Dear Friends and Prayer Partners
Praise the Lord – despite everything I am back evangelising! The Lord promised an ‘Open door that no man can shut’ more than 30 years ago! God doesn’t change, neither do His Promises! In confirmation, what a busy Autumn I have had! Our God who created Heaven and Earth is not limited, even when we are!
August in Poland was followed quickly by September in Ukraine, then October in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – my feet hardly touched my home base! All the more complicated because of all the Covid tests I’ve had to take in order just to travel!
From 30 September to 11 October, by Divine Appointment, I was in Central Asia – evangelising! First, an intensive 3-day weekend of ministry in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: 8 meetings in 3 different locations – ministering to Russian-speaking Kyrgyz and multi-ethnic peoples, believers and unbelievers. Between meetings I spent time with individual pastors and leaders from all over the nation. On arrival, I was interviewed by a Moslem for the local Bishkek Evening News: my message, in this former Soviet Republic where 90 percent of the population is culturally Moslem, was the Gospel message of a God who so loved the world that He gave His only Son... Pastor Vasiliy who had invited me, went through the fires of persecution under communism – but in his basement he was hand printing Bibles! “Because of the Moslem background here” he says, “in Asia you can't build a church without miracles.” Thank God for those who were healed and who repented in these three busy days.
From Kyrgyzstan we flew to Uzbekistan. First the miracle church in Yangiyul – just a concrete frame when I visited in 2019, now ready to be officially opened by the local Moslem mayor later this year! Delayed by Covid, now post Covid, instead of one Sunday meeting, they have three! Young people, and missionaries working all over Central Asia, including Afghanistan, attended our Conference. Lives were changed and miracles of healing occurred.
In Samarkand we held a powerful evangelistic meeting: many people repented, others were healed. We also spent time in the home of local believers and with local pastors. We were so deeply moved by their testimonies, how out of Islam they came to know the Lord, the persecutions they’ve had, the miracles the Lord has worked in them and through them, in answer to prayer and sovereignly... Samarkand has a long history, going back to the Ancient Silk Road trade routes, and seen a succession of conquerors, from the Persian kings to Alexander the Great, to Genghis Khan, with its own war hero, Amir Temur, 1370-1405, who seized the same vast Eastern Empires. From Susa he brought back ‘the right hand’ of Old Testament prophet Daniel and buried it in a great sarcophagus here in Samarkand.
Back in Tashkent, our first meeting was with a group of the leading pastors in Uzbekistan – who already know me, especially because of what God has done in Ukraine through my ministry. Together we prepared a programme of evangelism with such a sense of urgency, it could begin at Christmas this year, but needs urgent prayer to make it possible to rent the stadium. I asked them, how would we fill it. They said that the real problem was getting a large enough stadium! This is my next battle in prayer!
The following day we brought together more than 200 pastors and leaders from all Central Asia, for two days of Prayer and Impartation. In all Central Asia I am seeing a remarkable unity – across very diverse Christian groups in the face of cultural, political and radical Islam – in answer to Christ’s prayer that we all be one... God has opened an incredible door for evangelism, the Believers here are desperate for me to come – and until Christ comes, this is my new Mission Field. Until conquered by Islam in the 7th century, Central Asia was largely Christian. That is the challenge!
Rome now scheduled for November – as a result of my visit to Poland this summer, God has opened a door for me to bring Jesus into the Vatican in November – without compromise – with Archbishop Rys as my host; he wants to spend time with me to learn more about the faith I have in Jesus! I shall not be in a hotel, but will spend all my time, sleeping and eating, at the very centre of the Vatican! This is not a brief meeting and short greeting, but four days living with key people in the Vatican. Only God knows why He planned this – He has a purpose to fulfil. I need the Power of the Holy Spirit to give me wisdom and a powerful anointing that will shake the system and change it. They will not change me, but God will change those whose hearts are open and whom He has called – by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Your prayerful response will make this happen!
Yes, I am putting my life on the line – but I did that 50 years ago in the Soviet Union. And long ago, aged 15, I surrendered my life – everything – to Jesus. Everything is in His Hands.
We are living in strange, unusual times. Biblical standards are being eroded, not only by government edict, but also by church leaders! Free speech is being limited in public life, and especially in universities and the very Gospel we preach is becoming limited because it might ‘offend’ a minority. The very truth of Heaven and Hell and that there is only one way to God through the Blood of Jesus is questioned. Many believe that there are many ways to God through different religions and question the truth that there is ‘One Faith, one Lord, one baptism’!
Time is short, the harvest fields are white, but the reapers are few. Jesus said, many, when bidden to the ‘wedding feast’, failed to respond, and He commanded us to go to the ‘highways and byways and compel them to come in’ – that Heaven would not be empty! The Bible speaks of a time when the reaper will overtake the sower – that’s why I am praying desperately that God will take the limits off our finances – NOW!
In the words of Jesus, the time for evangelism, the time for revival is limited. Before Christ returns, it comes to an end. And when we come to the ending of the times of the Gentiles, then Israel will be saved, Romans 11:25-26. That’s why the Lord told me many years ago, “David, you began in Israel, and you will end in Israel!” I’m doing everything that I can in the field to which God has called me – that’s Europe and Israel and the former Soviet Union countries, now including certain countries in Central Asia. But this has to be done with a sense of urgency, because a time is coming when it’s time to redeem Israel!
Your brother evangelist and disciple of the Lord Jesus,
David