LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Pastor Anwar Fazal Masih, founder of Eternal Life Ministries International and Isaac TV ministries has a remarkable aim -- he wants to take the message of Christ to the Taliban in war-torn Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters in Afghanistan

And he told ANS that he believes this can be achieved if his Pakistan-based Isaac TV can transmitted via satellite by August 2010.

In an exclusive interview given to an ANS correspondent, Pastor Fazal said, “The setting up of Isaac TV in Pakistan, a 170 million nuclear-armed nation in South Asia, has been commended, not only by the Christians of Pakistan, but also by many Christian brothers and sisters abroad who had known my ministerial work from the platform of Eternal Life Ministries Pakistan International.

“Their appreciation was shown through letters, e-mails, cards, telephone calls and SMS messages to me,” said Pastor Fazal.

Asked to elaborate on the work of Eternal Life Ministries Pakistan International he said that he had set up the ministry in 2000 with just four people.
 

Isaac TV logo

“A hallmark of the ministry was the convergence of some 5,000-10,000 believers for a healing crusade every Wednesday in a massive ground in Kot Lakhpat, Lahore, an eastern city of Pakistan.

“The Holy Spirit works through me and the participants of this weekly healing Crusade are experiencing the Holy Spirit in all its fullness,” claimed Rev. Fazal.

The Rev. Fazal says that he set up Isaac TV in 2004 to “fulfill the spiritual needs of Pakistani Christians.”

He says that he prayed about it and stated that he “received a sign from God” to go ahead with the opening Isaac TV ministry.

Describing his choice of the word “Isaac” for his TV ministry, he explained: “I thought since both Christians and Muslims believe in the Prophet Isaac therefore I would name the TV channel after the Prophet Isaac.” [He was the son of Abraham and Sara and the incidents of his life are told in Genesis 15-35.]

The Pastor went on to say, “The overwhelming response from our Isaac TV audiences has led me to believe that it can steer the disillusioned people of Pakistan out of pessimism, cynicism and negativism.”

Reaching out to the Taliban in Afghanistan

Pastor Anwar Fazal and his family members

Rev. Fazal said that he was “deeply concerned” about the young people who, he said, “are falling prey to the Taliban.

He added, “I want to take the Love of God into their homes through expanding the network of Isaac TV.”

Asked how he believed that people would turn away from the Taliban by watching Isaac TV, he cited a verse from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, which says that the killing of one person is tantamount to killing of the entire humanity.

According to Bible, he said: “God is love.”

Citing another verse from the Quran, he said Muslims believe that Jesus Christ performed miracles during His time on earth.

“God does not approve of killings,” he said. Those who shed the blood of others cannot become heirs to the Kingdom of God. I believe that the Taliban can turn out to be good people if they learn about God and His Love.”

Asked if he was not afraid that he might be persecuted because of his TV ministry, he said: “God has given me a spirit of bravery, not a spirit of weakness. I will continue to serve God. I am not bothered by possible persecution.”

He also said that Isaac TV has the potential of foiling the “nefarious agenda of miscreants to propagate hatred and violence.”

Despite daunting financial odds stacked against his calling to preach the Word of God to a maximum number of people, the Rev. Fazal says that he started his TV ministry from his kitchen.

“I put a computer on the kitchen table and fixed it with a modulator and then linked it with area cable station in Lahore,” Fazal told ANS.

Inter-faith harmony

Participants of Interfaith harmony conference in Sialkot

Emphasizing the need for inter-faith harmony in Pakistan, he said that the TV channel would “help improve fractured inter-religious relations in Pakistan.”

The pastor then made it clear that he did not launch Isaac TV to oppose the Quran, adding, “I just want to take the message of Christ to people of other nations. I want them to know who Jesus is.

“I preach face-to-face to people from 5,000 to 10,000 through my weekly crusades, but I can reach millions for Christ through Satellite TV.”

He said that Isaac TV had been operating though Cable network in several Pakistani cities since 2004.

The pastor claimed that he has received an “overwhelming response” from Christian viewers of Isaac TV. “Even girls from other nations have started to sing hymns after watching praise and worship programs on Isaac TV,” he said.

He said the people from all over Pakistan have asked him to “expand” the Isaac TV network, but he said he regretting that he could not make it accessible to people across Pakistan “due to limited resources.”

TV sermon on theme of Israel

Pastor Anwar Fazal told ANS that in 2008 he delivered a sermon on Isaac TV on the theme of Israel.

“The flag of Israel could be seen in the background of the set,” he said.

He went on to say that, during the TV sermon, he cited verses from the Bible that say that “those who curse Israel will stand cursed and those who bless Israel will stand blessed.”

Mr. Fazal said he told his viewers during the sermon that if people in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other Muslim nations “ceased cursing Israel, they could have blessings of God which have been denied to them.”

He said he further told his TV audience that “Pakistan could become a powerful, country like the United States, if the people stopped cursing Israel.”

Mr. Fazal told ANS that he had heard that Muslim clerics obtained CDs of his TV program on Israel after they had heard that such a program was aired on local cable networks. He went on to say that when these Muslims scholars read the verses in question in Bible, they contacted him and said that they had been “cursing Israel in ignorance.”

Asked when he expected the Isaac TV to go on a satellite soon, he said he was aiming to launch it by August 2010. He added that a studio of Isaac TV “had already been constructed” and that he had had “negotiations with Asia Satellite.”

After going on the satellite, he said that Isaac TV could then be viewed in some 62 Asian countries.

Asked what programs he was planning to air on Isaac TV after it goes satellite, he said they will present programs on “persecution, sermons, prayer, praise and worship, unity and interfaith harmony.”

Meeting with George W. Bush

Pastor Fazal meets with George W. Bush in Washington, DC

Pastor Fazal told ANS that he had met former President George W. Bush on July 13, 2004 at his invitation, when he attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, and said that he had prayed for Bush at that time.

He told ANS that he was invited to the event this year, but could not attend it because of his “ministerial commitments in Pakistan.”

Pastor Fazal said that he has had the privilege of not just holding preaching and healing outreaches in Pakistan, but also the United States, Korea, Singapore, Qatar, Indonesia, Bahrain, Japan, Germany and several other European countries.

International Interfaith harmony conference in Pakistan

Mr. Fazal said that he was planning to organize an International Inter-faith harmony and peace conference in June, 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Pastor Fazal finally appealed to the “Christian brethren across the world” to prayer for his work and help support his plans to go onto the satellite, for which he says he needs some $70,073 USD.

If you would like more information on how you can help, please contact Pastor Fazal by e-mail at: incelm2005@yahoo.com or: isaac@isaactelevision.tv. You can also find out more at their website: www.isaactelevision.tv

Dan Wooding, 69, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 46 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding also a regular contributor to The Weekend Stand on the Crawford Broadcasting Network, and a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries. He is the author of some 43 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, also recently released “God’s Ambassadors in Japan” which is available at amazon.com.