A Testimony from a Saudi Believer
Born to a Saudi family, in Saudi Arabia, and
living very close to Mecca, I grew up with strict principals
and traditions of Islam and the Arab culture. As a teenager
I went to the mosque five times a day in obedience to my
parents. One night, while I was asleep, I had this horrible
dream of me being taken into hell. And what I saw there
brought me real fear and these dreams kept coming to me
almost every night. At this point I was really wondering as
to why I should be seeing hell in this manner. Suddenly one
day, Jesus appeared to me and said, "Son, I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life. And if you would give your life to Me,
and follow Me, I would save you from the hell that you have
seen."
This came as a surprise to me, for I did not know who this
Jesus was. Of course, He is mentioned in the Koran in the
book Surah Mariam. He is stated as one of our prophets, but
not as a Savior who could save us from hell. So I started
looking out for a Christian who could give me some advise
about this Jesus I have seen and possibly get one of the
Christian Holy Books, which I now know is the Bible. But it
was a difficult task for me to get any Christian to speak to
me about Jesus. As you would know, Christianity is totally
banned in Saudi Arabia and if a Christian is caught
witnessing to a Muslim, he could be almost sure that he
would be beheaded.
Then the Lord led me to an Egyptian Christian who was sick.
I prayed for this man’s healing and this man gave me a
Bible. Then I, by myself, started reading the Bible. By this
time Jesus had become a close friend to me. Soon I started
witnessing about the experience I had with all my family
relations and friends. Soon the authorities were informed
that I had converted to Christianity, and I believe this was
done by one of my family members. As it states in the Koran,
if someone would turn away from Islam, he is a traitor to
the faith and he should be executed. So I was taken into
custody and tortured. They told me that I would be beheaded
if I would not turn back to Islam. But I had already made my
decision that I would never turn back. So I told the
authorities I’m willing to die for Jesus and that I would
never come back to Islam. After much torture and
imprisonment, I was sentenced to be beheaded. They gave me a
date and a time and I told them, "You go ahead and execute
me. I’m going to heaven to see Jesus. But I pray that what
you would do to me would stay in your minds and not give you
rest until you come to Jesus."
The appointed day and time came for my execution, and I was
waiting with much anticipation, yet very much strong in my
faith in Jesus. Generally the executions are carried out on
the set time and date. But to my amazement, no one turned
up. One hour lapsed, two hours went by, then it became three
hours, and then the day passed by. And no one turned up.
Then two days later, the authorities turned up and opened
the doors and told me, "You demon! Get out from this place!"
I also noticed that the main person who was determined to
get me beheaded was not present when they came to release
me. I asked them where this guy was. And with much
hesitation they replied that his son had died on the same
day they planned to execute me. Although I continue to go
through much persecution, one thing I know is that the
Lord’s hand is upon me.
A Brother from Saudi Arabia
freedomdance@qwest.net (Received on
Tuesday January 22, 2002)
