Light in the Darkness
At LITD we dive into the paranormal & supernatural realm from a Christian perspective. We ask "why" and "how" on as many topics as we can and seek truth for the questions that aren't discussed at church.
Light in the Darkness
51: Tomb Raiders and Church Initiators
How does one navigate the spiritual landscape of Egypt, where ancient beliefs and modern faith intersect? Journey with us as we unearth the mystical elements surrounding tomb openings and the essential practice of donning the armor of God. We also delve into the immense challenges of establishing churches in regions with no Christian presence, painting a vivid picture of the dedication required from pastors on the front lines.
Daniel and Cory sit down with Hany Assad, whose story is nothing short of inspiring. From his beginning to minister in the US, to his transformative role as an emissary to Egypt, Hany's journey offers profound insights into the spiritual needs of his homeland. His experiences, marked by encounters with the Holy Spirit, miraculous healings, and facing spiritual warfare, offer a compelling look at the power of faith in action. Moreover, he provides practical advice on how to respectfully share the Christian faith with Muslims, emphasizing love and understanding.
After discussing the process of planting churches in Egypt for as little as $750 a month, we wrap up with a heartfelt discussion on the importance of every member of the body of Christ, reiterating that unseen roles are just as vital as those in the spotlight.
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what a lot of people don't know is every time they open tubes or certain tubes you probably saw it in movies, but you didn't think it was real Somebody lies. There is a spirit that will cause somebody to die. When they open the tomb, they close it in a certain way with witchcraft and then when you open it, somebody pretty much is a sacrifice With that in mind to find tombs. They also use evil spirit and that's why you need to put on the armor of God all the time. How many times did you walk out without any clothes? You put on clothes before you go out. I put on my shoes when I'm going out, and that's normal. If we have it, why don't we wear it? If you are going to be exposed to danger, why don't you put it on? We have our pastors talk about it and then we leave home without the armor of God.
Speaker 1:Today, half of Egypt do not have churches. To plant a church in Egypt, in a town that does not have any church, doesn't have any churchmen, doesn't have any Christians, so you have to fully support a pastor to go there, because that pastor is not going to have a congregation. That pastor is going to go to supermarkets and hopefully sees a picture of Jesus or Mary or someone, so they can start to talk about Jesus and salvation with that owner and hopefully they can build a church. It's only $7.50 a month and hopefully they can build a church.
Speaker 2:It's only $7.50 a month. Welcome truth seekers, lightbearers and the lost to the Light in the Darkness podcast. We hope this show can shed some light on whatever leg of the journey you're on. We are your hosts. I'm Corey and I'm Daniel. What was that? I know I was like not my normal, just like welcome back everybody. Your head moved. I know your head doesn't move the whole time you're talking. Your head never moves your neck is like a pillar.
Speaker 1:What have you done? To me, that's your thing.
Speaker 2:You snap your head to the left when you do your. We hope there is a little bit of a swirl to my head when I do. We hope that people can't see, because we're not on camera. One day, when we're on YouTube and all those other lovely places, they'll be able to see the head swivel. What's odd is you're not wrong. In my mind, though, it's always been like a 90 degree snap of your neck. That's your exaggerations. I'm more of like a DQ the top of a DQ ice cream cone, that little bit of a swirl with it. If I turn you upside down, you are falling out of the cup right there.
Speaker 1:That's undebatable.
Speaker 2:I said ice cream cone. I am not a blizzard, although a blizzard sounds nice. In the middle of July in South Carolina, as we walk around in this soupy soupy swamp.
Speaker 2:I mean, today was just bleh. We are both two hot natured young lads. I'm getting hot talking about this and not in the moving on. I got a word in my head that starts with P and ends with on, and that word is Patreon. I'm not going to make a childish joke about the whole peeing on thing. Very good, but we don't have to. They already went there with us. Yes, we love our listeners. As we were informed, we thought we told you what Patreon was. We thought we did a good job, corey, go ahead and tell them what happened.
Speaker 2:Recently, I was talking with a dedicated listener who has listened to every episode and they were like so what's a Patreon? And I was like let me get that knife out of your heart there, buddy. I thought we covered this in exhaustive detail. Mind you, we try not to go on about it too much because we don't want to weary out our listeners. However, for anybody that has missed it and is unfamiliar with what a Patreon is, it is a digital platform where creators like Daniel and myself can go on. We can post exclusive content, exclusive content, exclusive content For people who support the show.
Speaker 2:Daniel, what are our tiers currently set at? What can you get for that money Seven, 15, and $25 tiers. And guys, here's the thing All the time you pay money to better your health, your education, your finances. What about your spiritual walk? Now, I'm not telling you that light in the darkness is the end, all be all, but what I am telling you is we got some good stuff and you will genuinely walk away with something that you didn't have when you came. So think on that. I'm not trying to sell you a bill of goods, just trying to help you in your spiritual growth. It's all the father. He just chooses to partner with Cora and I and this little podcast here. So done, done, selling it to you. We're done trying to twist your arm there. We have explained what it is. You already know what you could spend seven, 15 and $25 on. That's basically one bag of groceries for the $25 mark. Right, we have to do one of those quick little disclaimers Like they do at the end of commercials.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:To sign up for Patreon. You can go to patreoncom or click the link down in the show notes. Let the darkness podcast is not responsible To defy financial misdemeanors you make or any fraudulent Touch them. God Will not cause constipation, hemorrhoids or any other unfortunate side effects, not a skin tag remover Correct.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:With business being dispensed of. Shall we move on to today's interview? Today, we are talking to a man who actually has kindness resting in his eye.
Speaker 1:I said that on the recording.
Speaker 2:I said that on the recording. I was like his kind eyes and I like caught myself. I was like what man talks about another man's kind eyes.
Speaker 1:What am I?
Speaker 2:doing Very troubling and effeminate in the moment, and yet I find myself going back and saying it now, because it was true, he had kind eyes. Not only that, it matched the kindness in his soul, which manifests in the ministry that God has called him to. Mr Hani Assad is a gem of a human being. You're about to find that out for yourself, and I'm telling you you're going to want more. Corey, can you tell them a little bit more about Mr Hani? Of course Hani used to attend. A little bit more about Mr Haney. Of course Haney used to attend the same church that I attend before he moved on to pastor a church of his very own. He has since moved on to become an emissary, which is different than a missionary Based in the US. He travels multiple times throughout the year back to Egypt, the land of his birth, where he ministers, and you're going to hear so many details about how he ministers in Egypt, the needs that are in Egypt and all kinds of amazing details of his encounters over there. So I think that you're going to enjoy this one.
Speaker 2:I think you're right, and it's time for me to stop selling you on Patreon. It's time for me to stop selling you on Hany. It's time for me to quit my yapping Without further ado. Let's get to it. Well, we would like to welcome to the show Henny Asad. Welcome to the show. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:I'm doing well. Thank you, Daniel. Appreciate you inviting me.
Speaker 2:I am super pumped because I hardly know anything about you and so Cora and I were talking earlier. These are some of the greatest episodes because we're going in blind. All we know is that through some connection or another, this is a person that God uses, and we're pumped to hear the stories of how he's done so. Thank you Very excited. We have only met very briefly. You used to attend our church before you went on to pastor another church. I'm sure there's a lot of ministry and experience behind your kind eyes and we're very excited to see what the Lord does with this episode.
Speaker 2:So, on that note, we are big fans of tradition, hanny, and one of our big traditions here is we like to go back to the very beginning, because that is a very fine place to start. So question number one for you, for me, cora, and the listeners would you take us back to the spiritual atmosphere of the home you grew up in and kind of paint the picture of what was going on? Were people praying? Were you going to church regularly? Or the other side of that coin, were you not praying? Were people operating in the cold? What'd that look like?
Speaker 1:Sure. So my story is probably a bit different. As you may not know, I was born in Egypt. I came to the US when I was just about 14 years old. So in Egypt we attend church every day, every single day. That's the normal.
Speaker 1:I grew up in a Christian family. It actually started years before that. My mother did not grow in a Christian home. She married my father. He was not a Christian, he was not a believer. By the way, we come from a Christian lineage. All my entire family, my ancestors, were Christian as Christian faith, but they're not believers. And my father was not a believer. But his family, his brothers and sisters, were believers, and my mother wasn't a believer either. His brothers and sisters were believers and my mother wasn't a believer either.
Speaker 1:And one day she went to a women's service and the preacher was saying I want each woman to stand up and say a verse. My mother didn't know a single verse. So my aunt, my brother's sister, she whispered to me here. She said get up and say God is love. Now, in Arabic, this is just two words God love. So my mother got really embarrassed. She stood up and she said God is love. And she sat down, while every other woman was. You know, they say in the longest verses. And my mother that day went home and she closed the door and she started to pray.
Speaker 1:Prior to that, my grandfather died when my mother was only one year old, so she never went to school. She didn't know how to read or write. So she went inside and she said if you're my father, like that pastor was preaching, it's your responsibility to teach me how to read. And she was crying for hours, praying to the Lord, and my mother started to read. Till this day, my mother's, 82 years old. You give her a Bible in Arabic, she reads it better than any scholar. You give her a newspaper, she won't be able to read it. It's a true miracle. So fast forward years.
Speaker 1:My father he used to work for the army, for the armed forces, and and they moved him to a different city and, uh, that was before I was born, and he lived in a town and he realized that everybody swears on the quran and swears on muhammad, and, and so my father says, like, his name is george, but, but swears on the Quran. So obviously George is Christian, but why is he swearing on the Quran or the Prophet Muhammad? So they told him? Oh yeah, because there's no churches in this town. So my father says I want to move to a different town. So they moved to a town where I was born and we attended Assemblies of God, church, and so I grew up in the Assemblies of God. I don't have an amazing testimony, I just grew up in church from day one.
Speaker 1:But at the age of seven years old we had a missionary came to Egypt from America. Her name is Jane, that's all I know about her From the picture the only picture I have she probably looked around maybe 55, 60, and that was something like close to 50 years ago, so I'm not sure if she's still alive. But she came to Egypt and she called my brother out of the crowd and she told him you're going to have a ministry in America and God is going to send you to America. And this is where I received a gift of the Holy Spirit. That was about seven years old, a little older than seven, and this was just a whole different, new experience for me that I just never experienced before. I mean, I know I was only seven, but it was really unique and different that this woman has set the stage for a lot of ministry in my life and my brother's life and where we are today, really started with that simple American woman that all I know about her is. Her name was Jane, that's it, wow.
Speaker 2:That is incredible, Gosh. So your life was, was built more or less on the supernatural. You had a mother who supernaturally read scripture. Can't read a newspaper. That boggles my mind. Oh gosh, that's so amazing. Was that your first personal encounter supernaturally with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or did you have anything prior to that? Whether that be something from the Lord or attack from the enemy, you know people grew up with various encounters. What was your very first supernatural or paranormal encounter?
Speaker 1:This was my first supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit, but after that, this is where the Lord started to work through our life. My father was refusing to come to America until one day I was walking and a glass fell on my head. This was in the early 80s, where the beginning of the Christian persecution was happening. And again, still, my father he had a high rank position with the army, so he didn't want to come to America.
Speaker 1:He was older, he was probably in his mid-60s, and for him to go start over somewhere it doesn't make any sense. Um, you know, he left his job, he came here, he worked at kfc, so for him it was kind of like he would would have been better off. But anyway, when the glass fell on my head till now I still have a bump on my head from that and, um, we didn't know where the glass came from. But this was the day where my father said that's it, we're leaving Egypt. And it was a hard decision for him, but it was definitely God's plan. But that experience when I was seven, that was my first encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:Wow. So to go back to that glass, though, haney, so you were saying there was a Christian persecution going on at that time. So somebody threw that at you, you think, because you're a Christian, like they knew, and it was kind of, I guess, an assault.
Speaker 1:Yes. So in Egypt houses are not like in the US where they're one story, two story, maybe three story max. No, they're all little buildings, maybe seven, eight, nine, 10 stories, and there's no side yard or backyard. So they're all touching each other, all the houses. So when you walk on the street you have at least six or seven buildings, with each building probably 15, 20, 20 apartments. Any of them could have thrown the glass.
Speaker 1:We, we, we think we have an idea who it was, but of course you can't prove it. But yeah, uh, but yeah. So during this time, this was the, the biggest persecution. There wasn't killing or anything. Well, there was, but but not not at the to the extreme that you may hear on the media, but the persecution was more like not getting jobs if you're a Christian, so our ancestors Christians when Egypt was invaded by Muslims and the Arabs, they give Christians three choices One to convert to Islam, or you pay a fine. And if you can't pay a fine and you're not willing to convert, we kill you.
Speaker 1:So those who were not faithful or not solid in the Christian faith, they said, just convert to Islam. And those who were rich, they purchased their freedom and the rest died. Those who purchased their freedom. They tattooed their arm with a cross so they marked them as Christians. So they'll, till this day, when you go to Egypt, all Christians they tattoo their hand with a cross, like I have one right here. I did this by choice. Yeah, yeah, but back in the day it was not a choice. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, but back in the day it was not a choice.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that, yeah, and is it still a choice in Egypt today and that just become kind of a cultural norm, or is it still forced upon Christians?
Speaker 1:It's not forced, it's by choice. But everybody is proud to have their arm. So the persecution was when they see that cross and you apply for a job, they just won't give you the job. So that was the biggest persecution during the time. Now there's a lot of freedom, thank God.
Speaker 2:But that was enough to make that military man go. You know what?
Speaker 1:maybe we need to go, yes, yes, I was the youngest, I was about maybe 13 at the time, but we were involved in the church a lot. We had ministry, we were serving. We were known to be Asat's kids or the Christian kids there. Like, stay away from this.
Speaker 2:I might get on you.
Speaker 1:The Holy Ghost is contagious, you know, person to person.
Speaker 2:So you grew up in the AG. You received the Holy Spirit when you were roughly seven. You moved to the US at 14. Where does life go from there?
Speaker 1:We started to. My brother came two years after me. I didn't have to serve in the army because I was under 16. He had to serve in the army. So he came two years later and the Lord told him you're going to start a church and the first spirit-led church here in America Arabic and he started with the Assemblies of God. So it was the first Arabic Assembly of God. I was the worship leader for him. So we were.
Speaker 1:We started ministry together from day one and we worked together for years and then the Lord asked, you know, told me to go to Florida. So I went to Florida. We ended up serving with Pastor Sammy Hinn and a great man. He believed in us and we served under him, ministering with the Arabic folks. And then God started to close many doors in Florida and open plenty of doors here in the Carolinas. I came on a contract and it was turned into a full-time job and here we are. So I started in New York, then Florida and here we are in the Carolinas. And when we came here we were looking for a spirit-led church and we ended up at Lakeshore and this is where we felt like that's the place and that's it and the rest is, the rest is uh, I won't say history. The rest is present.
Speaker 2:So when we were talking a bit earlier off recording, you said something really cool that I'd never heard that term thrown around before. I know what a missionary is, but you said we're emissaries. Can you talk about that a little bit and what you guys do in your personal ministry?
Speaker 1:Yes. So emissaries, it means we do mission work overseas but we live in the US and we're not funded through ministry, but all the funding that comes in goes to the ministry. So my wife and I we vocational or bivocational, so we have our, she has a counseling, a marriage counseling business office and I work for Corporate America and that's how we support our family. But we take, we raise funds to do work in Egypt. So emissary means we live in the US but we do mission work overseas. And what makes this unique is all the funding that comes in truly goes to the ministry, so the dollar goes very far.
Speaker 2:Right on, and what kind of things do you guys do overseas?
Speaker 1:Well, we're getting ready to go soon to Egypt in the next few weeks, and we already planned a 10-session or a three-day conference for young adults, one-woman conference, one-day woman conference, multiple Sunday services, and we're going to be working with Orphanage and all that lined up coming up. It's going to be a very busy week, of course. In addition, we have to take the group to see the pyramids Is all that in one week.
Speaker 2:You say Right, okay, two weeks. I was like how are we going to get all that in one week? I was thinking the same thing Like is that all?
Speaker 1:Is that all you do? I should have asked what don't you do, you're right.
Speaker 1:Very, very, very busy, and so we're going. We have a conference, a young adult conference that we actually wrote a book that we called it Restores. It talks about the inner healing. This is a new topic in Egypt.
Speaker 1:In Egypt, you see, in Americaica, we have a right or wrong culture. In other words, you can expose anybody on national tv, regardless what they did or who they are, what their position is, because america is about right and wrong. You know, culture in the middle east is not right or wrong culture, it's shame and honor culture. So you can, because you don't want to shame the country. You will not expose the president, for example, because when you expose the president the country will look bad, just because you don't want to expose your family. You can have the worst dad, the worst brother, the worst sister, the worst teacher, the worst pastor, the worst of everything in your life, but you will not expose them because you don't want to bring shame to the family or to the honor.
Speaker 1:With that being said, a lot of people grow with pain, emotional pain, like we always say when we counsel couples. When I have a physical wound, I can see how deep, how big. I can see when it heals, I can see if there's infection, I can see what works, what doesn't work. I can have an x-ray if I want to do, if I want to get deeper understanding of what's going on with that wound or that pain. But when it comes to emotional pain, there is nothing you can measure with. There's no machine that will measure how much you hurt someone, you break somebody's heart, but really how broken is it? There isn't any machines to measure that. So here in America, even though we have the right and wrong which helps us speak of the pain and express the wounds, and that helps a little Now imagine if all your life, all your family, all you know is don't talk about it, don't bring shame to your family, don't expose anybody. So the people grow with so much guilt and so much pain and damage and emotional damage.
Speaker 1:So the vision of this particular conference is all about the inner healing, dealing with the inner wounds. How can we get inside into the deep places and restore? So we believe that our Lord is the good shepherd. He's not just taking care of my spiritual needs, he actually takes care of my spiritual needs, my emotional needs and my physical needs, and the perfect example for that is Psalm 23. In Psalm 23,. You see that God, the good shepherd, is taking care of all three of them. He takes care of your physical needs. He leads you to still water and to green pasture. That's your food, that's your flesh. He takes care of your flesh. He also restores your soul, that's your emotions, that's your feelings, and then he anoints your head with oil. That's the spiritual. So the good shepherd takes care of all three aspects of my being, which is my physical, my body, my flesh, my body, my spirit and my soul. So in Egypt they do a good job with the flesh. They have the greatest hummus, they have the greatest food. They do a good job with that. With the spiritual, yes, because Arabic is very close to Hebrew. So when they preach, they preach it very well. But what they do not focus on is the soul part, the emotional. So we're going to go with that focus in mind. So we wrote a book and we also paid for the book to be translated. So the book is going to be ready in Arabic as well.
Speaker 1:When we go, and we're going to be hosting this conference, we're sponsoring all the young adults, because the average income is not very high in Egypt. So a three-day conference is about half a month's salary, so most dads cannot afford that. So we're going to be sponsoring all the children and I was sharing with you before and I'll say it, maybe this will occur to somebody Even though when we started to plan for this Egypt trip, we had fundings of only $275. And I was committed to a trip that is going to cost somewhere between $7,000 and $11,000. And the bank had only $275.
Speaker 1:I was disappointed and we had to book the conference center and we were expecting 200 young adults to come and because we didn't have the funding, I said just keep it at 40. So we're only going to be hosting or bringing 40 young adults, or 60, I think 60. And then the funding came, but it was too late. So it's important to always rely on faith, because at the moment when I said just book for 60, I was looking at the bank account, I wasn't looking at my faith, I wasn't looking at what the word of God says. So tapping into faith is really important. So this is what we're going to be doing in Egypt. This is one of the biggest things we're going to be doing, and we're going to be also working with orphanage. Maybe we can talk about that later. Let me just stop talking.
Speaker 2:I'll keep listening if you keep talking. So you're going and you're focusing on inner healing. Do you get into deliverance at all with evil spirits and things of that nature? Are you trying to focus more on language they'll understand, or do you even delve into that at all in your personal ministry?
Speaker 1:Absolutely In Egypt. And again, when I say Egypt, always think of the Middle East, yes, okay. So I'll say Egypt. Always think of the Middle East, yes, okay. So I'll say Egypt, because that's where we're going. In Egypt, the spiritual realm is really big. It's not very common here in the US, but witchcraft is very common. Tapping into evil spirits is very common. So we go and we pray for casting out demons. Just the last trip alone, this is probably going to be very news to you. You know Egypt has a lot of pharaohs and tombs, right?
Speaker 1:What a lot of people don't know is every time they open tombs or certain tombs you probably saw it in movies but you didn't think it was real Somebody dies. There is sometimes a spirit that will cause somebody to die. When they open the tomb, they close it in a certain way with witchcraft, and then when you open it, somebody pretty much is a sacrifice with witchcraft. And then when you open it, somebody pretty much is a sacrifice. So, um, with that in mind, to find tombs, they also use evil spirit. So we have we, we met this woman and her parents. They are tomb finders, they, they just look for tombs because if you find a tomb, you're. You're automatically millionaire just by finding one, because every little tiny statue I'm talking about, maybe like a two-inch statue, can be sold for a few million dollars. So they are tomb finders.
Speaker 1:So this man when his daughter was born, he offered her to Satan. He said if she helped me find a tomb, I will sacrifice her. What does sacrifice mean? I will make her open up the tomb, so she's the one that will die. So they use her to locate things. So far she has not located a tomb, but she located little things in the ground. So she actually takes them into a spot and she says, right here, and they start digging and they find maybe a little statue. They're hoping one day they'll find it too. And this woman, we were praying for her and they told us that she keeps coming back, like she comes to church, she gets freed, she goes back. Two weeks later the evil spirits come back.
Speaker 1:So that stuff is real. It's not fake. It's not a game to mess with. Witchcraft is not something Christians should mess with at all. Don't be curious about it, even Stay away completely from it. It's real.
Speaker 1:It's not very common in the US but it is. I know a lot of people travel outside the US and I want to warn about something, but it is. I know a lot of people travel outside the us and I want to warn about something. There is something, uh, a blue hand with a little eye in the middle. Okay, uh, we've seen it in greece. This is actually middle eastern. You'll find it in israel. You may find in israel with the word jerusalem in it. Okay, do not buy this kind of stuff. This hand is called in arabic and in hebrews and what it means. It keeps the evil eye out. This is a um. That's not something you want to have in your house or in your car. Don't get a shirt with that uh icon on it. So there are things like that being sold till this day.
Speaker 1:People are being innocent, but being innocent and you get yourself in a mess like that, you will be like you are responsible, like I think we need to know what we responsible for. And I'm gonna get out of this topic a little bit because I want to talk about responsibility. People really need to know their responsibility. Not because you're doing something in ignorance means you're going to get away with it or it's okay.
Speaker 1:The Bible, when the Word of God says put on the full armor of God. That is a responsibility for me to put on the armor of God. This is not God going to put on the armor of God for me. He didn't say let me put on the armor of God for you. He said you put on. Every person needs to protect themselves by putting on the armor of God. It's my responsibility.
Speaker 1:The renewing of the mind is my responsibility. He said give your body as a living sacrifice. And then he keeps going by saying and be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That's my responsibility. It's my decision that I need, lord, help me renew my mind. I need the Holy Spirit to be armed. I need the Holy Spirit to renew my mind. But it's my responsibility to take the initiative. So we need to be careful with that. So in the supernatural Egypt, whether you look at it from the evil side or the good side, it's a real thing. It's a real thing and we deal with it in Egypt a lot. But we also hang out with pastors who are specialized. This is one of the common giftings that we have in Egypt. Not very common in America, but in Egypt you will see people on the floor.
Speaker 2:You will see people on the floor, it's writhing around and manifesting. And I mean that's part of why we've started this podcast is because, yes, you're right that it's not that common in America but it's becoming more and more common. There's been such a resurgence in occult practices and witchcraft and all these kind of things in America because it's all throughout pop culture and just think about how many doorways that Harry Potter might have opened for people dabbling in witchcraft and occultism. And I was very interested in having you on because Egypt, like the Egyptian pantheon, when you look and you go through deliverance prayers for Freemasonry, a lot of that ties back into Egypt and the mysticism attached with that. And I didn't want to like feed you or get you to like just start spitting out what I wanted to hear. But I'm hearing what I wanted to hear.
Speaker 2:Nonetheless, I found myself leaning forward the more you spoke like what I had no idea. But I can relate a little bit to one of the things you were saying. You talked about they were using the daughter to find tombs. At first I was like man, I've never heard anything like that. And then all of a sudden I was like, yes, I have, I know around here they will find witches to find wells in the ground, like, if you dig and you dig and you dig and you can't find them, I don't know how you find one then I do not recommend that you do, for the exact same reasons, but in a similar practice, that you go and you find I think they're called a well witch, water witch, water witch, thank you, wow. And sure enough, they go and they, you know, converse with spirits and find a well, craziness, craziness. And believers do it too, because it's like I just want.
Speaker 1:Well, I want to stop paying people to dig. Yeah, craziness, definitely I. I encourage every believer not to get involved in anything like this. This stuff is real. We need to have spiritual discernment. Okay, um, I believe in the book of acts, chapter 16, paul and silas were walking around and this woman she didn't say anything wrong, like when you're ready when you hear what she says. She said these men are preaching the gospel. They're good men, listen to them. She didn't say anything bad or evil turned around and repute, in the name of Jesus, the spirit that was in her spirit of knowledge, of affirmation, and they casted out the spirit. So that's the spirit of discernment that they had and we need to have this. We really need to be very careful because the demons are real, the spirit, witchcrafts are real, palm reading is real.
Speaker 1:This is not a joke. This is not funny. Uh, this is not like, um, they just say anything. Yeah, you can, of course, you can have some people that just playing a game, but there are people that really are, you know, in touch with, uh, with the enemy, with the evil spirits. They can actually read the palm in.
Speaker 1:There are a lot more than that, than just palm there's coffee cup reading. You know, the Arabic coffee is very thick. They flip the cup upside down for all the grind to form around the cup. Then they let it dry. It's going to form lines and dots and stuff. And somebody actually reads that and they tell you like, oh, you're going to meet someone. And they tell you like, oh, you're going to meet someone. And they tell you the whole what they think in the future. And a lot of it comes true, but not because the enemy knows the future. The enemy does not know the future. But when you believe in something, you're going to make it happen. You know, like if you hear someone tells you, oh, you're going to marry somebody with a mustache, you're going to be looking for a man like, that girl will be looking for a man with a mustache. If somebody comes in with a beard or no, mustache will not. So you're gonna find yourself trying to make that prophecy come to pass. But that stuff is is real.
Speaker 1:Tarot cards, all that. You. You gotta stay um. Amulets. Amulets is another thing. This will bring you good luck. This will keep the spirits out. These are very common in the Middle East and those who travel to Israel on vacation or you want to visit the Holy Land. I know right now it's not a good time to go. But when you do not any amulet, anything that they tell you this brings good luck, don't buy it. Okay, we don't believe in luck. Okay, my life is in the hands of Christ. Okay, there is no luck. I don't need luck, I have faith. What do I need luck for? So anything like that, definitely stay away from.
Speaker 2:Is there a worship of ancestral spirits in Egypt or in the Middle East? Is that predominant at all or am I off base there?
Speaker 1:No, it's. Nobody worshiped the ancestors. There are gods in Egypt, amon Ra. There are gods like that. Nobody worshiped them anymore In Egypt right now, mainly Muslims and Christians, now very, very jews, and they're hidden.
Speaker 2:I was wondering the same thing. Yeah, when you asked that because I know we were talking about the pantheon and some of the gods you named are on that lowercase g gods are on that pantheon I was wondering if that was still active also. But so, yeah, some jews, christianity and then the bulk is islam yeah, yeah, islam.
Speaker 1:Uh, right now, where we are, where we? Well, I'll tell you the statistics, the numbers and the reality. The numbers are 80 muslim, 20 christian and, um, that's mainly it. In reality, probably there are at least 20 million ex-Muslims that left Islam either to Christianity or to atheism.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Yes, there are a lot of Christians. There are a lot of Muslims that are Christians today. They accepted Christ. A lot of women still wear the hijab and go to church. It's funny when we take folks from here and they go and we ask them to preach and we have a translator or I translate, and they always look in the balcony and they see these women with hijab and they're like what are they doing here? Um, these women are. They can't accept the christ, but they can't take off the hijab because it's it'll be. They can be. Their life will be in danger. Yeah, so no, god is doing amazing things. There are stories that will make your hair steam by all means.
Speaker 2:So, before we pivot into that, I did have one more question. Have you seen you mentioned the tomb, the girl that was destined, or set up to go and find tombs, or set up to go and find tombs have you seen lasting freedom in anybody that you've personally been able to minister to, or you know pastors have ministered to that you've been able to see, set free from this kind of mysticism, witchcraft, nonsense?
Speaker 1:Yes, I won't speak much from the Egypt time because remember I left when I was 14. So I don't have a lot of memory. But here in the U? S when we were at the Arabic assembly of God in New Jersey, as a matter of fact, one member which everybody was shocked that that person was involved in in the church, in the ministry. He was not a preacher or worship or anything. He was just a very active, hardworking man. You say we need to drive somebody. He's the first person to drive. He's the first person to pick up people. He's the first person to come to maintenance in the church. He really loved the Lord.
Speaker 1:And then one day we had a conference and I was on the keyboard and we were, I was on the keyboard, uh, doing worship. And after the message, after the message, I think, we were singing like a slow song and I was just singing the same the chorus over and over and over and over and doing music, and all I heard is this man screaming. I didn't know who it was and people gathered around him. And then I remember my brother telling me keep singing that song, keep singing that. So I didn't know what was going on. I just kept singing the song and I just hear this man screaming and on the floor. And it was that person, the hardworking, servant heart man, and that night he was set free. He was definitely dealt with witchcraft and uh involved and he was set free and to this day he's free. Come on, jesus. Grace god, I want to say also something about witchcraft.
Speaker 1:Witchcraft is not just done like. Whether you do it or you do it to someone else, both people will be affected and that's why you need to have to put on the armor of God all the time, not just daily. The armor of God is something you put on Just like. How many times did you walk out without any clothes? Did you ever go to the mall with? Do you know what I mean? It's impossible. You put on clothes before you go out. It's the same word you put on the full armor of God. You cannot just leave.
Speaker 1:And when we see the armor of god, it protects your head, protects your chest, it protects your, your legs, it protects your feet. You need that daily. I put on my shoes when I'm going out, and that's normal. Same thing, I need to put on the boots. That before I go out. You know.
Speaker 1:If you're going to ride a bike, it's normal to put on a helmet, unless you're crazy, right, and I need to put the helmet on my head. You know if a police officer is going, they put something on their chest to protect him. If he doesn't, then you're crazy. If we have it, why don't we wear it If you are going to be exposed to danger. Why don't you put it? If you are going to be exposed to danger, why don't you put it on? Yet we have the full armor of god, we have details, we have sermons, we have our pastors talk about it, and and then we leave home without the armor of god. Or sometimes we put one part of the armor of god. He said put the full. There there is. There's a whole outfit that we need to put on, but sometimes we just choose the helmet, we just choose the boots. Boots means I'm going to go minister. Okay, well, you can't just go minister if your heart is not protected, because now it's just going to be a work of the flesh.
Speaker 2:Man. This is good. I'm sure this is for somebody else out there, but it's just going to be a work of the flesh man. This is good. I'm sure this is for somebody else out there, but it's definitely for me too. That is good, thank you, and it's for me. Wow. You don't go to the mall without putting on clothes, so why the heck do we even go out of our door and not put on the full set of armor, or even a piece that got me too, sometimes just the shoes, just the, or even a piece that?
Speaker 2:got me to sometimes just the shoes, just the helmet, do the whole thing. It's good. Take hold of that, Dear listener. Take hold of that. So you mentioned some stories that would make the hair on our arms and neck stand up.
Speaker 1:So, um, about people accepting Christ. So one of the stories um, um, now let me just set the stage. Accepting christ, um, your parents can, um, it's called honor killing, I think something in that nature. Um, so your life will be in danger. Most, uh, people, if you want to express that you're christian, you better leave the country that you're in. That's why a lot of them come to America or Europe where there are more freedom. But from time to time you're going to get some crazy people that when they accept Christ, they just can't shut up. They just I love Jesus and like you're putting your life in danger, just be quiet and anyway.
Speaker 1:So one of the stories one young man, probably like early 20s or so, accepted Christ and he kept saying you guys don't know what you're telling his family. So his family called the police and the police came. Oh, the police gets involved in something like that. So the police came and they took him to jail and what they normally do is they bring an imam. Imam is like a Muslim priest, so they bring an imam to talk sense into him. And so he went inside the cell and he told the guard just leave us alone. So he stayed with that with that young man and the young man's telling him you don't understand. You need to open your eyes. You don't know the truth. Jesus is the way, he's the only way. And this young man was just yelling and yelling, and yelling. So the imam told him how long you have been christian. He said three months. I've wasted 20 years of my life. And he said three months. And you're making all that noise? I've been a christian for three years and I keep my mouth shut. And he was an imam. Yeah, wow, that's awesome. So god is doing amazing things in egypt, um, and the middle east dreams, people waking up in dreams.
Speaker 1:People come to churches and they say we had a dream, jesus telling me this, a guy telling me that. What are you guys talking about? What does that mean? Um, christian muslims, they struggle with few that we, us Christians, because we're born in faith, we don't struggle much with. Which is the Trinity? They struggle with the Trinity, the term Son of God.
Speaker 1:What does Son of God mean? Because we say he's the Son of God, he's God. Well, is he the Son or is he God? Is he the Father or is he a Son? Is he God? Is he the son or is he god? Is he the father or is he a son? Is he god? Is he god the father, is he a man or is he a god? Is he a servant or is he a king? And is he a lamb or is he a lion?
Speaker 1:And and we confused him with a lot of the terminology that you and I were okay with. You know, but they get confused, like you describe him as a lion and then you describe him as a lion and then you describe him as a lamb, you describe him as a king and then a server, a father and then a son. So it's like what is he? So it's important for us to really have a good clarification on those terms when we're dealing with non-Christians. But a lot of stories I mean I can't think of plenty right now, but God has done amazing things in the Middle East and I'd love for as many of us to be part of that.
Speaker 2:It seems so daunting in America when most of us aren't exposed, generally speaking, to a lot of Islamic folks. What are some of the keys to sharing your faith, sure?
Speaker 1:First the safety part. Okay for safety. Do not talk negative about them. Okay, them okay. Um. Like don't say you can say jesus saves, but do not say anyone else doesn't say okay, don't say moses won't save you, don't say their prophet won't save you, but it's okay for say for you to say jesus, only jesus can save you. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can say only Jesus can save you, or just say Jesus saves.
Speaker 1:That's okay. Just do not talk negative about their prophets or their book.
Speaker 2:Because then you lose them at that point, right, you lose them.
Speaker 1:You know what? If somebody comes to you and says Jesus is not Lord, but let me explain to you, you're not going to listen. You're already checked out.
Speaker 2:I heard stories growing up. My pastor growing up had been a missionary in India, and India has pockets of Islam as well as majority Hindu. But in a particular area where there was high concentration of Muslims he made the mistake of telling them that Allah was a liar and then he had the pleasure of a good sprint with machete yielding people close on his heels because he made that mistake.
Speaker 1:So, again, you don't need to expose that. They already know it. They already know what they know. It's not like you know more than them. Let's be real. There's nothing you're going to say that's going to be shocking to them, but they just don't want to hear it. You know what I mean. And again, that's for the safety reasons. How do you reach them? Honestly, just show them love. Did you know that the entire Quran, the word love, does not exist. Like, if you download the Quran and search for the word love, you're going to come with zero searches. Now, in English translation there might be maybe, I don't know, but I'm talking about the original. The original, wow. So that's something they need. They work so hard to be seen and heard by God. That's what they're trying to do. They're really trying to. They pray five times a day. Do you pray five times a day?
Speaker 2:On my best days maybe.
Speaker 1:Right On my best, on your best, and how many of that a year? But they pray five days I leave to work at 5.30, between 5.30 and 5.35 every morning to work. My neighbor is from Morocco. I see him every morning at that time, coming back from prayer, gets up 4 or 4.30, he has to wash his body. There's a certain washing, use water to cleanse yourself and then he drives somewhere to pray and he's back by 5.30, 5.32. And many often, often at least once or twice a week, when I'm leaving, I see him coming back because he comes in the same time I leave.
Speaker 2:So, in this culture of honor is everything, and shame is the worst thing that can happen to you. The way to cut to the core of this culture, then, is to walk in love, like Jesus called us to do, because, if I'm understanding what you just said, that's not in there, that's not in the equation, no, and that's like the secret weapon, almost.
Speaker 1:That is the secret weapon. Instead of talking bad about what they believe, just talk good about what you believe. You don't need to debate them. There's an Egyptian saying that says whoever has a hurt feels it. Whoever has a wound feels it. In other words, if that person is wrong in something he knows it's wrong. There's a lot of things that doesn't make sense to them. They already know it.
Speaker 1:For you to point it, you're not really doing anything and at the same time, be ready to answer some of the questions. Be ready, get an idea of what questions they may have. They will have questions about the Trinity. They will have a question about the deity of Jesus, because they believe he's just a prophet, just like Moses. Are you able to explain why we believe Jesus is God? That's a simple that's. That's an important belief for us as christians. But can I explain it? He's the son of god. Can I explain that? Yeah, or is it just words? I say, if a muslim asks, stop somebody and says, explain to me, what is the son of god mean? Can I? So there are certain things that these are the questions that they have to. Maybe you can do search top questions muslim have and start studying those questions because when they come to you, because you can show love and all that, and then they come to you. We love what you're saying, we love jesus, we love the teachings, we love on the Mount, but I just can't get over the fact that he's three because they believe in one God.
Speaker 1:Do you know a verse that says God is one? Is there a verse in the Bible that says God is one? Yes, there is in the Old Testament. Listen to Israel. Our God is one. So we have the verses, but we have to be equipped to go debating without really understanding what they believe or what you believe. That's like you're not going to help. It's good for you to brush on what you believe, understanding some of the terminology that we use. Okay, why Jesus is God? Why do we believe?
Speaker 1:They believe Jesus wasn't crucified. They believe it appeared to them that they crucified Jesus. Can you prove that he was actually crucified? Because in their book it says that he wasn't crucified. So again, how do you reach him If you don't know any of this? Just show them love. You know when you're around. If you don't know any of this, just show them love. You know when you're around them. Don't eat pork. You don't have to be in their face. I'm gonna eat pork just to show you you're not, you're not really you're not gonna win them like that you're never going to offend someone into loving christ or turning to Christ.
Speaker 2:You're never going to shout them down like you were saying. Don't debate, live it, walk it out.
Speaker 1:Exactly, wow, exactly Okay. I have some Muslim friends. I would never eat bacon in front of them. If I go, I will just order potatoes and eggs and toast. Why I don't want to offend them? Because the moment I touch that bacon, not just the bacon is unclean, I become unclean.
Speaker 2:And you've stopped walking in love in that very moment because you said I don't care, I'm going to eat pork, wow.
Speaker 1:And now you're going to talk to him about love. He sees you as an unclean person. Look, here's an analogy. Okay, what's your favorite sandwich? A Reuben.
Speaker 2:A Reuben, get out of my head, all right.
Speaker 1:If I make you the best Reuben sandwich in the world okay, in the world, something you cannot resist in the world, something you cannot resist. But before I make it, I go work on my yard and my hand is all muddy and I don't wash my hand with all the mud and the dirt and I touch your meat and I make you your favorite Reuben sandwich and the sauerkraut. You'll find brown stuff on it and it's like dirt. It's okay, it's from my hand, but it's the best sauerkraut. Man, it's imported from Germany, right, yeah. And then I hand it to you with my filthy hand and I say eat it, would you? I think you're underestimating how much I like your hands. Probably not Most people would not Daniel and I.
Speaker 2:we might be the exception, that's true. We'd pray over it and eat it we would, we would. You got the wrong guys Now if you went to the bathroom and then didn't wash your hands, that's a different story.
Speaker 1:Oh no, that's disgusting. We would never.
Speaker 2:Because then the brownstainab are mine. That's right, that's right, that's right. All right, let me retell my story. I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 1:That's great though. So this is. I want to make two points here. The moment you become unclean to them and you give them Jesus, the best delicious Reuben they could ever have, but you've given it to them with an unclean hand and they look at you as you unclean, they refuse it. Same with us as believers. Also, I want us to take this analogy I cannot be living in sin and my hand is full of sinful things and then I go and lift holy hands.
Speaker 1:These are not holy hands anymore. I need to wash Not wash physically with water, but I need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. So when I give Jesus a sacrifice, I give it to him with a good, clean hand, good clean heart, not physical, of course. So it's important that if you want to reach a Muslim, just do it in love, and part of love is when you're with them. Respect it's important that if you want to reach a Muslim, just do it in love, and part of love is when you're with them. Respect them, just like if you work with a Jew. Respect them. Don't eat pork around them, it's okay.
Speaker 2:What are you going to lose if you skip the bacon in one meal? But you have everything to gain by protecting your witness ability with that person. I love this entire picture you've painted here. By not eating the pork it doesn't hurt you in any way, but it still leaves all the room for opportunity. I love that.
Speaker 2:And it's entirely scriptural. What is it? Romans 14? Somewhere in that neighborhood, somewhere in the book of Romans Paul talks about. You know, I'd rather not eat meat than offend a brother. Now it's talking about Christian brothers. But let's open that up a little bit and let's extend that to people that we hope to win over to become brothers. Let's love them in the way that they'll understand. And if we know that something's, you can't help yourself stumbling into things you aren't aware of Right. But if it's an easy thing, you know, don't eat a pork chop, that's right.
Speaker 1:My wife always says, like Jesus met people where they're at, he didn't tell them come up to me, come up to my level. He went down to their level. The Samaritan woman he went down to her level. He didn't tell her come up to me, I'm the Messiah. No, he's just Zacchaeus, he just went to his level. Nicodemus, on the other hand, he was just, you know, well-known. He also went to his level. You're the teacher of Israel and you don't know what I'm talking about. Jesus met everybody where they're at. So when you meet someone who's lacking the love of Jesus, doesn't understand the love of Jesus, what do you mean? Love of Jesus? What do you mean? Jesus loves me. What do you mean God loves me? God is love. Small verse, right, just one of the smallest verses in the Bible, yet it's so powerful and they don't get it.
Speaker 2:Bible, yet it's so powerful and they don't get it. I had my youth pastor tell us one time there was this boy who came down to the altar for the very first time and he'd never been to church before and he repented on the altar and as he was praying he was just using swear words. He was telling God, I'm so bleep this, bleep that. And he said I didn't go, smack him on the back of the head and said hey, you're talking to the king of kings. He said I let him pour his heart out to the Lord and later on I just let him know hey, you know, that's something we can change over time. But he met him where he was at and it made all the difference to that kid because he came back the next week and he kept coming back to that kid, because he came back the next week and he kept coming back and he got on fire for the Lord. Amen, that's all it takes.
Speaker 2:And I think one thing that is also important when we're approaching Muslims is that they're our cousins essentially. You know, it's not like they're just in some way far off, removed branch of the family. They're cousins to us. I mean, we're grafted into Israel, so they're our cousins.
Speaker 1:You know, I heard this analogy once. First of all, muslims are a little under a quarter of the world's population. Okay, okay. And so if we live in the, in the country that we enjoy the freedom and we have the truth and we know the gospel, we have to take advantage of that. Do you know? You know, um, if you're going to shoot an arrow to a deer even that's a bad analogy okay, you have to hit that one deer. But if there's a hundred deers in front of you, right, you can just in that area, right, and you're going to hit something. There are a million, if not close to two billion, muslims, and we can reach them where we're at with these little microphones and this little cell that we have. So we have Jesus.
Speaker 1:We met this Christian man and he always I mean, he's Muslim. He actually has a TV show on satellite and he always looks at Christians. He told them what's wrong with you guys? You have the truth, you know the truth, you, you're, you're right, you, you, you have the way, and you don't do anything about it. You just keep it to yourself. So it's important for us to say like I want to share, I want to do something, I can be part of something Like look, when I speak about Egypt and the ministry, I always say this analogy, so you're going to hear it again. Okay, if you see me again Hopefully you will I call it the cycle of Christianity or the cycle of Christian life.
Speaker 1:The cycle of Christian life is very simple. Okay, three steps Find, disciple, send. And that's what Jesus did. He found disciples, he discipled them. No, he found men, he discipled them and he sent them. He sent them to do what To find, to disciple and to send. Send them to do what to find, to disciple and to send. Send them to do what to find to disciple. And that cycle has been going around, going around, going around, until you and I were found and we were discipled.
Speaker 1:And guess what you guys are doing now? You're being sent, but you must also continue that cycle. That means you need to find more people, disciple them, maybe on podcast, and send them with their own vision. And that's something we must do. And we have the truth and we have jesus, and jesus invented that cycle. I don't need to reinvent anything. He already invented the cycle. He already invented the wheel.
Speaker 1:He said find people, disciples and send them. That's it, thank you Simple. We complicate things. It's not as complicated as Jesus made it, and that cycle or that wheel has been turning, turning and turning until you and I and we must also continue this legacy there are quarter of the world. Do you have kids? Yes, how many One One we're adopting, we're adopting. Let me ask you if you have four kids and I heard this and I love it, so I'm going to steal it and use it Okay, and three of them are saved and one of them is not Are you going to say, hey, at least we are saved, praise God, or your heart is going to ache for that last one?
Speaker 2:You go after the one, yeah.
Speaker 1:Quarter of the world don't know Christ and we're like that's okay. You know, I'm part of a good church family. I mean that's good, but why aren't we aching for those that are lost In our community? Even let's start with the community. My heart has to ache for my neighbor. If my heart doesn't ache, I'm stopping the cycle. See, if we stop finding people, that cycle will stop. If we stop discipling people, that wheel will stop. If we stop sending people, that wheel will stop. We must continue those three and that means whatever gifting God has given you, you must turn it. So, yes, I can use the little that I have.
Speaker 1:I'm not a pro at speaking to Muslims about Christ, I'm not but I will help someone who is. I will sponsor someone who is. I will encourage someone who I go to Egypt twice or three times a year to do ministry. You may never be able to go, but you can help. You can pray, you can do something. We can help. I don't have to be the one that does the work, but we have to continue making that wheel turn over and over and over for future. So, yeah, we need to reach Muslim. We can't just say, well, we live here, we're happy and my church is good. And then the blood of Jesus died for those two billion people. And when Jesus loved, he didn't just love us, he didn't love the church, he loved the whole world't just love us, he didn't love the church, he loved the whole world.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen, amen. Man, that's big.
Speaker 1:But you guys are literally doing that too. We're doing our best. I mean, the Lord is helping. Many times we don't know what we're doing. But that's the point. We don't have to know what we're doing, we just have to follow.
Speaker 2:I think we live by that here at Light and Darkness Podcast.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of times we don't know what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Luckily our producer, jesus. He knows. Earlier you mentioned wanting to come back to talk about orphanage and how this is part of what you do. So you're doing this conference where you're teaching inner healing to young adults. You mentioned you're also going to be doing some ministry at an orphanage. What are you doing there? What is all that?
Speaker 1:Okay. So the type of work we're doing is unique. So again, I have to lay the foundation, go for it, and I'm sorry, I, it's just everything now foundation, lay it, it's a different type of ministry.
Speaker 1:So for me to explain, to tell you what we're doing, it may not make a lot of sense, so here's a foundation. A lot of people don't know this but um, adoption in islam is prohibited. I didn't know that um christians, because in egypt and the middle east they live under islamic law. They were not allowed to adopt. Recently, egypt adopt. Recently, egypt passed a new amendment allowing Christians to tweak according to their beliefs. Even if it doesn't go with Islam, they can change it. So finally, christians are allowed to adopt. And also they are allowed to divide inheritance equally, because in Islam a man worth double the woman. So if you have a boy and a girl, the boy gets two-thirds and the girl gets one-third. Christians don't do that, but under the law they had to do it. And then the boy and the girl between each other, they just divide it equally. But they have to go to court to get two-thirds of the boy, one-third for the girl, and then after they go home, if the boy is faithful enough, he gives his sister the difference. So they finally received freedom to obey that. So Christians now are allowed to adopt. The catch is they can only adopt children that come from parents who are christian. So orphanage in in in the middle east is not like until somebody comes to adopt the children these orphan. That's why you never hear american oh, we adopted somebody from saudi arabia. Never happens and it will never happen. Okay. So adoption is illegal and what they do is they take these children, they raise them until they're 18, teach them whatever they can and then send them to the world once they turn 18. 18, happy birthday, get out and now the kid has to go. No family, doesn't know anybody and just has to live. That's one side. Christian orphanages are the same way, except recently, they can adopt. Okay. So there are Muslim orphanages and Christian orphanages. With that being said, now you know the law. Now let me tell you another law there is in Islam.
Speaker 1:There are different types of marriages. One of the marriages is you agree with the father of the girl with the duration of the marriage and how much you pay up front, which is dowry, and how much you pay at the day of divorce. So if I'm rich, I can go. I find a man kind of poor. He has a daughter, she looks okay. I tell him I'm going to marry your daughter Four months, okay. Or if she's adult, I'll tell her I'll marry you from this day to this day and I give her a piece of paper and I'll give her dowry X amount and when I leave her I give her X amount, that's it. So if somebody going to Egypt for vacation because Egypt has a lot of beautiful places doesn't have a wife or not taking his wife with him, he can just marry a girl for a week and then goes back to his country. The problem with that is sometimes nine months later guess what happens. And now the girl doesn't have a husband, doesn't have anything.
Speaker 1:These kids are literally on the streets, either orphanage, but the mom is here, the grandfather may be still alive, the grandmother. So these kids literally grow on the street. So what we do is we go and we do. They don't have Sunday school because Sunday is a work day, but they have Friday school. They call it Friday school, so their Friday school is Sunday school. For us.
Speaker 1:We go and we bring the kids in from the streets and give them a nice meal. You buy them presents, chocolate, socks, outfit or something, and you tell them about Jesus. And you cannot invite them to accept christ. You only plant the seeds by law. You cannot invite anybody to accept christ unless they are christian. Then you can tell them will you accept jesus as your lord and savior?
Speaker 1:But you can't just stop anybody on the street and tell them that so prayfully. These kids will grow one day. I mean there might be five, six, seven, eight-year-old now. But we're praying that that little seed will go and will be in their heart, that one day they'll remember and accept Christ. So it's not an orphanage in the term of orphanages, you think, but it's more of gathering all these kids for a day, sending, give them a message, give them a hot meal, give them some presents and present Jesus, let them know about salvation, let them know that there's a God that loves them, and you pray that this seed will remain in their hearts and maybe, when they're 18 or 20, they remember and they accept Christ or somebody else will water that.
Speaker 2:But by law you cannot lead them in the sinner's prayer or the salvation prayer, whatever you want to call it. No, what happens? And I think I know the answer if you're found out to have done that, I mean, is that it for you?
Speaker 1:No, If you're Egyptian, you will be punished. You might have to pay a fine or something and up to five years in prison. If you're American and that's why we take Americans they're just going to send you home and they will not let you back in the country, but they're not going to harm you.
Speaker 2:Okay, and that's just a risk that you take, knowing when you take an American, like if you get caught, you're just not coming back, they'll send you home, yeah.
Speaker 1:But we minister mainly to Christians and we support people, so we're always trying.
Speaker 2:It's really heartbreaking. I remember being in India and little beggar children came around and the missionary that I was there with like basically told me that people would take them and get them addicted to huffing glue and that like would just rot their brains. And he's like. You know, we've tried to reach these kids. There's a point where they're just so far gone that, without supernatural intervention, there's nothing that their, their brain, won't be able to process what we're trying to give them.
Speaker 1:A lot of people do that. That is very common. These kids are raising each other on the street and, yeah, by the time they some of them, by the time they reach five, six they're smokers, heavy smokers, and you'll see little kids with a cigarette in their hand. One of the things that we're praying to do and we're praying for this before in the year 2025, is offer a trade, teaching these kids some trade there is. The most common thing in Egypt is carpentry, so we want to teach them how to do how to build cabinets, install them um, that's something they can instead of walking around between cars during traffic selling like bottles of water or flowers or something. Uh, we can teach them a trade where they can use in the future and also that gives us more time with them to show them the love of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is also cool because Jesus was a carpenter. Yeah, exactly, love that.
Speaker 1:See, I didn't put that together. Thank you, you're right, love it, love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So again, just love, walking in love, loving on these children, showing them something they've probably never been shown before and planting that seed. Now, have you heard any stories after the fact, after you planted that seed, of kids coming to Christ?
Speaker 1:Honestly no, not yet In the past, but not in that perspective. Yes, yes, in that perspective, yes, yes. A lot of people accept Christ just by seeing how nice you are, how sweet you are, how loving you are. See, I want Christians to realize something. You ask any veteran is the movies about wars? Do justice for the actual war? What do you think their answer would be does the movie really well? Did you watch rambo? Okay, if, if a person was in vietnam, you'd be like yep, that's exactly how it was, let's be. Being in the war is different than watching the war on TV or documentary, or even I mean documentary is more powerful than a movie. Right, hollywood movies, okay, documentary is more powerful, but being in the war is something completely different.
Speaker 1:As believers, we have to know one thing Muslims, they study the history of Islam in school. I left Egypt when I was 14. I know a lot of history. I know I memorized Quran passages, and that's just because I had to be tested on it. When ISIS came, the most evil group, have shaken not just the world, but have shaken a lot of the Muslim people, a lot of Muslims saying like oh my God, is this what we believe in? Is this really our religion, because it's different when you read about it in books and you actually see the real thing. So a lot of pillars have been shaken, a lot of foundations have been shaken among people. This is a perfect time to throw your nets in the Middle East.
Speaker 1:Muslims are not evil people. They're people that really, really want to please God One month out of the year. They don't eat from sunrise to sundown for 30 days. How many Christians do that? They pray five times a day. How many Christians do that? How many pastors actually do that? They memorize the Quran, memorize it. Memorize. I'm not saying they read it, they memorize it. How many Christians do that? They all Muslims want is they want to please God, and we have the light. All we have to do is let them know God is pleased with you. Just, here's the light, here's what, here's the way. They're not evil people.
Speaker 1:What you see on the news is evil. You know, like you look at Russia, it's evil. No, it's not. You're looking at this group of people that are evil. But the rest of the Russian people are amazing. They're great people. But you can't judge the whole nation based on someone's action. So if we just remember that when you meet someone, a Muslim, just remember his faith. Most likely maybe half of the Muslims 50% chance his faith is already shaking. All you need to do is just a little tap and you present Jesus and it's going to be, and that's what the people are doing in Egypt. It doesn't take much.
Speaker 2:Because they're already hardwired. They live their life by faith, by their faith. So you just put jesus in there and everything else will fall into place, because the devoutness is already instilled, the will to want to please god. But yeah, the the huge thing is he's already pleased with you. You just don't know it yet. Yeah, wow, no Love. Yeah, the key word is love. I'm seeing a pattern here. Amen.
Speaker 1:Me too.
Speaker 2:So, on top of inner healing, on top of your ministry to orphans, you also church plant, or a part of church planting. Yes, would you talk to us about what that looks like in Egypt and how you go about doing it, right?
Speaker 1:So church planting. Let me read something to you and you're probably going to hear it again. Let me ask you a question. When you think of Egypt from the Bible, what do you think of Egypt? Tell me what comes to your mind Gosh, pharaoh.
Speaker 2:The Nile, jesus went there. Yeah, jesus came out of Egypt. The plagues, yeah, a lot of those things, yeah, ancient history, maybe pyramids Don't even know if they're mentioned in the Bible, but my brain went there, you know. You say Egypt, instantly pyramids.
Speaker 1:Okay so let me tell you a few things about Egypt. Okay, because I want you to know how important it is for us to do some work in Egypt. Did you know Egypt is the first holy ground mentioned in the Bible? When the Lord told Moses, take off your shoes, you standing on a holy ground, that wasn't Jerusalem or Israel, this was the land of Egypt. They were still in Egypt at the time. Did you know that Egypt is mentioned 700 times in the Bible? Did you know that Egypt is mentioned 700 times in the Bible? Did you know the Ten Commandments were given in Egypt? How about the tablets where the Lord used his fingers to write the Ten Commandments? Those tablets came from a mountain in Egypt. Did you know the tabernacle was built in egypt? Did you know the great I am for the first time to speak and says I am that I am. I am yahweh or yahweh? That was the land of egypt. Did you know the burning bush was in Egypt. Did you know the Passover, the first Passover that we celebrate now in churches, that was in Egypt. Did you know splitting the sea was in Egypt.
Speaker 1:Did you know that there's a hero in Egypt, egyptian hero, a woman, a girl? I almost you know her, but I guarantee you you never heard anybody gives her any credit. Pharaoh's daughter who gave Moses a second chance. She was Egyptian. She could have just flipped the basket or give the baby to her dad to have fun with the baby or to kill the baby. Yet she took that baby and gave him a second chance. And we have Moses because that woman was a hero and she listened to a voice. Maybe she didn't know this was the Holy Spirit, but she obeyed. She was Egyptian. Did you know that it was a refuge place for Abraham, the children of Israel, for Jesus, for Mary and for Joseph?
Speaker 1:Here's something, not in the Bible, but you're going to appreciate it. Did you know that the first Bible translation was done in Egypt 280 years BC? The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek in Egypt. The Old Testament was translated from Hebrew to Greek in Egypt. Most likely that's the version that Paul used, peter used when they were preaching.
Speaker 1:With that in mind, let's talk about ministry in Egypt. I encourage you and any listener to go to Amazon and purchase any book that talks about the early Coptic church, the history of the Coptic church, any book. I'm not going to say get that book, get any book and you're going to see that all of us today we appreciate the Egyptian Coptic priests who have given their lives so the Bible be handed over to us today. The reason we have the Bible is because a lot of Egyptians have given their lives so the Bible continues to go on from generation to generation. Just go get any book and read the history of it and you're going to appreciate the Egyptians.
Speaker 1:With that in mind, half of Egypt do not have a spiritual church. Today. Egypt in the year 641 was invaded by Muslims and Arabs, forcing us, or my ancestors, to speak Arabic. Arabic was never our language. We always spoke Coptic and before that, hieroglyphic. That was our languages. We never spoke Arabic. But when they invaded, they forced us to speak Arabic and a lot of the churches were either knocked down or converted to mosques. Today, half of Egypt do not have churches.
Speaker 1:To plant a church in Egypt from A to Z in a town that does not have any church, doesn't have any church, doesn't have any Christians. So you have to fully support a pastor to go there, because that pastor is not going to have a congregation. That pastor is going to go and going to look at, go to supermarkets and hopefully sees a picture of Jesus or Mary or someone, so they can start to talk about Jesus and salvation with that owner and hopefully they can build a church. It's only $7.50 a month. You have a. We're working with 13 churches now that we want to bring them over under our denomination. They are ready and willing. It's just a matter of the right timing. We want to go there, we want to plant churches and we want to encourage men and women. In the next trip that we're going, we are going to attending a graduation of Bible students. 75 are graduating. I would love if we can recruit one or two of them, but we're not in a position to do that yet. But we'll definitely get a Cuban contact with them and we'll see what the Lord wants to do with some of them. So there is a lot of work to be done and I also want to get everybody to know something Once the war between Israel and Gaza ends, gaza is going to need to be rebuilt.
Speaker 1:Did you know Gaza has 2 million or 2.2 million people were living in Gaza 2.2 million people. How many churches were in Gaza? Three, two Catholic, one Baptist. The one Baptist was right across a Hamas training camp. Early in the war, they they, israel attacked the camp, the. The church was not destroyed, but it was out of order. Now it's completely demolished. The pastor happened to be Egyptian, married to a Palestinian woman, so because he's Egyptian, he was able to escape to Egypt. He's in Egypt and the two Catholic churches one of them was bombed, the other one I'm not sure what happened to it, if it's still standing or not, guess what. Guess what To all the believers. Once this war is over, they're going to go. Gaza is 70% demolished, 70% demolished.
Speaker 1:How many churches can we build? How many of us can go by rubble and turn it into a church? It's going to be dirt cheap, literally dirt cheap. Are we ready to make a moves like that? Why aren't we? There's a lot of work to be done and, to be honest, we have not been paying attention to the Middle East. Work to be done and, to be honest, we have not been paying attention to the Middle East or to the Muslims. Quarter of the world are Muslims. Statistic, we're 8 billion. Two of them are Muslims, but we're not paying attention. It's about time for us to say, wow, we do have cousins, just like you were saying, corey, we do have cousins over there and you can't say you know what?
Speaker 1:at least one of my parents is saved. No, you want both of your parents saved and we have to think the same way. So plenty of work to be done, plenty of opportunity to go serve and minister. How many people can go and start just clean up? Can we go do that? Yes, we can. There's so much. We can show love in so many ways.
Speaker 2:For $750, you can plant a church. Am I hearing that right?
Speaker 1:Yes, $750 a month that will support a pastor and a family. We'll get a church rental, all the utilities and all the expenses and probably we'll even feed the congregation every Sunday.
Speaker 2:Jeez, wow. I just want to say that again to make sure somebody heard that who's listening. So for $750,. Will you please one more time, hanny, say all the things that that will do a month.
Speaker 1:It will support a pastor to be full-time, it will support a church, rental, utilities and all. It will support even transportation for the people, because it's not easy to move around in Egypt, and it will even pay for meals so they can have a meal in the church every sunday and this is egyptian nationals.
Speaker 2:This is egyptian people that you're sponsoring to be pastors, or is this missionaries coming in?
Speaker 1:um, we love missionaries. We're part of a big missionary mission group, but we believe the best missionary is missionary from Egypt to Egypt. They have all the paperwork, they have the language, they have everything they need. A lot about the laws I can explain. That's fine, jeez.
Speaker 2:That's hard to fathom. I'm going to be honest for $750 a month that all that happens, cause my brain is still wired to think in terms of where we are right now. It's like a car payment for a cyber truck.
Speaker 1:How did I know that a Tesla Cybertruck was going to?
Speaker 2:come back up. No, really, that's if you include insurance, that's most of our car payments on something less expensive than a Cybertruck. That is a payment for probably some sort of temporary luxury that you're going to throw away in a couple years, whereas that payment to what you're doing in Egypt could potentially lead someone to eternal salvation and finding Jesus as their savior on the deep end of the pool. On the shallow end of the pool, it puts a meal in their belly and maybe you get to plant a seed of faith that someone else gets to water. But wow.
Speaker 1:Jesus fed the multitude. Jesus ate with so many people. Food is a good thing to get around and talk about Jesus. Look, there was an app that somebody introduced to me and the app is to take $5 a day and to save it. So my wife and I we used to go to Starbucks every day and at the time the large was $2.50. Now it's like double that and so I said to Dana, why don't we start drinking coffee at home and take your $2.50 and my $2.50, $5, and have that app automatically taken from the bank? So with that it came to $150. If four people do that and take that money and send it, they can plant a church, four or five people. All you do is, if you drink coffee at home and whatever you pay outside for coffee, put it in a separate bank. You can plant a church outside for coffee. Put it in a separate bank.
Speaker 2:you can plant a church. It seems so. It doesn't seem that doable when you're approaching your faith, like there are so many things that when you hear a sermon on evangelism like oh, I don't have that gifting, that isn't my personality type, I'm not going to walk up to someone at a Walmart just seems so undoable, like to the average everyday believer. This is just so practical and so doable and in just a small way, like what impact could the church that is planted have on that community? What is the strategy once the church is planted have on that community? What is the strategy once the church is planted? What is that pastor going to be trying to do? You say they're going to try to talk to a shop owner. They're going to try to get something going that way. But if they can't convert people to Islam I mean from Islam to Christianity what is the strategy for that pastor?
Speaker 1:See, christians alone are all over in every town, it's just churches are not in every town. So just for him to reach the Christians, which is the easiest, they can plant the church that way. It takes specialty if you want to go the other way, but to be with Christians, that's the easy part, that's the no risk. Sheep without a shepherd yes, but again, to send Imagine a town that does not have a church. When you send a pastor, that pastor has to have an income. Yes, here's the law in Egypt. When you get your degree, if you choose to be a pastor, first of all, you cannot be a pastor just because you have a calling. You must have a four-year degree to be a pastor. You must have a degree in theology, okay, and that's another thing. That's why we're trying to work with another university here in America. We won't talk about that today, but you must have a four-year degree in Egypt, after the four-year degree, you must sign a waiver with the government that you cannot be a bivocational. There's nothing called bivocational pastor. So if you want to be a pastor, you sign that. You will not get any other job. If you get a job anywhere delivery you'll be in trouble. You can serve in prison or you can have your degree revoked.
Speaker 1:Which means if we go to a young man, let's say a 22-year-old young man who's just graduated Bible school, he's on fire to go, you know, destroy the darkness, the kingdom of darkness. And I say go. That young man has to sign a waiver with the government that I will not get any other job except being a pastor. And the vocation is written on their ID. So their ID is going to say job, like I just got my for the first time, my Egyptian ID last time I was there. But I put it. I put down jobless, like no job For them. They're going to have to change ID where it's going to say pastor.
Speaker 1:So if he's caught let's say he's driving and gets in an accident or gets pulled over or something and he's delivering Uber or something, and where's your license, where's your ID it says pastor is going to take him in the car to jail. That means if we want to plant a church, that pastor, the only way for that pastor to really do the work is if we say we got your rent, we got your utilities, we got your bills, you want to rent the church, we'll rent it for you. So we have to do that because he cannot go get another job. That's the law. So again, you've got to work with the law of the land that you're serving. Sure, sure, wow.
Speaker 2:Sure, wow, I think it's probably on the nose there, but the reason that's done by the government is to have as little pastors as possible. Obviously, in case anybody missed that, I want to double back. It's not like, oh, this just stinks, it's on purpose.
Speaker 1:Yes, they don't want the salt of the earth to be everywhere. See, here's a small devotion we were. We are described by jesus that we are the salt and the light. Okay, for reasons. Salt by itself is useless. Nobody grabs a bowl of salt and eats. Salt is only good when it's mixed with other things. So we have to blend in with other people. That's what Jesus did. He blended with the sinners. He's eating with the sinners. He had to be the salt. He had to blend in.
Speaker 1:Light, on the other hand, doesn't blend. The salt mixes with everything. The light doesn't mix with anything. You can shine a light on the dirtiest, filthiest place on earth and then move the light to a different room. You don't take the germs with you. Nothing gets attached to the light. So we live in the world. We have to be within the sinners. We have to live in the world. We have to be within the sinners. We have to blend in with them. We have to serve, not blend in to be like them, but we have to give the flavor. We have to make a difference with them. We have to be among them, but at the same time we're the light. We should not be affected by them. These, they go hand in hand. So in Egypt, they don't want the pastors to blend in, they want to isolate the salt. You want to be salt, my friend, go be a bowl of salt by yourself. You want to be a light, go shine to no one.
Speaker 2:That's why they need us well, dear listener, if you're hearing this and this is tugging on your heart strings, maybe you're hearing that still small voice in your spirit and saying I want to help, I want to help, I want to be a part. We talked to Hanny before we started recording and if that's something you want to do, you can make a donation to the show, the same way we always talk about. We will have a section where they can designate what that's for drop down box that you can select.
Speaker 2:Yep, it'll be very clear and evident. You go down to give a donation where it's going and it'll go to hen, and you can be a difference maker. You can step into this equation and go. Maybe I can't go, but I want to help fund this operation. I want to help pay that pastor, I want to help build that church in a place where 70% of everything is destroyed. But the one thing that they're building is a house to the Lord. That's how you can do that. But the one thing that they're building is a house to the Lord. That's how you can do that. Amen.
Speaker 2:Nothing would please me more than for Light in the Darkness podcast, this little light shining in the darkness, to be able to do one month, two months, three months, four, whatever the Lord brings, whatever the Lord lays on your heart. Listeners, we know you guys are generous, we know you guys love. The Lord brings whatever the Lord lays on your heart. Listeners, we know you guys are generous, we know you guys love the Lord. And every penny, nickel, dime, we'll cover the processing fees. We'll do everything out of our own pockets and we'll make sure Hanny gets every penny you put in. If you're feeling that tug guys. Don't ignore that. Let the Holy Spirit talk to you, let him give you a number, let him lead you. Let's do this together. Let's be a vessel to which we can get these funds, to Hanny and then over there to these pastors. Come on, jesus man.
Speaker 1:On that note, I want to say to everyone listening we are the body of Christ and the word of God says the body might may have many body parts, but it's just one body. We can't have all eyes, we can't have all nose, we can have all ears. But then there's a word I don't know how often we pay attention to it. It says that every part, every body part, has honor. And God gives honor for the parts that lack it, that lack honor. And I just stopped at like what does that mean? Body parts that lack it, that lack honor? And I just stopped and I'm like what does that mean? Body parts that lack it? And I just came to realize that we always complement the body parts that we see. Meanwhile we can live with all these body parts that we see. With all these body parts that we see, you compliment the eyes, the nose, the lips, the nails, the hair, the ears. They have nice, this nice that we compliment that. Meanwhile we can live without that. But you know, if you see someone's liver, you'll be like, ooh, it lacks the honor. Meanwhile, I cannot live without that. So God gives more importance to the parts that lack the honor than the ones that have the honor. In reality, in this world, we always compliment the people on the platform. We don't know that beyond the platform, there are people sitting on the pews and the chairs that are just as important as the ones on the stage. In fact, the people on the platform or the stage cannot do what they're doing without the people in the pews. Do what God tells them to do, and that's what one body means.
Speaker 1:I don't have to be the eyes. I could be the lungs. Like we are going to Egypt, everybody, okay, compliments Hany, asad, hany's doing this, diana's doing that, or they're doing amazing work. Listen, I'm just the eyes. There are so many people that they're like the blood of that body part. They're like the lungs that we breathe with them. They are like the kidney that we can't live without. These are the people. Nobody knows them, nobody hears about them. We just find something coming from time to time from them Like thank you, this is the bloodline that we need, this is the vein that you don't see, but you can't live without it. So, not everybody has to be the eyes, but together we're one body. So, yeah, we do receive funding from people that pretty much they're behind the scene, but that doesn't make them less important than us who are going to Egypt, and people may compliment us, but the truth is we can't do what we're doing without people behind the scene doing what God told them to do.
Speaker 2:You want to ask your famous question. Sure Got to All right. Famous question Sure Got to All right. Before we go ahead and bring this to a close and put a put a ribbon on on this interview on Mike, when we invited you on the show and you knew you were going to come on and sit in front of the microphone, was there anything that you wanted to share that we haven't gotten to yet? We haven't asked the right question, the conversation hasn't taken the right turn, or is there anything swelling up in your spirit right now that you'd like to share with the listener before we go?
Speaker 1:Actually, there's something that was life-changing for me that I want to share Um, about four years ago, we, we, uh, we became, uh, lead pastors to a church in Concord and, um, we clearly heard God's voice to go. And then, three years later, um, we had to make a very hard decision and it wasn't fully our decision, but we had to make a very hard decision and it wasn't fully our decision, but we had an input to shut the church down. And I'll tell you, you receive a lot of training how to start a church, how to run a church, but you'll never receive a training how to close one. And when you're closing one, you have a lot of questions and scenarios in your head that you try to cover it with a smile, because I did Questions like was it God? Did I really hear God? Did I do something wrong? Did I move away from God's plan for my life? What happened? Did I fail? So many questions.
Speaker 1:And I came at the end and I said I prayed a prayer. I call it a prayer of frustration. I was really frustrated, frustrated with God. I always served God. I mean, being Egyptian, serving with a lot of Egyptians. There aren't a lot of talented people, I mean. Not that they're not talented, but when you work with a small community, it's hard to find all the talents. So I had to learn audio music, singing, preaching, video, editing, everything. I had to learn everything. Not that I'm a genius, but I just didn't have a choice.
Speaker 1:And I supported so many pastors, so I prayed a prayer when that church closed. I said Lord, I believed in pastors all my life. I supported them with everything I had. I had to learn things. I'm not really had no interest in learning, but just because I want to support them like building websites, things like that I just wanted to learn. So I want to support them. It's like building websites, things like that. I just wanted to learn so I can support their vision. And here I am approaching 50, and I never had anybody believing in me. So my prayer was unless you send me someone that believes in me, I'm not going to move. That was my prayer, and God started to send me some people I cannot. I mean look, I'm smiling because I don't know what happened. Love that and my life was turned around In a short period of time.
Speaker 1:The ministry in Egypt was birthed and God has appointed few godly men, pioneers in the gospel they are I mean, I don't know what to say and they just started to believe in us and support us. One of the words that I can't forget someone said to me. They said Annie Diana, we've been in ministry for so long. We have very strong back. If you want to climb on our back to get somewhere, please do so. I was like, wow, wow.
Speaker 1:So the lesson I learned from this is God will give you a vision, but he will not give you a step-by-step plan, because if he gives you a step-by-step plan, you no longer need faith. If you know what's coming next, what do you need faith for? I buy a lot of stuff from Ikea. It comes with a manual. I look at the manual and it's like idiot proof. I never prayed before assembling anything. I don't need prayer. It's so easy. I don't need to pray. I have step-by-step.
Speaker 1:But God doesn't give us step-by-step. He gives us the vision he gives Joseph. I don't need to pray. I have step by step. But God doesn't give us step by step. He gives us the vision. He gives Joseph the vision. You are going to be at this level, but what are you going to? What's going to happen each step of the way. He didn't give him that. If he give him step by step, he would have said no, thank you Lord. If he told him you're going to be sold to the Ishmaelites and then you're going to be resold again, probably for profit, to Egyptian men, and then his wife will accuse you and you'll be thrown in prison, and then you're going to be a servant to other prisoners inside prison and then those prisoners will leave and they will forget about you, and then you'll have a chance to meet Pharaoh. Joseph probably would have said, no, excuse me, pick someone else. But God has given him the final vision, but he didn't give him step by step.
Speaker 1:In this life, if you have a vision and you don't know what's coming next, that's normal. If you know what's coming next, you don't need God. And you don't know what's coming next, that's normal. If you know what's coming next, you don't need God and you don't need faith. But I think God hides those steps just because so we always rely on faith and even though we're still learning and I'm still messing up and I'm still have faith one day and not the next day, and not so much faith here and less faith, but it's a learning phase and just like the disciples told jesus, increase our faith. I'm also praying lord, increase my faith. So never give up. Just let god lead joseph.
Speaker 1:We speak about joseph. He was in prison. Listen to what the Bible says. The Bible says he was successful. How is a slave in prison successful? That doesn't make sense. But that is our God, no matter what situation you're in. I didn't understand God. Now I'm speaking because I'm out of that phase. But while I was in that phase, I was really confused, I was frustrated, I was really upset. But I'll tell you that prayer has changed my life. I call it the prayer of frustration. It has changed my life and I'm doing what I'm doing now right after that prayer.
Speaker 2:Come on Jesus. I'm doing what I'm doing now right after that prayer. Come on Jesus. I know that spoke to my situation.
Speaker 1:I can guarantee you that spoke to somebody else's situation.
Speaker 2:I know it speaks to yours too, gosh. Come on Jesus. Prayer frustration I think I've prayed that before. I've heard a few of those. They all sound different, go by different names. Yeah, but you know what they're talking about. But there's a cord route behind them all. Jeez, louise Brother, it has been an absolute pleasure to be able to sit down with you tonight. Was there anything else you wanted to share? That was so good. I feel like I should just let you load it back up and spray it in.
Speaker 1:Let's still pump too, maybe. Okay, he twisted our arm.
Speaker 2:We'll have to have your beautiful bride with us as well. Yes, it would be fantastic to hear her testimony. We have room for one more Brother. Thank you so much. It has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, same here. This has been a blessing from start to finish. Off the mic, on the mic, it's just been wonderful.
Speaker 1:I've been blessed, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, dear listeners, if you would like to give a donation to help plant a church or support a church and the work that the Asads are doing over in Egypt, you can go to litdpodcom. There will be a Hani Asad option down in the drop box for you to choose from. Every, as I already said, every last penny will go to the Assads. We will cover the percentages that the credit card companies charge. We'll do that for you to make sure that every last penny, every last drop, makes it where it needs to go. No bit of cheese shall be wasted on our watch. It will all go to the whopper that is Hany Asad. I don't know how flattering that that is, but I understand the principle, but calling someone a whopper is a bit of a. You want me to call him a pig, mac? You really want me to insult him? Yeah?
Speaker 2:Let's not stoop to that level. Yeah, you back it up, sir. Beep, beep, nah, but really, and thank you guys for being faithful and listening to the Holy Spirit. And you know what? Maybe there's something going on in your life, maybe something's happened, maybe you've encountered the Lord, maybe you've encountered something crazy and supernatural, or maybe you just want to reach out to me and Corey and us all partner together in prayer. We'd love to. You can reach us at litdpod at gmailcom. That's litdpod at gmailcom. Litdpod at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:And also just to throw in there. We love testimonies and praise reports. We never get tired of hearing them. Feel free to throw those in there too. Do you feel like you know us? Maybe you want to know more? Well, you can find out everything you need to know about me and Mr Curry, the heart behind the show, at a little place called LITDPodcom. Litdpodcom that's LITDPodcom. Litdpodcom, that's LITDpodcom.
Speaker 2:And maybe you're having a little bit of regret. You should have paused the episode earlier and you should have went straight to Patreon. You know what? Again, corey's awesome. He made it easy for you. It is in the show notes. All right, or just go to Patreoncom. Slash LITDpod notes. All right, or just go to atrioncom.
Speaker 2:Slash LITD pod and listeners, we would love it if you'd support the show in a different way, by going on to Apple podcast, leaving a written review and a five star little rating, and we will give you a little readout here on the show and a world famous LITD pod. Shout out, shout out. Guys, we appreciate you, we love you. We are so grateful to be able to partner with the Lord and go on this journey. Thanks for coming with us and until next time, take care and I'm very excited about this proposition that in Hani Asad I may have finally found someone.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's like a gem that you never see Someone whose eyes won't glaze over, who won't want to hurt themselves at the mention of my hummus process, how I lovingly soak the chickpeas in water with baking soda and then cook them and let them drain ever so delicately and get them cold and then make them in a food processor. I think that he might actually listen to me without wanting to hurt himself. Seeing as we tried to talk about this before and I wasn't honest with you, I'll be honest now. I genuinely think it's because the places that man has been and the things he has seen and the bits of him on the inside that have been broken, that God has had to put back together. It doesn't matter how much you talk about hummus, you can't break him.
Speaker 2:Now other individuals within 30 seconds. I have seen you break people so fast like therapy is required. They get to such a dark place. Oh, it's like when you start talking about your cars and your vacuums and your carpet cleaners. I am not denying this, that is fair. Now, generally, people would rather talk about some of those. I don't think they would. I think you think'd think they would. You have charm. Your little cheeks get so rosy that they just want to humor you. I get it. I get it. Maybe people just like you better than they like me. I don't know. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Now you know I love flattery, but I don't care for you insulting yourself either. This is a weird place for me All right listeners, listeners.
Speaker 2:It's time for you to hear about how cory makes his hummus. You're gonna start off with a bag of chickpeas, roughly two tablespoons worth of baking soda. You can go a little less if you want. Now what the baking soda does is there's a little chaff on chickpeas and what it does is that alkalinity kind of softens it so that when you cook it it's not gritty. It just helps it kind of melt away that chaff does. So you're going to soak that overnight, roughly cover it in a good amount, couple inches of water. You got to start over. You did not say it starts with the baking soda. This feels wrong. It all starts with the baking soda. Here we go. I'm not editing that out, everything's staying and you're getting a repeat. It all starts with the baking soda, tablespoon or tablespoon or two worth of it. You're going to put a bag's worth of chickpeas on top of it. Cover that in an inch or two of water. Now what that baking soda does is there's a chaff on the outside of the chickpeas. It's kind of coarse and gritty. If you don't use the baking soda, what the baking soda does is it just kind of breaks that down, dissolves it. So it's nice and smooth. Cover that. Let it sit overnight.
Speaker 2:Let those chickpeas fully hydrate. Drain whatever leftover liquid you might have. Put it in a pot with water that's h2o. Cook it until the chickpeas kind of fall apart and are super tender. You're gonna throw them in a strainer in the sink. Leave it for a while. You going to want to let those chickpeas really dry out. Pull it out after an hour or so, maybe two, throw it in the fridge in a single layer or just throw it in there, let it get cold. Then the next day you're going to get out your tahini, you're going to get out your garlic. You're going to get out your lemon. I like to use a little bit of citric acid. Call me crazy, just a flavor I like. That I learned from good old Mr Al. So you're going to take those chickpeas.
Speaker 2:And it's happened. I'm sorry guys, this might be the last episode of Light in the Darkness. Daniel has um, well, let's just say Daniel's about to pull the cable out of his microphone and you know've. We've had some tense moments. We've almost had a couple break up here and there, but I think I think me talking about my hummus recipe is has taken it too far. I will say this to the one of you who I know is still there it's only half of them by now. Oh, to the half of a person who's out there I thought it was one of you, but apparently it's a half person oh, they were a whole person when this started.
Speaker 2:All I can say is as interesting as that process was, the result is some of the best topics I've ever had in my life, and I cannot wait until we get a flood of emails from listeners that are like cory, stop the recipe halfway through. We have to know more. I anticipate that. That also good, buddy, and I am loving how much this is building you up. This is good, this is real good.
