Why Did You Become An Infidel?
Jafer and his wife, as I sat spellbound listening to Jafer’s incredible testimony
Jafer told me of his own lifelong spiritual journey. At age 22, he was reading a Bible that had been given to him, comparing Jesus’ teaching with what Mohamed taught in the Quran. Because Islam “ran through his veins” as he put it, he suffered great internal conflict, to the point that, one day, he tossed both the Bible and Quran and cried out to God, tearing his clothes and pulling his hair. Jafer told me, “I was beating on the refrigerator, the stove and on the walls and pointing my finger to God and crying out to Him: ‘Where are You? How can I find You? How can I find the truth?'”
God heard Jafer’s desperate prayer, and three days later gave him a dream so vivid that Jafer calls it a vision. In that vision, Jafer saw Jesus “riding the clouds with His arms wide open as they were on the cross, His face glowing with light.” Jafer said, “I was trying to look closely at His face but I couldn’t because the light it shone was too strong.”
Jafer described more of his vision: “When Christ appeared to me, He was as big as a billboard or a great building, and He was in the clouds from His waist to His feet, and He was descending from heaven to earth. I had no doubt that He was God. In the vision, I was running in the street waking up sleeping people while pointing my finger to Christ and telling them ‘Look! Christ is coming down from heaven!'”
That was the moment of Jafer’s salvation and his calling to preach the gospel, 29 years ago.
Jafer began his ministry by sharing what had happened to him with his family. He succeeded in winning his younger brother to the Lord, but the rest of his family rejected him. His father told him that if he didn’t repent and return to Islam, he should leave his house and never return. Jafer left. As he did, he could hear from the street his mother and siblings weeping inside.
Jafer’s father went so far as to file a legal complaint against him for converting to Christianity, a crime punishable by death according to the Quran and punishable by a long prison sentence under Jordanian law. At the first hearing, the judge began by asking Jafer, “Why did you become an infidel?” Jafer told me that he refuted every argument with the help that Jesus promised to those brought to court (Matt. 10:19).
At his second hearing, Jafer enjoyed the same supernatural wisdom as he was pummeled with the typical Islamic objections to Christianity. At his third and final hearing, rains flooded the streets of Jordan’s capital, Amman, and Jafer’s father couldn’t make it to court. With the prosecutor absent, the judge dismissed the case. As Jafer left the court, the judge discreetly handed him a note that said, “This is my number and address. Call me, because I want to know about Christ separately”!
As a young believer, Jafer dedicated his time to telling others in Jordan’s capital of Amman about God’s love, something for which Allah is not known. His zeal resulted in him being arrested by secret police who caught him publicly debating a Muslim scholar in the marketplace. Jafer used his arrest as an opportunity to witness, starting with the police who arrested him, and then all the way up the chain of command as he was repeatedly questioned by increasingly-more senior police officers. At the top of that chain the chief of Amman’s police made a decision: “Take him and lock him up until he stands before a judge in downtown Amman, so the judge can sentence him to be stoned in front of the big Mosque (Al-Husaini Mosque).”
Through yet another set of unusual circumstances, Jafer was released from prison—in part to stop him from preaching to all the prisoners. Upon his release he was warned to never speak to anyone about Christ. That, of course, didn’t deter him in the least. Ultimately, Jafer found his way to the U.S.
Jafer did not forget his calling to tell Muslims the Good News once he landed on American soil. For the past 25 years, Jafer has done nothing else but preach the gospel, first as a street preacher, then traveling around the country speaking in churches and Muslim neighborhoods.
He’s become quite good at what he does, and today, Jafer is a seasoned apologist and evangelist. He knows the Quran better than most Muslim scholars, and he knows the Bible even better. He can graciously refute any argument posed by Muslims.
As Jafer was faithful in small things, eventually the Lord opened a door for him to preach to Muslims in the privacy of their own homes through satellite TV that covers much of the Muslim world. His live call-in program, Ask the People of the Book, attracts Muslim seekers and antagonists who call in to ask questions and debate. On several occasions, Jafer has had Muslim leaders as studio guests.
As I listened to Jafer tell his story that evening, I so much wanted to be involved in the harvest he’s experiencing. At that same conference where I met Jafer, I heard respected Middle Eastern and North African Christian leaders repeatedly declare that they have never seen more openness to the gospel among Muslims than the present time. With all the turmoil in the Muslim world, disenchanted Muslims are seeking for truth and finding it. We must seize this unprecedented opportunity!
So for this month’s special project, we’re going to help Jafer establish a website and internet broadcast ministry that will focus on evangelism of Muslims and discipleship of Muslim-background believers. It will be a resource for Arabic- and English-speaking Muslims who are seeking truth, which they can privately access to find answers to all their questions. All of Jafer’s live, call-in TV broadcasts will be archived on that website, as well as video-taped and written testimonies of former Muslims. Plus, Jafer will post his unique literal English translation of the Quran, which exposes how modern English translations of the original Arabic have been softened.
This is a wonderful opportunity for Heaven’s Family to get involved in the greatest harvest among Muslims in 1,300 years. Once Jafer has his own video recording studio set up, he’ll be able to produce many more evangelism and teaching programs and broadcast them live and on-demand. People will be able to view them on their computers and mobile phones. For everything, Jafer will need in excess of $20,000.
I’m happy to report that, through our Compassion Club members, we’ve already raised $5,145 for this project. (That is the amount of all current Compassion Club monthly pledges.)
Would you prayerfully consider joining us in this opportunity? No gift is too small, and every gift is treasure laid up in heaven. Don’t let news reports of Islamic terrorists quench your God-given compassion for Muslim people who, through no fault of their own, were born in nations under the bondage of Islam…and especially those who are thirsting for the Good News that we’ve been blessed to hear.
Also, prayerfully consider joining our Compassion Club so that you can rejoice every month that you are investing in special projects like this one. I’ll be keeping you informed of what your investments are accomplishing. (You can learn more about our Compassion Club by clicking here.)
I hope you are as excited as I am about this month’s special project! Thanks for reading!
For the glory of our God,
David
