Pakistan

Pakistan

After a life changing experience in India, we left half our team behind at Dubai as they flew back to South Africa. Henk, Sabie and I flew from Dubai to Lahore, Pakistan. After a long two days of travel, we arrived in Lahore at about 2 in the morning. We were greeted by Ghaffar Bhatti and a young pastor friend. Ghaffar is a friend of Richard (the friend from India) and Alfred (from Mutare, Zimbabwe). We didn’t know Ghaffar nor did he know us, but we had mutual friends so we felt safe. Ghaffar is such an amazing guy. Very extreme but full of the love of Christ! All these men mentioned are passionate and on fire for Jesus, totally sold out for Him! They are men that I for one, can look up to and learn a great deal from.

The moment our feet touched Pakistani soil, the atmosphere changed. Where in India the atmosphere was like a demonic Disney world (read the India testimony), in Pakistan I immediately felt the need to fight, physically. I was almost aggressive! I immediately knew that this is a demonic strong hold of Muslim or Pakistan. But Ghaffar’s welcome at the airport was much unexpected and pleasantly surprising! He greeted us as if we are VIP guests arriving at an exotic island! We had colourful flowers put around our necks (it’s called phool mala in India) and they looked extremely happy to have us there! Ghaffar took us to our hotel and we got to bed after three that morning. We stayed in the ambassador’s hotel. Very fancy entrance foyer! When we got to our rooms it was a bit different. The room was humongous! It had a living room and a huge bedroom. When it was build it must have been very beautiful, but that could have been a long time ago! There were cockroaches there that will scare a Rottweiler and the place needed a lot of tlc.

Just a little background at first; before we came to Pakistan I admitted that I need to come to Pakistan because I have no love for these people. Before I met the Lord I was an outspoken racist, especially against black people. But one culture I hated more than a black person was these Arabic kinds of people. I think more the Muslim people. Mostly because of media and their religion. I’m not even sure why I hated them! But I got born again and the Lord changed my heart and delivered me. Since then I have learned a great deal from black people and I love working with them. God gave me a great love for Africa! But not these people. In my life I have never had the opportunity till now to actually talk to them. I knew that they hate Christians in Pakistan and that persecution is big there. I knew we would have bodyguards protecting us and there is a percentage of possible danger. I also knew India and Pakistan is not the best of friends, and we just came from India! And then the most important thing I knew, is that I needed a heart operation to see these people through the eyes of their Creator. 

And that’s why I mentioned the room. Because it was the Ambassador hotel, I thought they had put us in a room where they put all the people that’s like enemy of the state or something. I didn’t think government officials would sleep in such places! Plus Sabie and I had to share a bed again! But all this was part of an amazing experience! It was early in the morning as I said, and just in four hours time, Ghaffar would be back at the hotel to pick us up. We are leaving to a small village to the south of Lahore, a few hours’ drive away. 

And sure enough, three hours later we stood up, ordered breakfast and Ghaffar came. We haven’t even left the hotel for five minutes, then Ghaffar’s phone wrung. It was the government of Pakistan. They basically said that they knew we left the hotel and that they know we are leaving for this town. They want to know what our intentions are and will we stop over on our way there. They watched us like falcons! That excited me! I knew then and there that this is serious! This can become even downright dangerous! Ghaffar also shared his story with us. There have been numerous attempts on his life, his wife and children lives in a “secret” village and he sees them on a minimal basis. He is also famous for deliverance ministry in Pakistan, putting even more persecution on his head. The Kingdom suffers violence in Pakistan, but the violent will take it by force!

In Pakistan with a less than 3% Christian population (and that includes all Christian groups), they cannot afford all these theological crap that we keep ourselves so busy with here in the western world. Jesus is perfect theology! That’s it! This guy is busy working unworked territory, very hard soil. He is making a way where there was no way before. He is paying the highest price for the Gospel. No matter what he does or doesn’t do (according to western judgements), this guy is preparing the ground for generations to come. Maybe in a generation or two, who knows that 3% might be 10 times more? They are sold out for Jesus. Nothing on this earth is more important than Him for them. No price is too high to pay for our Lord and Savior. They are Kingdom legends!  

Ghaffar also shared that the bad relationship between India and Pakistan is completely political. Lahore is close to the Indian border. On ground level the people have no issues with each other and often share friendship tears through the border fence. The western world divided these countries for political advantages. When the Middle East, India and the east stand together as one, they could be a potential risk. Remember that this is the stories we heard. I enjoy other people’s viewpoints and I respect their opinions. Every individual is entitled to make up his/her own mind.

After a very long drive we reached the village. It looked like something we saw on TV while watching the Iraq war. It’s almost dessert, with all these small buildings and houses. At the gas station, there was a mosque, cafe and a hotel, the only hotel in the village. This was our home for the next two nights. That evening we had our first meeting scheduled not too far from the hotel. There were some concerns about the meeting and our safety. Muslim extremists and even government officials regularly break up these Christian crusades and often not in the most peaceful manner possible. Plus they made a massive poster with our faces on it, advertising the crusade to the public. Our faces on a massive Christian poster in a country where they persecute Christians; not something I can say every day! Christianity in Pakistan isn’t illegal. And in most countries of the world most religions are legal including Christianity. But that’s on paper. In reality it is very clear that Christianity is not welcome at all in many countries! Christians are being persecuted all over the world today, and the world remains silent. It is alleged that there are more Christians being killed for their faith today than all off history together!

 

But first something a bit more on the light side! We booked into our hotel. Again Sabie and I were to share a bed, this time just a bit smaller bed. I immediately saw why the women didn’t come with! We also got to know that the hotels are being used for weddings and that our room probably was the honeymoon suite. The wool blankets on the bed are not something that is very practical in a hotel setup. The aircon was a nice water feature that dripped constantly into a bucket next to the bed. The bed stood three quarters of the room leaving very little room for movement, and the bathroom still had the previous peoples shaving equipment there. The shower was almost directly over the toilet whose seat was completely loose and our door couldn’t lock. I sound like a spoiled moaning rich kid or something, but trust me it’s far from it! All these small challenges are what makes an outreach! I wrote in the India report about it. This, although different from what we are used to, is something that I will always cherish on an outreach. I mention it to create a clearer picture of our experience and to explain the circumstances better. We spend a lot of time in this room, just sitting and waiting. We used the time to pray together and talk about what’s on our hearts. The one moment was very special where each of us on our own, but together, spend time with the Lord and in the Word.

As I said there were some concerns about our evening meeting. But as we drove, and as we waited in the hotel we prayed.  In the late afternoon a storm came up. It was twisters and wind and rain and God knows what. A massive storm, as if there were a major war happening in the spirit. I knew God was up to something! Ghaffar joined us in the hotel and we were told that the meeting was going to be open air and that this storm will ruin the entire meeting. We prayed again, Lord, we are only in Pakistan for a very short time, please come through for us! And sure as He lives, the One who can quite the storm, didn’t do it! The storm went on. But I must emphasise, that there was wind! Then, minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start, literately everything quite down and the skies were open as if nothing happened! We then got in the car and left for the meeting.

We only later realised what happened. God created the storm, so that any potential threat would have surely thought that the meeting would be cancelled. This also meant smaller crowds, but then again God sometimes is more into quality than He is into quantity. This was His way to protect us! I also learned that when you don’t see the desired results of your prayers (the storm didn’t quit when we prayed for it), don’t worry! Trust God! He sees the bigger picture and is busy working for our own good. We just need to trust Him!

As we arrived at the meeting, we first had to sit and wait in the car till a guy came to us and told us it is safe to come out. This is where we met with our heavily armed bodyguards. They had AK47’s, Uzi’s, 9mm's and they know what else. And there were quite a handful of them! This is something I have never witnessed before! These guys were militant in everything they do. Every time before you move, you have to wait for one of the bodyguards to say that it is ok. We then got escorted through doors unto a red carpet. People were singing and covered us with colourful flowers. We walked the red carpet as the people stood next to the carpet cheering for us. Even the Pakistani traditional clothes are very colourful. It looked amazing! It really looked like a scene from Hawaii! The only difference is that we were in rural Pakistan!

I must admit the red carpet somewhat made me uncomfortable just because it is very unfamiliar to me. But I immediately saw their hearts and I got filled with a very deep appreciation for them. This was the warmest welcome we have ever had! I was so pleasantly surprised that I just didn’t know how to react to any of this! We were again dressed in traditional hats and flowers around our necks. They also had a celebrity Gospel singer there with his wife. The South Africans will understand this; he was the Bless Bridges of Pakistan. This thought filled me with great joy for the rest of our time there! They worshiped a few songs and then the Gospel singer also had some time to perform.

Given the weather situation before the time, many people actually came for the meeting! Henk preached and afterwards made an alter call. Many accepted Jesus! Many are like a handful, but given that the nation is 97% Muslim, even one conversion is massive! Christianity is not a fashion; it’s a matter of life and death. You give everything up when you choose Jesus. And by choosing Him, you will receive everything! Jesus also healed many sick people including deaf ears that opened. Jesus loves these people! He poured out His love on them and displayed His love to all of us in whatever matter He seemed necessary. My heart changed. I was able to see a glimpse of how Jesus looks at them. It is impossible to see people in the same light after something like this. I thank God so much for the grace He has with me, allowing me to minister to His most precious creation, people. He loves us so much that He gave up His only begotten Son, so that there will be only a chance that we might choose to love Him back. This is amazing love! This is amazing grace! This is our Jesus!

The next day we had meetings scheduled again. The morning and afternoon will be more with the leaders, and then another crusade at night. The sessions went really well. I also realised that the strongholds over Pakistan were aggression, (what I felt at the airport), religion and perversion. I mention this because on this India, Pakistan trip, I really experienced the spiritual realm like never before. I realised how real these things are and how it can influence our daily lives. Especially when we go on an outreach these things can play a significant role in preparing for you trip. We don’t go to these countries just for the sake of traveling. We go to make the maximum impact we can possibly make. This makes the difference and makes these kinds of things more significant. I also believe that it is good to know these things before hand so that our prayers can be more effective, but we also do not act on these things. We act on the Word of God. We follow Him. Obedience to Jesus is far more important than any knowledge, because just as the forces of darkness are busy over a certain territory to bring death and destruction, the forces of heaven is also busy at work in these places. When we know what heaven is busy doing, we know also what our job is. For it is written, let Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Heaven is our blueprint and our job description, not the darkness!

We also learned a great deal from the Pakistani team. Between sessions we went into this room with a bed, dinner table and TV cupboard. We sat there most of the time, just having fellowship with them. Life in Pakistan for a Christian is something we do not have any reference for. One of the stories that I really found very interesting is when we asked why is it that the women wear these dresses where only their eyes show. Why is that?

They explained to us the foundation of Muslim. Many years ago not to long after Christ walked the planet; the Jews struggled to destroy Christianity, as persecution only made the Church to grow. A very rich and influential Jewish lady and key leadership people came together for a meeting on how they will destroy Christianity. They realised their efforts didn’t produce the desired results, so they had to come up with a new plan. They decided to start a new religion. They rewrote the entire Old Testament with a few subtle, but fundamental changes and they even wrote about Jesus’ just not the resurrection part. They then had to add another prophet to the story. So the rich Jewish lady married one of her slaves named Muhammad. He had no history what so ever and was perfect for the job. Obviously there were some conditions to the marriage. He was to play the role of this prophet that they tried to create and they made him study the visions etc that Allah gave him. This is where the Muslim religion started. Muhammad helped many people and saw them for counseling. The problem was that he had a spirit of lust and that he gave the ladies more than what they came for. To help him, they made a law so that the ladies must wear clothes that will cover all off their bodies. This made sense to me as I could literally feel the lust in the air.

We shared many stories with them and even Bin Laden came up. It’s very interesting to hear the stories from a total different viewpoint. Another thing I loved is the way Ghaffar does evangelism. He goes to the Muslims, as a Christian pastor and tells them he wants to learn more about the Koran (Muslim bible). I must also tell you that he knows the Muslim religion very well! Obviously, the Muslims are very keen on helping him with their bible and they tell him everything they know in an attempt to convert him. After they had their turn to speak, he asks them a few questions from the Koran. Its fundamental questions to their religion, and they are not able to answer him. Remember he is a student!  Long story short, the Muslims end up converting to Christianity! Even the Koran shows that Jesus is the true resurrected Son of the living God! This together with his deliverance ministry, he is a real threat to the camps of the enemy, and a true hero in the Kingdom!

Now I know that this paragraph is a very sensitive topic in a global perspective, so I would like to just state my heart in this. I am a believer and I believe in the Almighty Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I believe Jesus is the Word that became flesh and He is the only way back to the Father because He paid the perfect price on the cross of Calvary and He rose again on the third day and He is coming again. For these statements I am willing to die and I will not give an inch from this Truth. This being said, I have no intention whatsoever to attack any person or people group.

God touched my heart and I believe that by His grace I am able to love all people. John 12:32(AMP) says: “And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself”. John 3:16: “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” Jesus loves us. He loves witches, pagans, Muslims, Christians, atheists and every person that has ever walked this earth and also every person that will ever walk this earth. And if He loves all people, who am I to not do the same? So my intention is not against any person but for them. I will not kneel before any other God but I will do my absolute best to show God’s unconditional love to every person that I come in contact with.  

That evening for the service we gathered in a room. Again the Lord protected us for this meeting. The worship was amazing and we had an amazing time together. Ghaffar and Sabie had an American dance off competition and we just had fun in the presence of the Lord. After Henk preached, again more than a handful of people committed their lives to Jesus. We prayed again for the people. The hunger for prayer cannot be described! I wished we had more time, and more people, especially ladies, with us to help with the ministry. My heart cried out for these people. Just a few days ago I had no love whatsoever for these people, but they proofed me wrong.

They are different, yet the same. They have challenges that we cannot imagine, but yet, they find it in their hearts to take three white strangers from South Africa and made us feel at home, even when the majority of the nation is not hundred percent for any whites, because of the politics. We prayed till we were almost literally dragged away back to our room by our bodyguards, leaving many people still in need for prayer. This is something we are not used to, but these guys are very militant. In certain situations, immediate obedience can be the difference between life and death, so we had to obey and trust them. We serve the Lord of hosts. Jesus is our General. We too must discipline ourselves to give Him our immediate obedience.

In the room they fed us well. The first evening they gave us rice and chicken (guess what!? Also spicy as in India! :)) From the second day onwards, they gave us buffalo to eat. They have water buffaloes, walking the streets as if it’s cows. I believe buffalo is a very traditional Pakistani dish, but what I do know is that my stomach was just too happy to eat red meat again for the first time in almost two and a half weeks, spicy or not! The waiter (or more youngster just helping to clear the table) also had a nine mill (pistol) stuck in his pants behind his back. So every time he clears your plate, you have this gun in your face! Even the machine guns, they threw around as it were toys. When you want to go to the toilet, one of them goes with you. After he made sure it is safe to enter, then you may enter. Then you can enjoy your experience at the loo while feeling very safe!

Every time as we arrived at and left the place where we gathered, they were patrolling the streets with their weapons. For me this was something new! I was definitely not used to these kinds of things. Not scary as I thought, but just very different! I thanked the Lord for not being in the military! I suddenly had new respect for soldiers! And that’s what these guys were, true soldiers whom I respect!

One of our bodyguards had only one hand, the other lost in some sort of conflict or explosion. I can’t remember. He came up to us at one stage and just randomly stated that he is a Muslim. It was a bit random for us, but we smiled and blessed him. In his only hand he had his nine mill pistol. He just smiled. But what an amazing guy! He also had a problem with his foot or leg, so we prayed for him and Jesus healed him! Every time he saw us he smiled and pointed at his leg and showed that is still healed! 

 

The following morning we had our last service. This service we also experienced many miracles and breakthroughs, but there is this one memory I cannot get out of my mind. A lady came to the front during the service (long before the people were called to come for prayer) and she had a baby in her arms. They instructed her to go and sit in the chairs again. She lifted the baby’s shirt and revealed a tumour as big as the baby’s back. This broke our hearts! The service had to go on, but Henk touched the baby and prayed for the baby as much as he could. During the entire service we sat and prayed with the baby but with no success. His skin also were these dry loose skins that came of everywhere. Not the prettiest of sights especially to touch. 

But the love of Christ compels us beyond our comfort zones and we laid hands on the baby as gently as possible. Why we don’t always experience breakthrough remains an unanswered question, but and it is a big but, I know Who our Father is and I know His heart and I trust Him with everything. So whatever the reason, our job is not to get results, but to be obedient, and the results will follow. And if He doesn’t give us specific instructions we just do what we can and love the people by whatever means possible. Sometimes we pray for people and nothing happens, and then in the near future suddenly that person experience healing or whatever the case may be, and the God gets all the glory! All glory belongs to Him! So from our side, we still pray for that baby every time we think of him!

We then took the long road back to Lahore, exhausted, very hot, and a longing for home in us. The drive back was very long! But as we got back to Lahore, we had one last stop to make, GKCM Saint Mary Sport Club. 

This is one of the many projects Ghaffar and his team does from day to day and they use it to spread the love of Jesus. As the evening fell, we arrived at Lahore and then many children and adults came into the small church where we gathered. It was award evening where the children would receive a medal or trophy of appreciation and congratulations. We had the honour to hand over these medals and trophies.

What I appreciated among these kids is that, in the beginning they cheered very loudly for each individual but then as the night went on the cheering became less with each hand out. This is expected as there were many handouts that evening! But then when the cheering was at its lowest, one disabled guy who assisted with the coaching was called to the front to receive his prize, and then the room exploded! He got the biggest cheer of them all! This showed me a lot of the heart of the sports club and the spirit in which they operate. They were one team! This blessed me! And to think, many of these Christian kids go back home at night to their non-Christian homes taking the Light with them. It was a privilege an honour to have been part in this initiative. Ghaffar and his team also have foster homes and many other projects that they do in order to serve the people of Pakistan with the love of Christ. 

That evening back at the ambassador hotel, we booked into our room again, this time the room was very luxurious. However, we just had it for a few hours. We packed, showered and prepared for our flight back. We then had two hours to kill with watching TV and reading, before Ghaffar took us back to the airport at two in the morning.

Pakistan taught me a lot about our Lord and Savior, and it is an adventure that I will always be thankful for in my heart, and God knows, maybe one day, have the opportunity again to visit our new friends in Pakistan.