19 Jun 2025, 07:06Maxine Donovan, Prayer MinistriesTottenham, Haringey, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Tottenham Lighthouse Welcomes Dr Petras Bahadur for Sabbath on Muslim Outreach
Sabbath, 10 May 2025 will be long remembered by many at Tottenham Lighthouse. We were blessed to have as our speaker for the day, Pastor Dr Petras Bahadur, Director of the Global Center for Adventist Muslim Relations at the General Conference. He was joined by his friend, Elder Enoch Ganagaraj BEM, Founder and Chief Executive of One Vision and a member of Stanborough Park Church. Elder Ganagaraj gave a brief presentation on the work that he was doing at One Vision, and was accompanied by his wife Nishtha and their two children.
The Sabbath School lesson review was shortened to give Dr Bahadur time before Divine Service, to share with us how to be more effective in reaching our Muslim brothers and sisters. We were told that we needed to change our western approach, as Muslims have an eastern mindset. We needed to learn about them, so that we do not approach them only with our Christian knowledge, but also with an Islamic understanding. We were surprised to learn that the universal Muslim greetings, ‘Shalaam alaykum’ was derived from Jesus’ words in John 20.19 ‘…Peace be unto you,’ which is ‘Shlama ahlaykhu,’ in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. Dr Bahadur is preparing 26 study videos to be released next year, on Jesus in the Qur’an. With such a wealth of information being shared, we were all eager to hear Dr Bahadur’s presentation during the Divine Service.
Dr Bahadur’s main text was Isaiah 60:6-7, ”6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” To unravel the meaning of these two prophetic verses we had to take a closer look at the children of Abraham. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bore him a son called Isaac, who had two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons who became the Children of Israel. Abraham’s third wife, Keturah bore him six sons. One of the sons, Midian had a son named Ephah. Another son, Jokshan had a son named Sheba (Genesis 25:1-4) Hagar, who was also Abraham’s wife, bore him Ishmael who had 12 sons. The name of two of the sons were Kedar and Nebajoth (Genesis 25:12-13). The children of Hagar and Keturah were sent to ‘the east country,’ to be away from Isaac (Genesis 25:6). We are thankful that no one is ‘kicked out’ of the presence of God. He had a plan for Hagar and Keturah’s offspring, ‘The Children of the East.’
When Joseph’s brother tried at first to kill him then decided to sell him, God used the Children of the East, the Ishmaelites and the Midianites, to save his life (Genesis 37:25-28, 36). When Moses fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian, he fled to the land of Midian where Jethro the Priest of Midian took him in (Exodus 2:15-16). It was while living there for 40 years that Moses heard and later wrote about the story of Job, who was described as, ‘the greatest of all men in the east’ (Job 1:3). The children of Midian heard the prophecy of Balaam, ‘…There shall come a Star out of Jacob…’ (Genesis 24:17) and were on the look-out for a star. Although the Star referred to Jesus Christ, God in His love and mercy did use a star. In fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 60:6-7 the wise men on their camels came from the east – Children of the East - to Jerusalem after seeing the star which led them to where Baby Jesus was in a manager. Just as Isaiah had prophesied, they brought gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did show the praises of God as mentioned by Isaiah, for when they saw Baby Jesus they fell down and worshipped. (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11). Symbolically, the Children of Keturah have come to Israel (Isaiah 60:6). Verse 7 is not yet fulfilled. The Children of Ishmael will also come, and when they come, they are coming to the House of the Lord. We were reminded that we had a role to play for the Children of Ishmael to come by being more welcoming and willing to let our hearts be changed.
After the spiritual feast, Dr Bahadur remained for lunch, which he enjoyed immensely. He was impressed seeing people of different nationality attending church, coming inside for a meal after service and collecting supplies from the Food Bank. Pastor Dr Jude Jeanville, about two weeks’ later, was copied into an email from Dr Bahadur. It said, “I was preaching in Tottenham Lighthouse SDA Church (AMR) on May 10, 2025 and was amazed to see the food bank ministry that the Church is doing under the leadership of Pastor Jude Jeanville. Because of the good work they are doing through food bank which has scores of Muslims coming to the Church to receive support, I have decided to send them financial support so that they can carry on the community ministry work…” Elder Ganaraj, on behalf of One Vision, also gave a donation towards community works being done by Tottenham Lighthouse.
As we prepare for our Muslim brothers and sisters to come to the House of the Lord, a place of prayer for all nations, we ask God to transform us and give us the mind of Christ. We want to be more like Jesus who accepted everyone, for His mission was to seek and to save that which was lost.
Sabbath, 10 May 2025 will be long remembered by many at Tottenham Lighthouse. We were blessed to have as our speaker for the day, Pastor Dr Petras Bahadur, Director of the Global Center for Adventist Muslim Relations at the General Conference. He was joined by his friend, Elder Enoch Ganagaraj BEM, Founder and Chief Executive of One Vision and a member of Stanborough Park Church. Elder Ganagaraj gave a brief presentation on the work that he was doing at One Vision, and was accompanied by his wife Nishtha and their two children.
The Sabbath School lesson review was shortened to give Dr Bahadur time before Divine Service, to share with us how to be more effective in reaching our Muslim brothers and sisters. We were told that we needed to change our western approach, as Muslims have an eastern mindset. We needed to learn about them, so that we do not approach them only with our Christian knowledge, but also with an Islamic understanding. We were surprised to learn that the universal Muslim greetings, ‘Shalaam alaykum’ was derived from Jesus’ words in John 20.19 ‘…Peace be unto you,’ which is ‘Shlama ahlaykhu,’ in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. Dr Bahadur is preparing 26 study videos to be released next year, on Jesus in the Qur’an. With such a wealth of information being shared, we were all eager to hear Dr Bahadur’s presentation during the Divine Service.
Dr Bahadur’s main text was Isaiah 60:6-7, ”6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.” To unravel the meaning of these two prophetic verses we had to take a closer look at the children of Abraham. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, bore him a son called Isaac, who had two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons who became the Children of Israel. Abraham’s third wife, Keturah bore him six sons. One of the sons, Midian had a son named Ephah. Another son, Jokshan had a son named Sheba (Genesis 25:1-4) Hagar, who was also Abraham’s wife, bore him Ishmael who had 12 sons. The name of two of the sons were Kedar and Nebajoth (Genesis 25:12-13). The children of Hagar and Keturah were sent to ‘the east country,’ to be away from Isaac (Genesis 25:6). We are thankful that no one is ‘kicked out’ of the presence of God. He had a plan for Hagar and Keturah’s offspring, ‘The Children of the East.’
When Joseph’s brother tried at first to kill him then decided to sell him, God used the Children of the East, the Ishmaelites and the Midianites, to save his life (Genesis 37:25-28, 36). When Moses fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian, he fled to the land of Midian where Jethro the Priest of Midian took him in (Exodus 2:15-16). It was while living there for 40 years that Moses heard and later wrote about the story of Job, who was described as, ‘the greatest of all men in the east’ (Job 1:3). The children of Midian heard the prophecy of Balaam, ‘…There shall come a Star out of Jacob…’ (Genesis 24:17) and were on the look-out for a star. Although the Star referred to Jesus Christ, God in His love and mercy did use a star. In fulfilment of the prophecy in Isaiah 60:6-7 the wise men on their camels came from the east – Children of the East - to Jerusalem after seeing the star which led them to where Baby Jesus was in a manager. Just as Isaiah had prophesied, they brought gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh. They did show the praises of God as mentioned by Isaiah, for when they saw Baby Jesus they fell down and worshipped. (Matthew 2:1-2, 9-11). Symbolically, the Children of Keturah have come to Israel (Isaiah 60:6). Verse 7 is not yet fulfilled. The Children of Ishmael will also come, and when they come, they are coming to the House of the Lord. We were reminded that we had a role to play for the Children of Ishmael to come by being more welcoming and willing to let our hearts be changed.
After the spiritual feast, Dr Bahadur remained for lunch, which he enjoyed immensely. He was impressed seeing people of different nationality attending church, coming inside for a meal after service and collecting supplies from the Food Bank. Pastor Dr Jude Jeanville, about two weeks’ later, was copied into an email from Dr Bahadur. It said, “I was preaching in Tottenham Lighthouse SDA Church (AMR) on May 10, 2025 and was amazed to see the food bank ministry that the Church is doing under the leadership of Pastor Jude Jeanville. Because of the good work they are doing through food bank which has scores of Muslims coming to the Church to receive support, I have decided to send them financial support so that they can carry on the community ministry work…” Elder Ganaraj, on behalf of One Vision, also gave a donation towards community works being done by Tottenham Lighthouse.
As we prepare for our Muslim brothers and sisters to come to the House of the Lord, a place of prayer for all nations, we ask God to transform us and give us the mind of Christ. We want to be more like Jesus who accepted everyone, for His mission was to seek and to save that which was lost.
