Stories of Faith - Episode 25

Story by by Joel Oluyemi: "This happened one fateful night in the month of November 1995.

I was on my way (alone) to the staff quarters in Lagos State University (LASU) which is quite some distance from the University Auditorium where a Christian musical programme was taking place at about 2.30am. At a junction I saw a set of people along a foot path which I was meant to pass through.

Immediately the Holy Spirit told me they were cult members and that they just finished an initiation ceremony. Though there was an alternative to change my route, I didn't even think about it. I headed straight on for the same foot path.

The boys were almost fifty in number wearing black trousers and black T-shirts and they were coming in two's They were well arranged from the beginning of the foot path to its end. The word fear didn't cross my mind. I didn't speak in tongues, neither did I pray. I was just consumed with boldness and I just walked in between them looking into their faces but they could not behold mine. I knew it was not me they were seeing, the Holy Spirit had either made me invisible to them or covered me with a glory that can't be beheld. I walked with my shoulders held up high, looking at their faces shaking my head. After I left them, then the thought came into my memory that I'd just passed between about fifty cult members without being hurt or harassed.

It was then, it dawned on me that it was beyond the physical. There was something extra ordinary about me. The answer was not far fetched, it was not me but the Lord that blind folded the cult boys as He did for Elisha in 2 Kings 6:18.

There was another night that I encountered another set of cult members, about eight in number. This time I challenged them and asked where they were coming from at that time (it was about 2am). Of course, evil must bow at the gate of the righteous. They were mesmerized by the presence of the Holy Spirit in me. If only we Christians could recognize who we are in Christ, we would have taken our world for our Master, but our world is full of fearful Christians who cannot trust their Father to deliver them from carnal weapons like guns, sword, cutlasses and charms etc."

Culled from Holy Spirit, Best of all Friends

Stories of Faith - Episode 24

Narrated by T.L Osborn

"When we first ministered in Java, Thailand it was a 95% Moslem. Around the world we had heard how difficult the Moslems were to reach. They do not believe that Jesus is God's Son or that God raised Him from the dead. We remembered how helpless we were to convince them in India. But now things were different. We knew HOW to believe for miracles.

The first night I preached to that multitude, when I finished my message, I told them that I would not expect them to forsake their religion and accept the Jesus of the Bible unless it would be proven to their satisfaction that Christ is alive. I expressed that I did not feel a dead Christ could do them any good.

They knew that Jesus Christ had once lived on earth. They understood that He was a good man, a sort of prophet even a healer with strange powers to do miracles. But they understood that He was dead.

There is only one argument to win a Moslem. If Jesus Christ is alive, let Him do the miracles which He did before He was killed! He is dead, He can't. If He is risen, He will!

I called for deaf people. I told them I would prayy in JESUS' NAME. If Christ is dead, His Name would have no power. If, He is alive, He would do the same as He did before men killed Him.

The first man up the steps was a Moslem priest about 55 years old, wearing his black fez. He had never heard in one of his ears.

I witnessed to him of Jesus Christ, then I told him how I would pray. I explained how God was looking down on us, how He had raised His Son from the dead, how He wanted men to know Christ was raised for our Justification, and how He would give, this by doing this miracle.

Then I told the audience "If this man does not here when I have finished praying, you can say I am a false preacher and Jesus is dead; but if he does ear, now that 

Christ is risen, because a dead Christ cannot do such a miracle."

I placed my finger in his ear and prayed let it be known that Jesus Christ is thy son, that Thou didst raise Him from the dead and that only through Him and His shed blood can men come to Thee and receive Eternal Life let this be known according to the Scriptures by causing this deaf ear to heal IN JESUS CHRIST'S NAME I pray. Amen!

The entrire audience gasped when the old priest could hear the faintest whisper even the tick of a watch perfectly. Thousands raised their hands that night to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord."

Stories of Faith - Episode 23

BAGHDAD PASTOR’S MIRACULOUS ESCAPE FROM A CAR BOMB EMBOLDENS HIS FAITH

The man has just left his home, hopping into his car, turning the keys in the ignition, and pushing the accelerator as he had so many times before. Only this time, as he began the familiar journey toward the church where he worked as a pastor, he immediately sensed something was different.

Almost right away, an explosion ripped through the car, violently shaking the vehicle and—at the same time—engulfing it in the flames.

“I was totally confused, and I couldn’t see anymore.” The young pastor, named Joseph, remembers.

Though disoriented and in shock, he could hear a woman’s hysterical voice piercing his ears. “This man is dying!” She screamed.

“This is it.” Pastor Joseph resolved. “I am dying.”

Except for somehow, he didn’t. Instead, against all odds, Pastor Joseph was able to exit the rapidly burning vehicle. His sight returned in time for him to see the wreckage engulfed in flames.

“Each part of my car was destroyed and damaged, except for my seat.” Pastor Joseph described. “I had no scratches. The car was in flames, but I wasn’t burned. I found pieces of glass in my hair and four parts of the bomb in the scarf I had around my neck. As if a scarf could stop a bomb. Nothing touched me, I lost not even a drop of blood.”

The young pastor was dumbfounded by how his life has been spared. He immediately credited his survival to the hand of the Lord. “God gave me additional time. He put his stamp on my ministry, He said ‘Go on.’ God encouraged me that day.”

Seven years later, the Islamic State took control of big parts of Iraq and Muslims began coming to Christ in surprising numbers. It was then that Pastor Joseph understood why God wanted him to stay in Baghdad. “When someone asks me why I remain with my family in Baghdad, I tell them this story.” He explains, “There is violence everywhere, persecution everywhere. We suffer from the same things as all the people here suffer from. We want to be with them”

And, Pastor Joseph’s brush with death convinced him of one thing. “I know God is with me each moment.”

Pastor Joseph is now married and has two children. Their family sees people coming to Christ through all of the challenges and conflicts. 

Pastor Joseph knows he is at risk living in a city where people are randomly targeted, finding themselves assaulted simply because they in the wrong place at the wrong moment.

Still, he is determined that this is where God wants him to be. “We like to be like a Menorah. We’re a small group, we trust in our God. He can use us. We see that everyone is seeking peace, love and hope. We as a church are sharing about the ultimate source of these things. When they hear us talking about this, they listen.”

Source: https://www.opendoorsusa.org

Stories of Faith - Episode 22

Tiffany Thompson's Story

“I was raised in church, however, I had a dysfunctional view of who God is. I viewed Him as a taskmaster – meaning that if I did good, I was rewarded and if I did bad I was punished severely. And I had that view from childhood up until my teenage years. We were raised in a church, I’m the baby of 8 children, from Detroit, Michigan, I need to preface by saying that I honor my Father and mother, they did the best that they could. And even though I grew up in a dysfunctional home. I must say that I can’t imagine doing what they tried to do, they did their best. However, there was always some sort of upheaval, some kind of disorganization, some kind of chaos in my home, and as the baby of the house, I was always in the middle of it. I couldn’t understand, I thought ‘I’m the little one, somebody come and save me.’ So I witnessed a lot, a lot of things that I’m not proud of to say that I witnessed, but for whatever reason, I did witness it. My father died when he was 48 years old. And that had a devastating effect on me because I was 8 at the time. I was just getting to know him and I didn’t really understand the concept of death and no one explained it to me, all I knew was that he was never coming back and I couldn’t understand it. 

Shortly thereafter, my mother remarried and I would like to say that it got better for us, but it actually went worse. It went from bad to worse. And that’s when I began to develop a very deep depression, a very deep insecurity, I didn’t know who I was, I didn’t know who God made me to be, so I began to question my existence, I didn’t understand why God made me, so I didn’t want to live anymore. In my teenage years, I began to…. I actually stand here today as a miracle because I attempted suicide twice, and it failed for whatever reason, I couldn’t understand, all I can say is by God’s grace I’m still here. During that time, I met a young lady, she was my grade school best friend. Her name was Shanda. And we clicked immediately, and now I understand why we clicked, because she also was very suicidal, and she was also very depressed. And we just had something so in common, and I thought nobody could have a darker life than me and this young lady could. And we just bonded immediately, we made it all the way to our senior year and I remember on a Friday night I called my friend Shanda because I hadn’t heard from her in two weeks and I said, ‘hey Shanda its good to hear from you’ and she said, ‘Hey’. We had a very short conversation. I said, ‘hey maybe after we graduate next week, we can get together and spend two weeks. She said sure, never once did she hint that something was wrong. That was Friday. On Monday, her mother called me and said she was dead. She had shot herself in the head. I never did deal with the pain of losing my best friend and I just needed to escape, so believe it or not, I escaped through church, I escaped through façade. I wasn’t living an immoral life. However, it still was a façade, it was a cover up for me because I didn’t know how to deal with my friend’s death. Two years into serving in the ministry, we began to see some things in the leadership that was very very disheartening and as a result, I hardened my heart even more. I said okay, if I can’t find solace in church, then I just quit, I began to put up walls. But one thing that I noticed was that when I put up those walls, not only did I keep people out but I kept God out. From that moment, I said I’m just gonna pursue my studies. I got accepted into a conservatory. During that time, I met my college sweetheart, and we were both Christians, and after I graduated I began to work professionally as an actress. Filmed TV Broadway for about four, five years. I came back from doing a job on the west coast, and I ran into my college sweetheart. There was something very dysfunctional about our relationship and we couldn’t see it, even though we were both Christians. Well, I ended up conceiving out of wedlock. And again I found myself in a situation that I thought I would never be in. First of all I couldn’t believe I put myself in that situation, but here I was, pregnant. I began to take matters in my own hand and I decided that I would abort my child. I gathered money together, went to the clinic, gave the money to the doctor examining me. She said, “Tiffany, you need to sit up, I cannot operate on you.” I said, “why?”, she said because you are too early. She said, come back in two weeks. She said we’ll keep the deposit, you just come back in two weeks. 

So two weeks, I had a chance to choose life or choose death. Within those two weeks, all I can tell you is that there was a war going on in my mind that you will not even believe. I’m not a person who says I hear from God, because I’m just humble to serve him, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I heard God’s voice and He said Tiffany choose life. And I did not know at the time that my child was going to be a girl. But He told me, choose the name Zoey. I just kept hearing Zoey, Zoey. And at the end of the two weeks, I said yes Lord. I said okay. I won’t even go back and get the money. And I remember, beign on the train and I remember I never ever really looked up, but one day I looked up on my way from the abortion clinic, and I saw in big black bold letters, PRAY. And right then and there, I knew God was trying to get my attention. God was trying to knock down all the walls that I had put up. I thought it was rightfully so, but God was trying to get me from a place where the enemy was trying to destroy me. So I decided to keep my child, nine months later, I had my child, it’s a girl. I had no idea she is gonna be a girl. I named her Zoe. Lost every friend that you can imagine, lost every connection that you can imagine, lost my agents, lost my integrity, was humiliated but yet I chose life. And I said Thank you Jesus for giving me the grace to choose life. Believe it or not, I was working still as a single mum, and as an actress and I was working professionally but I was unsettled. And God said okay Tiffany, you chose life, you obeyed me, but I need you to give it all to me. I need you to lay it down. And I said God it’s so hard because I built my whole life around this. What am I supposed to do. I was supposed to be a doctor. I’m an actress, I don’t even have a plan B. What am I supposed to do? Trust me Tiffany, just do it. Trust me. And I said okay God, whatever you want I’ll do it. Whatever you want. That was in Feb 2010. I stopped going out on auditions, I just began to pray, and got a call from Mr Greg Thomas here in the Music ministry (at Times Square Church) and he asked me to come in and long story short, he asked me have I ever considered working full time in the ministry. And I just laughed, I said okay God, you have a sense of humor, are you serious? And he said, we are going through a few resumes and we put yours and we may consider you one if the Lord will have it, I walked out those doors. And I said Lord Jesus if this is what you have for me, if you want me, you know how I feel about church. You know two or 3 weeks later I got a phone call and Greg said we will like to have you. Would you consider coming on board? And at that moment I said yes. I’ve been serving in the ministry here since June 2010. My daughter’s name is Zoe. She is the most adorable young lady that I have ever laid my eyes on. She has taught me how to love, she had taught me how to break down the walls. I’ve still got so much work to do, but all I could tell you, if I could encourage anybody or any person who has to deal with maybe abortion may not be it, maybe suicide may not be it. But if I can encourage anybody today, I would tell you of God chose you to do something, obey because you never know, what God has in store. I don’t know what my choice did, I may have lost a lot, but I gained life, and I gained eternity and my daughter is alive. “And the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” The enemy tried to steal me through suicide, he could not do it, he tried to steal me by making me to abort my child, thus destroying me, he could not do it, so I wanna encourage everybody here obedience is better than sacrifice. God bless you!

Stories of Faith - Episode 21

Mary Slessor (1848-1915)

Before Mary Slessor was born, as early as 1846, the United Presbyterian Church had sent missionaries to Calabar, West Africa. Thirty years later, Mary Slessor, one of the most heroic women in the history of missions, came to Calabar. It is because of her distinguished work there of almost forty years, not just the place nor the time, that her missionary endeavor is classified as pioneering for Christ. 

Dr. Robert H. Glover, missionary statesman, teacher, and author, in his book, The Progress of World-Wide Missions, describes the life and work of Mary Slessor in the following brief words: "Her life rivals in many particulars that of David Livingstone. She served in Africa under the United Free Church of Scotland from 1876 to 1915. From an unlettered factory girl in the homeland, she advanced into the foremost rank of missionary pathfinders. Her work was that of a pioneer among the most savage tribes of the Calabar hinterland. Practically singlehanded she tamed and transformed three pagan communities in succession. It is a question if the career of any other woman missionary has been marked by so many strange adventures, daring feats, signal providences, and wonderful achievements." 

Mary Slessor was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, December 2, 1848. Her father was a shoemaker, but his earnings were usually spent in the taverns. Small domestic possessions were pawned or sold to provide the necessary food and clothing. Mary was the second of seven children. She found her comfort, joy, and strength in God's Word. Bible reading and missionary stories, especially from Africa, captured the interest of both mother and children. They attended Sunday school faithfully and were always present when a missionary was speaking in the church. 

Leaving the Loom 

At eleven years of age Mary began to work in the spinning and weaving mills, toiling from six to six. When, in the year 1873, the news came from Africa that "Livingstone is dead," Mary was about twenty-five years old. She asked her mother if she might go to Africa as a missionary. 

In 1875 she sent her application to the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, offering herself as a missionary for Calabar. She was accepted on the condition that she take a few brief studies at a normal school in Edinburgh. On the fifth of August, 1876, she sailed for Calabar, Africa. 

The first duty of Mary Slessor was to study and learn the trade language called Efik. From her very first contact with the natives her heart was deeply touched because of the cruel treatment they received from their chief. They were whipped, sold, and killed. 

Although Mary was not highly trained academically, she had the capacity of an ardent student and a ready learner. She realized that the principal reason for her coming to Africa was to lead people to Christ and train them to continue the work after she was gone. The boys and girls had to be taught to read and write. The abused and mistreated people had to be defended. And Mary had to win the confidence of both the heathen chief and the foreign authority. She knew that she had to live a Christian life as well as preach the truth concerning God and redemption through Christ before the natives would accept her teaching and her Saviour. 

Saving the Little Ones 

Witchcraft and heathen customs among the people were most difficult to overcome. For instance, the birth of twins meant a triple death—unless Mary Slessor arrived in time to prevent the murder. The mother of the twins was considered to be possessed of an evil spirit and she, together with the twins, would be killed. Mary would plead for the mother and often take the twins to her own humble home. It was her joy to influence the old chief to declare unlawful the murder of twins. 

Mary Slessor's great desire in her missionary work was to go to "the regions beyond" to preach and live the gospel of Christ where messengers of the Cross had not been, and to render a service for Christ which up to that time had not been attempted. On her long trips through the jungles and in canoes on the rivers among the cannibals, she was often found barefoot, carrying in her arms twin babies whom she "had rescued from being murdered. 

Because of her excellent judgment, her love for the people, and the confidence the High Commissioner of the government had in her opinion, she was asked to sit in their courts. In the district Ibibio she was requested to be in charge of the affairs of the courts, a position she held until November, 1909, when her health did not permit her to continue. 

She supervised the construction of humble schoolhouses and churches. On her three brief furlough trips home she not only recuperated physically but was also able to represent effectively the need of the mission field, the claims of Christ, and her need of prayer. She would often repeat, "It is not Mary Slessor, but God and our united prayers that have brought the blessings to Calabar. Christ shall have all the honor and glory for the multitudes saved." 

Everybody's Mother 

Critically ill with a fever in the early part of January, 1915, she became unconscious. A doctor from the Slessor hospital came to minister to the physical needs of Mary Slessor, but the day for her departure was drawing near. In her dying hour, surrounded by the native Christian girls and women, she was praying in Efik, the language of the people she had served. In the early morning of January 13, 1915, she went to be with the Lord. The natives cried bitterly, "Our mother is dead. Everybody's mother has left us." The coffin was draped with the British flag and brought to Duke Town for burial. 

Many Christians have been challenged to follow and serve Christ by Mary Slessor, who began her missionary work under such unfavorable circumstances, but finished it after bringing multitudes to Christ. God still specializes in doing the impossible through human instruments who will say: "Not my plans, not my glory, but God's plan, and His glory." 

"God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty...things which are despised, hath God chosen" (I Cor. 1:27-28). 

--

Mary Slessor wrote to a friend who had long prayed for her: "I have always said that I have no idea how or why God has carried me over so many funny and hard places, and made these hordes of people submit to me, or why the Government should have given me the privilege of a Magistrate among them, except in answer to prayer made at home for me. It is all beyond my comprehension. The only way I can explain it is on the ground that I have been prayed for more than most. Pray on, dear one—the power lies that way." 

--

On another occasion she wrote: "Prayer is the greatest power God has put into our hands for service—praying is harder than doing, at least I find it so, but the dynamic lies that way to advance the Kingdom." 

--

Concerned about the purposeless lives of some women in the homeland, she advised them, in words which may well be the secret of her own life of blessing: "Gird yourself for the battle outside somewhere, and keep your heart young. Give up your whole being to create music somewhere, in the light places and in the dark places, and your life will make melody." 

--

"Don't talk about the cold hand of death," she said. "It is the hand of Christ." 

As for her rewards, she had but one question: "What would I do with starry crowns except to cast them at His feet?"

Culled from www.wholesomewords.org

Stories of Faith - Episode 20

HAJIA BINTA FARUK’S CONVERSION STORY

The Genesis of my conversion started in the University of Nsukka, I had a room mate called Chinwe, this lady loved praises, she will sing like this; come and join me sing Halleluyah I was always looking for a way to deal with her, one day while coming from the House fellowship, she kept her Bible on my bed and I asked who kept the Bible on my Bed, she said sorry, Binta, I carried the Bible and I tore the Bible, then I beat her. She took a piece of the Bible and cried to the heavens and called my name three times, Binta Jalingo, Binta Jalingo, Binta Jalingo, this Bible you tore, you will use it to preach the Gospel. Then I slapped her again, I said, it is your mother and your father that will preach the Gospel, she said, may the Lord have mercy on you, Binta. After seven years of the spoken words, I got converted on the 25th of September 1999. I was in the bedroom in Shehu's palace, because I got married to the younger brother of the Shehu of Bornu. I was born into the Muri kingdom, which is mostly Fulani. My mother, Hajia Aminat Jalingo, is of the Kutep tribe. Contrary to the Islamic tradition of multiple wives, my father married and maintained only my mother. I am the fifth of nine children. My father lived in many parts of Nigeria, serving in the Army till 1996. My mother also worked with the Nigerian Medical Corps until her retirement in 1992.

I attended the Army Children School, Ikeja Cantonment, Lagos, completed my secondary education at Government Girls’ College Enugu. I studied Mass Communication at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). After my studies, in 1996, I worked as Programme Producer/Director with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Yola. I got married on April 27, 1997 and God blessed us with a set of twin boys – Hassan and Hussain.

I never believed that I needed salvation for whatever reason, because every Moslem is convinced that Muhammad was the last Prophet in the long line of those that Allah had sent before. The Islamic Hadith (Mishkat) speaks of about 124,000 people who lived at various times in history. Twenty-eight of them are mentioned by name and most are found in the Bible. Since each of them was sent with a word from Allah to warn the respective people not to practice idolatry, to live righteously and to consider the coming Day of Judgement, it is perceived by Moslems that Isa (Jesus), the one to whom is given the greatest prominence in the Qur’an, was like Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and most others sent to the Jews. Therefore, when I heard Christians call Him, Lord, I became mad at them.

As a young girl, in the Secondary School and even as an undergraduate, I would delightfully pack copies of the Holy Bible and take them to Kaduna for destruction, I thought the Bible was demonic. Many are still doing it today, I became the Vice President of the youth wing of the Jamaatu Nasril Islam. Very often, I saw Christians happy in every situation; yet, my success at school, which gave me the job at NTA, and brightened my chances of a good husband, could not bring me such peace and happiness. Several people had talked to me about Christianity, but to me then, Muhammad was the final seal of the prophets. This was my pride as a Fulani girl who saw herself in the greatest religion of all time.

Qu’ran does not teach salvation in Jesus Christ, but it gives Him the greatest prominence. The wonderful statements in the Qu’ran are enough to compel one to search more about Him. The name Jesus (Isa) occurs about 25 times in the Qu’ran, and the title Messiah is used 93 times.

I hated anything that had to do with Christianity. I was always happy seeing a Christian unhappy and enjoyed hearing that Christians were suffering, but on the 25th of September 1999, I was caught in a web. The day before, we attended the Friday prayers and all went well. At about 1:30am suddenly, an unusually bright light appeared in the bedroom with a mighty wind blowing and throwing all the pictures and other valuables to the ground. My husband and I became afraid. He got up from bed, brought out charms, known in Hausa as “Hayaki”. He placed it on the ground, got hot charcoal and placed the charm on it, but the mighty wind threw it all down.

Before we could make out anything, a voice thundered, saying: “You have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Go and be “Tabitha” unto my people”. I asked my husband if he could understand what the voice was saying, but he said that he did not hear any voice. He later concluded that I belonged to a secret cult, which accounted for my hearing voice that he could not hear. He thought that I wanted to sacrifice him or our set of twins. He got angry, took our twins to the guestroom  and abandoned me in the bedroom. I was very worried and couldn’t sleep. In the morning, again, I heard the voice saying: “Tell your husband that you have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour”. I said “No, I can’t. What has a Fulani got to do with Jesus Christ”, I thought that demons were after me. The thing happened again on 28th and 29th, and each time, there was an invitation to “come and serve”. So I told my husband that I would go to Church the following Sunday. “Not in this house”, he retorted, He might have received my word with shock, yet joy and peace flooded my heart at that time. I knew what I was passing through and it would be disastrous for me not to do what God would want me to do for Him.

On Saturday, after speaking to him about it, I went ahead and bought for myself the first Bible I ever bought or read in my life, and hid it under my box. The next day, Sunday, I picked up my Bible, got into my car and drove to the nearby Baptist Church.

After the service, I came back and met my husband at home. I greeted him but he asked me where I was coming from; I wanted to lie, but heard a voice saying ‘what were you taught in the church today?’ It was “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” So, I told him that I was coming from the Church. He got up in anger, gave me a beating, snatched the Bible from me and wanted to tear it but I told him of the danger of tearing the Bible, so he stopped. He was shocked because he knew that it was my role in the past. So he dropped the Bible in anger and left till the evening. I brought out food for him as usual, but he kicked the food away and warned his sister that no one should eat the food I cooked in the house again for he had declared me an infidel and as a result, I would have nothing to do with the family, even with my own kids. The next day, he went to fetch my father from Makurdi. As I welcomed my father, he too, started beating me with his military belt and boots, until I was unconscious and was taken to the hospital where I stayed for three days. Wonderfully, on the third day, at about 2 am, the Lord appeared to me. I noticed a touch on my feet and I woke up trying to see who it was that touched me, but the face was shinning like the sun in such a way that I could not see his face. I only looked at Him from His feet to the chest. I was afraid and screamed for help. One of the nurses came, prayed with me and asked me not to be afraid again. As I said amen to her prayers, I began to speak in tongues for about three hours. I was saying things they could not understand. Some of them thought I was mad but a psychiatric doctor who was called in, confirmed that I was normal.

The figure appeared again. This time He said unto me, “Be bold, for this is temporary: you will overcome the temptation”. The fourth day, I was discharged from the hospital. On getting home, my husband gave me a divorce letter, which I collected with joy and told him. ‘I am married to Jesus.’

After that, I packed my things, including my two cars, kept them in someone’s house and travelled to Lagos. My husband took my twins to Saudi Arabia. Not done yet, my father had the man that I had kept my belongings in his house arrested on the grounds that he had abducted me from my husband’s house. On hearing that, I returned to Jalingo and arranged his release. Then, my father collected my cars and other belongings claiming that he bought them for me as wedding presents.

In trying to make me renounce my faith in Christ, the Management of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Yola, had my appointment terminated, under pressure from my husband. My father and some Islamic fanatics took me to one Alhaji’s house in Jalingo and there chained my feet and my hands. After seven days, I was released, with a threat of death, if I went to Church again.

My mother arranged for my uncle, her elder brother to reconcile my father and me. As we went talking, my father got angry, picked up his gun and shot at me. As God would have it, the little movement I made at the sight of a gun overturned the seat where I was sitting and I was pushed to the ground. The gun sounded but the bullets did not enter me but passed through the chair and to the wall. Everybody was alarmed, my mother started weeping that he had killed her only daughter. Later, my mother advised me to go and stay with her elder brother. Being a moslem, he too was unhappy with me and made life difficult. Once, he threatened to kill me with a cutlass so I left his house for Lagos and later, Maiduguri.

I was denied my rights in the family; my father had me thrown into prison on false allegation. He had initially gone to a Sharia court but I protested against that since I am now a Christian. So, he took me to a Magistrate court at Hadeja. The Magistrate ordered that I be remanded in prison for calling my father, my neighbour. I was in detention for six months without trial and bail until  some Christians on prison visitation, learnt that I was there for becoming a Christian. The matter was reported to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman who wrote a petition that led to my proper trial. The Magistrate sentenced me to two years imprisonment plus a fine of five thousand Naira. One Christian Women Fellowship in the area paid the fine while I was taken to prison. That was September 5, 2000.  Some inmates asked me to appeal but I told them, confidently, that the Lord Jesus would do a great Appeal for me. At midnight, I prayed: ‘Lord, I want you to deliver me from this prison before December. If you don’t, the people will ask me, where is your God?’ I reminded him of how He answered Hezekiah. On October 2, 2000, less than a month after my imprisonment, a letter came from Abuja ordering my release and I was set free. My prison experiences brought me closer to God that I developed more faith in God’s ability to see me through.

After two months, I decided to go and share the Lord Jesus with my grandparents. The moslem youths were looking for me everywhere, to kill me. They hid me until I couldn’t be hidden. I fled to the bush for four days. On the fourth night, I woke up with a snake beside me. That day, I told God that I wanted to go back to Islam. I couldn’t continue like that in the bush but He quickly reprimanded me. He asked “Upon all the sufferings you’ve been through, you still want to go back? If I didn’t shut the mouth of the snake, wouldn’t it bite you while you slept? I repented and told him that I was sorry; I will never go back to Egypt”.

I found out that God actually took me to prison to teach me some things. One was to read the Bible and two, because of a female Christian warder who left and married a Moslem and God shut her womb. In the prison, God told me in a dream that she was going to have a baby. When I told her, she became angry, tortured me, called me names, but I kept praying for her, that the name of the Lord be glorified since I had said the Lord told me. Later, she actually had the baby, and that converted her and her husband. Eight moslems in the prison gave their lives to Christ. They were baptized in the Holy Ghost before I left. Seeing what the Lord used me to do in the prison, I knew that I would do better outside. One day, some moslem youths came and kidnapped me. They laid me on the ground, raised their cutlasses to kill me but their hands remained hanging in the air. That happened to three of them and the others fled. They were later taken to the police who wanted them killed but I told them it was the Lord’s battle not theirs. I told them that I had forgiven them. As I was leaving, they asked for their hands to be restored. I said “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, let your hands come down” and their cutlasses dropped. Today, they are Christians and live with me. On another occasion, another group of moslem youths kidnapped me. They were taking me to Sokoto. On the way, scorpions emerged and started to sting them. They dropped me, begged me and even gave me money to take me back home. Yet on another occasion, they kidnapped me and wanted to inject me with poisonous material but they couldn’t find those materials and had to let me go.

The Bible says we must start from our Jerusalem. Moslems and Fulanis are my Jerusalem. Many of them live in ignorance, not having heard of Jesus till today. And if I am one of the fortunate ones that God brought out, I need to go out and say something to them. That is why I say I would fight the cause with my blood. I am not limiting myself to Nigeria; I intend to go to the Middle East, planting a church in Saudi Arabia where my children are. I tell God that my children in Saudi Arabia are Ambassadors of Christ and they must become Pastors in Saudi Arabia.

So, any time I hear a moslem is converted somewhere and is persecuted, I take them in. I have forty-nine under my roof right now. They call me “mama”. The oldest is eighty-nine years. She became a Christian and her children threw her from upstairs to die, but God preserved her. A Pastor found her and brought her to the centre. Some come with their ears cut off, others are stripped naked etc. I pray for people to join me in this crusade. Thank God. He is raising men among the coverts in the centre and in my family.

My immediate elder brother who is a soldier has become a Christian. My mother became a Christian since 2002. My elder brothers who wanted me dead or back to Islam are now Christians. One of them, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Maiduguri had to relocate to Imo State because of persecution.

I testify that Jesus is Lord. Some people came to attack us. The first time they came, they saw a pool of blood: the house became a pool of blood. The second time they came, the house became plain land. The third time, they saw ocean. The last time, the house became a pillar of fire. Sometime later, something happened that led to their arrest and the Commissioner of Police sent for me. On getting there, the police brought the criminals who said that I didn’t know them but they knew me. They were all Moslems, some of them from Republic of Niger. They then narrated how they had to attack me, but I was delivered by the Lord. That day, the Commissioner of Police lined up his men in the office and asked me to pray for them.

Instead of leaving me alone, my former husband began to persecute me. While leading some assassins to my place to kill me, the vehicle in which they were travelling was involved in an accident. He, alone died in the hospital after confessing that he wanted me dead for I was bringing shame to his name. It pains me because both of us were in the same room the day I heard the voice. After that I prevented him from destroying a copy of the Bible, something I used to enjoy doing. He knew how violent I was, destroying Christendom. He should have learnt a lesson from my conversion and repented. That is how many others die without repentance even though they are exposed to the gospel. The good Lord who is always my Shield and Protector will always save and hide me in His shadow. My life is in God’s hand.”

Binta Faruk Jalingo was a staff of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Yola. She runs Tabitha Evangelistic Ministry, a home for the persecuted (Converted Muslims) in Miango, Jos Plateau State, Nigeria. I don't know how your feeling will be but as for me, the name Jesus is the most powerful, if you believe the same, then share this with others.

Stories of Faith - Episode 19

Chris Delvan, a gospel musician, tells the story: 

A girl said to me that she had lumps in her breast. The doctors had removed some and they told her she had to come for them to quickly remove the others, she was 16 at the time.

We were at a musical rehearsal that day, and when we finished the rehearsal I said you know in rehearsals you can receive anything you want.

And she said, “let me speak with you Uncle, is it true?" 

I said, "Yes". 

She said she thought it has to be a proper service. 

I said, "Yeah, rehearsal is a proper service too." 

She’s married now, she’s 30. She has 3 children. No lump. She received her healing at the rehearsal.