Visits From Jesus
September 15th, 2009 Something is happening in the world right now that is so phenomenal it is dumfounding that the media is not all over the story. Could it be that the “Prince of the air” is the prince of the “airwaves?” But that is another story. The one we need to pay attention to today can best be described by quoting verbatim what an extremely influential Saudi Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Al Qaraani, stated in a live interview on Aljazeera television. Al Qaraani lamented, “In every hour, 667 Muslims convert to Christianity. Every day, 16,000 Muslims convert to Christianity.”
Think about what this Islamic leader said. This in itself is unprecedented. These Muslim converts are not like Joe American teenager who walks down an aisle at a church in Boise, Idaho, and then goes home to proud parents, grandparents, and Aunt Sue. Not at all. These Muslims convert with the full knowledge that they will be ostracized from their families and friends, persecuted, thrown in jail, possibly tortured, maybe even to death. Conversions from Islam to Christianity in decades past have been almost nonexistent because of these real life fears. Something huge has happened.
Part of it could be attributed to satellite TV, international radio evangelism, the disgust by moderate Muslims of extremist violence, or just the disenchantment caused by broken promises of Islamic government leaders. The big story is that these things, though, are not the main thing that drives the converts. The gigantic story that should be shouted from the rooftops is that these converts are having actual visits from Jesus Himself in the form of dreams and visions. These are not isolated cases. These are occurring and being documented by the thousands. And of the converts who have not had these awesome personal encounters with Christ, many are being converted by those who have.
As reported in Joel Rosenberg’s wonderful new nonfiction book, Inside the Revolution, “An Iranian pastor I knew met a twenty-two year old Iranian Shia woman who had become a Christian after seeing a vision of Jesus Christ. She just showed up in his church one day hungry to study the Bible for herself. The more she studied God’s word, the more deeply she loved Jesus. Soon she discovered that God had given her the spiritual gift of evangelism. … Today she leads an average of fifteen people to Christ every day - that’s right, fifteen a day. She told my pastor friend that Iranian Muslims are so desperate for the gospel that typically it takes about five minutes to share the story of her conversion and how God has changed her life before the listener is ready to also receive Christ. ‘Difficult’ conversations, she says, with several questions or concerns, take fifteen to twenty minutes.”
Some of these real encounters with Jesus result in instructions to hear the good news from someone else. Rosenberg tells of one such case, “One Iranian Muslim woman had a dream in which God told her, ‘Whatever the two women you are going to meet with tomorrow tell you, listen to them.’ Startled, she went through the next day curious who she would meet. … At one point two Iranian Christians came up to her and explained the message of salvation to her. She obeyed the Lord’s direction from the dream, listened carefully, and then bowed her head and prayed to receive Christ as her Savior.”
Another elderly Iranian woman was watching the Jesus film in Farsi on satellite TV. When she got to the end of it, she was in tears. The narrator of the film recited Jesus’ words in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door , I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
The woman decided she should open her door, and she literally walked over to her apartment door and opened it. As Rosenberg tells her story, “She was suddenly blinded by a bolt of light emanating from a figure in the doorway. ‘Who is it?’ she asked.
‘It is I.’ Jesus said.
‘Come in, my Lord,’ she said, and Jesus entered her home.
For the next few minutes, Jesus spoke to her about Himself, told her he loved her and had forgiven her, and told her to get a Bible and begin reading it. And then, as suddenly as he had appeared, He was gone.” She, of course, gave her life to Christ.
But maybe these three women had already been leading exemplary lives. Is the awesome love of Christ being shown only to those types of Muslims? Not at all. A case in point was nicknamed, Jazaar, which means “butcher.” Rosenberg calls him Saada. Here was a vicious terrorist who was friends with Yasser Arafat, his driver and bodyguard. He “happily” killed for Arafat and served as a sniper in the PLO. He had killed innocent Jews and Christians alike.
At one point, though, as told By Rosenberg, “his friend began reading from the book of John, chapter one, verse one: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ … Saada began to shake. … Saada would later recall, ‘Before I knew it I was on my knees. I didn’t consciously decide to kneel. It just happened. I lost all awareness that my friend was in the room. A light came into my field of vision - a talking light. … The light said to me, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” I didn’t know at that moment that those words were what Jesus said during the Last Supper (in John 14:6). As far as I was concerned, they were a message from Jesus solely for me.
“Suddenly, Saada said, he just knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the triune God - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - existed. He knew with certainty that this triune God loved him. and sobbing with shame at his sin and with thankfulness for God’s mercy, he cried out, ‘Oh Jesus, come into my life! Forgive me and be my Lord and Savior!”
Today Saada’s passion is to bring the saving knowledge of Jesus to the Islamic world.
These are only a few of the thousands of true happenings in which Jesus Christ is visiting those in the Muslim world right now. Again I will say, this is unprecedented in these centuries. This is so extraordinary as to be indescribable. These are modern day Damascus Road experiences. And they are happening daily.
The burning question we need to ask is “Why is Jesus leaving His seat beside the Father to enter the world through dreams and visions like He is today? Why now?” I have my own opinion. You can form yours.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Uncle Bob, What a perfect blog to end on. Loving Muslims had always been so difficult for me as I saw them as the enemies of God. Thru Joel’s program and The Third Jihad, I have seen real evidence of an amazing move of God that I never thought would take place. So this is a timely word for me as well.
Of course I’d love to see the book reprinted, but maybe I’ll relinquish my copy to someone who really needs a hardcopy.
I love you Uncle Bob and love how God has used you these last few years. Soon, we will be in heaven together and we’ll meet all those that had the pleasure to delve into Unlocking God’s Secrets and encounter a revelation.
Until then, we’ll see ya round.
love ya
lori
September 15th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Bob, I’m sorry to hear this. One thing’s for sure, God is in charge and I’m going to keep this in prayer. I’m glad you’re leaving the blog site up for a while. I agree with Lori regarding this last article. It needs to be read and remembered. God really is awesome!
Blessings,
mac
PS How can we get a hold of the E book version?
September 15th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Dear Mac,
Thank you so much for your prayers. This last post has only been up an houir and I have already had quite a lot of e-mails asking me to reconsider.
As to the e-book, it can be ordered at Amazon.
In Christ Jesus eternally, Bob
September 15th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Well, Lori’s Uncle Bob, I’m sorry to see this blog go away. (At another blog, we affectionatly refer to you as Uncle Bob since Lori introduced you to us) I have learned much and passed much along to others. I think I will print out some of the old posts, so I hope you will leave them up for a week or so.
God’s blessings to you
Anne
September 16th, 2009 at 7:35 am
I have been quietly enjoying all of your insights on the blog, it will be missed. More importantly, thank you for taking your time with me many years ago as you slowly helped me back into an abiding relationship with Jesus. Praise God! I often think of your style of service to our Creator when I neglect to witness to others, even though I know good and well it is the only important thing eternally.
In Christ, Ed
September 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Dear Grandpa,
I am sorry to here about that. I am even more amazed by this story, I never even thought of there being many christians in the “muslim world”. I think I will consider reading Inside the Revolution.
Love,
Jake
September 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Thank you Bob for inspiring me through your devotion and words. Your book was instrumental in my return to the Lord. Your blogs were awesome. Thank you Lord for giving Bob all these truths to share. Regarding Muslims coming to Jesus, I would recommend another book called “Miracle of Miracles”. It is available from Touch of Christ Ministries. God bless you!
September 16th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Uncle Bob (Lori’s),
I am sad that you are ending your blog and yes, I intend to preserve your articles in a pdf document if that is alright. My greatest regret is the book no longer being available to those seeking a real walk with the Lord. I am praying for another Christian party to take up the cost of publishing it so everyone can learn from it.
Thank you for sharing this insight into the Muslim world and all of the other wonderful articles. I will miss your input but I know that God has more plans for you in just a matter of a few weeks.
Shalom,
Grany
September 24th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I was still praying for you to change the circumstances and seek another avenue then Lori shared the new news.
We never give up, we might take a break now and then but we never give up!
Grany