Roman wanted to prove his faith to Allah. He loved to disturb Christians with questions in order to unsettle them. He planned to disrupt a Baptist church service in Kazakhstan during Ramadan. For him, Christians with a Muslim background were “betrayers of the real faith”.
But things turned out differently. “For the first time I heard about a God who loved me,” he says. “I never knew the Almighty God loved me even though I am not perfect.”
“For the first time I heard of a God who loves me,” he says. “I hadn’t known an almighty God who loves me even though I’m not perfect.” “That thought [of being loved even though I’m not perfect] seriously never entered my mind. I always felt guilty. I felt that I had to earn His attention.”
And then something happened he never expected: tears, prayers to Jesus, repentance and joy. Sitting in that church service in a Baptist church, the man who had devoted his life to persecuting Christians became a follower of Jesus.
And today he says: “I never want to go back to the Muslim faith.”
Christians in southern Iraq continue to suffer badly from attacks by radical Muslims and are fleeing. Even the Pope’s visit in March could not change the lack of religious freedom, explain human rights activists.
Pentecost – The promise of Jesus was kept: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17).
On this day, the disciples are very much looking forward to Jesus establishing the kingdom. Jesus opens a new chapter. He is now sitting on the father’s right hand. God’s presence is re-experienced through the Holy Spirit.