Please Help New Believers (I Was One) - John Ghanim

So, and, uh, he started, he asked me, okay, but you grew up as a Muslim. This is how he asked me. You grew up as a Muslim, and, uh, what, what, how about Muhammad and, uh, you know, the founder of Islam, the prophet of Islam? What do you think about him now? I told him he is like, um, he was a smart man, a military leader, like Al-Qadhafi.

And another extreme Muslim grabbed the knife and put it here. He wanted to kill me. How dare you say like that about, uh, Muhammad? Because, oh, yeah, because you can't say anything about Allah, but when it comes to Muhammad, they're going to die for Muhammad.

And that was really hard. I was froze when he, when he put the knife here. I have another friend as well. He's, I think God used him to save me because he was as well a cute Muslim, a nice Muslim. No, when I say cute Muslim, they are, they see everyone will, all the religions the same. Okay. So when, when this Muslim saw that he bought the knife, he wanted to kill me. He was really angry. He jumped, uh, he held him, took the knife, and he asked me, uh, John, leave, because I changed my name into John.

Leave, leave the caravan. So then I called the missionary. That's what happened. They came to rescue me. They came by the van and they adopted me. So I started to live with, actually with the missionary. You couldn't even live in the camp? No, no, I didn't. Actually, we, when I went to the missionary, I told them about the situation and they, they, we prayed the whole night for them. And I remember the, the leader, the, the pastor, he said, okay, let's buy them, um, you know, bless them tomorrow, because I didn't take anything with me. My stuff is still in the, with them. So he said, okay, let's go tomorrow to do some shopping for them, food and rice, chicken, and bless them.

And, uh, he, he did that. So he bought them stuff. So I called my friend, the cute Muslim friend, the one who rescued me. So he brought my stuff. So the pastor gave him the, he said, this is, thank you so much for standing with John. Wow. And this is a blessing.

Was that hard to do? To get, to bless them like that? We are Christians. Jesus Christ, he said, love your enemies. And he said, pray for them. So then I, uh, yeah, then my, my life continued to be a missionary.

And I wasn't baptized at that time. So after one year, I decided to be baptized. I've not decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

So, but for yourself, did baptism seem a really big step for you? Yes. And that, is that why you wanted to wait till you had studied the whole Bible and things? Yeah, I understand. I really studied like why, like why we baptized, why I studied from the Old Testament and the New Testament, how God rescued, you know, the Israelites through the sea and the, what they call it, the ark. So I connected all the dots, you know, of course with the help. This is why I told you I studied the Bible with the missionary.

And they taught me when I finished, uh, the Bible, finished reading the Bible by the end of the year, I, uh, 2018, I decided to be baptized. And I changed my name into John, a new faith, a new life, a new, I was born again.

A new everything. I mean, new everything. Yeah. Yeah. Like new mentality, new heart. Like you, you have changed so much from the person you were back when you were Muslim in Yemen. You know, like the, the, the man who went on pilgrimage and walked around the, the Kaaba in Mecca, you know, to who you are today. Yeah. I mean, just think about how much transformation has happened in your life. And, and that's, that's, that it happened through the Bible as well. And it's happened through, uh, because I start like to do mission, to walk alongside the missionary, to live with them. I was watching their life.

And that's, that was really like, it really impacted my life in a powerful way. I'm going to say that. It's impacted my life. So if you encounter any new believers, please help them. Because we come from, we have a lot of things from the background and a lot of problems. It's not easy to, to get rid of it. So you need some people to care, to love you, to accept you as you are.

So, and that's, that's how, this is how my life like changed in from like an Arabic Yemeni hold to the culture to a radical Christian. Because of that experience, that's year, that's period. That's actually not only one year, two years. So I was baptized by the end of 2018. I remember when Pastor William baptized me, he said, John, uh, upon your confession of faith, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and Jesus Christ. And he brought me into the water. I came out of the water and I felt God, Jesus Christ. He told me, I felt that conviction. He said, you're going to share me with the nations.

And I remember because I used to live with the, with the missionary. I went the same baptism day. I went back. We had supper, you know, dinner in his apartment. And I told him, Pastor, I want to share my faith publicly.