Middle Eastern Pastor Braves Threat of Death to Spread the Gospel of Jesus

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Pastor Shanti's hangout

Note: Middle Easterner John (purposely not using his real name or nationality for his protection) became a believer in Jesus Christ in 2006. With God leading his every step, John has assembled a congregation of nearly 30 believers in his war-torn country and continues to hold services despite the threat of persecution, and perhaps even death. His English is good, but some of his answers have been edited to compensate for his lack of total knowledge for the language.

CN: First and foremost, how did you get saved? Who told you about the gospel of Jesus Christ and when did that happen?

S: Actually, this takes me almost 8 years back when I was a young guy that has been hurt by hard situations within my family. We lost everything and became in need after previously enjoying a rich life. Moving away from that affected me so hard and took from me every hope a young man can have. I developed a porn addiction so early, at the age 6. That was deep inside of me and deeply affected my thinking and my imagination. There was a lot of brokenness in my heart because of what we went through as a family. One night eight years ago as I watching porn and I heard a voice, and incredible one that I could not resist, saying to me change the channel. I did and there was a Christian TV channel and a pastor looking at the screen and talking about a bible verse. At that moment, I felt some power touching me and I started to cry and weep. I did that for quite some time and fell asleep. The next day I woke up and realized that I was a new man. I felt very light and all the heaviness went from my shoulders. I remember that day I was walking on the street and seeing everything from a new point of view.

CN. Did you ever in your life believe that you would become a follower of Jesus?

S: As a Christian from another background, I have had many opportunities to hear what the Word of God tells us. But, I never thought that someday I would know Christ personally in a way that can bring me to a whole new area in my life.

CN: Just how difficult has it been for you to establish a Christ-believing church in a predominantly Muslim country? How difficult is it to win converts?

A: In our land, there are some official churches, yet the evangelism is not allowed. So, to establish a church with vision to reach others outside the known umbrella was not an option. There was a group of four of us who loved the Word of God and gathered to read it and to pray for each other, and that was the most enjoyable time we could have. But suddenly the Lord started to draw others into our group, and in a short time, we became more than 30 persons. Was it that was easy? No. I say if we call it easy then we left nothing for to God to do. Even the nominal Christians here can report you if you have evangelistic work which is alive and active.

CN: Have you had any issues with the government or with others who don't want to see the gospel preached in your country? Are you fearful at all for your lives or that you may be jailed, and do people not want to convert simply because of that fear?


S: Surely we have had many problems with the police and we were just about to be put in jail. And surely the fear of this is always a cause for anxiety. But God performed a big miracle and we registered as an official church as well as an (NGO) on the way soon. That will not take the risk away, but will help us to me more comfortable in what we do. Many people in [my country] (Muslims) know what Islam really is, especially after seeing what ISIL does. But the fear still exists, and we are praying to God that we have the wisdom to win them to Christ and teach them the gospel.

CN: Do you have Bibles translated into your language? How difficult were those to come by?

S: We have Arabic bibles and mostly they are from Lebanon, which is more open country in acceptance to what we're doing.

Q: You told me your church recently welcomed a group of Muslim converts. What was that like and how happy were they to receive Christ?

S: Actually, every month we are meeting such people wanting to know about Jesus Christ. Recently, a guy who lost his leg during the war, with his wife and child, came to our church to visit us and they listened to the gospel for more than an hour. I told them that I wanted to give them Bibles as they were just about to ask for one. Things like this are happening more and more as the war goes on. God is doing great things. Yet we have received three families from a Muslim background—two from Iraq and one Syrian. Mostly all of them are shocked after what they see on TV, and one of them had his fingers cut by radical groups in Iraq because he was working with us. Now they say we found the love and we experience it. You can see the tears in his eyes almost every time we sing a song and pray. We teach him now how to read and write and giving him discipleship also with many others.

CN: You also told me about some new programs that you have going on with your church. Tell us about those.

S: Some Christians supported us to help 10 families for one year with monthly food package. This is a relief program that we want to advance to show the people in need how much they are loved, especially after the war. They need to know that we love them because Christ loved us first.

CN: Where have you been holding your church services?

S: We do that in a small place we rent and it. It holds a number of 25–30 persons at maximum. We don't like it, but we have to hold our praise and worship to a very short time limit so that we don't disturb the neighbors.

CN: You told me that you're trying to purchase a building in which to hold your services. We know that will be expensive. What can we as Christian brothers and sisters do to help?

S: They can pray so the Lord will lead us and give us the good place or land to build on it. Also, they can support and give to the body of Christ here to share what they already have with fellow believers. We love Christ just as much as they do!

Shawn Akers is the editor of Ministry Today, Standing With Israel and New Man.


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