Kid's Good News
Vol 1-issue 34             Oct/ 10 /2002

Contents:

Bible Story
Story time
This Week's Riddle #33
Answer of Riddle #32 and Winner
Change of Email Addresses

Bible Story:

Joseph in Prison
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.  The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.  And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand.  So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.  So from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field.  So he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.

But soon he was accused falsely for no reason.  So Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.  But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing.  The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper. 

After all these things the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt.  And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker.  So he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison, the place where Joseph was confined.  And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them; so they were in custody for a while.

Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, had a dream.  And Joseph came in to them in the morning and looked at them, and saw that they were sad.  So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in the custody of his lord's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"  And they said to him, "We each have had a dream, and there is no interpreter of it." So Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me, please." 

Then the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "Behold, in my dream a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches; it was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Then Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand."

And Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days.  Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler.  But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.  For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon."

When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head.  In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head."

So Joseph answered and said, "This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days.  Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you."

Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.  Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.  But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.  Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Story time....

O Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me - 8

Till this time you have read that, Gulshan Fatima was paralyzed at her left side when she was only 6 months old. Her mother died when she was an infant. Her father loved her so much that he took her to England for treatment but when they heard the disappointing words of doctor, "it has no cure", their hearts broke down. Her father encouraged her and said, "We will go to Mecca and knock the door of Allah, and he will heal you." So they went to Mecca and visited Ka'aba - the house of Allah. Even she kissed the cubical shape of ka'aba but to their utter despair nothing happened. To avoid her father's troubled look, she kept her face down. Then they visited Safa and Marva from where they bought Zamzam water. She bathed with that water but nothing happened. She and her father returned home heart broken. Next blow for her was, her beloved father's death!! But while she was so disturbed, she heard a low, gentle voice telling her to read about Jesus in Quran Sura Maryam. She started reading Urdu Quran and started praying, "O Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me!! Three years later her prayers were answered with a marvelous vision of Jesus. Jesus personally came and healed her.
*****

When Gulshan was born her parents consulted one palm reader to know her future. He told them that, "your daughter will be famous one day." Her parents were amazed and pleased of his saying so they gave him a huge amount as gift. But when she became a cripple, her father frequently cursed that palm reader for cheating and lying. But when she took her first steps in the dawn of January morning, she got instant fame as a walking miracle. She had no idea that, she is taking a step toward great fame that no one ever sought for her. Servants and women came running to her room and looked at her in amazement. They asked, "Bibiji, is it you, has God healed you after all?" She told them, "Jesus, Immanuel healed me." Male servants listened from outside and were stunned.

First day, Aunty droved them all out and made her two maids to stand beside her. She looked anxiously as Gulshan walked out of her room to Verandah wondering whether she may fall down walking on the unfamiliar edges of carpet, smoothed tiles or rough cemant floor. But her mind took control of her body. She felt excited as she stood on the verandah talking with her uncle. She was the head of the family, how this change will affect her Uncle? She watched him from behind her veil, his eyes were filled with tears and he said, "For us, you are born today. If your father had been alive he would have been jumping with joy. We have the same kind of joy for you." He telephoned her brothers and sister and told the good news of her healing. She was calm from outside as she sat for the first time for breakfast with other members of the family and ate without the help of others. She felt curious eyes were all over staring at her. Children had many questions to ask but they were afraid of aunty.

While leaving for office, Uncle told her to go around and see her own house. She went to every room of her house for the first time and found people cheering seeing her. she went to her father's room and spent some time there. On the wall she saw his big photograph taken in his young age and some photos of Mecca and Medina. She felt her father's presence very near to her. Tear came to her eyes. She whispered, "Look, Aba-Jan, your prayers have been answered." She did not find any picture of her mother in that room. She cried bitterly and said, "Oh Ma'ji, if only you were here. Why were you taken away from me at such an young age? Now I have neither you nor father to rejoice with me."

Her brothers and sisters came to share her joy. For the first time in last three years they saw real joy after the death of her father. Everyone wanted to hear her whole story from beginning to end. How she was desperate after the death of her father that time how she heard the voice who told to read about Jesus in Quran, how she studied all those three years about Jesus in Quran. When she did not see any healing her prayers became more and more desperate until Jesus came and healed her.

Anis the eldest sister of her told, "we will do a feast and invite our friends and neighbors." Safdar Shah, her brother said, "yes indeed. We thought your trip to Mecca was of no use but God has always wanted to heal you." At the end of the first day, she was tired physically. Her days of sickness were wiped out. She was healed physically but still her mind has the same feeling of a crippled. Next few days people came from far and near to see her. And the feast was on weekend when maximum people could come. She told everyone who came to her home that, "Jesus healed me." But his brothers felt discomfort hearing the name of Jesus again and again. Safdar Shah being the head of the family and religious leader of the family said, "We will respect you more, if you say that Mohammed had healed you." "But I cannot say Mohammed healed me. It was Jesus and He told me to say so", Gulshan said. Safdar Shah said, "It would be wise not to broadcast these type of things here. Jesus' people are in America, England and in Canada. You are not going to tell them there." Safdar Shah's statement did not sound like a threat but she could read the alienation and enmity between both religions which was taught by their father. She wondered if Jesus was not that important person in the Quran, then how He healed her? Quran claims that it is the ultimate guide for humankind, if it is so then why it talks so little words about Jesus?

Her heart longed to see the Gospels and read by herself. She was suddenly finding herself in a new relationship with her own. Many a times she had arguments with her brother Safdar Shah but he realized that it is rather difficult to win with a walking miracle. From the beginning aunty insisted that her duty is to give alms to poor. Being a Muslim woman she could not even imagine of leaving her home and preach the Gospel. With her puzzling heart she went to Jesus and asked, "Who are your people? Where are they? And how I can go when my family members are prohibiting me?" She knelt down for prayer in her room at night and she heard a voice, "If you are frightened because of your family, I won't be with you. You have to remain faithful to me in order to go to my people " And further she heard the voice saying, "My people are your people, you must take my message to them."

Though she did not say anything about the voice she heard but they were looking the changes taking place in her life. They asked, "you are not going to leave this home, are you? You are not going to Canada and England...etc." She gave 50,000 Rs. as annual alms to poor and needy. And in last weeks she spent 10,000 Rupees. Uncle came to her and said, now you may be happy. But she said in low voice, "I am not happy because I did not give myself to Him." She thought her uncle did not hear but she got a sharp reply from her uncle saying, "Listen Gulshan, whatever you want to give to Jesus, land, money etc. But don't leave your home, your country and don't give yourself." Soon she realized the growing tension between her and family members.

Whenever prayer time came she went to her room and prayed the new prayer she learned. She had written down "Our Father.." prayer. She felt as if this prayer was specially written for her but she had little idea that it is well-known and well-loved prayer of Christians that is spoken in family prayers. At other times of the day, she took her strain of beads and spoke the "Our Father" prayer after every bead in Muslim fashion. After every bead she spoke the whole prayer, in that way that she could say the prayer where she wanted and when she wanted. People thought she was doing her Namaz. By the next few days, she might have spoken that prayer more than thousand times. She found a new vocabulary to call God "Our Father". Oh, she thought, "He is supreme being though He is also the father she had lost." She wept and her heart cried out, "How good of you to be my father." And she felt a great love coming and filling her heart. She thought about the whole prayer and marveled seeing the deep meaning of that simple prayer.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." She found her five times of Islamic prayer totally different which never taught this type of forgiveness. Every Muslim performs his religious duties and five pillars of his prayer in fear seeing the awaiting judgment before them. There was no assurance of forgiveness in Islamic prayers. She thought there is no ritual spoken in this short prayer of Jesus but the assurance of forgiveness that she never heard nor experienced nor knew before. As a Muslim, she had to pay for her own sins. Quran says, on the day of judgment, Allah will weigh the sinful acts and good works of people and if their good works are more than sinful act they will be admitted in the heaven otherwise hell is waiting for them. But her new discovery of God as father gave her new hope and assurance of forgiveness. She longed to read the Christian's book.

To be continued....

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