A staunch defender of Islam never expected Jesus to come to his life, much less transform him into an ardent believer—not in his wildest dreams.
Before experiencing the biggest miracle to ever touch his life, the unidentified man, a Muslim refugee in his 70s from Raqqa, Syria, told a ministry director that the Quran was "God's final word" and Islam was the "final religion eclipsing all preceding one."
The ministry director, who was working at a refugee camp in Turkey, told Christian Aid Mission (CAM) that the Muslim man had become disenchanted with people visiting the refugees in their camp only to take pictures and videos of them but not lifting a finger to help them.
"Everybody comes and takes a picture, makes a video, they register our name, but they never come back. You're one of them," the Muslim refugee told the ministry director.
Two weeks later, the director returned to the camp, bringing food, drinking water, and other relief items.
Upon seeing the director and his team carrying relief aid, the man cried. "He came and he hugged me. He said, 'We really thank you, you are the only man during the last two years that kept his word.'"
Although the director was able to establish rapport with the man, he still refused to hear anything about Jesus.
Months later, the refugee fell seriously ill. He felt he was dying, and he realized Islam could not save him. He then asked the director to pray for him.
Lying on his deathbed, the refugee told the director, "I don't know if I'm going to be alive tomorrow or not, but your message is always in my mind. I want to go to heaven, but I don't know how."
The director told him that once he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior, God would forgive him and take him into the kingdom of heaven with Him.
Left with no other choice, the man called his brother, daughter and sons, and told them, "I'm making a decision that I'm having Jesus Christ as God and Savior. I want you to come with me with that, believe it with me."
The Middle Eastern culture mandates that whatever the father does, the rest of his family has to follow, according to CAM.
The miracle happened a week after the director joined the man in praying to God.
When the director visited him, he was already out of bed and back to his usual energetic self, as if nothing happened to him.
He fully embraced Jesus and is now teaching his family about his new faith.
The refugee is just one of the "unprecedented numbers of Muslims" in the region who have come to Christ, according to a CP report last month.
Speaking to Open Doors USA, a local pastor named Simon said even though hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011, their number is being replaced by a "staggering" number of Muslims who are converting to Christianity.
He said he had baptized countless people from both Druze and Muslim backgrounds.
