By Mark Ellis —
He earned the nickname “Haji” because of his pilgrimage to Mecca. He hated Christians with such a passion he and his friends attacked them on their way to church and burned their Bibles. But two powerful encounters with God changed the course of his life.
“He was saved through a vision and a dream,” says Dr. Howard Foltz, president and founder of AIMS. “He came out of Islam to become a mighty gospel missionary for Jesus Christ in Ethiopia.”
Mohammad “Haji” Ahmed grew up in a devout Muslim home. “In my family, our purpose was to build mosques and spread Islam everywhere,” he says. “All my life I was a very strong Muslim.”
As one of the leaders in the mosque, Ahmed oversaw small gangs that stalked Christians in his area. “We would beat Christians who were going to church,” he notes. He recalls that he burned seven Bibles and attacked one Christian with a knife.
But like another persecutor named Saul of Tarsus, God stopped him unexpectedly in his tracks. “When I was sleeping, a voice came from heaven and said, ‘Mohammad, you are living in darkness. Come out of that cave and follow Me.’”
Somehow, Ahmed knew it was the voice of the Christian God. When he confided his unusual dream to his mother, she reacted harshly and kicked him out of the family home.
Because of his strict Muslim upbringing, Ahmed refused to heed God’s first attempt to get his attention.
So God approached Ahmed a second time, and now His manner was more brusque. “Mohammad, you will leave this place of darkness and follow me,” the voice said.
Even after this second encounter, Ahmed stubbornly dug in his heels. He would not bow his heart to the Christian God.
Following the latest dream, Ahmed came down with a serious ailment. “I couldn’t eat; I couldn’t walk; I couldn’t talk,” he says. “I went to different hospitals to get treatment, but I couldn’t get healed.”
Burdened by his body’s steady decline, he got desperate. As he tossed and turned in his bed, suddenly God brought to his mind some missionaries who attempted to share with him about Jesus Christ.
“I was afraid my friends and relatives would kill me, but I decided to call the missionaries to talk with them.”
With a voice that was still weak, he asked for help, and the missionaries came immediately to his bedside. They talked about Jesus, His message of salvation by grace through faith, and they prayed together.
Ahmed knew it was time to surrender his pride. “I decided to receive Jesus as my Savior,” he says. Remarkably, his sickness and his burdens faded away the same day.
“I told my family about my healing and my peace and many of them received Jesus,” he says.
In the days and weeks that followed, Ahmed felt some remorse about the way he treated Christians in the past. He asked God to forgive him for his attacks. Then he went a step further. He sought the people he assaulted and asked them to forgive him.
Amazingly, one of his former victims is now a close friend, made possible because Ahmed serves a God of reconciliation.
“I don’t have any hesitation that Jesus is real,” Ahmed says. “He is my peace, my healing, my ministry, and my Savior.”
If you want to know God personally, go here
Dr. Howard Foltz and AIMS has been training Ahmed and his friend for service to God’s kingdom. “They have both been trained by AIMS to spread the Gospel through Ethiopia. Their friendship is only possible because of the healing power of Jesus Christ,” he says.
Praise the LORD.
What a beautiful story. And this man was immediately used to win others to Christ. Powerful testimony.
Two things struck me from this article. First, God can still control our illnesses. While this doesn’t mean that He heals us of all of them, He is Lord over them. Second, when God calls someone, that person isn’t confused about whether it was God or not, unlike the visions some originators of other faiths have had. The true and living God of the Bible leaves no room for confusion or misunderstanding as to whether it was Him or not. Amazing!
God is great, let all honor be to his name.
Praise the Lord, brethren, this goes to show how desperate the Lord is to reach the Muslim world. We have heard of testimonies of conversions through satilite TVs in private homes, of sometimes whole families. We have also heard of persecution arising from these conversions, the Lord be glorified, we need to pray more asking the Lord for strategies to reach them.
Who can Resist the True God but yet that’s what His love is all about the more evil you are the more He love you and want to save you more than you want to save yourself what a loving God is He? Everyday I am amaze with his love for me and his love for others once i taste His love I can’t stop myself
loving Him and sharing Him with others……
some year ago while livng in turkey i met a young man who i loved- one night he had a dream-in his dream he was walking on a very dark street=across the street —- he saw a street and it was all light up=he crosses the street and at the end of it there is a man-his description-he has very nice long light suit-he is holding his hands out to me= the following morning he calls a man who was a christian and said i must go american church today
then he writes and says I PRAY TO SON OF GOD ALL DAY-i am reading my bible every day please pray for me
one day this same young man came to my house to share a meal-we spoke about food that he did not eat as a moslem ==i spoke no words other than-THE WORD OF GOD-saying yousef it is not what goes in a man that defiles him- but what comes out-the following day he came through the door and announced’
TODAY I TAKE HAM SANDWICH-30 years of teaching erased by one statement from Gods word-talk about to the bone-one of his stories in my life
Many say God is dead today. This refutes that and leaves it not to mans theories of how and when God works, but rather to God who left us a Book as a guide to how and when He works! Praise Him! This is the pattern brought to us long ago! This is the pattern which rings true, yes! even today!
Psalm 103:1-1-3 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases
Wonderful to read about this brother Haji and his “on the road to Damascus” encounter! Oh how I wish the Lord would awaken others more often like this! He no doubt has His reasons why He doesn’t. May God bless Haji, his family and the work that He has set him apart to do.
Only the Holy Spirit can reach the hearts of millions living in total darks. Praying that all believers will reach out to the lost around them so they can know the truth and God, Himself can reveal it in their hearts. If we care, we should share.
Samuel as a child did not recognize the voice as God. However, God still covered him in that area through his mentor. God is always speaking to people in their dreams; and many times, their hearts are hard and unhearing. Consequently, they see; yet do not see. They hear, but do not hear because their hearts are hardened through sin. Once, when I was very lost and very far from Him. I was considering a very bad decision. God spoke to me very clearly. He said to me, “One day you will be a Christian. What will you do then?” I thought to myself that wasn’t God. I don’t even serve Him. Sadly, I did not recognize His voice and went my own way. It was God, and I paid the price for my folly. I heard, but didn’t hear. He stands at the gate calling whosoever will to come. He goes to the highways and byways calling those who will come to the marriage supper of the Lamb; and in the end, those of us who have ignored his constant calling will have no excuse. Blessed is he who hears the voice of God calling and who hears and answers.
The Creator and Sustainer of all gives us one thing He will not over-rule, free will/free to choose. What an indescrible blessing to Ahmed and his family and friends that he submitted. God trusts him with his testimony. I pray blesssings over the work of Ahmed’s hands, his actions his words and pray protection over his life and his witness. When we yield to the Spirit, great and mighty things are available to and through us.
Praise God! This story is awesome!
If God did not reveal Himself to us we could not know Him.
Go God!
I love to hear these testimonies of people all over the world receiving dreams and visions from Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. God speaks to us all the time. God is faithful to answer our hearts cry for more of Him. Everyone wants to hear the truth of the word of God. I am thankful for my salvation and the grace, favor, and strength to live each day for Him.
God is so much bigger than we can imagine. Thanks for sharing this testimony.
God is good all the time.No Muslim will respond to this.
Thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for His love, grace and mercy over the life of Ahmed. Great testimony!
Praise God. Who can understand God’s love for human beings. He paid the price by sending His son on the cross to save us. Let’s pray that all Christians get in line with the aim of God for the salvation of the sinners etc… God loves them and is asking us to love them and pray for their salvation. God has a plan for each human being…..
Dr Howard Folz has a great training program. I sat through a weekend version. He uses many of the concepts that are found in a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. You can see growth in your town. Go to perspectives.org
Thank you Lord for this beautiful testimony. God is awesome, may the Lord use him mighty to bring salvation to muslins in his country.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Praise The Lord!
Praise God forevermore. Jesus is alive forevermore. Our prayers extends to all the muslims and all non believers of Jesus across the globe that they will encounter the savior Jesus Christ.
My savior Jesus,we always give thanks to the Lord because his love is eternal, I pray to you in my humblest heart to change the heart of my husband, you said you will never refuse a bended knee, I am here bending my knee with my supplication, save him also, he too is your son, a descendant of Abraham, and I am a gentile, change his heart that is full of darkness, his ways that lives in a cave, Lord almighty, give him a damascus experience that he will never forget throughout his life. Thank you Jesus!
Dear Jane,
I’ll definitely pray to Jesus Christ to change the heart of your husband….Believe in the one and only true God Jesus Christ……
Your brother in Jesus
Vinoo Jacob
Oh the Wonder of how JEHOVAH GOD Works – it is beyond the understanding of man to comprehend (Is 55:8-11). How I rejoice for every lost Moslem – and each and every other sinner that comes to belief in Jusus Christ as their personal saviour by whatever way that our Awesome GOD works (Jer 32:27)!!! Thank you so much for the story of our Brother Mohammad. May GOD keep him whole in Spirit, soul and body (1 Thess 5:23) to continue being our Wonderous GOD’s fellow servant.
For all that are really serious about praying for the lost, may I recommend that you go to http://www.pelministries.org and download their free booklet “Praying Effectively for the Lost”. It is available in .pdf format in several languages. My copy is highlighted and underlined, and I have used it for several years. — THIS IS NOT a COMMERCIAL ENDORSEMENT — it is a recommendation to fellow CHRISTians who have a real burden to pray for lost souls.
Please pray for lost people in every area of the world, there are so many souls that are Satan’s Prisoners of War (Is 14:17) that will only be released by the fervent effectual prayers of GOD’s Servant’s – you and I.
Wonderful,Amazing,Almighty God. Helleluyah. These testimonies are food to the soul. Thank you and lets pray for a young girl called Hiba abducted off the streets of khartoum and held sex slave for eight months by a gang of muslims. Please healer Jesus, heal her heart, and let her know you love her, strengthen her and wrap her in the cotton of your love.
Same God, different way of worshipping Him. What’s the biggie?
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