Middle East Outreach: Baptisms and Visions

Thousands of Christians get baptized in the Jordan River every year. Most baptisms take place near the Sea of Galilee. But earlier this year, one group held a unique baptism service in a part of the Jordan River seldom seen. For some of those baptized in the Jordan, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Brian, one of those who attended the event, said, "I mean, there are so many people around the world who just want to come to Jerusalem. And then to be a place like this, the Jordan Crossing, where people -- in a lifetime -- never get here. But God has allowed me to come, so I just thank the Lord for that blessing." Because the area is a closed military zone, it's seldom open during the year. What makes this place so unique is its history. The area marks the modern-day border between Israel and Jordan. It also is the area where some of the most significant events in the Bible took place. "This site is where Joshua brought all of Israel across on dry ground," said Karen Dunham, "and all of Israel stepped their foot here in this Eastern gateway and doorway to the Promised Land. This is where Jesus Christ was baptized, where heaven opened, and the voice of the Father came and said, 'This is My Son in whom I am well pleased." Dunham organized the baptism service and worship celebration. The celebration marked an outgrowth of her ministry, one of its kind in the Middle East. A few years ago, Dunham established a church in the West Bank city of Jericho. "We have a church that reaches sometimes 600," Dunham said. "And what you'll see is just Muslims lifting their hands to the Lord. And they're not there because I went house to house and invited any of them. They're there because they've had a dream or a vision, or a visitation from the Spirit of the Lord. And so they've come to find out about Jesus." Latifa is one of the people from Jericho who have had a dream about Jesus. She explained, "The dream, when I sleeping -- I see a Man dressed in white and He comes to ask me, 'What is your name?' And I am afraid at first. But He told me, 'Don't be afraid. I am Jesus.'" Others have experienced miracles. "Tuesday, I think there was either two or three who had deaf ears -- one had never spoke before," Dunham said. "Tuesday was just full of miracles. A lot of the people here were at our service Tuesday - they were here, they were talking, they were moving. I've just seen the Lord move. Even we think sometimes that they have to be fasting and they have to be Christians to get healed, but I'm telling you today that God's healing the Muslims." Jan, a helper at the event, said, "People need to know that it's not a bad report all the time. God does good things in spite of what the news shows. People need to know that God is busy, He's at work. He's good." But establishing a church in Jericho was not easy for Dunham. "When I first went to Jericho about four years ago, they talked about me in every mosque," Dunham said. "They wanted to execute me. They were giving us death threats by way of letters -- me and my son -- because we were handing out Gospel tracts. Well, the governor of Jericho called me into his office. He said, "we had a meeting and we feel if you want to give out Bibles and you want to give out those booklets, we don't consider it evangelism any more. Go ahead, Karen." Dunham now tapes a television program out of Jericho. She says the best language to speak in these areas is the language of love. "The biggest lesson I've learned in the West Bank is that Jesus Christ loves everybody," Dunham said. "Jesus loves them all. There's nobody He don't love. And there's not a soul He can't save." "They've heard me when I'm preaching, speaking in their own language," she continued. "You can't sit on a pew or sit at home and say I don't have the language. The Lord said the language is love: 'Just give them the Word, they'll hear you, Karen.' The language is love. There's no reason why we can't reach out to those Arab nations, reach out and show them what the arms of Jesus Christ - how big and how great and how awesome God is."