A Testimony

I am a Moroccan Christian brother. I grew up in a small mountain village, which is located in the south of Morocco. My family—my parents, sisters and brothers who are still living there—is a Muslim family.

Once, when I was in high school, a friend of mine told me about some correspondence courses in French. I asked him to give me the address of the mission in France. I, then, started to receive some courses about Jesus Christ’s life from that mission. I chose to study the Bible that way because as a Muslim I was curious and I wanted to practice my French.

When I started studying the Bible in 1989, I was surprised to find out that the language used in that book was very simple. It was easy to understand and not complicated like the Koran’s language. At that time, it was very, very hard for me to accept that the Bible is the word of God. Muslims think, for example, that the Koran is the word of Allah because its complicated language proves that. Sometimes I asked myself, “Why did Allah use the language which we couldn’t understand? Why do we need to read and memorize the Koran just in Arabic? What about the people who don’t understand Arabic?”

When I studied the Bible by correspondence at that time, I couldn’t understand everything that was said in the Bible. I thought that the Bible had been corrupted and what it said about the crucifixion was not correct. I couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and I couldn’t understand that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were one God. Islam affected my life and my beliefs. However, while I was studying the Bible, the Holy Spirit was working in my life.

In the beginning of the 90’s, when I attended the university in a Moroccan city, I met an American missionary who helped me in my study of the Bible. However, I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my Savior in my life until 1995. It took me seven years to make such a decision. It was very hard for me to do so because of our traditions and a lot of problems I expected to face. I was afraid of persecution, rejection, isolation and so forth. When I became a Christian, I had some problems with my family, especially my mom. I remember when I had a conflict with one of my brothers. In order to punish me, he told my mom that I changed my religion. When she heard that, she came to me and said, “You are playing with fire. You don’t deserve to stay with us. You are impure. You will suffer the judgment of Allah.” I also had some problems with some of my friends because I converted to Christianity.

In my country people think that Christians are people who don’t care about values, and traditions. That was why my mom was worried about me. My mom didn’t change her mind until a missionary’s family came to our village to stay with us for three days. Then some members of my family said, “Wow, these Christians are polite and very, very nice people.” From that time on, I have had a nice and wonderful relationship with my family. In addition, my attitude as a Christian influenced them.

Since my family and some of my friends noticed that my conduct and my manner changed, I told them that Jesus Christ changed my life. Then I explained to them that the Bible is the Word of God that never changed. Also, I explained to them that Jesus was really crucified and raised from the dead. In addition, I explained to them why Jesus came to this earth. However, they never believed me because Islam is rooted deeply in their lives.

When I accepted Jesus in my life, almost everything changed. The Holy Spirit changed my desires, principles and conduct. To show others what Christian living looks like, I always needed to follow the example of Jesus Christ in my life, to follow his path and obey his commandments. Since I accepted Jesus my interpersonal relationships had changed. My relationship with God and people changed. As a Christian I always considered others, including those who were not Christians, my neighbors to whom I could show love and concern.

My personal worship has changed. By becoming a Christian, I spiritually worship the Almighty God whom I consider as my Father. I worship Jesus Christ who came into this world in order to save human beings from their sins. I worship God any time and continually. I worship him individually and with others. I worship Him by praying, reading His living word and singing to Him.

To grow in my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I worship him with spirit and I serve Him. When I was in Morocco, I served God in different ways by leading in my church from time to time and by helping those who were studying the Bible by correspondence. Reading His living word helped me to improve my spiritual life. The Bible is my guide. To grow in my faith I let the Lord Jesus live in me. I let Him transform me as He wants. The Word of God is the Living Word that leads us in our life. God talks to us through the Bible, which is His Word. Prayer occupies the most important place in my life because it is a way to communicate with God

As a Christian, I always conduct myself in a way that identifies my beliefs. Because Muslims think that Christians are bad people, I need to show them by my conduct the difference between a “Christian” by name and a real Christian who follows Jesus Christ and respects his commandments.

People around us need to see Christ in our lives. They can judge us when we conduct ourselves in the wrong ways that are not related to the life of Christ and His commandments. For this reason, I always conduct myself in a way that glorifies our God.