Hope Amidst Hardship: Update on Pakistani Christians
June 14, 2024
Host: Dr. Isaac Crockett
Co-host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Guest: Shaheryar Gill
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on June 14, 2024. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning this dialogue.
Isaac Crockett:
Hello, I’m happy to be with you this Friday. And I’m Isaac Crockett, pastor Isaac Crockett with the Honorable Sam Rohr, the pastor or the president of the American Pastors Network. This Friday edition is special. We have a return guest attorney Shaheryar Gill, who is with the ACL J. So he not only has a good understanding of our legal system, but he works internationally with different laws and international rules. So he’s working as senior counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice or A CLJ and he leads their international team. And we want to talk some about, there was a recent attack on a Christian and Pakistan. We want to get some updates on stories that he’s told us just back in March. But Sharia, before we get into those questions and we start really questioning you and grilling you on some of the things that are going on, love to just hear a little bit, if you could maybe introduce yourself to us and just tell us a little bit about how the Lord led you to the A CLJ and what you do there and your position.
Shaheryar Gill:
Isaac, thank you for having me again. The story, how the Lord led me here is one of miracles I would say. I grew up in Pakistan as you know and most of my life until like 24 I was there, grew up in a Christian community there and the culture there, the Muslim culture and the society, I have seen with my own eyes obviously, but at that time I was from a poor family and didn’t have any idea of what God had for me. But he had some plans. So he brought people in my life who really encouraged me and helped me, good Christian people who supported me to go to law school. And I was given an opportunity to go to a Christian law school in South Korea. And the mission of that law school is to train Christians from different countries so that they can help the church.
And even after graduating had no idea how I was going to fulfill the mission of that school. Then I was given an opportunity to come to Regent University here in Virginia and guess what? The same kind of mission that the school in Korea had had the same mission to train Christian leaders. So while I was going to school here, I was given an opportunity again to work with the A CLJ as a law clerk while I was going to school. So from there we started thinking about how we can help our Christian brothers and sisters in different countries. And after my studies I was given a position here at the A CLJ to join the team and that’s been about 15 years ago now. And back then we started a law office in Pakistan. My desire was to help my people back in Pakistan because I’ve seen the persecution with my own eyes, the discrimination that’s there, blasphemy cases, cases of murder, rape, those kind of issues.
I was familiar with them and the Lord had brought me here and given me this opportunity at A-C-L-J to actually do something about it. And so we started this office about 14, 15 years ago there and we have done hundreds of cases that involve persecution of Christians from land disputes to assault charges to false blasphemy accusations to murder to rape cases. And just last week we actually won a case for a Christian family whose a 50-year-old man was murdered because two Muslim neighbors wanted his land and that man has left a wife and four daughters. So we just won the case and the two murderers were given 14 years imprisonment. But we are appealing that sentence because we don’t think that sentence is adequate for a murder charge. So this is the kind of cases that we deal on a daily basis in Pakistan.
Sam Rohrer:
Well, Shaheryar, it’s so great to have you back with us again and just that little piece and you could go so much deeper I know, but that is quite a story, totally unique from I’m sure anyone watching or listening to the program. But in follow up just a little bit to what you’re doing and all of these examples to help cases of persecution there, the last time that you were with us perhaps you updated, there was a Christian Young man there who when he was a teen you had talked about he was falsely accused, he was on death row. Can you give us any updates on that? What is happening there?
Shaheryar Gill:
Yes, Sam, we talked about who was 16 when he was charged with blasphemy a crime that is a crime in Pakistani law, but what he did or what he was accused of does not constitute a crime. And he was after about five years of trial, multiple hearings, he was sentenced to death by the trial court in Pakistan. And we appealed that case in the Lahore high court and we have been trying for the court to take up the case soon because sometimes it takes years for the courts to actually get to hear the case because of a big backlog of cases. So we filed petitions, at least now we have filed up to three petitions in the court to get that case to be heard. The first one was filed or actually the second one was filed on April 16th and the court actually took up the appeal and we went to the hearing.
And a lot of times what happens is it’s sort of normal in Pakistan where the case gets postponed. So in the US legal term it would be more of a continuance of a case. So if there were other cases that the court was busy and the court would basically not hear the rest of the cases on the list. So the case got postponed and then we are still waiting for a new hearing to be scheduled for us to go and argue the case. We have again filed another petition and the court has basically told us now that there’s a directive from the Supreme Court to hear the cases that were decided before Shiza was heard back in November, 2002, sorry, 2022, almost about two years ago now. So there have been cases that were decided before that the court is trying to get those cases going. But I think there is a push to a lot of our advocacy at the United Nations have led to the push to hear more blasphemy cases sooner rather than later.
Isaac Crockett:
We are praying for him and hoping that that can happen sooner. Because if I’m remembering the facts, was it about 2016 that he was originally arrested? Is that correct?
Shaheryar Gill:
Right. I think it was July, 2017 and he was 16. He was at his work at a hospital where he was a janitor and he was in a conversation that a Muslim coworker started. So this coworker started this conversation sort of even as a way to invite him to Islam and he asked him about Christian prophets, he told him about Muslim prophets and Shazad at that time he is not educated so he didn’t know much about religion and Shazad told him that he didn’t know what to tell about the prophets. And he said, I will ask my dad and then I will answer your questions. And the Muslim friend then tells him about the prophet Muhammad and Shazad remembered that his father’s friend who is also Muslim, he says some derogatory terms whenever he hears anybody’s name that has Muhammad in it. And Muhammad is a common name as you know in Muslim countries. So he says derogatory words and shiza, all he said was My father’s friend does this.
Isaac Crockett:
And that was enough as a Christian that then they’ve twisted this and now we’re talking about seven years behind bars, some of that on death row. We want to talk more about these sort of situations here on Stand in the Gap today. We’ll be back right after this short break to hear from some of our partners to hear about the persecuted church in Pakistan. Well, welcome back to our program. I’m Isaac Crockett, my co-host today is Sam Rohr and our guest on this Friday edition of Staying in the Gap today is returning guest of ours, a friend attorney Shaheryar Gill of the A CLJ who leads their international team and he represents people like we were just talking about, Shama Sea, who was a teenager when he was falsely accused, his words twisted and really made up and accused of being blasphemous. And now he’s kind of in limbo land waiting for an appeal to his trial already seven years behind bars. Or we heard this family whose husband was killed by two neighbors and they were able to get some justice there. They’re appealing that to get even more. So these different things going on. Shari, since you were last with us, we hear things in the news going on in Pakistan and India, Anti-conversion laws and things. Just wondering what you’ve seen even just in the last few months since you were last with us in regards to persecution or attacks on Christians in some of these other countries.
Shaheryar Gill:
Isaac, the situation, it’s very sad to say the least. Just a couple of weeks ago a Christian man was attacked in Pakistan. Just to give you sort of a background of how sort of create a picture of, in Pakistan, the streets are not well cleaned. So after a storm or something, there would be a lot of papers flying around and dust. And so a lot of times people, what they do is they gather those things, they try to clean up the streets on their own and this man, Christian man, he gets up in the morning, he has a shoe factory very well off basically who has done well unlike a lot of Christians in Pakistan. So he gets up and sees after storm, he says, okay, well I’m going to just clean up the street. And he cleans up the street, gathers those papers that are flying around on the street and he puts them on fire, which again, which is very common, many people do that all the time in situation like this.
So he puts those papers on fire to get rid of them and a next door Muslim neighbor who is sort of basically jealous of his success and how can a Christian have this shoe factory and do very well for his family and he’s jealous of him. What he does is the next thing is that he accuses him of burning the Quran. So he gathers people at a mosque, a huge mob of 400, 500 people they attack. And the videos are horrible. They’re available on social media, YouTube, everywhere these days. And so this mob attacks his home, they take him out, they beat him with bricks, with kicks, punches. Again, the video’s available and it probably may not be appropriate to even show it on your media, but I’ve seen the brutality of how they were beating this old man over 70-year-old man and this man is getting beaten by a mob of men.
The ambulance comes, they put him in an ambulance and they break the windows of the ambulance, they grab him out of the ambulance again and they beat him again. And one police officer who was able to put him back in the van and drive him off to a hospital where about six days, seven days later, he passed away due to the injuries. He had very severe head injuries and did not survive after they killed him or after they beat him and he was taken to the hospital, they attacked his home, they attacked his factory, they burned down everything, destroyed everything, even took shoes, stole them, and then burned the rest of them. That’s what happened. He was taken to again a military hospital where he was pronounced dead after seven days,
Sam Rohrer:
Shaheryar Gill, that’s just an unbelievable story and people I know are listening and watching and images are running through their mind. I haven’t seen that video, but you were describing it well. So now this individual has lost his life because of jealousy you’re talking about things of that type. They make up a lie about him. But now based on what you’re saying, many people are out of work because they what burned down the factory. And I would imagine not all of those employees were Christians, so they’re probably some Muslims. So are they hurting themselves in the process? That’s just one personal thing to talk about. But then what is happening in the court? Have you now actually taken, are you representing this case and how has the court responded at this point?
Shaheryar Gill:
So Sam, you’re absolutely right. Many people have lost their jobs. First and foremost, his family is out of business now. His son, one of the two sons was running the business with him. He’s out of business though, they have to build up, start again. He left a wife. These two sons who owned the business, the family was supported by the business that’s gone. The people who work there, they weren’t well off and their work is gone. So they have to go find jobs, similar factories. So that’s that. And of course, yes, the community is hurting itself because a lot of times in these protests and attacks, it’s not just the one person who is attacked. A lot of times when the protest against any improvement or any thought of repealing the blasphemy laws, people go out on the roads and actually destroy public property. So it’s hurting the country itself.
It’s hurting the economy, it’s hurting the people, their own people. It’s not like it’s like some foreigner is coming in and doing something and so it’s their own people, just their different religion. That’s one. On the other hand, the court system. Now what’s going on is we’re not representing, we have offered help to the family, but what’s going on right now is that the police has registered a case against three to 400 people. A lot of them are unknown individuals, but the police have identified through videos that are available, pictures that are available, the police have identified, and I think about 68 people have been arrested, 44 people were named in the police report and 68 people have been now arrested and some of them have been sent to jail, some of them are being investigated. So that’s what’s going on. But unfortunately what happens in these kind of cases is as the time passes, things sort of calm down and slowly the investigation sort of falls apart and the people who should be punished, they start getting released from prison and ultimately nothing happens.
And that’s something similar happened back about a year ago in Gerron Walla where about over 20 churches were burned down and the perpetrators in that case, again, they haven’t seen justice. A lot of them have been released. So that’s the part that concerns me the most is the effort of the government to sort of bring accountability in these kind of cases. And if there’s no accountability, remember this will happen again and again and it is happening because there’s no accountability. If people are punished, then the next group will know that if they do something like this, the government will do something. For example, the governor of the Punjab province was killed after the famous case of Assia Bibe. He tried to advocate for her and his own gunman, his own bodyguard shot him 21 times and killed him. But the government took action against that and actually sentenced him to death. And they did carry, the government did carry it out. I mean it was a governor. So the governor’s life was more important than this man’s the Christian, this Christian man who simply owned the shoe factory. So in that sense, I believe that there is a lack of will and capacity to bring people to justice when a Christian and a poor person who is a nobody, if that person is persecuted.
Isaac Crockett:
So interesting to hear that. And the last time you were on, you explained some of the history with the English common law. And so when we see places Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, other places, it’s interesting because this culture is there, but it looks like, well, there’s a justice system and Shazad is not guilty. He’ll find justice. But already it’s been seven years of not justice being served already. Even in the case, you recently one that you’ve mentioned on the last program where a man was killed, two men were held accountable, but they were sentenced not to death, but just to 14 years in prison. Well that’s not significant enough for being convicted of killing someone. And now we have this shoe factory owner Nazi, and he ends up dying from it. They’re losing their business. What kind of justice would you like to see in a situation like this?
Shaheryar Gill:
I think Isaac, it’s very important. The punishment for murder is at least life imprisonment. So if the courts and the justice system was willing, they have the evidence, it’s on the video, it’s on pictures, you can identify these people. This is not rocket science anymore. So with technology these days, CCTV cameras are everywhere in Pakistan. So it’s easy to identify, it’s easy to see what they were doing. If I’m sitting here in Virginia, I can see what happened. Of course the government knows what’s going on. And so I think an important thing would be to really go after these people because I don’t think the state itself wants these incidents to happen. So there is an interest to protect people. There’s an interest to protect people from this chaos and riots, but at the same time, there’s a lot of pressure from the other side. There have been already different protests in different parts of the country where Muslim groups have come out and protested against those arrests
Isaac Crockett:
Of the murderers.
This is so interesting to see how these cultural things come up even against the law and which way are they really going? We’re going to take another quick time out to hear from some of our partners when we come back. We want to look at a little more of that case, but also how even social media and other technology, how it could be useful, but how it can also be used against Christians in some of these countries. And we need to be thinking about it even here in America, how it could be used against us at some point. So we’re going to be right back on Stand in the Gap today. Well welcome back to our program on Pastor Isaac Crockett. My co-host today is the Honorable Sam Rohrer, the president of the American Pastors Network. And we’re talking with a friend of return guests.
And I always say this partly jokingly, but not really. We’re glad when a guest is willing to return and be on with us again. But we have a neat partnership with the ACL J. We’ve heard from many lawyers at the ACL J, but today our guest is attorney Shaheryar Gill from the ACLJ who leads their international team, which is just really incredible the work that they’re doing and the work that God has done in Shari’s life to bring him here, to take him and use him. Just an incredible testimony. And as we’ve been talking to him, it just kind of remind me, I want to let all of you listeners know that if you’d like to hear this entire program, maybe you’re just joining us right now or maybe you want to listen to it again, you can listen to all of this on our app, the Stand in the Gap app on your smartphone.
Or you can go online, you can find us on Facebook, you can watch us on YouTube if you listen to us and you’d like to see what we look like. This episode actually this Friday edition is on our YouTube channel as well. You can go to stand in the Gap radio YouTube channel and you can see that you can go to our Stand in the Gap TV and you can watch our television interviews with some of our regular guests that you’ll hear on radio you’ll see there as well. So there’s a lot of things online that you can use and you can take it and share it with others, whether it’s a transcript of the program or just a little clip. The question and answer clips, the podcast clips that Tim puts together or the entire program or some other program connected to this subject today, we’d love to have you visit us online as well as listen to us on podcast or radio or however you listen to us.
Well sha I just want to let you follow up on some of the things you were talking about. We were talking about Nazi Mai who was a factory owner, a Christian man who owned a factory. He was just cleaning up the street and burning the trash. Seemingly maybe jealous neighbor sees it as an opportunity to falsely accuse him. It kind of reminds me of Daniel in the Bible or even Chadwick Meshach and Ab Bendigo where other people who were jealous of them would accuse them of things. He gets accused of burning a Quran, which he was not doing. He was just cleaning the street. His good was being evil spoken of just because they were jealous. And then next thing you know, hundreds of people swarmed him. Even the ambulance driver couldn’t say they crashed the ambulance, take him out. Finally, one brave police officer gets him to the hospital where a few days later he dies. And you were talking about the follow-up on that and there is a justice system set up, but some of these laws or some of these customs are not just, and when the government tries to crack down on that, it sounded like you were saying that they get so much pushback that it’s almost hard for them to continue that crackdown. Could you maybe talk a little bit more about that and then we want to get into some other concerns that you have?
Shaheryar Gill:
Right, Isaac. I think there’s a big pushback. I’ve already received a bunch of recordings of protests that Muslim groups are now carrying out throughout Pakistan where they’re giving speeches against even the government for arresting people who killed Nazi maci. And the way they’re referring to Nazi maci is the word called cura, which is a slang word for a derogatory word for Christians in Pakistan. It was used back 2000 years ago by Hindus against the people who were untouchables and they were the people who cleaned the toilets and the streets. So the cura is a derogatory word for Christians in Pakistan. So the kind of things they’re saying is if a cura got killed was such a big deal and he was punished for burning the Quran and that’s what he deserved. And why should these people who killed him, who carried out the justice should go to prison and they are actually even protesting against the government for arresting those people. So there’s a huge backlash by the community, by the society in general against the government to prosecute these people. And there’s going to be a lot of threat to the family to really kind of forgive.
Under Islamic law, the law allows the family of the victim to either forgive or to get monetary compensation to release or to equip the person who is committed the crime. So a sort of blood money kind of concept. A lot of times it happens that the families, the powerful people can threaten the victim’s family to take their case back to falsify their testimony, to just do something so that the perpetrator basically gets off the hook. So that’s what’s going to happen, undisputedly, I’ve seen it many times. In many cases there will be threats, there will be offers for money to release these people. So I hope that this family stands its ground and justice is carried out. And I think a lot of it’s going to be on the government to really go after these people and say, enough is enough. We’re going to take some action against these things.
Sam Rohrer:
Sure, Shaheryar, we hope that that is the case and all of you watching or listening, you can pray for that. Even though we don’t know these people and know this family, we can pray that God would intercede and perhaps Shaheryar, you or others who are in government right now to actually bring justice to situation there. So we can do that. But let me shift directions here a little bit if you don’t mind. You have mentioned a concern that you are seeing there, and I want you to build it out because I’m not sure exactly what all you’re seeing, but it revolves around something that I have spoken about on our program here many times and that is the ability through the monitoring of social media and other high tech applications, biometrics, we have talked about a lot. You’ve already referred to many times people were on camera in these other circumstances. They were able to identify people from the crowd, speak to us about your concern about the digital age, the advances of technology, the biometric. I know that’s got to be a part of it, that is being utilized, that is a concern for you because that kind of information is basically what China has been doing for a long time and it is very controlling. Speak to us on what you are seeing and your concern please.
Shaheryar Gill:
Right, Sam, thank you for bringing that up. I think science and technology in itself is not evil, it’s not bad. It’s how we use that technology. So for example, in this case, I think this technology could be used for a good purpose to bring these people to justice. There are videos available, cameras available on the streets that have captured the crime, the horrible crime that was committed. So it’s that technology, the government can use it for good purposes. On the other hand, I think there’s a danger to use that technology because absolute power corrupts absolutely. So that technology gives a lot of power to companies, to governments, to people who are not moral and who don’t have the values of freedom. So there’s that as well. So I mean we are dealing with two cases right now in Pakistan where somebody posted something on social media and these two Christian men are in prison now facing horrible trials.
Basically they will be sentenced to death if convicted. Both are facing blasphemy charges. One was simply this young man had posted an evidence, a piece of evidence allegedly posted the piece of evidence from a different case. I mentioned earlier the gerah incident where a mob attacked Christians and burned down 20 churches. In that case, the allegation was again against two Christian brothers who later the investigation found out had not done nothing. There was a paper from the Quran that was desecrated and these two Christian brothers were accused of defiling that paper. A mob attacked, burned down Christian churches, homes, and these two Christian brothers go to jail. Now that paper that some Muslims found was handed over to the police from them handing over to the police. Its picture was taken and posted on the social media by somebody. Hundreds of people received it, thousands of people received it and forwarded and then said, Hey, this is what’s going on in JE and the attacks, pictures and videos, everything is floating around on the media.
And this one Christian reposts allegedly that paper saying that, Hey, this is what’s going on. Let’s pray for our brothers and sisters. A police officer sees it and he charges files, charges against a young Christian for posting that piece of paper on TikTok and he gets arrested. Somebody else did it falsely created evidence and this person simply for posting that material. And we don’t even know that if he actually did, there’s no evidence in his phone or on his TikTok account that he actually did post it. But even then, even if he did, it should not be a crime to say, okay, well this is what’s going on. So there’s that. Another case we’re dealing with is where the government monitored WhatsApp chat group where mostly Muslim, there’s a Muslim chat group of about 19 people. One Christian became a member after he was invited to join the chat room and they are discussing religious issues. And the agency that was monitoring found some evidence which I haven’t seen. They alleged that these people, 20 people were committing blasphemy, we’re posting pictures saying things that were blasphemous against Islam. So all 20 have been arrested, including this one Christian. So there’s that aspect of the social media and technology where there’s nothing hidden, nothing private, nothing you can’t discuss, you can’t have a discourse with your friends about religion, should
Isaac Crockett:
That be
Shaheryar Gill:
That way.
Isaac Crockett:
You talk about Big Brother looking in on us, how frightening, looking at private chat groups, looking at social media and then misconstruing it, which seems to be the ultimate goal here is looking for a reason to punish so many things we could talk about. We’re going to take another time out and we want to come back and talk about praying for the persecuted church. Shaheryar Gill with us and we just so much good information today. We’re going to be right back on Stand in the Gap today. Welcome back to the program. And today Sam and I are talking about persecuted Christians, especially in Pakistan and other areas of the country. We’re talking with A CLJ attorney Shaheryar Gill. What you were talking about right before this last break, Sam was even texting me some things, a text in between. It’s something that worries us or concerns us very much here in the States, all the collection, the data collection that they’re getting and the biometrics and things because we know that they can, or some would even say they will start using this against us.
We’ve seen this in China, but you’re talking about how it is already currently being used against people and yet we know that one day everybody will stand before the Lord, an answer for every word spoken. But it’s almost like some of these groups are trying to be God and build their own kingdoms and it’s very frightening. But in the midst of all that fear, the Lord has promised that when we know him, we don’t have to be given over to that fear and anxiety that we can cast those fears to him and that we can fear not as Moses. And God told Joshua, fear not only be courageous and obedient is what they tell him over and over and he passes that on to the people. And so Shaheryar, when you are dealing with persecuted Christians who have been beat down and they feel discouraged, what are some of the things that you see going on that maybe give you some hope and what keeps you going? You have, I mean this is what you are doing as a ministry is helping these people and you just found some justice for people. You are seeing some victories, but what are some of light at the end of the tunnel sort of things, the hopeful things that you have in your ministry there,
Shaheryar Gill:
Right Isaac? Our Lord didn’t say that you’ll have a great, happy, comfortable life. We will be persecuted because of him. So it’s no surprise what’s happening. But at the same time, he doesn’t want us to be lazy either. He doesn’t like a slugged man. So he wants us to work hard. He wants us to be perfect like him, although we cannot be perfect, but he wants us to be holy. He wants us to follow his word. So I think the light at the end of the tunnel or even light now to me is the word of God first. So he blesses people. He beyond measure, we cannot imagine. So he has given us the tools, he has given us the means through his word to follow him. I think that’s the best. The first thing that I would encourage my brothers and sisters, my people in Pakistan and everywhere else really to look at him when we face these things, and especially for Pakistan, I think my message really is, and which I’ve been really telling through the work that we do, the people that we meet, I’ve been telling people that this is what our Lord requires.
He wants us to work hard, he wants us to study. He wants us, wherever he puts us, he wants us to be obedient. I want to be obedient to where he has put me at the A ELJ. I want to be obedient to work on these cases. And that’s what I encourage people in Pakistan to be obedient and fight because there is a way the laws are there, they’re on the books, we just need to go use them. The court system is there. It’s not a kangaroo court where nothing happens. Pakistani court system actually works despite all the challenges that we face. But there is an actual legal system. There are good judges there. There are good police officers who will do the right thing. And we have seen after time, after time that it’s available. We have to be persistent, we have to be consistent and just go and do our job.
Let the result be in God’s hand, which is really, I think that’s what we need to understand. It’s in God’s hand, how that he molds the judge’s heart, how he molds the investigators. So our job is to actually go and push as much as we can, do our job, do the best we can, and then let the Lord work his way. Because remember, he creates good things out of bad things. I mean CD’s story is a perfect example. The guy was told, he said, I don’t know much about religion now he’s having a Bible study in prison. So imagine the Lord used that false accusation a terrible time in prison and he has changed it into something else. There are Christian brothers now in prison who are doing Bible study every day. Now, do I want that to continue? No, I want them to have a Bible study in their homes and come out of prison soon.
But at least we can see that even in the midst of trouble, God is with them. Like you talked about, Shadrach, MHA can imagine good story. I mean God was there. These guys are going to be burned to death, but God’s there with them. So that’s how I see. For a long time I saw that story and I would see these cases and I was like, God, how do you give them strength? And then one day I’m like, I understood the story. I said, okay, God is with them. He’s not showing up as the fourth person there, but he’s in their hearts. He gives them strength. And our job is to be the Daniel. Our job is to be there and just stand with them.
Sam Rohrer:
Shaheryar, getting close to the end here. But what you just shared, I’m hoping, I know frankly is an encouragement to those who are watching and listening. Because what you just shared there, you shared confidently, you shared passionately. And it should be a reminder to all of us, particularly here in America who have really not experienced too much persecution, not like you’re talking about. And for most of us here, it’s things we’ve read about but not fully experienced. But as you said, we should expect that when we stand for truth and standing for truth is what we’re all obligated to do and let the results up to God. Now here’s my question. Last may have taken a minute or two to respond to it. For those who are watching and listening right now and for thinking about those who are persecuted brothers, what can we do in a real way? Now, obviously praying and it may be the very, very best thing, but what can we do? What can you suggest to our people that they do for those who are being persecuted right now?
Shaheryar Gill:
I think the prayer, specific prayer request, if you will, it would be prayer for revival. The burning desire in people’s hearts to the ones who are persecuted to have strength, but the ones who are helping to have a burning desire to help, to go after, to have confidence, to have no fear. And I think that those would be the prayer points. The other issue would be resources. I would invite people to get to know about these things, to find out what’s going on, what’s the reality on the ground, and then join in prayer in other things. And I mean, look at me. Somebody decided one day that I’m going to help this guy and this is some talent wasted. I’m going to help him. And the Lord put it in my heart that okay, I’m not going to let him think after four years that he invested in his investment was useless.
So God put that in my heart. And so I think if people are Christian brothers and sisters, they would join together. They would see the need where there is a need. And then help one person, it doesn’t matter how many people, we help one person and create another shaar, create another jayo, create these people who will go after who would do the job on our behalf. And we are equal participants in all of that, that those leaders would do. So I think in that manner at a, I don’t know any specifics, but to me, my own life is an example of how people helped me along the way. Even helped me financially with my school, with my family, so that I could go to school and I could do this kind of work and that I’m just thankful every day that God led those people and brought those people in my life. So I think there are practical ways to do these things.
Isaac Crockett:
Amen. What a testimony. Shaheryar Gill, thank you so much for what you’re doing, but for taking time to spend with us. Because what you have done right now is to educate all of our listeners listening to this have been able to learn and to pray more effectively. So thank you for being on. Thank you for listening. Every one of you who’s listening to us, we’re so thankful that we have so many around the country and around the world listening, and we ask that you will stand in a gap wherever you are for the truth today.
Recent Comments