Pakistan 2018

They have not heard ‘God is love’

A brother in Christ with a heart, like so many of us, for Muslim people was speaking about the church being at a turning point — “if not now, when?” He told his audience, which included hundreds of Muslim background believers, that he was pained by the fact that Muslims hear five times a day (during the call to prayer) “God is great.”

“But they have heard ‘God is love’ not once.”

He described as enormous the gap between Matthew 9:38 and Revelation 5:9.

Matthew 9:38: “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Revelation 5:9: “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.’”

God is closing that gap. He is calling laborers to enter the Muslim field. But in the House of Islam’s Western South Asia Room, where foreign missionaries made important strides until they were expelled following Pakistan and India independence in 1947, the Gospel witness has mostly been among non-Muslim people. That has left 98.9 percent of 194-plus million people in Pakistan in the dark.

“It remains to be seen whether or not they [Pakistani believers from non-Muslim backgrounds] will carry forward the mandate of the Great Commission to the masses of Muslims who dominate this region,” David Garrison wrote in his groundbreaking book, A Wind in the House of Islam.

Western South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan and the western states of India) contain “one of the greatest concentrations of non-Christians on earth,” wrote Garrison, adding that “nearly one out of every five Muslims on earth lives” there.

“…the region’s northern boundary is framed by some of earth’s highest summits in a fist of peaks appropriately called the Pamir Knot. These snow-capped giants form an impregnable wall stretching eastward from the Karakorum Mountains through the Hindu Kush and Tien Shan ranges before anchoring themselves in the Great Himalayas. From their snowy summits flow the five great rivers of the Punjab, which have given life to some of earth’s most ancient civilizations.”

This is Climbing For Christ territory. We are aiming to continue coming alongside brothers and sisters and encouraging them to engage the unreached. To stand in the gap between Matthew 9:38 and Revelation 5:9. To show and share God’s love.

PRAY: For the spiritually oppressed in remote areas to encounter the Gospel. We ask for boldness of believers to carry out the Great Commission there. We pray for strongholds of Islamist extremism and terrorism to be broken.

GIVE: You can financially support any open doors we may encounter to enter the Room of Western South Asia. This includes our Project 8:36 (freeing slaves from brick factories) and Project Living Word (to deliver Bibles).

GO! In God’s time. For C4C members only. Email info@ClimbingForChrist.org for a mission application and to stay updated.