March 18, 2011
At great risk to themselves, a Muslim student who has been studying with Katheryn Haddad via the Internet is now our brother in Christ, and his wife is our sister. Leaving Islam and embracing Christianity in his country is like a capital offense. Consequently, he and his wife baptized each other secretly.
The picture below is only suggestive of our new brother and sister and their children. It is not their picture. For obvious reasons, we cannot show their faces.
On February 21, Katheryn wrote, “Praise God! My Muslim student in XXXX wants to be baptized.” He wrote, “I am going to baptize as soon as possible. Please tell me how can I do it and how I pray.” Soon thereafter, he wrote, “I am very happy this morning. I have baptized with my wife. She helped me baptizing. We baptized in the bathtub together.”
Katheryn traces the history of this study as follows: “Tariq” (not his real name) is in his forties. Tariq was impressed with the lesson on the prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus, especially prophecies in Isaiah.
“One week later, he wrote me, ‘I need your help and your special guidance to my decision to become a Christian, but now it is dangerous for me in my country. What can I do?’
“This is one of the most dangerous nations in the world to leave Islam and become a Christian. Men have been imprisoned and put on trial for their life for giving a Bible to someone. Women have had acid thrown in their face. I encouraged him to try praying to Yahweh (the Great I AM). I continued to encourage him to be baptized, explaining that it can be done in secret. He asked how it is done. I explained what to say, and asked if his wife, a brother, or a trusted friend could help him. Two days later, he and his wife baptized each other in secret.”
On March 17, Katheryn wrote, “My newly baptized ex-Muslim wrote me today that he wants to worship with a church, and could I help him find one. If only people in America could see what people like Tariq go through, rather than saying, ‘Do I HAVE to go to church?’”
Let us pray earnestly that God will protect this courageous couple as they follow Jesus in a hostile environment. They are the third Muslim couple to baptize each other recently.
