Kid's Good News
Vol 1-issue 38             Nov/07 /2002

Contents:

Bible Story
Story time
This Week's Riddle #35
Answer of Riddle #34 and Winner
Change of Email Addresses

Bible Story:

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
Joseph's brothers ate and drank and merry with him.  And Joseph commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in the mouth of his sack.  Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money." So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.  As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Get up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid evil for good?  Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.'"

So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words.  And they said to him, "Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing.  Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord's house?  With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves." And he said, "Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless."

Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.  So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.  Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.  So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground.  And Joseph said to them, "What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?"  Then Judah said, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord's slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found."  But he said, "Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father."

Then Judah came near to him and said: "O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh.  "My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?  And we said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.'"  Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'"  And we said to my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die."  But you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.'  So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord.  And our father said, 'Go back and buy us a little food.'  But we said, 'We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'  Then your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons;  and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn to pieces"; and I have not seen him since.  But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.'

Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave.  For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.'"  Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.  For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?"

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Make everyone go out from me!" So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.  And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.  Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph; does my father still live?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.  And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come near to me." So they came near. Then he said: "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.  But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life."

Story time....

O Jesus, Son of Maryam, heal me - 12

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. From the very first day, she realized the growing opposition from her relatives and acquaintance. Three weeks later she got a Bible. While reading the Bible she discovered the amazing fact that the Lord's Prayer which was taught by Jesus to her in her vision was found in the Bible word by word. Later she realized that baptism was necessary according to the Bible, so she took baptism and she was given the new name Gulshan Esther. She was rejected by her family members. Then she heard that her sister was dying. She went to see her but by that time she was dead. But God had told her that her sister will not die but will live. The miracle happened exactly. She came back to life after 14 hours.
*******

Gulshan's sister who came back to life wanted to know more about Jesus. So Gulshan gave her a copy of New Testament. When she started reading from the Gospel of Matthew, she explained to her about the birth of Jesus and other things. Five days later she was returning to her blind school again. Her sister told her, "My home is open for you anytime and you can come and stay with me." As she settled in bus, her mind was thinking about the series of things which happened in the past and her heart longed to go and tell others about these miraculous things.

When she reached the sunrise school she found that she had lost her job. The authorities told her that, she took two days leave but came five days later. She had no chance to explain her position but she left her defense in the hands of God and within few moments later she was standing outside of the school not knowing where to go next. She stood by an electric light poll at Ravi road. Her heart was aching. She was hungry and though the lunch time had passed, she had nothing to eat. Her clothes which were given to washer has not yet returned. When she remembered the faces of small blind boys, her eyes were filled with tears. She had only little money that her sister gave her. She was aware that it was a cold cloudy day and it will be soon dark. She knew that it was not a safe place to stand alone there.

She cried out to God, "Father, is there any place for your daughter in this city, where should I go now?" And she knew the answer immediately, "Go back to Gujerat". She had enough money for fare so she took the 2 O'clock bus and reached her sister's home and surprised her. Her sister was very happy to see her and said, "I am glad to see you back, now you will help me to understand the Bible." Even Anis' husband Blund Shah was very happy to see her back. Both Gulshan and Anis had much time to read the Bible and study it. Anis' behavior had drastically changed. She became an angel to her servants; she made her servants to eat first before she ate anything. When Gulshan asked why she was doing all these things Anis replied, "I want to make sure about my destiny that if I die tomorrow, where will I stand."

One day Anis asked her about Baptism and expressed her strong desire to take baptism. But Gulshan knew the danger and the hard way ahead if she takes baptism. But Anis insisted that she wanted to become full Christian as she had accepted Jesus and wanted to walk with Him. But there was no chance that a pastor could come and baptize her. One day Gulshan and Anis ordered their maid to fill water in cement tub of bathroom and to lay outside some towels and clean clothes. Maid's curious eyes followed their actions as they went inside and closed the door of bathroom. Both Anis and Gulshan stood in the water and Gulshan asked, "Do you believe that Jesus died for you and would you confess your sins and accept Jesus in your life?" Anis replied, "Now I bury my old self with Christ and am new in Jesus, I will be faithful to Christ." At that moment Gulshan immersed her in the water and baptized her in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Later Anis told her that she saw a vision that, she was carried in angels wings and saw many people were standing around and glorifying God.

It was a moment of triumph but Gulshan knew that whenever she felt much joy, she had to beware and watch for the activity of dark forces. And the same thing happened this time too. Anis' husband was told about her baptism and he got very angry and he was looking for a chance of argument with Gulshan. Finally one day Gulshan was challenged to tell him about the difference of reading the Bible and the Quran. Gulshan told him that, "Bible is different because of Jesus as Jesus is the way, the truth and the life." Blund Shah told her, "reading the Bible is all right but about the cross is not right. Bible itself says that the cursed person should be crucified on the cross, so how Jesus who was crucified on the cross being cursed person, can save you?" He had a victorious look in his face as if he had trapped Gulshan but he had little idea that she got an opening to speak about her faith. Gulshan opened 1Corinthians 1:18, " For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." When she saw that he is not saying anything so she boldly read another passage from the Bible, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"(John 1:29)

She told him about Abraham that how God gave the option of sacrifice to Abraham in Torah. But after Jesus gave Himself for us, there is no need of any sacrifice. She also showed him from Genesis 22:11-12, "But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" So he said, "Here I am." And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." And from John 12:32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." She explained that because of Jesus' great sacrifice our sins are forgiven and explained that Jesus was a perfect and complete substitute.

She said further that all these things are mentioned in the Quran which she read first in the Quran and later found fuller meaning of these passages from the Bible. She also told about the predictions of Jesus' coming in this world as told by prophets. She said, "Bible is not the mere book but it is the living word of God." She finished with Acts 4:11-12, "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

He listened very carefully and it seemed as if he was convinced by her words but then he said, "Do you want to make me a Christian too? You are staying here, eating from my table and enjoying everything of my home and still degrading our Muslim belief in this way? Get out, now, and this time don't come back." Her sister gave her some money and told her not to go back to Lahore but to go to Rawalpindi where one of Anis' friends lived whose husband was in a high position in Govt. Anis told her that she will find some job for her.

Three and a half hours later she was in the home of Anis' friend trusting that there would be good outturn for her. The lady came and received her with a big smile on her face. They had tea together while talking about her health and how she traveled from Gujerat to Rawalpindi etc. After finishing their tea she took Gulshan to her bedroom, closed the door and started asking many questions like, "why she came without veil, why alone as no girls come out from their family like this?" She also asked, "Are you in any trouble?"

Gulshan asked her, "You were surprised to see me not wearing burkha but aren't you surprised seeing me walking? I was invalid and on my bed for nineteen long years." She said, "Yes I know that you were crippled but which doctor treated you that you got healing?" Gulshan took out her Bible and said, "I will show you which doctor treated me and she read from Mark 2 : 9-11 where the Bible talks about a crippled man whom four of his friends carried to the place where Jesus was and completely healed by Jesus. She gave her Urdu Bible to that lady so that she could see herself. She took the book as if she caught a snake, looked in it for a moment and gave it back to her. She said, "this is a Christian book." Gulshan said, "Yes, it is and I myself is a Christian now. " She got very angry and said, "What am I hearing this?" Gulshan said, "Yes, it is true, it is Jesus who healed me. So I belong to Him." And she told her the whole story of her conversion to Christian faith.

The lady looked very restless then she said, "If Jesus healed you then too why you needed to become a Christian?" Gulshan told her about the new life which was given to her by Jesus and how she became a Christian and that because of that her family stood against her and threw her out of her home. Then she said, "I did not come here to argue about religion with you but I came here to ask, if you can help me to get a job?" She did not say anything for a moment then she laughed and said, "I thought someone has kidnapped you from your home and you escaped and came here to ask help." "I will give you a room for tonight then let me see if I can do anything for you next morning", she said. Gulshan went to her room, said a short prayer and rested as she was tired of her journey.

Next morning on the breakfast table her husband politely asked her to renounce Christianity and come back to Islam. He also told her that, if she renounce Christianity, he will help her to reconcile with her family members but Gulshan refused to do the same. She told the words which she did not think of, "I have no quarrel with anybody, I am at peace with everybody. I believe in the Prince of Peace who can give you the peace to you too." He was losing his patience and said, "Why don't you leave Christianity. If you do not want to live with your brothers or sisters, stay with me for the rest of your life." She said, "Christianity is not a religion that anybody can leave it and adopt any other when they want, but it is an experience which I had in my life. If I leave Christ, I will die." She then said, "Please, if you can arrange a job for me please do so or let me go and never bother you again." For a moment he did not say anything then he winked to his wife and said, "Oh, yes we can arrange a job for you."

His wife asked her to follow her and then they got in a car and they went to central jail. Driver called to the guard and asked him to open the gate and the lady took her to the office of superintendent. She spoke to him something in English, obviously about Gulshan. Then the superintendent rang a bell and an old woman came with a bunch of keys in her hand. Superintendent told her something which Gulshan could not hear. Then the woman said to her, "come". Gulshan's kind friend told her, "you go with her, this place would be better for you." She thanked her for her kind help and followed the woman. The woman unlocked the gate of one big hall where ten women were sitting on dirty floor. The room had high ceiling, without windows. As she was standing there the gate banged shut and locked her behind. She looked toward the nearest woman and said, "What's going on, what is the job I have to do?"

To be continued...

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