Thiemann Life

Greetings for India,

What a magnificent harvest field the Lord has here! Traveling across this ancient land I sense the Spirit of God desiring to move greatly and to spark a revival here. The harvest is truly ripe for the picking.

We arrived here in Mossuri on Tuesday morning and spent the day resting up from the 20 hours of flying, the 6 hours of train-riding, and the 1 hour of car-traveling. On Wednesday morning the team (Pastor Bond, Heather & Deanna) and I along with Pratim and Manoj sat down and had a wonderful time of worship and then from 10-5 Pastor Bond and I co-lead a “mini-conference” through the Calvary Chapel Distinctive. We discussed topics from teaching the Word of God verse-by-verse, to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to church government, and much more… It was a sweet time of fellowship through the Word.

After a long day of teaching and discussing the Biblical basis/practices for the ministry we all traveled back to Pratim’s house where his wife prepared an Indian feast for us. We were all full Spiritually and physically.

The next day we all loaded up the cars and took off for the Gurdwali Mountains where there are about 12-13 villages in this valley that Pratim has been sharing the Gospel with for about 7-8 years. And praise God! There are now two fellowships meeting in two of the villages and a handful of believers in most of the villages. We were able to attend two of the evening Bible studies/prayer times over the past two nights that a young man named Rokesh leads. We were als blessed to see Pratim lead two people the Lord.

God is truly good! Obviously, there are pages more I could write but I will leave it here for now and fill in more details in future updates and missions fellowships. Please pray for me tomorrow as I will be going with Pratim and his family to church tomorrow where they asked me to share the message. I think I will teach through the book of Jude and encourage the believers there as Jude did to – “contend earnestly for the faith.”

Also, please continue to be praying for our time with Manoj and Pratim and Pastor Bond and I will be meeting with them again on Monday for what I am sure will be a Bible packed day of teaching, ministering the Word to each other and discussing starting a School of Ministry to train guys like Rokesh.

Till The Last One Hears,

Pastor Mike

Conventional name is the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

It is a crime in Afghanistan for a Muslim to convert to Christianity or any other religion. It is also illegal to witness to an Afghan Muslim. Threats against Afghan converts to Christianity should be taken seriously. Conversion is viewed as a serious crime in Afghanistan and Christians are frequently targeted by the government, extremists, society and even their own families.

Believers in Afghanistan usually try to be invisible and do not meet together publicly because of threats against their safety. The deputy secretary of Parliament called for the execution of Christian converts after the baptism of Afghan Christians was shown on TV in June 2010. As a result, many Christians went into hiding for their safety. In August 2010 several Christian aid workers were killed by the Taliban.

Even outside of Afghanistan, Afghan believers have been threatened and beaten and if they return to Afghanistan without converting back to Islam they will be put to death by the government or family members.

In 2011 a graphic 2 minute video was released at the urging of Christian contacts of Persectuion.org living in Afghanistan so the world could understand just how serious it in Afghanistan to be a Christian.” The video was released not to shock the world but in order to honor the wishes of Afghan believers and show the horror of what many of them face worldwide. The video is posted here Persecution.org. Please read the WARNING posted before viewing the video.

Christian radio programs are being broadcast into the country from outside Afghanistan. Programs share how believers can grow in their faith, seeking the truth and one station is broadcasting a radio version of the Jesus Film. Please pray for the people listening and that the radio stations can continue to broadcast the Gospel Message.

Pray
• For strength for secret believers under pressure to renounce their faith
• For Christian Radio and TV programs to encourage isolated believers and help seekers to find the way to Jesus
• For wisdom for young Christians, both physically and spiritually, who are eager to share the gospel with others despite the risks.

God bless,

Pastor Mike

I love the evenings in our home it is just a sweet time to enjoy quiet mellow times with the kids. Tonight we spent time reading with Malachi. He and daddy had a great time in their reading tent.

While Kyla and I played with stuffed animals together.

I am so thankful for these special moments.

It was announced yesterday (Sunday the 18th of December) that Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea, had died. Kim Jong-Il was 69 years old.

Because of the radical instability in this country and in light of Kin Jung-Il’s death, I am calling for prayer for North Korea and the suffering Christians and non-Christians who live there.

This is an important change for North Korea. Even in light of this mans death the future is largely unknown for North Korea. It is widely speculated that his youngest son Kim Jung-Un will be the next leader and probably just as wicked.

When North Korean news agencies aired the report that the Great Leader had died they clocked it in a heroic statement stating that their Great Leader had died of exhaustion from “overworking to serve the people of North Korea.”

The harsh reality is that the people of North Korea are stuck in radical poverty with the most horrific human rights violations in the world. Outside assistance is for the most part totally refused or strictly limited by the government. They hold to a strong ideology called Juche which simply means – “Self Reliance” and it is a shameful thing to receive assistance or input from the outside world. Also, it considered treasonous to worship anything or anyone other then their Great Leader (Kim Jung-Il and his father). North Korean Christians when caught are faced with torture, imprisonment in one of North Korea’s prison camps, and death. This makes it the hardest country in the world by far to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus the call to prayer.

Please join me in praying for a miracle. Pray that the Lord would sovereignly open the boarders and the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be able to be preached freely.

God Bless,
Pastor Mike