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Update on the gospel in Pakistan

The third edition (1,000 copies each) of The Biblical Meaning of Numbers has been printed and is being distributed in the churches and seminaries around Pakistan. The book has created a lot of excitement in the past two months. Fiaz calls it “revival,” which I understand to mean a revival of interest in studying the word. It comes when people feel like they are really learning new things.

Denominations in America seem to have lost that excitement of learning new things. After hearing the same gospel message over and over, most of the people tend to fall asleep and begin to think there is really nothing new to learn from the word. It is only when they discover that there is so much more to learn that they again get that feeling of excitement.

I talked to Pastor Fiaz this morning. He is continuing to translate the tracts (“tracks,” as he calls them). He has just finished translating Who is God? (soon available on the website) into Urdu, and he has finished two of the four-part series called God’s Marvelous Plan for Creation. The four will be bound together into a single booklet when it is printed next week. That should lay good foundations for the revelation of the restoration of all things.

This morning Fiaz mentioned something else that he was excited to learn. In reading about the Prodigal Son in Luke 16, he read about the difference between Israel and Judah. Like so many in the western church, he had not known the difference until I pointed it out. Wait until he finds out how this distinction changes the whole prophetic picture regarding modern “Israel”!

Today he is teaching a Bible class, using God’s Purpose in Your Life. Men and women are separated in the class, according to custom.

Once Fiaz finishes the tracts, the plan is to start translating The Laws of the Second Coming, followed by The Genesis Book of Psalms. I am quite sure that he will be teaching classes on each chapter as he finishes translating them. I don’t think he will be able to resist teaching the new things that he is learning. He is very excited about doing this, and he is also training his ten-year-old daughter, Jennifer, to translate books. She is his oldest child, and, of course, she is still learning English.

Last week I told Fiaz of my revelatory dream in 1985 which told me that I was called to preach the gospel to the Muslim nations. His life’s calling is to translate books from English to Urdu. He thinks we make a perfect team, each doing his passion. I write; he translates.

I am confident that we are being led to go to the next level of ministry. I have always wanted to see the books translated into other languages, but up to this time we have had to rely on volunteer help. This is a huge work, because there are so many languages in the world. And I have many books to translate. We never had the resources to pay translators or to print the translated books in other countries.

But now is the time, at least for Pakistan. It is clear that the Father has raised up a man who is a translator by calling and not merely one who is doing it as a job to earn a living. He won’t take any money for his translation work, but I told him that we want to help out with printing costs. He does not charge anything for the books, so I do not want to burden him with the distribution of so many books. This way he does not have to put limits on his translation work for fear of running short on funds for printing.

We are investing in people’s lives and in the gospel of the Kingdom. This has the potential to change the entire landscape of the church in Pakistan. The gospel of Old Covenant salvation has been preached throughout the world up to this point in time, but we are now introducing the New Covenant salvation message to those who have never heard such things. At the same time we are introducing the gospel of hope that the manifestation of the sons of God gives to all of creation.

Pray for this evangelistic outreach. It is still in its fledgling state, but I know that God is in this. He will protect it in order to allow it to take firm root. No doubt there will be a time later when the truth they are learning will be tested, in order that the roots of faith will go deeper. But for now, seeds are being planted that will surely bear fruit in the coming years.