Dr. S
However, there seems to be a fierce aversion to such realities because some are very hostile to realities not of their personal experience here on FR. So, please don't take it personally if your thread gets jerked.
I personally think we should prayerfully cheer such phenomenon on. I believe such events, experiences are the only hope for moderating the destructiveness of Islam. The military effort will not do it. . . I'm for the military effort but recognize it will likely only inflame major blocks of Moslems.
PRAY EARNESTLY that the sensibilities at FR which are so hostile and neutralizing regarding such potentially potent aspects, events, predictions etc. parts of reality--that the hostile sensibilities would be wholesale greatly moderated to removed--perhaps by THEIR OWN dreams and visions which would then come true.
In Israel in 1998, we were told this was happening regularly: Jesus was appearing to many people, Imams in mosques, Jews in Synagogues and telling them He was the Messiah, the way, and to come to Him now because there was soon to be a big war and they must be ready.
I have read many prophetic words of great revivals in Muslim countries where God sovereignly and supernaturally visited these people. This is the first concrete story I have seen of these prophetic words being fulfilled.
Two years ago, in a missions course my wife and I were in, we had a speaker come for a week who had a lot of experience traveling around the Muslim world and working with people who are in many of these countries. He had many, many stories that were just incredibly exciting. Many times he simply repeated the gist of his message: Jesus is appearing all over the Muslim world.
As corroborating evidence, last year a leader of our mission told us that when he first joined our mission over 15 years ago, there were no known believers in Mauritania and no one seemd to know of any Mauritanians living in any countries where they might be able to hear the gospel. Their family began to pray regularly for that country and others did too.
Then Jesus began to appear to people. The first known believer in Mauritania was a teenaged girl, the daughter of an Imam, to whom Jesus appeared and spoke to reveal his identity. It was a few years before she got a Bible, but by then she was very familiar with the Lord due to his visits and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Today it is estimated that of the few hundred Christians now in Mauritania, about 75% came to Christ through a direct supernatural encounter with the Lord.
I have many more stories to tell of miracles occurring in the Muslim world for the purpose of revealing Jesus Christ to Muslims. But to me the most exciting occurred in our own home just last month when we had 2 Muslims from West African come and stay with us. After one week, both of them committed their lives to Christ and will soon be going back to the Middle East where they are university students. It was thrilling to be able to bring the gospel to these two precious young men.
"He celebrated his victory by walking through the ashes a short time later. He saw but one thing that remained--a single page from the Bible. Curious, he picked it up and read, `Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
"The priest decided he must read more of the Bible, so he bought one and began to read it. Soon he began to preach from it as well as the Koran in his mosque. He decided to become a follower of Jesus. He was soon thrown into prison and served a prison sentence because of his new-found faith. When he finished his jail sentence, he became a Christian pastor and continues to proclaim Christ."
Reminds me a bit of Paul being knocked off his horse
While I abhor peace nicks making a mockery of Christian peacefulness by asking us to be human shields against terrorists, I do admire the ones who are capable to think otherwise than what they are told to think - or previously enjoyed thinking. There is a marked difference between peaceful consciousness with a genuine authority defying independent loving thinking for the weak at the risk of one's life, and caving in to evil powers for pretentious sakes of "peace" hidding the cowardice of those who would not lift a finger to show nor demonstrate love to the weak.
I tend to want to believe those accounts of miraculous visions and defying faiths, because they are much more genuine - oriented toward the weak and not power, and run at the risk of one's life, truly self demonstrated. This may close a loop of questions surrounding the question of true faith. After all, the key to teach us the independent thinking - that is key in itself to motivating us to escape Egyptian slavery - is by throwing us into a world of evil and showing the stubborness and resilience of a thinking independent from earthly powers.
Science would indicate that to keep alive and thinking one would have to follow the rules of thinking and behaving prescribed by the state. However, this is a point where science fails as a matter of fact, because how can independent thinking be adopted in brainwashed and studied prescribed behaviors.
This is where the leap of faith takes precedence over everything else. One makes the bet or, better yet, has a vision and the faith that defying all odds will lead to salvation and a good life. It is truly amazing how good forces us to ultimately attempt to break the rules, but not only the rules of the state, but the rules of nature and science in general.
How can one explain that to the elite which depends heavily on "logical" deductions to create policies? No wonder we keep caving in to Chinese and Russian aggression lately. Yet, strength of character and defiance of those powers is so much within our reach. I just hope that Bush will show some character sooner rather than later, that he will see the folly of a "respected" but dark path. Frankly, it is not for my own sake, but merely for his own sake.