All Our Plans to Harm You Have Failed!

Indian-born Ibrahim Yousef James moved with his family to Kuwait when he was six. While still in his teens he went into business with his older brother and by the time he was 20, he had amassed a fortune. He owned the largest television production facility in Kuwait. A devout Muslim, he studied the Koran and kept all the religious Islamic traditions. He gave money to the poor and made many pilgrimages to Mecca. There was only one thing Ibrahim had attempted and failed. He tried suicide four times. Why could he not find peace? He searched the Koran for answers but found none.

He went to England to study electronic engineering. In the month of Ramadan, during the last week of his fast, he developed insomnia. No matter what he tried, sleep eluded him. Prowling around in his hotel room he found a Bible. Flipping it open he read ‘Where to find help in time of need’. He read the list and found ‘needing sleep - Psalm 4.’ ‘If you are the God of this book, give me sleep,’ he prayed. He stretched across the bed and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. The next morning he forgot about the Bible and God. Later in the week he came across a man on the street preaching and claiming that Jesus was the only way to God. Ibrahim thought it was all rubbish and Jesus was not the son of God. He also came across an American couple who told him to ask God for the answer, and that God loves him and will speak to him. Ibrahim had never heard of anyone say that God would speak to them. Five nights later Ibrahim dreamed of a bright light in the form of a cross and a voice said, ‘This is my way. Jesus is my son. I give my peace to you. I leave my joy with you’.

He had heard from God, and spent the day counting the cost of following Jesus. He knew he would be rejected totally. But the more he thought about Jesus, the more he wanted to know. He met a Christian lady who told him about Jesus, and Ibrahim, weeping openly, gave his life to the Lord Jesus. The first thing he did was to tell his family. They were all very angry and told him that they never want to hear from him again.

Ibrahim began seriously studying the Bible and married a Christian woman. There was no reconciliation from his family. Then one day he got a telegram asking him to attend his sister’s wedding. ‘We forgive you, please come,’ said his father. As Ibrahim prayed about it, God told him not to take his wife. Upon arriving in Bombay, Ibrahim was warmly welcomed by his relatives and friends. Before long, however, his father attacked him, beating, kicking and punching Ibrahim until he was blinded with blood. Every member of Ibrahim’s family supported his father’s action. ‘I cannot deny Christ,’ Ibrahim kept saying. His father pointed a gun at him. Just seconds before he fired, Ibrahim’s uncle grabbed the gun from his father. Ibrahim was kept as a prisoner in the house. They destroyed all his wedding pictures, Bible, Christian books and tapes. As days passed Ibrahim’s father felt that he was coming around, but he still kept him prisoner, instructing guards to shoot Ibrahim if he ever tried to leave. Gradually he was allowed to go out to meet friends but not without a guard.

One day Ibrahim asked to see his school friend and his father took him out. God said to Ibrahim, ‘This is the day to leave your family.’ His father had to inspect something on the way, so he let Ibrahim complete the journey on his own. Seizing the opportunity, Ibrahim went straight to a Christian pastor, who helped him get away.

Recently Ibrahim spoke to his father by phone and his father admitted, ‘I know that your God is real because for ten years all our plans to harm you have failed.’

from Voice of Victory
Note: Ibrahim and his wife are now tirelessly spreading the Good News of Christ in the Middle East.