HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC AND THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

JEHOVAH RAPHA CENTRE: MINISTRY OF COMPASSION

I have been involved in fulltime Christian ministry in north central Nigeria since 1976 (evangelism, church planting, Bible teaching, leadership training and Christian
school administration). These I consider my primary ministry. However,
along with the primary ministry, the Lord has led me into different aspects of
ministry which some evangelicals would call development or social work. Others
call it the “cultural mandate” of the church. Having been on the field most of
my life, I have not been able to actually separate the “cultural mandate” from
the “evangelistic mandate” of the church. Through the pioneer missionaries
carrying out the evangelistic mandate in my denomination, the Lord called me to
salvation in 1965 when I accepted Him as my personal Saviour. While I was very
ill and dying after my new birth experience, I was taken to our mission hospital
where our medical missionaries treated me, and the Lord healed me. So I have
since then believed that both aspects of the mandate given to the Church are
essential for the evangelization of the world.

· I am currently shepherding an evangelical denomination with 118 local churches

· Also nurturing three Christian Schools with a population of 900+, about 45% are from families that are Animists and Muslims who are being reached with gospel

· Evangelistic outreach teams and tract distribution, bible correspondence courses are in place.

My ministry of compassion provides safe drinking water for rural people who have no clean water to drink. We have carried on this water project since the early nineties
in partnership with Lifewater International, a U.S. based non-profit
organization.

The ministry of compassion also includes helping the sick, including those infected with the deadly HIV/AIDS. Our HIV/AIDS ministry is primarily based on our belief in Christian prayer and the
use of medicinal plants to provide both spiritual and physical healing needed
by people living with the disease.
However, we do not support the use of condom
as a solution. Neither do we support alternative life style. We believe that
there is no place for homosexuality and lesbianism as these practices are against
the Word of God. But as Christian workers, we feel compelled to assist with
herbal remedies because of the shocking statistics:

We have been told that, "In the more than two decades since the
beginning of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, over 65 million people worldwide have
become infected. Africa is the most infected continent in the world by the
HIV/AIDS virus. More than 17 million Africans have died from AIDS and another
25 million are infected with the HIV virus; 2 million of whom are the children.
Every day in Africa HIV/AIDS kills 6,600 and 9,000 people are infected with
this virulent killer."

Jehovah Rapha Centre is a prayer ministry with a Herbal Medicine Clinic, dispensary and counsellors.

THEY NEED TO HEAR OF CHRIST, BUT THEY NEED TO BE LOVED IN THE PROCESS. YOUR PRAYER SUPPORT IS NEEDED. YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT WILL ENABLE US TO SUPPLY HERBAL REMEDIES TO BOTH THE HIV AND
AIDS PATIENTS. HEALING OR CURE FOR HIV/AIDS IS WITH THE LORD..BLESSINGS TO YOU
IN THE NAME OF CHRIST JESUS.

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE AS A BELIEVER IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?

Sincerely in Christ,

Dr. John E. Apeh

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