Tragic circumstances drew Pakistani bootlegger to God

By Michael Ashcraft –

Christians in Pakistan get limited job opportunities – like sweeping streets or making bricks.

It’s hard and unappreciated work under the blistering Indus Valley sun. So Sunny Boota Masih and his father and grandfather wanted to work less and make more money. They decided to traffic alcohol in Faisalabad, the second largest city in Punjab, with 3.8 million people.

In the strict Muslim nation of Pakistan, producing, selling, possessing and consuming liquor is illegal. To sell it on the streets makes you the equivalent of a drug trafficker. You can only find it at 5-star restaurants, usually hotels catering to non-Muslim tourists.

“We didn’t want to do the work of sweeper or cleaning,” Sunny told God Reports. “We wanted to earn money.”

But easy money had a high price. Sunny and his father were in and out of jail. To get a quick release, they handed over large sums of money to the cops. Usually, Sunny would spend five days in jail for his offense.

Sunny’s wife, sister and daughter attended church, and Pastor Anwar would visit them regularly to exhort them to desist from greed and promoting vice. Of course, Christians have a different perspective on alcohol than Muslims. In Western, Christian-influenced nations, selling alcohol is legal, but some Christians avoid it. In the Bible, only “drunkenness” is a sin.

Anwar counseled Sunny that breaking the law of Pakistan was not good and that peddling liquor tended to promote sin among Christians and Muslims.

“It is not a good work,” Anwar told them. “You are doing a very big sin.”

Sunni remained unmoved. “We are earning money,” he would reply.

Sunni was born into a Christian-heritage family. He was not born-again. In Pakistan, everyone born into a “Christian” family has the last name Masih, which derives from Messiah, pastor Sarfraz Anwar Masih said. About 1% of the population is Christian.

Pakistan is an Islamic nation, as stipulated by its constitution. Christians suffer discrimination in job opportunities and can wind up on the wrong end of a persecution gone haywire. Over a false accusation, a Christian can be burned alive by enraged mobs.

So, for a Christian to flout the anti-alcohol laws is double jeopardy.

But he was making money to survive, so Sunni persisted.

His last sale was in 2018. That’s when he got arrested once more. This time, he wasn’t able to finagle an early release. He stayed in jail for 24 days, four times the usual sentence.

While he was in jail, he endured a tragedy. His daughter contracted a very serious illness and died. Locked up, Sunni was unable to do anything to save her.

Overcome by grief and sadness, it seemed that God was breaking down walls of resistance in his stubborn heart.

When he was released, Sunni decided to serve God and get out of alcohol trafficking.

“Please pray for us,” he told Pastor Anwar. “We want to leave this job. We won’t sell alcohol again.”

The hardships and heartaches weren’t over. His wife got sick and also passed away.

Sunni remained faithful. He dedicated his time to the church, regardless of living in poverty. When Pastor Tim Moynihan conducted a crusade, Sunni was the driver.

He has persevered until today. He has remarried and has a daughter.

“Sunni is a very faithful man,” Pastor Sarfraz says.

To learn more about a personal relationship with Jesus, click here.

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About this writer: Michael Ashcraft pastors a church in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. He supports a Christian school in Faisalabad.