'Jesus Visited Him Every Night': Middle Eastern Missionary Shares Amazing Story of God on the Move

During this season of Ramadan, CBN News is recounting some remarkable stories from recent years about how Jesus Christ has supernaturally revealed himself to Muslims in dreams and visions.

In one such instance, a Middle Eastern missionary shared a remarkable story of how Jesus visited a man in the region every night for a month, asking the man to write down what he said.

It turns out, the missionary said, that Jesus shared the entire book of John with the man, who lived more than 30 miles outside a city in the Middle East known for its extreme use of opium.

McLean Bible Church Pastor David Platt interviewed the missionary during The Gospel Coalition's "Something Needs to Change Simulcast" a few years ago. To protect him, the church did not show an image of the missionary, and Platt gave him the pseudonym, "Yazid" which means "God will increase." The church also altered Yazid's voice so it cannot be recognized.  

Yazid and his wife live and work in a part of the Middle East where it's against the law to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and even life-threatening to talk about the advancement of the gospel.

The couple spends their lives sharing the gospel among Muslims who have never heard it, and they also plant churches. "God is moving inside the Middle East with dreams, visions, and personal visitations," Yazid shared.

He went on to say that a man shared his amazing supernatural encounter with God: "'A man wearing all white knocks on my door every night, and I couldn't look at him because his face was so shiny and bright. When he would come inside, he asked me to write down what he said. And as I wrote, I would fall asleep. And then, the next night, he would come again... for the next month.'"

Yazid asked the man, "What did you write? May I see your notebook?"

Yazid shared that in the man's notebook was written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."

"He had the whole book of John verbatim in his notebook," said Yazid. "This is amazing. Jesus visited him every night until he finished the book."

"This is amazing thing that the man actually asked us, 'Who was this man that he visited me?'" Yazid continued. "And here, I learned a very valuable lesson: God will do his part, but we still have to do ours." 

"You're doing what God has called us to do, so praise God for what he's doing, what you're doing," Platt responded.

He also asked Yazid what projects he was working on right now in the Middle East and what resources were needed. Yazid explained how he and his wife want to build 10 churches, but "training disciples who make disciples takes time and funding."

"This training, along with supporting the leaders of the training over the next year, will cost approximately $25,000 for ten churches to be developed," he shared. 

Platt answered generously, "Yazid, we praise God for what you are doing on the front lines there in the Middle East. And we want you to know from your brothers and sisters who are behind you on those lines that you're not alone... And so we want to say to you tonight, 'Count us in for that $25,000 to plant ten churches in the Middle East'."

"Thank you. This is amazing, brother. This is a great, great blessing for us. Thank you; thank you. God bless you all," Yazid responded.

THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

Pray for Muslims during this season of Ramadan that they would encounter the living God, Jesus Christ.

The Bible records numerous visions of Jesus and angels speaking to people, so we know God does choose to speak to people in this way at times.

The Apostle Paul describes how Jesus appeared and spoke to him in Acts 9:1–19; 22:6–16; and 26:12–23. Paul recounts the voice of the Lord said, "'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me."

In Acts 9:10, the Lord speaks to a disciple named Ananias in a vision. In Acts 10:3, an angel of God appears to Cornelius and gives him directions. 

And in Revelation 1:12-17, Jesus appears to John the apostle in a vision:

"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest... His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.'"

*This article has been updated and reposted during this season of Ramadan. It was originally posted on 9/20/2019