By Apostle Joseph Seidu
When I was a Muslim, we were taught to believe that Jesus of the Christians was simply the actor we had seen in movies portraying Him. To us, this became another reason to doubt Christianity. We would ask ourselves, “Even Muhammad, whom we consider in Islam to be the last prophet and the beloved prophet of Allah, has no picture or movie. So how can Christians show us a white man and claim that he is Jesus?”
And according to what we were taught from the Qur’an, Jesus was a Muslim.
So we genuinely believed that we were serving the true God. We never knew that what we were doing was connected to an idol in Mecca.
I have told this story before, but I used to mock Christians. I mocked Jesus. I did everything I could to discredit Christianity and convince people that Christianity was not the right religion to follow.
Every Friday, myself and Hafiz would gather with others in our class and turn the time before Jumu’ah into something like a mini comedy show.
Fridays, when it was getting close to twelve, we would be released to go for Jumu’ah prayers. But before we left, they would gather around, and I would make jokes and mock Jesus and Christianity. Hafiz would interpret what I was saying from Chinese to my local dialect or English, and together we would make fun of the Christian faith.
Then we would go to Jumu’ah.
But one particular Friday changed my life forever.
After the Jumu’ah prayer was over, I went back home. I felt very drowsy, so I decided to take a nap.
As I slept, I entered into what I now understand to have been a vision.
At that time, I knew nothing about visions. In fact, I thought I had died because I had entered a realm I had never experienced before.
Then I saw a figure made of light.
When I saw Him, I could barely look directly at Him because He was shining intensely, more like the sun. He was not an ordinary man. He appeared to be more than a man.
Then I saw myself divided into two.
One part of me was lying down helplessly, while another part of me was standing and watching everything that was happening.
Then I saw light coming from this being of light,entering into my helpless body.
I knew somehow that it was Jesus, but at that moment, I didn’t understand what was happening.
Then I heard a voice saying:
“Go to church. Go to church.”
What made it even more frightening was that the mouth of the being was not moving.
The voice was coming, but I could not see His mouth opening.
It was terrifying because I had never experienced anything like that before.
Then, suddenly, another scene appeared within the same vision.
I saw myself standing on top of something like a platform or a bridge.
Below me was a vast body of water.
People were inside the water. They were drowning. They were crying. They were desperately trying to get out.
And the same being of light was still standing there.
Then I heard the voice say:
“You were part of the people inside this water. I brought you on top of this bridge so that you can help remove them.”
Then I saw myself reaching down into the water and pulling people out. One after another. Removing them. And then I understood. This was Jesus. He was telling me that where I was, I was in the wrong place.
“Go to church.” And when He told me to go to church, something immediately became clear to me: this was Jesus. What made the encounter even more personal was that He did not speak to me in English. He spoke to me in my own local dialect.
When I finally came out of the trance, I could still hear the voice audibly. I was frightened. I thought I was possessed because I had never experienced anything like this before.
I went outside and met some of my colleagues sitting in front of my house. My house was only about a minute away from the mosque.
I asked them, “Can you hear what I’m hearing?” They thought I was joking. I rushed into the bush. The more I tried to silence the voice, the louder and stronger it seemed to become.
Eventually, I had no option but to obey. And let me tell you something. I didn’t even want to accept that it was Jesus. How was I going to explain this to my family? How was I going to explain to the people around me that I had encountered Jesus?
I was deeply rooted in Islam. I was not looking for Jesus. I was not trying to become a Christian. I was actually doing everything I could to defend Islam and mock Christianity.
That is why this encounter changed everything for me. People who have never experienced something like this may think someone is simply making up stories. But I know what happened to me.
I was so deep into Islam that nothing I knew at that time could have convinced me that Jesus was the way. But when I encountered Him, everything changed.
Today, despite the persecution, despite the things I have gone through, I am grateful that I have become a mouthpiece for Jesus Christ. And I will continue to witness about Jesus from now until the day I die.
Even if it costs me everything, I will continue to tell people about the One I encountered. I know whom I saw. I know what I experienced.
And I know this was not simply imagination or me sitting somewhere thinking about Jesus. It was an encounter.
By the grace of God, I am willing to continue telling my story.
And my prayer is that those who are still in Islam will encounter Jesus for themselves and come to know Him.
If you want to hear the entire story, check my profile. I have shared many parts of my testimony and the story of my encounter with Jesus. One of the video is pinned.
Jesus is still saving people.
The amazing thing is that, the Hafiz I use to mock Christianity with is also a Christian now.
There are a lot of witnesses that can testify about what I went through after I became born again. One of them is Pastor Nathaniel Abdulai .God bless you Sir.
In fact, even my Muslim friends then know that I am not lying.
For privacy reasons I may not tag all of them. But you can confirm from the one I tagged.
If you’re a Muslim and you want to jump into the comments saying, “It’s all about money,” “You want to be popular,” or “You’re trying to discredit Islam so you can make money,” then you need to know something very clearly:
Jesus is worth far more to me than fame, money, popularity, or anything else a human being can chase in this life.
Look at the things I post. I put my life in danger daily because even if I die today, I know that I am saved.
If money was my motivation, I would have remained in Islam. I could have joined the bandits, collected ransom, and made money much faster than through preaching the Gospel.
So why would I leave that behind just to suffer, face criticism, and put myself at risk?
These testimonies come out because we have been instructed by the Lord to testify about what He has done.
Some of you will even say, “You just want to open a church and start cashing out.”
By the grace of God, I didn’t become born again yesterday. I already have a church and a ministry. Yet I deliberately don’t post my church members or reveal the location publicly because of people who may have criminal intentions.
Jesus is my reason. The Gospel is my assignment. And my testimony is not for sale.
May God help us.
Apostle.Seidu first shared this experience on his Facebook page