September 2009
Dear Friends,
September is a challenging month for me. It marks the anniversary of the day my husband and sons died far away on the side of an Alaskan mountain. And it’s been 19 years. I am reminded anew that our hearts bear the accumulation of life’s experiences.
As blessed as I am, surrounded by the love of God, family and friends, pain remains close to the surface, to be resurrected in some of its original rawness at times like this.
So I grieve again and still, with fresh longing for Jesus to come and restore all that’s been lost not only from me and my children, but from everyone who lives with loss.
This month brings extra challenges to my family with my daughter waiting in a hospital for the arrival of their first child. Complications expose her baby to some risks. And my son is being deployed this week to earth’s most hazardous war zone, to do some of the most dangerous tasks required of our country’s special forces. We are praying!
I hope you don’t mind that I’m sharing my personal life with you. After all these years, I feel like you are family. Some of you have traveled this journey with me for many years, praying for this work and for us, reading the stories that began with Jim more than 20 years ago. You've given generously, sharing your means for the initial "Sabbath Project" and for its translation, so other language groups can be prepared for the conflict ahead.
And that conflict looms closer and closer. There seems to be more intensity and more evidence of the controversy between good and evil. Sides are being drawn more clearly, people are making decisions, heroes are born and sometimes die.
We are relatively sheltered for now, but Christians in many places in this world are even now standing for Jesus in the midst of terrible persecutions, spilling their blood for Him.
Somalia: Four Christian orphanage workers were beheaded by Muslim militants for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.
China: The government has issued a secret directive to dismantle major house churches before the upcoming 60th anniversary of Communist rule. A house church training school was raided and more than two tons of Sunday school materials were confiscated.
Orissa, India: Where one year ago radical Hindus attacked and killed Christians (including a Seventh-day Adventist pastor), and left 50,000 people displaced, Christians are still afraid to return to their homes. In many villages they have been warned that if they return they must convert to Hinduism or ìsuffer the consequences.
Pakistan: A 1986 law allows the death penalty for blaspheming Islam. As a result many innocent people are dying. On August 26 an 18-year old was thrown in prison and beaten on false charges of blasphemy, and Muslims have demanded the death sentence for him.
Iran: Two young women were arrested in March for leaving Islam. Imprisoned, deprived of medical attention, interrogated and commanded to renounce Christianity, they refused, saying, ìWe love Jesus,î and ìwe will not renounce our faith.î They remain in prison.
The United States of America: On Sept. 3, 17-year-old Rifqu Bary ran away from her family in Ohio, and is now in protective custody after her Muslim father threatened her, ìIf you have this Jesus in your heart, you are dead to me!î And added, ìI will kill you!î
Friends, this battle is getting closer. We know what lies will deceive the whole world in the near future: The Sunday Sabbath and the immortality of the soul.
That is why we are so determined to provide the Seventh Day series in as many languages as possible, as soon as possible.
And that's why we're developing new strategies for spreading Sabbath information! The internet provides a tremendous avenue of communication and education to more people than we could possibly reach in any other way.
Take a look at our new Sabbath History website at www.sabbathhistory.com. This is the first of a series of brand new, content-rich websites that will address Sabbath-related issues in a concise, accessible and easily readable format.
Coming soon is our Sabbath Intersections website, which focuses on the relationship between the Sabbath and other important Bible doctrines like Creation, Sanctificaion, the New Covenant, and the Mark of the Beast, and also addresses some of the “problem texts.”
We're very excited at this opportunity to reach honest-hearted seekers for truth all around the world. And you can join us! Ask your pastor about linking your local church website to www.sabbathhistory.com so the information can be shared through your own church.
These new websites, along with the translation work, keep us on our knees. Daily we ask for the means to continue, so this world can discover what God is really like, and can come to love Him as He loves them.
Thank you, thank you, for your prayers and support. May God energize and bless you!
Sincerely yours,
Pat Arrabito
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