Oct 20th - 24th

Adam Speas on Oct 23, 2008 07:52 AM

Friday, October 24, 2008


We are leaving for Cape Town, we will try to update as soon as possible.



Wednesday, October 22, 2008


Our topic today was Islam.  It is sad for me to admit, but fear comes to mind when I think about Muslims.  What comes to mind for you?  Our media has influenced my attitude greatly towards them and I feel that it has made most of the Christians in our country develop a negative attitude.  One of the more interesting things that I learned was the background of Islam.  Before Mohammed, Arabs were worshipping many Gods (360 or so).  Allah was one of the many gods that they worshipped.  The Arab tribes people had much strife and turmoil amongst themselves. Muhammad was a strong political leader and united all of these Arab tribes around one god and under much force. As he began preaching he gained power and influence against the idolatry (he was stirring up against the rich and powerful) he was forced to flee to Medina. In Medina he was warmly welcomed and took power there where he established Islam and his own Kingdom. In AD 630, he took over Mecca with 10,000 men.  All idols were destroyed and Mecca was declared a holy city of Islam.  Interesting isn’t it to hear the routs of religion and sad to understand how many people in the world live in darkness.  But there is hope, in the past two decades more Muslims have come to Christ than at any other time in history.


Verse of the day: 2 Corinthians 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”


Please pray that God would reveal his truth to Muslims through dreams and visions.



Tuesday, October 21, 2008


Jo and I are saddened to inform you that our mouse friend is back.  We caught him in the top of our closest, so we have taken more extreme measures to insure that he stays away.  Today, we covered Hinduism in class.  Hinduism is a religion that has 330 million gods.  Many Hindus have a diversity of beliefs and practices.  Everything in their religion is subjective and relative to their own experience.  Truth is what you make of it.  Their goal of life is to reach Moksha or union with Brahma, their creator god.  They believe that it takes thousands of cycles of reincarnation to be able to accomplish this.  I was reminded of how difficult is must be to minister to Hindus because their worldview is entirely different, but also that God is doing mighty things in India currently.


John 14:6 “ Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”


Please pray for the church in India.  They are facing extreme persecution at the moment.



Monday, October 20, 2008


We heard some sad news that really hit home this evening.  A fellow OMer, Gayle Williams, who was working in Afghanistan, was gunned down early Monday morning.  She had gone through the same training that we are a part of a few years previously.  To add to that, we even have a few teammates who are going to very hard places just like that.  Our hearts broke when we heard the news!


We also began a new week of lectures on World Religions.  Here are some statistics about religion around the world: Christians – 10%, Cultural Christians – 24% (assumes all Catholic/Orthodox, but there are believers among those, so this is a bit arbitrary), Muslims – 20% (Biggest by population – Indonesia, Second – India), Non religious – 14% (a large majority is communist China, but statistics there may not be fully accurate), Hindus – 15% (90% in India), Buddhists – 6%, Other – 11% (Judaism, Mormonism).  There is much work still to be done!

Verse of the day:  Mark 8:35 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it.”

Please pray for the ministry of Gayle Williams in Afghanistan, that her death would further the spread of the gospel.  Please also pray for her family.

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