I Am the Lord Whom You are Looking For

There was a brief post Sunday over at the Whapsters on the subject of Muslims converting to Christianity because of dreams or visions of Christ. Being as I actually have some knowledge of this phenomena, I thought I'd expand a bit on the subject.

Yes, Virginia, it is indeed happening. This article published in Mission Frontiers by Dr. Dudley Woodbury (under whom I studied at Fuller) is based upon interviews with some 600 "Muslim background believers" or MBB's as they are called. Those interviewed were from 39 countries and over 50 cultural backgrounds.

The whole thing is very moving, but here are some excerpts:

"in nearly every corner of the world, even in nations that have an overwhelming Muslim dominance, people from Muslim backgrounds are coming to faith in Christ. Exact figures are elusive. In some areas a shift of allegiance to Christ is happening on a fairly grand scale, with bold, public professions of faith. In many other places, believers in Christ live very low-key lives, using great discretion as to whom they disclose their faith commitment. Increasingly prevalent are the small, secret groups of a few faithful followers that meet on a regular basis, sometimes not disclosing their new-found faith even to their family.

. . .over one-fourth of those surveyed state quite emphatically that dreams and visions were key in drawing them to Christ and sustaining them through difficult times.

A convert from the Middle East who had been afflicted with severe headaches was lying on his bed after having prayed for his sick son. A man with a beautiful, peaceful face appeared. Dressed in white, the figure walked to the head of the man's bed and touched him three times on the head. The next morning his headaches were gone. His son, too, was fully healed. Understandably, he now recounts with confidence, "I believe in prayer in the name of the Christ."

A North African believer found the needed strength to face his imprisonment from a dream he had while imprisoned for his faith. In it, he saw thousands of believers pouring through the streets of his city, openly proclaiming their faith in his restricted country. While in prison, he was tortured, suspended upside-down naked for hours, beaten with electrified rods and repeatedly threatened with execution. His vision of a day when people of his country would openly proclaim their faith in the streets gave him great strength to persevere through this most difficult time.

Though not strictly a dream or a vision, a number of Muslim-background believers have had a significant supernatural encounter that was instrumental in drawing them to Jesus. One Egyptian Muslim was reading the Injil (Gospel), when he came to Luke 3, where the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. God said, "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased." As he read those words, a stormy wind broke into his room. A voice spoke to him saying, "I am Jesus Christ, whom you hate. I am the Lord whom you are looking for." He recalls that he "wept and wept, accepting Jesus from that time."

Dreams and visions may have been used by God in part because there is a dearth of flesh-and-blood witnesses for Christ willing to articulate and demonstrate the power of the Gospel in person. If nothing else, the preceding testimonies of these witnesses for Christ show that God is at work. Apparently, when Muslims do have an opportunity to see the love of Christ revealed in all its fullness, they are finding a life with Christ quite compelling. After all, grace does have an irresistible quality to it."

Secondly, check this out: a video of five MBB's telling their story of being converted by dreams or visions.

And another note: John Allen reports that "some estimates, for example, are that at least 10 percent of the people preparing for adult baptism in France come from a Muslim background. Since about 9000 adults were received in France last year, that would mean about 900 were from Muslim backgrounds? (By the way, the 9000 figure is double what it was just a few years ago)

And also, this report of large numbers of Muslims becoming Christian quietly in North Africa.