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Muslim Journey of Hope · Divine Revelations

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When I grow up, I always see God as a very
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far distant God that I was so afraid of Him.
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And I was trying to please Him with all my good works and staying pure according to the teaching that I received
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and growing as a Shiite Muslim, devoted Shiite Muslim.
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And I was trying to just perform the five days, five times prayers per day
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and toward Kaaba, toward Mecca and always doing good things
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but I didn't have any assurance where I was heading after this life.
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And then because of the wars and because of the situation in the country
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where I was born and the revolution and seeing all these young dead people
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I started to question God, I began to question God
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are you there while all these things are happening?
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And always my mom says, be quiet, you're going to go to hell.
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You don't question God.
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And so I was searching, I was reading the Quran.
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And what was really astonishing to me that I learned,
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he had, Allah has 99 names, that He is mighty, that He is this and He is that.
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And none of the names was love.
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So there were too many contradictions, too many questions
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that I was searching for the real truth
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and the greatest fear I have
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if I deny this God and Allah
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because he's going to punish me
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I'm going to heading to hell
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even if I didn't have this assurance
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where after this life
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I am going
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because I was asking
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they said well
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Inshallah we go to heaven
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Inshallah means
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God willing
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we go to heaven
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but again
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so hard to understand
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And it really is disappointing to know you live this life without living it.
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So I went to university and I saw a flyer on the board that they were showing Jesus movie.
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So out of curiosity, I said, well, he was a good prophet.
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He had so many miracles.
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The prophet that I was believing at that time didn't commit any miracle, didn't have any miracle.
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So I want to know, I want to watch the movie, what I'm going to lose.
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out of curiosity I went and for the first time in my life
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I met some Muslim who converted to Christianity
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and they were medical doctors some of them
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they were former haji that they you know went to Mecca
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so I was saying to myself I was asking questions
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what happened what led them to come to know Jesus
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not as just a great prophet but as the son of God
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as the savior of the world
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and after watching this movie I started to
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I began again questioning the teaching of Quran
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because I saw in that movie that Jesus was crucified
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Jesus went on the cross because of us sinners
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and then rose from the dead three days later
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and his tomb was empty
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this is not what I learned about Jesus
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and the way he was born
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he was born in Bethlehem
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which is the teaching of Quran
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was he was born in a desolated desert so there
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were so many uh you know uh contradictions so
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after them watching this movie they came to me and we started to you know talk and i started
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gradually you know to know them but began to
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argue with them i knew somehow i knew what they
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were saying is the truth but because of that
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spirit of fear that fear just grabbed hold of me
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I couldn't, you know, I couldn't accept.
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Or I can say I refused to accept the truth.
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So especially when they said all are sinners, we are all sinners,
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I said no, I didn't commit any immorality,
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I didn't commit any sexual immorality, drinking alcohol for me,
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everything is just, you know, outwards.
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So I started to argue with them because I was so afraid for them
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according to the teaching of Islam that I received
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and the scriptures in Quran that if we deny Islam,
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we're going to go to hell.
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So I told them, you're gonna go to hell. I tried to convert them back to Islam, but still they kept loving me unconditionally.
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That was the greatest thing that really touched my heart.
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And for the first time in my life, I saw a Bible, a New Testament.
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And according again to the teaching that I grew up with, the Bible has been tahrif or has been changed.
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And because of that curiosity to see what part of Bible has been tahrifed or changed,
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I started to read and study the Bible.
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And at my total amazement, not only I didn't see any contradictions or any changes,
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I was just seeing affirmation of God's love from the beginning to the last chapter.
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One night, I was on my knees and I said,
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God, I don't really want to go to hell.
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If you are really the one these friends are telling me,
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please reveal yourself.
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Please show yourself to me.
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And out of God's great mercy and grace,
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he appeared to me in a dream.
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That night, in that dream that I had,
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three men in white robes with Roman sandals
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in a shape of a triangle, stood in front of me in that frame.
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I was not able to see the faces of two of them,
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but the one who was standing in front
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of me just answered my question.
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The question with which I went to bed.
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And he said, why you have so much doubt in me?
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Just believe in me.
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I woke up, I never had any encounter so closely with God
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I never had this personal conversation with God
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Because to me Allah was so far away
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So sitting in high places that I cannot reach
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So that's why I go through imams or intermediaries
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To ask even for a simple prayer
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And when I woke up for the first time
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That peace came upon me
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Because I know all of us have such a, you know,
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deep down inside of us there is some void.
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There is something empty inside of us that just our creator can fill this void.
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So I got up and I'm driving to the college.
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I'm coming back and forth.
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And this dream was like a film, like a movie in front of my eyes.
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So I called that lady, the former haji.
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I said, I had this dream and she said, well, we cannot see the face of the Father or the Holy Spirit.
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You know, we was just by faith as Jesus asked.
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If you confess that you are a sinner and give
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your life to me and believe that I came for you,
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that I am God and I died on the cross for you and for your sins,
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I became thing for you and shed my blood to cleanse you from all these impurities
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and rose again three days later you are
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saved so just by faith even if still I
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was questioning about you know if Jesus is God son of God because I have the
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physical concept of Jesus being Son of God in my mind I had this prayer just by
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faith but it's by this friend and at the same time at the end of prayer I was
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feeling like I am a feather in the air I felt so light it was like heavy
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baggages heavy heaviness was just coming
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out of me and one time I read the Bible
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again the first chapter of the book of John before I came to know the Lord and
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confessing as my Lord and Savior I read the Bible I didn't have the Spirit of
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God unless the Holy Spirit revealed that Jesus is Lord there is no other way so I
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read the first verse in the beginning was God in the beginning I'm sorry in
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the beginning was Ward and the word was with God and the word was God himself
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and a voice clearly as I'm talking and hearing my voice right now inside of me
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said Luke verse 14 and I look at verse
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14 and says and the word became flesh
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and dwell among us and immediately that scale came off of my eyes and for the
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first time in my life confessed with all my being that Jesus is Lord and there is
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no other name given on this on this
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earth under this sky that we can get
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saved except by Jesus Jesus Christ the
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Savior of me of you and the world I would
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tell to my brothers and sisters that the arms of God who created us and who was
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we so almighty and powerful that even he can put without changing his nature he
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can become flesh and say here I am I accept you
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the way you are you don't have to please me with
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all this good work that you are not sure even from uh for your eternity when are you where
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are you heading I accept you the way you are and
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my arms are so large extended toward you to receive
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you with love and i can saturate you with peace
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and with joy and with love that even if no
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circumstances in life can take away that peace
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and joy and love because i am the giver of life
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i don't take life i give you life he said i knew
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you by name when you were you are in the womb of
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your mother i mean we are talking about a great
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and awesome god who can feel our heart he knows
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deep down what's going on in our hearts he's the only way he doesn't say i am just one of the ways
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or i am just a prophet he said i am the way the
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truth and the life he is everything that's why
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said then you shall know the truth the truth knowing that truth knowing Jesus
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shall set you free I born in strong
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Muslim family which is Shia I grew up in
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my faith which is transferred from my grandma to my grandfather to my dad and
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transferred to me I remember years ago
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when I was as a child my grandmother
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were encouraging me to do namaz and to
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the Islam traditional I tried to follow
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this the faith they keep telling me
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since I was young I remember even I was
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child like 12 years 12 years old my grandma said you have to if you want to
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go to heaven you have to follow what we are teaching you and my grandfather from
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my dad's side he had a mosque you know so the bag was 12 years old I lost my
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dad and my sister in car accident and I was living with them for two years at
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and I was doing fasting I was doing all
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the stuff they were telling me I was
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thinking Allah which is the God in Islam he's someone in heaven okay
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he never he never have any relationship
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with me when I need him I cry out you
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know to help me you know I was empty no I was in bad situation he was not near
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to me I thought maybe you know
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I'm in this big world there is no
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hope for me I really hate people
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that time I was full of anger I said people didn't don't like me God doesn't care about me
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you know religion doesn't help me so why I
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have to leave so one day I decided to suicide
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I was crying that night I remember I drank also I said God why I'm not dying
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you know I don't want to live anymore why I have to leave and after that was
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one day I remember my friend whose name is Hassan he introduced me to some
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Christian organization one day he told me there is a church in this street do
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you want to go and visit that church I said no I don't want to go to the church
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and he was Muslim too I don't want to go to the church he said no no let's go
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there so we went there anyway it was the middle of the service and preacher was
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preaching about the message of gospel I
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remember he was saying God is our Father
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and that was the place I feel empty in my heart I thought the emptiness in my
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heart is because I don't have my dad but it was not true actually it was part of
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it but he was teaching he was preaching you know god is our father and then uh that his message
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was speaking to my heart i feel you know is some related relationship between his world and my
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heart he was he was telling in his message you
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know how god loves people even though they are
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sinner even though they are uh they're not walking
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with him or every day but he was telling me about
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his passion God God has you know he's created as a father and he loves us you
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know doesn't matter who we are from
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which generation from which religion if
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we are Muslim if we are Christian he is his upper father you know so when the
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service ended the gentleman came he said if you want to come and give your heart
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to Jesus if I was going to do that really but I was afraid of my friend
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Hassan was there I said no you know he's gonna see you know I'm gonna I became
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Christian he was gonna he's gonna tell all the neighbors friends you know yeah
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and now time became Christian and sent so it was very you know it was war in
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inside of me okay some voice said go to the altar to the front and give your
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heart and another voice said no no don't do that you know it was you know my
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flesh was telling me don't do that so I did the gentleman came again he said you
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know this preacher is gonna preach entire week if you want to come welcome
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tomorrow also so yes I'm gonna go to the church again but without Hassan you know
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I don't want to go with Hassan but after that service I went home I couldn't
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sleep that night the world of that preacher were talking to me all night
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you know it was really touched my heart
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so then tomorrow tomorrow after work I
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went to the church I was first person in
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the sanctuary sanctuary and then I feel
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very different smell I never feel in the
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past you know and then suddenly people
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are starting to come to the church one by one and then people start to singing
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and worship the Lord in the past I was going to them to the mosque you know I
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never seen people thinking for the Lord joining because they have something their
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life what I was I saw it was people crying to Allah they were in sorrow you
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know because what happened to their Imam or to their their prophets but I never
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seen someone is dancing singing for the Lord and one thing it was interesting to
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me also it was they were singing to Jesus at one song I always remember it
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touched my heart was you know if you're tired if you don't know about your
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future tell it to Jesus tell it to Jesus if you are sinner tell it to Jesus you
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know so did the songs were taught you know talking to my life to my heart you
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know it was something I never experienced before and the preacher came
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the same preacher had preached yesterday he came here start preaching his message
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was about how we are sinner so yesterday he said God loves us and today he said
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we are sinner I found out through his message and word of God the emptiness I
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have is not because I lost my dad my problem is because I'm sinner and that
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was the emptiness I never feel I never do anything about it in the past
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I tried to be good Muslim but that was not I needed what I needed is to have I
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have to repent because I'm sinner I remember I don't know what happened
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suddenly but before the pastor altar call I was in the front I was crying for
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15 minutes later on people told me you know you were crying out you know
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shouting God I need you God Jesus if you're alive come to my heart and change
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me I'm sinner I don't know what to do you are the only person you can help me
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so at same time some gentleman was looking me you know he was looking me
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I'm crying for 15 minutes he came he said a young man do you need help I said yes please help me
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I need help you know I don't know what to do you know and he came and he he guided me to pray and
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you know give my heart to the Lord after I gave
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my heart to the Lord to Jesus you know I stood up
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I feel I'm just again I can say I'm born again you know I didn't know anything about born again
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But I feel I'm born, I'm new
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You know, I'm fresh
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So I was going home
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The way I was going home
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I was dancing and shouting
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Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus
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The song, you know
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In the very first beginning of the worship
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I heard, you know
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Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus
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After I went home
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My mom said
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Something is wrong with you
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What happened?
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You're crazy, you're different
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Did you receive some money?
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I said no, no, no
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I found Jesus
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you know jesus came to my life she said no you're crazy you know what you're talking jesus is a
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prophet he's in the heaven you know i said no no i changed i'm not same person and after that
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every after after that night i feel you know
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a new beginning in my life so everything was
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converted, everything was
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transformed, you know
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I was a bad person
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I was sinner, I was
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empty, now I became
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you know, a happy person
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no more
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anger in my life, you know
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and
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I start to love people, you know
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in the past I never loved people
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I love to fight with them, I love to be
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to be against
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of the people's teaching or
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ideas but now I love more people from
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that night I feel a new person I never
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have relationship with Allah I try to be closer to Allah but nothing received
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from him I didn't know Allah is different than Jehovah God in
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Christianity and then but through Jesus Jesus Christ my Lord I start to have
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relation new relationship with my creator with my Savior so every time I
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start reading his board you know the
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gospel you know every time I had my
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quiet time with the Lord I think God is near me I feel he is friend of me I
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remember when I when I got baptized the pastor said yeah brother and not that he
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lost his father but he found Heavenly
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Father so I found that I have
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someone more valuable than human person
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so I have now my father God is always
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with me and he gave me everything I
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needed you know so maybe many things is
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is still same thing because uh i live in this is earth you know in this world but
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i feel more peace i feel more joy you know so
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when i go to the church when i serve the lord
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i feel i'm walking with someone i'm talking with
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someone he's always with me the bible shows us
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and god is always looking searching for people who are searching for him
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I know many of you are watching my testimony on this program
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You're looking for the truth
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You're looking for someone to help you to know the true God
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I just want to mention today
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I just want to give you this passage
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God loves you
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God wants to be close too
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I know many of you are following something
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You never have relationship with it as I did
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But I want to tell you
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word of God said Jesus died for all of
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us to make the bridge we can go to God's
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presence to have a close relationship with him too I know many of you are
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today looking for to satisfy the Lord then you can go to heaven and spend
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eternity with the Lord Jesus provides this for us when he died on the cross of
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Calvary 2000 years ago he make the way for us so we can go through his blood
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through his crucifixion to God's presence and even though if we die today
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we go to his presence and spend eternity
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forever I know many of you trying to
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follow the Sharia the law of Islam that might give you peace in your heart I
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I know many of you for years and years and years doing that
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But still you are feeling you are far away from God
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I just want to let you know
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In Christ, you just need to give your heart to the Lord
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At the moment you are giving your heart to the Lord
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You don't have to follow the Sharia
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You just have to submit your heart
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And follow the Christ every day
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And then you will see God's peace in your life
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joy of the lord in your heart well i was um a
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young young boy and just growing up in a muslim
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home i uh you know to be a muslim you also were turkish so being turkish was also a muslim
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and for me that really meant family it
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meant fear of god it meant fear of my father
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and to me it was just a religion motivated by fear
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and also respect and honor
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which we really valued in our home.
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Allah to me was a, I can't say a father
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but a force who was really ready to hurt me
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if I didn't do the right thing.
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Who was really ready to raise his hand
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and strike me if I wasn't in line with the commandments
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or in line with what Islam would teach.
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I definitely believed in Allah,
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and most of my teaching came from my mother.
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And she was the one who had the Quran,
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and if we were caught lying,
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she would make us swear
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and put her hand on top of the Quran.
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That was all fearful for me too
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because I knew if I said the wrong thing,
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something bad was going to happen to me.
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So that was a real main part
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of what being a Muslim was in my household.
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My parents sent me to Catholic school,
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and the only reason is because they saw the corruption
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or the bad behavior that was in the public schools,
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which is still around today,
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and they did notice some kind of strict regimen
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in the Catholic schools,
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and that's where they ended up sending me,
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and that's where my first exposure to Christ was.
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I can't say it was a true Christ,
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but that's where my first exposure to Jesus was.
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And they did teach me, don't bow down to the statues,
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don't kiss the statues.
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So I was very fearful of that as a Muslim,
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so I wouldn't do that.
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And that was my first exposure, like I said, to Christ.
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And I really just developed a curiosity for Christ.
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My second exposure to Jesus
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was through two of my best friends.
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they started to share with me about Jesus and who he was
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and they were Catholics at the time
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and one of them really left an impression on me
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and he was my best friend at the time
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and he really explained to me about who Jesus was
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and the things that he did and miracles that he did
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which is also in the Quran
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being born of a virgin and all that
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a lot of similarities
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but I really believed that he had the whole story
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and he also said to me that
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if you don't receive Christ as your Savior
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just put it bluntly
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he just said you will go to hell
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and this is something I never heard of
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because I thought I was already on my way to heaven
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because of appeasing Allah in some way
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He would have mercy on me
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It wasn't security
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but the way he explained it to me
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there was security in Christ
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and my initial reaction was rage
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I really went after my best friend
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and I couldn't believe
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I was actually doing this
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we were on a construction job
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I went after him physically
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verbally first
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and he just wouldn't be quiet
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and people actually had to get between us
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to break us up
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and the rage just built up
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mainly because
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I think for me
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I was being told I was wrong
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and I think a lot of that was ingrained
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because of the religion of Islam
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it's a very aggressive religion
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and I'm not saying
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we're all aggressive or we're all aggressive as Muslims
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but we are taught to retaliate
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and that's what I did
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and not even knowing that it was so ingrained in me
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and I couldn't believe I was actually retaliating against my best friend
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and that to me says the opposition that I had
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in my heart because of Islam
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that we are taught that everybody else is the infidel
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and that was my really initial reaction.
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And because of my own issues that I had,
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because of the way I was raised
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and because of having a very strict father
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and it developed a lot of rage and anger inside of me
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and some of that was directed towards God too.
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And now I hear that I'm wrong about something
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and I was the last person that you would say I was wrong
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because of just the way I was
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and just maybe the anger that I had towards my father
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and God just directing it towards other people.
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So after me and my friend were continuously arguing,
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but I finally just said to him,
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listen, we really need to step back.
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It's getting between our friendship.
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And he agreed to do that.
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But the one thing he did say to me
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that really stuck out in my mind was,
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which I never heard before,
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because of religion. He said to me, I'm only saying this to you because I love you and
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God loves you and he doesn't want to see you go to hell. And that's what really I think
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planted a seed in my heart, something I never heard before, that the love of God is what
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really draws us to him. And that's what really made an impact on me. And later, I started
29:04
to question even more. Now that I'm seeing the love rather than the aggression, this
29:10
is what I was responding to.
29:12
So, what I did was, in my mind, I started questioning myself
29:17
who this Jesus person really is. I mean, I heard that he can, through so many people
29:21
who, whether it's on TV or whatever,
29:24
so many people who were saying that just Jesus can
29:28
change your heart, he can change your life and all these other things that can help you
29:35
to just get through life, but I think there was more than that.
29:39
And that's what I needed.
29:40
I mean, I grew up, because of what I went through as a child,
29:45
depressed, angry, lost, and I knew all that,
29:50
and all this was building up inside of me.
29:52
And once I heard about the love of God,
29:55
that's when things started to change in my heart.
29:57
I was hearing the Bible through my friend,
29:59
and he was just reciting verses,
30:01
and he was just explaining things that Jesus said about him being the truth in the life.
30:07
And that's really what was drawing me to him.
30:10
I was hearing his words through his servant.
30:14
And that's what I would say started to bring me to that point.
30:21
I believe God's spirit was working in my heart.
30:24
He was meeting me where I was at.
30:26
So what I did one day, just a pure miracle, I believe,
30:31
It's just, I got on my knees one day.
30:33
I said, okay, this is exactly what I said.
30:35
Jesus, if you are real and if you can really change hearts the way people say you can,
30:40
you can really change my life, I want you to do this.
30:44
And I'm on my knees actually asking to receive Jesus Christ.
30:49
And I really was drawn to him so much and I couldn't resist him.
30:56
And it wasn't because he was aggressive.
30:59
It wasn't because he was coming after me with a holy stick ready to beat me.
31:04
It was really, I felt his love.
31:05
So I got on my knees and I said, okay, I'm going to do this.
31:08
I'm going to really do this.
31:09
I can't believe I'm doing this because I am a Muslim.
31:12
And what's that going to mean for me?
31:14
Does that mean I have to change my ways?
31:16
Does that mean I have to change my family?
31:19
Am I going to be rejected?
31:20
But it didn't really matter to me at that point.
31:22
Once I said the words, not only the words,
31:25
but once I really spoke it from my heart for Jesus to come into my life,
31:29
I knew this was the truth,
31:32
and this is what drew me to him, was the truth.
31:38
I was seeking for truth.
31:39
I didn't have any truth in my life.
31:40
I grew up with lies.
31:42
I grew up with deception.
31:44
And here's the one person that allowed me to come to him.
31:50
And I really remember almost not audibly but just in my heart,
31:55
he was just saying to me, this is the truth.
31:57
I am the truth.
31:59
And I knew after I said those words,
32:01
after I came up onto my feet,
32:03
I knew I did the right thing.
32:05
After I received Christ, everybody was rejoicing.
32:08
And later on, I found out that so many people
32:11
were praying for me to receive Christ, and I did.
32:16
This is a concept I never had.
32:17
I never knew that people actually would pray for you like this.
32:23
And they did.
32:24
And because of that, I believe God drew me to Him.
32:26
But the one thing that I remember when I start to pick up the Bible and read it,
32:31
and my first Bible was an NIV study Bible,
32:34
and it just really explained to you in the subtext what was really happening,
32:38
if you can understand it.
32:40
And it really helped me develop a relationship with Him.
32:44
And the more I read about Jesus, the more I fell in love with Him.
32:49
And again, this concept to me was strange,
32:51
but Christ in my heart was answering every question that I had about God.
32:56
Up to this point, I was known as the craziest kid on the block.
33:01
I mean, I was just doing some things that I can't even tell you
33:03
that were just embarrassing and brought shame to my family
33:08
and a lot of heartache.
33:11
And it was really for attention.
33:13
So a lot of these things I was doing, I believe, was breaking God's heart.
33:17
And how God changed my life, I mean, once I received Christ,
33:22
The funny thing is, He changed my behavior.
33:26
He changed the way I spoke to people.
33:27
He changed the way I thought about people.
33:30
And I can't say it was an immediate change.
33:32
It took me about six years to really grasp the idea and the truth about what He wants from me.
33:38
And God was slowly ingraining and giving me a new identity, which is in Christ.
33:44
So my behavior really changed a lot.
33:47
Like I said, the funny thing was no one taught me to stop smoking.
33:51
No one taught me to stop using bad language.
33:55
No one taught me to stop drinking.
33:56
No one taught me to stop mistreating women.
34:00
No one taught me that.
34:02
It just happened in my heart.
34:03
No one could teach me that.
34:05
And to me, that was a miracle.
34:06
I mean, here I am desiring to do the right thing.
34:09
And it's just coming from God Himself.
34:12
And like I said, the more I read about Jesus,
34:14
the more I fell in love with Him
34:15
and the more I realized how my flesh was fighting against Him.
34:21
And he gently just started to restore me, restore my life, restore my identity in him.
34:27
I mean, there's still a lot more changes to do.
34:30
But the main issues were being taken care of by God.
34:34
And it's only done by Him.
34:36
I had nothing to do with it.
34:41
To my Muslim friend, you know, God loves you.
34:44
and I'm only a person
34:47
who really was desperate
34:52
and I'm only a person who's starving,
34:57
who found food.
34:58
And here I am to share that food with you.
35:02
And that's it.
35:03
That's all I can really say about that
35:05
is Jesus really gave my starving spirit
35:09
that bread which He is.
35:11
He even called Himself the bread of life
35:13
I feed on him now. It's not this earthly kind of feeding you might want to think,
35:17
but it's a spiritual kind of feeding because he's our lifeline.
35:22
And I'm just here to tell you that he loves you.
35:25
He loves you and he loves me and he loves us all just the same.
35:30
I found treasure, treasure worth more than gold and rubies and whatever you can imagine.
35:37
I'm here to give it to you for free because he gave it to me for free.
35:43
It's something that we can never do to earn.
35:48
God loves us no matter what.
35:50
We can't earn His love.
35:51
He loves us regardless of who we are and what we've done against Him.
35:55
I know there's a verse in the Bible that says,
35:57
because He lives, I will also live.
35:59
And that was such an impact when I read that.
36:02
I'm going to live someday again.
36:04
This body will deteriorate.
36:05
This body will die.
36:06
And if you're in a place where you're not sure,
36:10
If you're in a place where you don't know where you're going to go when you die,
36:15
don't undermine what Jesus Christ can do for you.
36:19
Don't just throw it aside and say, well, he can't because of your own selfish beliefs.
36:24
Believe it because he said it.
36:26
And he could change your life and he could change your heart if you allow him to.
36:31
And you could know eternal salvation through Jesus Christ.
36:35
And it's a step of faith.
36:37
and it's not faith in your faith
36:39
it's faith in him, the one true God
36:41
I was born
36:45
in Pakistan
36:49
and I grew up as a Muslim
36:51
and all my life I was taught to follow Allah
36:54
and Muhammad is the final prophet of Islam
36:58
and I was taught that
37:00
and I believed that there was four books
37:03
that came from heaven
37:04
but the final book was the Quran
37:06
and it was the final revelation
37:08
and so I used to go to study the Quran after school
37:12
for three to four hours at a time every single day
37:15
because my family wanted me to be ingrained
37:18
with the truth of what I believed.
37:21
And the one thing I remember as a Muslim was that
37:24
I was always opposed or brought up to oppose
37:27
the deity of who Jesus is.
37:30
The Quran talked about Jesus,
37:32
but we could never call him the son of God.
37:35
That was blasphemy.
37:37
In fact, that was the greatest sin
37:38
that any Muslim could ever commit
37:40
Was to confess that Jesus is the son of God
37:43
And so that's the mindset I was brought up with
37:46
And I was brought up with
37:47
I wanted to be a servant of God
37:49
I wanted to obey God
37:51
I wanted to be obedient
37:53
I wanted his will for my life
37:55
I wanted to just obey him
37:58
And submit to Allah
38:00
There's a hope in every Muslim heart
38:04
And it was in mind that I would go to heaven
38:07
But I thought I could only go to heaven through good works
38:10
and so I would hope that God would one day have mercy on me
38:15
but there was no real guarantee
38:17
and one thing I remember even as a young child
38:19
sitting on a couch in my living room
38:22
I was probably 5, 6 years old
38:24
and I remember thinking that whoever God is
38:26
I wonder is he a good God
38:29
how is he
38:30
I inquired in my heart
38:33
I didn't really have an answer at that time
38:35
but I remember thinking thoughts like that
38:38
I wanted to know more than what I did know about God or Allah,
38:44
as I would say, as a Muslim.
38:47
I wanted to have a higher education in my life and
38:51
I left the country for the purposes of education.
38:55
And then later I got involved in business.
38:58
And in business some of the people I was connecting with and working with,
39:02
many of them were Christians or they believed that Jesus was the son of God.
39:07
Now this I did not like because as a Muslim,
39:10
this was an open confrontation
39:11
because I thought that they were deceived
39:13
and that the Bible was inaccurate,
39:16
that it was changed.
39:16
And I remember telling them that,
39:18
that the Bible's changed,
39:19
it's inaccurate,
39:21
that it's not correct
39:22
and that you should not call Jesus as God's son
39:26
and that's blasphemy.
39:27
And that's really where my first introduction
39:30
to Jesus came along.
39:32
Some people I do remember,
39:35
they had a peace about them
39:36
And not all of them, but some of them had some kind of peace
39:40
I could tell that they had
39:42
And I was a little curious about that
39:45
But not enough to investigate
39:48
I was more interested in saying
39:50
Let's bring these Christians and help them see the Quran
39:56
Let them accept Islam and submit to Allah
39:59
That is what I was trying to do
40:01
First I was invited to a church
40:06
and I said no, I don't go to church
40:08
I'm a Muslim
40:09
don't invite me to church
40:10
but you can come to a mosque if you like
40:13
I said to them
40:13
so then later they invited me
40:15
some Christian businessmen
40:17
invited me to a business conference
40:19
where there was successful people in business
40:22
training on how to be successful in business
40:25
so I knew that I wanted education
40:28
I wanted to learn
40:29
how to be successful
40:30
that's why I was getting more education
40:32
and so I went to this conference
40:34
And there was probably 20,000 people in this auditorium
40:37
And on the Sunday morning
40:39
They stopped the conference
40:40
And they had this service
40:41
They called it a Christian service
40:44
Which I thought that only occurred in church or a building
40:47
So here was something that they were going to do
40:50
That I didn't want to go to
40:51
But someone said to me
40:53
If you come to this service
40:55
You can have a front row seat
40:57
And as you sit in the front row
41:00
After this conference is over
41:01
You can keep your seat
41:03
for the remainder of this business conference.
41:06
So that was a good idea because I was going to be there.
41:08
Secondly, they said whoever is going to be speaking is a businessman.
41:13
He's not a priest, he's not some kind of religious leader
41:18
he's just a businessman.
41:20
And I thought as a Muslim, well how bad can that be
41:22
to hear a businessman.
41:24
So I went there to get my front row seat
41:26
and this man got up
41:27
And the first thing he said was, Jesus is the Son of God.
41:33
Now that offended me as a Muslim. I got angry.
41:36
And then he said, there's no name given by which you must be saved except the name of Jesus.
41:43
And he said, if you reject Jesus, he goes, you will go to hell.
41:47
And I did not like that at all.
41:49
But he said one other thing. He said, but if you receive Jesus,
41:53
then you are guaranteed to go to heaven
41:56
and spend eternity with Jesus
41:59
now that made me mad too
42:00
and that was the beginning of me hearing about Jesus
42:04
and how they were very bold about him
42:07
there was a boldness about this Jesus
42:10
but I thought the man speaking was deceived
42:12
and I said it's my responsibility as a Muslim
42:15
to go speak to him and correct him
42:18
because I thought he was wrong
42:19
and so he did this invitation for people out of the audience to come to the front by the stage
42:26
and basically he was inviting them to come to Jesus
42:30
I didn't quite understand but when he gave the invitation
42:32
I got up and I ran and I was one of the first people there
42:36
because I thought I could talk to the man now
42:38
but by the time I got to the front of this stage
42:41
I noticed hundreds of people started to come out of the aisles
42:44
and they began to run to the front
42:46
and so when I got to the front
42:48
I got stuck to the front of the stage
42:50
and all these people were there
42:51
it was literally about 3-5 thousand people
42:54
and I didn't know what to do
42:56
I thought maybe I should leave
42:57
but I couldn't, I got stuck
42:58
and I remember the businessman
43:00
he had tears in his eyes
43:02
and he was looking at everybody
43:04
and he said I want you to repeat this prayer after me
43:07
and he started his prayer by saying
43:09
Jesus is
43:10
the son of God
43:13
and I said no, I can't say that
43:15
I'm a Muslim. So I said, my Kalma. I said, if they're going to say something like that,
43:19
I'm going to say my Kalma, which is the statement of faith of a Muslim. And I said that and
43:24
I left there and two of my Christian friends came to me and they wanted to give me a hug
43:29
and they said, congratulations. And I said, what for? And they said, well, you went to
43:35
receive and become a Christian. I said, no, don't you ever call me a Christian. I'm a
43:40
Muslim. And I remember saying to them,
43:43
I said the mountains can shake, the earth can move but there's
43:47
nothing on this earth that can make me say that Jesus is the son of God.
43:55
I went to another conference
43:58
and again they reserved me a front row seat for that Sunday morning. So I went there and I realized
44:05
that they gave invitation after talking about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life. They
44:11
gave invitation to invite people to the front again, and I went to the front again.
44:15
But that's when I realized that they were trying to win people
44:18
to Jesus through business. And I made a decision as a Muslim
44:23
that I would do the same thing, and I would hold meetings and preach
44:27
from the Quran and give open invitation to Christians
44:30
and other people to come to Islam, accept Muhammad as the
44:35
final prophet, and to embrace Islam and submit to Allah.
44:38
that's what I wanted to do as a Muslim
44:40
but I had to learn how they were doing it
44:43
because in business I was taught
44:45
learn from them who are already successful
44:47
but I noticed they had a lot of good results
44:50
and I wanted to learn what they were doing
44:52
so I could learn
44:53
and integrate with their community
44:55
and be able to do it for Islam
44:58
and that is how it all began
44:59
but then I went back to another conference
45:01
and I went to spy
45:03
and to see how they do it
45:05
and I remember they were doing
45:07
and talking about how Jesus is the Son of God.
45:12
How anyone who believes upon Jesus
45:14
or even calls upon His name
45:17
would become a son or a daughter
45:19
or a child of God.
45:21
They would receive the right
45:22
to become children of God.
45:24
I remember they were talking about that.
45:26
Then at the end,
45:27
this businessman asked all the people
45:30
in the audience to stand up,
45:31
about 20,000.
45:32
So out of courtesy,
45:34
I stood up as well.
45:35
And I knew now
45:36
that he was about to give this invitation
45:38
to the front like they normally do
45:39
and I knew I did not need to respond
45:41
because now I knew what it meant
45:43
so while I stood there
45:45
and he began to invite people to this front
45:47
suddenly
45:48
the living God showed up
45:51
and when God came
45:53
I knew with every fiber of my being
45:55
my very spirit
45:56
my soul
45:57
my very body
45:58
that I was standing before
46:00
the most high God
46:02
and his presence
46:04
stood right before me
46:05
He went right through me, encircled me.
46:07
I felt ambushed and I was alone with God.
46:11
I had so many questions in my mind.
46:14
I didn't understand what's going on.
46:16
Why is God manifesting Himself?
46:19
What's happening?
46:20
I never experienced the majesty of God
46:23
but I knew that I was standing before Him.
46:26
And I asked Him one question
46:28
and I said, I said,
46:29
God, as loud as I could from my heart,
46:32
I said, God, what are you doing here?
46:36
I thought, these are the bad guys.
46:40
What I meant was, why would God manifest amongst a people that are blaspheming in my thought
46:46
by worshipping Jesus as the Son of God?
46:50
So when I was before him, I heard a voice.
46:53
It was an audible voice and I heard this voice say to me,
46:57
No, these are my children.
47:00
and he said it again
47:02
no these are my children
47:04
and a third time
47:06
no these are my children
47:09
when he said that
47:10
it was as if a veil
47:13
or something fell from my eyes
47:15
now I knew
47:17
with every fiber of my being
47:19
that Jesus is the son of God
47:22
it was a revelation
47:24
I didn't just believe it
47:25
I knew it
47:26
and now I had to respond
47:28
and I walked to the front
47:29
And I confess with my mouth that Jesus is the Son of God.
47:34
That He truly was born of a virgin.
47:37
And that He shed His blood and He did die on a cross.
47:41
And I confess that God raised Him from the dead the third day.
47:46
And I remember saying, I said, Jesus, would You come into my heart?
47:51
Would You take away my stony heart?
47:53
Would You give me a new heart that I might love the Father as You?
47:59
And so, in this revelation, I knew in my heart, the deepest part of me,
48:03
the core of my being already knew by revelation that Jesus is the Son of God.
48:09
Now, in my mind, I didn't understand that part.
48:12
I didn't understand how could this be because my mind was trained to oppose that.
48:17
I didn't have the understanding yet, but I had the revelation.
48:22
After I came to the realization of who Jesus is,
48:25
I had a hunger and a desire to know him
48:28
And understand what I knew in my heart to be true
48:30
So I got a hold of a Bible
48:32
Someone gave me a Bible
48:34
So I began to read this word
48:36
And I would open it
48:38
And I would read it as much as I could every day
48:40
And then I'd put it down
48:41
Or I might get tired or I'd go to sleep
48:43
But one morning
48:45
The Holy Spirit came into the place that I was
48:49
And this river of God
48:51
Began to flow from the top of my head
48:53
To the soles of my feet
48:55
for three hours and I heard a voice
48:57
and I heard words I never heard
48:59
all my life as a Muslim
49:01
and this is what I heard
49:02
I heard the father speak to me
49:04
and he said, I love you son
49:06
I love you son
49:09
and he said it a third time
49:10
I love you son
49:12
I never heard those words as a Muslim
49:14
and all I wanted to ever be was a servant
49:17
but here was God saying
49:19
son
49:19
and when I got up from that floor about 10.30
49:23
I picked up the Bible
49:25
And when I opened it up and I'd look at the page,
49:28
literally one page or passage at a time would leap off the page,
49:33
go into my heart and explode.
49:35
And I had understanding in my mind.
49:36
Now I understood the very word I wanted to know,
49:41
that I could learn more about Jesus and about God.
49:44
And these scriptures began to be written on my heart.
49:46
And for 36 hours, I did not put that Bible down.
49:50
I did not eat.
49:52
I did not drink.
49:52
But for 36 hours, I read through the whole Bible.
49:56
It was fast.
49:58
I looked at the page that would jump into my heart.
50:00
I began to have understanding.
50:02
And I realized that the Spirit of God, who is the author of this book,
50:06
began to write this word on the very tables of my heart.
50:11
And that's when I really began to see a change in me.
50:15
From that moment, I had a certain change.
50:18
I had an understanding.
50:18
it was as if prior to that
50:21
I would be drowning in water
50:22
in my new Christian life
50:23
I didn't understand
50:24
I'd come up for a breath
50:25
and then I'd feel like
50:27
I'm drowning again
50:27
because the circumstances
50:29
the challenges
50:29
but then at this very moment
50:31
when I had this revelation
50:33
and I began to understand
50:34
the scriptures
50:35
I began to as if symbolically speak
50:37
walk on the water
50:38
and that's when life began to change
50:41
and every person
50:42
I came in contact with
50:44
in my life
50:44
they came to Jesus
50:46
that they came to Jesus
50:49
not right away sometimes
50:50
sometimes two years
50:51
sometimes three
50:52
sometimes immediately
50:53
but I began
50:54
to see this life
50:56
go and touch other people's hearts
50:58
and they began
50:59
to respond to Jesus
51:01
see revelation
51:03
is like
51:04
life entering into the heart of man
51:06
light
51:07
is illumination
51:08
of that revelation
51:09
or life in our heart
51:10
coming into our understanding
51:12
coming into our mind
51:13
that's why
51:14
this gentleman
51:15
by the name of John
51:16
one spoke about Jesus and said
51:18
that in him was life
51:21
and he was the light of men
51:23
see we have a life in us
51:25
that becomes a light
51:27
see many religions have a light
51:29
everybody has light
51:31
which is knowledge and information
51:33
but light alone is not enough
51:35
it is the life of God
51:36
that brings a light
51:38
and that is the difference for me
51:39
when I was a Muslim I had light
51:41
but the light in me was darkness
51:44
but now I have the life of Jesus
51:46
that is a light unto men including myself
51:49
where I can see him as he really is
51:52
but you know it takes the spirit of the living God
51:55
to open our eyes
51:56
so my Muslim brothers
52:01
what I would say is this
52:03
that there's a cry buried deep within their heart
52:06
and God hears
52:08
Ishmael who was the first person
52:11
to ever be named before birth by God
52:13
means God hears
52:15
and God hears the cry of every Muslim heart.
52:20
1.5 billion Muslims are in a spiritual wilderness
52:24
with a cry that has been buried from their father Ishmael.
52:29
And what's happening is,
52:30
God is about to awaken
52:32
and answer the cry of the Muslim people
52:35
and show them the well of living water
52:38
that their heart thirsts for
52:39
and allow them to see in this living water
52:43
the face of Jesus
52:44
so that they may know the Father who loves them
52:48
and destined them as a people
52:49
for in these times to come to a revelation of Jesus Christ.
52:55
He knows the deepest desire
52:57
and the deepest cry that even the Muslim does not know
53:00
is buried so deep, suppressed within them.
53:03
That is the cry that the Father wants to answer.
53:07
And every Muslim cannot just be a servant
53:09
but have the opportunity to know God as Father.
53:13
So the father can impart identity, life.
53:17
And the only way to know father, God as father.
53:21
The only way to know God as father
53:26
is to know Jesus whom he sent.
53:30
Jesus did not just become the son of God when he was born of a virgin.
53:35
Jesus was the word of God who was with God before all creation.
53:40
he is the same word
53:42
the Quran calls him the word
53:44
he is that word
53:45
and he is that word that became flesh
53:48
he walked and dwelt among us
53:50
this word Jesus
53:51
is the living word
53:53
that the Muslim needs to receive
53:56
and this word
53:57
is the one that can give them life
53:59
Jesus is the word that pre-existed
54:02
before all creation
54:03
he is the son of God
54:05
because he is the word
54:07
that came out of the father
54:10
He is the Word that proceeded with the Father.
54:13
This is what I would say to a Muslim.
54:16
In the beginning was the Word,
54:18
and the Word was with God,
54:22
and the Word was God.
54:23
The beginning is creation.
54:25
If we go back before creation,
54:28
there was a time when the Word was with God.
54:30
If we go further back,
54:32
there was a time when the Word was in God,
54:35
and then the Word came out of God,
54:37
And that's why it says, and the father gave his only son so
54:42
that we might believe and receive him and have eternal life.
54:48
Isaiah 65, you know, the scripture says that I reveal myself to even them that are not asking of me.
54:56
I manifest myself to them that were not consciously seeking me.
54:59
Then the next part of the verse says, I said,
55:03
God speaking, behold me, behold me unto a nation.
55:07
was not called by my name. I come from the nation of Islam and I believe that God has
55:12
a plan to reach out to people that don't even know him because he's made precedent
55:18
to know them. And I really believe the same thing is going to happen where the Muslim
55:23
people, my fellow brethren are going to have an encounter, a head on collision with the
55:29
glory of Jesus Christ and they're going to have their eyes open supernaturally and
55:34
they're going to see Jesus like they've never seen him before and the cry that is buried deep
55:39
in every Muslim heart that has been buried for centuries will be awakened and when that cry is
55:44
awakened, when that cry comes forth we are going to see a mass of people and we're going to hear
55:50
a sound of Muslim people coming out of the wilderness spiritually speaking into a revelation
55:55
of the person of Jesus and they're going to embrace the father and they're going to find
56:00
of identity and they're going to find out who they really are and that how god always loved them
56:06
had a plan for them and intends to reveal jesus
56:11
today muslim culture and i specifically mentioned
56:17
my home uh come from a home that my parents
56:21
were practicing islam they were observant
56:26
of of the traditions of islam uh in school i
56:29
was identified as muslim you know i remember
56:33
we had a course in religion as we were coming up and and obviously we were
56:39
required to learn the ropes about Islam you know how to pray how to fast and I
56:46
learned all of those yet my heart was not completely with it because I had a
56:52
lot of question I always
56:56
felt about God as distant
56:59
I always felt that he would require a lot of things from me,
57:04
but I don't completely understand his character.
57:08
And that was a struggle that I had.
57:14
I had grown totally away from the whole idea of God.
57:19
I was just thinking like an average person,
57:21
try to better myself,
57:23
try to get a good job,
57:25
get a good education and so on.
57:27
And I thought that those are the things
57:28
that bring peace in my life.
57:30
I was a student in college, and I received an invitation from this Indian guy.
57:36
He had started a ministry among international students.
57:40
Now, I was a student, and I was poor,
57:42
and so when he came and showed me his piece of paper,
57:45
he said, well, there's a dinner program.
57:48
And I said, well, good, it's a dinner, so he's free, let's go to it.
57:50
And I told my wife then, let's go to this dinner program.
57:56
So when we went there, I started conversing with some of these folks,
57:59
And I found out they belonged to a Bible college nearby.
58:03
And one of them, kind of in conversation, he asked me about what I believe.
58:09
And then he mentioned to me something about Jesus, something about God.
58:16
You know, that was the first time I heard someone talk about God as if he had lunch with him that day.
58:21
You know, it was just, it was so foreign to me because I always thought about God is about the business of the universe
58:27
and He's not busy talking to any individual.
58:29
But he starts sharing about God in a very personal way.
58:35
And then he mentioned the word like cross and, you know,
58:39
the payment for the sin and so on.
58:42
And I did not totally catch that.
58:44
But I remember one thing very clearly first time.
58:47
When I looked at the expression of this guy
58:49
and he was talking about God so differently than what I've heard all my life,
58:54
I thought that this is interesting.
58:56
I'd like to know more.
58:57
Even though I did not tell him, I was too proud to admit that
59:00
there's something interesting and appealing about what he's saying.
59:04
And I just stayed quiet.
59:07
And I actually was not totally quiet.
59:10
I was just kind of opposing.
59:11
I was saying, oh, you know, I believe in God.
59:13
I'm Muslim.
59:15
You know, we practice, you know, worship and other stuff.
59:20
but inside of me I felt a nudge
59:24
that there is something this person is talking about
59:27
that I have not experienced
59:29
now that night we left
59:31
and that was the first time that I heard about Jesus
59:34
in a different way than I heard anywhere
59:37
and I walked back to my home with my wife
59:40
and it was interesting
59:42
that my wife was equally touched that night
59:45
she started changing
59:46
she start actually feeling like you know we haven't been missing something and
59:53
she starts reading the Bible and meeting some Christian in fact next Sunday he
59:59
she got up and went to church and I said that's fine you want to go to church
1:00:04
it's fine but I stayed home but there was something inside of me which I
1:00:08
think it was a seed from God that made me just asking this question what is it
1:00:14
in the life of this person so this thing went on my wife after two three months of
1:00:21
fellowshipping with these individuals she committed her life to Christ now
1:00:26
when she committed her life to Christ our home was you have to understand it
1:00:31
was in a situation where we had marriage problems we had a lot of issues and my
1:00:36
wife immediately start changing it was
1:00:39
very clear to me that this wasn't just
1:00:43
to set a belief that that make her know more than I do but it was something that
1:00:49
impacted her life it was just tremendous you know what happened as I saw her
1:00:55
changing I start feeling so convicted
1:00:59
about my sins because I was I was
1:01:02
beginning to hear this thing that God want to deal with our sin that's what
1:01:06
is separating us that's the reason I don't have peace because of the lack of
1:01:11
forgiveness in my life. I did not have
1:01:13
forgiveness. I didn't understand
1:01:15
it, but I understood later on
1:01:17
as I was talking to these individuals,
1:01:19
that same gentleman and some others,
1:01:21
that the issue
1:01:22
that is in my life is
1:01:25
that I do not have a relationship
1:01:27
with God. And that relationship
1:01:29
cannot be attained by following
1:01:31
certain rules. You cannot just
1:01:33
pray enough or fast enough
1:01:35
to get closer. In fact,
1:01:37
I tried it when my wife became Christian.
1:01:39
And I said, I'm just going to double my effort.
1:01:42
I know this is not months of fasting, but I'm going to go with fast.
1:01:45
And I know it's not supposed to be this much prayer, but I'm going to do more.
1:01:50
Maybe doing more good things is going to
1:01:54
settle the turmoil that is in my heart.
1:01:58
And you know what?
1:01:59
I was getting worse.
1:02:00
And it was interesting as God was changing my wife.
1:02:05
She was just changing daily.
1:02:07
She was more patient with me.
1:02:08
And I was getting worse in a sense, and she was just showing so much patience, so much
1:02:15
love toward me.
1:02:16
And that was again more indication of the reality of what happened to her, and it made
1:02:22
me even more convicted.
1:02:25
Now as time went on, this took almost a whole
1:02:28
month after her conversion, I would just keep
1:02:32
going to my classes but I would just keep thinking about this.
1:02:35
I think the Holy Spirit was nudging in my heart that,
1:02:39
Father, you need to come.
1:02:40
You need to submit to God and He wants to change your life.
1:02:45
And I would hear that, but I was too proud.
1:02:49
I was just thinking that I cannot turn my back to my culture,
1:02:53
to my parents, to my friends.
1:02:56
Now, I was just debating about the cost of this now
1:02:59
because I realized that I do have a lot of friends
1:03:02
And if I say yes, the voice of God in my
1:03:06
heart and to accept Jesus as my Savior
1:03:10
and Jesus, in fact, that paid my price on the calorie,
1:03:15
then how would I answer these people?
1:03:18
So that was part of my turmoil.
1:03:20
I wanted it.
1:03:21
I wanted it badly.
1:03:22
So I was going to class and I was walking among the many students.
1:03:27
It was just crowded, this path.
1:03:29
There were many people walking.
1:03:30
And I was just thinking as if I didn't know I'm walking with everybody else.
1:03:34
I felt alone.
1:03:36
And I was hearing the voice of Holy Spirit, I have to say.
1:03:41
And it wasn't audible, but it was speaking to my heart.
1:03:44
And I froze right in the middle of this crowd.
1:03:48
It was as if that, you know, God was calling me and said,
1:03:51
It's time. Don't wait until you go to church or something like that.
1:03:54
I want you now.
1:03:55
I want you to trust me.
1:03:57
I want you to surrender your life to me.
1:04:00
I have the future and hope
1:04:01
and I'll tell you what
1:04:03
I froze and I know the moment
1:04:06
of salvation came at that
1:04:08
time because I remember as I was
1:04:10
walking people were looking at me
1:04:11
I'm frozen
1:04:13
in all this
1:04:16
population
1:04:17
and there's something happening in my heart
1:04:20
and at that time I said Lord Jesus
1:04:22
you are real
1:04:23
I don't know how to explain this
1:04:25
but I know if you are
1:04:27
real to my wife and to those
1:04:29
friends that I met, I want to invite them into my heart. And I invited him
1:04:33
to my heart. When I came back home
1:04:36
that day, my wife noticed there was something about my looks
1:04:40
and she said that. She said it changed. And I told her
1:04:45
I said, listen, something happened to me. I want you to know
1:04:49
I'm not following you. I'm following
1:04:52
the one you're following. I'm following Jesus. And
1:04:56
I want you to know that I surrendered my life.
1:04:59
And I've tried hard to get away from this, but I could not.
1:05:04
But I told her this.
1:05:05
I said, my heart has changed.
1:05:07
I feel at this point that my direction is changing.
1:05:12
There's something higher for our lives that is in place now.
1:05:18
And God is moving us.
1:05:24
Christ is not who I thought he was.
1:05:27
He's so different.
1:05:28
He's not a prophet.
1:05:29
He's not the average person.
1:05:31
He's not a person who comes and gives a good counsel.
1:05:34
He's God in flesh,
1:05:36
and he's just giving us different kind of hope
1:05:40
and different kind of future.
1:05:42
You see, religion was saying just keep a good appearance,
1:05:46
but now someone else worked in my heart
1:05:50
and gave me more worth and said,
1:05:53
listen, you're my child,
1:05:54
and I give you strength and power through Holy Spirit to be the best.
1:05:58
And I'll tell you what,
1:05:59
As a husband, I get strength from Jesus.
1:06:02
See, God doesn't tell us to be a good person.
1:06:05
He gives us power and enables us to be a good person.
1:06:09
We cannot be good.
1:06:10
There's no one who's good.
1:06:12
And so I tell people, I say, listen,
1:06:16
if you don't experience that born-again process,
1:06:21
if you don't let God make you a brand new person,
1:06:25
then you're always going to struggle
1:06:26
because you have to rely on your own power.
1:06:29
But God wants to change you and come and live in you and give you strength.
1:06:34
Most religions say, I hope you make it.
1:06:37
Jesus said, I made it and you can come on my credit.
1:06:41
So that's another reason I tell people, trust Christ.
1:06:45
God has found a way for us to get settled and reconciled.
1:06:49
If you don't have peace in your life, if you don't have joy in your life,
1:06:53
those are indications that there is something missing.
1:06:56
don't follow a religion just because
1:07:00
somebody wanted you to think about what
1:07:04
you believe how it impacted your life if he's truly from God then you will have
1:07:09
peace and joy in forgiveness and I'll tell you the only one that provide that
1:07:14
is Jesus Christ