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A True Story from Indonesia

indonesia-testimonyA story from Indonesia

“No one from my family will ever become a Christian!” shouted Ali with angry face. “I will not allow her to become Christian!”

His anger reached a feverish pitch when he discovered that his sister, Lia, had become a Jesus-follower and had recently been baptized. With a loud and and accusatory tone, Ali said “It must be because of Ahmad. He made her become a Christian!”

Ahmad was a local believer who would frequently visit Lia’s family and share with them all about Jesus.

Ali’s anger began to boil over and he cut the electric cable to her house. At the height of this anger, Ali threatened to kick her out of the village. All of these events made Lia become very sad. Yet, God gave her the grace to survive and she decided to continue to stay in the village.

After hearing what happened to Lia and her family, Ahmad went to visit them. He met with Lia and her husband and using God’s word he encouraged them to endure. Suddenly, when they had just finished, there was a loud noise like some one had just fallen outside. Many people ran out to see what had happened. A young child had fallen down from high place and laid unconscious and motionless but the onlookers kept hearing him passing gas. Everyone was shocked at his condition. Ahmad offered to pray for the child and the family granted him permission. Ahmad lovingly laid his hands on the child and prayed. After his prayer the child began to come to consciousness and he stopped passing gas. It was evident that Jesus had healed the child. Many people witnessed the miracle, including Ali, but because of his anger, he stormed off.

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Later Ali’s adult son Budi contracted a mysterious illness. Ali had a dream in which he saw that the only person who could help his son was his sister Lia, however, he was too ashamed and embarrassed to visit Lia and asked for her help because of all the problems he had caused her. As his son’s disease continued to worsen Ali knew he had to tell Lia about his dream. As new believer, Lia doubted that Budi could be healed by her prayers, but the Holy Spirit gave her the courage to pray boldly in the name of Jesus. After Lia prayed, Budi arose from his bed and began to recover from his illness. Just like his father, Budi also hated Christianity, however, he became very open and willing to hear the Gospel. It wasn’t long before Budi came to faith in the Messiah and was baptized. Shortly afterwards he found a job after many years of unemployment.

Knowing that Budi had been baptized, Ali decided to meet with Ahmad. During their time together Ali expressed his desire to trust in the Messiah. Ahmad thoroughly explained the Gospel to him and after some weeks of practical instruction, Ali made the decision to be follow Jesus also.

The deep hatred towards Jesus-followers that lived in Ali’s heart disappeared as God’s mercy and love began to change his heart.

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6 Comments

  1. Good day Amira!

    I hope to find you well. I know your comment was a few months ago but do you mind if I reply?

    Concerning the fact that there are no pictures of these individuals, I understand why people wouldn’t want to believe their story. However, if they still live in a country that is not tolerant of their beliefs, they could be hurt or killed. It is usually not safe to post images on the internet because psychotic killers who shame their religion might decide to track them down and destroy them.

    It’s true, we all need to be respectful for each other. I am sorry that people beat you, anyone who physically hurts another in “religious zeal” is a shame to their faith.

    …However, I would like to also state that while we need to be respectful of each others beliefs, it is impossible to have the religions all “co-exist”. Because one, Jesus made it clear that with the price He paid, He is the only way to God and the only way to be cleansed of sins. And two, although there are some peaceful passages about the Jewish people in the Quran, Islam itself will never truly accept Judaism or the Jewish people. And three, Judaism solidly rests on the statement that God made a covenant (promise) with Israel.

    Something interesting to note, do not be offended- I am NOT trying to offend ANYONE. It is a simple observation!:
    If Jesus is the way, then everyone outside of the way who refuses to go the way, is in trouble because of sin. If Islam is correct, then any Jewish person who doesn’t revert is in trouble because of their bloodline. If Judaism is right, then everyone who was anti-semetic is in trouble on Judgment Day. If all three statements that each faith makes is wrong, then we’re all in trouble with persecution from non-believers.

    Either way, someone’s in trouble. Someone is right though and while we need to be respectful of others opinions, we all need to pray that our God reveals Himself strongly to the world so everyone who wants to can worship…

    • Dear Brother/Sister,
      Sorry as your name is not familiar to me.
      I commend you for you politeness.In Islam there is no compulsion in religion.Anyone is allowed to follow the religion they wish to follow even if it be that they are falling from light into darkness.The Quran has mentioned several verses where Allah swt talks about He does not like compulsion in religion.There are several verses in the Quran which also say that the righteous people among the Jews and the Christians will also be admitted into Paradise so as long as it is a Monotheistic religion and they all believe in ONE GOD and do not associated any partners with HIM.My question to you would be that why is that in the Headlines of News papers people mention a Muslim Terrorist or a Muslim that?The bombings that happened in Netherlands were by Christians so why didnt the headlines read Christian terrorist?What about fathers incesting with their very own daughters who are Christians?Why does NOT the Headline say Christian Man Incests his own daughter?Why is that Muslims are stereotyped and hated?We have good and bad people in very community,race,cast or creed.That does not mean We are all bad people.About beating people up Our Beloved Prophet has clearly mentioned that you cannot raise your hands over innocent people.I can’t exactly agree with you on the above points.Islam is truly a misunderstood religion.Please do not judge a religion by its people because people tend to mix culture with Islam and call the whole thing Islam, judge it by its TRUE TEACHINGS.
      I am a Muslim and I do not hate my Christian any other religion followers brothers and sisters.Allah guides Whom He wills and He misguides whom He wills.I am glad He guided me.
      I am an ex Christian Who reverted to Islam.
      May the Peace and Blessings of God be upon you.

      • Hello :),

        I do think it is not right and unfair that Muslims are grouped together in the media, but actually, you would be surprised when it concerns Christians. The media dislikes and even hates Christians (especially in my country). As for that man in the Netherlands, there was a lot of uproar about the fact that he called himself a “christian” and committed that horrible crime.

        I think it is wrong for anyone, regardless of what religion they align themselves to, to rape/murder/hurt another.

        As for your statement about researching Islam’s teachings, I would agree and say that people need to do that for every faith. What does the true teachings say instead of someone who is (mis)representing the religion?

        In the Bible, God says that it is wrong to hurt and/or kill the innocents and the ones who cannot protect themselves. Jesus said to love everyone and to even forgive and love those who hate you. Therefore, a true Christian would NOT kill, rape or hurt others.

        Perhaps if people could let go of their preconceived ideas about others and realize that we are all human, the hurtful attitudes, comments and actions would begin to subside. Too many hearts have been wounded because people forgot that others are human.

        If respect only starts with you and me, at least it has a foothold. 🙂

        Have a great day and God bless you!

        • Dear Brother/Sister,
          I am glad that there still people like you who have an unbiased approach.All Praises be to Allah the Lord of this World and the Hereafter.May Allah bless you for your kindness.Ameen.
          Have a Blessed day and May God bless you more! 🙂

  2. Hello,

    Thank you for your kindess and blessings, may God multiply it back for you! Be blessed in all that you do!

    Peace,
    Hotaru (Sister)

  3. To be honest there is no truth in religion, but Jesus Christ has the truth. Jesus was never just a prophet, apparently he was more than that. If we say he is a messiah then he just cannot be only a prophet. Muslims think that their religion is right only because they grew up thinking it is all true. If we even start from the Koran it has so many confusing stories. If God really revealed the Koran, how can it be silent about the resurrection of Christ, how can it be silent about the true meaning of the crucifixion of Christ and say “no they didn’t kill him was it just made to appear so unto them”. This is totally ridiculous. The metaphor is not that some one killed him forcefully. It is that he willed to go to the cross and the Father sent him to do so. It just didn’t happen accidentally rather that is why he came to earth. Jesus didn’t come to do miracles, and most importantly Jesus never received a book called Gospel. he himself was the gospel. As John the evangelist said the law was given to Moses, but truth and grace is by Jesus Christ. And the Koran even says that killing and getting killed for the cause of God will assure entrance into paradise and that this is revealed in the Gospel and the Torah, this is just wrong. Even if the gospel is still not a book, it never says killing for the sake of God assures paradise, it rather says “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” And Amira, God never misguides. you are mistaken.
    Thanks

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