Muslim father killed daughter and threw her down a well, but Jesus caught her and restored her life

By Mark Ellis  (God Reports)

She was born into a strict Muslim family in the Middle East. Because she was born in the Muslim month of Ramzan, her parents named her Ramza.

“I was a religious girl from my childhood,” she told Bibles for Mideast. “I was always in front of the line for the Islamic practices for reciting the Koran, doing prayers five times a day, and fasting on the month of Ramzan.”

She also kept the tradition of wearing the “abaya,” with full head and face covering.

Her family was large, partly due to her father’s three wives who bore 13 children. He generated a substantial income from several trading and contracting companies.

After Ramza completed her education, a former schoolmate surprised her one day by sharing about Jesus Christ. “She was the daughter of a pastor, ministering with Bibles for Mideast. But I never accepted her message and arguments. She gave me a sample gospel (tract),” Ramza said.

After her graduation, Ramza’s father proposed that she marry an older, wealthy man, who already had three wives and several children.

Ramza was sickened by the proposition, especially when she realized she would be younger than his youngest child.

One evening she went to meet with her father. “I pleaded with him not to arrange my marriage now, but to send me for further studies. My father denied my request. I argued with him, for I was unable to imagine such a marriage. He did not listen to me at all,” she told Bibles for Mideast.

Tearful and defiant, Ramza told her father she would run away from home before the marriage could take place.

Enraged that she would argue or question his authority, he suddenly grabbed a chair and hit her on the head with one of its legs.

Ramza collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely from a broken skull. Her father and stepmother were shocked when they realized she was dead.

Not wanting anyone to know, they tied up her dead body and stuffed it into a large plastic bag and placed it in the trunk of their car.

Ramza’s father and stepmother traveled many miles into the desert until they arrived at a secluded date plantation. They found a dry well on the property and threw Ramza’s body down the shaft.

Somehow – whether in the body or out of the body – Ramza had the awareness that her soul was going into hell, a place of terrible darkness. She felt a deep thirst, but strangely, it was not for earthly water.

Her life flashed through her consciousness and she remembered her friend giving her the Gospel. She tried to reach out to grab ahold of it, but her hands could not touch it. She had the sense that if she could possess it, her soul would find rest “in an amazing garden.”

As her lifeless body hurtled down the well, something incredible happened. There was “a strong, healthy and beautiful man” standing at the bottom of the well.

“He caught the sack of my dead body in His hands,” she recounted. Then he proceeded to untie the sack. He placed his hands on her head and back and breathed life into her physical body.

“I opened my eyes like waking up from a dream. I saw the nail marks in His hands,” she says. Immediately she knew it was Jesus, and believed in Him as Savior and Lord.

Then Jesus picked the young woman up in His arms and brought her out of the well. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live (John 11:25).”

Jesus laid her gently on the ground and Ramza prostrated herself before Him.

A torrent of tears and words began to stream out: “Jesus, you’re my Lord and Savior. You were crucified and died for me. You are risen indeed. I am yours. I believe in you.”

She lifted her head to look at Him, but there was no one there. He disappeared.

Now there was a certain pastor and his wife in a village nearby and the Lord said to the pastor in a vision:Arise and go to a date plantation where you will find a young woman who needs help

Ramza picked herself up, but didn’t know what to do or where to go. “But I was so happy. I was praising and thanking Lord Jesus. Within a few minutes, a husband and wife from Bibles for Mideast came to me. They introduced that they are Christians and the Lord Jesus guided them to me.”

She excitedly shared her dramatic experience with them. They gave her a Bible and brought her to a farmhouse where she could live with five other women.

“They are born again women. They teach me more about the Word of God and we worship Jesus together in our house church.” Ramza works with them at the farm as well as ministering for the Lord.

“I don’t want go back to my parents unless they accept the Lord Jesus Christ,” she told Bibles for Mideast. “Pray for my family members, relatives and all the people of Middle East to be saved,” she said.

“Now I have been born again by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and I have become a citizen of the Kingdom of God.”

Terrorists abducted catholic priest Tom Uzhunnalil arrested

Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil (left) and the attacked old age home (right)

Report:  bibles4mideast.com

Three terrorists, who belong to the gang that abducted Indian priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil  and killed 16 people at an old-age home of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Aden in Yemen, have been reportedly arrested in the war-torn nation.

Fr. Tom is an Indian salesian missionary priest of the catholic church.

The external affairs ministry in India has confirmed the arrest of militants, Bibles for Mideast missionaries reported today, on Friday, 29 July.  However, it is still not known where the priest is and when he can be safely brought back to India.

The terrorists were caught from Saila near Aden in Yemen. The arrested terrorists reportedly said that they belong to Al-Qaeda.  It was earlier said that they belonged to ISIS, but this has not been confirmed.

It was on 4th of March that armed terrorists barged into an old-age home run by Missionaries of Charity at Aden in Yemen and shot dead 16 people, including four Indian nuns. These militants later whisked away Fr.Tom Uzhunnalil and they said they would crucify him on good Friday. Later external affairs ministry said he was safe.

The gang, which announced that they were behind the attack, did not reveal any details about Fr. Tom. His whereabouts is still not clear.

The terrorists had recently posted the pictures of Fr. Tom on his facebook account. Actually do not exactly know whether it was fake or true. Also do not know how Fr. Tom’s facebook account leaked.

Pastors Stabbed by Muslim Extremist; Jesus Redeemed Him and His Family

Picture: cutting fingers and hands of a man who read the Bible

Report:  bibles4mideast.com

Al-Farooqi (name is not real for the security reasons), 37 years old, was a fanatic Muslim In the Middle East. He was very punctual for Islamic faith and its practices.  He strongly believed that the whole world must be ruled according the law of Islamic sharia and those who do not follow sharia must be killed. In his twenties he worked with Taliban, destroyed churches and temples and killed many of its people.  He was crazy to see the pool of blood. When Taliban was attacked by US army, he was wounded, but somehow he escaped and flee from there and got back to his native. Still he is unable to walk properly.

He kept a terrible  enmity to the Christians. Whenever he meet a Christian, he would slap him at once. It was his pledge. He was keeping a large knife always with him.

Few days ago, two of the pastors of “Bibles for Mideast” met him and gave him a sample gospel and started talking about Jesus. Pastors had no idea about his past. They just thought a handicapped man walking alone. That’s why they approached and tried to evangelize him.

Farooqi got very angry. Both of his eyes became reddish. He was shivering like anything. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” and tore the gospel. Then he took his knife and stabbed them several times. Because of his immediate action, pastors got some injuries, but by God’s grace it was not serious ones.

While he was attacking the pastors, his knife was forcibly thrown down from the hand to his undamaged leg.  He got serious injury. Blood was flown out from his leg like a shower. Automatically he sat on the road. He cried aloud with severe pain.

Immediately pastors took their kerchiefs and tried to bandage his injuries. Though he was suffering with pain, he did not allow the pastors to touch him first. He denied their help and treatment. But by force pastors given him first aid and stopped flowing of the blood. And pastors themselves took a taxi and brought him to the nearest hospital. After applying the proper bandage and injecting medicines, pastors took him to his own house.

On the way to his house from the hospital, pastors told him the story of Good Samaritan. And said, “This was Jesus taught us to do. We follow what He said”.Farooqi listened the story, but he acted uninterested.

When pastors left his house, he did not want to give them a thanks or even just a smile at them.   Pastors knew he is still angry. Yet, next day they went to visit him at his house with prayers. Farooqi’s family members were happy to see the pastors. But he did not talk to them.

After two days, pastors again went to see him and helped him to untie the bandage and applied new. His family members became closer to them. On their forth visit only Farooqi expressed his thanks to the pastors and spoke something. That was also because of the compulsion of his family members. Hence the gospel team of “Bibles for Mideast” became regular visitors of that house. Farooqi was happy to see them. Gospel team told more about Jesus. He and his family listened carefully and pastors given them Arabic Bible.

Farooqi told them, “I am not worthy to stand before the Lord, for I am such a sinner and killed many people. Of course He cannot love me as a human being”.

Pastors showed him the Bible verse, Romans 5:8-10, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”.

Farooqi and family convinced about the Christian life. They confessed before the Lord and accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. Now all are attending the worship service regularly at our house church in secret.

Picture: cutting fingers and hands as a punishment of reading the Bible

Pray for Farooqi and his family that the Muslim community will not give them any harm. May our Lord protect them under His wings.

Woman of a Royal Family Seen Jesus and Baptized

Sayujya with Bibles for further distribution..

Report: bibles4mideast and gos2amen

I am Princess Sayujya. I belong to a Royal family in  India. If this was the time of King’s ruling, my father would be the King of our territory.

From childhood I was an idol worshiper. I used to go to the temples. And also I kept all idols of Devi Saraswati, Lord Krishna, Siva and Parvathy, Ganapati, Vishnu, Rama and Seetha etc. in my prayer room and did pooja before them and anointing them with milk and ghee every day and used to pray to them.

One day, when I was doing pooja by offering flowers to the idols, one of my idols of Devi Saraswati was fallen down from my hand and broke into several pieces. It was really painful for me. I myself hit my head on the table and cried with a deep sorrow.

While I was crying somebody touched me on the shoulder. I thought it was my mother. So I couldn’t control myself and cried aloud. The person touched my shoulder called me “My daughter”. I was shocked because It was a gentleman’s sound. I understood it was not my father’s voice, but different. So I stood up immediately and turned towards him; but I found nobody behind me.

I looked around the corners. I was surprised to see nobody there. But I was quiet sure that there was somebody touched me and called me as daughter. Then I thought may be it was just my feeling. Then I collect the pieces of the broken idol and tried to joint together. I was unable to rejoin the idol. So again it made me weeping.

Very clearly I heard again the same voice, “My daughter”. I look back. There was a bright light shining on the corner. Inside of the light I saw Jesus the Lord. I quickly recognized  it was Jesus Christ, because many times I saw His picture several places. Jesus told me, “My daughter, I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes unto God the Father, but by me. Believe me and follow me”.

Automatically I knelt down before Him. Actually it was the first time I was kneeling before somebody. Before the idols I was doing prostration only.

Holy Spirit forced me to kneel down before Jesus.

Then I approached Pastor Paul and family of gos2amen (Gospel to Asia and Middle East Nations) and Bibles for Mideast. They taught me that Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Most High God, came down from Heaven to earth, crucified and died as a punishment of sin for every human being though He had no sin at all. He rose up from the dead and gave us salvation and eternal life. And they gave me a Holy Bible.

I confessed before the Lord Jesus and accepted Him as my personal Savior and Lord.

receiving baptism

As soon as I was born again, I took all the idols and threw it away. My father and mother were astonished why I am doing like this. They thought I am getting mad. I told them clearly my experience which I got from Jesus my savior. They became angry and began to persecute me. But every day I became  stronger and stronger in my faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord. And after few days of studying the Bible and attending the worship services I received baptism from Pastor Paul.

Now I share my testimony and distributing Gospel tracts and Bibles among my friends and relatives that they too will be believing Jesus Christ as their Savior and the King of kings. Pray for them.

My husband is also a born again man from my own community, baptized and involving with our Lord’s ministries. God blessed us with a child.

Hindu Woman Battled Cancer and Skin Disease, Found a ‘Fiery’ Healing in Jesus

Picture:  Usha (left) receives Bible from a leader of gos2amen

Report: bibles4mideast for gos2amen

Usha was born and brought up in a Hindu family in India. Lord Jesus Christ showed mercy upon her and did wonderful things in her life. She accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and received baptism.

In her past life, she followed many Hindu deities and made ‘poojas’ in her home, a daily ritual gift to her idols with the hope of receiving a blessing in return.

But after Usha developed uterine cancer and a serious skin disease, her husband left her for another woman. Due to her sickness and unpleasant appearance, many in the community rejected her. Her own brothers and sisters would not let her enter their homes.

In order to care for herself and her four children, Usha was forced to beg from neighbors. And  she tried to continue teaching her children at home and live as normally as possible in the midst of her suffering.

She prayed to her idols every day for healing, including Siva, Vishnu, Krishna, Ganpati, Ayyappa, Laxmi, Saraswathi. As part of the pooja, she poured out milk, honey, rice, flowers and fruits on her idols. For months and months she repeated her ritual, but found no relief from her health maladies.

Usha applied for help from the government and they approved treatment in a mission hospital, which involved a hysterectomy. Doctors were optimistic they removed all her cancer, but her skin disease persisted, which baffled them.

One day some ministers connected with gos2amen (Gospel to Asia and Middle East Nations) which is an associate ministries of bibles4mideast.com visited her in the hospital. They shared the gospel with Usha, a message she had never heard before. Visibly moved, she repented from all her sins and accepted Jesus as her Savior.

“I believe in Jesus Christ,” she openly declared. Everyone in the room joined hands and prayed for her.

Then something remarkable happened. As they prayed, Usha felt like she was suddenly engulfed in a burning furnace. Her internal body temperature seemed to rise dramatically – as if a fire raged within every cell of her body!

She looked at her skin and hair, but nothing was charred or singed. Like Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, she believes Jesus covered and protected her completely.

“All my sin and sickness burned from my body by the grace of Jesus Christ,” she says.

After this intense experience, her skin disease slowly disappeared. The ministers who witnessed her healing praised the Lord. Doctors could not explain what happened and some described it as a miracle.

And Usha’s health and strength is restored and she has begun to work, sharing the story of God’s amazing work in her life.

Now she is laboring as a housemaid in the Middle East for her livelihood. And whenever she gets time, she voluntarily  involving with evangelism activities with bibles4mideast to distribute Bibles and Christian literature for free of cost among the people of Middle East.

Usha winning souls for house church too for attending the worship service.

As a housemaid she gets very low salary. Out of four children one got married.  Others are studying with Usha's income.

Even though, when she gets her salary, first she gives her tithes for our Lord's ministries.  She says, "Lord Jesus Christ has given me life and livelihood out of empty hope. It is not enough for me to give Him anything for His unspeakable gifts".

Thalaikkoothal: A Crude Ritual Practice of Killing Elderly in India

By Pastor Paul (Bibles for Mideast)

Picture: A group of elders gather at a corner shop in a village. 

Sometimes Thalaikoothal is practiced with their consent

Thalaikoothal  is the crude ritual practice of senicide or involuntary euthanasia, killing one’s elderly parents resembles that of leading a lamb to slaughter – except that there is no knife involved. It  is an oil bath in more than 50 villages of the Districts of Virudhunagar, Mandabasalai, Madurai, Thoothukudi and Theni in Tamil Nadu State in India.

In the internal parts of the state otherwise praised for a vibrant culture that transcends all walks of life, this ritualistic practice of senicide is accepted like an innocuous norm.

Picture of representation

When a family is unable to bear the burden of an elderly, they kill them off. And, perhaps, the strongest of hearts would cringe at methods used to kill the elderly.

The elderly, usually above 50, are first given an oil bath. The body is massaged with 100ml each of coconut, castor and sesame oils, usually at dawn. After this, the person is given a cold bath and put to bed. The body temperature soon dips, often to a lethal extent. After 15 minutes, the person is made to drink a few glasses of tender coconut water and a glass of milk. This causes renal failure. In a day or two, the person catches fever and dies.

The other method is a massage of the head with cold water. This causes a sudden drop in body temperature. The body being old and infirm is unable to handle this change resulting in cardiac arrest.

There is a third way in case the other two do not work, the person would be given a glass of mud mixed with water or, a piece of murukku, a savoury, would be forced down the throat, which is hard to swallow causing suffocation and death.

Another popular material is a highly-toxic tablet used to kill pigs. It costs INR 10 and is sold under various brand names, such as Quickphos and Celphos, in pesticide shops throughout these villages. Usually, this tablet is mixed in tea given to the elderly. The death results from profound shock, myocarditis and multi-organ failure.

Now, pesticides, sleeping pills and lethal injections have become part of it. The local quacks prescribe Valium tablets. If these fail, the villagers call in the quack to inject a combination of poisons and a fatal dose of drugs. Death comes within minutes.

A survey carried out to study this senicide in Tamil Nadu reveals that there could be as many as 26 different ways.

Picture of representation

Journal The Week reports, In M Reddiapatti, a village near Mandabasalai, 92-year-old Subbama Veluchamy was recently put to sleep by her family. Bedridden for more than 40 days, she was under the care of her sister-in-law and her son’s family. One day, after a bout of diarrhoea, Subbama refused to eat or drink. This was when the family decided to give her the oil bath. However, the bath failed, and a local quack prescribed a dozen sleeping pills. These, too, failed to put her out of her misery. The last resort was a lethal injection. As her veins were infirm, the quack pricked her foot and took her life. “We all could hear her crying loudly and quivering in pain. But the family cannot afford her,” says Kasthuri, her neighbor.

Though villagers claim they have buried this gruesome tradition, it has now taken on a silent form. Sometimes, the elderly themselves consent to Thalaikoothal. Then everything will be done with full preparation. Relatives are often told of the exact date, as if some marriage ceremony is being held.

“I am a burden. I don’t want to trouble you any more,” hands joined in supplication, Kannaki, 65,  says to her daughter Malar Ponnuchami. Tears run down her wrinkled face as she lifts her head to look into the eyes of her daughter. Her words are lost in sobs, and her lower lip trembles as she wipes away the tears with the corner of her muddled green sari.  Kannaki knows that her daughter has little time to take care of her. Her right leg and left hand, both paralysed, add to the burden. Malar, an agricultural laborer, ekes out a living and cannot afford her mother's medicines.

Kannaki lives on one meal a day—a cup of kanji (rice gruel) early in the morning. “I don’t want to live. I know I will be killed as my daughter cannot afford to take care of me. But I want to die a peaceful death without pain. Will you help me?” she asked her daughter. Given her condition, Kannaki could soon be celebrated Thalaikoothal.

Picture of representation

As a justification for their killing of the elderly, some offenders say the old bodies get rid of the suffering. Others say they do not have the means to take care of their parents.  The truth could be anything, including possessing ownership of property. Since a higher number of the elderly are men who usually have the property in their names, it somewhat validates the ownership angle.

Although Thalaikoothal is illegal in India, the practice has long received covert social acceptance as a form of mercy killing. But the government finds itself helpless to interfere in any practice of a society fiercely divided along religious, caste and traditional lines. So no one is arrested for this crime  because no one complaints and doctors often cite the reason of death as natural causes. Since the society accepts it as normal, there is no hue and cry. Entire villages can stand united behind those who carry out this practice.

With the diverse ways there are now to kill the elderly, the ritual has spawned an unorganized crime sector which involves middle men and quacks known as “vettiar” who claim to be siddhans (indigenous medical practitioners) and doctors. Because of the gravity of the act the quacks are involved in, the hesitating villagers refuse to divulge more details about them. What is more, this happens right under the nose of the law-makers and police.

Though the practice is ethically and legally unpardonable, one should note that it is sustained by the economic backwardness of this region. “Their livelihood has always been a question mark,” says J. Manivannan of Elders For Elders Foundation, an NGO in Cuddalore. “They are farm laborers. Both men and women work but their daily earnings can meet only one person’s needs.”

State health secretary J. Radhakrishnan, however, claims, “Government of Tamil Nadu is doing best for palliative care”.

Picture of representation

That this barbaric murder is socially acceptable tells a lot about the lurking evil in a society that appears perfectly civilized and chest-thumps on its ancient history. That this barbaric murder is socially acceptable tells a lot about the lurking evil in a society that appears perfectly civilized and chest-thumps on its ancient history.

To the hoi polloi in the villages and towns where Thalaikoothal is practiced, this is the “cycle of life”.

Even the activists trying to end this barbaric practice tread carefully. They have taken the indirect route of educating the masses about how an elderly can be cared for better instead of telling them on the face that their practice is nothing less than demonic. Bibles for Mideast along with the Gospel to Asia and Middle East Nations (gos2amen) ministering among them, teaching them the value of a soul through the love of Christ and trying to end their barbaric practice of senicide with prayers.