Large numbers of new Muslim-background believers are being baptised. These Muslims knew they risked being shunned and even killed if they turn their backs on Islam and embrace Jesus Christ instead. But despite the great risks, scores of Muslim refugees have reportedly converted to Christianity, with some saying that Jesus appeared to them in their dreams, promising to help and save them. For instance, a large number of Syrian Muslims who have fled their war-torn country and sought refuge in Lebanon have accepted Christ. Abu Radwan, one of the new Christian converts, said Jesus appeared to him in a dream two years ago. “I started going to the church. I believed that Jesus was coming to help us, to save us,” he was quoted as saying.

Radwan said he turned to Christ fully aware that he would be courting death in doing so. In fact, he said he was once stabbed while coming home from the church. He knew his attackers – they were Syrians from his own tribe. Other Christian churches in Lebanon are also reportedly filling up with Christian converts, including an evangelical church in Beirut. Countless Muslim refugees in Europe have also converted to Christianity as gauged from rising attendance in Christian churches all over Europe, according to The Guardian.

The Independent said the Muslims who have turned to Christ, especially Iranians, are seeing Christianity as a new chance at freedom. “A lot of them come to Germany and think, here I can choose my religion and I want to choose a religion of freedom,” said Matthias Linke, a priest from the Evangelical Freikirchlichen Gemeinde in Berlin. “For many Iranians that I’ve baptised,
Christianity is the religion of freedom.”

According to Mission Network News, Terence Ascott, the founder and CEO of the SAT-7 Christian satellite network, which reaches out to refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, said Muslim families turn to Christianity after being drawn by Jesus’ message of peace and love. “It’s surprising just how much damage the Muslim world has done to itself due to this schism between Sunni and Shiites,” Ascott said.

Source: Hazel Torres, Christian Today, Elam Ministries

Bible Study: Joshua 24:14-15

NOVEMBER Praise God that Islam has so damaged itself with sectarian strife it is now leading many to find peace in Jesus.
PRAY DEEPER for the Middle East and North Africa to experience real change.