Naz tells how he found the true God
I was born in Uganda (42 years ago), into an Ismaili Muslim faith lead by the
Agakhan. When Pam (my wife) and I got together, she was not following any faith,
so she joined mine.
For me this was the beginning of the end, the more she was learning about my
faith the more I was learning from her about my faith and what it really
involved. In Ismailism as in all Muslim Faiths, most prayers are in Arabic, she
HAD to learn it all and pass certain tests before she was even allowed into the
prayer hall. The more I was questioning my beliefs as I had never learnt things
that Pam HAD to learn, the more I felt we were idol worshipping.
We were one of a very few who had the chance to have our wedding blessed by
the Agakhan himself, in front of tens of thousands of people at Earls court in
1994. After that we felt we had to get more involved in the Ismaili faith, but I
was still confused within myself.
At the time of my direct search, I held a high position in the Ismaili faith
at the Manchester Jamat Khana (Agakhan Centre).
To cut a very long story short, I found myself asking God directly to show me
the right path, or confirm the path I was on. I never thought God would really
reply, of course, but what a shock was in store for me. I must clarify that I
wasn't looking for a change of faith or anything like that, I just wanted to
know that the path I was on did lead to God. During one of my Far-Eastern trips
I just kept bumping into Christians, "born again Christians" I didn't even know
the true meaning of 'born again' at the time. It had never been explained to me
by anyone.
Lots of strange things happened to me at the time, which I now understand was
God's way of answering that prayer and preparing me for what was to come.
On returning from one of the trips, I found myself asking God more often to
show me the true path, and unexpectedly ending by saying "In the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".
One morning I got my answer in a way that would leave no doubts whatsoever.
The True God's path, God's direct path, "I am the way and the only way to the
Father". (John 14:6). I had never read this before, nor had I understood the
Bible at the time.
I had my baptism of the spirit there and then by WELCOMING GOD into my life.
I remember, even then I did not know that a lot of people have had that
experience and that anyone can have it, WOW. How can anyone ever want to live
without this precious GIFT from GOD. I wish someone had told me about it sooner
and I am going to make sure that anyone who meets me knows what I have and that
they can have it too, if they want it. Forgiveness of sin, Eternal Life and
God's Peace can be yours by welcoming GOD into your life; that's all it takes.
(Besides having Body and Soul, you then have the HOLY SPIRIT within you,
Amen).
Religion and GOD don't go very well together, that is my understanding now.
No fears, as fear goes out when LIGHT comes into you, no rituals, no special
blessings just for the fortunate few, no confusions, no routines that even you
don't understand, just fellowship in GOD for ALL. (God himself says that without
Him all our self-righteous deeds are like filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6).
A lot has happened since. It has changed our lives completely, including Pam
following me in God's path. She didn't know I was still searching. Once when I
told her that we idolise, she took a book out to show me that it must be the way
to do it, (after all I did lead her into the religion) but we laugh about it
now. We have God in our house, in our work, in our daily lives and we have
fellowship in him and pray directly to the LORD.
We have a new family in the body of Christ (the Church). We have the Pastor
and his wife who we see as lost friends, found. We now know what awaits us from
here on, "The Kingdom of Heaven" through Jesus Christ. Finding the right church
wasn't easy, We did not know that all churches are not the same. At one I had to
tell the preacher to find God!!! But we are now at the best possible fellowship
we could wish for.
We are now cleansed and saved by the blood of Jesus, I have also had my
baptism of water and we are growing in GOD daily and loving every minute of it.
I do go a little strong on some people who we care for, as we can see that they
need to make life easy, by simply welcoming God into their lives. But then not
everyone welcomed the very SON of GOD at one time, did they? We have helped some
people and told many about our journey, (at the time of writing) it has only
been nine months and a lot has happened in that short time. Our lives have
changed completely, our children's lives have improved beyond imagination, our
children pray to the LORD in ways even we ourselves had never thought
possible.
To answer many questions that most people fear and ask us about are, how our
families and friends took it, have we had threats etc. For our part we say "When
The SON Sets You Free, You Are Free Indeed." But we have lost some friends, we
have lesser contact with some relatives, we have also been stopped from things
like doing a healing prayer for a terminally ill relative by other relatives
some very close ones. But we see it as their loss and no-one is above the All
Mighty. But a lot of them are coming round now and wanting to know more about
GOD from us.
When some of them meet us, some can't even look us in the eye, but as they
see the Light, the calmness, the peace and all that goes with having the Holy
Spirit within you.
They recognise something has really happened. We soon put them at ease and
explain the part of GOD in us, our journey. Many have accepted the LORD or
rejected, because the choice is up to the individual. A lot want to accept the
LORD but have fear about what others will say or do, I would refer them to my
earlier comment and explain that fear goes, when Light comes into you. As I am
sure our pastor would preach from God's word, "be a Free Eagle, not a captive
chicken, nor a caged eagle".
GOD Bless.
