Some of you may remember that at the beginning of this year, I went to teach at a new Bible college in the northern part of Nigeria. I had the privilege to go there again and teach on Daniel and Revelation for about a week. Seeing all the same students remaining and some new students added was such an encouragement. I enjoyed seeing how they have continued to grow. As I was teaching, they would ask questions at times that made me wonder. I would think to myself, That’s nowhere in the text. Why would they wonder about that? Then asking and looking into their questions further, I found many of these questions came from their former Muslim background. It was so exciting to me to see understanding come to people as their old ways of thinking and understanding began to be rewritten by what the Scriptures actually say. I am still excited about how God will use these men to spread the Gospel in Muslim-dominated areas.
Recently, I’ve helped to start a new Bible study near our church. One common issue that we have been experiencing is that many have a “Christian” Charismatic church they will go to on Sunday mornings, so they will never even consider coming to visit our church. We’ve been meeting at one of our member’s homes once a month on a Sunday evening to have an opening to give the Gospel to people who might not otherwise hear. We have had some neighbors coming, and we praise God that we have seen 4 children saved! Many of the parents and adults have been taking more time to convince. Works-based salvation is very strongly taught in Nigeria, and it can be very difficult for people to let go of that to believe only in Christ. Please pray that more people will come and that more will be saved from this Bible study.
I was soul winning a few weeks ago and met a man named Shimu. I asked him if he knew for sure if he was going to Heaven someday. He told me, “In Nigeria, you cannot be sure. We have to do some dishonest things sometimes just to survive, so we cannot be sure of Heaven.” I had the privilege to talk with him for about an hour, showing him how it is apart from our works that we are saved. Praise the Lord that he decided to trust Christ to forgive him instead of trusting his works.
That all the world may know,
Caleb Christiansen
Bible college class in Northern Nigeria