August 2021 Dominican Republic, Germany, Iran, Namibia, Russia
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:
Sunday mornings 08:00 a.m. GMT on the Facebook "
Carelinks Ministries" page; and on Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6697401754?pwd=K0VWNDlScGwzaThPM2tiU0didmNyUT09 Meeting ID: 669 740 1754 Passcode: XPb9Sz
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
AFGHANISTAN As mentioned last week, you may have seen on the media that the Taliban have resurged in Afghanistan, recently taking control of well over half the country. Many civilians are fleeing as town after town falls to them. Their declared intention is to establish an Islamic extremist emirate in Afghanistan. This of course is a frightening prospect for those baptized into Christ there. We've produced a video seeking to locate the situation there in the context of Bible prophecies of the last days, see
https://youtu.be/OqQIBPNZ16M GERMANY Very happy to report the baptism of a standard German family along with two of their friends from the same town; mum and dad ANGELA and BERNHARD, adult daughter MICHAELA and friends ALEXIS and JAVIER. It was a lovely reminder that there are ordinary secular people out there in society who live decent lives and are looking for God. But as with this group, the standard answers given by the standard Protestant denominations, let alone Catholicism, didn't answer their questions. It was only humble, direct Bible reading and following where that led which satisfied them. So having rejected the Trinity and the usual similar theologies which are such a "put off" for secular people as they come to God through the pages of the Bible, they reached out to others- and found us.
We arranged to meet up at a lake- and they came along, with children and grandchildren, with the family dressed in white for the baptisms. We ate together, prayed together, studied the Bible, had a baptism service, and did the baptisms. Truly there was the spirit of Christ present with us, and Angels rejoicing above.
We drove on for another 6 hours to Dusseldorf, and that was taking advantage of the unrestricted autobahns [no speed limits], where we found the Iranian brothers and sisters strong in faith and breaking bread together. We had a great time together again, and were able to baptize their relative ARMAND.
It's all a wonderful encouragement that if we pray for meetings with people whom we can help, we are given them. One way or another. The baptism service [in English and German] and the baptisms in the lovely lake is all on video at
https://youtu.be/-m0QwF1Gfyw Do pray for them, and let's all be encouraged that even in the midst of secular Western society, there are normal people and families who are asking serious questions, and turning to the Bible and online for answers.
NAMIBIA / DOMINICAN REPUBLIC ALPHA lives in a truly remote area in the Kalahari Desert between Namibia and Botswana. It has taken us three weeks from his readiness for baptism to actually performing it, due to both water and internet issues. It's noteworthy that so many people in remote areas, be it rural Russia or the Kalahari Desert, are coming to the Lord in spirit and truth. The online outreach is really their only access to Bible teaching and fellowship, and there are few other competitors for them, as it were. Just as soon as this baptism was done, there was then the online baptism of LOICE in Dominican Republic, in French- the other side of the world, in another language.
IRAN This week we baptized sister SAMANEH online in Iran, after a long time studying the Farsi app.
RUSSIA Brother Maxim, baptized in great rural isolation as reported last week, has managed to get enough stable internet access to join in with our Russian language breaking of bread on Fridays as well as participate in our Russian WhatsApp group. He's in such a remote place, we marvel at how the technology has arisen which enables us to connect and fellowship.
PRAYER REQUESTS - For those recently baptized
- For the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan especially as it affects our brothers and sisters there
- For each of us to have encounters with people whom we can really help towards the Kingdom
- For ways of safely connecting this diverse community of believers whom the Lord is calling worldwide
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks