Hungering To Receive the Baptism of the Spirit

Brother Shahin Taghizadeh is the pastor of the church we planted in Denizli, Turkey and has been ministering with us in Turkey since August 2014. He has been a Christian for almost twenty years and came to faith in Jesus Christ after having grown up as a Muslim. He has been a minister for seventeen years as well as being an evangelist and pastor of former Muslims in the city of Rasht, Iran. He faced persecution from the secret police and was imprisoned on one occasion. As a result, he decided to move to Turkey with his wife, their two children, and his sister. Last summer brother Shahin told us, “I was in the message in Iran for 18 years, and I’ve learned more about the message in the last several months working with you than in that entire time.” We are thankful for the truth that has been revealed, and we are nothing more than recipients of the grace of God.

In the beginning of July, brother Shahin sent us a ministry report regarding his work in the church in Denizli. The last month he has been ministering on being filled with the Spirit. He said, “Some from denominations had this thinking that they don’t need to receive the baptism of Holy Ghost and that they had received it when they came to Christ. But after going through the scriptures and brother Branham’s materials, they realized that they need to pray to receive it. The prophet showed us that new birth is the same as baptism of Holy Spirit and these are not two different events…I can see people are receptive as I see a thirst and desire for receiving the baptism of the Spirit in the services.”

Brother Keyvan is pastoring a church in Isparta, Turkey and is originally from Rasht, Iran as well. He was an evangelist in Iran and led over 400 people to Christ the last 13 years while living there. About two years before he moved to Turkey we made contact, and he came out of Iran to our ministers meeting in 2013. He has brought many denominational believers to the message over the last year in Turkey. They were almost all new believers, so he had to start from the very basic ABC’s to teach them the truth of the Word. We are working closely with him and he is doing a great job. He sent us a few testimonies of the work of God:

Brother Keyvan writes, “I have two testimonies to share. The first one is that there was a child in hospital due to some heart trouble. I prayed for him and by the grace of God he was healed and discharged from the hospital next day. The second one was on 05.17.2016. At midnight I received a text message from a brother in Iran saying, ‘Please pray for a child who is about to die in hospital.’ I asked for the details and he said the child’s blood sugar level is 500 and is in the hospital in Iran. He was the son of one of his friends. I asked if there was anyone next to his bed in hospital right now and he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I will text you my prayer. Forward it to them and ask them to lay hands on him with faith and pray on our behalf and claim the healing.’ The next day we heard back from the brother in Iran. He said, ‘Praise the Lord! The boy’s blood sugar is 100 now and everything is under control.’ ”

Another testimony is from a new believer in Isparta, Turkey who was unemployed and down to his last 3 Turkish Lira. The brother said that he decided to put that last money that he had into the offering. The very next day he was able to get a job, and the employer paid him 150TL that very day!