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A former Muslim says God appeared to him in a dream and healed his ankle. (Public Domain)
God Gives Muslim Man a Vision of a 'Man in White' and Heals Him in the Dream
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Nabil* and his family were refugees and had recently settled in a small apartment that happened to be near a Christian named Greg. Nabil found work at the lowest rung of the income ladder, as a manual laborer.
But one day Nabil suffered a severe ankle injury that kept him off the job. Greg began visiting Nabil's apartment regularly to help him rehabilitate, according to a report by Frontiers.
But after months of therapy and rest, Nabil's ankle was still so swollen that he could only take a few tentative steps across the apartment. It seemed it would take several more months before he would be pain-free and able to return to his demanding physical work.
But one day Greg called Nabil and was surprised by an urgency in Nabil's voice. "Greg, I need to see you immediately! Come over now and bring your Bible."
When Greg entered the apartment, Nabil didn't even say hello. "A man in white came to me in a vision and told me to get a Bible," he gushed.
Greg suddenly noticed his friend walking limp-free. "What's happened to your ankle?" he asked.
"A man in white healed it," Nabil said. A few nights earlier, this man in white appeared to him in a dream and led him into a beautiful garden-like paradise. At the entrance to the garden, the man told him that he must read the Bible and that it would lead him to life, according to Frontiers.
"Then I told the man about my injured ankle. He laid his hands on it, and it was healed."
Nabil watched as the Christ-like figure blessed each of his children. His 1-year old son, born with a genetic condition, came forward. The man laid his hand on the boy and said to Nabil, "I will heal your son, he will be well."
When Nabil woke up, he touched his ankle and knew it was healed. He went to his son and was amazed to see a difference in his appearance. Within three days, the 1-year old began crawling, standing, and speaking words for the first time.
Greg listened to Nabil's story with wonder. The two men began to praise the Great Physician, Jesus, the God who heals.
The next day Greg went back to Nabil's apartment and gave him a Bible. He reported the heavenly messenger appeared to him a second time!
"The light came to me again last night with a message!" In this remarkable dream he was told, "A great sign—a beautiful message—is coming to you tomorrow. The sign is so great that it must be shared all over the world and with every person."
"Greg, what is the sign?" Nabil asked. "You have it, don't you?"
Greg pointed to the Bible. "The message is here. Jesus is the sign. Jesus sets us free from sin to give us new life. Let's read it together, Nabil."
As a result of the two powerful dreams, the Word and the Spirit touched Nabil, he was born again and is growing in his new faith with Greg's help.
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Have you ever lied about a relationship to protect yourself? Or told close friends you didn't believe them ... about something really important? Maybe you can identify with Peter or Thomas, subjects of the two remaining episodes in CNN's second season of Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery.
"The Bones of St. Peter" airs on April 2; "Doubting Thomas" on April 9. Each of these two followers of Jesus had their signature flaw. Each deserted the one they called "Lord." Once restored, each followed Him with fervor.
Curious about these two? Here's a short primer that may facilitate your understanding of the CNN programs.
Fishermen Become "Fishers of Men"
Andrew, a fisherman, introduced his brother Peter to Jesus. As they spent time together, Jesus eventually challenged the brothers plus James and John (also brothers and fishermen) to leave their trade and become "fishers of men." Peter, James and John became Jesus' closest friends. Traveling with him, they saw him teach, feed hungry people, heal the sick, deal with opposition.
Impressed with Jesus, Peter later reflected, "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile back; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but He entrusted Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Pet. 2: 21-23).
If your roommate says that about you, you must be something special. In fact, Peter (originally called Simon) was convinced Jesus was divine: "You are the Messiah," he affirmed, "the Son of the living God." Jesus commended this affirmation and named him Peter, meaning "Rock."
Denial to Dedication
Peter promised Jesus on the night before his crucifixion that even if all others left, he would remain faithful. Yet within hours, Peter had denied several times— twice to two servant girls—that he even knew Jesus. Guilt-ridden, he wept bitterly.
Sunday morning, hearing Jesus' tomb was empty, Peter ran there and entered it to confirm. He later saw Jesus alive, realized he was forgiven, and accepted Jesus' mandate to spread his message. Emboldened by believing he had seen the resurrected Messiah, he pursued this vigorously, at greatrisk. Tradition says he WAS eventually crucified in Rome.
Doubt to Dedication
We don't know if Thomas was born skeptical or cultivated the skill. Jesus' biographers give us some glimpses of his attitudes. When the disciples questioned the wisdom of returning to Judea amid threats to Jesus' life, Thomas cynically counseled, "Let us go also, that we may die with Him" (John 11:16b). After Jesus' arrest, the disciples fled. Only John and several women were brave enough to show up at the cross.
When the disciples later told Thomas they had seen Jesus alive again after he died, Thomas doubted: "Unless I see the nail prints in His hands, and put my finger in the nail prints, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe." Eight days later, Jesus appeared to Thomas, inviting him to touch his wounds. "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed. Tradition says he took Jesus' message to India, where he was martyred.
Resurrection Liars?
Flawed, failed, forgiven, faithful. Peter and Thomas gave their lives—literally—in Jesus' service. Cowards became heroes because they believed they had seen the resurrected Christ. Their martyrdom—and that of other disciples—argues loudly against the theory that Jesus' disciples invented the resurrection story. Someone might willingly die for a lie they believed to be true. If these men were lying about the resurrection, they were dying for what they knew was false. That's highly unlikely.
CNN's series highlights Peter's and Thomas' lives, also examining whether Peter visited Rome and Thomas, India. Though such questions are interesting for church history, neither outcome affects New Testament reliability. These final two CNN episodes can stimulate thinking about these two influential historical figures.
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Kenny Joseph, longtime missionary to Japan, passed away Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017, in Fullerton, California, at the age of 88.
Kenny and his wife, Lila, who met in Japan, were two people who answered General Douglas MacArthur's request for 10,000 missionaries to go to Japan at the end of World War II to help spiritually rebuild the devastated country after the firebombing of Tokyo and the two nuclear bombings that put an end to the war with Japan.
Kenny Joseph was born in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 30, 1928, to Assyrian-American immigrant parents Sam and Martha Joseph. Raised in the Presbyterian church, he accepted Christ at a Charles E. Fuller rally held at Soldier Field when he was 17 years old.
After attending Moody Bible Institute and Bob Jones University, Joseph traveled to Japan in 1951 at the age of 23 to begin serving as a missionary with TEAM. In 1954, he met fellow missionary Lila Finsaas, the two were married in 1955, and they served together in Japan before relocating their ministry to the U.S. in 2012.
Joseph served in numerous capacities in Japan, editing publications that served the missionary community, including Japan Harvest and The Japan Journal, and he later founded and published REAP Magazine, which he published and edited for a decade. He also authored the Japan Missionary Language Handbook first released in 1955 and re-released in 1982 as Combined Japan Missionary Language Handbook.
He was a tireless advocate of the theory that Christianity arrived in Japan far earlier than commonly understood. He wrote extensively that the Christian faith first appeared in Japan in the second century, not in 1549, when most scholars believe Francis Xavier first brought the gospel to Japan. He had recently completed his final book, Japan's Christian Roots, at the time of his passing.
A pioneering missionary who used innovative techniques to spread the gospel in Asia, Joseph taught at Japan Christian College and later coined the term "ad-vangelism": buying advertising in secular publications for Christian-themed messages. He later championed the cause of using Christian weddings to promulgate Christianity in Japan, performing them himself and facilitating opportunities for other missionaries to perform them as well.
He was also involved in Bible-smuggling efforts throughout Asia and traveled beyond Japan to other Asian nations, including Korea, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand and others. He performed the final evangelistic crusades in Vietnam before the fall of Saigon. In the 1970s, he was involved with anti-Communist organizations in Asia. Since 1976, he pastored Grace Church in Tokyo and founded REAP Mission (Reinforcing Evangelists and Aiding Pastors) in 1967.
"Kenny Joseph expressed his love for the Lord by obeying the command to feed His sheep," noted REAP Mission Chairman William F. Turner, who supervised Joseph's missionary work since 1978. "He ran the race, he kept the faith and completed his remarkable journey on this earth."
I had the rare privilege of writing up the amazing story of Kenny and Lila Joseph in a book called God's Ambassadors in Japan, and flew to Tokyo to help launch it and meet with his many friends there. I have written many biographies, but this one was special because Kenny and Lila were such dedicated and fascinating people to be with.
Joseph returned to the U.S. in 2012 and continued a busy schedule until the end, working on his forthcoming book and conducting speaking engagements. A lifelong Cubs fan who once tried out for the team in high school, he lived to see his beloved team win the World Series. He is survived by his wife, Lila, sister Barbara, and four sons—Robert, Mark, Ken and Jim—as well as 15 grandchildren. A celebration of life service will be held in Southern California on Jan. 21. Details will be posted at kennyjoseph.com, where you can order a copy of his book, and see more photos of his life and ministry.
Dan Wooding is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria, West Africa, of British missionary parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding, who then worked with the Sudan Interior Mission, now known as SIM. He now lives in Southern California with his wife, Norma, to whom he has been married for more than 53 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the U.K. Dan is the founder/president of the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is also the author or co-author of some 45 books, including God's Ambassadors in Japan. He has a weekly radio show and two TV programs all based in Southern California.
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One Sunday morning Kieran woke up and came running into her room. "I saw dad and he was in heaven. It was beautiful, Mom. He was with God," he said, breathlessly. (Courtesy)
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Her husband's untimely death from a rare form of cancer left her reeling. As she wallowed in grief, seeking God's presence, her five-year-old had several vivid dreams about heaven (and hell) that buoyed her faith in the Lord.
Uyen "Wyn" Tran and her husband, Ton, lived in Australia for 30 years following their arrival from Vietnam. He was a mechanical engineer and she a pharmacist, fulfilling their dreams in a land of fresh opportunities, when they received unexpected and devastating news.
In 2013, Ton was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer growing in his nose and throat. He was given four months to live. Ton was not a believer during their eight years of marriage, but two months before he died, he accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
"By God's grace he lived a year," Wyn recounts. "When he passed away, I was so devastated. I believed with all my heart he would be healed." Some of their friends also believed he would be healed and even thought they saw a vision of him cured, testifying about his healing.
But it was not to be. On Feb. 13, 2014—one day before Valentine's Day—he passed into the arms of Jesus.
Because of Wyn's overwhelming confidence he would be healed, Ton's passing undercut her faith. "I held on to that (his healing) with every ounce of belief. When he actually passed away I couldn't figure it out. For three days I was in a daze," she says.
"Please give me a dream or vision," she cried out to God, desperate for His reassurance.
The dream came from an unlikely source—her 5-year-old son, Kieran.
On Sunday morning, Kieran woke up and came running into her room. "I saw dad and he was in heaven. It was beautiful, Mom. He was with God," he said, breathlessly.
She asked Kieran what God looked like. "He had long hair and looked like Thor, and He wore all white," he said. Kieran had recently seen the film Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth.
He said Ton was also dressed in white, with white shoes and a white hat, which Wyn thinks may refer to a halo. "It was like it was dad's birthday and everybody was singing and clapping to him."
"After that mommy, I was in daddy's room," he continued.
At first, Wyn thought he meant his earthly room, but he was referring to Ton's heavenly home. "I was sleeping beside daddy and when I woke up he fed me my favorite food and my favorite drink and we watched TV together," he said.
"When I got up to leave three fairies stopped me. They were really tall," he recounted.
"Why do you say they were fairies?" she asked.
"Because they had large, white wings. Then God the Father held me," Kierin said.
"How do you know it was God the Father?"
"He was invisible but I know He was God the Father."
In a second dream, Kierin described his dad's heavenly house as very large and brightly lit. "Daddy was with God," he said. "I was sitting with God and told Him a joke, and He laughed.
"I saw two holes in his wrists. One hole is here and one is here. He was bleeding, mommy, but he wasn't crying."
Wyn was intrigued by his description. First, she never told her son about Jesus being crucified through his wrists. Secondly, she always thought the nails that crucified Jesus went through the palms of His hands. But as she researched this, she discovered there are many who believe the Romans may have crucified Jesus through His wrists—something her 5-year-old would have no way of knowing.
In the dreams, Kierin also saw rainbows, animals and "insects that don't bite." He said the light in heaven comes from God.
The thing he remembers most about heaven is the peace, a concept his mother never taught him about and thinks would be difficult for most children his age to grasp.
"I have never explained peace to him," Wyn notes. "Everything he said was consistent with what Colton Burpo described in Heaven Is for Real," she said.
"It was like he read Colton's book, but he never had."
In the book there is a painting of Jesus by the talented young artist, Akiane, based on a vision she received from God. Colton Burpo said her painting was the closest to the Jesus he saw in his near-death experience of heaven.
Painting by Akiane Kramarik
Wyn showed Kierin several depictions of Jesus from the internet and asked if any of them resembled Jesus. He shook his head each time an image came up, but when he saw Akiane's painting he exclaimed, "Yes, that's Jesus!"
"There is no doubt in my mind that that is Jesus," Wyn says, marveling that several children around the world independently verify the image.
In his dream, Kieran also saw Satan fighting with God. He said Satan's mouth had a long tongue like a snake. "They were fighting, Mommy, and God won, and kicked Satan out of heaven," Kieran told her.
In Kieran's three dreams of eternity, the third dream was about hell. "It's really hot and it stinks, just horrible," Kieran told her. "There was a part that Jesus held my hand and said it was dangerous and He would not take me in there."
Wyn recorded her son describing each of the three dreams. She is glad now, because he has already forgotten a few of the details.
She believes his story may bolster people's faith. "I have used my story to tell people there is a heaven and hell," she says.
"Heaven is for real and God is there!" she exclaims.
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After lying naked and cold in a morgue for two days, Sabina says she saw herself hopelessly stuck at the bottom of a deep well.
Surrounded by corpses covered with linen sheets, Sabina says she had a vision of a tree growing at the top of the well. From its trunk, a branch moved toward her as she lay on a hospital gurney. Close enough to reach, the branch changed into flesh as Sabina says she heard the words, "If you grab onto my hand, I will bring you back to life."
Taking hold of it with her cold, lifeless hand, Sabina says she woke to find her body covered from the neck down with a white sheet like other corpses around her.
Hearing voices of doctors in search of a cadaver, Sabina says she sat up on the frigid metal surface below her body.
"I'm alive. Don't worry," she shouted as doctors entered the morgue a second time after running out scared moments before.
Offering Sabina water, food and clothes, the medical staff arranged to transport her to a university research hospital in Moscow, Russia, where she had traveled to visit a son imprisoned on trumped up charges.
Baffled hospital personnel refused to officially or publicly comment after Sabina spent two days in a coma and two more in the morgue.
Returning to Central Asia, Sabina says she surprised family members on her first Sunday morning at home by leaving early, telling her stunned daughters: "There's somewhere I have to go."
A Pentecostal church in a largely Islamic community was Sabina's destination. Inside, she professed faith in Jesus Christ, leaving behind her Muslim faith.
Since then, Sabina says her six daughters and another son (the other died inside a Russian prison where he suffered injuries and brain damage) became Christians and entered full-time ministry or, at least, are studying the Bible.
At 63 years of age, Sabina says she saw her 92-year-old mother and a niece come to faith in Jesus last year, demonstrating that entire household salvation exists even among Muslims. It was two of Sabina's daughters who led their grandmother and cousin to the Lord.
In a big surprise, Sabina's oldest daughter recently came to know Jesus as well. Until the summer of 2016, she was vehemently opposed to the gospel and even having a Bible in her home.
Sabina shares her life-from-the-dead experience and testimony of conversion from Islam to Christianity in her native language within the Central Asian country she calls home.
Sabina says a spiritual vision brought her back from the dead and another vision—this one by her future son-in-law—drew him to the country where he now ministers with Sabina's daughter as full-time missionaries.
Family members agreed to share their testimonies of Christian faith with conditions that real names, ministry title and precise locations in the Middle East and Central Asia were not be published.
Sabina's son-in-law, Jamal, a Westerner who spent time in the Middle East as a young boy, had a vision the same year his future mother-in-law walked out of the morgue and into a Pentecostal church.
"God called me to (the Middle East) in 2000 when I had a vision of myself preaching the gospel on the steps of a mosque," says Jamal who, as a youngster, disliked the country where he ministers today with his wife, Aisha.
They met at a world missions meeting in 2006 and married afterward, discovering that Jamal's spiritual vision corresponded with Aisha's heart for people in the same Islamic country in the Middle East, despite her upbringing in Central Asia.
Jamal and Aisha find that Sabina's death and resurrection story provides an open door for them to talk about Jesus with their Muslim friends and neighbors because it's emotional and powerful.
"The first day I was a university student, a classmate in our online group asked me if my wife was Muslim.
"I shared my mother-in-law's story briefly and, as a result of their openness to it, the students' interest in the gospel made it easier for me to share two days later with a group of about 30 Muslims," says Jamal.
Before Jamal married Aisha, he ministered to his best friend, a Muslim, by telling him a simple gospel message. Upon sharing Jesus' love for him, Jamal says his friend began to have dreams and visions and, within a month, he gave his heart to the Savior.
"When we prayed together he began to weep," says Jamal. "After settling himself, he told me, 'Jamal, I just saw Jesus again. This time he had His arms open wide, welcoming me home,'"
The next day, Jamal's friend was in tears again because his Muslim wife threatened divorce from her husband for his conversion from Islam.
After praying for his wife, both of them were baptized three months later.
More recently, Jamal and Aisha have been reading the Bible with Abdul, who they've known for several years. When they shared the gospel with Abdul, he ended the relationship.
"He texted me recently, asking if we could get together, so Aisha and I had Abdul and his wife over.
"During the course of the evening, Abdul pulled me aside and said, 'Jesus really did die on the cross, didn't he?'" says Jamal.
Abdul is now sharing Jesus with his co-workers, one of whom is interested in reading the Bible with the group Jamal and Aisha lead.
"Just recently, we got to go over to Abdul's house and pray over it," Jamal says.
Besides a vision in 2000, Jamal says his call to the Middle East was confirmed in 2003 when he heard God speak to him at a conference, indicating which missions group to partner with.
"I had never heard the name before, so I was kind of puzzled when I heard God's words.
"Five minutes later, the main speaker introduced himself and the organization's name I had just heard God speak.
"I literally went to the back of the room that night and applied for (the organization's) training school," says Jamal.
Two of Aisha's sisters and their husbands are part of the same global missions' organization to which she and Jamal belong. It encourages Bible studies among friends and neighbors in homes or churches planted by indigenous leaders.
The vision is based on the apostle Paul's words in Romans 15:20: "So I have strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, so that I should not build on another man's foundation."
Jamal and Aisha are team leaders of seven adults and five children. The team has formed two house churches in another province, and over the summer of 2016, it planted seven churches among unreached and unengaged people.
Some team members, including Aisha, are ministering to Syrian refugees, which total almost 1 million registered and unregistered people in just one of the Middle Eastern countries hosting them, making it impossible to reach everybody without help from established churches.
"Last year, we adopted an entire refugee camp before winter set in because many babies and toddlers die from the cold. We raised enough money to pay for heat and insulation in their tents," Jamal says.
Aisha requests prayer for her work with Syrian refugees, other partners to join them, unrest in the Middle East, the love of Jesus to be revealed to friends and neighbors, university ministry, travel and health for five children of team members, two of whom belong to her and Jamal.
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A noted biblical archaeologist and director of the Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project in Jordan, Dr. Steven Collins, recently gave a lecture at Calvary Albuquerque titled "Why Sodom Matters."
During his address, Dr. Collins gave an update on the excavations at Tall el-Hammam/Sodom. After detailing the history of the dig (the "right place," the "right time" and the "right stuff"), Dr. Collins showed slides of the recent findings from the location, including cloth, bones and other artifacts.
Dr. Collins then proceeded to show a slide of an isolated, freestanding building at the possible location where Moses and the Israelites camped in the Kikkar of the Jordan (the Plains of Moab). It dates to the Late Bronze Age, the time of Moses and Joshua.
Dr. Collins stated, "I have a sneaking suspicion that Moses may have co-opted and used the building for his personal headquarters, completing the book of Deuteronomy before crossing to Jericho the other side of the valley." The small but sturdily built structure (likely a "customs house" because of artifacts found in it) had pieces of carbonized furniture, including a chair, on the floor. Collins' reasons that if Moses had used this structure, he also would have employed the furniture!
As one can imagine, if this statement was confirmed—and this would be very difficult—the end result would be of monumental importance, rivaling the find of the city of Sodom at Tall el-Hammam. Such a chair would be the only artifact ever found potentially linked directly to Moses. But again, as mentioned, Dr. Collins was quick to point out that it was just a "sneaking suspicion."
To say the least, however, the artifacts and information presented in the lecture is of vast importance to both the biblical and archaeological communities, coming from one of the largest Bronze Age sites in the region.
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Miraculous Healings Breaking Out Among Syrian Muslims
A displaced Syrian mother and her child. (Courtesy/Christian Aid Mission)
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An extraordinary number of Muslims living in war-torn Syria have decided to follow Jesus after experiencing His love firsthand through miraculous healings and gifts from above.
Among the people living in or near the war zone, many are struggling to survive because there is simply not enough food, according to the Lebanon-based director of Christian Aid Mission.
One Syrian mother, identified as Majida, went to God in prayer after her family ran out of food.
"She prayed, 'Lord, I know You never let us down—we need food for our family,'" the director recounted. "As she was walking later that day, she found some money on the path in front of her. She was so pleased that God had answered her prayer in such a creative way that she started jumping up and down with joy."
Majida rushed to buy bread for her family, and when her neighbors asked where she had gotten the money, she said, "It was sent to me from God."
"They pressed her to tell them how that was possible, so she went on to share her faith and pray with them," the director said.
Desperate Muslims who hear about miraculous healings through Christians are drawn to find out more. A mother named Nivine brought her paralyzed, 2-year-old daughter to a meeting of one of the ministry teams affiliated with Christian Aid Mission.
The ministry leader informed Nivine that they pray in the name of Jesus.
"Whatever it takes," she replied, in tears. "Just make her better!"
"When we pray, we pray to a living God," the ministry leader told her. Then he explained the gospel to her and she accepted Christ.
After she was born again, Nivine started faithfully attending the meetings with her paralyzed daughter." The group continued to pray for the child in the following days.
About two weeks later, Nivine was worshipping at a meeting with her daughter next to her. She glanced down and noticed her daughter was smiling. Then she was shocked to see that her hands were moving. Could this be a dream? But her daughter continued to move.
It was true—she was healed by the power of the living God!
Another mother, Aveen, along with her husband, Mohamad, and their seven children, are part of a church in another town in Syria. Mohamad recently lost his job.
"They are weary of struggling through life," the director said. "What surprises us most about this family is that Aveen and Mohamad both come from very fanatical Muslim families that wish to stone them to death, and yet they still fearlessly display their strong love for the Lord. Despite the difficulty of surviving without work and the threat of persecution, they have the courage and desire to share the gospel with everyone around them."
The incidents of healing and salvation are a welcome contrast to the violence of the war-torn country. ISIS claimed responsibility for bomb blasts in Damascus on Feb. 21 that killed at least 87 people, according to the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and car bombs in Homs killed at least 59 civilians.
On Feb. 22, Russian forces were suspected in an attack on a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders that killed 25 people.
In the midst of such atrocities, a Muslim named Amad heard about a place in his town where people pray and some are healed. The worsening skin disease of one of his children drove him to visit.
"In a moment of bravery, he brought his son to the meeting place, and the believers there prayed for him," the ministry director said. "The next day the child woke up with nothing on his skin! It was undeniably a miracle. The whole family has come to believe in the Lord, and they want to be baptized."
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