The Torn Veil — Gulshan Esther

A Cripple Healed by Jesus

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:9).

The Voice

“I want to die.” They were bold and honest words. “I don’t want to live anymore…” Crippled from the age of two and now bereaved of her beloved father, Gulshan—a Pakistani Muslim—unleashed her hopelessness. It was shortly after 3am.

In her grief and pain, Gulshan heard a gentle voice respond: “I won’t let you die. I will keep you alive.” “What’s the point of keeping me alive?” Gulshan asked. “You’ve taken away my father and left me with no hope…” But the voice spoke again: “Who gave eyes to the blind, and who made the sick whole, and who healed the lepers and who raised the dead? I am Jesus, son of Mary. Read about Me in the Quran, in the Sura Maryam.”

Gulshan obeyed that voice. As she read of Jesus the Healer in the Quran, a faith in her grew that He was alive and could heal her. Many times a day she began to pray a prayer of healing to Jesus. The more she prayed, the more she was drawn to this figure who had a power over sickness and death which Mohammed never claimed.

The Encounter

One night at 3am, Gulshan awoke as usual, the prayer for healing sounding out in her heart. But then she stopped: “I’ve been doing this for so long and I’m still a cripple.” At last in pain she cried out, “If you are able to, heal me—otherwise tell me.” What happened next is nearly beyond words.

Light—a powerful light—flooded the bedroom, surpassing the brightness of day. Twelve long-robed figures stood before her with a radiant, larger thirteenth. Gulshan began to pray, seeking to know who these people were. A voice spoke: “Get up. This is the path you have been seeking. I am Jesus Son of Mary, to whom you have been praying, and now I am standing in front of you. You get up and come to me.”

Three times Jesus commanded her—the crippled Gulshan—to stand up and walk. Strength entered into her limbs and Gulshan not only stood up, but ran and fell at the feet of the vision, bathing in its wonderful light.

Jesus placed His hand upon Gulshan. From a hole in His hand shone forth a ray of light upon her clothes: “I am Jesus. I am Immanuel. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am alive, and I am soon coming. See, from today you are my witness. What you have seen now with your eyes you must take to my people. My people are your people…” Jesus instructed Gulshan to pray a new prayer: “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 

There at the feet of Jesus, Gulshan had a live encounter with the Son of God. Her arm and leg were now covered in flesh. Though strength came to her hand, it was not perfect. “Why don’t you make it all whole?” she asked. Jesus replied, “I want you to be my witness.”

The Continuation

It was a costly decision to become a witness for Jesus. Gulshan began to pray about the question of who His people were, where they were, and how she could go to them in light of her family’s prohibition. The answer came as a voice: “If you’re frightened because of your family, I won’t be with you. You have to remain faithful to me in order to go to my people.”

When Gulshan daringly obtained a New Testament, she found spiritual bread for her hunger; Jesus as God was revealed to her in its precious pages. No animal blood could cleanse Gulshan from her sin; only the sacrificed flesh of Jesus can provide a way for us into the holiest place where He, after having “offered one sacrifice for sin for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

—See The Torn Veil, as told to Thelma Sangster

The Full Testimony Video Of Gulshan Esther

Faith Beyond Any Doubt! — George Mueller

The Faithfulness Of The Living God

Do you believe in the real and living God? If so, do you ever doubt His faithfulness? George Muller was a man who learned to take God at His Word. “Sell that ye have, and give alms” (Luke 12:33) and “[o]we no man anything, but to love one another” (Romans 13:8)—such were the commands he obeyed. In 1834, he set out to prove the reality and faithfulness of God by establishing (and then maintaining) an orphan house in Bristol by prayer and faith only—with no fund-raising and no loans. Muller did not expect God to create silver and gold for him, but he knew that the Lord could move the hearts of men to aid his God-given work. “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10): Muller felt led to apply this promise to the orphanage work.

In 1845, God made it clear through various means that the time had come to build an orphanage. Premises for three hundred children would be needed, and a large piece of ground near Bristol for the building and a small farm. That would cost at least £10 000, and Muller would not enter into any contract until the sum had been received.
On the thirty-sixth day after Muller began to pray, he received £1000 for the building of the Orphan House—the largest single donation he had ever received. After six hundred and seven days of seeking the Lord and receiving His provisions, building work finally began.

One November, the boiler began to leak in the new house. To fix it, the children would have to suffer for lack of warmth, for the heat had to be shut off while repairs were going on. After the day was set for the repairs, a bitter north wind began to blow. Muller now asked the Lord for two things: to change the north wind into a south wind, and to give the workmen a desire to work. He remembered how much Nehemiah in the Old Testament had accomplished in fifty-two days while building the walls of Jerusalem because “the people had a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6).
On the morning of the repairs, a south wind began to blow. No heat was needed, the brickwork was removed, the leak was found, and the repairmen set to work. At about 8.30pm, the manager of the repair firm paid a visit to see how the work was progressing. Muller went to the cellar to see him and his men. “The men will work late this evening and come very early again tomorrow,” said the manager. “We would rather, sir,” replied the foreman, “work all night.” By the next morning, the boiler was repaired. Within thirty hours, the brickwork which had been taken down was up again, and the fire was in the boiler. All that time, the south wind blew so mildly that no heat was needed. God had answered both prayers.

What were Muller’s principles in prayer? He knew that to have them answered, He must make his requests to God on the ground of the merits and worthiness of His perfect Son, the Lord Jesus. He could not depend on his own merits and worthiness.

Trusting in God meant more than just obtaining money by prayer and faith; Muller desired his faith to extend toward everything. By reading God’s Word and meditating on it, by maintaining an upright heart and a good conscience, by embracing trials of faith, and by allowing God to work for him, Muller found his faith greatly strengthened. And so might yours be.