Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Saudi Sheikh Who Taught ISIS Fighters is 'Sick of the Killing'



Saudi Sheikh Who Taught ISIS Fighters 'Jihad 101' Asks for Bible After Growing 'Sick of the Killing,' Missionary Claims

Islamic State Fighter Also Reportedly Converts to Christianity After Experiencing Vision of the Cross


By Nicola Menzie , Christian Post Reporter
July 6, 2015|6:48 am
An Islamic theologian responsible for teaching ISIS militants "jihad 101" has turned to the Bible after growing "sick of the killing" and finding himself yearning for something "better," according to a Christian missionary who works in the Middle East.
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FILE: Saudi members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police, attend a training course in Riyadh Sept. 1, 2007. (Photo: Reuters/Ali Jarekji)
FILE: Saudi members of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police, attend a training course in Riyadh Sept. 1, 2007.


The Christian missionary, introduced as just "Julian" during a recent interview on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio program, believes "ISIS is being used to reveal something of the dark heart of Islam."
"As I say that, I feel a bit reticent because I know that many, many Muslims want to distance themselves and are embarrassed by it and are great people," Julian added. "And we should not see our Muslim neighbors as terrorists ... but as neighbors who want to be a regular part of the community. But, nevertheless, some of this evil stuff is being exposed as never before."
Julian suggested that "exposing the evil" of ISIS leads to "dissatisfaction and disillusionment" among followers and would-be supporters.
The missionary was presented only as "Julian" in the interview "because he is a guest who travels in and out of the Muslim world on a regular basis," VOM Radio host Todd Nettleton explained. VOM is a nonprofit organization that draws attention to persecution of Christians around the world.
Julian was described as "a long-time worker in the Muslim world" affiliated with Operation Mobilization — a collective of 6,800 volunteer missionaries and staff working in 118 countries to spread "the message of hope through Jesus Christ to men, women and children around the world."
The missionary went on tell of two accounts involving "ISIS guys coming to faith" that he had heard at a prayer event in Egypt in October.
"One is about a fighter who suddenly, unexpectedly out of the blue had a vision of the cross. For an ISIS fighter that's bad news, not good news," Julian said, chuckling afterward.
"So he goes online. … He's looking for a good Muslim site to bolster his faith, and inadvertently he stumbles into a Christian site and gets kind of interested and more interested and reads and the doubts grow. He leaves Syria, goes into Turkey and meets a believer who's able to share the Gospel and he comes to faith. And he was at a church conference in Lebanon in October and shared that personal story."
"The other account we heard was from Lebanon that there was a taxi driver who was a believer up at the border with Syria, and into his taxi gets this guy with a big beard. And the guy with the beard says, 'Take me to the airport, I'm flying home to Saudi. But on the way, I want to find a Bible. Can you find me a Bible?'" Julian added. "And the taxi driver knew a Christian worker in Beirut who was very happy to give the guy with the beard a Bible. And then, 'Sir, would you like to tell us why you're looking for a Bible?' His response was, 'I'm from Saudi, I'm a sheikh (which means a teacher of Islam). I've been in Syria teaching the ISIS fighters jihad 101, the theology and practice of jihad. I'm sick of the killing. There must be something better than this."
"I guess that guy was giving theological justification for the violence and something just happened and his eyes had been opened and he said, 'I'm sick of it. There must be a better way. Give me a Bible,'" Julian added.


Men in orange jumpsuits purported to be Egyptian Christians held captive by the Islamic State kneel in front of armed men along a beach said to be near Tripoli, in this still image from an undated video made available on social media on February 15, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Social Media via Reuters TV)
Men in orange jumpsuits purported to be Egyptian Christians held captive by the Islamic State kneel in front of armed men along a beach said to be near Tripoli, in this still image from an undated video made available on social media on February 15, 2015. In the video, militants in black marched the captives to a beach that the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded. Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, referred to as ISIS, ISIL or the Daesh, advertises its brutal beheadings of Christians and public stonings and hangings of dissenting Muslims and other religious minorities through propaganda videos and images published online. The terrorist organization, which has spawned debate about its claims to Islam since emerging in full force in 2014, has also subjected women and young girls to forced marriages, imprisonment and rape. The terrorist group, linked to the-late Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also trains young boys in violent jihad.
At the end of his interview, Nettleton asked Julian how Christians can pray for "the Muslim world."
"A lot of us, when we look at what's happening with ISIS, want to pray against them. This is evil, this is despicable, it's atrocious, so the natural reaction is to pray out of anger against them," the missionary responded.
"These are people who have been deceived, they're lost. They're headed for a Christ-less eternity. At this prayer conference that I was at in Egypt, we were told about a prophetic Word that had been given at another conference which resonated with us, which said that 'I have another Saul on the road to Damascus (the capital of Syria), and I have an Ananias and a Barnabas ready and I intend to raise up apostolic figures out of these fighters. …' We need to pray for God to call forth those apostolic figures out of ISIS," Julian added.
The Christian Post reported last month on another missionary account of an Islamic State militant wanting to follow Jesus after purportedly dreaming of a man in white. That report also presented other accounts by Muslims who converted to Christianity after experiencing what they believe were dreams of Jesus. Read that report: Report: ISIS Fighter Who 'Enjoyed' Killing Christians Wants to Follow Jesus After Dreaming of Man in White Who Told Him 'You Are Killing My People.'
Although CP's readers responded positively to the report about the ISIS militant and other Muslims turning to Christianity after having these dreams, some readers also expressed skepticism about the conversion stories in their comments.

CP reached out to Nettleton, the VOM Radio host and also the nonprofit's public relations and media director, about his interview with the Christian missionary Julian and other missionaries. Read the brief Q&A, conducted via email, below:

CP: How did you get in touch with Julian?
Nettleton: "Julian" is a worker for Operation Mobilization (OM), a ministry organization with which The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has an ongoing partnership to serve Christians and spread the Gospel in hostile and restricted nations. Julian recently visited our offices as a part of that partnership work, to meet with some of our international staff and discuss those ongoing projects.

CP: Do you try to verify accounts that missionaries share like this? Why/why not?
Nettleton: Because of the ongoing partnership VOM has with OM, and because they have staff with long history in the Middle East who speak the language and understand the culture, we have a level of trust with their staff and their reporting. With reports that VOM staff generate from hostile and restricted nations, we do seek to verify stories through our contacts in the nations where we work.

CP: Are you ever skeptical of these missionary accounts?
Nettleton: Of course I have heard reports that I was skeptical about, but I am not skeptical of the reports in this week's episode of VOM Radio, and frankly if I was skeptical I would not have included them in the broadcast.
The interesting thing is that these reports are consistent with what we hear from our own staff and our Christian contacts in the Muslim world. There are many Muslims who are coming to faith after seeing Jesus in a dream or a vision; those stories are not uncommon. I have personally interviewed Muslims with similar stories. There are also, we know, many Muslims who look at what ISIS is doing and it causes them to think about their own faith and consider if they really believe Muhammad's [sic] message.
And when we look in the Scripture, this isn't the first time this has happened. A man named Saul was on his way to Damascus to hunt down Christians and persecute them when he had an amazing encounter with Jesus Christ. I'm thankful that God is still having those kind of encounters — even with those persecuting His children — in the Middle East today, and I am thrilled to be a small part of sharing these great stories with the wider Christian community.

CP: What do you say to readers/listeners who are skeptical?
Nettleton: I understand the skepticism. It's difficult to see pictures of masked figures cutting off peoples' heads and then think about any of them genuinely repenting and choosing to follow Christ. I think I would encourage skeptics to listen to the VOM Radio broadcast and pray for Christians in the Middle East, and for Muslims there to come to know Christ. And I would encourage them to look into the stories that others are telling from the Muslim world that are consistent with these conversion stories; God is truly doing something special among Muslims in the Middle East. Being skeptical of the messenger or of a particular story is one thing, but let us never be skeptical of God's power to reach people with His love and transform their hearts.
Listen to the full Voice of the Martyrs radio interview that features Julian here, or in the audio player below (skip to the 14-minute mark for Julian's account of the Islamic militant and the sheik):





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad to
See the Muslims have figured out they As well as Americans have been duped by the nazi criminal cabal- unite and stop the evil germs who designed all of this. All upper echelons are corrupt.