The following is an excerpt from National & International Religion Report.
More and more Muslims are having dreams and visions of Christ, Christian ministries say. There is increasing evidence that the supernatural is playing a role in drawing Muslims to Christ.
Campus Crusade for Christ has received thousands of letters from Muslims, many of whom claim to have had a similar dream of Christ, according to the ministry’s radio broadcast office in northern Africa. In the dream, Jesus appears and tells people, “I am the way,” Campus Crusade founder and president Bill Bright said. Moved by the dreams, they contact the radio ministry and “freely respond” to the gospel message, he said. In Algeria, an imprisoned Muslim political radical said Jesus appeared to her in her cell. The woman now is a Christian and works with Campus Crusade ministering to Muslims.
In one African Muslim country, a young man violently tore up a Bible tract and threatened the life of the Every Home For Christ worker going door-to-door with the literature, Dick Eastman of Colorado Springs-based EHFC told NIRR. The next afternoon as the worker sat in his home, he was shocked to see the man knock at his door. “I must have another booklet,” the Muslim told him. He explained that the previous night two hands awakened him, and when he turned on the light and asked who was there, a voice said, “You have torn up the truth.” The voice instructed him to acquire another booklet, directing him to the EHFC worker’s home, the young man said. There, the Muslim read the booklet and became a believer. He has since been expelled from his wealthy family, lives with EHFC’s Africa director, and is preparing for ministry to Muslims.
In another incident, several EHFC workers were distributing literature in a marketplace. A man who received a booklet gasped and said he had a vision of the person pictured on the cover in his dream the night before, Eastman said. In the dream, the man was in a deep pit when a rope was thrown to him and two strong hands pulled him up. Upon climbing out, he looked into the face of the man who helped him: Jesus. The workers explained the meaning of the dream and the man was converted on the spot. Later, three other people recounted the same dream and two of them became Christians, Eastman said. God is preparing Muslims, and Christian workers follow through, he said.
In Kawuri, Nigeria, a Christian was beaten nearly to death by his tribe for leaving Islam, according to Open Doors With Brother Andrew. As the man lay close to death, he asked God to forgive his attackers, unaware that they were listening in the next room. That night, two Islamic priests who participated in the beating had visions. One said Jesus showed him his three greatest and most private sins. The next day, the two mullahs repented and let 80 followers to a church, the Santa Ana, Calif.-based group said.
“Increased prayer on the home front” has had a large impact, Assemblies of God missionary Gordon Barnett said. Supernatural incidents playing a part in conversion have increased over the past 10 years due to more prayer, he said. Barnett, who has lived in the Middle East for 24 years, credited several prayer initiatives. They are the AG’s Center for Ministry to Muslims, which has 500,000 people who pledge to pray for the Muslim world every Friday; AD 2000’s Praying Through the Window (NIRR 10/2/95), which calls millions of Christians to pray for several Muslim countries each October; and Youth With A Mission’s 30 days of prayer during Ramadan (NIRR 2/6/95).
Muslims who have such dreams or visions of Christ usually have had a Christian contact and are looking for spiritual answers, said one Assemblies of God missionary and anthropologist who has worked for 10 years in the Middle East and Northern Africa. “It all takes place in context—dreams are one step, a link in the chain” that leads to conversion, he said. God is using people as well as the supernatural to draw people to Him, he said.
