by Jim Truesdell, Associate Director
Gideon* wanted more. He wanted power. He was already an imam (a leader of a mosque), but was seeking greater spiritual power and influence. He was told that if he recited the Quran 700 times, he would have a share of the supernatural power of the jinn—creatures that are invisible to the human eye, capable of interfering with and even harming humans. In Islamic tradition, jinn are said to be created by Allah from “smokeless fire.” Gideon spent hundreds of hours reciting the Quran the prescribed number of times with no result. Disappointed, he consulted a person associated with dark magic. This person instructed him to find an empty, freshly-dug grave in the cemetery and recite the Quran another 700 times from inside the grave. Gideon followed these instructions but still did not receive the spiritual power he sought.
Around the same time he was doing the recitations, the factory he owned caught fire. It was not totally destroyed, but because jinn are associated with fire, Gideon believed he was under the power of dark magic. At that time, he met a Christian and Gideon explained he was trapped under an evil, supernatural power. The Christian agreed to help. After an hour of worshiping Isa al Masih (“Jesus the Messiah” in the Quran), the Christian rebuked the evil spirit. That night, Gideon had a dream in which Isa al Masih appeared to him and said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls.” He awoke and was completely at peace.
Gideon was curious to learn more. His new Christian friend gave him a Bible, which he read cover to cover in only a month. As Gideon read, he came to believe the Bible was a book not of man, but of God. He tried sharing the Good News of Jesus with his wife, but she left him as a result. He began to pray and fast for his wife. After some time, his wife returned to him, saying that she, too, had seen a vision of Jesus saying, “Come to me.”
Gideon’s faith in Jesus became apparent to his Muslim friends and neighbors. Soon, he was forced out of town and his factory was taken over. He moved to a nearby city in South Asia and started supporting other Muslim Background Believers (MBBs). Eventually, his whole family came to know Jesus as Savior. He has a small business that allows him to do ministry work part-time, but he hopes to have his ministry work be his full-time commitment.
Pray for Gideon and his family to continue to be salt and light to least-reached peoples in his community. Ask the Holy Spirit to continue stirring the hearts and minds of those on the frontier!
To learn more about God’s work in South Asia, contact our National Office at frontierfellowship.com/contact or 612.869.0062.
*name changed for reasons of privacy and security
Comments are closed.