Highlight: A modern day Saul to Paul conversion
How does God want us to respond when we hear about persecution of Christians around the world?
Todd Nettleton from Voice of the Martyrs shares the inspiring tale of a modern-day Saul to Paul conversion story about a man from Northern Nigeria.
His name Adbulmasi; his goal was to exterminate all Christians.
“They called him Mr. Insecticide because they compared Christians to bugs. If you had a bug problem you needed insecticide so you called him.”
Adbulmasi specialized in harassing Christians by setting off car bombs and burning the homes and churches of Christians. One time Abdulmasi organized a church burning and after it had taken place, he went back to gloat over his latest victory. Except this time, it was different.
“The members of that church had gathered inside their burnt building and they were singing praises to the Lord. Abdulmasi looked at them and thought, what is going on? What’s their problem?”
Fascinated by their dedication to their church and their God, Abdulmasi decided to investigate.
“He decided to infiltrate the church. His idea was, ‘I’m going to be on the inside and I’m going to see how these Christian’s minds work, that’s how I’ll be able to fight them better.’”
For six years, Abdulmasi lived a double life, splitting time between his mosque and the church. One day Abdulmasi accepted an invitation to a revival where a preacher taught a lesson on the story of Elijah who called out the people of Israel for being double-minded.
“The pastor looked at the audience and said, ‘are you sick of living a double life, you need to stop deceiving people and decide who you’re going to serve.’”
Abdulmasi was certain that someone had told the pastor about his story, but he hadn’t, it was the Holy Spirit working through the words of the preacher to touch the heart of Abdulmasi.
“He stood up, went to the altar, and decided to follow Christ wholeheartedly.”
Word spread quickly of Abdulmasi’s conversion and he was now a marked man. Years later, after they couldn’t find him, radical Muslims instead tracked down his son and murdered him instead.
“They hadn’t forgotten the fact that his Father was an infidel, someone who had rejected Islam and deserved to be killed.”
Despite the horrible tragedy, Abdulmasi had a profound perspective on his new reality in Christ. He said,
“There is no sacrifice too big for God, even losing my son is not too big for God who sent His son to die to save me.”
Key Scripture: 2 Kings 4:8-37
Featured songs: We Must Not by Selah; Do Something by Matthew West; I Refuse by Josh Wilson
