Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220016A
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00:05 I want to spend my life mending broken people 00:15 I want to spend my life removing pain 00:26 Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts 00:37 I want to spend my life mending broken people. 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:06 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn. 01:08 I'm JD Quinn 01:10 And boy are we excited to spend this hour with you. We have a 01:14 fascinating story. You're going to see how the Lord is moving in 01:20 all over the world and reaching people in other faiths. Honey, 01:24 tell us where do you get phone calls from in the pastoral 01:27 department. 01:28 Oh my goodness. Oh whenever I first came here I thought if we 01:29 got a call from Indiana that'd be great but we're getting calls 01:32 from Central America, from South Africa, from the Middle East, 01:38 I mean around the world. We're a worldwide ministry. 01:41 And it is so exciting because we are ministering and talking with 01:46 people from the Muslim faith, the Hindu faith, and sometimes 01:49 it's challenging. But we have a guest here today that the only 01:55 way that I can explain him to you is to say from a very young 02:00 child he has been a seeker of the truth. He wanted to know the 02:05 Lord and boy the Lord tapped him on the shoulder and is using him 02:09 in such a fabulous way right now and his testimony is incredible. 02:14 So let me go ahead and introduce Brother Shahbaz 02:20 Bakhschnia. Did I do that right? Praise the Lord. You are an 02:25 author. You're the president of Advent Lighthouse Ministries but 02:31 you came from a Muslim home and God tapped you on the shoulder. 02:38 And you don't want to miss how God ended up touching his whole 02:45 family. But first, we know you love music, we love music, and I 02:50 think this song is so appropriate for our topic. 02:53 It is, it is. Stephanie Dawn and Without His Cross. 02:59 ♪ ♪ 03:13 ♪Without His tears, there is no comfort.♪ 03:21 ♪Without His death, there is no life.♪ 03:29 ♪Without His blood, there is no pardon.♪ 03:37 ♪Without His cross, there is no crown♪ 03:45 ♪Without His shame, there is no glory♪ 03:53 ♪Without His grief, There is no joy♪ 04:00 ♪Without His stripes, There is no healing♪ 04:08 ♪Without His cross, There is no crown♪ 04:18 ♪ ♪ 04:21 ♪Lamb of God, You bring salvation♪ 04:27 ♪And with Your grace, our hearts are sealed♪ 04:33 ♪Lord, with Your tears of love, You bathed our sorrows♪ 04:43 ♪In your eyes, We stand revealed♪ 04:50 ♪Without His tears, there is no comfort♪ 04:57 ♪Without His death, There is no life♪ 05:03 ♪Without His blood, There is no pardon♪ 05:10 ♪Without His cross, There is no crown♪ 05:19 ♪Without His blood, There is no pardon♪ 05:25 ♪Without His cross, There is no crown♪ 05:50 How we love the purity of Stephanie Dawn's voice and the 05:55 purity of that message. If you're joining us just a moment 05:58 late we are with Brother Shahbaz Bakhschnia and we're excited. 06:05 I'm kind of a name-type person. I like different names. Shabazz, 06:09 what does Shabazz mean? 06:11 Shabazz, the name Shabazz is an old Persian name. So it goes 06:15 back to the time of Cyrus the Great and it was on the standard 06:18 the standard of the Persian Empire in that time there was a 06:21 picture of an eagle, the largest eagle in Persia modern-day Iran 06:25 and that was the standard of the Persian Empire and my name is 06:29 Shahbaz. Shahbaz means strength or is the name of that eagle. 06:34 Now that's wonderful. Now you grew up in Iran and please just 06:39 jump in here. Don't wait for me to ask you questions. Tell us 06:45 about your experience as a young Muslim and how God was 06:50 getting your attention. 06:51 It started very early. I mean I was just maybe four or five 06:55 years old when I would think deep thoughts at that time about 07:00 God and His existence. I wanted to know God like, who is He? 07:06 What does he look like? How is He able to make the mountains 07:11 and the seas and the clouds. This God does He look like a 07:14 human being? Does He look like a religious priest. Is He a 07:20 light. Is He an energy and I wanted to know God. And that 07:26 quest was something I was very determined and I wanted to find 07:31 out. And in my young mind I didn't know where to begin. 07:33 So I would ask questions but eventually, I had an encounter 07:42 that really helped me to understand something about the 07:46 love of God in an indirect way. Very indirect. That's when I was 07:52 about seven years old I was sitting down in our home in 07:56 the north of Iran by the Caspian coast. It was a spring vacation, 08:02 holidays and the new year of the Persians and we were watching 08:07 an American flick, an old American moving called the Robe 08:10 the movie's not about Jesus but it's about this soldier that 08:13 actually ended up with Jesus's robe and at the end, they show 08:17 Christ. And after he died the soldier said This man died for 08:20 the world and up to that point I didn't know what love is until 08:24 I understood that Jesus died for the world? Why? And you know 08:28 actually translated it exactly that way in Persian that this 08:32 man died for the world but they never said why He died for the 08:35 world. But him dying for the world meant me, my mom, my dad, 08:38 and my siblings, my relatives, everyone and I fell in love with 08:42 Jesus. 08:44 Now that's interesting because I know that...was this Ramadan 08:49 and you were watching religious movies. 08:50 No, it was actually before Ramadan. 08:52 Okay well anyway I know that that's something that many 08:55 Islamic families do, Muslim families. But it's interesting 09:00 because Muslims believe in Jesus as a prophet, they believe in 09:05 His virgin birth and that He was a miracle worker but they don't 09:09 believe He died on the cross do they? 09:11 No, they don't, not at all. 09:13 So you're watching this movie The Robe and that struck you. 09:19 Your family...Shahbaz has written a beautiful book. It is 09:26 called Two Sacrifices, One Destiny. And it's quote short, 09:32 you kept it short on purpose. But in this, you said your family 09:40 gave you a nickname early on because you were so interested 09:43 in religious things. Tell us. 09:45 Yes, they nick-named me Haji Boy Haji is a term used, it's an 09:50 Arabic word that comes from the word Haji which is pilgrimage. 09:53 And everyone is supposed to at least once in their life to have 09:56 a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to the city of Mecca and I've never 10:03 been there. I was too young. But because I was so religious and 10:08 had a fervor for God that they always used to pinch me on the 10:12 cheeks and call me Haji boy. It was a kind of sentiment. It 10:15 stayed with me for a long time. 10:17 Okay so how did this Haji boy being brought up in the Muslim 10:22 faith with a Muslim family... How did God get your attention? 10:27 He got my attention first when I was seven years old with that 10:32 movie. I mean He used that Hollywood movie that seemingly 10:35 is supposed to be innocent and all that and nonbiased but it 10:40 was definitely biased in my mind because I fell in love with 10:44 Jesus. But a few years later in my life I began to have 10:50 experiences where I knew that something was happening and 10:58 eventually we moved to the U.S. from Iran and after the 11:01 revolution and we moved to the United States, immigrated 11:05 here and lived in California for a while. And I remember even 11:09 those early years here in the U.S. and my friends in high 11:13 school used try to convince me about Christianity. Even though 11:17 I fell in love with Jesus I wasn't convinced about 11:19 Christianity, not yet. But I began to defend Islam you know 11:24 and I would tell them about what I believed and all that. But it 11:27 wasn't until I had my second real encounter with Christ that 11:32 my life really fell apart from what I saw things and it 11:38 actually set the scene, the stage. Even when I was 12 years 11:42 old in Iran we attended a Seventh-day Adventist school. 11:46 And I had no idea that they were Christians. We only went there 11:51 because it had a good English program. And we joined that 11:55 school and we were attending school and they had Saturdays 12:00 off and I had no idea why. You know. Why do you have a 12:05 Saturday off. They never told me They never told any of the 12:08 Muslim kids why we didn't go to school on Saturdays. 12:11 So they're kind of prevented from talking about religion 12:14 aren't they in their schools? 12:15 They were being very projective because being in a Muslim 12:17 country they didn't want to have a backlash. And so Saturdays 12:20 were off and I thought because well you know it's part of the 12:23 Christian weekend. So added to Friday instead of having 12:29 Saturday/Sunday we gave Friday and Saturdays off. 12:31 I think it goes back a little bit deeper than that, you know 12:35 a little bit before that because you all came to the states 12:38 according to your book anyway and they tried to enroll you in 12:41 this other school. And it just happened to be that it was full. 12:44 That's correct. 12:46 And so then you went over here to this other school, the 12:49 Adventist school and it still had a couple places open. So 12:53 kind of looking back now at the time, but looking back its kind 12:58 of like that was good seed that was sown at that particular time 13:01 Yes, we were actually going to go sign up at the American 13:04 school. They had a very fine American School there in Tehran 13:08 but we couldn't get in because it was completely full. And so 13:13 we ended up going to the other school. (Amen) 13:19 So what was this second event when Jesus got to you. 13:22 I was about 17 years old and I was sitting in my...we went on 13:27 home. At the time my second oldest brother was having 13:31 emotional issues and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia 13:36 which is debilitation, not just for the person who is suffering 13:40 but for the whole family. And we suffered a lot because of that. 13:44 And this particular day he wouldn't take his medicine and 13:47 no matter what we did he would not touch that medicine. We 13:51 begged and pled with him for I would think about four hours 13:55 the whole family was just trying to make him take his medicine. 13:58 Because if he didn't take his medicine he would become violent 14:01 We'd have to call the police. They would take him to this 14:04 hospital and they would force him to take his medicine there. 14:07 And I didn't want to go through that stress so I went to the 14:11 dining room table and I started praying. I prayed to Allah, I 14:15 prayed to Muhammad, I prayed to Abas, Ali, Hussein, to all the 14:20 Imams and I prayed for a long time. I prayed for I don't know 14:25 how long it was; at least 20 minutes, maybe half an hour. I 14:28 was sitting there at the edge of the table, right here on this 14:30 edge and I was praying and praying. Nothing happened. And 14:33 in my desperation, I just put my elbows on the table, I buried my 14:37 face in my hands and then suddenly a thought came to my 14:41 mind out of nowhere. I never thought that way. Never, ever 14:46 ever in my life. Never did that thought ever cross my mind. 14:48 Pray to Jesus. (Amen) Pray to Jesus. I don't have time to 14:54 argue with myself. The voice had just told me pray to Jesus. 14:58 I don't think it was my voice. It was God telling me this. 15:02 And I just prayed. I looked to the ceiling, eyes open, and I 15:05 said Jesus, you are the prophet please make my brother take his 15:11 medicine. And instantly after all those hours he sat at the 15:16 couch and did not move. He stood up. I followed him around the 15:20 corner of the dining room, it was just behind the dining room 15:26 was the kitchen. I went around the wall followed him. He went 15:29 into the kitchen, he actually took his medicine poured it into 15:33 his cup and took it. And I'm standing there. I'm saying wow! 15:37 Jesus is powerful! (Amen) How could this happen? And my whole 15:44 life just was upside down after that. 15:46 Okay, so you then go on this search. Tell us how. Because you 15:51 ended up joining the Seventh-day Adventist church, you ended up 15:54 becoming a pastor and pastoring for many years and now Shahbaz 15:59 many years he's ministered mostly to the Muslims for the 16:04 last 20 years but he now ministers to immigrants of 16:08 all...Tell us how God led you from that point to here. 16:14 Well I was 17. At the age of 18 is when I had my conversion in 16:22 a real sense because there in my dining room at the table there 16:27 was nobody to invite me to make a decision for Christ and I 16:31 didn't think it was necessary. But when I was 18 my father and 16:36 mother had already gone back, back to the homeland because of 16:39 financial situation, we lost everything we had. And... 16:43 You grew up quite wealthy and your father then ended up having 16:49 a business partner who conned him out of things... 16:53 That's right. He lost everything I mean everything. My father 16:55 lost millions of dollars and they became literally overnight 17:01 very poor. And I ended up on the streets for a while and... 17:06 So from a spoiled little rich boy enjoying all of the luxuries 17:10 of the world... 17:12 That's right. Having my shoe laces tied until the age of 17:14 seven for me (Wow!) by my servant, not my mother, not my 17:18 father. I'm not proud of that but that was the way we lived. 17:21 Then coming to being homeless. But God wanted me to be homeless 17:27 because he wanted to teach me and my family a lesson that we 17:30 had never learned before. And we learned precious lessons. And He 17:36 sustained us from eating one meal a day, but that's okay. 17:39 I met Jesus at that point in my life in a very final 17:45 encounter was when I was 18 years old. And I had this young 17:49 man come to me in the middle of the street in Walnut Creek, 17:52 California 17:53 and he told me about Christ. Because I was seeking. I wanted 17:54 to know more. At this point I wanted to know more. But see 18:00 really what led to this is one day before we became homeless. 18:06 I have to say this really quickly. Before we became 18:09 homeless at the age of 18 I was in my bedroom one morning, six 18:13 in the morning...I had become conscientious about my sinful 18:18 life and I wanted to find forgiveness. So I prayed to 18:22 Allah for a long time and every time I prayed to Allah I would 18:24 beat my body. I would ask for forgiveness and I would severely 18:31 bite my tongue or bite my hands, try to beat myself to appease 18:36 Allah for my sins. And this went on for about a half an hour and 18:42 no peace came and I was so, so so badly, I wanted so much to 18:49 find forgiveness. And nothing came and finally I dropped to 18:53 the floor and I was crying now. Literally crying like a baby, 18:57 like a five-year-old baby. And now I didn't say Allah anymore. 19:01 I used the Persian word qudah. The Persian word qudah is 19:05 equivalent to the English word God. And the word in English 19:09 God is neutral. It could be Buddha, it could be Jesus, it 19:12 could be Allah, it could be anybody, it's neutral. So when 19:15 I said qudah Jesus actually came to me. He came into my 19:21 bedroom and it wasn't...I don't know how He came. He says He's 19:27 not going to set his foot on earth until he comes a second 19:30 time. 19:31 But there was a presence. 19:33 There was a presence to the Holy Spirit, His representative I'm 19:35 sure. I can say that now. I can say that after I found out and 19:38 there was a view of His love and His mercy. My sins, I felt 19:42 forgiven at least the sins from the previous night and then I 19:47 met this 18-year-old who told me the rest of the story. And I 19:53 fully accepted Christ that day. 19:54 Now your family...You have a twin brother. Your family 19:59 rejected you at first. They rejected this change and you 20:04 know so often families not only reject, they disown, they have 20:09 nothing to do. But the amazing thing...I'm going to kind of go 20:15 ahead and then we'll come back and fill in the details. Because 20:19 of what Jesus did in Brother Shahbaz's life his twin brother 20:25 became a Christian, his sister became a Christian, his mother 20:30 became a Christian and even his father six months before he died 20:36 which to me this is the most precious part of your whole book 20:40 Excuse me I'm getting emotional. You rarely hear of a whole 20:47 family converted because especially for the older 20:51 generation. That's so hard for them to let go. But God did 20:55 something so amazing in your life so tell us how God...Pick 21:01 up there whatever details you want to fill in. 21:04 After I accepted Christ my family, my siblings, were 21:12 totally against me and one night they were going to beat me up. 21:15 I remember my brother picked me up and threw me against the wall 21:19 and I just sat there looking at with amazing love. 21:24 I'd never experienced this much love in my life until I became a 21:28 Christian and this love just permeated and I went to the 21:32 other room and I started praying for them. I said Lord Jesus I 21:36 don't know what to do. At that point, I was kind of like a 21:41 I don't know how to explain. I was a brand new Christian. 21:42 I still didn't know what to do with all this Muslim training 21:46 that I had all my life up to that point. And I had the rosary 21:50 beads, somebody gave me a rosary beads and I had the rosary beads 21:52 in one hand and the Bible in the other hand and with the Muslim 21:58 thinking and I just said, Jesus I feel horrible and I don't know 22:02 how to get rid of this feeling. Please help me. And I got up 22:05 away, I went to the restroom and I locked the door because that 22:09 was the only room that had a lock on it. And at that point 22:12 literally, Jesus touched my soul I felt the hand of God go 22:16 through me and every misery that I had experienced, it was a 22:21 healing experience. Everything I'd ever experienced that was 22:23 terrible was taken away and in it's place peace, love, joy, 22:29 mercy and grace and power was given to me. I came out of the 22:32 bathroom, I couldn't speak. My sister said what's wrong, I was 22:35 weeping like a baby and my sister what's wrong why are you 22:38 crying and I just couldn't talk. I didn't speak till the next 22:41 day. And the next day when I woke up shortly after that I 22:45 could speak. And I explained to my sister what happened. 22:48 My whole family were just thrown back. They didn't know what to 22:52 do because they were feeling my experience. There were rejecting 22:57 Christ but feeling my experience And one by one they began to 23:00 have dreams and Jesus was telling them unless you follow 23:05 me like your brother Shahbaz is following me, you will never be 23:08 in my kingdom. And one by one they began to have dreams and 23:12 they came around and eventually they accepted Christ. My mother 23:17 came to visit us after a year. She had been...we had not seen 23:21 her for 18 years. She came to visit with me. She always had 23:24 migraine headaches, always, always, several times a week. 23:28 At least once a week if not twice. And on this particular 23:33 occasion she was having a migraine. I said Mom what's 23:36 wrong. She says I'm having my migraine. You know Jesus can 23:38 take that away from you. She said how. I said because Jesus 23:44 is able. You want me to pray for you? She says, at this point you 23:47 can pray for me. So I put my hand on her head and I said 23:52 Jesus, you healed when you were on earth and I know you can heal 23:56 my mother. She may not believe in you like I believe in you, 23:59 But I believe in you for her. Please take her headache away. 24:02 She's never had a headache since and that was more than 20 years 24:08 ago and she has not had a single migraine since then by God's 24:12 grace. (Glory) The Lord just took it away. And my mother came 24:17 around. She said you know-how can I deny this God that has 24:21 blessed you like He's been blessing you. If I deny Him I 24:26 have to deny what he's done for you and I can't deny that. 24:29 You're the evidence so I accept Him. (Amen, amen) and she was... 24:34 And then finally your father before he passed, six months 24:39 before, he accepted. But how did God lead you to the Seventh-day 24:43 Adventist church? 24:44 I was seeking. I didn't know where to go to church. Nobody 24:48 told me. I mean I had gone to the Adventist school but I 24:51 didn't make any connections, not until after I became a Seventh- 24:54 day Adventist. And I didn't know where to go to church. For a 24:57 short time I went to a church in California, for a very short 25:01 time because my sister was dating a young man; his father 25:04 was a pastor of this church in Berkley, California. So I 25:07 attended that church for awhile because he was a friend. But I 25:10 didn't know where to go to church and I didn't dare to go 25:12 to any church because I wanted Jesus to show me where I should 25:16 go. Because on every corner everywhere I went in Walnut 25:20 Creek at least I saw a church here and another church there 25:23 and I always wondered why are Christians so divided? Why are 25:28 there so many churches? And it's supposed to be the religion of 25:32 Jesus and there's only one Jesus but hundreds of churches if not 25:36 thousands and I didn't know what to do. I was a brand new convert 25:41 So I was in this particular church and they taught me 25:46 doctrines they told me about that didn't make sense. And I 25:49 asked Jesus, I said Lord what am I supposed to do? I don't know 25:53 what to do with all of this because they told me I'm 25:55 supposed to be like this but I'm not like that. How am I supposed 25:59 to be? And Jesus said, Pray that I would lead you to the church 26:06 that I want you to be in. And I said, pray for the church that 26:12 you want me to be in and I said Okay I'll start praying and then 26:16 the Lord led me and a Seventh- day Adventist colporteur came to 26:21 this particular church and he was allowed to come and show 26:26 books and he did show some beautiful books. 26:28 And this is at that non- denominational church you were 26:31 At that non-denominational church. And I saw these books 26:36 and I wanted to get them. I was very poor. I couldn't afford 26:40 them and there wasn't a thing I could afford and she 26:42 gave it to me anyways for free. It was a big huge beautiful book 26:46 with pictures and all that about the Bible. And... 26:50 Was this Desire of Ages? 26:52 This was the Desire of Ages. 26:54 Desire of Ages, okay. 26:55 And she gave me the Great Controversy too, both and the 26:57 big ones you know those big colporteur ones. And he went 27:03 outside, I came out to talk to him. I waited. Everybody left. 27:07 He came to me and said, can I... What's your name? I told him my 27:10 name. He said can I visit you sometime. I said absolutely. 27:12 I came over to my home one night at 10 in the evening, because 27:15 he was working so late. He called me, He says I know I'm 27:18 late but can I come see you? This is a great opportunity. 27:21 I said you can come any time you want. He came to our home and 27:24 he began to tell me about the Sabbath and I said the Sabbath 27:29 wait a minute. At one time I was a Friday keeper, then I became a 27:33 Sunday keeping and you tell me Saturday. I went to prayer that 27:38 night and I said Lord I don't know what to do. Is this the 27:41 people that you want me to talk to? Am I supposed to talk to 27:44 this...I don't want to become confused. You show me because 27:46 I'm brand new. And just about that time a Seventh-day 27:50 Adventist evangelist came to town. His name was Byron Spears. 27:54 Byron Spears was an old-time evangelist. He knew the whole 27:58 Bible by...He had memorized the whole Bible, the whole Bible. 28:01 (Wow! Wow!) Every single word he knew where it was and he had 28:05 memorized it in two years. And he came to my home and he broke 28:08 the Bible down for me. And that night after he left I went to 28:11 Jesus again and I said Lord I'm not going to make a decision 28:15 myself because if I make a decision I'm bound to make a 28:19 mistake. I see the evidence but I want you to show me if you 28:23 want me to do this. Show me in a dream tonight if you want me 28:27 to be a Seventh-day Adventist show me and for the rest of my 28:30 life I will serve you in this church. I will die a Seventh-day 28:33 Adventist. And I didn't pray out loud for those skeptics that say 28:38 you prayed out loud and maybe the devil heard you. I prayed in 28:41 my heart. I always pray in my heart because the devil can't 28:47 read my mind. And that night I had a dream. And in my dream I 28:50 saw the Sabbath, the Lord showed me the Sabbath in my dream. It 28:54 was brighter than all the other days of the week and I saw the 28:57 Seventh-day Adventist church that this colporteur had told me 29:00 about. He had taken me there. I saw the church. And I was 29:03 studying that church. And I came around and these beautiful 29:08 people came out of the church. They had...their faces were 29:12 shining. And they came to me and they took me by the hand, took 29:15 me inside the church, they showed me different rooms and 29:17 then they took me the room. It was a table as plain as a table 29:21 can get. I mean this beautiful table will make that table look 29:25 like it's nothing. But on that table there were two items. 29:28 There were the most beautiful things you could set your eyes 29:31 upon. They were living, they had life and they were moving on 29:35 their own. They had life in themselves and they could move 29:38 by themselves and they could judge the intents of your heart. 29:42 And they were the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. And a woman 29:46 came forward to me and explained the meaning of those two golden 29:51 objects. In one second I understood everything that 29:55 needs to be understood about these two, about the Bible and 29:58 the Spirit of Prophecy, which is in the Bible. Everything that is 30:01 in the Bible, God showed me in two seconds but when I woke 30:05 up that's the only thing I can remember. Everything as I 30:08 I remember except what God revealed to me about the Bible. 30:10 Every mystery, every secret was revealed to me in one moment. 30:14 And then I saw Elder Spears in my dream and he was holding a 30:18 brand new baby in his arms. He held the baby up and he 30:22 showed me the baby and the baby was wrapped in white and it was 30:27 smiling and I knew it was a born again experience. And I saw 30:30 myself standing at the head of a road, not paved, as straight as 30:34 the road can get and I knew that that was the beginning of my 30:38 journey and my journey had just started. That road had no bend 30:41 to it, it was straight, but it was not paved. And I knew this 30:45 was my journey and I woke up. And I rejoiced. 30:49 Hah, I bet. You know the amazing thing to me is we talk with so 30:55 many Muslims, so many pastors and evangelists who are 30:59 ministering to Muslims and in a very special way, I just have to 31:04 tell you this...Matthew 24:14 Jesus said that this gospel will 31:10 go to all the world then the end will come. Well there's 31:14 1.5 billion Muslims in the world God wants them to hear the true 31:22 gospel and the amazing thing... You know to me that's almost 31:26 so overwhelming like, you mean we got to wait till everybody 31:29 hears but what we keep hearing is God in a special way is 31:36 giving so many Muslims visions that cause them then to reach 31:44 our to Christians. It's all... the visions are about Christ 31:48 the vision is about becoming Christian. But to me, that's an 31:52 amazing thing. So let's fast forward because we want to hear 31:56 what your ministry is today. But you married a beautiful woman 32:02 named Sarah, you went into ministry, you became...What 32:08 college did you go to get your theological training. 32:11 I actually went to Newbold College in England but I studied 32:15 a different...I studied Islamic studies during my tenure there 32:19 and I did study theology as well I did not get my theology and 32:25 and pastoral degree. I did not do that, but I did become a 32:29 pastor eventually, kind of like a lay pastor, and a work for 32:34 this territory that I was hired to work at for the Seventh-day 32:37 Adventist church. 32:38 But the Lord has in your...Again the book is Two Sacrifices, One 32:48 Destiny. Beautiful story of how God led Brother Shahbaz and his 32:53 wife Sarah. But you've made a few moves. You're here now. 33:00 You've been...Wonderful stories in here when you were 33:02 ministering to Muslims and the miracles really that God did 33:08 but we want to know...You are now president of Advent 33:13 Lighthouse Ministry and...Is this a good time to show your 33:20 video? We're going to show you a quick video and then come back 33:23 and talk about what God is doing now through Brother Shahbaz and 33:28 his wife. 33:30 ♪ ♪ 36:05 So God through you has started Advent Lighthouse Ministries. 36:13 How did that come about? You're ministering to all these Muslims 36:16 how did this come about? 36:18 Well back in 2004, I live in Sweden for a while because my 36:24 wife being Swedish we were living there for about three 36:27 years. And that's where my ministry really started to form 36:29 And late 2003, early 2004 I was studying statements regarding 36:37 foreigners in America and the Bible's command to reach all 36:40 nations and myself being an immigrant moving to the United 36:44 States in 1979 you know I'm sensitive to that. Then it was 36:51 like the Lord took me by the collar and said This is 36:56 important. Don't just read and walk away. This is important. 36:59 That night I couldn't sleep. I tossed and I turned in my bed 37:02 and I asked the Lord something's got to be done, not just for my 37:06 people but for all people in America that are not...I know 37:11 a lot of work is being done for them but I want to be a part of 37:14 it but I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I sense that I 37:17 need to be a part of it. Just then the Lord told me, Get up, 37:20 get your family, move back to the United States and start a 37:24 ministry. I mean this was not an audible voice. This was an 37:27 impression, a very powerful one. 37:29 It's the still small voice of the Lord and you know what 37:33 almost all of us can raise our hand and say absolutely I know 37:37 that God has impressed a thought upon my heart, my mind, that it 37:43 didn't come from me. And actually, God would love you to 37:46 seek to hear that still small voice. 37:48 Amen to that. I praise God for that and I woke up and then I 37:54 struggling; me, go to the United States, start a ministry. 37:57 I can't do that. I have no money I have nothing. How am I going 38:00 to do this. I'm not even qualified. And just then the 38:03 Lord gave me the name of the ministry. It just popped into my 38:06 head. And I knew it was God speaking to me. Sarah wake up, 38:09 Sarah wake up. I woke up my wife Right in the middle of the night 38:12 we prayed together over this and said Lord we have no money. If 38:16 you want us to go back we need money to go back, money for 38:18 tickets, money for my wife's green card and all of that stuff 38:22 So in the morning, we got into the car and the phone rings and 38:27 I answered the phone. This is a dear old sister, lady from the 38:32 church. First thing she says, she usually calls and greets us 38:34 and says hi and how are you doing. She's never given me 38:38 anything except her love by being kind to us and she says 38:42 Shahbaz, you need money? I said what? So I gave the phone to my 38:47 wife, she speaks Swedish so you see. She sent enough money for 38:50 us to go to Stockholm, take care of the paperwork, get the 38:53 boys, kids passports and get Sarah's green card in order. 38:57 I have to find a domicile. Came back to the United States. The 39:01 Lord said...U.S. embassy said you got to go back to start a 39:06 domicile. Your wife can't come. So I came back. Found this place 39:10 on the map on the internet and we came to that area. Right in 39:16 Sweden we found a one-bedroom apartment inside a barn, a barn 39:20 the corner of it was converted. 39:22 Where was this barn? 39:24 Where was it? (Yeah) It was in Loon Lake, Washington. And this 39:30 little barn in Loon Lake, Washington, one-bedroom... 39:31 This used to be a stable for animals and stuff. And one 39:36 bedroom, kind of like symbolic like in my head, stable, animals 39:39 one bedroom. And I told the lady we're a family of five. She goes 39:45 five! You won't fit. What's the purpose. And I told her I'm... 39:49 I have a burden. God has called me to do a work. He wants me to 39:53 come back to the United States. She said You're a Christian? 39:55 I said Yes. She talked to her husband. She goes, my husband 40:00 says okay. If you're a Christian you can come. And then they took 40:02 the time and converted it into two bedrooms. Praise the Lord. 40:05 Now we were ready, $400 a month. And I got a job at Sears working 40:10 I was making 800 bucks a month. I had to do sales. I wasn't 40:14 doing very well, I don't know why but I... But anyway making 40:18 a long story short, in the middle of my work my wife came. 40:21 A couple months later the Lord said, I brought you here not to 40:24 work for Sears but I want you to work for me. And He said, you 40:29 have to go tell your job that you want to resign today! 40:31 I said, the same impression. Today!? I told my wife. She said 40:35 Well if you quit what are we going to do. I have no money, 40:38 nothing. And I said, the Lord has told me to do this. And I 40:41 went to work, I was working that day. I went to my boss. I said, 40:44 can you imagine I went to her and I said I'm sorry, Jesus has 40:48 told me to quit today. She goes what!? Jesus has told you to 40:53 quit right now!? And I said, Right now. If I work today I am 40:56 being faithless. And she said... She was a Christian. She said 41:01 I understand, if God is calling...I have no idea, this 41:04 is mysterious to me, but if God wants you to do this then you can 41:08 go. And then she said, this is what she said, she said, If you 41:11 ever want a job I will hire you again. (Wow!) And I quit on her 41:16 like that and she liked me that much because I was a good worker 41:19 for her. I wasn't a good sales person but I was obedient. So I 41:25 went home and when I told my wife, Okay I'm back now. And she 41:28 goes now what? And the next day the next week, we got a check 41:32 for $10,000. (Glory to God!) Now to me a check for $10,000 is 41:40 pretty much money, I mean it's a lot of money for a lot of 41:44 It'd be a lot of money today if you're penniless and back then 41:48 We started our ministry and then the Lord said to me in Sweden, I 41:52 have a house for you and a car. And somebody bought me a car. 41:55 I didn't ask them and somebody literally gave us a house as 42:00 well. They gave us a house in California. So all of these 42:02 things happened. I didn't ask for it. I prayed about it and 42:06 God said do it. 42:08 And you...what I love about you is you're like Abraham. When God 42:12 says do something you go do it. You don't have to ask God why. 42:15 You just do it. We've only got a few minutes left so what I 42:20 want to do is tell us about what projects Advent Lighthouse is 42:26 doing. What are you doing to reach immigrants of all kinds 42:31 of religions. 42:32 Right now our projects have been for the last few years, I've been 42:38 working a lot with the Swedish church in Sweden. I've been 42:42 working in different churches in Sweden, Denmark, and a couple 42:47 other countries in Europe and here in North America. And what 42:54 we've been focusing on is obviously a lot of my own people 42:56 group I've been working with. But we want to expand. We don't 43:00 want to just stay with our people group. We want to expand 43:04 and... 43:05 Your people group would be we're talking Islam... 43:07 That's right, Muslim people. and we want to expand the work 43:11 so that we can reach more people in more places or areas. I mean 43:15 As you all have the same opinion Jesus is coming very soon and 43:21 we would like to do, What we would like to do is make our 43:26 outreach...spread it to go farther than we've ever 43:30 gone before. So are you doing outreach training? 43:34 I do outreach training. I do actually training in churches 43:37 learning how to work with people specifically Muslims and not 43:41 just Muslims. How to minister to people, how to reach out. 43:44 And we teach them, we give them tools how to work with people 43:48 and where to start and where to end, and how to invite them and 43:54 when to invite them to make this decision for Christ. 43:58 Amen. How many times we'll tell all these beautiful truths and 44:02 not give...ask the final...Not close the deal. See you may not 44:06 have been a good salesman for Sears but you learned to close 44:10 the deal didn't you. Um when... Oh, I had a thought. Okay. So how 44:15 many immigrants are in the United States? 44:18 Today we have around 45 million immigrants. Fourteen percent of 44:23 the U.S. population are immigrants. Sixty-nine percent 44:27 of those people speak English pretty well. The rest don't. 44:31 And the majority of these people are yet to be reached with the 44:38 gospel. And we want to be able to do that in a relatively short 44:42 time. 44:43 So you go to churches, you train...Listen, I'm going to 44:47 tell you something. If you're living in Detroit, you're 44:50 living in Los Angeles, you're living in Las Vegas, wherever 44:54 you're living, even in the smaller towns there's such a 45:01 ministry. God is calling us to reach out to these people and 45:05 you know the interesting thing why hit...When I'm thinking of 45:09 small towns. We live in a sparsely populated area but 45:17 we've got a college and at that college, it's a state college, 45:22 probably 35 percent are from middle eastern countries, 35 45:32 percent are Muslim faith. So if we will just learn how to 45:37 minister...And people can call you and have you come speak at 45:40 their church and you've got materials. I mean, I'm getting 45:45 excited, because God wants to reach these people. Now tell me 45:51 this. You've got so many miracles stories and we're going to have 45:55 you share one, but what is the most difficult thing, say for a 46:02 Muslim in accepting Christianity Is it the trinity? 46:07 It is. The Trinity is probably the biggest question for them 46:10 Actually, it supersedes even the question of whether or not Jesus 46:14 died on the cross. Because as you know most Muslims...Islam 46:17 rejects the death of Christ on the cross. But the Trinity is 46:21 the very first question. And then working with them on that 46:24 it's been very effective because I have worked with Muslims and 46:28 we sat around the table like this and I had like eight 46:32 Muslims sitting at the table ask me, prove to us that Jesus is 46:36 the Son of God like you say. Prove to us that He is God. 46:40 And knowing their mind and how they think and knowing the Bible 46:47 and understanding that most Muslims will not negate the 46:51 Pentateuch. The Pentateuch is the only portion of the Bible 46:54 that most Muslims do not reject. 46:56 And that's the first five books of the Bible that Moses wrote. 47:00 The first five books of the Bible. Yes. They say that it 47:02 hasn't been corrupted. The rest of the Bible has been corrupted. 47:04 Especially the New Testament. And one Muslim challenged me 47:08 saying these Muslims that I told you and they challenged me 47:11 and I showed...And I said okay can I show it to you from the 47:14 book of Moses. He said it's impossible. It's not there. 47:18 And I said, what if I show it to you? So I took them to Genesis 47:22 chapter one when He made the world and then He said, Let us 47:24 make man in our image. I took them to Genesis chapter 11: Let 47:28 us go down and confound their language. And all these us 47:32 pleural and the Muslim, his jaw fell open. He goes maybe I need 47:37 to become a Christian. He left. He never came back to talk to me 47:41 again. He had come to challenge me at a meeting I was doing. 47:44 I'm here to bring you back to Islam, he said. And then these 47:48 other young Muslims that I started with, half an hour all 47:51 of them said, Jesus is God! He did create the world. Because 47:57 once you establish from the Pentateuch who Jesus is then the 48:01 rest of it is just easy because then you can connect all the 48:04 dots. And that's how we do it. 48:06 You know there's no doubt in my mind that God had his hand on 48:12 you from a very young child. He gave you that heart to seek Him. 48:17 You know the word promises, If we seek Him with all of our 48:21 heart, we'll be found of Him. It's not that He's hiding. It's 48:25 just that so many of us will just say oh yeah, okay, I'll go 48:30 go to church or I'll go to Sunday school or Sabbath school 48:33 and let somebody else tell us. But when we get into the word 48:38 for ourself and start seeking God, He will show us. He opens 48:42 up truths just as he did to Brother Shahbaz and it's amazing 48:48 how God had his hand on you for ministry. And we want to tell 48:53 you how you can get in touch with Shahbaz. But first, you made 48:57 a comment during...and I think I was alluding to that, I called 49:03 them visions, but you made a comment while the video was 49:06 running and what did you say about... 49:08 You know I hear this quite often that we had visions, we had 49:12 dreams, especially coming out of Muslim and how come. 49:20 It is interesting how Muslims and maybe because God can't 49:24 reach them any other way but boy you talked about dreams and 49:28 visions. Tell us about that. 49:30 Most Muslim countries are in the 10/40 window and most Muslim 49:34 countries do not allow missionaries to come and work 49:36 in their countries. So God is reaching them with the visions 49:39 and dreams. Angels visiting Muslims in their own country 49:43 locations and most missionary organizations on all sides of 49:52 Christianity agree that 80 percent of Muslims that become 49:56 Christians they do so as a result of dreams and visions. 49:58 (Wow!) I mean, I was in Sweden doing work for the church and I 50:04 met a Muslim man from Iran that I never met before. He came up 50:09 to me and he said, Sir, you come here from a long distance 50:12 haven't you. Yes, how do you know. He said I had a dream 50:16 last night and you were in my dream. You have something to 50:18 tell me, you have three things to tell me. And I was like 50:22 flabbergasted. I mean after experiencing God's miracles many 50:25 times in my own life when I see it like that I would just fall 50:30 on the ground and worship God. And he accepted all the truth 50:34 that I shared with him. 50:36 What did you, I mean if somebody came up to me and said God said 50:38 you had three things. What did you share... 50:41 I shared the three angels messages. That's what came to my 50:44 mind. The three things. Why would God show him three things 50:46 it's the three angels messages which encapsulates the whole 50:51 gospel for these last days. 50:53 Glory to God! It is just so exciting that you know... 50:59 time is short. You look around and we know time is short. But 51:04 we need to be filled with the zeal of the Holy Spirit to seek 51:11 the Lord, seek his face. But we need to become bolder witnesses 51:15 and to share. And I just know the Holy Spirit is calling on 51:19 someone's heart right now. If you would like to invite Pastor 51:24 Shahbaz to come to your church or if you want more information 51:27 about his ministry, we have an address right now that we're 51:34 going to put up so you'll know how to get in touch with the 51:40 Advent Lighthouse Ministry. 51:44 If you would like to contact or know more about Advent 51:46 Lighthouse Ministries you can write to them at P.O. Box 544 51:50 College Place, Washington 99324 You can call them at 51:56 877-461-7729 That's 877-461-7729 or visit their 52:06 website at AdventLighthouse.org That's AdventLighthouse.org 52:12 or email them at ContactUs@AdventLighthouse.org 52:19 That's ContactUs@AdventLighthouse.org |
Revised 2022-07-07