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monthly focus ~ can a muslim come to Christ
CAN A MUSLIM COME TO CHRIST?
Mohamed-Ibrahim Yattara is a professor of Bible and theology and serves as director of IBB, a Bible institute started by EBM missionaries in Gao. “Professor” is married and has 6 children. He went to University and obtained a Master of Education and later came to the US and attended Piedmont Baptist College and Grad School where he graduated with both a Master of Biblical Studies and a Master of Ministry. Ibrahim shares his testimony in his own words of how a Muslim can come to Christ: I was born and reared in a Moslem family. Like most children, I attended the Quranic School to learn the rudiments of my parents’ religion. I was raised in a family where the Quran (the Holy book of Moslems) was respected and obeyed. It was not a blind or hypocritical faith but it was a true and sincere faith, which disregards superstition and taboos. But when I was 16, I revolted against my family and the education that I found oppressive and restrictive. I was in to breaking the rules and being high-handed with my father. I then decided to leave my parents house and to gad about. I undertook a long and perilous trip, which led me to Timbuktu. When I arrived in Timbuktu, I stayed with my paternal uncle who was a pastor. I arrived at his house at lunchtime. I was surprisingly welcomed. I was more astonished when before lunch, my uncle told me: "My nephew, as Christians, we usually pray before eating." And he did. I was astounded. It was my first time to hear such a precise and intelligible prayer in a language I understood. I asked myself if my uncle became a Moslem because I was told that Christians don't pray and they don't know God. Anyway, this first interview dispelled my prejudices, even my convictions. During my time with my uncle, I had the opportunity to attend for one week Vacation Bible School organized by Evangelical Baptist Missionaries. I learned many songs and Bible verses such as John 3.16, Romans 3.23, Titus 3.5 etc. After the week, I left the Vacation Bible School without making a decision, but I was very disturbed. I returned to my parents and they were very happy to see me. They were also very anxious when they heard my story and my new ideas about Christians and their religion. I was compelled again to attend the Quranic School so that the teacher could drive Christian beliefs away from my mind. They told me that Christianity is a false religion and they beseeched me to not believe what I heard. They used many other wrong arguments to convince me. Two years later, I was sent to the French-Arabic High School of Timbuktu by a strange turn of events. I returned to my uncle's house with the idea to convert him to the Islamic faith. I found he really knew Islam better than I did. Months before, one of my cousins became a Christian and during the holidays, we spent long nights in discussion on religion. I met also some young Christians in my uncle's house with whom I discussed this subject several times. After each discussion I was more confused and doubtful about my religion. I looked for help to my school friends, and my Arabic teacher to explain the birth of Jesus, the true way of salvation. I One night, like in a dream, a Bible verse I learned several years ago (during my first vacation Bible School) came to my mind: "…not by works of righteous which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…" (Titus 3.5a.) My mind and my eyes suddenly opened, I perceived the vanity of my efforts to gain salvation in my own power. That night in December 1981 was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. God opened my heart to understand that his raging anger fell down on Jesus Christ. That day, in the silence of the night and in the silence of my consciousness, I invited Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior. God took control of me that day and I became a new creation. A radiance of joy flooded my life. In the afternoon of the following day, during a Bible study, I made public my decision by praising and praying to the Lord of my salvation. Since, I have felt a marvelous peace and joy in my heart. God is worthy of confidence and his Word, the Bible, is the truth. I was afraid for my school friends knew that I was a Christian. A few weeks after my conversion, one of our schoolteachers, I don't know why, asked if there was a Christian in the class. That day I was ashamed of Christ and I didn't raise my hand. When I went back home, I wept bitterly and asked God to give me strength and courage to witness to my friends. God did. I got many opportunities to proclaim Christ and to witness my new faith. God blessed me. During vacations I went back to my father’s home. The welcome was icy. My father and the extended family decided to have a family council to advise me and to show me that Christianity is a false religion. They used many wrong arguments and threatened me of disinheritance etc. God helped me to keep straight and faithful. In my spiritual journey, I have met with some difficulties. My studies opened to me the mysteries of humanistic thoughts and philosophers of “Light,” existentialism, psychoanalysis with Diderot, Sartre, Freud etc. I had been for a certain time skeptical about resurrection. I also became completely hooked on liberation theology. God gave me grace to regain my self-control and to be confident in him. The Lord is so good. Mohamed-Ibrahim Yattara
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was still unsatisfied. My convictions were weakening and my situation as a sinner in front of a fair and holy God was growing. I was terrified by the idea of death and the last judgment. I had only one idea and one aim, how to save my soul. My investigations and my readings exacerbated my anguish. I was no longer a Moslem and I was not a Christian OR I was both. But I was not an atheist. I never let myself succumb to the reducing trifles of Marx and Lenin. I shouted for help. I asked God to show me the right way. User login
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