The October 2001 Pneuma Informer - The Pneuma Foundation

In this Issue:

What’s New at www.PneumaFoundation.org
Reports from around the world
- India: Hindu pilgrimage becomes baptism
- Philippines: Church planting target reached
- Afghanistan: Jesus in the dictionary

Thought to Ponder: Bible Pills
Resources You Can Use: Legal Resources
The Story of the Pneuma Foundation
Excerpts from the Pneuma Review
- Editorial: “A Crown” by H. Murray Hohns
- From the Messianic Foundation series “Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel’s Messiah” Part 3. By Kevin Williams
- Periodical Review: “Muslims Tell ‘Why I Chose Jesus’” by J. Dudley Woodberry and Russell G. Shubin in Mission Frontiers Reviewed by Raul Mock
Prayer Request & Praise Report
Correction: September Resource Specials
October E-mail Resource Specials
Becoming a Member & More Information
The Pneuma Foundation Statement of Faith and Purpose

What’s New at www.PneumaFoundation.org

The Sponsorship Program announced in the last issue of the Pneuma Informer can now be found at: /sponsor_program.jsp

New links to friends of the Pneuma Foundation, as well as links to on-line books and articles you can read and resources you can use. For links to on-line study resources, go here: /links_study.jsp. For on-line books and articles: /links_articles.jsp. For Friends of the ministry: /links_friends.jsp.

Also, be sure to check out the “What’s New” section on the Pneuma Foundation homepage. New articles and other features and being added weekly.

Have a website you would like linked to the Pneuma Foundation? Write Webmaster Dave Driggs with your suggestion. Or use the on-line form to submit your suggestion: /links.jsp#link.

Reports from Around the World

India: Hindu pilgrimage becomes baptism
Rani (name changed) was a proud Brahman, who inexplicably married a Christian evangelist four years ago. She had a good job in the government, and whenever her husband tried to explain the gospel to her, she refused; she had her belief, and was a woman from the leading Hindu caste. In January 2001, her husband traveled as part of an evangelistic team to the Kumbh Mela, the Hindu festival that took place in Allahabad this year. Rani accepted the invitation to go along, thinking “finally, the chance to make a pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela, even if I come as part of a Christian group.” When she saw how the Christians prayed and fasted, she was amazed. “The God to whom the Christians prayed seemed to answer their prayers within ten or twenty minutes. I had never seen anything like it. That was disquieting, and I finally decided to try it for myself. Inexplicably, the money for our return journey had not yet arrived, so we were stuck in Allahabad waiting for the money transfer. That can take some time in India, so I prayed myself to Jesus: ‘Please send us the money. If it is here in twenty minutes, I’ll be convinced and will follow you like my husband. Twenty minutes later, we received a message telling us the money had arrived. I fulfilled my promise, converted and was baptized by my husband in the Ganges. Since January, I have led many women to Jesus, and have baptized 25 myself. Together with my husband, I travel around some forty villages, telling the people about Jesus and planting churches,” she says, smiling.
Source: Friday Fax 2001 Issue 32

Philippines: Church planting target reached
This year, a great target was reached: in 1974, Christian leaders agreed to work together until the nation’s 5’000 Christian churches became 50,000, aiming for the year 2000. Research has shown that there are now around 60,000 churches in the nation, or around one for every 1,250 of the nation’s 75 million inhabitants. A growing number of the new churches meets not in church buildings, but in houses, classrooms, schools, under trees, in offices or stadiums.
Source: DAWN Ministries [www.dawnministries.org] by way of Friday Fax 2001 Issue 34

Afghanistan: Jesus in the dictionary
The following is a report from an Afghani church planter, whose true name and surroundings we obviously cannot reveal: “At the start of 2001, I was imprisoned by the Taliban in Kabul. I was considered an arch-enemy, because I fought under Massud (in northern Afghanistan) and refused to submit to the Taliban regime. That means the death sentence. I wanted to put my time in my cell to some use, and received an English-Urdu dictionary so that I could learn English. Opening it indiscriminately, the word ‘Christ’ caught my eye. I felt a radiance and emotional warmth and strength which I had never previously experienced emanating from that name, and held the book close to my chest for hours. The effects increased to the point at which I felt a strong desire to learn more about this word. I had no idea what the word meant. Moslems know Jesus as Isa, but do not have the name Christ. I prayed. ‘Allah, if you can do something for me, save me from this death and torture cell.’ Only two members of my family remain; an uncle who fled the country, and a sister-in-law who is still in Afghanistan. The rest died in the war or its aftermath. After three months, I was unexpectedly released and deported to Pakistan. I found my way to Peshawar, and started speaking about the word ‘Christ’ with my countrymen. I soon understood the meaning of the word and its history, and decided to follow Christ as my savior. I stopped attending the Friday prayer, and was neither able nor inclined to speak the name Allah. I was persecuted, and had to flee to another city in Pakistan, where Christians hid me. It became too dangerous for me there too, because I testified about Jesus. The more I testified, the more the desire grew to devote my life to testifying to the truth. Today, I live in a house church and am getting to know the family of God. I am being prepared for my ministry. Although I have received a number of opportunities to travel abroad, I want to remain here to help my people. I have experienced God’s care, and signs and wonders.”
Source: Friday Fax 2001 Issue 36

Thought to Ponder: Bible Pills

“If you really want a pill you can take one every hour, pill of faith, pill of prayer, pill of resurrection power. Search your Bible as you will always find a pill, praise and take one every hour, pill of resurrection power.”
- Lillian Yeoman, 1930

Resources You Can Use: Legal Resources

The Consumer & Business Legal Resource Center is a free service to help individuals and businesses resolve legal issues. Here you will find thousands of government documents and forms for both the United States and Canada.
You will also find answers to a wide variety of frequently asked legal questions, many of which are available in RealAudio®, and Windows Media formats, from the Audio Guides.
http://prepaid.lawinfo.net/cgi-bin/mainsearch.pl

The Story of the Pneuma Foundation

Please read this brief history of how the Pneuma Foundation was started. Our Story

Excerpts from thePneuma Review

The "Pneuma Review" is a quarterly printed journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders.

Editorial: “A Crown” by H. Murray Hohns

Read the article, as appearing in the Fall 2001 issue of Pneuma Review: "A Crown"

From the Messianic Foundation series “Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel’s Messiah” Part 3. By Kevin Williams

Read the entire series: The Secret Codes in Matthew: Examining Israel's Messiah

Periodical Review:

“Muslims Tell ‘Why I Chose Jesus’” by J. Dudley Woodberry and Russell G. Shubin. Mission Frontiers (March 2001). Pp. 28-33.

Read the review here: Muslims Tell "Why I Chose Jesus"
Reviewed by Raul Mock

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for Christians in the predominantly Muslim nation of Indonesia. John Barr, secretary for Indonesia for the Uniting Church in Australia, said that the "same war" Muslim extremists are fighting with the US was being waged in northern Indonesia with nearly twice as many casualties, "and yet, without the spectacular video footage of the mass murders, their cries barely register on world consciousness." Barr has said that over 10,000 people have been killed and 300,000 displaced since Muslim extremists launched a jihad "holy war" against the northern islands in 1999. Those islands have a predominantly Christian population, and those behind the attacks have been said to have links to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.
This request was received through the Pneuma Foundation website: “Please pray for my father Huanwu. He lives in Harbin China. He has been suffering from cancer in colon which has spread to liver and brain. He is in hospital now. I do believe God's healing power can heal him in spite of the desperateness of the situation. Please pray for him so that he will be healed by our healing God. Thanks. Jingyi”
The volunteer staff of the Pneuma Foundation continues to ask for your prayers. A digital postal packaging scale (approx. $75) is still needed for the office. There is also a need to reprint envelopes and letterhead in the near future. The check-size envelopes that are included with all of the Foundation’s outgoing mail will cost about $85 for 1,000. Letterhead will be $110 per 1,000 sheets. Journal sized envelopes will be $100 per 1,000.

Praise Reports:

Someone has provided a cabinet for use in the Pneuma Foundation offices. This is an answer to prayer (see the September prayer requests). Thanks to all of our faithful friends.
We praise the Lord with H. Murray Hohns. He reports that his doctor has given him a clean bill of health, that the chest “pressure” he was feeling recently while traveling is nothing to be concerned about.

Condolences:

From a friend of the ministry, Pastor Bernard, in Uganda:
- “We've heard with sorrow all that's happened [in the USA on September 11] and send our condolences to all the bereaved families. This is all the work of the devil and it calls for spiritual warfare. Let's call upon the Lord like never before.
- I normally talk about the Islamic Jihad and their way of doing things and believe strongly that we must do everything to stop their spread of influence.
- God bless for now and let's do the best we can.”
Condolences to the family of Bishop Nathan Phillips of the Association of Evangelical Gospel Assemblies on his homegoing on September 15, 2001.

Please send us your prayer requests and praise reports. We have a great God who always meets our needs.
If you would like more information about how you may help in meeting these needs, please send an E-mail to Member Services