Hello my fellow believers,
I lived as a Muslim for many years; However, It’s been months since I’ve been reborn into the one and only truth that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. I saw Jesus, he spoke to me clearly in my sleep for many consecutive nights and in my mornings it’s also clear that a higher being is helping me in every step. The more I surrendered to Jesus’s eternal love, the more i realised that he is the cure to every struggle i ever had. God is love and love is all I’ve seen from Lord Christ. Thus, i decided to start missionary work in Egypt, where i live.
I tried spreading the word of God, all i have for others is love and i want everyone to be saved just like I’ve finally been saved; Nonetheless, my country has a great Muslim majority and the punishment for apostasy in Islam is death. Needless to say, many see me with eyes filled with pure hatred and even intent for murder.
Out of fear for my life i stopped preaching the word of God, out of fear for my life i stopped admitting that Jesus is lord because otherwise, they would kill me or my family and even go as far as block your bank accounts and all that you own.
I truly love God, i wanna spread his word, i wanna show others the truth i have seen after many years, i truly want to serve but there’s a struggle within me, it goes as follows :
A- It’s unacceptable to denounce Jesus for he has said
“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38).
"But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33)
B- It’s wise to follow God only in my heart in the times of persecution and murder for he has said
“When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” (Matthew 10:23)“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ( Matthew 10:16 )
..........
I’m asking for your prayers and advice on what to do next......
i know it’s a great sin to denounce Jesus, i want to become a pastor, i want to do ministry work; However, persecution is a real problem over here. Help.
Many of us are praying for you brother John44.
You can know as a fact that since you have accepted Jesus Christ you are now born again. You have passed from death unto life.... You are a new creation.. old things are passed away., behold all things have become new. You are now a son of God and nothing you do or don't do will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not life or death nor angels nor principalities or powers. This being put to death daily is about living according to the new man not the old man who died, was crucified with Christ.. Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
No longer to live in our old manner of life when we used to walk by our human wits., by our own smarts to stay safe and secure and acceptable. Romans 8:32-39
[SUP]32 [/SUP]He who did not withhold
or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely
and graciously give us all [other] things?
[SUP]
33 [/SUP]Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]
[SUP]
34 [/SUP]Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading
as He intercedes for us?
[SUP]
35 [/SUP]Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering
and affliction
and tribulation? Or calamity
and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?
[SUP]
36 [/SUP]Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded
and counted as sheep for the slaughter.
[SUP]
37 [/SUP]Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors [SUP][
a][/SUP]
and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
[SUP]
38 [/SUP]For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things [SUP][
b][/SUP]impending
and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
[SUP]
39 [/SUP]Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because of Jesus we have a SURE FOUNDATION and an ANCHOR to the soul. a sure promise and even an oath from God Himself that because of Jesus blood, we are safe and secure in Him. We now have been given a REST that the people of the world don't have. First and foremost we must daily enter into that rest and believe in and trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is a finished work and one we cannot add to or take away from. It is ours because Jesus gifted it to us when we received Him and believed. We have fled to HIM for REFUGE... Jesus is our REFUGE and our strength. Hebrews 6:9
[SUP]17 [/SUP]Accordingly God also, in His desire to show more convincingly
and beyond doubt to those who were to inherit the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose
and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath.
[SUP]
18 [/SUP]This was so that, by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God ever to prove false
or deceive us, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge might have mighty indwelling strength
and strong encouragement to grasp
and hold fast the hope appointed for us
and set before [us].
[SUP]
19 [/SUP][Now] we have this [hope] as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot [SUP][
a][/SUP]break down under whoever steps out upon it—a hope] that reaches [SUP][
b][/SUP]farther
and enters into [the very certainty of the Presence] within the veil,
[SUP]
20 [/SUP]Where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with [SUP][
c][/SUP]the rank) of Melchizedek.
Here in America., we are not threatened with death the way you and your brethren are every day John44. So many of us are unfamiliar with the death threats coming from the very family., neighborhood., and society that we live and work in. BUT we are in the same battle to walk by faith and not by sight Hebrews 11:1.,
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [SUP][
a][/SUP]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see
and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
to see the truth in Christ and not the spirit of fear the devil sends. We have not been given a spirit of fear but of POWER and LOVE and a SOUND MIND... 1 Cor.2:12
The devil seeks to put the lie before us that our salvation it on us to stay righteous.. But the truth is our salvation is on Jesus and HE is Thee sure foundation... not us or what we do or don't do. He gave us the GIFT of His righteousness so we are blameless before God in love because of Jesus., FOREVER. And now we have the HOly Spirit to guide., comfort and teach us all truth as we live here in this sinful world.
We are all daily learning not to depend on or trust in our flesh and our old way of thinking ... the Bible calls the old way the arm of the flesh., our "old manner of life" Now we are called to put off the old way...reckon it to be dead... and now we depend on the love and grace of God in Christ not our wits (intelligence). As we first received Christ... (by grace through faith) so walk in Him.. Colossians 2:4-8
I say this in order that no one may mislead
and delude you by plausible
and persuasive
and attractive arguments
and beguiling speech.
[SUP]
5 [/SUP]For though I am away from you in body, yet I am with you in spirit, delighted at the sight of your [standing shoulder to shoulder in such] orderly array and the firmness
and the solid front
and steadfastness of your faith in Christ [that [SUP][
a][/SUP]leaning of the entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness].
[SUP]
6 [/SUP]As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with
and conformity to Him.
[SUP]
7 [/SUP]Have the roots [of your being] firmly
and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed
and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding
and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.
We walk the Christian life the same way we got saved.... by grace through faith.. Eph.2:8-9
[SUP]8 [/SUP]For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved ([SUP][
a][/SUP]delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;
[SUP]
9 [/SUP]Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
[SUP]
10 [/SUP]For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), [SUP][
b][/SUP]recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
Am praying for you John44 and that you follow the truth in the Holy Spirit as you live there in dangerous places and are trying to figure out how to survive. The HolySpirit will lead you into all truth. And Jesus said He is a VERY PRESENT HELP IN TIME OF NEED. Today at this moment and forever... He is alive and given us every thing we need for life and Godliness each day. We have enough grace for today. So we are told not to worry about tomorrow.
Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, [SUP][
a][/SUP]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see
and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Bless you.
Hope to hear from you each day so you can keep us informed of your situation so we can pray and help you.