“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Genesis 50:20
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”
I Thessalonians 5:16-19
After the death of Jacob, Joseph’s brothers feared that he might feel free to take revenge on them for how they treated him by selling him into slavery. Joseph reassured them that God had given him heaven’s perspective on all the events which had transpired in his life, whether pleasurable or painful. Whether or not Joseph was always able to practice the NT command to give thanks in all circumstances may not be totally clear. However, what is clear is that Joseph never lost faith in the presence and power of his father’s God, trusting that the Lord’s solution would be revealed in His time. Therefore, he remained steadfast in his moral conduct, in giving %100 to the tasks which were presented to him, and in using his God-given spiritual gift of interpreting dreams.
When followers of Christ suffer great tragedies, such as our brethren are in Sudan, it behooves them and us to never lose sight of the fact that our Lord remains in control of their destiny, and of human history. Every knee will bow to Jesus and confess that He is Lord. Therefore, like Joseph, let us not grow weary in well doing, but continue to pray for and support our brethren. All the devil’s strategies will be thwarted and turned into something that glorifies God.
Below you will read the testimonies of several people you, CRM’s donors, have helped escape danger and reach a place of safety. In the case of Mansur, that place is in Uganda. The others are in a place called Jebel Marra, the one section of Darfur not yet experiencing fighting. They exhibit a Joseph-like trust that God is in control. What a privilege it is for us to support such people.
I am Mansur from a village in Jebel Marra.
I am married, God blessed me with an intelligent, lovely, and God-fearing lady. Her name is Hamima. God blessed us with 3 baby girls. 2 are alive, and we lost one. May His name be blessed.
I grew up in a Muslim family. When I was seven years old, they took me to ITS that’s Islamic Tradition School. In these schools, students are only to memorise the Quran in Arabic without its meaning. Shaikhs gives students deadlines to memorise the portion you wrote. If you don’t, they beat you sometimes to death point. People are terribly mistreated. I was there until I was 12 years old. My mother came and took me back to our village as she had quarreled with my dad over me, whether I should go to school or not. In the end, they took me to the school until reaching Senior 2.
I found myself wanting to marry. I married my wife, who brought me to Christ. It was not easy for me to decide to marry a Christian lady. My whole family wouldn’t accept it. Because in people’s view is like Christians are those people who do all kind of bad things. But for me, I saw a lady with good moral conduct. I was asking myself how a good lady like this would be a Christian? I only knew small information about Christianity in school. So, I asked her if you have the book you believe in, and she said yes, I have and I can bring it for you.
So, she got for me the Bible, I spent like three weeks reading the Bible to see what it looks like. I came to know that the Bible was a holy book before the Quran, and most stories in the Quran were copied from the Bible with slight difference. Like the question of Satan in both the Bible and the Quran. The same person was asked by Satan about the tree. But the difference is in the result of eating the tree. In the Bible, if they eat the tree, they will become like God, but in the Quran, they are like angels. (Genesis 3:1-5, Quran Surah Alaraf number 20.) I compared many similarities and differences which gave me confidence that the Bible is true because it shows the original story.
It was a transition of the whole of my life. I closed my ears from Muslims who talked against Christianity. Then I asked my wife to share more about Christianity she is really gifted in preaching the gospel she answered all my doubtful questions. Then we really enjoyed our new life in Christ. One thing I remember she told me is, “Don’t worry about our people. They are ignorant about this way. They will persecute you, but remember, it is a part of Christian life. Because Jesus himself was persecuted by his own people.”
From there, I have realized that it is necessary to let our people know about Jesus Christ. So, we have strived to bring people into Christ. We witnessed Christ to many people, and many couples came to know Christ and believed in him.
Our first disciple was called Halima, who preached to my Dad and Mom. I am so thankful for her life up to today. Through her, we have witnessed many Muslims in our area as a result, they came to know Jesus christ and received him as their personal Lord and saviour. God is working amazingly in our hearts. Many times, we find ourselves praying for the same person. When we share it, we will find that we have been praying for that person, and when we reach up to him or her, they end up accepting the Lord. I was telling my wife that soon we will declare Darfur as a Christian country. She told me that God would do it.
When the war happened in our city, we have seen the real hand of God protecting us. Bombs fell on our neighbours’ houses, and many people died. One fell in our home, it exploded, and all doors were pierced by the sparks of the bomb, but none of us were injured. It was a disaster that had happened in my life, but I trust that if we call on Jesus Christ, we are saved always.
In the middle of these situations, Jesus helped through our brothers and sisters in CRM, and we travelled from Z…e to N…. Later we found N… was worse than Z…e so hearing that the road to Dein is open, though very dangerous, we said, “Let’s go. We have God who always protects us.”
Our journey was safe from N… to Arua Uganda. I thank God for the lives of our leaders in CRM. Thank you so much for your sacrificial service. I and my wife want to go and gain knowledge and understanding of Scriptures, so that we can share more effectively. We believe God wants us to serve Him through sharing our faith with others.
Please pray for us in this special need. God has brought us here for preparation of His services.
Greet all our brothers and sisters with all their children. We thank God for your sacrificial support. Please tell our brothers and sisters that the RSF had brought terror over us. We thank God that you were able to evacuate us to Jabal Marra. We are in the school building now. My prayer is that may God bless you so much. May God increase any small you have. May God open for you wide doors. May the Lord open for you the doors of mercy. Please stand with us, I believe this is the time to show your love to God with all your heart. Ours is to give glory to God because of your love.
The second woman is Amna. She was a Quranic teacher for women and turned to Christ when she saw the power of the Lord. Afterwards she brought many people to Christ.
Here she says,
We give thanks and glory to God. May God expand your charity. We are so thankful for our Pastor Adam for today if he has not evacuated us from Z…e. We didn’t know where we would be. RSF has terrorized us with bombs up to today. We are not able to hear well. They raped our daughters. They didn’t allow us to take anything from our houses. Out of terror, we have not slept until you brought us here. Up to today, our condition looks like crazy people.
Please tell our brothers and sisters that they should not stop helping us. You are saving real lives in this world of ours. After people have seen what Arabs do, many of them wanted to come and join us. Please keep helping us. Please tell CRM that we are so thankful for their graceful support. May God expand your love and support. I am Amna and I am grandmother and Anti to you all.
The third woman is the mother of the pastor, who is with us in Arua. She says,
Do you want to take this message to Pastor Adam? Please tell him that we shall never forget his incredible support here and hereafter. Arabs oppressed us in all directions. We didn’t know where to go. Bombs were everywhere. Our children were cut by bombs, and houses were destroyed by bombs. But for us, we thank God that Pastor Adam and CRM people were able to save us. May God open for you the doors, grace, and mercy as you have saved us from the war. We didn’t have anything. For RSF took everything possible. Please pass my greetings to all our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Adam wrote this regarding the impact believers are having on others in Jebel Marra
My brother, to me I am so grateful for our partnership together, with CRM we have put the foundation for change in the history of Sudan. In Jabal Marra where our team of Zalingei settled, the whole area is turning into a big church. I want to be there to celebrate God’s victory over the plans of devils. It was something very bad, but as our team there all stay together cooking in the same pot, praising God, staying happy, children are singing praising songs, loving each other, they show something very different to the community that found them. So many people joined them.”
How you can continue to help
Your giving has already enabled CRM to fund the evacuation of approximately 750 souls from places where they believed death was imminent, to places believed safer at the time. Nyala has as of today experienced 9 straight days of fierce fighting, so those who evacuated there are once again in need of our prayers for safety. They include the 270 who moved there from El Geneina, and the 60 families from Zalengei.
Approximately 54 people were blessed to make it all the way to Arua, Uganda. CRM has been able to provide funds for clothing, food, beds, mattresses, medical care, food, and a rental house with a large compound. CRM funds also paid for their transport between Juba and Arua, and all attendant transport and immigration fees.
However, there remain many ways for us to help.
- Scripture resources such as Bibles, MP3 players, SD cards, projectors, etc. People had to flee with only the clothes on their backs. However, we thank God for the impact the Bibles and other resources had on evangelism and church planting efforts in the days leading up to the war.
- Projects related to self-sustainment. These will involve learning English, making and selling soap, making bricks, piggery (for those living in the Rhino Camp), other forms of vocational training, and the starting of small businesses.
- Scholarships for those who qualify to join Bible schools in Uganda.
- One year’s rental on another small house in Arua
- Story Cloth training events led by CRM teams.
- Enabling Adam and other leaders to travel to Chad and South Sudan to set up ministries among Sudanese refugees living there.
As Joseph was used in his day to save lives, so you have taken the opportunity provided by CRM’s Sudanese partners to save lives in your own day. Much remains to be done in the days ahead. We all desire to see what God intends to raise up out of the ashes of a land destroyed by war. We praise Him for granting us the opportunity to join hands with those who may have temporarily been crushed but are not destroyed.
With thanksgiving,
David Crane
P.S. Calvary Road Ministries now has a 4 Star rating with Charity Navigator. Here is the link to our profile page.
