Greetings to you all once again in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. After a lengthy excursion on the foreign mission field, Sister Rebekah and I are thankful to be home. We want to thank you all again for your many, many prayers and also your faithful support that made possible this ministry of the Word overseas. Hearts and souls that otherwise might never have been touched by the Word of God or the Message of the hour, both heard and saw the power of God in this day. Thank you and may the Lord richly bless you.

I last wrote you from Indonesia where we had a tremendously successful and blessed time in the Word. After our departure we received word that the Holy Spirit continued to move upon the seed of His Word that was sown in the hearts of those who had heard the Word of God. As a result, there were several baptisms. Two believers in Brother Mahanaim’s church were baptized along with 3 University students at his home bible fellowship. As a result of these meetings, another minister also invited us to come and present the Message in an End Time Message Exposition to a group of ministers he wants to gather. 

From there we traveled to the Philippines for several days of administrative work needed in association with relocating to the new premises. We arrived at our new office (Photo #1) just as the printer was delivering the newly printed messages; Trying To Do God A Service translated into Cebuano and the next English message in the Hebrews series. Our new office is almost three times larger. It was necessary to expand as for nearly two years now, the Bible Believers office in the Philippines has been the only local source through which believers can receive either English or translated messages. It was impressive to see how Brother Vernon had everything very neatly arranged and organized. You can see him in the attached photo. (Photo #2) It is a tribute to the work of God that you are helping to support there.

From the Philippines we braved the plague of SARS and traveled to China where the work of God is expanding with an unparalleled fervency. It was an honor to baptize another sister after our first meeting in China. Sister Cheung is the granddaughter of one of the first believers in China. From southern China we traveled on to several other cities both to encourage the believers who have received the Message and also to establish new believers in new places. Amazingly, three new “internet” churches have started within the last year. These are new groups of believers who found the message solely by searching for truth on the internet.

As an eyewitness to the effectiveness of having the Message on internet, I want to sincerely thank you for your prayerful support of this ministry. We receive a constant flow of emails from people inside China and from others around the world who have found Brother Branham’s message on the internet. They write to request more message material and also that someone might come and preach the Word of God to them. There truly is a famine for hearing the Word of God. I share with you some of the recent emails of those we visited and others who have written, seeking more truth;

Emails From China:

“..Thank you for your mail! It's so nice to hear from a brother or sister in Lord. We are really in one family, thank you for your concern for us!  Recently I'm listening to some of the sermons given by Brother Branham. His preaching’s are usually too fast for me, but your gifted translation is such a big help that I can receive the blessing from our Father without any difficulties! Glory be to the Highest! I pray that your gift from our lord will be giving more blessings to the world, especially the Chinese! Your Sister in Lord, Qina.”

“..I just received the books and CDs. I listened to one Message every night. Thank God that He give me more good brothers and sisters like you. The Word of God is so powerful. May I live in His wills every day. I am keeping in contact with other believers too. They also thank God that He give us such a good opportunity to fellowship on the Word. God is so rich in grace. I also sent 2 sets of books to Sister Ying, one for her and another one for who is interested in this Message. We need to fellowship to each other and encourage each other. Thank God.”

In going to China we joined Brother Murphy who had been there for nearly four months with his wife and two children. During this time he had ministered in nearly 40 places - many of which were new, never having received a minister before. These were villages, towns and cities scattered throughout China where people have gathered to study God’s Word. We also returned to several of these places to encourage and strengthen the believers with Brother Murphy. The Lord is adding almost daily to the body of believers in China. In the few days since our return home, another 9 souls received Christ and were baptized in true Christian baptism. It is truly impressive to see how the Holy Spirit is moving in China today. Thank you for sharing in this work with us through your prayers.

We also returned to visit Brother Paul and Sister Grace. You may recall the special prayer request for them last year when our precious sister was found to be with child - an event that faced serious and drastic consequences according to the Chinese Government’s rigid, “one child” family rule. By God’s amazing grace, the insurmountable “mountain” of Communist law, was incredibly modified just prior to Sister Grace’s delivery date. They are now the proud parents of baby Seth. During that time of great uncertainty, Sister Grace found solace and faith in the words my wife, Sister Rebekah consoled her with; “Remember Sister Grace, God does not make mistakes, God’s ways are always perfect.”. 

The Holy Spirit continues to stir hearts in other places around the world too – some who are provoked to wrath! We recently received this report from Brother Roshan, a minister and translator in the Punjabi language in India.

Report From India:

“Dear Brothers, I am writing this to inform you that at present I am facing a great problem and trial. A few days back I got few pamphlets about the Sikhism in which writer has explained from the GRANTH SAHIB (holy book of Sikh people) that salvation is only by Jesus Christ. That pamphlet fell in the hands of Sikh people, now they are after me. Some 200 people came to my house threatening me, saying, “You are making people Christian and converting them to your western religion!”. Though I had not written it, they want to kill me. Tomorrow Sikhs head will come and once again talk with me. I am very desperate and request you for prayer. All the glory to Him alone. Your Bro. in His army, Bro. Roshan”

By God’s grace the conclusion to this testimony was that our Brother was protected from bodily harm. The Holy Spirit gave our brother great wisdom and powerful words by which to defend himself and the Message. One of their own members rose up like Judah did to defend Joseph from being killed (Gen 37:26) and spoke against harming Brother Roshan. Though his Sikh boss fired him from his job, that too was restored after some days.

We are still looking to the Lord regarding the need for expanding the storage of printed books in India. I would ask that you please remember this need along with the other needs for translating and printing the message in the other countries like the Philippines, China, and Indonesia.

Once again, thank you and may the Lord bless you richly for your faithfulness in prayer and support while we were away.

Sincerely in Christ, Brother Tony & Sister Rebekah Abma

=================================================================

Photo Captions:

#1: New Philippine Office

#2: Brother Vernon In Stock Room

#3: Baptism In China

<<...>> <<...>> <<...>>