. One was crippled in his back and he came to the SOC for prayer. God healed him and he was born again; he has already led seven Muslims to Christ. Every director that spoke had the same testimonies, that God has opened a great door for Bangladesh.
This last testimony shows how God works. One SOC graduate felt led to go to a village where there was no Church, and run the SOC. He rented a storefront building and all day played the SOC lessons. Many people would come and sit just to see what was going on. After a few weeks one family was coming regularly and God had really touched their lives. One day a man came and sat in the school while the lesson Aggressive Faith was playing. At the end of the lesson he asked the director if he believed that God healed people. The director said yes. The man said, "God doesn't hear" and left. After he was gone the family told the director that the man was the leading terrorist in that area. They were very afraid and closed the door and started praying. After a few hours the man returned and knocked on the door. Brother Roy wouldn't answer because he thought the man was going to kill him. The man convinced him he wasn't going to hurt him and Brother Roy opened the door. The man fell down and started crying. He said, "My son has been in the hospital for four days about to die. Today I went and laid hands on him like the TV said and prayed in the Name of Jesus and my son was healed." The boy was standing there next to his dad. The man said, "I am no longer a terrorist, but now I am a Christian." He led two other families to Christ and now there is a growing Church in a village that has been in darkness for only God knows how long.
We now have the SOC in every state of Bangladesh and we have thousands of graduates throughout the country. We are looking forward to many more great and powerful testimonies just like these. Please keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers as they labor for the Lord in a very hostile nation.
|
