From the January/February 1996 issue of Good News
The director who leads Campus Crusade for Christ's work in the Middle East and the Muslim nations of Northern Africa oversees a radio program that is being broadcast to the entire region. He is reporting an astounding phenomenon.
"His office has received thousands of letters from Muslims," says Bright. "Many tell of a dream they had: `I saw Jesus. He declared to me "I am the way." Moved by this compelling dream, they are writing the Campus Crusade's Middle East office to find out just who Jesus is. Once they know, they freely respond.
"In Algeria, a number of people discovered they had the very same dream. They began to talk with one another and discovered each had experienced the same dream. The details were the same, and even the words Jesus said to them were the same. On their own, they have formed a Bible study and are following Christ.
"A fanatical Muslim woman had spent four years in prison for her political activities. While there, Jesus appeared to her in her cell. He personally explained redemption and the gospel. She is now on the Campus Crusade staff, totally sold out to reaching her Muslim people for her Savior."
Bright continues: "I could tell you other stories--miraculous, incredible stories of visions. Muslims are seeing the risen Christ. Can there be any doubt? Our great, wonderful Lord is calling the Muslim world to himself. Praise his holy name."
"Perhaps you already know that Islamic theology has no place for forgiveness. Islam is primarily law, legalism, punishment, death, and vengeance," writes Bright. "That is why they are stunned, even troubled for days, after they view the `Jesus' film. When they learn of Jesus' life of love and forgiveness they are drawn to him.
"The concepts in the film are so foreign that sometimes Muslims ask to see `Jesus' two and three times before they grasp what it means. Amazingly, they readily accept his miracles as historical fact and are deeply impressed. But they are moved most by his forgiveness, that he willingly carried his cross for them, and then died on it, taking upon himself his father's `vengeance'...for their sins. For them, it is truly a revolutionary concept.
"And, when given the chance to freely respond, without fear of retribution from Muslim zealots, there have been instances when all those in the audience indicated that they wanted to receive and follow Christ.
"Clearly, God's Spirit is moving. In these `Last Days,' before his return, Jesus is building the Bride of Christ, his Church, by drawing from the very heart of the Muslim world, from among the most unreached people in all the world.
"Many consider Muslims to be the most `Unreached' people of the world. Until now, they have been deeply resistant. Yes, most still are. But, for those whom God has touched, in whom he has placed a desire to find the truth...they will respond if only we can get the message to them.
"Second Peter 3:9 reminds us that God is eager to bring millions to himself among the Kurds as well as among the people in Iraq, Pakistan, Muslim republics of the former U.S.S.R., Sudan, Indonesia, India, and in other Muslim nations."
(For more information on the "Jesus" film project, write Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ, 100 Sunport Lane, Orlando, FL 32809.)
Dramatic Answers to Prayer
"Many in our Prayer Track are praying that God will reveal himself to Muslims in miraculous ways since preaching is often not allowed in Muslim countries," proclaims the October 1995 issue of Prayer Track News, the newsletter of the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement. "These prayers are being answered!"
Dr. C. Peter Wagner and his wife Doris report that the driver of their car in an Asian Muslim nation had been saved only weeks prior to their visit through a dream of Jesus.
A Muslim Priest
The Wagners tell a story of a Muslim priest "who hated Christians and decided to destroy a Christian church and see the believers scattered. He figured the best way for him to do this would be to burn down the church one night. He was successful in his project and the church and everything in it was totally destroyed.
"He celebrated his victory by walking through the ashes a short time later. He saw but one thing that remained--a single page from the Bible. Curious, he picked it up and read, `Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
"The priest decided he must read more of the Bible, so he bought one and began to read it. Soon he began to preach from it as well as the Koran in his mosque. He decided to become a follower of Jesus. He was soon thrown into prison and served a prison sentence because of his new-found faith. When he finished his jail sentence, he became a Christian pastor and continues to proclaim Christ."
This story reminds one of the Scripture: "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).
Healing and the Cross
The Wagners also tell the story of a rich man in a Muslim country who brought his very sick daughter to a Christian hospital. "The daughter had been paralyzed for four years. They put her in a private room which had a cross hanging on the wall. The man, a very devout Muslim, demanded that the cross be taken down at once. Reverently, they took the cross off the wall because the Christian staff working there was threatened for witnessing in a Muslim country. That evening, the Christian nurse, in her own quiet way, told the sick girl that Christ died on the cross for our sins and he can forgive her sins and heal her.
"The girl could not sleep that night because she had so many questions. `He can heal me? Who is he and where is he? What is this mystery of the cross? Why was my father so angry and so afraid of this cross?' With tears streaming down her cheeks she longed to know more about Isa (Jesus). In the quiet of that night, she saw a figure clothed in white. He had a halo of light around his head that filled the whole room. Then she heard his voice, `Get up and put the cross back on the wall.' With fear and trembling she said, `I cannot walk.' Jesus then revealed himself to her and told her, `I am Jesus who died on the cross, but I am alive. Get up and walk.' She got up and took the cross from under her bed and put it back on the wall. Then she turned, but the Lord was no longer there. Realizing what had just happened, she started shouting, `I saw Isa and he healed me! I can walk, I can walk!' She called her father who rushed to the hospital and witnessed what had happened. With tears in his eyes, all he could say was, `I want to know more about Jesus.'"
Spontaneous Conversion
John Robb of World Vision and the AD 2000 Unreached Peoples Track reports: "A series of `spontaneous conversions' have been occurring in the countryside as a result of dreams and visions of Christ given to Cambodian villagers. In one village a medium saw a vision of Jesus coming with jet planes in the sky. Very soon after, a Cambodian pastor came to her village at the time that a Buddhist family was holding a funeral in the Buddhist pagoda. The pastor decided to attend the funeral and was bold to preach God's Word to them in the pagoda. The medium responded to the message because of the vision of Jesus she had already seen. She received deliverance from the demons which had been possessing her. Her entire family became Christians and they have planted a church in their village. Please keep Cambodia, its people, and the Christians there in your prayers."
(For more information on the United Prayer Track of the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement, contact: Global Harvest Ministries, 215 N. Marengo, #151, Pasadena, CA 91101.)
Used by permission of Good News Magazine