May 2020 Latvia, UK, USA, Iran, France
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 see the list of exhortations at
http://christadelphia.net/audio.htm We are continuing our online breaking of bread on Facebook on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. GMT, on our
Carelinks Ministries Facebook page. And there is an Australian online breaking of bread on Tuesday evenings Australian time using PalTalk.
With over 250,000 downloads of the apps in the various languages, with over 100,000 regular users worldwide, all the investment of time and money is starting to bring forth fruit as you can see from this week's
Carelink.
UK For the last four years, ROB in the UK has been studying our material and watching the YouTubes. He passed through various churches, and came to a very clear understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom, rejecting the trinity, a personal Satan, immortal soul and so many wrong positions. He really has the Truth fully. as you can hear from the video. Despite the current difficulties, he was able to get to the sea near Barmouth, Wales and baptize himself in beautiful Barmouth Bay, with us present by video and praying with him etc. He went out 50 meters from the shore to get enough water. He had a waterproof smartphone which went under the water with him. We had an amazing view of the entire immersion, as well as the lovely beach [deserted].
You can hear the entire happy process at
https://youtu.be/151jb6LmXIw Do have a listen and join in, in spirit. It was a wonderful triumph of years of extended study, prayer, thought and communication. One encouragement from all this is that people may be looking at our material for years and learning from it and coming to agree- but only contact us later. Every man has his moment, and we have to patiently let the seed grow.
And then there was the very moving baptism of an Iranian, MAJID, online in northern UK... he was so really grateful and happy. He has had contact with us for some time, he says that every day he had wanted baptism and was so worried about how he could be baptized.
He texted afterwards: "I did it, it made me cry, I feel free, I hope I live worthy in Christ, thank you. Thank you".
You can see from the timings on the WhatsApp messages that this was very late at night. He lives with Muslims and this was the only time he could get access to their shared bathroom.
FRANCE Delighted to tell you of the baptism of ANTONIO near Versailles, not so far from Paris in France. It's a wonderful testimony to the hand of providence, reaching out to save people in these last days. Antonio is from Angola, speaking Portuguese as his first language and then French, no English. He was a nominal Muslim, working as a nurse in a hospital. In the course of nursing Covid-19 sufferers, he was himself infected with the virus. He threw himself on God and he explained how he was honest with himself in realizing that deep within, all along, he had known that Jesus really is the Son of God and that the way of Christ is the correct way rather than Islam. He encountered grace for the first time, and was deeply struck with how God is our loving Abba / daddy / Father- through the work of the Lord Jesus. Isolated in his room, Antonio searched for truth and downloaded our French app, a direct result of our Google Ads advertising. He soon grasped the Truth, being a blank sheet really.
Many of the audio files on the French app were read by Charly, a member of our English speaking church group in Riga. So we invited him to be present for the baptism service as he is a French speaker from Cameroon, although fluent in English. We also reported some months ago the baptism of sister Tata in Riga, a Portuguese speaker from Brazil. So she too was present.
And what a wonderful time of fellowship, confession and faith it really was. We spoke in French and Portuguese, also in English at times with Tata translating into Portuguese.
When we started the English church in Riga last year, we had no idea we'd have native speakers of French and Portuguese join us. And when they did, the significance wasn't immediately apparent. But Charly helped get the French app done. And then, along came the pandemic. Antonio fell sick... the app was there for him at just the right time... and closer, more intimate fellowship at his baptism was possible in his native Portuguese, and enabled by Tata and Charly. All the wonderful hand of God, working through the human mechanism of our weak efforts.
Our brother is so close to the Lord Jesus now. He writes:
"Je suis confiné dans ma chambre... Je suis renais grace a Dieu je dois je veux et je vais lui rendre sa graçe. Et la foi vient de ce quenous enttendons et ce que nous enttendons vient de la bible... Je ne vais pas vous remercie... j’étais tellement imprégné dans la lecture biblique je n’ai pas vu le temps passé... je suis un bébé nouveau né je marche encore doucement et surement pour ne pas se faire mal ,mais je sais que un bon père ne laissera jamais son fils se faire mal ,donc je suis je serais et je resterais protége...je suis très ravis... merci et que Dieu vous bénisses pour ce bien fait que vous avez amour da faire pour les autres .c'est une preuve d'amour"
Google Translate: "I am confined to my room ... I am reborn thanks to God I have to I will and I shall give him his thanks. And faith comes from what we hear and what we hear comes from the Bible ... I was so steeped in biblical reading I have not noticed how the time passed ... I am a new born baby I still walk slowly and surely not to hurt myself, but I know that a good father will never let his son hurt himself, so I am I will be and I will remain protected ... I am very delighted ... thank you and God bless you for this good fact that you love to do for the others. it is a proof of love"
USA Delighted to help JERMAINE baptize himself. He had been watching us on and off on YouTube for a long time, and the app helped him forwards .
You can hear his deep appreciation at
https://youtu.be/5wcTbYOe9Rs And then on the other side of the continent, we were able to do a self baptism for NASIM an Iranian convert from Islam, and what a true convert to Christ she is.
You can hear her testimony of why she left Islam at
https://youtu.be/UpUzer1F_k8 ,
it's interesting to hear again the comment that only true Christianity teaches grace and the power to forgive, whereas Islam has no real concept of these things, teaching only retribution. There were genuine tears of joy when the baptism was over. This is absolutely valid conversion to the Lord Jesus and all the things we have seen and known in Him. It is nothing less than the transformation of the life of an American Muslim woman... and there are many others out there like her.
LATVIA We continue the feeding program. More invalids [including the blind] and middle class coming now, not only the homeless . And they are harder to get to obey the 2 meter distancing.
Video at
https://youtu.be/xrKtjFzlhU8 
IRAN The Farsi version of the
"Bible Companion" app has been downloaded over 10,000 times in Iran and over 1,000 times in Afghanistan. Hard to think how else we could have made such inroads into a country like Iran where there is even a "Religious Police" trying to stop the spread of Christianity. We have had lots of encouraging contact from people there, many of whom were already underground Christians but needed more teaching. Here's a typical opening contact:
[10:23, 05/05/2020] Hello
[10:24, 05/05/2020] I found your number from the Bible software
[10:27, 05/05/2020] I'm not a Christian, but believe me, reading Christ's words gave me a very strong faith. And I owe this strong faith to the words of Jesus Christ. I would like to meet Christian groups
[10:29, 05/05/2020] I can say that the Bible really changed the course of my life completely.
Naturally one has to be very wary of fake contacts, and those who do contact us show some reticence until they are persuaded we are sincere and who we say we are. Please pray for us in this very delicate work of teaching folks behind the iron curtain of radical Islam, and for their safety.
Here are some screen shots:
Despite all this we have been having long chats with REZA and were able to witness his self baptism. His growth has been remarkable, he wishes to call himself by a Christian, Bible name; and here's a screen shot of a comment he made two days after his self baptism, reflecting his growth:
Producing the Farsi NT with commentary was a great expense and effort, and now here's one [of many] reading it in the heart of Islamic extremism.
But for every baptism there are hours of chit chat, back and forth discussion, text messaging etc... and hours spent with folks who turn away, or who don't agree. Or who haven't yet come to decide. Like this guy called Peter in Africa. Here are some clips from extensive correspondence:
"I was baptised in a protestant church when I was 9. Of course I was not fully aware of the purpose. Now that I now know the meaning of baptism should I be rebaptised?
On the other hand, I am really progressing well in my study of Bible basics. They make me understand the Bible daily readings. By the time I finish the basics I hope to be a real believer, not a ritual Christian... OK let me first grasp the elements of the one faith in the bible basics... I am a floater. I always meditate on the word of God but not a keen church goer... When the student is ready the teacher will come. I am almost ready. I believe that if you pray for me all Wil be well. Most churches in Africa are not ministering as you are doing. People do not join the clergy as a result of vocation. It is common for the clergy to fight among themselves because of position . In one of the churches in my area, members of the church council distribute the Sunday offering among themselves. Such actions plus many others have repelled most people from the church. People like myself have adopted a new strategy of reading the scripture on daily basis and praying alone. Thank God when He saw how desperate and hungry for righteousness I was, he sent you (the teacher ) to me at the right time through your wonderful app. I hope that after gaining Christian maturity, God will help me to bring many to a genuine encounter with Christ".
. "
It's amazing how many people are engaging with the doctrines we believe. There are many others like this... with such a good and humble attitude. And then there's a man in Bhutan, where Christianity is extremely difficult to practice, who is going through the Bible Basics course on the app: "I became a Christian more than a decades but fail many times to learn due to lack of proper guiding . Its true that I don't have basic Bible training or had an opportunities to study in the bible colleges... I have full of regrets in my life but now I'm excited that Jesus Christ is still with me today and forever".
No way we've had got the Truth in to Bhutan any other way, it seems. When the true Gospel goes into all the world, "And then shall the end come"... seeing the globe is finite, we can only say that the rampant spread of the app, along with other efforts in other ways by many other good brethren, is hastening the Lord's coming.
PRAYER POINTS:
- For those recently baptized
- For those in harsh Islamic regimes, that they will be kept safe
- For Antonio in his struggle with Covid-19
- For all the people studying on the app
With love from your brothers and sisters of Carelinks