Stories from our field
Young Syrian man: “Who is the true God?”
What do you do when you are full of questions about the Christian faith, but are staying in Iraq illegally and are afraid to go to a church? A young Syrian man decided to seek help online and that’s how he came into contact with our team for the Middle East.
One of our volunteers on this team, Noor*, tells us what happened when the man contacted them. “This young man, Fiddel*, said he was searching for the true God. “Can you explain the Christian faith to me?” he asked. He was brimming with questions, including specific ones about the Trinity and why all mankind suffers the consequences of Adam’s sin. We addressed all his questions and I explained the incarnation of the Word of God. When I asked him to read the Bible, he said he already had one but found it difficult to understand. So I suggested he start studying two chapters a week, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.”
The young Syrian read the chapters enthusiastically and asked for more. Noor: “Sometimes he would ask questions or discuss the content of the chapter. The Quran he had grown up with had misled him all his life, he said.”
On one occasion, Fiddel told Noor about an extraordinary experience he had when he was studying the Book of Genesis. “I felt numbness throughout my body. As I read about how God dealt with the heroes of the Old Testament, I longed for Him to deal with me in the same way.” Noor: “So I told him that God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us, just like He had with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God became human and endured the pain of the cross to save us and give us eternal life.” Then, something wonderful happened.
Noor: “Fiddel sent me a message: ‘I need Jesus as my Savior and Redeemer.’ I asked him, ‘Is this from the bottom of your heart? To be a Christian, you must believe in the Lord Jesus with all your mind, soul and heart, and believe in His saving work on the cross, for the forgiveness of sins.’ He replied, ‘Yes, I believe that… From the beginning I felt that something was pulling at me to know more about Christ. And as I knew more about Him, I also started believing in Him.’”
Still, it wasn’t easy to progress from there. Noor: “The sad thing is that he was afraid to accept my offer to put him in touch with someone who could guide him on his faith journey and help him find a church. He said that he had to remain close to his home and work address, because Iraq’s government arrested anyone who was in the country illegally. He did say he knew someone who had pointed him to an evangelical church, but he was afraid to go there. I recommended him to remain patient.”
Noor was not willing to let it go and got in touch with Christians in that country, in an attempt to connect the young man with a church. In the meantime, he studies the Bible with Fiddel every week, and sees him grow in faith. What a challenge for our brothers and sisters to accompany new believers who are experiencing difficulties in their communities.
- Pray that Fiddel will find a church of which he can become a member and where he can be assisted to grow spiritually.
- Pray for wisdom for Noor and his team as they guide Fiddel.
*The names in this article were changed due to security reasons.
Photo by Mitan Fetah on Unsplash