Back from London!
Josef Urban
Oct 16, 2007

 

Greetings in the name of the One who came to seek and save that which is lost!

Well, dear saints and friends, we’re back from London. It was a successful mission to the glory of God.

It certainly was not what I expected -there were actually few radicals who were openly radical. There were no big crowds of these guys gathered in which to preach to outside as we see on a lot of the videos from London and news reports. But praise God, we still preached, and got to witness to a lot of the less violent ones, though they were still just as dogmatic in their beliefs.

On the very first day, we went to the London Central Mosque and preached outside. Sean preached open air through the speaker for a while, and then security shut us down. However, there were a few who came out that we got to preach the Gospel to, reasoning with them of sin, righteousness and judgment, and pointing them to the Lamb who washes away sin in His own blood. Both of us had really good witnesses and planted really good seeds. Then, we proceeded to hand out tracts that Sean had printed for Muslims. We were then discussing what to do next, and thought about trying to get inside to eat their evening feast with them and preaching to them while we’re in. Then, a leader came outside and challenged us to a debate, inviting us inside. After praying, we went in, figuring this is an open door from the Lord. We got through security because of the invite, and once we were in, we ended up sitting down with a number of different Muslims and preaching to them (and never even saw the guy who challenged us). There were hundreds upon hundreds of them in this mosque, and praise the Lord, we got to preach Christ right in the middle of this wicked devils den. It was an open reproach to many of them to have us “infidels” preach Christ in their own mosque, and some looked upon us with the most murderous threats, boiling with anger. We sat down with a couple of leaders and preached the Gospel. We would seek to steer around their debating questions, and preach straight to their heart about sin, righteousness and judgment and the Gospel. I ended up railing against a couple leaders inside, calling one an anti-Christ and telling another one that the Koran is inspired by demons after they kept openly rejecting the truth and speaking against the Lord‘s Christ. -And praise God, we’re still alive!

We went to several other area mosques as well to stand up for Christ and preach. We also did quite a bit of preaching in an open market, in the Whitechapel area of London. Stepping out of the underground train into this market area was like entering a whole different country, it was like stepping right out into the Middle East. There were Muslims everywhere, crowds of them. So we preached Christ to these deceived throngs idolizing the false prophet Mohammed, seeking to point them to the only Way that leads to life everlasting.

One night, Sean and I got to witness to two brothers, both Muslims, at a bus stop area. We forgot their names, but God knows. We talked with them for a long time, and the truth of the Gospel really sunk deeply into their understanding. They were both very convicted and the Lord was working on them. The one brother actually said “I’m going to go find a New Testament and read it” when he left, so Sean gave him one since we had some in our bags. It was truly a divine encounter. Please pray for these two brothers that they would both find Christ. They were both in their mid-to-late-twenties I think. They grew up as Muslims, born that way, and are from the Middle East. They are conscious of present sin, realizing their crimes against God and His justice. We were able to reason with them from the Scriptures for a long time, pointing to Christ from both Moses and the Prophets. I mention these two because they are heavy on my heart and it seems like the Lord was really gripping them up. We pray earnestly that our preaching to them may yield forth fruit and abound unto life eternal.

During this trip, we faced a lot of rejection and a lot of seemingly dead conversations that seemed to go nowhere. It is not what I am used to among the homeless and poor, it was a lot different. There was no great harvesting going on, no souls dropping to their knees in repentance. But as Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase”. We did lots of planting, a little watering, and pray that God will continue to use the seeds we planted to water them and give the increase among those of which are found in the number of His elect, that His lost sheep may be found and plucked out of the hands of the wolves who seek to devour them.

I truly extend many thanks to those who have interceded for us in this mission. May God reward you for your labor in prayer on our behalf and give back the (spiritual and heavenly) blessings into your bosom good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, may the Lord reward you for your concern for the lost.

“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.” -Jude 1:20-25

I have more I would like to write later, if the Lord wills. God bless all, and may the name of JESUS CHRIST be exalted high above every other name.

MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!!!

Sincerely, in Christ - Josef