What's with the title? I like alliteration.
But really, the title is about this missionary that came to our World Religions Seminar class today. World Religions Seminar is a class where we take many of the major works of the other religions, read through them, then come to class and enter into discussion about them. Today we finished reading "Everyman's Talmud" which was a very interesting look into the teachings of Judaism and the Rabbinical Sages. Anyway, back to the missionary. This guy serves on the International Mission Board and I think he said he was in Malaysia for a number of years. But the stories that he told of the converts to Christianity really blew me away. Here are a sample of a few of them that I can remember.
Iranian Ph.D. Students:
The missionary used to have these Iranian Ph.D. students over to his house. One day he decided to give all of them a gift. He presented all ten of them with their very own Bible. He said that these sophisticated Ph.D. students just began to weep right in front of him. They said, "Pastor, I could never have this in my own country!" Wow. Makes me realize just how much I disregard the precious blessings of having my own Bible (along with like 5 other study Bibles). What a loser I am.
Converted Muslim Girl:
He said he met this one girl who was the daughter of a local Imam (a very high profile muslim in that particular city) She showed up at their door one day (apparently, he was known around town) and told him to please explain Jesus to her. She needed to know about Him. He told her and she basically repented of her sins and asked Christ to save her! This missionary said that when a muslim converts to Christianity, the change is overwhelming and very radical. She realized that she needed to learn more about Christianity and be discipled. She asked him if he had any materials for her. He was out of everything except a Survival Kit (booklet for new converts). However, this Survival Kit was in English; she only spoke Aramaic. She said, "Please just give it to me and I will use my English dictionary to translate it slowly." So he gave it to her. Get this, it takes English-speaking people weeks to go through this book. She brought it back within a week and had even memorized all 22 verses in it! She went through it with her English dictionary.
It turns out that if you convert to Christianity in this country then you are in danger. Many converts are thrown in jail. After that, they are released back to their homes; which is not the safest place for them now. The family members feel it is their obligation to have them killed (because of their apostasy). He says that it is law that you cannot kill someone for this but it is not enforced and thus happens regularly. But this girl was still in her home and also attending this missionary's church. One day he told her, "I don't think you should meet with us anymore. For your safety, you should not come around her to this church that much." Whether you agree with him or not, the girl's reaction broke me. She fell on her face in the dirt and started weeping. She said, "Pastor, please don't keep me away from meeting with the family of God!"
She had such a love, a bond, a connection with her brothers and sisters in Christ that she did not want to leave them, at any cost! Compare the heart and ideologies of this former Muslim girl with your average Americanized churchgoer. We're reluctant to wake up early for church, yet alone stay later than noon! May we have the heart of this dear sister in Christ and long to be joined in fellowship with the people of God!
On this missions note, I picked up John Piper's Let The Nations Be Glad a couple days ago. I don't know when I'll get to reading it but I know that it is probably the best book on missions every written. haha - Zealot out
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