New Video Program Documents Phenomenon of Muslims Converting to Christ after Experiencing Dreams and Visions of Him
Mohammed of Nigeria, said Jesus Christ appeared seven times to him in dreams just before he was about to go to Saudi Arabia to continue his studies on the Quran.
Jennifer Riley/TN (Feb. 2nd, 2007)According to LCWE, many of the Muslims who have the experience are without prior knowledge of the Gospel or contact with Christians, and they share a common factor: revelation comes to those who are seeking to know and please God.
The project, says reporter Jennifer Riley, began in 2002 when a group of people interested in the phenomenon recorded on-site interviews with former Muslims who had converted to Christianity after experiencing dreams or visions of Jesus.
An example shared in the report on the video includes that of Mohammed of Nigeria, who said Jesus Christ appeared seven times to him in dreams just before he was about to go to Saudi Arabia to continue his studies on the Quran. After converting to Christianity, his father and others reportedly tried to kill him. Eventually though, he was able to lead his father to faith in Christ.
Film Evangelizes Muslims through Spiritual Phenomenon
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A video program documenting Muslims who have come to know Christ through supernatural means is being used as an evangelism tool.
The More than Dreamsprograms, which records the stories of five Christian converts, shares what some say is a well-documented phenomenon spanning decades of Muslim men and women experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ, reported to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization in an article released on Monday.
Reports of Muslims who experience these spiritual revelations usually come from “closed countries” where preaching of the Gospel and converting to Christianity is condemned by death.
Many of the Muslims who have the experience are without prior knowledge of the Gospel or contact with Christians, according to LCWE. One common factor, however, appears to be that the revelation comes to those who are seeking to know and please God.
The project began in 2002 when a group of people interested in the phenomenon recorded on-site interviews with former Muslims who had converted to Christianity after experiencing dreams or visions of Jesus. The producers interviewed people from all over the Arabic-speaking world including Muslim areas in Africa and Asia.
Producers wanted to work with ministry partners around the world to distribute the videos both to evangelize unbelievers and encourage those who have already experienced the revelation that they are not alone.
Included among the stories is Khalil, a former radical Egyptian terrorist who persecuted Christians like “Saul” in the Bible, but came to accept Christ through a life-changing dream of the savior.
Another story is about Mohammed of Nigeria, who said Jesus Christ appeared seven times to him in dreams. Mohammed had studied the Quran in depth at several Muslim schools and was about to leave for advanced studies in Saudi Arabia when he experienced the dreams. His father and others tried to kill him after his conversion. Since then, however, he has led his father to faith in Christ.
The video stories have been dubbed into five languages: Arabic, Farsi, Bahasa Indonesia, Hausa and Turkish. Plans are underway for several other languages commonly spoken by Muslims: French, English, Urdu, Bengali, Kyble Berber and Russian.
The producers of More Than Dreamshas set the goal to distribute 10 million copies of the film directly and through partners in the next three to five years. The first major distribution took place mid-2006 in Europe. Thousands of copies were handed out to Arabs attending the Germany 2006 World Cup match between Saudi Arabia and Tunisia
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WHAT IS THE APOSTOLIC REFORMATION?
This is the term used to define the present-truth work of God in the Church today. We must remember that when God moves in the earth He does not name His moving. Men apply names to the spiritual movements of God in order to give clarity and definition, but sometimes the names lock God , in the minds of men, to very narrow areas of manifestation while God may be in fact be doing many things at one time. We must thus be careful that our definitions are loose and not binding and dogmatic. Several other terms are used to describe what is happening globally today such as:
We can list some things that can be identified across the globe that can help identify this move of God viz.: A total restructuring of the formation of the global church making obsolete the present shapes and emphases as God releases fresh revelation of His purposes and desires in the earth A complete radical renovation of the mentality of the Church globally as God removes all aspects of limitation from our faith A recognition that we are a generation of destiny coming rapidly into the realization that we are in the best position to actually bring an end to the ages in our time A radical movement away from dead religious tradition and local church limitation to a Kingdom reality that invades every aspect of life A positive bringing in of the mass of ordinary believers into the reality of ministry thus radically broadening the base of the assault upon enemy positions in every area of life A complete restructuring of the way the Kingdom is financed and the recognition and faith for huge financial input into the Kingdom for the push to the end of all things A ferocious thrust into governmental prayer across the nations of the earth as a tidal wave of prayer and expectation sweeps through demonic territories world-wide A co-ordinated invasion of all territories internationally that have not yet received the declaration of the gospel A deliberate, strategized heightened warfare against illegitimate spiritual thrones world-wide as God gives the Church insight and heightened powers of discernment A purification of ministry and ministers as new leadership is shifted into place by the Lord as a global reshuffling of leadership by the Lord is underway in the Church The bringing back to effective recognition and operation of prophets and apostles to complete the function of the five governmental ministries of the Church The achievement of a great momentum in the Church that will push it through to the ultimate end The global harvesting of the earth of souls for the Kingdom as God closes the ages down.
Understanding The Present Tsunami Crisis A Prophetic PerspectiveBy Dr. Noel WoodroffeThe crisis precipitated by the Asian Tsunami gripped the earth as we all sat with our eyes glued to our television sets and with horror in our hearts. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan referred to it as “the darkest hour of our lifetime”. All around the world hearts are crying out in despair and confusion. There is an uninformed and ignorant cry against God as people lift their voices in complete futility against His sovereign power. Many believers are confused and full of questions.
The events of Sunday 26 December 2004 were significant beyond the tragic loss of human life and physical destruction. The Agence France Presse (AFP) reported in an article on December 28 that US geophysicists stated that the 9.0 magnitude earthquake was so powerful that “it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map”. It went on to report that small islands may have moved as much as 20 metres. Another article released by Reuters News Agency on Dec 28th reported scientists as indicating that the rotation of the earth may have speeded up, shortening the length of days by a fraction of a second. What we saw on our televisions as a moment of tragedy in human history is in fact an indicator of permanent planetary changes.
Our belief in the sovereignty of God forces us to accept that these events did not escape God’s awareness. In Isaiah 24, the prophet Isaiah delivers a prophecy thousands of years ago that seems to describe events similar to those that have recently unfolded upon the earth. We can identify several highlights from this passage that will help us formulate a perspective on the present crisis.
1) There is a relationship between physical horrors and events on the earth and spiritual reality. We see this in verse 1 where it states that the Lord distorts the surface of the earth.
2) These events impact and affect all men. In verse 2–3 it clearly states that none will be exempt – no nation or class of human; master nations or servant nations; ‘lender’ nations or ‘borrower’ nations. This calamitous event is the disastrous equalizer of all humanity. Nothing will make nations immune to the impact of the movement of God. Neither a powerful military-industrial complex, massive economic power, historical might, political strength nor large population centers will defend the systems of the earth from the unfolding of the prophetic purposes of God.
3) The defiling of the physical earth has to do with the load of human sin that lies upon it. In verse 5 we see that the laws of God have been broken and as a result a process of physical destruction begins to set in on the planet. The original Hebrew word for ‘defile’ that is used in the verse means to be godless, soiled, polluted or corrupt. Because the boundaries established by God for human existence have been broken and have replaced them with our own, progressive decay and destruction have been set in motion. The many problems facing the globe today is an indicator that we are at a similar position – a depleted ozone layer, the destruction of life-giving forests, the creation of new diseases, plagues and epidemics, economic systems that destroy the soul of man.
The result of all this is that the earth is groaning in pain (Romans 8: 22). The whole of creation is groaning as in pain of childbirth desiring to be delivered from the bondage of corruption.
4) The core issue is the issue of joy. Joy here refers to the necessary perspectives and internal spiritual positions that make human life bearable in the earth. In Verse 7 – 13 it is indicated that the “mirth of the land is gone” indicating that the human spirit is broken by the onslaught of disastrous conditions afflicting the earth.
But in the midst of this deficit of joy in the earth, there is another people who sing (verse 14-16). The clear issue being pointed out here is the need to maintain and to exist in the joy of the Kingdom while in the midst of the crisis. This people lift up their voice and seem to have no problem proclaiming their vision of God in the midst of circumstances that seem to indicate the opposite.
They are motivated by revelation in their hearts and not by circumstances. We, as the Church, cannot live by logic. We cannot develop a perspective of life that is based on simple cause and effect. In the critical ending seasons of the earth only those who can “see” God will triumphantly survive. The proclamation by this people is not done in secret. It is a global commentary and it comes from the “ends of the earth” (from the islands of the sea) to the entire earth.
5) Violent earthquakes are destroying the earth. Verses 19-20 state that violent earthquakes will cause the earth to reel and stagger like a drunkard. It is an amazing prophetic image that describes an earth that wobbles in its orbit just as it did a few weeks ago. The act of wobbling is a prophetic indication of the weight of transgressions which causes it to lose its balance in trying to bear it up.
6) Judgment occurs both in the heavens and on the earth. In verse 21, it states that in the day that these events occur God will be punishing the “host of the exalted ones on high” and also “on the kings of the earth”. The phrase “host of the high ones” refers to satanic ruling powers that have jurisdiction over the systems of the earth.These natural events point to a much more cosmic activity by God as Judge over the heavens and the earth.
7) All this indicates the expression of the reigning of the Lord on (verse 23). There is a movement in the chapter from verse 1 to verse 21 from physical disasters in the earth to the establishment of the visible ruler-ship of God over all that He has made. Behind the natural events it is necessary to discern the process of establishing the Kingdom of God in the earth.
Based on what we have seen here in Isaiah 24, what can we say?
1) The current events of the earth picture or pre-figure events that have been prophetically mandated to occur. We may be literally seeing the emphatic movement to the ultimate conclusion before our very eyes. No one can say, and I am not saying, that these present events are literally the events prophesied by Isaiah. Doing this can draw us into serious interpretational error. But certainly they function in the general prophetic pattern of what has been prophesied and thus serve to radically force our eyes open to the reality of where we are in the current flow of the end-time purposes of the Lord.
2) Let us look at the quality and content of our experience with a fresh dimension of appreciation. The wisdom of God is displayed in bringing a Reformation of the Church with emphasis on:
· a new sighting and realization of the Kingdom of God that emphasizes the reality of God in all dimensions of life rather than just simply a church service based religious experience
· a new emphasis on shared life and the power of community
· a fresh apostolic release with the capacity to actually build and advance the purposes of God globally in the earth
· a fresh thrust to personal strength and victory in all areas of our life
· a new strengthening of the inner man so that we can endure and prevail in the midst of the crisis
· new prophetic capacity to hear the voice of God and be directed in our thinking and actions by the commands that come from heaven
3) Let us gaze at the nations with a new level of responsibility and an elevated level of understanding. We must desire to obey the prophetic purposes of God and labor to fulfill His purposes in the earth. Isaiah 2: 2- 3 decrees powerful interaction between the house of God and the nations of the earth. The house of God will be elevated above the mountains and all nations will flow to it. They will come and they will say” Teach us your ways!”.
4) We must increasingly separate ourselves from the corrupt values, the godless mentalities and the Babylonian principles of the earth. We must be increasingly clear representatives and demonstrators of the pristine laws and principles of the Kingdom of God . We must be light in the midst of the darkness (Isa 60:1-3).
5) We must increasingly lift up our eyes to the heavens and celebrate the quality of life offered us in this great salvation. We must set our minds on things above not on things of the earth. We must value greatly the kingdom community of believers, the spiritual work and come together in supportive life as never before.