Jesus saves from Islam and despair in coronavirus-stricken family
/Altaf*, an Arab orthodox Muslim, has long lived in the beautiful Middle Eastern country of Jordan with his wife and two young children. He and his family faithfully followed the many rituals of Islam in this mostly Islamic nation.
Jordan locked down hard and early when only a few cases of the novel coronavirus struck in March. So while they managed far better than many places, Altaf’s entire family were struck in April and hospitalized.
When they were in the hospital, two of the health workers often visiting and helping them ‘happened to be’ volunteers with Bibles for Mideast. When they offered to pray for the family, Altaf refused, but they did leave a gospel leaflet behind.
With nothing else to do, Altaf decided to read the gospel tract. When he got to a section on life in heaven after resurrection, one verse from Matthew particularly bewildered him: "For in the resurrection they neither marry nor or given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven" (Matt. 22:30).
Altaf had learned from Islamic scholars that glorified men and women, or houris, would receive believers to heaven and offer alcohol and all manner of pleasures beyond anything on earth. The two stories didn’t fit, so he simply left the gospel tract on the table.
Within a week, his wife became critically ill and sadly, died. Altaf and his children recovered and were released. Due to the strict lockdown measures, fewer than ten of their many family members could attend his wife’s funeral.
The breathtaking reaches of the Wadi Rum of southern Jordan
Perturbed and gloomy, Altaf had no idea what to do with his children. They were so young, barely able to understand what was going on … as if anyone really could. He loved them so much, tried to spend as much time as possible with them, but felt so utterly alone without his wife. At times he would go to her grave site and pray for her soul until grief overwhelmed him.
One day as he sat and prayed, drowsiness set in and he found himself in a dream state. He could somehow see graveyards of other communities as well as the Islamic burial place he sat in. As he gazed at a Christian cemetery, the clouds over it brightened and the colors of the grass and ground beneath, the flowers, all within it intensified like beautiful decorations. He began to feel the Christian cemetery must be expecting a distinguished, honored guest to be so much more beautifully adorned than all the others.
Suddenly, a bright man came down in the clouds with an indescribable mellifluous voice … like water, like thunder? It seemed as though millions of angels accompanied Him. Then, to Altaf’s utter amazement, he saw people rising from the Christian graveyard with transformed and bright bodies. They rose to join with the Man who came in the clouds, then kept rising until he saw … he actually saw … them enter into a glorious place which could be nothing but heaven. He then heard worship he had no adequate words to describe.
He couldn’t help noticing that “people transformed and flew above from the Christian cemetery only.” No one from the Muslim graveyard—not his wife, or any of the many imams and Islamic scholars buried there—rose from their graves to join the bright man. Disturbed, he woke from the dream.
The impressions filled his mind as he walked back home, and he continued restless until bed. Then, as he slept, he had the same dream, from start to finish. He rose from his bed, grabbed the Koran and read a few portions. Peace continued to elude him.
Suddenly, he noticed the gospel leaflet from the missionaries on the table. When he had been discharged, it had been gathered up along with all his papers and medicines and taken to his house, and hence now sat right there on the table.
He read it with full concentration. A strange and wonderful peace filled his mind as he read, especially when he read: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus" (1 Thes. 4:14). Could it really be? He dialed the mobile number on the back of the pamphlet, and a man with a comfortable, friendly voice answered.
As all this had been unfolding, a local Bibles for Mideast pastor along with his underground church members had been praying and fasting for COVID-19 affected patients around the globe. Restrictions had been lifted on some gatherings in their area, so they were able to meet as a church—albeit secretly. Jordan tolerates their Christian minority, but Christian converts from Islam face physical violence, arrest and even death.
As they prayed, the pastor had a vision that someone with a restless mind and spirit was going to contact him for divine guidance. He shared it with the members, and they all held that person up before God and prayed fervently. Within a few minutes, the pastor received Altaf’s call! After a brief discussion, the pastor invited him to their meeting place.
When he arrived, Altaf tearfully related all he had been through. The pastor gently explained to him the way of salvation through Jesus—how he too could meet Jesus Christ in the clouds and enter into heaven. The pastor then shared his own testimony of conversion from Islam, as did some of the others.
Altaf now found it easy to believe that only through salvation in Jesus would anyone enter the glory of heaven … a Glory he had been so privileged to glimpse. He confessed all of his sins before the Lord and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior and Lord. For their safety, he and his children now stay in the church.
Just today he, along with seven other former Muslims, was baptized! Please pray for him and his two young ones. Also please pray for others baptized this morning. They are facing and will face persecution from many directions.
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* Name changed for security reasons
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