Ramadan began Sunday and, hopefully, you're praying for the Muslims of the world to come to know God as He fully revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. A daily prayer guide is available at www.prayer-center.org and www.30-days.net At the end of this page is Day 03 from 30-Days, an excellent example of their Guide.

I celebrate my physical birthday this Sunday and am already grateful for the onslaught of intercession I'll receive that day, especially as a co-worker and I make another trip to the Ministry of Interior in an attempt to clear up my family's long overdue visa fiasco. Along those line of thanks, please visit this site to gain more of an understanding of our gratitude as you give through the upcoming Christmas offering.

Perhaps some of you have seen the movie "Radio," starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris. I saw a preview online and am certainly looking forward to seeing it on DVD. The story reminds me of the illiterate, mentally-challenged student who used to roam our high school football sidelines back at North Stafford High School ('81-'83). I often wonder about Toby. Later on I'd meet Mark Gallahan, another young man who taught me what was important.

Early one morning Jasmine was eager to tell me she had written the word "apple" and wanted you to know she's been practicing her English. She also asks special prayer from you to help her friend "Sandra" stop crying. Jasmine remembers how your praying helped her stop crying and knows where to turn to help her friend.

A like-minded colleague sent this recently, asking for your prayer support:

"We have news of a Russian immigrant family in Israel going through a tremendous crisis with the Interior Ministry who revoked their Israeli citizenship on the false charge that they had lied about their religious belief at the time of immigration, saying they claimed to be Jews, but were in fact not, because they believed in Jesus.

The reality is that they are Jews and they came to faith in Messiah Jesus after immigration to Israel. They have lived in the land for more than nine years before this charge came up, which was sparked by a much belated accusatory letter from anti-missionaries, which I presume to be the Yad Laheem, the same organization that lobbied against our work a few years ago.

They are getting legal help and will probably get justice, according to the Nehemiah Covenant Corporation. They are receiving strong support from their congregation since they are now unable to work, but the lawyer says it may take half a year or longer for their case to be resolved.

As always, we solicit prayer support on behalf of God's people in the West Bank (Palestine) and Israel. Please include this family."

* Be sure to sign up for the Wednesday Weekly.

+ Along the lines of Jasmine's request for "no crying," I gave ~11 days advance notice of my physical birthday. I suspect my name will appear in certain publications on Sunday, 2-November, and I'll receive a lot of 'generic' prayer. I'm most grateful for prayer in any form, and I'm asking God to apply all that intercession to meeting my greatest need for that day: a visa extension. We're well over thirteen months past due and, believe me, it's not for lack of trying or submitting the latest piece of data in a scavenger hunt.

You've been praying with us over this matter for a long time, so let's get ready to give Him all the glory as He moves in the life of "Nina" to grant us the visas for which we have applied... it still applies, so let's turn up the heat : -)

+ I would soon get to help a co-worker set up the restored P-100 desktop running Win98se and asked you to join us in praying that all went well on site. You know how those things can go <g>... your prayers kept me sane as the dial-up modem refused to connect (sigh). Thanks for praying!

+ We were waiting on a follow up phone call from a landscaping company to help the Prayer Center with an estimate on parts for an irrigation system, so your intercession made a difference... I was beginning to think we'd been forgotten (again), but a phone call this past week scheduled an appointment for Thursday : -)

+ I was to have another opportunity to assist another co-worker with computer needs and, once again, I called on the One Who supplies all the right insights to these challenges. You prayed with me on Monday and, wow, was that fast. I poked around in a few settings, and then heard that all was fixed; hopefully, it will stay fixed <g>. We appreciate your intercession!

+ Jasmine and Shirin helped out in the Children's Club in Bethany last Thursday, and you prayed for protection of all involved and that the children would one day know the one true God... a separate page has been built to show you what happened.

+ You prayed with us to find the right local kindergarten for Jasmine to attend next year... this is going to need some extended prayer, so please continue.

<T H I S  W E E K><

<>< Continue praying with us over Jasmine's kindergarten next year. May it be the right place.

<>< Pray that I'll be able to assist a co-worker in finding the right computer to fit his needs.

<>< Ask God to unite the hearts of those meeting at the IPCJ to find ways to extend prayer coverage "beginning in Jerusalem."

<>< Pray that Thursday afternoon's scheduled time with a landscaping consultant will meet the needs of the Prayer Center.

<>< Join us in praying for the safety of US children on Friday night. Shirin and I are grateful we don't have to expose Jasmine to such nonsense.

<>< We're anticipating receiving our long overdue visas on Sunday, my physical birthday, so rejoice with us in advance!

<>< Shirin and other co-workers will soon be going back to the orphanage in Bethany. Please pray with them for a safe trip and that they will be encouragers to the staff and children there.

><Pray for Beirut and beyond.>

CALENDAR UPDATES

<If you're not receiving our bimonthly snail-mail newsletter, let us know so we can send it to you!><

22, safety of US family

* As far as I know, everyone is okay. Thanks for praying!

23, safe arrival of packages/mail

* Your intercession led to unopened packages! Thank you!

24, more workers

* There was no one to pick up at the airport today, sad to say :-(

25, believers to be encouraged

* I have yet to meet any Messianic believers; however, I'm sure your intercession brought encouragement.

26, family health

* As the season changes, we'll need this in the coming days.

27, more people to hear God’s word

* Herein is the answer to the world's woes.

28, safe food

* As we went grocery shopping, I thought of your intercession and thanked God for you : -)

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Day 3 for October 28, 2003

Muslims and Jesus Christ

Most Christians are fairly uninformed about Islamic beliefs. In a similar way, many Muslims do not understand or are ignorant of Christian teaching about Jesus. Most Muslims believe that Jesus (whom they call Sidna Isa) was a remarkably good prophet who was sent to the Jews to bring them back to an Israeli form of Islam. Muslims believe that Islam was the religion which was practiced by all the prophets (Abraham, David, Moses, Solomon, Jonah and others). Afterwards their followers corrupted the true faith.

Muslims think of Jesus as a prophet who is reputed to have done miracles, but most of them have no knowledge of most of His life and ministry. Jesus is highly honoured by Muslims as a holy man, but is not seen to be divine. In recent times many Muslims have pointed to the so-called Gospel of Barnabas as being a source document about the Muslim Jesus. This document portrays a Jesus who is radically Islamic. Many believe that this so-called Gospel was possibly written around the year 1600 by a Muslim living in Spain. It was certainly not written by the disciple Barnabas who was a contemporary of Paul. For more information about the Gospel of Barnabas, see the websites:

* Christian site: www.answering-islam.org/Barnabas

* Muslim site: www.islam101.com/barnabas

Muslims claim that Jesus did not die on the cross - such a death is considered to be unworthy of such a good prophet. They affirm that Jesus was taken up to heaven without dying. Generally they think that Judas Iscariot was crucified in the place of Jesus, and that God supposedly transformed his face to make him look like Jesus. Judas is seen as being a traitor who received just punishment while Jesus escaped.

Muslims equally affirm that Jesus will return to earth from heaven sometime before the end of the world to punish the Jews and Christians for their corruption of religious faith and practice.

Eventually Jesus will die a natural death and later be resurrected to be judged with all men during the last days. The Muslim idea of Christ is actually significantly different from the Christ of the Bible.

Prayer Topics

* Muslims need to recognize Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and to see the glory of the risen Lord. Pray for spiritual blindness to be removed (2~Corinthians 4:1-7).

* Most Muslims have never even had an opportunity to believe because they have never heard enough of the real Gospel to be saved. Ask God to raise up an abundance of ministries to proclaim Christ in a culturally sensitive manner.

* The ‘Jesus’ film has been an excellent means worldwide of helping Muslims learn about Jesus. Pray for a wider distribution of this film in more languages (Rom 10:14).

* Most Muslims have needs which can only be answered by Jesus Christ. Pray that Muslims might find themselves in situations where they would be encouraged to call upon the Lord Jesus (Rom 10:8-13).  Some remarkable healings and conversions have happened when Muslims call on Jesus as a healer.

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30 Days – Calling all Christians to Pray for all Muslims

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