salvation

Muslim set out to disprove Bible, but a funny thing happened after he read it

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From God Reports:Muslim set out to disprove Bible, but a funny thing happened after he read it

By Alexia Hess –

Mubashir’s consecration to Islam was perfect.

“I was honoured to be a teacher at Koran school in India,” he told International Christian Response. “I felt so full of satisfaction in both my role and my dedication to my path.

“My dedication to Koran was all-encompassing, all-consuming.”

In his zeal to strengthen the Muslim population in India (which registers at 14%, well behind the Hindu majority of 80%), he threw himself into studying comparative religion.

Cracking open a Bible to better expose its errors (he thought), he began reading the New Testament. It was a strange sensation. What he had been told about the Bible didn’t line up with what was written in the Bible.

Muslims in India

“I was amazed by the love and acceptance and forgiveness that I found in the pages of the Christian scriptures,” he recalls. “Jesus as God-become-man captured my attention. He became one of us in order to save us.”

Inevitably, he turned his life over to Jesus and became a Christian. He lost his job at the Koran school.

“My parents didn’t want to have anything to do with me,” he adds. “I quickly went with my friends and neighbors to share the good news, but they rejected me too.”

The rejection turned violent.

“The next thing I knew, I was being dragged out of my house and beaten so severely that I had to be hospitalized for some time,” he recounts. “With no job, I had no way to pay my medical bills and was frightened for my future.”

Thankfully, International Christian Response intervened and helped him start a new, independent life.

If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here

Amazing Dreams About Jesus

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From Faithwire.com

Missionaries Report Muslims Meeting Jesus in Dreams ‘in Levels We Have Never Seen in 1,400 Years!’

Photo by Tom Barrett/Unsplash
Photo by Tom Barrett/Unsplash

Two Assembly of God missionaries are sharing multiple first-hand testimonies of Muslims coming to the Christian faith after encountering Jesus Christ in their dreams.

James Bradford, the lead pastor at Central Assembly in Springfield, Missouri, and missionary Dick Brogden told Assemblies of God News that God is answering the prayers of Christians who are praying for Muslims.

Listen to the latest episode of CBN’s Quick Start podcast 👇

They admit any Islamic country is a dangerous place for a Christian and there are few opportunities for open evangelism. But they report Muslims are meeting Jesus in their dreams and converting to Christianity at an alarming rate. 

“I would even say it’s the normal experience,” Brogden said. “It would be accurate to say that Muslims are responding to Jesus in levels we have never seen, not in 1,400 years!”

“Dreams are contributing to revelation (as in assurance), the process of evangelism, and conversion,” he continued. “So many Muslims reject Islam but know that to follow Jesus will cost them everything. Dreams of Jesus encourage them along the way and give them the comfort that Jesus will be with them — though it cost them everything to follow Him.”

Bradford shared that he was in a Muslim country meeting with church leaders from several Muslim nations. One of the leaders shared a testimony of a woman who had a dream where she saw Jesus. 

“A woman had left the Muslim faith, but she was full of hatred and suspicion of Christians. She didn’t know what to do — she asked God for help,” he explained. “One night she had a dream where she saw a shepherd, walking about an empty tomb with a staff. The shepherd walked around it a few times, and then He headed directly toward the woman. He had a loaf of bread in His hands, which He broke and offered to her and as He did, He said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body.’”

He went on the share that the woman, who knew nothing about the Bible, woke up and contacted a person who she knew was a Christian. 

“He showed her in the Bible where Jesus had said those very words. The woman accepted Jesus as her Savior — and continues to serve him to this day,” Bradford said. 

Brogden recounted a story that illustrated the lengths to which God will go to show His love to people. He shared that a Saudi Arabian woman had a dream about going to Heaven, but feared it was the devil tricking her. 

“She prayed: ‘Jesus, if you are the real God, I want to see you,’” Brogden recounted. 

“Later, tending her sheep in the desert, she came across a pool of water. Bending down to drink she looked into the water and saw in the reflection a massive man standing behind her. He held a shepherd’s staff and He was smiling. She whipped around, but there was no one there. She looked again in the water, and there was this massive Shepherd.”

Brogden said the woman was terrified and ran home to her sister, who was a believer, and told her that Jesus was “proving He is God.”

The AG global worker continued, “Still doubting, this Saudi woman asked the Lord for one more proof. Her mother was a cripple, bound to her chair, unable to walk. She prayed: ‘Jesus, if you are real and truly God, heal my mother and let her stand and walk!’ Immediately her mother stood up and began to walk around. The sister threw up her hands in surrender and shouted: ‘Jesus, I believe, I believe!’”

Bradford and Brogden encourage believers to continue praying because many Muslims still need to encounter Christ.

“There are more unreached people now than in the history of the world,” Brogden said. “In 1982, there were 2.5 billion people in the world classified as ‘lost’ with 1.5 billion being classified as unreached. In 2022, the global population reached 8 billion, with 6 billion classified as ‘lost’ and 3.15 billion being classified as unreached.”

Amish man burdened by rules, discovered grace | God Reports

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#222222;font-family: sans-serif">From God Reports

By Alexia Hess –

When a Kentucky-born Amish leader dared to listen to a gospel preacher on the radio (in violation of Amish rules), he was astounded by the simple message of grace and forgiveness by faith that conflicted with his ideas that “God love you, but he loved you so much he would punish you.”

“I never knew that you could know that you are going to Heaven,” Vern Yoder says on a 700 Club video. “I couldn’t wrap my head around a warm, hug-type love.”

Vern was born to a well-respected deacon of the Amish, an American East Coast religious group that have strict rules for dress and behavior, which includes not using automobiles. The Amish are considered Christian, but their application of scriptures can be seen as legalistic.

Vern struggled through his teen years to maintain the standards of his church.

His constant thought: What can I do to be a better person? What can I do to have a better shot to make it into Heaven? “It would drive me down into this pit of despair.”

The overemphasis on rules and laws weighed on his soul.

“I was so miserable,” Vern says. “I didn’t know (if I would make it to Heaven), so I would work and work and work at trying to be the best Amish.”

He married and had children, but carried the pharisaical spirit into his roles as husband and father. He went overboard as a disciplinarian and his marriage was strained, he says.

Reflecting on the frustration of his brand of Christianity, Vern pleaded with God: “God, I can’t do this any longer. You’re going to have to help me with this.”

One day he got a job as a tractor driver. That day he listened to a radio preacher expound the doctrines of the simple gospel. It challenged everything he knew about God.

“He was going through a series about faith, about grace, about mercy,” Vern says. “He was telling me things I had never heard in my life. I heard that you can know now that you’re going to Heaven. You don’t have to wait until you die and live in fear.”

He prayed a sinner’s prayer at the end of the broadcast and was flooded by the grace and love of God.

With the Holy Spirit now guiding him as he read the Bible, Vern understood what had been shrouded for years by legalistic interpretations: “The Word of God just leaped out of the pages,” he says. “I would be so excited, I couldn’t contain it.”

Vern felt obliged to leave the Amish community. He shaved his Amish beard and began to dress in contemporary clothing. It was all about Jesus now, not about pleasing the religious folks who stood by and judged everything that was not right, he says.

“I knew that I would follow Jesus, come whatever,” Vern says. “I would follow Jesus (even) if it meant death.”

He’s no longer the stern disciplinarian who criticizes every slipup of his kids. He’s no longer the disapproving husband who was critical of his wife.

“The love of Jesus really softened me,” Vern says. “I don’t have to work to get to Heaven. I work because I know I’m going there and I love pleasing my Master.”

If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here

Road Lines And U-Turns

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A few months ago the Shire Council did some resealing work along our street. The newly applied asphalt covered the line markings, so a few weeks later, the contractors came along and applied the appropriate lines.


This was all very well, except the line markers made a mistake. They extended a double line by a few metres to make it join up with a traffic island.


The gap in the lines had been there ever since we moved into the house 25 years ago. It provided a handy place to do a U-turn to get to our driveway. You might be thinking, “They could just drive a bit further”, and you would be right. Except that it is actually more dangerous to do a U-turn where the lines end.


Transport NSW told us that the gap should be there, as the correct line markings are in the NSW Government Gazette and have the force of the law.


So, as I understand it, the double lines are actually there illegally. If I get caught crossing these illegal lines would I be fined?


Many religions and philosophies are based on rules. Do this and God will be happy; do that and God will be unhappy with you.

The trouble with laws (apart form the fact that they can become self-contradictory) is that they tell you what to do, make no attempt to help you, and then condemn you when you fail.


In contrast, Jesus comes to us with grace and love. Love motivates us to do the right thing because we want to, it empowers us to life right, and it forgives us when we fall.


The invitation of Jesus is this: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).


If you are frustrated by trying to be good, connect yourself to Jesus who brings love not law.

A New Heart

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A few weeks ago, I glanced at my smart watch to discover it was showing my resting heart rate as 48 beats per minute. I went online and discovered that for my age, this low heart rate is associated with elite athletes!

As a young person, athleticism was not what you associated with me, and even now I would rather read a book than play touch football. But still, thousands of kilometres of bike riding over the last few years must have persuaded my heart that it needs to get in shape.

The human heart is a marvellous organ that faithfully pumps blood around the body without a pause every second of our lives. It automatically adjusts to the amount of work or exercise that we are doing, sending oxygen and food to every cell of our body.

The physical heart is so critical to human living that we use it as a metaphor for our deeply held values and beliefs. While, for most people, the physical heart is a reliable and trustworthy organ, the spiritual heart is quite the opposite.

People often say “Follow your heart”, but the Bible warns us that “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.” No doubt Adolf Hitler followed his heart, with disastrous results for millions of people and for the whole world.

We are born into a world that is corrupted, and we quickly learn to live by that standard. Not even the most “saintly” or “righteous” of people are truly perfect. We all have our moments, days or years where we are not the people we would like to be.

Christians speak of being “born again”, which basically means allowing God to give us a new heart that is untouched by sin. To be born again means to recognise that I am a sinner, that I have offended God and I need forgiveness. From that place, I can ask God to cleanse my spirit and rule my life.

If you need a new heart, or a new start with God, say that sorry prayer to God right now. Reach out to a church, and ask them to help you start in this journey of faith.

What happened when Jesus entered the room of Jewish science student?

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From godreports.com

What happened when Jesus entered the room of Jewish science student?

By Charles Gardner —

James Tour

Top scientist James Tour is described as a genius inventor who has started 78 companies and spoken at every major university in the United States.

James grew up just outside New York City, but Judaism didn’t particularly excite him. He once tried to talk to a rabbi, but was brushed aside with very little explanation.

Then he went to college where he met a number of ‘born-again Christians’. He thought it an odd term and questioned what it meant.

One fellow student drew a picture of a man on a cliff edge with God on the other side of a great chasm, trying to explain how Jesus’ death crosses – or bridges – the gap created by our sin because he bore their weight, and we just have to trust in his sacrifice for us.

But James protested: “I’m not a sinner. I never killed anyone or robbed a bank,” adding that the modern Judaism of which he was familiar never really discussed sin.

His friend countered by showing him a verse from the New Testament: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Then came the knockout punch. His friend pointed to Jesus’ teaching on adultery: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27f)

“Pow! I felt as though I had been punched in the chest,” James explained. “I had become addicted to pornography and I didn’t think anybody knew. Now someone who lived 2,000 years ago is calling me out on it. I felt immediately convicted and I knew I was a sinner.”

He also saw how Christ’s sacrificial death had been precisely predicted by Isaiah some 700 years before it happened. For he read in Isaiah chapter 53 how the Messiah would take our sins upon himself – “the perfect God comes and gives himself for us” – adding: “We Jews know better than anyone else that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

“I started to realize how Jewish the New Testament is. It’s all around Jewish people. Then, on November 7th 1977, I was all alone in my room. I realized Yeshua was the one who died on the cross. I said, ‘Lord, I am a sinner. Please forgive me.’

“All of a sudden Jesus Christ entered my room. Yes, Jesus was in my room. I started weeping, his presence was so glorious and this amazing sense of forgiveness started to come upon me.”

His cousins were shocked at his decision and his mother was not happy either. She didn’t blame the religious leaders for killing Jesus; he got what he deserved for calling them ‘whitewashed tombs’, in her view.

But then she read the Tanach (Old Testament) from beginning to end, and told her son: “God warned us over and over again.”

Later, through the influence of James’ 15-year-old daughter, she started reading the Bible again and, one day, aged 72, she rang her son to say: “Jimmy, it hit me; the way he gave his life. I believe it now. Jesus is the Son of God.”

Tour is a professor of chemistry, professor of materials science and nanoengineering, and professor of Computer Science at Rice University. He was named “Scientist of the Year” by R&D Magazine in 2013 and won the ACS Nano Lectureship Award from the American Chemical Society in 2012. He was ranked one of the top 10 chemists in the world over the past decade by Thomson Reuters in 2009.

More than any of his accomplishments, Tour says, “what means the most to me is that I’m a Jew who believes Jesus is the Messiah.”

James’ story can be viewed on YouTube, courtesy of One for Israel in partnership with Chosen People Ministries.

Finding Jesus At A Cafe

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From persecution.org, a testimony of simple faith and trust in Jesus.

2/14/2023 Indonesia (International Christian Concern) – Flourish Café is a café in West Java, Indonesia, that opened in 2021, motivated by the owner’s Christian faith and desire to reach out to women victims of human trafficking. At the height of the pandemic, the café was struggling to survive. There were only a few customers who came to the café. They do not have enough income to operate and pay the workers.   

One day, an ICC staff member met with the owner and discussed the cafe’s goals and programs. After hearing about the café’s needs, ICC was able to help the business survive by providing some financial assistance to keep operations running smoothly.   

Every Saturday, the owner held a Discover the Bible And Quran Study at the cafe to prompt discussion about the two books. As a result, some of their employees came to faith in Jesus Christ.  

Reli is one of the employees who came to faith in Jesus Christ. Her story is as follows:   

I’m Reli. I was born in 1994. I was born into a Muslim and tribal family with the largest Muslim population in Indonesia. I grew up to be a naughty teenager; even as an adult, I did not respect my parents, so my relationship with my parents was not close.  

I wore a hijab during high school because the school required it. However, even though I remained a Muslim after I finished high school, I took off my hijab because I felt uncomfortable.  

 In 2021, I began working at Flourish Café. Every Saturday, there is an activity at the cafe to read the Bible and the Koran, and we discuss the stories in the two books.   

From week to week, I became more and more interested in studying the Bible because so many words in it touched my heart. I installed the Bible app on my cell phone to read it throughout the week.   

I told one of my Christian friends about my interest in the Bible. She told me now, if you pray, pray to Jesus Christ. Slowly, I learned to pray to Jesus and felt something different in my heart. I was having problems with my family and with my husband. I prayed to Jesus, and several times in a dream, someone wearing a robe came and said, “Do not be afraid. I will help you” I believe that Jesus appeared in my dreams.   

Every day, I am being changed more and more in my character. First, I became more loving toward my parents and family. Then, I started giving some of the money I received from my place of work to my parents.  

In December 2021, I decided to be baptized because I had complete confidence to follow Jesus. But, until then, my family and husband did not know I believed in Jesus. They are not pleased that I converted and wish me to return to the Muslim faith. I pray that my parents and husband also believe in Jesus.  

Finding Jesus While Listening to Pink Floyd

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From godreports.com

In Air Force barracks, he heard about Jesus while listening to Pink Floyd

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Caught ya. A friend snaps Charlie Forman’s photo in the Air Force in the Philippines when the airman was unprepared.

By Michael Ashcraft –

In high school, Charlie Forman was a chanting Buddhist. Then he took LSD, read Carlos Castaneda and hoped to meet a Yaqui Indian witchcraft guide. But because he was high or drunk every day, he joined the Air Force to clean up his act.

“Nothing really worked,” he says.

Stationed at a radar site in the Philippines, he fell back into partying. “A lot of the officers partied like we did. I got in trouble; there were some drugs in my car.”

When he returned Stateside to Nellis Air Force Base, he was supposed to report to the Social Action of the Air Force to continue his rehabilitation. But his records took forever to catch up to him, and he didn’t mind because he didn’t want to be known as a dopehead.

What he did do was work hard and steer clear of drugs and alcohol. He wanted to go straight “but life was so boring. There was no purpose,” he says.

Ever since his mom died of cancer when he was seven-years-old, Charlie was on a quest to find the meaning of life. One thing he knew for sure, “it wasn’t Christianity. It was something mystical, maybe Transcendental Meditation.”

That’s when a man came into his barracks and shared his testimony.

“I was listening to Pink Floyd, “Charlie recalls. “I wasn’t really interested. This guy started talking and was fighting with the noise, so he asked if could turn it down. He seemed like a nice guy, so I turned it off. And listened. I really related to him. He had gone through similar experiences like me.”

He accepted Jesus.

“It was incredible. I felt like I was high. I had joy and peace. Immediately I was delivered from the drugs. Whereas before I had tried to quit and fell back, I was completely delivered. I had no interest in drugs. I was sauced on Jesus.”

In the Air Force, he was given the job of keeping and clarifying bombing range scheduling for pilots, a job that required three telephone calls a day “if it was a busy day.” The rest of the time, he read his bible voraciously.

But when he married his Filipina girlfriend and brought her to the United States while he was still in the Air Force, things went sour. At first, she got “truly and wonderfully saved. God just whacked her,” Charlie says.

“But she held on to a lot of things from Catholicism. She would not let go of the idea that you shouldn’t be fanatical about God, and she was insanely jealous,” Charlie says.

 

 

Read the rest of charlie’s story here

Big Questions

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Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash

Do you ever stop to think about the really deep questions of life? Our secular culture tries to distract us with endless scrolling, loud entertainment and shiny gadgets. So most people avoid thinking too hard.

There are three questions that any person or group has to wok out about life.

1. How did we get here?

You might think that everything is random and that you are just a collection of chemicals. It doesn’t make you feel too good about yourself though. The Bible tells us that everything was made by God and that every person is uniquely designed by Him.

2. What am I here for?

Some people think life is just about making a buck and looking after your family, maybe watching the footy and having a beer on the weekend. If you think that you are just a random collection of chemicals, maybe that’s as good as it gets.

Some really smart men in the 17th century wrote the Westminster Catechism which was a series of FAQs about faith. The first question they asked and answered is “What are we here for?” and the answer they gave was “The chief end of men (and women) is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.” That’s a big answer that gives us a bigger sense of purpose.

3. Where are we going?

Our culture avoids the issue of death. We hide it away in hospitals and nursing homes. The reality is that we will all die. So what happens next? Is there some purpose for my existence that goes beyond the grave? When you have gained 60 or 80 years of wisdom and knowledge, does it all just get deleted? The Bible tells us that everyone who follows Christ will be raised up to eternal life with him. Death isn’t the end of life but a new beginning.

When we sort out these questions, our life gains purpose and meaning. It is the “abundant life” that Jesus promised to give to us when we trust in him.

Atheist rejected God because of science, then science led her to God

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Atheist rejected God because of science, then science led her to God

Decidedly “100% atheist,” Mariah Jones pitied Christians, believing they reject reason and the advancements of scientific knowledge.

“I did not believe in God,” Mariah says on a 2019 video on her YouTube channel. “I didn’t believe in spirituality at all. I thought believing in such things was silly. Basically I was just a strong believer in science.”

Right after high school, Mariah joined the Navy in 2013. It was in the Navy that she developed anorexia and bulimia.

“It grew more and more aggressive as the years went by,” she says.

Once out of the Navy, she enrolled in college, and she positively relished the science classes which at first affirmed her belief in nothing.

“I used to enjoy when people would bring up God so that I could try and destroy their argument with science.” she admits. “I would ask them impossible questions that would put them in this awkward position and make it pretty much impossible for them to answer.

“I hated when people would talk about Jesus.”

Her distaste for Christianity was extreme, fueled by the grip of the evil one in her life.

“My mentality towards Christians and anyone who was religious was like, You’re wasting your entire life trying to live by these impossible standards and these rules that supposedly God created just to go to a place after you die,” she says. “I thought religion was a man-made construct that was harmful to people.”

Then a boomerang struck in 2017 in her second year in college. The same science that in the first year of college affirmed her atheist became the science of the second year of college that undermined her atheism.

Specifically, how could biological molecules with astronomical number of atoms all sequenced with confunding minute precision have just come together by chance? she wondered.

See related article: scientist Sy Garte became a Christian when he studied molecular biology.

So at first science contributed to her atheistic arrogance. Then, as the classes advanced, they deconstructed it.

“Having to accept that everything just formed on its own by itself on accident, it didn’t make sense to me,” Mariah admits. “It really started to bother me because deep down I didn’t want to believe something. I didn’t want to take that responsibility.”

Mariah stayed after class and probed professors looking for logical answers.

“What came first, was it the blood or was it the heart that pumped the blood?” she quizzed them. “Was it the skin that held it all together or the organs inside the skin? How did nothing turn into something? How did nothing result in intelligent life? How did an explosion result in living breathing loving unique beings?”

The professors were of no help with these befuddling questions. So, her mind wandered to the obvious: there had to be an outside agent guiding the process, an external agent with a purpose from another dimension.

Her progression bugged her. She had always felt sorry for those who saw the need to believe in God. But now science was leading her towards him.

“Eventually I recognized my biases and I knew that I was being closed-minded towards the alternative which was God,” she says.

As she pondered what she had vowed never to do, she prayed to God.

“I refused to call it a prayer at this time,” she recalls. “But I basically said, ‘God if you’re real and you really exist, would you not want me to know you? Would you want me to wonder forever about if you exist? I don’t want to be disrespectful to you. But I just if you’re there, I want you to give me a sign and I’ll believe.’”

Immediately… nothing happened. To be truthful, Mariah felt embarrassed and dumb.

But as the next six months unwound, things happened: vivid dreams that reflected Bible verses and scary events rattled her.

Mariah was disinclined towards Christianity. So she searched every other religion: Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, you name it, she researched it.

Finally, she looked into the character of Jesus in the Bible, and what she saw startled her.

“I started studying the Bible and learning about Jesus and the meaning of his life and death and what he claimed his purpose was,” Mariah says. “I ended up finding out that his purpose was essentially for me.”

Then in December 2017, her battles with anorexia and bulimia came to a head.

“I was trapped in this violent cycle that would never end, never, no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t break out of it,” she admits. “I remember being in the bathroom. I was in the bathtub and I was throwing up. I remember feeling like, How long will I keep doing this? I felt so enslaved by this disease, this addiction”

As the water was running, she broke down crying for the first time.

Without any forethought, she cried out: “Jesus, please help me.”

This time the response was immediate.

“I can’t explain the feeling what it was. It was love. Someone loved me. I felt stillness, peace,” she explains. “Within seconds the crying stopped, not on my own. Something had come over my entire being. There are no words. The entire room was filled with Jesus.”

The anorexia and bulimia simply disappeared from her life.

“I felt healed,” she thinks. “It felt almost like I never had an addiction to begin with. This darkness, this heaviness that was over me for four years, gone completely. I went to bed that night shocked – in a good way. I just could not believe what happened to me. I still can’t fathom what he did to me.”

A few days later, she received Jesus Christ into her heart.

Initially, Mariah was reluctant to share her testimony online because she feared a blowback from her atheist friends.

“I know what I’m going to face. I know people will probably make fun of me. I’ve accepted it,” Mariah says. “I know who I used to be. I would have laughed at me. But I don’t care. I will never forget what he did for me. I will always be in his debt. This is just a small, small portion of my gratitude for what he did for me.”

If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here

From: God Reports