One of our global workers in Central Asia related to us this story of a passionately devout Muslim who came to faith in Christ. This young man had been looking for purpose and significance his whole life, but it always eluded him. He had spent decades trying to please God, fasting often and preparing himself to become an imam, a teacher of the Qur’an. There was no higher aspiration. Just before entering university, he spent all his savings to go on a pilgrimage trip to Mecca.
“Arriving at Mecca,” he told our worker, “I expected to experience some great spiritual awakening, but I felt as dry as a grain field in August. God seemed far off, cold, and vengeful.”
Then, another student sent him a link to some online Christian sermons, and he listened, stunned. It was exactly what he needed to hear. This was the God that he was searching for - not a God of vengeance, but a God of love.
When the believers he met online explained God’s message about reconciliation through Jesus, there was no hesitation in his heart. He immediately wanted to be baptized. It was a radical transformation, but then his whole life had trained him to be radical. Pray for this man, and others like him. It is not easy or safe to follow Jesus in this context, and he knows that he will face great persecution.
