Converts to Christ Persecuted for Believing
Dear Friend of the Persecuted Church,
Jadrah’s friends call him a “living Peter”.
Like the apostle, God miraculously revealed to “Jadrah” that Jesus is the Christ. Like Peter, he uses the sacred texts of his culture to reveal Jesus to others, and he is mistreated for following Christ.
And he once . . . under torment . . . denied Christ.
It is hard for us to fully grasp the extreme pressures put on Christian converts to force them to recant and return – or ‘revert’ – to the religion of their society.
Like Jadrah (name changed for security), many Christian converts in high-risk nations are rejected and abused by their families and communities.
Many lose their meager belongings, their jobs, and health from injuries. They are outcast from society.
Some converts are relentlessly pursued by extremists – terrorists – who are determined to make them revert or die.
That’s why they especially need our prayers and support. Pray that God will encourage believers like Jadrah as they persevere.
Jadrah’s story: Jadrah was a respected imam. For over 50 years he led Islamic prayers in mosques and had thousands of followers.
“I was searching to be closer to God,” he told me.
One night he heard a voice say, “Go to the place.” A light appeared from above. He followed the light into a mosque where the light shut off. Someone called his name.
Jadrah asked, “Why did you lead me here? Who are you?”
A voice said, “I am Jesus Christ. You are looking for Me.”
Jadrah went home. “I had no peace,” he said. “I needed to find books that came before the Koran.” He found a Bible and a Christian who answered his questions. When he read that Jesus is the only true Life and Way to heaven, he believed that Jesus is Savior and Lord.
Jadrah then led prayers in mosques and preached about Jesus based on passages from Islamic teachings about Jesus.
The persecution began with his family. His nephew, an Islamic radical, confined him in a room and beat him so badly that he could not move, demanding Jadrah “leave that religion and revert to Islam.”
His nephew hired nine men to guard the room so he could not escape. Jadrah prayed. “God saved Abraham’s son from the fire, and Jonah from the fish,” he said. “I believe God has the power to save me from the room.”
The hardest part of the ordeal was being abused by his own family. “But I did not scold him or get angry because I knew that Jesus Christ was persecuted in this world.”
“Jesus said that if anyone believes in Him, they will be persecuted and humiliated. That’s why I behaved very well.”
His nephew let him go but forced him to leave the village . . . then told a mufti, a well-known Islamic scholar, where Jadrah was living, “if you’d like to revert him to Islam”.
The mufti gathered over 5,000 people to surround Jadrah’s home. The elderly man was mercilessly beaten and forced to say that he did not become a Christian.
But they did not believe his denial was sincere. The mufti threatened that he would never let Jadrah be released.
After two days, they decided to kill him.
They bound and stuffed him in a bag and were about to throw him in a river. Jadrah prayed, and suddenly the bag opened. He fell out and got away.
They found him again and took him to the mufti’s compound. The next day, the mufti suddenly became paralyzed.
Jadrah escaped.
Three months later the mufti came to Jadrah’s village and saw his injuries. He asked for forgiveness. Jadrah told him, “I don’t have any problem with you. Jesus Christ will forgive you.”
(Try this scavenger hunt and tool to witness to others: How many similarities can you find in Jadrah’s story to the Bible? Write them in a list and tell others about the persecution that Christians like Jadrah face.)
Price to Pay: To this day, people hate and mock him. His children abandoned him. Some of his former followers scold and threaten to kill him. The anguish of being rejected by his loved ones is worse than the physical torment.
“If I’m in need, no one in the village helps me. They look at me like I’m an animal, not a human being. They treat me like a street dog.” They call him “Christian” – which, in their culture, is a slur, like calling someone an SOB.
Yet he secretly spreads the Word. “I make friendships, share a little bit, then invite them to a quiet place where no one can see us. There I share the gospel with them.”
“We face many problems. I have to do it very carefully.”
Many of his former followers now believe in Jesus. But no one will hire them. They must travel far, where they are not known as Christians, to find work as field laborers.
When asked what we can pray for him, Jadrah said he wants to witness to all of his former followers “to know the salvation of Jesus Christ before I die, at least one a month. And for a bicycle and cell phone” to travel to villages to share Jesus.
With your support, Christian Freedom International provides medicines each month for Jadrah’s injuries – and gave him a bicycle and cell phone. Thank you for partnering with CFI to be an answer to prayers! Please ask God to give Jadrah strength to keep sharing Jesus with the Muslims he once taught.
Terrorists Target Christians: Jadrah says the persecution has increased in recent years. Militant jihadists linked to al Qaeda are using the internet to recruit and train online – and target converts.
They kidnap and brutalize Christian converts to force them to return to Islam. The jihadists then post videos on YouTube channels – with thousands of followers – of their “trophies” when a Christian convert gives in.
Pray for these Christians to overcome their public humiliation and experience God’s full restoration and overcoming love.
How can we help? Jadrah is one of many Christians that Christian Freedom International helps. Food, medicines, safe houses, and emergency aid provide practical relief.
Yet what stings deeply is being rejected by families and communities. The church – the family of believers – is God’s gift. Our encouragement helps them to persevere.
“I became very happy when I came to learn that people are praying for me,” Jadrah said. “It is really a blessing for me. Please keep praying for me.”
Enclosed is a card for you to write an encouraging note to persecuted Christians like Jadrah. Write a note and send it back to us! Christian Freedom International will deliver it along with any aid that together – with your support – we provide.
Thank you for encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ as they persevere.
In Christ,
Wendy Wright
President
P. S. We can encourage persecuted Christians by giving food, medical aid, shelter, Bibles. And our prayers and notes to bless them.
Christian Converts Pressured to ‘Revert’
Jesus miraculously revealed Himself to “Jadrah,” who was an imam for over 50 years. His children abandoned him, his nephew severely beat him, and a mob tried to kill him. Extremist imams held him hostage to try to force him to revert, or return, to Islam.
His prayer is to witness to all his previous followers before he dies and “all will come before the savior Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized”.
Christian Freedom International helps “Jadrah” with aid and medicines for his injuries from beatings – and, at his request, a bicycle and cell phone to travel to villages to share Jesus.
“Jadrah” at his home. When he was an imam, “I had no financial problems, and no peace in my heart.” After accepting Jesus, “sometimes I have no food, but I always feel peace.”
“Jadrah” had thousands of followers when he was an imam. Now many of them believe in Jesus.
Converts to Christ are thoroughly taught on what it means to accept Jesus Christ and the persecution they may face. They sign a statement that their conversion is their free choice before being baptized.
…“sometimes I have no food, but I always feel peace.”
Christian converts often pay a high price for believing in Jesus. Their struggles are worse since Covid. CFI provides food and resources – and encouragement – for those in need.
“Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.”
1 Peter 4:16