That's Not A Knife...

A colleague, we’ll call him John for security reasons, is a Muslim background believer. He shares this inspirational story about the risks and rewards of reaching people with the gospel in much of the Muslim world.

John and one of his friends had been visiting church planters from a country bordering their homeland. In this neighboring country a person can be imprisoned or even killed for attempting to convert a Muslim.

On the day of their return, they were planning to take a five-hour taxi ride back to the border of their own country. It would involve travelling up through the mountains and then back down to the border. As they made their way to the crowded taxi queue, they prayed the Lord would give them a sign pointing them to a driver with whom they could share their faith on the long trip ahead. As they walked through the crowd of drivers greeting them and looking for a sign, they met one who had a ‘Biblical’ name. It would seem the Lord had provided them with the sign they had prayed for. He must be the person God wants us to meet with, he has a Biblical name after all. So, they asked the driver if he would be willing to take them on the long road trip. To their surprise, he agreed so they loaded up their belongings and began the journey.

It is at this point in the story that a description of our driver becomes relevant. As John tells the story, the driver was a giant of a man. He was, in fact, so tall that for him to drive the car, his seat had to be pushed back as far as it would go. This meant that the driver, with a Biblical name, was virtually sitting in the back seat with John’s friend. Not only was the driver a very tall man, but he was also an exceptionally large, muscular man. Not the sort of man you would want to tussle with. This will become relevant as the story continues…

So, now to the frightening part of our story. Prayerfully, John began to initiate a conversation he hoped would lead to sharing the gospel. He began, ‘I noticed your name is…. Did you know this is a name from the Bible?” As soon as John mentioned the Bible, the man reached across his chest towards the driver's side door and pulled out a large knife. Again, as John tells the story, it was a lot like the scene from the movie Crocodile Dundee where he says, ‘that’s not a knife… this is a knife!” John describes the knife as more of a machete than a knife. The man began to thrust the knife towards John and stopped mid-thrust as if something were holding back his deadly intentions.

The man asked John why he mentioned the Bible and what his intentions were. Over the next two and a half hours as they made their way up the mountain, John, and the taxi driver with the Biblical name, who was clearly a devout and learned Muslim, debated the merits of Christianity vs Islam. The entire time, John was praying for the Holy Spirit to give him help in how to reach this hardened man with the light of the gospel.

As they debated, they discussed their families and their lives. The driver was very curious about how and why John would choose to give up things like the freedom “be with” (in the Biblical sense of the word) whomever he wished. You see, in his version of Islam, a man who was traveling in a village away from his wife or wives, could go to the local imam and seek a certificate to ‘be with’ whichever woman in the town or village he wished to. If the Imam granted permission the man could take the woman with or without her consent and it was perfectly legal. So, the driver asked John, “do you not wish to be able to take whatever woman you desire? How can you abstain when you are away from home? Why would you choose to?

It was at this point that the Holy Spirit promoted John to challenge the man’s Islamic faith. You see, John had learned that the taxi driver had several daughters whom he loved dearly. So, John asked, ‘what if a man were traveling in your town and saw your 13-year-old daughter? What if he sought a certificate from the Imam to take your daughter for himself? Would this be okay with you?” The cab became noticeably quiet. For ten minutes the driver was silent as he tried to formulate a response that would make sense. His world view had been challenged in a way he could not reconcile.

After about ten minutes of deep thought and reflection, the man had to concede that his worldview was inconsistent in ways he could not live with. He very quickly relented to John’s promptings to accept the unconditional love of Jesus who was the God/Man. Who came to Earth, lived a perfect life, died on a cross for his sins, and was raised to life on the third day! The cab driver became a follower of Jesus on top of the mountain, halfway through the journey!

John then spent the last two and a half hours discipling the driver. He worked his way through important passages of Scripture and important Christian doctrine in the remaining time they had together. When they finally reached the border and the driver dropped off John and his friend, they had prayer and parted ways.

It was only then that John noticed his friend who had been in the back seat witnessing all of this. He had seen John come awfully close to being stabbed repeatedly by a machete sized knife. That part of the story had frozen John’s friend in time. As they exited the cab five hours later, John’s friend was white as a ghost. He had been petrified for the entire five-hour ride believing they might lose their lives. Even after the man converted, John’s friend continued to remain frozen in fear. So, he asked John, “brother, how could you continue? He was going to kill you with that HUGE knife! How were you able to go on?” John casually replied, “I was not worried. You see, God has assured me I’m going to have a very long life… you, I don’t know about!”

Please be in prayer for our brothers and sisters who are planting multiplying churches in some of the hardest to reach places on Earth. They face persecution we can only imagine. Many of them face these types of challenges daily and yet, they continue with great confidence in our Lord. They live as the apostle Paul believing “To live is Christ, to die is gain”. In their reality, the “die is gain” part of that statement is all too real a possibility. Also, pray for the taxi driver in the story. Even though John exchanged contact information, during the COVID pandemic, they were unable to communicate, and John is not sure what has become of the man. Pray he is thriving in his faith and discipling others including his family, yes even that 13-year-old daughter!