Saturday, October 25, 2008

Visions of Isa: Muslim Converts to Christ

"And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28 (NKJV)


Since the time of Mohammed, there has been unease between the great religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Wars have been fought between surrogates of the great faiths and they have historically remained ethnically distinct, with few exceptions.

That is now changing. Even though Christian missionaries have preached the Gospel to the Muslim world for hundreds of years, they have had few converts. Over the past twenty years, that began to change.

Over the past few decades, increasing numbers of Muslims have begun to have supernatural dreams and visions of Isa, as Muslims call Jesus Christ. These dreams affect a cross section of Muslims. Young, old, men, women, and even fanatics have reported the dreams. In one survey of Muslim converts to Christianity, 25% of respondents report having dreams or visions of Christ before their conversion. Interestingly enough, 45% report having dreams or visions after their conversion.

Bill Bright, director of Campus Crusade for Christ’s evangelism efforts is the Middle East and North Africa, reports that the group has received thousands of letters from Muslims telling of dreams in which Isa appears and tells them “I am the way.” They then contact Campus Crusade, which broadcasts a radio program throughout the area, to find out who this Isa is.

One member of the Campus Crusade staff is a woman who was a former Muslim radical. While in prison for her activities, Isa-Jesus appeared to her and explained redemption and the Gospel to her. She became a Christian and now spends her time working to tell other Muslims about Isa.

While there are a wide variety of these dreams and visions, most seem to fall into two categories. The first is preparatory dreams and visions. These might instruct the dreamer to visit a Christian or seek out a copy of the Bible. Some dream of Isa telling them how to obtain forgiveness and redemption. In some dreams, Isa saves their lives or frees them from bondage. Some even dream of Hell.

In one case, an Indonesian imam made a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. While on a bus tour in Mecca, he talked with the driver, who told him that Allah wanted to have a relationship with him and that he should not focus on rituals such as the hajj. After a stop, he returned to the bus to find a different driver.

After returning to his home in Indonesia, the man was still perplexed by his encounter with the bus driver. One day, while visiting the home of a local Chinese Christian, the man noticed a picture of the bus driver on the wall. The picture was Isa-Jesus. The man became a Christian. (http://isaalmasih.net/isa/malay-mecca.html)

The second broad category is that of empowering dreams and visions. These dreams give the dreamer strength to endure persecution and trials. When Muslims convert to Christianity, they are often disowned by their families and friends, beaten, arrested, tortured, and sometimes even killed. These empowering dreams and visions help them to cope with these trials.

It is hard to determine just how many Muslims are converting to Christianity. In some countries, the number of believers in Christ is still in the single digits. In others, they number in the hundreds of thousands. In Iran, there were about 200-300 Muslim converts when the Islamic revolution took place in 1979. Today, Iranian Christians International estimates that there are more than 70,000 Iranian Christians, not including secret believers. Morocco had only 400 Christians in the 1990s. Today that number has more than doubled to 1000.

One of the most prominent Muslims to convert to Christianity is Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son a leader of the Hamas terrorist organization. Yousef, while not reporting any dreams or visions, was troubled by many aspects of the Islamic religion. When he spent time in an Israeli prison, he became disillusioned by the harsh treatment and torture that Hamas members inflicted on their own Palestinian people. Yousef studied the Bible and became convinced that it was the word of God.

As noted earlier, dreams and visions play a role in the conversion of only about 25% of Muslim-born Christians. What convinces the other 75% that Isa is the Christ? The most common answer is the lifestyle of Christians. Many note that there is no gap between the morality that Christians preach and the lifestyle that they live. Others noted that Christians treat women with respect and do not practice violence as many Muslims do.

Next, Muslim converts say that the power of God in answering prayers, healing, and driving out demons was important in their conversions. There are many cases of healing following prayer after the failure of other methods. In one case, a Nigerian witch doctor reportedly cursed a man considering converting to Christianity. The man became insane and was deserted by his family, but after praying to Jesus he was healed.

Many converts, such as Yousef, were also dissatisfied with the brand of Islam that they experienced. They note that the Koran focuses on punishment and lacks a message of love and forgiveness. Many also point to harsh Islamic law and Islamic militancy as pushing them towards the loving God of Christianity. Some Muslims are attracted to Isa before they know of Christianity since the Koran teaches that Isa is a prophet and healer.

Christian missionaries, such as Brother Andrew of Open Doors, say that one of the most important things that Western Christians can do for the emerging Muslim-convert church is to pray. These Christians are under constant pressure and many are attacked by local mobs or harassed by authorities. In addition to adding souls to God’s kingdom, they note that, as a growing Christian church in Eastern Europe played a central role in the fall of communism, a growing church in the Islamic world may help bring peace to the Middle East.

The unprecedented conversions, dreams and visions that the Islamic world is experience may be hard for jaded westerners to believe. Unbelievable or not, God is actively working around the world. The Christian church of the free world should join in his work.

"Look among the nations and watch-- Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days Which you would not believe, though it were told you.
Hab 1:5 (NKJV)


Testimonies and Stories of Muslim Converts:
http://net-burst.net/hot/muslim.htm
http://truthnet.org/dreamsandvisions/
http://www.spiritlessons.com/Documents/More_than_Dreams/More_than_Dreams.htm

Sources:
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/212177.aspx
http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/missions_true_stories/Dreams_Visions_Move_Muslims_To_Christ.shtml
http://isaalmasih.net/isa/dreamsofisa.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/554407/posts
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/october/42.80.html
http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/199801/018_emerging_muslim.cfm
http://www.farsinet.com/ici/
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,402483,00.html

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