This is the Part 1 of the testimony of my face to face encounter with Jesus Christ and the conversion of my soul from Islam to Christianity by ~BROTHER MUHAMMAD . J . S .
PREFACE AND PRAYER .
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the saviour of mankind, the truth of grace, the light of the world and the glory of God, I give this testimony on the 22nd day of the 3rd Month in the year 2020.
Let it be light, and enlighten those in darkness, that they might see the grace, and truth of God.
Let it be an encouragement to those who are already in light, that they should not divert to darkness .
Let it be fire, and burn up every falsehood that glorifies itself in the heart of men above the throne of yaweh.
Let it Kindle a blazing fire of Holiness and righteousness, and refine the life of every Luke-warm men and women who hears from it, that they might become living sacrifices unto God .
Let it be wisdom and confound everything that men called wisdom which are not of God.
Let it be an inspiration, and inspire every man unto good works, not for their glory, but for the glory of Christ who is the Glory of God.
Let it direct men who are in sin to life in Christ.
Let it shut every lips that seeketh to make it a lie.
And let it be truth to everyone who seeketh after truth.
amen , amen , amen .
TITLE OF DISCUSSION .
My face to face encounter with Jesus Christ and the conversion of my soul from Islam to Christianity ~by Brother Muhammad. J. S.
MY BACKGROUND AND DETAILS OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION .
Hello everyone.
I would like to remain anonymous (not stating the new name I am bearing now) for security reasons.
This is the testimony of my encounters with Jesus Christ and the conversion of my soul from Islam to Christianity.
It all started between the year 2014 or 2015, I forgot the exact date because I thought it wasn't necessary to note down the date by then, for I haven't understood what was going on then.
Before I had the encounter with Christ, I was a devout Muslim and part of my first name was "Muhammad ". When I was a kid, my parents enrolled me and my siblings into an Islamic school to study the Qur'an and Islam .
I studied the Qur'an to some level but never knew the meaning or interpretation of the Arabic words in a language I could understand.
We "the Islamic studies students"
were taught that 'there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is his prophet.
We were told that " Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, lot ,Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Jonah, Moses, Aron ,job, Elias, Elisha,Jonah, David, Solomon,Zachariah, John and Jesus Christ, were all prophets and Holy servants of Allah.
and that "Muhammad is the greatest and the last prophet of Allah, that Islam is a religion of peace, that Christians and jews are enemies of Muslims, that they hate Islam and that the Christians are not worshipping Allah but Jesus who is one of the prophets of Allah.
We were taught that the prophet of Islam "Muhammad" was a good man, that he is the most precious of all the creation of God and most noble and revered before God.
I believed these things even though it is apparent that the image of Islam is bad before the outside world.
some of us believed that the bad image and the tag of terrorism on Islam is a conspiracy by the enemies of Islam in a bid to tarnish the legacy of the prophet Muhammad.
We pray five times in a day fast during the month of Ramadan, goes to hajj if one has the means, and try to do a lot of good works.
We believe by doing so is the only way one could be saved, and no any other way or means one could make it to paradise.
We believed that by the good works of our hands, and submission to the will of Allah is the only guarantee to heaven, and not faith in :Krishna, Buddha, Diana, Dagon, Osiris, Olympia, ogun, amadioha, or any other so-called gods, can get one to heaven. Not even as a christian or Jew .
This beliefs do we held with no thought of questioning the authenticity of such, because we were indoctrinated from childhood to believe in such theories and philosophies even though many doctrines, believes ,and philosophies of Islam are irrational, ridiculous , shameful and inhumane.
We thought there was no need to question the things we were taught , since they were the orders of Allah, whom we were told was "the maker of the heavens, and the earth."
APOSTASY IN ISLAM .
It was written in some hadith that apostasy in Islam is forbidden, and he or she that revert from Islam should be eliminated.
In a Sahih al-Bukhari hadith ~
Allah's Apostle said, "the blood of a muslim who confesses that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from islam (apostate) and leaves the muslims ."
Quoted from — Sahih al-Bukhari ,
9:83:17 , see also
Sahih Muslim ,
16:4152.
It is also the path of Islam that a Muslim community shouldn't be govern by the unbelievers , thus the need for Islamic state where the people shall be govern by the sharia law and only by the Muslims .
Frankly speaking, Islam is against anything that is not Islam, and against every ideology that aren't Muhammad's.
So I grew up with these as a way of life.
I never knew God had a different plan for me.
I never knew I would become a paul.
FAST FORWARD TO THE YEAR 2014 OR 2015 .
I could remember Before my encounter with Christ,
my mum had some problem, and she was invited to a Christian prayer mountain, for nigh vigil prayers, and she thought I needed prayers too, so she ask me to go with her, but I was reluctant ; she insisted, then I followed her unhappily, while we were almost close to the mountain ;I turned back and fled, saying "I am a Muslim and had nothing to do with Christianity ;I was very angry about what she did being that she is a Muslim and shouldn't have anything to do with Christian meetings or churches .
MY ENCOUNTER WITH THE GOSPEL .
I was a hater of Christianity, a persecutor of Christ, and unknowingly "an enemy of God."
I thought I was on the right way until God arises, and took me with his Wright hand from darkness and brought me into light.
As it is written in
Matthew 4:-16 KJV 16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung.
Colossians 1:13-14
13. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14. in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
.
I could remember the first time I felt the power of the gospel, was while I was an apprentice.
It happens that there was a day my boss and I went to carry out some job at the house of a catholic father, while we were done with the job, we went to meet him in one of the rooms , and we met him watching a Christian music video, in the video, some Christian brethren came together and sang to heavens with great joy and power, that you could fill the atmosphere was filled with a divine energy and power.
my boss was overwhelmed like he has never seen anything like that before, and I, "a Muslim" was touched at heart, so much that I didn't know when tears began to ran down from my eyes.
The power of the word they were singing penetrated into my heart and I most confess I felt a kind of joy I have never felt before.
We both left the father's house perplexed and happy.
But I Still held my belief as a Muslim, and never believed I could be saved by Christ, who according to the Christians "was condemned on the cross". but believed that I could only be saved as a Muslim whose good works are greater than his bad works..
yes ! as one who is righteous by his own effort ;is own works.
yes ! I still held on to the shahada, which is the confession of believe in Allah, and his apostle .
WHO HAS THE POWER TO FORGIVE SIN ?.
There was a day I went to the mosque to pray.
after praying, I decided to ask Allah for forgiveness of my sin, so I recited the Arabic words " Astagafir'ulla " which is translated in English - "I seek forgiveness from Allah . "
I recite that more than " 90 "
times.
'then I had a dream, and in that dream, I saw myself wearing a white robe, and some of my school friends burning in hell.
then I woke up, but I couldn't understand the meaning of the dream, and I was confused because I couldn't understand why I should burn in hell even after asking Allah for forgiveness.
But later on as I came to walk in Christ, then the Holy Spirit revealed the meaning of the dream to me.
he said "you were in hell because you were on the wrong path.
the white robe signifies self-righteousness , and you had the dream so that you could know that the one whom you were seeking forgiveness from can not save you, neither has the power to forgive sin.
But the one who have the power to forgive sin is the son of man .
As it is written in Luke 5:17-25
17. Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18. Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.
19. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
20. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
21. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22. But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
23. Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?
24.But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25. Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
A BIBLE GIFT FROM GIDEON INTERNATIONAL .
When I was in primary school,I think around the year 2005, there was a day a Christian organization came to my school and share copies of the new testament from Gideon-international which is a association of Christian business and professional men .
And I was among the students that were given the Bible gift, but then I was a muslin, so I never bothered myself to read it thoroughly. I went home with it, and kept it somewhere.
And Since then, I never bothered to take or read it again.
THE SPIRIT OF ISLAM , AND MY DELIVERANCE FROM IT .
There was a day I had a dream, and in that dream "It happens that: I was possessed by a demon, and was in need of deliverance.
so my mum and sister came to me with a bible in their hands and asked me to kneel down so they could pray for me, but I refused, and rebuked them. saying" you people are Muslim, and supposed not to have anything to do with the Bible," and I was angry with them, so they left me at the parlour, and went to the bedroom, and immediately they started praying for my deliverance.
So I said to myself "I am a Muslim so I would pray for myself the Islamic way.
" then I took my Qu'ran, went to the back of the door and open the Qu'ran to start praying for my deliverance.
I haven't said anything when the demon came out of my body and varnished out of sight.
then something told me that the demon that possessed me came out of my body because of the prayer my mother and sister rendered on my behalf,
And it entered into the Qur'an I was holding which I wanted to use to deliver myself,
because that was were it came from.
Yes! The demon came from the Qu'ran and after my deliverance it went back to the Qu'ran which is where it came from.
But the irony of it is that "outside the dream my mother and sister were still Muslims, and never for once thought I was possessed by a demon, and never prayed for my deliverance.
Neither do they have faith in Christ at any point of their lives."
But when I met a pastor, and narrated the dream to him, he told me that "the two people I saw as my mother and sister in the dream, were not really the mother and sister I have outside the dream, but were actually angels, who came to deliver me from the bondage of Islam."
Thus ~ this means that there is actually a demonic Spirit called "Islam" in the Spiritual realm,
That possess every Muslim and keeps them in great darkness .
MYSELF , A DONKEY, AND THE LORD .
I had another dream, and I dreamt that : I was holding a donkey while walking with Jesus
Christ,
and their was a great crowd behind us, which were following after us while myself and the Lord were at the front leading the people, then suddenly the donkey turned to attack me, then I started running, and it ran after me with great speed, and as I was running, the people were shouting my name and saying run! run! Run! .
And I ran, and ran, and ran till I reached a place where there was no longer a way to follow but only a wall in front of me, as the donkey was almost close to me, the the Lord Jesus CHRIST came to my rescue and took hold of the donkey, then I woke up,
But I don't know the meaning of that dream.
THE FACE TO FACE ENCOUNTER .
So I had a vision and in that vision I saw Jesus Christ face to face 'standing before me wearing a white robe.
Then I bowed my head with my face touching the surface of the ground, in worship to him, then he said something but I couldn't hear what he said,
Then My heart was filled with joy and I said to myself "so even I could worship God?.
Then it ended.
And that vision declared to me that Jesus Christ is more than a prophet more than a Lord but also the God and creator of the heavens and the earth.
As it is written in - Isaiah 9:6
6. For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
And as it was also written in John 1:1~5
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
And by speaking those words I couldn't hear,
He spiritually created hunger for the gospel in my heart, but I didn't know that, until the time I was noting down some part of this testimony on the "29th day of the 2nd month in the year 2020" that the Holy Spirit gave me the revelation that he created a hunger for his words in my heart that was why I couldn't hear him,
As it is written in Matthew 4:4
4. But He (JESUS CHRIST) answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
'and in search for those words that proceeds from his mouth which I was unable to hear, I began to search for the gospel so I could read from it, and hear from it what I couldn't hear in the vision.
I began to search for where to get a bible.
I was hungry for the bread of life.
Then one day, while searching the bedroom I stumbled upon a
"New testament Bible which is a New king James version" I then took it only to discover that it was the same Bible that was distributed by a Christian business and professional men association called Gideon which is an international Bible distribution association, to students in the year 2005 while I was in class five in my primary school days, only to discover it in year 2015, that is "10 years later."
'One might thought that Gideon only distributed the Bible to students and only that couldn't make any significant change in the lives of the receivers,
But this has proven that wrong.
The Bible I received in the year 2005 and dumped at home without reading it thoroughly, neither with any hope of finding it again.
was the same Bible I stumbled upon in the year 2015 which became one of the major instruments that shapes my faith in Christ.
You can see that the Labour of Gideon never went in vain.
This should be an encouragement to those who are evangelizing and thought they haven't won a soul to God not to be discourage , for you can't tell how far the effect of your evangelism could go or the number of lives your preaching to one person might save if the Holy spirit gives that person understanding and brings him or her to God.
I would also like to admonish those who are not evangelizing to have a pity on the lost soul and preach to them the words, light and the life of Christ who is the only saviour of their SOULS.
Remember it is written :Mark 16:1515. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Please arise from your sleep and slumber no more for there are millions upon millions who do not know the truth of the gospel of Christ.
And if you are a Christian then you should know that you are called to harvest souls for Zion not to harvest grains for yourselves.
SPREAD THE TESTIMONY , SPREAD THE GOSPEL .
Please feel free to copy this testimony and remake it into different formats like :audio, video, PDF, social media post or messages , hard copy books , pictures, church Sermons or any how you wishes, in as far as you wouldn't temper or alter its original content, except if there is any need for editing spelling mistakes, words arrangements or update of words that has become archaic or too old for the people to comprehend.
Please do not reproduce, edit, or modify this testimony for " profit making or for any personal gain" that can not benefit any part of the church of Christ or be giving to charity .
As it is written in Matthew 10:7-8
7. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Please feel free to copy this testimony and post it elsewhere without removing or adding anything to it except where you thought the author might have made a mistake in spelling or arrangement of letters, numbers and words. But please do that under the direction, inspiration and influence of the Holy Spirit.
Anonymous (for security reasons)
Nigeria