As fighting escalates across the Middle East, millions – mostly Muslims – are suffering, losing their families and homes while facing an uncertain future.
Yet amid the devastation, one missionary to Muslims, Pastor Georges Houssney of Horizons International, says many are beginning to question Islam and turn to Jesus Christ.
CBN News met Pastor Houssney and a group of former Kurdish Muslims-turned-Christians from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq in Seoul, South Korea. They say they now experience a freedom they had never known before. Once restricted by their former beliefs, they now share in churches about finding new life in Christ and how God is moving among Muslims today.
Pastor Houssney has spent more than 50 years ministering to Muslims, especially among the Kurdish people. In 1973, he helped translate the Bible into the Kurdish language so many could understand the gospel for the first time.
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Today, with nearly 40 million Kurds scattered around the world, Pastor Houssney says spiritual openness is growing.
“Every time there’s a war, there’s a great movement toward Christ,” Houssney said. “People become disillusioned with the world and with religion that causes war. Khamenei in Iran and Bin Laden – those two made a huge difference for the gospel because they gave false hope. There are those who ask, ‘Why are we following this religion of destruction, killing, and murder?’ And so they are flocking into the Kingdom through Jesus Christ.”
Pastor Houssney says another major turning point came during the 2011 Syrian refugee crisis. In Lebanon alone, around two million Syrians fled across the border.
“They were walking in the streets. They had no jobs. They didn’t have money,” he recalled. “So they started coming to our centers. We had teams going into the streets to meet these people. We would set up a table with Scriptures, and they would ask, ‘What is this?’ We would welcome them and bring them to the center. We started with 20 people, and now thousands have come to Christ.”
He has also observed that many who leave Islam for Christianity encounter Jesus through dreams or visions.
much pain. I remembered reading about Jesus healing the lame, so I told Him, ‘Jesus, if You are real, help me.'”
“I saw in a vision a person in white entering my prison cell carrying a bowl of olive oil. Every time He poured oil on my body, the pain went away.”
“During that time, I was deeply depressed because no one could help me get out of prison. I wanted to die. But the person in white told me, ‘You are My beloved, and I love you so much.’ Until now, those words continue to comfort me.”
Pastor Nihad says he recognized it was Jesus because he had previously read about Him in a book written by evangelist Billy Graham.
“Someone gave me that book before I went to prison,” he explained. “I read the prayer of salvation at the end of the book. That may have been the key that opened my spirit to hear God.”
Six months later, Pastor Nihad was released from prison and now shares his testimony around the world.
Pastor Houssney believes many more Muslims will come to Christ and says the Church must be prepared.
“Our prayer is that the Lord will establish new believers in the faith and make them strong,” he said. “Because if millions of Muslims come to Christ today, we do not have enough people to disciple them. Let’s pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send more workers into His harvest.”
