Pakistan Earthquake Chronicles Part 4

Woman asking for help
(This is Part 4 in a 4 part Series from Matthew McClure, MD)


God worked an amazing miracle through allowing us to minister at the UN camps. One of my good friends and fellow doctors stated it best when he said, “We may never fully realize the impact of our simple efforts over the past two days. These people my not look like much, but that is because they are broken and have lost everything. Every person looks the same in a refugee camp, but a lot of these men are leaders of their communities and of their villages, heads of families, business owners, and pillars of their individual societies. No Christian has ever had the opportunity to minister to them in their time of need. God, through this earthquake, has brought thousands of people from small villages in impossibly remote mountainous areas down to one central location, he has crumbled their hearts of stone so that they may be ministered to, and he has given us the opportunity, in a protected environment, to show love to, minister to, and pray with these people. White, western, American Christians were able to pray in the name of Jesus Christ with over 4000 fundamental Pakistani Muslims. If a missionary wanted travel to all the remote villages to reach the same people before the earthquake, it would have taken him over 5 years to do what we did in two days. Even if he would have gone, the people would not have been receptive, rejecting or even killing him. God, out of love and mercy, orchestrated through tragedy this amazing opportunity to reach the unreachable. And any seeds we planted today with these people will travel back to their villages and communities when things start to be rebuilt. After today, they will not only associate the word “Christian” and “Jesus” with the word “infidel” and “enemy”, but also with memories of people who reached out to them when they were crushed and broken, with people who showed them love and compassion, and with people who prayed with them in their greatest time of need. Who knows what doors God has opened and what seeds He has planted for His kingdom? God is doing an amazing miracle.”
I went to Pakistan expecting to find a stern and hard people, but discovered a broken hearts open to the compassion, prayer, and the gospel. They are desperately in need of God’s love and forgiveness. Before I left, God placed Isaiah chapter 6 on mind and heart. I didn’t fully comprehend why until now.

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, 'See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'
And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'
He said, 'Go and tell this people:

‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing but never perceiving.
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'

Then I said, 'For how long, O Lord?'
And he answered:

'Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.
And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.'"

-Isaiah 6

I did not fully understand the passage until experiencing the brokenness and openness of the Muslims in northern Pakistan. Now is the time. Now the people are open. Now their hearts are broken. Now their ears may hear and their eyes may see and they may turn to God and receive forgiveness. Now is the time to plant the seed of the Stump of Jesse so it may sprout in their hearts and throughout the land. God has flung the door open to these people. Now is the time to reach them with His Gospel. How long will their hearts remain open? How long before the callousness of normal life returns? How long before this door is closed? “For the harvest is great, but the workers are few”.
I am grateful for any prayers or finances that have helped support me on this trip. Thank you. Please continue to pray for Pakistan, for there are many needs. The winter is coming, and with it much suffering. There is a HUGE need for tents, clothing, and food. The hospital will be overwhelmed. They desperately need orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, and female OB/Gyn. The hospital will need clinical doctors for outpatient treatment in the near future. There is some structural damage to the building’s foundation and the repairs will be expensive. Thank you for caring about Pakistan and please pray that God will continue to advance His kingdom among these people held captive in darkness.


In Christ,
Matthew McClure


Please feel free to contact me for information on how to support Kunhar Christian Hospital or Together In Him Ministries