November 2021 Conference, Afghanistan, Iran, Sierra Leone, UK
We strongly recommend you download the "
Bible Companion" app, from where you can access
Carelinks messages, daily Bible readings,
Bible Basics, commentary on every verse of the Bible and audio exhortations on every chapter of the Bible.
For Android / Google Play at
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.carelinks.bc and on the App Store for Apple / iOS at
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bible-companion/id1475914490 You can break bread live online as follows:
Usually Sunday mornings 09:00 a.m.UK time; but tomorrow 7 November GW a joint meeting with the Canadians, at 3 PM UK time, in their room
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9123758179 Meeting ID: 912 375 8179
Sundays at 3:00 PM New Zealand time. That's 1 PM in Sydney Australia; 10 PM in New York, USA on Saturday evening [run by Br John Aldersley in New Zealand] on
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81015280780?pwd=LzAwNDRTTzhNcFpiRGlmaGx6YUpvZz09
Sundays at 10am North American Eastern Time [3 PM UK GMT time, 11 PM Sydney Australia time]. Run by Br Jim Barton in Canada.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9123758179
Meeting ID: 912 375 8179 . Also, Bible class on Wednesdays at 7 PM North American Eastern Time
A reminder of the virtual tour of Ceasaria, arranged by our New Zealand brethren, on 28 November God willing.
AFGHANISTAN
We were happy to eventually baptize FARHAD although he had to call it off once before because of the Taliban prowling around.
Brother R told us how he was arrested and imprisoned for 4 hours. He like many others downloads our app, uses it for reading the Bible, deletes it and reinstalls it. But the internet went down whilst he was reinstalling, and the app was partially on his phone, at least the icon was visible. Hence his arrest and bad experiences he describes:
Another contact, not yet baptized, reported something similar regarding the Taliban checking phones at random:
This is obviously a need for prayer and support as best we can from a distance.
SIERRA LEONE
Despite bad internet and much dropping out, we were finally able to witness the baptism online of JOSHUA, an avid app user.
UNITED KINGDOM
Another 6 people came to the Lord Jesus in spirit and truth this week, continuing an amazing trend of the Lord's working. 5 in London and SUSAN in a village in rural UK. She is an older lady who isn't online and found a copy of "The Real Christ" in a public library. Despite being a lifelong high Anglican, she was humble enough to accept the trinity is just not taught in the Bible, and once she grasped the truth in that area, she saw answers emerging to many of her lifelong questions- why is the Old Testament largely ignored in Anglican sermons, why is there such Christian anti-Semitism, why are the Jews and Jewish roots of Christianity ignored in standard Christianity, what is the real role of Satan, etc.
And then in London, VAHID, SHAHRAM, HAMED, HADI and REZA . Amazingly, Hadi had been Duncan's taxi driver in Dortmund, Germany about 6 years ago and Duncan had given him a Farsi Bible Basics he "happened" to have in his ruck sack. It's a very small world once you start experiecing the amazing hand of providence, and His desire to bring men unto Himself and to use our willingness. We are holding many meetings with our brethren and contacts in their asylum hotels and also in various McDonald's restaurants where we can break bread and meet together seeing their rooms are tiny. Such scenes of Bible Basics classes in McDonald's have been common this week:
Messages like these are common too:
So, we're praying for wisdom in finding a suitable meeting place in London, near a station. It's not easy to find somewhere suitable. Appreciate your prayers that we can find somewhere.
CONFERENCE
The 2021 Carelinks Conference was a great success. You can see the recordings in one playlist at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqHWDPHDmR_z1fRyP5ycyKFVQN-JW4_An
Our theme was how people from a range of backgrounds have come to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. And brothers and sisters from worldwide gave absolute evidence of the legitimacy of their conversions, in spirit and also doctrinal truth.
Danmui, originally from Samoa but now in Australia, couldn't fail to inspire all of us with her amazing energy and zeal in response to the changes that happened to her once she was baptized after grasping the true doctrines about God, Jesus and satan etc. And she stayed up to 3 AM Australian time to just be with us all to the end of the conference. An amazingly inspirational testimony
https://youtu.be/sLoFSDvrEGU
Justina demonstrated how middle class, middle age white professionals in South London UK are absolutely open to the true Gospel, because they have a sense of guilt for sins and a tiredness with the religion of materialism. A very eloquent testimony,
https://youtu.be/suVY6y2b17E
Brenda from the diamond town of Kimberley, South Africa showcased what it is to come to Jesus in spirit and truth, showing beautifully how grasping true doctrine about Jesus led her to know Him in relationship, and to this be reborn of water and spirit
https://youtu.be/y3HQ_btPI-8
Siiri from Finland was brave enough to tell us openly of her background in alcoholism and having had an affair with a married man, whose wife was a Christian and frankly forgave her- leading her to desire authentic relationship with God through forgiveness in the Lord Jesus
https://youtu.be/21IxJkaoF5k
Veteran missionary Leonie told of her path from Rhodesia to Spain to Costa Rica to South Africa, and along with many of the other speakers, couldn't keep her nor our eyes dry throughout a wonderful story of God's grace, resulting in her devoting herself to redeeming wasted years
https://youtu.be/dsFU1gb-0u0
Gennady from Russia described what it is to be an orphan growing up in a Soviet era orphanage, searching for God as your Father and Jesus as your older brother. And after disillusion with many churches because of their trinitarian position and other issues, came to baptism. An extraordinary story of determination and response to God's providential hand
https://youtu.be/d7GnXdAHtuA
Rosie from St Lucia spoke of how although life hadn't worked out as it might've done, could've done or ought to have done, she had some to a totally personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, enhanced by her understanding of doctrinal truths about Him and the real nature of Satan
https://youtu.be/sgOn8RNnJA4
Guy recounted his experiences as a Policeman in South Africa, requiring shooting to kill, and then being moved by God to where he really deeply wanted- finding the truth of Jesus which alone brings the experience of forgiveness
https://youtu.be/e8n9SM5-ifQ
Duncan spoke of how the Bible Companion app is approaching 2 million downloads, and we had a peek at the real time statistics- hundreds of people using the app at any one time, people filling out answers to /Bible Basics/ all the time, and averaging 1 or 2 baptisms / day for some time now. Probably the widest non-trinitarian outreach of all time, only brought about by the higher hand of the Lord's blessing and arrangement of the right thing at the right time
https://youtu.be/xmakpp0m9yk
There were two other talks which for various reasons aren't online but were equally powerful, Harshit from India and Stephanie from South Wales UK.
PRAYER POINTS
- For those recently baptized
- For wisdom in taking forward the Lord's work in the UK and especially in London
- For those of our brethren whose lives are in danger in Afghanistan and Iran
- Thankfulness to God for the transformation of so many lives to His glory
- For our work in Israel this week
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks