Have you led an Islamic person to Christ?

Wow...that's really cool :thumbs:

 

We've had three exchange students in the past 3 years one atheist, one Muslim and one Orthodox. All have been blessings to my home and it is a wonderful way to have a mission come to you if you can't go on a mission. The Muslim was lukewarm in his faith and was Muslim more out of heritage than belief. He is a wonderful young man and we had some great conversations and still chat on occasion via email. I asked him before he left after 10 months of leading where he was at and he declared that Jesus Christ is the son of God :godisgood:. However, I do pray for him as I know that he was still holding on to some Muslim elements, was still unsettled on many of his positions and is in a relatively oppressive nation.

 

In some nations for sure. I think he'd be alright in his but they weren't about to let him bring a Bible into their country (but the electronic version we installed in his laptop should go unnoticed )

 

I was part of a mission team to Nigeria back in January. While there we trained about 250 Nigerian Believers to witness to Muslims and Pagans (African Traditional Religionists) using the Creation to Christ Bible Storying Method. When we finished our training sessions they could tell the Creation to Christ story in 10 min or less. That way when the Believers were out in the market place or wherever they could tell a Muslim everything he needs to know in order to be saved before the Imam could come down from the Mosque and call for Holy War on the Believer and the person to whom he is witnessing.

We also showed the Jesus film at some "Bush Churches" following the training sessions and local Mulims would come and watch. One night we had two Muslims profess faith in Christ and they prayed to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. Another night I had the honor and joy of praying for one of my young teammates as he shared the Creation to Christ story with a Muslim man in a small village and at the end of the story the man asked to pray to receive Christ.

Persecution is heavy for those who turn from Islam to Christ. Please pray for these new believers in Nigeria.

 

Bible-boy that is awesome! How long were you there? William visited Nigeria for 3 weeks, after 9/11, for his mother's wedding. He stayed in a village in Abia State and also stayed in Lagos. Where were you guys? Sounds like you may have been in the midst of the Youruba's and the Hausa-Fulanis. William's mom married an Igbo chief. I know they are the "Christian" tribe of the Nigerians, but evangelism among the tribes is almost non-existent because of prejudice and hostility. The Christian and Muslim feuds were escalating at the time he was there, and it has continued to get worse. We plan to return to document the situation in order to expose the issue to those who are unaware of what is really going on.

 

What a great testimony reformed! Once our kids are a little older and/or we have more room, I would love to take in an exchange student. Growing up William's family were part of an exchamge group. He met some really great people. I think it is such a great idea, and an great way to really show someone what it means to be a Christian. Actions are always better than words, imo.

 

Not that I know of. It is really simple. You start out by telling them that you want to tell a story. The story is from the Bible. The Bible in one big book made up of many different stories that all combine to form one big story. The Bible is God's Word. He (God) inspired certain men throughout the ages to write down the stories, so while the stories were written by the hands of men these men were inspired by God to write what He wanted them to record. God is the ultimate author of the Bible.

I want to tell you a story about the Most High God. The Most High God created everything that exists. He created the earth, the sun, moon, stars, trees, rocks, mountains, oceans, rivers, all plants and all animals. He creates everything that exists. Then God created man in His own image and placed him in the Garden of Eden to live and work to take care of the garden. Then God saw that it was not good for man to be alone and He created woman to be a helpmate for man. God then said that everything He had created was good. The first man and woman were named Adam and Eve. God would come and walk in garden with Adam and Eve and they were His children and friends. God told Adam that he was free to eat from any plant in the Garden except one special tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God said if Adam ate from that tree he would surely die. Life in the garden was easy and perfect.

God also created the heavens and He created spiritual beings to live with Him in heaven and to serve Him. These spiritual beings are called angels. One angel, Lucifer, was very beautiful and powerful. Lucifer became jealous of God because he wanted to be like God and have other angels worship him. He disobeyed God and led other angels in rebellion against God. As punishment God kicked Lucifer and the other rebellious angels out of heaven. Today we call Lucifer Satan and the other fallen rebellious angels are called demons.

One day Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent and he spoke to Eve. He told her that God did not really say that they could not eat from the one tree. He told her that she would not die if she ate from the one tree. Eve tried to resist him but he convinced her that if she at from the one tree she would be like God. So Eve ate from the forbidden tree and she also gave some to her husband Adam and he ate also. They did not physically die right then. However, their eyes were opened and they knew for the first time that they were naked and were ashamed. They tried to cover their nakedness with leaves. When God came to the garden they tried to hide themselves from Him. God found them and asked why they did not come when He called. They told him because they were naked and ashamed. God asked what they had done and who had told them they were naked.

Adam confessed to God that they had eaten from the forbidden tree. God was angry that they disobeyed Him. When we disobey God it is called sin. God killed an animal and made clothing for the skins to cover their nakedness. Their sin required the shedding of blood to cover it. Then God cursed the serpent and said that He would put hatred between the woman and the serpent, and that the seed (offspring) of the woman would be hurt by the serpent, but her offspring would one day crush the head of the serpent (this is the first promise of a deliverer that would come to save all people from their sins). Finally, God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden and their lives became very difficult.

As mankind began to spread over the earth they knew God but they kept on sinning against Him. So God gave a Prophet named Moses a list of 10 commandments that would help the people to know how not to sin against God. However, the people still kept on sinning. So God gave them a sacrificial system so that they could sacrifice an animal and confess and repent of their sins. But the people would sacrifice, confess, and repent then turn around and commit the same sins over again. So the sacrificial system became just an empty ritual to the people and God was not pleased. Besides, the blood of animals could not really ever satisfy the wrath of God for the sins of men. The sacrificial system was symbolic of a perfect sacrifice that was to come.

As the ages of time passed God sent many Prophets to warn the people of their sins and for their need to turn back to God for salvation. Many of these Prophets foretold more information about the promised deliverer that would one day come. You may have heard of some of the Prophets of God like: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jonah to name a few. These men of God would tell the people what God had said about them and the punishments He would bring upon them if they did not turn from their sins and trust God for salvation. Then there was a long period of time when God was silent and did not speak to the people through prophets or in any other way.

Finally, one day an angel of God spoke to a young virgin girl named Mary and told her that she had found favor with God. The angel told her that by a miracle she would conceive a son and she was to name him Jesus. The angel told her that the child would be the Son of The Most High God and He would be the promised deliverer that would save the people from their sins. Mary questioned the angel about how she would conceive a child when she was not yet married. The angel explained that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit of The Most High God and because the child would be conceived without Mary and God having sexual relations the child to be born would be called Holy--Son of God. Mary believed the angel and said, "I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." So Mary was found to be with child and her betrothed, Joseph, was worried if he should go through with the marriage or put her away quietly and not marry her. Then angel came and spoke to Joseph and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because the child she carried was from the Holy Spirit. He also told Joseph that he was to name the child Jesus. So Joseph married Mary but they did not have sexual relations until after the child was born.

So Jesus was born and He grew up and became strong with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. When Jesus became a grown man He began to preach and teach the people about God and the Kingdom of God. He called 12 special men to be his disciples. Jesus became very popular among the people because He worked miracles. He healed the blind, the lame, the deaf, he cast demons out of people, he fed over 5,000 people with just 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, and he even raise people from the dead. He also angered the religious leaders of that time because he pointed out their sinfulness and how they had failed to properly worship God and had led the people away from God. Jesus' popularity with the people and his stern teaching against these religious leaders made them angry. The religious leaders began to plot how they could kill Jesus. One night the came upon Jesus as he was praying outside in a garden and they arrested him. They claimed many false charges against him, they beat him, and then they nailed him on a cross to die.

And Jesus did die. Some of his followers took his dead body down from the cross, cleaned his body, and buried it in a tomb with a large stone that sealed the entrance. But this is not the end of the story. You see after three day of being buried in the ground Jesus rose again proving the He had power even over death. He rose from the dead and walked the earth for another 40 days with his followers. Many of his followers saw him during this time. They eat meals with him, walked and talked with him. One even touched the scars on his hands, feet, and side from where he had been nailed to the cross and stabbed with a spear in his side. Then one day Jesus told his followers that He had to go to his Father in heaven to prepare a place for them, and he promised that he would one day return to get everyone of his followers that had ever believed in him and take them to be with him and God the Father in heaven.

So now that you have heard this grand and beautiful story I must ask you a question my friend. Would you like to become a follower of Jesus and know for certain that one day you will live with Him in heaven for all eternity?

 

That is the basic story. Of course you will want to modify it to fit your personal story telling and add in or take out certain parts to emphasize or deemphasize particular Theological points you wish to make (or not make). The point is to keep it to the minimum so that the entire story can be told quickly before some radical Imam or other follower of Islam notices what is happening and starts to call down Jihad on the story-teller and the one(s) listening (basically 10 minutes or less). Some of the Nigerian’s that have lots of practice with telling the story can do it in as little as 7 minutes. It is also designed that if a troublemaker appears the story-teller can stop at any point and tell his listener(s) that he will come back the next day and finish. However, if you promise to do come back you must return as promised. The other thing to stress is that when training national believers this material you have to tell them that they must ask that final question at the end of the story. They are not just to go out and tell the story without offering Christ to the listeners.

There is much more to the training for the nationals. However, I did not teach that part so I don’t know it as well. I taught the story itself and other team members taught the training sessions on the usefulness of the story and how to properly go about using the story to quietly witness for Christ in a hostile Muslim environment with out getting anyone killed or causing a riot.

 

Thanks reformed. When we are ready I'll definitely need to pick your brain! My daughter is only three so I think we will wait until William, my oldest, is in high school before we take someone in. That gives us about 3 or 4 years to also find a place that is actually big enough to accomodate another person. We live in an apartment right now. My husband fondly remembers the exchange students his family sponsored when he was in high school. One boy, from France, had such a great time that he came to stay with them the following summer.