As the fight against terrorism continues to rage in the Middle East, a different kind of war is being waged – the eternal salvation for everyone who resides there. Every year people are rescued from the clutches of darkness and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. A recent conversion by a former ISIS leader is drawing attention to that very thing.
It all started when Muhammad found contact information tied to Peter, a follow-up team coordinator for Leading The Way Ministries. (The names of Muhammad and Peter have been changed for their protection.) The international outreach ministry has delivered the Gospel’s message through the airwaves and on the ground to countries across the world, bringing people to Christ for more than 28 years. Muhammad intended to kill Peter when he first spoke with him but instead became his brother in Christ through God’s miraculous work.
“Muhammad heard that I evangelize to Muslims. He got my number and called saying that he wanted to meet and talk,” Peter says, recalling the encounter. “When we met, he told me he wanted to believe in Christ. But I felt that something was wrong. At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I began to speak to him very directly about the God of the Bible. He began to tremble severely. I put my hand on his shoulder and started to pray. Then we parted ways.”
Never the Same
Muhammad was never the same after meeting with Peter. He experienced a profound dream about the Blood of Jesus shortly afterward. He returned to Peter and told him the dream, craving to know more about the Christ Peter worshiped. “I explained the Gospel to him about the Blood Jesus shed on the cross for the atonement of sins,” says Peter. “That very day, he told me that he wanted to become a Christian. Since then I have discipled him, and recently he was baptized.”
Muhammad received Jesus Christ as his Savior that very moment.
Peter and others at Leading The Way praised God for their new brother in Christ. “He was a Prince of ISIS, someone other ISIS members swear allegiance to and will die for,” Peter says. “He was planning to execute me … Now, this former Prince of ISIS treats me as one of his brothers.”
“I was urging people toward jihad. But when I interacted with Leading The Way’s follow-up team and heard the Gospel, I experienced a love that doesn’t exist within Islam. This love compelled me to become a Christian and be baptized,” says Muhammad. “Today, I live to be a servant of the Lord Jesus and make Him known to all people.” Muhammad currently leads a Bible Study for Syrians in the town he resides.
Light Shining in the Darkness
Muhammad’s intriguing testimony isn’t the only one in the Middle East. Droves of Muslims are coming to Christ despite heated persecution from terrorists and local governments. According to Elam Ministry statistics, only 500 Christians lived in Iran in 1979. In 2010, that number exploded to over 360,000.
“Thousands of Muslims are secretly believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior. They don’t have Bibles and the rulers do not allow them to get Bibles,” explains Al-Rashid, a Christian who is also a former radical Muslim. Like Muhammad, Rashid was the commander of a jihadist group targeting Christian pastors but gave his life to Jesus and was baptized after witnessing the Hand of Christ miraculously save a pastor’s daughter from poisoning. Today, Rashid is an evangelist for the Bibles for Mideast Ministry.
“The Bible is totally prohibited in certain countries. But people are so thirsty for the Word of God,” Rashid explained. “Many of our team members are converts from Islam to Christianity with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and have good experiences of doing personal evangelism, conducting crusades, and pastoring house churches.”
“What we are seeing God do is remarkable,” states Dr. Michael Youssef, president and founder of Leading The Way Ministries. “Muslims who claim to have seen a vision or a dream of Jesus tune in to our teaching channel or reach out to our follow-up team. And there they hear about the very One whom they saw in a dream telling them that He loves them and died for him… We are witnessing a powerful movement of God. The Lord is moving in unprecedented ways, and Muslims are coming to know Jesus in numbers previously considered impossible.”
~ Christian Patriot Daily
