He had been conscripted by Saddam's Army during the 8 year Iran/Iraq war to serve in the Iraqi Army when he was 13. His father was a civil engineer in Baghdad who decided this, his youngest son, should serve with honor.
The Missionary - let's call him Dave, just for grins - had sought to escape from Baghdad. Saddam was not allowing anybody to leave without a special stamp on their passport, because he needed all young men for the war effort. A friend of Dave's was from a quite wealthy family, and told Dave that he had bribed a government official to provide him the coveted stamp on his passport. He - the friend - asked if Dave wanted his passport stamped, also. In absolute disbelief, within 5 hours, Dave had the stamped passport he needed to flee Iraq. When Dave told his father, his father was quite surprised, but said no - you cannot leave, you are my son.
Dave's uncle, his dad's only brother, had four sons in the war. In the next 48 hours, all 4 sons were killed in battle. So, 48 hours after telling Dave he must serve his country in battle, Dad was arranging passage through the airport with one of his own security guards, paying him the equivalent of $40,000 US to get his son out of the country.
For the past 6 years, Dave has been visiting our area giving us updates on his missionary efforts to Muslim countries.
This morning, I decided to ask him about the "visions" that Muslims are reportedly having where Jesus appears to them.
At first, it seemed Dave was going to discount that whole phenomenon. He started by saying, "well, I don't trust any Western accounts of these incidents". I thought - uh oh...
Then he went on to explain, "when this came to my attention, I added it to my routine to personally question any Muslim I could find who had one of these visions or dreams".
He explained that, to his astonishment, he encountered hundreds and hundreds of such people in numerous countries, mostly in Algeria. But, the reason he doesn't like the "Western version" of the incidents is because they seem to glorify or place too much emphasis on the dream or vision, when, in most cases, it's just a very brief episode.
He says that the visions are incredibly consistent - that a man in a white robe, often dazzling like the sun, appears and simply tells them to believe the Bible, or go to a specific church, or see a specific Christian pastor. The persons who have the vision don't seem to place much emphasis at all on the vision itself, because it's just brief, albeit clear, and it's the actual message that is important.
One fairly common (but not always) feature of the man in white is that he's wearing a gold belt. One of the women described the 'man in white' more vividly, and Dave said, "had you ever read the Bible prior to this vision?" She said no. He told her "you just described the Jesus of the Revelation of John".
Two weeks ago, he was in Algeria, in a Church of about 1,000 people. ALL of them were Muslims who converted to Christianity. He personally talked to over a dozen who had had the vision of Jesus (or "a man in white") telling them to come to this specific Church, and some of them said they were told to come talk to this particular pastor.
I had posted about this sometime back, but it was only news articles that I read, or written accounts. This is the first time that I ever got to discuss it with somebody who was actually there, who had actually talked to people who had the visions.
Dave, who had gone from Iraq to England, and then to the US, went to seminary in the US, and the "visions thing" just didn't fit his theology. He fully expected to be able to discount this as hype. Again, he emphasizes that the vision seems to be a "one time thing", and the people who have these visions never seem to fixate on the vision itself, but see it simply as an experience that pointed them to Jesus. In many of these cases, the subject was having concerns or doubts about Islam, and was praying for answers.
The Missionary - let's call him Dave, just for grins - had sought to escape from Baghdad. Saddam was not allowing anybody to leave without a special stamp on their passport, because he needed all young men for the war effort. A friend of Dave's was from a quite wealthy family, and told Dave that he had bribed a government official to provide him the coveted stamp on his passport. He - the friend - asked if Dave wanted his passport stamped, also. In absolute disbelief, within 5 hours, Dave had the stamped passport he needed to flee Iraq. When Dave told his father, his father was quite surprised, but said no - you cannot leave, you are my son.
Dave's uncle, his dad's only brother, had four sons in the war. In the next 48 hours, all 4 sons were killed in battle. So, 48 hours after telling Dave he must serve his country in battle, Dad was arranging passage through the airport with one of his own security guards, paying him the equivalent of $40,000 US to get his son out of the country.
For the past 6 years, Dave has been visiting our area giving us updates on his missionary efforts to Muslim countries.
This morning, I decided to ask him about the "visions" that Muslims are reportedly having where Jesus appears to them.
At first, it seemed Dave was going to discount that whole phenomenon. He started by saying, "well, I don't trust any Western accounts of these incidents". I thought - uh oh...
Then he went on to explain, "when this came to my attention, I added it to my routine to personally question any Muslim I could find who had one of these visions or dreams".
He explained that, to his astonishment, he encountered hundreds and hundreds of such people in numerous countries, mostly in Algeria. But, the reason he doesn't like the "Western version" of the incidents is because they seem to glorify or place too much emphasis on the dream or vision, when, in most cases, it's just a very brief episode.
He says that the visions are incredibly consistent - that a man in a white robe, often dazzling like the sun, appears and simply tells them to believe the Bible, or go to a specific church, or see a specific Christian pastor. The persons who have the vision don't seem to place much emphasis at all on the vision itself, because it's just brief, albeit clear, and it's the actual message that is important.
One fairly common (but not always) feature of the man in white is that he's wearing a gold belt. One of the women described the 'man in white' more vividly, and Dave said, "had you ever read the Bible prior to this vision?" She said no. He told her "you just described the Jesus of the Revelation of John".
Two weeks ago, he was in Algeria, in a Church of about 1,000 people. ALL of them were Muslims who converted to Christianity. He personally talked to over a dozen who had had the vision of Jesus (or "a man in white") telling them to come to this specific Church, and some of them said they were told to come talk to this particular pastor.
I had posted about this sometime back, but it was only news articles that I read, or written accounts. This is the first time that I ever got to discuss it with somebody who was actually there, who had actually talked to people who had the visions.
Dave, who had gone from Iraq to England, and then to the US, went to seminary in the US, and the "visions thing" just didn't fit his theology. He fully expected to be able to discount this as hype. Again, he emphasizes that the vision seems to be a "one time thing", and the people who have these visions never seem to fixate on the vision itself, but see it simply as an experience that pointed them to Jesus. In many of these cases, the subject was having concerns or doubts about Islam, and was praying for answers.
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