Sunday, December 20, 2009

Omar's Dangerous Dream

Last night Omar had a dream in which he saw someone standing in the corner of his room. The person he saw in his dream had scars in the palms of his hands. Omar identified the person as Jesus Christ. He said Jesus instructed him to read Ezekiel 12:1-3 and then to find some Christian to explain to him the meaning of this verse. Early this morning, Omar arrived at a local church and told his story to two of the church leaders. They met outside because Omar said he could not go into the church building.

Until this morning Omar was a sheik in one of the mosques in the city. He had studied the Kur'an in Medina and was now a teacher in the mosque. After visiting with the church leaders he said he understood that his people were unreceptive to hearing from God. He said he believed that God wanted him to leave the mosque and to follow Jesus. He accepted Christ as his savior.

Then Omar drove back to the mosque and turned in his car and his books. He left his house and returned to the church toward the end of the Sunday morning service. He said that the leaders of the mosque then burned all of his belongings. One of the church leaders told me his version of what happened earlier. Then I met Omar and learned more of his story.

He said he was married to a woman and that he had a second wife who was 'a spiritual wife' that he been given to him by 'majini', the spirits. It was this spiritual wife who communicated with him and told him that his belongings had been burned and that he should go into hiding. Omar was waiting for the church leaders to decide what they could do to help him find a place to stay. The church leaders were caught in a dilemma. They were not sure of the truth of Omar's story and wanted to check it out further. On the other hand, they did not want to shun a person who had just accepted Christ. I don't know how this will work out.

Omar's story has a familiar ring to it. Many Mus1ims have come to Christ because of what they saw in a dream or vision. If his story is true, Omar will pay a high price for his decision to follow Christ. He is in danger of being killed because of what he knows. He will be disowned by his family and will likely have to live in hiding and maybe move to another country. Pray that Omar will have the faith and courage to follow the course he has chosen and to be a witness to others.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This story is common: Jesus revealing Himself through a dream or vision to a Muslim and the Church manifesting the "Paul syndrom" (Paul left Judaism for Christ after a vision, but the Church being suspicious rejected him). For people like this man, there is a need of a Barbanas who is willing to take risk for him.

I am a little bit confused by the fact that the "spiritual wife" continues to talk to him after he has become follower of Christ. This is undoubtedly a demonic spirit. It should go away. I think you should work with him on that.

Finally, I will say that no matter his level of education, he is a new baby in his new faith and should be willing to learn and to be thaught. DON'T make him feel like a "star" because of his background. I have seen many MBB "fall" because of how they are treated as MBB.

We will be praying for him and you all as you help him.

Blessings!

Yunus

Becky Reeves said...

Thank you for sharing this, Sam! We will be praying for Omar and God's revelation to Him of Himself through
Christ. Younoussa's council sounds good to us, too, on all things.

Unknown said...

Is there any follow-up to this post? What has happened in this situation. I pray a Barnabas has come along-side him and discipled him.

Sam and Nancy Shewmaker said...

There is a great need to teach church leaders how to respond to such situations with compassion and without fear.