Yasin is an undercover believer in Iraq – he has to be very cautious about who he tells about his faith. But he is determined to keep defying threats to share the gospel.

When Yasin* first took a Bible home, he covered the title in tape. He had to go undercover. He knew how dangerous it was for an Iraqi Muslim to own a Bible. How dangerous it would be if his secret were revealed.

But he was soon to take an even riskier step: deciding to become a Christian.

Peace from Jesus

The first time Yasin read the Bible, he wept. “The first thing I read in this Bible in my own language was Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount,” he remembers. “I cried because of the beautiful words in it. The words of Jesus gave me peace in my heart.”

It was a peace he’d been lacking for a long time. Though Yasin was brought up in a Muslim home, he wasn’t content in his faith. “Until I became an adult, I followed Islamic law and went to the mosque, but I was not comfortable with it,” he says. “I went to the mosque and did all my religious duties, but I was doing it for my friends’ sake. It wasn’t because I believed in it. I did not have much faith in Islam. It was a habit – but not true worship.”

He had lots of things he wanted to ask. “I argued with God a lot,” Yasin remembers. “I said, ‘God if you exist, I don’t want to sin; I want to live with you. I am asking you to show yourself to me.’” But no response came to Yasin’s desperate questions.

He stopped going to the mosque as regularly, fending off enquiries from friends with the excuse that work was too busy. He kept praying for answers. And eventually an answer came from an unexpected source: a dream.

A miraculous dream

“I was sleeping, and I saw someone coming towards me,” says Yasin. “I cannot describe how beautiful He was. His hair was long, he wore a scarf on his head. He was so beautiful, I could not stop looking at Him. He put his hand on my head and said, ‘You are my beloved child; this is the way, follow me.’”

A Muslim friend told him the dream was from the devil, and not to think about it any more – but Yasin couldn’t believe the devil was responsible. He decided to ask a Christian friend in the village. The friend told him: “This is God showing Himself to you.”

Yasin was taken to a local pastor, who was a convert from Islam. That was when Yasin read the Bible for the first time – and had a transformative encounter with the words of Jesus. After asking more questions and going to a conference organised by Open Doors local partners, Yasin made the life-changing decision to follow Christ.

Yasin’s transformation

Yasin read the Bible in secret and it was safer to keep his new faith undercover. At first, Yasin didn’t reveal the truth to his wife, Nara*, about his conversion to Christianity. After five months, he shared his secret – and Nara was horrified. “How could you bring such a book into our house?” she asked, when she saw his Bible.  She urged him to return to Islam, but he had a question for her: “What do you prefer – the violent man I was before, or the servant I’ve become because of my new faith?” In the months since Yasin found Jesus, he had transformed. “Before, I was really violent towards my family,” he says. “But Jesus says we should be servants. I started serving my family.”

Nara and their children had seen this enormous change in Yasin, and they decided not to interfere when he read the Bible. That wasn’t true with everyone, though. Increasingly, Yasin couldn’t keep his extraordinary discovery to himself. He had to reveal the good news to people he thought would be receptive. It proved to be a risky decision.

Violence and death threats

“Most people from my village still did not know about me being a Christian. But the people I evangelised, they knew,” Yasin says. “One day, my brother came to visit me. The mullah [Islamic leader] told him I was distributing Bibles and that he should try to stop me.”

Yasin’s brother violently attacked him – more than once. “He tried to kill me several times,” says Yasin. “One time, he broke my nose.”

Other people in the community started persecuting him too. “I received a threatening letter,” he says. “In short, it said, ‘If you don’t leave Christianity, we will kill you.’” This threat almost came true when somebody threw a firebomb at his house – thankfully, the house didn’t burn down. Through all this persecution, Yasin’s faith remained strong. He was paying a huge price for his faith, and his determination to share it with others, but he was sure the price was worth it.

Family finds faith

Over time, and much prayer, Yasin’s wife and children also chose to follow Jesus. “My daughter is a master’s student and now evangelises to people and is also preaching the gospel, like me and my son,” Yasin says proudly. “God has blessed our family.”

Yasin is delighted that his family share his faith – but their decision, like his, hasn’t come without a cost. His son and daughter are both unmarried, as the family are considered ‘infidels’ when people learn of their new faith. “Many times I have cried for my children; the persecution really affects them,” he says. “But thank God my children are both content. I believe that whoever endures trials faithfully will have a great place in God’s Kingdom.”

Conversion has also affected the family financially. Yasin had to close his shop, as people refused to buy from an ‘infidel’. Nobody will employ him in a steady job, because of his faith; Yasin now does occasional work as a shepherd, taking care of other people’s sheep for a daily wage.

Converts like Yasin are always balancing the dangers that come when their faith is known with the desire to share the gospel. “The persecution is continuous,” he says, “but there is no other way; I want to give everything to God. Jesus offered Himself for me. He was insulted, He died on the cross. He did this all to redeem me. I will not deny or leave Him.” He pauses for a moment and adds: “Of course, it was and is very difficult. I feel like a sheep among wolves, because people don’t treat us well.”

God’s mission

The help of other Christians has been crucial in Yasin’s journey. “They are very supporting, loving and respectful,” he says. Yasin is able to participate in seminars and conferences run by Open Doors partners through his local church, which have helped develop his faith and equip his evangelism. Despite the risks from his brother and from others in the village, Yasin knows God has called him to stay in the community and tell people the secret of new life.

“I tried many times to leave the village, but God put it in my heart to remain here,” he says. “I know God wants to use me here. I know that God has a mission for me, to bring the good news to my village.”

Yasin has seen fruit from his evangelism – even from those who have persecuted him. “Two people from my village recently became believers and now go with me to church,” he says. “These two insulted me before.”

Stand with Yasin

Yasin stands in a long line of believers who take extraordinary risks because they know the worth of the gospel. This courageous faith is a hallmark of Open Doors’ history, ever since Brother Andrew started smuggling Bibles into Communist Eastern Europe in 1955. Seventy years later, Bibles are still transforming the lives of people like Yasin, and those he ministers to, in places where God’s Word is dangerous to pass on.

Today, you can stand with undercover believers like Yasin. You can help precious Bibles get to those who must urgently need them, and help deliver the kind of training that equips Christians like Yasin to keep spreading the Word in risky regions.

And you can stand with him in prayer. Yasin knows what a difference it makes: “I ask you to pray for me, because I believe in the power of prayer,” he says. “I ask you to pray that God gives me strength to evangelise to as many people as possible.”

Today, will you help Christians like Yasin reveal hope?

Source and photo: Open Doors