Syrus is a Muslim background Believer (MBB). When I met Syrus for the first time, I asked him, as a former Muslim, why had he become a Christian. With a grin, he said that if he were to give a detailed testimony, he would not make it home that day because it is a long story.  

In 1999, while Syrus was on a trip, from the window of his hotel room, he saw a church across the street.  It was a Sunday and he could hear the Christians singing hymns. He observed the families coming and going with their children and they looked happy. This surprised him because his religion did not seem to encourage this type of emotion. 

Later he left the hotel to meet with a friend who lived in a Muslim area of the city. Right away, he could see the difference in the people from where he was staying. Here the people seemed unhappy, the area was dirty and the whole environment was bad.

In time, Syrus returned home. He began to compare Christians that he saw on his trip with the Muslims at home.  He tried to determine why the Christians were so happy so he sought out a Bible. 

Syrus went to a local “flea” market and saw a man selling books. One of the books was entitled “The Saints Written.”  He did not know for sure what type of book it was, but checking the internet, he found it was indeed a Bible.  Many questions came to mind because of his reading so he began to compare the Bible and the Koran.  Syrus found in the Gospel of Matthew “love your enemy.”  The Koran says if your enemy attacks you, you attack him the same way. He had been taught the Bible was corrupted yet he found these good things in it.  He also found some things in the Koran that had been copied from the Bible. Reading about Islam strengthened his resolve that Christianity was the answer. For three years, Syrus persevered in studying the differences between the Bible and the Koran.

From Christian television, Syrus saw how Christians pray, something he had never seen before.  He tried to pray like the Christians, not like the Muslims who only repeat specific prayers.  One day, his wife asked him why he was not observing all of the Muslim rituals and he replied, “I am Christian” which surprised even him.  She thought he had lost his mind as Muslims, to her knowledge, do not become Christians.

During his early life as a Christian, Syrus developed serious heart problems resulting in repeated trips to the hospital over a 6-month period.  He wanted to die rather than live as an invalid. While watching a Christian channel on TV, Syrus heard the preacher say, “If you have an illness, it will be healed by no one but Jesus.  Pray this prayer to be healed,” so Syrus prayed with him and he began to cry. He went to bed and the next day he was healed.

Syrus knew that God was cleaning him.  He quit smoking and stopped doing bad things. His wife was watching him and saw the changes in him.  When Syrus was out of the house, she began watching Christian TV as well.  He never talked with her about God, but he knew that she was watching TV so he placed Islamic books around the house so she also could compare Islam to Christianity.  She studied, and in time, committed her life to Christ too.

Syrus now has problems with his extended family including his father.  Since he converted, they will not talk with him.  His father tells others that his son is a Christian and so do not associate with him or his business.  Recently, his mom called him.  She wanted to talk with him, and she advised him to come back to Islam because “You have shamed us before other people.”  He asked what he did to shame them.  She told him, “It would be better if you were a terrorist than a Christian.”

Before Syrus had talked with his mom, the family called the Imams and he met with them for 6 hours. His family became very nervous when he met with the Imams because these Muslim scholars could not refute what Syrus had to say.

Syrus’s children were young when he converted, but are now being raised as Christians. At school, his son Ilias was known to be a Christian because he drew crosses in his books.  When he was 5 years old, the Islamic teacher made him stand facing the wall balancing on only 1 foot. She would not let him use the bathroom so he came home wet with urine. 

The local people believed Syrus’s family members were the only Christians in their country. One day, while the family was visiting another town, they saw two foreign nuns, followed them back to their home, and knocked on their door. The nuns were frightened at first because they were taught that all citizens of this country are Muslims. They had no idea that Muslims were converting to Christianity until they met Syrus’s family.   Syrus explained the school situation wondering if there might be a good school for his children. They said there was a school in his area and then invited him to come to their church on Sunday, a church for foreigners.  This was the first time for Syrus to be in a church. 

At first, Syrus thought his family members were the only converts from their background. His family was praying at home with TV preachers. It was their only fellowship. They learned the Christian songs from watching the TV and when they went to the church for the first time, it was as if they had already been attending.  It was at this church that he met with a former Muslim. He told Syrus that there are many Christians in their home country. He led him to a brother MBB, and that brother led him to another and so on.  He now knows of many MBB’s.

Syrus’s family and their friends all know that they are Christian. Some do not accept this; others accept it and want to know more.

Syrus had a small home group meeting with other MBB’s but they stopped because of some problems with police harassment. They will probably reunite in the future.  When the police call MBBs in to question them about their new beliefs, the other MBB’s become frightened. In one instance, the police visited Syrus’s father, to harass and threaten him to put pressure on his son to come back to Islam. The police can get more information from Syrus’s extended family than from him. The family then complained to Syrus, “Why do you make these problems for us?”

Syrus’s children have now been in a Catholic school for three years. Even though it is a Christian school, the government forbids the school to teach Christianity. The public schools do teach Islam. There is no acknowledgement that there are any Christians here. If you reside here, you are presumed to be Muslim. Hence, there is no need to teach Christianity in the schools because “there are no Christians”.

There are a lot of MBB’s regardless.  Some have fear and some do not.  Some have been Believers for 25 years and their families still do not know they are Believers. Some show their belief as soon as they convert.  Believers here face persecution from their families, friends and the government. They suffer by being shunned, losing their jobs, losing their families and are harassed by the police with threatening phone calls and interrogations.

They need our prayers for perseverance, safety and for continued growth in their faith

A Ministry to Persecuted Christians