This sermon shares the powerful testimony of a former devout Muslim who experienced a supernatural encounter with God's presence and grappled with the question of why Jesus would help a Muslim. Despite his deep commitment to Islam and spiritual practices, he found himself in a moment of confusion and desperation where he cried out to God for help. This led to a life-changing encounter where he called upon the name of Jesus and experienced a miraculous intervention, challenging his beliefs and prompting a search for the true path to follow.

I was born in the southern part of Iran, in a city called Abadan, born in a Muslim family, Shiite Muslim family. My grandfather was a Muslim leader and he had 19 children and out of 19 children he had 84 grandchildren and obviously he had to choose one to carry the spiritual pattern of the life and the teachings for the next generation he asked, he had, obviously there had been some things that, some things had happened, some accidents that I should have been killed, but every single time before a danger was coming toward me, I saw the silhouette of a person that always was there and I spoke of it openly to others and my grandfather took that sign, obviously that there is the spiritual leaders of Islam are looking over this boy and protecting him, so he gave me very close attentions and he taught me all the things I knew about Islam. I joined the Hezbollah, I was in that army for about three years, I was studying Quran extensively then. My grandfather actually sowed this seed in my heart that I should share Islam with the poor misled Christians, you know, that have gone astray and obviously remind and be a spiritual leader to our family outside Iran. I traveled to Malaysia where I was caught with 30 illegal passports, put in prison and so I started teaching Islam in the jail and telling everybody what they must do, whether they do this toward Allah and so I did this routine every day, I prayed obviously five times a day, Shiites do pray three times and they include the 17 rakat and in the three times, but what I did when because I wanted to spend more time with God, I did it at five separate times and then in the end of the evening I would pray extra prayers, I would have a habit of reading through the Quran cover to cover once every 10 days and I had gained the spiritual powers out of Islam and Quran, they have the spiritual beings and so speaking to them is not forbidden, in fact there are stories of talking to them that Prophet Muhammad did, so I had been able to connect to that spiritual realm and been able to acquire powers out of that and so I was able to pray for people, especially when people, someone hurt them or someone did something to them, they would come to me and they would ask me to set a prayer and immediately that person would get sick, have an accident, this kind of things, you know, was able to close my eyes, tell you what a person is doing in another room and so this had made me more power hungry and I wanted to gain more power, so I would spend and meditate more in the Quran and so as I was doing that one night, I just was meditating in the verses and there are words in the Quran that are repeated continually and repeatedly, but they have no meaning, they are the secrets of Quran and so when I was meditating on this, a spirit entered the room and it was much more powerful than I could handle or I could overcome and so I was filled with fear and so I tried using all the tools Islam had given me in the name of Allah, I command you to leave, you know, Satan I rebuke kind of things and I used all those and nothing was helping at that moment, I was totally desperate and I felt like it is choking me, choking the life out of me and I felt like I'm dying in that cell and I just cried out to the heavens and I said, God, in Farsi, Khuda, help me and immediately I heard a voice, just as clear as you hear my voice today, saying bring the name of Jesus and at that moment, I really seriously did not give it one second of thought, I just was, I feel like going back, I was drowning and a man that is drowning, you throw a rope, they would never question you about the color of the rope, you just grab on and so I did, I said, Jesus, if you are true, show me yourself and to this day, I have no idea of this going back, I'm thinking, why did you word it that way, why didn't you just say, Jesus, help me, I don't know why, but that's the way it came out and before I was finished with the sentence, everything was back to normal, now that was not my conversion, that was the beginning of my confusion why would Jesus help a Muslim, now I had done everything in my power to be a good Muslim, I had already tried to go and commit myself in the way of Allah and be a martyr for him, you know, walking on the mines and so the government of Iran is used to issue the people that are Fadahi or the ones that are willing to give themselves, to sacrifice themselves, especially Quran that had the stamp of the government, that I had participated in the executions by hanging, you know, I had done everything that I thought I must do against the infidels and anything and everything I must do to share Allah with others, so I knew that something is wrong and that was not because I doubted Allah or doubted Islam or anything, I fully believed and I didn't know what that is and it just confused me and so I tried to just forget about it, you know, but that question, why would Jesus help a Muslim, why would Jesus help a Muslim, that would just keep coming at me, I believe in Muhammad, the last prophet, I would think that in the perfect religion, why would Jesus come to help me and so that two weeks period, I just got really confused and I said okay, I'm going to pray and fast and ask God himself to show me the path, obviously I thought at that moment and there are verses and things taught in the Quran that says, the ways of Allah are many and no matter what part and what part of the mountain you climb, you always come to the same mountain top and I thought maybe that is what God is, you know, and then no, maybe it is different for God, maybe God has a specific way for me and he wants me to follow that specific way, so I thought I will never find out unless I ask this question, so I did, I prayed and fasted and from the bottom of my heart with all my strength, I asked God, what is it that you want me to do, what way is it that you want me to follow and so for two weeks, I sat in one place and I prayed as many hours as I was awake and I fasted as many as hours as I was awake and I would just fall asleep literally in that place, I would wake up and I would just pray again and again asking God, what is the way you want me, after two weeks to no avail, I had no answer and I really got frustrated, I just thought, forget it, you know, what is this, I have no chance of finding out what he wants, I don't even know if God exists and I have wasted all my life, I have been afraid all my life, you know, trying to do everything that would please Allah and now he confuses me, if Allah is all great and he sees the heart, he knew in my heart, I love him and what matters, if I call him whatever name I call him, he knows in my heart, I love him and if it does matter to him, I ask him for two weeks, I sat, prayed and nothing happens, so you know what, I'm gonna go do my own thing, I'm gonna go walk my own path, I'm gonna do what pleases me, obviously at that very moment, I felt the power of God fill the room, now in Islam, the greatest sin you can commit and you can never be forgiven for that is doubting God himself, doubting his teachings, doubting his prophet and I had done that and in Islam, they teach you that Allah never visits, God never visits human beings, I feel and I know against Islam, I have committed the greatest sin that can never be forgiven, God's presence is in the room and I'm confronted immediately with his holiness and all this is happening simultaneously and I'm confronted with his holiness which puts