Dr. Joseph

(Testimony shared at church Summer 2010)

Dear brothers and sisters, kalimera sas and good morning!

I am reading my message to you this morning so that I do not talk for too long a time.

God’s plans are always mysterious, we plan one thing but He acts according to His plan. Also, some times we get struck by situations that are very, very difficult and almost impossible to understand, but again God has His own plan for us, showing His light and blessing upon us in a very different way. This is the case with me, a blessing in disguise, if the Islamic terrorist Taliban had not issued a death verdict against me I most probably would never have received the blessing of our Lord Jesus’ promise of salvation.

I am greatly honored and blessed to be here as your new brother in the Lord Jesus’ name. I very much want to thank my brothers Kent Morley and Scott McCracken along with my sisters Myrna and Vicki for being the bridge between me and God. My special thanks also to brother Fotis and sister Mary for this honor to be able to proclaim to you, my brothers and sisters in Gods’ beloved family, that I am a new-born Christian and this is a day filled with grace.

Brothers and sisters, my story of landing in Greece is so grievous and long that to be told accurately it would probably need to be written in a novel by someone like Dostoevsky or Tolstoi.

I have been in forced exile here for a year and a half. During this time my wife and two small children; 2.5 & 4.5 years old are forced to survive in extremely inhumane conditions. They are chased and followed everywhere by the Taliban, the great force of evil in Pakistan. The Taliban has attempted several times to bomb my family, but they have somehow, with the help of God, been able to escape.

Back in Pakistan I had an excellent job along with a private practice in my own hospital, but for opposing the Taliban’s inhumane barbarism I have had to pay a very high personal cost. Dear brothers and sisters I would like to request your help and that you pray for Gods’ intervention in getting my wife and children here as soon as possible. For a long time they have had to stay in an underground room in horrible conditions.

I thank you very much for your attention and sympathies

Your brother in Jesus’ name

Joseph

(Baptism testimony--October 2010)

Good morning, dear brothers and sisters in Jesus!

I am the most blessed and honored person today for being accepted into the family of God, through the Lord Jesus. But before I say something about my long journey to be embraced and blessed by the Lord Jesus into his family today here in front of you, I want to thank those who the Lord Jesus used to introduce me to this utterly new life, with new thinking, new objectives, new priorities, new challenges, and of course new sacrifices of unimaginable magnitude, for which I am absolutely prepared by heart and mind.

I want to thank sister Myrna and brother Kent Morley, sister Vicki and brother Scott McCracken, brother Prof Samuel Naaman from Moody Bible Institute in the USA, and sister Dr. Kholda Naaman in Pakistan for their big role of love & compassion, through which the glory and light of the Lord Jesus was revealed to me and a window of heavenly breeze opened for me.  I feel like God was speaking to me all the times through the above-mentioned brothers and sisters.  May the Lord shower His eternal blessing on them forever.

Honorable brothers and sisters, I have traveled to this point of knowing God’s acceptance for a very very long time.  Even to tell part of the story would take longer than we have today, so I will just give you a few glimpses of it.   The whole story may be told some time soon in future, if God is willing, you will read about it in a book.

Long ago, while I was a college boy, the Lord Jesus appeared to me in a dream, and asked me to follow Him.  Then I did not give any importance to it, and had no clue about Him at all.  The only thing I knew was that Christians are the followers of Jesus and He was man of many amazing miracles.

In the days following the dream,  I started feeling utter disgust and rejection of the Islam I was seeing, for the degree of its hypocrisy, hatred, sanctioned killings of non-Muslims and suspected apostates (jihad) in the name of Allah, double standards, and so many more things made me revolt and subsequently abandon Islam for the rest of my life.

In 2006, in northwestern Pakistan, the Taliban started consolidations on the behalf of the Pakistani government and army.  Overnight, I was transferred to Waziristan where, under immense pressure from the US and other western countries, Pakistan had to (unwillingly) move its army against the Taliban hideouts in the area.  Perhaps it was similar to the Apostle Paul’s situation when the Jews could not prove their allegation against him so they tried to persuade Governor Festus to transfer him for trial in Jerusalem where they had planned a plot to kill him.

Because since then, and even now, I have been leading a large covert anti-Taliban and anti-jihad organization in Pakistan.

I am certain now that the Lord Jesus was my protector then and now, who saved me during every difficult and life-threatening circumstance I was facing.

It was just a year ago when I had the opportunity to chat with brother Kent Morley and Scott McCracken in the Morleys’ home.  It was then that brother Scott introduced me to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, the son of God.

Though honestly it was not my intention to believe in, or to follow, Jesus but after spending time studying the Bible I began to learn more, and to see more clearly with every passing day of my learning about Him, I found Him to be mine and the only true savior of all of us, and the whole world!

Dear brothers and sisters, following the Lord Jesus has totally overhauled the whole pattern of my life, my apprehensions, my outlook on world matters, my personal and family life, and my approach toward friends and enemies, through the lessons of compassion, love, forgiveness, repentance and service with love and integrity, for which I am grateful to the Lord from the core of my heart and mind.

As I mentioned earlier, I have not been following Islam for long time now, even though it is my ancestral religion and practiced by my family and the whole region of about 20 million people.  For all these people it is beyond imagination for someone to commit apostasy from Islam or conversion to another religion.

As you know, apostasy in Islam (according to Sharia law) is punishable by death. 

Not only that, but the area I am from, if my conversion becomes public knowledge, unimaginable violence  will be unleashed upon every relative and villager in the whole area by the evil forces of Islamic fanatics and jihadists.  This is the only region in the world where, after the fall of Afghanistan, the barbaric Taliban version of Islamic Sharia laws were introduced, sanctioned, and ratified by the government of Pakistan.

My home in Pakistan was destroyed through bombing and arson last year.  My parents have escaped to refugee camps since then.  My father was detained twice by the Taliban for interrogations and intimidations against me, inhumanely treated, beaten, starved and humiliated.  My wife and children are persistently receiving threats and intimidations by phone.  They have to hide and are compelled to move hiding from place to place very often and continuously.  My friends and associates, with whom we have worked against Taliban and Islamic brutalities have been silenced through bombings, slaughters, and public hanging of their corpses for lessons to all.

With all this and many more very acrid unbelievable hard and tough memories and series of savageries, I hereby forgive all these Islamic apostles of Satan in the name and glory of the Lord Jesus, because He has taught us to love our enemies.  But certainly I would ask you to pray for real miracles of the Lord’s glory and path of salvation in the heart and souls of every Muslim in particular and others in general.

I don’t remember the names of all the brothers and sisters in this Nea Zoee church, except a very few like sister Litsa, Tanya, Carolina, brother Panos, and Ryan Brown who have been always concerned for me and very compassionate, and persistently praying for the safety and protection of my family from the wrath of the Taliban. Thanks to them all.

I thank all of you, and particularly brother Fotis and sister Mary for making this occasion of my new beginning with the Lord Jesus so wonderful and memorable in this beautiful resort place on this great  blessed Sunday.

I thank you all for the attention and time.